South Africa: Limpopo crash claims 20 lives

Limpopo MEC for Transport and Community Safety, Florence Radzilani, has expressed shock and sadness at the news of a bus accident, which happened on Monday on the N1-29 stretch, next to the HF Verwoerd Tunnel. The crash claimed a total of 20 lives.

Radzilani has since sent messages of condolences to the families of the deceased and comfort to the survivors.

The accident involved a bus that was transporting passengers from Makhado to areas around Ndzhelele, Siloam and Tshikombani in the Vhembe District, the department said in a statement.

According to reports, a truck that was overtaking another vehicle lost control and collided with the bus. The bus rolled over a bridge and 19 people died on the scene.

The exact details surrounding the collision are unknown at this time. The South African Police Service is investigating the cause of the accident.

Paramedics and rescue personnel were able to retrieve 19 bodies from the crash and the 20th person lost their life in hospital, the department said.

Scores of injured survivors were taken to various hospitals for varying degrees of injuries.

Police divers have been dispatched to the scene to verify that no one has been swept away in the river.

According to reports, 68 people were left injured after the bus landed in a river after rolling off a bridge on the freeway.

Radzilani is today expected to visit the injured.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2023-02-14. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
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Earlier in the day, they seized 2216.07 gms of gold worth Rs 97.5 lakhs at Kochi airport in two separate 2 cases.

The accused has been identified as Ahamed, a native of Malappuram.

"Further investigations are going on," the official said.

"On the basis of profiling done by the officers of Customs AIU batch, a passenger coming from Dubai to Cochin International Airport by flight EK 530 was intercepted at the green channel," an official familiar with the matter said.

"During the checking three capsules of gold in a compound form weighing 916.30 grams concealed inside his body were recovered and seized from his possession," the official said.

Earlier in the month, the customs department at Trichy airport in Tamil Nadu seized gold worth Rs 47,67,198 and electronic goods worth Rs 4,25,000 from a male passenger who arrived from Dubai on an Indigo Flight.

Earlier on January 29, officials of the customs department at Trichy's international airport seized foreign currency of USD 10,000 concealed in the undergarments of a male passenger.

Earlier in December last year, the Customs Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) intercepted a man and seized two gold biscuits, valued at over Rs eight lakh, concealed inside a tin at Trichy Airport. The gold pieces weighed 147.5 grams and had a purity of 24 carats.

Earlier in November 2022, Trichy airport officials seized one piece of gold weighing around 145 grams from a female passenger at the Tiruchirappalli airport. The gold piece was worth Rs 7,74,590 and had a purity of 24 carats. The officials extracted the yellow metal from 169 grams of paste-like materials concealed in the rectum of the female passenger."The female passenger arrived at Tiruchirappalli airport from Kuala Lumpur by Air Asia flight no-AK-23 on November 15," a statement had said. (ANI)
In the first instance, on the basis of profiling done by the officers of the Customs AIU batch, a passenger coming from Jeddah to Kochi by flight J9 212/J9 405 via Kuwait was intercepted at the green channel.

During the examination of the said passenger, four capsules of gold in compound form, weighing 1059.55 grams concealed inside his body, were recovered and seized.

According to Customs Department, the value of the seized gold was Rs 48 lakh.

In the second instance, on the basis of profiling done by the Customs officials, a passenger coming from Dubai to Kochi by flight IX434 was intercepted at the green channel. During the examination of the said passenger, four capsules of gold in a compound form totally weighing 1156.52 grams concealed inside his body were recovered and seized.

The value of the seized gold was Rs 49.5 lakh.

Further investigation in both cases is in progress. (ANI)
Union Home Minister and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday asserted that India will be able to achieve the goal of 20 per cent ethanol blend in petrol by 2025. Shah made the announcement while speaking at an event organised at Haryana Cooperative Export House (HAFED) after inaugurating various projects of the Haryana Cooperative Department, including a Rs 150 crore ethanol project to establish plants in cooperative sugar mills aimed at producing 9,000 ltr ethanol per day. Addressing the gathering on occasion, Shah said, "How the ethanol project being started by the Haryana government will enhance the income of cooperative sugar mills." Noting that ethanol helps in reducing the import of petroleum products in our country, Shah said that biofuels also protect the environment. Taking potshots against United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in the Centre, the Minister said, "Blending of ethanol in petrol and diesel was lower than one per cent when Narendra Modi government came to power in 2014. Today, we have crossed 10 per cent. By 2025, the Narendra Modi government will be able to achieve the goal of 20 per cent ethanol blend in petrol." The Minister further said that the waste food grains of the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) will also be used with the help of ethanol and "There will be a huge reduction in the import bill of our country". All petrol sold in the country is targeted to have 20 per cent ethanol availability by 2025. Shah's announcement comes months after the Ministry of Petroleum in October last year moved up its deadline for blending 20 per cent ethanol into gasoline by five years, to 2025 when 1,000 core litre ethanol production capacity is not achieved to fulfil the desired 20 per cent ethanol blend in petrol. In October last year, Petroleum Minister Hardeep Puri said that 450 crore litre of ethanol is being produced and tenders for 400 crore litre have been issued and the government is constantly reviewing ethanol production. Ethanol is one of the principal bio-fuels, which is naturally produced by the fermentation of sugars by yeasts or via petrochemical processes such as ethylene hydration. Ethanol Blending Programme (EBP) is aimed at reducing the country's dependence on crude oil imports, cutting carbon emissions and boosting farmers' incomes. Ethanol blending in petrol in India has risen successively from 1.53 per cent in 2013-14 to 5 per cent in 2019-20 to 8.10 per cent in 2020-21 and now to as much as 10.17 per cent. (ANI)
Reacting to the 'survey' conducted by sleuths of the I-T department at the BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai, former Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah on Tuesday said that this is "not the right time" to carry out such operations and that this could have been conducted before airing of the documentary on PM Narendra Modi. "I think this should not have happened at this time because people will think that this is after effect of the BBC documentary," he said. "When they would normally have done it earlier, before airing the documentary, we would have believed that there was some mistake on their [BBC] part. But today every person would think that these are efforts to harass them (BBC) in the wake of the documentary," the NC leader said. However, condemning the survey, he also said that this is unfortunate. "Democracy is already under threat here and media is being suppressed and this raid on BBC is an addition to this," he added. Earlier this morning, Income tax officials arrived at BBC offices located at the national capital's KG Marg for the survey. The British broadcaster's office at Kalina Santacruz in Mumbai was also surveyed, sources said adding that the survey was limited to business premises of BBC only. According to reports, a team of IT officials arrived at the BBC Studios office in Kalina Santacruz around 11.30 am today and a survey has been going on since then. There is no I-T activity at the BBC News office at Linking Road Bandra West. It is learnt that the tax officials are conducting verification of certain account documents in the finance department of the BBC offices. During the investigation, the mobile phones of all the employees present in the BBC office were taken away by the Income Tax team. The data of the computer kept in the accounts and finance department was also scanned. According to sources, officials said the devices will be returned to their owners after taking a backup. However, as the survey was underway, the British public broadcaster BBC News released a statement, saying that it is cooperating with the Income Tax department, which is conducting a survey at its offices in New Delhi and Mumbai. "The Income Tax Authorities are currently at the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai and we are fully cooperating," the BBC News Press Team said in a statement. The searches come weeks after the BBC released a documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi - 'India: The Modi Question," which caused controversy on January 21. The Centre had issued directions for blocking multiple YouTube videos and Twitter posts sharing links to the controversial BBC documentary on PM Modi. The Supreme Court had on February 3 directed the central government to produce original records relating to its decision to block the BBC documentary. (ANI)
Assam Border Protection and Development Minister Atul Bora Tuesday said that talks are going on with neighbouring states Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Mizoram to resolve inter-state boundary disputes. "After the Chief Minister-level meeting between Assam and Meghalaya, the regional committees have been formed to address other six disputed areas. The talks will be resumed after the assembly polls in Meghalaya," Bora said. The Minister said that the talks with Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram are also going on. The Assam Government has formed regional committees for talks with Arunachal Pradesh over the inter-state boundary issues with the neighbouring state and several rounds of talks between the Regional Committees were held in recent times. The Regional Committee jointly visited the area for the first time after the Namsai Declaration was signed by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma and his Arunachal Pradesh counterpart Pema Khandu last year. There are a total of 12 disputed areas along the inter-state border of Assam and Meghalaya and out of 12 disputed areas, issues six areas have been resolved and signed an agreement to resolve the 50-year-old boundary dispute between the two states in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi last year. Both state governments formed Regional Committees to resolve the rest of the six disputed areas' problems. Assam shares a 1,646 km long inter-state boundary with Mizoram and the border dispute between the two neighbouring states is a decade long-standing issue. Earlier, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Mizoram counterpart Zoramthanga met twice in New Delhi in November 2021 year and September 2022 to find an amicable solution to the vexed border dispute. The Tinsukia district shares a long boundary with Arunachal Pradesh and there are 36 villages under Margherita Sub-Division that are along the Assam-Arunachal Border and around 6 villages are disputed areas at present. (ANI)
Delhi's Saket Court on Tuesday issued a notice of two pleas of accused Aftab Amin Poonawala. On Monday, he moved two applications seeking a supply of charge sheets and video Footage in a proper manner. He has also sought the release of his education certificate as he wants to pursue his higher studies. Metropolitan magistrate Aviral Shukla issued notice to the investigation officer (IO) and jail authorities in the pleas. The court has asked them to file a reply to the applications. The court will hear the issue related to writing material and release of the educational certificate tomorrow. The matter related to the supply of the e-charge sheet and videos footage has been listed on February 17 The application has been moved by advocate M S Khan on behalf of Aftab. In one of the applications it is submitted that the E charge sheet has been supplied to the counsel but it is not in proper form that can not be read. It is also said that the pen drive containing the charge sheet is overloaded and it is not supported by any advanced computer. It is also said that the footage is mismanaged in the said pen drive. The plea has sought direction from the investigation officer to provide the charge sheet in a folder-wise manner and the footage in a separate pen drive. In other applications, it is submitted that the accused has a copy of the charge sheet but he does not have writing material like a pen, pencil and notebook. He wants to assist his counsel so he urgently needs writing material. The plea has sought direction to the jail authorities to provide him with these things. He also sought direction to the investigation officer to release his educational certificate. The court on February 7, took cognizance of the charge sheet filed against Aftab Amin Poonawala in the Shraddha Walkar murder case. The court, after taking cognizance, listed the matter for scrutiny of documents on February 21. Delhi police on January 24 filed a voluminous 6629 pages charge sheet against Aftab Amin Poonawala in the Shraddha Walkar murder case. The charge sheet contains 6629 pages including the annexures. The judge had said, "It is voluminous." The charge sheet has been filed under sections 302, 201 and other sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). During the investigation, Delhi police conducted the narco Analysis test, and polygraph test and collected the DNA evidence to establish the allegations against Aftab. Aftab is accused of strangling his live-in partner in May 2022 in the Mehrauli area. After the alleged strangulation, he allegedly cut the body of the deceased into 35 pieces. Earlier, the Saket court had dismissed the bail plea of Aftab Poonawala after he withdrew the same. (ANI)
Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG) VK Saxena on Tuesday directed to stall the ongoing demolition drive in South Delhi's Mehrauli and Ladha Sarai villages, Raj Niwas said in a statement. The decision is said to have given a big relief to hundreds of families, who were under the thumb of the demolition drive. "The decision came after a delegation of residents of these villages met the LG and sought relief from the demolition drive while citing the anomalies in the demarcation of land in these areas, that was carried out by the AAP Government in 2021," Raj Niwas said. Following this, the LG directed the Vice Chairman, DDA and the local administration to immediately stop the demolition drive and assured the residents that their grievances would be looked into and the anomalies, as pointed out by them, would be examined. "Having heard the grievances of the residents at length, the LG assured the residents that no injustice will be done to any rightful owner of the land. He said the residents' complaints will be thoroughly examined and if any misdeed on part of any official was found, strict action will be taken against the erring officials," Raj Niwas' statement added. The LG however reiterated that, while no action will be taken against legal and rightful occupants, any illegal encroachment or unauthorized occupation surrounding the heritage monuments will be removed forthwith, in pursuance of the orders of the High Court. (ANI)
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said that India has an old relationship with research and the ancient sages researched beyond any barrier and were successful in achieving the right philosophy. As part of the ongoing 'Aero India' event, India's biennial aerospace exhibition, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh addressed the DRDO seminar at Yehalankha air force station. "Our land of India has a very old relation with research. The sages did research on elements beyond physical barriers and rose above them and were successful in achieving the right philosophy," said Rajnath. Speaking on the occasion, he further said if India has given the world 'Yoga', 'Pie', 'Zero' or many types of theorems, then all this knowledge was not the product of a single day. It is the result of centuries of curiosity, experiments and research. He said that a huge statue of Lord Nataraja stands outside the world's largest physical science laboratory in Geneva, known as 'CERN'. It is a symbol of gratitude to ancient Indian science and research, for the origin and development of the universe. "Moving forward with the aspiration of making ourselves completely self-reliant and giving something to the world, our own progress in all sectors definitely becomes very necessary to fulfil this aspiration. For this purpose, we are making significant efforts in the progress of our defence R&D," said Singh. "Since independence till now, if our defence and aerospace sector has been continuously strengthened, then DRDO has played an important role in it. Through its research and innovations, DRDO has contributed significantly to strengthening our national security.," he said. Rajnath Singh said that through the design and development of Ammunition for Guns, Radar systems and Missiles, DRDO has proved itself to be one of the strongest pillars in strengthening National Security. "In the last few years, the country has developed state-of-the-art platforms and weapon systems like TAPAS, AEW&C, Medium Range Artillery Guns, Helicopters, and Radar. The world has noticed our achievements," he said. He said that based on its success, the government has now approved the LCA Mk II for the Indian Air Force, while the Twin Engine Deck Based Fighter is under consideration for the Indian Navy. "We have also started moving forward in the design of AMCA as a 5th-generation stealth aircraft," he said. Rajnath Singh said that today, the aerospace sector in India is at an important stage, and it is the need of the hour to give it a new direction. Continuing progress towards becoming a global superpower, India must have the strong support of next-level defence forces, capable of facing any new challenge. "Today, when we have completed 75 years of our independence and have entered the 'Amrit Kaal', we need to think again about this. How long will we continue to fly on the engines of others? How long will we keep saying that 'Our efforts are on', 'Our efforts are on'," he said. "Our target should be that we not only write a new book of 'General Knowledge' by developing Aero-Engine but also write a new history of the country with our effort," he said. The defence minister said that DRDO, for the development of incremental innovations, minor sub-systems and their technologies, should bring Start-ups and new R&D establishments through schemes like Technology Development Fund, and iDEX. "You are no longer just a service provider for defence R&D, but now you have also come into the role of a facilitator for in-house industrial R&D, Startups and private sector labs. Take advantage of their synergy," he added. "You have displayed the intensity of your 'Fire' from 'Earth' to 'Sky'. There is no reason why you cannot achieve success in the direction of manufacturing aircraft engines. I know it is difficult, but not impossible," he said. (ANI)
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed to maintain the status quo of properties in the Mehrauli area where a demolition drive is going on. The High court has directed DDA to file an affidavit on the petitions challenging the demolition. The high court also directed the DDA to file the demarcation report of 2021 and supply it to the petitioners. Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora on Tuesday passed the above direction. The court also impleaded the Archaeological Survey of India and issued notice to it The court has also issued notice to DDA, Delhi Government. The court has also asked the DDA to have a meeting with the petitioner on Wednesday at 3.30 at Vikas Sadan. The high court has asked the petitioner to attend a meeting with their counsels along with documents at the office of DDA at Vikas Sadan at 3.30 PM. The matters have been listed on Thursday along with other matters. The High court was hearing 15 petitions filed by people who are in the possession of the subject properties for a demolition order issued by the DDA. The High court made the petition of Green Apartment the lead matter and issued the above directions. While opposing the petitions, Shobhna Takiar, the standing counsel for DDA, relied upon the Demarcation report carried out in 2021. She submitted that the land in question was acquired by the DDA in 1974-75. It is settled law that the subsequent buyer of the acquired property will not have any rights, she said. Standing counsel also submitted that the Demarcation was also done. The court asked, "Did you supply the demarcation report copy to the petitioners? Was it in the public domain?" The counsel for DDA also submitted that the subject property is situated in Ladha Sarai village and Archaeological Park in Mehrauli. A document related to Google Maps was also submitted. She also submitted that the demolition is being carried out under the order of the division bench to remove all illegal construction from Archaeological Park. Kamlesh Kumar Mishra, the counsel for the residents of Green Apartment, said there are 60 units in the apartment. The court asked, "How many storeys are in the apartment?" The counsel replied that there are 2 basements, and 4 storeys in the building. Dharam Singh was the person who sold this land. Advocate Tanmay Mehta submitted that 100 years ago there was not a certain method of demarcation. After years, the TSM method was adopted. Now, they uploaded the masabi on Google. He also submitted that when demarcation takes place on paper, it makes a huge difference in land on the ground. In these matters, the problem is that it is not certain where one Khasra (A big piece of land) ends and where the next one starts. He also argued that assuming that the DDA's claim is correct, even then for the purpose of eviction the process of law should have been adopted. The court asked, "What diligence the petitioner adopted about the property?" The counsel replied that the demarcation was not out in the public domain to invite objection. It is not Google Maps as it does not show the Khasra number. It is their (DDA) report, the counsel argued. It was also argued that the Petitioner is in settled possession of the property. For the eviction the procedure under the Public premises Act and due law processes should have been followed, the counsel argued. What due process did the government take to evict? the counsel asked. In another petition, the other counsel submitted that there is no ownership record in Lal Dora land in Delhi. It only shows the Khasra number and all, Dora Abadi. The counsels submitted that they need some time to establish the title. The high court asked the standing counsel for DDA, "Please file your affidavit." The standing counsel submitted that the Demarcation report is the subject matter before the division bench, and they (petitioners) can approach the division bench. In another petition, the petitioner said that this property in question has been a School since 1939. There is only one ownership change. The school has been served with the demolition notice. At this point, the court asked, "Was the demarcation report supplied to them?" Supply demarcation report to them, the court said. Another counsel representing other petitioners in 6 petitions submitted that Demarcation was done twice. DDA stated that in 2015 ASI was appointed nodal agency for the removal of encroachment from Archaeological Park. Thereafter, the court impleaded ASI as one of the parties. (ANI)
Visva Bharati university authorities have issued a show-cause notice to one of its students after the latter supported Nobel laureate Amartya Sen on social media over the current row where the university Vice Chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty has accused the economist of unauthorised occupation of the university land in excess of his legal entitlement. The student, Somanath Sou, is an active member of the CPI(M)'s student wing Students' Federation of India (SFI). Recently he made a post on social media condemning the attitude of the university authorities towards Sen in the current row. He said in his post that this is nothing but unnecessarily harassing the globally acclaimed educationist and economist. According to him, certain elements are constantly advising the vice-chancellor that by harassing Sen he would get the support of the BJP. According to Sou, from the land records it is clear that Sen is legally entitled to the entire land including the 13 decimals of land which the university authorities claim to be held by him beyond his legal entitlement. "The real truth must be revealed since in this process an aged and globally acclaimed educationist is being harassed unnecessarily. The university authorities should come out with papers in support of their baseless claims," he wrote in his social media post. Soon after that he was slapped with the show-cause asking him why disciplinary action should not be taken against him for being vocal against the university despite being a student there. In the notice Sou has been warned of strong disciplinary action if he repeats a similar action in the future. On February 11, Sen's advocate issued a legal notice to the university authorities asking the latter to tender a public apology for their derogatory comments in connection with the continuing row over 13 decimals of land occupied by him. "The university authorities should apologise for making such derogatory comments. Else appropriate legal action will be taken," said Sen's counsel Gorachand Chakroborty. --IANS src/bg ( 344 Words) 2023-02-14-19:02:03 (IANS)
In an important decision, 846 schools in Maharashtra shall be comprehensively developed under the 'Pradhan Mantri Schools for Rising India' scheme launched last September, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said here on Tuesday. The state has signed an MoU with the Centre for the purpose under which the National Education Policy-2020 will be implemented here. In the first phase, over 15,000 schools in India -- including 846 from Maharashtra -- shall be developed into foremost institutions providing high quality education for students. Under the PM SHRI, the Central government will provide Rs 1.88 crore and the state will allocate Rs 75 lakh for each school for five years in a 60:40 partnership with the state. For the 846 schools, the Centre will provide an amount of almost Rs 956 crore while the state will give its share of Rs 634.50 lakh for implementing the scheme. In the second phase of the PM SHRI, schools from 408 groups, 28 municipal corporations and 383 from other civic bodies shall be selected for development. Shinde said that students shall be imparted experiential learning through these schools, and will be assessed on the basis of their conceptual understanding plus application of the knowledge in real-life situations. Even former students of the schools shall be involved with these schools to provide career guidance and educational support to the students, and in case of dropouts for any reasons, such students will be main-streamed by re-admission. The PM SHRI schools will be developed primarily on 6 major pillars, like Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment; access and infrastructure; Human Resources and School Leadership; Inclusive practices and beneficiary satisfaction; management, supervision and administration; and Beneficiary satisfaction. The implementation will be through a committee headed by the school education minister at the state level and by other officials like CEO, municipal commissioner, etc., at the district and civic levels. --IANS qn/pgh ( 321 Words) 2023-02-14-19:12:04 (IANS)
Congress leader Rashid Alvi has slammed remarks of Union Home Minister Amit Shah about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's initiatives having removed "man ki doori" of the northeast and said the people of the region did not feel distant. He also said that the people of Tripura were disappointed with the performance of the BJP-led government and Congress will come to power in alliance with its allies. Reacting to Amit Shah's remarks made in an interview with ANI that BJP removed 'Mann Ki Doori' of North-East, Rashid Alvi said there was always love and respect between people of northeast and those living in other parts of the country. "Making such remarks implies that earlier people of northeast didn't respect us. But that's not true. BJP government has come only eight years before. I have visited the region many times, and there was always love and respect for all of us. So, taking credit for this wrong on Amit Shah's part," Alvi said. He also attacked the government on the renaming of cities. "You hate Mughals, but it is also the fact Bahadur Shah Zafar is also from the same family, who fought against the British and whose sons were killed. What will happen if the next government comes and again renames the cities? Will only 'renaming' keep on happening in the country in the name of development," he asked. Asked about the ban on PFI, Alvi accused members of Sangh Parivar of spreading radicalsim. "They have put a ban on the outfit (PFI) only recently, despite being in power for eight years." He also attacked the BJP government alleging that situation in Kashmir is still not normal. "Despite what BJP says, the situation in Kashmir is not normal. It should be remembered that Kashmiri Pandits left the valley under the VP Singh government, which was running with support of the BJP. Despite so many years, they have not been able to bring Kashmiri Pandits back to the valley," he said. Asked about Amit Shah's remark that PM Modi should be getting the credit for a successful G20 summit, the Congress leader said, "Has any other country not hosted the summit before? SAARC and other summits are also hosted by countries routinely. There is nothing to take credit for." (ANI)
Delhi's Rohini Court has directed the concerned Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) to depute sufficient police staff in view of the security of witnesses as well as the general public for the hearing of Sagar Dhankar murder case. The court has also directed to record the statement of the victims and other witnesses in the vulnerable witness room on the next date of the hearing. In this matter, there are 21 accused including Olympian wrestler Sushil Kumar. Additional Sessions judge Shivaji Anand issued the direction after noting the submission of the Incharge of the police post based in court premises and responsible for security arrangements. The court said, " In view of the submissions of Incharge Police Post Rohini, concerned DCP Rohini is directed to depute sufficient police officials on the next date of hearing in consultation with Incharge Police Post Rohini Court. The court has also issued directions to the incharge of the vulnerable witness room. The court said, "In charge of the Vulnerable Witness Room is also directed to make the necessary arrangements on February 20, 2023, at 12:00 Noon for the recording of evidence." The court has directed to send a copy of this order to the concerned DCP as well as the Incharge of the Vulnerable Witness Room for compliance. During the hearing, SI Sudeep, Incharge Police Post Rohini Courts appeared and prayed that in the present matter, evidence could be conducted at the Vulnerable Witness Room for security purposes as it is very difficult to produce all the accused persons together in court no. 206 during the recording of evidence due to a lack of police personnel. He further submitted that additional deployment of police officials will also be required on the next date of hearing to secure the safety of the witnesses as well as public persons. The statement of prosecution witnesses Amit Kumar and Jai Bhagwan was to be recorded but they moved an application for exemption. The court has issued summons to prosecution witnesses Jai Bhagwan alias Sonu, Amit Kumar, Ravinder alias Bhinda and Bhagat Singh alias Bhagte for the next date of hearing. Rohini Court on January 19, directed Delhi police to provide security to victim-witness Amit Kumar in view of the apprehension of his life and the threat extended to him. The victim alleged that he and his family were being threatened by gangsters that his family will be eliminated if he deposed against them in court. He along with Sagar Dhankar was beaten up by the accused persons at Chhatrasal Stadium on the night of May 4, 2021. Sagar had succumbed to injuries. Amit had sought a direction to record his statement through video conferencing (vc) or any other court. DCP was directed to appoint two armed police personnel with Amit Kumar during visitation to and from the court. His statement would be recorded in the vulnerable witness room at the court complex. The Court directed, " Considering the threat perception and after hearing all the parties, the Court is of the view that DCP concerned shall take all safety and security measures and arrangement shall be made by at least appointing two armed police officials during the visitation of applicant/witness Amit Kumar from home to Court and after examination from Court to home for recording of his statement at Vulnerable Witness Room at Rohini Court Complex. It is also directed that DCP concerned shall personally assess the matter regarding the threat perception to witness/victim Amit and if deems necessary can provide additional security to him during his visitation to the Court for deposition or if consider necessary then he can provide security to him even before and after the date of examination of the witness." It was submitted by advocate Nikita Garg and Paras, counsel for Amit Kumar that the applicant is the victim in the present case who was mercilessly beaten by more than 20 hardened gangsters on the intervening night of 04- 05 May 2021 at Chhatrasal Stadium at Model Town, Delhi. The counsels further submitted that the applicant was having the apprehension of his life as these gangsters threatened the applicant and his family members by different sources that they will eliminate the applicant and his family if he will give the statement against them. They also submitted that the applicant/victim and the family members of the applicant are under deep apprehension and hence, requesting for conducting the trial allowing the witness to depose through video conferencing in time bound manner or conducting of trial in any other District Court other than the Rohini Court. It was submitted that the applicant Amit do not want to depose in Rohini Court even if security provided to him. He can only come to Patiala House Courts or at the Delhi High Court for deposition. It is a case related to the alleged murder of Junior national wrestling champion Sagar Dhankar. In this matter Olympian wrestler, Sushil Kumar is one of the accused. The case is at the stage of prosecution evidence. (ANI)
Condemning the ongoing Income Tax 'survey' at the BBC offices in Delhi, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP Senthilkumar S on Monday accused the central government of throttling the fundamental right of 'freedom of expression'. Taking to Twitter, the Dharmapuri MP said, "Strongly condemn the raids at BBC @BBCIndiaoffice Delhi. This is throttling the freedom of expression and particularly the press. This government is hitting back for release of BBC Gujarat riots documentary. The 56-inch chest has started to feel the heat. Downfall starts." Earlier in the day, former Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president Uttam Kumar Reddy said that this survey, carried out by I-T department officials at the offices of BBC in Delhi and Mumbai will malign the country's image throughout the world. "The Income Tax department survey, searches or raids, on the offices of BBC in Delhi and Bombay will reflect India in a very poor light internationally," he told ANI. Earlier this morning, Income tax officials arrived at BBC offices located at the national capital's KG Marg for the survey. The British broadcaster's office at Kalina Santacruz in Mumbai was also surveyed, sources said adding that the survey was limited to business premises of BBC only. According to reports, a team of IT officials arrived at the BBC Studios office in Kalina Santacruz around 11.30 am today and a survey has been going on since then. There is no IT activity at the BBC News office at Linking road Bandra West. It is learnt that the tax officials are conducting verification of certain account documents in the finance department of the BBC offices. During the investigation, the mobile phones of all the employees present in the BBC office have been taken away by the Income Tax team. The data of the computer kept in the accounts and finance department was also scanned. According to sources, officials said the devices will be returned to their owners after taking a backup. The searches come weeks after the BBC released a documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi - 'India: The Modi Question," which caused controversy on January 21, the Centre had issued directions for blocking multiple YouTube videos and Twitter posts sharing links to the controversial BBC documentary on PM Modi. The Supreme Court had on February 3 directed the central government to produce original records relating to its decision to block the BBC documentary. (ANI)
Congress incharge for Telangana, Manikrao Thakare on Tuesday ruled out any alliance with the state's ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS). Hours after Congress MP Komatireddy Venkat Reddy's remarks created a storm in the party, the central leader made the clarification on his arrival in Hyderabad. At the airport lounge, Venkat Reddy, AICC secretaries Nadeem Javeed, Bose Raju, Venugopal and others called on Thakare. Venkat Reddy is understood to have clarified his remarks. Later talking to reporters, Thakare said that Congress will get majority on its own and it will not require alliance with anybody. "I have not seen what Venkat Reddy said. I will react after going through what he said," the Congress incharge said. He made it clear that the Congress is committed to the statement made by party leader Rahul Gandhi during his visit to Telangana, ruling out an alliance with BRS. Earlier in the day, Venkat Reddy, Congress MP from Bhuvanagiri constituency, triggered a storm in the party with his prediction that Telangana Assembly elections will throw a hung house. He made the forecast that no party will secure 60 seats in the 119-member Assembly. The MP also stated that since Congress is a secular party, the BRS will have to enter into an alliance with it after the elections. Venkat Reddy's remarks evoked strong reaction from several leaders in the party. They reiterated that Congress will not have any alliance with the BRS. Condemning the MP's remarks, Addanki Dayakar, Mahesh Kumar Goud and other leaders also exuded confidence that Congress will secure a majority on its own. They criticised Venkat Reddy for creating confusion among party ranks with his comments about alliances. However, Venkat Reddy denied that his remarks were against the party's stand. He alleged that some people were creating unnecessary controversy. He said on the basis of surveys in social media, he made a forecast that there will be a hung Assembly. --IANS ms/vd A ( 333 Words) 2023-02-14-20:16:02 (IANS)
Three Bangladeshi nationals carrying a large amount of foreign currency have been detained at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata on Tuesday when they were trying to board a Dhaka-bound flight. The first one to be detained was Shafiqul Island after the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel recovered $30,000 from his check-in luggage. On questioning, the CISF personnel came to know of two other men travelling to Bangladesh carrying large amount of foreign currency. First the CISF personnel detained Mollah Mohammed Nasiruddin and recovered 19,000 Canadian dollars from a pocket of the jacket he was wearing. Next, they detained Mohammed Feroze Alam, from whom $35,000 was recovered. The CISF personnel handed the trio over to the officials of the Customs department deputed at the airport. Customs officials are questioning the three about the source of this huge amoun of foreign currency and the purpose for which they were carrying them to Bangladesh. --IANS src/arm ( 171 Words) 2023-02-14-20:28:02 (IANS)
The accused, identified as -- Mukeshsinh Rajput -- was initially helping the family members in searching for Dipsinh a.k.a. Sahil, 22.

The victim's father, Bharatsinh Pawar, in his complaint to the police station on Monday, said: "My son has gone missing since January 29."

During the investigation, it emerged that Dipsinh was last seen with Mukeshsinh on January 29. Both were moving on the accused's scooty.

In the CCTV footage, they were seen heading towards the Narmada canal and some time later, Rajput was seen returning alone on his scooty, the complainant said.

The complainant also said that he suspected Rajput of murdering his son and destroying evidence.

Police have invoked sections against the accused for murder, illegal confinement, and destroying evidence, and are searching for him.

--IANS har/prw/pgh

( 157 Words)

2023-02-14-20:52:02 (IANS)
This is the first arrest in the said case.

Further details are awaited.

The case pertains to the state government's LIFE Mission project, which intends to build houses for 140 families in Wadakkanchery in Thrissur district through the LIFE Mission scheme by spending Rs 14.50 crore out of Rs 18.50 crore granted by the Red Crescent via the UAE consulate.

The contract noted the construction of a health care centre using the remaining amount. UNITAC managing director Santhosh Eapan had informed that the accused including Swapna Suresh had received a bribe worth Rs 4.48 crore for the project.

Accused Swapna Suresh and Sarith PS made allegations against Sivasankar that he has a hand in this. (ANI)
A person was injured after a house caught fire in the Indrapuri colony of Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad in the late hours of Tuesday, an official said. Soon after the incident, the police and fire brigade reached the spot and brought the fire under control, however, almost all the stuff in the room was burnt to ashes, while also injuring a person. The injured was shifted to the hospital immediately and efforts are being to ascertain the cause of the fire. A forensic team was called to probe the incident. "A caller in the Indrapuri area said that his house has caught fire and his father is stuck on the first floor. The police team and fire brigade reached the spot and the fire was brought under control. When we entered that room, almost all the stuff was burnt to ashes. A man was found with severe burn injuries and was shifted to the hospital. The reason for the fire is being ascertained. A forensic team has been called for. There is peace on the spot," Rajneesh Kumar Upadhyay said. Further investigation is underway. (ANI)
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Monday (local time) confirmed that the Chinese spy balloon is linked to intelligence collection. "China has a high-altitude balloon program for intelligence collection that's connected to the People's Liberation Army,"he said while addressing a press conference. He said that the Chinese spy balloon program targeted the United States' "closest allies and partners," but provided "limited additive" intelligence collection capabilities. "We assess at this time these balloons have provided limited additive capabilities to the PRC's other intelligence platforms used over the United States," Kirby said at the White House briefing. "We know that these PRC surveillance balloons have crossed over dozens of countries including some of our allies and partners. We assessed that at this time these balloons have provided limited value to PRC's other intelligence platforms but could become more valuable in future," added Kirby. He also confirmed that the US does not yet know who owns the recently shot-down unidentified objects. Kirby also said that the same spy balloon programme was in operation during Donald Trump's Presidency, but his administration was not able to detect them like the Biden administration. "It was operating during the previous administration but they did not detect it. We detected it. We tracked it," said the US NSC spokesperson while taking credit for finding the spy balloon. Since shooting down the Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina on February 4, the United States has shot down three more unidentified flying objects, two in US airspace and one in Canadian airspace. Kirby said that the three new objects were much smaller than the Chinese spy balloon and that the United States was still not sure what they might be. "There is no question in our minds that that system was designed to surveil, that it was an intelligence asset," Kirby said of the Chinese spy balloon. "We knew exactly what that thing was. These other three didn't have propulsion, they weren't being maneuvered, they were basically being driven by the wind. We don't know for sure whether they had a surveillance aspect to them but we can't rule it out." Kirby said that the United States' apparent difficulty in tracking all four objects was owed to the nature of how radar is typically used and that the nation was enhancing its capabilities based on newly gathered intelligence. "Slow-moving objects at high altitude with a small radar cross section are difficult to detect on radar, even objects as large as the Chinese spy balloon," Kirby said. Kirby also vehemently rejected a Beijing accusation Monday that it had flown more than 10 high-altitude balloons over China. "We are not flying surveillance balloons over China. I am not aware of any other craft that we are flying over into Chinese airspace," said the US NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications. He defended the decision to shoot down the three most recent objects despite the government not knowing what they were because they potentially posed a threat to civilian air traffic as they were flying at a similar altitude to many planes The isolated and harsh conditions in the places they were shot down are hampering efforts to find debris to analyze, with the most recent of them likely in deep water in Lake Huron. (ANI)
"The defendant Ferdy Sambo has been proven legally and convincingly guilty of committing the criminal act of participating in a premeditated murder," Judge Wahyu Iman Santoso said at the South Jakarta district court, Xinhua news agency reported.

The sentence was much harsher than a life imprisonment demanded by the prosecutor.

The former National Police internal affairs chief said the murder was his emotional reaction to Hutabarat raping his wife, but the judge determined there was not enough evidence to support this claim.

Sambo's wife, Putri Candrawathi, received 20-year prison term for her involvement in the murder.

The case has attracted wide attention with international media coverage and local TVs live streaming the months long hearing.

--IANS int/arm

( 153 Words)

2023-02-13-23:04:02 (IANS)
The UK defence sector has turned up in force at India's premier air show, Aero India, in a demonstration of the strong intent to accelerate collaboration with India across research, development and training. UK delegation supports 'Atmanirbharta' at Aero India and over the course of the week, the delegation will engage a range of Indian stakeholders to reiterate the UK's ambition to not only make in India but also to 'Create in India', read British High Commission press release. The UK delegation will take discussions forward on key offers that are being explored for collaboration, such as a strategic partnership for a jet engine development programme and maritime electric propulsion technology. The British companies at Aero India are: Rolls Royce, BAE Systems, MBDA UK, Thales UK, Leonardo, Smiths Detection, Strongfield Technologies, ASL, Reliance Precision and Ricardo, added the release. The UK delegation, which is led by Minister for Defence Procurement Alex Chalk, comprises representatives from Government, military, and the defence industry. This includes Air Vice-Marshal Richard Maddison of the Royal Air Force and British manufacturing giants such as Rolls Royce, BAE Systems, MBDA UK, Thales UK, Collins Aerospace and Leonardo. The Royal Air Force (RAF) looks forward to welcoming the Indian Air Force (IAF) to the UK for exercise Cobra Warrior next month. This will be the first time that the IAF would be participating in the multilateral air combat exercise, which will see the participation of air forces from 17 nations, added the release. The delegation travelled to Bengaluru following their participation at the UP Global Investors Summit, of which the UK was a country partner, to unlock investment potential in India's northern defence corridor. "As we continue to build the UK-India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, I'm hugely excited to attend Aero India - another key opportunity to demonstrate the UK's commitment to developing strong bilateral relations and deliver on the 2030 Roadmap," said Alex Chalk, Minister for Defence Procurement. The UK-India Defence Industry Joint Working Group, which held its inaugural meeting at Defence Expo in Gandhinagar last year, is helping accelerate collaboration between the countries, including through the integration of Indian defence suppliers by UK industry into their global supply chain. "Recent collaborations on exercise with the Indian Navy, Army and Air Force underpin the strength of our two nations' commitment to working together to promote a free, open and secure Indo-Pacific region," added Chalk. "I heard today Prime Minister Modi's vision to build India's indigenous defence capabilities; the UK is the right partner to realise that ambition - through sharing knowledge, increasing interoperability, more training and exercising - and through increased industrial collaboration, including through design and make in India," said Alex Ellis, British High Commissioner to India. "The UK is committed to partner with India in its journey towards becoming atmanirbhar in its defence and security needs," he added. (ANI)
"Congratulations to H. E. Nikos @Christodulides for being elected as the President of Cyprus. I look forward to working closely with him to enhance India-Cyprus ties," the prime minister tweeted on Monday.

Former Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides was on Sunday (local time) elected as the next President of Cyprus.

According to Al Jazeera, with a clear foreign policy vision due to his diplomatic and government background, he is expected to set out priorities for Cyprus bilaterally and regionally amplifying its geostrategic role.

Christodoulides, 49, defeated fellow diplomat Andreas Mavroyiannis with 51.9 per cent of the vote compared to 48.1 per cent on the divided Mediterranean island, reported Al Jazeera.

Mavroyiannis, 66, told reporters: "Tonight a journey has ended, a great journey that I shared with thousands of people. I regret we couldn't achieve the change that Cyprus needed."

Widely tapped as the election favourite during the campaign, Christodoulides is seen likely to take a hard line on moribund United Nations-backed talks on ending the island's decades-old division, reported Al Jazeera.

Former top diplomat Christodoulides earlier voiced confidence about a win when he told reporters, "The Cypriot people know and understand what is at stake ... I have complete confidence in their judgement."

"Congratulations & best wishes to President-Elect @Christodulides! #UKCYties are long, strong, and important to the UK & its people. I look forward to working with you & your team across our bilateral & #Commonwealth partnership & in support of your efforts on Cyprus Settlement," tweeted Irfan Siddiq, British High Commissioner to Cyprus. (ANI)
A protest took place in front of the Balochistan Lasbela Press Club on Monday against the enforced disappearances orchestrated by the Pakistani army and for the recovery of the Zehri family. The protestors demonstrated against the enforced disappearance of Rasheeda and her husband Muhammad Rahim. "Against the enforced disappearance of Rasheeda and her husband Muhammad Rahim, their family protested in front of Lasbela Press Club Hub. A large number of people from political and student organizations of different schools of thought participated in the protest. #SaveZehriFamily," tweeted Voice for Baloch Missing Persons. As per reports, the Pakistani army was behind the enforced disappearance. Due to the enforced disappearance of Rasheeda and her husband Muhammad Rahim their daughter is left without the parents. "Urgent: Dua Zehri from Balochistan has been left without her parents, Abdul Rahim & Rasheeda, who were unjustly abducted by Pakistani forces. Let's amplify her voice & bring a social media activist. The mother of Rahim Zehri, who herself became a victim of enforced disappearance, participated in the protest held in front of Kohta Press on Tuesday, February 14, at 3 o'clock for Baloch Missing Persons for the recovery of her son Rahim Zehri and her daughter-in-law Rashida Zehri. In 2022 alone Pakistan Army forcibly disappeared 629, extrajudicially killed 195, and tortured 187 people. In January 2023, 92 people disappeared, 15 were murdered, and 1 was tortured by the Army, reported International Forum for Right and Security (IFFRAS). According to recent figures released by COIOED in July 2022, a total of 8,696 missing person cases have been reported. While 6,513 of these cases have been solved, 2,219 are still pending, as per DW news.Despite efforts by civil society, there is no end to the issue of enforced disappearances in Pakistan. The irony is that successive Pakistan governments have pledged to end the practice of enforced disappearances but there is no end to it, said Canada-based think tank, IFFRAS. (ANI)
Pakistan Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on Monday vowed to provide foolproof security for Chinese nationals in Gwadar, reported The Balochistan Post. "All locals and foreign nationals would be provided foolproof security", said Sanaullah while reviewing the security arrangements. The interior minister visited Gwadar and reviewed security arrangements for the Chinese nationals. He was thoroughly briefed about the law and order situation in Gwadar and Mekran. Sanaullah stated that one percent of all CPEC projects are allocated for security purposes, reported The Balochistan Post. Notably, the development comes after Pakistan directed the Chinese nationals to hire private firms for security, after a suicide bomber ripped apart a mosque at Peshawar's Police Lines and left around 100 people, mostly policemen dead. The Punjab Home Department directed the Chinese nationals living in the province or working with private companies to hire private security companies of A category for their security. In 2014, the Punjab government established the Special Protection Unit (SPU) as a dedicated unit for the security of foreigners working on different projects of national importance. As many as 3,336 security constables, 187 drivers, 20 wireless operators, 244 former army personnel in the rank of senior security constable to the chief security officer and seven former army officers in the rank of additional director & deputy director were recruited in the SPU, reported Dawn. Keeping in view the job requirement, the personnel were imparted six months of rigorous training at four police training schools by professional trainers. Presently, 3,829 officers and personnel of the SPU along with 2,552 attached personnel from districts are providing security to 7,567 Chinese working at four CPEC and 27 non-CPEC projects in the province. They are also providing security to the Chinese residing at 70 residences and 24 camps in the province, reported Dawn. Meanwhile, SPU DIG Agha Yousuf said that due to an increase in terror incidents in the country, the security of the Chinese officials working on government projects had been beefed up further. He said the SPU was deployed for the security of the Chinese nationals working only on the CPEC and other government-related projects and added that the Chinese nationals working with private projects or visiting the country on their own were directed to hire security companies for their security. Yousuf added that the government was paying for the security of the Chinese nationals working on government projects but they could not deploy SPU personnel everywhere and the government could not pay for the security of Chinese nationals working with private companies, reported Dawn. He said the Chinese nationals working with private companies or running their personal business would have to hire their own security and the home department would evaluate the company. (ANI)
Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan interacted with the 'vibrant' Indian diaspora in Sydney and said that he is proud of their contributions to strengthening the India-Australia relationship. "An engaging interaction with the vibrant Indian Diaspora in Sydney. Happy to see that the community reflects and espouses India's rich diversity, its cultural heritage, and traditions in Australia. Proud of their contributions in strengthening India-Australia relationship," Muraleedharan tweeted. MoS Muraleedharan had a stopover at Sydney on his way to Fiji to attend the World Hindi Conference. During his halt in Sydney, the Union minister met with Australia India Business Council National Chair, Jodi McKay, and discussed ways to foster trade and business relationships between their countries. Muraleedharan, along with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will attend the 12th edition of the World Hindi Conference, which will be co-hosted by the Governments of India and Fiji, and will take place on February 15-17 in Nadi. "This would be EAM's first visit to Fiji. The visit, first by an incoming Ministerial delegation after the formation of the new Government in Fiji in December 2022, would include bilateral meetings with the new leadership of Fiji. The visit comes close on the heels of the first high-level visit to India by Deputy Prime Minister Professor Biman Prasad on 5-10 February 2023," a statement said. Earlier this month, the MEA said that the decision to hold the event in Fiji was taken during the World Hindi Conference in Mauritius last year. Addressing a special media briefing, MEA (East), Saurabh Kumar said, "The Prime Minister always uses Hindi and has given various speeches in the language in India as well as abroad. This has increased the language's value and more people have been motivated to use it." A 270-member delegation from India will visit Fiji for the event and representatives from 50 countries are expected to participate in it. Fiji is an archipelago of more than 300 islands in the South Pacific. "The theme for the event is 'Hindi - Traditional Knowledge to Artificial Intelligence' where on one side we are respecting our traditional knowledge and on the other side, showing that Hindi has been successful in walking along with the technological advancements," Kumar said. The MEA Secretary said that the Indian government is giving large importance to the Hindi language but the language has made limited progress at the United Nations. "UN press releases are now available in Hindi. We are trying to get Hindi its rightful place at the UN," Kumar said. The upcoming conference will comprise 10 parallel sessions. (ANI)
Commemorating the 110th anniversary of Tibet's Declaration of Independence Tibet has called for an independent fact-finding mission from the United Nations (UN). The request was to hold China accountable for the mistreatment of Tibet's people and culture, reported Tibet Rights Collective (TRC). In the declaration of Tibet's independence on February 13, 1913, the 13th Dalai Lama proclaimed that his country had been independent for well over 1000 years. This was the incident that marked an end to the period of domination by China's Qing (Manchu) dynasty. However, the period of self-rule and independence ended very soon for Tibet as in 1949 China unlawfully occupied Tibet. According to the report by TRC a Delhi-based research institute, The United Nations, as an institution, has largely failed to hold China accountable for the ongoing crisis in Tibet. Referring to the last human rights commissioner's visit 24 years ago in 1985. TRC report also claimed that no meaningful investigations have taken place regarding the incidents that are happening in Tibet regarding the mistreatment of Tibetans. As arbitrary detentions, prison deaths, self-immolation incidents and enforced disappearances still continue to happen in the area. The fact-finding and investigative missions from the UN must consider the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) harmful "environmental policies" in Tibet, and question CCP about the whereabouts of Tibet's Panchen Lama, who was abducted in 1995. The report also highlights that the CCP has been aggressively focusing on controlling the process of narratives around the reincarnation of the 14th Dalai Lama and Sinicizing Tibetan religion, language, culture, tradition and education. However, recently UN experts had expressed how around a million children of the Tibetan minority were being affected by Chinese government policies aimed at assimilating Tibetan people culturally, religiously and linguistically through a residential school system. The report also suggested that there is a need to address Tibet's situation whenever there is a discussion about China's activities like the Uyghur genocide and threats to Taiwan and Hongkong. The report called upon the policymakers to exhaustively address Tibet's issues and call for an investigation into the human rights situation of Tibet. It is time that UN sends an independent Fact-Finding Mission to Tibet, the world's Third Pole. As we celebrate the 110th anniversary of Tibet's Independence Day, let us urge the UN to stay true to its commitments and avowed aim of standing up for Human Rights. (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday via video conference, according to official information. "Today PM Modi will interact with French President Emmanuel Macron via VC at 4:30 pm," an official said. Ties between India and France have grown closer in the last few years. Recently, in January, India - France strategic dialogue between national security advisor Ajit Doval and Emmanuel Bonne, the diplomatic advisor to the French President concluded in New Delhi. During the dialogue, all facets of the Indo-French strategic partnership were discussed, including counterterrorism collaboration, cyber security, space policy, significant global and regional challenges including the conflict in Ukraine, and cooperation in the Indo-Pacific. As the first bilateral visit of the year, the dialogue between India and France aimed to pave the way for an ambitious expansion of the Indo-French strategic partnership as it marks its 25th anniversary this year. PM Modi and President Macron share a warm relationship. When India assumed the G20 presidency, the French President exuded confidence in India's leadership. Taking to his official Twitter handle, Macron stressed that he trusts his friend Prime Minister Narendra Modi to unite everyone to establish peace and a sustainable world. Emmanuel Macron tweeted, "One Earth. One Family. One Future. India has taken over the presidency of #G20India! I trust my friend @NarendraModi to bring us together in order to build peace and a more sustainable world." The last official meeting between the two leaders took place at the G20 summit in Indonesia. PM Modi held discussions with the French President on the issues of civil nuclear collaboration on the sidelines of the G20 Summit held in Bali, Indonesia. The two leaders reviewed ongoing collaboration in diverse areas like defence, civil nuclear, trade, and investment. They also welcomed the deepening of cooperation in new areas of economic engagement. Regional and global issues of mutual interest were also discussed, read the Ministry of External Affairs press release. France is one of India's premier global and Indo-Pacific partners. Both sides reaffirmed that their strategic partnership has a vital role in advancing peace, stability, and security in the Indo-Pacific region. Even in CoP 27, the French President was seen lauding India's progress in the field of renewable energy and said that the "ambition levels in India are high." In his address at United Nations' COP27 conference, he said, "Ambition levels in India are high when it comes to renewables." (ANI)
Germany's Federal Foreign Offices Special Envoy for International Climate Action Jennifer Morgan is set to visit India to address a press briefing on climate change, according to an official statement from the Embassy of Germany here. The event will be followed by Morgan's talk focusing on Climate Change named 'From Shram-El-Sheikh to Dubai' of German Ambassador to India Philipp Ackermann's residence on Wednesday, the statement said. The upcoming event in New Delhi is another addition to several visits by Morgan. Earlier she had also interacted with Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University students in Riyadh. She had also met with her Saudi Arabian counterpart Adel Al-Jubeir who assumed his office in May 2022. Morgan also had a meeting with the Director General of the International Renewable Energy Agency Francesco La Camera and envoys from the UK to address the same issue. Earlier regarding the climate change issue and her mission, Morgan had stated in an official video, "The climate crisis is one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century if not the greatest challenge. It endangers stability and peace worldwide and weakens human rights. The climate crisis exacerbates migration and inequalities and threatens nature and our cultural heritage and it is a heavy burden for our children. The good news is we have it in our own hands to limit the effects of the climate crisis. To do this we must act together and act as a global community." As the Federal Foreign Offices Special Envoy for International Climate Action I will do everything to resolutely implement the Paris Climate Agreement, we must limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. And to do this we need radical cooperation and deep climate collaboration, especially in these very difficult times. Germany stands for global climate justice. We stand for solidarity with the countries and population groups particularly impacted by the climate crisis. We need everyone for the necessary change: civil society and social movements, scientists, companies and trade unions, indigenous people, young people, women and girls and many others. Let us move forward together. Overcoming the climate crisis is a fundamental necessity and a prerequisite for a sustainable and peaceful future. That is where I see my mission". (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday virtually attended the launch of the new Air India-Airbus partnership. The Tata group will buy 250 aircraft from Airbus, in what is the world's largest aviation deal in history. PM Modi expressed gratitude to the French President for participating in the launch of the Air India-Airbus partnership. He said that the deal shows the "deepening ties" between India and France and reflection of India's successes and expectations in the civil aviation sector. In his remarks, PM Modi said, "I would like to express my heartiest congratulations and best wishes on this landmark agreement between Air India and Airbus. My special thanks to my friend President Macron for joining us in this event." "This important deal not only demonstrates the ever-deepening relations between India and France. But, are also reflections of India's successes and expectations in the civil aviation sector," he added. PM Modi said that the civil aviation sector is an integral part of India's development and stressed that strengthening civil aviation is an important aspect of the national infrastructure strategy of India. He stated that the number of airports in India have reached 147 from 74 in the past eight years. "Today our civil aviation sector is an integral part of India's development. Strengthening civil aviation is an important aspect of our national infrastructure strategy. In the last eight years, the number of airports in India have jumped from 74 to 147, which means it has nearly doubled. "Our regional air connectivity scheme called UDAN has helped provide air connectivity to remote areas of our country and this is further promoting economic as well as social development in the near future," he further added. In his remarks, PM Modi said, "India will become third-largest market in the world in the aviation sector according to several estimates India will need over 2,000 aircraft in the next 15 years. The historic announcement today will help in catering to this increasing demand under the Make in India-Make for the World vision. Several new opportunities are opening up in aerospace manufacturing under India's 'Make in India - Make for the World' vision." Highlighting ties between India and France, PM Modi said, "Whether it is the issue of security and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, or global food security and health security, India and France together are making a positive contribution." Civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, veteran industrialist Ratan Tata, and other leaders were also present during the virtual conference. The deal includes 40 A350 wide-body ultra-long-range aircraft. The rest will be narrow-body aircraft. Tata Sons Chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran stated that they have signed a letter of intent to acquire 250 aircraft from Airbus. "We have built a very good relationship with Airbus. Today I am happy to announce that we have signed a letter of intent to acquire 250 aircrafts from Airbus," said Chandrasekaran, at a virtual unveiling of the announcement. "We have significant options to increase the fleet orders once we grow," he added. (ANI)
United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Tuesday welcomed a "momentous deal for Airbus and Rolls-Royce" to provide new aircraft for Air India. The deal will support and create highly skilled jobs in Wales and Derbyshire and help boost exports and grow the economy, according to an official statement. The Tata group will buy 250 aircraft from Airbus, in what is the world's largest aviation deal in history. "The Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch have welcomed a momentous deal for Airbus and Rolls-Royce to provide new aircraft for Air India, which is worth billions of pounds to the UK," UK's Department for International Trade said in a press release. "The agreement announced by the companies this morning (Tuesday 14 February) will support and create new highly skilled jobs in Wales and Derbyshire, helping to boost exports, grow the economy and level up the UK," it further said. According to the press release, a significant portion of the manufacturing process for the new aircraft is expected to take place in the UK. "The wings will be designed in Filton, and assembled in Broughton, which is expected to bring an additional 450 manufacturing jobs and more than 100m of investment to Wales. The large A350 aircraft are exclusively powered by Rolls-Royce XWB engines, which are assembled and tested in Derby, " the press release said. The UK's aerospace sector added 10.6bn in value to the UK economy in 2021 and employed 111,000 high-skilled people, it added. The UK's Department for International Trade in the press release noted, "India is a major economic power, projected to be the world's third-largest economy with a quarter of a billion middle class consumers by 2050. We are currently negotiating a free trade agreement that would boost our 29.6 billion trading relationship." UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stated that the Air India deal with Airbus and Rolls-Royce shows "sky's the limit" for the UK's aerospace sector. "This landmark deal between Air India, Airbus and Rolls-Royce demonstrates that the sky's the limit for the UK's thriving aerospace sector," Sunak said. "It will create better-paid jobs and new opportunities in manufacturing hubs from Derby to Wales, so we can grow the economy and support our agenda to level up - helping to deliver on my five priorities for the country," he added. He further said, "The UK is already a top investment destination, and by building trade ties with growing economic powers like India we will ensure UK businesses remain at the forefront of global growth and innovation." UK Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch called it a "significant win" for UK's aerospace sector. Badenoch stressed that the UK is currently negotiating a trade deal with India which could boost trade by up to 28 billion a year by 2035. "This is a significant win for the UK's world-leading aerospace sector and one which will help to secure thousands of highly skilled jobs across the country and drive economic growth. It's a shot in the arm for UK exports as we aim to sell 1 trillion of goods and services a year to the world by the end of the decade," Kemi Badenoch stated in the press release. "We're currently negotiating a trade deal with India which could boost trade by up to 28 billion a year by 2035. Export wins like this are another big step to our nations forming a closer trading relationship," he added. (ANI)
Keeping in view the increasing need for women empowerment, the inception meeting of the G20 Empowerment and progression of the Women's Economic Representation (EMPOWER) group of the Ministry of Women and Child Development was held recently. Empowerment and women's rights were the key areas of discussion. During the G20 Empower Inception meeting on Saturday, Union Minister Smriti Irani highlighted the three focus areas under India's G20 Presidency. These three areas include -- "Women's Entrepreneurship: A win-win for Equity and Economy", "Partnership for promoting women's leadership at all levels including at grassroots" and "Education, the key to women's empowerment and equal workforce participation". "G20 Empower Inception Meeting was held in Agra today. Historically, women have been accorded immense honour & respect in India. In line with our civilisational ethos & Women-led Development as envisioned by PM @narendramodi Ji, @g20org will further bolster @g20empower. #G20India," tweeted Irani, Minister of Women and Child Development. The Vision of G20 EMPOWER is to "Be the most inclusive and action-driven alliance among businesses and Governments to accelerate women's leadership and empowerment across the G20 countries." India's G20 Presidency is inclusive, equitable, ambitious, decisive and action-oriented pushing forward transformative changes for women's economic empowerment. "G20 Empower under India's G20 Presidency will focus on Entrepreneurship, Leadership and Education among women. Today's Inception Meeting in Agra was themed on the importance of Digital Skilling and Future Skills to empower women towards leading across sectors. #G20India," added Irani. The G20 EMPOWER 2023 under India's Presidency is prioritizing the shift from women's development to women-led development. It aims to transform challenges into opportunities accelerating the shift towards women-led entrepreneurship and greater inclusion of women in the workforce. The Ministry of Women and Child Development is India's nodal ministry for G20 EMPOWER. Dr Sangita Reddy, Joint Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals Enterprises Ltd is the Chair of EMPOWER 2023 during India's G20 Presidency. Under India's G20 Presidency, EMPOWER will host three meetings in February, April, and June 2023 at Agra, Thiruvananthapuram and Bhopal respectively. The consensus that emerges from the thematic discussions in these meetings would form part of the Communique for the G20 EMPOWER 2023 and would be provided as recommendations to the G20 leaders. G20 EMPOWER 2023 will focus on women's entrepreneurship, as a win-win for equity and the economy; creating a partnership for promoting women's leadership at grass root levels and on education, as a game-changing pathway for women's empowerment. Digital skilling will be a cross-cutting theme across the three focus areas. The inception meeting on February 11th-12th at Agra, Uttar Pradesh welcomed women leaders from G20 nations, guest countries, international organisations and the private sector. The theme of the meeting was "Empowering Women to Lead across Sectors: Role of Digital Skilling and Future Skills". Efforts of the G20 EMPOWER are an important step towards galvanising women-centric policies across G20 countries. Closing the digital gender gap is imperative, fostering digital gender inclusion and addressing the root causes of this divide will accelerate progress. At the time of taking over the chairpersonship of G20 EMPOWER Indonesia, Dr Sangita Reddy, Chair of G20 EMPOWER emphasized that achieving gender parity in labour force participation and the G20 agenda of achieving "25 by 25" is a significant milestone that we need to pursue. She urged all women who have held positions of power and men who understand the value of gender equity to step forward and help build an equitable world with collaborative and concerted action. Education, training, digital skilling, sustainable financing and equal pay for equal work are some of the factors that will drive women employment, enhance entrepreneurship and help build a developed nation in the "Amrit Kaal (golden age)". The website of the G20 EMPOWER will act as the information and resource centre for all EMPOWER activities and on focus areas during India's G20 Presidency. The aim of the website is to take the EMPOWER message to the people - "Yatra Naryastu Pujyante Ramante Tatra Devata" or When Women are Honoured, Divinity Blossoms there. (ANI)
US President Joe Biden on Tuesday (local time) spoke with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the historic agreement for Air India to purchase over 200 American-made aircraft from Boeing. Biden noted how the sale will support over one million American jobs across 44 states, and help Air India meet growing demands for air transportation in India, read a White House statement. "President Joe Biden spoke with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier today. They discussed the historic agreement for Air India to purchase over 200 American-made aircraft from Boeing," said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. Air India, which will buy 250 aircraft from Airbus, has also selected Boeing for the purchase of up to 290 planes as part of its growth strategy. President Biden and PM Modi also discussed the importance of the strategic technology partnership between India and the United States, highlighting the recent inaugural launch of the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology hosted in Washington two weeks ago, added the statement. During the call, the two leaders reaffirmed the strength of the US-India relationship and committed to continue working together and in groups like the Quad to advance economic growth for our two countries and expand cooperation on our shared priorities. "They also discussed the importance of the strategic technology partnership between India & US. The two leaders reaffirmed the strength of the US-India relationship and committed to continue working together and in groups like the Quad," said Karine Jean-Pierre. Prime Minister Narendra Modi "had a warm and productive" phone call with US President Joe Biden in which the two leaders welcomed the landmark agreement between Air India and Boeing as a "shining example of mutually beneficial cooperation". The two leaders expressed satisfaction at the deepening of the India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership, which has resulted in robust growth in all domains. "They welcomed the announcement of a landmark agreement between Air India and Boeing as a shining example of mutually beneficial cooperation that will help create new employment opportunities in both countries," a PMO release said. Boeing said, in a statement, that Air India has selected up to 290 of its jets to serve its strategy for sustainable growth. It said Air India has selected 190 737 MAX, 20 787 Dreamliner and 10 777X airplanes. The agreement between Boeing and Air India includes options for 50 additional 737 MAXs and 20 787-9s aircraft. PM Modi invited Boeing and other US companies to make use of the opportunities arising due to the expanding civil aviation sector in India. "The United States can and will lead the world in manufacturing. I am proud to announce today the purchase of over 200 American-made aircraft through a historic agreement between Air India and Boeing," said Biden. "This purchase will support over one million American jobs across 44 states, and many will not require a four-year college degree. This announcement also reflects the strength of the US-India economic partnership. Together with Prime Minister Modi, I look forward to deepening our partnership even further as we continue to confront shared global challenges--creating a more secure and prosperous future for all of our citizens," he added. (ANI)
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday held a bilateral meeting with Zambian counterpart Ambrosa Lufuma on the sidelines of Aero India 2023 in Bengaluru. "Had fruitful discussions with Zambia's Defence Minister, Mr. Ambrose Lufuma on the sidelines of #AeroIndia2023 in Bengaluru," he tweeted. The five-day Aero India show, began at the Air Force Station in Yelahanka, Bengaluru on February 13. Rajnath Singh also met with Italian Minister of State for Defence Matteo Perego Di Cremnago in Bengaluru. He tweeted, "Glad to interact with the Italian Minister of State for Defence, Mr. Matteo Perego Di Cremnago in Bengaluru." Rajnath Singh held a meeting with Algeria's Secretary of the Ministry of National Defence Mohammed Salah Benbicha on the sidelines of Aero India in Bengaluru. He tweeted, "Happy to have met Algeria's Secretary General of Ministry of National Defence, Mr. Mohammad Salah Benbicha on the sidelines of #AeroIndiaShow in Bengaluru." Defence Minister Rajnath Singh hosted the Defence and Deputy Defence Ministers of 27 countries at the Defence Ministers' Conclave held on the sidelines of Aero India 2023 in Bengaluru on Tuesday, said a press release by the Ministry of Defence. The broad theme of the conclave was 'Shared Prosperity through Enhanced Engagements in Defence' (SPEED). It sought to address aspects related to deepening cooperation for capacity building (through investments, R&D, joint ventures, co-development, co-production and provisioning of defence equipment), training, space, AI and maritime security to grow together. In his inaugural address, the Defence Minister highlighted the need for greater cooperation in an increasingly complex global security scenario. Singh stated that any major change in the domain of economy, security, health or climate has global reverberations and when peace and security of any region are threatened, the entire world feels its impact in multiple ways. He reaffirmed India's stand for a rules-based international order, in which "the primordial instinct of the might being right is replaced by the civilisational concept of fairness, cooperation, respect and equality amongst all sovereign nations". He asserted that untethered to any faction or alliance of one group of nations against another, India has worked ceaselessly for the upliftment of all nations, especially developing ones. (ANI)
During the discussion between Minister Goyal and High Commissioner Moragoda, which was held in a very cordial manner, a wide range of issues pertaining to the areas of bilateral trade and commerce, particularly aiming at the economic recovery in Sri Lanka, was discussed, read High Commission of Sri Lanka press release.

Mechanisms relating to the expansion of bilateral trade, the ways to establish and promote rupee trade between Sri Lanka and India as a means of economic recovery in Sri Lanka, and the possibility of further bilateral integration in the textiles and garment sector were among the key issues discussed between the Indian Commerce Minister and the Sri Lankan High Commissioner.

Moragoda thanked India for the unprecedented support that it has extended to Sri Lanka to mitigate the negative impact of the economic crisis.

Recalling India's timely issuance of financial assurances to the IMF, the first creditor to do so, High Commissioner Moragoda emphasized the key role that India could play in the recovery phase of the Sri Lankan economy, added the press release.

India sent financing assurances to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), becoming the first of Sri Lanka's creditors to officially back the crisis-hit island nation's debt restructuring programme.

This takes Sri Lanka one step closer to getting a crucial USD 2.9-billion package from the IMF, made contingent on "receiving financing assurances from Sri Lanka's official creditors and making a good faith effort to reach a collaborative agreement with private creditors."

Notably, China, Japan, and India are Sri Lanka's three largest bilateral lenders.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in January visited Sri Lanka and said that India is committed to increase investment flows to Sri Lanka to hasten its economic recovery.

During his visit, India and Sri Lanka discussed cooperation in infrastructure, connectivity, energy, industry and health.

Jaishankar's visit to the island nation came at a crucial time as Sri Lanka has been making efforts to obtain an extended fund facility from International Monetary Fund. (ANI)
A 13-year-old Georgia girl who went to the emergency room with a headache died from undiagnosed leukemia less than 12 hours later.

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Julia Chavez was a student at Harlem Middle School in Columbia County. According to the Augusta Chronicle, she had an ear infection and headache over the weekend and was prescribed antibiotics at a local urgent care.

The teen collapsed on Sunday and was taken to the hospital in Augusta, where CT scans and bloodwork revealed she had leukemia.

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She had bleeding in her brain, lungs, stomach... everywhere, her father, Dennis Lee Chavez, wrote on social media. Thats where we found out she had leukemia. It came on so hard and so fast. Doctors told us there was no way we could have known.

Chavez died at 1:35 a.m. Monday, just hours after she was admitted.

Family members told the Chronicle that the only symptom she had was occasional bruising, but they chalked that up to her being somewhat of a tomboy.

Her teacher, Caroline Pinkston, said her 5th-period classroom isnt the same.

Julia was the kindest, most big-hearted child I think Ive ever met; even her speaking voice was sweet. She would talk to anyone and make them feel friended, Pinkston wrote.

Julia will be buried in Grovetown on Friday.

The family has set up Venmo and CashApp accounts to help with funeral and medical expenses.

Venmo: @Jenna-Randall,

CashApp: $jennabear1987.




UPDATE: A 17-year-old boy shot and killed in Carrick Monday night has been identified.

Damonte Hardrick was identified by the Allegheny County Medical Examiner.

He was found in a bedroom in a residence in the 100 block of Parkfield Street around 10 p.m.

_______

ORIGINAL STORY: A 17-year-old boy was shot and killed in Carrick Monday night.

According to Allegheny County 911, crews were called to the scene in the 100 block of Parkfield Street at 10:02 p.m.

A 17 year old boy is shot and killed in Carrick. Live reports until 7 am on Channel 11 News with the latest on the investigation. #wpxi pic.twitter.com/55wg1sxY9W  Lori Houy (@WPXI_Lori) February 14, 2023

Once on scene, first responders found the victim inside a bedroom in the residence with a fatal gunshot wound to the head. The victim was hit once, but police said at least two shots were fired.

Officials initially said five people were in the residence at the time of the shooting but have since said that seven people were there.

This happened across the street from Carrick High School.

There is no information on any potential suspects at this time.

Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.

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El Paso County sheriff's detectives arrested a man and a woman over the weekend in connection with a dog attack that seriously injured a senior citizen last month in Tornillo.

Felix Castillo, 45, and Debora Castillo, 24, both of Tornillo, were each arrested Saturday on a dog attack charge following an investigation by the Sheriff's Office, authorities said.

The two were each released from the El Paso County Jail on a $10,000 bond on the same day as their arrest, according to a jail log.

More:Bailey the dog was lost in El Paso. Then she found her old shelter and rang the door bell.

Under Texas law, dog owners can be charged with a third-degree felony if an unsecured dog attacks a person unprovoked and causes serious injury.

On the afternoon of Jan. 30, a woman was hospitalized in stable condition after being bitten several times on her face, arms and legs by a pit bull and a bulldog in the 200 block of Oil Mill Drive in Tornillo, the Sheriff's Office said. The sheriff's Animal Welfare Unit ticketed the dogs' owners and seized the animals to be euthanized.

Gangster pet:Hairless cat with Mexicles gang tattoo seized at Juarez state prison

Last month, an 11-year-old child and two other people also were bitten and injured in separate and unrelated dog attacks near Horizon City and in far East El Paso. The Sheriff's Office is cautioning dog owners to keep their pets properly confined to their property and on a leash when out in public.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: 2 arrested in pit bull, bulldog attack that hurt El Paso County woman
Police officers near the scene where the shooting suspect was located at Michigan State University - Reuters

A survivor of the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre was locked down during a shooting at Michigan State University (MSU) on Monday in which three students were killed and five others wounded.



Jackie Matthews posted an emotional video pleading for Americas gun laws to be tightened.



I am 21 years old, and this is the second mass shooting that I have now lived through, she said on footage uploaded to TikTok.



She was a pupil at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Connecticut where 20 students and six staff were gunned down.

Mondays attack unfolded at 8.15pm when Anthony Dwayne McRae, 43, entered a classroom and started firing, killing two people before moving onto the MSU union building, where he claimed his third life.

The three students were named as Brian Fraser and Arielle Anderson, both of Grosse Pointe, and Alexandria Verner of Clawson.

McRae fled the campus and, following a tip from a member of the public, was confronted by police several miles from the college campus, where he turned the gun on himself.



He had no links to the college and police said there was no clear motive. He had owned a gun which was confiscated by police but obtained another weapon.

McRae left a two-page note in which he wrote of "finishing off" Lansing as well as reportedly threatening schools in New Jersey, where he grew up.



His sister, Melinda, said she was shocked by what had happened, describing her brother as socially isolated.



My mom said that Anthony is going to be the death of her, she told CNN.



Hes always been like the oddball of the family. But hes been taken care of. My parents took care of us.

Now a senior at MSU, Ms Matthews made her plea from a room across the street from where McRae embarked on a deadly shooting spree before killing himself.

The fact that this is the second mass shooting that I have now lived through is incomprehensible, she added, while discussing her experience of PTSD.

But we can no longer just provide love and prayers. It needs to be legislation that needs to be actioned. Its not okay. We can no longer allow this to happen. We can no longer be complacent.



Two other MSU pupils survived the attack on Oxford High School where four pupils were killed in late 2021.



According to the Gun Violence Archive, the Michigan attack was the 67th mass shooting in the US since the start of the year.



It took place on the fifth anniversary of the slaughter of 14 pupils and three staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Courtesy Lindsey Spero

Last Friday, Lindsey Spero woke up early to make the four-hour drive from St. Petersburg to Tallahassee to testify in front of Floridas boards of medicine and osteopathic medicine.

They and a dozen other trans organizers expected a ban on gender-affirming care for minors to be approved, but they had been angered by Gov. Ron DeSantiss increasing attacks on trans kids and wanted their voices to be heard. Spero, who is 25 and nonbinary, waited through three hours of testimony from dozens of youth and their families before it was his turn to speak.

Though he was nervous, he told BuzzFeed News when he arrived at the podium he felt a wave of calm wash over him as he devoted his allotted two and half minutes to injecting his testosterone in front of the board.

I could stand here and tell you about the times that I tried to end my life because I didnt have access to gender-affirming care, but I know you dont care, Spero said during the testimony. I see you sneering at us while we come here and talk to you. Instead, Im going to take the rest of my time to demonstrate the sacred and weekly ritual of my shot in front of you in this body.

Spero then opened up his supply kit, which he had laid out on the podium, took out his syringe, and placed the cap in his mouth. He drew back the needle before placing the subcutaneous shot in his stomach.

When they finished, Spero raised their fist and shouted, Trans liberation today, tomorrow, forever, before the crowd behind them cheered and stood in solidarity.

Meanwhile, online trans activists watched the hearings from afar, including civil rights attorney Alejandra Caraballo, who first posted the clip of Spero on Twitter . It garnered millions of views across social media.

Lindsey Spero, a 25 year old trans masc person from St. Petersburg, FL left the medical board in stunned silence as he used his allotted time to administer his HRT in front of them to show what his care actually looks like. 09:01 PM - 10 Feb 2023

Spero wouldnt know until much later that thousands of people would see his testimony. In the moment, however, he only felt angry at how much he and his community have to fight for their right to healthcare.

Story continues

I felt anger and this kind of holy rage that comes from knowing that you have no choice but to fight and that your fight is justified, Spero told BuzzFeed News. My hands stopped shaking and my voice became steady. I was able to slow down and look into each of their eyes. I could see the fear in their eyes and I could see in that moment how unsure they were of themselves.

Spero said they spent a week planning their speech and action, consulting with queer elders about what to do in case they were escorted out of the room or arrested. They hoped that injecting their hormones in front of the board would not only demystify what gender-affirming care looks like, but force the regulatory body to see Spero for who he is.

Its crazy how many people have never seen it before, Spero told BuzzFeed News about the process of injecting hormones. The medical board has quite literally heard from everyone  from parents, youth, theyve summoned medical professionals. It seems like they are past the point of being reasoned with, so I felt like action would be a strong show of resistance.

Spero said their actions were inspired by moments of queer and trans resistance throughout history, from the Stonewall Uprising to the activism of ACT UP during the early years of the AIDs epidemic. I recognize that Stonewall and our freedom wasnt won with passiveness and words and public forums, Spero said. It was won with bricks and blood.

Around 4 p.m., the Board of Osteopathic Medicine wrapped up the meeting early by voting to bar transgender youth from receiving hormone therapy and puberty blockers  even those participating in clinical trials. The rule doesnt apply to those currently being prescribed medication. A spokesperson with the Florida Department of Health told the Tampa Bay Times that there is no start date for the rules to take effect.

The decision enraged the crowd of 200 or so trans families and youth, who erupted into chants, shouting Trans Lives Matter until they were all escorted from the building.

That evening, on the drive back to St. Petersburg, Spero stopped with their friends at Waffle House to debrief. It was a great way to just sit together and enjoy a meal and feel like we could be safe for a moment, Spero said.

Spero doesnt feel like their actions on Friday were particularly special, but they said they have been overwhelmed by the response and love of their trans community in Florida  and from trans people across the country who saw their testimony online. Spero said they did not have that kind of support growing up in a strict evangelical household in Pennsylvania, where they said they were subjected to conversion therapy and eventually kicked out for being trans at age 18.

It is a radical act to continue to simply live here and exist here and be ourselves. This is our home too, and were going to fight tooth and nail for it, Spero said. My community is still gathering, still going to drag brunches, getting together and making posters. Were still radically loving each otherand building community outside of a capitalistic binary structure..its filled with all the love and hope and home and safety that weve needed our entire lives. The only way for them to stop us is to put us in the ground.

More on this
Orange County deputies are investigating at least three shootings in the past 24 hours that has killed at least two people.

One of the victims was just 17 years old.

The first incident was a double shooting on Silver Star Road in the Pine Hills area, where the teen was killed near Hastings Street last night.

READ: At least 5 injured in shooting at Michigan State University; suspect at large

Then, about 10 minutes south of that on Kirkman Road, a man was killed overnight.

Seven miles south of that, on Long Iron Drive not far from the Mall at Millenia, is the scene of the latest shooting.

Several bullet holes had pierced the side of a car where two people were found shot. The car also slammed into a wall, causing damage. The car has since been towed away.

READ: Deputies: Boy, 17, killed, 2 others injured in related Orange County shootings

Deputies said two people in the car went to the hospital and have injuries, but are expected to recover.

Deputies said they are not cooperating with the investigation.

READ: Palm Bay man, 24, shot, killed man, 48, over relationship with his mother, police say

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[Source]

Approximately 300 protesters marched through Houston's Chinatown on Saturday in opposition to a proposed law that would prohibit Chinese citizens from owning property in Texas.

If passed, Bill 147, filed by Republican State Sen. Lois Kolkhorst in November 2022, will effectively prevent people with ties to four countries  China, Russia, North Korea and Iran  from purchasing Texas property or real estate.

Kolkhorst, who claims it is necessary for national security, has said it would not impact legal residents or green cardholders.

Critics of the bill, however, point out that it has not addressed the issue of dual nationals and it has not clarified legal protections.

More from NextShark: Malaysia to punish women for out-of-wedlock pregnancies and acting like men

Groups representing immigrants who feel that they will be affected by the bill have been organizing demonstrations to protest its passing.

Asian Americans Leadership Council, one of the leading groups campaigning against the bill, organized the Saturday protest that saw hundreds marching through Chinatown while chanting "Stop Chinese hate" and "Texas is our home."

Protesters made noise by pounding on drums and cymbals while those wearing a Chinese dragon costume joined the march.

Story continues

More from NextShark: Chinas Sichuan province drops ban on unmarried people having children

"For a long time, our community has been used as a scapegoat for the rest of the world," Rep. Gene Wu (D, TX-137), who participated in the march, said. "So during COVID-19 people blamed Asian Americans... We are not responsible for anything that goes on in the rest of the world.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D, TX- 18) also participated in the protest and spoke on the stage.

"No to SB 147, because the Statue of Liberty has not fallen, and the American flag is still standing," she said. "Stop the Asian hate. Stand for the American flag."

On Jan. 29, over 250 protesters flocked to John F. Kennedy Memorial Plaza in downtown Dallas to condemn the bill as discriminatory.

The protest, hosted by DFW Chinese Alliance, included testimonies from community members who shared their concerns about the bills.

Hailong Jin, DFW Chinese Alliances board director, compared the bill to previous anti-Chinese legislation in the U.S., including the Chinese Exclusion Act and Californias Alien Land Law.

The groups also protested against Bill 552, which will hinder companies with links to the four countries from buying agricultural land.
Four people have been arrested in connection to a deadly stabbing in Bath County, according to Kentucky State Police.

On Saturday police found a man suffering from multiple stab wounds in a yard at a home on East High Street in Owingsville, state police said. The victim was pronounced dead and later identified as Christopher Bussell, 41, of Owingsville.

On Monday, state police said they arrested four individuals in connection to the killing. Shannon McCarty, 20, of Owingsville, has been charged with murder and harboring a fugitive; Priscilla Hunt, 42, of Morehead, has been charged with conspiracy to commit murder and harboring a fugitive; Joslyn Brooks, 18, of Stanton, has been charged with conspiracy to commit murder and harboring a fugitive; and Krystal Hardin, 40, of Owingsville, has been charged with conspiracy to commit murder.

State police also arrested Donald Puckett, 45, of Owingsville, on unrelated charges.

Additional charges could be possible pending presentation to a grand jury, state police said.
(Bloomberg) -- As mysteries continue to swirl around the balloon and three other so-far-unidentified objects shot down by the US in recent days, at least one thing has been clear: the weaponry used to knock them out of the sky. Be it the original, alleged Chinese surveillance balloon downed off South Carolina, or the objects targeted over Alaska, Michigan and Canada, all have been shot down by the same type of missile  the AIM-9X Sidewinder.

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Heres what you need to know about it:

Who makes and uses them?

Raytheon Technologies Corp. produces the missile, which comes from a broader class of weaponry that has been in the US arsenal for decades. While the weapons are primarily manufactured for US forces, the missile is also sold in large quantities to a range of American allies. Raytheon says that it has 31 foreign military sales partners, with countries including South Korea, the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia having purchased the missile. Mainly conceived as an air-to-air weapon, the latest AIM-9X version is one that can also be used from the ground and against land-based targets. It is widely deployable in a range of modern aircraft including the F-16 Fighting Falcon and F-22 Raptor aircrafts. This versatility has allowed it break records by helping the advanced F-22 fighter jet score its first air-to-air kill. The US does not disclose the exact number of such missiles in its arsenal, but its likely to be significant with the US Air Force receiving its 10,000th such missile in 2021.

Why are they being used to shoot down UFOs?

Using a missile helps minimize the risk to the pilot of the jet fighter by allowing them to stay at a much larger distance from the target, according to Iain Boyd, the Director of the Center for National Security Initiatives at the University of Colorado. It would have to go much closer to the target to use a cannon and there have been reports of the aircraft sensors being interfered with, he said. While the Sidewinder wasnt designed for shooting down flying objects like balloons, they are cheaper and less likely to destroy payloads on the flying object that officials want to recover, unlike a radar-guided weapon like the AIM-120 AMRAAM medium-range missile, said retired US Air Force Colonel Michael Pietrucha. Their heat-seeking abilities may also make them more well-suited for doing so, he said. "You've got two conditions. In the daytime, you have the sun heating the balloon -- you're shooting from up-sun because it sees this giant sunlight reflection and will absolutely guide on that. And at night the balloon is warmer compared to the night sky," said the former irregular warfare operations officer and electronic warfare instructor who flew 156 combat missions in F-4G and F-15E jets. Even if the flying object does not generate heat, the missile will still be able to find it as its the relationship to the background that matters more, Pietrucha added. "The way you shot down balloons back in the day was incendiary ammunition against a hydrogen balloon. But that was 100-plus years ago."

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How much do they cost?

The US Department of Defense is seeking to procure 255 of the missiles for $111.9 million in the 2023 financial year. That comes out to a cost of $439,000 each. But there are significant discounts involved and other countries will usually need to pay for associated equipment, parts and training costs as well. Malaysia sought to procure just 20 AIM-9X-2 missiles for an estimated $52 million in 2011, for example, after including such secondary costs.

How do they work?

The AIM-9X Sidewinder is a heat-seeking, supersonic, short-range missile. Its main components include an infrared homing guidance section, an active optical target detector, a high-explosive warhead and a rocket motor. The infrared in particular allows the missile to home in on targets in a range of settings at any time of the day. The 186-pound (84 kg) device is powered by solid fuel, and it has a length of 9.9 feet (3 meters). The so-called Block II variant of the missile has enhanced features, including a lock-on-after-launch capability so the pilot shooting the device does not have to rely on just visual aiming. When a pilot aims an AIM-9X, he or she will see a circle on the target on the heads-up display and hear a "growl" in the headset, said former US Air Force fighter pilot Pietrucha: "If you get a good growl, youre locked. The person shooting the missile will have a feedback loop that allows them to assess the quality of the shot.

Whats their history?

Sidewinder missiles have a long history in the US military. They were first developed in the 1950s by the US Navy before being adapted by the US Air Force. It was the first heat-seeking guided missile to become operational. Early variants could only be used at very close range and could not be deployed at night. But subsequent improvements made it an ideal weapon for a variety of situations, and a later version of the missile was used during the Vietnam War. The missile is said to be the most proliferated air-to-air missile in the West with over 100,000 in circulation, according to the University of Colorados Boyd. The AIM-9X is the latest iteration of the Sidewinder and began to be deployed in 2003. Still, defense officials acknowledge their use against unidentified flying objects such as balloons is novel. The military concluded that its smaller warhead and its shorter range allowed the AIM-9X to be deployed more safely and effectively compared to other missiles like the AIM-120, General Glen VanHerck, the commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command and US Northern Command, told reporters on Feb. 6.

--With assistance from Ritsuko Ando.

(Updates throughout with comments from experts. An earlier version corrected a missile figure.)

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Saving $100 on your taxes this year may not sound like much, but making smart tax moves over 40 to 60 years can easily add up to thousands of dollars in savings.

The Future of Finances: Gen Z & How They Relate to Money

Related: 3 Ways Smart People Save Money When Filing Their Taxes

Not sure where to start? Here are several smart tax strategies experts recommend that can benefit you later on in life.

Fill Out Your W-4 Correctly and Check It Regularly

Did you recently get a new job? The W-4 form can be confusing  but its important you fill it out correctly if you want to avoid owing extra money come tax time.

It might be beneficial to spend a few minutes with your tax preparer when completing it or making subsequent adjustments, said Tammy Trenta, founder and CEO of Family Financial. When filling out a W-4, Gen Zers should look to their most recently filed tax return for guidance and consider their current tax situation in case anything has changed.

Changes that can impact your taxes include getting married, having children, going back to school, buying or selling a home, receiving an inheritance or opening a new investment account.

You should also check your tax status on your W-4 throughout the year to make sure its still accurate, said Mark Steber, chief tax information officer at Jackson Hewitt Tax Services. You can adjust the form as needed to get your desired outcome at tax time  whether you want a bigger refund or are looking to pay only what you owe.

Take Our Poll: What Do You Plan To Use Your Tax Refund For?

Invest In Multiple Retirement Accounts

Previous generations could rely  at least in part  on pension plans and Social Security. But Gen Zers may not have that same luxury. So its a good idea to invest in more than one retirement account, such as an employer-sponsored 401(k), a traditional IRA or a Roth IRA, said Steber.

And if youre opening a retirement plan for the first time, you could be eligible for a Savers Tax Credit of up to $1,000 as a single filer, said Trenta. Keep in mind that eligibility and the amount you can claim depends on various factors set by the IRS.

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So which accounts are right for you? If youre in a lower tax bracket, consider investing in a Roth 401(k) or Roth IRA, said Jay Zigmont, CFP and founder of Childfree Wealth. This lets you pay taxes now on the money you put toward retirement so that you can withdraw it tax-free later on.

And if youre healthy, Zigmont recommends contributing to a health savings account (HSA). An HSA allows you to invest up to $3,850 as a single filer, which you may be able to put in the stock market depending on your plan.

The bonus of an HSA is you get a tax break now, it grows tax-free, and as long as you use the money for medical expenses, it comes out tax-free, Zigmont said.

Know What Deductions You Can Take

Steber recommends meeting with your tax preparer around July each year. This way, you can make any adjustments ahead of time and see what deductions you can take.

For example, if youre self-employed, there are many deductions that youll find yourself eligible for, he said. Not only will you be able to deduct business-related expenses, but you can also take a home office deduction.

If youre a student, benefits like the American Opportunity Tax Credit and Lifetime Learning Credit may apply. And those currently investing in cryptocurrency or stocks can deduct any losses on their tax return.

Take Advantage of Bear Markets

If you prefer to invest in stocks, Adam Nash  an adjunct personal finance lecturer at Stanford and CEO of Daffy.org  encourages young people to buy when the market is down.

Investing is one of the only places where people buy when the price is high and sell when the price is low, which is the opposite of what you should do, he said. Young people should take advantage and buy low.

But dont become overly focused on timing the market. One of the smartest money moves young people can make is consistently spending less than they earn and putting extra cash toward long-term, tax-advantaged investments.

Keep Your Records Organized and Always E-File

Get into the habit now of keeping organized financial records, whether physically or digitally, said Steber. This can help you file an accurate tax return each year and keep you prepared in case of an audit.

Additionally, always plan on e-filing your tax return instead of mailing a paper copy to the IRS, he added. This not only is safer but also ensures that your return is accepted and processed faster.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 5 Smart Tax Moves Gen Zers Can Make Now To Benefit Them Later in Life
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP)  The birth of Stanley Francis Rother was by all accounts ordinary, aside from the weather. The Catholic farm boy came into the world during an Oklahoma dust storm.

But in life  and in death  he was extraordinary.

The 46-year-old priest, shot to death in Guatemala in 1981, became the first person born in the United States to be declared a martyr by the Catholic Church.

Now a $50 million shrine built to honor the slain missionary  killed by three masked assassins who entered his rectory during Guatemalas civil war  is expected to draw thousands of pilgrims to his home state.

People from all over the world can come and know more about him and really ask for his intercession, said Maria Ruiz Scaperlanda, author of The Shepherd Who Didnt Run, a 2015 biography of Rother.

A dedication Mass set for Friday will mark the official opening of the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine in Oklahoma City. The Spanish colonial-style structure incorporates a 2,000-seat sanctuary as well as a visitor center, gift shop, museum and smaller chapel that will serve as Rothers final resting place.

The shrine grounds also will feature a re-creation of Tepeyac Hill, the Mexico City site where Catholics believe the Virgin Mary appeared to an Indigenous Mexican man named Juan Diego in 1531. An artist created painted bronze statues of Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Juan Diego  each weighing thousands of pounds  for the Oklahoma site.

Catholic donors funded the shrine, which was constructed debt free, Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul S. Coakley said.

I think there are a lot of different things that will draw people to the campus, whether to honor Mary or Juan Diego or Blessed Stanley Rother, Coakley said. We hope its an opportunity for people to experience faith and grow in their relationship with the Lord.

The Oklahoma complex joins nearly 120 Catholic national and diocesan shrines in 27 states and the District of Columbia, according to the National Association of Shrine and Pilgrimage Apostolate.

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Prior to becoming the Rother shrines executive director in 2020, Leif Arvidson oversaw the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wisconsin, for a decade. About 75,000 pilgrims visited each year, Arvidson said.

He declined to estimate how many visitors the Rother shrine might attract.

Were still somewhat of a minority here, Arvidson said of Oklahomas Catholic population.

Evangelical Protestants make up the largest share of the Bible Belt states adults at 47%, according to the Pew Research Center. Mainline Protestants follow at 18%. Catholics are next at 8%.

I think hell be really special not only to Catholics but to Oklahomans and just people who will recognize the beauty of the virtues that he exhibited  of service and humility and dedication to Gods call in a persons life," Arvidson said.

Zac Craig, the Oklahoma City Convention and Visitors Bureau president and a Southern Baptist, echoed Arvidsons assessment.

It really adds to the cultural mix of diverse attractions that we have.  I think its going to be appealing to all, said Craig, citing the citys new First Americans Museum as well as the national memorial for the 1995 bombing of a federal office building.

Rothers story begins with his 1935 birth in Okarche, a small town about 40 miles northwest of Oklahoma City.

While he served as an altar boy at his hometown Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Rother seemed destined for farm life. He studied vocational agriculture in high school, while his brother, Tom, took a Latin course  a language long associated with Catholicism.

Family members couldnt help but chuckle when Stan  not Tom  later became a clergyman. But the road to the priesthood proved a struggle. He dropped out of his first seminary but eventually graduated from another before his ordination in 1963.

He served several Oklahoma parishes before volunteering for mission work in Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala, in 1968.

During his 13 years in the Central American nation, the priest who once had trouble with Latin learned Spanish and his parishioners Tzutujil language. He worked to translate the New Testaments Gospels into the native dialect.

Amid political and military unrest in the late 1970s, parishioners began disappearing, their bodies found dumped on roadsides. By 1981, Rother knew he was on a hit list, according to the Oklahoma City archdiocese.

His last visit home came a few months before his July 28, 1981, murder. He accepted an invitation to watch his younger cousin, the Rev. Don Wolf, join the priesthood and celebrate his first Mass as a priest that May.

We talked a lot about the dangers that he faced, recalled Wolf, now 67.

But Rother insisted on returning to Guatemala, telling loved ones, The shepherd cannot run.

Rother became one of at least 13 Catholic priests killed during the war, branded as communists in collusion with left-wing revolutionary guerrillas.

Now his cousin will serve as the shrines first rector. Besides welcoming pilgrims, the new church will become the worship place for two of the citys growing Hispanic parishes. They will combine into one  relieving crowding at existing facilities.

Wolf said its an exciting time  both for the memory of his cousin and the chance to grow the church in a state with a rising Latino population.

Stan has become this incredible character, Wolf said of the stories told about Rother. Ive always been proud to be a part of his family. But Ive always felt more closely connected to Stan because Im a priest of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City than because he has the same last name as my mother.

In December 2016, Pope Francis officially recognized Rother as a martyr. In September 2017, in the final step before sainthood, Rother was beatified at a special Mass that drew about 20,000 people, making him the first U.S. priest to be beatified.

For Rother to become a saint, a miracle involving his intercession must be verified.

Its a very rigorous process," Coakley said. The church tends to be very skeptical about claims of miraculous healings, until they can be proven that theyre not attributable to science or anything else.

It could be a long while, the archbishop added. It may never happen, for all we know, because we cant predict how God is going to act.

Scaperlanda, Rothers biographer and an Oklahoma City Catholic, said she loves that a boy reared in humble circumstances in Middle America has a shrine named after him.

Hes ordinary in that sense, and I think thats one of the invaluable gifts he gives us, she said. If he can do it, then I can live out my best life that God put me here to do. I mean, I dont have to be martyred like he was, but to give myself so fully to something, thats a value that I want.

I can ask Father Stan to help me live as he did.

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the APs collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California won't seek reelection in 2024.

The announcement comes as Democrats have already entered the race for Feinstein's seat.

Feinstein, 89, is the oldest senator and longest-serving senator of California.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein announced on Tuesday that she will not seek reelection in 2024 but will finish her current term, following much speculation about her future plans amid growing concerns about her mental fitness and as some Democrats have already entered the race for her California seat.

"I am announcing today I will not run for reelection in 2024 but intend to accomplish as much for California as I can through the end of next year when my term ends," Feinstein said in a statement. "Even with a divided Congress, we can still pass bills that will improve lives."

"Each of us was sent here to solve problems. That's what I've done for the last 30 years, and that's what I plan to do for the next two years," she continued. "My thanks to the people of California for allowing me to serve them."

The path is now cleared for California Senate hopefuls to fight for the open seat held by Feinstein since 1992. Reps. Katie Porter and Adam Schiff have been the first to throw their hats in the ring, and more Democrats are expected to declare their candidacies in what's shaping up to be a fiercely competitive election in the Golden State.

The announcement also comes as Feinstein, 89, has increasingly come under scrutiny over her ability to serve. Multiple reports have suggested she's experiencing cognitive decline, though the longtime lawmaker has dismissed the concerns.

When approached by reporters at the US Capitol about her retirement, Feinstein appeared caught off guard, initially saying she hadn't known her office released the statement, before further commenting on her decision.

"The time has come," Feinstein told reporters. "It's not till the end of next year. So don't hold your breath. There are times for all things under the sun. And I think that will be the right time."

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Sen. Gary Peters, who is returning as Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee chair after the party not only survived an anticipated "red wave" but picked up a seat in the midterms, declined to comment on what's sure to be a messy Democratic primary in California, asking instead for a brief respite to honor Feinstein's "amazing career."

"Right now, I just want to celebrate Senator Feinstein for her amazing service," Peters told Insider between votes at the US Capitol, hailing the longstanding California Democrat for being "an incredible public servant for decades." But Peters added that he'd be willing to talk about the candidates piling into the Senate race "in a day or two."

During a storied political career spanning five decades, Feinstein has broken records as the longest-serving senator of California and the longest-serving female senator in history. She was the first woman to chair the Senate Rules Committee and Intelligence Committee, and she once was the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer commended Feinstein and her legislative record shortly after her announcement, calling her a "wonderful colleague."

"She'll be fighting the fight with us for the next year and a half, but she's a legend," Schumer said at a news conference on Tuesday. "She was the leader on so many different issues  assault weapons, environment, women's rights, and so much else. She approached everything studiously and carefully."

Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who has served alongside Feinstein for more than 25 years, praised her "personal friend" while chatting with reporters.

"I certainly understand her decision. But I will miss very much working with her," Collins said in the Senate subway, crediting Feinstein with making "enormous contributions" to the American way of life.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Senior administration officials scrambled Tuesday to quell frustrations expressed by lawmakers about a lack of timely information concerning several flying objects and a Chinese spy balloon shot down over the past two weeks.

In a classified briefing on Tuesday, the officials offered an update on the three aerial objects shot down Friday afternoon and last weekend. Separately, officials said they believed the objects were not threats to national security and were benign balloons.

Its unclear just how much the briefing calmed lawmakers, as senators say they didnt get answers to several questions, including who launched the objects that were shot down in recent days, whether they were military or commercial vehicles and what they were doing in the sky.

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said after the briefing that Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) will lead an investigation into why the balloons werent detected earlier.

We still have questions about why they didnt discover these balloons sooner, these objects sooner, Schumer told reporters after the weekly Democratic caucus meeting. Sen. Tester is going to lead our caucus in investigating this. Its a good question. We need to answer it.

Republicans on Tuesday ramped up their criticism of Bidens response to the Chinese spy balloon, framing it as part of a broader inattention to national security issues.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) cited the balloon, along with the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan in 2021, Bidens modest request for defense spending in last years White House budget proposal and the presidents failure to discuss Iran or North Korea in his State of the Union address.

I think it is deeply disturbing that the president put all of his emphasis on things that were unrelated to the very serious threat that were all confronting here, not only in Ukraine, not only in Asia but even with balloons flying right over our skies, McConnell said at a press conference.

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I think the American people deserve to hear more from the president on all of these issues and hopefully we will in the coming days, he added.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) said administration officials are trying to improve their response time to inquiries from Capitol Hill, but that many of her colleagues on both sides of the aisle still feel frustrated about the slow pace of information.

I think they know that people are frustrated because were not getting much additional information, if any, she said. Were getting questions from people that were representing. Its alarming, in some sense.

Senators heard from Gen. Glen VanHerck, the commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command; Lt. Gen. Douglas Sims, the director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Morgan Muir, deputy director of national intelligence for mission integration; Melissa Dalton, the assistant secretary of Defense for homeland defense and hemispheric affairs; and Sean Kirkpatrick, the director of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office.

Senate Democrats also want to know why at least three balloons that entered the nations airspace during the Trump administration werent detected until years later.

We want to find out why it took until now to detect the balloons, Schumer told reporters. Now, theyre upgrading their radars, theyre upgrading everything, but we still should know that answer.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said the administration immediately shot down three unidentified objects over Alaska, Canada and Lake Huron in recent days to make up for its slow response to the Chinese spy balloon that floated over a broad swath of the country earlier this month before getting shot down over the Atlantic.

He took a lot of criticism from that, including criticism from senators in his own party, and therefore I think he didnt want to suffer that criticism again, he said.

The U.S. military has yet to recover the vehicles shot down over Alaska, Canada and Lake Huron, leaving much unknown about them.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said the objects could be commercial but asked if it is commercial, why wouldnt whoever launched it resolve the issue by claiming responsibility for it.

He said senior administration and military officials have done a good job of getting our situational awareness to where it is today, and we had no situational awareness a month ago.

Capito said lawmakers still have questions about which administration officials knew about the first Chinese balloon that floated over Alaska, Montana and other parts of the country.

Who knew about it when? Thats still not clear. How long did they really know about this? Why didnt they know about it sooner? Why didnt do something sooner? So theres still a lot of lingering questions about that, she added.

Sen. Ron Wyden (Ore.), a senior Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the administration can still be more transparent and forthcoming about its handling of balloons and other aerial objects entering U.S. airspace.

I think it can be done without compromising, in intelligence lingo, sources and methods, he said.

Tester, whose home state was under the flight path of the Chinese spy balloon, said he wasnt happy with the presidents handling of that incident and that it should have been shot down before reaching the continental United States.

I think they could have done better on the first incident, and I think theyve, from my perspective, picked up their game a lot, he said.

Tester, however, noted Biden was briefed by the military before making the decision to shoot down the balloon off the Atlantic coast and had to take into consideration a variety of factors, such as potential collateral damage caused by a shoot-down and different recovery scenarios.

Senators say they didnt receive a lot of new information at Tuesday mornings briefing.

Tillis said theres little information on the latest objects because they have not been able to recover anything as they have off the coast of the Carolinas.

Defense and intelligence officials also are still not classifying the downed UFOs other than to say they are objects and that there are no signs of aliens or extraterrestrial activity.

Theyre not at a stage where theyre going to categorically identify them. Theyre balloons, blimps, a number of other things. Theyre not from outer space, Tillis said.

Partisan lines are beginning to emerge in the debate over how to respond to foreign balloons in U.S. airspace, as some Republicans say that Bidens decision to let the first Chinese spy balloon float over sensitive military installations may have compromised national security.

Some Republicans are still upset about what they describe as the presidents evasive response to questions about why he waited so long.

President Biden owes the American people an explanation. President Biden should speak on camera directly to the American people today, Cotton said.

On the one hand, the administration is saying we dont yet know what these last three objects are and we dont want to characterize them until we recover them, but on the other hand it wasnt a threat, he added. Both of those things cant be true.

Schumer said the Republican criticism of the president is premature.

Were learning more about these objects and our ability to detect them hour by hour, he said. Our defense and intelligence agencies are focused like a laser on first gathering the information, assessing the information and coming up with a comprehensive view to what is going on.

I think the Biden administration is being very careful and very thoughtful, he added. I think some of our Republican colleagues are being at the very minimum premature and often just very political, Schumer added.

Updated at 5:16 p.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The state of Ohio awarded $13 million to demolish the long-vacant Westland Mall on West Broad Street. There is concern that Gov. Mike DeWine's proposed two-year budget does not contain funds for brownfield cleanup or blight demolition.

Gov. Mike DeWine's proposed budget does not specifically include money for brownfield cleanup or demolition of decaying properties in Ohio, but a spokesman said the administration is willing to discuss them as the budgeting process continues.

Advocates of the programs said they are necessary to clear the way for needed development that otherwise wouldn't be done.

"We're certainly willing to have the conversation," DeWine spokesman Dan Tierney said.

The two-year budget does not include specific funding for the Brownfield Remediation Program or the Building Demolition and Site Revitalization Program.

But Tierney said money for brownfield cleanup and demolitions could be included in the $2.5 billion All Ohio Future Fund that DeWine touted in his Jan. 31 State of the State address laying out the budget.

DeWine said that the money would be used to "prepare the infrastructure of large economic development sites." Then employers could move immediately on to a clean site, said Sarah Wickham, Ohio Department of Development spokeswoman.

According to the nonprofit Greater Ohio Policy Center, the Brownfield Remediation Fund and the Building Demolition and Site Revitalization Program invested nearly $500 million throughout the state to deal with blight since they were created in 2021: $350 million for brownfields and $150 million for demolitions.

Alison Goebel, Greater Ohio's executive director, said she was disappointed that the programs are not directly funded in the budget because they have had a good impact in Ohio.

"Everyone that we have talked to at the Statehouse has said that this is a good program," Goebel said. "These were wildly popular programs with clear benefits."

Recently, for example, the state awarded Franklin County about $13 million to demolish the long-vacant Westland Mall, described as an eyesore on the West Broad Street gateway to the city.

"I know that there is a need out here. I know the state understands that as well," said Curtiss Williams, president and CEO of the Central Ohio Community Improvement Corporation  Franklin County's land bank  which applied for the Westland Mall money on the county's behalf.

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A Greater Ohio Policy Center website said state brownfield money has gone to several projects in the Columbus area, including $1.52 million for the Pizzuti Companies' mixed-use Astor Park development of apartments and commercial space near the Columbus Crew's Lower.com Field, and $3.1 million toward the redevelopment of the old Kroger bakery on Cleveland Avenue near Downtown for apartments, offices, restaurant and retail space.

State brownfield money has gone to several projects in the Columbus area in the past, including $1.52 million for the Pizzuti Companies' mixed-use Astor Park development of apartments and commercial space near the Columbus Crew's Lower.com Field, according to a Greater Ohio Policy Center website.

Those are the types of projects that benefit from the funding, said Mark Lundine, Columbus' economic development administrator, who wants to see the state continue the programs.

"Get the contamination cleaned up. Only after that can we talk about developing the property," Lundine said.

Jim Schimmer, Franklin County's director of economic development and planning, said state money has proven to be of tremendous benefit in Franklin County over the years.

"The key thing is there's not a better poster child than Columbus," Schimmer said, citing grants from the state's former Clean Ohio program that helped pay to clean up the old Gowdy Field site near Route 315 and Grandview Heights, which is now home to Spectrum and the Ohio State University's Eye & Ear Institute and the Stefanie Spielman Comprehensive Breast Center.

"I really believe that none of those projects would have started without money from the state," Schimmer said. "Brownfields by their nature are incredibly expensive and difficult to understand. Thats been the advantage weve seen in central Ohio for sure."

David Mann, president and CEO of the Lucas County Land Bank in northwest Ohio, said the state program provided $1.39 million for two downtown Toledo office buildings  the 17-story Nicholas Building and 11-story Spitzer Building  for asbestos, lead paint and hazardous materials removal. Developers want to convert the office buildings to residential and commercial space, Mann said.

"Brownfield money is not the kind of money the private sector makes investments toward," Mann said.

mferench@dispatch.com

@MarkFerenchik

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: DeWine needs to fund brownfields cleanup, demolition, officials say
The race among tech companies to roll out generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools is raising concerns about how mistakes in technology and blind spots in regulation could hasten the spread of misinformation, elevate biases in results and increase the harvesting and use of Americans personal data.

So far tech giants Microsoft and Google are leading the race in releasing new AI tools to the public, but smaller companies and startups are expected to make progress in the field.

This year isnt the start of the AI boom  both leading companies have been laying the groundwork for launching AI products for years.

Still, Microsoft President Brad Smith has called 2023 an inflection point for AI, comparing it to 2007 for the smartphone or 1995 for the web  the years the new technologies exploded in popularity with the public.

Momentum for generative AI tools sped up in the fall, after the launch of popular tool ChatGPT, which delivers detailed answers to user queries in a conversational tone.

The AI-powered tool is backed by parent company OpenAI, which received hefty investments from Microsoft before and after its launch.

As ChatGPTs popularity has skyrocketed, regulators are attempting to to lay down a foundation of ground rules for tech companies already speeding ahead.

As it stands, federal AI guidance is largely voluntary and broad, meaning companies are left to set and follow their own guardrails.

Right now in the US theres sort of a lot of things going on, but its very early. I think regulators and policymakers dont have a good understanding of how some of these technologies work, said Rayid Ghani, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University.

They dont necessarily have a good handle on how to regulate them  whether they regulate the process, whether to regulate what it produces, he added.

As that process continues, tech companies are competing neck and neck in the race to be dominant in the AI sector.

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Last week, Google announced the launch of Bard, a ChatGPT rival. The company also said it would introduce more AI-powered tools across its search function, including releasing AI-powered blurbs of responses to users queries before the traditional links the search engine produces.

One day later, Microsoft said it would incorporate generative AI into a new version of its search engine Bing.

Long operating in the shadow of the dominant search engine Google, Bing reached 31.7 million visits the day after the announcement, which is 15 percent higher than Bings average daily volume for the past six months, according to data estimated by SimilarWeb.

The race to be on the cutting edge of the generative AI game poses concerns that the products and services may be risky for users if companies are rushing to get in front of competitors, Ghani said.

Not that they were robust before in a lot of these dimensions, but now theyre even less so, he said.

Some AI may be coming out before it is completely ready

The clearest example of that risk is generative AI tools giving false information in results, or what the industry is dubbing hallucinating.

In many cases, you would not know that its wrong unless youre an expert yourself or youre doing separate research on the topic and youre able to verify the facts that the AI chatbot is advancing, said Nathalie Marechal, co-director of the privacy and data project at the Center for Democracy and Technology.

Even during Googles demonstration of Bard last week, the tool gave the wrong response.

In a gif showing an example search query for what new discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope can I tell my 9 year old about?, Bards response incorrectly said that the telescope took the very first pictures of a planet outside of our own solar system.

In fact, the first image of an exoplanet was captured in 2004 by a different telescope, according to NASAs website.

What happens when AI gets it wrong?

Delivering false information is not a new facet of generative AI chat tools, because incorrect information has always been available in response to search queries on search engines that have existed for decades.

But the shift toward incorporating these generative AI tools into search exaggerates those risks by taking away a level of sourcing for where the answers are coming from, Ghani said.

As they incorporate these tools into search, Microsoft and Google seem to be leaning toward a process that will allow users to hover over text and see where the information was pulled from.

Those search functions have not been opened to the wider public yet. With ChatGPT, such a feature does not exist and theres no indication as to where the information is pulled from.

Marechal said generative AI chat tools also pose risks over generating plausible seeming disinformation more easily and at lower costs for bad actors with the intent to spread false or misleading messages across social media.

That could make it more difficult for social media companies detection tools, which are largely powered by other forms of AI, to identify disinformation.

Companies should be thinking more carefully through the risks and harms of products before they release them, she said.

Regulation of AI is largely voluntary, worrying critics

As for specific regulation on AI, the governments guidance is mostly optional at this point.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) last month released an AI Risk Management Framework. The group said that is intended for voluntary use and aims to improve the ability of companies to incorporate trustworthiness into the design, development and use of AI products and services.

There are also more agency-specific regulatory actions being built from agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration or the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Ghani said those aim to address specific issues related to AI use in those sectors.

The NIST framework followed a blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights the White House released in October. Complying with the rights laid out by the White House was also voluntary.

Data privacy and AI are a concern for the White House

One pillar laid out by the White Houses bill of rights was a push for data privacy.

Marechal said the rise of generative AI tools underscores the need for lawmakers to pass a comprehensive data privacy bill, like the American Data Privacy Protection Act (ADPPA).

But despite bipartisan support, the bill failed to make it through Congress last year.

ADPPA wasnt written with this specific risk category in mind, this particular product in mind. ADPPA will protect people from a wide range of harms, including discrimination on the basis of protected characteristics, she said.

Even if models were trained on personal data that was available before new regulation, she said there is a strong recency bias, which is when the behavior data that is most useful for generating revenue is what a system uses.

The more recent [data] about your behavior is whats going to be the most relevant, she said. Otherwise, wed all be seeing ads about stuff that we were doing 10 years ago.

Tech companies say they are following internal regulations when building AI

The lack of strict government regulations on AI as it evolves means much of the work is coming from self-imposed guidelines.

Microsoft said it is following the Responsible AI Standard it released in June to guide how it builds its systems. The company says its standards are based on six core principles: fairness, reliability and safety, privacy and security, inclusiveness and transparency and accountability.

While Microsoft said it uses its self-imposed principles, the company is also in discussions with key D.C. players, with executives in town last week for meetings.

OpenAIs CEO Sam Altman was also on Capitol Hill earlier this year and met with lawmakers including tech regulation-focused Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.), according to aides for the senators.

Companies are warning against creating too many AI regulations

Microsoft executives cautioned against D.C. imposing regulations that could slow down innovation. Tech has argued it should be able to go fast with guardrails in place, with the ability to add more as they go.

The companys executives have also warned that competitors in China may not slow down simply because U.S. companies are being forced to regulate.

At the moment, Microsoft has said that it is leading the AI race in its partnership with OpenAI, with Google and Chinas Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence on its heels, according to Microsoft.

The AI push by companies is raising questions about Chinese competition

Marechal said that companies framing calls to slow down as a risk that might let China get ahead a nonsense argument that is used to appeal to certain policymakers xenophobia.

First of all, innovation is not inherently good because its innovation, she said. An innovative way to harm more people is not something that we want and China is using various AI tools for mass surveillance and social control, and that is not what we should be moving towards.

Other companies, big and small, are also expected to jump more aggressively into the generative AI race.

Wedbush analysts Dan Ives and John Katsingris wrote in a Feb. 10 report that they believe Microsoft is leading the race so far Usain Bolt style.

But both analysts said the race will be a a long one that they expect tech giants to spend billions on in the coming years.

Now the Street awaits Apple, Meta and others with their next poker moves in this AI Big Tech battle underway, the analysts added.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The resignation of Akron schools Superintendent Christine Fowler Mack was announced Monday.

Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan has weighed in on the resignation of Akron Superintendent of Schools Christine Fowler Mack, whose March 4 departure was announced by the board of education Monday. She remains with the district as a consultant while Mary Outley, the district's executive director for elementary education, will serve as interim superintendent.

"I thank Christine Fowler-Mack for her leadership over the past 19 months as she saw Akron Public Schools out of the COVID-19 pandemic and navigated the district through challenging times," Horrigan said in a post on Twitter. "Serving as the first African-American woman to lead the APS district in 174 years, she has rightfully earned her place in the Akron history books."

He wished Fowler Mack luck in her future endeavors and was somewhat critical of the Akron Board of Education.

Who is Christine Fowler Mack? Five things to know about the Akron schools superintendent pick

"It's disappointing that once again the district will have to find new leadership at such a critical time for our kids and our community," he wrote. "Past and current board leaders need to better understand their roles around board governance and district stability as they approach their relationship with the next Superintendent if they hope to provide continuity and coherent leadership to Akron's students, teachers and staff.

"As a city, we remain steadfast in our commitment to every student's success," he said.

Fowler Mack is a graduate of East High School who went on to become an administrator in Cleveland Public Schools before being hired by her home district in July 2021.

'48 hours of chaos':Akron teachers union criticizes superintendent over school safety

After her first year on the job, Fowler Mack faced criticism by board members on her first review last June, with some board members calling her "insubordinate" and labeling her first year on the job a "failure."

The Akron Education Association also criticized the superintendent during contract negotiations in December, as incidents of violence in schools drew headlines.

Story continues

'We are listening': APS superintendent says district is addressing school safety concerns

No reason was given for Fowler Mack's resignation. The board held no discussion at Monday's meeting and made no comments about the separation during the meeting. Board President Derrick Hall said after the meeting the reason for the separation was "no mystery" and "just what was best for all parties."

Fowler Mack, who did not attend the meeting, also did not specify a reason for her resignation.

"My decision to separate at a time of such pivotal change and opportunity for APS was made with careful thought, prayer and discussions with my family," she said in a statement.

Jennifer Pignolet contributed to this report. Eric Marotta can be reached at emarotta@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @MarottaEric.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron Mayor Horrigan critical of school board after Fowler Mack quits
Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast / Reuters / Twitter

Alex Murdaughs sister-in-law stunned the courtroom on Tuesday, detailing for the first time how the former lawyer assured her that his wife and son did not suffer when they were fatally shot in June 2021allegedly by him.

Murder victim Maggie Murdaughs older sister, Marian Proctor testified that her brother-in-law even provided his own theory about the mindset of their killer.

He said that he did not know who it was, but he felt like whoever did it had thought about it for a really long time, Proctor told Colleton County jurors.

In another conversation after Maggie, 52, and Paul, 22, were found shot to death, Proctor said, Murdaugh seemed more focused on clearing his sons name in connection with a fatal 2019 boat crash than finding the murder suspect. At the time, Paul was facing charges for his role in the drunken crash that killed his 19-year-old friend.

I thought that was so strange because my No. 1 was to find out who killed my sister and Paul, Proctor testified as Murdaugh cried at the defense table several feet away.

How the Murdaugh Saga UnfoldedFrom a Boat Crash to Murder

Prosecutors allege that it was Alex Murdaugh who fatally shot his wife and son near the dog kennels of their familys hunting estate in a depraved attempt to garner public sympathy and evade mounting questions about his years-long scheme to steal millions from his client and law firm. Murdaughs defense team, however, insists he had no motivation to murder family members who, multiple witnesses have testified, were his greatest priority.

He has pleaded not guilty and faces up to 30 years in jail.

As the only member of Maggie and Pauls family to testify in court so far in the three-week trial, Proctors testimony could be crucial to both the prosecution and defense arguments about what happened on June 7, 2021. While her testimony about Murdaughs conversations after the murders raises questions about his state of mind, Proctor also admitted that her sister and her brother-in-law had a very good relationship.

Story continues

They had a comfortable life. Maggie was happy, Proctor said, noting that her sister was not involved with the familys finances. It wasnt a lavish life, but it was a comfortable life. Money was never an issue for her, that she knew about.

But after the 2019 boat crash, Proctor said, the Murdaugh family struggled under media and community scrutiny. Maggie even began staying at their beach house in Edisto, South Carolina, to get away from the spotlight, she said.

That was a devastating blow for their family. It was a horrible accident, but it was an accident. Maggie felt like the Hampton community had turned against her. Paul was being mistreated, Proctor said, seemingly squelching the prosecutions argument that the Murdaughs were having marital troubles.

Maggie Murdaugh's sister is called to the stand. #AlexMurdaugh pic.twitter.com/RvC4vfhYYP  Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) February 14, 2023

Proctor said Maggie was at the beach house on the day of the murders when Alex Murdaugh summoned her back to the hunting estate. Breaking down in tears, Proctor said that the last time she spoke with her sister, she encouraged Maggie to go because of his fathers deteriorating health.

Hours later, Proctor said, she learned the news that Maggie and Paul had been murdered.

I just couldnt believe it. I didnt think it was true. I said there has to be a mistake, she said, adding that she instantly traveled to the hunting estate to be with the family.

Proctor said that even though she was at the house, she did not talk to her brother-in-law a lot because he was just really busy and the whole town was coming to see him. But Proctor told the jury that when she did talk to Murdaugh, the conversation was strange.

We never talked about finding the person who could have done it. It was just odd, she said. I just thought his priority should have been focusing on finding out who killed Maggie and Paul.

As the months wore on, Proctor said, the whole familyexcept for Murdaughwas sort of living in fear because we thought this horrible person was out there. But by September 2021, Murdaugh had resigned from his law firm after admitting to stealing missions, confessed to a two-decade opioids addiction, and attempted a suicide plot to score a hefty insurance payout.

Then things started to change a little bit, she added.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Disgraced legal scion Alex Murdaugh broke down in tears as prosecutors revealed grisly details about the autopsies performed on his son and wife.

On the fourteenth day of the trial on Monday, the state showed forensic pathologist Dr Ellen Reimer pictures of Maggie and Pauls autopsies after she took the stand. Cameras in the courtroom not show the pictures due to their graphic nature.

Mr Murdaugh broke down in tears as Dr Reimer testified that he believed Paul was facing his killer at the time he was shot. Dr Reimer said that Paul was likely first shot in the chest and remained standing before a gunshot wound to the left shoulder and the head that instantly killed him.

Maggie Murdaugh first suffered a gunshot wound to her left breast, and the bullet then went upwards to the left side of her face. The second shot went through her kidney, which probably caused her to bend over and while in that position, she was shot in the chest and to the back of her head, Dr Reimer said.

While Paul was killed with a shotgun, the murderer used a rifle in Maggies attack, the forensic psychologist also testified.

Cross-examination continues today.

Alex Murdaugh murder trial

Murdaugh asked housekeeper to clean home morning after murders

SUV data offers timeline of Murdaughs movements

Bomb threat causes emergency evacuation of court

Gunshot residue found all over blue raincoat Murdaugh allegedly hid in parents home

How Alex Murdaughs murder trial became a circus

Will Alex Murdaugh testify in his defence? Possibly...

14:27 , Oliver O'Connell

Local NBC News reporters have learned from sources in Alex Murdaughs defence team that the defendant could take the stand to testify as early as next week.

EXCLUSIVE: News 3 has learned from a source close to the defense team that Alex Murdaugh is now planning to take the stand in his own defense. While the plan could change, He could testify in his murder trial as early as next week. @wsav pic.twitter.com/IvWkPfAlGw  Andrew Davis (@WSAVAndrewD) February 13, 2023

Its rare for a defendant to testify, and the plan could change, but the possibility is now out there that we could see the accused double-murderer be questioned and cross-examined before the jury.

Story continues

Breaking Exclusive: Sources close to Alex Murdaughs defense tell me his attorneys plan to call Alex Murdaugh to the stand to testify as part of his defense. Things could change between now and then, but if it were to happen expect it to be in the next week or two. @WCBD



Pool pic.twitter.com/9hBbOfPHlb  Riley Benson (@RealRileyBenson) February 13, 2023

Watch: Murdaugh arrives in court

14:18 , Oliver O'Connell

Alex Murdaugh arrives. Cross-exam of the pathologist by Dick Harpootlian begins this morning. #AlexMurdaugh #MurdaughTrial pic.twitter.com/7rHOreNzmT  Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) February 14, 2023

Alex Murdaughs friend cries while testifying about lawyers alleged financial crimes

13:00 , Andrea Blanco

During the shadow trial before the jury could hear the financial crimes evidence, Mr Murdaughs former best friend of 40 years broke down in tears in court as he described the moment that he learned the disgraced attorney had stolen millions of dollars from his law firm clients  and $192,000 from himself.

Chris Wilson choked up with emotion as he said the betrayal knocked me down and revealed that I dont know how to think anymore about the man he had known and loved for most of his life.

Mr Wilson testified that the two attorneys worked on a case together where Mr Murdaugh made a $792,000 cut.

At Mr Murdaughs request, Mr Wilson made the check payable directly to him instead of PMPED. Then, in July 2021  one month on from the murders  Mr Wilson said that his friend got in touch saying he had been unable to structure the fees as planned and needed to pay the money back and have it paid directly to PMPED.

Mr Murdaugh only had $600,000 to pay it back, with Mr Wilson saying that he covered the additional $192,000, on the basis that Mr Murdaugh would pay him back.

On 3 September 2021  three months on from the murders  Mr Wilson said he finally learned his friend had been scamming him and many other people. He confronted him the next day.

Choking back tears, Mr Wilson revealed that his longtime friend broke down and confessed to stealing the money to fund a secret 20-year opioid addiction.

He broke down crying, he said. I was so mad. I had loved the guy for so long, and I probably still loved him a little bit, but I was so mad, and I dont remember how it ended. How did I not know these things or see these things?

Boat crash attorney says fuse was lit to expose Murdaughs financial crimes

12:00 , Andrea Blanco

Attorney Mark Tinsley testified without the jury present about the lawsuit he brought against Mr Murdaugh on behalf of the family of Mallory Beach and how it was putting his finances under increased scrutiny at the time of the murders.

Mr Tinsley told the court the Mr Murdaugh claimed he was broke and couldnt pay the settlement he was asking for his clients.

He didnt believe this  so he filed a motion compelling Mr Murdaugh to reveal his finances.

A hearing for the suit had been scheduled to take place on 10 June 2021 and Mr Tinsley testified that he expected to take the lawsuit to trial in the late summer of 2021. But, the proceedings were derailed because of the murders.

He said that the fuse had been lit to expose Mr Murdaughs slew of alleged financial crimes  but that his problems would likely be over if the family was the victim of an unspeakable tragedy.

Pretty quickly, I recognised that the case against Alex, if he were in fact the victim of some vigilante, would be over, he said.

If the disgraced attorney was the victim of an unspeakable tragedy then no jury would side against him in the case, Mr Tinsley said.

He later testified: There wouldnt have been an explosion June 10. But the fuse was lit the moment that information became available in this case.

He added that Mr Murdaugh knew it was going to unravel and that the fuse was lit when he started stealing money.

Under redirect, the witness testified that if the hearing had taken place on 10 June it would have set in motion the process that wouldnt have stopped until Mr Murdaugh either settled the case or disclosed his finances.

Boat crash attorney speaks on Alex Murdaughs financial crimes

Alex Murdaugh trial disrupted again as two jurors released due to positive Covid tests

11:00 , Andrea Blanco

Alex Murdaughs high-profile double murder trial has been disrupted yet again as two jurors were released after testing positive for Covid-19.

Judge Clifton Newman made the bombshell announcement on Monday morning in what marks the latest drama for the high-profile case.

One of the two jurors is asymptomatic while the other has a cough and sore throat, he said.

Following the revelation, the defence raised concerns that others could be infected but may not be testing positive yet  something which could threaten to derail the trial altogether if more jurors test positive in the coming days.

The Independents Rachel Sharp has more:

Alex Murdaugh trial disrupted as two jurors released due to positive Covid tests

Dramatic bodycam footage shows Alex Murdaugh sobbing and asking are they dead on night of murders

10:00 , Andrea Blanco

Dramatic bodycam footage has finally been released showing Alex Murdaugh on the night of his wife and sons murders, capturing the disgraced legal dynasty heir pacing around the dog kennels, sobbing and wailing, and repeatedly asking: Are they dead?

The footage was taken from the bodyworn camera of Colleton County Sheriffs Sgt Daniel Greene when he became the first law enforcement officer to respond to the scene of the brutal slayings at the Murdaugh familys 1,700-acre estate back on 7 June 2021.

A confession, bloody dog kennels and clean shirt: Key revelations from the Alex Murdaugh murder trial

09:00 , Andrea Blanco

Alex Murdaughs high-profile trial got underway at Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, on 23 January.

The Independents Rachel Sharp explains the most crucial moments so far:

Confession, bloody scene and clean shirt: Key moments from Alex Murdaugh trial

Alex Murdaugh asked housekeeper to clean home morning after murders  then tried to get stories straight

08:00 , Andrea Blanco

Alex Murdaugh asked his housekeeper to clean the family home on the morning after the murders of his wife and son  and then tried to get their stories straight about what clothes he was wearing before the killings.

Blanca Simpson, who worked as the Murdaugh family housekeeper for several years, gave dramatic courtroom testimony in Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, on Friday morning where Mr Murdaugh is on trial for shooting dead his wife Maggie and son Paul back on 7 June 2021.

Ms Simpson revealed that Mr Murdaugh had asked her to come to Moselle on 8 June 2021  hours after the murders  to make the house the way Maggie liked.

When she went to the house, she said she noticed several very unusual things including pots being in the fridge instead of on the stove or sink and Maggies pyjamas and underwear lying neatly in the middle of the doorway of the laundry room.

She said it was very unusual, saying: It just didnt look right to me because Maggie didnt wear underwear with her pyjamas and the underwear appeared to be clean not dirty.

Read more.

GoFundMe set up for Alex Murdaughs mothers caregiver for her bravery'

07:00 , Andrea Blanco

Outside the courthouse, it emerged that a GoFundMe has been set up for Mr Murdaughs mothers caregiver for her bravery in testifying at his murder trial.

Mushell Shelly Smith gave emotional testimony on 6 February, where she cast doubts on part of Mr Murdaughs alibi on the night of the murders  revealing he had lied about how long he had spent at his sick mothers house.

Breaking down in tears at points, she described how a fidgety Mr Murdaugh showed up at the house for a brief 20-minute visit on 7 June 2021 but later asked her to tell authorities he had been there double the length of time.

In the aftermath of the killings, he then offered to help Ms Smith both financially and with her other job and brought a mystery blue item to leave at his parents home, she told jurors.

On Wednesday, Ms Smiths daughter Rachelle Buckner launched a GoFundMe campaign to reward her for her bravery and her honesty as it was one of the hardest things she had to do.

As of Friday morning, the GoFundMe had raised more than $24,000 for Ms Smith.

But the donation has sparked some controversy  with legal experts warning that it could be detrimental to the prosecutions case.

This issue appeared to reach a head on February 9 when it emerged that another witness  attorney Mark Tinsley  had made a $1,000 donation to the fund.

Mr Tinsley filed a lawsuit against the Murdaughs on behalf of the family of Mallory Beach, the 19-year-old killed in a boat crash where Paul was allegedly drunk behind the wheel in 2019.

Housekeeper never saw Alex Murdaugh clothes after killings

06:00 , Andrea Blanco

Alex Murdaughs housekeeper testified Friday at his double murder trial that she never saw the shirt and shoes the disgraced attorney was wearing in a video hours before his son and wife were killed after their deaths.

Prosecutors were trying to explain why certain expected things  like bloody clothes  have still not been put into evidence after three weeks of trial.

Under cross-examination, the housekeeper testified she never saw in Murdaughs wardrobe a large blue rain jacket that tested positive for a significant amount of gunshot residue. She said Murdaugh wore extra-extra large clothes.

Murdaugh, 54, faces 30 years to life in prison if convicted of murdering his wife, 52-year-old Maggie, and their 22-year-old son Paul near dog kennels at the familys Colleton County home on June 7, 2021.

Blanca Turrubiate-Simpson said she did all sorts of work for the Murdaughs for well over a decade. She cooked, cleaned and did laundry, as well as did Maggie Murdaughs banking. After the killings, she and her husband took care of the familys home when Alex Murdaugh couldnt bear to return.

Son of housekeeper accuses Murdaugh of stealing $4m after her mystery death

05:00 , Andrea Blanco

In court on 3 February, Mr Murdaugh was accused of stealing a $4m settlement from his late housekeepers family, where prosecutors also raised questions about her mystery death.

Gloria Satterfield worked as the Murdaugh familys housekeeper and nanny for more than 20 years, before she died in a mysterious trip and fall at the family home in 2018.

Her son Tony Satterfield told the court how Mr Murdaugh allegedly swindled almost $4m in a wrongful death lawsuit payout from the family in the aftermath of her death.

The court was shown evidence of two separate settlements in the wrongful death suit  one for $505,000 and one for $3.8m. Mr Satterfield testified that Mr Murdaugh did not tell him about the settlements and that he did not receive one cent of the money.

Alex Murdaughs son Buster visits grave of slain mother and brother

04:00 , Andrea Blanco

In exclusive Sunday pictures obtained by DailyMail.com, Buster Murdaugh could be seen visiting Maggie and Pauls graves.

Buster, the only surviving son of the disgraced attorney, was accompanied by his girlfriend.

Last week, Buster was caught appearing to make a rude gesture to Mark Tinsley as he took the witness stand about a lawsuit he brought against his father. Footage from the courtroom shows Buster apparently flipping the bird as he stared down the witness.

Judge Clifton Newman has reportedly issued multiple warnings to several members of the Murdaugh family about their behaviour in court, where they have put on a united front since the start of the trial.

The family members have already been moved to the back of the courtroom in Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina  and are now only one wrong move away from being booted out altogether.

Defence casts doubt on theory Murdaugh took Maggies phone

03:00 , Andrea Blanco

Under cross-examination, the defence cast doubt on the theory that it could have been Mr Murdaugh who threw Maggies phone along the side of Moselle Road.

Lt Dove admitted that cellphone data suggested Maggie and Mr Murdaughs phones were not in the same place at the same time at 9.06pm as the step data did not match.

This was important because 9.06pm is when the final orientation change  or movement  was recorded on Maggies phone.

Lt Dove testified that this movement could have been as it was being thrown from a vehicle to where it was discovered the next day, with the defence contending that Mr Murdaugh was at the family property walking with his cellphone at that time.

However, under redirect, prosecutors cast doubt on the defences timeframe for when the phone was tossed down Moselle Lane, as Lt Dove testified that an orientation change can only take place when the phone screen is on.

The SLED agent testified that the screen on Maggies phone was off between 9.07pm and 9.31pm so if the phone was thrown from a car during that time, there would have been no orientation change recorded.

When asked by the defence how such a throw could have been made from a moving vehicle with the phone travelling a distance of some 40 feet, a SLED agent noted it could be easily flicked horizontally like a frisbee and travel horizontally through the air landed as it did in the roadside leaves.

Colleton County Court Evidence photos of Maggies phone found on Moselle Road murdaugh (Colleton County Court)

Boat crash attorney says fuse was lit to expose Murdaughs financial crimes

02:00 , Andrea Blanco

Attorney Mark Tinsley testified without the jury present about the lawsuit he brought against Mr Murdaugh on behalf of the family of Mallory Beach and how it was putting his finances under increased scrutiny at the time of the murders.

Mr Tinsley told the court the Mr Murdaugh claimed he was broke and couldnt pay the settlement he was asking for his clients.

He didnt believe this  so he filed a motion compelling Mr Murdaugh to reveal his finances.

A hearing for the suit had been scheduled to take place on 10 June 2021 and Mr Tinsley testified that he expected to take the lawsuit to trial in the late summer of 2021. But, the proceedings were derailed because of the murders.

He said that the fuse had been lit to expose Mr Murdaughs slew of alleged financial crimes  but that his problems would likely be over if the family was the victim of an unspeakable tragedy.

Pretty quickly, I recognised that the case against Alex, if he were in fact the victim of some vigilante, would be over, he said.

If the disgraced attorney was the victim of an unspeakable tragedy then no jury would side against him in the case, Mr Tinsley said.

He later testified: There wouldnt have been an explosion June 10. But the fuse was lit the moment that information became available in this case.

He added that Mr Murdaugh knew it was going to unravel and that the fuse was lit when he started stealing money.

Under redirect, the witness testified that if the hearing had taken place on 10 June it would have set in motion the process that wouldnt have stopped until Mr Murdaugh either settled the case or disclosed his finances.

Boat crash attorney speaks on Alex Murdaughs financial crimes

Who is Alex Murdaugh? The legal scion on trial for the murders of his wife and son

01:00 , Andrea Blanco

The hotly-anticipated trial of Alex Murdaugh is underway in South Carolina where he is facing life in prison for the double murder of his wife and son.

The 54-year-old heir to a prominent legal dynasty is accused of gunning down wife Maggie, 52, and their son Paul, 22, on the grounds of the sprawling family estate in Islandton back on 7 June 2021.

He was arrested in July 2022 and charged with two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.

Mr Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty to the charges and maintains that the person or persons responsible for killing his wife and son is still at large.

So who is the man at the centre of the saga?

Who is Alex Murdaugh? The legal scion on trial for the murders of his wife and son

ICYMI: Alex Murdaughs other legal troubles

00:00 , Andrea Blanco

The double murder trial is far from Alex Murdaughs only legal problem.

Besides the case, Mr Murdaugh is facing at least 100 other criminal charges over a string of allegations.

Three months on from the murders  on 4 September 2021  Mr Murdaugh allegedly conspired to pay a hitman to shoot him dead so that Buster would inherit a $10m life insurance windfall.

The now-disbarred attorney initially claimed he was ambushed in a drive-by shooting while changing a tyre on his vehicle, but his story quickly unravelled and he confessed to orchestrating the plot.

Mr Murdaugh and his alleged co-conspirator Curtis Smith were arrested and charged over the incident.

One day before the shooting, Mr Murdaugh had been confronted by his law firm PMPED for allegedly stealing millions of dollars from clients.

He is now charged with more than 100 counts from multiple indictments alleging he stole nearly $8.5m from clients at his law firm in fraud schemes going back a decade.

The attorney, who has since been disbarred, allegedly represented the clients in wrongful death settlements before pocketing the money for himself.

Alleged victims include family members of Gloria Satterfield family, the Murdaughs longtime housekeeper who died in a mysterious trip and fall accident at the family home in 2018.

At the time, her death was regarded as an accidental fall  though the investigation was reopened after Maggie and Pauls murders.

The housekeeper is one of a series of other mystery deaths also surrounding the Murdaughs.

Stephen Smith, 19, was found dead in the middle of the road in Hampton County, South Carolina. The openly gay teenager had suffered blunt force trauma to the head and his death was officially ruled a hit-and-run. But the victims family have long doubted this version of events, with the Murdaugh name cropping up in several police tips and community rumours.

An investigation has also been reopened into his death.

At the time of Pauls death, he was also awaiting trial over the death of 19-year-old Mallory Beach who died in a 2019 boat crash where Paul was allegedly drink driving behind the wheel. He was charged with boating under the influence and faced up to 25 years in prison but was killed before his trial.

The Murdaugh family reached a wrongful death settlement with the Beach family earlier in January.

Mr Murdaugh is also facing several other civil suits.

Defence says they will extensively cross-examined forensic pathology on Tuesday, court dismissed

Monday 13 February 2023 22:50 , Andrea Blanco

Alex Murdaughs defence told the court that forensic pathologIST Dr Ellen Remier will be extensively cross-examined on Tuesday.

The court was dismissed shortly before 6pm EST.

Maggie Murdaugh was shot while she ran away

Monday 13 February 2023 22:47 , Andrea Blanco

According to Dr Reimer, the gunshot to the abdomen took place while Maggien was slightly farther away from the shooter than when she was shot in her left thigh.

Dr Reimer did not find any defensive wounds on Maggies body.

Alex Murdaugh breaks down in tears as grisly details about his wifes autopsy are revealed

Monday 13 February 2023 22:34 , Andrea Blanco

The disgraced legal scion heard prosecutors and forensic pathologist Dr Ellen Reimer recount grisly details about the autopsy performed on Maggie Murdaugh.

Alex Murdaugh listening to the testimony regarding Maggie's autopsy.

(He's going to break that highlighter) #MurdaughTrial pic.twitter.com/fDuKen4zJp  Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) February 13, 2023

Maggie Murdaugh suffered gunshot wounds to her ribcage, kidney and head

Monday 13 February 2023 22:24 , Andrea Blanco

Dr Ellen Reimer said that Maggie Murdaugh first suffered a gunshot wound to her left breast, and the bullet then went upwards to the left side of her face.

The second shot went through her kidney, which probably caused her to bend over.

While in that position, Dr Reimer said that she was shot in the chest and to the back of her head.

At that point, she likely fell to the ground, Dr Reimer said.

Maggie Murdaughs was shot with rifle, forensic pathologists testifies

Monday 13 February 2023 22:07 , Andrea Blanco

Dr Ellen Reimer said that Maggie Murdaugh suffered five gunshot wounds.

Maggie was shot with an assault rifle, while her son Paul was attacked with a shotgun.

Paul had no defensive wounds, expert who performed autopsy testifies

Monday 13 February 2023 22:04 , Andrea Blanco

Dr Ellen Reimer said that the most likely theory is that Paul was first shot in the chest and remained standing.

He then sustained a gunshot wound to the left shoulder and the head, after which he fell to the ground and died instantly

Dr Reimer said Paul did not have defensive wounds.

Forensic psychologist and prosecutors reenact shooting

Monday 13 February 2023 21:49 , Andrea Blanco

Prosecutors asked forensic pathologist Dr Ellen Reimer to explain how Paul Murdaugh was standing when the bullets entered his body.

Mr Murdaugh broke down in tears as Dr Reimer testified that he believed Paul had his face tilted towards his killer at the time he was shot.

Dr Reimer also described in great detail the degree of the injuries that Paul suffered.

Dr Reimer said that there was a chance Paul was left standing after the first shot, but the second one blew the inside of his head.

Its horrible, I know, she told the court.

(News19)

Alex Murdaugh breaks down as autopsy images are shown in court, prosecutors and forensic pathologist reenact shooting

Monday 13 February 2023 21:35 , Andrea Blanco

The disgraced lawyer looked down as the state showed forensic pathologist Dr Ellen Reimer pictures of the autopsies she performed on Maggie and Paul.

The state asked Judge Clifton Newman that cameras not show the pictures due to their graphic nature, which the judge granted.

Mr Murdaugh broke down in tears as Dr Reimer testified that he believed Paul was standing and with his face tilted towards his killer at the time he was shot.

Dr Reimer said Paul died instantly.

(News19)

Forensic pathologist who preformed Maggie and Pauls autopsies caleld to testify

Monday 13 February 2023 21:18 , Andrea Blanco

Dr Ellen Reimer testified on Monday that the victims died as a result of injuries caused by a shotgun.

The twisted tale began back on 7 June 2021 when Maggie and Paul were found shot dead at the familys sprawling hunting lodge in Islandton.

Mr Murdaugh claimed he discovered their bodies, placing a dramatic 911 call where he cried and sobbed on the phone.

He said hed returned home from visiting his elderly mother and dying father to find his wife and son by the kennels on the property, both suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.

The call, previously released by investigators, was made at 10.07pm local time.

The coroner placed the time of death for the two victims between 9pm and 9.30pm.

Alex Murdaughs defence cross-examines agent on blood spatter

Monday 13 February 2023 20:33 , Andrea Blanco

Prosecutors initially had said that following an outside analysis, blood spatter was found on the shirt that Mr Murdaugh was wearing on the night of the murders.

But SLED agent Sara Zapata on Monday said she submitted her HemaTrace test stating that no blood was found on the white shirt on 10 November 2021.

In April 2022, prosecutors asked Ms Zapata whether the HemaTrace could come back with a false positive.

She said she was not aware of media reports referencing the purported blood spatter.

Murdaughs attorney then asked Ms Zapata: Do you think that there could be blood spatter without blood?

No blood was found in more than 70 cuttings out of Murdaughs t-shirt

Monday 13 February 2023 20:13 , Andrea Blanco

Ms Zapata said that she had cut the shirt into different sections and then made smaller cuttings to test for DNA.

Seventy-four cuttings were made. No blood was found in any of them.

The agent said that Paul Murdaughs DNA was only found in the lower half of the shirt his father was wearing when law enforcement arrived at the scene of the murders.

Defences argues explanation for blood found on steering wheel

Monday 13 February 2023 20:02 , Andrea Blanco

Agent Zapata told the court on Monday that the blood found on Alex Murdaughs steering wheel could have been the result of him checking Maggies body and then driving to Moselle to get a shotgun.

Defence asks expert why Alex Murdaughs white t-shirt was tested for blood

Monday 13 February 2023 19:55 , Andrea Blanco

Alex Murdaughs defence questioned agent Zapata on why the white t-shirt Mr Murdaugh was wearing when police arrived on the scene of the murders was tested.

Agent Zapata said that she received the item along with a request and simply followed procedure.

The shirt did have Maggie and Pauls DNA on it but did not show blood.

Unidentified male DNA was found under Maggie Murdaughs fingernails

Monday 13 February 2023 19:47 , Andrea Blanco

Agent Zapata said that she had examined Maggies fingers and found unidentified male DNA.

Ms Zapata was cross-examined by the defence on day 14 trial.

Ms Zapata said that it was not the best course of action to do further testing or submit the unknown DNA to CODIS because it was very partial, low level profile.

The defence argued that Maggie had just returned from the nail salon, with Ms Zapata noting that she could have picked up the DNA from any object or person from the time that she left the nail salon to the time she was murdered.

Autopsy photos to be shown at trial

Monday 13 February 2023 19:40 , Andrea Blanco

The prosecution asked the judge that autopsy images to be shown on day 14 of the Alex Murdaugh trial not be shown on cameras as they contained very graphic details.

Judge Clifton Newman granted the request.

The jury is now present in the courtroom.

A confession, bloody dog kennels and clean shirt: Key revelations from Alex Murdaughs murder trial

Monday 13 February 2023 19:10 , Rachel Sharp

Legal dynasty heir Alex Murdaugh is currently on trial in a South Carolina courtroom for the brutal double murder of his wife and adult son.

Maggie, 52, and Paul, 22, were both shot dead at the familys sprawling 1,700-acre property in Islandton, South Carolina, on the night of 7 June 2021.

No arrests were made for more than a year, until  in July 2022  Mr Murdaugh was charged with their murders.

Prosecutors allege that Mr Murdaugh killed his wife and son to distract from the growing number of scandals and crimes swirling around him.

Its a dramatic saga that now includes murder, a botched hitman plot, multi-million-dollar fraud schemes and a series of unexplained deaths.

The now-disbarred attorney denies the allegations and has pleaded not guilty.

The Independents Rachel Sharp reveals what weve learned so far at trial:

Confession, bloody scene and clean shirt: Key moments from Alex Murdaugh trial

Alex Murdaugh trial disrupted again as two jurors test positive for Covid

Monday 13 February 2023 18:37 , Rachel Sharp

Alex Murdaughs high-profile double murder trial has been disrupted yet again as two jurors were released on Monday after testing positive for Covid-19.

Judge Clifton Newman made the bombshell announcement on Monday morning in what marks the latest drama for the high-profile case.

One of the two jurors is asymptomatic while the other has a cough and sore throat, he said.

Following the revelation, the defence raised concerns that others could be infected but may not be testing positive yet  something which could threaten to derail the trial altogether if more jurors test positive in the coming days.

The Independents Rachel Sharp has the full story:

Alex Murdaugh trial disrupted as two jurors released due to positive Covid tests

Court breaks for lunch

Monday 13 February 2023 18:20 , Rachel Sharp

After very detailed testimony  that appeared to offer little to the states case  the witness stood down.

The court is now on recess for lunch.

Testimony will resume at 2.30pm ET.

The blue raincoat returns

Monday 13 February 2023 18:13 , Rachel Sharp

Agent Zapata testified about the results of testing on the blue raincoat.

Two swabs were taken including from interior cuffs, collar, hood, zipper and zipper pull were taken from blue raincoat.

The agent said that no DNA profile was developed from one swab and a partial DNA profile from the second swab.

There was not enough to determine whose DNA it was, she said.

REMINDER: Weve previously learned a lot about the blue raincoat. Days after the 7 June 2021 murders, Mr Murdaughs mothers caretaker said that the disgraced attorney had shown up at his parents house at around 6.30am cradling a bundled-up blue something in his hands. Shelly Smith testified on Monday that he took the item upstairs and left it before leaving again. In a search of the parents home, investigators discovered a blue tarp and a blue rainjacket.

SLED forensic scientist Megan Fletcher later testified that a significant amount of gunshot residue particles were found all over the coat. Ms Fletcher told the court that the presence of gunshot residue particles on an item means one of two things: the item was in the vicinity of a gun being fired or it came into contact with something else with GSR on it. She said it was possible that the GSR was from a firearm being wrapped inside the coat.

Murdaughs t-shirt tested negative for blood

Monday 13 February 2023 18:08 , Rachel Sharp

The white t-shirt Mr Murdaugh was wearing when police arrived on the scene of the murders tested negative for human blood, the agent testified.

His shirt did have Maggie and Pauls DNA on it but did not show blood.

A mix of three DNA profiles  Maggie, Paul and an unconfirmed DNA  were also found on the shorts Mr Murdaugh was wearing.

The absence of blood could be the result of the types of tests used on the clothing  LCV testing and Hematrace testing  the agent said.

SIDE NOTE: Bodycam footage has been released from night of murders

Monday 13 February 2023 17:48 , Rachel Sharp

Bodycam footage has finally been released showing Alex Murdaugh on the night of the murders of Maggie and Paul.

Watch the footage below:

Whose DNA was found on Murdaughs shirt?

Monday 13 February 2023 17:46 , Rachel Sharp

Mr Murdaughs white t-shirt was also tested for DNA.

The testing found several DNA profiles on his shirt including from Maggie, Paul, Mr Murdaugh and even Pauls friend Nolan Tuten.

Alex and Maggies DNA found on steering wheel of car

Monday 13 February 2023 17:28 , Rachel Sharp

A mixture of both Mr Murdaugh and Maggies DNA was found in swabs of suspected blood found on the steering wheel of his car, the agent testified.

Two swabs of possible blood were taken from the steering wheel of his SUV.

NOTE: Mr Murdaugh told police he drove back to the family home to get a shotgun after finding his wife and sons bodies.

Paul cellphone has unidentified DNA on it

Monday 13 February 2023 17:21 , Rachel Sharp

Unidentified DNA was found on Pauls cellphone.

It was not possible to determine whos DNA profile it was, testified the agent.

Alex and Maggies DNA found on shotgun

Monday 13 February 2023 17:20 , Rachel Sharp

Agent Zapata testified that DNA analysis of a Benelli 12-gauge shotgun found a mixture of Mr Murdaugh and Maggies DNA.

The DNA profiles are 48 quintillion times more likely to be that of Mr Murdaugh and Maggies.

DNA on bullets match Maggie and Paul

Monday 13 February 2023 17:13 , Rachel Sharp

The agent testified about the DNA analysis on bullets at the crime scene.

.300 Blackout cartridge cases were tested.

Agent Zapata said that a single source DNA profile was found and it is 510bn times more likely that Maggie contributed the profile than anyone else.

Swabs from shotgun shells as well as swabs from the exterior doorknob on the feeding room door were also tested.

On both of those, it was 15 octillion times more likely that Paul contributed the DNA than anyone else.

Agent Zapata explains DNA analysis

Monday 13 February 2023 17:02 , Rachel Sharp

Agent Zapata is explaining DNA analysis and how it works.

Related people share some of the same alleles in their DNA, she said.

Next witness: SLED Agent Sarah Zapata

Monday 13 February 2023 16:43 , Rachel Sharp

SLED Agent Sarah Zapata has been called to the stand.

She tells the court how she specialises in DNA testing.

Court returns from recess

Monday 13 February 2023 16:36 , Rachel Sharp

Next witness to take the stand.

Court takes recess

Monday 13 February 2023 16:18 , Rachel Sharp

No redirect for the state and the witness has stood down.

Judge Newman ordered a 10-minute recess. Well be back soon...

Defence cross-examines Agent Nguyen

Monday 13 February 2023 16:10 , Rachel Sharp

The defence is now cross-examining Agent Nguyen.

The SLED agent confirmed that a shotgun tested positive for the possible presence of blood.

However she acknowledged that other things could also show up positive other than human blood, including animal blod, pus and bacteria.

NOTE: The presumptive tests do not confirm the presence of blood. Confirmatory tests are required to do that.
A man has been charged with murder who was driving under the influence of alcohol and without a license when he was involved in a head-on collision that killed a woman, police say.

Alex Fabian Lopez Entzin was arrested Feb. 11 in connection with the crash, which happened in Russell County Jan. 2, Kentucky State Police said in a news release.

Police said Entzin, 23, of Russell Springs, was driving south on U.S. 127 in a Ford Escape when his vehicle collided head-on with a northbound 2022 GMC Terrain driven by Wanda Wethington. Wethington, 75, of Russell Springs, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Entzin sustained life-threatening injuries in the crash and was taken to University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital.

In addition to the murder charge, he is also charged with speeding 14 mph over the limit, no operators license, first-degree operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol  aggravating circumstance, failure to give oncoming vehicle half the highway and reckless driving.

Entzin was taken to the Fayette County Detention Center, state police said.
Looking for the best sunscreen for Black skin? Travel Noires got you covered!

Your melanin may be poppin, but it still needs to be protected with sunscreen.

Thankfully, in 2023, many of us have debunked the myth that Black people dont need sunscreen. However, if you didnt know, protecting our skin from the suns harmful rays is extremely important. Remember to always pack sunscreen with at least 30 SPF when you pack your toiletry bag.

People of color should be sure to add a layer of sunscreen to their skin regimen when traveling to places where the sun shines bright. Although Black doesnt crack, without sunscreen, you still risk increasing hyperpigmentation and subjecting yourself to pesky skin issues.

We, at Travel Noire, always have your back and would never want your skin to look gray. With Spring break just around the corner, make sure you protect your beautiful brown skin while laying on the beach, hiking in the mountains, or sailing on a boat with friends. Here are our top picks for the best sunscreen selections for Black skin on Amazon.

Fenty Beautys Hydra Vizor

Fenty Hydra Vizor

$38

Fenty Hydra Vizor

Fenty Hydra Vizor

Photo Credit: Amazon

Of course, Fenty Beauty would have just what you need to hit the sunny beaches of any destination.

With Rihanna recently spending the last couple of days under the beaming Phoenix sun, its no surprise that the moguls brand would have the right product to protect her skin.

There is no need for an Umbrella, ella, ella when using Fentys Hydra Vizor. It not only protects you from the sun, but also blocks pollution while it soothing your skin. The product helps attack discoloration and tightens big pores.

This moisturizer is available on Amazon for $38.

Drunk Elephants Umbra Sheer Daily Defense

Drunk Elephant Umbra Sheer Daily Defense

$59.97

Drunk Elephant Umbra Sheer Daily Defense

Drunk Elephant Umbra Sheer Daily Defense

Photo Credit: Amazon

Founded in Houston, Texas, in 2013, the Drunk Elephant brand is one of the more popular skincare lines on the market. Known for its conscious efforts to be vegan and cruelty-free, Drunk Elephant uses natural ingredients to protect your skin. Customers and influencers rave about the products and continuous go back to purchase more skincare products from their line.

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You can purchase products from the Drunk Elephant brand in Sephora stores. However, Amazon has their sunscreen available for $59.97.

Coolas Organic Sunscreen Setting Spray

Coola Organic Makeup Setting Spray

$36

Coola Organic Makeup Setting Spray

Coola Organic Makeup Setting Spray

Photo Credit: Amazon

This California brand is a leader in what the industry calls clean beauty. Since the brand specializes in skincare for people who spend the majority of time in the sun, theres no way that Coola wouldnt make the list.

The companys Organic Sunscreen Setting Spray is fused with aloe vera and cucumber, which hydrates the skin and reduces shine. This product is also cruelty-free, made with locally farmed products, dermatologist tested, and boasted to be 70 percent organic.

Coolas Organic Sunscreen Setting Spray is available on Amazon for $36.

Paulas Choice Clear

Paulas Choice Clear

$37

Paulas Choice Clear

Paulas Choice Clear

Photo Credit: Amazon

Paulas Choice products are highly preferred in the makeup industry.

Paulas Choice Clear products protect your skin from acne and keep it from getting too oily. This moisturizer has SPF 30 and also helps with tightening pores.

Paulas Choice products gain rave reviews on Amazon, with customers claiming the product is light on the skin, helps correct skin deficiencies and block the sun. You can purchase Paulas Choice Clear on Amazon for $37.

EltaMD UV Clear

EltaMD UV Clear

$38.95

EltaMD UV Clear

EltaMD UV Clear

Photo Credit: Amazon

EltaMD skin care products have been scientifically proven and tested by dermatologists worldwide for the last 30 years. All of their sunscreen products are made with zinc oxide, which protects your skin by acting like a shield against the suns UV rays.

The product not only protects the skin from the sun, but also works as a lotion that protects your pores from acne. Over 35,000 customers rated this product for an average rating of 4.7. You can purchase this product on Amazon for just $38.95.
Former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan reportedly once called Kaya, a German shepherd frequently padding along the halls of Congress alongside Marine veteran Cole Lyle, the "most powerful lobbyist on the Hill."

With her large brown eyes, gentle manner and keen ability to read emotions in a room, the service dog swayed every member of the House and Senate to fund service dog training for veterans with mental health conditions.

"She was really an ambassador on Capitol Hill and throughout the country, for all service dogs for veterans who have these issues," said Lyle, executive director of the veterans advocacy group Mission Roll Call and owner of Kaya for the past nine years.

Read Next: 'Valhalla Can Wait' -- The National Guard at the Crossroads of Crisis

Kaya, whose work ensured passage of the Puppies Assisting Wounded Servicemembers, or PAWS, for Veterans Therapy Act, died Feb. 4 after a short battle with cancer, just a few months shy of her 9th birthday.

But her legacy will live on, in a pilot program underway at five Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers that are teaching veterans how to train service dogs as part of their personal therapy.

"These dogs really are emotional and mental prosthetics," Lyle said during an interview Tuesday with Military.com. "It's like losing a part of your heart."

Lyle served in the Marine Corps from 2008 to 2014, including a deployment to Helmand province in Afghanistan and Camp Bastion, where he worked for a month in the field hospital that provided front-line treatment for critically injured coalition troops and civilians.

Soon thereafter, he developed post-traumatic stress and, while he pursued therapy and medication, he continued to struggle, facing unemployment while his marriage disintegrated. As former military colleagues began to take their own lives, Lyle contemplated the same.

"I was in dire straits," Lyle said.

Then Kaya entered his life, a 10-week-old bundle of puppy energy.

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Few can argue that time spent with a puppy is sure to brighten the darkest moods, but the bond that formed between Kaya and Lyle, and the sense of responsibility each appeared to have toward the other, convinced Lyle there was an argument to be made for service dogs to support veterans with disabilities beyond blindness or physical assistance.

He pulled together the money needed to send Kaya to months of formal training as a service dog, depleting his deployment savings and accepting support from his family, whom he said realized how much he struggled and how the dog appeared to lift him up.

"When I was in that moment, a couple pounds of trigger-pull away from being a veteran statistic myself, my thought process was that I can't leave this dog. When you feel completely alone and you feel no one cares about you, your instinct is, 'I can't leave this dog. I have to take care of this dog. This dog loves me, and this dog cares about me,'" Lyle said.

A year later, Lyle found himself on Capitol Hill, where Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., inquired about his companion. Lyle saw an opportunity to extol the benefits of service dogs for mental health support and noted that the VA covered dogs only for veterans with physical disabilities.

He figured that if one senator was interested, others would be as well, and the idea for the PAWS Act was born. Initially, the legislation -- first introduced in 2016 by Sens. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., and in the House by then-Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla. -- required the VA to implement a five-year pilot program to provide service dogs for post-9/11 veterans diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The final compromise version, which eventually passed in 2021 without opposition, created a five-year pilot for veterans diagnosed with post-traumatic stress to train service dogs as part of their own medical care and therapy.

The VA has spent more than a decade researching the impact of service dogs following the inclusion of a provision in 2011's annual defense policy bill that required the department to determine whether trained service dogs could help veterans with PTSD.

The research, however, had significant flaws and, after several missteps, was put on hold and later restructured. Eventually, researchers turned to comparing whether trained service dogs provide better support to veterans than a well-trained companion animal, also known as an emotional support dog.

Service dogs are trained for a variety of tasks to assist veterans with PTSD. Kaya, for example, woke Lyle up from nightmares and interrupted anxiety attacks or depressive symptoms by nudging him or licking his face.

The VA study concluded that both types of animals helped decrease PTSD symptoms in their owners, but the results were more significant in participants paired with a service dog.

In addition, veterans paired with service dogs had fewer suicidal behaviors and fewer suicidal thoughts at the 18-month point, while both groups displayed a decrease in other symptoms such as anger and disrupted sleep.

Still, the VA does not cover the costs of service dogs for mental health conditions, and the wait lists for nonprofits that provide such dogs to veterans are long.

Following the passage of the PAWS Act, the VA program began last March at medical centers in Anchorage, Alaska; Ashville, North Carolina; Palo Alto, California; San Antonio, Texas; and West Palm Beach, Florida.

To date, according to the Veterans Health Administration, 86 veterans have participated, with most (74) receiving their training in Alaska, Asheville and San Antonio.

A VHA spokeswoman said last week that the VA expects the program to yield information on the benefits of service dog training for veterans with PTSD.

"There are many effective treatments for PTSD, and service dog training is one option we are working on to ensure veterans have access to resources that may improve their well-being and help them thrive," spokeswoman Rachael Burden told Military.com.

A study published in December in the journal Psychiatric Research and Clinical Practice found that service dogs helped veterans reintegrate into civilian life, reporting more social activity outside their homes, increased interaction with family and friends, and a decreased reliance on medication for their mental health diagnoses.

Lyle, who is the executive director of Mission Roll Call, an advocacy group that aims to reduce veteran suicide, said he needed no convincing. He wishes the VA would look beyond focusing on whether service dogs just reduce symptoms of PTSD and view their effects on their owners more holistically.

"I've been hearing from veterans talking about how Kaya influenced them to get a service dog for their issues and how beneficial it's been for them," Lyle said. "I want Kaya's legacy to be that more veterans who need service dogs can get service dogs."

Over Christmas, Lyle noticed a bump on Kaya's right elbow that was later determined to be cancer. As more bumps appeared across her body, it became clear Kaya's cancer was aggressive and had metastasized.

Seeing her pain, Lyle made the tough decision all dog owners make at some point. It was time to let go.

Last month, Lyle took his beloved service dog for one final trip back to Texas A&M University to visit faculty and friends -- a place close to their heart, where they had met and launched the effort to get the PAWS Act passed.

The two flew to Dallas' Love Field on Southwest Airlines -- the company that had shuttled them back and forth during their early lobbying efforts. On the flight, the pilot announced Kaya's presence and story to the passengers, who cheered her, and on arrival at the airport, thousands lined up in the terminal to welcome her home -- a video that went viral on TikTok.

Following visits to familiar haunts throughout College Station, including a favorite pub, the pair went to a grassy spot near a pond where Lyle had spent hours studying for his bachelor's degree. There, they laid together for hours, enjoying the sunshine and savoring the memories of two lives that had been entwined for far too short a time.

Then, they said goodbye.

"It's still so raw and fresh, but the outpouring of love and support has been overwhelming," Lyle said.

Back at home in Northern Virginia, the house is strangely quiet, absent of the sound of a jangling collar or shake of a furry head. Lyle said it's too early to contemplate getting another dog, and he isn't sure he even needs one right now, because even in death, according to Lyle, Kaya's service is lasting.

"She was so good and so helpful to me that even without her, I would never dishonor or diminish her legacy by making an irreversible mistake, taking my own life. That's how powerful she was," Lyle said.

-- Veterans and military personnel experiencing a mental health emergency can call the Veterans Crisis Line by dialing 988 and pressing 1. Assistance is also available via text at 838255 or online chat at VeteransCrisisLine.net.

-- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Military.com. Follow her on Twitter @patriciakime.

Related: Here's Why Veterans Groups Are Happy About the New Airline Restrictions on Service Animals
Americans in Russia or planning to travel there may be drafted into the army, the U.S. Embassy in Russia warned Monday.

The Kremlin could subject American citizens with dual Russian citizenship to mobilization or prevent their departure from Russia and/or conscript them, according to the new travel advisory.

The warning blames the unpredictable consequences of Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine that started nearly a year ago and continues to escalate.

Russias been flustered by the U.S. and its allies, who continue to fund Ukraines defense. A spending bill passed by congress in December provides $50 billion in aide.

U.S. citizens in Russia are at risk of being targeted for harassment, detained and arbitrary enforcement of local law, according to the U.S. Embassy & Consulates in Russia.

If you wish to depart Russia, you should make independent arrangements as soon as possible, the advisory urged.

Americans in Russia, officials said, could find their credit and debit cards no longer work. There are also reports of cash shortages.

Transportation could suddenly be harder to procure, warns the embassy, which itself faces severe limitations in helping Americans depart.

Foreign and domestic terrorist organizations are believed to pose a threat to Americans, too.

Terrorists may attack with little or no warning, targeting tourist locations, transportation hubs and systems, markets/shopping malls, local government facilities, hotels, clubs, restaurants, places of worship, parks, major sporting and cultural events, educational institutions, airports, and other public areas, the advisory stated.

The embassy claims Russias security services have arrested U.S. citizens on spurious charges and advises against participation in protests. Mondays warning extended to individuals doing volunteer work or representing religious organizations.

The struggling Russian military appeared to be making gains in its six-month effort to capture the eastern city of Bakhmut, the BBC reported Monday.
By John O'Donnell

BERLIN (Reuters) -The United States could sanction more banks with links to Russia and will step up enforcement against any dodging existing rules, a senior U.S. official told Reuters, as Western powers seek to reinvigorate efforts to isolate Moscow.

The comments come as Western diplomats seek to agree a new raft of sanctions for the anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.

"We have immobilised about 80% of the assets in the Russian banking sector," James O'Brien, head of the U.S. State Department's Office of Sanctions Coordination, told Reuters.

"We are looking at additional banks and financial institutions to see how Russia deals with the outside world. It is very possible that there will be more action."

The West blocked several Russian banks' access to the international SWIFT payments system soon after Moscow invaded Ukraine in February last year, with Sberbank and VTB forced to shutter operations across much of Europe.

Western governments also froze around $300 billion of the Russian central bank's reserves.

But not all ties have been cut. Some European banks, including UniCredit and Raiffeisen Bank International, have large businesses there and must follow local rules to grant payment holidays to soldiers.

And Gazprombank, the financial arm of Russian gas exporter Gazprom, has escaped harsh sanctions partly because it handles payments for energy.

It is unclear how ambitious the new restrictions will be, given the desire among some European countries, including Hungary and, to a lesser extent, Germany, to temper further curbs to soften the economic impact, officials from European Union countries told Reuters.

The United States and European Union have sought to present a united front on sanctions, although their penalties differ, in part because Europe has closer economic ties to Russia.

The European Commission has proposed EU countries should cut four more Russian banks, including the private Alfa-Bank, the online bank Tinkoff and the commercial lender Rosbank from global messaging system SWIFT, two EU diplomatic sources said on condition of anonymity.

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Ukraine has called for more sanctions, including targeting Russia's nuclear sector, but is likely to be disappointed.

Two of the European officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that additional financial sanctions were possible but efforts to target Russia's nuclear sector, also advocated by Poland, were unlikely to succeed.

Hungary has already said it would veto such a move.

One of the people said any attempt to target Gazprombank would meet with resistance in Europe because of its importance in processing payments for Russian gas, still used by Hungary and other EU states.

ENFORCEMENT

O'Brien said that the United States would step up enforcement, something the EU also hopes to improve.

"We are now looking at how sanctions, including financial sanctions, can be most effective," he said.

"We will see additional measures to increase the intensity of enforcement actions," he said, adding that although the sanctions allowed global trade in Russian oil and other products, the United States would check on banks and their clients.

"We are always looking to see which companies and parties could benefit from financial transactions linked to Russia," he said.

The United States has the clout to make sanctions bite because the U.S. dollar is central to global trade, while the EU depends on a patchwork of national authorities, some with scant resources.

The U.S. Treasury has over the last year sanctioned more than 100 individuals and entities seeking to circumvent Russia curbs and has charged prominent Russian oligarchs for violations.

Germany, by contrast, has struggled to enforce sanctions on oligarchs due to legal restraints and reliance on multiple authorities, according to people familiar with the matter.

"The focus this year has to be to make sure that we stop sanction evasion," said Franziska Brantner, state secretary in Germany's economy ministry. "And that's what part of the tenth sanction package is looking at."

Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year, in what it calls a "special military operation" to "denazify" the country, but which Western leaders say was nothing more than a land grab.

The eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut has endured heavy artillery fire this week as the head of military alliance NATO backed reports from local officials that a major new Russian offensive had begun, days before the first anniversary of the invasion.

"Russia is actively seeking ways to circumvent western sanctions," said EU trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis recently, adding that new EU measures would seek to "limit the circumvention of the sanctions".

"There is a willingness to go further across the European Union," Irish finance minister Michael McGrath told reporters this week. "We are all appalled about what we are witnessing in terms of continued Russian aggression in Ukraine."

Analysts say there is plenty of scope to pile more sanctions on Russia.

"While the majority of important Russian banks are sanctioned, there is a lot outside that perimeter that you could go after," said Nicolas Veron, of Washington think tank the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

"Nonetheless, Russia has proven it can adapt."

Guntram Wolff, CEO of Berlin think tank the German Council on Foreign Relations, said Russia could use dollar bank accounts to equip its army: "Tighter financial sanctions would further undermine Russia's military."

(Additional reporting by Gabriela Baczynska in Brussels and Daphne Psaledakis in Washington; writing by John O'Donnell; editing by Jane Merriman)
Disney/Marvel Studios

Marvels 15-year-long success has hinged, to a significant degree, on its expert casting. From Robert Downey Jr. as cocky tycoon Tony Stark, to Chris Evans as aw-shucks heartthrob Captain America, to the late Chadwick Boseman as regal and wise Black Panther, the studio has thrived precisely by finding the ideal people to play its popular larger-than-life parts.

Certainly, thats true of the Ant-Man movies, which would be even more humorless and second-rate if not for the innate charm of Paul Rudd as Scott Lang, a thief-turned-hero whos the beneficiary of a techno-fangled suit created by Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) that allows him to magically make himself bigger and smaller.

Ant-Man is a peripheral Avenger at best, and his two big-screen outingsboth directed by Peyton Reedhave been functional almost-funny placeholders in the Marvel schedule, intended to temporarily satiate devotees in-between more spectacular A-level events. Still, Rudd cant help but be amusing, and his good-natured likability has gone some way toward justifying the characters persistent prominence in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), even if hes fared better in Avengers blockbusters than in his own stand-alone tales.

Rudds shrinky-dink do-gooder once again takes center stage in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (which hits theaters Feb. 17), and just as readers will likely get lost in its gobbledygook subtitle, so too does Rudd get swallowed up by the consuming CGI insanity of his latest comic book extravaganza.

The Marvel Cinematic Universes Phase 4 Has Been a Total Train Wreck

A chore of diminishing returns, its an adventure that plays out almost wholly on green screens, here used by desktop artists to realize the Quantum Realm, a subatomic world that resembles a cross between Star Wars and Avatar, except with far more garish and muddy blues, oranges, and yellows. Its a murky mess of an artificial setting that no doubt made filming during COVID easier, not that the pandemic is any excuse for the chintzy aesthetics and leaden writing of this forgettable franchise entry.

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Scott is living the celebrity good life at the start of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, but things are rocky with his teenage daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton), an arrogant wannabe-activist who bristles at her dads desire to coast on his former glory rather than affect positive change. In her free time, Cassie is also a scientific genius whos constructed a telescope thatll map the Quantum Realm, which greatly impresses Scott, his partner/girlfriend Hope van Dyne, aka Wasp (Evangeline Lilly), and Hopes dad Hank.

Disney/Marvel Studios

However, Hopes mom Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer), who spent 30 years trapped in the Quantum Realm, finds this invention of great concern. Her fears quickly prove well-founded when, before she can voice her objection, everyone is sucked into the micro-land, where it turns out a multiverse-traversing villain named Kang (Jonathan Majors) has been exiled.

If Janet had simply warned her loved ones about tyrannical Kang from the get-go, the entire ensuing saga could have been easily avoided, but Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania repeatedly has Janet withhold vital information as an unbelievable means of forwarding the plot. Worse, Jeff Loveness script operates only via cliched declarations of love and togetherness, and word-salad exposition dumps about Kangs origins and purpose.

From his semi-comprehensible diatribes, one gleans that hes a powerful visionary who learned how to traverse time (which is a prison). After seeing that the various multiverse versions of himself were actually breaking time (whatever that means), Kang waged war against his doppelgangers, the goal being to destroy every universe that opposed him. Or something like that. He also suffered great losses, although fans will apparently have to wait to hear about them in future films.

Disney/Marvel Studios

In the Quantum Realm, Scott and Cassie team up with local alien rebels who look like gelatinous amphibian rejects from George Lucas sketchbook, and Hank, Janet and Hope have a sit-down with Janets former flame Lord Krylar (Bill Murray, in a thankless appearance). Shortly thereafter, they encounter M.O.D.O.K. (Corey Stoll), a giant-headed weirdo-weapon that was once Scotts nemesis Darren Cross, and then square off against Kang, whoas explained by a lengthy, lethargic flashbackis really mad about Janet thwarting his prior attempt to escape this teeny-tiny domain.

Between Cassie inspiring revolt (alongside an indigenous female warrior) and Hank cheering on socialism (inspired by his super-smart ant buddies), the film strives to champion revolutionary progressivism, whichgiven its nature as mass-market Disney/Marvel corporate productis arguably the only hilarious thing about Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

Disney/Marvel Studios

Well, that and the filmmakers dogged efforts to relegate Lilly to the sidelines; Hope is an afterthought throughout this odyssey, calling into question why she receives title billing in the first place, and negating the emotional impact of her lovey-dovey moments with Scott. Meanwhile, as befitting the actions general listlessness, comedian Gregg Turkington and I Think You Should Leave scene-stealer Ruben Rabasa are wasted in pointless cameos.

Majors cuts a striking figure as Kang, his imperious rage laced with underlying hurt. Yet at least in this incarnation, hes only a semi-realized madman. Thats likely due to the fact that, as Marvels new reality-threatening Big Bad, Kang is being kept partially in the shadows in order to facilitate grander reveals down the road. Nonetheless, it exacerbates the sense that Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is a lot of weightless, lifeless set-up.

Disney/Marvel Studios

If theres any justice in the multiverse, the follow-ups that arrive in its wake wont require the participation of Douglas and Pfeiffer, who are reduced (pun intended) to embodying two-dimensional cornball nobodies in a story that cut-and-pastes with embarrassing and depressing abandon.

Rarely giving Rudd a chance to crack a joke, so busy is it forcing him to sprint around glowing platforms and floating rock formations, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania eventually runs out of ideas altogether, resorting to a climactic fistfight to settle its conflict.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Already Has the Best Cameo of 2023

While any respite from energy-beam showdowns is a minor victory when it comes to modern superhero affairs, the sheer lack of imagination on display remains enervating, right up to a finale that makes a joke out of the proceedings inconclusiveness. The MCU may think itself so invincible that it can safely continue churning out subpar ventures such as this (and Shang-Chi, and The Eternals), but few more duds and itll learn the lesson that Kang himself inevitably will: time isnt forever on its side.

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Theres a new (almost) billionaire in townand he wants your vote.

Millionaire businessman and Fox News fixture Vivek Ramaswamy has his eyes on the presidency, and on this weeks episode of The New Abnormal, Daniel Lippman, a reporter at Politico covering the White House and Washington, talks to host Danielle Moodie about why the businessman-turned-culture warrior is someone to watch.

He wants to spread the gospel and he thinks that theres currency among Republican voters who do not like how the culture in business and corporate America is becoming more progressive, more about social values and less about just pure profit making, Lippman explains, saying he would outsmart Trump in a debate.

He is not a nobody, this is a person who has a lot of followers on Twitter and Instagram and you know, his books have been bestsellers. He gets a lot of people who say, You know, you should run for president, you have my vote.

Subscribe to The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, or Overcast.

However, he has a lot of work to do, says Lippman.

This is the start of the 2024 cycle. Hes a political newbie and I could see that firsthand. I think the issue is he is not running as a businessman. He is running as a culture warrior He thinks that Americas almost become too soft.

How Twitter Files Hearing Turned Into a Dumpster Fire for GOP

Also on the podcast, co-director of the Texas Childrens Hospital Center for Vaccine Development and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, Dr. Peter Hotez, discusses his new paper investigating rising anti-vaccine activism and key global policy missteps.

Around 200,000 Americans have lost their lives overall, because they were victims of all of this anti-vaccine activism or anti-vaccine, anti-science aggression. And now unfortunately, its globalizing.

Listen to this full episode of The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon and Stitcher.

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A state appeals court panel has upheld the conviction of a woman serving three decades behind bars for the 2011 shooting death of her then-boyfriend's wife in Boonton.

Antionette Stephen, 38, will remain in prison at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility in Hunterdon County after a two-judge panel in the New Jersey Appellate Court declined her pleas to introduce evidence she says proved her attorneys poorly represented her. Stephen pleaded guilty to murder in 2013 and testified against the man with whom she was having an affair, Kashif Parvaiz, during his 2015 trial. He was sentenced to life.

Parvaiz was convicted of scheming with Stephen, a Massachusetts resident and one of several women he was seeing, to shoot his wife, Nazish Noorani, 27, while he walked with Noorani and their son on Aug. 6, 2011 on Cedar Street. An appeals court in 2018 upheld Parvaiz's life sentence, rejecting his arguments his sentence was too excessive due to a violation of his Constitutional right to remain silent.

Antionette Stephen looks back at the family of her victim before making a statement in court, on June 5, 2015, directed at family members of her victim, before State Superior Court Judge Robert Gilson pronounced sentence in the Aug. 16, 2011 murder of Nazish Noorani in Boonton. (Photo by Keith A. Muccilli/ Staff Photographer)

Stephen argued her attorneys at the time of her guilty plea, who are now retired public defenders, failed to advise her that she would face mandatory deportation to India, her home country. Stephen is not a United States citizen but legally entered the United States with a green card and because she was convicted of an aggravated felony, under state law it is grounds for deportation.

A request for comment from the New Jersey Office of the Public Defender was not immediately returned.

Stephen was advised of the possible immigration consequences and was advised by her attorneys she had the right to seek an immigration expert, but Stephen declined, the judges wrote in the Feb. 9 decision.

While the Supreme Court made it clear an attorney's performance would be considered "deficient" if they fail to tell a noncitizen client they are facing mandatory deportation, the judges said it was clear Stephen was aware of the consequences.

The appeals court declined to consider Stephen's claims that had her attorneys properly advised her of her "mandatory" deportation, she would have rejected her plea deal and had gone to trial. Stephen was given the mandatory minimum sentence for murder by pleading guilty and testifying for the state. Had she gone to trial, she faced life in prison without the possibility of parole, the judges wrote.

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Antionette Stephen is sworn in before being questioned by the defense outside of the jury's presence before her testimony during the murder trial of former lover Kashif Parvaiz, accused of killing his wife Nazish Noorani in August 2011. February 17, 2015. Morristown, N.J. Bob Karp/Staff Photographer.

The brazen and at times bizarre case played out during Parvaiz' trial, where it was alleged he paid practitioners who studied "black magic" to help him make his wife disappear, take her own life or have an accidental death, according to an email read during his trial. Stephen admitted she shot and killed Noorani, but described herself as a "slave" to Parvaiz and told jurors he had convinced her his wife was a "greedy, neglectful mother" to the couple's two young sons.

Parvaiz was shot in the leg during Stephen's ambush in a scheme he concocted to lie to police that he and his wife were targeted in an anti-Muslim attack during the Ramadan holiday, although his story purportedly fell apart as investigators continued investigating and when Stephen admitted she pulled the trigger under his orders.

Stephen is eligible for possible parole release from prison in 2041, when she will be 57 years old. Parvaiz, who is serving his sentence at New Jersey State Prison, the state's only maximum security complex, will be 91 years old when he is eligible for possible parole release in 2077, inmate records show.

Lori Comstock can be reached on Twitter: @LoriComstockNJH, on Facebook: www.Facebook.com/LoriComstockNJH or by phone: 973-383-1194.

This article originally appeared on Morristown Daily Record: Boonton NJ murder case upheld by state appeals court
PHOENIX (AP)  The lawyer for an Arizona rancher being held on $1 million bond says her client did not shoot and kill the Mexican man whose body was found on his property last month near the U.S.-Mexico border, but earlier that day fired warning shots at smugglers carrying AK-47 rifles and big backpacks on his land.

A defense request made last week in Santa Cruz County Justice Court asks that the $1 million bond set in the first-degree murder case against George Alan Kelly be lowered or lifted. Kelly, 73, on Monday remained in custody at the Santa Cruz County Jail in the Jan. 30 killing.

A preliminary hearing in the case is set for Monday, Feb. 20.

Attorney Brenna Larkin, who was appointed by the court to represent Kelly, said in her request that her client admitted to firing warning shots at the smugglers earlier in the day, but denied firing any shot at any person.

He does not believe that any of his warning shots could have possibly hit the person or caused the death," she continued. All the shooting that Mr. Kelly did on the date of the incident was in self-defense and justified.

Kelly's ranch is located just outside Nogales, Arizona, city limits in the Kino Springs area.

The victim, Gabriel Cuen-Butimea, lived just south of the border in Nogales, Mexico. U.S. court records show Cuen-Butimea was convicted of illegal entry and deported back to Mexico several times, most recently in 2016.

The Mexican consulate in Nogales has not returned several calls seeking additional information about Cuen-Butimea.

Kelly apparently drew on his borderlands ranching life in the self-published novel Far Beyond the Border Fence, which is described on Amazon.com as a contemporary novel which brings the Mexican Border/Drug conflict into the 21st century.

Authored by a man with the same name, the 57-page novel focuses on George and his wife, Wanda. George Alan Kelly's wife is also named Wanda.

Several times each week illegal immigrants would cross the VMR ranch, reads one part. They were led by armed human smugglers called Coyotes. George and his foreman had to patrol the ranch daily, armed with AK-47's.
Feb. 14Firefighters continued Monday to battle two wildfires that the Army said began as the result of lightning strikes on Sunday afternoon at the Army's Pohakuloa Training Area on Hawaii island.

Firefighters continued Monday to battle two wildfires that the Army said began as the result of lightning strikes on Sunday afternoon at the Army's Pohakuloa Training Area on Hawaii island.

PTA spokeswoman Amy Phillips said local hunters witnessed the lightning strikes starting the fires and then contacted Army officials. The strikes started two fires at Pohakuloa's Keamuku Maneuver Area east of Highway 190, which officials have called the KMA Complex fire.

Officials said Monday afternoon that the smaller of the two fires by Highway 190 is 90 % contained while the larger fire in the interior hills is about 70 % contained. Between the two, approximately 1, 500 acres have been burned. Army officials said.

"PTA, county, and volunteer firefighters are partnering to fight the fires and battling the on-going strong trade winds, " the Army said in a news release.

U.S. Army and Hawaii County helicopters have been supporting firefighters on the ground while bulldozers have been building fire lines to mitigate the spread of the flames. According to the news release, PTA leadership called Monday for three more Army military helicopters (two UH-60 Black Hawks and a CH-47 Chinook ) from the 25th Infantry Division's 25th Combat Aviation Brigade at Wheeler Army Airfield to support with water bucket drops.

"These helicopters will continue their efforts tomorrow, " officials said, adding that a Hawaii County helicopter has also been assisting with bucket drops.

PTA sits between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa and spans 132, 000 acres. With fields of lava and volcanic soil, it's classified as a subalpine tropical dryland forest and is a habitat for Hawaii's state bird, the nene ; the hoary bat ; and several plant and animal species that exist nowhere else on the planet.

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The Army is hoping to maintain PTA as its 65-year lease on a parcel of state land that makes up a key part of the range nears expiration in 2029, and which the state has designated a conservation district. Pohakuloa is the military's largest land training ground in Hawaii, and the Army has made it part of its new Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Centera series of Pacific region training ranges for American troops and their allies for combat operations.

But in 2022, local officials and lawmakers crafted by the Army, citing a dearth of data and concerns about environmental impacts. The state Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands wrote in response that "it appears that military training is in direct conflict of the Conservation District designation."

The Army has been stepping up its investment in firefighting resources and recently received new congressional funding for wildfire prevention and conservation efforts as 2029 gets closer and service leaders prepare to make their case to keep the land.

"We thank the community for their continued support, " the Army said in its news release on the KMA Complex fire. "PTA is coordinating with Hawaii County Civil Defense to ensure the public is kept informed."
You may have tried one of the new websites that allow you to create your own art simply by typing words into an artificial intelligence art creator.

Breathtaking images have been made from websites such as Open AIs Dalle, the creators of ChatGPT.

However, its creating controversy about ethics and compensation for real human artists.

Channel 9s Scott Wickersham spoke to Charlotte artist Darion Fleming, who is working on a mural at the Relatives, a resource center for at-risk youth.

His creations can be seen across Charlotte, including a huge mural on a parking garage in Noda. But Fleming is concerned that AI will replace designers work.

[Its] kind of scary because it could very potentially replace a lot of what designers and artists are doing, Fleming said.

ALSO READ: Novant Health says they are utilizing artificial intelligence to diagnose patients more efficiently

The designs Fleming creates are something artificial intelligence could create in just seconds.

The moral line right now with this technology is just very blurred because there are many, many artists out there whose work is being used on quite a large scale with dozens and dozens of different programs that are being used by tens of millions of people daily, Fleming said.

Getty Images, which owns and charges royalties for millions of images, announced in January that it was suing Stability AI for copyright infringement. Getty accuses them of copying and processing millions of its images without obtaining the proper licensing.

Queens University Art Professor Eric Mullis told Wickersham that AI-generated art reminds him of the debate about Napster, the music app that allowed people to share music for free in the late 1990s. Napster received a flurry of lawsuits.

People made the argument that youre essentially stealing from the artists who made the music, Mullis said. And so fast forward, a similar argument is being made by Getty Images now that the algorithm is going and learning based on all of its imagery and then combining it and basically collaging it into something new.

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RELATED: Novant Health opens innovation lab in uptown Charlotte

Just like how streaming music had litigious beginnings, Fleming hopes the new tool will be a good thing for art and artists down the road.

The benefits to the development of design are massive for this, Fleming said. They can help with the efficiency of design and how you communicate back and forth with a client in order to add things into the design.

Wickersham reached out to AI companies Open AI and Night Cafe for a response about how they use images from artists and companies. He has not heard back.

Along with Getty, artists are now filing a class action lawsuit against several companies, stating they used billions of internet images to train their AI without consent or compensation.

(WATCH BELOW: Your voice could help diagnose disease, other issues through AI)
Print Navigation: > News > > What's Slovak at Berlinale 2023



BERLINALE

International Film Festival Berlin Year: 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007



Slovak Cinema at Berlinale 2023

February 16  22, 2023 | Berlin | Germany















REPRESENTATIVES OF THE SLOVAK FILM INSTITUTE IN BERLIN:



Rastislav Steranka | Feb 16  22 | rastislav.steranka@sfu.sk

Veronika Krejcova | Feb 16  22 | veronika.krejcova@sfu.sk

Lea Pagacova | Feb 16  22 | lea.pagacova@sfu.sk



CENTRAL EUROPEAN CINEMA STAND No. 112

This year, Slovakia will be present at the European Film Market in Berlin for the 18th time. Together with friends and colleagues from the Czech Republic and Slovenia, under the umbrella of the Central European Cinema, The Slovak Film Institute offers an informational and promotional point for Slovak cinema, and a networking place for Slovak film professionals and their international counterparts.



The Slovak Film Institute team is ready and happy to meet you at the Central European Cinema stand No. 112 in Gropius Bau. We will present recent Slovak films and co-productions, as well as treasures from the National Film Archive. The new edition of the newsletter What's Slovak in Berlin 2023? will be also available, providing information about Slovak representation in Berlin.



Come and meet us at the EFM!





Presentation of Slovak cinema and audiovisual industry at the European Film Market is organized by: Slovak Film Institute, with financial support of the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic, and Slovak Film Commission, organizational unit of Slovak Audiovisual Fund and in partnership with Slovak Institute in Berlin.



More information about EFM at www.efm-berlinale.de


An asteroid that crashed into the Earths atmosphere over the UK and France was spotted just hours before it crashed.

The world was given only seven hours warning that it was being approached by the one-meter asteroid, which burnt up safely over Europe on Monday morning.

But spotting it all was hailed as a triumph  and one that has only happened a handful of times before.

In all, the asteroids impact was only the seventh time that such an event has been predicted in advance.

That is a sign of the rapid advancements in global asteroid detection capabilities, said the European Space Agency, which was just one of a range of organisations scrambled to monitor the asteroid as it hurtled towards Earth.

From the beginning, those monitoring the asteroid were also able to predict that it was small at about one-meter across, and unlikely to cause any damage.

Spotting the asteroid in advance also meant that scientists around the world were able to watch it as flew towards Earth and lit up in our atmosphere.

A wide array of observatories were able to watch the event, according to the International Astronomical Unions Minor Planet Centre, which tracks such objects as well as helping to ensure that scientists are aware of any approaches that might be of interest.

The impact was also monitored by devoted systems such as Nasas Scout and the European Space Agencys Meerkat, both of which are used to monitor imminent impacts with Earth.

Of the seven asteroid impacts that were spotted and predicted in advance, two have now been found by the same person. Before he spotted the latest visitor, Krisztian Sarneczky also saw another asteroid that hit over the Arctic Ocean in March last year, and he has found hundreds of minor planets and other objects in all.

The latest asteroid also fell almost on the exact 10-year anniversary of the Chelyabinsk explosion, which occurred over Russia on 15 February, 2023. It was the most powerful asteroid strike in more than 100 years, and left around 1,500 people injured as well as causing significant damage to buildings and blowing out windows.
Students at Atherton High School walked out of class Tuesday afternoon in protest of Kentucky's wave of "Don't Say Gay/Trans" bills.

About 200 students, many donning trans and Pride flags and signs decrying anti-LGBTQ legislation in the Kentucky General Assembly, gathered on the school lawn. Elliott Kozarovich, a sophomore at Atherton who helped organize the protest, said he wanted to organize a gathering in support of other students.

"If we don't do it, no one will," he said.

More:Could this Kentucky legislation mean the end to Louisville's drag scene?

Samuel Stanchfield, a senior who uses they/it pronouns, felt empowered to come out in front of classmates for the first time, storming to the front of the crowd to announce they are gay.

After, Stanchfield said they felt "great."

"The love, the energy ... it was all high ... emotions were flying like colors in the wind. It's a wonderful time out here," it said.

Liam at Atherton High School was part of a protest against the new Kentucky Dont Say Gay/Trans bill by walking out of school. Feb. 14, 2023

Victoria Watkins, a French teacher at Jefferson County Public Schools, said in a letter to Rep. Josh Calloway that it would be "abuse" to pass House Bill 173, which, among other things, would ban students from using bathrooms that match their gender identities and bar teachers from displaying Pride flags. Watkins said Calloway's bill  which also would require educators to inform parents if a student requests to use a different name or pronouns  would take away a "safe harbor from the students that are not safe at home" and strip students of "their ability to feel honored and safe at school."

"I can tell you, without a doubt, that your bill would be devastating to the youth of our future. How can you make decisions for teachers, not taking into account the mental health and struggles of so many of our students?" Watkins wrote. "Do you really think that parents, in all cases, are in the position to make the best decisions for their kids when they might be the source of abuse and neglect?"

Students at Atherton High School held a protest against the new Kentucky Dont Say Gay/Trans bill by walking out of school. Feb. 14, 2023

Along with HB 173, at least seven bills related to queer and trans people have been introduced this year in the state legislature, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Almost all of the bills deal with queerness in schools and education, including Senate Bill 150, which would allow teachers to misgender students. A committee passed the bill last week in an 11-1 vote  in front of Sen. Karen Berg, who lost her trans son to suicide.

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'High alert isn't fun':Louisville LGBTQ+ groups get proactive on protection as threats rise

Other anti-LGBTQ and anti-trans bills would require schools to develop policies to prohibit drag performances, ban gender-affirming health care and block transgender students from using bathrooms tied to their gender identities.

Several students said that they fear passing bills like House Bill 120 would take away their opportunity for gender-affirming care or to medically transition, treatments that research suggests can be life-saving.

Ethan Walker, a sophomore, said he experiences symptoms of depression, some of which stem from his feelings of gender dysphoria, and a treatment like hormone replacement therapy could help. For Walker, gender dysphoria means looking in the mirror but not seeing who he believes he is. Another student said gender dysphoria goes beyond feelings of ugliness and she feels like she is in the "completely wrong body."

"This is really scary because this is like a domino effect of things that are maybe going to happen," Walker said. "This is just the start."

Students at Atherton High School was part of a protest against the new Kentucky Dont Say Gay/Trans bill by walking out of school. Feb. 14, 2023

Clover Flint, an agender student  which means they don't identify with a specific gender  echoed Walker's sentiments about suffering from gender dysphoria.

"For so long, I felt like I should kill myself because I thought there was something wrong with me," Flint said, attributing their suicidal feelings to a religious upbringing in which they were told they would "go to hell," were "sinning" and what they were doing was "disgusting."

Kentucky's bills are part of a larger, national wave of anti-LGBTQ and anti-trans legislation, spurred by conservative groups. More than 100 such bills were filed in state legislatures in January.

A surge in anti-LGBTQ and anti-trans legislation led the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to warn LGBTQ+ and other minority groups that they are at heightened risk for domestic terror due to increased attacks from groups that hold "violent extremist ideologies," such as a mass shooting that occurred at Club Q in Colorado Springs last year.

A drag story time event in Ohio was canceled after a far-right group stood outside a church in tactical gear with guns. Louisville's own Drag Queen Story Time suspended operations going into the New Year after Homeland Security's warning.

More:Black transgender woman's killing at Louisville workplace spurs calls to action at vigil

Louisville also saw the death of Zachee Imanitwitaho, a Black, trans woman known to her friends as Zachee, on Feb. 3. Zachee's death is one of at least four deaths of trans people as a result of violence this year in the U.S., according to the Human Rights Campaign. She was shot two days after her birthday at the JBS Swift plant where she worked, and arrest was made shortly after the incident when 58-year-old Edilberto Reyes turned himself into the Louisville Metro Police.

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

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Atherton students walk out over Kentucky "Don't Say Gay/Trans" bills
A civil rights advocate and former president of the North Carolina branch of the NAACP died by suicide in his Greensboro home last summer, according to an autopsy report released Tuesday.

The Rev. T. Anthony Spearman, 71, who also served as president of the N.C. Council of Churches, was found on a basement couch on July 19, 2022, according to a report by the North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

The report stated that family had discovered Spearman while conducting a welfare check.

Spearman was last seen alive the night before on a Zoom meeting and reported to be in good spirits during the meeting, the report stated.

___

EDITORS NOTE  This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, please dial 988 to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

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Spearman's death had drawn widespread attention, with his work as an activist being praised by the likes of Bishop William J. Barber, who preceded Spearman as the state's NAACP president. But few details about Spearman's death had been released until Tuesday, nearly seven months after his passing. The autopsy states that Spearman died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

A 911 call that was placed about a week before Spearmans death indicated an armed robbery took place at his house.

Spearman alleged that a man asked for $2,000, which Spearman said he didnt have, according to audio from a 911 call on July 13 and a magistrates order. The man is alleged to have taken Spearmans cellphone and tried to use an app to transfer money to his account.

Spearman said the man pulled a gun and when Spearman grabbed it, a shot was fired. Spearman said he wasnt hurt.

Records also show that the man hit Spearman with the gun before he fled with his cellphone, according to a magistrates order. The man was arrested and charged the same day with robbery with a dangerous weapon and assault with intent to kill. He was later released on a $15,000 bond.

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That incident was acknowledged in the investigative report released Tuesday with Spearman's autopsy.

Spearman was elected North Carolina NAACP president in 2017 and served one four-year term.

Spearmans family issued a statement following his death last year, calling him a man of strong conviction who loved his family with every ounce of his being.

Barber, who is now president of the national, not-for-profit organization Repairers of the Breach, said last year that he had "lost a true brother in the struggle.

We have lost a scholar, a preacher, a voting rights defender, an advocate for prison reform and for the wrongfully accused and a stalwart soldier in the cause of love and justice for all humankind, Barber said. This great mans efforts and commitment should be cherished.
Marco Goecke is accused of smashing dog poop into the face of Wiebke Huster at the foyer of the Hanover State Opera. Julian Stratenschulte/picture alliance via Getty Images

A ballet director in Germany is accused of smearing dog poop in the face of a dance critic.

Choreographer Marco Goecke was upset by Wiebke Huster's negative review of his work, per German media.

The Hanover Opera House suspended Goecke, and said his actions had stained its reputation.

A ballet director in Germany is accused of smearing dog feces on the face of a dance critic who wrote a scathing review of his work.

The Hanover State Opera said in a statement on Monday that it had suspended ballet director Marco Goecke after a confrontation between him and critic Wiebke Huster on Saturday evening.

Goecke had approached Huster on the opera foyer, threatening to ban her from the premises and saying audience members canceled their ticket subscriptions because of her negative review, reported German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, which Huster writes for.

Huster had earlier blasted Goecke's new show "In the Dutch Mountains," comparing it to being "driven insane and killed by boredom."

As Goecke confronted Huster on Saturday, he became more and more irate until he pulled out a paper bag with animal feces and "smacked the face of our dance critic with the contents," FAZ wrote.

"After that, he was able to go on his way unhindered through the crowded foyer," the outlet added.

"Police investigations into this outrageous incident are ongoing and criminal charges have been filed immediately," it wrote.

A spokesperson for the state opera house confirmed to German media that the bag of poop contained dog feces.

It's not immediately clear how Goecke came into possession of dog poop while at a state opera house, but the director is known for owning a pet dachshund named Gustav.

The Hanover State Opera said it apologized to Huster, who's been a dance critic for 25 years, and added that her "personal integrity was violated in an unspeakable manner."

"With his impulsive reaction to the journalist, Marco Goecke violated all the rules of conduct of the Hanover State Opera," the state theater wrote in its statement.

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It said Goecke had caused "massive damage" to the opera house and its ballet program, and that he is banned from its grounds until further notice.

Goecke, who has held the role of ballet director since 2019, is celebrated in Europe as an award-winning ballet director and choreographer.

A Hanover State Opera spokesperson told Insider in an email that the theater had no further information to share on Goecke's confrontation.

Goecke and Huster did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.

February 15, 2023: This story was updated to reflect comment from the Hanover State Opera.

Read the original article on Insider
[Source]

Netflix has released official first look photos of its new series "Beef," starring and produced by Steven Yeun and Ali Wong.

The dark comedy, which consists of ten 30-minute episodes, explores the aftermath of a road rage incident between two strangers whose ensuing feud increasingly consumes their lives.

Yeun plays Danny Cho, a failing contractor struggling to make ends meet who chases after a driver who flipped him off in a parking lot. Wong plays Amy Lau, the other driver and a wealthy entrepreneur with a seemingly perfect life who, in reality, is battling unseen pressures and inner turmoil.

More from NextShark: Vietnamese Dramedy 'Bo Gia' Crushes Specialty Box Offices Grossing at $350K

Beef was inspired by an actual road rage incident experienced by Lee Sung Jin, the series' creator.

In an interview with Vanity Fair, Lee says he was stopped at a traffic light in Los Angeles when an angry man in a SUV pulled up next to him and started honking and screaming at him. Lee, like Yeuns character, followed after the man for a while before driving off.

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Lee says that the incident made him pause and reflect on the subjectivity of his reality and how he was projecting his own perceptions onto the other driver.

As for casting, Lee says Yeun and Wong were a natural fit having already worked together on Netflix's animated series Tuca & Bertie. Stevens very heady and philosophical with themes, and he just found himself just naturally gravitating towards the idea, Lee explained.

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The character opposite Yeuns was originally intended to be a Stanley Tucci type, but once Wong called about the project, the dynamic changed.

I think a lot of times for casting, if you just feel something true about the person, I generally tend to believe that you can find it, Lee said. You can just see that [Ali Wong] has such command over her body and voice, and theres great precision."

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More from NextShark: K-pop festival KAMP LA 2022 announces CHUNG HA to final lineup

Beyond its two lead actors, the show boasts an impressive roster of Asian American talents.

Rounding out the cast are Searching star Joseph Lee, Emily in Paris actor Ashley Park, artist David Choe, Young Mazino from Glass, Patti Yasutake of Star Trek fame and Umbrella Academy actor Justin H. Min.

The significance of the Asian American cast is not lost on Lee, who stressed that the characters always come first.



It does feel nice, honestly," he told Vanity Fair. "I never thought when I started 15 years ago that we would be in a place where we could just write these types of characters."

Lee added: "Honestly, we try to always lead with character. So if it bled through into the show, its just natural, because these characters happened to be Asian American. We were just kind of trying to chase what felt real.

Beef" premieres on Netflix on April 6.
Image: HBO

Bella Ramseywho identifies as non-binary and uses all pronounsis entirely unsympathetic to the plight of the homophobe who wants their media to remain as straight as an arrow. The third episode of The Last of Us, which many critics praised for its storytelling and the post-apocalyptic queer romance at the center of the plot, was review-bombed on aggregate social sites like Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes.



For anyone who doesnt know, review bombing is when people rate a piece of media exceptionally low or high in order to make a point. The people who review-bombed episode three were trying to drive home their own homophobia and hatred, exposing a swath of bigots. The internet is a cruel place; especially for anything tangentially related to video games, which has proven a fertile breeding ground for bigotry.

Read more

But Ramsey doesnt seem bothered by the extreme hatred, having once been a target of it themselves. I know people will think what they want to think, they said in an interview with British GQ. But theyre gonna have to get used to it. If you dont want to watch the show because it has gay storylines, because it has a trans character (this is a reference to Lev, the transman at the center of a storyline in The Last of Us Part II, which is already being written for television adaptation in season two of the series) thats on you, and youre missing out.

The actor has had their own fair share of internet hatred. When they were first cast as Ellie there was a massive amount of vitriol spewed about the decision. Now, theyre seeing it as a challenge. Ramsey isnt going to let other people tell them what to do. It isnt gonna make me afraid. I think that comes from a place of defiance.





Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, whats next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

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President Biden on Tuesday urged Congress to take action against gun violence in the wake of the shooting at Michigan State University that left three students dead and injured five others.

Our hearts are with these young victims and their families, the broader East Lansing and Lansing communities, and all Americans across the country grieving as the result of gun violence, Biden said in a statement.

Biden noted that the Michigan State shooting took place one day before the five-year anniversary of when a gunman killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. The convergence of those two events should cause every American to exclaim enough and demand that Congress take action, Biden said.

Biden reiterated his pleas from his State of the Union address last week, when he urged Congress to require background checks on all gun sales, ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and eliminate immunity for gun manufacturers who knowingly put weapons of war on our streets.

Action is what we owe to those grieving today in Michigan and across America, Biden said.

A gunman killed three students and wounded five others at Michigan State University late Monday and then fatally shot himself off the East Lansing campus, police said.

The shooter opened fire at two locations on campus, an academic building and a student union area, according to authorities, prompting an hours-long manhunt as students sheltered in place.

Biden spoke Monday night with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) to offer federal resources as the state deals with the aftermath of the incident.

Biden has signed multiple executive orders on gun violence since taking office, with some focusing in particular on cracking down on the use of ghost guns that are difficult to trace. The Justice Department has also used additional funding and task forces focused on gun violence to try to address the issue.

Still, mass shootings have remained a prevalent problem. Biden administration officials have said it is a priority for the president, though they acknowledged there is only so much he can do without action from Congress.

Lawmakers last year passed a bipartisan gun safety bill in the wake of a mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. The bill enhanced background checks for gun purchasers between the ages of 18 and 21, made obtaining firearms through straw purchases or trafficking a federal offense, and clarified the definition of a federally licensed firearm dealer.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
J. Brett Blanton Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

President Biden fired Architect of the Capitol J. Brett Blanton on Monday, three years into his 10-year term, after reviewing a report by the office's inspector general that accused Blanton of abuses of office, the White House said. The report, issued in October, said Blanton and his family used his government vehicle as their personal car, and accused Blanton of impersonating a police officer.

Blanton was appointed by former President Donald Trump, but there was broad bipartisan support for his dismissal. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) joined those calling for his exit on Monday.

The Architect of the Capitol manages operations and preservation of the Capitol building and grounds, Supreme Court, and Library of Congress, overseeing a federal agency with about 2,400 workers. The architect also sits on the board of the Capitol Police. Blanton's job got significantly more tenuous after a Feb. 9 House Administration Committee hearing at which he defended not coming to work at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as a "prudent" decision "because of the security situation" at the besieged Capitol.

Lawmakers said Blanton also failed to adequately address the allegations in the inspector general's report, which found "administrative, ethical, and policy violations," as well as "evidence of criminal violations." During the hearing, Blanton said he "wholeheartedly" rejected "any assertion that I have engaged in unethical behavior" in "this particular role," and said the inspector general's report was "filled with errors," though he also said he did not read the entire thing.

The Oct. 26, 2022, report said Blanton used his official car for errands and family vacations, and let his wife and adult daughter drive it when he wasn't present. The daughter "transported both her friends and boyfriend in the vehicle and referred to using the AOC's fuel as 'free gas,'" the report said. Blanton also used his work vehicle's emergency lights and siren to chase down a vehicle he believed hit his daughter's boyfriend's car, and identified himself as "law enforcement," the driver's lawyer said, though Blanton denied doing so. Blanton's credentials "specifically do not delegate law enforcement authority," the report said.

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Replacing Blanton will involve "a long and arduous process that could take months or years," Politico reports. Ordinarily, the deputy architect would take over in the interim, but that position is currently vacant, so the chief of operations  Joseph DiPietro, who began the job Monday  will fill the void.

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U.S. President Joe Biden will name Federal Reserve Vice Chairwoman Lael Brainard as his top economic adviser, with an announcement to come as soon as Tuesday, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The White House and a Fed spokesman declined to comment on the move, and Brainard could not be reached, according to Bloomberg.

Brainard has a focus on crypto as the sector founders, CoinDesk reported on July 8, 2022.

Recent volatility has exposed serious vulnerabilities in the crypto financial system, Brainard said in a speech in London in July last year.

Brainard said the Fed has been closely monitoring recent events where risks in the system have crystallized and many crypto investors have suffered losses, according to a copy of the speech. Strong regulatory guardrails will help enable investors and developers to build a resilient digital native financial infrastructure.

Brainard vice chairwoman since May 2022.
























Kate Brubachers work to free Kevin Strickland from prison, overturning the longest known wrongful conviction in Missouri history, won her praise in Kansas City. But that work may be slowing down her confirmation to become the U.S. Attorney for the District of Kansas.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, upset over the lack of action on a U.S. Attorney nominee in Tennessee, blocked a vote on Brubachers confirmation during last weeks Judiciary Committee meeting.

When explaining her opposition to Brubacher, Blackburn said she was involved in an effort to set aside the sentence of a man convicted in a triple homicide  but failed to mention that man was innocent.

Blackburn did not name him, but Brubacher played a critical role in the 2021 exoneration of Strickland, a Kansas City man who spent more than 40 years in prison for a triple murder he did not commit.

Blackburn is upset that President Joe Biden did not renominate Casey Arrowood, whose nomination to become U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee lapsed after opposition from some Asian American groups over his decision to prosecute a Tennessee professor on spying charges. In the committee meeting, Blackburn said she would attempt to block any nominee she finds more objectionable than Arrowood.

Sen. Blackburn is using the Kansas nominee as a pawn in her fight with Senate Dems over the Tennessee nominee, said Dan Nelson, who worked with Brubacher for more than four years when he was Jackson Countys chief deputy prosecutor. This has nothing to do with reality or Kansas, and is a sad indication of the state of national politics.

Blackburns office did not respond to a request for comment.

While Blackburn has been able to delay Brubachers nomination for at least a week, its unclear how much support she has to block her confirmation outright. Some Republicans on the Judiciary Committee have used their role to portray Biden and his nominees as soft on crime.

Blackburns hold on Burbachers nomination lasts a week. The Judiciary Committee will then be able to vote on her nomination.

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The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Both of Kansas Republican senators have turned in their blue slips for Brubacher, where they can offer their opinion on a nominee. Generally, if both senators turn in their blue slip, it indicates the nominee is likely to be confirmed. But neither Sen. Roger Marshall nor Sen. Jerry Moran would say much in her favor beyond the fact that she had their approval.

Asked about Brubacher on Thursday, Marshall demurred on answering any questions about how he felt about her qualifications other than to say he had turned in his blue slip. His office did not respond to a request for comment.

U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt, a freshman Republican from Missouri, would not say whether hell vote to confirm Brubacher. Schmitt is not on the Judiciary Committee and his office said he will not take a position until her nomination comes to a vote on the Senate floor.

As Missouri attorney general, Schmitt actively worked against freeing Strickland. His office held the position that Strickland was guilty and repeatedly filed motions and appeals blocking his release.

We operate in an adversarial system, Schmitt said in 2022 to a Missouri House committee. Even if somebody believes very passionately that someone is innocent or wrongly convicted, in court having to answer questions on cross examination, those sorts of things are a very important part of our system. And that is the role that we played.

Jackson County prosecutors sought to free Strickland after determining he was factually innocent of the 1978 killings. The lone eyewitness recanted her identification of him, saying she got it wrong, and two men who admitted guilt swore Strickland was not with them during the shooting.

Brubacher was among the first people to hug Strickland as he was pushed in a wheelchair out of the Western Missouri Correctional Center, telling him, Congratulations. He thanked her.

U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, who serves on the Judiciary Committee and has opposed more of Bidens nominees than any other senator, said he would have to look into Brubachers record.

I cant imagine I wouldnt vote no but Ill look into it, Hawley said on Thursday.

Hawley has been particularly aggressive when it comes to high-profile nominees and was a driving force behind the criticism of Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jacksons sentences for people convicted of child pornography crimes, even though they largely fell within the nations average.

Brubacher was praised locally for her work on the case, with Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker saying Strickland would not be free today without her. City politicians supported their effort, with Kansas Citys City Council at the time urging Missouri Gov. Mike Parson to pardon Strickland.

In her comments, Sen. Blackburn also claimed that Brubacher has called herself a prison abolitionist.

Blackburns office did not respond to a question asking for the source of her claim.

But as a prosecutor, Brubacher helped send killers to prison, including Fazon Swinton, who was convicted of second-degree murder for shooting a man in 2016 during a botched gun transaction in Kansas City. Hes serving a 24-year sentence in the Missouri Department of Corrections.

Nelson, who worked with Brubacher at the Jackson County Prosecutors Office, said Brubacher is absolutely not a prison abolitionist. He called Blackburns statement verifiably false.

Brubacher sat on the offices homicide committee, meaning she weighed in on every charging decision for murder cases. Nelson, who is also a former federal prosecutor, said when complicated legal issues arose, they landed on Brubachers desk because she is such a brilliant attorney.

She is a strong victim advocate and an advocate for prison in appropriate cases  just not cases of actual innocence where that can be proven, he said.

Mike Mansur, a spokesman for the prosecutors office, said that during Brubachers tenure there, he never heard her describe herself as a prison abolitionist.

Brubacher has said she is honored to be nominated and looks forward to the confirmation process.
Former national security adviser John Bolton is reportedly accepting the Biden administrations offer to brief him on Chinese spy balloon incidents that took place during Donald Trumps presidency.

Boltons representative confirmed to The Hill that Bolton will issue a statement after the briefing, set for Wednesday. He will be briefed by the office of the director of national intelligence, according to CNNs Kaitlan Collins.

John Bolton, who served as Trump's national security adviser, will be briefed by the Biden administration on Wednesday, I'm told. The briefing is expected to be conducted by the office of the director of national intelligence.  Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) February 13, 2023

President Joe Bidens administration said in the uproar that followed the announcement this month that a Chinese spy balloon was floating over the country that at least three other Chinese surveillance balloons flew over the U.S. when Trump was president. Another one floated over the U.S. earlier in Bidens administration, the Pentagon said.

Bolton and other former Trump officials claimed they had no knowledge of the earlier incidents. Bidens team offered to brief Trump officials about the balloons and Bolton accepted.

Bolton has said he has a long list of questions.

We have barely scratched the surface on the Chinese balloons, Bolton wrote in a op-ed for the New York Post Sunday.

The U.S., which shot down the spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4, also has shot down three lower-altitude flying objects in the past week over Alaska, Canada and Lake Huron.

John Kirby, the National Security Councils coordinator for strategic communications, said the White House has discovered a wider surveillance program by Chinas military using high-altitude balloons.

It was operating during the previous administration, but they did not detect it, Kirby told reporters at Mondays White House briefing. We detected it. We tracked it. And we have been carefully studying it to learn as much as we can.

Kirby also sought to explain why the U.S. acted quickly to shoot down the still-unidentified smaller objects, but waited longer to take down the balloon.

We assessed that their altitudes were considerably lower than the Chinese high-altitude balloon and did pose a threat to civilian commercial air traffic, Kirby said. And while we have no specific reason to suspect that they were conducting surveillance of any kind, we couldnt rule that out.
By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Joe Biden's pick for a key fifth seat on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Tuesday faced harsh criticism from Republicans senators while Democrats said it was crucial the U.S. telecom regulator have a full slate of commissioners.

Gigi Sohn, who was nominated in October 2021, had her third hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee, telling lawmakers industry opponents "fear a pragmatic, pro-competition, pro-consumer policymaker who will support policies that will bring more, faster, and lower-priced broadband."

Republicans offered a sweeping denunciation of Sohn on a number of grounds and accused her of misleading Congress - something she rejected.

Ted Cruz, the top Republican on the panel, said Sohn "has shown herself to be an extreme partisan who lacks the impartiality and candor necessary to serve in a leadership position at a powerful independent regulatory agency."

Many Democrats said Republicans were doing the bidding of powerful telecom companies who did not want to face regulation from the FCC.

Committee chair Maria Cantwell said that telecom firms were worried Sohn would push for lower-cost internet service.

"Somehow if affordable broadband gets deployed anywhere, then somehow more affordable broadband might get deployed everywhere," Cantwell said. "So I think there's probably billions of dollars at stake here, and that is why the vitriol is coming at you."

Democrats since January 2021 have been unable to command a majority of the five-member FCC, stalling the party's efforts to reinstate landmark net neutrality rules revoked under Republican former President Donald Trump.

In July 2021, Biden signed an executive order encouraging the FCC to reinstate the open internet net neutrality rules.

Republicans have questioned Sohn's role as a board member of a nonprofit that operated a transmission service called Locast. It was ordered shut down after four broadcast networks filed a copyright infringement lawsuit.

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If confirmed, Sohn has voluntarily agreed to recuse herself on some matters involving retransmission consent and TV broadcast copyright.

Democrats have a 51-49 majority in the Senate. Democratic Senator Jacky Rosen cited serious concerns raised by some law enforcement groups and she said that gave "her pause" about Sohn's nomination.

Cantwell told reporters after the hearing she had not decided when to hold a vote on her nomination.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
By Steve Holland and Nandita Bose

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Joe Biden challenged Republicans on Tuesday to release a budget proposal and let Americans decide whether they want to stay the course with his economic vision or pursue policies that he says would drive up the national debt.

Biden, who opposes putting conditions on a debt ceiling increase that is needed to cover outlays and tax cuts already approved by Congress, has pushed Republicans for details on what budget cuts they are looking for in order to raise the federal debt limit.

The president addressed a gathering of county officials in Washington and said he has asked House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy to lay out his budget.

"I suggested, instead of making threats about the debt ceiling, which would be catastrophic, let's just lay out our budgets," Biden said. "Here's the bottom line: I'm simply not going to let the nation default on its debt for the first time in history," he added.

The White House is due to release its budget on March 9.

House Republicans, the chamber's controlling party now, want to use the debt ceiling as leverage to push spending cuts, after two years during which Biden's Democrats controlled both the House and the Senate.

Republicans have not yet united around a specific plan, though McCarthy has said they will not try to scale back the two largest benefit programs, Social Security and Medicare.

Congress raised the debt ceiling three times during Republican Donald Trump's four years in the White House, but it has often imposed conditions on the increase. Just 26 of the 60 debt-ceiling hikes since 1978 have been passed on their own, with many of the bills paired with other budget and spending measures.

The White House has said Biden will discuss federal spending cuts with Republicans, but only after the debt ceiling is lifted, while McCarthy has said Republicans will only lift the ceiling if Biden agrees to spending cuts.

Despite the differences, the two sides say they will continue to talk.

(Reporting by Steve Holland and Nandita Bose in Washington; Editing by Leslie Adler)
WASHINGTON  The Democratic-led Senate confirmed President Joe Bidens 100th federal judge Tuesday, marking a milestone for the president and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

The two Democrats have made it a priority to reshape U.S. courts with judges who tend to be younger, liberal and more diverse  both in terms of race and ethnicity, as well as professional experience  than the current bench, a project aided by Democrats expanding their Senate majority in the 2022 midterm election.

On Monday, the Senate confirmed Cindy Chung to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, making her the first Asian American to serve on that court. On Tuesday, the Senate voted 54-45 to make Gina Mendez-Miro a district court judge in Puerto Rico; the nomination passed a key test vote that indicates she has the necessary support to be confirmed and will become Bidens 100th confirmed judge.

President And Mrs Biden Return To White House From St. Croix (Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images file )

She will be Bidens 69th confirmed district court judge. He has also secured Senate approval for 30 circuit court judges and one Supreme Court justice: Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Appointing 100 judges has already had a major impact on the judiciary  and it puts President Biden on track to name a transformational 200 judges before the end of this term, Ron Klain, Bidens former chief of staff, who departed last week, told NBC News. Just as important as the quantity of judges is their quality, professional background and diversity. President Bidens history-making contribution to judicial appointments isnt just breaking the mold of prior federal judicial picks  its making a whole new one.

Biden and Democrats are outpacing former President Donald Trump and the Republican-led Senate  at this juncture, Trump had secured 85 judges. He left office with a staggering 234 new judges, the most of any president in his first four years since Jimmy Carter, thrilling the right and leaving an indelible mark on the courts with young conservative judges poised to serve for generations. Trump's three Supreme Court justices helped to overturn Roe v. Wade last summer, a major breakthrough for opponents of abortion.

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Democrats took power in 2021 determined to counter-balance that trend, picking a slate of judges seen as more liberal and bringing a different kind of experience: Biden has picked unusually high numbers of public defenders, civil rights lawyers and labor lawyers compared to his predecessors from both parties.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Bidens judicial nominees are radicals.

Its no secret that I was not a fan of the judges Barack Obama appointed, he said Monday. But Obamas nominees look positively moderate and reasonable compared to the zealots the Biden administration has put forward.

Democrats stick together for Biden's judges

Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced 24 new Biden-picked judges, many on a narrow party-line basis, setting them up for floor votes. The committee, chaired by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., plans to meet to advance more judges this week.

It hasnt all been smooth sailing for Democrats on judges. Last month, Charnelle Bjelkengren, a Biden nominee to be a district court judge in Washington, failed to answer basic questions about the Constitution from Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., including what Article II says. And Michael Delaney, a Biden nominee for the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, has faced some criticism from the left over his role as a private lawyer representing a private school that was sued by the family of a girl who was sexually assaulted on campus.

Durbin said Monday he plans to move forward with both nominees.

Confirming judges requires a simple majority in the Senate. Many of Bidens judges have received some Republican support. Plenty of others have passed with only Democratic votes, earning no support from GOP senators who prefer judges with a narrower and textualist view of constitutional interpretation.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., a conservative who sits on the Judiciary Committee, grudgingly credited Democrats for sticking together on Biden-picked judges, even in the 50-50 Senate of the last two years.

The Democrats on the Judiciary Committee  Im going to give them credit, not a single one of them has broken with this administration on a single judge. And its extraordinary, he said. Schumer and Durbin have done this to great effect. They have made the conveyor belt on judges move, and of course, I lament that.

To top Trump, Biden needs judges to retire

Asked recently whether Democrats expect to top Trumps total of 234 judges over four Biden years, Schumer, D-N.Y., said in an interview: Yes.

The New York Democrat said the midterm elections helped their cause after the party defied the odds and gained a seat, stripping Republicans of the ability in an evenly divided Senate to make them jump through an extra hoop to bring a nominee to a floor vote.

We made it easier with the 51-49 Senate, Schumer said in his Capitol leadership office.

He acknowledged, however, that Biden will need plenty of judges to retire from active service over the next two years in order to have enough vacancies to fill. There will be a bunch, Schumer said. If the pattern works out, we could get there.

One snag for Democrats is the blue slip tradition, which allows home-state senators to block district court judge nominations. Republicans eliminated the rule for circuit court nominees when it became an obstacle. Now, some progressives are pressuring Democrats to end it for district court nominees as well, to remove a barrier for Biden to fill judicial vacancies in red states. Durbin has resisted the idea but warned the GOP not to abuse the rule.

Republicans dont have the votes to stop Biden-picked judges on the floor unless they peel off at least two Democrats. But some of them want the GOP to be more aggressive in making their case against the types of judges that the president is nominating.

I hope our side will want to show some resolve, Hawley said. I hope that we will take the opportunity on our side to really make the case against some of these folks.

And with the Republican-controlled House offering few areas of common ground legislatively, the Senate for the next two years could turn into a factory for judicial confirmations.

If the Republicans would like to slow us down from achieving that, a great way to do it would be to come forward with compelling legislation that will compete for floor time, said Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del. If we have almost nothing else to do on the floor, then the number of judges we will confirm will likely hit an all-time high.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
President Biden on Tuesday dismissed the Ivy League law professor put forth as a candidate for an international human rights organization over comments that appeared to invoke antisemitic tropes in criticizing House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).

State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said that the administration was not previously aware of the comments made by James Cavallaro accusing Jeffries of being Bought. Purchased. Controlled by pro-Israel lobbying groups.

We were not aware of the statements and writings, Price said in a briefing with reporters, adding that the decision was made Tuesday morning to withdraw Cavallaros nomination to serve on the Inter American Commission on Human Rights.

The Algemeiner, a non-profit news outlet covering news related to the Jewish world and the Middle East, first reported on Cavallaros tweet, which came in response to an article about pro-Israel groups fundraising for the congressman.

The language is similar to comments from Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) that were viewed as invoking antisemitic tropes accusing pro-Israel or predominantly Jewish groups using money to exercise control over U.S. politics.

Cavallaro is also reported to have called Israel an apartheid state, a label that is rejected by Biden administration officials.

His statements clearly do not reflect U.S. policy, they are not a reflection of what we believe and they are inappropriate to say the least, Price said.

Cavallaro also reportedly published denigrating statements about Democrats and Republican lawmakers, calling Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) bought and paid for and describing Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) as pedantic, self-righteous and pompous, urging her to learn from the Palestinian people, and to resign over her repeated moral failings.

The Algemeiner reported that Cavallaros referenced social media posts were deleted after being contacted by the media organization.

Cavallaro issued a statement on Twitter saying he was informed by the State Department on Tuesday that his nomination was being nixed because of my view that the conditions in Israel/Palestine meet the definition of apartheid under international human rights law.

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He added that he removed many of his previous tweets because he was proactively and in good faith addressing concerns the State Department had raised during the vetting process about public expressions of my personal views on U.S. policy.

But he said those views would not have come up in a role on the human rights board, which he previously served on.

My nomination would not have affected U.S. policy on Israel. What has the withdrawal of my nomination achieved? The removal from the [Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)] of the potential return of a committed, experienced advocate for human rights in the Americas, he wrote.

Cavallaro, the founder and Executive Director of the University Network for Human Rights, was announced on Friday as the U.S. candidate for commissioner on the IACHR, an agency within the Organization for American States (OAS), for the 2024-2027 term.

The IACHR is headquartered in Washington D.C. and composed of seven members who serve in a personal capacity but are described as being persons of high moral character and recognized competence in the field of human rights.

Members are elected by the General Assembly of the Organization of American States from a list of candidates put forth by the governments of member states.

Cavallaros nomination for candidate was for one of four positions to be voted on in June 2023.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Chaz Beasley can still remember the first time he was pulled over by law enforcement.

He was young, driving his cousin home in his 1997 Ford Contour  maybe just a little too fast, he said  when the cops pulled up behind him.

The police never told us why we were stopped. They just used their flashlights to search the vehicle, recalled Beasley, a former state representative for North Carolina.

After a quick search, the cops told Beasley he could go on his way. But Beasley will never forget his response to seeing those flashing lights in his rearview mirror.

The first thing that I did was what my grandfather told me to do: I turned the lights on in my car and I had my hands on the steering wheel, said Beasley. I hate to say it this way, but in many ways it was very much like training that they had given me.

That training  which implores young Black Americans to keep their lights on and hands on the steering wheel if stopped by police, as well as to be courteous and always be clear about what theyre doing before they make any movement  is common among Black families. Often referred to as the talk, it has drawn increased awareness in the wake of Tyre Nicholss death  and now many Black Americans are hoping that renewed attention will lead to long-desired reforms.

Nichols was pulled over at a traffic stop and beaten by five former Memphis Police Department officers back in January. He later died as a result of his injuries. The 29-year-olds death sparked outrage across the country and fueled new calls for law enforcement accountability.

President Biden addressed the issue during his annual State of the Union speech last week, acknowledging Nicholss parents, who were in attendance, and noting that the talk isnt something most white parents need to have with their children.

Most of us in here have never had to have the talk  the talk  that brown and Black parents have had to have with their children, Biden said. Beau, Hunter, Ashley  my children  I never had to have the talk with them. I never had to tell them, If a police officer pulls you over, turn your interior lights on right away. Dont reach for your license. Keep your hands on the steering wheel.

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Bidens speech resonated with Black Americans watching last week. Many expressed hope that hearing a president so openly acknowledge the talk could lead to reform.

Ive never heard a @POTUS reference the talk in a #SOTU, tweeted Colmon Elridge, chairman of the Kentucky Democratic Party. My son texted me from his room I hope @JoeBiden talking about that makes us safer.

The mention of the talk also spread across party lines, with former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele speaking about his own experience of the talk with his sons on MSNBCs The Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart.

It wasnt just about police encounters, it was about life encounters, Steele said. These are real-life stories and real-life experiences that continue for a lot of African Americans today.

Conversations about the talk, and how its necessity for Black families underscored the need for reforms, picked up after the murder of George Floyd in 2020. Many Black families shared that they have had this conversation more than once with their children.

Michael Blake, a former state representative in New York and former Democratic National Committee vice chairman, told The Hill how his mother always worried over her four sons.

She would say Precious, I just want you home, Blake said.

Studies have shown that Black drivers are more likely to be stopped than white drivers. In some cities, like Chicago, Black drivers are seven times more likely to be stopped than white drivers. On top of that, a 2021 study by the American Psychological Association found that police officers were less likely to speak respectfully to Black drivers than white drivers.

The reality is, you could be doing everything right and it could quickly go toward violence, Blake said.

In 2021, comedian Trevor Noah used his platform on The Daily Show to break down the talk.

Black people have more education around policing than actual police. Like, no cop starts training at eight years old, Noah said.

So, we know that Black people know whats at stake, and have methods of how to handle being pulled over by police. But the talk still hasnt been able to prevent police violence against Black people. So maybe its not Black people who need a talk about how to act around the police. Maybe, just maybe, police need a talk about how to act around Black people, Noah added.

Biden, along with members of the Congressional Black Caucus and Democrats around the country, has been calling for police reform since graphic video footage of Nicholss beating was released to the public last month.

At his funeral, Nicholss mother, RowVaughn Wells, pleaded with Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, a sweeping police reform bill that would ban all levels of law enforcement from using chokeholds and no-knock warrants. It would also end qualified immunity and prohibit racial and religious profiling by law enforcement officers.

Regarding Bidens speech last week, Blake noted that country has heard presidents talk about police violence before. Its not enough to simply highlight the racial discrepancies.

There needs to be recognition of transparency around the training documents of our officers, Blake said. I dont care that theyre being trained, I want to know what theyre being trained.

Change also means forbidding the Department of Justice from giving grants to departments that hire fired or suspended officers, he added.

We now have to be very disciplined around the financial protections around these officers, demand transparency of what they are being trained and have a clear understanding that someone who has been suspended or fired should not be allowed to be transferred to another department, he said.

But before any of that can happen, said Beasley, the former state lawmaker from North Carolina, many still need to acknowledge that there is an issue with police violence.

I really think we got to remember just how hard not only it is for the families that are dealing with the loss of a loved one to the circumstances, but also that there are some people out there that are not operating in good faith that dont actually want this problem to get resolved, Beasley said. They just want to use it to score political points, and thats unfortunate because it dishonors the legacy of people who have died for no reason.

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Katrina Parrott Courtesy Katrina Parrott

In 2013, Katrina Parrott came up with the idea of emojis in diverse skin tones, years before they made their way to smartphones around the world. Ten years later, the Black mom from League City, Texas, said she is still waiting for recognition for her idea  and a patent, for which she has been rejected multiple times.

Its really frustrating, Parrott told BuzzFeed News in an interview, when you put your heart and soul and resources into an idea that has impacted so many lives, and then be rejected when you go to the place to formally get recognized for it.

This week, lawmakers are using Parrotts example to demand answers from the US Patent and Trademarks Office about why people of color, women, and other underrepresented inventors are granted significantly fewer patents than Big Tech. On Monday, Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas sent a letter to the USPTO demanding answers to a dozen questions around the subject by Feb. 28. The letter came about after Parrott approached Warren for help.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (left) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren Tom Williams / CQ Roll Call via Getty Images; Elizabeth Frantz for The Washington Post via Getty Images

We are writing to express our concerns regarding the disproportionate challenges that small businesses, women, people of color, and other underrepresented minorities face in the patent approval process, the lawmakers wrote in the letter, a copy of which was reviewed by BuzzFeed News.

They pointed out that Parrott has received multiple patent rejections for her diverse emojis over five years, while Apple, whom Parrott unsuccessfully sued for copyright infringement, was granted more than 2,500 patents in 2021 alone.

When giant tech companies like Apple are granted patent after patent by the USPTO, women and entrepreneurs of color face steep hurdles in getting credit for their ideas  and too often see their patents rejected, Warren said in a statement provided to BuzzFeed News. The USPTO needs to do a full accounting of how and why entrepreneurs of color disproportionately have their patents rejected and level the playing field for small business owners taking on Big Tech.In a response to a BuzzFeed News inquiry, a USPTO spokesperson said that the office is well aware that both in the US and in our allied countries, the rate of participation in the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem, including in patenting, is not representative of our communities at large. They added, The USPTO has undertaken extensive and concerted efforts during the Biden Administration to ensure diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout the US patent system, as well as to identify any reasons those who apply for patents are not awarded them.I feel as if Ive been harmed, Parrott said. And I just want my patents at this point.

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Diverse emojis designed by Parrott Courtesy Katrina Parrott

Parrott is 64 and has worked in the aerospace industry for more than two decades. One weekend in 2013, her daughter, Katy, came home from school and lamented that she couldnt send an emoji that looked like her to her friends. My first question was: Whats an emoji? Parrott recalled.When she researched, she realized that there was an easy solution  creating emojis that didnt all look alike but came in five distinct skin tones. She hired a software engineer, an illustrator, a copyright specialist, and a videographer, using more than $200,000 of her savings, and ultimately launched an app called iDiversicons in Apples App Store later that year. For 99 cents a pop, people could get more than 300 diverse emojis, which they would need to copy and paste into messages since Apple didnt allow other companies to manipulate the iPhones keyboard at the time.

In 2014, she was invited to present at the Unicode Consortium , a Silicon Valley nonprofit in charge of standardizing emojis so that they can be sent across devices and operating systems. The consortium counts large tech companies like Apple and Google among its members. All of these giants were coming up to me at Unicode and telling me how nobody took emoji diversity seriously until I came along, Parrott said.

That presentation led to a meeting with Apple executives at the companys Cupertino, California, headquarters. They reportedly were impressed. Parrott said she left the meeting hoping to strike a partnership with the tech giant to incorporate her diverse emojis into the iPhones keyboard.

Diverse emojis designed by Parrott Courtesy Katrina Parrott

Later that year, the members of the Unicode Consortium agreed to include five different skin tones as a standard of emoji thanks to Parrotts push, according to a Washington Post report . But a few weeks later, Apple declined to work with Parrott on diverse emoji, saying that the company would design its own based on Unicode standards and build them directly into the iPhones keyboard. The move made iDiversicons redundant.

I thought I was doing everything right, Parrott said. It was tremendously disappointing.

Parrott then spent more than five years trying to get a patent for her creation, but the USPTO kept rejecting her applications and subsequent appeals. In 2020, she filed a lawsuit against Apple for copyright infringement. Apples lawyers reportedly argued that copyright does not protect the idea of applying five different skin tones to emoji because ideas are not copyrightable. Last year, a US district judge threw out her suit, declaring that her idea of diverse emojis was unprotectable.

It appeared to me that the judge had already made up his mind, even before we had an opportunity to share anything, Parrott said.

A disproportionate number of new patents in the US go to rich corporations over small, independent business owners, especially those run by women and people of color. According to one study , over 50% of new US patents went to the top 1% wealthiest patentees in 2020. And another survey , from 2010, found that from 1970 to 2006, Black American inventors received just six patents per million people, compared with 235 patents per million for all American inventors. A 2016 study also found that Black Americans applied for patents at nearly half the rate of whites.

In 2019, the USPTO released a report called SUCCESS (which stands for the Study of Underrepresented Classes Chasing Engineering and Science Success) that it was required to produce under a new law passed in 2018. The report identified publicly available data on the number of patents that women, people of color, and veterans successfully applied for each year. The report concluded that such data was limited. Only 12% of US inventors granted patents in 2016 were women, it said, and there was virtually no data available on other groups. We clearly want this office and the administration to determine what actions has the USPTO taken to improve the collection of demographic data from patent applicants," Lee said in an interview with BuzzFeed News. "The patent office is not an office for Big Tech, or big corporations. The goal of the patent office, from its early historic beginnings, was to drive the innovation and genius of individual Americans."

The USPTO spokesperson pointed BuzzFeed News to initiatives that the agency had put in place to get more aspiring inventors and entrepreneurs, including from underrepresented communities, involved in the innovation ecosystem, such as the Council for Inclusive Innovation , the Womens Entrepreneurship Initiative , and pro bono programs and free services to assist under-resourced inventors.

Jessica Morel, chief marketing officer at LexisNexis Intellectual Property Solutions, described the patent situation as David versus Goliath. She said, It is undoubtedly challenging for individual inventors of all races, genders, and ethnicities, and often smaller companies, to get their patents approved, especially compared to enterprises with specialized expertise, such as patent attorneys, dedicated software platforms, and a track record of successful patent filings.

Still, other experts argued that Parrotts original idea for diverse emojis was never patentable to begin with.

Courtesy Katrina Parrott

Abstract concepts like different skin color emoji are not something thats usually patentable, Ryan Schneer, founder and CEO of Schneer IP Law, a New Yorkbased intellectual property law firm, and a former patent examiner at the USPTO, told BuzzFeed News. If Apple or Googles lawyers tried to file the same thing, it would be rejected too.

Schneer said that although he agreed with the larger point that the lawmakers were trying to make, he didnt think that Parrotts case was the best example to choose. If you focus on the wrong symptoms, were not going to be able to solve the problem, he said.

Instead, Schneer said, it would help to focus on the systemic problems in the tech industry, which files a bulk of the patent applications, and which is largely dominated by white men in the US. We have to start looking at whos filing the most patents and what their issues are with gender and equality, he said. Until we fix the extreme gender inequality in the engineering companies that are filing the patents, I dont see that the data is going to change.The patent office spokesperson said that the body is in the process of rolling out solutions and cited the appointments of advisors Colleen Chien , a law professor at Santa Clara University whose work is cited in the letter, and diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility expert Caren Ulrich Stacey . The rep added, Can more be done? Yes. And we look forward to working across government and with Congress to do so.

The spokesperson confirmed that the USPTO planned to respond to the letter from Warren and Lee by the Feb. 28 deadline. The rep declined to comment on Parrotts case specifically.

For her part, Parrott plans to see this through. They used my resources, and my suggestions, and I got no recognition for any of it, she said. We were first on the scene. Weve done all of the due diligence. Weve been touching peoples lives all over. People are coming up to me and saying, Thank you, thank you, thank you for including everybody. So what I want is to be able to have a patent on my wall and say, Katrina, you did a great job! 

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YORK, Maine  The Blaisdell family has tended their farm along the York River for 250 years, and thanks to a new conservation easement the farmland will be protected for years to come.

Henry and Patricia Blaisdell, as well as their son, Tom and their daughter, Cherie, have been working for more than 15 years to find the perfect partner to protect the Blaisdell Brothers Family Farm at 150 Southside Road from development. They found it with Maine Farmland Trust, with whom they signed a deal in December to ensure 84 of the farms 86 acres will remain in use for its intended purpose for as long as the land is there. The terms of the deal are being kept confidential.

Siblings Cherie and Tom Blaisdell are excited that the Blaisdell Brothers Family Farm in York will now be forever protected by a conservation land easement.

Its a relief, said Tom Blaisdell, 57. His family has seen surrounding parcels of farmland slowly sold off and developed as neighborhoods and condominiums. He said they have known for about two decades they wanted to prevent that from happening to the family farm, regardless of whether future generations look to sell it.

If theres another owner, we hope that they realize why we placed the easement, said Tom Blaisdell. We take care of the farm, but it also takes care of us.

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A historic farm on York River

The Blaisdell family farming tradition predates the farm they have today, but it was in 1772 that Elijah Blaisdell purchased the farmland they tended for more than two centuries, according to the family. The location gave the family an advantage at a time when reliable roads and bridges were yet to be built. The Blaisdells could transport goods to surrounding communities, and over the years they have maintained a continuous operation that includes livestock, grains, hay, vegetables, meat, and forest products.

The Blaisdells have run a farm store since the 1920s where they have sold beef, lamb, pork and eggs, along with pickles sweetened with maple syrup from the farm and preserved beats. The farm also supplied and delivered bottled milk from its dairy until the late 1960s. Grass-fed beef has been the primary product from the farm since the 1970s.

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Tom Blaisdell has 84 acres of land on the Blaisdell Brothers Family Farm on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023, in York.

In the early 2000s, the Blaisdell children, Tom and Cherie, with Toms wife Doris, added a pumpkin patch that has become an attraction for hundreds of families each year. They say they have enjoyed seeing children grow to become adults and then bring their own children since starting the pumpkin patch, which each fall also includes attractions like their hay maze.

Above and beyond:York officer wins Heroism Award for saving child. Police dog, two citizens honored, too.

Preserving the farm

The rise of development along the York River is what brought the idea of a conservation easement to the forefront of the familys priorities. They said they hoped to preserve the history of the farm, which also includes a cemetery, where family members have been laid to rest. They also wanted to prevent future family members from fighting over whether to keep the land or cash out, Tom Blaisdell said.

Growing up, and having farmland next to us on each side of us, and then seeing that developed over time, Tom Blaisdell said. That kind of got us thinking this is a good time to try to save it.

Cherie Blaisdell feeds cows at the Blaisdell Brothers Family Farm on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023, in York.

It soon became apparent that not every conservation easement was necessarily the right one to preserve the interests of the family, as well as that town zoning could present challenges. Blaisdell pointed to an instance where a local farms third generation went to rent their farm to a tenant who learned irrigation was prohibited under their easement despite its common use on farms.

Some of the easement things just werent good for farms, Blaisdell said.

Cows at the Blaisdell Brothers Family Farm on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023, in York.

The family worked early on with the York Land Trust to find solutions. They also turned to the town and spoke with then-town planner Steve Burns about getting around zoning that brought challenges to farmers.

Four years ago, the family learned about Maine Farmland Trust, which specializes in conservation easements for farms. Together, along with support from groups like York Land Trust, they crafted an easement that protects the farm from future development while ensuring flexibility for modern uses of farmland.

Forty years ago, the idea of a whole field of chicken coops wouldnt have been thought of, so whats going to be the next thing coming up? Blaisdell said. Solar panels are also not considered welcome under many easements, which is why the Blaisdells allowed for at least some use of solar in case future owners want to bring it to the farm.

The conservation easement was signed with a pen that was crafted by Burns, who enjoys working with wood as a hobby. Burns, more than 15 years ago, used wood that was hewn from the property to make the pen and gave it to them with the hope they could use it to sign the eventual deal.

More:York moving town offices into temporary spot as historic Town Hall gets makeover

The Blaisdells still enjoying the farm

Tom and Cherie Blaisdell still work the farm alongside their father Henry, and they say their 81-year-old father is still able to work as hard as he ever did.

My dads in better shape than us, Cherie said. The family still looks forward to long days, some of which go deep into the night, just to get the work done. The love of the farms annual cycle is what keeps them coming back, they said.

Weve been here so long, but each year youre growing something new, Blaisdell said.

Tom Blaisdell has 84 acres of land on the Blaisdell Brothers Family Farm on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023, in York.

The Blaisdells today say they will farm it as long as they can, but they do not know the future of the farm when it comes to generations in the years to come. Cherie Blaisdell has two children, ages 13 and 31, and both help on the farm at times and love it like their mother. Whether they take the helm of farm operations there is still yet to be decided.

Were hoping it stays in the family, Tom Blaisdell said, But if its sold or the next generation decides to sell it, at least we know its protected as farmland.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Blaisdell Family Farm: 250-year-old farmland to remain in York, Maine forever
Pathology analyzes bodily fluids and tissues using a variety of methods. Alvaro Lavin/Moment via Getty Images

Medical laboratory testing is the heartbeat of medicine. It provides critical data for physicians to diagnose and treat disease, dating back thousands of years. Unfortunately, laboratory medicine as a field is poorly understood by both the public and health care communities.

Laboratory medicine, also known as clinical pathology, is one of two main branches of pathology, or the study of the causes and effects of disease. Pathology covers many laboratory areas, such as blood banking and microbiology. Clinical pathology diagnoses a disease through laboratory analysis of body fluids such as blood, urine, feces and saliva. The other branch of pathology, anatomic pathology, diagnoses a disease by examining body tissues.

We are public health and medical laboratory scientists who specialize in microbiology and infectious diseases. There are a lot of steps between when your doctor orders a blood test to establishing a diagnosis. From the bedside to the lab bench, heres how laboratory testing works.

It all starts with a specimen

When you see a doctor, sometimes a physical exam and detailed medical history are enough for them to make a diagnosis, offer recommendations or prescribe medications for your condition. There are many instances, however, where your doctor may need additional information to make an accurate diagnosis. This information is often obtained from procedures like imaging scans or blood tests.

The first step involves getting your blood drawn through a practice known as phlebotomy. A health care professional, typically a phlebotomist or a nurse, inserts a needle into a vein to collect a blood specimen.

Multiple tubes of blood may be needed, as certain tests are only performed using certain types of blood specimens. For example, one test commonly used to diagnose anemia requires blood to be collected in a chemical that prevents the blood from clotting. Patients being evaluated for a clotting disorder, on the other hand, often have their blood collected in a tube containing another anticoagulant.

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Different tests require different types of blood specimens. angelp/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Testing pathways

Specimens then make their way to a clinical laboratory. Laboratories can be found within hospitals, reference labs or physician offices, or they can be located in a public health setting such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or a state public health laboratory. In 2021, there were more than 329,000 laboratory professionals working in the U.S. in more than 320,000 federally regulated laboratories. An estimated 14 billion laboratory tests are ordered annually in the U.S., on top of over 1 billon COVID-19 tests during the pandemic. With such a large volume of specimens to test and examine, various sections of a laboratory are automated.

Laboratory tests examine the biological, chemical and physical properties of the cells and molecules that make up a blood specimen. The first step is often to centrifuge a blood specimen into separate components. This divides the sample into one portion that contains solid components, such as cells, and another that contains liquid components and dissolved solutes, known as serum or plasma.

Analyzing the serum or plasma portion of a blood specimen measures the levels of different substances within the body. One of the most common is your blood sugar, or glucose concentration. For the doctors of more than 37 million Americans with diabetes, knowing how high their patients blood glucose is helps them establish a new diagnosis or ensure their condition is under control.

If your doctor suspects you have an infection, they will collect specimens to test for the presence of a pathogen. For example, they might collect a throat swab for strep throat or a urine sample for a urinary tract infection. Scientists incubate these samples to screen any organisms that grow and resemble pathogens of interest. They may perform additional testing to identify the microbe. Once an organism is identified, the medical laboratory professional can then test a variety of antimicrobial agents against it to inform your doctor what the best treatment would be against your infection.

Evolution of medical laboratory testing

The first hospital clinical laboratory in the U.S. was established in 1894. Some of the methods laboratory professionals use to analyze samples have been in use for over a century.

One such staple, the Gram stain, was introduced in 1882. It uses two different dyes and exploits differences in the bacterial cell wall to discriminate between two different groups of bacteria. This helps lab scientists identify the correct antimicrobial therapy to use against an infection.

Another commonly used technology, the Coulter Principle, was developed in the 1940s to identify and sort individual cells based on physical size and resistance to an electrical current. Medical laboratory professionals routinely use this technique to conduct complete blood count tests, which measure unusual increases or decreases in the number of different types of blood cells that could provide insights into a disease or condition, such as cancer or sickle cell anemia.

Medical laboratory professionals use different techniques to analyze samples. Westend61/Getty Images

In 1986, scientists devised the Nobel Prize-winning polymerase chain reaction method to amplify, or rapidly produce, multiple copies of the DNA of a pathogen present within a sample. PCR is widely used to diagnose infections, identify genetic disorders and monitor cancer progression.

An explosion of modern laboratory tools to research and diagnose disease followed PCR. To name a few of these cutting-edge tools, matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization, or MALDI, is one of the most commonly used techniques to identify microbes that are difficult or impossible to culture. Genome editing and CRISPR-Cas9 give scientists the ability to change an organisms DNA, aiding in identifying pathogens and detecting dysfunctional genes by adding, removing or altering genes of interest. Next-generation sequencing has become a powerful modern tool to determine the sequence of the genetic material in biological samples and has been extensively used to identify variants and wastewater surveillance of pathogens like the virus that causes COVID-19.

Challenges and solutions

One of the most critical challenges in laboratory medicine is understanding and interpreting test results, because errors can occur throughout the testing process. Specimens must be properly collected and transported to the lab for accurate results. Likewise, at-home tests need to be properly stored. Clinicians and patients need to take into account the chances of false positive or negative results by considering the limitations of the test alongside the patients individual case.

Collaboration between clinicians and medical laboratory professionals could help reduce errors in diagnosis and treatment. Laboratory data can and often is extremely useful to patient care, but a holistic approach that takes into account a patients medical history, genetics and health habits, among other factors, is necessary for an accurate diagnosis and treatment. While powerful, a laboratory result should not be used in isolation. Clear and accurate communication on laboratory testing is critical for effective patient care.

A photo was replaced to more accurately reflect medical laboratory work

This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. The Conversation is trustworthy news from experts, from an independent nonprofit. Try our free newsletters.

It was written by: Rodney E. Rohde, Texas State University and Nicholas Moore, Rush University.

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Rodney E. Rohde has received funding from the American Society of Clinical Pathologists, American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science, U.S. Department of Labor (OSHA), and other public and private entities/foundations. Rohde is affiliated with ASCP, ASCLS, ASM, and serves on several scientific advisory boards. See https://rodneyerohde.wp.txstate.edu/service/.

Nicholas Moore previously received funding from Abbott Molecular, bioMerieux, and Cepheid for contracted research work related to the development of laboratory assays. Funds were paid directly to Rush University. Nicholas Moore is a volunteer with the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science, the American Society for Clinical Pathology, the American Society for Microbiology, and the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute. He is a member of the editorial board of Clinical Microbiology Reviews and BMC Infectious Diseases.
A man was arrested 18 years after a woman was found dead in a California river, authorities said.

Philip William Frase, 75, is accused of killing Patricia Joseph in 2005, the Siskiyou County Sheriffs Office said in a Feb. 13 news release posted to Facebook.

Frase was arrested in Yreka on Feb. 6, the sheriffs office said.

Our hearts are with Patricias family, and we hope this arrest begins the path toward closure and healing, Sheriff Jeremiah LaRue said in the release.

On a Facebook page dedicated to seeking justice for Joseph, her family said the time for justice is long overdue.

We miss you like crazy mom, the family said.

Joseph, who was 56 at the time of her death, was reported missing from her Fort Jones home on July 15, 2005, the sheriffs office said.

Three days later, she was found dead in the Klamath River near the Ash Creek Bridge along State Route 96, nearly 30 miles north of her home, the sheriffs office said.

She was partially clothed and had been in the water for several days, according to deputies.

The sheriffs office said an autopsy determined Joseph died from multiple blunt force traumas and asphyxia.

In 2010, Frase was charged in connection with Josephs death and kidnapping, The Press Democrat reported.

At the time, Frase was awaiting trial for a separate killing, wherein he pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and was given a three-year prison sentence including time already served, KTVL reported.

Two years later, however, the Siskiyou County District Attorneys Office dismissed Frases warrant in Josephs case, citing a lack of evidence to try him for murder, The Redding Record Searchlight reported.

After the sheriffs office created a cold case and forensic evidence team in 2021, they reviewed Josephs case and resubmitted evidence to the Department of Justice for fresh analysis, deputies said.

Since 2005, science and technology has advanced significantly to bring new capabilities to forensic evidence analysis, the sheriffs office said.

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The newly submitted evidence linked Frase to Josephs killing, according to deputies.

We will never lose hope because that is what Patty taught us, a family member wrote on Facebook in 2010.

Frase was charged with the unlawful killing of Patricia Joseph on Feb. 8, according to the sheriffs office. He is being held on $2 million bail.

Fort Jones is about 270 miles northwest of Sacramento.

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Susana Morales GoFundMe / Via gofundme.com

A police officer was arrested on Monday and accused of concealing the death of a 16-year-old who went missing from the Atlanta area last year.

Miles Bryant, 22, was fired from the Doraville Police Department and arrested on suspicion of concealing the death of Susana Morales as well as falsely reporting a crime.

According to the Gwinnett County Police Department, Morales was reported missing on July 26, 2022, by her family.

MISSING TEEN Susana Morales last seen in Norcross, Georgia, Gwinnett County on 7-26-22 at 6pm. @MissingKids @GAFollowers @11AliveNews @wsbtv @cbs46 #susanamorales #missingperson #missingteen #gwinnett #norcross #gwinnettpolice #ncmec #atlanta #missingperson 01:40 AM - 30 Jul 2022

Police said Morales texted her mother that she was on her way home at 9:40 p.m. but never made it there. Cellphone data and video footage confirmed she was walking home between 10:07 p.m. and 10:21 p.m.; however, detectives said they suspect she may have then gotten into a vehicle. Her phone last pinged at 10:21 p.m. and 10:26 p.m. that night before it was either turned off or ran out of battery.

On Feb. 6, police responded to a report that someone saw what they believed to be human remains in the woods. The remains were identified as belonging to Morales several days later.

In an interview, her sister, Jasmine Morales, told WSB-TV, that the family received a call from investigators shortly after Moraless funeral on Monday, telling them of Bryants arrest.

I was shocked. I had to process it for a second. I was just like what? That explains why it took so long for us to have an answer, Jasmine Morales told the outlet. Its a police officer. Im guessing they know how to cover their tracks.

In a statement, the Doraville Police Department said it is fully cooperating with the Gwinnett police investigation into Bryant.

The City of Doraville was notified the afternoon of Monday, February 13 that a now former police officer was being served felony arrest warrants by the Gwinnett Police Department in connection with the disappearance and murder of Susana Morales, the statement read. Our prayers rest with the family and friends of Susana Morales and everyone else affected by this tragedy.

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Bryant is being held at the Gwinnett Detention Center without bond and was expected to make his first court appearance Tuesday morning.

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A North Carolina police department has released bodycam footage of the arrest of a Black man who later died in the hospital.

Thirty-two-year-old Darryl Tyree Williams died on 17 January following an encounter with the Raleigh Police Department. Williams, who told officers about his heart issues as the arrest unfolded, was repeatedly tasered before he lost consciousness.

Williams was in the drivers seat of a vehicle when officers conducting a proactive patrol at 808 Rock Quarry Road approached him at 1.55am, according to an incident report obtained by theAssociated Press.The report states that officers noticed an open container of alcohol and marijuana in the car and asked the occupants to step out.

An officer reportedly decided to arrest Williams after finding a folded dollar bill with a white powdery substance consistent with the appearance of cocaine during a strip search. Bodycam video released on Friday shows Williams telling officers about his heart issues and asking, Why are you all doing this to me?

Police have said Williams was stunned three times as officers sought to take him into custody and he resisted. He was taken to a hospital and died just an hour after the arrest.

In the footage, an officer is heard saying, Relax man, relax. Chill out, as Williams is detained.

Officers then become worried about whether he still had a pulse, but they turn him over and say hes breathing. One of the videos begins with Williams already on the ground while officers kneel over him. He can be heard moaning.

After Williams was handcuffed, he became unresponsive and stopped breathing. Paramedics were called at 2.02am and then again just four minutes later.

Officers at the scene gave Williams CPR until medics arrived. He was pronounced dead at 3am at a nearby hospital.

Police seized two weapons, marijuana and suspected controlled substances inside the car. Six officers involved in the arrest are on administrative leave and an investigation by the State Bureau of Investigation is underway.

Williams mother Sonya Williams has said that she wanted the officers to be terminated and prosecuted.

My heart was just broken, I mean, to see the way that he was treated, Ms Williams told CBS17. It wasnt like he killed anyone, OK alright, if drugs were involved, give him a ticket or something like that, but, as far as all that tasing, that was uncalled for. Im seeking justice for my son.
The Russians, sparing no personnel, are sending group after group to storm Ukrainian positions near the city of Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast; Ukraines Armed Forces continue to kill the invaders.

Source: Press service of State Border Guard Service of Ukraine

Quote: "On the outskirts of the city-fortress, the Ukrainian Armed Forces, including border guards, are fighting for every street and every house. One of these battles was filmed by the State Border Guard Service."

Details: It is noted that a Russian assault unit tried to occupy a stronghold of the State Border Guard soldiers.

The border guards responded with fire from assault rifles, machine guns, and grenade launchers. The Russians retreated with losses: four were killed and five wounded.

In the posted video, border guards can be heard calling their work the best in the world.

As the press service of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine clarified to Ukrainska Pravda, this particular Russian attack was repelled recently.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!






An investigation is underway after one man was killed and another man was critically injured in a shooting in Bostons Dorchester section on Monday night, officials said.

Officers responding to a report of a shooting in the area of 21 Dewey Street shortly after 8 p.m. found two men suffering from apparent gunshot wounds, according to the Boston Police Department.

Both victims were taken to area hospitals, where one of the men was pronounced dead. The second victim remains hospitalized in critical condition.

Video showed dozens of officers and detectives scouring a large crime scene for evidence.

The names of the victims havent been released.

There was no immediate word on if any arrests have been made.

Anyone with information is urged to contact the Boston Police Departments Crime Stoppers Tip Line at 1 (800) 494-TIPS or by texting the word TIP to CRIME (27463).

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
Police in Boston are turning to the public for help tracking down a missing teenage boy who was last seen leaving a relatives home last week, officials announced Monday.

Jahkari Howard, 16, of Dorchester, has not been seen or heard from since he left a family members home on Blue Hill Avenue Wednesday, February 8, according to the Boston Police Department.

Howard was last seen wearing a blue sweatshirt, green Nike sweatpants, and black Nike sneakers. He was reported missing to the BPD on Friday, February 10.

Anyone with information regarding his whereabouts is advised to contact 911 or B-3 Detectives at 617-343-4712.

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
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim (L) hands over the speech text to Malaysian King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah (C) during the opening ceremony of the parliamentary session at the parliament house in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Feb. 13, 2023. (Malaysia's Department of Information/Handout via Xinhua)

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia reconvened its lower house of parliament on Monday, as the government led by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim seeks to pass the national budget for 2023.

High on the agenda are discussions and measures meant to curb the rising cost of living, an issue that confronts Anwar's government as the country moves to recover from pandemic-related economic disruptions, with the budget set to be tabled on Feb. 24 being expected to address some of these issues.

While the previous government tabled a national budget last year, the budget could not be passed as the country was heading to national polls on Nov. 19, 2022. As the previous government failed to win power following the election, Anwar was instead sworn in as the head of a unity government on Nov. 24, 2022.

Prior to the parliamentary session, Anwar also said the country's competitiveness, the speed of business approvals as well as several new initiatives, including digitization and sustainable consumption as well as production of natural resources in the downstream process, would be discussed.

Meanwhile, Malaysian King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah urged the elected representatives to ensure political stability and to ensure that Malaysia remains respectful, tolerant and united, in his opening address at the session.

"I have taken an oath to be true and loyal to perform with fairness and rule the country in accordance with the federal law and constitution," he said.

The session will run from Feb. 13 to March 30. 

Malaysian King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah (C) waves to the media after attending the opening ceremony of the parliamentary session at the parliament house in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Feb. 13, 2023. (Malaysia's Department of Information/Handout via Xinhua)
One of the author's dating profile photos.

One of the author's dating profile photos. "This was taken at a friend's wedding where I was a bridesmaid," she writes.

If you told me a year ago that thinking about My Big Fat Greek Weddingwould make me teary, I would have laughed in your face. Ive loved that film since it came out in 2002, and my family still asks me to do impressions of the aunt and father. My family liked the movie because it reminded us a bit of our own zany relatives. Sure, were Argentine Jews, and they were Greek Orthodox Christians, but were close-knit and loud, and we love a party as much as we love our traditions.

So when I got a message on a dating app from a guy who joked that his family was like the one in the movie, I got a little excited. We started dating in October. On our first date, we talked about all of the similarities between the Greek culture of his family and the Jewish culture of mine.

We were official by Thanksgiving. I was invited to his familys Thanksgiving (which I referred to as My Big Fat Greek Thanksgiving), and I was introduced as the new girlfriend to his aunts, uncles and cousins. We also enjoyed a trip to my hometown in upstate New York, where he met my dad and my older brothers family. Dating was going well. We had chemistry. And unlike most of the men Ive dated, he was a good communicator and open to being vulnerable, which I find important in a partner. Even our pets seemed to approve of us being together.

I was excited to hear that his mom had invited me to their familys Christmas, which would be celebrated Jan. 7. Though I grew up with interfaith parents and identify as Jewish, I wasnt a stranger to Christianity. Id been to different Mass services with friends and family at times, but Id never attended a Greek Orthodox service before.

When I asked during one of our FaceTime calls if Id be expected to attend Christmas Mass in addition to the family get-together, my boyfriend hesitated as he told me that no, I wouldnt be going.

Story continues

Im trying to find a good way to say this, he stammered, looking away from the screen. You wouldnt be allowed because youre Jewish.

I quickly glanced at my phone to make sure it was 2022 and not 1938. I was at a loss for words  a rarity for me. The conversation dwindled, and I said goodbye, still stunned by what Id heard. What happened to my boyfriend, the good communicator? What had I missed?

Before hed sent that thoughtful first message on a dating app, Id hardly dated all year. After more than a decade of seeing people, I was tired. My friends and family members found it entertaining when Id recount stories of terrible dates, and I was glad to make them laugh. But I was also exhausted after years of small talk, carrying conversations and making an effort that was rarely reciprocated. After a big heartbreak a few years ago (snotty crying, red face, no appetite  you know the kind), I was reluctant to move forward with a lot of the men I met. They werent all horrible, but none seemed to have the lifetime partnership potential I was looking for.

One of the author's dating profile photos.

One of the author's dating profile photos. "I was on a solo hike when I took this," she writes.

If someone had told me that Id soon be in a legitimately enjoyable and healthy relationship with a new boyfriend, I wouldve chuckled and thought, Yeah, right. But I never arrived home from a date with him wishing Id stayed on my couch. Our conversations were stimulating, he was funny, and we had a great time together. After how dismal life bad been in 2020 thanks to COVID-19, I needed that. This was the first time Id thought, Huh, this guy would be fun to do life with.

So whats the opposite of fun? Dread? Thats what I felt before FaceTiming my boyfriend the next day. I knew I had to ask the hard question: What happens if, far in the future, you were to marry a woman who is Jewish? Or one who is just not Greek Orthodox?

He explained that if the person were Jewish, theyd have to convert to Greek Orthodox. If they were Christian but not Greek Orthodox, it could work as long as they were baptized.

My breath caught in my chest. Im Jewish  I even had my bat mitzvah ceremony in Israel. Though Im technically Christian on my moms side, I was never baptized. I come from a family of Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jewish people from Spain, Turkey, Russia and Germany (all of whom ended up in Argentina). I was raised to have respect and loyalty for my ancestors and Jewish culture, and Im proud to be Jewish.

I cant. I cant convert, I finally told him. He had to have known I would say this  Id told him I felt Jewish in my soul. He didnt want to ask me to convert.

We were at a standstill.

I went into problem-solving mode. Was there really no way to get around it? After all, I knew one of his relatives was getting married outside the church.

I want the Greek Orthodox wedding experience, my boyfriend sighed. He wanted his marriage to be blessed by the church and to have a ceremony within his parish. We stared at each other through iPhone cameras. My stomach dropped because I knew exactly what he meant. I had never been one of those little girls who imagines her wedding day, but one thing I do know is that if I marry someone, I want Jewish traditions involved. I want the whole tradition-filled party  a chuppah, the breaking the glass, and being lifted up in chairs while loved ones dance the hora around me. My Big Fat Jewish Wedding, if you will. But I was also open to blending my traditions with my partners  just like wed blend the rest of our lives.

I put my head in my hands and started to cry. We had never gotten too in depth about the religions of our families  and now I see we should have. Jewish people have a very wide spectrum of observance. While traditions and religion go hand in hand for conservative and orthodox communities, traditions are observed culturally for many secular or Reform Jews.

I hadnt realized it may not work that way with the Greek Orthodox community. I brought up that there are Greek Orthodox and Jewish couples who make it work. My boyfriend explained that his family was old calendar Greek Orthodox  much more conservative than the new calendar Greek Orthodox that those other couples likely were.

I was looking forward to spending New Years Eve with my boyfriend and his friends and going his familys Christmas party. I was excited to continue perfecting my baklava, which Id successfully made once (with help, of course). Id even thought of what itd be like to have him next to me at the next Passover Seder. If things worked out, Id thought, maybe years from now I couldve had My Big Fat Greek Jewish Wedding.

But if my near-Ph.D. level of dating taught me anything, its when to bow out  that you shouldnt prolong the inevitable.

The author standing at the foot of Masada mountain in Israel before hiking to the top, where she had her bat mitzvah ceremony.

The author standing at the foot of Masada mountain in Israel before hiking to the top, where she had her bat mitzvah ceremony.

If I cant give you what youd want and convert, I dont want to break up, I said, my hands flying in an exaggerated motion that any Jewish or Greek person would recognize. But should we be dating?

He agreed  we shouldnt be.

And that was that.

Id never ended a relationship over religion. Disagreements about having children? Absolutely. Political beliefs? Yes. The guy being a jerk? Oh, sure. But if youd asked me whether Id break up with a man I was falling in love with over religion  Greek Orthodox or any other  I wouldnt have even considered it a possibility.

There are always going to be things in life that you dont expect. When I was dating, I thought the best way to guard against potential deal breakers was to be upfront and include them in my profile. That way, thered be no guessing or mistaking what I want. Any guy that viewed my profile could see that I was politically left, sitting on the fence about having kids (though leaning toward not having any) and culturally Jewish. But that isnt enough.

These are some details that call for in-depth discussions. If youre on the apps and only looking for a hookup, then sure, these might not be important to you. But if youre looking for a long-term, serious commitment, then for many people, talking about religion may be important before things get serious. If religion is a significant part of your life, that means itll be an important part of your future. And if you see a future with your partner, itll play into their life as well.

Defining significant is also important. A person doesnt need to attend services daily to find religion meaningful or a priority when choosing a partner. Its up to you to decide whether its a deal breaker and the type of sacrifices you would be willing to make on behalf of your partners comfort level and beliefs. Many people expect that religion wont be a huge factor in dating, especially in this day and age. But for others, religion plays a large, defining role in their identity.

Being Jewish shapes the way I see and interact with the world. It influences how I choose to celebrate milestones, how I cherish history and storytelling, and even my sense of humor. Im sure religion does the same for others. While I believe that two different religions and their traditions can be observed and honored in a relationship  that there can be a way to find harmony between them  not everyone feels this way (including other Jewish people).

Its 2023, and people have the right and freedom to draw their boundaries where they choose. I learned the hard way that when it comes to dating, you have to discuss those boundaries sooner rather than later, or else your relationship can end up in trouble. Im sad that my ex and I had to break up  I really liked him, and I know it was going somewhere good  but Ive made peace with what happened. In fact, Im proud that I stayed true to myself and my identity  but I definitely dont want to go through that in the future.

When I start dating again, Ill certainly be thinking about all of the things  including religion  that might need to be discussed before I get too far into a relationship.

Breaking up with someone is hard, even if you do it out of respect for your familys traditions and for your partner. But Im open to meeting new people, having new experiences and whatever the future brings. How many things lie ahead that I cant yet foresee? I can only imagine, but I hope theyre all pleasant surprises. Maybe someday Ill even find My Big Fat Greek Wedding funny again.

Allison Grinberg-Funes is a writer and user experience content strategist living in Boston. She has a BFA in creative writing and is working on her first novel. You can find her in local indie bookstores or email her at agracefulgrin@gmail.com.

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New York Fashion Week may be happening in the city right now, but Brad Pitt is having a runway moment all of his own.

The Ocean's 11 star, 59, stepped out in New York City on Monday wearing a monochromatic outfit that, while muted in color, had a lot to look at.

To start, Pitt's sweater wasn't just a plain white sweater. The white and cream jumper had a lived-in look, with tattered seams and holes around the edges. He paired the top with shearling fleece pants in the same color palette. The Jordan Craig sherpa pants had red accents, though, which tied into Pitt's red tote bag he carried on his shoulder. He slipped his feet into white sneakers to complete the look for his strut down the sidewalk.

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Pitt's fashion may have a deconstructed look to it, but his hair  and facial hair  look to be completely polished. His strands were carefully gelled into place and his salt-and-pepper-colored goatee trimmed just so.

The actor, who has been in New York City filming Wolves alongside George Clooney, has settled into his role as a style maven recently. Last summer, while promoting his film Bullet Train, he stepped out wearing a skirt in Germany. He opened up to Variety's Marc Malkin about pushing the envelope when it comes to setting trends.

"We're all going to die, so let's mess it up," he said after wearing the brown skirt look that got everyone buzzing, though it was far from the first time he'd worn a skirt. His androgynous looks date back to the early aughts, when he told British Vogue that men in skirts would definitely be a thing.

RELATED: Brad Pitt Debuts New, Shorter Haircut at Golden Globes 2023

Brad PItt

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Elsewhere in the same press tour, Pitt wore an array of colorful looks  largely in baggy silhouettes that offered max comfort. The Le Domaine Skincare creator wore a bright green suit (and yellow sneakers) in Los Angeles, a look that bore a striking resemblance to the peach suit he donned in Paris just weeks prior.

The Babylon actor showed up to the Golden Globes last month looking polished as ever, though, wearing a smartly tailored tux and rocking a shorter 'do. Pitt, who was nominated for best supporting actor for the film, wore his strands in a hairstyle reminiscent of the look he was known for in the '90s. His blonde hair  with a few highlights  was swooped up off his forehead with one little curlycue dangling over his forehead. It was just enough to make everyone in the room (and watching at home) swoon.
SAO PAULO (Reuters) -Brazil's federal police said on Tuesday they were carrying out new raids as part of a probe into the Jan. 8 riots in Brasilia, in which supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed government buildings.

They were serving eight preventive arrest warrants and 13 search and seizure warrants ordered by the Supreme Court in five states, a statement said.

The raids represent the sixth phase of an operation launched last month aimed at identifying people who participated in, funded or fostered the riots, in which a mob invaded and ransacked the Congress, presidential palace and Supreme Court.

In the previous phase, carried out last week, they arrested the military police officer who led security operations in the capital on Jan. 8 on suspicion of omissions in security planning, according to sources.

Police did not disclose the names of those targeted in Tuesday's raids, but said they were being investigated for crimes of "violent abolition of the rule of law, coup d'etat, qualified damage, criminal association, incitement, destruction and deterioration of specially protected property".

(Reporting by Gabriel Araujo, editing by Ed Osmond)
Brianna Ghey, 16, was found with multiple stab wounds on a path in Linear Park, Culcheth, on Saturday afternoon and died at the scene. (GoFundMe/Victoria Potter)

A GoFuneMe fundraiser for the family of a girl found stabbed to death in a park on Saturday has topped 70,000 in donations in the days since she was killed.

Brianna Ghey suffered multiple stab wounds on Saturday afternoon in Culcheth near Warrington, Cheshire.

A boy and girl, both aged 15, have been arrested on suspicion of murder and remain in custody. Police have said the murder of a 16-year-old girl in a park was "targeted"  with detectives now investigating whether her death was a hate crime.

Cheshire Police previously said there was no evidence to suggest Brianna, who was a transgender girl, was the victim of a hate crime.

But on Tuesday, the force issued a statement which said all lines of inquiry were being explored.

Candlelit vigils are also set to take place in memory of Brianna, with events organised by members of the transgender community due to be held in cities such as London, Glasgow, Leeds and Belfast.

Friends Victoria and Jacob Potter launched a GoFundMe page to help Brianna's family in the aftermath of her death.

Police investigators remained at the scene in Culcheth, Cheshire, on Monday. (Getty Images)

They wrote: "We would like to help the Ghey family who has had their beautiful daughter cruelly taken from them in the most shocking and heartbreaking way.

"Brianna was an outgoing, confident girl. She brought a lot of laughter to those who knew her. She was looking forward to taking her exams this year and beginning her journey into the adult world."

The pair said they set up the page to help the family "at this truly devastating time".

They added: "We need your support to help them with funeral costs  we want to make this pink and colourful to match her personality  and ask if you can spare anything no matter how small to try to relieve their stress and allow them to grieve their beautiful daughter."

By Tuesday afternoon the fundraiser had received 72,000 and was still increasing.

Watch: Teenage trans girl's final TikTok videos before she was stabbed to death

In the coming days, vigils organised by members of the transgender community are due to be held in cities such as London, Glasgow, Leeds and Belfast  with events in Liverpool and Bristol due to take place on Tuesday evening.

Story continues

Friends have paid tribute to Brianna saying she "deserved the world".

In a statement, her family said: "Brianna was a much-loved daughter, granddaughter, and baby sister.

"She was a larger-than-life character who would leave a lasting impression on all that met her.

"Brianna was beautiful, witty and hilarious. Brianna was strong, fearless and one of a kind.

"The loss of her young life has left a massive hole in our family, and we know that the teachers and her friends who were involved in her life will feel the same."

Floral tributes have been left where Brianna Ghey was found with multiple stab wounds. (Getty Images)

Brianna was born male and charity Stonewall UK issued a statement in reaction to her death.

It said: "Our thoughts are with Brianna Ghey, a young trans woman, and her loved ones, following her tragic murder in Cheshire. We urge anyone who may have information which will help the police with their enquiries to come forward."

Emma Mills, Brianna's headteacher at Birchwood Community High School, said: "We are shocked and truly devastated to hear of the death of Brianna.

"This is understandably a very difficult and distressing time for many and we will do our utmost to support our pupils and wider school community."

Police forensics officers remain at the scene. A boy and girl, both aged 15, have been arrested on suspicion of murder. (Getty Images)

Read more: Ex-student who stabbed university lecturer 12 times is sectioned indefinitely

A Cheshire Police spokesman confirmed on Monday that the attack was not being classed as a hate crime.

Detective Chief Superintendent Mike Evans said police are pursuing several lines of inquiry and appealed for anyone with information to come forward.

He said: "We are doing all that we can to establish the exact circumstances of what has happened. At this time, there is no evidence to suggest that the circumstances surrounding Briannas death are hate related."

He appealed for witnesses or anyone with information connected to the incident to contact police.
Floral tributes are left as police attend the scene where 16-year-old Brianna Ghey was found with multiple stab wounds. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Brianna Ghey, a 16-year-old trans girl, was stabbed to death in England on Saturday.

Due to the UK's gender recognition laws, her death certificate will likely misgender her.

Trans activists told Insider that this highlights the need for gender law reform in the UK.

The death of Brianna Ghey, a 16-year-old trans girl from England, who was stabbed to death in a park on Saturday, is a tragedy in itself.

But trans activists say that the murdered teenager being misgendered on her death certificate, as is expected, only serves to make the devastating situation worse.

Police said Ghey's killing was a targeted attack, initially stopping short of calling it "hate-related." But on Tuesday they updated their position, saying that all lines of inquiry, including whether the murder was a hate crime, are being explored.

Two teenagers, both 15, are being questioned on suspicion of murder, Sky News reported.

According to reports, Ghey had socially transitioned a number of months before her death, and had been on the receiving end of transphobic abuse for years.

But due to Ghey's age and the British legal process for officially changing one's gender, it is expected that her sex will automatically be recorded as male on her death certificate.

In the UK, a person needs to be 18, diagnosed with gender dysphoria, and have been living in their affirmed gender for at least two years in order to get a Gender Recognition Certificate.

The certificate, which updates a person's birth certificate, also ensures they have the correct gender marker on their death certificate.

Ghey, who was only 16, would not have met the requirements set out by the UK government.

That Ghey is likely to be misgendered on her death certificate has sparked fury among LGBTQ activists, with several telling Insider that it is an indignity for her, and a reflection of draconian laws.

"She's not even going to be afforded basic dignity in her death," said Katy Montgomerie, a feminist and trans activist, during a call with Insider.

Story continues

"Every trans child who dies is forced to go through this, which is pointlessly cruel," she added.

India Willoughby, a television host and trans activist, said that it is a matter of "dignity," before adding that the situation highlights the inadequacy of the UK's Gender Recognition Act.

"This has absolutely nothing to do with using toilets or changing rooms," she told Insider. "It's purely about changing an M to an F, or an F to an M, on a piece of paper, so you can marry or die as your true self."

In 2020, a UK government public consultation showed widespread support for reform, with many respondents calling for the application process to be opened to minors. But the government dropped its plans to reform the act in late 2020, a move condemned by LGBTQ charities.

"When politicians and the powers that be start to compile reasons as to why accessing a Gender Recognition Certificate is so important for trans people, this [Ghey's death] might be an example to them to hopefully show the gravity of why it's so important," Shivani Dave, a nonbinary broadcaster who covers trans issues, told Insider.

Robbie De Santos, Director of Communications and External Affairs at LGBTQ rights organization Stonewall, was more blunt. "Trans people deserve dignity in life and in death," he said.

Read the original article on Insider
Brianna Ghey, 16, from Birchwood, Warrington in Cheshire, was stabbed to death in Culcheth Linear Park in Warrington, Cheshire on Saturday. (PA)

An inquest into the death of transgender teenager Brianna Ghey has opened and adjourned, as police continue to investigate if it was a hate crime.

Brianna, 16, from Birchwood, Warrington, was found with fatal stab wounds on a path in Culcheth Linear Park on the afternoon of 11 February.

A boy and a girl, both aged 15, have been charged with her murder and are due to go on trial at Liverpool Crown Court on 10 July.

Neither accused can be named because of their age.

During the brief two-minute hearing at Warrington Coroners Court on Wednesday, Jacqueline Devonish, senior coroner for Cheshire, opened and adjourned the inquest until after the trial and set a date for a pre-inquest hearing on 17 August.

Detective Inspector Nigel Parr, the senior investigating officer for the incident from Cheshire Police said: The investigation is a murder investigation and two individuals have been charged with the murder of Brianna.

Members of the public attend a candle-lit vigil at College Green in Bristol city centre on Tuesday night in memory of transgender teenager Brianna Ghey. (PA)

He confirmed the teenager was found unresponsive by members of the public in the park and paramedics attended and confirmed the date of death.

A post-mortem examination was carried out at the Royal Liverpool Hospital, results of which were given at the hearing On Wednesday.

The hearing, which was not attended by any family member, heard that Briannas identity was confirmed by her mother Esther.

Last month, people gathered for candlelit vigils at St Georges Hall in Liverpool and at College Green in Bristol.

Brianna Ghey: Key updates

Brianna Ghey: Family tributes

The family have described Brianna as "fearless" and a "larger-than-life character who would leave a lasting impression on all that met her".

Story continues

In a statement, the teen's family said: "Brianna was a much-loved daughter, granddaughter, and baby sister.

"She was a larger-than-life character who would leave a lasting impression on all that met her. Brianna was beautiful, witty and hilarious. Brianna was strong, fearless and one of a kind."

The statement continued: "The loss of her young life has left a massive hole in our family, and we know that the teachers and her friends who were involved in her life will feel the same.

Police were called to Culcheth Linear Park at around 3.13pm on Saturday following reports that Brianna had been stabbed. (PA)

"We would like to thank everyone for their kind words and support during this extremely difficult time.

"We would like to thank the police for their support, and witnesses for helping with the investigation.

"The continuation of respect for privacy is greatly appreciated."

Friends and fellow pupils at Brianna's school have left tributes at the park, as well as on social media.

One parent, Damian Harry, whose daughters knew Brianna Ghey, said they had been left "needing to take painkillers for stress" following the fatal stabbing.

Emma Mills, the headteacher at Briannas school Birchwood Community High School, said: "We are shocked and truly devastated to hear of the death of Brianna.

"This is understandably a very difficult and distressing time for many and we will do our utmost to support our pupils and wider school community."

Watch: Teenage girl found dead in Cheshire park named as Brianna Ghey

Here is everything we know about Brianna Ghey's death so far:

Where and when was Brianna Ghey killed?

Brianna Ghey, 16, from Birchwood, was found stabbed in Culcheth Linear Park, Warrington at around 3.15pm on Saturday 11 February.

She was found on a path by members of the public.

The emergency services were called but Brianna was pronounced dead at the scene, Cheshire Police said.

Emergency services were called to the scene but Brianna was pronounced dead. (PA)

What have police said?

Police initially said that the attack on Brianna was "targeted" but that there was no evidence currently to suggest it was a 'hate' crime and linked to her being transgender.

But in a later statement, the force said: Police investigating the murder of Brianna Ghey have been granted an extension of 30 hours to further question two suspects  a boy and a girl, both aged 15.

All lines of enquiry are being explored, including whether this was a hate crime.

Please continue to avoid speculation online and be wary of sharing misinformation relating to this case.

The two suspects were subsequently charged with Briannas murder.

Police think the attack on Brianna was targeted. (PA)

Tributes to Brianna Ghey

As well as the tribute from the teen's family, well-wishers inundated her popular TikTok account, which has more than 31,000 followers, with messages and comments, with one describing the 16-year-old as a "sweet angel".

Messages were posted under videos of the 16-year-old expressing herself, lip-synching to songs and trying on different outfits.

One fan wrote: "Oh you sweet angel. Im so sorry Brianna, you didnt deserve this. So beautiful and so young, absolutely heartbreaking. How could anyone do this."

A video posted to Brianna's TikTok account, @gingerpuppyx, on the day she died has so far received more than 8,000 comments.

One said: "So gorgeous. so sad to see people in the world taken too soon, and in the worst ways."

Two friends, Victoria and Jacob Potter, have set up a GoFundMe appeal for Brianna's family. By Monday afternoon the fundraiser had attracted almost 30,000 in donations from wellwishers.

A number of schoolchildren, still in their school uniforms, lay flowers at the police cordon at the entrance to the park on Monday.

Student Jordan Clayton, 19, who had met Brianna and knew her friends, also placed a bunch of roses at the scene.

A placard at a vigil for murdered trans teenager Brianna Ghey in London. (PA)

He said he knew her from school, saying: "I just felt really guilty, felt really bad for her, it must be horrible for her family. I cant imagine losing a daughter.

"She was really kind and like bubbly and energetic and sweet. She was quite introverted, but when you got to speak to her, she was bubbly and sweet and stuff."

His mother, Sandra Clayton, from Padgate, Warrington, added: To think what she must have been going through, those last its horrible, knife crime, nothing like that should be happening now. Its going on too much, isnt it?

"Just hopefully (they will) find out who has done it and what the reasons were behind it."

Damian Harry, whose daughters knew Brianna, told Sky News: "Brianna was just a beautiful young girl, quite active on social media, similar to my daughters.

"They're both very stressed, disbelief, being sick, needing to take painkillers for stress, so it's quite emotional for everybody."
The suspected driver of a U-Haul truck that injured eight people in New York City on Monday has previously served prison time in Las Vegas for stabbing his brother, reports say.

Multiple media outlets have named the suspect as Weng Sor, 62, reportedly a US citizen born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and with no previous criminal record in New York.

According to Las Vegas broadcaster KLAS-TV, however, Mr Sor was actually arrested in Las Vegas in October 2015 for stabbing his brother and again in 2020 for stabbing his roommate in the arm.

At least eight people were injured in Mondays incident, which happened at around 11am in Brooklyn, New York, and was described by one local official as a deliberate rampage.

Police said that the U-Haul truck had been rented by Mr Sor in late January this year using a Nevada drivers licence. He is now in custody and had not been charged with any offence as of Monday evening.

Weng Sor, the suspected driver in a truck rampage that injured eight people in New York City (Nevada Department of Corrections via AP)

Records seen by KLAS showed that Mr Sor was imprisoned for one to three years for the 2015 stabbing, ultimately serving 16 months. One record described him as having an "unknown type [of] mental health illness for which he takes medication".

Separately, in November 2020, Mr Sor allegedly stabbed his roommate in the arm. Police said he had been "walking up and down the driveway talking to himself about Communism" before the attack.

The judge in that case found him not fit to stand trial, and he was ordered to serve one year in detention.

Las Vegas police also ticketed a man called Weng Sor in January this year for driving 30-40 mph over the speed limit.

The Nevada Department of Corrections did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Independent.
A neighbor helped a 13-year-old boy escape after an armed man forced the teen into his Pembroke Park apartment over the weekend, police say.

George Rudolph Pratt, 65, faces charges of battery and armed kidnapping. He was in Broward County jail as of Monday afternoon, records show.

According to a police report, the boy was outside Saturday afternoon when the 170-pound man who was drinking beer grabbed him by the arm and tried to bring him into his apartment.

The teenager told police he tried to break Pratts grip but that he was being held tightly. Thats when Christopher Williams, another neighbor, asked Pratt for a beer in an effort to distract him, the report said.

Police say Pratt let the boy go and invited Williams inside his apartment to grab a beer. But when Williams noticed that there was no beer in Pratts refrigerator, he saw the man using his right hand to reach for a black handgun on top of a cabinet.

Williams then grabbed Pratts hand, allowing the boy to run away, according to investigators, and he then pushed the gun away from Pratt and left the apartment as well.

The victim identified Pratt in a photo lineup before he was arrested and his gun located.

According to investigators, Pratt told police none of this happened.
Couples who want to have children will be able to enjoy more financial benefits as well as more paternity leave, as the Singapore government boosts support for families in the early years of raising children. DPM Lawrence Wong announced the extra help during his Budget speech. (PHOTO: Yahoo Finance Singapore)

SINGAPORE  Couples who want to have children will be able to enjoy more financial benefits as well as more paternity leave, as the Singapore government boosts support for families in the early years of raising children.

Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Lawrence Wong announced during his Budget speech on Tuesday (14 February) a host of measures to strengthen support for Singaporeans on their parenthood journey, with adjustments to tax relief schemes to support families with greater needs.

"To all young married couples, whether you already have a newborn, or you are expecting a baby or you plan to have a baby, we have something to help you in parenting journey," DPM Wong, who is also the Minister for Finance, said in Parliament.

INFOGRAPHIC: MOF

$3,000 more in Baby Bonus cash gift

Married couples with Singaporean babies born on or after Tuesday will get S$3,000 more in the form of the Baby Bonus cash gift.

This means eligible first- and second-born children will receive $11,000 instead of S$8,000. For the third child onwards, the gift will be increased from S$10,000 to S$13,000.

DPM Wong said that the disbursements will also be restructured so that they are paid out over a longer period. Eligible parents can expect up to S$9,000 in payouts in the first 18 months of a child's life, as well as $400 every six months starting from when the child is two years old, until the child is six-and-a-half years old.

"In this way, parents can receive continuous support all the way until their child enters primary school," he said.

Government contributions to the Child Development Account (CDA) will be increased for eligible Singaporean children born from Tuesday. This can be used by parents to directly offset pre-school and healthcare expenses.

DPM Wong said the First Step Grant will be increased from S$3,000 to S$5,000. The government will also increase its co-matching cap by S$1,000 each for the accounts of a couple's first child and second child.

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These two enhancements will kick in from early 2024.

The government will also extend the one-off Baby Support Grant of S$3,000  introduced at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic  to babies born from 1 October 2022 to 13 February 2023.

Paternity leave to be doubled from 2 to 4 weeks

The government-paid paternity leave will be doubled from two weeks to four weeks for eligible working fathers of Singaporean children born on or after 1 January 2024.

DPM Wong said that, for a start, the extra two weeks will be voluntary, so employers which are ready to grant the additional leave will be reimbursed by the government. This is also to give employers more time to adjust.

The Government will review this over time and intends to make this mandatory in due course, he added.

Unpaid infant care leave for each parent in their child's first two years will also be doubled to 12 days per year, starting from 1 January 2024. DPM Wong said that all parents of Singaporean children will be eligible for this additional time off if they have worked with their employer for a continuous period of at least three months.

Taken together, the leave enhancements will increase parental leave for a working couple from 22 weeks to up to 26 weeks in their child's first year.

Working Mother's Child Relief changed

For Singaporean children born or adopted on or after 1 January 2024, the Working Mother's Child Relief will be changed from a percentage of the mother's earned income to a fixed dollar relief.

Eligible working mothers will be able to claim tax relief totalling $8,000 in tax relief for her first child, $10,000 for her second child and $12,000 each for her third and subsequent child. This will take effect from the year of assessment 2025.

DPM Wong said that this change will provide more government support to eligible lower- and middle-income working mothers.

From the year of assessment of 2025, the foreign domestic worker levy tax relief for all taxpayers will also be lapsed. This is because there is already a migrant domestic worker levy concession, which provides more targeted support for families who need help caring for their dependants, including children aged below 16.

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SHANGHAI (Reuters) - BYD, the world's largest maker of electrified vehicles, plans to invest $1.2 billion to build a new factory for its batteries in China, according to environmental appraisal filings.

FinDreams Technology, the Chinese company's battery unit is aiming to build a facility with the capacity to produce 40 gigawatt hours per year of its Blade Battery in the city of Zhengzhou in Henan province, according to environmental filings published on the Zhengzhou government website on Friday seeking public feedback on the project.

A company spokesperson could not immediately comment on the matter when contacted by Reuters.

BYD's Blade Battery is a less bulky lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery that its Chairman Wang Chuanfu has said is safer than other alternatives in the market and will not catch fire.

It has been powering BYD's best-selling battery electric cars such as the Han and Seal sedans that compete with Tesla's Model 3 in China.

The South China Morning Post earlier reported BYD's Zhengzhou battery plant.

(Reporting by Zhang Yan and Brenda Goh; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
ABC News

A Minnesota man has died after being attacked by dogs he was watching for a family member, police said. Officers secured a garage door and began rendering aid to the victim, who "had most of his clothing ripped off and had extensive bites on most of his body," the Brooklyn Center Police Department said in a statement. The victim did not own the dogs -- identified by police as American pit bull terriers -- but had been taking care of them at his home for a family member, police said.
California Mens Colony will lose nearly 300 jobs when the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation closes the state prisons West Facility, the agency confirmed Monday.

As part of a string of reductions statewide, the lower-security West Facility at the prison in San Luis Obispo will be shuttered, though a timeline for the shutdown has not been announced.

As of September, CMC housed 3,360 inmates.

Dana Simas, CDCR spokesperson, told the Tribune via email that the agency will eliminate positions for 250 correctional officers, 23 sergeants, nine lieutenants, two captains, two correctional counselors and one associated warden by the time the West Facility closure is complete.

This is only a point-in-time number and does not necessarily mean staff will be laid off, Simas said. We will work through voluntary transfer processes within CMC or nearby institutions that have vacancies.

The prison is one of San Luis Obispo Countys top employers, employing 1,281 people as of September, according to the quarterly statistical report from the corrections department.

The prison was looking to fill 178 vacant positions as of September, according to the report.

California Mens Colonys West Facility is a Level I and II complex with four independent facilities. It houses medium- and minimum-security, non-designated programming facility inmates in a dormitory setting, according to the departments website.

In September, the facility housed 1,955 Level I and II inmates, according to the statistical report. The inmates are expected to be transferred to another prison.

The remaining wing of the prison is its East Facility, a medium-security five-unit facility for Level III inmates with a population of 1,181 as of September.

The West Facilitys closure comes with an eye toward fiscal responsibility as prison population statewide has decreased, according to a December news release from the state corrections department.

Five other prisons will have partial closures in addition to CMC, the CDCR said, while the Chuckawalla Valley State Prison will be shut down completely by March 2025.
(Reuters) - Canadian Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said on Monday the country's broadcast and telecommunications regulator would focus on improving competition, affordability and consumer rights as part of a new policy direction.

The Canadian government will make a decision on the fate of Rogers Communications Inc's bid to buy Shaw Communications Inc for a C$20 billion ($15.00 billion), a merger that would create the country's no. 2 telecoms operator.

Other objectives in the policy direction to Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) included speeding up new infrastructure for better consumer access and improving service reliability, said Champagne, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry.

Canada has some of the highest wireless bills in the world for consumers, and Rogers last year suffered a 19-hour service outage that cut off banking, transport and government access for millions of people.

Champagne has previously indicated support for the Rogers-Shaw deal if certain conditions were met. In January, the companies cleared a major hurdle after the Canada Competition Bureau dropped plans to oppose the deal following two defeats in courts.

($1 = 1.3337 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)
Feb. 14A Canadian woman remains in federal custody after she allegedly tried to cross two Russian nationals from Mexico to the United States via the Gateway International Bridge in Brownsville, a federal criminal complaint reads.

Nadezda Asktanova, born in 1985, also tried to drive through the port of entry without stopping until she was halted by additional U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers, the complaint reads.

According to the Feb. 13, complaint, Asktanova "attempted to run the port by failing to stop at a primary inspection area disregarding officer presence. Immediately after, secondary U.S. Customs officers were alerted and managed to stop the vehicle before departing the port of entry."

As the officers walked up to the vehicle, they found two other people inside it that were Russian nationals, who had no documents in their possession that said they were allowed to be or live in the U.S., the complaint stated.

According to the complaint, Asktanova admitted to traveling to Mexico to pick up the Russians, bring them into the U.S. and then transport them to Canada, which was their destination.

Asktanova appeared Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ignacio Torteya III, who ordered she be held without bond.

Her next court appearance is scheduled for Feb. 17.

Torteya also ordered the two Russian nationals be held as material witnesses in the case.
Canton Police Department, Ohio

CANTON  A 38-year-old city man was arrested and charged in Tuesday's shooting death of Adrian Armstead.

Police said they arrested Roscoe Alford on a warrant on one count of murder. He is accused of shooting Armstead before 4 a.m. Tuesday in the 1200 block of Eighth Street NE.

Armstead, 33, was found unresponsive in a hallway with gunshot wounds. He was transported by Canton Fire Department personnel to Cleveland Clinic Mercy Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 4:22 a.m.

More:Canton woman thought to be overdosing dies, officials find gunshot wound to back

Details about whether the pair knew each other or a motive for the shooting were not immediately released by police.

Three others were also arrested in connection to the case, including a 37-year-old Canton woman faces counts of obstructing justice and three counts of child endangering. She was also wanted on an unrelated felony warrant, police said.

Police said they found Alford at the woman's residence, where her three children were at home.

Court records allege the woman lied to police about Alford's whereabouts and later fled the residence when police entered to arrest the suspect.

A 33-year-old Canton woman and a 51-year-old city woman also were charged with tampering with evidence. The elder woman also was charged with felony obstructing justice. She is accused of cleaning the residence where the shooting took place with bleach and later lying to police.

Alford and the three women are set to be arraigned at 9 a.m. Thursday in Canton Municipal Court.

Reach Amy at 330-775-1135 or amy.knapp@indeonline.com.

On Twitter: @aknappINDE

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Canton man charged with murder in shooting death of Adrian Armstead
Teenagers walking down the street. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

A stark new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Monday says that in 2021, nearly 1 in 3 teen girls reported that they seriously considered suicide, up almost 60 percent from 2011, and roughly 20 percent reported experiencing rape or other sexual violence in the previous year, an increase of 27 percent over two years.

Almost 3 in 5 girls said they felt persistent sadness or hopelessness that interfered with their regular activities, and more girls than boys reported being bullied online or via text messaging. Teen girls across the United States are "engulfed in a growing wave of violence and trauma," the CDC said, and "these data make it clear that young people in the U.S. are collectively experiencing a level of distress that calls on us to act."

In fall 2021, the CDC surveyed more than 17,200 high school students for the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, which is conducted every two years. Kathleen Ethier, director of the CDC's Division of Adolescent and School Health, told The Washington Post there is almost certainly a link between the increase in sexual violence and the rise in girls experiencing depressive symptoms. "If you think about every 10 teen girls that you know, at least one and possibly more has been raped, and that is the highest level we've ever seen," she said. "We are really alarmed."

Researchers noted that it is unclear if girls are more aware of depressive symptoms compared to boys, or if they report them more. The survey also found that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and questioning teens experience more violence and online bullying than heterosexual teens; more than a quarter of American Indian and Alaska native teens said they seriously considered a suicide attempt; and Black and Hispanic students are more likely than white and Asian students to stay home from school due to safety concerns.

The COVID-19 pandemic hit teens hard, as they spent extended periods of time isolated at home and many lost a loved one to the virus. The CDC said schools play an important role in supporting teens as they navigate through this time of their life, and they need to offer access to good mental health services, health education, clubs, and activities. "Our research has shown that young people who feel more connected in their schools do better, both while they are adolescents and up to 20 years later," Ethier said.

Story continues

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Teddy Joseph Von Nukem (center, in black) via Samuel Corum / Anadolu Agency / Getty

Teddy Joseph Von Nukem, one of the most prominent faces lit by the glow of tiki torches in what became the lasting image of the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, killed himself as he was due to face criminal trial last month.

The 35-year-old skipped out on his first day of trial for a drug trafficking charge in Arizona on the morning of Jan. 30, according to court records. At the very moment a federal judge was issuing a warrant for his arrest, Von Nukem was actually still at his home in Missouri, where he had walked out in the snow behind the hay shed and shot himself.

The details were listed in an autopsy report obtained exclusively by The Daily Beast on Tuesday.

Suicide notes were found at the scene, left for law enforcement and his children, however handwriting was somewhat inconsistent, the coroners report states.

Von Nukem gained notoriety for attending the Aug. 12, 2017 hate speech rally that aggressively revived a nativist movement in the United States. He glorified the violence, and researchers of domestic extremism suspect he was a key figure in a brutal beating of a black man that day.

Von Nukems sudden death was initially reported by Molly Conger, an independent journalist in Charlottesville who has become a key anti-fascism researcher in the years since the rally shook the city. An obituary said Von Nukem left behind a wife and five children aged under nine. Some people knew Ted and understood he was a different type of fellow and had different views of things, it noted.

you probably remember this photograph. it's one of the more iconic of the awful images of the nazi torch march at UVA on august 11, 2017.

on august 12, the man in the center was elated to see himself on the cover of papers across the county.

today, i can tell you he is dead. pic.twitter.com/ti5c1c0LT0  molly conger (@socialistdogmom) February 14, 2023

Congers research identified Von Nukem as one of the men who attacked Deandre Harris in a parking garage. She also connected the dots to show how Von Nukem gloated about the attack in text messages to another white supremacist rally organizer, who was later prosecuted in a separate case.

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Journalists, researchers, and anti-fascist activists spent months carefully examining photos and videos of the violence that day to identify white supremacists and hold them accountable. Von Nukem, who stood front and center during some of the most iconic moments of the hateful procession, was quickly outed by former classmates back in his home state. One former student told the local Springfield News-Leader that in school he was known as a token goth kid who had what the newspaper described as an unsettling interest in Nazi Germany.

At the time, Von Nukem told the newspaper he supported Donald Trump and had adopted the white supremacist worldview that whites are now disadvantaged.

"I don't mind showing solidarity with them," he told the newspaper then. You have to pick your side. You have to throw your support behind the army that is fighting for you."

Von Nukem, who was born as Teddy Landrum, told the outlet he changed his name in 2012 in a nod to his German heritage and the video-game character Duke Nukem.

At the rally, Neo-Nazis raged against minorities and immigrantswhom racists accuse of harming the country. That made it all the more ironic that Von Nukem was arrested on March 17, 2021 while entering the United States from Mexico. On his way into Arizona, Customs and Border Protection agents discovered 15 kilograms of fentanyl pills hidden behind the seats and floor compartment of his 2019 Nissan Pathfinder.

According to law enforcement records, Von Nukem quickly admitted that he had been paid 4,000 Mexican pesos (around $215) to smuggle the pills into the country.

He was released pending trial and was scheduled to travel back to Tucson to appear in federal court last month. But on Jan. 30, Von Nukem was a no-show. After waiting for an hour, U.S. District Judge Rosemary Marquez issued a warrant for his arrest.

Unbeknownst to her, at that very moment 1,145 miles away, Von Nukems wife had just discovered his bodystill warmlying in the snow behind the shed. He still had a faint pulse when a sheriffs deputy and paramedic arrived, according to the coroners report. Marie Lasater, the coroner in Texas County, Missouri, checked with the Department of Justice to confirm his identity.

Last Thursday, federal prosecutors moved to dismiss the case. The judge closed it the very next day.

If you or a loved one are struggling with suicidal thoughts, please reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741. You can also text or dial 988.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Illustration: maxuser (Shutterstock)

It doesnt take much to get ChatGPT to make a factual mistake. My son is doing a report on U.S. presidents, so I figured Id help him out by looking up a few biographies. I tried asking for a list of books about Abraham Lincoln and it did a pretty good job:



Screen capture by Jonathan May., CC BY-ND



Read more

Number 4 isnt right. Garry Wills famously wrote Lincoln at Gettysburg, and Lincoln himself wrote the Emancipation Proclamation, of course, but its not a bad start. Then I tried something harder, asking instead about the much more obscure William Henry Harrison, and it gamely provided a list, nearly all of which was wrong.



Screen capture by Jonathan May., CC BY-ND

Numbers 4 and 5 are correct; the rest dont exist or are not authored by those people. I repeated the exact same exercise and got slightly different results:



Screen capture by Jonathan May., CC BY-ND



This time numbers 2 and 3 are correct and the other three are not actual books or not written by those authors. Number 4, William Henry Harrison: His Life and Times is a real book, but its by James A. Green, not by Robert Remini, a well-known historian of the Jacksonian age.



I called out the error and ChatGPT eagerly corrected itself and then confidently told me the book was in fact written by Gail Collins (who wrote a different Harrison biography), and then went on to say more about the book and about her. I finally revealed the truth and the machine was happy to run with my correction. Then I lied absurdly, saying during their first hundred days presidents have to write a biography of some former president, and ChatGPT called me out on it. I then lied subtly, incorrectly attributing authorship of the Harrison biography to historian and writer Paul C. Nagel, and it bought my lie.

When I asked ChatGPT if it was sure I was not lying, it claimed that its just an AI language model and doesnt have the ability to verify accuracy. However it modified that claim by saying I can only provide information based on the training data I have been provided, and it appears that the book William Henry Harrison: His Life and Times was written by Paul C. Nagel and published in 1977.

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This is not true.

ChatGPT generates words, not facts

It may seem from this interaction that ChatGPT was given a library of facts, including incorrect claims about authors and books. After all, ChatGPTs maker, OpenAI, claims it trained the chatbot on vast amounts of data from the internet written by humans.

However, it was almost certainly not given the names of a bunch of made-up books about one of the most mediocre U.S. presidents. In a way, though, this false information is indeed based on its training data.

As a computer scientist, I often field complaints that reveal a common misconception about large language models like ChatGPT and its older brethren GPT3 and GPT2: that they are some kind of super Googles, or digital versions of a reference librarian, looking up answers to questions from some infinitely large library of facts, or smooshing together pastiches of stories and characters. They dont do any of that  at least, they were not explicitly designed to.

The AI sure does sound good, though

A language model like ChatGPT, which is more formally known as a generative pretrained transformer (thats what the G, P and T stand for), takes in the current conversation, forms a probability for all of the words in its vocabulary given that conversation, and then chooses one of them as the likely next word. Then it does that again, and again, and again, until it stops.

So it doesnt have facts, per se. It just knows what word should come next. Put another way, ChatGPT doesnt try to write sentences that are true. But it does try to write sentences that are plausible.

When talking privately to colleagues about ChatGPT, they often point out how many factually untrue statements it produces and dismiss it. To me, the idea that ChatGPT is a flawed data retrieval system is beside the point. People have been using Google for the past two and a half decades, after all. Theres a pretty good fact-finding service out there already.

In fact, the only way I was able to verify whether all those presidential book titles were accurate was by Googling and then verifying the results. My life would not be that much better if I got those facts in conversation, instead of the way I have been getting them for almost half of my life, by retrieving documents and then doing a critical analysis to see if I can trust the contents.

ChatGPT as improv partner

On the other hand, if I can talk to a bot that will give me plausible responses to things I say, it would be useful in situations where factual accuracy isnt all that important. A few years ago a student and I tried to create an improv bot, one that would respond to whatever you said with a yes, and to keep the conversation going. We showed, in a paper, that our bot was better at yes, and-ing than other bots at the time, but in AI, two years is ancient history.

I tried out a dialogue with ChatGPT  a science fiction space explorer scenario  that is not unlike what youd find in a typical improv class. ChatGPT is way better at yes, and-ing than what we did, but it didnt really heighten the drama at all. I felt as if I was doing all the heavy lifting.

After a few tweaks I got it to be a little more involved, and at the end of the day I felt that it was a pretty good exercise for me, who hasnt done much improv since I graduated from college over 20 years ago.

Screen capture by Jonathan May., CC BY-ND

Sure, I wouldnt want ChatGPT to appear on Whose Line Is It Anyway? and this is not a great Star Trek plot (though its still less problematic than Code of Honor), but how many times have you sat down to write something from scratch and found yourself terrified by the empty page in front of you? Starting with a bad first draft can break through writers block and get the creative juices flowing, and ChatGPT and large language models like it seem like the right tools to aid in these exercises.



And for a machine that is designed to produce strings of words that sound as good as possible in response to the words you give it  and not to provide you with information  that seems like the right use for the tool.





Jonathan May, Research Associate Professor of Computer Science, University of Southern California



This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Kadyrov showed the Kremlin propagandist a pistol that allegedly belonged to Hitler

The Chechen warlord was immediately mocked for the assertion on social media.

In the video, Kadyrov struggles to pull the weapon out of its holster and says that he brought it to show it off, as its a trophy pistol with which Hitler shot himself." He adds that it was "brought to him by his commanders."

Read also: Terror bombing from Hitler to Putin

The video quickly went viral, with users deriding the pride with which the Russian vassal looks at the "trophy" pistol, though it is unlikely that Kadyrov's "commanders" had personally stormed the Reich Chancellery and captured the valuable artifact.

More probably, the Chechen despot was deceived  it is extremely unlikely that the weapon in his hands ever belonged to the German Fuhrer, and even more unlikely that he shot himself with it.

The fact is that no one really knows which gun ended Hitler's life  all thats known is that it was a 7.65 mm Walther PP or Walther PPK.

Wikipedia

Read also: Chechen unit reinforces Russian grouping in Kherson Oblast, says General Staff

The pistol Kadyrov holds indeed resembles a Walther, but the weapon was mass-produced from 1929-1945. It was in service with the police, hence its name (PP  Polizeipistole, PPK  Polizeipistole Kriminalmodell). It can still be purchased now for anywhere between $800 to $2,000.

These pistols were also treasured by German officers, including the highest-ranking ones.

Read also: Chechen blogger Abdurakhmanov killed in Sweden

Adolf Hitler also had a Walther PP, as the head of the gun company gave it to him for his 50th birthday. But that particular pistol is well-known, as it is covered with gilding, has an ivory handle, and the AH monogram.

The fate of this Walther remains unknown. According to some sources, Hitler got rid of it long before his death, giving it to German fighter ace Werner Molders for shooting down 101 warplanes.

Others claim that the Nazi leader still had the weapon in 1945, but in a Munich apartment rather than in the Fuhrerbunker.

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Tyler Shields

Read also: World must finally understand that Putin is no different from Hitler  Danilov

The description of Kadyrov's pistol refers to traces of blood on the breechblock, which allegedly matches Hitler's blood type.

Despite these contradictions, the gilded Walther is considered in the public consciousness to be the most likely weapon of the Fuhrer's suicide. The weapon was depicted in the famous series of photographs by the American photographer Tyler Shields.

One way or another, it is impossible to find out for sure, as no one had the serial numbers of the personal weapons of the Fuhrer and Eva Braun, and the memoirs of those who first arrived at the scene of the suicide of Hitler and his wife do not describe the gun. Moreover, it is impossible to say for sure what kind of gun it was, let alone track its subsequent whereabouts.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Deputies said a woman who texted friends on her way to dinner and then vanished has been found dead.

The Cherokee County Sheriffs Office said Laura Ann Linden, 65, texted friends at 6 p.m. on Feb. 11 on her way to a party at a friends house in the subdivision next to the lake where she lived. She never made it to dinner.

Deputies got a call Tuesday night about a car that may have gone into Lake Arrowhead.

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

Deputies did not find a vehicle but saw evidence near the edge of the water that indicated a car had possibly gone into the lake.

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A vehicle was recovered from the lake and Lindens body was found inside the car.

Channel 2s Tom Regan was at the scene on Channel 2 Action News at Noon Wednesday when the car was pulled from the lake.

A volunteer rescue and recovery diver, who joined in the search for the missing woman Monday, says the ending is tragic.

Obviously, I was sad that she was found passed away. There was nothing anyone could do when ended up in the lake, Jeremy Sides said.

Sides volunteers to help find cars and people in bodies of water. He posts search efforts on his YouTube channel. He says when people disappear in their cars, they are often located underwater.

He said he believes what happened could be an accident.

She was new to the neighborhood. At night, in a storm she could have gotten turned around, driving straight into the water. From what I have seen there were no barricades or anything. Sides said.

He also said his heart goes out to the womans family.

I have been involved in three other missing person cases. Its never easy, because this family has just found out their mother has passed away. Theres nothing I could do to make them feel any better, except be a shoulder to cry on, Sides said.

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The Cherokee County Sheriffs Office has asked the GBI Medical Examiner to perform an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

For now, the incident is being treated as an accident and there is no evidence of foul play.

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Chicago attorney and real estate developer Robert Kowalski was just a few minutes into his opening statement in his federal fraud trial Tuesday when he started talking about pink elephants.

Kowalski, who has made the risky move to represent himself, told the jury the pink elephant in the courtroom was John Gembara, the deceased president of Washington Federal Bank for Savings, who was found dead in the home of a customer just days before the bank was taken over by federal regulators.

It was Gembara, his longtime friend, who embezzled millions from the small Bridgeport bank, Kowalski said, a scheme that allegedly involved years of bad loans, shifting collateral, forged signatures, and even cash buried by one of his customers somewhere in the Cayman Islands.

He didnt start out to be a bad man, but his plan was terrible, Kowalski said. It wasnt George Bailey in Its a Wonderful Life.

But when Kowalski repeatedly tried to insinuate that Gembaras death  which was ruled a suicide  might have been the result of foul play, prosecutors objected and U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall cut him off.

The facts show that something else was going on, Kowalski protested before the judge told him to move on. There were multiple ligature marks on this mans neck.

Kowalski is among 14 defendants charged in an alleged multiyear embezzlement scheme that preceded the failure of Washington Federal, a family-run institution that had been a mainstay in the citys Bridgeport neighborhood for more than a century.

Kowalski, who was a large debtor of the bank when it was closed by regulators in December 2017, was charged with embezzling more than $8 million from the bank with the help of Gembara, as well as bankruptcy and income tax fraud for allegedly lying about and concealing assets and income.

The sprawling investigation has already led to one other high-profile trial. Patrick Daley Thompson, the then-11th Ward alderman and scion of the Daley political dynasty, was convicted last year of two counts of lying to federal regulators about loans he had with Washington Federal and falsely claiming mortgage interest deductions on his tax returns.

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Thompson, who by law was forced to step down immediately after his conviction, was sentenced to four months in prison and released in December.

Kowalskis trial, meanwhile, comes after years of bizarre pretrial hearings that saw him locked up for violating his bond and filing dozens of motions alleging investigators were hiding evidence and colluding with the judge to railroad him.

In one handwritten motion last year, Kowalski, 60, asked Kendall to recuse herself in part because she allegedly engaged in barrista duties at a status hearing, inviting prosecutors to share carmel Macciatos (sic) with her in court while he was at the defense table.

Notably, shackled attorney Kowalski was not extended an invitation to partake of Judge Kendalls tasty largesse, he wrote. The defendant stood chained amidst all the fanfare and festive slurping.

Kendall denied the request, calling his story fanciful and saying if shes been biased toward anyone, it was him.

Mr. Kowalski should spend less time fabricating facts to put in motions to delay his trial and more time preparing for his defense, Kendall wrote.

Prosecutors in their opening statement Tuesday said that Kowalski used his friendship with Gembara to turn Washington Federal into his own piggy bank, getting collateral-free loans to bankroll his real estate developments and using letters of credit from the bank to fool other creditors.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeremy Daniel said the case isnt so much about the banks ultimate failure, but about Kowalskis pockets and how he lined them.

If his accounts overdrawn, call Gembara. Need more money? Call Gembara, Daniel said. Where did the money go? Out of the bank to benefit the defendant.

Daniel said that two of the banks former employees, including former loan officer Alicia Mandujano, will testify that Gemara ordered them to forge signatures and doctor other paperwork to hide Kowalskis outstanding loans.

Mandujano is among eight people who have pleaded guilty to roles in the scheme. Several others are awaiting trial, including William Mahon, a then-top official with the citys Streets and Sanitation Department charged with willfully filing false tax returns and failing to disclose a $130,000 personal loan hed received directly from Gembara.

Police records show Gembara, 56, was found dead on Dec. 3, 2017, in the Park Ridge home of a bank customer where he had been staying. An autopsy report showed Gembara was found seated in a chair in his bedroom with a rope tied to the banister and around his neck. His death was ruled a suicide by the Cook County medical examiners office.

Kowalski was free on bond in 2020 when prosecutors accused him of improperly sending police and autopsy records to Gembaras widow and suggesting the suicide ruling was a cover-up.

Kowalski said at the time he has always been suspicious of the circumstances surrounding Gembaras death and sent the information  obtained via open records requests of Park Ridge police  to the woman in an effort at transparency and closure.

I wanted more information, Kowalski said. Him dying while sitting in a chair has always rankled me. It didnt make sense.

But Kendall said Kowalski committed witness tampering by bringing his far-flung theories to the woman, who was potentially a witness in the investigation, and ordered Kowalski jailed for violating the terms of his release.

The most salacious detail about the case is that a president of the bank committed suicide, the judge said at the time. You are trying hard to find out something about this suicide and turn it into a murder.

jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
A child was looking for a lost ball in a creek and spotted something disturbing  a human foot, complete with painted nails, sticking out from a dark-colored plastic bag, Pennsylvania police say.

Officers with the Tunkhannock Township Police Department went to the scene in neighboring Overfield Township where the bagged-up human remains were found, the department said in a Feb. 13 news release. It was just as reported, a foot protruding out of a plastic bag, likely filled with the rest of an unknown victim.

Officers and the coroner left the scene as it was and contacted Pennsylvania State Police for assistance, the release said.

Investigators opened the bag to reveal an extremely lifelike sex doll, according to police, all the way down to the French pedicure it had.

Weve seen this item referred to as a mannequin online. That really isnt accurate, the department said. This was a lifelike silicone item used for self gratification.

The anatomically correct doll was roughly 50 pounds and the size of a small child, according to the release.

Officials believe the doll was deliberately placed in the creek, TV station WJAC reported.

What should have been an enjoyable walk on a Sunday afternoon along a stream turned traumatic, especially to the child, Wyoming County District Attorney Joseph Peters said in a statement obtained by WJAC. While this young person is aware that what (they) was not real remains, and though this young person is bright and resilient and fortunate to have two nurturing parents, the trauma of that sight may impact this child for years to come.

Overfield Township is about 142 miles northwest of Philadelphia.

Family dog kept coming home with bones, then brought back a human skull, Texas cops say

Creepy dolls keep washing up on this stretch on Texas coastline. A lot of nightmares

Man arrested after construction worker found dead in newly built home, Texas cops say
BEIJING (AP)  China said Tuesday it will resolutely safeguard its legitimate rights and interests over the shooting down of a suspected Chinese spy balloon by the United States, as relations between the two countries deteriorate further.

The balloon prompted U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to cancel a highly-anticipated visit to Beijing this week that had offered slight hopes for an improvement in relations.

China claims it was a civilian balloon used for meteorological research but has refused to say to which government department or company it belongs.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning on Tuesday reiterated that the unmanned airship posed no threat and entered U.S. airspace accidentally.

Mao again criticized the U.S. for overreacting rather than adopting a calm, professional" manner, and for using force in bringing the balloon down Saturday in the Atlantic Ocean just off the U.S. coast.

Asked if China wanted the debris returned, she only reasserted that the balloon belongs to China."

The balloon does not belong to the U.S. The Chinese government will continue to resolutely safeguard its legitimate rights and interests," Mao said at a daily briefing without giving further details.

Beijing's attitude has hardened considerably following a surprisingly mild initial response on Friday, in which it described the balloon's presence as an accident and expressed regret" for the balloon having entered the U.S.

Subsequent statements have grown firmer, in the same tone used to confront the U.S. over issues from Taiwan to trade, technology restrictions and China's claim to the South China Sea. China says it lodged a formal complaint with the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, accusing Washington of having obviously overreacted and seriously violated the spirit of international law and international practice."

Recent developments have laid bare the extremely fragile nature of what many had hoped could be a manageable economic, political and military rivalry.

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U.S.-China tensions have stirred deep concern in Washington and among many of its allies. They worry that outright conflict could have a strong negative impact on the global economy, especially since Russias invasion of Ukraine last year, on which China has largely sided with Moscow.

Balloons either suspected of or confirmed to be Chinese have been spotted over countries from Japan to Costa Rica. Taiwanese media have reported that mysterious white balloons had been spotted over the island at least three times in the past two years.

That's especially concerning because China claims Taiwan as its own territory to be brought under its control by force if necessary and routinely sends warships and military aircraft into the island's air defense identification zone and across the middle line of the Taiwan Strait dividing the sides.

Taiwans Ministry of National Defense has never explicitly linked the balloons to China. However, the recent furor over the Chinese balloon in the U.S. brought attention back to these mysterious sightings.

The size of the Chinese balloon in the U.S., as well as the equipment attached to it, had all drawn intense speculation as to its purpose. Along with Washington, most security experts dismissed Beijing's assertions that the balloon was intended for meteorological rather than spying purposes.

But it doesn't look like any weather balloon that Cheng Ming-dian, head of Taiwans Central Weather Bureau, has seen.

In the meteorology world, I havent found a person who has seen or heard of a weather balloon that looks like this, Cheng said.

While China has in recent months moderated the abrasive tone of its diplomacy, it is still pursuing those broader, long-term strategic agendas on the economic, tech and security fronts," said Collin Koh Swee Lean research fellow at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University.

In other words, if you cast the change in rhetoric aside, were in fact not seeing any real meaningful improvement in the extant China-U.S. relations, which will continue to be dominated by rivalry," Koh said. And the latest spy balloon incident only looks set to broaden the schism."

___

Associated Press reporter Huizhong Wu contributed to this report from Taipei, Taiwan.
By Yew Lun Tian and Steve Holland

BEIJING/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A diplomatic rift between China and the United States deepened on Tuesday with Beijing accusing Washington of flying high-altitude balloons into its airspace and that of other countries, as the U.S. military examined debris of a suspected Chinese spy balloon it downed this month.

The Chinese balloon, which Beijing denies was a spy vessel, spent a week flying over the United States and Canada before President Joe Biden ordered it shot on Feb. 4. The U.S. military has since carried out three more shootdowns as it combs the skies for objects that were not being captured by radar.

The White House said on Tuesday it was still searching for debris from the most recent, unmanned objects, and had not seen any indication they were part of China's spy program. But they exposed Washington's heightened sense of alert as the standoff over the balloon delays efforts to reset bilateral relations.

China says the balloon shot down on Feb. 4 was a civilian weather-monitoring aircraft. Beijing has accused Washington of sending its own balloons into Chinese airspace, and on Tuesday alleged those objects had flown above other countries as well.

U.S. balloons "flew around the world and illegally entered the airspace of China and other relevant countries at least ten times" since May 2022, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said, without providing details or evidence.

China asserts numerous disputed territorial claims, including Taiwan and parts of the East and South China Seas, where the U.S. military says it routinely operates according to international law.

The White House has disputed China's allegations. Adrienne Watson, spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, tweeted on Monday: "Any claim that the US government operates surveillance balloons over the PRC is false."

Washington has imposed sanctions on six Chinese entities it says are tied to the balloon, an action which drew criticism from Beijing on Tuesday. But there are some signs the two countries are still seeking to inject stability into turbulent relations.

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Biden, who has repeatedly vowed to protect U.S. airspace and criticized China over the balloon, has also said that he does not believe relations between the two countries were weakened by the incident.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who postponed a planned trip to Beijing over the balloon, is considering meeting China's top diplomat Wang Yi in Munich this week, sources said.

'COMMERCIAL OR BENIGN PURPOSE'

The U.S. military said on Monday it had recovered critical electronics from the suspected Chinese spy balloon as well as large sections of the vessel itself.

But it has not yet recovered debris from the most recent three objects shot down, with tough weather conditions making recovery operations difficult.

White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday that no group or individual has claimed the three objects, and that the U.S. intelligence community believes they could be "tied to some commercial or benign purpose."

The objects include an object downed over sea ice near Deadhorse, Alaska, one brought down over Canada's Yukon and a third shot down over Lake Huron.

Demonstrating the difficulty of taking down the three objects, the top U.S. general, Mark Milley, said the first of two missiles fired from an F-16 fighter jet at the object over Lake Huron on Sunday missed the object, but landed harmlessly in the water.

"We certainly tracked it all the way down," Milley told a news conference in Brussels on Tuesday.

Top U.S. defense and military officials held a classified briefing for U.S. senators at the Capitol on Tuesday. Republican senators urged Biden, a Democrat, to publicly share more information about the objects.

"Ninety-five percent of what was discussed in that room today can be made public without compromising the security of this country," Republican Senator Marco Rubio said after the briefing.

(Reporting by Yew Lun Tian and Beijing newsroom and Steve Holland and Patricia Zengerle in Washington; Writing by Rami Ayyub; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Alistair Bell)
BEIJING (Reuters) - China supports Iran in safeguarding its legitimate rights and promoting the early and proper resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue, Chinese President Xi told his Iranian counterpart on Tuesday.

"China will continue to constructively participate in the negotiations on resuming Iran's nuclear agreement," Xi told Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.

Raisi is scheduled to visit Beijing from Feb. 14-16.

(Reporting by Liz Lee and Ella Cao, editing by Ed Osmond)
By Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Officials from China, India, Saudi Arabia and Group of Seven nations will participate in a first virtual meeting of a new sovereign debt roundtable on Friday, the International Monetary Fund said on Monday, confirming an earlier Reuters report.

The roundtable will also include officials from countries that have requested debt treatments under the Group of 20 common framework - Ethiopia, Zambia and Ghana - as well as middle-income countries such as Sri Lanka, Suriname and Ecuador, which have faced their own debt crises, three sources had earlier said.

The meeting will be co-chaired by the IMF, the World Bank and India, the current leader of the Group of 20, and comes a week before G20 finance officials are due to gather in Bengaluru, India, from Feb. 23-25. An in-person meeting of the roundtable expected on Feb. 25 and a formal launch is planned at the IMF-World Bank spring meetings in April.

Brazil, which will lead the G20 next year, is also taking part, one of the sources said.

An IMF spokesperson confirmed the first roundtable meeting would take place on Friday, and said more details would be released in the near future.

"The objective is to bring together key stakeholders involved in sovereign debt restructuring, from traditional creditors from advanced economies, to new creditors like China, Saudi Arabia, India, as well as the private sector and debt countries to address the current shortcomings," they said.

The roundtable will include the Paris Club of official creditors and private sector participants - the Institute of International Finance (IIF), the International Capital Markets Association and two private-sector financial institutions that have asked not to be identified, one of the sources said.

Creation of the body comes amid growing frustration about the slow pace of discussions on debt relief for Zambia, which first requested help two years ago. Organizers say the roundtable could help resolve issues in principle and will not focus on Zambia or other individual cases.

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Officials hope to resolve China's concerns about cutoff dates to protect new financing from debt restructuring by the end of the year, one of the sources said.

G7, International Monetary Fund and World Bank officials have long pushed for faster and broader efforts to deliver debt relief to heavily indebted nations to avoid cuts in social services that they fear could tip off social unrest.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and other G7 officials see China, now the world's largest sovereign creditor, as the main stumbling block for quicker work on debt treatments. They are also pushing for agreement by G20 members on expanding the common framework to include middle-income countries.

Eric LeCompte, executive director of the Jubilee USA Network, a coalition of religious, development and advocacy groups, said support for the matter was growing among other countries. But Chinas opposition - and that of Russia - remained significant a stumbling block, he said.

The majority of countries support expanding these policies to middle-income countries, but China is the biggest challenge, LeCompte said, adding that Europe had gone through a similar period of reluctance on debt relief in the 1990s, but eventually came around.

Also on the agenda will be China's repeated calls for World Bank and other multilateral development banks to participate in debt reductions - a proposal firmly rejected by U.S. officials, who argue that those lenders already offer highly concessional loans and grants to countries in crisis.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal in Washington; editing by Karin Strohecker, Chizu Nomiyama, Leslie Adler and Lincoln Feast.)
From February 15, Sichuan is allowing unmarried people to register their children. Stock photo/Getty Images

People in Sichuan province, married or single, will soon be able to have as many children as they want.

Shanghai and Guangdong have already eased childbirth regulations, too.

The changes to the regulations come as China wrestles with sinking birth rates.

China's Sichuan province will soon allow people  married or single  to have as many kids as they want, as the country grapples with a shrinking population.

Starting on February 15, the Sichuan government will remove the ceiling for how many childbirths a person can register, which is currently capped at two, the Sichuan Provincial Health Commission said in a statement on January 29.

It's also allowing unmarried people to register kids. Until now, only married couples were allowed to register their children in the province.

"The restriction on the number of births when going through birth registration has been abolished, and it is clarified that 'every citizen who has children shall go through birth registration,'" the statement read.

The incoming measures will last five years, according to authorities.

The new measures aren't to encourage or advocate for unmarried couples to have kids, said Sichuan authorities, but instead to protect the rights of single parents, allowing them to access healthcare and maternity services.

Registering a child is key to accessing China's public services, such as enrollment in local schools, social welfare, and healthcare. Under the revised rules, single parents in Sichuan can access benefits that were previously only available to married couples, like maternity insurance and paid maternity leave.

Birth rate problems

This relaxation of child-rearing rules in Sichuan, the fifth-most populous province in China and home to over 83 million people, follows similar recent changes in Shaanxi, Shanghai, and Guangdong.

The measures come as China wrestles with progressively sinking birthrates, with new births hitting an all-time low in 2022. The country's population is now officially declining after 60 years of growth, according to government data published in January.

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Beijing has tried to combat the trend by scaling back its restrictions on childbearing. In 2016, it scrapped its long-held one-child policy and started allowing couples to register two children. In 2021, China further relaxed the policy to allow up to three children per family.

A shrinking population presents potential crises on multiple fronts for China. Unlike its aging east Asian neighbors such as Japan and South Korea, it's still a developing nation and has a far lower GDP per capita. The trend threatens a dearth in working-age adults who can fuel a Chinese economy and healthcare system already burdened with supporting a growing number of older folk in need of care.

"They were late by about 10 years compared to developed countries like Japan. It was only six, seven years ago that China removed its one-child policy," Gu Qingyang, an associate professor of public policy at the National University of Singapore and the editor of the Journal of Infrastructure, Policy and Development, previously told Insider.

"If they had done that five years earlier, China would be in a much better situation," he said.

It's not immediately clear whether decoupling child registration from marriage, or uncapping the number of children anyone can register, will ultimately improve China's birth rates.

Marriage rates are also plummeting in China, as more young people  especially young women  now say they see marriage as a potential roadblock to reaching financial independence.

But past efforts to encourage new births have yet to deliver results amid growing concerns about high costs of living, economic uncertainty, and societal expectations, Insider's Cheryl Teh previously reported.

Read the original article on Insider
BEIJING (AP)  Chinese leader Xi Jinping expressed support for Iran during a visit Tuesday by its president as Tehran tries to expand relations with Beijing and Moscow to offset Western sanctions over its nuclear development.

The official Chinese account of Xis meeting with Ebrahim Raisi gave no indication whether they discussed Russias attack on Ukraine. Tehran supplied military drones to Russian President Vladimir Putin's government but says they were delivered before the war began.

Xi expressed support for Raisis government in language Beijing uses to criticize Washingtons domination of global affairs. China and Iran portray themselves, alongside Moscow, as counterweights to American power.

China supports Iran in safeguarding national sovereignty and resisting unilateralism and bullying, Xi said in a statement carried by Chinese state TV on its website.

Xi and Raisi attended the signing of 20 cooperation agreements including trade and tourism, the Chinese government announced. Those add to a 25-year strategy agreement signed in 2021 to cooperate in developing oil, industry and other fields.

China is one of the biggest buyers of Iranian oil and a source of investment.

Iran has struggled for years under trade and financial sanctions imposed by Washington and other Western governments over what they say is Tehrans efforts to develop nuclear weapons, an accusation the Iranian government denies. The United States government cut off Irans access to the network that connects global banks in 2018.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price urged China to influence Iran and lower potential threats in the region, saying that would be in both of our interests.

The PRC has a role to play in very clearly signaling to Iran that its destabilizing activities  that its brinksmanship  is not going to be rewarded, its not going to be countenanced. It is not something that the international community is prepared to sit idly by and watch, Price said Tuesday to reporters in Washington, referring to China by its official name, the Peoples Republic of China.

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Xi said Beijing opposes external forces interfering in Irans internal affairs and undermining Irans security and stability, according to the government statement. It said Xi promised to work together on issues involving each others core interests, but gave no details.

Raisis government didnt immediately release details of the meeting, but the president called the two governments friends in difficult situations in a commentary published Monday by the ruling Communist Party newspaper Peoples Daily.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, asked whether Beijing was concerned that getting closer to Iran might complicate U.S.-Chinese ties, said their friend relations contribute to promotion of peace and stability in the Middle East.

Our relations do not target any third parties, said the spokesperson, Wang Wenbin.

___

AP diplomacy writer Matt Lee in Washington, D.C., contributed.
BEIJING (Reuters) -China's President Xi Jinping on Tuesday called for the early and proper resolution of the Iran nuclear issue while expressing his support for the Islamic Republic in safeguarding its rights and interests, according to Chinese state media.

China will continue to "participate constructively" in talks to resume negotiations on implementing the Iran nuclear agreement, Xi told Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi in talks in Beijing.

A 2015 nuclear agreement limited Iran's uranium enrichment programme to make it harder for Tehran to develop nuclear arms, in return for lifting international sanctions. Iran says it was further developing nuclear energy for peaceful reasons.

But in 2018 then-U.S. President Donald Trump ditched the deal, saying it had not done enough to curb Tehran's nuclear activities, and reimposed sanctions.

China has criticised Washington for withdrawing from the deal and insists that the United States should make the first move in reviving the pact.

In September, the United States imposed new sanctions on companies involved in Iran oil exports, including five based in China. Washington said it would continue enforcing sanctions on Iran's oil and petrochemical sales so long as Tehran continues to accelerate its nuclear program.

Ahead of his three-day visit that started on Tuesday, Raisi wrote an editorial in China's state-controlled People's Daily in which he said both countries believe that unilateralism and "violent" measures such as the imposition of "unjust" sanctions are the main causes of crises and insecurity in the world.

In the editorial, Raisi described China as an "old friend", and said Iran's efforts to strengthen relations would be unaffected by regional and international situations.

"No matter how the international and regional situation changes, China will unwaveringly develop friendly cooperation with Iran and promote the continuous development of the China-Iran comprehensive strategic partnership," Xi said.

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China said it is willing to deepen cooperation with Iran in trade, agriculture, industry and infrastructure as well as to import more high-quality Iranian agricultural products.

Xi and Raisi pledged to forge a stronger alliance when they last met in person on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in the Uzbek city of Samarkand in September.

Last year, Iran and China also began the implementation phase of a 25-year cooperation accord under which China is to invest billions of dollars in Iran's petroleum sector in exchange for the supply of oil and petrochemical products. China is already Iran's biggest trading partner.

The pact was originally proposed by Xi on his visit to Iran in 2016.

(Reporting by Liz Lee, Ella Cao and Bernard Orr; Editing by Ed Osmond, Simon Cameron-Moore and Angus MacSwan)
[Source]

Cindy Chung made history by becoming the first Asian American judge confirmed to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The U.S. Senate confirmed Chungs seat on the Philadelphia-based court on Monday evening.

Chung, who previously served as the U.S. Attorney for western Pennsylvania since November 2021, won approval in a 50-44 vote.

President Joe Biden announced her nomination in July last year.

More from NextShark: India expected to have its second-ever female president in former teacher Draupadi Murmu

His administration has been working towards diversifying the federal judiciary by nominating people of color, women and lawyers with broad professional experience to U.S. district and appellate court seats. Out of Bidens 30 circuit court appointments, 23 are women.

Chung graduated from Columbia Law School in 2002.

She worked as an assistant U.S. Attorney based in Pittsburgh for seven years before serving as the top federal law enforcement officer in western Pennsylvania.

More from NextShark: ABC issues apology for mistaking NYC Asian American activist for Michelle Go

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) praised Chungs service as a prosecutor fighting hate crimes and said she was precisely the kind of person we want on the federal bench.

U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) also expressed his support for Chung in an announcement of the historic confirmation.

Cindy Chung has made history today. She is the first Asian Pacific American judge to sit on the Third Circuit and, thanks in part to President Bidens commitment to making our federal courts reflect the great diversity of our Nation, she is now one of five women who will actively serve on that bench. Throughout her legal career she has demonstrated a deep understanding of the law, and during her nearly decade-long tenure in the Western District, she served the people of Western Pennsylvania with integrity and a commitment to fair and equal justice. She is a trailblazer in the legal community and I was proud to move her nomination forward and vote to confirm her. More from NextShark: Sydney activist sparks outrage over F*ck Xi Jinping sign in Asian market

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Chicago police release pictures and videos of man wanted for shooting in Chinatown
Rev. Dr. Bernard Lafayette Jr., right, speaks with Lelan A. Statom, left, during an event at the Nashville Public Library in Nashville, Tenn., Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023.

Sleeping on the floor of the Birmingham bus station, the Rev. Bernard Lafayette Jr. was awakened with a splash of cold water. Standing above him: members of the Ku Klux Klan.

Though a scary moment for Lafayette and his fellow Freedom Riders, who in 1961 aimed to desegregate interstate buses and bus terminals, Lafayette thanked the hooded man.

Because who would want to be asleep at a bus station in the night? Lafayette told a crowd Thursday night at the Nashville Public Library, drawing a hearty laugh.

Because who would want to be asleep at a bus station in the night? Lafayette told a crowd Thursday night, drawing a hearty laugh from the audience.

The balance of seriousness and humor marked his tone during the inaugural event of the Belmont-Fisk Social Justice Collaborative. Lafayette, who became part of Martin Luther King Jr.s inner circle, served as the event's keynote speaker, recounting his days as a civil rights leader in the 1960s.

When I think of Black history, I think of social justice pioneers who paved the way for all of us, said Robert Carr Jr., vice president of Academic Affairs at Fisk University.

Event preview:Civil rights leader Bernard Lafayette to help launch Fisk-Belmont social justice initiative. What to know about his legacy.

Diving into Lafayette's story:Nashville civil rights leader Bernard Lafayette still on King's mission

With funding from the Rechter family  a philanthropic endeavor that started with the late Nashville businessman and philanthropist Ben Rechter  Fisk and Belmont launched the program to bring together students at both universities to learn more about the regions civil rights history. Together, Carr said the students will tackle some of this generation's great challenges, including systematic barriers of healthcare, education, housing, jobs and the criminal justice system.

Students enroll in a joint course involving interviews with social justice advocates, trips to local museums and libraries and a retreat to Black Mountain, North Carolina. The present cohort of 25 students will create a commemorative website, e-book, videos and a digital pop-up museum exhibit.

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May this be the beginning of a deeper set of relations between Fisk and Belmont, a life and witness in Nashville and this Middle Tennessee region in ways that will enable all of us to be hope dealers and signs of hope for others, said Belmont President Greg Jones on Thursday evening.

That message of hope was what Lafayette sought to leave with the audience, which included Belmont and Fisk students. He shared how as a student activist in 1960, he desegregated buses and movie theaters in Nashville alongside figures such as John Lewis.

Rev. Dr. Bernard Lafayette Jr., right, speaks with Lelan A. Statom, left, during an event at the Nashville Public Library in Nashville, Tenn., Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023.

I think its very important for us to realize that Nashville did so many things in such a short period of time, Lafayette said. It (Nashville) was a hotbed for change.

Lafayette arrived in Nashville from Florida in 1958 to study at American Baptist College, then known as American Baptist Theological Seminary. Lafayette became an ordained Baptist minister and later in life served as president of American Baptist College.

Lafayette co-founded the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in 1960, joined the Freedom Rides in 1961 and a year later, directed SNCCs Alabama Voter Registration Project. He soon became involved with Kings Southern Christian Leadership Conference, rising to become an SCLC program coordinator for King in 1967.

But Lafayette, now a Selma, Alabama, resident, didnt return to Nashville to only share anecdotes of the past.

Channel 5 meteorologist Lelan Statom, the host of Thursdays event, asked Lafayette about advice for young people getting involved in activism.

Rev. Dr. Bernard Lafayette Jr., left, take a photo with Lawrence Hill, right, Pastor at Pleasant Hill MBC, during an event at the Nashville Public Library in Nashville, Tenn., Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023.

Lafayette said they should focus on coalition building, listen to and respect differences among coalition members, include women in leadership of movements and be exposed to all the different areas of knowledge that you can.

Lafayette said one of the reasons Kings nonviolence movement was so effective was its leadership included people with different areas of expertise.

You need to be able to know how things fit together, Lafayette said. Dont just look at the North Star. Look at the constellation.

Liam Adams covers religion for The Tennessean. Reach him at ladams@tennessean.com or on Twitter @liamsadams.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Bernard Lafayette Belmont Fisk Social Justice Collaborative
A 78-year-old Sherman Oaks man died after an early morning dispute about a noise complaint ended in gunfire, California police reported.

Los Angeles police responded to a reported shooting at 3:13 a.m. Monday, Feb. 13, a police spokesperson told McClatchy News.

A man found with multiple gunshot wounds died at the scene, police said.

Police arrested Hadis Haile, 42, who is accused of shooting his neighbor Raymond Howard, 78, in a dispute over a noise complaint, police told The Los Angeles Daily News.

Other neighbors told police that Howard was known to be loud and disruptive, KTLA reported.

Haile, who notified authorities of the shooting himself, is a 20-year resident of the apartment complex, according to the station.

Sherman Oaks is a neighborhood about 10 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.

Thousands of people die every year from firearm injuries in the U.S. each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Firearm injuries are a serious public health problem, officials said. In 2020, there were 45,222 firearm-related deaths in the United States  thats about 124 people dying from a firearm-related injury each day.

Firearm-related injuries were one of the top leading causes of death for people ages 1 to 44 in 2020, the CDC reported.

Driver runs over man accused of pointing gun in road rage clash, California cops say

12-year-old shot dead by car owner tracking stolen vehicle, Colorado police say

Officer dies after falling off of bridge while making an arrest, Colorado police say
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said criminals are targeting the Hispanic community after several armed robberies at apartment complexes along South Boulevard.

The police department posted a warning on its Facebook page earlier this week.

All the victims were Hispanic, and residents are worried.

We are tired of living in this situation against Hispanics, said Maria Lara, a concerned neighbor.

The robberies started Sunday around 3 a.m., police said.

CMPD said three suspects hit Beacon Ridge Road, Wisteria Drive, Antlers Lane, Branchview Drive, and Dundeen Street.

ALSO READ: Assailants target Hispanics in Monroe, authorities say

Officers said the men threatened people with a firearm or knife, and stole money, jewelry, and cellphones.

On Monday, robberies happened at Nations Ford Road and Wisteria Drive.

CMPD said Tuesday that people in Hispanic communities are sometimes targeted, because of an assumption that they carry cash rather than put money in the bank. They may also be less likely to report a crime, police said.

Detectives said they are doing everything they can to protect the community.

In the meantime, they are warning residents to be extra careful, especially at night.

The suspects were last seen in a gray Honda Civic or a metallic gray Hyundai, police said.

VIDEO: Miami doctor accused of attacking Hispanic man
Coi Leray rises to No. 1 on Billboards Emerging Artists chart (dated Feb. 18), becoming the top emerging act in the U.S. for the first time, thanks to her single Players.

The song, released in November via Uptown/Republic Records, jumps 38-28 in its sixth week on the Billboard Hot 100, with 29.1 million radio airplay audience impressions (up 20%), 9.4 million U.S. streams (up 23%) and 5,000 downloads sold (up 2%) Feb. 3-9, according to Luminate.

More from Billboard

The track became Lerays fourth entry on the Hot 100, after No More Parties, featuring Lil Durk (No. 26 peak in 2021); Big Purr (Prrdd), with Pooh Shiesty (No. 69, 2021); and Blick Blick!, with Nicki Minaj (No. 37, 2022).

Players also holds at its No. 4 high on Hot Rap Songs and ascends 13-10 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. It additionally pushes 6-4 on Rap Airplay and 9-6 on Rhythmic Airplay, holds at its No. 11 best on both R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay and Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay and climbs 28-23 on Pop Airplay.

Just below Leray, Samara Joy jumps 45-2 on Emerging Artists thanks to gains following her best new artist win at the Grammy Awards Feb. 5. Joys 2022 LP Linger Awhile rises to No. 1 on Jazz Albums, Traditional Jazz Albums and Heatseekers Albums, leading all three lists for the first time, and debuts at No. 158 on the Billboard 200. Plus, her self-titled 2021 set debuts at No. 7 on both Jazz Albums and Traditional Jazz Albums.

Joy became the first jazz act to win best new artist at the Grammys since Esperanza Spalding in 2011.

The Emerging Artists chart ranks the most popular developing artists of the week, using the same formula as the all-encompassing Billboard Artist 100, which measures artist activity across multiple Billboard charts, including the Hot 100, Billboard 200 and the Social 50. (The Artist 100 lists the most popular acts, overall, each week.) However, the Emerging Artists chart excludes acts that have notched a top 25 entry on either the Hot 100 or Billboard 200, as well as artists that have achieved two or more top 10s on Billboards Hot song genre charts and/or consumption-based Top album genre rankings.

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For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

Best of Billboard

Click here to read the full article.
A Colorado woman was busted for allegedly attempting to kidnap a young child, whom she tried snatching from a shopping cart at a Walmart last week, according to authorities.

On Feb. 9, shoppers at a Walmart in Alamosa, Colorado subdued 50-year-old Kimberli Jones after she allegedly tried absconding with another shoppers child, the Alamosa Police Department said in a press release.

Officers were dispatched to the discount retail chain on Thursday at around 1 p.m., after a female suspect, later identified as Jones, unsuccessfully attempted to abduct the minor from the childs mothers shopping cart.

RELATED: Man With Unique Tattoo Arrested For Attempted Kidnapping Of Washington Bikini Barista

"Upon officers arrival, it was discovered that a female party grabbed a young child from a shopping cart and attempted to kidnap the child, the Alamosa Police Department said in a statement. Due to the quick actions of citizens within the store at the time of the incident, they were able to restrain the suspect until law enforcement arrived and reunited the young child back safely to [the] parents.

The child was unharmed in the incident. Jones was later taken into police custody and charged with kidnapping, menacing, child abuse, and disorderly conduct.

[T]here is no threat to the community at this time, police added. "The Alamosa Police Department would like to thank the brave citizens, Wal-Mart [sic] staff, and community for the quick response and for being alert."

Pedro Bravo featured in Floribama Murders

Police didnt specify how many bystanders had intervened to restrain Jones.

The civilians, the citizens that were involved in this  if they didnt take action, who knows what could have happened, Alamosa Police Chief Ken Anderson told Oxygen.com. They potentially saved a life, saved a kidnapping that was in progress.

Investigators hailed the good Samaritans as heroes.

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For them to have acted the way they acted, I think it was extremely brave, Anderson added. Really, theyre the heroes of the day.

Oxy App

Law enforcement described Jones arrest as an isolated incident. The Alamosa police chief said he wasnt aware whether Jones had a past criminal history. Authorities declined to comment any further regarding the pending case.

Jones is being held at the Alamosa County Jail, according to online jail records obtained by Oxygen.com. Its unclear if the Blanco woman has retained legal representation to comment on her behalf. Jones next court hearing is scheduled for Feb. 14 at 10:30 a.m., additional court records show.
From left, GOP Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Mike Lee of Utah jeer during the State of the Union address when President Biden accused Republicans of wanting to cut Social Security. Both senators have proposed exactly that. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP/Getty Images)

President Biden has congressional Republicans all asquirm as he conducts a post-State of the Union speech national tour.

Why? Because Biden has doubled down  or as Fox News has it, "tripled down"  on his assertion during the speech that the GOP has been planning to cut Social Security.

Not so, they say. Never happened. Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) were even caught on camera during the speech wearing "Who, me?" expressions of injured innocence.

It will be my objective to phase out Social Security, to pull it out by the roots.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), during his 2010 campaign for the Senate

Unfortunately for them, we have the evidence, as does Biden. Cutting Social Security along with Medicare has been part of the Republican platform for decades.

As I've reported before, they often hide their intentions behind a scrim of impenetrable jargon, plainly hoping that Americans won't do the necessary math to penetrate their subterfuge.

Let's take a jaunt through the GOP approach to Social Security and Medicare.

Start with their description of these programs as "entitlements," which they've tried to turn into a dirty word. The truth is that they are entitlements, in the sense that most Americans have been paying into these programs for all their working lives, mostly through the payroll tax. So, yes, they're "entitled" to receive benefits in return.

Republicans, including former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), have consistently blamed the federal debt on "entitlements"  never mind that their 2017 tax cut for the wealthy has blown a multitrillion-dollar hole in the budget.

They know they're on thin ice with the public when they talk about benefit cuts, which is why Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) once recommended discussing their ideas only "behind closed doors."

Now we can turn to the specifics of Lee's and Scott's plans. In widely circulated videos from Lee's first successful Senate campaign in 2010 he can be seen and heard stating as follows: "It will be my objective to phase out Social Security, to pull it out by the roots." He said that was why he was running for the Senate, and added, "Medicare and Medicaid are of the same sort. They need to be pulled up."

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As for Scott, his 12-point "Rescue America" plan, issued last year, included a proposal to sunset all federal legislation after five years. "If a law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again." The implications for Social Security and Medicare, which were created by federal legislation, were unmistakable  so much so that the proposal made Republican officeholders' skin crawl.

McConnell disavowed the proposal on the spot and has continued to do so, telling a home-state radio host after the Biden speech that the sunset provision is "not a Republican plan. That was the Rick Scott plan."

That said, it's a priceless foil for Biden. When Republicans brayed during his speech that he was lying about it, he offered to make Scott's manifesto available to anyone who called his office for it. At one of his subsequent appearances, a copy of Scott's plan was placed on every seat.

The GOP can't easily wriggle away from its intentions. Let's examine the fiscal 2023 budget proposal issued by the Republican Study Committee, a key policy body, last June under the title "Blueprint to Save America."

This plan would increase the Social Security full retirement age, which today is 66 or 67 (depending on one's year of birth), to 70 by 2040. According to Kathleen Romig, the Social Security expert at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, this would translate into a 20% cut in lifetime benefits compared with current law.

As I've reported before, raising the full retirement age is a Trojan horse that would affect all retirees across the board, but harm Black workers, lower-income workers and those in physically demanding jobs the most.

It would create particular hardships for those choosing to retire early and collect their benefits prior to their full retirement age.

Doing so exacts a lifetime reduction in monthly benefits, based on a formula aimed at equalizing the lifetime benefit among those who retire early, those who wait until their full retirement age, and those who defer collecting until that age (they receive a bump-up in benefits for every year they delay, topping out at age 70).

Raising the full retirement age to 70, Romig calculates, would mean that retirees who start collecting at the minimum age of 62 would receive only 57% of their full benefit.

Early retirees are not a small group. Nearly 50% of all male workers, and nearly 52% of female workers, started receiving benefits prior to their full retirement age in 2021, according to data from the Social Security Administration. That rate tends to reflect economic conditions: In the recession year of 2009, for instance, the early claiming rate climbed to about 70% for men and nearly 74% for women.

The Republican Study Committee also would make it harder for disabled workers to qualify for benefits, and would lengthen the period before those who are disabled and younger than 65 qualify for Medicare to five years from two. This falls into the category of balancing the budget on the backs of the most vulnerable members of society.

As for Medicare, the Republican Study Committee proposes raising the eligibility age, currently 65, so it matches the Social Security retirement age. It also would transfer many more Medicare accounts to private insurance. The committee claims this would save money.

Maybe it would do so for the government, but only at the expense of beneficiaries, who would almost surely pay more for their health coverage in the newly extended period before they qualify for Medicare, and then afterward, when they're in the grip of the private insurance industry.

While wringing its hands over the fiscal challenges of Social Security, the GOP committee ignores the one reform that would shore up its finances: raising the payroll tax on wealthier Americans, who pay a much smaller percentage of their income into the program than middle- and low-income workers.

Instead, the committee proposes to reduce the program's revenues from the payroll tax. The committee budget plan accuses congressional Democrats of wanting to take "more money away from working-class Americans and small businesses by raising payroll taxes."

This is just thick-sliced baloney. Proposals by Democrats and Social Security advocates more often than not call for raising or removing the cap on the payroll tax, which this year is pegged at 6.2% of wage income up to a maximum $160,200. (Employers pay at the same rate.) Raising or eliminating that cap, obviously, would mean that it's those earning more than that who would pay more.

The committee also would allow workers to divert some or all of their payroll tax contributions into private retirement accounts. Privatization is, as I've reported, the most chuckleheaded and dishonest proposal out there. Most recently it was aired by former Vice President Mike Pence, who seems to have forgotten that in 2005, when it was proposed by President George W. Bush, a similar proposal crashed and burned, for good reason. It makes no more sense today.

It's true that President Biden hasn't always been a staunch defender of Social Security and Medicare. In 1995, then-Sen. Biden (D-Del.) proposed freezing all federal spending to balance the federal budget. He specifically included Social Security and Medicare in the freeze.

This record made Social Security advocates nervous when Biden ran for president in 2020. By then, however, his viewpoint had turned completely around. During his campaign, he advocated eliminating the payroll tax cap, flatly ruled out privatization and proposed expanding and increasing benefits. He has unreservedly rejected tying Social Security and Medicare cuts to a raise in the federal debt limit, a concession that Republicans have mentioned demanding.

No one today can doubt Biden's commitment to protecting these programs from GOP vandalism. But don't expect the Republicans to give up just yet. And keep your eyes on those closed doors.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Mississippi has been hit with a rise of congenital syphilis (CS) in newborns, as theres been a 900 per cent increase of babies diagnosed with the disease.

Dr Thomas Dobbs, the medical director for the Mississippi State Department of Healths Crossroads Clinic in Jackson, shared an analysis of the hospitals billing data in a recent interview with NBC News. More than 102 newborns were treated for sexually transmitted diseases in the state in 2021, while only 10 were treated for it in 2016, according to the data. This shows a 900 per cent increase in cases over the last five years.

The STDs are a result of CS, which occurs when a mother with syphilis passes the infection on to her baby during pregnancy, as noted by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Although the Mississippi State Department of Health doesnt officially track the number of deaths due to CS, there was at least one baby who died from the infection in 2021.

Additionally, the data shared with NBC showed racial disparities in Mississippi. Black newborns were 70 per cent of the states CS cases in 2020.

Dobbs, who is the former health officer of Mississippi, also told the publication that she and other health care providers are absolutely horrified about babies being born with and dying of this disease.

This seems like something that should have happened a hundred years ago, not last year, she said. Theres really kind of a shock.

Heres everything you need to know about congenital syphilis.

What is CS and how common is it?

The condition occurs when a mother has a syphilis, a sexually transmitted infection, that has been passed on to their newborn while shes pregnant.

Along with the data from the Mississippi State Department of Healths Crossroads Clinic, other studies have found a rise in CS cases in the US over the years. In 2020, there were more than 2,000 cases reported, per the CDC. This is an increase from 2019, when there were 1,870 cases of congenital syphilis reported, including 94 stillbirths and 34 infant deaths.

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The site also shared a 2017 report which explained that if a mothers syphilis goes untreated, there is an 80 per cent chance it could be passed on to her child.

How does CS impact newborns and what are the symptoms of it?

If a mother has syphilis, it can affect her childs health during her pregnancy and delivery. The child could be miscarried or stillborn, per the CDC. The baby could also be born premature or at a low weight.

When babies are born with CS, the symptoms can include deformed bones, severe anaemia, skin rashes, and meningitis. Newborns can also have brain and nerve problems, including the inability to hear or see, or an enlarged liver and spleen.

The CDC also notes that not every baby with CS is born with symptoms. While newborns health problems usually develop within a few weeks after being born, there can be some causes where health issues can happen years later.

How to diagnose CS ?

The effective prevention and detection of congenital syphilis depends on if a pregnant woman is identified with syphilis, says the CDC. With that in mind, the health organisation recommends that pregnant women get tested for the STI during their first checkup.

Patients should be screened according to their states guidelines and the organization adds that certain states have recommended screening three times during pregnancy for all women.

Any newborn at risk for congenital syphilis should receive a full evaluation and testing for HIV, they recommend.

What are the different forms of treatment?

Once a baby is evaluated after experiencing symptoms of CS, they should be treated right away with antibiotics.

The recommended regimens for confirmed cases of CS have been Aqueous crystalline penicillin G and Procaine penicillin G, which are usually taken over the course of 10 days, according to CDC. Newborns who are allergic to penicillin should be desensitised and then treated with penicillin G.
WASHINGTON  Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., acknowledged hes got a lot to learn about whats going on with artificial intelligence, saying its very worrisome.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a member of the Commerce and Science Committee, called AI new terrain and uncharted territory.

And Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said that while he gets classified briefings about emerging technology on the Intelligence Committee, he has just an elementary understanding of AI.

During the past two decades, Washington balked at regulating Big Tech companies as they grew from tiny startups to global powerhouses, from Google and Amazon to the social media giants Facebook and Twitter.

Lawmakers have always been hesitant to be perceived as stifling innovation, but when they have stepped in, some have shown little understanding of the very technology they were seeking to regulate.

Now, artificial intelligence has burst on the scene, threatening to disrupt the American education system and economy. After last falls surprise launch of OpenAIs ChatGPT, millions of curious U.S. users experimented with the budding technology, asking the chatbot to write poetry, rap songs, recipes, resumes, essays, computer code and marketing plans, as well as take an MBA exam and offer therapy advice.

For more on this story tune into Meet the Press NOW on News NOW airing at 4 p.m. ET Tuesday.

Seeing the unlimited potential, ChatGPT has spurred what some technology watchers call an AI arms race. Microsoft just invested $10 billion in OpenAI. Alphabet, the parent company of Google, and the Chinese search giant Baidu are rushing out their own chatbot competitors. And a phalanx of new startups, including Lensa, is coming on the market, allowing users to create hundreds of AI-generated art pieces or images with the click of a button.

Leaders of OpenAI, based in San Francisco, have openly encouraged government regulators to get involved. But Congress has maintained a hands-off approach to Silicon Valley  the last meaningful legislation enacted to regulate technology was the Childrens Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998  and lawmakers are once again playing catch-up to an industry that is moving at warp speed.

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The rapid escalation of the AI arms race that ChatGPT has catalyzed really underscores how far behind Congress is when it comes to regulating technology and the cost of their failure, said Jesse Lehrich, a co-founder of the left-leaning watchdog Accountable Tech and a former aide to Hillary Clinton.

We dont even have a federal privacy law. We havent done anything to mitigate the myriad societal harms of Big Techs existing products, Lehrich added. And now, without having ever faced a reckoning and with zero oversight, these same companies are rushing out half-baked AI tools to try to capture the next market. Its shameful, and the risks are monumental.

'Enormous disruption'

Congress isnt completely in the dark when it comes to AI. A handful of lawmakers  Democrats and Republicans alike  want Washington to play a greater role in the tech debate as experts predict that AI and automation soon could displace tens of millions of jobs in the U.S. and change how students are evaluated in the classroom.

And they are getting creative in communicating that message to Hill colleagues and constituents back home. In January, Rep. Jake Auchincloss, a millennial Democrat from Massachusetts, delivered what was believed to be the first floor speech written by AI, in this case, ChatGPT. The topic: his bill to create a U.S.-Israel artificial intelligence center.

The same month, Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., one of four lawmakers with computer science or AI degrees, had artificial intelligence write a House resolution calling on Congress to regulate AI.

Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., at the Capitol on Jan. 25, 2023. (Michael Brochstein / Sipa USA via AP)

Let me just first say no staff members lost their jobs and no members of Congress lost their jobs when AI wrote this resolution, Lieu joked in an interview. But he conceded: Theres going to be enormous disruption from job losses. Therell be jobs that will be eliminated, and then new ones will be created.

"Artificial intelligence to me is like the steam engine right now, which was really disruptive to society," Lieu added. "And in a few years, its going to be a rocket engine with a personality, and we need to be prepared for enormous disruptions that society is going to experience."

One lawmaker is heeding the call from colleagues to educate himself about fast-advancing technology: 72-year-old Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va. When hes not attending committee hearings, voting on bills or meeting with constituents, Beyer has been using whatever free time he has to pursue a masters degree in machine learning from George Mason University.

The explosion of the availability of all knowledge to everybody on the planet is going to be a very good thing  and a very dangerous thing, Beyer said in a joint interview with Lieu and Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., in the House Science, Space and Technology Committee hearing room.

Threats to national security and society

The danger with AI isnt what has been portrayed in Hollywood, lawmakers said.

What artificial intelligence is not is evil robots with red laser eyes, a la the Terminator, said Obernolte, who earned a masters degree in artificial intelligence from UCLA and founded the video game developer FarSight Studios.

Instead, AI poses threats to national security as well as to society  from deepfakes that could influence U.S. elections to facial recognition surveillance to the exploitation of digital privacy.

AI has this uncanny ability to think the same way that we do and to make some very eerie predictions about human behavior," Obernolte said. "It has the potential to unlock surveillance states, like what China has been doing with it, and has the potential to expand social inequities in ways that are very damaging to us, to the fabric of our society.

"So those are the things that were focused on stopping.

With the security threat from China growing, TikTok is also in Congress sights. Lawmakers banned the viral video-based app, owned by Chinas ByteDance, from government devices in December. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and other China hawks have pushed legislation that would ban TikTok entirely in the U.S., saying it could give the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans digital data.

But the bill hasnt picked up sufficient support. On Tuesday, Hawley also introduced legislation that would ban children under 16 from being on social media and another bill to commission a report about the harms social media imposes on kids.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., once a darling of Silicon Valley, has become one of the most vocal critics of Big Tech. He's working to have all House Intelligence Committee members, Republicans and Democrats, take a specially designed course at MIT focused on AI and quantum computing.

Some AI can help us find cures and medicine," McCarthy told reporters. But he said: "Theres also some threats out there. Weve got to be able to work together and have all the knowledge.

Lieu, an Air Force veteran, doesnt think AI will ever gain consciousness: No matter how smart your smart toaster is, at the end of the day its still a toaster.

But Lieu warns that AI is being built into systems that could kill human beings.

Youve got AI running in vehicles, they can go over 100 miles per hour, and if it malfunctions it could cause traffic accidents and kill people, he said.

You have AI in all sorts of different systems that if it goes wrong, it could affect our lives. And we need to make sure that there are certain limits or safety measures to make sure that AI, in fact, doesnt do great harm.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
The deployment of conscripted servicemen by Russian troops is unlikely to create sufficient offensive potential for a large-scale and rapid mechanised offensive, experts at the Institute for the Study of War believe.

Source: ISW report

Details: the Institute emphasised that Oleksii Dmytrashkivskyi, representative of the Ukrainian Tavriisk operational direction, stated that the Russian military will need to restaff the 155th Naval Infantry Brigade for the third time due to its losses in Vuhledar. He noted that that the 155th Naval Infantry Brigade had 5,000 servicemen prior to its defeat in Vuhledar.

At the same time, ISW quotes a Russian serviceman from the 155th Nacal Infantry Brigade who took part in the assault on Vuhledar. He said that the brigade was 80-90% staffed with mobilised personnel.



"Russias continued reliance on mobilised men who were unable to perform military tasks such as identifying and detecting minefields or knowing what to do having blundered into them during the assault indicates that these mobilised elements do not have the necessary combat experience necessary to stage a successful mechanised offensive. These mobilised men have likely received limited individual training and lack the unit cohesion and professional training or experience necessary for large-scale mechanised offensives," ISW report reads.

"Russia may deploy additional mobilised elements that may be able to conduct sound defensive operations or attrition-based offensive operations to the Vuhledar frontline, but these mobilised soldiers are unlikely to become effective mechanised elements capable of mounting successful offensive operations in any short period of months," added the Institute's expers.

ISW key takeaways for 13 February:

Moscow continues to leverage its relationship with Iran to provide military support for the war in Ukraine.





The Wagner Groups continued dissemination of deliberately brutal extrajudicial execution videos and generally graphic content is normalising an increasing level of brutality and thuggishness within the domestic Russian information space.





Russian military command is facing challenges integrating irregular armed formations with conventional forces.





Russian authorities are increasingly undertaking measures to promote self-censorship in Russia under the guise of countering increased information threats resulting from the invasion of Ukraine.





Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to publicly stand by the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) as his naval infantry continues to suffer catastrophic casualties around Vuhledar, Donetsk Oblast.





Russian forces continued to conduct ground attacks northwest of Svatove and near Kreminna.





Russian forces made marginal territorial gains near Bakhmut and continued to conduct ground attacks across the Donetsk Oblast front line.





Russian forces unsuccessfully attacked Ukrainian positions in western Zaporizhzhia Oblast while continuing to fortify their positions in the region.





Russian officials and regime-linked actors continue to exploit assets from captured Ukrainian cities for economic and military benefit.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Several chants for Black Lives Matter and Tyre Nichols' name rang out Monday along the streets of Nashville as nearly 50 students from Tennessee State University and Fisk University joined in a march that began at the TSU campus and ended at Fisk in support for justice for Nichols.

Nichols, 29, was brutally beaten during a traffic stop Jan. 7 by Memphis police. He died three days later.

Students from the two historically Black colleges and universities echoed chants supporting Nichols during the mile walk, shouting "no justice, no peace" among others.

The march for Nichols was especially meaningful to three Fisk students.

Demonstrators join in prayer before their march from Tennessee State University to Fisk University during a march for Tyre Nichols, in Nashville , Tenn., Monday, Feb. 13, 2023.

"Black individuals are harassed daily. It's sad that people who are supposed to be protecting us are actively killing us. That could have been me, that could have been my friend, that could have been my brother," Myles Ellis, a Fisk senior, said.

Ellis was supported by friends Byron Kellam and Tylan Walker, a senior at Fisk who is from Memphis and said Nichols' death hit close to home.

A total of 13 Memphis police employees are or have been investigated in relation to the death of Nichols, city attorney Jennifer Sink said.

More:What we know about the death of Tyre Nichols

Five officers, who were members of the department's SCORPION unit, were charged with second-degree murder.

A police video released of the confrontation between officers and Nichols showed police beating the 29-year-old before he runs from the scene. The video shows officers chasing Nichols down and resuming hitting and kicking him.

Around 40-50 demonstrators made their way from Tennessee State University to Fisk University during a march for Tyre Nichols, in Nashville , Tenn., Monday, Feb. 13, 2023.

March organizers Shaun Wimberly Jr. and Iyanna Brazzile both attend TSU and know the HBCU has a pipeline of students from Memphis.

Brazzile, a criminal justice major at TSU, said one day she hopes to become an attorney.

"I feel like as an attorney, what I aspire to be will be the first step to critically change policy and legislation. It will give me a chance to be in my community and speak up for change," Brazzile said.

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Wimberly said when you see injustice somewhere, it's happening everywhere.

"It's our duty to speak up and to demonstrate," Wimberly said.

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: TSU, Fisk students march for Tyre Nichols in Nashville
By Engen Tham

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Steven, a financier in his 40s, tested positive for COVID-19 in Beijing at the height of China's outbreak in December and felt fine until the eighth day, when his condition worsened.

His sisters driver took him to a hospital. Barely able to walk and fighting for breath, he was told there were no beds. They drove to another; he was rejected again.

Increasingly desperate, he asked his sister to tap into her network of contacts. After hours of frantic calls, Steven was taken to a packed hospital and given oxygen and a bed in a childrens ward. His nephew's classmate's mother worked there.

"If I didnt have that connection, I wouldnt have gotten a bed or medicine, said Steven, who was hospitalised for 20 days with what doctors diagnosed as severe pneumonia. He declined to give his family name because of the sensitivity of the matter.

As COVID ripped across China and filled emergency wards, privileged patients cut hospital queues because they knew someone, offered a bribe or paid people with connections, said three people who accessed care through such means and seven doctors in six cities.

The practice has long been commonplace in navigating an under-resourced Chinese health system that was severely stretched after Beijing abruptly ended its zero-COVID restrictions in early December, with widespread reports of packed hospitals and mortuaries.

China had only 4.37 ICU beds per 100,000 people in 2021, compared with 34.2 in the United States as of 2015, according to a paper by Shanghai's Fudan School of Public Health.

Connections can take the form of the patient being a government official, connected to one, or being related to a medical worker, the doctors said.

"The higher and more senior your connection, the better the treatment, or the easier the queue-jump. If you know the head of the hospital, then there wont be trouble getting a bed," a Shanghai doctor said.

Although China has tried to crack down on doctor bribery, the regulatory focus has been on payments from pharmaceutical companies rather than patients.

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Nearly a decade ago, China banned doctors from accepting red packets containing cash as part of widespread healthcare reforms, and in April 2022, the National Health Commission said authorities should step up enforcement on doctors who accept such payments.

Doctors and experts said the use of red packets and "guanxi", or connections, to gain access persists.

"Using connections to seek quality healthcare is very common in China," said Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, adding that with the pressure COVID has exerted on resources, connections could be even more crucial.

"Many of those rural patients, COVID patients, that had severe symptoms would choose not to proactively seek care; instead they just die at home," Huang said.

The National Health Commission and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention did not respond to requests for comment.

China's initial surge in COVID hospitalisations has peaked, but experts warn that further infection waves are possible.

LOW WAGES, GREY INCOME

China keeps the cost of medical care low to make it accessible, meaning many doctors are chronically underpaid and the profession struggles to attract staff, which leads to longer queues for care, experts and doctors say.

In 2020, 546,657 new medical workers joined the system, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, the fewest since 2017.

"You get 10,000 yuan ($1,463.70) to 15,000 yuan a month; what kind of money is that for the long hours and the expertise?" said a trainee doctor in wealthy Shanghai, adding that physicians are often in their mid-30s by the time they qualify for such a salary. "Its humiliating."

In smaller cities, new doctors can earn as little as 3,000 yuan to 5,000 yuan a month, said two doctors in a city in Sichuan province.

"If you can live and have enough to eat off your salary, then you're already doing very well," one of them said.

Access-granting gifts such as expensive tea and red packets with money are often given to the lead doctor, but also sometimes to the head nurse and the person who made the connection. That can lead to a total care bill that is double the official medical cost, said two people who recently made under-the-table offerings.

"For many of the doctors in hospitals, their main income is not from their basic salary, its from grey income, the red envelopes they receive from the patients, despite the crackdown on corruption in the healthcare sector," Huang said.

For those without connections, payments to middlemen, known as "yellow cows", can help.

During China's recent COVID surge, social media was abuzz with talk of agents asking 4,000 yuan to 5,000 yuan to arrange a hospital bed, with comments on whether payment had been worth it and also on the fairness of such access.

Doctor appointments are cheaper.

One agent who claimed in an advertisement to be able to access any doctor in any Shanghai hospital said it would cost 400 yuan to jump the queue for an appointment with a leading physician in a top-ranking hospital.

Reuters was not able to confirm whether the agent would have delivered that result.

($1 = 6.8320 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Engen Tham Additional reporting by Kane Wu, Julie Zhu and Sophie Yu; Editing by Tony Munroe and Gerry Doyle)
Crews have completed work on the new I-4 and County Road 532 interchange near ChampionsGate.

The new diverging diamond interchange runs alongside and underneath I-4.

Photos: Crews finish work on diverging diamond interchange at I-4 and ChampionsGate

The Florida Department of Transportation and Osceola County officials cut the ribbon on the innovative roadway on Monday to celebrate the completed work.

Watch: DeSantis proposes $1.5B fix for slow-moving traffic on I-4 in Osceola County

County Commissioner Peggy Choudhry said it was critical to work with FDOT to create the interchange.

Choudhry said the county commission is ready to work on other major road projects with FDOT, including Westside Boulevard and Old Lake Wilson Road.

Read: Feds probe United planes December dip near ocean off Hawaii

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Sony Classics is bringing Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon back to theaters in the United States and Canada in 4K.

First announced on Jan. 6 by Sony Pictures Classics, the 2000 wuxia film from legendary Taiwanese director Ang Lee will be returning to the big screen on Friday, Feb. 17. The re-release will offer fans a fresh viewing experience as an ultra-high-definition remaster.

It is unclear how long Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon will remain in U.S. and Canadian theaters after the premiere, as Sony Pictures Classics only notes that the movie will be available for a limited engagement.

More from NextShark: Oregon has been luring tourists with Studio Ghibli-style animated ads for years

Directed by Lee with a screenplay by Wang Hui-ling, James Schamus and Tsai Kuo-jung, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon takes place during the 19th century Qing Dynasty.

The high-flying martial arts heroes story follows Li Mu Bais (Chow Yun-fat) request to Yu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh), whom he has had feelings for since before her marriage to his long-time friend, to deliver his fabled 400-year-old sword, called the Green Destiny, to Sir Te (Lang Sihung) in Beijing.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon won numerous awards and nominations in the year following its release, including winning Best Foreign Language Film and being nominated for Best Picture at the 73rd Academy Awards in 2001. All of this was achieved on a reported $17 million budget  the film made more than $217 million globally.

More from NextShark: Legendary Cellist Yo-Yo Ma Crashes Zoom Class Like a Boss

The films screenplay was adapted from the 1940s serialized novel of the same name written by Wang Dulu.

The films re-release comes just as Yeoh has recently earned numerous awards and nominations for her performance in A24s Everything Everywhere All at Once.

The 60-year-old Malaysian actor recently won a Golden Globes award for her role in the film, a role originally written for Jackie Chan that she almost turned down.

Story continues

More from NextShark: BTS, Olivia Rodrigo and more win at 2021 MTV Video Music Awards

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'Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha' star, ex-girlfriend apologize after abortion scandal erupts in South Korea
A Cumberland County couple was arrested Saturday on dozens of animal cruelty charges after animal control seized 55 cats, nine dogs and a bearded dragon since October.

Christina Amber Ratley, 30, and Jordan Leigh Didier, 29, are each charged with 58 counts of felony cruelty to animals, 58 counts of misdemeanor conspiracy and one count each of felony killing animals by starvation and felony conspiracy.

According to the Sheriff's Office, the two were arrested at their Marigold Drive home shortly before 10 a.m. Saturday. Property records show the home belongs to the couple.

Complaints spark investigation

Elaine Smith, director of Cumberland County Animal Services, said her office had been dealing with Ratley and Didier since receiving a complaint in July about underweight dogs that could not be verified at the time.

More:64 live animals seized from 'unsanitary' Cumberland County home over the weekend

Then, in October, a complaint of animal hoarding came in from an area vet who reported 30 cats had been brought into the spay and neuter clinic by several people from the same address. Animal Services seized three kittens still in the veterinarians possession, Smith said. The animals were thin and underweight, have bilateral eye infections, upper respiratory infections, ear mites and flea infestations, the report states.

Over the next three months more animals were seized as Animal Services' officers made several visits to the property in an attempt to work with the couple, the report states. The following month, 28 cats, six puppies, one dog, one bearded dragon, one dead cat and the skeleton of another cat were seized, the report states. All of the surviving animals were underweight, and many had upper respiratory infections and ringworm. Additionally, the house, according to the report, was strewn throughout with feces and soiled with urine.

Smith said Monday that Animal Services was able to nurse the animals back to health, except for one that went into acute organ failure, and all had been adopted.

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Ratley has since posted bail and been released from jail, records show. Didier remained in the Cumberland County jail Monday with bail set at $34,000.

F.T. Norton can be reached at fnorton@fayobserver.com.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Cumberland County couple arrested after 55 sickly cats, nine dogs seized
A national emergency has been declared in New Zealand to tackle the devastation wrought by Cyclone Gabrielle, which Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said was the most significant weather event the country has seen this century.

The deadly storm has caused widespread flooding and destruction, forcing evacuations, flight cancellations, road closures and left tens of thousands of homes without power.

Schools and libraries were closed and bus services cancelled, with citizens urged to avoid necessary travel.

Authorities have evacuated coastal settlements and are urging still more residents to leave homes as rivers continue to swell and waves inundate beachfront properties.

Mobile phone services are down and some towns are cut off. Residents in hard-hit areas are being asked to conserve water and food because of fears of shortages. Air New Zealand restarted some flights in and out of Auckland on Tuesday, although many routes remained disrupted.

Helicopter and boat crews rescued residents trapped by rapidly rising flood water in Hawke's Bay, southeast of Auckland, while a yachtsman was airlifted from a stricken vessel at sea.

It comes on top of extensive damage wrought by extreme flooding and record rain last month.

Army clearing fallen trees near Matarangi, in the Coromandel area of the North Island (New Zealand Defence Force/AFP)

I want to acknowledge the situation New Zealanders have been waking up to this morning, Mr Hipkins told reporters. A lot of families displaced. A lot of homes without power. Extensive damage done across the country.

The impact is significant and it is widespread, he said.

It will take us a wee while to get a handle on exactly whats happened and, in due course, helping with the clean-up when we get to that point, Mr Hipkins added.

Stranded people preparing to be air-lifted from their rooftop by a military helicopter in the Esk Valley, near the North Island city of Napier (New Zealand Defence Force/AFP)

Emergency management minister Kieran McAnulty said the emergency declaration would enable the government to support affected regions and provide additional resources.

At least two people have died since the tropical cyclone made landfall on Sunday, and a firefighter is missing after being caught in a landslide near Auckland.

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This is a significant disaster with a real threat to the lives of New Zealanders, Mr McAnulty told reporters.

Stranded people being air lifted from their rooftop by a military helicopter in the Esk Valley (New Zealand Defence Force/AFP)

A weather station in the Hawkes Bay and Napier region recorded three times more rain overnight than usually falls for the entire month of February, MetService meteorologist Lewis Ferris said.

Its going to be wet, sodden devastation around there, Mr Ferris said.

Residents said floods had taken out houses and roads.

Warkworth's Mahurangi River flowing in flood waters (Getty Images)

Ive seldom seen anything like it, said architect Lars von Minden, 50, who lives in the beach town of Muriwai.

There are three or four areas where there are just these massive slips, some of them 300m (1,000ft) across, that have come down, taking out houses and roads and everything.

Additional reporting by agencies
A Boston man shot his brother in the head after they got into a disagreement about the sale of their familys home, prosecutors announced Tuesday.

Trevor Lawrence, 32, of the citys Mattapan neighborhood, was arraigned Monday in Boston Municipal Court on charges of armed assault with intent to murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and numerous firearms and ammunition offenses in connection with the shooting of his brother back in 2021, according to Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden.

Officers responded to a report of a person shot at a home on Westmore Road on the afternoon of May 14, 2021, and found a 38-year-old man suffering from a gunshot wound to the face, prosecutors said.

The victim was transported to Boston Medical Center for treatment. He ultimately survived the shooting.

Prosecutors said the victim later told detectives that he was attempting to take photographs of the homes second floor when Lawrence produced a gun and shot him in the head.

A subsequent search of the home in question reportedly yielded a Taurus 380 firearm with one round in the chamber and five in the magazine. Detectives also seized a box containing 46 rounds.

Lawrence was arrested this past Saturday in the area of Balsam and Callender streets in Dorchester after investigators sought and secured an arrest warrant.

Violence should never be an option in a dispute among family members or anyone else, but to see a sibling carry a disagreement to this level of intentional harm is sad in every way, Hayden said in a statement.

Lawrence was ordered held without bail pending the outcome of a dangerousness hearing on Feb. 16.

An investigation remains ongoing.

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Are meet-cutes overrated? What happens after a rom-com moment is more important. (Photo: Getty Images)

If youre a romantic comedy junkie (like me), youve probably heard of a meet-cute and watched it happen countless times in various films and series.

In the 1999 film Notting Hill, British bookstore owner Will (played by Hugh Grant) was reintroduced to American actress Anna (played by Julia Roberts) when he bumps into her and accidentally spills orange juice down her top. Will then invites Anna back to his to wash up, allowing them to get to know each other better.

In the 2022 Netflix film You People, Ezra (played by Jonah Hill) gets into a Volkswagen Beetle thinking it is his Uber ride. The automobile in question, in fact, belonged to Amira (played by Lauren London), who had issues navigating traffic and needed a place to park and orientate. To make it up to Amira, Ezra offers to give her driving direction in exchange for dropping him off. The pair subsequently end up going on a date after that encounter.

Back in my days, when you met someone online, people would think that theres something wrong with you.

A meet-cute is, as film critic Roger Ebert once described, a comic situation contrived entirely for the purpose of bringing a man and woman together.

Of course, in 2023, the meet-cute trope can apply to anyone, regardless of gender and sexual preferences. So popular is the trope that writers continue to include it in their stories.

Theres something so romantic about meeting someone in a very unconventional way, says *Lana, 28. Meet-cutes give couples a great story to tell others. Its more interesting than saying you met on a dating app, she continues.

However, the desire for a fairytale-style love story might just lead to disappointment and incite feelings of insecurity about your relationship.

Having used dating apps in the past, I often saw love hopefuls writing You can say we met at church or Ill pretend we met through mutual friends on their profiles as if implying that meeting through an app is shameful or unacceptable in some way.

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Stigmas continue to exist

While peoples general attitudes toward dating apps have changed, certain stigmas will continue to exist. Despite the fact in 2021, one in four couples meet online in the US, many people continue to believe that Tinder and other dating apps are just meant for casual arrangements and nothing remotely serious.

Back in my days, when you met someone online, people would think that theres something wrong with you. It was quite taboo, says Dian Handayani, a Singapore-based psychotherapist who focuses on sex therapy.

However, I think these days, that attitude has sort of changed. Its also worth realising that if a man or woman works in an industry dominated by one gender, its going to be harder for them to meet someone organically. This is why dating apps are so handy, she explains.

In the past, I never quite understood why meeting someone through an app seemed shameful. However, as a newly engaged woman, Im realising that the first few questions I often get asked (besides when the wedding will be) revolve around how I met my partner. As soon as I tell them I met him on Tinder, their face falls, as if they were expecting a more exciting story.

Looking at our friend group, Ive also realised that were the only couple that met on an app, with the rest having met through school and mutual friends. These realisations have all led me to think about how nice it would be if we had a more exciting story. Ive even asked my partner if we should perhaps embellish our story a little, and yet, it just doesnt feel genuine.

To be able to get a relationship out of that [dating app] is an achievement in itself.

If like me, you occasionally experience feelings of inadequacy about your relationship, Dian recommends reframing your views and leaning into gratitude. Think about how unique and special it is that after swiping on hundreds of people, you managed to meet someone and theyre the right fit for you, she says.

It takes a lot of courage to get on an app and put yourself out there so, to be able to get a relationship out of that is an achievement in itself, she shares.

Sometimes, meet-cutes dont live up to their hype.

Once, I dated a guy that I met through work. I thought it was so cute how we met because we locked eyes on my first day and there was instant attraction, shares *Anna, 30. We progressed fairly quickly but I soon realised that there was nothing more to the relationship. We were just really sexually attracted to each other and there was nothing else holding the relationship together.

Annas encounter brings to light how meet-cutes arent the be-all and end-all in relationships. Anyone whos seen a romantic comedy will know that the story ends just when the couple begins their relationship. As such, viewers dont actually get to see how the couple transitions into this new stage of their lives.

While meet-cutes are, well, cute, theyre not exactly all that important in the grand scheme of things. If anything, what happens after matters more.

(*Names have been changed and details have been modified upon request.)

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David and Victoria Beckham are taking a romantic look down memory lane.

On Valentine's Day, they shared throwback photos of each other over the years. On David Beckham's Instagram account, he posted a sweet picture of him and his wife dining out when they were younger.

David Beckham, 47, captioned it, "Happy Valentines to my valentine. We Love You." He tagged Victoria Beckham and tagged or hashtagged their four kids, Brooklyn, 23, Romeo, 20, Cruz, 17, and Harper, 11, in the post.

In the comments section, Victoria Beckham wrote, "Happy Valentines Day! I love u all so much too!!!" She added several heart emoji to the end of the caption.

Fans noticed how similar David Beckham looks to his oldest son in the photo.

"Brooklyn with blonde hair hahah," one person commented.

Another said, "Really looks like Brooklyn."

On Victoria Beckham's Instagram account, she shared two throwback photos of herself hugging her husband and captioned them, "26 years and still my Valentine, I love you so much @davidbeckham. Kisses," while tagging or hashtagging their kids in the post too.

Their romantic posts didn't end there. David Beckham also posted an old photo of him and Victoria Beckham together on his Instagram stories and he wrote "Girl power" and "Spice up your life" over the picture to reference his wife's former girl group, the Spice Girls.

David and Victoria Beckham shared throwback photos of each other to celebrate Valentine's Day. (@victoriabeckham via Instagram)

David and Victoria Beckham have been married since 1999 and in July 2022 celebrated their 23rd wedding anniversary.

"They say he isnt funny, they say I never smile, they said it wouldnt last  Today we celebrate 23 years being married. David you are my everything, I love you so much!!!!" Victoria Beckham shared on Instagram at the time.

While appearing on the October 2018 cover of British Vogue, Victoria Beckham talked about her marriage to her hubby and said that they both prize family over anything else.

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We both realize that we are stronger together than we are as individuals, she said. Would either of us be in the position that we are in now had we not met and been together all those years ago?

Its all about the family unit, Victoria Beckham added. We are much stronger the six of us, than we would be if we were individuals. We respect that family bond and that is key.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia boos President Joe Biden during the State of the Union Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's star is rising, as she was seated in two highly-coveted committees.

Sen. Rick Scott stances on Social Security and Medicare have suddenly gained more attention.

But Greene polls poorly, as do Scott's positions. Dems will likely weaponize that ahead of 2024.

Two years after being stripped of all committee assignments, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene carefully rebranded her image in an attempt to gain trust and power within the Republican Party.

It worked: House Speaker Kevin McCarthy rewarded her with prized committee assignments. But that could come back to haunt Republicans as Democrats increasingly try to paint her as one of the faces of the party.

Greene's polling isn't ideal for her or the GOP

According to polling in January by YouGov, Greene was more often than not deemed as "unfavorable" among all respondents.

The second-term Republican polled even worse among self-identified Independents  a group Republicans need to sway to stay in power  37% said they viewed her as "unfavorable" compared to the 25% who favored her.

And while Greene is likely to be a thorn in the Democratic Party's side in committee hearings for years to come, Democrats will likely use her negative favorability in polling to their advantage, just as they're currently doing now with Sen. Rick Scott.

The Scott plan

In 2022, while the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Scott unveiled his "plan to rescue America," which in part requires the government to sunset all federal legislation every five years as "if a law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again."

Scott's plan to sunset federal legislation every five years also notably includes sunsetting Social Security and Medicare, a deeply unpopular idea.

According to a January 2023 YouGov poll, 70% of respondents  including 69% of independents  said they were against slashing spending on Medicare and Social Security.

And while many Republicans came out against the plan, Democrats  especially President Joe Biden  have used it as a cudgel against the GOP. While at the 2023 State of the Union, for example, Biden made a point of mentioning Scott's plan.

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"Instead of making the wealthy pay their fair share, some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset every five years," Biden said. "That means if Congress doesn't vote to keep them, those programs will go away."

Republicans in the audience immediately became irate, repudiating Biden's claim.

"Liar," Greene yelled at Biden. "You lie!"

According to the Washington Post, Biden later called out both Greene and Scott by name at a speech in Florida on Thursday, referencing her outburst and his plan.

Sen. Rick Scott in 2018, while still governor of Florida. Reuters/Colin Hackley

Democrats also drew upon Scott's plan during the 2022 midterm elections, pulling out specific promises within it to spook Independent voters to the left.

And while Democrats lost control of the House, they lost far fewer seats than expected, partly due to utilizing Scott's messaging against the GOP.

Democrats can use Greene to their advantage

Now as Greene continues to gain power and authority in the GOP and Congress, Democrats have the opportunity to use her own actions and words against the GOP as a whole.

There's a variety of ideas espoused by Greene that Democrats can  and likely will  use against the GOP, such as her fierce views against the transgender community, election denialism, and anti-Ukraine sentiments.

There's the possibility that giving Greene larger platform could backfire on Democrats. She holds a powerful seat on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee where she's already laid out her plans to zero in on everything to do with President Joe Biden.,

"Joe Biden, be prepared," Greene said in January. "We are going to uncover every corrupt business dealing, every foreign entanglement, every abuse of power, and every check cut for The Big Guy."

But as she continues to poll poorly  along with many of her views going against the national consensus  it's the perfect time for Democrats to make her the face of the GOP.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Feb. 13A student was shot in a vehicle at East High School on Monday in yet another incident that prompted a police official to decry the number of juveniles involved in crimes.

"Juvenile crime is very high and it's very disturbing," said Joe Montoya, the division chief of investigations at Denver Police District.

Montoya said the latest incident demonstrates a clear need by the "community and everybody to come together" to find ways to curb violent crimes involving young people.

Police have arrested two individuals they suspected are involved in the shooting. Police do not know the motive of the shooting.

Police responded to a report of shots fired just after 2:30 p.m. and found the victim suffering from a gunshot wound.

The young man's name is known to the police but authorities withheld it as he is a minor.

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Police said he was transported to an area hospital with a "very poor prognosis."

Police added they located the suspects' vehicle shortly after the shooting. Based on the direction of travel, police located the vehicle in Northeast Denver roughly two hours after the initial event.

"We had officers scouring the Northeast section of town," Montoya said. "Based on the direction of travel, we thought it might still be up in the area."

Police found two people in the car who "took off" after officers approached. A brief chase ensued, but Montoya said both suspects were arrested without use of force. Police believe the vehicle was stolen and impounded it.

Though occurring within 20 minutes of the shooting at East High School, another shooting near Emily Griffith Technical College appears to be unrelated, according to Montoya.

Editor's note: This story is developing.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE GAZETTE
Georgia deputies are asking for the publics help in locating three thieves who allegedly stole from innocent victims at an Augusta medical center.

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The Richmond County Sheriffs Office says on Feb 8., three individuals stole credit cards and used them at Sams Club.

According to Channel 2s ABC affiliate WJBF, the thieves stole the credit cards from three different people at Augusta University Medical Center (AUMC).

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The thieves stole $6,369 from the first victim, $5,681 from the second victim, and $4,139 from the third victim, WJBF reports.

The total amount was $16,189.

Anyone with information on the case or who can identify the suspects is asked to contact Inv. Jon Hixon at 706-821-1468 or the sheriffs office at 706-821-1020. All callers can remain anonymous.

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Monday floated replacing Advancement Placement (AP) classes in his state amid his escalating fight with the College Board over its African American studies course.

This College Board, like, nobody elected them to anything. Theyre just kind of there, and theyre providing service. So you can either utilize those services or not. And theyve provided these AP courses for a long time, but, you know, there are probably some other vendors who may be able to do that job as good or maybe even a lot better, DeSantis said at a press conference.

The governor said he has already talked to some officials about the idea of replacing College Board AP classes.

The feud began when DeSantiss administration said last month that Florida would not accept the College Boards new African American studies course pilot program, with its objections including parts of the curriculum such as queer studies and intersectionality.

Florida said the course lacks educational value.

The College Board released changes to the course at the beginning of this month, saying the adjustments to the pilot courts had been in the works for months.

The changes, however, largely aligned with Floridas objections, and DeSantis claimed victory in the fight, though he has not said if the state will accept the revamped course.

The College Board has repeatedly denied DeSantis had any influence on the changes and apologized this past weekend for not immediately denouncing the Florida Department of Educations slander, magnified by the DeSantis administrations subsequent comments, that African American Studies lacks educational value.

Our failure to raise our voice betrayed Black scholars everywhere and those who have long toiled to build this remarkable field, the company stated.

DeSantis, who has increasingly leaned into educational issues as he grows his national profile ahead of a possible White House bid, hit back on Monday, saying the controversy is ultimately the firms fault.

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The College Board was the one that in a Black studies course, put queer theory in. Not us, he said. They were the ones that put in intersectionality, other types of neo-Marxism into the proposed syllabus, and this was the proposed course. So our Department of Education looked at that and said, In Florida, we do education, not indoctrination, and so that runs afoul of our standards.

The governor also suggested other states had similar concerns but did not want to speak up.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Targeting what Gov. Ron DeSantis called a cottage industry of litigation, DeSantis and legislative leaders Tuesday said they will pursue potentially far-reaching changes that would help shield businesses from costly lawsuits.

If somebody is harmed, you go, you should be able to get compensated, DeSantis said during an appearance in Jacksonville with Senate President Kathleen Passidomo and House Speaker Paul Renner. But I think what our system has done is, youll have a situation, someones really not liable, but you know if you bring a suit, its going to be more expensive to defend the suit. So you (the defendant) have an incentive, as kind of a cost of business, to just do a settlement because that will be cheaper than hiring lawyers to prove your innocence. The problem with that is that those costs get added on to everything that we do.

Detailed bills had not been filed as of Tuesday afternoon, but an outline from DeSantis office indicated the proposals will include some changes that business, insurance and healthcare groups have long wanted. Lawmakers are expected to take up the issues during the annual legislative session, which will start March 7.

As an example, the outline from DeSantis office included eliminating what is known as one-way attorney fees across all lines of insurance. One-way attorney fees require insurers to pay the attorney fees of plaintiffs who successfully file lawsuits.

Lawmakers during a December special session eliminated one-way attorney fees to try to help financially struggling property insurers. But insurance lobbyists also have been calling for eliminating one-way fees in cases involving such things as auto-accident claims.

Were just going to take what we did in December and were going to apply it to all insurance issues, all litigation in Florida, Passidomo, R-Naples, said during the appearance at Kenworth of Jacksonville, a truck dealer.

Major business groups quickly backed the announcement by DeSantis and the legislative leaders, with Florida Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Mark Wilson saying the states bottom five legal climates is hurting local businesses.

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Floridas current tort climate is one of the top challenges facing businesses in every industry and every corner of our state, Associated Industries of Florida President and CEO Brewster Bevis said in a separate statement.

Making the changes, however, would likely spur heavy debate. Plaintiffs attorneys and many Democratic lawmakers argue that trying to limit lawsuits and legal fees will unfairly affect injured people.

Curry Pajcic, president of the Florida Justice Association plaintiffs attorney group, released a statement Tuesday that said the rights of every Floridian are under assault by insurance companies and corporate elites who think they can dictate which rights should be preserved and which can be tossed aside.

Justice is the only thing preventing the insurance industry from taking over our state, limiting our freedom and irreparably decimating the rights of our neighbors, family, and friends, Pajcic said. The FJA (Florida Justice Association) opposes any legislation that takes away the rights of Floridians to hold others responsible and accountable when they harm you or your family. We hope Florida lawmakers will look closely at what they are being asked to do with this legislation and choose to protect Floridians rights and keep Florida free.

Debates about limiting lawsuits, an issue known by the shorthand term of tort reform, flare every year. But business groups see an opportunity this year because of backing from DeSantis, Passidomo and Renner, R-Palm Coast. Renner replaced former House Speaker Chris Sprowls, who was widely viewed as friendly to plaintiffs attorneys.

During the event in Jacksonville, Renner described the changes as bringing balance to the legal system. Renner, DeSantis and Passidomo are all attorneys.

Were going to bring things back into balance so the ball is going down the middle of the fairway for everybody, Renner said.

In addition to eliminating one-way attorney fees, the outline from DeSantis office indicated the package will include:

Eliminating attorney fee multipliers, which in certain cases can add to the amounts awarded in fees paid to plaintiffs lawyers.

Making changes to bad faith laws. Generally, bad-faith lawsuits allege that insurers did not properly settle claims and can be costly if insurance companies lose.

Addressing damages when defendants are only partially at fault.

Making changes related to information provided about such things as healthcare reimbursement costs in medical-malpractice cases.

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During a press conference Monday, Florida governor Ron DeSantis teased that the state might reevaluate its relationship with the College Board, a nonprofit organization responsible for developing standardized tests such as the SAT and advanced placement (AP) courses.

And I think the legislature is going to look to reevaluate kind of how Floridas doing that. Of course, our universities can or cant accept College Board classes for credit, maybe theyll do others, Governor DeSantis told reporters during the press conference, held in Naples, Fl.

DeSantiss comments come amid the ongoing battle between Florida and the College Board over its new AP African-American-studies seminar.

DeSantis criticized content in the proposed course for its inclusion of critical race theory (CRT) as well as one-sided views of topics such as Black Lives Matter and reparations.

We are going to eliminate all DEI and CRT bureaucracies in the state of Florida. No funding, and that will wither on the vine, Governor DeSantis asserted during a press conference earlier this month, following the announcement that the College Board would revise the courses framework.

The new course framework has omitted the one-sided presentation of queer studies and references to police brutality.

Critics have condemned Governor DeSantiss curriculum changes, saying they impede academic freedom and a true view of American history.

Although the College Board insists that they did not make the course changes as a result of DeSantiss accusations, the organization recently fired back at Florida and the states Department of Education (FDOE).

We have made the mistake of treating FDOE with the courtesy we always accord to an education agency, but they have instead exploited this courtesy for their political agenda, the College Board said in statement Saturday.

DeSantis upped the ante in the tense standoff Monday by questioning the monopoly the College Board has historically held over educational credentials in America.

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So you can either utilize those services or not. And theyve provided these AP courses for a long time. But, you know, there are probably some other vendors who may be able to do that job as good, or maybe even a lot better, Governor DeSantis said during the press conference. In Florida, we do education, not indoctrination. That runs afoul of our standards. Many people agree with that in other states. We were just the only ones to stand up and do it.

The College Boards AP African-American-studies course was conceived following the murder of George Floyd in 2020.

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Photo Illustration by Erin OFlynn/The Daily Beast/Wikimedia Commons and Boise State University

An Idaho professor who is a contender for delivering the greatest number of sexist statements in a single speech just got a big job working with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

In a 2021 talk, Scott Yenor of Boise State University said women who have careers are medicated, meddlesome and quarrelsome.

He said society should stop thinking of a girl as a future worker or a future achiever, and start thinking of them as future wives and mothers.

And, he advised, if we want a great nation, we should be preparing young women to become mothers. Not finding every reason for young women to delay motherhood until they are established in a career or sufficiently independent.

If that isnt alarming enough, Yenor also declared that great nations are ultimately built by strong, responsible, sacrificial male leadership.

Feminism? He sees it as a dire threat to the American way of life because it teaches young boys and girls that they are motivated by much the same things and want much the same things.

Those were just some of the loathsome fulminations that Yenor managed to pack into a 15-minute talk at a National Conservatism gathering in Orlando, Florida.

Boise State Professor: Keep Women Out of Medicine, Engineering, and Law

These undeniably sexist remarks were widely reported and even just one of them should have required repentance at the very least before he was allowed to continue as a professor at Boise State University.

BSU students protested. Teens walked out when he spoke at their school. But the university never sanctioned him. And right-wing think tank the Claremont Institute allowed him to serve as a fellow with its Center for the American Way of Life.

Last Wednesday, Claremontwhose stated mission is to save Western civilizationinstalled him in Florida as a Tallahassee-based inaugural senior director of state coalitions opposed to woke leftism.

The appointment was announced by Claremont President Ryan Williams after he met with DeSantis in Tallahassee. Williams afterwards praised the bold executive and legislative leadership in the Sunshine State, adding that DeSantis had established the first template of any red state in America.

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How could she?

DeSantis wife, Casey, went on Twitter and announced, Thrilled to welcome @scottyenor from the Claremont Institute to his new home in Tallahassee.

Casey Desantis mother is a speech pathologist. Casey herself has a bachelors of science degree in economics and was a TV news reporter and host before she married Ron DeSantis. She is a particularly hard-working first lady and mother of two young daughters and a son. But that was all she said publicly about a man who would have her girls relinquish any career dreams and bend subserviently to male leadership.

The Florida governors office did not respond to a query regarding Casey DeSantis' feelings regarding Yenors views on women. Claremont did not respond to a Daily Beast request for the particulars of the state coalitions, but DeSantis where woke goes to die doctrine is the template. And the coalitions will be handy, pre-existing, state-level organizations should he run for president, as everybody expects.

But in allying himself with Yenor, DeSantis risks alienating voters who actually believe in gender equality. You have to wonder how a man with daughters fails to challenge Yenors benighted views. DeSantis sister was in finance before her untimely death. His mother was a nurse. His maternal aunt is a nun and a former parochial school principal, as well as a volunteer with a progressive center that helps immigrants and the homeless.

Wake up, governor.

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(Bloomberg) -- Dianne Feinstein of California, the US Senates longest-serving Democrat and its oldest member, said she wont run for a seventh term in 2024.

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I am announcing today I will not run for reelection in 2024 but intend to accomplish as much for California as I can through the end of next year when my term ends, she said in a statement.

Her decision comes after several years of speculation about whether she would continue in office, and as other California lawmakers showed interest in running for her seat. Feinstein, 89, has yielded some key roles in the last few years.

Shortly after her announcement, she told reporters that she would make a decision on who to endorse in a couple of months.

I dont have anybody in mind right now, she said.

She has the seniority to serve this session of Congress as the Senates president pro tempore, a job that is third in line for the presidency. But she passed on it and in January Senator Patty Murray of Washington rose to that prestigious post.

In 2020, she stepped aside as top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee after she was criticized by progressives over her handling of Amy Coney Barretts Supreme Court confirmation hearings just weeks before the presidential election. The San Francisco Chronicle reported last year that some colleagues were expressing concern about memory lapses and her ability to perform duties.

Feinstein gave a teary address to Democrats during a closed-door lunch on Tuesday and received a standing ovation, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said.

Shes a legend, he added.

Feinstein saw growing pressure to make her decision after Representative Katie Porter, a California Democrat, said on Jan. 10 that she would run for the seat. Porter quickly won the endorsement of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a liberal grassroots group.

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Fellow California Democrat Adam Schiff also announced a campaign for the Senate seat, while Barbara Lee announced privately to Congressional Black Caucus members her intention to run.

A San Francisco native, Feinstein served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors from 1970-1978 and lost mayoral campaigns in 1971 and 1975. She was considering leaving politics when, in 1978, she became acting mayor after Mayor George Moscone was shot to death by a former supervisor. She went on to win two terms in the job and then lost a 1990 gubernatorial bid to Republican Pete Wilson.

She arrived in the Senate after winning a special election in 1992, dubbed the year of the woman with a record five female senators elected after a backlash over the handling of sexual harassment allegations against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas at his 1991 confirmation hearings.

She went on to chart a series of firsts for women: The first female senator from California, the first to serve on the Judiciary Committee, the first to chair the Rules and Intelligence committees, and the first to serve as ranking Democrat on Judiciary in 2017.

Legislatively, Feinstein is best known as the lead author of the 1994 assault weapons ban, which barred the manufacture of some semi-automatic firearms and large-capacity magazines. It expired in 2004 and new legislation she put forth in 2013 didnt pass.

Her profile was also raised in the 2018 confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

In July of that year, she received a letter from a California constituent, Christine Blasey Ford, alleging that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her when they were high school students in the 1980s. The letters existence was disclosed in September by the Intercept, an online publication, after Kavanaugh had testified at his confirmation hearings. Other Democrats demanded she forward it to the FBI, which she did. The allegations sparked a second round of confirmation hearings.

News of Feinsteins announcement drew statements praising her tenure from her colleagues and officials all over the country.

President Joe Biden, said in a statement that she led the fight to get the assault weapons ban passed. Like so many who have been touched by gun violence, that victory was personal for her.

Ive served with more US senators than just about anyone, Biden added. I can honestly say that Dianne Feinstein is one of the very best.

Feinsteins last reelection in 2018 was one of her closest in years when she beat Democrat Kevin de Leon, 54% to 46%.

Only two current senators have served longer than she: Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

--With assistance from Akayla Gardner.

(Updates with Biden statement, starting in 18th paragraph.)

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Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters

It's official: Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who has served as U.S. Senator from California for three decades, will not seek re-election. Or is it?

The 89-year-old Democrat issued a statement on Tuesday afternoon announcing she will leave office when her term ends in December 2024. The long-anticipated news ends speculation about Feinstein's futureand opens up what could be a crowded race to replace her.

"Each of us was sent here to solve problems," Feinstein said in the statement. "Thats what Ive done for the last 30 years, and thats what I plan to do for the next two years."

But when she was later asked in the halls of the U.S. Capitol about her announcement, Feinstein reportedly told the press she hadn't made any decision. "I haven't released anything," she said.

A staffer apparently reminded Feinstein that her office had, in fact, released the retirement news. "I should have known they put it out," Feinstein responded.

According to Bloomberg News, Feinstein followed up by saying "it is what it is, I think the time has come."

Still, after that interaction, Feinstein told another Capitol reporter that she was "not announcing anything."

"I will one day," she said, before noting that one day was "not too far away."

Whether or not Feinstein's retirement is official, most in the Capitol seemed to be taking it that way Tuesday.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said Feinstein's "long, distinguished career stands out for the sheer width and breadth of what she accomplished." And according to Schumer, Feinstein gave an emotional address to her colleagues during Democrats' weekly lunch announcing that she would depart the Senate once her term concludes in 2024.

Since arriving in the Senate in 1992, Feinstein has made her mark on a number of policy areas, from countering gun violence to scrutinizing and opposing the use of torture as an interrogation tactic. She is considered one of her generation's most consequential lawmakers and trailblazing female politicians.

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But Feinstein clearly began to decline after her 2018 reelection, and in 2021, Democratic leaders ensured she would not chair the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee. Last year, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that her memory was "rapidly deteriorating," with colleagues and staff increasingly concerned she could not fulfill the duties of her office.

This latest episode announcing her retirement just underscores those concerns.

Asked to clarify her remarks, a spokesperson for Feinstein said that senator approved the announcement "going out today, just confusion on timing."

"The senator was out of the office for votes, a meeting, lunch and more votes when the announcement was sent," the spokesperson said.

While Feinstein's retirement was expected, her announcement allows would-be successors to fully charge ahead with their campaigns.

Two leading candidates did not wait until her announcement to launch their campaigns. In early January, Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) announced her plans to run for the seat. And Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) followed shortly after, though he made a point to say he had consulted Feinstein before announcing he would run. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) is also set to launch her own campaign in the coming days.

In a statement on Tuesday afternoon, Schiff called Feinstein "one of the finest legislators our state and country have ever known," adding that her accomplishments are "immense and far from over."

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Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., arrives for the Senate Democratic Caucus leadership election at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 8, 2022.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the state's longest serving senator has decided to bow out of a reelection bid.

"The time has come," she told Capitol Hill reporters. "It's not till the end of next year. So don't hold your breath. (But) there are times for all things under the sun and I think that will be the right time."

Feinstein's decision came after much speculation on whether she would decide to run for another term, given her age and questions about her fitness for office. She was first elected in 1992.

Feinstein expects to endorse a candidate later this year

Feinstein's seat is solidly Democratic in deep blue California. While highly unlikely a Republican will be able to win a statewide election in the Golden State, the seat has attracted the interest of several Democrats.

The former San Francisco mayor told Capitol Hill reporters Tuesday she expects to endorse a successor within the next two months but "I don't have anybody in mind right now."

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Who is in the running so far?

Although Feinstein only announced her decision Tuesday, two Democrats have already launched their own Senate campaigns prior to her statement.

Democratic Rep. Katie Porter announced her bid for the seat in early January, calling for "new leadership" in a video shared on her social media accounts.

"California needs a warrior in Washington. That's exactly why I'm announcing my candidacy for the United States Senate in 2024," said Porter in the video.

{Nov. 30, 2018} {10:30 a.m.} -- Washington, DC -- Rep. Elect Katie Porter of California (D) talks with reporters following the lottery that assigns the order in which new members of congress are allowed to pick their offices. -- Photo by Hannah Gaber, USA TODAY Staff

In late January, Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff also announced his candidacy for the seat, tweeting that "We're in the fight of our lives  a fight Im ready to lead as Californias next U.S. Senator."

Schiff earned the endorsement of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in February  an endorsement predicated on Feinstein's exit.

Related: Why retiring from politics is more complicated for women

"If (Feinstein) decides not to run, I will be supporting House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff, who knows well the nexus between a strong Democracy and a strong economy, Pelosi said in a statement shared by Schiff's Senate campaign .

Story continues

Other California Democratic representatives such as Rep. Barbara Lee and Rep. Ro Khanna are also reportedly considering running for the seat, setting up a potentially brutal primary fight in 2024.

FILE - House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., left, joined by Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., speaks to reporters at a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, Feb. 23, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

What is Feinstein known for?

Feinstein will leave behind a sweeping legacy, notably for her authorship of the 1994 assault weapons ban, which expired in 2004.

She was also chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee from 2009-2015, where she put a spotlight on the CIA's interrogation practices and later pushed through anti-torture legislation that was eventually signed into law by then President Barack Obama.

Dianne Feinstein is a titan in the United States Senate, with a record that stands among the finest in history," Pelosi said in a statement on Feinstein's retirement.

Feinstein is also one of Congress' early defenders of same-sex marriage and LGBTQ rights, being one of 14 senators to vote against the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996, which banned same-sex marriage until it was ultimately repealed last December when President Joe Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dianne Feinstein, California's longest serving senator, to retire
(Getty Images)

Senator Dianne Feinstein, the oldest Senator and longest-serving Democratic Senator, announced on Tuesday that she would not seek re-election for Californias Senate seat.

The 89-year-old made the announcement after two Democrats--Representatives Adam Schiff of Los Angeles and Katie Porter of Orange County--declared their candidacies.

I am announcing today I will not run for reelection in 2024 but intend to accomplish as much for California as I can through the end of next year when my term ends, she said in a tweet this week.

Ms Feinstein told The Independent that she will not endorse anyone anytime soon.

Not soon, but I probably will next year, she said. I mean, my terms up the end of next year. It was an accident that it got released now, but its my intention not to run for another term.

Ms Feinsteins announcement signals the end of one of the most storied careers in politics. She previously served as the mayor of San Francisco after the assassination of mayor George Moscone and Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in the United States. She and Barbara Boxer won the election to become the first two female Senators to represent California in 1992, the so-called Year of the Woman.

Elsewhere in her statement announcing she would not be running for re-election, Ms Feinstein said she will focus on ending gun violence, preserving public land and economic growth. She went on to add she will use her position on the Senate Appropriations Committee to ensure California receives federal dollars.

When asked why she decided to not run for another term, she cited her family.

Well, it's time, she told The Independent. My husband has passed away. It was a very hard death. He had a very serious cancer. And I survived that and the time has come.

Ms Feinsteins husband Richard Blum died last year.

It's been a lot of years. And I think a lot of achievement for the state and I'm very proud of my record, she said.People are announcing and I think, I dont want to not be honest and say what my intent is. And I never did intend to run for another term.

Story continues

As a senator, Ms Feinstein helped pass the Assault Weapons Ban and as chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, she led attempts to uncover the United Statess use of torture after 9/11.

At nearly 90 years old, Ms Feinstein has faced numerous media reports about her mental acuity. Similarly, Democrats criticised her during Amy Coney Barretts Supreme Court confirmation hearing after she praised then-chairman Senator Lindsey Graham and hugged him.

When Democrats won the majority in the Senate, Ms Feinstein stepped aside as the top Democrat of the Judiciary Committee. More recently, she passed on becoming Senate President Pro Tempore, leaving the spot open for Senator Patty Murray of Washington, who was elected the same year as Ms Feinstein.

Ms Feinstein said she will make an endorsement in Californias Senate race--where the top-two vote earners in the primary advance in the general election regardless of party--in the near future.
Dianne Feinstein in her office after she was elected mayor of San Francisco, circa 1978. (Nick Allen / Pictorial Parade via Getty Images)

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Californias longest-serving senator, announced Tuesday that she will not run for reelection next year. Heres a look at her storied career in politics, which included both tragedy and triumph.

1969: Elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors

Dianne Feinstein with her husband, Dr. Bertram Feinstein, and daughter Kathy after being elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1969. (Associated Press)

At 36, Dianne Feinstein was the first woman ever elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors without having first been appointed to the panel. It was her first bid for political office. She later served as the boards president.

1978: Assassination of George Moscone and Harvey Milk

Dianne Feinstein, top left, then president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, bows her head with others in a moment of silence for Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, who were shot to death at City Hall on Nov. 27, 1978. Moscone's slaying elevated Feinstein to the mayor's office. (A. Cope / Associate Press)

Feinstein became acting mayor of San Francisco after the murders of Mayor George Mascone and Supervisor Harvey Milk by a City Hall colleague on Nov. 27. She was the first woman mayor of San Francisco, holding office for about 10 years. During her tenure, she was named the nations most effective mayor in 1987 by City and State magazine and helped save the citys iconic cable cars.

1984: Defeated an attempted recall

Dianne Feinstein waves to supporters as her husband, Dick Blum, holds a T-shirt urging voters to keep her in office in a recall election on April 26, 1983. Feinstein's first husband, Bertran Feinstein, died in 1978. (Paul Sakuma / Associated Press)

A recall campaign to oust Feinstein was pushed by the White Panthers, a counterculture-era Haight-Ashbury political commune, and rejected by 82% of San Francisco voters. The recall was launched because of her support for a ban on handguns that was signed into law four years after the City Hall assassinations.

1990: Ran unsuccessfully for governor

Dianne Feinstein campaigns for governor with other office holders and candidates in San Francisco on June 6, 1990. (Sal Veder / Associated Press)

Feinstein ran unsuccessfully for governor of California in 1990. Although she won the Democratic nomination, she was defeated in the general election by Republican Pete Wilson. She lost with about 45% of the vote, winning Los Angeles and her native San Francisco.

1992: Year of the woman

Democrats Dianne Feinstein, left, and Barbara Boxer, shown at an appearance in Burbank on June 3, 1992, joined forces in running for California's U.S. Senate seats after winning their respective primaries. (Paul Sakuma / Associated Press)

Feinstein won a seat in the Senate in a special election held to fill the vacant seat of Pete Wilson, who resigned to become governor of California after defeating Feinstein for that post. Voters also elected Barbara Boxer to the Senate in what would become known as the year of the woman. Feinstein was sworn in before Boxer, making her the first woman senator to represent California.

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1994: Assault weapons ban

Sen. Dianne Feinstein holds up an advertisement for a shotgun during a news conference on Capitol Hill to discuss her proposed assault weapons ban on May 2, 1994. (John Duricka / Associated Press)

Feinstein wrote the 1994 federal legislation banning assault weapons, which prohibited the sale, transfer, manufacture and importation of semiautomatic and military-grade arms. The ban expired in 2004, but research shows that it reduced firearm-related homicides by at least 6.7%, decreased the use of assault weapons in crime by about two-thirds, and prevented mass shootings during those ten years.

2014: CIA and torture

Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Sen. Dianne Feinstein speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill after releasing a report on the CIA's harsh interrogation techniques at secret overseas facilities after the 9/11 terror attacks. (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press)

Feinstein released the Senate's executive summary of a classified report detailing the CIAs use of torture after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The report revealed that the CIAs secret detention and interrogation program had produced false confessions and fabricated information, and that the use of torture had produced no useful intelligence about imminent terrorist attacks. Feinstein said the CIA had engaged in activities that were a stain on our values and our history.

2018: Brett Kavanaugh

Chairman Charles Grassley of Iowa and ranking member Dianne Feinstein of California listen to Christine Blasey Ford's testimony during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the nomination of Brett M. Kavanaugh to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court, focusing on allegations of sexual assault by Kavanaugh against Blasey Ford in the early 1980s. (Tom Williams / Associated Press)

Feinstein became a central figure in the Senate confirmation of President Trumps Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh after receiving a letter from a California woman who said shed been sexually assaulted by Kavanaugh when they were in high school. After a hearing regarding the allegations, the committee voted 11-10 along party lines to move forward with the confirmation. Kavanaugh was sworn into office in October with a 50-48 vote.

2018: Rejected by own party

Sen. Dianne Feinstein greets supporters after speaking at an election night event in San Francisco on Nov. 6, 2018. (Jeff Chiu / Associated Press)

Feinstein surprised many when she announced her campaign for a sixth term in the Senate in 2018 election instead of retiring as many expected. Although she lost the endorsement of the California Democratic Party to Kevin de Leon, she defeated him in the general election 54%-46%.

2020: The hug that infuriated anti-Trump Democrats

Sen. Dianne Feinstein hugs Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) at the close of the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Oct. 15, 2020, in Washington. (Samuel Corum / Associated Press)

Feinstein faced criticism from Democrats for praising Republican Sen. Lindsey Grahams management of confirmation hearings for President Trumps Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, who was confirmed days before the 2020 election. Frustration had been mounting for liberals who thought that Feinstein, 87, was no longer fit to serve in office.

2022: Became the longest-serving female senator in U.S. history.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein leaves a committee hearing on Capitol Hill on April 14, 2021. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

Feinstein became the longest-serving female senator in U.S. history with 30 years in office. We went from two women senators when I ran for office in 1992 to 24 today  and I know that number will keep climbing, she said in a release.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
An employee of Dollar General in Cartersville is accused of stealing money from the business and loading it onto his personal debit cards.

On Friday, Feb. 10, police responded to the store at 265 Cassville Road at about 3:50 p.m.

The stores loss prevention employee told police that a cashier, identified as Pili Smith, 26, was stealing money from the store.

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

According to the loss prevention employee, when confronted about the incidents, Smith admitted to the thefts and said he learned how to load money onto his card after he performed the action for a customer.

Police said Smith stated he then decided to load money onto his own cards so he could help his mother with bills.

Smith provided the store with a written statement before officers arrived at the store, where he admitted loading money onto his debit cards multiple times a day.

At the end of his statement, Smith admitted to loading approximately $6,450 onto his personal debit cards.

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The stores loss prevention employee told police that he wished to press charges against Smith for the thefts.

Smith was arrested and taken to the Bartow County Jail where he was booked into their custody.

The debit cards that Smith used to load money on were collected as evidence.

He is facing a charge of felony theft by taking.

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IN OTHER NEWS:
A New York state appellate court on Tuesday upheld a contempt order against former President Donald Trump for failing to provide documents as part of a fraud investigation into the Trump Organization's business dealings.

The contempt order, handed down in April, directs Trump to pay a fine of $110,000 to the state attorney generals office.

New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement that the courts ruling demonstrated that Trump is not above the law.

Former President Donald Trump speaks during the New Hampshire Republican State Committee 2023 annual meeting, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2023, in Salem, N.H. (AP Photo/Reba Saldanha) ORG XMIT: NHRS110

For years, he tried to stall and thwart our lawful investigation into his financial dealings, but todays decision sends a clear message that there are consequences for abusing the legal system, James said. We will not be bullied or dissuaded from pursuing justice.

The New York civil fraud probe revolves around whether the Trump Organization deliberately misstated the valuations of its real estate holdings in official documents for unlawful gain.

A spokesperson for Trump did not immediately respond to USA TODAYs request for comment.

Dig deeper:

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump ordered to pay $110,000 for contempt in NY AG civil fraud probe
The Texas Department of Public Safety is investigating a fatal hit-and-run that occurred early Tuesday after a man's body was found in the road.

At about 5:30 a.m., a pedestrian was struck on FM 1541, about a half-mile south of Amarillo in Randall County. The investigating trooper determined the pedestrian had been struck by a vehicle based on the physical evidence at the scene, including skid marks in the roadway that led to the final resting place of the pedestrian, DPS said. The vehicle that struck the pedestrian has not been located.

The pedestrian, identified as Murphy Maynard, 27, of Amarillo, was pronounced dead at the scene by Randall County Justice of the Peace Kyle Balke.

Anyone, including automotive body shop owners/employees, with information on the fatal crash or was in the area at the time is encouraged to contact the DPS office at 806-277-1711 or the Amarillo Crime Stoppers Tip line at 806-374-4400.

The posted speed limit was 55 mph, and road conditions were dry and clear at the time of the crash. This incident is being investigated by DPS and the Texas Highway Patrol Troopers, with the Randall County Sheriff's Office (RCSO) assisting in the investigation.

According to RCSO, deputies were called to the 6100 block of Washington street at about 5:30 a.m. on a report of a body found in the roadway. It was determined that an unidentified man was struck by an unknown vehicle, which left the scene. RCSO closed all traffic on Washington Street at 58th Avenue and Farmers for several hours while the incident was investigated. The area later reopened to traffic.

The Justice of the Peace was called to the scene and authorized an autopsy, RCSO said.

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: DPS investigating possible fatal hit-and-run in Randall County
By Toby Sterling and Stephanie van den Berg

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Delegations from both the United States and China are set to attend a summit on the "responsible" use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the military this week in the Netherlands, the first of its kind.

Though it is not clear the 50 countries attending will agree to endorse even a weak statement of principles being drafted by the Netherlands and co-host South Korea, the conference comes as interest in AI more broadly is at all-time highs thanks to the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT program two months ago.

Organizers did not invite the Russian Federation because of the conflict in Ukraine, which will be a major topic of discussion at the summit, which runs from Feb. 15 to 16 in The Hague.

"This is an idea for which the time has come," Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra told members of the foreign press in the run-up to the event. "We're taking the first step in articulating and working toward what responsible use of AI in the military will be."

The event may be an early step toward someday developing an international arms treaty on AI, though that is seen as far off.

Leading nations have so far been reluctant to agree any limitations on its use, for fear doing so might put them at a disadvantage.

Some 2,000 people including experts and academics are attending a conference alongside the summit, with discussion topics including killer drones and slaughter bots.

The U.S. Department of Defense will discuss where it sees potential for international cooperation at a presentation on Thursday.

A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in the Netherlands referred to a position paper in which China underlined the need to avoid "strategic miscalculations" with AI and to ensure it does not accidentally escalate a conflict.

U.N. countries that belong to the 1983 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) have been discussing possible limitations on lethal autonomous weapons systems - which can kill without human intervention - since 2014.

Story continues

Hoekstra said the summit will not replace that debate but will look at other aspects of military AI.

Examples include definition of terms, how AI could safely be used to accelerate decision-making in a military context, and how it could be used to identify legitimate targets.

"We are moving into a field that we do not know, for which we do not have guidelines, rules, frameworks, or agreements. But we will need them sooner rather than later," Hoekstra said.

(Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by David Holmes)
Duval County Public Schools said it is taking heightened security measures Tuesday at middle and high school campuses on the fifth anniversary of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland that killed 17 and injured 17.

In a message to families of middle and high school students, DCPS said it has not received any specific threats, but said as a precaution, we will be conducting full screenings of students and their belongings as they enter our high school campuses. At middle schools, we will expand our use of random searches.

The district encouraged parents to look in their childs backpacks and purses to ensure no prohibited items are present.

Here is the full text of the message that was sent to parents:

Dear Middle and High School families,

Tomorrow is the fifth anniversary of the tragic shooting that took place in South Florida at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Whenever such an anniversary occurs, threats and rumors of threats tend to increase.

While we have not received any specific threats, we will always take steps to ensure the safety and security of our students and staff. Therefore, as a precaution, we will be conducting full screenings of students and their belongings as they enter our high school campuses. At middle schools, we will expand our use of random searches. Tomorrow, please go through your childs backpack or purse and ensure that no prohibited items are present, especially any weapons or toy weapons.

Thank you for your cooperation as we take steps to protect the safety of students and staff.

Best,

Duval County Public Schools

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Reports of a man standing outside of Milton High School with an automatic weapon were deemed unsubstantiated Wednesday afternoon after police lifted an almost two-hour-long school lockdown at 2 p.m.

The FBI is investigating hoax shooter claims at public schools that have hit at least five South Shore towns and more than a dozen others across the state since Monday.

Duxbury, Cohasset and Hingham police departments all received school shooter threats Tuesday morning, Milton High was threated Wednesday and Braintree received a hoax call Monday. The calls have also been reported in Vermont, Ohio and Maine in the last few months.

"Law enforcement is going to use all available resources to investigate a school threat until we determine whether it is real or not," FBI Boston Division spokesperson Kristen Setera said in an email Tuesday. "Investigating hoax threats drains law enforcement resources and diverts us from responding to an actual crisis. Hoax threats can shut down schools, cause undue stress and fear to the public, and cost taxpayers a lot of money."

Duxbury firefighters respond to a hoax call reporting a school shooter at the high school Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023.

Emergency services raced toward Duxbury High School on Tuesday morning after scanner chatter reported a possible active shooter at the high school. Within the hour, the Duxbury Fire Department tweeted there was no danger to any students and called the incident "unfounded."

The fire department called in all off-duty personnel and sent all three ambulances to the high school, and more than 100 state and local police officers responded.

"It's a vicious hoax. Never mind the fact that they cost towns and cities money, but we all follow protocol and rush to the scene and it endangers everybody," Duxbury Police Chief Michael Carbone said. "It puts us in danger just getting there. I'm happy it ended this way, but it's more than a nuisance. I have guys going into a locked-down school where kids are terrified, carrying rifles. It's traumatic."

At about 10:15 a.m. Tuesday, the South Shore Regional Dispatch Center received a call "from someone threatening the Cohasset Middle High School campus," police said.

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Experts say it's a 'cruel hoax':Schools across US hit with dozens of false shooting, bomb threats

"Cohasset police personnel were immediately dispatched to all schools and confirmed the call was in fact not credible and a hoax," the department posted to Facebook. "This call is similar to other calls some Massachusetts schools have been getting throughout the past 48 hours."

Cohasset police Lt. Mike Lopes said the department has a safety plan specifically for Cohasset schools, and a threat to a school means "every single officer responds." He said police immediately set up a perimeter, entered the school Tuesday morning, swept the area and realized the threat wasn't credible.

Cohasset High School.

"We have a plan in place and we follow that plan. We don't consider it a waste of resources because we never assume it's a hoax or a swatting call," Lopes said. "We treat it as a legitimate call until we have evidence to the contrary. Even though we knew some of these calls had gone out yesterday and were aware of it, we're going to treat every call as real."

Hingham received a hoax call at about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, a police dispatcher said, and Braintree received an unsubstantiated threat Monday.

What we know about other schools in Massachusetts

Reports of hoax calls were coming from Amesbury, Great Barrington, Concord and other Massachusetts towns. Police in Marshfield, Norwell, Pembroke and Quincy said their communities were not affected as of noon Tuesday.

Schools in Fall River resumed their normal day-to-day schedules just after noon after receiving and investigating a call.

"We have received instructions from the Fall River Police Department that all Fall River Public Schools should 'shelter in place', meaning no one should enter or leave our building at this time," read a statement on the district's Facebook page earlier in the morning. "This is a preventative measure out of an abundance of caution related to a situation in the community. There is no threat to any (Fall River public) school at this time. We will operate normally while we are in this stance. Every entrance and emergency exit is being closely monitored by staff. We will keep our community updated as needed."

Scituate: School committee member resigns after arrest on larceny, identity fraud charges

Braintree: Town councilor proposes using birth control to curb rat population

Swatting and school shooting hoaxes play out nationwide

Schools across Vermont were hit by series of hoax calls last week reporting active shooters in K-12 schools from Alburgh to Bennington, Vermont State Police said. A total of 21 schools were targeted by the calls from 8:40 a.m. to 10:50 a.m. at the main line of a dispatch center, police department or town office, State Police said. Every threat was determined to be unfounded.

Reports of school shootings that proved to be false occurred at schools across Ohio in September 2022, according to reporting by the Cincinnati Enquirer, and in Maine in November, according to reporting by Seacostonline.com. The practice of making the false reports is commonly called swatting.

Hoaxes in summer 2022:Bomb threats target Florida State along with other Florida schools; building evacuated

The false reports in Ohio were similar and specific, the Enquirer reported. In multiple 911 calls, a man identifying himself as James Park falsely reported a gunman had opened fire and 10 students were wounded. The same calls were made to schools. Other false reports have occurred in Florida, among other states.

On Nov. 15, dispatch centers in 10 communities throughout Maine received what authorities are calling hoax-style phone calls that morning alerting them, falsely, to active shooters inside local schools, said Michael Sauschuck, the commissioner of the state Department of Public Safety.

Sanford High School was the first hoax victim, with a call that came into local dispatch at 8:20 a.m.

Earlier this school year:Several Ohio school hoax active shooter reports seem to be made by same caller

Those phone calls  those initial complaints, those threats  were detailed in nature and they highlighted supposed active-shooter scenarios in our schools, right here in the state of Maine, Sauschuck said during a news conference at the Sanford High School campus.

Reach Mary Whitfill at mwhitfill@patriotledger.com.

Thanks to our subscribers, who help make this coverage possible. If you are not a subscriber, please consider supporting quality local journalism with a Patriot Ledger subscription. Here is our latest offer.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Duxbury, Cohasset, Braintree MA schools lock down due to swatting
CAIRO (AP)  Egyptian authorities Tuesday released the countrys former anti-graft chief after he served a five-year prison term for allegedly insulting and disseminating false news about the military, his lawyers said.

Hesham Genena, a former judge, walked free from a police station and returned to his home in Cairos eastern New Cairo district, lawyer Hossam Lotfy said.

His daughter, Shorouk Genena, posted images in Facebook showing her father hugging his family. Baba is out, finally, she wrote.

Genena was taken Tuesday to the countrys Supreme State Security Prosecution following his release from a prison, where he was questioned over separate allegations of disseminating false news, said another lawyer Naser Amin.

The allegations are related to comments he made in 2016 on the scale of government corruption, Amin said. Prosecutors ordered his release pending an investigation, he added.

Genena, who was arrested in February 2018, served a five-year sentence on a conviction of insulting the military. The conviction was related to incendiary comments in which he claimed that the military's former chief-of-staff, Sami Annan, was in possession of documents incriminating the countrys leadership. He said the documents were kept abroad.

Annan was arrested shortly after he announced his intention to challenge President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi in the 2018 election. The president won with 97% of the vote in a race that saw no real challenger.

Annan was sentenced to nine years in prison on charges of fraudulently registering to vote, of breaching regulations, and incitement against the armed forces over a video he released declaring his candidacy. He was released in December 2019 for health reasons, Amin said at the time.

Genena led Egypts top watchdog agency until el-Sissi fired him in 2016 following an investigation that concluded he had misled the public on the scale of government corruption. Genena said corruption had cost the country billions of dollars in 2015 alone. He later said he was misquoted by a local news outlet.

Genena had long been the target of criticism from pro-government media, well-connected businessmen and senior officials since being appointed in 2012, but his massive corruption allegations sparked a particular furor, with media branding him a traitor and closet supporter of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

El-Sissi appointed a commission that eventually accused Genena of misleading the public with support from unnamed foreign parties.
Austin opened the ninth Ramstein, where aid to Ukraine will be discussed

A consortium of countries  including Germany, Poland, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands  are working together to provide Leopard battle tanks to Ukraine, he said.

Read also: Zelenskyy warns Abrams tanks may arrive too late

For more armored power, the United States, the Czech Republic, and the Netherlands are jointly providing more than 90 T-72 tanks, the Pentagon chief added.

Read also: Austria refuses to train Ukrainian soldiers on Leopard 2 tanks

In addition, according to Austin, the United Kingdom has provided a company of Challenger main battle tanks and has worked with several countries to source more ammunition for Ukraines defenders.

Germany, after much hesitation, approved the transfer of 14 Leopard-2 tanks to Ukraine and their re-export from partner countries on Jan. 25. The same day, the United States announced that it would send 31 Abrams tanks to Ukraine.

Read also: Portugal to send Ukraine three Leopard 2 tanks in March

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that the first tanks could be sent to Ukraine by the end of March.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Jan. 31 that Ukraine would receive 120-140 modern Western tanks in the first wave of deliveries.

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian defenders needed 300-500 tanks to launch an offensive.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Tesla advertises its cars as "eliminating the need for service" but there are some nuances in repairing and maintaining an EV. skynesher/Getty Images

Electric cars require different service and maintenance than gas-powered ones.

Consumers can expect their trips to the shop to look differently with an EV.

But experts estimate hefty costs for EV repairs.

Taking your vehicle to the shop won't look the same if it's electric.

Electric vehicles only make up about 6% of the market in the US. But as EVs continue to gain traction, car-buyers have all sorts of questions, like what it's like to drive and charge one. They also wonder what it means to service and maintain these vehicles  and how much that will cost them.

EVs are different from internal-combustion engine vehicles. They're often even referred to as computers on wheels.

There are some obvious nuances: EVs have massive batteries and motors, but no engine. They don't need oil changes. They don't have spark plugs, and generally have fewer moving parts. Tesla even advertises its vehicles as "eliminating the need for service."

EVs require less service  but repairs could be costly

A lot of the parts of an EV are similar to those in a gas-powered car, like the suspension, brakes, and body. Expect to replace the wipers and wiper fluid like in any gas-powered car, and rotate the tires. Where EVs differ most are the propulsion elements  and while EVs are generally long-lasting vehicles, eventually certain components may wear out or will need repair.

"BEVs have a tendency to have a very long life in terms of vehicle miles traveled  maybe several hundreds of thousands of miles versus one hundred thousand miles," Bill Newman, head of auto at SAP North America, told Insider.

"The frequency of repairs may go down," he said. "But the costs for repair will go up."

A Kelley Blue Book assessment of the total cost to own an EV versus an internal-combustion engine vehicle estimates EVs have maintenance costs of $4,246 over 5 years of ownership, lower than the $4,583 estimate for gas-powered cars.

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But KBB estimates EVs have $1,712 in repair costs over that period, higher than drivers looking at $1,695 in repair costs for gas-powered vehicles.

"EVs don't require as much maintenance  meaning fluids and filters  but EVs are going to require high-ticket repairs," Quin Garcia, managing director at VC firm AutoTech Ventures, said.

EV tires are different than those for a gas-powered vehicle. Kia

What else EV-buyers can expect

EV tires, for instance, will be different from those for gas-powered vehicles. These tires have to be able to handle heavy loads (largely due to the battery), faster initial acceleration, and even noise reduction. The weight and near-instant torque of EVs mean higher tire wear, which could play a role in how often they need to be replaced.

There doesn't seem to be a clear consensus on how EV batteries age and whether they'll need replacing. It's not likely they will for their first owner, but once an EV makes its way to the used market, variables like the battery's health and state of charge will be important to determine whether a second or third owner can expect a hefty replacement cost. This may shift as battery tech improves and production scales.

Meanwhile, you might not have to replace your brakes on an EV, as wear is reduced with regenerative braking, according to the Alternative Fuels Data Center.

What it means for car dealers

As a result of these shifts, dealers are assessing just how much of an impact that potentially less vehicle service will have on their bottom lines. After-sales service is currently a huge part of their business.

"We all think that after-sales service is going to be a profit center in the future," Garcia said. "How do dealers navigate that thin line between focusing on after-sales, but also navigating EVs not requiring as much after-sales service?"

Read the original article on Business Insider
A new elementary school is slated to open in Jackson County in August 2024, and its name will honor heroes.

The Jackson County School System Board of Education said Heroes Elementary will feature heroic themes throughout the school, honoring the men and women in the U.S. military, police officers, firefighters, medical personnel, and teachers.

Students will learn about these heroic careers throughout their academic year.

The Board of Education unanimously passed the motion on Monday night.

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I appreciate the Boards visionary leadership in helping our young people see that community members around them are heroes on a daily basis, Jackson County School System Superintendent Dr. Philip Brown said.

Planning for Heroes Elementary is underway and construction will begin this spring.

TRENDING STORIES:

Heroes Elementary will be located off Highway 332 and Skelton Road, near Legacy Knoll Middle School, set to open in August 2023, and the new Jackson County High School, which opened in 2021.

Students who currently attend either Gum Springs Elementary, North Jackson Elementary or West Jackson Elementary, will populate Heroes Elementary.

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IN OTHER NEWS:
Elon Musk, the boss of Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter and the worlds richest man, is currently facing criticism over his decision to restrict the availability of his Starlink satellite high-speed broadband service to Ukraine.

When Russia first invaded its western neighbour on 24 February 2022, Mr Musk responded to an appeal for help from Ukraines vice prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov by generously dispatching 20,000 SpaceX Starlink terminals to the country.

Since then, Vladimir Putins forces have relentlessly targeted Ukraines telecommunications infrastructure with missile strikes. This has caused Kyiv to rely on SpaceXs technology as a source of uninterrupted, independent and secure internet access, enabling lines of communication to remain open with its troops on the frontline of the conflict in the south and east.

Starlinks small, portable terminals are ideal for the situation because they have minimal energy requirements and are difficult to hack.

Over 100 cruise missiles attacked energy and communications infrastructure. But with Starlink we quickly restored the connection in critical areas. Starlink continues to be an essential part of critical infrastructure, Mr Fedorov tweeted in praise of the tech on 12 October.

Mr Musk acknowledged its vital role in a tweet of his own from 31 January this year in which he also expressed discomfort about the Ukrainian military using the service to fly drones carrying anti-tank grenades over Russian positions. He said he would not allow the practice to continue.

SpaceX Starlink has become the connectivity backbone of Ukraine all the way up to the front lines. This is the damned if you do part, he tweeted. However, we are not allowing Starlink to be used for long-range drone strikes. This is the damned if you dont part.

SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell duly announced that the service would be limited in the country for military purposes but that it would remain available for communications and use in humanitarian endeavours, such as enabling Ukrainian hospitals to remain connected.

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Starlink was never meant to be weaponised, she said.

Mykailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, responded to the move by issuing an ultimatum: A year of Ukrainian resistance & companies have to decide: Either they are on the side of Ukraine & the right to freedom, and dont seek ways to do harm. Or they are on RFs side & its right to kill & seize territories. SpaceX (Starlink) and Mrs Shotwell should choose a specific option.

When ex-Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly called on Mr Musk to rethink the step, the tech magnate answered: Youre smart enough not to fall for media and other propaganda. Starlink is the main source of communication for Ukraine, especially at the front lines where almost all other internet connections have been lost. However, we will not contribute to escalation of conflict that could lead to World War 3.

To his credit, Mr Musk has made his position on the matter abundantly clear, tweeting on 16 September: Starlink is meant for peaceful use only.

He reiterated that argument on 12 February in defence of his latest actions, tweeting: SpaceX commercial terminals, like other commercial products, are meant for private use, not military, but we have not exercised our right to turn them off. Were trying hard to do the right thing, where the right thing is an extremely difficult moral question.

Billionaire challenged Vladimir Putin to single combat in March 2022 (Reuters)

Mr Musk has been more consistent in taking this line than he has on other projects  the running of Twitter, for instance  with the products terms of service even explicitly stating: Starlink is not designed or intended for use with or in offensive or defensive weaponry or other comparable end-uses.

But this is not the first time he has placed the future of its role in the war in doubt  and attracted criticism for doing so.

Back in October, he began to gripe about the cost of his philanthropy, revealing in a tweet: This operation has cost SpaceX $80m & will exceed $100m by end of year.

That same month, CNN reported that SpaceXs director of government sales, Bryon Hargis, had written to the Pentagon in September asking for the US Department of Defense to pick up the bill instead.

We are not in a position to further donate terminals to Ukraine, or fund the existing terminals for an indefinite period of time, he said, according to the report.

The adverse public reaction to the story appeared to change Mr Musks mind on withdrawing funding and he tweeted: The hell with it Even though Starlink is still losing money & other companies are getting billions of taxpayer dollars, well just keep funding the Ukrainian government for free.

On the war more generally, Mr Musk raised eyebrows by challenging Mr Putin to single combat on 14 March, an odd attempt to introduce some levity among the brutality of war.

I hereby challenge

 

to single combat



Stakes are   Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 14, 2022

Then in October, just prior to the Starlink controversy, the billionaire sparked international outrage when he tweeted his proposal to bring peace to Ukraine. The proposal suggested, among other measures, the concession of land to Russia, a red-line for most Ukrainians.

Redo elections of annexed regions under UN supervision. Russia leaves if that is will of the people, Mr Musk said. Crimea formally part of Russia, as it has been since 1783 (until Khrushchevs mistake). Water supply to Crimea assured. Ukraine remains neutral. This is highly likely to be the outcome in the end  just a question of how many die before then. Also worth noting that a possible, albeit unlikely, outcome from this conflict is nuclear war.

This is highly likely to be the outcome in the end  just a question of how many die before then  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 3, 2022

The thread was accompanied by a poll inviting Mr Musks followers to indicate whether or not they approved of his ideas: 40.9 per cent of respondents were in favour but 59.1 per cent were opposed.

President Zelensky hit back with a Twitter poll of his own, asking his followers which version of Elon Musk they preferred: the one who supports Ukraine or the one who supports Russia.

The pro-Ukraine incarnation of Musk drew 78.8 per cent of the vote.

Which @elonmusk do you like more?    (@ZelenskyyUa) October 3, 2022

Mr Musk responded: I still very much support Ukraine, but am convinced that massive escalation of the war will cause great harm to Ukraine and possibly the world.

Kyivs ambassador to Germany, Andrij Melnyk, was rather less polite.

F*** off is my very diplomatic reply to you Elon Musk, he said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was more sympathetic to the tycoons ideas, saying it was very positive that somebody like Elon Musk is looking for a peaceful way out of this situation.
A group of marchers with Ministries 4 Movement were making their way through the streets of Columbus' South Side  as they do on the first Sunday of every month  when the gunshots rang out.

As they banged on drums and renewed their calls for an end to citywide violence Feb. 5 while marching near Stanley and Wilson avenues, the 80 demonstrators suddenly were sent ducking and running for cover.

That's the recollection of the Rev. Frederick V. LaMarr, pastor of Family Missionary Baptist Church, which organizes the marches. And it became only more chilling when he learned later that it was a police officer who fired his weapon multiple times, shooting a suspect in the back as he fled on foot toward the vicinity of the march.

The Rev. Frederick V. LaMarr, pastor of Family Missionary Baptist Church supports Lakeya Cleveland  daughter of Michael Cleveland, 66, who was shot by Columbus police on Feb. 5  during a press conference outside Columbus Police headquarters on Monday.

More:Columbus police officer involved in Sunday shooting also shot teen in August

"That was reckless," LaMarr said. "They should never have shot at anybody while were out there."

It was the first of two times Columbus police officers fired upon a suspect in the span of less than a week. Six days later, SWAT officers with the Columbus Division of Police fatally shot an Athens man in the parking lot of a Home Depot in Grove City while trying to arrest him on warrant.

Police respond to the scene of a shooting involving Columbus SWAT officers in Grove City Saturday.

More:Columbus SWAT fatally shoots Athens man with rape warrant outside Grove City Home Depot

Activists renew calls for police reform in wake of shootings

After the back-to-back police shootings, some Columbus faith leaders and community activists are renewing their calls for police reform and accountability.

This is an epidemic of violence at the hands of Columbus police," said Tammy Fournier-Alsaada, organizing director of the People's Justice Project in Columbus. "We're talking about lives lost.  We're talking about unchecked officers who use their powers to terrorize the community."

After the Feb. 5 shooting, LaMarr said he convened meetings with other Greater Columbus faith leaders and drafted a letter on behalf of the Baptist Ministerial Alliance of Columbus that will be sent to Mayor Andrew J. Ginther to urge for accountability in the shooting.

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Were not going to lose our confidence in the police because of one officer, LaMarr said. But weve got to come together as a community because theres a proliferation of guns in our community we dont want, theres a proliferation of violence in our community we dont want and theres bad policing in our community we dont want.

Columbus police officer Joshua Ohlinger was identified as the officer who on the afternoon of Feb. 5 shot 66-year-old Michael L. Cleveland after a brief vehicle chase. Cleveland, now charged with being a felon illegally in possession of a firearm, was taken to a nearby hospital in critical condition before being upgraded to stable condition.

During a Monday news conference, members of Cleveland's family said he still remains hospitalized and may be permanently paralyzed.

More:Family, attorney of man shot by Columbus police seek policy changes, oppose new gang unit

When Rachel Robinson, a longtime South Side resident and member of the South Side Area Commission, learned of the shooting involving Cleveland, her immediate reaction was to question what immediate risk he posed that warranted deadly force.

I just dont understand why its OK for the police to use deadly force when someone is fleeing, said Robinson, who also serves as president of the Southern Orchards Civic Association. It seems like the safety concerns of not shooting your gun in the neighborhood where people are around would be a more appropriate response given the danger."

In the most recent shooting, after 8 p.m. Saturday, Columbus SWAT officers fatally shot Andrews, 46, of Athens, as they tried to arrest him on a warrant out of Athens County on a charge of rape of someone younger than 13.

Mayor Andrew J. Ginther touts recent steps to hold officers accountable

In the wake of both shootings, Ginther touted in a statement to The Dispatch the recent steps the city has made in regards to police reform, while insisting that mechanisms are in place to hold officers accountable for shootings  from grand jury reviews for potential criminal charges to independent investigations by the Civilian Police Review Board into misconduct.

Ginther said the city reached out to the U.S. Department of Justice last week to request independent examinations of use-of-force policies, an audit of police technology and a review of training practices focused on community policing.

"We continue to build a culture of trust and implement the change and reforms our community deserves. We are committed to full transparency and holding officers accountable," Ginther said in the statement. "We look forward to continued collaboration with the DOJ.

But Fournier-Alsaada, the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit that led to a $5.75 million settlement from the city of Columbus for 32 plaintiffs alleging police brutality during protests in the summer of 2020, said that little progress has been made during her years of activism, and it hardly seems to have led to sustained change.

Tammy Fournier-Alsaada, organizing director of the People's Justice Project in Columbus, speaks at a press conference addressing the shooting of Michael Cleveland, 66, by Columbus police on Feb. 5, outside police headquarters on Monday.

Even massive city settlements in fatal police shootings, the implementation of a Civilian Police Review Board that's faced multiple hurdles and city-requested audits by the Department of Justice of racial bias with the division haven't been enough, she said, to deter police from using lethal force twice in a week.

More:Department of Justice review of Columbus police released without use-of-force audit

We dont need another study; we dont need another think tank  weve done all of that, and its time to move to action now, Fournier-Alsaada said. We continue to not use what we know, to not stay focused on this problem and recognize it as the number one priority in this city."

Activists: More still needs to be done following shootings by Columbus police

The Rev. Susan Smith, founder of Crazy Faith Ministries, said the shootings of Cleveland and Andrews are emblematic of the militaristic "shoot first, ask questions later" mindset that she said seems to permeate so much of law enforcement.

For subscribers:Columbus police shootings most frequently involve Black males, data since 2012 shows

When I look at whats going on, to me its a performance of the system as its designed to be performed, Smith said. If you believe Black people and brown people are the bad guys, then thats what youre going to do."

The city has paid nearly $18 million since 2020 to settle lawsuits related to police use of force, including $10 million to the family of Andre Hill, an unarmed Black man shot dead in December 2020 by officer Adam Coy  the single largest payout in the city's history. (Coy is awaiting trial on murder and other charges.)

Those funds are at the expense of taxpayers, Smith said, leading her to wonder if fatal police shootings would decline if funds instead came from the city's police division.

We the people are paying for the executions of our own people, she said.

For subscribers:Could 'Jump Out Boys' be returning to Columbus? Police proposing new specialized gang unit

Organizations such as BREAD (Building Responsibility, Equality And Dignity) have long been at the forefront of pushing city leaders and police officials to implement what they view as proactive reforms.

James Wynn, a member and former co-president of the interfaith social justice group, is part of a committee focused on police and community violence, as well as the repair of police and community relations.

James Wynn of BREAD speaks to a crowd during a 2020 rally at Washington Gladden Social Justice Park in Columbus mourning the lives of Black men, women and children killed by law enforcement.

Among BREADs biggest requests, Wynn said, is that the Columbus Division of Police implement Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement training. The program developed by Georgetown Laws Center for Innovations in Community Safety prepares officers to intervene to prevent fellow officers from harmful behavior that violates department policy.

Leaders at BREAD also have called on Columbus police to undertake more reconciliation efforts with those in the community whose trust of police has long been strained.

For subscribers:Civilian Police Review Board to comply after admittedly violating Ohio Public Meetings Act

Unless youre going to be proactive to do something about that gulf, that gap that exists is just going to get wider, Wynn said. We do want to make the working relationship better for everybody.

Eric Lagatta is a reporter at The Columbus Dispatch covering public safety, with a focus on in-depth coverage of social justice issues and crime trends.

elagatta@dispatch.com

@EricLagatta

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Community leaders lament two Columbus police shootings within one week
JC Olivera/Getty Images; Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

Eric Andre and Emily Ratajkowski posed nude in photos shared on Andre's Instagram Tuesday.

In the pictures, the comedian reclines on a velvet couch, while the model is reflected in a mirror.

Andre and Ratajkowski first sparked romance rumors after getting lunch together earlier this month.

Eric Andre shared several risque photos of himself and Emily Ratajkowski to Instagram on Tuesday in honor of Valentine's Day.

In the photos, Andre reclines on a velvet couch in the nude (with a heart emoji covering his penis) while holding a glass of red wine. And in a mirror behind the couch, Ratajkowski (who appears to only be wearing a red lace bra) can be seen snapping the pictures with her phone.

"Happy Valentine's Day," the comedian captioned the post, along with several more heart emojis.

Even though Ratajkowski wasn't tagged in the post, several eagle-eyed commenters, including music producer Benny Blanco, correctly identified the model.

In one comment, Blanco wrote: "wait is that @emrata in the back ?" And in another, Blanco jokingly told Andre to "remove the arrow or delete this."

A screenshot of Benny Blanco's comments on Eric Andre's February 14 Instagram post. Eric Andre/Instagram

Andre and Ratajkowski first sparked romance rumors earlier this year, after they were spotted getting lunch together in January, and later vacationing in the Cayman Islands.

More recently, the two were photographed dining at the Italian restaurant Via Carota in New York City on Saturday.

Ratajkowski was previously married for four years to film producer Sebastian Bear-McClard, with whom she shares a son, Sylvester. She was previously romantically linked to "Saturday Night Live" star Pete Davidson.

Read the original article on Insider
SAYREVILLE  A 911 caller reported that he saw a man dressed all in back "shooting into the driver's side of a white vehicle" the night Councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour was killed, then fleeing the scene on foot, according to a 911 call obtained by MyCentralJersey.com.

"The person in that driver side car is probably not alive," the man told police in the call obtained Monday from the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office through an Open Public Records Act request.

The Prosecutor's Office declined to release police reports and police body camera video that was also requested, citing the ongoing homicide investigation.

The 911 caller reported hearing gunshots in area of Samuel Circle at about 7:22 p.m. Feb. 1.

"First I heard gunshots. I looked out my window and saw a man shooting into the driver's side of a white vehicle three times and then he ran into a hallway on foot," the man told police.

Police look for evidence in a wooded area near where Sayreville Councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour was shot and killed.

When asked if he could describe the shooter, the man said he was far away, but the shooter was wearing all black and left on foot while the white car crashed into two other vehicles.

The man also reported seeing police arriving at the scene.

The 911 call was one of nine released by the Prosecutor's Office that offered details of the shooting that took the life of Dwumfour, 30, who had recently completed her first year as a member of the Sayreville Borough Council. None of the callers seemed to know it was the councilwoman who had been killed.

Eunice Dwumfour:Sayreville councilwoman was killed weeks ago. Why have authorities remained quiet?

All the callers reported hearing gunshots in the area of the Camelot at La Mer apartment complex in the Parlin section of Sayreville.

One caller reported hearing eight gunshots and his wife spotted someone running who was wearing all black.

Several callers also reported seeing Dwumfour's white SUV crashing into another vehicle.

A dispatcher notified all the callers that police were on their way or already in the area.

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No suspects of motives for the killing have been announced and no arrests have been made.

Dwumfour was found dead in her vehicle with several gunshot wounds by Sayreville police officers who went to Samuel Circle off Ernston Road after receiving 911 calls at 7:22 p.m. Feb. 1 of gunshots fired, according to Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone.

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Dwumfour, a Republican, was elected to the Borough Council in 2021 as the first Black woman voted into public office in Sayreville.

In tribute to Dwumfour, last week Gov. Phil Murphy ordered flags to fly at half-staff on Feb. 8, the day of her memorial service in Sayreville.

The daughter of Ghana natives, Dwumfour grew up in Newark and moved to Sayreville with her daughter from a previous relationship several years ago. Last year ceremonies were held in New Jersey and Africa celebrating Dwumfour's marriage to Eze Kings Akwue, a pastor in Nigeria. Dwumfour was a pastor at Champions Royal Assembly in Newark.

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: Sayreville Councilwoman Eunice Dwumfours killer wore black: 911 call
A French Caesar self-propelled howitzer fires into the Middle Euphrates River Valley in December 2018. US Army/Sgt. 1st Class Mikki Sprenkle

The US and European countries have sent scores of artillery pieces to Ukraine.

A few countries have sent most or all of their artillery arsenals to help Kyiv fight Russia.

Those militaries now face the challenge of supplying Ukraine while keeping their own forces armed.

The US and European countries have sent scores of artillery pieces to Ukraine. A few countries have even sent most or all of their artillery arsenals. The question now is how many cannons and how many rounds can they give and still keep their own forces armed.

For example, France announced in January that it would be delivering another 12 Caesar truck-mounted 155 mm howitzers to Ukraine, on top of the 18 it has already sent. That's more than one-third of France's inventory of 76 Caesars.

Also in January, Denmark pledged to send the nine Caesars that it slated to get from France onto Ukraine within the next six months. Estonia has promised to transfer all 24 of its FH-70 towed 155 mm howitzers. Britain plans to send 30 of its 89 AS90 self-propelled 155 mm howitzers.

Ukrainian troops fire a 155 mm FH70 howitzer in the Zaporizhzhia Region in October 2022. Dmytro Smolienko / Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images

The problem is that European countries are running into the same wall faced by all the nations scrambling to resupply Ukraine. There is a limited number of weapons and munitions in stock, and ramping up production of new equipment is difficult.

But at least the US and large European militaries, like Britain, France, Germany, or even Sweden, have sufficiently large arsenals to send weapons to Ukraine while still retaining some equipment for their own forces.

For the smaller NATO countries, this is a problem  Estonia has just 192 artillery pieces, according to the 2022 edition of The Military Balance, published by the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Of that 192, some 126  about two-thirds  are short-range 81 mm and 120 mm mortars with a range of less than 5 miles, plus another 30 old Soviet-era D-30 122 mm howitzers with a range of 10 to 14 miles.

That means sending to Ukraine all of Estonia's 24 FH-70s  with a range of up to 19 miles  isn't just removing 13% of its artillery force. It's also taking away most of Estonia's longer-range artillery, leaving it with just a half-dozen South Korean-made K9 self-propelled 155 mm howitzers that can shoot out to 25 miles.

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Ukrainian troops fire a French 155 mm Caesar self-propelled howitzer at Russian positions in the Donbas region on June 15, 2022. ARIS MESSINIS/AFP via Getty Images

Sending all of the French-made Caesars originally intended for the Danish army to Ukraine has also caused a stir in Denmark.

"It is practically the entire Danish artillery that Denmark is giving to Ukraine in one blow," the Danish Broadcasting Corporation said in an article. "It is a weapon system that is the most powerful and most long-range that exists in the Danish army. It is a weapon system that people have been looking forward to and that the soldiers have been looking forward to working with."

Danish Defense Minister Jakob Ellemann-Jensen worries that transferring the Caesars to Ukraine will delay the modernization of Danish artillery affect personnel retention. "The people who are artillerymen must have something to work with," Ellemann-Jensen said.

Not that the situation is ideal for Ukraine. While desperate to get as many Western weapons as it can to offset Russian numerical superiority, the Ukrainian military must also learn to operate, maintain, and supply a bewildering variety of artillery, tanks, missiles, and other weapons.

British army AS-90s firing during Exercise Steel Sabre in March 2015. British army/Sgt Si Longworth RLC

Nor can Ukraine rely on the capacity to other nations to replenish and sustain the equipment they send, which inevitably will be destroyed in combat, require maintenance and overhaul, and need a steady flow of appropriate ammunition and spare parts.

For example, the US is scrambling to boost production of 155 mm artillery shells as Ukraine fires up to 7,000 shells a day. But expanding manufacturing capacity for artillery shells may take years, while the artillery pieces themselves may not even be in production anymore.

For the bigger military powers, this may be a temporary inconvenience as their defense industrial base gears up for a long war in Ukraine. But for smaller nations that can't make their own heavy artillery, the alternative is to import them from the handful of nations with the capacity to produce major weapons systems.

The question is whether countries such as the US, Britain, and France can simultaneously arm Ukraine, refill their own stocks, and still supply their smaller allies.

Michael Peck is a defense writer whose work has appeared in Forbes, Defense News, Foreign Policy magazine, and other publications. He holds a master's in political science. Follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Police accused Ellen Gilland, 76, of shooting her terminally ill husband Jerry, 77, in an AdventHealth hospital in Daytona Beach last month, igniting a discussion about legal euthanasia.

Gilland, a New Smyrna Beach resident, has been held without bail at the Volusia County Branch Jail since Jan. 21.

Florida State Code 765.309 outlaws any act "construed to condone, authorize or approve mercy killing or euthanasia or to permit any affirmative or deliberate act or omission to end life other than to permit the natural process of dying."

In 10 other states  Oregon, Washington, Vermont, California, Colorado, Washington D.C., Hawaii, New Jersey, Maine and New Mexico  the law allows for some form of euthanasia for terminally ill patients.

While Gillands case has yet to play out, others with similar circumstances can provide some background. Here are a few well-known cases in the United States:

Gilland's attorney requests bail:Florida woman, 76, accused of killing ill husband in hospital, requests pretrial release

Ellen Gilland indictment:Woman, 76, accused of killing ill husband in Daytona hospital indicted on lesser charge

Previous coverage:NSB woman accused of killing terminally ill husband in hospital requests bail

Terri Schiavo  Florida

Terri Schiavo, of St. Petersburg, collapsed from cardiac arrest in 1990; she suffered brain damage as a result and remained in a vegetative state.

Terri Schiavo gets a kiss from her mother, Mary Schindler, in this Aug. 11, 2001, image taken from videotape and released by the Schindler family. AP photo

In 1998, her husband, Michael Schiavo, requested that doctors remove her feeding tube, arguing that Terri would not have wanted to live that way.

Her parents, on the other hand, were opposed to removing her feeding tube, and a legal and political battle, which even drew attention from then-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, ensued for many years.

Terri Schiavo died on March 31, 2005, when doctors removed her feeding tube after Michael Schiavo prevailed in federal court.

Brittany Maynard  Oregon

Brittany Maynard, a California resident, moved to Oregon in 2014 so she could legally end her life after being diagnosed with stage 4 malignant brain cancer.

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Maynard died Nov. 2 of that year at age 29 in Portland, Oregon.

State law:Is mercy killing or euthanasia legal in Florida? Here's what you need to know

'Death with Dignity' bill:What it would mean to terminally ill residents if adopted

Euthanasia debate:Hospital shooting sparks debate over 'death with dignity' legislation in Florida

According to a statement from Compassion & Choices announcing Maynards death, she suffered "increasingly frequent and longer seizures, severe head and neck pain, and stroke-like symptoms before deciding to take the aid-in-dying medication she had received in the months prior to her death.

Compassion & Choices is a Denver-based nonprofit organization working to improve care, expand options and empower everyone to chart their end-of-life journey.

In a goodbye message to friends and family on Facebook reported by People Magazine, Maynard wrote: "The world is a beautiful place, travel has been my greatest teacher, my close friends and folks are the greatest givers. I even have a ring of support around my bed as I type.  Goodbye world. Spread good energy. Pay it forward!"

Willem Jewett  Vermont

A former Vermont legislator and House majority leader, Willem Jewett died at age 58 on Jan. 12, 2022, in Ripton, Vermont, from euthanasia.

Vermont Rep. Willem Jewett, D-Ripton, left, chats with his daughter, Anneke, during the first day of the legislature, in Montpelier, Vt., Jan. 5, 2004. The former Vermont lawmaker and House majority leader died on Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2022. Jewett, who had cancer, helped pass a Vermont's aid-in-dying law that allows terminally ill patients to ask their doctors for a lethal dose of medication.

In the year before his death, Jewett was diagnosed with mucosal melanoma.

In 2013, he helped pass Vermont's Medical Aid in Dying Act (or Act 39), which allows terminally ill patients to end their own lives, according to the Associated Press.

United States Supreme Court cases

Other euthanasia and "right-to-die" cases have reached the United States Supreme Court over the years.

In the case Vacco v. Quill from 1997, three seriously ill patients and Dr. Timothy E. Quill challenged the constitutionality of New York's ban on physician-assisted suicide.

The court upheld the ban, stating it did not violate the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.

In the 2001 case Gonzales v. Oregon, former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft declared that physician-assisted suicide violated the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 and threatened to revoke medical licenses of physicians who participated in the practice.

After the state of Oregon disputed the claim, the Supreme Court decided that the CSA did not authorize the attorney general to declare a medical practice authorized under state law to be illegitimate.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Ellen Gilland awaits charges: Here is a look at other euthanasia cases
A former Asheville resident has been charged with a series of sexual assaults in Los Angeles dating to 2017, police have said, a time when he continued to live in Western North Carolina, according to state records.

Benjamin Parke Belser, 36, a current resident of South Los Angeles who formerly lived in Asheville, was arrested Feb. 4 on suspicion of rape, forced sodomy, forced oral copulation and sexual penetration with a foreign object, according to a release from Los Angeles Police Department.

Det. Brent Hopkins confirmed to the Citizen Times that Belser was a former Asheville resident. He is noted in a 2005 Citizen Times story as a senior on the Asheville High debate team. A social media account says he went to Harvard University from 2005-2009, receiving a bachelor's degree in history. Later, he lived south of Asheville in the town of Saluda, according to state voting records. Those show him as a registered voter there from 2016-2020, a time overlapping with the period during which police allege he committed the crimes in Los Angeles. Detectives say they are not ruling out potential victims in Western North Carolina.

Belser's father, David Belser, was a prominent defense attorney who worked on death penalty cases and represented former Sheriff Bobby Medford who was convicted of corruption. Belser's mother Susan Parke, is also an attorney and a former food writer for the Citizen Times. Messages to Parke were not returned Feb. 14.

More:Ex-DA Newman defends nephew charged with breaking into home of woman he met on dating app

More:Search warrant: Asheville High student accused of rape, sharing Snapchat visuals

It is not clear who Belser's attorney is. He is facing 12 felony counts and remains in custody with bail of $6.2 million. His next court appearance is March 2 in Los Angeles County Superior Court, police said.

Police say Belser appears to have targeted women using social media and dating applications. Beginning in at least 2017, he began contacting women online and used elaborate ruses to conceal his identity, according to the release. The sexual assaults continued until at least 2022, when officers began an investigation.

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"On Feb. 4, detectives served a search warrant on his home in the Village Green community and recovered extensive evidence supporting the investigation and are still searching for additional information that could connect him to unreported crimes," the release said.

Police say Belser used various aliases to avoid detection, police said. He is a 6-foot-5-inch white male, weighing 170 pounds, with brown hair and hazel eyes. Witnesses described him as having a distinctive body odor, officers said.

Investigators identified five women whom Belser allegedly assaulted but believe there are others who have yet to come forward.

Cases like this are especially heartbreaking because people are often reluctant to report sex crimes because theyre embarrassed, Det. Asia Hodge, Special Assault Section, officer in charge, said in the release.

More:Ex-Buncombe jailer who was sexually assaulted by captain wins settlement

More:Jury rejects woman's sex trafficking claims against Baumstark, 3 other police officers

But if these many survivors are already speaking out, we think there may be more people who are waiting to speak up. We need their help to hold him accountable. Were gratified that the District Attorneys office filed charges, but the work has just begun, Hodge said. We believe there are more people out there who need help and well keep working until we find them.

Detectives are requesting that anyone with information that could lead to the identification of additional victims or witnesses to contact LAPDs Operations-West Bureau, Special Assault Section, at 213-473-0447. During non-business hours or on weekends, calls should be directed to 1-877-LAPD-24-7 (1-877-527-3247).

Anyone wishing to remain anonymous should call the L.A. Regional Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (800-222-8477) or go directly to lacrimestoppers.org. Tipsters may also visit lapdonline.org, and click on Anonymous Web Tips under the Get Involved-Crime Stoppers menu to submit an online tip. Lastly, tipsters may also download the P3 Tips mobile application and select the L.A. Regional Crime Stoppers as their local program.

This story will be updated.

Joel Burgess has lived in WNC for more than 20 years, covering politics, government and other news. He's written award-winning stories on topics ranging from gerrymandering to police use of force. Got a tip? Contact Burgess at jburgess@citizentimes.com, 828-713-1095 or on Twitter @AVLreporter. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Ex-Asheville man charged with series of sexual assaults in Los Angeles
White House chief of staff Ron Klain. NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images

Ex-White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain worked six days a week at the White House, he told the New Yorker.

During the past couple of months, Sundays were reserved for visiting his ailing mom.

She lives in Indiana.

During the past two months, Ron Klain left his work as White House chief of staff in Washington, DC, one day each week to be with his ailing mother, who lives in Indiana.

Klain, 61, mentioned this logistical feat and example of devotion as an aside during an interview with Evan Osnos for the New Yorker, while explaining why he decided to leave the Biden White House after two years.

"These past couple months, also, my mother's been ill, and I've been working here six days a week and flying home to Indiana every Sunday morning and staying there till late Sunday night," he told Osnos. "And so that also kind of weighs on me."

Klain left the White House this month after spending the first two years of the administration leading Biden's team. He's been part of Biden's world on and off for years, starting with him on the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1986 when Biden served as chairman and later serving as chief of staff to Biden when he was vice president.

Biden spoke of Klain's mother during a chief of staff transition ceremony at the White House, when Klain turned over the reins to Jeff Zients. Klain's mother, Sarann Klain Warner, a retired travel agent, was reportedly too ill to attend.

"Mom, if you can see this or it gets played for you, we love you," Biden said. "We really do. All of us love you, and we're thinking a lot about you. You raised one heck of a son. And you should be so proud. Ron is a credit to you, Mom."

Other examples of Klain's committement to his mother have emerged in news stories over the years.

He grew up in a Jewish community in Indianapolis and never had a Christmas tree. Though he and his wife Monica Medina raised their children Jewish, they agreed that they would celebrate Christmas for her, he told the New York Times in 2007. But they always waited until after his mother's annual December visit to put up the tree, he told the Times.

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Jewish Insider also noted that Klain said during a Zoom call with members of his childhood congregation that 2020 was the first year he couldn't attend his mother's Passover Seder.

Klain Warner joined Twitter in 2019. She described herself simply as "Mother of 3 Wonderful Kids, Bub of 9 Wonderful Grandkids."

Read the original article on Business Insider
By Foo Yun Chee

STRASBOURG (Reuters) -EU industry chief Thierry Breton is poised to launch a consultation on whether Big Tech should bear some telecoms network costs, he said on Tuesday ahead of a telecoms conference taking place in Barcelona from Feb. 27 to March 2.

EU telecoms providers including Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefonica and Telecom Italia have for years sought to have Big Tech foot some infrastructure cost for 5G and broadband.

The telecoms companies say the six largest content providers - Meta, Amazon.com Inc, Netflix Inc, Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp and Alphabet Inc's Google - account for more than half of data internet traffic.

The tech giants say the idea amounts to an internet traffic tax that could undermine Europe's net neutrality rules to ensure all users are treated equally.

Asked when the consultation would be launched, Breton told Reuters: "Wait for my speech at Barcelona. Yes, I will announce it soon. At Barcelona."

The consultation is likely to take about 12 weeks before the European Commission will propose legislation that will need to be thrashed out by EU countries and EU lawmakers before it can become law.

Breton said he was confident the process could be wrapped up by the end of the year. "We will have time, yes," he said.

Announcing the start of the consultation at Barcelona is a strong signal to the telecoms sector of Breton's backing, a telecoms industry source said. It would be Breton's first appearance at an event traditionally attended by all major telecoms operators.

(Reporting by Foo Yun CheeEditing by David Goodman)
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo excoriated President Biden for his handling of the spy balloon issue on Monday, telling The Hill in an exclusive interview that the current administration made an enormous mistake that caused global shame.

Pompeo also strongly denied that he or any member of former President Trumps administration, to the best of his knowledge, was aware of spy balloons entering U.S. airspace during their time in power.

Pompeos harshest criticism was reserved for the Biden administrations actions in relation to the first of four objects that have been shot down since Feb. 4. That device is the only one so far confirmed as a Chinese spy balloon.

A U.S. jet took down the balloon, estimated at the size of about three buses, off the coast of South Carolina after it had traversed the United States for several days.

The delay infuriated Pompeo.

I dont know what it collected  I dont know what signals intelligence it may have had. I dont know what imagery it may have been able to garner, he said in an on-camera interview with The Hill promoting his memoir, Never Give an Inch.

The whole world saw a slow-moving balloon transiting Montana, Kansas, South Carolina  and the United States of America did nothing, he added.

This lack of action delivered an enormous geopolitical advantage for China, Pompeo contended. I cant imagine that the risk of some falling debris over a place like Montana exceeded the risk of global shame.

At a Feb. 4 Pentagon briefing, an unnamed senior Defense official said that Chinese spy balloons had transited the continental United States briefly at least three times during the prior administration. The implication appeared to be that those who served Trump had done nothing.

It now appears that there was in fact no contemporaneous awareness and that the flights  if they happened at all  were discovered only in retrospect.

In the latest twist, the National Security Councils John Kirby claimed during Mondays White House media briefing that the Trump administration had failed to detect the Chinese spy balloon program.

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We detected it. We tracked it, Kirby said.

Kirbys remarks came a few hours after Pompeo spoke with The Hill. But the former secretary of State, who holds a dim view of a Washington media that he believes skews liberal, is rankled by reporting on the topic.

Youre bringing it up too, and this is exactly what the Biden administration wants you talking about: Look over here. See this shiny object. Trump, Trump, Trump. Right? This wasnt remotely the same thing.  As best as I can tell, no one was aware. And this is fundamentally different from what has transpired over the past two weeks, he said.

Pompeo served as CIA director from the earliest days of the Trump administration until April 2018. He then replaced Rex Tillerson as secretary of State, where he remained for the rest of Trumps term. Pompeo is the only person in history to have served in both offices.

Never Give an Inch mounts a pugilistic defense of the Trump administrations foreign policy. Pompeo argues in essence that a nationalistic America First agenda served as a deterrent to adversaries including China, a source of reassurance to allies such as Israel and an affirmation of American power.

Pompeo also portrays himself and his boss as battling against entrenched interests in government, at the State Department and within a Beltway establishment.

Pompeo does not himself use the term deep state, but what he describes is similar in concept.

Call it what you will, Pompeo told The Hill. The State Department is a blob. Its the Washington establishment. It is a drag on change.

I lived it, he continues. They were leaking memos on me before they got to my desk. They were undermining direct orders that I had provided to them.

Pompeo, two years out of power, is back in the news as speculation builds that he could join the 2024 presidential race.

He is open about the fact that he is considering such a move, mulling it with his wife, Susan. But he insists no decision has been made.

If he goes forward, he added, Well go make arguments. Its not about tweets. Its not about noise. Its not about owning the libs. Its about presenting a rational argument about how to get our government to function.

Pompeos book is almost entirely complimentary of Trump, which begs the question as to how he would distinguish himself from the 45th president, who has already declared his 2024 candidacy.

I approached my public service in a way thats different from his. I try my best to use language that reflects the greatness of our country, he told The Hill. I think thats important.

He also notes in passing that the Trump administration spent an awful lot of money. Were now $31 trillion in debt.

But his criticisms of Trump remain mild. And the most heated moments of his interview with The Hill concerned the near-total absence of any mention of the Capitol insurrection in his books 400-plus pages.

If Pompeo is largely loyal toward Trump, he is far more critical of former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley. Haley is all but certain to announce her presidential candidacy at an event in Charleston, S.C., on Wednesday.

Pompeo claims in his book that Haley was at one point seeking to displace then-Vice President Mike Pence  a claim Haley has called lies and gossip.

Pompeo also resents Haleys relatively speedy departure from the job to which Trump had nominated her. She announced her intention to resign in October 2018, less than halfway into Trumps term.

Some came in, punched their ticket and went on. And for those who made that decision, I just dont have any time, Pompeo told The Hill. I dont understand how someone who believes that they have this incredible opportunity, in an important role, says, No, thanks. I dont want to do that anymore. 

Pompeo has a sizable mountain to climb if he enters the presidential race. He is for the moment an also-ran in polls of a hypothetical GOP field that is led by Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Asked whether it sounds like he is leaning toward a run, Pompeo demurred.

No, theres no lean. I dont mean that to be clever. Its kind of binary. Its a zero or one, he said.

Never Give an Inch by Mike Pompeo is out now, published by Broadside Books, an imprint of HarperCollins.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
By Orhan Coskun and Daren Butler

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's devastating earthquake has thrown into disarray plans for elections to be held by June, sparking frantic debate within President Tayyip Erdogan's government and the opposition over a possible delay.

Even before the disaster - the deadliest in the country's modern history - opinion polls suggested very tight presidential and parliamentary contests.

Here is the state of play and possible scenarios:

WHAT DID THE EARTHQUAKE CHANGE?

Last Monday's disaster killed at least 32,000 people in southern Turkey, destroyed tens of thousands of buildings and triggered an exodus from the region, casting doubt over the feasibility of organising elections in the near term.

The logistical difficulties are considerable in a region that is home to some 13 million people, with hundreds of thousands left with destroyed or unsafe houses.

Last month Erdogan, seeking to extend his and his AK Party's (AKP) rule into a third decade, had said the elections would be held in May, a month ahead of schedule.

But in recent days his allies indicated he would seek a delay.

"I don't think it's time to talk about elections," an AKP official told Reuters, citing the state of emergency. "There must be some delay."

The official, who declined to be named because he was not authorised to speak on the issue, said November seemed the most reasonable new timing, but that no decision had been taken.

Another official last week said the scale of the destruction presented "serious difficulties" for holding the votes on time.

CAN THE VOTE BE DELAYED?

Any attempt to delay elections faces a major constitutional hurdle: Article 78 says parliament may postpone elections for one year, but only in the case of war.

Former deputy prime minister Bulent Arinc, a founder of Erdogan's AKP, called on Monday for a vote postponement and said constitutions are not "sacred texts".

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"Elections must be postponed immediately so that the state bureaucracy can focus on helping our citizens heal wounds. This is not a choice but a necessity," Arinc said, in what some observers saw as a trial balloon to gauge public mood.

The issue was set to come up at a cabinet meeting chaired by Erdogan on Tuesday afternoon.

WHAT DOES THE OPPOSITION SAY?

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main opposition CHP, dismissed a delay on grounds that the constitution is clear on the issue.

"No one can create a legal norm of their own by inventing justifications other than the constitution and laws. There is a constitution. If we say 'Turkey is a state of law', there cannot be (a delay)," he told Yetkin Report in an interview.

He said the priority was to set an election date and get the High Election Board to start preparations.

However, the opposition faces its own challenges. The main six-party alliance seeking to oust Erdogan has yet to announce a presidential candidate and there had been some disagreement within its ranks.

An official from the IYI Party, like the CHP an alliance member, said they would discuss the candidate issue in the coming weeks.

WHO WOULD BENEFIT FROM A DELAY?

Opinion polls before the quake suggested the vote would be Erdogan's toughest electoral challenge yet with his popularity eroded by the soaring cost of living and a slump in the lira.

The quake brings further uncertainty.

The government faces criticism over the initial speed and organisation of the emergency response and Erdogan has said it was not as fast as desired and he declared a three-month state of emergency in the 10 affected provinces.

The AKP official expected the disaster to erode votes for the ruling alliance given the suffering, and the loss of life and property. "They will want to hold someone to account," the official said.

The quake-hit region has traditionally backed Erdogan: he took 55% of the vote there in the 2018 presidential election, while his AKP and its partners won the same level of support in the parliamentary election.

Disasters have swayed votes in the past.

After a powerful 1999 earthquake that killed 17,000 people in northwest Turkey, criticism of the response was one factor behind a collapse in then-government's popularity, which helped the AKP triumph in the 2002 vote.

WOULD ERDOGAN BE ABLE TO RUN?

There is also fierce debate between the government and opposition whether Erdogan can run again, having been president since 2014 and serving his second term.

Constitutional professor Ibrahim Kaboglu, spokesman of the CHP's constitutional commission, said Erdogan would only be eligible to stand in the election if it was held before June.

The constitution sets a two-term limit for presidents, but they can seek another term if parliament calls an early election before the second term expires.

Were Erdogan to run later, the constitution would have to be changed, Kaboglu said.

"But such a constitutional change would just be for an individual. Discussing such a change would be problematic," he said.

(Additional reporting by Can Sezer and Birsen Altayli in Istanbul; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Jonathan Spicer and Tomasz Janowski)
By Nigel Hunt and Jonathan Saul

LONDON (Reuters) - Russia has proposed that a U.N.-backed initiative that has enabled grains to be exported from Ukraine's Black Sea ports should be renewed for just 60 days.

The deal to free up grain exports from Ukraine's southern Black Sea ports, which expires later this month, has previously been renewed for 120 days and there are concerns a shorter extension could cause logistical issues.

Reached in July last year, it created a protected sea transit corridor and was designed to alleviate global food shortages by allowing exports to resume from three ports in Ukraine, a major producer of grains and oilseeds.

Here are some of the issues:

WHAT HAS BEEN EXPORTED?

Under the pact to create a safe shipping channel, some 24.6 million tonnes of agricultural products have been shipped, including 12.2 million tonnes of corn.

Wheat shipments have reached 6.7 million tonnes. Other commodities shipped include rapeseed, sunflower oil, sunflower meal and barley.

The leading destinations have been China (5.4 million tonnes), Spain (4.3 million) and Turkey (2.7 million).

For a full breakdown of the countries and quantities exported:

https://www.un.org/en/black-sea-grain-initiative/vessel-movements

HOW MIGHT THE AGREEMENT CHANGE?

The main potential change to the agreement is a shortening in the length of the renewal to 60 days from 120 days, a switch that is supported by Russia but opposed by Ukraine.

A shorter period is significant as there is often a slowdown in shipments in the period leading up to the renewal date due to the potential risk that the deal may collapse.

If the deal collapses, more ships in the region could be stranded.

There are still up to 60 commercial ships stuck around Ukrainian ports from more than 90 vessels - many with food cargoes onboard - in February 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, industry sources said.

It is likely therefore that a shorter renewal period will effectively mean a lower volume of shipments of grains and oilseeds out of Ukraine through the corridor as companies consider whether their shipments may get stuck.

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Shipping companies are already holding off from charters through the corridor until more is known over the outcome of the current talks, industry sources said.

Ukraine has said it would like the deal to be extended for at least one year and the addition of the port of Mykolaiv.

The three ports involved in the deal - Odesa, Chornomorskand Pivdennyi - have the combined capacity to ship around 3million tonnes a month.

Mykolaiv was Ukraine's second-largest grain terminal according to 2021 shipment data so its addition would allow a much larger volume of grains and oilseeds to be shipped.

Russia has said it opposes the expansion of the deal until concrete steps are taken to unblock its agricultural exports.

Agricultural exports have not been explicitly targeted by sanctions, but Moscow says blocks on its payments, logistics and insurance industries are a barrier to the export of its grains and fertilisers.

Among its demands, Russia is believed to want the West to ease restrictions on state agriculture lender Rosselkhozbank, which should facilitate Russian exports.

HAS IT ALLEVIATED THE FOOD CRISIS?

Reduced shipments from major exporter Ukraine have played a role in the global food price crisis.

Other factors include the COVID-19 pandemic and climate shocks that continue to challenge agricultural production, including 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 and from ports there is challenging and expensive, and Ukrainian farmers have reduced sowings of crops such as wheat and corn after in many cases selling last year's crops at a loss because domestic prices were very low.

HAS IT DRIVEN DOWN GLOBAL WHEAT PRICES?

Prices of wheat on the Chicago Board of Trade rosesharply following Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.

They are now around pre-conflict levels as Ukraine's ability to export millions of tonnes of wheat through the corridor helped to lower prices.

Other factors include a record crop in major exporter Russia last year, the gloomy global economic outlook and a strong dollar.

Prices for wheat-based food staples, such as bread andnoodles, are still well above pre-invasion levels in many developing countries despite the decline in Chicago futures, as weak local currencies and higher energy prices have raised costs such as transport and packaging.

WHAT ABOUT INSURANCE?

The Istanbul based Joint Coordination Centre, which overseesthe deal and is made up of Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian and U.N.officials, in August published procedures on theshipping channel to address the concerns of insurersand shipowners.

Insurers initially said they were willing to provide cover if there were arrangements for international navy escortsand 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.

This has been compounded by insurers having to cover more of the risk after reinsurers at the start of this year introduced exclusions for Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, meaning more exposure for insurers and potentially less appetite to cover cargoes.

Ships that sail into one of the three Ukrainian ports under the accord are required by their charterers to pay an additional war premium, which is renewed every seven days costing thousands of dollars. If the extension is limited to 60 days it could dissuade more ship owners from chartering their vessels given the multiple costs involved and the possibility of getting stuck.

(Reporting by Nigel Hunt and Jonathan Saul in London and Pavel Polityuk in Kyiv, Editing by Angus MacSwan, Alex Richardson and Barbara Lewis)
By Erwin Seba

HOUSTON (Reuters) - A 10-month lockout of union workers at an Exxon Mobil refinery was undertaken to save costs and improve profits at the Beaumont, Texas, facility, and not to eliminate union representation, an Exxon Mobil official told an administrative judge on Monday.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) last year called for the company to compensate the facility's roughly 650 workers for wage losses during what it called an "unlawful" 10-month lockout.

An Exxon spokesperson called the complaint "an attempt to overturn decades of labor law and Supreme Court precedent," and said Exxon expects to prevail. Exxon could face millions of dollars in back pay for the hourly workers. The NLRB judge is due to rule after hearing from the company and United Steelworkers' officials.

Union representatives are to testify this week. In the past, they have argued that the lockout was unnecessary and designed to decertify, or throw out, the union at the plant.

"Decertification was never a factor in the lockout," Exxon attorney Eva Shih said in opening remarks to Administrative Law Judge Jeffrey Wedekind. Operating losses at the facility and prior costs for replacement workers in earlier negotiations were behind the lockout and demand for job and contract term changes, she said.

The company had paid about $30 million to have employees on standby for four months after the prior contract talks dragged on in 2015, she said.

In 2020, as the company began preparing for the subsequent contract, Exxon decided it "couldn't run in EMCO mode again," Shih said, referring to the standby workers.

That same year, Exxon lost $22 billion overall, in part because of the loss of demand for its oil and motor fuels from lockdowns and work-from-home programs tied to halting the spread of COVID-19, she said.

In the planning for the 2021 talks, the company managers "discussed having to execute an offensive lockout as they knew bargaining was going to be contentious," Shih said. "The company could not accept the costs and dangers of a possible strike."

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She said it was unprecedented for Exxon to lock out workers in the absence of a strike. But potential processing unit shutdowns and start-ups that might come from a strike represented high risk.

The union had issued a notice of a possible strike as early as May 1, 2021, and the company threatened to lock out workers on that date. The union did not call a strike, but Exxon launched the lockout.

The company also felt it needed to cut costs, Shih said. In 2012, the Beaumont refinery had the worst financial performance of the company's refineries and faced a potential sale. Exxon gave plant managers instructions to improve performance in order to be considered for a $2 billion expansion that is now starting up.

(Reporting by Erwin Seba in Houston; Editing by Leslie Adler)
People mourn during a funeral of Palestinian Mahmoud Al-Aydi in the Far'a refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus, on Feb. 14, 2023. (Photo by Nidal Eshtayeh/Xinhua)

RAMALLAH, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- A Palestinian teenager on Tuesday died of critical wounds sustained in clashes with Israeli soldiers that broke out in the Far'a refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus, Palestinian Health Ministry said.

The ministry said that Mahmoud Al-Aydi, 17, died of his wounds after being shot in the head by Israeli soldiers.

Local sources and eyewitnesses said that an Israeli army force stormed the refugee camp to arrest Palestinians allegedly involved in attacks against the Israeli army in the West Bank.

An Israeli army spokesman said in a statement that the Israeli army and the security forces carried out regular operations in several West Bank areas, adding that Israeli soldiers confiscated weapons and arrested Palestinians wanted by Israel.

The statement added that a Palestinian suspect approached the soldiers with an explosive device, and the soldiers opened fire in response.

The killing was the latest in a year-long surge of violence between Israelis and the Palestinians.

Israel's security forces have carried out daily raids in the West Bank, in which at least 45 Palestinians have been killed since the beginning of 2023. Israel says that the raids are aimed at arresting suspects in a string of attacks against Israelis.

Tension has been mounting in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, mainly after the formation of the Israeli right-wing government headed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in December last year. 

Mourners carry the body of Palestinian Mahmoud Al-Aydi during his funeral in the Far'a refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus, on Feb. 14, 2023. (Photo by Nidal Eshtayeh/Xinhua)
By Huw Jones

LONDON (Reuters) -Partners in EY are expected to give approval for spinning off the company's consulting arm and listing it on the stock market by the end of the year, a senior EY official said on Tuesday.

Over 13,000 partners - out of EY's 365,400 staff - are due to vote on the divestiture plan in April with the outcome known quickly, said Marie-Laure Delarue, EY's global vice chair for assurance and member of the company's global executive.

"We expect a massive approval, but it's not to say there is still not a lot of work to do," Delarue told Reuters. "A lot of our clients tell us it makes total sense, but you have to do it right. Regulators are, in general, supportive."

Just over half of EY's 145 country networks will vote on splitting each national network into separate auditing and consultancy units. It is a move which does not make sense for all networks, Delarue said.

Country networks which vote to reject splitting up would stay with what remains of EY, which will include advisory, tax and sustainability services alongside auditing, she said.

EY, formerly known as Ernst & Young, is one of the world's 'Big Four' auditors, along with Deloitte, PwC and KPMG. It had revenues of $45.4 billion in the year to June 2022.

The "Newco" will account for $25 billion of revenue and 7,000 partners, with what's left of EY representing $20 billion and 6,000 partners.

The divestiture has raised questions over attracting and retaining auditors when the consulting side has traditionally been better paid, an issue Delarue said regulators have raised.

"We are going to take this as an opportunity to reinvigorate the attractiveness of the profession," she said.

The aim is for "Newco" to be ready for a stock market debut and issuing bonds by the end of the year, Delarue said, declining to give any detail on where the stock would be listed.

The timing will depend on market conditions and could move into 2024, but will likely mean partners reaping windfalls worth millions of dollars each.

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The other Big Four firms have indicated they will not be following suit, for now at least.

Britain is already requiring the Big Four to run their auditing and consultancy arms separately by mid-2024 to minimise conflicts of interest from providing services to firms they are also auditing.

(Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Jason Neely and Mike Harrison)
The claim: Thailand is banning Pfizer after Thai princess got booster and fell into coma

A Feb. 7 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows the blue and white Pfizer logo atop a screenshot of a news story.

Thailand to BAN Pfizer After Thai Princess Falls Into a Coma Following Booster Jab, reads the headline.

The post was liked more than 900 times. The claim was also shared widely on Facebook and Twitter.

Follow us on Facebook! Like our page to get updates throughout the day on our latest debunks

Our rating: False

Thai health officials said the claim is baseless, and a Pfizer spokesperson told USA TODAY the company continues to operate in Thailand. The princess' condition has been attributed to a heart issue caused by a bacterial infection, not the COVID-19 vaccine.

Princess' health condition tied to bacterial infection, not COVID vaccine

Thailand's Department of Disease Control said the claim that Pfizer was banned was false in a Feb. 2 Facebook post.

The Pfizer vaccine continues to be available and recommended for use in Thailand, Pfizer spokesperson Trupti Wagh told USA TODAY.

"With hundreds of millions of doses of the original and Omicron BA.4/BA.5-adapted bivalent Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine administered globally, the benefit-risk profile of our vaccines remains positive for all authorized indications and age groups," Wagh said.

Fact check: No, Australian High Court hasn't banned COVID-19 vaccines for children

One pack of Pfizer-BioNTech Omicron BA.4/BA.5 bivalent COVID-19 vaccine vials for children ages 5 to 11 years old .Handout Pfizer photo

The claim that a Thai princess suffered a health issue because of the vaccine is also baseless.

Thai princess Bajrakitiyabha Narendiradebyavati passed out in December and remained unconscious in January, as reported by outlets including The Bangkok Post and Reuters. Royal doctors said the princess' condition was caused by a bacterial infection that led to severe heart arrhythmia.

The screenshot included in the Instagram post comes from David Icke's website. Icke is an English conspiracy theorist who was banned from 26 European countries in 2022 for two years amid concerns his presence at a demonstration in the Netherlands would prompt unrest in the region.

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The terms and conditions page on Icke's website notes that it "exclude(s) liability for ... the accuracy, currency or validity of information and material."

USA TODAY reached out to Icke and social media users who shared the claim for comment. One user responded but did not provide evidence to support the claim.

The Associated Press and FactCheck.org also debunked the claim.

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 Thailand is banning Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine
(Reuters) - Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Tuesday she will seek the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, putting her at odds with one-time boss Donald Trump, the former president currently leading the Republican race.

Here are key facts about Haley's life and political career.

DAUGHTER OF IMMIGRANTS

Haley, 51, has gained a reputation in the Republican Party as a solid conservative who has the ability to address issues of gender and race in a more credible fashion than many of her peers.

She is the daughter of two immigrants from India who ran a clothing store in rural South Carolina, and has spoken occasionally about the discrimination her family faced in a state where only 1.9% of residents are of Asian descent.

She graduated from Clemson University in 1994 with a degree in accounting and helped expand her parents' clothing business. She took on leadership roles in several business organizations before winning a seat in the South Carolina state legislature in 2004. She is married and has two children.

SOUTH CAROLINA GOVERNOR

Elected governor in 2010, Haley became the first woman to hold that post in South Carolina and the second person of Indian descent to serve as a state governor in the United States.

She received national attention in 2015 when she signed a bill into law removing the Confederate battle flag from the grounds of the South Carolina state capitol following the murder of nine black churchgoers by white supremacist Dylann Roof.

She also appointed a potential presidential rival, Tim Scott, to the U.S. Senate in 2012.

UNITED NATIONS AMBASSADOR

Haley endorsed several rivals to Trump in the 2016 Republican presidential nominating contest, and occasionally tangled with him during the primaries.

But she went on to serve as his ambassador to the United Nations, where she gained a reputation as a vocal defender of U.S. interests. During that time, the United States pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal, which was unpopular with Republicans.

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RELATIONSHIP TO TRUMP

Since leaving the Trump administration in 2018, Haley has distanced herself from the former president several times, only to later soften her rhetoric, saying he has an important role to play in the Republican Party.

She criticized Trump after his supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in an attempt to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden, but later sought to make amends with him.

While she has criticized Republicans for falsely casting doubt on the results of the 2020 presidential election, she campaigned during the 2022 midterms on behalf of multiple candidates who supported Trump's false election fraud claims.

She has also previously said she would not run for president if Trump decides to run again - a stance she has now reversed.

She did not attend a recent Trump rally at the South Carolina state capitol.

(Reporting by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Scott Malone and Will Dunham)
The family and the attorney of a man wounded by Columbus police earlier this month spoke out Monday against a pilot gang enforcement unit and demanded police policy changes on use of force and family visitation of people shot by police.

Columbus police officer Joshua Ohlinger shot Michael Cleveland, 66, on Feb. 5 after a brief foot chase following an attempted traffic stop on the South Side.

Police rendered aid to Cleveland, who was taken to a hospital in critical condition. His attorney, Sean Walton, said at a press conference Monday that at least one bullet struck Cleveland in the spine, likely paralyzing him for life.

Lakeya Cleveland, daughter of 66-year-old Michael Cleveland, who was shot by Columbus police officer Joshua Ohlinger on Feb. 5 while fleeing a traffic stop with a gun, stands with local attorney Sean Walton during a press conference Monday outside Columbus Division of Police headquarters Downtown.

Lakeya Cleveland, Michael Cleveland's daughter, said at the event that she has not been able to visit her father in the hospital due to a Columbus Division of Police policy that prevents visitation with people who were shot by police.

"Our family has been through a lot since this happened and we still not able to see my dad." Lakeya Cleveland said. "So I just got one question: Why is it the man who's running away has to get shot in the back?"

Walton said the family was demanding changes from the Division of Police and the city, including an end to the pilot gang enforcement program and a change to the visitation policy to allow family members of people shot by the police to visit them.

Walton said it was "cruel" that Cleveland is currently placed under 24/7 police guard at the hospital when he will likely be unable to walk in the future. Police guards are standard procedure in cases where criminal suspects are wounded or injured.

"Even after you shoot us, even after you shackle us, you continue to terrorize us," Walton said.

Police tape is stretched across Wilson Avenue on the South Side on Feb. 5 after Columbus police officer Joshua Ohlinger shot 66-year-old Michael Cleveland as he fled from the police with a gun.

The Dispatch earlier this month first revealed the existence of the new pilot gang enforcement unit. The Division of Police has previously had specialized units focused on gangs under "Safe Streets" and other initiatives that have resulted in controversy, such as the fatal shooting of Henry Green as well as a former vice unit that was disbanded amid scandal.

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Walton said he believes the new gang unit will be used as a tool to racially profile Black residents of the city and instill terror.

"There's been all these different names when they figure out a way to enforce whatever they feel like enforcing, under whatever the terms they want," Walton said of previous iterations of Columbus police gang enforcement initiatives. "It's meant to be intimidating."

First Assistant Chief LaShanna Potts, who declined to be interviewed by The Dispatch prior to its story on the unit, told local TV stations that the new unit is needed to reduce crime in the city and said it would not be a "rogue unit" like the Memphis police SCORPION unit involved in the recent death of Tyre Nichols.

Dispatch exclusive: Hand-picked leader of new Columbus police gang unit has troubling past, records show

Walton and Cleveland's family also called for the city to demand the Department of Justice review Columbus police for excessive use-of-force patterns, forbid officers like Ohlinger from returning to the streets during ongoing police shooting investigations, and for Ohlinger to resign and be charged with crimes related to the shooting.

Cleveland, who has a lengthy criminal record, was not legally permitted to have a firearm following a past felony drug conviction, police said.

"My father didn't deserve that  I don't care what type of picture they tried to paint of my father," Lakeya Cleveland said.

Attorney Sean Walton speaks Monday during a press conference outside police headquarters addressing the Feb. 5 shooting of Michael Cleveland, 66, by Columbus police.

Body camera video captured shooting

Body camera video captured Columbus police officer Joshua Ohlinger shooting Cleveland as he ran from police with a gun toward Wilson Avenue on the South Side.

Read more: Columbus police release body camera footage from Michael Cleveland police shooting

Ohlinger attempted a traffic stop around 3:05 p.m. Feb. 5 in the 1000 block of Wilson Avenue on the South Side, but Cleveland led the officer on a brief chase around a corner into an alley behind homes on Wilson. Police Chief Elaine Bryant said it was not clear what led to the traffic stop because Columbus police cannot interview Ohlinger since the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is investigating the shooting.

Police previously said Cleveland did not have any outstanding warrants for his arrest, although he had an expired license.

In the bodycam video, Cleveland can be seen running after exiting his vehicle. Ohlinger initially draws his stun gun, but after seeing Cleveland has a firearm Ohlinger draws his weapon. Within a moment after Ohlinger orders Cleveland to stop and put his hands up, the fleeing Cleveland appears to throw a firearm aside as Ohlinger fires his weapon at Cleveland's back six times and Cleveland drops to the ground.

Body camera footage shows Cleveland was treated by officers on scene before he was taken to a hospital in critical condition, which was upgraded to stable.

Multiple officers were on scene, but Ohlinger was the only one who fired at Cleveland.

Officer also shot teenager in August

Bryant said during a press conference afterwards she was concerned over what could have happened given that beyond Cleveland when Ohlinger fired were a handful of people on Wilson Avenue who scrambled to get out of the way when they heard the gunfire. A faith-led march against violence had been passing through the area at the time.

Bryant said Ohlinger's status at the division would be pending a psychiatric evaluation. Ohlinger was previously placed on leave for nearly three months after he shot a teenager with a gun during a traffic stop in August.

Ohlinger was taken off street duty for 89 days following that shooting and Ohio BCI was also called to investigate that shooting. Bryant said that shooting is still under investigation.

Walton said the culture of Columbus policing needs to change to prevent police shootings.

"That's where we're at  because they allow the officer who shot a 17-year-old under questionable circumstances to get back out there with no resolution, and to again shoot and paralyze an elder in our community," Walton said.

Colebehr_report

Cbehrens@dispatch.com

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Family of man shot by police demand policy change from Columbus police
A family member has started a fund for funeral expenses for twin 12-year-old Texas girls who police say were killed by their father last week in Navarro County.

Cousin Stephanie Stephens of Waco established a GoFundMe account for sisters Heaven and Nevaeh Sadler, who were found shot to death at their home on Friday in what authorities believe was a double murder-suicide.

The twins were unexpectedly taken away from life an an early age, Stephens posted on the GoFundMe page. We were not prepared for this tragedy, by any means.

Family members are seeking to raise $10,000.

Deputies with the Navarro County Sheriffs Office on Friday also found the body of the twins father, Larry Thompson.

Authorities believe the father killed his daughters and then killed himself in Frost, Texas. The town is about 75 miles southeast of Fort Worth.

Deputies were initially dispatched on Friday about a welfare concern in the 18000 block of Northwest 3360, located in the Brushie community. The caller  who is the twins stepmother  told authorities that she had a disagreement with her husband and she had left their home with her own children and stayed at another location for the night.

The caller stated that her husband and his twin 12-year old girls remained at the residence.

She returned hours later and when she went into the home to check on her family, she thought she heard a single gunshot. She immediately left and reported the incident, the sheriffs office said in a news release.

When deputies arrived, they learned that the suspect, Larry Thompson, was armed with a handgun and made statements of potential violence toward the family and police if anyone tried to take his children. The deputies confirmed by speaking with Thompsons mother, who had just been inside the house speaking with the suspect and the children.

Within minutes after Thompsons mother voluntarily left the residence, deputies reported hearing two gunshots from inside.

The incident was immediately deemed a hostage situation, and SWAT, crisis negotiators and medical personnel were deployed.

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After numerous attempts by the Crisis Negotiation Unit to contact anyone inside the residence, SWAT made entry with a tactical robot supported by an entry team. Officials found the bodies of Thompson and the twin girls inside the home, according to deputies.

April Sadler, the mother of the twin girls, was left speechless, according to WFAA-TV

They were some good kids, Sadler said.

Sadler said that Heaven and Nevaeh lived with their father, his wife and the wifes children.

Virdle Sadler-Nance, the twins grandmother, told WFAA that Thompson adored the girls.

They were precious kids. Them girls were beautiful, they were always hugging and kissing on me, Sadler-Nance said. They were my heart, my heart.

Child Protective Services officials said theyd never been called to the familys house, according to WFAA.
The family of Darryl Tyree Williams, a Black man who died after being tased by Raleigh police in January, has hired renowned civil rights attorney Ben Crump to represent them.

Williams, 32, was tased three times by Raleigh police officers who were arresting him for alleged drug possession Jan. 17 outside a sweepstakes parlor on Rock Quarry Road.

Crumps represented the family of George Floyd in 2020, as well as several other high-profile cases involving police brutality. Crump is originally from North Carolina and was born in Lumberton.

Most recently, Crump represented the family of Andrew Brown, who was fatally shot by police in Elizabeth City in 2021.

Yet again, we see a life lost too soon due to excessive and unreasonable police force, Crump said in a statement announcing his involvement in the Williams case..

To continue to deploy a taser on someone who discloses a heart condition and begs for mercy reflects an immense amount of apathy and blatant disregard for life, as we saw in the video footage, Crump said. We have seen too many people lose their lives to police tasers and stun guns unnecessarily. Just because they dont shoot bullets does not mean they are not a deadly weapon. We lift up Darryls family in prayer and fully intend to get them the answers and justice they deserve.

Williams death in police custody

Officers struggled to detain and arrest Williams for allegedly possessing drugs outside a sweepstakes parlor in southeast Raleigh, according to a police report issued after the incident.

The officers approached him around 1:55 a.m. while conducting proactive patrols of businesses in the 800 block of Rock Quarry Road.

READ MORE: Read the full police report here

Police say Williams resisted arrest and pulled away from officers grasps before he was first tased.

Body camera footage released last week by the city of Raleigh showed Williams telling officers as one deploying his taser that he had heart problems. He was tased three times.

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When Williams did not heed officers commands to put his hands behind his back, officers tased him a second time.

Williams cried out after the second time he was tased and pleaded with the officers, the footage shows.

I have heart problems. Please ... please. Please!, Williams said.

Three, two, one, an officer says simultaneously. Williams moans and screams in pain as officers tase him a third time and then falls silent.

Six police officers are on administrative leave and footage from the incident was released.

He is the third person since 2022 who has died after an encounter with Raleigh police, after two fatal shootings of men by officers last year.
By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) - A divided U.S. appeals court on Tuesday said federal workers are generally not entitled to extra pay for being exposed to COVID-19 through their jobs.

In a 10-2 decision with potentially "far-reaching" ramifications, the U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against 188 current and former correctional employees at a federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut.

The employees said they deserved hazardous duty and environmental differential pay because they worked with or in close proximity to people, objects and surfaces infected with COVID-19, and were not wearing sufficient protective gear.

But the appeals court said the government's Office of Personnel Management, the human resources agency for more than 2.1 million federal workers, had no regulations affording extra pay for exposure in most settings to contagious diseases.

It said exceptions covered some laboratories and tropical jungles, and that it was up to Congress or the agency to add categories.

"COVID-19 is a serious national and international health concern, and the potential ramifications of this case are far-reaching and cut across the entire federal workforce," Circuit Judge Raymond Chen wrote.

"We conclude that OPM simply has not addressed contagious-disease transmission (e.g., human-to-human, or through human-contaminated intermediary objects or surfaces)" in most settings, he added. "That is not to say that such differential pay may not be warranted."

Circuit Judge Jimmie Reyna dissented, saying the prison employees plausibly alleged they deserved extra pay for exposure to "unusually" hazardous conditions.

"The COVID-19 pandemic adversely affected our workplaces, schools, airlines, hotels, meat-packing houses, and hospitals," Reyna wrote. "Even courthouses were momentarily shuttered on the premise that COVID-19 was in the streets roaring like a lion. We cannot shake off those experiences like dust from a rug."

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Molly Elkin, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said in an email: "Sadly, the majority was motivated by fear of the floodgates.... We are exploring all options available to get our brave correctional officers the hazard pay they deserve for working in a crowded prison - a Petri dish for COVID-19."

OPM did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Tuesday's decision upheld a February 2021 ruling by a federal Court of Claims judge.

The decision is Adams et al v U.S., U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 2021-1662.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) on Tuesday announced that she will not seek a sixth term in office and will retire from the Senate at the end of 2024, officially creating an open primary battle to replace the trailblazing senator.

I am announcing today I will not run for reelection in 2024 but intend to accomplish as much for California as I can through the end of next year when my term ends, Feinstein said in a statement.

I campaigned in 2018 on several priorities for California and the nation: preventing and combating wildfires, mitigating the effects of record-setting drought, responding to the homelessness crisis, and ensuring all Americans have access to affordable, high-quality health care. Congress has enacted legislation on all of these topics over the past several years, but more needs to be done  and I will continue these efforts, she added.

Feinstein, 89, has been subject to critical reports in recent years over her mental acuity, but defended herself against those claims, citing the death of her husband, Richard Blum, last year as a chief distraction.

However, signs of her declining mental acuity were clear on Tuesday. After a reporter asked her what message she has for her Senate colleagues, Feinstein asked why she would have a message for them.

About your not seeking reelection, the reporter asked.

Well, I havent made that decision. I havent released anything, Feinstein said.

A Feinstein staffer then interjected, telling her that they put out a press release with her retirement statement.

You put out the statement? she asked, adding a few seconds later, I shouldve known they put it out.

It is what it is. The time is come, Feinstein continued.

The five-term senator is a groundbreaking woman in American political history.

She, along with former Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), was the first woman elected to the Senate from the Golden State. She is also the longest-serving woman in the history of the Senate, having served atop two committees  Intelligence and Rules  and authored the assault weapons ban in 1994.

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Feinstein also holds the distinction of having won the most votes in any single Senate election in history, having raked in 7.8 million votes in 2012.

Prior to her Senate service, she was mayor of San Francisco for a decade.

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday called her a legend and an amazing person.

Shes a legend. A legend in California as the first woman senator. A legend in this Senate, she was the leader on so many different issues, he said.

Schumer also said Feinstein at the Democrats caucus lunch got a standing ovation that lasted minutes and minutes and minutes, one of the longest Ive ever seen, which shows the love our caucus, and our country, have for this wonderful leader and legend.

Feinstein, the oldest sitting senator, has long been expected to depart at the end of her current term, having rolled back her workload and responsibilities in recent years.

She stepped aside as the leading Democrat atop the Senate Judiciary Committee in late 2020, a move that followed intense criticism over her handling of the confirmations of Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.

Feinstein also declined to take on the position of Senate president pro tempore, usually reserved for the most senior member of the party in power  Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the second-longest tenured Senate Democrat, filled that role after former Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) retired last year.

In addition, Feinstein did not show any indication that a reelection bid was in the offing based on her fundraising in recent months. According to her most recent FEC filing, the California Democrat raised $600 in the final three months of 2022 and has only $10,000 in the bank.

She said late last year that no matter her future plans, she would not resign before the end of her term. If she has a change of heart and decides to do so, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has said that he will appoint a Black woman to fill the seat.

A lack of earlier announcements about her future, however, did not stop candidates from launching their own Senate bids in California. Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) announced her official bid in early January, while Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), fresh off being removed from the House Intelligence Committee, joined the race weeks later. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) threw her support behind Schiff, assuming Feinstein sidestepped a campaign of her own.

Feinstein on Tuesday told reporters she would make an endorsement probably in a couple of months. The states other senator, Alex Padilla (D), said he would remain neutral.

The states jungle primary, likely to be held in summer of 2024, also means that two Democrats may make it to the general election that November. That was the case when Vice President Harris won her seat in 2016 and Feinstein won reelection in 2018.

Updated at 3:13 p.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
What started as a fight over a stolen bike 37 years ago has finally ended with an arrest in the killing of a West Virginia teen, deputies say.

In November, 1985, deputies found a shallow grave near the train tracks in Terra Alta, about 30 miles outside Morgantown.

There, the body of 13-year-old Jerimiah Jerry Matthew Watkins, was buried, according to a Feb. 14 release from the Preston County Sheriffs Office.

An autopsy report at the time showed that the boy had been stabbed in the back, and his death was ruled a homicide.

The sheriffs office says that despite trying to find Watkins killer 37 years ago, the case went cold. Just days before Watkins was killed, there had been one of the most devastating floods in West Virginias history.

Despite law enforcements efforts at the time  which also included helping countless families cope with the recent devastating flood  the case remained unsolved, officers said.

Preston County Sheriffs Offices Captain T.N. Tichnell began reviewing the case in the beginning of February of this year, and he found something startling.

Back in 1985, deputies had interviewed David Monroe Adams, who was 18 at the time and living in Terra Alta. Tichnell said that when he reviewed the statements made by Adams, he found inconsistencies.

Tichnell decided to bring Adams back in for questioning.

The sheriffs office said it conducted multiple interviews with Mr. Adams and he eventually confessed that an argument that started over a stolen bicycle resulted in Jerry being taken into a shed and murdered.

In court documents obtained by WDTV, Adams allegedly hit Watkins in the face before taking him back to the shed and stabbing him in his back.

Adams then allegedly dragged Watkins to a shallow hole, where he was later found dead, according to the court documents.

Deputies say Adams, now 56 years old and living in Westover, has been charged with second-degree murder and taken into custody, but they expect more charges to be filed.

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In the 37 years since his murder, countless agencies and organizations have contributed to this investigation, the sheriffs office said in the release. May you finally rest in peace, Jerry.

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Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said during a Senate hearing on cryptocurrency that the digital asset is the preferred payment method for international drug traffickers, North Korean hackers and ransomware attackers. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

A Senate panel met Tuesday morning to hear from a trio of expert witnesses about what the federal government can do to create safeguards for digital assets such as cryptocurrency.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), chair of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, opened the hearing illustrating the abrupt fall of the crypto industry, contrasting the explosion of money behind crypto commercials during last year's Super Bowl with the sector's absence at Sunday's game.

"What a difference a year makes. The cryptocurrency industry spent a whopping $54 million on eight ads promising Americans untold riches and a chance to make history," Brown said. "Of course they didn't tell us about the high fees, the risk of loss, the outright theft that plagued the crypto industry, but if you watched the Super Bowl two nights ago, you didn't see a single ad for crypto."

Brown said the industry has "imploded," with the crypto market losing nearly $1.5 trillion last year. He also warned that "this crypto nightmare isn't over yet" as members of Congress learn more about the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange and consider regulation to protect both consumers and innovation.

Here are some of the top takeaways from the hearing:

'Financial criminals love crypto'

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) used the hearing to promote her bipartisan anti-money laundering crypto legislation with Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.).

"Big-time financial criminals love crypto," Warren said. "Just last year  just in one year  crypto was the payment method of choice for international drug traffickers, who raked in over a billion dollars through crypto; North Korean hackers, who stole $1.7 billion and funneled that money into their nuclear program; and ransomware attackers, who took in almost $500 million. The crypto market took in $20 billion last year in illicit transactions."

Lee Reiners, policy director of Duke Financial Economics Center, testified that "crypto pseudonymity makes it ideally suited for bad actors" and that ransomware gangs  which use malicious software to block computer system access until a ransom is paid  wouldn't exist without cryptocurrency because it's "the exclusive payment method of choice for ransomware hackers."

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"That's why Sen. Roger Marshall and I are reintroducing our anti-money laundering bill to clamp down on crypto crime and give regulators the tools they need to stop the flow of crypto to drug traffickers in places like North Korea and Iran," Warren said.

Crypto inclusion is 'predatory'

Throughout the hearing, cryptocurrency and digital assets were discussed as currencies that could potentially provide financial access to people of color and people with low incomes who don't have access to traditional banks. Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), the top Republican on the panel and a potential 2024 presidential candidate, said 44% of Americans who own cryptocurrency and trade digital assets are new investors or people of color. But Reiners called such inclusion "predatory."

"There is no evidence whatsoever to suggest that crypto promotes financial inclusion. In fact, overwhelming evidence suggests the exact opposite is happening," he said. "Most people who've invested in cryptocurrency have lost money. Of those people, a plurality are minorities and low-income Americans. So this is an example of predatory inclusion."

Reiners likened such crypto activity to the subprime loans that led to the 2008 financial crisis. "We saw the same thing," he said, "where low-income and minority communities are being explicitly targeted with very, very risky products, and, unfortunately, they have lost  in many cases  everything."

Reiners went on to criticize Fidelity Investments for offering 401(k) investors access to cryptocurrency. "Would we think it's OK if they just let Powerball tickets end up in our 401(k)s?" he asked. "Crypto's just gambling."

Vance likens crypto to the internet

Sen. J.D. Vance, who owns cryptocurrency, said he has been "fascinated" by the digital asset for a long time. "But I also recognize that there are downsides to it, that there are risks that come along with it," he said. "My basic bias here is that we don't really know what it is yet, meaning not just cryptocurrency but a lot of the other underlying related Web3 technologies and that our regulatory approach should basically be to protect consumers while ensuring that we don't destroy the dynamic upside of this."

Vance used an analogy to explain his point about dynamic upside.

"What I wonder is how people would have described the internet in the 1970s, the 1980s, before it was commercially available, before it was a major part of the way that we did commerce, and if we had taken an overbearing approach then, we might've destroyed a lot of the upsides that have come over the last three decades," he said.

Vance's analogy drew praise from Linda Jeng, a visiting scholar on financial technology and adjunct professor of law at Georgetown Institute of International Economic Law, and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.)  but not from Reiners, who said crypto isn't new, noting that the first bitcoin transaction occurred in 2009.

"We have a 14-year track record to look back and assess this. It didn't take the internet 14 years to prove its worth," he said. "And so when you look at cryptocurrencies, I would just ask what's the fundamental value? Why are they worth anything? ... There's no reason to think that cryptocurrency's going to generate returns indefinitely into the future. It's clear that people are just buying it because they think they can sell it to someone else at a higher price in the future."

U.S. isn't leading in crypto regulation

Two of the three expert witnesses testified that the U.S. is at risk of falling behind other nations with cryptocurrency regulation, potentially empowering other countries to set the rules and standards for the rest of the world to follow when it comes to digital assets.

"Unfortunately, the U.S. is extremely behind the curve at this point," said Yesha Yadav, a professor at Vanderbilt University Law School. She said that while American leadership has allowed the U.S. to export its financial market regulation across the globe, other entities  such as the European Union  have taken the lead on regulating crypto.

"Here, it doesn't feel like we're leading," Yadav said. "It feels like we're potentially following others where they have taken a lead and have set the standards and are using their frameworks to say what rules are good and what rules are bad."

Georgetown's Jeng identified other nations that are ahead of the U.S., including Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and China.

The outlier was Reiners, the policy director of Duke Financial Economics Center, who disputed the characterization that America was falling behind and stressed the importance of American policy to be right, not first.

Other nations are "embracing crypto because essentially they're gambling that it can help juice their economy," he said. "Look at the situation in the Bahamas, where they embraced crypto. They rolled out the red carpet for [FTX founder] Sam Bankman-Fried, and obviously it didn't turn out so well. As I said in my opening testimony, crypto is doing more harm than good to our society."

Scott calls out SEC chair

Scott wasted little time going after Gary Gensler, the chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

"Before I dig into my opening comments, I want to address the elephant in the room," Scott began. "If Chairman Gensler is going to action  enforcement action  Congress needs to hear from him very soon. The chairman had lots of time to do the rounds of the morning talk shows. If he has time for that, he should be here testifying with us this morning, and I hope that we see him here very soon."

An SEC spokesperson told The Times that Gensler wasn't invited to Tuesday's hearing, which the person noted included no government witnesses.

Still, Scott criticized the SEC for failing to take meaningful preemptive action to prevent catastrophes and again called out Gensler's absence.

"If they have the tools they need, were they just asleep at the wheel?" he asked. "If they don't, why aren't they here to tell us what they need? We'd be happy to have Chairman Gensler testify sooner  much sooner  than later."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Leopard tank

According to Savola, this involves cooperation not only in supplying the weapons, but also in providing spare parts, training tankers, and providing logistics.

Read also: Finland prepares new military aid package for Ukraine

However, Finland has few tanks, the defense minister noted.

He did not specify what exactly the countrys participation in the tank coalition means, but pointed out that there are many ways to participate in it, e.g. training, spare parts, logistics, etc.

But Finland is involved, Savola added.

Read also: Germany and Poland to convene tank coalition next week

U.S. newspaper The Wall Street Journal reported on Feb. 9 that Finland does not plan to directly transfer tanks to Ukraine until Ukraine becomes a full NATO member.



Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
A former Los Banos city manager who was fired in 2022 after just nine months in the role may win his job back, along with a $1.8 million payout, new job protections and a raise that would provide a salary far higher than city managers of other small cities in the San Joaquin Valley.

The Los Banos City Council will vote Wednesday whether to reinstate Josh Pinheiro and thus block his threat of legal action, even though he has yet to file a lawsuit, according to items on the councils agenda.

Last year, the council voted 3-2 in closed session to terminate Pinheiros at will employment with the City without cause pursuant to his employment agreement, according to minutes of the June 15 meeting. Two of the members who voted to oust Pinheiro have since left the council.

After his firing, an attorney representing Pinheiro made a demand of the city alleging wrongful termination and retaliation, according to the staff report for Wednesdays city council agenda. However, neither Pinheiro nor his attorney ever filed a lawsuit, according to court records.

Pinheiro did not respond to voice messages left for him seeking his comment.

Even without a lawsuit being filed, city officials negotiated a settlement agreement with Pinheiros attorney, according to documents and statements from council members. As part of the deal, Pinheiro would agree not to sue the city, current and former council members or employees in connection with his first stint as city manager.

Speaking with the Central Valley Journalism Collaborative on Tuesday, Councilmember Brett Jones, who voted against firing Pinheiro, called the termination unjust.

The settlement price tag is worth it, Jones said, to win back a dedicated city manager, who, unlike a typical government employee doesnt see the Los Banos job as a stepping stone. He hopes the 36-year-old Pinheiro will train up a successor who will stay at the job long-term.

In my opinion, the $1.8 million is small in comparison to the opportunity cost weve given up over the last nine months without a committed city manager, Jones said in a phone interview.

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Whats amazing is the average person would take the $1.8 million and move on and not want to come back. In my opinion, I think hes doing the city a big favor, Jones said.

Contract under consideration

The proposed four-year employment agreement would provide Pinheiro a $215,000 base salary with annual increases of 4%. The salary would surpass that of city managers in larger cities nearby. Los Banos has a population of just over 46,000 people, according to Census figures.

The city manager of Merced, which is Merced Countys largest city with close to 86,000 people, earned a base salary of just under $215,000, according to her 2020 contract.

Pinheiro, who received a relocation payment of $2,500 under his original contract in 2021 would receive another one-time moving and relocation payment of $5,000 under the new deal. It also includes standard benefits for health care, life insurance and retirement plus a $500 per month car allowance and $100 per month cellphone allowance.

Under the employment contract, Pinheiros at-will employment could only be terminated by a unanimous city council vote, rather than by a simple majority vote as in 2021.

We want to make sure what happened on June 15 never happens again, Jones said.

Pinheiro hired a San Francisco-based employment law firm, Avloni Law, to negotiate the settlement agreement. The law firms website says it specializes in sexual harassment and discrimination cases.

Both Jones and Lambert said when settlement negotiations began, Pinheiro was pushing for much more money.

Lambert said he plans to cast a yes vote for Pinheiros contract and settlement.

Its time to take the bull by the horns and move forward, Lambert said.

Pinheiros qualifications for city manager remain unclear. Jones and Lambert described him as a businessman.

Lambert said Pinheiro has experience working for companies such as Amazon and Tesla without offering specifics. Pinheiro did not appear to have a profile posted to the professional social site LinkedIn and no other information about his background was immediately available.

None of the three councilmembers who voted to terminate Pinheiros contract agreed to comment about his firing or the new agreement. Deborah Lewis, who continues to serve on the council, declined to comment on Tuesday. Former Mayor Tom Faria and former Councilmember Refugio Llamas did not return messages left for them.
BEIRUT (Reuters) - A Saudi aid plane landed at a Syrian airport held by the government of President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday in the first such shipment from the kingdom that has backed the armed opposition to Assad during the country's 11-year civil war.

Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya reported that the plane carrying 35 tons of food and medical aid and shelter arrived at Aleppo International airport as part of a Saudi humanitarian operation to help Syrians affected by last week's deadly earthquake.

It said the operation was carried out on the orders of Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

"The directives given to us from the leadership in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia is to help the brotherly Syrian people affected (by the earthquake) across Syria," a member of the Saudi delegation told Syrian television.

The person, who was not identified, said that Tuesday's plane was the first of several set to arrive over the next days.

Before Tuesday, Saudi Arabia had sent aid only to the country's opposition-held northwest, including a convoy of 12 trucks that arrived in the devastated city of Jandaris on Monday, according to Saudi state-owned Al-Hadath.

The overall death toll from last week's earthquake in Turkey and Syria has topped 37,000, more than 5,714 of them in Syria according to a Reuters tally of reports from Syrian state media and a U.N. agency.

(Reporting by Timour Azhari, Kinda Makieh and Nayera Abdallah; Editing by Tom Hogue and Ed Osmond)
WASHINGTON  A Fishersville man looking at potential prison time if convicted for his role in the 2021 Capitol riots has new legal representation after his attorney recently withdrew from the case.

Jeffrey McKellop, 57, is accused by federal authorities of donning a helmet, tactical vest, protective eyewear and a gas mask on Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol as a joint session of Congress convened to certify the votes of the Electoral College for the 2020 presidential election, which was won by President Joe Biden.

McKellop, a former Special Forces soldier, is suspected of assaulting officers, throwing bottles at police and allegedly picking up a flagpole and striking a police officer in the face, causing a wound. He then reportedly threw the flagpole at the same officer like a spear, documents allege.

McKellop has been held in jail for nearly two years while awaiting trial.

In December, The News Leader reported that McKellop and his attorney at the time, John C. Kiyonaga, had entered into negotiations the month before for a possible plea deal. Court documents show that federal prosecutors extended a plea offer and that a counteroffer was made.

But on Jan. 20, in a motion to withdraw as counsel, Kiyonaga informed the government he was no longer able to effectively communicate or collaborate with McKellop while preparing his defense.

"He lost confidence in me," Kiyonaga said Tuesday. Kiyonaga is an Alexandria criminal defense attorney and former military prosecutor who also worked on Wall Street, according to his website.

Court files show McKellop is now being represented by two Texas attorneys from Dallas, Phillip A. Linder and James Lee Bright.

A trial date of April 20 has been set in the case.

Nearly a thousand suspects have been arrested in connection with the 2021 Capitol riots, according to the United States Department of Justice. About 100 of those suspects, including McKellop, have been charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer.

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According to the Military Times, the longest prison term received so far by a defendant in the Capitol riots was 10 years given to Marine veteran and retired police officer Thomas Webster in September. Webster, like McKellop, was accused of attacking a police officer with a flagpole. Webster also tackled and choked the officer.

At least four other suspects have been sentenced to more than seven years, USA Today reported in January. The average incarceration time levied is 16 months.

Approximately 140 police officers were assaulted at the Capitol, including about 80 from the U.S. Capitol Police and about 60 from the Metropolitan Police Department.

McKellop remains behind bars at the Correctional Treatment Facility in Washington, D.C., while awaiting trial on 17 federal counts.

Staunton School Board member takes trip of a lifetime to Guinea to study West African rhythms

Staunton man sentenced to 15 years in prison for raping girls

Brad Zinn is the cops, courts and breaking news reporter at The News Leader. Have a news tip? Or something that needs investigating? You can email reporter Brad Zinn (he/him) at bzinn@newsleader.com. You can also follow him on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Fishersville man arrested in Capitol riots switches attorneys
(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

With Valentines Day in full swing, you may be in the midst of preparing for an evening with your significant other. Or, if youre currently not in a relationship, you may opt to use 14 February to hang out with someone youre not yet dating. And whos to say thats not a good way to make the best out of this love day?

As youre continuing on with your dating journey, there are a few habits that you want to keep an eye on which can very telling about who youre sitting across from and what your relationship could become.

In todays dating world, some sinister trends have become more painfully common than ever been before, which is why we spoke to Susan Winter, a relationship expert based in New York City, about what these toxic tactics are and how to spot them.

This isnt to say that all romance is dead or that all dating is evil. There are some trends to keep in mind that can actually make you and your love interests relationship, or whatever you may call it, even stronger.

Here are the five dating trends to avoid this Valentines Day and the three that you could actually use.

Avoid: Ghosting

Probably the most common trend of them all is ghosting. The meaning of it is pretty much what it sounds like: when someone youre talking to turns into a ghost and cuts off communication out of nowhere. The matter of why theyve stopped texting, calling, etc, can often be unclear.

Although it seems simpler to send an I wish you well text rather than ghosting, that doesnt appear to be the norm anymore. Speaking to The Independent, Winter explains how ghosting is the result of the hookup culture -- when people opt for something casual instead of a relationship.

The hookup culture has depersonalized relationships and connections, making them disposable, she says. The entire idea of a casual relationship really fell through the cracks of human politeness because they think: It really doesnt mean anything, it wasnt a relationship. So the absence of giving someone a label allows them to default to very bad behaviour.

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Avoid: Love bombing

Despite the positive connotation in the first word of this term, love bombing is a controlling behaviour in the dating world. Winter describes it as someone glorifying the relationship they have with you and painting a dream for your future together.

For example, little phrases like: I cant stop thinking about you or Ive never met anybody like you could be said to you when youre being love bombed. While these little things may be exactly what you want to hear, it can be far too much all at once. The problem with love bombers is they are far too attentive, a tactic that ultimately turns into something quite manipulative.

It wears away at your existence, she explains. The light is so bright, the attention is so delicious. Even though you know you shouldnt go there, we all love to be desired. And the person who keeps throwing light and praise, you end up addicted to it. That is the point, it is the seduction technique.

Avoid: Gaslighting

A behaviour that also occurs outside of dating, gaslighting is a form of emotional abuse when someone manipulates you into questioning what you think or feel. In 2022, the phrase was so popular that Merriam Webster chose gaslighting as its word of the year.

As defined by the online dictionary, gaslighting leads to confusion, loss of confidence and self-esteem, uncertainty of ones emotional or mental stability, and a dependency on the person doing it. Winter went on to explain to The Independent that when youre dating a gaslighter, they twist your words entirely.

Instead of working through a problem, they put the problem back on you, she says. And they make you think its your fault or that youre imagining it. So its an ultimate form of lack of responsibility and a desire to make you crazy.

Avoid: Negging

Negging, which is also often referred to as a form of emotional manipulation, is when someone deliberately gives you a backhanded compliment. As Winter explains, one example could be that your partner says: Oh that dress is really cute, that was in a couple years ago.

Winter explains that this manipulative behaviour often occurs because a partner wants to make you feel insecure so you can seek their approval.

Negging is something thats meant to sound like a compliment, but it diminishes you at the same time, she adds. It is done for the reason of making you desire that persons acceptance. That they notice you but youre not quite up to snuff.

Avoid: Paperclipping

Unlike these other dating trends, this ones a bit more specific. Paperclipping describes how that ex reaches out to you at random points, but with no intention of wanting you back.

The term originated in 2019, after illustrator Samantha Rothenberg shared a drawing of the infamous and now-retired icon for Microsoft Word mascot Clippy. In Rothenbergs illustration, she described the ways in which this paper clip can be someone toxic, similar to that of an ex who youre not necessarily friends with.

Sometimes I pop up for no reason at all. Like now, the speech bubble in the graphics reads. See, the truth is, Im damaged, flaky, and not particularly interested in you. But I dont want you to forget I exist.

Winter describes paperclipping as a way of reserving ones heart and says it allows your ex to make you a perpetual option since you have history together.

You have a connection. You think it gives you the right to make contact again. You dont really intend to do anything, but you might. So, put them on hold, she adds. If this person just created chaos in your life, and they came back around, you just got to stay away.

Use: Hardballing

While some behaviours should certainly be avoided, there are still good ones to use that can help build your connection. Winter notes that while hardballing looks like such a tough-stabbing term, its a very rational move and quite simple behaviour too. It means when youre honest and straightforward about what it is youre looking for right off the bat.

Whether its in your online profile or the first time you meet in person, she explains. Only that way, when you review your hand and what you want, you have an idea of if theyre going to be a match for you or not.

She emphasises the benefits of hardballing, as opposed to learning later on that you and your love interest are going in different directions. It saves you months of time that youve wasted, only to come to that conclusion, with heartbreak attached, she adds.

Use: Turning Toward your relationship.

After studying couples for more than 50 years, psychologists Dr John Gottman and Dr Julie Schwartz Gottman learned how the act of turning towards your relationship can make it successful.

The doctors noted that through responding to different bids for connection from your partner, which can be requests for a quick phone call or deep conversation, you are aaacknowledging them and engaging with their attempt to connect.

The Gottmans explain that one way to practice this behaviour is with 10-minute check-in at some point of the day where neither you or your partner can be interrupted. Couples can also consider small moments, like saying good morning at the start of the day, as an opportunity to connect.

Use: Main Character Energy

This Gen-Z term has been defined far beyond just the dating realm. The premise of it is to focus on yourself in order to be happy with the person youre becoming.

In a recent study done by UK dating website Plenty of Fish, main character energy was identified as one of the top dating trends of 2023. In the results of the study, 49 per cent of singles said they were doing an active change to put themselves first.

Ultimately, Plenty of Fish says that by focusing on yourself when dating, you wont be settling for anything less than what you deserve. In the process of knowing what works for you, you are choosing to value your and someone elses time.
Yulia Petrova with her sons Zakhar and Matviy

According to Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko, at least five Ukrainians, including Petrovas family from Zaporizhzhia, were killed in the earthquake in Turkey. Ten Ukrainians were rescued from the rubble, while seven remain missing.

Read also: Ukrainian rescuers and paramedics arrive in Turkey to assist with aftermath of devastating earthquake

46-year-old Zaporizhzhia resident Yulia Petrova and her sons Zakhar, 10, and Matviy, 5, moved to stay their relatives in Antakya a few months ago.

Since Feb. 6, when the earthquake hit, they had not been in touch with, said Serhiy Petrov.

But last night we got confirmation that their bodies were found under the rubble.

Yulia Petrova's father said that her husband was a soldier who was being treated in Zaporizhzhia after being wounded. He was planning to go to Turkey to help search for his wife and children.

Read also: 24 Ukrainians reported to be out of contact in quake-hit Turkey, Foreign Ministry says

On Feb. 6, a series of earthquakes shook Turkey and Syria. They were among the most powerful and destructive in the last 100 years. A state of emergency was declared in 10 provinces of Turkey, which will last for three months.

The death toll in Turkey and Syria has exceeded 37,000 people. According to The Guardian, the estimate of 5,714 deaths in Syria is likely to be significantly underestimated.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
ORLANDO, Fla.  An Orange County judge Monday dismissed a voter fraud case brought by Gov. Ron DeSantis new election crimes office, finding statewide prosecutors lacked the authority to charge the Orlando defendant.

If the legislature wants a centralized prosecutor with the power to pursue any perceived illegality throughout the state of Florida, the Florida legislature has the authority to create a centralized system, Orange County Circuit Judge Jenifer Harris wrote in her ruling. This court will not facilitate such a concentrated power without legislative authority.

Last week, however, the Florida Legislature passed a bill that will give prosecutors statewide jurisdiction in these cases, nixing the current standard that led Harris to dismiss the case against 59-year-old Peter Washington.

The bill was sent to the governors office on Friday and is effective once signed into law, according to the Florida Senate website.

It is unclear if Attorney General Ashley Moodys office plans to re-submit the case against Washington after the law takes effect. It is our position that we currently have jurisdiction, and we will be reviewing our options, Statewide Prosecutor Nick Cox wrote in a statement to the Orlando Sentinel.

Mondays decision comes almost two weeks after Washington and his attorney filed a motion for dismissal, claiming it was illegal that the case was headed by the Office of Statewide Prosecution  which, until the recently passed bill is implemented, can only charge defendants accused of crimes committed in two or more judicial circuits.

Washington, who was convicted of attempted sexual battery in 1996, was sent a voter card from the Orange County Supervisor of Elections before he and his wife voted early in the 2020 election.

After his arrest, Washington told investigators that he was surprised he was being arrested for voter fraud and he didnt think it was illegal. He said he showed his photo ID and voter card to poll workers the day he cast a ballot and was not turned away.

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Washington was one of 20 people across the state charged with illegally casting a ballot in the 2020 election despite clearance to do so by state officials.

Two other defendants are Orange County residents.

His case was dismissed on similar grounds as Robert Wood, a Miami man whose case was thrown out when a judge ruled that the Office of Statewide Prosecution did not have the authority to charge him.

Last week, the trial of Nathan Hart, a Tampa man who was the first arrestee in the sweep of voter fraud cases, ended in a split verdict.

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After months of harsh words and empty shelves, Food Bank of Iowa and the Des Moines Area Religious Council announced Tuesday they have signed an agreement to end an impasse that pitted nonprofit against nonprofit.

The two organizations will restore food rescue operations to nine DMARC pantries that ended their partnership with Food Bank of Iowa following a contract dispute last fall.

DMARC's pantry, the DMARC-Ket Southside Food Pantry on Army Post Road, will also sign on as a Food Bank partner for the first time and gain access to all the organization's services, including donated, purchased and USDA food.

In December, Food Bank CEO Michelle Book and DMARC CEO Matt Unger announced they had agreed to enter negotiations to come to a resolution over their conflict. Their talks over the past few weeks have been facilitated by Scott Raecker, executive director of The Robert D. and Billie Ray Center at Drake University, and Jordan Vernoy, a Cedar Falls-based consultant.

"Matt and I realized that there's been friction between DMARC and Food Bank of Iowa for decades," Book said "This is our opportunity together to end that, to demonstrate to the community that these two great organizations can work together."

Both sides were pressured to broker a deal after the city of Des Moines issued an ultimatum to work out their differences or risk losing half a million dollars in funding. City spokesperson Al Setka said the City Council will vote on that funding, which will come from federal rescue funds and local option sales tax, in March.

How did Food Bank and DMARC get to this point?

Their relationship fractured Oct. 1, 2022, when the Food Bank of Iowa implemented a new contract addendum to its more than 300 food pantry partners to keep at least a three-day supply of food available for each of their clients, roughly 12 pounds per person.

Related:Pantries say they need food. Food Bank of Iowa says shelves 'are stocked.' What's going on?

DMARC already provided a three-day supply each month to their clients, but officials raised concerns that the requirement would mean individual clients could receive that amount of food at each of the 14 affiliated pantries each month, adding up to 42 days' worth of food for one person.

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DMARC insisted that simply isn't feasible.

But Food Bank of Iowa stuck by the requirement, with Book saying previously that arguments that clients would abuse the system under the new policy were "unfair" and "inaccurate."

The two groups failed to negotiate the conflict late last year, and as a result, 10 of DMARC's pantries ended their partnership with Food Bank of Iowa. That meant they lost access to food rescue coordinated by the Food Bank from local grocery stores and convenience stores.

In January, West Des Moines Human Services, one of the 10 that previously cut ties with Food Bank, signed back on to their partnership, including the addendum, to regain access to rescued food.

Previously:No eggs, no milk, no cheese: What a Des Moines food pantry looks like for those in need

What does this new food agreement do?

A notable change of the new agreement is that DMARC will take on centralized control of food rescue efforts with Food Bank of Iowa's business partners. Previously, Unger said, food rescue agreements involving the Food Bank and grocery store chains were made with individual pantries.

"There's never been an overarching organization working with pantries on their need that's been able to engage with partners," Unger said.

Unger said the new system will allow all pantries in the network, regardless of their association with Food Bank, to get equal access to food rescue. He credited Book with bringing up the idea.

"I think the biggest difference there is she's putting her trust in our organization to make sure that that's going to be equitably distributed across our 15-food-pantry network, whether they're a member of the Food Bank or not," he said.

Book also celebrated the addition of DMARC-Ket as a Food Bank member, calling it a "visionary" program serving a much-needed area on the city's south side.

"I am so glad that we get to be part of that," she said.

The shelves are partly bare at the Salvation Armys food pantry on Sixth Avenue in Des Moines on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023.

Does the new agreement resolve concerns over distribution?

Not really.

While the new agreement opens up opportunities for DMARC pantries to rejoin the Food Bank's network, it doesn't address concerns by DMARC and their network pantries over the required three-day supply of food to all visitors, regardless of network affiliation.

In becoming a partner, the DMARC-Ket has agreed to sign on to the Food Bank's distribution standards. The remaining DMARC pantries will need to agree to those terms before restarting their partnership with Food Bank.

The Register previously reported in December that early data showed the DMARC pantries that maintained their relationship with Food Bank and adopted the new three-day supply policy saw an uptick in repeat clients within two months.

Bidwell-Riverside, one of the largest pantries in the state, saw a 128% increase in repeat clients in October and a 70% increase in November compared with the same months last year, according to data provided by DMARC.

More:Pantries search for ways to stock shelves as Food Bank of Iowa declines to come to the table

Unger said he and Book have not reached a solution for those concerns but said they will keep lines of communication open.

"We're moving forward under the agreement that if we run into challenges, we're going to get together to discuss those challenges. Our sincere hope is that we can meet every need across the community working together," Unger said.

What does this mean for other nonprofits involved with food rescue?

Even as the two groups reach an agreement, Eat Greater Des Moines says its efforts to collect excess food to give to the poor have been hindered in recent months by "exclusive" agreements between Food Bank of Iowa and local businesses, such as Kum & Go.

Between September and October, when Eat Greater Des Moines was blocked from working with the local convenience chain, the amount of food rescued and redistributed in the metro was cut in half, said Aubrey Alvarez, executive director.

On Tuesday, Book said she does not foresee engaging in facilitated conversations with Eat Greater Des Moines, citing differences in the organization's missions and food safety standards.

"I respect the work that Aubrey Alvarez does," Book said, "but again, our missions are not aligned, I don't anticipate that would happen in the future."

Alvarez agrees that the two organizations differ on whether clients should prove they are in need before they may receive services. Food Bank of Iowa's contract requires the majority of food be provided to "financially needy clients."

Alvarez said her organization is less concerned with need and more concerned with preventing food from going to waste.

But she contested the assertion that Eat Greater Des Moines does not follow the same food safety protocols.

"We not only meet but exceed food safety guidelines that the Food Bank operates under," Alvarez said.

What's left to do to get food on pantry shelves?

Book said the new agreement between Food Bank of Iowa and DMARC "is not the finish line, it is merely a starting point."

The two CEOs both stated that future collaboration will be key in meeting the rising demand for food assistance in the metro and across the state of Iowa.

A report from Hunger Free America found that more than 25 million Americans didn't have enough to eat over a seven-day period last year, a 30% jump from a year earlier.

Though Iowa ranked among the lowest states for food insecurity, the report noted an estimated 332,744 Iowans didn't have enough food to eat in a week in October 2022  an 88% increase from October 2021, when the number was 177,233.

Rising costs and the end of pandemic-era funding boosts to programs such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Child Tax Credit and school meals have severely affected people's access to food, the report said.

The CEOs and the facilitators, Raecker and Vernoy, agreed that tackling rising food insecurity in the metro and across Iowa will require continued collaboration from DMARC, Food Bank of Iowa and all Iowans.

"While these are exceptionally exciting new commitments, the commitment to the relationship in and of itself will not solve food insecurity in this region," Raecker said. "However, as a community, the broader conversation of everyone engaged in this, I firmly believe we can support all of our neighbors."

Francesca Block is a breaking news reporter at the Des Moines Register. Reach her at FBlock@registermedia.com or on Twitter at@francescablock3.

Michaela Ramm covers health care for the Des Moines Register. She can be reached at mramm@registermedia.com, at (319) 339-7354 or on Twitter at @Michaela_Ramm.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Food Bank of Iowa, DMARC reach agreement to end standoff, collaborate
Community aid organizations across the First State are bracing themselves for an influx of need when the federal emergency allotments to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) expire at the end of February, leaving nearly 124,000 Delawareans without the extra grocery money that they've come to rely on for the last three years.

Other emergency relief programs started in March 2020 have already come to a close in Delaware. American Rescue Plan-funded vouchers to allow more people to temporarily stay at motels and hotels for free expired for most Delawareans at the end of August, and even more programs may end when the national public health emergency status expires in May.

But while COVID-19 based programs have gone away, the need created by the pandemic has not.

Boxes of food at the Food Bank of Delaware's Glasgow location await pickup by DoorDash and Amazon Flex drivers on Jan. 10, 2022.

RELATED:Homelessness in Delaware continues to increase as state services, pandemic funds dwindle

"It's going to be a challenge for those families and those households who have depended on this for the entirety of the pandemic," said Delaware Department of Health and Social Services deputy secretary Daniel Walker.

What changes to expect with SNAP benefits

Currently, emergency allotments give SNAP recipients the maximum amount for their household size, regardless of what their typical allotment is. For example, if a four-person house usually gets $600 in benefits, they would receive the maximum of $939. Families already receiving the maximum got an additional $95 each month.

Now, some individuals will be back to getting as little as $23 a month  only 8% of what they're used to receiving.

FOR SUBSCRIBERS:Low-income communities face toxic conditions. Delaware aims to help.

DHSS, which initially reached out to SNAP recipients in January about the end of emergency allotments, is mailing out letters in the coming days to alert people relying on the program of the upcoming change.

Walker said it's "not lost" on DHSS that many people either aren't aware or don't have the time to focus on this change and what it means. He said it's why the department has launched a social media campaign in addition to the letters and emails to get the word out.

Story continues

Where else to go for help

Some states have taken the step to supplement federal SNAP benefits with their own money. However, the Delaware legislature is not debating any such measure

It's now up to local community partners to ensure that people have enough to eat. But Food Bank of Delaware spokesperson Kim Turner said that many food pantries and non-profits are struggling on their end, too.

MORE:The COVID emergency is set to end in May. What does it mean to Delaware?

Volunteers gathered to give out over 600 turkeys and other Thanksgiving foods to those in need outside the Woodlawn Library in Wilmington on Nov. 19, 2022.

Donations are down, staffing is tight, and the same supply chain disruptions that are affecting prices and availability at the grocery store are putting a strain on food pantries. Still, Turner said the Food Bank of Delaware will do all that it can to meet what will likely be an increased need.

"We know that a lot of these people are already living on extremely tight budgets," Turner said. "It's going to be tough."

Food banks aren't the only ones expecting an influx at the end of the month.

Community Legal Aid Society, Inc. advocacy director John Whitelaw said that he and others at CLASI are "very concerned" about the ending of emergency SNAP benefits in Delaware.

"We realize that this is required by the federal government, but we think that there will be a significant increase in food insecurity amongst Delaware's most vulnerable people," Whitelaw said.

LOCAL:Wilmington police didn't use a tool to combat overdose deaths. Now, they carry Narcan.

Whitelaw said he expects more calls in the coming months from people experiencing issues with their SNAP benefits. He explained that because people were previously guaranteed to get the maximum benefit amount regardless of their "regular" SNAP allotment, some people relying on the program may not have paid attention to any changes in their typical monthly allotment.

But now, with the emergency allotments taken away, that base number becomes much more crucial.

Delaware Division of Social Services director Tom Hall urged anyone whose financial situation has changed since the start of the pandemic to reach out in advance so that their SNAP allotment can be adjusted before next month.

FOOD BANK:Food Bank of Delaware is partnering with DoorDash, Amazon to deliver food to those in need

"If we can do anything with their case based on changes in their circumstances that would help them out, we want to do that," Hall said.

Delawareans can report changes in income and household size online at assist.dhss.delaware.gov or by calling 1-866-843-7212 on weekdays between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.

For other help finding food, housing or treatment, call 211 or text your ZIP code to 898-211. A live chat is available online at delaware211.org.

A list of emergency state service centers is available online at dhss.delaware.gov/dhss/dssc/ofclocations.html.

Send story tips or ideas to Hannah Edelman at hedelman@delawareonline.com. For more reporting, follow them on Twitter at @h_edelman.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: SNAP pandemic benefits expire in Delaware next month. What it means
By Victoria Waldersee

BERLIN (Reuters) - Ford plans to cut one in nine jobs in Europe, axing 3,800 roles in product development and administration as part of a drive to lower costs in the region and concentrate engineering know-how in the United States, the automaker said on Tuesday

The U.S. carmaker leads the European market for commercial vans, but has struggled to make strong profits from passenger cars, and warned this month it would be "very aggressive" in reducing manufacturing and supply chain expenses this year.

CEO Jim Farley has repeatedly flagged that electric vehicle (EV) production would require less labour and significant cost cutting to remain competitive.

"There is significantly less work to be done on drivetrains moving out of combustion engines. We are moving into a world with less global platforms where less engineering work is necessary. This is why we have to make the adjustments," European passenger EV chief Martin Sander said on Tuesday.

Around 2,300 jobs will go at Ford's Cologne and Aachen sites in Germany, 1,300 in the UK and 200 in the rest of Europe, the company said, adding it intended to achieve the reductions through voluntary programmes.

The news comes as a blow to unions who said in late January the worst-case scenario was 2,500 job cuts in Europe in product development and a further 700 in administration.

Still, the carmaker agreed to no compulsory redundancies at its Cologne or Aachen sites before the end of 2032, providing some relief to workers, works council chair Benjamin Gruschka said on a press call.

"Workers know that the reduced model palette in coming years means fewer jobs. The exclusion of operational redundancies provides safety - we are not kicking anyone out," Gruschka said.

MORE EVs, LESS LABOUR

Ford, which saw 516,614 new passenger cars registered in Europe last year - a market share of 4.6%, according to European autos association ACEA - is planning an ambitious ramp up of EV sales in Europe, targeting over 600,000 by 2026.

Story continues

So far, it sells two all-electric SUVs in the region and an e-Transit van, but seven new models are in the pipeline by 2024, according to plans announced last March, including two produced in Cologne and one in Romania.

Ford is spending $50 billion on electrifying its product range, pivoting to a slimmer lineup with higher prices to compensate for rising costs of producing electric cars.

"The decision really is how much do we need - how many engineers, how many people do we need in Europe and how big of a profile do we need in passenger cars?" Farley told analysts earlier this month, with finance chief John Lawler adding engineers in Europe were 25-30% less productive than they should be.

Ford will retain around 3,400 engineers in the region who will build on core technology provided by their U.S. counterparts and adapt it to European customers, European passenger EV chief and head of Ford Germany Martin Sander said on a press call.

Cuts in the UK, which amount to one in five of the workforce there, will be mostly at the carmaker's research centre in Dunton, southeast England.

The cuts in Germany equate to around 12% of the workforce there.

Nothing has changed in the carmaker's electrification strategy, Sander added, with the goal of offering an all-electric passenger car lineup by 2030 and an all-electric fleet in Europe by 2035 still in place.

Ford is due to launch its first EV in Europe built on Volkswagen's MEB platform in Cologne later this year and is considering bringing a Ford platform to Europe, possibly to its plant in Valencia, Sander said.

Still, the Dearborn, Michigan-based company also said last March that its EV business would not be profitable until the next-generation models begin production in 2025.

Meanwhile, the company announced on Monday plans to invest $3.5 billion in a battery factory in Michigan, adding 2,500 jobs.

Ford's European staff last saw a wave of job cuts in 2019 and 2020 as the carmaker pursued a 6% operating margin in the region, a goal thrown off course by the pandemic, with pretax profit margins in Europe in the first nine months of 2022 at just 2.2% of sales.

(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee, additional reporting by Joe White; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Mark Potter)
Breaking news Memphis

A former Memphis police officer has pleaded guilty to a federal charge of assaulting a person in custody after a January 2021 arrest and the department said he resigned before an internal hearing on the incident could be held.

Armando Joel Bustamante told a federal judge he hit a man in the head with his pistol and hands while the man was in custody on Jan. 16, 2021.

"This former Memphis police officer abused his authority by violently assaulting a man without basis," Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said in a statement released Tuesday. "Officers who willfully use excessive force without basis are not above the law and will be held accountable."

In an email statement to The Commercial Appeal Tuesday evening, MPD said an internal investigation was launched into Bustamante the day he hit the man in the head.

Bustamante was scheduled for an administrative hearing into the excessive use of force and given the internal charges of "excessive/unnecessary force and personal conduct," Memphis police said. However, Bustamante resigned "in lieu of potential termination prior to his hearing."

"The use of excessive force in the Memphis Police Department will not be tolerated," Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn "C.J." Davis said in the statement. "Recent changes in the MPDs disciplinary procedures will ensure that egregious acts such as this will be addressed swiftly and appropriately."

He was a patrol officer at the Austin Peay Station, the department said in the statement.

Bustamante pleaded guilty Monday afternoon to one count of deprivation of rights under color of law. The charging document and court entry of his guilty plea were released Tuesday morning.

The victim's identity wasn't released. Charging documents identified the person only as "M.L."

"The defendant struck M.L. with his pistol, a dangerous weapon, and with his hands, without legal justification, resulting in bodily injury to M.L.," the charging document alleged.

Bustamante waived his right to be indicted and pleaded guilty based on a bill of information. His sentencing is scheduled for June 15 before U.S. District Judge John T Fowlkes Jr. in Memphis.

Story continues

Lucas Finton is a news reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com and followed on Twitter @LucasFinton.

Charging Documents for Armando Joel Bustamante by The Commercial Appeal on Scribd

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Former Memphis Police officer pleads guilty to 2021 assault
Taylor Budowich, who heads the Make America Great Again PAC, responded to Nikki Haleys campaign announcement Tuesday, accusing her of being a career politician.

Nikki Haley is just another career politician, Budowich, a former spokesperson for former President Trump, said in a statement. She started out as a Never Trumper before resigning to serve in the Trump admin. She then resigned early to go rake in money on corporate boards. Now, shes telling us she represents a new generation. Sure just looks like more of the same, a career politician whose only fulfilled commitment is to herself.

Budowich helped launch the MAGA PAC last September, along with other former Trump officials including Tony Fabrizio, Sergio Gor and Steven Cheung. The PAC aimed to support Trump-endorsed candidates ahead of the 2022 midterms and potentially to lay the groundwork for Trumps 2024 campaign announcement.

Haley, a former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador, launched her bid for the White House on Tuesday and became the first Republican to formally challenge Trump for the GOPs 2024 nomination.

Haley left the Trump administration in 2018, and established Stand for America, a group that aimed to support GOP candidates in the 2022 midterm elections. Her campaign announcement had long been expected, as she hinted at a potential presidential run multiple times in recent months.

Without mentioning Trump, she called for fresh leadership in the Republican Party in her campaign video, noting that the party has only won the popular vote once in the last eight presidential elections.

You should know this about me. I dont put up with bullies. And when you kick back, it hurts them more if youre wearing heels, Haley said in her announcement video. Im Nikki Haley, and Im running for president.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Challenger 2 tanks

French officials have raised concerns over the state of the British Armed Forces.

The Telegraph understands that Paris officials claimed that budget cuts to the UK's military were causing alarm among Nato members, as defence ministers from the pact gathered in Brussels.

It comes amid a row over defence spending in the upcoming budget, with Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, said to have asked the Chancellor for 10 billion for his department.

Calls for more money have been bolstered by the war in Ukraine, and by growing warnings about the threat from China in the wake of suspected spy balloons being shot down over the US.

On Tuesday a leading French MP told the Telegraph that there were concerns in his country that Britain had given weapons to Ukraine from its own supplies, leaving its forces depleted.

Emmanuel Macron announced last month that he would boost military spending by more than a third by 2030.

British government sources insisted that the French had not raised any such concerns with them.

It comes as Mr Wallace has been tipped to take over as head of Nato when Jens Stoltenberg, the current Secretary-General, steps down in October. On Tuesday, sources speculated that the French might rather the role went to an EU figure, and may be briefing to undermine Mr Wallace's chances.

Ben Wallace - No10 Downing Street

Thomas Gassilloud, president of the French parliamentary defence committee and an MP in Mr Macron's Renaissance group, told the Telegraph the French had a vested interest in the strength of the British military due to a strategic solidarity between the two nations.

We want the British to have a strong army, Mr Gassilloud said. When you have this type of debate it clearly is a source of concern. I have well understood that there is a political context to this regarding the defence budget and if this debate comes now its because everyone wants to weigh in on this debate.

He also sounded a note of caution over how the UK has given kit to Ukraine.

Story continues

Mr Gassilloud said: One of our criteria for giving away equipment is the condition of not weakening the French military. For example, last week we pledged more Caesar howitzers but these came directly from industry to the Ukrainians and were not taken from army stock. I think that all the equipment sent by the British to Ukraine appears to have been taken from army stock. We pay careful attention this is not the case.

The UK has been generous in its donations to Kyiv, which have included NLAW and Brimstone anti-tank missiles, Sea King helicopters, artillery shells, and most recently an order of 14 Challenger 2 tanks.

General Sir Patrick Sanders, the head of the Army, recently warned that it would be "temporarily weaker" as a result.

Meanwhile, Mr Stoltenberg on Monday warned that Ukraine was getting through ammunition faster than Nato member states could produce it.

Tobias Ellwood - Christopher Pledger

Tobias Ellwood, chairman of the Defence Select Committee, warned that the suggestion from the French could play into Vladimir Putins hands.

This Nato ministerial is a vital opportunity to show unity, commitment and resolve to upgrade our collective defence posture as Russia attempts to redraw the map of Eastern Europe, he said.

It is true Britains Army requires an urgent upgrade but this must be addressed in the Integrated Review refresh. Any public bickering between Nato allies only plays to Putins advantage.

The Ministry of Defence and the Treasury are locked in negotiations about how large an increase there should be in military spending.



The Telegraph revealed in December that the MoD will get at least a billion-pound boost to stop real term cuts in its budget.



However, there is now a wider debate about how high the increase should go, with decisions to be announced in the Budget on March 15.



The MoD is reportedly pushing for a rise of around 10 billion. Meanwhile, Treasury officials have accused the MoD of past overspends.



A backdrop of sustained pressure to provide weaponry and machinery to Ukraine, and the geopolitical challenges from Russia and China, has shaped the discussions.

'Lack of money'

Senior defence sources told The Telegraph on Tuesday that there was lack of money for the Ministry of Defence and that this would be reflected in the budget and the updated Integrated Review.

Under the 2021 Integrated Review there were radical cuts of troops by 10,000.

Mr Macron had pledged that France's military budget for 2024-2030 will stand at 413 billion (364 billion), up from 295 billion in 2019-2025.

Speaking at the Mont-de-Marsan air base in southwestern France on Jan 20 he said: "As war is changing, France has and will have armies ready for the perils of the century.We need to be one war ahead."

A Government spokesman said: This story is based on unsubstantiated rumours.

We are ensuring our Armed Forces have the equipment and capability they need - including through the biggest increase to defence spending since the Cold War, and a fully-funded 242 billion 10-year equipment plan.

Our Armed Forces remain among the best in the world and are one of the leading contributors to Nato. Next year we will take on the leadership of Natos Very High Readiness Joint Task Force  we have deployed over 8,000 troops last year alone.
Law enforcement officers have exposed a big financial scheme of assistance to the so-called "DPR" and "LPR" [self-proclaimed and non-recognised Donetsk Peoples Republic and Luhansk Peoples Republic  ed.].

Source: Press service of the Security Service of Ukraine; press service of the Prosecutor Generals Office

Details: The investigation has shown that a group of people engaged in financial fraud has operated in separate oblasts of Ukraine along with representatives of the above-mentioned sham republics since May 2022.

Their goal was to possess funds that were on the accounts of Ukrainian citizens who are in temporarily occupied territories at the moment; in particular, this referred to Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.

A criminal group from temporarily occupied Donetsk is among the organisers of this scheme; it possessed a customer database of captured bank branches, including those in Mariupol.

These were the personal data of almost 4,000 local residents, including those who were killed or deported to the Russian Federation but had savings in financial institutions in territories controlled by the Ukrainian government at the moment.

Criminals have used special equipment to change the routing of calls and called Ukrainian banks allegedly on behalf of account owners, receiving access to online banking systems.

Scheme organisers have used a call centre in temporarily occupied Donetsk to call Ukrainian banks en masse. Employees of this so-called call centre used the Internet and special equipment in non-occupied territories of Ukraine to call relevant institutions, allegedly as true account owners.

In order to hide traces of the crime, the criminals have exchanged stolen funds for cryptocurrency.

Then, they transferred those funds through crypto platforms to the "DPR" and "LPR" representatives as well. The money was used for the benefit of terrorist organisations participants to damage Ukraines national security.

Within the investigation, 27 searches in eight oblasts of Ukraine have been conducted. Material evidence that proves criminal activity has been seized. Crypto assets worth 65 million hryvnias [approximately US$1.8 million  ed.] were seized as well. The total amount of the stolen funds is estimated to be 100 million hryvnias [about US$2.7 million].

Story continues

Video: a search at one of the points used by criminals in the territory controlled by Ukraine

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
How far off is Frequentis AG (ETR:FQT) from its intrinsic value? Using the most recent financial data, we'll take a look at whether the stock is fairly priced by projecting its future cash flows and then discounting them to today's value. Our analysis will employ the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. It may sound complicated, but actually it is quite simple!

Companies can be valued in a lot of ways, so we would point out that a DCF is not perfect for every situation. Anyone interested in learning a bit more about intrinsic value should have a read of the Simply Wall St analysis model.

Check out our latest analysis for Frequentis

The Method

We use what is known as a 2-stage model, which simply means we have two different periods of growth rates for the company's cash flows. Generally the first stage is higher growth, and the second stage is a lower growth phase. To begin with, we have to get estimates of the next ten years of cash flows. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years.

A DCF is all about the idea that a dollar in the future is less valuable than a dollar today, so we need to discount the sum of these future cash flows to arrive at a present value estimate:

10-year free cash flow (FCF) estimate

2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 Levered FCF (, Millions) 27.0m 36.6m 32.6m 39.8m 42.0m 43.5m 44.6m 45.4m 46.0m 46.4m Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x3 Analyst x3 Analyst x2 Analyst x1 Analyst x1 Est @ 3.51% Est @ 2.51% Est @ 1.80% Est @ 1.31% Est @ 0.97% Present Value (, Millions) Discounted @ 5.7% 25.6 32.8 27.6 31.9 31.8 31.2 30.3 29.1 27.9 26.7

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)

Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = 295m

Story continues

After calculating the present value of future cash flows in the initial 10-year period, we need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all future cash flows beyond the first stage. The Gordon Growth formula is used to calculate Terminal Value at a future annual growth rate equal to the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield of 0.2%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 5.7%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2032  (1 + g)  (r  g) = 46m (1 + 0.2%)  (5.7% 0.2%) = 841m

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= 841m ( 1 + 5.7%)10= 483m

The total value is the sum of cash flows for the next ten years plus the discounted terminal value, which results in the Total Equity Value, which in this case is 778m. The last step is to then divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Relative to the current share price of 29.4, the company appears quite undervalued at a 50% discount to where the stock price trades currently. Valuations are imprecise instruments though, rather like a telescope - move a few degrees and end up in a different galaxy. Do keep this in mind.

dcf

The Assumptions

We would point out that the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate and of course the actual cash flows. You don't have to agree with these inputs, I recommend redoing the calculations yourself and playing with them. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Frequentis as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 5.7%, which is based on a levered beta of 0.834. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business.

SWOT Analysis for Frequentis

Strength

Debt is not viewed as a risk.

Dividends are covered by earnings and cash flows.

Weakness

Earnings declined over the past year.

Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Aerospace & Defense market.

Opportunity

Annual revenue is forecast to grow faster than the German market.

Trading below our estimate of fair value by more than 20%.

Threat

Annual earnings are forecast to grow slower than the German market.

Next Steps:

Whilst important, the DCF calculation shouldn't be the only metric you look at when researching a company. It's not possible to obtain a foolproof valuation with a DCF model. Preferably you'd apply different cases and assumptions and see how they would impact the company's valuation. For example, changes in the company's cost of equity or the risk free rate can significantly impact the valuation. Can we work out why the company is trading at a discount to intrinsic value? For Frequentis, we've compiled three pertinent elements you should explore:

Risks: Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Frequentis you should know about. Future Earnings: How does FQT's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart. Other Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered!

PS. The Simply Wall St app conducts a discounted cash flow valuation for every stock on the XTRA every day. If you want to find the calculation for other stocks just search here.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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Delaware bankruptcy court Judge John T. Dorsey on Monday signed an order approving the dismissal of FTXs Turkish entities from the collapsed exchanges U.S. bankruptcy proceedings.

The order was signed in response to a request made by FTX last month, arguing that the Turkish entities should be dismissed, as including them is not strategic and will result in a waste of scarce resources.

In a January filing, FTX said theres no reason to believe that the Turkish government will comply with this courts orders, which means the company wont be able to exercise sufficient control over the Turkish entities to comply with its obligations under the bankruptcy code.

Judge Halts SEC, CFTC Cases Against Bankman-Fried Until Criminal Trial Concludes

FTX's Turkish subsidiary, FTX Turkey, is 80% owned by FTX Trading Ltd. and 20% owned by SNG Investments, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Alameda Research LLC, FTXs sister trading firm.

Turkish citizens have already begun private claims against the subsidiary, the filing said, adding that local authorities may use the seized assets to satisfy any judgments by Turkish courts.

Authorities in the country began probing the activities of the local subsidiary as the liquidity crisis began unfolding last November.

Within days, Turkeys Financial Crimes Investigation Board had seized the assets of the local subsidiary and its affiliates and opened an inquiry into claims of fraud by former CEO Samuel Bankman-Fried.

Bankman-Fried is currently on trial in the U.S. facing eight charges, including wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Sam Bankman-Fried in the dock

Given the number of charges, and the scale of losses for FTXs creditors, along with well over a hundred affiliated companies, the disgraced thirty-year-old former CEO could face over 130 years in prison if found guilty on all fronts.

He has entered a plead not guilty before a federal court in New York; Judge Lewis A. Kaplan has set a trial date for 2 October.

The exchange is currently being shepherded through its historic bankruptcy case by its new CEO, bankruptcy lawyer John J. Ray III.

The lawyer is most famous for his role as chairman of Enron Creditors Recovery Corp., a company that returned $828.9 million to Enrons creditors. At the time, the energy company was the largest bankruptcy by assets in U.S. history.
Under Georgia law, police can seize your property without ever having to prove you did anything wrong in a court of law. But they do have to provide a public record of what they take.

Channel 2 Action News Investigates found a local police department has not been doing that, which Channel 2 consumer investigator Justin Gray learned is a violation of Georgia law.

I work hard for that money to purchase that van, and I still do not have a van to this day, said Tatiana Strong.

Three years ago, South Fulton Police seized Strongs cargo van.

There was no court case. There was no charges. There was nothing, but its gone, Strong said.

She told Channel 2 Action News that she used the van for her medical supply delivery business.

Police claimed in a forfeiture complaint that the van was actually being used by an acquaintance of hers to transport drugs.

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But while there has never been a criminal conviction or even criminal charge related to the van, police never returned it.

That is how civil forfeiture can work legally.

There is no requirement that criminal charges be brought and there is no requirement that someone be convicted of a crime, said Dan Alban, senior attorney with Institute for Justice, a legal non-profit.

We will never feel comfortable driving this car, said Karla Hill, whose Dodge Charger was seized along with two other cars.

City of South Fulton police charged Hill with operating a chop shop.

Were you operating a chop shop? Gray asked.

No, we were not operating a chop shop, Hill said.

She filed numerous complaints with the city of South Fulton and Fulton County about the seizures and a judge ordered South Fulton police to return the Charger.

MORE STORIES FROM 2 INVESTIGATES:

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But the other two cars appear gone for good even before the case has ever gone to trial, and with no court records authorizing the seizures.

The cars are absolutely gone. The cars have been sold, Hill said.

Critics said there is an incentive for police to do this.

In Georgia and many other states, law enforcement gets to keep up to 100% of the proceeds of what they seize and forfeit, Alban said.

Georgia law enforcement agencies seized more than $51 million in cash and property between 2015 and 2018, according to the Institute for Justice.

One of the legal protections that Georgia law requires is that police departments report what theyve seized each year to the state and publish it online for all to see.

But Channel 2 Action News found that South Fulton Police never did that.

In fact, when Channel 2 Action News filed a Georgia open records request for the missing data, the city South Fulton Police Department denied it.

The Institute for Justice sued and won a decade ago against other Georgia police departments for violating this same transparency law.

Thats the bare minimum that you can expect is to ask law enforcement to tell the citizens and the legislature what it is that its doing, Alban said.

I actually want to thank you all for bringing that to our attention, said South Fulton Chief Keith Meadows.

Meadows told Gray he did not realize South Fulton was breaking Georgia law until Gray told him.

Do you think asset forfeiture is an area thats ripe for potential abuse? Gray asked Meadows.

I do. And thats why I think the transparency piece that you mentioned is so important, Meadows said.

Do you think its something where you all have made mistakes? Gray asked.

It is. That is an area where we have made some mistakes, Meadows said.

An outside investigation released in the fall of 2022 substantiated a long list of complaints of alleged wrongdoing by the person who headed up the asset forfeiture program, former South Fulton Police Lt. Shannon McKesey.

She resigned in lieu of termination.

Meadows told Gray he hired McKesey specifically for her previous experience with civil forfeiture at the Atlanta Police Department.

Do you regret putting that trust in her? Gray asked Meadows.

I do. Now, the person that Ive seen right now is not the person that I knew, Meadows said.

That is why Meadows said he called the Georgia Bureau of Investigation in to investigate.

Are you going back through these case by case to see if other people who had their assets seized, something might have gone wrong? Gray asked Meadows.

Well, thats what were asking the GBI to do. What I want right now is for full transparency. I want there to be an independent view of each one of those files, Meadows said.

That is every case, including Hills and Strongs.

I lost a way to feed my family, to feed my husband, to feed my kids. Im trying not to cry but its so upsetting, Strong said.

Meadows gave Gray a list of asset forfeiture totals and told him they have now uploaded the information as required by law to the state. Its about $400,000 in cash seized and more than 50 vehicles seized since 2018.

If police use civil forfeiture on your property, there is not much you can do besides hiring an attorney or reaching out to a legal non-profit for help.

IN OTHER NEWS:
Its not an easy time for Rep George Santos to be posting pictures of his dog on the internet.

Mr Santos, who is accused of lying about his background and is under federal investigation over his financial dealings, was accused of stealing dogs in Pennsylvanias Amish County in 2017 after he purchased dogs from a number of breeders with bad checks.

After allegedly making out bad checks totaling $15,125 for puppies, Mr Santos held an adoption event at a pet store in Staten Island. Politico reported that he was ultimately able to get the theft charge dismissed and his record expunged by claiming that someone had stolen his checkbook.

Mr Santos is also accused of stealing $3,000 from a GoFundMe drive meant to fund lifesaving surgery for a service dog. So, when Mr Santos posted an photograph of his own dog in a cone on Twitter on Monday, people were not so charitable in their commentary.

As cruel as these cones can be they are for the best. My four legged lamp aka Aurora is recovering from her surgery.



9 years strong! 

 pic.twitter.com/C6rfPExkAD  George Santos (@Santos4Congress) February 14, 2023

As cruel as these cones can be they are for the best, Mr Santos wrote. My four legged lamp aka Aurora is recovering from her surgery. 9 years strong!

Id consider sitting out tweeting about dogs health issues  Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 14, 2023

Id consider sitting out tweeting about dogs health issues, the journalist Aaron Rupar replied.

Plenty of other replies came flooding in. Some told Mr Santos that even he deserves a dogs love while other people said that theyd rather have the dog representing them in Congress. Mr Santos has resisted all calls for him to resign his seat in the House despite the myriad allegations and investigations hes facing.

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The New York Times reported on Monday that Mr Santos congressional campaign did not account for more than $365,000 in spending  an unusually high number for congressional candidates. Mr Santos staff declined to comment on the story; the same day, the congressman posted his tweet.

You forgot to put a GoFundMe up to steal from, Nancy Lee Grahn wrote in response to the tweet.

Mr Santos, a Republican, represents a New York district in Congress. Hes also facing allegations of criminal activity in Brazil.
How would an inmate go about organizing a fraud scheme while behind bars?

Well, Milledgeville, Georgia resident Jacob Garner can answer that.

Garner, 34, pleaded guilty on Feb. 9 for the theft of U.S. government funds while already serving time at Baldwin County Jail, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office.

Chief U.S. District Judge Marc T. Treadwell sentenced Garner to 24 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release.

So, how did he do it?

He had a little help from his girlfriend, Lindsey Garner (nee Quinton), 32, of Milledgeville.

A detective found messages sent between the two that discussed filing fraudulent claims, including unemployment insurance/pandemic unemployment assistance (UI/PUA) to the Georgia Department of Labor.

The duo attempted to get fraudulent loans for themselves and two other inmates; however only two claims totaling $24,105 were issued: $10,329 in Quintons name and $13,776 in Garners name.

They were caught because the IP address and mailing address were the same for all four claims (Quintons former mailing address). Likewise, Quintons personal email address was linked back to the crimes.

After finding the evidence, officers searched Garners jail cell and found the Social Security numbers and dates of birth of several other inmates.

Quinton was sentenced to five years of probation.
Law enforcement could soon get new help to fight criminal street gangs.

Channel 2s Michael Seiden was outside the state capitol, where Fulton Countys top prosecutor says a proposed bill could hold judges accountable for repeat offenders.

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There are some magistrate judges who are appointed, but they still have the power to set bonds for repeat offenders and gang members.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis told lawmakers that she believes it is time for elected superior court judges to start setting bonds so they can be held accountable.

Its estimated somewhere between 70 and as high as 90% of all violent crimes are committed by criminal street gangs, Sen. John Albers said.

Criminal street gangs commit violent crimes against innocent victims.

Weve had cases recently where Uber Eats and Uber drivers have already been shot because unbeknownst to them they drove into gang territory, Willis said.

Willis says enough is enough. On Monday, she testified in front of the Georgia senate judiciary committee voicing her support for Senate Bill 12. The Republican-backed legislation would allow a district attorney to prosecute gang members accused of committing crimes in multiple counties.

It makes it financially feasible and just common sense that most of the acts that they did happened in Fulton County but they had two or three in DeKalb that I would be able to prosecute those crimes so we can keep it all together.

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The bill would also hold judges accountable when it comes to setting bonds for repeat offenders and gang members.

We want our superior court judges that are elected and answer to us to actually be the ones that review the persons record, their gang invol v ement is and make an educated decision, Willis said.

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But opponents of the bill fear it will lead to more overcrowding in jails.

Fulton county, specifically, the ACLU looked at their jail and found that there had been people there who had been there six months or more who hadnt been indicted yet, Andrew Fleischman said.

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Senate Bill 12 also increases penalties for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in cases involving domestic violence.

It also allows prosecutors to introduce evidence of prior bad acts when a defendant is facing charges of non-sexual child abuse, elder abuse, and domestic abuse.

The bill will now head to the Senate rules committee and could be on the Senate floor by the end of the week.

IN OTHER NEWS:




A Georgia man with a history of impersonating law enforcement officers was arrested after allegedly claiming to be a CIA agent, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a news release.

Robert Earhart, Jr., a 38-year-old from Columbus, Georgia, allegedly left a voicemail with the U.S. Attorney's Office identifying himself as a CIA agent with the "protective operations division" with top security clearance and as a Homeland Security agent, the release said.

On February 3, an undercover FBI agent placed a recorded call to Earhart, Jr. where he confirmed the suspect had called the U.S. Attorney's Office and claimed he was working with the inspector general and had a few ongoing investigations, according to an arrest affidavit.

On that call, Earhart, Jr. also claimed, among other things, that he was a victim of identity theft, that an ex-girlfriend had embezzled his paycheck from the Department of Homeland Security, and that he was working on a case where people he referred to as "these people" stole $2.5 million from the federal government, the affidavit said.

During that call, Earhart, Jr., who stated he has "CIA clearance and top security clearance," asked to come to the U.S. Attorney's Office a few days later to meet with a judge to get his warrants signed, claiming that "he has the law enforcement side down," but just needed to tag along to shadow the U.S. Attorney's Office to make sure the paperwork was done correctly, according to the affidavit.

He's been charged with one count of false personation of an officer or employee of the United States and faces up to three years in prison followed by one year of supervised release and a $250,000 fine, according to the release.

This was not Earhart, Jr.'s first time impersonating a law enforcement officer, the U.S. Attorney's Office said, claiming that he identified himself as a DEA agent in May 2019 while trying to free three inmates from a Georgia jail.

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A Georgia school superintendent has been arrested for driving under the influence and driving his car into a ditch, according to Dalton police.

Police said that on Jan. 20, they found Wiley Daileys car in a ditch near 825 Chattanooga Ave in Dalton.

Dailey told police that a dog ran in front of him, causing him to swerve and end up in the ditch.

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He also told police he drank several alcoholic beverages.

According to the report, Dailey showed several signs of impairment and had a BAC of .126.

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Dailey was taken to Whitfield County Jail and charged with DUI and failure to maintain a lane.

According to the districts website, Dailey is listed as the deputy superintendent.

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IN OTHER NEWS:
A Georgia woman accused of plowing into the cruiser of an Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper and seriously injuring him has been charged with aggravated vehicular assault.

In addition to the fourth-degree felony, Alea C. Weil, 29, who court records indicate lives at an address in Atlanta, has also been charged in Franklin County Municipal Court with felonious possession of a controlled substance.

The charges stem from a Monday morning crash on Interstate 71 in southwestern Franklin County that left Trooper Adrian Wilson, 44, hospitalized with serious injuries.

In a complaint filed in municipal court, troopers accuse Weil of slamming her Toyota Rav4 into the back of Wilson's marked patrol cruiser. Wilson, a trooper for 15 years, had been stopped on the side of the interstate to pick up some debris in the roadway at the time, and troopers allege that the impact of Weil's vehicle sent his cruiser careening forward into him.

The overhead emergency flashing lights on Wilson's cruiser were activated, the patrol has said.

Wilson was taken to OhioHealth Grant Medical Center, and according to court documents, is suffering from a broken leg and a severe head injury. Weil was also being treated on Monday for serious injuries.

Witnesses claimed to have seen Weil driving erratically and crossing lanes prior to the crash while heading north on Interstate 71 near mile post 97, according to the court complaint. That area is near U.S. 62 in the Grove City area.

During the investigation, troopers reportedly recovered .0836 grams (equivalent to 86 milligrams) of fentanyl, which the complaint alleges was in plain view on the driver's side floor. According to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, even two milligrams of fentanyl can be lethal depending on a persons body size, tolerance and past usage.

Weil is scheduled to make her first court appearance Wednesday morning.

Eric Lagatta is a reporter at The Columbus Dispatch covering public safety, with a focus on in-depth coverage of social justice issues and crime trends.

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elagatta@dispatch.com

@EricLagatta

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Georgia woman charged in crash that injured Ohio trooper on I-71
By Ludwig Burger

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany's health ministry on Tuesday vowed to fix shortages in medicines for children, antibiotics and cancer drugs, proposing price increases for certain drugs, higher inventory levels and an early warning system.

The proposed law for Europe's largest drugs market, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, was made available to stakeholders for consultation and is due to be put to government ministers and to a parliamentary vote at a later stage.

While countries around the world have reported shortages of antibiotics amid a wave of respiratory infections, the problem in Europe is particularly acute.

With prices for generics regulated, many European drugmakers have said they are reluctant to expand capacity at a time when the war in Ukraine has pushed up energy costs.

Continued price pressure on makers of generic drugs that have lost patent protection has led to an increased reliance of European health systems on drugs and ingredients imported from low-cost suppliers in China or India.

According to the draft law, administered maximum prices for drugs designed for children up to the age of 12 as well as certain antibiotics and cancer drugs, can be increased by 50%.

It also includes provisions that tenders organised by Germany's statutory health insurers for bulk purchase agreements for those cancer drugs and antibiotics are awarded to European manufacturers for at least half of the tender volume.

Drugmakers and hospital pharmacies would also have to keep larger stockpiles to buffer any temporary supply shortages.

Germany's association of pharmaceutical companies BAH welcomed the ministry's push in principle but said it amounted only to fixes in selected areas, while the overall focus remained on cheap supplies regardless of delivery security.

"There is a complete lack of a comprehensive review of the tender system under the framework of discount contracts," it said in a statement.

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Officials at the health ministry could not be reached for comment.

Over recent months, Germany has run into shortages of fever-lowering liquids for children, antibiotics and the commonly-used breast cancer drug tamoxifen, according to the national drugs regulator.

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger; Editing by Christina Fincher)
I love my heat pumps. I love them mostly in summer because I know home air conditioning is a true gift, even in Maine, where unbearable heat is rare. But when I learned about the multi-functional nature of heat pumps, and the ability of a single unit to both heat and cool, I was sold. Still, even though everything about my purchase sounded great, I worried about extreme temperatures and whether two heat pumps (one on the main floor and one in the basement of my new house) would meet the challenge.

Last weekend, I girded myself for the coming deep freeze. I stared into the souls of my two heat pumps, which normally produce enough heat to keep our entire home toasty and begged them to keep up the good work through the coming cold. My home is entirely electric, so while some electric baseboard heat, if needed, could help warm the bedrooms, the heat pumps were facing a true test.

York Ready for Climate Action

Nevertheless, in this particular winter cold snap my two mini-splits combined to exceed their promise. They kept us warm despite sub-zero temperatures that lasted for almost 24 hours.

Fortunately, not only do I have an efficient heating system, but the walls are incredibly well-insulated. Before moving into the house, the person building it frequently touted the benefits of thorough insulation and tried to help me appreciate R values and wall thickness and the like (R-Value is a measure of insulations ability to resist heat traveling through it. The higher the R-Value, the better the thermal performance of the insulation. energystar.gov).

At the time, I was desperate to get out of temporary living quarters, and insulation was not at the top of my concerns. But four years down the line, I am thankful for the installers dedication to building a weather-tight house with an incredibly efficient heating system, which, in addition to protecting us from the extreme cold, will result in a very small electric bill for the month.

Getting Ready: Engaging with climate action

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Many of you may have read the Washington Post article this past week about the boom in heat pump technology in Maine households. Heat pumps are defying Maines winters and oil industry pushback. Fossil fuel industry groups say the technology isnt ideal for the states climate. Mainers arent buying it. (Anna Philips, Washington Post, February 7, 2023) If you havent read it, I urge you to seek it out. The fact is heat pumps offer an affordable heating and cooling system that can reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. This article not only reaffirms this point but also outlines some of the ways that oil and gas companies are working to dissuade their customers from electrifying their homes and businesses.

This change to heat pumps is a conceptual shift in how we imagine heating homes, and it may take more convincing if youre not already sold. Would you like to learn more about the technical side of how heat pumps work? Next week, York Public Library and York Ready for Climate Action are presenting a program entitled Weatherization and Heat Pump Heating Solutions. The program will offer an introduction to the ways weatherization can help you seal your home against exterior temperature shifts and will offer information about heat pumps. Experts will be available to share more information and answer your questions. Register online at yorkpubliclibrary.org to attend this virtual program, Wednesday, Feb. 22, at 7 p.m. on Zoom.

Sophie Smith is the assistant director of York Public Library and volunteers with York Ready for Climate Action. YRCA is a nonprofit 501c3 grassroots citizens organization dedicated to increasing awareness of the causes and effects of climate change and advancing environmentally friendly and inclusive policies and behaviors. For more information, visit yorkreadyforclimateaction.org. Information about EcoHOMES is on the same site.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Getting Ready: Weatherized homes, heat pumps stand up to extreme cold
Andrey Medvedev is tense. He arrives unsmiling. Sitting in a hotel lobby in central Oslo, he anxiously eyes a man walking past the bar, asking why he's looking at him.

Medvedev's anxiety is understandable. Until recently, he was a unit commander in the Wagner Group, the Russian private military company that has served as Kremlin shock troops in the war in Ukraine and is notorious for its brutal tactics.

A month ago, Medvedev fled Russia to Norway and started speaking out against Wagner, describing what he said were war crimes he said were committed by the group, including summary executions of those who refused to fight.

MORE: Russian army officer says he saw Ukrainian POWs tortured

"I saw how they brought two people to the training ground and shot them publicly," Medvedev told ABC News this week.

He said the two Wagner troopers were executed to set an example for those who might refuse to go into battle, adding that such punishments were routine.

PHOTO: Graves of Russian Wagner mercenary group fighters are seen in a cemetery near the village of Bakinskaya in Krasnodar region, Russia, January 22, 2023. (Stringer/Reuters)

"The whole system is rooted in that," he said. "In the best outcome, they will badly beat someone up," Medvedev said. "In the worst outcome, they'll just shoot him."

Medvedev has applied for political asylum in Norway and is now living under the protection of the country's security agencies.

He gives a glimpse into the mercenary force that the Kremlin has increasingly come to lean on in its efforts to shift the war in its favor, according to Ukrainian officials and military experts. Founded by a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, for roughly a decade Wagner has operated overseas in conflicts, from Syria and to Libya, when the Russian government prefers to retain a veneer of deniability.

MORE: Russia-Ukraine live updates: Ukraine braces for Russian Donbas offensive

But since Russia invaded Ukraine, Wagner has swelled dramatically. It has acted as an army within an army, known for its pitiless methods, including sending waves of convicts into battle, according to Ukrainian troops on the ground. They have become particularly prominent in the battle for Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, in January giving Russia its first notable battlefield advance in months when they seized the nearby town of Soledar.

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Wagner has been allowed to recruit large numbers of convicts from Russia's prisons, promising to gain them pardons in exchange for fighting in Ukraine. Last year, a video emerged of Wagner's founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, personally addressing hundreds of inmates, offering them the chance to join and if they survived to go free. White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters the U.S. estimates Wagner has as many as 50,000 fighters in Ukraine. He said around 40,000 of them are convicts.

FILE PHOTO: The founder of Russia's Wagner mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin is seen inside a cockpit of a military Su-24 bomber plane over an unidentified location, in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, in this image taken from handout footage. (Concord Press Service/via Reuters)

Medvedev said he saw many inmates while in Ukraine, sent into frontal attacks, with little training or equipment.

"They are throwing people in as meat, with small arms on armored vehicles," he said.

Medvedev, 26, said he joined Wagner last July. Originally from the Siberian city of Tomsk, he said he had first served in Russia's military as an 18-year-old conscript in Ukraine in 2014.

MORE: Russian army officer says he saw Ukrainian POWs tortured

Because of that military experience, Medvedev said Wagner sent him to Ukraine two weeks after joining. But within days, he said he realized he had made a mistake, appalled at what he saw.

"I realized practically on the first day what was happening there. I understood what role Russia was playing on that territory," he said.

Before arriving, Medvedev said he had believed Kremlin propaganda that Russia was fighting a defensive war against fascists. But once there and speaking with local civilians, he said he realized he had been duped.

PHOTO: An image, released by founder of Russia's Wagner Group Yevgeny Prigozhin's press service, shows what it said to be Wagner fighters posing for a picture at the entrance sign to the village of Krasna Hora near the embattled city of Bakhmut, Ukraine. (Concord Press Service/via Reuters)

"Of course, in fact, I realized late," he said. "I didn't see anything like that, no fascists or Nazis. Ordinary people who were protecting their territory, their home."

After four months, he said he found a chance to escape. Going on the run, he said he spent two months hiding in Russia, moving between safe houses and being pursued by Wagner's security service. He was aided, he said, by a Russian human rights activist based in France who has helped other defectors.

In mid-January, Medvedev said, he finally crossed the border to Norway on foot by running across a frozen river.

He said he was now helping Norwegian police investigate a potential war crimes case against Wagner forces in Ukraine.

Medvedev said he believed Wagner might try to harm him in Norway. A videos posted online last year appeared to show Wagner contractors using a sledgehammer to execute a fighter they accused of surrendering. A video of a second apparent execution using a sledgehammer was posted by a Wagner-linked blogger on Monday.

But Medvedev said he wasn't afraid.

"I'm at risk. I'm not afraid," he said. "There's a Russian expression: if you're afraid of the wolves, don't go into the woods."

PHOTO: Andrei Medvedev, a former commander of Russia's Wagner mercenary group poses for a picture during an interview in Oslo, Norway February 1, 2023. (Janis Laizans/Reuters)

Wagner's founder, Prigozhin, has sought to leverage Wagner's role in Ukraine to grow his influence with Putin, according to Kremlin-watchers. Some observers believe he's even trying to position himself as a potential successor to Putin. In frequent social media posts, Prigozhin has presented Wagner as Russia's only capable fighting force, publicly slamming Russia's general staff.

Medvedev said he saw Prigozhin address Wagner troops in eastern Ukraine.

"'The Russian army has screwed up. We are the only ones fighting, that we're the only hope. The country puts its hope in us. That there are Germans there, fascists there, Nazis there,'" Medvedev recalled Prigozhin telling the men.

MORE: 'Kidnapped' by Russian soldiers: Ukrainian orphans, guardian share their story after release

Western officials and some military analysts recently have suggested Wagner's costly tactics appear to have worn it down as a force, estimating thousands of its fighters have been killed and wounded in the fighting around Bakhmut. Recent reports in independent Russian media suggest the number of inmates willing to enlist has dried up as news of the slaughter has filtered back. This week, Prigozhin in an interview with a Russian blogger said Wagner was no longer recruiting prisoners.

Medvedev called a Wagner a "criminal organization." He said Russians had been deceived by their leaders and said he apologized to the Ukrainian people.

MORE: US surveillance data crucial for Ukraine, top commander says

"It's not the Russian people who gathered on a square and took the decision to go to war against Ukraine. It was our authorities," he said.

"I believe that the people will end this war themselves. I really hope that all the same the people will take power in their hands and peace will really come," he said.

Russian defects from Wagner mercenary group, says it's committing war crimes in Ukraine originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
A look at the corporate offices of the Goodwill of South Central Ohio.

CHILLICOTHE Goodwill of South Central Ohio is planning to open a childcare center later this year in Chillicothe to assist more parents in returning to the workforce.

We began looking into starting a childcare center after some of our employees who recently had a baby shared how difficult it is to find childcare so they could return to work. Even when childcare is available, its also often unaffordable, said Goodwill CEO Marvin Jones. Our goal with opening a childcare center is to address both of these barriers to employment.

A recent report from the Department of Labor revealed Ross County families with a median household incomeof $60,417 spend 12% of their income to send an infant or toddler to a childcare center each year. This means that nearly 13% of Ross County families living in poverty spend an even larger share of income on childcare.

We plan to provide subsidized childcare through Job and Family Services as well as private pay, Jones said. Our staff will assist families in applying for assistance in an effort to ensure everyone who qualifies benefits from that assistance.

Goodwills board of trustees voted to move forward with plans to open a daycare center during its December meeting. Senior staff is putting together the state application which initially looks to provide services for up to 50 children in the current Goodwill administrative offices on Western Avenue. Ideally, the center will be ready to open in late summer. The administrative offices will move to a temporary location until the warehouse and office facility in the Gateway Industrial Park is completed. The Western Avenue store will remain open.

Updates on the center including job openings and enrollment for the center will be posted online at gwisco.org/childcare.

Goodwill is a nonprofit agency focused on partnering with individuals with disabilities and challenges to help them lead the lives they envision across our eight-county region: Athens, Fayette, Hocking, Jackson, Pickaway, Pike, Ross, and Vinton. As of January, Goodwill of South Central Ohio, based in Chillicothe, was serving 232 people across its region. For more information on Goodwill, go online to GWISCO.org.

This article originally appeared on Chillicothe Gazette: Goodwill plans to open a childcare center
WASHINGTON (AP)  Testimony on Russian war crimes. Monthly classified briefings. High-profile hearings, TV appearances and even op-eds in conservative media outlets.

Leading Republicans in Congress are not waiting for the next debate over assistance to Ukraine, instead launching an early and aggressive effort to make the case for why the U.S. should continue spending billions of dollars on the war effort.

One of their main challenges: winning over skeptical Republican colleagues.

Im very much focused on the dissension within my own party on this, Republican Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told The Associated Press.

McCaul plans to hold a hearing in the spring focused on Russian atrocities against Ukrainian civilians, to try to bring home the wars terrible toll.

I find that moves the dial, when they see these horrific killings of children, McCaul said.

The task ahead is challenging, particularly in the House. While Republicans have often been the nations leading defense hawks, eager for the U.S. to defend its interests through foreign action, former President Donald Trumps America First approach has emboldened a noninterventionist wing that is ascendant. They are clamoring for the Ukraine aid to come to an end.

The top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, said of the Republicans across the aisle: There are some that Ive talked to, they dont realize the interest the United States has in it.

Last week, a group of 11 House Republicans led by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida unveiled a Ukraine Fatigue resolution. It stated that the U.S. must end its military and financial aid to Ukraine and urged the combatants to reach a peace agreement.

America is in a state of managed decline, and it will exacerbate if we continue to hemorrhage taxpayer dollars toward a foreign war," Gaetz said.

The U.S. has provided four rounds of aid to Ukraine in response to Russias invasion, totaling about $113 billion, with some of the money going toward replenishment of U.S. military equipment that was sent to the frontlines.

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Congress approved the latest round of aid in December. While the package was designed to last through the end of the fiscal year in September, much depends upon events on the ground. Officials in Kyiv anticipate a new Russian offensive in coming weeks around the anniversary of the Feb. 24 invasion, which could hasten Ukraines need for more military and economic assistance.

But another funding request is certain to face heavy resistance from lawmakers closely aligned with Trump and budget hawks worried about the nation's $31 trillion in government debt.

Weve got to get our financial house in order in the United States before we put any more dollars overseas for things like that, said Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C. Weve met our goal for Ukraine.

McCaul, as the new Republican chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, is now a key player in U.S. funding decisions. He is working to bring in Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin to testify about the violence being inflicted on civilians.

A team of experts commissioned by the U.N.s top human rights body found last year that Russian forces are responsible for the vast majority of war crimes and human rights violations in Ukraine. The commission documented patterns of summary executions, unlawful confinement, torture, rape and other sexual violence.

McCaul said he wants his colleagues and the public to see clearly what is happening in Ukraine and why U.S. aid is so vital.

Its not a question of either or, McCaul said. Were a great country. We can secure our border and protect freedom and democracy around the world, which is what Ukraine is all about.

With opponents of Ukraine spending warning of fraud and corruption, the House Armed Services Committee is planning to hold monthly classified briefings for lawmakers to detail, dollar by dollar, how the U.S. security aid is being allocated.

The briefings will be every two weeks for key staff, said Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers of Alabama, and a public hearing is in the works to try to get more visibility for the public into the tracking that were doing.

One of the challenges in ensuring accountability is the sheer number of activities that U.S. dollars are supporting.

U.S. dollars not only go to Stinger missiles to take out Russian aircraft, Javelin missiles to take out tanks, but also for food, water and shelter for refugees whose homes have been destroyed. The money also supports basic government services, such as medical care, firefighting and utilities.

The inspectors general for the Defense and State departments and the U.S. Agency for International Development are the lead offices tracking Ukraine spending. Rogers said he is encouraging NATO to bring in a third party to track U.S. weapons to assure the public they dont end up in the wrong hands.

We know its going to where it is supposed to, but how we know is classified, Rogers said. Weve got to find a way to let the world know from somebody that they have confidence in."

Recent polling from Gallup found that about two-thirds of Americans support aid for Ukraine to help it regain its territory, even if it means a prolonged conflict. But that support varied depending upon political party. Nearly half of Republicans, or 47%, say the U.S. is doing too much compared with 35% of independents and just 10% of Democrats.

In the Senate, Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has consistently pressed the Biden administration for more robust action to help Ukraine win the war. He wore a bright blue and yellow tie to the State of the Union address last week  the colors of Ukraines flag  to trumpet his support.

The ranking Republican on the Senate's Armed Services panel, Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, is using the bully pulpit as well. He spoke at length on the Senate floor about Ukraine and followed up with an op-ed in the National Review, a conservative outlet.

It is a relatively modest amount that we are contributing without being asked to risk life and limb, Wicker told the AP. The Ukrainians are willing to fight the fight for us if the West will give them the provisions. Its a pretty good deal.

"And what weve done is expose Russias very soft, vulnerable underbelly and weve made it less likely that any of our NATO allies will be attacked.

But there are skeptics in the Senate, too. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said China is the U.S.s top foreign adversary and thats where Congress should be focusing its attention.

We need to tell our European friends they need to carry the burden of the conventional defense in Ukraine, Hawley said.

___

Congressional correspondent Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.
Former Vice President Mike Pence is returning to Iowa this week, kicking off a surge of presidential caucus activity after a quiet start to the year.

Iowa Republicans are set to hold their traditional first-in-the-nation caucuses in early 2024, which act as the starting line for the rest of the presidential primary cycle. A bevy of candidates are expected to compete, and they've been making inroads with the state's Republican elected officials and activists for months, if not years, as they weigh their plans.

Now, with former President Donald Trump formally in the race and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley officially launching her campaign Tuesday, activity in the Hawkeye State is starting to ramp up.

Here's a look at who's in Iowa this month.

Democrats demote Iowa: Democrats approve 2024 primary calendar that demotes Iowa, boosts South Carolina

More:Try the Des Moines Register Candidate Tracker

Kari Lake talks "election integrity" in Bettendorf, Ankeny

Kari Lake, a former Republican gubernatorial candidate from Arizona, speaks to a crowd of supports at The District Venue in Ankeny, Iowa on Saturday, Feb. 11, 2023.

Arizona Republican Kari Lake, who is challenging her gubernatorial election loss in the courts, was in Bettendorf and Ankeny last week calling on Iowa caucusgoers to make "election integrity" a key issue in the 2024 presidential race.

Lake, who grew up in Iowa, ostensibly was in the state visiting family and decided to hold the two political rallies while she was here. She told the Des Moines Register she's not in the state to campaign for office herself  she remains a big supporter of Trump  but saw an opportunity to elevate an issue she cares about.

Iowans can expect to see more of her this year, she said.

More: Judge tosses Kari Lake's election-challenge in Arizona governor's race

Mike Pence to hold parents rights' rally in Cedar Rapids

Former Vice President Mike Pence greets attendees during a visit to the Iowa State Fair, Friday, Aug. 19, 2022.

Former Vice President Mike Pence will be in Cedar Rapids Wednesday to rally conservatives around a "parents' rights" agenda targeting transgender-affirming public school policies, like one that drew controversy in the nearby Linn-Mar Community School District last year.

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Parents are suing that district over policies that support students who identify as transgender without notifying their parents.

Pence's organization Advancing American Freedom will spend $1 million on promotional strategies such as digital ads, rallies, canvassing and possibly radio and television spots, the Associated Press reports, marking an increased outreach to the state.

More: Exclusive: Mike Pence predicts 'better choices,' not Trump, as the GOP's 2024 nominee

Nikki Haley to make first swing as declared candidate

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley flips burgers with U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra and Gov. Kim Reynolds at a Sioux Center fundraiser.

According to a source familiar with her planning, Haley will make a formal presidential announcement Wednesday in Charleston, South Carolina, before making a stop in New Hampshire and arriving in Iowa for events beginning Feb. 20  Presidents Day.

She has two public events on the calendar: a town hall at Royal Flooring in Urbandale and another at Legacy Manufacturing in Marion.

The trip will make her the first declared 2024 presidential candidate to appear in Iowa. Trump, who announced his campaign shortly after the midterms, has yet to travel to the state.

More:Nikki Haley will travel to Iowa after declaring she's running for president

Tim Scott launches "Faith in America" tour

U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., speaks during the second annual Ashley's BBQ Bash for U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2022, at the Linn County Fairgrounds in Central City, Iowa.

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott will travel to Iowa Feb. 22, his visit set to bump up against Haley's, a fellow South Carolinian. Scott is speaking at the Polk County Republican Party's annual Lincoln Dinner in West Des Moines. According to a release, he'll deliver remarks on the importance of faith in America.

Scott is making his first public appearance in Iowa since he attended a fundraiser for the Republican Party of Iowa just before the midterms. He has yet to say whether he will run for president, though Republicans say he has begun reaching out to potential staffers on the ground in Iowa.

Vivek Ramaswamy will talk 'woke' corporate ideology

Vivek Ramaswamy has co-founded a new investment management company in Dublin called Strive Asset Management that he says is more focused on performance that politics.

More:Butler County native, 'Woke, Inc.' author Vivek Ramaswamy mulls 2024 presidential run

Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy drew conservative fanfare after publishing the book "Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate Americas Social Justice Scam," which criticizes political correctness and identity politics in corporate America. He has previously traveled to Iowa to meet with Republican leaders and activists as he explores running for president.

He's set to return to Iowa next week, holding at least two public events Feb. 23  one with the Scott County Republican Women in Bettendorf and another with the Polk County Republican Party in Urbandale.

More: 'Woke, Inc.' author Vivek Ramaswamy mulls 2024 presidential run

Brianne Pfannenstiel is the chief politics reporter for the Register. Reach her at bpfann@dmreg.com or 515-284-8244. Follow her on Twitter at @brianneDMR.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Haley, Pence, Scott among GOP presidential candidates coming to Iowa
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said Tuesday he hopes charges against Evan Lambert, the NewsNation reporter who was arrested during DeWine's press conference last week, will be dropped.

The governor hosted a press conference in Columbus on Tuesday to provide updates about the train derailment that happened in East Palestine, Ohio, earlier this month.

"I have the same opinion that I had the first day, and that is I would hope that charges would be dropped," DeWine said about Lambert. " ... Whatever happened after the general walked away, the reality is that the reporter should not have been stopped, period."

Gov. Mike DeWine hosted a press conference about the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment on Tuesday.

Lambert was arrested Feb. 8 while trying to record a live broadcast during DeWine's press conference about the derailment.

According to a statement from the East Palestine Police Department, National Guard Adjutant General Maj. Gen. John Harris and two members of the highway patrol tried to stop the reporter because he was loud. Body camera footage released by the highway patrol shows Harris pushing Lambert after an argument. Police said Harris felt threatened, but the footage does not show what happened to prompt the argument.

On Tuesday, DeWine said he spoke with Harris and that he regrets the incident.

"I think the general regrets that," DeWine said. "I explained to him how press conferences work, and the fact that sometimes during a live press conference, someone will be reporting directly."

"(Reporters) have the right to deliver the news however they want to deliver the news," he added. "(Harris) regrets the whole situation."

Coverage of the East Palestine train derailment is being provided for free. Subscribe today to support local journalism and access all of our content online.

According to NewsNation, Lambert was held in custody for about five hours before being released from jail.

The Columbiana County prosecutor's office said it referred the case to the Ohio attorney General's Office once it became clear multiple state agencies were involved in the arrest. Lambert was charged with criminal trespassing and resisting arrest, according to online court records, and is scheduled to appear for an arraignment Feb. 23.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine hopes charges are dropped against Evan Lambert
A gunman killed three students and wounded five others at Michigan State University late Monday, then fatally shot himself off the East Lansing campus, police said.

The shooter opened fire at two locations on campus, an academic building and a student union area, according to authorities, prompting a hours-long manhunt as students sheltered in place.

Police found the suspect, 43-year-old Anthony McRae, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Lansing, the schools Police and Public Safety Interim Deputy Chief Chris Rozman told reporters early Tuesday morning.

The suspect is not affiliated in any way with the university, and isnt a current or previous student, faculty or staff member, Rozman noted. Authorities were led to McRae by a callers tip. A weapon was recovered.

There is no threat to campus. We believe there to only be one shooter in this incident. And there is no longer a need to shelter in place on campus, the deputy chief said.

We have absolutely no information right now on what the motive is, and I cant even begin to imagine what that motive might be, Rozman added.

All five injured victims are at a local hospital and remain in critical condition, according to Rozman.

Two of the deceased victims were identified Tuesday by police as sophomore MSU student Brian Fraser of Grosse Point and junior MSU student Alexandria Verner of Clawson. Authorities havent released the third victims name out of respect to the familys wishes.

Its hard to describe the agony were feeling in East Lansing tonight. Our hearts are breaking for the families of the students who were killed, for those who have been injured, and for the entire Spartan community, Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) tweeted early Tuesday.

The Spartan family is strong, and as devastating as tonight has been, I know that Michiganders and Americans of all stripes are wrapping their arms around East Lansing and our Spartans to mourn alongside us and to lift us up, Slotkin, whose district includes East Lansing, said.

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The incident at Michigan State University came one day before the five-year anniversary of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., where a gunman killed 14 students and three staff members.

It also comes on the heels of several mass shootings this year alone, including an incident that left 11 people dead in Monterey Park, Calif., amid Lunar New Year celebrations.

We cannot keep living like this. Our children are scared to go to school. People feel unsafe in their houses of worship or local stores, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) said at a press conference with police Tuesday.

Too many of us scan rooms for exits when we enter them, and many of us have gone through the grim exercise of figuring out who our last call would be to. Last night, a lot of kids on this campus made those calls.

Updated at 1:08 p.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Halle Berry stumbled over some stairs in front of guests at a recent charity event (Getty Images for #SeeHer)

Halle Berry proved herself to be a good sport after taking a tumble at a recent charity event.

The Hollywood actress, 56, was invited as a guest of honour at the Looking Beyond Luncheon in Los Angeles, California, when her embarrassing fall took place.

Berry posted a clip of the incident on Instagram, which saw her heading to the stage at the event to make a speech, before face planting right in front of shocked guests.

The edited video uses the record scratch, movie freeze-frame effect with yup, thats me added to highlight her stumble.

Teasing herself about the blunder, Berry wrote: Sometimes you bust your ass!

She then explained: What happened was.

My dear friend Shilla Hekmat invited me to speak at her charity event celebrating a wonderful organisation called Looking Beyond that raises money for children with special needs then that happened!!! I face planted.

If you can, go to lookingbeyondla.com and donate. Children are worth it!

Looking Beyond is an organisation dedicated to enriching the lives of those with special needs.

Berry had attended the charity event with her partner Van Hunt, whom she has been dating since 2020.

Berry had attended the Looking Beyond LA Luncheon with partner Van Hunt (Getty Images)

While making her speech following her fall, Berry jokily warned that the Grammy-winning musician would come for anyone who shared footage of the tumble online.

If I see this on the internet Vans coming for you! Berry said to a laughing audience.

Last year, Berry spoke about having found the one in partner Hunt, 52, as she discussed how they first bonded on the phone during the pandemic.

We were forced to only let our brains connect and discover if we had a connection before our bodies decided to get involved, Berry told AARP.

Id never done it this way.

I really believe Ive found my person. I fell in love with him before I even met him.

Berry continued: As a mom living this modern, blended family, all I care about is that my kids are OK with the decisions Im making.

The actress shares daughter Nahla, 13, with ex Gabriel Aubry, and also has son Maceo, eight, with the actor Olivier Martinez. Hunt has a son with a previous partner.
JonBenet Ramsey (Sipa/Shutterstock)

When JonBenet Ramsey was reported missing the day after Christmas in 1996, the case immediately bore all the hallmarks of a tabloid sensation  even before the six-year-olds body was found in the basement, even before the case would remain unsolved for more than a quarter-century.

Her familys home in Boulder was stately, her parents rich and attractive, and JonBenet was not only a kindergartner but a child beauty queen. Distinctive glamour shots of the tiny victim were ingrained into the public consciousness and remain instantly recognisable to this day.

But 26 years later, no arrests have ever been made and the killer has never been found.

Here, The Independent maps out a timeline of the decades-long case:

26 December 1996 - JonBenet is found murdered

JonBenets mother, Patsy, called 911 at 5.52am to report her daughter missing from the home on 15th Street they lived in along with JonBenets father, John, and brother, Burke, who was nine.

Patsy, a former pageant queen herself, told authorities shed found a handwritten ransom note on the stairs demanding $118,000, the exact amount of her husbands bonus.

Despite an initial search of the house, JonBenets body was not found until after 1pm by her father, after police asked him to sweep the home again. She had been beaten and strangled.

As the crime scene was initially treated as a kidnapping and not a murder, multiple people were traipsing in and out of the house and the preservation  or destruction  of evidence has been called into question for 26 years.

In the days after the murders, JonBenets family willingly submitted DNA samples to investigators. A CBI report completed on 15 January 2007  an unredacted copy of which is found in a new book by former Colorado sheriff John Wesley Anderson  appears to show genetic markers from an unknown male which may have served to exclude the Ramseys and members of their inner circle.

On 29 December 1996, the family flew to their former hometown of Atlanta.

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JonBenet was laid to rest in Marietta, Georgia, on New Years Eve. Her grave is right beside that of her older half-sister Elizabeth, who died in a car accident in 1992.

(John Ramsey)

January 1997 - Parents give first TV interview

JonBenets parents gave their first public interview with CNN on New Years Day in 1997 from Atlanta.

At the time, Boulder police were ensuring the community that there was no killer at large.

But Patsy disagreed, saying: There is a killer on the loose if I were a resident of Boulder, I would tell my friends to keep  keep your babies close to you, theres someone out there.

The mother added: America is suffering because have lost faith in the American family. We are a Christian, God-fearing family. We love our children. We would do anything for our children.

The interview was not well received by Boulder police, who sent five detectives to Atlanta. Police were reportedly shocked that the family claimed to they were too emotional to be interviewed by investigators - but were able to do the CNN sit-down

April 1997 - Parents identified as prime suspects

On 19 April 1997, the Boulder district attorneys office labeled Patsy and John Ramsey as the main targets of the investigation.

Obviously, the focus on these people, DA Alex Hunter said at the time.

The previous month, a handwriting analysis had ruled John out as the person who wrote the ransom note - but did not rule Patsy out.

The parents did not sit down formally with investigators until 30 April 1997, and held a press conference to announce their innocence soon after.

JonBenet was murdered on 25 December 1996 (Getty)

July 1997 - Autopsy released

JonBenets autopsy was unsealed on 14 July 1997.

The coroner found a deep ligature around the victims neck and another around the right wrist  evidence she was bound and strangled.

Blood and abrasions were found in the girls vaginal area  and that she was struck on the head violently enough to cause bleeding and an 8.5-inch fracture to her skull, the autopsy states.

March 1998 - Grand jury convened

A grand jury was convened in 1998, the same year a Colorado Springs detective brought out of retirement resigned in protest over the handling of the case.

Jurors spent months poring over evidence - including DNA, the 911 call and a teddy bear.

Also in 1998, investigators interviewed JonBenets brother Burke. He was nine at the time of his sisters murder.

October 1999 - Grand jury dismissed

The grand jury was dismissed in 1999, with the district attorneys office determining there was not sufficient evidence to bring any charges.

The same year, JonBenets 12-year-old brother Burke was ruled out as a suspect.

2000 - Family publish book proclaiming innocence

John and Patsy Ramsey published a New York Times bestseller in 2000 titled The Death of Innocence and gave a sitdown interview to Barbara Walters, steadfastly maintaining that no one from their family had killed JonBenet.

2006 - Patsy dies as teacher confesses

Patsy died of cancer in 2006, the same year a teacher, John Mark Karr, confessed to murdering her daughter but was cleared because his DNA did not match samples found at the scene.

2008 - Ramsey family cleared through touch DNA

In 2008, new advancements in touch DNA cleared the Ramsey family, and Boulder authorities sent a letter of apology. But suspicion and public perception remained.

In the ensuing years, the family have continued to push for justice. In 2015, John Ramsey again sat down with Barbara Walters to revisit the case.

The following year, his son, Burke, gave a televised interview to Dr Phil also proclaiming his innocence.

JonBenets father has repeatedly petitioned Colorado authorities to order new and more detailed DNA tests in an effort to find his daughters killer. He spoke last year at CrimeCon, an annual weekend event for true crime enthusiasts, authors and investigators.

November 2022 - Investigation reinvigorated

In November 2022, Boulder police and district attorney issued a release about the ongoing homicide investigation, announcing it would be consulting with the Colorado Cold Case Review Team in 2023.

Since JonBenets murder, detectives have investigated leads stemming from more than 21,000 tips, letters, and emails, authorities said in a release. We have traveled to 19 states to interview or speak with more than 1,000 individuals.

The release added that Boulder agencies were also working with the FBI, CBI, Colorados Department of Public Safety and several private laboratories across the country.

The amount of DNA evidence available for analysis is extremely small and complex. The sample could, in whole or in part, be consumed by DNA testing, the release continued. In collaboration with the CBI and the FBI, there have been several discussions with private DNA labs about the viability of continued testing of DNA recovered from the crime scene and genetic geneaology analysis ... Whenever there is a proven technology that can reliably test forensic samples consistent with the samples available in this case, additional analysis will be conducted.

Boulder PD told The Independent on Monday that the active investigation continues to receive assistance from federal, state, and local partners.
There's only one place you can try a gin that uses ingredients once collected as samples by Charles Darwin during his stint in the Falklands in 1833.

Jake Emen

Antarctica is one of the hottest  and coldest  destinations for intrepid travelers these days, offering a rare glimpse of the extremes found at the planet's poles, replete with all the glaciers, penguins, seals, whales, and boundless, pristine beauty you can handle. Not to mention all of that delightful craft gin. Wait, what?

The Falkland Islands, home to some 3,300 human residents and several hundred thousand sheep, also plays host to one of the world's most southernmost and remote craft distilleries, Falkland Island Distillers. The distillery produces a lineup of gins evocative of their special place on the planet, a British overseas territory consisting of 778 islands found 300 miles off Argentina's Patagonian coastline.

Richard McKee founded Falkland Island Distillers in 2016 on a small-scale, trial basis, and launched his first gin, Darwin's Botanicals, in 2019. He operates from a historic building in the harbor town of Stanley, the capital of the Falklands, which serves as a popular port of call en route to the White Continent. I first came to work in the Falkland Islands 25 years ago, and for many years, I have had a keen interest in distilling and the possibility of developing a local spirit here, he says. This curiosity led him to pursue a postgraduate diploma, via remote learning, in Brewing and Distilling from Edinburgh's renowned Heriot-Watt University.

As a native of Northern Ireland, McKee at first envisioned producing whiskey in the Falklands, and still hopes to accomplish the feat in the future. But friends and colleagues in the UK spirits industry encouraged me to start with gin, and before I knew it, this had taken over, he says. He imports grain neutral spirit and creates 100-liter micro batches by redistilling and infusing the spirit with his chosen botanicals; Darwin's Botanicals Gin serves as the core of his lineup. It's the most unique to the Falklands, being truly local in character.

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Jake Emen

The aptly named gin incorporates several ingredients that were collected as samples by a young Charles Darwin during his stint in the Falklands in 1833, before he made it to the Galapagos. That includes teaberries and diddle-bee berries handpicked by McKee in the surrounding hills from February to April each year. The process of picking a kilogram of teaberries requires about five hours of labor, but the payoff, of course, is in their distinctive flavor characteristics. These bring a range of wonderfully contrasting mellow, sweet flavors along with more bittersweet notes, McKee says. He also uses scurvy grass, which has very powerful citrus notes and is infused in small amounts in all of our gins.

Also in the lineup are South Atlantic Kelpers Gin, made with local kelp hand-foraged while diving, and Dog Watch Gin, made with cane spirit as its base. McKee says that Kelper's is more peppery and spicy, while Dog Watch is distinctly more strident and sweeter in character.

The experience of drinking McKee's gins is very much that of pouring the incredible environs of the Falkland Islands into your glass. It reminds me of the fresh air, with the smell of grass and the wet ground, that you can find while walking around the Falklands, says Eliott Favre, a bartender on a recent Abercrombie & Kent Holiday Voyage to the Falklands, South Georgia and Antarctica aboard the Ponant Le Lyrial. The cruise makes its first stop at the Falkland Islands before sailing farther afield, offering passengers a last glimpse  and in this case, last taste  of civilization before sailing down into Antarctic waters. These cruises are a lifeblood for businesses in the Falklands, bringing tens of thousands of eager visitors to the islands. There are challenges which are quite unique to the Falklands, especially in terms of logistics, so it's essential to plan months ahead and always have functional contingency plans in place, McKee says. However, we are very fortunate to be able to welcome an incredible diversity of visitors, either through their work or on holiday, and it has been wonderful to meet some really lovely and interesting people coming through Stanley.

Jake Emen

With passengers often bringing a few bottles back on board with them, Favre has been known to experiment with their wares. The Dog Watch reminds me of forest hikes, with aromas such as pine, and I would mix it with a classic tonic water, he says. The South Atlantic Kelper's is more fruity and flowery, and I would use it in a cocktail with blackcurrant, such as a Bramble.

Related:The 13 Best Gins for Every Home Bar

Play your cards right, and you may even receive some assistance from the Abercrombie & Kent crew in making what must be the world's most inimitable cocktail. Snag a handful of clean glacial ice during a zodiac boat ride in Antarctic waters, pass it off to be rinsed by the bar team, and use it as the fanciest fancy cocktail ice imaginable in a Gin & Tonic, or other libation made with Falkland Island Distillers gin.

As the distillery doesn't export or ship any of its products, a visit to Stanley is the only way to nab a bottle. It makes for a particularly novel souvenir from this far off part of the world, alongside all of those penguin and glacier photos.

The Falkland Islands are an incredibly special place to work and live in, with a great community spirit and a local population which is proud of its heritage, while also being remarkably progressive and diverse in character, McKee says. Above all, our life in and work in the islands has retained that very real and close connection with the natural world, which is more important than ever today.








Dame Helen Mirren will lead a special tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II at this years film Baftas.

The veteran actor, 77, has portrayed the monarch on the silver screen and on the stage, winning an Oscar and Bafta for her depiction in 2006s biographical drama The Queen.

Bafta fellow Mirren will lead the Queens commendation at the 76th annual film awards ceremony at Londons Southbank Centres Royal Festival Hall on Sunday (19 February).

The Queen had a close association with the Academy that spanned 50 years and saw her donate and support initiatives, as well as attend many events over the years.

In 1972, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh donated the profits from the documentary film Royal Family to the Society of Film and Television Arts (SFTA), which later became the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (Bafta), for a new headquarters.

The renaming of the organisation occurred during the official opening of the headquarters in 1976, which was conducted by the Queen, and remains the London home of Bafta five decades on.

During her lifetime, the Queen was a patron of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, the Royal Variety Charity and the Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund.

In April 2013, the Queen received an honorary Bafta award by Sir Kenneth Branagh at Windsor Castle for her tireless support for the industry.

Helen Mirren in The Queen' (Pathe)

The Queens grandson, the Prince of Wales, has been the president of Bafta since 2010.

William and Kate will be attending the ceremony for the first time in three years before meeting the winners and Rising Star Award nominees.

Baftas chief executive Jane Millichip said: It is an absolute pleasure to welcome so many nominees and film industry guests to the EE Bafta Film Awards on Sunday.

This years Awards are shaping up to be one of our most well attended on record, which is a ringing endorsement of the importance of British audiences to the global film industry, and Baftas role in bringing these incredible films and filmmakers to public attention.

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Baftas membership of 7,500 industry experts have been voting and I cant wait to find out which names will be read out on the night.

This year sees Netflixs anti-war epic All Quiet On The Western Front lead with 14 nominations  while The Banshees Of Inisherin, starring Colin Farrell, and Everything Everywhere All At Once, featuring Michelle Yeoh, follow closely behind with 10 nominations each.

The EE Bafta Film Awards will be broadcast on 19 February at 7pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
Will Ferrell at Anfield for Liverpools win over Everton (EPA)

Hollywood actor Will Ferrell continued his UK footballing tour after he was spotted at Anfield watching the Merseyside Derby between Liverpool and Everton.

The A-list actor was pictured in the stands as Jurgen Klopps side cruised to a comfortable 2-0 win over Merseyside rivals Everton with goals from Mo Salah and Cody Gakpo.

He was also pictured in the Liverpool dressing room chatting and taking photos with Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson and England full-back Trent Alexander-Arnold.

The Elf and Anchorman star flew over from America and has visited numerous football clubs over the past few days.

On Sunday, he was in attendance at the Etihad Stadium as Manchester City beat Aston Villa 3-1 thanks to goals from Rodri, Riyad Mahrez and Ilkay Gundogan.

Ferrell made a guest appearance on Sky Sports Super Sunday, reuniting with former 2012 Soccer Aid teammate Roy Keane and claiming he was on a recruiting trip for LAFC - the MLS side he co-owns.

After the game, he was pictured with England international Jack Grealish with the City forward posting a picture on Instagram which said: Did we just become best friends? What a man!!!

Earlier in the weekend, the 55-year-old paid a visit to Wrexham AFC to watch the sides 3-1 victory over Wealdstone.

Ferell is good friends with the Wrexham owners, fellow Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, and has been previously spotted at Wembley Stadium watching Wrexham with the duo.

Before the game, the Hollywood legend was even spotted in a local Wrexham pub, The Turf, having a causal pint with match-going fans ahead of the National League fixture.

Ferrell does not support an English side but is a co-owner of LAFC, the Los Angeles-based soccer team. The club won the MLS with Gareth Bales stoppage-time equaliser rescuing a draw in extra-time before a heroic penalty shootout victory.
(Bloomberg) -- House Republicans accused the Federal Trade Commission of engaging in a power grab by proposing to ban non-compete agreements nationwide and demanded the agency turn over documents.

Most Read from Bloomberg

In a letter to FTC Chair Lina Khan and her fellow commissioners, Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan of Ohio and three others said the proposed non-compete rule exceeds the agencys authority and would negatively impact the US economy. The missive represents the opening salvo from the newly Republican-helmed Judiciary panel, which signaled last year that it planned to scrutinize Khan once it gained control of the House.

This power grab is just the latest example of the Biden FTC straying from the Commissions mandate in its eagerness to centrally plan the American economy to meet a preferred social agenda, Jordan wrote along with Representatives Darrell Issa of California and Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who chair two of the Judiciary panels subcommittees. Wisconsin Representative Scott Fitzgerald also signed the letter.

The FTC proposed a ban on non-compete clauses in employment contracts in January, a rule that would likely affect one in five Americans. Such agreements, which often bar workers from switching jobs within a certain period, are already illegal in some states, while others limit their use particularly among low-wage workers.

Republican FTC Official Resigns Over Chair Lina Khans Agenda

Business groups like the US Chamber of Commerce have threatened to sue the agency over the proposed rule, arguing the FTC doesnt have authority to issue such a sweeping rule without congressional authorization. The agency maintains it can issue the rule under its power to police unfair methods of competition.

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The House letter seeks information on the FTCs economic analysis of the rulemaking along with communications with the White House about the proposal.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
Kevin McCarthy, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, will travel to the Arizona border Thursday.

It will be McCarthy's first visit to the U.S.-Mexico border since his election as speaker last month, ushering a new era of divided government after the new Republican majority officially took control of the lower chamber of Congress.

McCarthy, R-Calif., will visit Cochise County and meet with border agents, as well as local law enforcement and residents, according to C.J. Karamargin, the district director for Rep. Juan Ciscomani, R-Ariz., whose district covers Cochise County.

"The key point here is for the speaker and other members of Congress to get a firsthand assessment of the situation on the border and its impact on local communities," Karamargin said.

Ciscomani is the freshman House member from southern Arizona who delivered the Spanish-language response to President Joe Biden's State of the Union speech last week. In addition, three other Republican freshman lawmakers will join McCarthy on the visit. They are Reps. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (Oregon), Jen Kiggans (Virginia) and Derrick Van Orden (Wisconsin).

The visit will include a briefing with agents from the U.S. Border Patrol's Tucson sector, which covers most of Arizona's border with Mexico, as well as an aerial tour of the border in Cochise County, according to Karamargin.

Conditions along the U.S.-Mexico border, where thousands of asylum-seeking migrants have turned up in record numbers over much of the past year, continue to be political fodder, particularly for Republicans.

They have criticized the Biden administration's handling of the border, especially the federal government's authority to parole a large number of migrants into the country, as well as ongoing concerns about fentanyl smuggling.

Since taking control of the House, Republicans have elevated issues around border security. Two House committees held hearings last week on the situation along the U.S.-Mexico border. They featured testimony from John Modlin, chief patrol agent for the Tucson sector, as well as Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels.

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Even before being sworn in, numerous lawmakers had also vowed to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, claiming he has ceded control of the border to human and drug smugglers. But to date, no serious efforts to remove him have advanced in the House.

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Have any news tips or story ideas about immigration in the Southwest? Reach the reporter at rafael.carranza@arizonarepublic.com, or follow him on Twitter at @RafaelCarranza.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to visit Arizona border with Rep. Ciscomani
Friends, family and supporters gather Monday evening, Feb. 13, 2023, for a vigil in honor of Thomas Phillips of Dulac, a tugboat deckhand who went missing last week in the Gulf of Mexico.

Hundreds gathered Monday evening at the Dulac Marina to light candles and console the family of a tugboat deckhand who went missing last week in the Gulf of Mexico.

Thomas Phillips, 35, was last seen about 10 p.m. Feb. 5 and was noticed missing the next morning when he was supposed to transfer off the Smith Invader near the Texas-Louisiana border. The Coast Guard joined other agencies in a 23-hour search that covered 206 square miles by boat and helicopter before calling an end to the operation. The United Cajun Navy is continuing to search for Phillips.

Family friend Susan Lovell organized Monday's vigil near Nang's Food Store in Dulac. More than 300 people attended.

His younger sister, Lesleyann Phillips, and his mother, Becky Parfait, said the weight of the tragedy has been difficult, but the support has meant a lot.

"We couldn't have imagined this turnout," Lesleyann said. "This put so much back into us, you can't even imagine."

An altar dedicated to Thomas Phillips, 35, of Dulac, a tugboat deckhard who went missing last week in the Gulf of Mexico.

"If he could see this right now," said Parfait, who stopped to compose herself.

Her daughter then continued for her.

"He brought communities together," Lesleyann said. "That was his mission, that was his goal."

Lovell said the vigil was meant to guide Phillips back to his family through the lights and prayers and help bring the family closure, one way or the other.

"It's to show a path for someone trapped in the dark," she said.

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Emotions were mixed among family and friends as some remembered and celebrated how much joy Phillips brought to others. Others who worked on boats were angered by the window of uncertainty left by the eight-hour gap between the time Phillips was last seen and the time he was determined missing.

Phillips was known as "T.J." by the Dulac community and "Tucker" by his friends. Thirteen people gathered in a circle, poured shots of Skol vodka and shouted, "Shots for T." Some in the group smiled and cheered his memory, while others hardened their faces and drank it as an obligatory but sad tribute. During the prayers, chants of "T.J." followed immediately behind "amen."

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About 300 people gathered for the vigil Monday, Feb. 13, 2023, in Dulac.

Phillips was remembered as a man who started life with little and worked hard for everything he had. He was a man who put his family before everything else, said everyone spoken with, but his community was second, before even himself.

"He would give you the shirt off his back, and he struggled to keep a shirt on his back," Sharon Luke said.

Friends told how after Hurricane Ida devastated the community along Bayou Grand Caillou, Phillips opened a stand and was cooking meals and handing them out for free. He later he took his truck and drove around delivering water.

Children light candles during the vigil.

A number of fishermen attended the vigil, and a shrimp boat was used to light the dock for everyone to see. The fishermen said anytime someone is lost to the sea it sends ripples throughout the seafaring community.

Shawn Parfait, the trawler's captain, told other fishermen that if he lost any of his crew, he could never go back out on the water.

Derrick "Dov" Parfait was close friends with Phillips and went out on fishing boats with him a number of times. He and Jonathan "Boo" Parfait, another childhood friend, were hurt and angered that no one checked on Phillips throughout the night.

His sister said she had spoken with him that day on the phone and he told her he was feeling unwell. Their last correspondence was via text message at 5:15 p.m. Feb. 5, when he wrote that someone was being sent to pick him up.

Joe Langley and Phil Cohn, members of the Selucrey Sophistocats Mardi Gras marching club, show a coat painted by Thomas Phillips, a Dulac native who went missing off a tugboat last week off Texas near the Louisiana border.

"That captain knew that boy was sick; he should've been checking on that boy every hour," Derrick Parfait said. "I do it on my boat when I'm on my shrimp boat. If I know someone ain't feeling good, I'm going to check on them every 30 minutes, hour or whatever."

Phillips was also an artist, and the Selucrey Sophisticats, a Mardi Gras marching club, attended the vigil in their white suits spray-painted with colorful designs on them. Phil Cohn was wearing a coat that was spray painted by Phillips with an image of the Tasmanian Devil character from the Looney Tunes cartoons.

Joe Langley, a past president of the club and one of its founding members, said Phillips was in talks about marching with them in a parade this year, as well as painting one of its vehicles. While that's unlikely to happen now, Phillips will be there in spirit, Cohn and Langley said. They said they club will dedicate Saturday's march in the Krewe of Mardi Gras parade in Phillips' honor.

This article originally appeared on The Courier: Candlelight vigil honors deckhand from Dulac missing in Gulf of Mexico
Months before officials say a man stabbed his estranged wife to death in a Missouri national park, he began making plans to kill her, according to federal authorities.

Now 31-year-old Dylan J. Hanger from Mountain View, Missouri, has been sentenced to 21 years and 10 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder, records show.

Hangers defense attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News.

Authorities said Hanger first told a friend in January 2020 that he was planning to kill his wife, who he shared three kids with.

In March 2020, he explored buying a firearm, but did not want to type into Facebook why he wanted it, prosecutors said in a sentencing memorandum. In early May, he tried out an alibi. At some point, he removed the knife he later used to kill his wife from his home.

Then on May 20, 2020, authorities said Hanger met his estranged wife, Brittany Gorman, at a convenience store.

He said he put gas in her truck and gave her a $2,000 check for her part of their stimulus money  a check he knew would bounce  if he gave her that check at all, according to court records.

Later that day, he met Gorman at Buck Hollow, a river access point in Ozark National Scenic Riverways, according to his plea agreement.

While in the national park, the estranged couple argued about their children and their federal stimulus check, McClatchy News reported in May.

Hanger then stabbed his wife at least four times, killing her, authorities said.

After Gorman was killed, authorities said Hanger dumped her body in a remote location and secured his alibi with a friend, according to court records.

For nine days, (he) maintained to both Gormans family and law enforcement that Gorman was missing and suggested that it was due to her drug connections, authorities said. When the defendant finally admitted what he had done and revealed the location of Gormans body on May 30, 2020, Gormans body, when recovered by law enforcement, was no (longer) intact.

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Gorman is remembered as a loving mother, daughter, sister and friend, according to her online obituary. She loved raising her three kids, boating on the lake and spending time with family.

The children Hanger and Gorman shared are now 10, 7 and 5, according to the sentencing memorandum.

For the rest of their lives, they will have to live without their mother and deal with the fact that their father murdered their mother, prosecutors said. There are no good answers to the questions they will ask. There are no answers at all.

Hanger is not eligible for parole, authorities said.

Ozark National Scenic Riverways is about 140 miles east of Springfield. The national park is about 35 miles northeast of Hangers home in Mountain View.

If you are experiencing domestic violence and need someone to talk to, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline for support at 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788.

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Hyundai and Kia are rolling out software updates to stem a raft of auto thefts related to a TikTok challenge that authorities believe has led to at least 14 reported crashes and eight fatalities.

The updates are free for millions of vehicles that are missing a key anti-theft device, an issue that was exploited on social media and led to rampant theft of the cars.

The software being released updates the theft alarm software logic to extend the length of the alarm sound from 30 seconds to one minute and requires the key to be in the ignition switch to turn the vehicle on.

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About 3.8 million Hyundais and 4.5 million Kias are eligible for the software update, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Tuesday.

Hyundai said updates begin Tuesday for nearly 4 million vehicles beginning with a million model year 2017-2020 Elantra, 2015-2019 Sonata and 2020-2021 Venue vehicles. The software upgrade is scheduled to be available for the remaining eligible vehicles by June.

We have prioritized the upgrades availability for owners and lessees of our highest selling vehicles and those most targeted by thieves in order for dealers to service them first, said Randy Parker, CEO of Hyundai Motor America.

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In September the Highway Loss Data Institute, a unit of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, found that Hyundais and Kias without immobilizers had a vehicle theft claim rate of 2.18 per 1,000 insured vehicle years. The rest of the industry combined had a rate of 1.21. An insured vehicle year is equal to one vehicle insured for one year.

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The institute compared vehicles from the 2015 through 2019 model years. It studied vehicle theft claims from 2021.

Hyundai says all models produced after Nov. 1, 2021 have immobilizers as standard equipment.

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A TikTok social media challenge put a spotlight on the vehicles lack of an immobilizer and resulted in at least 14 reported crashes and eight fatalities, according to the NHTSA. The challenge shows TikTok viewers how to hot-wire Kia and Hyundai cars with a USB cord and a screwdriver.

In October a police commissioner said that a car crash in Buffalo, New York that left four teenagers dead may have been linked to the TikTok challenge. In the incident, a total of six teenagers were in a speeding Kia that crashed, Buffalo police said. The car had been reported stolen.

Hyundai and Kia will start software updates later this month, with subsequent phases over the next several months. Hyundai will also provide window stickers to vehicle owners that alert would-be thieves that the vehicle has anti-theft protection.

In a statement to Channel 2 Action News, Kia said:

Kia has been releasing enhanced security software to restrict the unauthorized operation of vehicle ignition systems on certain models not equipped with an immobilizer. Kia is notifying eligible owners by mail when the software is available for their vehicles and instructing them to bring their vehicle to the nearest Kia dealership for the free upgrade, which takes under an hour to install. Some owners have already been to their dealer to receive the software upgrade and it will be available for owners of additional affected vehicles over the next few months.

In addition to the software upgrade, Kia continues to make steering wheel locks available to owners of affected vehicles at no cost through interested local law enforcement agencies. The company remains concerned about incidents of car theft targeting certain Kia models, encouraged in some cases by social media content promoting criminal conduct, and is committed to supporting law enforcement and owners in addressing these crimes.

Kia owners with questions may contact our Customer Care team directly at 1-800-333-4542 (4Kia). In addition, a special section of the Owners Portal at Kia.com has been published for owners to research software upgrade eligibility and availability, and receive more information on ordering a steering wheel lock if applicable at https://owners.kia.com/us/en/kia-owner-portal.html/.

Hyundai owners can contact them at 800-633-5151 for information on the software update.
(Bloomberg) -- IBM Corp. is suing the former top executive in its Thailand subsidiary, claiming she should pay back nearly half a million dollars in bonus awards for taking a job at a rival company.

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In a lawsuit filed Monday in federal court in New York, the tech giant alleged its former Thailand general manager, Patama Chantaruck, breached her contract when she accepted a senior role with Accenture. IBM said Accenture was its largest competitor in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of consulting revenue.

Chantaruck, who joined IBM in 2018, resigned last year and joined Accenture as Thailand managing director a month later, in April 2022, according to the suit. IBM claims it awarded her bonuses totaling more than $470,000 in exchange for Chantaruck safeguarding confidential company information and not engaging in competitive conduct within specific time periods.

Her swift move to Accenture gives IBM the right to rescind her bonus, the latter company said in its suit.

Women of the Year

IBM and Accenture entities compete particularly in the information, digitalization, and consulting spaces, both globally and within the Asia-Pacific region, IBMs lawyers wrote in the complaint.

IBM said it had asked Chantaruck to return the money, but she refused.

Chantaruck didnt immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokeswoman for Accenture said the firm did not comment on individual personnel matters.

Regularly recognized as a top tech executive in Southeast Asia, Chantaruck spent many years working for Microsoft Corp. before she joined IBM. The Bangkok Post named her one of its 24 Women of the Year in 2021, along with former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-Wen.

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The case is IBM v. Chantaruck, 23-cv-1191, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

(Updated with Accenture declining to comment.)

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An IBM office in Seoul, South Korea. Chris Jung/NurPhoto via Getty Images

IBM wants its former top exec in Thailand to return $470,000 in bonuses after taking a job at a rival.

IBM said Patama Chantaruck violated an equity awards plan when she started working at Accenture.

The tech company said Chantaruck refused to repay the amount "without justification."

IBM wants its former top executive in Thailand to return $470,000 in bonuses after she started a job at one of its competitors, Accenture, just six weeks after leaving the company.

In a lawsuit filed in New York on Monday, which Insider has reviewed, IBM said that Patama Chantaruck started working at IBM Thailand as the country's general manager in 2018. This made her "the highest-ranking IBM executive in Thailand," the company said.

During her employment, Chantaruck received a number equity awards from IBM as part of an agreement to safeguard IBM's confidential information, and "not engage in certain proscribed competitive conduct within specific time periods," the company wrote in the lawsuit.

IBM said that under the plan it was entitled to rescind the equity awards if Chantaruck engaged in "detrimental activity," which it said included accepting employment with competitors within a restricted time period.

Insider reached out to IBM for clarification on the length of this time period, but did not immediately hear back.

Chantaruck resigned from IBM Thailand, effective February 28, 2022, the suit says. Less than six weeks later, on April 11, she started working at Accenture in what IBM says is a role "highly similar" to what she did at IBM Thailand.

On Chantaruck's LinkedIn, she lists her job title as country managing director at Accenture Thailand. The dates of employment listed on her profile tally with what IBM states in the lawsuit.

IBM claimed in the lawsuit that it was canceling and rescinding the equity awards and demanded repayment of $470,220.96 by November 1, which it later extended to January 9, but that Chantaruck has, "without justification, refused and failed" to repay the amount.

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IBM sued Chantaruck for breach of contract and asked the court to order her to repay the bonuses plus interest, as well as IBM's attorneys' fees and costs.

Chantaruck, who had previously spent more than 20 years working at Microsoft, was listed as one of the Bangkok Post's 24 Women of the Year in 2021.

Chantaruck did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment on LinkedIn. Bloomberg first reported on the lawsuit.

Read the original article on Business Insider
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  Actor Idris Elba says he's going to stick with being the tormented detective John Luther  not James Bond.

Speaking Tuesday to the World Government Summit in Dubai, Elba brought up the persistent discussions about him taking over as Ian Fleming's famed British spy. Those had grown louder after Daniel Craig's demise as Bond in the 25th film in the franchise called No Time to Die.

Asked about his upcoming film based on the British series Luther, Elba clearly took himself out of playing 007.

It's very dark," Elba said of the series. We've been working on the television show for about 10 years and so the natural ambition is to take it to the big screen, and so we're here with the first movie.

He added: You know, a lot of people talk about another character that begins with J and ends with B,' but I'm not going to be that guy. I'm going to be John Luther. That's who I am.

Luther: The Fallen Sun is due to come out in American theaters on Feb. 24, then stream on Netflix beginning March 10. It also co-stars Andy Serkis and other actors from the television series.

Elba, 50, is known for a variety of television and film roles, ranging from Stringer Bell on the American television series The Wire" and the recent movie Beast.

While on stage, Elba discussed an upcoming film he's working on with the American actor and wrestler John Cena called The Heads of State.

He plays the American president. I play the British prime minister, Elba said. We get into a caper. I'm very excited about doing that because leadership comes in many different forms.

In recent weeks, Elba has appeared at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he and his wife Sabrina Dhowre Elba received an award for their work on food security in Africa. Elba also has worked as an anti-crime ambassador with his Dont Stab Your Future initiative in the United Kingdom, where he grew up in east London.

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During his talk, Elba urged nations to invest more in creative industries, saying it can provide an economic engine that provides jobs to their youth. In particular, he said creative jobs could greatly help countries in Africa.

I believe that Africa, especially as a continent, needs to hold a narrative, change a narrative, he said.

Discussing storytelling, Elba also praised Dubai for its incredible tourism story that it has developed over the last decades. The city-state is seeing a new real estate boom, fueled in part by Russian cash amid Moscow's war on Ukraine.

I think Dubai should win an Oscar because the (place) is incredible, Elba said to applause. It's a very, very good job and other countries should take note.

___

Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.
If Jim Walker had been just a master bootblack, shining the shoes of Idaho governors, legislators, mayors, lawyers and power players, he would have led a fascinating life.

If the most interesting thing about him was that he shined Elvis Presleys boots, chatted with Frank Sinatra over a $100 polish and shined the shoes of Raquel Welch and Ann-Margret, it would have been more interesting than most.

He was really good at what he did, former state Sen. Bart Davis, a regular customer, told me in a phone interview. He was the kind of guy who would put a shine on your shoes, but hed put a smile on your face, as well.

But Walker, who died Jan. 24 at the age of 82, had a life story that was more extraordinary than that. It involves a policeman who was shot to death, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

His obituary, which ran in the Sunday Idaho Statesman, grew more fascinating by the paragraph.

Walker had been convicted of murdering a police officer in Arkansas in 1963. He was sentenced to death and then life in prison, spent several years in the notorious Cummins Arkansas State Prison, escaped while on furlough and spent four years on the lam before being returned to prison.

He insisted he did not kill the officer. He eventually was freed when a federal appeals court found evidence suppression and after new evidence determined that Walker indeed was not the person who fired the fatal shot.

Eventually he returned to Boise. But not many people in Boise knew the details of Walkers life, as he unassumingly shined shoes for 23 years downtown.

Davis, who was the Idaho Senate majority leader and then U.S. Attorney, said he didnt learn of Walkers past for years after Walker started shining Davis shoes.

We would even talk about criminal justice issues, and he never once shared with me his life experience until it became more public later on, Davis said. Walker was more interested in talking about his aunt, whom he loved and was caring for, Davis said.

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In fact, a 2013 feature story in the Idaho Statesman about Walker made not a mention of Walkers significant past.

How significant it was.

Fateful bar fight

James Dean Walker was born on Sept. 11, 1940, in Boise, and he and his sister, Ila Louise, were abandoned when they were young and bounced around in the foster care system, according to his obituary. Walker joined the Army, went to France, returned to Idaho and eventually settled in the Lake Tahoe area, where he learned shoe repair and shining.

On a trip through Little Rock, Arkansas, on April 16, 1963, Walker got into a bar fight and fled the scene. When two officers stopped his vehicle, police shot Walker five times, and one of the officers was shot and killed. Walker was accused of killing the officer, even though the pistol Walker was holding hadnt fired a round.

After just 12 minutes of deliberations, a jury convicted Walker and sentenced him to death, according to an article in the University of North Dakota Law journal. He spent time on death row but was granted a new trial because of prejudicial and irrelevant testimony.

Incredibly, the same judge was assigned to the second trial, which ended, perhaps unsurprisingly, in another conviction. But this time it was a sentence of life in prison.

Escape

While in prison, Walker underwent a religious conversion, which allowed him furloughs. It was during one of these furloughs to Memphis, Tennessee, when Walker walked away and returned to California and Lake Tahoe, picking up where his previous life had left off.

He lived undetected for four years until 1979, when he was arrested and ordered back to Arkansas, according to an article by Mara Leveritt for the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review.

As if that werent enough to this story, Walker fought extradition on the grounds that Arkansas prisons were in deplorable condition and that the warden there had threatened to kill him.

Walkers extradition fight gained notoriety nationally, attracting the attention of a journalist who asked Hillary Clinton, the wife of then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, to intervene. Gov. Clinton did intervene  by fighting in court to bring Walker back to Arkansas, until every last dog is hung.

Walkers extradition case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled against Walker in 1980.

In the meantime, though, Walkers case further shined a light on the poor living conditions in the Arkansas prison system, which had garnered the attention of celebrities, news reporters, a book and the movie Brubaker, starring Robert Redford, which had come out around the same time.

All the while, Walker maintained his innocence, drawing the attention of lawyers who revived Walkers case, finally winning him an exoneration in 1985.

One of the judges on the appeals court that exonerated Walker, Judge Myron H. Bright, pointed to the Walker case as one of the highlights of his nearly 50-year career.

When you think about what he had been through and what he had endured, he was not bitter, friend and lawyer Newal Squyres told me in a phone interview. He did not look back with bitterness. Theres no doubt that he wished that he hadnt found himself in that situation, but he did not commit that crime. He was innocent of that.

Return to Idaho

After being exonerated, Walker lived near Lake Tahoe before returning to Boise in 1993 to be with his sister and aunt, who have since died, according to Walkers obituary.

Over the years, Walker shined shoes in Ropers Clothing Store, at the Shoe Emporium, in the Mode department store, in the lobby of the U.S. Bank Building and finally in the lobby of the Grove Hotel before retiring in 2017.

He would put a shine on your shoes like no one else, Squyres said. Theres plenty of good bootblacks around, but he was a craftsman and took great pride in his craft and plying his craft.

Thats a sentiment Davis echoed.

When he retired, you know, I tried a few other shops in town and certainly got a good shine; Im not suggesting otherwise, Davis said. But it just wasnt the same for me.

Master bootblack Jim Walker smiles as another happy customer admires his work in this 2013 file photo.

Unassuming and gracious way

According to the 2013 feature story on Walker, he shined his first shoe at age 14 when he had a summer job at Franks Shoe Repair on Main Street in the mid-1950s.

By 2013, Walkers clients included then-Gov. Butch Otter, two former governors and then-Lt. Gov. Brad Little, who is now governor.

I introduced many legislative friends to him, Davis said. Our governor, I would see him occasionally sitting there visiting with him. He had a lot of friends that he influenced with his unassuming and gracious way.

According to the 2013 article, Walker had shined Littles sharkskin boots for 12 years. A visit to Walkers stand was once a regular outing for Little and Davis, both Republicans, and the late Democratic Sen. Clint Stennett, who died in 2010.

I remember several times sitting there with the two chairs, me on one side and my good friend Clint Stennett on the other, Davis recalled in our phone call Monday. We may have quarreled over at the Capitol, but we both loved to go and see (Walker) and get a good shine.  When youre in the Legislature, you see and participate in a lot of good policy and a lot of stupid, and (Walker) just seemed an equal in the public conversation of the day.

Davis said he knew Walker for nearly 20 years. He started getting a shoeshine every other week from him when Davis was first elected to the Senate in 1998 until the day Walker retired in 2017.

I found him to be extremely well-informed, and he seemed to understand the issues of the day at the Legislature, sometimes even more so than some of my colleagues inside of the building, Davis said. He had a good horse sense as far as what might be good policy.

And he was well-read.

He was always current on public affairs, Squyres said. He sat down in his chair, and he always had a copy of the Statesman and a copy of USA Today there.

Walkers clientele in 2013 also included then-Boise Mayor Dave Bieter.

If Jim ever wrote a book, it would contain the secret history of Boise because he hears about everything, Bieter told Idaho Statesman reporter Anna Webb at the time. But he never would because hes too discreet.

Given Walkers past, he was discreet, indeed.
By Krishna N. Das and Kylie MacLellan

NEW DELHI/LONDON (Reuters) -Indian tax officers searched the BBC's bureaus in New Delhi and Mumbai on Tuesday, the British broadcaster said, weeks after the government banned as propaganda a BBC documentary critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's role in riots in 2002.

The documentary focused on the Hindu nationalist politician's leadership as chief minister of the western state of Gujarat during the riots in which at least 1,000 people were killed, most of them Muslims, though activists put the toll at more than twice that number.

The tax officers were still at the bureau late on Tuesday. The BBC said some staff had been asked to remain at the bureau, while many had left.

"Our output and journalism continue as normal and we are committed to serving our audiences in India," it said.

The government last month dismissed the documentary, "India: The Modi Question", as propaganda and blocked its streaming and sharing on social media. The foreign ministry said last month the documentary was meant to push a "discredited narrative", was biased, lacked objectivity and showed a "continuing colonial mindset".

The BBC has stood by its reporting for the documentary and said it was cooperating with Indian tax officials.

"The Income Tax Authorities are currently at the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai and we are fully cooperating. We hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible," the BBC said on Twitter earlier in the day.

An Income Tax Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that a "credible survey operation was ongoing" and that the department would not be able to share details. The department did not respond to a Reuters email seeking comment.

A survey conducted by the Income Tax Department allows officials to collect any information which it deems useful. The officials can retain any books or documents, said Delhi-based senior advocate Tarun Gulati.

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A survey differs from a search and seizure operation, commonly known as a raid, with the latter being more invasive, Gulati said.

Britains Foreign Office said it was closely monitoring reports of tax surveys conducted at the BBCs offices. Media rights advocates and India's opposition condemned the searches.

One of two sources in the BBC's New Delhi office told Reuters earlier in the day that tax officials were speaking with the accounts officer and no one was allowed to leave.

Another source at the organisation said the office was allowed to function as usual while the survey was on, but declined to say if officials entered the newsroom or not.

While the tax search was in progress, television news crews set up outside the BBC office near Connaught Place in central Delhi to report developments, as police and private security guards tried to keep order and prevented dozens of journalists from entering the compound.

Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said Indian institutions worked independently and the tax department was "within the law in looking into tax compliance".

"India is a vibrant democracy where no one is above the law," BJP spokesman Gopal Krishna Agarwal said.

Following the news, online searches for "India Narendra Modi documentary" surged globally as people looked to download it.

CONDEMNATION

The Editors Guild of India, which calls itself a non-partisan association of editorial leaders, said it was "distressed by the continuing trend of government agencies being used to intimidate and harass news organisations that are critical of the ruling establishment".

It said the department searched the offices of media outlets NewsClick, Newslaundry, Dainik Bhaskar and Bharat Samachar in 2021 after their "critical coverage" of the government.

The Asia desk of the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Twitter that "authorities must not harass journalists doing their jobs".

The main opposition Congress party condemned the tax department's action. "... (it) reeks of desperation and shows that the Modi government is scared of criticism," lawmaker and Congress General Secretary K.C. Venugopal wrote on Twitter.

The documentary covers events from February 2002, when a suspected Muslim mob set fire to a train carrying Hindu pilgrims in Gujarat, setting off one of independent Indias worst outbreaks of communal violence.

Modi ruled Gujarat for more than a decade before becoming prime minister in 2014.

His career has been dogged by accusations that he did not do enough to stop the rioting in 2002. Modi has always denied any wrongdoing and in 2013, a panel appointed by the Supreme Court said there was insufficient evidence to prosecute him.

(Reporting by Rupam Jain, Mohi Narayan, Kylie MacLellan, Manoj Kumar, Nikunj Ohri and Arpan Chaturvedi; Additional reporting by Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru; Writing by Krishna N. Das;Editing by Himani Sarkar, Kim Coghill, Simon Cameron-Moore, David Goodman and Alison Williams)
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Top investigative stories

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Media: Russia's state censor to track Putin memes with the help of AI

Russia's federal agency responsible for censoring, Roskomnadzor, is planning to use AI to track online posts, comments and memes critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a report by Russian investigative outlet iStories.

The information comes from #RussianCensorFiles, a leak of more than 2 million documents of Roskomnadzor, obtained by iStories, German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung, and other partners.

The leak reveals that Roskomnadzor is tasked with being Putin's personal watchdog, dedicated to tracking down anyone criticizing the president online. Information from the agency is then passed to Putin's administration and Russian law enforcement bodies.

Over 1,000 employees within Roskomnadzor specialize in tracking content, ranging from speculations about Putin's health to memes that mock the Russian leader, according to the report.

However, even this number of staffers appears to be not enough to monitor public criticism of Putin on the Internet. According to iStories, Roskomnadzor began training neural networks to recognize such content.

Roskomnadzor was banning criticism of Putin based on hundreds of keywords, among them all possible curse words, and key markers such as major corrupt, thief, and palace.

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Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, Roskomnadzor has also blocked 125,000 pieces of content about Russia's war against Ukraine and adjacent topics as of January, according to the report.

This investigation came out in Russian as a series.

This story shows what Russian investigative journalists and opinion leaders Roskomnadzor surveilled. This story looks into Roskomnadzors monitoring of critical content about Putin. This one focuses on the agencys ambitions to use AI for tracking criticism on the internet more efficiently.





RFE/RL identifies Russian commanders, FSB supervisors responsible for tortures in Kharkiv Oblast

Schemes, an investigative project of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, has identified Russian soldiers who had allegedly tortured civilians in the city of Balakliia in northeastern Kharkiv Oblast under the supervision of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB).

According to Schemes, when retreating from Kharkiv Oblast during Ukraines September counteroffensive, Russian troops left behind a USB flash drive that helped journalists identify some of them.

According to RFE/RL, the flash drive belonged to Nikolay Klimanov, deputy commander of Russias 11th Army Corps, a unit allegedly committing atrocities in Balakliia.

He reportedly identified locals with negative attitudes toward the Russian troops in Balakliia and neighboring Savyntsi in Kharkiv Oblast.

For that, he received the Order of Courage, a Russian award for courage and heroism in the military.

After Ukrainian troops liberated Balakliia, they found two torture chambers.

One was located at the premises of a police station, another one was set up in a printing house.

Detainees were kept in terrible conditions, they were abused and tortured, according to Ihor Klymenko, then-chief of the National Police.

Balakliia residents told RFE/RL that FSB operatives had been present when Russian troops tortured locals.

Among the leadership of the Russian 11th Army Corps, journalists identified commander Major General Andrey Ruzinsky. Since 2018, Ukraines military intelligence has suspected him of committing war crimes in Donbas.

In the summer of 2022, Ivan Popov succeeded Ruzinsky as the new commander of the unit, according to the report.

Find the full story in Ukrainian here.

Bihus.Info identifies Russian riot police officers deployed to then-occupied Kherson

Russia had deployed servicemen of the Zveroboy unit of OMON, a Sochi-based special riot police unit, to suppress civilians and maintain control over the occupied Kherson, according to Bihus.Info.

Journalists were able to identify some members of the unit thanks to the leaked Telegram chats of Russian lieutenant colonel Nikolay Tissen from September to December of 2022.

Tissen sent his friends and family members multiple photos and videos from Kherson. One video features his comrades, who journalists identified as Aleksandr Kislov-Kovalskiy, Boris Snitko, and Ivan Mozgov.

Tissens unit was sent to Kherson in September 2022, which was Tissens second deployment to Ukraine.

Among the units tasks was to suppress criticism of Russia among locals and to help hold the so-called referendum that Russia staged in an attempt to justify the invasion of Kherson.

Watch the full story in the Ukrainian language here.

Slidstvo.Info identifies collaborators helping Russian troops abduct orphans from Kherson

Ukrainian investigative outlet Slidstvo.Info identified the collaborators who assisted Russian soldiers in abducting and deporting Ukrainian orphans from the childrens hospital in the southern city of Kherson.

Russian troops have abducted almost 14,000 Ukrainian children from the occupied territories, Daria Herasymchuk, Ukraines presidential advisor for childrens rights and rehabilitation, said on Jan. 18. Only 127 of them have been returned to Ukraine.

Russian troops abducted five orphaned children, including three infants from the Kherson hospital, the journalists reported.

Viktor Burdovitsyn, the acting chief medic of the hospital, allegedly helped Russian troops to take the children away, according to the report.

Burdovitsyn also allegedly granted Russian troops access to the medical records and personal data of local Ukrainian police officers. After that, Russian soldiers threatened the police officers with detention and torture, according to the report.

When Russian troops occupied Kherson in the early days of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Burdovitsyn appeared on Russian television thanking Russian troops for the help.

Ukraines Prosecutor General's Office opened a treason probe into Burdovitsyn.

Find the full story with English subtitles here.

Impact

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Corruption case against MP sent to court following journalist investigation

An illicit enrichment case involving Artur Herasymov, a lawmaker with ex-President Petro Poroshenko's European Solidarity party, was sent to court on Feb. 8.

Herasymov was charged with reporting false information in his 2020 online asset declaration, according to the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO). He allegedly failed to declare almost Hr 8 million ($218,000) in assets.

The statement by SAPO doesnt include the lawmakers name. However, the case description fits Herasymovs previous encounters with law enforcement.

The NABU has been investigating Herasymov since April 2021, after journalists from Schemes, an investigative project of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, revealed that the lawmaker has a house in Spain, which he never mentioned in his asset declaration.

If found guilty, Herasymov could be facing either a fine of up to Hr 85,000 ($2,300) or imprisonment for up to two years, as well as a ban on holding certain public offices for three years.

Kyiv judge charged with illicit enrichment years after journalists found undeclared assets

Antonina Martyniuk, a former judge of the Northern Economic Court of Appeal, was charged with illicit enrichment for providing false information in her 2020 asset declaration.

According to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutors Office (SAPO), Martyniuk failed to declare two apartments and a garage in Prague and Karlovy Vary, the Czech Republic. She also allegedly omitted to mention around $250,000 in profit from selling real estate.

Law enforcement does not refer to Martyniuk by name in their announcement, but the Anti-Corruption Action Center suggests that she fits the description.

The total sum of Martyniuks undeclared assets amounts to almost Hr 14 million ($540,000).

A 2016 journalist investigation by Bihus.Info found that Martyniuks assets didnt correlate with her official salary  just Hr 252,000 in 2015.

In 2021, the Supreme Council of Justice fired Martyniuk.

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Iowa lawmakers are considering a bill that's very similar to Florida's "Don't Say Gay" legislation. XiXinXing/Getty Images

Iowa lawmakers are considering a bill to limit gender identity and expression in the classroom.

The proposed law looks a lot like Florida's "Don't Say Gay" legislation.

If passed, the legislation is likely to damage student mental health, a psychologist told Insider.

A new bill proposed within the Iowa state legislature would require school officials and faculty members to get permission from parents before calling students a nickname that does not "correspond to the biological sex" listed on their birth certificate.

The bill was proposed last week and is supported by Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds. Republicans hold a majority in both houses of Iowa's state legislature. The measure is part of a wave of bills across the country attempting to limit or control gender expression and identity in and out of the classroom.

In addition to the limitation on nicknames, Iowa's Senate Study Bill 1145 would prevent a school district from providing "any program, curriculum, material, test, survey, questionnaire, activity, announcement, promotion, or instruction of any kind relating to gender identity or sexual activity."

The bill is similar to Florida's "Don't Say Gay" legislation, which forbids discussion of gender expression, identity, and sexual orientation in kindergarten classrooms through third grade. The text of the "Don't Say Gay" bill specifies that such discussions are not "age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students."

The Iowa law would prohibit the discussion of gender identity from kindergarten through third grade.

It would also extend the nickname restriction to all minor students enrolled in school. The text of the Iowa bill reads:

"A school district must receive the prior written consent of the parent or guardian of a minor child enrolled in the school district before allowing any employee of the school district to address the minor child using a nickname or a pronoun that does not correspond to the biological sex that is listed on the minor child's official birth certificate or certificate issued upon adoption if the certificate was issued at or near the time of the minor child's birth."

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The proposed law risks further marginalizing trans and nonbinary students, according to Dr. Melanie Walsh, a psychology professor at the University of New Haven.

Young children in particular, Walsh said, might not yet have the awareness that they're trans or nonbinary or the language to express it. Limits on gender expression in the classroom can create a culture of fear, she said.

"What we're going to end up seeing is a rash of mental health issues as a result of this," Walsh said. "We know that for trans youth and gender-nonconforming youth in particular, that component of school belonging is so huge because they're spending so much time at school. And so to feel like you don't have any place where you can be yourself is particularly damaging."

Walsh predicts that this bill, if passed, would cause many children in Iowa to internalize negative feelings and self-hatred. It'll also make it hard for kids to come to terms with who they are.

"And when you have all that self-hatred, of course, that leads to higher rates of depression, anxiety, suicidality," she said.

The other issue is that names can be agender and ambiguous  and new ones are created every day.

Names like Leslie, Taylor, and Lindsay are associated with both men and women in the United States. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a male congressional lawmaker who represents South Carolina, is just one example.

Iowa's bill is supported by Moms for Liberty, a conservative 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization that describes its mission as "dedicated to fighting for the survival of America by unifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government."

This is not the first time that conservative groups have invoked "parental rights" as a way of setting school policies.

In the 1960s, for example, some parents opposed integration in schools because they viewed it as an extension of communism, according to Dr. Einav Rabinovitch-Fox, a gender studies historian at Case Western Reserve University.

"In the past, their solution was to turn to homeschooling or to private education, but what we are seeing today is the insistence to keep the children in school, but to impose specific conservative agendas on the public system," Rabinovitch-Fox said.

When such bills are introduced, it's important to examine whether the interest of a parent outweighs that of a child, according to Walsh.

"Who are these bills really protecting? What are these bills even protecting? Because they're certainly not protecting the children that I think the lawmakers think that they're trying to protect," Walsh said.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Ireland has a proud tradition of Academy Award prominence  famed dual Irish-British citizen Daniel Day-Lewis is the only man with three lead actor Oscars, after all  but the country's ties to 14 nominations this season has catapulted it to new heights.

Consider: The Banshees of Inisherin earned nine nods; Irish-language film The Quiet Girl (An Cailin Ciuin") has earned a place among the international feature film nominees; and An Irish Goodbye is a live action short film nominee. Then there's the people involved. Nominations were bestowed on actors Paul Mescal ("Aftersun); the primary cast of "The Banshees of Inisherin"  Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon and Barry Keoghan  along with Elvis film editor Jonathan Redmond and Richard Baneham, visual effects supervisor for Avatar: The Way of Water.

"Banshees" writer-director Martin McDonagh  himself a nominee for original screenplay, director and best picture  describes its success as beyond my understanding; the connection people have found, the discourse and reaction. Its almost like its not mine at all anymore. His own luck of the Irish includes an actual rainbow amid his pot of (potential) gold during last years shoot. Ive never seen such a beautiful summer. All those sunsets are for real and the rainbow at the start too.

Colin Farrell, left, and Brendan Gleeson have both been nominated for their roles in "The Banshees of Inisherin." (Associated Press)

But hes most enthralled with the nominations for his four actors, calling Farrell and Gleeson among Irelands current top four, definitely, while Keoghans already up there. And Ive been seeing what Kerrys been doing in theater and films for 20 years, so Ive known how brilliant she is. There isnt anyone Id hire instead of her I think  not just in Ireland, in the world.

Thats so sweet, Condon says when told of McDonagh's comment. I think from the beginning when we met  I was doing his play 'The Lonesome West' when I was 17  Martin always admired my ambition, because it was similar to his. I was always sure of myself; childlike and cocky, like, Im going global. Now her excitement for the Emerald Isle feels almost palpable. My friend at home was like, Everybodys celebrating like crazy. Its like theyve won the World Cup.

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McDonagh is thrilled too for another of his former play stars, lead actor nominee Mescal, who recalls the boss arrival to watch 2020 rehearsals for his The Lieutenant of Inishmore as the most frightening thing ever. I didnt know Martin other than idolizing his work. I remember nothing other than, Theres Martin McDonagh watching me butcher his play.

Irelands tiny, of course, as Mescal notes. Over the years, we have punched above our weight, and this year is an amazing example of that. Citing its 25% of 2023s acting nominations as mad, hes in awe of being in a category with Colin, somebody else I have idolized, whose performance is phenomenal. Part of me is rooting for Colin.

Ross White and Tom Berkeley, writer-director-producers of An Irish Goodbye, say theyre only at this party thanks to their idol too. Weve always loved Martin McDonagh, from the early plays. That really got us into writing for theater, White says. The short, about two brothers (James Martin and Seamus OHara) processing their mothers death, was inspired by an argumentative sibling duo Berkeley spotted at a soccer game, one with Down syndrome. Had Martin, a longtime actor with Down, not committed, the film would likely have been shelved, but he adored the brothers' love and hate. Clearly his films lucky charm, not least because the Academy Awards fall on his 31st birthday, Martin insists, Anybody can act. It doesnt matter if you have Down syndrome, autism or any disability.

But mostly, this team is ecstatic to represent Northern Ireland, with White touting its uniquely healthy, funny, keep-you-grounded cynicism. Weve always found the tragedy-comedy line really interesting; the little place in the middle feels very honest and human to us. Tragicomedy, also a huge "Banshees" attribute, was in play on both prop and weather fronts. Needing a dead rabbit for the films opening, White mentions their terrible time finding one already dead. A PA [production assistant] drove about looking for roadkill then, finally, a farmer said, If youre looking for a rabbit, Ive got one in the freezer that died yesterday.

Also requiring a spring setting for the five-day shoots first scene, they reached their mountain location  and a snowstorm. Within 10 minutes, it was a blanket of white, Berkeley says with a grimace. We waited as long as we could but had to crack on. So theres a bit of snowcapped mountain. But I like that bleakness to start now.

The Quiet Girl writer-director Colm Bairead and his wife, producer Cleona Ni Chrualaoi, were most stressed about finding their quiet girl, who needed to speak Irish. They saw hundreds, Ni Chrualaoi says, but were stuck, until 11-year-old Catherine Clinch appeared. We were like, Oooh yes! It was a small miracle. Carrie Crowley, the films adult female star, also seemed meant to be as she was already passionate about both the Irish language and the films source material, the novella Foster by Irish writer Claire Keegan.

Crowley herself is thrilled the Green Wave is rolling into Hollywood and that this beautiful film has worked its magic on global audiences, regardless of age, race, gender and socioeconomic status. "Banshees" supporting actress nominee Condon raves about Crowleys real elegance. I do think sometimes an understated performance is more difficult. She even hosted a Q&A for the film, to kind of help, because a rising tide raises all boats and I found it really moving. I was bawling.

There was something so meant to be about this whole thing, Ni Chrualaoi adds, something greater helping the film along, a comment seemingly applicable to many of these projects. Bairead highlights a sort of timelessness shared by these specific films were talking about now in an Irish context. Theyre all, in their own way, quite unfashionable. Theyre not necessarily of this precise moment in terms of the cultural conversation.

Irish production designer Cedric Gibbons, who designed the Academy Award statuette in 1928 and won 11 Oscars himself, would surely approve.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Opposition deputies protest as the first stage of controversial judicial reform is approved by the Knesset Law Committee on Feb. 13, 2023. Photo by Israeli Parliament (Knesset) / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Proposals by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus right-wing government to radically diminish the power and independence of Israels judiciary sparked demonstrations across the country starting in January 2023. An estimated 200,000 Israelis took part in protests on Feb. 11 and another 100,000 in front of the Parliament on Feb. 13, the same day a general strike took place to denounce the changes. A statement signed by 18 former Supreme Court justices asserted that Israeli democracy is at stake in the judicial reform being considered by lawmakers, which severely threatens the essence of our system of government and our way of life in Israel.

The Conversation asked political scientist and Israel expert Dov Waxman, the director of the UCLA Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies, for his insights into the current crisis.

Whats your broad view of the situation in Israel?

Whats remarkable about these protests is not only the size of them, but the fact that theyve been able to maintain this size over many weeks and that theyre occurring across the country.

I dont think theres been any comparable protest movement in Israels history in terms of the size and the various social and economic groups that make up this protest. High-tech workers are not normally a segment of the population that are very politically engaged, and theyve been very active in these demonstrations. Jurists have demonstrated, but also Israeli security figures, including a former chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces.

These protests are driven by concerns over this judicial overhaul, but I think they speak to a broader anxiety, a fear among many Israelis about the future of democracy in Israel and the future of the country. They fear this will essentially lead to Israels shift from being what they perceive to be a liberal democracy to becoming an illiberal democracy that looks more like Hungary, Poland or Turkey than the United States.

You barely see Palestinians in these protests. It must be quite an experience for them, hearing Israel described so passionately as a democracy when they dont have democratic rights.

Theres been a debate within the protest movement and among its leaders over whether they should address issues beyond the judicial reforms, whether the protests should be linked to Israels occupation of the West Bank. And the focus was very deliberately to exclude these other issues. If theyd have brought in the Palestinian issue, it would have driven away or deterred many Israelis and shrunk the protest movement.

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A protester raises a Scales of Justice symbol during a demonstration on Feb. 11, 2023, in Tel Aviv, where 130,000 people march against Israels right-wing government and its controversial legal reform. Matan Golan/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

But of course, it is a blind spot. I can certainly understand why many Palestinians would be feeling that all of this sudden anxiety and concern for Israeli democracy ignores the fact that almost 50% of the population that Israel effectively rules over lacks equal rights and lacks the ability to vote in Israeli elections.

I think the fact that most Israelis dont seem to connect these two issues suggests that they only see democracy as this internal domestic issue without any relevance to the Palestinian question. But the governments desire to weaken the Supreme Court has to be understood against the context in which significant elements of the government want to formally annex the West Bank, where 2.9 million Palestinians live. The Supreme Court would likely either overrule that decision or say that Palestinians living in the area have to be given equal rights. The reforms Netanyahus coalition wants would allow lawmakers to, effectively, overrule such Supreme Court decisions.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog says the state is on the brink of a constitutional and social collapse. Is he overstating it?

I initially thought that warnings of impending civil war or civil strife were exaggerated and unnecessarily alarmist. But given how quickly events are moving in Israel, the scale of these demonstrations, the massive public strike that took place Monday and the rhetoric thats coming from both sides, I think now those warnings are well founded. Israel is really entering a very dangerous period.

At least half of the Israeli public see this as a life-or-death issue for Israeli democracy, an existential issue. When the stakes are so high, the possibility for violence increases, whether its among the protesters or counterprotesters.

What could adoption of these proposals mean to Israels relationships with other countries?

I dont think its likely to greatly affect Israels relations with other states because its national interests, not democratic values, that fundamentally underpin these relationships.

I do, however, think it is affecting Israels relationship with Jews around the world, and potentially Americas unquestioning support for Israel. If the perception takes hold that Israel is no longer a democracy or not a liberal democracy, that could further weaken support for Israel in Congress and in the Democratic Party. It might even make it harder for them to continue to approve U.S. aid for Israel.

Theres always been a yawning gap between the public perception of Israel outside of the country, especially the view held by many Jewish Americans, and the reality of Israel. The mythic image of Israel was incredibly powerful but never really accurate. Reality has gradually undermined this image. And this judicial overhaul threatens to further undermine the image of Israel as a fellow liberal democracy.

An Israeli reserve soldier raises his fist as he marches during a demonstration on Feb. 13, 2023, in Jerusalem to protest proposed judicial reform. Eyal Warshavsky/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Is there a case to be made for Israeli judicial reform?

Since the 1990s, Israels high court has become very involved in Israeli politics, something it did not do in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. It has intervened, overridden and disqualified many government decisions and laws. So the perception, particularly by those on the right, that this is an activist court, that it has been too active, is reasonable.

I dont think its as liberal as its critics present it to be. The court has not intervened very much when it comes to protecting the rights of, say, Palestinians in the West Bank. So this perception among the right that the court has really restrained Israeli governments isnt actually accurate.

I think many people would accept that there could be an argument for some kind of judicial reform, at least passing a law to clarify the role and powers of the Supreme Court. But whats being presented in this reform is actually a revolutionary attempt to essentially take away the independence and power of the Supreme Court. This goes well beyond improving the present system.

Almost identical measures have been implemented in other countries by authoritarian, populist leaders  by Orban in Hungary, Duda in Poland and Erdogan in Turkey. You dont need a wild imagination to see whats driving this or where this is going  Israel will become an illiberal, or majoritarian, democracy, like Hungary, Poland and Turkey.

I think people have genuinely been taken aback by the speed with which the governments pushing these huge changes through the Knesset, or Parliament. One interpretation is that theyve done this so quickly knowing that they will eventually have to make a compromise  basically a shock-and-awe campaign.

But the other way of looking at this speed is that, no, theyre not interested in compromising. Thats why theyve done this so quickly, and theyre going to push this through. We will likely know soon which one it is. Its kind of like a game of chicken. I think they will in the end come up with some sort of compromise.

Does that compromise make anyone happy?

No, but thats the nature of compromise.

This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. The Conversation has a variety of fascinating free newsletters.

It was written by: Dov Waxman, University of California, Los Angeles.

Read more:



Dov Waxman 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.
JERUSALEM (AP)  Two ultranationalist Israeli Cabinet ministers on Tuesday defiantly dismissed a growing chorus of global condemnation of new Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank, instead promising to double down and legalize dozens of wildcat outposts in the occupied territory.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir reaffirmed their commitment to expand Israeli authority in the lands that the Palestinians seek for a future state. Their comments came after the United States expressed opposition to the move and as four European countries added their criticism.

Smotrich, a religious settler, said he and his allies in the government  the most right-wing in Israel's history  remain committed to removing completely the restrictions on building in Judea and Samaria, referring to the West Bank by its biblical names.

Disagreements are allowed, even between friends, he added.

Ben-Gvir, who also lives in a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, urged the U.S. and Europe to stop being worried.

The Land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel," he said emphatically. "Nine settlements is nice. But its still not enough. We want many more.

On Tuesday, some of Europe's top diplomats joined the U.S. in censuring Israel over its plans to build 10,000 new homes in existing settlements in the West Bank and retroactively legalize nine outposts. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus Cabinet announced the measure on Sunday, following a surge in violence in Jerusalem.

We are deeply troubled by the Israeli government's announcement, read the joint statement from the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the U.S. We strongly oppose these unilateral actions which will only serve to exacerbate tensions between Israelis and Palestinians.

Israel's Arab neighbors Jordan and Egypt, as well as Saudi Arabia and Norway, similarly expressed grave concern and strong opposition to the new settlement plans.

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Still, there was no mention of potential consequences. Despite years of accumulated frustration and escalating rhetoric over Israel's fast-expanding settlements that threaten the realization of the two-state solution that has been a goal of the peace process for years, the U.S. and European Union have avoided taking serious action.

Israel's new government could nonetheless test the country's closest ties. In a contentious coalition deal, Netanyahu promised Smotrich authority over the defense body responsible for planning for both settlements and Palestinian construction in parts of the West Bank where Israel maintains civilian control.

Once he receives those powers, Smotrich has vowed to normalize life for more than 500,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank, erasing the differences between living in a settlement and within Israels internationally recognized border and effectively annexing West Bank territory. Such a move would draw widespread backlash.

Israel captured the West Bank, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war. Most of the international community considers Israeli settlements illegal and and an obstacle to peace. Some 700,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank and Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.

Ultranationalists who oppose Palestinian statehood comprise a majority of Israels new government, which has declared settlement construction a top priority.
ANKARA (Reuters) - Israeli airlines will resume direct flights to Turkey as a mark of a continued improvement in bilateral relations, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said on Tuesday, predicting a 25% increase in tourism this year.

The first such flight will depart on Thursday, Cohen told reporters during what he described as a solidarity visit to Turkey, which credited Israel for sending relief delegations after last week's earthquake.

An Israeli official said the flights were resuming as part of an airline security agreement reached last year, with the two nations rebuilding ties strained by disputes over Israel's policies toward the Palestinians.

"I would like to update you that Israeli flights will renew in two days from now, and all the three major companies in Israel will renew their flights to Turkey," Cohen said.

"We will definitely warm the important relations between your important and beautiful country and Israel," he added, predicting that a million Israelis would visit Turkey in 2023, up from 800,000 who went last year aboard foreign airlines.

(Writing by Dan Williams)
Italy is supporting the creation of a special tribunal for war crimes committed during Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Source: Antonio Tajani, Italian Foreign Minister, as reported by European Pravda, citing Sky24

Details: "The killing of defenceless people is a war crime, and we will see how to intervene: if a special tribunal is created, we are not against it," Tajani said.

He also said that Italy has never sent weapons to strike Russian territory and has never declared war on Russia.

"We have a problem with the leadership, not the people. If the leadership violates international law, we can only have one position: condemnation of violations of the law, war crimes, and violence," Tajani explained.

Background:

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said that the EU is determined to bring Russia to justice for the crime of aggression against Ukraine and to establish a tribunal for this purpose.

Earlier, Marija Pejcinovic Buric, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, suggested various options for creating a special tribunal to bring the Russian leadership to justice, as well as for the European Councils assistance.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
By Mike Spector

(Reuters) -The bankruptcy case filed by Johnson & Johnson's subsidiary shouldering talc-related lawsuits will soon be dismissed unless a U.S appeals court agrees to reconsider its decision to nix the company's attempt to offload the litigation into Chapter 11 proceedings, a federal judge said on Tuesday.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan said during a hearing in Trenton, New Jersey that he intends to toss the Chapter 11 case once the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issues a formal mandate to carry out a Jan. 30 ruling by a three-judge panel to dismiss the matter.

The 3rd Circuit panel ruled that the J&J subsidiary, called LTL Management, had no legitimate claim to Chapter 11 protection because it did not face financial distress.

The dismissal is on hold since LTL asked the full 3rd Circuit late on Monday to reconsider the panel's decision. Should the 3rd Circuit deny that request, Kaplan could dismiss the case within days.

"It is my intent, when the mandate is issued, to issue an order dismissing the case," Kaplan said during Tuesday's hearing.

Should the 3rd Circuit refuse a rehearing, LTL could seek to further delay the bankruptcy's dismissal, including potentially at the U.S. Supreme Court, a lawyer for the J&J subsidiary, Greg Gordon, told the hearing.

Absent a reversal, the 3rd Circuit's decision would force J&J back into trial courts to battle nearly 40,000 lawsuits alleging the company's Baby Powder and other cosmetic products containing talc cause cancer. Gordon told the judge that LTL was engaged in a "Herculean effort to get the defense team back in place" to manage cases in trial courts should Kaplan ultimately dismiss the bankruptcy.

J&J maintains its talc products are safe.

LTL's bankruptcy had put the deluge of talc cases on hold. Kaplan on Tuesday granted a 24-year-old plaintiff's request to allow his case to proceed in California in the wake of the 3rd Circuit's decision.

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"The pendulum has swung," Kaplan said, ruling that a trial for the terminally ill plaintiff should no longer be indefinitely halted on grounds that it could threaten LTL's bankruptcy reorganization.

Kaplan said other cases would remain paused in the short term while LTL's appeals process unfolds.

The 3rd Circuit decision more broadly cast a cloud over J&J's use of a maneuver known as the Texas two-step, named for a Texas law the company employed to carve its consumer business into two new subsidiaries.

In October 2021, J&J offloaded the tidal wave of talc lawsuits it faced onto one of its newly created units, LTL, which then declared bankruptcy. Reuters last year detailed the secret planning of Texas two-steps by Johnson & Johnson and other major firms in a series of reports exploring corporate attempts to evade lawsuits through bankruptcies.

J&J, with a market capitalization of more than $400 billion, has argued that the avalanche of lawsuits posed a serious financial threat. The company's costs of verdicts, settlements and legal fees soared to about $4.5 billion, with no end in sight, according to bankruptcy-court filings.

The 3rd Circuit's reasoning underscored what some legal experts call an inherent contradiction: bankruptcies being executed by multinational firms worth billions of dollars that were in little danger of running out of money to pay plaintiff-creditors.

LTL declared bankruptcy while J&J avoided seeking Chapter 11 protection, with all its inherent financial and reputational wreckage.

J&J said it generously financed LTL to ensure a fair settlement - better, the company and its subsidiary argued, than trial courts where some plaintiffs receive outsized payments while others receive little or nothing.

The 3rd Circuit found that J&J's funding of the subsidiary, initially $2 billion and perhaps eventually more, undercut any claim of financial peril necessary to justify LTL's bankruptcy filing. In a petition seeking a rehearing filed Monday, a lawyer for LTL, Neal Katyal, called that reasoning "upside-down."

A 2018 Reuters investigation found that J&J knew for decades that asbestos, a known carcinogen, was present in its Baby Powder and other cosmetic talc products. The company said in May 2020 it would stop selling talc-based Baby Powder in the United States and Canada, in part due to what it called "misinformation" and "unfounded allegations" about the product. The company later decided to stop selling talc-based Baby Powder globally starting this year. J&J has denied its talc contains asbestos.

(Reporting by Mike Spector in New York; Editing by Will Dunham)
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan plans to bulk-order Tomahawk cruise missiles from the United States by March next year as it begins a rapid military build-up, Minister of Defense Yasukazu Hamada said on Tuesday.

Japan wants to conclude a contract during the next financial year, which begins April 1, to buy Raytheon Technologies Corp Tomahawks through the U.S. government's foreign military sales (FMS) programme, Hamada said at a regular news briefing.

Japan's latest defence budget, which will jump by a quarter from last year, includes $1.6 billion to buy the cruise missiles, part of its biggest military build-up since World War Two. The government hasn't said how many it will buy, but local media reports said it wants as many as 500.

Japan wants the cruise missile to give its military the capability to strike targets far from Japan to deter potential adversaries, including China, from attacking. The ship-launched version of the munition, which can fly more than 1,000 kilometres, would have enough range to hit targets inside China.

(Reporting by Tim Kelly and Elaine Lies; Editing by Tom Hogue and Gerry Doyle)
Thomas B. Adams Jr., who was one of three Springfield area men accused in the Jan. 6, breach of the U.S. Capitol grounds and was convicted in federal court Monday, stands with his dog Spotlyt where Adams lives on Ridge Ave. in Springfield Wednesday Feb. 1, 2023.

A federal judge in Washington, D.C. who issued a scathing "minute order" over comments made by a Springfield man in reaction to his conviction last month for the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol has set a hearing for Thursday to listen to responses from the government and the defense.

Thomas B. Adams Jr. told The State Journal-Register just days after his conviction in a stipulated bench trial that he wouldn't change anything he did that day.

"I would go there again," Adams said in an interview outside of his Springfield home. "I didn't do anything. I still to this day, even though I had to admit guilt (in the stipulation of charges), don't feel like I did what the charge is."

NTSB issues final report on plane crash that killed former fire chief, coroner, and friend

Adams was convicted Jan. 31 of obstructing an official proceeding, aiding and abetting others in committing obstruction of an official proceeding and remaining in a restricted building or grounds.

Judge Amit P. Mehta gave the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Columbia and Adams' federal public defenders until Feb. 10 to answer "why the court should not vacate" Adams' conviction.

Adams can appear by Zoom for Thursday's hearing.

Both sides agreed in motions filed with the court that Mehta should take no action to vacate the convictions and the case should proceed to Adams' sentencing on June 16. Adams faces a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison on the obstruction charge, plus financial penalties of up to $250,000.

Supporters of President Donald Trump rally at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington.

Under the stipulated facts trial, said Adams' public defender, A.J. Kramer, Adams admitted to facts that, based upon the courts rulings on his motions to dismiss, would establish guilt. The parties elected to proceed with a stipulated facts trial rather than a guilty plea because it was the only way for Adams to acknowledge his conduct while retaining the right to appeal the legal issue of whether his conduct amounted to a violation of the Constitution, Kramer added.

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In the defense's response to the "minute order," Kramer said Adams didn't in his interview with the SJ-R recant statements he made in court.

Kramer said Adams' "purported comment" about not changing anything he did on Jan. 6 was intended to mean that he still would have gone to Washington, D.C. to take part in a protest on President Donald Trumps behalf.

"He did not intend to suggest that he would have gone into the Capitol, and he has never suggested as much to the (defense counsel)," Kramer noted in the motion. "In fact, he has said the opposite repeatedly."

Adams' comments were largely intended to convey the fact that he did not engage in violence toward people orproperty on Jan. 6.

Adams admitted to the SJ-R that he was on the Senate floor but that he had "no desire to do anything malicious, vicious or anything." He said he didn't touch anything in the building "only a doorknob or two."

Kramer added that Adams has been distressed because "he is concerned that he has been equated with people who engaged in violence and destruction of property on January 6. Mr. Adams did neither."

In his written motion for the government, Matthew Graves pointed out that if Mehta was to vacate Adams' convictions, "it would effectively be granting him a new trial. But the Court has no authority to grant a new trial (by its own accord)."

Thomas B. Adams Jr., of Springfield, right, holds a President Donald Trump flag inside the Senate chamber during the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol.

Adams, 41, traveled to Washington from Springfield with his friend, Roy Nelson Franklin, 67. Their identities first came to light when they were interviewed by Abigail Higgins of the news site Insider shortly after exiting the Capitol.

Franklin's case is pending.

Another area man, Shane Jason Woods of Auburn, pleaded guilty in federal court in early September to assaulting a law enforcement officer among other charges during the Jan. 6 breach. Woods, who also goes by Shane Castleman, was charged with first-degree murder on Nov. 16 for his part in a fatal wrong-way collision on Interstate 55 near Springfield on Nov. 8.

About 1,000 people have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the Capitol breach.

Contact Steven Spearie: (217) 622-1788, sspearie@sj-r.com, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Court date set for man who commented about Jan. 6 breach conviction
Long before he had a graying beard, Lamar Johnson wrote to the St. Louis judge who oversaw his 1995 trial, saying he had received letters from another man admitting guilt to the murder for which he had just been convicted.

Mr. Shaw I did not kill Markus Boyd, Johnson wrote nearly three decades ago, and I hope someday justice will prevail.

Following years of legal battles, that day came Tuesday, when Circuit Judge David Mason announced he was granting the St. Louis circuit attorneys motion to vacate Johnsons conviction. Prosecutors had determined Johnson, who spent 28 years in prison, had nothing to do with Boyds killing.

The crowd in the courtroom cheered as Mason announced his decision. Johnson  who, at 49, has spent more than half of his life in prison  wiped tears from his eyes.

Masons ruling, in which he called Johnsons innocence clear and convincing, marked the end to a years-long effort to free Johnson.

Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner became convinced of Johnsons innocence in 2019, but she did not have a legal avenue to release him.

After other legal fights with the Missouri Attorney Generals Office, Gardner sought Johnsons release under a state law that went into effect in 2021, which allows prosecutors to petition a court to exonerate prisoners they deemed wrongly convicted.

The law gave Jackson County prosecutors a path to free Kevin Strickland, a Kansas City man who spent 42 years in prison for a triple murder he did not commit. Before Tuesday, Strickland was the only person exonerated under the new avenue, which lawmakers changed, in part, because of Johnsons incarceration and The Stars reporting on Stricklands case.

Gardner said Tuesday the courts righted a wrong.

Most importantly, we celebrate with Mr. Johnson and his family as he walks out of the courtroom as a free man, she said.

In a statement, Johnsons attorneys with the Midwest Innocence Project and the law firms Morgan Pilate and Lathrop GPM said they were ecstatic to be welcoming him home. But they called his case yet another example of how difficult it is to free innocent prisoners in Missouri.

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It took an innocence organization, three law firms, the Circuit Attorney, both chambers of Missouris legislature and the Governors signature on a law passed for him, to free Lamar Johnson, they said. That is intolerable. That is not justice. We can and must do better.

The judges ruling Tuesday comes more than a month after St. Louis prosecutors sought to prove Johnsons innocence during a December hearing. The AGs office contended that Johnson was guilty at that proceeding, opposing his release like the office has in nearly every innocence claim to come before it in the last two decades.

Local prosecutors attacked that record in a recent court filing, saying the offices blind opposition to innocence claims is political, keeps wrongfully convicted people in prison longer and erodes integrity and faith in the justice system.

The (attorney generals office) is doing to Johnson what it has always done  no matter the evidence, no matter the law, no matter what is just, special assistants to the circuit attorneys office wrote. The justice and its Constitution demands more. Markus Boyd and Lamar Johnson deserve more.

Erika Barrow, former girlfriend to Lamar Johnson, reacts on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023, after St. Louis Circuit Judge David Mason vacated his murder conviction during a hearing in St. Louis, Mo. Johnson served nearly 28 years of a life sentence for a killing that he has always said he didnt commit.

Then 21, Johnson was convicted in 1995 of first-degree murder in the Oct. 30, 1994, nighttime shooting of Boyd, who was found on the porch of a brick home in St. Louis Dutchtown neighborhood. Johnson was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

At the urging of Johnsons lawyers, Gardners conviction integrity unit in 2018 started reviewing his case. The next year, she released a report detailing how her office determined Johnson had nothing to do with Boyds murder. Current prosecutors found unconstitutional police practices and serious prosecutorial misconduct throughout his case.

For more than two decades, Johnsons co-defendant, Phillip Campbell, and another man, James Howard, confessed to shooting Boyd and provided a motive, Gardners office said. Campbell pleaded guilty after Johnson was convicted and got a seven-year sentence. Howard, who was never charged in the killing, is now in prison for a murder he committed three years later, in 1997.

Howard took the stand in December, again admitting that he and Campbell, who is deceased, killed Boyd that fateful night. Howard testified he came forward because he was trying to right his wrongs, which included Johnson sitting in prison for his crimes.

I didnt think they would convict him because, sh--, he didnt have nothing to do with it, Howard testified.

Lamar Johnson, left, embraces St. Louis Prosecutor Kim Garner on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023, after St. Louis Circuit Judge David Mason vacated his murder conviction during a hearing in St. Louis, Mo. Johnson served nearly 28 years of a life sentence for a killing that he has always said he didnt commit.

Campbell and Howards confessions included details that were corroborated by physical evidence  the masks worn and the guns used, among other things, according to the circuit attorneys office. In its post-hearing briefs, Gardners office said Howards testimony was made more credible by the fact that he exposed himself to another potential murder charge.

The AGs office argued that Howard lied on Johnsons behalf, saying he had little to fear from another conviction. He is already serving a life sentence and since he was 17 at the time of Boyds murder, would not be eligible for the death penalty.

Howard was so unbelievable, the AGs office contended, that the circuit attorneys office was apparently unwilling to charge him despite his confession  an assertion that Gardners office called baseless and reckless speculation.

At the hearing, the judge asked Gardner if she intended to charge Howard.

Its being reviewed, your Honor, she responded.

Lamar Johnson chokes up as he testifies on the stand during the fourth day of his wrongful conviction hearing in St. Louis, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022. (David Carson/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP, Pool)

Last year, a Star report detailed how the dubious testimony of a repeat jailhouse informant  who had a swastika tattoo and once called Johnson a racial slur  helped prosecutors convict Johnson, who is Black. The informant, who was white, claimed to have heard Johnson confess to the killing while in jail, but his story, Gardners office determined, was and is not credible.

The circuit attorneys office has also noted that Ronald Jackson, who obtained the informants statements, was later indicted for using his position as a then-St. Louis police officer to steal from arrested individuals. He was sentenced in 2010 to 18 months in prison.

Another issue at Johnsons trial, and during the recent evidence hearing, was Johnsons eyes.

The prosecutions star witness at trial, Greg Elking, testified he identified Johnson as one of the gunmen who wore black, ski-like masks during the murder because one had a lazy eye  and Johnsons eyes looked familiar. But Elking recanted for years, as he did on the stand in December, saying his testimony should not have been a factor in Johnsons conviction.

Former assistant circuit attorney Dwight Warren, who prosecuted Johnson, said in December that without Elkings identification, he would not have filed charges against Johnson.

Oh, absolutely not, Warren said. I mean, I didnt have any evidence.

Johnson will not be compensated by the state for his wrongful conviction because Missouri law only allows for payments to people exonerated with DNA evidence. His legal team has set up an online fundraiser for him, which has raised more than $9,000.

Once he is released he will enter the free world with no resources to begin his new life outside of prison walls, his lawyers wrote. While he has worked inside prison for more than two decades, he is paid only cents per hour.
The search for Julian Sands remains hampered by poor weather conditions one month after his disappearance.

Sands, a prolific British actor with more than 150 screen credits, went missing while hiking the popular Baldy Bowl Trail in California.

Search and rescue crews have been looking for Sands since he disappeared. However their attempts have repeatedly been affected by adverse conditions.

On Saturday (11 February), a spokesperson for the county sheriffs department investigating the actors disappearance in Southern California provided an update on their search.

They said they remain hopeful, but know the outcome may not be what we would like.

It was noted that conditions on Mount Baldy remain a danger andf that their aviation division still patrols the area when they are available.

The spokesperson continued: We also plan to search the area by ground in the future.

Sandss family were said to be grateful for the support they had received since his disappearance, but had no further statement for the public at this time.

One week after the actors disappearance, a car believed to belong to him was found by crews.

The last ping from Sands cell phone occurred two days after his disappearance, suggesting that his phone died shortly after.

Julian Sands went missing on 13 January (Getty Images)

Sands, who turned 65 nine days before his disappearance, is known for his breakout role in 1985 period drama A Room With A View.

He starred in the drama opposite Helena Bonham Carter, Sir Daniel Day-Lewis, Dame Judi Dench and Dame Maggie Smith.

His other credits include The Killing Fields, Arachnophobia and TV series 24.
WARRENTON, Va. - For some residents, this small town in the Virginia Piedmont seems like the last logical place to put a warehouse full of computer servers.

Surrounded by horse farms, vineyards and million-dollar estates, it functions as the historic downtown for a community that is fiercely protective of its rural character. Boldface names ranging from actor Robert Duvall to candy heiress Jacqueline Mars have flocked to the hills just a few miles north - and helped bankroll efforts to keep their bucolic region just as it is.

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But now, Amazon wants to build a data center here.

On an empty, 42-acre lot near the entrance to town, the tech giant has been waging an increasingly tense campaign to construct another facility for its cloud-computing business, a growing presence in the D.C. suburbs that has also faced increasing pushback. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)

Many local officials in Northern Virginia have sought to attract this lucrative industry for the tax revenue it can generate without requiring much in terms of government services - at times, prompting protests or grumbles from neighbors.

Yet Amazon's push into Fauquier County has helped animate an opponent that is locally influential enough to go toe-to-toe with the multibillion-dollar company: the area's well-connected landowners and the conservation groups they fund.

In glossy publications, packed town halls and on yard signs across town, these critics have warned one data center could lead to many others, bringing constant noise and 120-foot-tall power lines to this rural area. Some have pointed out that the company hired Warrenton's former town manager just weeks after she resigned - a move, they say, raises "serious questions" about whether something is being hidden, they say.

"Any reasonable human being would be wondering about the whole process and whether the town council is making decisions in the best interests of the people who elected them," said Kevin Ramundo, president of the nonprofit Citizens for Fauquier County. "It's the wrong use for this location, it's the wrong location for a data center, and the way it's all come about has been wrong, too."

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Questions from groups like Ramundo's have at times turned into gripes about standard economic development practices, but the company has stayed almost entirely silent on the matter in public.

Amazon Web Services spokesman Duncan Neasham said in a statement that the company maintains a "robust code of business conduct and ethics" and "well-established business practices" that AWS employees are required to follow. He did not say why the company was looking to build a data center on this particular site in Warrenton.

"With the Town of Warrenton, we openly engaged the community through meetings, public filings, and hearings in our aim to build a data center that will bring significant investment, highly-skilled jobs, and a boost to the local economy," Neasham said in the statement.

Ahead of a vote expected Tuesday on Amazon's plan, the feeling in this historic, quaint community - known for the shops and brick sidewalks on its centuries-old Main Street - has turned tense.

As Amazon looks to build more data centers across the commonwealth, the recent tensions are a case study of what can happen when Big Tech comes to a small town: a bitterly contested election, resignations, a lawsuit and packed meetings.

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Citizens for Fauquier County, the group now led by Ramundo, was founded in 1968 to fight off a "planned cluster development" that would have added thousands of homes to a farm property near Warrenton, the county seat and economic center of Fauquier.

As sprawl reached across Northern Virginia, the group and its affiliates pushed to preserve historic sites and stop projects such as a dam, a shopping center and a 42-bed hotel to keep development from overtaking this rural county. In 1995, some of its current members successfully pushed to prevent Walmart from building a superstore on the edge of town.

The Piedmont Environmental Council, which formed only a few years later, took on a similar mission at a regional level: Working across nine counties, it looked to conserve natural resources and plan development where it makes the most sense. Among other efforts, it blocked transmission lines across the region, helped protect hundreds of thousands of acres under conservation easements, and sparred with the co-founder of BET as she tried to open a high-end resort.

But both groups won what is perhaps their biggest victory against Disney, which made headlines in the early 1990s with a plan to construct a massive U.S. history-themed amusement park about 12 miles west in Haymarket.

That proposal quickly revealed a sharp regional divide. While "Disney's America" was welcomed by many blue-collar Prince William residents with hopes for economic prosperity, their neighbors in northern Fauquier saw disaster.

The PEC co-chair warned the Disney project would waste taxpayer money on highway improvements and prompt a surge of "cheap motels and cheap stores." Academics at the national level worried it would ruin nearby battlefields and present a Disneyfied version of history, and others spoke out against economic incentives offered by Virginia. To pressure the company to set up elsewhere, the PEC launched a splashy campaign that urged, "Disney - Take a Second Look."

The critics won, and their victory cemented the notion among some that Fauquier conservationists were opposed to most development. If God wanted to move heaven to Haymarket, according to a joke at the time, the PEC would say, "God - take a second look."

Mary Ann Ghadban, who owns property in northern Fauquier and has clashed with the group over data centers near her Prince William farm, suggested that the PEC has carried on that philosophy in western Prince William County.

"Unfortunately, they write their own facts in order to obtain their objective, which is to stop any opportunity in bordering [counties]," she said. "The PEC has never met a cause that wasn't a great fundraiser and an opportunity to flex their political muscle."

Among the group's recent board members and top donors are Jean Perin, a close friend of Jacqueline Kennedy who once redesigned the White House Rose Garden; George L. Ohrstrom II, the scion of a fox-hunting private equity dynasty; and Mars, a billionaire equestrian and heiress to the M&M candy empire. Duvall, the Academy Award-winning actor who owns a 360-acre farm in northern Fauquier County, even filmed a video to raise money for the group.

Chris Miller, the PEC's president, acknowledged the organization has wealthy donors and board members who contribute to its $6 million budget. But he said the nonprofit advocates on behalf of people of all socioeconomic backgrounds to protect the environment across the Virginia Piedmont.

"We're lucky to have people who have resources, thank God," he said during an interview at the group's headquarters, a converted 1780s farmhouse off Warrenton's Main Street. "We've also done an amazing amount of public benefit work using those resources."

(Ramundo, CFFC's president, noted that his organization - which is more confrontational and grass roots, with $65,000 in donations last year and no full-time staff - draws many of its board members from Warrenton proper. More than three-quarters of its contributions are $100 or less.)

The PEC expressed its support for data centers as these facilities sprang up in the suburbs of eastern Loudoun County. But as those facilities started exploding across the region, including in environmentally protected areas, that began to change.

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Data centers had long been talked about as a possible addition to Warrenton. As early as 2011, town officials had discussed rolling back zoning rules that made these facilities illegal - and voted in 2017 to explore how to do so. But the effort to bring such a facility to Warrenton didn't take off until Amazon came knocking two years ago.

There were easier options elsewhere in Fauquier County. Amazon had received approval in 2015 to build one facility at a classified federal complex right outside town. Some unincorporated parts of the county, including sites near Remington and Vint Hill, contained dozens of acres that had been rezoned to allow data centers - and at least one actual facility - without any special permission from local lawmakers.

But Warrenton may be eager for the data center and the lure of tax dollars.

Many of the wealthiest Fauquier landowners live outside the town limits, so Warrenton does not collect taxes from their properties. In this middle-class town of about 10,000 people, where the aging population seems averse to tax increases, a data center would be a fast injection of cash for town services.

Nearly two years ago, John Foote and Jessica Pfeiffer, two land-use attorneys at a well-known Northern Virginia firm, contacted Town Manager Brandie Schaeffer with a request to connect about a potential data center.

At this point, zoning rules made it illegal to build data centers anywhere in town, even in a few areas set aside for industrial uses. In a comprehensive plan mapping out future development for Warrenton, lawmakers continued to exclude data centers.

Still, Schaeffer and the council moved to explore changing that in April 2021. Foote offered in subsequent weeks to send Schaeffer drafts of what a change to zoning code might look like, according to emails obtained by CFFC and then independently by The Washington Post through separate public-records requests. And notes from a private May 2021 meeting indicated that Warrenton town staff agreed to provide a draft of the proposed zoning change to Foote.

But when town staffers were asked at a public meeting which data center companies were interested in Warrenton, they initially declined to say, according to video of that meeting.

Miller, the PEC president, said the lack of transparency around these exchanges had made the process look especially secretive. "You're not playing fair. You're trying to do things in secret, just trying to cut deals behind closed doors," he said. "The public concern starts to go way up because it's not a collective decision. It's the decision of a few people operating in secret."

Amazon initially declined to allow Schaeffer to comment on the record, and Foote and Pfeiffer did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Other public records obtained by CFFC turned up nondisclosure agreements between Amazon and two people on Schaeffer's staff. And they also showed that the company's representatives had been meeting in small groups or one-on-one with town council members.

Neasham, the Amazon spokesman, said: "Regarding the use of confidentiality agreements to safeguard trade secrets and intellectual property, Warrenton officials have noted themselves that this is common practice for companies seeking to do business in their community."

The town council voted in August to approve the zoning amendment, which would still require the body to approve a permit application for any data center. Amazon purchased a property on Blackwell Road just a few weeks later for $39.7 million, paying more than 11 times the lot's assessed value.

In 2022, a few months after Amazon submitted its formal application, Schaeffer announced she would be stepping down from her job as town manager. "After several years, it was time for my career to transition so I could balance the needs of my family," she said in a statement to The Post, "after serving the town with the level of intense dedication and work its citizens deserve."

Her announcement in June was followed by additional career news: She soon would start a job in economic development at Amazon Web Services, working to help build data centers across Northern Virginia.

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The original vote by town lawmakers to allow data centers appeared to draw little attention from residents in Warrenton or elsewhere in Fauquier. Just three people testified in person at public meetings or submitted written comments - two of them in favor of the change.

Ramundo, of CFFC, said the group did not chime in, adding that it is not categorically opposed to data centers and had "no reason to believe" the Blackwell Road site could be used for such a facility. And Julie Bolthouse, PEC land-use director, said her organization did not see that it could bring about more power lines and more data centers.

'We were still in the learning stages and we didn't have the benefit of information that the [town] staff had," Bolthouse said. "My calculations in my head were that there are some data centers that would be good revenue generators that might actually fit in the town."

It wasn't until spring 2022, when Amazon had submitted its permit application and Dominion Energy explained how it planned to power the facility, that conservation groups started a full-court press. One Dominion proposal included a substation next to Amazon's data center and new 120-foot-tall transmission lines stretched across parts of eastern Fauquier.

PEC, CFFC and a new volunteer group, Protect Fauquier, wrote missives to town leaders, distributed fliers at Warrenton's "First Friday" festivals downtown, and spread white-and-red yard signs around the county that read, "Stop the Power Towers."

"This isn't just about one data center," Ramundo told the audience at a packed community town hall in October, for which the groups had rented out the auditorium of a private school. "This is about all the data centers that we think are going to follow."

Speakers at the event raised concerns about the proposed data center: They said it would go against the comprehensive plan. They said one data center could result in unsightly power lines and more facilities later on. They pointed to the NDAs, the one-on-one meetings and Schaeffer's hiring. They noted that her husband, Chris Granger, had resigned from his post on the Fauquier County Board of Supervisors over the potential for perceived conflict of interest with Amazon.

Neasham said Amazon had followed its standard equal opportunity hiring practices with Schaeffer, "filling a publicly posted role with an applicant who was rigorously vetted like any other candidate."

Still, outstanding questions for residents across Fauquier animated vigorous opposition into the fall: Ramundo's group unsuccessfully sued Warrenton over some of those requests. Nearly 2,000 people signed Protect Fauquier's petition to oppose both a data center and a substation at the Blackwell Road property, although less than one-third listed a home address with a Warrenton Zip code.

The controversy also seeped into local politics, animating many conservationists to oppose incumbent Mayor Carter Nevill and back town council member Renard Carlos instead.

A separate political action committee formed by several CFFC board members, which called itself the Warrenton Honest Government League, sent out mailers attacking Nevill. They added red scrawl to the message on one of his yard signs - "Working together. Finding solutions." - that changed it into a very different message: "Working with Amazon. Finding solutions for data centers."

The few letters sent to the town council by residents in support of the data center - such as one from Andy Budd, who owns the Chevrolet dealership next to the proposed data center site - slammed CFFC as "privileged few elitists" who obstructed any development on that industrial site. (The property was the same one where Walmart had been stopped decades earlier.)

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Along Main Street in Old Town Warrenton, where shops show off quirky horse-shaped sculptures and assortments of yarn and Amish-made furniture, some windows are now dotted by a different sight: Valentine's Day-themed signs that say, "Show up and speak out against the Amazon data center."

Smoking a cigarette outside an Irish pub on the street's brick sidewalk last week, hairdresser Adri Trejo, 25, said she didn't understand what all the fuss was about.

"There's nothing even there anyway," she said of the Amazon lot, which sits behind a car dealership at the intersection of two major roads. "Cellphones, the internet, Zoom - we're using data all the time, and it has to be stored somewhere."

Down the street, though, Keith Peitler, 49, erupted into a knowing chuckle when a reporter asked for his thoughts on the facility.

"It seems like there's been a lot of backroom dealing," he said between sips of an after-work weissbier at a basement brewery. "The people who seem to benefit from this are few and far between. There doesn't seem to be any real necessity for this."

An IT manager who lives in Old Town Warrenton, Peitler said the town seemed to be fine in terms of revenue and argued there would be no sensible way to power the property if it comes to town. While Dominion has floated putting transmission lines underground as an alternative to new overhead lines, those cables would rip up the road on his quiet street, he said.

Of all sitting town council members, just three agreed to answer Post questions about the data center on the record: two who joined the body in January, and one, Bill Semple, who has been a longtime critic of Amazon's proposal and whose wife was formerly on the CFFC board. All expressed deep skepticism about Amazon's data center.

For 36-year-old Chris Murray, standing back outside the Irish pub, the division is simple: Some people are fervently against the data center, and most others don't have much reason to care.

"There's definitely a bunch of NIMBYism with the data center. But if someone told me we'd get $10 million, I'd be okay," said Murray, a cybersecurity specialist who lives in Fauquier's more agricultural southern end. "Amazon hasn't shown up with a suitcase full of money to show the townspeople. I feel like if they did that, it would be different."

Indeed, as dozens of people rallied by the conservationists crowded a town hall meeting last month, town council members decided to delay the final decision to Feb. 14. Amid the sea of red T-shirts that read "Stop the Power Towers," just a few people spoke in favor of the project.

---

The Washington Post's Shane Harris contributed to this report.

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KENNEBUNK, Maine  Of all the levels of government, its at the local one that the real work happens, according to Heather Balser, the new town manager of Kennebunk.

At the federal and at the state level, its just harder to feel like you have an impact, Balser said. But you can still come to Town Hall anytime, and you can actually engage with your elected officials.

For example, Balser added, people can walk right into the town managers office and share concerns they have, or say, Im so excited youre doing this  we need to do more of it.

Heather Balser, the new town manager in Kennebunk, Maine, is seen here in front of the Kennebunk Town Hall during her third day on the job on Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2022.

And so, this is actually where the works get done, Balser said.

Balser had her first day on the job on Monday, Feb. 6. She arrived in Maine from Colorado on Feb. 1, just in time for that subzero cold snap that hit Kennebunk and the region days later. She and her husband, Grant, currently are renting an apartment in town while they seek to sell the home they had back in Colorado.

Previous story:Heather Balser named Kennebunk's next town manager

The Kennebunk Select Board announced Balser as the next town manager in December. She rose to the top of the towns search process, which included fielding resumes from around the country, whittling the list down to a group of finalists, conducting interviews, and even holding a meet-and-greet forum at the Town Hall in November.

In December, Select Board Vice Chair Kortney Nedeau described Balser as a managerial visionary, who is experienced, versatile, organized, thorough, and someone who wants to be a collaborator with the towns department heads and others.

She gets it, Nedeau said.

Balser succeeds Michael Pardue, who stepped down in November and is now the town manager of Wells.

The Kennebunk Select Board announced Heather Balser as the next town manager in December.

Previously, Balser served as the city manager of Louisville, Colorado, a city of 21,000, from 2017 through 2021. She served in that city government for more than 20 years, holding numerous positions, including deputy city manager, before taking the helm in 2017. From 2021 until her arrival here in Maine, Balser worked for initiatives that addressed homelessness, affordable housing and transportation in the city of Greeley, Colorado.

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When you meet Balser, make sure to say, Welcome home, as opposed to Welcome to Maine. Balser is a native of Vacationland, born and raised in Portland and educated at Bates College, from which she has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics. Growing up, Balser and her family attended Prelude in the Kennebunks many times during the holidays, she said.

Balser also has a masters degree in public administration from the University of Colorado at Denver.

Kennebunkport development:13 new homes pitched for forested area off Mills Road

Balser and her husband have two grown children, a 23-year-old daughter, who is a fifth-grade teacher in Indiana, and a 21-year-old son, who is majoring in engineering at Purdue University. Balser said she is happy to be back in Maine, where she has family nearby and can enjoy the beach.

Looking to the business ahead, Balser said she is impressed by the towns new Comprehensive Plan, which voters approved in 2022. She said she is looking forward to working with others to develop a work plan to put the documents suggestions and recommendations into operation.

Now youve got to prioritize, and youve got to implement, she said. I would say one of my strengths is that Im an implementer. I look at the steps that go before and the steps that go after, to strategize and really work to figure out how to accomplish the task ... You have to decide what is the top priority, and then go after it and get it done, so that you can go on to the next thing.

Balser said she is looking forward to delving into the towns budget, which is currently moving through workshops among local officials.

Safest community in Maine:Kennebunk police chief explains why

On Tuesday, Feb. 7, she attended her first joint meeting of the Select Board and Budget Board. She said she wants the town to develop a long-term vision of its budgeting  to see what a five-year projection, or even a ten-year one, would look like. She added that she wants to find the best way to strategize, build relationships, and coordinate how best to use the towns funds and meet the communitys needs.

Im a numbers person, she said.

And shes a relationship person too, she added  someone who enjoys meeting people and building connections with them.

Balser said she learned a lot about leadership from two city managers with whom she worked out west and also gained knowledge from department heads and others she has known throughout her career. She said she admires former First Lady Michelle Obama.

Shes a trailblazer, Balser said. Shes still herself when she has to be a certain persona  she still projects who she is. And she raised kids in the White House. God bless her.

Balser said she enjoys hiking and reading. Murder mysteries are her favorite, she said  she lit up when told about Mainely Murders, the local bookstore that specializes in the genre. Expect to see her at the local library, located diagonally across from her office at Town Hall. Balser also said she has her eye on those Adirondack chairs that sit atop the front steps of Town Hall during the warmer months.

I love the downtown, Balser said of her new hometown and place of work. Im really excited to be here. Its a wonderful, beautiful community. Everybody I have met has been wonderful.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Heather Balser begins work as Kennebunk, Maine's new town manager
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan soldiers will join police to fight "rampant incidents of banditry" across the arid northwest that have killed more than 100 civilians and 16 police officers over the past six months, officials said.

President William Ruto, who came to power in last August's election, has promised to restore security to the drought-stricken borderlands with Uganda, South Sudan and Ethiopia, where endemic cattle rustling has been aggravated by the proliferation of automatic weapons.

Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki said the situation in the northern Rift Valley Region constituted a national emergency and gave people in the area three days to surrender their firearms before being subjected to the "full force of the law".

"Painful and decisive measures must be taken effective immediately," Kindiki said in a statement late on Monday.

As part of the response, the army will be sent to six counties in the region on Wednesday, Defence Minister Aden Bare Duale said in a separate statement.

Kenya has long contended in the east with security threats from Somalia's al Shabaab, who make cross-border raids aimed at pressuring the country into withdrawing its troops from the African Union-mandated peacekeeping force in Somalia.

(Reporting by Aaron Ross and Hereward Holland; Writing by Hereward Holland; Editing by Nick Macfie)
PROVIDENCE  A Superior Court judge on Monday dealt two young men double life sentences for the death a 57-year-old man, whose helpfulness put him downrange, unwittingly, of the defendant's gang-related gunfire in 2018.

Last year, a jury found Chandanoeuth Big K Hay and Jaythan Ah-Jay Hang both guilty of the drive-by shooting that had taken the the life of David Page.

At the time, Page had arrived outside a Providence home on Lowell Street to give someone in the house a ride.

On Monday, Superior Court Judge Kristin E. Rodgers meted out the penalties for Hay and Hang's numerous offenses.

"The law-abiding public will be protected from these two individuals for a good long time," Rodgers said.

Under state law, Rodgers was obliged to give each of them consecutive life sentences for the crimes of first-degree murder and discharging a firearm while committing a crime of violence.

The question was what she might impose on top of those terms, potentially impeding any path to parole late in their lives.

Rodgers opted to give Day an additional 10 years, to be served consecutive to the life sentences.

She added the stipulation that five of those 10 years would not be eligible for parole, saying that Hay's criminal background and gang-leadership needed to be reflected.

By contrast, Rodgers was easier on Hang, whose lawyer, Maria Deaton, had emphasized that the requested discretion pertained to a parole situation that might  or might not  affect Hang until very late in his life.

Deaton argued that Hang, the father of two toddlers, was someone who was quite capable of achieving rehabilitation.

She told Rodgers that Hang has stayed out of trouble in jail where he was working in a kitchen and he was "always, always respectful to the court."

Hang read a statement, thanking the court for granting him bail early in the case.

"I hope they can find peace," he said, referring to Page's loved ones.

Assistant Attorney General Jeff Morin had acknowledged that Hang had no previous criminal convictions.

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The jury also convicted Hay and Hang, who authorities say are members of the Providence Street Boys and 864 street gangs, of conspiracy, drive-by shooting and two counts each of assault with a dangerous weapon, plus additional firearms charges, in the shooting of Carol Pona and her son Eddy Lee that same morning.

Neither Pona nor Lee were injured, though prosecutors said Lee was the intended target. Page, who Pona had called for a ride, was in the "wrong place at the wrong time," prosecutors said.

According to authorities, the Providence Street Boys and 864 affiliated gangs were at war with rivals Clowntown and the Trinitarios at the time of the shootings.

Earlier that year, 22-year-old Jamal Contreras, a friend and Providence Street Boys associate, was shot and killed on Michigan Avenue. This left gang members, including Hay and Hang, seeking retaliation.

The case leaned on the testimony from a cooperating witness and Hanover associate, Kennedy Terrero. Terrero told of holding the gun used in the shooting, a .22 caliber Smith & Wesson, as a community weapon and retrieving it at Hays direction shortly before the shooting.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Two men receive consecutive life sentences for 2018 killing
Britain's King Charles III met with Turkish and Syrian communities in London on Tuesday, showing support to those sending aid to their homeland and expressing sorrow for those affected by last week's devastating earthquake.

Charles appeared emotional as he visited a temporary Syria House set up in central London's Trafalgar Square for the Syrian community in the UK to organize vigils and pay their respects to lost relatives.

The monarch heard from those grieving for their families back home, including Salah Al-Asmar, who told the king he lost his parents, brother and other relatives to the earthquake in Antakya, Turkey.

For seven days, my family were under the rubble. There was no rescue team. No one could support them in this moment. I havent been able to sleep for days," Al-Asmar said after meeting with Charles.

The king was showing his support and was saying, I cant imagine how hard it has been for you," said Yazan Douedari, who also attended the event.

Earlier Tuesday, Charles and Umit Yalcin, Turkey's ambassador to Britain, visited a west London charity organizing shipments of tents, blankets, winter clothes and toiletries to help those left homeless by the quake in Turkey.

He said he was deeply sorry, deeply sad, and he will pray for Turkey, for Syria and the people under that devastating earthquake," Yalcin told reporters.

Charles and his wife, Camilla, the queen consort, have donated to an emergency earthquake appeal jointly organized by British aid groups that has raised more than 74 million pounds ($90 million) in the past few days.
Kingsley Coman was on target in Paris (Christophe Ena/AP) (AP)

Kingsley Coman fired Bayern Munich to a 1-0 Champions League first-leg win at Paris St Germain.

The former PSG youngster volleyed a deserved winner for the German champions, who dominated until the latter stages when Kylian Mbappe came off the bench.

In the first half, Sergio Ramos last-ditch tackle denied Jamal Musiala, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting went close with a header and Coman shot wide of the near post.

Just before the break, PSG keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma got down well to hold Joshua Kimmichs low drive.

The goal arrived in the 53rd minute when Paris-born Coman drifted unmarked into the box from wide on the right and hit a cushioned volley underneath Donnarumma.

Donnarumma went some way to making amends with a stunning point-blank save to tip Choupo-Motings effort onto the crossbar.

Mbappe, a substitute after recovering from injury, twice had the ball in the net late on as PSG rallied, but both goals were ruled out for offside.

Bayerns Benjamin Pavard will miss the second leg after he was sent off for a second booking for bringing down Lionel Messi in stoppage time.
Gunman Kills Three And Wounds Five At Michigan State University

Flowers and crime scene tape are shown outside Berkey Hall on the campus of Michigan State University where several students were shot on February 14, 2023, in Lansing, Michigan. Credit - Scott OlsonGetty Images

All eight victims of the shooting at Michigan State University on Monday night are students, authorities revealed Tuesday. Three were killed and five others remain in critical condition.

The gunman has been identified as a 43-year-old man. Police confirmed he died by suicide after four hours of frightening shelter-in-place orders on campus.

Were all broken by an all too familiar feeling, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said Tuesday morning. Another place that is supposed to be about community and togetherness shattered by bullets and blood shed.

The Gun Violence Archive, which defines mass shootings as involving four or more injuries or deaths not including the shooter, records the violence at MSU as the 67th such incident in the U.S. since the start of this year.

This is a uniquely American problem, Whitmer tweeted earlier Tuesday morning. Too many of us scan rooms for exits when we enter them. We plan who that last text or call would go to. We should not, we cannot, accept living like this.

Police investigate the scene of a shooting at Berkey Hall on the campus of Michigan State University, late Monday, Feb. 13, 2023. Al GoldisAP

The second mass shooting for some students

For some on campus, this was their second brush with a mass shooting. Michigan Rep. Elissa Slotkin said there were survivors of the November 2021 mass shooting at Oxford High School, in which four students were killed and six students and a teacher were injured, who also went to MSU. I am filled with rage that we have to have another press conference to talk about our children being killed in their schools, she said. Slotkin described it as haunting to see an MSU student wearing one of the Oxford Strong sweatshirts that were handed out to the surviving high school students after last years shooting.

The Washington Post reported that one Oxford graduate at MSU whispered to her father on the phone while hiding in fear on Monday night, I cant believe this is happening again.

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Another MSU student took to TikTok to recount surviving the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting 10 years ago. She said she has since suffered PTSD fractures in her lower back. The fact that this is the second mass shooting that I have now lived through is incomprehensible.

Tuesday marks five years since 17 people were killed in a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which galvanized a mass movement in the U.S. demanding greater gun control legislationa call which has largely been unrealized.

Michigan State University students hug during an active shooter situation on campus in Lansing, on Feb. 13, 2023. Bill PuglianoGetty Images

What happened?

Police said they first received multiple calls about a shooting in Berkey Hall on campus around 8:18 p.m. on Monday evening. We were quickly on scene, within minutes, said Chris Rozman, interim deputy chief of Michigan State University Police, at one of several news briefings on the status of the situation. There was another report of a shooting immediately following the first incident, this time at the MSU Union building some 400 meters away, Rozman told reporters.

Rozman said several victims were tended to at both scenes. He later clarified that two people were killed in Berkey Hall, while a third was killed in the MSU Union building. Five people were transported to Sparrow Hospital, some with life-threatening injuries, according to Rozman.

In an alert sent out around 8:30 p.m., police notified the campus community that shots were fired. Another alert issued about an hour and a half later said the incident was actively ongoing. Authorities advised students to Run, Hide and Fightan active-shooter protocol that has been promoted by the FBI.

Police had said there only appeared to be one suspect, and just after 11 p.m. released an image of him obtained by surveillance footage. MSU authorities found the suspect dead apparently by self-inflicted gunshot at 11:35 p.m.

Even though police say there is no longer an active threat, the campus will remain closed to normal activity, such as classes and sports, for two days so we can think and grieve and come together, Michigan State University Interim President Teresa Woodruff said in another briefing early Tuesday. She also noted that counseling services will be made available to the community.

What do we know about the gunman?

The gunman was identified as Anthony Dwayne McRae, a 43-year-old male. Police have said he was not affiliated with the university and his motive is still under investigation. When asked at a briefing if there were any warning signs, Rozman responded: We were not aware of any threat before this.

McRae previously pleaded guilty for carrying a handgun without a license after a 2019 arrest, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Who are the victims?

Five victims who remain hospitalized in critical condition have not yet been named, but in a statement released Tuesday, police identified the three deceased victims as Grosse Point natives Arielle Anderson and Brian Fraser, and Alexandria Verner from Clawson. Anderson and Verner were juniors, while Fraser was a sophomore.

Mourners attend a candlelight vigil for Alexandria Verner, one of the students killed at Michigan State University Monday night, at Clawson High School football field, Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023. Paul SancyaAP

Tributes on social media have already begun to stream in.

Andersons family said in a statement: As an angel here on Earth, Arielle was sweet and loving with an infectious smile that was very contagious. We are absolutely devastated by this heinous act of violence upon her and many other innocent victims.

Fraser was also described as having an infectious smile. His high school swimming program posted on Facebook that he had a sense of humor that could light up the pool deck and bring laughter to the entire team.

Al was always the best of us, Tristan Perry, a friend of Verners, posted. You always made our days better. I cant understand how you could be taken from us.

Its so hard to imagine [youre] not out there making the world a better place right now.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Tuesday that the U.S.-led NATO military alliance demonstrated its hostility towards Russia every day, and was becoming more and more involved in the conflict in Ukraine.

"NATO is an organisation which is hostile to us and which proves this hostility every day," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"It is trying its best to make its involvement in the conflict around Ukraine as clear as possible," Peskov added.

Moscow has said weapons supplies to Ukraine by NATO countries are dragging out the conflict and raising the possibility of a further escalation. Kyiv and the West say deliveries of advanced military hardware are crucial in helping Ukraine defend itself against Russia's offensive.

(Reporting by Reuters)
Twitter

Vladimir Solovyov is one of the most influential propagandists in Russia. He has been repeatedly honored with medals by President Vladimir Putin and positions himself as someone whose patriotism is beyond reproach. Donning military outfits, Solovyov aggressively promotes the invasion of Ukraine, frequently travels to the frontlines, and routinely encourages every able-bodied Russian male to enlist or volunteer.

The Russian TV stars on-air rants are often directed at anyone who isnt taking part in the so-called special military operation. He reserves special ire for young people who left the country to avoid a military mobilization and those who arent eager to participate in what Solovyov frequently describes as another Great Patriotic war, jihad or Russias holy war against the West.

Most recently, during his show Full Contact on Monday, the boisterous host asserted that young people were instrumental in World War II. He stressed that it is a patriotic obligation of every young Russian male to make a contribution to the war effort.

But just a day earlier, a viral Tweet had called out Solovyovs eldest son, 21-year-old Daniil Solovyov, accusing him of working as a male model in London instead of volunteering to go into battle in Putins imperial war of conquest. The tweet included a photo of Solovyov with his son, in addition to multiple pictures of Daniil, including one that appears to be professionally shot.

By Tuesday, the host had no choice but to address the viral rumor. In his typical fashion, Solovyov blew up in another angry tirade.

THE HYPOCRISY!



Daniil Solovyov, 21 year-old son of propagandist Vladimir, is working as a model in London(it must be his mamas genes).



Despite Vlad calling for war against Ukraine, he has failed to mention this or his elder draft-dodging son who also studied in the UK. pic.twitter.com/6ezfoRHnAO  Jason Jay Smart (@officejjsmart) February 12, 2023

With theatrical exasperation, Solovyov recounted getting his son on the phone to discuss an allegation of him working as a model in the U.K. He admitted that his son indeed studied in London several years ago, but pointed out that Daniil is currently in Moscow, living a difficult life of an average young person and not trying to dodge anything. Solovyov stressed that his son is an adult and is living life in his own way, claiming that its irrelevant whether his father likes it or not.

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Describing his antagonists as beasts and accusing them of being paid by Ukrainians, the host threatened to sue anyone who published an allegation that his son is currently modeling in London. Solovyov brought up his own trips to the vicinity of the frontlineswhere he films propaganda videos that are subsequently shown on his own showsas though visiting the troops was the same as serving alongside them.

Putins Pals Furious Younger Russians Dont Want to Die in Ukraine

Popping in after the segment, weatherman Evgeny Tishkovetswho routinely supports Solovyovs demands for nuclear strikes against NATO nations, comforted the host, calling him the coolest journalist and urging him to pay no attention to his detractors.

The choices of Solovyovs own family members stand in stark contrast to the propagandists daily condemnation of other Russians who choose to live or study in the West. The judgments he makes on television also clash with his own frequent gripes about the injustice of losing access to his Italian villa because of sanctions. Those are only some of the ways the hosts patriotic speeches fail to match up with his own lifestyle.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Gov. Andy Beshears administration is asking lawmakers for about $45 million as well as changes to state law to help fix Kentuckys troubled Department of Juvenile Justice.

On Tuesday, state officials told a House budget subcommittee that its time for the General Assembly to ban the detention of youths who are charged with minor status offenses  such as habitual truancy and habitual runaway  and Class B misdemeanors.

Lawmakers tried to end the practice of jailing low-level juvenile offenders in 2014 with Senate Bill 2014, but some judges have resisted. As of Jan. 10, there were 33 youths charged with a Class B misdemeanor or less serious offenses inside the states juvenile detention centers.

Lawmakers also should change the law to allow youths who are charged with more serious crimes, known as public offenders, to be considered for pre-trial release on bail just as adults are, state officials said.

If there is a youth who is being tried as an adult, they get bail. But a youth who is not being tried as an adult does not get bail, state budget director John Hicks explained to the House panel with financial oversight of the justice system.

And Hicks and DJJ Commissioner Vicki Reed asked for about $45 million over the next two years for pay raises for youth workers at the juvenile detention centers, to promote recruitment and retention; to hire more staff overall; to increase physical security, such as perimeter fencing and security posts at entrances; to start the planning process to build two more detention centers; and to make other improvements.

Youth workers at the states eight detention centers were starting at $30,000 a year ago, but few people were applying for the job, Hicks said. After a series of raises approved by Beshear and the legislature, the starting salary this month leaped to $50,000, which hopefully will prove more attractive, he said.

The Beshear administration is also requesting $30 million a year to raise the starting salaries for corrections officers at state prisons to $50,000, matching the salaries for youth workers at detention centers.

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Being the budget director, I can assure you  the moneys there, Hicks told the lawmakers.

The committee chairman, Rep. Patrick Flannery, R-Olive Hill, did not make any promises. The House Judiciary Committee is expected on Wednesday to hear a GOP proposal, House Bill 3, that would make some of its own changes to the juvenile justice system, including the reopening of a juvenile detention center in downtown Louisville for $8.9 million.

After Tuesdays hearing, Flannery told reporters that he supports the Beshear administrations efforts to help youth workers in the juvenile detention centers to defend themselves with pepper spray and tasers and with training from Department of Corrections employees who manage adult inmates.

We do need to do several things to correct what is going on as far as helping the employees to become safer and finding ways to make the system work. Its been very broken recently, Flannery said. I think people have a right to protect themselves.

Beshear, who stands for re-election in November, has been on the defensive in recent months following riots and assaults at several DJJ facilities around the state.

The Herald-Leader has reported that chronic under-staffing at DJJ for years has resulted in an atmosphere of violence and neglect, with both employees and youths saying that they dont feel safe. In some cases, facilities have kept youths locked up in their cells as a management tool.

Lawmakers call for investigation, new leadership at KY juvenile justice agency

Insiders warned of stomach-turning abuse in KY juvenile facility in months before riot
(Reuters) - Kyrgyzstan will host a Russia-led security bloc's peacekeeping drills this year instead of Armenia, which last month declined to host the exercise, the bloc's chief of staff said on Tuesday.

Armenia, engaged in a dispute with Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, said last month it would be unreasonable for it to host the drills of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in the near future.

Anatoly Sidorov, the chief of the CTSO united staff, told a briefing on Tuesday that Kyrgyzstan has volunteered to host the "Indestructible Brotherhood" drills. He provided no further details.

Kyrgyzstan was scheduled to hold a similar CTSO exercise last year, but cancelled it amid a violent border conflict with another bloc member, Tajikistan. The bloc also includes Belarus and Kazakhstan.

Asked about the bloc's potential deployment in Ukraine, Sidorov said he saw no need for that.

(Reporting by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Alex Richardson)
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is the latest major art museum to add NFT artwork to its collection, announcing today that it has acquired a series of notable and valuable NFT pieces through donations from notable collectors.

LACMA accepted a donation of 22 tokenized digital artwork pieces from the pseudonymous Cozomo de Medici, a well-known Crypto Twitter personality. The collection includes CryptoPunks NFT #3831, which was last sold for $2.1 million worth of ETH in 2021.

It also features NFTs from Art Blocks, a popular platform that features artwork generated by algorithms deployed on a blockchain network. Art Blocks works from Dmitri Cherniaks "Ringers" and Monica Rizzollis "Fragments of an Infinite Field" projects are included in the set.

1/ Announcing the first donation of on-chain art from a collector to a museum, and the largest digital fine art collection to enter a museum 22 works from The Cozomo de' Medici Collection have been added to the permanent collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) pic.twitter.com/6ePSznorrM  Cozomo de Medici (@CozomoMedici) February 13, 2023

Other notable creators whose NFT art was donated to LACMA in the set include noted photographer Justin Aversano, World of Women artist and creator Yam Karkai, and Claire Silver and Pindar Van Armanboth known for using AI as a tool for generating NFT artwork.

LACMA described the donation from de Medicia collector that has been linked to rapper Snoop Dogg, also a major player in the Web3 worldas the largest collection of blockchain artwork acquired to date by an American art museum.

Interestingly, the LACMA announcement avoids prominently using the term NFT, which stands for non-fungible token. The acronym has a stigma amongst some Web3 skeptics and mainstream audiences, and some brands have opted to avoid it. Online discussion platform Reddit, for example, calls its NFTs Collectible Avatars.

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In an interview with ArtNews, de Medici said that he and LACMA intentionally opted to call it blockchain art or on-chain art (or similar) to avoid the controversial NFT tag. The term NFT has a stigma attached to it, so weve stepped away from it, he told the publication.

Major Paris Art Museum to Exhibit CryptoPunks, Autoglyphs NFTs

LACMA is the latest major art museum to add NFTs to its collection. On Friday, Centre Pompidou in Paris announced donations of a CryptoPunk and an Autoglyphs NFT, which were contributed by Yuga Labs and Larva Labs, respectively. Yuga also donated a CryptoPunk to Miamis Institute of Contemporary Art last November.

In addition to the collection described above, LACMA has also acquired a number of other donated NFTs, including a Chromie Squiggle from artist Erick Snowfro Calderon, the founder of Art Blocks, as well as an NFT from Tom Sachs Rocket Factory. Calderon told ArtNews that his donated NFT will be the final Chromie Squiggle minted in the 10,000-piece collection.
The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile has been dogged by some thieves in Las Vegas.

The 27-foot hot-dog-shaped vehicle was in Sin City this past weekend for a series of events tied to Super Bowl weekend, but early Friday morning the Wienermobiles catalytic converter was stolen, according to Las Vegas CBS affiliate KLAS TV.

As a result, the Wienermobiles engine just couldnt cut the mustard, so it had to be towed to a local truck rental facility to the shock of employees.

Joseph Rodriguez told the station he was surprised by what he saw when he got to work.

A hot dog truck, no way, Rodriguez told KLAS. Imagine like a huge hot dog in the middle of your bay. Theres all these other trucks and you got to work on this.

The crew did a minor repair to fit the Wienermobile with a temporary catalytic converter that allowed it to make a previously scheduled 10 a.m. appearance.

However, Rodriquez noted that theres a four-month waiting list for catalytic converters.

Metro Police told KLAS that it has not yet received a theft report, but the hotel where it was parked said its corporate division is investigating.

Thefts of catalytic converters, a car part that filters out pollutants, have increased in recent years. According to the Los Angeles Times, Toyota Priuses  not novelty meat vehicles  are a typical target, as their catalytic converters can be resold for more than $1,000.

The Wienermobile first hit the road in Chicago in 1936, and has since expanded to a fleet of six, each traveling about 1,000 a week.

Related...
The Last of Us went to great lengths to distinguish itself from a zombie show, even going so far as banning its crew from using the Z word on set.

HBO Maxs hit adaptation of the popular video game stars Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey as two survivors in a post-pandemic US who embark on a life-threatening journey across the country.

Along the way, they come across the Infected, a subset of the remaining population whose bodies have been taken over by fungi.

And while the Infected, sometimes referred to as clickers and bloaters, may appear zombie-like, fans and crew alike would be remiss to allude to them as such.

We werent allowed to say the Z word on set, series cinematographer Eben Bolter told The Credits in a recent interview. It was like a banned word. They were the Infected. We werent a zombie show.

Of course, theres tension building and jump scares, but the shows really about our characters; The Infected are an obstacle they have to deal with.

Since the seriess January premiere, many viewers unfamiliar with the original video game have incorrectly labelled it a zombie show.

Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal in The Last of Us (HBO)

Just last month, conservative pundit Ben Shapiro was mocked after he complained that the fan-favourite third episode had no zombies and no real threat.

Theres a lot of things The Last of Us is not, Bolter added. Its not a cliche zombie movie, its not Hollywood backlit where everyones close-up is perfect.

Its a world of organic cinematic naturalism, and thats something I could just feel.

The Last of Us airs new episodes Sundays in the US on HBO Max, and Mondays in the UK on Sky and NOW.
Retired Staff Sgt. Bobby Henline is returning to Fort Bragg with fellow combat veteran comedian RJ Ryan for their Accidental Discharge Tour on Friday, Feb. 17.

FORT BRAGG  Retired Staff Sgt. Bobby Henline considers three his "lucky number."

That's because during his fourth deployment to Iraq, Henline was the only survivor of an April 7, 2007, roadside bomb that detonated under the Humvee he and fellow paratroopers were in.

The blast killed Capt. Jonathan Grassbaugh, Spc. Ebe Emolo, Spc. Levi Hoover and Pfc. Rodney McCandless, all part of the 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division.

Henline woke up from a medically induced coma a couple of weeks later at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, with nearly 40% of his body burned and part of his ear missing.

His left hand was later amputated from the injuries.

Henline turned to comedy to cope.

After an occupational therapist heard his jokes, she challenged him to go to an open mic night.

Henline, who said he isn't someone who likes to get up in front of people, even as a sergeant, relented to "prove the therapist wrong."

Id bombed worse before, Henline said by phone Friday. But, it was kind of a release and therapeutic.

Henline has headlined at Brad Garretts Comedy Club, Laugh Factory, Hollywood Improv, corporate and nonprofit events and appeared in documentaries and shows including Comedy Warriors: Healing Through Humor, Mans Best Friend: MBF and Shameless on Showtime and has more than 1.4 million TikTok followers.

More:Here are 7 acts we know are coming to Fayetteville this year (so far)

Returning to Fort Bragg with comedy show

Henline is now teaming up with fellow comedian and combat veteran RJ Ryan for the Accidental Discharge Comedy: Its Never Too Soon Tour that will be coming to Fort Bragg this week.

Ryan served in a Seabee Battalion in the Navy in the early 1990s, deploying to the Caribbean and Okinawa and joining the Army as a combat medic after 9/11, serving in the Ranger community and as a flight medic with the 1st Infantry Division.

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Combat veteran comedian RJ Ryan is teaming up with retired Staff Sgt. Bobby Henline for their Accidental Discharge Tour on Friday, Feb. 17, at Fort Bragg.

Ryan jokes about situations faced in the military and stateside and has performed at comedy clubs across the U.S.

The show will be 7 p.m Friday at the Iron Mike Conference Center, 2658 Reilly Road on Fort Bragg.

Tickets can be purchased at the center or at Leisure Travel Services.

Henline and Ryan will host a meet and greet from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday at the Fort Bragg USO Center, Building 4-2843 on Normandy Drive.

Inspirational humor

Henline, whos known as the well-done comedian by audiences and burnt Pa" by his grandkids, said he wants to open the dialogue between himself and other burn survivors with strangers, instead of being met with stares of fear.

If you could see something funny in a bad thing thats happened, it sheds light on the situation, Henline said.

He uses humor to address his physical appearance  there are jokes about going to firework stands, being asked by motel workers if hes in the area for wounded veteran events, or asking for a cremation discount.

Henline wants to audience to know its OK to laugh.

"Laughing is healing," Henline said. "Humor is healing. Inspirational comedy is what I call it."

Staff writer Rachael Riley can be reached at rriley@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3528.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Military vets to bring comedy show to Fort Bragg
Lawmakers and experts met in Washington, D.C. today to discuss how to better regulate the fast-moving and complex world of cryptocurrencybut didnt really come up with any solid solutions.

The Senate Banking Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hosted a meeting Tuesday titled Crypto Crash: Why Financial System Safeguards are Needed for Digital Assets, where some experts said it would be best to let the industry flourish and allow innovation.

But others were more hostile towards crypto and warned of the risks the digital asset world poses to traditional finance.

This crypto nightmare isnt over yetwere still learning the full extent of the fallout of the FTX collapse, Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said in his opening remarks, urging strict regulation after the fall of mega exchange FTX last year.

FTXs bankruptcy last year has effectively vaporized billions of dollars of customers cash.

The Bahamas-based company went bust because it used client money to make risky investment bets through trading firm Alameda Research, prosecutors allegeand its ex-boss and co-founder is now facing eight criminal charges.

FTXs spectacular collapse has prompted lawmakers and experts to try and figure out how to regulate the industry more than everbut for different reasons.

At todays hearing, long-time crypto critic Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) spoke about how criminals such as drug kingpins used digital assets.

Lee Reiners, policy director of the Duke Financial Economics Center, said that the crypto world barely resembled anything Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto envisioned and undermined U.S. national security.

U.S. Regulators Warn Banks That Crypto Is Not 'Safe and Sound'

14 years have provided ample evidence of the dire harm cryptocurrency inflicts on our society, he said.

Others urged regulation but stressed that the technology should be allowed to grow. Georgetown Law professor Linda Jeng said that crypto could have helped her move her savings abroad had she known how to use the right apps.

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And Senator J.D. Vance (R-Ohio)who admitted to owning cryptosaid regulators want to make sure they dont destroy the dynamic upside of the digital asset world.

Regulators have taken a tougher stance towards crypto recently: the SEC hit American crypto exchange Kraken with a $30 million fine last week for violating securities laws.

SEC chair Gary Gensler wasnt present at todays meeting, and lawmakers noted that the top regulator should attend the committees next hearing.
Frustration on Capitol Hill is mounting after a string of aerial objects were shot down over U.S. and Canadian airspace in the last few days, raising a long list of questions that lawmakers say President Biden should publicly address.

Three unidentified flying objects (UFOs) have been shot down over North America since Friday, and the Pentagon has provided little information on what the objects were or where they came from.

The president owes the American people an explanation, direct and on camera, of what we know about these objects and what steps hes taking to protect Americas sovereign airspace, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said in a Monday statement.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), the vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee, also joined in the calls for President Biden to address the nation, noting the unprecedented nature of the military shooting down aircraft in U.S. airspace.

NORADs been around almost 65 years, he said of the command in charge of patrolling U.S. and Canadian airspace. Weve never shot anything down, and in eight days weve shot down four things. Thats a pretty big deal. It doesnt happen every day.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Rubio added in a tweet: Americans need to hear directly about this from their President today.

The White House wouldnt commit to a public address from Biden during a briefing on Monday afternoon.

We have been, I think, as transparent as we can be, The White Houses national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters. I wont speak for the Presidents personal speaking schedule. But, I mean, he has been deeply engaged in every one of these decisions.

White Houses national security spokesman John Kirby (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Kirby added that Biden is directing his team to make sure we are properly consulting and briefing not just members of Congress, but state leaders as well.

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In a vacuum of information about the objects, the White House said Monday there is no evidence of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with the incidents.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said people were scared and believing crazy things being said on the internet.

There is a lack of transparency from the Biden admin and simple explanations are owed to the people, Greene wrote on Twitter.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

The first UFO was shot down on Friday afternoon over Alaska, the second was taken out on Saturday over the Yukon in northwest Canada and the third over Lake Huron in Michigan on Sunday.

All three incidents came about a week after a Chinese spy balloon capable of collecting communications intelligence was shot down off the coast of South Carolina after passing over much of the nation.

While the calls for answers are mostly from Republicans, Democrats from states that experienced a UFO incursion are joining in on the frustration.

Michigan lawmakers Sen. Gary Peters (D) and Rep. Debbie Dingell (D) echoed requests for more information, as did Sen. Jon Tester from Montana, where the Chinese balloon had lingered earlier this month.

Sen. Gary Peters (D) (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

Asked if Biden should speak out about the aerial objects, Tester said Monday, Thats up to him. He added that he still hoped to glean more information on what they know, when they knew it, and what the plan is, through hearings of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, which he chairs.

Sen. Jon Tester from Montana (AP Photo/Matthew Brown)

A number of Democratic senators said they remain unsatisfied by the answers coming from the administration so far, but were hopeful that a briefing of all senators on Monday might shed more light on the situation.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) said hes not satisfied yet with information provided by administration, while Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va) added: Theyve been doing a good job so far, but I do have a lot of questions.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. (AP Photo/John C. Clark, File)

The remarkable series of UFO shoot-downs has befuddled Americans, who are wondering why the U.S. is suddenly recognizing and shooting down a flurry of these objects.

Melissa Dalton, the assistant secretary of Defense for homeland defense and hemispheric affairs, told reporters on Sunday the military has been more closely scrutinizing our air space at these altitudes with enhanced radar.

That may at least partly explain the increase in objects that weve detected over the past week, Dalton said.

Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) said in a Monday statement if it was true the U.S. has just now opened up its radar technologies to detect UFOs, that would amount to staggering intelligence failures.

How long have these objects operated in our airspace with impunity? Gallagher asked, demanding answers from Biden.

Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

There are times to err on the side of secrecy in national security operations. But when our fighter pilots are shooting down presumably hostile aerial objects all across America, its long past time for transparency.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) raised similar questions while speaking on the floor on Monday.

What in the world is going on? Has the Biden administration just dialed the sensitivity of our radars all the way up? If so, what are the objects that we are just now noticing for the very first time? McConnell asked. Are they benign science projects and wayward weather balloons, or something more nefarious that weve somehow been missing all this time?

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters on a trip to Belgium that the objects did not pose a military threat.

They do, however, present a risk to civil aviation and potentially an intelligence collection threat, and well get to the bottom of it, he added.

United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin (AP Photo/Olivier Matthys)

Canadian and U.S. crews are in the midst of recovering the downed UFOs for closer inspection. The Biden administration on Monday also announced an interagency task force to investigate the UFOs.

There are no known links of the UFOs to China or any other country or entity.

There have been some indications that some of the objects shot down were balloons, however that has not been confirmed by the Pentagon or White House.

CNN reported Monday on a Pentagon memo that the object shot down over Canada on Saturday appeared to be a small, metallic balloon with a tethered payload below it.

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) suggested in a Sunday interview with ABCs This Week the two UFOs shot down on Friday and Saturday were balloons.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

But the Pentagon has said those objects were much smaller than the Chinese spy balloon, which weighed about 2,000 pounds. And the Lake Huron object was an octagonal shape.

Earlier this month, the Pentagon expressed high confidence in identifying the Chinese spy balloon, which Beijing admitted was theirs but has referred to as a weather balloon.

Also in contrast to the UFOs, the Chinese spy balloon was tracked for days before the U.S. decided to take it down.

A balloon floats over Columbia, Mo., on Feb. 3, 2023. (Anna Griffin/Missourian via AP, File)

Unlike the Chinese spy balloon, which was hovering about 60,000 feet in the air, the UFOs were flying at about 40,000 feet or below and posed a threat to civilian airspace, according to the Pentagon, leading to a swift decision each time to take them out.

Emily Brooks and Al Weaver contributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Christians Need to Stand for Free Speech Against Ungodly Censorship NEWS PROVIDED BY

Truth & Liberty Coalition

Feb. 14, 2023



OPINION, Feb. 14, 2023 /Christian Newswire/ -- The following is submitted by Richard Harris, Executive Director of the Truth & Liberty Coalition: Free speech is under attack in America like never before.



All Americans, but most especially Christians, must stand united in defense of this sacred and unalienable right. Our Founders gave it first place for good reason. Freedom of speech is essential to the pursuit of happiness and self-governance.



Self-expression is by God's design a fundamental aspect of who we are as people. Freedom to express oneself is essential to happiness and fulfillment. The Bible says mankind is made in God's image and likeness (Gen. 1:26-27). God's first act was to speak (Gen. 1:3). Our words also express our hearts and minds, and therefore reflect who we are as people. As Jesus said, "Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks (Matt. 12:34)."



As Christ's followers, we are commanded to preach the gospel, teach all nations, and be His witnesses (Mark 16:15-17, Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 1:8). So, the spread of the greatest news ever told (God's gift of eternal life in Jesus Christ) depends on speech.



As William Federer often says, "The most important thing is to preach the gospel. The second most important thing is to preserve the freedom to do the most important thing."



The erosion of free speech rights under American institutions increasingly hostile to the Church is truly alarming. Joe Biden and the Democrat Party have attacked fundamental beliefs at the core of Christianity, including the sanctity of life and biblically defined marriage, along with free speech.



The Biden administration actually created a "Disinformation Governance Board" seeking to police speech in this nation. It rightfully come under attack as unconstitutional and grossly chilling. According to Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, the Department of Homeland Security would have used the board to "respond to matters the government unilaterally determines to be mis-, dis- or mal-information," and planned "to coordinate efforts to leverage ties with social media platforms to enable the removal of user content." In other words, leftist bureaucrats and woke corporations would work together to decide what information is appropriate for public consumption. The Disinformation Governance Board has been leveraged against critics of the regime in general and Christians in particular.



Jesus did not shy away from confronting error, and was attacked because He spoke the truth, exposed lies and set people free. Those whose earthly power was threatened by Christ's message sought to suppress the Truth (John 14:6) so they could continue control of the masses condemning themselves.



In John 3:19, Jesus said, "this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil."



So it is today. The organizations that support limiting free speech are all closely aligned with the Democrat Partythe education establishment, Antifa, Black Lives Matter, LGBT groups, abortion businesses, and many others. These same groups (and that same political party) also oppose other biblical ideals like the sanctity of life, the nuclear family, and equality under the law.



Darkness can never defeat truth in a fair and open fight. That's why these purveyors of leftist deception must rely on censorship. The leftist ruling powers of today are trying to overturn Americans' unalienable constitutional rights and pervert not only the deeply Christian heritage of this nation, but also the design of humanity itself.



We must fight for freedom of speech and religion. We must fight now, and fight with all our might. There can be no compromise and there can be no surrender. This hill is the last hill left and, make no mistake, it is worth dying on. As the Apostle Paul commanded the believers in Galatia, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." (Galatians 5:1). Note: Richard Harris is the executive director of Truth & Liberty Coalition, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization based in Woodland Park, Colorado. Established by Andrew Wommack and other Christian leaders, the goal is to educate, unify and mobilize Christians and conservatives to become involved in the affairs of their community and government.



SOURCE Truth & Liberty Coalition



CONTACT: Mike Perini, newstruthlibertycoaliltion@gmail.com



Related Links



https://truthandliberty.net



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CONCORD, N.H. (AP)  A lawyer for Pamela Smart, who is serving a life-without-parole sentence for plotting with her teenage lover to kill her husband in 1990, argued Tuesday that a state council brushed aside" her request for a chance at freedom, and asked New Hampshire's highest court to order the panel to reconsider it.

Smart's longtime attorney, Mark Sisti, argued the five-member council did not spend any time poring over Smart's voluminous petition  which included many letters of support from inmates, supervisors and others  or even discuss it before rejecting her sentence reduction request in less than three minutes in March.

I'm asking the only place I can go  the only place Pam can go  to say Just Do Your Job,'" Sisti said.

Associate Justice James Bassett asked And what does that mean? What are we going to say?

To which Sisti replied: A meaningful, minimal due process hearing that we even get at the Department of Motor Vehicles."

Last year was the third time that Smart, who has served over 30 years in prison, had asked the Executive Council for a hearing. Now 55, she has exhausted all of her judicial appeal options and has to go through the council for a sentence change. Previous petitions were rejected in 2005 and in 2019.

Smart was 22 and working as a high school media coordinator when she began an affair with a 15-year-old student who later shot and killed her husband, Gregory Smart, in 1990. Though she denied knowledge of the plot, she was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and other crimes and sentenced to life without parole.

The teen, William Flynn, and three other teens, cooperated with prosecutors, served shorter sentences and have been released.

The trial was a media circus and one of the first high-profile cases about a sexual affair between a school staff member and a student. Joyce Maynard wrote To Die For in 1992, drawing from the Smart case. That inspired a 1995 film of the same name, starring Nicole Kidman and Joaquin Phoenix.

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The attorney general's office opposed Smart's commutation requests, saying she has never accepted full responsibility for the crimes.

Laura Lombardi, senior assistant attorney general, argued Tuesday that Smart has no protectable constitutional interest in receiving commutation of her sentence" and that the case should not be before the court.

This is a matter of mercy and grace, held by the executive branch," she said.

Gov. Chris Sununu had the option of putting the commutation request on the council's agenda, and did so, she said. She said there is no requirement for the governor and council to create rules regarding the process.

Sisti said a life-without-parole sentence should hitch onto something: hope.

I'm asking that you give Pam Smart that little inkling, that little crack in the door where she can have hope," he said.

In addition to earning two masters degrees in a Bedford Hills, New York, prison, Smart has tutored fellow inmates, has been ordained as a minister and is part of an inmate liaison committee. In her last petition, she said she is remorseful and and has been rehabilitated. She apologized to Gregory Smart's family.
DAKAR, Senegal (AP)  At least 32 civilians have been killed by rebel groups in eastern Congo's Ituri province, said a spokesman for the United Nations.

Twenty people were killed by the militia group CODECO and a dozen were killed by the Allied Democratic Forces, which is allied to the Islamic State group, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a press conference on Monday.

Calling the situation confusing, Dujarric said it is hard for the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo to get more information due to restricted movement in the area.

Fighting between CODECO, a loose association of various ethnic Lendu militia groups, and Zaire, a mainly ethnic Hema self-defense group, has been ongoing since 2017 but has worsened recently. At least 32 civilians were killed by CODECO last month, say local officials. In December, the United Nations said the insurgent group was expanding its areas of control, attacking civilians and Congo's military, and taxing communities in the areas that it holds.

The killings come amid surging violence across eastern Congo, where conflict has been simmering for decades as more than 120 armed groups are fighting in the region, most for land and control of mines with valuable minerals, while some groups are trying to protect their communities.

In neighboring North Kivu province, the situation is deteriorating as the M23 rebel group, which was dormant for nearly a decade and resurfaced at the end of 2021, continues to seize swaths of territory and killing civilians.

The M23 first rose to prominence 10 years ago when its fighters seized Goma, the largest city in Congos east, which sits on the border with Rwanda. The group derives its name from a peace agreement signed on March 23, 2009 which called for the rebels to be integrated into the Congo army. The M23 accuse the government of not implementing the accord. The group is believed to have backing from Rwanda, findings supported by the U.N.

A peace agreement last year made during a summit in Angola was supposed to see the M23 withdraw from areas it had captured, however that is not being implemented, according to local residents.

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Last week M23 fighters advanced toward Sake town in the Masisi area, displacing more than 65,000 people, according to an internal report for aid groups seen by The Associated Press. The rebels' advance increases the risk of isolating Goma and cutting off humanitarian access, say aid agencies.

The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo, known as MONUSCO, has also been attacked amid the volatility.

Earlier this month one of the U.N. mission's helicopters came under fire in North Kivu province, killing a South African peacekeeper and injuring another, said the U.N. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. The United Nations Security Council said the deliberate targeting of peacekeepers could constitute war crimes.



Associated Press journalists Edith M. Lederer in New York and Christina Malkia in Kinshasa contributed.
A U-Haul truck surrounded by NYPD vehicles. John Minchillo/AP Photo

A man driving a U-Haul truck rammed into pedestrians in New York City on Monday, injuring at least eight people before being subdued by police.

The incident occurred in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn. Law enforcement officials said it began when the U-Haul truck was pulled over by police. From there, officials said, the driver sped away and began striking several pedestrians, taking police on a three-mile chase before the truck was eventually pinned against a building. The driver was then arrested.

New York City Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell described the attack as a "violent rampage through Brooklyn."

"We have eight people struck, two are in critical condition, two are in serious condition, and four sustained minor injuries," Sewell said during a press conference, adding that while seven of those struck were civilians, "one of them was a police officer who was taking police action during this incident."

Sewell added that there was "no indication that there was any terrorist involvement in this incident." However, she said, "we will continue to investigate this incident with the full resources of the NYPD and our partners."

The suspect was identified by The Associated Press as 62-year-old Weng Sor, whom the outlet described as "a troubled man with a history of violence and stints behind bars."

"Very frequently he'll choose to skip out on his medications and do something like this," Sor's son Stephen Sor told AP. "This isn't the first time he's been arrested. It's not the first time he's gone to jail."

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) tweeted that she was "praying for everyone who was injured today in Brooklyn," adding that she was "grateful for the swift response of @NYPDnews to apprehend the suspect."

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Lebanon City Police are investigating another shots fired incident Monday afternoon, the latest to occur in the past several weeks.

At 3:25 p.m., police were dispatched to the 1000 block of Willow Street for a report of gun shots fired. Upon arrival police located several shell casings in the street, officials said in a press release. Investigation determined that a vehicle had been hit by gunfire, but no victims were located.

Witnesses observed two males in a dark colored vehicle leaving the scene, according to Chief Bret Fisher.

During the overnight hours police recovered an additional vehicle they believed to have been involved in the incident, officials said Tuesday. No identification of the vehicle or it's owner was released.

This is the latest shooting event in the past week, in which two Lebanon residents have been arrested for charges including aggravated assault.

Christopher Fojo-Candelaria:29-year-old Lebanon man allegedly fired shots near a residence Saturday evening, police say

Alex Torres-Santos:22-year-old arrested in alleged involvement in two shootings in Lebanon city, police say

Police are still looking for information on a non-lethal shooting downtown on Thursday evening. At 6:57 p.m. police were dispatched to the area of 8th St. and Cumberland St. for a report of gun shots fired. Upon arrival, police discovered that suspect had fled the area.

The gunshot victim drove himself to a local hospital, police said in a press release. The victim was not identified, but police said their injuries do not appear to be life threatening. No details of a suspected shooter have been released.

Shots fired:Police are looking for shooter in a non-lethal incident Thursday in downtown Lebanon

Anyone with information about these shootings is asked to contact the Lebanon City Police Department at 717-272-6611 or Crime Stoppers at 717-270-9800.

This investigation is ongoing. Please check back with the Lebanon Daily News for updates.

Matthew Toth is a reporter for the Lebanon Daily News. Reach him at mtoth@ldnews.com or on Twitter at @DAMattToth

This article originally appeared on Lebanon Daily News: Police looking for two suspects involved in a shots fired incident
Feb. 13LIMA  A 33-year-old Lima man faces the possibility of life in prison after pleading guilty Monday to murder in the 2021 fatal shooting of Sam McLaurin.

Paul Curtis Jr. accepted a deal from prosecutors during an appearance in Allen County Common Pleas Court and pleaded guilty to murder, an unclassified felony that included a three-year specification for the use of a firearm. He also pleaded guilty to assaulting two correction officers at the county jail. In exchange for those pleas, prosecutors agreed to dismiss an unrelated drug charge and to jointly recommend a prison sentence of 19 years-to-life.

Judge Jeffrey Reed said he would abide by the recommendation when Curtis is sentenced at a later date. The judge had intended to proceed directly to sentencing on Monday but reversed course when a relative of McLaurin's said other family members wanted to be present at the sentencing. Reed said they have the legal right to be in attendance.

Curtis, now 33, was indicted by a grand jury on murder charges 13 months ago in connection with the shooting death of McLaurin, 53, outside a residence on Lima's South Baxter Street on Nov. 30, 2021.

McLaurin was shot approximately 18 times, according to testimony from Detective Matt Boss of the Lima Police Department during an earlier probable cause hearing in Lima Municipal Court.

Curtis was located several blocks away from the crime scene and was taken into custody. He was out of jail on bond at the time of the shooting following his indictment in December of 2020 on charges of possession of cocaine, possession of a fentanyl-related compound and two counts of having weapons under disability.

Those charges were dismissed Monday as part of the negotiated plea deal.

On the night of McLaurin's death, law enforcement officials used the GPS ankle monitor tracking device worn by Curtis to trace his movements after McLaurin was shot. While following his route, a 9 mm handgun was found that appeared to be a match for spent cartridges found at the murder scene, Boss testified.

Curtis also was convicted through his guilty plea of two counts of assault, felonies of the fifth degree, related to an altercation with corrections officers inside the Allen County jail. He was sentenced to a total of 12 months for those charges, to be served consecutively to the murder and gun specification sentences.

Curtis was represented at Monday's hearing by attorney James Owen. Interim Allen County Prosecutor Destiny Caldwell represented the State of Ohio.
On top of being Valentines Day, Tuesday is also National Donor Day. In Ohio, about 3,000 people are waiting on life-saving transplants and News Center 7 caught up with a Clark County woman who knows all about it.

Karen Murphy was brought to tears when she reflected on her journey back to health after receiving her second live transplant in August from her son, Joe. She labeled the process as her own familys Star Wars and said it included two postponements and a post surgery Lymphoma scare.

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I went back out and found some shirts that said Keep calm and let the force be with you, and I thought Ah, perfect shirt, Murphy told News Center 7s Nick Foley.

She said she wore the shirt for her pre-admission testing, as well as when she went to the hospital.

Murphy got her first transplant in 2010 after the death Terri Appleman, a registered organ donor. Murphy was one of 110,000 people across the country waiting for a transplant at any given moment.

Every 10 minutes, someone new is added to that list who is waiting for their second chance and 20 people die each day just waiting for that gift of life, Stephanie Burianek, Life Connection of Ohios Community Outreach Coordinator, said.

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The gift of life has not been lost on Murphy, who remains in contact with Applemans family and considers her a hero.

You know youre saving someones life and its not just saving my life, Murphy said. I mean you saved my family and all the things and memories theyve been able to have because of that.

One donor can save the lives of up to eight people or enhance the lives of more than 100 others. For more information on organ donation or how to register to be a donor, click here.
Photo Illustration by Erin OFlynn/The Daily Beast/Freeform

If theres one thing Americans love, its Paris. And if theres one thing that Parisians hate, its American Francophiles. But you wouldnt know that by watching Love Trip: Paris, the new Freeform dating show premiering Feb. 14 (which streams on Hulu the next day).

The series puts a refreshingly absurdist spin on tired format tropes. No no, the Parisians that cycle in and out of the giant pied-a-terre in Love Trip: Paris are so smitten with the prospect of dating an American that they will happily debase themselves in some of the silliest ways for even a chance at a date.

With Emily being trapped in Paris for the better part of the last three years, its a bit shocking that no one has thought to ship off a handful of American girls to the most romantic city in the world for a dating show. Bravos Real Girlfriends in Paris tried its hand at something similar last fall, but couldnt nail the right combination of flirty fun and date-heavy drama. Love Trip: Paris wisely decides that going big is far better than going home, deboarding the plane back on American soil in disgrace. Like Valentines Day, its very existence is filled with romantic chaos.

Love Trip: Paris takes a pretty basic dating show conceitstick a bunch of strangers in a house together and see what happensand hits fast-forward. Single Americans Caroline, Rose, Lacy, and Josielyn are all looking for love after exhausting their offerings back home. In the Love Trip house, they gather under one roof and are each given access to a magical app (which is surely not real, but I adore the show for running with it anyway) that displays some strangers and apartment numbers. The show gives an entirely new meaning to Meet Sexy Singles in Your Area Today. Surprise surprise, these potential dates are all living on the floor below them.

You may ask yourself, How is that a new concept? Well, slow down. Im getting there! Love Trip: Paris takes a hint of The Bachelor and spices it up with a little Parisian flair. The show capitalizes on the warring stereotypes that French people are either too possessive or too liberated. The collection of French singles is comprised of suitors who get jealous far too easily and others who like to play the field. This presents an inherent conflict for all four girls, who each want something different. For instance, Rose is there specifically to find a husband. Whereas Caroline would just like a girl who can be honest with her.

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Freeform

Yes, you read that right. Love Trip: Paris is fluid, baby! Its cast isnt just seeking Parisian men, but Parisian people! One of the most invigorating things about the show is that it doesnt make a big deal out of its queer cast members. Caroline, a lesbian, is welcomed into the house without judgment, along with Lacy, who is sexually fluid, and Josielyn, who is trans and bisexual.

Its beyond thrilling to see these women treated with love and respect, and not have to make their queerness a traumatic focal point of all of their experiences on the show. Love Trip: Paris transcends token casting and exploitation and instead sets up a safe and amiable environment for its cast. In a television landscape where reality dating competitions tip almost entirely cisgender and heterosexual, its exhilarating to watch these women navigate Paris and all of its sexy sweethearts while out and proud.

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While the series certainly has a producers magic touch, its drama feels real instead of overly manufactured. The casts main mission is to date as many of the Parisians as they can to see who they click with. This, of course, results in a wave of extreme jealousy among the French castits just a matter of whether theyll exorcize that on the American girls or each other.

In only the first three episodes, the Parisians are battling it out for time with the Americans, resulting in some heated French in-fighting. Other times, the Parisians will express their disbelief that one of the American women (who, again, are trying to get a sense of their options) would dare to go on another date with anyone else.

This latter form of jealousy leads to some fantastic laugh-out-loud moments, like when a French suitor named Roman gives Caroline a creepy charcoal drawing that Roman did of her before they even have a chance to go on a date. Or, when Gessica (thats Jessica with a G, or Guess-ica, if you want to have more fun with it), another French housemate, finds out that Josielyn was hot-tubbing with a guy after their date.

Freeform

Gessica dramatically pulls up selfies that she and Josielyn took together and deletes them, saying, This is the day we had yesterday that you just threw away, so Im going to delete [these photos] because I dont want to keep the memories anymore.

But the show isnt all laughs, there are stakes here too. The Parisian housemates only have a small chunk of time to make an impression on the four American women. If they dont, theyll be sent packing, making room for two more French singles every week.

With plenty of hot new blood coming in every episode, each French contestant has to ensure that theyre connecting with someone, or they could be forgotten entirely. But if one of the Americans isnt a match, theyre free to pursue another. They just have to be careful: these girls talk, and if the Parisians are behaving badly, it wont end well.

Freeform

Love Trip: Paris is a bit like an overly convoluted dream. No one is really going to want to hear you talk it. its just something that you have to experience for yourself. And there are plenty of reasons to give it a shot. Whether its a French contestant named Camillewho looks like she strolled off the set of Ab Fab, carrying her own wine (and looking like she already dipped into it)or a hot hunk named Mirko, who plays the show like a devious game (and whose Instagram account I need for science), everyone seems to have been plucked from obscurity to bring the perfect amount of seductive Parisian drama.

The best part of Love Trip: Paris, however, is its main quartet of hopeless American romantics. Each one of them is bubbly and filled with personality. But together, they form a friendship that grounds the show in a welcome dose of real reality. They stick up for each other, fight for each other, and genuinely want to see their new friends fall in love. Love Trip: Paris might be premiering on the most romantic holiday of the year, but the show is a fabulously fun reminder that our friends come first, and relationships are just a nice bonus along the way.

Sign up for our See Skip newsletter here to find out which new shows and movies are worth watching, and which arent.

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A Macon pastor pleaded guilty Monday to child molestation and other charges related to an incident in which prosecutors said he offered a girl in her early teens  a stranger to him  a ride home from a sporting event at Stratford Academy as part of ruse to sexually assault her.

Donald Eugune Williams, 33, also pleaded guilty to statutory rape and sexual battery of a child under the age of 16 in connection with the Sept. 3, 2021, episode.

Prosecutors said that upon leaving the Peake Road campus in northwestern Bibb County, Williams drove the girl  who was not a student at the school but was there attending an event  to a secluded area and sexually assaulted her.

In court Monday, Judge Howard Z. Simms sentenced Williams to 20 years in prison followed by 25 years on probation.

Williams, who in his role as a minister often officiated funerals for those without home churches, became a suspect after the victim in the case informed a family member. Williams had given the victim his business card, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors last month filed notice that, had the case gone to trial, they intended to introduce evidence of a similar case involving Williams in Houston County in 2010.

In that matter, prosecutors said Williams, 21 at the time, approached a 14-year-old girl while he was driving his car. Prosecutors said he followed the girl and offered her a ride multiple times. The girl declined, but in the same encounter, another girl, 16, told the authorities that Williams had offered her a ride and exposed himself to her.

Williams, in that case, pleaded guilty to criminal attempt to commit child molestation and was sentenced to 60 days in jail and five years on probation.
More than 20 dogs were rescued from a dog fighting ring and breeding operation that deputies discovered in the Pageland area.

The Chesterfield County Sheriffs Office announced on Monday that one person was arrested in connection with the investigation into the dog fighting.

According to CCSO, animal control officers received a complaint about animal cruelty happening on Smith Lane, just outside of Pageland to the southeast. The sheriffs office began investigating with the help of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, and federal agents.

According to an incident report obtained by Channel 9 reporter Tina Terry, one of the dogs was found roaming the streets.

Deputies said the dog was acting skittish and acting in an aggressive manner by growling. The deputy said, the stray dog was acting like it was going to lunge and try to bite me.

The investigators went to the property on Feb. 6, and they seized 13 adult dogs and nine puppies. They were taken to the Chesterfield Animal Shelter.

The conditions of the dogs werent immediately given. Its not clear if theyll be made available for adoption.

SEE MORE: Thousands sign petition to make Pageland intersection safer after deadly crash

It makes me feel angry because that is not right. Its not right, neighbor Demetric Blakeney said.

Blakeney told Channel 9 that she was grateful that law enforcement shut down the dog-fighting ring that wasnt too far from her daughters schools.

Very grateful that theyre taken away because theyre just like humans, Blakeney said.

The sheriffs office says a suspect identified as Derwayne Terry Miller, Sr., was arrested. Hes facing weapons and drug charges, along with animal abuse and neglect charges. Federal charges are also anticipated against Miller.

SLED said it has been cracking down on this kind of activity. In September, the organization said it had seized around 50 pit bulls from York County as part of a massive statewide takedown.

If you have information about any dog fighting in Chesterfield County, the sheriffs office asks that you call 843-623-2101 or the tip line at 843-287-0235.

(WATCH BELOW: Charlotte Area Investigators Get Tips On Breaking Up Dog Fighting Rings)
A pair of brothers were convicted for their parts in the 2018 murder of a Newark woman and their botched attempt to conceal the killing by placing her body in a garbage bag filled with corrosive chemicals, which they left behind an abandoned home as her corpse decomposed for days, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Jurors delivered the verdict Monday, finding Gualberto Lebron, 37, of Newark, guilty on 21 of 24 possible counts, including murder, assault, sexual assault, burglary, witness tampering, desecrating human remains, conspiracy and child endangerment.

Commenting on the killing and grisly cover-up, Assistant Prosecutor Adam Wells called Lebron's actions monstrous."

Sebastian Bio, who represented Lebron during the four-week trial, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

In May 2018, Lebron fled the home of his former girlfriend Julia Vega, who was 30 years old at the time of her murder and was the mother of her killer's children, after a domestic violence incident during which authorities said he choked and sexually assaulted Vega in her Newark home.

Crime:These 2022 homicides in North Jersey remain unsolved

A manhunt ensued. But four days later, he returned to Vega's apartment, broke in and killed her, prosecutors argued. After cleaning the murder scene and wrapping her body in a rug, Lebron allegedly hid Vega's remains for days while he devised how to dispose of them, according to official accounts of the crime.

He and his brother, Gilberto, 38, also of Newark, placed Vega's body in a trash bag, along with chemicals intended to hasten the decomposition of her corpse, which they hid on a property in Irvington, where it was discovered on Jan. 1, 2021, according to the state.

The same panel convicted Gilberto Lebron of desecrating human remains, hindering prosecution and conspiracy for helping his brother evade arrest and obscure Vega's murder.

Gualberto Lebron faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole for his aggravated murder conviction. Gilberto Lebron could face up to 10 years in prison for desecrating human remains. Both men are scheduled to be sentenced on April 3.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Newark NJ brothers convicted in 2018 murder, grisly cover-up
A man in his 70s was sentenced to more than a decade in prison in a fatal wrong-way freeway crash in 2019 that killed a mother and her young son.

Juan Martinez of El Paso County was sentenced Feb. 7 to 15 years in prison after being convicted by a jury that same day on two counts of intoxicated manslaughter, according to court records. The sentences will be served concurrently.

Juan Martinez was convicted Feb. 7 on two counts of intoxication manslaughter in a wrong-way crash that killed a mother and her 6-year-old son.

He also was sentenced to 15 years in prison for intoxicated assault, but that sentence was suspended. On that count, he will serve 10 years of probation after he is released from prison on the intoxicated manslaughter charges, according to court records.

Martinez, who was 73 at the time of the fatal crash, was accused of driving on the wrong side of Loop 375 near Paisano Drive before he crashed into a Toyota Corolla.

More:Drunk-driving suspect accused of fighting El Paso police for stun gun

He was accused of driving east in a westbound lane when he struck the vehicle driven by Elide Yvonne Garcia, 25, with her 6-year-old son, Jose Luis Wences, who was a passenger, El Paso Police Department officials said at the time of the crash.

Jose Luis, who was in the back seat, died at the scene, while Garcia died a short while later a hospital, police said. Another passenger, 29-year-old Alberto Cuellar, was hospitalized with serious injuries, including a hip fracture and two broken legs, according to a complaint document.

Elide Yvonne Garcia, left, and her son Jose Luis Wences were killed by a drunken driver Dec. 7, 2019, in El Paso.

Martinez was taken to a hospital with minor injuries, police said.

He confessed to police that he was drinking with friends and drank "a lot" before the crash, according to the affidavit.

Records show Martinez had a blood-alcohol level of 0.19, more than double the Texas legal limit of 0.08.

More:Former Fort Bliss soldier sentenced to probation in fatal drunk-driving crash

According to the affidavit, officers said Martinez had slurred speech and was "incoherent and unable to speak with officers."

Garcia and her son were from Las Cruces. Garcia's family told the Las Cruces Sun-News that Garcia was pursuing a criminal justice degree at New Mexico State University and was focused on raising her son.

Aaron Martinez may be reached at amartinez1@elpasotimes.com or on Twitter @AMartinezEPT.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: El Paso County man gets prison in DWI crash that killed mom, son
A man is facing charges after prosecutors say he shot his brother in the face during an argument about selling their familys home in Massachusetts.

Trevor Lawrence, 32, of Boston, was arrested nearly two years after the shooting as Boston police officers carried out a drug investigation in Dorchester on Feb. 11, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden.

Now Lawrence is facing charges, including armed assault with intent to murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, Hayden announced in a Feb. 14 news release. Lawrence appeared in court for an arraignment on Feb. 13.

Lawrences Joseph M. Pagliarulo told the Boston Globe that his client denies the charges against him. Contact information for Pagliarulo wasnt immediately available.

Ultimately, Lawrences brother survived the shot to the head and later told authorities what happened the early afternoon of May 14, 2021 in Bostons Mattapan neighborhood, Hayden said.

That day, Lawrence and his brother got in a disagreement about the sale of their familys home, officials said. Further details on the disagreement werent provided.

Lawrence suddenly pulled out a gun as his brother tried taking photos of the second floor of the home and shot him, according to Hayden.

Violence should never be an option in a dispute among family members or anyone else, but to see a sibling carry a disagreement to this level of intentional harm is sad in every way, Hayden said in a statement.

Lawrences arraignment was supposed to be in October 2021, but he never showed up for the court date, according to the Boston Globe. This resulted in a warrant for his arrest.

Hes being held without bail and will appear in court again for a dangerousness hearing, Hayden said.

Man froze to death in jail and was likely placed in freezer as punishment, lawsuit says

Mom taking her baby out of cars backseat is robbed at gunpoint, Texas police say

Devoted dad, teen daughter died in Thanksgiving crash. Now, Georgia driver charged
Jens Stoltenberg and Oleksii Reznikov

Reznikovs message conveyed his gratitude to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg for the allied military assistance to Ukraine, following a meeting with defense ministers of Kyivs international partners.

Read also: Defense chief Reznikov to participate in meeting of NATO defense ministers

The minister also noted that last year Russia was officially recognized as the most significant and direct threat to NATO countries.

Reznikov also added that the Ukrainian troops are protecting not just their own country from Russia, but all of Europe.

Read also: NATO defense ministers meet in Brussels for ninth Ramstein format meeting

Last year Ukraine joined NATO de facto, he wrote.

Read also: Zelenskyy introduces newly appointed SBU, Interior Ministry heads to agencies teams

I am doing everything I can so that it happens de jure at the right time.

On Feb. 11, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine could join NATO after the end of the war with Russia.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Candy conglomerate Mars Wrigley has been fined after two workers fell into a tank of chocolate at its Pennsylvania factory last year.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a $14,502 fine to Mars Wrigley, the makers of M&Ms, Dove and more for an incident it described as serious in a report.

Employees of an outside employer, I.K. Stoltzfus Service Corp., cleaned tanks, including the Dove chocolate batching 20 micron tank, owned by the onsite/host employer, Mars Wrigley, reads the report. The employer did not furnish employment and a place of employment which were free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees.

Mars Deforestation (Salwan Georges / The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The incident in question occurred on June 9, 2022. Two workers at the Mars Wrigley factory in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania fell into a vat of chocolate. At the time, a Lancaster County 911 spokesperson confirmed to TODAY.com that the department received a phone call about the incident around 10:51 a.m. ET.

The incident currently is being downgraded, but originally two employees were stuck in a sort of dry chocolate, the spokesperson said.

Reports following the incident indicated that the two workers couldn't be simply lifted out of the tanks  they needed to be cut out through a hole in the side by the Elizabethtown Fire Department.

According to the Lancaster City Bureau of Police, both workers were taken to an area hospital as a precaution with no serious injuries reported.

When reached for comment, a Mars Wrigley spokesperson issued the following statement to TODAY.com:

"The safety of our Associates and outside contractors are a top priority for our business. As always, we appreciate OSHAs collaborative approach to working with us to conduct the after-action review."

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
Yeah, the place across from me is getting shot up. But just know Im okay.

That is how 20-year-old Nick Ciampa let his Mom back in Middleton, Massachusetts know a gunman was loose on the Michigan State University campus Monday night.

Ciampa, a sophomore studying economics, was just about to head over to the M-S Union to join friends for dinner. En route, he and his roommate diverted momentarily to their nearby dorm.

I honestly have no idea why, Ciampa said. We were walking to The Union and then we just came in for a couple of minutes for something and Im glad we did.

Because suddenly there was chaos.

We had three, four kids running up the stairs saying, theyre shooting up The Union, Ciampa said. Everyones like, dont go near The Union. People are shooting it.

For a couple of hours, Ciampa had no idea if the friends he planned to join for dinner made it out of The Union alive.

Everyone kind of got split up, he said. What was bad was they just dropped everything they had and ran. Kids didnt have their phones or their backpacks. Nothing. No communication. It was hard to make sure everyone I knew was okay.

Gradually, through texts from borrowed phones, Ciampa learned all his friends survived the shooting without injury. However, three students died and five were critically injured. Ciampa does not know any of the victims.

While residence halls on the MSU campus have secure entry points, the two buildings the gunman entered are essentially open to the public, Ciampa said. Still, he was alarmed a shooting actually happened on university grounds.

You know, you hear of shootings off campus, like right outside of campus, Ciampa said. But it never happens where they come onto campus and do it.

Until now.

Im not afraid its going to happen again, Ciampa said. But it could. You never know. Youve got to be prepared.

MSU is preparing to reopen for classes next Monday. Ciampa said many students have gone home because of that but for another reason, he thinks, as well.

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I think a lot of people are scared, he said. They dont want to be here.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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

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NASA has cleared up previously unconfirmed reports of a massive asteroid supposedly hurtling closely towards Earth on Wednesday.

A massive asteroid named 2005 YY128 will fly by Earth at a safe distance on Feb. 15, Paul Chodas, the director for the Center of Near Earth Object Studies at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told USA TODAY.

Yes, the asteroid is probably fairly large, probably between 1,903 and 4,265 feet  Chodas said in a statement on Monday.

Astronomers have been tracking this asteroid for 17 years and can accurately predict when it orbits the sun, Chodas said.

'One of the closest approaches ever': A huge asteroid is going to fly by Earth, NASA says

Asteroid Launcher: See what would happen if a mega asteroid hit your home, city or state

Even though the astronomical event is called an "Earth Close Approach," astronomers predict with certainty that the asteroid will only get within 2.8 million miles of Earth  about 12 times farther away than the moon, Chodas said.

An artist illustration captures an asteroid orbiting closer to the sun than Earth's orbit.

Chodas called stories that suggest the asteroid could crash into Earth simply bogus.

The asteroid poses absolutely no risk to humans," Chodas added.

It does, however, offer scientists the chance to take some up-close measurements of the asteroid with radar.

Jupiter: 12 new moons discovered orbiting planet, giving it the most in our solar system

How can NASA divert asteroids?

The best way to divert large asteroids heading for collision with Earth is to discover them years or even decades ahead of time, Chodas said.

If this asteroid, for example, had been heading for an impact this week, we would have been able to predict (a collision) way back in 2005-6, and there would have been roughly 17 years in which to divert its path, Chodas said.

The successful DART mission last year has proven NASA's ability to be able to deflect near-Earth objects, or NEOs, years before a potential impact by using a spacecraft that intentionally rams into asteroids to change its velocity and orbit, just slightly.

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"All of this is quite hypothetical, of course, as there are no known large asteroids heading for impact with Earth, Chodas wrote with "no" capitalized.

Also, NASA recently announced that work on NEO Surveyor  an asteroid-hunting telescope designed to protect Earth from disaster  had begun.

NASA's new asteroid-hunting telescope: Made to protect Earth from disaster

Asteroid hits Earth hours after spotted: Meteor turns into 'beautiful' fireball over Europe

The new telescope is designed to advance NASAs planetary defense efforts by discovering 90% of NEOs that make their way into Earths neighborhood. The telescope is expected to be capable of spotting any asteroids  460 feet or larger and within 30 million miles of Earth's orbit, and capable of posing any risk to humans.

The telescope, set to launch no earlier than June 2028, will be able to find NEOs within a decade of launch.

Camille Fine is a trending visual producer on USA TODAY's NOW team.

What's everyone talking about? Sign up for our trending newsletter to get the latest news of the day

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NASA: Asteroid will pass by Earth Wednesday at 2.8 million miles away
Hello and welcome back to Max Q!

In this issue:

31 engines make fire

A mission for Blue Origin's New Glenn

News from Rocket Lab, Seraphim and more

The long-awaited static fire test of Starship's Super Heavy Booster took place last week, with SpaceX managing to fire 31 Raptor 2 engines at full duration. It's the most engines they've ever fired at once, and the most powerful rocket engine firing in history, period.

According to SpaceX, the test produced 7.9 million lbf of thrust, which is less than half (!!!) of the boosters capability.

This was the final major test before launch. But that doesn't mean the way is completely clear: SpaceX is still waiting on the launch license from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administrator, the regulator that governs launch. But according to public comments from SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell, a launch attempt within a month or so is looking likely.

Image Credits: SpaceX (opens in a new window)

NASA is planning a science mission to Mars that will ride up aboard a New Glenn  Blue Origins first big government contract for the as-yet-untested launch vehicle.

New Glenn is the much, much larger sibling of the suborbital New Shepard rocket that so many celebrities and rich folks have gone to the edge of space in. Announced in 2016, the launch vehicle would compete with SpaceXs Falcon Heavy and other heavy-lift options. But six years later, we have yet to see a New Glenn in one piece, let alone ready to launch a Mars mission.

The first flight for New Glenn was scheduled for late 2021, but that date was refined earlier that year, purportedly because a contract with the Pentagon had fallen through. Q4 of 2022 was the next window, but obviously thats come and gone. Ive asked for updated timing.

The launch contract is through the Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) program at NASA, which early last year assigned a maximum of $300 million to be split among 13 companies for launch services of various kinds. Everyone whos anyone is on the list there, essentially providing a low-cost option for noncritical missions. - Devin Coldewey

Story continues

Image Credits: Blue Origin (opens in a new window)

More news from TC and beyond

Amazon's Project Kuiper is one step closer to launching its first internet satellites with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission approving its orbital debris mitigation plan. (FCC)

CAPSTONE , the NASA spacecraft that's currently gathering data on a unique lunar orbit, is "happy and healthy" as it continues its long mission around the moon. (Advanced Space)

Exotrail , a French space mobility startup, has raised $58 million to scale its electric propulsion system and grow its other products. (Exotrail)

Intuitive Machines' IM-1 mission to the lunar surface has been pushed back to late June, and will now go to the moon's South Pole. (Intuitive Machines)

Rocket Lab debuted two new products as part of its space systems business line, including a software-defined radio and a reaction wheel for constellation-class satellites. (Rocket Lab)

Seraphim Space Accelerator , the accelerator arm of Seraphim Space VC firm, is partnering with the European Space Agency to identify early-stage startups in Europe. (Seraphim)

Virgin Orbit said a malfunction with a relatively inexpensive part may have contributed to the company's most recent LauncherOne mission failure. (SpaceNews)

Max Q is brought to you by me, Aria Alamalhodaei. If you enjoy reading Max Q, consider forwarding it to a friend.
Carlos Garcia (left) and Kesha Hodge Washington are running for Phoenix City Council in south Phoenix's District 8.

Leer en espanol

Two candidates for Phoenix City Council will face off on March 14 in a runoff election to represent south Phoenix, parts of downtown and an area just east of downtown.

Carlos Garcia, the incumbent, is an activist-turned-politician elected in 2019 to finish out the term of Kate Gallego, who vacated the seat to run for mayor. Kesha Hodge Washington, his challenger, is an attorney who came out swinging in November, walking away with 40% of the vote. She and Garcia tied, leaving two other candidates trailing.

The winner will join the city's seven other council members, plus the mayor, in overseeing the nation's fifth most populous city.

Carlos Garcia

Councilman Carlos Garcia speaks with volunteers before they set out to knock on doors in south Phoenix neighborhoods ahead of Garcia's March runoff election against Kesha Hodge Washington on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2023, in Phoenix.

Carlos Garcia migrated to the U.S. when he was 5 from Cananea, Sonora, Mexico and was later naturalized. A migrant rights activist who garnered Valleywide recognition following the passage of SB 1070, the "show me your papers" law, Garcia joined City Council in 2019. His candidacy came at a moment when tensions between police departments and communities across the country were on the rise. His victory, as someone who led protests against former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the Phoenix Police Department and City Hall, was seen as a pivotal moment in Phoenix politics.

During his first meeting as a sitting City Council member, hundreds of protesters swarmed downtown and the council chambers to protest the Phoenix police after a viral video showed officers aggressively arresting young parents in front of their children. He called for a civilian review board  a move that would eventually lodge a wedge between him and Gallego. She proposed a different police oversight concept but then voted for Garcia's plan after conceding hers did not have the votes.

Four years later, Garcia maintains his reputation for being unapologetically critical of police misconduct and vocal in calls for increased oversight of law enforcement. He has also, controversially, called for redirecting savings from vacancies in the Police Department to other city departments  a move he thinks could lead to a healthier and safer city, he told The Arizona Republic.

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But he and his supporters say he's focused on more than policing. Garcia touts accomplishments like direct financial assistance to families during the COVID-19 pandemic, the hiring of Phoenix's first public health officer, and the new Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

Funding:Phoenix council races raise over $1M, more than half to one candidate

Some moments from his years in office:

Criticism of Garcia largely revolves around his approaches to policing and homelessness. Some constituents in District 8 say his scrutiny of the police is out of step with what they want: more policing, particularly to deal with homelessness. Other critical voters say Garcia's interest in aiding those experiencing homelessness, while admirable, blinds him to the needs of constituents concerned about the safety and upward mobility of their neighborhoods.

Kesha Hodge Washington

Hodge Washington is a civil and commercial litigator mainly dealing with insurance fraud cases, although she's dabbled in zoning issues, too, she said. Born and raised in the Virgin Islands, she came to Arizona in 1999 to attend law school at Arizona State University. A "three-year plan turned into 24 years" after she fell in love with the city and the opportunity it provides, she told a group of voters in January.

She formerly worked as an assistant attorney general and clerked for the Arizona Court of Appeals.

Hodge Washington told The Arizona Republic that she'd long thought about holding elected office. A nudge from a friend she respected pushed her to attempt a run.

Hodge Washington started watching council meetings. She said that a February 2022 meeting was her breaking point. West Phoenix residents asked council members to increase police presence to deter crime in their area. Garcia was the lone council member to vote 'no.' Policing isn't the solution, he said.

Hodge Washington has repeatedly told voters and the media she is wary of over-policing communities and criminalizing homelessness. But Garcia's stalwart stance against police was "tone deaf" at that moment, Hodge Washington said. "I can't be the only one who feels this way," she recalled thinking.

Her policy proposals focus on turning south Phoenix into a high-wage job hub and establishing free or low-cost career training programs. "I believe in teaching a man to fish," she told The Republic. The way she sees it, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company factory under construction in north Phoenix will bring plenty of associated businesses to the city, which means a chance for upward mobility.

For residents of District 8, an area with less investment historically and some of the city's lowest income and education levels, Hodge Washington said grabbing onto new economic opportunities could mean the difference between feeling stuck or achieving prosperity.

To address Phoenix's homelessness and housing challenges, Hodge Washington says on her campaign website that she would like to accelerate the process for affordable and workforce housing development, change zoning rules to allow for accessory dwelling units and incentivize the development of affordable housing units, and ensure "specific pathways" exist to help people experiencing homelessness who have severe mental health or substance abuse issues.

Reach out to reporter Taylor Seely at tseely@arizonarepublic.com or on Twitter @taylorseely95.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Meet Carlos Garcia, Kesha Hodge Washington: Phoenix District 8 candidates
Del Mar College Regent, At-large, Anantha Babbili, attends his first board meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023, at the Oso Creek campus in Corpus Christi, Texas.

The Del Mar College board of regents appointed Anantha S. Babbili to an at-large position on the board Tuesday.

The board chose Babbili, who has experience in higher education leadership, after interviewing three applicants for the position. Other candidates were Julio Reyes, a former executive with AEP Texas and vice president of business development at Curtis Stout Inc., and 90 Degree Benefits South Texas sales director Denise Villagran.

The position was previously filled by Linda Villarreal, who left the board after being named dean of the College of Education and Human Performance at Texas A&M University-Kingsville.

Del Mar College regent steps down to take position at Texas A&M-Kingsville

Babbili is a former administrator and professor at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. Previously, he served in leadership positions at Middle Tennessee State University and Texas Christian University.

He touted his experience in education during his interview, sharing with the board areas he believes the college can grow, including student recruitment and retention, raising the global profile of Del Mar College and introducing innovative programs.

Babbili joins District 5 regent Carl Crull, District 2 regent David Loeb and at-large regent Libby Averyt, who were sworn in to the board in December and January after each ran unopposed to fill their seats in November.

'We were the innovator': Here's how Del Mar College is reimagining continuing education

Del Mar College graduates first cohort of Bachelor of Science in nursing students

This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Meet new Del Mar College regent Anantha S. Babbili
A Melbourne woman is accused of keeping, and using, several drugs that led to the overdose of a child.

Police responded to Masterson Park on Saturday where they met 36-year-old Sandra Stigler.

Investigators said Stigler initially claimed to have found the child with a plastic bag in their mouth.

Watch: Niece of woman, 76, accused of shooting terminally ill husband speaks out

Once the child was taken to the hospital, police said Stigler changed her story.

Police said she admitted the child had been exposed to drugs at home.

Read: New Smyrna Beach leaders to consider youth curfew in effort to combat juvenile crime

Police said they found meth, heroin, ecstacy, xanax and multiple syringes.

Stigler is facing multiple charges for the drugs, as well as child neglect.

Click here to download the free WFTV news and weather apps, click here to download the WFTV Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
Memphis Fire Department EMTs Robert Long and JaMicheal Sandridge, and fire engine driver Lt. Michelle Whitaker, were fired Monday, Jan. 30, 2023, for failing to provide Tyre Nichols an "adequate patient assessment" to Tyre Nichols, the Memphis Fire Department said.

At least one of the three former Memphis Fire Department employees fired for not treating 29-year-old Tyre Nichols in January could retain their full pension benefits even though they were dismissed.

The city's chief communications officer, Allison Fouche, told The Commercial Appeal that the former fire department employees would not lose their pensions unless convicted of a felony that constitutes "a malfeasance in office."

The confirmation comes three days after Thomas Malone, the president of the Memphis Fire Fighters Association, sent a letter to the Memphis City Council rebuking the criticisms levied against the department by councilmembers in the Feb. 7 public safety committee meeting.

"There was also discussion about employees' due process and the fact that some employees have appealed certain discipline issued to them," Malone wrote in the letter. "...An employee should continue to have due process, to have a neutral party review said discipline to ensure the discipline is fair and with just cause...We take member representation very seriously and only avail ourselves to the appeal process if we have a determination that the fairness and/or just cause provision was not met."

Two emergency medical technicians, Robert Long and JaMichael Sandridge, and Lt. Michelle Whitaker were fired Jan. 30 after an internal investigation found that they did not give Nichols a proper assessment when they arrived to provide medical aid after he was beaten by Memphis police officers on Jan. 7.

Long and Sandridge had their licenses suspended by the board that oversees Tennessee's emergency medical services on Feb. 3. Two of the 13 members on the board were absent, but the 11 present voted in favor of the suspensions.

The trio were initially called to provide medical aid for Nichols being pepper sprayed. In a statement released by MFD, the department said they did not follow up after receiving information from the officers that were on scene.

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"Our investigation has concluded that the two EMT's responded based on the initial nature of the call (person pepper sprayed) and information they were told on the scene and failed to conduct an adequate patient assessment of Mr. Nichols," a statement from MFD read. "After their initial interaction with Mr. Nichols, they requested an ambulance to respond."

Malone, however, contends that the MFD employees were not at fault because they were not given enough information.

"Quite frankly, there was information withheld by those already on the scene which caused our members to handle things differently than they should have," Malone said

The Memphis Fire Fighters Association did not respond to a request for comment.

Felony convictions strip pension benefits

Though the three fire department employees were fired but not been criminally charged, Fouche said, Whitaker is "still entitled to receive her vested pension even though she was terminated from her employment with the City of Memphis."

The city did not respond to whether this also applied to Long and Sandridge, but Fouche said pension benefits are managed by the City of Memphis Pension Board and the city only has the power to end someone's employment.

According to Tennessee's state law, any employee or elected and appointed officials of the state will lose their retirement or pension benefits if they are convicted of a crime.

A conviction will revoke a pension, but it can be returned if that person is later acquitted or granted a full pardon.

Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy listens to a question during a press conference regarding the five officers charged with murder over the death of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tenn., on Thursday, January 26, 2023.

Employees, under this law, can also choose to have the pension paid to a spouse or child in the form of a monthly allowance as long as the person was listed as the beneficiary of those benefits prior to the conviction.

Five former Memphis police officers are charged with second-degree murder and other felonies after prosecutors accused them of beating, kicking, pepper spraying and abusing Nichols after a traffic stop the Memphis Police Department said later there was no justification for. A sixth former officer was also fired but has not been charged.

Lucas Finton is a news reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com and followed on Twitter @LucasFinton.

Katherine Burgess covers county government and religion. She can be reached at katherine.burgess@commercialappeal.com or followed on Twitter @kathsburgess.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Ex-MFD employees appeal firing, may retain full pension benefits
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP)  The New Mexico Senate on Monday approved a proposed ban on the local disposal of spent nuclear fuel, unless the state provides its consent first.

The bill from Democratic state Sen. Jeff Steinborn, of Las Cruces, could impact a proposed multibillion-dollar facility in southeastern New Mexico that is expected to temporarily store spent nuclear fuel from commercial power plants across the nation. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission may announce a decision as soon as March on whether to grant a license to that project from Holtec International.

The Senate endorsed the bill on a 21-13 vote with Republicans and two Albuquerque-based Democrats in opposition to the proposed ban. The bill moves next to the state House for consideration, amid backing from Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

Steinborn said New Mexico residents should be wary of becoming guinea pigs for temporary storage projects before the federal government decides on a permanent storage site.

His proposal found support among Democratic legislators, including Sen. Brenda McKenna, of Corrales, who noted New Mexico already grapples with the impacts of Uranium mining.

What I'm really tired of is hearing over the decades of how our resources have been excavated and then things get dumped here," she said. I'm tired of New Mexico being exploited this way."

Several legislators expressed concern that the bill from Steinborn would challenge longstanding federal authority over nuclear safety matters and lead to new court challenges.

We'll find out where the state's authority ends, said Democratic state Sen. Joseph Cervantes, of Las Cruces, an attorney who voted in support.

New Mexico and neighboring Texas already have sued in federal court over two proposed multibillion-dollar interim storage facilities for spent fuel the one in southeastern New Mexico and another in Andrews County, Texas.

New Mexico Republican Sen. Craig Brandt, of Rio Rancho, voted against the bill and expressed confidence in the safety vetting of proposed transportation and storage containers that would be used to bring spent nuclear fuel to New Mexico by rail.

Democratic state Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino, of Albuquerque, also voted no, saying it was wrong to overrule significant local community support at close range to a proposed storage site.

Nuclear reactors across the country produce more than 2,000 metric tons of radioactive waste a year, with most of it remaining on-site because theres nowhere else to put it, according to the Department of Energy. The federal government pays to house the fuel, and the cost is expected to stretch into the tens of billions over the next decade, according to a review by independent government auditors.
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Tuesday he met with senior executives from electric automaker Tesla, teasing that "good news" is on the way, as speculation runs high over expected high-stakes investment decisions.

Ebrard met with Rohan Patel, Tesla's senior global director of public policy and business development, and Eugenio Grandio, director of business development and policy for Latin America, Mexico's senior diplomat wrote in a post on Twitter.

He did not go into further detail over what Tesla announcements are imminent.

Two local locations are primed for a potential Tesla plant, the country's president said last week, which would mark a major advance for Mexico's well-established auto sector.

The Mexican government has recently been pushing international automakers to expand electric vehicle production. Ebrard told Reuters earlier this month that Mexico was gearing up to build several manufacturing hubs for electric vehicles across the country.

(Reporting by Kylie Madry; Editing by David Alire Garcia)
[Source]

After smashing glass ceilings with 40 years of exemplary talent, Michelle Yeoh has shared the confusion she felt when she came to Hollywood for the very first time.

In a recent interview with The Rake, Yeoh, now 60, revealed that she did not understand how she became a minority upon landing in Los Angeles in the latter part of the '90s. At the time, the Malaysian Chinese star had already established herself as a martial arts figure in Hong Kong cinema.

We have Chinese, Malays, Indians, English, expats, which is great, Yeoh, who was born in the picturesque city of Ipoh, Malaysia, told the magazine for Issue 86. So we grew up not really understanding when people ask, What race are you?

It turns out the question was thrown frequently in Yeohs direction  and she had no immediate answer.

More from NextShark: Indian Bride Shuts Down Wedding After Groom Fails Her Math Test

How on Earth did I become a minority, what does that mean?" she asked. "How many billions of Chinese people are there in the world? How can we be a minority?

Over time, Yeoh learned the American cultural landscape better. She would go on to champion not only Chinese, but Asian representation, in a more racially homogenous Hollywood.

More from NextShark: Filipina Mother Suffers From Mysterious Swelling During Pregnancy

Fast forward to 2022, Yeoh starred as Evelyn Wang in co-directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Schienerts Everything Everywhere All at Once, a role that would land her her first Golden Globe and the first Best Actress nomination for an Asian-presenting woman at the Oscars.

Still, she stressed that true representation goes beyond just ticking the box.

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Over the last few years you see true representation  but what is true representation? You have to talk about inclusivity in the proper way, you cant just tick the box. Yes, you may have the Asian who does Asian things but that isnt right. More from NextShark: Song Joong-ki announces marriage to British girlfriend, says she is pregnant I think because I was in the martial arts genre, where people wanted to see that, they werent afraid to write me in those roles, but I would like to be able to see a woman in that role, no matter what race she is, and having to explain that she learns martial arts. White people learn martial arts too, you know.

On Sunday, around 100 guests  including Everything Everywhere co-director Kwan and co-star Stephanie Hsu, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings director Destin Daniel Cretton, Crazy Rich Asians co-stars Henry Golding and Ken Jeong, Sandra Oh and Lisa Ling  arrived at the new Mandarin Oriental Residences in Beverly Hills for a dinner honoring Yeoh. The event was hosted by Mandarin Oriental, project developer Michael Shvo and chef Daniel Boulud.

Yeoh, who has been staying at the property for the awards season, spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about being surrounded by familiar faces:
Michigan Democrats are considering speeding up the passage of new gun legislation in the state following a shooting at Michigan State University on Monday evening that left three people dead.

The drive for new legislation will be one of the first significant tests of Democratic Party governance in the state since the midterm elections. Last year, Democrats unexpectedly captured trifecta control of Michigan, with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer cruising to reelection and her party narrowly flipping both state legislative chambers, too.

It is the first time in decades that the party had complete control in Michigan. Republicans have in the past been resistant to gun control measures, and Democrats in the state said there will be new urgency behind their drive, after the latest mass shooting in the country. Michigan Democrats are focusing on three gun policy proposals: universal background checks, safe storage laws and extreme risk protection orders, sometimes known as red flag laws.

Were going to try to move faster, Democratic state Sen. Rosemary Bayer said in an interview Tuesday morning. After years of not getting an inch, now were making real plans.

Some of the legislation we have goes back 10 years, added Bayer, who represented the town of Oxford in 2021, when four students died in a mass shooting at a high school there. We just havent been able to get any traction to do anything.

Bayer said that lawmakers updated legislative proposals following the 2022 midterms, knowing they might be able to move forward on it. Even before this weeks tragedy, state Democrats had said gun laws would be among their legislative priorities now that they have complete control of the government. In a roundtable with reporters in December, Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks identified gun violence legislation as a priority for the chambers new majorities.

But this weeks shooting has increased the urgency.

One of the models weve seen in these horrible tragedies is that we need to act quickly. Even in Florida, they were able to get it done in a red legislature, said state Sen. Darrin Camilleri, who represents the area south of Detroit. I think we can do that with a Democratic trifecta. There are conversations were having as soon as today to figure out timelines to expedite this process.

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Whitmer specifically called out all three of Democrats gun control priorities in her State of the State speech last month.

Despite pleas from Oxford families, these issues never even got a hearing in the legislature, Whitmer said at the time. This year, lets change that and work together to stop the violence and save lives.

The MSU shooting occurred on campus in East Lansing on Monday evening, which killed three students and injured five more. The suspected gunman died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound off campus. The Detroit News reported that he pled guilty to a gun charge in 2019.



It is the 67th mass shooting in America this year alone, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a D.C.-based nonprofit.

Bayer, who Whitmer called out as a leader on gun control legislation in her address, said that there is a plan to introduce legislation soon.

We had a schedule that were trying to move up even more, she said. We were targeting right after the first week of April, thats what we were planning for, but we want to respond quicker.

But Democrats in the state are also cognizant that they have very slim majorities to manage in both the state House and the state Senate. Even a single no vote from a Democratic lawmaker could sink a bill in the state House if no Republican joins.

All you need is one Joe Manchin, said Bayer, referencing the West Virginia senators role bedeviling Democrats on Capitol Hill on a myriad of issues. (Manchin has worked with senators from both parties on gun legislation in the past, and he supported the bipartisan law that passed last year following the mass shootings at a school in Uvalde, Texas, and a grocery store in Buffalo, N.Y.)

With these current events, how could anyone stop it? Bayer continued. But Ive thought that for years.

Spokespeople for Whitmer and Brinks did not immediately respond to requests for comment on new legislation. But statements in the immediate aftermath of the shooting expressed despair and outrage and signaled that Democratic leadership planned to push for gun control legislation.

Brinks tweeted that her daughter, a MSU student, was answering my texts and calls early Tuesday morning. Tates spokesperson pointed to a statement he issued saying we can continue to debate the reasons for gun violence in America, or we can act, adding that he had no understanding left for those in a position to effect change who are unwilling to act.

This is a uniquely American problem, Whitmer, who ordered that flags around the state be lowered to half-staff on Tuesday morning, said in her own statement. We should not, we cannot, accept living like this.

Camilleri and Bayer expressed confidence that the party would be able to get all Democrats on board for legislation focused on red flag laws, safe storage and universal background checks. And Bayer said she thought some Republicans could join on some pieces of legislation as well. Weve had a couple of Republicans join our caucus on the topic, she said. I hope this will help more of them to come over.

But beyond that, broader legislation may be much more difficult, the lawmakers admitted.

When it comes to some other issues that Im sure well be discussing, those might be tougher, but the urgency to act is now, Camilleri said.
How do we stop this? And where do we go from here? Those are the questions we asked our local politicians in the wake of the latest mass shooting, this time right here at home in mid-Michigan. In the past, we've had bills and policies and budget items that have been discussed to help address and decrease the impact of gun violence in our state. And those things have gone unheard in the halls of the legislature, and we intend to change that," Michigan Senate Majority Leader Winne Brinks said.
MOSAIC: The Multicultural Unity Center will relocate from the second floor of the MSU Union to the new building, expected to be largely completed next year.

Nearly a year after Michigan State University committed to building a standalone multicultural center, the institution is fulfilling students and facultys long-standing demand for one.

The MSU board of trustees last week unanimously approved the construction of a $38 million center housed in what the university refers to as the central academic zone on the East Lansing campus. Its a project the Associated Students of MSU, among other groups and individuals, have been advocating for since at least 2017, according to the Lansing State Journal.

Today marks a history of MSU standing with students from marginalized communities and providing them a space on campus that is solely theirs, ASMSU president Jo Kovach said, according to the State Journal. ASMSU is extremely excited for this project to break ground.

MOSAIC: The Multicultural Unity Center, which is currently housed on the second floor of the MSU Union, will soon have a new home, thanks to the construction of a standalone center on campus. (Photo Credit: Screenshot/YouTube.com/WXYZ-TV Detroit)

MOSAIC: The Multicultural Unity Center, as the center is named, will relocate from the second floor of the MSU Union to the new building. Construction is expected to begin in April and be substantially completed in October 2024.

MSU issued a 50-point plan to combat racism in 1989 in response to protests and demands by Black students, which included constructing a multicultural center. The university established the center on campus 10 years later, but several students contended it wasnt a prominent element of campus because of its location in the MSU Union basement.

Fast forward to the early 2010s. Mario Lemons, president of the Black Students Alliance, and Council of Racial and Ethnic Students members organized rallies and marches across campus to raise awareness of the basement space, the State Journal reported. Students claimed it did not adequately serve the needs of underrepresented communities.

Multicultural center director Chen Hernandez and Denise Maybank, vice president for student affairs and services, collaborated with students to design a new space, resulting in the multicultural centers move to the MSU Union in 2003 with permission from former president Lou Anna Simon.

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Students such as Sharron Reed-Davis, the former leader of the MSU Black Students Alliance, and Miracle Chatman, an MSU alumnus and former student representative on the planning committee, were instrumental in bringing the latest multicultural center project to campus, according to Vennie Gore, MSUs senior vice president for student life and engagement, and other presenters.

As depicted in the projects renderings, the future center will include multipurpose rooms, a living room, offices, an amphitheater, a porch and a backyard. Construction will occur in an area designated as protected green space, so trustees had to approve a deviation from the University Zoning Ordinance.

This project is a culmination of our community coming together, said Gore, the State Journal reported. This truly is a university building.

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The post Michigan State approves standalone multicultural center appeared first on TheGrio.
MIchigan State Shooting

Flowers are displayed at The Rock at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich. on Feb. 14, 2023, Credit - Carlos OsorioAP

Three students were killed and five others were critically injured by a gunman at Michigan State University late Monday, prompting even more demands to solve the U.S. gun violence crisis.

The Rocka 149-year-old landmark at the MSU campuswas painted black after the shooting, with How many more? scrawled in dripping red paint. Stay Safe MSU, it said below.

The shooting set off an hours-long police manhunt for the 43-year-old gunman who was not affiliated with the university. He later died by suicide.

In the meantime, students and faculty sheltered in place throughout classrooms and dorms, and across East Lansing, Mich., during a fearful lockdown. An email from the university directed members of the MSU community to, Run, Hide, Fight.

Michigan State University students embrace at The Rock on campus, in East Lansing, Mich. on Feb. 14, 2023. Carlos OsorioAP

Some survivors from the 2021 mass shooting that killed four students at Oxford High School in Oxford, Mich.roughly an hour away from MSUs campusre-lived the terror of an active shooter less than two years later. Tonight, I am sitting under my desk at Michigan State University, once again texting everyone I love you Emma Riddle, a former student at Oxford High, now enrolled at MSU, tweeted during the shooting. When will this end?

There have already been 67 mass shootings across the U.S. in 2023 so far, according to Gun Violence Archive, a gun violence analysis group. Feb. 14 also marks the five-year anniversary of the Parkland, Fla. mass shooting where 17 people were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School..

Our children are scared to go to school. People feel unsafe in their houses of worship or local stores. Too many of us scan rooms for exits, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said Tuesday at a press conference. We know this is a uniquely American problem.
Ayalla Ruvio wears two hats at Michigan State University: She is an associate professor of marketing and she is a parent to kids enrolled there.

Ruvio is also a survivor, born and raised in Israel where she lived for 36 years among wars and conflict before leaving in 2008. So Monday night's mass shooting at MSU, which left three people dead and five seriously injured, was palpable for her, other faculty and staff that she kept in contact with all night into the early morning hours.

"I was up all night, we all were," Ruvio said, her voice cracking. She said the overall feeling is disbelief and empathy for the families of the victims. "This is very traumatic to everyone. You think about the amount of people in hiding for four hours and not knowing what would happen, hearing gunshots, not knowing if their friends are getting hurt. This is a mass trauma.

Ayalla Ruvio, Michigan State University associate professor of marketing.

Ruvio and other faculty Tuesday were processing the aftermath of the shooting, that not only took lives, but has upended a community and the education process. The university is shut down until Thursday. Then, normal operations will resume with classes expected to restart Monday. It is now a time for faculty to work out how they will address the trauma of the shooting to help each other and their students heal.

More:Suspect identified in Michigan State University shooting: 3 dead, 5 in critical condition

"Whats happened has not only taken lives, its disrupted a process of education and our students are paying a lot of money for this education," said Steve Melnyk, professor of supply chain and operations at MSU. "We want to create a safe environment where students are free to learn, to make mistakes and are free to grow. These kids are going to get reality soon enough, its a shame that they have to have it thrust in their faces like this.

'Never thought it would come to State'

Michigan education associations published condolence statements Tuesday to the victims loved ones, as well as to the students, faculty and staff at MSU.

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Police enter the MSU Union on Monday, Feb. 13, 2023, on the Michigan State University campus in East Lansing.

When MSU students are with us, they are our family, MSU Administrative Professional Association President Martin McDonough said in a statement. This campus is their home away from home and that has been violated. We need to support our students and the rest of our Spartan community now more than ever, including ensuring that everyone gets the help they need to process their shock, grief and anger.

The Michigan Education Association and MSU APA will help the university and community, saying drop-in counseling services are available at East Lansings Hannah Community Center for MSU students, faculty, staff and their families.

Melnyk and other faculty, staff and students have had training for what to do in the event of an active shooter, he said. Now he wonders whether faculty will next be trained to provide first aid.

Either way, he said, none of it prepares you for the shock felt when it actually happens. He was at home in Haslett, just northeast of East Lansing, Monday evening when he was notified at about 8:20 by the university of an active shooter on campus.

"Essentially, you were in a combat zone," Melnyk told the Free Press. "I had calls coming to me on about an hourly basis and at about 1:30 in the morning, I got a call from the university that the stay-in-place order has been lifted and the shooter has been disabled."

Steve Melnyk, Michigan State University professor of supply chain and operations.

The university did a good job keeping the faculty and students informed, he said. Ruvio commended the university and all the law enforcement agencies that showed up to help. Still, the disbelief lingers.

"I feel unreal about the whole affair," Melnyk said. "You never thought it would come to State. As a faculty, you feel protective, but you want this to be a place where the world around you is violent, but the university is a place of safety. Its a place where people come to learn and come to grow. Not a place where you come to choose which bulletproof vest you want to wear.

"At what point are people going to say enough is enough?"

Professors will lead the healing

Ruvio was at her home in Williamston when she got text messages from the university informing her of an active shooter and to take shelter.

Ruvio said many of the faculty and staff have kids enrolled at MSU too, so it was especially surreal and frightening for them. For her, it triggered painful memories of her earlier life in Israel. The summer before Ruvio left her homeland, she lived in an area where there was heavy war, she said. She spent the entire summer in shelter with her three young children. She recalls a bombing once when they were told to evacuate the area and all she thought of was, I have to get to my kids. I have to get to my kids."

Monday night, the same thought ran through her head and she said she knows exactly how the parents of MSU students felt.

This does bring a lot of traumatic memories back, unfortunately," she said. The strongest feeling it brings back is my maternal instinct to protect the students and protect the people you love."

More:Brother of Michigan State University shooting suspect Anthony McRae: He 'secluded himself'

Ruvio was sure about one thing Tuesday morning, that is what she and other professors will do when they return to the classroom.

Police tape surrounds the Michigan State University Union on East Grand River Avenue following an active shooting incident on the school's campus in East Lansing on Tuesday, Feb.14, 2023, that left three dead and multiple injured.

"Were going to be there for the students, for the school, for each other," Ruvio said. "Were going to build on the strength of the community and well start the healing process. Its a long road. But together we can come out stronger.

Contact Jamie L. LaReau: jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. Read more on General Motors and sign up for our autos newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State University faculty in disbelief after shooting
LANSING, Mich.  The gunman who police said killed three students and injured five others on Michigan State Universitys campus Monday night turned evil and mean and became a recluse after his mother's death two years ago, his father said Tuesday in an interview.

Anthony McRae, 43, had a difficult time handling the loss of his mother, Linda McRae, and his demeanor and outlook on life changed after she died of a stroke on Sept. 13, 2020, said his father, Michael McRae.

He was a mamas boy. He loved his mom. They were tight. His mom was like his sister," Michael McRae said. Everything happened so fast."

After her sudden passing, the younger McRae quit his job at a warehouse, where he loaded refrigerators into delivery trucks, and stayed in his room all day playing video games, his father said.

Anthony McRae's residence in Lansing, Mich. (Carlos Osorio / AP)

He was grieving his mom. He wouldnt let it go. He got bitter, bitter and bitter, Michael McRae said. His mom died, and he just started getting evil and mean. He didnt care about anything anymore."

Michael McRae, who was married to Linda for 45 years, said he tried to encourage his son to apply for jobs, seek counseling and attend church with him.

"I said, 'Talk to Daddy. Let me know if something is on your mind. If you need help, I'll get you help,'" the father said. "He said, 'I'm OK, Dad, I don't need help."

Michael McRae said he is a "man of God," reads from the Bible every day and tried his best to be a good father to Anthony McRae and his two other children.

"He was a good kid, don't get me wrong," he said. "But you never know what your kid will do when they walk out the door."

Police identified Anthony McRae as the suspected shooter in a news conference Tuesday morning.

He opened fire at MSU before leading authorities on a manhunt that ended when he fatally shot himself after a confrontation with law enforcement officials in the adjacent city of Lansing, police said.

Authorities said the shooter's motive is unknown. He had no affiliation to the university and was not a student or a staff member, said Chris Rozman, interim deputy chief of the Michigan State University Police.

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We have no idea why he came to campus to do this tonight, Rozman said.

Michael McRae said he did not know why his son targeted the school but believed he may have been trying to apply for a job there.

Before Monday nights mass shooting, Anthony McRaes most serious brush had been early June 17, 2019, when Lansing police officers found him sitting on the back steps of a building smoking a cigarette, court records show.

Police were patrolling the neighborhood, which had experienced a rash of burglaries. An officer approached Anthony McRae, who had his bicycle nearby, and asked: You got any weapons on you, or anything like that?

He admitted to being armed, and officers found a Ruger LCP .380 semi-automatic pistol in his pants pocket, according to the court records.

He was originally charged with a felony, carrying a concealed weapon, which has a maximum penalty of five years behind bars. He was also charged with a misdemeanor, possession of a loaded firearm in or upon a vehicle, which could have been punishable by up to two years in jail.

Anthony McRae pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor and was sentenced to probation. He was discharged in May 2021.

His father said he does not know how his son obtained the firearm or why he felt his son wanted to have one.

Michael McRae said he told his son, "We dont need no guns in this house." His son promised to get rid of it but never let his father into his room in the home they shared in Lansing, Michigan.

"I said, 'I hope you got rid of that gun, man.' And he said: 'Yeah, I got rid of it. I got rid it,'" Michael McRae said. "He didnt."

Multiple times over the summer, neighbors complained that the younger McRae had apparently fired shots outside of his home, said Megan Bender, 34, who lives nearby.

He was firing a firearm out of the back door of the house into the yard, Bender said from her home. Were right in the city. You shouldn't be firing a firearm in the middle of the city.

Bender said Anthony McRae was always on foot or on a bicycle and that he used his bicycle to get to his job when he was employed.

The only time the father spoke about his son, Bender said, was when he asked whether she had any bicycles because his son's bicycle had been stolen.

Michael McRae said that he did not think his son was a danger to himself or others and that he never felt he needed to alert authorities about his son.

He said he learned his son was behind the massacre only after the FBI and a swarm of local police officers arrived at his house Monday night.

Authorities on Tuesday identified two of the people slain as Brian Fraser, a sophomore, and Alexandria Verner, a junior.

The elder McRae did not know how many people his son had killed and injured until Tuesday morning during an interview with NBC News.

"Wow, oh my God," he said. "I really dont believe it, but I know its true."

He said his son had no history of violence.

"He wasn't like that," he said. "He was no danger to nobody like that. He never did anything crazy like this."

Antonio Planas reported from Lansing, Mich. Melissa Chan and David K. Li reported from New York City.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Former Vice President Mike Pence is reportedly planning to fight a grand jury subpoena from the Justice Department that would require him to testify about former President Donald Trumps role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Sources familiar with Pences plans offered details Tuesday to Politico, NBC News and The New York Times, saying Pence plans to argue that the vice presidents duties as president of the Senate protect him from such legal scrutiny, and that he intends to cite the U.S. Constitutions speech or debate clause.

That provision is intended to safeguard congressional officials from legal proceedings associated with their work, but legal scholars say its unclear whether those protections extend to the vice president, whos tasked with breaking ties in the chamber but is not considered a senator.

It is admittedly a constitutionally murky area with no clear outcome, Mark Rozell, a George Mason University political scientist who specializes in executive privilege, told Politico on Tuesday.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) similarly tried to invoke the constitutional provision to avoid testifying before a Georgia grand jury investigating Trumps alleged attempts to subvert the election results there. But a federal appeals court ruled last fall that the argument was not applicable, concluding that Graham was not conducting legislative activity when he allegedly asked Georgia election officials if they could disqualify mail-in ballots in counties with signature errors.

A courts decision on Pences argument may also hinge on whether his presiding over the counting of Electoral College votes on Jan. 6, 2021, constituted legislative business.

News first broke last week that Special Counsel Jack Smith, who the Justice Department appointed to oversee its investigations into Trump, had subpoenaed Pence. In addition to leading the probe into Trumps actions around the Jan. 6 riot, Smith is supervising a probe exploring the alleged mishandling of classified government records found at Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida last year.

Related...
A large field of presidential contenders in 2024 could lead to a redo of the 2016 presidential race and help make Donald Trump the Republican presidential nominee once again, according to Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah).

The only way that [scenario] could be prevented is if it narrowed down to a two-person race eventually. That means donors and influencers say to their candidate  if theyre weakening: Hey, time to get out, Romney told HuffPost in an interview on Tuesday.

Last time that was done was in 1968, so its been a while, Romney added, referring to the 1968 presidential election in which his father George Romney took part.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley on Tuesday became the first Republican to declare a candidacy for the White House after Trump, who launched his 2024 campaign in November. Haley, who also served as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. during Trumps administration, called for a new generation of leadership in a video announcing her candidacy.

Romney said he viewed Haley as an underdog in the race. Trump, the senator added, is by far the most likely to become the GOP presidential nominee given his popularity and name recognition with a devoted slice of the GOP electorate. (Romney is decidedly not a fan: He voted to convict Trump in two successive Senate impeachment trials).

Trump is expected to face a crowded field of contenders for the GOP presidential nomination as he did during the 2016 election. In that race, a large roster of candidates split support among GOP voters and donors alike, leading to Trump clinching the nomination.

Much has been written about Trumps diminished influence within the GOP, especially after his partys weak performance in the 2022 midterm election. Polls show hes still way on top when it comes to the race for the 2024 presidential nomination, but potential candidates like Florida GOP Gov. Ron Desantis are nipping at his heels.

Although GOP leaders arent in a hurry to embrace a Trump 2024 run, he still has plenty of support on Capitol Hill, including from several newly-elected lawmakers. Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) last week became the fifth GOP senator to back Trumps campaign, calling the man who sought to overturn democracy in the days leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol exactly the president we need to lead this country through the tough road ahead.

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Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) said he believed the 2024 race will be wide open despite the fact that hes backing Trumps campaign.

President Trump is going to have a base of 25-30%. Hes got a lot of work to grow on that. DeSantis has built a name on conservative menus, he said, adding that its good for our party if many candidates jump run and there is healthy competition for the presidential nomination.

Trump has ramped up attacks against DeSantis, sharing wild accusations about the conservative heartthrob on his social media platform TruthSocial that suggested DeSantis was grooming high school girls with alcohol when he was a teacher. The former president has also been testing nicknames for DeSantis, including Ron DeSantimonious and Ron Meatball. DeSantis has chosen to ignore the attacks, saying he isnt focused on smearing fellow Republicans.

Thats how he does things, Tuberville told HuffPost when asked about Trumps TruthSocial posts. He tries to get a doll out of people. Thats probably what he did as a contractor in New York. You get into arguments, you complain, you fight with each other, and then you go to dinner at night. Were all on the same team.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who voted to convict Trump over the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, suggested that a large field of presidential candidates would narrow relatively quickly due to a lack of resources.

Although there might be a number of people who announce, how many people will have money? If you dont have money, you cant buy name recognition. If you cant buy the name recognition, you falter early, Cassidy said.

Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.), who supported Trump in the past but who has held off on making another endorsement as he runs for governor in Indiana, predicted an eventual showdown between Trump and DeSantis. The Florida governor hasnt yet announced whether he will launch a bid for the White House.

No one else is registering above one [percent] in early polls of the race, Braun said.

Democrats, meanwhile, are treating the odds of another showdown between Trump and President Joe Biden in the 2024 general election as quite serious, even though they believe it would ultimately benefit their party if last years midterm election results are any sign of Trumps unpopularity with swing voters.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), the 2016 Democratic vice presidential nominee, said all signs were pointing again to the same dynamics that initially propelled Trump to the GOP presidential nomination.

A name ID edge in a multi-candidate field is even more powerful than a name ID edge in a two-candidate field, Kaine said. [Trump] was able to be in a lane of his own and then everybody else was competing in a non-Trump lane. I think that same dynamic could well hold in 2024.

Each new entrant is going to make him happier and happier, Kaine added of Trump and the 2024 GOP race.

Related...
General view of Broadcasting House, the BBC headquarters in

General view of Broadcasting House, the BBC headquarters in Central London, as the iconic broadcaster celebrates the 100th anniversary since its foundation on 18th October 1922. Credit - Vuk Valcic/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

On Tuesday, income tax authorities in India raided the British Broadcasting Corporations offices in New Delhi and Mumbai, saying they were conducting a survey as part of a broader investigation into tax evasion. The raid continued for a second day Wednesday, with the BBC advising most of its staff to work from home. It told employees to answer questions comprehensively from any officials, adding that they could refrain from answering questions on personal income if asked so but that they should answer other salary-related queries, according to a report by NDTV.

The raids take place weeks after the British broadcaster released a documentary that critically examined Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modis leadership during the 2002 religious riots in Gujarat, where he was Chief Minister at the time, which left over 1,000 people dead, most of them Muslim.

The Indian government has called the documentary hostile propaganda and anti-India garbage and blocked Indians from sharing it on any social media platforms.

In a short statement, the BBC said it was fully cooperating with authorities during the raid, adding that it hoped to have the situation resolved as soon as possible.

Although few details of the tax investigation have been made public, media watchdogs and rights groups have expressed fear that the raids are politically motivated. Indian authorities have used tax investigations as a pretext to target critical news outlets before and must cease harassing BBC employees immediately, in line with the values of freedom that should be espoused in the worlds largest democracy, Beh Lih Yi, from the Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a statement.

In recent years, similar raids have targeted journalists, think tanks, and civil society organizations critical of the Indian government, in what rights groups say is part of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Partys growing crackdown on dissent. It includes critics being charged with criminal cases under Indias opaque terrorism and sedition laws, and allegations of financial misconduct and improper foreign funding that have been used to freeze bank accounts.

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Who else has been subject to tax raids?

Last year, the Income Tax Department alleged that three different organizations contravened the laws around foreign funding contributions. Tax officials raided the offices of Oxfam India, the Independent and Public-Spirited Media Foundation, and the Center for Policy Research. The coordinated raids, which are being presented as surveys  are yet another blatant example of how financial and investigative agencies of the government have been weaponized to harass, intimidate, silence, and criminalize independent critical voices in the country, Yamini Mishra, the South Asia Regional Director at Amnesty International, said in a statement. It is alarming how the attack on the rights to freedom of expression and association by the authorities keeps growing unabated every day in India.

Raids were also carried out in September 2021 against the Delhi offices of Newslaundry and Newsclick, popular Indian media outlets that often publish journalism that is critical of the government. In July, tax officials also searched 32 office and residential locations affiliated with the Dainik Bhaskar Group, which publishes the countrys second-most-read Hindi-language newspaper, and Bharat Samachar, a Hindi-language television station. The Hindi outlets allege the raids were retaliation for the investigative reporting they did during the COVID-19 pandemic.

What are the consequences of such raids?

During a raid, authorities can download all data from office computers, personal cell phones, and laptops, as well as take hold of various financial documents and emails. According to The Wire, employees who were present at the office during the raid were not allowed to speak to anyone outside and the offices remained sealed during the official visit.

Following a raid against Amnesty International in September 2020, the organizations bank accounts were frozen. As a result, it was forced to cease operations in India, suspend all its campaign and research work, and lay off its entire staff.

Amnesty has said the move was in retaliation to a report it had released in August 2020 on human rights violations committed by the Delhi police during religious riots in February of that year. Rajat Khosla, Amnestys then-senior director of research, advocacy, and policy, told the BBC: We are facing a rather unprecedented situation in India. Amnesty International India has been facing an onslaught of attacks, bullying, and harassment by the government in a very systematic manner.

In 2021, more than 500 activists, lawyers, and public intellectuals released a statement in response to the arrest of Harsh Mander, a prominent Indian human rights activist, where they condemned raids as an intimidation tactic. Human rights groups also say the raids have shrunk the space for civil society organizations.

In a news conference Tuesday, a BJP spokesperson said that every organization was required to respect Indian law. If they follow the law, then why should they be scared or worried? Let the Income Department do its job, he added.

What is Indias track record on free speech?

The Indian Constitution affords all citizens free speech. However, the annual Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders, a nonprofit, ranked India 150th out of 180 nations in 2022.

One former journalist, Sharif Rangnekar, has attributed Indias poor record on press freedom to laws that encourage self-censorship, particularly in a period of heightened nationalism. In the region of Jammu and Kashmir, for example, one government policy allowed authorities to decide what constituted fake or anti-national news, along with the power to take legal action against any publications or journalists it suspected of such actions.

The Editors Guild of India, a non-profit group that promotes press freedom, has said it was deeply concerned about Tuesdays BBC raid. The Press Club of India and the Committee to Protect Journalists have also raised concerns.

Over the weekend, the New York Times issued an editorial addressing how Indias free press is increasingly at risk. Since Mr. Modi took office in 2014, journalists have increasingly risked their careers, and their lives, to report what the government doesnt want them to, it noted.
Letters written by more than a dozen friends and colleagues of Lindsay Clancy portray the Massachusetts mother accused of strangling her three young kids as someone who lived and breathed for her children and always wanted the best for them.

The letters, which were submitted to Plymouth District Court and obtained by NBC News, also describe Clancy, a labor and delivery nurse, as a serene presence at the hospital; a colleague referred to her as the nurse you would want caring for your wife, sister, or daughter as they welcome their child into the world.

Clancy, 32, is charged with multiple counts in the deaths of her 5-year-old daughter, Cora; her 3-year-old son, Dawson; and her 8-month-old son, Callan. Prosecutors said she strangled the children Jan. 24 at the familys Duxbury, Massachusetts, home and then tried to kill herself. She was arraigned last week from a hospital bed.

Clancys attorney, Kevin Reddington, said she is paralyzed from the waist down as a result of her suicide attempt.

The letters sent to Reddington, which were written before Clancy was arraigned, contrast sharply with the portrait prosecutors painted of her.

I can attest to Lindsays true character and know that whatever happened that day was not the real Lindsay whom we all love and cherish, wrote Juliet Pollander, a nurse who worked with Clancy for eight years. What she is accused of, Pollander wrote, were unthinkable acts, so far out of touch to what the truly loving mother I knew would have committed.

The Clancy family home. (Google Maps)

Prosecutors allege Clancy meticulously planned her kids deaths and sent her husband, Patrick, on errands she knew would give her enough time to strangle them. They said she used the Apple Maps app to time a trip to a restaurant in a neighboring town where he picked up takeout.

Yet the letters about her laud her parenting skills.

I do not know a better mother than Lindsay Clancy. She lived and breathed for her children, wrote Erika Sevieri, a fellow nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, where Clancy worked. I rarely heard her talk about anything else but them.

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It was not clear whether the 20 or so letters were submitted at the request of the defense or whether friends and colleagues volunteered them, although one letter was described as a character reference requested by Patrick Clancy.

NBC News approached the authors of the letters cited in this article, who declined further comment or did not immediately respond.

Their letters describe Clancy as so laser-focused on her childrens well-being that she was almost obsessive. One said she would sometimes check her kids with a stethoscope.

In another, a friend since first grade said Clancy would do anything to protect her kids.

When Cora was born her mommy nursing skills took over and she would check Coras vitals at home just to make sure she was okay, Michelle DaConto wrote. She had a special bond with all her children and was so proud to be a mom.

A calming presence for moms-to-be

Clancys colleagues also noted how attentive she was to her kids even while she was at work.

She spied on them in the middle of the night via baby monitors and shared with us, her coworkers, the images of her sleeping children, wrote Margaret Hamp, a nurse at Mass General. She watched them sleep while she took breaks to pump breastmilk in the middle of the night.

Clancy shined as much as a nurse as she did as a mother, other nurses wrote.

Image: Lindsay Clancy, top right, with a surgical mask over her face in a hospital appears during her arraignment on charges regarding her three children's deaths at Plymouth District Court on Feb. 7, 2023, in Plymouth, Mass. (David L. Ryan / The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)

Heather Fraser wrote that Clancy brought a calming presence to any room and never engages in any nonsense or gossip.

Clancy, eager to be a resource for new nurses, was known to mentor them, and patients raved about the loving and compassionate care she gave them, Sevieri wrote.

Patient Shelby Oster described Clancy in a letter as the best nurse Ive ever had and my cheerleader through 2.5 days of labor that ended with an emergency C section.

She always remained balanced and calm, even during the many stressful situations that developed during our labor and delivery experience, Oster wrote.

Clancy is due in court May 2. She was ordered held without bail in the hospital for mental health treatment. The judge said she could be ordered to home confinement, adding that a hearing would be held before that could happen.

A need for help that was not fulfilled

Reddington, her attorney, said Clancy had postpartum depression and possibly postpartum psychosis  a rare condition in which hallucinations alter peoples sense of reality after childbirth, sometimes driving them to harm themselves or their children.

He told the judge that she had been thoroughly destroyed by several medications  including Valium, Prozac, Klonopin and Zoloft  which he said masked her symptoms rather than treated them.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, said Clancy never used the word psychosis to describe her symptoms until after she was arrested while speaking to her husband on a cellphone belonging to a forensic psychologist whom her lawyer arranged to examine her.

A board member for the advocacy group Postpartum Support International, Michele Davidson, a psychiatric perinatal nurse practitioner who is not involved in Clancys case, said those who commit infanticide usually do not think they are doing something evil. Rather, infanticide is typically out of an act of love where people are trying to save their children, she said.

In cases in which mothers intend to kill themselves, they sometimes commit infanticide so as not to abandon the children, she added.

Regardless, those who wrote letters of support said it was clear Clancy did not get the help she needed.

Stacey Kabat, who said Clancy shadowed her when she was a nursing student, wrote that she and her family members were betrayed by an inadequate medical system that has not devoted enough resources nor time learning how to help our new mothers.

Please know that if our Lindsay had proper treatment this family would still be together, Kabat wrote. Please know that she deserves no further punishment.

If you are pregnant or a new mother and you are in crisis, the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline provides free, confidential support 24/7 in English and Spanish. Call or text the hotline at 1-833-9-HELP4MOMS.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Over 100,000 Israelis hit the streets in the nations capital, Jerusalem, on Monday to protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus proposed overhaul of the Supreme Court.

Despite objections from Israeli president Isaac Herzog, who has warned the reform could bring the nation to the brink of constitutional and social collapse, Netanyahus administration introduced the controversial bill before the Knesset on Monday.

The new bill would permit a majority of parliamentarians in Israels Knesset to overturn Supreme Court judgments. Critics believe the revision will undermine the judiciarys independence and upend Israels delicate balance of power shared across the countrys three branches of government.

Netanyahu has condemned opposition leaders, including Herzog, former Prime Minister Yair Lapid, and former Defense Minister Benny Gantz, of dragging the country into anarchy.

I call on the leaders of the opposition: stop it. Stop deliberately leading the country into anarchy. Get ahold of yourselves, show responsibility and leadership, Netanyahu argued in a video statement. Most Israeli citizens do not want anarchy. They want a substantive discussion and in the end they want unity.

In a rare move, President Joe Biden called for caution in a statement provided to Thomas Friedman of the New York Times published on Sunday.

The genius of American democracy and Israeli democracy is that they are both built on strong institutions, on checks and balances, on an independent judiciary. Building consensus for fundamental changes is really important to ensure that the people buy into them so they can be sustained.

Friedman added it was the first time I can recall a U.S. president has ever weighed in on an internal Israeli debate about the very character of the countrys democracy.

The bill passed a vote on the Knessets Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee and is set to face a first reading before a full legislative body on Wednesday. Before it becomes enacted, the bill must pass three readings.

More from National Review
A couple has marked Valentines Day in unforgettable fashion by getting engaged live on This Morning.

The soon-to-be-newlyweds appeared on Tuesdays edition (14 February) of the ITV daytime programme in a special segment, dedicated to romance.

Dan had arranged to publicly ask his partner Ellen to marry him with the This Morning producers ahead of time.

Unbeknownst to Ellen, secret cameras were placed inside a London cafe where they were having breakfast.

Then, at a crucial moment, fellow customers revealed the words will you marry me? under their shirts, as Dan dropped to his knee.

Since the day I met you Ellen, you make me happy, so happy every day, Dan began his speech, before referring to their child.

Youre the perfect mum to Arthur, and I just want to spend the rest of my life with you  which is why I want to ask you to marry me.

Through tears, Ellen said yes, and hosts Josie Gibson and Dermot OLeary applauded from the studio.

Ahh man, we are welling up over here! an emotional OLeary said.

This Mornings newly engaged Dan and Ellen (ITV)

Oh my goodness, Im so shocked. I cant stop crying! replied Ellen, wiping her face while smiling.

The couple were then invited to the studio where they were treated to chocolate espresso martinis and a meal from chef Gino DAcampo.

As well as this, Dan and Ellen were then surprised with a seven-day trip to Antigua for their honeymoon.

On social media, viewers congratulated the couple on their exciting morning.

Broadcaster and occasional This Morning guest Matthew Wright commented How wonderful, while another viewer added: Congratulations to them both on their engagement.

Im not crying, are you? another chimed in, before adding a crying emoji.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey voiced support Monday morning for a lawsuit that aims to reverse the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval of a drug that is used in medication abortion. Here's what it said, and what you need to know.

What is an amicus brief, and why did Bailey file one for a Texas lawsuit?

An amicus brief is a legal filing by a party or group not involved in a lawsuit, but who has a strong interest in the matter, according to Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute. Amicus briefs aim to influence a court's decision on a lawsuit.

More:MO attorney general leads effort to warn pharmacies about mail-order abortion meds

Bailey's amicus brief "brings to the courts attention concessions abortionists have made in Missouri courts that reveal the harmful effects chemical abortion drugs have on women," according to the AG's press release. He asked the court to grant a preliminary injunction halting the FDA's new policy allowing for distribution of mifepristone.

The plain text of the law matters, which is why Missouri is helping lead the effort to block the FDAs blatant attempt to nullify the law and harm women, Bailey said. This brief raises awareness of the serious harm these abortion drugs impose on women. My office will do everything in its power to uphold the law and protect Missourians.

What did Bailey's brief say about abortion providers and medical abortion?

The brief says that abortion providers "routinely violated the medical standard of care" and "admitted under oath that they have long flouted their legal duty to report complications." It cites findings from two Missouri lawsuits regarding medication abortion  Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains v. Williams in 2017 and Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains v. Hawley in 2016.

In Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains v. Williams in 2017, the judge denied Planned Parenthood's request for an injunction against state regulations governing facilities that provide medicine abortions. However, the judge's opinion also noted that "the evidence establishes that complications (from medication abortion) are rare and the vast majority occur after the patient has taken the first medication and has returned home," with complications that require hospitalization occurring in 0.3% of cases.

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More:What is mifepristone, the abortion pill? What to know after the Supreme Court overturned Roe

It says that physicians "do not ensure that women can access a physician who can treat complications" due to medical abortions, and therefore, those who experience complications seek care from providers who may not know their patient's background. The brief also argues that complication rates of medication abortions are underestimated, citing depositions where Missouri abortion providers admitted they did not report abortion-related complications despite it being a state law.

What is the lawsuit?

The initial case was filed Nov. 18 in Amarillo, Texas, by the Alliance Defending Freedom. The lawsuit argues that mifepristone comes with medical risks and should be pulled from the market.

The judge in the case is U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump and has a history of conservative rulings. A decision is expected by Feb. 24 at the earliest.

More:A Texas judge could soon force a major abortion pill off market nationwide. Here's what to know.

On its website, the Alliance Defending Freedom describes itself as a legal organization "committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, marriage and family, parental rights, and the sanctity of life." The Southern Poverty Law Center classifies the Alliance Defending Freedom as an anti-LGBTQ hate group.

Mifepristone was approved by the FDA for medication abortion in 2000. It is considered a safe and effective abortion medication by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Susan Szuch is the health and public policy reporter for the Springfield News-Leader. Follow her on Twitter @szuchsm. Story idea? Email her at sszuch@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Missouri AG supports lawsuit to reverse FDA decision on abortion meds
(Reuters) - Russia, locked in a decades-old territorial dispute with Tokyo over a chain of Pacific islands, on Tuesday accused Japan of engaging in Russophobia and mounting "vicious attacks" over the war in Ukraine.

Soviet troops seized the islands off the northern coast of Japan at the very end of World War Two. The unresolved clash over who has sovereignty over the chain - known in Russia as the Kuril Islands and in Japan as the Northern Territories - has prevented the two sides from signing a formal peace treaty.

Japan - which joined other allies in imposing sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine invasion - marks a Northern Territories Day commemoration every Feb. 7 to remind people of its claim.

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the event this year "was marked by a particular intensity of Russophobia," citing statements by officials and what she called "aggressive actions" by far-right Japanese forces near Russian missions.

"We noted that this time the baseless territorial claims to the southern Kuril Islands were accompanied by vicious attacks against Russia in connection with the situation in Ukraine," she said in a statement.The Russian military has presence on the islands, which have a population of roughly 20,000.

Zakharova, reiterating Russia's long-standing position that it has sovereignty over the islands, accused Japan of rewriting history and ignoring post-war realities. Japan's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Japan tightened its Russia sanctions last month in the wake of missile attacks on Ukraine, adding goods to an export ban list and freezing the assets of Russian officials and entities. This prompted Moscow to warn of an unspecified impact on its relationship with Japan.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Caitlin Webber)
Josep Borrell

The remarks came against the backdrop of Moldovan President Maia Sandu's statement that Russia was planning to stage a coup d'etat in that Eastern European country.

Read also: Ukrainian intelligence intercepted Russian plot to destroy Moldova, Zelenskyy says

"We know how much Moldova is under the Russian pressure," Borrell said.

The diplomat noted that Moldova would host a European Political Community conference in June 2023.

Read also: Moldova mulls joining NATO

"This will be a good occasion for everybody (to) show support to Moldova to face the Russian pressure, which is every day stronger," he said.

On Feb. 13, Sandu accused Russia of planning to stage a coup d'etat in her country.

According to her, Moscow intends to topple the government in that country with the help of opposition protests.

Read also: Russian threats against Moldova trigger pushback in Chisinau

Sandu said that the documents received from Ukraine "indicate the locations and logistical aspects of organizing this subversive activity."



Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
More than a dozen cats rescued from a hoarding situation in South Carolina are now calling Massachusetts home.

The cats arrived in Salem on Friday night, after staffers from the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals-Angell Animal Medical Center drove for more than 12 hours to get them to the Bay State, shelter officials said.

We needed to move quickly as the cats are in pretty rough shape, said Mike Keiley, MSPCA-Angell director of adoption centers and programs and executive director of the Northeast Animal Shelter in Salem. They were rescued from a dire situation and are lucky help arrived when it did.

Fridays rescue follows previous action by the Massachusetts shelters to rescue animals in need from out-of-state areas.

In December, dozens of cats and dogs were brought to Massachusetts from overcrowded animal shelters in Tennessee, Texas, and Kentucky, MSPCA officials said.

More recently, the MSPCA and NEAS were alerted to the South Carolina situation by the Berkeley Animal Center, a shelter the two organizations have been mentoring since last year.

The MSPCA-Angell and Northeast Animal Shelter (NEAS) are working to help and heal more than a dozen cats rescued from a hoarding situation in South Carolina. The cats arrived in Salem the evening of Friday, February 10, after staffers drove for more than 12 hours to get them to Massachusetts.

Berkeley has grown and evolved so much since we started working together, but they still dont have the staffing or experience that we do when it comes to handling hoarding situations, so jumping in to help with this was a natural extension of our already existing mentorship, said Keiley.

Keiley said the MSPCA brought shelter staff and members of its law enforcement team.

There were about 100 cats on the property, and we needed the varied expertise to safely remove and begin rehabilitating the cats that survived, Keiley added, noting that a couple dozen cats on the property had already died.

Keiley said the case is under investigation by local authorities.

The property owner was posing as a legitimate animal sanctuary for cats with special needs and was clearly not qualified, he said. Were grateful we were there to help rescue the surviving cats and bring some to Massachusetts where were confident theyll be able to find the loving homes they deserve.

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The MSPCA-Angell and Northeast Animal Shelter (NEAS) are working to help and heal more than a dozen cats rescued from a hoarding situation in South Carolina.

The cats are in stable condition, but are dealing with issues related to long term neglect, including malnourishment, Keiley said.

Some of the cats also need surgery to address painful dental issues. Their care is expected to cost more than $5,000.

Anyone wishing to donate to help offset that cost may do so at mspca.org/carolinacats.

The cats are adult to senior in age and the majority are domestic shorthairs. They will be available for adoption after they receive any necessary medical treatment. Interested adopters may monitor neas.org/adopt to see when the cats are available.

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

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On Dec. 14, 2012, Michigan State University student Jacquelyn Matthews was forced to hide alongside her young classmates as a shooter wielding an assault-style semi-automatic rifle terrorized the nearby Sandy Hook Elementary in her Connecticut hometown.

On Monday, the college senior was forced to hunker down once again as a shooter went on a rampage over her college campus in East Lansing, Michigan, killing three students and injuring five more.

I am 21 years old, and this is the second mass shooting that I have now lived through, Matthews said in a TikTok video posted in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

A caption neatly summed up her message: Enough is enough.

My heart goes out to all the families and the friends of the victims of this Michigan State shooting, but we can no longer just provide love and prayers, she continued. It needs to be legislation. It needs to be action. Its not OK. We can no longer allow this to happen. We can no longer be complacent.

Matthews told Today that she was a student at Reed Intermediate School, which went into lockdown, at the time of the Sandy Hook shooting.

In her TikTok video, she described being hunched in the corner for so long during the Sandy Hook shooting 10 years and two months ago that she sustained a PTSD fracture at the base of her spine, which now flares up whenever she is in stressful situations.

School shootings are known to have a devastating impact beyond victims immediate family and friends. Research investigating the long-term health of survivors suggests they use antidepressants at a higher rate and have a lower likelihood of completing their educations.

Authorities announced early Tuesday morning that the suspect in the MSU shooting, 43-year-old Anthony McRae, had shot and killed himself after an hourslong police pursuit.

Police say McRae began his attack around 8:20 p.m. on Monday, firing shots at both Berkey Hall on the north side of the campus and the MSU Union to the west before fleeing on foot. Panicked community members called in reports of shots fired at other locations as they sheltered in place awaiting word from law enforcement.

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Eventually, a tipster led police to McRaes location after authorities released an image of the suspect taken from security cameras late Monday.

He had no affiliation with the university.

The three deceased victims were Alexandria Verner, a junior from Clawson, Michigan; Brian Fraser, a sophomore from Grosse Pointe, Michigan; and Arielle Anderson, a junior from Grosse Pointe, Michigan.

Related...
HARDY TOWNSHIP  Mullet Cabinets has announced an expansion in collaboration with JobsOhio, Ohio Southeast Economic Development (OhioSE) and the Holmes County Economic Development Council. The company is committing to investing at least $3.27 million to expand its existing manufacturing facility in Hardy Township of Holmes County with possible plans to invest up to $3.6 million.

A family-owned and Ohio-based company founded in 1975, Mullet Cabinets originally made cabinet drawers and doors for sale to other manufacturers. Over time, the company has established a dealer network in 13 states, selling custom-designed cabinets for residential and commercial applications. The company has 204 full-time employees at its existing 120,000-square-foot facility.

Mullet Cabinets will construct a 24,000-square-foot building addition, purchase new machinery and equipment to double its output of drawers and doors and improve manufacturing flow through its facility. The project will result in the creation of 20 new jobs over the course of three years.

Our vision is to be uncommon in everything we do, said company President Vince Mullet in a press release. That goes for the products we provide to the manner we serve our staff, customers and community. This building expansion is another step in allowing us to continue to carry out that vision.

JobsOhio supported the project with a $65,000 JobsOhio Economic Development Grant and Ohio Southeast Economic Development assisted the company with the grant process. The Holmes County Economic Development Council is working with the company to obtain assistance through the Ohio Enterprise Zone program. The HCEDC supported Mullet Cabinets with tax abatements for two previous expansions.

We were pleased to learn of Mullet Cabinets plans to expand its production operation, said HCEDC Executive Director Mark Leininger in the release. The current project is the third time the company has expanded its facility since it was originally constructed in 2012. We appreciate the opportunity to collaborate with OhioSE and JobsOhio to help support Mullet Cabinets growth and we wish the company continued success.

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The JobsOhio Economic Development Grant focuses on fixed-asset and infrastructure investment by companies. Those investments can include land, building and infrastructure, as well as machinery and equipment.

Information submitted by OhioSE.

This article originally appeared on Coshocton Tribune: Mullet Cabinets expanding, investing $3.7M into manufacturing facility
For the second time in as many days, local authorities had their hands full responding to numerous hoax threats directed at schools across the Commonwealth Tuesday morning.

State Police say between 10 a.m. and noon, bomb and shooting threats were made against schools in Springfield, Great Barrington, Greenfield, Clinton, Duxbury, Edgartown, Harwich and Fall River. All of these threats were determined to be a hoax, according to law enforcement officials.

The communities of Ipswich, Fitchburg and Hingham also received fake shooting threats on Tuesday.

Several Mass. schools placed in safe mode after receiving threats amid nationwide swatting calls

Police say the threats made were consistent in content with each other and similar to the threats the state experienced yesterday. State Police patrols, K9 units, Bomb Squad teams and local authorities all responded quickly and cleared every school until they were sure the threats were fickle.

The Massachusetts State Police Fusion Center is investigating the source or sources of the threats.

The investigation is ongoing.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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Michigan State University shooting: Three people dead and five injured in campus rampage

A 45-year-old man has been identified as the suspected shooter behind a rampage at Michigan State University on Monday night that left at least three people killed and five injured, US police have said.

Chris Rozman, interim deputy chief of the university police, said shots were fired in two locations - at an academic building called Berkey Hall and the Michigan State University Union building shortly after 8pm local time (1am GMT).

Officers said the man appeared to have fled the campus before killing himself. He was described as a short man with a jean jacket and baseball cap and had been last seen fleeing the MSU Union building on foot.

The 43-year-old man was confronted by police off campus before killing himself with a "self-inflicted gunshot wound," Mr Rozman said.

His name was not immediately released, nor any details about the gun or what police found at the scene. Mr Rozman said the man was not a student or employee and had no affiliation with Michigan State.

"We have no idea why he came to campus to do this tonight. That is part of our ongoing investigation," the deputy chief said.

Michigan State University students evacuate to a safe area - Getty Images

Michigan State University students hug during an active shooter situation - Getty Images

Mr Rozman confirmed that at least five victims were transported to hospital, some of them with life-threatening injuries, and MSU police issued an update by Twitter a short time later saying that at least three people had died.

Hundreds of officers had been dispatched to the East Lansing campus to maintain safety and catch the gunman, Mr Rozman added.

Police officers have now lifted a shelter-in-place order that was sent to students and staff shortly after 8.30pm local time and said there is no longer an active threat on campus.

The East Lansing High School auditorium, where a school board meeting was being held on Monday night, was locked down and people were being prevented by police from leaving, the Lansing State Journal reported.

Aedan Kelley, a student who lives about half a mile east of campus, said he locked his doors and covered his windows "just in case". Sirens were constant, he said, and a helicopter hovered overhead.

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"It's all very frightening," Mr Kelley told the Associated Press. "And then I have all these people texting me wondering if I'm OK, which is overwhelming."

Officers responded to reports of multiple shots fired - AP

Hours after the first gunfire erupted, several campus buildings had been cleared and secured by police as officers swept the campus in search of possible additional victims, MSU police said.

MSU is a public institution of higher education whose flagship East Lansing campus accounts for 50,000 graduate and undergraduate students.

Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan, said she had been briefed on the shooting.

She tweeted: Ive been briefed on the shooting at Michigan State University. The Michigan State Police along with @msupolice, local law enforcement and first responders are on the ground. Lets wrap our arms around the Spartan Community tonight. We will keep everyone updated as we learn more.
MUNCIE, Ind.  Jurors on Tuesday heard a recording of the call Trent David Kreegar placed to 911 dispatchers after he had allegedly fatally injured his grandfather.

"Hey, my grandpa is outside and I don't feel a pulse," Kreegar said in the 911 call. "Him and I got into a fight and he lost. He's outside and he doesn't have a pulse."

Kreegar, 28, is charged with murder and aggravated battery in the September 2021 death of 67-year-old Robert Huffman Jr.

A table at the Shell convenience store in Daleville was designated as a memorial for the late Robert Earl Huffman Jr. The Daleville man  slain at his home on Sept. 5, 2021  routinely stopped by the store, where he visited with friends.

In his opening remarks to Delaware Circuit Court 5 jurors on Monday, Deputy Prosecutor Doug Mawhorr said the grandfather and grandson were fighting outside the older man's Daleville home  south of Ind. 67 along South Walnut Street  when the slaying occurred.

Mawhorr  presenting the state's case with Prosecutor Eric Hoffman  said Kreegar, who had been staying at his grandfather's home, inflicted multiple traumatic blunt force injuries by striking Huffman with a steel wheelbarrow.

The deputy prosecutor also said Kreegar then waited for an extended period  among other things showering and cleaning his clothes  before reporting the incident to authorities.

More:Police: Accused killer struck grandfather in head with wheelbarrow

Testimony on Tuesday indicated his call to 911 dispatchers came at 2:40 a.m. on Sept. 5, 2021.

A dispatcher then directed Kreegar how to perform CPR until emergency personnel arrived.

Huffman was pronounced dead at the scene.

Also Tuesday, a friend of Huffman, Ed Johnson, testified the victim was somewhat limited in mobility after having both knees replaced and suffering from diabetes and other ailments,.

Johnson, also of Daleville, recalled his friend had limited stamina when they worked together on projects.

He recalled once seeing Kreegar bristle when he grandfather asked for help with a chore.

"That's all you live for, to boss me around," the defendant reportedly told Huffman.

In his opening statement on Monday, defense attorney Sam Beasley referred to Mawhorr's account of the slaying, and told jurors, "It's not that simple."

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Beasley said his client "was forced to make a decision in a split-second."

In Indiana, a murder conviction carries a maximum 65-year prison term. Aggravated battery is a Level 3 felony with a maximum 16-year sentence.

Judge Thomas Cannon Jr. is presiding over this week's trial.

Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Murder defendant: '(Grandfather) and I got into a fight and he lost'
TRENTON, N.J. (AP)  Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy said Tuesday that his administration is expanding Advanced Placement African American Studies courses next year from one school to 26 in New Jersey after Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis blocked the course from being taught in public schools in Florida.

Murphy's move comes about a month after the administration of DeSantis, a potential presidential candidate, declared without citing any evidence that the course violates state law and isn't historically accurate.

Murphy cited Florida as he unveiled the course expansion Tuesday during a visit to a Newark high school alongside state education officials and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, saying DeSantis is prioritizing political culture wars over academics.

"New Jersey will proudly teach our kids that Black History is American History," Murphy said in a statement. While the DeSantis Administration stated that AP African American Studies significantly lacks educational value, New Jersey will stand on the side of teaching our full history.

A message seeking comment was left with DeSantis' spokespeople.

The courses have begun in 60 schools nationwide as part of a two-year pilot phase and are set to expand to hundreds next year.

Florida's move stirred a debate over the courses.

DeSantis said the course seeks to push an agenda and violates the Stop WOKE Act he signed last year, which prohibits instruction that defines people as necessarily oppressed or privileged based on their race.

Critics say DeSantis is sending a message that Black history doesn't count in Florida.

The College Board, which administers the Advanced Placement program, released course curriculum details this month, which show that topics including Black Lives Matter, slavery reparations and queer life are not part of the course's exam, but are still included as potential research topics, along with Black conservatism. The board said course revisions were mostly complete before DeSantis objected.

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Newark Schools Superintendent Roger Leon embraced the expansion. Six schools in his district will teach the course in the 2023-2024 school year.

The study of African American History, as a discrete field, is important to gaining a deeper, fuller understanding of United States History," Leon said.

New Jersey's statewide learning standards already required some diversity education in lessons, requirements that were expanded in 2021 under a state law requiring districts to incorporate instruction on diversity and inclusion.

Murphy also targeted DeSantis during his January state of the state address, criticizing his comments that Florida is where woke goes to die.

As for Murphy's own presidential ambitions, he has said he'll back President Joe Biden if he runs for reelection, leaving open the possibility he could consider running if not.
A SETI radio telescope. Ian Waldie/Getty Images

The US has shot down four suspicious flying objects  three of them total mysteries, or "unidentified anomalous phenomena" (UAPs)  in just a few days.

Recent sightings of mysterious aerial phenomena. Annie Fu/Ricki Lee/Insider

One of those objects was a high-altitude surveillance balloon operated by China. The US military has yet to publicly identify the other three objects, which were shot down over Alaska, Canada, and the Great Lakes.

Sailors recover a high-altitude surveillance balloon off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, February 5, 2023. Petty Officer 1st Class Tyler Thompson

Most UAPs that have been identified have Earthly explanations, like the Chinese spy balloon. To date, there's no evidence that any of them are alien in origin.

A woman looks at a UFO display outside of the Little A'Le'Inn, in Rachel, Nevada, the closest town to Area 51. AP Photo/John Locher, File

Even if intelligent aliens aren't flying overhead, though, many experts believe they're out there.

Nobel Physics Laureate Didier Queloz speaks during a press conference at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden. Jonas Ekstromer /TT News Agency via AP

"I can't believe we are the only living entity in the whole universe. There's just way too many planets, way too may stars ... the chemistry that led to life has to happen elsewhere," Didier Queloz, a physicist from the University of Cambridge, said in a talk at the Science Media Center in London in 2019.

Queloz had just won the Nobel prize in physics for his discovery of the first exoplanet orbiting a sun-like star. He said that his work has led him to become "absolutely convinced" that humans will detect alien life in the next 100 years.

But if aliens are out there, why haven't we met them yet? Enrico Fermi posed this question to his colleagues over lunch in 1950: "Where is everybody?"

Dr. Enrico Fermi led the group of scientists who succeeded in initiating the first man-made nuclear chain reaction. AP Photo

Arguably, Fermi said, in the 4.4 billion years it took for intelligent life to evolve on our planet, the rest of our galaxy should have been overrun with similarly smart, technologically advanced aliens. But scientists have been monitoring radio waves for signs of alien life in the universe for decades, and they haven't found anything or anyone.

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This conundrum is known as the Fermi Paradox. In his book "End Times," science writer Bryan Walsh discusses 13 theories on why we haven't made contact, and may never do so.

The James Webb Space Telescope's first deep field infrared image, shows countless galaxies in just a sliver of sky. NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

One possibility is that aliens want to talk to us but can't.

Maybe aliens are shouting into the abyss at us, like this basketball coach. Wade Payne/AP Photo

It's possible that aliens don't use radio waves as a means to communicate. They could be reaching out using a technology that we don't know about yet. Walsh compared the situation to one in which modern-humans would try to chat with a caveman on a cell phone (we're the cavemen in this analogy).

If other intelligent life in the universe has outpaced us technologically, it's possible those beings think Earth isn't worth contacting at all.

A NASA illustration of an alien mega structure. NASA

Walsh refers to our absence of extraterrestrial contact as "The Great Silence."

One answer to the Fermi Paradox, he says, could be called "The Great Indifference"  perhaps aliens just don't care what a sub-intelligent race has to say.

Or maybe our radio messages just haven't reached anyone yet.

A Hubble Space Telescope composite image of the core of the M13 star cluster. NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA); Acknowledgment: C. Bailyn (Yale University), W. Lewin (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), A. Sarajedini (University of Florida), and W. van Altena (Yale University)

Astrophysicist Frank Drake sent out the first deliberate interstellar radio message on November 16, 1974  168 seconds of a two-tone sound were beamed toward the star system Messier 13 (or M13) in the Hercules constellation.

Encoded in the message were the atomic numbers of basic Earth elements, the numbers 1 to 10, and a graphic of our solar system to indicate where the message originated from. But M13 is roughly 21,000 light-years away, according to the SETI Institute, so Drake's message will take about the same number of years to get there. Then it would take any similar return signal the same amount of time to get back to us.

Not all scientists thought sending messages into space was a good idea. Astrophysicist Stephen Hawking cautioned against attempting to make contact in 2010.

Stephen Hawking sits on stage during an announcement of the Breakthrough Starshot initiative with investor Yuri Milner in New York, April 12, 2016. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

Hawking told the Times of London: "I imagine they might exist in massive ships, having used up all the resources from their home planet. Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonize whatever planets they can reach."

Aliens could also be deliberately hiding from us.

National Park Service Ranger Jeff Denny heads into a grove of redwoods off Highway 101 outside of Orick, California. Nick Adams/Reuters

Some researchers have suggested that intelligent life in the galaxy may have the same concerns that Hawking did about making contact, so therefore elect to remain silent.

In "End Times," Walsh puts forward a hypothesis in this vein: Perhaps Earth is being treated like a zoo and humans are a remote group of indigenous galactic dwellers that are being intentionally left undisturbed.

Aliens could simply be content to leave us alone until we become too greedy and pose a threat to the greater universe.

A still from the film "The Day the Earth Stood Still." John Springer Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images

The 1951 Hollywood blockbuster "The Day The Earth Stood Still" explores such a theory. In the film, an alien spaceship lands in Washington, DC to deliver a message: live peacefully or be destroyed as a danger to other planets.

Or perhaps extraterrestrials are just hibernating, Walsh suggests.

Palle-Jooseppi, a male brown bear at Ranua Zoo, wakes up after winter hibernation in Ranua, Finland. Kaisa Siren/Lehtikuva/Reuters

The intelligent civilizations we're trying to contact could be in a state of dormancy that may last for billions of years, he says.

Another hypothesis is that we're living in the "galactic sticks," on the outskirts of where intelligent life is located in the Milky Way.

This time lapse of the Milky Way Galaxy also captured a lightning strike on Earth so bright that it lit up the space stations solar panels. NASA/Kjell Lindgren

Walsh explores the idea that it may just be hard to reach us way out here, especially if other intelligent civilizations have, like us, not yet figured out an efficient way to travel between star systems.

But that answer to the Fermi Paradox has a problem: The Milky Way is old. Walsh argues that, given enough time, an intelligent civilization should have been able to find us by now, even if they were traveling slowly.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

If aliens were traveling at one-tenth the speed of light, it would take them 10 million years to cross the entire Milky Way. That's less than 0.1% of the age of the galaxy.

But perhaps a technologically advanced civilization just can't last long enough to be able to travel through the galaxy for millions of years.

Mushroom cloud from a 23-kiloton atomic bomb detonated 90 feet underwater during Operation Crossroads along the Bikini Atoll. Bettmann / Getty Images

According to this potential answer to the Fermi Paradox, intelligent civilizations could exist in other parts of the Milky Way, but they die out or destroy themselves before they're able to find us or we're able to contact them.

Some scientists have argued that intelligent civilizations similar to ours could have gone extinct because of the same dangers that threaten humanity on Earth.

An illustration of asteroids careening toward northern Greenland. Natural History Museum of Denmark/NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

As philosopher Nick Bostrom has explained, this concept suggests that life on an Earth-like planet has to achieve several "evolutionary transitions or steps" before it can communicate with civilizations in other star systems.

But an obstacle or barrier  a "Great Filter," as it's called in this line of thinking  makes it impossible for an intelligent species to progress through all of those steps before collapsing.

A 2018 study points to climate change as the most likely "filter" that prevents a civilization from reaching other star systems.

Smoke rises from the chimneys of a power plant in Shanghai. Reuters/Aly Song

The study put forth four scenarios that a civilization could follow as it develops. One of those pathways leads to sustainable existence. But in the other three, civilizations overuse resources and collapse or die off as a result.

So a possible answer to the Fermi Paradox, the study authors posited, is that environmental transformation (whether that involves using up necessary resources or irreversibly changing a climate) inevitably prevents civilizations from surviving long enough to travel to distant stars.

Walsh suggests that we may never find anything in our search for aliens except their remains  evidence of extinct civilizations, in other words.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Walsh calls these clues "necrosignatures." Nuclear holocausts, biological weapons, even disappearing planets leave detectable signs in space, he writes, and humanity should be ready to find and identify them.

Many scientists think it's possible that  unlike humans on Earth  aliens live in the interior of their respective planets, which is why we've yet to find signs of life.

A NASA model shows what the interior ocean on Saturn's moon Enceladus could look like. NASA-GSFC/SVS, NASA/JPL-Caltech/Southwest Research Institute

Some worlds' liquid water is located under the surface, in the planets' interior. That appears to be the case for Saturn's moon Enceladus and Jupiter's moon Europa. Those underground oceans could be habitable.

"If technological civilizations can actually develop in these interior ocean worlds, they would naturally be cut off from us because of the shell of rock and ice above their ocean," planetary scientist Alan Stern previously told Business Insider. "We wouldn't see their city lights. We wouldn't be able to hear their communication. They wouldn't maybe even know that there was a universe out there to communicate with."

Or maybe aliens already visited Earth  just not recently enough for us to have noticed.

ESA

One study, published in The Astronomical Journal in 2019, posits that intelligent aliens could be taking their time to explore the galaxy, harnessing star systems' movements and orbital shifts to make star-hopping easier.

The study authors suggested that aliens might wait for stars to move closer to one another before spreading across the galaxy, and that other civilizations could have already been here and left no evidence of their visit.

The simplest answer to the Fermi Paradox, perhaps, is that Earth holds the only intelligent life in the universe.

A picture of Earth from space. Joshua Stevens/NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/Reuters

Astrophysicist Michael Hart explored this question formally in a 1975 paper; he argued that there had been plenty of time for intelligent life to colonize the Milky Way in the 13.8 billion years since the galaxy formed. Since nobody on Earth had heard anything, Hart concluded, there must be no other advanced civilizations in our galaxy.

More recently, a 2018 Oxford University study suggested that there's a roughly two-in-five chance that we're alone in our galaxy and a one-in-three chance that we're alone in the entire cosmos.

But the more astronomers learn about conditions that make a planet suitable for life, the more it seems our galaxy could be more hospitable to life than previously thought.

Still, Queloz remains hopeful, saying: "We are convinced there must be life on other planets, otherwise we wouldn't search for it."

This artist's conception illustrates Kepler-22b, a planet circling in the habitable zone of a sun-like star discovered by NASA's Kepler space telescope in 2011. NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech

In an interview with the Nobel prize press office, he said that the detection of the first exoplanet merely served as "the trigger" for humanity's renewed hunt for alien life in the cosmos.

When Fermi first asked his famous question, no Earth-like planets outside our own solar system had been confirmed to exist.

This artist's concept illustrates the idea that rocky, terrestrial worlds like the inner planets in our solar system may be plentiful, and diverse, in the universe. NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (SSC-Caltech)

Technology that enables astronomers to detect Earth-like planets has improved significantly since Queloz discovered the first exoplanet.

That's in part why Queloz is convinced that we will find proof of aliens in the next century, if not sooner. (He suggested that in just 20 years, we may have the equipment needed to detect extraterrestrial life.)

NASA's planet-hunting Kepler Space telescope, which launched in 2009, discovered more than 2,000 exoplanets by the time it retired in 2018.

An illustration of NASA's Kepler space telescope. NASA

In 2013, astronomers reported that based on Kepler data, there could be up to 40 billion planets comparable in size to Earth that exist within the "Goldilocks zone" of their respective star  where conditions might enable liquid water to pool on the surface. (Earth and Mars fall within our sun's "just right" zone.)

Even if just .01% of those Earth-like planets host life, that would still total to 40 million planets.

Another orbiting telescope, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is now scouting the sky for alien worlds.

So far, NASA has confirmed the existence of more than 5,200 exoplanets. Another 9,200+ candidates are awaiting confirmation.

Artist's concept of a rocky Earth-sized exoplanet in the habitable zone of its host star, possibly compatible with Kepler-186fs known data. NASA/SETI/JPL

But the chances that our telescopes would coincidentally be pointed at the exact right part of space at the right time to detect signs of extraterrestrial civilization are infinitesimal.

A telescope at the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii's tallest mountain, on July 14, 2019. Caleb Jones/Associated Press

So scientists from the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute point radio telescopes at portions of the sky to collect data. The researchers analyze that information for unusual patterns that might indicate an intentional or accidental transmission from an intelligent civilization.

SETI's monitoring system is predicated on the idea that aliens are trying to message us  we just need to hear it.

The Allen Telescope Array, designed specifically for radio-based SETI searches. Seth Shostak/SETI Institute

But those monitoring efforts have thus far been unsuccessful.

Drake created an equation in 1961, now known as the Drake Equation, that offers a way to calculate an estimated number of technologically advanced civilizations in the Milky Way.

Jenny Cheng/Business Insider

The equation is made up of seven variables that, when multiplied together, yield a calculation of the possibility that humanity might someday hear from an intelligent alien civilization (one that has achieved the ability to transmit radio signals that we can detect on Earth).

The problem is that we don't know the value of many of the Drake equation variables with any degree of certainty. Scientists have a good handle on the first three: the rate of star formation, the number of those stars with planets, and the number of those planets within the stars' Goldilocks zone. But the rest are still a mystery.

This post has been updated with new information. It was originally published on October 9, 2019.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Navy sailors prepare material recovered off the coast of Myrtle Beach, S.C., in Virginia Beach, Va., on Feb. 10, 2023. (Petty Officer 1st Class Ryan Seelbach / Associated Press)

As U.S. Navy divers and salvage crews plucked pieces of downed aerial objects from the Arctic Sea to the kinder waters off South Carolina, the Biden administration on Monday was racing to learn what the latest mystery vessels were and who launched them.

U.S. fighter jets shot down three unmanned aircraft over the last few days: one near Alaskas remote frigid northern coastline on Friday, another over Canadas Yukon region on Saturday and a third over Lake Huron off Michigans Upper Peninsula on Sunday.

Pentagon and State Department officials say they are confident that the balloon downed on Feb. 4 off the Atlantic Ocean coast  after it traversed the U.S. for 96 hours and had Americans on high alert and looking skyward  was part of a vast Chinese spy project.

But the last three flying objects, officials stressed on Monday, are different in appearance and technological capabilities. They are smaller and, unlike the Chinese balloon, unable to loiter or hover. At least two of the vessels have still-unspecified payloads, officials said, though they are not as large as that of the Chinese craft, which was about the size of three buses and carried surveillance equipment.

Though remnants are still being collected, administration officials said the latest unidentified flying objects could be weather balloons, mapping instruments or any of a number of non-hostile aircraft. National Security Council spokesman John F. Kirby told reporters Monday the latest objects didn't pose a threat to people on the ground, and did not send communication signals or have propulsion capabilities. The objects were shot down because they flew at altitudes that could pose a threat to civilian commercial air traffic, according to Kirby.

"Efforts are actively underway right now at all sites to find what is left of those objects so that we can better understand and communicate with the American people what they are," Kirby said, noting that Alaska and Canada's remote terrain and winter weather conditions have slowed search efforts.

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President Biden on Monday directed national security advisor Jake Sullivan to form an interagency group to examine the unidentified aerial objects and determine whether they posed safety or security risks, Kirby announced.

But the lack of detail from administration officials and Biden's silence on the saga have prompted bipartisan criticism over how the White House has managed the situation.

"Whats gone on in the last two weeks or so, 10 days, has been nothing short of craziness," Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) said Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation." "The military needs to have a plan to not only determine what's out there, but [to] determine the dangers that go with it."

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said in a statement that the president "owes the American people an explanation, direct and on camera," about the unidentified aerial objects and the steps he's taken to protect U.S. airspace. He noted that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had publicly addressed the issue.

Unanswered questions have also prompted speculation to percolate on social media over whether the flying objects have extraterrestrial origins. The conjecture intensified after a senior U.S. Air Force general overseeing the North American airspace said Sunday that he would not rule it out.

"There is no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at the beginning of a news briefing Monday.

Meanwhile, Beijing claimed Monday that the U.S. had flown more than 10 high-altitude balloons through Chinese airspace in the last year. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a daily briefing the U.S. should first reflect on itself and change course, rather than smear and instigate a confrontation.

In response, the U.S. quickly denied that it uses balloons to spy on China.

"There is no U.S. surveillance aircraft in Chinese airspace," Kirby said Monday. U.S. officials say their espionage capabilities are better than balloons or other objects that would violate Chinese sovereignty.

There are "no active tracks today" on additional balloons, but U.S. and Canadian authorities are still monitoring the airspace, Kirby added.

Pentagon officials said the sudden uptick in detection of unidentified aircraft over the United States comes from having stepped up security and tweaking radar capabilities. Many of the items floating in a crowded airspace have been largely ignored, the officials said, because they were not deemed a threat. The most recent objects were flying at roughly 40,000 feet or less, which could potentially pose a threat to civilian air traffic.

Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said the U.S. has not recovered any debris from the latest objects and reiterated that they were shot down out of an "abundance of caution." He said U.S. policy on shooting objects out of the sky had not changed and the administration would determine its response on a case-by-case basis.

"The three objects taken down this weekend are very different from what we were talking about last week," he told reporters after his plane arrived in Brussels for a NATO meeting on Ukraine. "We knew exactly what that was. A [People's Republic of China] surveillance balloon."

The episode surrounding the first balloon  U.S. officials say it hovered over sensitive military installations in the Midwest  provoked U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken to scrap a long-planned, high-stakes trip to Beijing. On his agenda was working to improve the fraught relations between the U.S. and China, but the espionage scandal has only inflamed tensions. State Department officials can't say when the trip will be rescheduled, but it is not likely to be soon.

Communications between senior-ranking officials are all but frozen. When Austin telephoned his Chinese counterpart, no one answered the phone. From the State Department, only an assistant secretary has made a single contact, and that was last week before the latest round of aircraft shoot-downs.

Asked if the balloon episode had further hampered relations between Beijing and Washington, Kirby said it "certainly has not helped us move forward in the way that we want."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
LONDON (AP)  Northern Irelands main British unionist party scuttled an attempt to restore the collapsed Belfast-based Assembly on Tuesday, refusing to budge on a Brexit-related boycott that has kept the legislature on ice for a year.

Politicians remain deadlocked despite signs of progress in talks between the U.K. and the European Union on ending the post-Brexit trade dispute behind Northern Irelands political crisis.

Lawmakers were called to the Stormont assembly building in an attempt to pass a new organ-donation law. The bid failed when the Democratic Unionist Party used its veto to block the election of a speaker  a prerequisite for any business to be done.

Under Northern Irelands political system, power is shared between Irish nationalists and British unionists, and neither side can govern without the other.

The DUP veto scuttled an attempt to pass Daithis Law, which would replace an opt-in organ donation system with one that presumes most adults to be potential donors unless they opt out. The bill is named for Daithi MacGabhann, a 6-year-old boy awaiting a heart transplant.

DUP legislator Paul Givan said his party supported the opt-out organ law but would not budge on its boycott. He said the U.K. government in London could step in and pass the necessary regulations while the assembly was suspended.

Daithis father, Mairtin MacGabhann, said it was a very disappointing day.

Northern Ireland is the only part of the U.K. that shares a border with an EU member nation, Ireland. When the U.K. left the bloc in 2020, the British government and the EU agreed to keep the Irish border free of customs posts and other checks to preserve the open border that is a key pillar of Northern Ireland's peace process.

Instead, there are checks on some goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the U.K. Unionist politicians say the new trade border undermines Northern Irelands place in the United Kingdom. They are refusing to return to government until the trade barriers are removed.

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The political impasse has left Northern Ireland's 1.8 million people with no functioning government and facing a new election that almost no one wants. Last week the U.K. government extended the deadline for forming a new government by a year in an attempt to buy breathing time to find a solution.

The U.K. government hopes to resolve the EU trade dispute and break the political impasse before the 25th anniversary in April of Northern Irelands 1998 Good Friday peace accord. It is pinning its hopes on striking a deal with the EU that would ease the checks and coax unionists back into the government.

Achieving that long looked unlikely, as Britain threatened to unilaterally rip up parts of the Brexit agreement, and the EU accused the U.K. of failing to honor the legally binding treaty.

But the mood has improved since Prime Minister Rishi Sunak took office in late October, and the two sides have held constructive talks. However, any compromise by Sunak will be a hard sell to the DUP and is sure to anger staunch Brexiteers who form a powerful faction inside the governing Conservative Party.

___

Follow APs coverage of Brexit at https://apnews.com/hub/brexit and of British politics at https://apnews.com/hub/british-politics
The New Jersey school district where 14-year-old Adriana Kuch was attacked before she died by suicide days later has a culture of violence, according to members of the community.

Parents, teachers and students of Central Regional School District say administrators have a history of ignoring violence within the schools that dates back almost two decades.

Kuch was found dead in her Bayville home two days after a Feb. 1 attack at Central Regional High School. The attack was recorded, and the four students involved in the assault were suspended and charged, officials said.

At least four students told NBC News that administrators are dismissive when students come forward with bullying claims.

Theres been a lot of rage and anger. They didnt do anything, said sophomore Sarah Gibson, 15. Thats for everybody, not just Adriana. I, myself, have filed about seven bullying or harassment reports and nothings been done.

Gibson said students can file a report or a complaint against bullying by going to their schools main office, assistant principals office or guidance counselor and filling out a sheet of paper describing the incident with details.

And theyll say, Alright give that to me and well take care of it, Gibson said. The problem didnt stop. Its just for show pretty much.

The school district and the board of education did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

A 14-year-old freshman who attends the high school and was friends with Kuch since the fourth grade said bullying is an every day occurrence within the district and that he has been bullied himself at Central Regional, where he says he tries to lay low so he wont be targeted.

A kid tried fighting me just because I looked at him. I dont really get involved, he said.

The administrators, he said, just say its not your business or that theyve already gotten it taken care of.

Im disgusted, he added. They should be doing everything they can.

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What happened to Adriana Kuch at Central Regional High School was not an isolated incident, the students said.

Adriana Kuch (Courtesy Michael Kuch)

A girl who was the same age as Kuch at the time was also attacked in a hallway at the high school by three girls in January 2022, according to her parent, Racheal ODea.

ODea said her daughter had been receiving threats online and in person from the girls who attacked her prior to the incident, and told the schools principal and assistant principal about it in December 2021.

She showed them the messages. She gave them the information and they did nothing, ODea told NBC News. Then they went on Christmas break and in January the girls followed up on their promise and jumped her from behind.

Two girls assaulted ODeas daughter on Jan. 10, 2022 by punching her in the head, neck and back. Another girl recorded the assault, which was shared on social media, ODea said.

She cried out for help just to be ignored. There are a lot of situations where you hear kids dont want to say anything about bullying in case theres any retaliation and here my daughter is, she was brave enough to reach out to people who are supposed to keep her safe and they failed her, ODea said.

The girls responsible for her daughters attack were suspended for 10 days and faced no further punishment, ODea said. Her daughter, now 15, attends school at a different district.

In October 2022, ODea filed a lawsuit against the Central Regional School District, the board of education, the high schools principal and the assistant principal.

This school has a culture of violence thats been ongoing for quite some time, ODeas attorney, Jonathan Ettman, said. The school is clearly not taking students seriously when they report threats of violence and the violence continues, now its led to a young girl taking her life.

Central Regional High School Principal Irene Marousis and Assistant Principal Darryl Heale declined to comment on the lawsuit, Kuchs case and claims that reports of violence have been ignored.

Daniel Keiser, who taught at the high school for over two decades before leaving in 2007, said the violence hes hearing about is nothing new.

There were days where I would break up three fights before home room even started, Keiser wrote in a Facebook post published Saturday. As a teacher there and a parent there who dealt with intense bullying, we would often plead with administration to get things under control and only one of them ever tried. They were notorious for brushing things under the carpet. So it seems they fostered a climate like this over many years.

The attack on Adriana Kuch at Central Regional High School garnered national attention after video of it was posted online.

On Saturday, just one day after funeral services were held for the teenager, the school districts superintendent, Triantafillos Parlapanides, resigned.

Parlapanides had suggested in interviews with news outlets, including the Daily Mail, that Kuch used drugs and that her father had refused the districts offers to help.

Danielle Ledesma, 17, said she was bullied but never reported it to the school because she felt nothing would be done about it.

Ledesma, a high school senior, didnt know Kuch, but said she was devastated to learn of her suicide.

When I found out that someone from this school thought about that and acted upon it, it made me realize how much students think the same thing, she said.

If everybody who had been bullied acted upon their thoughts, there would not be anybody in Bayville, she added. Everybody would be gone.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call the network, previously known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.

Melissa Chan reported from Bayville, and Mirna Alsharif reported from New York City.

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
Photo: The Canadian Press

A judge has granted bail to a fifth girl charged with second-degree murder in the death of a homeless man who was allegedly swarmed and stabbed by group of teens in Toronto's downtown core.

Police have said Ken Lee, a 59-year-old who was living in the city's shelter system, died in mid-December after allegedly being stabbed by eight teen girls who are from homes across the Greater Toronto Area.

The three 13-year-olds, three 14-year-olds and two 16-year-olds facing second-degree murder charges in Lee's death cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

Justice Maria Sirivar previously granted bail to four teens in the case and denied bail to three during a series of hearings that began in January.

Sirivar made her decision to grant bail to a fifth teen on Monday afternoon.

Community members have said Lee was a kind, quiet man who was trying to defend a friend before he was allegedly attacked.
Naeem Khan at his studio in New York City ahead of New York Fashion Week. Elizabeth Morales/Insider

Fashion designer Naeem Khan is celebrating his namesake brand's 20th anniversary this year.

Insider spoke with him at his New York City studio ahead of his Valentine's Day runway show.

He said he doesn't follow trends, and is instead inspired by the world around him.

In an unassuming building in the middle of New York City's garment district, Naeem Khan has created a sparkling, fashion lover's oasis.

A platform of sky-high heels sits in the middle of his studio, and racks of slinky dresses line the room. There's also art across every wall, and models strut past.

Insider met Khan there during the start of New York Fashion Week to preview his latest collection: the House of Khan, 20 years of Glamour. Celebrating two decades of his namesake brand, the line is inspired by both Khan's career highlights and his vision of the brand's future.

"I just want to show off my work," Khan said about his latest creations. "I've been designing more than 20 years  I would say close to 40 years  but it's 20 years of Naeem Khan. So this collection is the best of Naeem."

20 years of Naeem Khan: Celebrating the designer's history and the world at large

Khan started designing his latest collection with one metallic shade in mind.

"I like the color of gold, and I wanted to do a whole gold collection  but of course, then it became too much gold," Khan said.

So he created a handful of other metallic pieces  including pirate-inspired looks and woven metal designs  before letting his inspiration wander and completely switching gears.

He started to envision printed organza fabric and told his team: "Call up Italy." As his ideas became more colorful, Khan said he turned to his home country of India and the peacocks that roam there for inspiration.

To an outsider, Khan's creative process might seem jumbled. But to the designer, it's simple: It's the story of his life.

Naeem Khan at his studio in New York City ahead of New York Fashion Week. Elizabeth Morales/Insider

Growing up in Cumballa Hill, India, Khan was destined to become a fashion designer. Four generations of his family designed textiles and clothing, including for Indian royal family members.

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Then Khan moved to the United States in the late 1970s and began working an apprenticeship with Halston, the iconic American designer.

"It's so important for me that I take the route of where I come from," Khan said. "How do I mix the east and west of India and America, and my 20 years of love of the two countries?"

But he's also widely inspired by the rest of the world.

"The woman in Qatar lives a very different life than we do in America, but in the end, we are all the same. We all like beauty. We all like to have fun, and we all like to love," he said. "So when I design, I'm designing for the lady in Japan, the lady in Qatar, and the Hollywood star."

Fashion design is second nature to Khan

Over his four decades as a designer, Khan has made a mark on both the fashion world and pop culture.

He's hosted countless runway shows, showcased his designs across the world, and dressed some of the biggest stars in Hollywood  including Allison Janney's see-through gown in 2022 and Pamela Anderson's statement red dress this year.

Pamela Anderson wears a Naeem Khan gown for her Netflix documentary premiere. Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/Getty Images

When it came time to design his 20th-anniversary collection, Khan knew exactly what to do.

"It was actually quite simple for me because I've been doing it for so many years," he said. "It's taking something classic but giving it a twist. That's number one."

His 20th-anniversary collection, for instance, includes floor-length gowns embellished top to bottom with sequins that are entirely unique, and purple-and-green metallic pieces inspired by the feathers of peacocks that were each handmade by Khan.

A model walks the runway in a textured outfit during Naeem Khan's NYFW show on February 14. Amanda Krause/Insider

"Number two: I design my own fabrics," Khan added. "So when I design these fabrics, I just have to make sure that it's so incredibly unusual that nobody else has done it  that it's something I have done my way."

Any designer can create a metallic gown, but the gold dresses in Khan's latest collection were inspired by his unique experience in Indian villages seeing "gypsies beat metal by hand on the side of the road" to "create incredible art from it."

Models walk the runway in gold minidresses during Naeem Khan's NYFW show on February 14. Amanda Krause/Insider

Of course, his vast experience can sometimes be his biggest flaw.

"Every time I create, I'm like, 'Oh, maybe I can do better,'" he said with a laugh. "You're supposed to design a hundred pieces and then you have 300 pieces sitting in front of you. So you have to know when to stop."

That's why, according to Khan, some of his latest designs wouldn't be completed until probably an hour before his Valentine's Day show.

"It always happens that way," he said. "I just can't give up. To make something perfect, you have to give it till the last moment."

But even when completed at the last minute, Khan is more than confident in his work. After all, he's designing for himself  not the fashion industry, an audience, or anything else.

"My clothes are what I like; I don't follow trends," he said. "[The collection] is going to be amazing. You're going to see."

Read the original article on Insider
A silhouetted man looks in a mirror holding the image of himself wearing a crown.

Narcissists often rub their friends and family the wrong way by bragging about their exploits, seemingly a symptom of an overinflated sense of self-esteem.

But new research finds that in some cases, narcissists actually have low self-esteem, but they're not chasing a self-esteem boost with their self-aggrandizing behavior. Instead, they're seeking status.

The research is a new piece of evidence that runs counter to the idea that self-esteem issues drive narcissism, said study leader Virgil Zeigler-Hill , a psychology professor at Oakland University in Michigan.

"What they really care about is navigating status hierarchies," Zeigler-Hill told Live Science. "They care about being better than other people, they care about other people respecting and admiring them, they care about the benefits you get from being high status."

While self-esteem is how a person feels about themself, status perception is how they feel about how others see them, Zeigler-Hill says. Almost everyone cares, at some level, how they're perceived by others. But for people with narcissism, status-seeking takes on an outsized role in how they feel about themselves.

Related: Why do people have different personalities?

Understanding narcissism

People with narcissistic personality disorder express extreme levels of grandiosity about themselves and show a lack of empathy for others. But even people who don't qualify for a diagnosis of the disorder can display certain narcissistic traits, such as arrogant behavior, a need for external validation and the expectation that they should be recognized as superior by others.

Psychologists once saw all of this as driven by the need to boost and protect self-esteem, Zeigler-Hill said. But in recent years, a more nuanced view has emerged. There are different types of narcissism, and some types do have inflated self-esteem, while others tend to actually have low self-esteem. Zeigler-Hill's work has also focused on the notion that self-esteem isn't a narcissist's main problem; instead, he said, narcissists are desperate for status, and their inflated self-esteem tends to be a consequence of feeling like they are admired and exalted, rather than the other way around.

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To test this idea, Zeigler-Hill and his study co-author Jennifer Vonk, a cognitive psychologist at Oakland University, recruited undergraduate psychology students to take surveys on their levels of narcissistic traits. These standardized surveys ask respondents to rate their agreement or disagreement with statements like, "I will someday be famous," and "I want my rivals to fail." The prevalence of narcissistic personality disorder in the U.S. is estimated at around 6 percent, according to 2008 research, so researchers expected to find few, if any, participants with the disorder. But people vary in their levels of narcissistic traits, so the researchers were able to compare individuals with more narcissistic tendencies with those with fewer. They then had the students make a daily report for up to seven days about their feelings of inclusion, social status and self-esteem.

Highs and lows

The researchers found that students' level of self-esteem differed by the kinds of narcissistic traits they reported. Students higher in a subtype of narcissism called "narcissistic admiration" did indeed have high self-esteem. In narcissistic admiration, Zeigler-Hill said, people tend to want to be on top of the social strata, but they tend to be charming and engaging to get there.

"There is a lot of self-promotion and bragging that goes on with these folks, but at least in small doses they get along well with other people," Zeigler-Hill said.

On the other hand, people high in "narcissistic rivalry" see the world as a zero-sum game and experience a lot of envy and jealousy if other people get respect or admiration, because they think that praise detracts from their own status. They tend to be harder to get along with. And the research found that people high in narcissistic rivalry actually have low self-esteem.

Whether their self-esteem was high or low, however, narcissistic individuals' daily reports of self-esteem were driven by how much status and inclusion they felt other people were granting them. The reason that people high in narcissistic admiration had high self-esteem was that they felt admired and included, the researchers reported in the January issue of the journal Identity . The reason people high in narcissistic rivalry had low self-esteem was that they felt disrespected and left out of the social hierarchy.

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"It's another piece of evidence suggesting that the ways in which narcissistic people are experiencing their social world are probably more important than their self-esteem," Zeigler-Hill said.

While the study included data from 808 students, most were young, female and white, limiting the generalizability of the research. For instance, previous research finds that women are lower in some types of narcissism compared with men, and 694 of the participants were female, Zeigler-Hill says. The field needs more cross-cultural research to better pin down the ways that culture, gender and social status interact to give rise to narcissistic traits, he says.

"There are some differences in terms of some of the consequences for narcissism that I don't think we understand fully yet," said Zeigler-Hill, who is collaborating with researchers in Iran and Israel. "So cross-cultural research would be exceptionally helpful."
EXCLUSIVE: National Geographic has boarded French doc series Rise and Fall of the Mayas.

The Disney-owned factual network is among three new pre-buyers attached to the series, which was originally ordered by Frances RMC Decouverte and pre-bought in the country by Histoire TV.

More from Deadline

Nat Geo takes worldwide rights to the Pernel Media four-parteroutside the U.S., German- and French-speaking Europe and French-speaking Canada. ZDFinfo takes German-speaking Europe and TV5 Quebec takes French-speaking Canada. In France, it launches on RMC Decouverte on free TV before Histoire gets a second window for pay-TV.

ZDF Studios has distribution rights in German-speaking Europe and Pernel sells it elsewhere.

Rise and Fall of the Mayas (Les Mayas, Des Origines a la Chute) tells the entire story of the great Mayan civilization, which inhabited areas that are now regions of Central America.

Notably, the doc access to a groundbreaking expedition at Aguada Fenix, the oldest and largest Mayan site found to date. Archaeologists discovered the ruins, near the Mexico-Guatemala border, in 2020 through LIDAR technology. It is believed to be about 1,500 years older than other famous sites such as Tikal and Chichen Itza and suggests the first Mayan people could have lived 3,000 years ago. The civilization collapsed around 1500AD though around 8 million people of Mayan descent live in Central America.

Executive producers on the doc series are Pernels Celine Payot Lehmann and Samuel Kissous.

Telling the story of a great civilization from beginning to end is a rare privilege that we managed by securing exclusives on ground breaking archaeological findings. That is what convinced our partners to come on board, said Payot Lehmann.

Story continues

On Friday, Arte France commissioned Pernel to make doc looking at Jewish ghettos in World War II.

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Click here to read the full article.
The Dayton chapter of the National Council of Negro Women will donate teddy bears to help comfort children who are a Dayton Childrens hospital later today.

Bears will be handed out to patients at the hospital throughout the day, according to officials at Dayton Childrens.

>>Widows targeted with egregious romance scams for Valentines Day; AG office offers tips

The National Council of Negro Women has been donating bears for over 15 years.

In 2021 the group donated 300 teddy bears to foster children at Haines Childrens Center.
By Andrew Gray

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The head of NATO said on Tuesday it was more important that Finland and Sweden's applications last year to join the alliance, seeking greater security after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, were ratified quickly than together.

The Scandianavian nations' bids to join the 30-member alliance, which is arming Kyiv against President Vladimir Putin's army, has been ratified by all but Hungary and Turkey.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan is particularly objecting to Sweden's application because it harbours members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) whom Ankara calls terrorists.

Western officials have said they would prefer both countries to join NATO together, partly because it would be easier to integrate them at the same time into military structures.

But NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, meeting defence ministers in Brussels, suggested that was secondary.

"The main question is not whether Finland and Sweden are ratified together. The main question is that they are both ratified as full members as soon as possible," he told reporters.

"I'm confident that both will be full members and I'm working hard to get both ratified as soon as possible."

Two new members on its northeast flank would strengthen NATO's clout at a pivotal moment when it is engaged in a showdown with Russia.

'WHAT BOTH COUNTRIES WANT'

Sweden and Finland have long been non-aligned but now want the protection of NATO's collective defence clause.

Finland has a 1,300-km (810-mile) border with Russia, and Sweden's Gotland island lies 300 km (186 miles) from the home of Russia's Baltic Fleet in Russia's enclave of Kaliningrad.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told a news conference in Stockholm that "obvious" reasons, such as already close defence cooperation between Sweden and Finland, made joining together preferable.

"It is what both countries want," he said.

Story continues

"But none of this changes the fact that Turkey makes Turkish decisions ... the question rests with Turkey."

During a visit to Stockholm on Tuesday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said she hoped the two prospective members could still join swiftly and "hand-in-hand" given Sweden's responses to Turkey over its concerns.

Stoltenberg said Sweden and Finland had already come much closer to NATO in recent months and noted that all alliance members had approved the invitations to join.

(Reporting by Andrew Gray, additional reporting by Niklas Pollard in Stockholm, Rachel More in Berlin; Editing by William Maclean and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
PETERSBURGIf you missed our investigative series on the shutdown of several motels in Petersburg and the impact it's had on the people living in them, here's a quick recap:

Which motels shuttered and why?

Travel Inn, OYO, and California Inn were shut down by the city last May and June. They were shuttered because of multiple safety and health violations such as electrical hazards, unsafe structures, and violations that would be dangerous to ones health.

All three motels, and others in Petersburg, show signs of disrepair: cracks in the walls, stains on the carpet, toilets and showers crusted with yellowish-brown limescale, roaches crawling on floors, and rooms that carry the stench of mildew and drugs. These motels were also hotbeds of crime, drug overdoses and prostitution mixed in with families with children, with the OYO and Travel Inn garnering the worst reputation for illegal activities.

Petersburg motels have been in this state for years. Why is something being done now?

In April, the city brought back its once-inactive code compliance team called the "ACE" team that is made up multiple people from the Police Department, Neighborhood Services, Fire Department, Zoning, the Virginia Department of Health, the Commissioner of Revenue, and a social worker.

ACE stands for Abatement, Compliance, and Enforcement.

The Progress-index tried to FOIA for the inspection reports of these three motels to see how many infractions they had and how far back these infractions go. The city told us it would cost $376.32 to provide the latest inspection reports for the California Inn, Travel Inn, and OYO.

What other changes are happening to the motels?

Along with shuttering some motels, the ACE team has also cracked down on motels who were allowing individuals and families to stay there long-term. Petersburg's code only allows for 30-day motel stays.

With no shelter or other safety nets, many people live in the motels because that's their only option to avoid being on the streets. They don't have enough savings to afford a deposit, and many landlords don't rent to them because prior evictions or tainted records.

Story continues

What has been the impact of these policies?

Homelessness increased and families and individuals have been forced to uproot their lives. Before the ACE team shut down the three motels, they gave the dozens of people one day to vacate and find another place, but some ended up on the streets. Other motels started kicking long-term families out, despite a state law that says owners can only evict through the courts when someone has lived there for more than 90 days. This has disrupted their stability, causing them to bounce from one place to another.

How did people in the community get involved?

The P-I's series led to citizens stepping up to become part of the solution. Pat Hines decided to spearhead efforts to open up a men's winter shelter after learning that Petersburg has no dedicated building for those who would be left out in the cold at night. Councilman Marlow Jones donated the building, and the community rallied together to donate beds, blankets, towels, food, money, and more. Others donated their time and service, including Shaundrick White who installed a shower pro-bono.

April Jones and her three kids at Red Roof Inn in late September.

After reading about how April Jones and her three kids were bouncing from motel to motel as a result of the 30-day stay policy and not having enough savings to afford a deposit for a home, a citizen offered to pay both Jones' deposit and first month's rent. Jones was still having trouble landing a place due to having a prior eviction. A landlord who had read the story extended one of his homes for her to rent. Last month, Jones and her children moved into their first home in three years.

Read the full investigative series here. Coming next in this series is how those who work for the motels are equally as trapped as those who live in them, and the problem of overdosing and crime in the motels.

Read Part 1 here:Petersburg motels have dealt with code violations for years. As the city shuts them down, homelessness escalates.

Read Part 2 here:A fresh can of nowhere to go: Health and stability stumble with fewer motel rooms for those on the edge

Read Part 3 here:A really nasty storm: As city enforces 30-day rule, some who have lived in motels for years have no stability

Joyce Chu, an award-winning investigative journalist, is the Social Justice Watchdog Reporter for The Progress Index. Contact her with comments, concerns, or story-tips at Jchu1@gannett.com or on Twitter @joyce_speaks.

This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Nearly a year later, closing motels has had ripple effect in Petersburg
Newly arrived Russian servicemen are being resettled in schools and students are being switched to distance learning in the occupied areas of Luhansk Oblast.

Source: National Resistance Center

Quote: "Students in the temporarily occupied areas of Luhansk Oblast are being forcibly switched to using distance learning to free up space for the Russian military. The occupation administration has problems with the accommodation of newly arrived occupiers, and is therefore settling them in vacated schools."

Details: The National Resistance Center noted that they are not talking about front-line territories, where there is no educational process anyway, but about rearward regions where military operations are not taking place.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
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Sandusky County Board of Health to meet Friday

FREMONT- The Sandusky County Board of Health will meet at 8:30 a.m. Friday, Feb. 17, at 2000 Countryside Drive. The board will handle resignations, Wightman's Grove Sewer Tap matters, an order to replace a septic tank on Finefrock Road, an update on COVID-19 and committee and division reports.

Marblehead parks committee to eye 2023 projects

MARBLEHEAD - The Parks Committee of the Marblehead Village Council will meet at 5:30 pm on Wednesday, Feb. 15, in the meeting room of the Municipal Services Building, 517 W. Main St. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss park projects for 2023.

Mature Audience Luncheon set at the Bellevue Hospital

BELLEVUE - The Bellevue Hospital (TBH) will host an upcoming Mature Audience Luncheon on Thursday at the Bellevue Society for the Arts, located at 205 Maple St. The event will be held from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. and will feature a presentation from Wakeman Maple Farms.

A $3 lunch fee will be charged at the door. Reservations are requested. The Mature Audience luncheon is a monthly community service of the Bellevue Hospital. The public is invited to attend. Anyone age 55 or older who would like to attend and who has not already pre-registered should do so by calling the hospital at 419.483.4040, Ext. 6610.

Additional information on TBH screenings and programs can also be found on TBHs website at bellevuehospital.com.

Flag City Honor Flight announces four trips in 2023

FINDLAY - For the first time in its history, Flag City Honor Flight (FCHF), the local hub of the National Honor Flight Network, is planning four flights in its upcoming 2023 flight season. One of those flights will be an all Vietnam-era veteran flight sponsored by the Don Templin family in honor of Scott Atkins.

The 2023 flights departing from the Grand Aire Terminal in Toledo, will be April 18, June 13,Sept. 12, and Nov. 7. FCHF also has a new leader. Steve Schult is now president and flight director, succeedinglongtime president and flight director Bob Weinberg.

Flag City Honor Flight currently has 550 veterans waiting to fly. The organization anticipatesworking through a good portion of that list of applications in 2023 and encourages otherveterans to come forward and submit applications. FCHF is also in need of Guardians for the2023 flight season. Email sschult@flagcityhonorflight.org for more information.

This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: News Briefs: Sandusky County Board of Health to meet
An army veteran has been missing for over two weeks after she went to visit her children in Florida.

Rachel Schwartz, a 33-year-old mother of two who served in Iraq, was last seen in a Ring Camera leaving her former boyfriend John Scorahs home in Wimauma, Hillsborough County on 31 January.

She then checked in to a veteran crisis centre in Spring Hill, Fox News reported. Since then, the veteran has been untraceable, her family said.

Elizabeth Schrupp, the sister of the missing mother, said in a Facebook post that Ms Schwartz was supposed to fly back to Minnesota on 4 February. Ms Schrupp said her sisters phone and social media went silent after she allegedly sent a message to her father expressing concerns.

She reportedly travelled to Florida to visit her two children, who she shares with a different man. However, it remains unclear why she made a pitstop at Mr Scorahs house.

The Ring Cam footage showed the woman walking away from the former boyfriends house with a suitcase and another bag.

According to Ms Schwartzs family, she has had a rocky relationship with her former boyfriend, who was arrested on charges of battery in April 2022. Ms Schwartz reportedly posted his bond and the charges were later dropped in October.

Following the incident, she decided to move back to her home state of Minnesota, the family said.

The father of Ms Schwartzs children has filed a missing persons report in Hernando County.

Shes missing, Ms Schrupp told Fox News Digital. We want her to know that we love her and we care about her.

In a Facebook post, Ms Schrupp added: Police have conducted welfare checks on her ex-boyfriends home- one with no answer and one after she had been missing for almost a week.

Ms Schwartz has been described as having a height of 5ft 2 inches, with blue eyes and blonde hair. She was last seen wearing blue pants, a white sleeveless shirt and carrying a black suitcase along with a smaller black and orange bag.
Photo: The Canadian Press Photojournalist Amber Bracken, centre, lawyer Sean Hern, back left, and Emma Gilchrist, editor-in-chief and executive director of The Narwhal, listen during a news conference after filing a lawsuit at B.C. Supreme Court against the RCMP, in Vancouver, on Monday, Feb. 13, 2023. Bracken was arrested and detained while covering the enforcement of an injunction in Wet'suwet'en territory as a journalist in 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Canadian photojournalist Amber Bracken and news organization the Narwhal have filed a lawsuit against the RCMP, claiming Bracken was wrongfully arrested and detained for three nights while reporting on a British Columbia pipeline dispute.

The lawsuit seeks a court declaration that Bracken's constitutional rights to liberty and freedom of the press were unlawfully breached in November 2021, when police arrested her during an operation to enforce an injunction granted to the company building the Coastal GasLink pipeline.

The claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court on Monday argues Bracken didn't breach the injunction because she was there as a journalist and the RCMP were notified that she was a member of the media before, during and after her arrest.

Narwhal executive editor Carol Linnitt says the outlet had written to the RCMP the day before the arrest, alerting them to Bracken's presence, and she carried a letter of assignment along with camera gear and tags indicating she was a journalist.

Linnitt told a press conference outside B.C. Supreme Court that Bracken's arrest was the latest in "a string of incidents that display a troubling lack of regard for freedom of the press by Canadian police," including previous arrests of journalists at Indigenous-led protests in Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador.

None of the claims have been tested in court and statements haven't yet been filed in response to the lawsuit, which lists the B.C. and federal governments, RCMP Chief Supt. John Brewer and three unknown RCMP officers as defendants.

The Narwhal did not file the lawsuit solely for its own team and Bracken, "but to clear a path for all journalists in Canada to do their work without risk of police interference," editor-in-chief Emma Gilchrist told the news conference.

"Infringements on press freedom by police impact the public's right to know."

The lawsuit also claims special and punitive damages over Bracken's arrest.

Bracken says she was in Wet'suwet'en territory on what she thought would be a preliminary reporting trip to visit several camps set up by those opposed to the natural gas pipeline, but unbeknownst to her, tensions had been escalating.

She says she was already behind the boundary of an exclusion zone police set up as part of their operation, and on the morning of the arrests, she was inside a "tiny house," which she had chosen as the best vantage point for taking photos.

Bracken says officers arrived by helicopter and emerged from the woods to surround the structure, breaking down the door with an axe and chainsaw.

Although Bracken says she immediately told them she was a journalist, she was arrested and remained in custody for three nights.

"As a journalist, I never wanted to be the story," she says. "But the police took that decision from me, when they finally made it impossible for me to do my job."

Bracken and a documentary filmmaker were initially charged with civil contempt of court and conditionally released by a judge three days after their arrests, but the next month, court documents showed the charges would not be pursued.

Bracken has worked on a freelance basis for The Canadian Press.

Opposition among Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs to the 670-kilometre pipeline sparked rallies and rail blockades across Canada in 2020, while the elected council of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation and others nearby have agreed to the project.

A construction update posted by Coastal GasLink last month says construction is nearly 80 per cent complete on the pipeline that would transport natural gas from Dawson Creek in northeastern B.C. to a processing facility on the coast in Kitimat.
Secretive new documents have been filed by prosecutors in the Idaho murders case against Bryan Kohberger.

Online records show prosecutors filed an affidavit and a memorandum in the Latah County court this week, though their contents remain unclear.

The new documents follow the revelation that authorities in Mr Kohbergers home state of Pennsylvania are reviewing cold cases for potential ties to him.

Officials in Northampton County and Lehigh County confirmed they have been sifting through unsolved cases - but have yet to find any links.

It also recently emerged that Mr Kohberger was allegedly fired from his assistant teaching position at Washington State University days before his arrest in December.

According to NewsNation, within a month of starting the role he was under review because of behavioural problems and a sexist attitude towards women.

Then, on 13 November, Mr Kohberger is accused of stabbing to death Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves in Moscow, Idaho.

Key points

Pennsylvania police sift through cold cases for possible ties to Kohberger

Bryan Kohberger was fired from WSU teaching job days before Idaho murders arrest

FBI denies claim it lost Kohberger during surveillance operation

Kohbergers attorney has ties to second victims family

Xana Kernodles mom feels betrayed by attorney who dropped her for daughters alleged killer

Bryan Kohberger met local police chief and sent him gushing email  months before murders

Computer, hair, glove and stained items seized from Idaho murders suspects home

Wednesday 8 February 2023 03:00 , Andrea Blanco

Police investigating the murder of four Idaho students seized a string of items from suspect Bryan Kohbergers apartment, including possible hair strands, a disposable glove, items with red and brown stains and a computer, according to a newly unsealed search warrant.

Investigators stated in the search warrant application that they hoped to find hair strands that could link the suspect to the scene of the horrific November crime in Moscow, Idaho. They said in the application that this could be either through the four victims or through a dog that was at the rental house at the time of the slayings, reported The New York Times.

Story continues

Police said that one of the items found at the suspects apartment at nearby Washington State University was a possible animal hair strand.

In the documents, investigators said one item had a collection of dark red spotting, and that a pillow had a reddish/brown stain on it.

The application also stated that the murder scene near the University of Idaho campus where the victims were discovered had a large amount of the victims blood including spatter and castoff blood.

Investigators also searched the Washington State University office used by the suspect, a graduate student and teaching assistant in criminology, but did not seize any items.

Bryan Kohberger was interviewed by local police chief for internship months before Idaho murders

Wednesday 8 February 2023 04:30 , Andrea Blanco

A criminology PhD student accused of murdering four University of Idaho students was interviewed by a local police department for an internship position months before the slayings.

Emails obtained by The New York Times show a brief exchange between Washington State University student Bryan Kohberger and the then-chief of Pullman Police Department Gary Jenkins regarding Mr Kohbergers interview process for the research assistantship for public safety position in April 2022.

Mr Kohberger, 28, is facing four murder charges in the brutal stabbings of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin in an off-campus rental home in Moscow, Idaho, on 13 November. Mr Kohberger was arrested in Pennsylvania on 30 December before he was extradited to Idaho on 5 January.

In his email to Mr Jenkins, Mr Kohberger wrote that it was a great pleasure to meet with you today and share [his] thoughts and excitement. Mr Jenkins replied that it was great to meet and talk with you as well.

It is not clear whether Mr Kohberger was offered a position with the department.

What forensic experts say about evidence seized from Bryan Kohbergers home in the Idaho murders case

Wednesday 8 February 2023 06:00 , Andrea Blanco

A search warrant was executed at Mr Kohbergers apartment in Pullman, Washington, on 30 December, the same day he was arrested at his parents home in Pennsylvania on charges for the 13 November stabbings of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin in Moscow, Idaho.

A record of evidence recovered during the apartment search was unsealed last month, revealing the seizure of 15 items including hairs, receipts, a computer tower, a disposable glove and items with peculiar stains.

The record reignited a frenzy of speculation online - despite its simplicity and lack of conjecture.

But what significance, if any, can actually be gleaned from the list? The Independent spoke to two experts - Dr Monte Miller, a former crime scene investigator and forensic expert for the Texas Department of Public Safety; and former FBI agent Jennifer Coffindaffer - for their takes on each item.

What forensic experts say about evidence seized from Bryan Kohbergers home

Hit-and-run unfolded outside Bryan Kohbergers home on night of Idaho college murders

Wednesday 8 February 2023 07:30 , Andrea Blanco

A hit-and-run unfolded outside of Bryan Kohbergers home on the same night that he allegedly murdered four University of Idaho students, it has been revealed.

At around 11.40pm on the night of 12 November, police were called to a report of a crash in front of an apartment complex on the Washington State University (WSU) campus, in Pullman, Washington state, according to authorities.

The apartment complex, which houses mainly graduate or PhD students, had been home to Mr Kohberger since August when he relocated from his home state of Pennsylvania to start a PhD program in criminal justice at the university.

When officers arrived on the scene, they found two pedestrians  a male WSU student and a woman  with injuries after being struck by a car.

The driver had already fled the scene.

Witness Turner Gardner told Business Insider the incident was horrifying and the two victims were taken to hospital for treatment for serious injuries.

Hours later, 19-year-old student Carmen Fernandez was arrested and charged with DUI, felony vehicular assault and hit-and-run, the Pullman Police Department said at the time.

It is not clear if Mr Kohberger witnessed the hit-and-run which took place within the eyeline of his apartment.

However, investigators were reportedly still on the scene of the crash at the housing complex when the 28-year-old allegedly left his home in the early hours of 13 November and travelled to Moscow to carry out the murders.

Idaho murder victims mother says Bryan Kohberger lawyer had power of attorney over her as she slams betrayal

Thursday 9 February 2023 00:01 , Andrea Blanco

The mother of slain University of Idaho student Xana Kernodle has claimed that she gave her power of attorney to the public defender now representing her daughters alleged killer.

Anne Taylor, the chief of the Kootenai public defenders office, filed on 5 January to recuse herself from representing Xana Kernodles mother Cara Denise Northington in order to become the lead defence attorney for Bryan Kohberger.

Mr Kohberger is accused of brutally stabbing Kernodle, her boyfriend Ethan Chapin and roommates Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen on 13 November in the college town of Moscow. He was arrested on 30 December at his parents home in Pennsylvania before he was extradited to Idaho earlier this month.

Read more here:

Idaho murder victims mom says she gave Bryan Kohberger lawyer power of attorney

Ethan Chapins mother shares how family navigates grief journey

Wednesday 8 February 2023 09:00 , Andrea Blanco

In a Facebook post in late January, Stacy Chapin said she and her husband had visited her two surviving triplets, Mazie and Hunter, at the University of Idaho over the weekend. The Chapin triplets were all enrolled at the college in the town of Moscow when Ethan was killed on 13 November.

Ethans girlfriend Xana Kernodle her roommates Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves were also brutally murdered in the attack in their off-campus rental home. Washington State University PhD student Bryan Kohberger, 28, was arrested and charged with the slayings on 30 December.

Speaking out about life after losing her son, Ms Chapin said she had early on agreed with her husband that Maizie and Hunter would be returning to school for the spring semester. The mother-of-three said that she wanted to keep her family close but also allow her children to heal at their own pace.

During their visit, Ms Chapin said, the parents fed over 20 of their childrens friends and enjoyed long conversations, coffee dates and hugs. The Chapin family also spent time remembering Ethan and sharing stories before Ms Chapin and her husband returned to their home in Washington.

Our kids are resilient, but this is definitely a challenging time. Were grateful they have each other at school, fraternity and sorority friends, and other amazing support systems, she wrote. They are each processing this new normal in their own way, and thats okay. Our job as parents is to be there and provide tools and resources as needed.

Dickies tag and receipts from Walmart and Marshalls seized from Bryan Kohbergers home

Wednesday 8 February 2023 10:30 , Andrea Blanco

According to the search warrant record unsealed last month, investigators seized one receipt from Walmart, two from Marshalls and a tag from the clothing brand Dickies from Bryan Kohbergers home.

Last month, The Independent spoke to two experts - Dr Monte Miller, a former crime scene investigator and forensic expert for the Texas Department of Public Safety; and former FBI agent Jennifer Coffindaffer - for their takes on each item.

Dr Miller said investigators could seek to prove that the items listed on those receipts, and whatever the tag came from, match with the clothing worn by the alleged killer.

[The suspect] may have bought something to wear and discard, and then [law enforcement] found these receipts and asked Where are these clothes? he said.

The receipts could also reveal how long in advance the clothing was purchased, Ms Coffindaffer noted.

Ethan Chapin, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20 and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, were killed on 13 November

I think that those would indicate not only what was purchased  which is relevant to the crime  but also when, which I think is very important to see timing, to see a forethought that this was planned, Ms Coffindaffer said. Was this just one day? Several days before? The timestamp to me is as important as what was on those receipts.

BTK killer Dennis Rader shares sympathy for Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger

Wednesday 8 February 2023 12:00 , Andrea Blanco

Serial killer Dennis Rader has expressed sympathy for Bryan Kohberger as he awaits trial in the Idaho murders.

Rader who gave himself the title of the BTK killer because he bound and tortured his victims before killing them  is serving ten consecutive life sentences in a maximum security prison in Kansas after he confessed in 2005 to killing 10 people over a span of three decades.

In an interview with Fox News Digital on Wednesday, Rader said he understands how Mr Kohberger must feel while in solitary confinement at Latah County Jail ahead of his preliminary hearing on 26 June.

Since I spent from February 2005 to April 2005 in a cell by myself, I know how he feels. Very lonely, Rader told the outlet, adding that his situation improved when he was allowed to receive mail. And soon letters started to come in ... [I] read a lot of the Bible and wrote poetry.

Read the full story:

BTK killer Dennis Rader shares sympathy for Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger

Kaylee Goncalves family fight gag order in Idaho murders case

Wednesday 8 February 2023 13:00 , Andrea Blanco

The family of slain University of Idaho student Kaylee Goncalves are fighting back against an unusually restrictive gag order placed on the case against her accused killer.

In an appeal filed in court on Friday, the Goncalves family attorney Shanon Gray called on the judge to pull back the scope of the gag order, describing it as unconstitutional and facially overbroad and vague.

The Independents Rachel Sharp has the story:

Kaylee Goncalves family fight gag order in Idaho murders case

Bryan Kohberger was fired from WSU teaching job around time of murders  for sexism and behavioural issues

Wednesday 8 February 2023 13:30 , Rachel Sharp

Bryan Kohberger was facing disciplinary action in his teaching assistant job at Washington State University (WSU) around the time of the murders of four University of Idaho students  before he was ultimately fired from the position days before his arrest.

The 28-year-old criminology PhD student began working as a teaching assistant in August as part of his graduate program.

But within a month he was under investigation by the university because of behavioural problems and a sexist attitude towards women, according to NewsNation, which obtained a detailed timeline of his issues in the department.

On 2 November, he reportedly met with a professor to discuss an improvement plan for his behaviour.

Less than two weeks later on 13 November, Mr Kohberger is accused of stabbing to death Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves in a student home over the Washington border in Moscow, Idaho.

One month on from the murders, on 19 November, NewsNation reported that he was fired from WSU following repeated warnings and failing to improve his behaviour. Days later on 30 December he was arrested and charged with the quadruple homicide.

Bryan Kohbergers distinct eyebrows may have been among the first in a string of details that linked him to the Idaho murders, according to a new report

Wednesday 8 February 2023 14:00 , Andrea Blanco

Air Mails The Eyes of a Killer: Part Two offers a vivid description of the Moscow police hunt for evidence that would ultimately materialise in Mr Kohbergers arrest for the murders of four University of Idaho students, based on an affidavit released earlier this month and sources close to the investigation,

According to the report, a lead investigator first had an inkling that Mr Kohberger would become a suspect in the crime after he ran the Washington State University PhD students licence plate and noticed his bushy eyebrows.

One of the surviving roommates at the 1122 King Road home had recounted how she unknowingly saw her friends killer leaving the scene before going back into her room in a state of shock. The woman said the killer was wearing a mask, but his bushy eyebrows stood out to her.

Andrea Blanco has more:

One unique facial feature may have linked Bryan Kohberger to the Idaho murders

Dickies tag and receipts from Walmart and Marshalls seized from Bryan Kohbergers home

Wednesday 8 February 2023 15:09 , Andrea Blanco

According to the search warrant record unsealed last month, investigators seized one receipt from Walmart, two from Marshalls and a tag from the clothing brand Dickies from Bryan Kohbergers home.

Last month, The Independent spoke to two experts - Dr Monte Miller, a former crime scene investigator and forensic expert for the Texas Department of Public Safety; and former FBI agent Jennifer Coffindaffer - for their takes on each item.

Dr Miller said investigators could seek to prove that the items listed on those receipts, and whatever the tag came from, match with the clothing worn by the alleged killer.

[The suspect] may have bought something to wear and discard, and then [law enforcement] found these receipts and asked Where are these clothes? he said.

The receipts could also reveal how long in advance the clothing was purchased, Ms Coffindaffer noted.

Ethan Chapin, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20 and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, were killed on 13 November

I think that those would indicate not only what was purchased  which is relevant to the crime  but also when, which I think is very important to see timing, to see a forethought that this was planned, Ms Coffindaffer said. Was this just one day? Several days before? The timestamp to me is as important as what was on those receipts.

Bryan Kohberger was fired from WSU teaching job days before Idaho murders arrest

Wednesday 8 February 2023 16:06 , Andrea Blanco

Bryan Kohberger was facing disciplinary action in his teaching assistant job at Washington State University (WSU) around the time of the murders of four University of Idaho students  before he was ultimately fired from the position days before his arrest.

The 28-year-old criminology PhD student began working as a teaching assistant in the criminology department in August as part of his graduate program.

The Independents Rachel Sharp has the story:

Bryan Kohberger was fired from WSU teaching job days before Idaho murders arrest

Pennsylvania police are sifting through cold cases for possible links to Bryan Kohberger

Wednesday 8 February 2023 17:01 , Andrea Blanco

Two law enforcement offices in Pennsylvania are reportedly sifting through cold case files in search of any potential links to Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger.

Northampton County District and Lehigh County started looking for links between unsolved cases and Mr Kohberger following his 30 December arrest, King5 reported. The Washington State University PhD student is accused of murdering Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Ethan Chapin on 13 November in Moscow, Idaho.

The Independent has the story:

Pennsylvania police looking at cold cases for possible links to Bryan Kohberger

Ethan Chapins mother shares how family navigates grief journey

Wednesday 8 February 2023 18:59 , Andrea Blanco

In a Facebook post in late January, Stacy Chapin said she and her husband had visited her two surviving triplets, Mazie and Hunter, at the University of Idaho over the weekend. The Chapin triplets were all enrolled at the college in the town of Moscow when Ethan was killed on 13 November.

Ethans girlfriend Xana Kernodle her roommates Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves were also brutally murdered in the attack in their off-campus rental home. Washington State University PhD student Bryan Kohberger, 28, was arrested and charged with the slayings on 30 December.

Speaking out about life after losing her son, Ms Chapin said she had early on agreed with her husband that Maizie and Hunter would be returning to school for the spring semester. The mother-of-three said that she wanted to keep her family close but also allow her children to heal at their own pace.

During their visit, Ms Chapin said, the parents fed over 20 of their childrens friends and enjoyed long conversations, coffee dates and hugs. The Chapin family also spent time remembering Ethan and sharing stories before Ms Chapin and her husband returned to their home in Washington.

Our kids are resilient, but this is definitely a challenging time. Were grateful they have each other at school, fraternity and sorority friends, and other amazing support systems, she wrote. They are each processing this new normal in their own way, and thats okay. Our job as parents is to be there and provide tools and resources as needed.

University of Idaho students claim they saw Bryan Kohberger staring on campus

Wednesday 8 February 2023 19:55 , Andrea Blanco

Several students have recalled seeing Bryan Kohberger  a PhD student at Washington State University  on the University of Idaho campus in the weeks before the murders.

Three separate students told People that they believe they saw him in the Student Union building, with one saying he was sitting staring at people.

It was really early in the semester, sophomore student Chelsea said. He was at the food court, drinking water. He sat by himself.

He was the type to stare. He wouldnt look away if you caught him staring. Like he wanted you to notice that he was looking at you. He didnt smile, didnt nod, didnt say anything. Just stared.

Chelsea said that his behaviour prompted her to point him out to a friend.

I told my friend to not be suspicious but to look at him, because the eye contact was making me uncomfortable, she said. It was so weird that we ended up leaving and eating outside, because we wanted to get away from him.

Another student told the outlet she recognised Mr Kohberger after his arrest as she had seen him often around the campus  despite the fact that he did not go to UI.

Its not a huge school; its like a small town, she said.

So you start seeing the same faces again and again. They become familiar, like you know that youve seen them in class or around campus. I definitely saw him more than once. He was just really quiet and really intense, staring. He made me uncomfortable.

Their accounts support comments previously made by a law enforcement source to People that the suspect spent some time on the UI campus before the 13 November killings.

No connection is yet known between the suspect and the victims.

Kaylee Goncalves family fight gag order in Idaho murders case

Wednesday 8 February 2023 21:25 , Andrea Blanco

The family of slain University of Idaho student Kaylee Goncalves are fighting back against an unusually restrictive gag order placed on the case against her accused killer.

In an appeal filed in court on Friday, the Goncalves family attorney Shanon Gray called on the judge to pull back the scope of the gag order, describing it as unconstitutional and facially overbroad and vague.

The Independents Rachel Sharp has the story:

Kaylee Goncalves family fight gag order in Idaho murders case

BTK killer Dennis Rader shares sympathy for Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger

Wednesday 8 February 2023 23:36 , Andrea Blanco

Serial killer Dennis Rader has expressed sympathy for Bryan Kohberger as he awaits trial in the Idaho murders.

Rader who gave himself the title of the BTK killer because he bound and tortured his victims before killing them  is serving ten consecutive life sentences in a maximum security prison in Kansas after he confessed in 2005 to killing 10 people over a span of three decades.

In an interview with Fox News Digital on Wednesday, Rader said he understands how Mr Kohberger must feel while in solitary confinement at Latah County Jail ahead of his preliminary hearing on 26 June.

Since I spent from February 2005 to April 2005 in a cell by myself, I know how he feels. Very lonely, Rader told the outlet, adding that his situation improved when he was allowed to receive mail. And soon letters started to come in ... [I] read a lot of the Bible and wrote poetry.

Read the full story:

BTK killer Dennis Rader shares sympathy for Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger

Bryan Kohbergers distinct eyebrows may have been among the first in a string of details' that linked him to the Idaho murders

Thursday 9 February 2023 01:30 , Andrea Blanco

Air Mails The Eyes of a Killer: Part Two offers a vivid description of the Moscow police hunt for evidence that would ultimately materialise in Mr Kohbergers arrest for the murders of four University of Idaho students, based on an affidavit released earlier this month and sources close to the investigation,

According to the report, a lead investigator first had an inkling that Mr Kohberger would become a suspect in the crime after he ran the Washington State University PhD students licence plate and noticed his bushy eyebrows.

One of the surviving roommates at the 1122 King Road home had recounted how she unknowingly saw her friends killer leaving the scene before going back into her room in a state of shock. The woman said the killer was wearing a mask, but his bushy eyebrows stood out to her.

Andrea Blanco has more:

One unique facial feature may have linked Bryan Kohberger to the Idaho murders

Victims family fight gag order in Idaho murders case

Thursday 9 February 2023 03:00 , Andrea Blanco

The family of slain University of Idaho student Kaylee Goncalves are fighting back against an unusually restrictive gag order placed on the case against her accused killer.

In an appeal filed in court on Friday, the Goncalves family attorney Shanon Gray called on the judge to pull back the scope of the gag order, describing it as unconstitutional and facially overbroad and vague.

A gag order was first issued in the case on 3 January, just days after Bryan Kohberger was arrested and charged with the quadruple homicide of Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin in Moscow, Idaho, on 13 November.

The initial order barred the prosecution, the defence, and law enforcement and other officials from speaking publicly about the case.

On 18 January, the gag order was broadly expanded to also ban any attorneys representing survivors, witnesses or the victims family members from talking or writing about the case.

The potential reason why Kaylee Goncalves called ex-boyfriend before Idaho murders

Thursday 9 February 2023 04:30 , Andrea Blanco

The Goncalves family has shed light on why she might have been calling her ex-boyfriend Jack DuCoeur in the hours before she was brutally attacked.

In a sit-down interview with the YouTube channel Chronicles of Olivia aired last month  and filmed two days before Mr Kohbergers arrest the Goncalves said their daughter broke up with Mr DuCoeur ahead of her post-graduation move to Texas, but had later voiced concerns that she might not ever find another Jack and was considering getting back together with him.

Kaylees father Steve Goncalves said that the couple had remained friends and the slain student was looking for every excuse for [Mr DuCoeur] to pick up the phone. The family noted that they were not just blindly sticking up for Mr DuCoeur, and that they had done their due diligence by looking out for scratches on his body, and potential evidence on his shoes and inside his car.

Even logically, I think a lot of people assume that were blinded by this individual but contrary to that, were very capable of removing our emotions for Jack which is absolute love  and just looking at the situation logically, Alivea Goncalves, Goncalves sister, said on the interview released on Friday.

Looking at this individual logically, looking at a pattern of behaviours of him that we have seen throughout five, six years ... In our hearts and in our heads and in every sense of the word, its just not [plausible that he committed the crime].

Mr DuCoeur was never considered a suspect in the quadruple murder, but was targeted by online armchair detectives baselessly linking him to the crimes before an arrest was made last month.

Bryan Kohbergers attorney says defence has no evidence to hand to state

Thursday 9 February 2023 06:00 , Andrea Blanco

Court filings show the suspects defence attorneys has now responded to the states request for discovery in the case.

In a court filing on 30 January, public defender Anne Taylor writes that the defence so far has no evidence to turn over such as books, documents, papers and photos.

There are also no results or reports of mental or physical exams or tests, the documents state.

This comes after prosecutors handed over a trove of documents, photos and video files in the case.

Why we should defend the surviving roommate in the Idaho murders

Thursday 9 February 2023 07:30 , Andrea Blanco

There are many chilling similarities between the murders of four Idaho students in November and a 1992 attack at a student home in Buffalo  none more so than the experiences of the roommates who survived.

Alanna Zabel tells The Independents Rachel Sharp why she feels the need to defend the surviving roommate in Idaho and how she understands the way trauma can shape reactions to such horrifying events:

She slept through an attack in her home - and has a message about the Idaho murders

FBI says agents did not lose track of Bryan Kohberger before Idaho college murders arrest

Thursday 9 February 2023 09:00 , Andrea Blanco

The FBI has denied claims that its agents lost accused mass killer Bryan Kohberger while he was under surveillance for the brutal murders of four University of Idaho students.

Surveillance teams had been tasked with keeping eyes on the 28-year-old criminology PhD student after he became a person of interest in the 13 November murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin in Moscow, Idaho.

But, law enforcement sources told Air Mails The Eyes of a Killer: Part Two that in the early hours of 13 December, Mr Kohberger set off on a cross-country drive with his father from Washington State University (WSU) to his family home in Pennsylvania and the surveillance team lost him.

The Independents Rachel Sharp has the full story:

FBI denies claim agents lost Bryan Kohberger before Idaho college murders arrest

Kaylee Goncalves family creates Facebook page for tips

Thursday 9 February 2023 10:30 , Andrea Blanco

Kaylee Goncalves family has created a new Facebook page for the public to send in tips and leads about the murders case.

The page, Idaho Murders- The Goncalves Family Page, was launched last week and has already reached 18,000 followers.

This page is for the public to reach out if you have any tips/leads that could be helpful, the page description reads.

In an update on Sunday, the family shared an update thanking the public for their support.

We want to sincerely thank everyone who has supported us throughout this tragedy. To the people who send us condolences and prayers, all the way to the (always 100% anonymous) individuals sending in multiple new leads, they wrote.

From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you all for the unwavering support and outpouring of love.

Why police arent sharing more information on the case

Thursday 9 February 2023 12:00 , Andrea Blanco

A court in Idaho recently extended a gag order prohibiting law enforcement officials from revealing information about the murders of four University of Idaho students and the arrest of their accused killer Bryan Kohberger.

The order, issued by the Latah County Chief Magistrate on 4 January, was extended on 19 January and will remain in place throughout court proceedings until a verdict has been reached or unless the mandate is modified by the court.

The earlier court order banned investigators, law enforcement personnel, attorneys, and members of both the prosecution and the defence from sharing any new information about the investigation or the suspect before a verdict is reached at trial.

As a result Moscow Police Department, which had been sharing updates on the investigation, said in a statement that it will no longer be communicating with the public or the media regarding the case.

The order both extends and expands the earlier measure.

According to court documents any attorney representing witness, victim, or victims family, as well as the parties to the above-entitled action, including but not limited to investigators, law enforcement personnel, and agents for the prosecuting attorney or defense attorney, are prohibited from making extrajudicial statements (written or oral) concerning this case.

ICYMI: Possible animal hair found at Bryan Kohbergers home after Kaylee Goncalves dog spared in Idaho murders

Thursday 9 February 2023 12:45 , Andrea Blanco

A possible animal hair was among the evidence seized from the home of Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger - sparking speculation that it could belong to victim Kaylee Goncalves dog.

Records of evidence recovered from Mr Kohbergers home were unsealed last month, nearly three weeks after his arrest for the 13 November stabbings of University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.

Included on the list of seizures was a possible animal hair strand. While Mr Kohberger is not believed to have a pet, one of the victims he is accused of killing, Goncalves, had a dog who was at home at the time of the murders.

The dog called Murphy became the target of substantial attention in the case after investigators revealed that the pet was found unscathed in the room where Goncalves and Mogen were stabbed to death in the former students bed.

Bryan Kohberger was fired from WSU teaching job around time of murders  for sexism and behavioural issues

Thursday 9 February 2023 13:30 , Andrea Blanco

Bryan Kohberger was facing disciplinary action in his teaching assistant job at Washington State University (WSU) around the time of the murders of four University of Idaho students  before he was ultimately fired from the position days prior to his arrest.

The 28-year-old criminology PhD student began working as a teaching assistant in the criminology department in August as part of his graduate program.

The Independents Rachel Sharp has the story:

Bryan Kohberger was fired from WSU teaching job days before Idaho murders arrest

Pennsylvania police are sifting through cold cases for possible links to Bryan Kohberger

Thursday 9 February 2023 14:15 , Andrea Blanco

Two law enforcement offices in Pennsylvania are reportedly sifting through cold case files in search of any potential links to Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger.

Northampton County District and Lehigh County started looking for links between unsolved cases and Mr Kohberger following his 30 December arrest, King5 reported. The Washington State University PhD student is accused of murdering Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Ethan Chapin on 13 November in Moscow, Idaho.

Read more:

Pennsylvania police looking at cold cases for possible links to Bryan Kohberger

Kaylee Goncalves family fight gag order in Idaho murders case

Thursday 9 February 2023 15:29 , Andrea Blanco

The family of slain University of Idaho student Kaylee Goncalves are fighting back against an unusually restrictive gag order placed on the case against her accused killer.

In an appeal filed in court on Friday, the Goncalves family attorney Shanon Gray called on the judge to pull back the scope of the gag order, describing it as unconstitutional and facially overbroad and vague.

A gag order was first issued in the case on 3 January, just days after Bryan Kohberger was arrested and charged with the quadruple homicide of Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin in Moscow, Idaho, on 13 November.

The initial order barred the prosecution, the defence, and law enforcement and other officials from speaking publicly about the case.

On 18 January, the gag order was broadly expanded to also ban any attorneys representing survivors, witnesses or the victims family members from talking or writing about the case.

Kaylee Goncalves family creates Facebook page for tips

Thursday 9 February 2023 16:30 , Andrea Blanco

Kaylee Goncalves family has created a new Facebook page for the public to send in tips and leads about the murders case.

The page, Idaho Murders- The Goncalves Family Page, was launched last week and has already reached 18,000 followers.

This page is for the public to reach out if you have any tips/leads that could be helpful, the page description reads.

In an update on Sunday, the family shared an update thanking the public for their support.

We want to sincerely thank everyone who has supported us throughout this tragedy. To the people who send us condolences and prayers, all the way to the (always 100% anonymous) individuals sending in multiple new leads, they wrote.

From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you all for the unwavering support and outpouring of love.

Bryan Kohbergers attorney says defence has no evidence to hand to state

Thursday 9 February 2023 17:41 , Andrea Blanco

Court filings show the suspects defence attorneys has now responded to the states request for discovery in the case.

In a court filing on 30 January, public defender Anne Taylor writes that the defence so far has no evidence to turn over such as books, documents, papers and photos.

There are also no results or reports of mental or physical exams or tests, the documents state.

This comes after prosecutors handed over a trove of documents, photos and video files in the case.

Pennsylvania police are sifting through cold cases for possible links to Bryan Kohberger

Thursday 9 February 2023 18:46 , Andrea Blanco

Pennsylvania police are sifting through cold cases for possible links to Bryan Kohberger

Two law enforcement offices in Pennsylvania are reportedly sifting through cold case files in search of any potential links to Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger.

Northampton County District and Lehigh County started looking for links between unsolved cases and Mr Kohberger following his 30 December arrest, King5 reported. The Washington State University PhD student is accused of murdering Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Ethan Chapin on 13 November in Moscow, Idaho.

The Independent has the story:

Pennsylvania police looking at cold cases for possible links to Bryan Kohberger

WSU addresses reports that Bryan Kohberger was fired from teaching assistant job before Idaho murders

Thursday 9 February 2023 20:36 , Andrea Blanco

Mr Kohberger began working as a teaching assistant in the criminology department at WSU in August as part of his graduate program.

But within a month he was already under investigation by the university because of behavioural problems and a sexist attitude towards women, according to NewsNation.

On Thursday, the university issued a statement saying that Mr Kohberger is not currently employed at WSU, but did not clarify whether he was fired before or after his 30 December arrest.

Bryan Kohberger received an appointment as a teaching assistant at Washington State University (WSU) during the fall 2022 semester. It is typical for students to receive a teaching assistantship or similar appointment as part of their PhD program, a spokesperson said.

Mr. Kohberger does not currently have a teaching assistantship and he is not currently enrolled at WSU. Information concerning a students teaching assistantship is considered a student record.

The federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) prevents universities from discussing student records. As a result, I am unable to comment on Mr. Kohbergers experience as a teaching assistant.

FBI says agents did not lose track of Bryan Kohberger before Idaho college murders arrest

Thursday 9 February 2023 21:18 , Andrea Blanco

The FBI has denied claims that its agents lost accused mass killer Bryan Kohberger while he was under surveillance for the brutal murders of four University of Idaho students.

Surveillance teams had been tasked with keeping eyes on the 28-year-old criminology PhD student after he became a person of interest in the 13 November murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin in Moscow, Idaho.

But, law enforcement sources told Air Mails The Eyes of a Killer: Part Two that in the early hours of 13 December, Mr Kohberger set off on a cross-country drive with his father from Washington State University (WSU) to his family home in Pennsylvania and the surveillance team lost him.

The Independents Rachel Sharp has the full story:

ICYMI: Possible animal hair found at Bryan Kohbergers home after Kaylee Goncalves dog spared in Idaho murders

Thursday 9 February 2023 22:41 , Andrea Blanco

A possible animal hair was among the evidence seized from the home of Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger - sparking speculation that it could belong to victim Kaylee Goncalves dog.

Records of evidence recovered from Mr Kohbergers home were unsealed last month, nearly three weeks after his arrest for the 13 November stabbings of University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.

Included on the list of seizures was a possible animal hair strand. While Mr Kohberger is not believed to have a pet, one of the victims he is accused of killing, Goncalves, had a dog who was at home at the time of the murders.

The dog called Murphy became the target of substantial attention in the case after investigators revealed that the pet was found unscathed in the room where Goncalves and Mogen were stabbed to death in the former students bed.

Serial killer Dennis Rader has expressed sympathy for Bryan Kohberger as he awaits trial in the Idaho murders

Friday 10 February 2023 00:30 , Andrea Blanco

Rader who gave himself the title of the BTK killer because he bound and tortured his victims before killing them  is serving ten consecutive life sentences in a maximum security prison in Kansas after he confessed in 2005 to killing 10 people over a span of three decades.

In an interview with Fox News Digital on Wednesday, Rader said he understands how Mr Kohberger must feel while in solitary confinement at Latah County Jail ahead of his preliminary hearing on 26 June.

Since I spent from February 2005 to April 2005 in a cell by myself, I know how he feels. Very lonely, Rader told the outlet, adding that his situation improved when he was allowed to receive mail. And soon letters started to come in ... [I] read a lot of the Bible and wrote poetry.

Read the full story:

BTK killer Dennis Rader shares sympathy for Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger

Kaylee Goncalves family fight gag order in Idaho murders case

Friday 10 February 2023 02:00 , Andrea Blanco

The family of slain University of Idaho student Kaylee Goncalves are fighting back against an unusually restrictive gag order placed on the case against her accused killer.

In an appeal filed in court on Friday, the Goncalves family attorney Shanon Gray called on the judge to pull back the scope of the gag order, describing it as unconstitutional and facially overbroad and vague.

The Independents Rachel Sharp has the story:

Kaylee Goncalves family fight gag order in Idaho murders case

Dickies tag and receipts from Walmart and Marshalls seized from Bryan Kohbergers home

Friday 10 February 2023 03:30 , Andrea Blanco

According to the search warrant record unsealed last month, investigators seized one receipt from Walmart, two from Marshalls and a tag from the clothing brand Dickies from Bryan Kohbergers home.

Last month, The Independent spoke to two experts - Dr Monte Miller, a former crime scene investigator and forensic expert for the Texas Department of Public Safety; and former FBI agent Jennifer Coffindaffer - for their takes on each item.

Dr Miller said investigators could seek to prove that the items listed on those receipts, and whatever the tag came from, match with the clothing worn by the alleged killer.

[The suspect] may have bought something to wear and discard, and then [law enforcement] found these receipts and asked Where are these clothes? he said.

The receipts could also reveal how long in advance the clothing was purchased, Ms Coffindaffer noted.

Ethan Chapin, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20 and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, were killed on 13 November

I think that those would indicate not only what was purchased  which is relevant to the crime  but also when, which I think is very important to see timing, to see a forethought that this was planned, Ms Coffindaffer said. Was this just one day? Several days before? The timestamp to me is as important as what was on those receipts.

Could Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger get a plea deal?

Friday 10 February 2023 05:00 , Andrea Blanco

If convicted of the four murders, Bryan Kohberger faces the possibility of lethal injection, should the prosecution seek the death penalty.

In the state of Idaho, the maximum sentence for first-degree murder is death and the suspect is facing four counts of this charge.

While the Latah County prosecutor has not yet confirmed whether or not he plans to seek the death penalty in the case and he is unlikely to show his hand over the coming weeks due to the gag order now in place.

Kaylee Goncalves parents have already said that they want their daughters killer to be sentenced to death saying he has to pay for what he has done.

If you want to play gods role, youre gonna have to go answer to him, Steve Goncalves told NewsNation in early-January.

According to prominent attorney Duncan Levin, in a death penalty case, the only possible plea deal would be for the suspect to be given life in prison instead.

However, he said it is too early to tell whether this is likely in this case.

At this point, it is too early for the two sides to have a discussion about a plea deal, he told The Independent.

On a death penalty case, the only plea on the table is life in prison but both sides have too much investigating ahead of them to discuss that at this time.

Ethan Chapins mother shares how family are adjusting to new normal

Friday 10 February 2023 06:30 , Andrea Blanco

The mother of slain University of Idaho Ethan Chapin has opened up about finding the little victories in her grief journey.

In a Facebook post on Monday, Stacy Chapin said she and her husband had visited her two surviving triplets, Mazie and Hunter, at the University of Idaho over the weekend. The Chapin triplets were all enrolled at the college in the town of Moscow when Ethan was killed on 13 November.

Speaking out about life after losing her son, Ms Chapin said she had early on agreed with her husband that Maizie and Hunter would be returning to school for the spring semester. The mother-of-three said that she wanted to keep her family close but also allow her children to heal at their own pace.

Read the full story here:

Ethan Chapins mom speaks about adjusting to new normal after Idaho murders

ICYMI: The unique facial feature that may have linked Bryan Kohberger to the Idaho murders

Friday 10 February 2023 08:00 , Andrea Blanco

Bryan Kohbergers distinct eyebrows may have been among the first in a string of details that linked him to the Idaho murders, according to a new report.

Air Mails The Eyes of a Killer: Part Two offers a vivid description of the Moscow police hunt for evidence that would ultimately materialise in Mr Kohbergers arrest for the murders of four University of Idaho students, based on an affidavit released earlier this month and sources close to the investigation,

According to the report, a lead investigator first had an inkling that Mr Kohberger would become a suspect in the crime after he ran the Washington State University PhD students licence plate and noticed his bushy eyebrows.

One of the surviving roommates at the 1122 King Road home had recounted how she unknowingly saw her friends killer leaving the scene before going back into her room in a state of shock. The woman said the killer was wearing a mask, but his bushy eyebrows stood out to her.

Andrea Blanco has more:

One unique facial feature may have linked Bryan Kohberger to the Idaho murders

University of Idaho students claim they saw Bryan Kohberger staring on campus

Friday 10 February 2023 10:30 , Andrea Blanco

Several students have recalled seeing Bryan Kohberger  a PhD student at Washington State University  on the University of Idaho campus in the weeks before the murders.

Three separate students told People that they believe they saw him in the Student Union building, with one saying he was sitting staring at people.

It was really early in the semester, sophomore student Chelsea said. He was at the food court, drinking water. He sat by himself.

He was the type to stare. He wouldnt look away if you caught him staring. Like he wanted you to notice that he was looking at you. He didnt smile, didnt nod, didnt say anything. Just stared.

Chelsea said that his behaviour prompted her to point him out to a friend.

I told my friend to not be suspicious but to look at him, because the eye contact was making me uncomfortable, she said. It was so weird that we ended up leaving and eating outside, because we wanted to get away from him.

Another student told the outlet she recognised Mr Kohberger after his arrest as she had seen him often around the campus  despite the fact that he did not go to UI.

Its not a huge school; its like a small town, she said.

So you start seeing the same faces again and again. They become familiar, like you know that youve seen them in class or around campus. I definitely saw him more than once. He was just really quiet and really intense, staring. He made me uncomfortable.

Their accounts support comments previously made by a law enforcement source to People that the suspect spent some time on the UI campus before the 13 November killings.

No connection is yet known between the suspect and the victims.

FBI says agents did not lose track of Bryan Kohberger while he drove with his father to Washington

Friday 10 February 2023 11:15 , Andrea Blanco

FBI denies claim agents lost Bryan Kohberger before Idaho college murders arrest

The FBI has denied claims that its agents lost accused mass killer Bryan Kohberger while he was under surveillance for the brutal murders of four University of Idaho students.

Surveillance teams had been tasked with keeping eyes on the 28-year-old criminology PhD student after he became a person of interest in the 13 November murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin in Moscow, Idaho.

But, law enforcement sources told Air Mails The Eyes of a Killer: Part Two that in the early hours of 13 December, Mr Kohberger set off on a cross-country drive with his father from Washington State University (WSU) to his family home in Pennsylvania and the surveillance team lost him.

The Independents Rachel Sharp has the story:

FBI denies claim agents lost Bryan Kohberger before Idaho college murders arrest

WSU addresses reports that Bryan Kohberger was fired from teaching assistant job before Idaho murders

Friday 10 February 2023 12:00 , Andrea Blanco

Mr Kohberger began working as a teaching assistant in the criminology department at WSU in August as part of his graduate program.

But within a month he was already under investigation by the university because of behavioural problems and a sexist attitude towards women, according to NewsNation.

On Thursday, the university issued a statement saying that Mr Kohberger is not currently employed at WSU, but did not clarify whether he was fired before or after his 30 December arrest.

Bryan Kohberger received an appointment as a teaching assistant at Washington State University (WSU) during the fall 2022 semester. It is typical for students to receive a teaching assistantship or similar appointment as part of their PhD program, a spokesperson said.

Mr. Kohberger does not currently have a teaching assistantship and he is not currently enrolled at WSU. Information concerning a students teaching assistantship is considered a student record.

The federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) prevents universities from discussing student records. As a result, I am unable to comment on Mr. Kohbergers experience as a teaching assistant.

Kaylee Goncalves family creates Facebook page for tips

Friday 10 February 2023 12:45 , Andrea Blanco

Kaylee Goncalves family has created a new Facebook page for the public to send in tips and leads about the murders case.

The page, Idaho Murders- The Goncalves Family Page, was launched last week and has already reached 18,000 followers.

This page is for the public to reach out if you have any tips/leads that could be helpful, the page description reads.

In an update on Sunday, the family shared an update thanking the public for their support.

We want to sincerely thank everyone who has supported us throughout this tragedy. To the people who send us condolences and prayers, all the way to the (always 100% anonymous) individuals sending in multiple new leads, they wrote.

From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you all for the unwavering support and outpouring of love.

Pennsylvania police are sifting through cold cases for possible links to Bryan Kohberger

Friday 10 February 2023 13:15 , Andrea Blanco

Two law enforcement offices in Pennsylvania are reportedly sifting through cold case files in search of any potential links to Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger.

Northampton County District and Lehigh County started looking for links between unsolved cases and Mr Kohberger following his 30 December arrest, King5 reported. The Washington State University PhD student is accused of murdering Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Ethan Chapin on 13 November in Moscow, Idaho.

Mr Kohberger, originally from Pennsylvania, was a student at Northampton Community College in Bethlehem before he went on to spend four years studying criminology at DeSales University in Lehigh County.

Prosecutors in the two Keystone State counties told King5 that although no links have emerged so far, their offices are still working through cold cases databases.

Pennsylvania police looking at cold cases for possible links to Bryan Kohberger

Kaylee Goncalves family fight gag order in Idaho murders case

Friday 10 February 2023 14:00 , Andrea Blanco

The family of slain University of Idaho student Kaylee Goncalves are fighting back against an unusually restrictive gag order placed on the case against her accused killer.

In an appeal filed in court on Friday, the Goncalves family attorney Shanon Gray called on the judge to pull back the scope of the gag order, describing it as unconstitutional and facially overbroad and vague.

A gag order was first issued in the case on 3 January, just days after Bryan Kohberger was arrested and charged with the quadruple homicide of Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin in Moscow, Idaho, on 13 November.

The initial order barred the prosecution, the defence, and law enforcement and other officials from speaking publicly about the case.

On 18 January, the gag order was broadly expanded to also ban any attorneys representing survivors, witnesses or the victims family members from talking or writing about the case.

Dickies tag and receipts from Walmart and Marshalls seized from Bryan Kohbergers home

Friday 10 February 2023 15:07 , Andrea Blanco

According to the search warrant record unsealed last month, investigators seized one receipt from Walmart, two from Marshalls and a tag from the clothing brand Dickies from Bryan Kohbergers home.

Last month, The Independent spoke to two experts - Dr Monte Miller, a former crime scene investigator and forensic expert for the Texas Department of Public Safety; and former FBI agent Jennifer Coffindaffer - for their takes on each item.

Dr Miller said investigators could seek to prove that the items listed on those receipts, and whatever the tag came from, match with the clothing worn by the alleged killer.

[The suspect] may have bought something to wear and discard, and then [law enforcement] found these receipts and asked Where are these clothes? he said.

The receipts could also reveal how long in advance the clothing was purchased, Ms Coffindaffer noted.

Ethan Chapin, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20 and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, were killed on 13 November

I think that those would indicate not only what was purchased  which is relevant to the crime  but also when, which I think is very important to see timing, to see a forethought that this was planned, Ms Coffindaffer said. Was this just one day? Several days before? The timestamp to me is as important as what was on those receipts.

ICYMI: The unique facial feature that may have linked Bryan Kohberger to the Idaho murders

Friday 10 February 2023 16:47 , Andrea Blanco

Bryan Kohbergers distinct eyebrows may have been among the first in a string of details that linked him to the Idaho murders, according to a new report.

Air Mails The Eyes of a Killer: Part Two offers a vivid description of the Moscow police hunt for evidence that would ultimately materialise in Mr Kohbergers arrest for the murders of four University of Idaho students, based on an affidavit released earlier this month and sources close to the investigation,

According to the report, a lead investigator first had an inkling that Mr Kohberger would become a suspect in the crime after he ran the Washington State University PhD students licence plate and noticed his bushy eyebrows.

One of the surviving roommates at the 1122 King Road home had recounted how she unknowingly saw her friends killer leaving the scene before going back into her room in a state of shock. The woman said the killer was wearing a mask, but his bushy eyebrows stood out to her.

Andrea Blanco has more:

One unique facial feature may have linked Bryan Kohberger to the Idaho murders

Ethan Chapins mother shares how family are adjusting to new normal

Friday 10 February 2023 18:18 , Andrea Blanco

The mother of slain University of Idaho Ethan Chapin has opened up about finding the little victories in her grief journey.

In a Facebook post on Monday, Stacy Chapin said she and her husband had visited her two surviving triplets, Mazie and Hunter, at the University of Idaho over the weekend. The Chapin triplets were all enrolled at the college in the town of Moscow when Ethan was killed on 13 November.

Speaking out about life after losing her son, Ms Chapin said she had early on agreed with her husband that Maizie and Hunter would be returning to school for the spring semester. The mother-of-three said that she wanted to keep her family close but also allow her children to heal at their own pace.

Read the full story here:

Ethan Chapins mom speaks about adjusting to new normal after Idaho murders

Bryan Kohbergers attorney says defence has no evidence to hand to state

Friday 10 February 2023 19:26 , Andrea Blanco

Court filings show the suspects defence attorneys has now responded to the states request for discovery in the case.

In a court filing on 30 January, public defender Anne Taylor writes that the defence so far has no evidence to turn over such as books, documents, papers and photos.

There are also no results or reports of mental or physical exams or tests, the documents state.

This comes after prosecutors handed over a trove of documents, photos and video files in the case.

Why we should defend the surviving roommate in the Idaho murders

Friday 10 February 2023 22:29 , Andrea Blanco

There are many chilling similarities between the murders of four Idaho students in November and a 1992 attack at a student home in Buffalo  none more so than the experiences of the roommates who survived.

Alanna Zabel tells The Independents Rachel Sharp why she feels the need to defend the surviving roommate in Idaho and how she understands the way trauma can shape reactions to such horrifying events:

University of Idaho students claim they saw Bryan Kohberger staring on campus

Friday 10 February 2023 23:44 , Andrea Blanco

Several students have recalled seeing Bryan Kohberger  a PhD student at Washington State University  on the University of Idaho campus in the weeks before the murders.

Three separate students told People that they believe they saw him in the Student Union building, with one saying he was sitting staring at people.

It was really early in the semester, sophomore student Chelsea said. He was at the food court, drinking water. He sat by himself.

He was the type to stare. He wouldnt look away if you caught him staring. Like he wanted you to notice that he was looking at you. He didnt smile, didnt nod, didnt say anything. Just stared.

Chelsea said that his behaviour prompted her to point him out to a friend.

I told my friend to not be suspicious but to look at him, because the eye contact was making me uncomfortable, she said. It was so weird that we ended up leaving and eating outside, because we wanted to get away from him.

Another student told the outlet she recognised Mr Kohberger after his arrest as she had seen him often around the campus  despite the fact that he did not go to UI.

Its not a huge school; its like a small town, she said.

So you start seeing the same faces again and again. They become familiar, like you know that youve seen them in class or around campus. I definitely saw him more than once. He was just really quiet and really intense, staring. He made me uncomfortable.

Their accounts support comments previously made by a law enforcement source to People that the suspect spent some time on the UI campus before the 13 November killings.

No connection is yet known between the suspect and the victims.

Bryan Kohberger was interviewed by local police chief for internship months before Idaho murders

Saturday 11 February 2023 00:30 , Andrea Blanco

A criminology PhD student accused of murdering four University of Idaho students was interviewed by a local police department for an internship position months before the

Emails obtained by The New York Times show a brief exchange between Washington State University student Bryan Kohberger and the then-chief of Pullman Police Department Gary Jenkins regarding Mr Kohbergers interview process for the research assistantship for public safety position in April 2022.

Mr Kohberger, 28, is facing four murder charges in the brutal stabbings of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin in an off-campus rental home in Moscow, Idaho, on 13 November. Mr Kohberger was arrested in Pennsylvania on 30 December before he was extradited to Idaho on 5 January.

In his email to Mr Jenkins, Mr Kohberger wrote that it was a great pleasure to meet with you today and share [his] thoughts and excitement. Mr Jenkins replied that it was great to meet and talk with you as well.

It is not clear whether Mr Kohberger was offered a position with the department. The Independent has reached out to the department for comment.

BTK killer Dennis Rader shares sympathy for Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger

Saturday 11 February 2023 02:00 , Andrea Blanco

Serial killer Dennis Rader has expressed sympathy for Bryan Kohberger as he awaits trial in the Idaho murders.

Rader who gave himself the title of the BTK killer because he bound and tortured his victims before killing them  is serving ten consecutive life sentences in a maximum security prison in Kansas after he confessed in 2005 to killing 10 people over a span of three decades.

In an interview with Fox News Digital on last week, Rader said he understands how Mr Kohberger must feel while in solitary confinement at Latah County Jail ahead of his preliminary hearing on 26 June.

Since I spent from February 2005 to April 2005 in a cell by myself, I know how he feels. Very lonely, Rader told the outlet, adding that his situation improved when he was allowed to receive mail. And soon letters started to come in ... [I] read a lot of the Bible and wrote poetry.

Raders name was first linked to the Idaho case last month after it emerged that Mr Kohberger had been a student in a criminology class taught by Dr Katherine Ramsland, the leading academic authority on the BTK killings.

Kaylee Goncalves family fight gag order in Idaho murders case

Saturday 11 February 2023 03:30 , Andrea Blanco

The family of slain University of Idaho student Kaylee Goncalves are fighting back against an unusually restrictive gag order placed on the case against her accused killer.

In an appeal filed in court last week, the Goncalves family attorney Shanon Gray called on the judge to pull back the scope of the gag order, describing it as unconstitutional and facially overbroad and vague.

A gag order was first issued in the case on 3 January, just days after Bryan Kohberger was arrested and charged with the quadruple homicide of Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin in Moscow, Idaho, on 13 November.

The initial order barred the prosecution, the defence, and law enforcement and other officials from speaking publicly about the case.

On 18 January, the gag order was broadly expanded to also ban any attorneys representing survivors, witnesses or the victims family members from talking or writing about the case.

The unique facial feature that may have linked Bryan Kohberger to the Idaho murders

Saturday 11 February 2023 05:00 , Andrea Blanco

Bryan Kohbergers distinct eyebrows may have been among the first in a string of details that linked him to the Idaho murders, according to a new report.

Air Mails The Eyes of a Killer: Part Two offers a vivid description of the Moscow police hunt for evidence that would ultimately materialise in Mr Kohbergers arrest for the murders of four University of Idaho students, based on an affidavit released earlier this month and sources close to the investigation,

According to the report, a lead investigator first had an inkling that Mr Kohberger would become a suspect in the crime after he ran the Washington State University PhD students licence plate and noticed his bushy eyebrows.

One of the surviving roommates at the 1122 King Road home had recounted how she unknowingly saw her friends killer leaving the scene before going back into her room in a state of shock. The woman said the killer was wearing a mask, but his bushy eyebrows stood out to her.

Andrea Blanco has more:

One unique facial feature may have linked Bryan Kohberger to the Idaho murders

Kaylee Goncalves family creates Facebook page for tips

Saturday 11 February 2023 06:30 , Andrea Blanco

Kaylee Goncalves family has created a new Facebook page for the public to send in tips and leads about the murders case.

The page, Idaho Murders- The Goncalves Family Page, was launched last week and has already reached 18,000 followers.

This page is for the public to reach out if you have any tips/leads that could be helpful, the page description reads.

In an update on Sunday, the family shared an update thanking the public for their support.

We want to sincerely thank everyone who has supported us throughout this tragedy. To the people who send us condolences and prayers, all the way to the (always 100% anonymous) individuals sending in multiple new leads, they wrote.

From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you all for the unwavering support and outpouring of love.

ICYMI: Possible animal hair found at Bryan Kohbergers home after Kaylee Goncalves dog spared in Idaho murders

Saturday 11 February 2023 08:00 , Andrea Blanco

A possible animal hair was among the evidence seized from the home of Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger - sparking speculation that it could belong to victim Kaylee Goncalves dog.

Records of evidence recovered from Mr Kohbergers home were unsealed last month, nearly three weeks after his arrest for the 13 November stabbings of University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.

Included on the list of seizures was a possible animal hair strand. While Mr Kohberger is not believed to have a pet, one of the victims he is accused of killing, Goncalves, had a dog who was at home at the time of the murders.

The dog called Murphy became the target of substantial attention in the case after investigators revealed that the pet was found unscathed in the room where Goncalves and Mogen were stabbed to death in the former students bed.

FBI says agents did not lose track of Bryan Kohberger before Idaho college murders arrest

Saturday 11 February 2023 09:30 , Andrea Blanco

The FBI has denied claims that its agents lost accused mass killer Bryan Kohberger while he was under surveillance for the brutal murders of four University of Idaho students.

Surveillance teams had been tasked with keeping eyes on the 28-year-old criminology PhD student after he became a person of interest in the 13 November murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin in Moscow, Idaho.

But, law enforcement sources told Air Mails The Eyes of a Killer: Part Two that in the early hours of 13 December, Mr Kohberger set off on a cross-country drive with his father from Washington State University (WSU) to his family home in Pennsylvania and the surveillance team lost him.

The Independents Rachel Sharp has the full story:

FBI denies claim agents lost Bryan Kohberger before Idaho college murders arrest

WSU addresses reports that Bryan Kohberger was fired from teaching assistant job before Idaho murders

Saturday 11 February 2023 11:00 , Andrea Blanco

Mr Kohberger began working as a teaching assistant in the criminology department at WSU in August as part of his graduate program.

But within a month he was already under investigation by the university because of behavioural problems and a sexist attitude towards women, according to NewsNation.

On Thursday, the university issued a statement saying that Mr Kohberger is not currently employed at WSU, but did not clarify whether he was fired before or after his 30 December arrest.

Bryan Kohberger received an appointment as a teaching assistant at Washington State University (WSU) during the fall 2022 semester. It is typical for students to receive a teaching assistantship or similar appointment as part of their PhD program, a spokesperson said.

Mr. Kohberger does not currently have a teaching assistantship and he is not currently enrolled at WSU. Information concerning a students teaching assistantship is considered a student record.

The federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) prevents universities from discussing student records. As a result, I am unable to comment on Mr. Kohbergers experience as a teaching assistant.

Pennsylvania police sift through cold cases for possible links to Bryan Kohberger

Saturday 11 February 2023 12:00 , Andrea Blanco

Two law enforcement offices in Pennsylvania are reportedly sifting through cold case files in search of any potential links to Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger.

Northampton County District and Lehigh County started looking for links between unsolved cases and Mr Kohberger following his 30 December arrest, King5 reported. The Washington State University PhD student is accused of murdering Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Ethan Chapin on 13 November in Moscow, Idaho.

The Independent has the story:

Pennsylvania police looking at cold cases for possible links to Bryan Kohberger

Ethan Chapins mother shares how family navigates grief journey

Saturday 11 February 2023 13:00 , Andrea Blanco

In a Facebook post in late January, Stacy Chapin said she and her husband had visited her two surviving triplets, Mazie and Hunter, at the University of Idaho over the weekend. The Chapin triplets were all enrolled at the college in the town of Moscow when Ethan was killed on 13 November.

Ethans girlfriend Xana Kernodle her roommates Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves were also brutally murdered in the attack in their off-campus rental home. Washington State University PhD student Bryan Kohberger, 28, was arrested and charged with the slayings on 30 December.

Speaking out about life after losing her son, Ms Chapin said she had early on agreed with her husband that Maizie and Hunter would be returning to school for the spring semester. The mother-of-three said that she wanted to keep her family close but also allow her children to heal at their own pace.

During their visit, Ms Chapin said, the parents fed over 20 of their childrens friends and enjoyed long conversations, coffee dates and hugs. The Chapin family also spent time remembering Ethan and sharing stories before Ms Chapin and her husband returned to their home in Washington.

Our kids are resilient, but this is definitely a challenging time. Were grateful they have each other at school, fraternity and sorority friends, and other amazing support systems, she wrote. They are each processing this new normal in their own way, and thats okay. Our job as parents is to be there and provide tools and resources as needed.
Got a ticket in Montgomery County? You may not need to go to the courthouse.

Drivers who get a traffic ticket from a state Trooper or sheriff's deputy in the county now have more options to resolve those tickets online. Some of those options include:

Plead guilty, pay the fine and avoid going to court

Plead guilty and request more time to pay the fine while also avoiding going to court

Request driving school instead of going to court

Plead not guilty and request a trial date

Request a new court date

Montgomery County Circuit Clerk Gina Ishman, shown here at the Montgomery County Courthouse on Sept. 30, 2020, said the new online options for Montgomery County are "a real time saver."

"You used to have to go to the courthouse if you wanted to attend driving school or if you wanted payment plan to pay your fine. Now, you can seek those options online," Montgomery County Circuit Clerk Gina Ishman said. "Lets say you got a ticket for no insurance. You can now submit proof of insurance online right from your smartphone instead of having to go to the courthouse. It is a real time saver.

The program doesn't apply to tickets issued by the Montgomery Police Department.

Ishman and Montgomery County District Judge Tiffany McCord announced the rollout last week. McCord said they were working with Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Parker and the Administrative Office of Courts for months to streamline the process.

You can find out more by going to https://traffic.alacourt.gov/resolve.aspx.

Brad Harper covers business and local government for the Montgomery Advertiser. Contact him at bharper1@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Montgomery County expands options to resolve tickets online
Embrace the pura vida lifestyle at Sendero, a new boutique hotel in Nosara, Costa Rica.

If surf, sand, sun, and lush tropical views teeming with wildlife sound like your ideal vacation  or remote work location  then Sendero, a new boutique hotel opening on Feb. 16 in Nosara, Costa Rica, should be at the top of your wish list.

Courtesy of Sendero

Fully embracing the Costa Rican beach town's signature laidback vibe, popular with yogis and surf enthusiasts, the hotel marries chic contemporary design with Costa Rica's beautiful nature. The property's 25 rooms are a stylish and secluded retreat catering to wellness-minded travelers, located a two-minute walk from the four-mile protected Playa Guiones (hence the hotel's name, which means "short path" in Spanish).

Courtesy of Sendero

Courtesy of Sendero

The architecture and design borrow elements from traditional haciendas, such as exposed wood beams, arches, and ceramic tiling, and use local and recycled materials to keep up with the property's sustainability efforts. Of course, nature plays a central role in Sendero's decor; Each accommodation has an outdoor shower overlooking a neighboring 11-acre preserve.

The hotel has also partnered with deCerca, a San Jose-based art gallery, to showcase work by Costa Rican artists throughout the rooms and lobby.

"Sendero is not only your path to the beach to catch a morning wave but your path to connecting with and feeling energized by the nature that encapsulates you from our open lobby to our rooms," said Stefanie Tannenbaum, the hotel's co-founder, in a press release sent to Travel + Leisure.

Courtesy of Sendero

Courtesy of Sendero

On-site wellness offerings include yoga classes, Pilates, and barre, along with breathwork and stretching sessions that surfers will surely appreciate. The hotel also has its own surf school, where travelers can rent a surfboard and head straight to the beach. After all, Nosara is famous for its consistent year-round waves that surfers of all levels can enjoy.

Or, if you prefer something less adrenaline-inducing, the hotel's pool offers a serene setting to unwind with a book and a cold drink from Talise, Sendero's all-day restaurant and bar. Talise also serves a seasonal menu of healthy dishes with locally sourced produce in an effortlessly chic, open-air dining room.

Story continues

Courtesy of Sendero

And if you need to respond to an email or two, Sendero's guests also get access to a fully equipped co-working space with offices, a library, a cafe, and a rooftop.

Nightly rates at Sendero start at $300, and you can book your stay at https://senderonosara.com.

For more Travel & Leisure news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on Travel & Leisure.
Guns dont kill people. People do." This phrase, first used in the early part of the 20th century, was made popular by the National Rifle Association in the latter years of that century. Today its a cliche, the implications of which many people doubt. But lets accept the phrase as a truism.

Marjorie Smith

House Bill 59, pending before the New Hampshire House, addresses not the gun, but the person who chooses to purchase the gun. And that is probably why 93% of the American public favors background checks for gun purchases. That includes just under 90% of gun owners, and just under 90% of Republicans. These figures hold for New Hampshire, which makes it very difficult to understand why in the past so many of our elected representatives have not supported the wishes of the majority of those who elect us.

I am not an expert on guns. But I do know a fair amount about people. Most of them, including, overwhelmingly, gun owners, believe in gun safety. This bill is to protect us from those few who purchase and misuse guns for reasons that no responsible gun owner or caring citizen would support  to harm others, and perhaps, to harm themselves.

Never having purchased a gun, I was interested to learn how easy it would be to purchase a gun legally. There are nearly 59,000 unique gun dealers across the country, four times as many as there are McDonalds and nearly twice as many as U.S. post offices. Gun owners who buy a gun from a dealer know how easy the background check is. In this state and almost every other state, no one lives more than 10 miles from a licensed firearm dealer.

This bill requires commercial firearms sales in New Hampshire to be processed through a licensed firearms dealer, who will conduct a background check and create a record of each sale. Its purpose is to protect public safety by helping to keep firearms out of the hands of felons, domestic abusers, and those adjudicated to be mentally ill.

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This bill closes what is referred to as the Charleston loophole. Under federal law, a licensed dealer may proceed with the sale of a firearm after three business days even if the mandated background check has not yet been completed and theres been no confirmation that the purchaser is legally permitted to have guns. The perpetrator of the Charleston church shooting  who was legally prohibited from having guns  was able to use this loophole to purchase the gun he used in that tragedy before the background check was completed. This bill closes the Charleston Loophole in New Hampshire by providing law enforcement officials sufficient time to complete a background check on a prospective purchaser to ensure that prohibited people cannot purchase firearms in New Hampshire

HB 59 as amended excludes private, noncommercial sales or transfers between individuals, provided neither individual is prohibited from owning or possessing a firearm under state or federal law. In a recent conversation I had with one of my colleagues, he talked about wanting to give his son a gun, knowing he had trained his child about gun safety including responsible use and storage. This bill would not interfere with that in any way. And it is not only relatives. As long as the gun owner knows that the potential recipient is not prohibited under federal or state law to own a gun, the exchange is legal.

I represent the overwhelming percentage of New Hampshire citizens, including almost all gun owners, who believe in responsible gun ownership.

Background checks make sense, they use existing systems that are familiar to legal gun purchasers, and they save lives.

Democrat Marjorie Smith represents Durham in the New Hampshire House of Representatives.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: NH Rep. Smith: Why a background check for gun purchases makes sense
MANAGUA (Reuters) - The relatives of 35 political prisoners in Nicaragua called for their release on Tuesday, days after 222 others in the same category were freed and expelled to the United States following a surprise deal with Washington.

The prisoners, considered political by human rights groups, include 56-year-old anti-government Bishop Rolando Alvarez, one of the Central American country's most influential church leaders.

He refused to board the U.S.-bound plane last week and was returned to jail, stripped of his Nicaraguan citizenship and then sentenced to a 26-year term.

"Our relatives were on the official list of political prisoners and were not taken into account for release," the Committee of Relatives of Political Prisoners told a news conference.

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

After the prisoner release, President Daniel Ortega said two prisoners refused to board the plane while Washington rejected four others.

(Reporting by Ismael Lopez; Writing by Sarah Morland; Editing by David Alire Garcia and John Stonestreet)
MEXICO CITY (AP)  Last week Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega packed off 222 political leaders, priests, students, activists and other dissidents to the United States, their release long demanded by the international community.

Shortly after, Ortegas government voted to strip the former prisoners of Nicaraguan citizenship. Analysts, legal experts and human rights groups are calling it a political ploy but also a violation of international law that they say is unprecedented  at least in the Western Hemisphere  in terms of scale and impact.

A look at what has happened:

-

WHY DID NICARAGUA KICK THE DISSIDENTS OUT?

The expulsion comes amid a broader push by the Ortega government to quash political dissent dating back to 2018 anti-government street protests that were met by a violent response from Nicaraguan security forces.

Ortega has called his imprisoned opponents traitors and maintains they were behind the protests, which he claims were a foreign-funded plot to overthrow him. Tens of thousands of Nicaraguans have fled the governments crackdown.

The incarceration of government opponents became a sticking point internationally, particularly with the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden, which used their detention to justify sanctions on the Central American nation.

The release of the prisoners was, in part, a tactic to minimize the public costs of his repression, particularly in the eyes of the international community, said Ivan Briscoe of International Crisis Group, a nonprofit research group focused on resolving conflicts around the world.

He would prefer to revert to a steady, low-level authoritarian government in which there are no, perhaps none of the more visible forms of abuses, but continuing political control, Briscoe said.

U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters in Washington on Monday that the release of the prisoners was considered a constructive step, and is something Biden officials have said would open a door to a dialogue between the two countries.

Story continues

But Ortegas Congress simultaneously voting to strip the citizenship of the expelled prisoners is drawing criticism.

This was in no way a panacea for the many concerns we have with the Nicaraguan regime, including the repression and oppression it continues to wield against its own people, Price said.

While Nicaraguas Congress still needs to carry out a second vote to approve the constitutional change to formally strip those expelled of their nationality, it was unanimously approved in the initial vote. Ortegas firm hold on power leaves any other outcome highly unlikely.

I think the message is very clear: On my land, there will be no opposition, said Briscoe.

___

WHY DO EXPERTS SAY IT VIOLATES INTERNATIONAL LAW?

Peter J. Spiro, an international law professor at Temple University, and others say stripping away citizenship in this context violates a treaty adopted in 1961 by countries in the United Nations, including Nicaragua, which sets clear rules meant to prevent statelessness.

The treaty states that governments cannot deprive any person or group of persons of their nationality on racial, ethnic, religious or political grounds.

Spiro noted there are some circumstances when governments can terminate citizenship, such as ending nationality for someone who acquires citizenship in another country when the first nation prohibits dual citizenship. But, he said, ending citizenship is not allowed when it is used as a political weapon.

This is banishment, and banishment is antithetical to modern conceptions of human rights, he said.

Spain has offered its citizenship to the 222 exiles, while the U.S. granted the Nicaraguans a two-year temporary protection.

But many of the former prisoners in the United States are left in a state of legal and mental flux, said Jennie Lincoln, senior adviser on Latin America for the Carter Center who is in touch with many of the dissidents.

Psychologically they are stateless, Lincoln said. Theyre in shock, going from one day being in prison, then hours later on a plane to the United States. Imagine the psychological impact of that, and then being stripped of your citizenship.

___

HOW COMMON IS THE REVOCATION OF CITIZENSHIP?

The move by Ortega is unprecedented in the Western Hemisphere, in both its size and reach, according to analysts and legal experts.

Previous cases of states in the region moving to strip citizenship of political actors have always been limited in scale.

In Chile in the 1970s, the Pinochet dictatorship stripped the citizenship of Orlando Letelier, who was living in exile where leading opposition to political repression in the South American nation.

Spiro, at Temple University, said Ortega's action does bear some resemblance to what has been done in Bahrain, in the Middle East.

Over the course of years, the Bahrain government has stripped hundreds of human rights and political activists, journalists and religious scholars of their nationalities, leaving them stateless. In 2018, a court stripped 115 people of their citizenship in one mass trial on accusations of terrorism, according to Human Rights Watch.

But Ortegas move is more high-visibility, Spiro said.

___

WHAT ABOUT PRISONERS WHO DIDN'T GO TO THE U.S.?

Experts are especially concerned about Roman Catholic Bishop Rolando Alvarez, a vocal critic of Ortega who refused to board the plane to the U.S. with the other prisoners.

He told those close to him that if he got on the plane, it would be like admitting to a crime he never committed.

Shortly after, Alvarez was sentenced to 26 years in prison  famous for their poor conditions  and stripped of his citizenship within Nicaragua, something sharply condemned by State Department officials.

It left him in a legal limbo more extreme than his counterparts in the U.S.

Until now, no one has been able to contact Alvarez, nor confirm for themselves where he is or if the he is safe, said a person close to Alvarez, who asked not to be quoted by name out of fear of reprisal.

From a legal point of view, his future looks completely grim, and he knows it, the man said.
Nike closed a store in Portland, Oregon, with a rich history because of ongoing theft. Matthew Kish/Insider

Nike has at least temporarily closed its first-ever factory store because of theft.

The store has been a point of pride for Nike and the Northeast Portland community since it opened.

Nike is working with Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler on a proposal to reopen the store.

Originally published February 13, 2023.

Nike has temporarily closed a retail location in Portland, Oregon, with one of the richest histories in its store footprint because of ongoing theft.

"People were just going in there with bags already opened and picking up stuff and walking out the door past unarmed security," Ron Herndon, a Portland civil rights and education activist, told Insider, about the closure of the Nike store on the city's MLK Boulevard.

Herndon worked with Nike to open the store in 1984.

The at-least temporary closure of the Nike store comes as retailers nationwide have responded in a variety of ways to the estimated $95 billion problem of retail theft.

Nike's proposed solution, according to a letter the company sent Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler last week, includes allowing the company to hire off-duty police officers and empowering them to arrest shoplifters, according to the Oregonian. The city did not immediately provide Insider a copy of the letter in response to a public records request.

"The safety of our employees and consumers is a responsibility Nike takes very seriously," Nike said, in a statement to Insider.

The company said it proposed a "sustained and coordinated partnership with the city to better protect employees, consumers, and the community" at the store, but it did not provide Insider details.

The Portland Nike store closure comes as large retailers are warning about the proliferation of stolen goods on online marketplaces like Amazon, Craigslist, eBay and Facebook.

"What we are seeing more of are individual events of large-scale theft," David Johnston, vice president of asset protection and retail operations for the National Retail Federation, told Insider. "It's a national issue. It's impacting not only the large retailers or the brand-name retailers; it's impacting small business owners."

Story continues

Insider has reported on steps being taken by large retailers to address rampant shoplifting, including keeping more merchandise under lock and key.

A spokesperson for Wheeler said the mayor's office is working with Nike to address its concerns, which extend to a downtown Portland store that remains open.

"Addressing retail theft, vandalism, and safety concerns requires coordination from local retailers, police and public safety partners with support from the court system, and we will continue to work together to unify our public safety response," Wheeler said, in a statement provided to Insider.

In November, KGW, the Portland NBC affiliate, said the Nike store reported 437 shoplifting cases to police since 2019, second only to a Portland Target store, which had 650.

The KGW report noted Nike's website had indicated since October that the store would be closed for the "next 7 days." The website still lists that timeline.

Signs outside the store describe the company's work in the surrounding neighborhood. Matthew Kish/Insider

The now-closed Portland store has been a point of pride for Nike, its employees, and the Northeast Portland community since it opened in June 1984.

Herndon, who co-chaired Portland's Black United Front at the time, previously told the Portland Business Journal the deal with Nike to open the store came together over a handshake. At the time, Nike was being criticized for its lack of support for the Black community.

That year, Nike gave a $10,000 grant to a neighborhood group near the store, according to a 1984 story in the Oregonian. Nike has continued to hire employees for the store from the surrounding neighborhood and support local organizations.

"That was part of the agreement that we struck with them," Herndon told Insider. "They would not only hire people from the community, but they would invest in community organizations. They kept to that."

While the Nike store is at least temporarily closed, it hasn't been abandoned.

On Monday, an employee could be seen inside the store tidying up. Merchandise remains on racks and shelves. A large pile of unopened inventory sits in boxes in the middle of the sales floor. A landscaping crew tidied up the greenery in the parking lot.

"They want to keep it open," Herndon said. "They could have left at any time. They understand the legacy of the store. They don't want to close it."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley launched the presidential bid she has teased for weeks, tweeting out a video Tuesday saying that, yes, she is indeed running for president.

"I'm Nikki Haley and I'm running for president," she said in the video her campaign put out a day before her scheduled announcement speech in Charleston, South Carolina.

Haley, the former U.N. ambassador, uses the video to sketch out her biography and attack President Joe Biden and the Democrats - but she says nothing about former President Donald Trump, at least not explicitly.

At the end of the video, Haley sends a potential message to the volatile Trump by asserting she will fight back against "bullies;" she also references the fact she may be the only woman in the Republican presidential field.

You should know this about me, I dont put up with bullies," Haley said. "And when you kick back, it hurts them more if youre wearing heels.

Get excited! Time for a new generation.



Lets do this!   pic.twitter.com/BD5k4WY1CP  Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) February 14, 2023

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Haley, other 2024 Republican candidates to challenge Trump

In the weeks since Haley's plans became public, Trump and his allies have stressed that she once said she would not seek the presidency if Trump did.

Haley's declaration makes her the first major Republican candidate to challenge Trump for the 2024 Republican nomination. She is also the first member of his cabinet to seek the presidency, having served as his U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

President Trump shakes hands with Nikki Haley, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations in the Oval Office of the White House on Oct. 9, 2018, in Washington.

Other prominent Republicans are also considering presidential runs, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a rival of Haley's during the Trump presidency.

Story continues

Haley's video and the Charleston speech also come as fellow South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott mulls a possible presidential announcement.

Haley has repeatedly bragged that she has "never lost a race."

Who is Nikki Haley? Former S.C GOP governor announces run for president in 2024

The Haley biography

The daughter of Indian immigrants, Haley was originally born Nimrata Randhawa in Bamberg, South Carolina.

Haley's time as governor and the bill to remove Confederate flag

Haley became South Carolina's first female and Asian American governor when she was elected in 2010; she won reelection in 2014. Before that, she spent six years in the South Carolina Legislature.

One of her most notable acts as governor came in 2015 when Haley signed a bill ordering the removal of the Confederate flag from statehouse grounds following the killing of nine Black worshipers at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston by a white supremacist.

The Confederate flag has long been considered a sign of slavery.

"It's time to move the flag from the Capitol grounds," Haley said during a June 22 news conference.

Another act that Haley made with long-term implications: She appointed Tim Scott to replace retiring Sen. Jim DeMint in 2012.

Other candidates: Current and former governors offer glimpse into what could be contentious 2024 presidential election

Haley on the national stage

In 2016, she gave the Republican response to former President Barack Obama's State of the Union. One topic she made sure to discuss: immigration.

We must fix our broken immigration system. That means stopping illegal immigration," said Haley. "And it means welcoming properly vetted legal immigrants, regardless of their race or religion. Just like we have for centuries."

That same year, Time named her one of the 100 most influential people. Fellow S.C. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham wrote a description of Haley for the magazine.

In 2017, Haley served as Trump's U.N. ambassador; in 2018 she unexpectedly stepped down amid disputes with other administration members.

During her tenure, Haley announced sanctions against Russia  a move that rankled White House aides. National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow suggested Haley had "momentary confusion" over the Trump administration's actions.

"With all due respect, I don't get confused," Haley replied.

In June 2018 Haley announced the U.S. was pulling out of the United Nations Human Rights Council. "I want to make it crystal clear that this step is not a retreat from our human rights commitments," Haley said.

Why is Haley running for president?

She previously said she wouldn't run for president if Trump decided to run. In 2020, Haley told USA TODAY it was too early to make a decision on running for the White House.

In gearing up for her presidential run, the 51-year-old Haley has stressed her relative youth in contrast to the 80-year-old Biden and the 76-year-old Trump and called for a "new generation" of political leadership.

In posting her announcement video, Haley tweeted: "Get excited! Time for a new generation. Lets do this!"

What does Haley stand for?

Haley is an anti-abortion Republican and a supporter of Israel. She supports cracking down on illegal immigration. Haley did not support legislation in South Carolina that would have required transgender people to use bathrooms that correspond to their gender assigned at birth.

While Haley has supported Trump in the past, she has also criticized Trump, including after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection. Haley once said she would not support Trump's ban on Muslim immigration. Yet she supported Trump when he blocked people from six Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S. Its not a Muslim ban, Haley said at the time.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Nikki Haley's 2024 presidential bid: "I dont put up with bullies"
Photo: The Canadian Press Green Party of Canada Leader Elizabeth May looks on as Valorie Masuda, a palliative care doctor speaks about access to medical psilocybin for Canadians with treatment-resistant illnesses on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023, in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May wants Canada to consider expanding access to psychedelics as medical treatments.

May was among the MPs who joined a delegation of patients and health-care practitioners trying to lobby the federal government to make psilocybin  the psychedelic compound produced by magic mushrooms  more readily available.

The group is calling on lawmakers to advance clinical trials to better understand how it could be used for medical treatment of some mental disorders, such as depression and anxiety.

Psilocybin is listed under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and its medical use is restricted to people taking part in clinical trials or those who get an exemption.

Spencer Hawkswell, the CEO of the company leading the delegation, says they are lobbying for "compassionate access" for medicine that he says could be life-affirming.

May says the federal government should expand access to psilocybin before Canada's assisted-dying laws are expanded to include people whose sole underlying condition is a mental disorder.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley on Tuesday announced her 2024 presidential campaign, making her former President Donald Trump's first opponent for the Republican nomination.

Haley, who served as ambassador to the United Nations for two years in the Trump administration, is expected to deliver her in-person announcement speech Wednesday in Charleston.

Its time for a new generation of leadership  to rediscover fiscal responsibility, secure our border, and strengthen our country, our pride and our purpose. Haley said in her video announcement.

Haley accused the "socialist left" of seeing "an opportunity to rewrite history."

"China and Russia are on the march. They all think we can be bullied, kicked around," Haley said. "You should know this about me: I dont put up with bullies. And when you kick back, it hurts them more if youre wearing heels. Im Nikki Haley, and Im running for president.

Haley teased a potential presidential bid last month, saying in a Fox News interview: Yes, we need to go in a new direction. And can I be that leader? Yes, I think I can be that leader.

Following her presidential bid announcement, Haley is expected to travel to well-trodden ground for presidential hopefuls, including going to New Hampshire for three days of town hall-style campaign stops and several more days in Iowa after, multiple sources confirmed to NBC News this month.

After her New Hampshire visit, Haley will travel to Iowa from Feb. 20 through 23, a source familiar with her plans told NBC News. Trump announced his third presidential bid in November. The former president kicked off his campaign with stops in New Hampshire and Haleys home state, South Carolina, last month.

Haley was celebrated as the next generation of Republicans when she ran for governor at age 38, winning as part of a wave of anti-establishment tea party candidates who swept into office in 2010.

Her personal history  as the daughter of Indian immigrants, growing up in rural Bamberg, South Carolina, and facing racism at a young age  gives Haley credibility on issues like race and gender, which Republicans have struggled to engage on with voters.

Story continues

She was deeply critical of Trump during his first bid for the White House  warning that his temper could cause a world war at one point  but nonetheless accepted a role in his Cabinet shortly after his election.

The U.N. ambassadorship boosted her foreign policy credentials while the U.S. was sanctioning North Korea and pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal. She left after two years, just as a government watchdog called for an investigation into whether she violated federal ethics regulations by accepting gifts as ambassador.

Since departing the Trump administration, Haley at times has criticized the former president, but has frequently praised him.

Haley issued a stern condemnation of Trump in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. In an interview with Politico in 2021, she said that she was disgusted by the former presidents attacks against former Vice President Mike Pence, who refused to push Trump's false claims of widespread election fraud leading up to the riot.

Haley, however, appeared to come around to her former boss again months after he left office, telling reporters in April 2021 that she would not run if Trump ran again.

Thats something that we'll have a conversation about at some point, if that decision is something that has to be made, she added.

Still, asked when she last spoke with the president, she was quick to note it was before the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

In a statement through his campaign spokesperson Tuesday, Trump said he wishes Haley luck in response to her campaign announcement.

Even though Nikki Haley said, I would never run against my president, he was a great president, the best president in my lifetime, I told her she should follow her heart and do what she wants to do. I wish her luck! he said.

South Carolina has a longtime reputation of being one of the most important early primary states. In the past 40 years, the winner of the states GOP primary has gone on to win the partys presidential nomination in every election except one.

Heading into the 2024 election cycle, state political leaders told NBC News that they are gearing up to choose among two favorite children, a former president who has already carried the state in a deeply contested primary and potentially others who look to draw significant interest.

In addition to Haley entering the 2024 GOP presidential primary, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., appears to be building a presidential campaign infrastructure of his own. Scott is set to speak to the Charleston County GOP on Thursday before he heads out on a listening tour that will take him to Iowa, the first state on the GOP calendar in 2024.

Haley first ran for public office in 2004, defeating a longtime incumbent for a seat in the state House. In a 2012 interview, Haley credited Hillary Clinton for her decision to run for office.

"The reason I actually ran for office is because of Hillary Clinton," she said. "She said that when it comes to women running for office, there will be everybody that tells you why you shouldnt, but thats all the reasons why we need you to do it, and I walked out of there thinking, 'Thats it. Im running for office.'

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
[Source]

The former governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley has announced her candidacy for president, becoming the first Republican to challenge former President Donald Trump for the 2024 GOP primary nomination.

Haley delivered the news in a three-and-a-half minute Twitter video released on Tuesday morning.

The 51-year-old previously served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under the Trump administration. Although she previously said she would not challenge Trump for the White House in 2024, Haley changed her mind, citing the countrys economic troubles and need for generational change.

More from NextShark: No Asian countries make Ukraines thank-you list

"The Washington establishment has failed us over and over and over again," she says in the video. "Its time for a new generation of leadership to rediscover fiscal responsibility, secure our border and strengthen our country, our pride and our purpose."

In a statement on Tuesday, Trump shared his support for Haleys decision and wished her luck.

"Even though Nikki Haley said, 'I would never run against my President, he was a great President, the best President in my lifetime,' I told her she should follow her heart and do what she wants to do. I wish her luck!" Trump said.

More from NextShark: Blinken cancels China trip after discovery of 'unacceptable' spy balloon

If Haley wins in the primary, she would become the first woman and the first Asian American nominated by the Republican Party for president.

Story continues

Haley was born to Indian immigrants Ajit Singh Randhawa and Raj Kaur Randhawa.

Her family moved to South Carolina when her father took a teaching job at a historically Black college. Although she was raised in the Sikh faith, Haley converted to Christianity after she married Michael Haley in 1996.

More from NextShark: I will not be silent: Biden calls for end to hate in White Houses first Lunar New Year celebration

Haley worked for her familys dress boutique as a bookkeeper before her political career began in 2004 after she was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives.

She was first elected governor in 2010, becoming South Carolinas first female and minority governor at age 38.

Haley opens her announcement video by speaking about her upbringing:

The railroad tracks divided the town by race. I was the proud daughter of Indian immigrants. Not Black, not white. I was different. But my mom would always say your job is not to focus on the differences but the similarities. And my parents reminded me and my siblings every day how blessed we were to live in America.

Although a staunch Republican, Haley has appealed to moderates with her stances on certain policies.

Haley has supported Trump in the past but has also criticized him, including after the January 2021 Capitol insurrection.

The pro-life former governor also supports the crackdown on illegal immigration. She reportedly supported Trump when he barred people from six Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S. despite previous claims that she would not support the former presidents ban on Muslim immigration.

In South Carolina, Haley did not support legislation to require transgender people to use bathrooms that correspond to their gender assigned at birth.

Closing out her announcement video, Haley calls out the left, China and Russia, declaring them bullies:

Some people look at America and see vulnerability. The socialist left sees an opportunity to rewrite history. China and Russia are on the march. They all think we can be bullied, kicked around. You should know this about me: I dont put up with bullies and when you kick back it hurts them more if youre wearing heels.

Other Republicans who are expected to launch 2024 campaigns in the coming months include Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) jumped into the presidential race early Tuesday, becoming the first Republican to officially challenge former President Trump for the GOPs 2024 nomination.

(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

The former governor and United Nations ambassador announced her bid in a video, calling for new leadership in a party that she acknowledged had repeatedly failed to capture the popular vote in most presidential elections over the past three-plus decades.

Republicans have lost the popular vote in seven out of the last eight presidential elections. That has to change, Haley, 51, said. Joe Bidens record is abysmal, but that shouldnt come as a surprise. The Washington establishment has failed us over and over and over again. Its time for a new generation of leadership.

Haleys entrance into the race has been expected for months. While she said nearly two years ago that she would not challenge Trump for the 2024 nod if he decided to mount another bid for the White House, that didnt stop her from laying the groundwork for a campaign.

(AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

After leaving the Trump administration, she founded her own outside group, Stand for America, to boost GOP candidates ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. Shes also stayed active on the national media circuit.

In an interview with Fox News in January, she signaled that she was still weighing a White House bid, saying that the country needed a new generation to step up in 2024 and offering herself as potential leader.

Its bigger than one person. And when youre looking at the future of America, I think its time for new generational change. I dont think you need to be 80 years old to go be a leader in D.C., Haley told the network. I think we need a young generation to come in, step up, and really start fixing things.

(AP Photo/John Locher, File)

Haleys expected to kick off her first official campaign swing this week with a series of stops in Iowa and New Hampshire, the first states to hold Republican presidential nominating contests.

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Her announcement was also expected by Trump, who disclosed in late January that he had spoken to Haley about a White House bid and said he encouraged her to do so.

In announcing her campaign, Haley signaled a strategy that seeks to bridge the divide between traditional conservative priorities  shrinking the federal deficit and upping security at the U.S. southern border  and the culture-war-focused populism exemplified by the likes of Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).

(AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

Some people look at America and see vulnerability. The socialist left sees an opportunity to rewrite history. China and Russia are on the march. They all think we can be bullied, kicked around, Haley said. You should know this about me: I dont put up with bullies. And when you kick back, it hurts them more if youre wearing heels.

Of course, she still faces some steep challenges.

Early polling shows her distantly trailing both Trump and DeSantis, who hasnt yet jumped into the presidential contest but is expected to later this year. Her early announcement could allow her to gain a closer look from voters and Republican donors before other prospective candidates enter the race.

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley speaks at an annual leadership meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

But Haleys campaign launch also puts her in direct contention with Trump, who appointed her as his envoy to the U.N. just after taking office in 2017. The former president is running to reclaim the White House in 2024, and has made clear that he believes he is the GOPs rightful nominee, even as other Republicans consider their own bids.

Haley irked many Republicans two years ago when she appeared to criticize Trump in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Still, Haley has a winning track record to fall back on; shes never lost a race for public office in her political career.

Shes tough. She won the governors race in 10 and none of us thought Nikki would have a chance, said Katon Dawson, a former South Carolina Republican Party chair whos backing Haleys presidential bid. She brings a lot to the Republican Party as far as diversity and common sense. And I think those are the things that will attract people to her candidacy.

Haleys announcement is further evidence that Republicans have become increasingly willing to take on Trump, who has maintained a vise-like grip over the party since he captured the White House in 2016. Many in the GOP have soured on him in recent months, believing that his brand and political instincts are responsible for Republicans lackluster performance in the past three election cycles.

(AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

Her candidacy could also have larger implications for the 2024 GOP presidential primary. While early polling shows DeSantis leading Trump in hypothetical head-to-head match-ups, Trump regains the edge in a multi-candidate field.

While she may be the first Republican to challenge Trump for the nomination, she likely wont be the last to announce. In addition to DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, among others, are believed to be moving toward White House bids.

(AP Photo/Meg Kinnard, File)

Theres also the possibility that Haley will have to square off against a fellow South Carolinian, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), who is said to be weighing a presidential campaign. Both Haley and Scott are set to attend a presidential candidate forum in South Carolina next month.

Haleys entrance into the presidential contest was met with scorn from Democrats. In a call with reporters on Tuesday, Jaime Harrison, the chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), cast Haley as a right-wing extremist who propped up Trump and his agenda during her tenure as U.N. ambassador.

She was a disastrous governor. She didnt really have any experience going into being the U.N. ambassador, Harrison said. I dont really care about her intentions. I just know the end result, which will be horrible for the American people.

Updated at 11:43 a.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, announced Tuesday morning that she is running for the Republican presidential nomination, saying its time for a new generation of leadership.

In a nearly four-minute video address posted to Twitter, Haley announced her 2024 campaign by standing up for the countrys founding principles, calling for a change in the nations politics, and pitching herself as a new kind of leader who will not put up with bullies. And when you kick back, it hurts them more if youre wearing heals, said Haley, who would be the first female president if elected.

Haley, the first Asian American woman to become governor in U.S. history, is the first Republican to jump in the race to challenge former president Donald Trump  her former boss  who announced his candidacy in November. With her call for a new generation of leadership, Haley, who is 51, took a veiled swipe at both Trump, who is 76, and President Joe Biden, who is 80, and the oldest person ever to serve as president.

She also called for a new direction for the Republican party, which she noted has lost the popular vote in seven out of the last eight presidential elections.

That has to change, she said.

Get excited! Time for a new generation. Lets do this!   pic.twitter.com/BD5k4WY1CP  Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) February 14, 2023

Haley started the announcement by recalling her childhood in Bamberg, S.C., the state she served as governor from 2011 to 2017.

The railroad tracks divided the town by race. I was the proud daughter of Indian immigrants. Not Black. Not White. I was different, Haley says in the beginning of the clip. But my mom would always say your job is not to focus on the differences but the similarities, and my parents reminded me and my siblings every day how blessed we were to live in America.

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Over images of the New York Times 1619 Project, a burning American flag, and an angry Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Haley said that some look at our past as evidence that Americas founding principles are bad. They say the promise of freedom is just made up. Some think our ideas our not just wrong, but racist and evil. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Haley said that she has seen real evil, noting genocide in China and government-sanctioned murders in Iran. Even on our worst day, we are blessed to live in America, she said.

The video focused heavily on her pride in South Carolina, where she was born, raised, and rose to political prominence. So I have seen the very best of our country, she said, adding that during her tenure South Carolina became a destination for Americans seeking a fresh start.

When evil came to the city, she said, referring to the 2015 mass shooting by a white supremacist at a historically-black church in Charleston, we turned away from fear, toward God, and the values that still make our country the freest and greatest in the world.

We must turn in that direction again, she said.

Its time for a new generation of leadership  to rediscover fiscal responsibility, secure our border, and strengthen our country, our pride and our purpose, Haley said later in the video.

As governor, Haley advocated for, and successfully removed, the Confederate flag from statehouse grounds following the church attack that killed nine parishioners. Haley urged prosecutors to pursue the death penalty against the shooter, Dylann Roof.

The following year, she opposed legislation introduced in the state Senate mandating that transgender people use bathrooms that corresponded with their sex. I dont believe its necessary, Haley said at the time.

When I look at South Carolina, we look at our situations, she said. Were not hearing of anybodys religious liberties that are being violated, and were again not hearing any citizens that feel like theyre being violated in terms of freedoms.

Last month, Haley called Trump to discuss the prospect of running. Go by your heart if you want to run, Trump told Haley, according to reports.

Haley had repeatedly dismissed ambitions to run for the presidency. At one point, she stated, I would never run against my president  he [Trump] was a great president.

However, Haley has changed her tune in recent months and has become increasingly vocal about the need for change in American politics.When youre looking at the future of America, I think its time for new generational change, Haley said in January. I dont think you need to be 80 years old to go be a leader in D.C.

Haley also re-shared previous comments she had made calling for older politicians to undergo a cognitive test to ensure their fitness for office.

[W]e seriously need to have a conversation that if youre gonna have anyone above a certain age in a position of power  whether its the House, whether its the Senate, whether its vice president, whether its president  you should have some sort of cognitive test, Haley argued in a clear dig at both Trump and Biden.

Haleys announcement makes her the first former Trump staffer to enter the race. Former vice president Mike Pence, former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, and former national-security adviser John Bolton are also considered to be potential GOP presidential contenders.

Haley is set to host her first campaign speech in Charleston, S.C., on Wednesday.

More from National Review
Adriana Kuch and an image of TikTok. (Photo illustration: Jack Forbes/Yahoo News; photos: Family Handout, Getty Images)

Fourteen-year-old Adriana Kuch of Bayville, N.J., was found dead at home on Feb. 3, days after she was attacked in the hallway of her high school. The attack was recorded and later uploaded to TikTok, prompting a slew of nasty comments toward the teenager.

Four students have been charged with assault or harassment in the assault, according to prosecutors. The superintendent of the school district has since resigned.

Kuchs family believes that the cyberbullying from the incident drove her to take her own life. Other students at Central Regional High School in Berkeley Township and members of the community blame school leadership for allowing a culture of bullying to persist in the district. Another 14-year-old, in a lawsuit against the district, alleges that she was assaulted by a group of teens in October and that the school took no action.

Both incidents were recorded and uploaded online, allowing still more teens to pile on, exacerbating an already humiliating situation. The two episodes, months apart, highlight the negative effects of cyberbullying on an age group that is already vulnerable.

The district needs to demonstrate they have policies and programming in place to prevent these incidents from happening, Sameer Hinduja, co-director of the Cyberbullying Research Center and professor of criminology at Florida Atlantic University, told Yahoo News.

Teenagers today often feel under pressure from their social life online. (Getty Images/Science Photo Library)

Hinduja cited student and staff workshops, bystander intervention training and anonymous reporting systems as examples of ways to deescalate such incidents. It doesn't mean that they will be able to forestall every incident, but they can at least show due diligence, he said.

There's a lot of positive aspects to social media. That all being said, of course, there's a lot of risk as well, Stephanie Fredrick, a lead investigator and associate director of the Alberti Center for Bullying Abuse Prevention at the University at Buffalo, told Yahoo News. There's definitely a sort of pro-bullying attitude [at that high school], and certainly, more needs to be done.

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The data shows that this incident isnt isolated to just one school but is part of a widespread pattern of teenage cyberbullying.

Nearly half of U.S. teens, or 46%, have been bullied or harassed online at some point, according to a 2022 report by Pew Research. The findings, which surveyed teens from 13 to 17, highlighted bullying behaviors like offensive name calling, spreading of false rumors and sharing explicit images. The data also found that older teens are more likely to become victims of online harassment.

While cyberbullying has existed since the early days of online communities and text messaging, the emergence of new social media platforms has fueled new incidents, year after year. And as schoolwork moved home in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic, so too did virtual harassment, which experts argue could have more damaging effects than traditional bullying.

"It can be argued that cyberbullying is a more threatening form of aggression than traditional bullying, as cyberbullies can remain anonymous, causing bullying to occur around the clock, Monica Barreto, a clinical child psychologist at the Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, told Forbes. "Although cyberbullying and traditional bullying share the common feature of being behaviors that communicate disrespect and domination, the expression of dominance in cyberbullying is emotional and psychological, without limits."

A teenager pores over a smartphone in the dark. (Getty Images)

While the link between cyberbullying and suicide remains complex, several studies show a relationship between the two. A report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association last year found that young people who experienced cyberbullying were more than four times as likely to report suicidal thoughts and attempts as those who did not.

In 2020, suicide was the second leading cause of death among youths age 10-14 and young adults age 25-34, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Gary Giumetti, a professor of psychology at Quinnipiac University, says cyberbullying can be especially damaging because it can be consumed repeatedly, on loop, and amplified for days or weeks.

People will argue that cyberbullying isnt as harmful as a face-to-face attack, because you can turn off your phone and itll go away, Giumetti, who has more than a decade of research experience on issues of aggression and bullying, told his school's magazine. But its a message you can reread and easily return to at any moment. The message can be forwarded, you can respond, and now youre in a pattern of repetition and revictimization as you relive the experience.

Teens' time spent on social media hasnt slowed down, and neither have instances of online harassment. A study from the University of Georgia suggests that increased social media usage directly correlates with cyberbullying, because young people are searching for the immediate rush, or dopamine hit, that comes from digital engagement.

Its feeding into that addictive behavior, and they may be using cyberbullying as a way to get likes, shares, comments and retweets, Amanda Giordano, principal investigator of the study and associate professor in the UGA Mary Frances Early College of Education, told UGA Today. Thats the common thread you see in behavioral addictions  people start relying on a rewarding behavior as a way to make them feel better when theyre experiencing negative emotions.

Young hackers' time online can become an addiction. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Ross Ellis, founder and CEO of Stomp Out Bullying, a nonprofit dedicated to reducing and preventing all forms of bullying, says social media can often be especially dangerous for teenagers, because those doing the bullying dont think about the impact of their actions, and the actions seldom involve immediate consequences.

Thanks to digital anonymity, the UGA study found, online harassers often adopt a more aggressive persona than they would in a face-to-face interaction.

The perpetrator doesnt get a chance to see how damaging their bullying is and to learn from their mistakes and do something different, Giordano said. Its a scary situation, because they dont have the natural consequences they do with offline bullying.

Several incidents over the last few years illustrate the tragic trend.

Late last year, a Florida teen died by suicide after a compromising photo of her was shared on social media. In the summer of 2020, a 16-year-old from Oregon took his own life after being bullied with anonymous messages on the social media app Snapchat. A year earlier, another 16-year-old from Tennessee fatally shot himself after two classmates shared screenshots of explicit text conversations he had had with another young man, outing him as bisexual.

The Snapchat logo displayed on a phone screen. (Photo Illustration: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Experts caution against concluding that social media only has dangers for young people. Fredrick noted that her research shows that teens at both ends of the spectrum of social media use may suffer. Those not active on social media at all  and those consistently on it all the time  tend to have worse outcomes, like depression and anxiety, she said.

I don't think it's realistic, nor do I think it's a good thing, to just be telling our kids not to go on social media, Fredrick said.

She argued that parents should warn their children about social media dangers, in the way that they remind them to look both ways before they cross the street or not to talk to strangers. With those kinds of safety conversations, we should be including how to be safe in online spaces, she said.

We just need to continue to educate, equip and empower our kids to safeguard themselves in any environment where threats can arise, Hinduja said. It takes a great deal of time and effort, and you may never see obvious fruit from your labors, because it's hard to measure the problems that proper parenting can prevent. But it's worth it.

_____

Cover thumbnail photo: Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
Lloyd Austin

I dont have any announcements to make on the issue of aircraft, today, he said.

We are going to continue to work with Ukraine to address Ukraines most pressing needs.

Read also: Every country has right to transfer military aircraft to Ukraine, says White House

Austin added that the United States and its allies expect a Ukrainian offensive in the spring of 2023 and have a lot to get done in order to provide the Armed Forces of Ukraine with armored vehicles and adequate firepower, in time.

On Feb. 14, the ninth meeting in the Ramstein format, where defense ministers of Kyivs international partners gather to address Ukraines security needs, was held at NATO HQ in Brussels. The meeting was attended by representatives of 54 countries.

On Feb. 8, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made an official visit to the UK. The Ukrainian president met with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and addressed the Parliament.

Read also: Zelenskyy, Sunak agree on supply of long-range weapons to Ukraine

Subsequent media reports said that Sunak instructed UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace to look into which of its aircraft London could make available to Kyiv. The final decision hasnt yet been made.

Read also: European Council invites Zelenskyy to Brussels summit

After addressing the European Parliament and at the EU summit, Zelensky said that regarding fighter jets, there were certain positive decisions that have been made behind the scenes.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that some European partners of Ukraine have already taken up the issue of fighter jets.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
The North Texas-based founder and former CEO of a supply-chain logistics company was arrested and charged with wire fraud after FBI agents raided his Westlake home Tuesday morning, according to the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas.

Christopher Kirchner, 35, the founder of Slync, a supply-chain management software startup, has been charged via criminal complaint with misappropriating $20 million from the company.

If convicted, Kirchner faces up to 20 years in federal prison.

About a dozen federal agents showed up at Kirchners home with a warrant at around 6:30 a.m. Tuesday, according to a report by Forbes. Images and video footage obtained by Forbes show a Mercedes G Class and a Rolls Royce Cullinan SUV being towed from Kirchners property.

He made his initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Hal R. Ray, Jr. on Tuesday.

This defendant flaunted his apparent wealth while allegedly diverting millions from company coffers into his private bank account, said Leigha Simonton, U.S attorney for the Northern District of Texas, in a news release. Slync investors and employees are understandably outraged, and we sympathize. We look forward to holding Mr. Kirchner accountable in federal court.

According to the complaint, Kirchner  who served as Slyncs CEO from 2017 until 2022  allegedly wired $20 million from Slyncs bank account to his personal checking account. Kirchner was suspended in 2022 by the companys board of directors due to allegations of misconduct.

Kirchner told an employee via text message that he was transferring money received from an investor into an investment account and a chase account, according to the news release. He then instructed the employee to approve the wires, federal authorities said.

Mr. Kirchner did not transfer money into an investment account or a chase account. He instead transferred $20 million of Slync funds into his personal account, Simonton said.

Kirchner told private bankers via email that the $20 million represented a distribution from my company, according to the complaint. Slyncs board never authorized the distribution, the release said.

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Kirchner allegedly used the $20 million to make personal purchases including a $16 million private Gulfstream jet and a $495,000 luxury suite at a local sports stadium.

As the criminal complaint alleges, Mr. Kirchner used his position as a CEO to defraud investors and the company he worked for by diverting funds for his personal benefit. He did this to fund a lavish lifestyle at the expense of those that trusted him to act responsibly and ethically, said James J. Dwyer, FBI Dallas acting special agent. The FBI will remain persistent in our efforts to hold individuals accountable that commit such brazen acts of corporate greed.

The Federal Bureau of Investigations Dallas Field Office conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joshua Detzky, John De La Garza and Blake Ellison are prosecuting the case.
Some special deliveries are spreading love this Valentines Day, but its not your average floral delivery service.

Hundreds of grieving widows across the Carolinas received bouquets Tuesday as part of a special project Channel 9s Anthony Kustura first reported about last year. Now, he learned its expanded to brighten even more lives.

Ashley Manning is the founder of the Valentines Day Widow Outreach project. Her south Charlotte yard is more of a production line.

Somebody said your neighbors hate you, you know? And Im like no, theyre all here, Manning said.

PREVIOUS: Bless them: Charlotte mom surprises 400 widows this Valentines Day with flowers, other gifts

Countless volunteers created floral arrangements and gift bags for special deliveries to widows all across the region -- from Tega Cay, to Statesville, to Raleigh. Each recipient is nominated.

On Tuesday, Molly Brown delivered the gifts to her nominee -- her mom, who became a widow 11 years ago.

Mom started a grief group here at Sardis Presbyterian, she said.

They snuck into her mothers bible study for the big reveal. It was a simple act of kindness that spoke volumes and moved the women to tears.

Our hope is that you will know you are loved and not forgotten on Valentines Day, Brown said.

A year makes quite a difference. Since Kustura first reported on the project last Valentines Day, the Widow Outreach project has become a nonprofit organization. That means all the money Manning and her volunteers raise goes to impact even more widows.

RELATED: Valentines Day 2023: 10 things you may not know about Valentines Day

The Widow Outreach project is serving more than 800 women this Valentines Day, doubling the amount from last year. And its not just here in the Carolinas -- at least two other states are following Mannings idea.

Beata Stylianos is still grieving the loss of her husband more than 10 years later. She drove to Charlotte all the way from Washington, D.C. to help, and shes working to bring the outreach project there next year.

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Its just the smallest acts of kindness that may seem small, but there are so big, Stylianos said. They have this ripple effect.

For Manning, its all about that ripple effect, as well as the realization that you can make a difference from your very yard.

We were designed to love our neighbors, and if we all took better care of each other, this world would be a lot better, Manning said.

The organization raised more than $30,000 to provide flowers and gifts this year. Theyre already planning for next years effort to reach even more people.

(WATCH BELOW: Couple has Valentines Day wedding in NICU alongside 1-month-old daughter)
Back in 2017, I wrote a few thousand words about how the best bowl of ramen in Chicago couldnt be found in a restaurant. Instead, if you wanted to sample the most satisfying bowl of miso ramen in the area, youd need to ask Mike Satinover, an amateur ramen obsessive, to make it for you.

Fortunately for Chicago ramen fans, thats changed. This fall, Satinover plans to open Akahoshi Ramen in the Logan Square neighborhood.

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After growing up in suburban Oak Park, Satinover fell hard for ramen while living in Sapporo, Japan, for a year during college. When he returned to the United States, he found all the ramen he tried lacking. While he spent his days working at a marketing data and analytics company, during his free time he devoted countless hours to understanding every intricacy of the dish. Eventually, he started sharing his results on Reddit, where he went by the username Ramen_Lord.

He gained such a following on Reddit that he started hosting ramen parties at his small condo. But no matter how many times people asked him, he was adamant he didnt want to open a restaurant.

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What changed his mind? A lot of his apprehension had to do with the restaurant culture he experienced as a teenager, he said. I worked in restaurant kitchens in high school and didnt feel comfortable, Satinover said. I felt like, fundamentally, the culture wasnt good for me.

But after several offers, he started hosting ramen pop-ups, where he realized not all kitchens operated the same way. You dont have to make it brutal or messed up, Satinover said. I can decide the kitchen culture I want.

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He has already signed the lease on a space at 2340 N. California Ave., and has hired Siren Betty, a popular firm behind the interiors of The California Clipper, Nine Bar and Giant (to name a few), to design the space. The room will seat about 50, with a six-seat counter facing an open kitchen, a few large booths and a massive communal table that can fit almost 20.

The slim menu will feature four to five bowls of ramen and two or three rice dishes. Hes still tinkering with the official lineup, but you can be sure his miso ramen will make the cut. The miso ramen will exist forever, Satinover said. And Ill probably serve a shoyu and a tonkotsu. Ill probably have two soupless styles of ramen because I think Chicago doesnt know how great those can be. As for the rice dishes, hes hoping to serve a chashu don, featuring fatty pork, and an ikura don, which is topped with salmon roe.

Hes keeping the menu focused and brief for a couple of reasons. I see these Yelp reviews of ramen spots, and people write that they like the pork belly buns, Satinover said. I want to make sure the ramen is the star. Plus, he wants to make sure he puts out a consistent product. I want to focus on the quality, Satinover said. I wont serve the cheapest ramen, because we are going to make everything from scratch  the noodles, soup, tare, toppings and everything in between.

Hell need some specialized equipment to do so, including a $40,000 noodle-making machine thats currently resting in his living room. (Follow him on Instagram if you want to see his adventures with that piece of equipment.)

Akahoshi Ramen will join a burgeoning ramen scene in Logan Square, with Monster Ramen, Ramen Wasabi and Furious Spoon all nearby. The goal is to increase the appreciation of ramen, Satinover said. I think ramen has so much more potential in Chicago. I just want to increase the discussion. Thats better for everybody.

Akahoshi Ramen plans to open this fall at 2340 N. California Ave. akahoshiramen.com

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nkindelsperger@chicagotribune.com
An AI researcher caught errors in Microsoft's demo of its new Bing search engine's AI chatbot. Jason Redmond/AFP via Getty Images

Dmitri Brereton said Bing's new AI chatbot "got some answers completely wrong" during its demo.

The AI and search engine researcher said that the tech is "definitely not ready for launch"

Bard, Google's new AI technology, has come under fire for a mistake it made in an advertisement.

It's not just Google's AI chatbot Bard that's messing up.

Earlier this week, Dmitri Brereton, an AI and search engine researcher, pointed out that Bing's new AI chatbot made a number of errors during its demo  and said that it's "definitely not ready for launch."

As part of Microsoft's unveiling of the new tech, Bing's AI was asked to list the pros and cons of the three best-selling pet vacuums. The chatbot made a list for the "Bissel Pet Hair Eraser Handheld Vacuum," with cons including its noise level and short cord.

The problem? When Brereton compared what the chatbot said to the article it linked to as a source, he noticed that that review didn't mention the vacuum's noisiness. Plus, it's cordless.

"I hope Bing AI enjoys being sued for libel," he wrote.

In another example, Bing was prompted to create a five-day itinerary for a trip to Mexico City and was asked for nightlife suggestions. It responded with a descriptive list of bars and clubs.

After cross-referencing the bot's answers with his own research, Brereton found some of the descriptions the bot spit out were wrong. In one case, the bot recommended going to a bar's website to book a reservation and check out its menu  but neither reservations nor the menu are available on the bar's site. For two other bars, the bot said there were no reviews online. There are, in fact, hundreds for one and thousands for the other.

The most egregious mistake Bing made during its chatbot demo, Brereton said, was fabricating numbers after it was asked about the key takeaways from Gap's Q3 2022 financial report.

The technology mislabeled some of the numbers, like the adjusted gross margin, and other values, like diluted earnings per share, were "completely made up."

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Bing's summary of Lululemon's Q3 2022 earnings report also contained errors.

"I am shocked that the Bing team created this pre-recorded demo filled with inaccurate information, and confidently presented it to the world as if it were good," Brereton concluded.

"We're aware of this report and have analyzed its findings in our efforts to improve this experience," a Microsoft spokesperson told Insider. "We recognize that there is still work to be done and are expecting that the system may make mistakes during this preview period, which is why the feedback is critical so we can learn and help the models get better."

Brereton isn't the only user who has caught Bing's mistakes.

A writer at The Verge asked Bing to list the movies showing in a particular London neighborhood. The bot answered with "Spider-Man: No Way Home" and "The Matrix Resurrections"  two old movies that were found to not actually be playing.

The AI arms race may lead to the spread of misinformation

Brereton's observations come as Big Tech companies like Google and Microsoft enter an AI arms race.

Google and Microsoft both demoed new chatbots to the public last week. Though Microsoft was first to release its new technology, Google plans to release its chatbot, Bard, in just a few weeks. (An ad for Google's new tech showed the company's chatbot making an error of its own.)

Even before Bing's errors were revealed, Gary Marcus, a former professor of neural science at New York University, noted in a blog post how the two companies were being pit against each other. Microsoft's demo "was presented as a revolution," while Google's demo was presented as a "disaster," he wrote.

The intense pressure to roll out these tools has led some in tech  including John Hennessy, the chairman of Alphabet  to say that they are being released prematurely. Google employees said the announcement of its tech was "botched" and "rushed."

The hasty releases may come at the cost of spreading misinformation, especially if people expect quick, accurate answers on search engines.

While Brereton told Insider that generative AI search engines like the new Bing can be "quite transformative," he noted that releasing it prematurely "could lead to big problems."

"It's more dangerous with a search engine that millions of people trust for correct answers starts confidently dishing out garbage," Brereton said. "Bing tries to solve this by warning people the answers are inaccurate. But they know and we know that no one is going to listen to that."

Read the original article on Business Insider
A secret railway and a network of stations leading to his residences were built in Russia for Vladimir Putin, the president of the aggressor country. Earlier, it was reported that Putin has started travelling around the country on his armoured train.

Source: Proekt (Project) investigative media outlet

Quote: "All of Vladimir Putin's main residences have been connected to railway lines, and secret stations have been built nearby, as the Project has found out. This confirms the reports of the Dossier Center that the head of state has recently begun to use the train more often than the plane."

Details: The media outlet has found at least three locations that may be associated with Putin's secret railway service.

In particular, on the territory of the Valdaysky National Park, there is a guarded railway station with a helipad near the village of Dolgiye Borody, the nearest settlement to Putin's favourite Valday residence. Three local residents told the media outlet that the station and a special railway line to it were built only for the president.

In addition, according to satellite images, the station in Novo-Ogaryovo appeared in 2015 and is located 400 metres from Putin's residence in Moscow Oblast. The land under the station was withdrawn from private ownership in favour of the Federal Guard Service by the decision of the then Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev. The special station itself is designed for a small number of cars and is hidden behind a high fence with surveillance cameras installed every 10 metres.

To stop the train near the Sochi residence Bocharov Ruchey, a platform and a new dead-end railway line appeared in 2017, hidden from the tracks used by electric trains by a high fence.

The president's special train has repeatedly been caught on camera by trainspotters and railway workers. For example, in November 2018 or April 2020.

According to the former driver with whom the Proekt spoke, Putin's armoured train is based in a depot at the Moscow-Kalanchyovskaya railway station with a closed terminal for VIPs. This special station is still functioning, and the high fence surrounding it is additionally reinforced with barbed wire. In 2017, a new highway was laid directly to the platform of the VIP terminal on Kalanchyovskaya. The president's special train belongs to the Grand Service Express Company, which was associated with Putin's close friend Yury Kovalchuk.

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Background:

On 13 February, the Dossier Center reported that Vladimir Putin has been increasingly using an armoured train for long-distance trips to his residences, which he switched to in the spring of 2021.

In December 2022, it was reported that Putin has an extensive chain of secret bunkers stretching from Moscow to the Urals, and new underground shelters continue to be built in Russia.

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Stone Maidens by Lloyd Devereux Richards has become the top-selling book on Amazon (Left: TikTok/@stonemaidens  Right: Thomas & Mercer)

A novel has become the top-selling book on Amazon after its authors daughter featured it in a TikTok video that went viral.

Stone Maidens, by Lloyd Devereux Richards, was published in 2012 by Thomas & Mercer, an Amazon imprint that has also published works by authors Dean Koontz, Amina Akhtar, and Patricia Cornwell.

According to a TikTok video filmed and shared by Mr Richardss daughter earlier this month, Mr Richards spent 14 years writing the novel. He was happy to see it finished and published, even though sales were modest  until his daughter shared the clip in question online.

The video lasts just 16 seconds and states that Mr Richards worked full time and his kids came first while he was working on the book. Id love for him to get some sales, the clip reads at one point, in text superimposed over video of Mr Richards at his desk. He doesnt even know what TikTok is.

Less than a week after its release, the video has been watched more than 42 million times. Word spread about the book, so much so that by 14 February, Stone Maidens had become the top-selling book on Amazon.

In a follow-up video, Mr Richardss daughter showed her father watching the original clip and becoming emotional upon realising its impact. In another clip, the two are seen celebrating with milkshakes.

These last couple of days  I cant understand it, Mr Richards says in that video. I feel blessed.

Stone Maidens, a crime novel, follows a chief forensic anthropologist at the FBI as she tries to solve a baffling serial murder case.

According to his author biography, Mr Richards was born in New York City. He worked as a law clerk for an Indiana Court of Appeals judge, researching and writing drafts for dozens of published opinions, including the appeal of a serial killer sentenced to death and subsequently electrocuted, then as an attorney in Vermont. He lives in Montpelier, Vermont, with his wife.
[Source]

Nvidia co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang recently expressed high praise for ChatGPT, declaring it one of the greatest things ever created in the computing industry.

Developed by AI research and deployment company OpenAI  originally a nonprofit co-founded by Elon Musk  ChatGPT is a free, AI-powered chatbot that returns human-like responses in a dialogue format.

Since its initial release in November, the software has gone viral for its detailed yet conversational replies, from pointing out sneaky code errors to suggesting recipes for dishes devoid of carbs.

ChatGPT is an example of generative AI, a technology that generates content based on input data. Another example is OpenAIs own DALL-E 2, which creates realistic images from even the most bizarre text descriptions.

More from NextShark: Colgate to rename its controversial 'Black People Toothpaste' brand in 2022

Huang, who co-founded chipmaker Nvidia in 1993, is considered one of the biggest beneficiaries of ChatGPTs technology.

After focusing on graphics processing units, which are used in video games, video editing and machine learning, the company now leads the world in chipmaking for AI and its wide-ranging applications.

ChatGPTs soaring popularity has led investors to bet on AI, and by extension, chipmakers such as Nvidia.

More from NextShark: Anti-maskers harass Chinese restaurant workers over Maryland mask mandate

After drawing $5 billion in late January, Huang saw his net worth balloon to $18.9 billion, making him the largest gainer among U.S. billionaires so far this year  and its still growing.

Huang found the opportunity to praise ChatGPT after speaking on inventing new markets at Berkeley Haas University in California earlier this month. Responding to a students inquiry during the Q&A session, the 59-year-old tech executive described the new software as a very, very big deal.

When was the last time we saw a piece of technology that is so versatile that it can solve problems and surprise people in so many ways so often? It can write a poem of course, it could fill out a spreadsheet, it can write a SQL query and do a SQL query, it can write python code, it can write Verilog. And if it can't do it today, of course it will be able to do it someday. More from NextShark: Chinese astronauts back home after historic 6-month mission in space So the fact that you have this tool that can do all these different things has really surprised a lot of people around the world. Now, for a lot of people who have been working on this, we have been waiting for this moment. This is the iPhone moment, if you will, of artificial intelligence. This is the time when all of the big ideas about mobile computing and all that, it all came together in a product that everyone just kind of [say]I see it.

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Huang also compared the situation to when browsers were created, which led to the invention of Javascript and later a website; or when the iPhone was created and subsequently brought forth apps such as Spotify. He described ChatGPT as one of the greatest things done in the field of computing.

What OpenAI has done, what the team over there has done, genuinely is one of the greatest things that has ever been done for computing. We have democratized computing in a very, very large way, and so I am very, very excited about that. More from NextShark: Workers filmed fleeing major iPhone factory in China

While ChatGPT has thrilled many in the business world, it has also raised concerns over potential abuses. Students now use it to automate their homework, while cybercriminals have begun using it to create malware, according to reports.

Huang acknowledged that ChatGPTs impact is yet to be felt by the rest of the world.
The "Scarboro 85" Monument Committee will host a luncheon to launch its fundraising campaign for a new Civil Rights monument, honoring the 85 students who desegregated schools in Oak Ridge.

Rev. Harold Middlebrook

The monument is slated for A.K. Bissell Park behind the Friendship Bell and Pavilion, according to a news release. The luncheon will be held 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Feb. 23 at the Doubletree Hotel, 215 S. Illinois Ave., Oak Ridge. Tickets for the luncheon are $50 and may be purchased at: www.eventbrite.com/e/scarboro-85-monument-kickoff-luncheon-tickets-514041310397. Corporate and table sponsorships are also available.

The Rev. Harold Middlebrook speaks at an event Sunday honoring the Oak Ridge-85, students who desegregated Oak Ridge Schools. Behind him are the Rev. Derrick Hammond of Oak Valley Baptist Church, Minister Lee Younger of Christ Community Church, Pastor Henry Watson of Mt. Zion Baptist Church and Pastor Darris Waters of True Light Baptist Church.

On Sept. 6, 1955, 85 students from the Scarboro Community in Oak Ridge became the first Black students in Tennessee  and the first in the Southeastern United States  to desegregate public schools. One year after the ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, the "Scarboro 85" ended the era of Jim Crow segregation in the South, and opened a new chapter of American history.

September 1955 was five years before Ruby Bridges, two full years before the Little-Rock-9 students, one year prior to the Clinton-12 students and months before the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The 85 brave young Black students from the Scarboro neighborhood entered All-White classes in the fully segregated Oak Ridge High School and Robertsville Junior High School. This was the first desegregation of a public school system in the Southeastern United States. It affirmed the Supreme Courts historic ruling in Brown v. Board of Education only one year after the ruling was issued.

"The 'Scarboro 85' story is one of wonderful leadership and determination. This luncheon is an opportunity to remember this key moment in American history  in our hometown  and directly interact with civil rights pioneers," the release stated.

The keynote speaker for the luncheon will be the Rev. Dr. Harold Middlebrook, a friend of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and acclaimed civil rights leader.

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The luncheon will also feature the unveiling of the monument by architect Ziad Demian, who was described in the release as "an internationally-known architect who has created a beautiful monument capturing the feeling and the bravery of the 'Scarboro 85'." He was the architect behind the Peace Pavilion.

For further information on the luncheon and corporate sponsorship opportunities, contact John Spratling, (865) 363-9759, or email JSpratling@ortn.edu.

To make a general donation to the monument, go to TheScarboro85.com.

This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Oak Ridge kick-off lunch Feb. 23 for major new Civil Rights monument
The Russian occupiers launched attacks on a medical institution in the city of Kherson twice on Tuesday, 14 February.

Source: the Kherson Oblast Military Administration

Quote: "The doctors and patients barely came to their senses after the morning Russian attack, and Russians launched the second artillery attack on the medical institution a few hours ago."

Details: The roof of one of the buildings of the hospital was damaged in the attack; windows were broken by blast waves and shell fragments. During the attack,26 patients and 7 medical staff members were at the hospital. Nobody was injured.

On 14 February in the afternoon, the Kherson Oblast Military Administration reported that in the morning, the Russian forces launched attacks on a medical institution in the city of Kherson.

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Feb. 13An Odessa woman was arrested Sunday night after two of her daughters and her husband told police she tried to kill him with a beer bottle and a gun.

According to an Odessa Police Department report, officers received a disturbance call from the 3700 block of North Texas Avenue around 8 p.m. and when they arrived, they found broken glass and blood on the fronts and sides of multiple cars in the driveway and around the front door patio.

The officers heard the sound of a disturbance inside the house and because nobody answered the door, they forced their way inside, the report stated.

Officers found a 52-year-old man with an "extremely large" gash in the middle of his forehead and they were told his wife, Maricruz Sanchez, 42, struck her him in the forehead with a beer bottle during a fight over infidelity. According to the police report, the man ran inside to try to stop the bleeding and Sanchez followed him, demanding to know who his lover is.

According to the report, Sanchez demanded another beer from her 29-year-old daughter and then fired a .22 caliber gun at her husband, barely missing him.

Sanchez's husband told police he tackled her to get the gun away from her and the 29-year-old and a 21-year-old daughter wrestled with Sanchez so he could leave the house. According to the report, Sanchez's husband was afraid she'd kill him, but he was also afraid for Sanchez's daughters and two younger children inside the house.

Officers found a bullet hole that traveled through an entire wall, a shell casing and a gun with one missing bullet, the report stated.

Sanchez was arrested on suspicion of two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon/family violence and failure to identify because she told officers who asked her for her name and date of birth to "figure it out," the report stated.

Aggravated assault with a deadly weapon is a second-degree felony punishable by two to 20 years in prison. Sanchez remains in the Ector County jail on surety bonds totaling $100,396.
EWING  Township schools canceled classes Tuesday after investigators learned of a potential threat from a mass-shooting suspect in Michigan.

The shooting suspect, 43-year-old Anthony McRae, carried a note that indicated a threat to two Ewing public schools, Schools Superintendent Peter Gentile and Ewing's police department said in a statement.

Ewing Township police officers stand watch outside the Ewing Township High School on Parkway Avenue Tuesday afternoon, February 14, 2023. Classes were canceled here after investigators learned of a potential threat from a mass-shooting suspect in Michigan.

More: Oxford student relives horror at MSU: 'Mom  get me out of here'

More: MSU shooting suspect Anthony McRae previously pleaded guilty to gun-related charge

But the statement said, After further investigation, it has been determined that the incident is isolated to Michigan, and there is no threat to Ewing Schools.

Ewing schools closed Tuesday

Ewing Township police officers stand watch outside the Ewing Township High School on Parkway Avenue Tuesday afternoon, February 14, 2023. Classes were canceled here after investigators learned of a potential threat from a mass-shooting suspect in Michigan.

The township's five schools closed Tuesday and the buildings received police protection due to an abundance of caution."

Ewing schools, which serve about 3,300 students, will resume normal operations on Wednesday.

The neighboring Trenton district increased police patrols in its schools for the day.

And in nearby Hamilton Township, the schools superintendent reported no threat to local students but emphasized the need for school safety.

"Please remember and remind your children if you see something, say something," Hamilton Superintendent Scott Rocco said in a letter on the school's website.

McRae allegedly killed three people and wounded five others in a rampage Monday night on the campus of Michigan State University in East Lansing. All five surviving victims were reported in critical condition.

McRae, who had no known ties to the Michigan school, also killed himself, police said.

McRae previously lived in Ewing

Ewing police learned at about 6 a.m. Tuesday of McRaes possible connection to the Mercer County community," according to the statement.

A note in the suspect's pocket mentioned Ewing High School and the town's Fisher Middle School, police said.

McRae "had a history of mental health issues" and had not lived in the Ewing area "for several years," according to the statement.

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Gentile expressed gratitude to the local police department and other law enforcement agencies for their rapid and thorough response.

The safety of our students and staff remains our top priority, he said.

This is a developing story and may be updated.

Jim Walsh is a senior reporter with the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal.

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Ewing schools closed after police say MSU shooter carried threat note
Plumes of smoke, questions about dead animals, worries about the drinking water. A train derailment in Ohio and subsequent burning of some of the hazardous chemicals has people asking: How worried should they be?

Its been more than a week since about 50 cars of a freight train derailed in a fiery, mangled mess on the outskirts of East Palestine near the Pennsylvania state line, apparently because of a mechanical issue with a rail car axle. No one was injured in that wreck. But concerns about air quality and the hazardous chemicals on board the train prompted some village residents to leave, and officials later ordered the evacuation of the immediate area as fears grew about a potential explosion of smoldering wreckage.

Officials seeking to avoid the danger of an uncontrolled blast chose to intentionally release and burn toxic vinyl chloride from five rail cars, sending flames and black smoke again billowing high into the sky. The jarring scene left people questioning the potential health impacts for residents in the area and beyond, even as authorities maintained they were doing their best to protect people.

In the days since, residents' concerns and questions have only abounded  amplified, in part, by misinformation spreading online.

More on what we know:

WAS THE CONTROLLED BURN SAFE?

Vinyl chloride is associated with increased risk of certain cancers, and officials at the time warned burning it would release two concerning gases  hydrogen chloride and phosgene, the latter of which was used as a weapon in World War I.

Environmental officials say that monitors detected toxins in the air at the site during the controlled burn and that officials kept people away until that dissipated. They say continuing air monitoring done for the railroad and by government agencies  including testing inside nearly 400 homes  hasnt detected dangerous levels in the area since residents were allowed to return. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has shared air monitoring results online.

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WHAT ARE THE CONTINUING CONCERNS?

Even in communities beyond East Palestine, some residents say they worry about long-term effects of even low-grade exposure to contaminants from the site. The village has scheduled a town hall at the local high school Wednesday evening to hear questions from residents, whose concerns have included lingering smells, how to ensure accountability for the cleanup, and what to make of pets and livestock that have appeared ill or died since the derailment.

The risk to such animals is low, according to the Ohio Department of Agriculture, which recommended that people contact a local veterinarian for any concerns about their livestock or pets health. The department hasnt received any official reports about livestock or pet illnesses or deaths directly related to the incident, though making such a determination would require a necropsy and lab work, ODA said.

Ohio Health Department Director Bruce Vanderhoff cautioned at a news conference Tuesday that residents who were worried about lingering odors or headaches since the derailment should know that those can be triggered by contaminant levels in the air that are well below whats unsafe.

The derailment also highlighted questions about railroad safety, though federal data show accidents involving hazardous materials at this scale are very rare. Trains were rolling past East Palestine again soon after the evacuation order was lifted.

WHAT ABOUT THE GROUND AND WATER?

Contaminants from derailed cars spilled into some waterways and were toxic to fish, but officials have said drinking water in the area has remained protected.

In addition to vinyl chloride, at least three other substances  butyl acrylate, ethylhexyl acrylate, and ethylene glycol monobutyl ether  were released into the air, soil or water, according to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency letter putting rail operator Norfolk Southern on notice about its potential liability for cleanup costs.

Norfolk Southern's response has included efforts to remove spilled contaminants from the ground surface and nearby streams, as well as air quality monitoring, soil sampling and residential water well surveys, according to its preliminary remediation plan.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources estimates the spill affected more than 7 miles (11.2 kilometers) of streams and killed some 3,500 fish, mostly small ones such as minnows and darters.

A plume of contaminants that includes butyl acrylate formed in the Ohio River in the first days after the derailment and on Tuesday was flowing slowly, nearing Huntington, West Virginia, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency officials said.

The contaminant amounts found so far don't pose a risk for cities that rely on the river for its drinking water and the plume is continuing to be diluted as it moves farther along, the state EPA said.

In response, some water companies have shut off their intakes or increased treatment processes as a precaution.

ARE SOCIAL MEDIA CLAIMS ABOUT THIS SITUATION ACCURATE?

As with any developing situation, misinformation and hyperbole have spread online about the derailment in recent days.

Social media users, for example, falsely claimed that drinking water is contaminated throughout the entire Ohio River basin when many areas in the multistate region are not affected by the chemical release.

Footage of dark, ominous clouds has also spread with claims it showed East Palestine post-burn, despite the fact that the footage appeared online as early as November 2022.

As information continues to develop, disinformation experts emphasize that people should exercise caution before sharing unverified claims.

WHAT MAY HAVE CAUSED THE ACCIDENT?

Investigators examined the rail car that initiated the derailment and have surveillance video from a home showing what appears to be a wheel bearing in the final stage of overheat failure moments before the derailment, the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday. Its preliminary report is expected in two weeks.

Rail operator Norfolk Southern and the NTSB havent publicly answered one of the big questions about the Feb. 3 derailment, however: Exactly when was the crew alerted to a mechanical issue with a rail car axle  the suspected cause  and did they respond appropriately?

A wayside defect detector alerted the crew to a mechanical issue shortly before the derailment, and emergency braking was initiated, a National Transportation Safety Board member said that weekend.

Security video from two businesses in Salem, Ohio, shows the underside of one rail car glowing brightly from an apparent fiery axle, indicating the train might have traveled more than 20 miles (32.1 kilometers) with that malfunction before the derailment, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. The NTSB says its reviewing that video, too.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said on Tuesday that Norfolk Southern had mismanaged the disaster from the outset and that its actions hampered the response from local and state agencies. He also said the company had been unwilling to look at alternatives to intentionally releasing and burning the five cars filled with vinyl chloride.

Prioritizing an accelerated and arbitrary timeline to reopen the rail line injected unnecessary risk and created confusion, Shapiro said in a letter to Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw. A message seeking comment was left with the company.

___

Associated Press writer Ali Swenson contributed from New York City.
Correction (Feb. 21, 2023): A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that water from East Palestine could have traveled to the Great Miami River in southwest Ohio.

The fiery derailment of a Norfolk Southern train in East Palestine near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border and controlled release of one of the chemicals it was carrying has prompted concern that the drinking water some 5 million people rely on could be impacted.

"The East Palestine Ohio train derailment is going to poison that entire Ohio river valley. (And probably the Mississippi river as well.) Decades of health effects," reads one Twitter post.

"Hey yall remember the massive poison cloud over East Palestine, Ohio? Well that sits on the Ohio Riverwhich feeds directly into the Mississippi River," reads another.

The reality is more complicated, according to experts.

Related Palestine train derailment news:Watch live: Gov. Mike DeWine to provide update on East Palestine train derailment

What happened in East Palestine?

About 50 train cars, 11 of which contained hazardous materials, derailed in a fiery wreck on Feb. 3 due to a mechanical issue with the rail car axle. The National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the incident, said investigators identified the car that caused the derailment and reviewed video showing an overheated wheel bearing on that car.

The board will issue a preliminary report in two weeks.

What chemicals were on the train?

Five of the cars that derailed contained vinyl chloride, a colorless gas used to make hard plastic resin in products like credit cards and PVC pipes. Norfolk Southern Railroad executed a controlled release of the vinyl chloride to prevent an explosion, prompting DeWine and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro to order an evacuation of the area.

Derailed train cars are seen along East Taggart Street in East Palestine, Ohio, as crews continue clean up in the aftermath of a toxic train derailment. About 50 train cars, 10 of which carried hazardous materials, derailed in a fiery wreck on Feb. 3.

Four other chemicals leaked into the air, soil and water, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: butyl acrylate, ethylhexyl acrylate, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether and isobutylene.

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Residents have since been allowed to return.

What chemicals have been detected in bodies of water?

Some chemicals from the derailment showed up in creeks and streams around East Palestine, leading to the deaths of around 3,500 fish. Ohio Department of Natural Resources director Mary Mertz said they haven't seen an increase in fish deaths since the first couple of days after the incident, and there are no signs of non-aquatic life being harmed.

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency detected low levels of butyl acrylate and ethylhexyl acrylate in waterways near the site on Feb. 10.

Tiffany Kavalec, chief of the division of surface water at the Ohio EPA, said during a news conference Tuesday that Norfolk Southern is actively aerating Sulphur Run and have contained 1.3 miles of the waterway. "Sulphur Run remains contaminated but we're confident that it is contained." she said.

No vinyl chloride has been detected in waterways near the derailment site, Kavalec added.

Read More:Thousands of fish found dead days after train derailment, toxic spill in East Palestine

Is the Ohio River contaminated?

Officials are also tracking a plume of contaminants that's traveling slowly along the Ohio River. But they expect treatment and the closing of water intakes to keep the chemicals out of local systems.

Utilities along the Ohio River are actively monitoring their water supplies.

Cincinnati's water utility has said it's collecting samples of the Ohio River and analyzing them for any "potential threat." Louisville and Evansville, Indiana, have also said they're monitoring their intake from the Ohio River.

The Cincinnati skyline and Ohio River as seen on Wednesday, July 12, 2017.

Should toxic chemicals infiltrate a water supply, most, if not all, municipal water utilities have the ability to remove them using methods like oxidation and powder-activated carbon. Utilities can also limit or shut off their intake if the concentration of something in a water supply is high enough to warrant concern.

What's more concerning is the potential impact of the spill and release of chemicals to groundwater.

Surface water contamination will likely only be a problem for a short period of time, said Kurt Rhoads, an engineering professor at Case Western Reserve University. But any effects on groundwater will unfold over a longer term, Rhoads said, and could present a problem for East Palestine residents with private wells.

Related Ohio train derailment article:Thousands of fish found dead days after train derailment, toxic spill in East Palestine

"We've put a lot of effort and money into making certain this infrastructure works. Now, people who are not on municipal supplies, they have their own wells, etc. and they're nearby, that's something different altogether," said David Stradling, director of Environmental Studies at the University of Cincinnati.

How many people get their water from the Ohio River?

The 981-mile-long Ohio River, which flows through and borders six states, is the source of drinking water for more than 5 million people, according to the Ohio River Foundation.

More than 25 million people, almost 10% of the US population, live in the Ohio River Basin.

Coverage of the East Palestine train derailment is being provided for free. Subscribe today to support local journalism and access all of our content online.

Monroe Trombly covers the workplace and environmental issues for The Dispatch.

Haley BeMiller is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: East Palestine Ohio train derailment sparks concerns over water
Human Rights Activists to Gather at the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C. for a 'Chinese Spy Balloon Protest and Call for Human Rights'

NEWS PROVIDED BY

Christian Defense Coalition

Feb. 14, 2023



WASHINGTON, Feb. 14, 2023 /Christian Newswire/ -- The protest will be on Wednesday, February 15, at 12:00 PM at the Chinese Embassy located at 3505 International Pl NW Washington D.C., DC 20008.



The activists will be displaying two large helium balloons, each having a 2 foot diameter, at the entrance to the Embassy.



From January 28 to February 4, 2023, a Chinese-operated high-altitude spy balloon was seen in North American airspace, including Alaska, western Canada, and the contiguous United States. On February 4, the U.S. Air Force shot down the spy balloon over U.S. territorial waters off the coast of South Carolina.



Se Hoon Kim, Director of the Captive Nations Coalition of the Committee on Present Danger: China, states;

"The CCP Balloons that appeared in our airspace represents the complete disregard for our sovereignty by the Chinese regime. We must stand together as united Americans and people of the Free World even stronger than before.



"No matter what the decision/reaction may have been from our own government, the people of the United States will show that we do not tolerate the clear violation of our nation's sovereignty by anyone, especially by the Communist Chinese Regime.



"Our protest at the Chinese Embassy in DC will show that there are those out there who will always stand against the evils of the CCP and most importantly, it will serve as a sign that we are standing strong with the persecuted peoples of China."

Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defense Coalition in Washington D.C., has a 40 year history of standing for human rights and freedom in China. He has led many prayer vigils, protests, rallies and media appearances in support of the Chinese people against the brutality and oppression of the Chinese Communist Party.



Concerning this protest at the Chinese Embassy, Rev. Mahoney states;

"We are gathering at the Chinese Embassy to condemn the brutal human rights abuses of the Chinese government against their own people and their violation of American airspace with a large spy balloon. By sending this massive spy balloon across our nation, the Chinese Communist Party has shown a complete lack of respect and regard for American sovereignty and freedom.



"We believe, instead of spying on other nations, the Chinese government should be diligently working to protect and honor human rights and ensuring freedom for all their citizens."

For more information or interviews

Call Rev. Patrick Mahoney at 540.538.4741



SOURCE Christian Defense Coalition



CONTACT: Rev. Patrick Mahoney, 540-538-4741


Idris Elba poses for photographers at the photo call for the film 'Three Thousand Years of Longing' at the 75th international film festival, Cannes, southern France on May 21, 2022. (Vianney Le Caer/Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)

Actor Idris Elba says hes going to stick with being the tormented detective John Luther  not James Bond.

Speaking Tuesday to the World Government Summit in Dubai, Elba brought up the persistent discussions about him taking over as Ian Flemings famed British spy. Those had grown louder after Daniel Craigs demise as Bond in the 25th film in the franchise called No Time to Die.

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Asked about his upcoming film based on the British series Luther, Elba clearly took himself out of playing 007.

Its very dark, Elba said of the series. Weve been working on the television show for about 10 years and so the natural ambition is to take it to the big screen, and so were here with the first movie.

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He added: You know, a lot of people talk about another character that begins with J and ends with B, but Im not going to be that guy. Im going to be John Luther. Thats who I am.

Luther: The Fallen Sun is due to come out in American theaters on Feb. 24, then stream on Netflix beginning March 10. It also co-stars Andy Serkis and other actors from the television series.

Elba, 50, is known for a variety of television and film roles, ranging from Stringer Bell on the American television series The Wire and the recent movie Beast.

While on stage, Elba discussed an upcoming film hes working on with the American actor and wrestler John Cena called The Heads of State.

He plays the American president. I play the British prime minister, Elba said. We get into a caper. Im very excited about doing that because leadership comes in many different forms.

In recent weeks, Elba has appeared at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he and his wife Sabrina Dhowre Elba received an award for their work on food security in Africa. Elba also has worked as an anti-crime ambassador with his Dont Stab Your Future initiative in the United Kingdom, where he grew up in east London.

During his talk, Elba urged nations to invest more in creative industries, saying it can provide an economic engine that provides jobs to their youth. In particular, he said creative jobs could greatly help countries in Africa.

I believe that Africa, especially as a continent, needs to hold a narrative, change a narrative, he said.

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Discussing storytelling, Elba also praised Dubai for its incredible tourism story that it has developed over the last decades. The city-state is seeing a new real estate boom, fueled in part by Russian cash amid Moscows war on Ukraine.

I think Dubai should win an Oscar because the (place) is incredible, Elba said to applause. Its a very, very good job and other countries should take note.
By Shariq Khan

BENGALURU (Reuters) -Oil prices settled 1% lower on Tuesday as traders worried about mounting supplies, and prices extended losses in post-settlement trading after sources said data from the American Petroleum Institute showed a large build in U.S. crude oil and distillate inventories.

Sources said the industry group reported a crude oil build of 10.5 million barrels in the week ended Feb. 10.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) said on Monday that it would sell 26 million barrels of oil from the SPR, which is already at its lowest level since 1983.

Brent futures for April delivery fell $1.03, or 1.2%, to $85.58 a barrel by 1:05 p.m. EST (1805 GMT). U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures for March fell by $1.08, or 1.4%, to $79.06 a barrel.

WTI futures slid by another 22 cents to $78.84 a barrel in post-settlement trading. Brent futures fell by 32 cents to $85.26 a barrel.

Official inventory figures from the Energy Information Administration are due on Wednesday. If the data shows a build in crude oil inventories, it will be the eighth straight week of rising U.S. stocks. [EIA/S]

Both benchmarks had sunk more than $2 during the session, but pared losses after data showed the slowest pace of acceleration in the U.S consumer price index since late 2021. Analysts said the data would likely keep the Federal Reserve on a moderate interest rate hiking path.

"Interest rates are now at a point where every 25 basis points matter and could be the difference between a soft landing and a recession," OANDA analyst Craig Erlam said in a note.

Oil prices also pared losses after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries raised its 2023 oil demand forecast by 100,000 barrels per day in a monthly report, citing the reopening of the Chinese economy after COVID restrictions.

"OPEC's monthly oil market report yielded some cautious optimism," said Kpler analyst Matt Smith. He added that oil prices remained lower as the markets entered a risk-off sentiment

(Reporting by Shariq KhanAdditional reporting by Shadia Nasralla and Sudarshan VaradhanEditing by Marguerita Choy, David Goodman and David Gregorio)
Ollie Lawrence was a destructive carrier against Italy (Adam Davy/PA) (PA Wire)

Ollie Lawrence believes the financial crisis at Worcester Warriors helped provide the fresh start his career needed as he aims to build on his most influential display for England yet.

Lawrence was given instructions by Steve Borthwick to kick the door down against Italy on Sunday and he did exactly that by emerging as his sides most destructive runner.

Inside centre has been a long-standing problem position but Baths Lawrence made 83 metres in 11 carries at Twickenham, in the process beating eight defenders  the most by an England centre in any Six Nations match.

The 23-year-old was only called up by Borthwick after injuries to Elliot Daly and Henry Slade, but when given his chance against Italy he reproduced the tackle-busting form shown for Bath this season.

A challenging period saw his 2021-22 campaign interrupted by a recurring calf injury before his club Worcester were placed into administration in October, forcing a move to the Recreation Ground that has been revitalising.

My injuries have probably one of the biggest things. Re-injuring is obviously frustrating, Lawrence said.

But finding out what had happened to Worcester, knowing that we were going into administration, was pretty tough to take.

I had been there since I was 15 so its always been a part of my life and my familys. That was hard to take, to lose out on a lot of different friendships and stuff. Weve all had to go in our different directions.

Off the back of it, I cant say that it wasnt the best thing for me because I think I needed the change. It took me leaving Worcester to realise that.

But Ive grown up a lot. Ive had to mature. Its been a whirlwind over the last six months but I have no regrets so far. Sometimes these things need to happen for you to go into a different position.

Lawrence was named man of the match for scattering Italys defence, with the bulk of his carrying taking place in heavy traffic. Operating alongside Slade, it was cautious evidence that England may have finally discovered an effective centre pairing.

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Steve put my role against Italy as, youve got to kick the front door down. You can understand what he means by that! Lawrence said.

My job is to be physical both sides of the ball and support the other players around me and that is what I tried to do  get us over the gainline and get quick ball.

Owen Farrell has been really good for me over the last two weeks in making sure that I know what Im doing and he gave me the right balls, so just fed off him.

Henry outside me is an experienced player  both of them are  so I am happy to be stuck in the middle of them.

I wanted to get back to playing like how I used to and enjoying it again. I lost the enjoyment a bit because of the injury. When I enjoy my rugby, I usually play well off the back of it.

England are assessing the facial wound Kyle Sinckler sustained against Italy, which is preventing him from training as part of a 26-man squad named for this weeks three-day camp in London.

It means the Bristol prop is a doubt for the round-three clash with Wales on February 25, but fellow tighthead Will Stuart has recovered from an elbow problem to provide another option in the position.
By Pavel Polityuk

KYIV (Reuters) - One Ukrainian worker has been killed and many have been hurt in recent days trying to repair the power network following Russian air strikes, Energy Minister German Galushchenko said on Tuesday.

Russia struck energy facilities across Ukraine in the latest wave of air strikes on Friday, but Galushchenko and national grid operator Ukrenergo said the country was producing enough energy to meet consumers' needs.

"With the incredible efforts of energy workers, it's possible to keep the generation, delivery and distribution of electricity at the required level to meet the needs of consumers," Galushchenko said in a statement.

"These successes have their own high price, the price of human life. In frontline areas, energy workers work under fire and in dangerous places."

He said there had been a number of accidents "in recent days", including incidents in which workers were hurt at energy companies in the southern region of Mykolayiv and in the northeastern region of Kharkiv.

"Mines blew up the cars of repairmen of Mykolaivbolenergo and Kharkivbolenergo. There is a dead person, many wounded," Galushchenko said, without indicating how badly the surviving workers had been hurt.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy hailed the professionalism of Ukrainian energy workers in a video address on Sunday, praising the speed at which they had restored power to the nation.

Ukrenergo said power plants were now generating enough electricity to cover consumption, with increased output at hydroelectric power stations helping make up for one unit being out of service at a thermal plant.

"There is currently no capacity deficit in the power system," Ukrenergo said.

It said the electricity supply may have to be limited later on Tuesday in the southern region of Odesa after damage to the network there. Galushchenko said outages were also possible in the western Khmelnitskyi region to enable repairs.

(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
WASHINGTON (AP)  The handprints of military children pressed onto paper hearts are decorating a corner inside the White House and the lawn as first lady Jill Biden celebrates Valentine's Day.

Three large hearts, one with the message, Reach Out with Open Hearts and Helping Hands this Valentine's Day, and two others featuring handprints are on display on the north lawn in view of television cameras where White House correspondents stand for their live reports.

Cut-outs of dog Commander and cat Willow are also part of the display.

The theme continues inside the executive mansion as a corner of the East Wing entrance is decorated with three more large hearts, all printed with Love, and replicas of the dog and cat. Hearts bearing the children's handprints have been strung together and hung in a window for visitors taking public tours to see.

The first lady and the children worked on the heart projects when she visited the U.S. Army Garrison Fort Drum, New York, home of the 10th Mountain Division, on Jan. 30. The 3- to 5-year-old children are enrolled at Fort Drum South Riva Ridge Child Development Center.

The visit was part of her Joining Forces initiative to support military and veteran families and their caregivers.

Valentine's Day is one of the first lady's favorite holidays. She also displayed Valentine's Day messages at the White House in 2021 and 2022.
Michigan State University students hug after a gunman opened fire on campus on February 13, 2023. Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

Some students who survived the Oxford High School shooting just experienced another deadly shooting at MSU.

A gunman killed 3 students and injured 5 others at Michigan State University on Monday night.

The mother of one survivor said she "can't believe this is happening again."

Just months after Oxford High School students survived a mass shooting, some graduates are now grappling with another deadly school shooting at Michigan State University.

On Monday night, a gunman opened fire on campus at Michigan State University, killing three students and critically injuring five more, authorities said.

It was the second tragedy to strike the area. In November 2021, a student at Oxford High School brought a gun into the building and opened fire, killing four students about 80 miles away from MSU.

Now, seniors who graduated from Oxford High School in 2022  and lived through the shooting there  who joined the freshman class of MSU are again in the midst of a deadly mass shooting.

A livestream of students evacuating during the MSU shooting showed one teen wearing an "Oxford Strong" sweatshirt, which would have been given out after the last mass killing.

"We have children in Michigan who are living through their second school shooting in under a year and a half" Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin said at a police press conference. "If this is not a wake-up call to do something, I don't know what is."

MSU student Emma Riddle said she had to evacuate from Oxford High School during the mass shooting.

"Tonight, I am sitting under my desk at Michigan State Univeristy, once again texting everyone 'I love you,' " she wrote on Twitter. "When will this end?"

Andrea Ferguson, whose daughter was a Oxford High School shooting survivor, told Local 4 that her child texted her "unbelievably terrified" as news of the shooting broke.

"It's really, really surreal to have to worry about this, and to know exactly what to do," she said.

Jennifer Mancini, the mother of one MSU freshman, told the Detroit Free Press that she had just spent a year helping her daughter deal with losing two of her closest friends in the Oxford shooting, where she was a senior.

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"She said that she had PTSD," Mancini said of her daughter, the Detroit Free Press reported. "She said she can't believe this is happening again."

Mancini's daughter reportedly called her begging to come home, according to the Detroit Free Press.

A science writer, Dagmar Gross, said they have two nephews at MSU, one of whom also survived the Oxford High School shooting.

"They are both keeping me posted as best they can, are locked down and taking cover," Gross posted on Twitter. "I'm devastated. I'm so glad my mother is no longer alive to experience this. The Oxford shooting nearly killed her."

Police have identified a suspect in the MSU shooting as a 43-year-old man but haven't detailed a motive and said he doesn't appear to have any connection to the university. He died by suicide on Monday before he was caught by police.

Read the original article on Insider
Michigan State University students after a mass shooting on Monday (Associated Press)

Several survivors of the Michigan State University shooting narrowly escaped a rampage that claimed the lives of four Oxford High School students just 15 months ago.

A gunman identified by police as 43-year-old Anthony Wayne McRae opened fire at the MSUs East Lansing campus just before 8.30pm on Monday night, killing three and seriously wounding five others.

Students received a text alert from the university telling them to secure in place immediately, and to run, hide, fight after shots erupted inside Berkey Hall and the MSU Union, popular dining and study areas.

A shelter-in-place order was lifted four hours later after police located the gunman, who they said died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Survivors of Monday nights mass shooting who were also students at Oxford High School when Ethan Crumbley murdered four classmates in November 2021 told how the latest shooting resurfaced feelings of terror.

Andrea Ferguson told the ClickonDetroit news site that her daughter and several of her friends had now been through two school shootings.

She said her daughter had just left class when she began getting texts about an active shooter, and was unbelievably terrified as the gunman stalked the campus for several hours.

I have to say, once the reality kicked in, she knew what to do  and thats whats important is that the kids know what to do, Ms Ferguson told the news site. Its really, really surreal to have to worry about this, and to know exactly what to do.

This combination of images from surveillance video provided by Michigan State University Police and Public Safety show a suspect whom authorities are looking for in connection with multiple shootings at the university late Monday, 13 February 2023 (AP)

Another parent, Jennifer Mancini, told the Detroit Free Press that her daughter had been retraumatised after experiencing her second mass shooting event in just over a year.

Ms Mancini told the news site that her daughter had lost two close friends in the Oxford High School shooting.

She said that she had PTSD. She said she cant believe this is happening again, Ms Mancini told the Free Press.

Dagmar Gross wrote on Twitter that her nephew was sheltering in place next to where the gunman was roaming, just as he had when Crumbley was shooting children in the class next to his in November 2021.

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Ms Gross, a medical writer, said there were many Oxford students at MSU, including older siblings of those who were present during the shooting.

Michigan State Shooting (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

She said in a subsequent tweet that she had been trying to convince her nephew to move to Canada in order to escape gun violence.

Will pursue this more so now, she added. His words: Active shootings - this is my life now. Its normal, everyday

Crumbley was just 15 years old when he murdered four students and wounded seven others with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun at the school in Oxford Township, about 80 miles east of East Lansing, on 30 November 2021.

Oxford High students holding candles become emotional as they are asked to stand during a vigil after a shooting at Oxford High School at Lake Pointe Community Church in Lake Orion, Michiga (AFP via Getty)

Last October, he pleaded guilty to charges including first-degree murder and terrorism.

Another MSU student who said in a post on TikTok that she had survived the Sandy Hook shootings in 2012 demanded action on gun control.

The fact that this is the second mass shooting that I have lived through is incomprehensible, the user, whose handle is @Jmattttt, said in a TikTok. We can no longer just provide love and prayers, there needs to be legislation, there needs to be action.

Furious lawmakers said it was past time to act on passing harsher gun control laws.

I cannot believe I am here again doing this 15 months later, Democratic Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin said during a news conference on Tuesday. I am filled with rage that we have to have another press conference about our children being killed in schools.
By Kirsty Needham and David Brunnstrom

SYDNEY/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The leaders of five Pacific island nations said on Tuesday U.S. President Joe Biden would soon visit their region for a leaders' summit, in what experts said would be a significant move in U.S. efforts to push back against Chinese inroads in the region.

The leaders of the Pacific's five Micronesian nations - Kiribati, Palau, Nauru, Marshall Islands and Federated States of Micronesia - met on Monday and issued a communique on Tuesday saying they had discussed the "value of a visit by U.S. President Joseph R. Biden Jr to the Pacific sometime in the near future."

"Presidents welcomed President Biden's planned visit for Leaders Summit in the Pacific Region and expressed their full support and cooperation to ensure the success of this visit," they said in a statement.

A spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said it had no travel to announce. U.S. officials involved in talks with Pacific island countries declined to comment.

Leaders of the Pacific Island Forum, a regional bloc of 18 countries, will meet in Fiji on Feb. 24 and any invitation for a Biden visit would likely be agreed on and issued by the forum.

Biden is expected to travel to Australia this year to attend a summit of the so-called Quad group of the United States, India, Australia and Japan expected to be held in May. The Quad nations have been working together to push back against China."A visit from President Biden to the Pacific Islands would be highly significant," said Justin Burke, an expert in Pacific island security and a visiting fellow at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.

"No one should underestimate the diplomatic benefit of the personal touch in this region, Burke said. "The White House should consider this invitation seriously."

The United States last year stepped up its diplomacy and aid to the strategically important Pacific region after China struck a security deal with the Solomon Islands, and Beijing attempted but failed to forge a wider security and trade pact with 10 island nations.

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Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) President David Panuelo said in a statement that a U.S.-Pacific islands summit hosted by Biden at the White House in September was "an unambiguous success."

"It will be of instrumental importance for the Pacific to ensure the United States continues to reengage, as thoroughly as possible, with our Blue Pacific Continent," he said.

Washington is currently negotiating the renewal of cooperation agreements with three Pacific island nations - the FSM, the Marshall Islands and Palau - that give it access to huge swaths of the Pacific for defense purposes.

It has signed memorandums of understanding with the three states on future U.S. assistance, but has not provided details.

(Reporting by Kirsty Needham; additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in Washington; Editing by Robert Birsel and Jonathan Oatis)
Cherishing Human rights, dignity and respect for others is an ethos we must all strive to embrace. As Martin Luther King Jr. famously stated in his 1963 Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. This critical reflection emerged from a style of grassroots organizing which called on everyday people to commit themselves to the struggle for freedom, justice and equality. These sentiments were later echoed by Fannie Lou Hamer, who unapologetically taught that nobodys free until all are free, a notion which emphasized the interconnectedness of all human beings under the sun.

Now, in the State of New Jersey, theres an ongoing effort to legally define anti-Semitism  legislation has been proposed in both the Assembly and the state Senate: A3882, S2434, AJR211, and SJR113. On the surface, it may seem like a no-brainer to support legislation which aims to protect people against bigotry and hatred. Without a doubt, targeted violence or harassment directed toward any specific group of people or community should be taken quite seriously and wholeheartedly denounced. However, each of these bills share a common characteristic which compromises their integrity: the adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-Semitism and its related examples.

Photo of the New Jersey Statehouse. The capitol dome and the back of the statehouse.

The IHRA definition of anti-Semitism is widely disputed and considered problematic for a number of reasons. First and foremost, the majority of the examples listed include direct references to the state of Israel. For instance, claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor falls into the category of anti-Semitism according to the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism. Meanwhile, several human rights and civic society organizations have exposed Israels treatment of Palestinians as unjust. In fact, Amnesty International recently published a 280-page report called Israels Apartheid Against Palestinians: A Cruel System of Domination and Crime Against Humanity, which condemns the state of Israel for maintaining a violent system of oppression. Examples of injustices include forced displacement and dispossession, unlawful killings and serious injuries, denial of basic rights and freedoms and persecution.

In March 2022, the American Association of University Professors Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure released a statement which described IHRA legislation as an attempt to expand the definition of antisemitism to encompass political speech, with several discriminatory effects.

The AAUP emphasized the defeat of these legislative initiatives and others of their kind in order to protect the academic freedom that is vital to the preservation of democracy.

Similar pushback to the IHRA definition and related examples ensued shortly after when 128 leading scholars of anti-Semitism from across the United States, Israel and Europe warned United Nations policymakers about the divisive and polarizing nature of the IHRA definition: Ample evidence shows that these examples are being weaponized to discredit and silence legitimate criticism of Israels policies as antisemitism.

Most recently, in January, the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights declined to adopt the IHRA definition despite significant pressure from pro-Israel advocates.

Its important to keep in mind that when Palestinian advocates criticize Israel, we are not critiquing Judaism and the Jewish identity. Jewish people have always been a part of Palestines history and were equal citizens side-by-side with Palestinian Muslims and Christians before the inception of Israel. Instead, we are challenging and opposing Zionism, which is a nationalist political ideology that privileges one group of people over another and is grounded in white-supremacist and colonial logic.

In her debut memoir, They Called Me A Lioness: A Palestinian Girls Fight for Freedom, Ahed Timimi explains: Zionism is the ideology that says that historic Palestine must be a country for [Israeli] Jews only. Zionism is what led to the dispossession of our land, which continues to be seized and occupied.

If the state of New Jersey adopts the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, it will legally suppress the voices and advocacy of local Palestinian populations, in addition to non-Palestinian human rights advocates who rightfully express criticisms of Israel as a result of the occupation abroad. The reality is that New Jersey is home to a vibrant Palestinian-American population and multicultural landscape which thrives alongside diversity and inclusion. Just last year, thousands of New Jersey residents came together to rename a busy section of Main Street in South Paterson to Palestine Way in honor of the contributions by Palestinian-Americans. Palestinian youth are also integral members of various New Jersey universities and educational institutions such as Rutgers University, Drew University and William Paterson University, where they create and sustain spaces of critical thought, reflection, and solidarity. For these reasons, we reject the false choice between standing up against anti-Palestinian racism and anti-Semitism. We believe fighting against anti-Palestinian racism and anti-Semitism go hand-in-hand, and to mislead policymakers into this false choice threatens our collective safety.

Palestine Legal, the leading organization dedicated to protecting the rights of people in the US who speak out for Palestinian freedom, underscores that IHRA has become an instrument of censorship in a context where speech on Palestine is already widely suppressed.

Stephanie Fox, the executive director of Jewish Voice for Peace reiterates this point as well:

At a time when violent white nationalism poses a grave threat to Jewish people, Muslim people, Black people and all people of color, we require bold action to build real safety for all of our communities. Instead, our elected representatives are considering the controversial IHRA definition, which shields the Israeli government from accountability by censoring Palestinians and advocates for Palestinian rights. Make no mistake: Legislating the IHRA definition is not about Jewish safety. The only thing it secures is impunity for decades of violating international law and trampling on Palestinian human rights.

Therefore, members of the New Jersey Legislature should not allow this legislation to pass unless the IHRA definition and related examples are removed altogether. We encourage readers to sign this petition to tell New Jersey legislators that anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism. This effort is sponsored by Jews for the Palestinian Right of Return; Al Awda New York/New Jersey (The Palestine Right to Return Coalition); American Muslims for Palestine  New Jersey; the Council on American-Islamic Relations  New Jersey; Jewish Voice for Peace  Central New Jersey, the Palestinian American Community Center; Students for Justice in Palestine and others.

Jason Ajiake is the advocacy and community outreach xoordinator at the Palestinian American Community Center in Clifton.

Rania Mustafa is the executive director of the Palestinian American Community Center.

Abire Sabbagh is the Palestine education director at the Palestinian American Community Center.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ Palestinian-Americans views on anti-Semitism definitions
JERUSALEM (AP)  Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian teenager Tuesday during an army raid in a refugee camp in the northern West Bank, Palestinian officials said.

The death was the latest in an almost year-long surge in Israeli-Palestinian violence that shows no signs of abating.

Meanwhile, in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, a video captured by an American journalist showing an Israeli soldier shoving a Palestinian activist to the ground and then kicking him caused an uproar online  prompting the Israeli military to jail the soldier for 10 days.

Early on Tuesday, the Israeli military said it carried out raids across the occupied West Bank overnight. During an operation in the Faraa refugee camp near the northeastern city of Tubas, the army said it opened fire on a Palestinian who approached troops with an explosive device. The camp is home to a recently formed militant cell affiliated with Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an Islamist group.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said that 17-year-old Mahmoud al-Aydi died from a bullet wound to the head. No militant group immediately claimed him as a member.

Also on Tuesday, a 25-year-old Palestinian succumbed to wounds he suffered two years ago when the Israeli army shot him in Masafer Yatta, in the southern West Bank, leaving him paralyzed from the neck down.

Palestinian health officials identified him as Haroun Abu Aram. Footage from the incident in 2021 showed him struggling to prevent Israeli security forces from confiscating his portable generator before a shot rang out, and he collapsed.

Tensions have mounted for months as Israel has escalated arrest raids in the West Bank, which were prompted by a spate of Palestinian attacks on Israelis last spring. Some 30 people were killed in Israel by Palestinians in 2022, and at least 12 others died in attacks so far in 2023.

An Israeli Border Police officer died Monday after he was stabbed by a Palestinian teen in east Jerusalem. A security guard opened fire at the assailant, but police say he also wound up shooting and critically wounding 1st Sgt. Asil Su'ad. A Bedouin Arab serving in Israel's paramilitary police force, Suad was to be laid to rest in northern Israel on Tuesday.

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In Hebron, prominent Palestinian activist Issa Amro was giving an interview to Lawrence Wright of The New Yorker magazine on Monday when an Israeli soldier grabbed Amro by the neck as if to choke him before throwing him onto a brick sidewalk, footage posted by Wright on Twitter showed. The soldier kicked Amro as he lay on the ground and began to drag him on the concrete before another soldier intervened, pulling him away from Amro.

Late on Monday, the Israeli army said the soldier would serve 10 days in military prison and be suspended from active combat duty, adding, As the video shows, the soldier did not act as expected and did not follow the (military's) code of conduct."

Palestinian and human rights groups accuse the Israeli military of frequently using excessive force and say soldiers are rarely punished for violent acts. Even in the most shocking cases  and those captured on video  soldiers often get relatively light sentences.

Yet Israel's ultranationalist National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir lambasted the punishment as a disgrace. He has long called for a relaxation of open-fire regulations and immunity from criminal prosecution for members of the security forces acting in combat situations in the West Bank.

Soldiers deserve to be backed up, not jailed, Ben-Gvir wrote on Twitter.

Nearly 150 Palestinians were killed last year in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, making it the deadliest year in those areas since 2004, according to figures by the Israeli rights group BTselem. At least 48 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops since the start of this year.

Israel says that most of those killed have been militants but others  including youths protesting the incursions and other people not involved in confrontations  have also been killed.

Israel says the military raids are meant to dismantle militant networks and thwart future attacks while the Palestinians view them as further entrenchment of Israels open-ended, 55-year occupation.

Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war, territories the Palestinians claim for their hoped-for independent state.
Chicago police guard an area in the 2100 block of South St. Louis Avenue in Chicago on Feb. 13, 2023, after an officer shot man, according to police. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)

A Chicago police officer shot a man in North Lawndale Monday morning, police said, sparking an investigation by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.

According to a statement from the Chicago Police Department, at approximately 11:35 a.m., police officers were traveling in an unmarked squad car when they saw a group of people near a double-parked vehicle in the 2100 block of South St. Louis Avenue.

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Officers then attempted to conduct an investigatory stop when an individual fled from the scene while in possession of a firearm, the statement said. Officers pursued the individual into a vacant lot at which time one officer discharged his service weapon, striking the individual.

The person was transported to Mount Sinai Hospital with a gunshot wound to the upper body. According to police, no officers were injured in the incident and a firearm was recovered at the scene.

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Hours after the shooting, the block was taped off and surrounded by a heavy police presence.

Outraged people gathered near the scene, who identified themselves as family members of the man whod been shot, said police shot their 25-year-old relative. The wounded man was hospitalized in critical condition, but he was expected to survive the bullet wounds, they said.

Chicago Police Department official Glen Brooks Jr., center, walks through a cordoned-off area on South St. Louis Avenue in Chicago after a police officer shot a man on Feb. 13, 2023, according to police. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)

Hes stable right now. Hes got a chest tube and everything, but hes coming through, his sister Ebony Chapman said.

Police officers had been talking with a woman when they tried to chase the man down to see if he had a gun, his sister Alasehir Muhammad said. Authorities have not identified the man who was shot.

When they didnt find anything that instant, they ran, and running they tried to shoot him, Muhammad said.

The man had lifted his shirt and was turning around to show officers he did not have a weapon when officers shot him, family members said.

Afternoon Briefing Daily Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox each afternoon. By submitting your email to receive this newsletter, you agree to our Subscriber Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy >

Muhammad said officers often check to see if young men in the area have any illegal items on them, even when they clearly dont and are just trying to shop or walk home. Chapman said the officer who allegedly shot her brother is known in the community.

You know the truth about your officer, she shouted to police officers standing on the other side of the yellow tape crime scene line.

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This is personal, Chapman later told the Tribune. This is not police work.

According to the police statement, the officers involved will be placed on routine administrative duties for 30 days.

Chapman said her brother, who has a 2-year-old son, is self-employed and has run a janitorial business since 2015. Hes a great father, she said.

The shooting comes after police shot and killed a man in Irving Park on Wednesday. Police Superintendent David Brown initially said officers shot that man after there was an apparent exchange of gunfire between him and officers both, but COPA investigators said later that it was unclear if the man had fired a gun recovered at the scene of the shooting.

Chicago Tribunes Adriana Perez contributed.
The Delta flight landed back in Edinburgh shortly after take-off (Getty Images)

A Delta Air Lines passenger has slammed the US carrier for leaving customers in the dark after a terrifying incident involving an emergency landing on Friday.

Flight DAL209 had taken off from Edinburgh Airport on Friday morning (10 February), but was forced to make an emergency landing at nearby Glasgow Prestwick airport just an hour and six minutes into the flight.

Passengers told the Daily Record that they had seen something streaming out of the plane, and reported hearing a loud noise which then cut to eerie silence  with one traveller taking video through the aircraft window that appeared to show flames.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue service confirmed that they had attended the scene at 11.23am. Passengers were safely evacuated from the aircraft and into the airport.

But passenger Matthew Sommerville told the Daily Record that, for his family of four, the nightmare had only just begun.

He claimed that by Friday evening, he, his wife and two children were still waiting to be checked into a hotel while they awaited a new flight provided by Delta.

It is an absolute shambles and is outrageous the way we have been treated after that terrifying incident. It is just starting to dawn on everyone what we have been through, he said.

We spent three hours waiting in the airport with no information and then we were allowed back onto the plane to get our belongings.

An Edinburgh to New York Delta flight has made an emergency landing at Prestwick after flames were seen coming from one of the wings. One passengers described horrendous noise that then cut to nothing like the engines had gone, saying there were gasps and crying. #HeartNews pic.twitter.com/uAmZyU0eq8  Heart Scotland News (@HeartScotNews) February 10, 2023

He alleged that, though customers were taken to local hotels for overnight accommodation, there was little to no communication from the airline throughout the ordeal.

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We were ushered outside and four buses were waiting. There was no information given, he said.

The drivers didnt know what was going on. We got to the hotel but they were not prepared for over 200 guests and there was no official representative for Delta there.

Delta has insisted that there was an airline staff member present while passengers were being transported to hotels.

Mr Somerville claimed that children were left crying in the lobby as baffled customers waited to be processed.

He said what had been intended as a celebratory New York trip to mark his retirement had turned into a nightmare.

I am a frequent flyer so as soon as we got on the plane I felt like something wasnt right  it felt wrong. The plane started shaking like mad and then the cabin crew were running about.

The captain was trying to speak but the air pressure had dropped so we couldnt hear the tannoy announcement. We managed to land safely and were taken off the plane pretty much immediately.

Hi @Delta - we are passengers on #dal209 #DL209 which had to make an emergency landing 20 minutes after takeoff today (EDI to JFK).



Despite the excellent conduct of your cockpit and cabin crew on the flight, the experience on the ground has been a mess.



1/x  Derek Smith (@proton_spin) February 10, 2023

Passenger Derek Smith also took to Twitter to complain that the experience on the ground had been a mess following the emergency landing.

We have no idea what the ongoing travel plans are, and your help and contact pages have been no help, with no one to contact as we do not have US mobile numbers, he wrote on the social media channel on Friday evening.

From leaving the plane at 1140 we have had no communication from any Delta representatives, he said.

Mr Smith also claimed some passengers had had notifications about two differently timed replacement flights, while some, like himself, had not received any information.

A Delta spokesperson said there had been no injuries reported, and confirmed that there had been 211 passengers on board at the time of the incident.

They told The Independent: Last Friday, Delta flight 209 from Edinburgh to New York-JFK safely diverted to Glasgow Prestwick Airport after a mechanical issue with one of the aircrafts two engines.

We apologize to our customers for this inconvenience.

Deltas customer care team arranged ground transportation, meals and hotels for customers before the flights scheduled continuation the following morning via Edinburgh. Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and people.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Feb. 14 that the Ukraine Defense Contact Group would "support Ukraine's fight for freedom over the long haul," adding that it would help Kyiv "hold and advance during the spring counter-offensive."

"With unity and urgency, we will again deliver the support that we have promised to Ukraine," Austin said in his opening remarks before the group's meeting in Brussels. "We will put capabilities into the hands of trained Ukrainian forces so they can be integrated together on the battlefield."

The 9th meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, also known as the Ramstein summit, is taking place on Feb. 14 at the NATO headquarters in Belgium.

Austin also listed the countries that have started preparations for transferring Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine or have given a corresponding commitment.

The list includes Germany, Poland, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands, according to U.S. Defense Secretary.

The Ukraine Contact Group, consisting of more than 40 countries, has already committed to about $50 billion in "lethal assistance" to Ukraine since the start of Russia's all-out invasion last February, added Austin.

The Ramstein-9 summit is focusing on the protection of the Ukrainian sky, the "tank coalition's" development, the formation of a safety margin for ammunition, training programs for Ukrainian troops, and stability of military support, according to Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov.






Baby Aya receives treatment inside an incubator at a children's hospital in the town of Afrin. Ghaith Alsayed/AP

People on social media are clamoring to adopt a Syrian baby who was born under earthquake rubble.

The baby, named Aya or "a sign from God," is being cared for by hospital staff in the city of Afrin.

Aya is the only survivor of her immediate family. Her parents and siblings were killed in the quake.

People on Twitter are clamoring to adopt a Syrian baby orphaned in the Turkey-Syria earthquake, who made headlines this week after she was born in the rubble of her collapsed home.

Aya, Arabic for "a sign from God," is the only survivor of her immediate family. She was rescued from the debris of her home on Monday.

Her parents and four siblings died in the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Turkey at 4:17 a.m., local time, on Monday. The family's home in Jenderis, a town close to Aleppo, was destroyed in the quake, per the Associated Press.

A viral Twitter video shows Aya being pulled from under the rubble. In the clip, a man is seen sprinting out of the wreckage, carrying the dust-covered baby, her umbilical cord still hanging from her belly.

There has been an outpouring of support for Aya on social media.

"I want to adopt this child. I'd give her a loving home. She'll have two sets of grand parents and cousins of all ages. My family would be complete," tweeted one Twitter user.

"I am too far away but I would adopt this baby and ensure a happy and peaceful life," wrote another Twitter user commenting on a video of Aya.

Dozens of people are contacting Aya's doctor, offering to adopt her

When Aya was found, she was still attached to her mother, Afraa Abu Hadiya, by her umbilical cord, per the AP. She is currently in a hospital in the nearby city of Afrin and is being cared for by hospital manager Khalid Attiah and his wife, per the BBC.

She is being breastfed by Attiah's wife, who has a four-month-old baby of her own, per the BBC. Attiah told the media outlet that he has received dozens of calls from around the world from people offering to adopt Aya. He said he does not plan to put her up for adoption.

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"Until her distant family return, I'm treating her like one of my own," he told the BBC.

When the baby arrived at the hospital, she was in a "bad state," Hani Maarouf, one of the pediatricians caring for her, told the AP. Her body temperature had fallen to 95 degrees and she had a big bruise on her back, he told the media outlet.

"Had the girl been left for an hour more, she would have died," Maarouf said to the AP. He added that the baby is in a stable condition now.

Aya's great-uncle, Salah al-Badran, told the AP he will take her in once she is discharged from the hospital.

The death toll in the quake, which hit northern Syria and southeastern Turkey, has exceeded 20,000, the AP reported.

The freezing conditions and aftershocks have made search and rescue efforts difficult.

"Every minute, every hour that passes, the chances of finding survivors alive diminishes," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the World Health Organization's director-general, said on Tuesday.

Read the original article on Insider
Large and small businesses are struggling with how to restore corporate culture and whether to keep paying for expensive office buildings as employees continue to work from home.

Channel 9s Evan Donovan learned for the first time in decades, the American worker has some power  and some are using it to make their work-life balance more balanced.

SEE MORE: Should employees work from home, in the office, or both?

I think its made me a happier employee and a better mom, said Bentley Kensinger, who now works fully from home as part of a marketing team for a billing and payment technology company.

Prior to the pandemic, Kensinger spent five days a week in the office. Kensinger said she and her team are more productive working remotely.

WEB EXTRA: Marketing team member explains benefits of WFH

She attributes some of that because of fewer distractions and chatter among employees.

We talk for maybe two or three minutes on a Zoom to catch up and then get into the meat of the business, Kensinger said.

Her manager set rules at the start of the pandemic. The team had to have cameras on during Zooms  a policy Kensinger backed.

I dont care what you look like, said Kensinger. You dont have to put makeup on in the morning. I just want to be able to see you, so its like we are really together  working together on all of these things.

The company also preferred employees to have a consistent location to work from.

My spots very interesting, Kensinger said.

Kensinger shares a small tailgate table as a workstation with her husband and they make it work.

The work-from-home phenomenon has now become fundamental for many companies and employees.

Global consulting firm McKinsey & Company McKinsey & Company found 58% of Americans can work from home at least one day a week, while 35% can be fully remote. The data were compiled as part of its American Opportunity Survey.

A study by Center City Partners in Charlotte found the frequency of people working from Uptown is still only 66% of pre-pandemic levels.

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Centene pulls out

Centene Corp. announced in April it nixed plans for a University City regional headquarters. That left an 800,000-square-foot building and a 130-acre site, which is largely developed.

The decision by Centene to scale back on real estate in Charlotte and elsewhere was driven by employee preferences and learning how a company can operate in a work-from-home environment, the Charlotte Business Journal reported.

READ MORE HERE: Centene backs out of $1 billion East Coast HQ in Charlotte

Taking another look at the workforce, workplace

Employers have to be thinking very differently about the workforce, their workplace, how theyre attracting talent, said Cheryl Richards, Ph.D., the CEO of Catapult, an employers association that helps its member companies navigate HR issues.

Catapult had issues of its own when it asked employees to come back into the office three days a week.

And they were all sitting around a table with their laptops open on a Zoom screen, looking at the Brady Bunch of pictures on the screen, and trying to talk to colleagues, but also trying to be inclusive, Richards said. It didnt work for us because of our geographic spread.

WEB EXTRA: How companies can navigate options for employees working from home

So Catapult leaned into remote work  requiring just a few days a month in the office and downsizing from its space off West Arrowood Road in southwest Charlotte.

We went from 26,000 square feet to about 5,000 square feet in our temporary space, Richards said.

Richards said managers want to ensure its a good mix of employees and member businesses that utilize the space for training and meetings.

Advice for employers

In navigating this new hybrid work model, Richards had several pieces of advice for companies and employees. She said companies should listen more to employees by using tools, such as a survey.

Workers should be honest and respond with real feedback.

Managers should adapt those results to the organizations needs and mission.

Employees should decide if those terms are acceptable to them, and both parties should be decisive.

Richards said the companies and employees struggling most are the ones unsure of what to do.

Those steps could help employers and employees decide whether to work from home and how much.

Many people may think its better to work from home, but experts Channel 9 spoke with said thats not always the case.

Working from home may not work for everyone.

For example, young professionals in the early stages of their careers benefit more from working in the office when there are more experienced colleagues to learn from.

More people working from home

Between 2019 and 2021, the number of people primarily working from home tripled from 5.7% (roughly 9 million people) to 17.9% (27.6 million people), according to new 2021 American Community Survey (ACS) 1-year estimates released in September 2022 by the U.S. Census Bureau.

(WATCH BELOW: 9 Investigates: The link between how you dress, productivity while working from home)
The award-winning artist, producer, and entrepreneur joins the luxury fashion house as its new creative director of menswear

Amid New York Fashion Week and nearly 15 months after the death of Virgil Abloh, Louis Vuitton has announced a new creative director of its menswear collections, calling on award-winning artist and entrepreneur Pharrell Williams.

(Photo by Stephane Cardinale  Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)

I am glad to welcome Pharrell back home, after our collaborations in 2004 and 2008 for Louis Vuitton, as our new Mens Creative Director, said Pietro Beccari, Louis Vuittons chairman and CEO, in the brands social media release. His creative vision beyond fashion will undoubtedly lead Louis Vuitton towards a new and very exciting chapter.

The multi-industry mogul will be the second Black man to fill the mens creative director position. Before his untimely death, Virgil Abloh, who previously occupied the role, made history as the first Black American to serve as head designer for a European luxury house. Since his passing, the industry has been anticipating who would fill the brands high-profile vacancy.

According to the brand, this move cements Louis Vuittons status as a Cultural Maison in the fashion world. Similarly, it is Beccaris first major decision as CEO since joining Louis Vuitton earlier this month.

Described by the brand as a visionary who breaks boundaries, Williams is no stranger to fashion. In fact, the style and music mogul leads numerous business ventures, including his skincare brand Humanrace, and streetwear brands Billionaire Boys Club, Ice Cream, Human Made, G-Star Raw Denim, and more. Beyond streetwear, Williams has consistently been tied to the luxury fashion world, most notably through his long-standing relationship with Chanel and the late Karl Lagerfeld, and as an occasional runway presence and a front-row fixture at countless fashion shows, including Off-Whites final presentation of Ablohs designs last year during Paris Fashion Week.

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Williams appointment is immediate, and his first collection for Louis Vuitton is set to debut next June during Mens Fashion Week in Paris.

TheGrio is FREE on your TV via Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku, and Android TV. TheGrios Black Podcast Network is free too. Download theGrio mobile apps today! Listen to Writing Black with Maiysha Kai.

The post Pharrell Williams to succeed Virgil Abloh at Louis Vuitton Menswear appeared first on TheGrio.
Two Michigan State University students killed during a mass shooting at the East Lansing campus on Monday night have been identified.

Michigan State University Police said in a statement Brian Fraser, a sophomore from Grosse Pointe, Michigan, and Alexandria Verner, a junior from Clawson, were among the three students shot dead.

The name of the third victim was not being released at the request of their family, police said.

Five other victims remain in hospital in critical condition, the statement added.

We cannot begin to fathom the immeasurable amount of pain that our campus community is feeling, deputy chief of police and public safety Chris Rozman said.

Clawson Public Schools superintendent Billy Shellenbarger paid tribute to Verner, who graduated from Clawson High School in 2020, in an email to parents on Tuesday.

Alexandria Verner, a junior at MSU, has been named as one of three victims of Mondays mass shooting (Clawson Public Schools)

Alex was and is incredibly loved by everyone. She was a tremendous student, athlete, leader and exemplified kindness every day of her life, Mr Shellenbarger wrote about the forensic sciences student.

Her parents, Ted and Nancy, and sister Charlotte and brother TJ are equally grieving but are certainly already feeling the uplifting support of this tremendous community.

If you knew her, you loved her and we will forever remember the lasting impact she has had on all of us, the superintendent wrote in a letter to CPS families.

Brian Fraser, 20, was among three students shot and killed at Michigan State University on Monday (Phi Delta Fraternity)

Fraser, 20, was a sophomore business student and chapter president of MSUs Phi Delta Theta fraternity.

In a tribute posted to Facebook, the group said: Brian was a great friend to his Phi Delt brothers, the Greek community at Michigan State, and those he interacted with on campus.

Phi Delta Theta sends its deepest condolences to the Fraser family, the Michigan Beta Chapter, and all those who loved Brian as they mourn their loss.

While police have not yet named the third victim, family members confirmed to WXYZ that she was 19 year-old Arielle Diamond Anderson.

Arielle Diamond Anderson, 19, was among the victims of a mass shooting at Michigan State University, her family say (Arielle Diamond / Instagram)

Reality TV star Chandra Davis said in an Instagram post early on Tuesday morning that Ms Diamond was her niece and was unaccounted for.

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She was in her classroom in the same building as the active shooter and we have not heard from her, Ms Davis, who goes by Deelishis, wrote.

Police were called to the MSU campus at about 8.18pm on Monday after a gunman with no ties to the university opened fire at an academic study hall.

Police said Anthony McRae, 43, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after being cornered by officers.

The university said classes had been cancelled for two days, and would resume on Thursday.

Additional counselling services have been provided for grieving students.
Police have released the names of the three students who were killed in a mass shooting at Michigan State University on Monday night.

The victims are Brian Fraser, a sophomore at Michigan State originally from Grosse Pointe, Michigan; Alexandria Verner, a junior from Clawson; and Arielle Anderson, a junior also from Grosse Pointe, the MSU Department of Police and Public Safety announced in a statement on Tuesday.

Verner was a 2020 graduate of Clawson High School, and Superintendent Billy Shellenbarger said in a statement that "Alex was and is incredibly loved by everyone."

"She was a tremendous student, athlete, leader and exemplified kindness every day of her life," Shellenbarger said,

Verner wrote on her LinkedIn page that she was studying integrated biology and anthropology at Michigan State.

Alexandria Verner / Credit: Clawson Public Schools

Fraser was president of Michigan State's chapter of Phi Delta Theta, and the fraternity responded to the news of his death on Tuesday afternoon.

"Phi Delta Theta International Fraternity was devastated to learn that Brian Fraser, chapter president of the Michigan Beta Chapter of Phi Delta Theta at Michigan State University, tragically lost his life on the evening of February 13," the organization wrote on Twitter. The tweet included three photographs of Fraser, one of which pictured him standing with a group of peers on the grounds of the MSU fraternity house.

Phi Delta Theta International Fraternity was devastated to learn that Brian Fraser, chapter president of the Michigan Beta Chapter of Phi Delta Theta at Michigan State University, tragically lost his life on the evening of February 13.



Full release - https://t.co/DkEZWc4q2h pic.twitter.com/anebeYNB08  Phi Delta Theta (@phidelt) February 14, 2023

The fraternity praised Fraser's leadership and described him as "a great friend" in a lengthier statement.

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"As the leader of his chapter, Brian was a great friend to his Phi Delt brothers, the Greek community at Michigan State, and those he interacted with on campus," the statement read. "Phi Delta Theta sends its deepest condolences to the Fraser family, the Michigan Beta Chapter, and all those who loved Brian as they mourn their loss."

Phi Delta Theta is coordinating with MSU "to connect the chapter with local campus services and opportunities to appropriately celebrate Brian's life."

Authorities initially declined to publicly identify Anderson by name at the request of the student's family. University police confirmed that she was the third victim fatally shot in the MSU massacre on Tuesday afternoon.

"She's kind, loving, caring, compassionate, driven," and "very family oriented," Anderson's grandmother April Davis told the Detroit Free Press.

The three victims in the Michigan State University shooting Monday night have been identified:

 Arielle Anderson

 Brian Fraser

 Alexandria Verner



More: https://t.co/w28PI79mLK pic.twitter.com/DejnFdErRF  Detroit Free Press (@freep) February 14, 2023

Earlier, Dr. M. Jon Dean, superintendent of the Grosse Pointe Public School System, had said the two victims were graduates from the district.

"Earlier this morning I learned that both Grosse Pointe North and South each have a recent graduate that died from their injuries last night at MSU," Dean wrote in a letter sent to students' families on Tuesday. "I can't even process what I just wrote. How can we have our community impacted in this personal way?"

"Our hearts go out to MSU and to our GPPSS community," the letter continued.

CBS News contacted the superintendent's office but did not receive an immediate reply.

"The Michigan State University Department of Police and Public Safety (MSU DPPS) is saddened to share information regarding the tragedy that occurred on campus Monday evening. We cannot begin to fathom the immeasurable amount of pain that our campus community is feeling," MSU police said in the statement. "We want to ensure our community that our department as well as our law enforcement partners will conduct a comprehensive and thorough investigation regarding this tragic incident."

In addition to those who died in Monday's shooting, five Michigan State students were shot and sustained critical injuries. All five were transported to Sparrow Hospital nearby for treatment in the aftermath of the massacre, officials confirmed earlier on Tuesday, saying that four of them required surgery and underwent those procedures immediately.

Each of the five injured students remained hospitalized in critical condition on Tuesday afternoon, said Dr. Denny Martin, the interim president and chief marketing officer at Sparrow Hospital, in an update shared with CBS News. At the time, Martin said that one of the students was alert and interacting with members of their care team. None of the injured students has been publicly identified.

Law enforcement officials identified the gunman as Anthony Dwayne McRae, a 43-year-old man who, police said, did not have any clear affiliation to Michigan State or its community. Responding to a tip, authorities located McRae's body about three hours after the mass shooting took place, at around 11:30 p.m. on Monday night, according to MSU public safety.

The suspect was found dead in the city of Lansing of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said. He was found with a note in his pocket that "indicated a threat" to two other schools in Ewing Township, New Jersey, officials confirmed, prompting both schools to close temporarily on Tuesday.

New details on Chinese spy balloon investigation

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NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels as fighting underway in eastern Ukraine
The three students who were killed in a shooting at Michigan State University were remembered as exemplary leaders, athletes and friends, their friends and families said.

The Michigan State University Department of Police and Public Safety identified the three victims as junior Alexandria Verner of Clawson, sophomore Arielle Anderson of Grosse Pointe and sophomore Brian Fraser, also of Grosse Pointe.

Verner, Fraser and Anderson died after a gunman opened fire across campus on Feb. 13. Five more students remain in critical condition in E.W. Sparrow Hospital, a hospital spokesperson told NBC News Tuesday afternoon.

Alexandria Verner

Courtesy Clawson Public School

Verner, a junior at Michigan State, was "loved by everyone," Billy Shellenbarger, the superintendent of Clawson Public Schools, said in a statement.

"She was a tremendous student, athlete, leader and exemplified kindness every day of her life," Shellenbarger said. "If you knew her, you loved her and we will forever remember the lasting impact she has had on all of us."

Our Clawson Schools family awoke with the heaviest of hearts this morning. Michigan State University is a place that has... Posted by Clawson Public Schools on Tuesday, February 14, 2023

Verner graduated from Clawson High School in 2020, Shellenbarger said. Her father, Ted Verner, told The Washington Post she played volleyball, basketball and softball all four years of high school.

"Its going to be my mission in life to make sure that families dont go through what we went through," he said.

Arielle Anderson

Courtesy Anderson family

Anderson was "driven by her aspiration to tend to the health and welfare of others" and wanted to become a surgeon, her family said in a statement.

"As much as we loved her, she loved us and others even more," her family said. "She was passionate about helping her friends and family, assisting children and serving people."

Her family described her as "an angel here on Earth" with an "infectious smile that was very contagious."

Anderson graduated in 2021 from Grosse Pointe North High School, Dr. M. Jon Dean, superintendent of Grosse Pointe Public School System, said in a statement.

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He said his heart broke when he learned of the shooting, and that Anderson and Fraser, both graduates of his school system, were killed.

"I cant even process what I just wrote," Dean said. "How can we have our community impacted in this personal way?"

Brian Fraser

Courtesy Fraser family

Fraser was a 2021 graduate of Grosse Pointe South High School, Dean said, and at Michigan State, he was chapter president of the Michigan Beta Chapter of Phi Delta Theta, the fraternity said.

"As the leader of his chapter, Brian was a great friend to his Phi Delt brothers, the Greek community at Michigan State, and those he interacted with on campus," the fraternity said in a statement.

Fraser's father, Sean Fraser, told The Detroit News his son was a good kid who was loved by everyone.

Dean, the schools superintendent, said Fraser and Anderson were exceptional kids who "will be missed," NBC News reported.

Police at the scene on Lake Lansing Road on the Michigan State University Campus. (Rey Del Rio / The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Police responded to reports of a shooting on the campus of the school in East Lansing at around 8:18 p.m. Monday night.

The suspect, identified as 43-year-old Anthony McRae, fired multiple rounds inside Berkey Hall as professors lectured in their classrooms. He then headed to a nearby building, the MSU Union, police said.

Chris Rozman, interim deputy chief of the Michigan State University Police, said two students were killed in Berkey Hall, while another died in the student union.

McRae fled the MSU campus, leading to a brief manhunt in the area before officers located the suspect in the nearby city of Lansing around 11:35 p.m.

"Because of our quick release of the photograph from the campus security cameras and the help from our community, it was a callers tip that led law enforcement to that suspect in the city of Lansing," Rozman said.

As officers closed in, the suspect died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Rozman said. Officers recovered a weapon from the scene, but Rozman declined to share details about it at the press conference.

The suspect had no apparent ties to Michigan State, Rozman said.

We have absolutely no idea what the motive was at this point, Rozman said during a press conference on Feb. 14.

MSU Police said on Feb. 14 authorities found a note on McRae's body. What the note said remains unclear.

Michael McRae, the suspect's father, said in an exclusive interview with NBC News Feb. 14 that his son had turned "evil and mean" following the death of his mother in 2020.

"He was grieving his mom. He wouldnt let it go. He got bitter, bitter and bitter," Michael McRae said. "His mom died, and he just started getting evil and mean. He didnt care about anything anymore."

Police have not yet released a possible motive for the shooting.

The five injured students were taken to Sparrow Hospital in Lansing the evening of Feb. 13 in critical condition, Rozman said.

Dr. Denny Martin, the interim president and chief medical officer at Sparrow Hospital, said Tuesday the five patients remained in critical condition, and that four of the five required surgery for their wounds.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
FORT PIERCE  Fort Pierce police are investigating what they called a suspicious death after a body was found Monday behind a home on South 18th Street.

Police about 1:30 p.m. Monday went to a residence in the 400 block of South 18th Street and encountered the body of an unknown deceased male, the agency stated. The location is between Delaware and Orange avenues.

Gunfire in Fort Pierce:21-year-old man dead after shooting; 1 other man injured

Police reported the cause of death wasnt immediately known.

April Lee, police spokesperson, said Tuesday the deceased, a man, was found in the backyard of a home. Lee said investigators have not determined the mans identity.

Yellow police tape on Tuesday morning blocked off a white home with pink trim on the west side of South 18th Street. A number of Fort Pierce police and animal control officials were there. A detective said he could not answer questions.

Fatal crash victim remembered:Vietnam veteran was 'happy soul'; American Legion Post 318 regular

Lee also could not answer additional questions, such as whether others were present at the time when police arrived, whether the body was decomposed or had signs of trauma or whether anyone was living in the home at the time.

The home's owner is Basilia C. Callejas, according to St. Lucie County Property Appraiser's records.

Those with information are asked to contact Detective Troy Carter at 772-332-9646 or tcarter@fppd.org or Treasure Coast Crime Stoppers at 800-273-TIPS.

Will Greenlee is a breaking news reporter for TCPalm. Follow Will on Twitter @OffTheBeatTweet or reach him by phone at 772-267-7926. E-mail him at will.greenlee@tcpalm.com

If you're a subscriber, thank you. If not, become a subscriber to get the latest breaking news and crime coverage.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: A body was found on South 18th Street in Fort Pierce
Two people were hospitalized after being shot in Dorchester on Monday night, according to Boston Police.

Officers responded to Dewey Street just after 8:00 pm. for reports of a double shooting. No word on the condition of the victims or what led to this shooting.

The shooting remains under investigation.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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

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A suspected Chinese surveillance balloon, shortly before it was shot down over Surfside Beach, South Carolina, on Feb. 4, 2023. (Joe Granita/Zuma Press)

The saga of suspected Chinese spy balloons  or perhaps crafts visiting from much, much farther away  hovering in American airspace drifted closer to home over the weekend when federal aviation authorities temporarily closed air traffic over Lake Michigan so that fighter jets could shoot down a flying object.

The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that it temporarily shut down airspace over Lake Michigan Sunday to support Department of Defense activities. The incident occurred around 1:42 p.m. Sunday when a Minnesota Air National Guard fighter pilot flying an F-16 fighter jet shot down the object over Lake Huron after it hovered around 20,000 feet, according to published reports. Authorities have not said what the object was.

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Since the takedown of a suspected Chinese balloon in early February, the U.S. has shot down three other airborne objects, leading the White House Monday to tamp down on lighthearted public speculation about aliens and outer space.

There is no  again, no  indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at the outset of a press briefing.

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The weekslong succession of objects, starting with a giant white orb first detected over U.S. skies in late January, has puzzled American officials and stirred curiosity around the world. Though the three most recent objects differed in size, maneuverability and other characteristics from the suspected surveillance balloon shot down Feb. 4 off the South Carolina coast, officials moved to eliminate each one from the sky  actions that Pentagon officials believe have no peacetime precedent.

Indeed, instead of unexplained flying objects conjuring up feelings of whimsy and wonder at the prospect of contacting extraterrestrial life, it has stoked old Cold War fears that UFOs are instruments of war. Baby boomers in Chicago likely recall duck-and-cover drills with the widely reported knowledge that the city could be a target.

Chicago is one of six American cities likely to be hit by a nuclear attack, according to Columbia University professor Irwin Redlener, an expert in disaster preparedness.

But other experts, point to more innocent possibilities, such as wayward balloons that are commonly used by scientists and can indeed blow off course.

Theres actually quite a lot of balloons that are released to the atmosphere on a daily basis, said Geza Gyuk, Adler Planetariums director of astronomy. The Weather Service sends up small balloons, complete with instrument packages dozens of times every day. ... Balloons ending up in places where they werent expecting, too, are fairly common.

The skies are constantly monitored, experts say. American airspace is the chief domain of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, who monitor both American airspace and outer space, scanning for threat to the Earth or American satellites.

University of Chicago theoretical physicist Robert Rosner suggested that the recent increase in UFO detection could be the result of adjustments made to track slow air objects.

I think NORAD were probably a bit embarrassed for not having spotted (the suspected Chinese balloon) earlier. And that has to do with something thats been discussed now publicly, which is that these radars are designed  to detect things that fly very quickly, he said. In other words, things like jet fighters, bombers and rockets, not necessarily things that move very, very slowly, and balloons move very, very slowly.

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Rosner explained that the radars were adjusted to detect slower-moving objects such as balloons and subsequently found more balloons. So theres a kind of a cause and effect here, namely that, you know, the discovery of the Chinese balloon caused the signal networks to find more of these things.

Meanwhile, hours after the object was shot down over Lake Huron, social media came alive with reports of unexplained lights in the sky. Later, the aeronautic company SpaceX released a photo showing Starlink satellites launching into orbit.

The vast majority of UFO sightings, meaning well over 90%, have always been explainable. And some of those things are secret projects, military craft; sometimes just misidentified planes that are just too far away to see, said Mark Rodeghier, the longtime president and scientific director of the J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies in Chicago.

Founded by the Chicago-born astrophysicist and former Ohio State University astronomer J. Allen Hynek in 1973, the center is a private nonprofit research organization that supports the study UFO and UAP (unidentified aerial phenomena) sightings and maintains a library and archives of UFO-related materials.

Falcon 9 launches 55 Starlink satellites to orbit pic.twitter.com/kASyhCqrko  SpaceX (@SpaceX) February 12, 2023

Rodeghier said American airspace is covered by NORAD and the FAA, but that lower flying objects likely evade security radars.

Normal UFO sightings are localized and wouldnt be picked up by defense radars. They could be picked up by FAA radars and they have been, he said. But not defense radars.

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Rodeghier echoed remarks made by State Department officials that low-flying balloons and drones can be present a hazard to speeding commercial airliners. The object shot down Sunday was low enough to be definitely in the flight lanes, able to collide with a commercial airliner, he said. If you run into a balloon or (a flying object) that has some stuff on it like a package of instruments or something, sure, if you run into it at 400 miles per hour, thats not good. They could be a danger to aviation.

An acclaimed astronomer asked to consult the Air Force on UFOs, Hynek grew from a skeptic to someone who pushed for serious study and greater transparency by the government on UFO cases that remain unexplained. Hyenk wrote numerous books on the subject, including Close Encounter, which inspired Steven Spielbergs movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Rodeghier said hes concerned that the political nature of the recent incidents will allow policymakers to shift the focus of UFO studies toward spying rather than sightings that could lead to greater discoveries.

These incidents may make people, particularly decision-makers, say, There is an unknown object problem and its (spy balloons), not (UFO) sightings over OHare, Rodeghier said. Not all that interesting stuff that might be evidence of aliens visiting Earth. I hope whats happening now doesnt somehow take our eye off the ball.

Rodeghier said the public should be aware of the flying object incidents, but not overly concerned until more is known.

The public should be aware of it and following developments. I wouldnt be worried about it yet. But why is China doing this now? Thats the question, he said. If its China and if theyve ramped up their activities, why are they doing it now? Thats the unsettling part.

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The Associated Press contributed.
The man picked the girl up in Nuttall Park in Ramsbottom near Bury, Greater Manchester. (Reach)

Police have launched an investigation after a man tried to pick a five-year-old girl up in a playground before fleeing when her parents stepped in.

The girl was playing at Nuttall Park in Ramsbottom, near Bury, Greater Manchester at about 3pm on Sunday when the man approached her.

Police said he then tried to pick up the girl, who is a reception pupil at a local primary school in Ramsbottom.

Her parents intervened and the man ran off into nearby woodland, Greater Manchester Police said.

The girl was not harmed in the incident, GMP said.

Police have launched an investigation and asked anyone with any information to come forward. (Stock image: Getty)

The force has now launched an investigation into the "suspicious circumstances" surrounding the incident and urged anyone with information to get in touch.

Police want to speak a man seen in the area, who is described as a tall, white male wearing black gloves, a red bobble hat, a black jacket and had a backpack on.

Read more: Brianna Ghey: 70,000 raised for family of girl, 16, killed in park

Chief Inspector Ian Partington, of Greater Manchester Police's Bury District, said: "We understand that this incident has caused some concern in the community.

"We thank the public for their patience and assistance so far, and ask that anyone with information should contact us first to aid our investigation.

"If you see the man described, call us on 101 quoting incident 1965 of the 12/2/2023."

People can also pass information to police via the LiveChat facility on its website (www.gmp.police.uk) or by calling 101. Information can be passed anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
On Feb. 10, Petersburg City Public Schools said an 'unenrolled student' got on a bus with sixth-graders and rode to Blandford 6-Grade Academy, shown in this photo, where he also was able to get inside the building before being caught.

PETERSBURG  The teenager detained last week after riding a school bus with sixth-graders and then gaining entry into Blandford 6-Grade Academy apparently was under the influence of alcohol or drugs and had a knife on him when he was caught, according to Petersburg Police.

Police Deputy Chief Emanuel Chambliss told The Progress-Index Tuesday that the 17-year-old has been charged with being drunk in public and possession of a weapon on school grounds. That weapon was a 3-inch pocket knife, but Chambliss added that the suspect never made any threats with it toward any students or staff.

In Virginia, "drunk in public" charges cover any kind of intoxicant, whether it is alcohol or narcotics.

The suspect is transgender who identifies as a male, Chambliss said. Because of his age, his name has not been released.

The incident occurred on the morning of Feb. 10. The suspect got on the bus from one of its stops and rode to school where he then got into the mix of students heading into school. He got as far as the school cafeteria before Blandford school admnistrators caught up to him. He was detained in the school office and questioned briefly before police arrived to take him away.

The bus driver told authorities that an adult waiting at the bus stop with the children confirmed the suspect was a Blandford student. The school system identified him in an alert about the incident as an "unenrolled student."

In addition to the pocket knife, the suspect also had tobacco products in his possession.

Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on Twitter at @BAtkinson_PI.

This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Petersburg teen charged in riding bus, following students into school
Zbigniew Rau

Rau argues that the Moscow State Institute of International Relations was an instrument in promoting of Russian imperialism.

Read also: Number of illegally employed Ukrainians in Poland falls by nearly a third

It was part of the Soviet soft power; graduates were supposed to serve and propagate that imperial thinking, Rau said.

The minister noted that diplomats who graduated from the Moscow institute were fired two months ago.

Read also: Poland calls for more Western military aid to Ukraine

We managed to complete a very important process that is part of decommunization, in a broad sense, he stated.

It started with the lustration laws.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Bakhmut

Read also: Fewer than 5,000 civilians remain in Bakhmut, including 140 children

It would not have a strategic impact on the overall war, Kirby said in response to a question about the significance of Ukrainian troops potentially withdrawing from Bakhmut.

At the same time, he noted that Russian troops have made gradual progress in the assault on Bakhmut in the last several days. Kirby added that it was still unclear if the Russians would be able to capture it.

Earlier, UK Defense Intelligence reported that Russian troops advanced in the area around Bakhmut. According to the assessment, Wagner PMC mercenaries advanced 2-3 kilometers to the west, controlling the area near the M-03 highway leading to the city.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
A train derailed near East Palestine, Ohio earlier this month, releasing hazardous fumes into the air. Gene J. Puskar/AP

Some of the chemicals released in the Ohio train derailment are linked to cancer and other health problems.

Five cars contained vinyl chloride, a chemical used to make plastic products and a known human carcinogen.

But the EPA is still assessing whether enough chemicals were released to pose health risks to residents.

A train that derailed in Ohio contained several chemicals linked to cancer, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.

On Sunday, the EPA updated its list of chemicals contained in the fiery train derailment, which occurred in East Palestine, Ohio, 50 miles outside Pittsburg on February 3. The chemicals include gases linked to cancer in manufacturing workers in several studies, and exposure to these chemicals may also cause short-term problems like dizziness, nausea, and irritation of the eyes and mouth.

But the EPA does not know yet whether the amount of chemicals released in the derailment was enough to pose health risks, according to Karen Dannemiller, an associate professor of environmental health science at Ohio State University. The EPA said on its website it has not yet detected dangerous levels of these chemicals in nearby homes, though some residents have reported animals in the area dying and experiencing potential signs of chemical exposure.

Dannemiller said the agency is still in the "early part" of long-term risk assessment for this derailment, which includes measuring how many chemicals entered nearby soil and water. The EPA did not respond to Insider's inquiry into how long the assessment might take.

Here are all the health risks associated with the chemicals contained in the Ohio train derailment:

Vinyl chloride

Of the cars that turned over, five contained vinyl chloride, a manmade chemical used to make plastic products. Manufacturers convert vinyl chloride to polyvinyl chloride, also called PVC or just vinyl, a hard plastic resin used to make things like pipes, packaging materials, and wire coatings, per the National Institutes of Health.

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The EPA classifies vinyl chloride as a known human carcinogen. Inhaling the chemical has been shown to increase the risk of angiosarcoma, a rare form of liver cancer, in humans and in animal studies, per the EPA.

Vinyl chloride is a highly flammable colorless gas with a mild, sweet odor, which means people who breathe in the gas won't be aware of its toxicity.

Short-term exposure to vinyl chloride can cause dizziness, drowsiness, loss of coordination, nausea, and a burning sensation in the arms and legs, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Long-term exposure to higher concentrations of the gas can be deadly, as the fume can impair the central nervous system and cause depressed breathing, the CDC said.

When vinyl chloride burns or breaks down in the air, it creates hydrochloric acid, which can cause coughing, respiratory tract inflammation, chest pain, and fluid buildup in the lungs when inhaled.

Benzene

Two cars that derailed contained benzene, an industrial chemical found naturally in crude oil, gasoline, and cigarette smoke. Manufacturers frequently use it to make plastic, synthetic fibers, rubbers, detergents, and dyes, according to the CDC.

Like vinyl chloride, the EPA classifies benzene as a known human carcinogen. Benzene has been in the news recently after several big cosmetic companies recalled dry shampoos contaminated with the chemical.

Several studies have linked prolonged benzene exposure to higher rates of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a cancer that starts in the white blood cells, and leukemia, cancer in the blood cells. Cancer through benzene exposure primarily occurs in workers exposed to large amounts of the fume over time, often related to oil refining, chemical producing, or shoe-making.

Breathing in high doses of benzene can also cause some short-term side effects like dizziness and confusion, Healthline reports.

Ethylene glycol monobutyl ether (EGBE)

EGBE, also known as 2-butoxyethanol, is a colorless liquid found in paint strippers, thinners, and household cleaners, per the CDC. Most people are exposed to the chemical through breathing in vapors and touching the liquid.

The CDC states continuous exposure to the chemical over several hours can cause irritation of the nose and eyes, headache, a metallic taste, or vomiting.

Butyl acrylate

Butyl acrylate is a clear, colorless liquid used in paints, coatings, caulks, sealants, adhesives, per the National Library of Medicine.

The CDC states acute exposure to butyl acrylate vapor can cause redness, tearing, and irritation of the eyes, a runny nose, difficulty breathing, and redness of the skin. Chronic skin exposure can cause swelling, itching, and oozing in the affected areas.

Ethylhexyl acrylate

Manufacturers use ethylhexyl acrylate, a colorless liquid, to make latex, paints, leather finishes, and coatings for paper, per the NIH.

Over exposure to the chemical can cause irritation and drowsiness if inhaled, and throat and mouth irritation if swallowed, according to the chemical distribution company ThermoFisher Scientific.

Some news reports have confused ethylhexyl acrylate with the compound ethyl acrylate, which is a probable carcinogen. Dannemiller said she is unaware of any data that links cancer to ethylhexyl acrylate, and the NIH does not list the chemical as a carcinogen.

Isobutylene

Isobutylene is a colorless gas with a faint petroleum-like odor used in making tires, chewing gum, window seals, and food wrap, according to McGill University.

Isobutylene is highly flammable, per McGill: if an ignition source is present and the temperature is above 80 degrees Celsius, the gas can spark flames. Isobutylene was the source of a major chemical plant fire in 2019 that killed one employee.

Inhaling isobutylene can cause dizziness, drowsiness, and unconsciousness, per the NIH.

Read the original article on Insider
WASHINGTON  President Joe Biden renewed his call to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines Tuesday after a shooting on the campus of at Michigan State University killed three students and injured five others.

Im going to say something thats always controversial, Biden said Tuesday in remarks addressing the National Association of Counties. "There is no rationale for assault weapons and magazines that hold 50, 70 bullets.

The shooting came on the eve of the five-year anniversary of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida that killed 17.

Biden, who spoke to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Witmer Monday, said our hearts are with the students and families of Michigan State University."

Michigan State University shooting live updates: 'Our Spartan hearts are broken'

3 killed, 5 injured in MSU shootings: Suspect dead after hourslong search

The gunman, identified Tuesday as Anthony Dwayne McRae, 43, died from a self-inflicted gunshot would after a massive manhunt led to a confrontation with police. McRae pleaded guilty in 2019 to a weapons-related charge in Lansing, Michigan.

It's a family's worst nightmare and its happening far too often in this country, Biden said. While we gather more information, there's one thing we do know to be true. We have to do something to stop gun violence ripping apart our communities.

President Joe Biden speaks at the National Association of Counties 2023 Legislative Conference in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) ORG XMIT: DCSW107

Bidens push to reenact a ban on assault weapons, which expired in 2004, is unlikely to gain momentum in a Republican-led House and even faces an uphill climb in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Last year, amid calls for gun reform after mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas and Buffalo, New York, Congress approved bipartisan legislation more modest in scope that provided incentives for states to adopt red-flag gun laws and enhanced background checks on young buyers.

Biden has also proposed background checks on all gun sales, tightening existing background check laws, requirements for gun storage and eliminating immunity for gun manufacturers.

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There have been over sixty mass shootings in 2023, totaling out to more than one mass shooting per day.

Reach Joey Garrison on Twitter @joeygarrison.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden issues statement on MSU shooting, calls for gun law reform
According to an affidavit obtained by Channel 2 Action News, rapper Playboi Carti was arrested on felony charges after police said he choked his pregnant girlfriend in December 2022.

Police said the victim told them she arrived at 3750 Tuxedo Road NW in Atlanta to talk Playboi Carti, whose real name is Jordan Carter, about their baby and a paternity test because she was 14 weeks pregnant.

She said the conversation turned physical when Carter attacked her by grabbing her by the throat and pushing her into the bushes outside the home. The victim said she could barely breathe and thought she was going to die.

She also told police there were two other men at the home who stood by and did not attempt to break up the fight.

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

Another female witness jumped into the fight and tried to break them up but Carter was still holding the victim by the neck, the document said.

The victim was eventually about to get free and got into her car, where she said Carter entered and attacked her again.

She claims Carter tried to pull her out of the car and put his hand over her mouth as she was calling the police for help.

In the affidavit, police stated the victim had visible injuries to her neck, chest, and back area.

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Carter, who is originally from the Atlanta area, was arrested and charged with felony aggravated assault and hindering a person from making an emergency telephone call.

Carter was released on a $100,000 bond.

Channel 2 Action News reached out to Carters attorney Brian Steel who provided a statement, saying:

Mr. Carter was falsely accused. Pursuant to my communications with the Fulton County District Attorneys office, this case will be dismissed without any prosecution or litigation.

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IN OTHER NEWS:
Rebel Wilson announced she is launching a new dating app called Fluid, inspired by her own relationship with girlfriend Ramona Agruma.

The Pitch Perfect star revealed to People on 14 February that the dating app will be for people who wish to love with no labels. The free Fluid app will reportedly be available to download on the App Store later this month, but interested singles can sign up on the website.

This is the first dating app where you dont have to actually define yourself or tick a box to say Im straight, Im gay, Im bisexual, said the 42-year-old Australian actor, who is currently in a relationship with designer Ramona Agruma.

The Fluid app is open to everyone who may be interested in checking out a wider dating pool like I was, she said. It covers a lot of the LGBTQIA+ spectrum, but I think even if youre straight you could use the app and have an amazing time.

The Senior Year actor explained that the dating app algorithm works by pick[ing] up who you are vibing with and how much time you spend on certain profiles and its open enough so that if your sexuality moves into a different direction, it will follow because of what you are preferring on the app.

As for her own relationship with dating and sexuality, Wilson admitted that she wished her forthcoming dating app was around five years ago because it wouldve helped her realise sooner that it doesnt matter about the gender, it just matters about the person.

In June 2022, Rebel Wilson came out when she simultaneously announced her relationship with Agruma, whom she called her Disney Princess, in an Instagram post.

I thought I was searching for a Disney Prince but maybe what I really needed all this time was a Disney Princess, she captioned a smiling selfie of the pair. Just five months later, Wilson announced the birth of her first child, daughter Royce Lillian, via surrogate.

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Since announcing their love to the world, the couple have often shared heartwarming pictures together on social media. Wilson also recently revealed on the Life Uncut podcast that Agrumas family is not as accepting of their relationship as hers has been.

My whole family has just been amazing, Wilson told hosts Brittany Hockley and Laura Byrne during a Valentines Day episode of the podcast. Ramonas family hasnt been as accepting. And so in many respects, it has been a lot harder on her to have to make the news public.

With her, shes not in the public eye, its much harder on her. Its so sad to see what happened with her family over it, she added. Hopefully, people will change their attitude about things.

Agruma is an entrepreneur and brand ambassador living in Los Angeles. She is the founder of Lemon Ve Limon, a sustainable clothing brand designing colourful loungewear, and also the brand ambassador for Bee Goddess Jewellery.

While speaking to People about the launch of her dating app, Wilson opened up about how shocked she was about the deep connection she had with Agruma when they met for the first time.

I was always a bit of a girls girl and had deep friendships with women, but this was the first time that it was a romantic connection, she explained, adding that she never thought she was 100 per cent straight.

I think sexuality is so complex and nuanced than just saying straight or gay. I like the word fluid, Wilson continued. I still dont know 100 per cent what category I would fit in. Im just in a great same-sex relationship now, and its awesome.
Rebel Wilson talks about falling for Ramona Agruma. (Photo: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Atlantis The Royal)

Rebel Wilson reveals there's been some family drama around her romance with Ramona Agruma.

The Pitch Perfect star discussed her relationship with Agruma, with whom she went public last year, on the Australian podcast Life Uncut. She said that while her own family is thrilled she's found love in the same-sex relationship, the clothing and jewelry designer's family has been less accepting.

"My whole family has just been amazing," Wilson, 42, told hosts Brittany Hockley and Laura Byrne on Mondays episode.

She continued, "Ramonas family hasnt been as accepting. And so in many respects, it has been a lot harder on her to have to make the news public."

Wilson added that with Agruma not being "in the public eye ... it was much harder on her. As her partner, I feel so sad to see what happened with her family over it. Hopefully, people will change their attitudes about things."

Wilson opened up about finding love with a woman, admitting, "I never felt 100 percent straight." However, it wasn't something she acted on, citing her conservative upbringing which saw her attending an all-girls, Christian high school.

"When I talked to my good friends, they all knew that part of me, but it wasn't like I was actively exploring it," she said. "I was dating guys, but always being like, 'I wish they were a bit more like this  Or it just didn't quite click  I never met a guy I wanted to live with or was in a deep enough relationship with."

She said having a same-sex kiss in 2022's The Almond and the Seahorse "made me feel more open to exploring." When she met Agruma, "it just clicked  I feel lucky to have found her," said Wilson, who called herself a "late bloomer."

Wilson went public with Agruma in June after she was told an Australian publication was going to do a story exposing the relationship. By then, the women had been dating for several months.

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The relationship with Agruma "wasn't something I hid," Wilson said. "My friends knew about it. We went to the [2022] Vanity Fair Oscars party together, so it was pretty obvious." That said, "I didn't think in 2022 I had to come out or anything."

Wilson said she "was proud to be dating Ramona  she's such an awesome chick," but she wanted to "tell people organically." She said being forced to share the news made it more chaotic than it needed to be. For instance, her mother had to drive to Wilson's grandparents in the middle of the night to tell them before they saw it in the news. But generally, she said she experienced "so much positivity" from sharing the news, noting, "It was so awesome to see."

The Bridesmaids star also said she's still not exactly sure how to categorize her sexual orientation.

"I know I'm in an awesome same-sex relationship, but then you're like: I still don't quite know how to classify myself or my sexuality," she said. "I think it can be complex. It doesn't mean I was straight and now I'm suddenly gay. I don't know  I'm just me and seeing how it goes."

And now they're raising Wilson's daughter, Royce Lillian, who was born via surrogate in November. Wilson revealed that when she first started seeing Agruma, she didn't tell her that her surrogate was pregnant. It was a closely guarded secret  known only to her mother and sisters  after a previous surrogate had miscarried one of her two embryos. Two months into dating Agruma, after the surrogate completed her first trimester, Wilson told Agruma she was going to be a mom by the end of the year.

"'I know that's something you didn't sign up for,'" she recalled telling her. "I was like: 'So if you want to leave me, I totally get it.' But she was like, 'Oh my god. I love you and I'm going to love your baby just the same  She has just been incredible."

She talked about them spending their first Christmas together as a family.

Wilson also used the conversation to announce she's launching a dating app called Fluid. Users don't have to define their sexual orientation  or that of their potential matches. People get matched up based on who they're "vibing with" she said.

"I just thought, God, if that had existed five years earlier that would have been great for me," she said.
Robert Czernek, center, former Bloomingdale Township highway commissioner, exits the Dirksen Federal Courthouse after testifying in the trial of Debra Fazio and Mario Giannini of Bulldog Earth Movers excavation company, from whom he received kickbacks in exchange for approving contracts for roadwork that in many cases was never performed. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)

The onetime elected head of the Bloomingdale Township highway commission was sentenced to 3 years in federal prison Tuesday for taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks from the owner of an excavation company in exchange for approving contracts for roadwork that in many cases was never performed.

Robert Czernek, 71, pleaded guilty last year to one count of honest-services wire fraud and later gave crucial testimony leading to the conviction of the contractor, Mario Giannini.

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Czerneks attorney, Jacqueline S. Jacobson, had asked for a term of home incarceration, citing his extensive cooperation as well as health issues that have included heart disease and long COVID.

But in sentencing Czernek to 42 months behind bars, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly noted his crimes spanned a more than eight-year period and increased even after he had triple-bypass heart surgery in 2018.

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When youre old and sick and choose to commit planned crimes over an extensive period, it rings a bit hollow to come in here and say, Dont give me a significant sentence because Im old and sick, Kennelly said. You shouldve thought about that then.

Kennelly also said Czerneks abuse of his elected office to line his own pockets was an example of why many people distrust the government and amounted to pure, unadulterated greed.

There are a lot of reasons people dont trust the government  Some are unjust and some are loony, Kennelly said. The reasons here are neither unjust nor loony.

Before the sentence was handed down, Czernek read a statement apologizing for his actions, admitting he sold his office to benefit myself, and that he was working with a counselor to try to better understand his behavior.

I violated the public trust and there is no excuse for that, Czernek said, his voice choking up. I hope my cooperation and guilty plea will help restore the trust in government that I helped take away.

Czernek was charged in August 2020 with taking kickbacks from Giannini and his company, Bloomingdale-based Bulldog Earth Movers Inc., over a period of more than eight years.

In exchange, Czernek used his official position to approve more than $700,000 in payments for stone delivery, dump-leveling and storm sewer invoices submitted by Bulldog to Bloomingdale Township.

He told jurors that Giannini first proposed the kickback scheme during a visit to the township quarry a few months after Czernek was appointed as highway commissioner in 2012.

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He said, We can make some money on this, Czernek testified.

The scheme continued almost unabated for Czerneks entire time in office, according to his plea agreement with prosecutors. The only exception was 2013, an election year, when it was agreed to pause the kickbacks because Czernek did not want to draw any scrutiny, according to his plea agreement with prosecutors.

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According to the plea, Czernek concealed the fraud by leaving handwritten notes for Giannini in various secluded places on Bloomingdale Township Highway Department property, according to his plea agreement with prosecutors.

The notes included a description of the work and number of hours purportedly spent by Bulldog on various projects. Fazio later submitted invoices to the township that repeated Czerneks notes word for word, according to the plea agreement.

In order to conceal the extra money from his wife, Czernek told Giannini to have the kickbacks paid by checks written to an old trucking company he owned, Tri-State Express, according to the plea.

In pleading guilty, Czernek agreed to forfeit assets seized as part of the investigation, including about $28,000 in cash, a 1981 Corvette, a 2014 Lexus RX 350 and a 1966 Buick Wildcat.

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In all, Kennelly ordered Czernek to pay about $540,000 in restitution. He must report to prison by Aug. 15.

Giannini was convicted at trial in May of 14 counts of wire fraud and sentenced to five years in federal prison. His girlfriend, Debra Fazio, was acquitted in rare fashion by Kennelly, who ruled in the middle of the trial that prosecutors had failed to prove Fazio had knowledge of the scheme or intentionally participated in it.

jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
(Reuters) - Social media platform Reddit Inc is looking to go public later this year, likely in the second half, the Information reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Reddit and other firms including grocery delivery firm Instacart are keeping their initial public offering paperwork up to date, in preparation for their debuts when market conditions improve, the report added.

Reddit did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment.

The IPO market had come to a virtual standstill last year with several high-profile listings on ice as a selloff in high-growth tech stocks and volatility in the capital markets soured investor sentiment.

In December 2021, Reddit had confidentially filed for an initial public offering with the U.S. securities regulator, after the company's message boards became the go-to destination for day traders during the meme stock frenzy.

(Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Shinjini Ganguli)
Democratic Reps. Barbara Lee, left, Adam B. Schiff and Katie Porter have all joined the race for Sen. Dianne Feinstein's seat. (Associated Press)

Even before Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a historic force in California politics, announced Tuesday that she would not seek reelection in 2024, ambitious Democratic politicians had begun lining up to replace her.

Feinstein, 89, has been in the public eye for more than a half-century, notably since she became San Francisco's leader after the 1978 assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. In recent years, she has faced mounting questions about her mental acuity and her old-school brand of bipartisanship that is viewed as outdated in today's bitterly divided era. These factors led Democrats to leap into the race to replace her before she announced her intentions  a move that would previously have been considered impolitic.

Many candidates are expected to run, or at least consider running, for her seat. Here are some of the most prominent:

Officially running

Rep. Katie Porter of Irvine, shown speaking with constituents at the Islamic Center of Irvine in 2019, was the first candidate to announce her intention to run for Sen. Dianne Feinstein's seat in 2024. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

Rep. Katie Porter, 49, Democrat

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The Iowa native is an attorney and a protege of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, whom Porter met while taking Warren's bankruptcy law class at Harvard Law School. In 2011, Porter moved to California when she became a law professor at UC Irvine. The following year, then-California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris appointed Porter to be the states independent monitor overseeing the state's share of a $25-billion mortgage settlement with banks.





In 2018, Porter was elected to represent a swath of Orange County in Congress during a blue wave of Democratic victories across the nation. She was reelected twice, with a narrow win in her last race in 2022. A prodigious fundraiser, Porter was forced to spend a significant amount of money defending her seat.





She was the first major candidate to announce her 2024 campaign for a U.S. Senate seat, notably before Feinstein announced her plans.

Best known for:





The suburban, minivan-driving single mom is viewed as a rising star in the national Democratic Party, in part because of her pointed questioning of bank executives and Trump appointees and her use of whiteboards to explain complex policies during congressional hearings. Porter also has a knack for social media and creating memorable images that go viral, such as nonchalantly reading a book titled The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F during the lengthy House speaker election in January.

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Potential obstacles:

Some have questioned the wisdom of Porter announcing her Senate campaign before Feinstein publicly disclosed her plans, and while California was being battered by historic, deadly storms.





Porter wiped out a substantial chunk of her campaign coffers defending her House seat in 2022, though she is likely able to recoup the money relatively quickly because of her national army of small-dollar donors.





Rep. Adam B. Schiff of Burbank, shown speaking to reporters at the Capitol in 2019, has announced he will run for the Senate in 2024. (Shawn Thew/EPA-EFE/Rex)

Rep. Adam B. Schiff, 62, Democrat

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Schiff was born in Massachusetts and moved with his family to Arizona and then California. He was the valedictorian of his 1978 graduating class at Monte Vista High School in Danville high school, where his classmates voted him most likely to succeed. After attending Stanford University and Harvard Law School, Schiff became a federal prosecutor. Among his most prominent cases was prosecuting an FBI agent who became a Russian spy.





Schiff was elected to the state Senate in 1996 and then to the U.S. Congress in 2000.

Best known for:





Initially viewed as a mild-mannered moderate focused on national security and foreign policy, Schiff entered the national spotlight during the Trump administration. He led the first impeachment effort against the then-president. He also served on the congressional panel investigating the insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021  hearings that culminated in the former president being referred to the Justice Department for possible federal prosecution. Schiff told The Times that these experiences  "fights to preserve democracy  differentiate him from his Senate campaign rivals.





Such public roles have made him a target for GOP lawmakers  House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) in January removed Schiff from the Intelligence Committee.





Among Democrats, Schiff is a fundraising juggernaut. He had nearly $21 million in the bank in late November and has raised significant money since announcing his Senate bid.

Potential obstacles:

As a former prosecutor, Schiff will have to tread a delicate path similar to the one current Vice President Kamala Harris attempted to navigate when she ran for president in 2020  explaining a prosecutorial background at a time marked by significant concerns among liberal voters about the treatment of people of color in the criminal justice system. As a white man, Schiff faces an additional challenge among some California Democratic voters who hope to diversify the Senate's ranks.





Rep. Barbara Lee of Oakland, shown speaking on the House floor in 2020, announced Feb. 21 she would run for Senate. (Associated Press)

Rep. Barbara Lee, 76, Democrat

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Lee has a deep history of political activism, dating back to when she was a student at Mills College. She worked on the 1972 presidential campaign of Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman to hold a seat in Congress, and on Black Panther Party co-founder Bobby Seale's mayoral race in Oakland the following year.





Lee served as a staffer for Rep. Ron Dellums before being elected to the state Legislature, where she served for eight years. Lee was elected to Congress in a special election in 1998 and has overwhelmingly won reelection since.





When Gov. Gavin Newsom pledged during the 2021 recall election to appoint a Black woman to replace Feinstein if she stepped down, political experts speculated that he was referring to Lee.

Best known for:





As the only member of Congress to vote against the measure that authorized President George W. Bush to use military force after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Lee was thrust into the national spotlight. She argued that the law granted the president too much power and warned her fellow lawmakers to be careful not to embark on an open-ended war with neither an exit strategy nor a focused target. In the aftermath of her vote, Lee was viewed as a pariah by many, including people in her party, and received death threats. But after decades of overseas entanglements, politicians in both parties now make arguments that echo what Lee said in 2001.

Potential obstacles:

Lee represents one of the most liberal congressional districts in the nation and has sailed to reelection with little opposition. This was not a problem in her congressional career but could be in a run for statewide office  because of her liberal voting record and paltry fundraising record. Statewide campaigns in California require an enormous amount of money to reach voters across the state, notably moderates if the general election is a race between two Democrats.

Other potential candidates, wild cards and longshots

Rep. Ro Khanna of Fremont, shown speaking on the House floor in 2019, is a possible candidate for Sen. Dianne Feinstein's Senate seat. (Associated Press)

State Sen. Brian Dahle , 57, Republican: Dahle, a farmer and longtime local and legislative elected official from Bieber, unsuccessfully challenged Newsom in the 2022 gubernatorial contest. While he was able to get California Republicans behind that campaign, he hasn't showed any signs of interest in a Senate bid.





Rep. Ro Khanna , 46, Democrat: Raised in Pennsylvania by Indian immigrants, Khanna attended the University of Chicago and Yale Law School. As an attorney, he represented technology companies and was an early supporter of former President Obama. Khanna, from Fremont, was elected to Congress in 2016. He has long had political ambitions and has not shied from challenging fellow Democrats. A favorite of liberal voters, Khanna was a co-chair of the 2020 presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders, a self-described Democratic socialist.





Mark Meuser, 48, Republican: The conservative attorney was involved in the litigation that successfully stopped Democrats from removing then-President Trumps name from the California ballot in 2020. He also repeatedly sued Newsom over COVID-19 policy and other matters. The Pasadena resident unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate in 2022, secretary of state in 2018 and state Senate in 2012.

Not running

Former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, 56, Republican

Professional wrestler turned actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson , 50





Gov. Gavin Newsom, 55, Democrat

Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, 75, Republican

Rep. Eric Swalwell, 42, Democrat

Times staff writer Melanie Mason contributed to this report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
BELLEVUE, Wash. (AP)  Customers of wireless provider T-Mobile US Inc. reported widespread service outages in the U.S. late Monday, according to websites tracking service interruptions.

Posts on Downdetector.com and Product-Reviews.net indicated T-Mobile service outages in multiple areas of the country. Many Twitter users also reported outages.

Numerous posts by users said their service had been changed to SOS mode, meaning they were not directly connected to a network but could still make emergency calls.

T-Mobile President of Technology Neville Ray issued a statement about the outage on Twitter early Tuesday.

We have seen significant improvement and are operating at near normal levels," Ray said. "Our teams continue to monitor and we greatly appreciate everyones patience. We apologize for any impacts this issue may have had for our customers.

The company did not immediately provide details of the cause or extent of the outage.

Downdetector.com provided a chart tracking service complaints within the previous 24 hours indicating a peak of more than 69,000 reported outages in a two-hour period.

Posted comments on the site came from users who said they were located in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Kansas, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas and Washington.

Similar service complaints on Product-Reviews.net originated from some of the same states, as well as Alabama, Connecticut, Idaho, Minnesota, New York, Nevada, South Carolina and others.

Many posts reported service eventually was restored.
Photograph: Patrick Semansky/AP

South Carolina senator Tim Scott is reportedly taking steps to seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.

Related: DeSantiss corporate donors under fire for hypocrisy over Black History Month

Reporting the news, the Wall Street Journal cited anonymous sources familiar with his plans. Jennifer DeCasper, a senior adviser, said the senator was excited to share his vision of hope and opportunity and hear the American peoples response.

A stringent conservative but also the only Black Republican in the US Senate, Scott, 57, has worked publicly if unsuccessfully with Democrats on attempts to agree to policing reform.

Last August, he appeared to confirm his ambition for a presidential run.

His book, America: a Redemption Story, contained small print including a description of a rising star who sees and understands the importance of bipartisanship to move America forward and saying this book is a political memoir that includes his core messages as he prepares to make a presidential bid in 2022.

Scotts publisher, Thomas Nelson, apologised for what it called an error  not done at the direction or approval of the senator or his team.

Concrete steps made by Scott have included appointing co-chairs of a fundraising Super Pac and plans to speak in South Carolina and Iowa, two early voting states.

The report about Scotts plans came two days ahead of an expected campaign launch by another South Carolina Republican, Nikki Haley, a former governor who was US ambassador to the United Nations under Donald Trump.

Still the only declared candidate for the 2024 nomination, Trump spoke in New Hampshire and South Carolina last month. He has already secured support from the other South Carolina senator, Lindsey Graham, the governor, Henry McMaster, and US House members.

The Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, is Trumps only serious challenger in polling concerning the notional field, in which Scott generally scores 1% or less. Last week, a Washington Post-ABC News poll showed Haley performing better but splitting the anti-Trump vote, thereby handing victory to the former president in a putative three-way race.

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Trump has begun to attack DeSantis but has not turned his fire on Haley, despite her preparing to renege on a vow not to run if he did.

Both Scott and Haley are often mentioned as potential vice-presidential picks, Haley representing youth and diversity (Haley is 51 and Indian American).

On Monday, John Barrasso of Wyoming, chair of the Republican Senate conference, told the Journal that Scott truly believes that God is great and America is great and we are provided with incredible opportunities. So I think a Ronald Reagan Morning in America hopeful America vision is one that Tim has, lives and breathes and is really needed in our country.

On the flip side, Ed Kilgore, a Democratic operative turned columnist, suggested Scott might actually have his eye on 2028.

Scott, Kilgore wrote for New York Magazine, might really be engaging in a sort of starter presidential campaign in order to build contacts and positive name ID for a future run  a respectable start, a signature moment or two, and a graceful exit from the 2024 contest may be the real goal.
By Joseph Ax and Jason Lange

(Reuters) - Democratic U.S. voters express less support for President Joe Biden running for a second term 2024 than Republicans do for former President Donald Trump's latest White House bid, a Reuters/Ipsos poll shows, a potentially worrisome sign for Biden as he prepares to announce his re-election campaign.

Fifty-two percent of registered Democrats said Biden should not seek a second term, compared to 40% of Republicans who said Trump should not run again, according to the national poll, which gathered responses from 4,408 adults from Feb. 6-13.

Taken together, the results signal that many Americans are far from enthused about a rematch of the divisive November 2020 contest won by Biden. Trump made false claims that the election was stolen from him through widespread voting fraud, and his supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, seeking to stop Congress from certifying Biden's election victory.

Spokespeople for Biden and Trump did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

"I think it shows Biden's support level is pretty soft," said Kyle Kondik, an elections analyst at the University of Virginia's Center for Politics. "But you need a real candidate to turn that generic feeling into a specific problem for Biden, and nobody seems to be stepping up to the plate to push Biden."

Biden, who has yet to announce his candidacy, is expected to stand unopposed in Democratic presidential primaries after he was credited with helping the party do better than expected in the November midterm congressional elections. Democrats lost control of the House of Representatives but retained a Senate majority.

Democratic strategists expressed confidence that the party's voters would enthusiastically support Biden once he announces his run.

Jennifer Holdsworth, who worked on current Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg's 2020 presidential campaign, said the survey results reflect what she called a media-driven but inaccurate narrative that Biden, 80, is too old to serve in the White House.

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"I think it's entirely overblown," Holdsworth said. "Most rank-and-file Democrats that I talk to are thrilled with the record this administration has accomplished."

Biden has shrugged off polling showing voter concerns about his age, asking one interviewer last week, "Look, do you know any polling that's accurate these days?"

Biden and Trump each led their party's field of potential candidates in the poll, but neither drew support from a majority of their voters. Biden was the pick for 35% of Democrats and Trump for 43% of Republicans.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has built a national profile with a relentless focus on issues such as race and gender identity, was a clear No. 2 with 31% of registered Republicans backing him, just 12 percentage points behind Trump.

A host of other possible Republican contenders, including former Vice President Mike Pence and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, received single-digit support. Besides Trump, Haley, who launched her 2024 campaign on Tuesday, is the only major Republican candidate to announce a bid.

On the Democratic side, Senator Bernie Sanders drew 13% support, Vice President Kamala Harris 12% and Buttigieg 10%.

The poll numbers are a good sign for DeSantis given that he has never mounted a national campaign, Republican strategist Chuck Coughlin said.

"If I'm Ron DeSantis, I'm pretty encouraged that I'm within striking position and have that kind of name ID," Coughlin said.

TRUMP'S 'MOMENTUM PROBLEM'

Trump has plenty of vulnerabilities. He faces a slew of civil and criminal investigations and saw many of his hand-picked candidates lose competitive races in the midterm elections.

"Trump's got a momentum problem," Coughlin said. "After the '22 cycle, I think it's dawning on more and more Republicans that his time has come and gone."

That said, Trump prevailed in a crowded primary field in 2016 by winning a plurality, rather than a majority, of Republican votes in early states, a dynamic that could repeat itself in 2024 if more candidates enter the race.

Either Trump or DeSantis would pose a threat to Biden's re-election chances, the Reuters/Ipsos poll showed. In a hypothetical one-on-one contest, Trump earned 42% among registered voters, compared with 39% for Biden, a statistical tie because it was within the poll's credibility interval of four points in either direction for the question on head-to-head match ups.

DeSantis also was neck-and-neck with Biden in a hypothetical two-person contest, 41% to 38%.

Despite low unemployment and rising consumer sentiment, the U.S. economy remains a drag on Biden's popularity. Only 36% of registered voters in the new Reuters/Ipsos poll said they approve of Biden's handling of the economy, down from 42% a year earlier.

"There seems to be a disconnect between how the economy is performing and how people are feeling around the kitchen table," said Holdsworth, the Democratic strategist.

Biden is also weighed down by perceptions that he is too old to run. He is already the oldest president to serve, and 51% of Democrats in the poll said he cannot handle the physical toll of the presidency.

By comparison, only a quarter of registered Republicans said Trump, 76, who was hospitalized with COVID-19 during his presidency, was not fit for the physical demands of the office.

(This story has been corrected to show the poll's credibility interval in the hypothetical match-ups between Biden and Trump or DeSantis is four percentage points, not two percentage points, and therefore those match-up are statistical ties in paragraphs 21 and 22)

(Reporting by Joseph Ax and Jason Lange; editing by Ross Colvin and Will Dunham)
A new congressional panel created by House Republicans launched an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic Monday by requesting documents and testimony from health and intelligence officials who have worked in the Biden administration.

Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, the chair of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, and House Oversight and Accountability chair James Comer, R-Ky., sent letters to Dr. Anthony Fauci, senior Biden administration officials like National Intelligence Director Avril Haines and the president of EcoHealth Alliance, a New York nonprofit group focused on emerging infectious diseases.

Fauci, who had directed the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984 and was President Joe Bidens chief medical adviser starting in January 2021, left his federal government posts at the end of December.

Wenstrup said that Americans "deserve real answers" and that the investigation would probe the virus' origins in an effort to predict or prevent future pandemics.

"Government scientists and government funded researchers have so far been less-than-forthcoming in their knowledge and actions, including work with the Wuhan Institute of Virology and potential pandemic pathogens," Wenstrup said in a statement. "We cant accept more years of stonewalling."

Comer said in the statement that "evidence continues to mount pointing" to a virus leak at a Wuhan lab.

"We will continue to follow the facts to determine what could have been done differently to better protect Americans from this virus and hold U.S. government officials that took part in any sort of cover up accountable, Comer said.

While a December 2021 U.S. intelligence report identified three researchers at a Wuhan lab who sought treatment at a hospital after they got sick in November 2019, the findings were not conclusive for a hypothesis that the virus escaped from the lab. Other studies have supported the theory that the virus emerged in nature and not in a lab.

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The subcommittee's investigation stems in part from skepticism about what government officials and the intelligence community knew about the virus.

In December, Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee published a report that accused intelligence agencies of "omissions" in their public assessment of Covid origins, which GOP members said were "misleading."

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
(Bloomberg) -- Republican politicians are stoking outrage and raising cash over the alleged Chinese spy balloon that crossed the US before it was shot down.

Most Read from Bloomberg

In at least 11 emails, congressional campaigns cite the incident as they ask recipients for money, to sign petitions or to take surveys. Some strike Cold War themes as they raise the dangers of Chinese espionage, but most take jabs at President Joe Biden, who on the advice of the military opted to destroy the craft over the ocean three days after a civilian spotted it in the Montana sky.

The US claims the balloon was part of a global surveillance program. China has insisted that it was a weather-monitoring device that blew off course.

The first emails hit inboxes on Feb. 3 when the balloon was still airborne, according to Pundit Analytics, which tracks emails, Facebook ads and social-media postings of elected officials and candidates.

Senator Kevin Cramer, a Republican from North Dakota, sent out an alert to supporters that began by citing Chinas claim that one of its weather balloons had gone astray. While the email surveyed supporters on whether they trusted China, Cramer made clear where he stood on the issue.

This is an invasion, the email said. Cramer referenced his recent efforts to thwart a Chinese companys plans to build a corn mill near the Grand Forks Air Force Base on national security grounds. China cannot be trusted. Period.

The emails demonstrate how quickly candidates can issue rapid-response fundraising appeals to potential donors on the most controversial topics of the day. Sometimes, that can be tricky with evolving news stories. None of the emails mention three subsequent incidents in which US military jets shot down as yet unidentified craft over the US and Canada, with the most recent occurring Sunday over Lake Huron.

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Some emails have been particularly harsh. Senator Ron Johnson sent three of the emails, with the first telling prospective donors that China sent Americans the Covid-19 virus and a mysterious spy balloon thats still sailing across America. The Wisconsin Republican called for payback before asking recipients to take a poll on the issue. Johnson, whose campaign owes $2.3 million to vendors, according to its latest filing with the Federal Election Commission, also asks donors to help pay down the debt.

In his most recent email on Sunday, Johnson turned the focus to the Biden administration, asking if it failed America by mishandling the Chinese Spy Balloon disaster?

Representative Bryon Donalds of Florida wasted no time calling into question Bidens response. A missive sent to donors two days after the balloon was shot down began by calling Biden the SINGLE MOST INCOMPETENT Commander-in-Chief weve ever had. The email asked donors to give between $25 and $250. He also mentioned the balloon two days later when slamming Bidens State of the Union address, as did his fellow Floridian, Representative Matt Gaetz.

South Carolina Senator Tim Scott sent two emails, the most recent on Friday, asking supporters if Bidens delay in shooting down the balloon put Americans in danger.

Senator Katie Britt of Alabama sent donors a lengthy list of her recent activities, including her asking how the Chinese could believe the US will defend Taiwan if the Biden administrationdoesnt even have the stomach to deal with a balloon.

--With assistance from Laura Davison.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
After spending the last 32 years either in prison or under government supervision, longtime Chicago Outfit enforcer Mario Rainone just wants to do a little traveling and live out his golden years in peace, his attorney says.

Hes about ready for the rocking chair at Shady Acres, attorney Joseph Lopez said Tuesday in arguing for early termination of Rainones supervised release for a gun conviction. Hes spent a lot of time with the U.S. government living with him and around him.

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But federal prosecutors say Rainone, 67, may not be destined for the shuffleboard court just yet.

In fact, after being released from prison early in 2020 due to COVID-19 concerns, he went right back to some of his old haunts, finding employment at a Cicero jewelry business once used by incarcerated mob associate Mark Polchan and his boss, Mike The Large Guy Sarno, Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu said in asking that the request be denied.

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Convicted Outfit extortionist Mario Rainone (Illinois Department of Corrections)

Bhachu also noted that Rainone picked up his most recent case while under supervised release for an extortion conviction, and also had a recent run-in at a Northlake Home Depot where he was cited for attempting to steal an air conditioner.

Thats a pretty bad indicator that Mr. Rainone did not learn his lesson, Bhachu said.

Lopez said the Cicero jewelry store is currently owned by his brother, who has no known mob ties. He also told the judge the Home Depot incident did not result an any arrest or charges.

After the hearing, Lopez told the Tribune that Rainone had the air conditioner on a cart that was wheeled out by a store attendant and that the whole episode appeared to be a misunderstanding.

In the end. U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber agreed with prosecutors and kept Rainones supervised release intact, meaning hell be under the supervision of court officials until June 2025.

Rainone was convicted by a federal jury in 2013 of having a loaded Smith & Wesson .357-caliber handgun on his nightstand at his Addison home. Authorities searched the residence after Rainone and an accomplice were caught coming out of a Lincolnshire condo building with jewelry and cash stuffed in their coats.

At his sentencing hearing, Bhachu noted a previous judge had labeled Rainone an urban terrorist who had no respect for the law.

If you give him the opportunity, he will go out and commit crime, Bhachu said. He will hurt people. He will take their property.

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Rainones colorful mob history dates to the 1980s, when he was identified as an associate of legendary mob bosses Lenny Patrick and Gus Alex.

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According to federal court documents, Rainone became an informant for the feds in 1989 after he thought Patrick was setting him up to be killed. He was taken into witness protection, but later refused to cooperate with authorities after an explosive device damaged his mothers porch, according to court records.

At Alexs blockbuster trial in 1992, several business owners testified about being terrorized by Rainone, who threatened to kill them and their families  maybe putting their heads on poles as an example  if they didnt pay.

Even after he was sentenced to a lengthy prison term, Rainone didnt stop his criminal ways, according to prosecutors.

In 2010, he was convicted of bribing a corrupt guard to smuggle him salami and other Italian treats into a Wisconsin federal prison, records show.

In his motion last month to terminate Rainones supervised release, Lopez wrote that since being freed in 2020, he has been a law-abiding individual who lives off Social Security, and also suffered a debilitating back injury after he was rear-ended by another vehicle last year.

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He is an elderly man and wishes to terminate his supervised release so that he can travel the world at this leisure during his golden years. Lopez wrote.

jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
Hatay, southern Turkey  At night, when the temperature plunges below freezing, survivors of the monstrous earthquakes in Turkey and Syria burn wood scavenged from their own destroyed homes to keep warm. Families that were well-off and comfortable just over a week ago are now living in donated tents set up in a local park.

Much of Antakya, in southeast Turkey, has been reduced to a place of misery and deep uncertainty. There, we met engineering student Abdul Rahman and his family. They were already refugees, forced to flee their hometown of Aleppo by the civil war in Syria.

Now, they have been left homeless once again.

Young girl saved from earthquake rubble week after disaster

"We will leave this city and start over again," said Rahman. "We'll be fine. We're used to a hard life."



Few in southern Turkey were prepared for the level of devastation delivered by the powerful earthquakes. Hundreds of makeshift camps have sprung up across the country. Aid is available, but conditions for the survivors get worse with every passing day. Trash has been piling up because there's no one to collect it.

The odd rescue story was still emerging Tuesday, eight days after the killer quakes struck. An 18-year-old man was pulled from the twisted steel and concrete of his razed building in southern Turkey hours after two brothers were saved from their toppled apartment building. At least two other people were reportedly rescued in southern Turkey on Tuesday.

A Turkish rescue worker checks a collapsed building in Adiyaman, southern Turkey, February 11, 2023. / Credit: Emrah Gurel/AP

Increasingly, however, in both Turkey and Syria, efforts were turning from rescue to recovery.

The Old City of Hatay, in southern Turkey, was once a thriving ancient quarter. It has been left unrecognizable and un-liveable.



The Turkish government has promised to rebuild all the damaged and destroyed buildings across the country within a year, but few believe that will happen. Survivors have other, more pressing concerns, like burying the dead.

A map shows the epicenter of two major earthquakes that struck southern Turkey on February 6, 2023, with a 7.8-magnitude temblor striking first in the early morning hours, very near the country's southern border with Syria, followed by another powerful quake about nine hours later. / Credit: Getty/iStockphoto

The overall death toll pinned on the earthquakes  a massive 7.8-magnitude temblor that struck early on the morning of February 6 and a second, 7.5 quake about nine hours later  had climbed to more than 37,300 people Tuesday, with more than 31,000 dead in Turkey alone.

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On Tuesday, residents of Hatay and other decimated towns and villages were focused on burying their loved ones and neighbors who didn't survive. Many were being placed in mass graves, hastily dug along the sides of highways or wherever else ground could be cleared.



Makeshift gravesites stretch as far as the eye can see, and crews were busy digging more.



The United Nations estimates the overall death toll could surpass 50,000 by the time recovery efforts have finished, but with the remains of so many people still buried under mountains of rubble, the true human cost of the disaster may never be clear.

Syria to open border to aid

Across the border in war-torn northern Syria, the misery has been compounded by slow-arriving international aid, but there was hope Tuesday morning that the pace might pick up with new routes into the country becoming available.

Martin Griffiths, the U.N.'s emergency relief coordinator, visited Aleppo on Monday and acknowledged that rescue operations were "coming to a close," with the focus turning to providing shelter and food for survivors and getting children back into schooling.

With rebel forces still in control of a significant swath of the country, only one border crossing from Turkey into Syria has been open for years. That's made it painstakingly slow for the U.N. and other agencies to get desperately-needed rescue and relief materials into the Syrian quake zone. Frustration and anger have been rising as people whose lives were already difficult have been left with nothing, in the freezing cold of winter, waiting over a week for help to arrive.

On Monday, Syrian President Bashar Assad agreed to open two more crossings into northern Syria from Turkey, offering hope that more help could soon reach quake victims in the region.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the decision by Assad, which he said would keep the crossings open for at least three months "to allow for the timely delivery of humanitarian aid."

"Delivering food, health, nutrition, protection, shelter, winter supplies and other life-saving supplies to all the millions of people affected is of the utmost urgency," Guterres said in a statement.

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Major Garrett on Biden's visit to Ukraine, and former President Jimmy Carter entering hospice care
Andy Ball

In Cambodia, sand mining has become a popular industry to support concrete production.

The influx of sand is threatening the homes of thousands who live along the country's water ways.

The collateral damage of overproduction leaves increased erosion and potential for dangerous flooding.

"Before the entire lake was decorated by lotus and lotus stem. Now, it's decorated by gravel and sand," said Prak Sophea, one of the many residents in Cambodia who are slowly watching their beloved riverfronts and homes become overrun by growing swaths of sand.

Andy Ball

Source: Insider

Large barges are dredging up tons of sand from the river to supply concrete for developing Southeast Asian cities. The sand is exported to places like Singapore, where nearly 50 square miles of land have been added on waterfronts, and Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.

Andy Ball

Source: Insider

In Phnom Penh, the government is using the sand to fill in lakes and rivers in order to create land for developing real estate and shopping malls.

Andy Ball

Source: Insider

However, thousands of people who have lived and worked on these waterfronts for years are facing eviction as the sand barges grow closer and the government hands their property over to private investors.

Andy Ball

Source: Insider

Boeung Tompun was once a lake in Phnom Penh where nearly 1,000 people made a living selling fish near their homes. Now, the lake has been filled in and is occupied by a shopping mall and large gated community.

Andy Ball

Source: Insider

Seeing a glimpse of their potential future, Boeung Tamok waterfront residents have taken matters into their own hands by protesting government efforts to develop over their homes and dispossess their families.

"Where there is development, there are tears of citizens," said Boeung Tamok resident Prak Sophea, who has lived on the lakefront for more than 20 years. The government gave large pieces of land near her home to private investors  today, the masses of sand development are only 300 feet away from her door step. Andy Ball

Source: Insider

Sophea, along with her neighbors, spends much of her time protesting in an effort to save their homes. Often faced with violence from government authorities during these protests, Sophea and her community asked the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Cambodia for support. But the developments have yet to cease.

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Prak Sophea shows footage of a protest that turned violent as residents were protecting their housing rights. Andy Ball

Source: Insider

Since 2003, private developers and Cambodian officials have filled in 60% of the city's lakes.

Over the years, lakes have lost space to the developing sand land masses. (ABOVE: Cambodian lake in 2018. BELOW: Lake in 2022) Sentinel Hub

Source: Insider

The coarse and sharp composition of river sand, compared to looser beach sand, makes it a much sought after commodity in concrete production. That makes the sand a valuable export for Cambodia, but also becomes nearly impossible to track how much is really exported.

June Bang

Source: Insider

Between 2008 to 2016, Cambodia reported only $5 million worth of exports to Singapore. However, Singapore declared $775 million in imports during that same period of time. With a lack of transparency in river sand sourcing, it is evident that the barges are harvesting more sand than the river can naturally produce, leading to widespread erosion and unstable river banks along the Mekong.

June Bang

Source: Insider

The collateral damage of mass sand mining has been to blame for homes collapsing in Vietnam, increasing the risk of drought, and threatening endangered species. NGOs estimate that, without lakes and wetlands working at full capacity, nearly 1.2 million people could face an increased risk of seasonal flooding.

Andy Ball

Source: Insider

For many Cambodian residents, their futures, their livelihoods, and their homes are at stake. The sand mining industry is still increasing in influence, but the waterfront communities are committed to fighting for their rights.

"Although I struggle with the authorities, no matter how many clashes I have, I am not scared," said Sophea. "If I am jailed for fighting for shelter for my children, I am happy." Andy Ball

Source: Insider

Read the original article on Insider
A train derailed near East Palestine, Ohio over the weekend. Gene J. Puskar/AP

Residents are mounting class action lawsuits against the train company whose train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio.

The derailment led to a toxic chemical spill and fire, and the EPA is determining contamination levels.

Some residents are claiming the company owes at least $5 million and lifetime medical expenses.

Disgruntled and displaced Ohio residents are suing the train company that spilled 20-cars-worth of toxic chemicals into the town of East Palestine, Ohio, claiming the company's negligent behavior changed the course of their lives.

In at least four lawsuits across state and federal courts, residents are arguing that the company's poor handling of hazardous materials like vinyl chloride was negligent. According to the New York Times, Ohio and federal regulators are still assessing environmental and health damage.

On February 3, 2023, a Norfolk Southern Railroad Company freight train carrying toxic chemicals derailed, causing at least 150 cars to turn over with at least 50 cars catching fire. New videos sourced by the Pittsburgh Press-Gazette showed several of the train's cars on fire at least 20 miles before it derailed and spilled.

According to the Times, close to 2,000 residents from Ohio within a 2-mile radius were ordered to evacuate, and within days, officials carried out a "controlled release" and burning of the chemicals to avert a large explosion, which created a large plume of smoke over the area.

The company has donated $25,000 to the town and residents within a one-mile radius are eligible to get a $1,000 "convenience" check from the company. The company also released its proposed remediation plan.

The lawsuits against the company are piling up

Since February 8, several class action lawsuits have been filed against Norfolk Southern Railroad Company, which could be consolidated as the majority of the suits allege negligence by the company.

"Because the Vinyl Chloride that was released following the derailment and resulting fire is a known carcinogen that has been linked to an increased likelihood of contracting liver and other cancers," the train company should provide residents with "medical monitoring whereby they will be regularly followed, assessed and monitored by health care providers," attorneys for residents Ray and Judith Hall said in a class action lawsuit filed on February 8 in a federal court in the Northern District of Ohio.

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A separate lawsuit, filed in the Columbiana County Common Pleas Court by the owners of Bird Dog Kennels and Stonybrook Kennels, cited the environmental impact on fish and wildlife in the area and claimed that the train company was negligent and delayed in notifying residents which chemicals had been spilled.

According to local news station WEWS, the Ohio Department of Natural resources said on Monday that at least 3,500 fish were killed by poisoning related to the derailment, with the contamination reaching streams up to 7.5 miles away.

Some residents reported having respiratory issues as well as their animals having trouble breathing after being cleared to return home, according to the New Republic.

Norfolk Southern Railway Company did not immediately return Insider's request for comment.

Some residents claim a 'controlled release' was chaotic

The Hall lawsuit claimed that the "design and performance" of the controlled burn of chemicals conducted on February 6, several days after the derailment, was a poorly-planned, alleging the decision caused a quick aerial spread of the materials.

"The toxic plume from the mushroom cloud reached a level in the atmosphere where it was unable to continue to rise vertically, so it began to spread out horizontally in a thick cloud," attorneys for the Hall family wrote in their lawsuit.

Since the derailment, federal and state agencies have raised the alarm about the existing and potential dangers of the spill in the soil, water, and air, according to WEWS.

On February 10, the EPA said that at least 20 cars were full of harmful chemicals such as vinyl chloride, which is used to make plastic pipes, packing materials, and parts for cars.

As of Monday, the EPA has inspected 291 homes, which the agency claimed showed no trace of vinyl or hydrogen chloride, and that close to 200 homes were still being checked.

Read the original article on Insider
Peyton Reeds Ant-Man films have generally served as a kind of palate cleanser to the world-ending stakes of the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe. Paul Rudds Scott Lang is just an ordinary dude, or so they keep telling us, who still cant really believe that hes part of the Avengers at all. He gets to be the wide-eyed middle-aged fanboy of the group in those films. In his own films, hes just living a blue-sky life in San Francisco as an affable single dad and ex-con who was once fired from Baskin Robbins and who has occasional enemies to defeat.

In this third film,  Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, in theaters Thursday, hes coasting on his own post-Blip celebrity with a best-selling memoir out, lots of fans around town and a generally sunny disposition  when hes not breaking his teenage daughter Cassie (now played by Kathryn Newton, always an enjoyable presence) out of jail for civil disobedience.

There is a fun, light, sitcom-y touch to these early scenes in which he and his makeshift family, Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) sit around the table for takeout pizza. They use their particle technology to blow up the tiny pie.

I just saved us $8, Pym declares proudly.

But Ant-Man is part of the larger chess board of the MCU, so naturally hes doomed to be sucked into the multiverse mess, setting up pieces for more Avengers films to come with the introduction of a new villain, Kang (played with a maniacal sorrow by the great Jonathan Majors). And the results are mixed. Reed has returned to direct with a new writer, Jeff Loveness, who has also been tapped to write Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and its hard not to empathize with both for the logic gymnastics required to back Ant-Man and his gang into this conflict.

Loveness, who cut his teeth in comedy and has an affinity for comic book and B-movie absurdities, gives Ant-Man his own Star Wars-adjacent adventure. Theres quite a bit of unrest in the Quantum Realm, with scrappy rebels battling against a powerful ruler with an army of faceless soldiers. But he takes that conceit further and gives the rebels some personality and humor, including William Jackson Harper as the mind-reading Quaz. The villain's a killing machine, M.O.D.O.K., that looks (knowingly) straight out of a Mystery Science Theater 3000 movie and it is quite entertaining. Its both a nod to the fun of the ridiculousness in sci-fi and a reminder that Serious Superhero Films are sometimes just one crazy special effect away from being Silly Superhero Films.

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Quantumania also gives Pfeiffer a lot more to do as we, and Hank and Hope, learn a little bit more about Janets 30 years in the Quantum Realm and the various compromises and allegiances she made to stay alive. Pfeiffer is an unambiguous delight and the real center of the movie despite what the title might claim. Ant-Man just finds himself in the middle of the mess, which starts to drag on in a muddle of sci-fi furnishings that individually are probably quite inspired and interesting but together just blend into a dreary mess.

Its a shame because Reeds films are generally so crisp and styled and are best when focused on characters, not worlds and Quantum Realms. Quantumania shines when it is keeping things light and quippy.

But Kang, for what we can assume are bigger story needs, needs to be more serious. Majors is certainly chilling and captivating, but Kang seems like a mismatched foe for a standalone Ant-Man film and the result is a Quantumania that is trying to be too many things. One thing it is not is a Wasp movie, though. Lilly gets a lot to do but not a lot of  or any  character development.

Quantumania sticks the ending, however. Without giving anything away, we'll just say that Reed and Rudd get to return to their sweet spot, with a bit of a twist.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, a Walt Disney release in theaters Thursday, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association for some sci-fi action violence. Running time: 122 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.

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MPA Definition of PG-13: Parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

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Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr.
A tenth of the human race is at risk from rising sea levels, the head of the United Nations has warned.

Speaking at the Security Council debate on Sea-level rise: implications for international peace and security in New York, UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said rising seas are sinking futures.

Sea-level rise is not only a threat in itself, its a threat-multiplier, he added. For the hundreds of millions of people living in small island developing states and other low-lying coastal areas around the world, sea-level rise is a torrent of trouble.

Rising seas threaten lives and jeopardise access to water, food and healthcare. Saltwater intrusion can decimate jobs and entire economies in key industries like agriculture, fisheries, and tourism.

It can damage or destroy vital infrastructure  including transportation systems, hospitals and schools, especially when combined with extreme weather events linked to the climate crisis.

And rising seas threaten the very existence of some low-lying communities and even countries.

Mr Guterres cited research by the World Meteorological Organisation that shows that even if global heating is limited to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, there will still be a sizeable sea level rise.

He said: Under any scenario, countries like Bangladesh, China, India and the Netherlands are all at risk. Mega-cities on every continent will face serious impacts including Cairo, Lagos, Maputo, Bangkok, Dhaka, Jakarta, Mumbai, Shanghai, Copenhagen, London, Los Angeles, New York, Buenos Aires and Santiago.

The danger is especially acute for nearly 900 million people who live in coastal zones at low elevations  thats 1 out of 10 people on earth. Some coastlines have already seen triple the average rate of sea level rise.

The population of Gardi Sugdub will relocate to mainland Panama this year due to rising sea levels (Google Earth)

He added: The consequences of all of this are unthinkable. Low-lying communities and entire countries could disappear forever. We would witness a mass exodus of entire populations on a biblical scale. And we would see ever-fiercer competition for fresh water, land and other resources.

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The impact of rising seas is already creating new sources of instability and conflict.

In November it was reported that the 1,200 inhabitants of the island of Gardi Sugdub were relocating to mainland Panama this year as their land is being overtaken by the rising Caribbean Sea.

Climate change is forcing the indigenous Guna people to become the first residents of Latin America to be moved because their home for 100 years faces being submerged as the worlds sea levels rise.

The first chapter of the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) from the UNs Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the worlds leading body for assessing climate science, warns that sea levels will remain elevated for thousands of years as a result of ocean warming and melting ice sheets.

A Kenyan village flooded by rising sea levels (AP)

Sea level rise is being driven by the melting of ice sheets in the Arctic and Antarctic and mountain glaciers which add water to the ocean. Scientists have determined that the ocean absorbs more than 90 per cent of the excess heat from greenhouse gases, causing water to expand as it heats up.

Sea levels have risen increasingly rapidly since about 1970 and in the past 100 years, sea levels have risen more than in any century over at least the last three millennia. The global average sea level has risen at a rate of about 4mm (0.16 inches) per year over the last decade.

With nearly half of the global population living within 97km (60 miles) of the coast, the rise in sea levels is already impacting people in many parts of the world. The frequency of coastal flooding has near doubled since the 1960s, and it will remain a hazard.
Riverside Police are looking for a man suspected of breaking in and robbing a small business early Sunday morning, according a police report obtained by News Center 7.

>>It was a huge hit for us, Riverside family reeling from break-in at local business

The robbery took place at Spin Kemp Laundrys at around 4:20 a.m. at the 600 block of Spinning Road.

The suspect stole about $5,000 in cash and $600 in quarters, the police report said.

The owners were alerted after a man broke into a the business by kicking in the security door.

They told News Center 7 Sunday the money was in a bolted and secured safe.

When officers arrived on scene, they found two shoe marks on a backdoor that had been kicked in, according to the report.

The suspect made entry into the storage room and went into the office where the safe was remove.

>>Why did this happen; Both Ohio Senators issue statements following NE Ohio train derailment

The male suspect is described as a white male wearing blue jeans, black shoes with blue and green on the bottoms, a blue jacket, a camo face mask with another blue mask around the bottom of it and black/camo gloves, the report said.

He was also carrying a black pack.

The suspect got into a vehicle and left, according to the police report.

Security footage shows a white car leaving the scene, according to surveillance camera obtained by News Center 7.

The suspect is wanted on a felony charge of Breaking and Entering, according to Riverside Police.

A $500 reward has been offered for information, according to Spin Kemp Laundrys Facebook page.

Please call Riverside Police at 937-233-1801.
Did you know that Afro-Caribbean food has ties to the African diaspora?

The historical phenomenon known as the African diaspora has significantly influenced the growth of cultures in the Americas.

People of the African diaspora can connect with one another across geographic boundaries through music, language and other forms of expression. Through these forms of communication, communities can establish deep bonds with one another. Another important thing that communities share is food.

Rondon is one of the diasporas most expressive food manifestations. This Afro-Caribbean food is delightful to many local fishermen and foreigners alike.

History of Rondon & Afro-Caribbean Food

In 1492, during the dominance of European forces over enslaved Africans, some culinary activities of African tradition were introduced into various parts of the Americas. In the Caribbean Sea coasts, this influence was even greater, leading to the creation of Afro-Caribbean cuisine. This was evident in the cooking techniques, ingredients and spices used to create a unique blend of flavors. This combination of African and Caribbean cuisines gave rise to new food delicacies, such as the Rondon.

Rondon is a stew dish with Jamaican origins. This traditional dish is very popular in several Latin American countries that share a coast with the Caribbean Sea. Its expansion occurred after Afro-Jamaican immigrant workers, who migrated in the early 19th century to work on projects like the Panama Canal and the Costa Rican railroads, brought Rondon from Jamaica to Latin America.

The consists of a soup made up of different types of seafood (fish, crabs, small lobsters or shellfish), with coconut milk, plantain, vegetables, peppers and spices. With its tropical climate, the Caribbean Sea provides a wide variety of fresh seafood, making it an ideal location to create the Rondon, which can be served as breakfast or lunch.

How To Prepare Rondon

Rondon, a Jamaican Patois anglicization of the word run down, refers to the sauces runny or liquefied consistency. The term run down may have come from the process of thoroughly cooking the fish until it disintegrates.

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Every Caribbean nation has its own way to prepare it.

Fish, beef, pork or even turtle meat  a common ingredient in Caribbean cuisine  could be used in Nicaragua along with seasonings. Bell peppers, onions, bananas, cassava, elephants ear and argan oil may be added to the dish.

In Costa Ricas Caribbean coast, the ingredients include cassava, taro, yam, plantain and green bananas. Fish, lobsters or crabs may be used as the meat, and spices like thyme, garlic and chile panameo, which is a key component of Costa Rican cooking, may also be added. Rondon in this setting also may be accompanied by flour dumplings. This Afro-Caribbean food is very popular in Limon, the most Afrocentric city in Costa Rica.

The locals from the Colombian island of San Andres use fish, snails, other seafood or pork as the meat. Cassava, taro, plantains and potatoes are among the vegetables that they add. As for seasonings, they may use basil and oregano. They prepare Rondon in coconut milk.

Travel Noire tip: Next time you visit Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Venezuela and other Caribbean nations, and you want to connect with the African diaspora, eat Rondon with the locals. This Afro-Caribbean food will introduce you to flavors and customs, the history and culture of Black people in the Americas, and open your eyes to this fascinating universe of the African Diaspora.

In other words, Rondon should definitely be on your bucket list because you will absolutely love this delicious and highly nutritious meal.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle joined a coalition of other county leaders in Washington, D.C., on Monday to announce an organized push for federal support of guaranteed income programs.

Preckwinkle will serve as co-chair of the new national group, Counties for Guaranteed Income. Made up of county commissioners and county board leaders from around the country, its an expansion of Mayors for Guaranteed Income. Both are networks of local leaders advocating for guaranteed income and spearheaded by Michael Tubbs, the former mayor of Stockton, California, where a guaranteed income pilot drew national attention.

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Tubbs joined Preckwinkle at a roundtable event announcing the new group, which also includes, among other counties, leaders from Los Angeles and Santa Clara in California, King and Pierce in Washington and Hennepin in Minnesota.

CGI will work in tandem with MGI, according to release, and will advocate for cash-based policies at every level of government, invite county elected officials to join us in our efforts to advance a guaranteed income  and provide technical assistance for new pilot programs, and highlight the lived experience of economic insecurity and ways government can alleviate it.

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Cook Countys two-year, $42 million pilot program providing unrestricted $500 monthly payments is underway. Its funded by federal COVID-19 relief dollars, though Preckwinkle has pledged to make the program permanent after federal funds dry up, paid for with a mix of cannabis revenue and other money being dedicated to the countys equity fund.

The countys program reached full enrollment last week, with 3,250 county residents selected from among 233,000 who applied in the fall. Participants median age is 40, according to Preckwinkles office, and 58% live in a home with children. About 70% are women, 50% are Black, 25% are Latino and nearly 85% live in the suburbs. Slightly more than half the recipients are working and 15% are disabled, while 7% are unstably housed.

Preckwinkle and Tubbs headlined a roundtable event announcing the new group.

Martin Luther King, in the 1960s, talked about the importance of guaranteed income. Providing our families with a floor. And so did the Black Panthers, Preckwinkle said at Mondays event. They said, basically, everyone should have either a guaranteed job or a guaranteed income. So 50 years later, were seeing this experiment kind of bubble up from the local level.

And we hope that these models, these pilots, will be proof of concept and will kind of move the ball down the field, she continued,  and hopefully get the federal government to engage, because, frankly, thats where the resources are, thats the level of which we have to do this. She added that key to the groups success would be bipartisan buy-in and long-term funding. Neither are certain: Preckwinkle noted Congress could not pass a child tax credit enhancement late last year.

The people in this room are mostly Democrats. We have to get Republicans on board, Preckwinkle said. We can talk about the fact that people have choice, that government is not dictating to them what theyre to do with the money, that weve made access really easy, they got prompt payments. There are ways in which we can frame it, that this helps with the economic stability of families.  Weve got to figure out what our messaging is going to be, she said.
The LockBit ransomware gang has published what it claims is the full transcript of its negotiations with Royal Mail, which continues to experience disruption due to last month's cyberattack.

The chat logs negotiating the ransom is the first data that LockBit has published following the cyberattack on Royal Mail, which left the British postal service unable to dispatch certain items overseas. This is despite the Russia-linked ransomware gang's earlier threats to publish all stolen data on February 9. The logs appear to suggest that this is the day that negotiations between LockBit and Royal Mail came to an end.

Screenshots posted to LockBit's dark web leak site, seen by TechCrunch, show that negotiations began on January 12, two days after the U.K. postal giant confirmed it had been compromised.

The chat logs, if authentic, show that LockBit demanded an $80 million ransom payment, which it calculated to be 0.5% of Royal Mail's annual revenue. Royal Mails negotiator appears to tell LockBit that they have confused Royal Mail International with Royal Mail and that the organization would not pay the demand.

Under no circumstances will we pay you the absurd amount of money you have demanded, says Royal Mails unnamed negotiator, according to the screenshots posted by LockBit. We have repeatedly tried to explain to you we are not the large entity you have assumed we are, but rather a smaller subsidiary without the resources you think we have. But you continue to refuse to listen to us. This is an amount that could never be taken seriously by our board.

LockBit apparently then offered a lower ransom sum, dropping the figure to $70 million on February 1.

The U.K.'s National Cyber Security Centre, which is working with Royal Mail to investigate the breach, has long advised that organizations should not pay ransom demands, as this "does not reduce the risk to individuals, is not an obligation under data protection law, and is not considered as a reasonable step to safeguard data." The FBI also recommends that victims not pay ransom demands and instead take steps to preventatively back up data.

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Royal Mail did not dispute the legitimacy of the chat logs when approached by TechCrunch, but declined to answer our questions. As there is an ongoing investigation, law enforcement has advised that it would be inappropriate to make any further comment on this incident, said a Royal Mail spokesperson, who declined to provide their name.

Royal Mail's next steps remain unclear. As negotiations between the company and LockBit appear to have failed, for now at least, the company could soon be battling a larger fallout if stolen data is published online. LockBit's dark web leak site currently says that "all available data" has been published, but this isn't yet available to view.

The postal giant also continues to experience service disruption due to the cyberattack, more than a month later. In an update dated February 14, the company said that while it has made progress  international services were reinstated to all destinations for purchase online  it's still unable to process new Royal Mail parcels and large letters requiring a customs declaration purchased through Post Office branches.
Royal Mail

Royal Mail spurned an absurd 66m ransom demand from a gang of Russia-linked hackers, a cache of online chats has revealed.

Directors rejected an ultimatum from the Lockbit ransomware group after it blocked international mail shipments by breaking into Royal Mail's software, according to information that the gang has released on the dark web.

The online criminals also tried to use EU laws to menace Royal Mail into handing over 0.5pc of its sales as a ransom payment.

Royal Mail was targeted by Lockbit in January with the organisation's Lockbit Black ransomware.

The attack halted overseas parcel deliveries, locking up vital printers used for producing customs labels.

Lockbit

Ransomware is malicious computer software that encrypts, or scrambles, files on victims computers.

The criminals behind the software then demand a ransom in hard-to-trace cryptocurrency as the price for decrypting the files.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: As there is an ongoing investigation, law enforcement has advised that it would be inappropriate to make any further comment on this incident.

A transcript of an online chat between Lockbit and Royal Mails ransom negotiator revealed the full sum demanded by Lockbit from the postal operator to unlock its files.

That sum - $80m, or 66m - was rejected out of hand by Royal Mail, according to a copy of the transcript seen by The Telegraph.

Lockbit said: $80m is 0.5pc of your revenue, $640m is 4pc of your revenue. We are asking 8 times less than your state. In addition to this price you get a decrypt of your data."

Royal Mails negotiator responded: Do you really think the government doesn't already know about this? Even if they were to fine us, paying you or not does not change this.

One of the Russian-linked criminals made a cynical attempt to menace Royal Mail into paying the ransom by threatening to inform the authorities, saying: 0.5pc of annual global turnover is much less than a 4pc fine from your government.

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The European Unions General Data Protection Regulation lets governments fine companies 4pc of yearly revenues if personal information is stolen from them by hackers.

GDPR, as the law is known, was retained in UK law after the countrys formal exit from the European Union on 31 January 2020.

Royal Mail need new negotiator said the Russian-linked gang on its dark web blog as it dumped the chat data on its dark web blog on Tuesday.

Such a move is very unusual. Brett Callow, a threat analyst with anti-ransomware company Emsisoft, said: Victims often immediately enter negotiations, whether or not they expect to have to pay. It stalls the release of information and enables them to assess their recovery options.

He added: It seems like a very odd strategy. Groups typically want victims to believe that the details of their negotiations will remain private.

The Telegraph previously disclosed that Lockbit was the gang responsible for attacking the Royal Mail in January. The Russia-linked gangs members communicate between themselves in Russian. While prolific at attacking Western companies, they avoid targeting organisations based in Russia.

Advanced gangs such as Lockbit also steal copies of sensitive data from their victims and demand an increased ransom in return for a promise not to publish them online.

In previous cases, such data has included names and home addresses of employees as well as digital copies of passports and financial data.

Such information is typically collected by corporate HR departments when employees join a company.

Ransomware gangs have also targeted other British businesses in recent months including car dealership chains Arnold Clark and Pendragon plc.
Smartmatic is suing former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani for defamation. Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photos

Rudy Giuliani has to face two more claims in Smartmatic's defamation lawsuit.

An appeals court reinstated the defamation claims from the election tech company over 2020 conspiracy theories.

The court also gave Smartmatic a shot at suing Fox Corporation, the parent company of Fox News.

A New York appeals court on Tuesday reinstated two claims in Smartmatic's defamation lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani over the lawyer's false claims that the election technology company rigged the 2020 election.

Smartmatic first filed its lawsuit in February 2021 against the conservative media network; its hosts Jeanine Pirro, Maria Bartiromo, and Lou Dobbs; and Trump lawyers Giuliani and Sidney Powell. The lawsuit alleged Giuliani and Powell pushed a false theory that Smartmatic had flipped votes from then-President Trump to now-President Biden, and Fox News either egged them on or failed to sufficiently challenge those claims.

In March, a lower court dismissed two of the 16 counts filed against Giuliani, an attorney who fought on behalf of former President Donald Trump to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.

The new decision, from New York's appellate division, lets those two counts stand.

An attorney representing Giuliani didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Tuesday's decision also reinstated Jeanine Pirro, a Fox News host, as a defendant in the case.

Smartmatic has also tried to include Fox News's parent company, Fox Corporation, as a defendant in the case. A lower court tossed that claim but the appeals court gave the company another chance to bolster its argument.

Smartmatic plans to file an amended lawsuit that details the involvement of Fox Corporation chairperson Rupert Murdoch and CEO Lachlan Murdoch, Smartmatic attorney Erik J. Connolly said in a statement.

"While recognizing that the complaint adequately alleged claims for defamation and disparagement by Fox News, the appellate court required Smartmatic to further identify the specific individuals at Fox Corporation responsible for the defamatory publications," Connolly said. "Smartmatic will do so."

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Lachlan Murdoch and Rupert Murdoch, who run Fox News's parent company Fox Corporation, were both deposed in a similar lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems. Adrian Edwards/GC Images

Fox News has fought vigorously against the case, claiming it was simply doing its job by reporting on Trump's claims about the election.

"There is nothing more newsworthy than covering the president of the United States and his lawyers making allegations of voter fraud," a Fox News spokesperson told Insider. "We are confident we will prevail as freedom of the press is foundational to our democracy and must be protected, in addition to the damages claims being outrageous, unsupported, and not rooted in sound financial analysis, serving as nothing more than a flagrant attempt to deter our journalists from doing their jobs."

The portions of Smartmatic's lawsuit against Powell were moved to a court in Washington, DC, where the case remains ongoing.

Smartmatic's litigation runs parallel to a separate set of lawsuits from Dominion Voting Systems, another election technology company caught up in false conspiracy theories about the presidential election.

Dominion's lawsuit against Fox News is set to go to trial in April in Delaware. Fox Corporation is a defendant in that lawsuit and the technology company was able to depose Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, court records show.

"Hopefully the defendants are finally realizing they will be held accountable for the lies they intentionally spread about Smartmatic following the 2020 Presidential election," said Smartmatic's CEO Antonio Mugica said in a statement, adding: "The Fox defendants left us with no choice but to pursue legal action to repair the damage they caused to Smartmatic's reputation and business."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Dialogue with Russia on issues of tax legislation

The Council regrets that these jurisdictions are non-cooperative on tax matters and invites them to improve their legal framework in order to resolve the identified issues, the report says.

Read also: EU Council adds violation of restrictive measures to list of 'EU crimes'

According to the EU Council, Russia was added to the list after the code of conduct group screened Russias new legislation adopted in 2022 against the good tax governance criteria of the code and found that Russia had not fulfilled its commitment to address the harmful aspects of a special regime for international holding companies.

In addition, dialogue with Russia on matters related to taxation came to a standstill following the Russian aggression against Ukraine.

Read also: EU will impose more sanctions on Russia on invasion anniversary, Scholz says

The EU list now consists of 16 jurisdictions, including American Samoa, Anguilla, the Bahamas, the British Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, Fiji, Guam, Marshall Islands, Palau, Panama, Russia, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Vanuatu.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong and Malaysia were granted an extension of the deadline to complete the reform of their foreign source income exemption regimes.

Qatar was also granted an extension because it faced constitutional reform constraints to complete its reform on time.

At the same time, Barbados, Jamaica, North Macedonia, and Uruguay fulfilled their commitments and could therefore be removed from the document, the EU Council said.

Read also: EU Parliament president calls for long-range systems, jets to be sent to Ukraine

The next revision of the list is scheduled for October 2023.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
The media reported that there are dead-end railways in Putin's residence, the sections are hidden behind high fences

The outlet's journalists have found three railway dead-end lines leading to the dictator's residences in Valday, Novo-Ogarevo, and Sochi.

Read also: Putin to celebrate New Year in bunker east of Urals together with Kabayeva

A railway station with a helipad near the village Dolgiye Borody in Valdaysky National Park was spotted in the fall of 2022, Project writes. The locals said the station and the railway leading to it were built only for the needs of Putin. It is fenced around and under armed guard.

A former railway worker, cited by the outlet, reportedly revealed that only the parts of the station for Putins use have been repaired.

"Earlier, the Valday railway was in terrible condition and allowed movement with the speed of 15 or 25 km at maximum, the railwayman said.

Read also: How to get Putin to stop the war and what's wrong with Scholz, explains ex-ambassador Andriy Melnyk  NV interview

When they started to prepare railroads for Putin, they repaired only those parts leading to his Valday residence, the other parts were left unrepaired.

A similar station appeared in 2015 in Novo-Ogarevo in Moscow Oblast, 400 meters away from Putin's residence. It is also apparently hidden behind a high fence, with surveillance cameras set every 10 meters.

A railway platform and a dead-end line also appeared near Bocharov Ruchey residence in Sochi in 2017.

Projects reporting also claims to reveal details about the armored train Putin uses for traveling, with a former railway operator stating that the train is based in the depot of Moscows central railway station, with a high-security section for VIPs. A new highway, leading directly to the station, was opened in 2017, Project says.

Read also: Russia's second big offensive: What Putin is betting on - a simple explanation

It has been reported that since the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, Putin travels more and more often via the RUB 1 billion ($13.6 million) train. The dictator started using the train back in fall 2021, while preparing for the large-scale war, likely for security concerns.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
(Reuters) - More than 300 Russian servicemen and 60 units of special military equipment are helping Syria in its response to a devastating earthquake that struck more than a week ago, Russia's defence ministry said on Tuesday.

The 7.8 magnitude Feb. 6 quake and aftershocks killed more than 37,000 in Turkey and Syria and the death toll looked set to keep rising with almost no chances of rescuers finding any more survivors in the rubble.

"Servicemen of the Russian group of forces continue to carry out activities to clear rubble and eliminate the consequences of earthquakes," the defence ministry said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app, referring to Russian forces stationed in Syria.

"More than 300 servicemen and 60 units of military and special equipment have been involved in the work."

Food packages and disinfectants as well as other essentials had also been delivered to humanitarian aid points in the northwestern city of Aleppo, the ministry added.

The Kremlin said on Monday that it was in contact with Syrian authorities over providing relief to areas affected.

Russia, which backs Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, has been a dominant military force in Syria since launching air strikes and ground operations there in 2015. It further asserted its presence after the United States pulled out its forces in 2019.

(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Robert Birsel)
The Russian Defence Ministry has said that Ukraine is preparing evidence about the export of radioactive materials from the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant during its occupation in order to present them on the eve of the UN General Assembly. The invaders traditionally claim that the information was "fake".

Source: Russian Defence Ministry

Details: The occupiers are worried that Ukraine will publish evidence of Russia's violation of the Convention on Nuclear Safety before 22 February, when a special session of the UN General Assembly will be held.

First of all, Russians are convinced that this information will cause new sanctions against the Russian Federation. The occupiers are also worried about the International Special Tribune for the Russian invaders and the West's support for the Ukrainian Formula for Peace proposed by President Vladimir Zelensky.

Quote from Russian Defence Ministry: "Representatives of the Kyiv regime plan to present to the world community some "weighty evidence" that allegedly confirms that as a result of the actions of Russian servicemen at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant and in the "exclusion zone" in February  April 2022, "radioactive contamination of significant territories of Ukraine" occurred...

Evidence is being prepared for the "theft of radioactive materials, chemical solutions and equipment contaminated with radiationby Russian servicemen" and the removal by Russian troops of "items containing dangerous radionuclides" outside the "exclusion zone", which caused "irradiation of the population of the temporarily occupied territories".

Details: The Russian Defence Ministry also said that specialists of the Norwegian Radiation and Nuclear Safety Department are helping Ukraine with this.

Quote from the Russian Federation: "Now Norwegian experts have conducted a 'survey' of the area in the areas adjacent to the Kyiv-Prypiat highway, as well as in the settlements of Bucha, Hostomel and Irpin".

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Important: Usually, this way, the Russian occupiers announce their next plans in Ukraine, covering them up with statements about "Ukrainian provocations" or other nonsense.

Background:

On 31 March, the Russian occupation troops left the territory of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant. They have been there since 24 February, holding the power plant staff hostage.

Russian troops have looted Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant before withdrawing. Particularly, they had stolen computers, kettles, coffee makers, and containers with personal property that were at the station. They also looted a hotel near the nuclear power plant, taking kitchen utensils, forks, spoons, and sets of dishes.

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The occupiers did not gather enough forces for an operational breakthrough

According to UK intelligence, in the last three days, Wagner Group mercenaries have almost certainly made further small gains around the northern outskirts of the contested Donbas town of Bakhmut, including into the village of Chervona Hora.

Read also: Russia campaigning to mobilize leading scientists in Moscow, says General Staff

However, according to the MoD, an organized Ukrainian defense continues in the area. The tactical Russian advance to the south of the town has likely made little progress.

Read also: Families of Russian soldiers evacuated from occupied part of Luhansk, says General Staff

Read also: Expert explains why Russia will fail to mobilize 500,000 more men

In addition, in the north, in the Kreminna-Svatove sector of Luhansk Oblast, Russian forces are making continuous offensive efforts, though each local attack remains on too small a scale to achieve a significant breakthrough.

Russia likely aims to reverse some of the gains Ukrainian forces made over September-November 2022: there is a realistic possibility that their immediate goal is to advance west to the Zherebets River, the ministry said in its daily summary.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Russian attacks were reported in Donetsk, Kherson, Kharkiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Luhansk oblasts in the east, south, and north of Ukraine. According to local authorities, three people were killed, and six were wounded in the past 24 hours.

Russian troops struck Kherson Oblast 54 times using multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS), mortars, tanks, and artillery, Kherson Oblast Military Administration reported on Feb. 14. The attacks killed two people and wounded three more, according to the administration.

Russia hit a railway track and residential buildings in the city of Kherson, it added.

Russian attacks killed one civilian in Stavky and injured three more in other settlements of Donetsk Oblast, according to Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko. In total, Russia hit 15 settlements in the region, damaging five houses, a high-rise, an industrial site, and warehouses, said Kyrylenko.

The Russian military attacked 17 settlements of Kharkiv Oblast, damaging six residential buildings, pavilions and shops, a civil industry facility, an Ukrtelecom building, and a community center, Oleh Syniehubov, the oblast governor, said on Telegram.

Zaporizhzhia regional state administration reported that civilian infrastructure in 18 settlements in Zaporizhzhia Oblast was under Russian fire. Local authorities received 15 reports about the damages to citizens' households and infrastructure sites due to Russian attacks.

Russian troops hit the Ochakiv community on the Black Sea coast in Mykolaiv Oblast with artillery and mortars on the morning of Feb. 14, said Vitalii Kim, the oblast governor. The attack damaged several residential and administrative buildings, but there were no casualties.

Russian forces used mortars and explosives to fire on eight communities of Sumy Oblast on Feb. 13, according to the regional military administration. No casualties were reported.

Chernihiv Oblast's village of Yanzhulivka, next to the Russia-Ukraine border, was also under Russian mortar attack, Northern Operational Command reported on Feb. 13. There were no casualties or damage.

Russia struck six settlements of Luhansk Oblast using tanks, mortars, and artillery, the regional state administration wrote. The administration didn't provide information on casualties or damage.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot is surrounded by supporters after giving a concession speech during her election night watch party at the Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council, Feb. 28, 2023. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)

As Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot campaigned on the West Side last weekend, she focused her attacks on Brandon Johnson, the Cook County commissioner representing that area.

Its Saturday and Im not in church, but Im going to talk to you about false prophets, Lightfoot said onstage at the Sankofa Cultural Arts Center in the Austin neighborhood, as she delivered a rebuke of her rival. (Johnsons) got this airbrushed, West Sider, Oh, Im a good guy, Im a person of the people (persona). But dont be fooled. Dont be fooled. Brandon Johnson wants to tax you out of the city.

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The mayors appearance highlighted a subtle shift in her campaign strategy as the candidates enter the last two weeks before the Feb. 28 election. While Lightfoot has worked to build a base of support among Black voters on the South and West sides since announcing her reelection campaign last summer, she has largely ignored Johnson and aimed her fire at business owner Willie Wilson.

[ Candidates pile on Brandon Johnson during last televised debate before election ]

But Lightfoots recent internal polling shows Johnsons poll numbers rising and she has started to take him seriously as a credible threat to make the runoff, precipitating a series of attacks from the mayor during recent candidate forums and campaign events.

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Johnson, for his part, said the criticism is a sign that his campaign is generating traction.

Look, the movement is getting stronger and its growing, Johnson told the Tribune Monday, after a downtown news conference with a group of Latino campaign supporters. It just means that were winning.

While wagging her finger at the rapt audience of about 100, Lightfoot castigated Johnsons recent economic development plan as one that will drive people out of the city.

He said, Im going to make all these investments, but when somebody tells you that, you got to ask them, Well, how are you paying for it?  Lightfoot said before summarizing Johnsons bundle of tax proposals, sometimes inaccurately.

Lightfoot first said Johnson wants to impose a city income tax, which is an idea supported by the United Working Families political group that has endorsed Johnson but is not part of Johnsons own economic plan. She also criticized Johnson for proposing a tax on Metra commuters that he has since walked back, and for proposing an employer head tax that she has said would be a job killer.

If it walks like a duck, it quacks like a duck, its a duck, Lightfoot said. Do not be fooled. Do not be taken in by the false prophets. Four years of delivery for the West Side, lets make sure theres four more years.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 88 Gov. J.B. Pritzker, left, greets Chicago Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson at the governor's downtown Chicago office on April 7, 2023. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)

To be sure, Lightfoot ripped other challengers both before and during the meet-and-greet that morning. She insisted that the two non-Black candidates in the race  U.S. Rep. Jesus Chuy Garcia and former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas  would neglect the long-forgotten West Sides economic development as mayor.

Any vote for somebody not named Lightfoot is making sure that Chuy Garcia or Paul Vallas runs this city, and you know whats going to happen with them in charge, Lightfoot said. Theyre never going to see the West Side.

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But the focus on Johnson highlighted an emerging trend as Lightfoots campaign hopes to knock him out with residents in majority Black wards and harm him with white voters using anti-tax rhetoric.

Lightfoot allies have also taken aim at Johnson. The 77 Committee, an independent expenditure group created by allies to support her reelection, recently spent $71,000 on advertising against Johnson.

Brandon Johnson is too extreme for Chicago, the ad says.

Johnson responded that the mayor and her allies are turning to right-wing messaging to attack his campaign.

Shes obviously afraid and very desperate, but our commitment is still to the people of Chicago to make sure we are fully investing in schools, making sure theres a reliable transportation system, health care, affordable housing, a healthy environment, Johnson said. I dont consider those ideas extreme at all.

With nine candidates in the race, its virtually guaranteed that the top two voters in Februarys election will face each other in a runoff on April 4.

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Johnson potentially cuts into Lightfoots support with Black voters and also progressives, as he is backed by left-wing labor groups including the Chicago Teachers Union.

Lightfoots recent focus on Johnson is also mirrored by rhetoric at recent campaign rallies where the mayors allies have criticized other Black candidates for being in the race and potentially dividing up community support on the South and West sides.

She is and has been a friend to the Black community, New Landmark Baptist Churchs pastor, the Rev. Cy Fields, said.

Another pastor, the Rev. Torrey Barrett, criticized Black candidates he said dont have a chance of winning for staying in the race.

Shame on you! he said.

In the first round of the 2019 mayoral race, Lightfoot emerged from a historic 14-candidate field with roughly 18% of the vote. Much of it came from white lakefront residents on the North Side who backed her over more established politicians. Many of those voters are now disenchanted with Lightfoot, and she has been working vigorously to lock in support from the Black community, where she is expected to be most competitive.

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Lightfoot has said she will compete all across the city but much of her campaign has been focused on the South and West sides as she has declared the destiny of Black Chicagoans to be on the ballot. Wilson won the most support from African Americans in 2019, which Lightfoot has tried to counter with campaign signs criticizing him for voting for Republican former Gov. Bruce Rauner and President Donald Trump.
Russian flag

A Russian general who led a suppression of opposition activists shot himself in the head after being sacked by Vladimir Putin.

Maj Gen Vladimir Makarov, 72, was found by his wife Valentina with gunshot wounds just weeks after he was fired by the Russian president in late January.

Police have ruled that his death was the latest in a string of suicides among high-ranking Russian security and military figures.

The major general had fallen into a deep depression and didnt know what to do with himself after losing his job, relatives told Russian media.

Anonymous sources on social media linked to Russian security services claim he shot himself with a gas-powered hunting rifle in front of his wife.

His adult son called an ambulance to the family home in a Moscow suburb on Monday but the general could not be saved, according to reports in Russia.

Number of suicides

Maj Gen Makarov was deputy head of the Main Directorate for Combating Extremism.

The Putin regime uses the term extremist to describe its opponents, including jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny and those involved in anti-government protests.

He was described in Russia as the main organiser in the hunt for inconvenient opposition activists and journalists.

Last summer, retired Federal Security Service Maj Gen Yevgeny Lobachev and Foreign Intelligence Service Maj Gen Lev Sotskov were found dead in what were reported to be two separate suicides.

Col Vadim Boiko, who was involved in Putins mobilisation of new recruits, was found dead with gunshot wounds in a suspected suicide in November.

His widow said he executed himself with five gunshots in the chests after allegedly being blamed for some of the problems plaguing Putins illegal invasion of Ukraine.
A total of 461 children were killed as a result of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Juvenile prosecutors have officially reported that more than 923 children also received injuries of various severity.

As of the morning of 14 February 2023, the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine stated that more than 1,384 children have been affected by the war.

"These numbers are not exact. The work on establishing the real numbers in the places of combat actions, temporarily occupied and newly liberated territories, is ongoing," the prosecutors pointed out.

The biggest number of affected children is in Donetsk Oblast  444; Kharkiv Oblast  272; Kyiv Oblast  123; Kherson Oblast  87; Zaporizhzhia Oblast  84; Mykolaiv Oblast  83; Chernihiv Oblast  68; Luhansk Oblast  66; Dnipropetrovsk Oblast  64.

Source: "Children of War"

On 13 February 2023, a 14-year-old boy was injured in a Russian attack on Lyman, a city in Donetsk Oblast.

A total of 3,126 educational institutions were damaged because of bombardments and attacks of Russian forces. Of them, 338 are completely destroyed.

As the Dity Viiny (Children of War) platform has reported, 16,207 children have been forcibly deported by the occupiers. Ukraine has managed to bring 307 of them back home.

Background: A total 45 people, including 6 children, were killed in a Russian strike on an apartment building in the city of Dnipro on 14 January 2023.

In November 2022, Russian troops hit a maternity ward in Vilniansk and killed a two-day-old newborn baby.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!






Andrii Cherniak, representative of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, has stated that a Russian spy network continues operating actively in European countries.

Source: Cherniak in an interview with the Greek outlet Iefimerida; Defence Intelligence of Ukraine

Quote: "One of the Russians main goals is to make an impact on separate respected people in European countries and on public opinion. Therefore, the Russians put a lot into working with the media.

Those are both their open propaganda mouthpieces, such as Russia Today, and other more hidden methods of influence.

There are cases when journalists of foreign media outlets, recruited by the Russians, have the only purpose while doing their job  talking to their colleagues in order to change their mind to Russias benefit."

Details: Cherniak has said that the Russian spy network has been focused on neutralising the supply routes of the Western weapons that the partners provide Ukraine with recently.

Quote: "Russia is interested in the entire Europe as an influence zone. If it conquers Ukraine, it will not stop there. It will go further. And we know that Putin had such plans before invading Ukraine. It is possible that they have not changed now."

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!






Tu-160

The engineer and his family entered the United States from Mexico in late December 2022. He told the border control that he worked at a factory that produces Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers and has information that would of interest to the U.S. government.

Read also: Mariupol engineer shares his story of spending two months in the Azovstal bunker

U.S. government authorities were conducting background checks on the person in question for about a month. According to two Yahoo News sources, in mid-January he was recognized as credible and of potential interest to the United States, after which he was interrogated by the FBI. The report says the engineer was asked by the law enforcement about details of the production of the aircraft, as well as details of how the aircraft manufacturing plant functions: e-mail system, software, personnel, and equipment at the facility.

We of course know the Russian bomber well, a military official told Yahoo News.

Read also: Russian air force major, bomber pilot, killed in drone strike at Dyagilevo airfield  media reports

But specs, the real specs, nuclear capabilities  there are certainly things we would be interested in hearing about, if this guy is credible. The big thing is: did they retrofit it for hypersonic missiles?

Read also: Three civilians die in landmine explosion, one killed in airstrike in Sumy Oblast

The Tu-160 (White Swan) is an intercontinental supersonic strategic missile-carrying bomber developed by Tupolev's design bureau in the 1970s. The Russians call it the largest and most powerful supersonic aircraft in the history of military aviation, as well as the heaviest combat aircraft in the world.

Back in June 2022, Russia launched an airstrike on Kyiv using Tu-95s and Tu-160s aircraft, launching cruise missiles from above the Caspian Sea. Moscows forces continue to use these bombers for attacks against Ukraine.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
As a result of enemy shelling, the hospital building in Kherson was damaged, but there were no casualties

According to the regional authorities, the medical facility was quite crowded during the enemy attack. However, casualties were avoided because people immediately ran into the corridor when they heard loud explosions.

Read also: Invaders launched 65 attacks on Kherson Oblast in the past 24 hours, killing two and injuring nine

The windows of the hospital building were shattered by the blasts, and Russian shell fragments were found on the ground near the hospital.

In the afternoon of the same day, the Russian military also attacked an ambulance station in the nearby town of Beryslav.

Read also: Only 20% of population left in Kherson, says press officer

The building was damaged, as well as the medics' vehicles.

An ambulance driver was lightly injured after being hit by glass fragments. His life and health are not in danger.

Russian troops continue to shell Kherson and the region on a daily basis.

On Feb. 9, the Russian shells targeted residential areas of Kherson, hitting a children's rehabilitation center and residential buildings.

Read also: Russia launches almost 40 attacks on Kherson Oblast in past day, killing three and injuring four

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
(Reuters) - Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Russia's Wagner mercenary group, said on Tuesday that he founded and financed and the Internet Research Agency, a company Washington says is a "troll farm" which meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Prigozhin, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, spent years operating on behalf of the Kremlin in the shadows, but has emerged in recent months as one of the most high profile figures connected with Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

He has previously admitted interfering in U.S. elections, but his statement on Tuesday appears to go further than before in outlining his specific links to the St. Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency (IRA).

"I was never just the financier of the Internet Research Agency. I thought it up, I created it, I managed it for a long time," Prigozhin said in a post shared on social media by the press service of his Concord catering group.

"It was created to protect the Russian information space from the West's boorish and aggressive anti-Russian propaganda," Prigozhin said.

Prigozhin was first sanctioned by the United States over his links to the Internet Research Agency in 2018 and charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States.

Special Counsel Robert Muellers report on his inquiry into Russias role in the 2016 U.S. election said that Internet Research Agency sought to sow discord in the United States through "information warfare."

It sought to sway the 2016 election in favour of Trump, Muellers report said.

"The campaign evolved from a generalized program designed in 2014 and 2015 to undermine the U.S. electoral system, to a

targeted operation that by early 2016 favored candidate Trump and disparaged candidate [Hillary] Clinton," the report said.

"IRA employees also traveled to the United States on intelligence-gathering missions."

Prigozhin, who spent the final decade of the Soviet Union in prison for robbery and fraud, was for years an associate of Putin. His catering group swept up government contracts, earning him the nickname of "Putin's Chef", while he deployed Wagner mercenaries to fight alongside Russian servicemen in Syria and to conflicts across Africa to advance Russia's geopolitical interests.

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After years of denials, he last year admitted his links to Wagner and said he had interfered in U.S. elections.

Having rapidly built his public profile both in Russia and abroad since Russia invaded Ukraine, analysts say the Kremlin has moved to clip his wings more recently, concerned about the outspoken businessman's growing stature and high-profile criticism of the defence ministry.

(Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
A destroyed Russian tank near Izyum in eastern Ukraine in October 2022. SERGEY BOBOK/AFP via Getty Images

The US has pledged to send 31 Abrams tanks to Ukraine in the coming months.

Abramses are better than Russian tanks, and Russia isn't making enough anti-tank weapons to beat them, a top Russian defense expert says.

But 31 Abramses likely aren't enough to affect the situation on the battlefield, the expert says.

Russia's tanks are inferior to the M1 Abrams that the US is sending to Ukraine, according to a top Russian defense expert.

In addition, Russia is short of modern anti-tank missiles and armor-piercing shells for tank cannons that are needed to defeat the Abrams and other Western tanks.

"Even in export versions, the Abrams M1A2 SEP v.2 variant significantly outperforms any Russian production tank," Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, a Russian think tank, told the Russian newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets.

"Now Russian tanks use old Soviet shells in their ammunition," Pukhov said, according to a translation of the article. "Their capabilities are sufficient to defeat tanks such as the T-64, T-72, and T-80 at relatively short distances during tank battles. But the emergence of Western tanks with powerful guns, modern armor-piercing shells and fire control systems can lead to a sharp increase in the distances during tank battles.

A destroyed Russian tank near Izyum in October 2022. Carl Court/Getty Images

"In such a duel, we may find ourselves in unfavorable conditions," Pukhov added.

Pukhov also warned that Russia lacks modern third-generation anti-tank missiles similar to the US-made Javelins that Ukrainian troops used to devastate Russian armor. Russia does have powerful Kornet laser-guided missiles that proved effective against Israeli Merkava tanks during the 2006 Lebanon War.

However, Russia only has a few Kornets. The bulk of its anti-tank missile arsenal is composed of Fagot and Konkur models that were first deployed in 1970.

On the other hand, Pukhov is careful to note that the M1A2 SEP v2 is superior to Russian tanks in production  which doesn't include the next-generation T-14 Armata.

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Despite the scare that the Armata caused a few years ago, when Western experts feared that it outmatched NATO tanks, the vehicle has not appeared in Ukraine. This has led to speculation that the Armata is so flawed that Russian commanders are afraid to commit it to battle.

A woman on a destroyed Russian tank in Ukraine's Kharkiv region in October 2022. ANATOLII STEPANOV/AFP via Getty Images

Pukhov also echoes an argument made by Ukrainian and Western observers: A small number of foreign-made tanks  no matter how advanced  will only have a limited effect.

So far, the US has pledged 31 M1A2 Abrams (which will arrive without some advanced armor protection and other features), while Britain is sending 14 Challenger 2s.

Germany and Poland will send 14 Leopard 2 tanks, along with several European nations that have promised small numbers of Leopard 2s and some Russian-designed and locally modified T-72 tanks.

Ukraine says it has been promised a total of 321 tanks as of late January, though it may be years before some are delivered  if they are delivered in good mechanical shape or at all.

In any event, "an armored group of 30 to 50 Abrams tanks is unlikely to affect the situation in the operational sense," Pukhov said. "But if there are already 200 or 300 tanks, then they, if used correctly, can become a significant operational factor."

US Abrams tanks and a German Leopard at a training ground in Poland in September 2022. Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Nonetheless, even without Western tanks, Ukraine has managed to shred Russian armor. Russia has lost at least 1,700 main battle tanks so far, according to Oryx, which tracks Russian losses through open-source means. Attrition has become so acute that Moscow is taking 60-year-old T-62 tanks out of mothballs and sending them into battle.

Many of those Russian tanks were destroyed by Ukrainian artillery as well as infantry armed with anti-tank missiles, rather than by Ukrainian tanks, which highlights a vital point: the M1 Abrams isn't effective solely because of its cannon, armor, and sensors. It is designed to fight as part of a combined-arms team of tanks, infantry, artillery, and aircraft that are linked by a solid communications network.

When export models of the M1 were employed by poorly trained Iraqi and Saudi troops in Iraq and Yemen, even the Abrams took heavy losses at the hands of lightly armed insurgents. (The US began combined-arms training for Ukrainian troops in Germany in January.)

Perhaps Russia should focus less on the technical characteristics of American tanks and more on how to use Russian tanks better.

Michael Peck is a defense writer whose work has appeared in Forbes, Defense News, Foreign Policy magazine, and other publications. He holds a master's in political science. Follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Read the original article on Business Insider
A new cinematographer is reportedly boarding the production of Rust when it resumes filming this spring, following Halyna Hutchinss death in 2021 in a shooting on the movies set.

Bianca Cline, whos worked on films like Marcel the Shell with Shoes On and Murder Among the Mormons, will join the Rust production team, it announced on Tuesday.

The team behind the Alec Baldwin-led Western film will also create a documentary on Hutchinss life and her work on the movie.

Hutchinss husband, Matthew Hutchins, will serve as an executive producer on both the documentary and film.

The news about Rust Movie Productions was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter.

Hutchins was killed in October 2021 after authorities said Baldwin fired a live round from a prop gun while rehearsing a scene for the movie on its New Mexico set. Baldwin, who in addition to performing in the film serves as one of its producers, was criminally charged with involuntary manslaughter last month.

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the Rust armorer, also faces criminal charges.

The scene in which Hutchins was killed  during which director Joel Souza was also injured  has been rewritten.

Souza, along with a mix of original and new crew members, will be part of the team completing the filming.

Though bittersweet, I am grateful that a brilliant and dedicated new production team joining former cast and crew are committed to completing what Halyna and I started, he said in a statement. My every effort on this film will be devoted to honoring Halynas legacy and making her proud, he said.

The new cinematographer, Cline, will also reportedly donate her salary from the project to charity.

Updated at 2:25 p.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A photo of the inside of the Galaxy Z Fold 3



The inside of the Galaxy Z Fold 3, but imagine it cracked.

It seems Samsungs Galaxy Z Fold 3 isnt impervious to cracks after all. PhoneArena reported this week on an email from a reader complaining that their Z Fold 3 had suffered nasty damage down the middle of the inside panel, right along where the 7.6-inch display creases. Of course, this happened after the devices one-year warranty.



This isnt the first report of something like this happeningand certainly not the first since the Z Fold 3 launched in 2021. If you look on the Galaxy Fold sub-Reddit, you can easily find multiple recent reports of folks claiming the screens on their respective foldables have cracked. Theres even evidence of it in various Samsung community forums.

Read more

In the case of the cracked Z Fold 3, the user who reached out to PhoneArena got in touch with Samsung, which referred them to UBreakiFix, an insurance company-owned technology repair shop with locations throughout the world. However, they quoted an $800 repair job, a massive fraction of how much the folding phone cost outright. Assuming the user purchased it at launch, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 started at the same price as last summers Z fold 4: a hefty $1,800. It takes a very privileged wallet-haveror someone with a lot of trade-in creditto afford the folding tablet phone in the first place.

The real bummer about these cracked screens is that theyre happening after the first years warranty is up. There are even Reddit comments admitting that they traded in their previous generations Fold to avoid the potential of getting a cracked screen out of warranty.

Its been six months since I started living with the Galaxy Z Fold 4, and things are fine. But I already noted in the original review that long-term durability was one of my concerns. The inside screen is quite soft, and its already suffered a few nicks from falling around sharp objects. I agree with PhoneArena that if you find yourself in this same situation with your Galaxy foldable, you should reach out to customer service and see how they can helpparticularly if its out of warranty. The site also suggests using Samsungs dedicated contact page, which supposedly emails the CEO directly. Either way, the idea is to create a paper trail.

Story continues

If you are buying a foldable and feel uneasy about the potential for this to happen down the line, consider investing in Samsung Care+. It makes it cheaper to fix the smartphones if they crackits about $30 within warranty for a new screen on the Z Fold 4 and Z Flip 4, and between $350-$500 out of warranty. You can pay monthly for the service or upfront when you purchase your device. Granted, giving yet more money to Samsung to protect yourself from a faulty product is not an ideal fix.



Gizmodo has reached out to Samsung for comment and will update this story if we hear back.

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San Quentin State Prison. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

A San Quentin State Prison captain was arrested last week on suspicion of sexually assaulting someone who was unconscious.

Orlando Ponce, 43, was arrested Thursday, accused of forcible penetration of an unconscious person, the Marin County Sheriff's Office said in a news release.

An individual reported the alleged incident to the Sheriff's Office on Jan. 30, saying it occurred in San Quentin Village, a neighborhood just outside the prison. No other details were available.

Ponce has been employed at the prison since March 2001, Lt. GuimMara Berry, a facility spokesperson, told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Ponce was booked into Marin County jail on $100,000 bail.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Mayoral candidates Lori Lightfoot, clockwise from top left, Paul Vallas, Brandon Johnson and Jesus Chuy Garcia, meet with voters over the weekend before Election Day on Feb. 28, 2023. (Chicago Tribune)

The last televised Chicago mayoral forum featured a series of explosive exchanges as candidates differed over taxes, policing, and even questioned whether their challengers care about Black people.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot repeatedly swiped at Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, who took the brunt of criticism from rival candidates during the panel convened by WMAQ- Ch. 5 and WVON  the last scheduled time the incumbent mayor will face her eight rivals in her bid for reelection before the Feb. 28 election.

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Lightfoots focus on Johnson began when she was asked a question about her combative reputation repelling allies, including her hand-picked budget chair, Ald. Pat Dowell. Lightfoot acknowledged Dowell recently threw her support behind Johnson instead and surmised, I can only think that she agrees with him on adding almost a billion dollars in new taxes.

Then Lightfoot repeated her claims that Johnson supports a 3.5% city income tax on those who make at least $100,000.

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From left, activist JaMal Green, Ald. Sophia King, state Rep. Kam Buckner, businessman Willie Wilson, Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Ald. Roderick Sawyer attend a mayoral candidates forum at WTTW-Ch. 11 on Feb. 7. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)

Johnson revisited that point when asked about how to stem Black population loss in Chicago.

People have lost confidence in this administration because shes broken every single promise, and she continues to mislead the people of Chicago, where she just espoused about a 3.5% income tax on people who make $100,000 a year or more, Johnson. Its just a lie. Its not in my budget plan.

That proposal is backed by the United Working Families political group that has endorsed Johnson, but he himself has not thrown support behind such a tax. Lightfoot claimed on the campaign trail on the West Side this weekend that Johnson would enact that levy, an indication she is shifting her attacks during the final stretch before election night on Johnson, who could peel away support from Black and progressive voters.

At Mondays forum, Lightfoot jumped in again and challenged Johnson to vow he would not impose a 3.5% income tax.

Im happy to respond. If he doesnt agree with taxing people over $100,000, say right now here that you will never support such a plan, Lightfoot said. The floor is yours. After a moment, Lightfoot added, Silence is deafening.

I just said that, Madame Mayor, Johnson rebutted, accusing Lightfoot of misleading residents. Its why folks have lost confidence in her.

While Johnsons budget plan does not call for a city income tax, he has said he would support a renewed push for a statewide graduated income tax. That proposal, pushed by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, failed at the ballot box in 2020.

Johnsons budget plan calls for a $4 per employee head tax at large companies that perform 50% or more of their work in Chicago, a roughly9-cents-per-gallon charge on jet fuel, and a boost in the real estate transfer tax on homes valued at more than $1 million. He ultimately walked back a plan that would impose a Metra tax on commuters heading to the city from the suburbs.

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Lightfoot wasnt the only one attacking Johnson on Monday. Community activist JaMal Green accused the West Side commissioner of pandering to white progressives while residents in his districts Black neighborhoods lack resources.

Brandon Johnson continues to bring up him (living) in Austin, Green said. But the reality of the situation is that hes faking his way through this race. He is lying and trying to make progressive white people on the North Side believe that he cares about Black people.

Johnson largely ignored Green, saying the criticism proves he is a front-runner.

Im not going to take responsibility for white supremacy, but the fact of the matter is that we have lived under a structural imbalance for a very long time, Johnson said. And Im happy to have a multigenerational, multicultural movement that has obviously prepared me and has propelled me into a front-runner status.

Green escalated the attacks.

Brandon Johnson, please stop lying about the lived experiences, because you dont have any, and Im actually living them each and every day and you are a fraud, Green said. Johnson has often touted his bona fides as a father in Austin who has no greater incentive to make the city work.

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Other topics covered in Monday nights forum included what candidates would do to increase Black cops among Chicago police ranks, which are disproportionately white compared to the citys overall population. According to the Chicago inspector generals public safety dashboard, 43.6% of the current sworn officers in the Chicago Police Department are white, 32% are Hispanic, and roughly 20% are Black.

Former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas said he would recruit from military bases and high school ROTC programs.

You get real diversity when you recruit directly from the military, Vallas said.

Lightfoot said she agrees with Vallas about recruiting from military bases and said the police academy has been graduating some of the most diverse classes that weve seen in a significant amount of time.

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State Rep. Kambium Kam Buckner said the number of Black sworn officers has continued to decrease.

We can talk about diversity, we want to, but equity requires specificity. And so this administration has not done that, he said, calling for the elimination of racist barriers that keep young Black folks out of the police force, such as misdemeanor marijuana charges or a bad credit score.

Johnson, meanwhile, took the chance to speculate that more people of color might be willing to join the Police Department if they dont have to serve with members of the Proud Boys, a reference to Lightfoots administration suspending but not firing Robert Bakker, an officer who allegedly lied about his affiliation with the extremist group, citing an inconclusive investigation.

Black people call police more than anyone else in the city of Chicago, and we hate when they show up, Johnson said before speaking broadly on making all city departments more equitable.

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Businessman Willie Wilson called for a loosening of testing standards for Chicago police recruits, noting his own lack of education.

People up here right now, probably nobody would hire me because I only got a seventh grade education, Wilson said. But I beat them all making money.

Ald. Sophia King said she would lean on groups like the National Organization for Black Law Enforcement. Its a $115,000 per year job. It has benefits, it has insurance ... its a livable job, King said, but is unattractive to new recruits because cops have been demoralized. We cant continue to do that and expect people to want to come into that profession.

On the subject of education, the candidates mostly agreed on a series of yes or no questions. No one raised their hand after the first prompt about whether they would close any CPS schools. But Wilson, who has indicated he would be willing to shutter low-enrollment campuses said: But see, I dont think thats a fair question.

On whether there is a need to reform selective enrollment high schools, everyone raised their hand in affirmation except Wilson. And all candidates except Buckner, Wilson and Lightfoot indicated they had or currently have children enrolled in CPS.

Johnson spoke about disparities in offerings from school to school in CPS and claimed the mayor was leaving $1 billion on the table in available state funds.

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I dont know what Mr. Commissioner Johnson is even talking about, Lightfoot retorted before referring to the work stoppages during COVID-19 by the Chicago Teachers Union, which endorsed Johnson.

Ninety-five percent of the monies that we get are going into our school classrooms, and were making sure that schools are staying open, Lightfoot said, noting Johnson and CTU fought to keep schools closed.

During a question about housing affordability, Lightfoot and U.S. Rep. Jesus Chuy Garcia tussled over Lightfoots signature program, Invest South/West, and Garcias reputation among Black Chicagoans.

Lightfoot flexed, What we have done is pump hundreds of millions of dollars into those communities to help support homeownership. But Garcia shrugged that off.

The mayor likes to say all kinds of things. Unfortunately, most people in Chicago dont believe anything she says with respect to her signature program, Garcia said. Its mostly hypothetical numbers.

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Lightfoot scoffed and said, Congressman, come along with me to the 10 communities where we are making a tangible difference in concrete ways. I know you dont know Black Chicago that well 

I live on the West Side. ... I live in K-Town, Garcia, who is from Little Village, shot back, using a nickname for a part of the Lawndale community area. Maybe you dont come there from Logan Square.

Meanwhile, Ald. Roderick Sawyers most assertive response was after he was asked at the beginning how he expects to win a citywide election when he was forced into a runoff during his latest race to retain his City Council seat.

Well, if you were to ask Harold Washington that question in 77, you might have convinced him not to run, Sawyer said, referencing a failed bid from the man who later became the first Black mayor of Chicago. One, I won the race.  But what I learned from that election is that I dont talk about myself enough. I dont talk about the accomplishments I have on the City Council, which are many. I dont espouse them on social media. Im not that kind of person.

ayin@chicagotribune.com

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(AFP via Getty Images)

The Satanic Temple has announced the launch of an online abortion clinic, offering telehealth screenings and appointments and prescribing abortion medication for patients who want to take part in its religious abortion ritual.

The group, which describes itself as a non-theistic religious organisation and is not to be confused with the Church of Satan, said it hopes to expand the clinics into states that have restricted abortions in the aftermath of a Supreme Court ruling that ended Roe v Wade.

The Temple has named the initiative The Samuel Alitos Moms Satanic Abortion Clinic, in reference to the conservative Justice who wrote the majority opinion that overturned the abortion rights case that had been the law of the land since 1973.

In 1950, Samuel Alitos mother did not have options, and look what happened, said Malcolm Jarry, the co-founder of The Satanic Temple.

Prior to 1973, doctors who performed abortions could lose their licenses and go to jail. The clinics name serves to remind people just how important it is to have the right to control ones body and the potential ramifications of losing that right, he added.

The Temple, which claims to have over 700,000 members, described the programme as the worlds first religious abortion clinic. Patients pay a pharmacy for the medication, but medical and religious services are free, it added. The patients must be in New Mexico at the time of the visit and have a New Mexico mailing address.

Based in Salem, Massachusetts, the Temple deploys irony-laced legal action and publicity stunts to highlight the intrusion of religion into public life, using religious laws in the United States to fight against restrictions on access to abortion.

Last year, it sued Indiana and Idaho in federal court, arguing that the states abortion bans infringe on the rights of members.

The lawsuit contends that a pregnant woman is entitled to terminate her pregnancy in accordance with the temples Tenet III  Ones body is inviolable, subject to ones own will alone  and its Satanic Abortion Ritual, which includes a personal affirmation that is ceremoniously intertwined with the abortion, it explains on its website.

The Temple cites the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to argue that the ritual exempts its members from enduring medically unnecessary and unscientific regulations when seeking to terminate their pregnancy.
Artillery impact craters in fields southwest of Pavlivka, Ukraine on Feb. 12, 2022. Satellite image 2023 Maxar Technologies.

Russia continues to face failure and losses in the Donetsk region near the town of Vuhledar.

Satellite images show what three months of fighting in the region have done to the land.

Ukraine continues to push back against Russia's assaults in the east.

The Kremlin is floundering in east Ukraine where successive Russian assaults near the town of Vuhledar in the Donetsk region continue to fall short more than three months into the offensive.

Videos and photos from the area in recent weeks depict carnage and chaos near the mining town of Vuhledar, even as Russian officials continue to claim that all is going according to plan nearly a year into the unprovoked war.

The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine seemed to troll Russian forces in Donetsk earlier this month, sharing a Twitter video featuring footage of what appeared to be explosions targeting Russian tanks.

Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) February 10, 2023

Mounting tactical errors and a growing number of casualties have prompted even Russian military bloggers to increasingly and publicly criticize the war effort in Donetsk  a rare move in a country that has outlawed negative commentary about the conflict.

Vuhledar and its surrounding villages have been the site of concentrated fighting for months. November saw heavy troop losses for Russia and a near mutiny among men of the 155th Marine Brigade stationed in the region after Kremlin officials downplayed reports of casualties following a failed assault.

Military experts and commentators have chalked up Russia's ongoing problems to a combination of poor leadership by top generals and insufficient troop training among new conscripts, CNN reported. But the Russian Defense Ministry maintains that the assault on Vuhledar is on track; President Vladimir Putin in a Sunday appearance said the 155th Marine Brigade is "fighting heroically."

Putin's comments come even as Denis Pushilin, the leader of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic, said Friday that Ukrainian forces have significantly slowed Russia's ability to amass more territory in the region, according to CNN.

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A collection of high-rise buildings throughout Vuhledar offer Ukrainian defenders a literal leg-up in combat, as well as sufficient cover from Russia's bombardments, the outlet reported. Tom Cooper, a military historian, told CNN that the battle is akin to fighting in a "big, tall fortress in the middle of an empty, flat desert."

Farmland and fields to the south of Vuhledar have also seen intense artillery shelling, according to Maxar Satellite Imagery, which captured before and after photos of the destruction done in the village of Petrivka.

Petrivka: Before

An aerial shot of Petrivka, Ukraine taken in summer 2022. Satellite image 2023 Maxar Technologies

Petrivka: After

An aerial shot of Petrivka on Feb. 10, 2023. Satellite image 2023 Maxar Technologies Petrivka

Ukrainian forces continue to push back against Russia's head-on attacks near Vuhledar. Taking control of the town and region would allow Russia to shore up its access and proximity to occupied Crimea, but continued failures in the area could point to larger problems for the country's military efforts down the line.

Satellite images also captured what are believed to be Russian military units, including tanks and armored personnel vehicles, deployed along tree lines in residential parts of the region, at times, hiding behind homes and buildings.

Armored vehicles near the treeline of Vuhledar

Armored vehicles deployed along tree line southeast of Vuhledar on Feb. 8, 2023. Satellite image 2023 Maxar Technologies.

Armored vehicles behind residential buildings in Krylivka

Armored vehicles positioned behind residential buildings, Krylivka on Feb. 8, 2023. Satellite image 2023 Maxar Technologies.

 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) February 9, 2023

Even as Ukraine maintains a strong front, CNN reported this week that some units are facing a shortage of munition as Russia rears up its attacks.

Despite a noted inability to make significant territorial gains in Donetsk thus far, Russia remains capable of unleashing barrages of firepower on Ukraine, a tactic it employed over the weekend in an assault on Vuhledar.

Read the original article on Business Insider
A funeral Mass will be held on Saturday for Linda Robinson and her 12-year-old son, Sebastian Robinson, who were both fatally shot in their Andover home in what the district attorney called an apparent murder-suicide.

Authorities believe that 56-year-old Andrew Robinson shot and killed his 55-year-old wife and their son before turning the gun on himself at their Porter Road home, Essex District Attorney Paul Tucker said.

Officers responding to a 911 call shortly after 3 a.m. on Feb. 9 went to the home at 48 Porter Road and found all three suffering from fatal gunshot wounds, Tucker said.

The incident appears to be a tragic case of domestic violence and murder-suicide, Tucker said last week.

Linda Robinson and her 12-year-old son, Sebastian Robinson, were both fatally shot in their Andover home in what the district attorney called an apparent murder-suicide. Authorities believe that Andrew Robinson, 56, shot and killed his wife, 55, and their son before turning the gun on himself at their Porter Road home, where police found all three with fatal gunshot wounds on Feb. 9, 2023, Essex District Attorney Paul Tucker said.

Linda Robinson and her young son, Sebastian, were both beloved members of the community, according to their obituaries.

Linda, a graduate of Lynn English High School and Merrimack College, began her professional career as a model before transitioning into a successful career in accounting and human resources, according to her obituary.

More than anything, being a mother was Lindas greatest gift. She considered Sebastian to be her pride and joy, her obituary states.

Sebastian attended elementary school at Saint Augustine School and was currently a sixth-grade student at St. Johns Preparatory School in Danvers, according to his obituary.

Sebastian loved his school community. He played the cello in the schools string ensemble, treasured literature, and was a gifted writer, his obituary states. He went the extra mile in all of his assignments with creativity, a desire to learn, and a sense of wonder. Sebastian was a quiet, bright light in his circle of friends who was a compassionate classmate to those around him. He adored animals, his bike, and his extensive Lego collection.

DA: Husband shot wife, son to death before turning gun on himself inside Andover home

The headmaster at St. Johns Preparatory School described Sebastian as a very gentle soul who was well-loved by his teachers and extraordinarily creative. The Robinson family was frequently seen at the school, he said.

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We had a number of concerts and a number of different activities and Sebastians parents have been present at those and part of the prep community and here to support their son, said St. Johns Preparatory School Head of School Ed Hardiman.

A Funeral Mass for Linda and Sebastian will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday in the Leo & Joan Mahoney Wellness Center at Saint Johns Preparatory School, 72 Spring St., Danvers. Burial will be private.

The apparent murder-suicide in Andover is the latest case of domestic violence fatalities reported across the region in recent weeks.

In late January, emergency crews responding to a home in Duxbury found three children strangled to death with exercise bands. Prosecutors allege that their mother, Lindsay Clancy, planned their murders. Weeks prior to that family tragedy, prosecutors say Brian Walshe dismembered his wife, Ana Walshe, in a case that rocked the community of Cohasset.

An employee of C.R. Lyons & Sons Funeral Directors in Danvers, which is handling funeral arrangements for Linda and Sebastian Robinson, said he had no information on funeral arrangements for Andrew Robinson.

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New federal rules proposing less sugar and salt in food served at public schools may be hamstrung by a lack of workers to prepare those meals and lingering problems with actually getting bread, vegetables, fruit and meat in the door.

"We're still having a lot of challenges," said Lisa Johnson, a director of nutrition services for Highline Public Schools in and nearby Burien, Washington.

Johnson's suburban district, which serves more than 17,000 children, hasn't fully staffed up after the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and still finds some healthy food options hard to come by.

The USDA's rules would require schools to make the changes over the next six years. The department is now taking feedback on its proposal before finalizing its plans.

Less sugar, salt: Biden administration pushes for healthier school lunches

School food officials say the proposed changes are well-intended, but without a serious financial investment in the staff tasked with cooking those healthier, nutritious meals, they won't become a reality.

What challenges are schools facing?

It's already difficult to access products that aren't low-fat or low-sodium, a recent survey from the School Nutrition Association shows, let alone those that are more healthy, and new standards could raise meal prices for families that aren't able to afford lunches under today's rules.

Congress got rid of a free-lunch-for-all program: That means some students are going hungry

Proponents of the proposal argue it aligns with the latest science on nutrition and would "give kids the right balance of nutrients for healthy and appealing meals," the USDA's website reads.

"We really see this just as a next step in a fairly long-standing partnership in support of healthy school meals," said Cindy Long, the USDA's administrator of Food and Nutrition Service.

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Long called the move "critically important" to prevent diet-related disease in the U.S.

New national research published Monday from the American Medical Association suggests a federal law in 2010 requiring schools to serve healthier meals to students led to lower body mass index rates, or decreases in the rates of children and teens who were obese or at risk for obesity. Some of those changes were rolled back during the Trump administration.

Supply chain issues have disrupted school lunches throughout the nation this year. In Tampa, Hillsborough County Public Schools administrators share messages like these with parents and students.

What is the USDA proposing for school meals?

The proposed changes include:

Decreasing sodium gradually, and overall by 30%, by fall 2029.

For the first time, decreasing the amount of weekly added sugars to 10% of total calories by fall 2027.

Eliminating access to flavored milk for younger students by 2025.

The USDA expects to release a final rule "in time for schools to plan for school year 2024-25."

More: Biden administration pushes for healthier school lunches, new limits on sugar and salt

Not enough cooks in the kitchen

The number of cafeteria workers a school needs varies based on its size, but data from the School Nutrition Association shows there's a dire need for more cooks and other staff nearly everywhere.

Los Angeles Unified School District food service workers from left, April Thomas, Marisel Dominguez, Tomoko Cho and Aldrin Agrabantes pre-package hundreds of free school lunches in plastic bags in 2021 at Liechty Middle School in Los Angeles.

A survey of school meal program directors by the association shows 93% of them are so short on workers they're struggling to run their cafeteria, and 89% of schools struggled to find food items that meet current rules for school meals, which are more lenient on sugar and salt.

The School Nutrition Association's Diane Pratt-Heavner said that to meet the new standards, more items will have to be made from scratch.

"Staffing is a huge issue for school meal programs, and it will impact their capacity to meet additional nutrition standards," Pratt-Heavner said.

Hot dog tortillas and bagged salads: School lunches take on new look amid supply-chain woes

The Chef Ann Foundation, which encourages schools to cook more meals from scratch, is among those trying to solve some school cafeteria problems. CEO Mara Fleishman said the foundation recently launched a fellowship program for existing school food leaders "who envision themselves as future directors of scratch cooking operations and advocates for serving fresh, healthy meals to students," with help from the Whole Kids Foundation and the state of California.

Some schools that cooked many meals from scratch turned to packaged foods during the pandemic to give students meals to take home when classes shifted online. Many haven't turned back because of labor and supply shortages, Fleishman said.

Last week, several Chef Ann Foundation fellows, including a sous chef for the Virginia Beach Public Schools Office of Food Services, visited schools in several cities across the nation as part of their hands-on training.

How do staffing and the quality of meals intersect?

Opponents of the USDA's proposal argue the federal government needs to consider the struggles local schools are already facing before adding demands.

The regulations will create "unworkable nutrition standards that will hamstring schools," House Education and Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., and Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee ranking Republican John Boozman of Arkansas said.

USDA officials said they recognize those challenges and continue to support schools to address those concerns.

"We certainly recognize the past few years have been particularly challenging ... as weve been coming out of COVID," Long said. "It's one of the key reasons why we're taking a very gradual approach."

Contact Kayla Jimenez at kjimenez@usatoday.com. Follow her on Twitter at @kaylajjimenez.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why the USDA's plan for healthier school lunches has tough road ahead
Seattle police are investigating a drive-by shooting Tuesday morning in the University District, according to the Seattle Police Department.

At 6:30 a.m., a 40-year-old man called 911 and reported that someone in a car had just shot him in the elbow and driven away at Northeast 43rd Street and 7th Avenue Northeast.

The man told police that he was standing outside of his car while it was warming up and defrosting. A white sedan, possibly a Hyundai, was turning around in a driveway and came close to hitting the mans car. He expressed frustration with the driver, according to the report.

The man driving the car then leaned across a woman passenger and fired a shot out the closed passenger window, shattering the window and hitting the man.

The driver sped away.

People nearby applied an improvised tourniquet to the mans arm, said police.

Seattle Fire Department medics arrived and transported the man to Harborview Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries.

Officers at the scene collected ballistic evidence and detectives will continue to investigate this incident, said the Seattle Police Department.




WASHINGTON Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., will retire from Congress at the end of 2024 after three decades in the Senate and over 50 years in public office, she announced Tuesday.

"I am announcing today I will not run for reelection in 2024 but intend to accomplish as much for California as I can through the end of next year when my term ends," Feinstein said in a statement.

Feinstein, 89, is the oldest sitting senator and the longest-serving senator from her state, having first been elected to the Senate in 1992. She had been under pressure for years from other Democrats in the state to make room for a younger generation of lawmakers. She had also declined the role in the new Congress of president pro tempore, which has traditionally gone to the senior member of the majority party since the mid-20th century.

Her retirement also opens up her Senate seat from California for the first time in decades. A number of House Democrats have either announced 2024 campaign bids for the seat, including Reps. Katie Porter and Adam Schiff. Rep. Barbara Lee also plans to announce a Senate run by the end of the month, a source familiar with the situation confirmed.

Feinstein has worked under five presidential administrations and alongside the two presidents who also served with her in the Senate: Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

Biden lauded Feinstein in a statement Tuesday as "a passionate defender of civil liberties and a strong voice for national security policies that keep us safe while honoring our values."

"Ive served with more U.S. Senators than just about anyone," he said. "I can honestly say that Dianne Feinstein is one of the very best. I look forward to continuing to work with her as she serves out her term."

Feinstein said in her statement that she remains focused on passing legislation to address gun violence, promote economic growth and preserve U.S. lands in her remaining time as a senator. Feinstein said shes confident Democrats can achieve those goals because of their previous work.

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Even with a divided Congress, we can still pass bills that will improve lives, she said. Each of us was sent here to solve problems. Thats what Ive done for the last 30 years, and thats what I plan to do for the next two years.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., applauded Feinstein in a statement, saying she broke innumerable glass ceilings."

When Dianne came to the Senate, there were only two women senators; today there are 25 serving, all of whom stand in some small part on Diannes shoulders, he said. Over the coming months, I know Dianne will continue to fiercely advocate for womens rights in all aspects of life and unwaveringly represent the people of California.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who's now a rank-and-file member in the lower chamber, called Feinstein a "titan in the United States Senate, with a record that stands among the finest in history."

"For the past thirty years, California and our Country has been magnificently served by the leadership of Senator Feinstein: from our national security and personal safety, to the health of our people and our planet, to the strength of our Democracy," Pelosi said in a statement. She added that Feinstein "has not only accomplished a great deal, but is determined to do even more in the last two years of her term."

In April, Feinstein pushed back against a news report citing multiple anonymous colleagues expressing worry that she was mentally unfit to serve. And as recently as December, she was still conveying publicly that she had no plans to retire.

Feinstein's retirement caps a career focused on advocating for more restrictive gun measures, including championing the assault weapons ban President Bill Clinton signed into law in 1994 and pushing for restrictive laws since the ban expired in 2004.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., poses in Washington on Jan. 4, 2019. (Celeste Sloman for The New York Times via Redux)

As ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee during President Donald Trump's four years in the White House, Feinstein led the Democrats' line of attack against three Supreme Court justice nominees: Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.

Feinstein has also long been a fierce defender of advancing gay rights and same-sex marriage. She was one of only 14 senators to vote against the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996, and she celebrated the Supreme Court's decision to legalize gay marriage.

She chaired the Senate Intelligence Committee while Obama was in the White House and led a six-year review of the detention and interrogation program the CIA developed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, which led to legislation barring the use of such methods of torture.

Feinstein has been known for trying to find common ground with Republicans, sometimes drawing criticism from her partys more progressive members. She parted from them on a number of issues, including by opposing single-payer, government-run health care and the Green New Deal climate proposal, which she argued was politically and fiscally unfeasible.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., leaves the Senate chamber on May 11, 2022. (Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images file)

She has come under fire at times for some of her stances. She voted, for example, for the resolution authorizing the Iraq War but later said she regretted the decision.

Before she was elected to the Senate in 1992, she was the first female mayor of San Francisco and, before that, a member and the president of the citys Board of Supervisors. She became mayor after the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and city Supervisor Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in California. Feinstein was the first person to find Milk's body after he was shot.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
(The Hill)  Senators agree on the need for comprehensive crypto regulation, but they dont appear to have a clear pathway to bipartisan legislation.

At a Senate Banking Hearing on Tuesday, Democrats expressed doubt about the value of crypto, while Republicans pushed for a more industry-friendly regulatory environment that encourages crypto firms to set up shop in the U.S.

Partisan differences over how to regulate crypto reduce the chance that Congress will pass a comprehensive bill anytime soon, despite the high-profile collapse of FTX and numerous other crypto firms that werent subject to major consumer protection and financial transparency rules.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), the committees chairman, said that Congress should focus on legislation to protect consumers and ensure that crypto doesnt become integrated into the broader financial system, citing the recent failures.

Five lingering questions over Ohio train derailment, toxic spill

The lessons learned here are the product of hard-earned experience  experience that is born of real people losing real money and of dreams shattered, Brown said.

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), the committees ranking member, said that regulators arent being clear about whether they have the authority to properly regulate crypto assets, adding that Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler must testify before the committee soon.

He also blamed the SEC for a failure to implement clear guidance that may have pushed firms like FTX to operate outside of the U.S., a talking point often repeated by the crypto industry.

The American people deserve to know why no action was taken prior to FTXs collapse and how millions of dollars of Americans hard-earned money just vanished into nothing, Scott said.

Senators dont appear close to a comprehensive bill to regulate the crypto industry. The first bipartisan proposal to regulate crypto, introduced last year, was written with the help of disgraced FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, dooming its chances.

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Still, senators floated the possibility of smaller bills to fill regulatory gaps.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said he is pushing for a bill to require crypto companies to show proof of reserves, noting that a comprehensive framework is not likely to occur.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a leading critic of the crypto industry, is working with Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) on a bill to subject crypto to anti-money laundering rules.

Big-time financial criminals love crypto, Warren said Tuesday, noting that its the currency of choice for ransomware gangs and hackers in North Korea and Russia.

Cryptos market cap is sitting right around $1 trillion, down from its peak of $3 trillion in November 2021.

The industry is coming under threat from state and federal regulators. New York regulators on Monday ordered blockchain firm Paxos to stop issuing a major so-called stablecoin that is tied to the U.S. dollar.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Committee ranking member Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) (R) speaks as Chairman Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) (L) listens during a hearing before Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee at Dirksen Senate Office Building December 14, 2022

Lawmakers from opposing parties disagreed over who and what was truly to blame for a devastating crypto crash that left customers collectively burnout out of billions in losses during a Wednesday Senate Banking Committee hearing. While Democratic lawmakers and crypto skeptics warned of the dangers presented by a lack of meaningful oversight measures, Republicans pushed back, with some blaming part of the recent tumultuous chaos on the Securities and Exchange Commissions alleged failure to use regulatory powers already at its disposal.

Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown began the hearing rapidly listing off the cryptocurrency industrys laundry list of blunders and pitfalls over the past 12 months. The Democratic senator from Ohio said the industrys repeated missteps and burning of customer funds proved it lacked any true oversight or accountability measures. While early crypto adopters and sophisticated players have managed to profit from the industry, Brown said everyday investors duped into investing money through flashy, celebrity filled ads were ultimately left holding the bag when the funds ran dry.

Read more

Fortune doesnt favor the brave, Brown said in an apparent dig at Matt Damons Crypto.com SuperBowl ad. It favors wealthy insiders. Brown went on to say the crypto nightmare isnt over yet, and that more pain could be on the way if new rules arent hashed out quickly.

Republican minority leader Tim Scott, on the other hand, took a gentler view of digital currencies. Though Scott still acknowledged clear examples of fraud and abuse, he said it was important for lawmakers to ensure they do not create new regulations that interfere with the crypto industry ability to innovate. Oddly, Scott used part of his opening statement to call out SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, who he said was asleep at the wheel. Scott admonished Gensler and the SEC for what he views as a failure to properly use the regulatory powers at its disposal to prevent the collapses from occurring and for failing to issue guidance over stablecoins.

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Regulators have put misplaced focus on progressive social issues, Scott said.



The hearing comes at a pivotal moment for cryptocurrencies. Scandals, fraud, dramatic arrests, international manhunts, and plain old-fashioned embezzlement have sent crypto valuations plummeting and soured relationships between decentralized finance elites and U.S. lawmakers. In some cases, top financial authorities like SEC Chairman Gensler have given crypto companies an ultimatum: regulate, or die.

If this field has any chance of survival and success, Gensler recently told CNBC. Its time-tested rules and laws to protect the investing public.

Crypto is just gambling

The lawmakers questioned three expert witnesses who held widely divergent views on cryptocurrency. Linda Jeng, the chief global regulatory officer and general counsel for major crypto advocacy group Crypto Council for Innovation, largely went to bat for the industry, while Duke Financial Economics Center Policy Director Lee Reiners and Vanderbilt University Law School Professor Yesha Yadav have spoken more critically about crypto companies.

In her testimony, Jeng, who testified under her personal capacity as an academic and researcher, tried to separate the broader crypto space from specific bad actors like FTXs Sam Bankman-Fried, and called for a light-handed, nuanced regulatory approach. Jeng said it was important for crypto firms to have clear rules of the road dictating what they can and cant do, but cautioned against overly aggressive restrictions. In addition to rules, Jeng said it was important for the U.S. to adopt a more coherent national strategy around crypto to avoid falling too far behind the E.U., U.K, and others.

This is a key moment for our transition to a digital economy, Jeng said in her written testimony. We are at a decision point where how we build our legal and regulatory foundation will determine our digital future for decades to come.

As a former regulator, I strongly believe in the important mission of regulators to protect consumers and ensure financial stability. But the recent wave of banking agency statements is worrying for the future of the US financial shttps://t.co/yCcKYoGL05 https://t.co/fcv3xoGtWq  Linda Jeng (@LindaJeng1) February 3, 2023

Reiners was far less measured. The professor said he believed crypto was doing more harm than good to our society, and questioned some lawmakers interest in embracing a technology, that is undermining our sovereignty. Not mincing words, Reiners said regulators should do everything in their power to prevent crypto from seeping its way into the traditional banking sector.

Crypto is just gambling, Reiners said, before comparing crypto to Powerball tickets.

Citing the recent FTX collapse as an example, Reiners said lawmakers and regulators should force platforms to separate customer and firm assets to prevent shady companies from investing customer funds in other areas. He said there was no evidence to suggest crypto encourages financial inclusion among underbanked communities as some crypto supporters have claimed, and instead said the practice was more akin to the disastrous subprime loans leading up to the 2008 financial critics. Crypto exchanges and lending firms were purposefully using familiar terms like banker and broker Reiners alleged, to fool people into believing they are just as regulated as traditional financial services.

This is an example of predatory inclusion, he said.

Yadav, meanwhile, struck somewhat of a middle can, both acknowledging the urgent need for tiger safety measures in crypto but then going on to propose the firms essential police themselves as a part of a public mandate for private self-regulation of cryptocurrency exchanges. Yadav who sees the recent crypto winter as a unique opportunity for reform said it was important to not let the crisis go to waste.

Massachusetts senator and former Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren blasted cryptocurrencies which said we tools perfectly suited for criminal activity. Reiners buttressed Warrens points, testifying that he believed cryptocurrencies are the exclusive payment method of choice for ransomware attacks.

If all of this sounds somewhat familiar, its because lawmakers in the The House Financial Services Committee gathered two months ago to discuss the epic collapse of FTX and its disgraced founder SBF. Lawmakers had intended to grill SBF, but his sudden arrest in the Bahamas just days before left them questioning court-appointed FTX CEO John Ray III. Ray, who previously oversaw the Enron bankruptcy, blamed the sudden fall of FTX last month on the absolute concentration of control by a small group of, grossly inexperienced and unsophisticated individuals headed by SBF.

Crypto companies, particularly those with stablecoins, are under intense scrutiny after Terra, Luna, and FTX

Just this week, the New York Department of Financial Services ordered Paxos to stop minting new units of the Finance USD stablecoin. Making matters worse, a recent Wall Street Journal report claims Paxos could soon face an SEC lawsuit over the stablecoin. Combined, those event caused Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao to say Binance would start to see users move away from the Binance stablecoin.

6/ "IF" BUSD is ruled as a security by the courts, it will have profound impacts on how the crypto industry will develop (or not develop) in the jurisdictions where it is ruled as such.  CZ  Binance (@cz_binance) February 13, 2023

Just days prior, failing crypto exchange Kraken revealed it would fork over $30 million to settle SEC allegations claiming the company crypto staking service was in fact an illegal sale of securities. At the same time, the DOJs fraud investigators are reportedly beginning a criminal investigation into Silvergate Capitals dealings with FTX and Alameda Research.

The sudden influx of regulatory action and interest had led some regulatory allergic crypto pusher.

Update: 2/13/2022 1:39 P.M. EST: Added details from hearing.

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Aurora police have released footage from officers body cameras of the officer-involved shooting earlier this month involving a resident accused of charging at police armed with knives.

The video, released Monday, shows Kristopher Cross, 21, repeatedly threatening officers through a glass storm door at his home on the 900 block of Colorado Avenue in Aurora and later while standing in the garage at the house. At one point he told officers I guarantee I will stab one of (you) by the end of the day, the video shows.

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Cross is accused of charging at police armed with knives, with an officer then shooting him.

Cross was taken to a hospital in critical condition after the officer-involved shooting.

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The video can be seen on the departments Facebook page Aurora Illinois Police Department and came with a message from AuroraPolice Chief Keith Cross, who is not related to Kristopher Cross, police said.

I, along with our team at the Aurora Police Department, fully recognize this is a challenging situation for our community, he said. We hope this video will give everyone a more comprehensive understanding of what happened.

The statement from police about the video released also said please be advised that this release contains graphic content and may be difficult to watch.

Kristopher Cross was charged last week with attempted first-degree murder, unlawful restraint, aggravated assault of two police officers and aggravated use of a deadly weapon in connection with the incident, officials said.

Body camera footage shows police arriving at the house on Colorado Avenue Feb. 5 after a family member called 911 to report that another family member was armed with multiple knives and threatening people inside the home.

Its getting violent, and before the violence happens, I need somebody to remove them, the caller said, who told the dispatcher the man was armed with multiple knives.

Officers said when they arrived at the home they saw Cross holding a knife in his hand while he stood behind a glass storm door. Officers told Cross multiple times to drop the knife, the video shows.

Police directed family members to evacuate the house through the garage. Cross is seen in the video entering the garage holding a knife in each hand. Officers repeatedly ordered Cross to drop the knives, but he instead told officers let me show you how fast I am, the video shows.

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An officer decided to use less-than-lethal projectiles to get Cross to drop the knives, officials said.

As Cross turned around, an officer fired pepper-ball rounds at him, striking Cross multiple times in the back, the video shows. Cross then begins to charge at officers and closed to around five feet at which time an officer opened fire, the video shows.

About five shots are heard on the video before Cross drops to the ground on the driveway.

Police said they found a third knife hidden in Cross pant leg and shoe. Officers are then seen in the video rendering aid to Cross using tourniquets and other tools, like a chest seal.

Family members are heard in the video reacting to the shooting and asking why Cross had to be shot. One officer is heard in the video responding because he ran at us with a knife.

Cross has not been served with an arrest warrant yet. His bail was set at $750,000.

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The investigation of the officer-involved shooting is being handled by the Kane County Major Crimes Task Force, in accordance with Illinois law. The task force is comprised of police officers from a variety of county police agencies and serves as an independent investigative agency.

The states attorneys office said it will publish the results of the investigations findings in a timely manner once complete.

mejones@chicagotribune.com
Senators emerged unified from a Tuesday hearing about the ways social media affects children and teenagers, pledging to tackle the issue in a divided Congress.

Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee heard from a panel of advocates and experts, including Kristin Bride, the parent of a son who died by suicide in 2020 after receiving anonymous messages on a feature through Snapchat, and Emma Lembke, the founder of the Generation Z-led group Log Off Movement.

The advocates warned about the harmful impact social media can have on kids and teens, from anonymous cyberbullying online to apps boosting pro-eating disorder content, that they said must be checked by new regulations from Congress.

Make no mistake, unregulated social media is a weapon of mass destruction that continues to jeopardize the safety, privacy and well-being of all American youth, Lembke said.

Its time to act. And I urge you senators to take meaningful steps to regulate these companies, not just for our generation and my generation but with my generation, she added.

Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said the panel plans to invite leaders of social media companies to appear before it soon and pledged to hold a markup of legislative proposals meant to mitigate the concerns raised by the panel of experts.

Lawmakers rallied around one proposal in particular: the bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) led by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.).

The legislation would create a duty of care for social media platforms to prevent and mitigate harm to minors from content involving self-harm, suicide and pro-eating disorder views, meaning they would be legally obligated to prevent such content from being promoted to minors online.

It would also require platforms to put the strictest privacy settings in place as the default setting for minors.

KOSA received rare unanimous support in the Senate Commerce Committee last year following a series of hearings with executives from Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube and TikTok, but the Senate adjourned last year with holding a vote to pass the bill out of the chamber.

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Beyond heartbreak, what I feel is outrage, Blumenthal said of the Senate not passing KOSA.

The senator slammed Big Tech for pillaging the public interest with its armies of lobbyists and lawyers despite their pledges of collaboration.

Social media companies broadly have said they are taking action to mitigate these concerns themselves. For example, Facebook parent company Meta, which faced scrutiny after whistleblower Frances Haugen came forward in the fall of 2021, touted the launch of safety features such as anti-bullying tools that let users delete comments in bulk and expert-backed eating disorder resources.

Social media companies have also made design changes to comply with new regulations in other countries, such as the United Kingdoms Age Appropriate Design Code, which calls for similar action as KOSA.

Although KOSA has bipartisan support, it is also facing opposition from some critics who are concerned about its potential impact on childrens privacy.

A coalition of more than 90 human rights and LGBTQ groups sent a letter to Senate leaders in November, amid a push from supporters to add KOSA to must-pass omnibus legislation, warning them that the bill could in fact undermine the goals it sets out to protect children.

The groups argued the bill could effectively force tech companies to use invasive filtering and monitoring tools that jeopardize private and secure communications and put pressure on tech companies to over-moderate content in a way that could limit access to information for LGBTQ youth.

Mitch Prinstein, chief science officer at the American Psychological Association, testified at Tuesdays hearing that it is important for senators to recognize that online discrimination, including anti-LGBTQ posts, has a direct effect on users mental health. At the same time, he warned lawmakers that the online community provides vital health information and online social support to youth in the LGBTQ community.

It is a complex situationbut one that deserves tremendous attention, he said.

Other proposals discussed Tuesday face more roadblocks ahead.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), for example, is proposing creating a federal mandate to require users to be at least 16 years old to use social media. Many mainstream social media platforms, such as Instagram and Facebook, require users to be at least 13 years old.

Lembke warned that even if age restrictions are in place, kids and teens will find ways to circumnavigate them.

Blumenthal told reporters before the hearing that age or other restrictions are meaningless if they are not enforceable, citing KOSA as the way forward to add guardrails to help kids and parents.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Police outside of Berkey Hall at Michigan State University. AP Photo/Al Goldis

At least three people were killed and five wounded during shootings Monday night at Michigan State University in East Lansing, police said.

After a manhunt that lasted several hours, the suspect was found in Lansing, where he died, apparently of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, MSU interim Deputy Chief Chris Rozman announced in a press conference early Tuesday. The suspect was a 43-year-old male who was not affiliated with MSU, Rozman said. "We have no idea why he came to campus to do this. That is part of our ongoing investigation."

Multiple people called 911 at around 8:18 p.m. to report a shooting inside Berkey Hall on campus, and several victims were discovered inside the academic building. A second shooting was then reported at the adjacent MSU Union Building. At least five victims have been hospitalized, Rozman said, and all are in critical condition.

When the suspect was still at large, police asked people on campus and in the surrounding community to shelter in place, and urged concerned parents to stay away from campus.

Michigan State University has about 50,000 students. All activities, sporting events, and classes have been canceled for the next 48 hours.

Updated Feb. 14, 2023: This article has been updated throughout to reflect recent developments.

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Shake Shack is a New York fast-food chain known for its premium burgers and custard shakes.

An ex-employee in California said he was constantly asked "to explain his gender to co-workers."

The state's Civil Rights Department investigated, which led to a $20,000 settlement.

Shake Shack has settled a California case where a former employee said he was constantly asked "to explain his gender to co-workers," according to the state's Civil Rights Department.

The New York burger chain, founded by Danny Meyer, will pay the former employee $20,000 as part of the settlement, announced Monday. The California employee filed a complaint with the department, stating he was subjected to "discrimination, harassment and retaliation based on gender identity and gender expression."

The employee said the alleged harassment started after he was trained in San Francisco and assigned to work in a store in Oakland, California. He alleged he was "repeatedly misgendered by co-workers and that when he complained, management failed to take reasonable steps to correct the behavior," according to a Civil Rights Department press statement released Monday.

"Management told him repeatedly that he would have to explain his gender to co-workers rather than rely on management to correct discriminatory behavior," the department said. "Frustrated by management's failure to address his concerns, after only a month the complainant left the company."

Department director Kevin Kish said California law prohibits "intentional misgendering" in the workplace.

Beyond the $20,000 payment to the former worker, Shake Shack has agreed to update its policies and training relating to retaliation, harassment, discrimination, and bullying in the workplace, the state agency said.

"Creating a welcoming and fulfilling environment for all our employees and guests is critical," a Shake Shack spokesperson told Insider in a statement. "We are constantly taking steps to ensure our policies and culture reflect our commitment to diversity and inclusion in the workplace."

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"Intentional misgendering and other forms of discrimination based on gender identity and gender expression can be stressful and traumatic," Kish said. "CRD appreciates Shake Shack's acknowledgement of its responsibility to provide a discrimination-free environment to its workforce."

Shake Shake is a fast food chain that sells burgers, fries, and custard shakes. The chain has more than 430 US and international restaurants.

Read the original article on Business Insider
A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is highlighting alarming trends for teenage girls across the country.

>>> STREAM CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS LIVE <<<

The study found that 57-percent of them felt a persistent feeling of sadness or hopelessness in 2021, far outpacing the results for young boys.

READ: Asteroid explodes over English Channel

The new data raises serious questions about whats being done to address mental health in America, specifically for teenage girls.

The study also revealed a nearly 60-percent increase in the number of young females who seriously considered attempting suicide- almost one out of every three.

Some have recently testified before members of congress, saying the problem is real.

Schools and communities only intervene when it becomes intensely severe, or in unfortunate cases, too late, High School Senior Brooklyn Williams said in front of a Senate Subcommittee on Children and Families hearing in 2022.

A new #CDCYRBS Data Summary & Trends Report shows that while all adolescents reported increasing mental health challenges, experiences of violence, & suicidal thoughts & behaviors, girls fared worse across nearly all measures. Learn more: https://t.co/37byjm5lo7 pic.twitter.com/m6fiJGlpDs  CDC (@CDCgov) February 13, 2023

READ: The IRS issues guidance to those they told to holdoff on filing returns

CDC officials say youth mental health has only gotten worse in this country. The report also found one in five, or up to 20-percent of girls also experience some form of sexual violence.

Lawmakers continue to point to resources as being the major barrier to helping address mental health in the United States. They say the time to act is long overdue.

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To reach every student, we need all hands on deck, and that means more mental health professionals, Democrat from Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey said.

Three years of COVID have just had their toll upon the mental health of adolescents and college students, Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy added.

READ: Parts of Georgia grand jury report on Trump, 2020 election to be released

The CDC also looked at teens who identify as LGBTQ. It found more than half had recently experienced poor mental health and more than one in five had attempted suicide in the past year.

The CDC says its looking to schools to lead change. They want administrators to use the new data to help find more resources to handle mental health problems in high schools.

Click here to download the free WFTV news and weather apps, click here to download the WFTV Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
Three Michigan State University students were killed and five others were critically wounded in a shooting at the university Monday night, authorities said. The gunman was later found dead in Lansing of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.

Law enforcement officials at the university identified the shooter as Anthony Dwayne McRae, a 43-year-old man with no obvious affiliation to the school. McRae was neither a current nor former student or faculty member at Michigan State, said Chris Rozman, the university's interim deputy chief of police and public safety.

The suspect was previously sentenced to 12 months probation on a weapons charge, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections. Arrest records show he was convicted and ultimately sentenced in November 2019 for possessing a loaded firearm inside a vehicle, which is illegal in Michigan without a concealed carry license. He was discharged in May 2021.

Authorities say McRae was contacted in 2019 by police, who found a handgun "that was legally registered to him" during a subsequent search and investigation, the Ingham County Prosecutor's Office said in a statement. Because he did not have a legally-required concealed carry permit, McRae was first charged with carrying a concealed weapon, which is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison, the prosecutor said.

McRae pleaded guilty to a second charge for possession of a loaded firearm inside a motor vehicle in October of that year and received his probation sentence the next month, according to the office's statement.

Officials identified two of the three victims on Tuesday. In a statement, university police said Brian Fraser, a sophomore at MSU originally from Grosse Pointe, Michigan, and Alexandria Verner, a junior from Clawson, were among the students killed. They did not share the name of the third student who was fatally shot "in respect to the families' wishes."

News of the mass shooting prompted an outpouring of support online for the victims, their families and the rest of the Michigan State community on Tuesday. Numerous colleges and universities shared messages on social media in response to the tragedy, with the University of Michigan additionally announcing plans to hold a vigil on the school's Ann Arbor campus on Wednesday night.

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"We are sending our love and support to our friends, family members, and the community at @michiganstateu," the university wrote in a tweet. "Our hearts are broken and we grieve with you today."

We are sending our love and support to our friends, family members, and the community at @michiganstateu. Our hearts are broken and we grieve with you today. 



A community vigil is planned for tomorrow (February 15) on the Diag at 7pm. #SpartanStrong pic.twitter.com/S6YqI49DYJ  Michigan Marching & Athletic Bands (@umichband) February 14, 2023

Police have not released the injured students' identities.

Michigan State Police initially confirmed the death toll on Monday night, announcing that five people were hospitalized with injuries and noting that all were in critical condition. Four of the five students transported to Sparrow Hospital in Lansing underwent surgeries for their injuries overnight, a hospital representative said. The fifth student was immediately admitted to the medical center's critical care unit, according to the representative.

Later on Tuesday, Dr. Denny Martin, the interim president and chief marketing officer at Sparrow Hospital, said one of the students was alert and interacting with members of their care team in an update shared with CBS News. All five remained in critical condition, Martin said.

Police located McRae's body in the city of Lansing at around 11:30 p.m. Monday, Rozman said, thanking a caller whose tip led authorities to the suspect. He was found with a note in his pocket that "indicated a threat" to two schools in Ewing Township, New Jersey, officials said. The possible threat prompted officials to close schools on Tuesday in Ewing.

This combination of images from surveillance video shows a suspect authorities were seeking. Officials had described the suspect as a Black male, short, wearing red shoes, a jean jacket and ball cap. They said he was believed to have fled on foot. / Credit: Courtesy of MSU Police via AP

McRae's body was found roughly three hours after police received their first reports of shots fired inside Berkey Hall, an academic building on the MSU campus, at around 8:30 p.m. Rozman said officers arrived at the scene within minutes, and "encountered several students who were injured" inside that building.

"We can confirm that two of the deceased were in Berkey Hall, as well as some of the victims," he said.

While officers were there, MSU police received another round of calls reporting a second shooting inside the MSU Union building nearby, where authorities then found the third victim, according to Rozman.

"There is no longer a threat on campus," Rozman said at a previous news conference on Monday. An earlier shelter-in-place order issued by police for the East Lansing campus was lifted.

"This truly has been a nightmare we're living tonight," he said.

Police investigate the scene of a shooting at Berkey Hall on the campus of Michigan State University late on Feb. 13, 2023, in East Lansing, Mich. / Credit: Al Goldis/AP

Two of those killed were at Berkey Hall on the campus and the third was shot at the MSU Union, Rozman said.

The suspect was located off campus in Lansing after a manhunt and died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.

"Our understanding is that the suspect was confronted by law enforcement," Rozman said.

WWJ radio in Detroit reported that the suspect lives in Lansing and "investigators, including MSP Bomb Squad" members were at his home overnight some two miles from where police confronted him.

Investigators, including MSP Bomb Squad, are now at the Lansing home of the 43-year-old Michigan State University shooting suspect... who, police say, took his own life after officers confronted him along Lake Lansing Road, about two miles from his home. pic.twitter.com/LlJjYTPynA  Jon Hewett (@JonHewettWWJ) February 14, 2023

The suspect had no known affiliation with the school, and police have "no idea why he came to campus to do this tonight," Rozman said.

A White House official told CBS News early Tuesday that President Biden had been briefed on the shooting and spoke to Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Whitmer referenced her conversation with Mr. Biden in remarks at Tuesday morning's news conference.

"We mourn the loss of beautiful souls today and pray for those to continue to fight for their lives," the governor said.

Whitmer, acknowledging that Feb. 14 marks the fifth anniversary of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, added that the shooting Monday at MSU came on the heels of massacres across the country in 2022, and, most recently, during a Lunar New Year celebration in Southern California.

"Looking back at a year marked by shootings at grocery stores, parades, and so many other ordinary everyday situations, we cannot keep living like this. Our children are scared to go to school. People feel unsafe," said Whitmer, adding, "We must act and we will ... we will do that with the full support of the state of Michigan and the federal government."

Some current Michigan State students are originally from Oxford, a town in Oakland County about an hour's drive from the university campus in East Lansing. Some students now attending MSU were enrolled at Oxford High School when four students were killed in a mass shooting in November 2021. Another six students, as well as one teacher, were injured.

"As the representative of Oxford, Michigan, I cannot believe I am here 15 months later doing this again," said Michigan Rep. Elissa Slotkin, adding that it was "haunting to see a young person wearing an Oxford Strong sweatshirt" at MSU and noted how Oxford High School graduates now attending the university are "experiencing their second school shooting in a year-and-a-half."

"If this is not a wakeup call, I don't know what is," said Slotkin.

The Oakland County Sheriff's Office, which was called to assist the police response to Monday's shooting, recognized that "this will be a terrible flashback for our Oxford community, especially those students that graduated from Oxford high school and now attend MSU" in a Facebook post.

"This kind of tragedy is so hard to wrap your head around and it's important that you have help to process. For many there will be anxiety, depression, and the feeling of being unsafe and violated," said Oxford Sheriff Mike Bouchard in a separate statement. "To our Oxford community, I know that this is terribly traumatic."

MSU said all campus activities had been canceled for 48 hours, "including athletics, classes, and all campus-related activities. Please DO NOT come to campus tomorrow."

MSU President Teresa Woodruff said at one of the police news conferences that, "We will take two days where we will move to an emergency operation to give ourselves time to think and breathe and be together. To our faculty and staff, we will similarly provide to all of you the next two days to think and grieve and come together and the Spartan community, this family will come back together."

Several school districts in the area canceled classes for Tuesday, CBS Detroit reported.

 Additional reporting by Brian Dakss

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A man (R) selects roses for sale on Valentine's Day at the Raffles Place financial business district in Singapore on February 14, 2022. Roslan Rahman/AFP via Getty Images

A club in Singapore is offering 50% off the check on Valentine's Day  but there's a catch.

The offer is targeted at men willing to bring both their wives and their mistresses on a date.

It's unclear how the club intends to verify a male patron's relationship status.

A Singapore club has rolled out a Valentine's Day marketing stunt that's turning heads in the city-state: It's offering male customers a 50% discount if they bring both their wife and their mistress along.

"This Valentine's Day, Club Rich is running a CRAZY promotion at 50% OFF your total bill!" nightlife venue Club Rich Singapore wrote on Facebook on February 5. The club added that patrons must bring a wife and a "xiao san" (Chinese for mistress) to "enjoy" the promotion.

Club Rich Singapore also has a Chinese name, Fu Er Dai. The name translates directly to "rich second generation"  a term often used to describe the children of wealthy Chinese families. The club is located at Middle Road, in Singapore's Bugis area, a distance from the city's main party district, Clarke Quay.

According to Club Rich's Facebook page, it has a rotating cast of Asia-based DJs, a dance floor, and bottle service. In February, the club's happy hour promotion saw a bottle of Martell VSOP and two towers of Heineken beer going for $308 Singapore dollars, or $232.

The club also advertised the promotion on its TikTok and Instagram pages.

It's unclear how the club intends to verify a customer's relationship status. Club Rich Singapore specified in its social media posts that terms and conditions will apply for this promotion  but the caveat sparked more questions on social media.

"Need to bring marriage cert down to verify one is wife?" one Facebook user asked.

"How about bringing both husband and boyfriend? Entitled to discount?" one Instagram user commented on the club's post.

Another Instagram user asked if it would be possible to bring an "ex wife + current wife" with him.

Some commenters on the club's Facebook page had other concerns, like whether bringing more girlfriends would entitle a patron to a bigger discount.

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In a separate post on Instagram, Club Rich Singapore also said it would be giving out "free cocktails" for single ladies.

Staff at Club Rich Singapore did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Read the original article on Insider
Actor Kevin Bacon attends the 2022 premiere of "They/Them" in New York. (Andy Kropa / Invision / Associated Press)

Roses are red, violets are blue. Boy, does Kevin Bacon have a playlist for you.

If you hate Valentine's Day, that is.

This week, the veteran actor added a few "anti-love" songs to his running "Monday Blues" Spotify playlist in honor of Valentine's Day. Bacon's latest additions are "Love Stinks" by the J. Geils Band, "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" by Bob Dylan and "I Hate Myself for Loving You" by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts.

"Hey folks, it's Kevin. I'm back for another edition of 'Monday Blues,'" Bacon said in an Instagram video.

"Tomorrow, Valentine's Day. That's great. I'm happy for you if you're in love. What happens if this day rolls around and everybody's parading their hearts and flowers and love in front of you, and you don't have love in your life?"

The "Footloose" star proceeded to dedicate the recently added tracks to "those people who are not in love." (For the record: Bacon has been married to fellow actor Kyra Sedgwick for nearly 35 years and is merely an ally to the single community.)

"Maybe you lost it. Maybe you never had it. Maybe you don't want it," Bacon mused.

In the comments section of his Instagram video, countless people feeling down this Valentine's Day thanked Bacon for the thoughtful holiday gesture.

"Today, your Monday Blues really felt comforting," wrote @mim_norman. "My mom died saturday, and I feel kind of lost. You and Kyra give me some kind of balance. Thank you."

"Thanks!!" wrote @cindytrostel. "Alot of us single people need a special day!! ... Happy Valentine's day to you and yours!!"

"Thank you Kevin for thinking about the other side of Valentines Day," wrote tracyannarsell. "You made my Monday not so blue."

Other non-Valentine's Day selections on Bacon's "Monday Blues" playlist include hits by Stevie Wonder, James Taylor, Elton John, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Prince. The entire playlist  designed to cheer listeners up on what is famously the gloomiest day of the week  has a run-time of 19 hours and 5 minutes.

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On her Instagram page, Sedgwick posted a photo showing off Bacon's Valentine's Day gift to her: a fresh pair of heart-patterned socks.

"I got these today," she captioned the pic. "happy V day! @kevinbacon."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Reuters

This reporting is one of several scoops featured in this weeks edition of Confider, the newsletter pulling back the curtain on the media. Subscribe here and send your questions, tips, and complaints here.

Playbill pulled an investigation into Broadway audience misbehavior from its website after the renowned theater mags CEO complained it was too salacious, Confider has learned.

Playbill published the 2,000-word expose on Wednesday, headlined Physical Assault, Vomit in the Aisles, Stalking in the Streets: Why Audience Misbehavior Has Gotten Out of Hand, detailing nightmare accounts of theater workers whove experienced a rise in verbal and physical altercations with patrons. We never had alcohol around like we do right now, one anonymous worker told Playbill. You could have a drink in the lobby before the show, but you couldnt take it to your seat, so there was no nursing a triple and getting progressively more drunk as the show went on. Now we have people so hammered they cant even stand by intermission, and our custodial staff are having to clean up in-house vomiting at least once a month.

Come Friday, however, the widely shared piece had been scrubbed from the site, with the page now reading, We couldn't find what you were looking for but THE SHOW MUST GO ON! Try looking for something else.

Playbill CEO Philip Birsh copped to ordering the articles deletion, telling Confider on Monday: We want people to go to the theater. This piece exaggerated the issue in my opinion. Im a numbers guy. I know numbers. I know that the overwhelming numbers of people at the theater are having an enjoyable time.

Like what youre reading? Subscribe to the Confider newsletter here and have The Daily Beast media teams stellar reporting sent straight to your inbox every Monday night.

Birsh said he first grew concerned about the report after his 22-year-old daughter raised the issue with him, followed by several industry figures who he declined to name.

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The CEO said he has personally asked Playbill editor Diep Tran and the articles writer, Margaret Hall, to recalibrate the piece. It was a mistake, and it doesnt reflect peoples experience of going to the theater, added Birsh, whose family has controlled Playbill for half a century. Speaking in terms of clickbait, its fantastic but its not reflecting reality. It is reflecting a very thin layer of it. Its not up to my standards. All we are missing is Headless body in topless bar, he said, referencing the infamous New York Post headline.

Birsh claimed this was the first time he has editorially interfered in the publication, and that he hopes to have the recalibrated (read: industry-friendly) version published to the site by the end of this weekafter he signs off on it, of course.

I've made years of sacrifice to be in charge here so I do get to say Id like a do-over. No one is getting flayed here.

Subscribe to the Confider newsletter here and have The Daily Beast media teams stellar reporting sent straight to your inbox every Monday night.

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Bertha Olawumi, Aaron Crutchfield and Tracy Olawumi listen to Robbins officials discuss the crash that killed family member Donald Carter. Bertha is his sister, Aaron is anephew and Tracy is a niece to Carter. (Alexandra Kukulka / Daily Southtown)

Robbins officials expressed sorrow Tuesday and cited legal hurdles in charging three 13-year-old boys who they say stole a Kia and crashed it into a vehicle, killing 70-year-old resident Donald Carter, whose family is calling for justice and accountability.

Tracy Olawumi, Carters niece, said her family is disappointed the juveniles were released to their parents. Olawumi said there is a trend across the state of the Kia kids, or young teenagers who steal Kia cars.

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They killed someone in their recklessness, Olawumi said. Were not going to sweep this under the rug. He was loved.

Robbins Mayor Darren Bryant said it is a tough time following a tragic accident.

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My prayers, my condolences, my sensibility goes out to the family at this time, Bryant said.

Bryant called for juvenile justice reform because he said in one afternoon three juveniles committed three crimes in one act: stealing a car, driving under the legal age and taking a life.

Somebody needs to be held accountable, Bryant said.

On 2:30 p.m. Sunday, a Robbins officer saw a Kia with a broken drivers side window traveling north on Kedzie Avenue and drove in the direction it was headed.

The Kia crashed into a Ford Taurus, driven by Carter, who was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he died from his injuries, police said.

The three 13-year-old boys in the KIA were arrested at the scene, but police said Monday they had all been released to their respective parents.

Robbins Mayor Darren Bryant and police Chief David Sheppard, left, give an update Tuesday regarding Sunday's fatal crash that killed 70-year-old resident Donald Carter. (Alexandra Kukulka / Daily Southtown)

Robbins police Chief David Sheppard also expressed his condolences to the family saying the accident is something that couldve been prevented. Sheppard acknowledged the crime fits the pattern of the Kia kids, but declined to comment about the teenagers because of the pending investigation.

Under Illinois law, police can hold individuals 12 years and younger for six hours and individuals 12 years and older for 24 hours, Sheppard said.

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Within 24 hours of Sundays crash, Robbins police couldnt gather the evidence needed to charge the juveniles in this case without a warrant, so they were released to their parents, Sheppard said.

On Monday afternoon, he said police filed for a search warrant with the Cook County states attorneys office but as of Tuesday morning it had not been approved. Once the warrant is approved, police need a judge to approve it and then have 96 hours to execute the warrant, he said.

We are handcuffed by state laws in juvenile cases, Sheppard said. In Cook County, people arent being held accountable for what theyre doing.

The Cook County states attorneys office issued a statement stating it is committed to the work of justice and will continue to work with the Robbins Police Department to review all available information. At this time, this matter remains the subject of a continuing investigation.

Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday By submitting your email to receive this newsletter, you agree to our Subscriber Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy >

Bertha Olawumi, Carters older sister, said her brother had looked forward to being able to drive again after recovering from an accident. She described him as a fun guy who would tease her about her fear of worms.

Were going to miss him dearly. Were just disgusted the perpetrators are free, Bertha Olawumi said. These kids are big enough to do this stuff then they should be held accountable. If not them, then their parents.

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Aaron Crutchfield, Carters nephew, said the family will focus on each other and staying strong over the next several weeks as a funeral is planned and potential charges are announced. Bertha Olawumi said funeral plans are still pending.

After listening to Robbins mayor and police chief, Crutchfield said he understands why the police cant act alone and that the states attorney will ultimately press charges. But that doesnt bring the family closure, he said.

It dont sit will with me. Juveniles or not, it dont sit well with me, he said. They say its out of their hands and thats what we have to go by.

Crutchfield said he feared other teenagers may hear about this case and their potential takeaway could be they wont get punished for stealing cars.

Theyre going to do it more because theres no consequences, Crutchfield said.
South Dakota has joined five other states that have restricted transition-related care for transgender minors in just the past two years.

On Monday, Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican, signed the Help Not Harm bill, which bans health care professionals from providing puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgery to minors as treatment for gender dysphoria, which is the distress caused by a sense of conflict between the assigned sex at birth and the person's gender identity.

Providers who are already treating trans minors with puberty blockers, which temporarily pause puberty, or hormone therapy will be required to taper the minors off the medications by Dec. 31.

The measure makes exceptions for intersex infants and for the treatment of conditions unrelated to gender dysphoria.

South Dakotas kids are our future, Noem said in a statement. With this legislation, we are protecting kids from harmful, permanent medical procedures. I will always stand up for the next generation of South Dakotans.

Health care providers who violate the law could have their medical license revoked. Until they turn 25, minors who receive care in violation of the law can also sue providers.

People protest a bill that would bar transgender girls from playing on sports team that match their gender identity outside the state capitol in Pierre, S.D., on Jan. 15, 2022. (Toby Brusseau / AP for Human Rights Campaign)

Elliot Morehead, a trans teen who uses they/them pronouns and had planned to access gender-affirming care within the next year, said the measure has affected my future deeply.

I was hoping to maybe start any kind of treatment for myself and now our legislators, who are supposed to support us, have taken away that opportunity for me and Im bummed, they told CBS affiliate KELO-TV in Sioux Falls on Thursday after the bill passed the Senate.

Morehead, 16, told House committee members last month that they had to receive six months of therapy and a letter from their therapist before they could begin hormone therapy.

People think you can just like walk in and then get like testosterone or estrogen or puberty blocking  it doesnt work like that, they said, according to The Associated Press.

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Over the years, South Dakota has been what advocates have described as a testing ground for legislation targeting trans people.

In 2016, the state was the first to pass a school bathroom bill, which wouldve required students to use the school facilities that correspond with their assigned sex at birth. The measure was ultimately vetoed by then-Gov. Dennis Daugaard, a Republican, who said at the time that it did not address any pressing issue concerning the school districts of South Dakota, according to the Argus Leader, a local newspaper. Three states  Alabama, Oklahoma and Tennessee  bar transgender students from using the school facilities consistent with their gender identity, according to the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ think tank.

The state was also the first to pass a gender-affirming care ban in 2020, though the bill failed to pass a Senate committee.

On Saturday, more than 400 South Dakotans, including trans youths, their families and allies, protested the bills passage in the Senate, according to Transformation Project Advocacy Network, a local trans rights group.

Susan Williams, the network's executive director, said the organization has been receiving panicked calls from parents who are worried they will have to move out of the state to get the health care their children need. She noted that the bill moved from the Legislature to the governor's desk in just two weeks.

"These parents would need to get new jobs, say goodbye to extended family and the only homes their children have ever known  effectively driven out by the people elected to protect the citizens of South Dakota," Williams said in an email.

Following Noems signing of the bill Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of South Dakota said in a joint statement that the measure wont stop South Dakotans from being trans, but it will deny them critical support that helps struggling transgender youth grow up to become thriving transgender adults.

But make no mistakethis fight is not over, the groups said. We will never stop fighting for the right of trans youth to get the love, support, and care that every young person deserves. As much as Governor Noem wants to force these young people to live a lie, we know they are strong enough to live their truth, and we will always fight for communities and policies that protect their freedom to do so.

More than a dozen major medical organizations  including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association  support gender-affirming care for minors.

So far this year, lawmakers in at least 24 states, including South Dakota, have introduced legislation that would restrict transition-related care for minors, according to an NBC News analysis. Governors in six states  Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, South Dakota, Tennessee and Utah  have signed such restrictions. Federal judges have blocked bans in Alabama and Arkansas from taking effect pending the outcome of lawsuits.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
U.S. federal agents arrested four suspects in South Florida Tuesday on charges of playing key roles in a plot to kill Haitian President Jovenel Moise, who was shot to death in his home in the hills above Port-au-Prince, allegedly by a team of Colombian commandos, as his presidential guards stood down.

The local arrests of the owner of a Miami-area security firm; his business partner; a Weston financier; and an exporter out of Tampa mark a turning point in a probe that is now focused on the weapons, ballistic vests and financing that authorities say fueled the deadly plot executed on July 7, 2021.

The arrests came more than a year and a half after federal authorities launched their investigation. Despite significant progress of late, its still unclear who was the ultimate mastermind of the assassination plot targeting Moise.

While the murder of President Moise occurred in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, most of the planning, funding and direction of the plot to violently overthrow the president occurred right here in the United States in the Southern District of Florida, beginning in early 2021, said United States Attorney Markenzy Lapointe.

Lapointe said during a news conference at the U.S. Attorneys office in downtown Miami that it appears that money and power fueled the overthrow of Haitis president.

Three of the new defendants  Antonio Tony Intriago, owner of Doral-based Counter Terrorist Unit Security, or CTU; Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, operator of the affiliate CTU Federal Academy LLC; and Walter Veintemilla, head of Miramar-based Worldwide Capital Lending Group  are charged with supporting a conspiracy to kidnap or kill the president of Haiti.

The fourth defendant, Frederick Bergmann Jr., was described as being part of the financing arm of the operation. He is charged with conspiring to smuggle ballistic vests to former Colombian soldiers who allegedly carried out the fatal shooting of Moise and seriously wounded the presidents wife, Martine Moise. Hes also charged with failing to file valid export paperwork when the 20 smuggled vests, which are bulletproof, were shipped on June 10, 2021, from Miami to Port-au-Prince before the assassination. The shipment was marked medical x-ray vests and school supplies.

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The defendants had their first appearance in federal court shortly after the press conference, and three of them were appointed attorneys by the judge after saying they had no money. Veintemilla has his own attorney, Tara Kudman. Detention hearings are scheduled for Friday.

READ MORE: A whos who in Haiti presidents killing and how theyre interconnected

There are now 11 defendants charged and in U.S. custody as part of the wide-ranging law enforcement investigation that has netted U.S., Haitian, Venezuelan and Colombian nationals as well as dual Haitian and U.S. citizens. Also on Tuesday, a South Florida grand jury returned a superseding indictment charging nine of the defendants with conspiring to kill and kidnap Haitis president and two with smuggling bulletproof vests  in an alleged assassination plot that also triggered a power struggle upon Moises death and plunged Haiti deeper into crisis.

Their actions violated U.S. law and now they face U.S. justice, said Matthew G. Olsen, assistant attorney general in the Department of Justices National Security division. The United States will not tolerate those who would plot from our soil to carry out acts of violence abroad, just as we will not tolerate those outside the U.S. who would plot to conduct violence in this country.

He called the alleged assassination scheme a human tragedy and an assault on core democratic principles.

Lapointe said the individuals arrested can be divided into three groups: the planners and financier who were based in South Florida; the operators who served as the boots on the ground in Haiti; and the third group that hired soldiers who traveled from Colombia to Haiti to carry out the mission.

The South Florida planners and organizers were defendants Arcangel Pretel Ortiz and Antonio Intriago, Lapointe said, adding that the two men, who ran CTU, devised the plan to depose the president.

That plan, according to a criminal complaint, involved the two co-conspirators referring to themselves as colonel and general, utilizing nicknames for themselves and code words for guns and ammunition. They referred to Moise as the rat and a thief in text messages, and to the coup operation as the party, according to the criminal complaint charging the three defendants. Also firearms were described as instruments.

In plotting out the operation, the suspects were counting on the presidents unpopularity and hoping for protests to provide them cover for his overthrow as they also placed their bets on getting immunity from a Supreme Court judge. The judge, Windelle Coq Thelot, who wasnt named in the complaint, emerged as the new contender to replace Moise after the group decided that a South Florida pastor and physician, Christian Emmanuel Sanon, lacked both popular support and the constitutional requirement to either be president or prime minister of Haiti.

According to the criminal complaint, Ortiz and Intriago began discussions in February 2021 with Sanon, who had opposed Moises administration and had aspirations to become president. CTU agreed to support Sanon in his efforts and by the end of April, another company, Worldwide Capital Lending Corp., was brought into the scheme. The companys owner, Veintemilla, agreed to finance CTUs support for Sanon and provided a $175,000 line of credit to Sanon on April 30, 2021, the complaint said. The agreement was executed by Intriago and Veintemilla, and Ortiz signed as a witness.

Veintemilla, an Ecuador native who lives in Weston, would be repaid with future Haitian assets in a peaceful transition of power, Veintemillas lawyer previously told the Miami Herald.

An FBI investigator argued otherwise in the complaint. Referring to messages between Veintemilla and Ortiz, he said electronic evidence establishes that Veintemilla knew that the operation involved President Moises forcible and violent removal, rather than a peaceful transition of power.

Veintemilla expected to reap significant financial benefits through Worldwide should in fact President Moise be replaced as president, as did Ortiz and Intriago through CTU, Lapointe said. Further planning and spending continued in South Florida from April to June 2021.

The joint probe by the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations initially targeted suspects apprehended in Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and Haiti, several of whom have been relocated to Miami while they await trial. Now, the investigation has zeroed in on the South Florida network that planned a violent takeover of Haitis presidency in the months leading up to the assassination, authorities said. That connection to South Florida enabled the U.S. Attorneys Office to file conspiracy charges here in the killing of a foreign leader.

Haitian-American pastor/politician Christian Emmanuel Sanon, second from left, stands next to Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, Antonio Tony Intriago and an unidentified man in front of an airplane prior to the July 7, 2021, assassination of Haitis president.

According to FBI criminal complaints, Intriago, Ortiz and Veintemilla played distinct roles in an initial plan aiming to arrest and kidnap Haitis president after Moise returned from a state visit to Turkey in June 2021, and then in a final plot to kill him weeks later on July 7 inside his hillside home in the suburbs of metropolitan Port-au-Prince.

Sanon hired Intriagos company, CTU Security, and then Intriago and Ortiz recruited Colombians with military experience from a closed WhatsApp group of former soldiers to provide security for Sanon, sources told the Herald. They then supplied them with rifles, ammunition and ballistic vests, according to the complaints unsealed Tuesday.

As early as April 2021, U.S. investigators said, meetings were held in the Miami and Fort Lauderdale area to discuss financing, logistics, acquiring weapons and military equipment, and security in the initial plan to remove Moise from power and replace him with Sanon, the 64-year-old Haitian-American pastor and doctor.

In fact, a meeting at the Tower Club in Fort Lauderdale that Haitian authorities initially said had occurred in May actually took place on April 7, 2021. A photograph showed several of the suspects sitting around the table. Ortiz was present, though he did not appear in the photo, according to the criminal complaint.

At the April meetings, CTU represented that it was associated with the United States Department of Justice and/or the FBI and took steps to falsely suggest that the United States Government sanctioned its operational plan, the complaint said.

READ MORE: New details emerge in Haiti presidents slaying as newly charged suspects appear in court

Before his arrest, Intriago, a Venezuelan emigre, had maintained through his defense attorneys that he provided only bodyguard services for Sanon through CTU Security as part of Sanons presidential aspirations and knew nothing about a plot to kill Moise.

One of the attorneys, Joseph Tesmond, had confirmed to the Herald that Intriago was arrested around 6 a.m. Tuesday. He no longer represents the businessman. Intriago was assigned a new attorney in court Tuesday after declaring he could not afford private representation.

The attorney from the federal public defenders office assigned to Ortiz on Tuesday declined to comment. Ortiz, was an active FBI informant at the time of the presidents assassination, several sources previously told the newspaper. A Colombian national, he once testified in a cartel case for the agency.

The complaint, which acknowledged Ortizs FBI ties, said at one point Ortiz and some of his co-conspirators met with FBI investigators on or around April 6, 2021, to discuss Haiti. During the discussion, Ortiz and the others attempted to draw FBI investigators into a discussion about regime change in Haiti.

In response, an FBI agent told the men, in substance, that the FBI could not help them because Haiti had to solve its own political problems, the complaint said.

A Haitian American who allegedly helped coordinate logistics behind the scenes was James Solages, who quit his job at a nursing home in Palm Beach County to go work for CTUs security firm. It was Solages who introduced Intriago to Sanon. He was CTUs representative in Haiti prior to the assassination.

During the course of the conspiracy, Solages and the others exchanged a number of written and audio messages. In one such exchange on April 20, 2021, Ortiz told Solages that the current President [of Haiti] is the thief ... delete the messages that could compromise you in case of being captured, the complaint said. The next day, Solages sent Ortiz a list of military equipment needed for the operation. This included M-4 rifles, M-60 machine guns, Kalashnikov rifles, combat boots, hand grenades, gas mask, bulletproof vests and over 20,000 rounds of ammunition.

The plan, according to the criminal complaint, appeared to have initially targeted Moise while he was at the presidential palace.

On April 27, 2021, Ortiz sent a text to German Rivera Garcia, a retired Colombian officer known as Colonel Mike, of a whiteboard with a drawing of the assault plan for the palace, whose structure collapsed in the Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake. The whiteboard, according to the complaint, appears to describe the use of snipers and a militia team consisting of 10 warriors, neutralizers and shows palace security. On May 6, 2021, Ortiz forwarded the same photo to Veintemilla.

By May 22, Ortiz was warning Solages about losing control and that he could get 25 years in prison for conspiracy as an American citizen. You have to be very careful with everything you say, especially in a group, and I know you were very uncomfortable with everything I was saying, losing control, he wrote, according to the complaint.

On June 2, 2021, Solages texted Intriago a photograph of himself sitting around a table with the message conducting the hitting plans right now. Also in the photograph: Joseph Vincent, a former Drug Enforcement Administration confidential informant who lived in South Florida; John Joel Joseph, a former Haitian senator, and other conspirators, the complaint said. The next day, Veintemilla messaged Bergmann that he just wired 15K to James [Solages] for screws. That same day, Intriago alerted Solages that the 15K on the way and please make it happens [sic].

According to the complaint, Veintemilla had provided the $15,000 to Solages to purchase ammunition. Also in their communication, he was reminded by Intriago that the Colombian nationals would need weapons and Solages needed to obtain a variety of firearms, referred to as short drills and long ones, for the operation.

Using coded terms like screws, nails and tools to refer to weapons and ammunition, communication between co-conspirators was a calculated plan encouraged to carry out civil unrest that resulted in [Moises] death, DOJs Olsen said, adding that the company owners had hoped to reap a windfall from security contracts following the presidents demise.

At the end of January, Solages and Sanon were transferred from Haitian custody to U.S. authorities along with two other suspects: Vincent and Rivera, the latter one of the alleged leaders of the deadly attack, according to criminal complaints.

A photograph displayed by Haitian authorities shows Walter Veintemilla, standing and at right, in a Fort Lauderdale conference room, with, among others, Christian Emmanuel Sanon, upper right, the man who wanted to rule Haitil, and Antonio Tony Intriago, upper left, Doral security consultant. Also present: James Solages, far left, a Haitian American from Broward County. All have now been arrested as alleged participants in the plot to kill President Jovenel Moise.

Solages, Vincent and Rivera are charged with conspiring to kidnap or kill Haitis president, while Sanon is charged with conspiring to smuggle the ballistic vests from Miami to Port-au-Prince for the Colombian commandos. The shipment lacked the required export license from the U.S. Department of Commerce and the required export information, a complaint charging Sanon said.

All four new defendants have their arraignments on Wednesday.

The other defendants charged in the assassination case and currently in a federal detention lockup in Miami include Mario Antonio Palacios Palacios, an ex-Colombian soldier; Rodolphe Jaar, a convicted drug trafficker who once cooperated with the U.S. government; and Joseph, the former Haitian senator who participated in several meetings. They were arrested last year after fleeing Haiti and charged with conspiring to kidnap or kill Haitis president, pleaded not guilty and are scheduled for trial in late March.

READ MORE: How a Miami plot to oust a president led to a murder in Haiti

A group of about 20 Colombian nationals with military training were recruited to assist in the operation, and began arriving in Haiti around June 2021, according to a criminal complaint charging Solages, Vincent and Rivera. One of the lead Colombian nationals in charge of the group was Rivera. The other, Duberney Capador Giraldo, was killed along with two other former soldiers by Haitian police after the killing.

Soon, the goal of ousting Moise in Haiti escalated from a kidnapping scheme to an assassination plot.

Moise, who returned to Haiti from an official overseas trip to Turkey with his wife and others on June 19, 2021, was unaware of the plan. That plan was aborted when the getaway plane never arrived.

On June 28, 2021, Solages and Intriago exchanged text messages in which Intriago asked: When do you think were going to have all the instruments ready for the party? Instruments were a reference to weapons and party to the removal of the president. Then later that day, Solages traveled from Haiti to South Florida carrying a purported immunity letter dated June 22, 2021. It requested assistance from CTUs Intriago, and promised immunity, protection and security.

The letter was signed by Thelot, who denied its authenticity in a Herald interview. In the complaint, an investigator said the signature on the letter did not match previous signatures by the judge and he could not collaborate its authenticity.

READ MORE: Ex-rebel leader known as the torturer is arrested in Haiti presidents assassination

According to multiple witness interviews and cellphone records obtained by the Herald, on July 6, 2021, several conspirators (including Solages, Vincent and Rivera) met prior to the assassination at a house not far from Moises residence. Firearms and equipment were distributed, and Solages falsely told those gathered that it was a CIA Operation, and, in substance, said that the mission was to kill President Moise, the complaint said.

Hours later, several conspirators drove in a convoy to President Moises residence, with Solages, Vincent and Rivera traveling in the same vehicle, the complaint said.

Once they arrived outside President Moises residence, Solages announced that they were engaged in a DEA Operation to ensure compliance from President Moises security and other civilians, the complaint said. A subset of Colombian conspirators was assigned to find the President and assassinate him, and in fact the President was killed.

This screenshot from the website of CTU Security in Doral shows its president, Venezuelan emigre Antonio Tony Intriago. Jailed Colombians accused of participating in the July 7, 2021, assassination of Haitis president claim they were hired by Intriagos company CTU Security.

After they were brought into custody in Haiti, Solages told FBI agents that by mid-June 2021, he knew the plan was to kill Haitis president, according to the complaint. Vincent told agents that the initial plan was to remove Moise from office or eliminate him completely. But the idea of killing him became acceptable to the group a few days before the assassination. Rivera also told agents that the assassination was the ultimate goal and that the presidents arrest was a pretense, the complaint said.

Moise was riddled with 12 bullets allegedly fired by the Colombian commandos. His wife, Martine, was wounded during the assault at the home. Their children were not injured.

Parallel U.S. and Haitian investigations into the assassination have unfolded during a period of unprecedented gang violence and political upheaval in Haiti. More than 40 people, including 18 Colombian nationals and three Haitian Americans with ties to South Florida, were arrested in Haiti in connection with the assassination. So far, no one has been formally charged in Haiti.

The Haitian governments probe is currently on its fifth investigative judge and has regained a bit of momentum after being stalled due to the turnover of judges.

El Nuevo Herald reporter Antonio Maria Delgado contributed to this report.
By Exec Edge Editorial Staff

Whether youre saving for retirement or simply want to increase your net worth, investing can be an astute way to create long-term wealth. While investors can always manage their own investments  or opt for robo-advisers to do most of the heavy lifting  many prefer a hands-off approach and hire a financial advisor.

St. Jamess Place offers expert advice and investment management to help its clients better manage their money, delivered by its network of over 4,600 advisors across the UK.

With so many investment options out there, what makes St. James Place different? Lets look at how SJP handles investor portfolios.

Is SJP a Good Place To Invest?

Critics give a resounding yes.

St. Jamess Place has a solid track record that makes it a viable option for investors. While investments are risky by nature, its possible to mitigate that risk by going with an established investment management firm like SJP.

SJP ranks well in terms of asset safeguards, diversification, quality of service, balanced investment approach, and value for money.

Asset Safeguards

While investments are never a sure thing, investors often worry about the reliability of the banks and firms where they invest their money. The good news is that in the unlikely event that SJP experiences financial difficulty or becomes insolvent, there are solid protections in place.

SJP has several asset safeguards in place, including asset-backed investments in which SJP ensures it holds enough assets to back up your investments. This way, the business has enough funds if you choose to withdraw your money.

SJP features unit trust protections. In the unlikely event that SJP liquidates, the trust structure will protect your assets. If you have a unit trust, youre covered by the direction of the fund trustees, as well as the Financial Services and Markets Act. Youre also able to pursue redress with arbitration.

Another thing to consider is regulatory protection. SJP follows regulations from the Financial Conduct Authority, the Prudential Regulation Authority, and the Central Bank of Ireland. Because of these regulations, SJP has a solvency margin, which is a buffer it keeps to meet its liabilities.

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Theres also industry compensation. This doesnt apply to all investments, but certain SJP investment products qualify for the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. If SJP ever becomes insolvent, the scheme will ensure youre compensated for those lost funds  provided you have the right investment type. If you invest with SJP, review the fine print to see if your investment product qualifies for this type of compensation.

Diversified Products, Funds, and Managers

SJPs job is to help its clients grow their wealth and generate income through expert advice, investment solutions, and regular reviews. But its also a good place to invest, thanks to its diversified approach to products, funds, and even its fund managers.

Your investments can be spread across different asset types, including offshore investments in foreign countries, unit trusts, investment bonds, and individual savings accounts.

SJP uses fund managers with different investment styles to reduce risk. This helps the firm maintain your investment strategy according to your investment goals, all while mitigating as much risk as possible.

Quality of Service

SJP is known for its investor-first approach. In fact, the firm tracks over 30 customer service metrics on call handling, money processing, withdrawals, complaints, and more. Over the past 12 months, 90% of SJPs service metrics were performing well.

SJP is also known for its high-quality team of investment experts, which sets it apart from other investment options. A robo-adviser is a passive investment option. SJP offers active investment management, which can help clients take advantage of more timely opportunities to potentially grow their money in the long term. Since a professional manages everything for you, you get the benefit of experience and active management  without lifting a finger yourself.

Disciplined Approach to Investing

SJP takes its responsibilities to its clients seriously. In 2021 alone, the firm had 471 internal research and monitoring meetings, which shows its dedication to performance, accuracy, and risk management. SJP believes that long-term holdings can help create the most wealth for its clients, as well as its disciplined approach to investing.

SJP follows these seven core investment beliefs to make better investment decisions for its clients:

Great client outcomes Asset allocations that best meet the funds objective Diversification of assets between fund managers to smooth out long-term performance Active management and informed decisions Understanding risks Disciplined research Responsibly investing in environmental, social, and governance

Are St. Jamess Place expensive?

SJPs charges are similar to competing options in the U.K., Europe, and the U.S. Sure, there are cheaper offerings, but they dont include advice, which is SJPs biggest selling point.

In terms of pricing, SJP clients pay for both advice and the products for which they sign up. For investment bonds and pensions, clients pay an advice fee thats 4.5% of the initial investment plus a 0.5% annual charge for ongoing advice, and an initial product charge of 1.5% of your total investment plus an annual product management charge of 1%. However, SJP waives the 1% fee for the first six years of each investment, and charges for select funds, depending on how you invest.

For individual savings accounts and unit trusts, clients pay an advice fee thats 4.5% of the initial investment, plus a 0.5% annual charge for ongoing advice, an initial product charge of 0.5%, and an investment management fee, depending on the funds you select.

SJP is rated as a good value for the money by 80% of customers, and the firm has a surprisingly low long-term attrition rate, too.

St. Jamess Place: A Value-Laden Option for Long-Term Growth

When it comes to investing, you have a lot of options to choose from. Robo-advisers are an increasingly popular option today, but if you want the benefits of active investment management  without managing it all yourself  opting for a professional firm like SJP could be worth the money.

SJP safeguards your assets, diversifies its products, funds, and managers, offers high-quality service, takes a disciplined approach to investing, and offers good value for the money.

Contact:

executives-edge.com

Editor@executives-edge.com
David Livingston / Getty Images for Fashion Media

If Leslie Grace had it her way, Batgirl would be flying high right about now.

Warner Bros. Discovery shelved the DC film in August after disappointing test screenings despite a reported $90 million spent on its production . However, Grace, who starred in the film as the titular superhero, recently saw portions of the film and stands by it.

The film that I got to see  the scenes that were there  was incredible, she said in a Variety interview published Monday. There was definitely potential for a good film, in my opinion.

Grace was set to be the first Afro-Latina to play the role of Barbara Gordon, aka Batgirl, before the film was canned. She said she first found out about the shelving through a New York Post article.

It was like deflating a balloon, Grace said. On that day, I was very much just taking it all in, but also so sure of the magic that happened  in my experience and what I saw in my cast, in our team  that I was like, This must be some crazy thing that we have no control over.

Following the news, Grace still asked to see the uncompleted film that, like the version that was screen-tested, had missing scenes. Maybe well get to see clips of it later on, she said.

Grace relied on her optimism to help her cope with the loss of the film.

I just really leaned on the beauty of the idea that I got to have this experience in my life, Grace said. Even though I wouldve loved to share that with the rest of the world, nothing can take that experience away from us.

All hope isnt lost just yet, as Batgirls wings may have not been fully clipped. Grace told Variety there are still conversations about her version of the superhero appearing in future DC projects. However, she has not yet talked to DCs new co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran .

I cant say one way or the other if that is a reality at this point. I cant speak too much about a future for Batgirl or guarantee anything, Grace said. The last thing that I would want to do is give folks any kind of inkling of something that I have not much control over  as weve learned.

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Representatives at Warner Bros. Discovery did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Graces statements and the future of the actors role as Batgirl.

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Starbucks broke the law by firing two union leaders, making illegal threats and surveilling baristas who agitated for better working conditions in Philadelphia, the National Labor Relations Board ruled Monday.

The three-member panels decision affirms a judges findings in 2021 that the coffee chain violated employees rights repeatedly in late 2019 and early 2020, when baristas were pushing the company to guarantee predictable work schedules and address discrimination based on race and LGBTQ status. The board has ordered Starbucks to offer reinstatement and back pay to the two fired workers, Tristan Bussiere and Echo Nowakowska.

Starbucks has denied that it retaliates against workers for trying to organize their stores, but in this case the judge found nearly every violation alleged to have been committed by the company, the board noted. Starbucks challenged almost all of the judges findings unsuccessfully.

We disagree with the decision and are considering all options to obtain a full legal review of the matter, a Starbucks spokesperson said in a statement.

Philadelphia Baristas United, the organizing effort in that city,preceded a larger Starbucks union campaign that began in 2021 and has led to hundreds of stores around the country forming unions. But the findings in the Philadelphia case track with the many allegations made by workers in the nationwide organizing push  namely, that Starbucks has closely monitored union leaders and targeted them for retribution.

I wanted to share that were keeping an even closer eye on [the Philadelphia store].A Starbucks manager in an email

When Bussiere and Nowakowska began talking with a union organizer in 2018, their manager alerted a regional director and a human resources official, who then interviewed workers at their store. Human resources took the concern all the way to an executive vice president at the company.

After workers at the store submitted a petition related to discrimination, health, safety and other issues, Starbucks media relations department began monitoring their activity on Instagram, tracking who liked, shared or commented on their posts, according to filings.

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One manager sent a concerned email marked urgent and confidential, noting that baristas were asking questions about sick leave and scheduling. It feels like the energy in the store is ramping up again with partners looking to add demands to their work environment without wanting to have real conversations about them, the manager wrote, using the chains terminology for its employees.

Starbucks workers and union supporters at a rally in New York City in October. The National Labor Relations Board ruled Monday that the company illegally retaliated against baristas in Philadelphia.

Starbucks workers and union supporters at a rally in New York City in October. The National Labor Relations Board ruled Monday that the company illegally retaliated against baristas in Philadelphia.

I wanted to share that were keeping an even closer eye on the store, a human resources manager wrote to a superior. He said the company should move with urgency but be tactical about it.

Managers eventually reduced Nowakowskas hours by as much as 40% and then fired her. They also issued a written warning against Bussiere and later fired him as well.

The company claimed the firings were legitimate and due to performance issues, but both the judge and the labor board found that the workers organizing efforts were a motivating factor in the companys actions, making them illegal. They also rejected Starbucks argument that the workers should not be reinstated because they had violated both company policy and Pennsylvania state law by recording conversations with their manager.

The coast-to-coast Starbucks organizing campaign, which is spearheaded by the union Workers United, has led to hundreds of similar accusations of illegal union busting at the company.

The NLRBs general counsel, who functions as a prosecutor for labor law, has found merit in many of those allegations, issuing more than 75 complaints against Starbucks covering 237 unfair labor practice charges around the country, a board spokesperson said Monday. Judges have issued decisions in just seven of those cases so far. As the Philadelphia ruling demonstrates, it often takes years for a case to make its way through the labor board with appeals.

The Starbucks workers who have unionized at nearly 300 stores are now in the process of trying to bargain their first contracts with the company, a notoriously difficult and long process. In November, the labor board ruled that Starbucks was not bargaining in good faith with workers who had unionized in the chains home city of Seattle.
State officials are seeking to recover more than $345,000 from a former North Florida prosecutor who drew the money from a retirement account before pleading guilty to corruption charges.

The State Board of Administration, which oversees retirement funds, filed a lawsuit Monday in Leon County circuit court against Jeffrey Siegmeister, who served from 2013 to 2019 as state attorney in the 3rd Judicial Circuit in Columbia, Dixie, Hamilton, Lafayette, Madison, Suwannee and Taylor counties.

Siegmeister, 54, pleaded guilty last year to federal conspiracy, wire-fraud and tax charges that, in part, involved allegations that he sought bribes from a defense attorney in exchange for giving favorable treatment to the attorneys clients. The conspiracy charges related to bribery and extortion.

Siegmeister was sentenced in October to 40 months in prison and is an inmate at a minimum-security federal prison camp in Pensacola, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website.

Information attached to the lawsuit said Siegmeister received four distributions, totaling $345,524, in 2020 from his 401(k)-style investment plan account in the Florida Retirement System.

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The lawsuit pointed to part of the Florida Constitution that says public officials convicted of felonies involving a breach of the public trust forfeit their retirement benefits.

Defendant has therefore forfeited his right to the investment plan funds due to him based on his plea and conviction of the four federal felony crimes that were committed within the course and scope or period of his employment with his employer, the States Attorney Division (of the state Justice Administrative Commission), the lawsuit said.

Retirement officials sent a notice in December to Siegmeister about forfeiture of the money. The lawsuit said he did not challenge the notice or pay back the money.

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A sentencing order in October also required Siegmeister to pay $518,803 in restitution related to his plea in the wire-fraud charge. Siegmeister was accused of defrauding a probate court and an estate while serving as a volunteer guardian of a man, according to a news release last year from the U.S. Department of Justice.

While serving as the voluntary guardian, Siegmeister admitted to inflating the expenditures incurred by L.T. (the man) in a filing to the probate court and to diverting more than $500,000 in assets from L.T.s estate to pay Siegmeisters own personal expenditures in 2015 and 2016, the Justice Department news release said. Siegmeister also admitted that he had failed to report the diverted funds on his tax returns.

The Florida Supreme Court last year revoked Siegmeisters law license after he pleaded guilty to the charges.

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Stephanie Mason, a member of the Staunton School Board, recently returned from a month-long trip to Africa to study West Africa drum and dance. She hopes to use some of what she learned to help teach students in Staunton City Schools.

STAUNTON  Just prior to the pandemic, Stephanie Mason and her Staunton High School step team were invited to take part in Harrisonburg's International Festival. That's where she first met Mike Deaton, a local musician who studies West African drumming.

His performance captivated Mason, who wanted to bring what Deaton did to her step team members. Mason played the piano, but not many other instruments, focusing instead on dance, but she realized drumming and dancing were very similar, saying the rhythms go hand-in-hand.

"So then I had to get my own drum and then did it with the step team and if I'm going to play an instrument, I want to take classes with the instrument," Mason said. "Then Mike and I became friends and it just like spiraled from there."

Recently, Mason returned from a month-long trip to Africa to continue studying drumming and dancing.

Formerly a Spanish teacher at both Shelburne Middle and Staunton High, Mason was struggling with burnout. COVID, plus the usual stress of teaching, was weighing on her, but it was a personal tragedy that really took a toll on Mason. Her partner died in a car wreck in April 2021, leaving Mason lost. She decided she needed a change from teaching, so she left the profession following the spring of 2022.

"After I quit teaching I thought this is the perfect time to do something crazy," Mason said. "If I had a full-time job, I wouldn't have been able to go for four weeks. It was a perfect transitionary period."

In Africa, she studied under Bolokada Conde, a master on the djembe, a goblet-shaped drum traditionally carved from a single piece of African hardwood and topped with an animal skin as a drumhead. Conde, originally from Morowaya, Guinea, is prolific in Malinke rhythms, traveling the world with Les Percussion du Guinee. He also teaches and performs in the United States.

Mason met Conde at a Sawah African drum and dance festival in New Jersey. He told her she was a natural with the rhythms and asked her to consider a trip to Africa where she could study further. At the time she had no idea who he was or that he was famous in the world of West African drumming. She didn't find out until she mentioned it to Deaton.

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"A lot of the African drummers, they're really talented, really skilled, but their teaching skills are lacking," Mason said. "He's one of the rare ones, a great teacher in addition to being a great drummer and a great dancer."

A lot of her ability to go to Africa hinged on winning a school board seat. After quitting teaching, Mason ran for an open seat on the Staunton School board this past November. She spent last semester as a long-term sub at Shelburne, but knew that if she won the election she'd not return to Shelburne, opening up an opportunity to travel to Africa. If she had lost the election she said the trip would have been up in the air. She won.

Mason left for the trip Jan. 6, flying from Washington, D.C. to New York to Paris to Freetown, Sierra Leone, on the border of Guinea. During the trip, the group traveled throughout Guinea, with stops in Conakry, Morowaya, Kouroussa, and Kissidougou.

The trip to Morowaya was maybe the most interesting.

"To get there, you had to literally drive through a river," Mason said. "The people got out and pushed the vans to get there. There was no accessible road."

Notes on learning the djembe, a West African drum, taken by Stephanie Mason. The Staunton School Board member recently spent a month in Guinea learning drum and dance.

Days consisted of a 90-minute drum class and a 90-minute dance class both in the morning and afternoon, with a break for lunch. They ate dinner around 8 or 9 p.m. Travel days were usually a full-day as well. The group stayed with Conde, who had houses in three of the cities. The money the group spent on the classes went to help the people in the cities they visited.

What the students learned in class they got to perform with the people living in the villages.

"One of the villages was getting their first road," Mason said. "So we learned a rhythm that is played for getting new roads, and then we played it. It was not just a performance, we performed it in the correct context, which was invaluable."

Mason would like to take the experiences from this trip and bring it back to the students of Staunton. She's reaching out to teachers throughout the division, offering to come with her djembe and work with students on West African rhythm and dance.

She'd like to share her experiences with language classes about the challenges she faced with a group of 16 people speaking several languages that ranged from Maninka to French to Chinese to Spanish. She also would like to share the experience of living in another culture for a month, learning to think on her feet and navigate something completely different than what she's used to.

This isn't the end of her studying West African drumming and dancing, either.

"I'll be taking drum classes from Mike Deaton soon to further my studies," Mason said. "He does drumming for wellness classes, and does other cool rhythm workshops in the area. The learning never stops."

More:New location, more food options for Waynesboro's The Barn Restaurant

More:Blue tint in water leads to drug dealing charge against Staunton man

 Patrick Hite is The News Leader's education reporter. Story ideas and tips always welcome. Contact Patrick (he/him/his) at phite@newsleader.com and follow him on Twitter @Patrick_Hite. Subscribe to us at newsleader.com.

This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Stephanie Mason travels to Guinea to study West African drumming, dancing
Stefanos Tsitsipas made a winning return to action (James Manning/PA) (PA Wire)

Stefanos Tsitsipas made a winning return in his first match since the Australian Open final.

The Greek world number three, beaten in straight sets by Novak Djokovic in Melbourne last month, overcame Finlands Emil Ruusuvuori 7-5 6-1 to reach the last 16 of the ATP 500 event in Rotterdam.

Ruusuvuori won just four games in their only previous meeting, in Stockholm last year.

The 23-year-old had matched that tally in the opening set as he led 4-3 with a break.

But he was unable to serve out the set as top seed Tsitsipas broke twice, taking the last four games to edge ahead.

The second set was far more straightforward for Tsitsipas, 24, who wrapped up the victory in an hour and 32 minutes.
Northern region faces long cold weather

A long-lasting cold front has affected the northern region of Vietnam, with temperatures forecasted to fall to below nine degrees centigrade in mountainous areas.



According to the National Centre for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting, the cold weather has affected most northeastern localities since early this morning. The cold wave would continue hitting many localities in the central region of Vietnam.





A long-lasting cold front has affected the northern region of Vietnam





The northern region would see a temperature of 14-17 degrees centigrade, dropping possibly below nine degrees centigrade in some mountainous areas.



Hanoi would have a temperature of between 15 to 20 degrees centigrade.



This cold spell has been predicted to last until February 18. Areas from Quang Binh to Thua Thien-Hue would experience temperatures of 16-19 degrees centigrade.
A man walks near a building that leans on a neighbouring house in Golbasi, Turkey, Monday, Feb. 13, 2023. Thousands left homeless by a massive earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria a week ago packed into crowded tents or lined up in the streets for hot meals Monday, while the desperate search for anyone still alive likely entered its last hours. Members of the Muslim Education Center in Morton Grove and Turkish American Society of Chicago in Mount Prospect mourned victims and worried about their relatives there. (Francisco Seco / AP)

North suburban residents are helping to organize vigils and donations, including clothing and medical supplies, for those affected by a massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake that wreaked havoc across Turkey and Syria Feb. 6.

Hatice Savas, a physician and member of Morton Groves Muslim Education Center and mosque (MEC), said much of the relief effort is taking place in coordination with the Turkish Consulate General in Chicago.

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On Feb. 9, the Turkish American Society of Chicago held a vigil for earthquake victims at its center in Mount Prospect, said Hasan Ali Yurtsever, director of Huddled Masses, which he described as a nonprofit human rights organization that has since 2016 been aiding those escaping political uncertainty in Turkey.

Yurtesver estimated about 5,000 Turks live in the Chicago area.

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Savas, of Glenview, is one of them, having lived in the U.S. since 2004. Most of her family is still in Turkey, and she has friends and relatives in the affected area, who she said are physically safe but otherwise completely disoriented.

Her cousin and his wife, both teachers, had to flee their building in the city of Hatay in the middle of the night in pajamas, she said. They were luckier than many, however, because they were able to drive out of the city to reach family in a different part of the country.

They are safe, but they have no idea whats going on, she said.

Savas said her brother, also a doctor, is helping with rescue and relief efforts.

Not being closer to where the help is needed is very hard on Savas.

You do have to be thankful youre not there; On the other hand you are so destroyed, she said.

Some of the organizing efforts is coming from the MEC Womens Committee, where some of the leaders are collecting money and buying from Walmart, Costco -- brand new stuff and theyre bringing it to donation centers, she said.

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Savas noted that the MEC runs contribution efforts for many different causes and said she hopes other organizations will follow suit.

They offered to help; we didnt ask them to help, she said.

The Turkish Consulate in Chicago and AFAD, the Turkish disaster and emergency management agency, are coordinating much of the humanitarian response throughout Chicagoland.

The Turkish American Religious Foundation and the Turkish American Cultural Alliance are collecting money, clothes, medical supplies and other essentials like diapers to send to people whose lives were upended by the quake.

This time it happened to Turkey but we dont know next time where its going to happen, Savas said. It can happen anywhere, anytime. So they should treat the people over there like how they would want to be treated if this happened [here].

Chicagoans and suburbanites with donations can bring items to the Turkish Consulate General in Chicago, 455 N. Cityfront Plaza Drive, Chicago; to the Turkish American Cultural Alliance Foundation, 3845 N. Harlem Avenue, Chicago, or to the Turkish American Religious Foundation office on the 7450 Skokie Blvd., Skokie, 847-673-4072.

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Yurtsever said the Turkish American Society of Chicago has set up a GoFundMe account, and that he also recommends donations to Embrace Relief, which has an excellent rating on Charity Navigator, which rates charities on various criteria.
A decision on providing Ukraine with Western fighter jets is "not the most urgent issue now," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Feb. 14 ahead of a meeting of the alliance's ministers. "But it is an ongoing discussion," he added.

"The urgent need now is to deliver what has always been promisedWe need the training, we need the equipment, we need the ammunition, and that's exactly what Allies are now providing and will be a top issue at the meetings today here at NATO," Stoltenberg told reporters.

Earlier, several Western officials also told the Financial Times that Ukraine's needs for ammunition and air defense outweighed longer-term requests, such as for fighter jets, as Russia has reportedly started its new offensive.

According to FT sources, Ukraine's allies will commit to supplying additional munitions and air defense equipment to the country at the 9th Ramstein summit, which is taking place on the sidelines of the NATO Defense Ministers' Meeting in Brussels.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Feb. 9 that "several" European leaders expressed readiness to provide Ukraine with fighter jets and other necessary weapons without providing further details.

Meanwhile, only Poland has publicly shown readiness to send fighter jets to Ukraine  but it said the delivery needs NATO approval. The West has been reluctant to transfer aircraft to Ukraine amid fears of escalating tensions with Russia  especially just after green-lighting modern tanks for Ukraine.






The recent takedown of a spy balloon further exacerbated tensions between China and the U.S. as lawmakers look to ban TikTok, the popular social media platform, from U.S. devices, such as phones and tablets.

Given TikTok's ties to China, the social media app is among the national security concerns some U.S. lawmakers harbor against Beijing and its aggressive surveillance tactics.

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Legislation, introduced last month by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., would ban the app from being downloaded on any U.S. device as well as any commercial activity with the apps parent company, ByteDance.

The No TikTok on United States Devices Act follows Congress' decision to ban the app from government devices as part of its $1.7 trillion spending bill last December.

What are the security concerns?

FBI Director Christopher Wray told the House Homeland Security Committee during a hearing last November that he was "extremely concerned" about China weaponizing data collected through TikTok. He warned that the government could use the social media application to influence users or control their devices.

Wray also testified that APIs  application programming interfaces  that the ByteDance embeds in the platform are a threat to national security. That's because the Chinese government could "control data collection of millions of users or control the recommendation algorithm, which can be used for influence operations," the FBI chief told lawmakers.

TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter pushed back against the notion that the company has ties to the Chinese government because it's privately owned.

However, Wray and other U.S. officials are concerned about Beijing's ability to access personal data under China's national security laws because they say the Chinese Communist Party can require ByteDance to share the data collected.

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TikTok executives have said that the Chinese government has not asked for U.S. user data and that they wouldn't share the information even if asked, according to Oberwetter.

"That app is accessing their email, their photos, their contact list. It is following their keystrokes and the websites that they visit," Hawley told Marc Cox, the host of the Marc Cox Morning Show. "And all of that info can be accessed by the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing. That's the truth of it, and that's why we need to stop this."

Oberwetter refuted Hawley's claims, telling USA TODAY in a statement that the app doesn't access users' emails, follow keystrokes, or track websites visited by users through their browsers outside of the app.

The app also doesn't access users' photos, videos, or contacts unless the user allows it, Oberwetter adds.

The social media platform does collect email and IP addresses, phone numbers and users' approximate locations, according to the Washington Post.

Federal proposals to ban TikTok come after a growing number of states imposed their own restrictions, mainly prohibiting the app on state government-issued or controlled devices. Universities are also joining the effort, restricting access to TikTok on campuses.

A large balloon drifts above the Kingstown, N.C., area, with an airplane and its contrail seen below it. The United States says it is a Chinese spy balloon that was moving east over America at an altitude of about 60,000 feet.

What would the No TikTok on United States Devices Act do?

The bill would direct the president, through the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, to block and impose sanctions on any U.S. transactions with ByteDance, within 30 days of its passage.

The director of national intelligence would be required to brief Congress and submit a report detailing the national security risks TikTok poses. That would include the Chinese governments ability to access U.S. user data, use the data for intelligence or military purposes and monitor or manipulate Americans through the data accessed through the app.

What is TikTok saying?

The social media platform has been working with the Treasury Department's Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States over the past two years to address national security concerns, Oberwetter wrote in a statement.

Oberwetter noted that the plan will address "key issues of corporate governance, content recommendation and moderation, data security, and system access" as well as ensure that there are no "backdoors" to manipulate the platform.

"Calls for total bans of TikTok take a piecemeal approach to national security and a piecemeal approach to broad industry issues like data security, privacy, and online harms," Oberwetter added. "We hope that lawmakers will focus their energies on efforts to address those issues holistically, rather than pretending that banning a single service would solve any of the problems they're concerned about or make Americans any safer."

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is set to testify on the platform's consumer privacy and data security practices and its ties to the Chinese government on March 23 during a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing.

Contributing: Tom Vanden Brook and Natalie Neysa Alund.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Congress weighing TikTok ban following Chinese spy balloon discovery
Smoke rises from a derailed cargo train in East Palestine, Ohio, on February 4, 2023. - The train accident sparked a massive fire and evacuation orders, officials and reports said Saturday. No injuries or fatalities were reported after the 50-car train came off the tracks late February 3 near the Ohio-Pennsylvania state border. The train was shipping cargo from Madison, Illinois, to Conway, Pennsylvania, when it derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. DUSTIN FRANZ/AFP via Getty Images

An Ohio train derailment prompted officials to conduct a "controlled release" of chemicals onboard.

A week later, local streams were full of dead fish and chickens have been found dead in their coop.

Officials said those who use private well water in the region should seek testing.

Days after a catastrophic train derailment prompted officials to conduct a "controlled release" of the toxic chemicals onboard, animals are dying at alarming rates in East Palestine, Ohio.

A woman in North Lima, roughly 11 miles away from the village of East Palestine, where the crash occurred, checked on her chicken coop on February 7 only to find her five hens and rooster laying lifeless, with no sign of a predator entering their enclosure.

"I'm beyond upset and quite panicked, 'cause this, they may be just chickens, but they're family," Amanda Breshears told local news outlet ABC27 WHTM.

Local officials said during a Tuesday press conference that most drinking water in the region is safe to drink. However, residents with private water sources were instructed to drink bottled water until the state can confirm the safety of their water source. The state Environmental Protection Agency is also monitoring air quality and indicated there is no reason for concern. But Breshears and other Ohio residents aren't fully convinced.

"My video camera footage shows my chickens were perfectly fine before they started this burn, and as soon as they started the burn, my chickens slowed down and they died," Breshears said. "If it can do this to chickens in one night, imagine what it's going to do to us in 20 years."

In addition to domesticated animals possibly suffering from the toxin exposure, locals have reported seeing streams full of dead fish in recent days. An official with the Ohio EPA confirmed toxic material had entered the waterways after the burn and killed fish but reiterated that drinking water is safe and air contaminant levels are not currently cause for concern.

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Officials with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources said Tuesday they had counted approximately 3,500 dead fish in four nearby waterways. In early sampling in the immediate days following the Feb. 3 crash, officials counted deaths among 12 different species, none of which are currently listed as endangered or threatened. Officials said they haven't noted any increase in the number of dead fish in recent days.

Onboard the train  which derailed in a fiery crash earlier this month  were highly flammable hazardous materials, including vinyl chloride, used to create a polymer that forms a popular plastic. Worried that the materials could explode, sending deadly shrapnel flying up to a mile through the air, officials conducted a "controlled release" of the chemicals and burnt them, sending a toxic cloud of black smoke into the air.

A train derailed near East Palestine, Ohio over the weekend. Gene J. Puskar/AP

Rail crews released the chemical by drilling a small hole into the tank car, an official with the railroad told local outlet WKYC.

"This will allow the material to come out of the tank car," Scott Deutsch, a Norfolk Southern Railroad official, said on Monday, prior to the fire, according to WKYC. "It will go into a pit and trench that we have dug and set up for this operation. Inside that trench will be flares lining that trench that then will light off the material."

Representatives from the East Palestine village council and the Ohio Governor's office did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.

Breshears' chickens weren't the only fatalities locals are attributing to the burn. Taylor Holzer, an East Palestine resident who rescues foxes, told Newsweek all four of his animals are experiencing signs of chemical exposure. One rescue fox had such severe symptoms it died before it could receive treatment.

"He went downhill very fast," Holzer said, adding that the fox had symptoms including diarrhea and breathing issues. "He crashed so fast and unexpectedly. He wasn't able to blink or function properly as he died in my arms."

UAE Exotic Falconry & Finance (@FalconryFinance) February 11, 2023

Officials with the Ohio Department of Agriculture said they haven't seen any widespread symptoms among community livestock to cause concern about how the chemicals may be impacting animals. A state veterinarian told reporters that any residents with dead animals should first call their private veterinarian to seek guidance and consultation.

Kurt Rhoads, an environmental engineer and associate professor at Care Western Reserve University, told local news outlet Cleveland 19 that the impact of the chemicals will be measured for years to come as they seep into the groundwater and likely impact wells used for drinking.

"If I try to make a scale of things you would not want to have in a derailed, toppled-over rail car that's leaking and burning this is also near the top of that list," Rhodes said. "I can think of some worse things but I would put it at a seven or an eight."

While the animal deaths initially alarmed residents, human health problems are also beginning to appear, even among residents who initially evacuated the area.

Chelsea Simpson, who lives near the site of the derailment, told The New Republic she has had a sore throat since the burn, and her 8-month-old baby has suffered respiratory issues that are being treated with a steroid. Simpson said her eyes were bloodshot and burning after visiting her home for just 10 minutes a few days ago, and she has yet to return.

"Re-entry air screenings are underway," read a Monday statement by the EPA sent to Insider. "As of yesterday evening, 291 homes have been screened. To date, no detections of vinyl chloride or hydrogen chloride were identified for the completed screened homes."

There are 181 homes in the area that have yet to be screened. It remains unclear whether the burn will have long-term effects on the environment or residents of the region, and residents are concerned over the limited information released so far.

"It kinda sucks we're all getting the majority of our information from fellow residents on Facebook," East Palestine local Liz Smith told The New Republic. "So it's hard to tell what's true or not."

Read the original article on Insider
Subaru is recalling more than 1,000 2023 Solterra EVs over an issue that could cause vehicles' wheels to fall off, the car manufacturer and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced last week.

According to the NHTSA's Thursday recall alert, "improperly tightened hub bolts" on certain 2023 Solterras can loosen and cause the wheels to detach. Some 1,182 of the cars are affected.

"Wheel detachment while driving can result in a loss of vehicle control, increasing the risk of a crash," NHTSA said last week.

The impacted cars were also the subject of an earlier recall announced in June. Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing recalled select 2023 Subaru Solterra and 2023 Toyota bZ4X cars due to the same issue of hub bolts possibly loosening after low-mileage use, according to the NHTSA.

2023 Subaru Solterra EV SUV charging at an EVgo public fast charging station.

Recalled: USA TODAY's database into food, cars and other products that have been recalled this year.

More: Honda, Toyota, Chevrolet among 131,000 recalled cars. Check latest car recalls here.

At the time of the June recall, owners of the impacted 2023 Solterras and bZ4Xs were advised not to drive their vehicles. Subaru and Toyota would "replace the hub bolts and wheels, free of charge," NHTSA noted.

In its Friday news release, Subaru said teams "did not properly complete the repair procedure," resulting in the possibility of improperly tightened hub bolts.

"Out of an abundance of caution, Subaru is recalling all vehicles repaired at all port locations supported by the third-party contractor. Vehicles without the original hub bolt concern and vehicles repaired at other facilities are not affected," Subaru said.

The manufacturer added that Subaru retailers will inspect the hub bolts of all other "potentially affected vehicles" and, if needed, retorque at no cost.

"Until the inspection/remedy is completed, please do not drive the vehicle," Subaru wrote on Friday.

2023 Solterra owners impacted by the recall will be contacted by mail. The letters are expected to be mailed on March 1, the NHSTA said.

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In an October update, Toyota confirmed that hub bolts would be replaced at no cost for impacted customers in the United States. As of the time of the update, Toyota said remedy parts were being prepared.

"The current recall from Subaru does not cover Toyota bZ4X vehicles," Toyota said in a statement sent to USA TODAY Tuesday afternoon.

"The remedy for the bZ4X has launched, and as of today 95% of the vehicles have been corrected. Parts are available, and we encourage any owner who has not had the remedy completed to schedule an appointment with any local Toyota dealer for the free repair."

Car owners can visit Toyota, Subaru and the NHSTA's recall pages to find out if their car is impacted using their Vehicle Identification Number or license plate information.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Subaru recalls 2023 Solterra for issue that can cause wheels to detach
Subaru has issued another recall for its battery electric Solterra crossover due to concerns that hub bolts on the wheels may loosen and cause it to detach.

Subaru said the issue affects 1,182 model year 2023 Subaru Solterra vehicles.

The 2023 Subaru Solterra EV and 2023 Toyota bZ4x  the products of a partnership between Toyota and Subaru to jointly develop a platform dedicated to EVs  were recalled last June for the same issue.

Apparently, the company is worried that the fix didn't stick.

The vehicles were repaired at two port locations prior to being delivered to customers. Subaru said it discovered the third-party contractor didn't properly complete the repair procedure, resulting in the potential for significantly under-torqued bolts.

"Out of an abundance of caution, Subaru is recalling all vehicles repaired at all port locations supported by the third-party contractor," the company said in its announcement. "Vehicles without the original hub bolt concern and vehicles repaired at other facilities are not affected."

Subaru warned customers to not drive the vehicle. The company will cover the cost of towing the vehicle to a local dealership, where it can be inspected. If necessary, the hub bolts will be retorqued.

The recall is the latest mark on the rocky launch of the Solterra and the Toyota bZ4x. The initial June 2022 recall came just two months after the Toyota bZ4x went on sale.

Toyota engineers struggled to identify what was causing the loose hub bolt issue. Production of the two vehicles restarted in October.
CONCORD  Promoting what he called pathways of opportunity, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu proposed a two-year $14.9 billion budget Tuesday that includes hefty pay raises for state employees, more money for schools and a streamlined professional licensing system designed to attract new workers.

The total, which includes federal funds, would be a 12% increase over the current biennial budget. It assumes current revenues will hold steady, includes no new taxes or fees and would boost the states rainy day fund by $180 million.

Government is not here to guarantee a solution to your problems, but it is here to give a pathway to opportunity, he told lawmakers. Pathways for economic growth, pathways for educational opportunity, pathways for lower taxes and pathways for more personal freedoms.

Gov. Chris Sununu, seen voting in Newfields Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022, when he was reelected, on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023, introduced his new two-year budget proposal.

Sununu, who was elected to a fourth two-year term in November, also is considering a run for president in 2024 and has been bolstering his name recognition with travel and media appearances. He claims other governors frequently ask him for the secret to New Hampshires success, which he said comes down to managing money smartly with a budget that prioritizes people over programs.

More:Sununu moves closer to 2024 presidential run with fundraising move. He touts NH 'model'

We can not let this budget serve as a vehicle for partisan maneuvering, Sununu said. It must be about the individual, our employees, our children and our taxpayers.

During the last budget cycle, abortion opponents added to the budget a provision banning the procedure after 24 weeks of pregnancy. Sununu signed it, saying the alternative would have been a veto that would have shut down state government during the coronavirus pandemic.

Details of raises for NH employees, school funding and more proposed in budget

His new proposal includes several items aimed at boosting the states workforce, including the largest pay increase for state employees in nearly 50 years. There are roughly 10,000 state workers, all of whom would get 10% increases in the first year of the biennium and an additional 2% the second year. That proposal, which was negotiated with labor unions, is meant to address a state workforce vacancy rate of 20%, but Sununus budget also includes more targeted investments in specific industries.

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He proposed increasing the reimbursement rate for Medicaid health care providers by 3%, providing student debt relief for those who pursue careers in mental health treatment and streamlining the states professional licensing system. Sununu wants to allow someone licensed to do a specific job in another state to perform the same work in New Hampshire without getting re-licensed. He also wants to eliminate 34 outdated licenses and 14 underutilized regulatory boards.

Lets remember who we are, lets remember its about individual freedom, he said. Less red tape and more common sense, thats how we grow our economy.

With an eye to the workforce of the future, Sununu proposed spending $5 million to certify hundreds of new computer science teachers and bring robotics instruction to every middle and high school classroom. The biggest education-related proposal amounts to spending $200 million over the next two years by changing the formula used to send money to public schools.

Both the base per pupil amount and the amount sent to schools with a high percentage of students receiving low-cost or free lunches would be increased. A third funding stream, known as stabilization grants, would be phased out over five years and would be replaced by new grants targeting the neediest communities.

Education freedom accounts, which allow low-income families to use state aid to pay private school tuition, also would get a boost. Sununu wants to double funding for the program and expand income eligibility for certain children, including those in foster care, those who have been bullied and those with disabilities.

House Democratic Leader Matt Wilhelm, D-Manchester, pointed to that funding as proof that Sununus budget is filled with partisan policy priorities. But he also saw opportunities for collaboration in areas such as workforce development and affordable housing.

Today was an important first step in the process, he said in a statement. House Democrats look forward to working with the governor and our colleagues to craft a budget that gives all Granite Staters an opportunity to succeed.

Senate President Jeb Bradley, R-Wolfeboro, said the governor has worked hard to make New Hampshire more competitive, lower taxes and encourage economic growth.

This budget is no different, he said. I think its great that were going to try to address education funding, that will be property tax relief across the board. And I think his effort to streamline the office of the professional licensure is going to make a huge difference in terms of trying to attract professionals, especially health care professionals, to come to New Hampshire.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: NH Gov. Sununu budget: $14.9 billion with raises and school funds hike






Fewer automakers than usual spent money advertising during Super Bowl LVII. In total, there were only five traditional ad spots from three big OEMs. A number of car-adjacent ads aired during the Big Game, too, and well bring you those ads in this roundup alongside the more obvious ones.

Weve compiled all of the automotive-related commercials for you here in this post so you dont have to go searching for them elsewhere. Read on below to see what aired as the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Philadelphia Eagles.

Ram's Super Bowl spot offers a cure for 'Premature Electrifcation'

This commercial revealed the new electric Ram Rev pickup, and its themed like a prescription ad for an antidote to "Premature Electrification. A concerned narrator in the Ram spot asks if you're afraid that going electric too soon will mean "you might not be able to last as long as you like," and there's a guy on a pier who's going to need some new equipment if he wants to catch fish. We're also told there are "options being designed to extend range in satisfying ways," so if this truck isn't right for you, you have choices. All the commercial's missing is a silly medical marketing name and six seconds of speed-reading gibberish about side effects like intestinal bleeding and death. Which are two more good things.

Jeep 4xe Super Bowl commercial highlights modern version of 'Electric Boogie'

Jeeps Electric Boogie commercial follows the Wrangler 4xe and Grand Cherokee 4xe in a variety of simulated off-road situations. Though fun, the soundtrack is the real star of the show. The songs original artist, Marcia Griffiths, was joined by Grammy winner Shaggy, Jamila Falak, Amber Lee, and Moyann on the track. The modernized re-recording celebrates 40 years since Griffiths original track, and Jeep says the track is available for streaming now.

Kia returns to the Super Bowl with the tale of 'Binky Dad'

This year, Kia follows the adventure of "Binky Dad" in his quest to fetch his daughter's lost pacifier, which naturally takes him over just about every bit of terrain you might encounter upon leaving the civilized confines of Southern California for the not-so-civilized mountains of ... probably also California. It features the refreshed 2023 Kia Telluride, which probably doesnt need much advertising to see these days, but Kia went for it with the strong three-row SUV anyway.

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GM's Super Bowl ad puts Will Ferrell and EVs in Netflix shows

GMs ad has Will Ferrell appearing in settings from major Netflix TV movies and shows such as "Army of the Dead" and "Squid Game," talking about how there's no reason not to have EVs there. And then he also appears with EVs in shows where they don't make sense, such as "Bridgerton" and "Stranger Things," but only to reassure people that Netflix won't be shoving new cars where they don't fit in. The GM lineup on display is pretty varied, with the GMC Sierra EV, Hummer EV, Chevy Blazer EV, and Cadillac Lyriq all making appearances. Most interesting is the Chevy Silverado EV Trail Boss in the "Stranger Things" part.

The Porsche 911 Carrera RS 3.8 in 'Transformers: Rise of the Beasts'

Porsche got in on the Super Bowl fun this year with a "Transformers" collaboration. In an ad that aired just before the Super Bowl, a short movie trailer for "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts" heavily features a Porsche 911 Carrera RS 3.8 who also happens to be Mirage, a Transformer. The Transformer is able to make duplicates of itself to confuse would-be attackers  in the ad, there are five 911s driving side-by-side at one point to demonstrate this mirage. The movie arrives on June 9 this year, and were definitely excited to see a classic 911 feature in it.

'Fast X' trailer for upcoming film

The Fast franchise took the chance at a Super Bowl ad and put a high-octane trailer for its upcoming movie "Fast X" in front of viewers. Weve seen the trailer for Fast X already, and its clear that Jason Momoa is going to be stepping in as the role of final boss for Dominic Toretto. The cars will be fast and the explosions will be numerous. Look out for "Fast X" in theaters on May 19.

WeatherTech Big Game 2023: 'We All Win'

WeatherTech took the opportunity to advertise in this years Super Bowl with an ad touting its American manufacturing. The company known for its all-weather floor mats brings us from the boardroom to the factory floor to the final product in various vehicles. It even shows off a mat for a dog bowl, so remember that WeatherTech mats arent exclusively built for cars.

Tesla 'Full-Self Driving' ad from The Dawn Project

This highly-critical 30-second ad about Teslas Full-Self Driving was created by The Dawn Project, an organization that campaigns to ban what it calls "unsafe software." The Dawn Project says the ad shows tests it performed with a Tesla using the company's Full Self Driving (FSD) feature. In it, a Tesla can be seen swerving towards oncoming traffic, driving past a stopped school bus, hitting a toddler-sized mannequin, driving on the wrong side of the road, and ignoring "Do Not Enter" signs. Well also note that it was founded and is funded by California tech entrepreneur Dan O'Dowd, who is also CEO of Green Hills Software, a company that develops self-driving software.

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PIPELINE, HI - DECEMBER 20: Water camera providing an amazing view of the action during the Billabong Pipe Masters Presented by Hyro Flask on December 20, 2020 in Oahu, Hawaii. (Photo by Brent Bielmann/World Surf League via Getty Images)

Brent Bielmann/World Surf League/Getty

A surf cinematographer died shortly after capturing his final wave on camera during a stand-up paddle board session with friends.

Photographer Mike Prickett confirmed the news of Larry Haynes's death on Thursday to Hawaii-based television station KHON2, expressing that his death was unexpected since he had worked behind the scenes filming The Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational only a few weeks prior.

"We were so, so shocked. He just did the Eddie Aikau with us. He did the Pipe contest. He does everything with a smile; and then, we just lost him," said Prickett. "He caught a wave at Laniakea. And, then, he came in and collapsed."

Musician David Elecciri Jr also confirmed the news of his death, explaining in an Instagram post that the collapse caused him to have a heart attack in his car and that he had just called him a few hours prior to heading to the beach inviting him to lunch.

RELATED: On-Duty Lifeguard Wins Hawaii's 'Super Bowl of Surfing' While on His Break: 'I Can't Believe It'

After lifeguards asked the surfer's friends to collect Haynes' paddle board from the beach on Friday, Prickett discovered Haynes' Go-Pro in which Haynes captured his final wave.

"There must have been 40 files, and we looked through all of them," Prickett told KHON2. "And, then, he had a lot of, like, non-start type waves and over and over and finally caught this beautiful wave and rode it for a long time. And, by the end of it, we were cheering and yelling and crying  the whole everything."

The video shows the cinematographer concentrating as he prepares to paddle through the towering wave alongside his friends.

Haynes often shared his rides on his personal Instagram alongside his time in the water filming others. Those moments were touched on by fellow photographers like Ryan Moss who wrote he admired "his dedication to his craft and his huge smile," alongside a video tribute on Friday.

RELATED: Former Surfing Star Chris Davidson Dead at 45 After Getting Punched Outside Bar

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"He always wore that huge smile every time I would see him out shooting at Pipeline or Jaws," he continued in the post's caption. "You never think your heroes are ever going to move on. They're too good, too strong, larger than this life and world we live in. Thank you @fluid_vision for the laughs, smiles and aloha your shared with all of us. You were taken from us way too soon. It's not going to be the same without you."

Following his death, many members of the surfing community continued to pay their respects, including World Surf League CEO Erik Logan.

"Many of our fans might not know him, but you know his work," he wrote in an Instagram post alongside a variety of pictures of Haynes. "Larry was always in the water, on the back of a ski, hooting and hollering at the surfers on every wave. His stoke and life force was real. No matter if the waves were XXL or if they were small, his smile was the same. He will be missed, sorely."

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.

His work portfolio boasts over thirty years of skill that includes work behind helmet cams, jet ski cams, and water videography. He founded his own production company, Fluid Vision Productions, Inc., in 2015.

According to surfing publication Stab Magazine, he is also remembered for working on films such as 2012's Chasing Mavericks and the 1990s underground series Fluid Combustion.
As grief enveloped the campus of Michigan State University on Tuesday following deadly shootings in two buildings on Monday night, shock swept two school districts in suburban Detroit. Family members and friends of the the slain students identified them, and reacted in sorrow, after losing handsome youths who seemed bound for big futures.

Arielle Anderson, a graduate of Grosse Pointe North High School, was an MSU junior who aspired to be a pediatrician, her family said. She was respectful, bright, polite and humble, they said, describing the 19-year-old who was one of three undergraduates killed by gunfire, said by friends on social media to be a straight-A student.

Also killed was Brian Fraser, an MSU sophomore who graduated from Grosse Pointe South High. Fraser was studying business and was president of Phi Delta Theta fraternity, according to a social media post left by Fraser's grief-stricken fraternity members.

Alexandria Verner, 20, was a junior at MSU who'd graduated with honors from Clawson High School after being named one of the school's all-time top athletes in basketball, volleyball and softball. Verner was studying forensics, a high school spokesman said on social media.

More:3 Michigan State University shooting victims identified: What we know

In East Lansing, across metro Detroit and beyond, Michiganders gather to mourn MSU victims

Reeling from a frenzied night endured in fear, and a grim Valentines Day spent in shock, hundreds of Michiganders gathered at prayer services and vigils held across the state Tuesday night, submerged in an ocean of heartbreak washing through Michigan after three students were killed by gunfire at Michigan State.

As the grief swelled, people said they questioned the senselessness and randomness of it all: Why Brian? Why Alexandria? Why Arielle?

At the vigils, they came to grieve wearing Spartan green and white  from Grosse Pointe, where Brian Fraser played lacrosse, to Clawson, where Alexandria Verner donned No. 24 on the basketball court, to East Lansing, where Arielle Anderson was working toward a career in medicine.

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Mourners converged solemnly across the state, and they said they'd mourn through the week to honor the Spartans who were lost, injured and traumatized as shots rang out on campus. Vigils are planned for Wednesday, Thursday and beyond. MSU officials said they'd hold a vigil at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the famed campus symbol of solidarity and unity known simply as "the Rock," a boulder where students typically gather in celebration, not grief. It's located between North Shaw Lane and Auditorium Road. Some said the crowd might number in the thousands.

-Free Press staff

How the tragedy unfolded

An alert was sent at 8:31 p.m. Monday, telling students to "run, hide, fight" with a report of shots fired at Berkey Hall and at the MSU Union.

Two people were killed at Berkey Hall, said university Interim Deputy Police Chief Chris Rozman. The gunman then moved to the MSU Union, where another was killed.

Students were told to shelter in place as authorities searched for the gunman. The 43-year-old suspect was Anthony McRae, Rozman said at a news conference Tuesday. McRae was found off campus early Tuesday before he could be arrested; he had died from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Family IDs Harper Woods teen as third slain Michigan State student

Arielle Anderson of Harper Woods has been identified by family as the third student slain in the Michigan State campus shooting.

Anderson, 19 and a sophomore at MSU, was a bright young woman who wanted to be a pediatric doctor, said April Davis, her maternal grandmother.

Arielle Anderson, a 19-year-old sophomore at Michigan State University, during her Grosse Pointe North High School prom in 2021.

The two had spoken on FaceTime just yesterday, Davis said.

Kimella Spivey, her aunt, said Anderson wanted to help and was involved in extracurricular programs, like working with senior citizens.

This is so unbelievable," Spivey said. "When does it stop? Really? I mean, it's one after the other after the other."

Read the full story here.

-Nushrat Rahman and Darcie Moran

Police ID two Michigan State students slain in campus shooting

Police on Tuesday confirmed the names of two of the victims of the shooting: Brian Fraser, a sophomore from Grosse Pointe, and Alexandria Verner, a junior from Clawson.

The third victims name was not released in respect to the familys wishes, according to a release.

-Christine MacDonald and Darcie Moran

On Tuesday, those who knew the identified victims of the Michigan State shooting were reflecting on the joy they brought before their lives were cut short.

Alexandria Verner, a Clawson High School graduate, was someone who "exemplified kindness," Superintendent Billy Shellenbarger said in a letter to district families.

Alexandria "Alex" Verner, a junior at Michigan State University who graduated from Clawson High School in 2020.

Micaela Fraser, Brian Frasers sister, asked a Free Press reporter whether the reporter had a sibling.

The reporter said yes, an older brother.

Brian Fraser, a sophomore from Grosse Pointe, was killed in a mass shooting on the Michigan State University campus.

Tell him you love him, she said.

Read the full story here.

-Andrea Sahouri, Violet Ikonomova and Darcie Moran

Grief support available in the Grosse Pointes

The Family Center of Grosse Pointe and Harper Woods and The War Memorial both posted on Facebook that there would be drop-in grief support from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. tonight at the Ewald Library Branch, 15175 E. Jefferson Ave. in Grosse Pointe Park, and from noon to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Alger Center at The War Memorial, 32 Lake Shore Drive in Grosse Pointe Farms.

Therapists will be available for individuals and families. Group grief counseling sessions will be held at noon and 1:45 p.m. Wednesday, according to the posts.

The Family Center, in partnership with local therapists, the Grosse Pointe Public School System, the Grosse Pointe Public Library and The War Memorial, is offering the support services.

Grosse Pointe Farms Mayor Louis Theros , in a statement announcing the services, said the killings took two community members connected to the Grosse Pointes.

"Two of the young lives lost are graduates of Grosse Pointe North and South," Theros said. "The collective love and support of our community is needed more than ever for their families and others impacted by this heinous act."

One of the victims of the Michigan State shooting, Brian Fraser, was from Grosse Pointe and family said another victim, Arielle Anderson, graduated from Grosse Pointe North High School.

-Chris Hall and Darcie Moran

President Joe Biden on Michigan State: 'Action is what we owe' those grieving

President Joe Biden in a statement Tuesday said he and first lady Jill Biden were praying for those killed and injured in the Michigan State University shooting, while simultaneously calling on Congress to act.

The fact that this shooting took place the night before this country marks five years since the deadly shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, should cause every American to exclaim enough and demand that Congress take action, the president said in the statement.As I said in my State of the Union address last week, Congress must do something and enact commonsense gun law reforms, including requiring background checks on all gun sales, banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, closing loopholes in our background check system, requiring safe storage of guns and eliminating immunity for gun manufacturers who knowingly put weapons of war on our streets. Action is what we owe to those grieving today in Michigan and across America.

Biden said hed spoken to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and directed deployment of federal law enforcement for the case.

-Darcie Moran

24/7 counseling available through national helpline

A helpline is available for immediate counseling services following the shooting at Michigan State University on Monday.

Counselors are available to aid with a range of symptoms 24/7 through the Disaster Distress Helpline sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration or SAMHSA, according to a release from the agency. The agency is under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and helpline staff can provide confidential counseling, referrals, and other services.

Campus mass shootings can have an enormous impact on people, including survivors, first responders, eyewitnesses, and even those who watch related media reports on television, SAMHSA stated in a release.

Those seeking to use the service can call 1-800-985-5990. Spanish speakers have the option to press 2 for bilingual support as well, according to the release.

-Darcie Moran

Anthony McRae's motive for coming to campus unknown

McRae was not affiliated with the university, and authorities didn't know early Tuesday why he came to MSU.

"We have absolutely no idea what the motive was," Rozman said.

"We would like to sincerely thank our community for their help because of our quick release of the photo, the photograph from the campus security cameras and the help from our community," Rozman said.

Anthony Dwayne McRae, 43, is accused of carrying out a mass shooting Monday, Feb. 13, 2023, on the Michigan State University campus in East Lansing.

Interim MSU President Teresa Woodruff said: "We are devastated at the loss of life. Our campus grieves, we will all grieve. We will change over time. We cannot allow this to continue to happen again."

More:Oxford student relives horror at MSU: 'Mom  get me out of here'

More:Opinion: After MSU, I have to tell my son about another shooting on campus

The school has moved to emergency operations for two days, she said, to allow students, staff and faculty "to think, grieve and be together" after a "day of shock and heartbreak."

Darcie Moran, David Jesse, Dave Boucher

Prayer vigils planned

St. Paul on the Lake Catholic Church will hold a prayer service 7 p.m. Tuesday evening and remember one of their own, according to a post on Facebook.

The church, at 157 Lake Shore Road in Grosse Pointe Farms, stated in the post that victim Brian Fraser had been a longtime member of the St. Paul community in the classroom and through athletics.

The church asked that the Fraser family be kept in thoughts and prayers.

Grosse Pointe Memorial Church plans an MSU prayer vigil set for 7 p.m. Wednesday in its sanctuary, 16 Lake Shore Drive, Grosse Pointe Farms.

"Lets come together to be reminded that we are not alone and that our prayers and connections make a difference," the church posted on Facebook.

And though they're rivals in sports, the University of Michigan plans to support the MSU community with a vigil also set for 7 p.m. Wednesday on the Diag of the Ann Arbor campus.

The University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy had a prayer service scheduled for 3 p.m. Tuesday at their chapel at 8400 S. Cambridge Ave. in Detroit, but community members were also allowed to attend via Zoom as well, according to a release from the school.

The incident has touched the hearts of families, alumni, faculty, staff, and current students at University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy, the school shared in the release. We are praying for those who have lost a loved one, as well as our alumni who are part of the Michigan State community.

For a full list of vigils, click here.

 David Jesse, Christina Hall and Darcie Moran

Michigan State University faculty reflect on disbelief, mass trauma

Ayalla Ruvio wears two hats at Michigan State University: She is an associate professor of marketing and she is a parent to kids enrolled there.

Ruvio is also a survivor, born and raised in Israel where she lived for 36 years among wars and conflict before leaving in 2008. So Monday night's mass shooting at MSU, which left three people dead and five seriously injured, was palpable for her, other faculty and staff that she kept in contact with all night into the early morning hours.

"I was up all night, we all were," Ruvio said, her voice cracking. She said the overall feeling is disbelief and empathy for the families of the victims. "This is very traumatic to everyone. You think about the amount of people in hiding for four hours and not knowing what would happen, hearing gunshots, not knowing if their friends are getting hurt. This is a mass trauma.

Read the full story here.

-Jamie L. LaReau

McRae had gun-related criminal history

McRae was arrested in 2019 on a gun-related charge in Lansing, according to court and Michigan Department of Corrections records.

Chris Gautz, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Corrections, provided details about the event that led to this previous arrest: On June 7, 2019, an officer spotted an individual near an abandoned building on East Street in Lansing around 1:30 a.m. The officer questioned McRae, who said he had just left a store.

When asked, he admitted he had a gun on him and did not have a concealed weapons permit. He claimed he left home to walk to a store (to) buy cigarettes and feared for his safety so he took his gun.

Court records indicate a Lansing police officer approached McRae, asked if he worked at a nearby building and then asked whether McRae was armed. McRae said he was, and the officer detained him.

The officer found a Ruger LCP .380 semi-automatic pistol in McRae's pants pocket, according to court records. The officer also found a loaded magazine in McRae's breast pocket, records state.

His defense attorney argued the police officer's search was unconstitutional and the discovery of the gun should be suppressed at a trial. Prosecutors disagreed. It's unclear whether a court ruled on the issue; it appears McRae may have pleaded guilty before the court could make a decision.

McRae's defense attorney did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

He was charged with a violation of concealed carry law and possessing a loaded weapon in a vehicle; he pleaded guilty to the weapon-in-a-vehicle charge, while prosecutors dropped the second count, according to court records.

Department of Corrections records indicate the law McRae violated is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to two years in prison and a fine of up to $2,500. Gautz said McRae never served time in prison for the offense; he was placed on probation in late 2019 and successfully discharged on May 14, 2021.

Court records indicate he could not legally own or posses a weapon during the time he was on probation.

Lansing Police spokesperson Jordan Gulkis declined to provide any information on McRae, saying, his history is part of the investigation so we cannot comment at this time.

Dave Boucher

Neighbors: McRae once fired gun on their quiet street

McRae lived with his father, Mike McRae, a retired General Motors employee, at the end of a quiet street of older homes in Lansings north end, neighbors said.

They reported little contact with Anthony McRae, saying they would see him riding his bike and he kept to himself, while his father was well-known, gregarious and well-liked in the neighborhood.

However, neighbors were aware of an incident a couple of years ago in which police were called after Anthony McRae fired a gun outside the family home, said neighbor Megan Bender, a hospital worker.

Anthony McRae moved into the home about two years ago, after his mother, Linda McRae, died, Bender said.

The son, we really didnt know too much about him, she said of Anthony McRae. He didnt drive. He had a bicycle.

Another neighbor, Nicole Murray, said she thought Anthony McRae also used public transit to get around.

Murray said she had been monitoring the police scanner traffic Monday night related to the MSU mass shooting when she heard the gunshot from a nearby Quality Dairy where police say McRae fatally shot himself.

Shortly after, large numbers of police vehicles surrounded the family home, said Murray, a retired paralegal.

I watched them all pull up, she said.

After a few hours, they made forced entry in full riot gear, Murray said.

Bender said she saw the suspected shooters father exit the home safely before that.

Paul Egan

Shooter 'definitely a loner,' brother says

McRaes older brother, Michael McRae, 45, said he doesnt have a clue what prompted Anthony McRaes shooting spree on campus.

This just dont seem real, that he would be able to do anything like this, the older brother told the Free Press on the morning after the violence. I am still trying to process this whole thing.

His brother stayed to himself and they had grown apart over the years, he said.

Michael McRae lives in Delaware. The brothers grew up in New Jersey. But Anthony McRae and his parents moved to Michigan about 20 years ago after his father transferred by General Motors in New Jersey.

Last time the brothers spoke was their moms funeral two years ago in Lansing and the conversation wasnt good.

Anthony McRae had no children, no spouse and no friends his older brother knew of. Michael McRae said his younger brother worked at warehouse jobs in Lansing.

More:Brother of Michigan State University shooting suspect Anthony McRae: He 'secluded himself'

He stayed to himself, Michael McRae said. He kind of secluded himself.

Definitely a loner.

Michael McRae learned what happened from their father earlier this morning.

I am deeply sorry for this whole thing, McRae said.

Police said Anthony McRae shot himself to death as officers approached him on a Lansing street hours after the shooting.

Christine MacDonald

A New Jersey school district drawn in

A school district in Ewing, New Jersey, closed two of its schools Tuesday after a threat to the schools was found in the pocket of alleged MSU campus shooter Anthony McRae, according to a press release from the Ewing Police Department.

The local department was notified about 6 a.m. Tuesday by the New Jersey State Police that McRae had ties to Ewing Township. McRae was contacted by police around 11:30 p.m. and died shortly after of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

When McRae was found by police in Michigan, he had a note in his pocket that indicated a threat to two Ewing Public Schools, Ewing police said in a press release. Investigation revealed that McRae had a history of mental health issues. As the investigation continued, and out of an abundance of caution, the Ewing Public Schools were closed for the day. ...

"After further investigation, it has been determined that the incident is isolated to Michigan, and there is no threat to Ewing Schools. Information received during our investigation indicated that McRae has not resided in the Ewing area in several years.

MSU police confirmed Tuesday that a note was found on McRae, and its contents are part of the ongoing investigation.

David Jesse and Dave Boucher

Students recall shock, fear

Police patrol cars could be seen blocking off a few common areas of traffic on the MSU campus Tuesday morning, including West Circle Drive near Beaumont Tower. A heavier police presence was seen at the MSU Union, where yellow caution tape surrounded the building.

Few students were seen walking through the residential areas and classroom buildings near the union, but traffic continued to flow on nearby Grand River Avenue.

Student Mo Talev said he barricaded himself with other students in a room in a nearby library after getting text messages saying shots fired. The group remained in the room from the initial alerts around 8:30 p.m. Monday until 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, when the shelter-in-place order was lifted.

We were trying to figure out what was going on first. I started getting texts from friends and family, (asking): Are you good? I said we were hiding in the library. There were many different rooms people were hiding in. It was like a fever dream, honestly. It felt surreal.

Talev, who is from the metro Detroit area, said he now is trying to connect with friends on campus.

Austin Delola, a sophomore at Lansing Community College, was at the Buffalo Wild Wings just across from the MSU Union when the shooting began. He said before he and others in the restaurant could receive any alerts from campus authorities, a woman ran into the restaurant, crying and screaming about the shooting.

She was in shock, Delola said Tuesday, during his morning shift at a nearby Dunkin Donuts. We ended up calming her down, asking what happened. She said he walked in through the door and just started shooting people.

Delola said restaurant staff locked the doors, and those at the establishment remained there until the shelter-in-place order was lifted.

Arpan Lobo, reporting from East Lansing

Whitmer: 'We cannot keep living like this'

At a Tuesday morning news conference, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, an MSU alumna, thanked the first responders, the medical workers who are caring for the wounded and spoke about mass shootings as a "uniquely American problem."

"We mourn the loss of beautiful souls today and pray for those who are continuing to fight for their lives," Whitmer said. "Every Spartan student, parent and staff member should know that Michiganders and Americans everywhere are thinking of you today.

"President Biden and I spoke last night he pledged his support and the thoughts of an entire nation when we will work together to do what is necessary to help MSU community heal.

"We're all broken by an all too familiar feeling. Another place that is supposed to be about community and togetherness shattered by bullets and bloodshed."

Whitmer acknowledged that Tuesday is the fifth anniversary of the mass shooting that killed 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

"Just as were recognizing the fifth anniversary of the deadliest high school shooting in history, we are experiencing yet another school shooting," said Kris Brown, president of Brady: United Against Gun Violence, a nonprofit gun-control advocacy organization. "It remains wholly devastating to live in the only country in the industrial world where we regularly wake up to this horrific news.

It is even more egregious that an entire generation must live under the constant fear of being shot, whether at school, at places of worship, in a concert, at a playground, or any number of youthful rites of passage, because too many policymakers refuse to take meaningful action to prevent it.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed via Twitter that Biden spoke to Whitmer about the shooting and that FBI and additional federal law enforcement were deployed to support local and state response efforts.

"President Biden and the First Lady are praying for the 3 killed & others injured in East Lansing," Jean-Pierre said in the post.

Kristen Shamus and Todd Spangler

Five people wounded in critical condition

Dr. Denny Martin, interim president and chief medical officer at Sparrow Hospital, was tearful Tuesday morning as he described the scene at the Lansing hospital where all five people wounded in the attack were taken Monday night.

The emergency department physicians and trauma surgeons at the Level 1 trauma center were ready, and waiting to care for the injured when they arrived, he said.

"Four of those individuals did require surgical intervention to treat ... their injuries," Martin said. "One individual did not."

All were taken to the critical care unit after being triaged in the emergency department, Martin said, and all five remained in critical condition Tuesday morning.

Martin said he was proud of the Sparrow staff, many of whom showed up to work as soon as they heard there'd been a shooting.

"So many people ... just came in. We received a lot of texts that were just, 'I'm on my way,' " he said, "and then people showing up, (asking) 'Where do you need me?' It was a sad but very proud night for all of us here."

Kristen Shamus

Medical group supports efforts to prevent firearm deaths

Dr. Thomas Veverka, president of the Michigan State Medical Society, said members are "horrified" by the events that unfolded on the MSU campus Monday night.

"We as physicians work to identify mental health issues and other concerns that could lead to tragedy, and we strongly support federal and state efforts to ensure that physicians can fulfill that role in preventing firearm deaths by health screening, patient counseling on gun safety, and referral to mental health services for those with behavioral and emotional medical conditions," Veverka said in a statement.

"We need to deploy a complete array of cultural, social, medical, legal, and educational tools and assets. We need to do it together."

Kristen Shamus

Mental health support services available

East Lansing Mayor Rob Bacon acknowledged the invisible trauma in the aftermath of a mass shooting.

"There's going to be so much fear," he said during a Tuesday morning news conference. "It's not just the students. It's the community. I've heard from parents and citizens who didn't know what was going on."

A 24-hour community mental health line is available for people who need support by calling 517-346-8200.

Woodruff said counseling and psychological services are available at the Hannah Community Center, 819 Abbot Road, East Lansing, for students who need support; employee assistance programs are available for faculty and staff.

"Our Spartan hearts are broken," Woodruff said. "We are grieving, but as a community we're grieving together. We struggle to comprehend. We lost families, friends, classmates, and our hearts go out to the victims and families of the senseless tragedy.

"We ask each of you to honor your feelings and to take care of yourself and each other. And together, we will come back more resilient than ever and more ready to face what is needed in this society, which is the courage of all of us to ensure that this never happens again."

Kristen Shamus

Slotkin: 'Our hearts are breaking'

U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Lansing, whose district includes the MSU campus, was active on social media throughout the incident, saying she was in "moment-to-moment" contact with authorities about the developing situation and posting photos on Twitter of the suspected shooter.

About 1:45 a.m., as the active incident concluded, she posted a series of statements on Twitter, beginning: "Its hard to describe the agony were feeling in East Lansing tonight. Our hearts are breaking for the families of the students who were killed, for those who have been injured, and for the entire Spartan community."

Slotkin, whose district also includes Oxford, where a Nov. 30, 2021 mass shooting at Oxford High School killed four and injured seven more, said at a Tuesday morning news conference: "I cannot believe that I'm here again doing this 15 months later. And I am filled with rage that we have to have another press conference to talk about our children being killed in their schools.

"We have children in Michigan who are living through their second school shooting in under a year and a half. If this is not a wake up call to do something, I don't know what is."

Todd Spangler and Kristen Shamus

Legislature cancels Tuesday session

The Michigan House and Senate each canceled Tuesday session following Monday night's mass shooting at MSU. The Senate had been expected to take a contentious vote on a tax plan backed by Whitmer that would reduce taxes on retirement income, boost the Earned Income Tax Credit, send out $180 checks to each tax filer, and block a potential across-the-board cut in the state's income tax rate.

Whitmer, an MSU alumnus, mourned the tragedy and thanked first responders. She has called for "common sense" gun reforms. "It doesn't have to be this way," Whitmer said. Certain places are supposed to be about community, learning or joy  elementary schools and college campuses, movie theaters and dance halls, grocery stores and workplaces. They should not be the sites of bloodshed."

Paul Egan

'Once again, gun violence has touched a ... community'

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY., referenced the shooting as he opened remarks on the floor of the U.S. Senate Tuesday morning, saying: Our hearts are with  East Lansing today, the campus, the entire community. Were learning more about this terrible shooting. What happened there, on a college campus, is devastating and it breaks the hearts of Americans everywhere.

U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., who lives outside of Lansing and is a MSU grad, issued a statement Tuesday, saying: Once again, gun violence has touched a Michigan community.

I am grieving for my fellow Spartans today  for the lives lost, the injured, and all of the students, parents, MSU employees, and local residents who will be living with fear for a long time to come. I am grateful too for the first responders who put their own lives on the line to keep people safe.

Spartans are strong and resilient  I know that the university and community will come together and get through this. Im so incredibly sad and angry that they have to.

U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Michigan, issued a statement that said, in part: Were grieving for those who lost loved ones in this nightmare and are praying for those who were injured. Were thinking of the students, parents, staff, Spartan community  and all impacted by this tragedy. Im also thankful to the law enforcement and first responders who rushed to the scene.

Todd Spangler

The Free Press will continue to update this breaking news report. It was last updated about 12 p.m. Tuesday.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Suspect identified in fatal MSU shooting; 3 student victims named
(Reuters) -Swiss police arrested a man found with traces of explosives outside the country's parliament on Tuesday, sparking a security alert that shut down part of Bern for several hours.

The man, who has not been named, was stopped by security officers because of his suspicious behaviour and appearance early in the afternoon.

Officers were alerted after seeing the man, a 27-year-old from the Swiss canton of Valais, wearing a protective vest and a gun holster.

A rapid test also found traces of explosives, Bern police said, although they did not specify where. They declined to comment to Reuters on a possible motive.

A car linked to the man was parked on the Bundesplatz, opposite the parliament building, leading to police being called to the scene.

"Based on the knowledge already available at that time, it could not be ruled out that there were explosives in the car on the Bundesplatz and that the vehicle posed a specific risk," Bern Police said.

"As a result, extensive security measures were implemented immediately," they added.

The Bundesplatz and surrounding streets were sealed off, while nearby buildings including the parliament building were evacuated.

Eventually after being examined by a robot, the car was found to pose no danger, Bern police said. The emergency measures were lifted at around 7:00 pm, about five hours after being called to the scene.

The man is currently in custody with medical investigations into his physical and medical condition underway.

A criminal investigation has been launched by the Swiss Office of the Attorney General, together with police in Bern, Valais and the Swiss Federal Police.

(Writing by John RevillEditing by Madeline Chambers, Alison Williams and Bill Berkrot)
Online shopping platform Temu, a subsidiary of PDD Holdings [Photo/CFP]



Chinese online discounter Pinduoduo Inc is accelerating steps to expand its footprint in North America through its cross-border e-commerce platform Temu.

On Sunday, Temu made a splash at the Super Bowl, the most-watched television event in the United States, with its 30-second advertisement titled Shop Like a Billionaire.

Media reported that Temu is planning to expand into Canada and is conducting internal testing of its website. Pinduoduo, however, did not respond to a request for comment on Monday.

Temu, which was launched in the US in September, has since gained popularity among US consumers as it offers a wide selection of merchandise  apparel, consumer electronics, jewelry, shoes, bags, cosmetics, baby products and pet supplies  at competitive prices. Most of them are shipped directly from factories or warehouses in China.

According to data from analytics company Sensor Tower, as of Jan 31, Temu was downloaded nearly 20 million times globally, with shoppers from North America accounting for more than 90 percent.

Temu also ranked first in free downloaded apps on both App Store and Google Play for much of the past two months in the US, surpassing Amazon, TikTok and fast-fashion retailer Shein.

Temu offers deep discounts and coupons as part of its strategy to serve price-conscious consumers. Most of its offerings are daily necessities priced below $10.

Ever since COVID-19 became a pandemic in 2020, Chinese vendors such as Pinduoduo have been serving consumers globally through cross-border e-commerce platforms.

Experts said Temu's business model removes middlemen from the equation, allowing Chinese suppliers to sell directly to US consumers and ship directly from China, instead of building a network of US warehouses.

Zhang Zhouping, a senior analyst of business-to-business and cross-border activities at the Internet Economy Institute, said price, quality and service are the most important factors to consider selling merchandise to consumers. "Low prices have shown some obvious advantages, especially amid the global economic downward pressures."

The Shanghai-based company announced in September it plans to invest 10 billion yuan ($1.47 billion) to help China's manufacturing enterprises boost their global reach. In the first phase of the initiative, Pinduoduo will help 100 Chinese brands to go global and support 10,000 manufacturers to connect directly with overseas markets.

It will still provide related infrastructure like warehousing, cross-border logistics and after-sales services through contract services, as well as offer tailor-made courses to domestic manufacturers on going global. The latter will enjoy long-term preferential policies of zero deposit and zero commission, the company said.

Pinduoduo, however, still faces intense competition from established players such as Amazon in the US market, Zhang said. He noted Chinese fast-fashion online retailer Shein and AliExpress, Alibaba's cross-border e-commerce platform, both of which have already established a significant presence in overseas markets like the US, will also offer stiff competition.

Chen Tao, an analyst with internet consultancy Analysys in Beijing, said it is an inevitable trend that Chinese online retailers are accelerating their layout in overseas markets so as to cultivate new users and diversify revenue sources.

The e-commerce penetration rate in North America is high, and local consumers are willing to use online marketplaces to buy products, Chen said.

Chinese enterprises, he said, should step up localization efforts in overseas markets, and pay attention to compliance with local laws and regulations, in order to ensure their brands become reputable.
By Mahmoud Hassano and Timour Azhari

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Five years ago, Syrian Sabri Al Salameh fled war-torn Homs for Harem, a town near the Turkish border. Now his home there is gone too, destroyed in another catastrophe, this time made by nature rather than man.

Nearly two million Syrians, displaced by battles and government bombing during the country's 11-year war, lived in refugee camps in the rebel-held northwest before last week's huge earthquake.

It struck that part of Syria hardest, and 59-year-old Salameh is one of thousands whose homes were flattened, creating a new wave of displacement that is stretching the country's already-thin humanitarian resources even thinner.

"I lost everything around me, I lost everyone I know in the three buildings that used to be next to me," said Salameh, sitting outside the large tent where he, his wife and six children now live.

"We lost ..neighbours, friends and colleagues."

The quake killed at least 4,400 people in Syria's northwest, leaving millions needing aid, according to the United Nations.

Harem, where homes have become hills of rubble, was the worst-affected town.

Salameh's tent is in a schoolyard, one of dozens of beige and white structures that have sprung up in rows - an all-too familiar sight in a region where the vast majority of Syria's internally displaced live.

Firewood lies stacked in a pile beside newly-hoisted tents while children play, taking turns sliding down a stone slope.

The setup is meant to be temporary, but in this part of Syria many have lived this way for years.

A month before the earthquake struck, the UN's humanitarian coordination agency warned of a crisis in Syria's northwest, saying 1.8 million people were living "trapped" in severely overcrowded camps prone to frequent flooding and fires.

The international aid necessary to build long-term shelter and other infrastructure has been lacking, said Emma Beals, a Syria-focused non-resident fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington.

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She worries that even the tragedy of the earthquake may fail to shock the world into changing that picture.

"Even as early-recovery work expanded in government areas, the response to the conflict in the northwest has not focused on how to make the lives of people in that area liveable," she said.

"Is that going to be allowed to happen again?"

Salameh said he has learned not to expect much.

"The needs of the displaced are known: a tent, food and water. What, do we want homes too? ...Thank God we took refuge in this tent."

(Reporting by Mahmoud Hassano in Idlib and Timour Azhari in Beirut; Writing by Timour Azhari; editing by John Stonestreet)
By Suleiman Al-Khalidi

AMMAN (Reuters) - The head of a Syrian opposition-run rescue group on Tuesday denounced a U.N. decision to give Syrian President Bashar al Assad authorisation over aid deliveries through border crossings with Turkey, saying it gave him "free political gain".

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday Assad had agreed to allow U.N. aid deliveries to opposition-held northwest Syria through two crossings on the border with Turkey for three months.

"This is shocking and we are at loss at how the U.N. is behaving," Raed al Saleh, head of the rescue group known as the White Helmets, told Reuters.

A U.N. spokesperson was not immediately available for comment on the complaint.

The opposition-held enclave in northwest Syria was devastated by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake and powerful aftershocks on Feb. 6, which killed more than 37,000 people in Turkey and Syria.

The White Helmets, famous for rescuing people trapped in bombed buildings during Syria's more than 10-year civil war, said the death toll from the earthquake in the northwest was 2,274.

Many residents of the region were already displaced by Russian and Syrian bombing in the course of the war.

Rescuers and aid groups have complained about the slow delivery of aid after the earthquake.

U.N. officials have acknowledged aid was slow initially but said they were stepping up deliveries, including getting supplies from Turkey.

Large deliveries of aid from Saudi Arabia and Qatar have begun arriving in the rebel-held enclave ahead of U.N. deliveries, Saleh said.

"They will make a big difference because they are entering directly," he said.

(Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by Robert Birsel)
ISLAMABAD (AP)  Taliban intelligence forces killed three Islamic State group militants and arrested one in an overnight operation in the Afghan capital of Kabul, an official said Tuesday.

The raid on a residential building targeted IS militants who organized recent attacks in the capital, said Khalil Hamraz, a Taliban-appointed spokesman for Afghanistan's general director of intelligence. He called the target in the Karti Naw neighborhood an important IS hideout.

The Islamic State group did not immediately respond to the government's claims.

During the operation, three IS members were killed and one militant was arrested. Ammunition and military equipment were seized by the troops, he added.

The regional affiliate of the Islamic State group  known as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province  is a key rival of the Taliban. The group has increased its attacks in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover in 2021. Targets have included Taliban patrols and members of Afghanistans Shiite minority.

Local residents reported hearing several explosions and an hourslong gun battle.

This place was not known, because people were not going and coming to this area much," said Hejran Khan, a local resident. The people who were there were not showing themselves and were not coming out, people didnt know who they are and what their plan was.

The Taliban swept across the country in August 2021, seizing power as U.S. and NATO forces were in the last weeks of their final withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years of war.
Mariusz Baszczak

According to Baszczak, it is now important for Ukraine to get ammunition. He referred to a statement by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg who said that NATO needs to build up its stockpiles.

Read also: NATO defense ministers meet in Brussels for ninth Ramstein format meeting

When asked about the F-16 fighter jets for Ukraine, the minister said there is no way to do without pressure on other countries, as was the case with the Patriot air defense system and Leopard tanks.

We realize that our potential in this area is limited, Baszczak said.

Read also: Netherlands considering Ukraines request for F-16 jets, despite obstacles

We have only 48 F-16s, but the allies have far more capabilities. I think this conversation will also end with positive decisions, we just have to put pressure.

Earlier, the Financial Times newspaper reported that the United States does not rule out the transfer or re-export of fighter jets to Kyiv, but, according to Western allies, additional air defense systems and ammunition are of higher priority now.

Read also: Ukraine gets positive decisions on fighter jets, Zelenskyy says

Ukraine has been asking for fighter jets to be supplied from partner countries since the beginning of Russias full-scale invasion, though no country has agreed to send the modern weapons to Ukraine yet. However, during a recent address to the European Parliament by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola called EU member states to consider the possibility.

The UK has also announced that it will be expanding its current training program for Ukrainian troops to include fighter pilots and marines.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
The last time hydrogen-laden flying vessels zipped around the heavens didn't end all that well, but that isn't stopping Heven Drones from fueling up its H2D55 drone. The company claims the octacopter can fly for over an hour and a half, with a payload of 7 kg (15 lbs).

The drones are built to spec, and take two-three months to complete. The company is a little cagey about the exact pricing, but on the sly a source within the company suggests that you could probably buy a couple of Toyota Corollas for the price of one of its drones. Then again, Corollas don't fly, and why the hell would you want two, so let's get back to drones.

The company says the H2D55 is the first in a planned lineup of three hydrogen-fueled drones that will be released over the next year, and that the models coming later this year will have additional flight time and payload capacity.

"Commercial use case examples range from last-mile and just-in-time (JIT) delivery, measuring the nutrient levels of soil and precision crop spraying to collecting risk-assessment data for construction companies, surveying real estate for reforestation projects and aiding emergency responders in risk assessment and delivery of life saving equipment," said Bentzion Levinson, founder and CEO of Heven Drones. On the defense side, the company envisions more extensive surveillance missions and supply of medical aid, food and ammunition to soldiers.

We are delighted to bring hydrogen-powered drones to the global market and we are excited to see the expanding range of use cases across numerous industries," said Levinson, "Not only do actionable drones add immense value to key areas of our economy and society, but we are working to ensure that this value is compounded by reduced carbon emissions and general energy efficiency by using hydrogen. The H2D55 is our first step towards achieving this vision."
Five years later, the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is still very much on the mind of English teacher Sarah Lerner.

Lerner was teaching at the school on Feb. 14, 2018, when gunman Nikolas Cruz killed 17 people -- 14 students and three staff members -- at the Parkland, Florida, high school. It was the second-deadliest shooting at a K-12 school at the time, a total since surpassed by the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

She still struggles with the trauma.

"Anytime the fire alarm goes off or ... even just a lockdown drill, it all comes flooding back to you," Lerner told ABC News.

Cruz pleaded guilty to the massacre in October 2021 and was sentenced to life in prison in November 2022.

In 2022, there were 51 school shootings that resulted in injury or death, the most in a single year since Education Week, an independent news outlet covering K-12 schools, began tracking such incidents in 2018. This is up from the prior highest number of school shootings, which was in 2021, when there were 35, according to data gathered by Education Week.

There were 10 school shootings in 2020, and 24 each in 2019 and 2018, according to Education Week.

PHOTO: Protesters and students hold up signs as they take part in the March for Our Lives rally to call for legislative action to address school safety and gun violence, on March 24, 2018 in Portland, Ore. (Natalie Behring/Getty Images, FILE)

Despite being there the day of the shooting, Lerner said she has never considered leaving teaching.

"I was OK coming back because I knew I needed to be with the kids and my friends and my co-workers and I knew that the kids needed me. Isolating yourself and staying home and not interacting with people isn't healthy when you've just had something so traumatic happen," Lerner told ABC News.

Five years after Parkland, schools are still targets and teachers are still being shot. There have already been several high-profile shootings of teachers less than two months in 2023. In Newport News, Virginia, a 6-year-old student brought a gun to school and intentionally shot his teacher, according to police. In Des Moines, Iowa, the founder of a charter school was shot and two students were killed.

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MORE: Phenomenon of 'leakage' key to heading off mass shootings: Expert

Lerner is working to stem some of the violence. She co-founded Teachers Unify to End Gun Violence and has been looking into school safety and the way drills are conducted, saying drills can be very traumatizing for teachers and students even if they haven't lived through a school shooting.

The group works to include teachers in the national dialogue surrounding gun violence, with Lerner saying they have been excluded for too long.

'We're going to put our lives on the line for our students'

Bill Woodruff, a public school teacher and United Federation of Teachers union district leader in the Bronx, New York, told ABC News that he and fellow teachers openly discuss how they would put their bodies in harm's way to protect their students.

"These conversations have been normalized," Woodruff said. "That it is just expected that we're going to put our lives on the line for our students. And we do it with no question."

PHOTO: President of the National Education Association and educator, Rebecca S. Pringle, speaks during March for Our Lives 2022 on June 11, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Leigh Vogel/Getty Images for March For Our L)

In the 2019-2020 school year, over 96% of public schools had a written plan for procedures to be performed in the event of an active shooter, according to federal data from the National Center for Education Statistics.

MORE: Teacher shot by 6-year-old says school was warned 4 times, announces lawsuit

While the concerns of teachers and union representatives interviewed by ABC News varied, they all shared one: How can they keep their students safe and protect them if the worst happens?

Responses to the requests of teachers can sometimes be very slow. At one school in his district, teachers had to ask for keys to their classrooms for four months before they received them, Woodruff said.

Some plans are also slow to go into implementation, Woodruff said, like locking school doors -- a critical failure during the shooting in Uvalde.

All New York City public schools have a readiness plan for emergencies and conduct drills as well as sending home a copy of their General Response Protocol to parents. The New York Police Department also regularly drills at schools to prepare for active shooter incidents.

This morning, @NYPDSpecialops personnel participated in an active shooter drill at In-Tech Academy in the Bronx. In partnership with @NYCSchools & @FDNY, the multi agency drill provided an opportunity to increase our preparedness level in the event of an active shooter incident. pic.twitter.com/EHdzr2crTv  NYPD Special Ops (@NYPDSpecialops) July 30, 2022

In the aftermath of the Parkland shooting, Lerner said security has been increased. There are now three school resource officers on campus, security checkpoints and large gates.

Union representatives and teachers criticized legislators and officials for not including communities, schools and parents in making decisions around school safety and violence prevention.

MORE: Parkland school shooting 4 years later: Remembering the 17 victims

At no level of education in the U.S. is there enough support; schools are not receiving what they need, Woodruff said.

PHOTO: The March for Life rally has teachers protesting against guns in Culver City June 11 2022, Los Angeles. (Citizens of the Planet/Getty Images, FILE)

Whitney Markwica, a teacher in upstate New York, has said she's nervous in light of recent shootings and it can be traumatic to go back to class in the wake of threats.

"I think when you go into teaching, you go in because you want to educate future generations. You don't go in thinking and expecting that you're gonna have to put your life on the line in order to protect them," Markwica said. "And I know, myself, and a lot of teachers would do that, but that's not part of the job that we signed up for."

How schools have changed

There has been a "seismic shift" in what schools are like for students, parents and teachers now compared to the 1990s, according to Linda Cavazos, the district trustee for a school board in Las Vegas and a former teacher.

One teacher told Cavazos she was worried about intervening in fights because she doesn't know "if some kid is going to pull out a gun and try to shoot me," Cavazos told ABC News.

Even as recently as 2009-2010, just 84% of K-12 schools had written plans for active shooter scenarios compared to the 96% from 2019-2020, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

MORE: America has a gun violence problem. What do we do about it?

Cavazos said her district is now vigilant with K-9 searches and screenings and has encouraged students to report any threats.

Aside from school safety, teachers said more needs to be done to support students. While some schools have social workers on campus, crisis intervention and trauma support need to be strengthened.

Lerner said therapy dogs and service dogs brought to campus after the Parkland's shooting were a huge help for everyone.

PHOTO: Teachers rally at the March for Our Lives protest on June 11, 2022 in Los Angeles. (David Mcnew/Getty Images, FILE)

Schools are struggling to toe the line between making schools safer, but not turning them into prisons, according to La-Shanda West, a teacher in Miami-Dade County.

"We want to be in a free atmosphere, but we want to feel safe," West told ABC News.

While West said she does feel safe at her school, there is no way of controlling the surrounding community. Students share that sentiment and are worried about community gun violence, she said.

MORE: 10-year-old Uvalde shooting survivor advocates for assault weapons ban on Capitol Hill

Last year, there were 20,215 deaths in the U.S. due to gun violence, excluding deaths by suicide, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

West's school district has a partnership with Sandy Hook Promise, a nonprofit founded by the families of Sandy Hook Elementary school victims, incorporating their programs for school safety. While she believes their programs help, they don't solve the gun violence problem entirely.

West said parents should do a better job of storing their guns properly and keeping them away from children, referring to the 6-year-old student who shot his teacher in a classroom in Newport News.

"If a 6-year-old can get access to a parent's weapon, what's to stop any child from doing that?" West said.

5 years after Parkland shooting, teachers struggle with ramifications of gun violence originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
After nine months, a Kettering woman who said a fencing company took her money and ran got her money back  but not from the company itself.

The I-Teams lead investigative reporter, John Bedell, has been following the investigation into Dixie Fence South, LLC and its owner, Rob Fraley, for months.

Finally, Kim Wattermann has the fence she wanted to keep her dog Willow in the yard.

Another company reached out after your story  offered to come and give an estimate and sort of assess the situation and I ended up going with them, Wattermann said.

The I-Team first reported in October that she paid Fraley with Dixie Fence South, LLC $25,000 in May 2022 for a fence that was never built and stopped he stopped calling her back.

>> PREVIOUS COVERAGE: I-TEAM: Area fencing company accused of taking deposit, never starting work

So Wattermann filed a dispute with her bank and just last week they reversed the charge.

She also filed a consumer complaint with the Ohio Attorney Generals Office and called the Montgomery County Prosecutors Office Consumer Fraud Unit.

As News Center 7 has previously reported, shes far from alone.

We have so far, I believe, identified at least at this time about 25 victims, Montgomery County Prosecutor Mat Heck said.

>> RELATED: I-Team: 15 accuse fencing company of fraud, shoddy work; Prosecutors Office reviewing complaint

Heck provided an update on the open investigation into Dixie Fence South, LLC.

This would be a criminal investigation. I know the Ohio Attorney Generals Office is involved on the civil end and doing an investigation. My investigators have been working in concert with them in the investigation sharing information, Heck said.

He added if there is a sufficient amount of evidence then his office will present it to the Montgomery County grand jury.

Heck said the two investigations from the Montgomery County Prosecutors Office and the Ohio Attorney Generals Office are completely separate.

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Fraleys lawyer in the civil case previously confirmed Fraley is working with the Attorney Generals Office to get 20 to 30 people their money back or build the fence they paid him for.

Fraleys lawyer did not respond when the I-Team reached out for comment Monday.

I-Team reached out to the Attorney Generals Office for a comment on the investigation, they responded we can neither confirm nor deny investigations.

I-Team will keep following the consumer investigation and update this story as we learn more.




















Sharon Stone is paying tribute to her younger brother. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Sharon Stone's family is mourning another tragic loss.

The "Basic Instinct" star's younger brother, Patrick Stone, died suddenly early Sunday morning in Pennsylvania. He was 57.

A rep from the coroner's office told TMZ that his death is being ruled a sudden cardiac death due to heart disease.

On Monday afternoon, Sharon Stone paid tribute to her sibling.

"Hello, everybody. This message is to confirm that yes, we did lose my brother Patrick Joseph Stone to a heart attack yesterday," she said in an emotional video posted to Instagram.

"Yes, he is the man who was the father to River, who we lost last year at 11 months old. He is survived by his wife, Tasha, and his son, Hunter, and his daughter, Kaylee.

"Like any family, we thank you for your love and support in this time of immeasurable grief and we appreciate all of your condolences," she said slowly as tears fell from her eyes.

"Yes, we've had a tremendous amount of loss in these last couple of years, as so many of you also have. And we do greatly understand that the losses are ours here on Earth, and I thank you very much for the love and support that you're showing us. And we just ask you to continue to be kind. Thank you."

"RIP my brother Patrick Joseph Stone," she captioned a separate photo of her with her arm draped around him.

In August 2021, Patrick's 11-month-old son, River, was found in his crib with organ failure and died days later. On. Aug. 26, Stone shared a photo on Instagram asking for prayers with the caption, "My nephew and godson River Stone was found in his crib w total organ failure today. Please pray for him. We need a miracle."

Days later, the "Casino" actor posted a tribute video of River after his death.

Shortly after River's passing, Stone's sister, Kelly Stone, shared a photo of Patrick fishing. "Pat in his favorite place nature #church," she wrote on Instagram.

Patrick's wife, Tasha, announced her husband's death on his Facebook account Sunday morning.

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"My heart feels like its been ripped out of my chest," she wrote. "Patrick went to be with our sweet River around 3:30 this morning. I dont know what else to say, he was my world.

"He gave me 3 beautiful children that he loved and adored. . ." Tasha continued. "I knew the very first day that I saw him that I was going to marry him. I felt an immediate connection to him and for 20 years we drove each other absolutely crazy but we also loved each other so deeply. I feel lost without my best friend.

"I will miss listening to his voice when he gets excited telling a story, the sparkle of mischief in his eyes (especially when he was trying to get me riled up for no good reason), watching him get emotional over a sweet moment or talking of his family, what I miss most right now though is just him.

"My wish through all of this is that now at least River has his daddy with him and I hope the two of you are having the best time. . . I'm not ready and I dont want to say goodbye."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Fox News

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) revealed Monday night that he spoke with Twitter owner Elon Musk about the social media companys plan for the futurecalling their conversation part of the companys road map.

At the same time, Cruz managed to lay out his standard menu of criticisms of Democrats, big tech and others who had allegedly committed some sort of collusion.

Appearing on Hannity, the Texas Republican was asked to give context to a letter he sent earlier in the day to Twitter, as well as Meta, Google and TikTok, announcing the investigation into these platforms content recommendation systems.

I launched a full investigation into big tech censorship, where we are going to take the Twitter Files...[and] what Elon Musk has made public and use that as a road map to go afterall of Big Tech that is trying to silence conservatives, said Cruz, a ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee. And were going to bring accountability, were going to bring transparency, and were going to shine a light and expose their collusion with Democrats in the deep state to try to silence conservatives.

Despite Cruzs vow, House hearings on the matter have thus far been underwhelming for those seeking to prove censorship of conservative voices, with former Twitter officials testifying last week that Republicans and Donald Trump himself petitioned the company to remove undesirable tweets.

Although Musks Twitter Files instead focused on communications to Twitter by Democrats and government agencies, Hannity insisted Monday that the files really did expose how corrupt things were at the company before Musk purchased it last fall.

Cruz then praised the buy as a big damn deal. He claimed it shows that Musk, who has lashed out against the leftist agenda, pushed voters toward the GOP, and temporarily banned reporters who cover him critically, is committed to free speech.

Last week I spent over a half hour on the phone with Elon talking to him about what he is finding at Twitter and using that as a road map, Cruz said. And I have to tell you that the folks at Google and YouTube and Facebook and Tik Tok  they are losing their minds because a member of the club wasnt supposed to admit it, he added, referring to alleged collusion.

Story continues

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A staff member watches a big-data animation on an LED screen at the exhibition center of the national big data comprehensive pilot zone in southwest China's Guizhou Province, May 26, 2022. [Photo/Xinhua]



The China International Big Data Industry Expo 2023 will take place in Guiyang, capital of southwest China's Guizhou Province, from May 26 to 28, according to a provincial big data conference held on Monday.

The offline exhibition will have six pavilions covering an area of 60,000 square meters, and the preparatory work for the event is underway.

The expo has been held in Guiyang since 2015 and is the first of its kind in China, forming a communication platform for vital achievements in the big data industry.

As the country's first national big data comprehensive pilot zone, Guizhou Province has been promoting the big data industry as a backbone of its high-quality social and economic development.

In 2022, Guizhou accelerated the development of the big data industry and the province's added value of the electronic information manufacturing industry rose by more than 60 percent, according to a government work report.
A teenager died and four others were injured, two of them airlifted to the hospital, after a single-vehicle crash Sunday afternoon on a dirt road in Gray County.

At about 1:15 p.m. Sunday, a 2006 Nissan Titan pickup truck was eastbound on County Road D, approximately two miles west of Pampa. The driver, identified as a16-year-old girl from Albuquerque, New Mexico, was traveling at an unsafe speed for the condition of the roadway, which was dirt road, according to a news release from the Texas Department of Public Safety.

The pickup entered a soft side skid to the right and traveled across the road towards the opposite side ditch. The driver over-corrected the steering, causing the pickup to enter a side skid to the left back across the roadway and into the ditch, where it rolled over and ejected all unsecured passengers.

Three of the unsecured passengers were riding in the bed of the pickup, DPS said.

One of the passengers, a 17-year-old boy from Albuquerque, New Mexico, was air-lifted to BSA hospital in Amarillo with life-threatening injuries, where he later died from injuries he sustained in the crash.

Two of the other passengers, a 16-year-old girl from Pampa and a 12-year-old boy from Pampa, were air-lifted to Amarillo Northwest Texas Hospital with serious injuries. An 11-year-old boy from Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the driver, who was wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash, were taken to Pampa General Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The posted speed limit was 60 mph, and road conditions were dry and clear. The crash remains under investigation by the Texas Highway Patrol Troopers.

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: 1 dead, 4 injured after pickup rolls over off dirt road near Pampa
Adriana Kuch, 14, died after being bullied at her school in New Jersey (NBC News)

Students at Central Regional High School in Berkeley Township, New Jersey are mourning the loss of Adriana Kuch, a high school student who died by suicide shortly after a video of her being assaulted by a group of fellow students was posted to social media.

The circumstances of Adrianas death has sparked outrage among students and community members at the school and a broader conversation about how best to protect children from the harms of bullying from peers in the social media age.

Its also led to criminal charges for the students who were filmed attacking her and the resignation of the school superintendent after she blamed the death on Adrianas alleged drug use and other familial issues.

What happened?

On February 1, a video surfaced on social media reportedly showing several students attacking Adriana as she walked down a hallway at her high school with her boyfriend. According to reporting from NJ.com, the attack lasted 30 seconds before school workers intervened and left the 14-year-old bloodied and bruised. Other students could be heard cheering in the background.

Two days later, family members found Adriana dead by suicide at their home in Bayview.

Her father, Michael Kuch, blamed the bullying for his daughters death and said he took her to the police following the attack and filed a police report that night. He believes that had the school opened an investigation into the attack after it happened, the video of the incident might not have made its way to social media.

The superintendent, Triantafillos Parlapanides, told NJ.com that the districts decision not to report the assault to the police was in line with its policy.

Adriana Kuch, 14, died after being bullied at her school in New Jersey (NBC News)

But that did not happen, and the week after Adrianas death, students at Central Regional High School walked out of their classes in protest at the schools and school districts handling of the kind of bullying Adriana had faced.

Adriana took her own life because nobody at the school was able to help or care or step in, Roman Valez, a sophomore, told WNBC. I would actually like to teach the people who bully what theyre actually doing and how it affects.

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Who is facing charges?

On Friday, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D Billhimer announced that his office had filed criminal charges against four female students at the high school for their roles in the alleged attack. One of the students was charged with aggravated assault, two with conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, and the final student with harassment.

Those students were all already suspended from school in the aftermath of the alleged attack. Given that theyre minors, their names have not been released.

According to Mr Kuch, one of the girls now facing a criminal charge had been bullying Adriana online for years prior to the alleged attack. He also told reporters that one of the alleged attackers sent his daughter a message mocking her after the video was posted to social media.

A broader problem

Mr Parlapanides, the superintendent, resigned over the weekend after he told the Daily Mail that Adriana had been offered counseling for drugs but that her father had declined to take the school up on its offer. The now-former superintendent had been in the position for 14 years.

Mr Parlapanides comments were met with widespread condemnation, but the administrative issues in the school district may not stop with him. Luca Canzoneri, a 15-year-old student at the school, told the Daily Mail that the schools administration had been making fun of its students for protesting in the wake of Adrianas death.

New Jersey school superintendent Triantafillos Parlapanides has resigned after an emergency meeting was held to discuss media statements he made about Adriana Kuch (Jersey Matters / YouTube)

Her death is indicative of a wider problem  the prevalance of suicidal ideation and gestures among teenagers in the US.

A study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that women and LGBTQ+-identifying teenagers are reporting record high levels of mental health challenges, with 42 per cent of all high school students reporting feeling sad or hopeless at some point in during 2021. That number represents a 50 per cent increase over the last decade.

Experts in the area have tied the emerging mental health crisis among teenagers to anxiety about the climate and political environment, social media, Covid, and increasing levels of social isolation. Thirty per cent of teen girls said that they had considered suicide.

Theres no question young people are telling us they are in crisis, Kathleen Ethier, director of CDCs adolescent and school health division, said in comments about the study reported by PBS. The data really call on us to act.
(Reuters) - Tesla has changed prices for one version of each of its Model 3 sedan and Model Y crossover, the fourth price adjustment by the electric vehicle maker since the start of the year.

Tesla increased the price of its Model Y performance crossover by $1,000 to $58,990, its website showed. It cut the price of the rear-wheel drive Model 3 sedan, its cheapest model, by $500 to $42,990, the website showed.

Both vehicles qualify for $7,500 in federal tax credits.

Tesla rolled out sweeping price cuts in January across its line-up and in all of its major markets.

The company has been adjusting prices online since with a cadence that is unusual in an industry where the benchmark is still described as a "sticker prices" on the window of a vehicle in inventory.

After the recent changes, the performance version of the Model Y, which has a higher top speed and a lower suspension, is still about 16% cheaper than it was in early January for U.S. customers.

The rear-wheel-drive Model 3 is about 9% cheaper.

Prices for the other two versions of the Model 3 and the Model Y on sale in the United States were unchanged on Tuesday.

Tesla raised the price of its Model Y Long Range earlier this month in the U.S. market after the government raised the ceiling on the price of crossover electric vehicles eligible for the income tax incentive.

Chief Executive Elon Musk said last month that vehicle orders were roughly double the companys output in January after the first round of price cuts.

Musk said strong demand had prompted the company to make its first small price increase to the Model Y and that the company would focus on price to drive demand with the economy headed toward what he believes will be a recession.

Tesla's deep price cuts in January prompted protests in China from Tesla buyers who had bought earlier and missed out on the savings.

Some owners of Tesla's in the United States had complained that the price cuts also eroded the resale value of their vehicles.

Tesla's price cuts this year came after nearly two years when it had been pushing prices higher and could not keep up with demand.

(Reporting by Zhang Yan in Shanghai and Kevin Krolicki in Singapore; Editing by Mark Potter)
None of Tesla's factories are currently part of a union. Getty Images

Tesla workers in New York emailed Elon Musk about their campaign to unionize, per Bloomberg.

Workers told the publication they wanted to secure better pay and working conditions.

They also want to curb workplace monitoring and metrics, per Bloomberg.

Tesla workers at its plant in Buffalo, New York, emailed Elon Musk early Tuesday to inform him of their campaign to unionize, Bloomberg reported.

The group of workers  who, according to Bloomberg, label data for Tesla's autopilot technology and are paid around $19 an hour  want to secure better pay, job security, a say in workplace decisions, and a reduction in production pressure and measuring metrics, the publication added.

If successful, it would be Tesla's first trade union.

Workers who are part of the union effort told Bloomberg that their keystrokes were monitored to check how long employees worked on tasks. Some avoided taking bathroom breaks as a result, six workers said.

Per Bloomberg, the workers are organizing with Workers United, a union that has helped Starbucks' cafes across the US push to unionize.

Insider reached out to Tesla and Workers United for comment but did not immediately hear back.

According to Bloomberg, Tesla workers discussed union plans in an informal Discord chat and began building a committee after an internal chat channel where employees could discuss work issues was shut down.

Employees planned to hand out Valentine-themed leaflets on Tuesday with links to a website that encourages other workers to sign up. The leaflets say: "Roses are red / violets are blue / forming a union starts with you," per Bloomberg.

Previous unsuccessful unionization efforts by Tesla employees included one in California in 2017. Workers organized over concerns about equipment causing workplace injuries.

As Insider reported in 2017, Musk had described accusations about regular injuries and poor working conditions at the Fremont plant as "disingenuous or outright false" but later told employees, "It breaks my heart when someone is injured building cars" and to report injuries directly to him.

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The company reportedly hired a PR firm to monitor employee conversations on social media during the push to unionize in 2017.

Additionally, in 2018, former employees at a Tesla factory in Buffalo that produced solar roof tiles, started a unionization drive, Bloomberg Law reported.

Musk has been a vocal critic of unions and has attacked President Biden for working on a bill that would grant tax incentives to unionized electric vehicle makers in September.

Read the original article on Business Insider
[Source]

A Thai millionaire has accused his son and daughter-in-law of drugging him and killing his wife to steal his nearly $2 million in assets.

On Feb. 11, the unidentified 67-year-old man filed a complaint at Chanchoengsao Police Station claiming that he was held captive for over two years before he managed to escape in May last year.

The millionaire claimed that his son and daughter-in-law began drugging him and his wife in 2020 by adding poison to their food. He and his wife were allegedly locked in the house.

When a relative found them and brought them to a hospital, the son allegedly took them back.

More from NextShark: Chinese lottery winner wears costume to hide $30 million winnings from family

The couple was then relocated to the daughter-in-laws house in Chanchoengsao province, where they were kept in separate rooms.

They were reportedly given rice, instant noodles, canned fish and tap water, all of which were allegedly laced with poison.

The 67-year-old also claimed that they were not permitted to leave their rooms to use the restroom, forcing them to relieve themselves in the rooms.

More from NextShark: Asian Teen Attacked By Racist Man While Riding Bike in Canada

The couple was reportedly only allowed to shower for 15 minutes once every three months.

Although the father managed to escape in May 2022, he found out that his wife allegedly died by hanging.

However, the millionaire believes that his son and daughter-in-law killed his wife and staged it to appear as if she committed suicide.

More from NextShark: Singaporean mother of 9-year-old son with rare neurogenetic disorder awaits the day he calls her 'mom'

According to the father, his son submitted a document to the court claiming that he and his wife were no longer competent due to their mental health issues as a means to obtain his assets.

He claimed that the court approved the request, allowing the transfer of his 65 million baht (approximately $1.9 million) in savings to his sons bank account.

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The incident has reportedly gone viral on Thai social media, with many netizens expressing disbelief over the situation.

More from NextShark: Chinese archaeologists excavate 1-million-year-old human skull

Authorities have publicly noted that they are currently investigating the case.
Former South Carolina Republican Governor Nikki Haley speaks at the Republican Jewish Coalition Annual Leadership Meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada, on November 19, 2022. (Wade Vandervort/AFP via Getty Images)

Former South Carolina Gov. and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley launched her bid for the White House Tuesday with a video playing to her foreign policy bona fides and stature as a woman of color in the GOP.

But she left out some critical contradictions which could hobble her in a party remade by her chief opponent, former President Donald Trump.

Haley is the second major candidate to enter the Republican field, following Trump, who announced his third run for office three months ago. Theyre expected to be followed by other high-profile Republicans who have been teasing White House runs, including former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Republicans have lost the popular vote in seven out of the last eight presidential elections. That has to change, Haley said in the video. Its time for a new generation of leadership.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a likely contender for the Republican nomination for president. (Michael Laughlin/South Florida Sun Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

As she was prepping her run for the White House, Haley crafted an image as a tough-as-nails conservative woman. The title of her pre-launch book, If You Want Something Done..., is a nod to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who once said that if you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman.

They all think we can be bullied, kicked around, Haley added in her launch video. I dont put up with bullies. And when you kick back, it hurts them more if youre wearing heels.

Haley enters the race on firm footing in a critical early primary state, South Carolina, where she enjoys high statewide name recognition after serving two terms as governor from 2011 to 2017. But early polling cast doubt on her ability to defeat Trump in 2024  or displace Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has emerged as the leading alternative for Republicans eager to turn the page on the former president. DeSantis is expected to announce his own candidacy in the next few months.

According to the latest Yahoo News/YouGov poll, registered voters who are Republicans or Republican-leaning independents approve (48%) rather than disapprove (22%) of Haleys decision to run by a more than 2-to-1 margin. Yet nearly a third (30%) say they are unsure, and few are ready to vote for her. While Haleys support in a hypothetical nine-candidate field has risen significantly since January  from 1% to 5%  Trump would currently trounce her 54% to 27% in a head-to-head primary contest.

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Former President Donald Trump at the South Carolina State House, Jan. 2. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Haley effectively plays the spoiler in a hypothetical three-way matchup with Trump and DeSantis, attracting just 11% of Republicans and Republican leaners  while DeSantiss support falls by roughly the same amount (from 45% to 35%), leaving Trump with more votes than either of them (38%). Polls likewise indicate that Republican voters are less familiar with Haley than Trump, Pence and DeSantis.

Such numbers underscore the challenge that will define Haleys candidacy. The subtext of her announcement video  that she is the opposite of Trump in almost every way  was hard to miss.

He is a senior citizen. She was once the youngest governor in the country. He is white. She is the daughter of Indian immigrants. He is a New Yorker. She comes from a small town in South Carolina. He is a he. She is a she.

But while Haley has long positioned herself as one of the GOPs most promising anti-Trumps, can that brand still work in 2024? Or are persuadable primary voters looking for a new-and-improved Trump instead  a more disciplined (and less criminally exposed) culture warrior such as DeSantis?

If so, Haley may struggle to adjust. While her launch video touted some clear strengths, its far less clear how her decision to break an earlier vow to not run if President Trump ran will affect her standing, or how how her support for taking down the Confederate battle flag from the South Carolina state Capitol in 2015 will play in a party that seems to relish anti-woke brawling.

Haley announces via video her run for president. (Nikki Haley via Instagram/via Reuters)

Notably, Haley did not mention that moment in the video, choosing instead to criticize those on the left who think [Americas] ideas are not just wrong but racist and evil.

Haley spent most of her time working for and praising Donald Trump and has long embraced some of the most extreme elements of the MAGA agenda, said Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison in a call with reporters on Tuesday. You know, there's a lot of questions about Nikki Haley and about what she really stands for.

Given the uphill battle ahead, veterans of Republican presidential campaigns have speculated in private that Haley may actually be angling for the No. 2 spot on the ticket, where she could help to broaden the appeal of Trump, DeSantis or another candidate.

Its not the first time vice presidential whispers have circulated within the GOP. In his recently published book, Pompeo  a likely 2024 competitor  accused Haley of attempting to replace Pence as Trumps running mate in 2020. Haley roundly rejected the accusation as lies and gossip.

Either way, longtime Republican pollster and anti-Trump strategist Sarah Longwell wrote Tuesday that the chief hurdle Haley faces is that she has no clear constituency in the modern Republican Party.

Republican pollster and Never Trumper Sarah Longwell. (Rick Bowmer/AP)

Haley, despite how good she is on paper, finds herself in that same tier: No one is asking for what shes selling, Longwell wrote. While many Republican voters may be moving off Trump the man, the forces that he unleashed within the party  economic populism, isolationist foreign policy, election denialism, and above all, an unapologetic and vulgar focus on fighting culture war issues  remain incredibly popular with GOP voters.

Despite agreeing to serve as Trumps U.N. ambassador in 2017  and describing him as her friend even after he tried to overturn the 2020 election  Haley is not new to opposing the former president.

Starting in 2015, when Trump fashioned himself into Americas principal avatar of right-wing intolerance, demonizing Mexicans, Muslims and Megyn Kelly, among others, Haley emerged as a lonely symbol of Republican inclusiveness, denouncing Trumps divisive rhetoric on numerous occasions.

I will not stop until we fight a man that chooses not to disavow the KKK, Haley said in 2016. That is not a part of our party. Thats not who we want as president. We will not allow that in our country!

Haley with from left, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., at an event in Greenville, S.C., in February 2016. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

And even as ambassador in an administration that prized lock-step loyalty, Haley managed to hold to at least some of her own priorities, according to a 2018 New York Times op-ed, eventually exiting the job with her dignity largely intact.

Haley was born Nimrata Nikki Randhawa in Bamberg, S.C., on Jan. 20, 1972. When her parents arrived from Indias Punjab state three years earlier  her father, a biology professor, wrapped his long hair in a traditional Sikh turban; her mother, a lawyer, wore a sari  they found that no one was willing to rent them a house.

We were the first Indian family ever to live in Bamberg, Haley wrote in her 2012 memoir, Cant Is Not an Option. In a time and place that only knew black and white, we didnt fit either category.

It was a lesson that Haley learned early on and that she returned to in Tuesdays announcement video. At the age of 5, she entered a Little Miss Bamberg pageant with her sister. There were typically two winners: a black queen and a white queen. The judges let the Randhawas perform  then disqualified them because they were brown, according to Haleys memoir.

We dont have a place for you, they explained.

Haley at a Republican Jewish Coalition event in Las Vegas in November. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

In kindergarten, Haleys teachers cast her as Pocahontas in the school play  a turn, she recalled in her memoir, that marked the beginning of a long parade of little boys dancing around me and doing the American Indian hand-to-mouth call.

A few years later, the rest of Haleys classmates divided themselves into two groups at recess  one black, the other white.

Are we playing [kickball] today? Haley asked.

We are, one girl said. Youre not.

Why? Haley asked.

You have to pick a side, the girl replied. Are you white or are you black?

Haley began working for her mothers clothing business at an early age and eventually received an accounting degree from Clemson University. But it wasnt until she decided to run for the state House in 2004 that she realized how insidious the bigotry that she had first encountered as a kid could be.

Haley, then a South Carolina state representative, during her bid to become South Carolina's first female governor in 2009. (Tim Dominick/The State/MCT via Getty Images)

Haleys rival, incumbent Larry Koon, was the sort of guy who believed, as he once put it, that women are best suited for secretarial work, decorating cakes and counter sales, like selling lingerie. In her memoir, Haley  a Sikh who converted to Christianity  recounted that Koons campaign fliers featured his photograph on one side (white male, Christian, business owner) and Haleys on the other (Indian female, Buddhist, housekeeper).

Whenever the two candidates met on the trail, Koon made sure to call Haley little lady; he regularly reminded voters that her birth name was Nimrata Randhawa. Eventually Haley defeated Koon  the heavy favorite  by 10 percentage points.

Her underdog gubernatorial campaign was no different. Weve got a raghead in Washington, state Sen. Jake Knotts said at one point, referring to President Barack Obama. We dont need a raghead in the statehouse. A black Democrat referred to Haley as a conservative with a tan.

Gender was an issue as well. As soon as polls showed Haley in the lead, unsubstantiated rumors of extramarital affairs began to surface in the press  accusations that were more believable in the eyes of some voters, Haley wrote in her memoir, because I was a young woman. (Haley vowed to resign if the claims were validated, which they never were.)

Haley celebrates after winning reelection as governor in 2014. (Gerry Melendez/The State/MCT via Getty Images)

Still, for most of her governorship  she was reelected in 2014  Haley, true to her tea party reputation, was hardly a civil rights crusader. She refused to expand Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act. She signed an Arizona-style immigration law forcing police officers to report anyone they suspected of being a noncitizen. She pushed for stricter enforcement of South Carolinas E-Verify rules. And when she first took office, legislators immediately complained about her administrations lack of diversity.

At the end of the day, I had to show results as governor, Haley wrote in her memoir. I didnt care what color the people were who helped me do that.

Haley even opposed removing the Confederate battle flag from the grounds of the state Capitol. During her initial run for governor, she said the flag was not something that is racist, but rather a tradition that people feel proud of.

Yet after 21-year-old white supremacist Dylann Roof shot and killed nine African Americans at Charlestons Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church during a June 17, 2015, prayer service, Haleys views began to change.

Ive got some things in my head, she texted her husband after seeing photos of Roof clutching the Confederate flag, and I just need to know if Im thinking right.

A rally against the Confederate flag in Columbia, S.C., June 20, 2015. (Mladen Antonov/AFP via Getty Images)

She had decided that the flag needed to come down. She met with members of both parties. She cried during a press conference. When legislation stalled in the House, Haley huddled with her fellow Republicans to make sure they understood what was at stake.

I told them they had not heard me talk a lot about race, she recently explained, but I wanted them to know a story.

One day, when Haley was 10, she convinced her father to let her drive with him to Columbia, the state capital, about an hour away from home. On the way they stopped at a fruit stand. As her dad began to fill a bag with produce, Haley glanced at the register. The owners looked nervous. One of them picked up the phone. Moments later, a pair of police cars sped up to the stand. Even as a grade schooler, Haley realized that the cops were there because of us.

I have to pass that farmers stand every time I go to the airport, Haley told the Republicans. And every time I pass it I feel pain.

The Statehouse belongs to everybody, she continued. No child should drive by the Statehouse and feel pain.

The bill passed soon after.

Later, Haley indicated she would not support legislation introduced by the South Carolina state Senate that would require transgender individuals to use restrooms based on the gender they were assigned at birth.

President Donald Trump hosts ambassadors from the U.N. Security Council with Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., in 2017. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

When Trump ascended to the top of the GOP polls in the summer of 2015, Haley was one of the first Republicans to speak out against him. We need to make sure that were always communicating in a way thats got respect and dignity, Haley said at the time. When we saw all of this happen [in South Carolina], people respected each other. They may have disagreed, but they respected each other. That tone is important for the country. ... A harsh tone ... hurts people, and its just not necessary.

Instead, Haley backed Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, then sided with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz after Rubio dropped out. Ultimately she said she would vote for Trump  even though she was not a fan.

Offered the U.N. ambassadorship, Haley nonetheless went on to navigat[e] the Trump era with a singular shrewdness, messaging and maneuvering in ways that kept her in solid standing both with the GOP donor class as well as with the president and his base, as Politicos Tim Alberta wrote in a 2021 profile.

Her non-MAGA reputation aside, though, Haley is not a moderate. Even after Charleston, she didnt call for new gun control measures. As governor, she pushed steep cuts to the state budget. She sought to curb regulations and limit lawsuits. She was vehemently opposed to Obamacare. She backed voter ID laws. She was hostile to unions.

But in 2024s Republican Party, thats no longer enough. Once upon a time, Republicans chose Haley to deliver their response to Obamas final State of the Union address because she represented the party they hoped the GOP was becoming: younger, more diverse, and more consistently, thoughtfully conservative. Then Trump hijacked 2016.

The question now is whether Haley has what it takes to steer the Republican Party back on that track  or lead them somewhere new.
Federal prosecutors plan to introduce more than 37,000 pieces of evidence against Myrtle Beach Safari owner Bhagavan Doc Antle  a trove so vast his defense wants nearly a year to prepare, recently filed court documents show.

Antle, 62, was indicted along with several other people, including former employee Andrew Jon Sawyer, on June 30 on 10 charges related to wildlife trafficking and money laundering. He faces 20 years in prison if convicted.

Antle, featured in the 2021 Netflix docuseries Tiger King, was arrested by the FBI on June 3 and released from the J. Reuben Long Detention Center in Horry County on June 28 after posting a $250,000 bond.

Authorities said he and Sawyer laundered $505,000 in cash over four months, proceeds they say were the result of an operation to smuggle immigrants across the Mexican border.

Myrtle Beach Safari is located on 50 acres about five miles from the citys airport.

A pre-trial conference was scheduled for Feb. 23 with jury selection on March 13.

But a Feb. 13 motion by Antles legal team seeks a continuance until October so they can sift through exhibits.

The Government has produced, in total, in excess of 37,000 items in discovery, with its most recent discovery production occurring on January 27, 2023, the motion states. The Defendant anticipates that the Government will produce even more discovery. Further, potential witnesses are located in multiple states.

Antle on Feb. 3 signed a waiver giving up his right to a speedy trial, court filings show.

In addition to the money laundering charges, Antle is also facing animal cruelty and trafficking charges in Virginia, and likely will be hit with wildlife trafficking violations from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, authorities have said.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas E. Rogers ruled Sept. 14 that Antle had to notify the court about the sale of any substantial asset valued at $50,000 or more.

Shortly after his arrest, China York, one of Antles reported wives, registered with the South Carolina Secretary of State a pair of limited liability companies: Sugriva and Vali LLCs, both named after chimpanzees featured on Antles social media accounts.

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Both also have the same registered address as Myrtle Beach Safari and remain registered in good standing with the state. Sugriva LLC applied for a Class C license through the U.S. Department of Agriculture  a permit required to operate a zoo.

Calls to Myrtle Beach Safari were not immediately returned on Feb. 14, but the company on its voicemail and website gives a description of the business.

The Myrtle Beach Safari is not a zoo. It is an interactive wildlife preserve. You must be participating in one of our encounters to visit and meet the animals, and reservations are required.
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) is slated to join former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley at a presidential forum in the state next month, another indication that Scott is weighing a White House bid after Haley officially announced her campaign on Tuesday.

Scott and Haley are confirmed to appear at the Palmetto Family Council Vision 24 Forum, an event hosted by the conservative public policy foundation, on March 18 in Charleston. Scott will join Haley at the event as speculation swirls around whether he will also jump into the presidential race.

Scott has launched a listening tour ahead of the decision, planning trips to Iowa and South Carolina, two of the earliest states in the Republican nomination process. Haley announced her long-expected campaign on Tuesday, entering a primary that already includes former President Trump.

Trump was also invited to attend the March forum in South Carolina, along with a number of other possible 2024 challengers, including Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem. The Hill reached out to the foundation about the status of the other invitees.

Trump launched his campaign right after the November 2022 midterm elections, throwing his weight around early in the primary process. While the former president is expected to be a formidable candidate, he is also expected to garner more opponents like Haley.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The 2022 World Internet of Things Convention (WIOTC) is held in Beijing, Feb. 10, 2023. [Photo courtesy of the World Internet of Things Convention]



The development of the Internet of Things (IoT) requires openness, cooperation and mutual learning, and China has various ideas and approaches to offer in this field, according to remarks made at the 2022 World Internet of Things Convention (WIOTC) held in Beijing on Friday.

The IoT offers great potential for sustainable development and full connection means no one can be left behind, said U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, speaking via video link.

Zhang Qin, a member of the Standing Committee of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, highlighted the positive impact the IoT and smart technologies have had on the global economy. According to Zhang, these advancements have enabled the development of a new interconnected digital economy and brought the world closer together, contributing to world peace and development, narrowing wealth inequality and reducing poverty.

Zhang highlighted China's role as a big player in innovative development, and its responsibility to lead the exploration and practical application of the IoT to provide a reference for other countries' economic and social progress.

WIOTC Executive Committee Chairman He Xuming speaks at the 2022 World Internet of Things Convention (WIOTC), Feb. 10, 2023. [Photo courtesy of the World Internet of Things Convention]



WIOTC Executive Committee Chairman He Xuming suggested that other countries could refer to China's experience building IoT infrastructure, developing platforms, and implementing industrial applications to boost their own IoT growth.

The report to the 20th CPC National Congress proposed accelerating the development of the IoT and the digital economy.

By the end of 2022, the number of mobile IoT connections in China had reached 1.84 billion, a net increase of 447 million over the end of 2021, accounting for 70% of the global total, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. In addition, the country is now home to more than 2.3 million 5G base stations, which will further facilitate the development of the IoT and the digital economy.

Moldovan Ambassador to China Dumitru Braghis noted that in terms of the development of the IoT and the digital economy, China could provide valuable experience to learn from. He hoped the WIOTC could help further strengthen the bilateral friendship and IoT cooperation between the two countries.

Greek Ambassador to China Evgenios Kalpyris, Maltese Ambassador to China John Busuttil, and Namibian Ambassador to China Elia G. Kaiyamo also expressed their hope to work with China to advance the development of the IoT.

This year's convention saw the participation of representatives from U.N. agencies, government officials, ambassadors, academics, experts from nearly 100 countries, executives from World IoT Top 500 enterprises, and representatives from international think tanks and business associations.

Aside from forums and special sessions for governments and enterprises, the annual conference featured the awarding ceremony of the 2022 World IoT Awards and the founding ceremony of WIOTC's affiliated commissions in industries such as agriculture, energy, transportation, auto intelligence and smart life.
Saturday Night Live alums Tina Fey and Amy Poehler have announced a comedy tour beginning in the spring.

The tour will kick off in Washington, D.C., on April 28, and so far, three other dates have been announced for Chicago, Boston and Atlantic City.

In a video posted to the tour's official Instagram, Fey jokes, "It's gonna be an evening of comedy, conversation improv, maybe a little slow-dancing between us "

"We don't know yet, but it's gonna be awesome," she adds.

"We cannot wait to see you!" says Poehler.

Several users commented that the tour was being announced on Galentine's Day, a reference to Poehler's show "Parks and Recreation."

"I want to go to there," wrote a commenter, quoting Fey's 30 Rock character, Liz Lemon.

While this is the first time the comedians will be touring together, they're not strangers to sharing the stage, having hosted the Golden Globes together four times.

Presale tickets for the tour will be available starting Feb. 15, and general tickets go on sale Feb. 17. A limited number of VIP tickets are also available for online purchase only.

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Takeo Mori, Wendy Sherman and Heng Dong

We concurred that Russias  such threat is absolutely unacceptable and Russia should never use nuclear weapons under any circumstances, Mori said.

Read also: Russia deploying nuclear missile carriers in Arctic for first time since collapse of USSR, Norwegian intelligence reports

According to him, it is important to continue to strongly support Kyiv and impose tough sanctions on Moscow.

Read also: Japan and South Korea may supply weapons to Ukraine in the future, says Foreign Minister Kuleba

"Such a situation in Ukraine will be one of the most important issues at the G7 summit in Hiroshima, which Japan will be hosting in May," Mori stressed.

In December 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the threat of nuclear war is "growing."

Read also: Ukraines FM calls on EU, G7 to slap more sanctions on Russia

Ukraines Defense Intelligence previously stated that it considers the threat of Russia's use of tactical nuclear weapons against Ukraine to be very high. At the same time, according to Ukraines spy chief Kyrylo Budanov, Russia will not launch a nuclear strike in the near future.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken shake hands during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine on April 25, 2022. Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP

Blinken said a lasting peace deal in Ukraine can't occur if its territorial integrity is not respected.

The top US diplomat said that Ukraine giving up territory to Russia would "open a Pandora's box."

"Putin has to give up on his notion that Ukraine is not its own country," Blinken said.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a new interview with NPR that there's a slim chance of Kyiv and Moscow reaching a peace deal as long as Russian President Vladimir Putin behaves as if Ukraine is not a real country.

"Vladimir Putin has to give up on his notion that Ukraine is not its own country, that it needs to be erased from the maps and subsumed into Russia. He's already failed at that. But he seems to continue to believe that that's what he's trying to achieve. And unless he's disabused of that notion, it's hard to see how peace can really move forward," Blinken said.

Putin in September illegally annexed four Ukrainian territories. But Russian forces do not fully occupy these regions, and in some places, they have even lost ground to Ukraine in the time since Putin announced the so-called annexations.

The Russian leader's decision to annex the Ukrainian territories made the possibility of negotiations to end the fighting extremely unlikely. Moscow now claims these regions as part of Russia while the Ukrainian government has been adamant it would not agree to any peace deal requiring it to cede territory to Russia.

Blinken also told NPR that any peace agreement would need to respect Ukraine's territorial integrity, otherwise it would not be a "just peace and a durable peace."

"If we ratify the seizure of land by another country and say 'that's okay, you can go in and take it by force and keep it,' that will open a Pandora's box around the world for would be aggressors that will say, 'Well, we'll do the same thing and get away with it,'" Blinken added.

Western leaders and officials have repeatedly warned that if Russia wins in Ukraine it could inspire other world leaders with imperialistic ambitions to act on them.

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The top US diplomat's comments came as Russia continues to push for gains in eastern Ukraine as the war inches toward the one-year mark. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday Russia has already begun a highly-anticipated new offensive, warning that Putin is willing to endure high casualties in order to exhaust Ukrainian forces.

"We're seeing what Russia is just now, what President Putin do now, is sending thousands and thousands of more troops, accepting a very high rate of casualty, taking big losses, but putting pressure on the Ukrainians. And what Russia lacks in quality, they try to compensate in quantity," Stoltenberg said.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Gen. Mark Milley during a press conference at NATO HQ on February 14, 2023 in Brussels, Belgium. Dursun Aydemir/Getty Images

Gen. Mark Milley said Russia has "lost" in Ukraine as the war approaches the one-year mark.

"They've lost strategically, operationally, and tactically," Milley said.

Russia has suffered massive casualties in Ukraine and failed in its initial war aims.

As the war in Ukraine approaches the one-year mark, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley said Tuesday that Russia has "lost."

Russian President Vladimir Putin "thought he could defeat Ukraine quickly, fracture the NATO alliance, and act with impunity. He was wrong," Milley said while speaking to reporters in Brussels.

The top US general ripped into Moscow for launching an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, emphasizing that Russia has paid an "enormous price on the battlefield" as a consequence.

"Russia is now a global pariah and the world remains inspired by Ukrainian bravery and resilience. In short, Russia has lost  they've lost strategically, operationally, and tactically," Milley added.

FRANCE 24 English (@France24_en) February 14, 2023

Milley's comments echoed an assessment from Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the United Kingdom's chief of defense staff, who in December said "Russia is losing" and the "free world is winning."

When Russia invaded Ukraine last February, it was widely expected to conquer Kyiv in a matter of days. But Russian forces failed in that objective as Ukrainian troops put up a far stiffer resistance than expected. With the help of Western-supplied weapons, Ukraine has continued to defy expectations in this war.

Over the course of 2022, the fighting largely shifted to Ukraine's east and the conflict morphed into a brutal, grinding war of attrition.

Putin illegally annexed four Ukrainian regions in September, claiming them as part of Russia, despite the fact that Russian forces did not fully occupy these regions. A Ukrainian counteroffensive pushed Russian forces into retreat in parts of these territories  including Kherson, the first major city Russia occupied after the invasion.

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The war is raging on, and Russia, which mobilized hundreds of thousands of additional troops, has seemingly begun a new offensive in the east with the goal of swallowing the Donbas region  comprised of Donetsk and Luhansk, two of the regions Putin illegally annexed. Russian gains have been limited though.

Both sides have experienced heavy losses since the invasion began. Russian casualties estimated to be nearing 200,000.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has warned that Putin is unfazed by the high rate of casualties and is vying to overwhelm Ukrainian forces with sheer numbers.

Putin is "sending thousands and thousands of more troops, accepting a very high rate of casualty, taking big losses, but putting pressure on the Ukrainians," the NATO chief said on Monday, adding, "What Russia lacks in quality, they try to compensate in quantity."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Teddy Von Nukem, a southwest Missouri man featured prominently in photos from the infamous 2017 Charlottesville white-supremacist rally, died Jan. 30 this year, the same day he was scheduled to go trial for allegedly trafficking fentanyl across the Mexico border.

Photographed wearing a black shirt, with his mouth open and a tiki torch in hand, the Lebanon native's face went viral as he marched at the front of the 2017 protest against the removal of confederate statues. The Unite the Right rally garnered national attention because it was organized by a conglomeration of white supremacist, alt-right, neo-Nazi and pro-Confederate groups and resulted in the murder of counter-protestor Heather Heyer.

Speaking to the News-Leader at the time, Von Nukem said he supported then-President Trump but was not associated with the far-right groups that organized the rally.

"The rally was not a racist rally. It was a rally to save our history," he said.

"I don't mind showing solidarity with them," Von Nukem added, saying he believed white people are disadvantaged in modern culture. "If we don't play, we will be the field trampled by the players. You have to pick your side. You have to throw your support behind the army that is fighting for you."

More:Southwest Missouri man identified as Charlottesville demonstrator in viral photo

In this Aug. 12, 2017 file photo, a vehicle drives into a group of protesters demonstrating against a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va. A federal judge on Wednesday, May 5, 2021, has ordered a right-wing think tank led by white nationalist Richard Spencer to pay $2.4 million to an Ohio man severely injured during a white supremacist and neo-Nazi rally two years ago in Virginia organized by Spencer. Bill Burke says he was struck by a car driven by James Alex Fields Jr. , in a crash that killed counterprotester Heather Heyer, during the August 2017 rally in Charlottesville.

Von Nukem "left what (he) always referred to as his 'meat suit' on January 30," according to his obituary. He is survived by his wife and five children.

"Teddy enjoyed visiting with people, talking to strangers, meditating, video games and board games, but most of all he loved dancing with each of his daughters every evening when he came home from work," reads his obituary.

"Some people knew Ted and understood he was a different type of fellow and had different views of things, but he would give the shirt off his back if you asked or needed it. He will be truly missed and loved. May he always be watching over his friends and family forever and always."

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Unrelated to his involvement in the Charlottesville protest, Von Nukem faced federal drug trafficking charges. According to a 2021 indictment, Von Nukem attempted to cross from Mexico to the United States at the port of entry in Lukeville, Arizona. During inspection of his vehicle, 14 packages were found concealed in the rear passenger third-row seat of the 2019 Nissan Pathfinder.

According to the indictment, the packages contained 15 kilograms of pills that tested positive for fentanyl. Under police questioning, Von Nukem admitted to smuggling contraband into the United States but denied knowing the drugs contained fentanyl. He allegedly told investigators he was paid 4,000 pesos, or approximately $215, to smuggle the dangerous drug.

Von Nukem was later charged with drug trafficking and was set to stand trial in federal court starting Jan. 30. That same day, Von Nukem died, and the charges were dismissed. His obituary does not give a cause of death.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Ted Von Nukem, photographed at 2017 Charlottesville march, dead at 35
If youre into combatting wokeness, the imaginary villain that haunts Republican fever dreams, then Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is your superhero du jour.

He took on Woke Disney and won! He flew migrants to Woke Martha's Vineyard and owned the libs! He singlehandedly de-woke-ified the Woke College Boards planned AP African American studies course!

The mighty DeSantis is surely the Anti-Woke Warrior conservative America needs, right?

Well, lets put it this way: If youre into combatting wokeness, youre also into getting conned, so embracing DeSantis as a blustery David defeating this perceived Goliath of liberalism is perfectly on brand. But if youve got at least one oar in the waters of reality, its a short paddle to see behind the curtain of Floridas Great and Mighty Despoiler of Woke. And there aint much back there.

Florida's governor bravely takes on ... Disney?

Take DeSantis war on Disney, which began after the corporation  one of the largest private employers in the state  spoke out in opposition to Floridas dont say gay law restricting discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools.

Am I woke?: DeSantis and GOP fight 'woke' because hating a word is easier than hating people

The governor struck back at the woke theme park and entertainment giant last year by pushing for and then signing a bill abolishing the companys longstanding status as a special tax district. In theory, that meant an end to significant tax breaks the company has enjoyed for more than 50 years.

However, right-wing exclamations of WAY TO GO, RON! were premature. Turns out that just doing away with Disneys Reedy Creek Improvement District  which put the company in control of the sprawling area it inhabits  would force taxpayers in surrounding counties to shoulder the costs of running the Disney-occupied area (think emergency services, road repairs etc.) and take on the special tax districts roughly $1 billion in debt.

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So the Florida Legislature that does DeSantis bidding swooped into a special session this month to clean up the governors mess. Lawmakers passed a new bill that lets DeSantis pick who sits on the Disney tax districts board.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announces tax relief in Ocala on Feb. 8, 2023. He also wanted to eliminate more of Disneys privileges by revoking Disney Worlds designation as a special tax district.

DeSantis' Disney victory not all it was cracked up to be

As The New York Times reported: This time, Disney would be allowed to keep the special tax district  which never went away  and almost all its perks, including the ability to issue tax-exempt bonds and approve development plans without scrutiny from certain local regulators.

So  DeSantis stuck it to woke Disney by taking control of the board that oversees the companys special tax district while leaving all the perks and tax breaks in place.

The bills sponsor in the House, Republican Rep. Fred Hawkins, was asked how it changes anything happening in the district and said: That I cant answer.

Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., on April 18, 2022.

'BIG loss for conservatives'

Even some conservatives saw through DeSantis fake victory. Anthony Sabatini, chairman of the Lake County Republican Party in Florida tweeted: So basically Woke Disney gets to keep its nearly tax-free, regulation-free statusbut with a different Board.  What a massive capitulation this is. HUGE win for Woke Disney. BIG loss for conservatives.

In Trump vs. DeSantis 2024 culture war: Black and LGBTQ people will pay the highest price

The far-right news site Big League Politics blasted this headline  FRAUD: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Folds to Woke Disney, Pushes Bill to Quietly Restore Special Tax Breaks."

Thats far from the only example of DeSantis all-talk-no-actual-destruction-of-wokeness grift.

DeSantis said he forced changes to an AP course  but he didn't

The governor recently took credit for the College Board making changes to an AP African American studies course he had rejected as too woke and historically fictional. The board clapped back, saying any claim that the board was in frequent dialogue with Florida about the content of the course is a false and politically motivated charge.

National Education Association president: Black history is American history. DeSantis is stealing our students' freedom to learn it.

Last year, DeSantis fancied himself a true master of owning the libs after using Florida taxpayer money to lure migrants in Texas onto a plane and dump them in Marthas Vineyard in Massachusetts. The stunt might have pleased a cruel swath of the governors base, but it was largely met with derision and viewed as an inhumane waste of money.

It also, according to at least one of several lawsuits, might have violated state law because the state money earmarked for transporting migrants specified they had to already be in Florida, not Texas or any other state. And, of course, the whole stunt had zero impact on immigration, or really anything else.

Florida lawmakers spending time cleaning up DeSantis' war-on-woke messes

The aforementioned Republican Florida lawmakers who recently cleaned up DeSantis Disney mess also tried to fix his migrant transport problem this month by passing a bill that declared all payments made pursuant to (the original law) are deemed approved. Its good to have powerful friends devoid of ethics, apparently.

DeSantis is fighting woke gun-control advocates by pushing legislation that would allow Floridians to carry guns without safety training or permits. But at an election night party in Tampa last year, The Washington Post reported, the governors campaign banned guns at the event while asking city officials to say it was their decision.

Florida: Where woke goes to die ... or not

It seems rumors of DeSantis success at battling the liberal woke mind virus, or whatever it is theyre calling it these days, may be greatly exaggerated. I imagine thats of interest to another alleged enemy of wokeness down in South Florida  one Donald J. Trump. Rumor has it the former president and current presidential candidate is sitting around pondering possible nicknames for DeSantis, who many expect will enter the Republican presidential primary.

Opinion alerts: Get columns from your favorite columnists + expert analysis on top issues, delivered straight to your device through the USA TODAY app. Don't have the app? Download it for free from your app store.

How about Paper-Tiger Ron? Or maybe Ron FakeSantis? Ron All Woke Sizzle, No Woke Steak DeSantis?

I dunno, Im just spitballing here. Ill leave it to Trump to figure it out. Its literally the only thing hes good at  which means hes good at one more thing than Floridas all-show-no-go governor.

Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Twitter @RexHuppke and Facebook facebook.com/RexIsAJerk, or contact him at rhuppke@usatoday.com

More from Rex Huppke:

Monday after the Super Bowl should be a national holiday of rest, shame and regret

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You can read diverse opinions from our Board of Contributors and other writers on the Opinion front page, on Twitter @usatodayopinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter. To respond to a column, submit a comment to letters@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ron DeSantis takes control of 'woke' Disney board, tax breaks remain
Thousands of LGBTQ+ social media users are mourning the death of a charismatic transgender teenager who was stabbed to death in a public park in the United Kingdom.

Brianna Ghey, 16, was found suffering stab wounds on Saturday, Feb. 11 at Linear Park near Birchwood, the town where she lived, BBC News reported.

Detectives told British outlets that while they believe the killing was targeted and authorities arrested two 15-year-old teenagers on suspicion of murder, there was no evidence to suggest her slaying was a hate crime.

Detectives have arrested two teenagers following the death of 16-year-old Brianna Ghey in Warrington.



A 15y/o boy and a 15y/o girl, both from the local area, have been arrested on suspicion of murder. They are currently in custody assisting police with their investigation. (1/6) pic.twitter.com/0aSLdGgEme  Warrington Police (@PoliceWarr) February 12, 2023

As they mourn her death, many are speaking out against the countrys laws that they say will misgender and misname the transgender teenager on her death documents.

Hashtags such as DignityForBrianna and SayHerName were trending on Twitter on Monday, Feb. 13.

Brianna Ghey, a transgender girl who was brutally murdered will not be given dignity in death and will be misgendered on her death certificate thanks to an outdated gender recognition act that the UK government has refused to reform, one user tweeted. The tweet refers to the countrys Gender Recognition Act that bars anyone younger than 18 from applying to change their legal gender markers.

#DignityForBrianna



Brianna Ghey, a transgender girl who was brutally murdered will will not be given dignity in death and will be misgendered on her death certificate thanks to an outdated gender recognition act that the UK government has refused to reform.  Evil Bee (@tropdepieds) February 13, 2023

The Twitter user behind the #DignityForBrianna hashtag explained they started the campaign to demand government officials issue a Gender Recognition Certificate for Ghey so the teenagers transgender identity would be respected in death.

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The user said they intended the hashtag to call on the Government to issue the certificate for Ghey so that she can have the dignity in death that everyone else in this world takes for granted.

Trans Safety Network, a grassroots organization dedicated to researching organized harm against trans people in the UK, shared a statement on Twitter that appeared to express frustration that the killing is not being investigated as a hate crime despite reports that Ghey had faced years of bullying over her transgender identity.

Whatever the specific circumstances leading to her death, we are currently living through a period of unprecedented moral repugnance toward trans people, promoted and enabled by the apathy and complicity of powerful public figures, the statement said, pointing out that British press [compounded] this harm by publicly disrespecting Briannas identity.

The death of Brianna Ghey is a failure by our society at the deepest level, the statement says. It should not take a public show of grief to value the lives of trans children. Briannas life should have been valued enough not to be taken in the first place.

#DignityForBrianna because she deserves to be recognised in death as she so joyfully showed us in life, another user added.

Ghey was a beloved TikTok star known for singing and lip syncing along to songs and trying on stylish outfits and hairstyles in her videos.

Montana state Rep. Zooey Zephyr, who is trans, also weighed in on Twitter.

Brianna shouldve been able to enjoy her girlhood without being murdered for who she was, Zephyr wrote. My heart breaks for her (& for every trans person afraid of the escalating hate toward us.) Im scared too. But I promise to never stop fighting until the world lets us just live our lives.

Brianna should've been able to enjoy her girlhood without being murdered for who she was. My heart breaks for her (& for every trans person afraid of the escalating hate towards us)



I'm scared too. But I promise to never stop fighting until the world lets us just live our lives. https://t.co/VB5YvguD0k  Rep. Zooey Zephyr (@ZoAndBehold) February 13, 2023

A Parliament member shared a statement from Gheys family in which they remembered her as a much loved daughter, granddaughter, and baby sister.

A statement from the family of Brianna Ghey. May her memory forever be a blessing



Please continue to come forward with any information that may assist the police, and avoid online speculation which will be distressing to Brianna's grieving friends and family. pic.twitter.com/64g37ddZlB  Charlotte Nichols (@charlotte2153) February 13, 2023

She was a larger than life character who would leave a lasting impression on all that met her, the statement said. Brianna was beautiful, witty and hilarious. Brianna was strong, fearless and one of a kind. The loss of her young life has left a massive hole in our family.

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Valerii Zaluzhnyi

On the eve of the meeting of the defense contact group in the Rammstein format, I had a telephone conversation with the Supreme Commander of the Allied NATO Armed Forces in Europe and the Commander of the U.S. Armed Forces in Europe, Gen. Christopher Cavoli, Zaluzhnyi said in a Telegram post.

Read also: NATO to extend again term of office of Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg

Zaluzhnyi discussed with Cavoli the flow of international military assistance to Ukraine and the training of Ukrainian units on the territory of partner countries. He also shared his assessments of the operational situation at the front and plans for further actions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Read also: Ukrainians name army commander Zaluzhnyi politician No. 2  poll

I am grateful to Gen. Cavoli for his deep understanding of the situation and significant efforts to bring our victory closer, the vision of which I shared with my interlocutor today, the Commander-in-Chief said.

Read also: Ukraine has no constraints on aiming military targets in Russia, said Danilov

The victory will mean for Ukraine not just the liberation of its territories, but also the creation of such Armed Forces and conditions that wont allow the Russians to attack our country in the future.

Earlier, Ukraines National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) secretary, Oleksiy Danilov, said that he considers the real victory of Ukraine the collapse of Russia, its dissolution as an integral subject of history and politics.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Trump and DeSantis at a rally in Pensacola, FL on November 3, 2018. Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images

Trump told radio host Jenna Ellis that he never asked DeSantis to stay out of the 2024 nomination.

But, he added that he would consider a run against him to be disloyal.

"Somebody gets you in, you sort of be loyal to that person," Trump said in the interview.

Former President Donald Trump won't be warning other Republicans to stay out of the 2024 White House nomination race  but he wants many of them to know that he sees getting in as a betrayal.

Speaking to radio host Jenna Ellis on American Family Radio, Trump called himself "a very big believer in loyalty."

"Somebody gets you in, you sort of be loyal to that person," Trump said in the interview, which aired Tuesday.

Ellis, one of Trump's senior advisers and counsels when he was in the White House, had asked Trump how he would ensure that he continues to be the head of the Republican Party and have voters rally around him, given that other candidates were likely to be jumping into the race.

Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley made her run official on Tuesday, but Ellis asked Trump about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as well, who hasn't made his intentions clear but often polls second to Trump in a hypothetical primary matchup.

Trump corrected Ellis in his response, saying that he had never warned DeSantis to stay out of the race, adding, "He's got to do what he's got to do."

Trump then went on to take credit for DeSantis' 2018 gubernatorial victory, saying DeSantis "went up like a rocket ship" against Republican primary challenger Adam Putnam, who was better known and the Florida agriculture commissioner. DeSantis, who was a US congressman at the time, had sagging poll numbers during the primary until Trump endorsed him.

"He was getting ready to leave the race and he came over and asked whether or not it would be possible for me to endorse him," Trump said, adding that part of his decision rested on DeSantis' defense of him during the special counsel's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 US elections.

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Trump also noted that he held rallies with DeSantis and took credit for him narrowly winning the 2018 general election race against Andrew Gillum, Tallahassee's mayor who was a rising national star in his party.

"He ended up beating a guy that he wasn't supposed to be because of me," Trump said. "And then he runs, so you know, I call that disloyalty."

Trump didn't mention that he didn't endorse or hold rallies for DeSantis' 2022 reelection bid. Instead Trump rolled out his derisive "Ron DeSanctimonious" nickname just before Election Day  yet the governor went on to win by 19 points.

Since the reelection, Trump has been more openly hitting DeSantis, who in turn has taunted the ex-president with passive aggressive appearances and jabs.

"I don't spend my time trying to smear other Republicans," DeSantis said last week when asked about a picture Trump shared on social media that appeared to show DeSantis posing with high school girls when he was a teacher.

DeSantis is widely expected to run for president given his fundraising prowess and the way he's been able to consistently grab the national spotlight. He also has his first memoir coming out at the end of February, which is one of the steps most presidential candidates take to raise funds and help voters get to know them better.

Trump, in his American Family Radio interview, went on to tout his record as president, including his tax cuts, strong economy before the pandemic, his appointment of Supreme Court justices that overturned Roe v. Wade, and a bill he signed into law that would allow terminally ill people to try experimental medicines.

He also raised Haley's previous comments in which she said she wouldn't run against him, before she reversed course.

"They have to do what they have to do," Trump concluded of 2024 GOP entrants. "It's OK."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Students attend a class at Yan'an High School in Yan'an, northwest China's Shaanxi province, Oct. 27, 2022. [Photo/Xinhua]

Thanks to the internet, students from a middle school in Kangding, Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in southwest China's Sichuan province, are able to attend classes conducted by teachers from Chengdu No. 7 High School, a prestigious high school elsewhere in the province.

It takes more than three hours to drive from Kangding to Chengdu, but with the help of information technology, students can answer their teachers' questions in less than a minute.

The interaction is just part of China's broader efforts to promote digital education in recent years, in a bid to develop more equitable and higher-quality education, while accelerating modernization in the sector.

The World Digital Education Conference, which opened in Beijing on Monday, is expected to further promote the digitalization of education in China and inject new momentum into the global development of digital education.

Upgraded facilities

China has released multiple plans to better apply information technology to education, with the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China calling for the digitalization of education and the building of a society and country of learning in which lifelong learning is pursued by all.

In recent years, China has upgraded the facilities for digital teaching in schools. All the elementary and middle schools across China have access to the internet, compared with 25 percent in 2012. Moreover, more than three quarters of Chinese schools have wireless networks, and about 99.5 percent of schools have multimedia classrooms.

In March 2022, a public online service platform named "Smart Education of China" was officially launched, focusing on such areas as learning, teaching, school governance and educational innovation.

So far, the platform has received more than 6.7 billion page views and more than 1 billion visitors from more than 200 countries and regions.

The platform provides access to higher-quality education resources for rural primary and secondary schools in the underdeveloped central and western parts of the country. It also allows universities in the west of China to share quality resources provided by universities in the east.

According to Ma Luting, vice president of the National Institute of Education Sciences, in the digital education era, multiple methods of resource development, presentation and communication have changed the conventional classroom teaching methods.

Booming MOOCS

With digital technologies, students from three universities in Jiangsu, Shaanxi and Guizhou provinces have been able to experience a simulated assembly process of China's first homegrown jetliner C919, witnessing the airfoils dock with the fuselage from their classrooms at the same time.

"Employing the digital simulation and virtual reality technologies, we can represent the assembly site at the classroom and have students from different places interact with each other through 5G," said Tian Wei, a professor at the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

The class is a good example of how massive open online courses (MOOCs) are developing in China.

Since 2013, this new form of education, providing instruction free of charge to all, has mushroomed in China. As of November 2022, there were more than 61,900 MOOCs accessible online, with 402 million registered users. China ranks first in the world in both the number of MOOCs and the number of learners online.

China has set up 168 integrated courses available across the globe, initiated mutual credit recognition with 13 world-famous universities, and developed eight open courses in English, attracting more than 7 million learners around the world.

At the World Digital Education Conference, Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan said China is willing to deepen cooperation with other countries in digital education standardization, introduce more quality services and products, and improve digital education governance and public services.
Donald Trump has a new issue at the centre of his third bid for the White House: killing drug dealers, according to Rolling Stone.

A new piece on the inner deliberations of Trumpworld from Rolling Stone reveals that Donald Trump is making the death penalty  specifically, expanding its use in America  a centre point of his flagging 2024 campaign. According to several sources close to the former president who spoke with the magazine, Mr Trump is putting energy behind the idea of widely expanding the death penalty to make drug offences eligible for capital punishment.

Theres little reason to think that such a plan would actually go anywhere. The Constitution prohibits the use of cruel and/or unusual punishments, and it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to make a legal justification to expand use of the most severe punishment in the US justice system to nonviolent offences.

The former president is said by aides to also be discussing the possibility of launching a political effort to reintroduce firing squads to the US justice system, apparently due to their flashy nature.

And thats not all  Mr Trump has even floated the prospect of group executions with his closest advisers, while he rants about how drug dealers supposedly be eradicated.

In conversations Id been in the room for, President Trump would explicitly say that hed love a country that was totally an eye for an eye  thats a direct quote  criminal justice system, and hed talk about how the right way to do it is to line up criminals and drug dealers before a firing squad, a former White House official told Rolling Stone.

Its a notion that echoes public statements Mr Trump has made at recent campaign rallies. He made several comments about using the death penalty against convicted drug offenders at multiple appearances last year, despite his own history of granting clemency for several Americans convicted of similar charges while he was in office.

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It's an invasion of crime, said Mr Trump at a rally in September. And remember much of the crime that we talk about is caused by drugs. And I'm calling for the death penalty for drug dealers and human traffickers.

According to The Marshall Project, only one US state, Utah, has carried out an execution by firing squad in the last century. A handful of others technically allow the process.

Some death row inmates in recent years have even fought legal battles to choose a firing squad as the method of their execution, given new reporting about botched executions involving the most common method used in the US: lethal injection.

In recent years, trends have continued against the death penalty even as Mr Trump expanded its use at the federal level during his final days in office. 24 states allow the death penalty, and 23 have abolished it; three others have a moratorium in place sunsetting the practice. Attorney General Merrick Garland reinstated the federal moratorium in 2021.
Tucker Carlson got lost in space Monday in his attempt to mock President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. (Watch the video below.)

In his opening remarks on Tucker Carlson Tonight, the Fox News host addressed the run of unidentified objects that the U.S. military has shot out of the sky. Jets downed a suspected Chinese spy balloon, followed by three unidentified aircraft.

The White House dismissed the notion that extraterrestrials were involved, but NORADs commander didnt rule that out.

If these things are extraterrestrial, what were seeing is an alien invasion, Carlson said. That means at some point theyre probably gonna demand to be taken to our leader.

And what are we gonna say then? This is Kamala Harris. She once dated Montel Williams, but now she runs our country because her boss is senile. Oooh. Pretty embarrassing.

Carlson acknowledged that thankfully that would not happen because the mysterious objects are likely what we earthlings call balloons.

Its not the first time Carlson has harped on Harris dating history in an attempt to diminish her  and it likely wont be the last.

Related...
NurPhoto/Getty Images

Many Twitter users say their feeds are being swamped with posts from Elon Musk.

Musk appeared to respond to the speculation with a meme and a follow-up tweet.

Last week, Musk reportedly fired a Twitter engineer over his declining view count.

Some Twitter users say their feeds are being swamped with posts from the platform's owner, Elon Musk.

"Is everyone else's entire For You page Elon replies," Platformer's managing editor, Zoe Schiffer, asked her 99,000 followers. The tweet received more than 600 responses with many users complaining about the same issue.

Three Insider employees also confirmed their top tweets were posts and replies by Musk.

Musk appeared to respond to the speculation by tweeting a meme referencing the issue and later saying: "Please stay tuned while we make adjustments to the uh . 'algorithm.'"

Last week, Musk reportedly fired a top Twitter engineer who highlighted the billionaire's declining view count on the platform.

Musk had asked employees to investigate whether his Twitter reach had been restricted because of a potential issue with Twitter's algorithm, per Platformer.

Employees showed Musk internal data and a Google Trends chart related to engagement with his account, Platformer reported. When one of the company's two remaining principal engineers suggested Musk's view count might be declining due to a lack of public interest since his Twitter purchase, Musk fired him, per the tech newsletter.

Musk has been concerned about view counts and engagement for some time. Earlier this month, he made his Twitter account private for a day to see if it would boost engagement on the platform.

Representatives for Twitter did not reply to Insider's request for comment made outside normal working hours.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Two men have been arrested in Horry County after police say drugs were obtained illegally through forged electronic prescriptions.

Aaron Martinez, 20, allegedly received oxycodone from the Walgreens at 7800 North Kings Highway in Myrtle Beach through an electronic prescription from a medical doctor, who confirmed it was forged, arrest warrants state.

Martinez also has been accused of obtaining promethazine with codeine from Seashore Drugs and Waterway Pharmacy in Little River. To get the drug from both pharmacies, Martinez used another persons registration number, according to warrants.

He allegedly did the same thing to get oxycodone from the Walgreens Pharmacy.

The doctor confirmed to police that he did not authorize any of the prescriptions, warrants state.

Carter Vargas was charged with three counts of accessory after the fact of a felony. He drove the car that was used to get the drugs from each of the locations around Dec. 14, according to arrest warrants.

His age and address were not disclosed.

Martinez has been charged with six counts of violation drug distribution law, according to online booking records.

The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control was the arresting agency.
By Kanishka Singh and Sarah Morland

(Reuters) -U.S. federal agents arrested and charged four suspects in Florida for alleged roles in the plot that led to the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise, authorities said on Tuesday.

Moise's murder left a political vacuum in the Caribbean nation and emboldened powerful gangs who serve as de facto authorities in large parts of the country's capital, Port-au-Prince.

Eleven individuals are now in U.S. custody and charged by a South Florida grand jury in connection with the murder, according to the Justice Department.

Three of the new defendants - Antonio "Tony" Intriago, owner of Counter Terrorist Unit Security, or CTU; Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, operator of the affiliated CTU Federal Academy LLC; and Walter Veintemilla, head of Miramar-based Worldwide Capital Lending Group - are accused of supporting a conspiracy to kidnap or kill the president of Haiti, U.S. authorities said in a briefing.

The fourth defendant, Frederick Bergmann, is accused of conspiring to smuggle ballistic vests for former Colombian soldiers who allegedly carried out the fatal shooting of Moise, officials added.

Their investigation focuses on weapons, ballistic vests and financing used in the deadly plot.

Intriago is a Venezuelan-American businessman, while Pretel Ortiz is a Colombian-American citizen. Both were detained in South Florida, the Justice Department told reporters.

Veintemilla, a U.S. citizen, lent over $170,000 to CTU Security to finance their operations in Haiti, officials added.

The arrests and charges were reported earlier on Tuesday by the Miami Herald and the New York Times. Intriago's lawyer told the New York Times he intended to enter a not guilty plea at his bond hearing on Tuesday.

Haitian gangs have expanded their territory since the assassination. The resulting violence has left much of the country off-limits to the government and led to routine gun battles with police.

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In October, the United Nations suggested a "rapid action force" be sent to Haiti to combat escalating violence from armed gangs whose turf battles have left hundreds dead and thousands displaced.

The latest arrests in the United States come a day before leaders of the Caribbean bloc, CARICOM, are set to meet for a three-day conference, where the situation in Haiti is expected to be one of the main issues.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington and Sarah Morland in Mexico City; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Bill Berkrot)
By Jonathan Landay and Simon Lewis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Russia has held at least 6,000 Ukrainian children - likely many more - in sites in Russian-held Crimea and Russia whose primary purpose appears to be political re-education, according to a U.S.-backed report published on Tuesday.

The report said Yale University researchers had identified at least 43 camps and other facilities where Ukrainian children have been held that were part of a "large-scale systematic network" operated by Moscow since its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The children included those with parents or clear familial guardianship, those Russia deemed orphans, others who were in the care of Ukrainian state institutions before the invasion and those whose custody was unclear or uncertain due to the war, it said.

"The primary purpose of the camp facilities we've identified appears to be political re-education," Nathaniel Raymond, one of the researchers, said in a briefing to reporters.

Some of the children were moved through the system and adopted by Russian families, or moved into foster care in Russia, the report said.

The youngest child identified in the Russian program was just four months old, and some camps were giving military training to children as young as 14 years, Raymond said, adding that researchers had not found evidence those children were later deployed in combat.

Russia's embassy in Washington, responding to the reports that Russia forcefully holds children, said Russia accepts children who were forced to flee Ukraine.

"We do our best to keep underage people in families, and in cases of absence or death of parents and relatives - to transfer orphans under guardianship," the embassy said on the Telegram messaging platform.

It also reiterated Russia's allegations that Ukraine, using Western weapons, strikes civilian infrastructure.

Moscow has denied intentionally targeting civilians in what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine, and has pushed back against previous claims that it had forcibly moved Ukrainians.

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The report was the latest produced by the Yale University School of Public Health's Humanitarian Research Lab as part of a State Department-backed project that has examined human rights violations and war crimes allegedly committed by Russia.

"What is documented in this report is a clear violation of the 4th Geneva Convention," the agreement that protects civilians in wartime, said Raymond.

He said it could also be evidence that Russia has committed genocide during its war in Ukraine, since the transfer of children for purposes of changing, altering or eliminating national identity can constitute a component act of the crime of genocide.

Ukrainian prosecutors have said they are examining allegations of forced deportation of children as part of efforts to build a genocide indictment against Russia.

"This network stretches from one end of Russia to the other," Raymond said, adding that researchers believed that the number of facilities in which Ukrainian children have been held exceeds 43.

The system of camps and the adoption by Russian families of Ukrainian children taken from their homeland "appears to be authorized and coordinated at the highest levels of Russia's government," the report said, beginning with President Vladimir Putin and extending to local officials.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price indicated that action could be taken against 12 individuals the report said are not yet under U.S. sanctions.

"We are always looking at individuals who may be responsible for war crimes, for atrocities inside of Ukraine," he said.

"Just because we have not sanctioned an individual to date says nothing about any future action that we may take."

(Reporting by Jonathan Landay and Simon LewisAdditional reporting by Lidia Kelly; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Himani Sarkar)
Administration officials said on Monday they were troubled and concerned by Israels settlement advancements over the weekend  the first sign of outward friction between the U.S. and Israels new far-right government.

We are deeply troubled by Israels announcement that it will reportedly advance thousands of settlements and begin a process to retroactively legalize nine outposts in the West Bank that were previously illegal under Israeli law, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a press briefing on Monday. Like previous administrations, we strongly oppose these unilateral measures, which exacerbate tensions, harm trusts between the parties, and undermine the prospects for a negotiated two-state solution.

John Kirby, the National Security Council coordinator, also said his team was deeply concerned regarding the settlement decision in Israel, during a White House press briefing on Monday afternoon. Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed his concern in a statement prior to his departments briefing.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel agreed to legalize nine settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, The Associated Press reported. This action goes against the United States strong opposition to any unilateral steps that exacerbate tensions, Price said during the State Department briefing.

The Israeli leadership under Netanyahu has faced criticism from some who say the far-right policies are racist or misogynistic. During Netanyahus attempt to return to power last year, after being ousted in the previous election, he tapped into far-right extremist coalitions to gain support coalitions now represented in the new Israeli government.

The U.S. has tread lightly in addressing the new coalition government, while also keeping its ties with a historic ally. Blinken previously met with Netanyahu two weeks ago during a two-day trip.

However, the U.S. State Departments vocal opposition should be no surprise, Price said.

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During his recent trip to Israel, Secretary Blinken was clear: that all parties should refrain from actions that heighten tensions and take us further away from peace, Price said. Israels decision on settlements and outposts runs directly contrary to those objectives.

Price said the State Department was now having intensive discussions with the parties, including Israel. These discussions are bilateral and multilateral, he said.

When we were there, before we were there, after we were there, last week, again today, our message on this has been clear and consistent, Price said. We oppose any unilateral steps that exacerbate tensions.
(This Feb. 14 story has been officially corrected to say 'in March 2023,' instead of 'by March 23,' in paragraph 3)

By Tim McLaughlin

(Reuters) - The U.S. environmental regulator said on Tuesday it sent the White House its final plan to slash interstate smog and soot pollution from the power sector, but big energy companies warned that the measure on track to be finalized next month would cost them billions of dollars.

The plan, first proposed last year by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), would require the power industry to slash nitrogen oxides, or NOx, pollution to curb a decades-old problem of power plant emissions fouling the air in other states, often hundreds of miles away.

The EPA told Reuters the White House's Office of Management and Budget(OMB) accepted the agency's proposal for review on Feb. 9 and that the final rule was expected in March 2023.

The EPA docket for the stricter rules has received more than 112,000 comments, including from industry heavyweights who say the EPA is underestimating the cost of implementation by billions of dollars.

Kinder Morgan Inc warned the plan would cost an estimated $4.1 billion in upgrades and retrofits to about 950 engines along its pipelines, which carry about 40% of the natural gas consumed in the United States.

That estimate is 16 times higher than the one by the EPA, whose assessment for the industry would factor in less than 100 engines for Kinder Morgan, the company said in its letter to the agency.

Kinder Morgan and other companies also opposed the EPA's 2026 deadline to get upgrades completed.

It would likely take at least until 2045 to implement the (EPAs proposal) across all of the engines that currently exceed the proposed emissions limits, it said.

Kinder Morgan declined to comment for this story, and EPA declined to comment on specific company complaints.

NOx is a precursor form of pollution that reacts with sunlight to create other pollutants, such as fine particulate matter and ground-level ozone. Fine particle and ozone-related pollution from power plants cause 8,000 premature deaths each year, tens of thousands of new asthma cases, thousands of heart attacks and millions of lost school and work days, according to EPA.

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EPAs proposal would extend to parts of the country not previously included in its cross-state pollution reduction programs.

In Utah, coal plants operated by subsidiaries of Warren Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway Inc would have to install pollution controls that have been in place in other parts of the country for years.

PacifiCorp, a unit of Berkshire Hathaway, said in a letter submitted in the EPA docket that the agency's 2026 timeline is unreasonable and the work would cost it up to $2 billion, more than double what EPA estimates.

Last year, PacifiCorp's Hunter Power Plant produced nearly 8,500 tons of NOx pollution, fifth highest among U.S. coal plants, according to EPA emissions data.

The company said it hoped the final rule would take into account some of the industry concerns.

(Reporting By Tim McLaughlin; Editing by David Gregorio)
BELGIUM-NATO-DEFENCE-UKRAINE-RUSSIA-CONFLICT

General Mark Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, looks on during a press conference amid a two-day meeting at NATO Headquarters in Brussels on February 14, 2023. Credit - (Photo by Kenzo TRIBOUILLARDAFP via Getty Images

The nations top military officer said on Tuesday that a U.S. fighter jet missed this week when it fired a missile at an object flying over Lake Huron, before the second missile was launched and hit it.

General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the wayward missile landed harmlessly in the water, but it raises troubling questions about the newfound American policy to fire at unidentified flying objects in US airspace.

Before launching a missile in U.S. airspace, the military works with civilian aviation authorities to clear airspace and appraise whether any falling debris could endanger people on the ground, Milley said. We go to great lengths to make sure that the airspace is clear and the backdrop is clear, he said at NATO headquarters in Brussels, after a meeting on the Ukraine conflict.

The U.S. military was directed by President Joe Biden to destroy a mysterious craft in midair Sunday for the fourth time in eight days. The Pentagon is now trying to obtain debris from each of the four shoot-downs to learn more about the crafts penetrating North American airspace.

Were very, very careful to make sure that those shots are in fact safe, Milley said. And thats the guidance from the president. Shoot it down, but make sure we minimize collateral damage, and we preserve the safety of the American people.

Other than the first balloon, which China has acknowledged was theirs, the Pentagon doesnt yet know what the objects are or where they came fromand yet they are ordering military pilots to shoot them down.

Read more: Why the Military Keeps Spotting so Many Unidentified Flying Objectsand Then Shooting Them Down

During the most recent mission, North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) saw on radar screens that a flying object breached U.S. airspace on Saturday over Montana. The craft was not in communication with the Federal Aviation Administration, so military pilots were ordered to investigate. The pilots could not determine whether it was state-owned or privately-owned and referred to its appearance as balloon-like.

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The next day, a F-16 fighter blew it apart with a supersonic, heat-seeking AIM-9X Sidewinder at around 20,000 ft. in altitude above Lake Huron, near the Canadian border. Officials said that the objectlike the others shot down in recent daysposed a reasonable threat to commercial air traffic.

The flurry of aerial incidents is due at least in part to an increase in military vigilance in the wake of the discovery of a massive Chinese balloon traversing through U.S. airspace this month. The balloons flightpath took it over sensitive security sites, including a sprawling field in Montana where nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles sit ready-for-launch in underground silos.

Republicans in recent weeks have criticized the administration for not shooting down the balloon when it was first spotted above the Aleutian Islands near Alaska on Jan. 28, and then allowed to travel through Canada two days later, and ultimately into the continental U.S. over Idaho on Jan. 31.

NORAD has since tweaked its radar to account for lower speeds and sizes to spot more flying objects, which is why the military says it has foundand blasted apartmore objects. The military is now working to retrieve the debris from each of the objects to establish what exactly it shot down.

White House officials made clear on Monday that they did not believe any of the flying objects had an alien or extraterrestrial source.

I dont think the American people need to worry about aliens with respect to these craft. Period, John Kirby, the White House national security council spokesman, told reporters.
By Diane Bartz

(Reuters) -Christine Wilson, the sole Republican on the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), said on Tuesday she will resign soon, blaming the move on the agency's top official, Lina Khan.

"Much ink has been spilled about Lina Khan's attempts to remake federal antitrust law as chairman of the Federal Trade Commission," Wilson wrote in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal. "Less has been said about her disregard for the rule of law and due process and the way senior FTC officials enable her."

Wilson said in the piece that she would resign "soon" but gave no date.

Her departure will not change the balance of power in the commission. It should have five members but without Wilson, a Republican, it would have just Khan, as chair, and commissioners Rebecca Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya. All three are Democrats.

Khan, Slaughter and Bedoya said in a brief statement that they wished Wilson well. "While we often disagreed with Commissioner Wilson, we respect her devotion to her beliefs and are grateful for her public service," they said.

The agency declined further comment.

Wilson said Khan has been responsible for "abuses of power," such as voting to challenge Meta Platforms Inc's acquisition of virtual reality content maker Within. Wilson argued that Khan had said before coming to the FTC that Meta should not be able to make additional acquisitions, and that this meant Khan should be recused from FTC deliberations regarding the deal.

"I dissented on due-process grounds, which require those sitting in a judicial capacity to avoid even the appearance of unfairness," wrote Wilson. The FTC lost the fight to stop the deal.

Wilson accused the Biden administration FTC of overstepping by being too aggressive in stopping mergers and banning most noncompete clauses.

(Reporting by Shubham Kalia in Bengaluru and Diane Bartz in WashingtonEditing by Matthew Lewis)
You are here: China

Migrant birds are seen at the Poyang Lake Nanji national wetland reserve in east China's Jiangxi province, Nov. 11, 2022. [Photo/Xinhua]

The water level of China's largest freshwater lake, Poyang, in east China's Jiangxi province, continued to rise, thanks to continuous rainfall and the rising water level of the Yangtze River, said the provincial water resources department.

The water level at the lake's landmark Xingzi hydrological station rose to 9.16 meters on Monday afternoon, after the daily increase exceeded 40 centimeters for a third consecutive day.

The hydrological station expected the water level to increase further, and the provincial hydrological monitoring center canceled the blue alert for a low water level, which is the lowest alert level in a four-tier, color-coded water level warning system.

The water level of the Lake on Nov. 17, 2022, dropped to 6.46 meters, the lowest since record-keeping began in 1951, due to continuous drought.
A Brooklyn man who died after a demented U-Haul driver mowed him down during a high-speed motor vehicle rampage was a hardworking father raising three teenagers on his own, his family said Tuesday.

A day after YiJie Ye died from injuries he suffered during Mondays moving van mayhem, friends and family members described him as a dedicated dad, doing whatever it took to provide for his kids.

Yes cousin, Mike Chen, said detectives told him Ye had been killed in a car accident.

A few hours passed before Chen and his family put the pieces together.

Later we found out he was one of the victims from the U-Haul, Chen said, still shocked Tuesday, a day after 44-year-old single dad was mowed down.

Nine people including a police officer were struck by the demented U-Haul driver who went on a road rampage Monday through the streets of Brooklyn. Ye was the only victim to not survive.

Investigators are trying to piece together the puzzle of what made Weng Sor flip out and barrel through Bay Ridge with a U-Haul battering ram.

Yes relatives have their own tasks to tend to  explaining the tragedy to Yes young children, and getting his grieving mother from China to the U.S.

The kids are staying with an aunt in Chinatown, said Chen, who is the owner of the building where his cousin lived. They are very sad about the loss of their dad but they are safe.

Ye has been living in the building since he divorced his wife about five years ago. He was the father of three teens, twin boys and a girl.

Everything happened so immediately, Chen said. In the coming few days we will reach out to the wife to see if she wants to take care of the kids or pass the guardianship to her sister-in-law.

We havent gotten a chance to talk to the ex-wife yet because right now there are so many things we need to take care of and the kids are our number one priority, he added.

Number two on the list is getting Yes mother over from China. He said the mayors office has offered assistance to work out the details

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At the moment, they are working with us to get the visa approved for his mother who is in China right now, said another cousin, Tim Chen. Hopefully she can join the grandkids as soon as possible.

Jessy Chen, Mike Chens wife, described the cousin as a hard-working loving and dedicated father who had taken a job with GrubHub to support his family.

As you can imagine, with three kids, he always tried to put in time to work as much as possible. In my mind, hes always working, she said.

When he wasnt working, Jessy Chen said, he was home with his children.

They spent a lot of time at home. Because with three kids its a lot. He stayed home as much as possible. They go to the park often. Usually, its just the four of them, she said. Ye has had sole custody since his divorce, she said.

He was a very good dad, said neighbor Peter Chuc. Last time I went down there he was cooking for the kids and they were playing around. Sometimes he used to go collect cans after work. Very hardworking guy.

Officials said Ye suffered blunt force trauma to the body and head when he was struck by the truck at Fort Hamilton and Bay Ridge Parkway. He was rushed to NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn, where he later died.

It was unclear if Ye, who charged his electric bike outside his home, was working at the time he was struck but his family is almost certain he was.

Other victims include Mohamed Abdelmagid, 67, seen in a dramatic video in a blue jacket diving out of the way when the U-Haul mounted a sidewalk with police in hot pursuit. He was expected to be released from the hospital Tuesday afternoon.

Abdelmagid was about to walk into his job at a car service when he was injured on 72nd St. and Third Ave.

Hed seen the truck jump the curb and he tried to get out of the way, said his son, Omar Ali, 23,. His coworkers ran out and tried to help him.

He said his fathers leg, wrist and rib area are bruised and swollen.

The impact from the concrete, Ali said.

It took a while for the family to sort out what happened to his father.

My mom called me from work, said Ali. She told me, Hey, whats going on in Bay Ridge? So I looked into it. Im like, oh, theres this guy in a U-Haul going on a rampage.

The family lives in the area so the mother and son started to call around to make sure everyone was safe.

Were calling everybody checking up but he wasnt answering, said Ali. My mom found out from another relative that he was the one in the blue jacket.

Also injured during the mayhem was Mohammed Salah Rakchi 36, who was struck by the truck at 54th Street and 4th Avenue. He suffered head trauma, rib fractures and leg fractures, his family said. Doctors induced a coma.

Friends called me and said your husband had an accident but he is looking well, said Rakchis wife, Nadjet Tchenar. But when I went to the hospital I saw him in really critical condition.

She said their children, a 7-year-old daughter, and a 3-year-old son, dont understand.

The familys attorney, Derek Sells, said he was concerned about the conduct of police who were trying to apprehend the driver.

One of the things that were going to be looking at in terms of how this tragedy occurred is the conduct of the NYPD, Sells said. And were going to be looking at their vehicle pursuit policies to see whether or not what they did was in accordance with their actual policies.
MANAGUA (Reuters) - U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Brian Nichols on Monday put fresh pressure on Nicaragua to release an anti-government bishop condemned last week to a 26-year prison sentence.

The sentencing of Rolando Alvarez, 56, Bishop of Matagalpa and one of the most influential leaders of the country's Catholic Church, came after more than 200 political prisoners in Nicaragua were released and flown to the United States last Thursday in what Washington described as a "constructive step" toward improving human rights.

Alvarez declined to be expelled to the United States as part of the mass release, however. The Nicaragua government handed down his prison sentence shortly after.

"We condemn the Nicaraguan government's sentencing of Bishop Rolando Alvarez to 26 years in prison, as well as the decision to strip him and all released political prisoners of Nicaraguan citizenship," Nichols wrote on Twitter.

Pope Francis, a critic of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, on Sunday also voiced his concern over the imprisonment of the bishop.

"The news from Nicaragua has grieved me not a little and I cannot help but remember with concern the Bishop of Matagalpa, Monsignor Rolando Alvarez, whom I love so much," Pope Francis said.

The U.S. ambassador to Nicaragua Kevin Sullivan, who helped in the mission to transport the freed prisoners, returned on Monday to his post in the Central American country.

The Ortega government last week denied the mass release was done to lift U.S. sanctions or as part of a negotiation.

(Reporting by Ismael Lopez; Writing by Valentine Hilaire; Editing by Isabel Woodford and Kenneth Maxwell)
By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Monday it had recovered critical electronics from the suspected Chinese spy balloon downed by a U.S. fighter jet off South Carolina's coast on Feb. 4, including key sensors presumably used for intelligence gathering.

"Crews have been able to recover significant debris from the site, including all of the priority sensor and electronics pieces identified as well as large sections of the structure," the U.S. military's Northern Command said in a statement.

The Chinese balloon, which Beijing denies was a government spy vessel, spent a week flying over the United States and Canada before President Joe Biden ordered it shot down. The episode strained ties between Washington and Beijing, leading America's top diplomat to postpone a trip to China.

It also led to the U.S. military scouring the skies for other objects that were not being captured by radar, leading to an unprecedented three shootdowns in the three days between Friday and Sunday.

The U.S. military and the Biden administration have acknowledged that much about the most recent, unmanned objects remains unknown, including how they stay aloft, who built them and whether they may have been collecting intelligence.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin sought to calm Americans on Monday about the risks posed by the unidentified objects.

"I want to reassure Americans that these objects do not present a military threat to anyone on the ground," Austin said, speaking to reporters as he landed in Brussels for a NATO gathering.

"They do, however, present a risk to civil aviation and potentially an intelligence collection threat."

The U.S. military has said that targeting the latest objects has been more difficult than shooting down the Chinese spy balloon, given the smaller size and the objects' lack of a traditional radar signature.

In an example of the difficulty, the latest shootdown of an unidentified object on Sunday by an F-16 fighter jet took two sidewinder missiles - after one of them failed to down the target, a U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

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Austin said the U.S. military has not yet recovered any debris from the three most recent objects shot down, one of which fell off the coast of Alaska in ice and snow. Another shootdown occurred over the Yukon territory in Canada.

U.S. officials have declined to connect the incidents.

But Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday that the four aerial objects shot down in recent days were somehow connected, without elaborating.

"Obviously there is some sort of pattern in there, the fact we are seeing this in a significant degree over the past week is a cause for interest and close attention," Trudeau told reporters in a news conference in Whitehorse, Yukon's capital.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
The Biden administration has given its Ukrainian counterparts another reason for not sending them much-wanted long-range missiles: The U.S. is concerned it wouldnt have enough for itself.

In recent meetings at the Pentagon, U.S. officials told Kyivs representatives that it doesnt have any Army Tactical Missile Systems to spare, according to four people with knowledge of the talks. Transferring ATACMS to the battlefield in eastern Europe would dwindle Americas stockpiles and harm the U.S. militarys readiness for a future fight, the people said.

That worry, along with the administrations existing concern that Ukraine would use the 190-mile range missiles to attack deep inside Russian territory and cross what the Kremlin has said is a red line, is why the U.S. isnt shipping ATACMS to the frontlines any time soon.

The Pentagons assessment of its stockpiles is informed in part by how many weapons and munitions planners think they might need to confront an enemy. Those plans have not been significantly revised since the start of the war in Ukraine, and have not recalibrated what the stockpiles the U.S. might need in reserve to face a weakened Russia, or account for the fact that Ukraine is essentially fighting that war right now.



One of the reasons the military is hesitant to send the ATACMS is due to a desire to maintain a certain level of munitions in U.S. stockpiles, said one U.S. official, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military calculations.

With any package, we always consider our readiness and our own stocks while providing Ukraine what it needs on the battlefield, said a senior DoD official. There are other ways of providing Ukraine with the capabilities it needs to strike the targets.

Laura Cooper, the Pentagons top policy official for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia issues, said in a recent interview that with every single capability that we provide, whether you're talking, you know, HIMARS or you're talking a particular kind of missile or ammunition, we're always looking at the availability of our stocks, we're looking at production considerations, and so that's true of every capability, and we make decisions accordingly.

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Lockheed Martin has produced about 4,000 ATACMS in various configurations over the past two decades. Some of those missiles have been sold to allied nations, which bought the missile for their own multiple rocket launcher systems. Around 600 were fired by U.S. forces in combat during the Persian Gulf War and the Iraq War.

One workaround being considered by Kyiv is to ask for Washingtons approval to buy ATACMS from an allied country that operates the weapon, using military financing from the United States, according to one of the people familiar with the discussions. The list of ATACMS users includes South Korea, Poland, Romania, Greece, Turkey, Qatar and Bahrain.

The other issue over sending ATACMS  that its too aggressive a move by Bidens team  remains. But Ukrainian officials have heard such arguments about other weapons before, only for the Biden administration to reverse course and send artillery, missile defenses and tanks.

Despite Washingtons reservations, Ukraine continues to push for more advanced weapons, with ATACMS typically at the top of the list.

Ukraine needs long-range missiles, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a January video address to the Ukrainian people, to deprive the occupier of the opportunity to place its missile launchers somewhere far from the front line and destroy Ukrainian cities.

On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Mark Milley will be in Brussels to host the ninth meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a monthly gathering of 50 nations that will discuss what new military support they can provide Ukraine. Kyiv is planning a spring and summer offensive to counter Russias assaults in the Donbas and Moscows drone and missile campaign against civilian targets.

One person close to the Ukrainian government said that Kyiv doesnt anticipate any new weapons in the assistance package Austin will announce this week. The drawdowns from existing stocks and contracts for new weapons wont include ATACMS or F-16 warplanes, but will focus on ammunition, munitions, air defense and spare parts.

Whatever the U.S. package  and other pledges by partner nations  Ukraine is looking for more secrecy when those governments announce that assistance.

Officials in Kyiv are growing concerned that some of the more detailed lists coming out of Washington and elsewhere could risk providing too much information to their Russian foes, who can prepare defenses or countermeasures if they know what theyll be facing, according to one of the people.

Zelenskyy alluded to those growing concerns on Thursday in Brussels when he met with European Union leaders to talk about what he needs this year and beyond.

Fresh off a successful trip to London where he met with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who pledged to help train Ukrainian pilots to fly NATO fighter jets, Zelenskyy said we have moved towards the solutions concerning the long-range missiles and the training of our pilots Also there are certain agreements which are not public but are positive. When these items will happen, our state will know this, but I don't want to prepare the Russian Federation."

The U.S. and allies have long maintained some element of mystery over some capabilities sent to Ukraine, cloaking some military aid under vague catchall categories such as rocket artillery or drones that could mean any number of things.

But the U.S. has also done more than most countries to announce the amount and nature of its donations and defense contracts proposed with Ukraine, as the Biden administration tries to show its commitment to Kyiv.

Others, such as Finland, Sweden, Spain and Canada, are more vague, and generally decline to list most of the specific equipment, weapons and munitions they provide.

The desire for more secrecy can be seen as a difficult request for some countries that are eager to show how deep their support for Ukraine goes, especially when that support can also mean American military financing to replace stocks in later years. At Thursdays EU summit, Zelenskyy formally asked Slovakian Prime Minister Eduard Heger to transfer some of his countrys MiG-29 fighter planes to Ukraine.

On Friday, Heger said he was ready to start talks on the potential transfer. "The Ukrainian president asked me to deliver the MiGs. Now, because this official request has come, the process of negotiations can be started," Heger said.
You've probably noticed a steep increase in the ridesharing fares you pay, but your drivers haven't necessarily received the benefits. UCLA Labor Center researchers have published a study indicating that median Uber and Lyft fares increased by 50 percent between February 2019 and April 2022, but media driver pay only climbed 31 percent. The companies' profits reportedly jumped from nine percent to 20.7 percent over the three-year span.

The authors recommended that authorities cap the amount companies can take from passenger fare, with proportionate increases in pay and enforced minimum rates. They also call for increased transparency around both the rideshare commission and drivers' trip data. The study team further called for more detailed data, such as different ride types and surge pricing.

The companies object to the study's conclusions. In a statement to Engadget, Uber claims the researchers made errors and that its April 2022 take was 16.4 percent. Government fees are 18 percent, the company adds. Lyft, meanwhile, tells Engadget pay has been "consistently above" $1,100 per week since the start of 2021, and that commission caps would "dramatically" increase fares and hurt lower-income communities.

Study co-author Vivek Ramakrishnan tells Motherboard the group purposefully excluded government fees, however. The project is meant to show the growing profits, not the overall price increases. One study at Cornell University claimed drivers in Seattle made healthy wages of $23 per hour in 2019, but earlier Berkeley and Economic Policy Institute studies determined that workers made roughly $9 per hour after expenses.

The findings come just as the fight heats up over wages. A judge recently blocked a pay increase for New York City ridesharing drivers in January after Uber sued the city's Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC) over an allegedly flawed methodology for calculating raises. That raise may still kick in following a March 1st hearing, but it's evident the companies aren't eager to adjust pay on authorities' terms.
Lawyers representing Liverpool fans caught up in last seasons Champions League final chaos have urged UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin to personally accept responsibility (John Walton/PA) (PA Archive)

A law firm representing Liverpool fans caught up in the chaos at last seasons Champions League final says UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin must personally accept responsibility for what went wrong.

An independent report into the events in Paris last May was published on Monday evening.

It found UEFA bore primary responsibility for failures which almost led to the final against Real Madrid becoming a mass fatality catastrophe.

UEFA welcomes the publication of the Independent Review into events surrounding the 2022 Champions League Final in Paris.



Full statement:   UEFA (@UEFA) February 13, 2023

Law firm Pogust Goodhead, along with Liverpool firm Binghams, is representing more than 2,000 supporters in a group litigation.

They will be writing a letter to UEFA this week to invite it to accept responsibility and discuss how it proposes to compensate Liverpool fans for the trauma they have suffered. A detailed letter of claim will also be sent to UEFA by the end of the month.

Winterburn, a partner at Pogust Goodhead, said it was vital now that UEFAs president stepped up and spoke out.

This is a hugely damning report for UEFA which clearly strengthens the case we are bringing on behalf of Liverpool fans, Winterburn said.

An apology is a start, but it simply does not go far enough.

Tony Winterburn, Pogust Goodhead

We are calling on UEFA and in particular its president Aleksander Ceferin personally, to do the right thing and publicly accept responsibility. There must be compensation for all those fans affected by this horrific event.

It is clear UEFAs safety plan was written around a myth that Liverpool fans were going to cause trouble that day and it is imperative that myth stops now to avoid further unacceptable incidents occurring in the future, with possibly tragic consequences.

UEFA general secretary Theodore Theodoridis issued an apology on behalf of European footballs governing body on Monday evening, but Winterburn insists the confederation must go further.

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An apology is a start, but it simply does not go far enough, he added.

We want our clients, alongside all other fans, who have been proven to be blameless, to be compensated for the psychological and physical trauma they experienced on that day, and for the subsequent trauma they experienced after the event when authorities continued to place blame at their door despite knowing this was untrue.

Recommendations which were previously made in 2015 about safety at the arena and subsequently made again, now eight years on, must be implemented in full as a matter of urgency. These changes are vital if football fans are to feel safe at future events.

Another firm, Leigh Day, said it would be sending a letter of claim to UEFA on behalf of more than 600 fans it is representing within the next two weeks.

It is promising to hear UEFA are considering a special refund scheme, but its important to understand that what is required here is more than a ticket refund, Leigh Day partners Clare Campbell and Jill Paterson said in a statement.

The legal team bringing a group claim on behalf of Liverpool FC fans, led by @ClareCampbell76 and @paterson_jill, say the leaked UEFA report indicates Liverpool FC fans affected by horrific events at 2022 Champions League final should be compensated https://t.co/83TYTs3mMx  Leigh Day (@LeighDay_Law) February 13, 2023

This is about accountability, learning lessons for the future and ensuring that fans who have been injured and traumatised receive proper compensation for what theyve endured.

Liverpool fan Andrew Patterson, who is a client of the firm and a type one diabetic, said: From about two and a half hours before the game I was in a really dangerous position because I had no insulin.

Then, when I was going through the gate, I was pushed against the fence which ripped the sensor off my arm that monitors my blood sugars. I started panicking because now I had no way of monitoring my sugars and no medication. I wasnt able to get replacement insulin until 3am the next day which meant I was without medication for around eight hours.

UEFA didnt just ruin the day, for a lot of people, they ruined lives. To say they dealt with it poorly is an understatement. It shouldnt have been allowed to happen.
Russian troops are being ordered to advance in most sectors of Ukraine's front line, but they have not amassed "sufficient offensive combat power on any one axis to achieve a decisive effect," the U.K. Defense Ministry reported on Feb. 14.

Russia's immediate goal may be to advance west to the Zherebets River in the eastern region of Donbas as it aims to recapture the territories liberated by Ukraine in September-November last year, according to the report.

Over the past three days, Russia's Wagner paramilitary group has "almost certainly" made further small gains around the northern outskirts of Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk Oblast, including into the town of Krasna Hora, the ministry wrote.

Wagner Group's founder Evgenii Prigozhin reported the seizure of Krasna Hora on Feb. 12, which was disputed later by Ukraine.

However, Ukraine's Armed Forces continue organized defense in the area as Russia's tactical advance to the south of Bakhmut "likely made little progress," reads the report.

Russian troops are conducting offensive actions in the northern part of Donbas as well, particularly in the Kreminna-Svatove sector of Luhansk Oblast, according to the U.K. Defense Ministry.

"Although each local attack remains too small to achieve a significant breakthrough," it added.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Feb. 13 that Russia had already started its new offensive in Ukraine, "sending in thousands and thousands more troops."
The UKs Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is cracking down on unregistered crypto ATMs.

The regulator says it recently entered and inspected several sites near the city of Leeds, in the North of England, which was suspected of hosting illegally operated crypto ATMs.

The FCA says it collaborated with local police forces, including the West Yorkshire Polices Digital Intelligence and Investigation Unit, as part of the joint investigations into these sites.

Crypto businesses operating in the UK need to be registered with the FCA for anti-money laundering purposes, said the FCAs executive director of enforcement and market oversight Mark Steward. However, crypto products themselves are currently unregulated and high-risk, and you should be prepared to lose all your money if you invest in them.

UK Bank Santander Will Block Payments to Crypto Exchanges

As per the announcement, the FCA is set to review the evidence it collected during these visits and will consider further enforcement.

Detective Sergent Lindsay Brants of the West Yorkshire police's Force Cyber Team said that "warning letters were issued requesting the operators cease and desist using the machines and that any breach of regulations would result in an investigation under money-laundering regulations."

In March 2022, the FCA wrote to all operators and hosts to warn crypto ATMs about the legal consequences of running crypto ATMs without FCA authorization

Though there is technically no specific law against crypto ATMs in the UK, none have been granted FCA approval as of the time of writing.

The links between crypto ATMs and money laundering are anything but theoretical, and potential links between these ATMs and organized crime have been highlighted across the world.

A 2020 study from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) discussed how it has seen crypto ATMs being used by transnational criminal organizations for laundering illicit drug money, alongside more traditional methods.

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The state of UK crypto regulation

Its not just the remaining crypto ATMs that are under scrutiny, the UK seems to be looking to implement much harsher crypto regulations across the board.

Earlier this month, the UK Treasury outlined new rules in a consultation paper that may mean crypto firms operating in the UK will have to fulfill a stricter set of requirements, more in line with those of traditional financial services.

UK Treasury Outlines Regulatory Plans That Make Room for Cryptos Unique Features

And for companies interested in advertising crypto products in the UK, theyll also soon need authorization from the FCA.

As per a recent statement, firms that do not follow one of the four mandated routes for promoting cryptocurrencies could face criminal punishment by up to two years imprisonment.
Oleksiy Reznikov received a new first deputy

According to Melnychuk, the following people were appointed:

Oleksandr Pavlyuk (Commander of Kyivs defense forces) as First Deputy Defense Minister;

Bohdan Drapiatyi as Deputy Interior Minister;

Kateryna Pavlichenko as Deputy Interior Minister;

Oleksiy Serheev as Deputy Interior Minister;

Vasyl Teterya as Deputy Interior Minister;

Inna Yashchuk as State Secretary of the Interior Ministry.

The Cabinet also dismissed:

First Deputy Defense Minister Ivan Rusnak;

Deputy Defense Minister for Digital Development, Digital Transformation and Digitization Oleh Haiduk;

Deputy Minister of Strategic Industries Oleksandr Kotiy.

Read also: Why Defense Minister Reznikov hasnt been removed from his post, despite a decision to do so

On Feb. 13, Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov announced upcoming appointments in the ministry to improve work efficiency.

Ukrainian media subsequently reported that Vitaliy Deyneha, the founder of Come Back Alive  one of Ukraines largest military-focused charities, the former MP and former ambassador to Canada, Andriy Shevchenko, as well as the commander of Kyivs defense forces, Oleksandr Pavlyuk, could become deputy ministers.

Rumors of Reznikovs possible dismissal as Minister of Defense appeared after a food procurement scandal arose over overpriced contracts for the military. Several top officials of the Defense Ministry are suspected of being involved in corrupt dealings.

Read also: Court arrests former deputy defense minister amid procurement scandal

On Feb. 5, there was speculation in the media that Reznikov would be moved on to the position of the Minister of Strategic Industries (instead of Pavlo Riabikin), while his post would be taken over by chief of the Main Directorate of Intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov.

Commenting on rumours about his designation, Reznikov said he would resign if President Volodymyr Zelenskyy approved the relevant order.

The head of the ruling Servant of the People faction in the Ukrainian parliament, David Arakhamia, said on Feb. 6 that no staff changes in defense are expected in the near future.

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Read also: Lawmaker explains why intel chief can't be appointed as defense minister

On Feb. 7, responding to rumors about his dismissal, Reznikov thanked everyone for constructive criticism and said he would continue strengthening the countrys defense.

The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraines parliament, on Feb. 7 appointed Ihor Klymenko as Interior Minister after former Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi had died in a helicopter crash in January 2023.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Ukrainian fighters are not going to surrender Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast to the Russian invaders; a multi-layer defence perimeter has been set in the city.

Source: Volodymyr Nazarenko, deputy commander of Svoboda battalion, Lieutenant of the National Guard of Ukraine, in the broadcast of the Svoboda Live program; Radio Svoboda

Quote: "I would like to assure you that the Ukrainian forces are not going to surrender the city.

Every street of the city is guarded. Every street, every building is a fortress. There are strong fortifications throughout the city. I do not want to disclose their exact location and how they are equipped but trust me: this is a multi-layer defence.

Russians are carrying out active, very dynamic, very tense battles in the outskirts of the city, which is a private sector and a few apartment blocks in the North, to the East from the city, but in general the occupiers have not reached the heart of the city. They are trying to push through but they are not there yet. In fact, the heart of the city, the city centre, and western outskirts are under secure control. The Ukrainian forces are the masters in this city.

So far we cannot say that full-blown street fights are ongoing there, like they were in the cities of Sievierodonetsk and Rubizhne in Luhansk Oblast. Because there is a pretty reliable defence in the city."

Details: Nazarenko is convinced that "Russian forces will end sooner or later", and Russians already "have to rebuild new connections again and again after the previous ones were thwarted."

Nazarenko states that at the beginning of January, there were statements that almost all personnel of the Wagner Group was killed, and that Russians "deployed a landing force" but Ukrainians "hit it, ragged it badly."

Quote: "Now they withdrew their landing forces on some fronts and ordered to simply hold the defence. We know that during last week, the frontline was stabilised.

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Now Russians are pushing very hard again; they started pressuring on the northern flank, northern outskirts towards Krasna Hora. But they are also suffering big losses there. Very soon they will no longer be able to deploy new forces.

() This is rather my personal hope than a forecast. I dont want to be the person who said that the war would be over in 2-3 weeks but, to my mind, it feels like Russians have it harder and harder."

Details: Nazarenko added that on the front line, where the 24th Brigade and the Svoboda battalion are currently deployed, it feels like "it is getting harder and harder for Russians to look for new reserves": since 1 January, they have been "deploying the units they would like to keep for the spring full-scale offensive."

Nazarenko believes that "now they understand that they are not able to carry out this spring offensive."

"We will see what the end of winter and the beginning of spring will be like. But I hope that it will all be limited to the front where Russians are actively fighting and suffering huge losses at the moment,"  Nazarenko stated.

Russians have to take into account these losses they are suffering both in the rear and in the frontline area, as well as in the front where they deploy small groups.

"It is getting harder and harder for Russians to find new combat-ready forces", he said, though the situation is really tense and complicated.

Background: On 3 February, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that "the city of Bakhmut will not be surrendered; we will fight for as long as we can."

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

Balloons are floating over Ukraine, too, Kyiv authorities said this week. But this time, they appear to come from Russia and be aimed at contributing to Moscows war efforts, according to Ukrainian officials.

Ukraine detected balloons with angled reflectors of radio waves over Ukraine Tuesday, Ukraines Air Force spokesperson, Yuriy Ihnat, said. The announcements comes just days after Ukraines army downed an aerial reconnaissance vehicle and balloons with reflectors Sunday, the Air Force Command of Ukraines Armed Forces said.

Russia is launching the balloons to distract Ukraines air defense, Ihnat said.

The Ukrainian Air Defense radar observes these air targets moving in air streams at a low speed. Fighter aircraft are constantly on duty in the Ukrainian sky. The situation is under control, Ihnat said.

Neighboring Moldova briefly shut down its airspace Tuesday amid reports of an object similar to a weather balloon flying overhead, just a day after Moldovas president announced knowledge of a Russian plot to stage a coup in Moldova. Its not clear what the object was, and the government did not clarify. Ukraines Air Force did not confirm if it was the same as the objects flying over Ukraine.

Ihnat said it was possible the balloons could float to neighboring countries.

Major Blitz on Putins Mightily Struggling Army Just Weeks Away

Russia and China have both been increasing their use of balloons in recent years, according to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

What we saw over the United States is part of a pattern where China and also Russia are increasing surveillance activities on NATO allies, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters Monday.

The reports of balloons over and near Ukraine come as tensions have mounted in the United States over securing American airspace after the U.S. military downed three unidentified objects and a Chinese spy balloon over North America in just the last several days. The flurry of takedownswhich have relied on U.S. fighter jets and has caused the Biden administration to more closely monitor for potential objects in the sky marks an unprecedented use of military force against airborne objects over North America.

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Except for the Chinese surveillance balloon, its not clear if a foreign nation is sending the other objects over the United States, according to the Department of Defense.

But the Pentagon has admitted that it does not know what the downed objects purpose and capabilities are, which has raised questions from the public and lawmakers about what the U.S. policy ought to be for shooting down objects with so many unknowns. President Joe Biden has established an interagency team to assess how the country should response moving forward.

After much speculation about whether the objects represented alien activity, the White House clarified on Monday that there are no indications of alien or extraterrestrial activity linked to the objects.

The White House National Security Council suggested Tuesday that its possible the objects are commercial or research balloons.

"One thing we have to consider, and we believe the intelligence community is considering as an explanation, is that these could be balloons tied to commercial or research entities and therefore totally benign," John Kirby, a National Security Council coordinator, said.

New Hotspot Revealed for Chinas Army of Spy Balloons

But in the absence of vigorous assessments of the objectsSecretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Tuesday that no debris from the downed objects has been recovered yetconcerns remain about surveillance or military capabilities.

The Pentagon said Sunday that it had downed one of the objects due to its potential surveillance capabilities. Members of U.S. Congress have raised concerns over whether the objects represent threats from foreign nations that could lead to conflict if the United States isnt adequately prepared to detect and respond to future objects.

"My concern is that some other country has developed a capability to monitor and enter our airspace and that we are not prepared to identify it, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Tuesday. Strategic surprise is the way a lot of wars start.

Lawmakers from Alaska, where an object was downed on Friday, expressed concerns about monitoring capabilities as well.

Alaska is the first line of defense for America, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) told Pentagon officials last week. Why was the state that is the first line of defense not able to keep the rest of the country from being more vulnerable when it came to collection of intelligence as [the Chinese spy balloon] flew over important installations?

We need to appropriately equip our military in Alaska with the sensors and aircraft needed to detect and, if necessary, destroy everything from slow-moving balloons to hypersonic missiles, Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) said in a statement. Alaska is the frontline of defense for our nation. The past few weeks have made this even more evident.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Key developments on Feb. 14:

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Kremlin-controlled Wagner Group, whose mercenaries, along with the Russian regular army, have been attempting to capture Bakhmut, says the battle for the city is far from over.

"Bakhmut will not be taken tomorrow because there is heavy resistance and grinding," he said on Feb. 14, referring to the battle for the city as a "meat grinder."

"We will not be celebrating in the near future," he added.

Bakhmut and surrounding areas remain the primary focus of Russia, as Moscow seeks to open up the main road leading to two other cities in the east  Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.

On Feb. 12, Russia claimed it had seized control of Krasna Hora, a village about five kilometers north of Bakhmut, but Ukraine denied the statement the next day.

However, the U.K. defense ministry said in its daily intelligence update that over the past three days, Russia's Wagner mercenaries had "almost certainly" made further small gains around the northern outskirts of Bakhmut, including into the Krasna Hora.

The battle for Bakhmut is the fiercest at the moment, according to Mark Milley, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. He said on Feb. 14 that the fighting for the eastern city is the most extensive in terms of losses, and Ukrainian forces continue to repel attacks.

"I would describe it as a war of attrition. The Russians are suffering huge losses," he said.

Ukrainian officials describe the situation in the city as very dire.

Donetsk Oblast Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on national television that "there is not a single square meter in Bakhmut that is safe or that is not in range of enemy fire or drones."

Allies to help Ukraine with spring counteroffensive, US says

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On Feb. 14, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin declared the Ukraine Defense Contact Group's commitment to supporting Ukraine's prolonged fight for freedom.

The group's objective is to assist Kyiv in maintaining its position and advancing its spring counteroffensive, he said.

"With unity and urgency, we will again deliver the support that we have promised to Ukraine," Austin said in his opening remarks before the group's meeting in Brussels.

"We will put capabilities into the hands of trained Ukrainian forces so they can be integrated together on the battlefield."

The Ukraine Contact Group, consisting of more than 40 countries, has already committed about $50 billion in "lethal assistance" to Ukraine since the start of Russia's all-out invasion last February, Austin added.

He also listed the countries that have started preparations for transferring Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine or have given a corresponding commitment.

The list includes Germany, Poland, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Denmark, and the Netherlands, according to the U.S. Defense Secretary.

On the same day, the Norwegian Defense Ministry announced that the country would donate eight Leopard 2 main battle tanks and up to four support vehicles to Ukraine. Norway will also contribute to the training of Ukrainian tank crews in Poland together with other allies.

Ukraine has been pleading for modern Western-designed tanks for months. Modern Western-made tanks are said to be superior to Soviet-made tanks, which Ukraine and Russia currently use on the battlefield.

No fighter jets, for now

Regarding the supply of fighter jets to Ukraine, which Kyiv has asked for months, there is "nothing to report," Austin told reporters.

Austin said that the U.S. "will support Ukraine's fight for freedom over the long haul" and continue to address the country's most urgent needs.

Meanwhile, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that providing Ukraine with Western fighter jets was "not the most important issue now," though adding that it was an "ongoing discussion."

"The urgent need now is to deliver what has always been promised," Stoltenberg said.

Last week, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that "several" European leaders expressed readiness to provide Ukraine with fighter jets and other necessary weapons. However, only Poland has done so publicly.

The West has been reluctant to transfer aircraft to Ukraine amid fears of escalating tensions with Russia  especially just after green-lighting modern tanks for Ukraine.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine repelled Russian attacks in the vicinity of 12 settlements over the course of 13 February.

Source: General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces report on Facebook, information as of 06:00 on 14 February

Quote: "Over the past day, the enemy performed two missile attacks and 32 airstrikes. It also carried out 55 attacks using multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS).



The enemy continues to focus its main efforts on conducting offensive operations on the Kupiansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Novopavlivka fronts. The enemy suffers significant losses. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are taking additional measures to strengthen their defence.

Over the past day, our units have repelled occupiers attacks in the vicinity of Hrianykivka in Kharkiv Oblast, Nevske, Kreminna, Kuzmyne, Shypylivka and Bilohorivka in Luhansk Oblast, and Fedorivka, Paraskoviivka, Bakhmut, Vodiane, Marinka and Pobieda in Donetsk Oblast".

Details: No offensive groups belonging to the Russians were detected on the Volyn, Polissia, Sivershchyna and Slobozhanshchyna fronts. Russian troops continue to conduct combat training exercises at the training grounds of the Republic of Belarus. Over the past day, the areas of the settlement of Yanzhulivka in Cherniviv Oblast Tovstodubove, Vovkivka, Bilokopytove, Volfyne and Basivka in Sumy Oblast, and Veterynarne, Krasne, Vovchansk and Dvorichanske in Kharkiv Oblast came under Russian fire.

On the Kupiansk and Lyman front, the Russians deployed tanks, mortars and artillery to fire in and around Novomlynsk, Dvorichna, Masiutivka, Synkivka, Kupiansk, Stepova, Kyslivka, Tabaivka, Krokhmalne, Berestove, Pishchane, Vyshneve and Cherneshchyna in Kharkiv Oblast, Stelmakhivka, Makiivka, Ploshchanka, Nevske, Dibrova and Bilohorivka in Luhasnk Oblast, and Ivanivka, Spirne and Rozdolivka in Donetsk Oblast.



On the Bakhmut front, the Russians deployed mortars and artillery to fire on Bilohorivka, Vesele, Vasiukivka, Zaliznianske, Bakhmut, Oleksandro-Shultyne, Ozarianivka, Dyliivka and Maiorsk in Donetsk Oblast.

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On the Avdiivka and Novopavlivka fronts, the occupiers deployed tanks, mortars and artillery to fire in and around settlements that are close to the contact line, including Avdiivka, Sieverne, Pervomaiske, Nevelske, Krasnohorivka, Marinka, Pobieda, Bohoiavlenka, Novoukrainka, Prechystivka and Zolota Nyva in Donetsk Oblast.

On the Zaporizhzhia front, the settlements of Vremivka and Novopil in Donetsk Oblast, Olhivske, Huliaipole, Staroukrainka, Huliaipilske, Charivne, Mala Tokmachka, Novodanylivka, Novoandriivka, Stepove, Kamianske in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, and Illinka and Nikopol in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast came under Russian fire.

On the Kherson front, the Russians deployed mortars, tubed and rocket artillery to fire again on civilian facilities in Kherson and Antonivka, Kherson Oblast.



Ukraine's General Staff reported that due to the lack of metal tags with a personal number that can be used to identify the body of a fallen soldier, the leadership of the 20th Army units operating in Luhansk Oblast have ordered personnel to wear a bullet casing with a slip of paper in it in their breast pocket. On this piece of paper, each Russian occupier must write down information about himself, his personal number, etc.

It is noted that Moscow has begun a campaign to mobilise scientists. In particular, the staff of the Polyus Research Institute, which is Russia's leading research centre in the field of laser technology, has received education regarding the social guarantees and benefits available for conscripts.

Over the past day, Ukraine's Air Force delivered 15 strikes on clusters of Russian personnel. Two Russian jets have been shot down: a Su-24M and a Su-25.

In addition, units from Rocket Forces and Artillery targeted one command post, seven clusters of Russian military, two electronic warfare stations and one ammunition dump used by the Russian occupiers.

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At its meeting on Tuesday 14 February, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine appointed Lieutenant General Oleksandr Pavliuk, a hero of Ukraine, to the position of First Deputy Minister of Defense.

Source: Taras Melnychuk, representative of the Cabinet of Ministers in the Verkhovna Rada, on Telegram

Details: At the same time, the Cabinet of Ministers dismissed Ivan Rusnak from the post of First Deputy Minister of Defence of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian government did not make any other personnel changes on Tuesday.

Earlier: Previously, Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov reported that he wants to dismiss his deputies Ivan Rusnak and Oleh Haiduk and appoint Oleksandr Pavliuk as First Deputy Minister, volunteer Vitalii Deineha as Deputy Minister for Digital Development, and former ambassador Andrii Shevchenko as Deputy Minister for European Integration.

Background:

On 21 January, ZN.ua reported that the Ministry of Defence buys food for military personnel at a price two to three times higher than in Kyiv stores. Bohdan Khmelnytskyi, who was involved in the case of US$580,000 embezzlement during the purchase of military ammunition, signed the December agreement with Active Company on behalf of the Ministry.

The information about "chicken eggs for 17 hryvnias" [US$0.5] was particularly publicised: the journalists' investigation referred to the price per piece, although the document stated the price for 100 grams.

The Ministry of Defence called the information about expensive food misleading and manipulative and promised to contact the Security Service of Ukraine, while Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov denied the accusations against the Ministry of Defence. Later, in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda, Reznikov admitted that he was too emotional and promised to thoroughly check all the facts revealed by the journalists.

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Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov wants to dismiss his deputies Ivan Rusnak and Oleh Haiduk and appoint Oleksandr Pavliuk as First Deputy Minister, volunteer Vitalii Deineha as Deputy Minister for Digital Development, and former ambassador Andrii Shevchenko as Deputy Minister for European Integration.

Source: Reznikov on Facebook

Earlier, Reznikov announced personnel changes in the Defence Ministry. In particular, the appointment of new deputy ministers.

Quote: "As for those who held the positions of deputies. First Deputy Minister of Defence Colonel General Ivan Rusnak and Deputy Minister of Defence for Digital Development Oleh Haiduk.

They remain in the ministry's team and will be involved in the work as advisors to the minister."

Details: Reznikov said that he has already submitted the candidates for the positions to the president for approval, and the government's approval is to follow.

According to the minister, these are not the last steps to reboot the Defence Ministry.

He added that the next changes to strengthen the team will be presented in a few days.

The minister is currently in Germany for a regular meeting of Ukraine's allies in the Ramstein format.

According to Reznikov, he invited new people to strengthen the work of the Defence Ministry.

Quote from Reznikov regarding Pavliuk: "The candidature of Ukraine's hero, Lieutenant General Oleksandr Pavliuk, has been submitted for the post of First Deputy Minister.

General Pavliuk is well aware of the issues of modern warfare and the needs of our army, and he has the necessary leadership and management skills. There will be even more synergy in cooperation with the General Staff."

Quote from Reznikov regarding Deineha: "The digital development sector is one of the areas where Ukraine is capable of a breakthrough and can create new standards for the world.

I have invited a well-known volunteer with a background in IT and most recently a documentary journalist, Vitalii Deineha, to the post of Deputy Minister for Digital Development, Digital Transformation and Digitalisation."

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Quote regarding Shevchenko: "Communication with international partners, lawmakers and Ukrainian society, as well as the introduction of new standards in the defence sector, are among my priorities.

I have invited a well-known media personality, Andrii Shevchenko, who has both successful experience in the parliament and as Ukraine's ambassador to Canada, to the post of deputy minister for European integration."

Reference: Deineha is a volunteer, public figure, and founder of the Come Back Alive charity foundation.

Shevchenko is a member of Parliament from the V, VI and VII convocations, and a former Ambassador to Canada.

The Cabinet of Ministers appoints and dismisses the First Deputy Minister and Deputy Ministers based on the Prime Minister's proposal and the proposals of the respective Ministers.

Background:

Viacheslav Shapovalov, Deputy Minister of Defence, resigned due to the scandal over food procurement for the Ukrainian military at inflated prices.

Shapovalov was served with a notice of suspicion; the court arrested him for 2 months and set an alternative bail in the amount of UAH 402,600,000 [roughly US$9,940,000].

Shapovalov resigned and was dismissed on 24 January amid a scandal over the procurement of overpriced food for the military. Bohdan Khmelnytskyi was also dismissed from his position as director of the Defence Ministry's procurement department, which became known on 25 January.

Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has directed that the public procurement system for the Armed Forces of Ukraine be updated, which will include the publication of food and goods prices.

On 21 January, ZN.ua reported that the Ministry of Defence buys food for military personnel at a price two to three times higher than in Kyiv stores. Bohdan Khmelnytskyi, who was involved in the case of US$580,000 embezzlement during the purchase of military ammunition, signed the December agreement with Active Company on behalf of the Ministry.

The information about "chicken eggs for 17 hryvnias" [US$0.5] was particularly publicised: the journalists' investigation referred to the price per piece, although the document stated the price for 100 grams.

The Ministry of Defence called the information about expensive food misleading and manipulative and promised to contact the Security Service of Ukraine, while Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov denied the accusations against the Ministry of Defence. Later, in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda, Reznikov admitted that he was too emotional and promised to thoroughly check all the facts revealed by the journalists.

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KYIV (Reuters) - Ukraine's defence minister chose three new deputies on Tuesday after a corruption scandal beset his ministry nearly a year into his country's fight to repel a Russian invasion.

Oleksii Reznikov, who has pledged to tackle graft after a media report that his department bought food at inflated prices, tapped a general, a civic activist and a former diplomat for the posts.

One of Reznikov's deputies resigned last month following the allegation, which the ministry has denied. Two others, Ivan Rusnak and Oleg Haiduk, were dismissed on Tuesday.

Senior officials last week rowed back on an initial announcement that Reznikov would also be replaced.

Ukraine's government said it had confirmed Lieutenant-General Oleksandr Pavliuk, who briefly served as Kyiv region governor during the early days of Russia's invasion, as the most senior of his deputies.

Andriy Shevchenko, a former ambassador to Canada, and Vitaliy Deyneha, an IT professional who co-founded an NGO that raises funds for the military, were nominated as junior deputies.

Shevchenko would be responsible for communications at home and abroad, and Deyneha for digital development. Reznikov, in a Facebook post, called that sector "one ...where Ukraine is capable of a breakthrough and can create new global standards."

The appointments follow a series of public pledges by Reznikov, including to reboot his ministry's anti-corruption department and bring experts and civic activists into anti-graft efforts, aimed at showing transparency.

Reznikov thanked Rusnak and Haiduk for their service and said they would remain at the ministry as advisors.

(Reporting by Max Hunder, editing by Dan Peleschuk and John Stonestreet)
Oleksii Reznikov, Defence Minister of Ukraine, who is in Brussels to participate in the meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group, has met up with his American and Dutch colleagues, Lloyd Austin and Kajsa Ollongren, before that.

Source: Ukrainian Ministry of Defence, writes European Pravda.

At the meeting with Austin, Reznkov thanked the head of the Pentagon "for the leadership that made it possible to unite 50 member countries of the Contact Group in the Ramstein format and attract unprecedented help from the entire free world".

He expressed hope that together with his partners he could agree on "increasing the capabilities of the Ukrainian Defence Forces".

Its always a pleasure to meet with my good friend and  Ukrainian counterpart, @oleksiireznikov. The 50+ nations participating in the UDCG stand united with you in this fight for Ukraines sovereignty and self-defense. pic.twitter.com/VLwsD5V5Qk  Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (@SecDef) February 14, 2023

The Ukrainian Minister has thanked the Minister of Defence of the Netherlands for her personal support and reminded that the total value of the military aid provided by the Netherlands amounts to nearly one billion euros.

Earlier, Ukraine has officially requested the Netherlands to provide F-16 fighter jets. The head of the country's Ministry of Defense, commenting on this request on Tuesday, said that she prefers to conduct such discussions in a closed format.

Defence ministers and defence officials from about 50 countries gathered in Brussels on Tuesday for a Ramstein format meeting, where they are expected to lay out additional commitments to supply Ukraine with ammunition and air defence equipment, with these urgent needs outweighing long-term requests, such as fighter jets or rapid deliveries of Western battle tanks.

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Russia has lost more than 139,000 soldiers, 3,286 tanks, 6,500 armoured combat vehicles, 2,299 artillery systems and 2,011 drones in the war against Ukraine.

Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook

Details: Total combat losses of the Russian forces between 24 February and 14 February 2022 are estimated to be as follows [figures in parentheses represent the latest losses  ed.]:

approximately 139,080 (+740) military personnel

3,286 (+3) tanks

6,500 (+8) armoured combat vehicles

2,299 (+9) artillery systems

466 (+1) multiple-launch rocket systems

234 (+0) air defence systems

298 (+2) fixed-wing aircraft

286 (+0) helicopters

2,011 (+4) operational-tactical UAVs

857 (+0) cruise missiles

18 (+0) ships/boats

5,155 (+5) vehicles and tankers

218 (+1) special vehicles and other equipment

The data is being confirmed.

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Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov has reshuffled his office following discussions of him being removed from his post over allegations of corruption in his department.

Bloomberg reported Tuesday that Reznikov has appointed three new deputies: an information technology specialist named Vitaliy Deynega, a lieutenant general who led Kyivs defenses during the first wave of Russias invasion named Oleksandr Pavlyuk and a former ambassador named Andriy Shevchenko.

We need a fresh eye, broad views and the ability to integrate capabilities of the state, business and civil society, Reznikov said of his three new appointments, according to Bloomberg.

The appointments come after reports earlier this month that Reznikov was being removed from office and replaced with the leader of Kyivs military intelligence agency, Kyrylo Budanov, amid a crackdown on corruption from the Ukrainian government.

However, that shake-up has apparently been halted ahead of an expected Russian offensive.

Allies of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told France 24 last week that the plan to reassign Reznikov to a different post was delayed because not enough lawmakers supported the move.

One said the government was reviewing the risks of the move, while another said they did not support the appointment of Budanov as Reznikovs replacement.

The ministry faced controversy over a series of corruption scandals, including an allegation that it overpaid for food for Ukrainian soldiers.

Bloomberg reported that Deynega, one of the new deputies, has raised money to support the Ukrainian military with equipment such as flashlights and drones. Zelensky would need to sign an order to allow Pavlyuk, who has been a military officer, to serve in the ministry.

Reznikov has led Ukraines defenses since 2021, before Russias full-scale invasion started almost a year ago.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The plane was shot down a week after Prigozhin's address

It turned out that this was the same warplane from which Wagners founder Yevgeny Prigozhin recorded a ridiculous video challenging Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to an air duel.

Read also: Wagner financier Prigozhin launches campaign aimed at portraying himself anti-corruption crusader

"Tomorrow I'm boarding a MiG-29," he boasted in his address.

If you want, we will meet in the sky. If the day is yours, take Artemivsk (Bakhmut  under the control of the Ukrainian Armed Forces  ed.). If not, we are going toward Dnipro.

However, despite Prigozhin's bravado, his aircraft do not stay in the Ukrainian sky for long, and a week after the video was published, the Su-24 in which he was recorded was taken out of action by the Ukrainian army.

Read also: As Putin's makes bland speech, Prigozhin steps up verbal attacks on Russian military leadership

"Yes, indeed, this particular plane was attacked from the ground by enemy air defense systems," the Russian war criminal admitted, claiming that the pilot allegedly managed to land the burning bomber and it was now being repaired.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
It was possible to find out the identity of the criminal thanks to the stolen headphones

Read also: AP conducts detailed investigation of Russian war crimes in Bucha

According to the investigators, a resident of Bucha contacted them to ask if they could identify a soldier who stole his headphones and other belongings. With the help of the Apple Find My service, Molfar members traced the way of the AirPods from Ukraine to Russia. After the retreat of Russian soldiers from Kyiv Oblast in April 2022, the AirPods and their new owner made 1,000 km, firstly following the line of the Ukrainian border before settling down in the town of Valuyki in Russias Belgorod Oblast.

Molfar

Molfar continued to trace the headphones, which moved farther to the south, to the town of Gelendzhik, where the alleged looter might have visited a school. The device stayed there for a mere a day and then made a 57-hour-long trip to the east, towards Siberia, where it stopped in Kemerovo, an industrial city in Russias Kemerovo Oblast.

Molfar

The researchers managed to narrow the location of the device to one of two residential buildings in the city. Then they used images with geolocation data from VK, a Russian social networking service, to get the names of people living in the building. One of the images was shared by a Russian woman whose son was spotted in a list of names of a hacked Russian military base.

Molfar

The soldier, named Roman Nureyev, was a member of the 27th detachment of the Kuzbass Joint Forces, where he served as a "shooter and paramedic." According to media reports, Nureyev's unit was actively participating in the occupation of Bucha.

Read also: 90% of Russian unit responsible for Bucha atrocities lost, Ukrainian military says

With all this information available, the investigators matched the picture of the soldier's house posted on social media with a picture from Google Street View.

His social media profile also had photos from Ukraine, which became another proof of the investigators' theory.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
UNITED NATIONS (AP)  The United Nations chief launched a $397 million appeal Tuesday to help nearly 5 million survivors of last weeks devastating earthquake in rebel-held northwest Syria who have received very little assistance because of deep divisions exacerbated by the countrys 12-year war.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced the appeal a day after he welcomed an agreement between the U.N. and Syrian President Bashar Assad to open two new crossing points from Turkey for an initial period of three months. The U.N. has only been allowed to deliver aid to the northwest Idlib area through a single crossing at Bab Al-Hawa -- at Syrian ally Russias insistence. Since the quake, the U.N. says 84 trucks have gone through Bab Al-Hawa.

Guterres said the devastation from the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that ravaged southern Turkey and northwestern Syria on Feb. 6 is one of the worst in recent memory, and we all know that lifesaving aid has not been getting in at the speed and scale needed.

He said the $397 million will provide desperately needed, life-saving relief for nearly 5 million Syrians  including shelter, health care, food and protection for three months.

Guterres said the U.N. is in the final stages of preparing an emergency appeal for quake-ravaged southern Turkey. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the appeal will be launched probably in the coming days.

He urged the international community to provide the emergency funding without delay, saying: The human suffering from this epic natural disaster should not be made even worse by manmade obstacles  access, funding, supplies.

The secretary-general said aid to Syria must get through by all routes to all areas without restrictions.

A senior U.N. World Food Program official warned that food insecurity in afflicted parts of Syria had been rising drastically even before the earthquake struck.

It was very bad before. Now its dramatic, said Corinne Fleischer, the agencys Middle East Director.

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Half of the population faces hunger. And thats the worst that weve seen since the beginning of the crisis in Syria. Even at the height of the war, we didnt have 12 million people food insecure, she said in an interview with the Associated Press.

Guterres announced that an 11-truck convoy was on the move to go through one of the newly opened crossings at Bab Al-Salam, with many more to come. He said the second new crossing at Al Raee is also open, and goods are flowing.

Dujarric said the convoy went through the crossing without any obstacles and were very optimistic that things will move quickly. He noted that the two crossings have been used by relief organizations not affiliated with the U.N. and the roads are in better condition than those leading to Bab Al-Hawa.

The announcement of the two additional crossings from Turkey came as the U.N. Security Council was meeting for the first time Monday afternoon on the difficulties of getting aid to northwest Syria.

The U.N. has also been trying to send a convoy to the northwest across conflict lines within Syria, but it hasnt gotten a green light from all parties. The convoy has reportedly been blocked by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a rebel group with ties to al-Qaida that controls part of the northwest.

Frances U.N. ambassador, Nicolas De Riviere, told reporters before Mondays council meeting that there were two options  either the Syrian government grant additional access to the northwest or the council would try to adopt a resolution authorizing additional crossing points to the region.

After the meeting and the announcement of the two new crossings, De Riviere said there should be no obstacles to delivering aid through the three crossings. If there are, he said, the Security Council should look into adopting a resolution under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which means it can be enforced militarily, to authorize the crossings and get aid to the millions in need.

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the United States will be watching closely to see if aid is getting to Syrians in need and will push for a U.N. resolution if it isnt. It took seven days to get this decision to allow the borders to be open -- that decision should have been made on day one, she said.

Secretary-General Guterres, asked about a possible meeting with president Assad, said whats needed now is not high-level visits that divert resources but stepped-up relief efforts.

I am following that very, very closely, he said, and whenever it would be useful and positive, I am ready to do whatever is needed.

As for whether a Security Council resolution is needed, he reiterated that the two new crossings are open, and we will see, of course, if the situation would change, we would adopt the necessary measures.

___

Casert contributed from Brussels.
A drone view of the Fjallsarlon glacier lagoon in Iceland on Jan. 25. (Manuel Romano/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The United Nations Security Council opened a debate on the security implications of sea-level rise with a stark warning from U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday morning.

For the hundreds of millions of people living in small island developing states and other low-lying coastal areas around the world, sea-level rise is a torrent of trouble, he said.

Guterres enumerated some of the basic necessities and economic activities threatened by rising tides, including access to water, food and health care and key industries like agriculture, fisheries and tourism.

The threat is intensified when combined with the extreme weather events that are more severe because of climate change, such as hurricanes that bring higher storm surges that can destroy key infrastructure, including hospitals and transportation systems  as 2012s Hurricane Sandy demonstrated when it made landfall in New York City. Ultimately, entire cities and even countries may not survive, Guterres noted.

This could create destabilizing effects, as poor people lose their homes and poor countries lose their land, due to rich countries greenhouse gas emissions, potentially creating a wave of climate refugees.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the U.N.s weather and climate tracking service, issued a report Tuesday morning to coincide with the Security Council session.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks to reporters on Feb. 9. (Xie E/Xinhua via Getty Images)

Thus far, the global average sea level increased by one-fifth of a meter  roughly 8 inches  between 1901 and 2018, according to the WMO. Half of the sea-level rise to date is from thermal expansion, meaning that water expands as it grows warmer, and the other half is from melting glaciers and ice sheets.

The pace of ascending ocean levels is getting much faster. The average rate of sea-level rise went from 1.3 millimeters per year before 1971 to 1.9 millimeters per year between 1971 and 2006. Between 2006 and 2018, it rose 3.7 millimeters per year.

But thats nothing compared with whats in store. Due to the time lag between greenhouse gas emissions and global warming, and then between warming and glacial melting that causes the oceans to rise, humanity has already ensured that future sea-level rise will dwarf what has happened so far.

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The WMO projects 3 to 5 feet of sea-level rise by 2100. In less than 80 years, 250 million to 400 million people will likely need new homes in new locations, U.N. General Assembly president Csaba Korosi noted in his remarks Tuesday morning.

Chunks of ice float on Mendenhall Lake in front of the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, Alaska, last May. (Becky Bohrer/AP)

There are rules about the creation of a state but none about their disappearance, Korosi said. How would even the first changes of shorelines affect maritime borders?

Preserving or fixing or freezing the baselines and outer limits of maritime zones is crucial to legal stability and security, said Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu, speaking in his capacity as co-chair of the International Law Commission study group on sea-level rise.

Although nearly every nation agreed at the 2021 U.N. Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, that limiting warming to 1.5C is the goal, national pledges to reduce emissions put the world on pace for 2.2C. And the policies actually in place point toward 2.7C of warming by 2100.

That much warming would result in up to 20 feet of sea-level rise, the WMO reports. With that much increase, entire cities  including New Orleans and Miami  would be completely underwater. Even higher-elevation cities would face constant flooding and saltwater intrusion into their groundwater supplies.

Tuesdays meeting was chaired by Ian Borg, Malta's minister for foreign and European affairs and trade, who circulated a brief in advance focusing on the risks posed to low-lying coastal communities and island states. Climate change also increases the risk that sea-level rise will worsen tensions over resources such as fresh water, the brief said. (Malta, a small island state in the Mediterranean, is undoubtedly paying close attention to such concerns.)

High waves pound the coast in Valletta, Malta, on Feb. 10. (Jonathan Borg/Xinhua via Getty Images)

Tuesdays meeting was the first open debate in the Security Council since 2015. In 2011 the council adopted a statement expressing concern over possible security implications of loss of territory of some states, but it has never taken any action to address climate change. China and Russia  permanent members of the Security Council who hold a veto over any proposal  have historically contended that climate change is best addressed in other U.N. forums.

In addition to calling for swift action to mitigate climate change and funding for developing countries to adapt to climate change and to compensate them for climate-change-related losses, Guterres called for the rich and powerful Security Council members such as the United States to find innovative legal and practical solutions to address the impact of rising sea levels on forced human displacement and on the very existence of the land territory of some states.

Peoples human rights do not disappear because their homes do, he said.
The Orange County Public School system will discontinue its participation in a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey on the health and safety of public school students after the state withdrew its support for the program.

OCPS collected 2023 survey data from students in January but no longer plans to give that data to the CDC, terminating a grant that was in place since 2001, wrote OCPS spokesperson Renee Burke in an email Tuesday.

The [survey] was administered this year prior to notification of the objections by the Florida Department of Education, Burke said. After receiving official written notification from the FDOE the district suspended the transmission of the survey data to the CDC and will end participation in the grant.

The end comes as the most recently released survey results show that more than 40% of OCPS high school students say they have felt sad and hopeless and 20% have considered committing suicide.

The federally funded Youth Risk Behavior Survey has been administered in most states every other year for about 30 years. It asks teens nearly 100 questions related to topics such as exercise, substance use, sexual activity, sexual orientation, health, mental health, suicidal thoughts and abuse. Parents can opt their kids out of the survey.

The Florida Department of Education and the Florida Department of Health said in March 2022 that the state would no longer participate and would instead create a replacement survey to assess youth behaviors. That decision drew protests from groups such as the state chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Florida Psychological Association and the Florida Policy Institute.

Rather than continue with a generic nationwide survey, our intent is to improve our data collection efforts to make the survey specifically tailored to Floridas unique needs, said FDOE spokesperson Cassie Palelis in a prior statement to the Orlando Sentinel.

Norin Dollard, a senior policy analyst at the Florida Policy Institute and director of Florida KIDS COUNT, part of an annual assessment of child well-being in the United States, said that a new state-specific survey will make it difficult to compare this years data to past years and to compare Floridas data to other states in order to identify how Floridas policies impact youth.

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Theres been increases in the mental health allocation to schools and in the state budget, for example. How do we know if thats making a difference? Dollard said. Theres nothing to compare this new survey to, so weve lost all that history and all that knowledge.

OCPS is one of six school districts including Duval, Broward, Hillsborough, Pasco, and Palm Beach County that had individual contracts with the CDC to administer the survey.

In data released recently from 2021, about 1 in 5 surveyed OCPS high schoolers seriously contemplated killing themselves and 1 in 10 reported attempting suicide, an increase of 3% and 1% from 2019, respectively.

As was the trend nationwide, the survey indicated that LGBTQ teens and girls report suffering the most. Nationally, almost 60% of teen girls reported feelings of persistent sadness or hopelessness, according to results released on Monday.

Our kids are in dire straits, said Marni Stahlman, president and CEO of the Mental Health Association of Central Florida. The mental health of our kids and of our adolescents ... is in a state of despair.

Neither the Florida Department of Education nor the Florida Department of Health responded Tuesday when asked for an update on the process of creating the survey that will replace the CDCs.

No Florida county school district has informed the CDC it has officially withdrawn from the survey, said CDC spokesperson Paul Fulton over email on Tuesday.

Duval County also announced it canceled plans to conduct the survey last week after the Florida Department of Health terminated its contract with the district and a stern letter from Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. strongly urged it not to participate, Superintendent Diana Greene told the Florida Times-Union.

Diaz in his letter gave further insight into the states decision to withdraw from the survey. He said the survey is inflammatory and highly sexualized and asks leading questions phrased in such a way that may actually introduce risky behaviors to students, prompting them to engage in potentially detrimental activities.

The survey asks questions about sexual activity, assault and sexual orientation as well as asking whether students are using sexual protection in order to identify areas for intervention and groups most at risk.

These questions lead to important and necessary insights that inform interventions, Dollard said.

In Orange County, more high schoolers reported experiencing sexual violence in 2021 than in 2019. Orange County girls were twice as likely as boys to report experiencing sexual violence.

Orange Countys lesbian, gay and bisexual students were twice as likely as their peers to report experiencing sexual assault, and nearly 1 in 4 of Orange Countys lesbian, gay and bisexual students reported attempting suicide.

You dont cause somebody to consider suicide whos never considered it before by saying the word, Dollard said. Theres some inaccuracies in that letter [about] how information is transmitted among young people.

Ccatherman@orlandosentinel.com; @CECatherman Twitter
Police have closed Buttes-Chaumont park as they search for evidence in the murder of the unidentified woman - CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT/AFP

The body parts of a woman have been unearthed in a popular park in the northeast of the French capital amid mystery over the victims identity.

The gruesome discovery was made in a wooded area of the Buttes-Chaumont park, a popular spot for families and joggers in the 19th district of Paris, leading police to open a murder inquiry.

On Monday, municipal workers stumbled across a plastic bag hidden in bushes and containing what sources close to the case said was the pelvis area of the woman.

Prosecutors on Tuesday morning then confirmed that police and local municipal staff had found separate bags containing more parts of the dismembered body, reportedly including the victims head.

The Paris prosecutors office said these were found on disused railway tracks next to the park that are mostly shut to the public.

The mayor of the 19th district, Francois Dagnaud confirmed that it was park workers who had found the remains.

Forensic teams were at the scene on Tuesday morning and investigators are currently combing the 25-hectare (62-acre) park, which has been closed to the public. Police are also examining CCTV footage of the surrounding streets.

The victims identity remains a mystery for now. An autopsy is due to be conducted.

Prosecutors have launched a murder inquiry being handled by the criminal brigade of the capitals judicial police.

The news comes four months after the abduction and murder of a 12-year-old girl a stones throw from the Buttes-Chaumont caused shock and outrage in Paris.

Lola Daviets lifeless body was found last October squeezed into a suitcase in the street not far from the park.

She had been sexually assaulted and murdered after school in a crime branded as "evil" by Emmanuel Macron, the French president.

Political row

The case triggered a fierce political row because the alleged killer was a mentally disturbed Algerian woman who was in France illegally and the subject of an expulsion order.

Eric Zemmour, a far-right politician who ran to be France's president earlier this year, labelled the murder Francocide.

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Too many crimes are being committed by clandestine immigrants one has not been able or willing to deport, Marine Le Pen, the French far-right leader, said in parliament.

Elisabeth Borne, the French prime minister, asked Ms Le Pen to show some decency.

The parents later slammed the hard-right politicians for seeking to score cheap political points on the back of the murder of their daughter.
A United Airlines airplane takes off over another United plane on a runway at San Francisco International Airport in October 2020. (Jeff Chiu / Associated Press)

A United Airlines flight departing Hawaii for California in December plunged more than 1,000 feet right after takeoff  nearly into the Pacific Ocean, according to flight data.

Just 71 seconds into the Dec. 18 flight from Kahului Airport in Maui that was bound for San Francisco International Airport, the Boeing 777 jet, Flight 1722, suddenly began a steep descent toward the ocean, the data show.

In less than 20 seconds, the plane went from 2,200 feet to 775 feet above the water, according to flight data.

The jet was hurtling toward the water at 8,600 feet per minute, according to the Air Current, an online aviation publication.

The plane stabilized and went back to ascending before completing the trip to San Francisco.

The flight crew reported what occurred to the Federal Aviation Administration.

While United Airlines did not say what the issue was, a spokesperson told CNN that there was nothing wrong with the plane and that the pilots received "additional training" after the incident.

The near crash was first reported by the Air Current on Sunday.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
United Nations experts on human rights have expressed grave concern over the deaths of Tyre Nichols in Memphis and Keenan Anderson, who was killed by officers of the Los Angeles Police Department.

We have called on authorities to ensure prompt accountability and reparation, said Tracie Keesee, member of the Independent Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in the context of Law Enforcement (EMLER), in a news release. While we note that in the case of Tyre Nichols, five police officers have been criminally charged, and were dismissed following an administrative investigation, the horrifying footage of his beating is an alarming reminder of the urgent need of genuinely new approaches to traffic safety, traffic stops, and public safety more broadly.

EMLER plans to visit the United States in April, a visit during which it will work with U.S. government and stakeholders to address police brutality.

More:'Smiling down from heaven': Newly constructed canopy named in memory of Tyre Nichols

The group also questions the use of Tasers and says that in Nichols case, authorities should show determination in questioning and reforming an institutionalized police culture that permits criminal assault under the guise of law enforcement and public safety.

The response from the UN comes after family of Nichols filed an appeal with the international organization, of which the United States is a member, requesting urgent action regarding the torture and extrajudicial killing of Tyre Nichols. The letter asked that the UN call for all officers involved in the incident to be criminally charged.

EMLER also forwarded the letter from the attorneys to other special procedure mandates, according to a UN representative, including the Special Rapporteur on torture and the Special Rapporteur on summary executions. Both of those groups co-signed the letter and public statement on Nichols case.

In its release, UN experts say that the force used in both Anderson and Nichols cases appears to have violated international norms protecting the right to life and prohibiting torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

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It is also not in line with standards set out under the United Nations Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials and the Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials, the news release reads.

More:Ex-MPD officer falsely reported Tyre Nichols' stop, had 'personally owned' handcuffs

Nichols, a 29-year-old FedEx employee and father, died Jan. 10, three days after Memphis police officers brutally beat, kicked and pepper sprayed him.

Five officers have been charged with second degree murder in his death. Other employees of the city and county remain under investigation.

Anderson, a 31-year-old teacher and father, died Jan. 3 after Los Angeles Police tased him six times, according to the LA Times.

Katherine Burgess covers county government and religion. She can be reached at katherine.burgess@commercialappeal.com or followed on Twitter @kathsburgess.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: United Nations experts to visit US after death of Tyre Nichols
When you've been married for 68 years, you get used to a certain question: What's the secret?

"We were just asked that yesterday, actually, by some grandkids," Werner Salinger said on a recent afternoon in Gold Canyon. "Respect for each other and a willingness to compromise on issues that you might differ on. I think those are the two key things."

Relationship advice is a dime a dozen, but Werner and his wife Martha might just know what they're on about. Their relationship was born from the most damaging and destructive of divisions.

Werner is a Holocaust survivor who fled Germany with his family when he was 6. Martha is the daughter of a Nazi soldier, an auditor who was drafted into Hitler's army.

Their 1950s union was met with family discontent, a series of rabbis who urged Werner to reconsider and pressure to break up from the U.S. military.

In the end, none of that could dim their love.

Fleeing Germany as conflict brewed

Werner was born in Berlin in April 1932, the year before Hitler came to power. His early childhood unfolded under the spreading shadow of the Holocaust.

He was an only child, the son of a secular Jewish couple who lived in the city center. His father was a lawyer and his mother an orthodontist, a "pretty hip lady" who used a hyphenated surname, unusual for a woman at the time.

When he was 3, the Nuremberg Race Laws stripped German Jews like his family of rights. His parents' client bases were whittled down to Jewish people only, and Werner was forced to move to a Jewish-only kindergarten.

When he was 6, he looked out the window to see the pavement across the street littered with shards of glass, smashed from the windows of Jewish-owned stores. A block away, the synagogue his parents had belonged to was burning, set alight by the Nazis. Werner still remembers the acrid smell of smoke in the air.

It was Nov. 9, 1938, and he had witnessed Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass, a pogrom unleashed on German Jews across two violent, hate-filled days.

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The Salingers left Berlin two months later. After a brief stay in London and an eight-day boat journey from Rotterdam, Werner and his parents stepped off in New York on Feb. 12, 1939, the anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth.

The first year was rocky. Werner attended some of first grade in Brooklyn, where he recalls having an accident in class because he didn't know how to say, "I have to go to the bathroom" in English. His first American summer was spent at Camp Chickawah in Maine, the trip funded by a Jewish charity.

When summer ended, his mother was gone. She had contracted tuberculosis and died, another seismic shock for young Werner. He was sent to Princeton, New Jersey, to live with his father's first cousin, Elizabeth, and her husband, a Presbyterian minister and New Testament scholar named Otto Piper.

Journey of survival:Holographic exhibit featuring 96-year-old Scottsdale Holocaust survivor opens in Phoenix

There, things got easier. Werner was one of eight children in the house  three of Elizabeth and Otto's kids and five refugees. Otto, whom he called Odo, took the time to teach him English, helping him become an American.

"After the first year, I think it was kind of an almost seamless transition," Werner said.

It was also in New Jersey that he befriended a man down the street who turned out to be Albert Einstein. Werner got to know the physicist through a connection of his grandmother's, and he remembers him as a friendly man with windswept hair.

"He loved kids," Werner said. "And I was just a kid, you know?"

"He would take me by the hand and walk me through his garden, which was beautiful. And then into his study and (he would) pick his violin off the wall for me and play violin for me."

When he was about 9 or 10, Werner moved to Maryland to once again live with his father, who had remarried to a German woman.

He went to high school in Baltimore and graduated at 17 in 1949, the year before the Korean War broke out. Anxious to repay his adopted country, Werner enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1951, choosing it over the Navy because of its new, sky-blue uniforms.

It was a decision that would take him back to Germany and introduce him to the love of his life.

Meeting Martha, writing letters

Photographs and letters written by Martha Salinger, 89, are displayed by her husband Werner Salinger, 90, a U.S. Air Force Intelligence veteran who enlisted during the Korean War, at their home in Gold Canyon on Jan. 13, 2023. Werner, who survived the Holocaust with his family, met Martha during the height of the Cold War while deployed in Germany. Martha's father, a government bureaucrat, was drafted into the German military during World War II.

Martha Herpich was working as a statistician in a small German town called Hof, about halfway between Munich and Berlin.

Thats where some American soldiers were interviewing former prisoners of war to get more information about the Soviet Union.

One of those soldiers conducting interviews with those prisoners was 20-year-old Werner.

It was Werners job, along with his squadron, to interview those prisoners to get more information about the Soviet Union. Sometimes they would talk for days, sometimes for weeks, as long as they needed to learn everything they could about how things had been rebuilt.

Then Werner left Hof, transferring 50 miles down the road. But he happened to have a car, a 1938 Plymouth, and hed organize trips back to Hof on the weekends to go out dancing.

He wasnt looking for a wife. He was looking for a pretty young German to see Europe with, he said.

Then he saw Martha. He was in civilian clothes, though he was supposed to be in uniform, and he spoke fluent German.

They hit it off.

It soon became apparent Martha was more than just a pretty woman to see Europe with, though they did travel. During a stay in the Alps, Werner realized he was in love.

It was just two people growing closer together with each other in a very important way, he said. And it stuck.

Martha expressed her love for Werner in heartfelt letters that he has kept for all these years.

I want to say that I have come to know you and love you (at this point we have known each other for three months) as a happy person with a good character, she wrote. I hope that our luck and our love does not go away so fast or even better, never goes away.

Werner Salinger, 90, a U.S. Air Force Intelligence veteran who enlisted during the Korean War, sorts through photographs and letters written by his wife, Martha Salinger, 89, at their home in Gold Canyon on Jan. 13, 2023.

They went on other trips together, went boating on a lake, hung out with Marthas German friends. And while all that was happening, the couple was contemplating the hurdles they might face if they were to create a future together.

Like, for instance, what their families might think  their parents, who had been on opposite sides of a war.

Maybe it will become good for us

It wasnt a surprise to the young couple that they might face some opposition to their courtship.

Soon after meeting Martha, Werner made a discovery: Her father had fought in the German army. As a government bureaucrat, he had been drafted and served a couple of years with the occupation forces in France before being sent to the Russian front. There, he suffered a minor elbow wound and was sent back to a hospital behind the front lines shortly before the war ended.

Werner never held it against Martha. My position always was, you know, she was 12 when the war ended, he said. So how could she have possibly had anything to do with the Nazi times?

This was the logic that he presented to his family as he communicated with them via letter about his new love.

It was a little rough the first year, he admitted. They disapproved of his choice.

The situation with Werners family was not lost on Martha, who corresponded with Werner in her own letters. She wanted things to work out, but she recognized how difficult the situation was going to be.

Dear Werner do not make yourself any problems about me  you know what I mean, she said, referring to his being Jewish as a potential issue for her or her parents.

If it just doesnt work, we will just have to part," she wrote. "You should not have any problems because of me. If that should happen, I will be able to handle it.

But that wasnt the only thing working against them. The U.S. military discouraged relationships with German nationals and Werner says they sent religious counselors to try to talk him out of the match.

It was no use. Werner was determined. More than that, he believed his union with Martha was something hopeful, a representation of what it could mean to move past the atrocities of the war.

From the rabbi's point of view, it was how could you possibly consider doing this, you know, bringing the daughter of a Nazi family into a Jewish refugee family? And I would say to (whichever rabbi had come to me that day), 'well, that's exactly what we should be doing,' Werner said.

Werner Salinger, 90, sorts through photographs and letters written by his wife, Martha Salinger, 89, at their home in Gold Canyon on Jan. 13, 2023.

At the time, there was a rule that a U.S. soldier could not marry a German national until two weeks before their rotation took them back stateside. That meant there were many months for him to be talked out of the decision, many months during which Martha lay awake at night, wondering whether they would be able to stay together before he went home.

Oh, Werner, I dont know if you experience this too, but every night when I am lying in bed I think about us for a long time, she wrote. When I think that we just have another nine months (before you return to the United States) I am often very upset. But I also think that many others have gone through this.

Maybe it will become good for us and we will join in marriage and have a good marriage. Maybe.

It was never a maybe for Werner. Despite his fraught letters back and forth from America, despite the military rabbis telling him not to, despite the geographical, religious and logistical barriers, he remained firm in his decision.

He felt strongly that he had to face his family first, and so after three and a half years in Germany, he flew back to Baltimore to tell them his intentions.

(Martha) didn't know if I was ever coming back," Werner said. "She and her family had no phone. There were no cell phones or anything. No computers. I couldn't even call her.

A week later, on a Sunday, he was back and knocking on her door. He had good news.

By Thursday, they went to City Hall. With her father as a witness, they became husband and wife.

'Follow your heart'

Their marriage has lasted nearly seven decades. Werner is now 90, and Martha, who let her husband do the talking when it came to their story, will reach the same milestone on Thursday.

Werner has grown used to people asking how his marriage was even possible, let alone long-lasting.

For one thing, Werners father-in-law didnt adhere to Nazi beliefs or politics. He joined the party to keep his job as a bureaucrat and was drafted into the German army. Ideologically, he didnt support Hitler or the persecution of Jewish people.

To Werner, it's a meaningful distinction. "If either he or her mother would have been a really avid Nazi, I probably would not have followed up on that whole relationship. I would have gotten out of that whole relationship. But they always welcomed me.

Besides, he said, "I loved (Martha) for who she was and is and not for whatever political connection."

As she tells it, her parents were unbothered that Werner was Jewish. Werner's parents were the harder sell, but eventually came around. In the end, both sides accepted that the young couple's love could override the pain and division of war.

That's part of the story Werner relays to children when he visits schools to talk about the Holocaust. He tells them about surviving the conflict and answers their questions about love and marriage. At school and after school, he is asked: "How did you get along with your father-in-law?"

And I always have a very simple answer for that," Werner said. "And that is he loved me and I loved him."

A simple answer, but a complicated journey. In the early days of their relationship, Werner's Jewish identity was always on their minds. Martha's letters document their anguish and fervent wish that things could be easier.

In one letter, Martha wrote that a friend of hers and her boyfriend, both German, must have a life that is "twice as good" because they could be certain of marrying without obstacles.

But to Werner, their situation was just another iteration  an extreme one, no doubt  of a somewhat universal issue.

"It seemed to us like an un-overcomeable problem. And I think for most people it would have been, he said. Oh, I'm sure there are many other people who face similar problems, racial problems, you know, white girl bringing home a Black boy, a Black girl bringing home a white boy, Mormon bringing home a non-Mormon. Happens all the time."

His advice to those people, based on 68 years of happiness?

"I'd say follow your heart, not your mind."

Reach Lane Sainty at lane.sainty@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter @lanesainty.

Melina Walling is a general assignment reporter based in Phoenix. She is drawn to stories about interesting people, scientific discoveries, unusual creatures and the hopeful, surprising and unexpected moments of the human experience. You can contact her via email at mwalling@gannett.com or on Twitter @MelinaWalling.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Werner and Martha Salinger's love story overcame war, hate
Boxes of the drug mifepristone line a shelf at the West Alabama Women's Center in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Wednesday, March 16, 2022. Allen G. Breed, File/AP

Banning mifepristone will result in more women dying in pregnancy, Democratic attorneys general argued this month.

The argument comes as a judge in Texas is considering a ban on the abortion pill.

A Trump appointee, the judge previously ruled that LGBTQ people are not protected by anti-discrimination laws.

A ruling expected in the next few weeks from a federal judge in Texas that could result in a ban on the abortion pill mifepristone could lead to an "unprecedented spike" in maternal mortality, Democratic attorneys general argued.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, writing on behalf of 21 states and the District of Columbia, made this argument in a February 10 filing in the case Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA.

At issue is whether a conservative judge, appointed by former President Donald Trump, will side with anti-abortion activists and rule that federal regulators erred when they approved a medical abortion drug more than two decades ago.

Motivated by a desire to limit access to abortion, the anti-abortion activists maintain that the FDA-approved mifepristone, also known as RU-486, without properly weighing its health implications, arguing that it results in more complications than surgical abortions. Republican attorneys general who have weighed in on the case also maintain that its approval infringed on state rights.

The case, Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA, was sparked by a legal complaint from anti-choice activists, who argue that federal regulators made a blunder when they approved the drug more than 20 years ago. Following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the Biden administration announced that it would be expanding access to mifepristone in states where abortion remains legal, allowing retail pharmacies, such as CVS and Walgreens, to dispense it; previously it was only available from doctors and mail-order pharmacies.

First approved by the Food and Drug Administration in September 2000, mifepristone can be prescribed in the first 10 weeks of a pregnancy and works by blocking the production of the hormone progesterone, necessary for the development of a fetus. It was first approved by French regulators in 1988 and, according to the FDA, subsequent reviews have found no cause to question its safety.

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In fact, as Bloomberg reported last year, mifepristone "sends fewer people to the ER than Tylenol or Viagra." A 2022 study published by the New England Journal of Medicine likewise found no evidence of increased, abortion-related complications after the drug became widely available in Canada.

James, arguing for the Democratic attorneys general, maintains that removing mifepristone from the market would actually increase risks not just for those who are pregnant but for anyone who needs reproductive health care.

In her brief, James noted that carrying a pregnancy to term poses significantly greater health risks than an early abortion. "Accordingly, impeding access to medication abortion, the method currently accounting for the majority of all abortions, would undoubtedly lead to an unprecedented spike in mortality," she wrote, pointing to research that suggests a total ban on abortion could ultimately lead to a 21% increase in pregnancy-related deaths or an additional 140 deaths annually, in the years following a ban.

Additionally, a limit on medication abortions would lead more people to pursue a surgical option, which would cause "ripple effects" across the health care system, James argued. That's because "many of the same facilities providing abortion also offer other critical health care services," such as screenings for cancer and sexually transmitted diseases. "With increased demand for abortion care produces delays in accessing other forms of care at those facilities, the result will inevitably be higher rates of unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections," James wrote.

It is not certain that would be the case, however. As Slate's Christina Cautertucci notes, mifepristone is only one of the two drugs used in a typical medication abortion. The other, misoprostol, "can also terminate a pregnancy on its own"  and while it is moderately less effective because it is also used to treat stomach ulcers, "it is unlikely to be subject to a blanket, politically-motivated ban."

Trump judge shows a willingness to buck precedent

Still, abortion rights advocates are sounding the alarm, noting that the two-drug cocktail is considered the safest, most effective means of terminating a pregnancy. And while it would be highly unusual for a federal judge to overrule the FDA  the agency said last month that it would be "extraordinary "  the one presiding over this case has shown a willingness to indulge conservative arguments at the expense of legal precedent.

Appointed by former President Donald Trump, Matthew Kacsmaryk, of the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas, is the judge who in 2021 ordered the White House to reinstate Trump's "Remain in Mexico" program, demanding the Biden administration negotiate an agreement with a foreign government to host people seeking asylum in the United States. That decision was later overturned by the Supreme Court.

Last year, Kacsmaryk also ruled that a federal program that provides free contraception to all who need it violated parental rights  despite the plaintiff, the father of a teenage daughter, failing to demonstrate that he had legal standing: that he or his daughter had actually used or otherwise been affected by the program.

Ian Millhiser, a legal affairs columnist at Vox, has described Kacsmaryk as a "rogue federal judge," noting his willingness to buck precedent on behalf of the right-wing causes he fought for as a private attorney. Indeed, his record has led conservative plaintiffs to seek him out, taking advantage of the fact that "95 percent of civil cases filed in Amarillo, Texas's federal courthouse are automatically assigned to [him]," per Millhiser.

A ruling in the case could come in the next several weeks, with Kacsmaryk having set a February 24 deadline for briefs to be filed.

If Kacsmaryk sides with the anti-choice plaintiffs and bans the abortion drug, it would be a remarkable assertion of judicial power  and almost certainly end up at the Supreme Court.

Back in 2000, opponents of medical abortion, such as former Texas governor and future president George W. Bush, believed the FDA's then-recent authorization of mifepristone was a done deal that could only be overturned by an act of Congress.

"I don't think a president can even overturn it," Bush said in a presidential debate. "The FDA has made its decision."

Have a news tip? Email this reporter: cdavis@insider.com

Read the original article on Business Insider
Apple released security updates to its operating systems on Monday to resolve a security flaw. While such updates are common, the company said in the announcement that the issue may have been actively exploited, meaning hackers couldve taken advantage of the issue to access Apple devices.

Apple issued security updates for its macOS Ventura, latest iPhone and iPad products and its Safari web browser. Security updates for its AppleTV and Apple Watch operating systems were also slated to be released on Monday, according to the Apple security updates website, but details have not been released at the time of publication. While the security flaws vary across devices, WebKit, its open-source browser engine, was a common target.

Apple does not have additional details to share on the exploits beyond the update release notes, spokesperson Scott Radcliffe told Engadget.

The company credited Xinru Chi of Pangu Lab, Ned Williamson of Google Project Zero, Wenchao Li and Xiaolong Bai of Alibaba Group and an anonymous researcher for finding the flaws, with additional recognition to The Citizen Lab at The University of Torontos Munk School for their assistance.

Patches for security flaws exploited on Apple devices arent unusual, but keeping devices up-to-date can help keep users protected from falling victim to attack. Apple generally doesnt reveal details of an exploit until a patch is publicly available. In August, the company released similarly timely patches for its iPad, iPhone and macOS users.

The Citizen Lab has not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.
(Bloomberg) -- US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack rebuffed a concession by Mexico in a simmering trade dispute over a planned ban on genetically modified US corn.

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Vilsack is disappointed by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obradors decree that would scale back the planned ban by scrapping a deadline to halt imports of GMO corn for livestock feed, according to a statement Tuesday. The Mexican president known as AMLO is still pressing forward with a prohibition on GMO corn for human consumption.

The Mexican governments efforts to block imports of US GMO corn have become one of the biggest trade irritants between Mexico and its northern neighbor. Mexico is the USs second-largest export market and the issue has mobilized President Joe Bidens administration, as well as elected representatives in key corn-growing states including Iowa Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst.

Biden administration officials and US corn growers have asserted that restrictions on genetically modified corn arent backed up by scientific evidence and would violate the USMCA trade accord.

Vilsack said in his statement that the administration is carefully reviewing the details of the new decree and intends to ensure our science-based, rules-based commitment remains firm.

The National Corn Growers Association, a US trade group, blasted the new decree. The Biden administration has been more than patient with Mexico and tolerating import restrictions on US corn makes USMCA a dead letter, NCGA President Tom Haag said in a statement.

Mexico would eliminate a deadline to ban GMO corn for animals and manufactured products, the economy ministry said in a statement Monday. Instead, the phase-out will depend on supply and establishing working groups with domestic and foreign businesses for an orderly transition.

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But Mexico will still prohibit the importation of GMO corn for flour and tortillas, as well as glyphosate, a commonly used pesticide.

The change provides some relief to US farmers, given that most corn exports to Mexico are of the yellow variety thats primarily used as livestock feed. White corn, used for tortillas and other dishes, is a smaller portion of US exports to Mexico.

The NCGA has pushed for an arbitration panel under the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement to settle the dispute, saying Mexicos plans violate the deal. Last month, the group signaled there was no room for compromise, saying a ban would deliver a blow to American farmers and exacerbate current food insecurity in Mexico.

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The US does not have enough stocks of long-range missiles, and therefore the country is not ready to provide Ukraine with ATACMS systems.

Source: News and information service Politico, citing four well-informed sources

Details: The publication writes that in recent meetings, US officials told Kyiv representatives that it does not have any Army Tactical Missile Systems to spare, and that transferring ATACMS to the battlefield in Eastern Europe would dwindle Americas stockpiles and harm the US militarys readiness for a future fight.

In addition, Politico notes, the US is concerned that Ukraine would use the 190-mile range missiles to attack deep inside Russian territory and cross what the Kremlin has said is a red line, which is why the US is not shipping ATACMS to the frontlines any time soon.

"With any package, we always consider our readiness and our own stocks while providing Ukraine what it needs on the battlefield. There are other ways of providing Ukraine with the capabilities it needs to strike the targets," a senior Pentagon official told the publication.

According to another source, one workaround being considered by Kyiv is to ask for Washingtons approval to buy ATACMS from an allied country that operates the weapon, using military financing from the United States. The list of ATACMS users includes South Korea, Poland, Romania, Greece, Turkey, Qatar and Bahrain.

Another source told Politico that the next US aid package will not include ATACMS or F-16 warplanes, but will focus on ammunition, munitions, air defence and spare parts.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
The U.S. military is considering sending Ukraine thousands of seized weapons and more than a million rounds of ammunition once bound for Iran-backed fighters in Yemen.

Source: The Wall Street Journal with reference to American and European unnamed officials, as reported by European Pravda

It would be an unprecedented step that would help Kyiv battle Russian forces.

U.S. officials said they are looking at sending Ukraine more than 5,000 assault rifles, 1.6 million rounds of small arms ammunition, a small number of antitank missiles, and more than 7,000 proximity fuses seized in recent months off the Yemen coast from smugglers suspected of working for Iran.

The challenge for the Biden administration is finding a legal justification for taking weapons from one conflict and transferring them to another. The U.N. arms embargo requires the U.S. and its allies to destroy, store or get rid of the seized weapons.

Biden administration lawyers have been looking at whether the resolution creates any possibility for them to transfer the weapons to Ukraine.

The rifles and ammunition have been seized in recent months by the U.S. and France as part of a global effort focused mainly on preventing Iran from smuggling weapons into Yemen. Tehrans Houthi allies have been fighting an eight-year war against the Saudi-backed government, which was forced out of the capital in 2014.

Typically, the weapons are seized and destroyed by the U.S. and its allies enforcing a United Nations arms embargo on Yemen. But U.S. officials said the global effort to supply Ukraine with weapons triggered a discussion about sending the confiscated military supplies to Kyiv.

U.S. military officials began seriously considering the idea late in 2022 after the U.S. Navy seized a million rounds of ammunition on a fishing boat travelling from Iran to Yemen, the officials said.

NATO will ask its members to increase ammunition supplies that were significantly depleted by the war in Ukraine.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Nikki Haley, former US Ambassador to the UN, says she will challenge Donald Trump to be the Republican 2024 presidential nominee

The path to the 2024 US presidential election began almost as soon as last November's midterm elections ended - and several candidates are waiting in the wings.

Former President Donald Trump has announced he will run for the party's nominating contest, vowing to "make America great and glorious again".

Mr Trump remains the favourite choice of Republican voters, but his legal troubles and his role in an underwhelming midterm election performance for the party have left him vulnerable.

The ex-president, who will be 78 when the general election begins, could face a stiff challenge from a coterie of Republican hopefuls, including some who once backed him.

Nikki Haley

Nikki Haley announced her bid for the presidency in mid-February, becoming the first major Republican candidate to commit to taking on Mr Trump.

Once considered one of the Republican Party's brightest young prospects, Nikki Haley has kept a lower profile in recent years.

Born in South Carolina to Punjabi Sikh immigrants, Ms Haley became the youngest governor in the country in 2009. She earned national attention in 2015 after calling for the removal of the Confederate flag from the South Carolina Capitol.

Despite saying she was "not a fan" of Mr Trump in 2016, she later accepted his nomination to be the US ambassador to the United Nations, a tenure marked by her dramatic exit from a UN Security Council meeting as a Palestinian envoy was speaking.

Her campaign, which includes a call for mandatory mental competency tests for politicians over 75 years old, stresses the need for "a new generation" of US leaders.

Ron DeSantis

Ron DeSantis

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has worked hard to emulate Mr Trump, and is viewed as the candidate most likely to face him in a head-to-head race.

Boosted to the governorship by Mr Trump's endorsement, he romped to re-election in the midterms by more than 1.5 million votes, the largest margin in the state in more than four decades.

At 44 years old, the Harvard and Yale-educated lawyer is still a relative newcomer in US politics.

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He once served in the US Navy, including a tour in Iraq. He was also a little-known member of the House of Representatives from 2013 to 2018.

But Mr DeSantis has seen his star rise considerably since he became governor in 2019, a role in which he positions himself as an enthusiastic champion of conservativism.

He eschewed mask and vaccine mandates during the Covid pandemic, signed anti-riot laws in the wake of racial justice protests, and has backed legislation to limit LGBT education, restrict abortions and loosen gun laws. Under his tenure, Republican voters outnumber Democrats in the state for the first time.

Mr Trump appears to be paying very close attention, recently nicknaming his rival "Ron DeSanctimonious" and even implying on social media that he may be a paedophile.

Former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence speaks at a campaign event for Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp

Mike Pence

For four years, Mike Pence was a loyal deputy to Mr Trump as his vice-president - until 2021's Capitol riot splintered their relationship.

The son of a Korean War veteran, Mr Pence began his career in conservative politics as a talk radio host.

He was elected to the House in 2000 and served until 2013, describing himself as a "principled conservative" and aligning with the Tea Party movement.

He also served as governor of Indiana from 2013 to 2017. In that role, he passed the largest tax cut in state history, and signed bills to restrict abortion and protect religious freedom.

Mr Pence, 63, is a born-again evangelical Christian and his addition to the 2016 presidential ticket is credited with helping turn out evangelicals, a crucial voting bloc, for Mr Trump.

Calm and soft-spoken, he was seen as an effective surrogate to the bomb-throwing Donald. But Mr Trump turned on him for lacking "courage" after he refused to help overturn the 2020 election results.

Pro-Trump rioters stormed the US Capitol in January 2021 and were heard chanting "Hang Mike Pence!". At one point, they were reportedly within 40ft (12m) of the vice-president.

The two have largely kept their distance since then, but Mr Pence has been in a delicate dance to avoid alienating Trump-friendly voters.

Vivek Ramaswamy speaks during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on March 03, 2023

Vivek Ramaswamy

Vivek Ramaswamy, 37, launched his long-shot White House bid during a late February appearance on the Fox News channel.

An Indian-American biotech entrepreneur with no previous political experience, he is a regular fixture on Fox host Tucker Carlson's daily programme, the most-watched cable news show in the US.

The Harvard and Yale graduate argues the country is in the midst of a national identity crisis driven by a decline in faith, patriotism and meritocracy.

He ran a pharmaceutical company from 2014 to 2021, then co-founded Strive Asset Management, which shirks the "divisive" environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) framework and offers itself as an alternative to large firms like Blackrock.

Mr Ramaswamy is also the author of Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America's Social Justice Scam.

Asa Hutchinson speaks at a New York City event on May 17, 2022

Asa Hutchinson

Former two-term Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson announced his run for president during an April interview with ABC News days after Mr Trump was indicted on criminal charges in New York.

Mr Hutchinson, 72, expressed concern over how the case has played out but called it "a sideshow and distraction" that should prompt Mr Trump to withdraw from the race.

The former attorney and businessman was the youngest federal prosecutor in the nation under the Ronald Reagan administration.

He also served two terms in the US House of Representatives, including as a prosecutor in Bill Clinton's impeachment trial, and was George W Bush's Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) chief.

Referring to himself as a "non-Trump" candidate, he has vowed to lean into "common sense, consistent conservatism".

Tim Scott

The 57-year-old from South Carolina is the only black Republican serving in the US Senate.

He's formed an exploratory committee - the first step to establishing a formal campaign.

Mr Scott has a decades-long career in South Carolina politics and a $21.7m (17.5m) campaign war chest which he brings into the race.

He's a popular senator who won re-election in 2022 and consistently emphasises his conservative values, but has also been outspoken on issues such as police reform.

Perry Johnson

Long-shot contender Perry Johnson joined the race in March.

Mr Johnson, a 75-year-old businessman, spent millions of his own money to run for Michigan governor last year, but was disqualified by the state's election bureau, which said he forged thousands of nominating signatures.

He is touting a plan to reignite the economy by shaving 2% in federal spending every year.

Liz Cheney campaigns with Democratic Representative Elissa Slotkin at an Evening for Patriotism and Bipartisanship event

Liz Cheney

The daughter of former vice-president Dick Cheney was once a rising star in the Republican Party, serving as its third-highest ranking member in the House from 2019 to 2021.

A fiscal and social conservative with interventionist foreign policy views, she won her father's old seat in 2017, going on to represent Wyoming in Congress, and voted in lockstep with the Trump administration.

But she fell out of favour with Republicans after repeatedly criticising Mr Trump and then voting to impeach him for his role in the 6 January Capitol riots.

She was dumped from her leadership post, formally reprimanded and is no longer recognised by the Wyoming Republican Party.

Ms Cheney, 56, went on to become one of only two Republicans on the congressional committee investigating the Capitol riots. As vice-chair, she has led the charge to hold Mr Trump and others accountable.

The role cost her her job this August, with the former president endorsing an opponent who thrashed her by a near-40% margin in the Wyoming primary race.

But Ms Cheney still considers herself a Republican, vowing to do whatever she must "to help restore our party".

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin gives the inaugural address on the steps of the State Capitol on January 15, 2022

Glenn Youngkin

Glenn Youngkin thrilled the Republican Party when he won the governor's race in Virginia in 2021. A political novice who spent 25 years at the Carlyle Group private equity firm, he beat a man who had been in Democratic politics since the 1980s.

In a state that has trended toward Democrats in recent years, Mr Youngkin criticised partisan politics as "too toxic" and campaigned on a tone of bipartisanship.

But the 55-year-old has waded into hot-button topics since his first day in charge, from revoking the state's Covid-19 restrictions to banning the teaching of critical race theory in schools.

He supported Republicans around the country in the midterm elections. At one campaign stop, he drew criticism for making light of the violent assault of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband and later apologised.

Others who could run

Greg Abbott: The first Texas governor to use a wheelchair, Mr Abbott, 65, has championed conservative policies since his election in 2014.

Kristi Noem: South Dakota's first female governor, 51, garnered national attention with her opposition to Covid restrictions and has been eager to wade into national conversations.

Who is not running?

Larry Hogan: A moderate who ran Maryland - a Democrat-friendly state - from 2015 to 2023, Mr Hogan, 66, seriously considered running but said he did not want to be part of a crowded field that helps elect Mr Trump again.

Ted Cruz: The senator from Texas, 52, placed second in the Republican primary for the 2016 presidential election behind Mr Trump but has said he will run for re-election to the Senate in 2024.

Rick Scott: The Florida senator, 70, has frequently exchanged vitriol with President Biden but says he too will run for re-election to the Senate.
MANILA, Philippines (AP)  The United States renewed a warning that it would defend its treaty ally if Filipino forces come under attack in the disputed South China Sea, after a Chinese coast guard ship allegedly hit a Philippine patrol vessel with military-grade laser that briefly blinded some of its crew.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. summoned Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian in Manila on Tuesday to express his serious concern over the increasing frequency and intensity of actions by China against the Philippine coast guard and fishermen," Communications Secretary Cheloy Garafil said without elaborating.

The Department of Foreign Affairs separately sent a strongly worded diplomatic protest to the Chinese Embassy that condemned the shadowing, harassment, dangerous maneuvers, directing of military-grade laser, and illegal radio challenges by the Chinese ship.

The incident took place Feb. 6. when the Chinese coast guard ship beamed high-grade lasers to block the Philippine patrol vessel BRP Malapascua from approaching Second Thomas Shoal on a resupply mission to Filipino forces there, according to Philippine officials.

China claims the South China Sea virtually in its entirety, putting it on a collision course with other claimants. Chinese naval forces have been accused of using military-grade lasers previously against Australian military aircraft on patrol in the South China Sea and other spots in the Pacific.

Despite friendly overtures to Beijing by former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and his successor, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who met Chinese leader Xi Jinping in January in Beijing, tensions have persisted, drawing in closer military alliance between the Philippines and the U.S.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Monday that a Philippine coast guard vessel trespassed into Chinese waters without permission. Chinese coast guard vessels responded professionally and with restraint at the site in accordance with Chinas law and international law, he said, without elaborating or mentioning the use of laser.

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U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Chinas dangerous operational behavior directly threatens regional peace and stability, infringes upon freedom of navigation in the South China Sea as guaranteed under international law and undermines the rules-based international order."

The United States stands with our Philippine allies, Price said in a statement.

He said that an armed attack on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft, including those of the coast guard in the South China Sea, would invoke U.S. mutual defense commitments under a 1951 treaty. The treaty obligates the allies to help defend one another in case of an external attack.

Aside from China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei also have overlapping claims in the resource-rich and busy waterway, where a bulk of the worlds commerce and oil transits.

Washington lays no claims to the disputed sea but has deployed forces to patrol the waters to promote freedom of navigation and overflight  moves that have angered Beijing, which has warned Washington to stop meddling in what it says is a purely Asian dispute.

The contested waters have become a volatile front in the broader rivalry between the U.S. and China in Asia and beyond.

Price said the Chinese coast guards provocative and unsafe conduct interfered with the Philippines lawful operations in and around Second Thomas Shoal.

In July, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on China to comply with a 2016 arbitration ruling that invalidated Beijings vast territorial claims in the South China Sea and warned that Washington was obligated to defend the Philippines under the Mutual Defense Treaty.

On Monday, Price reiterated that the legally binding decision underscored that China has no lawful maritime claims to the Second Thomas Shoal. China has long rejected the ruling and continues to defy it.

The Philippines filed nearly 200 diplomatic protests against Chinas aggressive actions in the disputed waters in 2022 alone.

___

Associated Press writer Matthew Lee in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.
U.S. officials said Tuesday that the first missile shot at an unidentified object flying over Lake Huron on Sunday missed its intended target.

And while harsh weather conditions have hampered recovery efforts, the White House says there is no evidence that any of the three unidentified objects that were shot down by the United States over the weekend were Chinese spy balloons.

Speaking at a press conference in Brussels on Tuesday, Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the first Sidewinder missile fired by an F-16 fighter jet at the object over Lake Huron missed its intended target.

First shot missed, Milley told reporters. The second shot hit.

President Biden ordered the downing of the UFO, the third such event in three days and the fourth in little more than a week.

Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at a news conference in Brussels on Tuesday. (Johanna Geron/Reuters)

Milley said that in each case, the U.S. military evaluates the risks to the civilian population very, very carefully.

We determine what the debris field is likely to be with one of these platforms landing on the Earth's surface or in the water, he said. We go to great lengths to make sure that the airspace is clear and the backdrop is clear out to the max effective range of the missile.

In this case, Milley said, the missile landed harmlessly in the water of Lake Huron.

We tracked it all the way down, and we made sure that the airspace was clear of any commercial or civilian or recreational traffic, he said.

Sailors recover a high-altitude surveillance balloon off the coast of Myrtle Beach, S.C., on Feb. 5. (U.S. Navy via AP)

On Feb. 4, the U.S. shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the coast of Myrtle Beach, S.C., after it had floated across the country at a high altitude for nearly a week. Navy divers began the process of recovering the balloon from a debris field stretching 7 nautical miles. The recovered debris was taken to an FBI laboratory in Quantico, Va., for analysis.

On Friday, Biden ordered the downing of another object  roughly the size of a small car  spotted flying off the remote northern coast of Alaska. U.S. officials said it was flying at about 40,000 feet and posed a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flights. Biden called the downing of the object a success.

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On Saturday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said a U.S. fighter jet had shot down an unidentified object that was flying high over the Yukon territory.

Yahoo News

During a conference call with reporters on Tuesday, John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications for the National Security Council, said officials were still working to recover and identify the three objects; it does not appear they were part of the Chinese spy balloon program.

We haven't seen any indication or anything that points specifically to the idea that these three objects were part of the [Peoples Republic of China] spy balloon program, Kirby said.

Kirby said recovery teams still havent been able to recover debris from the objects because of harsh weather conditions.
A shop front is decorated for Valentine's Day in Dharmsala, India, in this February 13, 2022 file photo. / Credit: Ashwini Bhatia/AP

New Delhi  It is Valentine's Day in India after all. That wasn't always the government's intention.

A government body was forced to withdraw an appeal urging citizens to celebrate this Feb. 14 not as Valentine's Day, but as "Cow Hug Day," after widespread criticism.

Hugging a cow will "bring emotional richness" and "hence increase individual and collective happiness," declared the appeal by the Animal Welfare Board of India, a government body that advises the country's Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying.

The appeal said the intention was to ward off the "dazzle of Western civilization," a reference to cultural influences the Hindu nationalist government apparently deems harmful to the nation.

Valentine's Day is one such "Western import." Hindu nationalist groups have run campaigns for years against the calendar event, couples seen holding hands in public around Valentine's Day have even been attacked.

Activists of India's right-wing Hindu organization Bajrang Dal burn an effigy symbolizing Valentine's Day during a protest in Hyderabad, India, February12, 2022. / Credit: Mahesh Kumar A/AP

"Vedic traditions [those related to the Hindu religious texts] are almost on the verge of extinction due to the progress of west culture [sic] over time," said the government agency in its Feb. 6 appeal.

Cows are considered sacred by Hindus, who make up the majority of India's enormous population. The animals are lovingly referred to as Gaumata, or "mother cow," in Hindi, and are worshipped.

The government agency's hug-a-cow appeal called them the "backbone of Indian culture the giver of all, providing riches to humanity" because of their "nourishing nature."

A woman worships a cow as Indian Hindus offer prayers to the River Ganges, holy to them, during the Ganga Dussehra festival in Allahabad, India, in a June 8, 2014 file photo. / Credit: Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP

But the campaign prompted widespread criticism on internet.

Bovine-themed memes and cartoons went viral, mocking the government, and without any explanation the Animal Welfare Board yanked the appeal on Feb. 10. It said only that it was doing so "as directed" by other, higher authorities.

"Was the Government cow-ed by the jokes made at its expense or was it merely cow-ardice?," Shashi Tharoor, an opposition party leader, wrote on Twitter, summing up the shade cast at the agency.

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Was the Government cow-ed by the jokes made at its expense or was it merely cow-ardice? My guess is the original appeal was an oral instruction: Valentines Day: let them hug their guy & the last word was misheard by a HindiRashtravadi as gaay! pic.twitter.com/o7uPzBnlho  Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) February 11, 2023

The slaughter of cows is banned in most parts of India, where Hindus make up about 80% of the country's 1.4 billion-strong population.

Critics have accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist government of using the legal protection of cows as a tool to marginalize the country's Muslim minority  an accusation the government has always denied.

Violent attacks on Muslim cattle traders by India's Gau Rakshak, or cow protection groups, often make headlines in the country.

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56-year-old Suthep "Maew" Promjit began his 1,200 kilometer journey on January 14 to reach his girlfriend on Valentine's Day and propose marriage. (Photo credit: The Nation/Asia News Network)

A man in Thailand has gone the extra mile, literally, to show his love for his girlfriend this Valentine's Day.

56-year-old Suthep Maew Promjit left his hometown of Nakhon Nayok in Central Thailand on 14 January on foot with the aim of arriving in Satun just in time for Valentines Day to propose to his girlfriend.

With the two provinces being almost 1,200 kilometres apart, Suthep began his journey accompanied by his 50-year-old friend, Niwat Thongwithi, who is riding a saleng (motorcycle with an improvised sidecar).

Suthep has already lost more than 17 kilograms since he began his journey, and said that he is elated that he was able to show his wife-to-be the lengths he would take to prove how much he loves her.

Suthep and his girlfriend, Thanapa Khiaw-on, also 56 years old, met on TikTok five years ago.

Love knows no bounds

He hopes that his journey will inspire those who are abusive or unfaithful in their relationships to pay attention.

I want people who abuse their families and loved ones, as well as those who are unfaithful to their wives, to pay attention to this journey, he said.

Netizens have been cheering him on as he concludes his journey on 14 February, and his small gesture of love is a reminder that sometimes the simplest gestures can bring the greatest joy.

At a time when social media and public transportation have filled the gap of long distance between two lovers, Suthep proved that he would walk 500 miles, and 500 more, just to be the man who walks a thousand miles and falls down at his girlfriends door. (Cue The Proclaimer's I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles).)

Upon marriage, Suthep said that he and his wife plan to travel around Thailand for their honeymoon.

Marvin Joseph Ang is a news and lifestyle writer who focuses on politics, the economy, and pop culture. Follow him on Twitter at @marvs30ang for latest news and updates.

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.
Before that, Vasyl Malyuk and Ihor Klymenko were the heads of the SBU and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, respectively

Both had been working in their positions in acting status for some time now, but on Feb. 6, the Rada registered Prime Minister Denys Shmyhals submission on the appointment of Ihor Klymenko as Interior Minister. In addition President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, submitted a proposal yesterday to permanently appoint acting SBU head Vasyl Malyuk to his post.

On February 7, the relevant parliamentary committees approved the candidacies of Malyuk and Klymenko to fill the positions, followed by the official ratification of the postings.

NV explains at what you need to know about Malyuk and Klymenko.

Vasyl Malyuk: head of the SBU

Vasyl Malyuk has led the SBU as acting head since July 18, 2022, when President Volodymyr Zelenskyy relieved the previous head of the SBU, Ivan Bakanov, of his duties. Prior to that, Malyuk worked as the first deputy head of the service.

Vasyl Malyuk is from Korostyshev, Zhytomyr Oblast, and is 39 years old.

Read also: Whats known about Vasyl Malyuk, the man taking over the SBU

He received his legal education at the National Academy of the Security Service of Ukraine with a degree in jurisprudence (2005). He subsequently received his JD.

Malyuk has been in military service in state security bodies since 2001. He worked in regional departments of the SBU, held positions from detective officer to deputy head of department, as well as head of the Directorate for Combatting Corruption and Organized Crime.

Malyuk has been working at the Central Directorate of the SBU for the last three years.

In January 2020, he assumed the post of First Deputy Head of the Main Directorate for Combating Corruption and Organized Crime;

In March 2020, he was appointed First Deputy of SBU head Ivan Bakanov and at the same time became the head of the Directorate for Combating Corruption and Organized Crime.

In July 2021, Malyuk was fired from high positions in the SBU at the same time as another of Bakanovs deputies. At the time, the Office of the President voiced a number of claims to the Service.

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For the president, it is fundamental to significantly intensify the work of the SBU in order to finally put an end to all smuggling schemes, presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak said at the time.

Unfortunately, we havent seen enough work by the Service in this direction lately. We need new management solutions. Greater mobility and speed in decision-making are necessary. We need, finally, criminal cases brought to their logical conclusion, in which we are talking about specific challenges to our national security.

The Anti-Corruption Action Center also noted in the summer of 2021 that the department of the SBU, which at that time was headed by Vasyl Malyuk, was supposed to be folded as a result of the reform of the security service.

On February 16, 2022, a few days before the full-scale Russian invasion, Vasyl Malyuk was named a deputy of Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky.

However, after the start of large-scale hostilities, he was again returned to the SBU: on February 28, Malyuk was dismissed from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and from March 2022 he was appointed first deputy chairman of the SBU.

Title and awards, participation in the ATO

At the end of March 2022, Vasyl Malyuk was awarded the rank of brigadier general.

After the initial Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014, he participated in the anti-terrorist operation (ATO, later JFO) [Ukraines formal name for the fight against Russian occupation and aggression in Donbas  ed], was a participant in hostilities, and was bestowed a number of awards:

badges of the SBU For Courage and For Valor;

the Presidents Award For Participation in the Antiterrorist Operation

the highest departmental award of the SBU

a ceremonial award firearm

Appointment of Vasyl Malyuk as acting head of the SBU after the dismissal of Bakanov

After Zelenskyy unexpectedly removed Ivan Bakanov from his duties as head of the SBU on July 17, these functions were temporarily entrusted to Vasyl Malyuk. At the time, sources of Ukrainian news site Babel in the SBU and parliament described Malyuk as a person allegedly close to Oleh Tatarov, the deputy presidential chief-of-staff, who during the Euromaidan served as deputy head of the Main Investigative Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and publicly justified the actions of the security forces against the Maidan;s participants. Tatarov continues to work in the Office of the President, despite the disquiet after his appointment and an NABU investigation into the theft of apartments belonging to the National Guard, in which they tried to seek a notice of suspicion of bribery against Tatarov. Journalists from Ukrainska Pravda noted Malyuk as among the guests at a celebration of Tatarov's birthday in early September 2021, where more than ten officials from various law enforcement agencies were present.

Over his half a year of work as the de facto head of the SBU, Vasyl Malyuk has engaged in less publicity than, for example, the head of another special service, the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) of the Ministry of Defense, Kyrylo Budanov, who regularly gives interviews to foreign media.

Read also: Lawmaker explains why intel chief can't be appointed as defense minister

On January 23, 2023, Malyuk and Budanov circulated a joint photo amid rumors of a misunderstanding between the special services after details emerged about the death of financier Denys Kireev. HUR called him a hero, while the SBU had previously considered him a traitor. Podolyak explained the death of Kireev as caused by a lack of coordination between law enforcement agencies at the beginning of the full-scale war. However, at the current stage, there are no disagreements between the SBU and the HUR, the heads of the special services insisted.

Kyrylo Budanov and Vasyl Malyuk held a joint working meeting []. The heads of the two departments are coordinating their actions []. Rumors of an alleged misunderstanding between leaders are narratives from the enemy, the departmental press services said on January 23.

In addition, Malyuk appeared in public during high-profile prisoner exchanges. Thus, on September 21, Malyuk, together with Deputy Head of HUR Dmitry Usov and Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets, met just-released fighters from Azov and other Ukrainian defenders in Chernihiv Oblast after the exchange of 215 Ukrainian prisoners - the largest since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.

In December 2022, Vasyl Malyuk was awarded the rank of major general.

Ihor Klymenko: Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs

Ihor Klymenko has been acting Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine since January 18, 2023, when the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Denys Monastyrsky, along with other leaders from the Ministry, died in a helicopter crash in Brovary. Before the tragedy, Klymenko had been in charge of Ukraines National Police for more than two years, since September 2019, replacing Serhiy Knyazev in this post.

Ihor Klymenko was born on October 25, 1972 in Kyiv. In 1994, he graduated from Kharkiv Military University, after which he served in a missile unit until 1997.

He also earned a degree from Odesa State University in psychology, subsequently obtaining a doctorate in psychology (2019, legal psychology). In addition, he graduated from the Dnipropetrovsk State University of Internal Affairs with a master's degree in jurisprudence.

He has been serving in internal affairs bodies since 1998. He began his service as a psychologist at the Center for Practical Psychology of the Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Kharkiv Oblast.

He also participated in a peacekeeping operation in the territory of the former Yugoslavia in Kosovo.

He has the rank of police general third class, and was awarded a Defender of the Fatherland medal.

After the Revolution of Dignity, Klymenko took direct part in the anti-terrorist operation in Donbas, and as early as 2014 was appointed Deputy Head of the Human Resources Department of the National Police. He headed this department from 2015 to 2017.

Starting in October 2017, he served as Deputy Head of the National Police of Ukraine as Director of Personnel, and in March 2018, he became Deputy Head of the National Police of Ukraine.

During the years of his career in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Klymenko was one of the coordinators of reforming the National Police. With the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the police under his leadership also took on the task of establishing war crimes committed by Russia against Ukraines civilian population of Ukraine, from identifying the bodies of murdered Ukrainians to revealing the consequences of the shelling of cities.

Ihor Klymenko called the death of Denis Monastyrsky in the crash in Brovary "a colossal loss for relatives, friends, colleagues, the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the whole country."

He promised that the investigation into the tragedy would answer all questions about it and stressed that this would take time.

Read also: Zelenskyy changes structure of Headquarters of Supreme Commander-in-Chief

Despite the internal devastation that we all feel, the leadership team of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is working confidently and steadily, Klymenko declared upon his appointment as acting Minister in place of the late Monastyrsky.

Our duty: to fulfill all the tasks planned by Minister Monastyrsky. And most importantly: to protect people and Ukraine. The Interior Ministry is working. The situation is under control.

On February 2, Klymenko announced that the Ministry of Internal Affairs had begun to form assault brigades to liberate captured Ukrainian territories and strengthen the defense forces.

According to him, the first goal of the units is to liberate Ukrainian territories and reach the internationally-recognized borders of Ukraine. The decision to create assault brigades was made by our personnel, who have great fury to defeat the enemy, Klymenko explained.

Many of our servicemen who have defended and continue to defend our country came out with the initiative to recruit people into such units. Therefore, it was decided that everyone who wants to, who is a patriot, who has lost his home or relatives because of the war, should be united in these brigades.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP)  A bill that would make Vermont the second state in the country to allow terminally ill nonresidents to seek medically assisted suicide was approved by a state legislative committee on Tuesday.

The House Human Services Committee unanimously approved removing the residency requirement. A similar bill is in committee in the Senate.

The full Legislature must consider the proposal, and then, if it is passed, it would need to be signed by Republican Gov. Phil Scott to become law.

Eight states, including California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine and New Jersey, and Washington, D.C., also have medically assisted suicide laws. In Montana, the state Supreme Court ruled that state law does not prohibit medical aid in dying.

If removal of the residency requirement is approved, Vermont would join Oregon, which no longer requires people to be residents of the state to use its law allowing terminally ill people to receive lethal medication.

Democratic Rep. Jessica Brumsted, vice chair of the Vermont committee, said she was pleased that the panel took this step, so that if her parents who live out of state, or children, became terminally ill she might be able to offer them that option.

If someone was that sick in my family ... living out of state, I'd like to think that they could come back and be in my home and go through this process with someone in my family, Brumsted said.

Before the vote, the committee heard additional testimony.

Mary Hahn Beerworth, executive director of the Vermont Right to Life Committee, said assisted suicide was and remains a matter of contention.

To be clear, Vermont Right to Life opposed the underlying concept behind assisted suicide and opposes the move to remove the residency requirement as there are still no safeguards that protect vulnerable terminally ill people in Vermont from coercion, she said.

David Englander, the state Health Departments senior policy and legal advisor, said no complaints have been reported to the department or the attorney generals office regarding the use of medically assisted suicide.

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It's important that we move to normalize this kind of care because it is both exceptional but also everyday, he said.

In a settlement filed in federal court last year, the Oregon Health Authority and the Oregon Medical Board agreed to stop enforcing the residency requirement and to ask the Legislature to remove it from the law.

At the time, advocates said they would use the settlement to press the other states and Washington, D.C. that have medically assisted suicide laws, to drop their residency requirements as well.

In August of last year, a Connecticut woman with cancer sued Vermont for allowing only its own residents to take advantage of a state's assisted suicide law.

____

AP reporter Kathy McCormack contributed to this report from Concord, N.H.
By Francesco Guarascio

HANOI (Reuters) - Concerned Vietnam-based exporters are seeking to ensure they comply with a U.S. ban on imported products using raw materials from China's Xinjiang as lucrative trade in goods like garments and solar panels comes under closer scrutiny in Washington.

As U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai visits Vietnam this week, executives and other people familiar with the situation said some industries in Vietnam may be importing, sometimes unwittingly, raw material from Xinjiang - or might find it hard to prove they were not doing so.

The U.S. embassy in Hanoi had no comment on the issue and the matter was not on the official list of topics that Tai planned to discuss with the Vietnamese government, according to a media statement.

The U.S. Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which came into force last June, has already halted more than 1,500 shipments to the United States from all over the world worth about $500 million, according to data from the U.S. customs agency.

Washington accuses China of committing genocide against ethnic Uyghurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang, and herding them into camps. Beijing denies abuses in Xinjiang, but says it had established "vocational training centres" to curb terrorism, separatism and religious radicalism.

Vietnam posted a $116 billion trade surplus with the United States last year, led by shipments of goods such as electronics, clothing and footwear.

The solar panel sector could be particularly at risk, as it greatly relies on polysilicon for solar cells, whose global production is concentrated in Xinjiang. Alongside other Southeast Asian countries, Vietnam accounts for about 80% of U.S. panel supplies, and Vietnam's panel exports to the United States were worth $3.4 billion in 2020.

"This is a major concern if the silicon is sourced from the concerned region," said Kheng Joo Ung, Managing Director at the Vietnam unit of First Solar Inc, a leading exporter of panels to the United States.

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First Solar did not use polysilicon in its panels, but competitors in Vietnam did, he said, without identifying any companies. Some polysilicon is produced in Vietnam, Ung said.

In addition to First Solar, the top solar panel makers in Vietnam are mostly Chinese companies, according to investment consultancy Dezan Shira.

More Chinese providers of components and supportive services, such as plastic molding and die casting, planned to invest in Vietnam to supply solar panel makers there, two industry experts said, declining to be named because the information was confidential.

No evidence has been publicly released so far of use of Xinjiang's polysilicon in Vietnam.

The Vietnamese government did not immediately respond to a request for a comment.

A third trade expert who attended internal meetings with U.S. customs officials in recent weeks told Reuters Vietnam had recently been repeatedly mentioned among the countries at highest risk of falling foul of U.S. trade restrictions. The expert declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter.

U.S. officials have cited Vietnam's positive efforts to comply with the new rules and some have said compliance may be a temporary hiccup.

Even companies determined to play by the rules face compliance risks.

For smaller actors it may not be easy to produce the documentation needed because of higher due diligence costs and sprawling supply chains, said one Vietnam-based executive, noting that the textile industry is also wary, since Xinjiang is also a big producer of cotton yarn. The executive declined to be named because he was not allowed to speak to media.

(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio; Additional reporting by Phuong Nguyen; Editing by Ed Davies and Kenneth Maxwell)
Feb. 13PRINCETON  A Virginia man is facing multiple charges after leading law enforcement on a high speed chase from Virginia and West Virginia and admitting that he was drinking alcohol while being pursued at more than 100 mph.

Allen Keith Ezzyk, 60, of Shawsville, Va. has been charged with felony fleeing, driving revoked DUI, fleeing while DUI and first-offense DUI, according to the criminal complaint filed by Senior Trooper H.E. Ingraham with the West Virginia State Police Princeton detachment.

Ingraham said that Mercer County 911 notified him Sunday that a deputy with the Giles County Sheriff's Office in Virginia was pursuing a vehicle traveling towards Mercer County on U.S. Route 460. At that time, Ingraham was located on Route 460 near the Mercer/Giles County line. He saw a white sedan traveling at a high rate of speed with a Giles County cruiser in pursuit. Ingraham switched on his blue lights and tried to stop the vehicle.

The sedan was traveling more than 100 mph and passed several cars along the way, Ingraham said in his report. It ran several red lights while traveling toward Princeton and through the intersections near the Princeton Walmart "while running several vehicles out of their lane of travel in the process."

"The vehicle then made a late turn onto Ingleside Road by crossing both lanes of traffic while swerving around a vehicle coming the opposite way, almost striking the vehicle head on in the process," Ingraham said. "The vehicle then ran the red light located at the intersection of Ingleside Road and Stafford Drive, and continued down Stafford Drive towards Oakvale Road."

Ezzyk's car entered Oakvale Road where with the help of several Mercer County Sheriff's Department deputies, Ingraham was able to use the pursuing cruisers to box in the fleeing vehicle.

"The vehicle then pulled into the Grands Home Furnishings parking lot where he was boxed in and came to a stop," according to the report.

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With additional help from the Mercer County Sheriff's Department, Ingraham was able to detain Ezzyk without further incident.

Ezzyk was placed in custody, (Ingraham) was informed by WVSP Beckley Communications that Ezzyk's license out of Virginia was revoked for DUI.

At the State Police Princeton detachment, Ingraham "observed the accused to have slurred speech, and to be on the nod while physically standing up."

"While at the detachment, Senior Trooper Miller read the accused his Miranda Rights and conducted a brief interview in which the accused stated that he was only under the influence of alcohol.

"He further stated that he had been drinking alcohol while 'Driving down the road while y'all were chasing me,'" Ingraham said in the criminal complaint.

Ezzyk was arraigned before Magistrate Mike Flanigan. He is being held at the Southern Regional Jail on a $20,000 cash-only bond.

 Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com

Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP)  It was almost 15 years ago when five young men from northern Virginia left the U.S. to pursue dreams of jihad in Afghanistan, only to find themselves under arrest in Pakistan when their farewell video prompted family members to contact the FBI.

Now, after the five served a decade in a Pakistani prison, U.S. prosecutors are moving forward with plans to put them on trial again for terrorism charges.

At a status hearing Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, however, a judge gave strong indications that she plans to toss out charges against one of the men on grounds that torture and solitary confinement he allegedly endured in Pakistan have rendered him mentally incompetent.

In fact, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema has questioned the utility of bringing charges against any of the five, given the fact that they were convicted and punished already in Pakistan.

If these men have been prosecuted in Pakistan and served significant periods of incarceration in a Pakistani prison, and now the United States government is trying to charge them for essentially the same conduct in this country, youve got to think about whether that makes sense, Brinkema said during a December status hearing on the case.

The five men  Waqar Khan, Ahmed Minni, Ramy Zamzam, Aman Yemer, and Umar Farooq  originally came to the FBI's attention only after family reported them missing.

In late 2009, the five left the U.S. for Pakistan, leaving behind an 11-minute video espousing the need to engage in holy war to defend Muslim lands under attack. Family members sought to stop them from making the trip once they learned of the plans, reaching out to a Muslim civil rights group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, and eventually to lawyer Nina Ginsberg and the FBI.

But the five had already made it to Pakistan and began looking for people who could help them get to Afghanistan. They were frequently turned away by those they sought out, according to a recently unsealed FBI affidavit, although one man suggested he could help if one of the five's extended family in Pakistan could vouch for them.

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They were arrested in Sargodha, a city in the eastern province of Punjab, on Dec. 9, 2009, about nine days after the FBI learned they left the U.S., according to the affidavit.

Several members of the group admitted to FBI agents that their goal was to fight against American troops if they got to Afghanistan.

The five were charged in Pakistan, where they say they were tortured during their detention  allegations denied by Pakistani authorities. All five were convicted and received 10-year terms.

After serving their sentences, the U.S. government has sought to bring them to the U.S. to face charges here. So far, though, only three of the defendants  Zamzam, Yemer and Minni  have been deported back to the U.S. A fourth remains in Pakistani custody, and a fifth is at large there.

Yemer, who was just 18 when he was arrested and is the youngest of the five, faces serious mental health problems. Ginsberg, his lawyer, said in court that Yemer's faculties eroded after mistreatment and solitary confinement in Pakistan. As she described it, Yemer sits in a chair all day, nonresponsive. He only eats if he is fed, and he only goes to the bathroom if someone takes him to a toilet.

Months in a hospital, including electroshock treatment, were largely unsuccessful, she said.

They just totally incapacitated him, Ginsberg said after Tuesday's hearing, in which her client appeared dressed in a gray tracksuit, his face blank.

Ginsberg said during the hearing that she was hopeful the U.S. would drop the charges against her client. Brinkema gave clear indication she will dismiss the charges against Yemer as soon as Ginsberg files a motion seeking dismissal regardless of whether the Justice Department agrees.

As for the other defendants, prosecutor John Gibbs expressed optimism that a plea deal will be reached and circumvent the need for a trial. Lawyers for Zamzam and Minni have said that if a deal can't be reached, they plan to seek dismissal on grounds that their clients were denied the right to a speedy trial, among other potential issues.

At a hearing in December, Brinkema raised the question of whether a U.S. trial would amount to double jeopardy, although it was not immediately clear whether the trial in Pakistan would allow the defendants to claim double jeopardy protection in the U.S.

Ginsberg, for her part, said she doesn't believe the men deserve any further incarceration in the U.S.

Ten years in a Pakistani prison is like 30 years in the U.S., she said. They've had enough.
I was heartbroken  my husband had left me for another woman  and I was struggling to get my self-image and confidence back.

Single again after my long marriage, I realised that nothing about the contemporary dating world is easy to interpret. Theres a slew of unspoken rules, concepts, and expressions to be aware of, and a great deal of psychology to contend with. So, being a doctor of psychology, I decided to treat dating as an experiment and write about my experience. Since then, Ive been on 100 dates with 100 different men.

In Sweden, we have an expression regarding the recently divorced: skild och vild which translates as divorced and wild, or perhaps off the leash. It is a phrase that is used to describe when youre extraordinarily excited to meet new people, and luckily, most of my dates took place during that inspired period.

To get started, I downloaded dating apps and swiped away for countless hours, experimenting with different profile pics and bio texts. I maximised the age range of my potential dates, from 18 to 100, and matched with a wide variety of people.

Then it was time to go on dates. I met people all over Sweden, from urban Stockholm to the pastoral countryside, and even across the Baltic to Helsinki in Finland. I texted with thousands of people, testing various opening strategies such as GIFs, emojis as well as waiting to let the other person initiate the conversation.

I also met guys down at the bar, on cruises, in my job and at speed-dating events, and many well-intentioned friends and relatives tried to hook me up with people too, of course.

It had mixed results. Ive been stood up, catfished, ghosted, ghost busted, aired and breadcrumbed. Ive met a gravedigger, a magician, a priest to be, bodybuilders, miners. Ive made out with dads in my car and met youngsters in bars and coffeehouses.

Once, I even booked two dates back-to-back at the same cafe! Bachelor number two arrived before Id finished saying goodbye to bachelor number one! He sent me a photo of his beer and wrote, Im here now. I had to sneak off and part with my first date, find the bathroom, change my sweater just to try to make it look like I was somebody else and return, hoping dearly that he wouldnt realise that I was the one that just a few minutes ago left the place with someone else.

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Another funny moment was when I kept meeting dates at the same hotel bar and started getting funny looks from the waiter. In fairness, my table experienced quite the high turnover  a revolving door of suitors, if you will. But it all worked out, though  and the waiter? Well, he became date number 98!

From matching and chatting, to first dates and post-date contact, Ive recorded statistics regarding my experiences, and analysed and tested the entire process from the ground up. Of the 100 dates, eight were really good, five not so good and 87 fell somewhere in between.

I titled my book about the experience 100 Dates because  combined with extensive scientific research, interviews with other daters, and my 10,000 matches  it is the result of my own series of dates with over 100 different individuals. Going on those hundred dates was certainly a challenge, but obviously this has also been an exciting and educational adventure.

So, did I find Prince Charming?  is a standard question I often get, from both friends and strangers.

The answer is: Yes, I did! But not during those 100 dates. The project was finished and I was flying from Stockholm to Copenhagen. While struggling to lift my heavy travel bag into the overhead luggage compartment, a pleasant voice asked me if I needed a hand. Ive held that hand ever since.

100 Dates is written by Dr Angela Ahola and published by Bluebird. It is available now in bookshops across the UK and Sweden
Yevgeny Prigozhin, owner of Wagner Group, named three main reasons why he was completely ousted from recruiting convicts in Russian colonies. One of the reasons is the opposition of the military leadership.

Source: 7x7 news outlet, Vazhnie istorii

Details: This information was sent by Prigozhin to a Sverdlovsk [a Russian-occupied city in Luhansk Oblast  ed.] deputy as a response to his request to assist in the recruitment of women from the colonies. The deputy posted a screenshot of the businessman's answer, although there is neither a signature nor a mention of Prigozhin or Wagner Group.

Prigozhin cited, in particular, the reasons for his exclusion from the recruitment of prisoners:

"Excessively high efficiency of task performance, which puts a certain number of authorised persons in an uncomfortable position, as well as discredits the work of some units in other areas of the front. [Their  ed.] logic: Too bold for the army and harmful, they don't let you sit it out in a hideout."

"Wagner Group uses convicts not as convicts, but as equal fighters, which causes irritation of the tightly-knit elite."

"A certain number of pro-war functionaries decided that if they recruited convicts, they would be able to become famous as the Wagner Group."

Background:

On 9 February, Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner Group, announced that the recruitment of convicts to the recognized criminal private military company has now completely stopped. He never specified what caused such a decision.

On 10 February, The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported that the Wagner Group (Private Military Company, PMC) is limiting recruitment from prisons as it loses its relevance on the front in Ukraine. "This phenomenon is consistent with the overall trend of conventional Russian troops slowly replacing the Wagner Group around Bakhmut, indicating that Russian military command may be shifting away from its reliance on Wagner and therefore on using prisoners as cannon fodder," the ISW concluded.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!






Nearly 300 war-time explosives found in Quang Tri

Almost 300 war-time explosives have been discovered in the central province of Quang Tri, thanks to the work of Norwegian Peoples Aid (NPA) and the RENEW project.













The NPA/RENEW Projects workers check to discover explosives in An My village, Gio My commune, Gio Linh district in the central province of Quang Tri.(Photo: VNA)



The 299 munitions were safely destroyed in An My village, Gio My commune, Gio Linh district, in the central province of Quang Tri.



This was the largest number of explosives discovered in a single day by the project this year.



The RENEW project is a cooperative programme between the government of Quang Tri province, international donors, and foreign non-governmental organisations.



Its mission is to make peoples lives safer by reducing accidents, injuries and deaths caused by post-war bombs and landmines and building a better community's future.



In partnership with NPA, a leading global humanitarian disarmament and mine action organisation, RENEW is leading a massive programme in Quang Tri to eliminate cluster bombs and other explosive war-time ordnance.



The NPA/RENEW project started its work in An My village at the start of this year and is expected to complete its work by May this year.



Thanks to the work, nearly 400 people will be able to live peacefully on land, safe from the threat of unexploded ordnance.



The NPA/RENEW project has cleared explosives in more than 130ha of land in Gio My commune since October last year, where they discovered and destroyed 354 explosives.
Visitors wearing military camouflage pose at the entrance of the 'PMC Wagner Centre', which is associated with businessman and founder of the Wagner private military group Yevgeny Prigozhin. AP Photo, File

Wagner Group, the Russian paramilitary organization, has stopped recruiting prisoners for the war.

The group's founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, confirmed the cessation of the practice last week.

An expert in Russian history told Insider the move could be an attempt to recruit more competent fighters.

Wagner Group, the powerful Russian paramilitary organization that sparked global outrage by offering convicted prisoners a chance at freedom in exchange for their fighting in Ukraine, has ended the controversial recruiting practice.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner Group and a longtime ally to Russian President Vladimir Putin, confirmed in a Thursday Telegram statement that Wagner had ceased its carceral recruiting amid reports that increasing numbers of prisoners were refusing to sign up for a suicide mission.

Prigozhin offered little hint as to what comes next for Wagner Group, which has been one of the few Russian outfits to see battlefield success in Ukraine since the war began nearly one year ago.

A historian who studies the Soviet Union and US-Soviet relations suggested to Insider that the group's cessation of prisoner recruitment could be part of Wagner's long-term goal to stabilize its lines in Ukraine with capable soldiers, as well as a calculated move by Prigozhin to increase his power and position with Putin.

"This was never a lucrative proposition," Simon Miles, an assistant professor at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy, said of enlisting the incarcerated. "It was people deciding they would take their chances dying in Ukraine as opposed to dying in a Russian prison."

Over approximately five months, more than 40,000 former prisoners ultimately took Wagner's offer to deploy in Ukraine, US officials said last month; the majority of them died while fighting, according to investigations by The New York Times and Reuters.

The men received minimal training and shoddy equipment, Miles said. Inmates only had to prove they could march several yards in order to pass the physical selection process, two Wagner fighters who were captured by Kyiv forces told CNN this week. Enlisting prisoners was almost certainly intended to be a temporary measure, Miles said, citing the group as a source of cheap and readily available labor.

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"It was never going to be the long-term approach. There just aren't the numbers," he said. "It's not exactly where you go to recruit top talent."

Wagner Group and Prigozhin likely have larger aims in the war, according to Miles, and achieving those goals will necessitate recruiting more top-notch talent, which itself will require convincing competent fighters they'll be serving among fellow soldiers on whom they can depend.

"If you are a disaffected soldier from anywhere other than Russia, or even from Russia, the idea of going to war alongside rapists and murderers is not super appealing," Miles said.

While Prigozhin's quest for influence is well-documented, it's also entirely possible that Wagner ceased its prison recruitment efforts simply because the well had run dry, Miles said. A Russian prisoner in the Tula region told independent Russian media earlier this month that more than 1,000 convicts had accepted the organization's offer in October, compared to just 340 in December.

It's not immediately clear where Wagner will next set its sights on to collect manpower, though the group claimed credit this week for a bizarre recruitment video aimed at American veterans in what Miles called a "Trumpian" propaganda ploy.

The group could look to other war-torn countries where experienced soldiers might fight for pay, Miles said. But it's unlikely that the group is particularly picky.

"They need a bunch of military-age males with experience," Miles said.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Feb. 13A Maine lawmaker headed to court this week to face fraud charges continues to collect a legislative salary and allowances even though he hasn't shown up at the State House in weeks.

Rep. Clinton Collamore Sr., D-Waldoboro, is charged with 20 counts of aggravated forgery, 11 counts of unsworn falsification and one count of violating the Maine Clean Election Act. He will be arraigned in Lincoln County Superior Court on Thursday.

House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, formally requested Collamore's resignation on Jan. 24, but as of Monday he had yet to provide it to the House clerk. Collamore was stripped of his only committee assignment on Feb. 2.

Collamore has not attended a legislative session since Jan. 17, which was a week before news broke about his Dec. 15 indictment. He has not requested a formal leave of absence, according to the clerk's office.

House rules grant lawmakers only two unexcused absences without being granted a leave of absence. The only consequence for violating the rules appears to be a prohibition against voting or speaking on matters before the House.

Collamore, a 62-year-old lobster fisherman and former machinist and union official at Bath Iron Works, represents the District 45 communities of Bremen, Friendship, Waldoboro and Washington.

He did not respond to a phone message or emails requesting an interview to discuss the allegations, whether he would resign and, if not, when he would be returning to the State House. His attorney, Richard Elliott, also did not respond to a phone message.

Despite not being at the State House, Collamore is receiving his legislative salary and has so far been paid $6,860 in salary, a constituent services allowance and travel-related reimbursements since being sworn in, according to the Office of the Executive Director of the Legislature. Lawmakers are earning a total of $16,245 for this year's legislative session and are paid biweekly over a six-month period.

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Collamore's 42-page indictment accuses him of committing 20 counts of aggravated forgery, a Class B crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine; 11 counts of unsworn falsification (Class D); and one count of violating Maine's Clean Election Act (Class E).

About 200 legislative candidates receive Clean Election Act funding each election year, according to the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics, which administers the program and enforces campaign finance laws.

To qualify, candidates must collect small-dollar qualifying contributions from at least 60 registered voters in their district and submit them to the commission's office by April 20 of the election year. A contributor must give $5 and sign a form affirming their contribution came from personal funds.

Commission staff said they believe Collamore forged more than 30 contributor signatures. He received more than $14,000 in Maine Clean Election Act funds.

A second legislative candidate also is being arraigned on forgery charges.

Matthew Toth, of Sanford, will be arraigned in York County Superior Court on Friday, according to the Office of the Maine Attorney General. Toth is charged with 13 counts of aggravated forgery and two counts of unsworn falsification. He is accused of forging and falsely certifying voter signatures.

Toth, a Republican, withdrew from the House 143 race when he was denied clean elections funding.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley on Tuesday morning are speaking in Brussels to update the public following a meeting of NATOs Ukraine Defense Contact Group.

In his published opening remarks for the meeting, Austin emphasized the solidity of the Western alliance in its yearlong support of Ukraine as Kyiv fights to push Russian soldiers out of the eastern Donbas region.

The secretary listed recent specific arms commitments from several countries, as well as training being given to Ukraines forces, ahead of an expected Russian offensive this spring.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Around 1 a.m. Tuesday, across the street from the location of Mondays Michigan State University Shooting, 21-year-old Jackie Matthews took to TikTok, with an emotional video reflection about the second mass shooting Ive lived through.

Ten years and two months ago, I survived the Sandy Hook shooting, Matthews says. When I was crouched in the corner in school in Newtown, Connecticut, on 12/14/12, I was hunched in the corner with my classmates for so long that I actually got a PTSD fracture in my L4 and L5 in my right lower back. I now have a full-blown PTSD fracture that flares up anytime I have a stressful situation.

A survivor of the Sandy Hook School mass shooting in 2012 is a student at Michigan State University: I am 21-years-old and this is the second mass shooting Ive lived through. We can no longer allow this to happen. We can no longer be complacent. pic.twitter.com/Jcafl57tmZ  Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) February 14, 2023

The fact that this is a second mass shooting that I have now lived through is incomprehensible. My heart goes out to all the families and the friends of the victims of Michigan State shooting. But we can no longer just provide love and prayers  [there] needs to be legislation, needs to be action.

Its not OK. We can no longer allow this to happen. We can no longer be complacent.

Monday nights shooting took the lives of at least three students, with five others still critically wounded Tuesday.

Matthewss video quickly went viral Tuesday morning; a tweet from Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, had already seen 42,000 likes and nearly 14,000 retweets by 1 p.m.

The Michigan State shooting occurred mere hours before the fifth anniversary of the Valentines Day school shooting in Parkland, Florida, which resulted in 17 deaths. Some of our previous coverage of the fallout from Parkland:

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Victims of the Parkland school shooting (Giffords Courage / Twitter)

With reporting from Meghan Gallagher
For centuries, navigable waters were identified as waterways used for commerce, such as floating logs or transporting furs.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of the Army announced in December a rule establishing a durable definition of waters of the United States (WOTUS) to reduce uncertainty from changing regulatory definitions and might protect peoples health and support economic opportunity. But it didnt really change things for people living in Pennsylvania who are concerned about boundary lines.

A sailboat floats along Lake Erie, Oct. 27, 2022, in Presque Isle State Park. It's important for outdoors people to understand where navigable public waterway boundaries are across Pennsylvania.

In general, Pennsylvania does not anticipate any changes for landowners, farmers and anglers. Pennsylvania DEP is authorized to regulate activities that may affect 'waters of the commonwealth' pursuant to state laws such as the Clean Streams Law and Dam Safety and Encroachments Act, Jamar Thrasher, press secretary for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, said in an email. "The federal rule is being issued jointly by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and EPA to bring federal consistency to interpretations of 'Waters of the United States.'"

The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources also doesnt foresee any changes for public water access along private properties.

The new Waters of the United States Rule (WOTUS) has no effect on public access to waterways in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the WOTUS rule concerns the regulatory authority over waters under the Federal Clean Water Act," Wesley Robinson, DCNR press secretary, said through an email.

But what does navigability mean for people wanting to enjoy the outdoors and those who own property along major waterways?

Donald Benczkowski retired after serving as the Coastal Resources Program manager for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, at DEP headquarters in Harrisburg. He has worked with property owners and anglers on the topic while working in various positions across the state.

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I spent a fair amount of time on the water, he said.

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One of the areas hes familiar with is Lake Erie.

Lake Erie is the lake most affected by development and agriculture, he said about Pennsylvanias coastal program.

Pennsylvania is a low-water-mark state, meaning property owners along the Great Lake own property out to the low water mark. Its a specific elevation above sea level.

Public access means different things to different people. People who want to go fishing or people who want to watch a sunset. It can be someone who wants to walk along the shoreline for their own well being. It doesnt mean that you can have a party down there. Its kind of like a sidewalk, Benczkowski said about defining public access.

He said the low water mark for determining property lines along Lake Erie is determined as where the property is 568.6 feet above sea level based on 1955 International Great Lakes Data. The high water mark is 572.8 feet above sea level.

Public access is based on common law and the Public Trust Doctrine where certain activities are allowed, he said about the two water marks. Permitted activities include fishing, hunting and navigation such as on a kayak.

Benczkowski said the regulations create nuances for property owners and the public. Public access isnt to be gained through private property, though. You cant walk across someones private property to get to the navigable waters. You have to get to there by staying in public areas.

You cant just haphazardly walk up to a house and use their stairs and get down to the beach area and go fishing and use those stairs to get back up. Thats clearly private property, he explained.

Instead, you have to enter the area through the lake from sides that are public.

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Advice for anglers

He urges people to be respectful of property owners along shorelines when trying to access waters that may not be clearly open to the public. Theres nothing to say that you cant knock on someones door and say, Hey, I love fishing, Im respectful of peoples properties. Is there any way I can use your property to access the lake? If you get permission, thats one way of doing that.

Offering to pick up trash or do something similar for the property owner is a good way to build friendships.

Be ethical in your fishing and get to know property owners and pick up litter. Keep your playground clean, he said. Be respectful of not only the lake but the landowners who are living in those areas adjacent to the waters. Sometimes that makes the difference.

For example, the Pennsylvania Steelhead Association delivers fruit baskets at Christmas to property owners who allow public fishing along the shore and tributaries in the area. The club works with property owners to alleviate concerns and problems with the general public.

He said a few troublemakers and litterbugs can jeopardize the future access for everyone. Sometimes anglers are their own worst enemy as the 5% ruining it for the other 95%.

If a property owner tells an angler they are not welcome, he said you should leave and then look into where the boundaries truly are located.

For streams, he said most are non-navigable which means the property owner doesnt have to require property access. Property owners can own the land into the middle of the stream or across the stream and beyond.

They have no obligation to allow you on the property," he said.

Some of the navigable Pennsylvania waters include major rivers in the state like the Juniata, Susquehanna and the Ohio rivers.

Mark Sweppenhiser, waterways conservation officer with the Fish and Boat Commission in Dauphin, Northumberland and part of Cumberland counties, has had to deal with fishing access questions over the years.

Pennsylvania is a property right state which means the property owner has a lot of rights. Someones deed generally says to the near side, middle or far side of the creek, he said. In Pennsylvania, the navigability standard is a historical test of commerce. Was that waterway used for commerce up and down, whether it be fur trading, log moving or something like that.

He explained the challenge is finding data or documents to support that commerce happened on some smaller waterways.

What I tell people is that if (the name) doesnt end in river, its probably not designated as navigable. Now that doesnt necessarily hold true for everything, he said.

Some of the rivers that are navigable waters, he mentioned, including the Monongahela, Ohio, Allegheny, Clarion, Susquehanna, and Lehigh.

The DCNR has an online interactive map of public waterways in Pennsylvania.

The best rule I can tell people is, if you are in the creek fishing and you got there lawfully and someone says you are on their property, respect that and move along, Sweppenhiser said.

Brian Whipkey is the outdoors columnist for USA TODAY Network sites in Pennsylvania. Contact him at bwhipkey@gannett.com and sign up for our weekly Go Outdoors PA newsletter email on this website's homepage under your login name. Follow him on Facebook @whipkeyoutdoors.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Navigable waters in Pennsylvania with DEP, EPA, DCNR, Fish and Boat
Every morning, Madeleine Kombozi, 38, sets up a stall in front of the Institut Chololo, a technical school in the Makiso commune in the center of Kisangani in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She turns on the hob and begins cooking pasta, known locally as spaghetti, for students and passersby.



Kombozi, a mother of five, is one of many women who make a living in the streets of Kisangani by selling spaghetti, a popular breakfast among the Boyomese, as Kisangani residents are known. But shes probably the only one who cooks spaghetti made from cassava flour.

Read more

War in Ukraine and wheat shortages

After working as a street food vendor for over two years, Kombozi switched from wheat to cassava spaghetti when Russias invasion of Ukraine disrupted global grain markets and drove up prices.

DRC imports nearly all of its wheat. Cassava, on the other hand, is widely available in the region.

Kombozi buys her cassava spaghetti from a small manufacturing plant set up in the University of Kisangani by a group of biotechnology students who hope their experiment will help offset wheat shortages.

Enabel, the Belgian governments development agency, donated the equipment, and 10 students work on a volunteer basis, advised by professor Onauchu Didy.

I am very proud of these students, who learned to mix business with pleasure in order to ensure spaghetti remains available for housewives, Didy says.

Each day, the students can produce over 100 packets of 250 grams (9 oz) each, which they sell for 1,000 Congolese francs (49 cents). In Kisangani, a similar size package of wheat spaghetti sells for up to 30,000 francs ($14.77).

We are already supplying spaghetti to restaurant owners and other merchants, says Jonathan Sembaito, 28, a student.

Sembaito grants that the work isnt easy, as the production is entirely manual. We have to purchase the manioc [cassava] from 10 to 11 months before, and then we have to dry it in the sun because we do not have dryers, he says.

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The packaging is made of paper imported from Ugandato combat non-biodegradable waste and mitigate environmental pollution, Sembaito saysand delivery delays can also slow down the process.

Chantal Baimoli, a housewife who purchases the cassava spaghetti, is happy about the innovation: It allows us to have a local spaghetti, and it makes me very proud because there is no taste difference. My children really like it.

While 25 kg (55 pounds) a day will hardly supply a city of 1.37 million, Kombozis clients at least are pleased. They eat without complaining, she says. They have never mentioned the different tastes.

This story was originally published by Global Press Journal.

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Photo of John Kirby and Karine Jean-Pierre



Both Karine Jean-Pierre and John Kirby took time out of a packed White House press briefing to assure the public that the multiple aerial objects shot down in recent days arent a sign of extra-terrestrial interference. However, Kirby was less confident on assuaging concerns about China-U.S. relations.

Unfortunately for the dedicated alien conspiracy theorists among us, the time is apparently not yet nigh to don your tinfoil hats. The Biden Administration has declared that the recent instances of unidentified aerial objects being shot down over U.S. and Canadian territory are not related to extra-terrestrial life.



I know thereve been questions and concerns about this, but there is noagain noindication of aliens or extra-terrestrial activity with these recent take downs, said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in a Monday afternoon press briefing. Again there is no indication of aliens, she emphasized for a third time, adding We wanted to make sure that the American people knew that.

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Would you tell us if there were?, one journalist in the crowd of reporters shouted back. In response, Jean-Pierre chuckled and made a brief joke about the movie ET.

As recently as Sunday night, Pentagon officials had indicated that they werent ruling anything out yetmeaning aliens were still technically on the table. But the White Houses announcement seemingly squashes that pipe dream.

Wait, whats going on?

Over the past three days (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) the U.S. Military has shot down, or aided in Canadian operations to shoot down, three different, as-of-yet unidentified aerial objects. According to White House officials, all of those objects were aimlessly drifting without propulsion in the atmosphere between about 20,000 and 40,000 feet, and thus posed a risk to commercial aircraft.

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The three, back-to-back-to-back take downs followed the earlier down-age of the 200-foot tall craft that U.S. officials are calling a Chinese surveillance or spy balloon. However, none of the subsequent aircraft targeted in recent days have been linked to China, or any particular ownerstate, corporate, or otherwise. Further, officials havent determined any purpose, surveillance or otherwise, of any of the three most recent objects taken down, John Kirby, the Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council, said in the Monday briefing.

We need to separate the Chinese spy balloon...from these other three instances, Kirby said.

Why is the U.S. suddenly shooting down these all of these objects now?

Following the Chinese balloon incident, the military adjusted its radar capabilities to better pick up on slow moving, high-altitude objects, Kirby said. The White House is attributing the recent, high number of unidentified aerial objects being seen and shot down, in part, to this change.

There have long been lots of different things floating in the atmosphere at high altitudes, the National Security Council spokesman noted. The skies contain objects deployed for scientific research, weather balloons, and all manner of innocuous craft, Kirby said. One of the reasons that we think were seeing more [now], is that were looking for more.



When it comes to deciding if/when/how to take floating objects down, Kirby added that the White House has been using a previously established protocol to assess whether or not the objects pose a kinetic threat to people on land, are transmitting data, are being propelled or moving, or are manned. In all three of the most recent cases, Kirby said U.S. officials determined the answer to those questions was no.

However, he reiterated multiple times that, because of their altitude and lack of directional movement, the objects couldve posed a risk to commercial flight. He also added that, though there was no apparent evidence of it, U.S. officials were unable to entirely rule out surveillance capabilities from any of these three objectsfurther incentivizing the take-downs.

President Biden faced extensive flack over his delayed response to the suspected Chinese balloon from Republican legislators. Though, the White House has denied that conservative push back was a factor in forming the new, seemingly more aggressive tack on aerial objects.

What happens next?

Operations to retrieve and analyze all three of the now-destroyed objects, along with the remainder of the Chinese balloon, is underway. Though Kirby noted this could take awhile as all three of the most recent objects landed in remote, hard to reach areas (ex: the bottom of Lake Huron, the Canadian wilderness, over Alaskan sea ice).

Kirby indicated that the U.S. will continue to monitor for additional objects, but noted that there were none being tracked at the time of the news conference on Monday afternoon.

Separately from these three unidentified objects though, the ongoing debacle with the Chinese balloon raises separate concerns. Multiple journalists at the press briefing asked about the state of U.S./China relations in the aftermath of the balloon incident.

In response to those inquiries, the National Security Council spokesman outlined that the U.S. was maintaining its embassy in China and still has ongoing contact with officials, but that there are no immediate plans for President Biden to speak directly with Chinese President Xi Jinping. People shouldnt take away from this that all communication has been severed, said Kirby. But, this has certainly not helped us move forward [with China] in the way we wanted to move, he added.

Chinese officials initially denied that the balloon shot down off the coast of South Carolina more than a week ago was for spying or surveillance, and called it a weather balloon. However, more recently the Chinese government has shifted messaging and accused the U.S. of also sending surveillance balloons into their airspace. Asked about these accusations, Kirby said the U.S. has no craft over Chinese airspace. A journalist asked if that statement included contested or Chinese-claimed territories like Taiwan and parts of the South China Sea, and the Kirby declined to add more detail.

I dont think the American people need to worry about aliens with these craft. Period. I dont think theres any more that needs to be said there, Kirby stated. But we might just need to worry about terrestrial conflict.

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Guests attending Eckhaus Lattas show at New York Fashion Week saw an unexpected face appear on the runway.

On Feb. 11, The White Lotus actor Jon Gries stepped onto the catwalk donning a mohair style fluffy sweater, beige pants and a smoldering stare at Eckhaus Latts fashion show. The look was a part of the designers fall 2023 ready to wear collection.

The 65-year-old actor shared videos on his Instagram story of him strutting down the runway. He also posted the surprised reactions from his fans to seeing him pop up at the fashion event.

Jon Gries walks the runway at Eckhaus Latta Fall 2023 Ready To Wear Fashion Show on February 11, 2023 in New York, New York. (Nina Westervelt / WWD via Getty Images)

New York Fashion Weeks TikTok page uploaded a funny video of Gries that referenced his The White Lotus character on Feb. 12.

Hi. This is Jon Gries and Im here at the Eckhaus Lattas show and there are definitely some high-end gays, he jokes, quoting a hilarious line Jennifer Coolidges character Tanya says on the show.

When asked if anyone is at risk of being murdered like the shocking Season Two finale, he replies, Theyre just murdering us with beautiful ideas.

Designers Zoe Latta and Mike Eckhaus spoke to Vogue about the inspiration behind the clothes Gries and the 29 other models debuted on the catwalk.

This season there was a want for a certain kind of hardness, Eckhaus explained to the publication.

Latta added, Theres a kind of moodiness, not in a pessimistic way, but maybe on edge, an uneasy feeling that we are curious to play with.

Gries isnt the only star from the hit HBO series who has made an appearance at a fashion show recently.

His costar Stefano Gianino joined Emily In Paris actor Lucas Bravo and Zane Phillips from Fire Island for Louis-Gabriel Nouchis showing at Paris Fashion Week last month.

In honor of the shows American Psycho theme, Gianino wore a baby blue suit, a sheer top and black latex gloves.

Gianino celebrated his collaboration with the designer on Instagram.

My first fashion show! he wrote in the caption beside a photo of him strolling down the runway. I (didnt) expect it! AMAZING EXPERIENCE!

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He thanked the French designer and said, I met beautiful people with big hearts!

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Lisa Rinna also turned heads during Copenhagen Fashion Week on Feb. 2 for Rotate Birger Christensens Autumn/Winter 2023 collection.

The 59-year-old wowed in a black bodysuit and leopard-print coat. Her signature short hair was teased high, resembling a mohawk, and she revealed her temporary bleach-blond eyebrows.

While some celebrities have been displaying their modeling skills during the different fashion weeks across the world, others have been supporting their favorite fashion designers from the front row.

On Feb. 10, Quinta Brunson, Lindsay Lohan, Julia Stiles were photographed sitting together at Christian Sirianos show.

Lohan shared a photo of the trio with the caption, Thanks to @csiriano I got to have a fab #nyfw kick off with these talented beauties!

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
The Queen Mother's crown on her coffin during a ceremonial procession on 5 April 2002. The Koh-i-Noor diamond is the centre-piece of the crown, which will one day be worn by the Duchess of Cornwall (Rex Features)

The Queen Consort will wear Queen Marys crown at her and King Charles IIIs coronation this spring, but steer clear of the contentious Koh-i-noor diamond, it has been confirmed.

The crown has been removed from display at the Tower of London to undergo modification work ahead of the event in May.

Instead of the original Koh-i-noor diamond or any replicas, Camilla has opted to have the Cullinan III, IV and V diamonds inserted to pay tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II.

In 1911, the Koh-i-noor diamond was set in a cross at the front of Queen Marys crown. It was later replaced by a replica in 1937 when the huge diamond was moved to the Queen Mothers crown for her and King George VIs coronation.

Camillas choice of crown makes her the first consort since the 18th century to reuse a crown at a coronation. But it also departs from initial speculation that she would wear the Queen Mothers crown at the ceremony at Westminster Abbey, which is set to take place on 6 May.

The Queen Mothers crown, which also features a purple velvet cap and ermine trim, was made in 1937 for Queen Elizabeth, consort of King George VI, to be worn on her husbands coronation on 12 May 1937.

Queen Elizabeth (2nd-L, future Queen Mother), her daughter Princess Elizabeth (4th-L, future Queen Elizabeth II), Queen Mary (C) , Princess Margaret (5th-L) and the King George VI (R), pose at the balcony of the Buckingham Palace on May 12, 1937 (CENTRAL PRESS/AFP via Getty Imag)

It is laden with 2,800 diamonds set into its platinum frame. The band comprises of alternating clusters of diamonds forming crosses and rectangles, bordered by single rows of brilliant-cut diamonds.

The crown also features large diamonds, including one given to Queen Victoria in 1856 by the Sultan of Turkey.

But the most controversial diamond is the Koh-i-Noor diamond, which is set into the front cross of the crown in a detachable platinum mount.

The Koh-i-Noor diamond was mined in India and is one of the largest-cut diamonds in the world, weighing 105.6 carats (21.12g). It is part of the British Crown Jewels.

The first written record of the Koh-i-Noor diamond appears in 1628, during the Mughal Empire. The diamond was set into Mughal ruler Shah Jahans Peacock Throne, alongside the Timur Ruby.

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Circa 1625, Shah Jahan (1592 - 1666), Mogul emperor (Getty Images)

It was later acquired by Persian ruler Nader Shah when he invaded Delhi in 1739 and looted the city of tonnes of treasure, including the Peacock Throne.

The Koh-i-Noor diamond continued to be passed between various rulers in Central Asia, eventually ending up in the hands of Sikh ruler Ranjit Singh in 1813, according to historians Anita Anand and William Dalrymples book, Koh-i-Noor: The History of the Worlds Most Infamous Diamond.

Singh returned the diamond to India and died in 1839. By this time, the British East India Company had expanded its control throughout the Indian subcontinent and had its eyes set on the Koh-i-Noor diamond, as possession of it would be a symbol of power and colonial superiority.

However, it was not until 1849 that the British were able to get their hands on the coveted stone. During this time, they had imprisoned Rani Jindan, the youngest wife of Singh and mother of the last Maharaja, her 10-year-old son Duleep Singh.

Following years of violence, she and her son found themselves to be the only people left in line for the Punjabi throne.

Executive Director of Jewels de Paragon (JDP) Pavana Kishore shows the

According to Anand and Dalrymple, the British forced Duleep to sign a legal document that amended the Treaty of Lahore. Signing it meant Duleep would give up ownership of the Koh-i-Noor to the British and all claim to sovereignty.

This is how the diamond came into possession of Queen Victoria. It went on display at the 1851 Great Exposition in London, although people were unimpressed at it simplicity.

In response, Victorias husband, Prince Albert, had the Koh-i-Noor recut and polished. In the process, it became much smaller  reduced by half  but shone more brilliantly.

The stone was worn as a brooch by Victoria, but was later set in the crown of Queen Alexandra, the wife of Edward VII, and then in the crown of Queen Mary, the wife of George V. It was then reset into the crown of the Queen Mother.

The Queen Mothers crown was placed on top of her coffin for her lying-in-state and funeral in 2002. Since then, it has resided on public display in the Crown Jewels exhibit in the Tower of London.

The Indian government has demanded that the British return the Koh-i-Noor diamond to them several times over the years after the country gained independence in 1947.

Its most recent request was made in 2016, when it said it would make every effort to bring back the diamond.

Pall Bearers carry the coffin of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother from the gun carriage on which it travelled from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey in London for the funeral service (AFP via Getty Images)

The royal palaces website makes no mention of disputes around ownership of the diamond, saying only that the diamond is steeped in myth and anecdote.

A description of the Koh-i-Noor reads: Discovered in 15th-century India, it was passed from ill-fated male hand to hand, until it earned a reputation of bringing bad luck to men. It was presented to Queen Victoria in 1849.

Anand told the Smithsonian Magazine in 2017 that the Crown Jewels exhibit should make its history clearer.

What I would dearly love is for there to be a really clear sign by the exhibit. People are taught this was a gift from India to Britain. I would like the correct history to be put by the diamond, she said.
F-22

The F-22 Raptor takes part in a NATO Air Shielding exercise at the 32nd Air Tactical Base on Oct. 12, 2022 in Lask, Poland. Credit - Omar MarquesGetty Images

In the first two weeks of February, the U.S. Air Force has shot down four flying objects that have intruded on the skies over North America. The deployment of force is unprecedented for the U.S. during peacetimeleveraging some of the U.S. militarys most advanced fighter planes, surveillance tools, and expensive air-to-air missiles.

The first object shot down was an alleged Chinese surveillance balloon that the Biden Administration says was part of a years-long scheme to spy on nations across the Earth. But so far, officials have been much less clear about what the other objects are. One shot down over Alaska Feb. 10 was described as a car-sized object that did not appear to have a propulsion source. One downed over Canada the next day was described as cylindrical, potentially a balloon, but smaller than the Chinese balloon.

READ MORE: Everything We Know About Unidentified Objects Shot Down



That balloon, which was publicly spotted over Montana Feb. 1 and carried sensors capable of spying on conversations on the ground, revealed an entirely new class of threat to U.S. air space. Experts say two things are happening as a result: First, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and other agencies tasked with watching for airborne incursions have recalibrated their detection methods to pick up smaller, slower-moving objects that they werent previously paying attention to. Second, the military decided that shooting these objects out of the sky and collecting the wreckage is one sure way to quickly learn where theyre coming from and what threat they pose.

We need to get a better sense of what these things are and whether or not theyre worth engaging with, says Ian Williams, deputy director of CSISs Missile Defense Project.

The U.S. has shot down four objects over North American skies so far in February. Lon TweetenTIME

Either wayits unlikely that using Sidewinder air-to-air missiles at about $400,000 a pop fired from $150 million F-22 stealth fighters will be an economical response in the long term. If this is something were gonna start doing on the regular, we may want to look for more cost effective ways, Williams says.

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What we know about the objects

First, its probably not aliens, experts agree. The White House and intelligence officials have echoed this point. Unidentified flying object in this case means just thatan object that is flying and has not been identified.

The U.S. has released some details about the four shootings but its still not clear what all of them are or where they came from.

On Feb. 10, an F-22 shot down a car-size object at 40,000 feet over Alaska that officials said had no obvious propulsion. White House spokesperson John Kirby said its origins were unclear. The Pentagon had said it could be a potential risk to civilian air traffic.

On Feb. 11, a U.S. F-22 shot down a cylindrical object over northern Canada. The U.S. and Canada worked together to take the object down. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that the country would analyze the wreckage.

A National Security spokesperson said before the fourth flying object was downed that these objects did not closely resemble and were much smaller than the [People Republic of China] balloon, CNN reported.

On Feb. 12, an F-16 used a missile to destroy an airborne object flying at about 20,000 feet over Lake Huron in Michigan. The Department of Defense noted that the location chosen to shoot it down allowed them to avoid impact to people on the ground while improving chances for debris recovery.

An important point with these new objects is also that they posed a possible threat to civilian aviation. While the Chinese balloon was at 60,000 feet of altitudewell above the ceiling for passenger planesthe other objects were flying much lower, closer to the 20,000-40,000 feet that commercial aircraft reach.

Why are we spotting more flying objects?

Since the U.S. shot down the alleged Chinese spy balloon on Feb. 4 off South Carolinaand admitted to at least three previous incursions into the country in recent yearsit has been finding more slow-moving flying objects in the sky. Thats because the military now knows to look for them.

The Chinese balloonwhich Beijing maintains is for civilian weather observationforced military officials, lawmakers and the American public to start scrutinizing U.S. surveillance of its airspace more closely.

Experts say NORAD was previously focusing on spotting fast-moving objects that generated a lot of heatthink missiles, bombers and fighter jets. When radars and other surveillance methods are tuned to those threats, it can be easy to miss slow-moving balloons, which also might not show up on radar as well.

U.S. officials have worked to improve the ability of existing radars to track these flying objects down. We have been more closely scrutinizing our airspace at these altitudes, including enhancing our radar, which may at least partly explain the increase in objects that weve detected over the past week, Melissa Dalton, the assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and hemispheric affairs, said at a news conference on Sunday.

General Glen VanHerck, NORADs commander, said the U.S. has adjusted its radar to track slower objects. With some adjustments, weve been able to get a better categorization of radar tracks now, he said, and thats why I think youre seeing these, plus theres a heightened alert to look for this information. VanHerck had previously admitted that the balloons exposed a gap in American air defenses.

Now they have some experience and know what these things look like, on radar, theyre able to refine filters to look for them more efficiently, Williams says. Its about finding that balance of getting what you need but not getting so much that youre just chasing flocks of birds around.

Air defense also appears to be becoming more of a priority for Congress. What I think this showsis that we really have to declare that were going to defend our airspace. And then we need to invest, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner told CNN. This shows some of the problems and gaps that we have. We need to fill those as soon as possible because we certainly now ascertain there is a threat.

Gathering intel

One advantage to shooting down so many of these objects is that once they are recovered on the ground, they offer a lot for military and intelligence officials to analyze. Theres been some great intel gathering, says Riki M. Ellison, chairman & founder of Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance.

These objects are in remote locations; officials noted that recovery of the one shot down in Alaska has been hampered by limited daylight and arctic weather conditions.

But while shooting these objects down is one of the only ways to learn about them right now, experts say the U.S. should consider a sustainable policy to address them once we know more about the threat they pose.

Were shooting these things down with pretty expensive missiles; if this is something were gonna start doing on the regular, we may want to look for more cost effective ways, Williams of CSIS says.

Ellison is advocating for greater radar capabilities to ensure that the U.S. can simultaneously track these flying objects alongside other threats like bombers and missiles, and understand how best to engage with them.

So far, he worries that the American response has been disproportionate compared to Chinas efforts China wins that fight a little bit, he says. Look at the cost imposed on us and what we had to spend to defend against that; its very lopsided.

Its likely that these kinds of objects were always up there in the U.S. airspace but that shooting them down was not a priority. We chose to tolerate them, Ellison says.
TOPSHOT-UKRAINE-RUSSIA-CONFLICT-WAR

A local resident pushes his bicycle past "hedgehog" tank traps and rubble, down a street in Bakhmut, Donetsk region, on Jan. 6, 2023. Credit - Dimitar DilkoffAFP via Getty Images

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov had a not-so-subtle message for Western defense chiefs meeting Tuesday at North American Treaty Organization (NATO) headquarters in Brussels. After he arrived through the front doors, he plucked a tan handkerchief from his breast pocket, unfolded it, and held it up to show a small group of reporters the images printed on it: fighter jets.

The gesture, which took place as the U.S. and European military leaders convened here to discuss the Ukraine conflict, was the latest appeal from Kyiv to allies for modern fighter aircraft. So far, that request has gone unfulfilled.

While Ukraine seeks air power, NATOs focus is on the ground. The allies are pouring in artillery, armor and air defense systems to help Ukrainian forces fend off a major new Russian attack in the eastern part of the country aimed at breaking the current stalemate. If Kyiv can blunt Russian forces push this spring, then it would be primed to launch a counteroffensive in the summer to reclaim territory it previously lost.

More from TIME

The Biden Administration is convinced that what happens in the next six months will prove decisive in who ultimately wins this nearly year-old war. The message has been delivered to Kyiv that it needs to take advantage of this short window of time because when it closes the White House expects a bigger political challenge to push aid packages through the Republican-led House and a bigger logistical challenge as allies confront depleting weapons stockpiles.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin convened a meeting of 54 nations at NATO headquarters to strategize. Seated at the head of a table with dozens of nations arranged around him, he implored them to build upon the recent pledges of new tanks, heavy weaponry, and training for Ukraine. We have committed nearly $50 billion in lethal assistance to Ukraine since the start of Russias invasion last February 24 and our coordination is making a real difference, he said, sitting alongside Reznikov. Todays meeting comes at a critical time. The Kremlin is still betting they can wait us out.

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Read more: Inside the Plant Making Shells for Ukraine

Russia is pre-positioning troops and attack aircraft along Ukraines eastern borders in what Western officials believe are preparations for a broad offensive targeting Kharkhiv region in the northeast and Zaporizhzhya in the southeast. A senior U.S. administration official described a lot of action on the border, a lot of preparations there with Russian air forces moving helicopter gunships and fighter jets into place.

The need for air defense systems has emerged as a top priority for Ukraine at the meetings here. The UN human rights office said Monday that 7,199 civilians had been killed and 11,756 wounded since Russias initial invasion on Feb. 24, 2022. With many of the casualties coming from airstrikes, an urgent goal is to shore up defenses around cities and population centers so Ukraine can better defend against future barrages.

After the meeting with Ukraine and other European partners, Austin said he didnt know if Moscow was preparing to launch a bombing campaign in the coming weeks, but he did acknowledge the amassed Russian combat power. We do know that Russia has a substantial number of aircraft in its inventory and a lot of capability, he told reporters. Thats why weve emphasized that we need to do everything that we can to get Ukraine as much air defense capability as we possibly can.

On Tuesday, Italy and France committed to providing SAMP/T anti-aircraft systems. The U.S. and allies have already pledged NASAMS, or National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems, that can identify, engage, and destroy aircraft, helicopters, cruise missiles, and drones. This is in addition to the high-end Patriot air defense battery that the U.S. has pledged. About 100 Ukrainians are currently at Fort Sill in Oklahoma undergoing intensive training on how to operate it.

Timing is becoming increasingly important. As the fighting intensifies in eastern Ukraine, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg appealed to alliance members Tuesday to ship its promised supplies of artillery, combat vehicles, and ammunition so they arrive on time. This has become a grinding war of attrition, and therefore its also a battle of logistics, he said. When it comes to artillery, we need ammunition, we need spare parts, we need maintenance, we need all the logistics to ensure that we are able to sustain these weapons systems.

Read More: Exclusive: AWOL Navy SEAL Killed Fighting In Ukraine

The Biden Administration anticipates that tanks, armored vehicles and other heavy weaponsand the timing of deliveriescould prove decisive. Germany and several other European countries have agreed to supply Leopard 2 battle tanks. Germany started training on the Leopard 2 with plans to push them to the frontlines by the end of March.

Russia is already engaged in one of the fiercest and bloodiest battles of the war in Bakhmut. Russias months-long offensive on eastern Ukraine, parts of which Moscow claimed to annex in September, reflects Russian President Vladimir Putins long-held aim of capturing Donetsk and Luhansk, collectively known as the Donbasan ambitious goal that Russian troops have been tasked with achieving by March, according to Ukrainian officials.

But Russian forces have so far been unable to advance beyond Bakhmuts outskirts, nor have they been able to disrupt the crucial ground lines being used to supply Ukrainian forces in the city. The long, drawn-out battle in Bakhmut and elsewhere has taken a major toll on Russias land forces. Moscow may have lost up to half of all its operational tank fleet since the beginning of the war, according to Oryx, an open source intelligence website. Based on visual evidence of military equipment losses, the monitoring group said it counted 1,000 Russian tank losses in the war while another 544 had been captured by Ukraine, 79 damaged, and 65 abandoned.

With Russias land forces hobbled, along with signs that its air forces will become more active, Ukraine is seeking new fighter jets to fight back. Ukraine currently relies on its Soviet-era fighter jets, which were made before Kyiv declared independence from the Soviet Union over 30 years ago. The planes have been overpowered by Russias modern jets that can fire missiles from a long range without entering Ukrainian airspace.

Ukraines appeals include requests for different fighter jets from several countries: F-16s and F-35s from the U.S., Eurofighters, Tornados, French Rafales, and Swedish Gripen jets. President Joe Biden was firm that Washington will not provide Kyiv with F-16s last month after Ukraines Deputy Foreign Minister called for allied Western nations to form a fighter jet coalition. Answering reporters questions Jan. 31 about the matter, Biden flatly replied: No.

Austin said Tuesday the administration policy had not changed. In terms of whether or not were going to provide the F-16, I dont have any announcements to make. And I dont have anything to add to what our president said earlier.
Days before the new year, Angela King woke up to a nauseating scent of rotten egg wafting through her neighborhood in southwest Houston.

The smell was a reminder of how close she lives to a storage facility bearing 300,000 gallons of liquid propane. And now, CenterPoint Energy plans to install natural gas pipeline transmission lines 4 feet underground. Initial construction will be just 50 feet from her home, King said.

King has lived in Southwest Crossings, a mostly Black and brown neighborhood, for two decades, and she and her neighbors have protested the construction, fearing for their health and safety. Propane and natural gas are highly flammable and come with risks of leaks, fires and explosions at facilities and pipelines.

And their neighborhood  situated in the energy capital of the nation  isnt alone.

Evidence shows that throughout the U.S., communities of color are more likely to be burdened by various industry infrastructure, disproportionately jeopardizing the health of Black and brown people. Experts say Houston and the pipeline project are microcosms of the nations persistent environmental racism that subjects people of color to hazards.

Angela King poses for a portrait at her home in Southwest Crossings in Houston, Texas. CenterPoint Energy plans to install a natural gas pipeline transmission lines 4 feet underground in her neighborhood with initial construction just 50 feet from King's home.

Black people are 75% more likely to live near industrial facilities in fence line communities, according to Fumes Across the Fence-Line, a 2017 Clean Air Task Force and NAACP report on air pollution from oil and gas facilities.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration has taken an unprecedented approach to center environmental justice as part of its agenda to acknowledge how industry, climate and disaster has a disproportionate impact on communities of color.

The administration has launched efforts across multiple federal agencies, which includes the Justice40 Initiative that aims to invest 40% of federal climate, housing, clean water and other benefits in historically underserved communities.

And last month, the Environmental Protection Agency announced it was awarding $100 million in environmental justice grants to communities overburdened by pollution.

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The investments couldn't be more urgent for communities like Kings Houston, which was the subject of the widely cited environmental justice study by Robert Bullard, founder of the Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice at Texas Southern University. The study, published 40 years ago, found waste disposal facilities were more likely to be in Houstons Black communities.

And last year, the U.S. Justice Department started an investigation into the city for illegal dumping of solid waste in Black and Hispanic communities.

The genesis of environmental justice research was in Houston," said Joan Casey, an environmental epidemiologist at the University of Washington and the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health. "Now we're in 2023, we're still having this same conversation. This is the way that we've operated in the United States for a very long time.

What is propane? And why are pipelines dangerous?

Propane, which is derived from natural gas and oil refining processes, is considered a cleaner, low-carbon fuel when used to heat and cool buildings and for transportation, among other uses. But in high concentrations, it can cause suffocation and cardiac arrest. Natural gas can also cause suffocation, as well as gas poisoning.

Acute dangers are the biggest concerns. Because propane is heavier than air, when released it settles lower to the ground than natural gas, which leads to increased risk of ignition, fire and explosion. Even a small leak can pose a high risk of fire.

Natural gas is almost entirely methane gas, which contributes significantly to climate change.

CenterPoint told local media the smell King and her neighbors woke up to around Christmastime wasnt a leak but a part of normal operations.

In response to a USA TODAY inquiry about the incident, a spokeswoman said that the company is "committed to the safe, reliable operations of our energy systems" and that "communication with the communities we have the privilege of serving is a top priority for our company."

Still, King fears future accidents.

Last year, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration reported 10 deaths and 24 injuries from pipeline incidents across the U.S.

Over two decades, an average of 640 incidents occur each year. Incidents are defined as leaks that result in at least $122,000 in property damage, gas loss of at least 3 million cubic feet, injury, death or emergency shutdown, according to federal regulations.

In 2011, a CenterPoint Energy gas line in Minneapolis exploded. No one was injured, but vehicles were destroyed and the city filed a lawsuit against the company.

In 2018, dozens of homes in northeast Massachusetts were destroyed and one man was killed in a natural pipeline explosion. Pressure readings showed 12 times normal standards, and the Leonel Rondon Pipeline Safety Act, named after the victim, was passed in 2020 in hopes of increasing safety standards.

SOLUTIONS: Millions of homes have lead paint, harming kids of color

What's happening in Houston?

Texas is the top producer of natural gas in the country and has the most crude oil refineries of any state. The Houston metro area has more than 180 pipeline transmission systems.

Southwest Crossings residents have held protests at the site and have been pushing back since 2020, when King said homeowners were first notified of the storage facility project.

But residents say that COVID-19 interfered with timely correspondence and that the letters were in English despite many residents being Spanish speakers. Hispanic people make up more than 60% of the community, and roughly a third of residents are Black, according to estimates from the U.S. Census American Community Survey.

The company said it sent letters again the next year. And in July 2022, King received a letter from the company asking for her easement along with a $9,000 compensation offer for pipeline construction 50 feet from her fence. Two months later, she received a notice that the company would begin construction by eminent domain.

She worries for her son and two middle-school-aged nephews who live with her and the schools and churches in the subdivision.

"It makes me feel ignored, as if I am not even a human  that they're walking all over me as if I do not matter. That my voice is nonexistent," said King, 55, who is medical billing and coding worker.

She and community activist Brittney Stredic, 28, have met with city officials and the company to demand detailed safety plans. Theyve started a petition and website to spread awareness of their concerns.

CenterPoint said it has several safety strategies in place at the storage facility, and it shared them with residents. Those plans include an alarm system; smoke, gas and flame detection; and emergency shutdown protocols.

The pipeline project is set to be completed by the end of the year. The company proposes to install the pipelines at least 4 feet underground.

We are following federal code to install the pipeline to meet or exceed the requirement established for this type of installation, the company told USA TODAY in a statement. CenterPoint Energy representatives have participated in multiple community meetings and have attempted to meet via phone and/or face-to-face with all the area residents.

But Stredic said she felt the plans didnt consider the neighborhood she has called home her whole life.

To me, there was never a consideration about the community that they were placing it in, she said. That endpoint is a business.

A spokesperson for CenterPoint Energy said the system will traverse many neighborhoods, "both affluent areas and underprivileged areas."

"Regardless of the location in our service territory, our decisions when evaluating new construction projects or system enhancements are based on several key criteria: If CenterPoint Energy owns the property or has easement rights; proximity to area that will be served by our equipment or facility; technical and existing natural gas distribution system design considerations as outlined previously; and optimization of our system operations. We do our best to treat all our customers fairly and equitably," spokesperson Alejandra Diaz wrote.

City officials referred comments to CenterPoint Energy, but a spokeswoman confirmed the city "was made aware of the residents' concerns."

Residents concerns based on science

Experts say residents fears reflect the reality of a wide range of environmental hazards disproportionately faced by communities of color across the nation.

In a study published last year in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology, Casey and a team of researchers found that formerly redlined neighborhoods were twice as likely to be oil and gas well sites and showed how federal policies continue to fuel structural racism.

Their concerns are based on science. I wouldn't want this facility in my neighborhood, Casey said.

Ryan Emanuel, an environmental justice expert and hydrologist at Duke Universitys Nicholas School of the Environment, has studied natural gas pipelines and their locations in relation to communities. The Great Plains are home to Indigenous communities often subjected to oil and gas industry infrastructure, but Emanuel also studied the issue in states like North Carolina, where he found a quarter of all American Indians in the state lived within the area of the Atlantic Coast pipeline project plan that folded in 2020.

In another study published in 2021 in the journal GeoHealth, Emanuel and his team found that counties with higher social vulnerability factors such as low income also had greater pipeline densities.

Researchers mapped pipelines and social vulnerability. Natural gas gathering and transmission pipelines in the mainland U.S., with social vulnerability index shown for each U.S. county. Yellow indicates high social vulnerability. One Alaska county is included in the statistical overview of the results but is not shown here.

Those are places that don't have the ability to deal with disaster, public health issues or have limited resources to recover when things go wrong. These are the communities that are saddled with more of this harmful and polluting infrastructure, he said.

Though that study focused on interstate natural gas pipelines, Emanuel said the findings echo the larger issue.

"It's a bigger picture that's related to the decisions that we make about energy and public participation in decision-making process, he said. It's not a collection of anecdotes. This is the result of our public policies and corporate policies, frankly, over many decades.

Reach Nada Hassanein at nhassanein@usatoday.com or on Twitter @nhassanein_.

More health and climate news

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: CenterPoint pipeline in Houston raises environmental justice concerns
Wichita police are looking for two people involved in a robbery that led to a shooting Monday evening, police spokesperson Juan Rebolledo said in a news release.

A 17-year-old Wichita man was injured, Rebolledo said, adding one of the suspects was trying to rob him.

The incident was reported around 5:55 p.m. when officers were sent to the 200 block of North Rock Road for a shooting call. Witnesses at the scene told officers that they saw the man, who had been shot in the leg, leaving the scene in a black-colored vehicle, according to Rebolledo.

Rebolledo added that the shooting victim arrived at the scene alone and left alone.

Sedgwick County Emergency Communications staff informed officers of a walk-in patient at a hospital who had been shot in his lower body. The person matched the description officers were given at the scene by witnesses, the release said.

The man was treated and released the same day. The man spoke with police detectives, who were able to determine what led to the shooting, Rebolledo said. He could not offer details about the shooting.

Anyone with information is encouraged to call WPD detectives at 316-268-4407 or Crime Stoppers at 316-267-2111.
The wife of a California man accused of driving his Tesla off a cliff has urged authorities not to prosecute him for his alleged crimes.

Dharmesh Patel, a radiologist, was held without bail after pleading not guilty last week to charges of domestic violence and attempted murder for the 2 January crash.

The Tesla car that he allegedly drove off a cliff had his wife Neha and their children inside.

Ms Patel had initially told first responders that her husband tried to kill us.

She, however, doesnt want him to face charges, according to Mr Patels defence attorney.

KNTV reported that the attorney, Josh Bentley, told the court that his clients wife hoped Mr Patel would not be prosecuted over charges that include attempted murder and child endangerment.

The 41-year-old father was arrested after California Highway Patrol investigators developed probable cause to believe this incident was an intentional act.

The Pasadena local was seriously injured when the Tesla sedan slipped off the cliff at Devils Slide along the Pacific Coast Highway on 2 January.

Rescuers initially hailed the familys survival as a miracle after the sedan plummeted in an area about 15 miles (24km) south of San Francisco. The area is known for fatal accidents.

The family  including Mr Patels 41-year-old wife, seven-year-old daughter and four-year-old son  had to be pulled out of the mangled remains of the car by cutting the vehicle.

Neighbours in the Patels Pasadena neighbourhood earlier told The Los Angeles Times that the family seemed idyllic before the shocking incident on 2 January.

Meanwhile, San Mateo Countys deputy district attorney Sean Gallagher argued that prosecutors have sufficient evidence to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt with or without Ms Patels cooperation.

According to KRON4, Mr Gallagher also noted that its common for domestic violence victims to be unwilling to cooperate.
A photo of Windows 11



Windows 11 is nice, but is it nice enough to force onto your PC?

Did you force your PC to install Windows 11 despite it not meeting the official requirements? (Why?) Microsoft might start nagging you for doing thator at least reminding you that what youve done is against the intended use of its operating system. The January 2023 Windows 11 update is pestering folks who forced the update on their PCs with a persistent watermark on the desktop warning that system requirements havent been met.



The story is circulating among Windows blogs, though I found a couple of instances of folks complaining about the watermark on the official Microsoft support forums. The watermark says system requirements not met and is emblazoned on the desktops lower right hand corner if the operating system notices that its running on hardware that doesnt meet the minimum requirements.

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Its possible the culprit is the dedicated security processor, or TPM 2.0 (Trusted Platform Module) chip, used by services like BitLocker and Windows Hello. Microsoft requires this module before upgrading. Its why many PCs were rendered un-upgradeable when Windows 11 was announced. Most new CPUs and motherboards have capability for it built into them, but the feature wasnt a guaranteed inclusion prior to the Windows 11 launch.

But some users dont care, and can you blame them? Getting a new PC to upgrade to a specific operating system seems egregious in this day and age of extreme penny-pinching and coupon-clipping. And since the Windows community has long been self-sufficient, its managed to figure out how to force a Windows 11 upgrade onto a PC despite it not having supported hardware.

If you are pushing through to Windows 11 even though your system isnt technically compatible, theres a way to remove the shameful messaging living on your desktop. Back in December, a Microsoft Independent Advisor suggested what many other how-to pages do: change the registry file so that Windows thinks everything is kosher. Note that this has its downsides, like voiding the software warranty on your machine.

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I am still holding off on installing Windows 11. Im one of those who fears change, both in personal matters and with gadgets. After all, why try to fix it if it isnt broken? The setup I have now is quite excellent, and I fear that once I upgrade to Windows 11, Ill have to start over and risk running into new issues. Anyway, I have until September 2024 to keep holding off on upgrading.

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Click here to read the full article.
Entrance to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. (iStockphoto/Getty Images)

A little-known off-year election in Wisconsin could determine the crucial swing states Electoral College votes in 2024, according to local experts.

The state Supreme Court, which rejected then-President Donald Trumps effort to overturn the 2020 election in Wisconsin by a vote of just 4-3, is holding an election to replace a retiring member of the courts conservative majority, with an open primary next Tuesday and a general election on April 21 between the top two primary finishers.

In addition to affecting major potential rulings on hot-button issues such as abortion, the outcome of this years race could determine which side the court will take in future cases over how votes are cast and counted in presidential elections.

The 2023 Wisconsin state Supreme Court race is the most important election that nobodys ever heard of, Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler told Politico. It has implications that will affect national politics for years to come, really at every level of government.

Four out of the last six presidential elections in Wisconsin have been decided by less than 1% of the vote, Wikler noted, so rulings that increase or decrease voter turnout by even a small amount could determine the outcome.

A voter casts an early ballot at a polling station Milwaukee, Feb. 9. (Morry Gash/AP)

Although the judicial elections are officially nonpartisan, the court has a 4-3 conservative majority, which has sided with Republicans in crucial cases in recent years, including upholding a photo ID requirement for voters and issuing a ruling that made it harder to vote by absentee ballot. That ruling, from last June, outlawed drop boxes for absentee ballots and having absentee ballots returned by a third party, such as a nonprofit organization doing voter mobilization.

That has the effect of making it more difficult to return absentee ballots, which more Democrats than Republicans use, Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause in Wisconsin, told Yahoo News.

Last year, the court also signed off 4-3 on a state legislative map drawn by the Legislatures Republican majorities that was so favorable to the GOP that if the parties split the statewide vote evenly, 63 out of 99 Assembly seats and 23 out of 33 Senate seats would go Republican.

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However, one of the conservative-leaning justices, Brian Hagedorn, has occasionally sided with the courts left flank, most notably in rejecting Trumps effort to overturn the outcome of Wisconsins results in the 2020 presidential election, which Joe Biden won by more than 20,000 votes.

Wisconsin Supreme Court Judge Brian Hagedorn. (John Hart/Wisconsin State Journal via AP)

The Wisconsin Supreme Courts seven justices are elected to staggered 10-year terms  only one seat is up for election at a time  in odd-year spring elections. There are two major conservative candidates and two major liberal candidates in the primary, and politics experts in Wisconsin expect one of each to advance to the general election. Although Wisconsin is an evenly divided swing state, an odd-year, spring election is likely to favor conservative candidates, who tend to do better in lower-turnout elections, as the voters most likely to skip off-year elections skew toward Democratic-leaning constituencies such as young people, lower-income voters and voters of color, according to experts.

This year, Justice Patience Roggensack, a conservative, is not running for reelection, giving liberals a chance to flip her seat and form a majority that could go the other way on issues like voter ID, absentee voting rules and redistricting. But progressive activists also say that installing a liberal majority on the court would eliminate the risk that Trump, who is seeking the 2024 Republican nomination, could get Wisconsins next presidential election overturned.

Depending on Brian Hagedorn, whos a very conservative guy, to be the arbiter of whos going to win Wisconsin is a very dangerous thing, Heck said. Whoever replaces Roggensack, if its a conservative, its still going to be up in the air as to what happens if theres a false claim put forward by Trump or somebody in 2024.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court chamber. (Getty Images)

Conservative legal experts agree that it is impossible to predict how Hagedorn would rule on a potential challenge to an election outcome.

It's kind of hard to assess how such a challenge would come out without knowing the circumstances of the challenge, said Rick Esenberg, president and general counsel of the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, a conservative legal advocacy organization.

The challenge brought in state court in Wisconsin was very, very different than some challenges brought in other jurisdictions, Esenberg noted. It didnt really allege voter fraud, in the sense of [ineligible] votes or misreporting the count or anything like that. It had to do with what the Trump camp called departures from the law in the increase of absentee ballots because of the COVID pandemic.

So it's impossible to infer how Hagedorn would rule in an effort to overturn a future election that hinges on a different argument. And replacing Roggensack with a liberal would give Democrats more breathing room.

On the other hand, even if a conservative wins in April, it wont necessarily guarantee that the justices would rule in favor of a future election challenge. One of the conservative candidates, Daniel Kelly, who spent four years on the state Supreme Court and was endorsed by Trump when he lost his seat in 2020, has said on the campaign trail this year that he did not see an argument that would be capable of disenfranchising all of the people who cast votes in [the 2020 presidential] election, implying that he would have ruled against the Trump campaign. The other conservative, Jennifer Dorow, a Waukesha County judge, has not given her opinion of the case.

Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Jennifer Dorow. (Mark Hoffman/Pool/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP)

Progressive voting rights advocates may ask a liberal-majority court to revisit the rulings on absentee voting and voter ID, decisions that were criticized by civil rights groups for disproportionately disenfranchising certain groups of voters, such as African Americans and voters with disabilities.

If a liberal candidate is elected, I certainly think that we would be much more likely to see a court that would rule in terms of expanding the right to vote, said Doug Poland, an election lawyer in Madison who has represented Democrats in voting rights and election administration cases.

Esenberg argued that those rulings may not be reversed even if liberals do take the majority on the court, because reversing a ruling is a heavy lift. He added that Wisconsin law clearly disallows drop boxes and third-party return of ballots. Changing precedent is always a difficult thing, he said. It requires a whole other layer of justification, so its not as easy or as automatic as you might expect it to be.

The statute says that the voter either has to place the absentee ballot in the mail or must return it in person to the clerk  and there really isnt another English-language interpretation thats available, Esenberg said.

The legislative district map could also be challenged by voting rights advocates who argue that the partisan gerrymander is illegal under the state constitution. We have a heavily gerrymandered state Legislature that has a locked-in Republican majority, even though the majority of votes counted are for Democrats year after year, Poland observed.

People casting their votes in Franklin, Wis., Nov. 3, 2020. (Morry Gash/AP)

If the progressives gain control of the court, then my organization and other organizations will bring an action to open up the partisan gerrymandering on constitutional grounds, Heck of Common Cause said. A change to the legislative districts could in turn determine control of the state Legislature, which not only makes laws for Wisconsin but draws legislative boundaries for its congressional districts and has the power to change the voting laws even if the courts do not.

While shaping the outcome of future Wisconsin elections might be the most significant feature of this race to outsiders, Wisconsin voters may be more concerned with how the court affects their day-to-day lives. In particular, a law from 1849 that bans almost all abortions is currently being litigated in front of a trial court judge in Madison.

According to the Washington Post, the liberal candidates, Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz and Everett Mitchell, a Dane County judge, have criticized the courts rulings on voter ID and absentee voting and praised the ruling against Trump, but they have perhaps focused most of all on abortion rights.

Both Kelly and Dorow have been endorsed by anti-abortion groups. In total, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel estimated that roughly $11 million will be spent on the campaign, largely by outside groups on both sides. And sitting justices have broken with tradition and endorsed candidates in the race. Two of the liberal justices have backed Protasiewicz, and Dorow and Kelly are each supported by one sitting conservative.

The stakes are monstrous, Barry Burden, the director of the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin, told the Guardian. Theres a confluence of factors that have come together, intentionally or not to make this a terribly important race for the future of the state.
Kimberly Birch won "I Wanna Marry 'Harry,'" the short-lived 2014 reality show on Fox. FOX/Getty; Marianne Ayala/Insider

Kimberly Birch is the winner of "I Wanna Marry 'Harry,'" the 2014 Fox reality series that attempted to convince women they were competing for the affections of Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex. The series was canceled after four episodes due to low ratings.

Back then, Birch was an aspiring actress in her 20s who faced criticism for appearing on the show.

This is Kimberly's story, as told to journalist Charlotte Walsh.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with "I Wanna Marry 'Harry'" winner Kimberly Birch. It has been edited for length and clarity.

When I was 23, I was approached by a casting agent seeking high-energy young women who were looking for love.

It was the early 2010s and I was working as a brand ambassador on Long Island while pursuing a career as an actor. I was really hesitant  I just knew a reality show wouldn't be a good look for me.

But one of my coworkers (who'd later become my castmate) was really enthusiastic about it, so I went along with her for moral support and auditioned for the hell of it. During the audition process, nobody mentioned the royal family  only "a really great bachelor."

I thought the Fox show was gonna be like a cheesier rip-off of ABC's "The Bachelor" with a much lower budget.

The "I Wanna Marry 'Harry'" cast in the manor. FOX Image Collection via Getty Images

I was cast on the show alongside 11 other American women and flown into Heathrow airport. It was dark out and I was scared and anxious  I didn't know where I was going or what would happen next.

From there, I was placed in a hotel room, alone, for a week. My phone was taken away and I wasn't allowed to have access to books or television. It shifted my emotional and mental well-being and broke me down a bit.

By the sixth or seventh day, I was much more willing to listen to whatever I was told.

On the day we started filming, a Rolls Royce took me and the other girls to Englefield House, a giant estate that looked like a castle. That's when some of the girls started to think the show could have something to do with a royal.

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We met our red-haired English bachelor during a masquerade ball on episode one. We were all masked, and so was he.

I remember one of my castmates throwing out the idea that he could be Prince Harry, but we didn't really believe it because it'd never been told to us. Showrunners kind of let us come up with the idea he was Prince Harry on our own.

Matthew Hicks on "I Wanna Marry Harry." FOX Image Collection via Getty Images

I began believing the bachelor was Prince Harry after my date with him was crashed by 'paparazzi'

I was chosen for the second individual date with the bachelor, a hot-air-balloon ride and picnic.

At some point  because we were just sitting and there were cameras everywhere  he asked me if we wanted to go for a walk away from everything. We walked into the nearby woods and "paparazzi" jumped out.

I found out later that production had hired them to take pictures of us. It was so well-planned that I 100% believed it was real and I'd end up in English newspapers or on television.

On another date, "security" rushed in and pulled him away. No one told us he was royal, but after all of that, more of us started to wonder if we really were going on dates with Prince Harry.

I didn't know much about the royal family at the time. We couldn't look anything up online or get a photo of Prince Harry to reference. I was trusting the people around me and thinking the point of the show might be dating a royal.

On some days I thought there was no way he could be royal. On others, I thought about how no one back home would believe I was on a dating show with Prince Harry.

The bachelor wasn't physically the type I'd go for at the time, but I felt like he was a good guy and he was very endearing. I still don't know the level of romantic feelings I actually felt for him because, in that bubble, it's hard to process what you're actually feeling and what you're just going along with.

"I Wanna Marry Harry" contestants during the series premiere. FOX Image Collection via Getty Images

I realized the bachelor wasn't Prince Harry during a cast trip to London

When the show was down to the final three girls, we went on a cast trip to London and I saw a Prince Harry mask on a stick, the kind with the eyes cut out.

It didn't look like our bachelor and it took me right back to reality  this guy is not who we think he is.

I told the other two girls that I saw a mask and that we weren't dating Prince Harry but neither believed me. They're like, "Kim, of course he looks different on a mask."

A production member pulled me away and quarantined me for the rest of the day. Another producer tried to talk me through what I "thought" I saw so that I didn't ruin the twist for the other girls. But I knew what I saw and they weren't going to convince me otherwise.

From that point on, I was much more relaxed because I knew something I wasn't supposed to know.

I still hadn't realized that the premise of the show was to get us to think that the bachelor was a prince. But, at that point, I knew I wasn't going to marry the real Prince Harry.

Much to my surprise, I won the show. The bachelor confessed to me he wasn't a royal  just a regular Englishman named Matthew Hicks. I told him I knew he wasn't the royal, but that part didn't air.

After the show, he stayed in England and I went back to New York. We weren't allowed to speak to each other for about three months. He was a nice guy, but we agreed: You go on with your life, I'll go on with mine.

"I Wanna Marry Harry" during the masquerade-ball episode. FOX Image Collection via Getty Images

After the show premiered, I faced public scrutiny  but I felt vindicated after the real Prince Harry married a Hollywood actor

I found out about the show's premiere while driving in my car listening to the local radio station in the summer of 2014.

The host had said something like, "Did you hear about this new reality show about these American girls that think they're going to be dating Prince Harry? What idiots!" I had to pull over and I just kept saying, "No, no, no, no, no." A part of me hoped the show wouldn't actually air because it was scary to think about how I'd be portrayed.

When it debuted, I definitely felt a bit embarrassed but thank God I had a therapist at the time to help keep me stable. I can't even blame viewers for thinking we were a bunch of idiots. I'd think the same thing watching it  people can only go off of what they see on TV.

Still, I'll never regret doing the show. Production gets a lot of heat for "brainwashing" us, and I don't think this show's premise would fly in today's world, but I give them credit. They did a really great job of getting us to believe what they needed us to.

At the time, the concept of a royal being on a dating show seemed so far-fetched. A lot of people asked me if I really thought Prince Harry would ever date some nobody American actor like me. No, I never thought that could happen or that the royal family would have anything to do with a reality show.

But a few years later, I heard the real Prince Harry was dating Meghan Markle. She was an American actor just like me and now they're married. It's just so ironic to me. I feel so vindicated, in a way.

To me, it was life imitating art.

Representatives for Zig Zag Productions and Ryan Seacrest  "I Wanna Marry 'Harry'" cocreator whose production company Ryan Seacrest Productions produced the show  didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Read the original article on Insider
 Flash

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin at a regular press conference in Beijing, China, Feb. 13, 2023. [Photo/Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs]

The United States has illegally flown its high-altitude balloons over Chinese airspace more than 10 times without Chinese authorities' approval since the beginning of last year, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Monday.

It is not rare for U.S. balloons to enter the airspace of another country illegally, Wang told a regular press briefing in Beijing.

The U.S. has also frequently sent warships and aircraft to conduct close-in reconnaissance on China, which undermines China's sovereignty, he said.

The U.S. should change its way and do some soul-searching, instead of smearing or blaming the Chinese side, said Wang, in reference to Washington's recent claim about a Chinese "spy balloon."

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has repeatedly made clear that the entry of a Chinese civilian unmanned airship, which is for meteorological purposes, into U.S. airspace was due to force majeure and totally an accident.

"The world's largest spy network"

At Monday's briefing, the Chinese spokesperson said that the U.S. has abused its technological advantages to carry out massive, indiscriminate wiretapping and stealing of secrets all over the world, including its allies, for a long time.

In 2013, former U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden revealed that Washington had been spying on the email and cell phone communications of as many as 35 world leaders.

And in May 2021, Denmark's national broadcaster DR News reported that the NSA purposefully obtained data and thus was able to spy on targeted heads of state, as well as neighboring Scandinavian leaders, top politicians, and high-ranking officials in Germany, Sweden, Norway, and France.

"In fact, the U.S. is the world's largest country in surveillance and reconnaissance, with the largest spy network in the world," said Wang.

According to a report by Anzer, a cybersecurity information platform, the NSA had remotely stolen more than 97 billion pieces of global internet data and 124 billion phone records in 30 days.

Citing the report, Wang said that involved a huge number of citizens' privacy in different countries.

He also said a U.S. saildrone found in Namibian territorial waters recently is seens by local media as an American spy drone.

"Who is the world's largest spying empire? The international community sees a clear answer," said Wang.
New York resident Kingsley Burnett was anticipating his trip to Sydney, Australia. So you can likely guess his disappointment when he landed in Sidney, Montana, after accidentally booking the wrong flight.

Burnett recently shared this unexpected adventure with Storyful, revealing that after his trip to Australia was delayed in late January, he rebooked the flight  just not to the correct destination.

The post New York Man With Planned Trip To Sydney, Australia, Accidentally Books Flight To Sidney, Montana appeared first on Blavity.

At first, Burnett didnt notice his mistake. He departed New Yorks LaGuardia Airport on Jan. 26 and landed in Billings, Montana. It was there that Burnett realized he wasnt making it to the land down under.

I had to find out for myself that Billings, Montana, would only take me to Sidney, Montana, where there are no kangaroos waiting to welcome Mr. Burnett, he told Storyful, according to Fox 5 News.

Burnett went on to share that seeing the size of the plane was somewhat of a hint that he wasnt flying to another country.

I saw the little plane with like nine passengers and wondered, How is that going to get me to Australia? Burnett said.

My story in a bottle ended with Carol Castellano at the American Airlines counter as she tried to send me to the correct place  unfortunately that turned out to be back to NYC after a night out in Billings. Thanks Carol, he concluded.

Luckily for Burnett, he was able to reschedule his trip and will be flying to Sydney, Australia, this summer.
YouTubers Archie Manners and Josh Pieters preparing to send their own spy balloon above the Chinese embassy in London. Josh & Archie/YouTube

Josh Pieters and Archie Manners flew a mock spy balloon over the Chinese embassy in London.

The YouTube duo bought a white balloon from eBay that resembled the one shot down over the US.

The police put a stop to the stunt after they were phoned by the embassy's security.

YouTubers Josh Pieters and Archie Manners flew a white balloon over the Chinese embassy in London, after the US shot down an object it said was being used for spying.

The YouTube duo are best known for their elaborate social experiments such as tricking Carole Baskin into her first live interview, and getting right-wing commentator Katie Hopkins to pick up a fake award the initials of which spelled "cunt."

Their next target was the Chinese Communist Party. In the video they joked that sending a real spy balloon over China would "require the coordination of international government agencies with sign off from presidents and prime ministers."

Instead, they decided to fly their little balloon, equipped with a GoPro, over the Chinese embassy in London.

"Our logic was if a child can fly a balloon and walk around the streets of London, why can't we fly a balloon?" Pieters told Insider. "It was a fairly large balloon, which is normally used for meteorological studies, but it was nonetheless a balloon."

(US officials said the balloon they shot down was much larger  some 200 feet high and carrying heavy equipment suspended underneath.)

In the video, which has 47,000 views on YouTube and over 700,000 on TikTok, the pair fill up a weather balloon that they purchased on eBay with helium from a party-supply store.

Then they headed to the Chinese embassy in central London and gradually lifted the balloon on a rope until it was above the building's roof.

The GoPro caught some footage through the windows of the embassy, but it was "a bit dark and mysterious in there," Pieters said.

"We couldn't make out exactly what was going on inside, but we did see a man on the roof who was conducting what looked like some very, very important business," he said.

Story continues

The YouTubers' spy balloon flying over the Chinese embassy in London. Josh & Archie/YouTube

Contrary to what Manners and Pieters said in the video, embassies are not considered to be the physical territory of the countries they host. But they are often closely guarded, and attract special care from local law enforcement, in this case London's Metropolitan Police.

The balloon was soaring for around 10 minutes before a security guard came to ask what Pieters and Manners were doing. The guard then made a call and police in a red van  normally reserved for diplomatic protection and counterterrorism  with four armed officers showed up. This was "obviously quite scary," Pieters said.

"They asked us what an earth we thought we were doing, and at that point we said we were just flying a balloon," he said. "So they said, well, can you bring the balloon down. We said, absolutely."

The conversation made it into the video, with the officers saying the stunt could be "offensive" to the people inside the embassy. Manners and Pieters said that wasn't their intention, and quickly brought the balloon down so they could pop it.

"It got real quite quickly," Pieters said. "It's obviously a touchy topic in the world right now, flying a spy balloon."

Insider reached out to the Chinese embassy for comment but did not immediately hear back.

Read the original article on Insider
By Pavel Polityuk

KYIV (Reuters) - Russia said on Wednesday it had broken through two of Ukraine's fortified defence lines in the east and Kyiv spoke of relentless Russian attacks making it "difficult for us", as Western allies announced more military aid for Kyiv including artillery rounds.

Bolstered by tens of thousands of reservists drafted in December after months of humiliating battlefield reverses, Russia has intensified attacks across southern and eastern Ukraine in recent weeks, and a major new offensive is widely anticipated as the first anniversary of its invasion nears.

The Russian Defence Ministry said Ukrainian forces had retreated in the face of Russian attacks in the Luhansk region, although it gave no details and Reuters was not able to independently verify this and other battlefield reports.

"During the offensive ... the Ukrainian troops randomly retreated to a distance of up to 3 km (2 miles) from the previously occupied lines," the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app.

"Even the more fortified second line of defence of the enemy could not hold the breakthrough of the Russian military."

The ministry did not specify in which part of the Luhansk region the offensive took place.

Later in the day, Ukrainian deputy defence minister Hanna Malyar said Russian forces were mounting "round-the-clock" assaults on government positions, without specifying where.

"The situation is tense. Yes, it is difficult for us. But our fighters are not allowing the enemy to achieve their goals and are inflicting very serious losses," Maltyar wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Haidai said Russia was pouring heavy equipment and mobilised troops into Luhansk.

"The attacks are coming in waves from different directions. (But) those who spread the information that allegedly our defence forces have pulled back beyond the line of the administrative boundary (of Luhansk) - this does not correspond to reality."

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In Kyiv, the capital's military administration said six Russian balloons that may have contained reconnaissance equipment were shot down over the city on Wednesday after air raid sirens blared.

"The purpose of launching the balloons was possibly to detect and exhaust our air defences," it said on the Telegram messaging app. Russia did not immediately comment.

RUSSIAN ONSLAUGHT ON BAKHMUT

Russia is also waging an artillery and ground onslaught on the city of Bakhmut in Donetsk province adjacent to Luhansk.

Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesperson for Ukraine's eastern military command, told Ukrainian TV on Wednesday that fierce battles were being fought in Bakhmut, widely flattened by months of bombardment that has turned it into a virtual ghost town.

Bakhmut's capture would give Russia a stepping stone to advance on two bigger cities, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk further west in Donetsk, which would revive Moscow's momentum ahead of the Feb. 24 first anniversary of the invasion.

Zelenskiy said on Tuesday Russia was in a hurry to achieve as much as it could with its latest push before Ukraine, armed with heavier and longer-range firepower from the West, gathers strength for what many expect to be a spring counter-offensive.

Ukraine is using shells faster than the West can make them and says it needs fighter jets and long-range missiles to counter the Russian offensive and recapture lost territory.

'GRINDING WAR OF ATTRITION'

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said alliance members were increasing production of 155mm artillery rounds and needed to ramp that up even further to help Ukraine. It was "obvious" NATO states had to spend more on defence, he added.

"So yes, things are happening but we need to continue, we need to step up even more. This is now becoming a grinding war of attrition and (this) is a war of logistics," he told reporters after a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell urged countries to join Germany in sending "as many tanks as possible, and as quickly as possible" to Ukraine after media reports that Denmark and the Netherlands said they would not deliver Leopard 2 battle tanks like Berlin.

"It would be very disappointing if, after so long of pointing the finger at Germany for not doing anything, these countries now don't follow suit," Borrell told Germany's Phoenix broadcaster.

"I know there are hundreds of tanks in EU armies, some of them need to be refurbished, but then you have to do it, and do it quickly, because in the spring it will be too late."

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said after the Brussels talks that Ukraine had a very good chance of taking and "exploiting" the initiative on the battlefield this year.

Austin said that for every new system NATO provides Kyiv, it will train troops on it. "We're laser-focused on making sure that we provide a capability and not just the platform."

Britain said it and other European nations would provide military equipment including spare parts for tanks and artillery ammunition to Ukraine via an international fund, with an initial package worth more than $241 million.

On Jan. 20, a senior U.S. administration official said Washington was advising Ukraine to hold off with a major offensive until the latest supply of U.S. weaponry is in place and training has been provided.

Russia calls the invasion a "special military operation" against security threats, saying NATO shows hostility to Russia daily and is growing more involved in the conflict. Kyiv and its allies call Russia's actions an unprovoked land grab.

Russia holds tracts of Ukraine's southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, including its nuclear plant, nearly all of Luhansk and over half of Donetsk. Last year, Russia declared it had annexed the four regions in a move condemned by most United Nations members as illegal.

(Reporting by Caleb Davis; Additional reporting by Sabine Siebold, Pavel Polityuk, Ron Popeski, Lydia Kelly, Aleksandar Vasovic, Tassilo Hummel, Steve Holland, Doina Chiacu, Ron Popeski and David Ljunggren; Writing by Stephen Coates, William Maclean and Mark Heinrich; Editing by Tomasz Janowski, Nick Macfie and Lisa Shumaker)
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, awarded the 10th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with the Edelweiss honourable title.

Source: Presidents decree

Quote: "Award the 10th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with the honourable Edelweiss title and from now on call it the 10th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade Edelweiss of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine."

Background:

In January, the 10th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade reported that the Ukrainian troops are destroying dozens of members of the Russian Wagner Group that does not consider its losses and does not retrieve the bodies of its soldiers.

The 10th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade is a military formation within the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The symbol of the brigade is an emblem of the mountain infantry units (edelweiss and crossed Hutsul hatchets) on a shield with the number of the brigade written with a Roman number "X" in the lower part.

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A Romanian who came to Southwest Virginia for what he called a get-rich-quick scheme got another 18 months in prison Monday for his role in rigging ATMs to allow him to withdraw other peoples cash.

Catalin Puscasu, who took nearly $200,000 from hundreds of debit and credit cardholders, was the last of three Romanians to be sentenced in Roanokes federal court for the sophisticated scam.

Early in 2019, Puscasu and others secretly installed tiny, hidden cameras at ATMs that captured the personal identification numbers of unknowing bank customers as they punched them into the machines.

A skimming device that had been placed inside the ATMs recorded the account information before the cards were returned to their owners. After encoding the information onto counterfeit cards, the high-tech thieves then used the secretly obtained PINs to make unauthorized cash withdrawals.

By the time bank customers in the Roanoke Valley and surrounding jurisdictions discovered money was missing from their accounts, the operation had moved on to other ATMs before it was eventually shut down by police.

Authorities say members of a criminal organization traveled from Romania to the United States solely to take part in the ATM skimming case.

U.S. District Judge Michael Urbanski, who has presided over three of the prosecutions, said he has taken to using one hand to shield the other as he enters his PIN  just in case a hidden camera is watching.

Everybodys fearful, because we use these cards every day, he said in pronouncing Puscasus sentence.

Although virtually all of the cardholders received refunds from their federally insured banks, Assistant U.S. Attorney M. Coleman Adams wrote in court records that it takes little thought to imagine the experience hundreds of individuals endured when they realized money had been stolen from their accounts.

The judge ordered Puscasu to make $190,111.84 in restitution to the banks, which bore the financial burden of the crimes. But chances of recovering money are scant; Urbanski chose not to impose a fine that the nearly penniless defendant had no ability to pay.

The 18 months Puscasu received comes in addition to 36 months in prison that he has already served for a similar ATM scheme in Michigan.

Puscasu moved to Michigan after having a falling out with two of his co-conspirators in Virginia  Marius Catalui and Szilard Farkas  not long after they arrived in the United States and began stealing money.

Catalui was sentenced to 30 months in prison. Farkas received 24 months.

In asking for an 18-month sentence for Puscasu for his Virginia crimes, defense attorney Tony Anderson argued that his client has accepted full responsibility for his role in an operation he regrets joining.

Puscasu, 39, was not the leader or organizer of a scheme that lured him and other Romanians to America under the false promise of making fast money. In fact, he was berated by a superior in the scheme for how cooperative he was with law enforcement following his arrest in Michigan, Anderson wrote in court documents.

Although few details about the larger organization in Romania have emerged in court proceedings, Anderson wrote that the profits from his clients crimes flowed to others, not him.

Puscasu was well regarded in Brasov, Romania, where he worked his way from being a bouncer at a neighborhood bar to becoming an executive of a local television station, according to Anderson.

If I had the opportunity to do things differently (that is, never come to the U.S. for this ridiculous, get-rich-quick scheme) I promise you, I would 100% do, Puscasu said in a hand-written letter to Urbanski.

Puscasu wrote that he hopes to return to Romania to rejoin his wife and two young sons, who are struggling with family problems and hard times in a region not far from the war in Ukraine.

At the time I chose what I thought was the easiest path to support my family and myself, he wrote, but I have discovered that this easy path was anything but.
, Feb 14 ( AP ) - Shoichiro Toyoda, who as a son of the companys founder oversaw Toyotas expansion into international markets has died. He was 97.

Toyoda, the company's honorary chairman, died Tuesday of heart failure, Toyota Motor Corp. said in a statement.

He was the father of Akio Toyoda, who recently announced he was stepping down as president and chief executive to become its chairman. Shoichiro was the eldest son of Kiichiro Toyoda, who founded Toyota in 1937.

After becoming Toyota's president in 1982, Shoichiro Toyoda helped direct Toyotas transformation into a global automaker, especially in the vital U.S. market, where its brand became synonymous with quality, durability, cost performance and engineering finesse.

Both father and son experienced the difficult years of Japan-bashing, when powerful Japanese exporters like Toyota were blamed for taking away American blue-collar jobs. ...continue reading
Raising support for people facing cardiac treatment, is a deeply personal cause for Laura Ganapini, Supply Chain Manager at Methodist Jennie Edmundson Hospital and Methodist Womens Hospital.

Recognizing that heart disease runs in her family, she states, No matter where anyone is treated, many people need assistance to get through that difficult time.

Ganapini has worked in the Methodist Health System for 15 years. When she is not at work, you can find her riding her motorcycle, cooking, entertaining and spending time with friends or spending time with her cat Graysan.

In 2020, Ganapini attended Dance to the Beat for the first time. She had decided to purchase a table and invite some of her friends to join her. They all had a fabulous time and she will be bringing another table full this year.

These program are vital to our patients, she said. All Jennie Edmundson Hospital employees should be proud to work for an organization that is so valued in the community.

This years Dance to the Beat is being held on Friday, Feb. 17, from 7 to 11 p.m. To purchase your $30 Dance to the Beat ticket or to learn more, contact the Methodist Jennie Edmundson Hospital Foundation at jehfoundation.org or by calling 712-396-6040.
The Pottawattamie County Board of Supervisors has reappointed Jerry Mathiasen of Council Bluffs to the Pottawattamie County Conservation Board for a five-year term. The unanimous action was taken at the Supervisors meeting Feb. 7.

At its most recent meeting, the Conservation Board elected board officers for 2023. They are Chris Ruhaak of Council Bluffs as president, Eric Hough of Underwood as vice-president and Mathiasen as secretary.

Mathiasen had served two years of an unexpired term of a previous member on the board, which is dedicated to the conservation of natural resources while providing educational and recreational opportunities.

Sincerely humbled to be reappointed by the Board of Supervisors to a full term, Mathiasen said in a press release. I appreciate the confidence that the Supervisors have in me, and for entrusting me to help manage our significant local natural resources.

Mark Shoemaker, executive director of Pottawattamie Conservation, cited the Supervisors recognition of Mathiasens dedication to PCCB, including not missing any meetings in his two years so far and for his regular enthusiastic participation in many conservation events.

Mathiasen is widely known for his leadership in public service and philanthropy. The retired president and CEO of the Pottawattamie County Community Foundation (now Community Foundation for Western Iowa), returned to his hometown of Council Bluffs following 14 years in Des Moines as a state government executive.

We have a hardworking Pottawattamie County Conservation team and Im excited to continue working with them, Mathiasen said.

For more information on Pottawattamie County Conservation, visit pottconservation.com.
While Council Bluffs Police Department officers Alex Klement, Ken McClure and Colby McCord comprise the human component of the departments K9 unit, it was their canine companions who stole the show during the units presentation at last weeks Citizens Police Academy session.

Police Service Dogs Ares and Houser put their considerable talents on display after their humans explained the K9 units role as part of the larger police department.

Working with his partner, McClure, PSD Ares eagerly demonstrated his drug detection skills. He searched the conference room, sniffing along the walls and doors, a podium, wherever McClure would direct him.

Youll be able to see the alert that we talked about, which is essentially, theres a change in behavior, Klement explained before the demonstration began. He may become completely nasal, start excessively sniffing, hell probably square his body out towards the source of the odor, and then hell go into indication, which can either be a sit, standing there or a lay down. More likely with this dog, it will be a sit.

As the demonstration began, Ares knew there was something hidden somewhere in the room, and he was going to follow his snout until he found it  which he did, after about a minute of olfactory detective work. Ares sat down, head up, fixated on a cabinet tucked away in the corner of the room.

McClure opened one of the drawers and pulled out a short length of rubber hose that had been placed in a sealed container with methamphetamine so it could absorb the scent, which Ares couldnt wait to start gnawing on.

PSDs, or K9s, are literally trained to stick their noses into other peoples business. Its their job, and while the dogs might not exactly take pride in their work, their handlers certainly do.

(The dogs are) basically a part of our family, Klement said at a K9 demonstration last year in Graham Park. We are just around each other 24/7. Its just like it would be with your pet at home. We are just that close with them, and then the fact that weve trained them to help save other peoples lives and our lives is what makes them so valuable to us.

Dogs that are trained for police service can cost tens of thousands of dollars, and, except for recent retiree Rudys replacement, all of the citys K9s have been purchased from international vendors and transported to the United States. Klements dog, Houser, hails from Hungary, and Ares was born in Poland. Training usually begins when the dogs are a year and a half to two years old.

Council Bluffs K9s are trained to sniff out narcotics and evidence, and track suspects, which they love to do, McClure said.

Thats their paycheck, McClure said. They love to catch bad guys.

To demonstrate catching a bad guy, McCord donned a puffy padded bite suit, while Klement retrieved his partner, Houser.

Klement shouted multiple warnings at McCord, telling him to surrender. When McCord continued being uncooperative, Klement sent Houser to locate and subdue the suspect.

Houser raced up to McCord and barked continuously, signaling that he had found someone while keeping the suspect rooted in place.

Klement told Houser to stand down while he began frisking the suspect. McCord, defiant, shoved Klement away from him, which triggered Houser to go after him.

With no prompting from Klement, Houser leapt toward McCord and locked his jaws around his bite suit-encased arm.

The dogs are trained to bite and hold a suspect, and while an arm or leg is preferable, the dogs cant be trained to go after a specific body part.

Later, McCord pretended to run away from Klement. Houser, again with no verbal command from Klement, went after him, again holding McCords arm in his vice-like jaws.

The State of Iowa doesnt have a certification process for police service dogs, or any guidelines for training, so the CBPD K9 unit uses the Nebraska certification standard. The unit also trains once a week with counterparts from other jurisdictions, including Pottawattamie County, Omaha, Douglas County, Sarpy County, Bellevue, Papillion and La Vista.

We bring in a lot of people, McClure said. It takes a lot of people to train dogs. When we have a training day, basically, one dog goes at a time, but you need an agitator, you need people helping to hide narcotics, you need people for safety. We dont have a facility, so we go to all these weird places, so you have to keep people from coming in and out of your training area so somebody doesnt get bitten.

McCord was the only member of the K9 unit whose partner didnt participate in the Citizens Police Academy. McCords former partner, Rudy, retired earlier this year due to health issues caused by his fall from a three-story rooftop in 2021.

Rudy survived, but suffered a broken femur and tibia. After surgery and rehab, he returned to duty, but arthritis in his leg and hip cut his career short.

McCord took ownership of Rudy, who is now trying to adjust from a life of service to one of leisure.

McCord recently picked up his new partner, whose name was to be determined at the time of last weeks CPA class, from a vendor in Florida. It will take a few weeks for McCord and his new partner to train together and bond, and then theyll be out on patrol together, enjoying being of service to their fellow officers and the community.
Iowans are taking advantage of the states high school equivalency opportunities.

High school equivalency programs are available through community colleges across the state, including Iowa Western Community College, which also offers classes in English as a Second Language. Individuals looking to earn their high school equivalency diploma can often attend and earn their credentials at no tuition cost, although it normally costs $25 to enroll.

Iowa has once again earned the top spot nationally for passing rates on the high school equivalency exam known as HiSET. Over the past several years, the state has consistently been a leader on the national stage for high school equivalency passing rate success, according to a press release from the Iowa Department of Education.

The latest national data shows that 96.3% of Iowans pursuing a high school equivalency diploma through HiSET passed the exam in 2021, compared to 77% nationally. This is an increase from 95.9% reported for Iowa in 2020.

Iowa also ranked first in 2021 in HiSET passing rates for Spanish-speaking individuals, the press release stated. An 88.6% passing rate was identified for individuals completing the test in Spanish last year.

Iowa Western offers classes year-round, according to Libby Woods, director of Adult Basic Education. Classes are seven weeks long and are offered Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Monday/Wednesday from 5 to 8 p.m. or Tuesday/Thursday from 5 to 8 p.m. ESL is offered Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to noon and Monday/Wednesday from 5 to 8 p.m. or Tuesday/Thursday from 5 to 8 p.m.

The HiSet is actually a group of five tests covering the required subjects: language arts reading, language arts writing, math, science and social studies, Woods said in an email. Last year, 213 students took at least one of the five final exams. About 85 finished passing the exams last year and graduated from the program, she said. Graduates receive a high school equivalency diploma from the State of Iowa and can participate in Iowa Westerns spring commencement ceremony with its other students.

At Iowa Western, 16- to 24-year-olds make up 42% of the ABE students, 25- to 44-year-olds comprise 45% of the students and those 45 and older make up 13%.

Iowas continued achievements on the HiSET exam is a proud moment for adult education and literacy and high school equivalency diploma programs across the state, said Amy Gieseke, community colleges bureau chief at the Iowa Department of Education. Through the Departments partnerships with Iowas 15 community colleges, these programs are assisting individuals who want to pursue education and training, develop new skills and discover career pathways.

The HiSET exam, which was developed by the nonprofit Educational Testing Service, measures the knowledge and proficiency equivalent to those of an Iowa high school graduate. It has served as the state-approved test in Iowa since 2014. Currently, 29 states and four U.S. territories use HiSET as a high school equivalency testing option.

The exam is offered online and in paper testing versions. Out of 1,503 Iowans who completed the HiSET exam last year, 1,448 passed with their high school equivalency diploma.

High school equivalency diploma programs can be the start to new opportunities for an individual, said Mike Williams, Department of Education adult education and literacy consultant. It can potentially lead to other college courses and credentials, new connections and expanded job prospects.

Passing the HiSET exam is one possible path for Iowans to earn a high school equivalency diploma. Iowa law allows state providers to offer alternative pathways for students to demonstrate competency that would lead to the issuance of high school equivalency diplomas by the Iowa Department of Education. In addition to passing the state-approved exam, providers may offer high school equivalency diplomas based on the attainment of high school credit, postsecondary degree or foreign postsecondary degree.
The Community Foundation for Western Iowa, formerly Pottawattamie County Community Foundation, has announced that its 2023 Community Impact Grants cycle is now open.

Community Impact Grants range from $500 to $5,000 and are available to nonprofit organizations and governmental entities who are doing innovative and meaningful work throughout Pottawattamie County. Projects and programming must meet an identifiable need in the county and align with the Community Foundations mission to improve the lives of all county residents.

The Community Foundation utilizes an online grants center application system, and through the platform, applicants can set up an organization account to create applications, save drafts, complete reports and access their granting history.

This year, we are particularly pleased to announce the opening of the Community Impact Grants application process, Donna Dostal, president and CEO of the Community Foundation, said in a press release. With the expansion last year of SHARE Iowa, and an increased focus on building the capacity of our nonprofits in the county, we hope this granting session will bring out novel and innovative projects weve not seen in the past.

Pottawattamie County is so fortunate to benefit from programming and services designed to create true impact in our region. Every year we are astonished by the projects our nonprofit organizations are working on to enhance our community and we are excited to receive and review requests for this years granting cycle.

Grant applications should be submitted via the online portal by 11:59 p.m. on March 31. The Foundations Impact Grants Committee  a group of county residents and board members  will review applications in April and grant award recipients will be notified later this spring.

Annually, Impact Grants are allocated to projects in a variety of focus areas, such as: Arts and Culture, Community Betterment, Community Engagement, Education, Environment, Health, Human Services, and Youth. The application link and additional information is available on the Community Foundations homepage at givewesterniowa.org.
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Botswanas President Mokgweetsi Masisi has warned that his country may sever ties with diamond giant De Beers if talks to renegotiate a sales deal prove unfavorable to his government, AFP reports.

Masisi also called on the nation to rally behind his government as it tries to hammer out a better deal.

The country is Africas leading diamond producer and a 2011 sales agreement governing terms for the marketing of diamonds produced by Debswana  a 50-50 joint venture between the government and De Beers, which auctions most of the gemstones  was set to end in 2021.

The deal was extended by the parties citing the outbreak of coronavirus as the reason for the delay to conclude negotiations and it will run through June 30, 2023.

If we dont achieve a win-win situation each party will have to pack its bags and go, Masisi said on Sunday at a rally of his ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) in his home village, Moshupa.

Under the 2011 agreement, De Beers sold 90 percent of diamonds while Botswana auctioned 10 percent through its Okavango Diamond Company. In 2020, Botswanas share was raised to 25 percent.

Now we got insight into how the diamond market works and we discovered that we had been receiving less than what we should get, said Masisi, who spoke both in English and the local Tswana language.

We also discovered that our diamonds are making a lot of profit and that the (2011) agreement had not been beneficial to us.

We are upping the stakes because we want a larger share from our diamonds. It cant be business as usual, he warned.

The African leader was in a campaign trail for the 2024 legislative election.
The owner of a huge South African rhino conservation farm, the worlds largest, indicated Monday it would be sold at auction in April because he could no longer afford to breed the endangered animals, reports say.

Breeding rhinos is an expensive game, John Hume, Platinums 81-year-old founder, told AFP, adding that he had been breeding rhinos for 30 years without profit.

Platinum Rhino farm is home to nearly 2,000 southern white rhinoceros and spreads across 8,500 hectares (21,000 acres) in the North West province. It is the largest farm for rhino in the world.

The rainbow country is home to about 80 percent of the worlds rhino population, but poaching has taken a huge toll despite increased protection efforts on both private reserves and at national and regional parks.

Per government data, 448 rhinos were killed across the country last year, just three fewer than in 2021, as poachers increasingly targeted privately owned reserves instead of national parks.

The rhinos horns consist mainly of hard keratin, the same substance found in human nails, but they are highly sought on black markets for use in traditional medicines in Asian countries such as China and Vietnam, where it is believed to cure cancer and other ailments.

Preventing poaching took a huge monetary toll, said Hume, adding that it cost him up to half a million rand ($28,000) to breed a rhino up to the age of four years at his farm, which employs around 100 people.

Last year, Hume announced plans to release 100 farm-bred rhinos into the wild each year, which the farms chief veterinarian, Dr Michelle Otto, said could repopulate the whole of Africa if there were sufficient funding for the project.

Platinum Rhino is home to over 16 percent of South Africas southern white rhino population according to the company, the subspecies of white rhino, is now considered endangered with about 20,000 individuals remaining, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
Eritreas President Isaias Afwerki has accused the U.S. of supporting Tigrayan rebels during the two-year civil war in northern Ethiopia adding that Washington forced to rebels to sign November 2022 peace deal.

In an interview with local media, President Afwerki claimed that the peace deal signed between Ethiopia and the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) was rushed by the US to prevent the rebels from losing in the battlefield. The central government forces and the rebels were involved in a two-year conflict. Both parties reached a deal with Trigrayan rebels on November 12.

Afwerki also admitted for the first time that hundreds of thousands of people died in the conflict, though he did not elaborate on Eritrean casualties.

Last week, he denied reports that Eritrean troops committed war crimes in neighboring Ethiopia where they had been deployed to fight alongside federal troops and pro-government militia.

Eritreas army supported Ethiopian forces during war against the TPLF and has been accused by the United States and rights groups of some of the conflicts worst atrocities.
Quelling peaceful dissent and arresting independent journalists is now a common practice in Tunisia as it backpedals on democracy under the leadership of authoritarian president Kais Saied, following the example of his protectors in military-ruled Algeria.

After amassing all powers in a firm grip, President Saied launched an unrelenting campaign against peaceful opposition figures, throwing scores in jail. The latest target in this ruthless crackdown was Noureddine Bhiri, a senior official in the biggest opposition party Ennahda and a prominent critic of Saied.

The Tunisian police also arrested Noureddine Boutar, head of Radio M which frequently broadcast criticism of Saied.

Similarly, Tunisian authorities detained political activist and lawyer Lazhar Akremi to mention but a few prominent activists who have been silenced in a what many describe as a return to a Police state, worse than Ben Alis regime.

These arrests came in the wake of Tunisias attempt to hand Franco-Algerian opposition figure Amira Bouraoui who was spared a horrendous fate after French pressure to let her leave Tunisia to France.

Amira Bouraouis case is yet another example of cash-strapped Tunisia, doing dirty job for its paymaster Algeria. Previous examples of Tunisia handing opposition figures to the Algerian military include the case of Slimane Bouhafs, a Kabyle refugee and pro-democracy activist registered with UNHCR, who was kidnapped in August 2021 by Algerian secret agents in full sight of Tunisian authorities.

These blatant rights violations take place as Tunisia steers to default and social instability amid hurdles to get a lifeline from the IMF. As Tunisias financial stability erodes so does its sovereignty leaving the country under the mercy of an autocrat protected by a ruthless neighboring military regime that is not interested to see a democratic state nearby for fear of a spill over that may stoke a new Hirak style pro-democracy protest.

Tunisians should brace for more oppression which will tighten as the financial crisis bites in a context where President Saied turned his country into a vassal state depending on Algerias charity.

Algerias charity comes at a heavy price: The loss of sovereignty, backtracking on rights and serving Algiers hegemonic agenda in the region including through supporting separatists in the larger region, and this is unfortunately what Tunisia is experiencing under Kais Saied.
A judge has dismissed one of two legal actions filed by opponents of the proposed merger between the Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District and Dawson Public Power District.

District Judge Terri Harder Monday threw out a Dec. 2 Phelps County District Court suit against Central, saying Citizens Opposed to the Merger lacked standing to pursue its suit claiming the two districts violated state open-meetings laws.

State law doesnt include corporations in the definition of citizens allowed to challenge state and local governments actions under those laws, Harder wrote.

Her ruling doesnt affect a separate challenge by merger opponents before the Nebraska Power Review Board. That body, which has to approve the merger, is scheduled to begin an evidentiary hearing Wednesday on the opponents challenge.

Harders decision dismissed the Phelps County suit without prejudice, meaning Citizens Opposed to the Merger could amend and refile it.

Board members of Central and Dawson, based in Holdrege and Lexington respectively, capped two years of discussion by voting Oct. 24 to merge and form the Platte River Public Power and Irrigation District. Holdrege is the Phelps County seat.

General managers of the two districts have said the merger would give them more influence in the Legislature and save money for both Dawsons power customers and Centrals irrigation users.

Citizens Opposed to the Merger, a nonprofit corporation, was organized amid unhappiness over the plan by water users in Centrals prime Tri-County service area of Gosper, Phelps and Kearney counties.

Its leaders have said, among other things, that those three counties would lose their 8-3 majority on Centrals board and be left with just six of 14 members on the Platte River board.

They say that means water supplies and rates for the Tri-County system, anchored by Kingsley Dam and Lake McConaughy, would no longer be controlled by irrigation users in the three key counties.

The opponents December lawsuit alleged, among other things, that Centrals board did not make public all the information that led its members to approve the merger with Dawson.

The suit claims joint meetings of the two boards improperly used joint closed sessions to discuss the merger and have members sign a joint nondisclosure agreement forbidding discussion of the plan.

Central failed before multiple public meetings from Aug. 31 to Oct. 24 to adequately inform the public that it would be considering the merger or provide information on the plan, Citizens Opposed to the Merger contended in its suit.

Matters which constitute the publics business are to be determined with transparency through open meetings, the dismissed lawsuit declared.

Harder, who held a Jan. 19 hearing by telephone with attorneys for both sides, wrote Monday that the anti-merger groups lawsuit as written didnt back their claim that they had standing to sue.

The Open Meetings Act says any citizen of this state may sue over alleged violations. But Harder quoted a 2000 Holt County District Court decision that the purpose and intent of the Open Meetings Law does not appear to contemplate a corporation as a citizen.

That ruling said West Holt Memorial Hospital of Atkinson, which had sued the Holt County Board of Supervisors in that case, didnt meet the definition of citizen as an incorporated hospital.

Harder also rejected Citizens Opposed to the Mergers claim that it represents citizens through its membership and has standing to sue that way. The anti-merger group hasnt cited an authority behind its position, she wrote.
The North Platte Public Schools Board of Education approved the negotiated certified master agreement at Mondays regular meeting.

The agreement shows an increase in base salary of $950 annually with continued coverage of health care and the addition of one personal day, as well as two additional sick days.

The increase amounts to a 4.5% increase for teaching staff.

The agreement also includes a reward for longevity within the district. For teachers who stay with the district for 10 consecutive years, they will receive a $1,000 bonus at the end of the 10th year. Additionally, the bonus will continue for each additional five years of consecutive employment with the district.

This is a good way to reward people who stay with us, said Stuart Simpson, executive director of finance. It also helps Kevin (Mills, human resources director) with recruiting.

The board voted 6-0 in favor of the agreement.

The board heard a presentation by the North Platte High School Future Farmers of America club that competed at the District 9 Career Development Event competition at the D&N Event Center in North Platte on Wednesday.

The team qualified for the state meet in several categories.

The board:

Approved renewal of membership with the Nebraska Association of School Boards.

Approved the sale of a three Type A buses.

Approved the efforts of the Committee on American Civics to meet statutory requirements.

Approved district line of credit if needed. The option is used only if there is an issue getting property taxes on a timely basis and Simpson said the finance committee will be informed if the need arises.
https://www.instagram.com/p/ClXDoDcOx1r/ lorenbrovarnik Verified Obligatory family photo. 3x a charm. Thankful is an understatement. #happythanksgivng #teambrovarnik #thebrovbunch #lorenandalexeiafterthe90days #blessed #familyfirst Edited  1d

Loren Brovarnik/Instagram

"Lemons and love" turned out to be an appropriately bittersweet theme for Loren Brovarnik's baby on the latest Loren & Alexei: After the 90 Days.

Monday's episode saw Loren's family tension peak as two surprise guests  her mother and sister  turned up despite having previously refused to attend.

RELATED: 90 Day's Loren 'Speechless' at Baby Shower When Estranged Mom and Sister Walk In 'Like Nothing Happened'

The family feud didn't take a backseat to the celebratory day. Instead, Loren and her husband Alexei Brovarnik took Marlene and Rebecca aside to hash out their months-long estrangement.

Marlene claimed their decision to attend the shower was meant as an "olive branch," but Alexei wasn't buying it. He defended Loren and asked why the family members wouldn't have sent through a "yes" RSVP in order to prevent Loren enduring prolonged depression and anxiety.

"She was stressing out for months like crazy, and I don't know why you have to say you're not coming," Alexei said.

Marlene said she'd had a change of heart on the day of the party after she "thought long and hard, and I said, 'If we go, hopefully that will be the olive branch that will help us all move forward.'"

Loren and Alexei: Loren Gets Closure from Mom and Sister at Shower

Alexei called the last-minute arrival "all about how it looks" and "power moves."

Marlene asked for "respect" and added, "That's why we decided to come. To show you that no matter what, we are family and we're here for you."

RELATED: 90 Day Fiance Stars Loren and Alexei Brovarnik Welcome Third Baby, Daughter Ariel: 'So Happy'

Loren admitted the surprise was uncomfortable, detailing her "anxiety" and upset surrounding their "no" RSVP. At that, Marlene said, "That was the point."

Alexei questioned why there needed to be a "point" at all, telling Marlene: "Those points make us go to a place where we are not welcome in each other's lives."

Story continues

Marlene responded, "But why would you put me in a position where I have to make a point?"

Despite the increased tension at the baby shower, Marlene and a tearful Loren ended the conversation with a hug.

Loren and Alexei: Loren Gets Closure from Mom and Sister at Shower

Earlier this season, Loren and Alexei entered a period of estrangement from her family after a trip to Israel. During a trip on which the couple's extended families met, Loren and Alexei spoke in detail about potentially moving from America to Israel. Her family vocally opposed this plan, even in front of Alexei's family.

The rift grew deeper when Loren's family returned to the United States and Marlene gave Loren the cold shoulder when asked to babysit. The baby shower was just the latest event that Marlene and Rebecca were snubbing.

Time will tell if their "olive branch" brushed away any of Loren and Alexei's hurt.

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.

Loren & Alexei: After the 90 Days airs Mondays at 10:30 p.m. ET on TLC.
Israel's environment minister, Idit Silman, speaks at a climate summit at Ben-Gurion University on Tuesday before protesters shouted her off the stage.

Israel's environment minister, Idit Silman, speaks at a climate summit at Ben-Gurion University on Tuesday before protesters shouted her off the stage.

BEER SHEVA, Israel  Israels controversial new environment minister was shouted off the stage at a climate summit here in the so-called capital of Negev desert as protests grow against the most right-wing government in this countrys 75-year history.

Shortly after the minister took the podium at Ben-Gurion University on Tuesday morning, activists seated in the audience began repeatedly shouting shame on you in Hebrew at Idit Silman, the legislator who in January assumed the top environmental post in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus new administration.

You should never dirty the name and stain the name of Israel. You should never cast aspersions against your own people and your own state, Silman said, defiantly speaking through the jeers. Leave it to our enemies. You can sit down and listen because in a democracy, people listen.

The event took place one day after roughly 100,000 demonstrators descended on the national capital in Jerusalem to protest the new administrators plan to give the Knesset power to override the judiciary, a sea change that critics say would strip the courts of vital independence.

Supporters of the proposal say the court system empowers judges who are more liberal than voters and are not subject to elections. Opponents  who have ranged from civil society groups to Israeli President Isaac Herzog  generally say the move will allow Netanyahu to fight criminal charges against himself by cherry-picking friendly judges.

Monday nights march in Jerusalem, one of the largest demonstrations in Israels history, capped off weeks of routine Saturday night protests across the nation.

It really is possible that our air be clean but our hearts and our heads would be polluted by violence, Silman said. Im proud to be part of this government.

Story continues

If the judicial reforms become law, banking giant JPMorgan Chase warned that Israels credit rating may be downgraded, exacting a painful toll on the countrys export-oriented tech industry. Goldman Sachs said the proposed reforms could harm the value of the shekel.

It is possible to quarrel and debate and disagree without violence. For Gods sake, please remove the incitement for civil war and bloodshed. Stop with the threats, Silman said. Stop with that threatening language of leaving Israel and detrimentally affecting our economy.

Daniel Chamovitz, the president of Ben-Gurion University, chastised the young demonstrators, accusing them of disrespecting him in his private home by refusing to allow the minister to speak. Haaretz journalist Netta Ahituv, a moderator whose newspaper organized the conference, came on the stage to defend the minister.

For those who have come from abroad, this is a continuation of the demonstrations yesterday against the government; shes a minister of this government, thats why, Ahituv told the audience of hundreds. Its just heckling. Whatever your political opinions are, wed like to hear what the minister has to say.

Daniel Chamovitz, the president of Ben-Gurion University, stepped in to chastise protesters who were shouting at Silman.

Daniel Chamovitz, the president of Ben-Gurion University, stepped in to chastise protesters who were shouting at Silman.

Earlier this month, Silman, a lawmaker from Netanyahus conservative Likud party, advanced a bill that would require Israel, which depends heavily on fossil fuels, to cut its 2015-level emissions a maximum of 50% by the end of this decade. In December, environmental groups offered rare praise to the new government, whose climate goals appeared more ambitious than the previous, more moderate administration.

But a Haaretz review of Silmans legislative record found she attended just one of 12 meetings of a subcommittee she formed to investigate the impact of climate change on public health. Sources close to her in the Knesset told the newspaper that people had to chase after her for help with environmental legislation: She purportedly has a commitment to the environment, but its just words with no action.  She likes to say that shes green, but its not at the top of her priorities.

One of Silmans first moves in Netanyahus Cabinet was to abolish a tax on single-use plastic utensils opposed by ultra-Orthodox voters, whose traditionally large families adhere to strict religious rules on eating.

Attempting to deliver her speech, Silman accused her predecessors of overzealous enforcement and said she would treat polluting industries as partners, not opponents.

Im aware of the image of the policeman  who is the regulator who seems to always be chasing the entrepreneurs and the companies, she said of her agency. The message I want to convey here is I see you as partners on our part. You are not obstacles.

The comment reignited the demonstrators.

If you dont want to hear what I as a representative of the government, the ministry that protects the climate [has to say], then OK. All right, Silman said. If you dont want to hear another opinion, thats pretty amazing. Its tremendous hypocrisy.

For those who claim to be fighting for the sake of democracy, this is not democratic and this is not respectable, she added. Youre screaming about democracy but youre not letting me speak.

Silman gave up shortly afterward, ending her speech and exiting the stage.

Demonstrators gather at the climate summit at Ben-Gurion University, shouting shame on you in Hebrew at Silman.

Demonstrators gather at the climate summit at Ben-Gurion University, shouting shame on you in Hebrew at Silman.

On the following panel of speakers, Netta Lipman, the environment ministrys senior deputy director general of natural resources and climate resilience, said you missed out by not letting Silman finish her talk.

But Amit Bracha, chief executive of the environmental nonprofit Adam Teva VDin, called the administrations judicial proposal a coup that would result in Netanyahu hand-picking judges who would resolve his legal woes and uphold his most contentious policies on Palestinians and minority groups. Revoking the tax on plastic utensils, meanwhile, was tantamount to transforming Israel into one great garbage heap, he said.

The problem runs deeper than the Ministry of Environmental Protection, said Eitan Parnass, the chief executive of the Green Energy Association of Israel, who accused officials from the Ministry of Finance of failing to properly account for the cost of carbon dioxide emissions.

All the other Western economies are doing it, yet we dont measure that, he said. So the rest is just talk and talk and talk and nothing is done.

Later that morning, over coffee in the universitys lobby, Sharona Shnayder, 22, said she was proud of the activists for forcing Silman off the stage. The Nigerian-born, U.S.-raised immigrant to Israel founded an advocacy group that focuses on reducing waste in a country she said is plagued by plastic pollution. She said the new government was acting primarily to shore up its support among its most fervent base of voters in a bid to stay in power for as long as possible following four years of political instability in Israel.

It was really brave of them to stand up and refuse to be silent, Shnayder said. Honestly, go off.
The combined income of the global oil and gas industry surged to nearly $4 trillion last year, up from an average of $1.5 trillion in recent years, Fatih Birol, the Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), said during a conference on Tuesday.

Despite the record industry earnings, the major oil-producing countries, especially those in the Middle East, need to start working on diversifying their economies, the head of the IEA said via video link at an energy conference, as carried by Reuters.

You cannot anymore run a country whose economy is 90% reliant on oil and gas revenues because oil demand will go down, Birol said.

The next climate summit, COP28, which will be held in Dubai, could be an excellent milestone to change the destiny of the Middle East countries, said the head of the IEA, one of the international agencies most active in advocating for an energy transition.

The COP28 conference president-designate is Sultan Al Jaber, the chief executive of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), which pumps nearly all the oil in one of OPECs biggest and most influential members, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Sharing an IEA infographic on Twitter with the oil and gas industrys profits for 2022, Birol said this weekend, The sector has a unique opportunity to invest a significant chunk of this in clean energy transitions, especially in emerging & developing economies.

The six biggest international oil majors alone posted as much as $219 billion in net profits for 2022, a new record high.

Each of Exxon, Chevron, BP, Shell, Equinor, and TotalEnergies reported record profits for last year, doubling their combined net earnings from 2021 and booking the best-ever year for Big Oil. The profits surged from around $100 billion booked for 2021, as oil and gas prices jumped last year following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and majors raised oil and gas production to meet the growing demand for oil and limited gas supply from Russia to Europe.

By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com

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Declining oil production in many countries and the potential of insufficient crude supply will be a bigger problem for the oil market next year than how demand will evolve, according to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Im not worried about demand  what worries us is whether we are going to have enough supplies in the future, the UAEs Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei told Bloomberg TV on Tuesday.

What worries me is the decline that I see in many countries production, said the top energy official at one of OPECs biggest producers and most influential members.

According to Al Mazrouei, the global oil market is currently balanced. This suggests that the OPEC+ group will not rush to change production quotas in light of Russias announcement last week that it would cut its production in March by 500,000 bpd.

The OPEC+ group currently doesnt plan to change the course in its oil production targets after Russia announced the cut, two delegates from the OPEC+ alliance told Reuters on Friday. According to the Kremlin, Russia discussed its plan to cut production with some members of the OPEC+ alliance, in which Russia is a key member leading the group of non-OPEC producers.

Russia, however, had not formally consulted with OPEC+ on its plans before announcing the decision, a Russian government source has told Reuters.

Concerns from the UAE about oil supply next year were the latest statements from major OPEC figures who also said this week that the oil industry has been suffering from years of chronic underinvestment.

The industry has been plagued by several years of chronic underinvestment, OPECs Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais said earlier this week, calling on climate activists to look at the big picture and allow for an orderly energy transition.

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investment, if outright biased against the oil and gas industry, is a threat to energy affordability and energy security, Saudi Aramcos CEO Amin Nasser said this weekend.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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In this weeks newsletter, we will take a quick look at some of the critical figures and data in the energy markets.

Chart of the Week

European Gas Correction Mechanism Kicks In, Just As Prices Collapse

- The EUs gas market correction mechanism is set to come into effect tomorrow, February 15, triggering a regulatory intervention whenever front-month TTF prices exceed the LNG reference price by more than 35 per MWh.

- However, just as the mechanism is kicking in, natural gas prices in Europe have reached 18-month lows thanks to a combination of regular LNG arrivals and warmer winter weather, trending at 53-54 per MWh ($18/mmBtu).

- Simultaneously, the Intercontinental Exchange has come up with an alternative to the EU-controlled TTF prices as a hedge against regulatory intervention, to be launched from February 20 onwards.

- Seeing the alignment between futures prices and the EUs reference price, it seems increasingly unlikely that the market correction mechanism is going to be triggered anytime soon.

Market Movers

- Portugals national oil company Galp (ELI:GALP) sold all its exploration and production assets in Angola to local firm SOMOIL for $830 million, undergirding its upstream focus on Brazil.

- French oil major TotalEnergies (NYSE:TTE) announced its sixth oil discovery in Surinames offshore Block 58, with its Sapakara South-2 well-confirming reserves of some 200 MMbbls at the larger Sapakara play.

- The revision of BPs (NYSE:BP) cut in hydrocarbon production by 2030 and its newly confirmed intent to produce more oil for longer have angered climate-focused investors who will challenge the decision at the May 2023 shareholder vote.

Tuesday, January 24th, 2023

The White Houses unsuccessful attempt to cancel the fiscal year 2023 sale of 26 million barrels of crude kept in US strategic petroleum stocks has provided an unexpected downside for oil price this week, with the ICE Brent-WTI spread widening further to $6.5 per barrel. On the other side, OPECs monthly report confirmed its upbeat view of 2023 global oil demand, with the IEA publishing its report on Wednesday.

US Shale to Set New Output Record in March. According to the EIAs latest Drilling Productivity Report, crude output from the US seven biggest shale basins will rise to a record 9.36 million b/d in March on higher Permian production, up 75,000 b/d from this month, setting a new all-time high.

Saudi Arabia Warns Against ESG Bias. Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser stated that environmental, social and governance (ESG) investments are a move in the right direction, however, if implemented with a bias against conventional energy projects they would undermine future energy security.

Russia to Cap Discounts to Its Crude. The Russian government is seeking to mandate the lowest possible discounts for its oil exports, setting the price floor for its benchmark Urals grade at a $20 per barrel discount to dated Brent to maximize government revenues from crude sales.

US to Sell Another 26 MMbbls of SPR Oil. In accordance with a federal budget mandate enacted in 2015, the Biden administration will be prompted to sell 26 MMbbls of crude from the US strategic petroleum reserves this month, pushing overall SPR stocks as low as 345 MMbbls.

Iron Ore Prices Are Cooling Off. Increasing steel stocks and portside iron ore inventories in China (the latter rising to the highest since September 2022, coming in at 138.5 million tonnes) are weighing heavily on global iron ore prices, breaking off their three-month rally, with the May Dalian contract falling back to $120 per metric tonne.

China to Sign Longest-Ever LNG Deal. Chinas national oil and gas company CNPC (SHA:601857) is nearing a 30-year LNG supply deal with QatarEnergy that would lock in key volumes from the North Field expansion project, making it the longest term deal ever to be signed.

Exxon Starts Building Guyana Pipeline. US oil major ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) has started work on a $1 billion gas-to-shore pipeline stretching from the offshore Stabroek Block some 130 miles towards the continent, set to feed a 300 MW power plant expected to be commissioned in 2024.

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Egypt to Double Down on Upstream Licensing. In its quest to discover another supergiant field akin to the 30 TCf Zohr, the Egyptian government is planning to hold three oil and gas licensing rounds in 2023, with the first auction already offering acreage in the Mediterranean Sea.

US to Form Critical Mineral Alliance. According to Bloomberg, the Biden administration is in talks with Japan and Britain to form a narrow critical minerals-focused coalition, potentially also joined by the EU, to counter Chinas dominance in market segments like lithium, cobalt or graphite refining.

Freeport LNG Exports First Cargo Since Blast. As the BP-chartered (NYSE:BP) Kmarin Diamong LNG carrier departed the Freeport LNG facility earlier this week, the embattled liquefaction plant saw its first LNG export cargo since an explosion and fire halted all operations on June 8.

Iran Builds New Tankers for Venezuela. Building on the blossoming relationship with Tehran, Venezuela is reportedly finalizing a deal to contract two oil tankers, to be named India Urquia and India Mara, from Irans Marine Industrial Company as part of a revived 2006 deal.

Pakistan to Quadruple Coal Capacity. After Europes increased LNG buying made liquefied gas too expensive for Pakistan, the South Asian country is planning to quadruple its coal-fired generation capacity to 10 GW (currently at 2.3 GW) to reduce power costs.

EU Wants Egypt to Maximize LNG Output. The European Union has brokered a deal between Israel and Egypt that could see Israeli offshore gas being sent to the latters liquefaction facilities in Idku and Damietta, however, its prospects are murky as the interconnection requires infrastructure upgrades.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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From February 17 to 27, the navies of Russia, China and South Africa will conduct joint naval exercises in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Durban, the largest port in South Africa (Africanews.com, January 19). This marks the second time these governments have held joint exercises, the first being in 2019 (The Diplomat, November 22, 2019). Although those exercises were noteworthy at the time, little came of them. However, under the vastly changed geopolitical circumstances coming as a result of Russias all-out aggression against Ukraine, the potential ramifications of these upcoming exercises might be more far-reaching. For South Africa, which is a member of the BRICS economic bloc (loose grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) with Russia and China, these exercises appear to be a way of declaring South Africas neutrality vis-a-vis Russias war. Despite its closeness with Russia and China, South Africa claims that it is merely doing what every state doesthat is, carrying out exercises with friendly countries (Ntd.com, January 23). And since it remains neutral, the upcoming exercises do not signify that Pretoria is gravitating toward either Moscow or Beijing, as it also regularly conducts exercises with the United States, with four occurring since 2011 (Thestrategybridge.org, September 8, 2021).

But for Moscow and Beijing, the possible repercussions of these exercises go further, particularly in view of their strategic intimacy. It has now become a habit for these two navies to conduct exercises with third parties in the Indian Ocean, as they also conducted exercises with Iran, in addition to South Africa, in 2019 (see China Brief, January 17, 2020). Russia and China continued their relationship with Tehran in 2022, conducting two sets of exercises with the Iranian Navyone, in January 2022, just before the start of Russias re-invasion of Ukraine and then again in the fall (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, January 21, 2022; TASS, September 22, 2022). The exercises with Iran not only reflect the increasing alignment between Moscow and Tehran but also extend to what might be Russias growing alliance with China, which manifests itself through joint naval, air and land exercises targeting Japan and South Korea in Northeast Asia (Nikkei, November 30, 2022). It would be no small matter if Russia were to engage in more advanced forms of naval or other military cooperation with China in the Indian Ocean, an issue that would not only trigger considerable concern in Washington but also genuine alarm in New Delhi (Ndtv.com, September 23, 2022; The Diplomat, December 3, 2022). Such cooperation would dramatically affect security perspectives throughout the Indian Ocean region and mark major transformations for security in Asia.

The impact of Moscow and Beijings cooperation in the Indian Ocean could reverberate beyond Asia, however, as China and Russia maintain a major and growing presence across Africa. Consequently, any sign of growing bilateral cooperation, whether militarily or in other domains, would have comparable effects across the continent. In the words of one analyst, While Russian moves have little chance of competing effectively against Chinese initiatives, they have the potential to complement them (Theasiadialogue.com, June 26, 2019). Nevertheless, for the moment, substantive bilateral Russian-Chinese cooperation in Africa has yet to appear, particularly regarding security issues.

However, this does not mean that the West should dismiss the two governments African policies. The impending trilateral exercises should be seen in the context of Russias stepped up and long-running campaign to enhance its presence and influence both in Africa and the Indian Ocean. While the Kremlins influence campaign in Africa has received more recent attention due to its war against Ukraine, its increasing interest in establishing an enduring naval presence in the Indian Ocean merits more scrutiny. Russias campaign for permanent naval bases in the Horn of Africa, Indian Ocean and the Red Sea dates back to the Soviet Union under Leonid Brezhnev, resumed in the late 2000s and have been continuing ever since (Meed.com, January 16, 2009). As a result, by the time the Kremlin proposed its 2015 Maritime Doctrine, the Indian Ocean had become a priority for the Russian Navy (Cntd.ru, July 26, 2015; see EDM, October 19, 2022).

Since then, Russia has embarked on serious ongoing efforts to secure influence and naval bases in Sudan and along the Horn of Africa. These efforts include information warfare on behalf of autocratic governments, arms sales, security training, education of officers and civilians in Russia, as well as diplomatic support in the United Nations (Al Jazeera. March 18, 2022; Nikkei, August 9, 2022). Additionally, Moscow is employing the same tactics in Myanmar (Korabel.ru, January 22, 2018; Middle East Eye, September 30, 2022). Thus, in the new 2022 Maritime Doctrine, the critical nature of the Indian Ocean has been reiterated as one of the main regional directions for the Russian Navy (Kremlin.ru, July 31, 2022).

Keeping in mind the developments in Ukraine, in comparison with 2019, the stakes for Russia are greater, as its isolation from most of Europe has compelled Moscow to pursue a global policy with severely constrained resources, not least in Africa and around the Indian Ocean (see EDM, January 30). China, too, is pursuing a global policy in both theaters, albeit with many more resources. Thus, the possibility for cooperation is much greater, with highly consequential benefits coming from any bilateral coordination. Whether Moscows unrelenting pursuit for global influence and military presence will bear fruit in terms of cooperation remains to be seen, but regardless, its efforts will present serious challenges for Western, Asian and African policymakers.

By the Jamestown Foundation

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The Federal Court of Australia on Tuesday quashed a decision by former Prime Minister Scott Morrison to block a natural gas exploration license offshore Australias east coast, ruling that the refusal to allow exploration was biased.

Last year, the former Australian government, led by Morrison, and the petroleum authority issued a decision to block the exploration permit offshore Australia, a large gas producer and major LNG exporter, but one that faces a gas crisis on its east coast.

The former government had said that Petroleum Exploration Permit PEP-11 would not go ahead.

This project will not proceed on our watch, Morrison said in December 2021.

Gas is an important part of Australias current and future energy mix but this is not the right project for these communities and pristine beaches and waters.

After the former PM said the project would not proceed, the Commonwealth - New South Wales Offshore Petroleum Joint Authority refused the application for exploration.

However, the license holders, Asset Energy and Bounty Oil & Gas NL, sued last year to have the blocking of the permit overturned, saying that In making the Decision, the Former Prime Minister breached the requirements of procedural fairness in that he predetermined the Application and the purported decision was infected by actual bias.

Today, the Federal Court has agreed with the consent position reached by the parties, quashed the Decision and concluded that the Decision of the Joint Authority was affected by apprehended bias, BPH Energy, the owner of Asset Energy, said in a statement.

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In light of the decision of the Federal Court of Australia the PEP 11 Joint Venture sincerely hopes that the relevant applications can be re-considered in a timely manner and according to law by the Ministers now comprising the Joint Authority, BPHs chief executive David Breeze said, commenting on the court decision.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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The European Commission proposed tighter CO2 rules for heavy-duty vehicles on Tuesday, mandating that all new trucks reduce emissions by 90% by 2040 and all new city buses emit zero emissions starting in just 7 years, by 2030, according to a statement from the European Commission.

The EUs objective is not only to help the EU get closer to its zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, but to reduce its imported fossil fuels as well. There is already an agreement for new cars to be CO2-free by 2035, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

The road transport sector represents one fifth of the EUs greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and is the main cause of air pollution in cities, the Commission said, adding that the transport sector is the only sector in the EU where emissions have continued to rise in recent years. Heavy-duty trucks and buses are responsible for more than 25% of GHG emissions from road transport in the EU and 6% of total EU GHG emissions.

The Commission suggested that manufacturers must have to cut the typical CO2 emissions of the new trucks they sell by 90% from 2019 levels by 2040.

They would also have to reduce CO2 by 65% starting in 2035.

The EU opted for a 90% target instead of a 100% target for now because, according to EU climate policy chief Frans Timmermans, zero-emissions technologies isnt yet available for all trucks, and they dont know when it will be.

The ultimate goal is still a 100% reduction in CO2 emissions for cars and trucks, but the EU did not comment on when the target might be shifted.

Environmentalists who were hoping for more are unhappy that the bloc decided to forgo the last 10 percent. Polluting trucks will continue to be sold for years longer than necessary, making the EUs net zero goal impossible, a freight manager at the Transport & Environment campaign group said, cited by Reuters, in response to the EUs Tuesday announcement.

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By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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The surge in Indias imports of crude oil from Russia has deepened its trade deficit with the latter and has rendered rupee trade pointless, Bloomberg has reported, citing unnamed sources.

According to these sources, despite much talk about switching some bilateral trade to rupees, no payments have been initiated so far because Russian banks do not want to accumulate rupees.

At the same time, the report notes that Moscow and New Delhi have been discussing an increase in Indian exports to Russia, for instance in electronics, so the idea of bilateral trade in rupees begins to make sense again.

Between April and November 2022 Indias imports of Russian goods and commodities exceeded exports to Russia 16 times, Bloomberg also noted.

A lot of these exports were crude oil as Russia turned from a minor oil supplier to one of the worlds biggest importers into one of its top suppliers. The discount caused by sanctions and EU embargos on Russian oil and fuels all combined to stimulate these higher exports to the subcontinent.

Earlier this month, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said that in 2023, Russia will sell most of its oil to countries it considers friendly, as opposed to the EU and North America. China and India are the biggest among them.

Last month, India was the biggest buyer of Russian crude, with 70 percent of Urals volumes loaded in January going to that country. China is the second-biggest buyer of the flagship Russian blend.

Last year, Russia became Indias third-largest oil supplier, after Iraq and Saudi Arabia. In December last year, imports of Russian crude hit an all-time high of 1.25 million barrels daily out of the total 4.9 million bpd in crude imports.

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"India's oil imports from Russia would continue to rise this year as well mainly because of discounts if there are no further stringent actions by the Western countries targetting Russian oil," a source from an Indian refining company told Reuters in January.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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Israel is joining the club of oil exporters as a tanker loaded on Monday crude from the floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) developing the Karish field, the Financial Times reports.

Karish is primarily a gas field, but it has associated crude oil, the first of which is now being loaded onto a tanker to take overseas. The crude oil tanker Seliger, an Aframax with the capacity to carry 700,000 barrels of crude, was tracked by satellites close to the Karish FPSO on Sunday evening and loaded crude from the unit on Monday, according to FT. Security measures during the operations were enhanced to prevent groups such as Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon from trying to disrupt the loading.

Energean, the operator of the Karish field, is happy to help Israel join the club of international oil exporters, the companys chief executive Mathios Rigas told FT. The imminent export of Israels first-ever crude cargo is a milestone for London-listed Energean, Rigas added.

Energean announced first gas from the Karish field in late October 2022, less than two weeks after Israel and Lebanon reached an agreement to settle their long-running dispute over their maritime border.

We have delivered a landmark project that brings competition to the Israeli gas market, enhances security of energy supply in the East Med region and brings affordable and clean energy that will displace coal-fired power generation, making a material impact to the environment, Energeans Rigas said at the time.

In a trading and operational update last month, Energean said that the first cargo of hydrocarbon liquids from the Karish field lifted under a contract with Vitol was expected in February 2023.

Israel and Lebanon reached in October a historic agreement to settle the dispute over their maritime borderan agreement that could pave the way to more oil and gas exploration in Eastern Mediterranean waters where major gas discoveries have been made in recent years. Following the agreement, TotalEnergies, Eni, and QatarEnergy are now partners in two exploration blocks offshore Lebanon.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Crude oil inventories rose by an impressive 10.507 million barrels last week, the American Petroleum Institute (API) data showed on Tuesday.

U.S. crude inventories increased a total of 13 million barrels last year, according to API data, while crude stored in the nations Strategic Petroleum Reserves sunk by 221 million barrels. This week, SPR inventory held steady for the fifth week in a row at 371.6 million barrelsthe lowest amount of crude oil in the SPR since December 1983. But the Biden Administration this week announced there would be further releases from the SPR in the amount of 26 million barrels.

Oil prices traded about 1.24% down on Tuesday in the runup to the data release. At 3:58 p.m. EST, WTI was trading down $0.99 (-1.24%) on the day to $79.15 per barrel, but up nearly $2 per barrel from this time last week. Brent crude was trading down $0.96 (-1.11%) on the day at $85.65 $83.96a weekly increase of about $1.50 per barrel.

U.S. crude oil production rose 100,000 bpd to 12.3 million bpd for week ending February 3the highest production rate since last April 2020. U.S. production is still 800,000 bpd lower than the peak production seen in March 2020.

WTI was trading at $79.14 shortly after the data release.

Gasoline inventories rose by 846,000 barrels after last weeks API data showed the fuel inventories rising by 5.261 million barrels. Distillates rose 1.728 million barrels after rising by 1.109 million bpd in the week prior.

Inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma, increased by 1.954 million barrels on top of the 178,000 barrel hike reported last week.

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By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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A new North Carolina State University study shows that laser-induced defects in lithium-ion battery materials improve the performance of the battery. The work was performed in collaboration with battery testing researchers at the U.S. Department of Energys Oak Ridge National Laboratory. They show that extremely short pulses from a commercial high-powered laser can cause tiny defects in lithium-ion battery materials  defects that can enhance battery performance.

The study paper describing the results has been published in the journal in Carbon.

The technique, called nanosecond pulsed laser annealing, lasts for only 100 nanoseconds and is generated by the same type of laser used in modern-day eye surgeries. Researchers tested the technique on graphite, a material widely used in lithium-ion battery anodes, the positive electrodes. They tested the technique in batches of 10 pulses and 80 pulses and compared the differences in current capacity; power is calculated by multiplying voltage by current.

Lithium-ion batteries are widely used in portable electronic devices and electric cars. With further improvements, these batteries could have a major impact on transportation and as storage devices for renewable energy sources like wind and solar.

Jay Narayan, the John C. Fan Family Distinguished Chair in Materials Science at NC State and corresponding author of a paper describing the work noted the study showed a number of interesting results. Narayan pioneered the use of lasers to create and manipulate defects in semiconductors in work spanning more than four decades.

Narayan explained, Material defects can be a nuisance, but if you engineer them correctly you can make them an advantage. This technique opens the door, so to speak, for lithium ions, so it enhances the current capacity. Graphite anodes consist of steps and grooves on the surface  creating more steps is like creating more doors for lithium ions to get in and get out, which is beneficial. The technique also creates defects called vacancies, which are missing atoms, and that helps provide more sites for lithium ions to come and go, which is related to the current capacity.

Current capacity increased by 20% when the optimal number of pulses was used, which was closer to 10 than to 80 pulses.

The study also showed, though, that too much of a good thing can be a bad thing, as too many defects in the graphite anodes can lead to problems.

Lithium ion has a positive charge, so if it captures an electron it becomes lithium metal, and you dont want that, Narayan said. Lithium metal shoots out tiny wire dendrites from the graphite anode and can cause a fire. So you want to make sure that a lithium ion doesnt become a metal.

Narayan said that manufacturers should have the capability to use nanosecond pulse laser annealing when producing both anodes and cathodes, the other electrodes contained in batteries.

These high-powered lasers exist, and you can treat anodes and cathodes within a microsecond, Narayan said. The cathodes or anodes are made on a sheet, which makes treatment relatively fast and easy.

Narayan and colleagues at the University of Texas-Austin recently published another paper that used the same laser technique on cathode materials. Published in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, that study showed laser treatment enhanced cathode materials.

Next, we are trying to eliminate the need for using more expensive materials, such as cobalt in battery cathodes, in order to make higher power and longer-lasting batteries, Narayan said.

***

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Commercial product claims seldom offer a path tracking back to the research that showed how to make improvements to products. But in todays market 20% can hardly be ignored. On the plus side there is a study paper that makes replication doable, even in commercial firms, although a head start and a bunch of testing could be skipped just consulting with the team at NC State.

A 20% improvement to the common lithium ion battery technology would be very welcome. It wouldnt take long to set up a laser and start offering a premium battery. With the technique mastered, the marketing claim would have real legs and a bonafide consumer advantage. As a buyer/user your humble writer will be looking out for this tech, maybe called Laser Etched Electrodes.

By Brian Westenhaus via New Energy and Fuel

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Omaha residents will have a chance to learn more about the Omaha streetcar design impact during open house meetings in coming weeks.

The open houses were discussed during the Omaha Streetcar Authoritys monthly meeting Monday.

Its important to collect stakeholder and public input before we get to final design, said Stephanie Rittershaus, an HDR spokesperson.

HDR, an Omaha-based engineering and architecture firm, has completed about 15% of the streetcar systems design.

Rittershaus told OSA board members that once the HDR team gets into the final design phase, changes and revisions will be much harder to make.

Through the meetings, HDR hopes to generally define streetcar stop locations that can be further refined during the final design phase, Rittershaus said.

Property owners and tenants directly impacted by construction along the streetcar route have been invited to participate in office hour sessions hosted the last two weeks of February in the Blackstone district.

A public open house meeting is planned for March 7 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Empire Room venue, 200 S. 31st Ave.

The Streetcar Authority plans to decide on vehicle specifications during its March meeting, and issue a request for proposal to potential manufacturers over the summer.

If all goes as planned, the first streetcar vehicles would be delivered to Omaha in July 2025. The streetcar system would open for operation in 2026.

The streetcar authority was created last year to oversee the design, construction and eventual operation of the streetcar.

The board has seven members: three appointed by Mayor Jean Stothert and approved by the City Council, three appointed by Metro Transits CEO and one community member appointed by the Greater Omaha Chamber.

The streetcars planned route runs east along Harney Street and then turns north along 10th Street up to about Cass Street near the CHI Health Center. The streetcars then would head back south on 10th to Capitol Avenue.

From there, the route would run a couple of blocks east to Eighth Street near the citys riverfront before turning west onto Farnam Street. The cars then would travel to the routes western terminus at 42nd Street near the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Construction of an Omaha streetcar system is tied to Mutual of Omahas plans to build a $600 million headquarters on the former site of the W. Dale Clark library, which was demolished late last year.

Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of February 2023
A 38-year-old Washington County man died Friday after apparently shooting himself as sheriffs deputies conducted a welfare check.

According to a press release from the Nebraska State Patrol, Washington County sheriffs deputies responded to a call for a welfare check in Arlington on Friday afternoon. They were let into the residence by an occupant and saw a man, identified as Donald Moreno, holding a firearm.

Multiple children were in the home at the time and were evacuated by deputies, according to the State Patrol.

After speaking with the man for several minutes, officers heard a single gunshot and found Moreno dead inside the house. The State Patrol said no deputies discharged their weapons and no other injuries were reported.

The patrol will investigate the incident as an in-custody death, and the case will be presented to a grand jury after the investigation is completed.

Arlington is about 10 miles east of Fremont.
On Nov. 21, 2020, Roberto Silva Jr. opened fire inside a Sonic restaurant in Bellevue. His rampage killed two people and left two others physically injured.

Other employees were left to bear the emotional scars of having to witness the terror as it unfolded.

But under Nebraska law, those witnesses are not eligible for workers compensation. A bill introduced by State Sen. Carol Blood of Bellevue seeks to change that.

Under Legislative Bill 5, a section of the Nebraska Workers Compensation Act would be amended to cover people who have been diagnosed by a mental health professional with post-traumatic stress disorder  even if they werent physically injured  stemming from a workplace violence incident.

In testimony Monday to the Legislatures Business and Labor Committee, of which she is a member, Blood said the bill would add Nebraska to the nine other states that cover mental injuries under workers compensation benefits. In the draft version of her bill, workplace violence eligible for such benefits would include a shooting, hostage situation, act of terrorism or similar act of violence occurring in the workplace.

The bill, Blood argued, would better protect employees and employers from the fallout of a violent incident in the workplace.

Six people testified in support of Bloods bill. Among the proponents was Bellevue Police Chief Ken Clary, who described the mental injuries sustained by those at the Sonic shooting as life-altering.

Survivors who faced these injuries and are unable to return to work should not be abandoned by the system that is to protect the injured workers, especially as a result of some of the most dramatic events that could occur in the workplace, he said.

A woman who was working at the Sonic that night told the committee of her feelings of trauma and despair.

No one should have to fight to get help due to something that has happened beyond their control, especially in a workplace, the woman said.

Two people testified against the bill, arguing that its scope is too broad.

Dallas Jones, a Lincoln attorney speaking on behalf of several organizations including the Nebraskans for Workers Compensation Equity and Fairness and Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Industry, criticized several aspects of the bill.

The language is open to anybody who is off premises, not at work, who heard about it and had a mental reaction to it, Jones said.

Blood took issue with the opponents remarks, calling them poppycock. She said no opponents have offered to work with her on the language they consider problematic.

I think that it is a just bill, she said. I think it is a bill that affects everyday people.

Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of February 2023
Gov. Jim Pillen has tapped a private practice physician from Lincoln to serve as Nebraskas next chief medical officer.

Dr. Timothy Tesmer, an ear, nose and throat physician and surgeon, has been in practice more than 35 years, Pillen said in announcing his choice Tuesday.

Tesmer will replace Dr. Gary Anthone, who left the post earlier this year when former Gov. Pete Ricketts term expired. Ricketts appointed Anthone to the job just months before the COVID-19 pandemic closed schools, bars and restaurants. The pandemic at times threatened to overwhelm hospitals.

Tesmer, who currently operates Tesmer ENT, said he looks forward to working with Pillen and Dannette Smith, CEO of Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.

I am honored to have the opportunity to serve the people of this great state, he said in a statement.

Before starting his own practice, Tesmer was a physician with CHIs Physician Network/ENT Nebraska. He earned a bachelors degree from Nebraska Wesleyan University and a medical degree from the University of Nebraska College of Medicine. He also completed an internship in general surgery and a residency in otolaryngology at the University of Louisville School of Medicine. He is certified by the American Board of Otolaryngology.

Tesmer starts his new post March 27.

Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of February 2023
BRUSSELS  NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg played down on Tuesday the importance of Finland and Sweden joining the world's biggest security organization at the same time as Turkey refuses to ratify their membership, mostly due to a dispute with Sweden.

"The main question is not whether Finland and Sweden are ratified together. The main question is that they are both ratified as full members as soon as possible," Stoltenberg told reporters. The consensus at NATO has been that both countries should join at the same time.

Sweden and neighboring Finland abandoned decades of nonalignment and applied to join the 30-nation alliance in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. All NATO members except Turkey and Hungary have ratified their accession but unanimity is required.

Turkey accused the government in Stockholm of being too lenient toward groups it deems as terror organizations or existential threats, including Kurdish groups. Earlier this month, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Ankara has fewer problems with Finland joining.

He stressed, however, that it was up to the military alliance to decide whether to accept one country or both together. So far, Finland has stood by Sweden and insisted they should join together.

Stoltenberg said he is "confident that both will be full members and are working hard to get both ratified as soon as possible."

Turkey was rocked last week by a devastating earthquake and aftershocks that killed more than 35,000 people in the country and neighboring Syria.

"We are all horrified by the terrible toll caused by the earthquakes" in Turkey, Stoltenberg said, adding that NATO allies are providing emergency support to the huge rescue and recovery operation.

Turkey is in an election year, and the topic of Nordic NATO membership is a possible vote winner. In recent weeks, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed anger at demonstrations in Stockholm. In one case a solitary anti-Islam activist burned the Quran outside the Turkish Embassy, while in a separate event protesters hanged an effigy of Erdogan.

In Stockholm, Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said he could see no reason why Turkey should continue to object but "it is a question of a Turkish decision which neither Sweden nor Finland can influence."

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said it would be "unfortunate" if Finland entered NATO first, the Swedish news agency TT reported.

Of the two countries, only Finland shares a border with Russia and would appear to be more at risk should President Vladimir Putin decide to target his neighbor. That said, some NATO allies, led by the United States, offered security guarantees to both should they come under threat.

Hungary pushed back its ratification date for both countries three times so far but has not publicly raised any substantial objections to either of them joining.

How NATO has grown since 1997 and its changing relationship with Russia 2004 new members: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia 2009 new members: Albania and Croatia 2017 new members: Montenegro 2022 aspiring members: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Finland, Georgia, Sweden, and Ukraine
BLOOMINGTON  During his stay at OSF St. Joseph Medical Center after going into cardiac arrest, Aaron Hornsby kept hearing the word "miracle."

First, the doctors and nurses in intensive care repeatedly used it to describe Hornsby's recovery after entering cardiac arrest on Nov. 7. Later, a similar characterization would come from the nurses at his cardiac rehabilitation appointments.

The situation could have ended tragically. At 53, Hornsby said, his two main arteries were 100% blocked. He endured a total of 50 minutes of CPR and his heart was shocked a total of 15 times by those working to save his life.

But save it, they did. And on Monday, Hornsby seized the opportunity to thank those he says made the miracle possible during a visit to the Bloomington Fire Department's Station No. 2, 1911 E. Hamilton Road.

"I thank the members of the Bloomington fire and ambulance station No. 2 for allowing me to be a miracle (and) for allowing me to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with my wife and four sons," said Hornsby, of Bloomington. "You are my heroes, and my family and I are eternally grateful to each and every one of you. Thank you."

His wife, Christine Hornsby, said they both came home from the gym at 6 a.m. that day when he started to experience chest pains and difficulty breathing. Eventually, he fell to the floor.

Christine Hornsby snapped into action. Immediately calling 911, she was connected with Bloomington fire dispatcher Kevin Busfield, who calmly talked her through the process of performing CPR on her husband before the fire department arrived.

"I didn't think about it until they left with him," Christine Hornsby said. "They're a fine-tuned machine and they knew what they were doing, and it was just amazing."

For Busfield and the other first responders, prior training took effect quickly.

"We put a very large emphasis on training," Busfield said. "If you hear the information that somebody's undergoing a cardiac incident, that's one of those situation that you automatically kick it into gear."

EMS supervisor Derick Riordan said the chain of survival started with dispatch and the family performing CPR. Paramedics intervened on arrival, operating as a pit crew in which everyone knows his or her specific assignment.

Firefighter-Paramedic Adam Johnson was in charge of Aaron Hornsby, making sure he had what he needed to receive the necessary medications and cardiac monitor.

Firefighter-Paramedic Luke Pool was in charge of making sure Hornsby was breathing. Engineer Brian Kochman was responsible for chest compressions and applying the LUCAS device, a mechanical CPR device.

Capt. Jason Anglin was in charge of overseeing the incident and staying in contact with the family to gather information about Hornsby's health and preexisting conditions.

"It's all part of the system, and the chain of survival gives us the outcome we have here today," Riordan said.

Frank Friend, public information officer for the fire department, said the family's immediate intervention with CPR before Hornsby arrived at the hospital had a significant impact on his survival.

"That is the driving point that I would like to make  everyone needs to learn, at least know how to do compression CPR," Friend said. "If they can do the full compression CPR with breathing, that's even better, but that truly is the start of maintaining neurological function until we can arrive within four to six minutes, and we do that 90% of the time."

The couple's 19-year-old son, Max Hornsby, also performed CPR on his father that day, having received CPR training in a class at Central Catholic High School. Christine Hornsby said she had also received training about 30 years ago when she was a camp counselor in Crystal Falls, Michigan  the same place that she and her husband first met.

"Everybody should have a class," Christine Hornsby said. "I never thought I would use it and it comes back and you learn it's something that you always keep."

Aaron Hornsby has already undergone 12 weeks of physical therapy and plans to return to work soon. He credits his "miraculous" recovery and survival to quick decision-making, concern and care from many people, countless prayers from supporters and "certainly  some people who refused to give up."

Most firefighters don't take being called a "hero" lightly, Friend said. But they all appreciate moments like Monday's ceremony, when they get to see an individual they helped come back and thank them personally.

"It's something that we actually shy away from," Friend said. "If you were to ask each one of these guys, they would simply say they were just performing their jobs and they were doing what they were asked to do for the citizens and visitors in the city of Bloomington.

"But they truly exemplify what the Bloomington Fire Department is all about, and that is about service to others at their time of need."

CPR Classes Here's where to find more information about CPR classes offered by various organizations. American Red Cross: www.redcross.org/take-a-class

www.redcross.org/take-a-class American Heart Association: www.shopcpr.heart.org/heartcode-bls

www.shopcpr.heart.org/heartcode-bls Carle BroMenn Medical Center: www.carle.org/events

www.carle.org/events Heartland Community College: www.heartland.edu/continuingED

www.heartland.edu/continuingED OSF St. Joseph Medical Center: www.osfhealthcare.org/calendar

Photos: On the job with the Bloomington Fire Department 031322-blm-loc-2ridealong 031322-blm-loc-1ridealong 031322-blm-loc-3ridealong 031322-blm-loc-4ridealong 031322-blm-loc-5ridealong 031322-blm-loc-7ridealong 031322-blm-loc-8ridealong 031322-blm-loc-9ridealong
BLOOMINGTON  A $270,000 lobbying agreement that was rejected by the Bloomington City Council in January was reconsidered and accepted on Monday.

The three-year agreement with Thorn Run Partners, a Washington D.C.-based lobbying firm, was a controversial subject for some aldermen who argued that advocating for federal funding for local projects should rest in the hands of the city's congressional representatives.

The terms of the contract presented on Monday were identical to the one from January, but staff added a provision that would allow the city to cancel the agreement without cause with a 30-day written notice.

Members of the public in attendance for Monday's meeting opposed the contract. Bloomington resident Jackie Beyer questioned why the council was allowed to reconsider old business.

"It seems to fly right in the face of democracy," Beyer said.

Under city code, the council may vote to reconsider its action on a matter at the meeting where the original vote was taken or at the next regularly scheduled council meeting after the vote was taken.

The request must be made by an alderman who voted with the prevailing side.

Alderman Tom Crumpler, who voted against the agreement in January, said because the item was on the consent agenda last month, he didn't feel like the council had enough information on lobbying groups and their costs, potential returns on the investment and other entities that use firms like Thorn Run. Items on a consent agenda are usually voted on as a group without discussion.

But after speaking with constituents, Crumpler said he had a better understanding of the motion.

"I've also learned about the level of competition for federal funding among municipalities and other agencies and the potential value lobbyists can provide," Crumpler said.

Alderwoman De Urban, who voted against the agreement last month, said she sometimes has to make decisions on the information right in front of her. But after adjournment in January, Urban said she had the opportunity to conduct the research necessary to make a proper decision.

"I can honestly say at this point that I now regret having clicked no but now I can confidently vote yes on an agenda item here and say that I do understand what I'm saying yes for and I do realize that this is for the benefit of everybody in the city," Urban said.

Alderwoman Sheila Montney, who voted against the agreement, asked why a municipality would feel the need to hire a lobbying firm to interact with its own congressional delegates. And since the agreement requires the city to pay to facilitate these conversations, Montney asked if there has been any communication with Bloomington's two U.S. House members or the state's two senators.

In response, Bloomington City Manager Tim Gleason maintained that Bloomington's representatives do not have the capacity or the ability to provide outreach to all federal agencies the city is seeking funding from.

The council voted 7-2 to reconsider the motion with Aldermen Montney and Grant Walch voting no. It then voted 6-3 to approve the agreement with Aldermen Nick Becker, Walch and Montney voting no.

Where construction companies are building the most homes Where construction companies are building the most homes #15. Boise, Idaho #14. Clarksville, Tennessee #13. Jacksonville, Florida #12. Raleigh, North Carolina #11. Crestview, Florida #10. Wilmington, North Carolina #9. Port St. Lucie, Florida #8. Lakeland, Florida #7. Cape Coral, Florida #6. Ocala, Florida #5. Greeley, Colorado #4. North Port, Florida #3. Austin, Texas #2. Sioux Falls, South Dakota #1. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
The Police have today, Tuesday, 14th February 2023 arrested 18 people for disturbances on the University of Ghana campus.



The 18 suspects were together with about 200 others believed to be former members of the Commonwealth Hall of the university.



The Police have been able to contain the situation and calm has since been restored.



All 18 suspects are in Police custody and will be put before the court to face justice.



Security has since been deepened on the campus for academic activities to continue without any hindrance.



We would like to give the assurance that all other persons involved in the disturbances will be arrested and brought to face justice.

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 authorities in Equatorial Guinea on Monday said the country had reported its first outbreak of the Marburg virus, a highly infectious disease in the same family of viruses that cause Ebola.



Nine people are suspected to have died from the viral haemorrhagic fever in the country's western Kie Ntem province.



Further tests done on one sample that was collected and shipped to the Institut Pasteur in Dakar, Senegal, turned positive.



The World Health Organization says 16 people are now under quarantine as suspected contact cases. The health body has deployed a team of experts to the area to support health workers.



Last week, the countrys Health Minister Mitoha Ondo'o Ayekaba said preliminary investigations linked the deaths to people who attended a funeral ceremony.



Movement has been restricted around two villages where most cases have been reported. Contact tracing is currently ongoing.



This is the first outbreak recorded in the country and the third in West Africa. Ghana confirmed one case last year and Guinea the previous year.



The virus is transmitted to people from fruit bats and spreads between humans through the transmission of bodily fluids.



Although there are no vaccines or treatments, those diagnosed are advised to drink plenty of water as doctors treat a patients specific symptoms.



Previous outbreaks and sporadic cases of Marburg in Africa have been reported in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda.

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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Former deputy General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Obiri Boahen, has criticized Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko for attacking former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo for participating in a picketing exercise by pensioners.



Obiri Boahen contends that everyone has different viewpoints on various subjects so it is incorrect for Gabby to criticize the former CJ for participating in the February 10 edition of picketing by pensioners against the government's Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).



Obiri Boahen added that remarks as the one Gabby made of the former CJ won't benefit the party because they might anger the person involved, thus there is a need for the party to exercise extreme caution while making such comments.



Speaking in an interview with Okay FM, Nana Obiri Boahen said the former Chief Justice is a human being, if she partakes in a demonstration, I dont see the reason why people should insult her.

Shes a human being and everyone has different opinions. When the issue came up, you cant blame the Minister of Finance and the government because theyve made us understand that where things have gotten to, were in dire times so theres the need for everyones help.



He added now, you cant also blame the Chief Justice and her pensioners also...because they have also invested their money and hope to enjoy the profits.



The government is also saying because were in crisis they need to adjust things to make the economy better. The government hasnt committed any crime and the pensioners who also went to do the picketing have not committed any crime.



Because picketing is a form of democracy. There is nothing like pulling a gun, knife, or sword in picketing, they just want to express their displeasure.



So, I dont see the reason why someone should attack the former Chief Justice, I dont understand. Because everyone is expressing his/her views so why do you attack her? I beg to differ I dont agree with him (Gabby Otchere Darko).



she is just expressing her views, so we shouldnt do that because if we do that it is not good. We should be careful with our communications, he lamented.



It may be recalled that Sophia Akuffo, joined the retirees picketing the Ministry of Finance in Accra.



The pensioners have been picketing at the premises of the ministry since Monday, February 6, 2023, over the governments plan to involve their bonds in the DDEP.



Sophia Akufo was captured in a front-seat position at the premises of the Ministry holding a wooden placard.



Her placard read: We use our bond yields to pay our: rent, medical bills, electricity, and water bills.



On the other hand, leading member of the New Patriotic Party, Gabby Otchere-Darko, has stated that the gesture by the former Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo to picket at the Finance Ministry together with pensioner bondholders was done in error.



According to him, the offer to self-exempt has been given to pensioners, therefore, there is no need to picket when they could just self-exempt.



In a series of tweets on February 12, 2023, he wrote: "The former Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo, may mean well but she erred big time in her basic appreciation of the issues. Rather than asking the Govt for exemption at this late hour, why did she simply not 'exempt' herself from exchanging her original bond for the new one!"



"Why picket over something you don't like (the improved offer) when you have the right not to sign up? Sorry, but I struggle to get her emotional outburst over-exemption! I hope she won't volunteer to picket tomorrow and on the same issues when the time to sign up has expired," he added.











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.

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The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) is in the Central Region, courting the support of influencers to curb an imminent danger around the Saltpond Oil Fields decommissioning area.



The engagement, led by the Sustainability and Stakeholder Relations Division (SSR), became necessary because some fishermen are blatantly defying the safety precautions and directives from the Navy and the GNPC to stay away from fishing in the 500 metres Exclusive Zone in the project area.



The fishing activities are portended to compromise safety and security in the area as they are already causing interference in the execution of the project.



Deputy Manager, Social Performance and Local Content, Ms Patience Lartey, in all the engagements, has been reiterating the importance of respecting the exclusive zone directives by all fishermen.



In the latest meeting with the chief fishermen, political heads and opinion leaders of the area, she highlighted that the fishermen risk losing their lives and properties through their activities.



We dont want the fishermen to encroach the area because the project ongoing in the area is dangerous. Machines are working in the area and it is unsafe for the fishermen numbering about 10 in a canoe to ply under the machines. Should any metal fall off into the canoe the boat is likely to capsize and the people likely to perish.



Ms Patience Lartey also mentioned that the gas component of the oil explored may have long-term effects on the health of the fishermen who invade the area and yet without protection.



All the pillars of the rig you see are deep-seated in the bed are wells. It is likely that there would no longer be oil exploration from the area, but that does not mean the oil there is depleted.



From time to time the operations may require the opening of the oil coverings. The oil has its gas component called hydrocarbons which escape when coverings are opened. So when you invade the area and you inhale this gas you dont know what the long-term effects will be, she added in her caution statement to the stakeholders.



Meanwhile, the Municipal Chief Executive for Mfantseman, Ike Lord Ennu, has said his assembly is equally not happy about the development and thus implored his fellow assembly members to ensure the menace is curbed.





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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On February 14, 1983, Richard and Donna Whitcomb  just newlywed  arrived in Nigeria, leaving the familiarity of their homeland of the United States to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ.



Africa in the 1980s was plagued by unstable political regimes, civil conflicts, civil rights abuse, non-existent physical and social infrastructure, and unimaginable poverty.



But the Whitcombs were unfazed by these issues. They accepted the challenge, welcomed the change, embraced new cultures, and hit the ground running with their purpose still flaming in their hearts.



The beginning and the call to train pastors



They founded the Agape Gospel Mission with a simple mission  to reach people with Gods love, train pastors to serve the cause of Christ, and help people out of poverty. They started their missionary service by conducting open-air outreaches and grassroot witnessing throughout southern Nigeria.



After persevering with their skills and resources to make a difference in the lives of the locals in southern Nigeria for a year after their arrival, they launched an Agape Gospel Mission church in 1984, and a seminary to provide free training to men and women called to be pastors.



In Nigeria, and throughout the continent, hundreds of thriving churches were planted by graduates from this seminary.



Eventually, God would lead them to Ghana to continue their labor of love after 11 years of their pioneering work with Agape Gospel Mission in Delta State, Nigeria. They established another seminary in Ghana to provide free, fully funded theological training and mentoring for people from all over Africa.



The Agape Bible College, over the past decades, has trained thousands of pastors from Ghana, Nigeria, Togo, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, who are sent forth throughout the cities and villages of the world to plant and lead thriving churches.



Preaching the gospel



After moving to Ghana, they leveraged broadcast technology to reach more people. Pastor Whitcomb launched the Television and Radio School of the Bible through which the Gospel of Jesus Christ was brought to thousands of homes in Ghana. Through these media, hundreds of thousands of people got blessed by the inspiring and liberating message of Christ all around Ghana.



Pastor Whitcomb continues with the television and radio broadcast today on GHOne Television, Praise TV, and Starr FM, respectively.



His online and social media broadcasts reach millions of people around the world every week. There are thousands of testimonies that have been experienced by people because of these broadcast efforts.



Helping the poor



To help poor people, Agape Gospel Mission, since the 1980s, ministers directly to destitute persons, sick people in hospitals, prostitutes, and drug addicts. In July 2000, the Whitcombs also founded the Agape Center of Excellence in Ghana and began a residential care program for orphans and vulnerable children.



Through this effort, over 200 children at risk have been rescued through the care program and educated through to the University. Agape Gospel Mission also provides necessities like clean drinking water to many communities in Northern Ghana and some parts of southern Ghana. They support disaster-afflicted areas around Ghana with humanitarian relief and continue to serve their community to this day.



Getting back to the call to pastor



In 2007, the Whitcombs felt the call to get back to full-time pastoral ministry in Ghana. So, responding to the vision God gave them, they planted the Agape House New Testament Church in East Legon, AccraGhana. The church has grown abundantly and registers over 3,000 worshippers every weekend.



This Valentines Day, 2023, marks the 40th anniversary of their arrival on African soil for missionary service. There are a lot more Richard and Donna have done in Africa.



Underpinning these have been their devotion to sharing God's love and raising devoted leaders, as well as helping the poor. Their footprints have been nothing short of awe-inspiring.



For 40 years, Pastors Richard and Donna Whitcomb have been a beacon of hope and love, changing the lives of countless individuals and leaving a lasting impact on the world.



As we celebrate the 40th anniversary of their pioneering work and commemorate their incredible legacy, let us rally together to support the Agape Gospel Mission to lift and empower people to fulfill their God-given purpose.











Source: ghanaweb.com









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The Prelate of the Worldwide Word Ministries, Prophet John Anokye, has ascribed controversies surrounding the building of the National Cathedral to the undiscerning attitude of Ghanaians.



The prophet believes that the nation should have sought a response from God first before embarking on the project.



In his submission when asked if Ghana needed the edifice, he argued that if God wanted a Cathedral, work on the project would have been done diligently without the negative attention and the works would not have stopped midway.



File Photo: National cathedral

There wouldnt have been any hullabaloo surrounding the building of the National Cathedral if we had consulted God.



And God would have revealed it to some prophets of the land including me, if really God wanted us to, [do] this as an individual decision, the Christian cleric reiterated.



He commented on the topical issue during a media interaction to mark the beginning of a week-long celebration of the 7th Anniversary of the Worldwide Word Ministries.



Prophet John Anokye utilised the opportunity to encourage Ghanaians, especially Christians, to have faith in God for an economic turnover.



According to him, Ghana cannot claim to be a hugely populated Christian country when most of her fundamentals are not based on the word of God.



He called for the institutionalisation of the word of God in the peoples day-to-day activities as way to goad them out of the countrys economic woes.



He added that a lot of politicians when seeking power, visit and consult men of God but relegate the hand of God once they gain the power. This act he described as hypocritical on the part of the politicians.



Speaking about the churchs anniversary celebration, however, Prophet John Anokye outlined some activities earmarked for the week-long event.



According to him, the 7th-anniversary celebration of the church represents the foundation of Gods Kingdom.



He expressed his joy for the progress of the church thus far and prayed for more grace from God to do more for the church and the world.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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The Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has released a list that shows what he describes as bizarre portfolios that are at the seat of government.



According to the MP, who has become very notorious for revealing details about the government of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, as well as some state institutions, the list of 20 portfolios are weird.



In a post shared on his social media handles on Tuesday, February 14, 2023, the MP stated that President Akufo-Addo has created quite some bizarre portfolios at the Presidency; considering Ghanas current economic woes, should he be keeping these strange political appointments?



He also indicated that these portfolios are taken from a recent presidential list submitted to parliament by the presidency.



The MP wants the president to reduce these portfolios so that it is promptly able to deal with its agenda of salvaging the economy from the current challenges it is facing.



Isnt it time for the president to thank them for their great transformative services and drastically downsize so as to begin salvaging this junk economy? he added.



Below is the list of 20 portfolios Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa describes as bizarre and which he wants the president to scrap:



- Youth Ambassador for Diaspora Affairs

- Policy Associate

- Chief Executive of Public Sector Reforms

- Overseer of the National Cathedral

- Church Relations Manager

- Diaspora Church Mobilization Officer

- Policy & Coordinator Analyst

- Focal Person, La Francophonie

- Technical Director, La Francophonie

- Coordinator, Special Development Initiatives Secretariat

- Director of Special Projects

- Manager if Operations & Programs

- 5 Technical Communications Assistants

- Technical Advisor, Zongo Development Authority

- 2 Technical Advisors, Special Development Initiatives Secretariat

- Technical Advisor, Political Affairs

- Presidential Staffer, NABCO

- Office Management Executive Associate

- Technical Director for the Presidential Advisor on Media

- Data Manager







Source: ghanaweb.com









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Social media influencer, Joshua Boye Doe (KalyJay), who started the FixTheCountry trend has said under no circumstance did he receive money from any quarters to push an agenda against the Akufo-Addo-led government as it has been widely alleged.



Speaking on The Delay Show, Sunday, KalyJay intimated that his course was purposely to see a change in the lives of the Ghanaian, having encountered a number of people who were financially handicapped. According to him, it is instructive for the government to create an enabling environment to mitigate the challenges as well as deliver on its promises.



Considering that the government appeared adamant and nonchalant about the plight of the people, he decided to initiate a movement that would see a change in the narrative, hence, the birth of FixTheCountry.



Not even a single pesewa, he said when the host, Deloris Frimpong Manso asked if he was influenced by anyone. At the point I started FixTheCountry, I looked at my life, I was making money on social media; I looked at my friends and my circle and I realized that there are people in my circle that are way brilliant and needed an opportunity to work but they were not getting it.



People came to my DM asking for money for school fees, money for healthcare. I sometimes give them if I have. It got to a time; I got fed up. I realized if the system was working, some of these burdens would not be on me, he added.



In 2021 when FixTheCountry was birthed, many Ghanaians joined the campaign and slammed the government for mismanaging the economy and making life unbearable. While some accused proponents of the campaign of doing the bidding of the opposition party and foes of the government, others retorted it was imperative citizens rather fixed their mentality first.



This courted controversy with some saying it was repugnant for anyone to suggest to citizens to fix themselves first when the government has on several occasions performed abysmally.



A demonstration was later staged in August as thousands converged to drum home the need for the government to sit up.



















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Editor of the Ghanaian Publisher Newspaper, Yaw Obeng Manu, argues the media has paid little to no attention to renewed disturbances in Bawku.



According to him, the media has a role in ensuring peace prevails in the region as prolonged conflicts can affect the entire nation.



For the past few weeks, we as the media have not given the much-needed attention to happenings in Bawku. We need to start paying attention to happenings in Bawku so it doesnt escalate. We need to make sure peace prevails and this long-term conflict is brought to an end, he stated in an interview with Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning Show.



Awudu Mahama argues if the Bawku conflict is not resolved quickly with support from the media, there is a chance jihadist in Burkina Faso can take advantage of the situation and infiltrate Ghana, posing a greater threat to Ghanas security.



We need to focus and pay attention to matters arising in Bawku. We cannot let Bawku to be destroyed and as media practitioners, we should go into the matter try to understand the situation and help resolve it peacefully just as it was done in Dagbon, he added.

The editor argues Ghanaians take the existing peace in Ghana for granted until something untoward happens, this he considers as needing immediate attention.



The Bawku conflict has persisted over the years between the Mamprusis and Kusasis, leaving scores of people dead and others sustaining injuries.



About 10 people reportedly perished in the recent disturbances, with economic activities, education and healthcare are adversely affected.

Military personnel deployed to the area to restore peace have been accused of being behind the death of the residents which they have denied.



Measures including curfews, restrictions on movement of people and vehicles, non-wearing of smocks among others have been imposed in the area while batches of armed forces personnel stationed there to help curb the conflict.



The government had also advised the feuding factions to go by the Supreme Court verdict on the matter in 2003 to ensure peace but all efforts seemed not to be yielding positive results.





Source: happyfm









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Work machines at the site of the apartment block that housed former Black Stars player Christian Atsu, have halted work whiles miners have taken over in rescue efforts, journalists close to the operation have reported.



The first to provide an update as of February 13, 2023 was one Salim Manav who posted the information on Twitter citing a relative to Atsu's team manager, Taner Savut who is also believed to be under the rubble.



"Message from Timucin Ascgil (Taner Savut Hodja's brother-in-law): The Renaissance site was looked at with a thermal camera, 3 different sounds were heard and the miners entered. Let's support urgently!" his tweet read in part.



The said in-law, Timucin Ascgil, posted videos of a caterpillar at the site of the Renaissance residence in Hatay, along with a number of workers undertaking rescue efforts.



His tweet caption affirmed that the building complex had been subjected to checks by a thermal camera and that it had shown evidence that people were alive under the rubble.



Atsu, who plays for Turkish side Hatayspor was trapped under the rubble after the February 6 earthquake that struck the southern part of the country and parts of Syria.



It has so far claimed the lives of over 35,000 across the two countries with the death toll continuing to mount. Many more thousands have also been injured whiles rescue efforts continue in earnest to find more survivors who may be under the rubble.



Atsu's case has attracted a lot of interest in Ghana and across the world with his British wife calling on the Turkish and British authorities to expedite action in rescuing the former Chelsea, Newcastle player in an interview with the BBC last week.





Hatayspor Sportif Direktoru Taner Savut ve futbolcu Christian Atsunun oldugu Ronesans rezidansa termal kameralar ile baklms. 3 farkl ses duyulmus. Is makinalar durdurulmus ve madenciler girmis. Acil destek lazm pic.twitter.com/nvL5ER7jPT  Timucin ASCIGIL (@ascigil) February 13, 2023























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The Rent Control Department (RCD) has refuted assertions that it is toothless when it comes to ensuring that tenants are not exploited by their landlords.



Speaking in an interview on GhanaWebs The Lowdown programme, the Public Relations Officer of the RCD, Emmanuel Hovey Kporsu, said that even though the department has limited resources, it is performing its duty of regulating the rental sector of Ghana.



He added that most tenants are exploited because they do not seek the services of the Rent Control Department.



Despite the fact that we are lacking some physical items to perform our duties to the extreme, I didnt want to take the opinion out there (that the department is toothless).



We get our mandate from the Rent Act, Act 220, and specifically Section 5 (of the Act) lays out the function of the Rent Control Department, Hovey Kporsu said.



He said that the department is basically mandated by law to determine the cost of facilities being rented through established assessment criteria and resolve issues between tenants and their landlords.



According to him, the department provides certificates on the rental cost of facilities to both tenants and landlords, and these certificates can even be requested by tenants at the offices of the RCD so that they are not cheated.



Because of our ignorance of the Act, we just capitulate to the landlords rents, he added.



The PRO, therefore, urged Ghanaians to report landlords who are exploiting them to the department without fear that they will be evicted.



the landlord has no right to evict you... until your tenancy expires. The law says that if you have not contravened any of the provisions in the Act, the landlord has no right to evict you, he said.



















































Source: ghanaweb.com









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Razak Koampa Avoliya, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Youth Organiser at the Suame constituency in Kumasi said to have incited political violence has been granted a GH50,000 bail by the Asokwa District Court.

He was last week remanded in police custody when he was arraigned at the District Court presided over by Fred Obikyere on the charge of offensive conduct, conducive to breaches of peace of the state.



His accusation is that, he incited political violence.

Today he has been granted bail in the sum of GH50,000 with two sureties.



Arrest



The accused handed himself to the police after he was declared a wanted man.





This was after he made some unsavoury statements in a video.



The Ashanti Regional executive of the NDC on Wednesday, February 8, 2023 handed him over to the police.



The next day he was arraigned and remanded in police custody.



Read also: Suame NDC youth organiser wanted by police for inciting political violence





On Tuesday, an application for bail by counsel for Avoliya was granted by the court.



He is to reappear on March 9, 2023.













Source: graphiconline.com









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The Catholic Church in Ghana for the very first time has two Auxiliary Bishops in Accra.



They are Very Rev. Fr. Anthony Narh Asare, Parish Priest of Ss. Anne and Joachim Parish and Very Rev. Fr. John Kobina Louis, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Accra.



Their appointments by Pope Francis as Auxiliary Bishops in Accra was announced today (February 14, 2023).



An Auxiliary Bishop is a bishop appointed to assist a Diocesan Bishop. Whether in a Diocese or Archdiocese. His title is Bishop.



The role of the Auxiliary Bishop is to assist the Diocesan Bishop in all matters related to the clergy, religious, and laity.











Source: graphiconline.com









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Germany has called on Turkey and Hungary to swiftly ratify Finland and Sweden's bids to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.



The two Nordic countries announced their intention to join NATO in May 2022, ending decades of neutrality after Russia?s invasion of Ukraine caused a sudden shift in attitudes toward joining the bloc.



All 30 NATO member states must ratify their bids to join the bloc; however, Turkey and Hungary have yet to approve them.



Turkish-Swedish relations suffered a major blow in late January after a rally outside the Turkish Embassy in Helsinki at which an anti-immigration politician set alight a copy of the Quran. The incident sparked anger in the Turkish capital, Ankara, where protesters took to the streets and burned the Swedish flag outside the Swedish embassy in response.



Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan previously said he has a positive view on Finland's entry to NATO, but not on Sweden's "as long as it permits attacks on Islam's holy book Quran," according to state news agency Anadolu. Turkey has also said Sweden must take a clearer stance against what it sees as terrorists, mainly Kurdish militants and a group it blames for a 2016 coup attempt.



However, on Monday, February 13, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said during a joint press conference with her Finnish counterpart in Helsinki that Turkey should ratify the bids to make the alliance stronger.



?I made it clear over recent months with regard to all NATO members, especially the two who haven't ratified yet, that it is not only in the spirit of an alliance to ratify swiftly, but also that it will make us stronger as an alliance.



Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto added, "On NATO accession ? we are waiting for the two last ratifications Hungary and Turkey," adding that he hoped fulfilling "all those conditions that were set by Turkey" would lead ?to a very rapid ratification process."



Haavisto said he hopes both Finland and Sweden can become NATO members by the middle of the summer, adding that "the conflict is not far away from us."









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Greater Accra Regional Minister, Henry Quartey has issued a stern warning to some people he calls "saboteurs" within his political party, the New Patriotic Party, to stay clear off his way as he continues his 'Making Accra Work Again' project.



According to him, some members of the NPP are working against him in hope that he fails to achieve his goal of making the capital city, Accra, clean and safe for residents and commuters.



The Minister rolled out the 'Making Accra Work Again' project to instil discipline in the residents and maintain a hygienic environment in the capital city.



However, the project seems to be halting since, in recent times, not much is seen of him to be working towards making Accra work again.



Being asked in an interview with Kwami Sefa Kayi on Peace FM's morning show "Kokrokoo" on why the project isn't moving forward, the Minister revealed that "some people feel Henry is becoming too powerful", so want to "clip him".



According to him, these people sabotaging him are members of his own New Patriotic Party (NPP).



"The President has never, on any day, told me that Henry, stop what you are doing. The Vice President has not, in fact, Office of the President has not but I will say that there is an internal sabotage from my own party. Yes! And that is what has led us to where we are...They (Office of the President) are happy with what we are doing but internally, some people are sabotaging the work of Henry Quartey and I wonder whether it is for the good of the people of this country or for their own selfish interest", he stated.



The Regional Minister warned the saboteurs stating categorically that he won't succumb to their machinations.



"I am not deterred by these things", he stressed and asked "can we put our personal interest aside and think about Ghana first?"



When asked further to name and shame those diversionists in the New Patriotic Paty, the Minister answered; "Ecclesiastes 3:1 says there is time for everything. One day, one day, one day, the cock will crow!"





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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THE GHANA Grid Company (GRIDCO) says government has given assurance of its readiness to pay the over GH2.7 billion debt owed it by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and the Northern Electricity Company (NEDCo) despite the challenges facing the power distributor.



At a press briefing on the state of GRIDCO at the Ministry of Informations State of the Agencies Report yesterday in Accra, the Chief Executive Officer of GRIDCO, Ing. Ebenezer Kofi Essienyi, said some challenges facing the two companies affected its revenue collection, thereby resulting in some debts.



However, there has been massive improvement as ECG revenue collection has improved from collection which was below 20 percent to about 55 percent since 2020 after ECG and its partners embarked on several modalities to enhance its operations. There are a lot we can achieve together, like my chief said, if we are able to build a robust infrastructure; if ECG is able to plug its commercial losses; and if the collection rates goes up.



He said, This amount owed by the two entities is a legacy debt, and this is debt that has been accrued for over 20 years plus, since the inception of the relationship between these two companies started.



Power Supply Chain



According to him, in the power value chain, GRIDCO, the transmitter carries the power to ECG, which is the distributor.



After they are served and the money is collected, they in turn send it to the value chain operators or the players but historically, there have been some challenges as ECG has made some commercial losses in terms of collection.



He also stated that apart from the challenges facing the company such as overgrowth, encroachment and galamsey operations, the company has also chalked some successes in its operations over the years.



These, he stated, included the provision of 65 substations in 2021 to 68 in 2022, upgrading the transformer capacity from 8,901.8 MVA to 9,642 MVA and also the improvement in transmission lines to 7200.5 kilometres.



He, however, appealed to Ghanaians to support the company especially, people living in areas where farmlands and properties were affected to bear with the company as it made efforts to extend its network to all parts of the country.











Source: Daily Guide









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Senior Legal Team Member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Ashanti Region Evans Amankwah says the Akufo-Addo government has suppressed freedom of speech in the country.



He believes the government is using state security to intimidate members of the opposition and prevent them from speaking on issues of national interest.



Amankwah gave this remark after his client Razak Koampah Avoliya, the constituency youth organizer of the opposition party was remanded by the Asokwa Circuit Court, last Thursday (February 9).



Koampa, aka Mosquito, turned himself in after he was declared wanted by the police for allegedly inciting political violence captured in a viral video. The 32-year-old was detained, charged and arraigned. A push for bail by Lawyer Amankwah and his team was shot down by the court.



Shocked by the courts verdict Lawyer Amakwah said: I am dumbfounded that the court refused bail at this point. As a lawyer no matter how bad the decision of the court you need to respect it. People have made more serious, treacherous and threatening statements than this. Kennedy Agyapong and Sammi Awuku made similarly serious statements and what happened to them?



Razak Koampa is in high spirits and this time I am speaking as a lawyer and a politician that the incarceration or remand of Razak will not intimidate NDC youthNobody can gag our freedom of speech. If putting us behind bars is what they intend doing then we want the IGP and the Interior Minister to build more cells, the visibly emotional lawyer told reporters.



Meanwhile, the case continues today (14 February 2023).





Source: ghanaweb.com









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The Majority Chief Whip has clarified his remarks about New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer candidate Alan Kyerematen chairing the Economic Committee of Cabinet rather than Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.



Speaking in a Neat FM interview, on Monday, which was monitored by GhanaWeb, Frank Annoh Dompreh said that he did not mean to say that Alan Kyerematen, a former Minister for Trade and Industry, is more responsible for the economic challenges in the country than Bawumia.



He added that the point he was trying to make was that the vice president cannot be blamed for the economic challenges of Ghana simply because he is the head of Ghanas Economic Management Team.



I made these statements responding to the claim of Buaben Asamoa that Bawumia has run down the economy. I explained that if that is what they are saying, then the cabinet is a creature of the constitution and, therefore, its sub-committees.



And Mr Alan Kyerematen was the head of the cabinet sub-committee on economic management. And so, if they are saying Dr Bawumia has run down the economy than he (Alan) is involved. That is my simple answer.



Anybody who thinks I am lying should check the records to check and tell me whether I am being factual or not, he said in Twi.



Frank Annoh-Dompreh, during an interview on Adom TV, interview monitored by GhanaWeb, on Friday, refuted assertions by supporters of Alan Kyerematen that Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia cannot be the flagbearer of the party because he will not be a good messenger.



According to him, the suggestions by Alans supporters including the former Communication Director of the NPP, Yaw Buaben Asamoa, that Bawumia will not be a good messenger because he is responsible for the economic hardship in Ghana, as the head of the countrys Economic Management Team, is totally wrong.



Annoh-Dompreh, the Member of Parliament (MP)

for Nsawam Adoagyiri said that Alan is more responsible for Ghanas economic meltdown because he is the head of the Economic Management Committee of the Cabinet of Ghana.



The likes of the former Trade and Industry Minister Alan Kyerematen Assin, Central MP Ken Agyapong, Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the former Food and Agriculture Minister, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, ex-Mampong MP Francis Addai-Nimoh and Regional Cooperation Minister Dr Kofi Konadu Apreku, are expected to face off in the race for the flagbearership position of the NPP.













































Source: ghanaweb.com









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Twenty three-year-old Ashley Junior has recounted his ordeal in the music industry.



To him, a death threat he received from a seasoned gospel musician nearly forced him to early retirement after releasing his debut-Awurade Fakye few years ago.



In an interview, he said, "I invited a renowned Accra-based gospel musician for a show in Kumasi, few years ago but things didn't go the way l expected."



"Consequently, l apologized for not meeting his financial request and he threatened taking my life citing a popular gospel artiste who died mysteriously."



"He told me if I want to die like that renowned gospel musician, l should play games with him," he recounted.



He said the threat discouraged him from pursuing his musical career.



However, he pointed out that his desire for music has compelled him to hit the studio with a new single entitled 'Fakye' (Forgive), which would be released soon.



He added "l don't want to be tagged as a gospel musician because of how some of them conduct themselves. I am terrified by the operatios of some of them."



The young artiste is known in private life as Kingsford Adom Kwadwo and hoping to take Ghana music across the globe.









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This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

Half of the Amazon is typically vulnerable to fire in the two-month period analyzed. Human action was the main cause of the recent destruction. Credit: Gabriel de Oliveira/University of South Alabama

The number of active fires recorded in the Brazilian Amazon in August-September 2022 was the highest since 2010, according to an article published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution. Besides the record number of fires (74,398), the researchers found they were due not to extreme drought, as in 2010, but to recent deforestation by humans.

"The idea of publishing our findings came up when we analyzed data provided free of charge by the Queimadas program," said Guilherme Mataveli, first author of the article. 'Queimadas' in Portuguese means burnings, and he was referring to the forest fire monitoring service run by the National Space Research Institute (INPE). Mataveli is currently a postdoctoral researcher in INPE's Earth Observation and Geoinformatics Division.

The number of fires typically rises every year in August and September, when the weather favors fire in about half of the Amazon. "But the surge in the number of fires in 2010 was due to an extreme drought event that occurred in a large part of the region, whereas nothing similar occurred in 2022, so other factors must have been to blame," Mataveli said.

Mataveli's main research interest is the influence of land use and land cover on emissions of fine particulate matter from fire in the Amazon and Cerrado biomes using modeling and remote sensing.

The researchers also analyzed the locations of the fires detected using data provided free of charge by another INPE platform, TerraBrasilis. Their analysis showed that 62% occurred in recently deforested areas; that the number of fires in recently deforested areas in August-September 2022 rose 71% compared with the same period of 2021; and that the total deforested area increased by 64% according to the deforestation alerts issued by INPE's real-time detection system (DETER).

"Alarming results also emerged from our analysis of the type of land on which these fires occurred, classified into public land, smallholdings, and medium to large private properties," Mataveli said. More than a third (35%) of the fires detected in August-September 2022 occurred in public areas such as conservation units and Indigenous reservations, and the number of fires in these areas rose 69% year over year.

"The Amazon has become more vulnerable to grilagem [land grabbing via falsification of title deeds] in recent years, and this sharp increase is one of the results of this process," he said.

A key source of information for this land use and land cover analysis was TerraBrasilis, much of whose data comes from the Rural Environmental Register (CAR), designed to ensure compliance with the Forest Code. All landowners and land users are required to register with the CAR. The process is essentially self-declaratory, with the landowner entering environmental information about the property. Registration with the CAR is not required for conservation units, Indigenous reservations and other types of public land.

Climate goals

The advance of fire, deforestation, degradation, illegal mining and land grabbing in the Amazon runs counter to the goals established internationally by Brazil as part of its commitment to combat global warming, such as stopping all illegal deforestation by 2028 and achieving a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to 2005 levels.

Besides the negative effect on biodiversity and maintenance of the ecosystem services essential to human life, such as climate regulation, the Brazilian economy is endangered by uncontrolled deforestation and associated activities. Markets for its exports of commodities, such as the European Union, are in the process of approving new regulatory standards that will prevent the purchase of goods produced in deforested or degraded areas.

"The article highlights a systemic problem that must be seriously addressed by society. A reversal of this trend requires punishment of those who break the law, implementation of efficient public policies, communication with society, and a search for alternative solutions based on cutting-edge science and capable of promoting sustainable development in the region. Identifying and prosecuting the people who are illicitly destroying the world's largest tropical forest is one of the challenging tasks on the environmental agenda to be faced by the incoming federal government," said Luiz Aragao, last author of the article.

More information: Guilherme Mataveli et al, Record-breaking fires in the Brazilian Amazon associated with uncontrolled deforestation, Nature Ecology & Evolution (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41559-022-01945-2 Journal information: Nature Ecology & Evolution

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Artist impression of the four classes of planetary system architecture. A new architecture framework allows researchers to study an entire planetary system at the systems level. If the small planets within a system are close to the star and massive planets further away, such systems have 'ordered' architecture. Conversely, if the mass of the planets in a system tends to decrease with distance to the star these systems are 'anti-ordered'. If all planets in a system have similar masses, then the architecture of this system is 'similar'. 'Mixed' planetary systems are those in which the planetary masses show large variations. Research suggests that planetary systems which have the same architecture class have common formation pathways. Credit: NCCR PlanetS, Tobias Stierli

In our solar system, everything seems to be in order: The smaller rocky planets, such as Venus, Earth or Mars, orbit relatively close to our star. The large gas and ice giants, such as Jupiter, Saturn or Neptune, on the other hand, move in wide orbits around the sun.

In two studies published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, researchers from the Universities of Bern and Geneva and the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS show that our planetary system is quite unique in this respect. A Research Highlight article published in Nature Astronomy by Luca Maltagliati in the same journal discusses these two papers.

Like peas in a pod

"More than a decade ago, astronomers noticed, based on observations with the then groundbreaking Kepler telescope, that planets in other systems usually resemble their respective neighbors in size and masslike peas in a pod," says study lead author Lokesh Mishra, researcher at the University of Bern and Geneva, as well as the NCCR PlanetS. But for a long time it was unclear whether this finding was due to limitations of observational methods.

"It was not possible to determine whether the planets in any individual system were similar enough to fall into the class of the 'peas in a pod' systems, or whether they were rather differentjust like in our solar system," says Mishra.

Therefore, the researcher developed a framework to determine the differences and similarities between planets of the same systems. And in doing so, he discovered that there are not two, but four such system architectures.

Four classes of planetary systems

"We call these four classes 'similar,' 'ordered,' 'anti-ordered' and 'mixed,'" says Mishra. Planetary systems in which the masses of neighboring planets are similar to each other, have similar architecture. Ordered planetary systems are those, in which the mass of the planets tends to increase with distance from the starjust as in our solar system. If, on the other hand, the mass of the planets roughly decreases with distance from the star, researchers speak of an anti-ordered architecture of the system. And mixed architectures occur, when the planetary masses in a system vary greatly from planet to planet.

"This framework can also be applied to any other measurements, such as radius, density or water fractions," says study co-author Yann Alibert, Professor of Planetary Science at the University of Bern and the NCCR PlanetS. "Now, for the first time, we have a tool to study planetary systems as a whole and compare them with other systems."

The findings also raise questions: Which architecture is the most common? Which factors control the emergence of an architecture type? Which factors do not play a role? Some of these, the researchers can answer.

A bridge spanning billions of years

"Our results show that 'similar' planetary systems are the most common type of architecture. About eight out of ten planetary systems around stars visible in the night sky have a 'similar' architecture," says Mishra. "This also explains why evidence of this architecture was found in the first few months of the Kepler mission." What surprised the team was that the "ordered" architecturethe one that also includes the solar systemseems to be the rarest class.

According to Mishra, there are indications that both the mass of the gas and dust disk from which the planets emerge, as well as the abundance of heavy elements in the respective star play a role. "From rather small, low-mass disks and stars with few heavy elements, 'similar' planetary systems emerge. Large, massive disks with many heavy elements in the star give rise to more ordered and anti-ordered systems. Mixed systems emerge from medium-sized disks. Dynamic interactions between planetssuch as collisions or ejectionsinfluence the final architecture," Mishra explains.

"A remarkable aspect of these results is that it links the initial conditions of planetary and stellar formation to a measurable property: the system architecture. Billions of years of evolution lie in between them. For the first time, we have succeeded in bridging this huge temporal gap and making testable predictions. It will be exciting to see if they will hold up," Alibert concludes.
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CRISPR/Cas9 allows manipulation of A. castellanii. a Constructs used to constitutively express Cas9 in A. castellanii. The sequence of the gRNA is depicted with diamonds followed by the Cas9-binding scaffold and an A. castellanii tRNA (yellow rectangles). The localization of the GFP-Cas9 fusion for the different constructs is shown by fluorescence. Micrographs are representative of 3 independent experiments. Scale bar: 10m. b Representative micrographs showing amoebas expressing mRFP (vector Vc241) and GFP-Cas9 after selection for 23 weeks with the appropriate drug(s) (refer to materials and methods). mRFP (product of the targeted gene) and GFP (Indicating Cas9 expression) fluorescence are shown. MCR: mutagenic chain reaction. Scale bar: 10m. c The quantification of the micrograph shown in (b). The mean  SD of at least 200 amoebas (3 independent experiments (n = 3)) is shown. Amoebas were classified either as non-fluorescent, mRFP+, GFP+ or GFP+mRFP+. MCR: mutagenic chain reaction. Guides targeting pandoravirus rpb1 were used as off-target gRNAs. Nd: not detected. d Representative sequencing results of targeted guide sequences on rfp upon transfection with on-target gRNAs. PCR were performed on the target sequences as shown in Fig. S1a, b, cloned into a TA cloning vector and single clones were sent for sequencing. The wild type sequence and mutations generated are shown in red and blue respectively. Ten individual clones were amplified and sequenced. e Schematic representation of the rfp locus, guide targeting location, homology arms for recombination and primer annealing sites for a disruption using a mutagenic chain reaction strategy (see Fig. S1e). f Gene disruption of rfp by the mutagenic chain reaction observed at the population level after 23 weeks post-transfection. Expected PCR size: a + b: 837 bp (unmodified locus), a + b 890 bp (recombinant locus), a + c: 500 bp (unmodified locus). Note that the primer b anneals both in the wild type and recombinant locus resulting in PCR products with slight differences in size. Credit: Nature Communications (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-36145-4

A team of virologists at AixMarseille University, has found evidence that suggests the giant virus Pandoravirus neocaledonia evolved from smaller and simpler viruses. In their study, published in the journal Nature Communications, the group used a modified version of the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing system to learn more about the evolutionary history of the giant virus, and perhaps others like it.

Prior research has shown that most viruses are much smaller than bacteria. But a few are so large that biologists refer to them as giant viruses. Somewhat perplexed by their existence, evolutionary biologists have long debated how such strange viruses might have come to exist.

Currently, there are two main theories: The first is that they evolved as a mix of several smaller viruses. The second is that they devolved from larger, more sophisticated organisms. In this new effort, the team in France took a new approach to solving the mysteryusing CRISPR/Cas9 to identify what are known as essential genes in the viruses' genome (those that are needed to reproduce).

Prior research has shown that a good way to discover essential genes is to remove genes one at a time until the organism is no longer able to reproduce. That is where CRISPR/Cas9 came init allows for knocking out whatever genes are desired. But Pandoravirus neocaledonia presented a problemit has 25 copies of each of its chromosomes, and CRISPR/Cas9 is only able to knock out one gene at a time. To overcome this problem, the team modified the gene editing system to generate a chain reactionwhenever a gene was cut, another cut would be instigated along the chain until all of the copies were removed.

After running their chain-reaction gene editing on Pandoravirus neocaledonia until the virus was no longer able to reproduce, they found that the genes needed for reproduction were located on just one end of the genome, somewhat apart from other, less essential genesevidence, the team suggests, that the virus evolved from several smaller viruses. They suggest that it is likely that other giant viruses evolved in similar ways.

More information: Hugo Bisio et al, Evolution of giant pandoravirus revealed by CRISPR/Cas9, Nature Communications (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-36145-4 Journal information: Nature Communications

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Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

As China has grown its economy and international influence over the last half-century, it has become known as a major world power, working alongsideand sometimes againstthe U.S. to advance its interests.

Now, new research from the University of Denver's Frederick S. Pardee Center for International Futures suggests that China may overtake the U.S. as the world's greatest power sometime in the next 20 years. If that happens, it will mean a very different world.

To get a handle on that different worldand possibly on how to avoid itPardee Center director Jonathan Moyer and his team use the International Futures (IF) model, developed at DU by professor Barry Hughes over a 40-year period, to forecast and examine development within major systems such as economics, demographics and governance.

"We've also done quite a bit of work on thinking about how to measure power and influence in the international system," he says. "This is a really messy, kind of complicated area, because you can't measure power and influence directly in an aggregate way, for a variety of reasons."

But the IF model's index-based approach allows researchers to measure these thingspower and influence, specificallyin a more indirect way.

"We create indices that try to approximate measures of power and influence, and then we use those within the International Futures system to forecast what's the most likely development trajectory," Moyer explains. "Then, the last bit of the puzzle is to create alternative scenarios. So, we're not interested in just simply predicting what's going to happen, but instead, we're interested in better understanding the range of uncertainty and the things that would have to happen to dramatically shift these development trajectories across time. That's the focus of this kind of U.S.-China work."

In most of the scenarios that the Pardee team played outabout 90%China did overtake the U.S. as the world's next great power. What would need to happen for the U.S. to remain in that top spot?

Collin Meisel, associate director of geopolitical analysis at the Pardee Center, says that for the U.S. to remain the world's No. 1 power, China's gross domestic product (GDP) growth would have to slowa lot.

"In the analysis that we did, we did look across a broad range of scenarios, and those included pessimistic growth forecasts for China," he says. "But some analysts would say that we should be even more pessimistic. And so, if Chinese growth really stagnates, or if current GDP figures are sort of overstated, then there's a chance that China wouldn't pass the U.S. as the world's leading power."

Moyer says a world with China as the globe's top power may look quite different than the reality we're living today. For example, because China's ambitions are disparate from those of the U.S., international conflicts could be managed in a different way.

"There are lots of other countries that have decent capabilities. The Europeans are still going to be powerful in the future; South Korea, Japan will still be influential in the future," Moyer says. "And the world's going to look very different with India. India's going to be growing dramatically over the next number of years for the same kind of structural reasons. And so how does China deal with India [and Pakistan]two-nuclear armed countries that have had border conflict?"

Diplomacy isn't the only aspect of international dealings that could change under China as the world's leading power. Moyer says the economic relationship between the U.S. and China might undergo some significant re-wiringa strategic uncoupling of sorts.

"Let's say you depend on someone for your daily lunch because they make a great sandwich, better than the sandwich you are able to make. If they become a jerk and start withholding that sandwich or raising the price of that sandwich, you're likely going to make your own sandwich, even though it's less desirable. Strategic decoupling is kind of like thatyou stop depending on someone (or some country, in this case) for your well-being because you're concerned about how that dependence can be used against you."

The specifics of the situations aside, the researchers say that one thing is for sure: The countries that matter in the international system are changing, and tools and research can help us better understand how these changes will impact our lives.

The paper is published in the Journal of Contemporary China.

More information: Jonathan D. Moyer et al, Measuring and Forecasting the Rise of China: Reality over Image, Journal of Contemporary China (2022). DOI: 10.1080/10670564.2022.2071879
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Centipedes (Scolopendra subspinipes mutilans) can thermally detect sunlight without eyes or known photoreceptors. Credit: Shilong Yang

A team of forestry experts at Northeast Forestry University, working with two colleagues from Zhejiang University School of Medicine, has uncovered the means by which the Chinese red-headed centipede is able to detect sunlight despite having no eyes or even photoreceptors.

In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group describes testing the myriapods under various scenarios to learn how they sense sunlight.

Venomous Chinese red-headed centipedes have long, black segmented bodies, yellow legs and a large, eyeless head with long antennae and a mouth capable of biting and injecting venom into prey, predators and humans that happen to step on them.

Prior research has shown that the centipede actively avoids sunlight, though it is not known if this is to avoid predators or prevent overheating. Prior research has also shown that in addition to having no eyes, the pencil-size bugs also have no photoreceptors, raising the question of how they know when the sun is shining on them.

To find out, the researchers conducted experiments that involved placing specimens in clear containers, some of which were covered with black tape. They then studied how the centipedes moved when exposed to differing amounts of light. They also used thermal cameras to record changes in body temperature during sunlight exposure. They found that the temperature of the antennae rose almost immediately when exposed to sunlight, and did so rapidly. Readings showed temperature increases of up to 9C within seconds. Movie of light/dark preference testing. The antennae of a centipede were covered with tinfoil. Credit: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2023). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2218948120

To confirm that the antennae were alerting the centipedes to sunlight, the researchers covered the curly red, segmented structures of several specimens and then retested the bugs to see how they responded to sudden bursts of light. The covering made the creatures far less averse to sunlight.

The researchers then took a closer look at the antennae to find out how they were working as sunlight heat sensors and found thermal receptors called BRTNaC1 that served as ion channels. They were triggered by temperature increases.

More information: Zhihao Yao et al, A thermal receptor for nonvisual sunlight detection in myriapods, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2023). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2218948120 Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

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Schematics for Floquet band engineering in semiconductors. Credit: Shuyun Zhou, Changhua Bao, Shaohua Zhou

Physicists have been trying to identify reliable strategies to manipulate quantum states in solid-state materials, cold atoms and other systems, as this could inform the development of new technologies. One of these strategies is Floquet engineering, which entails the periodic driving of quantum states of matter.

Researchers at Tsinghua University, Beihang University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences in China have recently demonstrated the experimental realization of Floquet band engineering in a model semiconductor, namely black phosphorus. Their paper, published in Nature, could inform future research efforts exploring the Floquet engineering of semiconducting materials and trying to realize light-induced emerging phenomena, such as light-induced topological phase transitions.

"Light-matter interaction plays critical roles in experimental condensed matter physics and materials sciences, not only as experimental probes for revealing the underlying physics of low-dimensional quantum materials, but more importantly, as effective control knobs for manipulating the electronic structures and quantum states in the non-equilibrium state," Shuyun Zhou, who initiated and directed this research, told Phys.org.

"Such nonequilibrium control provides the fascinating opportunities to induce new physical phenomena beyond those in the equilibrium state. Along this line, tailoring the quantum states of matter through time-periodic fields (i.e., Floquet engineering) has attracted extensive interests over the past few decades."

Past studies have applied Floquet engineering to condensed matter systems, cold atoms and optical lattices. Theoretical works have also predicted intriguing phenomena based on Floquet engineering, such as light-induced topological phase transitions. Experimental evidence of Floquet engineering, however, is still relatively scarce.

"Many fundamental questions remain to be answered through experimental results," Zhou said. "For example, can Floquet engineering be realized in a semiconductor under realistic experimental conditions? Addressing this question is important as semiconductors are widely used for electronic and optoelectronic devices."

Experimental evidence of Floquet band engineering in black phosphorus by TrARPES. The red arrows mark the light-induced gap opening in the transient electronic structure. Credit: Shuyun Zhou, Changhua Bao, Shaohua Zhou.

For several years, Zhou and his colleagues have been trying to identify favorable methods and experimental conditions for investigating light-induced emerging phenomena and realizing Floquet engineering in semiconductors. This can be particularly challenging, as Floquet engineering requires low photon energy and a strong peak electric field.

To meet these requirements, the researchers developed instruments that apply high-intensity mid-infrared pumping pulses. In their experiments, they combined these tools with a state-of-the-art measure known as time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (TrARPES).

"We chose an almost-ideal semiconductor sample to start withhigh-quality black phosphorus with a small band gap and high mobility, which could be favorable for realizing Floquet engineering," Zhou said. "The most challenging aspect of our study is that this is still a widely unexplored area, and it is not clear what experimental conditions (pump photon energy, pump polarizations etc.) are favorable for inducing light-induced manipulation of the electronic structure. It is just like searching in the dark, and it has taken us quite a few years before we observed something."

Zhou and his colleagues were ultimately able to observe the light-driven transient Floquet band structure modulation in black phosphorus by systematically fine tuning the photon energy, polarization and time delay in their sample. This is the first experimental demonstration of Floquet band engineering in a semiconductor.

"Our work provides important insights into the Floquet engineering of semiconductors, highlighting the importance of resonance pumping," Zhou said. "While optical transitions have been conventionally viewed as detrimental for Floquet states, our work shows that indeed for a semiconductor, resonance pumping could be favorable and even critical for Floquet band engineering. This surprising finding provides a pathway for searching for Floquet engineering in quantum materials."

The experimental team from the Zhou group at Tsinghua University. Credit: Zhou et al.

The recent work by this team of researchers is an important step towards achieving of light-induced topological phase transition, a key goal in the field of quantum physics. Their findings could thus soon pave the way for new studies aimed at transiently manipulating topological states in ultrafast timescales.

The experimental methods used by Zhou and his colleagues are very promising for achieving lattice symmetry-enforced Floquet band engineering with a stronger pump polarization selectivity. These methods can be used to reliably turn on and off the Floquet band in semiconductors, which could support the development of new high-speed devices.

Peizhe Tang, one of the theorists who worked out the theory behind the pseudospin selection rules of the Floquet engineering in this work, commented, "this work clearly shows that the Floquet engineering physics can be further enriched by pseudospin, a quantum degree of freedom in analogy to spin."

"This work paves an important step toward topological phase transition via Floquet engineering," Zhou added. "The next step would be achieving light-induced topological phase transition or even inducing nontrivial topology in a topological trivial material on ultrafast timescales by Floquet engineering. In addition, we would like to extend Floquet engineering to many more solid-state materials."

More information: Shaohua Zhou et al, Pseudospin-selective Floquet band engineering in black phosphorus, Nature (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05610-3 Journal information: Nature

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Credit: Media Diversity Australia

Opponents of an Indigenous Voice to parliament say the Voice is merely symbolic and another pointless layer of bureaucracy. They say that what is needed are "practical measures".

However decades of government-led "practical measures" have achieved little measurable progress and in some cases, caused considerable harm to Indigenous communities. So the question is, will the Voice, in delivering Indigenous perspectives direct to parliament, make any practical difference to outcomes for Indigenous peoples?

Indigenous people have long been calling for more Indigenous-informed solutions. The current debate on alcohol bans in the Northern Territory is just one recent example.

Our research has found including the perspectives of Indigenous people can disrupt long-held assumptions behind previously accepted policy measures. This indicates mechanisms such as the Voice could help deliver better policy by building better understanding of Indigenous affairs.

We did 180 interviews with 44 Indigenous people in Darwin from diverse socio-economic, age, and gender groups. They spoke about aspects of Australian society they perceive to be harmful to race-relations, and therefore to the well-being of Indigenous peoples.

This kind of attention to Indigenous perspectives is central to the proposed structure of the Voice. The current design proposal ensures local and regional voices will have their say.

Whose voices are currently being heard in parliament?

Australia's public and policy spaces are dominated by white Australians, who make up nearly all decision-makers and trusted authorities. By comparison, Indigenous people are underrepresented in every major sphere of influence. This results in top-down, paternalistic policies that have little connection with the reality of Indigenous peoples' lives.

Studies show that when political discourse and policy development is dominated by one group's experiences and worldview, it results in racial biases and blind spots. This limits policy discussions and proposed solutions. Failure to incorporate Indigenous perspectives has contributed to decades of misinformed, ineffective policy. The Northern Territory Intervention is a prime example.

One of the participants of our research reflected on this, saying, "They think they understand our values but they don't understand anything at all. Like, you know, they make all these assumptions without even consulting or discussing or communicating with us anything, you know, of our values or our interests or what we know."

Indigenous voices are important to policy

The observations of the participants in our research illustrate how the lived experience of Indigenous peoples can better inform policies about what issues need to be addressed.

For example, our study found the broader population's ignorance of Indigenous people was one of the standout problems brought up by participants. This includes ignorance of Indigenous cultures, Australian history, and the complexities of its consequences for Indigenous peoples. Participants said they feel there is a low awareness of the extent of this ignorance in the non-Indigenous population.

One participant stated: "I think there's a lot of goodwill there, however, with that goodwill, understanding or knowledge doesn't necessarily go with it"

It is their experience that this ignorance contributes to racist and culturally unsafe attitudes and behaviorsthe harms of which are well documented. Participants said their response to this is to disengage and withdraw from spaces dominated by non-Indigenous people. This includes spaces of education, employment, and essential services. This is an issue because it is often assumed, based on misguided stereotypes, that Indigenous people are unmotivated to engage in education and employment. However unsafe environments are a contributing factor.

From this perspective, policies focused on increasing Indigenous participationincluding through punitive measuresmisunderstand the nature of the problem. Instead, education measures to "close the gap" in Indigenous health and well-being need to be broadened to include education of the non-Indigenous population in the areas identified above.

The participants' perspectives raise many challenges to current policy, and state what is needed is not for Indigenous people to become more like white Australia but for there to be a mutual appreciation of the value of both worldviews and to find ways to work together.

The Voice could be good policy

The views of the research participants confirm the goals of the Uluru Statement from the Heart: if policy is to succeed, it must respond to the lived experience of Indigenous peoples.

"Because we live it, we see it, whereas, if you don't live it, you don't see it."

Our research suggests Indigenous people need to be given space to speak frankly about their lives and for their views to be heard by policy makers. This creates opportunity for better-informed policies and systemic change.

Indigenous people have long demanded a voice to inform policies that affect them. Since invasion, their perspectives have largely been excluded, with disastrous consequences.

The referendum is the result of enormous grassroots efforts by Indigenous people to achieve this basic right. By establishing a national platform that delivers Indigenous voices direct to parliament, the Voice could finally achieve this.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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These flatworms are capable of regenerating any part of their bodies, even their heads. Credit: Teresa Adell

Planaria are freshwater flatworms that have become a key model for studying regeneration and stem cells, as they can regenerate any part of the body, even the head. But how does the animal know what part of its body is missing and what kind of tissue it needs to regenerate?

Researchers from the Department of Genetics, Microbiology and Statistics of the University of Barcelona and the Institute of Biomedicine of the UB (IBUB) have studied the regeneration process of these animals and have identified how the modulation of the intercellular signaling pathway Wnt modifies chromatin, the set of genetic material that cells own in the cell nucleus. A few hours after an amputation, this mechanism lets the wound stem cells know the fate of the new tissue.

The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, involves researchers from the Andalusian Centre for Developmental Biology (CABD), the Pablo de Olavide University in Seville and the University of East Anglia (Norwich, England).

Genomic study

The incredible plasticity of planarians occurs due to the presence of a population of pluripotent adult stem cells, the neoblasts, which are capable of reproducing any type of cell in the organism. Right after an amputation, when new tissue has to be regenerated, there is a window of time in which everything is possible for these pluripotent cells, and depending on the signal the cells receive where the cut has taken place, the destination of destination of these cells is decided.

One of the first steps in this process is to specify the body axis, such as the anteroposterior axis, which defines the position of the head and tail.

To understand how this phenomenon occurs, researchers have carried out a genomic study of the cells located near the wound that takes place after the amputation of the head and tail. Using ATAC-seq and Chip-seq techniques, the researchers were able to analyze the regions of the genome that are accessible or inaccessible in these tissues at a given time, in this case, twelve hours after amputation.

"Only open regions are accessible to transcription factors, which are responsible for the expression of genes. Therefore, these studies allow us to know which set of genes is activated in wound cells twelve hours after the cut, and if they are different between the anterior and posterior part of the planaria," says Teresa Adell, lecturer at the Faculty of Biology and coordinator of the research study.

Inhibition or activation of the Wnt pathway to regenerate the head or the tail

The results reveal that twelve hours after the amputation, chromatin the collection of genetic material that cells have within the nucleuschanges the conformation depending on whether cells near the wound detect that they need to regenerate a head or a tail. Moreover, they show that the change in chromatin composition, which regulates the cell's gene expression, depends on whether a cell signaling pathwaythe Wnt pathwayis activated.

"If the head is needed, the Wnt pathway is inhibited; if the tail is needed, it is activated. Moreover, this change in chromatin composition occurs twelve hours after cutting; new tissue has not yet been made, but the cells already know what course to follow," the researcher points out.

Similarities and differences to other organisms

Understanding this regeneration in planarians is important for understanding this process in other organisms, since the molecular mechanisms that allow the correct regeneration of organs and tissues are evolutionarily conserved, i.e. they are very similar in all animals. In this sense, previous studies had already shown that the regulation of the Wnt pathway is responsible for specifying the anteroposterior axis in many organismsincluding mammalsduring the embryonic development and also in adult animals' regeneration.

"Our study reveals the mechanism by which this is so in planarians, but also in other animals: the Wnt pathway specifies which genes are expressed and, therefore, the cell destination, since they regulate chromatin conformation from the first moment of regeneration," notes Teresa Adell.

Moreover, the findings of the study also highlight the differences with other animals. "Our study validates the idea that organisms as plastic as planarians have highly active intercellular signaling pathways, as if they were embryos, which means that any change of context can change the fate of the cells. This is unlike in mammals, for example, where cell plasticity is much more restricted," says the researcher.

Risks of cell reprogramming

In the case of humans and the possible future biomedical impact of this basic research, the researcher stresses that the implications "are not direct, but of concept": "In this study, we show that regenerative capacity is linked to the ability of cells to reprogram themselves to change their destiny. Therefore, one strategy to improve the regenerative capacity of humans could be to provoke cell reprogramming," says Teresa Adell.

In any case, the researcher is cautious about this strategy and warns that it could have undesirable effects, such as tumor transformation. "In animal models that do regenerate, it has been shown that the signals that must be activated to regenerate, such as the Wnt pathway, are also those that promote tumor processes when they are activated incorrectly. As it is often the case, nothing is absolutely good or bad, it depends on the context in which we find ourselves," she concludes.

All the results of the genomic analyses carried out during the study have been integrated into the PlanExp open-access platform, with the aim of sharing the information and facilitating the analysis of the data for the scientific community.

More information: Eudald Pascual-Carreras et al, Wnt/-catenin signalling is required for pole-specific chromatin remodeling during planarian regeneration, Nature Communications (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-35937-y Journal information: Nature Communications
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Total Ion Current (TIC) chromatograms of volatiles emitted by a calling D. pini female sampled with a PDMS SPME fibers (a), and the mixture of authentic compounds composed like MD17 lure in Table 1 (b). Chromatograms were obtained using a polar ZBWAX column. Credit: Insects (2022). DOI: 10.3390/insects13111063

Beyond the seven mountains and forests, a hungry beast was stealing away. Does this sound like a fairy tale? In reality, such a beast does exist. It is the caterpillar of the nocturnal pine-tree lappet moth (Dendrolimus pini, L.), which feeds on pine needles and wreaks havoc in the forests on a massive scale.

However, words of love between these night butterflies may be the key to preventing outbreaks of their terrifying hunger. Monitoring the population of D. pini and its control has been possible thanks to the recent discovery of a team of scientists from the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IPC PAS) led by Prof. Rafa Szmigielski.

They have deciphered the chemical hieroglyphs of the moth's language by which females attract males, finding a way to deal with the voracious beast and save the pine forests.

The voracious caterpillars of the pine-tree lappet Dendrolimus pini can destroy tens of thousands of hectares of coniferous forests. Despite the lack of ecological solutions to effectively combat this insect, we will not be saying goodbye to our pine trees. Scientists from the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IPC PAS) have found a way towards effective protection against the lappet moth. They have deciphered the chemical 'love words' by which female Dendrolimus pini moths attract their males.

A new pheromone blend based, among others, on newly discovered biocomponents of the sex pheromone of the voracious insect developed by scientists from the IPC PAS may serve as an effective tool for monitoring and, in the long term, also for controlling the abundance of pine-tree lappet moth in our forests.

The pine-tree lappet moth Dendrolimus pini, a moth with a stocky body and gray-brown coloration, is one of Poland's most giant nocturnal butterflies. After overwintering in the mulch, the caterpillars of this butterfly climb into the crowns of pine trees, where they busily devour the needles. As up to several hundred perpetually hungry caterpillars can feed on a single tree, a rapid increase in the Dendrolimus pini population can lead to the extermination of large forest areas.

Without ecological and efficient tools for controlling the moth's population, the data on their population growth is crucial. However, synthetic pheromone traps used by foresters to attract Dendrolimus pini males were found to be insufficient. In the project carried out by scientists from the IPC PAS in collaboration with the Institute of Forestry Research (IBL), a novel and far more effective sex pheromone lure for the pine-tree moth has been developed.

The research into the pine-tree lappet moth's chemical love language proved more difficult than scientists had anticipated for entirely surprising reasons. The study began by the identifying the pheromones' components secreted by young Dendrolimus pini females. To develop a preparation to attract the voracious males, all the chemical compounds that are components of the sexual pheromone were put under the microscope.

Interestingly, in addition to the previously known chemical compounds, the secreted 'pheromone perfume' was found to contain other components, includingcompounds derived from Scot's pine needles and other organic compounds hitherto undiscovered, either significantly influencing the behavior of the caterpillars. The captured substances were chromatographically separated into single components and subjected to a detailed chemical analysis using tandem mass spectrometry.

The comparison of the molecular structures of the identified Dendrolimus pini sex pheromone components with the composition of a commercially available product strengthened the researchers' conviction that one of the most important reasons for the pine-tree lappet moths' poor response to the synthetic pheromone was its oversimplified chemical composition and the lack of key bioactive components.

"We aimed to identify all the substances in the pheromones secreted by the Dendrolimus pini moth and to create a unique formulation to divert the lappet moth's attention from the conifers, including the Scot's pine trees. And all this to save the forests from Dendrolimus pini hunger," says Prof. Rafa Szmigielski.

Based on the results of detailed analyses, chemists from the IPC PAS designed new formulations of the pheromone mixtures, which were subjected to numerous tests in a laboratory framework using modern bioanalytical techniques, such as wind tunnel, olfactometry, and electroanthenography, and then in the field measurements.

Dendrolimus pini moths were placed in wind tunnels exposed to specific chemicals and self-built terraria to test behavior in the natural environment. Hundreds of experiments were carried out with female and male butterflies in this way, exposing them to various compounds. The scientists looked at (Z5)-dodecanal, abbreviated as (Z5)-12:Ald, which occurs naturally in pine needles and attracts caterpillars, and (Z5)-decen-1-yl acetate, known as (Z5)-10:OAc, which in turn discourages them.

Studies have shown the critical role of these two compounds on barnacle behavior.

"The mixture of chemical compounds we have identified and patented cannaturally with appropriate conventionalitybe treated as certain words of non-trivial structure, spoken in the chemical language of the moth. The main accent here is on two 'sounds,' one of which people pronounce differently from the other. For this chemical 'I love you'' to sound convincing, additional words are needed to increase the carrying capacity of the main message, such as plant-derived compounds," explains Prof. Rafa Szmigielski.

Previous attempts attracted a maximum of a few dozen pine barnacle males per trap over several weeks to pheromone traps. Meanwhile, chemical calling using a mixture of substances developed by a group from the IPC PAS increased this number to as high as 160 males per trap in just 3-4 days. Foresters unanimously considered such an increase in insect interest to be a huge success, bringing us closer to saving the pine forests from the appetite of these voracious insects.

Identifying new components of the sex pheromone emitted by the female moth Dendrolimus pini and their correlation with the specific behavior of this tiny insect is a step forward toward the effective protection of pine forests. The scientists' research into creating the synthetic pheromone lures is also more than just monitoring the moth's behavior. It is, first and foremost, the interdisciplinary work, a love of nature, and the fascinating the micro-world.

The findings are published in the journal Insects.

More information: Krzysztof J. Rudzinski et al, Newly Discovered Components of Dendrolimus pini Sex Pheromone, Insects (2022). DOI: 10.3390/insects13111063
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Artist's impression of Ceratosuchops and the orientation of the endocast in the skull. Credit: Anthony Hutchings

Researchers from the University of Southampton and Ohio University have reconstructed the brains and inner ears of two British spinosaurs, helping uncover how these large predatory dinosaurs interacted with their environment.

Spinosaurs are an unusual group of theropod dinosaurs, equipped with long, crocodile-like jaws and conical teeth. These adaptations helped them live a somewhat aquatic lifestyle that involved stalking riverbanks in quest of prey, among which were large fish. This way of life was very different from that of more familiar theropods, like Allosaurus and Tyrannosaurus.

To better understand the evolution of spinosaur brains and senses, the team scanned fossils of Baryonyx from Surrey and Ceratosuchops from the Isle of Wight. These two are the oldest spinosaurs for which braincase material is known. The huge creatures would have been roaming the planet about 125 million years ago years ago. The braincases of both specimens are well preserved, and the team digitally reconstructed the internal soft tissues that had long rotted away.

The researchers found the olfactory bulbs, which process smells, weren't particularly developed, and the ear was probably attuned to low frequency sounds. Those parts of the brain involved in keeping the head stable and the gaze fixed on prey were possibly less developed than they were in later, more specialized spinosaurs.

Three-dimensional reconstruction of the brain cavity and associated nerves and blood vessels within the braincase of the iconic british spinosaurid Baryonyx walkeri. Credit: WitmerLab/Chris_Barker

The findings are published in the Journal of Anatomy.

"Despite their unusual ecology, it seems the brains and senses of these early spinosaurs retained many aspects in common with other large-bodied theropodsthere is no evidence that their semi-aquatic lifestyles are reflected in the way their brains are organized," said University of Southampton Ph.D. student Chris Barker, who led the study.

One interpretation of this evidence is that the theropod ancestors of spinosaurs already possessed brains and sensory adaptations suited for part-time fish catching, and that all spinosaurs needed to do to become specialized for a semi-aquatic existence was evolve an unusual snout and teeth.

"Because the skulls of all spinosaurs are so specialized for fish-catching, it's surprising to see such 'non-specialized' brains," said contributing author Dr. Darren Naish. "But the results are still significant. It's exciting to get so much information on sensory abilitieson hearing, sense of smell, balance and so onfrom British dinosaurs. Using cutting-edge technology, we basically obtained all the brain-related information we possibly could from these fossils," Dr. Naish said.

Three-dimensional reconstruction of the brain cavity (purple), cranial nerves (yellow), inner ear (pink) and blood vessels (red and blue) of the British spinosaurid Ceratosuchops inferodios. This predator likely had an unexceptional sense of smell and could hear low frequency sounds. Credit: Chris Barker

Over the last few years, the EvoPalaeo Lab at the University of Southampton has conducted substantial research on new spinosaurs from the Isle of Wight. Ceratosuchops itself was only announced by the team in 2021, and its discovery was followed up by the publication of another new spinosaurthe gigantic White Rock spinosaurin 2022. The braincase of Ceratosuchops was scanned at the -Vis X-ray Imaging Centre at the University of Southampton, home to some of the most powerful CT scanners in the country, and a model of its brain will be on display alongside its bones at Dinosaur Isle Museum in Sandown, on the Isle of Wight.

"This new research is just the latest in what amounts to a revolution in paleontology due to advances in CT-based imaging of fossils," said co-author Lawrence M. Witmer, professor of anatomy at the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, who has been CT scanning dinosaursincluding Baryonyxfor over 25 years. "We're now in a position to be able to assess the cognitive and sensory capabilities of extinct animals and explore how the brain evolved in behaviorally extreme dinosaurs like spinosaurs."

"This new study highlights the significant role British fossils have in our constantly evolving, fast-moving understanding of dinosaurs, and shows how the UKand the University of Southampton in particularis at the forefront of spinosaur research," said Dr. Neil Gostling, who leads the University of Southampton's EvoPalaeoLab. "Spinosaurs themselves are one of the most controversial of all dinosaur groups, and this study is a valuable addition to ongoing discussions of their biology and evolution."

More information: Modified skulls but conservative brains? The palaeoneurology and endocranial anatomy of baryonychine dinosaurs (Theropoda: Spinosauridae), Journal of Anatomy (2023). DOI: 10.1111/joa.13837
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An array of four microphones ready for noise measurements. Credit: Kent Gee

When the Artemis 1 mission was launched by NASA's Space Launch System, SLS, in November, it became the world's most powerful rocket, exceeding the thrust of the previous record holder, Saturn, by 13%. With liftoff came a loud roar heard miles away.

In JASA Express Letters, researchers from Brigham Young University and Rollins College in Florida reported noise measurements during the launch at different locations around Kennedy Space Center.

The data collected can be used to validate existing noise prediction models, which are needed to protect equipment as well as the surrounding environment and community. These data will be useful as more powerful lift vehicles, including the SLS series, are developed.

"We hope these early results will help prevent the spread of possible misinformation, as happened with the Saturn 5," author Kent Gee said. "Numerous websites and discussion forums suggested sound levels that were far too high, with inaccurate reports of the Saturn 5's sound waves melting concrete and causing grass fires."

The combination of nighttime darkness, humidity, and backlighting provided a rare opportunity to view propagating pressure waves, which can be seen in the accompanying video. Time-synchronized compilation of four videos from NASA showing visible rarefactions during liftoff of the space launch system. Credit: NASA

Artemis 1 was launched with four liquid hydrogen-oxygen engines plus two solid-fuel rocket boosters (SRBs). According to the authors, the SRBs are likely the dominant noise source during liftoff.

The investigators studied recordings at microphones located 1.5 km to 5.2 km from the launch pad. All stations were outside the blast danger area. Maximum noise levels at all five stations exceeded those predicted in a preliminary assessment.

At 1.5 km from the pad, the maximum noise level reached 136 decibels. At a 5.2 km distance, the noise was 129 decibels, nearly 20 decibels higher than predicted by a prelaunch noise model.

"This suggests a need to revisit and probably revise those models," author Grant Hart said.

A procedure known as A-weighting is often used to assess the impact of noise on humans. Because we don't hear as well in some frequency ranges as others, a filter is applied to emphasize the sounds we do hear. Using this method, the investigators found noise levels at 5.2 km from the launchpad were about as loud as a chainsaw.

Researchers gather in front of SLS rocket prior to launch. Credit: Taggart Durrant

A characteristic feature of rocket launches is a crackling sound from shock waves. These shocks represent instantaneous sound pressure increases that are much louder than crackling noises encountered in everyday life.

Author Whitney Coyle said, "We found the Artemis 1 noise level at 5 km had a crackling quality about 40 million times greater than a bowl of Rice Krispies."

"Although this study is an important step forward, we still have a long way to go to understand everything about the generation, propagation, and perception of rocket noise," Gee said.

The article "Space launch system acoustics: Far-field noise measurements of the Artemis-I launch" was published in JASA Express Letters on Feb. 14, 2023.

More information: Space launch system acoustics: Far-field noise measurements of the Artemis-I launch, JASA Express Letters (2023). DOI: 10.1121/10.0016878
Cuba honours Vietnamese journalist

The Cuban Association of Journalists (UPEC) presented the Felix Elmusa Medal  the highest honour of the organisation - to journalist and translator Vu Van Au, a former staff of the Vietnam News Agency (VNA), in recognition of his contributions to the popularisation of information on Cubas social life and achievements across fields.













The Cuban Association of Journalists (UPEC) presents the Felix Elmusa Medal  the highest honour of the organisation - to journalist and translator Vu Van Au, a former staff of the Vietnam News Agency. (Photo: VNA)



The 90-year-old Au was honoured at a ceremony on February 13 to launch the Vietnamese - Spanish Dictionary compiled by himself, which is the first bilingual dictionary of this kind compiled and printed in Vietnam.



Vu Trung My, Vice General Director of the Americas Department of the Party Central Committees Commission for External Relations, said his father has painstakingly compiled the dictionary since 2009 with the hope that the publication will be a useful tool for studying Spanish in Vietnam, and serve as a bridge between Spanish-speaking countries and Vietnam.



Journalist Walfredo Angulo, who was a reporter of Cuban news agency Prensa Latina in Indochina in 1983, recalled memories, support, and solidarity with colleagues from the VNA in particular and the Vietnamese people in general in difficult years.



The Vietnamese journalist was one of the first 23 Vietnamese cadres sent to study Spanish in Cuba in 1961 at the proposal of Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro with Vietnamese leaders. In 1966, for the first time, he became the head of the VNA's office in Havana, where he continuously worked until 1973. He again held a similar position in 1992-1996.



He was an interpreter for late Vietnamese and Cuban Presidents Ho Chi Minh, Fidel Castro and other leaders and famous people.



At present, Au still joins activities to promote the special friendship and close solidarity between the two nations, and the compilation and translation of numerous books./
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Credit: University of Nottingham

Nottingham scientists are co-leading a team investigating an ancient boat buried under a pub car park to find out where it came from and exactly how old it is.

The boat is buried underneath the Railway Inn on the Wirral and an archaeological investigation is taking place later this month. Professor Steve Harding, Director of the National Centre for Macromolecular Hydrodynamics at the University of Nottingham will be analyzing wood and environmental samples from the boat to help reveal accurate details about its origins.

Professor Harding, who is from the Wirral and is also an expert on Viking history in the area will work with professional archaeologist Chas Jones and the Wirral Archaeology Community Interest Company, which Steve is also a Director of, who are co-leading the investigation.

Professor Harding explains, "The vessel was originally discovered in 1938 by workmen who partially exposed the vessel, but were told by their foreman to immediately cover it over again. Fortunately one of the men made detailed notes and a sketch of it, showing a preserved vessel of clinker design (overlapping planks)a design of boat building that originated in Scandinavia."

"It is of approximate length 20-30ft (6-9m), and from the sketch possibly an old transport vessel or fishing boat. It is also buried in waterlogged blue clay which is an ideal preservative as bugs can't grow and degrade the wood: there are very few archaeological vessels that have been found in such material."

"It is not impossible the vessel may have derived from the time the area was heavily settled by Norsemen, or if not the descendants of these people: an investigation we did jointly with the University of Leicester has shown a high proportion of Y-chromosomal DNA of Scandinavian origin in the admixture of people from old families (possessing surnames prior to 1600) in the area. But in all honesty we just don't know and are keeping an open mind." Credit: National Centre for Macromolecular Hydrodynamics

Radar scans have shown that the vessel appears to still be there. Now the team will go down systematically and make approximately 100 narrow bore holes across a wide area in front of the pub where the boat liesburied approximately 9ft (3m) underneath the surface. Through these holes small samples of wood and the surrounding environment will be extracted for full analysis. These techniques will minimize the damage to the vessel compared to what would happen if the boat was exposed.

The chemical analysis of the samples will be undertaken between laboratories at the University's Sutton Bonington Campus, in conjunction with the British Geological Survey at Keyworth, the University of Oslo and the NTH at Trondheim.

Chair Wirral of the Wirral Archaeology Community Interest Company (CIC), Dominga Devitt, said, "There has been intense local interest in this buried object for many years. It has been thought that the boat dates from the Viking era but no professional investigation has ever been carried out to establish the truth, so everyone is really delighted at the prospect of what we might discover."

Professor Harding is also a lead scientist in the Saving Oseberg project with colleagues at the Cultural History Museum in Oslo, developing new biopolymer consolidants for the consolidation and preservation of archaeological wood. He adds, "If ever the Meols boat is ever fully excavated it is hoped it will benefit from these new materials."
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Overview of stained sections of hedgehog jaws, showing year rings which allows the researchers to determine the age of the hedgehogs. Credit: Thomas Bjrneboe Berg.

The world's oldest scientifically-confirmed European hedgehog has been found in Denmark by a citizen science project involving hundreds of volunteers. The hedgehog lived for 16 years, 7 years longer than the previous record holder.

The European hedgehog is one of our most beloved mammals but populations have declined dramatically in recent years. In the UK, studies indicate that urban populations have fallen by up to 30% and rural populations by at least 50% since the turn of the century (British Hedgehog Preservation Society). To combat this, researchers and conservationists have launched various projects to monitor hedgehog populations, to inform initiatives to protect hedgehogs in the wild.

During 2016, Danish citizens were asked to collect any dead hedgehogs they found for "The Danish Hedgehog Project," a citizen science project led by Dr. Sophie Lund Rasmussen. The aim was to better understand the state of the Danish hedgehog population by establishing how long hedgehogs typically lived for. Over 400 volunteers collected an astonishing 697 dead hedgehogs originating from all over Denmark, with a roughly 50/50 split from urban and rural areas.

The researchers determined the age of the dead hedgehogs by counting growth lines in thin sections of the hedgehogs' jawbones, a method similar to counting growth rings in trees. The results have been published as a paper in the journal Animals.

Key findings:

The oldest hedgehog in the sample was 16 years oldthe oldest scientifically documented European hedgehog ever found. Two other individuals lived for 13 and 11 years respectively. The previous record holder lived for 9 years.

Despite these long-lived individuals, the average age of the hedgehogs was only around two years. About a third (30%) of the hedgehogs died at or before the age of one year.

Most (56%) of the hedgehogs had been killed when crossing roads. 22% died at a hedgehog rehabilitation center (for instance, following a dog attack), and 22% died of natural causes in the wild.

Male hedgehogs in general lived longer than females (2.1 vs. 1.6 years, or 24% longer), which is uncommon in mammals. But male hedgehogs were also more likely to be killed in traffic. This may be because males have larger ranges than females and likely move over larger areas, bringing them into contact more frequently with roads.

For both male and female hedgehogs, road deaths peaked during the month of July, which is the height of the mating season for hedgehogs in Denmark. This is likely because hedgehogs walk long distances and cross more roads in their search for mates.

388 hedgehog jaws being prepared for age determination investigation. Credit: Sophie Lund Rasmussen.

Dr. Sophie Lund Rasmussen (based at the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit WildCRU, Department of Biology, University of Oxford, and affiliated researcher at Aalborg University), who leads The Danish Hedgehog Project, said, "Although we saw a high proportion of individuals dying at the age of one year, our data also showed that if the individuals survived this life stage, they could potentially live to become 16 years old and produce offspring for several years. This may be because individual hedgehogs gradually gain more experience as they grow older. If they manage to survive to reach the age of two years or more, they would have likely learned to avoid dangers such as cars and predators."

She added that "The tendency for males to outlive females is likely caused by the fact that it is simply easier being a male hedgehog. Hedgehogs are not territorial, which means that the males rarely fight. And the females raise their offspring alone."

Hedgehog jaw bones show growth lines because calcium metabolism slows down when they hibernate over winter. This causes bone growth to reduce markedly or even stop completely, resulting in growth lines where one line represents one hibernation.

The researchers also took tissue samples to investigate whether the degree of inbreeding influenced how long European hedgehogs live for. Previous studies have found that the genetic diversity of the Danish hedgehog population is low, indicating high degrees of inbreeding. This can reduce the fitness of a population by allowing hereditary, and potentially lethal, health conditions to be passed on between generations. Surprisingly, the results showed that inbreeding did not seem to reduce the expected lifespan of the hedgehogs.

Dr. Rasmussen said, "Sadly, many species of wildlife are in decline, which often results in increased inbreeding, as the decline limits the selection of suitable mates. This study is one of the first thorough investigations of the effect of inbreeding on longevity. Our research indicates that if the hedgehogs manage to survive into adulthood, despite their high degree of inbreeding, which may cause several potentially lethal, hereditary conditions, the inbreeding does not reduce their longevity. That is a rather groundbreaking discovery, and very positive news from a conservation perspective."

Dr. Rasmussen added that "The various findings of this study have improved our understanding of the basic life history of hedgehogs, and will hopefully improve the conservation management for this beloved and declining species."

More information: Sophie Lund Rasmussen et al, Anyone Can Get OldAll You Have to Do Is Live Long Enough: Understanding Mortality and Life Expectancy in European Hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus), Animals (2023). DOI: 10.3390/ani13040626
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Shrinking habitat has led to Sri Lanka's elephants raiding villages looking for food and many suffer agonising deaths after foraging in plastic waste.

Sri Lanka will ban single-use plastics, the government said Tuesday, in a move that follows a series of wild elephant and deer deaths from plastic poisoning.

Cabinet spokesman and media minister Bandula Gunawardana said the manufacture or sale of plastic cutlery, cocktail shakers and artificial flowers will be prohibited from June.

The move was recommended by a panel appointed 18 months ago to study the impact of plastic waste on the environment and wildlife.

Non-biodegradable plastic bags were banned in 2017 due to concerns over flash floods.

And imports of plastic cutlery, food wrappers and toys were banned two years agoafter a spate of deaths of elephants and deer in the island's northeast after foraging at open garbage tips.

Autopsies showed the animals had died after eating plastics mixed with food waste.

But local manufacture and sale of plastic products continued.

Sri Lanka's top authority on Asian elephants, Jayantha Jayewardene, welcomed the move to stop them, but told AFP the ban should be extended to biodegradable plastic bags.

"These bags are getting into the food chain of elephants and wildlife and that is not a good thing," he said.

Elephants are considered sacred and protected by law in Sri Lanka, but about 400 die a year as a result of human-elephant conflict near wildlife reserves, as do around 50 people.

Shrinking habitat has led to jumbos raiding villages looking for food and many suffer agonising deaths after foraging for food at dumps filled with plastic waste.

Dozens of wild deer died from plastic poisoning in the northeastern district of Trincomalee about five years ago, prompting the government to ban the open dumping of garbage near jungle reserves.

 2023 AFP
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The picture shows the recovery of vegetation for the 2001 fire and 2010 fire over Tanana Flats lowland permafrost in interior Alaska where the study was conducted. Credit: Florida Atlantic University

About 40 percent of interior Alaska is underlain by ice-rich permafrostpermanently frozen grounds made up of soil, gravel and sandbound together by ice. Certain conditions, such as climate warming, have intensified tundra wildfires which have profound implications for permafrost thaw.

Surface vegetation plays a dominant role in protecting permafrost from summer warmth, so any alteration of vegetation structure, particularly following severe wildfires, can cause dramatic topdown thaw.

Severe wildfires remove the vegetation and surface soil organic matter, and the loss of this insulation increases the ground heat flux and promotes permafrost thaw. This thaw triggers ground sinking and thermokarst (ground-surface collapse from permafrost thaw) development and leads to surface water inundation, vegetation shifts, changes in soil carbon balance and carbon emissions, all impacting climate warming.

The permafrostfireclimate system has been a hotspot in research for decades. The large-scale effects of these wildfires on land cover change, post-fire resilience, and subsequent thaw settlement remain unknown. Thaw settlement is difficult to measure as there are often no absolute reference frames to compare to the subtle, but widespread topographic change in permafrost landscapes.

Researchers from Florida Atlantic University, in collaboration with the United States Army Corps of Engineers Cold Regions Research & Engineering Laboratory, and Alaska Ecoscience, systematically analyzed the effects of six large fires that have occurred since 2000 on the Tanana Flats lowland in interior Alaska on land cover change, vegetation dynamics, and terrain subsidence, or sinking.

The mapped thaw settlement caused by the fires (a) and estimated uncertainty caused by different models (b). Credit: Florida Atlantic University

For the first time, they have developed a machine learning-based ensemble approach to quantify fire-induced thaw settlement across the entire Tanana Flats, which encompasses more than 3 million acres (approximately 1,250 km2). Researchers linked airborne repeat lidar data to time-series Landsat products (satellite images) to delineate thaw settlement patterns across the six fire scars. This novel approach helped to explain about 65 percent of the variance in lidar-detected elevation change.

Study findings, published in Environmental Research Letters, showed that in total, the six fires resulted in a loss of nearly 99,000 acres (approximately 400 km2) of evergreen forest from 2000 to 2014 among nearly 155,000 acres (approximately 590 km2) of fire-influenced forests with varying degrees of burn severity.

The fires provided favorable conditions for shrub-fen (low-growing shrubs) development, resulting in a comparable post-fire coverage of shrubland and evergreen forest and increasing encroachment of shrubland to areas with sparse vegetation.

Importantly, the researchers did not observe the regrowth of forests after 13 years of the oldest fire in 2001, based on Landsat observations.

"Our study has shown that linking airborne repeat lidar with Landsat products is an encouraging tool for large-scale quantification of fire-induced thaw settlement," said Caiyun Zhang, Ph.D., senior author and a professor in the Department of Geosciences within FAU's Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. "Because airborne lidar measurements are increasingly being made across northern permafrost regions, our method is a valuable means of projecting elevation change across entire fire scars within uniform permafrost-affected landscapes by using data-driven machine learning techniques."

The burn severity across six fire scars (a), and vegetation change before (c) and after (b) the fires. Credit: Florida Atlantic University

The Tanana Flats, which comprises more than 6 million acres (approximately 2,500 km2), is representative of the lowland landscape south of Fairbanks in interior Alaska. It consists of a complex mosaic of ice-rich permafrost and permafrost free ecosystems and is a hotbed for thermokarst. Much of the land is part of a military training area managed by the U.S. Department of Defense.

For the study, researchers assessed three commonly used machine learning algorithms including artificial neural network, support vector machine, and random forest for fire-induced thaw settlement modeling.

"Machine learning has been extensively applied for modeling in geosciences," said Zhang. "The idea is that each algorithm has its pros and cons, and an ensemble analysis of comparative models can produce a more robust estimation than the application of a single model."

Current and future projected increases in mean annual air temperature, the length of the summer growing season, and the severity and extent of wildfire are expected to lead to an increasingly dominant role of wildfire in permafrost ecosystems.

"Mapping thaw settlement as a result of wildfires is critical since it is associated with subsequent thermokarst development, snow accumulation, hydrology, vegetation shifts, and commensurate changes in the land-atmospheric exchange of water, energy, and greenhouse gases," said Zhang. "The combination of active airborne lidar sensors with passive spaceborne optical sensors will enable scientists to measure widespread and large areas affected by wildfires in cold regions, especially with climate warming and increased fire events."

More information: Caiyun Zhang et al, Linking repeat lidar with Landsat products for large scale quantification of fire-induced permafrost thaw settlement in interior Alaska, Environmental Research Letters (2022). DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/acabd6 Journal information: Environmental Research Letters
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Drugs can affect the heart rhythms of males and females differently. University of California, Davis, researchers developed a translator that can use male data to predict female heart response. Credit: Stefano Morotti

Women are often underrepresented in cardiac clinical trialsyet they are at least at equally high risk of death due to cardiovascular disease, and at higher risk of developing drug-induced heart complications compared to men. Clinical trials of medicines generally rely on electrocardiograms (EKG) to measure a patient's heart's response to a medicine and determine its safety, yet males and females have a number of differences in their heart physiology that are reflected in consistent variations in their EKGs. As a result, a drug that might appear to be safe in males may not be safe for females.

"People tend to think that females don't really get heart diseases, but that's not the casemales and females are equally impacted by heart issues, though most of what we know about heart disease comes from what researchers have studied in males" explained Kim Hellgren, a pharmacology researcher in the lab of Eleonora Grandi at University of California, Davis. "The best thing would be if we did our research on half males and half females," he said. But to help interpret studies that don't have ideal representation, and to highlight the risk of overlooking sex differences in the heart, he's programming a tool to help predict the female response based on input from male clinical trial participants.

Compared to males, females heart cells take more time to return to their resting state after an electrical impulse, which shows up as a longer QT interval on an EKG. The sex-related differences in the excitation and contraction of heart muscle cells may also affect the way in which these cells respond to drugs. As a result, what might be a therapeutic effect in males could simultaneously be detrimental in females.

Using mathematical models of excitation and contraction patterns in male and female human heart muscle cells, the team developed a regression-based "translator" that can use male data to predict female heart response. So far they've used their tool in virtual data sets of simulated cardiac responses to a large group of different drugs. Using male data, the translator was able to successfully predict female data that matched the computer's simulated female data for each drug they tried.

The next step is to package the program so that it can be easily used by people conducting clinical trials, Hellgren said. The program will make it easy to enter a pile of clinical data from male EKGs and get feedback as to whether the drug would be safe or unsafe for women. This would help prevent drugs that could be unsafe for women from going to market.

Ultimately, Hellgren hopes his translator is rarely used, and instead brings attention to the disparities in clinical trials to encourage clinical trial coordinators to recruit an equal number of men and women. But for studies already underway, and for those when it just isn't possible to get to exactly 50/50, Hellgren believes his tool will be able to bridge the gaps.

Hellgren will present his work work on Sunday, February 19 at the 67th Annual Biophysical Society Meeting in San Diego, California.
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Unku found in Caleta Vitor Bay. Top: sides A and B from the wearers point of view (photographs by Paola Salgado); bottom: illustration of the tapestry tunic from the weavers position and viewpoint (illustration by Paola Salgado). Credit: PLOS ONE (2023). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0280511

A new study co-authored by a George Washington University research professor examines the Inka Empire's (also known as the Incan Empire and the Inca Empire) instruments of culture and control through a well-preserved article of clothing discovered in a centuries-old Chilean cemetery.

Researchers excavating the burial site along Caleta Vitor Bay in northern Chile found a tunic, or unku (see above), which would have been worn by a man who commanded respect and prestige in the Inka Empire. Unkus were largely standardized attire meeting technical and stylistic specifications imposed by imperial authorities.

The Caleta Vitor unku, however, goes beyond the strict mandates handed down by Inka leaders. While the artisans who fashioned this unku clearly adhered to imperial design standards, they also included subtle cultural tributes unique to their provincial homeland.

Whoever wove the Caleta Vitor unku lived hundreds of miles south of the Inka capital of Cusco in an area absorbed into the Inka Empire in the late 15th century. The weaver employed the techniques and unique style and imagery of an indigenous culture that existed long before the Inka conquest, creating a tangible symbol of provincial life in pre-colonial South America.

"It represents a study of a rare example of an excavated Inka unku tunic, whose context and technical features are providing an unprecedented understanding of imperial Inka influence in the provinces," Jeffrey Splitstoser, an assistant research professor of anthropology at GW and a co-author of the study, said.

The paper is published in the journal PLOS ONE.

More information: Jacqueline Correa-Lau et al, Inka Unku: Imperial or provincial? State-local relations, PLOS ONE (2023). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0280511 Journal information: PLoS ONE
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Whenever a school shooting takes place, school officials often arrange for grief counseling services to be made available for whoever needs them. But what exactly do those services entail?

To answer that question, The Conversation reached out to Philip J. Lazarus, a school psychology professor at Florida International University who counseled students and educators affected by the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, which took place in Parkland, Florida, on Valentine's Day, 2018.

Below, Lazarus recounts some of the experiences he had as he provided grief counseling. He also offers insights on what students and educators need as the nation confronts record levels of shootings with higher and higher death tolls.

Shattered sense of security

A few days after Parkland, a seventh grade boy at a nearby school told me his plan for how to make schools safer.

"We need to have a conveyor belt to check all kids for guns, then we need to have bulletproof windows on the outside, then we need to have bulletproof closets that we can all run into in case a shooter enters the building," the boy told me at the time. "We need to put up a 10-foot barbed wire fence outside the playground, and more police."

I wondered if this is the future we as a society want. Five years later, more elements of that future are now here.

In Newport News, Virginia, for example, officials decided to install 90 walk-through metal detectors in schools across the district. The measure comes in response to one of the most shocking cases of a school shootingone in which a first grader reportedly shot and wounded his teacher, Abigail Zwerner, at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News on Jan. 6, 2023.

In Texas, tens of millions of dollars were spent on providing schools with ballistic shields for school police officers. Some schools have installed bulletproof "safety pods" to protect students against active shooters.

When tragedies like the ones in Parkland, Newport News and Uvalde, Texas, take place, they don't just affect the school itselfthey affect surrounding schools as well. Which is why, when I returned a few days after the Parkland shooting, from the National Association of School Psychologists convention in Chicago to Broward County, where I live and where the Parkland shooting took place, I connected with Frank Zenere, one of my former students, an adjunct lecturer at Florida International University and the crisis coordinator for Miami-Dade County Public Schools, as well as a team from Nova Southeastern University and another team of school psychologists from Volusia County to provide psychological intervention.

These interventions included debriefing students, which means students talking about their reactions to the horrific event, short-term individual and group counseling, and consultation with school leaders and parents about how to handle children's grief and how best to open reopen schools.

Fears and uncertainty

One thing all school-based mental health providers learn in crisis intervention is that all students have a story to tell, even if they have problems articulating their thoughts.

The job of the mental health provider is to listen. However, listening is often not enough. After Parkland, some students in the surrounding area were afraid to enter their own schools. A few were concerned that they would be attacked by a copycat killer. Some students emotionally broke down.

One sixth grade boy I met at a nearby charter school was afraid to go into his school building, and I was contacted by the principal to help. The boy just stood outside. So, I walked up to him and started talking and asked him why he did not walk home if he was so afraid. He told me that his parents drove him to this charter school, and he lived more than 10 miles away. I asked him if I walked right next to him and did not leave his side if he would be willing to go inside the building. He agreed. We talked for about 30 minutes. He said, "My body does not feel well. It doesn't feel right, it feels crazy inside, and I cannot describe it."

I told him that his feelings were normal. Then he was asked to rate his level of well-being from 1 to 10 from when he arrived at school to now, with 1 meaning feeling great to 10 meaning feeling terribly scared and anxious. He responded that when he entered my temporary office in the school, it was an 11, and now after about 30 minutes of recounting his experiences, reactions and feelings with me, he was at a 5 or 6.

He told me that he was taking yoga classes, and I worked with that to his advantage. I taught him how to imagine yoga music reverberating through his body to help him calm down. I taught him how he could make the music go faster or slower, louder or softer, and how to regulate his breathing. This provided him a sense of control over his internal feelings. Through a series of other techniques, such as using deep breathing, he learned how to enter a highly relaxed state. He reported by the end of our 90-minute meeting that he was now a 2.

I asked him to practice what he had learned at least three times before he came to school the following day. The next day he saw me and rushed up and said, "I'm a 1."

Normalcy is elusive

Sadly, as my colleague Frank told me, for many others the interventions will not be as easy or the responses as quick.

For example, young people directly affected by a tragedy, especially those in classrooms where students were killed, will require deep understanding, empathy and guidance from family, friends, teachers, religious leaders and mental health professionals as they struggle to cope. Some may require years of therapy.

Closure is a myth. The trauma and grief may never go away. Yet young people can learn lessons from the past and move forward with help from their friends, families, faith, communities and mental health providers. For all those affected, their lives will never be the same, but with care and understanding from others and by focusing on the future, they can recover and thrive.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
MALTA  A woman from Queensbury was arrested on a driving while intoxicated charge early Sunday morning after a crash on the Northway.

Tameka E. Jones, 38, was charged with a misdemeanor count of aggravated driving while intoxicated and two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance.

On Sunday at 3:03 a.m., New York State Police responded to the Northway in Malta for reports of a crash.

According to police, an unoccupied, disabled vehicle was on the west shoulder of the southbound lane of the Northway. Police said Anthony S. Alifano, 28, of Clifton Park, was operating his vehicle southbound and struck the disabled vehicle, pushing it into the center lane.

He then left the crash scene in his vehicle, but was located a short time later uninjured on Moe Road in Clifton Park, where a traffic stop was conducted. Alifano was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated and other traffic law violations. During processing, police reported he recorded a blood alcohol concentration of 0.18%  more than twice the legal limit.

He was issued appearance tickets for the Malta Town Court in March and released to a sober third party.

Following the first crash, Jones, who was also traveling south on the Northway, struck the disabled vehicle in the center lane, causing her vehicle to flip. She was uninjured and arrested on a DWI charge. During processing at the state police station in Saratoga, police said Jones recorded a 0.25% BAC  more than three times the legal limit.

She also allegedly had controlled substances, but police did not provide information about them.

She was issued appearance tickets for the Malta Town Court in February and released to a sober third party.
GLENS FALLS  Following an almost two-hour walk, Mary DeSantis of Glens Falls found upward of 50 homes in her neighborhood with icy sidewalks that hadnt been maintained by residents.

DeSantis and Sandra Mancini brought their frustrations to the citys Board of Public Safety at the boards most recent meeting last Tuesday. They talked about homeowners who neglect to maintain the sidewalks in front of their houses following snowstorms.

DeSantis said that she is concerned for the safety of fellow neighbors that might be injured if they were to slip and fall.

We are overly concerned. I have a list of 50 homes and thats not walking the entire city, thats in my neighborhood and walking my normal route, she said.

Mayor Bill Collins said that icy sidewalks are a problem for the city every year and DeSantis agreed with him. She said she and Mancini want to help the residents that dont maintain their sidewalks.

Sandra and I arent here to bash the city. We would like to help. Wed like to be able to come up with a plan, and I am sure that there are people in each ward that would be willing to, DeSantis said. People shouldnt be walking in the road because they are afraid of slipping on the sidewalk.

Collins said that the citys approach to slippery sidewalks begins with issuing the homeowner a citation, a yellow tag that hangs from the door handle if snow hasnt been cleared of the sidewalk 24 hours after a storm. After that, the homeowner will receive a violation at the 48-hour mark.

He said that enforcement of sidewalk safety by the citys building and codes department isnt as fast as normal because employees among the department are still in training for their new roles in City Hall and doing the best they can.

We check again after the violation and then file the citation and violation and we take them to court. It takes about a week to follow up with that, and if they havent cleaned up after the violation then we file all the paperwork with the city attorney and take people to court, he said.

Fourth Ward Councilman Ben Lapham attended the meeting as a representative of his ward and said the city isnt following the sidewalk charter by having Department of Public Works staff shovel the walkways if neglected, adding commercial properties are in violation too.

There are a lot of commercial properties that are in violation of this. The Salvation Army doesnt clear its sidewalk. The new Hudson Headwaters hasnt cleared its sidewalks all year long, he said. Theres no follow-up.

Collins countered by saying that follow-ups are happening with those who violate the snow removal rules. He said there are seven homes in the city that have been reported to the city judge.

He added that the hang tags are working as more than two dozen have been issued and action was taken by the homeowner.

We did follow up. The question is: could we do better? The answer is: absolutely, he said. Nobody takes them more serious than I do.

Lapham said that the citys DPW can remove and maintain the unkept sidewalks in the 24 hours after a storm if not taken care of. The homeowner would have their tax levy billed because of the removal service from the city.

Collins said that procedure hasnt been done in years and could be a potential legal battle.

In the charter, after 24 hours and if the sidewalk is dangerous, the city has authority to shovel and charge the homeowners levy; Im not sure the last time that was done, he said. Its a huge expense on the city to hire people to shovel when residents dont and applying the bill to their to taxes could be legal battle.

Collins also mentioned that getting people on the court docket could take between 10 to 40 days, depending on when the storm is and when they file the citation and violation with their attorney.

He said he is planning to meet with the two women and discuss ideas of how residents can help their neighbors with keeping sidewalks walkable.

I want people to know the mayor of Glens Falls hear concerns and is acting on them. The first storm we hung 12 original hang-tag warnings and all residents responded by shoveling, he said. Does it mean Mrs. DeSantis and Mrs. Mancini dont have concerns  no, we are concerned too. We are addressing it and building and codes team are still going through training and dont have time for the follow-up.
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EGG HARBOR CITY  Students at the Egg Harbor City Community School spent a recent afternoon painting decorative planters for the eighth annual Captains Table Gala fundraiser event.

The event is one of two key fundraisers for the Community Food Bank of New Jersey and its sister charity group Let us Eat, Please.

Both the Egg Harbor City Community School and the Charles L. Spragg Elementary School participate in this event, as well as the Galloway Township public school district. The aim of the Captains Table Gala is to raise money for summer food programs designed to provide food insecure families with meals during the summer months outside of the school year.

The Food Bank is heavily involved with the public schools, which also provides food to the schools after-school Reach program, as well as different events which require meals.

Students who participate in activities such as this years succulent plant painting are members of art clubs at the schools. The clubs include students in third through eighth grade. The students themselves agree the event is fun and the general consensus among them was they will continue being in art club and continue participating in the tradition.

District Director of Special Products Alysha Garcia oversaw the after-school event.

Its a club function, but they also have something that theyre working towards to help the community. So its really tying in not only their interests and club, but what can we do to help, Garcia said.

Prior to getting to the business of painting and decorating the years fundraiser object, the art teachers explain to the students what their works are going to be used for, with the goal of teaching them to give back.

Art teacher Kelly Roberts, who led the students during the project, was one of three women working alongside the roomful of students to guide them through the painting process.

Its good to teach the kids to give back. I mean they get a lot and they dont realize that it comes from somewhere so its nice to have them participate and give back. And they always feel good about it. They like doing it, Roberts said.

The gala is a successful event according to Donna Vecere from Cooper Levenson, a key face behind organizing the fundraiser. The students work in particular is well-received by the community and sells quickly. Last year the students painted coasters which sold out with over an hour left to go. Members of the community get to see where their donations are going when they purchase these student-made crafts.

Food Bank Director of External Affairs Torrina Bennett-Michael emphasized the importance of events like the Captains Table Gala in getting children food throughout the entire year. According to statistics from the Community Food Bank of New Jersey, 70,000 individuals throughout Atlantic, Cape, and Cumberland counties are food insecure. Out of that 70,000 over 20,000 are students. This makes the region the worst in the state regarding food security rates.

According to Bennett-Michael, the Food Banks services have skyrocketed in the past year alone, with an increase in needs over 200%. As federal pandemic benefits are set to end in the coming months, she expresses concern at how many more people will find them in a state of food insecurity.

The need is not going down. Its going up. If individuals want to support, this event is a great way to support us. But also if people have food they want to drop off, we accept donations every day. They can just come to the food bank in Egg Harbor Township with donations and well gladly receive them, said Bennett-Michael.

The Community Assistance Pantry in Egg Harbor Township is open 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday to Friday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday.

The Captains Table Gala will be held 6 p.m. March 2 at the Atlantic City Convention Center. Guests will be invited to sample a variety of food and spirits from local businesses. Tickets are $125 per person, which include entrance to this years boat show on March 2.

To purchase a sponsorship or tickets, email cfault@cfbnj.org or visit give.cfbnj.org/LUEP.
From fighting on the front lines in the battle against COVID-19 to delivering babies to saving lives in emergency rooms, nurses perform countless difficult and sometimes heartbreaking duties each day.

Theyve risked their lives to help others. Theyve worked long hours, day and night, helping the sick and their families.

For the third year, The Press of Atlantic Citys Nurses: The Heart of Health Care awards program will seek to recognize those outstanding local nurses helping others, said Allison Altobelli, vice president of sales for The Press.

Nurses are heroes each day for all they do, including their efforts during the pandemic, Altobelli said. Now, we want to help the South Jersey community highlight their accomplishments, celebrate their work and recognize their service.

Starting today, you can nominate a nurse or health care worker making a difference in South Jersey. Visit pressofac.com/nurses2023 and tell us why theyve earned your admiration. Submissions will remain open through March 6.

Once the nomination period has ended, a team of judges will select nine nurses whose stories reflect the highest level of compassion, devotion and expert care. One additional winner will be chosen by you, our readers. You will have the opportunity to read through all of the submissions and vote for your favorite, thereby bringing the total number of winners in this years program to 10.

On May 7, we will celebrate those distinguished nurses with a special section that will publish as part of The Press of Atlantic City.

The publication will run during National Nurses Week, which takes place every year from May 6, National Nurses Day, through May 12, Florence Nightingales birthday.

South Jerseys health care workers deserve to be recognized for what they do every day.

Help us do that by nominating your nursing hero. If you know of an outstanding nurse making a difference in your life or someone elses, tell us what makes your nursing hero special.
SC slams govt, says: Make sure most of what is expected is done

The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre to make sure that most of what is expected is done in connection with the appointment and transfer of judges.

During the hearing, a bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said the court is also concerned with the issue and the issue is more than one. Advocate Prashant Bhushan said, It cannot go on endlessly like this...at some point your lordship will have to crack the whip. Otherwise, it will go on endlessly like this. Justice Kaul said, We are equally concerned with what is happening, but sometimes...

Bhushan said the Central government selectively notified appointments of some judges and others they do not act upon and also transfer of judges is also not acted upon by the government, and so on.

Justice Kaul said, I am putting it after two weeks. Please make sure most of what is expected is done. Please communicate to the Attorney General. List on March 2.

Taking up a contempt plea by the Advocates Association, Bengaluru, a bench presided over by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said, We are concerned about certain issues.

Senior advocate Arvind P. Datar, representing the petitioner, submitted that a chart has been prepared and one category is related to the appointment of chief justices on which some appointments were made while some others are pending. The bench said that there has to be consent from the state government in this regard.

The court put the matter for consideration on March 2 as counsel on behalf of Attorney General R. Venkataramani sought a short adjournment.

2 new judges sworn in, at full strength now

Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud on Monday administered oath of office to two new judges of the Supreme Court (SC).

Justices Rajesh Bindal and Justice Aravind Kumar took oath as Supreme Court judges taking the court to its full working strength of 34 judges.

On January 31, the Supreme Court collegium had recommended the elevation of Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Aravind Kumar as judges to the apex court. Justice Bindal was the Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court and Justice Kumar was the Chief Justice Gujarat High Court. IANS

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J&K: Petition against delimitation dismissed

The Supreme Court on Monday affirmed delimitation of Assembly and parliamentary constituencies in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir.

A bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and comprising Justice AS Oka clarified that the decision on delimitation would not affect a separate batch of matters where abrogation of Article 370 is under challenge before a constitution bench of the apex court. The detailed judgment will be uploaded later in the day.

The apex court delivered judgment in a petition filed by two Srinagar residents, Haji Abdul Gani Khan and Dr Mohammad Ayub Mattoo, challenging the increase in the number of seats from 107 to 114 in the UT. IANS
Tech giant Apples AirTag has helped to track a stolen car in the US state of North Carolina. Police were able to track down the stolen car because of the owners AirTag inside, but the thieves then crashed it during the high-speed chase, reports AppleInsider.

Antar Muhammads Toyota Camry was stolen by three thieves, which was later discovered by the neighbours doorbell cameras footage.

We woke up, and I looked outside and I asked my wife, Hey, do you know your cars no longer in the driveway? Muhammad was quoted as saying.

Muhammad also mentioned that he puts AirTags in everything, from the car to new luggage. Im able to pinpoint exactly where its at and actually to zoom in and almost precisely pick out the parking space the car was in, he added.

The thieves were arrested and guns found in the car were taken by police.

In June last year, AirTags had helped a man locate and recover his stolen Range Rover in Canada. IANS
Shedding of chunk reported last week has been described as normal solar prominence activity

The Sun did not shed a chunk of it as being reported and what was spotted was a normal solar prominence activity on its surface.

A solar prominence (also known as a filament when viewed against the solar disk) is a large, bright feature extending outward from the Suns surface.

Prominences are anchored to the Suns surface in the photosphere, and extend outwards into the Suns hot outer atmosphere, called the corona.

Reports last week surfaced that NASAs James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) caught a piece of Sun being broken off from its surface.

A tweet by astronomer Dr Tamitha Skov, accompanied by footage of the Sun captured by NASAs Solar Dynamics Observatory, claimed: Talk about Polar Vortex! Material from a northern prominence just broke away from the main filament & is now circulating in a massive polar vortex around the north pole of our Star.

However, no part of the Sun broke off.

Solar physicist and deputy director at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, told Space.com that a prominence like this happens at the same 55-degree latitude every 11 years.

This vortex has now been cited in many media outlets as a piece of the Sun breaks off, but dont believe the hype. It is all part of the perfectly normal and stunning solar ballet! Dr Skov wrote on her blog.

The James Webb Space Telescope is the worlds largest, most powerful, and most complex space science telescope ever built. Webb will solve mysteries in our solar system, look beyond distant worlds around other stars, and probe the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it.

Meanwhile, a major solar flare erupted from the Sun over the last weekend, spawning a radio blackout for parts of Earth and setting the stage for more flares to come, reports Space.com.

The huge solar flare was registered as a powerful X1.1-class event on the scale used for such Sun storms. IANS
CF@11 is a hope for residents of ward 11, Rambaug Colony. The group, representing 58 housing societies, not only effectively solves civic issues but also extends a helping hand to govt authorities

By: Eeshwari Jedhe

Pune is plagued by a slew of civic issues such as bad roads, traffic jams, encroachment and illegal parking. Solving the issues of a large population in an emerging metropolis is a challenge for the authorities, but thanks to citizens groups that make tasks easier for the government agencies.

CF@11 is one such group of active citizens from ward 11, Rambaug Colony, representing 58+ societies with 10,200+ citizens who are working together for the benefit of the neighbourhood. It has 135+ active members and is expanding. The group gives citizens a platform to not only air their concerns, but also actively contribute to discovering and implementing solutions to the problems without fear of reprisal from any lobby, agency or individual.

Talking about the initiative, Sandeep Bhadkamkar, founder of the group, said, I run the nLiten NGO which works in the field of education, environment and traffic. I have founded the group CF@11. We have about 141 members who represent about 58 societies and 10,200 citizens. We take up several civic issues concerning citizens such as encroachments, traffic issues, waste management, to list a few. The forum was started two years ago, but the COVID-19 pandemic hit the pause button on their activities, said Bhadkamkar, a businessman.

We resumed our work four months ago and have been holding meetings once in a fortnight in the society clubhouse. We work with different government agencies, including the police (Kothrud police station), to get our issues resolved. The idea is not to be a complaint box but to get to the root of the problem and eradicate it completely, he added.

The group successfully solved the issue of encroachment and cleared the road which was illegally occupied by the MIT Institute, which claimed it to be their property.

Even their own students were not allowed to park their vehicles on the premises. We obtained information from the PMC and it has now been made a public road. It gives us immense satisfaction when we achieve small successes like this, Bhadkamkar said, adding that they are pursuing several other issues with the PMC. The civic body, every Wednesday and Saturday, conducts anti-encroachment drives in the neighbourhood. We have got the towing van rounds increased in our area, so that there is some discipline brought in. We also organise blood donation camps every three months, he added.

We are attempting to encourage people to work on their waste and properly dispose of it. We have circulated a feedback form from our society. We are also working on sanitary waste and environmentally friendly solutions, Bhadkamkar said.

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MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

CF@11 successfully conducted a drive on traffic discipline and the results were startling!

 Parking within premise by MIT students, which was not the case earlier and vehicles used to spill over on public roads

 Wardens managing traffic for MIT students

 Regular and more frequent rounds by towing vans from police dept.

 Implementation of signages, speed breakers in the area for road safety

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The group has formed four sub-groups to tackle issues of waste management and environment, encroachments, traffic and discipline, documentation and paperwork. We do hope to reach out to maximum people who can be a part of the solution. Some people give anonymous complaints as well, he added.

To be a part of CF@11 citizens can contact Sandeep Bhadkamkar (98900 33285)
Traffic police propose suspension of 2,500 licences of bikers caught with modified silencers during special drive, flatten contraptions; citizens hail move, but want action to continue

Noisy and modified bike silencers crushed under a road roller, around 2,500 licences seized from bikers and mechanics aiding the noise pollution put under the scanner... The police have finally started putting the brakes on those emulating noisy heroes of some Bollywood and Hollywood movies.

Pune Mirror is within its rights to take credit for the police action, as it has been highlighting the menace of bikers using modified silencers and the trouble that is caused by them to citizens.

It is illegal to modify a silencer of a bike. We have sent proposals to the Pune Regional Transport Office (RTO) seeking suspension of the licence of bikers who cause noise pollution. We are implementing a zero-tolerance policy for noise pollution. We will continue this drive across the city, a senior police officer told Mirror.

The Pune traffic police have seized the licences of at least 2500 such bikers and sent a proposal to RTO seeking their suspension. Also, some modified silencers have been crushed using a bulldozer.

To root the problem out, the mechanics who help bikers fix these silencers are now on the police radar.

Mirror published a cover story on January 28, 2023, under the heading Unbearable Deafening Silencers highlighting the issue. To check the easy availability of modified silencers, its team surveyed several shops at Nana peth and found that they were openly sold in the market. Various types of silencers were displayed in the shops as they were in demand.

Following Mirrors report and suggestions given by residents of Kalyani Nagar and Wadgaon Sheri who suffered immensely due to the noise pollution caused by modified silencers, the traffic police launched a special drive against the bikers in January. The drive was carried out at Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) Chowk, Bremen Chowk, Parihar Chowk, Balewadi High Street, Baner Phata, Pashan and Saikar Chowk areas. Areas like Viman Nagar, Yerawada, Koregaon Park, Kharadi and Hadapsar were also scanned for bikes with modified silencers and action was taken against their owners under Sections 119 and 190 (2) of the Motor Vehicles Act. According to the traffic branch of Pune Police, a request for temporary suspension of the driving permit for up to three months has been made and the proposal has been sent to RTO for implementation. The owners of the bikes were fined Rs 1000 each. As a precautionary measure, the traffic police issued warnings to the mechanics who helped bikers tamper with the silencers.

Earlier, residents of Kalyani Nagar and Wadgaon Sheri have been suffering from the deafening noise of the modified silencers that disturbed the peace in the area day in and day out. They complained to the police as well as the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board but no help was forthcoming. They also submitted a presentation with ways and suggestions to curb the menace. Now, with the police action, they are heaving a sigh of relief.

Kalyani Nagar resident Rachna Aggarwal is candid: Surely because of media coverage and the active citizenry these bikers have been caught and fined. But this action should continue. They should be called to the local traffic police station, and their silencers confiscated. Secondly, the traffic department wants a video of the moving biker. Why not a simple photograph of the number plate? The bikers move fast and citizens also drive at the same time.

Monica Sharma, a resident of Kalyani Nagar who had prepared the presentation, said: We appreciate the traffic police action against the bikers. We would like to see such action being taken in Kalyani Nagar chowk as well. Regular monitoring will bring good results and stop the nuisance. Action against people selling modified silencers is also needed.

Welcoming the police action, Kumar Kruti society resident Munir Vastani said: I called up senior police inspector Balkrishna Kadam and he assisted us in deploying his team here and they took action on a few bikers with modified silencers. Kadam assured us that there will be more such actions  at least once a week.

Aditya Patil, a resident of Kalyani Nagar, said, Glad that necessary action is being taken by traffic police. Kudos to the officers. We need more such operations, especially in the Kalyani Nagar area. One can find almost 50 modified silencers only in the Gold Adlabs chowk in a day. 2500 is just about 5 percent of the total bikes we estimate to be fitted with modified silencers. We appeal to residents to share the vehicle numbers with authorities rather than video clips because most of the time it is impractical to capture the numbers of a running bike in a video.

Vedant Bhandari, a resident of NIBM road, said, These bikes roam around late at night and disturb senior citizens, children, and students. The people who sell and mechanics who fix the modified silencers should also be booked by the police.

Koregaon Park resident Rohan Desai said they suffer from this menace too. A few kids of bungalow owners have such bikes, but police have not taken action against them as they belong to influential families. Only one or two special drives will not help curb the menace.
By: Arun Joshi

Last week, while passing through Juna Bazar in Pune, I was shocked to see a Pakistani flag fluttering, bang next to the police chowki. I stopped and approached a cop in the chowki. I showed him my veterans card which he scrutinised closely. To my utter surprise, he stood up. He was very courteous and accepted my objection about the flag respectfully. He assured me that action would be taken. The following day, when I passed through the same road, I noticed that the flag had been removed. I stopped the car outside the police chowki, gave the bewildered cop a thumbs up and loudly said, Jai Hind. What a wonderful smile he gave me under his Tanaji Malsure mustache, in acknowledgment. HE MADE MY DAY on all counts.
Maha govt written on personal car of joint director, higher education; activist demands action

Despite activists, politicos advocating equality, the VIP culture of displaying organisation, designation or profession on vehicles persists in society. Government officials put up stickers or boards that read Government of Maharashtra on their vehicles to flaunt their status. Although the practice is illegal under the National Emblem and Board Act, officials flout the norms by exploiting legal ambiguity, an activist said.

The law does not permit state officials to display such boards on their private vehicles. Government of Maharashtra can be written on four-wheelers owned and operated by the state government, but not on vehicles hired by the state government on contract, the activist claimed.

Nonetheless, it was pointed out that a joint director of the State Directorate of Higher Education had such a board installed on his vehicle. After social activists raised the issue and demanded action, the director of higher education asked the concerned official to remove the board on priority. Meanwhile, the Joint Director has clarified that the government vehicle has been acquired for by-election work.

Abhishek Haridas, an RTI and social activist said, A gazetted officer is required to put the Government of Maharashtra display board on a government vehicle. However, Bondar has installed the board on his private vehicle. I have demanded an inquiry and action against the official.

I will seek information from concerned officials and then take suitable action, said Shailendra Deolankar, director of higher education.

Kiran Kumar Bondar, joint commissioner of higher education said, Currently by-election is going on in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad. The car given to me is being used for government work. So I am using a private car owned by me. The Government of Maharashtra display board on it. It has been installed. It gives easy access to government offices. If there is no display board, there will be many hurdles. After the election, I will be able to use the government vehicle, if the order comes, I will remove the board.

Bondar, however, clarified that the car that was given to him is being used for official work. At the moment, by-elections are being held in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad. The vehicle has Government of Maharashtra written on it. It provides convenient access to government offices. There would be several obstacles if there is no display board. If the order comes, I will remove the board.
Passengers using the Pune Airport can look forward to a speedy and smooth experience as the Digi Yatra is scheduled to start at the facility from March 31. The service will provide a paperless and hassle-free facility to passengers at all check points. Fliers will not have to carry their ID cards and boarding pass after the service is launched.

Pune Airport director Santosh Dhoke said the Digi Yatra system is expected to start at Pune airport from March 31. A random test process has already started since January 12 at D Gate. Virtual face recognition of passengers is underway at airport through Digi Yatra Service. At least five passengers are being tested daily.

We will send a report to the the civil aviation ministry, which will take the final decision. Currently, we are verifying how this new security system is working. The results of the Digi Yatra app-based facial recognition technology (FRT) are good at other airports. We are optimistic that soon all passengers in Pune will be able to take advantage of this, said Dhoke.

The Union ministry of civil aviation has implemented the Digi policy at airports across the country.
MUSCATINE  The Muscatine County Medical Examiners office released the names of three people who were killed in a crash at F70 and Highway 38 in rural Muscatine County Sunday afternoon.

According to a press release, notifications and identifications for three people killed were on: Sidonie O. Lubanda, 47, of North Liberty, Petronele N. Bolombelo, 63, of Coralville, and Sophie K. Matand, 58, of Iowa City. Services are reported to be pending at Gay and Ciha Funeral Home in Iowa City.

The names of the people injured and hospitalized have not been released. The other victims were taken to either UnityPoint Health-Trinity Muscatine or the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City.

The Iowa State Patrol reported Tuesday morning that the investigation into the collision is ongoing and may be complete by the end of the week. According to a minimal crash report, which is no longer on the state patrols site, at about 2:25 p.m. Sunday, A 2019 Toyota Highlander was traveling eastbound on F70 while a 2012 Dodge Ram was traveling northbound on Highway 38. The report said the Highlander failed to stop at the stop sign and was struck by the Ram.

The Muscatine County Sheriffs Office was assisted by the Iowa State patrol, Wilton Fire Department, Wilton EMS, Muscatine Fire/Ambulance, Durant Ambulance, West Liberty Ambulance, University of Iowa AirCare and Medforce Air Medical.
An Illinois man accused of firing a gun during an argument in Bettendorf almost seven months ago was arrested Monday.

Ronald Lee Rudolph, 39, of Galesburg was arrested in Monmouth, Illinois, and faces a felony charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He also is charged with misdemeanor counts of child endangerment, assault while displaying a weapon and the reckless use of a firearm.

On July 23, 2022, Bettendorf Police were called to an apartment complex at 808 State St., which was the home of a man and his two children. His girlfriend was on the scene.

The children's mother came to the man's apartment to pick up their two children, and Rudolph was with the mother. According to the report from the Bettendorf Police, there was tension between the man and the children's mother about financial assistance and an argument started.

Rudolph and the man started to argue. Rudolph fired one shot while the man was walking back to his apartment, the Bettendorf Police said. The round struck a railing, ricocheted and struck the apartment building. The man ran from the scene while Rudolph, the children's mother and the children sped off.

A witness, who was visiting her friend in the same apartment building, witnessed Rudolph, the children's mother and the man argue on the north side of the apartment building, according to police. The witness heard one gun shot and hid after hearing it.

A warrant for Rudolph's arrest was issued Nov. 23, 2022. His bond was set at $1,000.

The defendant has been convicted of six felonies in Illinois, including the unlawful use of a weapon and home invasion.
Inmates are being moved out of the federal Thomson Prison, but the Bureau of Prisons has not yet said why.

United States Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., released a statement regarding the decision by the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Prisons:

We have been informed by the Department of Justice that Bureau of Prisons (BOP) leadership is taking corrective action to address deeply troubling findings of a recent review of the facility. We were assured by the Attorney General that these changes are temporary and that Thomson will continue to play an important role in the Bureau of Prisons system," they wrote.

No other context was provided. According to the Bureau's website, the penitentiary in Carroll County has 639 inmates  509 are at the prison and another 130 at its camp.

In an email, BOP spokesperson Scott Taylor said the bureau recently, "identified significant concerns with respect to institutional culture and compliance with BOP policies at the United States Penitentiary (USP) Thomson. We believe these issues are having a detrimental impact on facility operations and the BOP has determined that there is a need for immediate corrective measures."

"Last week, we activated a team to support existing leadership and employees and provide additional presence, assistance, and training at the facility. As we move forward with our core public safety mission and important institution operations, we will be making necessary changes that better align the institutions operations with agency expectations."

Taylor concluded by saying, although the BOP is considering "a change to the mission at USP Thomson, there is no plan to close the institution."

Jonathan Zumkehr, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 4070, said staff was informed Tuesday morning they no longer will have the special management and reintegration units. Special management was a high-security unit where the "bad apples" were held, he said. It also is where the majority of staffing problems came from, he said.

The reintegration unit was psychology-based and was used to help get inmates back into regular populations.

Zumkehr said staff initially was told no jobs would be lost, but today workers were informed they would be forced to take two weeks of transfer at a time. That could mean working for two weeks at a federal prison in Illinois, or anywhere in the U.S., he said.

Since being notified of the transfers, the union has been contacting legislators and raising concerns. Many have threatened to quit if they are forced to choose between taking care of their children and having a two-week transfer, he said.

"We have a lot of single parents at USP (U.S. Penitentiary) Thomson," he said.

The prison is authorized for 604 staff, he said. Today, it has 250.

While the BOP has said no jobs will be lost, Zumkehr said, staff was told the Bureau will not be rehiring if people quit.

Scrutiny over the long-troubled prison has been brewing for months. In July, Zumkehr called for the immediate removal of Warden Thomas Bergami, citing "an abundance of serious incidents" and the departure of 60 correctional officers under Bergami, who was appointed in March.

"Warden Bergami has failed within his position of trust and has placed the staff, inmates and communities at risk," Zumkehr wrote.
Charges have been filed against the driver of a UTV that crashed Dec. 1 in Princeton, injuring all six people on board.

Curt Damon Bell, 54, of Princeton, was driving the camouflage 2022 CFMOTO 800cc UTV that crashed at 6:22 p.m. in the 26500 block of 257th Street.

Bell had five passengers on the UTV, ranging in age from 11 to 19 years old.

Sheriffs investigators said the vehicle was eastbound on the south side of 257th Street when Bell lost control. The vehicle appeared to have struck a fence post and rolled into a ditch.

Bell fled the scene on foot, investigators said, leaving the 11-year-old in the ditch. The child suffered a concussion and a loss of consciousness, according to the sheriff's report.

Investigators suspected Bell was " ... under the influence of alcoholic beverages and a search warrant for a blood sample showed a result of .141 blood alcohol level." The legal limit for driving is .08.

Two of the passengers had to be airlifted to University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics, Iowa City, while Bell and the three other passengers were taken to Genesis Medical Center East, Davenport, for treatment.

Bell is charged with:

Operating while intoxicated-first offense, a serious misdemeanor under Iowa law that carries a jail sentence of up to one year.

Neglect or abandonment of a dependent person, a Class C felony that carries a prison sentence of 10 years.

Four counts of serious injury by motor vehicle and one count of child endangerment causing bodily injury. Each charge is a Class D felony that carries a prison sentence of five years.

Reckless driving, a simple misdemeanor that carries a jail sentence of up to 30 days.

Bell was booked into the Scott County Jail at 6:37 p.m. Monday.

During a first appearance hearing on the charges held Tuesday in Scott County District Court, Bell waived his preliminary hearing and Magistrate Ryan Beckenbaugh scheduled arraignment on the charges for March 16.
An investigation into the death of an elderly woman in September has led to the arrest of her son on manslaughter and dependent abuse charges, Davenport Police said.

Jason Bradley Kelting, 46, of Davenport, is charged with one count of each of neglect or abandonment of a dependent person and dependent adult abuse. Each charge is a Class C felony under Iowa law that carries a prison sentence of 10 years.

Kelting also is charged with one count of involuntary manslaughter, a Class D felony that carries a prison sentence of five years.

According to the arrest affidavit filed by Davenport Police Officer Jordan Youngerman, at 12:49 p.m. on Sept. 1, 2022, Davenport officers were sent to Genesis Medical Center West, Davenport, for a death investigation involving Mary Kathryn Kelting, 73.

The woman had been taken to the hospital about noon that day by her son. Hospital staff called the time of death at 12:10 p.m.

In meeting with the Scott County Medical Examiner, police observed physical injuries to the woman's lower half and backside, including scrapes and bruising and pressure sores, one that led to the exposure of the sacral bone that had maggot infestation.

When investigators inspected the home where both of the victim and her son lived, there was no electricity and there were large amounts of trash throughout the home. There also was little food.

Kelting told police his mother had suffered a stroke in December of 2020 that left her partially paralyzed and completely bedridden. He also said he bathed the woman about three times a week, with the most recent being the day before he took her to the hospital.

A report from a forensic entomologist indicated the woman suffered myiasis, or maggot infestation of a live person, from at least Aug. 22, 2022. The forensic entomologist placed an estimated date of death between Aug. 28 and Aug. 29, 2022.

Kelting was being held Tuesday night in the Scott County Jail on a cash-only bond of $100,000.

During a first appearance on the charges held Tuesday in Scott County District Court, Magistrate Stephen Wing scheduled a preliminary hearing in the case for Feb. 24.
A New Underwood man indicted in a November first-degree manslaughter case was arraigned Monday and told his $100,000 bond would not be lowered.

William Hopkins, 28, is accused of shooting Jon Walter, 28, on Nov. 20 at a residence in the 700 block of North Seventh Street in Rapid City. Walter was found dead with a gunshot wound to the torso after someone reported just before 11 p.m. that evening that someone had been shot.

Pennington County Deputy State's Attorney Natalie Gronlund said Hopkins was "messing around with a firearm," when he allegedly shot Walter.

Hopkins was arrested Dec. 27, about a month after the shooting.

The day after Walter was found dead, police had listed two men as persons of interest and disseminated their mugshots from previous arrests, asking the public's help in locating them.

Within five days, police made contact with both men and stated they were no longer asking for the public's help.

Court records show at the time of the shooting, Hopkins was on supervised release from a federal charge after serving a three-year sentence for unlawfully possessing a gun in 2018. In March, August and September 2017, Hopkins racked up three separate felonies in state court for possession of methamphetamine, making him unable to legally possess a firearm.

He was serving three suspended sentences for those charges at the time of the shooting as well.

Hopkins' attorney, Robert Rohl, said his client complied with law enforcement and continued to keep in touch with his parole officer during the month between Walter's death and Hopkins' arrest, reporting for drug testing and wearing an ankle monitor.

Gronlund said Hopkins did not cooperate with law enforcement and attempted to destroy the gun that killed Walter. Rohl disputed that, adding that the gun in question belonged to Walter.

Rohl asked the court on Monday to lower his client's bond to $50,000 cash surety. Hopkins would be able to put down 10% of that with the help of a bondsman if the judge lowered the bond. Rohl said Hopkins has a job and is "more than capable of complying" with the court. He also said the case is likely to go to trial.

Circuit Court Judge Stacy Wickre decided to keep the bond at $100,000 cash only, stating that there is a flight risk considering the severity of the charge and possible sentence on the line.

First-degree manslaughter, killing someone "without any design to effect death," is a Class C felony, and the state law allows for a sentence ranging from probation to life in prison and a $50,000 fine.

Hopkins is scheduled to appear in court at 10:45 a.m. April 3 for a motions hearing in preparation for trial.
A collection of bright red dresses danced in the wind on Valentine's Day, gently illuminated by an overcast sky as they stood out against the dreary winter colors of February intended to evoke not an image of love but of loss.

Woven between resolute trees in front of the Journey Museum in Rapid City, the dresses were hung as a reminder of the thousands of missing and murdered Indigenous women (MMIW) across the U.S. and Canada. The color is significant to the Native American movement since red  believed to be the only color spirits can see  guides the missing back home.

Feb. 14 is the National Day of Action and Awareness, with events ranging from prayer circles to marches held nationwide.

"It's all about awareness," said Lily Mendoza, founder, Red Ribbon Skirt Society. "People need to know that this is happening in communities not necessarily on reservations either, and it's happening in urban communities."

Mendoza's Red Ribbon Skirt Society is based in Rapid City, and focuses on education and awareness around the crisis, and providing training to other communities. They have worked with impacted families since 2016.

According to a 2016 National Institute of Justice research report, 84.3% of American Indian and Alaska Native women have experienced violence in their lifetime, and more than half have experienced sexual violence. That same report indicated that Indigenous women face murder rates ten times the national average. Murder is the third leading cause of death for Indigenous women.

The South Dakota Attorney General's Office created a Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Advisory Council in early January, tasked with setting goals and parameters for the new Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Coordinator Office under the AG.

Allison Morrisette, an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, serves as the MMIP Coordinator for South Dakota. The position is designed to bridge the gap between jurisdictions, cracks in between which cases can fall.

"When you come out here amongst the dresses, you can feel it," Mendoza said. "You can feel the sadness. It's just a way for us to remember those that have gone on."

The dresses will remain suspended from the trees until the end of February, providing a place for the community to go and pray, have coffee, and just spend time.

Red Ribbon Skirt Society is holding a "Red Dress Gala" on Friday, May 5, a huge campaign of education and awareness. Mendoza said they'll be bringing families affected by MMIW to Rapid City to the event, which will also feature dinner by renowned Lakota chef Sean Sherman and numerous guest speakers, all to raise money for RRSS's efforts.
Chief Warrant Officer 5 (retired) Darla Crown of Rapid City was among those honored on Feb. 2 when the South Dakota National Guard presented several awards for distinguished service.

Service members, a family, an employer and a public servant received awards during South Dakota National Guards annual Dining Out event in Pierre.

Crown received the Williamson Militiaman Award. The award, established in 1987 by Maj. Gen. Ronald F. Williamson, recognizes an individual who exemplifies the spirit of the citizen-Soldier or Airman as shown by their community leadership, their support of the National Guard and the defense of the country.

Crown began her military service in 1973 with a three-year active-duty tour in the U.S. Army and in 1976, she joined the National Guard. She has served in various assignments throughout her 42-year career and, in 2002, she became the first female to attain the rank of Chief Warrant Officer 5. When her National Guard career drew near the end, she was recruited into the Veterans Protocol Program, now known as the Veterans Court Program. This effort helps veterans in crisis by providing them a mentor while in the program. In addition, she volunteers on two different boards of directors and the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve.

"Serving my community is an honor. It gives me the opportunity to work with some amazing people," Crown said.

Adjutant Generals Family Award

The Garland-Fennell Family of Pierre received the Adjutant Generals Family Award. This award recognizes family members who support their service members in a truly exemplary manner while managing family, careers or even hardship, all the while not seeking recognition for their sacrifices. The Garland-Fennel familys support of the South Dakota National Guard Family Readiness Group Program has been a whole family effort. Dan Garland is a member of the 235th Military Police Company of Rapid City. Dan has been in the South Dakota National Guard since 2008 and has served as the units Master Resiliency Trainer and as a Family Readiness Liaison while deployed. He has volunteered 60 hours in 2022 for the Soldier and Family Readiness Group.

His wife, Stef Garland, has been an Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Volunteer since 2016 and is currently serving as the ESGR Public Affairs Director. Her volunteer hours serving with ESGR have totaled more than 140 hours for 2022 as well as volunteering over 150 hours as the Soldier and Family Readiness Group Volunteer Advisor during her husbands 2022 deployment with the 235th Military Police Company.

Dan and Stefs daughter, Jazmine Fennell, serves as a Youth Council volunteer for the statewide South Dakota National Guard Child and Youth Program, volunteering 95 hours of her time in 2022.

Recruiting Award

Tech Sgt. Briana Kacmarynski was recognized as a top recruiter for the Air National Guard. Kacmarynski was selected as the top non-prior service recruiter in the nation. She had 29 enlistments into the 114th Fighter Wing, South Dakota Air National Guard. Kacmarynski received a coin from Gov. Kristi Noem and Maj. Gen. Jeff Marlette.

Fred Aaron Excellence Award

Lt. Col Dana Limbo, Construction and Facilities Management Officer, was presented with the Fred Aaron Excellence Award. This award was established to recognize the most outstanding facility management team in the nation for 2022. The South Dakota National Guard previously received this award in 2012.

ESGR Pro Patria Award

The Watertown Police Department was awarded the South Dakota Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Pro Patria Award. The Pro Patria Award is presented annually to one South Dakota employer who provides exceptional support to national defense through leadership practices and personnel policies that support employees serving in the National Guard and Reserve. Sgt. Austin Mattson, who works as a patrol officer, nominated his employer for the award. Mattson is currently deployed with the 191st Military Police Company. The staff at the Watertown Police Department recognized that they could do more assist soldiers and their families navigate through the challenges associated with deployments, so they implemented processes to ensure the soldier has a smooth transition from a civilian to a military role and back.
AnswersNow, a next-generation platform for Applied Behavior Analysis, recently closed on $11 million in investor financing. The funds will help the company expand the reach of its platform and more than double the number of clinicians with which it works.

The Richmond-based startup pairs families with dedicated clinicians for behavioral therapy sessions that are hosted on its custom-built virtual platform. It was designed with the help of clinicians to mirror the controlled environment of an in-person therapy experience. ABA therapy is a type of therapy frequently applied to children with autism, and helps build skills in areas like communication, social skills, self-care and learning or academic skills.

AnswersNow announced that it is using the funds to expand its team of PhD and Masters-level clinicians, improve the user experience of its interactive virtual team and expand the reach of its ABA therapy services.

The company previously received $1.8 million in 2021 to expand its services, and set a goal to open up five new states to the platform in the short-term. CEO Jeff Beck said the growth strategy has changed from considering the number of states to evaluating the companys overall reach.

What we learned is that the need is very ubiquitous around the country and while were certainly going to open more markets in 2023, I dont know if thats necessarily a top priority, Beck said. I think more generally its just about providing increased access to those who dont currently have it.

The company is increasing its number of clinicians from its current level in the high 30s to over 100 by the end of the year.

Beck said the company is also going to update its user experience so that it is better tailored to the individual learner. The platform uses its own unique digital environment with features like games and activities and other tools that help clinicians connect to different kids.

Additionally, Beck said they are working to improve the experience from the clinician side, where AnswersNow has already invested heavily in training and support for its virtual practitioners. He said the company will double down on those efforts to aid clinicians ability to be successful.

He added that the companys ability to retain its current clinicians has been a important to the success of AnswersNow to this point. The company provides logistical supports in areas like scheduling, licensing and credentialing.

One of the cons of the status quo [in-person ABA therapy] is turnover, Beck said. That can really interrupt a learners progress. Our ability to introduce the exact same clinician day in and day out to the family over the course of 12, 18, 24 months expedites that progress.

The relationship between practitioners and caregivers or parents is an important aspect in mimicking the in-person experience, Beck said.

The clinician might send a note ahead of time saying, Hey lets do fruits today. Could you bring a couple of fruits from your fridge?

The Series A financing was led by Left Land Capital, a venture capital and growth equity firm based out of Brooklyn, N.Y. Additional backing was provided by American Family Institute for Social Impact, Richmond-based Blue Heron Capital, Difference Partners and former Kadiant CEO Lani Fritts.

AnswersNow challenges the status quo by providing high-touch, quality virtual care for people diagnosed with autism. Theyve already helped individuals reach incredible milestones across their communication, self-care and behavior skills, said Henry Toole of Left Lane Capital in a release. We are thrilled to partner with the team at AnswersNow to help them redefine how care is delivered to families across the U.S., especially in areas that lack access to high-quality care.

AnswersNow was previously part of the Richmond startup accelerator Lighthouse Labs and is a member of Startup Virginia based in Shockoe Bottom.

The company was founded in 2017 by Beck, a licensed clinical social worker, and Adam Dreyfus, senior director at the Sarah Dooley Center for Autism at St. Josephs Villa. It was initially a text-based messaging platform before it branched into the world of virtual sessions.

In 2019, it started working with insurance providers to cover the cost of its services. Children with autism are eligible for Medicaid. Beck said that 90% of the platforms users are covered by insurance and that 80% of those using insurance do not pay a dime. AnswersNow is also open to self-paid users across the country.

From the Archives: Richmond buildings that are no longer around
Friday Cheers, the outdoor concert series on Browns Island, released its concert lineup for 2023. The concert series will kick off May 5.

All tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the door.

Friday Cheers showcases emerging headliners from around the country and, this year, the world, with Sampa The Great from Zambia. The series also features many Richmond-area bands as both openers and headliners, including Palmyra, Butcher Brown, and Chris Leggett & The Copper Line.

Venture Richmond is thrilled to present this diverse and exciting lineup for 2023. We hope there is something for everyone to enjoy, and there is no better way to spend a Friday evening in the spring than on beautiful Browns Island. Its the best deal in town! Stephen Lecky, a spokesperson for Venture Richmond, which hosts the event, said.

Friday Cheers 2023 concert lineup

All tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the door

June 9  Watchhouse (8 p.m.) with Palmyra (6:30 p.m.)

June 30  Flipturn (8 p.m.) with Holy Roller (6:30 p.m.)

For information, visit Venture Richmonds website.
MONDAY, Feb. 13, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Access to medication abortion could be at risk nationwide because of a Texas lawsuit working its way through the court system. Alliance Defending Freedom, the group involved in the case in Mississippi that led to the Supreme Court overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling, also filed this lawsuit.

The case will be decided by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump. If the judge sides with the organization filing suit, the drug mifepristone, approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration nearly two decades ago, could become unavailable both in states that ban abortions and those where it is legal, CBS News reported.

The judge's decision could also remove easier access that has been implemented more recently, including the 2021 FDA decision not requiring women to pick up the drug in person and a 2023 decision that allowed pharmacies to dispense the drug. The decision could come soon after a Feb. 24 filing deadline and would likely be appealed, CBS News reported.

The group's allegation is that the FDA should not have used an accelerated review process for mifepristone, CBS News reported.

"Our representatives in Congress created the FDA and gave the FDA the responsibility to make sure that drugs are safe before they're allowed on the market  the FDA failed that responsibility," said Julie Blake, senior counsel for the group. The FDA has responded that it did not accelerate the drug's approval, rather that it approved it four years after the manufacturer applied, CBS News reported.

It would be "extraordinary and unprecedented" to stop distribution of the drug after so long, federal attorneys said in a legal filing.
A citizen of the United Kingdom was sentenced Monday to four years behind bars for defrauding Virginia Commonwealth University out of $470,000 in an international cyber scheme. The defendant tricked VCU by posing as an employee of a Richmond construction company that was doing business with university.

He reaches out of the borders of London and attacks a very fine university we have in Richmond, U.S. District Court Judge David J. Novak said of Olabanji Egbinola, 43, in comments from the bench. The fact that he did it abroad is reprehensible. This is a very serious crime.

This is not his first rodeo, Novak added, noting that Egbinola has three prior convictions in England for fraud-related offenses, the first of which he committed at age 19 in 1999. Hes a fraudster.

After Egbinola apologized to VCU for his crimes during a sentencing hearing in U.S. District Court in Richmond, Novak sentenced him to 48 months in federal prison, which was a significant upward departure from discretionary federal sentencing guidelines.

Novak described the guidelines range of 27 to 33 months as joke for an international cyber criminal who committed offenses over a span of five months.

The judge rejected a defense motion for a reduction in sentencing that was supported by the government, who argued Egbinola was incarcerated in London for 85 days in addition to having his personal liberty significantly constrained for two years while on supervised release pending his extradition proceedings.

But Novak noted that Egbinola fought his extradition to the U.S., and he should not be rewarded for the time his liberty was restricted while he was fighting to stay in England. He did grant Egbinola credit, as time served, for the 85 days he was jailed in England and the six months he has been held in the U.S. since he was extradited in August.

Egbinola also will be required to make restitution for the full amount that VCU lost.

Olabanju Egbinola impersonated a non-existent employee named Rachel Moore who purportedly worked for Kjellstrom + Lee, a Richmond-based construction company that had an ongoing contract with VCU. For more than two months, Egbinola communicated using the alias Rachel Moore and convinced VCU employees to change the bank account for VCUs next scheduled payment to the construction firm, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Hood said in the governments sentencing memorandum.

Using an internet domain name that was deceptively similar to true domain name of the construction company, Egbinola provided updated instructions calling for the next payment to be made using an automated clearing house transfer to an account with the Bank of Hope in Los Angeles. The account had been opened at the direction of Egbinolas co-defendant, Hakhyun Chun.

Earthquake shakes hearts, minds of survivors' relatives in Richmond Nearly 6,000 miles separates Richmond from Syria and Turkey, the ground zero of last weeks devastating magnitude 7.8 earthquake. Yet the hear

On Nov. 20, 2018, VCU wired a payment of $469,819.44, which was intended for Kjellestrom + Lee, to the Bank of Hope account. Over the next five days, Chun dispersed over $453,000 of the funds from VCU by conducting at least 45 transactions. They included 39 checks written on the account, 4 wire transfers and at least one cash withdrawal.

None of the funds were recovered.

The online fraud scheme initiated by Egbinola is known as Business Email Compromise, or BEC, which involves a perpetrators use of email and social engineering to impersonate a party to a business transaction. BEC conspiracies often target entities such as state and local governments, as well as colleges and universities.

Egbinola was one of three Nigerians extradited to the U.S. in August from the United Kingdom on charges related to participation in multimillion-dollar cyber-enabled BEC schemes. The scams perpetrated by the defendants and their co-conspirators targeted unsuspecting victims, including universities in North Carolina, Texas and Virginia.

The judge noted that Egbinoloa, who was born in England to Nigerian parents, had a middle-class background and earned a college degree. This defendant had no reason to commit these crimes, Novak said.

Although he worked a variety of jobs, Ebginola said his only source of income from 2018 to 2019 was engaging in the BEC scheme that resulted in his arrest. However, the government said there is no indication, based on the evidence currently available to investigators, that any of the $470,000 stolen from VCU made its way back to Egbinola.

His attorney, Benjamin Beliles, said in court filings that his client pleaded guilty swiftly and agreed to cooperate with law enforcement in their efforts against two of his close friends, one of whom is his cousin. Egbinolas cooperation has led to his family in London receiving ominous, anonymous calls warning them that he needs to stop cooperating. Mr. Egbinolas cooperation has been at a price for his family, Beliles said.

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House Republicans are hinting that they do not have to have a new state spending plan if Senate Democrats do not start working soon on a budget to resolve a dispute over $1 billion in tax cuts that were proposed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin and backed by his GOP allies in the House.

House Majority Leader Terry Kilgore, R-Scott, publicly voiced on Monday what Republican insiders had been suggesting for the past week: Virginia already has a two-year budget in place, so no amendments are necessary this year.

In a speech on the House floor, Kilgore suggested that the Senate needs to get moving, and they need to get moving yesterday on talks to produce a budget compromise before the General Assemblys scheduled adjournment on Feb. 25.

Well, weve got a two-year budget in place, he said. Wed all like to see it amended. But if the Senate wont join us, then... well, thats where we are.

Senate Finance Co-Chair Janet Howell, D-Fairfax, scoffed at the implied threat.

They can put all the pressure they want, but were not going to budge, Howell said in an interview on Monday. Theyre not going to influence us.

With elections for all 140 assembly districts looming in November and primaries likely in June for many members in new political districts, legislators are in no mood for a prolonged budget showdown that prevents them from returning home and raising money for their campaigns.

But a showdown is likely between Senate Democrats and Youngkin during the veto session in April if the Republican governor does not get the cuts in corporate and individual income tax rates that he wants, as Howell says he will not.

Im always hopeful well settle it on time, but Im prepared to sit here until July 1, she said.

The new fiscal year begins on July 1, but the assembly adopted a two-year budget last year that extends through June 30, 2024. Youngkin proposed revisions to the $177 billion two-year plan in mid-December. The politically divided assembly adopted competing budgets that are $1 billion apart because of the governors push for more tax cuts on top of the $4 billion approved last year after a prolonged fight.

The looming confrontation raises the specter of 2001, when a battle between another Republican governor, Jim Gilmore, and the Republican-controlled legislature over tax cuts resulted in Virginia not revising the budget for the first time since the state adopted a new constitution in 1971. The constitution created the odd-year short session in which the assembly amends the two-year spending plans that are adopted during longer sessions in even-numbered years.

The issue then was the magnitude of Gilmores plan to cut local personal property taxes  the car tax  and use state money to offset the revenue loss for local government. The state never entirely eliminated the car tax, but it is subsidizing the rollback by almost $1 billion a year.

Former Del. Chris Saxman, R-Augusta, now the leader of an influential state business group, entered the assembly the next year.

Saxman, executive director of Virginia FREE, said in a column last week that Its extremely important to the business community and local governments that the General Assembly finish on time.

Only 10 senators and 7 House members remain who experienced the 2001 budget showdown in which amendments were not adopted, he noted. And THAT is a distinct possibility this year.

The political consequences of the 2001 impasse included that falls election of Democrats Mark Warner as governor and Tim Kaine as lieutenant governor, now both U.S. senators for Virginia. Kaine would face another budget impasse in his first year as governor, in 2006, when then-Attorney General Bob McDonnell advised the assemblys Republican leaders that failure to adopt a new two-year budget that year, or at least a continuing spending resolution, would create an unprecedented constitutional crisis. McDonnell was elected governor in 2009.

This years gamesmanship between the House and Senate began on Friday, when House Speaker Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah, wrote Howell and Co-Chair George Barker, D-Fairfax, to inform them that he had appointed six House members  four Republicans and two Democrats  to the conference committee to negotiate a budget deal, and urged the Senate to quickly begin negotiations.

With only two weeks remaining in session, I am concerned that delaying the start of these discussions will make it much more difficult for us to complete our talks and produce a final product, let alone one that makes the best possible decisions for the commonwealth, Gilbert wrote.

Howell and Barker named nine senators  six Democrats and three Republicans  to the conference committee on Monday. Last year, they worked amicably with House Appropriations Chair Barry Knight, R-Virginia Beach, to reach an agreement on June 1.

I havent seen [Knight] lately, Howell said Monday. I think we get along great.

Knight agrees, but he said in an interview last week that he expects both sides to give to reach a deal. Its got to be a good and fair budget, he said, but if its not good and fair, we might not have one.
Back home, state Sen. Steve Newman, R-Lynchburg, knows a young man with disabilities, and he could not stop thinking about him when a bill that addressed people who are paid less than minimum wage came up.

Im his god-parent and I love him. He is very talented and he loves his job... he loves telling you, hes working, Newman told fellow members of the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee, his voice cracking a bit.

I have great fear if we go in and place these limits as opposed to the current requirements, he is not going to have that job, he said.

Newmans god-child is not working in the kind of sheltered workshop that is allowed to pay employees less than the minimum wage, under a law dating back to the 1930s and that Del. Patrick Hope, D-Arlington, is proposing to eliminate in Virginia.

Hopes bill would gradually raise wages for people now compensated beneath the minimum, to $9.50 an hour as of July 1; $10.50 an hour as of July 1, 2024; $11.50 an hour as of July 1, 2025; and at the state minimum wage by July 1, 2026.

Virginias minimum wage now stands at $12 an hour. It is set to rise to $13.50 in 2025 and $15 in 2026.

I know we all, on both sides, love these people; the patron I know you do too and you want them to be paid more, Newman said.

My fear is that hes simply not going to have a job, were not going to force those employers to hire him, theyre not going to have the incentive to hire him, and hes not going to make it, he said. I appreciate what you are trying to do but to me it just hurts too much.

State Sen. Lionell Spruill Sr., D-Chesapeake, said he was worried about a granddaughter who is not being paid minimum wage.

I wouldnt bring this bill if I thought these people, the 325 people in Virginia... would lose their jobs, Hope said.

He said the program has been shrinking and is just not the right way to treat people.

The exemption dates back to 1938, and requires employers to prove that a person with disabilities is measurably less productive than other employees.

A 2019 survey by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights found that some 109,000 people employed at exempted jobs were paid an average of $3.34 an hour, compared with the more than $10.24 for others working in similar positions.

Rep. Bobby Scott, D-3rd, said at the time that some of those people working what would otherwise be minimum wage jobs were making an average of $2.50  just not getting anything at all.

Hope said Virginia has won a $13.8 million federal grant intended to help employers cover the costs of paying the higher wages over the phase-in period in his bill.

He said the bill would shut the door on any future applications for the exemption, and noted that the program has been shrinking anyway.

State Sen. Monty Mason, D-Williamsburg, said he shared Newmans worries.

That $13 million will help, he said.

But he said he kept thinking about a work program for people with disabilities back home.

I know how many people used to be working in the program and who are now in day support or without services, he said.

Already we are seeing people who are not doing the things they used to do... I just hope Im dead wrong about my concerns.

After the committee approved the measure, sending it on to the full Senate with a 12-2 vote (state Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Rockingham, joined Newman in opposition, while Spruill abstained), and moved on to consider a bill about biomass to fuel power plants, Newman and Spruill left their seats to huddle intensely with Hope in a corner of the hearing room.

He said, trust us to do this right, Newman said afterward. I just pray hes right.

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The Virginia Employment Commission has notified almost 17,000 Virginians that their appeals will not be heard because they filed them too late, unless they can prove otherwise this week.

The VEC notified 16,656 claimants and 191 employers who had disputed agency decisions on benefits that their appeals will be dismissed unless they can show they filed their request within 30 days of the initial decision, or else have a legitimate justification for missing the deadline.

The notice of potential dismissal affects 25,743 cases, with some claimants and employers filing more than one appeal. This represents more than one-quarter of the current backlog of almost 93,000 cases at the VEC. Thursday is the deadline for responding to the notice of potential dismissal.

The VEC mailed the letters on Jan. 26, the same day the General Assembly shelved legislation Gov. Glenn Youngkin sought that would have cut the time for claimants to appeal decisions on eligibility for unemployment benefits from 30 to 15 days. Faced with bipartisan concerns about the fairness of reducing the appeals deadline, committees in both chambers tabled the proposed bills to allow a legislative commission to study the issue for potential action next year.

At the same time the commission was asking the General Assembly for 15 days, they knew that for almost 26,000 appeals, 30 days was not enough, said Flannery ORourke, an attorney for the Virginia Poverty Law Center, which had opposed the legislation. Its a bit appalling.

Virginia Employment Commissioner Carrie Roth said Tuesday that the notices were not related to the proposed measures to reduce the time for appeal, but were prepared for mailing before the assembly acted on the legislation. Roth said the VEC notified legislators about an initiative to address the appeals backlog, in consultation with the U.S. Department of Labor, which agreed to the plan on Jan. 11, about two weeks before the letters went into the mail.

Roth said the initiative is a part of our overall goal to complete the appeals backlog by November 2023.

This initiative is giving options to those who filed an untimely appeal to process their appeal in an expeditious fashion, the commissioner said Tuesday in response to questions from the Richmond Times-Dispatch about the notices and their timing.

Whether VEC pursued this streamlined approach or continues to integrate the timeliness issue as part of a larger more lengthy and costly hearing, customers who demonstrate good cause for the untimeliness of their appeal will still be afforded the opportunity to proceed with the rest of their appeal for other issues, she said in the email response. For those who have responded and shown good cause, we have already started to send notices of hearings.

There is nothing in this change that prevents an eligible customer from receiving the benefits to which they may be entitled under state and federal law, Roth concluded.

ORourkes organization and the Legal Aid Justice Center confirmed through the Freedom of Information Act that the VEC had mailed letters to Virginians who were awaiting action on appeals of agency decisions to either deny unemployment benefits that applicants say they deserved or grant benefits that employers contend their former workers were not eligible to receive at the business expense.

She would not comment on whether advocates would take legal action in response to VECs attempt to dismiss appeals that allegedly were not filed on time.

We are in discussions with stakeholders about our options to respond to this, ORourke said on Monday.

The letters give people with pending appeals 21 days from the date of mailing, or Thursday, Feb. 16, to claim they had filed their appeal in time or, if not, cite a medical or personal emergency that prevented them from meeting the 30-day deadline. The letter also gives people the option of asking for a hearing or withdrawing their appeal.

Advocates say that Virginias administrative code guarantees the right to a hearing, which would include an opportunity to dispute whether an appeal had been filed on time. They say the letter implies that the agency would have discretion to deny a request for a hearing, even if the claimant or employer provided evidence of filing their appeal on time or with good cause for being late.

This is just a vast denial of due process of law, said Marty Wegbreit, director of litigation at the Central Virginia Legal Aid Society.

Roth said people may request and receive a hearing if they show they appealed on time or can justify why they filed late. The timeliness issue is being addressed first as part of the hearing process, she said. Nothing in this action alters or deviates from what is required under Virginia law or regulation.

She said the VEC had discussed options for reducing the backlog, including those suggested by the Virginia Poverty Law Center and Legal Aid Justice Center. Options include more state money for staff at the agency, as Youngkin requested in his budget proposing the use of $10.6 million in federal emergency aid to pay people to process appeals.

In a December meeting with stakeholders, we discussed timeliness issues and pursued a pathway forward that follows federal and Virginia laws and regulations, she said.

Advocates support the governors budget proposal, but say the VEC is now trying to take a shortcut in processing the appeals by dismissing those allegedly filed late.

The VECs purge of cases waiting for hearings was something legal aid advocates learned of only very recently, said Pat Levy-Lavelle, attorney at the Legal Aid Justice Center. We have big concerns with it. 

Levy-Lavelle contends the labor department approved the plan based on incomplete information.

The appeals backlog does need to be tackled  but with more resources, clearer information for Virginians, and respect for due process, he said Tuesday. Cutting Virginians off without hearings, or making it harder to navigate the system, is absolutely a step in the wrong direction.

Legal aid lawyers in Richmond and Northern Virginia say they have received surprisingly few inquiries seeking help in responding to the letter, compared with the many people they advised on filing appeals. They say that could be due to delays in mailing, incorrect addresses and confusion about what the letter means, especially for those who do not speak or read English.The handful of people who have contacted me really do need some guidance, Wegbreit said. They dont understand what it is they need to do.

The Virginia Poverty Law Center issued an urgent alert on Tuesday to advise potential claimants to:

* respond to the letter by the Thursday deadline, either by email or by mail, with a U.S. Postal Service receipt showing date of mailing;

* provide evidence that they either filed the appeal on time or, if not, had good reason for not doing so;

* ask for VEC records about when they claim your appeal was filed;

* check the box asking for a hearing; and

* sign and date the letter.

Were very worried about whats going to happen, said Alina Launchbaugh, public benefits attorney at Legal Services of Northern Virginia Inc.

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AMLO thanks Cuban doctors for helping improve the countrys health system

Campeche, Mexico  President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has endorsed the federal governments commitment to consolidate the countrys health system this year. When heading the Mexico-Cuba bilateral meeting on health, Lopez Obrador said that in July, Mexico will have a universal, free and quality public health system with the support of doctors and Cuban specialists.

We are very grateful to the doctors of our brother people of Cuba and we are very grateful to President Diaz-Canel for helping us to have doctors and specialists, to be able to cover the entire country with doctors, with nurses, with specialists, that we have doctors not only from Monday to Friday, but seven days a week and 24 hours a day that we can have doctors in health centers, medical units, in second-level hospitals, in rural hospitals. It is a challenge and we are going to fulfill this commitment, he said during his weekend press conference from Campeche.

The IMSS Well-being model is present in eleven states and benefits the population who are without social security through the equipment and modernization of facilities, from rural medical centers to hospital, as well as the supply of medicines, which will be guaranteed in 2023 and 2024, as well as the hiring of sufficient medical personnel, he explained.

The Government of Mexico, he said, created the Benito Juarez Garcia Universities for Well-being, where the degree in integral medicine and community health is taught. He grants 20,000 scholarships for the specialization of medical personnel, which means double those that were delivered in previous six-year terms.

Cuban doctors were part of the weekend Presidential press conference. Photo: AMLO February 11, 2023.

Based on these actions, the aim is to reverse the deficit of doctors, a result of the privatizing educational policy that massively rejected young people who aspired to a higher education.

In the 7th Naval Region of Campeche, the President of the Republic of Cuba, Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez, who accompanied Lopez Obrador, recognized the work of the Cuban doctors who provide their services to Mexico.

In addition, he distinguished bilateral ties between nations characterized by friendship and cooperation in areas of common interest such as education and health.

Our recognition for their commendable work that they have done in these months, their willingness to come without qualms to collaborate with this sister country is worthy of admiration. Their presence here at the request of the Mexican government adds to the efforts of this country to guarantee comprehensive and quality medical care, he said.
FGE confirms four city inspectors murdered inside PDC club

Playa del Carmen, Q.R.  The State Attorney General of Quintana Roo has confirmed four city employees were killed inside a club they were inspecting. On Monday afternoon, Oscar Montes de Oca, who heads the states FGE, held a press conference.

During the conference, he explained that on Sunday, 10 arrests were made. Of those arrested were eight men and two women, all of whom, are believed involved in the four murders.

Seven of those arrested will be presented before a judge for the murders since three accepted a deal to inform on the others.

Montes de Oca detailed that the four city inspectors were killed during a work tour of La Cueva, a gay and lesbian nightclub in central Playa del Carmen. He said the four Playa del Carmen city inspectors were abducted while inside the club and killed with bladed weapons by five of those arrested.

The FGE has confirmed the four city inspectors were killed inside La Cueva. Photo: FGE February 13, 2023.

The two woman arrested are believed part of the five responsible for the four killings.

The bodies of the four dead men were placed in the bed of a pickup truck and driven to a residential street in the Ejido region of west Playa del Carmen where they were found early Saturday morning.

Montes de Oca did not provide an official motive for the killings, but did say that those involved in the murders were subjects involved in drug dealing who had taken over the club.

During the press conference in Cancun, Solidaridad Secretary of Public Security, Ruben Oyarvide, pointed out that in Cancun during inspections, the inspectors are escorted by police officers.

In Playa del Carmen, they are not. Tassinari said that in the future, inspection operations will be carried out jointly between city workers and police officers.
Fonatur reports on section 5 progress days after judge orders definitive suspension

Riviera Maya, Q.R.  Days after a Merida judge ruled a definitive suspension on Section 5 of the Maya Train, federal and state authorities reported on its progress.

On Monday, the General Director of the National Fund for the Promotion of Tourism (Fonatur), Javier May Rodriguez said the 67.7 kilometers of track that will run from Playa del Carmen to Tulum will be unique.

During the morning Presidential press conference, May stated that the 67.7 kilometer section of the Maya Train goes from Playa del Carmen to Tulum is unique because more than 60 percent of the route will be an elevated viaduct. He says the viaduct will protect karstic soil, cenotes, caverns and underground rivers.

Cable-stayed bridge will be built on section 5. Render: Fonatur

Along with Quintana Roo Governor Maria Lezama, May said that the section stands out specifically for the cable-stayed bridge that will safeguard the Jaguar Claw cave.

Section 5 south crosses two municipalities and six locations in the Riviera Maya where passengers can get on and off at the Playa del Carmen and Tulum stations. Of the total track, 25.6 kms are embankments and 42.1 kms are elevated viaducts that are built with state-of-the-art engineering, he said.

Tulum will be home to a large Maya Train workshop. Render: Fonatur

In addition, with the Program for the Improvement of Archaeological Zones (Promeza), the sites of Tulum and Muyil are intervened, and four new sites are being rescued and preserved.

The Garra de Jaguar cave, the Las Manitas cave where there are paintings, the Ocho Balas cave and the Paamul II archaeological complex.

The protection of archaeological wealth goes hand-in-hand with environmental responsibility. For this reason, section 5 south also includes the opening of the Jaguar National Park, which will protect the flora and fauna, which is added to the reforestation of Sembrando Vida, explained May.

He added that the nearly 6,000 jobs generated on section 5 south have mainly benefited the local population. Those jobs include the requirement of 1,484,000 cubic meters of ballast, 240,000 sleepers and 14,000 tons of rail.

In section 5 south, more than 50 complementary projects are being built, such as wildlife and vehicular crossings, as well as a tractor substation, which is part of the infrastructure to provide electrical sufficiency to the Maya Train and energy security to the Yucatan peninsula.

Section 5 south will open doors to the human, natural and cultural greatness of the Mexican southeast, he said.

The Secretary of the Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat), Maria Luisa Albores Gonzalez, recalled that section 5 south has had the Environmental Impact Statement since June 2022, and emphasized on the creation of the Jaguar Flora and Fauna Protection Area, of almost 3,000 hectares in Tulum and the restructuring of the Tulum National Park.

The President and Executive Director of Mota-Engil Latin America, Joao Pedro Parreira, who is in charge of 27 kilometers of subsection A, said that work is being done on a mixed structure of viaducts and embankment that allows a very important permeability for flora and fauna without interaction with the geophysical environment of section 5 south in terms of soil, and explained that all inputs such as beams, pre-slabs and foundation piles are built on site.

Mixed structures will allow permeability for flora and fauna. Render: Fonatur

The General Director of Azvindi Ferroviario, Manuel Munozcano Castro, in charge of the 20.7 kilometers of subsection B, highlighted the construction of the Garra de Jaguar cable-stayed bridge, of 266 linear meters, to free a cavern that was found in the area and reported that 5,600 jobs have been created and more than 4,000 beams and more than 27,000 prefabricated tablets will be required, among other supplies.

The General Director of Empresas ICA, Guadalupe Phillips Margain, in charge of subsection C, reported that 19.97 kilometers of double railway track are being built here, including nine kilometers of viaduct, nine vehicular and wildlife crossings, as well as the Playa del Carmen station.

The Director of Alstom Mexico, Maite Ramos Gomez, specified that the Maya Train currently occupies two of the five lines of the plant in Ciudad Sahagun, Hidalgo, for the delivery of the first four boxes on March 8, and the arrival of the trains to the Cancun garage next July. She also highlighted that the bogie assembly is made with German technology, one hundred percent in Mexico.

During the section 5 Maya Train progress update, officials did not make any mention of the recent definitive suspension ruling made by a Merida judge.
Mexico extradites two for separate U.S. murders

Mexico City, Mexico  In compliance with the Extradition Treaty between Mexico and the United States, two people have been sent to the U.S. to face criminal charges.

Juan C was required by the Travis County District Court after in September of 2017, he had an argument on a road with a man whom he shot to death. Juan C was wanted in Travis County, Texas for the 2017 murder.

In April of 2019, Abraham A pulled out a gun and shot a man, killing him. The reason for the murder, according to the FGR of Mexico, was because the individual had taken his bicycle.

Abraham A was handed over to American authorities from the Mexico City International Airport to face murder charges in the Superior Court of California in the County of Los Angeles.


The last time I wrote about a lost animal in the Poages Mill area of Roanoke County, the critter in question was a wandering pig.The friendly porker caused a minor furor when she happily waddled onto Dawnwood Road in September 2021, where some residents found and lassoed her. Post capture, a cheeky animal-control worker named her Petunia.

Eighteen months later, the lost animal is a dog, an 18-pound male Tibetan spaniel with an injured left eye. Hes 3 to 4 years old and unacquainted with the environs of Western Virginia. His foster mom, Alicia Holloway, said hes terrified of humans.

He disappeared from her yard last Tuesday. And hes indescribably cute.

She and her husband, Jim Holloway, live on Mount Chestnut Road, which is off U.S. 221 just east of Back Creek Elementary. Theyre devotees of the breed, which has been recognized in America since 1978. Aficionados have nicknamed the dogs Tibbies.

The Holloways currently own four. They accepted the injured dog from a shelter in North Carolina that had rescued him. Workers there named him Maui.

The couples goal is to nurse Maui back to health  and lovingly, in the hopes hell lose his fear of people. Then he can be adopted by another Tibbie lover. (I was unaware, but there are many spread across the United States. They have their own national organization, the Tibetan Spaniel Club of America.)

But Mauis not making any of this easy. His disappearing act already has cost his frantic foster parents more than $1,000. And they got him only a week ago.

Exactly an hour after the couple arrived back home (after picking Maui up in Rocky Mount, North Carolina), the diminutive canine scaled the Holloways 4-foot-tall backyard fence and scampered into a gully. Barely 15 minutes earlier they had placed his pet carrier, with the door open, in their back yard.

There have one or two fleeting sightings. We think hes been following creeks, in the rugged Poages Mill area, Alicia said.

The Holloways have put no small effort into the search. They designed and printed flyers advertising the dogs disappearance, and distributed them outside Cave Spring-area grocery stores, schools and at the post office.

Sunday, they sent an email to every reporter at this newspaper, and probably some editors, too. Thats how I learned of the dogs sudden vanishing. And they advertised his disappearance on LostMyDoggy.com, which has elicited text messages Alicia believes are from scammers.

Helping the couple, long-distance, are a Tibbie-loving pet behaviorist in California (Maryanne Dell) and an animal rescue coordinator from Maryland whos written books about Tibbies (Susan Miccio). Both are part of a far-flung network of Tibbie devotees.

Dell has been making calls to rescue organizations, and animal shelters in our area alerting them to Mauis disappearance. Micco has sent lots of emails.

A local firefighter the Holloways know has offered to put his drone up over the Cave Spring area, to get a birdseye view. And Monday, the couple took the hunt to the next level by hiring a nationally -known professional pet detective.

Her name is Carmen Brothers. Her companys name is Lost Pet Finders. Though shes based in Stephens City (just south of Winchester), on Monday, Brothers drove to southwest Roanoke County from Kentucky, Alicia said.

With Brothers was two tracking dogs, a German shepherd named Rose and a smaller terrier named Trix. Most of Brothers fee, which Alicia said is over $1,000 is to cover mileage, Alicia said.

Shortly before 2 p.m. Monday, she texted me excitedly.

Rose has picked up his scent! she messaged. That was along Ran Lynn Drive, which is near the U.S. 221 intersection with Cotton Hill Road. Roses nose led them west for a distance. Later, Brothers brought out Trix for some detail tracking, Alicia texted.

The Holloways are from Columbus, Ohio. Jims a retired accountant/chief financial officer. Alicias career field was construction management.

They began visiting the Roanoke Valley regularly when one of their two sons attended Roanoke College. The couple liked the mountains and milder winter temperatures compared to central Ohio.

The decision to transplant here grew easier when the couple learned about regular dog shows, such as at the Berglund Center Coliseum. They moved into their home on Mount Chestnut Road in July.

Both are lifelong dog lovers. When they met, Jim and Alicia loved different breeds, however. He was partial to golden retrievers. She preferred Shih Tzus and Lhasa apsos.

I think we needed an us dog, to dote on together, Alicia told me. That seems like an elegant and wonderfully healthy perspective. And then they discovered Tibetan spaniels, which are not actually spaniels.

The couple got their first Tibbie, a female named Molly, 17 years ago. She died recently. Their current Tibbies are named Zilla, Spike, Suzi and Morty.

Besides being audaciously cute, theyre easy to take care of, Alicia told me. They dont have extensive grooming requirements. They dont get stinky.

Both Holloways are now volunteers with the Tibetan Spaniel Club of America Rescue and Health Trust. Networking with that group is how they leaned about the opportunity to foster Maui.

They know zero about how he was injured, or why he came to fear humans. He was brought into a North Carolina shelter with another larger dog. Thats about all they know.

We only had him an hour, Alicia told me on the phone Monday. We need to find him so we can prove to him humans are kind.

Maui is small, with light brown fur that has lots of gray/black highlights, and a mostly closed left eye.

Alicia said he tends to run away from humans. For that reason, they will place traps where they think hes been  and hope for the best.

If youve seen him in the Poages Mill or Cave Spring areas, Alicia Holloway would love to hear about your sighting. Call her cellphone at (614) 554-7484.
Roanoke Circuit Court documents have identified the man who was shot by a Roanoke police officer after wielding a knife outside an apartment complex last month.

Frank Joseph Distefano, 51, of Roanoke has been charged with assaulting an officer in connection with the Jan. 25 incident. An affidavit included in a search warrant details the encounter.

At approximately 7:30 a.m. that day, Roanoke police officers responded to a 911 call about a domestic disturbance on the grounds of Lee-Hy Manor, a residential complex in the 3700 block of Stratford Park Drive Southwest, the affidavit says.

The first officer on scene encountered a white male subject, later identified as Distefano, in front of the community laundromat facility, the affidavit continues.

There, Distefano displayed very erratic behavior and repeatedly proclaimed to the police officer that he [...] was King of the Jews, King of Jerusalem, and King of Israel, and that he was guarding his wife, a female subject who locked herself inside the laundromat to escape Distefano.

Distefano continued to display angry, erratic behavior, the affidavit continues, and shouted threats that he would kill the police officer. Distefano told the officer that he was fired.

Then, Distefano walked around the building, and armed himself with an unknown object in his right hand, the affidavit reads. He returned to the front of the building and continued shouting at the police officer while concealing the object in his right hand.

The police officer visually identified the object as a large kitchen knife, the affidavit continues, and immediately issued loud, verbal commands for Distefano to throw down the knife.

Distefano did not comply, instead continuing to shout at the police officer. Then, the affidavit reads, Distefano rotated the knife in his right hand so that the blade was pointing outward, and he aggressively advanced toward the police officer from a distance of approximately twelve feet.

As Distefano rapidly closed the distance while holding the large kitchen knife in his right hand, he yelled at the police officer, Im going to kill you!

The officer discharged his weapon in the direction of Distefano, who was struck by a bullet. Distefano stopped advancing, then retreated back to the sidewalk, and then ran to the grassy lawn beside the building.

There, Distefano complied with the officers commands to disarm himself and get down on the ground, the affidavit continues. The officer immediately secured Distefano, provided first responder aid, and called for EMS assistance to the scene.

Distefano was transported to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital for medical treatment. The involved officer was placed on administrative leave and Virginia State Police have been called in to investigate the incident.

The encounter between the officer and Distefano was video and audio recorded by the police officers body-worn camera, the affidavit reads.

The search warrant requested some medical records related to Distefano, which were seized by investigators.

Police have also seized Distefanos cellphone, including all retrievable electronic data from the device, according to another search warrant that was certified in Roanoke Circuit Court the day of the shooting.

The phone was recovered on the ground where the suspects body was lying, the affidavit reads. There were threatening text messages sent from the male in question to a female involved in the original call.

Roanoke Commonwealths Attorney Donald Caldwell said Monday that a warrant for Distefanos arrest on an attempted malicious wounding charge was obtained on Jan. 28. On Jan. 31, Distefano was arrested.

The next day, Distefano was arraigned on the attempted malicious wounding charge and a public defender was appointed to represent him, Caldwell said.

On Feb. 6, Caldwell continued, a Roanoke Circuit Court grand jury indicted Distefano on a felony assault and battery of a law enforcement officer charge  the only charge the commonwealth intends to prosecute.

Distefano appeared in Circuit Court on Feb. 10. He was in a wheelchair and told Judge Christopher Clemens that he could not walk without pain medication.

Caldwell said Disefano was shot in his lower left abdomen.

At that hearing, Distefano waived his right to an attorney. Caldwell said the court will revisit Distefanos decision regarding counsel at his next hearing, scheduled for March 6.

Distefano continues to be held at the Roanoke City Jail without bond.
A high-speed chase involving the Giles County Sheriffs Office ended with a deadly crash Saturday, Virginia State Police reported Monday.

Rebel R. Hodges, 35, of Rocky Mount was killed and his passenger, Shaddai B. Boyer, 33, of Martinsville was seriously injured in a wreck that occurred at around 2:33 a.m. Saturday, a state police news release said.

The crash occurred in western Giles County as the couple was being pursued by one or more deputies from the county sheriffs office, state police said.

State police gave no details about what led to the chase, but did say that the 1998 Chevrolet Prizm that Hodges was driving was not hit by a sheriffs office vehicle.

State police said that an investigation is ongoing, and referred questions about the pursuit to the sheriffs office.

Sheriff Morgan Millirons could not be contacted Monday about the incident.

The state police news release said that Hodges and Boyer were heading west on U.S. 460 at high speed when the Prizm went off the right side of the road and into a ditch, where it turned over.

The Prizm then came back across the pavement and hit a guardrail on the left side of the road, state police said.

The Prizm traveled down a hillside and came to a stop on the shoulder of the eastbound lanes of U.S. 460, about a half mile west of U.S. 460s intersection with Virginia 61 at Narrows.

Hodges was not wearing a seat belt and was thrown from the vehicle. Boyer was wearing a seat belt, state police said.
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Doctoral students Miriama Rajaoalisoa and Herilala Razafinime are exploring some of the smallest particles in the universe at the University of Cincinnati. Credit: Andrew Higley

Doctoral students Miriama Rajaoalisoa and Herilala Razafinime are trying to answer fundamental questions about the origins of the universe in the world's most sophisticated particle physics laboratories.

Both from Madagascar, they met as undergraduates studying theoretical physics at the University of Antananarivo.

Now married five years, they represent a high-energy physics power couple at the University of Cincinnati.

"We're not a power couple," Rajaoalisoa said laughing. "But whenever I get stuck, he helps me."

"The advantages of being a couple is we are really productive together," Razafinime said. "If I don't know how to do something, she does. And if she doesn't know, then I'll have some ideas."

Rajaoalisoa and Razafinime are graduate research assistants at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland and in Fermilab, Illinois, working on the international collaboration Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment.

"I like the challenge of studying neutrinos because they're so hard to observe," he said.

Neutrinos are some of the smallest particles in the universe, so tiny they pass through virtually everything by the trillions every second at nearly the speed of light. They are created by nuclear fusion reactions in the sun, radioactive decay in nuclear reactors or the Earth's crust or in particle accelerator labs, among other sources. As they travel, they often transition between one of three types or "flavors" of neutrinos and back.

Some physicists believe there is a fourth type called a sterile neutrino. The couple are working with physicists around the world on experiments to identify it. The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment will help physicists study neutrinos and look for new ones.

"Detecting them is very difficult. That's why we call them 'ghost particles,'" Rajaoalisoa said. "If we found a fourth type of neutrino, it would turn the Standard Model of Physics on its head."

Combined, the two have contributed to more than 50 published studies with their international research partners.

While Madagascar isn't yet well known for its work in high-energy physics, Rajaoalisoa and her husband are hoping to change that. They say their example shows that geography is no obstacle to pursuing your dreams.

"We had a small department of physics in Madagascar," Razafinime said. "It was just theoretical physics. We didn't have experimental particle physics. But that's changing now."

Madagascar last year hosted the 12th Annual High-Energy Physics International Conference.

"The reason some students in Madagascar aren't choosing physics is they don't understand the career paths you can take with a physics degree," Rajaoalisoa said. "We'd like to show them what you can do with a physics degree."

Those options span the gamut of top industries along with academia and government research.

Their paths brought them to the physics department in UC's College of Arts and Sciences.

"UC is a big campus, but the physics department feels quite small," Rajaoalisoa said. "The professors care about the graduate students. They're invested in each of our successes. And you really get to understand physics."

Each year, UC welcomes more than 3,000 students from countries on six continents. Leaving home to study abroad is never easy.

"Home is home. You miss your family. You miss the food," Razafinime said. "There's more of a laid-back attitude in Madagascar. There's a phrase 'mora mora,' which means slow down or take it easy. It's a bit rushed here."

So what are the odds of two high-energy physicists making a love connection? Since they spent so much time working and studying together, it wasn't that surprising, they said.

"I felt like she was the kind of girl I was looking for," Razafinime said. "It was my dream to have someone with the same interests."

Provided by University of Cincinnati
COLUMBIA, S.C.  A lottery player in Florence is celebrating a winning Valentines Day. If you played Palmetto Cash 5 at Jackies Postons Inc. at 1256 East Palmetto St. in Florence for Mondays drawing, you should check your tickets. Someone won $200,000.

The Palmetto Cash 5 ticket for Mondays drawing matched all five numbers drawn to win the $100,000 top prize when claimed. Because the ticket holder Powered-Up for an additional $1, the $100,000 top prize was doubled to $200,000 when a two was drawn.

Palmetto Cash 5  Monday, February 13

8 - 10 - 20 - 27 - 33 Power-Up: 2

Check your tickets. Winners have 180 days from the date of the drawing to claim their prizes. For complete information on claiming prizes, visit sceducationlottery.com.

More than 5,000 Palmetto Cash 5 players won prizes from $1 up to $200,000 in Mondays drawing. More than 3,600 players spent an extra $1 to purchase the Power-Up multiplier and will have their winnings multiplied by two when claimed.

The odds of winning $200,000 playing Palmetto Cash 5 are 1 in 878,399.

Net proceeds from every dollar spent by players on the South Carolina Education Lottery are returned to the state in the form of funding for education, prizes, retailer commissions, and payment to contractors for goods and services.
Singapore Property Market Report Q1 2023

In 2022, property prices continued to climb amid declining sales volumes across all property types, defying economic downside pressures. The rental market also took off, hitting record highs in the HDB and private property rental markets.

In part, this was due to the tight supply. While pandemic-induced construction woes have gradually been alleviated and more major new launches were seen in 2022 than in 2021, restoring the supply pipeline remains a slow process. Keen interest is expected in upcoming new major launches.

Increased borrowing costs due to higher interest rates and the announcement of the September 2022 property cooling measures contributed to slower demand in Q4 2022. However, asking prices did not ease. Consequently, we should expect the same buying behaviours in the first quarter of 2023.

Contents

Get the GuruView Singapore Property Sale Market Index Q1 2023 Sale Price Index, Supply Index and Demand Index Top Performing Districts and Projects Singapore Property Rental Market Index Rental Price Index, Supply Index and Demand Index Top Performing Districts by Rental Yield Conclusion

No Time to Read Now?

Save a copy of the Singapore Property Market Report Q1 2023 for later.

Download Report

Get the Guru View: Key Findings of the Singapore Property Market Report Q1 2023

Singapore Property Sale Market Index Q1 2023

The Singapore Property Price Index eased by 0.8% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) in Q4 2022, following fewer property enquiries. The overall Sale Demand Index, which tracks the number of searches of property sale listings on the PropertyGuru Singapore platform, went down by 44.4% in Q4 2022 due to a confluence of reasons.

Revenge travelling played an important part  agents and buyers took the December holidays to travel overseas as 2022 was the year that COVID-19 travel restrictions significantly eased.

Despite slowing QoQ price growth, it is noteworthy that solid price growth was observed YoY, supported by the low supply and strong employment rate. The Sale Price Index was also supported by fewer listings, with the Sale Supply index going down by 20.3% YoY.

Story continues

The asking prices for HDB resale flats listed on PropertyGuru Singapore increased for the 17th consecutive quarter since Q4 2018, but the pace of growth has moderated. In part, this is due to the latest cooling measures implemented.

The listing prices for landed homes went up for 12 straight quarters, while the non-landed home prices grew for 11 consecutive quarters. However, signs of a widening price expectation gap between prospective buyers and sellers have been identified. It is predicted that the high asking price and low sale demand scenario would likely persist for the years first half, barring external shocks or an economic downturn.

Top Performing Districts and Projects

It is anticipated that the major new launches in Q1 2023 will do well. Some new launches for Q1 2023 include:

The Botany at Dairy Farm (District 23)

Terra Hill (District 5)

Lentor Hills Residences (District 26)

The Hill @ One North (District 5)

Blossoms By The Park (District 5)

Hill House (District 9)

Tembusu Grand (District 15)

The Arden (District 23)

The list of top-performing districts for non-landed private property was dominated by districts in the Rest of Central Region (RCR). Their popularity can be attributed to their accessibility and proximity to the CBD.

On a separate note, the landed property market saw a decline in transactions during the fourth quarter, the average quantum of landed homes that exchanged hands went up by 5.5%.

The number of million-dollar transactions increased from 259 in 2021 to 370 in 2022. In Q4 2022 alone, 93 such units were transacted. The buying preference for larger flat types in mature estates continues to persist  we are likely to see buyers willing to pay premium prices for such homes.

With that in mind, the impact of the latest round of cooling measures and the higher interest rates is expected to be more visible towards the end of Q1 2023.

Singapore Property Rental Market Index Q1 2023

The Singapore Property Rental Price Index increased by 7.4% as the median asking rental prices reached a five-year high for both the HDB and the private home markets. The Rental Demand Index declined by 28.1%, while Rental Supply Index increased by 5.6% QoQ as more projects were completed.

As more developments continue to be completed in 2023, we anticipate the Rental Supply Index to rise further. In turn, we should see demand and rents stabilising.

Private property owners right-sizing to HDB flats would likely occupy these units as they renovate their new homes, driving up the demand. In contrast, pressure from families waiting for the completion of their homes  be it BTO projects or new launch condos  will likely diminish as construction woes alleviate.

The demand from expatriate workers will likely grow slower as companies are likely to moderate their expansion rates. As more foreign talents move or search for more affordable options, rental prices will likely be subjected to downward pressure.

Top Performing Districts by Rental Yield

Outside Central Region (OCR) private properties have a higher rental yield as home prices are generally more affordable in those areas. Young professionals who prefer to live near their workplaces in the CBD and are willing to pay the price premium for convenience, which allows properties in the Core Central Region (CCR) to command a higher rental yield.

Mature housing estates tend to command a higher rental yield than newer ones, as they have more amenities and unique characteristics. Such estates also tend to be closer to the CBD and are more sought after as they give their residents easy access to the city.

Conclusion

Overall, the stage is set for Q1 2023 to begin the year on a slower yet promising start.

Despite the uncertain geopolitical and macroeconomic conditions, rising inflation, and increasing interest rates, the housing market remains resilient. Despite the increased cost of acquiring homes, many buyers maintain a positive view of the markets long-term outlook.

For more insights and analysis, read the full PropertyGuru Singapore Property Market Report Q1 2023:

Or read past Property Market Reports

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TUESDAY, Feb. 14, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Children who were exposed to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medications their moms took during pregnancy are not more prone to neurodevelopmental disorders such as ADHD or autism, researchers report.

The news may be welcome to women whove needed to take ADHD medication throughout their pregnancy.

We can see that the number of women of childbearing age who are medicated for ADHD is rapidly increasing, and therefore it is very important to garner more knowledge to be able to counsel these women, said study co-author Dr. Veerle Bergink, director of the Womens Mental Health Program at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.

We know that there is an increased risk of accidents or losing a job when women do not take ADHD medication, when it is indicated," Bergink said in a Mount Sinai news release. "There are still unknowns, but these results may contribute to women making informed decisions about using ADHD medication during pregnancy."

Researchers at Icahn and the National Centre for Register-Based Research at Aarhus University in Denmark examined more than 1 million children born between 1998 and 2015 in Denmark and followed through 2018.

The data included nearly 900 children whose mothers either continued using ADHD medication throughout pregnancy or started on ADHD medication during pregnancy. It also included 1,270 children whose mothers stopped taking ADHD medication before pregnancy.

The research team found no differences in the likelihood of developing a neurodevelopmental disorder among the groups.

Researchers considered conditions that included autism and ADHD, impaired vision or hearing, epilepsy, febrile seizures or growth retardation.

Previous animal studies and studies of illicit drug use in humans had found that some of the medications used for ADHD could pass to the fetus and have adverse effects.

About 4% of American women ages 15 to 44 are using ADHD medication, according to the CDC.

No clinical guidelines exist in relation to pregnancy and ADHD medication.

More research is needed, the authors said, including an inquiry into short-term outcomes. ADHD medication during pregnancy might be associated with other types of outcomes besides neurodevelopmental conditions, they added.

The findings were published Feb. 9 in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on pregnancy and ADHD medications.

SOURCE: Mount Sinai Health System, news release, Feb. 13, 2023
Shed been clipped by a car more than once, messed up her face tangling with a raccoon and avoided capture for years.

Nobody could get close to the yellow Labrador retriever, even all those who fed her around Eppley Airfield.

Several times, a concerned citizen would spot her walking near there, sometimes carrying a fast food bag, and would call the Nebraska Humane Society. But shed vanish as soon as a white truck appeared.

Muddy Paws Second Chance Rescue couldnt nab her either. Thats how she got one of her many nicknames  Lightning.

She had a following. There are so many stories about her, Muddy Paws founder Terri Larson said. She was just a phenomenon around the area how she avoided capture.

Then last May, a Lincoln couple spotted her late at night as they were leaving the airport.

She got sick, had just given up and was found almost drowning in a ditch, Larson said.

That couple took her home, cleaned up the ticks, posted about her on the Lost Pets of Omaha Area Facebook page and then took her to the Capital Humane Society in Lincoln. A woman who had been feeding her spotted the Facebook post and asked Muddy Paws to help.

Nine months later and now named Piper, the once-elusive dog is ready for a home. Shes survived treatment for a bad case of heartworm and has begun to learn that she can trust humans.

Shes had nothing but 24-hour care and room service and anything she could want, foster Colleen VanScoy said.

Piper had been on the lam for so many years that she was basically feral at first, VanScoy said. Shes lost teeth and, at around 8 years old, is bothered by arthritis. Although shes still jumpy around strangers, she enjoys treats and a pat.

The one thing she isnt is skinny. Shed been spotted as far west as 30th and Lake Streets and apparently had food stops all along her route.

She was quite a little celebrity down there, VanScoy said. She had been well-fed for several years.

Its going to take a special person who has a lot of patience and time to adopt Piper, VanScoy said.

Thats not always easy to find, but she says miracles do happen.

Until then, she has a home with me, VanScoy said. Shell just be a forever foster and that will be fine, too.

If interested in adopting Piper, go to muddypawssecondchancerescue.com and look under available pets, or call 402-515-2570.
SIOUX CITY  A contactor is back in Sioux City working to remove roughly 200 ash trees with 16 to 24-inch trunk diameters in the mid-town and near northside neighborhoods.

Last month, Kelly Bach, Sioux City Parks Maintenance Field Supervisor, said the contractor previously knocked out 40 trees in two days. Cold weather prevented completion of the work at that time.

"Those trees that are being removed are going to a local landscaper to be ground," said Bach, who said the trees will be repurposed as colored wood chip mulch.

The removal of ash trees on city-owned properties, including the public right-of-way, are part of the city's plan to manage the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB). The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship announced on Jan. 19 that the invasive, ash tree-killing insect from Asia has been confirmed in Sioux City in samples collected from trees.

Ash tree removal Contractors cut down an ash tree along Jennings Street on Sioux City's near northside on Monday. According to Kelly Bach, Sioux City Parks Mai

The Emerald Ash Borer has now been found in all but three of Iowa's 99 counties: Plymouth, Palo Alto and Emmet.

Larva feeding on the inner bark damages and eventually kills ash trees within two to four years. Indicators of an infestation include canopy thinning, leafy sprouts shooting from the trunk or main branches, serpentine galleries under the bark, bark splitting, woodpecker damage, and 1/8-inch D-shaped exit holes.

Last fall, Bach said city staff identified ash trees that would be removed and sent letters to impacted property owners. When they didn't hear back from certain property owners, he said staff knocked on doors and delivered the letters.

Property owners have the option to treat the trees. Bach said only about 2% have opted for treatment. Ash tress slated for removal have been brightly marked.

"Staff is already working on identifying other areas of trees that need to be removed and will continue with the larger populated areas and work into it for the years to come," said Bach, who noted that replanting is a work in progress.

Property owners can find more information about removing or treating ash trees at sioux-city.org. Click the community tab at the top to access Sioux City's emerald ash borer management plan.
INWOOD, Iowa  A West Lyon Community School District teacher had something to celebrate this past week after being recognized with a state award.

On Feb. 10, the Iowa Governor's STEM Advisory Council announced that it had chosen West Lyon industrial technology instructor Shane Peterson as one of six state educators who "go above and beyond to inspire student interest in and awareness of science, technology, engineering and mathematics."

West Lyon School Teacher Shane Peterson wins STEM Award West Lyon Community School District teacher Shane Peterson recently won an Iowa "STEM Teacher Award" for his work inspiring student interest i

With Peterson in particular, the Iowa STEM Advisory Council noted the work he's done over a decade to expand an intro-level woodworking class into something more all-encompassing for students interested in STEM fields. The release also pointed out that Peterson's received over $200,000 in grants for his classroom.

In addition to the 2023 Iowa STEM Teacher Award, Peterson is getting $3,000. Half of the money is meant for in-school use while the other half can be spent at Peterson's discretion.

Peterson will be recognized once more, as a part of STEM Day, at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines in August.
SOUTH SIOUX CITY  South Sioux City saw a 7.8% increase in serious and violent crime last year, according to data provided by the police department to the City Council on Monday.

A total of 565 Part 1 crimes, which include homicide, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated and simple assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft and arson, were reported in 2022, compared to 524 the previous year.

The crime statistics are based upon Part 1 crimes reported to the FBI under the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS).

South Sioux City logged eight forcible rapes in 2022, up from five in 2021. Burglaries increased from 14 to 18 and larcenies from 314 to 316, during that time period. Motor vehicle thefts jumped from 29 to 41, while simple assaults increased from 128 to 158.

No homicides or arsons were reported in either 2021 or 2022. The last homicide in South Sioux City occurred in 2017, while the last arson was tallied in 2020. Robberies dropped from four in 2021 to two in 2022, according to the data.

NIBRS also allows the South Sioux City Police Department to track all other reportable crimes, such as vandalism, identity theft, stolen property offenses and drug offenses.

After adding these other reportable crimes in with the Part 1 crimes, the city reported a 5.7% increase in total crime. In 2022, 989 total crimes were reported, up from 935 in 2021.
SAC CITY, Iowa  A woman has pleaded not guilty of leaving dead dogs and a cat in freezers at her former Sac City home.

Billi Jo Langner, 47, of Farnhamville, Iowa, entered her written plea Wednesday in Sac County District Court to six counts of animal neglect with serious injury or death, all aggravated misdemeanors.

According to court documents, the owner of a house in the 200 block of East Ahrens Street called Sac City police on Jan. 1 to report that Langner, his previous tenant, had left two dead cats in the house. Two emaciated, decomposing dogs also were found in a chest freezer in the garage. According to court documents, the house was filled with animal feces and urine.

Police located Beyer-Langner at another Sac City home later that day and arrested her.

Officers returned to the rental home on Jan. 2, when the landlord reported finding a partially decomposed cat in the kitchen freezer, and on Jan. 14, when another dead cat was found in the basement of the home.
SAC CITY, Iowa -- A former East Sac County High School teacher has pleaded guilty of having sexual contact with a male student.

Stefanie Kelsey, 35, of Sac City, pleaded guilty Monday in Sac County District Court to single counts of third-degree sexual abuse and sexual exploitation by a school employee. The charges carry prison sentences of 10 and five years, respectively.

Sentencing was scheduled for April 10.

Kelsey was charged with committing sex acts with the student, who was age 14-15, from about Sept. 1, 2021, through March 11. According to court documents, the two allegedly had sexual contact on more than one occasion in a vehicle at a county park and at Kelsey's Sac City home.

She was arrested March 11, the day after a parent reported rumors about a sexual relationship between her and the student to the Sac County Sheriff's Office. She had been charged with seven additional counts of third-degree sexual abuse.

Kelsey was a special education teacher at the high school, which is located in Lake View. Her probationary teaching contract was later terminated.
SIOUX CITY -- An Omaha woman has pleaded not guilty of shoplifting after an accomplice set off an explosion at Sioux City's Scheels store.

Jessica Katz, 40, entered her written plea Friday in Woodbury County District Court to charges of first-degree arson, second-degree criminal mischief and fourth-degree theft.

According to court documents, Katz and another woman took a number of items off of shelves at Scheels, 4400 Sergeant Road, on Oct. 26.

While inside the store, the other woman removed a lighter and a small device with a fuse from the pocket of her hooded sweatshirt. She lit the fuse and tossed the device onto a shelf. A short time later, the device exploded, damaging shelving and merchandise.

Katz exited the store without paying for the merchandise, which totaled $562, that she and the other woman had collected, court documents said. The explosion caused more than $3,412 in damages.

Dozens of employees and customers were in the store at the time of the explosion.
SIOUX FALLS  A Yankton, South Dakota, man has been sentenced to more than 10 years in federal prison for selling fentanyl.

Justin Langen, 38, pleaded guilty in November in U.S. District Court in Sioux Falls to conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. He was sentenced Feb. 7 to 121 months in prison and will serve five years supervised release after completing his prison sentence.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Langen conspired with others in June 2021 to sell more than 400 grams of fentanyl. Langen obtained fentanyl pills from a co-conspirator and sold them to drug customers.
Tens of thousands of Nebraskans received an email last fall notifying them that they had qualified for student loan forgiveness under a plan put forward by the Biden administration.

Last month, the White House said approximately 154,000 of the 232,100 borrowers deemed eligible in Nebraska had applied for and were accepted into the relief program  nearly two-thirds of those who qualified.

A state-by-state breakdown indicated 97,000 Nebraska borrowers had their applications sent to loan servicing companies to discharge as much as $20,000 in debt before the program was put on a court-ordered pause.

Across the country, nearly 16.5 million of the 26.2 million borrowers who applied for forgiveness had their information forwarded to loan servicers, according to data provided by the U.S. Department of Education.

Ella Knight was one of thousands of borrowers who learned they had been accepted to have a portion of their student loan debt forgiven last fall, but that any discharge was going to have to wait until the U.S. Supreme Court hears the case later this month.

We reviewed your application and determined you are eligible for loan relief under the plan, the email from Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said. We have sent this approval on to your loan servicer. You do not need to take any further action.

Unfortunately, a number of lawsuits have been filed challenging the program, which have blocked our ability to discharge your debt at present, Cardona continued. Your application is complete and approved, and we will discharge your approved debt if and when we prevail in court. We will update you when there are new developments.

A native of Omaha, Knight said she knew she has wanted to be an architect since the second grade and was able to earn full scholarships to pursue her passion at several schools both in and out-of-state.

Early in her college career, however, Knight developed a neurological disorder and was forced to leave her out-of-state school  leaving behind a full scholarship there  and return to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to be closer to home and her support system.

When she transferred back to the states flagship campus, the Regents Scholarship she had been offered out of high school was no longer available, so Knight said she applied for federal student loans for her remaining three years to pay the cost of tuition not covered by other scholarships.

Now enrolled in a masters of architecture program at the Rhode Island School of Design  a degree required to become a licensed architect  Knight said she has accumulated more than $40,000 in student loan debt.

It was more debt than she anticipated she would have as she looks forward to life after graduation this year.

I really tried to get through undergrad without college debt, she said. I feel like my whole life going through high school was always setting me up to go to college. I didnt feel like there was any other choice than that.

The Biden administrations student loan forgiveness program made her feel a little more optimistic about the future, Knight said.

That optimism hangs on a challenge from a half-dozen states including Nebraska that sued the Biden administration last fall, alleging the education secretary exceeded his authority to discharge student loan debt under the 2003 HEROES Act, which allows the department to offer loan forgiveness during times of national emergency.

The Education Department has asserted the COVID-19 pandemic had created just such an emergency; the Republican-led states have argued that the Biden administration plan goes beyond what Congress had intended in the HEROES Act.

Opponents of the plan also said canceling student loan debt for millions of Americans could negatively impact state finances, including at the Nebraska Investment Council, which has $25.4 million of its $40 billion portfolio invested in student loan asset-backed accounts.

Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers and Solicitor General James Campbell will join attorneys from other states at oral arguments before the Supreme Court on Feb. 28.

In a statement, Haris Talwar, White House regional communications director, said the administration was confident its student loan debt program was fully legal and said it planned to continue to fight to deliver relief to tens of millions of eligible borrowers.

The plan would forgive $10,000 in federally backed student loans, and an additional $10,000 for those who received Pell grants, if those individual borrowers make less than $125,000 annually.

Were hopeful that we will prevail in court, and when we do, we will quickly discharge debt of those who were approved for relief, process applications that are waiting to be processed, and make sure every eligible individual has the chance to benefit from our one-time debt relief plan, Talwar said.

Nebraska borrowers say they hope the nations highest court finds the program is within the bounds of the law, but indicate they believe its more likely that reality will cut the other way.

Knight said it was easier to start planning for the future and a possible return to the Midwest to start a career as an architect  architects are considered H3 jobs in the Cornhusker state, meaning they are high-demand, high-skill and high-wage jobs, according to the Nebraska Department of Labor  without relying on any student loan relief.

Im not counting on it to happen now, she said. It was a fun few weeks.

States with the most and least student debt Ranking student debt by state #51. South Dakota #50. Iowa #49. Alaska #48. North Dakota #47. Wyoming #46. Wisconsin #45. Nebraska #44. Arkansas #43. Indiana #42. Oklahoma #41. West Virginia #40. Montana #39. New Mexico #38. Texas #37. New Hampshire #36. Kentucky #35. Minnesota #34. Utah #33. Maine #32. Rhode Island #31. Kansas #30. Idaho #29. Vermont #28. Hawaii #27. Louisiana #26. Washington #25. Missouri #24. Pennsylvania #23. Massachusetts #22. Nevada #21. Ohio #20. Tennessee #19. Michigan #18. Mississippi #17. Connecticut #16. Arizona #15. South Carolina #14. New Jersey #13. Colorado #12. North Carolina #11. Alabama #10. California #9. Illinois #8. Oregon #7. Florida #6. New York #5. Virginia #4. Delaware #3. Georgia #2. Maryland #1. District of Columbia
Nebraska is losing residents with a four-year college degree at increasing rates over the past decade, according to U.S. Census figures.

The Cornhusker state has lost 45,000 residents with a bachelors degree or higher since 2010, Josie Gatti Schafer, director of the Center for Public Affairs Research at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, told the NU Board of Regents on Friday.

Thats a little less than 1% of the more than 400,000 college graduates residing in the state, she said: Losing 4,500 a year is not a huge number, but its a trend we absolutely want to look into.

And while Nebraska has historically reported a net gain of residents with a high school diploma, some college, or a two-year associates degree, Schafer said those numbers have also taken a turn toward the negative since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The numbers from the latest survey of Americans show a quarter of the domestic migration from the state is the result of Nebraskans taking jobs elsewhere  primarily in Iowa and other Midwestern states.

Schafer said higher education has a role to play in attracting and retaining skilled workers by meeting the demands of dynamic shifts to the states economy.

Nebraska as a whole saw more than 7% population growth between 2010 and 2020, while 69 of the states 93 counties lost population.

The growth in the urban areas was largely of Nebraskans who have moved from rural areas, concentrating in regions near where NU operates campuses  Lincoln, Omaha and Kearney.

Generally, Nebraska has a high workforce participation rate among its entire working-age population, but a 90% labor participation rate among those with a bachelors degree or higher, Schafer said.

Still, there are more Nebraskans working in low-wage jobs (553,102) earning less than the median income compared with high-wage occupations (465,998).

Thats a difficult growth position for this economy, Schafer said. But it is changing dramatically everywhere and changing dynamically in this state.

By 2030, its estimated that 65% of jobs in Nebraska will require some college education, nearly double the 33% of jobs that required the same level of education in 2020  a level that ranks 26th in the country.

To meet that future demand, amid relatively flat population growth, Schafer said there are some opportunities NU and the state could pursue to grow Nebraska and boost the number of high-wage workers here.

Nebraska typically sees positive net migration from other countries largely driven by the university, she said. Recruiting more international students, who tend to stay in Nebraska, would have a positive effect on population and the economy.

NU should also find ways to connect with underserved populations already in the state looking for upward social and economic mobility.

There is a group of Nebraskans right here today that want to pursue higher education and need the opportunity, she said.

Using high-impact practices such as experiential learning, internships and community-engaged learning also connects students with job opportunities in Nebraska and makes them more likely to stay here after graduation, Schafer said.

We also need to cultivate a culture of working with the workforce to help students see the job opportunities that are right here in the state, she added.

Top Journal Star photos for February 2023
SIOUX CITY  The Sioux City Community School Board has approved Rod Earleywines three-year contract, with a base salary of $250,000.

The board unanimously approved Earleywine's three-year superintendent contract on Monday with a start date of July 1.

Board President Dan Greenwell said based on the unanimous approve he thinks the board felt good about the contract.

The board also voted to remove the interim title from Earleywines current contract, officially naming him the superintendent for the remainder of the school year.

Earleywine's $250,000 base salary is $1,355 more than the last contract base given to former Superintendent Paul Gausman, but Earleywines total three-year contract benefits are $180,168 less than what Gausman would have received, according to documents provided in the board agenda.

Earleywine will receive $255,000 in salary for the 2023-24 school year which will increase to $265,000 by the 2025-26 school year.

The board provided a contract comparison between what Earleywine has received, and what Gausman would have potentially received for the same period based on former contracts.

Earleywines total compensation, including monthly travel stipends, annual dues allowances, retirement contribution, IPERS contribution, and health care will result in $922,632 in financial benefits over the three-year contract, according to the document.

It was calculated that Gausman would have received $1.1 million over the same three-year period. The document also states Gausmans contract included the ability to consult and a golden parachute, which Earleywines does not.

Golden parachutes, is a widely-used term given to severance packages for top executives.

Earleywine was chosen by the school board in January to serve as the superintendent of schools. He was chosen over Geovanny Ponce, the assistant superintendent of high schools for the Houston Independent School District.
ORANGE CITY, Iowa  A woman was flown to a Sioux Falls, South Dakota, hospital, after a single-vehicle rollover crash Sunday near Orange City.

At 8:49 p.m., the Sioux County Sheriff's Office investigated a motor vehicle accident that occurred on Highway 60, four miles south of Orange City.

According to a statement from the sheriff's office, Jade Vlotho, age 27, of Ireton, Iowa, was driving a 2011 Chevrolet Equinox northbound on Jackson Avenue (County road K-64), when she lost control of the vehicle, entered the east ditch, rolled and, then, crossed over the northbound lane, before coming to a rest on Highway 60.

Vlotho was transported to the Orange City Area Health System. She was later flown to Sanford Hospital in Sioux Falls.

Damage to the Chevrolet was estimated at $15,000.

The sheriff's office was assisted by Orange City Ambulance, Orange City Fire Department and Orange City-Alton Police Department.

This accident remains under investigation.
A suspect has died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound after a mass shooting at Michigan State University that left three people dead and five others injured Monday evening, police said.

"There is no longer a threat to campus," Interim Deputy Chief Chris Rozman said. "We believe there to only be one shooter in this incident and there is no longer a need to shelter in place on campus."

The shooting, which spanned two different campus locations, prompted an hourslong shelter-in-place order as hundreds of officers from multiple agencies converged on the campus to search for the gunman.

The suspect, a 43-year-old man, was not affiliated with the university, according to Rozman, who did not name the suspect.

The incident unfolded starting at 8:18 p.m. ET at Berkey Hall, where several shooting victims were found, Rozman said. Immediately after, shots were fired nearby at the Michigan State University Union Building, he said.

"Police and emergency responders acted quickly. We tended to the victims at both of those scenes," Rozman said.

Two of those who died were at Berkey Hall, and the third was at the MSU Union, according to Rozman.

At least five people were taken to a hospital, all of them in critical condition, according to Rozman. Police have not disclosed whether the victims included students.

Hours later, the suspect "was contacted by law enforcement off campus" and "it does appear that that suspect has died from a self inflicted gunshot wound," Rozman reported.

"This truly has been a nightmare that we are living tonight," Rozman said. "We are relieved to no longer have an active threat on campus, while we realize that there is so much healing that will need to take place after this," he added.

Rozman said it remains unknown what motivated the shooting.

___

Interactive: Find out more about mass killings in the U.S. Interactive: Number of mass killings by year Interactive: Mass killings by location scaled by number of victims Interactive: Search mass killing incidents Interactive: Timeline of mass killings scaled by number of victims killed Interactive: Number of mass killings and victims killed this year compared with previous years Interactive map: People killed by shootings, per 100,000 residents
If your image of nuclear power is giant, cylindrical concrete cooling towers pouring out steam on a site that takes up hundreds of acres of land, soon there will be an alternative: tiny nuclear reactors that produce only one-hundredth the electricity and can even be delivered on a truck.

Relatively small but meaningful amounts of electricity  almost enough to run a small campus, a hospital or a military complex, for example  will pulse from a new generation of micronuclear reactors. Some universities are taking interest.

"What we see is these advanced reactor technologies having a real future in decarbonizing the energy landscape in the U.S. and around the world," said Caleb Brooks, a nuclear engineering professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The tiny reactors carry some of the same challenges as large-scale nuclear, such as how to dispose of radioactive waste and how to make sure they are secure. Supporters say those issues can be managed and the benefits outweigh any risks.

Universities are interested in the technology not just to power their buildings but to see how far it can go in replacing the coal and gas-fired energy that causes climate change.

The University of Illinois hopes to advance the technology as part of a clean energy future, Brooks said. The school plans to apply for a construction permit for a high-temperature, gas-cooled reactor developed by the Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation, and aims to start operating it by early 2028. Brooks is the project lead.

Microreactors will be "transformative" because they can be built in factories and hooked up on site in a plug-and-play way, said Jacopo Buongiorno, professor of nuclear science and engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Buongiorno studies the role of nuclear energy in a clean energy world.

"That's what we want to see, nuclear energy on demand as a product, not as a big mega project," he said.

Both Buongiorno and Marc Nichol, senior director for new reactors at the Nuclear Energy Institute, view the interest by schools as the start of a trend.

Last year, Penn State University signed a memorandum of understanding with Westinghouse to collaborate on microreactor technology. Mike Shaqqo, the company's senior vice president for advanced reactor programs, said universities are going to be "one of our key early adopters for this technology."

Penn State wants to prove the technology so Appalachian industries, such as steel and cement manufacturers, may be able to use it, said Professor Jean Paul Allain, head of the nuclear engineering department. Those two industries tend to burn dirty fuels and have very high emissions.

Using a microreactor also could be one of several options to help the university use less natural gas and achieve its long-term carbon emissions goals, he said.

"I do feel that microreactors can be a game-changer and revolutionize the way we think about energy," Allain said.

For Allain, microreactors can complement renewable energy by providing a large amount of power without taking up much land. A 10-megawatt microreactor could go on less than an acre, whereas windmills or a solar farm would need far more space to produce 10 megawatts, he said. The goal is to have one at Penn State by the end of the decade.

Purdue University in Indiana is working with Duke Energy on the feasibility of using advanced nuclear energy to meet its long-term energy needs.

Nuclear reactors that are used for research are nothing new on campus. About two dozen U.S. universities have them. But using them as an energy source is new.

One company that is building microreactors that the public can get a look at today is Last Energy, based in Washington, D.C. It built a model reactor in Brookshire, Texas that's housed in an edgy cube covered in reflective metal.

It's taking the unit apart to test how to transport it. A caravan of trucks will take it to Austin, where company founder Bret Kugelmass is scheduled to speak next month at the South by Southwest conference and festival.

Kugelmass, a technology entrepreneur and mechanical engineer, is talking with some universities, but his primary focus is on industrial customers. He's working with licensing authorities in the United Kingdom, Poland and Romania to try to get his first reactor running in Europe in 2025.

The urgency of the climate crisis means zero-carbon nuclear energy must be scaled up soon, he said.

"It has to be a small, manufactured product as opposed to a large, bespoke construction project," he said.

But not everyone shares the enthusiasm. Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, called it "completely unjustified."

Microreactors in general will require much more uranium to be mined and enriched per unit of electricity generated than conventional reactors do, he said. He said he also expects fuel costs to be substantially higher and that more depleted uranium waste could be generated compared to conventional reactors.

"I think those who are hoping that microreactors are going to be the silver bullet for solving the climate change crisis are simply betting on the wrong horse," he said.

How US renewable energy adoption compares to other major emitters How US renewable energy adoption compares to other major emitters The US, China, EU, and India accounted for 58% of global greenhouse gas emissions from energy in 2021 In 2019, US renewable energy consumption was on par with China Renewable energy as a share of energy sourcing has grown 64% since 1980
Iowa schools no longer would be required to teach students about the availability of the HPV vaccine under a bill advanced by Republican lawmakers Monday.

House File 187 would remove the provision in Iowa law requiring schools to teach about the availability of a vaccine to prevent HPV in grades seven and eight, making the instruction optional. General instruction about sexually transmitted diseases, including HPV, still would be required.

HPV, or human papillomavirus, is a sexually transmitted infection that affects many sexually active men and women. Most cases go away with no health problems, but some can go on to cause cancer, including cervical cancer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The vaccine for the virus is recommended for children ages 11 to 12. It can be given between 9 and 26 years old, according to the CDC.

Public health experts, advocates, and HPV-related cancer survivors spoke at a public hearing on the bill arguing that removing the provision would endanger the health of Iowas students. They said the HPV vaccine is one of the most effective ways to prevent cancer.

Nathan Boonstra, a pediatrician at Blank Childrens Hospital, said receiving education around the HPV vaccine at school better prepares students to be informed when they are eligible to receive the vaccine.

The HPV vaccine is one of, if not the most life-saving vaccine that I can give in my clinic, he said. And although all pediatricians are doing our best to educate our patients and families, we only have so much time in the clinic with our patients.

Morgan Newman, a cervical cancer survivor, said she wishes she had proper education about the HPV vaccine when she was a teenager. She did not receive the vaccine, and in her 20s she developed cervical cancer. The cancer then spread to her lungs, she said, and she was given less than a 10% chance of surviving. She has been cancer free for seven years, she said.

It is unethical to not be able to provide this necessary information for cancer prevention, she said.

The first vaccine for HPV was introduced in 2006, and the provision requiring instruction about it was added to Iowa law in 2007.

While most speakers at the subcommittee hearing on the bill were opposed to it, Lindsay Maher with Informed Choice Iowa  a group that opposes vaccine requirements  supported the bill, and she said removing the provision would not outlaw teaching about the vaccine and leave the decision up to schools.

She also questioned the safety of the HPV vaccine, saying if the bill was not passed, lawmakers should require teaching about the risks of the vaccine.

According to the CDC, the HPV vaccine has the rare potential for side effects like any other vaccine, but studies have not shown higher than expected rates of adverse events following vaccination.

Its extremely safe, Boonstra said. It has extremely rare side effects. As far as the safety profile and number of studies that are done, its comparable to virtually any other vaccine that we routinely give.

Rep. Brooke Boden, R-Indianola, said she was curious what other vaccines are talked about in schools and was skeptical of a teachers ability to provide the right instruction about the HPV vaccine.

While no other specific vaccine teaching is required in K-12 schools, the benefits of immunization often are taught in physical education classes, said Sharon Guthrie, the executive director of the Iowa School Nurse Organization.

Iowa law also requires public colleges and universities to provide information about the meningitis vaccine.

I dont think that we should not discuss HPV, the risks, and all of that, Boden said. The question is where do we begin to draw the line between your teacher teaching about immunizations inside the school?

Boden and Rep. Anne Osmundson, a Republican from Volga, voted to advance the bill, while Democratic Rep. Monica Kurth of Davenport did not. But Boden cautioned shes still looking for information and the bill wont necessarily continue to advance.

Its not the only bill being considered in the Legislature seeking to roll back teaching about HPV and the vaccine. A bill proposed by Gov. Kim Reynolds, Senate Study Bill 1145, that deals with instruction around gender identity and sexual activity also includes a provision repealing the requirement that schools teach about HPV and the HPV vaccine. It also removes a requirement that schools teach about HIV and AIDS.

Photos: Kari Lake speaks at Scott County Republican Women's lunch
Sen. Carol Blood of Bellevue on Monday urged the Legislature to reject confirmation of the reappointment of Jim Macy as director of the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy in the wake of the environmental catastrophe at the AltEn ethanol plant at Mead.

Macy should have taken prompt action to shut the plant down, Blood argued, before its use of pesticide-coated seed further polluted the environment and more Nebraskans became "collateral damage."

The result is that some Nebraska women will never be able to get pregnant and some children will develop cancer, she said.

"This is our Flint, Michigan," Blood said, referring to the lead contamination in that community's water supply.

A number of senators defended Macy's response to the pollution at Mead.

"It's not being ignored; cleanup is occurring," Sen. Bruce Bostelman of Brainard, chairman of the Legislature's Natural Resources Committee, said.

Sen. Mike Moser of Columbus said the reaction is "complicated by what the state can legally do."

Sen. John Cavanaugh of Omaha argued that there was "dereliction in not acting with urgency."

"I believe there were some mistakes," Sen. Mike McDonnell of Omaha said, but he supports confirmation of Macy's appointment.

Blood's motion to recommit Gov. Jim Pillen's nomination of Macy to the Natural Resources Committee for further consideration was defeated on a 10-33 vote.

That vote along with the tenor of floor debate signaled the likelihood that Macy's nomination will eventually be confirmed.

Monday's two-hour debate consumed the Legislature's first floor session in two weeks, stalling an agenda that included 15 bills awaiting action.

The Legislature has been holding full-day committee sessions during the last two weeks.

Meet the Nebraska state senators making laws in 2023
A panel of House lawmakers Monday advanced a bill that would prohibit public schools from teaching about gender identity and sexual orientation in kindergarten through third grades.

It also requires school boards provide age-appropriate and research-based instruction in human growth and development.

Supporters of House File 8 argued that the topic of gender identity should be exclusive to parents and their children  and not discussed in public schools.

Opponents said the measure undermines LGBTQ support in schools and endangers the safety, welfare and autonomy of transgender and gender-fluid youth.

Senate Republicans have advanced a similar proposal that would prohibit public schools from teaching gender identity in grades K-8.

Some parents who spoke in favor of the bill requested it be amended to ban the teaching of gender identity in all grades K-12.

Promoting and advertising and encouraging the LGBTQ lifestyle to impressionable young children at school is wrong and reckless, parent Courtney Collier said. Schools do not need to teach children about gender identity and sexual orientation in order for children to be encouraged to be kind and respectful to all. Unnaturally highlighting and pointing out differences to children does not lead to unity.

House education subcommittee member Rep. Steven Holt, R-Denison, said he would support expanding the prohibition to higher grades, but did not specify which grades.

Subcommittee member Rep. Sharon Steckman, D-Mason City, noted parents currently have the option to have their child opt out of such teachings, and that evidence-based research shows that children who are free to express their gender identity and learn about their gender are safer and healthier.

Steckman, LGBTQ advocates and representatives with the Iowa Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics argued the bill will further isolate, stigmatize and promote bullying against a marginalized segment of the community.

There is no science behind this bill, said Dr. Amy Shriver, an Iowa pediatrician.

Holt and committee chair Rep. Skyler Wheeler, R-Hull, signed off on the bill, which now moves to the full House Education Committee for consideration.
During horrific natural disasters such as the earthquake in Turkey and Syria, you can witness the best that mankind is capable of  the noble behavior that often emerges during a crisis.

A Greek search and rescue team and Turkish special operations police  whose members might have been fighting each other in wartime  worked side by side to rescue a small girl through a narrow gap in a pile of concrete that once was an apartment building near Antakya, Turkey. A group of Syrian White Helmets, scores of whom died rescuing civilians in Aleppo from the massive Syrian government bombings during the civil war, returned to extract a bloodied toddler from earthquake rubble in Azaz.

The endless Twitter videos of dramatic rescues move me to tears. But then anger sets in.

While an earthquake is an act of nature, it's not too soon to ask what contribution three political leaders have made to the extent of the disaster. When it comes to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, and Vladimir Putin, that contribution is enormous. Untold numbers of earthquake victims will die unnecessarily because of what these three have done  or refused to do.

As the earthquake death toll mounts, longtime Turkish journalist and Washington Post columnist Asli Aydintasbas contends that Turkey's earthquake may be more than just a natural disaster.

After a massive earthquake in 1999, she writes, the blame for many deaths "went to contractors who used cheap materials, officials who failed to enforce Turkey's relatively loose building codes," and "to a government that has failed to develop a nationwide earthquake response strategy."

Erdogan's Justice and Development Party, known as AKP, rode to power shortly after, as the public demanded change. But over the past decade, the Turkish president has become increasingly autocratic, arresting opposition leaders and journalists and cracking down on any criticism. Corruption has flourished. Turkey has slid steadily downhill on Transparency International's annual, respected Corruption Perceptions Index, sinking to 38 on a scale of 0-100, where 0 means highly corrupt and 100 means very clean.

Erdogan has favored friendly magnates from Turkey's booming construction industry and disdained urban planners and environmentalists. Rules for earthquake-safe construction, finally passed in 2018, are ignored, with scant oversight.

No one should be surprised that many thousands of buildings crumbled immediately in earthquake-hit cities. Poorly built five-story apartment buildings pancaked into piles of concrete next door to damaged buildings that survived, perhaps due to older and better construction.

Aided by Erdogan's blind eye, corrupt builders using shoddy materials likely doomed Turkish citizens across the earthquake zone.

Also disturbing, many of the worst-hit parts of Turkey are located in ethnic Kurdish areas of the country, whose cities and towns have been repressed by Erdogan's government. Death tolls are rising there amid freezing temperatures. The United Nations, along with international aid groups, must insist that Erdogan does not shortchange Kurdish areas that desperately need aid.

Meantime, across the border in Syria, the brutal Assad is directly responsible not only for much of the current Syrian death toll but also for the inability of international rescue teams to access the quake zone.

During Syria's civil war, in which disaffected Syrians tried to overthrow the dictator, Assad's planes bombed opposition and towns mercilessly, aided by the Russian air force of his ally, Vladimir Putin. Hospitals, schools and markets were targets of the Assad-Putin massacres from the air.

Millions of refugees from the bombings flooded into the cities and towns of northern Syria, which are now being hit hardest by the earthquake and have almost no access to aid.

Since this northern region of Idlib is considered opposition territory by Assad, he managed, years ago, to limit the amount of humanitarian refugee aid that could be sent across the border from neighboring Turkey or Iraq. When the United Nations tried to get Assad to permit more aid to flow in, Russia vetoed the attempt at the U.N. Security Council. (Hats off again to Putin for helping ensure that more civilians die.)

Prior to the earthquake, Assad permitted aid to enter via only one border crossing terminal from Turkey. Now that terminal has been destroyed by the earthquake.

So as Syrian survivors in Idlib wander aimlessly in the snow, their flimsy housing destroyed, and as White Helmets desperately attempt rescue, there is no international aid  no medicine, no food, and no help for the millions of desperate Syrians affected. International aid agencies have no way to reach them unless Assad opens more crossings.

That is just fine for the Syrian dictator. The more opposition supporters who die, the better chance he has to retake Idlib province in the north.

Can Erdogan and Assad be made to pay for their contribution to earthquake deaths?

Turkey is scheduled to hold a general election in June. Erdogan has jailed the most popular opposition leader, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu. But The president's contribution to this disaster might increase popular support for the remaining opposition leaders.

As for Assad, the test will be whether the United Nations can press him to permit aid to cross into Syria. Erdogan will have an important role to play in urging Putin to agree.

Meantime, as earthquake casualties mount into the high thousands, one thing can be said for certain: Erdogan, Assad, and Putin are responsible for many of those deaths.
He thought he was bound for his dream vacation to Sydney, Australia, where he would depart for a cruise and finally get the chance to see kangaroos, according to media reports.

But those pesky airport codes foiled Kingsley Burnetts plan, KTVQ reported. He mistakenly booked a flight to the wrong Sydney  the one in Sidney, Montana. The tiny towns airport code is SDY, while the Sydney in Australia is SYD.

I saw (a) mountaintop covered in white snow.  At that point, I knew I was in trouble, Burnett, a New Yorker, told the station.

His plane landed in Billings, Montana, where a smaller aircraft was waiting to take him to Sidney, the station reported.

An American Airlines ticketing agent at the Billings airport stepped in to help, Shelli Mann wrote on Facebook on Jan. 28. Mann is the general manager of the Boothill Inn, where Burnett stayed the night after his flight mix-up.

Mann said in the Facebook post that she was driving Burnett to the airport from the hotel when he started telling her the story of his ordeal. By this point, he was laughing about the whole thing, she said.

He told me that he was taking the vacation of his dreams  he wanted to see kangaroos and he was catching a cruise ship out of Sydney, Australia, she wrote. Problem is, he booked his ticket to Sidney, Montana. Imagine his horror when he got off the plane in Montana and realized his mistake.

Carol Castellano an American Airlines ticketing agent arranged for him to fly home to New York, though he would have to reschedule the cruise, according to KTVQ.

Then Castellano made the arrangements for his hotel room and called the cruise line to explain what happened.

As we were driving back to the airport this guest just went on and on about Carol and how she was his angel, Mann wrote. He was laughing and snapping pictures and exclaimed how the people in Montana were the nicest hed ever met.

People lauded the agents kindness and both workers excellent customer service in the comments.

They also shared stories of other travel mix-ups, and commiserated with Burnett.

This is amazing. But that poor gentleman!! one wrote. Sidney in January  no comparison to Sydney.

It wouldnt be the first time Sydney was mistaken for a city of the same name but in a different country. According to SimpleFlying.com, its more common for travelers to mistake Sydney in Australia with Sydney in Nova Scotia, Canada.

___
Pay Dirt is Slates money advice column. Have a question? Send it to Lillian, Athena, and Elizabeth here. (Its anonymous!)

Dear Pay Dirt,

My (40F) husband died by suicide when our son was a baby. Now my son is almost 5, and Ive been raising him alone all that time. My husband had a substantial life insurance policy, which has allowed me to stay home with my son, and due to the fact that hes disabled, that has been a blessing. However, the money wont last forever. My husband also had a substantial amount of money in his bank accounts, but he never changed the beneficiary information nor did he have a will, so it went to his parents. They gave me a portion of it right after he died to pay off my car, but said they were setting aside the rest for my son, as they dont need it.

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I asked about it recently, and I wasnt given any details other than that its not accessible. I feel like I am entitled to that money and I should have some access to it, but I dont know how to tell them, especially since they have said it is theirs to do with as they see fit. Its also worth pointing out that my husbands parents are getting older, his mom is in poor health, and I dont know if they made any provisions for the money in their will, the executor of which will most likely be their other son, who doesnt keep in contact with me. I dont want to create any awkwardness, but its not a small amount of money. What can I do?

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Show Me the Money

Dear Show Me the Money,

Youre in a tough situation. Without knowing your parents-in-law, my financial brain expects that one of two things has happened to the money set aside for your son:

1) Your parents-in-law have put the money in a trust for your son, and it is not accessible until he reaches the age of majority. In this case, its likely invested, and there are legal stipulations on its early withdrawal. You would generally be entitled to information about that money only if you were the trustee. If your son is disabled and might qualify for certain benefits, a trust might be an especially prudent solution (depending on the trust structure).

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2) Your parents-in-law have lost/gambled/spent the money, and its inaccessible because it doesnt exist anymore.

Only you know which is a more likely scenario based on their personalities and financial situation. Either way, youre likely not legally entitled to that money and shouldnt be expecting to get access to it (especially if you already have been through a probate dispute as the surviving spouse). Instead, it would be a better use of your energy to figure out how to invest and utilize the life insurance proceeds from your late husband (perhaps by talking to a financial adviser about investment options that optimize income from the principal).

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It is still worth broaching the topic with your sons grandparents. It will likely be an awkward conversation, no matter how you approach it. I would emphasize something other than gaining access to the money yourself. Instead, frame it in turns of your sons needs: wanting to assess his resources while planning his financial future and needing information on his inheritance to get the complete picture. You can mention you are working on getting a better idea of his eligibility for disability benefits. Or ask for details as part of the information you need for your own will after your experience with your late husband dying intestate. Focus on gathering information, not gaining access. That way, youll understand what they have planned for the money and if they have made provisions for it in their will.

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Dear Pay Dirt,

Im a 53-year-old married person with $2 million in savings. I dream of exiting the workforce. Is this dream at all feasible? Our family savings are distributed amongst a 401(k), mutual funds, IRAs, CDs, and cash. Our house and cars are paid off. We have one son who will be completing college this spring. Our current annual expenses are roughly $25,000 (not including what health care would cost out of pocket). Besides bringing home the majority of the bacon, I can take no credit for our healthy financial status. My spouse is responsible for both our savings, as well as our frugality and prudent spending. As a trade, Im a computer programmer and make pretty decent money  so yeah, first-world privileges, to be sure.

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So why the wish to exit? I desperately hate my job from both the position duties, to the work-related bureaucracy that goes with it. Been doing it for 25 years, and am burnt to a charred crisp. Ive also switched enough jobs to know that my attitude toward the job is the norm across all companies, and not the exception to my current company. So, switching jobs and doing the same kind of work wouldnt alleviate the hate. I have considered a new career in its entirety; however, the only thing Im qualified to do is code.

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Im also not 100 percent opposed to continuing working and dont object to hard work, but what can an aging, crusty programmer do if not programming? But I do dream of the freedom not working for the man anymore would bring. Am I just a privileged jerk who needs to suck it up because who doesnt hate their job, or do I have enough money to turn my back on the man and start enjoying life? If so, any tips on how to do so?

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Crusty Coder Burnt to a Crisp

Dear Burnt to a Crisp,

Based on your financials alone, you are in a pretty solid position to retire early. With $2 million in investments and annual expenses of $25,000 (especially with a paid-off house), most early retirement calculators relying upon a 4 percent safe withdrawal rate would estimate that you have enough to quit working for the man if you want to. I recommend the books Your Money or Your Life and The Simple Path to Wealth to make your own calculations and feel fully confident in the math and philosophy behind early retirement.

As for health insurance, its often the most significant unknown for American early retirees. However, if your expenses stay low, you should be able to keep withdrawals from your portfolio low enough to qualify for significant subsidies on the exchange or even Medicaid (if you live in a Medicaid expansion state), as they only look at income (not assets).

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You might find that your early retirement isnt permanent. A year or two away from the workforce (which you have more than enough financial resources to support) might help you recover from being burnt out to a crisp. Even if you cant permanently retire from the full-time grind, your low expenses buy you a lot of flexibility. Ive often found that my friends who retire early end up returning to part-time work to have something to fill their days after a sabbatical. With your skills, if you dont want to deal with the work bureaucracy anymore, contracting out your programming allows you to command a high hourly rate, choose your projects, and avoid the drudgery of meetings and conferences. Your spouses savings acumen and the households low expenses have bought you a lot of flexibility; in essence, you have F.U. money. So, go ahead and take some timemaybe the rest of your working careeroff.

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Dear Pay Dirt,

My common-law partner is going to get all my money (other than will-specifics) and my inheritance when I die. He is not great with money. He loves our cats as much as I do, but Im worried about them and how he will fare dealing with all the expenses plus having a flush-load of money if I die before he does, which is probable. How would I set up a payment fund without being insulting to him? I need to know that his rent will be paid and our cats will be taken care of, but I cant say that to him because it would be insulting to his care capabilities.

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Feline Groovy

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Dear Feline Groovy,

I can understand why you are concerned about the financial well-being of both your partner and your beloved cats. But if your partner is a capable adult, you shouldnt be trying to babysit him from the grave. Instead, encourage him to get some of these financial management skills during your lifetime. Paying rent and buying cat food is a skill of the living he needs to figure out how to manage it for himself now because you cant balance his checkbook from your coffin.

If you have enough wealth to make it work and you truly dont trust his coping skills, you could consider setting up trusts with a professional trustee. While the legal structure is the same for humans and felines, trusts for four-legged friends are colloquially referred to as pet trusts. A trust would provide for the care of the cats and ensure that your partners rent is paid in the event of your passing, with a professional trustee overseeing it. Professional trustees, however, can be costly and reduce the total amount of your estate available for your partner; it may be out of reach, depending on your inheritance. To establish a trust, discuss your options with an estate lawyer. If your estate isnt large enough for a trust, it would be easier to make your wishes clear in your will with a pet clause and work to help your partner develop responsibility now.

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Dear Pay Dirt,

Im a doctor who makes good money. I have children in high school and middle school. My marriage has gotten to the point I need to get out for my sanity. Thing is, Ive never paid a bill in my life. Its been a joint account handled by my husband. He no longer has an income. But he bought the house and the cars, opened the retirement accounts, and paid the taxes and the bills with the money in the account. Hes not cheating me financially. The properties are in both our names. But I need to learn to operate on my own. In my 50s! Is there an idiots guide to this? A checklist would be nice, with step-by-step instructions. This is not about minimizing alimony or anything. I frankly dont care how much I have to pay. I just need to take responsibility for myself without having to call him.

Never Paid a Bill in My Life

Dear Never Paid a Bill,

Dont beat yourself up! Youve been busy focusing on being a doctor and parentand you know that you need to learn to be self-sufficient, which is the first step. The good news is that paying bills is significantly easier than completing medical school. You will be fine. Managing money is a thing you learn by doingit isnt an innate trait; everyone learns by practice. You also dont have to know everything at once; you only need to feel confident researching each step when needed. You asked for a checklist, so Im going to give you one:

Talk to a divorce lawyer before making any financial moves. You need to know what to do to protect yourself before filing for divorce, and it varies in every state. Even if youre OK with paying alimony, its best to talk to an expert first.

Check out some resources on financial healing. Financial Recovery is a practical toolkit for digging underneath the panic you feel about managing your money for the first time. It will help you unwind the emotional side of the breakdown of your relationship while building new financial habits. (It is written by Karen McCall, who was born into a top 1 percent wealthy family, ended up broke, then became rich again.)

Once you have your divorce lawyers OK, open your own bank account, direct deposit your paycheck into it, and pay bills out of it. (Autopay is your friend.)

Start budgeting. There are excellent resources for finding a budget that works for you, but I like Monarch Money and Simplifi for their approachability. You Need a Budget is a potent (but sometimes overwhelming) budgeting tool if youre a more granular thinker.

Once you have a better handle on the assets youll get in the divorce, you can start tackling the more advanced parts of financial management, like retirement and credit. All Your Worth is an excellent primer for wrapping your head around these goals. At that point, you may want to pay for some time with a certified financial planner to help you plot out your goals post-divorce.

Good luck with the next chapter of your life. Youve got this!

Lillian

More Advice From Slate

My teenage kids (17 and 15) are having a true free week with nothing official to do before high school starts. My husband and I are discussing whether there should be any bedtime. I feel like sometime soon (maybe now) they are almost adults and should make their own bedtime choices.
Its become fashionable to sneer at Valentines Day and to mock those who celebrate it. So fashionable, in fact, that in 2011 Torie Bosch felt compelled to defend the day of romance. In honor of the holiday, the article is reprinted below.

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Im almost afraid to say it: I have plans for Valentines Day.

And I dont mean ironic, anti-Valentines Day plans that attempt to reclaim the holiday for feminism, for singletons, for the smart and skeptical and disaffected. My longtime boyfriend and I have sincere, romantic plans. If Im lucky, there may even be chocolate and flowers involved.

Among my friends and colleagues, admitting to enjoying Valentines Day is about as socially acceptable as including obey in your wedding vows: Both seem to demonstrate subscription to outdated, narrow-minded views of romance. For the quintessential example of this anti-Valentines sentiment, I turn to 30 Rocks Liz Lemon, who said in a 2010 episode, Valentines Day is a sham created by card companies to reinforce and exploit gender stereotypes. The anti-Valentines Day crowd is so enormouslook at the movies, the books, and, most of all, the trend pieces and angry tweetsthat feeling smug about seeing through the holiday is now akin to feeling superior about buying organic. And a strain of hypocrisy runs through anti-Valentines Day sentiment as well, in the form of the many profit-seeking ventures that capitalize on the Cupid hatred.

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My objection isnt so much about the single folks who find Valentines Day alienating, a reminder that they dont have a partner. If youre single and unhappy about that, of course its somewhat upsetting to see so many celebrations of romantic love. Instead, Im talking about the couples who say they are above Valentines Day. You know what Im talking about: those who sniff, We think our love should be celebrated every day or I dont need Hallmark to remind me that I love my wife. They make a big deal out of not making a big deal out of Valentines Day.

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In my experience, these Valentines Day opponents mostly see the holiday as something for the masses, a fake celebration crammed down our national throat. Their pride comes from their ability to resist marketing, and they wear their objections as an emblem of their savvy. A 2008 blog post on the site Credit.com goes through retail estimates of how much the average consumer will spend on Valentines Day, then says, But then were not average consumers, right? The anti-Valentines Day couple likes to remind you that they are not average consumers. Part of the Valentines Day hatred is not so much about actually disliking the holidays crass consumerismtheres no rule that you have to overspend or buy a premade cardthan fitting in with a culture of other smart, savvy, pop-culture-and-processed-food haters.

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One of the biggest objections to Valentines Day is that its widely believed to be a recent invention of the greeting-card industry, with Hallmark taking the brunt of this anti-middlebrow wrath. The accusation is so pervasive that the company has posted on its Web site an article called Just a Hallmark Holiday? Think Again!

However, the anger at Hallmark and the charge that Valentines Day celebration is a relatively modern development are both mistaken. Hallmark deserves neither the credit nor the blame for our Valentines Day rituals. The company, founded in 1910, printed its first Valentines Day card in 1913. The holiday itself dates back many centuries before then; it is apparently another pagan holiday that Christians attempted to co-opt, by transforming the Roman fertility celebration Lupercalia into St. Valentines Day. Valentines Day cards have been around since at least the 15th centurythe first was rumored to have been sent by a duke, held in the Tower of London, to his wife. Their popularity is nothing new, either: In 1917s The Book of Holidays, Joseph Walker McSpadden quotes another writer who claimed that more than 1 million valentines were sent through the London general post office in 1832, and companies have been making valentines since around then. Presumably, some bloke has been grumbling about ye olde empty sentiment since at least 1829.

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Jewelry companies, which are another target of anti-Valentines Day sentiment, are also accused of evangelizing the holiday in recent years to make sales, and that may be true. But men were buying Valentines baubles for their honeys long before the first Zales ever opened its doors in a suburban shopping mall. The 17th-century diaries of Samuel Pepys contain mention of a woman who received jewels worth several hundred pounds (in 1600s currency!) from her valentines.

Such outlandish expenses continue today, what with the special Valentines Day prix-fixe menus and lingerie that the anti-Cupid crowd loves to hate. I dont think any couple should celebrate in a way that feels uncomfortable to them, and I certainly have no urge to pay for a prix-fixe meal myself. (No one will tell me what to order!) But you dont have to abandon the holiday entirely just because some people like to get extravagant.

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After all, Valentines Day hatred is frequently promoted by those who have their own profit motivesa rather hypocritical move, it seems. Here, I am referring less to the smug couples than to the single folks who shell out for products that celebrate their loathing of the holiday. A Chicago bakery offers anti-Valentines Day cookies, with phrases like I faked it and Careful, I break easily, for $2.95 each. There are anti-Valentines Day gifts, too; Daily Candy recommends spending $135 on a single ring for the left hand or a $110 fragrance set, alongside cheaper gifts for the Valentines Day loather. How is Bar Pilars anti-Valentines Day event less exploitive than the prix-fixe menus we all love to mock?

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The worst part about Valentines Day hatred is the way couples sometimes claim that they are just too in love to need it. I know that every day should be about romance, that the calendar shouldnt have to remind my boyfriend and me to take some time out and remember that we adore each other. (Yeah, its saccharine, but true.) But our calendars are filled with dates that remind us to spend time on somethingholidays that encourage us to spend time with family and to remember religious tradition; birthdays to celebrate each persons cosmic specialness, as a friend of mine likes to say. Whats wrong with Valentines Day fitting into that? Sometimes we do need a reminder to take time out and acknowledge each other.

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If youre a boomer like I am, and especially if you grew up on the East or West Coast, you have probably always been aware of the College Board. For us, it was just the company that created and administered the teenage rite of passage, the SAT (which was then called the Scholastic Aptitude Test but has now been rebranded as simply SAT).

And thats probably all you thought about the College Board, if you thought about it at all: a fairly innocuous entity that seemed to be focused on the test that largely determined who went to college, and where they went to college. Was it run by the government? Was it a charity? Who knew? Who cared?

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The reality might surprise you.

What people didnt know then, and what they still seem not to understand now, even as the entity is in the news for the ongoing controversy over Floridas involvement in amending the Advanced Placement curriculum in African American studies, is that the College Board is a business, despite its lofty mission statement, which suggests that its about connect[ing] students to college success and opportunity. Yes, its a not-for-profit business, but not-for-profit does not mean that its a charity. In fact, its about the furthest thing from a charity that you can imagine. Not-for-profit does not mean that its altruistic in its purpose; it simply means that excess revenue as profit is not distributed to private owners or shareholders but rather held by the company. (There was a brief period when the College Board changed its web domain from .org to .com, perhaps revealing more of itself than it should have, but this misstep was quickly corrected.)

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Over the years, the College Board used its connections with high schools to expand the penetration of the PSAT, as a companion to the SAT; it uses the PSAT to collect names and information about students, which it then licenses to colleges who want to recruit those students as the de facto national database of high school students; it uses the results of the tests (for which half the students and half the school districts will, by definition, be below average) to promote its AP courses, to make students more college ready (an essentially meaningless term it invented); and it uses its substantial lobbying budget to convince legislators to make students take the SAT in order to graduate from high school, to pay for AP, and to make public universities accept the results of those exams and grant credit for them.

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Its an ingenious business model. And in America, businesses have the right to operate, as long as they dont run afoul of the law. But like any business, the College Board should be held accountable for faults in its products and especially for public activities that contradict its mission.

When David Coleman was hired as president and CEO of the College Board in 2012, it was a business decision. As a leader of the effort to create and license Common Core, Coleman was part of the attempt to instill a national curriculum in K12 schools, which is of course not necessarily a bad idea; one of the best and worst things about American secondary education is its widely divergent models and philosophies.

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The great business opportunity at the time was to connect the SAT to Common Core. At last, it was believed, America would have a way of telling how well its students were learning. Never mind, of course, that all of this power and responsibility would be held in the boardroom of a private company that would have profited greatly from the connection to a national curriculum. (If one corporation could influence the curriculum and also create the tool used to measure achievement, school districts and states would have little choice but to useand increase the use ofits products.) Alas, fate had other ideas, and Common Core quickly fell out of favor in the U.S. with both the left and the rightperhaps coincidentally, or perhaps because people had concerns about such intensely focused control in the hands of one company. Or, it might be said, in the hands of one man.

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Coleman, it seems, has never actually taught a high school class (at least as far as the record reveals). He returned from Oxford with a masters degree after studying on a Rhodes Scholarship, but could not find a job teaching English in a high school in New York City. Instead, he went to work at McKinsey, one of the countrys largest and best-known consulting firms, where business teaches business how to do business. In light of all this, it seems curious that America would trust someone like this to have such an outsize say in what was taught, when it was taught, and how it was taught.

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His tenure at the College Board has been rife with public relations blunders, many of which might be expected at any billion-dollar business. Whats most concerning to people who work in secondary and higher education, though, is that many of these blunders seem to be, well, for lack of a better word, anti-education. And it is for these blunders that many believe the College Board should be held accountable.

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Consider these actions, which seem inconsistent with a company concerned about education:

 After the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, David Coleman sent an email to the membership, pointing out that student X Gonzalez, a survivor of the massacre, apparently used knowledge from their AP courses in a speech they gave after the shooting. He then presumed to tell a high school student who had been traumatized by gun violence, after they went on to become an activist, that they might have been more measured and balanced in their criticism of gun laws and gun culture.

 The College Board not only hired but promoted to the executive level the speaker of the House in Indiana, Todd Huston, who supported state legislation that limited discussion of race in school classrooms, all while working at the company. In addition, in a move that would make any business proud, Coleman donated $10,000 to Hustons campaign.

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 During the pandemic, when it became clear that students would not be able to take AP exams in their traditional manner, the College Board announced that the exams would be 45 minutes in length and could be administered at home or anyplace students could connect to Wi-Fi (including the parking lot of a McDonalds). While every organization was forced to scramble in light of COVID-19, the College Board announcedwithout asking anyone except long-time supporters of the College Boardthat colleges would accept the results of the new, shortened AP exams, even though they provided little to no reliable statistics to demonstrate comparability between the old and new exams. Like a good business, it shirked responsibility and forced Americas universities, if they so chose, to be the bad guys in times of crisis. This was, conveniently, a good way to hedge against the massive revenue hit that would have resulted if the exams had been canceled.

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 After years of promoting itself as a transparent organization, the College Board removed from public view granular data breaking down AP scores by state, race, and exam, instead providing what it called streamlined reporting, in a classic case of 1984-speak that would make any for-profit business proud.

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 And most recently, of course, the College Board allowed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to essentially step into the role of Americas czar of high school curriculum, by bending to the will of the Florida Department of Education in dramatically whitewashing (literally and figuratively) the framework for the AP African American studies course. Whats almost as bad as following the lead of a future presidential candidate for political and business gain is the brazen lying of the College Board in initially claiming that Florida had played no role in the course redesign. Just this weekend, the College Board issued a statement, ostensibly falling on its sword for not pushing back on Florida earlier, but failing to explain how and why an organization designed to prioritize education somehow failed to take any leadership or to stake out a moral stance when Florida did what it did.

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The College Board is a billion-dollar business, with over a billion dollars in assets (including as much as $150 million held in offshore accounts). It paid Coleman, its CEO, over $2.5 million in 2020, even after he had been demoted from the dual roles of president and CEO in early 2019, and paid several other executives over $500,000 in that same year, a year in which revenue dropped by $400 million.

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It is no wonder that there have been frequent and repeated calls for the trustees of the College Board to remove Coleman from his position. Leadership comes with responsibilities that Coleman has clearly ignored or neglected.

Universities, too, of course, are not-for-profits, as are legitimate charities. It is not the tax status that should concern us, although perhaps a tax on some of that revenue would be warranted in the case of the College Board. What should concern us is that a private company has its tentacles so tightly wrapped around a public education system most Americans consider a public good.
On Tuesday, it was reported that former Vice President Mike Pence will challenge special counsel Jack Smiths subpoena surrounding the events of Jan. 6. Former President Donald Trumps quiet coup in the lead-up to Jan. 6 failed when Pence refused to do Trumps bidding in rejecting or delaying the certification of President Joe Bidens election.

The legal claim Pence reportedly intends to make should go nowhere. Even his own written statements fatally undermine it. That suggests another motive. Its no mystery that as a potential presidential candidate, he doesnt want to offend Trumps ponderous Republican base.

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Pences reported claim to be free from an obligation to testify comes under the Constitutions speech and debate clause. It provides that Senators and representatives  shall not be questioned in any other Place than Congress about any Speech or Debate in either House. Courts have regularly made clear, however, that the protection extends only to questioning about legislative acts.

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Last year, Sen. Lindsey Graham failed when invoking the clause to try to avoid testifying before Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis grand jury about a phone call he made shortly after the November election to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. While one never knows with this radical Supreme Court majority, the same result should apply here.

From the viewpoint of a constitutional scholar and a former federal prosecutor, Pences resistance poses an issue of enormous significance for our constitutional system: Can the criminal process count on obtaining every persons testimony in order to ensure accountability, or are there some people who are above the law when a grand jury seeks the whole truth about a conspiracy to overturn a presidential election?

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The case law tells us, in no uncertain terms, that the duty imposed by law on all citizens to testify can reach even those protected by the speech and debate clause. In 1972 the Supreme Court held that the clause does not immunize a Senator or aide from testifying at trials or grand jury proceedings involving third-party crimes where the questions do not require testimony about or impugn a legislative act.

For starters, special counsel Smiths questions about what Trump said in the White House to Pence and others before and even during the Jan. 6 special session wouldnt be seeking testimony about how anyone acted in a legislative capacity.

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Even if Smith were to question Pence about his responses to Trumps demands that he use his role as presiding officer of the joint session of Congress to steal the election, Pence himself has all but conceded that there was no formal legislative act in that role. That morning, he wrote Congress a letter stating unequivocally that his role was ministerial and largely ceremonial and that the actual role of Congress is very different from what his job as presiding officer was.

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His letter quoted his esteemed conservative legal adviser, former Court of Appeals Judge J. Michael Luttig, for the proposition that [t]he only role and power of the Vice President under the Constitution is to count the Electoral College votes as they have been cast.

To be sure, no court has ever considered the application of the speech and debate clause to the role performed by the vice president in his special function of presiding over the quadrennial joint session when the electoral ballots are opened.

But that responsibility is far less legislative in characterand thus further from the purposes of the provisionthan the duty a vice president fulfills when breaking a tie in any of the Senates lawmaking functions.

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Further, testimony regarding criminal actions is not protected by the speech and debate clause. Notably, in 1972, the Supreme Court rejected Maryland Democratic Sen. Daniel Brewsters claim that the speech and debate clause immunized him from prosecution for allegedly taking a bribe. Obviously, the court wrote, bribery is no part of the legislative function and is therefore not a legislative act.

Surely testimony in Justice Department investigations, like the one being pursued into Trump for conspiring to stay in power, in apparent violation of various federal crimes, is similarly carved out.

Indeed, in the course of ruling in Brewsters case, the court distinguished political acts from legislative ones: [I]t has never been seriously contended that  political matters  have the protection afforded by the Speech or Debate Clause. What Trump discussed with Pence was as shamefully political as anyone might imagine, and also potentially in violation of laws against obstruction in a congressional proceeding or participating in a seditious conspiracy.

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Whats worse is that Pence is trying to have it both ways legally. He invoked the separation of powers to wrap himself in executive branch garb so as to avoid testifying before Congress Jan. 6 committee, and now he is invoking a privilege designed to protect lawmakers to wrap himself in legislative branch garb so as to avoid testifying in a grand jury. Heads, he wins; tails, the laws search for truth loses.

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His purpose is transparent. Its not to protect our legal institutions but to protect himself and his ambition to run for the White House. He knows that courts have consistently shot down claims of separation of powers and executive privilege in the context of attempts by Trump to shield his role in Jan. 6 and the events leading up to it. So Pence now makes a novel, if legally frivolous claim.

In the days ahead as the details of Pences conflict with the special counsel become clearer and that legal dispute escalates, you should count on Pence to produce high-minded public statements about how his only goal is to once again preserve and protect the Constitution. This time, dont believe him.
When Nikki Haley announced on Tuesday that she is running for president, it set the stage not just for a 2024 showdown with her former boss, Donald Trump, but for a test of her political identity.

In 2011, Haley became South Carolinas first female governor and, as an Indian American, the first nonwhite person to hold the job. By 2017, she had resigned from the governorship to become Trumps ambassador to the United Nations. Since then, Haley has worked to appear relatively moderate while sticking close to Trumpwhich has sometimes led to contradictions and reversals. When she stepped down from the U.N. in 2018, it allowed her to distance herself from his administration while still getting a glowing send-off from the then-president. In her announcement video Tuesday, she didnt mention Trump by name, focusing only on Republicans low popular vote numbers and the need for generational change.

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This knack for shifting with the political winds hasnt always helped Haley look the most consistent. (Or, as Slates Ben Mathis-Lilley put it in 2021: What if Nikki Haley doesnt actually believe in anything?) In an opinion piece for the New York Times this week, Stuart Stevens, a former Republican political consultant, put it even more bluntly: The 2023 version of Ms. Haley is actively working against the core values that the 2016 Ms. Haley would have held to be the very foundation of her public life, he wrote.

As Haleys campaign kicks off, we decided to look back on some of her most striking reversals.

On her relationship with Trump

During the 2016 presidential election cycle, Haley had some sharp criticisms for then-candidate Trump. I will not stop until we fight a man that chooses not to disavow the KKK, she said at a rally. That is not a part of your party. That is not who we want as president. (Her comment came shortly after Trump said he needed to do more research before taking a stance on the KKK). She also said at the time that Trump was everything a governor does not want in a president.

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A few months later, after Trump won the presidency, she made a complete reversal. Im just giddy, and if you talk to any of the governors here, we are so excited at the possibility and the opportunities that are going to be here, she said at a gathering of GOP governors. She went on to accept Trumps job offer to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

On the Confederate flag

After the racist murder of Black churchgoers at South Carolinas Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in 2015, Haley initially tried to play both sides on the issue of taking down the Confederate flag that flew over the Statehouse grounds. While she ultimately signed a law that removed it, she only did so after intense backlash. She had initially resisted taking it down, arguing that many equate it with service, sacrifice and heritage.

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On her friendship with Trump

Haley said she considered Trump a friend in 2015 when speaking at a National Press Club event. But in 2021, after the Jan. 6 insurrection, Politico asked her whether she still felt that way. She responded: Friend is a loose term.

On Trump and #MeToo

Before and during Trumps stint as president, at least 18 women accused him of varying degrees of sexual assault, harassment, and inappropriate behavior, according to ABC News. The infamous Access Hollywood tape also captured the former president bragging about grabbing women by the pussy.

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CBS Face the Nation asked Haley about these accusations while she was serving in the Trump administration in 2017. Women who accuse anyone should be heard, she saidappearing to criticize Trump while being careful not to suggest he should face any consequences.

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On Trump and Jan. 6

Days after the insurrection, Haley was critical of Trumps role in the riots. He went down a path he shouldnt have, and we shouldnt have followed him, she told Politico. And we cant let that ever happen again.

But less than two weeks later, Haley was on Fox News defending Trumps legacy. We should not want to go back to the Republican Party before Trump, she said. She admitted his actions on Jan. 6 were not his finest, and rejected the idea Trump should be impeached. They beat him up before he got into office. Theyre beating him up after he leaves office. I mean at some point, I mean, give the man a break. I mean, move on.
Now that weve caught on that China has been sending spy balloons over U.S. territory along the outer edge of the atmosphere, were shooting down everything thats flying at roughly the same altitude and looks even vaguely like it might be another Chinese spy balloonfour such things, as of this writing, in a little more than a week.

Many mysteries remain (not least the nature and source of the last three of those four shot-down objects), but a few things seem clear, or at least very likely.

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First, the Chinese have probably been doing this for quite a while. The reason U.S. radars werent seeing balloons or anything like balloons before, and are now seeing a lot of them, is that until this month, the radar operators werent looking for them.

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Many people assume that U.S. military-intelligence gear picks up everything flying through our airspace, but this isnt trueand this fact is not necessarily a sign of incompetence. Thousands of objects are passing through the lower regions of outer space above American skiesmeteors, private satellites, various debrisand if the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) tracked all of them, its officers would be overwhelmed, perhaps to the point of taking their eyes off the truly plausible dangers. So, they set filters on their scanning radar to look out for objects of certain shapes at certain altitudes and speeds. Balloons floating along at a small fraction of the speed of sound dont fit the algorithm.

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We tend to mirror-image when we look at threats, so we are blinded by our own technology, a former Pentagon official and aerospace executive told me. The U.S. military threatens foreign adversaries mainly with missiles and aircraft, so those are the kinds of threats our early-warning sensors are programmed to look for. (If a Chinese airplane had flown across American borders, U.S. jet fighters would have confronted itescorting it out of our airspace or down to an airfield, or taking deadlier action, if necessarywithin minutes.)

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After the sighting last week of the object over Alaska, Montana, and points east, which was followed by clear evidence that it was a spy balloon (not a weather balloon, as Chinese spokesmen initially claimed), NORAD reset its filters to include the telltale signs of spy balloonsmainly their speed, shape, and altitude. As a result, sensors have started seeing similar items and alerting their commanders, who in turn have alerted the commander-in-chief, President Biden.

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A retroactive analysis of the many UFOs in recent years that have been spotted, but have gone unexplained, will probably conclude that most if not all of them were spy-craft of one sort or another. At the same time, an analysis in the coming weeks of the three most recent shootdowns might indicate that they werent spy balloons at all; they might have just been space junk. NORAD might have reset its filters a bit too broadly.

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Still, it is telling that, as more has been learned and revealed about the first balloon shot down, government spokesmen in Beijing have changed their cover story. First, they denied it was Chinas. Then they said it was a weather balloon gone astray. Now they say China has sent far fewer spy balloons over the U.S. than the U.S. has sent over Chinaas close to an admission that China has crossed American borders with spy balloons as we will probably get.

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Their claim that we do the same, however, is highly implausible. Back in the 1940s and 50s, the United States did send spy balloons over the Soviet Union and China to glean information about those countries military programs or to trick their air-defense crews into turning on their radars in order to gauge their capabilities. But once we built and deployed spy planes, and then spy satellites, we abandoned balloons.

Our military is keen on advanced technology, the aerospace executive told me. Once we went into space, we never looked back. (What modern American general or admiral would want to be commander of the balloon fleet?) The Chinese, over the decades, have also advanced from balloons to spy planes and spy satellites, butperhaps for some strategic purpose, perhaps due to bureaucratic calcificationthey keep the old stuff around, too.

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Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group, wrote in his newsletter for clients on Monday that U.S. intercepts of Chinese communications indicate that President Xi Jinping didnt even know, until last week, that China was sending spy balloons across the entire span of North America. This bolsters the idea that bureaucratic politics was responsible for the intrusion.

However, Bremmer also wrote that U.S. officials believe the Chinese have kept their spy-balloon program going as a backup source of intelligence in case of war, during which they suspect the U.S. would shoot down, blind, or otherwise disable their space-orbiting satellites. Two former senior U.S. intelligence officials, while saying they have no direct knowledge whether this is true, told me the explanation is very plausible. One of them said that, given Chinas extensive antisatellite weapons program, it might be smart for the U.S. to build some balloon backups as well.
The man arrested on suspicion of releasing a clouded leopard from its exhibit, abducting two monkeys to hide them in a closet, and killing an endangered vulture reportedly told police that he would do it again. Why? He loves animals.

Since Davion Irvins alleged escapades at the Dallas Zoo, similar incidents have occurred at several zoos around the country, perhaps inspired by his actions. The Houston Zoo found that someone had cut into the enclosure of brown pelicans, and the Central Park Zoo continues attempts to recapture a Eurasian eagle owl after the same form of vandalism.

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Understandably, many people seem surprised that these events are even possible. After all, arent zoo exhibits designed to keep animals contained? Is it really that easy for people to get animals out? If, as critics claim, zoos are animal prisons, how is it that the inmates can be sprung so easily? The reality is that out of concern for animals well-being, professional zoos have moved away from the cement and steel bars that have historically defined the institution. But these large open-air exhibits are also more vulnerable to determined actors vandalism and abduction.

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Zoo exhibits have always been imperfectly secure, even when they were simply barred cages. In 1958, a young girl got too close to the lions at the National Zoo and was (at least according to one newspaper headline) decapitated, leading to national media attention and major changes to that facility. Among other things, some zoos attempted to create more distance between animal and visitor through moats and raised walls. Unfortunately, moated exhibits have had several notable failures. For one, they rely on uncertain estimates of animals leaping distance. As San Francisco Zoos tiger escape and attack in 2006 shows, sometimes those estimates are wrong. The fall from a raised wall also makes it even more hazardous if a person ends up inside the exhibit. In 1996, a boy fell into the moated gorilla exhibit at the Brookfield Zoo and was safely carried over to paramedics by Binti-Jua, a female gorilla residing inside. Unfortunately, the outcome was much more tragic when another young boy fell into the gorilla exhibit at the Cincinnati Zoo in 2016 and the zoo made the difficult decision to shoot the silverback Harambe to ensure the childs safety.

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Todays zoo exhibits typically employ the architectural technique of landscape immersion, pioneered by the gorilla exhibit at Seattles Woodland Park Zoo in 1979. In this iteration of exhibits, animals are in placed in more natural context, in a space full of grass and trees instead of cement and steel. The more nature-centered focus also invites more quiet and calm reflection of the animals exhibited, rather than the jeering exclamations often lobbed at animals in cages. For the first time in zoos, the gorillas even began climbing trees. That was mostly a good thing, but it meant the silverback Kiki soon discovered he could use a large branch to climb out of the exhibit. Thankfully, Kiki decided to hide in the bushes immediately outside the exhibit until the Woodland Park Zoos veterinarian arrived and tranquilized him. Though the silverback did not try to escape again, the offending branch turned ladder was removed and hot wire was added to the top of the wall as an additional precaution.

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Modern zoo exhibits are safer and more secure than exhibits of decades past, in particular due to new construction materials, including multipaned glass, anchored steel poles, and stronger mesh and cables. There are still surprises, however, as evidenced by the escape of a jaguar from its exhibit at the Audubon Zoo in 2018. The young male jaguar, Valerio, had climbed to the top of the exhibit and chewed through the thick metal mesh on the top. Jaguars have the strongest bite of any big cat, but no one could have expected Valerio to use his talent quite that way. The zoo increased the thickness of the exhibits steel mesh and the industry standards for all future jaguar exhibits were accordingly adjusted.

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What is truly disturbing about the recent incidents at the Dallas Zoo, and now other facilities, is that these actions are intentional. Modern exhibits may be built to withstand hurricanes, but they arent impervious to lock cutters. The goal of the modern professional zoo is for people to come see the animals and to actively support protection of these creatures in the wild. You cannot revoke visitation privileges the same way you lock down a military basethe zoos very mission relies on visitors. Therefore, to truly secure the zoo would mean a return to small cement, steel, and glass boxes. Thats hardly a workable solution for anyoneanimals, staff, or visitors. Recognizing this, the Dallas Zoo has done what it can in response to the recent events, including increasing the number of patrols, overnight staff, and cameras, but perfectly securing 106 acres is difficult and expensive.

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Zoos have been innovating more naturalistic exhibits for nearly half a century. So why is there suddenly a string of vandalism and theft? One explanation is the growing demand for the species that are kept in zoos, either as exotic pets or wildlife products to be sold. Irvin claims to be motivated by love of animals, and his decision to hide the tamarins in the closet of the house he was residing in suggests he wanted to keep them as pets. Yet his actions left two small monkeys in medical observation and may have led to the death of an endangered vulture.

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Others break into zoos for even more worrying reasons. In the early 1900s, zoos collected many animals from the wild. However, after World War II, new international conservation regulations, increasing independence of once-colonized nations, and decreasing wild populations made wild capture an unsustainable form of collection management. To adapt, zoos began to collectively manage and breed animals to maintain captive populations long-term. Many of these species have become so rare in the wild that some poachers have found zoo animals an appealing target. In 2017, for instance, poachers killed a 4-year-old rhinoceros at a French zoo in order to steal the animals horn. The fact that poachers are finding it more economical to target zoos rather than comparably unmonitored and unprotected wild populations shows that global conservation is truly in a dire state.

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It also means the battle lines of conservation are being drawn closer and closer to home, particularly when it comes to the glorification of exotic pet ownership. Online content featuring exotic animals is highly engaging, but people often lack the behavioral familiarity or animal care context to be appropriately concerned. A 2021 study found that the comments on YouTube videos of exotic animals were typically positive, even when the interactions demonstrated fear or aggression. Oftentimes, this is from a lack of understanding basic animal behavior, such as the fact that in chimpanzees and other nonhuman apes, smiling is a sign of stress, not happiness. Viral animal trends have consequences like the surge of otters as pets in Southeast Asia. The low-context digital environment of todays endless newsfeed of exotic animal selfies and 10-second video clips makes it easy to leave the care and acquisition of these animals unquestioned.

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Pin, the Dallas Zoos Lappet-faced vulture, was found dead under suspicious circumstances in the midst of Irvins alleged activities, though the birds death has not yet been officially linked to him. These majestic vultures are about the same size and weight as a California condor and are experiencing a similarly precipitous decline in the wild due to poisonings, both incidental and purposeful. To prevent vultures from drawing authorities attention to the body, poachers may lace elephant or rhino kills with poison, killing hundreds of birds at a time. If Pins death was indeed connected to the activities of trespassers, the poaching that has been wiping out Pins species in the wild, albeit in a different form, may have ended his life in captivity.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.
The latest GDP flash estimate published, new Ukrainian ambassador, and a groundbreaking ruling on Roma segregation.

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Good evening. Here is the Tuesday, February 14 edition of Today in Slovakia - the main news of the day in less than five minutes.

The Supreme Court's historic decision on segregation

The Supreme Court building in Bratislava's Old Town. (Source: SME - Marko Erd)

After seven years, the Centre for Civil and Human Rights has achieved a major win in the court case against the state and the town of Stara Lubovna, eastern Slovakia. The case concerns Roma segregation.

The Supreme Court has ruled that a primary school in the town is segregating Roma children, seen as a groundbreaking decision by the Centre.

A decade ago, the Centre won a similar case. Back then, it concerned another eastern Slovak town and it caught the world medias attention.

Other stories from The Slovak Spectator website

ECONOMY: People in Slovakia helped the country's economy at the end of 2022. Its GDP is estimated to have increased by 1.1 per cent y-o-y.

People in Slovakia helped the country's economy at the end of 2022. Its GDP is estimated to have increased by 1.1 per cent y-o-y. TRAVEL: A lesser-known cave in the Liptov region has surprised cavers, but other cave enthusiasts will not see the surprises in person.

A lesser-known cave in the Liptov region has surprised cavers, but other cave enthusiasts will not see the surprises in person. EVENT: Bratislava will host the Carnival during the weekend. Here's what you can look forward to.

If you like what we are doing and want to support good journalism, buy our NEW online subscription with no ads and a print copy of The Slovak Spectator sent to your home in Slovakia. Thank you.

FEATURE STORY FOR TUESDAY

A poor boy from Terchova who met Bruce Willis and Nicole Kidman

Film set maker Jozef Mico during the release of his book A Passion Called Film last year. (Source: TASR)

"Colleagues in Hungary have built studios and are booked out for a year in advance. Quality studios are lacking in Slovakia," says film set builder Jozef Mico in an interview with The Slovak Spectator, noting that it would greatly help Slovak cinema and lure foreign productions.

SONG OF THE DAY

Beethoven's Missa Solemnis

The Missa Solemnis - Beethoven's Mass in D major will be performed in the concert hall of the Slovak Philharmonic on Thursday and Friday, February 16 and 17, 2023, by the Slovak Philharmonic and the Slovak Philharmonic Choir.

The concerts will start at 19:00.

video //www.youtube.com/embed/S8Yy0gSt-JE

The Missa Solemnis represents the composer's personal confession of faith. He called the mass his greatest work. Due to its difficulty and length, it was not played during liturgies. The Missa Solemnis was not performed in its entirety until 15 years after Beethoven's death in Bonn.

In a few lines:

Psychologists from the IPcko civic association answered more than 178,000 requests for help last year, 2.5 times more than in 2021. Almost 16,000 concerned suicidal thoughts . On Tuesday, IPcko psychologists symbolically brought mental suffering to the roof of the National Bank of Slovakia in Bratislava to draw attention to the importance of available psychological help. (TASR)

. On Tuesday, IPcko psychologists symbolically brought mental suffering to the roof of the National Bank of Slovakia in Bratislava to draw attention to the importance of available psychological help. (TASR) The opposition party Smer-SD is preparing a criminal complaint against political commentator Marian Lesko, for his statements on the case concernimg the abduction of a Vietnamese citizen in summer 2017. The party is also preparing a civil lawsuit in the matter. In an interview with the Dennik N daily, Lesko has recently opined that then interior minister for Smer-SD, Robert Kalinak, had knowledge of the abduction and has tried to cover it up until now. Unlike in Slovakia, where an investigation is still continuing, two men have been convicted in Berlin. A Slovak government plane was used during the kidnapping.

for his statements on the case concernimg the abduction of a Vietnamese citizen in summer 2017. The party is also preparing a civil lawsuit in the matter. In an interview with the Dennik N daily, Lesko has recently opined that then interior minister for Smer-SD, Robert Kalinak, had knowledge of the abduction and has tried to cover it up until now. Unlike in Slovakia, where an investigation is still continuing, two men have been convicted in Berlin. A Slovak government plane was used during the kidnapping. US artist Caroline Polachek and UK artist Ben Howard will perform at the Pohoda Festival in Trencin in summer.

in summer. The Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OLaNO) party has submitted to the house a proposal, based on which the state shall pay 500 to each voter for participating in this year's parliamentary elections.

Slovak President Zuzana Caputova accepts the credentials presented to her by the new Ukrainian Ambassador Myroslav Kastran on February 14, 2023. (Source: The Presidential Palace)

WEATHER FOR WEDNESDAY: Clear skies. Light wind. The highest daytime temperature: 5C - 10C. Fog warnings remain in place across Slovakia until Wednesday morning.

Thank you for subscribing and reading. It means a lot to us.

P.S. If you have suggestions on how our news overview can be improved, you can reach us at editorial@spectator.sk. Or you can complain about our work. It can help us get better, too.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230213/social-democrats-defeat-in-berlin-election-bad-omen-for-chancellor-scholz---expert-1107388109.html

Social Democrats' Defeat in Berlin Election 'Bad Omen' for Chancellor Scholz - Expert

Social Democrats' Defeat in Berlin Election 'Bad Omen' for Chancellor Scholz - Expert

Germany's ruling Social Democratic Party's (SPD) "catastrophic" result in the latest Berlin state election and the "resounding" victory of the opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) are bad signs for the German leadership, Armin-Paulus Hampel, a former Bundestag member and geopolitical analyst, told Sputnik.

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europe

germany

elections

olaf scholz

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On Sunday, a repeat state election took place in Berlin, less than two years after the original vote, which a court declared invalid due to irregularities. According to exit polls, the CDU won the election, securing over 28% of the votes. The SPD lost for the first time since 1999, scoring just 18.4%, followed by the Green Party, the SPD's junior coalition partner, which came in just 105 votes behind the Social Democrats. "At federal level, the catastrophic result of the Socialists (SPD), the party of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, at the election in Berlin is a bad result for the 'traffic light' coalition (red, yellow, green) though the Green results compensate for the SPD loss and the FDP tiny results," the expert said.Hampel, who is also a member of the far-right Alternative for Germany party, argued that one of the reasons for such a result is that the SPD grass roots members have been closer to Russian positions than to American ones since the days of Willy Brandt, SPD Mayor of Berlin and Chancellor of West Germany in 1970s, who was also the architect of detente with the Soviet Union. "All the hesitations of Scholz about weapons to Ukraine, have to do with his fear of antagonizing the base of the SPD. Deciding as Chancellor against the majority in one's party is not a good recipe for leadership," Hampel added. The German geopolitical analyst noted the decisive victory of the opposition CDU came as a surprise "in the left-leaning city of Berlin," but its criticism of the current government's policy on a number of urgent issues resonated with the voters. At the same time, the expert said the defeat of the SPD was not a sign of a crisis for the Left as most of the SPD voters just moved to the younger and more strident Green part. The current left-leaning coalition of the SPD, the Greens and The Left party can still stay in power in Berlin, according to Hampel. In September 2021, the SPD won the state election in Berlin and formed a ruling coalition with the Greens and The Left. In November 2022, the Berlin constitutional court declared the election results invalid due to the numerous irregularities found during the voting and ordered a rerun.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20221120/germanys-ruling-coalitions-rating-at-lowest-since-elections-poll-shows-1104453715.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230214/80-years-since-lugansk-liberated-from-nazis-1107372250.html

Once and For All: 80 Years Since Soviet Troops Liberated Lugansk From Nazis

Once and For All: 80 Years Since Soviet Troops Liberated Lugansk From Nazis

February 1943 marked a crucial point of the Second World War: Soviet forces won the historic battle of Stalingrad and started a major offensive, with the Red... 14.02.2023, Sputnik International

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Donbass had been suffering under Nazi occupation for more than half a year, and yet Russian people knew that the enemy would be defeated, and the liberation of Lugansk on 18 February marked when the tide began to turn.The battles between Soviet and German forces in the region were exhausting, and it took the Red Army until September 1943 to liberate Donbass. However, the people of Donetsk, Lugansk and other cities showed their resilience - just as the Donbass was to 70 years later, refusing to surrender to neo-Nazis and fighting until the region was reunited with Russia once more.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230214/biden-ufo-shootdown-policy-designed-to-distract-public-from-real-crises-experts-say-1107439027.html

Biden UFO Shootdown Policy Designed to Distract Public From Real Crises, Experts Say

Biden UFO Shootdown Policy Designed to Distract Public From Real Crises, Experts Say

The Biden administrations new policy of regularly shooting down mysterious unidentified flying objects is likely part of a psychological operation to distract public attention from real crises and scandals, such as the bombshell report on the US allegedly attacking the Nord Stream pipelines, analysts told Sputnik.

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analysis

joe biden

biden administration

ufo

downing

distraction

experts

chinese balloon over us

nord stream

ohio

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The US shot down at least three unidentified objects in American or Canadian airspace over the weekend. The Pentagon said the new approach is due to "heightened" awareness after the US detected what it claimed was a Chinese surveillance balloon gliding over Montana earlier this month, which was shot down over the Atlantic on February 4. Beijing said the balloon was an airship engaged in scientific research that blew off course and, in turn, accused the US of sending balloons to spy on China. The US said the objects were not related to alien phenomena, although at first it did not rule out the possibility. Rising Tide Foundation Vice President Matthew Ehret doubts the new policy was triggered by any actual threat. US and Western intelligence, he added, has worked carefully to fan the flames of public hysteria on this in recent years, including Pentagon efforts to declassify UFO files. Former CIA analyst Philip Giraldi suggested President Joe Biden and his advisers wanted to exploit the incidents to bolster dwindling domestic political support. "[The] Biden administration is hyping them as a threat to demonstrate how it is protecting us," Giraldi said.Political commentator Alex Krainer, founder of Krainer Analytics, observed how the high-profile coverage coincides with developments like Hersh's explosive article alleging that the US blew up the Nord Stream pipelines. Krainer also indicated that train derailments in Ohio, South Carolina, and Texas are among events the US probably wants to downplay. "At the moment there are so many candidates, from the ignored environmental disaster in Ohio, to the fallout from Seymour Hersh's bombshell," he said. Historian and foreign policy analyst Jeremy Kuzmarov thinks it is very possible the US deliberately stoked UFO fears to meet its own political purposes. "I would say false flag exercises. I don't believe there are any aliens coming to Planet Earth," he said. Most of the alleged UFOs were in reality military vessels of some kind being tested by different governments, including often the United States itself, he said. "They are trying to ratchet up a pretext for war with Russia and/or China, like in the Gulf of Tonkin incident, and using these incidents to make the public believe that the Chinese or Russians are sending spy planes and futuristic weapons to potentially attack the US," Krainer said.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230214/damn-stupid-us-journalist-behind-nord-stream-bombshell-takes-aim-at-biden-legacy-media-1107392596.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230214/two-trains-derail-in-texas--south-carolina-weeks-after-ohio-chemical-spill-one-death-reported-1107390654.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230214/chinese-iranian-leaders-speak-out-against-foreign-interference-in-domestic-affairs-1107428905.html

Chinese, Iranian Leaders Speak Out Against Foreign Interference in Domestic Affairs

Chinese, Iranian Leaders Speak Out Against Foreign Interference in Domestic Affairs

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Tuesday jointly spoke out against foreign interference in the domestic affairs of other states and vowed to support efforts to protect the state sovereignty and territorial integrity of the two countries.

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middle east

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china

ebrahim raisi

xi jinping

foreign interference

domestic affairs

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"Both Iran and China are strongly against the policy of unilateral actions, hegemony and bullying as well as foreign interference in domestic affairs," Raisi said following the meeting. Xi, in turn, said that Beijing was ready to develop its cooperation with Tehran on a number of issues of mutual interest. During the meeting, the Iranian leader thanked China for its help to Tehran during the COVID-19 pandemic and support in the international arena on issues such as the negotiations on the renewal of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the Iranian nuclear program.Raisi arrived in Beijing earlier in the day at the official invitation of the Chinese leader. This is the first top-level Iran-China meeting in 20 years. One of the goals of Raisi's visit was to discuss the implementation of a comprehensive strategic partnership between Tehran and Beijing.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230214/iran-china-ink-20-deals-on-bilateral-cooperation-in-various-fields-reports-say-1107420614.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230214/damn-stupid-us-journalist-behind-nord-stream-bombshell-takes-aim-at-biden-legacy-media-1107392596.html

Damn Stupid: US Journalist Behind Nord Stream Bombshell Takes Aim at Biden, Legacy Media

Damn Stupid: US Journalist Behind Nord Stream Bombshell Takes Aim at Biden, Legacy Media

In his first interview since publishing his bombshell story on the attack on the Nord Stream pipelines, legendary investigative journalist Seymour Hersh fleshed out the details of his explosive report exposing the role of the US Navy in blowing up critical German-Russian energy infrastructure.

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nord stream sabotage

seymour hersh

nord stream

biden administration

mainstream media

ukraine crisis

nord stream pipeline

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American journalist Seymour Hersh is taking heat over his recent explosive report documenting how the US sabotaged the Nord Stream pipelines, the legendary reporter revealed in a new interview.In a wide-ranging discussion on the War Nerd podcast, Hersh called on US President Joe Biden to come clean to the American people about the Biden administrations role in the attack. The journalist underscored that the US public is being misinformed about the proxy war in Ukraine en masse.Last week, Hersh published a dizzying report detailing how US Navy divers planted C-4 charges on the Nord Stream pipelines during a NATO training exercise and then remotely detonated them with a Norwegian reconnaissance plan.The veteran war journalist suggests media outlets are refusing to cover his new revelations because they think that the story I wrote supports Russia  which it does, he concedes.But Hersh said that despite being colossally bad for the European economy and inexcusable, the American governments intentional attack on the critical energy infrastructure of a US ally is not technically illegal under international law.The law on the sea is very interesting. There are treaties that go back to 1884, when we began to lay Telegraph lines across the ocean, and if you inadvertently or deliberately ran across the line that was a real bad deal.But there were mostly economic consequences for those infractions, Hersh pointed out, noting there's actually no law on the books that says deliberately building up a pipeline is a crime.Such a crime has never been considered, Hersh said, but there are certainly a lot of law about damages, if you damage a pipeline. And this is a pipeline that's probably going to cost  there's a Swiss company that did an estimate  1.5 billion to fix the pipelines.Asked if hes ever covered anything like a government blowing up your allys critical infrastructure, Hersh replied that the Biden administration didnt see it that way. Instead, Biden saw that gas as a weapon, Hersh claimed, because as long as Russia was selling that much gas they thought Russia would weaponize if there was a war.In reality, Hersh said the fear was: Biden wants this war.Dont ask me why presidents want war. I think its good for their ratings. I just dont know.But Biden was very big on showing the Russians that in the Ukraine, with Ukrainian bodies, soldiers, well show em  we can stand up to Russia, the journalist explains.Anti-Russian posturing is good politically in America too, Hersh added, noting that in the US, we all, you know, we wake up everyday kicking Russia and Putin, ourOur nemesis, the host chimed in.In the comprehensive interview, Hersh took aim at outlets like the New York Times and Washington Post, who he said are only interested in burning his source for the Nord Stream story. According to his recent report, that anonymous figure had direct knowledge of the operational planning of the pipeline attack.I'm taking heat, I have a source, I'm taking heat  but that's okay, thats my job, right? But it's their job to understand the business a little better. And in terms of the conflict in Ukraine, mainstream Western outlets don't seem to have anybody inside, Hersh said.The coverage of the Ukrainian war is, compared to what I'm hearing from my friends who have access to the information it's  the thinking is so dumb.While he admitted Russian forces made great misjudgments, he acknowledged they have a 350,000 man regular army that hasn't gone in yet.One of the likely causes for those waves of misinformation may be what the host refers to as the Bellingcats and the OSINT [open source intelligence] bros.Responding to their mention, Hersh doesnt mince words: No one cares about those people.The storied journalist seemingly suggested instead that Bellingcat, the self-professed independent outlet upheld by much of the mainstream media, is actually a British intelligence operation:I mean, why dont you think about their nexus to certain intelligence agencies in a certain country, Hersh asked rhetorically. You know, you get to know whos who.But there are legitimate people complaining about his reporting as well, he added.Its amazing to me how they fall in line, my colleagues, the reporter expressed. When I was at the New York Times, they didnt do that.And its not only accepting it, the journalist added. You have to hold the president to account.Of the mainstream Western outlets that covered the story, Hersh faced fierce pushback from most of them, which tended to emphasize White House and CIA denials of the Nord Stream allegations.Reuters called his jaw-dropping expose a blog post, and one headline from Insider described the report as a claim by a discredited journalist which the authors insist is proving a gift to Putin.Hersh faced major attacks on his reputation in the wake of stories debunking nowdiscredited claims from Western governments about Syrian forces using sarin gas, and for his writings dismantling the official story of the killing of Osama Bin Laden. As for the criticism, he says hes used to it.But this time, it sort of stunned me because this was such an obvious story, he said.As Hersh noted in his story, top US officials - including Biden - repeatedly threatened to sabotage the pipeline in the event that Russian troops engaged Ukrainian forces. Under Secretary for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland warned in January: if Russia invades Ukraine, one way or another, Nord Stream 2 will not move forward.So what does that mean? Hersh asked. I don't know what anybody's thinking but I'Il tell you what that means: that's called a threat.A friend of mine put it this way: what you've done, [Seymour] you're an expert at deconstructing the obvious. What else was it? What else was it?The Russians didnt do it, [and] if the Russians didnt do it, which country in NATO [did]? he questioned.Its just not even a hard story to understand  the president of the United States and the undersecretary of state both said they were going to do it and then they did it, Hersh stated, adding: they waited a long time but they cut off oil.Literally within a month of the actual event, Hersh noted, Secretary of State Antony Blinken gave a speech in which he talked about stopping Russia from weaponizing oil and gas  now is the time we can do it, he said.Meanwhile, the effect on the European economy is devastating.As Hersh pointed out, Germanys BASF, the largest chemical producer in the world, shut down nearly 100 plants and has actually been talking to China about moving some facilities there.In terms of the economic stuff, which hasn't been reported nearly enough in the Western press here, Hersh said, this is called, I guess you could [say], shooting off your left foot.For no reason whatsoever, yes, we shot ourselves in the foot. Yes, it's stupid beyond belief. Yes.The journalist said its unlikely Biden will face scrutiny for his actions in many mainstream media outlets anytime soon, because this White House, Hersh said, has the New York Times and the Washington Post and MSN and CNN fronting for them.And the enemy is Fox News.But the only reporter that has called me from any TV station  outside of somebody that's running out of the kitchen of their mother's house was Fox News host Tucker Carlson.Hersh declined the request, but said Carlson has been dead right about the Nord Stream attack. And Ill tell you something else - Tuckers been right about is the war in Ukraine.The reporter repeatedly emphasized his unwillingness to discuss his sourcing, explaining the one thing governments good at is tracking down people who talk. But ultimately, he suggested the information could be coming from someone inside the US oil and gas industry, telling his interviewer: theres something called a pipeline industry.Of course they know  they built the goddamn things!Im not talking necessarily about Nord Stream 1 or 2, but they build pipelines and they talk to divers, and they know whats happening, they know who has the capability, and they know what they hear inside, Hersh concluded.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230211/why-hershs-nord-stream-bombshell-may-become-legal-nightmare-for-team-biden--its-nordic-allies-1107344300.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230211/nato-planes-regularly-circled-sites-of-nord-stream-blasts-during-baltops-exercise-analysis-finds-1107334016.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230210/karin-kneissl-to-sputnik-nord-stream-bombshell-eu-policy-on-ukraine-sino-russian-gas-cooperation-1107328003.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230209/dynamite-anti-war-pundits-hail-hersh-expos-of-us-hand-in-nord-stream-sabotage-1107254661.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230214/ex-south-carolina-governor-former-trump-toady-neocon-darling-who-is-2024-candidate-nikki-haley-1107434921.html

Ex-South Carolina Governor, Former Trump Toady, Neocon Darling: Who is 2024 Candidate Nikki Haley?

Ex-South Carolina Governor, Former Trump Toady, Neocon Darling: Who is 2024 Candidate Nikki Haley?

Whats Nikki Haleys background? Whats her work experience? And what makes her think she has the fortitude to become leader of the free world? Sputnik recalls her record.

2023-02-14T18:18+0000

2023-02-14T18:18+0000

2023-02-14T18:39+0000

americas

nikki haley

donald trump

2024 us presidential elections

election

primary

gop primary

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Time for a new generation. Lets do this! Nikki Haley wrote in a tweet accompanying a campaign video announcing her 2024 presidential bid.First, a few quick facts: Haley is a 51-year-old South Carolina native, mother of two, daughter of Indian American immigrants, former US ambassador to the United Nations (2017-2018), former Republican governor of South Carolina (2011-2017), and former member of the South Carolina House of Representatives (2005-2011).Whats Wrong With the Old Generation?Haleys relationship vis-a-vis her old boss Donald Trump has defined her rise as a national-level politician, but has often left pundits and the former president himself scratching their heads in confusion about just where she stands. Nikki Haley needs to clarify immediately her stance on Trump, a Meet the Press panel show summarized Sunday, pointing to the politicians chameleonesque record alternating between praising the former president and attacking him.Haley launched a barrage of criticism against Trump in the winter of 2021, dismissing his claims that the 2020 presidential election had been rigged, and emphasized that Republicans shouldnt have followed him, shouldnt have listened to him, and couldnt let that ever happen again.I dont think hes going to be in the picture, Haley said in February 2021, when asked about Trumps chances in 2024. I dont think he can. Hes fallen so far, she noted.In the weeks and months that followed, as Trump recovered, Haley went back to praising him, touting his foreign policy and strong border policy, and assuring supporters that as ambassador to the UN, she saw firsthandthat Donald Trump put America first.In April 2021, Haley assured that she would not run for president if Trump did, and that this was something that well have a conversation about at some point if that decision is something that has to be made.Trump picked up on Haleys tendency to flip-flop, quipping in late 2021 that every time she criticizes me, she uncriticizes me about 15 minutes later. Trump suggested the South Carolina politicians maneuvering was predicated on her assessment of his popularity with the Republican base, much of which which remains loyal to the former president. Trump has previously indicated that he wouldnt mind if she primaried him in 2024, recalling that in 2016 he was also challenged by people that were, you know, I never thought they were effective.Trump taunted Haley to announce a run last week, jabbing her as a person whos overly ambitious and who just couldnt stay in her seat.Fair-Weather FriendshipHaleys off-again-on-again praise and criticism of Trump isnt new. In 2016, after being tapped by the GOP to give the official rebuttal to then-President Barack Obamas State of the Union speech, Haley called on Republicans to reject the siren call of the angriest voices  an overt reference to then-presidential candidate Trump and his over-the-top attacks on Obama. Later during the campaign, Haley said that she would vote for anyone but Trump in the primaries, and that the business mogul represented everything a governor doesnt want in a president. Haley went on to endorse Senator Marco Rubio for president, and slammed Trump for his purported failure to disavow the KKK.Haley flipped on a dime at the Republican National Convention in July of 2016, saying she would of course endorse Trump to prevent Hillary Clinton from becoming president. In 2017, after being tapped by Trump for the job of UN ambassador, Haley accepted out of a sense of duty to country.What Does Haleys Candidacy Bring to the Table?In her campaign video, Haley touted herself as a populist alternative to the Washington swamp, with a dash of Southern charm and a hint of female empowerment thrown in for good measure.Republicans have lost the popular vote in seven out of the last eight presidential elections. That has to change. Joe Bidens record is abysmal, but that shouldnt come as a surprise. The Washington establishment has failed us over and over and over again. Its time for a new generation of leadership to rediscover fiscal responsibility, secure our border and strengthen our country, our pride and our purpose, Haley said, channeling the rhetoric not so much of Trump as Ronald Reagan.Neocon RootsBoth as Trumps UN ambassador and since, Haley has refused to drift from the swamps script on foreign affairs, openly contradicting her boss on Russia sanctions and ignoring his calls for a better relationship between the US and Russia, naming China as the number one national security threat to America, and suggesting that the Iranian regime was shaking in their boots after the US murdered Quds Forces commander Qasem Soleimani.Some people look at America and see vulnerability. The socialist left sees an opportunity to rewrite history. China and Russia are on the march. They all think we can be bullied, kicked around. You should know this about me: I dont put up with bullies, and when you kick back it hurts them more if youre wearing heels, she said in her campaign video.Last August, a report citing tax documents revealed that Haleys Stand for America political nonprofit has been receiving donations from a myriad of special interest groups, including big-money contributors to President Biden, as well as neoconservative establishment-linked donors, including never-Trumpers who poured money into Ohio GOP "moderate" Governor John Kasichs primary bid in 2016.What are Haleys Chances to Oust Trump?A Morning Consult poll tracking the 2024 GOP primaries released Tuesday showed that just 3 percent of Republicans would like to see Nikki Haley as partys leader, compared with 47 percent who say it should be Trump. Haley is stuck behind Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (polling at 31 percent), Mike Pence (7 percent), and tied for fourth with never-Trumper former Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney and Texas Senator Ted Cruz, another neocon with an on-again-off-again habit of praising or attacking Trump, depending on where the political winds seem to be blowing.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230214/ex-us-envoy-to-un-nikki-haley-announces-2024-run-for-president-1107412213.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230126/republicans-back-desantis-by-landslide-numbers-over-trump-for-2024-nomination---poll-1106741118.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230212/trump-campaign-commissioned-independent-research-into-2020-election-results-media-reports-1107352410.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230214/how-west-is-politicizing-provision-of-aid-to-syria-trying-to-capitalize-on-disaster-1107420063.html

How West is Politicizing Provision of Aid to Syria, Trying to Capitalize on Disaster

How West is Politicizing Provision of Aid to Syria, Trying to Capitalize on Disaster

The US, UK, and France are pushing ahead with a new resolution in the UN Security Council to step up supplying Syrian areas not controlled by Damascus, while... 14.02.2023, Sputnik International

2023-02-14T13:50+0000

2023-02-14T13:50+0000

2023-02-14T13:50+0000

analysis

russia

middle east

aleppo

latakia

syria

hayat tahrir al-sham

idlib

un security council (unsc)

earthquake rocks turkiye and syria

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"Western sanctions destroyed all the structure of Syria, especially in the field of oil, energy and electricity," Samiha Shalati, Syrian political and social activist, told Sputnik. "We have many difficulties in providing electrical supplies for the hospitals, which is very important for the doctors, for the physicians to work and help patients. As you know, oil is banned from coming to Syria under the Caesar Act. So you can imagine how difficult the situation is because the ambulance and machines, all they need, are all out of work and they need oil to work, of course. And without supplying them with the oil, which we need to be ready, especially for helping people in the earthquake in this emergency case."On February 6, parts of Turkiye and Syria were hit by a series of powerful earthquakes and aftershocks which claimed the lives of nearly 40,000 people, most of them in Turkiye. However, US sanctions directly prevented the Syrian victims from receiving assistance in the first 72 hours. The Caesar Act, adopted by the Trump administration in 2019, is blocking imports of essential goods like food, energy, and basic medical supplies and equipment to the country.Epitome of Western HypocrisyOn February 10, the US Treasury said it would provide several months of sanctions relief for Syria in order to allow certain transactions for recovery efforts after it was hit by devastating earthquakes.However, in reality the US and its allies the UK and France are continuing to politicize humanitarian assistance to the Syrian Arab Republic (SAR) and increase pressure on the nation.Western permanent members of the UN Security Council are trying to capitalize on Syria's tragedy to infringe on the legitimate government of the SAR and discriminate against Syrians living in government-controlled territories, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.Washington, London, and Paris have attempted to ram a new resolution through the UNSC envisaging the expansion of the cross-border mechanism in Syria, the Russian ministry stated on Tuesday. The point is to add two more crossings to the Bab al-Hawa checkpoint - which is functioning until July 10, in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2672 - to deliver aid to areas not controlled by Damascus without the consent of the Syrian government.Earlier, on February 13, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had ordered to open two additional delivery points  Bab el-Salam and El-Rayi  for the provision of humanitarian aid to the SAR from Turkiye.The Western countries' resolution is de facto seeking to step up supplying only those areas which are not controlled by Damascus, including the terrorist enclave in Idlib, held by Hayat Tahrir ash-Sham* militants, according to the Russian ministry. Western governments have overlooked the fact that the most affected provinces are Aleppo, Hama, Latakia, and Homs (about 5.5 million people), and not northwestern Syria (27,000 people), the ministry emphasized.The Russian Foreign Ministry emphasized that the West has ignored the official statement of the Syrian authorities about their readiness to promptly deliver humanitarian aid to all parts of the country. Similarly, the possibility to deliver goods through Syrian-controlled checkpoints has also been ignored by Western leadership. The fact that the operation of the Bab al-Hawa checkpoint was quickly restored allowing 30 trucks to pass has been kept on the hush, too. "At the same time, the Idlib militants did not allow the internal convoy from Damascus to pass for purely political reasons: they want to receive help only from Turkiye," the ministry's statement read.Russia, China & Iran Stretching Out Helping HandMeanwhile, Russia, China, and Iran have been providing Syrians with humanitarian aid from the outset of the natural disaster, according to the Syrian activist."I'd like to thank Syrians, Russia, Iran and China for helping our people in Syria by sending humanitarian teams and packages to Syria after the earthquake," said Samiha Shalati. "Of course, the Western sanctions have complicated earthquake relief efforts in Syria because they didn't get immediate help."Russian forces at the Khmeimim Air Base in Syria have been distributing humanitarian aid to the population affected by the earthquakes directly from their own warehouses. The decision to open the base to the Syrian population greatly accelerated the overall effort to help the victims, as Lt. Col. Alexander Vasiliev of the Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria told Sputnik.According to Vasiliev, humanitarian supplies to Khmeimim from Russia will be delivered daily, as long as necessary. In addition, a first-aid post is operating at the Russian airbase, providing medical assistance to the victims of the quakes.Russian servicemen are continuing to take part in eliminating the consequences of the earthquake in the provinces of Aleppo, Latakia, and Hama. On Sunday, Russian rescue teams completed the rescue operation in the Syrian city of Jableh, located 25 km south of Latakia.There are 65 temporary shelters for earthquake victims in Syria's Latakia province alone. People are provided with shelter, food, and the opportunity to obtain temporary documents.*Hayat Tahrir ash-Sham is a terrorist organization banned in Russia and other countries.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230213/a-story-of-pain-earthquake-survivors-in-syrias-latakia-recall-horror-1107381051.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230211/video-russia-aids-syrians-in-the-wake-of-devastating-earthquake-1107341883.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230213/russias-khmeimim-air-base-opens-warehouses-to-distribute-aid-to-syrias-quake-victims-1107379667.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230214/japan-minister-announces-plan-to-sign-contract-with-us-to-buy-tomahawk-missiles-reports-say-1107407408.html

Japan Reportedly Plans to Buy US' Tomahawk Missiles

Japan Reportedly Plans to Buy US' Tomahawk Missiles

Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada has announced plans to sign a contract with the United States to buy Tomahawk cruise missiles, a Japanese news agency reported.

2023-02-14T09:44+0000

2023-02-14T09:44+0000

2023-04-06T12:15+0000

military

tomahawk

us

missile

japan

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According to the report, the Japanese authorities hope the contract will be signed in fiscal year 2023, which starts on April 1. Hamada said that the government would purchase "all of the required quantity" of missiles in one go instead of several batches over several years, as was initially planned. A source in the ministry told the news agency that the planned amount of Tomahawks was around 500. The announcement was made amid government plans to boost Japans "counterstrike capabilities" to be able to respond to the Chinese and North Korean threats in accordance with three key security documents adopted in December, the news agency said. Tomahawks with the range of 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles), which are capable of reaching the Chinese coast, will help Japan to maintain its missile potential until it develops its own weapon systems, according to the report. Additionally, Tokyo intends to reach an agreement with Washington to start the deployment of missiles ahead of the schedule, which currently provides for fiscal 2026, the source said. Japanese news agency reported that $1.6 billion will be allocated in the 2023 budget for the purchase of Tomahawks. Last month, Japanese media reported that the government had decided to start developing cruise missiles with interchangeable warheads with a range of over 620 miles in the 2023 fiscal year.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20220531/uk-will-spend-334mln-to-upgrade-tomahawk-missiles-for-submarines-1095901773.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230214/japans-hypersonic-weapons-wont-make-asia-pacific-more-secure-but-the-contrary-expert-warns-1107429068.html

Japan's Hypersonic Weapons Won't Make Asia-Pacific More Secure, But the Contrary, Expert Warns

Japan's Hypersonic Weapons Won't Make Asia-Pacific More Secure, But the Contrary, Expert Warns

The Japanese Defense Ministry is reportedly seeking to obtain a long-range hypersonic weapon (LRHW) and Tomahawk cruise missiles from the US. Russian military... 14.02.2023, Sputnik International

2023-02-14T16:50+0000

2023-02-14T16:50+0000

2023-02-14T16:50+0000

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us

japan

asia-pacific region

south korea

hypersonic missiles

military & intelligence

nuclear weapons

north korea

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"Japan is working on hypersonic technologies together with the Americans, justifying this by self-defense needs even though the United States qualifies these weapons as offensive," Russian military expert Alexei Leonkov told Sputnik. "At the moment, we are talking about the deployment of new LRHW (long-range hypersonic weapon) hypersonic missiles on Japanese territory. This American weapon has a range of up to 3,000 km (1,725 miles). Thus, the entire Russian Far East, Kamchatka, all of North Korea and most of China would be within its striking range. Japan must understand that these steps will not go unnoticed by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), China and Russia."The Japanese media has recently reported that Tokyo is considering a US plan to deploy intermediate-range missiles on its territory across the first island chain. While the location of the deployment has not yet been specified, the media referred to Kyushu, the southernmost of the four largest Japanese islands.From Pacifism to MilitarismIn the aftermath of the Second World War, Tokyo adhered to a largely pacifist security policy. However, over the last decade, Japan has been gradually revising its defense strategy. Last year, the nation unveiled a bold new military plan that envisages considerably stepping up its defense expenditures within the next five years. The new funding, amounting to roughly $320 billion, marks the country's largest military build-up since the Second World War.The country's colonial past still haunts Japan, according to the military expert: during the Second World War, Japan sought to establish colonies in China and Korea."The Japanese wanted to build a second new Japan in Manchuria, engaging in genocide of the local population," Leonkov continued. "Koreans were also subjected to purges [by the Japanese]. The historical crimes of militaristic Japan still 'live' in the memory of the inhabitants of neighboring countries. Therefore, if Japan tries to show its strength again (or participate in American military scenarios), it runs a risk of losing all of its territory. This will happen in the event of retaliatory strikes by China and the DPRK, which Japan will not withstand, despite all the defensive weapons."Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that it would respond to Japan if any threats are posed to the Far East, which includes the deployment of hypersonic missiles on the Japanese islands.Hypersonic ProjectAccording to Leonkov, Tokyo is misleading its population about threats from Russia, China, and North Korea. The Japanese leadership probably believes that the militarization of the region will increase their survival odds, the military expert suggested, adding that weapons are not always the best solution to the problem.Meanwhile, the US hypersonic weapons are still under development. The Pentagon's fiscal year 2023 budget request for hypersonic research is $4.7 billion  up from $3.8 billion in the FY2022 request. The Missile Defense Agency additionally requested $225.5 million for hypersonic defense. The Pentagon and Congress have recently shown a growing interest in boosting the development and near-term deployment of hypersonic systems. According to a recent US congressional report, "this is due, in part, to the advances in these technologies in Russia and China."For its part, Japan has long been interested in hypersonic projects, too, but these programs were largely peaceful. In particular, the Japanese wanted to create an aircraft flying in the upper atmosphere at hypersonic speeds. However, today this project is morphing into a military one, according to Leonkov.However, if Japan joins the transatlantic bloc, it will no longer be a neutral country, which would affect the balance of forces in the region, according to the military analyst.Muscle-Flexing in Asia Pacific is IncreasingJapan is not the only country that has recently been closing ranks with the US and muscle-flexing in the region: South Korea has also adopted a more militarist and hardball approach to its neighbors, China and the DPRK.On Monday, Washington hosted consultations between the United States, South Korea, and Japan on security cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region and around the world. They were attended by US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, South Korean First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Hyundong, and Japanese Vice Minister Mori Takeo.According to Wendy Sherman, the participants of the summit discussed "challenges" posed by Beijing and Pyongyang."We will remain aligned with the Republic of Korea (ROK), Japan, other allies and partners worldwide to push back on the People's Republic of China behavior that challenges the rules-based regional and international order," the joint statement said. "Throughout our meetings, our three governments reinforced the necessity of addressing the DPRKs destabilizing behavior and achieving complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."While the US is insisting on the DPRK's denuclearization, Leonkov does not rule out that the US could push Japan to obtain nuclear weapons one day to beef up the alliance's positions in the region.Meanwhile, it was the US that supplied both uranium and technologies for nuclear power plants to Japan, according to the expert. If Japan obtains nuclear weapons, the region will verge on an apocalyptic scenario, Leonkov concluded.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230112/us-japan-military-buildup-in-asia-pacific-shatters-regional-stability-scholars-warn-1106260516.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20221028/ex-dod-officer-us-hypersonic-race-with-russia--china-wont-save-the-day-peace-talks-are-a-must-1102802409.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230203/south-korea-us-stage-another-joint-air-drills-to-improve-military-cohesion-1106950137.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230214/kenyas-president-ruto-holds-national-prayer-day-to-ask-god-for-rain-1107426117.html

Kenya's President Ruto Holds National Prayer Day to Ask God For Rain

Kenya's President Ruto Holds National Prayer Day to Ask God For Rain

Kenya's President William Ruto has hosted a national prayer day on Tuesday as the nation faces drought and famine. The event was interdenominational and has taken place at the Nyayo National Stadium in the capital Nairobi.

2023-02-14T18:57+0000

2023-02-14T18:57+0000

2023-02-14T18:58+0000

africa

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Kenya's President William Ruto has hosted a national prayer day as the nation faces drought and famine. The event was interdenominational and took place at the Nyayo National Stadium in the capital Nairobi. He also noted that the country's government had already set aside seeds and fertilizers for the planting season; however, he noted that the plans will not succeed if God does not provide rain.In early January, the National Steering Committee on Drought Response estimated that the drought in Kenya could continue for one more year. The body's chairman, Peter Ndegwa, said that some 4.2 million Kenyans were facing famine and would depend on food aid.The UN Global Humanitarian Overview, issued in late 2022, estimated that around 339 million people around the world would need humanitarian protection and assistance in 2023. The body deemed the figure "phenomenal" and "depressing."

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230205/pope-francis-concludes-his-africa-tour-and-departs-from-south-sudan-1106986359.html

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Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meets with visiting President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ebrahim Raisi at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 14, 2023. (Xinhua/Yan Yan)

BEIJING, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met with visiting President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ebrahim Raisi in Beijing on Tuesday.

Li said China and Iran are both ancient civilizations and have a long history of friendly exchanges between their peoples.

China attaches great importance to the development of China-Iran relations and is willing to adhere to mutual respect and equal treatment with Iran to promote the comprehensive strategic partnership to a new level, maintain world peace, promote common development, and benefit the people of both sides, the premier said.

China is willing to work with Iran to improve the level of practical cooperation, Li said, calling on both sides to implement the China-Iran comprehensive cooperation plan, promote cooperation on economy, trade and other fields, mutually expand product exports, promote the implementation of mutually beneficial projects conducive to improving people's livelihoods, increase personnel exchanges and consolidate the public opinion foundation of friendship between the two countries.

Highlighting the friendship between Iran and China, Raisi said Iran is committed to developing relations with China.

Iran is willing to implement the comprehensive cooperation plan of the two countries on the basis of mutual respect, mutual benefit and win-win results, and to deepen cooperation in various fields and promote the continuous development of bilateral ties, the president said.

Iran is willing to strengthen communication and coordination with China on international affairs and jointly safeguard world peace and stability, Raisi added. 

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meets with visiting President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ebrahim Raisi at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 14, 2023. (Xinhua/Yan Yan)
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230214/kiev-regime-planning-massive-provocation-to-accuse-russia-of-violating-nuclear-convention-moscow-1107421619.html

Kiev Regime Planning Massive Provocation to Accuse Russia of Violating Nuclear Convention: Moscow

Kiev Regime Planning Massive Provocation to Accuse Russia of Violating Nuclear Convention: Moscow

Russia's military operation in Ukraine has been accompanied by concerns that the security crisis could go nuclear. Last fall, Russian Defense Minister Sergei... 14.02.2023, Sputnik International

2023-02-14T13:48+0000

2023-02-14T13:48+0000

2023-02-14T14:50+0000

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Ukraine's authorities are planning a large-scale provocation ahead of a special session of the General Assembly of the United Nations to accuse Moscow of "grossly violating" the Convention on Nuclear Safety, the Russian military's Joint Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response has announced.The Russian military department pointed out that missions to the Chernobyl NPP by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) personnel found no evidence of abnormal radiation levels at the plant or its environs.Kiev has received support from its US and European patrons in preparing their allegations against Moscow, the Russian military said.The UN General Assembly plans to hold a special session next week marking the one year anniversary of the escalation of the Donbass crisis into a full-blown Russia-NATO proxy conflict in Ukraine focusing on the need to restore a "just and lasting peace." A UN source told Sputnik on Monday that the resolution that the General Assembly will be asked to vote on has a decidedly anti-Russian tone, and calls on Moscow to "immediately, completely, and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine," while making no reciprocal demands of the Ukrainian side.Russian paratroopers established control over the Chernobyl NPP in February without firing a shot in the course of Russia's special military operation, setting up a joint security mission together with Ukrainian forces. Russian troops withdrew from the area in late March as part of Moscow's diplomatic overtures to Kiev to resolve the Ukraine crisis through peace talks. While Chernobyl was under Russian control, Ukrainian forces attacked an electrical substation supplying power to the defunct NPP in a failed attempt to threaten the region with nuclear contamination.Situated about 100 km north of Kiev about 10 km from thew Belarusian border, Chernobyl became the site of one of the worst man-made disasters in history in 1986 when one of its reactors suffered a catastrophic meltdown.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230209/zelensky-admits-he-never-intended-to-implement-minsk-agreements-1107274340.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20220829/chernobyl-fukushima-scenario-possible-at-zaporozhye-npp-amid-ukraines-shelling---authorities-1100096675.html

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Ilya Tsukanov

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Ilya Tsukanov

ukraine, chernobyl, russia, russian military
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230214/laptop-from-hell-hunter-biden-had-good-relationship-with-obamas-beijing-envoy-1107428627.html

Laptop From Hell: Hunter Biden Had 'Good Relationship' With Obama's Beijing Envoy

Laptop From Hell: Hunter Biden Had 'Good Relationship' With Obama's Beijing Envoy

US mainstream media suppressed the story of Hunter Biden's infamous laptop, abandoned at a Delaware repair shop, in the run-up the 2020 presidential election.

2023-02-14T18:04+0000

2023-02-14T18:04+0000

2023-02-14T18:04+0000

americas

us

hunter biden

china

barack obama

whitey bulger

james 'whitey' bulger

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US President Joe Biden's son used a "very good relationship" with Barack Obama's ambassador to Beijing to help strike investment deals with Chinese businessmen.Emails gleaned from Hunter Biden's abandoned 'laptop from hell' show that Devon Archer, his associate in Chinese-based investment firm BHR Partners, boated of his ties to Max Baucus in a message to Alwen Liu of Bohai Capital.Equity firm BHR was set up by the Bank of China in partnership with Hunter Biden as an investment fund in 2013, when his father was vice-president to Obama.The company structure included a partnership between Hunter Biden's firm Rosemont Seneca and the Thornton Group LLC  owned by Jimmy Bulger, the son of Democrat politician William Bulger and nephew of infamous Boston gangster and IRA gun-runner 'Whitey' Bulger. In one email dated April 2, 2014, Archer told Liu he was "currently arranging a meeting with the new US Ambassador to China Max Baucus for late April/early May to meet our leadership team in Beijing."On April 21, Hunter assured his partner that he could "ask anything we need" from Baucus, after Archer said he had arranged dinner with the ambassadors "best friend."On September 11 that year, Archer wrote to BHR CEO Jonathan Li to say he was "waiting for a confirmation for our meeting at the US Embassy with Ambassador Baucus October 8th." In another email the next day, Biden mysteriously asked Archer if he had told Li that he had to "sit this one out."Beijing BashObama visited Beijing in November 2014 to discuss a climate change agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Two month later, on January 27, 2015, Archer emailed Bulger and Hunter Biden to let them know he was setting up another meeting with Baucus."Also spoke to Ambassador Baucus's office and they were willing to do a meeting next week. Tentatively," Archer wrote.BHR Managing Partner Jason Zhu wrote in an email that Baucus had "arranged a meeting with BHR" at the US embassy in Beijing on February 5.BHR executive Xin Wang wrote to Arche, Biden and and other board members on October 9, 2015, saying "it would be great" if Baucus could come to a private dinner after a company seminar later that month."I appreciate that and will work on the Ambassador in the meantime," Archer rplied.Archer was later forced to resign from the company after he came under investigation in May 2016 for defrauding a tribe of native Americans. He was convicted and sentenced to a year in jail. Obama nominated Baucus, then Democrat senator for Montana, as his envoy to China in January 2014. He took up the role on March 20 2014  just a month before Hunter Biden boasted of their good relationship.The diplomat resigned in January 2017, four days before Donald Trump was sworn in. Following the Washington-backed EuroMaidan coup in Ukraine in 2014, the younger Biden was appointed to the board of gas firm Burisma Holdings. Joe Biden later pressured Kiev to fire prosecutor general Viktor Shokin in 2016 after he launched a corruption probe into Burisma.Democrats later attempted unsuccessfully to impeach Trump after he asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate the relationship between the Bidens and Kiev.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230212/emails-reveal-role-of-secret-service-in-hunter-biden-gun-affair-says-media-1107358818.html

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hunter biden, joe biden, barack obama, china, ukraine, jimmy bulger, devon archer, bhr partners
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230214/memorial-vigils-held-across-uk-after-transgender-girl-stabbed-to-death-by-classmates-1107438022.html

Memorial Vigils Held Across UK After Transgender Girl Stabbed to Death by Other Teens

Memorial Vigils Held Across UK After Transgender Girl Stabbed to Death by Other Teens

Candlelit vigils were organized on Tuesday across the United Kingdom after a 16-year-old transgender girl named Brianna Ghey was found stabbed to death in a Manchester suburb over the weekend. The attack comes amid a nationwide furor over trans rights.

2023-02-14T20:41+0000

2023-02-14T20:41+0000

2023-02-15T16:01+0000

world

transgender

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uk

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Activists in at least a dozen British cities have planned vigils for the coming days, including in Liverpool and Bristol on Tuesday, and later in Manchester, Glasgow, Leeds, Aberdeen, Reading, Plymouth, Brighton, Belfast, London, and York, according to UK media.Ghey had long been a victim of bullying at her school for her gender identity, which she documented on her TikTok account. In the days before her death, Ghey said she got excluded from school. Her friends told local media much the same, saying she had been beaten by gangs at her school and that her death was connected to the bullying and to her identity.In a statement following her death, Gheys family described her as a much loved daughter, granddaughter, and baby sister. She was a larger than life character who would leave a lasting impression on all that met her. Brianna was beautiful, witty and hilarious. Brianna was strong, fearless and one of a kind.In particular, activists have noted that because the UK doesnt allow trans people to self-identify on public documents, Gheys tombstone will be forced to bear her deadname, or the birth name she no longer uses. Stating a trans persons deadname is considered deeply insulting and delegitimizing.Transgender activists and their supporters slammed anti-trans groups in the wake of Gheys murder, saying their efforts to demonize and alienate trans people, especially trans women and girls, had helped cause Gheys death.We have seen how even in death, the press has chosen to compound this harm by publicly disrespecting Briannas identity until public outcry forced them to reconsider, they added. It shouldnt take a public show of grief to value the lives of trans children, and her life should have been valued enough to not have been taken in the first place.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20220819/over-2200-texas-child-welfare-workers-quit-many-citing-policy-targeting-transgender-youth---report-1099782175.html

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memorial vigils, uk, transgender community, stabbing death, brianna ghey
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230214/neo-nazis-are-returning-from-ukraine-to-the-us-1107389245.html

Neo Nazis Are Returning From Ukraine to The US

Neo Nazis Are Returning From Ukraine to The US

On todays episode of The Backstory, host Lee Stranahan discussed current events including Kansas City Chiefs winning the Super Bowl, and the US tracking... 14.02.2023, Sputnik International

2023-02-14T09:16+0000

2023-02-14T09:16+0000

2023-02-14T09:16+0000

the backstory

radio

antiwar

socialism

ufo

chinese balloon over us

ohio

superbowl

acid rain

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Neo Nazis Are Returning From Ukraine To The US On todays episode of The Backstory, host Lee Stranahan discussed current events including Kansas City Chiefs winning the Super Bowl, and the U.S. tracking Chinese balloons over the Middle East.

Caleb Maupin - Speaker, Writer, Political Analyst, and Author | The Rage Against the War Machine Infighting, Socaliam, and The Boston TrapJim Hoft - Founder of The Gateway Pundit | Shooting Down Objects, Joe Biden the Most Corrupt President Ever, and The Ohio Train DerailmentIn the first hour, Lee spoke with Caleb Maupin about the anti war movement, the liberal left, and Neo-Nazis that have been trained in Ukraine. Caleb talked about the pettiness on the left and the infighting within the anti-war movement. Caleb commented on recent news of Neo-Nazis returning from Ukraine and the Western media ignoring these stories.In the second hour, Lee spoke with Jim Hoft about the Project Veritas board placing James O'Keefe on leave, UFO hysteria, and the train derailment. Jim spoke about the alleged balloons in the sky during the Trump administration and the Pentagon press conference on the objects shot down. Jim talked about the Ohio train derailment and reports of wildlife animals dying within miles of the derailment.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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radio, antiwar, socialism, ufo, chinese balloon over us, ohio, superbowl, acid rain, 
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230214/nord-stream-attack-article-is-blowing-up-iranian-president-traveling-to-china-1107389634.html

Nord Stream Attack Article is 'Blowing Up'; Iranian President Traveling to China

Nord Stream Attack Article is 'Blowing Up'; Iranian President Traveling to China

The Seymour Hersh article detailing President Biden's personal involvement in the attack on Germany is growing and creating a stir among US allies. 14.02.2023, Sputnik International

2023-02-14T09:15+0000

2023-02-14T09:15+0000

2023-02-14T09:15+0000

the critical hour

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mike pompeo

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Nord Stream Attack Article is "Blowing Up"; Iranian President to China The Seymour Hersh article detailing President Biden's personal involvement in the attack on Germany is growing and creating a stir amongst US allies.

Mark Sleboda, Moscow-based international relations security analyst, joins us to discuss Ukraine. Russian intelligence is warning that the US is training terrorists from the Middle East to carry out attacks on the Russian homeland. Also, the Kremlin reveals why Kiev walked out of ceasefire talks in the spring.Investigative Reporter Max Blumenthal joins us to discuss the Nord Stream attack. The Nord Stream attack may create a legal nightmare for the neocon cabal that is implicated in its operations.Dr. Ken Hammond, writer, and professor of East Asian and global history at New Mexico State University, joins us to discuss China. US lawmakers are planning a trip to China to "infuriate" the Beijing government. Also, the leader of Iran is traveling to Beijing at the invitation of Xi Jinping.Dr. Gerald Horne, Professor of History at the University of Houston, TX, author, historian, and researcher, joins us to discuss the Middle East earthquakes. The devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria has exposed the brutality of US sanctions. Also, Saudi Arabia is hot to join the BRICS coalition.Laith Marouf, broadcaster and journalist based in Beirut, Lebanon, joins us to discuss the Middle East. Israel legalizes nine colonies in occupied Palestine. Also, an Israeli Rabbi has called the devastating earthquakes divine justice.Scott Ritter, former UN weapon inspector in Iraq, joins us to discuss clandestine operations. We review the Colin Powell UN lies about Iraqi WMDs in the context of current Ukraine conflict narratives.Dan Kovalik, writer, author, and lawyer, joins us to discuss the Global South. Brazilian president Lula is planning his first trip to Washington DC. Also, it's time to take Cuba off the terror list.Dan Lazare, investigative journalist and author of "America's Undeclared War," joins us to discuss the brutality of the US empire. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo admits to the viciousness of his worldview in a book.We'd love to get your feedback at radio@sputniknews.com

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radio, nord stream, iran, china, turkey, syria, brics, mike pompeo, 
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230214/stoltenberg-arrives-for-day-one-of-nato-defense-ministers-meetings-in-brussels-1107394140.html

Stoltenberg Arrives for Day One of NATO Defense Ministers' Meetings in Brussels

Stoltenberg Arrives for Day One of NATO Defense Ministers' Meetings in Brussels

A meeting of the North Atlantic Council at the defense ministerial level is held from February 14-15 at the NATO headquarters in Brussels.

2023-02-14T07:39+0000

2023-02-14T07:39+0000

2023-02-14T09:20+0000

world

jens stoltenberg

nato

meeting

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Sputnik comes live as NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg arrives for the first day of the North Atlantic Council (NAC) meeting for defense ministers in Brussels. Later in the day, Stoltenberg will deliver the opening remarks at the summit.The heads of defense ministries of NATO countries gather for a regular meeting in the Belgian capital, where they discuss increasing aid further to Ukraine, as well as the increase of military production and protection of critical infrastructure, especially underwater infrastructure.Ministers from Finland and Sweden, along with Ukraines representative and the EUs foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell, are also expected to attend the event.Follow Sputnik's Live Feed to Find Out More!

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230214/the-truth-is-out-there-ufos-spotted-hovering-over-china-1107431360.html

The Truth is Out There: UFOs 'Spotted Hovering Over China'

The Truth is Out There: UFOs 'Spotted Hovering Over China'

Unidentified flying objects leaving bright lights in the sky were spotted in the city of Qiqihar in Chinas northern province of Heilongjiang on Monday evening.

2023-02-14T17:00+0000

2023-02-14T17:00+0000

2023-02-14T17:02+0000

china

ufo

ufos

ufo sighting

viral

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Local media reported that at around 5:23 p.m. local time (09:23 GMT) on Monday, Qiqihar's residents witnessed a bunch of flying objects in the sky, leaving bright lights and then fading away, as seen on videos. Local meteorologists stated that they had no information regarding the objects spotted and could not provide any details on what they were. Qiqihar's air defense officials said, in turn, that there was nothing to worry about in connection with the flying objects. On Sunday, another unidentified object was spotted flying over the waters of the coastal province of Shandong in eastern China, according to a local maritime bureau. The bureau did not specify what the flying object was, and whether it was eventually taken down. Over the past few days, the United States and Canada have shot down a total of three high-altitude unidentified airborne objects, including one that was taken down on Saturday over Canada's Yukon territory.

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ufos over china, ufos 'spotted in china', ufos spotted hovering over china, unidentified flying objects leaving bright lights in china sky
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230214/turkish-opposition-leader-says-elections-should-not-be-postponed-1107406104.html

Turkish Opposition Leader Says Elections Should Not Be Postponed

Turkish Opposition Leader Says Elections Should Not Be Postponed

The leader of Turkey's opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), Kemal Kilicdaroglu, said on Tuesday that the general election in Turkey must take place as scheduled in May or June despite the impact of devastating earthquakes

2023-02-14T08:55+0000

2023-02-14T08:55+0000

2023-02-14T08:55+0000

world

earthquake rocks turkiye and syria

turkiye

syria

earthquake

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On Monday, former Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc suggested postponing the election because "the country must get rid of the pre-election stress" amid the quakes. The opposition believes that any demands to postpone the election are a pretext for incumbent authorities to avoid it altogether. Another opposition politician, Idris Sahin, a member of the Democracy and Progress Party, also believes that the election should take place not later than June 18. "The law provides that elections should be held on June 18. Until yesterday, the date announced by the ruling parties, May 14, was nothing more than a wish. There was no decision. Therefore, we consider it appropriate to hold elections on June 18, in accordance with the law," the Duvar newspaper quoted him as saying. In late January, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the general election in the country was scheduled for May 14, a month earlier than originally planned. However, the parliament should approve the new date, although Erdogan has the power to dissolve it and announce early elections that will take place 60 days after the parliaments dissolution. Turkiye's Nationalist Movement Party and the ruling Justice and Development Party have supported Erdogan as their single candidate. Six opposition parties have also agreed to nominate a common candidate but have not announced a name yet. On February 6, parts of Turkiye and Syria were hit by a series of powerful earthquakes and aftershocks. The death toll from the devastating earthquakes in Turkiye exceeded 31,500.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230213/man-rescued-by-russian-team-in-turkey-over-6-days-after-earthquake--1107360687.html

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turkey's opposition republican people's party, devastating earthquakes
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230214/two-trains-derail-in-texas--south-carolina-weeks-after-ohio-chemical-spill-one-death-reported-1107390654.html

Two Trains Derail in Texas & South Carolina Weeks After Ohio Chemical Spill, One Death Reported

Two Trains Derail in Texas & South Carolina Weeks After Ohio Chemical Spill, One Death Reported

A train derailed in Houston after it collided with a truck, killing the driver and causing the derailment of multiple rail cars, the East Montgomery County Fire Department said in a statement.

2023-02-14T02:05+0000

2023-02-14T02:05+0000

2023-02-14T02:05+0000

americas

south carolina

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train derailment

ohio university

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Two trains derailed on Monday in South Carolina and Texas, where one person was killed after their vehicle collided with an oncoming train."This morning units were dispatched to a Train vs Truck accident with train derailment of multiple rail cars (16) along Highway 59 in the area of Midline Road," the Texas' East Montgomery County Fire Department said on Monday. The fire department said there was no threat to the public from the derailed cars. The Woodlands Fire Department said in a separate statement that it was working to identify the contents of the train cars and to mitigate any issues. However, a second derailment was also reported Monday in Enoree, South Carolina, just after 4 p.m. local time.A train derailment earlier this month in Ohio led authorities to burn hazardous materials inside tanker cars to preempt an explosion. Three days after the derailment on February 3, authorities burned vinyl chloride inside five tanker cars, which released hydrogen chloride and phosgene. The US Environmental Protect Agency said tests indicate the surrounding air and water are safe for residents. However, residents near the site of the incident have since complained of feeling ill and noted animals getting sick and fish dying in bodies of water.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230209/video-us-reporter-arrested-during-ohio-governors-conference-on-palestine-train-derailment-1107099971.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230214/un-experts-urge-international-community-to-stop-israeli-demolition-of-palestinian-homes-1107390068.html

UN Experts Urge International Community to Stop Israeli Demolition of Palestinian Homes

UN Experts Urge International Community to Stop Israeli Demolition of Palestinian Homes

Independent United Nations experts called on the international community to take action against Israel's systematic destruction of Palestinian buildings in the West Bank, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said Monday.

2023-02-14T00:56+0000

2023-02-14T00:56+0000

2023-02-14T00:56+0000

world

israel

west bank settlements

the united nations (un)

demolition

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"The international community must take action to stop systematic and deliberate housing demolition and sealing, arbitrary displacement and forced evictions of Palestinian people in the occupied West Bank," the statement said. Israel demolished 132 Palestinian structures, including 34 residential and 15 donor-funded, across 38 communities in the West Bank in January alone, up 135% compared to the same period last year, according to the OHCHR. UN experts have repeatedly raised concerns with the Israeli government on these issues, but never received any response, it added. "We regret that impunity prevails, in particular for human rights violations and potential war crimes committed by the occupying power. It is high time for international adjudication bodies to determine the nature of the Israeli occupation and seek justice and accountability for all crimes committed in the occupied Palestinian territory," the experts said in a statement. At the end of December 2022, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on "Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem." Under the resolution, the UN General Assembly requested the International Court of Justice to render an advisory opinion on the legal consequences of Israel's violations of Palestinians rights, in particular, the annexation and occupation of their territories. Relations between Israel and Palestine have been adversarial since the founding of Israel in 1948. Palestinians seek diplomatic recognition of their independent state on the territories of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, which is partially occupied by Israel, and the Gaza Strip. The Israeli government has refused to recognize Palestine as an independent political and diplomatic entity, and has been constructing settlements in the occupied areas despite objections from the United Nations.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20210708/us-israel-embassy-issues-rare-rebuke-of-punitive-demolition-of-palestinian-home-in-west-bank-1083341367.html

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China looks forward to advancing ties with Iran: spokesperson

Xinhua) 08:03, February 14, 2023

BEIJING, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- China looks forward to working with Iran to take the upcoming China visit by the Iranian president as an opportunity to promote greater development of the China-Iran comprehensive strategic partnership, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Monday.

At the invitation of President Xi Jinping, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ebrahim Raisi will pay a state visit to China from Feb. 14 to 16, according to the foreign ministry.

Noting that this will be President Raisi's first visit to China, Wang said at a regular press briefing that the two presidents will hold talks, jointly plan and lead the future development of bilateral relations, and exchange views on regional and international issues of common concern during the visit.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Li Zhanshu, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, will meet with President Raisi respectively, Wang said.

"China and Iran enjoy a traditional friendship, and it is the strategic choice of both sides to consolidate and develop China-Iran relations," he said.

Under the leadership of the two presidents, China-Iran relations have maintained sound development momentum in recent years. The two sides have consistently consolidated mutual political trust, steadily advanced practical cooperation in various fields, maintained effective communication and coordination in international and regional affairs, and firmly safeguarded the principle of non-interference in internal affairs and the common interests of developing countries, the spokesperson said.

"China looks forward to working with the Iranian side to use this visit as an opportunity to promote greater development of the China-Iran comprehensive strategic partnership, and play a constructive role in enhancing the unity and cooperation of countries in the Middle East and promoting regional security and stability," Wang said.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
BLANTYRE, Malawi, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Seeds for the Future, a youth empowerment program founded by Chinese tech giant Huawei has become a game changer for young people in Malawi.

Since 2017, Huawei has managed to train 190 students in Malawi by equipping them with various skills, knowledge and information to succeed in a fast-changing world using Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

For Martin Manyozo, a 24-year-old man who attended the program in 2022, the initiative has given him a wider perspective on solving various social problems in his community using ICT and various social skills.

Manyozo, who lives in Malawi's commercial city of Blantyre, is a business administration student at Malawi University of Business and Applied Science (MUBAS).

"Seeds for the Future program has helped me in many ways: I learned how to network with other people, how to build business relationships, leadership, and the use of technology in business. These things have enabled me to progress further in my day-to-day business," he told Xinhua in an interview.

"As a business administration student, I never knew that I would use ICT as a tool to develop and implement various projects, but after attending the program I realized that there is more to ICT," he added.

The young man is currently co-running a youth-empowering organization known as "Creative Minds" that helps young people with various social skills, including entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and ICT skills to explore their potential.

Manyozo believed that ICT skills are essential in changing social problems in Malawi.

"During the training, we were also encouraged to do our very best for the government rather than expecting the government to do lots for us," continued Manyozo.

"As someone who is geared to change the community that I live in, I use skills which I gained from the training to implement this project including the use of ICT to engage my fellow youths."

Evans Makawa, now the owner and founder of a consultancy business called Mac-Hour multimedia, has also benefitted from the Huawei program through some books (Huawei Stories) that a friend, who attended the program in 2020, gave him as a gift.

In an interview with Xinhua, Makawa said since he started reading one of these books, his perception for business has risen to a higher level.

"My favorite story was one by Hu Wei who narrates in the book how he worked hard, and against all odds, to penetrate into the industry by creating competitive products," explained Makawa, adding: "I was inspired by the idea that hard work and dedication can always bring a positive impact when things seem to be impossible."

Makawa, who has a registered multimedia company with three employees, hopes to grow a reliable creative company in Malawi. "ICT skills are essential to every business, especially during this time when everything is going digital. As a creative company, we use ICT expertise every day in times of developing ideas and execution."

Gu Mu, managing director of Huawei Technologies in Malawi, believes that the program has made a significant impact on local talent, mainly because of how the youth have been exposed to current trends in the ICT sector.

The program has also enabled the Malawian youths to exchange knowledge with other students that are making wonderful innovations across the globe, according to Gu.

"As a result of the program, several beneficiaries have pursued entrepreneurship and started businesses," Gu told Xinhua through a questionnaire. "In addition, Seeds for the Future has allowed Malawian students to learn about Chinese culture, which is an enriching experience.

"The students have also been able to get globally acclaimed Huawei certifications and this gives them an advantage in terms of increasing their employability."

Gu also noted that Huawei's Stories literature contains essential information for young people to embrace entrepreneurship and become even more enterprising in many things.

"Tian Tao and Yin Zhifeng have been doing a commendable job in terms of telling Huawei stories across the globe. That literature often brings out the human face of Huawei and its unique challenges and strengths," said Gu.

He further observed that at the time the job market is declining, the books contain essential information for young people to embrace entrepreneurship and become even more enterprising in many ways.

Huawei has, for the past years, done several projects with the Malawian government, including the implementation of the National Data Center initiative, and the National Optic Fibre Backbone that is now in phase II. 
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230214/us-remains-worlds-leader-in-spying-on-other-countries-chinese-foreign-ministry-1107411547.html

US Remains World's Leader in Spying on Other Countries: Chinese Foreign Ministry

US Remains World's Leader in Spying on Other Countries: Chinese Foreign Ministry

The United States is the global leader in spying on other countries, the spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry

2023-02-14T11:55+0000

2023-02-14T11:55+0000

2023-02-14T11:55+0000

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china

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"In regard to government surveillance, we would like to point out that the US is the number one country in the world, and the international community, including Europe, has personal experience in this matter," he said at a regular briefing. Wand also said, since 1997, the US military have been investing billions of dollars into the research and development of high-altitude reconnaissance balloons, adding that, in 2022, the Pentagon converted such balloons for military use. Now, they are capable of carrying surveillance equipment which can be used for tracking hypersonic strategic Russian and Chinese cruise missiles, the diplomat specified. On Monday, the spokesman said that the US had "the largest spy network in the world" and "spied on calls and chat messages to and from the phones of leaders of Germany, France, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands and other European countries." In February, the United States detected and later shot down four unidentified flying objects, including an alleged Chinese surveillance balloon. Washington said that it was designed to gather intelligence about sensitive military sites in the country. Beijing insists that the balloon was a mere meteorological device that entered the US airspace accidentally while expressing protest over the Pentagon's decision to shoot it down. The Chinese Foreign Ministry also stated that US balloons had violated China's airspace more than 10 times since January 2022.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230212/us-knew-nothing-about-chinas-spy-balloons-several-months-ago-senate-majority-leader-says-1107358308.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230214/us-reportedly-arrests-3-men-in-connection-with-assassination-of-ex-haitian-president-moise-1107434780.html

US Reportedly Arrests 3 Men in Connection With Assassination of Ex-Haitian President Moise

US Reportedly Arrests 3 Men in Connection With Assassination of Ex-Haitian President Moise

he United States arrested three American men in connection with the assassination of former Haitian president Jovenel Moise in July 2021, US media reported on Tuesday.

2023-02-14T17:51+0000

2023-02-14T17:51+0000

2023-02-14T17:51+0000

americas

haiti

us

jovenel moise

assassination

murder

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US federal agents arrested Antonio Intriago, Arcangel Pretel Ortiz and Walter Veintemilla over alleged ties to Moises assassination through a Florida-based security company, the report said, citing Intriagos lawyer. Intriago was arrested Tuesday morning in Miami and intends to enter a not guilty plea at a bond hearing this afternoon, attorney Joseph Tesmond reportedly said. The three men are tied to Florida-based company CTU Security, which recruited former Colombian soldiers to aid in the assault on Moises residence, the report said. Shortly after Moises assassination, Intriago released a statement claiming he was unaware of plans to kill the former president. The initial plan was to arrest and replace Moise, Intriago said in the statement. Tesmond also confirmed the arrests of Pretel and Veintemilla, the report said. Veintemilla lent $172,000 to CTU Security to fund their operations in Haiti, the report said. The charges against the three men remain unclear, the report added.Moise was shot and killed in his home by assailants on July 7, 2021. The attack also wounded his wife. Although approximately two dozen arrests have been made in the case across Haiti and the US, investigators are struggling to identify the assassinations masterminds, the report said.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20220426/murder-case-of-haitian-president-moise-dropped-by-fourth-judge-in-row-1095083926.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230214/washington-officials-say-likely-to-provide-ukraine-with-combat-jets-with-time-reports-say-1107391830.html

Washington Officials Say Likely to Provide Ukraine With Combat Jets With Time, Reports Say

Washington Officials Say Likely to Provide Ukraine With Combat Jets With Time, Reports Say

Washington officials have said they are likely with time to provide Ukraine with combat jets despite US President Joe Biden saying the United States will not send F-16s to Kiev

2023-02-14T04:22+0000

2023-02-14T04:22+0000

2023-02-14T04:22+0000

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us

ukraine

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Ukraine could be provided with "more sophisticated air power" as Russia's special military operation "drags on", or the US could at least agree to the transfer of F-16s from other countries, the report said. The issue of the possible fighter jet supply will be discussed at a NATO defense officials' meeting in Brussels on Tuesday. According to sources, however, acquiring the aircraft is a longer-term objective for Ukraine, whereas a priority for Kiev is artillery supply. Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022 in response to calls by the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics for protection from Ukrainian troops. The Russian Defense Ministry said the operation, which targets Ukrainian military infrastructure, aims to "demilitarize and denazify" Ukraine, and to completely liberate Donbass. Western nations have imposed numerous sanctions on Russia and have been supplying weapons to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said any cargo that contains weaponry for Ukraine will become a legitimate target for Russia.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230201/poland-says-sending-f-16-jets-to-ukraine-now-not-on-agenda-1106883391.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230214/why-does-us-have-bases-in-syria-and-how-big-a-threat-do-they-pose-to-the-region-1107412276.html

Why Does US Have Bases in Syria and How Big a Threat Do They Pose to the Region?

Why Does US Have Bases in Syria and How Big a Threat Do They Pose to the Region?

How many bases does the US have in Syria? Are there any legal grounds for their presence? Sputnik explores.

2023-02-14T12:26+0000

2023-02-14T12:26+0000

2023-02-14T13:12+0000

sputnik explains

syria

us

military base

us military base

base

un charter

bashar assad

al-tanf

us-led coalition strike on syrian army military point near al-tanf

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According to credible data received by the Foreign Intelligence Service [SVR]the US military is actively recruiting militants from jihadist groups affiliated with Daesh* and al-Qaeda* to carry out terrorist attacks in Russia and Commonwealth of Independent States countries. Particular attention is being paid to attracting people from the Russian North Caucasus and Central Asia, the Foreign Intelligence Service said in a press statement Monday.According to the intel service, 60 terrorists with experience participating in hostilities in the Middle East were recruited in January, and are currently undergoing accelerated training at the American base at al-Tanf, Syria, studying the manufacture and use of improvised explosive devices, sabotage and subversive activities, and how to stage attacks on protected facilities, including diplomatic missions.In the near future, it is planned to transfer militants in small groups to Russia and CIS countries, where they will be tasked with preparing and carrying out terrorist attacks against diplomats, civil servants, law enforcement and military personnel, the SVR indicated.Russian intelligence has brought up al-Tanf repeatedly over the course of the past year in relation to the US and NATOs ongoing proxy war against Russia in Ukraine. Last March, the SVR said groups of Middle Eastern fighters transferred to Ukraine and curated by US and British handlers had been trained at al-Tanf. A US vet who volunteered to fight for Ukraine but escaped the country after witnessing war crimes confirmed encountering Arabic-speaking fighters in the conflict zone.Al-Tanf came up again in an SVR briefing last May in a report on the US training of militants from Transcaucasia and Central Asia on the use of anti-tank missiles, reconnaissance and strike drones, and advanced communications and surveillance equipment.Last June, anonymous officials told US media that Russian forces had staged an attack on the al-Tanf garrison. The Russian military confirmed in August that its forces had carried out strikes against the mountain bases of jihadists supplied and trained at al-Tanf by instructors from the US Army Special Operations Forces. The facility has also been subjected to repeated drone and rocket strikes in recent years. In August, after a rocket strike left American servicemen at the base with minor injuries, US President Joe Biden ordered airstrikes against weapons storage sites in Deir ez-Zor province.Where is the al-Tanf Base Located?The US al-Tanf garrison is situated in Homs governorate, southern Syria along the border with Iraq and Jordan on the strategic M2 Baghdad-Damascus Highway, about 250 km east of the Syrian capital.US forces took control of the region in early 2016, turning the area around the settlement into a major military base. The Pentagon claims its activities at al-Tanf are limited to training rebel forces and preventing the resurgence of Daesh. However, Syrian, Iranian, and Russian officials have accused Washington of training and cooperating with so-called ex-jihadists, including Daesh remnants, to wage war on the Syrian government.The US military maintains a 55-kilometer deconfliction zone perimeter around the base, and threatens to target any non-allied forces who approach the base with overwhelming force. The US proved it meant business in May 2017, when it attacked a Syrian military convoy engaged in operations against Daesh as Syrian forces approached the base, prompting the US to launch an airstrike to deal with the threat.How Many Military Bases and Troops Does the US Have in Syria?Al-Tanf is one of about a dozen illegal military bases operated by the US in Syria, with the rest situated in the countrys oil and food-rich northeastern provinces east of the Euphrates River  which are formally controlled by the US-allied, predominantly Kurdish "Syrian Democratic Forces" militias. Syrian officials estimate that 90 percent of the countrys oil resources are situated in areas occupied by the US.The US has stationed troops at the Rmelan Airbase in the northeastern al-Hasakah province, and smaller bases at the settlements of Ash Shaddadi, Kharab al-Jeer, Tal tamir, Tal Beydar, and the Hasaka Dam. In neighboring Deir ez-Zor governorate, the US has troops watching over the massive al-Omar oil field and the Conoco gas fields  containing the largest reservoirs of hydrocarbons in the country, plus the so-called Green Village  an oil field-adjacent facility containing housing for troops and a weapons depot.The US has operated at least three facilities in Raqqa governorate, including the al-Tabqah airbase and ground bases in the settlements of Ayn Issa and Tal al-Samn.Some of the abovementioned bases were evacuated in 2019 after Turkiye began a military operation against Kurdish militants in the region. However, US forces remain firmly planted on the ground at the oil and gas fields, with Syrian media reporting consistently on the plunder of resources from these facilities and the smuggling of oil, as well as food, to neighboring Iraq.About 200 of the estimated 900 US troops in Syria are stationed at al-Tanf. The rest are scattered across bases in the northeast of the country. The 900 figure is the estimate commonly cited by US media. However, some observers suggest that the real numbers are much higher, pointing to efforts by officials to obfuscate the numbers not only from the press, but from the president of the United States.Why Does the US Still Have Forces in Syria?The Pentagons formal justification for the presence of troops in Syria is the fight against Daesh and their potential return to areas occupied by the US and its allies between 2016 and 2018.However, Syrian authorities and their allies say the true purpose of the facilities is to suffocate Damascus economically and prevent it from rebuilding its economy after a devastating US, Gulf State, and Turkish-backed dirty war began in 2011. Along with its occupation of a third of the country, the US has also slapped crushing sanctions on Syria, with restrictions not only blacklisting Syrian officials and companies, but threatening third countries with retaliatory restrictions if they do business with Damascus. The sanctions have restricted the import of food, medicines, and medical equipment. The US troop presence thereby allows Washington to maintain a military foothold over part of Syria and the region (with costs kept down through oil smuggling), and to spite the government of President Bashar Assad after the unexpected failure of the dirty war.What is the Status of US Bases in Syria Under International Law?The US bases in Syria are illegal under international law. The United Nations Charter does not allow a countrys military to be stationed on the territory of another unless its government or the United Nations Security Council authorizes it. Washington received neither Damascus permission, nor the approval of the Security Council, for its anti-Daesh operations in Syria.Where are Russian Troops in Syria?The Russian military is also present in Syria, operating two facilities  the Khmeimim Air Base, situated outside the city of Latakia, northwest Syria, and a naval resupply base at Tartus in the countrys southwest. Russian fighter jets have launched thousands of sorties out of Khmeimim targeting jihadists and foreign-backed rebels, and provided air cover and other support to Syrian Army ground forces and their allies. Together with support from Irans Revolutionary Guard Quds Force and Lebanons Hezbollah militias, Russian military assistance proved instrumental in helping Syria turn the tide against a broad coalition of jihadist militias and "moderate rebels."The Russian military is tight-lipped about how many Russian personnel are stationed in Syria. However, last year, the MoD revealed that between 2015 and 2018, during the most active phase of Russian support, roughly 63,000 military personnel were rotated into and out of the country. The number of troops in the country at any one time is considerably lower. For example, in 2018, the MoD revealed that about 2,900 troops had voted in Russian presidential elections, indicating a likely troop contingent of several thousand.What is the Legal Basis for Russian Troops Presence in Syria?Unlike US forces, the Russian military contingent in Syria is in the country legally, with Russia receiving a formal invitation from the internationally recognized government in Damascus.Why Cant US Troops in Syria Simply Be Attacked and Kicked Out?Pro-Syrian commentators online frequently ask why the illegal US bases in Syria cant simply be attacked and kicked out of the country using brute force. Proposing such action is easy, but actually doing it is far more difficult, given the overwhelming air and naval superiority of the US and its allies in the region. United States Central Command, the military command structure responsible for US operations in the Middle East and Persian Gulf, operates more than a dozen major bases in the area, including the massive al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, which has over 90 combat and support aircraft, and occasionally hosts nuclear-capable B-52 Stratofortress strategic bombers. Washington has made clear  via the 2017 attack on Syrian forces and in other cases, that it will respond to any threat to its troops by a state actor in Syria with crushing force. That makes an international pressure campaign calling for the US pullout from Syria the only realistic, if minuscule, opportunity to force the Americans to finally exit the war-torn country.* Islamist terrorist groups outlawed in Russia and many other countries.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230213/us-plans-to-send-terrorists-to-russia-and-cis-countries-to-target-officials-intel-service-says-1107363476.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20220805/watch-russian-air-power-obliterate-mountain-base-used-by-us-trained-militants-in-syria-1098278428.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230213/china-calls-on-us-to-lift-sanctions-against-syria-instead-of-temporarily-suspending-them-1107375644.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230213/russias-khmeimim-air-base-opens-warehouses-to-distribute-aid-to-syrias-quake-victims-1107379667.html

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us military base, us base, syria, illegal syria base, base, illegal base, where is the al-tanf base located, how many military bases and troops does the us have in syria, why does the us still have forces in syria, what is the status of us bases in syria under international law, are us bases in syria illegal, where are russian troops in syria, are russian bases in syria illegal, why can't us troops be kicked out of syria
I Ama Rocket was a dominant winner in Mondays $30,000 Pop Up Series Final for claiming pacers, and in doing so he established a new lifetime mark when he froze the teletimer in 1:51.4.

Trevor Henry hustled I Ama Rocket off the gate from Post 7, and together they raced parked outside of Legal Bettor to the quarter pole in :27. I Ama Rocket then took command and rolled the field through middle fractions of :55.4 and 1:24.

He opened up a big lead at the head of the lane, and used a :27.4 closing quarter to win by 4-1/2 lengths over Legal Bettor in 1:51.4. A Boy Named Suuzz took home the show dough in the nine-horse affair.

Sent off at odds of 4-1, the seven-year-old son of Custard The Dragon-Machs Rocket scored the victory for Imagine Stable of Lange-gardien, Que. It was his second win of the year and the 22nd of his career. With the win, he pushed his lifetime earnings well over $200,000.

Night Club Hanover was a 1:52.2 winner in the $20,000 Pop Up Series Consolation for claiming pacers for the duo of driver Sylvain Filion and trainer Richard Moreau.

Filion swept to the lead with the eight-year-old son of Rock N Roll Heaven-Northern Sky, and together they led the field past the quarter pole in :27. Julerica then sprinted to the top in the backstretch and took the group through middle fractions of :55.2 and 1:24.1. Night Club Hanover rallied in the lane, and his closing kick of :28 was enough to earn him the win by 1-3/4 lengths over Speaking Of Art in 1:52.2. Machal Jordan rounded out the Trifecta ticket.

Ecurie Francis Richard Inc, Dr. John Bradbury and Guillaume Desrochers share ownership on the gelding, who now owns a 2-0-1 record from seven trips to the track this season. The 19-time winner has banked more than $137,000 to date.

The victory was one of five on the card for driver Sylvain Filion, who also nabbed wins with Shestheluckyone (1:55.3), Coin Flip (1:52.4), Tokyo Seelster (1:55.2) and Jim Strikesitrich (1:53.4).

The Quebec native, who has racked up more than $134 million in career purse earnings, needs just 156 wins to join the 10,000-win club.
Two men from Salisbury are facing charges after authorities said they discovered an illegal gambling operation Friday.

Nishit Chandrakant Patel and Dharminkumar Rameshbahi Patel face charges of felony possession of five or more gaming machines and misdemeanor charges of gambling and possession of a slot-style machine. Warrants will be issued for the two and they are not yet in custody, said Iredell Sheriff Darren Campbell.

Campbell, in a news release, said that narcotics division investigators, along with deputies from the Aggressive Criminal Enforcement (ACE) team, served a search warrant at SKILLZ Game Room, 1110 Barkley Road, on Friday.

He said that in January, investigators identified nine locations in Iredell County operating illegal gaming machines and paying winnings in cash.

These gaming machines are illegal to own and operate and paying cash winnings violates state law, he said.

Undercover investigators from the sheriffs office went into the businesses and saw the illegal operation in person, Campbell said. That included playing games and receiving payment for winnings, he said.

Based on this evidence, each location was served with a cease and desist letter informing the business owners they must stop all illegal operations no later than 15 days upon delivery of the notice.

Investigators continued to monitor each location after serving them with the letter. Additional undercover operations revealed that most businesses complied; however, this business changed the computer software in an attempt to avoid having to discontinue operations, Campbell said.

Undercover investigators went into the businesses and once again observed the illegal operation and were again paid in cash after winning, he said. SKILLZ Game Room was one of these locations, Campbell said.

Narcotics investigators obtained a search warrant for the business. Upon execution of the warrant at SKILLZ, investigators discovered more than 60 machines that were being used to conduct illegal gambling operations, Campbell said.

Possession of five or more of these types of machines is a felony in North Carolina. Each hard drive was disconnected and seized, along with $2,960, Campbell said.

Investigators spoke with the business owners by telephone. They asked the men to come to the business. The owners never showed up to meet with the investigators and warrants are being drawn, Campbell said.

This is not an isolated incident, and investigators will continue to monitor these places, and additional search warrants will be executed if the illegal activity continues. These businesses breed other types of crimes, such as robberies, assaults and drug activity, he said.
When United Way of Iredell County rolled out Ride United nearly a year ago, they were anticipating serving about 520 people.

In December, the number served reached more than 1,000, said Sara Helmick, director of investment for United Way of Iredell. This is proving that this is really needed, she said.

Ride United partners with five local agencies and with Door Dash to provide delivery of goods to people who dont have transportation or cannot get to the various providers during their operating hours.

The program is one of the agencies seeking to raise funds through this years Love United Iredell campaign, which continues through Sunday. Ride United is hoping to raise $1,000 to serve an additional 66 families across Iredell County.

Helmick said Ride United started through United Way Worldwide as a pilot program. And to get the program off the ground, Helmick said, United Way wrote a grant to have Door Dashers bring goods to peoples homes that have no transportation or face other issues with picking up the goods on their own.

United Way of Iredell was one of 81 groups across the country to receive the grant and most of the funds went to larger cities, Helmick said. We are one of the very few that have a much smaller program, she said.

Although small may be a relative term since the number of people served quickly grew over the original estimate of 520 people. We didnt know what the reaction would be in a small county, she said.

The reaction has been bigger and better than expected, she said.

Providing this service has not only meant people can get needed essentials that they have no other way to obtain, but it has given them a sense of dignity and compassion as well, Helmick said.

They get treated like a real person, they get that respect, she said.

Helmick said one woman, a single mother with children, needed to get food from Iredell Christian Ministries but could not be there during ICMs regular hours because of her job. She was unable to get to the food banks during the hours they are open, Helmick said, but through Ride United and Door Dash, she came home to find a box of food outside her house.

In another instance, Helmick said, an elderly woman contacted a local nonprofit asking for assistance, but because she didnt have electricity or water, she was concerned that might trigger a report and cause her additional problems. We wanted to do a different process, Helmick said. The Door Dasher was instructed to go to the end of the womans driveway and wait for her to come out to get her items.

She called and said thanks for maintaining her dignity and having them respect her, Helmick said.

Helmick said the idea of launching Ride United formed from an issue that has been a concern in Iredell for years  the lack of transportation for some people. United Way has long realized that transportation is a barrier for folks in our county, she said.

In some cases, it might be that people are elderly and no longer drive or have never driven or that they simply dont have access to a vehicle if they are still driving. And, some people are not able to get to the nonprofits for resources due to other commitments.

Essentially, Helmick said, Ride United gets a request from one of its five partner agencies for a delivery and they pair with Door Dash to make it happen. We utilize what funding is available to request that ride on behalf of the nonprofit, she said.

With many more people seeking the service that initially anticipated, Helmick said, there is a need for more funding. She said the Love United Iredell campaign can make that happen through donations to this particular project.

She said the hope is to expand the number of partners and continue to offer this needed service.

It changes a lot of lives, she said.
NAIROBI, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's flower export earnings declined to 90 billion shillings (about 718 million U.S. dollars) in 2022, down from 110 billion shillings posted in 2021 due to lower demand, the industry lobby said on Tuesday.

Clement Tulezi, chief executive officer of Kenya Flower Council, told journalists in Nairobi, Kenya's capital, that the east African nation exported 210,000 tons of flowers in 2021, but the figure dropped by 15,000 tons in 2022. "Lower consumer demand in key export markets resulted in reduced revenues for the flower sector in 2022."

Government statistics indicate that flowers are one of the country's leading foreign exchange earners alongside tea, tourism, and diaspora remittances. Tulezi revealed that the European Union absorbed approximately 70 percent of Kenya's flower exports.

The East African nation is among the world's leading producers of cut flowers. 
Drivers wont need permits to soak in the breathtaking scenery of the Columbia River Gorge Scenic Highway this summer, as agencies roll back the pilot program after one year.

Last summer, drivers for the first time were required to secure timed-entry permits to drive the waterfall corridor portion of the scenic highway, in an effort to curb traffic and crowds in the Columbia Gorge.

The Oregon Department of Transportation, which rolled out the permits in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, Multnomah County and Columbia Area Transit, said while the program was a success, it will not return for 2023, news first reported Thursday by the Salem Statesman-Journal.

Terra Lingley, ODOTs coordinator for the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, said the program was simply too costly and complicated to continue. She said the pilot program was something like the Cadillac version of the agencies plan to curb crowds, costing close to $1 million to implement for 15 weeks.

We went big to see if it would work, and it did work, but now we need to scale back to the Toyota version, the economy car version, Langley said.

A detailed analysis of the project showed that permits resulted in a significant decrease in traffic along the historic highway, and that more people chose to ride the Columbia Gorge Express bus that runs between Portland and Hood River, with a stop at Multnomah Falls.

What the pilot program didnt seem to resolve was the congestion that tends build up on the scenic highway at Multnomah Falls  an area that will be the focus of the agencies efforts this summer.

Lingley said both eastbound and westbound traffic stalls on at the Multnomah Falls day-use area, as cars wait to turn into a small parking lot thats usually full anyway. Those drivers must also wait for pedestrians coming and going from the main parking lot off Interstate 84.

Thats the highest use crosswalk in the state of Oregon, she said, navigated by roughly 1,600 people an hour at its peak, according to an ODOT study. Because its so narrow, because its so constrained, theres just no solution, and then people get angry.

The solution the agencies are trying this year will be simple: a single flagger, stationed at the crosswalk to wave cars through and allow people to cross safely. Barricades will also be used when the parking lot on the scenic highway fills up, Lingley said, further encouraging drivers to keep moving.

And while drivers wont need to buy permits to drive the scenic highway this year, visitors will still need timed-entry permits to visit Multnomah Falls this year, which are typically required between 9 a.m. an 6 p.m. daily, from the end of May and beginning of September. Exact dates for 2023 have not yet been announced.

Karen Davis, spokesperson for the U.S. Forest Service in the Columbia River Gorge, said the permits at Multnomah Falls, which were first introduced in 2020, have been successful at mitigating the overcrowding and overflowing parking lots that plagued the attraction for years.

Thats not to say its been without flaws. Davis said that people continue to show up without a permit and that some with a permit dont quite understand how they work. A timed-entry permit is purchased for a specific hour, but once in, visitors can stay as long as they want.

Its not perfect, Davis said. In a perfect world we would be able to have someone check permits before they enter the parking lot. We just arent able to do that.

Both permitting systems have been part of a bigger strategy to alleviate crowds in the Columbia River Gorge, which have increased exponentially in recent years as the population in the Portland metropolitan area has grown. Virtually all regions of the state have experienced an increase in outdoor recreation, but the Oregon side of the gorge, squeezed between the Columbia River and sheer basalt cliffs, leaves little room for expansion of amenities.

That constraint has led to a series of experiments that have resulted in an increase in public transportation options, as well as private tours, new options for cyclists and a seasonal permitting system to hike the wildflower trails at Dog Mountain.

In this experimental phase, no plan is set in stone, officials said. Last year, for example, the Multnomah Falls permits changed from $1 per person to $2 per vehicle, a move that saves people money and could encourage visitors to carpool.

Lingley said the ultimate goal is to offer people a menu of transportation alternatives, as well as better incentives to use them. Smaller crowds dont necessarily mean fewer people but rather fewer cars, which officials in the gorge see as the primary issue.

Outdoor recreation is just getting hit really hard, which is great. Im really glad people are getting out, but how do we manage the resource as well as the amount of folks wo want to get out? Lingley said. We dont necessarily want to force, but we want to make sure the benefits of choosing a good solution  are as good or better than driving your personal car out there.
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

Investigated price paths (wholesale) of hydrogen. Credit: Preiselastische Wasserstoffnachfrage in Deutschland  Methodik und Ergebnisse (2023).

Hydrogen is one of the pillars of the energy transition. However, there is still uncertainty about its specific applications and the scope of hydrogen use. A new study by Fraunhofer ISI addresses this issue and looks at the price-elastic demand for hydrogen in sectors such as industry, transport and energy conversion.

This study was conducted as part of the "HyPatGlobal Atlas of H2 Potential" project. Specialized simulation models are used to depict alternative ways of achieving the climate goals.

Hydrogen and its derivatives have an important role to play in meeting climate goals, especially in achieving greenhouse gas neutralitythis is also highlighted in the German and European hydrogen strategies. However, it is still unclear how extensively hydrogen should be in used in which applications. A key criterion here is the price of hydrogen and its ability to compete with other options such as direct electrification, for example.

How will the demand for hydrogen develop in specific sectors under the goal of achieving greenhouse gas neutrality in 2045? The new study by Fraunhofer ISI and Energy Systems Analysis AssociatesESA "Price-Elastic Demand for Hydrogen in GermanyMethodology and Results" tries to answer this question. Applications in industry, transport and energy conversion are analyzed using techno-economic, agent-based simulation models.

This approach enables statements to be made with respect to the price elasticities of hydrogen demand. Building heat and international air and maritime transport are also taken into account, but using the findings from other studies rather than our own modeling. The simulation models map the alternative options for achieving the climate goals and assess these from an economic viewpointfor example, whether electric or fuel cell cars are economically more viable depending on the underlying prices.

Important drivers of hydrogen demand

One of the key results of the study according to Prof. Martin Wietschel, who led the project at Fraunhofer ISI, is "that so-called no-regret applications are a very important driver of hydrogen demandthese are applications for which there are hardly any economically-attractive alternative technology options for achieving Germany's ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets." This lack of alternatives means that prices are largely inelastic and likely to remain relatively high in the future.

Wietschel continues, "This is especially true for the energy and material use of hydrogen in certain applications in industry such as in the steel or basic chemicals sectors. The calculations in the study show that demand here will amount to approx. 250 TWh in 2045, which is roughly 10 percent of today's final energy demand in Germany."

However, to achieve this, enormous electrolysis capacities of around 20 GW would have to be built in Germany alone, in other words, about 40 times the current globally installed electrolysis capacitywhich is not only capital-intensive and time-consuming, but also requires rapid development.

In the transport sector and in international air and maritime transport, in particular, there is also likely to be a high, price-inelastic demand for synthetic fuels to reduce greenhouse gases (209 TWh in 2045), which could be met primarily by hydrogen and biogenic sources. This implies that hydrogen is not likely to be used in cars, trucks, buses or rail because there is the alternative of direct electrification here.

A more cost-favorable use of hydrogen is only possible at wholesale prices below 90 Euro/MWh in 2045, or even much lower, depending on the application. At a price of 50 Euro/MWh, the analyses yield a total demand for hydrogen of 476 TWh in 2045. However, this is not very likely due to diverse costs for production, transport or distribution.

Market prices significantly above 90 Euro/MWh in 2045 seem much more realistic. This is why it does not seem sensible to provide large-scale support for hydrogen use in sectors such as building heat, land-based transport or energy use in industry.

Prices will co-determine how much hydrogen will be used in future

In the energy conversion sector, however, demand for hydrogen could be relatively price-elasticin a wholesale price range from 130 to 90 Euro/MWh. This is related to the fact that options to balance supply and demand are necessary for the targeted expansion of renewable energies.

Here, applications to use hydrogen storage and reconversion into electricity compete, among others, with applications to increase the flexibility of demand in the system, such as heat pumps, heat networks or electric vehicles. In addition, there is the option to use other storage options or to deploy even more

The results for 2030 show that hydrogen demand at this time will not be very high at just over 40 TWh. Certain industrial applications could dominate the demand for hydrogen. Support should focus on these in the coming years. In any case, low wholesale prices are not to be expected and are therefore not likely to contribute to raising the demand for hydrogen.
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Bill Ford, Executive Chairman of Ford Motor Company, announces at a press conference that Ford will be partnering with the world's largest battery company, a China-based company called Contemporary Amperex Technology, to create an electric-vehicle battery plant in Marshall, Michigan.

US auto manufacturer Ford announced Monday that it will build a new $3.5 billion battery plant in Michigan, diversifying its battery offerings with technology from a Chinese company as it boosts electric vehicle production.

Ford Chairman Bill Ford and other company brass joined Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer at an event to tout the venture, which involves a partnership with Chinese firm Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.

Whitmer, a Democrat, touted the announcement as "another win for Michigan," citing the addition of 2,500 new manufacturing jobs.

Ford had previously considered siting the factory in Virginia, but the idea was nixed by Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin in a move that was seen as a sign of Youngkin's ambitions to enter the 2024 Republican presidential race.

Ford said the Marshall, Michigan projectlocated about 100 miles west of Detroitwill diversify the company's battery profile away from its current exclusive use of nickel cobalt manganese (NCM), which are costly to produce because of raw material scarcity.

At Marshall, Ford will manufacture lithium iron phosphate batteries beginning in 2026. The technology involves less expensive raw materials and can tolerate more frequent and faster charging than NCM batteries, the company said.

Under the relationship with Contemporary Amperex, a wholly-owned Ford subsidiary would manufacture the battery cells using lithium iron phosphate battery cell knowledge and services provided by Contemporary Amperex, Ford said.

The auto giant is targeting annual global output of 600,000 electric vehicles by end-2023 and two million by the end of 2026.

"Ford's electric vehicle lineup has generated huge demand," said Chief Executive Jim Farley.

He added that to get as many electric vehicles to customers as possible, Ford was the "first automaker to commit" to building both types of batteries in the United States.

 2023 AFP
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

This combination of 2017-2022 photos shows the logos of Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat on mobile devices. Ohio's governor wants the state to require parental consent for kids under 16 to get new accounts on TikTok, Snapchat and other social media platforms. Republican Gov. Mike DeWine's two-year budget proposal, Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023 would create a law that social media companies must obtain a parent's permission for children to sign up for social media and gaming apps. Credit: AP Photo, File

Ohio's governor wants the state to require parental consent for kids under 16 to get new accounts on TikTok, Snapchat and other social media platforms.

Republican Gov. Mike DeWine's two-year budget proposal would create a law that social media companies must obtain a parent's permission for children to sign up for social media and gaming apps. The proposal also names YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, but the proposal would apply broadly, to "any online web site, online service, online product, or online feature that requires consumer consent to register, sign up, or otherwise create a unique username."

Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, who is driving the initiative, said it would not apply to "e-commerce" or "online shopping."

"Social media companies produce a product that is intentionally addictive to our children and has been proven harmful to kids," Husted said. "Parents should know about it before it happens and social media companies should be held accountable."

Companies subject to the regulations would have to produce methods to determine if a user is under 16 and send written confirmation to parents to verify their consent is legitimate. If parents do not sign off on the companies' terms of service, their children couldn't use the platforms. The restrictions would apply only to new account creation.

Social media companies also would have to create an introductory screen known as a "splash page" for age verification. If the user indicates they're under 16, a parent could verify consent by signing a digital form, providing government identification, connecting with "trained personnel" over video chat, using a credit or debit card or other online payment system, or calling a toll-free number.

A similar bill has received bipartisan support in the Democratic-majority Connecticut Legislature but hasn't yet gone to a vote.

 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Mathew Haipare (L) poses for a photo with his mother (C) and Elizabeth Hamurenge, the coordinator of a studio, in Windhoek, Namibia, on Feb. 13, 2023. (Photo by Ndalimpinga Iita/Xinhua)

WINDHOEK, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- A group of Namibian children on Monday recorded audio programs to be aired on the national Namibian Broadcasting Corporation.

Mathew Haipare, 13, along with his peers, was speaking his mind about social issues of children's concern in a studio, dubbed Uitani Childline Radio, in Windhoek, the capital of Nambia.

As a brainchild of Lifeline Childline Namibia, an institution that provides free counseling to locals, the studio was launched in 2005 to allow children to drive their own messaging for greater impact.

The content, which is produced from the studio and lasts 30 minutes to an hour for one show, is pre-recorded and aired on the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation and social media platforms.

Stanley Similo, director general of Namibian Broadcasting Corporation, said the children's program is broadcast every Saturday morning and has grown into a popular slot for local children keen to be informed about their rights.

"It has reached children in the deepest rural areas, and its impact is immeasurable," he said.

About 20 children are currently attached to the studio as presenters, creating content, said Elizabeth Hamurenge, the coordinator of the studio, who guides the young presenters, and oversees the quality of the programs.

According to her, since its establishment, the studio has given young people a place to advocate for their peers through content appropriate for their age and speak their minds.

"I wanted to join it because I have been trying to help homeless kids. I wanted to use my voice to be their voice," said Haipare, who joined the studio in February 2022. Haipare's role includes conducting research on the topics and interviewing experts to provide better insight into the issues.

With the guidance of the coordinator, Haipare chooses topics ranging from bullying, abuse, careers, and internet safety to empowering youngsters to tackle social challenges.

"It has not only allowed me to demonstrate my talent, but is resourceful to kids because we talk what kids talk about, and nobody knows children's struggles like children do," he said.

The children-produced shows have become instrumental in shaping the mindset of many children in Namibia, gaining children's trust, and becoming their confidante.

"I like listening to the shows because I learn new things and can relate to the topics. It has also allowed me to stand up for myself in difficult situations," said 14-year-old Eline David, an avid listener of the show.

Far and beyond the studio walls and instruments, the young aspiring presenters also undergo training to be equipped with technical and soft skills. "We were trained by professionals who taught us aspects like punctuality and conduct," Haipare said.

Haipare also got chances to travel to local places as part of the fieldwork, which he said has exposed him to different cultures and enhanced his understanding of the challenges children face. Away from the studio microphone, children in the community engage him on various topics he hosted on the radio and equally seek advice.

As Namibia joined the rest of the world in commemorating World Radio Day under the theme of "Radio and Peace" Monday, Haipare said the radio remains critical to fostering unity, and it has helped him exude passion for positively impacting the lives of fellow children.

"It is important because it helps our listeners to communicate about their daily struggles and help each other find solutions. Radio is a safe platform, and the more we find solutions to problems, the more we promote peace," he said.

The studio is sustained with funding from Lifeline Childline, donors, and key partners, said Hamurenge, the coordinator of the studio, adding that the studio is in the process of applying for a broadcast radio license to become an independent and live station, enabling more robust interaction of children and impacting children who face challenges in their communities. 

Mathew Haipare presents a radio show at a studio in Windhoek, Namibia, on Feb. 13, 2023. (Photo by Ndalimpinga Iita/Xinhua)
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Ford Motor Co. plans to build a $3.5 billion factory in Michigan that would employ at least 2,500 people to make lower-cost batteries for a variety of new and existing electric vehicles. Virginia dropped out of the race for the project.

The plant, to be built on land being readied for industrial development about 100 miles west of Detroit, would start making batteries in 2026. It would crank out 35 gigawatt hours worth of batteries, enough to supply 400,000 vehicles per year, Ford said.

The factory near the city of Marshall would produce batteries with a lithium-iron-phosphate chemistry, which is cheaper than the current nickel-cobalt-manganese chemistry now used in many EV batteries.

Consumers could then choose whether they wanted the battery with lower range and cost, or pay more for higher range and power. The company would not give any prices just yet.

The whole intent here is to make EVs more affordable and accessible to customers, said Marin Gjaja, chief marketing officer for Fords electric vehicles.

Ford says a wholly owned subsidiary would own the factory and employ the workers. But Chinas Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited, or CATL, which is known for its lithium-iron-phosphate expertise, would supply technology, some equipment and workers.

The announcement comes at a time of strained U.S.-China relations, and the Biden administration is offering tax credits for businesses to create a U.S. supply chain for electric vehicle batteries. In order to give a full $7,500 per vehicle tax credit to customers, EV batteries will not be able to have metals or components from China in them.

Ford is hoping the structure of the plant will defuse criticism of spending state tax incentive money on a joint-venture factory that would be part-owned by a Chinese company.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin in January characterized the project as a front for the Chinese Communist Party that would raise national security concerns. At the time, Virginia had not offered an incentive package to Ford.

Ford had been in talks about having the plant on the Southern Virginia Mega Site at Berry Hill in Pittsylvania County.

Youngkin said last month that Ford would build the building but a company that is majorly influenced by the Chinese Communist Party was going to operate the plant and the employees were going to work for the Chinese Communist Party-controlled company.

Youngkin also said he did not like the way that the deal was structured, asserting that they were going to use that in order to try to tap into taxpayer benefits at the federal level that were specifically designated for non-Chinese Communist Party entities.

The company expects to take advantage of U.S. factory tax credits  buyers initially would get at least $3,750 in tax credits because the vehicles are produced in North America. Gjaja said that over time they could get the full $7,500 credit, depending on sourcing of battery minerals.

Lithium-iron-phosphate batteries would go into standard-range versions of Fords EVs. For instance, the lowest price Mustang Mach-E electric SUV would get an LFP battery and would be able to travel 247 miles per charge. The long range version of the Mach-E will have a nickel-cobalt-manganese chemistry that takes it to 310 miles per charge.

The plant was revealed Monday at a meeting of the Michigan Strategic Fund, which approved a large tax incentive package for the project.

Gabby Bruno, director of economic development for Ford, said there was no lack of competition for this project. She said Michigan competed against numerous states and countries to secure the investment.

About $210 million for the Ford plant came from Michigans Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve Fund, known as SOAR, which was set up to lure industry and jobs to the state. But the total size of the incentive package was not clear.

The SOAR Fund has received nearly $1.8 billion from the states general fund since it was first created in December of 2021.

A tax-relief bill passed in the Michigan House last week could send up to $1.5 billion over three fiscal years to the SOAR Fund in addition to a $800 million one-time deposit that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer outlined in her budget proposal last week.

The tax-relief bill, which still needs to be approved by the state Senate, where Democrats hold a two-seat majority, has been heavily criticized by Republicans for giving too little to taxpayers and too much to large corporations.
Alice Culbertson had no idea she was being watched while sitting before the fire in the front room of her rural Hall County home. She was all alone in the silent house.

Her husband, Carl, and 11-year-old step-daughter, Viola, had just left for a dance at the Platt Duetsche in Grand Island. While she rocked with needlework in her hands, a man stood on her front porch with a shotgun in his hands.

From the darkness the gun roared as the shell tore through the screen door and glass window before striking Alice in the side of her head. She fell forward from her chair and landed on the parlor floor. It was there that Carl Culbertson discovered her lifeless body when he returned home from the dance at 2 a.m. on March 27, 1932.

Sheriff Dan Sanders arrived at the Culbertson farm around 3 a.m. with Dr. H.B. Boyden and County Attorney A.L. Joseph. The sheriff found two faint footprints near the porch. There were no shells found, so the sheriff concluded the killer had taken the spent shell with him.

Carl Culbertson told the sheriff that he and Viola had left the farm around 8:30 the night before and went straight to the Platt Duetsche. Since he was one of the committeemen in charge of the dance, he remained there until it was over. Dr. Boydens initial examination placed the time of death at about four hours before he arrived, which would have been about an hour or so before midnight.

Carl and Alice Culbertson had been married just five months when she was murdered. Carl had lost his first wife, Violas mother, a few years earlier. Alice had been divorced from her first husband for quite some time and both of her daughters were grown and out of the home before she married Carl.

Her first husband, Fred Timpke, lived in California and was ruled out early as a possible suspect. Alice came from an old and respected pioneer family and she had no known enemies, which made the case all the more perplexing for authorities.

County Attorney Joseph asked Carl to accompany him to his office to answer some questions. Sheriff Sanders stayed at the Culbertson farm. While searching the property, the sheriff found Culbertsons double-barreled, 12-gauge shotgun and saw no evidence that it was recently fired.

The sheriff was puzzled as to how the perpetrator could sneak up on Mrs. Culbertson since there was a large shepherd dog that greeted every person who arrived with a very loud and prolonged bark. Relatives confirmed that the dog stayed around the house and greeted all strangers with the same bark.

Upon returning to Grand Island, the sheriff began questioning everyone who attended the dance the prior night. While Carl Culbertson was seen at the dance, no one remembered seeing him before 10 p.m. that night. Upon questioning Culbertson about the time, he stated that he had stopped by a friends house on the way to Grand Island.

The sheriff was becoming suspicious of Culbertsons cool and calm demeanor under questioning, and his lack of interest or concern with how the investigation was proceeding. He assigned two deputies to watch the Culbertson farm and informed Carl that they were there for his protection until the culprit was caught. The sheriff had a gunsmith re-examine the shotgun he found at the farm. The gunsmith reported that the gun was clean  however, the left firing pin was bright and shiny, whereas the right pin was corroded with dust and dirt.

On March 30, both Carl and Viola Culbertson were being held by the sheriff as the investigation continued. Carl was held at the Hall County Jail and Viola was being held at an undisclosed location.

Alice Culbertsons funeral was held on Friday, April 1, while her husband remained in custody.

After 12 hours of questioning, Carl finally confessed to the crime. County Attorney Joseph filed a charge of first-degree murder against Carl for the death of his wife Alice.

Carl confessed that he had started for the dance on March 26 at 8:30 p.m. However, before leaving the farm he put Viola in the automobile and went around to the other side of the house, where he fired and concealed his gun before he drove away.

Culbertson stated he felt no sorrow over the death of his wife. Instead, after his confession he claimed that he felt greatly relieved.

Authorities were shocked to learn that 11-year-old Viola had known of her fathers plans to kill his wife before that night. She told officers that she had tried many times over the weeks leading up to that night to persuade her father to apply for a divorce rather than commit murder. She claimed to have told him that he would surely come to grief if he carried out his plan.

However, on the night of the dance, Carl told his daughter that he finally had a chance to do it. Viola told the authorities that she had heard the shot and was told while they were driving away that her step-mother was dead.

At the end of April, Carl Culbertsons trial was held in Grand Island and he pled guilty to murder in the first degree. Witnesses were called to provide testimony to jurors who would decide if Culbertson would be sentenced to death in the electric chair or face life imprisonment.

George and Otto Gisenhagen, brothers of Alice Culbertson, were called to the stand by the state. The brothers requested that Carl be sentenced to life imprisonment. The jury returned with a life sentence.

Carl Culbertson was delivered to the state penitentiary in Lincoln on May 10, 1932. He served 20 years behind bars and was released in 1952 at the age of 71. He died on July 4, 1957.
MARION  Veterans Airport of Southern Illinois has made a recommendation to U.S. Department of Transportation for passenger service in and out of the airport.

We have recommended to U.S. DOT the proposal submitted by Contour, Doug Kimmel, airport director, said.

The airports board met on Thursday, Feb 9. Kimmel said they felt Contours proposal was the most likely to bring more passengers to the airport.

Contour won support not only from the airport board, but also received the most votes on the online survey posted on the airports website.

Contour will fly to both OHare and Nashville. Their flights to Chicago will be on a 30-passenger jet. The plane was built to hold more passengers, but they reconfigured the jets to provide more comfort.

During their presentation to the airport, Contour officials said they would work out a schedule with the airport if they were selected. They said they will not have flights more than $99.

In early November, Cape Air filed a notice to terminate service at the airport, along with service at airports in Owensboro and Kirksville, in order to rebid the same routes with the U.S. Department of Transportation under the essential air service program.

Cape Air has provided passenger service to Marion under the essential air service program for about 13 years, according to Kimmel.

By terminating their contract with U.S. DOT, Cape Air opened the bidding process to other airlines.

Veterans Airport received three proposals to provide passenger air service in Marion.

Cape Air proposed a similar flight plan to the one it currently operates from the airport. They offer 24 flights to and from Lambert International Airport in St. Louis and 12 flights to and from Nashville International Airport in Tennessee.

Southern Airways proposed offering flights to St. Louis and OHare International Airport in Chicago. The planes flying to St. Louis would be similar to Cape Airs planes. A larger plane would fly to Chicago.

Kimmel said most of the comments submitted with the survey were specifically about accessing Chicago. Patrons were looking for access to a larger airport and wanted to fly on a larger aircraft.

A big factor for the airport board was Contour said they expected roughly 14,000 passengers per year. Southern projected about 12,000 with Cape Air only projecting 9,500 passengers.

Kimmel said the airport received several calls from people in Cape Girardeau and Paducah interested in flights to Chicago. Both airports had passenger service from Skywest Airlines, and lost that air service. They have been through the bidding process and are now both served by Contour.

Each of the three airports will have different destinations. Cape offers flights to Nashville. Paducah has flights to Charlotte, North Carolina. Marion will offer flights to Chicago. Kimmel said that gives people more options for connecting to fights and destinations.

The U.S. DOT has the final decision and will decide on a contract for the airport in a couple months. Once they make a decision, Kimmel said it will take two or three months for flights to begin.

Contour is also offering proposals for Kirksville, Missouri, and Owensboro, Kentucky. They could combine them into one contract.
Students in the SIU accounting and finance programs recently took top honors in the Deloitte FanTAXtic Case Competition, a national challenge which required them to present solutions to business challenges as well as consider the business and tax implications of the problems presented.

The overall intent of the competition is to introduce accounting and tax to college students, explained Deloitte Tax LLP Managing Director and program sponsor Jason Hakerem. The competition is a real-world example of a client situation that we provide the teams. Part of the scoring is tax technical  how they did with the recommended answer, but the other is the soft skills  making the presentations.

The competition attracted dozens of colleges and universities which competed first in eight regional events. The top two from each region advanced to the national finals in Texas. It was there that the five SIU students took top honors, outscoring schools including the University of Southern California, Brigham Young University, the University of Tennessee and the University of California Los Angeles. What makes the achievement even more significant is that this was the first time an SIU team participated in the competition.

Some of the best accounting programs in the country were at this national competition. For our program to win demonstrates the extraordinary program and students that we have at the SIU School of Accountancy, said Tim Hurley, the accounting clinical assistant professor who serves as the teams faculty adviser.

Hurley said the SIU squad was selected by faculty members. Competition rules required the team to include one senior and one junior; with underclassmen filling the remaining three spots.

All of us had the same mindset going into the nationals and we did at the regional, Mackenzie Piazza, a senior in accounting and finance from Normal, Illinois, said. We were excited to go down and show them we could compete.

Piazza said winning the competition does more than give SIU bragging rights or status, it already has impacted her career search.

Deloitte is one of the highest-revenue-earning professional firms in the world, so having that on your resume is super recognizable. Ive already had an interviewer call me and say to me he would love to have a national champion on his team, she said.

Hurley added that the competition gives students a taste of real world experience and allows them to work on the non-numbers part of accounting.

It gives them the opportunity to work with a client, work on a problem together and it really enhances their team building, their presentation skills, problem solving and it builds confidence, Hurley added. Its just overall, a great opportunity.

Along with Piazza, the team included Matthew Carazco, a junior in accounting from Des Plaines, sophomore accounting major Lexie Lingle of Anna, freshman finance major Ben Morgan from Kankakee and Jayda Smith a sophomore in accounting from Marion.

The team claimed a $10,000 prize for winning the national competition.

Baby boomer baby names that have gone out of style Baby boomer baby names that have gone out of style #50. Blanche (girls) #49. Earlene (girls) #48. Jerry (girls) #47. Cleveland (boys) #46. Merle (boys) #45. Earnestine (girls) #44. Dick (boys) #43. Carey (boys) #42. Garland (boys) #41. Bettye (girls) #40. Myrtle (girls) #39. Elbert (boys) #38. Gayla (girls) #37. Sammie (boys) #36. Ernie (boys) #35. Bart (boys) #34. Dona (girls) #33. Ed (boys) #32. Curt (boys) #31. Gerry (boys) #30. Debby (girls) #29. Melba (girls) #28. Bert (boys) #27. Kathi (girls) #26. Diann (girls) #25. Dee (girls) #24. Carroll (boys) #23. Saundra (girls) #22. Phil (boys) #21. Doyle (boys) #20. Wilbert (boys) #19. Sondra (girls) #18. Gay (girls) #17. Chuck (boys) #16. Laverne (girls) #15. Horace (boys) #14. Delbert (boys) #13. Pat (boys) #12. Pat (girls) #11. Deloris (girls) #10. Gale (girls) #9. Doug (boys) #8. Ronda (girls) #7. Pam (girls) #6. Lynn (boys) #5. Kim (boys) #4. Shelia (girls) #3. Patty (girls) #2. Bob (boys) #1. Jan (girls)
The Lord commanded us to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves. We were told that all the law is based on these two commandments. But, there is another law everyone ought to equally obey, and that is, Thou shalt talk to thy neighbor.

This past Sunday, I was strolling my son around our little neighborhood, and, having successfully seen no one along the way, I was turning the corner for home when I caught sight of my neighbor working on his truck. Instantly a sense of discomfort shot through me like a syringe of icy saline, for I noticed that he noticed me and was prepared  against all common decency and unspoken mores  to stop and talk to me.

I am not shy. I do not find talking to people difficult  I am a journalist after all. But when it comes to talking to neighbors, I get queasy in my stomach, like I am a little boy talking with a new old uncle. Why is this?

One reason might be that, just like the old uncle, the neighbor knows a little (or a lot) about me, even though he hasn't met me, unlike a complete stranger on a bus or at a grocery store, who knows no more of me than Adam. There is a loss of privacy with our neighbor, which makes talking a little awkward, since we think we know something about each other already, and we know they know something about us. We observe our neighbors closely  it is something of a habit or hobby of mine, though I seldom if ever talk to them. When we do, though, we learn that no amount of observation prepares us for what we might learn in a five minute chat on the street.

I learned of my neighbor what I could not possibly discover by observation  or on Halloween. I learned his name, for starters, his age, and that he was retired from the Navy, just like me! He was a medical deep sea diver. And just watch "Men of Honor" to get an idea of how awesome Navy divers are  a lot more awesome than Navy journalists, let me tell you. I also learned that he was a truck driver, and had moved to the area because his daughter wanted him and his wife to move to the area. He met his wife in the Navy, and she was a medical corpsman, too. He lived in the deep south, Mississippi if I recall correctly, but you couldn't tell it by his accent. I learned these things, and so many more unconscious or nonverbal things about my neighbor which make up a general outline of his character.

And he learned from me that I was medically retired from the Navy with kidney disease and that I am a reporter and photographer for The Southern, and perhaps a good deal about my character. Though this exchange only lasted a few minutes, the transaction of biographical and psychological information paid off. I feel more neighborly now, and look forward to the next time I see him out and about, so I can wish him a happy day by his first name.

I know that avoiding neighbors isn't just some idiosyncrasy of mine, for the simple reason that none but a few of my neighbors have stopped to say hello and introduce themselves. One did so only to ask when the cable was going to be installed; another to see about a fence install. Usually, Trick-or-Treat night gives us the opportunity to get to know our neighbors better. But this past year, almost no one was passing out candy in our neighborhood, and the ones we talked to who were were dressed up as bloody clowns, so we really couldn't get a sense of them.

Many think the Greatest Commandment means giving food or shelter to the poor, which it does, of course. But perhaps there is more to the Law of Love than satisfying our neighbor's bodily needs. Maybe we are called to get to know our neighbor, too, to take a few minutes out of our busy lives to acknowledge the existence of our fellow human beings and take some interest in their lives as well.

Come to think of it, can one even love God or our neighbor if we don't talk to either of them?
NEW DELHI, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Income tax department officials in India Tuesday raided offices of the United Kingdom's national broadcaster British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in New Delhi and Mumbai, multiple media reports said.

According to the reports, the income tax officials arrived at the BBC offices for searches.

However, some reports quoting their sources said the tax officials carried out a "survey" over allegations of international taxation and transfer pricing irregularities involving the BBC.

"Documents were seized and phones and laptops of journalists were taken away," a local television news channel NDTV said. "The offices will be sealed for the duration of the survey and employees have been asked not to share details with anyone else."

The NDTV report quoted the tax officials as saying this was a survey, not a search, and that the phones would be returned.

"We needed some clarifications and for that our team is visiting the BBC offices and we are carrying out a survey. Our officers have gone to check account books, these are not searches," said NDTV report.

Another local media report quoting officials said they were looking into documents relating to the company's business operations in India.

The raid came weeks after the BBC aired a two-part documentary series on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which touched up Modi's role in the 2002 Gujarat riots, who was the chief minister of the state then.

India blocked the documentary film soon after its release last month by invoking emergency powers under information and technology laws, ordering social media companies to remove the series.

India's top court last week rejected a request for a complete ban on the BBC in India over the documentary, calling the petition "entirely misconceived". 
CHARLESTON  Few have navigated the turbulent politics of the Trump era like Nikki Haley.

In early 2016, the then-South Carolina governor and Bamberg native said she was "embarrassed" by candidate Donald Trump and decried his reluctance to condemn white supremacists. Nine months later, she agreed to join his Cabinet, serving as a key validator as Trump sought to win over skeptical world leaders and voters at home.

And shortly after Trump left the White House, Haley, whose resume by then included an ambassadorship to the United Nations, vowed not to step in the way if he ran for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Yet on Wednesday, she is poised to become the first major Republican candidate to enter the race against him.

"It's going to be quite the high-wire act," said veteran Republican strategist Terry Sullivan. "She says she's always been an underdog. She will be again."

The 51-year-old Haley may be the first to take on Trump, but a half-dozen or more high-profile Republicans are expected to join the GOP's 2024 presidential nomination contest over the coming months. Some would-be competitors may be more popular than Haley even in South Carolina, where she lives and has established a campaign headquarters.

Likely rivals include Sen. Tim Scott, a fellow South Carolinian and perhaps the most celebrated elected official in a state where Trump has already locked up endorsements from the governor and its senior senator, Lindsey Graham. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence could also be formidable foes should they run, as widely expected.

Indeed, on the eve of this week's announcement, there is broad agreement that Haley  the only Republican woman of color expected in the 2024 contest, a politician who loves to remind people that she has never lost an election  is about to be tested as never before. Trump, for instance, has already stepped up his attacks on Haley.

But allies describe the former governor, who is the daughter of Indian immigrants, as a savvy executive uniquely positioned to lead a new generation of Republicans. They understand that the fight ahead could get ugly.

"She took the bull by the horns and said, 'That doesn't matter to me, I'm going to run,'" said longtime supporter Gavin J. Smith. "She did that when she ran for governor, and that's what you're going to see when she runs for president."

Perhaps more than anyone this young presidential primary season, Haley personifies the Republican Party's shifting views on Trump. Her reversal on whether to challenge the former president was based less on concerns about his divisive leadership or policy disagreements than the growing belief within the GOP that Trump is losing political strength.

New York-based Republican donor Eric Levine says he's convinced that another Trump Republican nomination would lead to his party's destruction. Haley, he said, is among the three favorite Trump alternatives.

"I think as a woman of color and a daughter of legal immigrants from India, she'd give the Democratic Party no reason to exist. All their woke crap goes out the window," Levine said. "I think she's a spectacular candidate."

Haley's announcement will take place Wednesday in Charleston, the historic coastal city where her campaign will be based. Almost immediately, she'll travel to meet voters in New Hampshire and Iowa.

She's entrusted her campaign to a collection of senior staff led by longtime aides. Betsy Ankney, who heads up Haley's PAC, will manage the campaign, with the PAC's development director, Mary Kate Johnson, as finance director, Haley's team told The Associated Press.

Longtime Haley adviser Chaney Denton and Nachama Soloveichik, who was a spokeswoman for recently retired Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey, will head up communications. Strategist Jon Lerner will serve as senior adviser, and Barney Keller of Jamestown Associates will be Haley's media consultant.

For Haley, this week's launch marks a significant step on a long road that began in South Carolina's "Good Old Boys Club," she wrote in a Friday fundraising appeal.

"People thought I was too brown  too female  too young  too conservative  too principled," she wrote.

Born in 1972 in rural South Carolina, Haley has long spoken of a Southern rural childhood in which she felt she didn't fit. She was raised in the Sikh faith with a mother who wore traditional saris, and a father clad in a turban.

"Nikki has been regularly underestimated," said Catherine Templeton, a Republican who served Haley in two roles, leading South Carolina's labor and public health agencies. "But it makes her work harder."

In her first campaign in 2004, Haley, formerly an accountant, defeated the longest-serving member of South Carolina's House. After six years in the Legislature, she was considered a longshot when she mounted her 2010 gubernatorial campaign.

The GOP field was filled with more experienced politicians, and at times, she faced blatant racism. Then-state Sen. Jake Knotts appeared on a talk show and used a racial slur in reference to Haley. He apologized, saying it was meant as a joke.

Still, Haley became the first woman and person of color elected South Carolina's governor  and the nation's youngest state executive. After winning reelection in 2014, her second term was marred by crisis.

She spent weeks attending funerals of Black parishioners gunned down by a self-avowed white supremacist at a Charleston church in 2015. Later that year, she pushed for and signed legislation to remove the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds, where it had flown for more than 50 years.

Haley's political skills were tested in a different way in 2016, as Trump went from late-night television punchline to serious Republican presidential contender.

She endorsed Florida Sen. Marco Rubio ahead of South Carolina's high-stakes Republican primary, then backed Texas Sen. Ted Cruz once Rubio was knocked out.

Then, Haley described Trump as "everything a governor doesn't want in a president." She also said she was "embarrassed" by his attacks against former President George W. Bush and condemned Trump's reluctance to disavow the KKK.

But shortly after Trump won the presidency, she agreed to serve as the new administration's ambassador to the United Nations, a Cabinet-level position.

"I proudly serve in this administration, and I enthusiastically support most of its decisions and the direction it is taking the country," Haley said in a 2018 op-ed.

Later that year, Haley abruptly announced her departure from the U.N. in the wake of an ethics probe, fueling speculation that she might challenge Trump in 2020 or replace Pence on the ticket. Neither happened.

Instead, Haley returned to South Carolina, joined the board of aircraft manufacturer Boeing Co. and hit the lucrative speaking circuit, reportedly commanding fees as high as $200,000. She also penned two books.

Her public support for Trump continued even after the attack on the Capitol.

"I'm really proud of the successes of the Trump administration. Whether it was foreign policy or domestic policy, we should embrace those," she tweeted three weeks after the insurrection.

It's unclear whether such platitudes will give Haley much cushion in a party that, for now, remains dominated by Trump and his supporters. Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, the No. 3 House Republican, has already endorsed Trump's 2024 bid. While she declined to comment directly on Haley's candidacy, she insisted that Trump would defeat any Republican challenger "by massive margins."

"It is time for Republicans to unite around the most popular Republican in America," she said of Trump.

Rob Godfrey, a longtime Haley adviser who served for a time as her chief spokesman, said his former boss should be prepared to go on offense during what is sure to be a tumultuous campaign.

"She should approach this campaign as she has approached any other - disciplined, ignoring distractions, and ready to land a hard counter punch or two," he said. "When you are running against a chaos candidate, which she is until someone else jumps in, you never know what is around the corner."
A pathologist detailed the close range shots that killed Alex Murdaugh's wife and son as prosecutors on Monday started winding up their case in the disgraced South Carolina attorney's double murder trial.

But the future of the trial could be in jeopardy. Two jurors were dismissed Monday morning after contracting COVID-19, leaving just three alternates available as the trial's fourth week started. Both sides suggested delaying the trial in case the coronavirus might be spreading though the jury and others in court, but Judge Clifton Newman decided to continue.

"At the moment, we are going to encourage everyone here to mask up for your own protection as well as the protection of these proceedings and each other," Newman told the courtroom, which has been packed with more than 200 people for the past two weeks.

Murdaugh, 54, faces 30 years to life in prison if convicted of murdering his wife, 52-year-old Maggie, and their 22-year-old son Paul near kennels at the family's Colleton County home on June 7, 2021. Prosecutors have said he killed his family in order to buy time to cover up other crimes for which he is accused, including stealing money from clients and insurance fraud.

Alex Murdaugh has adamantly denied killing his wife and son.

Pathologist Dr. Ellen Riemer gave some of the most graphic testimony of the trial Monday as she detailed what she found during the autopsies of the victims.

Paul Mudaugh was shot twice with a shotgun. The first wound skirted his chest with pellets. The second shot was to his head and was so violent it left his skull nearly empty, Riemer said.

Maggie Murdaugh was hit by four or five bullets. The first two wounds happened as she faced the shooter and weren't fatal, but a bullet did hit her kidney, the pathologist said.

"She had projectiles, ammunition going through her left kidney, you can imagine that was a very painful wound and could have cause her to fold over in pain.," Riemer said.

While bent over facing away from the shooter, the fatal shot then went into and out of her chest and into her face. "It basically destroyed her brain," Riemer said.

While the pathologist stood in front of the jury, drawing on diagrams and detailing her autopsy photographs, Alex Murdaugh sat at the defense table, distraught or crying at times. He fidgeted with a yellow highlighter and the disbarred attorney seemed so distracted that it took him several seconds to stand when the bailiff said "All rise!" as the judge left the bench at the end of the day.

The defense will start its cross examination of Riemer on Tuesday.

Earlier Monday, state agents testified about DNA.

Genetic material from all three Murdaughs were found on the shirt Alex Murdaugh was wearing when he found the bodies after returning home from visiting his ailing mother. State Law Enforcement Division agent Sara Zapata testified

But Zapata said it wasn't blood and the defense said it isn't unusual for people who spend time together to get their DNA on clothes and other items and Alex Murdaugh said he checked on the bodies after he found them.

DNA was also found under Maggie Murdaugh's fingernails and it didn't match her husband or son, Zapata said on cross examination.

Further testing wasn't done on the DNA, including sending it to a nationwide database to see if there was a match, the agent said.

DNA tests didn't find genetic material from anyone tested on a blue raincoat found at the house of Alex Murdaugh's mother, Zapata said. Earlier testimony said the inside lining of the coat had a large amount of gunshot residue inside.

DNA from a number of people who volunteered samples  other workers on the Murdaugh property, the family of a teen killed in a crash by a boat driven by Paul Murdaugh and other family members of Alex Murdaugh  was not found on items from the crime scene, Zapata said.

Monday marked the 13th day of testimony with prosecutors still presenting their case.

The dangers of a long trial seemed even more evident with the COVID-19 news. Along with the two jurors, the clerk of court also has the virus, the judge said.

Newman said jurors agreed to wear masks. He rejected suggestions from both the defense and prosecutors to delay the trial until that second round of tests Wednesday, reduce the over 200 people allowed to attend the trial each day or order everyone in the courtroom to wear masks other than testifying witnesses and questioning attorneys.

Jurors will be tested again Wednesday, the judge said.

"My only concern is we don't create train wreck with this jury," said defense attorney Dick Harpootlian, who immediately began wearing a mask.

Prosecutor Creighton Waters said he agreed with the defense that delaying the trial for a few days to make sure the virus isn't spreading is much better than losing so many jurors there has to be a mistrial and three weeks of work is gone. He also suggested limiting the number of people inside the large, century-old courtroom. The trial is being livestreamed and shown on television.

"A little less numbers might be warranted. None of us want to limit anything, but we're in different paradigm. Both of us have a concern about getting this thing to the end without COVID causing it to fall apart," Waters said.

The judge said he would keep all options in mind, but for now the trial will continue without any changes.

"We just have to take precautions as we all do as we navigate through life during this period of time," Newman said.
A pathologist is detailing the brutal deaths of Alex Murdaugh's wife and son during the disgraced South Carolina attorney's double murder trial. Dr. Ellen Riemer testified Monday that Paul Murdaugh was shot twice with a shotgun and Maggie Murdaugh was shot four or five times with an automatic rifle. Riemer says the last shot fired at both victims went into their heads. Alex Murdaugh looked distraught and cried through most of the testimony. Also on Monday, two jurors were dismissed because they have COVID-19. That leaves three alternate jurors. Judge Clifton Newman decided not to delay the trial and asked everyone to wear masks.
Surveillance cameras at Edisto High School captured photos of a male who officials allege broke into the facility, according to Orangeburg County Sheriff Leroy Ravenell.

Were looking to identify this individual who did more damage to the building than anything he stole, Ravenell said. If anyone knows who he is, please give us a call.

Orangeburg County Sheriffs investigators were called to Edisto High School in Cordova in reference to a break-in on Thursday.

Investigators found several windows broken at the RM Foster Road campus.

Staff members said a small amount of cash was taken from one area.

Damage to the facility is estimated to be around $300 while the cash taken was $50 or less.

In addition to the photographs, forensic evidence was recovered as well.

Anyone who has any information on the subject or incident is are urged to call the sheriffs office at 803-534-3550.
A municipal election will be held in the City of Denmark on Tuesday, Feb. 14.

Only registered voters living within the city limits are eligible to vote in the election.

Three Denmark City Council seats are up for election. Filing for the at-large seats ended on Dec. 16, with the following candidates having filed: Rosella Cooper, Harold Johnson, Ashley Jordan, Calvin Odom and Charnda Sanders Williams.

Athena Moorer, Bamberg County's director of voter registration and elections, has said that three at-large seats are open and that voters can vote for up to three candidates. The three candidates receiving the most votes will be declared the winners.

Voters will go to the polls from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

East Denmark precinct voters will cast their ballots at the Brooker Center, located at 19 Maple Ave. in Denmark. Voters in the West Denmark precinct will vote at the Old Train Depot at 18748 Heritage Highway in Denmark.

Votes will be certified at 10 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 16 at the J. Carl Kearse Agricultural Building located at 847 Calhoun St. in Bamberg.

At the polls, voters will be required to show one of the following forms of photo identification:

 S.C. drivers license

 S.C. Department of Motor Vehicles ID card

 S.C. Voter Registration Card with photo

 Federal military ID

 U.S. passport

 Weapons permit

The Board of Elections and Voter Registration of Bamberg County can be reached by calling 803-245-3028 or emailing vote@bambergcountysc.gov.
Bamberg County Sheriff Kenneth Bamberg says his office is committed to serving the entire county.

I just want to take a moment to dispel any belief or suggestion that the Bamberg County Sheriff's Office is negligent in supporting and assisting the Denmark Police Department and the citizens of Denmark," Bamberg said last week.

While I can appreciate and respect everyone's opinion, I assure you that this is the furthest from the truth. Just because it's spoken or suggested does not make it true. Facts and facts only matter," he said.

Bamberg addressed claims that the sheriff's office is not supporting the City of Denmark during the recent Bamberg County Council meeting.

The sheriffs office is not some sort of authoritarian regime and is committed to working with every municipality in the county and their police departments, he said.

Most people say that the office of the sheriff comes with a great power and authority. I, for one, strongly disagree with that. I believe that this office of the sheriff comes with a great responsibility. OK? And that responsibility is something that I take very seriously. I acknowledge and I accept that, he said.

The sheriff said neither he nor or his deputies will shy away or neglect from their responsibility to protect the entire county, while respecting the chains of command.

I want everyone to understand that although I am the elected sheriff of Bamberg County, I do not ... have any dominion, control or authority over any city police chief or city police department. Although we work together, we are separate agencies and each agency has their own distinct chain of command, said Bamberg, who took office as sheriff in January of 2021.

Bamberg said the sheriff's office has been dedicated and committed to serving all of Bamberg County equally, the whole county equally.

As your sheriff, I've attended almost every Denmark City Council meeting in support of the police department, as well as my people in the Denmark community. Since January 2021, we have significantly tried to increase our presence throughout all of Bamberg County.

We have always and we will always continue to respond and assist the Denmark Police Department or any other city police department in this county on all critical incidents, as well as minor incidents, he said.

Bamberg said the countys resources have to be pooled and local and state agencies need to work together.

Along with the Bamberg City Police Department and the South Carolina Highway Patrol, we've conducted several enforcement operations within the city of Denmark that led to the arrest of several persons for offenses that range from narcotics violations to unlawful weapons violations, he said.

Bamberg continued, In addition to these enforcement operations within the City of Denmark, your sheriff's office with the assistance, again, of the Bamberg City Police Department, the South Carolina Highway Patrol, South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearm agents, as well as the Barnwell County Sheriff's Office canine units, have conducted enforcement operations within the city of Denmark.

Those operations also led to the arrest of a murder suspect, some wanted persons, narcotics violations, as well as unlawful weapons possessions. There is a problem, but there is a shortage of law enforcement officers. This shortage has been and continues to impact every law enforcement agency not just in Bamberg County, but throughout the state.

The sheriff said the only way to make the community better is to work together.

All the law enforcement agencies in this county, to include code enforcement, DNR and all the other agencies, we understand. We all understand that the only way that we're going to make this community better and better serve the people of Bamberg County is by coming together and working together, Bamberg said.

He stressed, however, that the sheriff's office will not go along to get along.

Please know that as your sheriff and our sheriff's office, we have no friends to reward or enemies to punish. We don't just go along to get along, and nor will we or I ever give in to any form of intimidation or threats. I'll say that again. This office will not give in to intimidation and threats, Bamberg said.

We won't do things just because that's what you want us to do. We're going to do things in order and in accordance with the law as the facts and circumstances that we're presented with dictate, he said.

Bamberg said he and the deputies will be fair, firm and consistent in the way the entire community is treated.

That being said, please do not assume anything about me as your sheriff, or this office. Communication is the key. My door is always open, and as your sheriff, I will listen to what you have to say. If in the end we don't agree, we can respectfully agree to disagree, Bamberg said.

So if you have any questions, problems or concerns with me, Kenny Bamberg, as your sheriff, or with any of my sheriff deputies, please come and talk to me, or schedule an appointment to come in and talk with me, and we can work through it, he said.

Bamberg acknowledged that there is still much work to be done, but said he continues to stand by the sheriff's office staff 110 percent.

I know firsthand of the many sacrifices they have made and that they continue to make in trying to serve and protect all the citizens of Bamberg County. We have to show up all day, every day. We don't have the luxury of just taking time off and saying, Hey, we're just not going to show up, the sheriff said, stressing that he took the oath he made to serve and protect the community seriously.

When you take an oath, it should mean something to you. ... If it doesn't, then maybe it's time for you to pack up and get a new gig going on. This means something to me, the badge. It means something. It stands for good. With all the evil that's out in the community, this means something. It is near and dear to my heart, Bamberg said.

Neither I, nor any of my deputies, will ever do anything to tarnish this badge. OK? We're here to fight for those people that can't fight. We have to be the voice for the voiceless. We have to stand up and do what is right even if it's not popular, he said.

Bamberg said hes excited about the future, including moving into a new law enforcement complex.

I'm excited about the additional radios that we're going to be getting to upgrade. So there are a lot of good things that are going to be happening here in Bamberg County. We're trying to be as responsible with your money as we can by trying to find additional funding, grants that are out there to continue to move us all forward, the sheriff said.

Council Chairman Dr. Jonathan Goodman II thanked Bamberg and his deputies for continuing to work to keep the community safe.

Al Jenkins, the new regional director for U.S. Sen. Tim Scotts office, was also in attendance and addressed Bamberg.

Sheriff, Ive asked you in the past to be available to the senator for advisement on the Justice Act. You know its coming back up. Were looking at having some more negotiations in the Senate, Jenkins said.

He continued, You have his 100 percent support, and if theres any grant opportunity that we can bring to you, you know you have his 100 percent support with grant support letters in those matters and 100 percent support of you and your tough job that you do. We really and truly thank you and all of your officers. You have a very difficult job, and we do really appreciate you.
COLUMBIA  Representatives of resident military installations within South Carolina will meet on Thursday, Feb. 16, with state and county emergency managers as part of a disaster preparedness seminar hosted by the S.C. Emergency Management Division.

Participants will discuss best practices and lessons learned during the response to Hurricane Ian and other emergencies involving mutual support of federal military installations and local governments.

Representatives of active duty, Reserve and National Guard components have registered to attend the event hosted by the South Carolina Emergency Management Division of the Adjutant Generals Office. The seminar will include remarks by Major General Van McCarty, adjutant general for South Carolina, and Kim Stenson, SCEMD director.

The wide-range emergencies that we prepare for and respond to do not stop at the gates of a military installation, Stenson said. This seminar is an opportunity to discuss how military and local emergency plans are unified during responses to disasters and emergencies such as Hurricanes Ian and Matthew as well as the historic flood event that affected South Carolina in 2015.

Also included on the agenda is a preview of the upcoming state full-scale disaster preparedness exercise, scheduled for March 7-9 this year, which will test the state and local capabilities to respond to the consequences of a major disaster.

In addition to the S.C. National Guard and the S.C. State Guard, which play significant roles in emergencies and disasters, invited military personnel include members of the United States Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard and Army Corps of Engineers from installations including Fort Jackson in Columbia, Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter, Marine installations at Parris Island and Beaufort, Navy and Coast Guard installations in Charleston, and military units at the South Carolina Technology and Aviation Center in Greenville. Federal presence also will include the Federal Emergency Management Agency Defense Coordinating Officer.
SEOUL, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's export of the information and communications technology (ICT) products kept falling for the seventh consecutive month in January due to global economic slump, government data showed Tuesday.

The ICT products shipment tumbled 33.2 percent from a year earlier to 13.1 billion U.S. dollars in January, continuing to slide since last July, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

It was attributed to global economic slowdown and weaker demand for locally-made chips.

Semiconductor export plunged 43.5 percent over the year to 6.15 billion dollars in January on the back of increased inventory and lower product prices.

Mobile phone shipment expanded 24.4 percent to 1.41 billion dollars, but display panel export dropped 37.7 percent to 1.46 billion dollars.

The ICT products export to Vietnam, the United States, the European Union (EU) and Japan all sank in double digits to 2.31 billion dollars, 1.68 billion dollars, 0.88 billion dollars and 0.31 billion dollars, respectively.

Import for ICT products shed 1.1 percent over the year to 12.21 billion dollars in January, sending the trade surplus in the ICT industry to 0.89 billion dollars. 
Both chambers of the Wyoming Legislature have passed a bill intended to strengthen the states rare earths industry.

Rare earth elements  a category of materials needed for a wide range of technologies, from smartphones to fighter jets  are often found alongside radioactive elements like uranium and thorium. When rare earths are mined, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a federal agency, typically oversees the handling and disposal of those hazardous byproducts.

House Bill 61 would authorize Gov. Mark Gordons office to ask the commission to give state regulators oversight instead. The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, which would take over that responsibility, has worked with federal officials to ensure the states permitting process is rigorous enough.

To be approved, state standards must be at least as rigorous as the commissions, according to Travis Deti, executive director of the Wyoming Mining Association. Hes confident Wyoming satisfies that requirement.

And, he said, the change will be significant for the two rare earths companies hoping to open mines in the state.

Where that is a benefit for the state of Wyoming, and for the industry, is that it basically cuts the permitting time in half, and it cuts the cost down about in half, Deti said. So its much more effective in terms of time and costs for operators.

Both of Wyomings active rare earths developers are making headway. In the northeast corner of the state, Rare Element Resources is advancing plans to build a demonstration-scale processing facility, using ore already extracted in the area. American Rare Earths, to the southeast, announced last month that its deposit stretches farther than it anticipated, and could be even larger than it now expects.

The state of Wyoming has been very supportive of trying to get off our rare earths industry stood up, and start producing some of these minerals, Deti said.

For the companies, he said, the bill is just a good thing to help streamline that process and start mining. It also contains provisions to support researchers trying to extract rare earths from other sources, like coal.

The bill, sponsored by the Minerals Committee, cleared both legislative chambers unanimously, but accumulated several amendments  mostly tweaks to language and dates  along the way.

Following its passage in the Senate on Monday morning, its set for consideration again in the House of Representatives, where lawmakers will vote on modifications made in the Senate. If successful, itll then head to the governors desk.

Its a good bill, Deti said. We look forward to the governor signing it.
CHEYENNE  The prospects of crossover voting legislation finally becoming law this year is much more likely after the Senate on Tuesday revived a defeated bill and moved it to a more favorable committee.

About half an hour before the Senate broke for lunch, Senate Majority Floor Leader Sen. Larry Hicks, R-Baggs, moved to rerefer House Bill 103, a crossover voting bill that died last week in the Senate Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee with a 3-1 vote, to the Senate Revenue Committee. Such a move is rare, but within the Senate's rules.

The Senate first voted to withdraw the bill from the Senate Corporations Committee, which is typically tasked with considering election-related legislation, in a 19-12 vote. Then the motion to refer the bill to a new committee passed in a narrow 16-14 vote, with Senate president Ogden Driskill, R-Devils Tower, excused.

Hicks did not immediately respond to the Star-Tribune's requests for comment.

House Bill 103, sponsored by Wheatland Republican Rep. Jeremy Haroldson, would bar voters from changing their party affiliation after the first day of the candidate-filing period. In other words, voters wouldnt be able to see what their candidate options are before deciding which party ticket they want to vote on for the primary election.

There would also be a 14-day blackout period prior to general elections.

Voters wouldnt be able to cancel their registration in those time periods, the idea being that allowing those cancellations would provide a loophole for people to re-register with a different party affiliation.

Secretary of State Chuck Gray, who campaigned primarily on a platform focused on voter fraud and banning ballot drop boxes, has voiced his support for the bill.

The Legislature has wrangled over bills in the past that aimed to curb crossover voting, but without success. The practice came to the forefront in particular during the last election cycle as many Democrats switched to the Republican Party to vote for Wyomings former Rep. Liz Cheney, who ultimately lost her race to Rep. Harriet Hageman.

Favorable outlook

With the new referral, the bill's chances of clearing the Legislature are much more likely. The Senate Revenue Committee has a majority of almost certain yes votes for the legislation, and the committee's chairman -- Sen. Bo Biteman, R-Ranchester -- sponsored a mirror bill that died in the Senate Corporations Committee earlier this month. What's more, the Senate body as a whole appears more favorable for the bill's survival.

Attempting to reverse the decisions of the Senate president, who is in charge of assigning bills to committees, is unusual. Sen. Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne, warned against the precedent that such a move might set for other votes that lawmakers are unhappy with.

"There's a way to do this process properly," Nethercott said. "Or, we can indulge this opportunity to just this one time. Just this one time. But what if it isn't? What is the point? What is the point of committees? What is the point of the process if all we're going to do is upend it? I urge you to stand with the process, to stand with the history of the upper chamber. Just because you can does not mean it's wise that you should."

Sen. Anthony Bouchard, R-Cheyenne, standing to speak after Nethercott, rebuffed her comments.

"Or we can just do our jobs, and do what our constituents want us to do down here," he said. "This is part of the procedures. It's in the rules, it's there for a purpose. And we should do it when it's appropriate. And I feel it is appropriate."

In comments on the Senate floor, Hicks acknowledged the rarity of attempts to reverse the decisions of the Senate president.

"We don't do this very often, and we shouldn't," he said. "But when we do do it, and then we have a vote, and the vote is actually an affirmative vote, it follows the process."

Hicks pointed out that the Senate has rules that allow the body to withdraw and rerefer bills and questioned why they would be there if they weren't meant to be used.

"This body has repeatedly in the last three sessions voted on this issue and resoundingly sent it out of this chamber," Hicks said, arguing that this "might be just one of those things" where using rules to overturn the Senate president's decision makes sense.

If the bill makes it past a vote in the Senate Revenue Committee, it will have to clear three more votes in the Senate before the governor can sign it into law.
CHEYENNE  In 2018, following the abduction and murder of 19-year-old Virginia Beach resident Ashanti Billie, the federal government passed the Ashanti Alert Act, establishing a voluntary nationwide communication network for the recovery of missing persons between ages 18 and 64.

On Monday, House Bill 18, Missing person alert systems, which would codify the Ashanti program into Wyomings state statutes, was among the first bills this year to clear the Legislature. Its now headed to Gov. Mark Gordons desk to be signed into law.

The system is similar to Amber alerts, but is meant to account for missing adults at risk and other people of an age, needs or circumstances who might fall outside the scope of Amber alert criteria. An adult at risk would include adults with a developmental disability, Alzheimers disease or dementia or who suffer or could suffer from cognitive impairment, if that impairment would make it difficult for the person to get to a familiar place without help.

According to the Legislative Service Offices fiscal note for the bill, putting in place the system isnt expected to have a significant fiscal or personnel impact.

Gov. Mark Gordon urged the Legislature to pass the bill in his State of the State address at the beginning of the session. Organizations like AARP and the Wyoming Chapter of the Alzheimers Association have also spoken in support of the bill.

The push to codify the use of the system originally came out of the governors Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons task force. The task forces first report in 2021 showed that of the 8,431 recorded missing persons in Wyoming between 2011 and 2020, 15% were Indigenous persons.

The task force also aims to address the issue of missing persons more generally. Implementing the Ashanti system was one solution it identified to help reduce the number of missing people in Wyoming.

The Wyoming Department of Homeland Security already has the ability to implement alert systems like Ashanti with the Wyoming Highway Patrol without that directive being in statute.

But the value in having it codified in statute is to ensure the continuity of the program beyond any particular governors administration, Sen. Affie Ellis, co-chair of the Select Committee on Tribal Relations, which sponsored the bill, explained to a House Committee last month.

I think our greater concern is the permanency of it, Ellis said. When you establish a program that can come and go at the whim of an agency, this would ensure that this program is in the books until the Legislature decides that it maybe doesnt want to have it. That would be a legislative decision.
Members of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe plan to protest a bill moving through the Legislature regarding off-reservation hunting rights, as they say they were blindsided by their business councils decision to negotiate the legislation with Gov. Mark Gordon behind closed doors.

A protest against the measure is set for 11 a.m. Wednesday near the Fort Washakie Post Office.

The bill, sponsored by Fremont County Rep. Lloyd Larson, was brought in response to the U.S. Supreme Court case Herrera v. Wyoming. It would authorize the governor to negotiate and enter into agreements with tribes concerning hunting, fishing, trapping and gathering rights and provide state government some rule-making authority.

In 2014, Clayvin Herrera went hunting with family on the Crow tribes reservation in southern Montana. They crossed into the neighboring Bighorn National Forest in Wyoming, where they killed several elk. He was later fined, which sparked conversations about off-reservation tribal hunting rights in Wyoming.

He argued that when the Crow tribe gave up land in present-day Montana and Wyoming under an 1868 treaty, the tribe retained the right to hunt on it. His attorneys petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the case, and they eventually sided with Herrera in a 5-4 vote in 2019.

The legislation is meant to proactively address off-reservation hunting guidelines rather than allow a future court decision to create Wyomings standard, Larson said during the bills initial hearing on Jan. 24.

This last year, the Eastern Shoshone Tribe approached the governors office and inquired if the state would be willing to work with them in pursuing some kind of off-reservation hunting language that would allow this to move forward, he said. Since that time, the Eastern Shoshone Tribe and the governors office have worked together.

During that hearing, a member of the Fort Hall Business Council in Idaho, a governing body of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, spoke in sole opposition of the bill. These tribes have hunted off reservations since the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty, said Claudia Washakie.

The bills language would place additional barriers that would limit tribal authority.

Tribes are not required to externally collaborate with any agency, she said during the hearing. Quite literally, the treaty signed between the U.S. and the tribe is the agreement.

But the bill passed unanimously that day and continued to enjoy sweeping support on the House Floor, with only Rep. Kenneth Chestek voting against it on third reading. The bill was sold as having been in part created with and supported by the Eastern Shoshone Tribe.

Yet, Eastern Shoshone tribal members had no knowledge of this bill until it hit the legislative session, member Jola LeBeau told the Star-Tribune on Monday. The six-members of the business council were negotiating with Gov. Mark Gordon for six months without our knowledge.

A lot of them cant believe the business council did this, but they did. I think they thought they had the power to do this, but they dont, she said. Our business council should be down there at the next hearing opposing this bill face-to-face with the government, and I dont believe thats whats going to happen.

If this bill becomes a law, it will affect many tribes treaties and hunting regulations for generations to come, LeBeau said.

I am a grandmother and a great-grandmother, and one day, I think Ill be a great-great-grandmother, she said. Once they get their foot in the door, theyll push for more.

The business council ultimately withdrew its support for the bill in a letter sent to the governors office on Feb. 3, but many fear it may be too late to stop the legislations momentum.

They withdrew that support after obtaining legal opinions from tribal attorneys and hearing concerns from the Shoshone-Bannock tribes, who share the same hunting treaty, John St. Clair, the Eastern Shoshone Business Council Chairman, said in the letter.

We apologize for this development; however, we now believe that the bill will jeopardize and compromise the rights of our tribe and other tribes, if it becomes state law, he wrote.

The Eastern Shoshone Business Council did not respond to requests for comment beyond providing the letter. The bill still must pass through votes in the Senate before it can become a law.
In recent years, Wyoming lawmakers have wrestled with ways to address mental health and improve access to care for the states residents.

Mental health providers and health care advocates helped to bring a bill this session that they argued was a straightforward solution  ease the requirements for out-of-state psychologists to increase the pool of providers.

House lawmakers voted on Monday morning to pave the way for Wyoming to join more than 30 states in PSYPACT, an interstate compact that allows psychologists to practice across state lines with a single license from their home state.

Legislation aims to tackle shortage of mental health care providers Wyoming could join two interstate compacts next year that would ease the licensing process for psychologists and licensed professional counselors and expand access to mental health care in the state. The agreements would help to fill gap in Wyoming's heath care infrastructure, with all 23 of the state's counties federally designated as high needs areas with a shortage of mental health professionals.

But while lawmakers pushed the bill through, it prompted a debate on the House floor that pitted mental health against state sovereignty.

Freshman Rep. Tony Locke, R-Casper, introduced an amendment that would have prevented Senate File 26 and the interstate psychologist compact from going into effect.

He did so to open a discussion and voice concerns he shared about the lengthy bill.

Locke said he supported Wyomingites who turned to other states to access services, but that the psychologist compact raised issues of state autonomy.

Where are the lines of the compact versus the lines of sovereignty of the state? Locke said.

So far, 31 other states have joined PSYPACT while another two are set to join this year. Seven other states, including Florida, North Dakota and Mississippi, are considering joining the compact.

If Wyoming was to join, licensed psychologists from any of the participating states would be allowed to see patients virtually or face-to-face without having to apply for a new license in Wyoming, which costs money and can take time.

Joining the compact would immediately widen Wyomings pool of mental health professionals and improve access to services, while also expanding opportunities for the states psychologists who could see patients in other states.

But states that sign on cannot change the wording of the compact and they must accept the rules that go along with the agreement.

A commission with one representative from each state oversees the compact and its rules and enforcement.

Locke and other lawmakers took issue with the idea that Wyoming would cede some of its authority to the PSYPACT Commission and that it would join a compact with states whose values are different from Wyoming.

Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette, the leader of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, argued that psychologists were looking to influence and change Wyomings way of living.

When we enter into these pacts we will be giving up our sovereignty, Bear said.

It is dangerous for us to put ourselves into these pacts without having some sideboards on that protect us and our way of living, he said.

A handful of lawmakers opposed to the compact also used the debate to encourage their colleagues to read the 76-page bill.

Rep. Mark Jennings, R-Sheridan, said it was likely that very few members of the House had read the bill in its entirety  including him. But he had read a significant portion of it and found a number of concerning issues.

If you havent read it, how do you know youre doing right by your constituents? he said.

Opponents of the bill were met by pushback by lawmakers who affirmed that Wyoming would still be able to regulate and control the practice of psychology.

I think that its really important for us to just take a deep breath and realize that if we adopt this no, we are not giving away state sovereignty, said Rep. Landon Brown, R-Cheyenne. Were not because we still have jurisdiction over those practicing in our state.

Advocates stack support for 988 suicide lifeline funding bill Advocates showed up Thursday to support a bill that would permanently fund Wyoming's mental health crisis lifeline. But even with their backing, the future of the legislation is unclear.

Those in favor of joining the compact pointed to the significant need for more mental health providers and greater mental health support in Wyoming.

Wyoming continues to lead the country in suicide rate, which has more than doubled in the state since 2005.

All 23 of Wyomings counties are also designated as high needs areas with a shortage of mental health professionals, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration, a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Expanded access to psychologists would touch every corner of Wyoming, but it would be particularly pronounced for patients who live in communities along Wyomings southern, eastern and western borders.

Colorado, Utah, Nebraska and Idaho have already joined PSYPACT.

We cant get those people here to practice the way that we need to, Brown said. This is an opportunity for us to take care of our citizens the way that we should.

Rep. Karlee Provenza, D-Laramie grew visibly frustrated with those who opposed the compact.

We keep hearing, This isnt the perfect solution. This isnt what we need to be doing. This has too much regulation. And all I can think is the people back at home are suffering, Provenza said.

Perfect gets in the way of doing anything, Provenza said. Whats the worst that can happen  a little overregulation or more people in your district dying?
Sen. Cynthia Lummis is cosponsoring a bill that would introduce a number of changes to the federal governments largest low-income housing assistance program  namely, new ways to incentivize landlord participation.

The Housing Choice Voucher program, commonly referred to as Section 8, subsidizes rent for people making under 50% of the median income in their area of residence. Generally, priority for the vouchers goes to families, the elderly and people with disabilities.

Recipients of the vouchers are free to live wherever they want  so long as that housing complies with certain federal regulations.

But in part due to longstanding stigma against the program, many private landlords wont accept tenants on Housing Choice vouchers.

According to data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, landlord participation in the Housing Choice Voucher program fell by about 10% between 2009 and 2016.

A bill brought by Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, would set aside $100 million in federal money to create a new fund dedicated to making the Housing Choice Voucher program more appealing to landlords. The proposal was introduced in the Senate on Jan. 24 and referred to the United States Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

If passed into law, the $100 million, which would be provided through local housing authorities, could go toward incentives including:

offering signing bonuses to landlords accepting Section 8 vouchers in areas with less than 20% poverty;

subsidizing security deposits for tenants; and

providing bonuses to housing authorities with a dedicated landlord liaison on staff.

Housing authorities would be able to create their own federally-funded incentives, too, as long as they were approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development first.

Eligible landlords could only get such a bonus once, and they couldnt be awarded more than double the monthly Section 8 subsidy theyd be getting.

The bill would also loosen federal inspection requirements for Section 8 housing.

Right now, in order to accept a tenant on a Housing Choice voucher, landlords must have that housing unit clear inspection first.

Under the bill, if a landlord has taken part in certain other federal housing programs and their units already met those programs standards, they may not have to go through the inspection process again to take Section 8 tenants.

Another part of the proposal would have the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development calculate fair market rent differently for the purposes of the Housing Choice Voucher program. Fair market rent is usually considered the 40th percentile rent in a county or metropolitan area. That number dictates how much the federal government subsidizes landlords taking section 8 vouchers.

The proposed alternative model would ask the department to designate certain metro areas where fair market rent would be calculated on ZIP code-level instead of the city or county level. That way, the subsidies would be more accurate to the cost of living in those neighborhoods.

As part of the bill, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development would also be required to enact a program examining ways to make Section 8 program more efficient. That includes encouraging housing authorities to make payments to landlords in a more timely manner, and ways increase in the diversity of areas where dwelling units are leased, the bill says.

Finally, the bill would also earmark $7 million for an existing federal housing assistance program for Native American veterans struggling with housing instability.

Should the bill pass, the federal agency would for five years have to provide Congress with annual reports detailing how well the incentives seem to be working  whether or not landlord participation and retention numbers have changed, for example.

The bill hasnt garnered much attention yet. It was previously introduced in the U.S. Senate in 2021 and 2022, but never made it out of committee.

If moved forward by the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, the bill would still need to clear the U.S. Senate and House, and be signed into law by President Joe Biden to become official.
Telecoms provider Flow will increase prices next month.

In a notice to its customers on Wednesday, Flow said the 3.5-per cent increase in its Internet and cable packages will come into effect on May 1.

Another notice was sent to customers with multiple cable boxes via e-mail on Wednesday.
It is indeed heart-warming and refreshing to have seen the news that the Asa Wright Nature Centre will once again be open for business. Plenty thanks and Gods blessings to the persons who have been given the concession and had a vision for the upgrades. The place looks like a paradise, and it is hoped that all would appreciate and protect it.
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia will strengthen its drive toward expanding the electric vehicle (EV) sector in the country with new policies and a focus on developing the ecosystem, a Malaysian official said on Tuesday.

The country is also seriously looking into policies that will support energy sectors to ensure that the EV ecosystem is fully supported, including standards and certification related to charging systems and battery disposal activities, International Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said in his keynote address at Malaysia's EV Conference 2023.

Zafrul said EVs would help push Malaysia toward its sustainability and green technology goals and Malaysia will benefit from the projected strong growth of the sector.

"EVs are the intuitive solution for low carbon mobility and zero-emission vehicles. Furthermore, the nascent global EV industry provides significant room for growth, particularly in Southeast Asia which has plenty of potential as both a manufacturing hub and market for EVs," he said.

"The ASEAN EV market is estimated to be worth nearly 500 million U.S. dollars in 2021 and is forecast to grow to 2.7 billion U.S. dollars by 2027 with a compound annual growth rate of almost 33 percent (32.73 percent) for the period 2022-2027," he said.

He added that Malaysia has an established EV ecosystem, backed by solid research and development and standards facilities, as well as an established components' sub-sector that could service the whole EV value chain, comprising semiconductors, sensors, automotive electronics, transceivers, batteries and auto assembly.

With the theme "Gearing Up for EV Revolution: The Malaysia Story", the conference highlights Malaysia's plans and progress toward a more sustainable and environmentally-friendly future, with over 300 attendees from various companies and government agencies participating.

Malaysia has pledged to become a nation with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, as outlined in the 12th Malaysia Plan, and the government is committed to achieving the national target of 15 percent of the total industry volume for EVs and hybrids by 2030. 
PHOENIX  The head of the House Appropriations Committee wants Gov. Katie Hobbs to tell him about all the money collected and spent for her inauguration ceremony.

In a letter to the governor, Rep. David Livingston, R-Peoria, said he has serious concerns about funds being solicited and donated specifically for the purpose of sponsoring the Jan. 5 ceremony at the state Capitol. After all expenses were paid, the committee that collected the money reported at least $1.2 million remains.

What is causing concern is that the committee was organized as a social welfare corporation fund run by Nicole DeMont, who ran Hobbs successful gubernatorial campaign. It is not subject to laws governing public records, though organizers did disclose a list of what it said were its donors.

There has been no report, though, of where dollars have been spent.

More concerning to some is that the fund is set up under a section of the Internal Revenue Code which allows its proceeds to be used for political purposes  including helping elect more of Hobbs fellow Democrats in 2024.

In his letter, Livingston cites no authority that would allow him to demand records from the fund. He did not return repeat messages asking for a legal basis for his inquiry.

Instead, Livingston is pointing out that a Senate panel is set to consider a measure which would require any future governor to publicly post information detailing each organization that collects money for inaugural festivities as well as the source and use of the funds. Under SB1299, sponsored by Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-Flagstaff, that information would have to be made available within 15 days after the ceremony.

Livingston said that information is needed to determine whether SB1299 or any other legislation regulating the solicitation, disclosure, or use of inauguration funds may be appropriate.

Hobbs press aide Murphy Hebert said the governor received the letter and is reviewing it.

A similar response came from Joe Woods. He is the spokesman for the social welfare corporation run by DeMont, which got a nearly identical letter from Livingston.

Neither has much time.

While Livingston is not asking for the information ahead of the Wednesday hearing, he does want it by noon on Thursday.

The issue of the inaugural funds has dogged Hobbs since Capitol Media Services first pointed out that a separate corporation, outside of state government, had been set up to solicit and accept donations. More than $1.5 million was collected by that entity, on top of another at least $85,000 that was given directly to a state-run fund.

Aides to Hobbs said any excess from the latter account will be put into the state Protocol Fund.

Under state law, proceeds from that fund can be used for promoting the interests of the state or to promote and encourage citizen public service to this state. Governors also have used the money for other purposes, ranging from new office carpeting to gifts for foreign dignitaries.

An aide to former Gov. Doug Ducey said some of the proceeds of his first inaugural were used to pay the costs of hiring a transition team.

Most significant, any expenditures from the fund must be disclosed in an annual public report.

But so far, neither Hobbs nor DeMont has agreed to put the excess $1.3 million from the larger inaugural account  the one set up outside of state government  into the Protocol Fund.

Hobbs has not responded to a request by Senate President Warren Petersen, R-Gilbert, and House Speaker Ben Toma, R-Peoria, that she surrender control of whats left in that larger fund. They also have cited no authority to require the new governor to comply.
PHOENIX  Pima County Health Director Theresa Cullen was rejected Tuesday in her bid to become the states top health official.

The voice vote in the Senate followed a blistering three-hour confirmation hearing last week in which Sen. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek, who chaired that panel, repeatedly berated her and the actions she took as Pimas health chief during the height of the COVID pandemic. That panel voted 3-2, along party lines, to recommend Cullen not be confirmed.

Tuesdays action also came despite the fact that Senate Minority Leader Raquel Teran, D-Phoenix, said Gov. Katie Hobbs had withdrawn Cullens name from consideration. Senate President Warren Petersen, R-Gilbert, said that message was not received by the Senate secretary and ordered the vote to proceed.

Cullens last day as county health chief was scheduled to be Friday. But Pima County Administrator Jan Lesher said Cullen has earned the right to continue in the position.

We hired her because shes one of the finest public health physicians in the country who has had a distinguished career, Lesher said Tuesday. Of course we want her to continue leading our public health agency.

Cullen, in a statement, was philosophical about what happened, saying she was honored to have been considered for the state health director post.

While the state job hasnt worked out, I love being Pima Countys public health director, Cullen said. And there remains a lot of work to do making Pima County one of the healthiest counties in the nation.

Hobbs press aide Murphy Hebert disputed any notion that the confirmation hearing leading to Tuesdays Senate vote went badly because Cullen was not properly prepared.

We were prepared for a legitimate hearing, she said. What that committee hearing was was was an ambush. And they should be ashamed of themselves.

In a prepared statement, Hobbs detailed Cullens experience both nationally and internationally in her 27 years of public service, evidence the Democratic governor said lawmakers clearly ignored.

She gave no hint of who she will now tap for the job.

If the Senates Director Nominations Committee is unwilling to acknowledge the skill and expertise of Dr. Cullen, there may be no public health professional in the state they would endorse, Hobbs said.

As long as Republicans choose politics over the people of Arizona, some of the most talented and qualified candidates will choose not to enter state service, she continued. And it is the people of Arizona who will suffer most because of these political games.

But Senate Majority Leader Sonny Borrelli, R-Lake Havasu City, in a statement put out by Senate Republicans, dubbed Cullen a medical tyrant.

None of the questions raised in last weeks hearing had to do with Cullens experience.

Instead, GOP lawmakers peppered her with questions about policies implemented in Pima County since she became its health director in June 2020. Those included things like an overnight curfew and masking requirements during COVID. Cullen said she was simply advising county supervisors who made the final decisions.

There were things that werent the decisions of supervisors, however.

One was the decision by the county health department to put up a website listing the names of merchants who were found to have repeatedly violated requirements for masking and social distancing. Hoffman said that amounted to public shaming.

Perhaps the biggest concern of Republicans was the closing of schools.

Cullen said she was not the person who decided when schools should send children home and that those calls were made by district officials. Hoffman said that was irrelevant.

Under your guidance, they (students) suffered innumerable harm in terms of lack of proficiency in school, academic scores falling, socialization being reduced, depression, suicide, he said. Hoffman said it turned out that children were the least likely to suffer the worst effects of the virus.

Cullen defended her actions, saying she was not only erring on the side of protecting children but also trying to keep them from bringing the virus home to more vulnerable adults.

Hoffman, in a statement Tuesday, said senators made the right decision.

We have Dr. Cullen on record in a number of media publications stating she supported the scientifically baseless and prolonged school closures, lockdowns, curfews, mask mandates, vaccine mandates and public shaming of those who did not comply with her discriminatory COVID directives, he said. Hoffman pointed out that when he asked Cullen whether she believes, in hindsight, the benefits of school closures outweighed the costs, she responded, I dont know.

What did not come out at the hearing is that the Pima County policies, however they were enacted, appear to have been successful.

Arizona has had one of the highest COVID rates in the nation. But the most recent data shows the rate in Pima County is the states third lowest, after only Yavapai and Greenlee counties.

Hobbs, in her statement, took notice.

Even with this mountain of expertise, and an immense track record of public health success, some lawmakers have decided that they should instead participate in vicious personal attacks and criticism, the governor said. This is not only foolish, it detracts from the important work we have in front of us.

What also was not mentioned is that Pima County was not alone in many of those actions taken in response to COVID. Doug Ducey, who was the Republican governor at the time, also issued executive orders shuttering certain businesses, closing schools and directing Arizonans to stay at home except for essential activities.

Last weeks hearing also turned personal at times.

Hoffman accused Cullen of being disingenuous with some of her answers and flatly told her that he did not believe some of her responses.

That rhetoric continued Tuesday, with Hoffman saying the fact that Hobbs thinks Cullen is fit for a statewide public health role proves how radical and out of touch Hobbs is with the people of Arizona.

Sen. Sine Kerr, R-Buckeye, who also was on the nomination panel, said her vote to oppose Cullen for state health chief was based on what her record at Pima County suggests would be the policies she would implement if she became the state health director.
The lawyer for an Arizona rancher being held on $1 million bond says her client did not shoot and kill the Mexican man whose body was found on his property last month near the U.S.-Mexico border, but earlier that day fired warning shots at smugglers carrying AK-47 rifles and big backpacks on his land.

A defense request made last week in Santa Cruz County Justice Court asks that the $1 million bond set in the first-degree murder case against George Alan Kelly be lowered or lifted. Kelly, 73, on Monday remained in custody at the Santa Cruz County Jail in the Jan. 30 killing.

A preliminary hearing in the case is set for Monday, Feb. 20.

Attorney Brenna Larkin, who was appointed by the court to represent Kelly, said in her request that her client admitted to firing warning shots at the smugglers earlier in the day, but denied firing any shot at any person.

He does not believe that any of his warning shots could have possibly hit the person or caused the death, she continued. All the shooting that Mr. Kelly did on the date of the incident was in self-defense and justified.

Kellys ranch is located just outside Nogales, Arizona, city limits in the Kino Springs area.

The victim, Gabriel Cuen-Butimea, lived just south of the border in Nogales, Mexico. U.S. court records show Cuen-Butimea was convicted of illegal entry and deported back to Mexico several times, most recently in 2016.

The Mexican consulate in Nogales has not returned several calls seeking additional information about Cuen-Butimea.

Kelly apparently drew on his borderlands ranching life in the self-published novel Far Beyond the Border Fence, which is described on Amazon.com as a contemporary novel which brings the Mexican Border/Drug conflict into the 21st century.

Authored by a man with the same name, the 57-page novel focuses on George and his wife, Wanda. George Alan Kellys wife is also named Wanda.

Several times each week illegal immigrants would cross the VMR ranch, reads one part. They were led by armed human smugglers called Coyotes. George and his foreman had to patrol the ranch daily, armed with AK-47s.
The family of a slain University of Arizona professor says it wants the school to take seriously a recent faculty report scrutinizing the campus safety protocols in place before the killing last fall.

We are deeply appreciative of the U of A Faculty Senate committees safety report and are disgusted by the U of A administrations response, reads the first line of a statement from Tom Meixners in-laws, the Cotter family, obtained by the Arizona Daily Star over the weekend. The conclusions of the report affirm our experiences both before and after Toms murder about problems that the University of Arizona needs to address moving forward.

Meixner served as department head of the UAs Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences Department. For the better part of last year, he and some of his colleagues received disturbing communication from Murad Dervish, a former graduate student who had already been expelled and barred from campus by February 2022. On Oct. 5, Dervish shot Meixner in the hydrology building on campus. Dervish is now facing a first-degree murder charge, to which he pleaded not guilty.

In the aftermath of Meixners death, the UA pledged to examine its campus safety protocols. It hired the consulting firm PAX, LLC, to help, though its unclear when that report will be released to the public. Separately, the UA Faculty Senate formed the General Faculty Committee on General Safety For All and did its own campus safety analysis.

According to the committees interim report released about two weeks ago  the 30-page report relied on related documents, interviews with the people who were aware of Dervishs behavior and multiple listening sessions with campus constituency groups  the investigation into campus safety found a glaring institutional failure that has severely compromised safety, safety perceptions, and community trust in the university administration and university officials.

The report detailed how Mexiner and some of his colleagues, who were also receiving unwanted and increasingly alarming communication from Dervish, made multiple attempts to get him to stop. The report identified a breakdown in communication between various administrative channels, UA Police Department and even the Pima County Attorneys Office.

In one example, the report explains how UAPD learned about Dervishs prior criminal record  San Diego State University Police were investigating him for the harassment of a female student there and hed also assaulted his mother years earlier  but did not communicate that to members of the hydrology department. Its unclear, according to the report, if other administrative offices involved in the case were made aware.

Further, documents referenced in the report show that UAPD did make two separate attempts to file criminal charges against Dervish. In the weeks after the shooting, the county prosecutors office released a statement that the evidence UAPD supplied in both reports did not meet the legal definition of misdemeanor threats and intimidation, therefore it did not charge him.

In response to the faculty committees release of the interim report, the UA downplayed the findings as representative of the work of a subset of faculty that has reached sweeping conclusions based in large part on misleading characterizations and the selective use of facts and quotations, and encouraged the public to wait for the PAX report before drawing a final conclusion.

That response, however, didnt stand up for longer than a few days.

Students, faculty, family support report

One day before the Faculty Senate unanimously approved a resolution supporting the report last Monday, the Associated Students of the University of Arizona and the Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences Student Association also released a joint statement in support of the interim reports findings.

The interim report makes one fact clear: the murder of Dr. Meixner was not a random act of violence, but the result of glairing institutional failures to sufficiently protect the students, faculty and staff of the (hydrology department) for nearly a year prior to the murder on Oct. 5, the news release said. The efforts from university administration to delegitimize the experiences of the students, faculty and staff described in this report will not be tolerated.

And at its meeting last week, the UA Faculty Senate unanimously voted to endorse the report and its findings.

The fact that the report was unanimously approved by the UA Faculty Senate speaks volumes about the importance of the committees work, reads the statement from the Cotter family.

There is inherent value in having both an internal and external investigation of how threats are handled at the U of A. We dont understand why the U of A would try to delegitimize the report. We can only imagine how this response has affected faculty, staff and students. Personally, it has increased our anxiety about whether there will ever be any accountability and ownership by the U of A regarding the mistakes that were made leading up to Toms murder.

Robbins: Hold me accountable

At the Faculty Senate meeting last week, UA President Robert C. Robbins said the UA administration has no influence over the PAXs scope of work in developing the forthcoming report and hopes we can merge the two reports at the end of the day because we all have the same objectives, and that is to provide safety for faculty, staff and students.

But the idea that I wouldnt take this seriously, he said in response to such insinuations, its my No. 1 job!  As many of you know, there are many other people that are threatening faculty members and others on this campus. (I) am very frustrated that I dont have the tools to be able to do something about that.

Robbins added that working together can help mitigate these problems, but you can never ever fully prevent an act like this.

Thats the plan moving forward, but when one faculty senator asked about accountability for Meixners death, Robbins offered up a mea culpa.

I am the sole person you can hold accountable for this. I take responsibility for it, you can hold me accountable. Even though I did not know these threats were going on for a long time, he said. And so, whether its a lack of commission or omission  I am the one thats accountable for this. So, if anyone is looking for someone to hold accountable, itd be me.

But thats not the response Meixners family is looking for either.

Our family does not accept Robbins taking sole responsibility, given that he did not know about the threats ahead of time, the Cotter family statement reads. Legitimate accountability needs to occur in all of the specific areas of incompetence and weakness in the system.

For them, that means the UA should metabolize the information found in both the facultys report and the consulting groups report.

The University of Arizona needs courageous leadership at this moment, the statement said. We implore President Robbins and the UA administration to support the Faculty Senate in its work to ensure the safety and well-being of the Wildcat community. It would be the most meaningful way to honor Toms legacy.

In a statement from the UA Monday afternoon in response to the Cotter Familys letter, the university said: Our entire community is devastated by the shooting Oct. 5 that took the life of Dr. Tom Meixner.

We want the Mexiner family to know that safety on this campus is a top priority for President Robbins. We have implemented meaningful changes, reviewed the Safety For All report and look forward to the release of the interim report by the PAX Group to understand what steps we can take as a campus community to improve.
PHOENIX  Got chickens?

Wish you did?

State lawmakers are trying to make sure you have that opportunity  but only if you live in a single-family detached home  and one that isnt located in a homeowner association.

Legislation awaiting a House vote would override most local ordinances that now keep poultry out of many residential areas. In its place would be a state law saying that residents can have chickens  up to nine  as long as they comply with certain conditions.

The measure is being pushed by Rep. Kevin Payne, R-Peoria, who apparently has become endeared to the fowl.

Chickens are loving birds, he told members of the House Committee on Land, Agriculture and Rural Affairs earlier this week. Payne said its like having a pet.

You can hold them, he said. They purr. They help soothe people.

Payne also said they love to have company, which is why his HB 2483 seeks to allow more than just a lone chicken.

And then theres the practical side.

They produce eggs, the golden nuggets that come out, he said.

Only thing is, not every community sees things the same way. And even in cities and counties that allow residents to have the birds, the rules are not uniform.

This would change all that.

In essence, the proposal said if you live in a single-family detached home, you can have chickens.

Still, there would be rules.

First off, those often-noisy roosters are still poultry-non-grata.

Letting them roam cage free on a lot of less than half an acre also would be off limits.

Instead, they would have to be kept in an enclosure at the side or rear of the property at least 15 feet from a neighbor. And the pens could be no larger than 200 feet.

Then there would be requirements to maintain the pens and either pick up or compost the manure at least twice a week, and do it in a way to prevent insects.

There also are requirements to have adequate overflow drainage for water sources and that food be stored in insect-proof and rodent-proof containers.

Glendale resident Shelly Honn urged lawmakers to approve the measure after she was forced to get rid of the girls in her yard. And she said efforts to get the city to change its ordinance proved unsuccessful.

Honn also told lawmakers they need to consider the issue in light of other events, ranging from fires at egg ranches to other disasters.

That would include incidents of bird flu which have required flocks to be destroyed. And that, in turn, has been one of the things that has driven up the price of eggs.

Arizonans need some sort of food security, Honn said.

Some want to live sustainably, she continued. A small flock of chickens would go a long way with both of these.

Not everyone was enthusiastic.

Marshall Pimentel, lobbyist for the League of Arizona Cities and Towns said his organization is not opposed in concept. But he would like changes, like limiting chicken ownership to lots of more than a half acre, with a six-bird cap.

Lawmakers were not persuaded as they voted unanimously to approve the measure.

With the cost of food nowadays, this is how families can afford good-quality protein, said Rep. Gail Griffin, R-Hereford.

There is one group left out of this: Residents of homeowner associations which can enact their own restrictions, regardless of local ordinances.

Lawmakers could override HOA rules. And theyve done that in the past.

Consider the measures they have approved governing everything from allowing political signs to permitting them to fly certain flags like those honoring first responders or remembering prisoners of war.

In fact, theres a bill this year awaiting Senate action to allow HOA residents to display any historic version of the American flag, including the Betsy Ross flag, without regard to how the stars and stripes are arranged on the flag.
Workers carry bags of corn grains at a warehouse in Yangon, Myanmar, Feb. 16, 2023. Myanmar exported 85,585 tons of corn in January, earning more than 25.7 million U.S. dollars, the Myanmar Corn Industrial Association (MCIA) said on Tuesday. (Photo by Myo Kyaw Soe/Xinhua)

YANGON, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar exported 85,585 tons of corn in January, earning more than 25.7 million U.S. dollars, the Myanmar Corn Industrial Association (MCIA) said on Tuesday.

The country exported corn to China, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Brunei, India and Nepal, it said.

Myanmar shipped 77,620 tons of corn via sea routes, while the rest through land borders, according to the MCIA.

In addition, the country exported about 16,090 tons of rubber in January, earning more than 19.16 million dollars, official data showed.

From April 1 last year to Feb. 3 this year, Myanmar's total export was worth more than 14.05 billion dollars. 

Workers carry bags of corn grains at a warehouse in Yangon, Myanmar, Feb. 16, 2023. Myanmar exported 85,585 tons of corn in January, earning more than 25.7 million U.S. dollars, the Myanmar Corn Industrial Association (MCIA) said on Tuesday. (Photo by Myo Kyaw Soe/Xinhua)

A worker loads a truck with bags of corn grains at a warehouse in Yangon, Myanmar, Feb. 16, 2023. Myanmar exported 85,585 tons of corn in January, earning more than 25.7 million U.S. dollars, the Myanmar Corn Industrial Association (MCIA) said on Tuesday. (Photo by Myo Kyaw Soe/Xinhua)
A man and woman were fatally injured in separate Tulsa residential fires on Sunday and Monday.

The first victim was found in a house near 31st Street North and Frankfort Avenue by firefighters responding to multiple calls about 5 a.m. Sunday, a Tulsa Fire Department news release states.

After they arrived, firefighters saw flames coming from the attic and found the man unconscious in the house, the release continues.

The man, whose name was not released, was taken to a hospital, where he died from his injuries, according to Fire Department spokesman Andy Little.

Investigators determined that a cooking fire caused that fatal blaze, Little said.

Firefighters found the second victim dead in an apartment at a complex in the 13100 block of East 31st Street after responding to a report that smoke was coming from the unit about 12:35 a.m. Monday, Little said.

Investigators determined that the fire was started by a dropped cigarette and eventually "smothered itself because it didn't have enough oxygen," he said.

The apartment unit was described as a "loss," but the rest of the complex was unaffected, Little said.

Both residences had only single occupants, and no pets were affected, he added.
OKLAHOMA CITY  The Legislature honored Oklahoma Teacher of the Year Rebecka Peterson on Monday.

Peterson, a Union High School math teacher, is a finalist for National Teacher of the Year.

Sen. Dave Rader, R-Tulsa, introduced her on the Senate floor, saying this is her 14th year in education and 11th year at Union. She holds bachelors and masters degrees in math, Rader said.

Peterson said she has traveled 18,000 miles while visiting schools all over the state during her tenure as Oklahoma Teacher of the Year.

Every time I get back in that car, I am overwhelmed and humbled by the dedication of our educators, she said.

She said it is an honor of lifetime to represent Oklahoma teachers.

Featured video: Oklahoma state superintendent congratulates Union teacher named national finalist
Its back to the drawing board for the Tulsa school board as members were unable to reach a consensus on an appointee for the vacant District 2 seat Monday night, thanks in part to discussion of the finalists criminal records  one of which has been expunged.

After the meeting, board President Stacey Woolley said the board would attempt to have a special meeting as quickly as possible to determine its next steps in filling the position. The District 2 seat has been vacant since Jan. 23, when former board member Judith Barba Perezs resignation took effect.

Under state law, the board has up to 60 days from that time to fill the seat through the 2024 election cycle.

There are six of us who have to decide whats next, Woolley said.

On Feb. 2, the board voted 4-2 to name Quinton Brown and Sharita Pratt as the two finalists for the seat.

The procedure previously approved by the board to fill the vacancy called for motions and votes to be conducted separately for each of the two finalists, with the candidate who received the most votes named the winner as long as a majority of the board voted in support of that person.

None of the board members made a motion to appoint Brown to the seat. A motion to appoint Pratt to the seat ended in a 3-3 tie, with yes votes from John Croisant, Susan Lamkin and Woolley.

Board member ELena Ashley specifically noted that her vote against appointing Pratt was in part due to information that was brought up after the board voted to name the finalists.

Additionally, early on in the meeting, a motion was raised by Jennettie Marshall to remove the vote from the agenda altogether in light of additional information and concerns raised by constituents since the boards Feb. 2 decision.

That motion failed on a 3-3 tie, as did a motion from Woolley to make any appointment contingent upon successful completion of a criminal background check, similar to those required of teachers and school district volunteers.

The eligibility criteria laid out in state law prohibits anyone who has been convicted of a felony or an embezzlement-related misdemeanor within the last 15 years from serving on a school board. TPS eligibility policy mirrors those statutes.

However, during public comment, references were made to both candidates having criminal records.

According to court records, Brown pleaded guilty to a felony in January 2009 and received a deferred sentence.

Additionally, according to documents obtained by the Tulsa World via an open records request, TPS officials banned Brown from the campus of Booker T. Washington High School for six months after a January 2022 interaction with a school employee escalated to the point that Brown had to be asked to leave the building.

According to those documents, after leaving the building, Brown yelled profanities at the schools security guards and said he would be coming back for the officers and to the campus.

Browns daughter attended Washington at the time of the incident.

State statutes are silent on whether disciplinary action taken by a school district is grounds for potential disqualification.

When reached Monday, Woolley said she was not sure whether the board could even legally add additional eligibility requirements in their policies beyond what is laid out in state statute.

Brown did not return multiple calls to the phone number listed on his application and refused to speak to reporters after Monday nights meeting.

Meanwhile, Pratt had a misdemeanor conviction that was ultimately expunged.

After the meeting, Pratt said she was not happy about the boards decision but would not withdraw her name from consideration.

As the meeting room began to clear out, Pratt referenced the expungement while directly addressing the person who brought it up during public comment, Broken Arrow resident Larry Williamson.

According to Pratt, Williamson showed up at her house uninvited in an attempt to intimate her into withdrawing from consideration. Williamson tried to interrupt Pratt more than once, claiming that he went to her house to talk to her because she did not return his phone calls.

You, sir, came from Broken Arrow, she said. This meeting started at 6:30, so you drove about 45 minutes to the other side of town to Tulsa Public Schools from Broken Arrow Public Schools to do nothing. Thats what you did was nothing, sir. You failed our kids today. You failed everyones children.

I dont appreciate it. If my daughter was here,  shed tell you she didnt appreciate it either.

Vacancys impact

With the District 2 seat still vacant, four items on the nights consent agenda did not pass thanks to tie votes.

Along with agreements with Northeastern State University and the University of Oklahoma to allow students pursuing graduate degrees in social work and school counseling to get on-campus experience working under district staff, the board did not approve a $750,000 increase to a previously approved contract with three staffing agencies under Hoffman Business Enterprises to help fill vacant support positions around the district.

When asked by the board, Chief Operating Officer Jorge Robles said TPS has 74 vacant custodian positions and 65 vacant child nutrition positions.

We wouldnt be in this problem needing bus drivers, custodians and so on if we were paying them a living wage, Marshall said. I am sick and tired of outsourcing our funds. We need to take a hard look at what we are doing with the staff we have.

The fourth consent agenda item that didnt pass was an agreement with Generation Citizen, a nonprofit organization that provides civics curriculum and accompanying professional development for teachers.

As part of Generation Citizens curriculum, students choose an issue they care about, develop a plan to try to address the issue and put that plan into action, including contacting the appropriate elected officials, whether thats at the local, state or federal level.

That in turn prompted questions about whether the curriculum would be teaching students to be activists and potentially open the door for complaints under House Bill 1775.

Passed in 2021, HB 1775 prohibits teaching that one race or sex is inherently superior to another and that anyone, by virtue of their race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously.

TPS 2022-23 accreditation status was downgraded in July after an attorney with the State Department of Education told the State Board of Education that a professional development session on implicit bias conducted by a third party vendor violated the law.

Citizenships viewed in different ways by different people, Griffin said. Well have 1775 violations within five seconds of implementing this. Wed have to proceed with great caution on this, as there are no clear guidelines.

Each of the four items had no votes from Ashley, Griffin and Marshall.

January video: Tulsa school board accepts members resignation, sets deadline for applicants
OKLAHOMA CITY  Rep. Monroe Nichols was the first person in his family born after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, the first to grow up in a country where segregation was no longer legal and the playing field for Black Americans presumably had been leveled.

But centuries of racial inequity can still be found in systems of housing, employment and education, Nichols said, which requires an honest conversation about the past and how it affects the present.

Theres a push right now to ignore history, but I wish my colleagues (in the state Legislature) would understand that this is not a conversation about blame; this is a conversation about how to close the gap, said Nichols, a Tulsa Democrat.

On Monday, Oklahomas Legislative Black Caucus hosted its first Black History Day at the state Capitol, a building steeped in history but where some of that history has become a political flashpoint in recent years.

Some Republicans have publicly rejected concepts of systemic racism, using terms like indoctrination and woke to decry efforts that explore how past racial inequities continue today.

Two years ago, lawmakers passed a law banning the teaching that one race is superior to another, but many of the legislations supporters said it was meant to end the academic concept of critical race theory, a belief that racism goes beyond personal beliefs and can be systemic.

The law has caused some schools to question the books on their shelves and the lessons they allow, which some teachers believe has stifled classroom discussions.

Ryan Walters, Oklahomas newly elected state superintendent, has announced investigations into school programs designed to promote diversity and tolerance, claiming that they indoctrinate students.

Last month, Gov. Kevin Stitt, who like Walters is a Republican, criticized college diversity programs in his State of the State address.

I want our universities to have less DEI officers and more career placement counselors, Stitt said in his address, referring to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives that promote a better understanding of discrimination within a school, business or organization.

On Monday, Stitt addressed the crowd at Black History Day, telling the hundreds of students and community leaders gathered that the states civil rights leaders had paved the way for a better future.

Because of Black leaders from the past, the American Dream is alive and well in our state, Stitt said.

Nichols said he appreciated the governors participation in the event but worried that Stitts recent rhetoric not only fanned the flames of divisiveness but also prevented lawmakers from having serious conversations about systemic inequities, including the over-incarceration of Black men and racial disparities within the health care system.

There have always been speed bumps along the way (to progress) and those speed bumps have often been folks who sought political power by appealing to our worst instincts, Nichols said. I think the governor is guilty of this in a way.

At a time when we have money to invest in Oklahoma, at a time when Oklahomas economy is at its strongest, theyve chosen to instead focus on issues of race and appealing to the worst in people.

Some of the more than two dozen speakers during Mondays event echoed Nichols thoughts on the importance of confronting Americas history with slavery and segregation.

Paris Powell, a mentor with a Midwest City-based youth program, said he was inspired by a speech from Marilyn Luper Hildreth, the daughter of civil rights icon Clara Luper, who led sit-ins in Oklahoma City more than 60 years ago.

She said it is important to remember the past but it is more important to understand where you are at in the present in the Black history that we are still making today, Powell said. I believe coming together like this, with the governor coming out and all the other lawmakers, its a huge first step.
OKLAHOMA CITY  The head of the state Senate said Tuesday that the executive director of the Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs should resign.

Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, said ODVA Executive Director Joel Kintsels dispute with the agencys governing board has become a hindrance to serving Oklahomas veterans.

I think that he should step down, Treat said. I think that in any objective analysis, whether he feels like hes been treated fairly or unfairly in the public light, he is definitely a distraction to being able to serve veterans.

Kintsel declined to respond to Treats comments.

The state agency head may not get a choice in whether he remains at ODVA. The Oklahoma Veterans Commission will meet Wednesday to discuss his job performance and conduct.

After challenging Gov. Kevin Stitt in the Republican gubernatorial primary last year, Kintsel has been at odds with the Veterans Commission, made up entirely of Stitt appointees. Former commissioners allege that the governor has stacked the commission with his appointees in order to fire Kintsel.

Treat said he doesnt know what to make of claims that the governor is trying to force Kintsel out as political retribution.

Alleging that the governor had illegally appointed at least three members of the nine-member commission, Kintsel refused to attend a commission meeting this month. Attorney General Gentner Drummond has since agreed that the governor made several illegal appointments to the board, but he also chastised Kintsels conduct.

Treat called it an embarrassment to the state that the dispute has disrupted the commissions ability to meet and conduct business. The commission was scheduled to meet Friday, but Chairman Robert Allen told KOCO News that Kintsel blocked the meeting from happening by directing his staff not to post a meeting agenda, which is required by state law before a meeting could occur.

Treat said hes upset about a $21.7 million cost increase to complete a new veterans center in Sallisaw. The ODVA recently hired outside legal counsel to sue the architect on the project, which initially was supposed to cost $75 million.

Some commissioners have blamed Kintsel for cost overruns, but he has said the ODVA has been working for more than a year to correct errors from the original architect on the project.

The Oklahoma Legislature is willing to provide a supplemental appropriation, if needed, to complete the veterans center, Treat said. But he said hes determined to get to the bottom of what went wrong to ensure that the state isnt overpaying to complete the project.

While the governor has the authority to appoint all nine members of the commission, those appointments are contingent upon confirmation by the Senate.

Treat wouldnt say whether the Senate will vote to confirm the three commissioners that Drummond said were illegally appointed by the governor. Drummond said Stitt did not follow the process laid out in state law, in which he should have appointed members chosen from lists submitted by certain veterans organizations.

Treat said his office and Senate attorneys are in discussions with Drummonds office about how to proceed.

Treat said hes concerned that any action from the current commission could lead to legal challenges.

The biggest concern I have right now about the validity of the board is if the board  has any role in approving projects over $50,000 or bids over $50,000, if they somehow take a vote and then some court two or three months down the road says (some commissioners) were not valid members, I want to make sure we dont run into a situation like that, Treat said.

Kintsel has served as executive director of the Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs since 2019.

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates  The United Arab Emirates' pick to lead the upcoming COP28 climate talks in Dubai called on the world Tuesday to "fight climate change, not each other," directly addressing the anger of activists over his selection.

Sultan al-Jaber, CEO of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., also described the upcoming United Nations negotiations as an "unprecedented opportunity to engage the energy industry in a technological revolution."

His speech at the World Government Summit in Dubai sought to present his nominated presidency as a bridge between oil companies and climate activists long suspicious of the industry's influence on efforts to limit carbon emissions. Whether it will, however, remains in question.

"We need a major course correction," al-Jaber said.

However, he added: "The strategies we pursue must leave no one behind. The policies we adopt must be pro-growth and pro-climate at the same time."

The speech renewed criticism among activists of al-Jaber's nomination to shepherd the climate talks.

African youth climate activist Eric Njuguna from Kenya termed the remarks "dismissive of valid and merited concerns brought forth by climate activists." He called on the United Nations body overseeing the talks to install a conflict of interest policy that checks the influence that oil and gas firms have on the climate talks owing to their "long history of skewing and watering down important climate decisions."

Al-Jaber, 49, is a longtime climate envoy and trusted confidant of UAE leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. He's been behind tens of billions of dollars spent or pledged toward renewable energy  and also leads an oil company that pumps some 4 million barrels of crude a day and hopes to expand to 5 million daily.

That oil money fuels the ambitions of this federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula  as well as the production of more of the heat-trapping carbon dioxide that the U.N. negotiations hope to limit.

Activists equated his nomination, announced in January, to asking "arms dealers to lead peace talks." However, U.S. climate envoy John Kerry and France's finance minister both backed his selection by the UAE, a key Mideast ally. The UAE also wants to be carbon neutral by 2050  a target that remains difficult to assess and one that authorities haven't fully explained how they'll reach.

"There are moments in history when humanity comes together to fight a common threat. Let's prove to ourselves that we can do it once again," al-Jaber said. "Let's put our differences aside. Fight climate change, not each other."

Al-Jaber's speech, which included portions he previously delivered in January, also acknowledged that "capital is critical to make the loss-and-damage fund real and operational." That fund, agreed to at the COP27 talks in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, did not include a means by which to fund them. Al-Jaber's speech also didn't offer a suggestion on how to raise the money.

However, he did call for "real reform of international financial institutions and multilateral banks" to lower the lending risk and provide more private financing for "vulnerable communities."

Al-Jaber called on the world to triple its renewable energy capacity, as well as expand nuclear power, improve battery storage and provide carbon-capture technology. He also drew applause from the largely Emirati audience by defending the OPEC-member nation hosting the climate talks.

"We in the UAE are not shying away from the energy transition," al-Jaber said. "We are running towards it."

Each year, the country hosting the U.N. negotiations known as the Conference of the Parties  where COP gets its name  nominates a person to chair the talks. Hosts typically pick a veteran diplomat, as the talks can be difficult to steer between competing nations and their interests.

The nominee's position as "COP president" is confirmed by delegates at the start of the talks, usually without objections. However, activists' ire over al-Jaber's selection could see a turbulent start to the negotiations.

Amnesty International on Monday reiterated a call for al-Jaber to resign as president-designate and criticized plans by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.'s drilling arm to pump more oil as it saw record profits last quarter.

"Sultan al-Jaber cannot be an honest broker for climate talks when the company he leads is planning to cause more climate damage," Amnesty's Marta Schaaf said in a statement. "It is obvious, despite Sultan al-Jaber's denials, that his dual role is a glaring conflict of interest which will contribute to further climate disaster and unfolding human rights violations."

COP28 will be held at Dubai's Expo City from Nov. 30 through Dec. 12.
Vietnams supporting industries have not successfully taken advantage of opportunities ushered in by the shift in supply chains caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, said Nobuyuki Matsumoto, chief representative of the office of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) in Ho Chi Minh City. At a press conference on Monday on Japanese enterprises overseas investment in 2022, Matsumoto cited a JETRO survey as saying that to deal with cost hikes, Japanese enterprises have changed their suppliers and materials while investing in equipment and applying digital technology. However, the localization rate of Japanese firms in Vietnam was only 37 percent, while their purchasing rate stood at a mere 15 percent. He attributed the situation to Vietnamese companies failure to meet the quality requirements of Japanese firms, which has made it difficult for Vietnam to join Japans supply chains. The results show that Vietnams supporting industries are problematic," Matsumoto remarked. Some 60 percent of Japanese enterprises have plans to do business in Vietnam in the near future but most of them will shift their supply chains from other countries to Vietnam, rather than cooperating with local suppliers." Up to 56.5 percent of the Japanese enterprises surveyed said they plans to move from China or Japan to Vietnam to respond to supply chain disruption risks and optimize production costs. According to the JETRO chief representative in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnams gross domestic product expanded 8.02 percent last year but the supporting industries need more investment to contribute to local economic growth. In addition, Vietnam needs to improve its human resources and labor productivity to increase its competitiveness. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

Vietnams supporting industries have not successfully taken advantage of opportunities ushered in by the shift in supply chains caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, said Nobuyuki Matsumoto, chief representative of the office of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) in Ho Chi Minh City.

At a press conference on Monday on Japanese enterprises overseas investment in 2022, Matsumoto cited a JETRO survey as saying that to deal with cost hikes, Japanese enterprises have changed their suppliers and materials while investing in equipment and applying digital technology.

However, the localization rate of Japanese firms in Vietnam was only 37 percent, while their purchasing rate stood at a mere 15 percent.

He attributed the situation to Vietnamese companies failure to meet the quality requirements of Japanese firms, which has made it difficult for Vietnam to join Japans supply chains.

The results show that Vietnams supporting industries are problematic," Matsumoto remarked.

Some 60 percent of Japanese enterprises have plans to do business in Vietnam in the near future but most of them will shift their supply chains from other countries to Vietnam, rather than cooperating with local suppliers."

Up to 56.5 percent of the Japanese enterprises surveyed said they plans to move from China or Japan to Vietnam to respond to supply chain disruption risks and optimize production costs.

According to the JETRO chief representative in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnams gross domestic product expanded 8.02 percent last year but the supporting industries need more investment to contribute to local economic growth.

In addition, Vietnam needs to improve its human resources and labor productivity to increase its competitiveness.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Days like Valentine's Day and Womens Day are special times in Ho Chi Minh City. On that former day, the street floods with sellers of flowers all scrambling to sell beautiful gifts to motorcycle riders heading to work or home. The street sellers of flowers seem to appear from nowhere on special days and bring culture to the streets. They have many stories to tell of their motivation to sell flowers on the streets. They bring an air of celebration to the streets while giving commuters a reason to stop and purchase a special gift for someone they care about. But, while Im riding along a main road in Go Vap District, the question becomes: where do these people come from and why do they sell flowers? Bouquets of artificial flowers are sold ahead of Valentine's Day on a sidewalk in District 12, Ho Chi Minh City. Picture taken on February 13, 2023. Photo: Dong Nguyen / Tuoi Tre News While everyone has their own story, many of the sellers are students that use the special occasions to make a little extra money to help them through school or university. They may take a day or two off from studies to stand on the streets for up to 18 hours to sell all the flowers that they purchased the day before, or even early that morning. It can be a challenging day or two for these young entrepreneurs, but it is also an opportunity to get ahead in a small way to survive the struggles of education and poverty. In Vietnam, the Central Highlands provinces of Lam Dong and Dak Lak are well known for some of the best produce sold and consumed in Vietnam. Across these provinces, and especially in the city of Da Lat, beautiful flowers are grown all year round and sent via truck and bus to the major cities across the country. Ho Chi Minh City is a large consumer of flowers grown in these provinces and a visit to a number of the larger wholesale markets will see buses and trucks arriving from 2:00 am to sunrise packed with the produce, including flowers, that will be sold to consumers that day. But Vietnam also relies on imports to maintain wider consumer needs. On big celebration days like Womens Day and Valentines Day, the markets also accept additional stock from overseas, via import companies, to service the local market. While in the minority due to the vast capacity of the high-country provinces, imported flowers do widen the choice for consumers wanting to buy something special for a loved one on a special day. The opportunity of a young entrepreneur starts early with local students visiting one of the big flower markets across Ho Chi Minh City like Ho Thi Ky Market. Sometimes they will just arrive and buy from the cheapest seller and other times they pre-arrange a delivery, but it is not common for young sellers. After spending money buying the flowers, they take them home or to the street side and prepare them for sale. There are a number of different ways they can be sold from a simple bunch to a bouquet. Roses are sold at Ho Thi Ky Market in District 10, Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Ray Kuschert / Tuoi Tre News A bouquet of flowers is sold at Ho Thi Ky Market in District 10, Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Ray Kuschert / Tuoi Tre News Ho Thi Ky Market is in District 10, Ho Chi Minh City. It is the center activity for flower sellers. A visit to this market is an experience for any expat or tourist. Sellers prepare bouquets of all varieties, from simple bunches of flowers to strange bouquets of packets of dry squid and money, and they also sell the flowers by color in bulk. A bouquet made of banknotes is sold at Ho Thi Ky Market in District 10, Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Ray Kuschert / Tuoi Tre News These are mostly sold to street sellers and flower businesses across the city, with wedding houses being a big customer of the wholesalers. Mornings are especially active in the market with the arrival of fresh flowers only hours earlier, before sunrise. The market is a must-visit for breakfast and remember to take a camera because the sights are amazing. In this 2017 file photo, flowers are seen on sale at the Ho Thi Ky flower market after midnight on October 19, one day before the Vietnamese Women's Day. Photo: Nam Tran / Tuoi Tre After taking a risk of spending all their money at the flower market, these tenacious young sellers spend the entire day standing by the side of the road to sell as much as they possibly can with the dream to sell out early and go home with a pocket full of cash. They use signs, present their flowers and take any opportunity to be seen by passing motorbike riders. One seller shared their story with me and told me she spent two whole days on the side of the road selling their flowers with hardly any sleep on Womens Day last year. You might think that this is a booming business opportunity with massive profits, but most sellers are lucky to make VND900,000 (US$38) to VND2 million ($85) for a days work, plus they have the risk of accepting the losses of anything they cannot sell. Another young seller told me that if she could not sell all her flowers, she would give them as gifts to her neighbors, all for free of course, and this reduces the total profit she makes for each special occasion. Sunflowers are sold at Ho Thi Ky Market in District 10, Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Ray Kuschert / Tuoi Tre News Every country and every culture have their opportunities for young people to earn an extra dollar. As a young man in Australia, I would mow lawns, sell recycled cans, and wash cars. For young Vietnamese adults and students, the hustle of selling flowers on special days is an equivalent opportunity in this culture to help them through their education years. Valentines Day, Vietnamese Womens Day, and International Womens Day are just three of the days in the year that the opportunity is given to so many young and struggling Vietnamese. And with this opportunity comes a culture and spirit that is uniquely Vietnam. Saigon takes on a beauty of its own as you ride down a main road that is usually void of color to see vibrant red, yellow, pink, and white flowers lining the street. It brings freshness and happiness to the suburbs that is always pleasant to be part of and to experience. So, with both Valentines Day and Womens Day being celebrated early in the year, make sure you become part of this special spirit of Ho Chi Minh City. From deep in my heart I wish every woman a wonderful Womens Day and I hope love is in the air for everyone this Valentines Day. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

Days like Valentine's Day and Womens Day are special times in Ho Chi Minh City. On that former day, the street floods with sellers of flowers all scrambling to sell beautiful gifts to motorcycle riders heading to work or home.

The street sellers of flowers seem to appear from nowhere on special days and bring culture to the streets. They have many stories to tell of their motivation to sell flowers on the streets. They bring an air of celebration to the streets while giving commuters a reason to stop and purchase a special gift for someone they care about.

But, while Im riding along a main road in Go Vap District, the question becomes: where do these people come from and why do they sell flowers?

Bouquets of artificial flowers are sold ahead of Valentine's Day on a sidewalk in District 12, Ho Chi Minh City. Picture taken on February 13, 2023. Photo: Dong Nguyen / Tuoi Tre News

While everyone has their own story, many of the sellers are students that use the special occasions to make a little extra money to help them through school or university. They may take a day or two off from studies to stand on the streets for up to 18 hours to sell all the flowers that they purchased the day before, or even early that morning. It can be a challenging day or two for these young entrepreneurs, but it is also an opportunity to get ahead in a small way to survive the struggles of education and poverty.

In Vietnam, the Central Highlands provinces of Lam Dong and Dak Lak are well known for some of the best produce sold and consumed in Vietnam. Across these provinces, and especially in the city of Da Lat, beautiful flowers are grown all year round and sent via truck and bus to the major cities across the country.

Ho Chi Minh City is a large consumer of flowers grown in these provinces and a visit to a number of the larger wholesale markets will see buses and trucks arriving from 2:00 am to sunrise packed with the produce, including flowers, that will be sold to consumers that day.

But Vietnam also relies on imports to maintain wider consumer needs. On big celebration days like Womens Day and Valentines Day, the markets also accept additional stock from overseas, via import companies, to service the local market. While in the minority due to the vast capacity of the high-country provinces, imported flowers do widen the choice for consumers wanting to buy something special for a loved one on a special day.

The opportunity of a young entrepreneur starts early with local students visiting one of the big flower markets across Ho Chi Minh City like Ho Thi Ky Market. Sometimes they will just arrive and buy from the cheapest seller and other times they pre-arrange a delivery, but it is not common for young sellers. After spending money buying the flowers, they take them home or to the street side and prepare them for sale. There are a number of different ways they can be sold from a simple bunch to a bouquet.

Roses are sold at Ho Thi Ky Market in District 10, Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Ray Kuschert / Tuoi Tre News

A bouquet of flowers is sold at Ho Thi Ky Market in District 10, Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Ray Kuschert / Tuoi Tre News

Ho Thi Ky Market is in District 10, Ho Chi Minh City. It is the center activity for flower sellers. A visit to this market is an experience for any expat or tourist. Sellers prepare bouquets of all varieties, from simple bunches of flowers to strange bouquets of packets of dry squid and money, and they also sell the flowers by color in bulk.

A bouquet made of banknotes is sold at Ho Thi Ky Market in District 10, Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Ray Kuschert / Tuoi Tre News

These are mostly sold to street sellers and flower businesses across the city, with wedding houses being a big customer of the wholesalers. Mornings are especially active in the market with the arrival of fresh flowers only hours earlier, before sunrise. The market is a must-visit for breakfast and remember to take a camera because the sights are amazing.

In this 2017 file photo, flowers are seen on sale at the Ho Thi Ky flower market after midnight on October 19, one day before the Vietnamese Women's Day. Photo: Nam Tran / Tuoi Tre

After taking a risk of spending all their money at the flower market, these tenacious young sellers spend the entire day standing by the side of the road to sell as much as they possibly can with the dream to sell out early and go home with a pocket full of cash. They use signs, present their flowers and take any opportunity to be seen by passing motorbike riders. One seller shared their story with me and told me she spent two whole days on the side of the road selling their flowers with hardly any sleep on Womens Day last year.

You might think that this is a booming business opportunity with massive profits, but most sellers are lucky to make VND900,000 (US$38) to VND2 million ($85) for a days work, plus they have the risk of accepting the losses of anything they cannot sell. Another young seller told me that if she could not sell all her flowers, she would give them as gifts to her neighbors, all for free of course, and this reduces the total profit she makes for each special occasion.

Sunflowers are sold at Ho Thi Ky Market in District 10, Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Ray Kuschert / Tuoi Tre News

Every country and every culture have their opportunities for young people to earn an extra dollar. As a young man in Australia, I would mow lawns, sell recycled cans, and wash cars. For young Vietnamese adults and students, the hustle of selling flowers on special days is an equivalent opportunity in this culture to help them through their education years. Valentines Day, Vietnamese Womens Day, and International Womens Day are just three of the days in the year that the opportunity is given to so many young and struggling Vietnamese.

And with this opportunity comes a culture and spirit that is uniquely Vietnam. Saigon takes on a beauty of its own as you ride down a main road that is usually void of color to see vibrant red, yellow, pink, and white flowers lining the street. It brings freshness and happiness to the suburbs that is always pleasant to be part of and to experience.

So, with both Valentines Day and Womens Day being celebrated early in the year, make sure you become part of this special spirit of Ho Chi Minh City. From deep in my heart I wish every woman a wonderful Womens Day and I hope love is in the air for everyone this Valentines Day.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Equatorial Guinea has confirmed its first outbreak of the Marburg virus, a highly infectious and deadly disease similar to Ebola, following the deaths of at least nine people, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday. The small Central African country quarantined more than 200 people and restricted movement last week in its Kie-Ntem province after detecting an unknown hemorrhagic fever. Neighboring Cameroon also restricted movement along its border over concerns about contagion. In addition to the nine deaths, Equatorial Guinea has reported 16 suspected cases of Marburg virus with symptoms including fever, fatigue and blood-stained vomit and diarrhea, the WHO said. Marburg virus disease can have a fatality rate of up to 88%, according to the WHO. There are no vaccines or antiviral treatments approved to treat it. The deaths have been preliminarily linked to a funeral ceremony in the Kie-Ntem province's Nsok Nsomo district, Equatorial Guinea Health Minister Mitoha Ondo'o Ayekaba said on Friday. Local health authorities initially reported an unknown illness causing hemorrhagic fever cases on Feb. 7, and sent samples to a laboratory in Senegal that was able to confirm one as positive for Marburg virus disease, the WHO said. It said the teams are conducting contact tracing and isolating and treating suspected cases. "Thanks to the rapid and decisive action by the Equatorial Guinean authorities in confirming the disease, emergency response can get to full steam quickly," Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, said in the statement.

Equatorial Guinea has confirmed its first outbreak of the Marburg virus, a highly infectious and deadly disease similar to Ebola, following the deaths of at least nine people, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.

The small Central African country quarantined more than 200 people and restricted movement last week in its Kie-Ntem province after detecting an unknown hemorrhagic fever. Neighboring Cameroon also restricted movement along its border over concerns about contagion.

In addition to the nine deaths, Equatorial Guinea has reported 16 suspected cases of Marburg virus with symptoms including fever, fatigue and blood-stained vomit and diarrhea, the WHO said.

Marburg virus disease can have a fatality rate of up to 88%, according to the WHO. There are no vaccines or antiviral treatments approved to treat it.

The deaths have been preliminarily linked to a funeral ceremony in the Kie-Ntem province's Nsok Nsomo district, Equatorial Guinea Health Minister Mitoha Ondo'o Ayekaba said on Friday.

Local health authorities initially reported an unknown illness causing hemorrhagic fever cases on Feb. 7, and sent samples to a laboratory in Senegal that was able to confirm one as positive for Marburg virus disease, the WHO said. It said the teams are conducting contact tracing and isolating and treating suspected cases.

"Thanks to the rapid and decisive action by the Equatorial Guinean authorities in confirming the disease, emergency response can get to full steam quickly," Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, said in the statement.
The owner of a huge South African rhino conservation farm, the world's largest, said Monday that it would be sold at auction in April because it could no longer afford to breed the endangered animals. Platinum Rhino, home to nearly 2,000 southern white rhinoceros spread across 8,500 hectares (21,000 acres) in the country's North West province, says it is "the largest of its kind in the world". "Breeding rhinos is an expensive game," John Hume, Platinum's 81-year-old founder, told AFP, adding that he had been breeding rhinos "for 30 years without profit". South Africa is home to about 80 percent of the world's rhino population, but poaching has taken a huge toll despite increased protection efforts on both private reserves and at national and regional parks. This month, the government said 448 rhinos were killed across the country last year, just three fewer than in 2021, as poachers increasingly targeted privately owned reserves instead of national parks. The animal's horns consist mainly of hard keratin, the same substance found in human nails, but they are highly sought on black markets for use in traditional medicines in Asian countries such as China and Vietnam, where it is believed to cure cancer and other ailments. "Preventing poaching took a huge monetary toll," said Hume, adding that it cost him up to half a million rand ($28,000) to breed a rhino up to the age of four years at his farm, which employs around 100 people. He said he is looking for a buyer "with a passion for conserving rhinos and the means to keep the breeding project going". Last year, Hume announced plans to release 100 farm-bred rhinos into the wild each year, which the farm's chief veterinarian, Dr Michelle Otto, said "could repopulate the whole of Africa" if there were sufficient funding for the project. Hume had also sparked controversy in 2017 by organising a three-day online auction of horns he had amassed by sawing off them off in order to prevent their killing by poachers, though the sale attracted fewer buyers than anticipated. Platinum Rhino is home to over 16 percent of South Africa's southern white rhino population according to the company, the subspecies of white rhino, is now considered endangered with about 20,000 individuals remaining, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

The owner of a huge South African rhino conservation farm, the world's largest, said Monday that it would be sold at auction in April because it could no longer afford to breed the endangered animals.

Platinum Rhino, home to nearly 2,000 southern white rhinoceros spread across 8,500 hectares (21,000 acres) in the country's North West province, says it is "the largest of its kind in the world".

"Breeding rhinos is an expensive game," John Hume, Platinum's 81-year-old founder, told AFP, adding that he had been breeding rhinos "for 30 years without profit".

South Africa is home to about 80 percent of the world's rhino population, but poaching has taken a huge toll despite increased protection efforts on both private reserves and at national and regional parks.

This month, the government said 448 rhinos were killed across the country last year, just three fewer than in 2021, as poachers increasingly targeted privately owned reserves instead of national parks.

The animal's horns consist mainly of hard keratin, the same substance found in human nails, but they are highly sought on black markets for use in traditional medicines in Asian countries such as China and Vietnam, where it is believed to cure cancer and other ailments.

"Preventing poaching took a huge monetary toll," said Hume, adding that it cost him up to half a million rand ($28,000) to breed a rhino up to the age of four years at his farm, which employs around 100 people.

He said he is looking for a buyer "with a passion for conserving rhinos and the means to keep the breeding project going".

Last year, Hume announced plans to release 100 farm-bred rhinos into the wild each year, which the farm's chief veterinarian, Dr Michelle Otto, said "could repopulate the whole of Africa" if there were sufficient funding for the project.

Hume had also sparked controversy in 2017 by organising a three-day online auction of horns he had amassed by sawing off them off in order to prevent their killing by poachers, though the sale attracted fewer buyers than anticipated.

Platinum Rhino is home to over 16 percent of South Africa's southern white rhino population according to the company, the subspecies of white rhino, is now considered endangered with about 20,000 individuals remaining, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
A group of 76 military personnel, sent by Vietnams Ministry of National Defense, arrived in Turkey on Monday to engage in search and rescue operations for victims of the terrible earthquake that struck the country, along with neighboring Syria, a week ago. The soldiers, dispatched from the ministrys General Department of Logistics and the Collapse Rescue Team of the Army Corps of Engineers, brought along six canines from the Border Guard Command. The group reached Antakya, a city of the southernmost Turkish province of Hatay, on Monday evening, after they touched down at Istanbul International Airport earlier the same day. Located about 1,100 kilometers from Istanbul and the Syrian border, Hatay suffered the most damage from the magnitude-7.8 earthquake that shook the country on Monday last week. On their arrival, the Vietnamese servicemen coordinated with other international forces in searching for and rescuing people trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings in Antakya, as well as providing medical assistance to earthquake victims. Talking to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, professional military captain Le Trong Nghia said that the group was working in chilly weather, about three degrees Celsius. Along with these military personnel, 35 metric tons of equipment and supplies have also been sent to Turkey on a separate flight. The Vietnamese Embassy in Turkey has coordinated with the local Vietnamese community to provide the soldiers with interpreters to ensure their operational efficiency. Earlier, a 24-member rescue police team from the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security was dispatched to the southeastern Turkish city of Adiyaman on Saturday morning to join search and rescue efforts. They assisted a Pakistan rescue squad in saving a 14-year-old Turkish teenager from the rubble of a collapsed building on the evening of the same day. A total of 100 Vietnamese police officers and soldiers have been sent to Turkey on the earthquake relief mission. Along with Vietnam, around 70 other countries have deployed more than 8,000 rescuers to support quake-devastated Turkey. The earthquakes death toll has reached more than 37,000 people in Turkey and Syria, and the death toll is likely to increase sharply, ABC News reported on Tuesday. In addition, tens of thousands of others were reported injured in both countries. The February 6 quake was the most devastating disaster to hit Turkey since the 1939 Erzincan earthquake, according to the Vietnam News Agency. Located in the worlds most active earthquake zones, Turkey has suffered several massive quakes, including a magnitude-7.4 quake that resulted in 17,000 fatalities in 1999 and the most recent one that killed 114 in October last year, the agency said. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

A group of 76 military personnel, sent by Vietnams Ministry of National Defense, arrived in Turkey on Monday to engage in search and rescue operations for victims of the terrible earthquake that struck the country, along with neighboring Syria, a week ago.

The soldiers, dispatched from the ministrys General Department of Logistics and the Collapse Rescue Team of the Army Corps of Engineers, brought along six canines from the Border Guard Command.

The group reached Antakya, a city of the southernmost Turkish province of Hatay, on Monday evening, after they touched down at Istanbul International Airport earlier the same day.

Located about 1,100 kilometers from Istanbul and the Syrian border, Hatay suffered the most damage from the magnitude-7.8 earthquake that shook the country on Monday last week.

On their arrival, the Vietnamese servicemen coordinated with other international forces in searching for and rescuing people trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings in Antakya, as well as providing medical assistance to earthquake victims.

Talking to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, professional military captain Le Trong Nghia said that the group was working in chilly weather, about three degrees Celsius.

Along with these military personnel, 35 metric tons of equipment and supplies have also been sent to Turkey on a separate flight.

The Vietnamese Embassy in Turkey has coordinated with the local Vietnamese community to provide the soldiers with interpreters to ensure their operational efficiency.

Earlier, a 24-member rescue police team from the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security was dispatched to the southeastern Turkish city of Adiyaman on Saturday morning to join search and rescue efforts.

They assisted a Pakistan rescue squad in saving a 14-year-old Turkish teenager from the rubble of a collapsed building on the evening of the same day.

A total of 100 Vietnamese police officers and soldiers have been sent to Turkey on the earthquake relief mission.

Along with Vietnam, around 70 other countries have deployed more than 8,000 rescuers to support quake-devastated Turkey.

The earthquakes death toll has reached more than 37,000 people in Turkey and Syria, and the death toll is likely to increase sharply, ABC News reported on Tuesday.

In addition, tens of thousands of others were reported injured in both countries.

The February 6 quake was the most devastating disaster to hit Turkey since the 1939 Erzincan earthquake, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

Located in the worlds most active earthquake zones, Turkey has suffered several massive quakes, including a magnitude-7.4 quake that resulted in 17,000 fatalities in 1999 and the most recent one that killed 114 in October last year, the agency said.

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At least eight people were killed after a passenger van hit a tractor-trailer at an intersection in Quang Nam Province, central Vietnam early on Tuesday morning. The accident took place at an intersection in Tam Hiep Commune, Nui Thanh District at around 4:00 am, Pham Viet Tien, head of the district police unit, confirmed later the same morning. The passenger van was traveling in the direction from Quang Nam to neighboring Da Nang City when it crashed into the tractor-trailer. The damaged van tips over following the collision with a tractor-trailer in Quang Nam Province, Vietnam, February 14, 2023. Photo: M.T. / Tuoi Tre Six people in the van were killed on the spot while two other succumbed to their serious injuries in hospital. The van driver and his assistant were among the deceased. Another 12 wounded victims are being treated at the hospital, with three suffering very serious injuries, according to the provincial traffic safety committee. An official from the Quang Nam Peoples Committee stated that the 16-seater van was carrying 21 people. Police examine the crash site in Quang Nam Province, Vietnam, February 14, 2023. Photo: M.T. / Tuoi Tre They are residents of central Quang Ngai Province who were heading to central Thua Thien-Hue Province for health check-ups. The van is a private vehicle and does not belong to any transport company or cooperative, according to preliminary information. Traffic monitoring data of the Department for Roads of Vietnam showed that the van was traveling at 69km an hour, while the tractor-trailer was running at 30km per hour prior to the crash. Further investigation is ongoing. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

At least eight people were killed after a passenger van hit a tractor-trailer at an intersection in Quang Nam Province, central Vietnam early on Tuesday morning.

The accident took place at an intersection in Tam Hiep Commune, Nui Thanh District at around 4:00 am, Pham Viet Tien, head of the district police unit, confirmed later the same morning.

The passenger van was traveling in the direction from Quang Nam to neighboring Da Nang City when it crashed into the tractor-trailer.

The damaged van tips over following the collision with a tractor-trailer in Quang Nam Province, Vietnam, February 14, 2023. Photo: M.T. / Tuoi Tre

Six people in the van were killed on the spot while two other succumbed to their serious injuries in hospital.

The van driver and his assistant were among the deceased.

Another 12 wounded victims are being treated at the hospital, with three suffering very serious injuries, according to the provincial traffic safety committee.

An official from the Quang Nam Peoples Committee stated that the 16-seater van was carrying 21 people.

Police examine the crash site in Quang Nam Province, Vietnam, February 14, 2023. Photo: M.T. / Tuoi Tre

They are residents of central Quang Ngai Province who were heading to central Thua Thien-Hue Province for health check-ups.

The van is a private vehicle and does not belong to any transport company or cooperative, according to preliminary information.

Traffic monitoring data of the Department for Roads of Vietnam showed that the van was traveling at 69km an hour, while the tractor-trailer was running at 30km per hour prior to the crash.

Further investigation is ongoing.

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Settsu patrol vessel of the Japan Coast Guard on Monday arrived in Tien Sa Port in Da Nang, central Vietnam, beginning its six-day visit to the city. The visit is to mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Japan. The vessel has 52 crew members on board, captained by Niwa Satoshi. During the time in Da Nang, they will participate in a research and rescue drill with the Vietnam Coast Guard this Saturday. According to Niwa Satoshi, Settsus selection of Vietnam as its first destination for a friendly visit after the COVID-19 pandemic proves that Japan attaches great importance to the Vietnam Coast Guard and other relevant agencies. The vessel docks at Tien Sa Port in Da Nang, central Vietnam and conducts a visit to the city from February 13 to 18, 2023. Photo: Tan Luc / Tuoi Tre During their visit to Da Nang, crew members of Settsu patrol vessel will meet with municipal leaders, visit the Vietnam Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Center, and participate in sport activities. Vietnam-Japan relations have been established for years. The two countries marine security and safety forces have regularly held exchange activities and visits," Satoshi said. We have also trained and exchanged experience in search and rescue and skills to fight against crimes at sea. "Through these activities, we have jointly contributed to maintaining peace in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean." Settsu patrol vessel is conducting a patrol to prevent international pirates in the Southeast Asian waters for a month. The visit to Da Nang is expected to deepen the partnership between Vietnam and Japan, contributing to maintaining and enhancing the free and open maritime order in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean. Niwa Satoshi, captain of the Japanese patrol vessel, answers Vietnamese medias questions about the visit. Photo: Tan Luc / Tuoi Tre The rescue hold of Settsu patrol vessel. Photo: Tan Luc / Tuoi Tre Vietnamese and Japanese forces pose for a photo with Settsu patrol vessel. Photo: Tan Luc / Tuoi Tre Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

Settsu patrol vessel of the Japan Coast Guard on Monday arrived in Tien Sa Port in Da Nang, central Vietnam, beginning its six-day visit to the city.

The visit is to mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Japan.

The vessel has 52 crew members on board, captained by Niwa Satoshi.

During the time in Da Nang, they will participate in a research and rescue drill with the Vietnam Coast Guard this Saturday.

According to Niwa Satoshi, Settsus selection of Vietnam as its first destination for a friendly visit after the COVID-19 pandemic proves that Japan attaches great importance to the Vietnam Coast Guard and other relevant agencies.

The vessel docks at Tien Sa Port in Da Nang, central Vietnam and conducts a visit to the city from February 13 to 18, 2023. Photo: Tan Luc / Tuoi Tre

During their visit to Da Nang, crew members of Settsu patrol vessel will meet with municipal leaders, visit the Vietnam Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Center, and participate in sport activities.

Vietnam-Japan relations have been established for years. The two countries marine security and safety forces have regularly held exchange activities and visits," Satoshi said.

We have also trained and exchanged experience in search and rescue and skills to fight against crimes at sea.

"Through these activities, we have jointly contributed to maintaining peace in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean."

Settsu patrol vessel is conducting a patrol to prevent international pirates in the Southeast Asian waters for a month.

The visit to Da Nang is expected to deepen the partnership between Vietnam and Japan, contributing to maintaining and enhancing the free and open maritime order in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean.

Niwa Satoshi, captain of the Japanese patrol vessel, answers Vietnamese medias questions about the visit. Photo: Tan Luc / Tuoi Tre

The rescue hold of Settsu patrol vessel. Photo: Tan Luc / Tuoi Tre

Vietnamese and Japanese forces pose for a photo with Settsu patrol vessel. Photo: Tan Luc / Tuoi Tre

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Police in Nghe An Province, north-central Vietnam confirmed on Monday they had initiated legal proceedings against three suspects for trading in nine sets of tiger skins and heads. Truong Sy Hai, 53, Vu Van Thuong, 33, and Le Tuan Minh, 47, all living in Nghe Ans Dien Chau District, are being investigated for violating regulations on wildlife protection. Police in the district suspected that some local people were trading in wild animal products during the Lunar New Year holiday last month. Their probe into the case resulted in the seizure of nine tiger skins and heads, and a pair of horns suspected to be wild buffalo horns. The case is being further investigated. Nghe An is considered one of the hot spots for tiger farming and trading in recent years. At the beginning of August 2021, the local police force discovered 17 adult tigers, weighing more than 200kg each, illegally kept in captivity in two houses in Yen Thanh District. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

Police in Nghe An Province, north-central Vietnam confirmed on Monday they had initiated legal proceedings against three suspects for trading in nine sets of tiger skins and heads.

Truong Sy Hai, 53, Vu Van Thuong, 33, and Le Tuan Minh, 47, all living in Nghe Ans Dien Chau District, are being investigated for violating regulations on wildlife protection.

Police in the district suspected that some local people were trading in wild animal products during the Lunar New Year holiday last month.

Their probe into the case resulted in the seizure of nine tiger skins and heads, and a pair of horns suspected to be wild buffalo horns.

The case is being further investigated.

Nghe An is considered one of the hot spots for tiger farming and trading in recent years.

At the beginning of August 2021, the local police force discovered 17 adult tigers, weighing more than 200kg each, illegally kept in captivity in two houses in Yen Thanh District.

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Young couples in Vietnam have added baking workshops to the list of activities for their Valentines Day celebrations. At a workshop held by Dai Tin F&B in Ho Chi Minh Citys District 1 ahead of the occasion, a small group of attendees were given ingredients and shown how to bake by a professional. Attendees learn to bake Craquelin at a workshop in Ho Chi Minh City on the occasion of Valentines Day in 2023. Photo: Ngoc Phuong / Tuoi Tre News Baker Dang Que Ngan shows attendees how to bake at a workshop in Ho Chi Minh City on the occasion of Valentines Day in 2023. Photo: Ngoc Phuong / Tuoi Tre News With a fee of VND120,000 (US$5), attendees can bring their cake or pastry home after the workshop. According to baker Dang Que Ngan, each type of cake requires a different amount of time and effort. For example, it normally takes around an hour to make our Valentine Craquelin, Ngan said. Bakers need to pay attention to adjusting the oven to the proper temperature not to ruin the crust. An attendee decorates Valentine Craquelin puffs at a baking workshop in Ho Chi Minh City on the occasion of Valentines Day in 2023. Photo: Ngoc Phuong / Tuoi Tre News Le Nguyen Yen My joined the workshop with her partner to celebrate their anniversary on Valentines Day. We were looking for a meaningful activity to do together, and I love baking also, My explained. With this kind of workshop, we can bake for each other, as well as learn a new recipe to bake for my family and friends. Meanwhile, Duong Thi Hong Hanh expected to learn basic baking techniques from the workshop. I want to bake for my husband and parents, she said. This is much more meaningful than buying a cake from the store because I spent my time and effort on it. Even though baking it myself doesnt make it cheaper, or more delicious, I believe the cakes I bake are more valuable. Duong Thi Hong Hanh focuses on making the filling for her Valentine Craquelin puffs at a baking workshop in Ho Chi Minh City on the occasion of Valentines Day in 2023. Photo: Ngoc Phuong / Tuoi Tre News In the future, Ngan expects to run weekly workshops featuring a wide range of pastries and cakes, including Craquelin, Swiss rolls, cupcakes, red velvet, and more. The class plans to recruit only around four to ten attendees, allowing the instructor enough time to assist learners with their products. Ingredients to be used for decoration at a baking workshop in Ho Chi Minh City on the occasion of Valentines Day in 2023. Photo: Ngoc Phuong / Tuoi Tre News Craquelin puffs are made at a baking workshop in Ho Chi Minh City on the occasion of Valentines Day in 2023. Photo: Ngoc Phuong / Tuoi Tre News Attendees pack their puffs to bring home after a baking workshop in Ho Chi Minh City on the occasion of Valentines Day in 2023. Photo: Ngoc Phuong / Tuoi Tre News Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

Young couples in Vietnam have added baking workshops to the list of activities for their Valentines Day celebrations.

At a workshop held by Dai Tin F&B in Ho Chi Minh Citys District 1 ahead of the occasion, a small group of attendees were given ingredients and shown how to bake by a professional.

Attendees learn to bake Craquelin at a workshop in Ho Chi Minh City on the occasion of Valentines Day in 2023. Photo: Ngoc Phuong / Tuoi Tre News

Baker Dang Que Ngan shows attendees how to bake at a workshop in Ho Chi Minh City on the occasion of Valentines Day in 2023. Photo: Ngoc Phuong / Tuoi Tre News

With a fee of VND120,000 (US$5), attendees can bring their cake or pastry home after the workshop.

According to baker Dang Que Ngan, each type of cake requires a different amount of time and effort.

For example, it normally takes around an hour to make our Valentine Craquelin, Ngan said.

Bakers need to pay attention to adjusting the oven to the proper temperature not to ruin the crust.

An attendee decorates Valentine Craquelin puffs at a baking workshop in Ho Chi Minh City on the occasion of Valentines Day in 2023. Photo: Ngoc Phuong / Tuoi Tre News

Le Nguyen Yen My joined the workshop with her partner to celebrate their anniversary on Valentines Day.

We were looking for a meaningful activity to do together, and I love baking also, My explained.

With this kind of workshop, we can bake for each other, as well as learn a new recipe to bake for my family and friends.

Meanwhile, Duong Thi Hong Hanh expected to learn basic baking techniques from the workshop.

I want to bake for my husband and parents, she said.

This is much more meaningful than buying a cake from the store because I spent my time and effort on it.

Even though baking it myself doesnt make it cheaper, or more delicious, I believe the cakes I bake are more valuable.

Duong Thi Hong Hanh focuses on making the filling for her Valentine Craquelin puffs at a baking workshop in Ho Chi Minh City on the occasion of Valentines Day in 2023. Photo: Ngoc Phuong / Tuoi Tre News

In the future, Ngan expects to run weekly workshops featuring a wide range of pastries and cakes, including Craquelin, Swiss rolls, cupcakes, red velvet, and more.

The class plans to recruit only around four to ten attendees, allowing the instructor enough time to assist learners with their products.

Ingredients to be used for decoration at a baking workshop in Ho Chi Minh City on the occasion of Valentines Day in 2023. Photo: Ngoc Phuong / Tuoi Tre News

Craquelin puffs are made at a baking workshop in Ho Chi Minh City on the occasion of Valentines Day in 2023. Photo: Ngoc Phuong / Tuoi Tre News

Attendees pack their puffs to bring home after a baking workshop in Ho Chi Minh City on the occasion of Valentines Day in 2023. Photo: Ngoc Phuong / Tuoi Tre News

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A new check-in point with moss-covered rocks along a beach in Da Nang, central Vietnam has recently drawn tourists from far and wide and turned into a garbage dump shortly after gaining stardom. Nam O Beach in Da Nang went viral on social media and made headlines last week as a popular spot for taking photos, especially among young people. The gray rocks there are blanketed with green moss, combined with the ocean waves crashing in the background, creating a stunning backdrop for photos. People crowd Nam O Beach, which has become known as a check-in point with moss-covered rocks in Da Nang, Vietnam, February 13, 2023. Photo: B.D. / Tuoi Tre The warmer weather following a previous cold spell has facilitated the growth of the moss, which quickly covered the rocks, giving rise to an interesting natural phenomenon. Soon, the location became known as a check-in point, with thousands of local residents and tourists flocking to the place. However, the latest flocks of visitors were disappointed upon their arrival at the site. Stalls are erected without permission at Nam O Beach, which has become known as a check-in point with moss-covered rocks in Da Nang, Vietnam, February 13, 2023. Photo: B.D. / Tuoi Tre Despite the beauty of the location, it seems that many visitors failed to respect the area and its surroundings. The once-beautiful site quickly became littered with trash, with visitors leaving behind everything from food packaging to plastic bottles. I liked it so much after seeing photos on social media that I told my son to drive me here, but I didnt expect such dirtiness and a mess, said Nguyen Thi Hong Sen, who traveled nearly 60km from Hue City in neighboring Thua Thien-Hue Province. Stalls are erected without permission at Nam O Beach, which has become known as a check-in point with moss-covered rocks in Da Nang, Vietnam, February 13, 2023. Photo: B.D. / Tuoi Tre Nguyen Huu Canh, a local man, said that the coverage of moss on the rocks at Nam O Beach is not a rare occurrence as it happens around this time every year. However, there has never been a year when so many visitors have thronged the place to take pictures like in the past few days, according to Canh. On this occasion, a number of local households have set up stalls selling snacks and beverages, and unapproved parking lots for tourists. Trash piles up at Nam O Beach, which has become known as a check-in point with moss-covered rocks in Da Nang, Vietnam, February 13, 2023. Photo: B.D. / Tuoi Tre This unregulated commercial activity has led to the degradation of the check-in point, the man said. Following a Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper inquiry, local authorities said they are aware of Nam O Beachs popularity due to the moss-covered rocks and have intentionally left the place open to visitors as the natural phenomenon will not last long. They also vowed to take action to address the littering and parking lot issues. A parking lot is established without permission at Nam O Beach, which has become known as a check-in point with moss-covered rocks in Da Nang, Vietnam, February 13, 2023. Photo: B.D. / Tuoi Tre Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

A new check-in point with moss-covered rocks along a beach in Da Nang, central Vietnam has recently drawn tourists from far and wide and turned into a garbage dump shortly after gaining stardom.

Nam O Beach in Da Nang went viral on social media and made headlines last week as a popular spot for taking photos, especially among young people.

The gray rocks there are blanketed with green moss, combined with the ocean waves crashing in the background, creating a stunning backdrop for photos.

People crowd Nam O Beach, which has become known as a check-in point with moss-covered rocks in Da Nang, Vietnam, February 13, 2023. Photo: B.D. / Tuoi Tre

The warmer weather following a previous cold spell has facilitated the growth of the moss, which quickly covered the rocks, giving rise to an interesting natural phenomenon.

Soon, the location became known as a check-in point, with thousands of local residents and tourists flocking to the place.

However, the latest flocks of visitors were disappointed upon their arrival at the site.

Stalls are erected without permission at Nam O Beach, which has become known as a check-in point with moss-covered rocks in Da Nang, Vietnam, February 13, 2023. Photo: B.D. / Tuoi Tre

Despite the beauty of the location, it seems that many visitors failed to respect the area and its surroundings.

The once-beautiful site quickly became littered with trash, with visitors leaving behind everything from food packaging to plastic bottles.

I liked it so much after seeing photos on social media that I told my son to drive me here, but I didnt expect such dirtiness and a mess, said Nguyen Thi Hong Sen, who traveled nearly 60km from Hue City in neighboring Thua Thien-Hue Province.

Stalls are erected without permission at Nam O Beach, which has become known as a check-in point with moss-covered rocks in Da Nang, Vietnam, February 13, 2023. Photo: B.D. / Tuoi Tre

Nguyen Huu Canh, a local man, said that the coverage of moss on the rocks at Nam O Beach is not a rare occurrence as it happens around this time every year.

However, there has never been a year when so many visitors have thronged the place to take pictures like in the past few days, according to Canh.

On this occasion, a number of local households have set up stalls selling snacks and beverages, and unapproved parking lots for tourists.

Trash piles up at Nam O Beach, which has become known as a check-in point with moss-covered rocks in Da Nang, Vietnam, February 13, 2023. Photo: B.D. / Tuoi Tre

This unregulated commercial activity has led to the degradation of the check-in point, the man said.

Following a Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper inquiry, local authorities said they are aware of Nam O Beachs popularity due to the moss-covered rocks and have intentionally left the place open to visitors as the natural phenomenon will not last long.

They also vowed to take action to address the littering and parking lot issues.

A parking lot is established without permission at Nam O Beach, which has become known as a check-in point with moss-covered rocks in Da Nang, Vietnam, February 13, 2023. Photo: B.D. / Tuoi Tre

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Josh Thomas US comedy Everything is Gonna Be Okay was drawn into a Senate Estimates hearing yesterday when SA Liberal Senator Alex Antic asked ABC Managing Director David Anderson why a sexually explicit program was screening on ABC Kids.

Im interested in a program called Everythings Gonna Be Okay. It aired on ABC Kids recently and on the ABCs website, the programs genre is listed as LGBTQIA+, and it contains sexual themes.

In fact, one example of the episodes description reads Matilda and Genevieve find themselves confronting sexuality in school in very different ways. Why is it that the ABC thinks sexualised content and adult themes are appropriate for the ABC Kids platform?

But Senator Antic, who previously objected to Courtney Acts appearance in a Play School Storytime segment, failed to recognise the Josh Thomas comedy screened in a late night slot on ABC TV Plus.

It was Rated M, suitable for ages 15 years and over with adult themes and sexual references.

ABC boss David Anderson told Senator Antic he was not familiar with the show, which is an acquired US title.

Senator, I know that certainly for all of our programs we tackle issues in our community, that includes the LGBTQIA+ community, he said. I dont know the program that youre talking about. So I cant give comment on whether any of that information is sexualised or not. Other than I will get back to you on notice, Senator. I dont know the program.

ABC Kids channel shares bandwith with ABC TV Plus, switching to adult programming after 7:30pm, a point which may have escaped the Senator.

Everythings Gonna Be Okay was repeated in January in an 11pm slot.

Thomas plays Nicholas, guardian to two teenage half-sisters, Genevieve and Matilda. The series, which also explores autism, was nominated by GLAAD Media Awards, Screen Music Awards and Hollywood Critics Association Television Awards.

Pressed on whether children should be exposed to sexualised content David Anderson replied, Weve done stories where were talking about same sex parents, yes to reflect some of the issues that exist within the community. But Id say no to sexually explicit content. No, of course we shouldnt be doing it.

ABC TV Plus screens all kinds of adult content in the evenings, this week including Killing Eve, Fleabag, Banana, Cucumber, Veneno, and even Louis Theroux: A Place For Paedophiles.

None of it is on ABC Kids, Senator. Everythings gonna be okay.
The house Dylan and Jenny renovated on The Block 2022 has finally sold, three months after it was passed in failing to reach the reserve of $4,080,000.

House 4 was one of two properties not sold on auction day along with House 3, which was sold a week later.

We can confirm House 4 has sold on The Block: Tree Change in Gisborne, in what is a positive outcome for everyone, a Nine spokesperson told 9Now.

Dylan and Jennys house is now a much loved property for a family who were impressed with the high standard of the build, and incredible views of the Macedon Ranges so close to Melbourne.

All five properties on the most ambitious build in the history of The Block have now been sold. We look forward to starting the build on the next series of Channel 9s The Block very soon.

A price was not detailed nor any winnings for the contestants.

Ankur and Sharons house sold the following week to entrepreneur Adrian Portelli.

Omar and Oz won the series with a huge profit of $1,586,666.66 and $100,000 in prize money for winning.
S Club 7 are ready to bring it all back for their 25th anniversary after announcing they are reuniting for a UK tour later this year in celebration of the milestone.

The seven-piece pop group were originally created by former Spice Girls manager Simon Fuller in 1998 and went in to become of the UKs biggest pop acts thanks to hits including Reach, Dont Stop Movin and their debut single Bring It All Back.

This isnt the first time theyve reunited since disbanding in 2003. They briefly returned to the music scene in 2014 to perform a medley of their best-known songs for the BBC Children In Need appeal and toured the UK the following year.

Their new UK and Ireland arena reunion tour will see all seven original members  Rachel Stevens, Bradley McIntosh, Hannah Spearritt, Jo OMeara, Jon Lee, Paul Cattermole and Tina Barrett  back on the road together.

(left to right) Tina Barrett, Paul Cattermole, Hannah Spearritt, Jon Lee, Rachel Stevens, Bradley McIntosh and Jo O'Meara, of S Club 7.

(left to right) Tina Barrett, Paul Cattermole, Hannah Spearritt, Jon Lee, Rachel Stevens, Bradley McIntosh and Jo O'Meara, of S Club 7.

The band said: After eight years it feels amazing to announce that were reuniting and performing together again.

Were so excited to bring the S Club party back to our fans across the country to celebrate 25 years of S Club 7.

We cant even believe its been so long. Music and friendship have always been at the core of everything that weve ever done.

We hope everyone can join us for one big party.

They will open their 11-date tour on 13 October in Liverpools M&S Bank Arena before continuing to cities including Dublin, Glasgow, Newcastle and Manchester.

The O2 in London will be the last stop on the tour on 28 October.

S Club 7 pictured in 2000.

S Club 7 pictured in 2000.

Appearing on BBCs The One Show after the announcement, Bradley revealed the tour will have a nostalgic feeling to it.

Obviously were bringing the late 90s/early noughties. So its a lot of fun, he said.

Our music is very positive and I think in todays times you need a bit of positive, you need to be picking up so thats what were here to do.

Story continues

The group confirmed everyone had immediately agreed to reunite as it felt like the right time for them.

They said they were most excited to perform their hit Reach on the tour but added that they were open to fans contacting them through social media to request what songs they would like to hear during the shows.

During their five years together they produced four studio albums with their debut, S Club, released in 1999.

They followed this up with the chart-topper 7 in 2000, Sunshine in 2001 and Seeing Double in 2002.

They also cemented their fame after starring in their own BBC TV series Miami 7 and LA 7.

After they called it a day, band members went on to explore other pursuits, with Rachel launching a solo music career and competing on Strictly Come Dancing and Dancing On Ice.

Hannah became a TV actor with roles in shows such as ITVs Primeval, and Jon has performed in West End shows including Les Miserables and Jersey Boys.

Bradley, Jo and Paul later became members of the spin-off group S Club Allstars, previously S Club 3, with Tina joining them in 2014.

Jo, who also released solo music and appeared on Celebrity Big Brother in 2007, has gone through a number of back operations in recent years.

She confirmed on The One Show she feels ready to get back on stage, adding: Im doing physio. Im allowed to swim now so Im just starting to get my back stronger but I will definitely be there on that stage. 100%.

Related...
The corruption scandal rocking Brussels continues to widen: Italian MEP Andrea Cozzolino has been arrested in Naples on a European warrant while MEP Marc Tarabella has been criminally charged, joining a group of four people awaiting trial.

The investigation centres on an alleged cash-for-favours scheme that involved "large sums" of money and "substantial" gifts paid to influence EU decision-making, according to Belgian authorities.

At least 1.5 million in cash have been seized across dozens of raids.

The countries suspected to be behind the illicit lobbying are Qatar and Morocco. Both have vigorously contested the claims and denied any wrongdoing.

The arrest of the two lawmakers, formally associated with the socialist group, was made possible after their own colleagues lifted their parliamentary immunity earlier this month, paving the way for the police intervention.

Cozzolino was stopped by authorities on Friday after leaving a health clinic in Naples and was informed he was the subject of a European arrest warrant, Italian media reported.

Cozzolino was then taken to the Poggioreale prison and was later placed on house arrest as a precautionary measure to prevent his flight.

Belgian police had tried to find the MEP when they went to raid his Brussels residence but he was already in Italy, leading to the issuance of an arrest warrant.

An extradition hearing is expected to take place on Tuesday.

Cozzolino has said he is "calm" and has trust in the justice system. His lawyer defends his client's innocence and vows to fight the extradition.

Scrutiny over the Italian MEP has been intense ever since his assistant, Francesco Giorgi, was arrested and charged in mid-December.

In his leaked confession, Giorgi directly accused Cozzolino and Tarabella of accepting money from Qatar and Morocco, a charge the lawmakers refuted.

First elected in 2019, Cozzolino served as the chair of the European Parliament's delegation for relations with Maghreb countries, which covers Morocco, until he was removed over the growing suspicions.

Story continues

Tarabella criminally charged

Another name that has been on the radar of Belgian authorities is Marc Tarabella.

Tarabella was detained by Belgian police on Friday morning while he was in Anthisnes, a small French-speaking town in which he serves as mayor.

As part of the operation, police searched several offices inside the Anthisnes town hall as well as a bank safe located in Liege.

The following day, a judge charged Tarabella with participation in a criminal organisation, corruption and money laundering, and was sent to the Saint Gilles prison.

These are the same charges faced by Greek MEP Eva Kaili, her domestic partner Francesco Giorgi, former MEP Pier-Antonio Panzeri and NGO director Niccolo Figa-Talamanca.

Kaili, Giorgi and Panzeri remain in prison, while Figa-Talamanca has been released.

Separate pre-trial hearings for Kaili, Panzeri and Tarabella are scheduled to take place on Thursday, the prosecutor's office told Euronews.

Panzeri, the presumed intermediary between the Arab countries and the hemicycle, has signed a deal with authorities in which he admits his criminal participation in bribery and commits to sharing "revealing" details about the cash-for-favour scheme.

According to Belgian media, Panzeri has confessed to handing over 120,000 in cash to Tarabella over several instalments in relation to the latter's work on Qatar-related issues.

But Tarabella's lawyer disputes Panzeri's credibility and insists his client has never received any cash or gift in exchange for political influence.

"No new element has been presented to corroborate the accusations of money transactions, nothing new has been presented. The only incriminating elements are the words of Mr Panzeri against my client," Maxim Toller said in a statement seen by Euronews.

"It only takes the defamation of a person, recognised as the head of a criminal organisation, to provoke such a tsunami and unjustly smear Mr Tarabella."

First elected to the European Parliament in 2004, Tarabella sat on the delegation for relations with the Arab Peninsula, known as DARP, which covers Qatar, until he was asked to step down.

Back in November, Tarabella defended Qatar's labour rights in the context of the FIFA World Cup, using similar arguments to those voiced by Eva Kaili in the same plenary session.

"What is important is that, when the lights of the World Cup have gone out, the positive evolution continues not only in Qatar, but it can spread to all the countries of the Arabian Peninsula," Tarabella said, speaking in French.

In early December, Tarabella voted in favour of a visa waiver for Qatari and Kuwaiti citizens, a legislative file that has since then been put on hold.

Despite being stripped away from their parliamentary immunity and committee positions, both Tarabella and Cozzolino remain MEPs with a post-tax salary of 7,146 per month.
The European Union has added Russia to its blacklist of tax havens after the country amended its business legislation in a way the bloc considers detrimental and unfair.

"The Russian Federation has not fulfilled its commitment to amend its harmful preferential tax regime," economic and finance ministers from the 27 member states said after meeting on Tuesday.

The breakdown in dialogue between the EU and Russia due to the invasion of Ukraine prevented the tax frictions from being resolved, ministers noted.

"With Russia, obviously, currently there is no engagement," said Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Commission's executive vice-president.

"One cannot clearly say that Russia is cooperating on tax matters."

Swedish Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson, whose country holds the EU Council's rotating presidency, said the decision was not based on a "political reason," despite the particular timing, but rather on a technical assessment that proved Russia had "failed" to address the harmful elements of its legislation.

Those elements relate to the income from intellectual property and so-called "grandfathering provisions," which allows business entities to follow old rules instead of new ones.

A spokesperson for the EU Council said that the process to amend harmful legislation was "long" and Brussels had received and analysed the translated text from Russia "only after" October last year.

"Cooperation continued on a good path until after the start of the war but at some point, things deteriorated," the spokesperson told Euronews.

Also on Tuesday, ministers added the British Virgin Islands, Costa Rica and the Marshall Islands to the blacklist, bringing the total to 16 jurisdictions.

'Total whitewash'

First adopted in 2017, the EU's tax list is updated twice a year.

Brussels insists the public catalogue is not meant to "name and shame" other countries, but to "encourage positive change" in tax practices through cooperation and continued dialogue.

Story continues

Countries around the world are assessed against three key criteria: tax transparency, fair taxation, and measures to tackle base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) by multinationals.

Those who don't comply with the criteria are asked to make changes to their legislation.

If they refuse to do so, the EU can add them to the list, which doesn't use the politically charged term of "tax haven" and instead speaks of "non-cooperative jurisdictions."

The labelling doesn't entail any reprisals or sanctions beyond the reputational damage.

On Tuesday, ministers granted Hong Kong, Malaysia and Qatar, three countries under scrutiny for their tax regimes, an extension to make reforms.

Barbados, Jamaica, North Macedonia and Uruguay were found to have completed the necessary steps.

Ministers also highlighted recent commitments made by Aruba, Curacao, Belize, Israel and Albania, an official candidate to join the 27-strong bloc.

The EU's blacklist has often been the target of criticism from tax experts and civil society organisations, who argue its scope is far too limited and fails to target member states, such as Luxembourg and the Netherlands, that present characteristics of tax havens.

Chiara Putaturo, a tax policy advisor at Oxfam's EU office, lambasted the list as a "total whitewash" for excluding jurisdictions like Bermuda and Cayman Island, two overseas territories known for hosting shell companies used by corporations to avoid paying higher taxes in their home countries.

"With this joke list, the EU continues to allow the super-rich and profitable to stash away their fortunes while ordinary people are battling with the cost-of-living crisis," Putaturo said in a statement.

"The update is yet another missed opportunity to put an end to tax havens and get billions back to bridge the gap between the super-rich and ordinary people."

This article has been updated.
GXO Logistics, in Swindon, admitted to failing to keep its employees safe (Image: Swindon Borough Council)

A multinational logistics firm in Swindon admitted failing to keep its employees safe at Swindon Crown Court.

GXO Logistics Services UK, formerly known as XPO, which operates out of the Iceland distribution centre in West Swindon, was fined 125,000 and ordered to pay 80,623 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching health and safety at work law.

The court heard how GXO failed to ensure that risk assessments and safe systems of work were regularly reviewed to manage and control the risks associated with the movement of vehicles and pedestrians in its warehouses.

This failure contributed to an accident on the site on June 23, 2017, which resulted in one of its employees becoming trapped by a cage when it was hit by a vehicle operating inside the warehouse.

Environmental Health Officers attended the site to investigate and then carried out a number of subsequent inspections culminating in a series of Improvement Notices being served on GXO.

The firm, which employs 130,000 people worldwide  including around 700 in Swindon  was also charged with a RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013) offence for failing to keep Swindon Borough Council informed of accidents at its depot.

GXO took over operations of the site in August 2016 and the court heard how the company then assumed responsibility for its safe running.

Sam Jones, representing Swindon Borough Council, told the court how GXO had failed to maintain the health and safety of its staff upon taking over, resulting in a number of accidents taking place in the months that followed, some of which were also not reported in a timely manner.

His Honour Judge James Townsend in his summing up described the accident involving the employee as unpleasant and emphasised that health and safety breaches need to be taken seriously.

GXO was ordered to pay all the costs awarded by the end of next month (31 March) and to pay a victim surcharge of 170.

Councillor Steve Heyes, Swindon Borough Councils cabinet member for housing and public safety, said: Every employer, no matter how large or small, has a duty of care to its staff and must ensure every single one of its employees is safe within the workplace.

GXO fell way short of this minimum requirement and I hope this prosecution and large fine serves as a warning to all businesses that they need to take health and safety extremely seriously or we will not hesitate to take action.
Strike a match and light up Big Daddy's aromatic gasses, because next week's RuPaul's Drag Race season 15 lip-sync LaLaParuza smackdown is going to be an explosive affair.

As the Emmy-winning competition series' reigning BFA-weaponizer (and all-around theater pro) Marcia Marcia Marcia exclusively tells EW's Quick Drag podcast (below), next week's returning lip-sync gauntlet  which last year ultimately sent season 14's Jasmine Kennedie home after a rapid-fire round of sudden-death musical battles on the Main Stage  will up the stakes in dramatic fashion.

"This upcoming episode is pretty firework-y," Marcia tells EW. "Watching [this season] back, it really is so much more dramatic than I remember it being."

She also promises that we're "going to see a lot of our cast's different colors coming out" as the remaining 10 queens engage in one-on-one lip-sync duels  until one queen sashays away.

In 2022, RuPaul imposed the LaLaPaRuza challenge as punishment for the season 14 queens' collective Snatch Game catastrophe, though season 15's appears to have been factored into the season ahead of time. In a preview at the tail end of last week's episode, RuPaul teased that the 2023 edition will come with a twist to the format, though that remains to be seen.

RuPaul's Drag Race

MTV/World of Wonder (3) Marcia Marcia Marcia previews explosive 'RuPaul's Drag Race' season 15 LaLaPaRuza lip-sync smackdown.

During her Quick Drag chat, Marcia also speaks out against toxicity in the fandom, following the moment in Untucked where she briefly tussled with Malaysia Babydoll Foxx. After the on-camera exchange, Malaysia shared a series of disturbing messages she received on social media, and Marcia shared a video disavowing the behavior  as well as vitriol targeted toward Mistress Isabelle Brooks, whom she also previously had an Untucked spat with.

"I felt it was important to speak out about it because it's truly all I can do in the situation, because these people, these queens are all friends of mine," Marcia explains. "I'm not going to sit back and let people attack them for no reason  especially not in my name. It's entirely unacceptable, because it's very real, the racism that you see in the fanbase. It's a lot to deal with, and having people associate that behavior with me is very upsetting and people projecting that behavior onto people in my cast is also very upsetting."

Story continues

RuPaul's Drag Race season 15 continues Friday at 8 p.m. on MTV. Listen to Marcia's full Quick Drag interview above, and hear more recaps and chats with the queens in the full podcast feed below.

Subscribe to EW's Quick Drag podcast for recaps of RuPaul's Drag Race, including reactions with the cast, special guests, and more.

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Dublin, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Middle East - Fixed Broadband Market" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The report includes all relevant research data and analysis. Covering trends and developments in telecommunications, mobile, internet, broadband, infrastructure and regulation.

Middle Eastern countries expand fixed broadband infrastructure though national broadband plans

The Middle East presents a complex region for developing telecoms infrastructure. Many countries have financial resources from oil and gas to fund upgrades and expansions to networks, providing the region with one of the more sophisticated telecom sectors globally. Lacking such resources, Israel has instead relied on its technological prowess.

Other countries, notably Iraq, Syria, and Yemen have been deeply affected by war and civil unrest, which have destroyed equipment and eroded the ability of telcos to offer reliable services. These conditions have also dissuaded investors from committing funds to these markets.

The various measures imposed during the pandemic to restrict travel, and to limit social mingling in environments such as workplaces and schools, have resulted in a dramatic growth in voice and data traffic. While telecom networks have largely coped with the additional traffic demands placed on them, these demands have also encouraged telcos and governments alike to step up their investment in fibre-based broadband, and in 5G.

State support is notable in long-term national broadband plans which have been put in place acros the region, and which in general terms aim to create an overall knowledge-based transformation of economies, in turn benefitting societies and business processes.

Notable examples of such schemes include those in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain (all with Vision 2030 programs), which are promoting e-government, e-health, e-commerce, and e-banking systems. Oman is building fibre-based networks as part of a strategy to 2040, hoping to connect all premises to a gigabit network. It is matched by Qatar, which has one of the most mature fixed broadband markets in the Middle East, due to its extensive fixed broadband network (the QNBN) based on GigaNet fibre which already covers more than 90% of premises.

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Supporting all of these developments are the numerous existing and planned submarine and terrestrial cables which criss-cross the region. The Middle East is particularly well placed to tap into cable systems running between the Far East and Europe, with numerous landing points in the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, and the Gulf of Oman.

Key Topics Covered:

Regional Middle East Market Comparison

Market characteristics

Market Leaders

Market Challengers

Market Emergents

TMI versus GDP

Mobile and mobile broadband penetration

Fixed and mobile broadband penetration

Regional overview

The Middle East and NBN plans

Submarine cables

Fixed broadband statistics

Satellite broadband

Bahrain

Market analysis

National telecom network

International infrastructure

Iran

Market analysis

Broadband statistics

Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) networks

Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP) networks

Overview of the national telecom network

National Internet Network (NIN)

International infrastructure

Iraq

Market analysis

Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP) networks

Other fixed broadband services

Overview of the national telecom network

Historical overview

International infrastructure

Israel

Market analysis

Broadband statistics

Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) networks

Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP) networks

Other fixed broadband services

National telecom network

International infrastructure

Jordan

Market analysis

Broadband statistics

Other fixed broadband services

National telecom network

International infrastructure

Kuwait

Introduction and statistical overview

Overview of the national telecom network

National networks

International infrastructure

Lebanon

Market analysis

Fixed broadband statistics

Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP) networks

National telecom network

International infrastructure

Oman

Broadband statistics

Fibre-to-the-Premises networks

Other fixed broadband services

Overview of the national telecom network

National broadband strategy (NBS)

International infrastructure

Qatar

Market analysis

Broadband statistics

Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) networks

Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) networks

Wireless Broadband

Overview of the national telecom network

International infrastructure

Saudi Arabia

Market overview

Fixed-line broadband technologies

Integrated Telecom Company (ITC)

Overview of the national telecom network

International infrastructure (satellite, submarine)

Syria

Market analysis

Broadband statistics

National telecom network

International infrastructure

Turkey

Market analysis

Broadband statistics

Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) networks

Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) networks

Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP) networks

Wireless broadband

Overview of the national telecom network

International infrastructure

United Arab Emirates

Introduction and statistical overview

Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP) networks

Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) networks

Other fixed broadband services

Overview of the national telecom network

International infrastructure

Yemen

Market overview

Broadband statistics

Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) networks

Overview of the national telecom network

International infrastructure

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/zaoh1h-east?w=12

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

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




Nikki Haley, a former United Nation ambassador, has announced she will run for the Republican's 2024 presidential nomination - becoming the first major challenger to Donald Trump.

Ms Haley, who served in the UN role under Trump's previous administration, is the second Republican candidate to announce her candidacy after her former boss launched his own campaign to be re-elected last year.

Other high-profile Republicans looking at a 2024 run include Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former vice president Mike Pence, U.S. Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu and former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson.

Haley, a former South Carolina governor, announced her decision to run in a promotional video, in which she said it was time for a "new generation of leadership to rediscover fiscal responsibility, secure our border, and strengthen our country, our pride and our purpose".

The 51-year-old Republican also proclaimed that China and Russia were "on the march", adding: "You should know this about me: I don't put up with bullies.

"And when you kick back, it hurts them more if you're wearing heels."

Haley will lay out her campaign plans in a speech in Charleston, South Carolina, on Wednesday.

Her announcement means the Republican nomination race is likely to pick up steam in the coming weeks.

Other candidates to have so far declared include former Mayor of Cranston, Rhode Island, Steve Laffey, and former Montana Secretary of State, Corey Stapleton.

Read more:

Donald Trump's Facebook and Instagram pages are restored after ban

Mike Pence's team denies he has filed to run for president in 2024

Haley, the daughter of two Indian immigrants, has gained a reputation in the Republican Party as a solid conservative.

She has pitched herself as a stalwart defender of American interests abroad, having served as U.S. ambassador to

the UN under Trump from 2017 to 2018.

During that time, the United States pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal, which was signed under Democratic President Barack Obama and was highly unpopular among Republicans.

Haley has distanced herself from Trump several times, only to later soften her rhetoric, saying he has an important role to play in the Republican Party.
Lamduan Armitage's body was discovered in the Yorkshire Dales in 2004 but wasn't identified until 2019. She was known as the 'Lady of the Hills'. (Image: Stephen Garnett Photography/North Yorkshire Police)

A small team of cold case detectives and family liaison officers from North Yorkshire Police have flown to Thailand to meet the parents and family of Lamduan Armitage (nee Seekanya), whose body was found in the Dales in 2004, but only identified in 2019.

Walkers discovered Lamduans body at Sell Gill near Pen-y-ghent, above Horton in Ribblesdale in the Yorkshire Dales, on 20 September 2004.

Her identity remained unknown until early 2019 when the forces Major Investigation Teams Cold Case Review Unit achieved a breakthrough using a combination of media coverage and DNA testing.

Read next: Mystery solved 15 years after unidentified woman found dead in Yorkshire Dales

Lamduan's parents, in north east Thailand, came forward to North Yorkshire Police in January of that year after seeing a BBC article online about the case, having not seen their daughter since 2004.

When DNA testing was carried out it confirmed that the woman's body was that of Lamduan.

She was a mother of three who was living in the north of England at the time of her unexplained death.

There were initially legal delays for North Yorkshire Police's investigation team to get permission to fly to Thailand which were further hampered by international travel restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has caused this part of the investigation to be put on hold for almost four years.

Adam Harland, Manager of the Cold Case Review Unit, has called for people to avoid speculating about the case on social media.

North Yorkshire Police is aware of the widespread interest in this investigation which strikes at the heart of issues surrounding violence against women and girls in the United Kingdom, in Thailand, and around the world," he said.

To ensure that the investigation and the path of fair justice are not compromised, we strongly urge the media and people using social media to avoid damaging speculation about this case.

After almost 19 years, during which time the community of Horton in Ribblesdale have shown respect and care for Lamduan when she was only known as the Lady of the Hills, it would be a tragedy if we were prevented from achieving this outcome due to damaging reporting and online speculation.

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The Northern Echo: An artist's impression of Lamduan that was used by police before the identification of her body.

An artist's impression of Lamduan that was used by police before the identification of her body.

Despite the difficulties we have faced to progress the investigation in recent years, we remain determined to seek answers for Lamduans family about the circumstances of her being found dead in a beautiful but remote part of the Yorkshire Dales in September 2004.

It has been frustrating to have had to wait so long to be able to travel to Thailand. We are hoping to speak with all the members of her family, including her husband, to gather their evidence about her life and to offer what support we can with regards to their loss.

READ NEXT:

If you want to read more great stories, why not subscribe to your Northern Echo for as little as 1.25 a week. Click here

The loss of any family member in circumstances of homicide is a terrible blow, bringing a misery and a sense of loss that so often lasts a lifetime. There is, in this case, the additional pain that for 14 years it was not even known that this had been Lamduans fate."

Anybody who believes they may have information that might assist the investigation is urged to contact the North Yorkshire Police incident room on 01609 643147 (put +44 before the number if calling from outside the UK) or to email coldcasereviewunit@northyorkshire.police.uk and to quote reference number 12170002439 when providing information about this case.
Chan Vichet lives and works just 500 metres from the Angkor Wat temple in Cambodia. He has been here for seven years, drawing inspiration from the surroundings to create paintings he sells to tourists.

But soon the artist and 10,000 other families will have to leave the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

"Since I heard about the relocation plan, I feel numb," said 48-year-old Chan.

"I'm struggling to support my family, but I don't have my concentration or creativity anymore."

Artist Chan Vichet drawing a painting at the Angkor Wat temple area in Siem Reap province. - TANG CHHIN Sothy / AFP

They are being evicted from the famous archaeological site by the Cambodian government.

It says the settlements lack the infrastructure and sanitation they need, and with visitor numbers expected to rise now pandemic travel restrictions are over, it aims to clear them within the next four months.

Despite them being here illegally, the government is doing a lot of things to support their livelihoods," Long Kosal, a spokesman for the Apsara National Authority, which manages the archaeological park, told AFP.

The area here can not allow such unorganised settlement and there is very poor (sanitation).

How many people live in Angkor Wat?

A boom in tourists wanting to explore Angkor Wat's ruined temples, half-swallowed by the jungle, has led to an increase in the number of food and souvenir sellers. The population has exploded.

In 2013, around 120,000 people lived in the 400 square kilometre protected area. This is six times the number of people that lived there just twenty years earlier.

Angkor Wat welcomed more than 2 million foreign visitors in 2019 and is now preparing for the return of tourists with the end of COVID-19 travel restrictions.

In September, Prime Minister Hun Sen warned that in the future, Angkor Wat will be removed from the World Heritage Site if it is not well protected.

Story continues

The Cambodian government is undertaking a mammoth operation to relocate, on a "voluntary basis", some 10,000 families who are squatting on public land near the temples. - TANG CHHIN SOTHY / AFP

The government says population growth is a problem because it generates excess waste and the people living there use excessive amounts of water.

They intend to reforest the areas where there were previously makeshift homes, many without running water or electricity.

But UNESCO says, though it raised concerns about the risk of urban development, it never called for population displacement.

The agency's guidelines say relocations should be carried out with the consent of the population concerned, and that local communities should be the primary beneficiaries of tourism from heritage sites.

Where are Angkor Wats residents being moved to?

Once Chans house is demolished, he will have to move his family to Run Ta Ek, 25 kilometres away and far from the routes taken by tourists. Like many others, he faces closing his business and worries about his income.

The relocated villagers have been given a plot of land where they will have to build their own houses. Authorities have also promised a school, clinic, a covered market and other community buildings.

51-year-old Heav Vanak lost his leg to a landmine.

I dont have enough money to buy the materials to buy my new house, he says, watching his grandson play in the dust under the tarpaulin of a construction site.

We are powerless. How can we protest?

A girl sits on a bed as she waits for a military truck to pick up her belonging at the Angkor Wat temple area in Siem Reap province. - TANG CHHIN Sothy / AFP

A spokesperson for Apsara says this is a liveable place. They insist that the families are happy to move pointing to local job prospects such as the planned opening of a new airport in Siem Reap.

But the relocated residents arent the only ones that are unhappy. Long-time residents of Run Ta Ek say the land given to the families from Angkor Wat will have an impact on their livelihoods.

"Before, we grew rice and earned enough for our family, says Horn Ravuth, a 41-year-old third-generation resident.

Now we can only raise chickens and ducks, and it doesn't pay enough. I also have a loan from the bank."

Watch the video above to learn more about the relocation of Angkor Wats residents.
Kyiv wants sanctions on Russia's nuclear sector. But for the EU, the stakes are too high

When Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy of Ukraine landed in Brussels for a highly-anticipated face-to-face address to the European Union institutions, he came with three basic requests: fast-tracked EU accession, Western fighter jets and a fresh round of hard-hitting sanctions on Russia.

On the first two demands, the response from EU leaders was rather timid, if not outright evasive.

On the third point, the sanctions, the outcome was somehow more promising.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen vowed to slap the Kremlin with a 10th raft of penalties to mark the one-year anniversary of the war. The proposal, she said, would target 10 billion worth of exports, blacklist propagandists and "further starve Russia's military machine."

And yet, this is not exactly what Zelenskyy wanted to hear.

"I thank you for the sanctions packages that have already come into force. But have they sufficiently limited Russia's aggressive potential? This is a path that needs to be completed," the Ukrainian told the 27 heads of state and government.

"Think about it: Russia has created the threat of a radiation catastrophe in Europe! And the Russian nuclear industry is still free from global sanctions. Is this normal? I do not think so."

A state-owned giant

For the past weeks, Ukrainian officials have ratcheted up their efforts to convince Western allies to take decisive action against Russia's nuclear sector and, in particular, against Rosatom, the powerful state monopoly that controls civilian nuclear energy and the country's arsenal of nuclear weapons.

Founded in 2007, Rosatom is one of the world's leading suppliers of enriched uranium and nuclear reactors, with 34 construction projects in countries such as India, China and Turkey. Its steady economic rise has been directly linked to Vladimir Putin's increasingly assertive geopolitical behaviour.

The company is the current operator of the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, in eastern Ukraine, which has been the scene of fierce fighting and international intervention to prevent a fatal disaster.

Story continues

Russia's seizure of the plant has fuelled calls for Rosatom managers to be added to the EU's long blacklist, but so far no high-profile individual associated with the corporation has been included.

The absence is due to a lack of political consensus and insufficient ties between Rosatom and the systematic attempts to undermine Ukraine's territorial integrity and independence, said a European Commission spokesperson.

"There is only one factor when it comes to agreeing on EU sanctions: unanimity," the spokesperson told Euronews, referring to the requirement necessary to approve penalties that quite often leads to prolongued discussions and watered-down results.

"We propose things that have a chance to be adopted. If a proposal is a no-go from the beginning, then you don't move forward. It's not politically wise."

'Tightening the screws'

Although Zelenskyy's much-publicised visit put it back on the table, the idea of sanctioning Russia's nuclear sector is far from novel.

Back in September, when Brussels was preparing the seventh round of sanctions, a group of five countries  Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Ireland  openly flouted the possibility in a joint letter, suggesting a "ban on cooperating with Russia on nuclear energy."

The proposal did not go anywhere then and is unlikely to pick up steam now. In fact, the transport of nuclear fuel remains explicitly exempted from the EU's wide-ranging decision to close all its ports to Russia's entire merchant flee.

"If this will not be in the 10th (package), this should be in the upcoming ones. We will definitely push this now and later," a diplomat from the five-strong faction told Euronews, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.

The idea "has more traction than six months ago. But it's nowhere enough."

Maria Shagina, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) whose work focuses on economic sanctions, believes targeting Russia's nuclear industry would be one of "the strongest measures" the bloc could take at this moment, as economic options and political imagination begin to run out after nine complex rafts of penalties.

"Sanctioning Rosatom will not have a huge economic impact on the Russian economy: the revenue amounts to about $1 billion a year (across the EU)," Shagina told Euronews. "However, its about tightening the screws on Putin's regime."

Shagina challenged the assumption that Rosatom, a state-owned company, is totally detached from the war in Ukraine. In the face of international isolation, the Kremlin has doubled down on its energy-exporting business to buttress its flagging economy and bankroll the expensive invasion.

"Rosatom positions itself as a civil nuclear company, but the distinction between military and civilian purposes are blurred," Shagina said. "Rosatom is also poised to spur the countrys chip development and production, which will only add to the pressure to target it."

While the bloc's reliance on Russian oil and gas has been extensively documented, its relation with Russia's nuclear sector has flown under the radar, resurfacing only sporadically.

One of the reasons is self-evident: the value of imports of Russian oil and gas dwarfs that of uranium.

In 2021, before the war started, the EU paid the sum of 71 billion for Russian crude oil and refined petroleum products  and just over 333 million for Russian Uranium-235, an enriched variety that is used as fuel to power nuclear plants, according to numbers provided by Eurostat.

That same year, Russia was the bloc's third largest uranium supplier, with a 19.7% market share, behind Niger (24.3%) and Kazakhstan (23%), a former Soviet republic that maintains close ties with the Kremlin.

"There is no resource dependence on Russian natural uranium," Mycle Schneider, the coordinator of the World Nuclear Industry Status Report, told Euronews.

Instead, Schenider noted, the reliance lies somewhere else.

'Out of the question'

As of today, five EU member states operate 19 Russian-made nuclear reactors: six in the Czech Republic, five in Slovakia, four in Hungary, two in Finland and two in Bulgaria.

Out of these, 15 belong to the VVER-440 model while the other four are VVER-1000 designs. Ukraine also operates several reactors, including in Zaporizhzhia, of both types.

As the VVER series is designed and developed by OKB Gidropress, a Rosatom-controlled subsidiary, the state company is the only "manufacturer in the world" that can service the fuel assemblies in these plants, Schneider explained.

Fuel assemblies, also known as fuel bundles, refer to the structured group of long rods that contain uranium pellets and are placed inside the core of each nuclear reactor. Maintaining these assemblies is an indispensable requirement to keep nuclear plants safe and functional.

Although two Western companies, Westinghouse (United States) and Framatome (France), have tried to replace Russia as the supplier for VVER fuel assemblies, their work has focused mainly on the VVER-1000 type and has not progressed fast enough to mitigate the entrenched reliance.

"VVER fuel remains a high dependency area likely for years to come," Schneider said. "The future remains particularly uncertain for the operators of VVER-440s."

A similar concern was raised in last year's annual report by the Euratom Supply Agency (ESA), which urged countries to diversify providers to avert "supply vulnerabilities."

"Little progress was made in diversifying the supply of VVER-440 fuel," the report concluded.

Westinghouse and Framatome did not immediately reply to a Euronews request for comment.

Weighing heavily on the debate is the fact that in the five countries where Russian-made reactors are still active, nuclear power represents a considerable share of electricity generation, ranging from 32.8% in Finland to 52.3% in Slovakia, according to the World Nuclear Industry Status Report.

Even if Finland made a notable attempt to castigate Russia for its invasion by cancelling a contract with Rosatom that was supposed to build a nuclear plant on the Hanhikivi peninsula, the overall trend that links this group of EU countries with Moscow appears destined to live on.

Slovakia's Mochovce-3 reactor, part of the VVER series, came online earlier this month, further deepening the country's links with nuclear energy. Last year, Hungary issued construction permits to expand its Paks nuclear power plant with two reactors of the latest VVER-1200 type, a move that would bring the total of Russian-made reactors inside the country to six.

Unsurprisingly, Budapest has warned it would not hesitate to use its veto power to derail any EU bid to target Russia's nuclear sector.

"We will not allow the plan to include nuclear energy into the sanctions to be implemented," Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said as recently as January. "This is out of the question."

The adamant opposition has not gone unnoticed in Brussels.

"One of the principles that has been followed since February 2022 in terms of sanctions is that it penalises Russia more than us," said a senior diplomat from a Western country.

"And the (European) Commission, until now, has always considered that on nuclear issues, it would be the opposite."
A GIC sign is pictured at their office in Singapore

By Anshuman Daga and Yantoultra Ngui

SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC said it continues to scout for long-term investment opportunities in China, looking at a wide range of industries, adding that it maintains significant exposure to large markets such as China.

The statement comes after the Financial Times reported earlier in the day that GIC had put the brakes on private investments in the world's second-biggest economy as it steps up scrutiny of risks.

GIC also scaled back commitments to China-focused private equity and venture capital funds over the past year, the FT said, citing unnamed sources.

"While the overall investment environment in China saw a slowdown in deal-flow last year, our on-the-ground team continues to explore long term opportunities across many sectors due to a rising middle-class, an entrepreneurial private sector, as well as China's decarbonisation efforts," a GIC spokeswoman said in an emailed statement to Reuters on Tuesday.

GIC is the world's fifth-biggest sovereign investor with $690 billion in assets, according to research firm SWFI. It counts large listed Chinese companies in its portfolio and has not announced any big sales of privately held Chinese companies over the past year.

"With China's domestic market size, there is good potential for investors to invest in good companies and grow with them over the long term," the statement said.

In the year to March 2022, the United States was GIC's biggest market, making up 37% of its portfolio while Asia excluding Japan contributed 25%.

Following a sweeping regulatory crackdown in China in 2021, venture capital investment fell sharply last year, with many investors nursing losses on Chinese portfolios. Globally, venture capital investment has also fallen sharply due to a sell-off in equity markets.

GIC's group chief investment officer Jeffrey Jaensubhakij has also said China's regulatory environment had become much clearer.

Investors could benefit by investing in small companies in China and GIC was working with companies and other investors on such opportunities, he said in a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos last month.

(Reporting by Anshuman Daga and Yantoultra Ngui; Additional reporting by Shivani Tanna in Bengaluru; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Edwina Gibbs)
Transocean (RIG)'s quarterly Fleet Status Report provides a comprehensive overview of the company's fleet and the contracts awarded to its offshore drilling rigs. In the report, Transocean, a leading offshore drilling contractor reveals its backlog of $8.5 billion, which includes contracts awarded in Brazil, Norway, Suriname, the Gulf of Mexico, and the UK North Sea.

Transocean's Brazilian Contracts: Transocean's Deepwater Corcovado and Orion have secured four-year and three-year contracts in Brazil, at a daily rate of $400,000 and $417,000 respectively. Additionally, the Dhirubhai Deepwater KG2 was awarded a 910-day contract in Brazil for $439,000 per day (adjusted for currency exchange). These contracts significantly boost Transocean's backlog and highlight the company's dominant position in the Brazilian offshore drilling sector.

Gulf of Mexico Contracts: Transocean's Deepwater Invictus secured a contract for three wells in the Gulf of Mexico at a daily rate of $425,000, while Murphy Oil signed a one-well option for the Deepwater Asgard at $395,000 per day. These agreements highlight Transocean's dominance in the Gulf of Mexico and its ability to secure costly deals from major players in the industry.

UK North Sea Contracts: Transocean's semi-submersible rig, the Transocean Barents, has secured a one-well contract in the UK North Sea at a daily rate of $310,000, contributing to the company's backlog. Harbour Energy has also signed an eight-well option for Transocean's Paul B. Lloyd Jr. rig at a daily rate of $170,000. These contracts illustrate Transocean's proficiency in securing deals in diverse regions and its expertise in drilling in demanding environments.

Norwegian Contracts: Transocean Norge in Norway secured a contract at a rate of $414,000 - $424,000 per day (adjusted for foreign currency exchange), further contributing to Transocean's backlog. This contract demonstrates the company's ability to secure contracts in the North Sea region, where Transocean has a strong track record of success.

Story continues

Suriname Contract: TotalEnergies exercised a one-well option for Transocean's Development Driller III in Suriname at a daily rate of $360,000, increasing Transocean's backlog. This contract demonstrates the company's ability to secure contracts in emerging markets and its willingness to invest in these regions.

As the offshore drilling industry continues to face challenges, such contracts could provide a much-needed boost to the industry. With approximately $1.9 billion worth of incremental backlog connected to these fixtures, Transocean's recent success in securing lucrative contracts positions the company for future growth and success in the offshore drilling market. As of Feb 9, the company had an estimated backlog of $8.5 billion.

Zacks Rank and Key Picks

Transocean is a leading provider of offshore drilling services, specializing in deepwater and harsh environment drilling. The company operates a fleet of 38 drilling units, including 28 ultra-deepwater floaters and 10 harsh environment floaters, and is constructing one ultra-deepwater drillship.

Currently, Transocean carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Investors interested in the energy sector might look at some better-performing stocks like ProPetro Holding PUMP and Energy Transfer ET both sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and Helmerich & Payne (HP) holding a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

ProPetro Holding: PUMP currently has a forward P/E ratio of 4.43. In comparison, its industry has an average forward P/E of 25.40, which means PUMP is trading at a discount to the group.

ProPetro Holding is worth approximately $1.13 billion. Its shares have declined 20.8% in the past year.

Energy Transfer LP: Energy Transfer LP is valued at around $39.66 billion. ET delivered an average earnings surprise of 16.34% for the last four quarters, and its current dividend yield is 9.50%.

Energy Transfer LP currently has a forward P/E ratio of 8.95. In comparison, its industry has an average forward P/E of 14.20, which means Energy Transfer LP is trading at a discount to the group.

Helmerich & Payne: Helmerich & Payne is valued at around $4.78 billion. Helmerich & Payne, headquartered in Tulsa, OK, has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of roughly 130.98% on average.

Over the past 60 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for HP's fiscal 2023 earnings has been revised by 18.8%. In the past year, HP stock has increased by 36.3%.

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(Reuters) -Walmart Inc will close three of its U.S. technology hubs, asking hundreds of workers to relocate to keep their jobs, a company spokesperson told Reuters on Monday.

Nearly all technology employees across the company would be expected to work in their offices for at least two days a week, added Robert Munroe, Walmart's director of global communications.

The big-box retailer would close offices that housed technology staff in Austin, Texas, in Carlsbad, California and in Portland, Oregon, Munroe said. The operations would move to hubs including one in San Bruno, California or the company's headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, he said, citing a memo sent last week by Walmart's global technology head, Suresh Kumar.

"We have decided, looking at our location strategy, that we will exit those three hubs," he said, adding that the combined employment at the three offices was in the hundreds.

"Everything is variable; there is no set date that (this transfer) must be completed," he added. The company currently has 11 tech hubs in the U.S. and six abroad, according to its website.

The Wall Street Journal earlier reported the news.

Munroe said Walmart, which employs more than 1.3 million people in the United States, would pay transfer costs of workers who moved and make severance payments to those who decided to leave the company.

The directive on returning to the office follows similar requirements from several other U.S. companies, including Walt Disney Co, Uber and Starbucks. Last month, Disney boss Bob Iger told employees to return to corporate offices for four days a week starting in March, while Starbucks required corporate workers to return to do so at least three days a week starting in January.

"We believe the future in tech will be one in which working virtually will be the new normal, at least for most of the work we lead," Kumar wrote two years ago.

Munroe said: "This (move) is still within line to that language."

(Reporting by Siddharth Cavale in New York and Granth Vanaik in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Bradley Perrett)
Kelsey Parker has discussed her first Valentine's Day without Tom. (Getty)

Kelsey Parker has opened up on her first Valentine's Day without her husband Tom.

The Wanted popstar died last March after being diagnosed with a brain tumour 18 months previously.

Parker, who has explored grief publicly in an ITV documentary, explained her feelings on social media about facing her first Valentine's Day without her husband.

Read more: Kelsey Parker says she'll never be the same after trauma of losing husband Tom

She wrote: "This time last year I was full of hope. We were in Spain where Tom was in daily therapy and he was the strongest and healthiest hed been in a long time.

"I was lucky enough to spend Valentines and another 3 weeks just me and Tom."

Tom and Kelsey Parker. (Getty)

Parker continued: "I never could have known how precious that time was or imagined the pain that was ahead of me and now, a year later, Im facing the anniversary of a whole year without you Tom."

Parker then detailed her feelings on the emotional day: "Im angry, sad, lonely, wishing more than anything that none of this happened to us. But it did and Im grateful for the years we had, the love we shared and the babies we made. Im so grateful for them. They bring me joy every single day."

She then encouraged others to cherish the loves in their lives: "So this Valentines I guess my message is that if youre lucky enough to spend it with someone you love, cherish it. Soak it up.

"Reflect on the importance of your relationship, the love you feel for each other and remember to honour it. You are blessed."

Tom and Kelsey Parker. (Getty Images for The London Cabaret Club )

Parker previously discussed having to celebrate her first Christmas without Tom: "Ive been putting Christmas off because honestly Ive been dreading it. But its for the kids, theyve always been my reason to get up each day and find the positives, and never has that been more true than this week.

"Therell be empty chairs tomorrow and tears, but therell also be smiles, laughter and dancing  just as you wouldve had it."

Watch below: Kelsey Parker opens up about grief and her first Christmas without Tom Parker
China said on Monday that more than 10 US high-altitude balloons have flown in its airspace without its permission during the past year (Liu Zheng/AP) (Image: PA)

China has claimed more than 10 US high-altitude balloons have flown in its airspace without permission over the past year amid a row over surveillance balloons.

The statement on Monday comes after the US shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon that had crossed from Alaska to South Carolina.

It has prompted high tensions between the two countries.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin gave no details about the alleged US balloons, how they had been dealt with, or whether they had government or military links.

HeraldScotland:

It is also common for US balloons to illegally enter the airspace of other countries, he said at a daily briefing.

Since last year, US high-altitude balloons have illegally flown over Chinas airspace more than 10 times without the approval of Chinese authorities.

READ MORE: US jets down four unidentified objects in eight days

Mr Wang said the US should first reflect on itself and change course, rather than smear and instigate a confrontation.

China said the balloon shot down by the US was an unmanned airship made for meteorological research that had been blown off course.

It has accused the US of overreacting by shooting it down and threatened to take unspecified action in response.

Also on Monday, the Philippines accused a Chinese coast guard ship of targeting a Filipino coast guard vessel with a military-grade laser and temporarily blinding some of its crew in the South China Sea, calling it a blatant violation of Manilas sovereign rights.

Mr Wang said the Philippines ship had trespassed into Chinese waters without permission on February 6 and that Chinese coast guard vessels responded professionally and with restraint.

China claims virtually all of the strategic waterway and has been steadily building up its maritime forces and island outposts.

China and the Philippines are maintaining communication through diplomatic channels in this regard, Mr Wang said.

Chinas Defence Ministry did not immediately respond to a question about the incident.

Story continues

Adding to tensions, a US fighter jet shot down an unidentified object over Lake Huron on Sunday on orders from President Joe Biden.

It was the fourth such downing in eight days in an extraordinary chain of events over US airspace that Pentagon officials believe has no peacetime precedent.

The Chinese balloon shot down by the US was equipped to detect and collect intelligence signals as part of a huge, military-linked aerial surveillance programme that targeted more than 40 countries, the Biden administration declared on Thursday, citing imagery from American U-2 spy planes.

Part of the reason for the repeated shootdowns is a heightened alert following the alleged Chinese spy balloon, General Glen VanHerck, head of North American Aerospace Defence Command and the US Northern Command, said in a briefing with reporters.

The United States has since placed economic restrictions on six Chinese entities it said are linked to Beijings aerospace programmes as part of its response to the incident.

The US House of Representatives also voted unanimously to condemn China for a brazen violation of US sovereignty and efforts to deceive the international community through false claims about its intelligence collection campaigns.

Mr Wang repeated Chinas dismissal of such claims, saying: The frequent firing of advanced missiles by the US to shoot down the objects is an over-reaction of over-exertion.
Death toll tops 31,000 one week after Turkiye's quakes

Xinhua) 08:08, February 14, 2023

Members of the China Search and Rescue Team perform a rescue task in a quake-stricken area in Antakya of Hatay province in southern Trkiye, Feb. 12, 2023. Chinese rescuers have successfully saved six survivors in Antakya as of Feb. 12, according to the China Search and Rescue Team. (Xinhua/Shadati)

ANKARA, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Rescue teams in Trkiye slowed down search efforts for quake victims on Monday, one week after the devastating earthquake that has so far killed at least 31,643 people in the country.

Some teams have started debris removal work, while emergency teams intensified efforts to provide necessities such as medical help, food and shelter for survivors.

About 238,500 search and rescue personnel are working in the field, and more than 158,000 people have been evacuated from the quake-hit regions so far, Trkiye's disaster agency said Monday.

Among at least 574 children pulled from collapsed buildings who had no surviving parents, only 76 were handed to other family members, while 118 were settled in childcare institutions affiliated with the Family and Social Services Ministry, with hundreds of others still under medical treatment, according to Turkish Vice-President Fuat Oktay.

A total of 9,401 foreign personnel from 77 countries are involved in emergency efforts in the field, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said Monday, adding seven more countries are expected to send rescue teams.

China has been actively providing support and assistance for Trkiye and Syria since the massive earthquakes hit the two countries, said Zheng Yuandong, an official with the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA).

The first batches of relief supplies provided by the Chinese government arrived in Istanbul on Feb. 11 and 12, including urgently needed blankets and cotton tents, Zheng added.

More supplies from China, including electrocardiograph machines, ultrasonic diagnostics equipment, medical transport vehicles and manual hospital beds, will be shipped this week, he said.

The rescue teams from China, including those dispatched by the Chinese government, have rescued over 10 survivors, Zheng told Xinhua.

In Trkiye, tens of thousands of earthquake survivors are now living in tent cities or moving to other provinces for temporary shelter.

Twin earthquakes measuring 7.7- and 7.6-magnitude hit southern Trkiye and northern Syria on Feb. 6.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
A Lebanon man who allegedly threatened to kill a co-worker at a commercial facility in Bozrah was arrested, according to Connecticut State Police.

Troopers went to the facility on Saturday after two people went to Troop K in Colchester to report that an alleged threatening had occurred at a commercial facility located on Fitchville Road in Bozrah, state police said. The facility was not named.

The complainant told troopers that, while working at the facility earlier that same day, a supervisor advised the complainant that another employee, later identified as Charles Adams, 37, of Lebanon, allegedly had verbally stated that he would kill the complainant by stabbing them.

The complainant, who was not identified, also alleged that Adams had acted in a confrontational and aggressive manner toward them during past interactions, causing the complainant to believe their personal safety was at risk, state police said.

Troopers spoke with the supervisor who was present when Adams allegedly made threatening verbal statements about causing physical harm to the complainant; Adams was not present during the conversation with the troopers, police said.

According to the supervisor, Adams said that he cant be around the complainant, that he was going to kill the complainant and Im going to stab [the complainant], and that the incident was considered a workplace violence incident, state police said.

Adams voluntarily went to Troop K and spoke with investigators about the incident, and then was arrested, state police said.

Adams is charged with second-degree threatening and is free on a $2,500 non-surety bond, state police said. Adams is scheduled to be arraigned at Superior Court in Norwich on March 2, state police said
HCM CITY  Agoda has recently announced it commissioned AI-powered chatbot ChatGPT to compose unique poems about the top 14 searched destinations for Valentines Day.

Tokyo, Bangkok and Singapore are this years most popular Valentines Day getaways in Asia, global digital travel platform Agoda revealed. The others in the top 14 searched destinations include a Nang in Viet Nam.

Being the hot new thing, recently introduced chatbot ChatGPT already has millions falling in love with its capabilities. When asked by Agoda to channel its inner artificial intelligence-Shakespeare the chatbot composed lines like From Pad Thai to Tom Yum Goong, Bangkoks food has a taste that lingers on (Bangkok, Thailand), With every visit, Im captured whole, in this gem of India, I find my goal (Goa, India), and Mount Fuji in the distance, a sight to behold. Tokyo, a city that never gets old (Tokyo, Japan).

Using ChatGPT to compose poetry may be a gimmick, but the artificial intelligence technology powering the chatbot is beyond promising, said Omri Morgenshtern, Chief Executive Officer of Agoda.

Were all about hassle-free travel at Agoda and a technological leap like this has a lot of potential to further enhance the booking experience on digital travel platforms. Well be paying close attention as Agoda is already among the frontrunners exploring how technology can be applied in a practical way to help make travel more accessible to all, Morgenshtern said.

Lovebirds in the Asia Pacific are opting to spend time together in energetic cosmopolitan cities this Valentines Day, with eight of the top 10 destinations being city-based trips. Other destinations where cupids arrow meets its target include beach destinations like Bali, Goa, a Nang and Dubai. For each destination, Agoda asked ChatGPT to pay tribute in the form of a poem, which has then in some cases been translated by the chatbot to the destinations local language.  VNS
HA NOI  Politburo member and Minister of Public Security To Lam received visiting US Trade Representative Katherine Tai in Ha Noi on Monday.

Considering the US a top trade partner and export market of Viet Nam, Lam affirmed that the Party, State and Government of Viet Nam had consistently created favourable conditions for foreign and foreign-invested enterprises, including those from the US, to promote investment attraction and economic development.

The official said Viet Nam supported efforts to deepen bilateral relations as well as multilateral cooperation mechanisms and initiatives led by the US that are beneficial to ensuring peace, stability, and development regionally and globally, including the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF).

He suggested the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) continue to promote its role in connecting the two Governments to strengthen the Viet Nam  US Comprehensive Partnership; as well as create favourable conditions in terms of finance, technology, and human resources development in areas where Vietnam has needs such as digital economy, high technology, clean energy, health, environment, and infrastructure.

It is also necessary to research and promote bilateral and multilateral cooperation regarding the fight against fake news, especially given the strong growth of social networking platforms combined with advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), he noted.

The official told the USTR to closely work with Vietnamese law enforcement agencies in the investigation, exchange and verification of information on economic cases involving foreign elements via mutual legal assistance in criminal matters; cooperation in preventing and combating transnational and economic crimes; and strict handling of economic law violations such as smuggling, trade fraud, and counterfeit goods, among others.

For her part, Tai said a host of bilateral activities were awaiting the nations this year, with economic pillars expected to be strongly boosted. She pledged close collaboration with Viet Nam in the field of e-commerce.

Expressing her delight at the Southeast Asian countrys achievements in the protection of intellectual property rights, she proposed the two sides mobilise experts in this area serving their exchange and cooperation.  VNS
NEW YORK  Minister Counsellor Nguyen Hoang Nguyen, deputy head of the Permanent Delegation of Viet Nam to the United Nations (UN), emphasised the importance of putting the people at the centre of development policies at the 61st session of the UN Commission for Social Development (CSocD61) on Monday.

He also stressed supporting vulnerable groups, promoting innovation in education and training, enhancing labourers capacity to self-learn and adapt to meet the requirements of the new context.

Addressing the session held in New York from February 6-15, Nguyen affirmed that Viet Nam supports the policy of promoting decent work as well as socio-economic development and solidarity, considering it an important factor contributing to accelerating the completion of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development.

The Vietnamese representative also highlighted the need to adjust national law following international labour standards for faster integration and accelerate the transformation of a green economy and a circular economy.

Viet Nam will continue to work closely with international partners to promote workers' rights to decent work, considering this one of Viet Nam's priorities as a member of the UN Human Rights Council for the 2023-2026 tenure.

At the session, many delegates assessed that the world economy and the global labour market are facing great challenges, including increasing inequality in access to public services and the labour market.

They said that promoting decent work is necessary to reduce inequality and poverty, and contribute to promoting recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic.  VNS
QUANG NAM  The Korean-Vietnamese Peace Foundation joined a commemoration for the 135 victims killed in a massacre 55 years ago, in the central province of Quang Nam, on February 14.

The killings occurred on the 24th day of the first lunar month in 1968, in Ha My Village, now ien Duong Ward, ien Ban Town, the oldest victim being 88 years old, and the youngest just a few months old.

Many wreaths from Korean organisations and individuals were sent to commemorate those that lost their lives.

Kang Min Jung, member of the National Assembly of Korea, said: Many Korean people did not know the truth of the massacre, but a Seoul court on February 7 raised attention.

Despite positive and bright relationship between Viet Nam and Korea in terms of investment and economic cooperation, the massacre left a dark memory' on the two countries.

"The killings should not have happened.

Im not a representative of the Korean Government, but acting as a member of the National Assembly and I sincerely apologise to the Vietnamese people."

Jung also said the Seoul Central District Court's ruling marks the first time a South Korean court has acknowledged the State's liability to compensate victims.

She added that the successful lawsuit was a benchmark of wider awareness among Korean people.

The Korean National Assembly member shared that her visit to central Viet Nam also helped seek the truth.

She said discussions on building a special law on solving the killings by Korean soldiers in the Viet Nam War will be continued.

In a written speech at the ceremony, the president of the Korean-Vietnamese Peace Foundation, Kang U-Il, who did not attend the event, expressed: We will never forget the massacre in Ha My Village. We bow our heads to the 135 killed villagers.

"We are sorry. The souls of 135 people had rested in peace, but the dead will still live forever in our memories.

Nguyen Thi Thanh, 66, who was seriously wounded in the massacre, said the successful lawsuit would help to bring the truth to the people of Korea and Viet Nam.

She said it would help heal the scars of war and bring people closer than ever. VNS
The co-owner of an insulation contracting firm was sentenced to 15 months in prison and more than $1 million in restitution after pleading guilty to participating in bid-rigging and fraud schemes targeting private and public entities in Connecticut.

Michael S. Flynn entered a guilty plea May 1, 2019, to allegations he conspired with other insulations contractors to fix bids for installing insulation around ducts and pipes, according to a release from the U.S. Department of Justice. The scheme went on for seven years, beginning in 2011, according to the release.

Victims reportedly included the University of Connecticut, the City of Hartford, PepsiCo. Inc., Stamford Hospital, and Yale University.

This defendants collusive conduct victimized hospitals, universities and businesses throughout Connecticut, said U.S. Attorney Vanessa Roberts Avery for the District of Connecticut. This prison term and the penalties imposed on all individuals and companies involved in this scheme should deter others from engaging in such criminal, anti-competitive behavior. I thank the FBI, DCIS, and the Antitrust Division for their efforts in bringing these perpetrators to justice.

This fraud and deception of the public and commercial consumer has ended with this sentence, said Acting Special Agent in Charge Jean Pierre Njock of the FBI New Haven Field Office. We at the FBI along with our law enforcement partners will continue to pursue those that choose to engage in antitrust crimes.

Six other individuals and companies were charged and pled guilty to charges related to the fraud scheme following an investigation by the Antitrust Divisions New York Office, the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Connecticut, the FBIs New Haven Division, and the DCISs New Haven Resident Agency.
In Binh Duong (Photo: VNA)

Binh Duong  About 2,900 businesses and factories in residential areas of the southern province of Binh Duong will be re-located into industrial zones and clusters in the locality from 2024-2030, according to a plan sketched out by the provincial Peoples Committee.

According to the provincial Department of Industry and Trade, the number of enterprises that need to be relocated into industrial parks and clusters accounts for 71% of the total number of local industrial production establishments.

The implementation of the scheme aims to prevent and control environmental pollution, noise, fires and explosions in residential areas, and contribute to adjusting the provinces urban planning, the department said.

It is also expected to help transform service development models and promote civilised and modern urban areas in Thu Dau Mot, Di An and Thuan An cities.

According to Vice President of the Binh Duong Ceramics Association Vuong Sieu Tin, local authorities should have appropriate measures to support businesses that are required to relocate, helping them stablise their production activities after relocation.

The Director of the provincial Department of Industry and Trade Nguyen Thanh Toan said this is a major policy of the locality and it will notify businesses in advance so that they have time to prepare.

In a recent dialogue with representatives of businesses operating in the locality, Chairman of the provincial Peoples Committee Vo Van Minh said that the locality will prioritise production models applying high technologies associated with environmental protection.

The aim is to create harmony in socio-economic development and green growth, thus contributing to developing Binh Duong as a smart city.

THACO to invest $1 billion in an industrial park in Binh Duong The automaker Truong Hai Auto Corporation (THACO) is mulling plans to invest in a mechanical supporting industrial park with the total investment capital of $1 billion in the southern province of Binh Duong.

New FDI challenges for southeast The southeast continues to take the lead in attracting overseas investment despite the increasing problem of land availability.

VSIP III to be developed into green, smart industrial park Chairman of the Peoples Committee of the southern province of Binh Duong Duong Vo Van Minh had a working session with CEO of Semncorp Development of Singapore Kelvin Teo on January 12 to discuss the firms investment in Vietnam  Singapore industrial park projects in the locality.
Dinh Vu Industrial Park in Hai Phong (Photo: VNA)

HCM City - The demand for industrial land for rent in Vietnam will remain high this year thanks to policies promoting investment in the country, experts said.

Due to short supply, rental prices for industrial land are expected to continue to rise by an average of 8-20% year-on-year in 2023, depending on the region, according to a report by the SSI Securities Corporation.

Last year, industrial real estate rents rose by an average of 10% due to high demand, according to the report.

Trang Minh Ha, chairman of the North Stars Asia Company, said that in Vietnam, industrial real estate leasing has seen a hike in demand and rental prices, especially for logistics and warehousing.

The industrial land-for-rent market is likely to remain strong over the next 12 months, she added.

Demand for industrial land has surged as the occupancy rate in industrial hubs has reached almost 100%, she said.

Many ready-built warehouses, factories and logistics and data centres are being built in industrial parks (IPs) across the nation, she added.

The average rent for industrial land in the southern region was 159 USD per square metre in the last quarter of 2022, up 3% over the previous quarter and 10% year-on-year, according to global real estate services firm Cushman and Wakefield.

The highest rent in Ho Chi Minh City was 300 USD per sqm. The occupancy rate increased to 92% from 91%. The average rent in Binh Duong and Long An provinces was 180 USD.

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, Vietnam has 292 industrial parks with a total land area of 87,100ha and 106 more are under construction.

They are home to some 10,000 domestic companies and 11,000 foreign-owned firms that have invested over 340 billion USD.

Vietnam continues to be an appealing destination for industrial real estate investors, according to Cushman and Wakefield.

The firm attributed this to the countrys stable growth rate, an export-oriented economy, a young labour force, investment incentives, a strategic location and a positive economic outlook.

Investors rushing to expand funds for industrial land Opportunities from the soaring demand for e-commerce and industrial production have prompted businesses to aggressively hunt for large-scale warehousing projects in critical locations and adjacent to major economic centres, especially with land increasingly scarce.

Rental prices of industrial land set new record Thanks to an improved manufacturing industry and border reopening, the flock of foreign investors has led rental prices of industrial land to set a new record.
According to the survey of about 4,400 Japanese businesses operating in Asia and Oceania, including 600 in Vietnam, the rate in Vietnam is a little bit lower than that in other countries in the regions.

In their business profit outlooks for 2022, the non-manufacturing sector reported a profit-making rate of 57.6 per cent on average. The rate for finance and insurance, education and healthcare, and agriculture was 100 per cent. The thresholds in transport, real estate, ICT, mining and energy, and retail were 81.5 per cent, 57.1 per cent, 52.9 per cent, 50 per cent, and 25 per cent respectively.

Takeo Nakajima, chief representative of JETRO Hanoi, at a press briefing on February 13 to announce the survey

In Singapore, the rate of profit-making Japanese companies stood at 73.5 per cent. The same data for Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines was 73.2 per cent, 63.8 per cent, and 60.3 per cent.

The proportion of loss-making Japanese enterprises in Vietnam was 20.8 per cent, down 7.8 percentage points on-year. Meanwhile, the rate was 10.8 per cent in Singapore, 13 per cent in Indonesia, and 17.7 per cent in Thailand.

Takeo Nakajima, chief representative of JETRO Hanoi, said that despite the challenges, Japanese firms plan business expansion in Vietnam over the next 1-2 years to tap into the growth potential in the local market.

Accordingly, 54.4 per cent of Japanese firms in the manufacturing sector said that they will expand their investment and business activities in Vietnam, up 2.7 parentage points from the previous year, while the figure for the non-manufacturing sector was 65.9 per cent, up 7.2 percentage points on-year.

Japanese groups to pour hundreds of millions into projects in Quang Ninh Several Japanese groups have plans to invest in projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars in the northern province of Quang Ninh in 2023.

Japanese government provides hygiene supplies for safe travel to Quang Tri The Consulate General of Japan in Danang and IOM have handed over hygiene supplies and equipment to Quang Tri frontline workers working at points of entry (POE) to ensure safe international travel for Vietnam.

Wellbeing in Japanese Style at Yoko Onsen Quang Hanh In the northeast coastal province of Quang Ninh, the Yoko Onsen Quang Hanh, funded by Sun Group, is designed as a Japanese village situated charmingly in the verdant slope of Quang Hanhs mountain ranges. Yoko Onsen Quang Hanh is the first hot spring resort in Vietnam created and operated based on the strict standards of Japanese onsen bathhouses.
Five Vietnamese places among worlds 20 best backpacking destinations Ha Giang, Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park, Ninh Binh, Ha Long, and Quy Nhon of Vietnam have been listed among the 20 best global destinations for backpackers to visit in 2020, according to recent rankings published by Hostelworld.
According to Thanh Cong Securities JSC, the price of sugar in the global market reached 21.7 cents/lb on February 1, rebooting to the peak level in 2017 after falling to a bottom 9 cents/lb in April 2020.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), during January-October 2022 the sugar price averaged 18.5 cents/lb.

Current sugar production can only meet about 35 per cent of domestic market demands

A spike in the sugar price in the first month of 2023 signifies an upbeat prospect for sugar firms.

The leader at Lam Son Sugar JSC (LSS) noted that despite facing mounting hardships in 2022, the company made great strides and posted encouraging results.

Along with this, LSS counted $108.6 million in revenue and $34.7 million in profit, higher compared to the previous years when the company reaped $1.91 million and $956,520 in profit in 2021 and 2022, respectively.

Its production and business activities remained stable. Notably, last year LSS focused on expanding material growing areas as well as output markets for high-tech agricultural products and drinks.

This year, LSS is set to reach $130.4 million in revenue for the 2022-2023 season, increasing to $217.3 million by 2025, simultaneously investing strongly in research and development (R&D) and deep processing to create products with high added value.

The company has recently injected nearly $21.7 million into building and put into operation five new plants.

Meanwhile, Thanh Thanh Cong-Bien Hoa Sugar JSC (SBT) aims to expand its material areas in Australia during 2021-2025 period to 20,000ha.

Last August, SBT developed 1,244ha material growing areas in Australia, striving to expand to 5,000ha in the 2022-2023 season.

Mirae Asset Securities predicted that SBTs revenue in the 2022-2023 season could reach $879.5 million, and its post-tax profit $46.8 million, up 10 per cent and 29 per cent compared to the previous season.

There are three factors attributable to SBTs rosy growth, according to Mirae Assets experts.

First, the companys profit margin is expected to swell from 12.5 per cent to 13 per cent thanks to higher price. Second, the revenue from sugar production is expected to inch up 12 per cent. Third, bright prospects in exports to China following Chinas recent re-opening.

The US Department of Agriculture has forecast that China will import 4.4 million tonnes of sugar in the 2022-2023 season. This entails export opportunities to Vietnamese sugar firms, including SBT.

At Son La Sugar JSC, in the second quarter lasting from October 1 to December 31, 2022, the company counted $4.69 million in post-tax profit, up 213 per cent on-year.

The company has attributed its sharp profit growth during the period to rising sales revenue and accrued profit against dwindling financial and business management costs compared to one year ago.

In the 2021-2022 season, the companys cumulative revenue surpassed $14.2 million and post-tax profit $2.95 million.

VNDIRECT Securities assumes that Vietnams sugar industry will regain its status with a growth rebound in 2023 in the face of a sugar price rally and the application of measures to combat trade remedy evasions.

Accordingly, after investigation last August, Vietnam officially imposed an anti-dumping tariff at 42.99 per cent and anti-subsidy tariff at 4.65 per cent on sugar products imported from Thailand and countries with sugar materials originating from Thailand.

The tariffs run from August 9, 2022 to June 15, 2026.

Bright prospects ahead for sugar producers A raft of listed sugar producers has successfully weathered turbulent times with upbeat performance, leveraging the continued surge in global sugar price due to dwindled supply and export restrictions from leading sugar exporters.

How Vietnam can remain a foreign investment sweet spot Foreign direct investment into Vietnam has grown exponentially in the last three decades. Thanks to its economic reforms and integration into the global economy, the country is now considered to be among the most open economies in Asia in terms of foreign investment receipts. In 2019, it recorded nearly $39 billion of newly registered capital.
Thermal power plants face risk of coal shortages

In January, Vietnam imported 1.7 million tonnes of coal, a decline by 38 per cent on-month and by 10 per cent on-year. The coals import turnover in January was $272 million, down by 45 per cent compared to the turnover of December 2022.

The price for imported coal is $161 per tonne, a decrease of 31 per cent on-year. It is the consecutive six months that the imported coal prices to Vietnam was under $200 per tonne.

In the first month of 2023, Vietnam majorly imported coal from three main markets, including Australia (962,000 tonnes, equalling 57 per cent of the total imported coal), Indonesia with 580,000 tonnes (34 per cent), and Russia with 100,000 tonnes (6 per cent).

Recently, Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) submitted a document to the Ministry of Industry and Trade to report that the group has to adjust the plan to import coal for the Vinh Tan 4 thermal power plant to match its real operation demand.

EVN also reports that at present, the coal supply for a series of EVN-invested thermal power plants in Thai Binh, Quang Ninh and Haiphong in collaboration with Nghi Son 1, Vinh Tan 2, and Duyen Hai 1 thermal power plants have been interrupted, thus power generation of these plants are impacted.

In 2023, the demand for coal is predicted to increase thanks to the operation of the Thai Binh 2 thermal power plant, thus if the coal supply for power generation is not improved, the lack of coal will still go on, EVN noted.

The total amount of coal supplied by Vinacomin and DongBac Corporation for generating electricity is estimated at 46 million tonnes this year, of which EVNs thermal power plants need nearly 18 million tonnes.

To secure a stable volume of coal for electricity generation this year, especially for the dry season, EVN has proposed the Ministry of Industry and Trade direct Vinacomin and DongBac Corporation prioritise using coal for power production.

$2.58 billion Van Phong thermal power plant to start operation next year The thermal power plant project is invested by Van Phong Power Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Japan-based Sumitomo Corporation.

PetroVietnam seeks new EPC contractor for 1,200MW Long Phu 1 thermal power plant State-run oil and gas group PetroVietnam is looking for a new EPC contractor for the 1,200MW Long Phu 1 thermal power plant, which is located in the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang.

Malaysia's Toyo Ventures inks power plant deal with Sunway-PECC2 Toyo Ventures Holdings Bhd's subsidiaries have entered into an interim engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) agreement with a consortium led by Sunway Construction Group Bhd in relation to the Song Hau 2 Thermal Power Plant Project in Vietnam.
The restoration of the route from Hanoi to Kuala Lumpur will complete the aviation links between Vietnam and Malaysia.(Photo: VNA)

Hanoi  Vietnam Airlines has officially resumed the Hanoi  Kuala Lumpur route with four flights a week on Monday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday.

On this occasion, the national flag carrier has launched a promotion with tickets costing only from 4,644,000 VND (nearly 197 USD) for a round trip (taxes and fees included) on this route.

Preferential tickets are being offered from now to March 26, 2023. Passengers can buy tickets on the airline's website, mobile application, official ticket offices, and agents of Vietnam Airlines nationwide.

The airline is currently operating 11 flights per week on the Ho Chi Minh City - Kuala Lumpur route. The restoration of the route from Hanoi to Kuala Lumpur will complete the aviation links between Vietnam and Malaysia.

Passengers arriving in Malaysia now no longer need to present vaccination status certification or COVID-19 test certificate.

In 2019 before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Vietnam Airlines served more than 220,000 passengers between Vietnam and Malaysia.

Since Vietnam reopened its border, Vietnam Airlines has resumed most of its international routes with more than 600 flights per week, equivalent to 70 per cent of the pre-pandemic level.

Vietnam Airlines focuses on digital transformation Vietnam Airlines launches new aircraft maintenance and technical management programme.
Emergency crews found three possible overdose cases Monday  one person suffering from cardiac arrest and two others in respiratory arrest  in a city apartment where two children also were present.

The Bridgeport emergency center received a report about an unresponsive person in the Greene Homes Apartments on Harral Avenue at about 9:30 p.m. Monday, police said.

Bridgeport fire crews and AMR ambulance service were dispatched to the incident and the Bridgeport Fire Department on-scene incident command reports indicate that there were three parties who appeared to be suffering from a possible overdose, police said.

Additional ambulances were requested due to one party in cardiac arrest and two others in respiratory arrest, police said.

The Bridgeport Police Department dispatched officers to the apartment because there was two children in the home at the time and due to the nature of the incident.

All parties were transported to the hospital and their conditions are unknown as of this report, police said in a statement. The Bridgeport Police Detective Bureau are actively investigating this incident at this time.

New Haven officials last week were warning the public of a spike in fatal drug overdoses over the past two weeks in that city.

There had then been 12 reported fatal overdoses in New haven since Jan. 25, according to the federal Overdose Mapping and Application Program that tracks real-time suspected overdose data. This is up from the usual average of about two fatal overdoses per week. In New Havne, were four fatal overdose cases reported in the Hill neighborhood and three in the Newhallville neighborhood, according New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker.

Anyone who would like to get connected to treatment, or knows someone who does, can call 1-800-563-4086 or visit connectgnh.org at any day or time.
Waco police are seeking other possible victims after a second customer of a massage business at Central Texas Marketplace accused an employee of inappropriate sexual touching.

Authorities arrested Norberto Tinoco in December 2022 on a second-degree felony sexual assault charge after a customer alleged inappropriate sexual contact while he gave a massage in October, officials said.

Since then police have received a second report of similar misconduct at the business, Waco police spokesperson Cierra Shipley said.

"This may demonstrate a pattern of behavior and indicates the possibility of other victims who have, up to now, not made reports with the Waco Police Department," she said.

"We want to ensure that any other victims have the opportunity to come forward and receive services from our Victim Services Unit."

Anyone who feels victimized and would like to make a report may call the Waco police non-emergency phone line at 254-750-7500.

Tinoco is not currently listed in custody in McLennan County Jail.

The original accuser visited a massage salon in the 2800 block of West Loop 340 on Oct. 2 for a massage, according to Tinoco's original arrest affidavit. She said Tinoco used his fingers to sexually assault her during the massage, the affidavit said.

She told the lead detective that she froze in the moment and did not say anything, afraid that Tinoco would escalate the assault or injure her, the affidavit said. She was very upset and sought therapeutic help before reporting the assault to police Oct. 17, the affidavit said.

Tinoco initially denied the assault, but admitted after failing a polygraph test that he had in fact touched the woman inappropriately, the affidavit states.
The Cameron Park Zoo lost a long-time resident Monday as Donna, a 25-year-old North American black bear, lost her battle to skin cancer.

Donna, who had lived in the zoos Brazos River Country exhibit for 18 years, was euthanized Monday after she was diagnosed in July with squamous cell carcinoma, according to a city news release.

Cameron Park Zoo deputy director Duane Hills said zookeepers care greatly about the animals they help, and they will miss Donna.

We certainly mourn her loss, he said. Its a sad day for many here at the Cameron Park Zoo.

Donna had been successfully treated in 2019 for breast cancer. Following the carcinoma diagnosis, zoo veterinary staff sought to avoid severe side effects, excessive stress on the animal and staff safety hazards, by using an experimental vaccine treatment rather than radiation or chemotherapy.

A cancer vaccine produced by Torigen Pharmaceuticals was made from Donnas tumor cells and injected once a week starting in August. The treatment showed early signs of success, appearing to slow the progress of the tumor.

Zoo care staff added mats to soften her bed, specially prepared easily chewable meals, allowed her overnight access to the outside exhibit when possible and fed her some of her favorite snacks, including donuts, pudding and mayonnaise, city officials said.

Donnas comfort was ensured and her quality of life closely monitored. After seeing a decline in the bears quality of life, zoo management made the decision to relieve her pain and suffering with humane euthanasia, a news release stated.

Hills said there are no formalized plans yet to find a new black bear, but there is a process in place to obtain new animals. Cameron Park Zoo has another male black bear, Mowgli, who was orphaned as a cub and came to the zoo in 2020 after the death of Balou, an elderly male who like Mowgli was named after a Jungle Book character.

Hills said will Mowgli will notice the loss of Donna but will remain at the zoo.

Hills said zoos are cooperatively managed, meaning that they exchange animals. Accredited zoos participate in Species Survival Plan programs, which determine how animals are matched and bred, which can also help with long-term population management, species health and sustainability. Then animals are matched up with zoos based on the availability of space and a zoos qualifications.

Animals most often come from other zoos, Hills said.

Some animals end up in zoos as rescue animals because they are deemed unable to return to the wild, Hills said. He said many black bears come from other zoos and are deemed nuisance animals, which have been fed by and become habituated to people. Animals that have lived in close contact with people can lose their natural fear of humans, creating a dangerous environment for the people and the animal, he said.

Other animals end up in zoos when they have been injured and cannot be released to the wild following rehabilitation, Hills said.
A new federal omnibus spending bill includes $5.6 million to advance three long-planned projects in the Waco area.

The funding announced Monday will provide design work to expand the Bull Hide Creek sewer plant, replace the Middle Bosque River bridge on Speegleville Road and address an unstable slope above Lake Shore Drive.

Waco Mayor Dillon Meek, McLennan County Judge Scott Felton and U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Waco, announced the appropriations during a news conference held Monday at City Hall.

Those three projects are important not only to the citizens, but also the future of our area, Sessions said.

The bill includes $1 million for a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers study of a solution for the unstable embankment across Lake Shore Drive from Koehne Park. Another $3 million would cover engineering and design work for the regional sewer systems expansion of the Bull Hide Creek treatment plant, a $50 million project that will accommodate growth in suburbs such as Hewitt and Lorena.

The remaining $1 million would help fund design work for replacing the 61-year-old Middle Bosque bridge with a four-lane bridge with shoulders and sidewalks to accommodate growing residential and school traffic in the Speegleville Road corridor. The city of Waco is seeking an additional $15.4 million from the federal government to build the bridge, with the city and county providing a local match.

President Joe Biden signed the $1.7 trillion omnibus bill on Dec. 29, just before the new Republican majority took over the U.S. House. Sessions voted against the bill along with most Republicans.

In a statement after the House vote in December, Sessions said the $1.7 trillion bill excessively supports anti-American interests. He cited as examples the $1.75 billion budget for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; $200 million earmarked for a gender equity fund; $108 million for environmental justice programs; and $3 million for an LGBTQ+ museum in New York City.

While I could not support the outgoing Majoritys underlying bill, this bill does include a number of measures that I would support independently, including many Texas 17th District growth, infrastructure, and water projects that I worked hard to include in this package, he stated.

In June 2021, Sessions also voted against the House version of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which initially included $8.4 million for the Middle Bosque bridge. The item was stripped out in the version that passed in November 2021, meaning that the Middle Bosque bridge would have to compete with other projects nationwide for the infrastructure funds.

Getting federal help on the Lake Shore slope project has also been a struggle.

Many people are familiar with  stability issues along Lake Shore Drive, Mayor Meek said, referring to engineers warning that the hill could see a massive failure that could disfigure the road.

City officials first sought federal funding for the Lake Waco embankment in 2016 after a $510,000 study on the stretch of road between Mount Carmel Drive and Koehne Park found the unstable slope would cost estimated $30 million to address.

In 2020, the embankment project was slated to receive $10 million after the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Water Resources Development Act of 2020. According to House Report 117-347, during discussions for the 2022 WRDA, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee remains concerned that several provisions from prior WRDAs remain unimplemented in accordance with Congressional intent.

The report listed the Lake Shore Drive among the embankment projects still not implemented.

The $1 million in this round of funding will provide a more complete study of the slope, including an assessment of whether the problem has worsened.

Another $3 million from an EPA grant will pay for engineering and design work for capital improvements that would double Bull Hide Creek Wastewater Treatment Plants output of treated effluent water from 2.5 million to roughly 5 million gallons per day.

Assistant City Manager Paul Cain said the treated water can be used instead of drinking water for commercial uses. He said the city estimates the full project will cost about $50 million over the course of several years.

Felton said the project will be crucial to smaller cities like Lorena and Robinson, where residential and commercial development has been rapid.
Ever since she was 10 years old, Aubriana Krieser knew she wanted to be a special education teacher. Learning about other people's struggles and how she can help is just something she enjoys.

So when her high school counselor at Lincoln North Star asked her if she would be interested in working as a paraeducator, Krieser jumped at the opportunity.

"Right off the bat, I was interested," the senior said.

Krieser is one of 11 students taking part in a new pilot program at Lincoln Public Schools that allows seniors to work as special education paras. The initiative, which kicked off this semester, is meant to address a dire workforce need with paras in short supply, while also giving students a chance to test the waters of a career they hope to pursue.

Some paras, however, have raised concerns with how the program was rolled out and the compensation students receive.

The student paras, who already attend school on a shortened schedule, perform the same duties and receive the same pay as para IVs, one of the five classifications of paras at LPS. Para IVs, who work with special education students in a variety of settings, are paid $16.83 an hour.

Students receive the same training and serve in an itinerant capacity, bouncing between mostly elementary and middle schools in a given quadrant. They cannot work at their home high school or schools where their siblings attend and they're required to work at least one hour per day.

Duties include assisting students with going to the bathroom and mobility and addressing behaviors.

Unlike teachers, who are certificated, paras are classified employees with less stringent requirements to work in a school. Federal law does require paras who work in Title I buildings to have 48 semester hours of college credit or equivalent, but that does not apply to itinerant paras.

Director of Special Education Jenny Fundus said she learned about the concept from a large Illinois school district at a conference in Chicago last fall. She ran it past her colleagues, who were soon on board.

"We need paraeducators and we need to recruit future employees of the school district," Fundus said. "That's kind of why we went down this road."

Other districts have experimented with using students as employees with workforce shortages gripping education. Ashland-Greenwood also hires seniors as elementary school paras, while Omaha Public Schools allows students to work as paid interpreters and summer interns.

Not everyone is keen on the idea of hiring students, however. Some paras at LPS have expressed concerns on social media about the program, including how it was rolled out and the fact that the student paras receive the same pay.

One para, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Journal Star he and other paras found out about the program via a Facebook post from a Lincoln high school.

"We kind of feel blindsided," the para said.

While the para said he believed the students could be qualified, he expressed concern at the optics of it, especially when paras are asking for better compensation or, in some cases, quitting.

Marla Styles, a human resources specialist who oversees the hiring of paras, said the idea was not initially run past the Lincoln Paraeducator Association, the union that represents the districts paras. Styles and Fundus did hold an optional Zoom recently with paras to clarify details about the program.

"It's not perfect," Styles said. "I hope everyone can see the perspective of what we're trying do. ... We see this as a way to support students."

Marla Styles, a human resources specialist at LPS who oversees the hiring of paras, said as of Thursday there were roughly 35 paras openings  mostly in special education, which comprises the bulk of LPS' paras.

In a statement to the Journal Star from Lincoln Paraeducator Association President Mary Harris on behalf of the association's board, the board said it recently learned about the program through a social media post.

"That posting prompted us to request a meeting with representatives at (LPS district office), which led to a Zoom meeting with paraeducators across the district where district representatives shared some of the details of this pilot program to help alleviate the significant paraeducator shortage," the statement reads.

Instead of commenting directly on the program itself, the board pointed to the need to better support paras.

"Paras' skill sets are highly specific to the students they serve and are among those at the lowest pay scale in the district," the board said.

Styles said the district is paying students the same amount that was negotiated by the union last spring. Those negotiations locked in para pay for this school year and the next, with raises built in.

"I do understand the association's and paras' overall concerns about compensation," Styles said. "We're trying to stick strictly to the negotiations."

Styles also added that the social media post announcing the program came from a specific school looking for applicants, not the district office.

Deb Rasmussen, president of the Lincoln Education Association, said she has heard concerns from teachers in a couple of buildings, but acknowledged the positives of "grow-your-own" initiatives that encourage students to work in education.

The district can also hire whom it chooses without running it past a union, Rasmussen said.

"They do have the right to assignment and the right to hire people," Rasmussen said.

The pilot program is capped at 11 seniors this spring and LPS sought students who want to work with students with disabilities and are in good standing at their high school.

Many of the student paras, for example, participated in unified programs, which pair general education students with their special education peers in programs like bowling, track and theater.

"These are not students who have no context working with students with disabilities," Fundus said.

The district vets students the way it would any other employee, including using background checks and conducting a physical skills test. Students also do not have access to student records, Fundus said.

A student's assigned school may change day by day or week by week depending on the need. Students are not encouraged to take a modified schedule to participate, but rather the district is seeking students who have already accumulated enough high school credits to have a shortened school day.

Kreiser, who works from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day, has spent the past two weeks at Goodrich Middle School, helping out in social skills classes and at recess. On Monday, she'll go to Belmont Elementary.

She plans to go to Concordia University next fall to pursue her dream of becoming a special education teacher. Asked if she would recommend the pilot program to others, Kreiser left no room for doubt.

"Yeah, 100%. I would do it over and over again," she said. "It's a jump-start."

Top Journal Star photos for February 2023
Steve Hintons Fighter Rebuilders aircraft restoration workshop is set to restore North American F-86F Sabre 52-4959. This Sabre has dazzled air show crowds for many years adorned in the iconic livery of the Skyblazers aerial demonstration team, forerunner of the present-day USAF Thunderbirds. A new owner based on the west coast acquired the jet about six months ago and chose Hintons shop to refurbish the airframe. We received a few images of the aircraft undergoing disassembly from Larry Titchenal, who volunteers with the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum at Space Coast Regional Airport in Titusville, Florida. Steve Hinton and his son, Steve Hinton jr carried out the work with other team members. The vintage fighter will make the journey to Chino, California by road in a few days.

North American Aviation built this aircraft as an F-86F-30-NA at their plant in Inglewood, California and delivered it to the U.S. Air Force in 1952. It later served with the Fuerza Aerea Argentina (Argentine Air Force), where it flew as C-109. In 1989, following the aircrafts military retirement, a collector imported the aircraft back home to the USA and placed it on the civil registry as NX86FR. It has been based out of various locations in Florida ever since.

Following its initial restoration, the Sabre flew for a few years before Tom Righetti acquired the aircraft in 1997; it was Righetti who had the aircraft painted to represent another F-86F, serial 53-1201, during its time with the famed Skyblazers. After Righettis death, the fighter operated from Space Coast Regional Airport. Noted collector and pilot, Doug Matthews, leased the Sabre for a few years before returning it to the Righetti family. Thereafter, the airplane stayed within a hangar at the Valiant Air Command until its recent sale via Courtesy Aircraft Sales. It will be great to see this charismatic jet back in the air again in the not too distant future! Many thanks to Larry Titchenal for sending us the images for this article.
by Matt Scales

On May 12th, 1945, a P-47 took off for a local flight from an airfield on the South Pacific island now known as Papua New Guinea. Sadly the excursion soon ended in tragedy, the out-of-control, single-seat fighter thumping at high speed into soft earth, disappearing  seemingly forever  beneath the dense jungle canopy. The Thunderbolt, P-47D-11-RA 42-22949, lay hidden for more than half a century before a local villager stumbled across its wreckage. Examination of the crash site yielded a surprise; two sets of human remains came to light, instead of just the one, along with a womans shoe. As officials began to dig, they recovered not only the fallen they uncovered a love story too.

Harriet Elizabeth Gowen was born in Iowa on May 11th, 1917 and raised in Stillwater, Minnesota, about twenty miles east of Minneapolis. Fellow classmates described Harriet as outgoing and adventurous, traits reflected in her high school yearbook.1 Harriet belonged to several clubs during her senior year in 1935; she performed in two school plays as well.

After graduation, Harriet enrolled at the University of Minnesota, where her outgoing nature continued to shine.2 She joined a sorority, Kappa Kappa Gamma, and worked as a staff member for The Gopher, the universitys yearbook.3 For reasons presently unknown, Harriet left college a year before completing her degree, taking a job at Daytons Department Store instead.4 Meanwhile, a young man in Michigan began his sophomore year of high school.

Born in Dearborn, Michigan on September 19th, 1923, Harold Francis Wurtz Jr. graduated from Dearborn High School in 1941. He then followed a path which countless other Michiganders had already trodden, finding a position with the Ford Motor Company;5 his father also worked for Ford, as a timekeeper. But with the country soon engaged fully in WWII, Harold joined the U.S. Army, enlisting in Detroit, Michigan on October 13th, 1942.6

Wurtz wasnt destined to serve in the infantry, however. Despite not having a college education, Harolds aptitude test scores were sufficient to earn him a slot as an aviation cadet. So, in early 1943, the young man from the outskirts of Detroit boarded a train and headed south to Mississippi, where he reported to Greenwood Army Airfield to become an Aviation Cadet in Class 43-J. After graduation, Wurtz reported to single-engine school, where he gained the skills to become a P-47 Thunderbolt pilot. His next move proved highly consequential to what remained of his short life

After spending most of 1943 in training, Wurtz reported to the 341st Fighter Squadron in the South Pacific. The squadron, part of the 348th Fighter Group, had been engaged in regular combat with the Japanese since June, 1943. As the fresh Lieutenant reported for duty, fate ensured his encounter with a young woman who shared a similar eagerness to serve America overseas.

As the USAs involvement in WWII deepened, Americans repeatedly found new ways to serve their country; Harriet Gowens sense of patriotism, education and love of adventure presented a unique pathway for her own participation, via the American Red Cross. While the organization maintained strict entry qualification requirements, Harriet Gowens abilities and accomplishments checked every box. Applicants needed to be: college graduates, at least 25 years of age, have stellar reference letters, pass physical examinations and have an outstanding personality.7 After completing her training at American University in Washington, D.C., Gowen initially reported for a position in Manhattan, New York, working with U.S. military personnel shipping out to the European Theatre of Operations. While being in the big city offered its own adventurous opportunities, they were not enough to satisfy Gowen, whose high school classmates universally remembered her free spirit. Indeed Gowen wanted something bigger, so she volunteered for overseas duty. This new assignment would take Gowen to the opposite side of the world and connect her forever with the confident young fighter pilot.

By 1945, the island of New Guinea, just north of Australia, was no longer the dangerous combat zone it had been over the previous three years. The fighting had moved on to the Philippines, making life at Nadzab Airfield Number 1 almost peaceful. The airfield, nestled in a picturesque valley surrounded by jungle-covered mountains, had become a location where un-blooded pilots like Wurtz could gain experience flying over such terrain in relative safety before moving to a frontline unit in a similar terrain. The base had grown significantly since its initial construction, so large that it now housed numerous American Red Cross volunteers, some of whom served in medical roles while others staffed military recreation centers. It was at the latter where our young pilot and the adventurous nurse would meet.

While the details surrounding Harriet and Harolds meeting remain a mystery, they clearly made a strong impression upon one another. Amongst a collection of pictures which Harriet Gowen kept with her belongings there was a picture of Wurtz with a caption which read simply the hot pilot. And likewise, Harold Wurtz had a photograph of Gowen upon which he wrote, Our Red Cross worker. Sadly, a fateful day in May 1945 would ensure that these two young Americans would remain together forever.8

At approximately 2 p.m. on May 12th, 1945, Lt.Wurtz borrowed a jeep and made his way over to Gowens tent. The two of them then drove to the airfield for an unauthorized adventure in the skies. Harriet Gowen had celebrated her 28th birthday a day earlier. Perhaps this was the reason why Wurtz offered Gowen a flight over the scenic Markham Valley, or maybe it was simply a romantic gesture  we will never know. The 21-year-old Lieutenant chose a P-47 which another pilot had recently landed. He removed the parachute from the pilots seat, climbed into the cockpit, and then assisted Gowen to join him; she sat on his lap. While this may sound like a crazy way to fly, it was not that unusual for the time, and could be accomplished without undue risk in most circumstances. Wurtz cranked the fighters engine and the two thrill-seekers took off, rising above the steamy jungle heat for the cooler climes at higher altitude.9

By 4 p.m., Wurtzs squadronmates and Gowens fellow Red Cross workers began to notice their absence. Army Air Forces officials soon organized a search effort for the missing pair, an exercise which extended for three days. Interviews with other pilots revealed one who thought he had seen a P-47 spiraling out of control to the west of the airfield, but despite an intensive search, no trace of either the plane or its occupants turned up.10

Fast forward to 1996, when a villager named Moses Paul went hunting for wild boar near his home in remote area of Papua New Guinea. As he ventured deeper into the jungle, he caught sight of an old aircraft crash unknown to him. A superstitious man, Moses Paul reportedly raced back to his village and enlisted several others to help him investigate the site where they found evidence of human remains, along with Wurtzs dog tags. American officials eventually learned of this development and sent a team to New Guinea for further investigation. They discovered what was left of the planes pilot and his unexpected female passenger  Harold Wurtz and Harriet Gowen could finally return home. As a forensics team sorted through what they had found, they could conclusively identify only some of the bones. Those which definitively belonged to Harriet were given to her family for burial in Stillwater, Minnesota. Meanwhile the fragments with inconclusive identity were placed alongside those of Lt. Harold Wurtz in a casket for formal burial at Arlington National Cemetery.11 Although their brief romance ended in tragedy, it seems only fitting that the Red Cross worker and her beau remain united forever in peace

References:

1 1935 Stillwater Grad Who Died in WWII Honored by Lions Club at Veterans Memorial, Stillwater Gazette, March 25, 2005.

2 Stillwater High School, Kabekonian, 1935.

3 University of Minnesota, Gopher, 1938.

4 Minneapolis City Directory 1938 (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Minneapolis Directory Company, Publishers, 1938), pg 514.

5 Dearborn High School, Pioneer, 1941.

6 Enlistment Record for Harold Francis Wurtz, October 13, 1942.

7 World War II: Donut Dollies & the American Red Cross Delaware Historical and Cultural Affairs https://history.delaware.gov/ww-ii-donut-dollies-the-american-red-cross/.

8 Harold Wurtz  Second Lieutenant, United States Army Air Corps. Arlington National Cemetery: https://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/mystery.htm

9 Ibid., Harold F. Wurtz, Jr. and Harriet E. Gowen, Project Homecoming, https://www.projecthomecoming.org/stories/harry-and-harriet/

10 Missing Air Crew Report 14435.

11 Harold F. Wurtz, Jr. and Harriet E. Gowen, Project Homecoming, https://www.projecthomecoming.org/stories/harry-and-harriet/

Many thanks again to Matt Scales for this poignant story
WATERLOO  A few weeks ago, Beau Bish was found guilty of interfering with an arrest and search near his home.

Over the weekend, Bish and half a dozen of his associates went to the Waterloo Police Department and the Black Hawk County Sheriffs Office carrying guns.

And cellphone tripods.

Bish, who runs a YouTube channel called Flex Your Freedoms, had a Daniel Defense AR-15 style rifle hanging from a sling and magazine pouches on his body armor.

Level four vest, he said, tapping his chest. They have to shoot me with some AP (armor piercing) rounds, or maybe just head shots. Hopefully it never will happen.

The social media flock was performing what they call a Second Amendment audit  exercising their right to carry weapons while rolling video to record reactions from the public and police.

The visit was largely ignored by law enforcement. Officers were scarce. The Waterloo Police Department and the Black Hawk County Sheriffs Office declined to comment.

Another YouTuber from Cedar Rapids, who goes by RPM Tre Vietnam, clad in a red ski mask, held up a bright green sign declaring Hug and AR owner.

I really believe that the Second Amendment is really reflecting on the natural right of a man to defend his life with whatever he can get his hands on. We are hornets. Youre supposed to expect the stinger, Tre said into a cell phone camera livestreaming the event.

Another  Illinois Tyrant News  traveled from Illinois.

The group did get some honks from passing motorists.

Its more support for the freedoms we have out here, Bish said.

Last month, a Black Hawk County jury found Bish guilty of misdemeanor interference with official acts in connection with an April 2022 incident where officers pushed him back while he was filming an arrest. Sentencing will be later this month.
A Torrington man was charged with driving under the influence after he was allegedly driving over 100 mph as troopers were attending to a disabled vehicle on Route 8 in Litchfield on Sunday, according to the Connecticut State Police.

A trooper from Troop L in Litchfield was checking on a disabled vehicle on the right shoulder on Route 8 North in the area of Exit 42 in Litchfield just after 2:30 a.m. on Sunday as a second trooper was conducting a traffic stop just north of that location.

The first state police cruiser was parked on the right shoulder on Route 8 with the emergency lights activated as a trooper checked on the disabled vehicle. The trooper saw a blue Jeep Patriot approaching at a high rate of speed in the right lane, according to state police. The Jeep stayed in the right lane while passing the two stopped state police cruisers in violation of Connecticuts Move Over law, the state police said.

As the trooper merged onto Route 8, they observed the Jeep using the right lane to pass other motorists and allegedly traveling in excess of 100 mph, state police said.

The state police issued a traffic stop in the area of Exit 44 in Torrington as a trooper from Troop B in North Canaan assisted.

The Jeep driver was identified as 25-year-old Jose Torres-Jimenez of Torrington by his Connecticut Adult Learners Permit, state police said. As the trooper spoke with Torres-Jimenez and an adult in the vehicle, they alleged that Torres-Jimenez was showing signs of impairment. Torres-Jimenez was asked to exit the Jeep and agreed to participate in field sobriety tests, which he allegedly failed, according to state police.

Torres-Jimenez was taken into custody and transported to Troop L for processing. He is charged with operating under the influence of drugs/alcohol, reckless driving, passing on the right, failure to move over or reduce speed for emergency vehicles.

Torres-Jimenez was later released on a $500 non-surety bond and is scheduled for arraignment on Feb. 21 at Torrington Superior Court.
WATERLOO  Waterloo Community Schools may only pay a fraction of the cost for new technology.

The Board of Education unanimously approved the $606,053 purchase of network equipment for six schools Monday.

But the district may only have to pay $90,908 if it is approved for $515,145 in e-rate funding. Director of Technology Matt OBrien said the district has been successful in recent years at obtaining such funding.

E-rate funding comes from the Universal Service Program of the Federal Communications Commission, which helps schools pay for internet and technology equipment.

For wired equipment, the board approved a purchase in the amount of $433,354 from Goldfield Telecom LC. A wireless equipment purchase was approved in the amount of $172,699 from Aercor Wireless.

The equipment will replace wired and wireless networks at Carver and Central middle schools as well as Cunningham, Highland, Kingsley and Lincoln elementaries.

Due to the e-rate process, the purchase will be part of the fiscal year 2024 budget.

The board also approved a change order for under-slab pipe replacement at the Central Middle School remodeling and Waterloo Career Center expansion project. The change order will add $16,770 to the project for a total cost of $28.88 million.

This is the ninth change order for the project. The addition will not affect the schedule of students returning to Central Middle School in January.

Other board approvals included:

Holding a public hearing at 5 p.m. Feb. 27 for the 2023-24 school district calendar.

Travel for East and West high schools Business Professionals of America students to Anaheim, California, from April 24-30 to attend the national leadership conference.

The purchase of cardio equipment for East and West high schools from Johnson Fitness & Wellness of Cottage Grove, Wisconsin at a total cost of $162,144.

The appearance at the School Budget Review Committee to request modified allowable growth of $118,676 for costs associated with environmental projects, such as asbestos inspections or removal. The amount accounts for work at five schools and Sloane Wallace Stadium between July 2021 and last month. The additional spending authority could be funded through an increase in the 2023-24 cash reserve levy.

Recognizing The Surgery Center as a new Partner in Education with Fred Becker Elementary School as well as Cadillac XBC and Maple Lanes as at-large partners with the district.
WATERLOO  The parking lot at the Waterloo Center for the Arts is nearing the final stage of construction.

The City Council last week approved the cost of completion for the latest finished portion of the lot.

There is one more section of the parking lot to go  from Commercial Street up to two-thirds of the way toward the building. The recently finished portion was from right in front of the building. This came after the installation of colored concrete in the parking lot.

Those first two phases cost $1.2 million. The third phase is expected to cost about $900,000, City Engineer Jamie Knutson said, but has to go through the citys bidding process first.

The project began in fiscal year 2021 and has included electrical projects, relocating utilities and removing old building foundations. Knutson said there was also an issue with a subcontractor that was removed from the job, so another company was brought in to take over.

This has taken longer than any of us were hoping for, Knutson said.

The final section of the parking lot will undergo construction in 2024 and take a couple months to complete.

Last fall, the Waterloo Center for the Arts unveiled Phelps Melody Park. It includes six outdoor musical instruments. Next to the park there is a pair of kaleidoscope structures.

The inside of the WCA could have some upgrades coming, too. A study led by InVision Architecture is looking at the Waterloo Community Playhouse, based across the street in the Walker Building, being housed solely in the art center. The firm will review the playhouse and center spaces to see what options there may be for a future project.

The Walker Building holds a small theater space, administrative offices, a classroom, costume storage and rentals, and small prop storage.

The Hope Martin Theatre inside the WCA is in need of a new lighting system. While the theater was shut down during the pandemic, a new stage floor was installed.
WASHINGTON  While some Republicans blame the COVID-19 vaccine or "wokeness" for the Army's recruiting woes, the military service says the bigger hurdles are more traditional ones: Young people don't want to die or get injured, deal with the stress of Army life and put their lives on hold.

They "just don't see the Army as something that's relevant," said Maj. Gen. Alex Fink, head of Army marketing. "They see us as revered, but not relevant, in their lives."

Addressing those longtime issues has taken on greater urgency as the Army tries to recover from its worst recruiting year in decades, a situation aggravated by the tight jobs market. The Army is offering new programs, advertising and enticements in an effort to change perceptions and reverse the decline.

One incentive gives recruiters bonuses of up to $4,500 per quarter if they exceed their baseline enlistment requirement. A pilot program allows young enlisted soldiers  those in the three lower ranks  to get a promotion if they refer someone who enlists and goes to basic training. Only one promotion per soldier is allowed.

The Army fell about 15,000 soldiers, or 25%, short of its 60,000 recruitment goal last year, when all the branches struggled to meet recruiting goals.

Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said the Army has set a difficult goal for this year: aiming to bring in 65,000 recruits, which would be 20,000 more than in 2022. It's difficult to predict how it will go, she said, adding that recruiters need to do all they can to surpass last year's numbers.

"I would say it is a stretch goal," she said.

Wormuth said she and Gen. James McConville, the Army's chief of staff, believed they needed to set a big goal.

"I think we are seeing some forward momentum. But it is still too early to tell where we will likely land at the end of this fiscal year. I know we will do better than we did last year," she said.

Guiding the Army's efforts are surveys intended to help pinpoint why young people dismiss the Army as a career.

Those surveys were conducted over four months last spring and summer. They involved about 600 respondents, ages 16 to 28, per month. The Army discussed the general findings with The Associated Press but declined to provide detailed methodology, saying the surveys were done by a private research contractor and that licensing agreements limited the public release of some data collection details.

Officials said that based on the surveys, young people simply do not see the Army as a safe place or good career path, and believe they would have to put their lives and careers on hold if they enlisted.

Army leaders said very few say they are deterred from enlisting due to "wokeness." In fact, concerns about discrimination against women and minorities is seen as a bigger issue, along with a more general distrust of the military.

"Wokeness" is a slang term that originally described attentiveness to issues of racial and social justice. Some people and groups, especially conservatives, now use it in a derogatory sense implying what they see as overreactions.

Republicans in Congress, including Rep. Jim Banks, chairman of the House Armed Services subcommittee on military personnel, have pledged to target "wokeness" this year. Banks, R-Ind., has said "exposing and dismantling the Biden administration's woke agenda that is driving down military recruitment and retention" will be a top priority for him this year. His spokesman, Buckley Carlson, said combating "wokeness" at the Defense Department will be a key issue for the congressman.

Banks and others have complained about the Pentagon's efforts to target extremism in the military, provide courses in critical race theory and other efforts to expand diversity. They say focusing on partisan issues pushed by the left takes away from the Pentagon's core missions, weakens the military and turns off recruits.

But the Army says that on average, only 5% of the respondents in the surveys listed "wokeness" as an issue, compared with 13% who say they believe that women and minorities will face discrimination and not get the same opportunities.

Wormuth said the survey data is a tool to "assuage the concerns that some may have, whether influencers or members of Congress, about wokeness or the vaccine mandate  which is now rescinded  and show they are not, by any means, primary drivers of the recruiting challenges we're experiencing."

She said the information from the surveys also provides insight on how the Army needs to better explain its benefits.

Fink, the Army's marketing head, said the top three reasons young people cite for rejecting military enlistment are the same across all the services: fear of death, worries about post-traumatic stress disorder and leaving friends and family  in that order. He said the Army wanted a better understanding of any additional barriers to service, beyond those top three.

By a "significant margin," he said, the most common response beyond Nos. 1-3 was, "I will be putting my life on hold." That was cited by more than 1 in 5 people surveyed.

Many young people do not know anyone in the Army and are unfamiliar with the jobs or benefits it offers. Fink said trust in government institutions, including the military, has declined, particularly among this group.

"They just don't perceive the Army as being in touch with the modern, everyday culture that they're used to," he said.

Most expensive US military weapons and programs Most expensive military weapons and programs #30. VH-92 Presidential Helicopters #29. Patriot Advanced Capability Missile Segment Enhancement #28. Cloud #27. Standard Missile-6 #26. Artificial Intelligence #25. THAAD Ballistic Missile Defense #23. Frigate (FFG(X)) (tie) #23. AEGIS Ballistic Missile Defense System (tie) #20. Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) (tie) #20. Landing Platform Dock Ship (LPD) (tie) #20. AH-64E Attack Helicopters (tie) #19. Joint Light Tactical Vehicles #16. M-1 Abrams Tank Modifications/Upgrades (tie) #16. CH-53K King Stallion (tie) #16. Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) (tie) #14. F-15EX (tie) #14. National Security Space Launch (aka EELV) (tie) #13. Global Positioning System III and Projects #12. F/A-18 E/F Super Hornets #11. Space Based Overhead Persistent Infrared Systems #10. B-21 Long Range Strike Bomber #8. CVN-78 FORD Class Aircraft Carrier (tie) #8. KC-46 Tanker Replacements (tie) #7. DDG-51 Arleigh Burke Destroyers #6. Cyberspace  Operations #5. COLUMBIA Class Ballistic Missile Submarine #4. Virginia Class Submarine #3. Cybersecurity #2. Nuclear Command, Control and Communications #1. F-35 Joint Strike Fighters Most expensive US military weapons and programs #23. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) Ballistic Missile Defense #22. Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicles #21. Building Pandemic Preparedness #20. Amphibious Combat Vehicles #19. PATRIOT Advanced Capability - 3 (PAC-3) Missile Segment Enhancement #18. Joint Light Tactical Vehicles #17. Frigate (FFG-62) #16. Launch Vehicles - National Security Space Launch (NSSL) and Rocket System Launch Program (RSLP) #15. NGAD (Air Force) #14. Global Positioning System (GPS) Enterprise #13. Ground-Based Midcourse (GMD) and Improved Homeland Defense/Next Generation Interceptors (NGI) #12. F-15EX #11. KC-46 Pegasus #10. Addressing the Climate Crisis #9. LGM-35A Sentinel Weapon System #8. Space-based Overhead Persistent Infrared (OPIR) Systems #7. B-21 Raider #6. DDG-51 Arleigh Burke Class Destroyers #5. Columbia Class Ballistic Missile Submarine #4. Funds to procure highly survivable, precision-strike, and long-range firesfrom hypersonic to subsonicacross the joint force #3. Virginia Class Submarines #2. F-35 Joint Strike Fighter #1. Increasing cybersecurity and operationalizing Zero Trust Architecture
Three people were killed and three others were injured Sunday in a two-vehicle crash about 4 miles north of Muscatine, the Iowa State Patrol said.

The crash occurred at 2:25 p.m. at County Road F70 and Iowa 38 in Muscatine County.

According to the initial crash report filed by the Iowa State Patrol, a 2019 Toyota Highlander was eastbound on F70 and a 2012 Dodge Ram pickup was northbound on Highway 38.

The Highlander failed to stop at the stop sign at the intersection and was struck by the pickup.

The names of the deceased and injured were not released Sunday.

The Iowa State Patrol was assisted at the scene by the Muscatine County Sheriffs Department, Muscatine Police Department, Muscatine EMS and Fire Department and the Wilton Fire Department.

The crash remains under investigation by the Iowa State Patrol.
Weather Alert

.Warm temperatures may melt snowpack and increase river flows. ...FLOOD WATCH FOR SNOWMELT REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM SATURDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH MONDAY MORNING... * WHAT...Flooding caused by snowmelt continues to be possible. * WHERE...Portions of California and western Nevada, including the following areas, in California, Greater Lake Tahoe Area, Lassen-Eastern Plumas-Eastern Sierra Counties and Surprise Valley California. In western Nevada, Greater Lake Tahoe Area, Greater Reno-Carson City-Minden Area and Mineral and Southern Lyon Counties. * WHEN...From Saturday afternoon through Monday morning. * IMPACTS...Creeks and streams will be running high and fast. Low-water crossings may be flooded. Minor mainstem flooding along the Susan River, Forks of the Carson River, and the East Walker River below Bridgeport Reservoir cannot be ruled out. Anyone participating in outdoor recreation this weekend should use caution as water will be running high, fast, and potentially out of banks for some creeks and streams. The water will be extremely cold as well, quickly causing shock. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS... - http://www.weather.gov/safety/flood PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... You should monitor later forecasts and be alert for possible Flood Warnings. Those living in areas prone to flooding should be prepared to take action should flooding develop. &&
March 12, 2023:

The Lyon County Sheriff's Office and the Fernley community are paying their respects as Sunday marks the one-year anniversary of Naomi Irion going missing.

The Sheriff's Office says they think of Naomi and her family every day and are asking the community to take a moment of silence in honor of Naomi.

Naomi's sister is also asking the community to wear rainbow colors to support Naomi.

March 6, 2023:

In his latest court appearance, accused killer Troy Driver pleaded not guilty to all counts he is facing in the death of then 18-year-old Naomi Irion.

Driver is charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping, sexual assault, robbery with a deadly weapon, possession of a firearm by a convicted person, burglary of a motor vehicle and destroying evidence.

Driver also waived his right to a speedy trial to give his legal counsel more time to prepare.

Prosecutors say they are seeking that Driver face the death penalty in the case.

While his next court appearance hasn't been set, the State of Nevada and Driver's attorney's will have 10 days to pick a date for his next appearance.

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February 27, 2023 Update:

A scheduled Monday preliminary hearing for accused killer Troy Driver is now happening March 6th.

Driver's February 27th hearing was continued due to snowy weather conditions.

Previously, Driver waived his right to a preliminary hearing.

Driver was found competent to stand trial in early December.

Driver is accused of murdering and kidnapping 18-year-old Naomi Irion of Fernley.

December 5, 2022 Update:

After being found competent to stand trial, accused killer Troy Driver is scheduled to attend a preliminary hearing this upcoming February.

On December 5th, the Fernley Justice Court announced that his preliminary hearing will be February 16 & 17 at 9 a.m.

Driver is accused of murdering and kidnapping 18-year-old Naomi Irion of Fernley.

November 14, 2022 Update:

A Yerington district court has found accused killer Troy Driver competent enough to stand trial.

Driver appeared in court Monday, November 14 on order of a competency hearing.

He's now been ordered back to the Fernley Justice Court for a preliminary hearing. There's no immediate word on when this may be.

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The man accused of kidnapping and killing Naomi Irion of Fernley appeared in court to determine if he is fit enough to stand trial.

The court decided that Driver needed to be evaluated while recommending Lake's Crossing Center in Sparks.

After he is evaluated, they will come back together and review his evaluation.

There was no specific date given on when he will be evaluated or will appear in court again.

September 2, 2022 Update:

A Nevada justice of the peace has canceled this months preliminary hearing for a man accused of kidnapping and killing a Fernley teenager until a state judge decides if hes competent to stand trial.

Troy Driver was scheduled to appear in a justice court in Fernley Sept. 13-15 for a preliminary hearing to determine whether theres enough evidence to bound him over to Lyon County District Court on murder, kidnapping and other charges in the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Naomi Irion.

Canal Township Justice Court Judge Lori Matheus vacated the hearing in an order on Thursday, along with a Sept. 13 hearing on Drivers public defenders motion to dismiss some of the charges.

The Fernley Justice Court says Driver's competency hearing is set for September 12.

On August 30, Lyon County deputies confirm that accused murderer Troy Driver is still alive despite social media rumors that he's killed himself in jail.

The Lyon County Sheriff's Office addressed the rumor on its official Facebook page on Tuesday.

You can read the statement below -

AUGUST 5, 2022:

A judge has ordered a mental competency hearing for accused murderer Troy Driver, whose lawyers requested an evaluation last month.

Driver's lawyers had requested one out of concern that he may not be able to help in his own defense.

As of now, his preliminary hearing is still scheduled for September 13th, which is the first time he'll appear in court in person.

Driver is accused of kidnapping, sexually assaulting and killing 18-year-old Naomi Irion back in March.

UPDATE: JULY 28, 2022

Defense lawyers for accused murderer Troy Driver have requested a mental competency evaluation. In a filed motion, "the undersigned counsel believes that good cause exists to refer Mr. Driver for an evaluation to determine whether he is competent." They claim that he may not be able to help in his own defense "with a reasonable degree of rational understanding" as requested by Nevada law.

They further request that any future proceedings be suspended until a decision can be made on whether he is allegedly competent to stand trial.

Also, Driver's lawyers have filed to amend the motion to dismiss his murder charge to include the newly filed sexual assault felony charge.

His lawyers also propose that the Court order a modified briefing schedule to include both of these charges concurrently.

UPDATE: JULY 27, 2022

The Fernley Justice Court reports that Troy Driver has waived his right to an arraignment after the district attorney added a charge of sexual assault against him last week.

2 News has also learned that Driver's attorney has until August 2nd to respond to the DA's opposition to a motion to dismiss the murder charge against him

His preliminary hearing is still set for September 13th, which is the first time he'll appear in court in person.

UPDATE: JUNE 21, 2022

The Lyon County District Attorney is asking the judge to oppose a motion from Troy Driver's attorneys to dismiss the murder charge against him.

Driver is accused of murdering and kidnapping 18-year-old Naomi Irion of Fernley.

Defense lawyers argue that Driver shouldn't be tried in Lyon County since investigators found Irion's body in Churchill County.

In the letter to the judge filed Wednesday, the DA argued that the motion does not provide any factual or legal basis for relief.

The district attorney also asked for a sexual assault charge to be added to the murder and kidnapping charges Driver is already facing.

A preliminary hearing is set for September 13th.

That is also the first time Driver will appear in the courtroom in person.

JULY 5, 2022:

The man suspected of killing Naomi Irion was back in court on Tuesday.

Troy Driver's defense team asked the judge to dismiss his first-degree murder charge.

Driver's attorney says the murder charge should be dropped because the homicide happened in Churchill County arguing that Lyon County doesn't have jurisdiction over that crime.

The prosecution is confident that the case meets the requirements to hold the trial in one venue, including the murder charge.

Driver's evidentiary and preliminary hearings will begin September 13, 2022.

The man accused of kidnapping and killing a woman from Fernley made a quick appearance on Zoom for a status hearing on his case.

The defense asked the pre-trial hearing for Troy Driver to be delayed as they seek more evidence.

The judge agreed to the request and has moved the pre-trial hearing to July 5, 2022.

Troy Driver, accused of killing Naomi Irion, was formally charged with murder and is being held without bail at the Lyon County Jail.

Driver, his defense attorney along with most of the Irion family will be appearing via Zoom.

His arraignment happened Friday, April 8th at a hearing at the Canal Township Justice Court in Fernley. Driver appeared via zoom from Yerington.

The Lyon County District Attorneys Office says Troy Driver fatally shot Naomi Irion before burying her body in the desert, according to an amended criminal complaint.

Lyon County District Attorney Stephen Rye filed the amended criminal complaint Tuesday adding first-degree murder and other crimes to the kidnapping charge already facing 41-year-old Troy Driver.

Driver is accused of kidnapping Irion from the Fernley Walmart parking lot on March 12, and killing her on or before March 25 - the same day Driver was arrested for kidnapping.

Four days later, authorities say investigators acted on a tip and found her body in a grave near the Churchill County line.

Hes now accused of first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon, first-degree kidnapping, robbery, burglary of a motor vehicle and destroying evidence, according to the new complaint Rye filed Tuesday in Canal Township Justice Court in Fernley.

Drivers public defender, Mario Walther, didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.

The complaint said Driver shot Irion in Churchill County northeast of Fernley, where he took her for the purpose of committing sexual assault and/or purpose of killing her.

The document also alleged that Driver destroyed her cell phone and left pieces in Lyon, Churchill, Pershing, Humboldt and Eureka counties.

The Lyon County Sheriff's Office says Driver shot Irion in the head and chest.

The local community has been rallying around this family since this all started - there are a couple of events this weekend.

Kim Lovett, a Fernley resident says, "For this to happen is a scary thing, that even in our quiet little sleepy town that we have predators out there that would do something like this."

A devastated community that carried hopes of finding Naomi for weeks, and went on countless searches with her family. They said this outcome wasn't one anyone wanted. Some of the resident we spoke with extended their condolences to Naomi's family, and want them to know they are supported. Tisha Leija, another Fernley resident visibly upset told us, "I can't even imagine... the first thing I thought of was poor mom...poor mom...very sad. "

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The man accused of kidnapping Naomi Irion will stay in Lyon County Jail on $750,000 bondable bail.

41-year-old Troy E. Driver was arrested and booked into the jail last Friday. He's officially now charged with first degree kidnapping, a felony.

"Should the defendant post bail, he will not be released from custody until a GPS monitoring device is installed," Judge Lori Matheus, Canal Township Justice Court said.

The judge set Driver's preliminary hearing for April 12 for 1:30pm.

Irion's family attended the court hearing.

"It does look like they're going to be posting bail, from what I understand, so he's the only one who can help us bring Naomi home," Casey Valley, Irion's brother said. "He's the only one that we know about."

If he does get released from jail, Driver will be ordered to stay out of Fernley. He also must not contact Irion's family.

Driver has a criminal history. According to old articles in the Ukiah Daily Journal, he pleaded guilty to accessory to murder after the fact for his role in a 1997 homicide in Willits, California. He was 17 years old at the time of the murder. The article says Driver stuffed the body of an alleged drug dealer, Paul Steven Rodriguez in a trunk and then left it in a wooded area. The article says he pleaded guilty to three charges of robbery and one of burglary. A judge sentenced him to 15 years in prison but the article said he could have been released after serving 12.

"It is upsetting to me that there is people out here in the general public that have these capabilities with this kind of past and people should be more aware of that," Naomi's brother, Casey Valley, said. "We talk about sex offenders all the time but where is the list with this guy?"

Deputies also announced Friday, March 25th that Driver's Chevy truck was impounded and is being processed for possible evidence.

This photo below, shows the truck being taken into evidence. David Ausano took the picture from his porch in Fallon, the night of March 25, 2022.

A second public search was organized for Saturday, March 26th, 2022 by Naomi's brother, Casey Valley.

In a Facebook post, he asked community members to gather at Love's Travel Stop on Commerce Center Drive in Fernley, Saturday at 10am. Valley says, "this will be the first of a few areas of a concentrated search." He also requested no pets or children.

During the search on March 26th, more than 110 people showed up to help find Naomi. Diana Irion says she's been getting massages from all over the country from people who want to help her family.

Casey Valley tells us, "Today's search covered more ground, if not just as much, as last weekends search."

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On Thursday, March 24th, Lyon County Deputies said they identified a potential witness vehicle and occupant(s) that appears in the Walmart parking lot minutes before Naomi was abducted. They say they've contacted the occupant of the car.

The 4-door sedan enters the east Walmart parking lot at approximately 5:15 a.m. and then drives around the median on the east side before parking at the the southeast corner of the Walmart building.

Police were able to locate the vehicle with help from the public.

Irion was last seen March 12th at the parking lot at the Fernley Walmart. Her car was found a few days later and is undergoing processing for possible evidence.

The Lyon County Sheriff's Office held a press conference on Tuesday, along with Irion's family where again they asked for the public's help in finding her, adding they are getting "hundreds" of tips everyday.

They also mentioned that her car, which was found a few days after her disappearance, is still undergoing processing for any related evidence.

Her family also made another plea for help, with her mother saying, "please save my daughter. Bring her home." Because Irion's possible kidnapping happened near I-80, her mother also said that her daughter could be anywhere in the U.S. by now.

Irion's sister and brother also spoke, mentioning that tips to law enforcement can stay anonymous, if need be. He also said that another search will happen this Saturday.

During the weekend, the Lyon County Sheriff's Office released new surveillance video from the Walmart parking lot where Naomi was reportedly last seen.

The footage shows the suspect standing in front of the Walmart entrance, pacing the east side of the building, before walking toward the front of cars with their headlights on.

Authorities say this footage was recorded minutes before Naomi was abducted.

If you were in the east Walmart parking lot between 4:30 and 5:30 a.m. on March 12th, 2022 and have not been contacted by law enforcement, reach out to the Lyon County Sheriffs Office, Major Crimes Bureau.

The Lyon County Sheriffs Office can be reached at 775-463-6620, Secret Witness at (775) 322-4900 or by email at detective@lyon-county.org.

Authorities said a cell phone ping led officers to the Wadsworth area last week.

She was last seen wearing a blue Panasonic company shirt, gray cardigan sweater, gray pants, brown boots and was carrying a black purse. She had an iPhone, Airpods and a fidget spinner.

She is 511 tall, weighs about 230 pounds and has green eyes. Her hair is currently dyed black and she has a septum piercing and smiley face tattoo on her right ankle.

On Thursday, March 17th, Lyon County deputies announced that they were working with the Pyramid Lake Police Department and the FBI near Highway 427 in Wadsworth searching for evidence related to the disappearance of Naomi Irion.

They asked the public to stay away from the area as not to damage any evidence.

Her family made a public plea on Thursday for her safe return.

Authorities also thanked the Fernley community for their help. Her family members said that they are in contact with police about the case's progression.

On Friday, supporters gathered at the Round Table Pizza in Fernley to make signs to post around town in hopes of someone recognizing Irion's photo and calling police with information.

The newest released photos show Irion on the morning she was last seen and also include a person of interest.

The investigation now indicates that the suspect may be driving a dark 2020 or newer Chevrolet, 2500, High Country 4-Door Pickup Truck.

Authorities say the forensic evidence collected by investigators show that her disappearance is 'suspicious' in nature and that the driver of the truck "has a direct connection to her disappearance and her current whereabouts."

Previous video surveillance showed that person walking from a nearby 'homeless camp' looking in cars.

The unknown person then gets into the driver's seat of Irion's Mercury Sable and then leaves with her in the passenger seat.

During the course of the investigation, evidence was discovered leading investigators to believe Naomis disappearance was suspicious in nature.

Her 1992 blue Sable has a Nevada license plate of 595T37 was located in a industrial park in Fernley and has since been searched and forensically analyzed.

The first vehicle photo with the plate is Naomi's actual vehicle. The second vehicle photo is a stock photo and not her actual car.

If you have any information, contact Lyon County Sheriff's Office with case number 22ly01068 at 775-463-6620, or call or text your anonymous tip to Secret Witness at 775-322-4900.
State prosecutors have filed a motion to have the courtroom closed to the public during an upcoming hearing in the case of Michelle Troconis, the ex-girlfriend of Fotis Dulos, and have any records related to the hearing sealed, records show.

The state filed the motion with the Superior Court in the Stamford judicial district on Feb. 9, ahead of an impending privilege waiver hearing that is set to take place sometime between March 9 and March 16, prosecutors said in the motion.

Troconis was first charged in June 2019 in connection to the disappearance and presumed death of her ex-boyfriends estranged wife, New Canaan mother of five Jennifer Farber Dulos, court records show.

The motion, signed by Assistant States Attorney Sean P. McGuinness, said the hearing is expected to cover two issues: whether a cover letter written by Troconis attorney Jon Schoenhorn to attorney Tara Knight falls under the category of privileged communication and, if it does, whether that privilege should be waived.

In November, Schoenhorn and prosecutors argued over their efforts to disqualify each other from her murder conspiracy case in a dispute over the handling of a contested letter. They appeared before a judge and met privately to argue whether prosecutors improperly  if inadvertently  obtained confidential communication between defense lawyers.

Troconis case was scheduled to be tried in 2022 but was sidetracked by an ongoing argument over a box containing a sweatshirt, a screwdriver, a wrench and the contested letter written by Schoenhorn to another defense lawyer.

Schoenhorn has argued that prosecutors should have known they were not entitled to the letter and should be removed as a sanction for its wider distribution. Prosecutors have said the letter isnt privileged and demanded that Schoenhorn be disqualified from defending Troconis because they intend to call him as a witness at her trial to testify about the box and where he got it.

According to the newly filed motion, Schoenhorn is expected to introduce evidence of his privileged relationship and confidential communications with Knight. Prosecutors said in the motion that protecting attorney-client privilege overrules the right of the public to attend the hearing.

McGuinness said the state filed the motion not to agree or concede that the cover letter is privileged but in an effort to move the case along as quickly as possible.

According to the motion, Troconis agrees that the proceeding should be closed to the public.

Troconis is released on bond as she awaits trial. She faces charges of conspiracy to commit murder, evidence tampering and conspiring to hinder the police investigation by disposing of evidence in the death of Farber-Dulos.

Troconis was living in Farmington with contractor Fotis Dulos when Farber-Dulos went missing in May 2019. Prosecution filings in court accuse her of accompanying Dulos the day his wife disappeared as he dumped clothes and other evidence that has been tied to a murder into trash bins in Hartford.

Farber Dulos body was never found and Dulos committed suicide before he could be tried. Troconis has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Courant senior writer Edmund H. Mahony contributed to this report.
A Hartford man was charged with assault after allegedly attacking numerous customers as well as a responding officer in the parking lot of a grocery store in West Hartford on Sunday afternoon, police said.

The West Hartford Police Department received several 911 calls around 12:30 p.m. on Sunday about a man who was allegedly assaulting multiple people in the parking lot of the Price Rite Supermarket at 983 New Britain Ave. A West Hartford officer arrived on the scene. As he exited his patrol vehicle to speak with the man, he was immediately assaulted, the body camera footage released on Monday shows.

The man, identified as 39-year-old Samuel Rivas of Hartford, was refusing the officers commands and a brief struggle took place. An on-looker saw Rivas assaulting the officer and helped restrain him until additional officers arrived and took Rivas into custody, the bodycam video shows.

Police said the initial investigation revealed that Rivas allegedly assaulted numerous people in the parking lot, including knocking a woman to the ground and hitting her in the head. Witnesses told police Rivas was acting irrationally, punching vehicles and appeared to be under the influence of something, according to officials.

Rivas was transported to an area hospital for injuries he allegedly sustained prior to the incident, police said. Rivas later allegedly told police he used Phencyclidine (PCP) earlier in the day, according to officials.

There were no injuries to the officers involved, police said. The woman who was allegedly knocked down suffered a laceration and contusion to her face and head but was not transported to the hospital.

I commend our officer for quickly taking Mr. Rivas into custody before he assaulted additional members of the public. Moreover, I am extremely appreciative and thankful that a Good Samaritan from the community assisted our officer until backup officers arrived on scene, said police Chief Vernon Riddick, Jr.

Rivas was arrested and charged with assault on an officer, second-degree assault on an elderly person, interfering with an officer, first-degree reckless endangerment, second-degree violation of conditions of release, second-degree breach of peace and possession of narcotics, police said.

Rivas is currently being held in lieu of a $250,000 surety bond, according to police.


Amarillo and Big Sky Drilling Results, Cue Gold Project

Perth, Feb 14, 2023 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Musgrave Minerals Ltd ( ASX:MGV ) ( 6MU:FRA ) ( MGVMF:OTCMKTS ) is pleased to report further assay results from reverse circulation ("RC") drilling across multiple prospects, on its 100% owned ground at its flagship Cue Gold Project in Western Australia's Murchison district (Figure 1*). These assay results are from drilling completed in December 2022 at Amarillo, Big Sky, Big Sky North and East Numbers.



Additional follow-up drilling is currently being planned at these prospects. RC drilling assays for holes at Waratah and the new Break of Day North targets are expected within two weeks.



Musgrave Managing Director Rob Waugh said: "These latest assay results continue to demonstrate the significant amount of gold in the district and highlight the upside discovery potential on the Cue Gold Project. The results will enable resource growth which has the potential to inform further development studies post the delivery of the Stage 1 PFS late in March 2023. Drilling continues to focus on the top 120m of select zones at the Amarillo, Big Sky and East Numbers targets and all targets remain open at depth."



Amarillo Prospect



At Amarillo, 1.2km south-west of Break of Day (Figure 1*) and 800m north of Big Sky, infill RC drilling (Figure 2*) has continued to intersect regolith gold mineralisation with new intersections including:



o 8m @ 4.6g/t Au from 34m (22MORC371), including:

o 1m @ 21.5g/t Au from 35m

o 6m @ 3.4g/t Au from 48m (22MORC363), and

o 5m @ 3.0g/t Au from 57m (22MORC363)

o 4m @ 1.6g/t Au from 25m (22MORC373)

o 4m @ 2.2g/t Au from 29m (22MORC379)

o 10m @ 2.8g/t Au from 38m (22MORC388)



The results will be incorporated into the 3D resource model to determine the strike and true width of the mineralisation. These results are part of a resource definition drill program focused on delivering a maiden Mineral Resource for Amarillo in the second half of 2023.



Big Sky Deposit



Further infill drilling at Big Sky, 2km south-west of Lena-Break of Day (Figure 1*) on MGV's 100% ground continues to intersect significant gold mineralisation below thin transported hardpan cover (~1-6m thick).



The Cue Project hosts a total Mineral Resource Estimate of 12.3kt @ 2.3g/t Au for 927koz contained gold with 47% of this in the higher confidence Indicated Resource category. The Big Sky deposit is a subset of this resource and hosts 4.65Mt @ 1.2g/t Au for 173koz contained gold and is currently only modelled to a maximum depth of 150m where it remains open (see MGV ASX announcement dated 31 May 2022, "Cue Mineral Resource Increases to 927,000oz").



This recent drilling (9 holes for 564m) continues to confirm and enhance the near-surface gold endowment along the Big Sky trend (Figures 1 and 3*). Drill hole and assay details are presented in Tables 1a and 1b with all new samples assaying above 1g/t reported in the tables.



Significant new RC drill hole assay results inside the current Mineral Resource Estimate boundary include;



o 5m @ 3.3g/t Au from 7m (22MORC395)



The following new intersections within the current resource boundary but outside the currently optimised pit shells as shown in figures 3 and 4*.



o 38m @ 1.2g/t Au from 50m (22MORC397), including:

o 1m @ 17.4g/t Au from 50m (22MORC397), and

o 8m @ 1.3g/t Au from 80m (22MORC397)

o 6m @ 2.9g/t Au from 18m (22MORC400) (composite sample)



These intersections highlight the upside potential at Big Sky and will likely enable further resource conversion (Inferred to Indicated) at the next resource update scheduled for H2 CY2023. This has the capacity to further enhance the resource and future pit designs. It should be noted that there are now a significant number of drill intersections located outside the optimised pit design which is based on the May 2022 Mineral Resource. These intersections will not be included in the Stage 1 PFS scheduled for late March 2023.



Big Sky North



Approximately 140m north of the Big Sky deposit (Figure 1*) RC follow-up drilling of an isolated aircore intercept intersected:



o 2m @ 3.3g/t Au from 34m (22MORC361)



All RC follow-up drill hole and assay details are presented in Tables 1a and 1b*.



East Numbers Target



A reconnaissance RC drilling program was completed over a new target area east of the Numbers deposit (Figure 1*) where aircore drilling has identified a 1.3km long gold anomaly in Archaean regolith.



First basement drilling in the area included six RC holes for 786m drilled on three 400m spaced traverse lines. Early stage basement gold intersections include:



o 1m @ 5.0g/t Au from 136m (22MORC390)

o 2m @ 2.9g/t Au from 84m (22MORC392)

o 1m @ 5.7g/t Au from 121m (22MORC394)



A single diamond drill hole was completed in late 2022 to better define the geological context and strike of the mineralisation. All drill hole and assay details are presented in Tables 1a and 1b*.



*To view tables and figures, please visit:

https://abnnewswire.net/lnk/46K51FD8





About Musgrave Minerals Ltd





Musgrave Minerals Ltd (ASX:MGV) is an active Australian gold and base metals explorer. The Cue Project in the Murchison region of Western Australia is an advanced gold and copper project. Musgrave has had significant exploration success at Cue with the ongoing focus on increasing the gold and copper resources through discovery and extensional drilling to underpin studies that will demonstrate a viable path to development in the near term. Musgrave also holds a large exploration tenement package in the Ni-Cu-Co prospective Musgrave Province in South Australia.


PEP 11 Update

Perth, Feb 14, 2023 AEST (ABN Newswire) - BPH Energy Limited ( ASX:BPH ) and Bounty Oil & Gas NL (Bounty) ( ASX:BUY ) for the PEP 11 Joint Venture announce the resolution of the Federal Court Proceedings (WAD106/2022) between Asset Energy Pty Ltd (a wholly owned subsidiary of BPH's investee, Advent Energy Limited) and the Respondents (being the Commonwealth Minister for Resources et al).



The proceedings involved the decision made on 26 March 2022 by the Commonwealth - New South Wales Offshore Petroleum Joint Authority (Joint Authority) to refuse Asset Energy's Application (as JV operator) for a variation and suspension of the conditions to which PEP 11 is subject and a related refusal to grant an extension of term (the Decision).



The presiding Judge; Justice Jackson has agreed with the consent position reached by the parties, quashed the Decision and concluded that the Decision of the Joint Authority was affected by apprehended bias. This was because a fair-minded observer would have reasonably apprehended that the former Prime Minister of Australia the Hon Scott Morrison MP, as a member of the Joint Authority, did not bring a fair mind to determine Asset Energy's application.



Attached are the following issued by the Federal Court of Australia today:



- the Orders made 14 February 2023.; and

- the Reasons for Judgment of Justice Jackson



In the meantime, PEP 11 continues in force and the Joint Venture is fully in compliance with the contractual terms of PEP 11 with respect to such matters as reporting, payment of rents and the various provisions of the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006.



Commenting BPH's CEO David Breeze stated:



"In light of the decision of the Federal Court of Australia the PEP 11 Joint Venture sincerely hopes that the relevant applications can be re-considered in a timely manner and according to law by the Ministers now comprising the Joint Authority."



*To view the Court Orders, please visit:

https://abnnewswire.net/lnk/U4I5W6N2





About BPH Energy Limited





BPH Energy Limited (ASX:BPH) is an Australian Securities Exchange listed company developing biomedical research and technologies within Australian Universities and Hospital Institutes.

The company provides early stage funding, project management and commercialisation strategies for a direct collaboration, a spin out company or to secure a license.

BPH provides funding for commercial strategies for proof of concept, research and product development, whilst the institutional partner provides infrastructure and the core scientific expertise.

BPH currently partners with several academic institutions including The Harry Perkins Institute for Medical Research and Swinburne University of Technology (SUT).
Low-cost Breeze Airways announced Tuesday that it is adding three, non-stop destinations to its service from Bradley International Airport starting in May and bringing the airlines total of non-stop routes at Bradley to 15.

Twice weekly service to Fort Myers, Florida, launches on Wednesdays and Saturdays, beginning May 17. Flights to New Orleans will be offered seasonally twice a week on Mondays and Fridays, starting May 19 through Sept. 5

Service to Tampa, Florida, will depart Bradley three times a week beginning May 18 on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, beginning May 18.

Breeze Airways was started by David Neeleman, the founder of JetBlue. In this 2022 file photo, Neeleman speaks at a news conference at Bradley International Airport. At the news conference, Breeze Airways said it will establish a base of operations at Bradley, creating more than 200 new jobs in the state.

Breeze has rapidly expanded its non-stop routes offered out of Bradley since it launched service from the states largest airport in 2021. Since then, the airline has pushed its brand with a flurry of promotions.

In addition to the three non-stop routes, Breeze will begin booking one-stop flights to Los Angeles from Bradley, starting May 17.

Breeze said it is launching the new non-stop routes with one-way fares that start at $39. Tickets must be purchased by Feb. 20 for travel by Sept. 5.

The promotional price includes taxes and government fees, but not baggage or other amenity fees that may be included. Other restrictions may also apply.

After the promotion, one-way fares to Fort Myers will range from $59 to $249, depending on seat choice., while one-way fares to New Orleans will go from $59 to $149.

Fares to Tampa will range from $39 to $249 on a one-way basis.

Breeze structures its fares in three bundled packages: Nice, Nicer and Nicest with such amenities as leg room and seat pitch increasing  along with fares  as travelers move into the higher-priced bundles. There are also fewer fees with the higher-priced fares.

Here is a chart showing examples of what may or may not be included depending on the bundle selected:

Heres what may or may not be included in Breeze Airways fare bundles.

Here we grow again, Tom Doxey, Breeze Airways president, said, in a release. We always look for routes that people are traveling today but cant get there non-stop. Hartford residents can now get to Florida and New Orleans twice as fast, for about half the price.

Kevin A. Dillon, executive director of the Connecticut Airport Authority, which oversees Bradleys operations, said the expansion in routes out of Bradleys builds on a commitment establishing Bradley as an operations hub for Breeze, which is expected to create 200 jobs.

As the airlines base, we appreciate their investment in our region and are grateful for their support of our vision to make travel out of Bradley International Airport even more convenient, Dillon said, in a release.

Contact Kenneth R. Gosselin at kgosselin@courant.com.
Q: Pat Hurley Park seems to need some erosion control as the sand is sliding into the walkways, despite the plentiful gabion walls and some plants helping hold up the hillside. What can be done about this?

A: The quick answer: The city is doing some things, and can try others.

But the nature of the park means theyre fighting a bit of an uphill battle.

About the park

Pat Hurley Park is built on a sandy hill tucked in a West Side neighborhood near Atrisco Drive and La Bajada Road. Hundreds of stairs in short flights criss-cross the hillside, which is also dotted with gabion walls (think: metal cages filled with volcanic rock) and a few landings.

That network connects a playground, lawn, walking path and community center below, to a grassy plaza up top that offers a pretty astounding view of the city.

More plants?

Erosion has always been a challenge at the park, and the hardy shrubs that spread across the hill play a key role in fighting it, according to Robert Loftis, a principal at MRWM Landscape Architects, which designed and created the stairs, walls and lower-level playground for the city in 2009.

Loftis said protecting existing foliage was a priority when the project started.

Adding to it, though, would be tough.

The best thing for erosion control is being able to establish native vegetation, Loftis said.   On a sandy hillside like that, thats a fairly difficult thing to do.

Seeds for some native shrubs and grasses need cold winter weather to germinate. Monsoon rains, hungry wildlife and rough New Mexico winds can all dislodge seeds before they have a chance to sprout.

Just throwing the seed out there, youre almost guaranteed to fail, Loftis said.

Landscapers and specialists have techniques they can use to try to beat those odds  using tackifier (a botanical spray-on glue) can help keep seeds in place, and some biodegradable nettings and woven mats are also available on the market.

Those things do take time and money  and they arent a sure thing.

My personal opinion (is)  anything you do is still kind of a gamble, because in my experience, its so highly dependent on the type of rain we get, Loftis said.

Franchesca Perdue, a spokeswoman for the Albuquerque Parks & Recreation Department, also pointed to the challenges Mother Nature poses.

Because of the dry and windy conditions of the area, the sand makes it hard to maintain plants that can assist with erosion control, Perdue wrote in an email. In some cases, we have to bolster the slopes with cobble and additional gabion walls.

Man-made features

Man-made features in place also play a role in holding up the hillside, according to Loftis.

When water runs down the hillside, the walls and stairs intercept it, slowing the water and dispersing it  an architectural concept Loftis said has a long history of use by American Indians in New Mexico.

A system of detention basins also catches water at both the top and the bottom of the hills.

All these pieces were meant to prevent erosion from happening by slowing water and moving it around, he said.

Meanwhile, the gabion baskets also act as a backstop for the sand  Loftis said when they were installed, his team dug out slight depressions behind the walls to allow sand to fill up behind them without spilling over.

The stairs and designated pathways also prevent human feet from trampling the hillside, which creates prime pathways for water that can drive more erosion, and disturbs the important plant life.

New Mexico soils  they really are sensitive, Loftis said, adding that, generally, whatevers there is what grows there, and its really hard to get it reestablished once it has been damaged.

So what can be done?

Loftis said coming up with a plan to combat further erosion at Pat Hurley Park would depend on the specifics of whats going on. Are new sources of concentrated water coming from the upper park? Are the depressions behind the gabion walls filled up with sand? Are people walking or running on the hillside instead of on the path? Is erosion just happening naturally from the wind and the rain?

Often erosion is caused by a variety of factors, meaning that multiple techniques are needed to combat (it), Loftis said.  You can always do something, if the money and the need and the will is there.

The city says erosion maintenance is ongoing.

We continue to invest and allocate funding for new methods that can help alleviate some of the concerns, Perdue wrote in an email. Many erosion prevention solutions for the park require hands on work because we cannot get power equipment in the area, therefore its more expensive. We will continue to mitigate the erosion as reasonably possible.

Journal Action Line answers your questions. Send us an email at yourstory@abqjournal.com with the subject line Journal Action Line, and let us know if we can use your name or just your initials.
SANTA FE  Legislation aimed at banning the storage of nuclear waste at a disposal facility in New Mexico  at least for now  won state Senate approval 21-13 on Monday.

It will head next to the state House.

The proposal, Senate Bill 53, would prohibit public agencies from granting permits for a nuclear-waste disposal project unless the state consents and other conditions are met.

The measure comes as the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission considers issuing a license to Holtec International for an interim nuclear waste storage facility on private land between Carlsbad and Hobbs.

Sen. Jeff Steinborn, a Las Cruces Democrat and co-sponsor of the bill, said the bill would allow New Mexico to stand up for itself and initiate a more collaborative process with the federal government.

Our state did not ask for this, he said. In fact, our state doesnt really have a say in the matter.

Opponents of the bill said its preempted by federal law, that local officials in southeastern New Mexico support the Holtec project and that its at odds with New Mexicos attempts to diversify its economy.

This is an energy source that is zero carbon, Sen. William Sharer, R-Farmington, said. Its so much safer than anything else we have out there.

The bill passed largely along party lines with Democrats in favor and Republicans opposed. But at least two Democrats joined Republicans in dissent.

Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, said it made sense for New Mexico to have some influence over the project, given the nations problems finding a permanent storage space for nuclear waste.

This really is a vote about future generations in New Mexico, he said.

The Holtec site is set to be temporary  a 40-year lease as part of a $230 million project.

The United States doesnt have a permanent storage site for the nations spent nuclear fuel.
Police have arrested a man they say punched a convenience store clerk and then fatally shot a man who tried to defend her Saturday afternoon. A bystander pumping gas was also shot and treated for non-life threatening injuries.

Eric Ray Ford, 58, is charged with murder in the shooting of 24-year-old Michael Urioste, according to a news release from the Albuquerque Police Department.

Ford was arrested on Sunday and booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center. It is unclear who his attorney will be.

Witnesses said a man, identified by police as Ford, was causing a scene at a Circle K located at Juan Tabo and Lomas NE Saturday around 12:20 p.m., according to the release. Witnesses told police Ford punched the stores female clerk after she repeatedly asked him to leave.

A bystander  Urioste  intervened and wrestled Ford to the ground outside the store, the release states. While the two men struggled on the ground Fords wife came out of a nearby car and began to hit Urioste with a cane, according to police.

Police said Ford took out a firearm and fired multiple times, striking Urioste and another man. Urioste was taken to a hospital where he died from a gunshot wound, according to the release. The other man was treated at the hospital and then released.

Ford and his wife fled the scene, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.

On Sunday morning, an APD detective conducted a traffic stop on a car that matched the one Ford was seen in during the shooting the day before.

The vehicle was stopped at the Four Hills Shopping Center, located at Central and Tramway NE, and Ford and his wife were detained for questioning.

Police later searched the motel room where the couple was staying and found a gun they believe was the one used in the shooting. Clothes matching the ones worn by the suspect in surveillance video from the Circle K and witness descriptions were also found in the room, the release states.
SANTA FE  With New Mexico lawmakers facing an unprecedented revenue bonanza, U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich urged lawmakers Monday to approve bills expanding rural health care services and creating a new trust fund for conservation projects.

The states senior senator also expressed support for proposals to modernize New Mexicos Legislature by paying lawmakers a salary, saying the states current system makes legislators too reliant on different interest groups for technical knowledge on bills.

We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to shift from surviving to thriving  as a state and as a community, Heinrich told lawmakers. We cannot let a scarcity mentality or incremental approach dictate our policy choices.

Heinrich was one of three members of New Mexicos all-Democratic congressional delegation that addressed legislators on Monday  along with U.S. Reps. Teresa Leger Fernandez and Gabe Vasquez.

The speeches marked the first of their kind since 2019.

All five members of the states delegation typically give Roundhouse speeches during the 60-day legislative sessions that take place in odd-numbered years, but no such speeches were delivered in 2021 when the Capitol was closed to the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

During Mondays joint session, Leger Fernandez, who was first elected to the U.S. House in 2020, called on lawmakers to prioritize funding for mental health and drug treatment programs when making their budget decisions, saying she had lost several family members to suicide and addiction-related issues.

Vasquez, who defeated Republican incumbent Yvette Herrell in Novembers general election, joked that he had been asked to limit his remarks to no more than two minutes.

He ultimately spoke for at least slightly longer than that, however, and expressed support for several gun safety measures that have already prompted fierce debate during this years session.

Vasquez also publicly backed the push to modernize the Legislature, which includes separate measures to pay lawmakers a salary, extend the length of legislative sessions and possibly establish field offices for some lawmakers.

One of those measures, the one dealing with longer sessions, passed the House Judiciary Committee via a party-line 7-4 vote on Monday and now advances to the House floor.

As for Heinrich, a former Albuquerque city councilor who has served in the U.S. Senate since 2013, he called the states revenue windfall an unprecedented moment of opportunity for New Mexico.

But he also expressed concern about staffing shortages in some state agencies, as New Mexico had a 24.3% vacancy rate in rank-and-file job positions as of last fall.

In an interview after his Monday remarks, Heinrich declined to address speculation about his possible interest in running for governor in 2026.

Right now, Im focused on my reelection two years from now, he told the Journal, referring to the 2024 election cycle.

He also said Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who won reelection to a second four-year term in November, should be able to focus on her second term as governor without distractions about possible successors.
Bernalillo County Commissioners Debbie OMalley, left, and Charlene Pyskoty

An ethics board has found former Bernalillo County Commissioner Debbie OMalley acted inappropriately during a heated exchange after a commission meeting last fall.

While the Bernalillo County Code of Conduct Review Board dismissed charges that OMalley violated code by calling then-colleague Charlene Pyskoty a bitch after an Oct. 25 meeting, the board took issue with OMalleys ensuing interaction with Pyskotys assistant, Joe Noriega. After Noriega  speaking from a seat in the audience  told OMalley she was embarrassing herself, OMalley told him to shut up.

The power imbalance between commissioners and employees lends itself to a more serious violation. While disagreements between commissioners are to be expected, decorum should be maintained at all times, Code of Conduct Review Board vice chairman Kevin Sanders said Monday during a preliminary hearing in the matter. This board is going to issue an order with respect to commissioner conduct towards employees.

A formal written order is not yet complete and it is not clear what, if any, penalties  such as a fine  it may assess.

Commissioner Steven Michael Quezada in January filed the ethics complaint against OMalley.

During Mondays hearing, OMalley successfully argued that the commission itself had resolved the case involving her comments to Pyskoty. On Nov. 15, it passed a resolution to censure such communications. OMalley apologized for her behavior and recused herself from that vote.

But the ethics board found fault with how she spoke to Noriega, with Sanders calling it the more concerning matter.

OMalley and Pyskoty both left office Dec. 31. OMalley had served the maximum number of terms, while Pyskoty lost her reelection bid.

Also: The ethics board on Monday dismissed a separate complaint Quezada made against fellow Commissioner Adriann Barboa. He alleged that, as a registered lobbyist, Barboa had a conflict of interest when the commission took action to fill a vacant position in the New Mexico House of Representatives. Barboa had voted with the 3-2 majority to appoint Yanira Gurrola to the seat. Quezada, who was in the minority, alleged Barboa violated county code by not recusing herself.

Sanders said the board found no demonstration of financial interest on Barboas part, but it would issue an advisory opinion on proper disclosure for ongoing conflicts of interest.
SANTA FE  Legislators granted final approval Monday to an emergency bill intended to clarify their ability to help constituents in dealings with state agencies, sending the measure to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

The proposal, Senate Bill 364, cleared the House without a dissenting vote as New Mexico lawmakers responded to a recent advisory opinion issued by the State Ethics Commission.

The opinion concluded lawmakers could run afoul of the states Governmental Conduct Act by writing letters on legislative stationery to state agencies on behalf of constituents, or by making references to their role as legislators.

Mondays bill would amend the law to make clear that any prohibition on using legislative letterhead or referring to their legislative capacity doesnt apply to lawmakers representing a constituent without compensation.

House Minority Leader Ryan Lane, R-Aztec, said the quick action is necessary to protect a core function of serving as a legislator.

Thats part of why we exist  to help our constituents navigate the state government system, Lane said.

The bill passed the House on a 60-0 vote and now heads to Lujan Grishams desk. It has an emergency clause that would allow it to go into effect immediately upon the governors signing.

Our jobs are to act on behalf of our constituents, state Rep. Andrea Romero, D-Santa Fe, said as lawmakers considered the bill.

It passed the Senate on a 38-0 vote last week.
Love comes in many forms. Theres the traditional tale of person meets person and happiness ensues, but then there are the mysterious occurrences that may present an unexpected match  and possibly change a lifes trajectory.

Priscilla Smith escaped a dark past to become a pioneer. She fell in love with the beauty industry and recognized its potential to help others.

This led to the creation of Passions Story, a registered nonprofit geared toward helping young at-risk women find a purpose and build a career in the beauty industry.

This program started in my salon, Smith said. Ive been doing this for seven years, developing young people and teaching them how to use the beauty industry as an outlet.

Smith, who owns Paixao in Albuquerque, explained that she wanted to separate her business from her desire to help others in order for it to have broader impact.

Smith said Passions Storys mission is to give recent beauty school graduates opportunities to succeed, especially vulnerable women who have had past bouts with homelessness or sex trafficking.

It is definitely something in need right now, Smith said. Giving them a tangible solution with something that is a very fast way to earn a sustainable income.

Passions Story is partnering with other nonprofits such as the New Mexico Dream Center and Strength Health and Empowerment, as well as beauty schools and the foster care system.

From 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 18, the nonprofit is hosting its Galentines Day Gala fundraiser at the Albuquerque Marriott Pyramid to celebrate young women and promote the movement. The event will include a dinner, silent auction, fashion show and international and local speakers. Proceeds will go to Passions Story.

The nonprofit aims to provide women with the skills to thrive in the beauty industry through mentorships in career preparation, and entrepreneurship.

The first year after you graduate beauty school is when youre going to learn if youre going to make it or break it, Smith explained. Theres not an easy way to create or build a clientele.

The idea for Passions Story was based on an unsettling connection.

I have my own story of abuse and whatnot growing up as a teenager, Smith said.

She said, I started seeing how some of the people that have worked for me had a history of trauma, and I started really paying attention to how the beauty industry was allowing them to heal.

Smith said she overcame her struggles, but didnt initially enter the beauty industry. She was in property management for 13 years, but her experience helped her gain the knowledge needed to pursue her own ventures.

I always knew that one day I would own my own business, I just didnt really know what, she said. I always had a thing for nails  and thats where the journey started.

After graduating from beauty school she soon encountered the issues that come with being a novice in the field.

She started by renting booths, but expenses outweighed a consistent cash flow. She then understood her purpose within the industry. She said she opened Paixao with the intent of hiring graduating beauty school students.

I know what it feels like to be stuck and not have any resources, not have any options, and having that fear  because you dont know how to ask for help, Smith said.

Smith said her goal is to have a nonprofit salon open by the end of this year.

The cause truly is going to change the culture of the beauty industry, she said.
BRUSSELS (AP)  Ukraine on Tuesday renewed its appeal to Western countries for fighter jets to help frustrate Moscows invasion, as senior defense officials from the United States and its NATO allies said the war with Russia is approaching a critical stage.

With the war set to enter its second year at the end of next week, the Ukraine contact group met at NATO headquarters in Brussels and Ukraine made its requirements clear.

Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, when asked what military aid his country is seeking now, showed reporters an image of a fighter jet.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pushed hard for combat planes last week when he visited London, Paris and Brussels on just his second foreign trip since Russia invaded on Feb. 24, 2022. His plea came days after Western allies pledged to provide Kyiv with tanks.

Moscows forces have been pressing in the east of Ukraine while bolstering their defensive lines in the south. The war has been largely static during the winter months, though both sides are expected to launch offensives when the weather improves.

Putin was hoping Western support for Kyiv would fizzle out, allowing him to charge ahead, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told the meeting.

But Austin said the contact group would help Ukraine hold an advance during the spring counteroffensive and would keep planning for Kyivs long-term needs.

Todays meeting comes at a critical time, Austin said. The Kremlin is still betting that it can wait us out.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, asked when he expects Russias so-called spring offensive to begin, said that the reality is that we have seen the start already.

For me, this just highlights the importance of timing. Its urgent to provide Ukraine with more weapons, he told reporters in Brussels.

Norwegian Defense Minister Bjrn Arild Gram, announcing his country would provide eight Leopard 2 tanks and support vehicles to Ukraine, added: The situation in Ukraine is approaching a critical phase and they are dependent on rapid and comprehensive Western support.

The possibility of sending combat aircraft to Ukraine is still being discussed. The United States has said no to sending fighter jets for Ukraine, but the United Kingdom is assessing the possibility and, on Tuesday, Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren said providing jets has to be part of the consideration.

Another issue occupying the minds of NATO allies is how to keep up a steady supply of ammunition to Ukraine without depleting their own stockpiles.

According to some estimates, Ukraine is firing up to 6,000-7,000 artillery shells each day, around a third of the daily amount that Russia is using.

Stoltenberg warned Monday that Ukraine is using up ammunition much faster than its allies can supply it.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that finding ammunition and air defenses is much more important at the moment than the discussion about fighter jets.

Pistorius told reporters that getting pilots up to speed on new aircraft and training just to fly them takes several months, never mind teaching the abilities needed to deploy the weapons systems.

He said Ukraines partners should focus on what is now at center stage, particularly in view of a Russian offensive that is apparently taking place.

He said Germany has signed a deal to produce ammunition for self-propelled, anti-aircraft guns it provided to Ukraine, after Kyiv ran into problems finding munitions elsewhere.

That ammunition is crucial for Kyiv to counter Russian attacks, especially on Ukraines power infrastructure aimed at disrupting heating and drinking water supply.

However, the Russians appear short on resources for any major offensive at the moment, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said Tuesday.

Overall, the current operational picture suggests that Russian forces are being given orders to advance in most sectors, but that they have not massed sufficient offensive combat power on any one axis to achieve a decisive effect, it tweeted.

Stoltenberg said that NATO sees no sign whatsoever that President Putin is preparing for peace and that arming Ukraine more quickly could save lives by bringing a quicker end to the conflict.

In Ukraine, the countrys presidential office said Tuesday Russian shelling killed at least three civilians and wounded another eight over the previous 24 hours as fighting continued in the south and east.

Russian forces shelled 17 towns and villages in the Donetsk region. Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said. The Russians are destroying everything in their path, he said.

Ukraine officials also reported intense shelling and air strikes in Luhansk province, while in the south Russian forces shelled the city of Kherson 13 times over 24 hours, destroying a railway and residential buildings.

___

Tara Copp in Brussels contributed to this story.

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Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
WASHINGTON (AP)  The three still-unidentified aerial objects shot down by the U.S. in the past week likely had merely a benign purpose, the White House acknowledged Tuesday, drawing a distinction between them and the massive Chinese balloon that earlier traversed the U.S. with a suspected goal of surveillance.

The intelligence community is considering as a leading explanation that these could just be balloons tied to some commercial or benign purpose, said White House national security spokesman John Kirby.

Officials also disclosed that a missile fired at one of the three objects, over Lake Huron on Sunday, missed its intended target and landed in the water before a second one successfully hit.

The new details came as the Bidens administrations actions over the past two weeks faced fresh scrutiny in Congress.

First, U.S. fighter jets didnt shoot down what officials described as a Chinese spy balloon until after had crossed much of the United States, citing safety concerns. Then the military deployed F-22 fighters with heat-seeking missiles to quickly shoot down what likely were harmless objects.

Taken together, the actions raised political as well as security questions, about whether the Biden administration overreacted after facing Republican criticism for reacting too slowly to the big balloon.

Even as more information about the three objects emerges, questions remain about what they were, who sent them and how the U.S. might respond to unidentified airborne objects in the future.

Still unaddressed are questions about the original balloon, including what spying capabilities it had and whether it was transmitting signals as it flew over sensitive military sites in the United States. It was believed by American intelligence to have initially been on a track toward the U.S. territory of Guam, according to a U.S. official.

The U.S. tracked it for several days after it left China, said the official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence. It appears to have been blown off its initial trajectory and ultimately flew over the continental U.S., the official said.

Balloons and other unidentified objects have been previously spotted over Guam, a strategic hub for the U.S. Navy and Air Force in the western Pacific.

Its unclear how much control China retained over the balloon once it veered from its original trajectory. A second U.S. official said the balloon could have been externally maneuvered or directed to loiter over a specific target, but its unclear whether Chinese forces did so.

Even less is known about the three objects shot down over three successive days, from Friday to Sunday, in part because its been challenging to recover debris from remote locations in the Canadian Yukon, off northern Alaska and near the Upper Peninsula of Michigan on Lake Huron. So far, officials have no indication they were part of a bigger surveillance operation along with the balloon that that was shot down off the South Carolina coast on Feb. 4.

We dont see anything that points right now to being part of the PRC spy balloon program, Kirby told reporters, referring to the Peoples Republic of China. Its also not likely the objects were intelligence collection against the United States of any kind  thats the indication now.

No country or private company has come forward to claim any of the objects, Kirby said. They do not appear to have been operated by the U.S. government.

Kirby had hinted Monday that the three objects were different in substantive ways from the balloon, including in their size. And his comments Tuesday marked a clear effort by the White House to draw a line between the balloon, which officials believe was part of a Chinese military program that has operated over five continents, and objects that the administration thinks could simply be part of some research or commercial effort.

In Washington, Pentagon officials met with senators for a classified briefing on the shootdowns. Lawmakers conveyed concerns from their constituents about a need to keep them informed and came away assured the objects were not extraterrestrial in nature but wanting many more details.

Still, Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said the successful recent interceptions were likely to have a calming influence and make future shootdowns less likely.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told reporters after the briefing that he didnt think the objects posed a threat.

Theyre trying to figure out  you know theres a bunch of junk up there. So you got to figure out whats the threat, whats not. You see something, you shouldnt always have to shoot it down, Graham said.

Biden has ordered National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan to form an interagency team to study the detection, analysis and disposition of unidentified aerial objects that could pose either safety or security risks.

The recent objects have also drawn the attention of world leaders including in Canada, where one was shot down on Saturday, and in the United Kingdom, where the prime minister has ordered a security review.

Japans Defense Ministry said Tuesday that at least three flying objects spotted in Japanese airspace since 2019 are strongly believed to have been Chinese spy balloons.

Meanwhile, U.S. officials confirmed that a first missile aimed at the object over Lake Huron landed instead in the water, but that a second one hit the target.

Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the military went to great lengths to make sure none of the strikes put civilians at risk, including identifying what the debris field size was likely to be and the maximum effective range of the missiles used.

Were very, very careful to make sure that those shots are in fact safe, Milley said. And thats the guidance from the president. Shoot it down, but make sure we minimize collateral damage and we preserve the safety of the American people.

The object taken down Sunday was the third in as many days to be shot from the skies. The White House has said the objects differed in size and maneuverability from the Chinese surveillance balloon that U.S. fighter jets shot down earlier this month, but that their altitude was low enough to pose a risk to civilian air traffic.

Weather challenges and the remote locations of where the three objects were shot down over Alaska, Canada and Lake Huron have impeded recovery efforts so far.

Milley was in Brussels with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to meet with members of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group on additional weapons and defense needs for Kyiv in advance of Russias anticipated spring offensive.

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Copp reported from Brussels. AP writers Lisa Mascaro and Stephen Groves contributed from Washington.
Celebrity

King Charles' second wife has been forced to call off two solo visits scheduled at a Birmingham school on February 14 after she came down with a 'seasonal illness.'

Feb 14, 2023

AceShowbiz - Queen Consort Camilla has put on hold two solo Valentine's Day royal visits after contracting a "seasonal illness." The 75-year-old royal was supposed to be at Elmhurst Ballet School in Edgbaston, Birmingham, on Tuesday, February 14 to celebrate its centenary and later at a library in Telford to thank staff and representatives from outreach and voluntary groups for their contribution to the community, but Buckingham Palace said on Monday, February 13 she had fallen sick and had been forced to pull out of the trips.

Describing it as a "seasonal illness," a spokesman for the palace says a new date can hopefully soon be found for the postponed engagements. According to The Sun, doctors have told Camilla to rest at home today and tomorrow and the royal is hopeful to be feeling well enough to undertake an engagement on Wednesday.

Her last public appearance was on February 9 when she visited a centre for victims of domestic violence in Battersea in London, and last year she cancelled a visit to the Cheltenham Festival a week after revealing she had caught Covid for the second time. In 2019, Camilla pulled out of a remembrance service at Westminster Abbey due to a chest infection.

Camilla has been busy in the past week and, last Thursday, February 9, toured the STORM family centre, where she met volunteers and locals to mark its 19th anniversary. On Wednesday, she joined King Charles, 74, on a visit to Brick Lane, east London, where the couple met with prominent members of the London Bangladeshi community and visited charities and businesses after being welcomed by dancers in traditional clothes.

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King Charles' 75-year-old wife has tested positive for Covid-19 shortly after the royal pulled out of two scheduled Valentine's Day visits to a Birmingham school.

Feb 14, 2023

AceShowbiz - Queen Consort Camilla has been diagnosed with COVID-19. After previously postponing a planned visit to the West Midlands, the 75-year-old royal tested positive for the virus.

"After suffering the symptoms of a cold, Her Majesty The Queen Consort has tested positive for the COVID virus. With regret, she has therefore cancelled all her public engagements for this week and sends her sincere apologies to those who had been due to attend them," a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said in a statement.

The Queen Consort is fully vaccinated and is said to be in "good spirits."

Camilla also tested positive for COVID last year when she and King Charles contracted the illness during an outbreak in February 2022. News of Camilla's positive test arrived shortly after Buckingham Palace announced that she had postponed a visit Elmhurst Ballet School in Birmingham on Tuesday, February 14 because of a "seasonal illness."

Buckingham Palace is hoping that it can rearrange the postponed events. However, a source has told the BBC that King Charles will continue with his planned engagements for the week.

Charles and Camilla previously encouraged the public to get a COVID-19 vaccine. The royal duo explained that the vaccination can help to reduce the risk of serious illness. They said in a statement in 2021, "We can only urge you to look at the evidence in our intensive care wards. People who are unvaccinated are at least ten times more likely to be hospitalised or die than those who have had two vaccine doses."

Charles and Camilla urged the public to listen to the advice of health experts. They added, "That is why we urge everyone to get vaccinated and to take up the booster, as we have done ourselves."

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According to 'Sex and the City' customer designer, she once threw the late son of President John F. Kennedy out of her boutique for insulting her employees.

Feb 14, 2023

AceShowbiz - Patricia Field has revealed John F Kennedy Jr. was thrown out of her shop for insulting her employees. The "Sex and the City" costume designer claimed, when she ran a boutique in New York City, the son of President John F. Kennedy once visited with his girlfriend Daryl Hannah but became irritated when staff "went gaga" over the actress and were "making a fuss" over her because of her role in the film "Splash".

In her memoir "Pat in the City: My Life of Fashion, Style and Breaking All the Rules", Field wrote, "Drag queens love a good mermaid ... He (Kennedy) looked around and announced, 'Bunch of freaks.' If JFK Jr was looking for attention with his comment, he got his wish. All the queens at the shop were more than capable of dismissing anyone who acted up."

Field goes on to reveal one of the staffers named Cody ordered JFK Jr. out of the shop, telling him, "If you don't like it here, get the f*** out." Kennedy was then made to wait in the street while his girlfriend shopped inside. Field added, "There was no room for interpretation. He went to wait outside while his girlfriend got the royal treatment."

Kennedy and Hannah met in the late 1980s and dated for more than five years. After their split, he went on to marry fashion publicist Carolyn Bessette. The couple died in a plane crash in 1999 along with Carolyn's sister Lauren Bessette when the aircraft Kennedy was piloting plunged into the sea killing everyone onboard.

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Best known for his role as Theo Sipowicz on the series, the actor was described as a 'loving, artistic, brilliant, and kind human being' by his family in a statement in the wake of his death.

Feb 14, 2023

AceShowbiz - Austin Majors, who was best known for his role on "NYPD Blue", died at the age of 27 on Saturday, February 11 in Los Angeles. His death was confirmed by L.A. county Medical Examiner-Coroner.

His sister Kali additionally paid tribute to the late actor in a Facebook post. "My big brother, Austin, is gone. He died last night. It's so surreal to me still. He was only 27 with so much life left to live," so she wrote.

In a statement to TMZ, Austin's family described Austin as a "loving, artistic, brilliant, and kind human being." It continued, "Austin took great joy and pride in his acting career. He was an active Eagle Scout and graduated Salutatorian in High School. He went on to graduate from USC's School of Cinematic Arts with a passion of directing and music producing."

"Austin's younger sister, Kali, says her fondest memories with Austin were growing up on set with him, volunteering at events with 'Kids With a Cause,' and backpacking together. Austin was the kind of son, brother, grandson, and nephew that made us proud and we will miss him deeply forever," the family concluded.

TMZ reported that Austin died while staying at a homeless housing facility in Los Angeles. While the cause of death is still under investigation, a source told the news outlet Austin might have "ingested a fatal amount of fentanyl."

Austin, who also went by Austin Majors Setmajer-Raglin, played Theo Sipowicz, the son of Detective Andy Sipowicz (Dennis Franz), for 7 seasons on "NYPD Blue". Thanks to the role, he won the Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Television Series in 2002.

His other small screen credits included "According to Jim", "ER", "Threshold", "NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service", "Desperate Housewives", "American Dad!" and "How I Met Your Mother". He also appeared in some movies, including "Treasure Planet", "The Price of Air", "Little Manhattan" and "The Ant Bully".

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All seven members of the pop group, which includes Bradley, Hannah Spearritt, Jo, Jon, Paul, Rachel Stevens and Tina, are reuniting to celebrate their 25-year legacy in the music business.

Feb 14, 2023

AceShowbiz - S Club 7 is reuniting for an arena tour. All seven members of the pop group, which includes Bradley, Hannah Spearritt, Jo, Jon, Paul, Rachel Stevens and Tina, are reuniting to celebrate their 25-year legacy in the music business.

Speaking about their comeback, the band said, "After eight years it feels amazing to announce that we're reuniting and performing together again. We're so excited to bring the 'S Club Party' back to our fans across the country to celebrate 25 years of S Club 7. We can't even believe it's been so long! Music and friendship have always been at the core of everything that we've ever done. We hope everyone can join us for one big party!"

The band will embark on an 11-date arena tour across the U.K. and Ireland, starting in Liverpool on October 13 and finishing in London on October 28. S Club 7 is set to perform some of their best-known pop hits, including "Bring It All Back", "Never Had a Dream Come True", "Don't Stop Movin" and "Have You Ever".

The chart-topping group, which was created in 1998 by the former Spice Girls manager Simon Fuller, also starred on two hit TV series, "Miami 7" and "L.A. 7". Tickets for the tour, which has been named "S Club 7 Reunited", will go on sale on Friday, February 17, via www.gigsandtours.com and www.ticketmaster.co.uk. Meanwhile, Irish fans can get their tickets via www.ticketmaster.ie.

Tour dates:

Liverpool, M and S Bank Arena - October 13

Sheffield, Utilita Arena - October 14

Dublin, 3Arena - October 16

Glasgow, OVO Hydro - October 18

Newcastle, Utilita Arena - October 19

Leeds, First Direct Arena - October 20

Manchester, AO Arena - October 21

Cardiff, International Arena - October 23

Nottingham, Motorpoint Arena - October 24

Birmingham, Utilita Arena - October 26

London, The O2 - October 28

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The 'Paddington' actor has dismissed suggestions that movies like 'Notting Hill' should be canceled, on the basis that it fails to reflect London's diversity.

Feb 14, 2023

AceShowbiz - Hugh Bonneville thinks all forms of artistic expression "should be allowed to breathe." The "Paddington" actor has dismissed suggestions that movies like "Notting Hill" should be cancelled, on the basis that it fails to reflect London's diversity.

Hugh, who starred in the movie, explained, "Those films certainly shouldn't be cancelled. There was a whole sequence about the multiculturalism of 'Notting Hill'. But test audiences said, 'Where's the star? Where's Julia Roberts?' So the producers cut out that three-minute multicultural sequence."

The 59-year-old star also believes there needs to be more "perspective" around such issues. He told The Independent, "I think we all need to take a huge dose of perspective and allow art to be art. All forms of artistic expression should be allowed to breathe. I think respect should always be there - with expression comes responsibility. But I don't think it's right to say, 'I don't agree with you, therefore you should be cancelled'."

Hugh is best known for starring in "Downton Abbey" and he previously admitted to being wowed by the show's script when he first read it. The London-born actor, who has also starred in two "Downton Abbey" movies, revealed that he "adored" the first script that he received.

He explained, "You never know when you start a project, obviously everyone sets out to try and do their best work but there was something about that script I adored... It had this addictive quality and so many characters you could engage with... It was a very happy project to be a part of for all those years and it brought pleasure to so many people and it's a lovely job to have been a part of."

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In other related news, the actress reacts to haters criticizing her for supporting Alexander Wang, who was accused of sexual assault in 2020, by walking his runway during New York Fashion Week.

Feb 14, 2023

AceShowbiz - Julia Fox admitted that she's gotten some work done to stay looking young. In a new interview with Elle Magazine, the "Uncut Gems" star revealed that she's gotten liposuction and Botox.

Despite that, Julia shared in the interview, which was published on Monday, February 13, that she's embracing her natural body. "I'm, like, saggy - like, things are not sitting the way they used to," the 33-year-old said, "But it's like, I am not gonna do a damn thing about it."

Her revelation arrived after Julia insisted that aging was "f**king hot" in a TikTok video back in November. "Just so you guys know, aging is fully in. Like, fully," Julia, who went makeup free in the video, said, adding that "wearing anything you want" was in style.

The former girlfriend of Kanye West continued, "Dirty girl, ugly, not wearing clothes that fit your body type  all those things are in."

She additionally threatened to sue "anti-aging" beauty products, saying, "If I see another product that says anti-aging on the label, I'm suing. I'm going to sue. I'm going to age regardless of if I put that f**king $500 serum on my face and you all f**king know it and we know it, so let's stop lying to ourselves."

In the viral clip, the New York native also claimed that getting older was "probably the sexiest time in life actually, because being pretty and hot in your twenties is the f**king trenches."

In other related news to Julia, the actress reacted to haters criticizing her for supporting Alexander Wang, who was accused of sexual assault in 2020, by walking his runway during New York Fashion Week. In a screenshot of her reply to a TikTok fan, Julia wrote, "2 b frank I love cancel culture but we do need to leave room for rehabilitation & for those who put in the work & heal & learn from their mistakes."

Fans were not happy with the response. "what i hate most about Julia Fox's comments about Alexander Wang is using the Rehabilitation excuse. Everyone knows the first step to Rehab is admitting you have a problem. He has 11 claims against him & counting. Julia Fox is promoting Alexander Wang shamelessly," one person opined.

However, some others called out people who canceled Julia but not the other high-profile attendees at the show. "If ya gonna drag Julia fox for supporting Alexander wang (which idk why she attended his show and participated in it tbh that was a dumb move on her end) don't forget to 'cancel' these people too," one fan said alongside a screenshot of an article mentioning Anna Wintour, Nikita Dragun and Ava Max attending the designer's "Cupid's Door" themed presentation.

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Drake's lawyer also appears in court to argue that his client should not be called to testify in the case because there's no evidence that linked the Canadian star to the death of the Florida rapper.

Feb 14, 2023

AceShowbiz - Drake is still fighting hard to avoid a deposition over XXXTentacion's murder. The star, through his attorney Bradford Cohen, has filed a motion asking the judge to drop the subpoena requiring the Toronto native to sit for a private deposition in late February.

According to court documents, Drake's legal representative filed the motion on Sunday, February 12. In the motion, Drake's lawyer stated that the paperwork wasn't served properly.

Additionally, the lawyer pointed out, "No evidence has been provided to substantiate the assertion that [Aubrey Drake Graham] in any way contributed to, had knowledge of, or participated in the alleged incident and to mandate that he appear for deposition for something that he very clearly has no relevant knowledge of is unreasonable."

On Monday, the lawyer appeared in court to double down on his argument. He said that calling his client to sit for deposition is not appropriate because there's no evidence that linked the Canadian superstar to the death of the Florida rapper. He called the subpoena "unreasonable and oppressive."

Per WPLG reporter Ian Margol, the judge didn't necessarily oppose, but it appears that Drizzy will have to sit down for a deposition. "Judge didn't disagree but said Drake and his attorney would have to work with the defense to figure out a deposition time to allow for full due process," Margol tweeted. "We'll keep you posted on any more updates."

Last week, Judge Michael Usan stated that Drake failed to appear for a deposition in January. "As a result of Aubrey Drake Graham's failure to appear for the deposition set on Jan. 27, 2023, Aubrey Drake Graham shall appear for deposition at 5:00 P.M. EST on Friday, Feb. 24th, 2023," the motion read. The judge said Drake would have to appear in court on February 27 if he failed to appear at the deposition and explain why he shouldn't be held in contempt of court.

As to why the judge orders Drake to sit for deposition, the defense team for three men accused of murder of XXXTentacion suggested that law enforcement had not thoroughly investigated a possible connection between Drake and XXXTentacion's murder, especially when the two were allegedly beefing before the shooting. been claiming that.

In 2018, XXXTentacion posted on social media, "If anyone tries to kill me it was @champagnepapi," but later deleted it.

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In the new episode of the long-running ABC dating show, the leading man kicks off 'his international journey to find love with a deep-sea dive and ATV adventure on the romantic beaches of the Bahamas.'

Feb 14, 2023

AceShowbiz - A lot more drama was featured in the new episode of "The Bachelor" season 27. In the new outing, which aired on Monday, February 13, leading man Zach Shallcross kicked off "his international journey to find love with a deep-sea dive and ATV adventure on the romantic beaches of the Bahamas."

The women were all excited to head to the Bahamas as they said they needed a restart following the dramatic event the night before. Kat later got a one-on-one date invitation. They put sunscreen on each other before dancing on the boat. The pair also jumped in the water and went snorkeling while holding hands.

Meanwhile, a group date card arrived for Aly, Kaity, Airel, David, Genevie, Anastasia, Kylee, Mercedes, Charity, Gabi, Jess and Greer. Brooklyn got the one-on-one date, prompting the other women to feel sad.

Back to Zach and Kat's solo date, they enjoyed dinner together during which Kat opened up about being worried because he had a traditional upbringing and she didn't. She got emotional while revealing that she didn't have the best relationship with her mom. Zach assured her that he would love his person for who they are.

Zach then gave Kat the one-on-one date rose and they shared a kiss. Zach admitted that he had so much fun during the date.

For the group date, Zach invited the women to a perfect beach party. Gabi, however, didn't fully enjoy it because she's allergic to shellfish and she couldn't even kiss Zach as he ate shellfish before.

Anastasia monopolized Zach's time, upsetting the other women. Kylee, who felt so unseen, eventually decided to interrupt Anastasia's moment with Zach. Anastasia initially said no when Kylee asked if she could steal him for a moment, but because Kylee wouldn't back off, Anastasia gave in. Anastasia, however, exaggerated the whole thing and told the other women that she was attacked.

During the group cocktail, Zach spent time with the women one on one and gave them all reassurance. At one point, Kylee told Zach about the drama with Anastasia. She also said that Anastasia kept talking about getting many Instagram followers after the show. Charity also confirmed it.

Unsurprisingly, Zach was frustrated to hear it as he thought everything with Anastasia was fake. "That freaks me the f**k out," he admitted. "I am terrified that I would end up with someone who is here for the Wrong Reasons."

He then headed back to the holding pen and told the women, "There may be someone here for the wrong intention," before pulling Anastasia for a chat. Anastasia denied the allegations, but Zach told her that he needed time to think about the whole situation.

The next morning, Zach and Brooklyn went to explore the island on ATVs during their one-on-one date. The two later settled down on a secluded beach for a romantic chat next to some puffy beanbag looking ottomans where they had a romantic kiss.

Brooklyn also opened up about being in an abusive relationship in the past. "You are so f**king tough," Zach responded, "It makes me sick to my stomach that you had to go through something like that." He eventually presented Brooklyn with a one-on-one date rose.

At the cocktail party, Zach asked Anastasia to come with him for a chat. Discussing her controversial Instagram followers comments, Anastasia shared that she was upset that Zach doubted her intention. Zach, however, still felt that Anastasia shouldn't have made the remarks in the first place. At the end, he sent Anastasia back home and Kylee cried out of guilty.

It was time for the Rose Ceremony. Zach gave the roses to Charity, Kaity, Gabi, Jess, Mercedes, Aly, Greer and Kylee. Unfortunately, Davia and Genevie were eliminated.

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Earlier this month, the Hot Girl Meg was caught hitting the unfollow button on her partner's account on the photo-sharing platform amid reports that they're expecting a baby together.

Feb 14, 2023

AceShowbiz - Megan Thee Stallion's boyfriend Pardison Fontaine has seemingly reacted to her unfollowing him on Instagram. Taking to his social media account, Pardi uploaded a funny video that appeared to address the matter.

On Monday, February 13, the 33-year-old rapper posted a series of photos and a video of him wearing MSCHF's big red boots. In the said clip, he could be seen walking away from the camera while wearing an oversized black hoodie with a big fox graphic on the back, the new boots and a red beanie. "Damn ..looks like I got da Boot," he cryptically captioned the post, along with a single laughing with tears emoji.

The post arrived after Megan was caught hitting the unfollow button on his Instagram page. Earlier this month, eagle-eyed fans spotted that the Houston hottie stopped following Pardi's account on the photo-sharing platform. While Pardi's account still shows that he is following her, the same cannot be said about the "WAP" raptress following the "Backin' It Up" rapper.

The social media gesture quickly sparked rumors that there might be trouble in paradise in their relationship. Fans immediately rushed to Twitter to share their reactions, with one user saying things may not be that surprising as Pardi has not really been there for his girlfriend during and after her shooting trial with Tory Lanez. "Pardi been weird he barely defended Megan that whole trial then told her he was embarrassed about what's going on F PARDI!" wrote the said person.

Some Twitter users rejoiced that she's finally leaving him behind and moving on to something better. One user said, "Megan unfollowed that loser Pardi? Yess time for sister to get a WOMAN." Another person said, "Megan broke up with that loser Pardi. What a great way to end the night."

Someone else brought into the mix the rumors about Megan and Pardi allegedly expecting a baby together, suggesting that the social media gesture was her attempt to take the heat off them so she can reveal her pregnancy, "Word on the block is Megan Thee Stallion pregnant by Pardi but unfollowed him on IG to take the heat off them so she can reveal it."

In January, Media Take Out reported that multiple sources claimed the "Sweetest Pie" raptress is pregnant with her first child and she has "pregnancy glowing" on her face. One person told the outlet, "Meg was looking pregnant. She had a small belly, and she was glowing." If the speculation is true, it would be Meg's first child and the second for Pardi. He has a daughter named Jordy.

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The 'High School Musical: The Musical: The Series' actor, who previously declared that he's part of LGBT community, addresses fan concern over church's policies and conversion therapy after his baptism.

Feb 14, 2023

AceShowbiz - Joshua Bassett is speaking out. The "High School Musical: The Musical: The Series" actor has issued a statement regarding him getting baptized by an anti-gay mega church despite him claiming he's part of the LGBT community.

On Monday, February 13, the 22-year-old actor turned to his Twitter account to address fan concern. "i visited this church and happened to get baptized here- i was unaware of some of their policies and beliefs, and do not endorse all of them," he declared, "my heart is for Christ and Christ alone!"

Joshua Bassett issued a statement regarding him getting baptized by anti-gay church.

The tweet garnered concern from fans, with many questioning why Joshua wouldn't have done more research before choosing to get baptized at the church. "Drive by baptism? Lol. If you truly believe in the purpose of being baptized why would you not research the people doing it" wrote one user. Another wondered, "Nahh wait You didn't research the church before getting baptized by them?"

Conversion therapy is the widely discredited practice of attempting to "cure" somebody's sexual orientation or gender identity through various means, including shock torture. The United Nations and World Health Organization have both condemned the use of conversion therapy.

The buzz arrived after Joshua uploaded a short video taken from a recent service at Bethel Church in Redding, California, in which he's seen on stage with a leader who asks about his decision to get baptized.

"Long story short, I grew up Christian and I ran the other way, as far as I could go in pursuit of truth and that only ended in addiction, depression, suicidal ideation, eating disorders, et cetera," he said in the clip. "And no other teacher gave me anywhere near the peace that Jesus Christ did," he concluded as the congregation broke into cheers and applause.

Joshua recently publicized his belief in Christianity on Twitter in the last few weeks. On January 5, he tweeted, "Jesus Christ is the only way. His death and resurrection are historically documented. turn away from hate, seek forgiveness and come home to Him."

Joshua also shared his spiritual journey during an interview with Rolling Stone. "A few months ago I asked God to 'send me a sign when I write the truth.' I typed 'Jesus is the way,' nothing happened, then I added, 'Jesus is the *only* way' and the light turned on in my living room," he said,

"I have also first hand encountered Jesus twice. The experiences were richer and more vivid than anything in my entire life. I look forward to speaking about it soon," he went on sharing, before concluding, "For those concerned about me be sure of this: I'm better than I have ever been. The peace I feel is far beyond what I thought possible."

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The White House on Monday defended the shootdowns of three unidentified objects in as many days even as it acknowledged that officials had no indication the objects were intended for surveillance in the same manner as the high-altitude Chinese balloon that traversed American airspace earlier this month.

The three objects, including one shot down Sunday over Lake Huron, were traveling at such a low altitude as to pose a risk to civilian air traffic, said White House national security spokesman John Kirby. While the Biden administration does not yet have evidence that they were equipped for spying purposes  or even belonged to China  officials have not ruled that out, he said.

These were decisions based purely and simply on what was in the best interests of the American people, Kirby said.

The weeks-long succession of objects, starting with a giant white orb first detected over U.S. skies in late January, has puzzled American officials and captivated curiosity around the world. Though the three most recent objects differed in size, maneuverability and other characteristics from the surveillance balloon shot down Feb. 4 off the Carolina coast, officials moved to eliminate each one from the sky  actions that Pentagon officials believe has no peacetime precedent.

Because we have not been able to definitively assess what these most recent objects are, we acted out of an abundance of caution, Kirby said.

One possibility that the U.S. has been able to rule out, officials said Monday, is any connection to extraterrestrial activity.

There is no  again, no  indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at the outset of a press briefing.

Other Western nations are also trying to assess the spate of incidents. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Monday that the government would do whatever it takes to protect the country, as the U.K. announced a security review. And Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there is some sort of pattern to the balloon and three other objects, though the U.S. has not echoed that claim.

Kirby spoke from the White House podium hours after China alleged that more than 10 U.S. high-altitude balloons have flown in its airspace during the past year without its permission. American officials have vigorously denied the claim, with Kirby saying Monday, We are not flying surveillance balloons over China.

The Chinese allegation came after the U.S. shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon that had crossed from above Alaska to South Carolina over a period of multiple days, sparking a new crisis in bilateral relations that have sunk to their lowest level in decades and prompted Secretary of State Antony Blinken to cancel a planned visit to China.

The latest of the the three objects was shot down Sunday over Lake Huron after being detected a day earlier over Montana.

On Friday, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, the combined U.S.-Canada organization known as NORAD that provides shared defense of airspace over the two nations, detected and shot down an object near sparsely populated Deadhorse, Alaska.

Later that evening, NORAD detected a second object, flying at a high altitude over Alaska, U.S. officials said. It crossed into Canadian airspace on Saturday and was over the Yukon, a remote territory, when it was ordered shot down by Trudeau.

In both of those incidents, the objects were flying at roughly 40,000 feet. The object on Sunday was flying at about 20,000 feet.

None of the three most recent objects has been recovered, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters in Brussels, where he was scheduled to attend a NATO defense ministers meeting this week.

Austin said weather has impeded recovery efforts in Alaska, while in Canada the object was shut down in a very remote area that was also impeding efforts. In Alaska, where the object landed on sea ice, windchill and safety concerns are dictating recovery timelines, he said.

Associated Press writers Zeke Miller and Colleen Long in Washington and Tara Copp in Brussels contributed to this report.
Cover Images/Sara De Boer Celebrity

The 'Congratulations' emcee and his entourage were blocked from entering the luxurious rooftop bar at QT Hotel in Perth by security guards because of his offensive facial tattoos.

Feb 14, 2023

AceShowbiz - Post Malone has received a public apology from a Perth bar after denying him entry. QT Hotel issued an apology to the "Congratulations" rapper after he was turned away when he was about to enter the luxurious rooftop bar at QT Hotel due to his offensive facial tattoos.

"At QT, we aim to welcome everyone and celebrate the uniqueness of each individual. QT has been recognised for this for many years," the statement read. "However, on Saturday night, our third-party security did not exercise the appropriate discretion and we take full responsibility for this. We sincerely apologise to the individuals affected."

Posty was not alone when he was blocked from entering the fancy bar. The 27-year-old told The West Australian that he was with his entourage when the incident happened on Saturday night, February 11. They reportedly did not meet the dress code requirements of the venue, which allegedly includes no face, neck and offensive tattoos.

"They turned me away for my tattoos... I've never really experienced anything like that," claimed the rapper/singer, who wrapped his current tour of Australia on Sunday where he opened for legendary band Red Hot Chili Peppers.

After being rejected from the QT Hotel bar, Posty traveled to the nearby 18 Knots rooftop bar where he was granted special entry on the discretion of security. While at this venue, the "Circle" hitmaker reportedly spent time mingling with fans and even buying them drinks, before relaxing with his posse.

Among Posty's facial tattoos are the words "Always Tired" under his eyes, ace of spades in the corner of his forehead, barbed wire in his hairline and a sword running down the side of his face. Ironically, his above-the-brow tattoo depicts the words "Stay Away."

Of his tattoos, Posty told GQ in 2020, "I feel like the face tattoos make me interesting to look at." He also talked about his sword tattoo in the same interview, "Swords are f**king awesome, and I've been into them since I was a little kid."

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The 'Pitch Perfect' actress reveals Ramona Agruma's family was not 'accepting' their relationship but she's still hopeful they will 'change their attitude.'

Feb 14, 2023

AceShowbiz - Rebel Wilson's girlfriend Ramona Agruma's family disapproves of their relationship. The "Pitch Perfect" star has talked about each of their family's reactions to their romance and, while her parents have been "amazing" and accepting, entrepreneur Ramona's relatives disapprove, but she hopes they will "change their attitude."

"My whole family has just been amazing," she said on the 'Life Uncut' podcast. The actress added, "Ramona's family hasn't been as accepting. And so in many respects, it has been a lot harder on her to have to make the news public. With her, she's not in the public eye, it's much harder on her. It's so sad to see what happened with her family over it. Hopefully, people will change their attitude about things."

The 42-year-old star admitted she felt forced to share her relationship with the world before she was ready. She said, "There were a couple of hurried conversations that I would have liked to have just taken my time with. I've had instances with the Australian press being really mean towards me ... It was just another thing in that line of nasty things that they've done over the years."

Rebel and Ramona went public on social media as a couple in June 2022, with the comic star posting on Instagram, "I thought I was searching for a Disney Prince but maybe what I really needed all this time was a Disney Princess."

In November 2022, the couple announced the birth of their first child, daughter Royce Lillian, via surrogate. The "Senior Year" star recently shared how she "overhauled" her life in a bid to try and carry a baby, but her efforts were ultimately unsuccessful.

Rebel - who lost around 60 pounds in 2020 - said, "I'd had my eggs frozen and done three surgeries for it, which is quite a lot. Then, I had found a donor and we made a plan for the embryos and I think, at that point, I had 18 good-quality eggs so you think there's going to be some success there. But then each day, I got a new update from the lab about how it was going and it got down to seven eggs and they had no viable embryos."

Rebel recalled feeling devastated when her efforts proved to be unsuccessful. She added, "I had been through so much, lost all this weight and froze my eggs and overhauled my whole life to do this, and to not be able to create life in the way that I had hoped, it was really devastating. A lot of women face this when they go through IVF or similar journeys and it's a difficult situation and you have to ask yourself if you keep going."

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GroupM India released its TYNY report today, highlighting the advertising expenditure forecast for 2023. GroupM predicts INR 20,000 crores of incremental ad spends in 2023 compared to 2022. This highlights the continued growth and potential of the Indian advertising industry and the opportunities it presents for advertisers. The report highlights a 15.5% increase in ad spends in India, reaching INR 1,46,450 crore in 2023. India moves up to the 8th position globally in ad spends and continues to be the fastest-growing market in the top 10 markets worldwide.

Prasanth Kumar, South Asia CEO, GroupM said, As technology redefines interactions between consumers, brands and businesses the ad industry must navigate thru this changing environment. The past 3 years have been marked by macroeconomic volatility and global events that have impacted advertisers businesses and ad spending. The Indian economy though is expected to weather these challenges and is poised to grow in the coming years.

Ashwin Padmanabhan, President - Investments, Trading, and Partnerships, GroupM  India said, Indian Adex will be the fastest growing globally at 15.5% supported by robust macroeconomic conditions. Digital at 56% of all advertising spends and growing at 20% over last year is driving the growth of Adex. India stands out globally with all mediums expected to grow with TV, Print and Radio growing at high single digits! We see 2023 panning out stronger as we move into the second half of the year and are confident of the Indian Adex staying on course to grow as projected.

Parveen Sheik, Head of Business Intelligence, GroupM India said, "The growth of SMEs in the Adex has been a feature for the past few years, this year too we see the same trend. We also anticipate the revival of the rural economy as well as improved funding for the start-up ecosystem. Additionally, Telecom, BFSI, Retail, Fintech, Gaming as well as Travel & Tourism are expected to drive ad spending.

The launch and expansion of 5G services beyond top metros, combined with affordable smartphones, is also expected to drive ad spend growth.

The report mentions several exciting emerging trends for 2023 that will impact how brands engage with consumers and drive growth. Key trends include:
These are volatile and uncertain times today, and it has become all the more challenging to stay on top of ones game, especially for marketing heads. CMOs today have to adopt numerous strategies to stay on top of the constant evolution in the marketing space.

The 2023 edition of CMOs Charcha  Delhi Chapter, held on February 10, 2023, reflected all the inflexion points facing marketing and marketing heads today. The 4th edition of CMOS Charcha turned the spotlight on Content Marketing in the era of Generative AI. The panel discussion was moderated by Heeru Dingra, CEO, Dentsu Creative, and the panelists included:

Priyang Agarwal, Director  Growth, Marketing and Partnerships, Tata 1mg

Hemant Sajnani, Chief Technology Officer, TV9 Digital

Sumeet Singh, Chief Marketing Officer, Info Edge

Praveen Rao, Director, Marketing, SAP

Kunal Sharma, Head of Marketing and Business Head, KRBL Limited India

Heeru Dingra started the discussion by remarking, We are in the age of AI. Literally I may not be present out there. My avatar can be there and can use Chat GPT to kind of pull up the questions which can be asked to the panelists. I cannot replace you, but I can definitely be replaced by AI at this given point of time. So, keeping that context in mind, my first question is how do you think AI is impacting personalisation in Content Marketing?

Kunal Sharma responded by saying, One thing that stays true across decades and across ages in the fact that consumers love brands that show empathy to them. That was so different in the late 1990s, for example in the Surf detergent powder communication where Lalita Ji was what everybody in India could connect with. And move to today, as I was just browsing through a campaign while I was coming here, Listerine for example, which used something called dynamic creative optimisation, and they created thousands of creatives talking to very different personas  thats the journey we have kind of made. At the same time consumers today want hyperpersonalisation and brands that do that connect better with the audiences, thats the shift that we have seen over the last couple of decades and thats the critical role that AI will play for us moving forward.

Priyang Agarwal pointed out, AI is revamping a lot of things in marketing. From a marketers perspective, AI is a boon. For instance, if any customer is visiting any website and if we know the behaviour of the customer from prior and there is a predictive engine behind them that this particular person can book whatever items he is looking for, I think those kind of customisations, those kind of UI/UX experience of the website can be customised as per the customers past behaviour. If a person is coming to the website of healthcare and he is looking for a protein powder and if I as a marketer can predict through the AI and data that this particular person is more expected to buy this particular protein powder of this much cost and this brand, I think it will be really good for me to personalise the nudges and personalise the communication at that point of time. I think AI can definitely help us in reducing the cost, acquiring the customer, and making the customer more loyal towards the brand.

Summet Singh noted There is a greater possibility of now actually dissecting your segment into thousands of cohorts and then actually having tools to serve them that hyperpersonalised content. For our businesses, for example, when you can cohort people that way, and go actually one on one rather than wisdom of the crowds, you can now actually give recommendations which are personalised and, therefore, the experience of both the business as well as the consumer, obviously enhances and increases. Most of the brands have adapted chatbots in whatever ways they want to. We have long form, so you have to register on a Naukri, you have to register on a Jeevan Saathi, and to serve you better we need information, these are structured forms, you need 17-18 fields from a person. Conversational AI has just made it so easy for me to get information from somebody, without that person even realising that he/she has actually given away so much of information. So, I think some of those things are also enabled only by AI, and getting better by the subset of ML, to serve your clients and customers better.

These are edited excerpts, for the complete conversation, watch below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTmKlqYE2rI
These are volatile and uncertain times today, and it has become all the more challenging to stay on top of ones game, especially for marketing heads. CMOs today have to adopt numerous strategies to stay on top of the constant evolution in the marketing space.

The 2023 edition of CMOs Charcha  Delhi Chapter, held on February 10, 2023, reflected all the inflexion points facing marketing and marketing heads today. The 4th edition of CMOS Charcha saw Kamna Hazrati, CMO, Toprankers, delivering a keynote address on Scripting a Brand New Story For PR Pros in 2023, From Podcasts to Automation and Beyond.

Kamna Hazrati began by speaking about how she started as a sales executive in a media house and then moved on to become a marketing manager with a digital agency. Eight years ago she co-founded her first three D2C brands  Giftsmate, TheYaYaCafe and Hopcara and in 2021 she started her second company, called KH Advisory. She said, The name is very simple, here we work with start-ups, and to build, grow and scale faster, being a consultant for in terms of strategy and acting as their functional CMO. Today, I represent Toprankers, an ed tech platform with careers beyond medicine and engineering. And Im here to present on a topic called PR pros in 2023. And while I mentioned that my journey has been from a media house, is because I can relate to what it really means to be at that end and I can relate to how that journey is usually. Back in the day if you look at the newspapers, what was the size of the newspapers ten years ago. Ten years ago, newspapers were about forty pages thick. And the yesterdays HT was about 22 pages thick, thats almost a 50% fall in how the digital media is really working nowadays. In younger days, PR professionals used to look at bylines, analyse newspapers, who is advertising in this newspaper, who was out for shopping, now fast forward newspapers have become thinner, the audience has moved towards digital and the content on a .com and newspaper is very different.

The audience who is reading these media is also very different. They come from different demographics, age groups, come from different regions, and how we consume news is also very different. Simultaneously, how we appeal to these audience is also very different. Gen Zs reading on a flipboard, maybe a Chingari, maybe a Public, maybe an Insta Reel or a YouTube short, or people like us reading an Adgully, Inc42, YourStory, listening to podcast while we drive, we wash, we fold, and at the same time its not what we are reading, what we are listening to as well that matters. she further noted.

She added, The way we are consuming information has also changed over the years. The boomers are reading newspapers, both national and regional, and the Facebook feed which I think a lot of parents and people will be able to relate to. These are tectonic changes. The listener base in India has grown from just nearly four million in the year 2016 to an estimated 90 million in the year 2022. High consumption is driven by high quality content, variety and widespread availability. 56% of the people are trusting what they see, what they hear about on a podcast. The organized market is set to be reaching nearly 3000 cr by the year 2024 and is again fuelled by vernacular content. They can be macroinfluencers, microinfluencers, nanoinfluencers, anyone who is beyond 1000-2000 followers reach has become a part of creator economy. The proliferation of chatbots is the trend number three, how chatbots, Chat GPT, or a Bard may take over how we consume content, and how we write content, the job of content marketers.

She further pointed out While I was reading more about that, I was wondering how these tools will enable us to become better in our jobs. Instead of taking them as a threat, they can actually an enabler for us to do better. While a Grammarly can help you to have autocorrection, write better speech or have better sentence correction, it still cannot match the human being on the other end. When we think of machine learning and artificial intelligence, for PR professionals it is very important to realise the importance of double AI, which is adaptability, awareness and innovation. It is important for PR professionals to be adaptable to the changing norms, the technologies coming in, being flexible about it. It is important for us to be aware about what are the events happening globally and how do they affect our businesses locally. And also how it is very important for PR pros to be very innovative, creative thinkers, and to be a great storyteller who can actually dig deeper, the job of a PR professional has changed from publishing a press release, to actually communicating a great story. Effective messaging for shorter attention span is so important for us to address that now the attention span has come down to about 8 seconds.

She also noted, Storytelling for the PR professionals is going to be so very important in the coming future. How do you write meaningful stories, how do you write with empathy, stories which make an impact. As a business leader, we are always having something to sell. I have something to sell, I have to put it out in the market, but I have to have a great story, communicate in a way that the other person is willing to buy and willing to spend their time on my product. That is how the future of communication should be. Journalists nowadays are not picking up our press releases. If I come from a good renowned brand but dont have a story to sell, something which will convince them to put it in a very limited real estate like a newspaper and the landscape has really changed and for someone to give you that space, its very important to have a right story to tell. Its very important to understand the H & Ws of communication, Who?, How ?, Where?, its highly personalized who is your target audience, for you as a PR person, its just not your client but who is actually servicing to that client, consumer of that particular client. As a PR person, its important to understand who the eventual customer of that product is. Secondly the fact how is audience consuming that content, is it instagram reels, voice search, podcast, Youtube videos, Shorts, reels, or short videos like Public, or a Chingari and then you need to go where they are, be it national, regional, local, hyperlocal. It is fascinating to know how a company like Public has been able to achieve 60 million active users monthly on their platform, by using hyperlocal content. If a PR professional is able to target that market with that strategy, thats any marketers dream. The bible of being a marketer is the art of storytelling, as a business owner Im always creating value, but as a communication team, one needs to capture that value, and communicate very effectively to my audience. How Im doing that really defines our job.
Liberty Global plc (Liberty Global) announced today that it has acquired 1,335 million shares in Vodafone Group PLC ("Vodafone") representing 4.92% of the outstanding share capital (excluding treasury shares). The transaction was principally funded through an attractive non-recourse financing, requiring equity funding from Liberty Global of approximately 225 million.

Mike Fries, CEO of Liberty Global, commented, We believe, like many others, that Vodafones current share price does not reflect the underlying long-term value of their operating businesses, or their announced consolidation and infrastructure opportunities. We continue to remain disciplined about our capital and fully expect that the equity used to fund this investment will be replenished with the sale of certain non-core assets over time.

No regulatory approvals are required for an investment at this level and Liberty Global does not intend to seek board representation at Vodafone.

The investment in Vodafone is part of Liberty Globals investment portfolio of more than 75 companies and funds across content, technology, and infrastructure, including stakes in companies such as ITV, Televisa Univision, AtlasEdge, Plume, and the Formula E racing series.

Liberty Global confirms that it is not considering an offer for Vodafone. This is a statement to which Rule 2.8 of the UK Takeover Code (the "Code") applies.
News18 Kannada, Karnataka's leading news brand, is preparing for the upcoming Karnataka Legislative Assembly Elections with a special campaign called Chunavane Chaduranga. Under this same campaign, News18 Kannada is starting Chunavana Chakra - a canter activity that will cover major constituencies around Karnataka. This campaign is an effort to rally support and increase voter turnout in preparation for the upcoming political elections. The program, organized by News18 Kannada, aims to educate and engage citizens on the importance of participating in the democratic process, exercising their right to vote, and to know and understand their views.

The campaign is open to all citizens and will take place in major places in Karnataka including Kolar, Chikkaballapura, Tumkuru, Chitradurga, Davangere, Shivmogga, Udupi, South Canara, Chikkamagaluru, Hasan, Kodagu, Mysuru, Chamrajnagar, Mandya, Ramnagar, Bangalore rural, and others. This campaign will begin in the upcoming days of February and will go on until April. Citizens are encouraged to attend and bring their friends and family members to take part in this opportunity to learn more about the political process and make their voices heard.

Chunavana Chakra, which began on February 10, 2023, is a platform for voters to air their grievances and seek answers from their MLAs. It was flagged off by a renowned Sandalwood director Yograj Bhatt. As a part of this activity, real-time ground reporting with News18 Reporter and voters presenting their points of view will be live on-air. This will be a 100-day campaign with 100 episodes in which branded vehicles will visit multiple cities and towns in the region. This will provide a platform for citizens to hear from local political leaders, engage in discussions on key issues affecting the community, and learn about the voting process. The campaign Chunavane Chaduranga is sponsored by Ullas Agarbatti, Ffreedom App, and Amrith Noni.
Procter and Gamble India (P&G India) and Centre For Civil Society flagged off a first-of-its-kind Women In STEM Caravan on February 11th - a multi-city roadshow that brought together key stakeholders to advance women's participation in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) trades. The roadshow, officially recognized as a part of the G20 events, commenced in New Delhi on International Day for Women and Girls in Science, with a high-powered Women in STEM: Policy, Practice & Interventions roundtable conference focused on policy provisions, ground realities, role of corporates and direct interventions for advancing womens representation in STEM opportunities.

The conference brought together over 20 eminent professionals, including policymakers, practitioners, academicians, and investors to discuss ways in which women representation in STEM can be strengthened through the right interventions, necessary policy reforms and implementation of best practices. The dignitaries present at the conference included representatives from P&G India, Centre For Civil Society, Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India, and Niti Aayog. The discussion revolved around key thematic areas including enabling women's entry into STEM careers through policy measures, voices from the ground reporting on current realities of women in STEM across sectors and civil society, government and business interventions that can facilitate women's entry and retention into STEM careers over the next 5 years.

During the conference, P&G India and Centre For Civil Society also recognized and awarded P&G Shiksha Betiyan Scholarships to girls pursuing courses at Industrial Training Institute in Nalagarh, Himachal Pradesh. In its next stage, the caravan will now travel to Himachal Pradesh, Telangana, and Maharashtra where it will award more scholarships under the P&G Shiksha Betiyan Scholarship Program to girls pursuing varied courses for higher education in STEM fields.

Speaking on the occasion, LV Vaidyanathan, MD & CEO, P&G India said, At P&G, we believe in helping create a world where equality and inclusion are achievable for all, inside and outside of P&G. Data indicates that in India, female representation in STEM workforce is limited to 14%. Women continue to also be underrepresented in STEM curriculum, leading to underrepresentation in manufacturing, engineering, and technology roles. The reasons often lie in deep-rooted stereotypes and biases that hold back women from pursuing and advancing in STEM careers. We launched P&G Shiksha Betiyan Scholarship Program last year with the aim to break such barriers for girls who aspire to pursue careers in STEM, in partnership with Centre for Civil society. This year, as we expand our scholarship program to impact more girls, we are happy to come together for meaningful dialogue at Women In STEM Caravan to deliberate acceleration of progress, as well as inspire more girls to pursue STEM education.

Laxmi Sampath Goyal, Chief Executive Officer, Centre For Civil Society said, The need for womens representation in STEM fields cannot be overstated. With technological advancements playing a critical role in a nations development, womens participation fosters a diversity in perspectives that stimulates originality, innovation, and efficiency. Given the scope for professional growth and achievement in the fields, it is imperative for us to support women in occupying these lucrative positions and empower them in the process.

P&G India in partnership with Centre For Civil Society has been working to enable STEM careers for girls with the P&G Shiksha Betiyan Scholarship program, as part of its flagship CSR initiative P&G Shiksha, where it is providing financial aid and mentorship to girls aspiring to pursue STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education. The program has so far supported hundreds of women with the aim of breaking barriers and enabling entry of skilled women professionals into manufacturing, technology, engineering, and other STEM related jobs.

Further, the Companys skin care brand Olay is working to shrink the gender gap in STEM careers with its STEM The Gap initiative, by spotlighting the biases and stereotypes that hold back progress and enabling young girls to get interested and excited by STEM subjects. P&G India also has a long-standing partnership with NITIE and hosts the annual P&G-NITIE Equality Summit to spark conversations on issues that perpetuate a glass ceiling for women, uncover deep-rooted stereotypes that still exist, and motivate change specifically linked to equal representation of women STEM and Supply Chain.
Times Innovative Media Limited (Times OOH), Indias leading outdoor advertising company has been awarded the exclusive 20-year advertising contract for the Manohar International Airport, a Greenfield Airport at Mopa in North Goa.



The GMR group is developing a new airport in Mopa, North Goa, to ease capacity constraints and flying time restrictions caused by a strong military/naval presence at the existing airport at Dabolim, South Goa. The Mopa airport will be developed across four phases to reach a target passenger capacity of 13 million travellers per annum vs the 8 million currently served by the Dabolim airport. This Airport is a full-service airport catering to domestic and international passengers besides freight services. The first phase of the airport is complete, and Mopa Airport started its commercial operation from the 5th of January 2023.

Goa is visited by large numbers of international and domestic tourists each year because of its white-sand beaches, active nightlife, places of worship, and World Heritage-listed architecture.

North Goa has been the favourite haunt of tourists from India and abroad due to its popular beaches and the active nightlife it has to offer. An airport in its proximity would serve as a convenient transit point for most travellers. After scripting a successful running advertisement partnership with the GMR group at the Delhi airport, we are delighted to partner once again with the GMR Group as the exclusive advertisement concessionaire for Mopa Airport too.

Due to its strategic location, direct international flights, and unrestricted fly-time options, we expect Mopa airport to be the preferred transit point for travellers to and from Goa. We have deployed a wide range of world-class media options that would cater to the contemporary and modern media objectives of local and international advertisers, says Shekhar Narayanaswami, President - Times OOH.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)  Ohios governor wants the state to require parental consent for kids under 16 to get new accounts on TikTok, Snapchat and other social media platforms.

Republican Gov. Mike DeWines two-year budget proposal would create a law that social media companies must obtain a parents permission for children to sign up for social media and gaming apps. The proposal also names YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, but the proposal would apply broadly, to any online web site, online service, online product, or online feature that requires consumer consent to register, sign up, or otherwise create a unique username.

A similar bill has received bipartisan support in the Democratic-majority Connecticut Legislature but hasnt yet gone to a vote.

Connecticut lawmakers are trying again this year to pass legislation requiring social media companies to get parental consent before allowing anyone 16 or younger to use their platforms.

The Connecticut bill, HB 5025, is an effort to support childrens mental health, sponsors said, and follows promises from lawmakers that they would focus on youth mental health this session.

Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, who is driving the initiative there, said it would not apply to e-commerce or online shopping.

Social media companies produce a product that is intentionally addictive to our children and has been proven harmful to kids, Husted said. Parents should know about it before it happens and social media companies should be held accountable.

Companies subject to the regulations would have to produce methods to determine if a user is under 16 and send written confirmation to parents to verify their consent is legitimate. If parents do not sign off on the companies terms of service, their children couldnt use the platforms. The restrictions would apply only to new account creation.

Social media companies also would have to create an introductory screen known as a splash page for age verification. If the user indicates theyre under 16, a parent could verify consent by signing a digital form, providing government identification, connecting with trained personnel over video chat, using a credit or debit card or other online payment system, or calling a toll-free number.

In Connecticut, unlike last session, the bill will go now to the General Law Committee. Sen. James Maroney, D-Milford, the co-chair of the General Law Committee, said childrens issues should be a priority for everyone, the CT Mirror reported.

I think it is a bipartisan issue in terms of everyone wants to protect our children and ensure that we are protecting their privacy, he said.
Although it is unsurprising given the agency capture, it is nonetheless tragic, she added.

Given all that we have learned about the dangers and ineffectiveness of COVID-19 shots over the last two years, it is horrifying to see the CDC now recommend this as a routine shot to children, Mary Holland, Childrens Health Defense (CHD) president and general counsel told The Defender .

The schedule also is the basis for vaccine recommendations made by most physicians.

Although the CDC does not have the authority to set requirements itself, the agencys immunization schedule provides formal guidance for state and local public health officials who set the rules for which vaccines are required to attend school.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday added COVID-19 vaccination to its routine immunization schedule for children and adults.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday added the two-shot primary series mRNA COVID-19 vaccine to its routine immunization schedule for children and adults, formalizing the agencys vaccine advisory committees unanimous recommendation made in October 2022.

Children's Health Defense explains impact of the CDC Decision to add the Covid vaccine series to the pediatric schedule. Mandates mean that parents will be faced with decisions so many in the autism vaccine injury community have faced for decades. Comply with the ever expanding schedule, or face dire consequences, including expulsion from public and private school. Reading, "Riting and 'Rithmatic" are a sacred American right. Parents who ignored our protests in front of Capitol after Capitol, who called us "anti-vaxxers," and who paid no mind to our plight will now face the same brick wall. Vaccinate or lose your children's rights to participate in day care, school, camps, college and more. Pro choice has been decimated. And that's going to be a tough lesson to learn when state after state adds the Covid vaccine as the price of admission to the schools your taxes pay for. Bookmark CHD and follow their wide body of work.

Thursdays move formalized the recommendation by the agencys vaccine advisory committee, which on Oct. 20, 2022, voted unanimously (15-0) to recommend adding COVID-19 vaccines for children as young as 6 months old to the new Child and Adolescent Immunization Schedule.

This reckless action is final proof of the cynicism, corruption + capture of a once exemplary public health agency. ACIP members have demonstrated that fealty to their pharma overlords eclipses any residual concerns they may harbor for child welfare. https://t.co/UkRQBxAvo2

 Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) October 20, 2022

Under the new guidelines, the CDC recommends healthy children 6 months to 11 years old receive a primary series of two doses of the mRNA Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech monovalent COVID-19 vaccine, followed by a booster of the bivalent shot.

It recommends that healthy people age 12 and older receive two doses of either the Moderna, Pfizer or Novavax vaccine followed by a bivalent booster.

All COVID-19 vaccines being administered in the U.S. to people under 18 are Emergency Use Authorized (EUA) products. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) did grant full approval to Pfizers Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine for ages 12 and older, however, the Comirnaty vaccine is not available in the U.S.  which means all children who get the Pfizer vaccine are getting an EUA product.

In Wednesdays congressional hearing on the Biden administrations response to COVID-19, Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) asked CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, why the CDC broke with its own norms and put an EUA vaccine on the childhood immunization schedule for a disease that poses very little risk to children and for which the vaccine poses many potential side effects without preventing transmission.

Walensky responded:

The reason that the ACIP [Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices] recommended the CDC put the COVID-19 vaccine on the pediatric schedule was only because it was the only way it could be covered in our Vaccines for Children program.

It was the only way that our under-uninsured children would be able to have access to the vaccines  That was the reason to put it there.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky on Why an Experimental Vaccine was Added to the Childhood Schedule

The reason ACIP recommendedgetting the COVID-19 vaccine on the pediatric schedule, it was ONLY because it was the only way it could be covered in our Vaccines for Children program pic.twitter.com/k1CVf4cv09

 Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) February 8, 2023

Data collected by the CDC through its Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) and a growing number of other sources indicate serious health risks associated with COVID-19 vaccination for children.

The COVID vaccines have not been shown to be either effective or safe for children, CHD argued in an amicus brief filed in Louisiana last year. The benefits to children are minuscule, while the risks  including the risk of potentially fatal heart damage  are known and serious, as the FDA itself has acknowledged.

Other changes to the childhood schedule include adding the PVC15 shot, a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine used to help protect against pneumococcal bacteria and only recently approved for children; updated guidance for the flu and hepatitis B vaccines; and new recommendations for the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) and polio vaccines.

The CDC now recommends an additional dose of the MMR vaccine in places where there is a mumps outbreak. It also recommends an additional poliovirus vaccine for children and adults if new polio cases emerge.

This would mean the childhood vaccination schedule would increase the number of recommended injections from 54 to 72 over the course of a persons childhood, between the ages of 6 months and 18 years, The Defender reported last year.

CDC schedule protects pharmaceutical companies from liability for vaccine injuries

Vaccine makers are not liable for injuries or deaths associated with EUA vaccines but can be held liable for injuries caused by a fully licensed vaccine  unless that vaccine is added to the CDCs childhood vaccination schedule.

Parents of children injured by vaccines listed on the childhood schedule can seek compensation through the taxpayer-funded National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP), a no-fault alternative to the traditional legal system for resolving vaccine injury claims.



READ MORE AT CHD:

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Buy and share these books by Robert Kennedy Jr.. Dr. Fauci may be "gone" but we will not let his work fade into obscurity nor become enshrined on Mount Olympus. And the Pfizer expose video (dates gone sour) screams out for The Wuhan Cover Up. Not to mention the weather balloon we just took down.



The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health (Childrens Health Defense) by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.



#1 on AMAZON, and a NEW YORK TIMES, WALL STREET JOURNAL, USA TODAY and PUBLISHERS WEEKLY NATIONAL BESTSELLER Over 1,000,000 copies sold despite censorship, boycotts from bookstores and libraries, and hit pieces against the author.





The Wuhan Cover-Up: How US Health Officials Conspired with the Chinese Military to Hide the Origins of COVID-19 (Childrens Health Defense)



From the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Publishers Weekly bestselling author of The Real Anthony Fauci comes an explosive expose of the cover-up behind the true origins of COVID-19.




South Africa: Disciplinary hearing recommends expulsion of Nic Diederichs learner

This story has been published on: 2023-02-14. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.

KwaZulu-Natal Social Development MEC, Nonhlanhla Khoza, has expressed outrage at the rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl in Umthwalume on the South Coast of the province. According to the reports, the girl, Emihle Vuyo Nyawose, was sent to a nearby store, but never returned home. The suspect, who had previously asked the child for... See more
Key document highlights vitalization of rural areas

08:08, February 14, 2023 By LI LEI ( China Daily

A farmer works in a field in Shayu village of Panzhou city, Guizhou province, Feb 9, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]

The central authorities on Monday unveiled the closely watched "No 1 central document" for this year, which pledged to advance the national strategy of rural vitalization and accelerate modernization in rural regions, according to Xinhua News Agency.

As the first policy statement released each year by the central authorities, the document  issued by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council  is seen as an indicator of policy priorities.

Work on agriculture and rural areas has been high on the agenda of the "No 1 central document" for 20 consecutive years since 2004.

A summary of the document published by Xinhua said the CPC Central Committee had agreed that work related to agriculture, rural villages and farmers will be the most important of the Party's key tasks.

The "most arduous tasks" in building China into a modern socialist country are also those associated with rural areas, it said.

Such work has utmost importance and cannot risk any mistakes given that the world today is experiencing changes unseen in a century, and China has entered a period when strategic opportunities exist alongside risks and challenges, and there are a greater number of uncertainties and unpredictable factors.

The report to the 20th CPC National Congress in October reiterated the Party's goal of turning the nation into a fully modernized socialist country by 2050. The way to reaching that goal is also made clear  through the Chinese path to modernization.

While speaking at the annual Central Rural Work Conference in December, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, said the socialist modernization won't be complete without agricultural and rural modernization.

This year's "No 1 central document" has nine sections, whose topics include food production, rural infrastructure development and boosting rural industry.

It called for efforts to safeguard national food security and to prevent farmers that had been lifted from poverty from falling back.

The guideline also called on local authorities to advance rural development, construction and governance, and speed up building China into a global agricultural powerhouse and make the Chinese countryside a more harmonious and beautiful place to live and work in.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Jessica Cote has co-owned Birch Hill Tavern in Glastonbury for less than a month, but the customers and staff are already like family.

Cote, who has managed the tavern since 2019, bought the business Jan. 17 with her boyfriend of five years, Bob Nicholson.

What drew me to it was the regulars. Its been a really fun place to work, Cote said. You really get to know the people and their lives they share happy moments, sad moments.

While many restaurants are struggling in these times of supply chain issues, high food costs and hiring staff, the tavern is bustling, the couple said.

Some menu elements from their scratch kitchen wont change, such as the hamburger made with ground beef purchased from an area farm.

But theyre adding interesting, mouth-watering sounding menu items and specials all the time, such as blackened red snapper with with a spinach artichoke couscous in a preserved lemon vinaigrette, garnished with lobster and shrimp; lobster mac and cheese; braised pork with garlic broccoli rabe, sharp provolone and Italian hot peppers on a hoagie roll.

The ground beef in their popular burgers come fresh from a nearby farm, as they did under the previous owner.

It has to hit a lot of notes for a lot of people, she said of the menu. It can be as casual or upscale as you want. I think there are options for everyone.

The interior of Birch Hill Tavern, now under new ownership.

The 13-seat bar is tended by an award-winning mixologist, Geoff Smith, who hand saws ice cubes for specialty drinks into fresh, clear, 3-inch by 3-inch chunks so they keep the drink cold without watering it down, Cote said.

Youre getting this amazing cocktail we put a lot of love into, she said.

Cote, who has a photography business as well, has been in the restaurant industry for about 25 years, working as bar manager for 16 years at Caveys in Manchester before it closed. Her next move was to Birch Hill Tavern as a manager.

Nicholson, who works in the IT field, didnt come with restaurant experience, but is learning.

Right now hes at the tavern a few nights a week paying bills, fixing things, making sure customers are happy, bussing tables and of course, taste testing.

Im like the man behind the curtain with all the buttons, he said.

While Nicholson doesnt have experience working in restaurants, he appreciates them on the consumer end, as he is president of the Hartford chapter of Chaine Des Rotisseurs, one of the oldest fine dining food clubs in the world.

Ive kind of always been fascinated by the restaurant industry. The only next step for me was to own a restaurant, NIcholson said.

Both grew up in the Hartford area, Cote in Manchester and Nicholson in Newington. Today they reside in Vernon.

While a lot of what worked at the tavern under the previous owner will stay the same, some elements will change.

Served at Birch Hill Tavern: Espresso Martini

The couple will display the work of various area artists in changing exhibits, a new menu will be out in a few weeks and gradually theyll make some cosmetic changes, Cote said,

The tavern remains known for its craft beer selection and Nicholson, who favors wine, will work on expanding the taverns offerings.

Cote, who managed the tavern through the pandemic, said she saw an uptick in business last July.

The tavern was doing well, but the previous owner wanted to sell because he owns a few other businesses as well and wanted to simplify life, she said.

Cotes previous job in Manchester was at a fine dining establishment and she said, It was nice to go to a neighborhood place, like Birch Hill Tavern.

Were surrounded by a big neighborhood, so its definitely family friendly, she said, describing the tavern as, cozy, warm, inviting.

Cote said the hospitality aspect is her favorite part of the restaurant business .

Ive loved creating an experience for the guests, Cote said.

Shes even been known to spontaneously make up little songs or diddies, as she calls them about something going on customers lives.

Served at Birch Hill Tavern: Short rib grilled cheese with house cut French fries.

Cote said the food in a place can be great, but if you have a bad experience, it wont matter.

Cote said not only are the customers at Birch Hill Tavern great, but so is the staff, all of whom stayed when she and Nicholson took over.

Were lucky to have them, Cote said.
Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center has won a portion of the opening round in its antitrust suit accusing crosstown competitor Hartford HealthCare and its affiliates of monopolizing health care across much of the state through heavy-handed acquisitions and other anti-competitive business practices.

U.S. District Judge Sarala V. Nagala left most of the suit intact in denying a motion by Hartford HealthCare to dismiss it, concluding that Saint Francis has legal standing to bring a private antitrust action and has presented a plausible case for violations of federal and state antitrust laws.

She ruled for Hartford HealthCare in two of the suits contentions, one of which was a Saint Francis claim that Hartford HealthCare used anticompetitive practice by refusing to participate in tiered group medical insurance plans that provide beneficiaries with an incentive to seek cost savings.

A spokeswoman for Harford HealthCare said, We are pleased that the Court dismissed one of the two core legal theories put forth by St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center, one of almost 90 hospitals across the nation run by Michigan-based Trinity Health. We continue to maintain that this lawsuit has no merit and distorts the many ways in which Hartford HealthCare serves our communities. We will defend ourselves against these baseless allegations while we remain focused on providing the highest quality care to the patients and communities that we have the privilege of serving.

A spokeswoman for Saint Francis said, Due to ongoing litigation, we are unable to comment.

Saint Francis contends in the year old suit with wide implications for the delivery of health serves in Connecticut that Hartford HealthCare has driven up costs and captured 60 to 80 percent of the specialty care market in part through a campaign of exclusion, acquisition and intimidation designed in the words of its executives to bury the competition.

Beginning in 2016, the suit contends, Hartford HealthCare began suppressing competition in order to dominate the market. It claims Hartford HealthCare was anticompetitive  and at times threatening  in the way it acquired medical practices, controlled referrals by its physicians and negotiated exclusive rights to new technology, such as robotics, in order to keep them out of the hands of other health care organizations.

As a result, the suit said, central Connecticut patients have been forced into crowded, more expensive and in some cases inferior medical care.

In its unsuccessful effort to dismiss the suit, Hartford HealthCare argued that it expanded and hired physicians because it out-competed St. Francis in the normal course of business. It said that Saint Francis lacks the legal standing to bring an antirust suit because the injuries it claims to have suffered are due to a loss of business to a competitor rather than a reduction in competition.

In a long decision that focused on the complexities of anti-trust law, Nagala concluded that the allegations Saint Francis has so far produced about monopolistic business practices are enough to allow the suit to continue. In the decision, she reproduces portions of a suit that portray business practices not normally associated with health care.

Saint Francis asserts that Hartford HealthCare has expanded medical staff, grown market share and added profitable medical practices to its network through a campaign of intimidation.

The suit alleges that executives in the Hartford system have repeatedly threatened  in business meetings  to crush doctors who resist affiliating with them. In one case, according to the suit, the system threatened to recruit a physician to compete specifically against a doctor who resisted joining.

It alleges that an orthopedist who wanted to transfer robotic surgery cases from the Harford system to Saint Francis was told by two Hartford HealthCare executives that they would destroy him professionally.

In another instance, the suit alleges that Hartford HealthCare threatened to deny specialists who resisted affiliation referrals from its primary care network.

Executives ordered doctors in the system to minimize leakage of referrals to outside care networks without regard to the cost or quality of care, according to the suit.
It's about time we had some good news: an unexplained something that has absolutely nothing to do with spy balloons or UFOs has broken out at a private Christian university in Wilmore, Kentucky. It began last Wednesday and has continued nonstop.

The supernatural mystery of revival has come once again to Asbury University, and the pictures coming out on social media are truly inspiring. It's said to be attracting students from other institutions, including the University of Kentucky, Purdue, Georgetown College, and more.

Asbury University describes itself as "grounded in the Wesleyan-Holiness tradition" and rooted in the teachings of John Wesley. It's also no stranger to revivals  its website documents eight revivals at the college since 1905. Coincidentally, most of them have occurred in February.

"Right now I think we've reached over 120 hours of non-stop worship, praise, confession, testimony and scripture reading," said Alexandra Presta, executive editor of The Asbury Collegian.

Presta spoke with CBN News, trying to explain the phenomenon:

No one expected it to happen; this was literally just the Holy Spirit choosing that day and this group of people. [There's nothing] overly special about Asbury or the students or any of us ... but the Holy Spirit just chose to fall down and touch our hearts. People have asked "Was this planned?" We're like no, this was purely God moving and keeping people here and bringing more, and continuing to cross state lines and even the country.

Presta said revival has caused the student body to grow a stronger feeling of unity, as students take the time to check on one another  sharing prayer, worship, and tears together. On the flip side, their "second home" is seeing more people from outside the college and "a lot less familiar faces." Because of this, and with guidance from university leadership, there were new prayers offered against spiritual warfare and "making the space safe for everyone involved."

CBN journalist Billy Hallowell said people are watching what's happening with this revival not just in America, but around the world.

Presta responded that it's been "mind-blowing" to have people from as far away as Brazil and Italy reaching out for information on the divinely inspired gathering:

One thing that has been laid on my heart recently is that ... God is not limited to this campus or this town. Some might feel led to come [here], and by all means ... we want you here, we invite you here. But at the same time the Holy Spirit that's here is also with you, wherever you are  so it's just really important to recognize that.

Under a Facebook posting referencing #asburyrevival, an attendee named Tanya Ortenzi Holt documented her personal experience at the event:

We didn't do a poll of denominations, but we've heard of Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, Charismatics, Anglicans, Christian Church and non-denominational Christians present, worshipping and praying together in unity, regardless of their differences[.] ... We didn't ask each other's church denominations; we didn't stop to go through a checklist of doctrinal beliefs to make sure we agreed on enough things before we prayed. We didn't analyze each other's appearance, or demand certain formulas for prayer[.] ... We joined hands and prayed with total strangers.

Lexington station WLEX reported that "God is transforming lives" at Asbury, with every person in attendance seemingly there for a different reason. Some are praying for a "better world," while others are praying for strength to overcome hurdles or to give thanks for those they've overcome. Others, according to a university spokesperson, "are coming to Christ for the first time and hearing the gospel for the first time."

With so many Americans wondering exactly what God does have in store for us, the revival seems to be sending a much-needed message of comfort to his people: "It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed."

Susan D. Harris can be reached at www.susandharris.com.

Image: SermonIndex.net via YouTube, CC BY 3.0 (cropped).
It's been almost three months since the midterms, and campaign promises are fading away from the minds of politicians.

It's the perfect time for some GOP members to stab their voters in the back.

When it comes to backstabbing voters, South Carolina's Sen. Lindsey Graham is an expert.

Graham probably found some free time after striving for the well-being of his main constituents: President Zelensky, the Ukrainian government, the Ukrainian army, and the mercenaries.

Breitbart reported that Graham had joined Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) to propose their "DREAM Act" amnesty.

Graham and Durbin, who hold powerful positions on the Senate Judiciary Committee, reintroduced the amnesty after repeatedly proposing the plan since 2017.

Estimates suggest that almost two million illegal aliens eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program can become citizens.

Graham said DACA illegal aliens "represent a class of illegal immigrants [sic] that have much public support because they were minors brought here by their parents and America has become their home."

In order to not sound like a complete sell-out, Graham added, "While I continue to support relief for DREAMers, I hope my Democratic colleagues understand we must repair a broken border and address a tsunami of illegal immigration before that is remotely possible."

Durban thanked Graham "for his continued partnership in this important bipartisan effort."

Graham has been attempting this since 2013, when he was part of the notorious "Gang of Eight," along with GOP Sens. John McCain, Marco Rubio, and Jeff Flake.

The attempt failed.

It led the late, great Rush Limbaugh to refer to him as Lindsey Grahamnesty.

So what is DACA about?

DACA is an Obama administration policy implemented on June 15, 2012. DACA prevents the deportation of immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally as minors and offers them work permits.

Those eligible for this program are referred to as DREAMers, a reference to the DREAM (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) Act.

Most of these DREAMers were born in Mexico (80.2%), followed by El Salvador (3.8%), and some were born in Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, and Africa.

So can an argument be made that minors who accompanied adult aliens to trespass the border into the U.S. deserve "fairness"  i.e., citizenship  because they were victims of unavoidable circumstances?

Before we answer that, let's look at the bigger picture.

If the Dreamers are guaranteed a pathway to citizenship, it sends an open invitation to aspiring violators across the globe to enter the U.S. illegally, too, because of the implicit promise that someday their offspring will be citizens, and by extension, they will, too, based on chain-migration privileges.

Entering the U.S. illegally is a crime.

It may not seem that obvious since the matter has been spun relentlessly by the Democrats into a matter of empathy. They claim that the illegal aliens are escaping persecution and poverty and hence deserve compassion. But similar excuses can be made for other varieties of crimes.

How often have we heard the following when any crime is committed?

"Life has been unfair to them."

"They were born in poverty."

"The rich need to pay their fair share, or this will keep happening."

"This is the consequence of income inequality."

The fact remains that life is never ever fair to anyone. Everyone has a reason and a right to complain. Illegals brought into the U.S. as children by their parents have every right to take the matter up with their parents, instead of demanding redress from the government. Unfair circumstances in life aren't an excuse to commit crimes, be they trespassing into a country or pilfering from a supermarket. If they were, there would be societal breakdown.

Breitbart reported other issues ahead if this iteration of DACA amnesty becomes a reality.

Newly naturalized citizens will have the facility to bring in an unlimited number of non-citizen relatives to the U.S., including those parents who initially broke the law. Estimates say that number could be from 10 million to 19 million foreign nationals.

A DACA amnesty also could cost American taxpayers some $115 billion because it will lead to new enrollments for Obamacare.

Meanwhile, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has estimated that such an amnesty would cost taxpayers $26 billion. The CBO states that about one in five DACA illegal aliens, after an amnesty, would end up on food stamps, while at least one in seven would go on Medicaid.

Biden's open borders are already a grave problem.

Illegal aliens are already a burden on the taxpayers and the facilities and infrastructure meant for citizens.

Illegal aliens agreeing to work for less than minimum wage will result in the citizen seeing a depression in wages, if not being rendered unemployed.

If the illegal aliens are of the criminal variety, the victims will be citizens.

In the end, every country has laws that have to be followed.

The only way to enter or temporarily work in the U.S. is to apply for a visa, undergo a background check, and sit for a consular interview. The duration of stay and work depends on the visa.

The only path to citizenship is by naturalization, through marriage, through one's parents, or through military service. Each route has its own set of mandatory requirements.

In a civilized society, lawbreakers must be punished, not incentivized.

This should not be a debate between right and left. Yet somehow the left, which has become pro-crime, is advocating and incentivizing violations.

It is noteworthy how the left has changed its position on the matter. Back in 2015, when socialist Bernie Sanders was running for the presidential nomination of the Democrat party, he was asked about open borders.

"No, that's a Koch brothers proposal," said Sanders curtly during an interview.

Sanders further added, "The idea is a right-wing scheme meant to flood the U.S. with cheap labor and depress wages for native-born workers. I think from a moral responsibility, we've got to work with the rest of the industrialized world to address the problems of international poverty," he conceded, "but you don't do that by making people in this country even poorer."

This was always the Marxist position.

Sanders and the Democrats are singing a drastically different tune now.

They no longer care for the working class, who will suffer due to the influx. Their long-term goal is to seal their permanence in power by giving voting rights to illegal aliens, who drown the impact of legacy GOP voters, and who will be a permanent underclass voter base for the Democrats.

The Democrats' plan has successfully been implemented in states such as New York and California, so all they need now is to capture a few more states in order to have total control.

This insanity must to stop.

Lindsey Graham needs to be primaried in 2027 and dumped by President Trump immediately.

Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Officially, Miguel Diaz-Canel is the president of Cuba. Sorry, but I can't call a man elected in a communist election "el presidente." He is a fraud and more like a dictator. Nevertheless, he was in Mexico and was treated like a hero by the Mexican president. This is the story:

In the latest chapter in Mexico's love-fest with Cuba, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel will be awarded Mexico's highest medal when he visits the southern Mexico city of Campeche on Saturday. The Friday edition of the Mexican government's official gazette said Diaz-Canel will be awarded the "Order of the Aztec Eagle," presumably with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador placing it around his neck during the Cuban leader's visit. The award -- the country's highest honor for foreigners and decided mainly by the president -- has previously been given to leaders ranging from Fidel Castro to the Shah of Iran. The award notification said the Cuban leader "has promoted cooperation between the two nations on health issues." Lopez Obrador praised Cuba on Friday for sending doctors to Mexico, some of whom serve in dangerous or remote areas. But those doctors, and the salaries they are paid, have raised controversy in Mexico. Some said the jobs should go to Mexican doctors, while other suspected that much of their salaries would go to the Cuban government.

Sorry, but this is sick  the ugly side of Lopez-Obrador, as my Mexican friend says.

First, these doctors are not people in an honest employer/employee contract. They are a source of foreign exchange for Cuba. Mexico will pay dollars, and the doctors will get paid in worthless Cuban pesos.

Second, Cubans on the island need opportunities, and having "el presidente" fly home with a medal around his neck is "un zero a la izquierda," as my outspoken late mother would say. It means a zero to the left of the number, or worth nothing.

Third, Mexicans are critical of this embrace of a dictator, as reported in the Yucatan Times. The opposition is livid for the treatment of a leader who offers nothing to Mexico. Instead, Mexico has had to write off Cuban loans.

Fourth, a lot of my Mexican friends tell me that the Mexican love fest with Cuba is more about keeping the left happy than support for Cuba. Maybe so, but other Mexican presidents have avoided the hugging and the medals.

Finally, what is the Biden administration saying about this? Probably nothing, but what's new?

PS: Check out my blog for posts, podcasts, and videos.

Image: Adam Jones.
The Republicans in the House are having an investigation into the collusion of the media, the Justice Department, and intelligence officials as they censored the true story of the Biden family corruption right before the 2020 election.

This was pure election interference to mislead the public.

Now, Glenn Kessler, the designated fact-checker at the WaPo, is claiming that the intelligence officials who lied about Russian disinformation were very careful in their wording of the letter but that the media either misinterpreted or misused the letter. That is a load of garbage.

The Hunter Biden laptop and claims of 'Russian disinfo' The letter signed by more than 50 former intelligence officials about the laptop was carefully worded to say much less than is often claimed.

Yes, they used the expression "has all the earmarks" to leave the impression without definitively stating that it was Russian disinformation. They used this care because they wanted to mislead the public into drawing a conclusion that they were unwilling to state clearly (because they knew it was untrue). The clear purpose of the letter was to tell the public that the laptop's content was Russian disinformation. Joe Biden cited the letter in a presidential debate with President Trump and claimed that it stated that the laptop was a Russian fake. None of the signers of the letter disputed his interpretation.

These 51 people obviously wanted Biden to win, and they didn't want the public to see how corrupt and dishonest Biden is and has been throughout his career while he fed at the public trough.

The question is, who got these former intelligence officials to coordinate a letter as soon as the New York Post story hit?

The WaPo, including Glenn Kessler, along with most of the media, were also campaigning for Biden and wanted to bury the true story. They have always been happy to interfere in elections, to push the leftist agenda.

Media outlets publish all sorts of garbage without verification, yet they buried the story they knew was true about the Bidens.

They published fake stories of Trump, including Russian collusion, for years, and not once did they care about facts.

For four years, the media and other Democrats spread known lies about Trump and called him an illegitimate president, and then, in 2020, they claimed that anyone who challenged Biden's election was an election denier who wanted to destroy democracy and should never be allowed to serve in Congress.

They published anything Fauci and the CDC said and silenced people who disagreed. Not once did they verify the information.

They sought to destroy Judge Kavanaugh without verification.

They sought to destroy white Christian kids for the crime of wearing MAGA hats, calling them racists.

They will publish whatever they are told that supports the green agenda to destroy energy-producing companies. They do not ask questions or do research to verify what they are told. They don't care how wrong all the dire predictions of doom have been.

Kessler and other fact-checkers are pushers of the leftist agenda. They are as fake as the news stories themselves.

The media and other Democrats claim they care about all women and all minorities, yet they are willing to destroy women and minorities who dare to be conservatives. They are the party of personal destruction.

The WaPo did a hit piece on a woman who is also a minority because they do not like her political views and had no problem intentionally misleading their readers.

GOP Rep. Luna Decries 'Incredibly Racist' Washington Post

It is no wonder that the public has so little trust in the media. They have earned their reputation as dishonest communicators.

It is also no wonder that there is so much corruption by politicians throughout the United States as the media gladly campaign for leftist criminals, bury the truth, and seek to destroy anyone who gets in their way as they quest for power.
My memory is long enough to remember that the IRS did everything possible to prevent Tea Party and Jewish conservative groups from claiming nonprofit status in the years leading up to Obama's 2012 re-election. We know that wasn't accidental. Likewise, there's no accident behind the fact that the IRS continues to give tax-deductible status to a group that even the Ninth Circuit conceded is a terrorist organization in a piratical mode. The federal bureaucracy does not exist for America's benefit; it functions entirely for its own.

Daniel Greenfield reports on the pass the IRS keeps giving to Sea Shepherd, a violent leftist anti-fishing organization. What's really stunning about the IRS's stance is that it's the Ninth Circuit, the hardest-left federal district in America, that acknowledged that Sea Shepherd is a violent enterprise:

A decade ago, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruling stated that, "you don't need a peg leg or an eye patch. When you ram ships; hurl glass containers of acid; drag metal-reinforced ropes in the water to damage propellers and rudders; launch smoke bombs and flares with hooks; and point high-powered lasers at other ships, you are, without a doubt, a pirate." The group in question was Sea Shepherd: a trendy anti-fishing organization whose celebrity supporters included Pamela Anderson, Martin Sheen and Sean Penn. And a decade after the Court of Appeals stated that Sea Shepherd's alleged acts were "clear instances of violent acts for private ends, the very embodiment of piracy", Sea Shepherd maintains a presence on Facebook, Amazon, YouTube and other Big Tech platforms that purged conservations for "extremism", where it sells merchandise featuring its version of the skull and bones pirate flag. And it has retained its status with the IRS as a nonprofit 501(c)(3) charity for over 40 years. In 2002, the Domestic Terrorism Section Chief of the FBI told the House Resources Committee that Sea Shepherd was an example of "eco-terrorism". The IRS took no action even when it was caught harboring a nonprofit that federal law enforcement had described as eco-terrorists.

What's amazing is that Sea Shepherd is such a menace on the high seas that, Greenfield writes, it's "shown up on Interpol's Red Notice while being the subject of international incidents." Additionally:

While the IRS has ignored conservative protests over tax deductible status being granted to domestic terrorist groups, the Japanese government spent years lobbying to suspend Sea Shepherd's nonprofit status. After a court ruling described the group as pirates, the Japanese could not believe that the Obama administration still refused to take action. Finally the Japanese embassy turned directly to the IRS, including contacting Lois Lerner, who would become infamous for her role in the IRS targeting of conservative and Jewish opponents of Obama. The IRS went through the motions of auditing Sea Shepherd, then it dispatched a letter claiming that "our examination of the information return(s) indicated above disclosed that your organization continues to qualify for exemption from Federal income tax." The Internal Revenue Service does not however seem to have consulted the Court of Appeals, the FBI or the law.

Regardless of how one feels about saving the whales, illegal activity is still illegal activity, and the IRS should not be giving it a pass as a tax-deductible pursuit.

Here's another thing that will amaze you: provided the cause is pure in a leftist kind of way, pirates aren't the only "non-profits" to which the IRS will give a pass. It turns out that Front Page Magazine has been documenting myriad groups that the IRS believes deserve tax-deductible status: "we have covered Chinese Communist front groups, art vandals, domestic terrorists, pedophiles, illegal alien smugglers and the enablers of murderers."

Americans tolerated the increasing number of federal agencies over the past 100 years in part because they were assured that these were neutral institutions that were necessary to run an increasingly populous country. Nobody could expect a small executive office to carry out these functions. However, a white-collar class of educated, non-partisan men and women receiving the kind of salary that could fund a nice, middle-class life in the burgeoning post-WWII suburbs could be trusted to apply in an honest, even-handed fashion the laws our representatives passed.

That was the Big Lie told to us by statists who believed that an expert class under their control would perfect America. Their idea of perfection, though, turns out to be a tax collector  which has the power of federal guns, judges, and prisons behind it  giving pirates a pass while doing what it can to destroy anyone and anything that refuses to get with the statist program.



Image: The Sea Shepherds hurl something (Smoke bombs? Acid?) at a ship they plan to ram. YouTube screen grab.
Most people watching Joe Biden believe that hes a puppet who says and does what hes told. He seems to be a useful idiot, as the 20th centurys communists would have said. The big question, then, is whos really in charge in the White House? Barack Obama? Valerie Jarrett? Nope, a Bloomberg report intimates. Its really Jill Biden, and she intends to see her decrepit husband run again.

According to a Nancy Cook article at Bloomberg, the person with whom Joe doublechecks every decision he makes is his unelected wife, Jill Biden, a school teacher who wrote a shoddy dissertation to justify a truly meaningless doctorate in education. Writes Cook:

[W]ithin the White House she is understood to be the presidents closest and most protective confidante. She is his gut check on everything, said Michael LaRosa, former press secretary to the first lady and special assistant to the president. As the campaign unfolds, the first lady is expected to assert herself on major decisions, especially the biggest of them all: whether Biden  at 80, the oldest person to ever hold the presidency  will run for re-election in the first place. She supports a bid, according to people familiar with the matter, because she cares about how her husband is perceived and believes hes better at the job than his 42% average approval rating indicates most Americans think.

After several paragraphs describing how the couple met, Cook returns to Jills influence on Bidens administration. Were told that, while Jill does not have a reputation for involving herself in policy minutiae, the first lady pays close attention to her husbands broader public portrayal and to themes of his speeches and events. If shes overseeing themes, that means she has a say in (or control over) policy.

Image: Jill Biden preps for the G7 in 2021. Public domain.

Another thing that Jill does is work hard to protect Biden from looking bad. Thus, according to Cook, Jill chastised Joes top aides in 2022 for letting the president take questions from the press for two hours. That the American people are entitled to know whats going on (a function the press barely performs) must take second place to Jills efforts to keep from reminding Americans that their president is a decrepit, declining man.

Mostly, the Bloomberg article is a puff piece, talking about how useful Jill will be on the campaign trail in 2024 and how shes less divisive than Michelle or Melania. Its important to note here, though, that Melania did nothing out of the ordinary and was an unusually beautiful and poised woman who kept out of politics. She was divisive only because the media attacked her for anything and everything.

I tend to think that the Bloomberg article understates just how involved Jill is in the Biden administration. I havent forgotten how Jill, during the first year of Bidens administration, tweeted out a photo of her Prepping for the G7:

Prepping for the G7. pic.twitter.com/drPmb2vBwI  Jill Biden (@FLOTUS) June 9, 2021

No one doubts that, in an affectionate marriage (which the Bidens clearly have), theres inevitably pillow talk that sees the president discussing issues with his wife. However, no one looking at the Biden marriage believes that the president has the capacity to discuss issues intelligently with his wife. To the extent theres mental wattage in that marriage, the ideas and decisions flow from her to him and not vice versa.

What all of this means is that America isnt governed by a president whose election was dubious at best; instead, its governed by the completely unvetted wife of that same dubiously elected president. And that wife has rather consistently demonstrated that shes not very bright or informed but is very pushy.

The one good thing is that its the Democrats nightmare to see Joe run again. In 2020, they could get away with the con that Americans hated Trump so much theyd rather have a barely sentient, corrupt, creepy fossil in the White House. However, given the myriad (and intended) disasters of Bidens administrationa failing economy, a broken border, flailing national security, and an ever-closer WWIIIit'll be a lot harder to cheat Joe into the White House, especially with Kamala at his side.

In other words, Joe Biden is the Republicans dream Democrat candidate. And if thats what Jill brings to the 2024 electionwell, Lets go, Jill!
Last week, Tucker Carlson had a brief segment about the leaked FBI memo recommending surveillance of traditional Catholics as potential domestic terrorists. The contents of the memo became widely known only because of a fearless FBI whistleblower assigned to the relatively small Richmond, Va. district office. It later became known that the (false) accusation originated from a wing of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in Norfolk, Va. The FBI immediately walked it back, and the nightly news returned to coverage of the spy balloon skeet shoot, the Super Bowl, and the devastating earthquake in Turkey.

I am no Catholic, but I fail to see how anyone supporting the traditional Latin Mass in opposition to Pope Francis and holding a pro-life and a biblical worldview of marriage and sexuality would qualify as a domestic terrorist compared to the ignored Antifa members. Despite this nonsensical accusation, the traditional wing of the Catholic Church is robust and gaining members.

Nevertheless, there had to be much more to the release of the FBI memo. Top FBI leadership knows that President Biden, Nancy Pelosi, many in Congress, and most of the Supreme Court members are Catholics (okay, many only claim to be). However, none is known to admit being to being a traditional (Latin Mass) Catholic.

Little else substantive was heard on the FBI memo until this half-hour video was released Super Bowl Sunday from Remnant TV (a subsidiary of The Remnant Newspaper, a widely read traditional Catholic publication). "In this episode of The Remnant Underground, Michael J. Matt provides the backstory behind the recent FBI memo recommending surveillance of Latin Mass Catholics as potential domestic terrorists. Although the FBI HQ recalled the Richmond memo one day after the FBI whistleblower leaked the memo, Michael argues that there is more to this story. A lot more!"

Michael Matt's media organization is the best known of the so-called traditional Catholic domestic "terrorist" groups named on the SPLC's list. And given some thought, this same domestic terrorist label could just as easily apply to any believing Christians who have rejected "wokeness" and remain pro-life and support the biblical understanding of marriage and sexuality. Nevertheless, despite the internal bickering since Vatican 2, the Catholic Church remains the largest Christian denomination in the world.

The Remnant TV video is well worth the half-hour it takes to watch, whether the viewer is Catholic or not. And Michael Matt says there is some good news coming from the leaked memo. "The FBI helps to raise the profile of the worldwide traditional Catholic movement."

Image via Pixnio.
In December 1895, German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen submitted to Wurzburg's Physical-Medical Society journal a preliminary report where he described the discovery of a new kind of ray. This previously undiscovered radiation, which he dubbed X-rays, was capable of penetrating blocks of wood and books a thousand pages thick, and even the flesh in a human hand, casting ghostly shadows of the bones within.

Within weeks the news had spread throughout the world prompting hundreds of discussions in newspapers and journals about the new discovery and its possible use in medical and physical science. It even inspired discussion among occultists. For many who believed in the paranormal, the discovery of these mysterious rays only served to reinforce their belief in the existence of ghosts and the way in which photographic plates could detect realities invisible to the human eye. Even Roentgens own wife was horrified when she was shown the X-ray photograph of her hand because it reminded her of her own mortality. She remarked, I have seen my death.

Two early workers taking X-rays of their hands with utter disregard for their safety. Photo: William J. Morton

Radiation would claim the lives of hundreds of radiologists and scientists the world over in the coming decades. The possible damaging effects of Roentgen Rays on living tissue was speculated as early as March 1896 by the Italian physicist Angelo Battelli. Concerns were also raised by many other engineers, but the discovery of X-rays threw open so many doors of possibilities that many scientists and workers were willing to sweep aside these concerns in their quest for a novel application of this fascinating breakthrough. One of the first person to discover this the hard way was Clarence Madison Dally.

Dally was born in Woodbridge, New Jersey, in 1865 just as the American Civil War was winding down. His father worked as a glass blower at the Edison Lamp Works in nearby Harrison making glass bulbs for Edisons burgeoning incandescent lamp industry. When Dally turned 17, he enlisted in the Navy, where he served for six years before he was honorably discharged. Returning home to Woodbridge in 1888, Dally started working with his father and three brothers at the Edison Lamp Works.

Clarence Madison Dally

When Roentgen announced the discovery of X-rays in 1895, Edison quickly recognized the importance of the discovery and saw in it a possible tool to further the improvement of incandescent lamps. Edison was specifically interested in one of Roentgens experiments where he coated a glass screen with a layer of barium platinocyanide crystals and allowed X-rays to fall on it. The crystals would glow in the dark when the X-rays hit them. Edison believed that if he could find the right fluorescence material, he could could make the screen glow bright enough to lit an entire roomin other words, a fluorescent lamp.

Edison called young Daily, who had become a proficient craftsmen in the delicate art of glassblowing and already a favorite of his employer, to assist him in this new research in the main Edison laboratory in East Orange, New Jersey. Daily produced thousands of Crookes tubes and experimented with more than a thousand different compounds. Dally personally tested them by holding his left hand between the X-ray source and the fluorescent screen, exposing himself to unhealthy doses of X-rays. Dally eventually discovered that calcium tungstate glowed nearly twelve thousand times more brightly than the barium platinocyanide that Roentgen had used. Edison had found his fluorescent lamp, but it had come at a cost.

Edison discovered that he had trouble focusing with his left eye, which his oculist attributed to the prolonged use of the fluoroscope which used X-rays to excite the fluorescence compound and had an eyehole to peer into. Edison cautioned Dally about the dangers in continuous use of the tubes, but Dally disregarded the warning and only insisted in using the most powerful tubes he could find.

Edison peers into a fluoroscope to observe the X-ray of Clarence Madison Dallys hand. Photo: Edward P. Thompson/Wellcome Images

Soon, Dally found that his hair was falling out, and his eyebrows and eyelashes too. His face began to wrinkle and his left hand became swollen, sore and extremely painful. Then arterio sclerosis, or a thickening or hardening of the arteries set in, and this extended even to the most minute blood vessel in his arm, explained his physician Dr. W.B. Graves. "There was no paralysis, but the drying up of the blood vessels took away the nourishment from the tissue and prevented the sore on his left hand from healing. The right hand was also affected, even to the finger tips, but it was not in such a serious condition as the left.

Dally did not believe his conditions were either life threatening or permanent. When his left hand started to give him trouble, he began using his right hand instead. At night, he slept with both hands in water to alleviate the burning. Like many researchers at the time, Dally assumed hed heal with rest and time away from the tubes.

By 1900, the lesions in his hand developed into cancer that began to spread up his arms towards his biceps. After multiple attempts to cure, his left arm was amputated just below the shoulders. Dally also lost four fingers of his right hand, leaving only the thumb. Despite these surgeries, the doctors failed to halt the progression of his carcinoma, and he died four years later, in 1904, from mediastinal cancer.

Dallys sufferings left Edison with a morbid fear for X-rays. Don't talk to me about X-rays, he told a reporter from the New York World. "I am afraid of them. I stopped experimenting with them two years ago, when I came near to losing my eyesight and Dally, my assistant practically lost the use of both of his arms. I am afraid of radium and polonium too, and I don't want to monkey with them.

Edison subsequently abandoned his research into fluorescent lamps. I could make the lamp all right, but when I did so I found that it would kill everybody who would use it continuously, he said.

He continued: No, I did not want to know anything more about X-rays. In the hands of experienced operators they are a valuable adjunct to surgery, locating as then do objects concealed from view, and making, for instance, the operation for appendicitis almost sure. But they are dangerous, deadly, in the hands of inexperienced, or even in the hands of a man who is using them continuously for experiment.

References:

# Clarence Dally: an American pioneer, American Journal of Roentgenology

# Edison Fears Hidden Perils Of The X-rays, New York World

# Clarence Dally  The Man Who Gave Thomas Edison X-Ray Vision, Smithsonian

# On a New Kind of Rays, Nature
Samsung is rolling out a new software update to the Galaxy A72. While the handset isnt getting One UI 5.1 yet, it is picking up the latest security patch. The 2021 premium mid-range smartphone is jumping to the February 2023 SMR (Security Maintenance Release).

The latest security update for the Galaxy A72 is currently rolling out in Asia. To be precise, users in India are getting it. The updated firmware build number is A725FXXS5CWB2 (via). The rollout should expand to more markets in the coming days. While Samsung didnt release the handset in the US, it arrived in Europe, Africa, Latin America, and Australia. As usual, users can check for updates from the Settings app. Go to the Software update menu and tap on Download and install.

This update brings more than 50 vulnerability fixes to the Galaxy A72. Samsungs latest SMR patches seven Galaxy-specific vulnerabilities, including flaws in Secure Folder, Fingerprint TA, and Contacts and Phone apps. The remaining patches are part of Googles latest ASB (Android Security Bulletin). The Android maker labeled five patches as critical. Some of these could lead to remote code execution if threat actors exploited the vulnerabilities in the wild.

Galaxy A72 may get Samsungs One UI 5.1 update

Samsung launched the Galaxy A72 in March 2021 as its most expensive mid-range model of the year. The device arrived running Android 11 out of the box. It has received updates to Android 12 and Android 13 since then. The handset is also eligible for Android 14. Moreover, we also expect it to receive One UI 5.1. The new One UI version debuted with the Galaxy S23 series earlier this month. It recently rolled out to the Galaxy S22, Galaxy S21, Galaxy S20, Galaxy Z Fold 4, Galaxy Z Flip 4, Galaxy Z Fold 3, Galaxy Z Flip 3, and more. We will let you know if and when Galaxy A72 gets it.

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One UI 5.1 brings a host of new features and improvements to these Galaxy devices. Samsung has added more camera features and a Shared Family Album to the Gallery app. It makes sharing photos and videos with up to six family members a breeze. The new One UI version also gives you more options while editing photos, including the ability to remaster downloaded GIFs. Samsung Notes supports collaboration during a Google Meet conference, while Samsungs AR Zone and AR Emoji apps get some functional improvements. Last but not least, Bixby Text Call is available in English with One UI 5.1.
Samsung seems to be in a hurry to get done with the One UI 5.1 rollout. The company began seeding the new One UI version to Galaxy devices yesterday, and in no time, the update has reached the majority of eligible models. The Galaxy S21 FE and Galaxy S20 FE 5G are the latest additions to the party.

As of this writing, the One UI 5.1 update for the two Fan Edition (FE) models is rolling out in Europe. The new firmware build number for the Galaxy S21 FE is G990B2XXU1EWAJ, while that for the Galaxy S20 FE 5G is G781BXXU4HWB1 (via). It appears the 4G version of the latter hasnt received the update yet. But Samsung should soon cover that model as well. The rollout should also reach more markets in the coming days, including the US.

This update brings a host of new features and improvements to the Galaxy S21 FE and Galaxy S20 FE. Samsung has added new camera features and improved several stock apps and existing features. The Shared Family Album in Gallery makes it easier to share photos and videos with family members. Bixby Text Call, which transcribes live audio calls, now supports English. Samsung Notes allows collaboration during a Google Meet conference. One UI 5.1 also lets you remaster downloaded GIFs. The February 2023 Android security patch is part of the package too.

This is the last major update for the Galaxy S20 FE

Samsung launched the Galaxy S20 FE in September 2020. The device came running Android 10 out of the box. It has since picked up updates to Android 11, Android 12, and Android 13. And thats all it will ever get. The handset is not eligible for Android 14. The Korean firm now offers four generations of major Android upgrades, but not to phones launched in 2020. As such, One UI 5.1 is the last major feature update for the Galaxy S20 FE. Going forward, it will only get security updates.

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The Galaxy S21 FE, on the other hand, arrived in January 2022 with Android 12 onboard. Moreover, it is covered under Samsungs revamped support policy. This phone picked up Android 13 a few months back and will also get Android 14, Android 15, and Android 16 in its lifetime. If youre using either of these FE phones, One UI 5.1 with a host of new features is coming your way. We will let you know when the new One UI version reaches other Galaxy devices, like the Galaxy Note 20 and Galaxy Z Fold 2.
With the internet and social media playing a significant role in how people consume information, combating misinformation is more important than ever. To address this issue, Google recently launched a new campaign named prebunking, which aims to help people identify misinformation and become more resilient against manipulation.

What exactly is Prebunking?

Prebunking is a technique that goes beyond fighting individual instances of fake news. It involves teaching people how to spot false claims before they encounter them. The idea is to use short videos that highlight the techniques commonly used in misleading claims and help people develop critical thinking skills to combat misinformation.

Google first launched the campaign in Poland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic, in collaboration with the universities of Cambridge and Bristol, by distributing the prebunking videos through social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok. These videos focused on exposing the spread of false information that was being used to hold Ukrainian refugees accountable for a housing crisis in Poland.

Surveys conducted after the campaign showed that those who watched the videos were up to 8% more likely to correctly identify fake news. Given its success in Eastern European countries, Googles Jigsaw now plans to expand the campaign to Germany.

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However, prebunking videos come with their own set of challenges. The effects of the videos wear off eventually, and companies like Google will need to produce booster videos periodically. Additionally, to be effective, the videos must also tailor to different languages, cultures, and demographics.

The future of fighting misinformation could be AI

As Google and Microsoft are developing their conversational AIs with advanced natural language processing algorithms, its evident that AI could serve as a potential weapon against misinformation. Given that AI can handle massive data quantities and spot irregularities and patterns that humans might not perceive, companies like Google can design algorithms capable of identifying and flagging fake news articles or social media posts. Such a system could curb the spread of false information and notify fact-checkers to research and disprove the claim.
The Motorola Edge 40 Pro has just popped up online, with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC, and other high-end specs. The phone surfaced on Geekbench, signaling that a global launch is not far off.

The Motorola Edge 40 Pro surfaced online with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC

The Motorola Edge 40 Pro, as many of you probably already know, will essentially be a global variant of the Motorola Moto X40. That handset launched in China back in December. We already know what to expect in terms of specs and design thanks to that, and Geekbench just confirmed some of that info.

The Motorola Edge 40 Pro will be fueled by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC, and will offer up to 12GB of RAM, or only 12GB of RAM, it remains to be seen. Android 13 will come pre-installed on the device. That is the spec info that surfaced on Geekbench.

The phone managed to score 1,480 points in the single-core benchmark, and 4,889 points in the multi-core benchmark. Do take those results with a grain of salt, as its possible this is a pre-release unit.

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It will essentially be the Motorola Moto X40 with global software on it

The phone itself will have a curved display, and a centered display camera hole. The bezels will be very thin, and three cameras will sit on the back. This device will be made out of metal and glass.

If the Motorola Moto X40 is any indication, the Motorola Edge 40 Pro will feature a 6.7-inch fullHD+ display with a 165Hz refresh rate. This will be an OLED display, by the way.

A 4,600mAh battery will also be included, and the phone will support 125W wired charging will be supported. 15W wireless charging is also expected, as is 5W reverse wired charging.

Were still not sure when will the Motorola Edge 40 Pro launch, but its not far off, thats for sure.
Samsung is on a roll today. The company has released the One UI 5.1 update to a host of Galaxy smartphones. After the Galaxy S22, Galaxy S21, Galaxy Z Fold 4, Galaxy Z Fold 3, and Galaxy Z Flip 3, the new One UI version is now available for the Galaxy S20 series and the Galaxy Z Flip 4.

Like earlier rollouts, Samsung has initially released the One UI 5.1 update for the Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20+, and Galaxy S20 Ultra in Europe. The new firmware build number for the phones is G98**XXUFHWAK (via SamMobile). The rollout for the Galaxy Z Flip 4 has also begun in Europe. The updated firmware version for the foldable is F721BXXU1CWAC. The February 2023 Android security patch, which fixes more than 50 vulnerabilities, is part of the package. Samsung should expand the rollout to more markets, including the US, in the coming days.

One UI 5.1 brings plenty of new features and improvements. We have new tools in the stock camera app, while the Gallery app adds a Shared Family Album. The update also adds new editing features, including support for the remastering of downloaded GIF files for enhanced resolution and clarity. Samsung Notes supports collaboration during a video call on Google Meet with One UI 5.1. Bixby Text Call is also available in English. There are some foldable-specific features as well. Check out our coverage of One UI 5.1 features to know what else youre getting with this update.

This is the last major update for the Galaxy S20 series

One UI 5.1 is the final major feature update for the Galaxy S20 series. Samsung launched the phones in early 2020 with Android 10 out of the box. Over the past three years, the devices have received updates to Android 11, Android 12, and Android 13. They arent covered under the companys extended support policy that guarantees four generations of major Android upgrades. As such, the Galaxy S20 trio will not get Android 14. That also means no more major feature updates.

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The Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20+, and Galaxy S20 Ultra will only receive security updates going forward. Those updates will come for at least one more year, if not longer. But right now, users have a major feature update to look forward to. As usual, you can check for updates from the Settings app. Simply navigate to Software update > Download and install and youll be prompted to download the latest available OTA (over the air) update. If you dont see any updates, wait a few days and check again.
Samsung has released its Camera Assistant app for a host of Galaxy devices. Debuting with One UI 5.0 on the Galaxy S22 series, the app that unlocks new camera features is now available for the Galaxy S23, Galaxy S21, Galaxy S20, Galaxy Note 20, Galaxy Z Fold 4, Galaxy Z Flip 4, Galaxy Z Fold 3, Galaxy Z Flip 3, and Galaxy Z Fold 2. The updated version also adds several new features based on feedback from Galaxy S22 users.

Samsung updates its Camera Assistant app with new features

According to an official announcement on Samsungs community forum in South Korea, the updated Camera Assistant app lets you select from two different image softening modes. You can pick a Medium mode (50% softening) or High mode (100% softening). Of course, you can entirely turn off image softening as well. The app also improves the shutter speed.

The photo is taken the moment you touch the shutter button rather than when you release the finger. You can also slide your finger on the shutter button or hold it to capture a GIF, a series of burst images, or record a video.

A fast shutter may affect the image quality, though. If you want high-resolution photos with more detail, you can opt for Quality Priority. A Balanced mode gives you a balance of quality and speed. Samsung also suggests disabling Auto HDR to improve the shutter speed.

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Meanwhile, when setting a timer, you can now also select the number of photos to capture (1, 3, 5, or 7) without needing to press the shutter button again. Camera Assistant will let you define an interval between each photo, so you can change your pose. You can choose from 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, and 3 seconds shooting intervals between each photo.

Camera Assistant also lets you din the screen while recording videos. This feature helps save battery when youre recording long videos with no manual intervention in between. Other notable features include a clean camera interface when connected to an external display via HDMI, a manual camera timeout setting, and automatic lens switching.

Of course, this app is different from Expert RAW, which brings granular controls to various shooting parameters. It is more suitable for photography professionals, while Camera Assistant gives additional features to regular users.

You can download Camera Assistant from the Galaxy Store

The updated Camera Assistant app with a host of new features is now available for users of the aforementioned Galaxy devices on the Galaxy Store. Your phone must be running One UI 5.1, which is already rolling out widely to eligible models.

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If you have updated your Galaxy phone to the latest One UI version, you can click the button below to download Camera Assistant from the Galaxy Store. Samsung says some features may be currently missing on certain devices but will be added over time. We will keep you posted.

DOWNLOAD CAMERA ASSISTANT
Something very weird happened on Twitter. It seems like a Twitter malfunction caused Elon Musks tweets to run rampant on the platform. Even people who dont follow Twitters owner have been flooded by his tweets.

Twitter malfunction causes Elon Musk tweets to run wild

This happened on Monday, it seems, as users noticed that their For You feeds were filled with tweets from Elon Musk. This even happened to some people who dont follow Elon Musk.

In some cases, even the first 5-6 tweets were from Elon Musk, regardless of whether the tweets were brand new or not. More such tweets ended up in there, stuffed in-between tweets from other people, and sponsored content, of course.

Why did this happen? Well, we dont know, but we can guess. On February 12, Elon Musk tweeted out that Twitter pushed out a change that should fix the visibility issue. He said that 95% of his tweets werent getting delivered.

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So, considering the timing of this, its easily possible that the said tweak caused this mess. Its just too big of a coincidence. At the time of writing this article, the issue was not fixed, but Elon Musk did say a fix is coming soon.

The issue is not affecting everyone

This doesnt seem to happen to everyone, just to make that clear. I am not experiencing that problem, and several people Ive talked to are not either. So there you have it. It seems to be limited in some way, at least.

Issues like this are not surprising, as a lot of changes are being made on Twitter. Luckily, the companys employees are usually fast to address such issues, so we dont have to deal with them for long.

Ever since Elon Musk took over, Twitter has been making tons of changes, and more changes are coming.
(ANSA) - ROME, FEB 14 - A Naples court on Tuesday upheld a petition by lawyers representing Italian MEP Andrea Cozzolino to put off a hearing on a request for his extradition to Belgium over his alleged involvement in the so-called Qatargate bribery scandal.

The court adjourned proceedings until February 28 to give time for a check on the Belgian prison Cozzolino would go to.

Cozzolino is under house arrest in Naples after the European Parliament waived his immunity and that of Belgian MEPs Marc Tarabella over the case of alleged attempts by Qatar and Morocco to influence EU affairs via bribery.

Cozzolino, who has been suspended by Italy's centre-left Democratic Party (PD) and suspended himself from the Socialist (S&D) caucus in the European Parliament, denies any wrongdoing.

Greek MEP Eva Kaili, who was removed from her position as European Parliament vice president after the scandal exploded and has been in jail since December 9, has been charged too in relation to the case, along with her Italian partner Francesco Giorgi, Cozzolino's assistant.

Former Italian MEP Antonio Panzeri, a central figure in the 'Qatargate' corruption scandal, has started to cooperating with Belgian prosecutors after reaching a plea bargain for a one-year jail term.

Another Italian under investigation over the case, Niccolo' Figa'-Talamanca, the secretary general of the No Peace Without Justice NGO, has been released from prison. (ANSA).


(ANSA) - ROME, FEB 14 - Last month's police operation to catch Italy's most wanted man, Cosa Nostra fugitive Matteo Messina Denaro, after 30 years on the run, shows the supremacy of law over the Mafia, President Sergio Mattarella told police force commanders at the Quirinale presidential palace Monday, sources said Tuesday.

Messina Denaro, 60, was captured at a Palermo cancer clinic after three decades hiding out near his Trapani home with the complicity and omerta of swathes of the local population, Italian police say.

Mattarella expressed the 'Republic's gratitude' for the capture of Messina Denaro, "emphasising how this success of the action of the Judiciary and all the Police Forces, who have committed themselves to it with tenacity and dedication, has manifested the supremacy of the law over crime and has strengthened citizens' trust in a society free from the presence of the Mafia", Quirinale sources said.

Messina Denaro, who is continuing his colon cancer treatment in a high-security prison at L'Aquila in Abruzzo, was questioned there Monday.

He has told police he is well-tread on health issues and has demanded the best treatment possible.

Italian police recently arrested Messina Denaro's doctor after previously arresting the man who had lent him his identity so he could hide out until his arrest on January 16.

Prosecutor Paolo Guido said there had been a "deafening silence" in the omerta' shown by the community that had sheltered Messina Denaro in the mall town near Trapani in western Sicily, Campobello di Mazara.

The Trapani superboss has been condemned to life in prison in absentia for his involvement in dozens of murders, including the 1992 bombings that killed anti-Mafia magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, the killing of Giuseppe Di Matteo, the 12-year-old son of a mobster-turned-State witness who was strangled and dissolved in acid in 1996, and bombings at art and religious sites in Milan, Florence and Rome that killed 10 people and hurt 40 more in 1993.

The mobster was seen by some experts as the boss of bosses within the Mafia after the deaths of Bernardo 'The Tractor' Provenzano in 2016 and Toto' 'The Beast' Riina in 2017, although other experts said he was not at the very summit of Mafia power, without being able to say who occupies that post, possibly because it is vacant.

Reportedly idolised by Cosa Nostra's younger troops because of his ruthlessness and playboy-like charisma, Messina Denaro sealed a reputation for brutality by murdering a rival Trapani boss and strangling his three-months-pregnant girlfriend.

The boss, who reportedly enjoyed orgies with Palermo women while on the run, once said he could have filled a cemetery with those he had killed.

He was reportedly helped dodge police by a "middle class Mafia", not only around Trapani but also around Sicily, Italian police have said. (ANSA).


Moldova: Moscow denies coup allegations "Absolutely baseless"

Correlati Associate Moldovan president accuses Russia of plotting coup

(ANSA) - MOSCOW, FEB 14 - The Russian government has denied statements made yesterday by Moldovan President Maia Sandu, according to which Moscow is planning a coup in the country, according to the news agency Tass. Chisinau's claims about "Russia's plan to destabilize the situation in Moldova" are "absolutely baseless," said Maria Zakhina, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry. (ANSA).





 Copyright ANSA - All rights reserved
First UN convoy reaches rebel-controlled areas in Syria Through Bab al-Hawa crossing

Related Associated Quake in Syria: mother and infant saved twice in 3 days

(ANSAmed) - SARMADA, 14 FEB - A United Nations delegation entered rebel-held areas of northwestern Syria today for the first time since the earthquake, to assess the needs of hard-hit regions, a correspondent of the AFP reported.



The delegation entered through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey. "It's largely an assessment mission," Kenn Crossley, director of the World Food Program in Syria, told AFP in Geneva.



The first convoy of international aid from Turkey also arrived in the area today, through the Bab as Salama border post. This was reported by the pan-Arab-Saudi TV al Hadath, quoting eyewitnesses near the pass that connects the Turkish region of Gaziantep to the Syrian region north of Aleppo.



(ANSAmed).




PARIS - Italy has been named guest of honour at the Paris Book Festival in the French capital from April 21 to 23, a presentation at the Italian Institute of Culture there heard Tuesday.



Around fifty Italian authors are expected in the French capital twinned with Rome as part of the Parisian event scheduled from 21 to 23 April at the Grand Palais Ephemere in Paris.



The festival's poster, presented Tuesday at the Italian Cultural Institute in Paris, shows a boy and a girl riding a red Vespa, with the Eiffel Tower in the background.
Plastic 80% of sea debris in Mediterranean COMMON project finds in Tunisia, Italy and Lebanon

(ANSAmed) - TUNIS, FEB 14 - Plastic represents 80% of marine debris in the marine and coastal environment of three Mediterranean countries: Tunisia, Italy, and Lebanon.



This was the finding of the EU-funded COastal Management and MOnitoring Network for tackling marine litter in Mediterranean Sea (COMMON) project recently presented in Tunisia.



Five pilot projects were involved: two in Tunisia (the Kuriate and Monastir islands), two in Italy (Maremma and Salento) and one in Lebanon (Tyre Nature Reserve).



The project found that over half the waste collected (53%) was single-use plastic (SUP).



"Of the over 90,000 objects collected on the beaches and analysed using scientific protocols, harmonised among the different project partners, 17,000 (around 20%) were cigarette butts, and 6,000 were cotton buds", reads a statement published on the ENI CBC Med website.



The data obtained during the 3-year project confirms the impact of marine litter and microplastics on Mediterranean biodiversity, as reported by Tunisia's TAP news agency.



"In fact, during the COMMON project, the gastrointestinal tract of over 700 specimens of 6 commercially important fish species was analysed: Engraulis encrasicolus (anchovy), Sardina pilchardus (sardine), Sardinella aurita (round sardinella), Boops boops (bogue), Mullus barbatus (red mullet), Lythognathus mormirus (striped seabream). On average, one-third of the specimens analysed had ingested microplastics," it stated.



"During this project, sea turtle Caretta caretta was used as an indicator of the health of the basin, by the Integrated Monitoring and Assessment Programme of the Mediterranean Sea and Coast (IMAP), and revealed that in over 140 specimens from Tunisia, Lebanon, and Maremma (Italy), the ingestion levels vary between 40% and 70%," it added.



"Launched in 2019, the COMMON project funded by the European Union through the ENI CBC MED programme with 2.2 million euros, involving Legambiente, the University of Siena, and the CIHEAM Bari for Italy, the National Institute of Marine Sciences and Technology (INSTM) and the University of Sousse for Tunisia and the Lebanese NGO Amwaj of the Environment and the Tyre nature reserve, for Lebanon," it said.



"Furthermore, the project promoted the Clean Up The Med initiative, a large environmental volunteer initiative in its 30th edition, involving over 2,000 volunteers from 20 Mediterranean countries who took part in beach cleaning activities, removing 10 tons of marine litter along nearly 24,000 km of coastline.," it concluded.(ANSAmed). (ANSA).




TEL AVIV - A 17-year-old Palestinian has been killed in clashes with the Israeli army in Tubas near the city of Nablus in the West Bank.



The news agency WAFA quoted these figures as given by the local health ministry, identifying the teenager as Mahmoud Majed Al-Aydi, who "died of injuries sustained at dawn today, Tuesday, during a raid by the occupation forces south of Tubas".



The Israeli army has not yet commented on the incident.
First UN convoy reaches rebel-controlled areas in Syria Through Bab al-Hawa crossing

(ANSAmed) - SARMADA, 14 FEB - A United Nations delegation entered rebel-held areas of northwestern Syria today for the first time since the earthquake, to assess the needs of hard-hit regions, a correspondent of the AFP reported.



The delegation entered through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey. "It's largely an assessment mission," Kenn Crossley, director of the World Food Program in Syria, told AFP in Geneva.



The first convoy of international aid from Turkey also arrived in the area today, through the Bab as Salama border post. This was reported by the pan-Arab-Saudi TV al Hadath, quoting eyewitnesses near the pass that connects the Turkish region of Gaziantep to the Syrian region north of Aleppo.



(ANSAmed).




ISTANBUL - Rescue workers have pulled over 8,000 people out alive from the rubble of buildings that collapsed after the Feb. 6 earthquakes in southern Turkey.



The number was given by Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday, as reported by Anadolu.



He also said that over 81,000 people injured in the earthquakes had been discharged from hospitals.



The disaster "once again showed the importance of international solidarity," he stressed, noting that Turkey had received messages of support and condolences from more than 100 countries.



Two more people were extracted alive on Tuesday from the rubble in the southeastern province of Kahramanmaras, after having remained 198 hours under the rubble, Anadolu reported.
Quake in Syria: mother and infant saved twice in 3 days Home partially collapsed, and then entirely

(ANSAmed) - ROMA, 14 FEB - ROME - A woman was pulled alive from the rubble of her home twice in a single week in northwestern Syria.



The first time she was pregnant and the second time she was with her infant, who had just been born.



Dima, reported the BBC, was seven months pregnant when the Feb. 6 earthquake caused part of her house in Jindayris to fall down.



She suffered minor injuries and later gave birth to a boy, Adnan, at a hospital in Afrin supported by the Syrian American Medical Society (Sams).



They returned to the house as it was the only shelter available - only for it to collapse fully three days later.



"Adnan was brought back to Afrin's al-Shifa Hospital by rescuers in a critical condition, suffering from severe dehydration and jaundice, while Dima was treated for a serious lower limb injury," the BBC reported on its website.



Dr Abdulkarim Hussein al-Ibrahim, a paediatrician, told the BBC via WhatsApp on Monday that the baby was responding well to treatment.



"Video footage released by Sams showed Adnan sleeping peacefully inside an incubator with his wrist hooked up to a drip," the BBC noted. (ANSAmed).




TUNIS - Tunisia's Islamist Ennahdha movement, in opposition to President Kais Saied, has condemned in a statement what it described as "arbitrary arrests and persecution of those opposing the power taken by Kais Saied through a coup as well as every free voice in the media". Tunisian security forces on Monday evening detained the vice president of the party, Noureddine Bhiri, and the general director of the main private radio station in the country, Mosaique FM, Noureddine Boutar.



TAP reported that among those arrested was the politician and lawyer Lazar Akremi, formerly of the Nidaa Tounes party and advisor to the prime minister in the government under Youssef Chahed in 2020.



As part of an operation launched over the weekend by the Tunisian secret services, political activists, former judges and an influential businessman had already been arrested.



Bhiri, who was previously justice minister, had previously been arrested on suspicion of involvement in terrorism for over two months in early 2022, five months after Saied had suspended the country's parliament, in which there had been a majority of MPs with the Ennahdha party.



Local media report that, on Saturday, Tunisian police had arrested on charges of "an attempt against state security" businessman Kamel Letaief, who was very influential in political circles and long the eminence gris of ousted president Zine el Abidine Ben Ali.



Others arrested include: former Ennahdha leader Abdelhamid Jelassi, Ettakattol activist and politician Khayam Turki, former prosecutor general Bechir Akremi, and former Court of Cassation president Taieb Rached.




US and EU nations against Israeli settlements expansion Italy, France, UK and Germany with US, 'raises tension'

Related

(ANSAmed) - BERLINO, 14 FEB - The foreign ministers of five Western powers have said that they are deeply troubled by the Israeli government's announcement they it will proceed with the construction of thousands of settlements in the West Bank.



The foreign ministers of France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and United States said on Tuesday that they "strongly oppose unilateral actions which will only serve to exacerbate tensions between Israelis and Palestinians and undermine efforts to achieve a negotiated two-state solution." In the joint statement, they said they were "deeply troubled by the Israeli government's announcement that it is advancing nearly 10,000 settlement units" as well as by the security cabinet's authorization of nine settlements that had previously been found to be illegal under Israeli law.



"We continue to support a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace in the Middle East, which must be achieved through direct negotiations between the parties," they stated.



"Israelis and Palestinians both deserve to live in peace, with equal measures of freedom, security, and prosperity," they said.



The ministers affirmed their support of a two-state solution, stressing they would "closely monitor developments on the ground which impact the viability of the two-state solution and stability in the region at large." (ANSAmed).




The star of DC film Batgirl says hearing the news that Warner Bros had decided to scrap the film was like deflating a balloon.

US actress Leslie Grace admitted there were obstacles that affected the shooting process in Scotland, but said she was still grateful for the experience.

The decision that the film would be axed was made suddenly in August last year just months before it was due to be released.

Actors Leslie Grace and Ethan Kai on set during filming in Glasgow for Batgirl (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Filmed entirely in Scotland, it also starred Oscar-nominated actor Brendan Fraser, as well as Michael Keaton and JK Simmons.

Speaking to US trade publication Variety, Grace said she had found out the news like the rest of you  after reading reports in the media.

Asked if there were signs that the production was not going to work, she said: Im not going to lie to you. In every film, there are obstacles, and our film was nothing short of that.

Half of the shoot was night shoots in Scotland, where it never stops raining.

So there were obstacles, but at the end of the day, because of the incredible crew, nothing that ever got in the way of us delivering what we knew we wanted to deliver for this film.

She added: Even though I wouldve loved to share that with the rest of the world, nothing can take that experience away from us.

Batgirl reportedly cost an estimated 70 million dollars (57.6 million) and the film was scheduled for release in late 2022  though the decision to cancel its release was reportedly due to poor screen tests.

In January last year, the Trongate area of Glasgow was transformed by set builders into Gotham City for the production, with alterations made to shop fronts and police cars.

Brendan Fraser, who was also due to star in Batgirl, said news of the films cancellation had been a gut punch (Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

The film was was due to focus on Barbara Gordon, the daughter of Gotham police commissioner Jim Gordon.

In an online statement following the announcement, directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah said they were saddened and shocked by the news they wished fans could have the opportunity to see and embrace the final film themselves.

Fraser, who has picked up a best actor nomination at this years Oscars for his performance in The Whale, told Variety that the news about Batgirl had been a gut punch.

The actor said the most lamentable part of the decision by Warner Bros had been that a whole generation of little girls are going to have to wait longer to see a Batgirl and say, Hey, she looks like me.
A bid to restore the Assembly at Stormont has failed, thwarting the chances of the devolved legislature passing a new organ donation law for Northern Ireland.

The DUP once again exercised its veto to prevent the election of a speaker, meaning no further business could be conducted.

The regions main unionist party is boycotting the powersharing institutions in protest at Brexits Northern Ireland Protocol.

The latest in a series of failed efforts to recall the Assembly to elect a speaker was focused on a stalled organ donation law.

The law is named after Belfast boy Daithi MacGabhann, six, who is waiting for a heart transplant.

Daithi and his parents Mairtin MacGabhann and Seph Ni Mheallain were at Stormont on Tuesday to watch the ill-fated attempt to restore the institutions.

Mr MacGabhann described a very disappointing day, saying while they were not surprised, they had had a little hope that on Valentines Day, there might have been a chance of a fairytale ending for Daithis Law.

He vowed to focus on Westminster to pass the necessary regulations to enact the legislation.

Rival parties had attempted to ramp up the pressure on the DUP to end its boycott of devolution, but the unionist party blocked two further attempts to elect a speaker during Tuesdays sitting.

The DUP has said the regulations required to implement the opt-out donation system can be passed at Westminster in the continued absence of powersharing in Belfast.

Daithis dad Mairtin said they are disappointed but not surprised by events today in the Assembly, theyre now taking their fight to Westminster pic.twitter.com/fQ1cKbUjVQ  Rebecca Black (@RBlackPA) February 14, 2023

The party says it will not return to operating devolution until decisive action is taken to remove the protocols economic barriers on trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Negotiations between the UK Government and the EU to resolve differences over the protocol are continuing.

Addressing the Assembly, former DUP first minister Paul Givan urged Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris to take forward the law at Westminster.

The DUP supports organ donation, we encourage people to sign up to the register and we support this legislation from being brought into being, he said.

But the Secretary of State and the other parties in this chamber know the position that the DUP takes in terms of the restoration of these institutions.

Mr Givan criticised Mr Heaton-Harriss handling of the issue and accused him of delivering different messages in private to the parties, from his public statements.

The Secretary of State is not handling this issue in a way which should be befitting of the office he holds and I appeal to him to work in a manner which is much more constructive and apolitical than the approach that he has taken to date, he said.

The Government have legislated on other issues  same-sex marriage, abortion, the Irish language  and they were able to do that on issues which were much more controversial than an issue like this, which we are all united upon, which all of the parties in this Chamber have collectively called upon the Secretary of State to pass at Westminster given that, in the absence of an Assembly and the Executive, it remains the sovereign Parliament to do so.

Sinn Fein vice president Michelle ONeill, who greeted Daithi and his parents on their arrival at Stormont, told fellow MLAs the recalled sitting was not about party politics.

Today is about those of us here who are legislators fulfilling our duty and delivering through on the Organ and Tissue Donation Act 2022  Daithis Law, she said.

Each party and every MLA in the Assembly has the power to save lives today by completing Daithis Organ Donation Law. I urge all parties to do the right thing and work together to get this life-saving law done, without delay.  Michelle ONeill (@moneillsf) February 14, 2023

Over 130 people are currently waiting for an organ, 90% of people in the north support organ donation, and every party in this chamber supports this law.

There is little else to be said. The power is in the gift of each party and every single MLA to save lives by legislating in this place here today.

Put simply, not to do so is a dereliction of duty, and its really disheartening for all those families involved.

There is an onus on all of us here today to work together and most importantly to give hope to all those families who need us to get this done.

The opt-out organ donation system was passed by MLAs last year, but the secondary legislation required to implement it cannot be approved in the Assembly due to the current political stalemate.

MLAs in the Great Hall of Parliament Buildings at Stormont (Liam McBurney/PA)

The opt-out system would mean adults in Northern Ireland would be presumed to be donors, unless they take a decision to opt out. It is being implemented to increase donation rates in the region.

Attention will now turn to Westminster where the DUP plans to introduce an amendment to the Governments Executive Formation Bill to facilitate the passing of the regulations.

The Bill deals with the legislation required to extend a deadline for holding a fresh Assembly election in Northern Ireland.

It will be for the Speakers Office at Westminster to decide whether to permit the DUPs planned amendment on the organ donation regulations.

The quickest & simplest way to implement Daithis Law remains for the NI Parties to progress this legislation through the Assembly I share the frustrations of Daithi & his family. It is extremely disappointing that the NI parties have been unable to come together on this today  Chris Heaton-Harris MP (@chhcalling) February 14, 2023

The Northern Ireland Office has cast doubt on the prospect of it being permitted, saying the scope of the Bill is very narrow.

A spokeswoman for the NIO said it was extremely disappointing that a speaker had not been elected on Tuesday.

Electing a speaker would have allowed the Assembly to sit and progress Daithis Law, as well as show voters in Northern Ireland that their locally-elected representatives are ready to get back to work, she said.

The Secretary of State shares the frustrations of Daithi and the MacGabhann family that the political impasse in Northern Ireland is causing unnecessary delays to life-saving legislation.

The quickest and simplest way to implement Daithis Law remains for the Northern Ireland parties to progress this legislation through the Assembly.
The King became visibly emotional on Tuesday when he visited a pop-up support centre for Syrians who have been affected by the earthquake in the north-west of the country.

Charles toured Syrias House, a community tent which will be open for a week in Trafalgar Square, and met five people who have lost loved ones in the tragedy.

Syrians will be able to come to the house to pay their respects to lost relatives and organise vigils at the centre, which its founders hope will help raise awareness of the continuing humanitarian disaster in the country.

Hundreds of well-wishers had gathered around Trafalgar Square to witness his arrival at the centre.

Charles talks with members of the Syrian diaspora community (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Inside, he greeted small groups of Syrians one by one and was offered traditional Syrian bitter coffee and dates.

Among those he met was Salah Al-Asmar, a Syrian architect who works with the humanitarian White Helmets group and has been in the UK for two years.

He lost his parents, brother, sister in law and nephew in the earthquake in Antakya, Turkey, after being stuck under the rubble for seven days.

He said: I am very thankful to His Majesty for his support. I hope the Syrian people appreciate him standing with us.

We are thanking the King and the British people for supporting the Syrian people during this crisis.

For seven days, my family were under the rubble. There was no rescue team.

No-one could support them in this moment. I havent been able to sleep for days.

Charles takes a sip of Syrian tea (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

This is not like a normal emergency situation. We need proper support from the UK Government and the UN.

I think 52 convoys have reached Syria. It is basic aid and there have been no heavy vehicles to find people under the rubble.

Yazan Douedari, who was invited to the event through friends, told PA news agency: It was very nice to know that the King was here to support the Syrian people.

People need to shed light on the disaster.

It is hard to compare disasters but it is one of the massive disasters, and it has been after 13 years of conflict.

The King was showing his support and was saying I cant imagine how hard it has been for you. He said it is terrible. I saw that he was emotionally affected.

It means a lot that he came here and is here to support the Syrian people, the victims and their families.

Charles is given a rose for St Valentines Day by a well-wisher (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

It means a lot to the Syrian people and community to feel supported by the King.

Charles also met Bafta-winning Syrian filmmaker Waad al-Kateab, who produced and narrated the 2019 documentary film For Sama and co-founded campaign group Action for Sama, Action for Sama co-founder Hamza al-Kateab, the centres founder Ayman Asfari and teacher and activist Afraa Hashem.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who attended after granting approval for the tent to be in Trafalgar Square, told PA that Charles visit speaks volumes about the King.

He added of the visit: It was heart-breaking. Some of the stories will never leave you.

It is really important for those that were here to have the King showing solidarity and shining a spotlight on this important issue.

Charles shook hands with well-wishers, including children who had lined the streets before he left Trafalgar Square.
The Stormont Assembly will be recalled later in a doomed bid to pass a new law on organ donation in Northern Ireland.

Rival parties are attempting to ramp up the pressure on the DUP to end its boycott of devolution, but the unionist party has made clear it will again block any attempt to elect a speaker.

The recall petition is attempting to get MLAs to implement a new opt-out organ donation law inspired by Belfast boy Daithi MacGabhann, six, who is waiting for a heart transplant.

A petition tabled last week by Sinn Feins Stormont leader Michelle ONeill gained the requisite 30 MLA signatures to secure a recall of the crisis-hit institutions, which will take place at 12pm.

Several previous attempts to reconstitute the Assembly have already failed as the DUP has not supported the election of a speaker at the outset of the sittings.

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said his party would not back the election of a Stormont speaker, meaning no further business can take place (Brian Lawless/PA)

Without a speaker in place, the Assembly cannot proceed with further business.

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson confirmed his party will again block the election of a speaker on Tuesday.

The regions largest unionist party has refused to engage with the devolved institutions in Belfast since last Mays Assembly election, meaning it has not been possible to form a ministerial executive.

The boycott is part of the DUPs campaign of opposition to Brexits Northern Ireland Protocol and the party says it will not return to powersharing until decisive action is taken to remove the protocols economic barriers on trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Negotiations between the UK Government and the EU to resolve differences over the protocol are continuing.

Daithi MacGabhann is waiting for a heart transplant (Liam McBurney/PA)

The opt-out organ donation system was passed by MLAs last year, but the secondary legislation required to implement it cannot be approved in the Assembly due to the current political stalemate.

The opt-out system would mean adults in Northern Ireland would be presumed to be donors, unless they take a decision to opt out. It is being implemented to increase donation rates in the region.

If the Assembly cannot pass the secondary legislation, then attention will turn to Westminster where the DUP has introduced an amendment to the Governments Executive Formation Bill to facilitate the passing of the regulations.

The Bill deals with the legislation required to extend a deadline for holding a fresh Assembly election in Northern Ireland.

It will be for the Speakers Office at Westminster to decide whether to permit the DUPs planned amendment on the organ donation regulations.

The NIO has cast doubt on the prospect of it being permitted, saying the scope of the Bill is very narrow.

Mairtin MacGabhann has appealed to Northern Ireland politicians to pass the opt-out organ donation law (Liam McBurney/PA)

An NIO spokesman said: The Department for Health has laid the statutory rule to enable the Assembly to progress the legislation, meaning that the election of a speaker would allow this important and life-saving piece of legislation to be addressed this week.

The Executive Formation Bill is focused solely on the Executive formation period and the secretary of states corresponding election duty and, as such, it consists of only one substantive clause only.

The scope of the Bill is therefore very narrow, and amendments on issues other than the Executive formation period are highly unlikely to be in scope.

The secretary of state urges the NI parties to come together on this and reminds them that people in Northern Ireland expect and deserve the devolved institutions to be functioning fully.

Daithi underwent another heart procedure in England last week.

His father, Mairtin MacGabhann, has called on Northern Irelands politicians to do all they can to get the law implemented.
The Government has hailed a landmark deal by Airbus and Rolls-Royce to supply new aircraft to Air India in an agreement expected to create and support hundreds of jobs in the UK.

The airline has reportedly agreed to buy 250 planes from the European aviation giant, with a significant proportion of the manufacturing process expected to take place in the UK.

The Department for Business and Trade said the wings, designed in Filton near Bristol, will be assembled in Broughton in North Wales, bringing 450 new manufacturing jobs and 100 million in additional investment to the region.

The wide-bodied Airbus A350 aircraft, which reportedly account for 40 of the aircraft in the new order, are powered by Rolls-Royce XWB engines assembled and tested in Derby.

In a statement, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: This landmark deal between Air India, Airbus and Rolls-Royce demonstrates that the skys the limit for the UKs thriving aerospace sector.

The UK is already a top investment destination, and by building trade ties with growing economic powers like India we will ensure UK businesses remain at the forefront of global growth and innovation.

Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch said the agreement was another big step as the UK seeks to negotiate a free trade deal with India.

This is a significant win for the UKs world-leading aerospace sector and one which will help to secure thousands of highly skilled jobs across the country and drive economic growth, she said.

Its a shot in the arm for UK exports as we aim to sell 1 trillion of goods and services a year to the world by the end of the decade.
A firefighter has said no amount of training could have prepared her for the devastation she has witnessed in earthquake-hit Turkey.

Emma Atcherley, from Bedwas, near Caerphilly, South Wales, described the rollercoaster of emotions of working in a disaster zone  from saving a 90-year-old woman from the rubble to seeing dead bodies piled up on the side of the road.

Ms Atcherley, 42, was one of 77 search and rescue specialists from 14 fire and rescue services across the UK to be deployed to the country through the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in response to last weeks quakes.

Having served with the South Wales Fire and Rescue Service for 19 years it is her first deployment with the UK International Search and Rescue (UK-ISAR) team.

But she said the scale of the destruction had shocked even the most seasoned firefighters, who had worked on a number of catastrophes over the years.

Turkey is my first deployment with UK-ISAR and no amount of training could ever prepare you for how tough life is on the ground, she said.

Anything we work on that is quite true to real life are made safe before we train on them, whereas here we were going into buildings that were not safe, and making tunnels not really knowing when the next aftershock might happen.

Emma Atcherley with fellow UK search and rescue team colleagues in Turkey (FCDO/PA)

That level of anxiety you just cant prepare for.

Nor the level of intensity, because you constantly feel like you are on a stopwatch and up against the clock.

Youve got such a limited window to make a real difference and pull people out alive.

Ms Atcherley was part of the team on Saturday that pulled out two survivors who had been trapped in the rubble of a collapsed building for 120 hours.

She was also involved in pulling out a 90-year-old woman on the UK teams first day in Turkey, and another man the following day.

The specialists have been working in Antakya in Hatay province since last Tuesday, after being scrambled by the UK Government.

She said: It is so good when you pull someone out.

The reaction of the families when weve saved lives has been really heart-warming, seeing their relief and knowing that weve changed someones life.

Emma Atcherley rescuing a man whose legs are trapped in the rubble of a collapsed building (FCDO/PA)

Generations of families are going to be around now because of some of those rescues.

I dont think Ive cried yet, but throughout the day you go to a work site and you are up and you are down. Its a bit of a rollercoaster, she added.

The worst moments have been seeing the deceased being pulled out of the rubble.

A lot of the local teams have been working with bulldozers and have been taking deceased out of the rubble.

Seeing them piled up at the side of the road and the grieving families  thats difficult. Its so sad.

Also giving people bad news that theres nothing we can do after weve detected no signs of life, those are the worst moments.

Outside most collapsed buildings, theres relatives sat just waiting, which is quite hard to see that level of suffering.

They want us to bring their loved ones out alive or dead.

We are a live rescue team, so we have had to explain we cant do anything if we cant find signs of life, which is really hard.

The specialists deployed by the UK Government have been working since last Tuesday to free survivors (FCDO/PA)

Unfortunately, there are more of the low moments than the highs.

The mother-of-two said she is looking forward to an emotional reunion with her husband Leon and daughters Florence, 10, and Martha, eight.

She said: Im not sure how much my kids understand of whats going on. I know that at school they watch Newsround, so they will have seen something.

I also know that their teacher did a little talk on me being part of the UK Governments response and what the team were doing.

I know the kids are very proud of me, but they dont like me leaving and they were not happy that I was going. Any time Ive spoken to them its very much been When are you coming home?.

Im sure there will be lots of screaming and tears if I manage to pick them up from school when I get back.

The British people have donated more than 60 million to the DEC appeal for Turkey and Syria in its first two days, including 5 million from the UK Government in matched funding.

With the death toll hitting more than 36,000, the UK Government has worked with the Turkish authorities to deploy the UK Emergency Medical Team (UK-EMT) to Turkoglu, eastern Turkey, to provide life-saving care.

International development minister Andrew Mitchell said: This would not have been possible without the kindness and support of the British people. Thank you.
The author of a book about a soon-to-close gender identity clinic for children has said she hopes the full story on how it worked can lead to open, calmer debate on transgender issues.

It was announced in July that the clinic at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust would be shutting down, with two services led by specialist childrens hospitals in London and the north west due to be established by spring this year.

The two new services are expected to be the first step in a regional network with the possibility that seven or eight services could be put in place.

The NHS has previously acknowledged there has been a lack of clinical consensus and polarised opinion on what the best model of care for children and young people experiencing gender incongruence and dysphoria should be.

An independent review, led by Dr Hilary Cass, was commissioned in September 2020 amid the rise in demand, long waiting times for assessments and significant external scrutiny around the London-based Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) approach and capacity.

GIDS is the only NHS gender identity clinic in England and Wales for children and young people.

Dr Cass said there was a need to move away from a model of a sole provider and that the number of children seeking NHS help was now outstripping the capacity of the single national specialist service.

BBC journalist Hannah Barnes, who has written the book Time to Think, about what went wrong with GIDS, said there had been a failure of leadership at all levels across the service, the trust and NHS England.

In an interview with the PA news agency, she said: One of the clinicians in the book puts it that almost there was a cloak of mystery around the service because it involved the word gender and several people have said (the word) gender just sort of muddied the waters.

And so what should have been standard practice in any other clinical setting couldnt be questioned. And yes, sometimes that was through fear of being branded transphobic.

Following the @NHSEngland announcement on a new regional model for gender care, you can find further information and answers to common questions on our website: https://t.co/tylU46xTZ4  Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust (@TaviAndPort) July 28, 2022

Publisher Swift Press said the book details how puberty blocking drugs were given to children as young as 10, before GIDS own research study had gathered or published any meaningful data.

It also says the service failed to routinely flag potential surgical difficulties from the early blocking of puberty; and how hundreds of older teenagers were fast-tracked to adult gender services after having had only one face-to face appointment.

Ms Barnes, who had led BBC Newsnights coverage of the care available to young people experiencing gender-related distress, said she wanted to not tell people what to think, but present the evidence in the clearest and most robust way in her book.

She said: Certainly some young people were helped at GIDS, I absolutely make that point in the book, and Ive spoken to some, but things have gone very badly wrong as well.

And I think its really difficult to deny that and I think as we move forward and try to build these new gender services to help everybody, to have different pathways  medical transition for some, but certainly not for all  I think we cant build better care going forward unless we learn from the mistakes of the past.

And I also just wanted to bring it to a wider audience.

I think if youre the average, partly-engaged layperson, you might perhaps think that theres consensus in the clinical community on how best to care for this group of young people, and where there is objection that its coming from a place of transphobia and nothing could be further from the truth.

She said there is no agreement amongst frontline clinicians on how best to treat this diverse, often distressed, often vulnerable group of young people, and thats the same in gender clinics across Europe and in the United States.

Asked what she wants people to take away from the book, she said: I want there to be a more open, calmer debate about this whole area. Because of course, its about the trans community, but its about young people, its about children as well.

She said society must ensure it gets the care right for all of these young people  those who will grow up to be trans adults and those who wont.

She added: I dont want to tell people what to think and thats why Ive written it in the way I have and its up to them (the public) to make up their own minds, but I do hope they read it, because I think its a story of how some people have been harmed, and really people have been trying to tell us this for years and lots of people didnt listen.

In a statement, the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust said: GIDS works on a case-by-case basis with every young person and their family, working thoughtfully and holistically with them to explore their situation, with no expectation of what the right outcome for them might be.

Only the minority of young people seen in the service are referred for any physical interventions.

At the Tavistock and Portman we wholeheartedly support our staff to raise concerns, and have recently strengthened our mechanisms for doing so. Concerns relating to young peoples well being are taken seriously and investigated.

The Cass reviews final report is expected this year.
Two men have appeared in court charged with the murder of a council worker.

Ashley Dale, 28, was found with a gunshot wound in the back garden of her home in Old Swan, Liverpool, on August 21 last year.

Niall Barry, 26, and Sean Zeisz, 27, appeared at Liverpool Magistrates Court on Tuesday afternoon charged with her murder.

Barry, of Moscow Drive, Tuebrook, and Zeisz, of Longreach Road, Huyton both appeared via videolink.

They confirmed their names and dates of birth during the hearing, which lasted a few minutes.

Chair of the magistrates bench Davina Halstead said: This is an indictable offence, as magistrates we have no power to consider bail today.

The defendants were remanded in custody to appear at Liverpool Crown Court on Wednesday.

Ashley Dale (Family/PA)

James Witham, 40, of Ashbury Road, Huyton, and Joseph Peers, 28, of Woodlands Road, Roby, have already been charged with Ms Dales murder.

The pair, who are also charged with possession of a firearm with intent, appeared before Liverpool Crown Court earlier this month and were remanded in custody ahead of a plea and trial preparation hearing on June 30.

A trial date was set for October 3.

Kallum Radford, 25, has been charged with assisting an offender and is due to appear at Liverpool Crown Court on March 1.

Ms Dale, an environmental health officer for Knowsley Council, is not believed to have been the intended target of the shooting.

Her death was one of three gun killings within a week in Liverpool last year, with nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel killed in her home in Dovecot on August 22, and 22-year-old Sam Rimmer shot in Dingle on August 16.
A selection of Victorian love letters written by the parents of a former prime minister are being published online for Valentines Day.

The letters were written in 1843 by James Maitland Balfour, then MP for Haddington, and his bride-to-be, Lady Blanche Cecil, the daughter of prominent nobleman, the Marquess of Salisbury.

Their eldest son, Arthur, would go on to be prime minister.

The letters were among a number of papers bought for the national archives last year by National Records Scotland (NRS).

James Maitland Balfour was the author of the love letters (Hatfield House/PA)

Archivist Veronica Schreuder said: History already documents the union of these two immensely influential families but these private letters show us the tender young couple in love, eager that they would get on with each others families. Were putting extracts online today so people can read them for themselves.

The letter was dated July 15 1843  a month before the couples wedding.

Mr Balfour proposed and she accepted, which triggered a flurry of excited letters between family members. There are congratulations from his parents, his brother-in-law and even her nine-year-old brother.

James Balfours letter of proposal (National Records of Scotland/PA)

Mr Balfour wrote: My dearest Lady Blanche, I cannot leave town with no chance of seeing you again for many months without doing that which must either make me the happiest or most wretched of men.

O Lady Blanche, I love you deeply fervently and O how happy should I be if I could only hope that that love was returned.

Ms Schreuder added: In some ways their story is a sad one as James Balfour died only 13 years later at the age of 36 from TB (tuberculosis) but it was also a successful marriage.

They had eight children: three daughters and five sons, who would all go on to lead influential lives. Their eldest son, Arthur, followed in the footsteps of his uncle to become prime minister in 1902.

Lady Blanche was the daughter of a prominent nobleman ( Hatfield House/PA)

The couple were marred at Lady Blanches family home, Hatfield House, in Hertfordshire, at ages 23 and 18.

The Duke of Wellington, then leader of the House of Lords, was among the guests and he gave them the use of a property on his estate for their honeymoon.

The couple went on to have a family home at Whittinghame, East Lothian, and an estate at Strathconon in the Highlands.
A 22-year-old man is fighting for his life and three other people were also injured in a stabbing at a pub in east London.

Police were called to The Duke in Wood Street, Walthamstow, shortly after 8.15pm on Monday following reports of an attack involving a machete.

Three men were found with stab wounds inside the pub and a fourth was found injured in nearby Shernall Street.

Three of the men, aged 27, 31 and 42, are stable in hospital, while the 22-year-old remains in a life-threatening condition.

Police believe the attack was targeted. No arrests have been made.

A police cordon in Shernhall street in Walthamstow (Timothy Sigsworth/PA)

Metropolitan Police Detective Inspector Grant Stevens, who is leading the investigation, said: We are in the early stages of piecing together what happened last night and would like to hear from anyone who was inside the pub and witnessed the attack.

Whilst news of this kind is concerning, I would like to reassure the community that there is nothing to suggest any wider risk to the public.

Officers will remain in the area throughout the day and I would encourage anyone with concerns to speak with them.

Five roads near the pub remain closed and a police presence is expected to be in place throughout Tuesday.

A spokesman for the London Ambulance Service said: We sent a number of resources to the scene, including four ambulance crews, members of our Tactical Response Unit, a member of our Motorcycle Response Unit and a first responder.

We also dispatched Londons Air Ambulance.

We treated four people at the scene. We took them all to a major trauma centre, two as a priority.
Over 50 encrypted letters written by Mary, Queen of Scots, have been deciphered, revealing the ill-fated monarchs meditations on a wide variety of subjects.

A team of international code-breakers discovered the trove of 400-year-old handwritten messages in the national library of France, according to a study published on Feb. 8 in the journal Cryptologia.

The newly decoded letters were written during the queens years of captivity and are likely part of a secret correspondence considered to have been lost, researchers wrote.

Who was Mary, Queen of Scots?

Mary Stuart was crowned queen of Scotland just six days after her birth in 1542 following the unexpected death of her father, James V, according to researchers. While others governed in her stead, she was shipped off to France as a child and married a French prince, who later became king, while she was a teenager.

After the premature death of her husband in 1560, Mary returned to Scotland. Following two other marriages and the birth of her son, James VI, a group of Scottish nobles who suspected foul play in the death of her second husband had Mary imprisoned in a castle on an island.

While she was held captive, she was made to abdicate the Scottish throne, and her infant son was crowned king. A year later, Mary absconded to England and sought the protection of her cousin Queen Elizabeth I, researchers wrote.

But, Queen Elizabeth, a protestant, viewed Mary, a Catholic, as a threat because many English Catholics considered Mary to be the rightful monarch, researchers wrote. So, instead of offering her sanctuary, Queen Elizabeth had her imprisoned.

Mary spent the next 19 years of her life confined in castles in the English countryside where she maintained a concealed correspondence with her allies. She was found guilty of scheming to kill Queen Elizabeth and was executed in 1587.

What did the decoded letters reveal?

The letters, which were long thought to be lost, contain roughly 50,000 words and fill in some of the gaps in knowledge regarding her years of imprisonment.

Most of them were written using a series of symbols that corresponded to letters, words or phrases.

Using computerized codebreaking techniques, together with manual textual and contextual analysis, we were able to recover the cipher key and decipher all the letters, researchers, who were funded by the DECRPYT Project, wrote.

Marys decoded letters, which were mostly addressed to the French ambassador to England, discuss a lot of subjects, from the conditions of her confinement to the politics of the day.

Marys complaints about her conditions in captivity, and her requests to improve them are frequently mentioned in the letters, researchers wrote.

Another recurring subject was her desire to maintain a secret channel of communication with the ambassador and her broader network of allies, researchers said.

Many of the letters expressed a keen interest in domestic and international affairs, and included information about supposed schemes to usurp the throne of England. Some of the letters bring up the idea of bribing her enemies to change their allegiances, and others convey Marys interest in hiring more spies.

Absent from the letters are the details of the several schemes to dethrone Queen Elizabeth and install Mary as monarch. These plots led to greater scrutiny of Mary and her eventual execution.

The letters prove that during her time in captivity, Mary closely observed and actively involved herself in political affairs in Scotland, England and France, and was in regular contact, either directly, or indirectly through [the French ambassador], with many of the leading political figures at Elizabeth Is court, John Guy, a British historian, told NPR, adding that the letters will engage historians and those interested in coded language for years.

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U.S. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley speaks during a media conference after a meeting of NATO defense ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Olivier Matthys)

BRUSSELS (AP)  The chairman of the Joint Chief of Staffs said Tuesday that the first U.S. missile fired at an unidentified object over Lake Huron missed the second target and landed harmlessly" in the water, but that the second one successfully hit.

The acknowledgment by Gen. Mark Milley of the errant strike comes amid questions about whether the shootdown of aerial objects that military officials say didnt pose a threat is creating unnecessary risk.

The object taken down Sunday was the third in as many days to be shot from the skies. The White House has said the objects differed in size and maneuverability from a Chinese surveillance balloon that U.S. fighter jets shot down earlier this month, but that their altitude was low enough to pose a risk to civilian air space.

Milley said the Pentagon works to make sure that the air space is clear, and to evaluate the potential debris field, before embarking on such a strike.
During a day of graphic and emotional testimony, the double-murder trial of Alex Murdaugh heard from the pathologist who examined his wife and son; their dog caretaker; and Maggies sister Marian Proctor.

The defendant, accused of shooting the victims at the familys dog kennel in June 2021, was in tears as testimony confirmed Paul was shot first in the chest and then fatally in head, removing his brain. Maggie was shot four times, sustaining injuries to her kidney, chest and finally to the back of her head. They were killed with a shotgun and a rifle respectively.

Compelling evidence from employee Dale Davis about a hose in the kennels was seemingly overturned during cross-examination, though he also noted the dogs were in different pens after the murders.

Meanwhile, Ms Proctor spoke lovingly about her sister and nephew, the shock of the murders, and how she picked up on odd things Murdaugh said in the aftermath.

When he was shot in September 2021 in a botched hit, she found out about his financial problems, and her perception of things changed. On her way out of court, she was seen hugging his surviving son, Buster Murdaugh.

Court resumes at 9.30am on Wednesday.

Alex Murdaugh murder trial

Buster Murdaugh hugs his aunt after her emotional testimony

Tuesday 14 February 2023 22:00 , Oliver O'Connell

WATCH: Buster Murdaugh stands up and hugs his aunt as she exits the courtroom. #AlexMurdaugh pic.twitter.com/ZwQvTmQ9km  Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) February 14, 2023

Judge to rule on roadside shooting evidence

11:00 , Rachel Sharp

The judge at Alex Murdaughs double-murder trial is set to decide today whether or not jurors can hear testimony about the bizarre September 2021 roadside shooting  which later turned out to be a botched hitman plot.

On 4 September 2021  three months on from the 7 June 2021 murders of Maggie and Paul  the disgraced attorney was ambushed in what he initially claimed was a drive-by shooting along a road in Hampton County.

He survived and called 911, claiming he was changing a tire on his vehicle when someone opened fire on him from another car.

He was taken to hospital where he was treated for what police called a superficial gunshot wound to the head.

But, Mr Murdaughs story about the incident quickly unravelled.

One day after the shooting, Mr Murdaugh entered rehab for a 20-year opioid addiction and announced he had resigned from his law firm PMPED.

One week later on 13 September, he then confessed to law enforcement that he had orchestrated the whole saga, paying an alleged hitman to shoot and kill him in an assisted suicide plot so that his surviving son Buster could get a $10m life insurance windfall.

He told investigators that he had paid Curtis Eddie Smith  a former law firm client, distant cousin and allegedly his drug dealer  to carry out the shooting.

Both he and Mr Smith were arrested and charged over the incident.

Judge Clifton Newman will hear arguments from the defence and prosecution on Wednesday morning about the inclusion of evidence at 9.30am ET on Wednesday  before jurors return to Colleton County Courthouse at 10.30am ET.

The ruling could pave the way for hotly-anticipated testimony from Mr Smith  a former client, distant cousin and alleged drug dealer of Mr Murdaughs.

Key revelations from the Alex Murdaugh murder trial so far

09:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Its a dramatic saga that now includes murder, a botched hitman plot, multi-million-dollar fraud schemes and a series of unexplained deaths.

The now-disbarred attorney denies the allegations and has pleaded not guilty.

Mr Murdaughs trial got underway at Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro on 23 January.

Here are the key revelations from the trial so far:

Confession, bloody scene and clean shirt: Key moments from Alex Murdaugh trial

Dramatic bodycam footage shows Alex Murdaugh sobbing and asking are they dead

07:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Dramatic bodycam footage has finally been released showing Alex Murdaugh on the night of his wife and sons murders, capturing the disgraced legal dynasty heir pacing around the dog kennels, sobbing and wailing, and repeatedly asking: Are they dead?

The footage was taken from the bodyworn camera of Colleton County Sheriffs Sgt Daniel Greene when he became the first law enforcement officer to respond to the scene of the brutal slayings at the Murdaugh familys 1,700-acre estate back on 7 June 2021.

In the video, the seemingly-upset legal scion is seen repeatedly asking the officer if his wife Maggie and son Paul are dead and asking did you check their bodies to see if theyre still alive.

Rachel Sharp reports.

Dramatic bodycam footage shows Alex Murdaugh on night of murders

Murdaugh expected to testify at murder trial, reports say

05:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Alex Murdaugh is expected to testify in his trial for the alleged double murders of his son and wife, according to new reports.

Mr Murdaugh is accused of shooting his wife Maggie and son Paul dead at the familys sprawling 1,700-acre property in Islandton, South Carolina, on the night of 7 June 2021. The prosecution has argued in court that the disgraced legal scion committed the murders to distract from his mounting financial and legal scandals.

Andrea Blanco reports.

Alex Murdaugh expected to testify at murder trial, reports say

How a garden hose became prime evidence at Murdaugh murder trial

01:30 , Oliver O'Connell

The man who took care of the dogs at Alex Murdaughs home testified Tuesday during the disgraced attorneys double murder trial that puddles of water were not where they should have been and the dogs were in the wrong kennels when police arrived after Murdaughs son and wife were killed.

But under cross-examination, Dale Davis acknowledged that the hose, which he said he meticulously hung up before leaving the afternoon of the killings, could be seen on the ground in video investigators said was taken just before the shootings.

Read the full story:

Hose becomes prime evidence in Alex Murdaugh's murder trial

Watch: Pathologist discusses Paul Murdaughs fatal wounds

00:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Maggie Murdaughs sister says Alex told her wife and son didnt suffer in horrific murders

Tuesday 14 February 2023 23:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Maggie Murdaughs sister has revealed how Alex Murdaugh reassured her that his wife and son did not suffer when they were brutally murdered.

Questioned by the prosecution, Ms Proctor recounted the moment she found out her sister and nephew had been killed. Ms Proctor became emotional as she testified that she initially could not wrap her hand around the tragedy, and thought there had to be a mistake.

Andrea Blanco reports on her testimony.

Maggie Murdaughs sister says Alex told her wife and son didnt suffer during murders

Watch: Maggie Murdaughs sister gives emotional testimony at trial

Tuesday 14 February 2023 22:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Tuesday 14 February 2023 21:56 , Oliver O'Connell

The prosecution wants to play a recorded statement from Murdaugh admitting he had Cousin Eddie shoot him in the head on the side of the road and wanted to die so Buster could get life insurance, The insurance company wouldnt pay out if it was a suicide.

Waters wants to play a recorded statement from #AlexMurdaugh admitting he had someone (cousin Eddie) shoot him in the head on the side of the road, wanted to die so Buster could get life insurance and insurance wouldn't pay out if suicide. pic.twitter.com/intGPeyQPQ  Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) February 14, 2023

Tuesday 14 February 2023 21:54 , Oliver O'Connell

The defence tells Judge Newman that the defendant has admitted to the circumstances of the roadside shooting  Cousin Eddie being asked to shoot him in the head so Buster could get $10m in insurance money.

Prosecutors counter by saying Murdaugh lied that day, which proves intent.

Harpootlian responds: He didnt want to do it to gather sympathy. He did it because he wanted to be dead.

He adds that Cousin Eddie has given no less than six versions of the events of that day.

I am looking forward to cross-examining Eddie Smith.

Tuesday 14 February 2023 21:37 , Oliver O'Connell

The prosecution says it has no further witnesses to call today as someone has been delayed because of circumstances beyond their control.

The jury is sent home early.

After a short back and forth, Judge Newman orders the jury to return at 10.30am tomorrow. During the extra hour tomorrow morning, he will hear arguments over the admissibility of the roadside shooting evidence in September 2021.

New Witness: Barton Proctor, Marians husband

Tuesday 14 February 2023 21:32 , Oliver O'Connell

In brief testimony, Barton Proctor, Marians husband and Maggies brother-in-law, identifies Paul, Maggie, and Alexs voices on the kennel video.

On cross-examination, he is asked if he was shown a picture of the blue raincoat. He says he was shown it but had never seen it before.

Tuesday 14 February 2023 21:28 , Oliver O'Connell

Ms Proctors testimony concludes with her saying that the story initially told by Alex in the aftermath of the roadside shooting turned out not the true and this changed her perception of what had transpired.

Tuesday 14 February 2023 21:26 , Oliver O'Connell

Switching tack, Mr Creighton asks whether Maggie had been concerned prior to the murders about Alexs use of opioids.

Yes.

She says she is not sure how long it had been going on but that it was for some time.

Ms Proctor is then asked if Maggie had a nickname for Paul.

She replies, yes and that it was Little Detective. The nickname came about because he would always keep an eye out for if his father was behaving and was not abusing opioids.

He would try and find any pain pills Alex had in the house to make sure his father couldnt take them.

Tuesday 14 February 2023 21:22 , Oliver O'Connell

Ms Proctor testifies about learning of Alex being shot on the side of the road in September 2021.

Initially, she was concerned that he might be dead and felt the family was being targeted and was concerned for Buster.

She called Buster, who said Alex had been airlifted to hospital.

Ms Proctor called Jim Griffin and learned that he had been fired from his job.

Tuesday 14 February 2023 21:19 , Oliver O'Connell

Judge Newman rules that Ms Proctor cannot testify about the allegations that Alex Murdaugh had an affair 15 years prior as it is too confusing.

She can testify about how she found out that Alex has been fired because he had been stealing, and that he had a problem with opioids.

The defence team says it may have hearsay objections about her testimony.

The jury is brought back in.

Tuesday 14 February 2023 20:59 , Oliver O'Connell

Further confusing things, it transpires that Ms Proctor was informed that Alex had been fired from the law firm for stealing by defence attorney Jim Griffin.

He immediately objects that his own conversation with the witness is hearsay, causing an eruption of laughter in the courtroom.

Returning to the marital issues, Alex had an alleged affair in 2007 that the defence team says did not happen.

Ms Proctor says Maggie and Alex were able to resolve their issues from then but her sister still brought it up as it still bothered her.

Judge Newman orders a 15-minute recess.

Tuesday 14 February 2023 20:55 , Oliver O'Connell

The court reporter reads out a transcript of the exchange between Mr Griffin and Ms Proctor for context.

With the jury out of the room, Ms Proctor testifies she and her husband got a call in September 2021 from a friend who said they were sorry to hear about Alex. They didnt know what they were talking about and were told that Alex had been shot.

I thought whoever had killed Maggie and Paul had now shot Alex. I was horrified that Buster was next.

States attorney Creighton Waters adds that he wants to ask Ms Proctor about fidelity/marital issues and opioid abuse. The defence says that would be opening a Pandoras box.

Returning to what happened after the roadside shooting, Ms Proctor said: We were very concerned for the family. We felt like someone was after them. But then we started finding out about other things that had been going on in Alexs life.

Tuesday 14 February 2023 20:35 , Oliver O'Connell

Ms Proctor is asked about how she came to believe Alex wasnt focused on finding who killed Maggie and Paul (and was instead focused on clearing Pauls name over the boat case).

We never talked about it. We never talked about finding the person, who could have done it. It was just odd. We were sort of living in fear because we thought this horrible person was out there. We were mostly afraid for Alex and Buster but we didnt know the motive behind the killings. We thought it probably had something to do with the boat case. And we thought that up until September. And then things started to change a little bit.

With her response, Ms Proctor may have opened up for the prosecution to bring the roadside shooting of Alex Murdaugh into evidence in front of the jury.

The jury is sent out while both legal teams present their cases for the inclusion or exclusion of the botched hitman job.

Tuesday 14 February 2023 20:21 , Oliver O'Connell

Defence attorney Jim Griffin conducts the cross-examination and himself sounds emotional, noting what a special person Maggie was  they knew each other through the boat crash case.

Referring to her earlier testimony, Ms Proctor notes that in retrospect it probably wasnt that odd that Maggie did not go to Almeda to Alexs parents house if his father had already been readmitted to hospital.

She would also feel sad visiting Alexs mother because of her worsening Alzheimers.

Under cross Griffin brings out that Maggie would get sad when she visited #AlexMurdaugh's mom because of her dementia and his father had been admitted back in the hospital that day, Proctor says now it doesn't seem odd that Maggie didn't go to his mom's since dad wasn't there. pic.twitter.com/n5vF41A0fV  Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) February 14, 2023

Tuesday 14 February 2023 20:06 , Oliver O'Connell

Ms Proctor testifies Alex talked about the boat crash case after the murders.

He was very intent on clearing Pauls name, she told the court. He said his number one goal was clearing Pauls name. I thought that was so strange because my number one goal was to find out who killed my sister and Paul.

She adds: I know he must have wanted that too. But I dont know how he could have thought about anything else.

Tuesday 14 February 2023 20:05 , Oliver O'Connell

I didnt talk to Alex a lot. Alex was just really busy. The whole town was coming to see him. He was very, very, very torn up.

Ms Proctor asked Alex if he thought Maggie had suffered and he assured her she had not.

Now, Im not sure that thats true.

Later, she asked Alex if he had any idea who had done this. She testifies that he said that he did not know who it was, but he felt like whoever did it had thought about it for a really long time.

Ms Proctor said she found it odd that Maggie had not gone with Alex to his parents house in Almeda given that was why she had gone to Moselle. She adds that she was unaware that Alexs father had been taken into hospital.

Tuesday 14 February 2023 19:59 , Oliver O'Connell

Upon hearing that Maggie and Paul had been killed that night, Ms Proctor says: I just couldnt believe it. I didnt think it was true. I said there has to be a mistake.

She and her husband went to tell her parents and stayed with them all night.

They went to Moselle the next morning.

Tuesday 14 February 2023 19:58 , Oliver O'Connell

On 7 June 2021, Maggie told Ms Proctor that Alexs father had taken a turn for the worse and he had asked her to come to Moselle and that Paul would be there too.

She cries as she explains that she encouraged Maggie to go and be with Alex.

Tuesday 14 February 2023 19:55 , Oliver O'Connell

Ms Proctor says Maggie wanted to move away and looked for a new family home in the Hilton Head area. When she found one she liked, Alex advised her that the timing was not right because of the boat case.

Tuesday 14 February 2023 19:54 , Oliver O'Connell

Things changed after the boat crash.

Says Ms Proctor: That was a devastating blow for their family. It was a horrible accident, but it was an accident. Maggie felt like the Hampton community had turned against her. Paul was being mistreated.

She adds: People would say mean things to him, call him names. Social media. Inappropriate things were said to him. Inappropriate things were said to him when he went back to school. It was very hard on the family. It was very stressful.

Tuesday 14 February 2023 19:52 , Oliver O'Connell

Maggie had nothing to do with the family finances.

They had a comfortable life. Maggie was happy. It wasnt a lavish life, but it was a comfortable life, says Ms Proctor.

Money was never an issue for her, that she knew about.

Tuesday 14 February 2023 19:51 , Oliver O'Connell

She describes her sister as a girls girl, a stay-at-home mom, but who would go fishing and hunting with her boys.

Maggie was sweet. She was kind of a free spirit. She was always up for anything that was going on. She loved her family. She loved her boys. Buster and Paul were her world. She loved her parents.

About Paul she says: Paul was a sweet, sweet boy. Misrepresented in the media. He had such a kind side to him. He was always wanting to help. ... He was a kind soul, and I loved him a lot.

New Witness: Marian Proctor, Maggie sister

Tuesday 14 February 2023 19:43 , Oliver O'Connell

The next witness for the prosecution is Marian Proctor  Maggies sister.

So far we have only heard very little about Maggie from those close to her, whereas we have heard from a number of Pauls friends  though they have also all spoken highly of Maggie.

Maggie Murdaugh's sister is called to the stand. #AlexMurdaugh pic.twitter.com/RvC4vfhYYP  Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) February 14, 2023

Tuesday 14 February 2023 19:41 , Oliver O'Connell

Mr Griffin challenges Mr Burney that his analysis of Murdaughs funds was limited to his liquid assets and not his real estate holdings, 401K, other retirement funds, and his stake in the law firm.

He also did not consider his ability to raise capital from Palmetto State Bank.

It is also established that Cousin Eddie (Curtis Smith) received approximately half a million dollars of the traced funds.

He maintains in redirect that he was looking at Murdaughs liquid assets  i.e. funds he could access quickly.

Court resumes

Tuesday 14 February 2023 19:29 , Oliver O'Connell

Court has resumed after lunch.

The jury is back in the courtroom and defence attorney Jim Griffin is cross-examining forensic accountant Carson Burney.

Watch: Housekeeper testifies she was told to clean house after murders

Tuesday 14 February 2023 19:16 , Oliver O'Connell

Murdaugh expected to testify at murder trial, reports say

Tuesday 14 February 2023 18:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Alex Murdaugh is expected to testify in his trial for the alleged double murders of his son and wife, according to new reports.

Mr Murdaugh is accused of shooting his wife Maggie and son Paul dead at the familys sprawling 1,700-acre property in Islandton, South Carolina, on the night of 7 June 2021. The prosecution has argued in court that the disgraced legal scion committed the murders to distract from his mounting financial and legal scandals.

Andrea Blanco reports.

Alex Murdaugh expected to testify at murder trial, reports say

Tuesday 14 February 2023 18:02 , Oliver O'Connell

Mr Burneys testimony explains how he used the first in, first out method of tracking money through Murdaughs various accounts (including those at Palmetto State Bank and the fake Forge account at Bank of America).

His testimony mirrors what he said during the in-camera portion of the trial and concludes that Murdaugh did not have anywhere near the funds to fulfill his obligations to any of those to whom he owed money at the time of the murders.

Court breaks for lunch and resumes at 2.15pm.

New Witness: Carson Burney, state grand jury forensic accountant

Tuesday 14 February 2023 17:46 , Oliver O'Connell

The next new witness is Carson Burney, a state grand jury forensic accountant, who we heard from before in-camera, without the jury.

Mr Burney is qualified as an expert in forensic accounting with regards to the tracing of funds.

He will speak about Mr Murdaughs alleged financial crimes and how they are germane to the motive for killing Maggie and Paul.

Watch: The kennel video

Tuesday 14 February 2023 17:39 , Oliver O'Connell

Tuesday 14 February 2023 17:34 , Oliver O'Connell

In cross-examination, Mr Davis concedes to defence attorney Jim Griffin that while he never saw any weapons in the feed room, he also says the Murdaughs left guns all over the place.

Shown the kennel video, Mr Davis is asked to confirm that at 8.44pm  moments before the murders  the hose is already unfurled and lying on the ground.

He also admits that if water was on the ground at that time it wouldnt have dried up as the sun had set.

Mr Davis also describes Alex and Maggie as being lovey-dovey and recalls Alex and Paul as having a good relationship.

Tuesday 14 February 2023 17:23 , Oliver O'Connell

Mr Davis fed the dogs and cleaned out the kennels at 4.30pm and left the property on 7 June, a few hours before the murders.

He explains which dog was in which kennel that night.

Mr Davis also explains where water would pool when he washed out the kennels every day. When shown the crime scene photos, he says that water is pooled in different places to where it should be  around the second and third kennels near the feed room.

The prosecution appears to be implying that someone hosed themself down that night after the murders.

Further, he also says the dogs were in different pens the day after the murders.

Davis testifies when he left, Grady, the black lab was in that pen next to the feed room, not the yellow lab that was there when law enforcement showed up. #AlexMurdaugh pic.twitter.com/ulocfa6pOU  Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) February 14, 2023

Tuesday 14 February 2023 17:09 , Oliver O'Connell

Mr Davis explains how he would put away the hose he used in a very particular way. He would stretch it out and then roll it up slowly so as to avoid damaging or splitting the hose.

Shown a picture of the crime scene, Mr Davis testifies the hose is not how he would have left it.

Somebody used that hose after I did because its twisted.

In early testimony, the jury heard there was water on the ground around the kennels before it rained that night.

Tuesday 14 February 2023 17:00 , Oliver O'Connell

He recalls Maggie being laid back and friendly.

Paul, he says was a bit wild, but liked to work, hunt, and be at the farm.

He says Alex Murdaugh was very particular about the care of the dogs.

New Witness: Roger Dale Davis, dog caretaker

Tuesday 14 February 2023 16:58 , Oliver O'Connell

The next witness is Roger Dale Davis, who looked after the dogs for the Murdaughs.

He testifies that he would clean out the dog kennels twice a day  in the morning and the evening  and it would take about 45 minutes. He would also feed the chickens.

New Witness: Devin Newell, General Motors

Tuesday 14 February 2023 16:56 , Oliver O'Connell

The next witness for the prosecution is Devin Newell of General Motors.

Mr Newell and GM were not on the original witness list, however, oever the weekend GM has provided the prosecution with new data from Murdaughs 2021 Chevrolet Suburban from the night of 7 June 2021.

Mr Newell acknowledges that SLED sent a March 2022 search warrant to the company asking for data regarding the Suburban.

He testifies he only found out on Friday that GM had information on the vehicle that had not been provided to law enforcement.

Mr Newell testifies that the data salvaged includes vehicle diagnostics, battery systems, speed information and GPS location data. This is entered into evidence.

Court resumes

Tuesday 14 February 2023 16:44 , Oliver O'Connell

Court resumes and the jury is brought back into the courtroom.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, left, the millionaire owner of the Wagner Group private military company, is pictured with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2010. (Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo)

LONDON (Reuters) - His private army is pushing hard to give Russia a battlefield win in Ukraine, but mounting evidence suggests the Kremlin has moved to curb what it sees as the excessive political clout of Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of Russia's Wagner mercenary group.

Prigozhin, a 61-year-old ex-convict, has grabbed headlines in recent months over his bloody role in Ukraine and is sometimes portrayed in the West as a real-life James Bond villain.

Shaven-headed and fond of coarse language, he has made a splash in Russian-language media too where he has revelled in being sanctioned by the West, publicly insulted Russia's top military brass, tried to parlay battlefield success into Kremlin favour, and detailed his recruitment of tens of thousands of convicts for his private army.

His profile became so prominent that allies and analysts began speculating he was angling for an official job or career in politics.

There is growing evidence now though that the Kremlin has moved to nip such speculation in the bud, ordering Prigozhin to halt his public criticism of the defence ministry while advising state media to stop mentioning him or Wagner by name.

FILE PHOTO: FBI wanted poster of Yevgeniy Prigozhin

Prigozhin confirmed last week he had also been stripped of the right to recruit convicts from prisons - a key pillar of his nascent political influence and one which has helped his forces make small but steady gains in eastern Ukraine where they appear to be inching closer to capturing the city of Bakhmut.

Olga Romanova, director of a prisoner rights group, said the Ministry of Defence had taken over convict recruitment earlier this year. The ministry has not confirmed that.

"The position of the (Kremlin) political bloc is not to let him into politics. They are a little afraid of him and find him an inconvenient person," Sergei Markov, a former Kremlin adviser who remains close to the authorities, told Reuters.

Tatiana Stanovaya, a veteran Kremlin scholar, wrote in a paper for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace that, while Prigozhin's downfall did not appear imminent, his ties with the presidential administration were starting to crack.

"The domestic policy overseers don't like his political demagogy, his attacks on official institutions, or his attempts to troll Putin's staff by threatening to form a political party, which would be a headache for everyone in the Kremlin," she wrote.

The Wagner private military group centre in St Petersburg. (Reuters)

"He hasn't just become a public figure; he is visibly transforming into a full-fledged politician with his own views."

According to Markov, the Kremlin has got a promise from Prigozhin that he would not create his own political movement or join a parliamentary party unless asked to do so by the Kremlin.

"(The message) is we will give you military resources, but do not get involved in politics for now," said Markov.

Prigozhin told a Russian interviewer on Friday that he had "zero" political ambitions.

Markov, who described Prigozhin as extremely confrontational, said he believed Putin had told Prigozhin to halt public criticism of the top brass at a St Petersburg meeting around Jan. 14.

Markov said he did not know full details of who said what at the meeting and Reuters was not able to confirm the accuracy of his assertion.

Prigozhin has since moderated his criticism and made a point on Friday in a rare interview of looking into the camera to say he wasn't criticising anyone.

The St Petersburg meeting, which did not appear on the Kremlin website, was confirmed by at least one other attendee who posted about it on social media. The Kremlin says it does not comment on private meetings.

Evgeny Prigozhin assists Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin during a dinner with foreign scholars and journalists at the restaurant Cheval Blanc on the premises of an equestrian complex outside Moscow. (Reuters)

The Kremlin did not immediately reply to a request for comment about whether and why it had reined in Prigozhin, but on Saturday, Grey Zone, an influential social media channel associated with Wagner, published what looked like a leaked guidance document for state media from the Kremlin.

It advised recipients to stop mentioning Prigozhin or Wagner and suggested generic phrases to describe his forces instead.

Reuters could not verify the document and state media are not allowed to share such guidance notes.

Prigozhin, in comments on Monday, said it looked like Russian media mentions of Wagner had fallen recently, something he blamed on unnamed "losers" trying to damage his group.

Markov, who has written about Prigozhin a lot in a mostly positive light, said he was among those to have been requested not to promote the mercenary leader.

"They underlined that 'we don't ban you but it's better not to do it'," he said.

Dmitri Alperovitch, the Russian-born chairman of U.S. think-tank Silverado Policy Accelerator, said he felt Prigozhin's room for manoeuvre was shrinking.

Prigozhin's star has dimmed. He had overreached in his criticism of the military and other elites. Now his wings are getting clipped.Dmitri Alperovitch

"Prigozhin's star has dimmed. He had overreached in his criticism of the military and other elites," Alperovitch wrote on Twitter. "Now his wings are getting clipped."

After years of denials, Prigozhin stepped out of the shadows in September to admit he had founded Wagner in 2014.

By then, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, something Moscow calls a special military operation, had gone badly wrong for the top brass, with a chaotic retreat from Kyiv followed by a rout in the north-eastern Kharkiv region, and an impending forced retreat from the southern city of Kherson.

The wealthy catering tycoon quickly put himself at the heart of a frenzied public relations campaign and, through social media, state TV and feature films, promoted his private army as an elite fighting force who could work military alchemy.

He cast himself as a ruthlessly efficient patriotic operator and Russia's top brass as incompetent and out-of-touch.

Prigozhin, whose mercenaries are active in Africa and the Middle East, suggested last week that he and his men could one day disappear as fast as they appeared, something his many enemies may doubt.

"When we are no longer needed, we will pack up and go back to Africa," he said.
Footage shows part of a road swept away by floodwater after Cyclone Gabrielle ripped through New Zealand.

Music artist Flux Pavilion shared a video of the collapsed road and gushing river in Bethells Beach, close to the city of Auckland.

This used to be our road to get into Auckland, the producer and DJ wrote.

Hope everyone else in the North Island is safe.

Prime minister Chris Hipkins has described Gabrielle as the most significant weather event New Zealand has seen in this century.

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A gap in the U.S.-Mexico border wall is illuminated at night, Yuma, Ariz. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

A Russian military bomber engineer drove up to the U.S. Southwest border in late December, asking for asylum and offering to reveal some of Russias most closely guarded military secrets, according to an unclassified Customs and Border Protection report obtained by Yahoo News.

The man and his family arrived in an armored SUV and asked to be admitted into the U.S. because he feared persecution for participating in anti-Putin protests in support of Alexei Navalny, an imprisoned Russian dissident. He then told CBP officials that he had information wanted by the U.S. government.

He said he was a civil engineer and that his past employment had included working ... from 2018 to 2021 in the making of a particular type of military airplane at the Tupolev aircraft production facility in the city of Kazan in west-central Russia, according to a Jan. 11 unclassified CBP report obtained by Yahoo News.

He described the aircraft type as an attack jet and said it was called White Swan-TU160, the largest military aircraft.

Protesters in Dusseldorf, Germany, rally to support Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, April 21, 2021. (Ying Tang/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The CBP report is a daily roundup of items compiled by the agencys National Border Security Intelligence Watch and is produced to highlight emerging trends or notable events for leadership. The agency added a comment in bold italics after the paragraph detailing the engineers arrival and employment and explaining why his information could be valuable.

The TU-160 White Swan, also known by the NATO reporting name Blackjack, is reportedly the most advanced strategic bomber in the Russian inventory and has been also used in a tactical airstrike role in the Ukraine war. According to open-source reporting, a major new construction program of an improved version of the aircraft as well as an upgrade program of existing aircraft got underway at the Tupolev facility during the past few years, according to the unclassified CBP Indications and Warnings Daily.

CBP declined to answer Yahoo News questions or otherwise comment, citing agency policy to neither confirm nor speak to potentially improperly disclosed internal documents marked as law enforcement sensitive or for official use only.

Customs and Border Protection agents at a processing facility in Brownsville, Texas. (Eric Gay/Reuters)

Russian military expert Michael Kofman said he had no independent knowledge of this Russian engineer but spoke generally about the kind of information someone in his position could provide.

An individual working at a defense industrial facility such as Tuplov could have access to a range of information on defense industrial production, specifications related to the Tu-160 bomber and its more recently developed modernized variant, various production processes, dependencies and where their limitations lie, said Kofman, director of the Russia studies program at the Center for Naval Analyses.

Someone in such a position could accumulate knowledge by virtue of the types of information theyre exposed to on the job, some of which could prove valuable, he told Yahoo News.

As the U.S. continues to lobby allies to send military equipment to Ukraine, details about this particular fighter jet, which underwent reproduction and upgrades during the time of the engineers stated employment, would constitute valuable information, said a senior military intelligence official.

Would a site manager know if they modified the remodeled bombers to shoot hypersonic missiles? He might. And that would be a really big deal, if the White Swan was retrofitted to fire hypersonic missiles. They are fast and launched from much farther away, the official explained. We dont have anything that can defend against hypersonic missiles  meaning, Patriot systems and all the rest of what we are supplying Ukraine, its useless.

A Russian Tupolev Tu-160 jet bomber in flight. (Sefa Karacan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

The mans name and details of his arrival in the U.S. were included in an unclassified daily roundup of items of interest from around the country and the world. It is highly unusual and possibly unprecedented for this particular report to include the full name and detailed information of an asylum seeker, let alone of someone offering up military secrets of a foreign adversary that hunts down and poisons, launches from windows or otherwise kills its defectors.

Yahoo News is withholding his name and details of where he arrived and applied for asylum after several officials raised concerns about the mans safety.

Everyone Yahoo News spoke to said they were surprised the mans identity and detailed work history was included in an unclassified CBP report. There were several classified briefings around the time the CBP report was circulated that appear to have included information on this same man, according to three U.S. government officials to whom Yahoo News read the CBP report. The officials would not provide any additional details, citing the highly classified nature of foreign military defectors.

When someone shows up at a U.S. port of entry asking for admission and claiming to have information of interest to the United States, CBP and the Department of Homeland Security are tasked with verifying the information provided. If the information is confirmed as true and the person is deemed credible, they are then passed off to the FBI.

The deal with a walk-in is his ID has to be verified and his story checked as well  that could take some time, explained one U.S. intelligence official.

Getty Images

If and only if he checks out, meaning he is who he says he is and worked where he said he did, if that were to happen, then the FBI would take over and whisk him away to probably a safe house where hed be questioned.

For about a week and a half, CBP and the DHS worked to verify the mans identity and former place of employment. By around Jan. 11 he was deemed credible and of potential interest to the U.S., and was passed to the FBI for further questioning, according to two government officials.

The DHS and the Department of Defense did not respond to Yahoo News requests for comment. The FBI also declined to comment.

The engineer is believed to be inside the U.S. and is still being questioned by U.S. officials. He is likely being questioned about the restart of the Blackjack production, and the revamped or upgraded versions believed to have been worked on during the time of the Russian engineers employment."

He is also likely being asked about matters unrelated to the bomber jet, which could include everything from the email system, software, staffing and manufacturer used by the aircraft production facility  information that could be used to carry out targeted cyberattacks or for intelligence gathering or other efforts.

We of course know the Russian bomber well. But specs, the real specs, nuclear capabilities  there are certainly things we would be interested in hearing about, if this guy is credible. The big thing is: Did they retrofit it for hypersonic missiles? a military official explained to Yahoo News.

Getty Images

Im not saying he does [know the answer] and Im not saying he doesnt. Im not even saying we know if he does or does not have that information. Im just saying if he had anything that speaks to that, that would be significant.

Retired CIA senior clandestine services officer Daniel Hoffman said that he didnt think this Russian engineers case was anything out of the ordinary.

The guys here so hell be processed, hell go through our system and theyll talk to him and hear about what he used to do and thats it, its pretty simple, Hoffman said.

You know, you'll talk to the guy about where he used to work and see what his access was and if theres anything valuable. Maybe we have that information, maybe we dont, I dont know. Theres nothing more that hes going to do for you, its all historical, Hoffman told Yahoo News. This kind of thing happens all the time.
FILE - Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks during a press briefing at the White House, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2022, in Washington. House Republicans kicked off an investigation Monday, Feb. 13, 2023, into the origins of COVID-19 by issuing a series of letters to current and former Biden administration officials for documents and testimony, including Fauci who until December served as Bidens chief medical adviser. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

WASHINGTON (AP)  House Republicans kicked off an investigation Monday into the origins of COVID-19 by issuing a series of letters to current and former Biden administration officials for documents and testimony.

The Republican chairmen of the House Oversight Committee and the subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic requested information from several people, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, surrounding the hypothesis that the coronavirus leaked accidentally from a Chinese lab.

This investigation must begin with where and how this virus came about so that we can attempt to predict, prepare or prevent it from happening again, Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, chair of the virus subcommittee, said in a statement.

Rep. James Comer, R-Tenn., chairman of the oversight committee, added that Republicans will follow the facts and "hold U.S. government officials that took part in any sort of cover-up accountable.

The letters to Fauci, National Intelligence Director Avril Haines, Health Secretary Xavier Beccera and others are the latest effort by the new Republican majority to make good on promises made during the 2022 midterms campaign.

Wenstrup, who is also a longtime member of the House Intelligence Committee, has accused U.S. intelligence of withholding key facts about its investigation into the coronavirus. Republicans on the committee last year issued a staff report arguing that there are indications that the virus may have been developed as a bioweapon inside the China's Wuhan Institute of Virology.

That would contradict a U.S. intelligence community assessment released in unclassified form in August 2021 that said analysts do not believe the virus was a bioweapon, though it may have leaked in a lab accident.

The letters sent Monday do not require the cooperation of recipients. But in announcing the Republican staff report in December, Wenstrup said that lawmakers would issue subpoenas if potential witnesses didn't cooperate.

It is extremely difficult for scientists to establish definitively how diseases emerge, but studies by experts around the world have determined that COVID-19 most likely emerged from a live animal market in Wuhan, China.

Initially dismissed by most public health experts and government officials, the hypothesis that COVID-19 originated from an accidental lab leak began to receive scrutiny after President Joe Biden ordered an investigation into the matter in May 2021.

The 90-day review was meant to push American intelligence agencies to collect more information and review what they already had. Former State Department officials under President Donald Trump had publicly pushed for further investigation into virus origins, as had scientists and the World Health Organization. But the review proved to be inconclusive, with intelligence agencies saying that barring an unforeseen breakthrough, they wouldn't be able to conclude the origin either way.

Many scientists, including Fauci, who until December served as Bidens chief medical adviser, say they still believe the virus most likely emerged in nature and jumped from animals to humans, a well-documented phenomenon known as a spillover event. Virus researchers have not publicly identified any key new scientific evidence that might make the lab-leak hypothesis more likely.

But Republicans have accused Fauci of lying to Congress when he denied in May that the National Institutes of Health funded gain of function research  the practice of enhancing a virus in a lab to study its potential impact in the real world  at a virology lab in Wuhan. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, even urged Attorney General Merrick Garland to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Faucis statements.

Fauci, who served as the countrys top infectious disease expert under both Republican and Democratic presidents, has called the GOP criticism nonsense.

Cruz and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., have previously said that an October 2021 letter from NIH to Congress contradicts Fauci. But no clear evidence or scientific consensus exists that gain of function research was funded by NIH, and there is no link between U.S.-funded research to the emergence of COVID-19. NIH has repeatedly maintained that its funding did not go to such research involving boosting the infectivity and lethality of a pathogen.

Nonetheless, Fauci indicated in November that he would cooperate fully and testify if Republicans followed through with their plans to investigate COVID's origin.

I have no trouble testifying  we can defend and explain everything that weve said," he told reporters during a White House briefing last year.
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israel's military on Monday jailed for 10 days a soldier who assaulted a Palestinian activist as he was speaking to a U.S. journalist, but gave an account of the incident that was disputed by the interviewer.

The incident in Hebron also set off an internal Israeli flap, with National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir - one of several hundred hardline Jewish settlers living in the flashpoint city in the occupied West Bank - voicing full support for the soldier.

In a video posted on Twitter by Lawrence Wright of The New Yorker magazine, the soldier grabs Issa Amro by his jacket and neck and throws him to the ground. He then lands a kick to Amro's backside before being pulled away by another soldier.

"I never had a source assaulted in front of me until today when an Israeli soldier who stopped my interview did this," Wright tweeted.

The military said the event began when the soldier, guarding a military post, asked the Palestinian who approached the post to step away.

"In response, the Palestinian began recording and cursing the soldier. A verbal confrontation followed, which soon became a physical confrontation, during which the soldier hit the Palestinian," it said in a statement.

"As the video shows, the soldier did not act as expected and did not follow the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) code of conduct."

However, in a Twitter response, Wright said: "The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) misrepresented what led to this. The soldier initiated the encounter, Amro did not curse him only asked to call his commander. Nothing to justify the violent assault that followed."

The military declined to comment further.

Ben-Gvir called the soldier's sentence - which included a suspension from active combat duties - a "disgrace" and described Amro as an anarchist.

"I fully support the soldier, who did not remain silent. Soldiers deserve to be backed up, not jailed," Ben-Gvir tweeted.

Amro, described by Wright as a peace activist, accused the minister of trying to get him killed.

"The soldiers are listening to @itamarbengvir not to their military occupation commanders," Amro tweeted.

(Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch and Dan Williams; Editing by Sandra Maler, Sonali Paul, William Maclean)
Mississippi state Rep. Trey Lamar. (Rogelio V. Solis/AP)

Mississippi state lawmakers are considering a controversial bill that would create a court system of unelected judges and prosecutors in part of the city of Jackson  a proposal that critics are calling an unlawful attempt to disenfranchise voters in the nations Blackest city.

On Feb. 7, after hours of debate, the Mississippi House passed House Bill 1020, which would create a court system in the Capitol Complex Improvement District, a smaller portion of the city of Jackson, the states capital, that was created in 2017 in a bipartisan effort and includes the state Capitol building complex, numerous state facilities and properties.

It feels like somebody picked up the pen and drew a district to encompass the Capitol and white Jackson, Matthew Steffey, a law professor at Mississippi College School of Law, told Yahoo News.

On a national level, it is not uncommon for judges and prosecutors to be appointed. But what makes this Mississippi situation abnormal is that the Legislature is proposing a different way of selecting prosecutors and judges, but only for one area of the state, Chris Bonneau, professor of political science at the University of Pittsburgh, told Yahoo News. And all the local representatives from that area object to it.

Steffey said he could not recall such a proposal being made in the state before. There's very little thats truly unprecedented, he said. But I cant remember anything like this being done in the state of Mississippi.

An attendee at the Freedom Ride for Voting Rights bus tour in Jackson, Miss., on Juneteenth, June 19, 2021. (Eric J. Shelton/Reuters)

Jacksons population is over 80% Black, and advocates say the Republican-backed bill would strip the city of its voting rights and give government officials the power to fill positions.

This bill does not do anything good for the city of Jackson. It only divides us. It is a disinvestment of the black vote, to disenfranchise the black vote, Democratic state Rep. Christopher Bell, who represents District 65, which includes Jackson, told Yahoo News. The bill has total disregard for the elected officials out of the city of Jackson [and] Hinds County. The author of the bill did not talk to any of us about the legislation.

The proposal comes as voting rights for minority voters remain a critical issue at both the local and national levels, particularly after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down part of the Voting Rights Act in 2013.

Republican state Rep. Trey Lamar of Senatobia, who lives more than 150 miles from the Capitol, says he introduced the bill in an effort to address the crime surge in Jackson and the judicial backlog.

The city of Jackson does not just belong to the citizens of Jackson; it is Mississippis capital city. And it belongs to the state of Mississippi, to the people of Mississippi, Lamar told Yahoo News. The city has failed leadership over the water system, the sewer system, and the crime rate has spiraled out of control.

In 2020, Jacksons crime rate was more than 2.5 times the national average. And in 2021, the city had a murder rate of 99.54 per 100,000 and became known as the murder capital of the U.S.

We all need to be proud, and right now and over the last several years, the city of Jackson has not been something that we can be proud of, Lamar said.

The Mississippi Coliseum on the state fairgrounds in Jackson. (Rogelio V. Solis/AP)

Lamar says the bill will help the city address thousands of judicial cases that are on backlog, provide another avenue for indictments and expand the authority of the Capitol police.

We're just trying to beef up and add to the judicial resources in Jackson, he said. And by adding additional law enforcement inside the CCID, we are assisting the Jackson Police Department, because now they have brothers and sisters on the streets with them helping them fight the crime.

The Mississippi House overwhelmingly approved the bill, 76-38, but it received support from only one member of the Jackson delegation, the Mississippi Clarion Ledger reported.

Only in Mississippi would we have a bill like this ... where we say solving the problem requires removing the vote from Black people, Democratic Rep. Ed Blackmon said during the House vote.

Mississippi state Rep. Ed Blackmon speaking against the legislation. (Rogelio V. Solis/AP Photo)

Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens also disagrees with the legislation. Instead of permanently investing these resources, House Bill 1020 will create a separate criminal justice system with no input from the citizens of Hinds County. To take this monumental step backwards removes self-government and minimizes the voices of our citizens, Owens office said in a statement to the Mississippi Free Press.

Jarvis Dortch, executive director of the ACLU of Mississippi, said the bill will create a city within a city, so that the white majority can gain control.

Theyre trying to bypass the voting rights of the rest of Jackson by going through the Mississippi Legislature and getting their own city built and getting power over how everything is done within their area of town, he added.

Mississippi is home to a history filled with racial discrimination. Were not that far removed from Jim Crow, Dortch said.

Additionally, the capital city is enduring an ongoing water crisis that left over 150,000 Jacksonians without clean drinking water in 2022.

But Lamar says race is not a factor in the bill. Most of the people that I talk to, whether they [are] from Jackson or other parts of the state, whether they [are] African American, Caucasian  they all want to be able to turn the faucet on and have clean water come out. They want to be able to flush their toilets. And they want to be able to walk to their mailbox without fear of their life. And so were trying to help the city of Jackson, he said.

Jarvis Dortch, executive director of the ACLU of Mississippi, at the Mississippi Capitol in Jackson in October 2022. (Rogelio V. Solis/AP Photo)

Vangela Wade, president of the Mississippi Center for Justice, said the bill, if it becomes law, will affect relationships socially and economically and create racial animosity within the capital city.

I think this is probably redlining on steroids, Wade told Yahoo News. If you had a copy of the map that would show the Capitol Complex Improvement District, you would see that it includes the majority of the areas where white residents reside.

Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said the bill reminds me of apartheid and that the legislation is an effort to colonize Jackson.

Now the bill is headed to the Senate, which will decide if it moves forward. It is racism at its best. Its unconstitutional, and it should not go forward. This legislation should die, Bell said.

Civil rights advocates say the legislation will face challenges and legal scrutiny along the way. Youre going to see boycotts, youre going to see protests, Dortch said. Businesses looking to develop in this city or even in this state, youre not going to want to be a part of something thats been labeled an apartheid state, thats not good for business.
U.S., NATO see Ukraine in urgent need of more arms, Zelenskiy says speed crucial NATO defence ministers' meeting in Brussels

By Sabine Siebold and Andrew Gray

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Ukraine urgently needs more military aid and Western support will not falter, the United States and NATO pledged on Tuesday, in the face of a new Russian offensive ahead of the first anniversary of the start of the war.

Western defence chiefs were meeting in Brussels to discuss new arms provisions to Kyiv, which is pleading for greater firepower, and maintenance of existing supplies including shells whose production can hardly keep pace with the war.

"Ukraine has urgent requirements to help it meet this crucial moment in the course of the war," U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said at a meeting of the so-called Ramstein group of allies of Ukraine.

Austin said he expected Ukrainian forces to conduct an offensive of their own in the spring, and Kyiv's allies were working to ensure they had the armour, firepower and the logistics to make it effective.

"We believe that there'll be a window of opportunity for them to exercise initiative," Austin said.

"The Kremlin is still betting it can wait us out, but one year on we are as united as ever. That shared resolve will help sustain Ukraine's momentum in the crucial weeks ahead."

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg gave the same message about Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion.

"We see no signs that President Putin is preparing for peace. What we see is the opposite, he is preparing for more war, for new offensives and new attacks," he told reporters.

Nevertheless, the top U.S. general, Mark Milley, said Russia had already lost in the eyes of the world.

"Russia is now a global pariah and the world remains inspired by Ukrainian bravery and resilience. In short, Russia has lost: they've lost strategically, operationally and tactically," Milley, chair of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters.

NATO defence ministers met with Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov after the Ramstein group gathering.

The alliance plans to increase targets for stockpiling ammunition as Kyiv is burning through shells much faster than the West can produce them, leaving stocks badly depleted.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius called on the national defence industry to ramp up production capacity.

He said Berlin had signed contracts with arms maker Rheinmetall to restart production of ammunition for the Gepard anti-aircraft guns it has delivered to Kyiv.

It had been trying for months to find new munitions for the guns, which its own military decommissioned in 2010.

(Reporting by Reporting by Sabine Siebold, Bart Meijer, Benoit Van Overstraeten, Andrew Gray, Charlotte Van Campenhout, Tassilo Hummel;Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta, Andrew Cawthorne and Mike Harrison)
Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor who served as the US Ambassador to the United Nations for the first two years of Donald Trumps presidency, has officially announced her entry into the 2024 Republican presidential primary.

Ms Haley, who previously claimed she would not run in next years contest if her former boss were to mount a bid to return to the White House, appears to have reversed that stance. She and Mr Trump are now the only two declared presidential candidates running in the 2024 election.

The ex-Palmetto State chief executive had teased the launch of a presidential campaign for several weeks, but she made the news official in a video released by her campaign.

In that video, which was first reported by Axios, Ms Haley references her upbringing as an Indian-American in a town beset by de facto racial segregation. She also describes herself as a proud daughter of Indian immigrants who was difference because she was neither Black nor white.

My mom would always say your job is not to focus on the differences but the similarities. My parents reminded me and my siblings every day how blessed we were to live in America," she says, before pivoting to an oft-repeated Republican trope which suggests some  meaning Democrats  see the US as a flawed, fundamentally racist nation.

"Some look at our past as evidence that America's founding principles are bad. They say the promise of freedom is just made up. Some think our ideas are not just wrong, but racist and evil. Nothing could be further from the truth, she said.

Amid attacks on President Joe Biden and what she describes as the socialist left, Ms Haley offers a slight dig at her now-opponent and former boss, Mr Trump, by pointing out that Republican presidential candidates  even winning ones  have not won the popular vote in decades, in seven out of the last eight presidential elections.

That has to change, she said, adding that Mr Bidens record is abysmal and declaring that it is time for a new generation of leadership who will rediscover fiscal responsibility, secure our border and strengthen our country, our pride and our purpose.

China and Russia are on the march. They all think we can be bullied, kicked around. You should know this about me. I don't put up with bullies. And when you kick back it hurts them more. If you're wearing heels, she continues, before closing her ad with a declaration that she is running for president.

The ex-governor turned Trump-era diplomat is likely to encounter stiff headwinds in her bid for the GOP nomination, with most public polling of the Republican primary electorate showing her garnering support in the single digits. The vast majority of Republican primary voters currently prefer either Mr Trump or Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, according to recent surveys.

Ms Haley may also have difficulty peeling off enough support to win the influential GOP primary in her home state, as Mr Trump remains extremely popular there. Another popular South Carolinian, GOP Senator Tim Scott, is also reportedly planning to launch a presidential campaign in the coming months.

She will also be faced with the challenge of explaining her frequent changes in position when it comes to many issues of importance to GOP voters, including her position on Mr Trump himself.

Jamie Harrison, a former Palmetto State senator who is now chairman off the Democratic National Committee, reacted to her declaration in a statement that pointed out her ties to Mr Trump.

Nikki Haley served in Donald Trumps administration, has embraced the most extreme elements of the MAGA agenda and couldnt even identify a single policy difference between herself and Trump, he said. Her governorship in South Carolina included signing an extreme abortion ban into law with no exceptions for rape or incest, endorsing a plan to end Medicare as we know it, pushing for tax cuts that benefit the ultra wealthy and corporations, and refusing to expand Medicaid to provide affordable health care access for hundreds of thousands of South Carolinians.

Mr Harrison added that Ms Haleys announcement officially kicks off a messy 2024 primary race for the MAGA base that has long been brewing.

Everyone get your popcorn, he said.
Long haul: the path of Belavia flight 785 from Minsk to Istanbul (Flightradar24)

Western airlines are having to fly extended paths to avoid Russian and Belarusian airspace. But a European ban on airlines from those two countries because of the invasion of Ukraine has also created bizarre flight paths for holiday journeys.

Flights from both Russia and Belarus are operating regularly to and from Turkey, particularly Istanbul  the biggest city. Between Moscow and Istanbuls main airport there are typically 17 daily flights.

The most direct flight path from the Russian capital to Turkeys biggest city covers 1,077 miles. The flying time would normally be 2h30m or less. But that route crosses Ukraine, which is off-limits to all civilian aircraft.

Planes operated by Turkish Airlines between Moscow and Istanbul take a circuitous route to the west  traversing Belarus, Lithuania, Poland, the eastern edges of both Slovakia and Hungary, then Romania and Bulgaria. They cover the ground in 3h30m, an hour slower than the direct track.

But Aeroflots flights from Moscow are not allowed in EU airspace. Instead, the Russian carrier flies southeast over Volgograd and Astrakhan to the Caspian Sea, before turning west to overfly the Chechen capital Grozny and Sochi on the Black Sea coast.

The average flight time is 4h22m.

For Belavia, the national airline of Belarus, the detour to Istanbul is even more extreme.

The distance between the capital, Minsk, and Turkeys largest city is just 873 miles. Flights operating direct should take just over two hours.

Currently the average flight time is five hours and 11 minutes.

The Boeing 737 spends an hour flying further away from Istanbul, aiming east-north-east to a point about 100 miles southwest of Moscow, where it turns slightly south.

The flight gives Ukraines frontiers a wide berth, flying over the Caspian Sea before finally turning west towards Istanbul and traversing the length of Georgia. It then follows the Black Sea coast of Turkey to reach Istanbul.

Other holiday flights from Russia to Turkish seaside resorts take similar paths, with many crossing Georgia to reach Antalya.

From Moscow, Russian carriers take around 40 minutes longer than the Turkish Airlines route to Antalya  the main airport for Turkeys south coast.

Antalya is also a frequent waypoint for Russian planes heading for Egypts Red Sea shores. Redwings, for example, zig-zags over the Caspian Sea, Georgia and central Turkey before finally turning south at Antalya.

The extended flight paths sharply increase cost and carbon emissions.

The European Union does not allow any Russian registered aircraft to land in, take off from or overfly the territory of the Union, except in case of an emergency landing or emergency overflight.

The airspace ban is part of a package of sanctions triggered by what the EU calls Russias unprecedented and unprovoked military attack against Ukraine.

But not all holiday flights from Russia are blighted by long flight times: the link between Sochi on the Black Sea coast and Istanbul flies almost direct, covering the 593 miles in just 90 minutes.

Western aircraft face a reciprocal ban from the airspace of Russia, the biggest country in the world.

Finnair, based in Helsinki, is worst affected  with the normal nine-hour trip from Tokyo extended by around three hours. Aircraft on the link typically fly northeast from the Japanese capital to Alaska before flying across the Arctic and turning south over Spitsbergen.
National Governors Assn. Vice Chair Gov. Spencer Cox, of Utah, left, and Chair Gov. Phil Murphy of N.J. speak to reporters outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington this month. (Manuel Balce Ceneta / Associated Press)

If youre from California and thinking of moving to Utah, think again. You may not be welcomed in the Beehive State.

Gov. Spencer Cox of Utah said Friday that Californians should stay in California, in part because his state is beset by problems including housing and water shortages.

Cox, a Republican, delivered his remarks in front of the White House last week alongside Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey, a Democrat, as the pair were in Washington for the National Governors Assn. annual winter meeting .

Murphy and Cox, who lead the NGA, spoke to reporters about their meeting with President Biden, where they discussed border security, immigration, water rights and the debt limit.

In response to a question about population movement and what Utah is doing to bring in more residents, Cox said its not working to attract more people.

This last census confirmed that Utah was the fastest-growing state over the past 10 years," Cox said. "Our biggest problems are more growth-related. We would love for people to stay in California instead of coming as refugees to Utah.

According to the U.S. Census, Utahs population grew from 2,763,885 people in 2010 to 3,271,616 in 2020, an increase of 18.3%, the highest in the nation.

A June 2021 report by the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah found that California accounts for the largest influx of people to Utah from across the country. In 2018, 18,000 people arrived in Utah from California, compared to the more than 50,000 Californians that headed to other states in the union, such as like Arizona or Washington.

The study also found that Utahs largest share of outbound domestic transplants went to California.

But Cox said the state has grown so quickly while it's simultaneously confronting ongoing water and housing supply dilemmas.

A majority of the states residents are affected by the Wests historic drought, and all of the states 29 counties have disaster designations by the United States Department of Agricultural, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

And while Utah experienced a record home-building year in 2021, it still is short about 31,000 units, according to recent estimates . In October, Dejan Eskic, a senior research fellow at the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, estimated that the median monthly payment for a home in Utah was as high as $2,600, pricing out about  of the states residents .

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
For days, authorities have been telling residents of the area around East Palestine, Ohio, that it is safe to return home after a 150-car train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed Feb. 3.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources said the chemical spill resulting from the derailment had killed an estimated 3,500 small fish across 7 miles of streams as of Wednesday.

And one resident of North Lima, more than 10 miles from East Palestine, told WKBN-TV of Youngstown that her five hens and rooster died suddenly Tuesday. The day before, rail operator Norfolk Southern had burned train cars carrying vinyl chloride  a flammable gas  to prevent an explosion.

For some people who live near the derailment site, the reports continue to spur fear that they and their animals might be exposed to chemicals through the air, water and soil.

"Dont tell me its safe. Something is going on if the fish are floating in the creek," Cathey Reese, who lives in Negley, Ohio, told NBC affiliate WPXI of Pittsburgh last week. Reese said she saw dead fish in a stream that flows through her backyard.

Jenna Giannios, 39, a wedding photographer in nearby Boardman, said she has had a persistent cough for the past week and a half. She has been drinking bottled water, and she is uncomfortable bathing in water from the bathroom spigot, she said.

"They only evacuated only 1 mile from that space, and thats just insane to me," she said, coughing throughout the conversation. "Im concerned with the long-term heath impact. Its just a mess."

ONG 52nd Civil Support Team members prepare to enter an incident area to assess remaining hazards with a lightweight inflatable decontamination system in East Palestine, Ohio (Ohio National Guard / via AP)

After the controlled burn, the Environmental Protection Agency warned area residents of possible lingering odors but noted that the byproducts of vinyl chloride can emit smells at levels lower than what is considered hazardous.

Ohio officials said Wednesday that residents could return home after air quality samples "showed readings at points below safety screening levels for contaminants of concern."

The EPA, which is overseeing the air quality testing, said, "Air monitoring since the fire went out has not detected any levels of concern in the community that can be attributed to the incident at this time."

However, the EPA said Friday in a letter to Norfolk Southern that chemicals carried on the train "continue to be released to the air, surface soils, and surface waters."

The EPA said that as of Saturday evening, it had screened the indoor air in 210 homes and hadn't detected vinyl chloride. Another 218 homes had yet to be screened as of Sunday, it said.

The EPA classifies vinyl chloride as a carcinogen; routine exposure could increase one's risk of liver damage or liver cancer. Short-term exposure to high concentrations can cause drowsiness, loss of coordination, disorientation, nausea, headache or burning or tingling, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

East Palestine has scheduled an emergency council meeting for Wednesday to respond to constituents' concerns.

Andrew Whelton, a professor of environmental and ecological engineering at Purdue University, said it's possible the burn created additional compounds the EPA might not be testing for.

"When they combusted the materials, they created other chemicals. The question is what did they create?" he said.

The continuing cleanup on Feb. 9, of portions of a Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. (Gene J. Puskar / AP)

Whelton added that some of the other chemicals the train carried could also cause headaches, nausea, vomiting or skin irritation.

In Darlington, Pennsylvania, 4 miles from the accident, managers of the Kindred Spirits Rescue Ranch evacuated 77 of their biggest animals, including a yak and a zebu, for two days.

"We could see the plume come up and over us," said the ranch's founder, Lisa Marie Sopko. "Our eyes were burning, and my face could feel it."

Sopko said shes concerned about the conditions. The ranch's water comes from its own two wells, but until experts can test them, Sopko said, her team is using one well with a more sophisticated filtration system.

The Ohio Department of Agriculture said the risk to livestock remains low.

"ODA has not received any official reports regarding the wellness of animals related to the incident," it said in a statement.

Still, the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation is urging members to get the water from their local wells tested as soon as possible.

"The biggest concern is the water table at this point, to see what kind of exposure there has been to these chemicals," said the bureau's organizing director, Nick Kennedy.

"There's some level of frustration out there" among farmers, Kennedy added. "They just want answers. Their livelihoods might be at stake here."

Laura Fauss, the public information officer for the Columbiana County Health District, said the department began groundwater sampling last week in partnership with the state Health Department, the state EPA and contractors for Norfolk Southern.

The results haven't come back yet, Fauss said, and she didn't know when to expect them.

She added that her department has received no reports of residents' experiencing abnormal symptoms.

But Giannios said she and other residents havent gotten all their questions answered, so in the meantime, she has started a Facebook page where people can keep in touch about their concerns.
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YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 14, ARMENPRESS. On February 14, Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan received the newly appointed Ambassador of the Republic of Latvia to the Republic of Armenia Edite Medne.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Security Council, Armen Grigoryan congratulated the newly appointed Ambassador and wished success and fruitful work. He attached importance to the development of bilateral cooperation between Armenia and Latvia.

The Ambassador emphasized that the multi-sector relations of the two countries have a good potential for development and assured that she will contribute to the realization of these opportunities.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 14, ARMENPRESS. The Center for Law and Justice "Tatoyan" Foundation has published a footage in which the Azerbaijani "eco-activists" blocking the Lachin Corridor speak obscenely about the Armenians.

"This video is one of the many proofs that shows the real intentions of the "eco-activist" agents of the Azerbaijani government, who have blocked the only road connecting Artsakh to Armenia and the world for more than 2 months. They insult the indigenous people of Artsakh, an indivisible part of the Armenian people, and are happy about closing the road.

This is a footage of December 14, 2022, the 2nd day of closing the road, ARMENPRESS reports, reads the message of the Foundation.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 14, ARMENPRESS. On February 13, the Armenian urban search and rescue team completed the search and rescue operations in Aleppo, the Syrian Arab Republic. On February 14, Armenian rescuers arrived in Armenia, ARMENPRESS was informed from the rescue service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Armenia.

As a result of the 7-day search and rescue operations in the disaster zone, the internationally qualified Armenian urban search and rescue team, in cooperation with local support and other international teams, pulled out the bodies of the victims from the rubble using various rescue methods, carried out large-scale search, first aid.
Amit Shah has said that it will not be appropriate for him to comment on Adani row as the Supreme Court has taken cognizance of the matter

Agartala: With the opposition targeting the BJP-led government over the Hindenburg-Adani row, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said that it will not be appropriate for him to comment as the Supreme Court has taken cognizance of the matter but there is nothing "for the BJP to hide or be afraid of".

"The Supreme Court has taken cognizance of the matter. As a minister, if the Supreme Court is seized of the matter it is not right for me to comment. But in this, there is nothing for the BJP to hide and nothing to be afraid of," Shah said in an exclusive interview with ANI.

The Hindenburg-Adani row has turned into a major political controversy with the Congress and other opposition parties making allegations of favouritism and crony capitalism against the government. They raised the issue during the budget session of parliament demanding a joint parliamentary committee probe.

The opposition parties have also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue.

They have sought questions over the investment of LIC and some public sector banks in the Adani group. The government has rejected the allegations with PSUs and regulatory bodies also issuing statements about their following the norms and acting to their mandates.

The Centre on Monday informed the Supreme Court that SEBI had agreed to constitute a committee to protect investor interests following Hindenburg's report on Adani Group.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed a bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud that SEBI is completely equipped to deal with the situation that took place due to a recent report by Hindenburg Research.

Mehta also said that the government has no objection to appointing a committee to suggest how to ensure investors are protected in the future. However, he said that remit of the committee is important since it has an effect internationally and that the government will provide names in a sealed cover.

Asked about Rahul Gandhi's recent speech in Lok Sabha, which was almost entirely concerned the Adani group, Shah said it is for the Congress leader or his script writers to decide what speech he wants to give.

"What speech he wants to give is for him or his speech writers to think," he said.

Reacting to Rahul Gandhi's "crony capitalism" allegation against BJP, Shah said. "There is no question. Nobody has been able to level such allegation against the BJP till date. During their (Congress) era, agencies be it CAG or CBI, they had registered cases taking cognizance of corruption. There were scams of Rs 12 lakh crore."

Asked about allegations of Congress and other opposition parties of BJP "capturing institutions", Shah said they should go to the court noting that courts are not under influence of BJP.

"Court 'humare kabze mein nahi hai," he said.

"Why don't they go to the court? Even at the time when Pegasus issue was raised, I had said go with proofs to the court...They only know how to create noise. Those who approached the court, the court took cognizance of Pegasus and also delivered its judgement. The investigation was also done," he added.

Asked about BJP spokespersons indicating that there is such "conspiracy" ahead of elections, he said it is for them to reply.

"Thousands of conspiracies cannot harm the truth. Truth shines bright like the sun. They have been doing it since 2002 against PM Narendra Modi. And every time, he has emerged stronger, truthfully and by gaining more popularity among people every time," he said when asked if there is a conspiracy in the wake of Hindenburg report and BBC documentary.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his speech at the Lok Sabha in reply to the debate on the motion of thanks on the President's address had lashed out at the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre, saying that it converted "every opportunity into a crisis" during its 10 years at the helm between 2004 and 2014. PM Modi said UPA's term at the helm between 2004 and 2014 was "full of scams"

Before 12PM on counting day, BJP will cross majority mark in Tripura

Expressing confidence of BJP getting full majority in the Tripura assembly elections, Amit Shah has said that the BJP is seeking a mandate to make the state prosperous in the next five years building on the development initiatives of the party-led government. Responding to questions about a possible hung assembly in Tripura, Amit Shah said that the constituencies in Tripura are small and "you will see that before 12PM on counting day, the BJP would have crossed the majority mark."

In an exclusive interview with ANI, he also said that BJP's 'ChaloPaltai' slogan in the last election was not a slogan to come to power in the state but to change the situation in Tripura.

The BJP created a record in 2018 by ousting the Left Front government which ruled Tripura for 35 years from 1978. The state will go to the polls on February 16 for its 60-member assembly.

The BJP is contesting 55 seats while its ally Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT) is contesting the remaining five seats.

Shah said Congress and CPI-M joining hands shows that they are not in a position to defeat BJP on their own and "it is very good position" for the party.

"We will increase our seats and also our vote share in Tripura. Congress and the Communist party have come together as they have accepted that they can't defeat BJP alone. We will form government with full majority in the state," Shah said.

"'ChaloPaltai' slogan was given to change the situation in Tripura, and we've done that. Earlier when the Left was in power in Tripura, government employees were paid under Pay Commission, but we implemented the 7th Pay commission in the state without increasing fiscal deficit. We eliminated violence in Tripura and also took strict action against drugs business from across the border in the state," he added.

Shah also outlined the "effective steps" of the state government to end violence in the border state and tackle the drug menace and added that these have sent a good message among people.

"There is no violence in Tripura. Time has come to make Tripura prosperous. The double-engine government has taken several steps to fulfil its promises," he said.

Asked about Manik Saha replacing Biplab Deb as Tripura Chief Minister in May last year and if it sent a signal of the BJP's central leadership controlling the state unit, Shah said that Deb is an MP and has several key organisational responsibilities in the central BJP.

He said changes are sometimes made if the national parties need leaders at the central level.

"I feel this is promotion, it should not be looked at from any other angle," he said.

Home Minister said that the BJP-led government has taken steps to strengthen local languages in the northeastern states and added that there is no big official programme in Delhi without participation of artists from the northeast.

He said under PM Modi's leadership, several steps have been taken for the welfare of people in the northeast.

"There is peace in the Northeast today, there has been peace agreement with several militant organisations.''

He referred to the agreement to end the Bru-Reang refugee crisis in Tripura and with National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT).

Shah said PM Modi's initiatives have helped the tribal population.

"The tribal communities are experiencing development now. Today, we have the first tribal President in the country. The benefits being given to poor families are also being extended to the tribal community without any discrimination. They realize that they were misled earlier"

Shah said before the year 2024, all state capitals in the Northeast region will get rail and air connectivity and this is not a small achievement.
Love them, hate them ignore them at national peril, is the babu guarantee and Dilips belief. Share significant babu escapades dilipcherian@hotmail.com

That not a single babu was seen as governor material is a severe setback

The Centre has appointed over a dozen governors in various states but, oddly, theres no bureaucrat on the list. The 13 include a retired Supreme Court judge, two retired Army officers and four BJP leaders. While six are newcomers, seven others have been moved from one state to another.

That not a single babu was seen as governor material is a severe setback, no doubt, for ambitious babus who have long viewed a post-retirement sinecure almost as a de jure.

The pall of gloom in the senior ranks of babudom is palpable. Except perhaps in the law ministry, where the babus, sources have informed DKB, are rather pleased that some of their favourite candidates have been successfully placed. Could it be that the law secretary has a better equation with the powers-to-be than other babus?

Still, the overall trend is distressing. Some top babus, who felt they rendered yeoman service have been cooling their heels for long now. Expect lots of disjointed dissatisfaction from them now. But the ones maintaining stoic silence still live in hope, in homes they're loath to give up yet.

Of late, the IAS has seen a gradual erosion in its elevated status, with the Modi Sarkar appointing non-IAS officers to posts traditionally held by them. Now it is no longer surprising to see officers from IRS and IFoS breaching the IAS bastion. Why, the babus have even lost control of the prestigious Gymkhana Club to the Central government, after losing a legal battle against the corporate affairs ministry. The loss of turf is real, and that should worry the current lot of babus nearing retirement and who covet a small sinecure for their services once they depart the babu corridors.

Govt steps on the pedal for IPS empanelment

There is a sense of urgency about the recent empanelment of over 29 IPS officers for the director general (DG) or equivalent posts at the Centre. These officers are from the 1985, 1986, 1987 and 1988 batches. The empanelment of these officers for DG-level and equivalent posts was considered by a selection committee comprising principal secretary to the Prime Minister, P.K. Mishra; Cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba; home secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla; secretary (personnel) Deepak Khandekar; and director of Intelligence Bureau Tapan Deka.

Among those whose empanelment has been cleared is Rashmi Shukla, the 1988 batch IPS officer who was amid several controversies in Maharashtra. It clears Shuklas path to either head a central force or return to Maharashtra in an important post. Sources have told DKB that since she is senior to DGP Rajnish Seth, some senior officer will have to be displaced if the government decides to send her back to Maharashtra. Two more IPS officers were also empanelled as DG: Atulchandra Kulkarni and Sadanand Date.

Mr Dates elevation in Maharashtra has also been approved by the police establishment board, but he has yet to be assigned a DG posting, despite the fact that DG-level posts are available. Mr Date is currently the head of the Anti-Terrorism Squad, and Mr Kulkarni is an additional DG at the National Investigation Agency. Meanwhile, Mumbai special police commissioner Deven Bharti has been empanelled as additional DG.

As many as eight IPS officers of the UP cadre and five officers of the Punjab were empanelled at the Centre in the rank of director general and additional director general.

Babus keep losing their cool in Bihar

What up in Nitish Kumars Bihar? Senior IAS and IPS officers are in the news these days for their public spats rather than service.

Most recently, two Bihar IPS officers were in a stand-off that has not only played out in the public domain but also gave ammo to chief minister Nitish Kumars opposition to criticise his administration. Inspector general, home guard and fire services, Vikas Vaibhav, had posted a series of tweets accusing director general Shobha Ohatkar of abusing him unnecessarily. This led to the DG rejecting his application for two-month leave and issuing a showcause notice.

This is not the first time that a senior officer has been accused of using foul language and ill-treating subordinates and colleagues. This incident follows on the heels of the episode in which senior IAS officer K.K. Pathak made headlines after a viral video showed him using expletives to pull up a deputy collector. Mr Pathak later apologised but still maintained that the trainees were undisciplined.

As these incidents play out, many observers say that such controversies show that Bihars administration is in free fall, which should worry the chief minister.
The respect and deference accorded to him stresses that the importance lies in the position, not the person

The ancient Romans knew how to bring the most soaring ego down to earth. They devised the ceremonial triumph for an imperial hero -- a Caesar -- who rode in a decorative open chariot through streets that were packed with adoring crowds. The cheers of a frenzied multitude rang in his ears and flowers and garlands cascaded on his head over which was held aloft the victors laurel wreath.

The official who held the wreath also fulfilled a more sombre task. Amid the crowds heady roar, mingling with a myriad chants and cheers, his was the lone voice of reason and realism. Remember you are only a man! he intoned continuously, for only the heros ears: Remember you are only a man!

His nearest equivalent in todays parliamentary democracies is the Leader of the Opposition. He is, of course, also much more at the same time. As the symbol of peaceful change, he is the President or Prime Minister in waiting, the prospective head of an alternative government. The respect and deference accorded to him stresses that the importance lies in the position, not the person. Recognising this, most democratic systems entitle a Leader of the Opposition to almost the same emoluments as the head of government. His credible role ensures that no matter what the hiccups, the smooth stream of continuous governance is not disrupted.

That is why Rahul Gandhis performance in the Lok Sabha is infinitely more important than his Bharat Jodo Yatra. The latter was an exhilarating and exciting personal adventure, an opportunity to renew his bonding with the masses and reassert his position as the Indian National Congress undisputed leader. It cannot compare for constitutional significance with the cut and thrust of parliamentary debate which defines a politicians identity and policies and exposes a governments failures. Any muzzling of that process by expunging crucial passages from parliamentary speeches, prime ministerial silence on vital national issues, restrictions on media coverage such as the Editors Guild of India recently pointed out in letters to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha or the least hint of partisan behaviour on the part of legislative presiding officers must naturally be deplored: they strike at the roots of democracy.

However, sneers and mockery at Mr Gandhis expense reassures the world that he need not worry about his political future. Narendra Modi would not have attacked his lineage so sharply if he had not felt it necessary to try to cut the Congress leader down to size. The Prime Ministers scathing rhetorical question -- Nehru was such a great person, then why does none of them use the Nehru surname? -- was clearly an attempt to push Rahul back into the juvenile Pappu mould that he has obviously outgrown. A Pappu basking in ancestral glory poses no threat to his adversaries. An outspoken critic armed with facts and figures (not to say photographs!) and more fluent in English and Hindi than many government spokesmen can strike terror in defenders of the status quo.

It has taken Jawaharlal Nehrus great-grandson a long time to achieve this recognition of his standing as a mature political leader in his own right. At one time some feared that the promise of his youth would remain his most prized asset. His career until recently was not always scintillating. When Mr Gandhi led the Congress in the 2014 general election, his party suffered its worst-ever electoral result, winning only 44 seats against the 206 it had captured in 2009. He succeeded his mother as party leader in 2017 and led the Congress into the 2019 general election. The negligible rise in the partys tally to 52 did not mean the 10 per cent of seats it needed to claim the post of Leader of the Opposition a poor performance that prompted Mr Gandhis resignation and the return to the partys top post of his Italian-born mother, Sonia Gandhi.

That, too, was not an illuminating example of political astuteness. A restrictive mother and son cast suggests both lack of talent and of confidence at the top; it cannot inspire public trust. The chance of breaking out of that pattern was neglected in 2022 for although the new party president, Mallikarjun Kharge, was not a family member, he was seen as enjoying Mrs Gandhis blessings. There is reason to believe that without in any way faulting the veteran Mr Kharge as a political leader, many attributed the defeat of the personable, popular, promising and younger Shashi Tharoor to this factor. Recent reports of Mr Tharoors inclusion among the organisers of the Congresss 85th plenary session to be held in Raipur suggest that wiser counsel has prevailed at some levels at least of a party that cannot afford to squander its most gifted activists.

Many talented young political careerists have already left the party in disappointment. Many remain disgruntled. Mr Gandhi can prove his statesmanship by assuaging bruised feelings, restoring faith in Jawaharlal Nehrus inclusive vision of a multicultural India in which the minorities did not have to fear second-class treatment, and scripting a new narrative for Indias political future. No one will cavil at a bigger role for his 51-year-old sister, but while Priyanka Gandhi Vadras formal elevation to an important position was expected and seemed logical at an earlier stage, any such move now would strengthen misgivings about the manpower that the Grand Old Party has at its disposal and the spirit of democratic competition that it allows. The member for Wayanad in Kerala who served as the president of the Indian National Congress from December 16, 2017 to July 3, 2019 and is chairperson of the Indian Youth Congress and the National Students Union of India, not his mother or sister, must be the principal architect of the future. He must script a new narrative for a country whose politics has always suffered from sycophancy, nepotism and crony capitalism, but never as blatantly as now when small men in outsize turbans can cite bara sau saal ki gulami ki manasikta (the mentality of 1,200 years of servitude) to justify every excess.

We want no Caesars -- Nehru had famously thundered in 1937. That could be the rallying cry for the Congress Partys -- and Indias -- rejuvenation in 2024.
by Dario Salvi

Saudi aid is unloaded at Aleppo airport, the first time a Saudi plane lands in Syria in 10 years. In some areas, especially in the Idlib region, people still feel abandoned. For Bishop Audo, in addition to material needs, people need to sense that others feel for their suffering and accept them. Lonely women, with children in their arms, are the top victims.

Milan (AsiaNews)  In addition to material needs" like a roof, shelter, some food and drinking water, at this point in time, "we strongly sense that the people affected by the earthquake need others to share their suffering and make them feel accepted, this according to Chaldean Bishop Antoine Audo of Aleppo.

Along with Idlib, which is held by rebels and jihadis, Aleppo suffered the most from the 6 February earthquake that devastated parts of Turkey as well.

We can count on groups of families who have organised meal distribution and coordinate other interventions, the prelate explained. This is very positive, together with the easing of sanctions. At the same time, cooperation among Churches" is getting stronger in the ecumenism "of need.

Today, for the first time in 10 years, a Saudi plane landed at Aleppo International Airport with 35 tonnes of food for earthquake victims. Two more Saudi planes are expected tomorrow and Thursday, the SANA agency reported.

This is the latest aid from one of the countries opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his regime; during the countrys civil war, Saudi Arabia backed rebel and jihadi groups.

The quake, which has killed almost 40,000 people so far, has partially reduced Syrias international isolation. This includes the United States, which has eased its economic and trade embargo, which, combined with sanctions, had brought the country and its people to their knees.

Signs of solidarity are also coming from the Arab world. Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have positively responded to the appeal by the UN Under-Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths.

The latter complained about the slow international aid, specifically referring to areas in Syria's rebel-held northwest. "They rightly feel abandoned," he twitted.

For his part, Bishop Audo noted: "Little by little, we are organising, thanks to the work of a committee that verifies the state of the houses to facilitate the return of displaced people. To this end, bishops meet every day to discuss the situation and take the most urgent steps.

Those who can should go back home, but we continue to take in [people], and many complain of severe psychological trauma. Although their homes are unbroken, they do not feel like returning. There is great need for sympathy, a friendly ear, and moral support amid so much destruction. Hardships just kept piling up, from the war to COVID-19.

What impresses me the most is to see so many poor women, especially Muslim women, with children in their arms who wander alone in the streets ... These are harrowing scenes; here, women, in my opinion, are the top victims of the earthquake.

Many people come to the Bishops House for help, including Muslims, and "we do what we can. At our centre, we took in up to 150 people, providing dinner, a hot drink, a bit of safety and support. They need to be heard, I spend hours talking to them."

One positive sign is "the opening after years of isolation" with the partial lifting of international sanctions and the easing of the embargo.

"We hope something will change and for many this might be a sign from heaven. Thanks to a contact with a Syrian general, we also managed to get a lorry with 5,000 blankets to hand out to everyone."

"The most significant part of this tragedy is the atmosphere of collaboration between Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants, the bishop said.

Every two days we meet to coordinate what to do, direct aid, and distribute the donations that come from international NGOs such as Aid to the Church in Need and L'uvre d'Orient, people who have been active for 12 years in Syria" and who know well how much is needed.
File photo of the spot after militants attacked a CRPF convoy in Goripora area of Awantipora town in Pulwama district of J&K. At least 49 CRPF jawans were killed in the attack. (Photo: PTI)

PULWAMA: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Tuesday led the nation in paying tributes to the CRPF jawans killed in the 2019 Pulwama terror attack, Jammu and Kashmir police claimed that eight of the 19 perpetrators have been killed in the security forces actions and seven others arrested during the last four years. However, four others including three Pakistanis are still at large.

On February 14, 2019, Adil Ahmed Dar alias Waqas Commando, an alleged Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) cadre, had rammed an explosive laden Maruti Eeco into a bus which was part of a convoy of the CRPF at Lethpora, 25-km south of J&Ks summer capital Srinagar, killing forty jawans and maiming several others on board.

Special Director General of the CRPF Daljit Singh Chaudhry was on Tuesday joined by other senior officers of the forces and their counterparts from the J&K police, the Army including General Officer Commanding of Srinagar-based 15 Corps Lt. General AS Aujla and other uniformed forces and DC Pulwama Baseer-Ul-Haq Choudhary in paying floral tributes at the martyrs memorial at Lethpora along the Jammu-Srinagar Highway (NH44).

"Our 40 Bravehearts sacrificed their lives. We are proud of them," SDG CRPF Chaudhry told reporters. He added, "Their sacrifice inspires us to make the country terror free."

Additional DGP J&K police (Kashmir range), Vijay Kumar, said that out of 19 militants involved in the attack 8 have been killed and 7 arrested whereas 4 others including 3 Pakistanis are still at large.

He said that the security forces have effectively taken on the JeM as almost all its top commanders have been "neutralised." He said, "At present, JeM has only seven to eight locals and five to six active Pakistanis including Mussa Suleimani on its rolls. The J&K police are chasing them, and they will soon be hunted down."

IGP CRPF (Operations), M S Bhatia, said the security situation in J&K has improved considerably since the Pulwama attack and exuded confidence that such incidents will not reoccur. He said, "The situation has improved on the ground since Pulwama attack, and such attacks will never happen again given the measures taken by the security forces".

He added, "There has been remarkable progress in terms of tackling terrorism. After the Pulwama attack, terrorist modules are being busted frequently, in most cases before they could cause any major harm. In fact, we try to deny that space to terrorists to inflict any major damage. Their ecosystem is being destroyed and we are sure that this kind of attack will not happen again."

Endorsing him, Mr. Kumar said that, together with other security forces, the J&K police have busted a number of militant modules in recent months and that the war on "narco-terrorism" and "terror funding" has also been intensified.

He said that due to the polices consistent efforts the cases registered against the Over Ground Workers (OGWs) of the militant outfits are being disposed of rapidly by the courts. "The number of such cases has come down to 950 from 1,600 since October last year whereas 13 convictions have also taken place, so far."

Replying to a question, the officer said that there are only 37 militants active in the Valley at present including Farooq Nalli and Riyaz Chatri who are long-standing members of militant outfits whereas the others have joined their ranks recently.

On being asked about the target killing of the members of minority communities, Mr. Bhatia said, "The attacks on minority communities are acts of cowardice and those behind such attacks have been killed while measures have been taken to prevent such attacks in future". He added, "We are determined to protect minorities and in this regard several modules involved in causing or preparing to cause harm to them have been neutralized. The CRPF and Police and other security forces have been ensuring protection to the minority community and we will ensure proper security to them."
Chinese companies are looking for lithium, cobalt and nickel, key for batteries for electric vehicles. As a result of restrictions imposed by the United States and its allies, China is looking for new markets; however, its investments are hampered by political instability in South America and Africa. Pope Francis warned against the exploitation of Africa.

Beijing (AsiaNews)  Chinese companies are scouring the world for strategic minerals to support their countrys booming demand for electric and hybrid vehicles.

The batteries that power cars use minerals such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel, which are widely available in South America and Africa.

China depends heavily on imports of these precious minerals, which Chinese authorities view as crucial for national security.

Growing geopolitical tensions with the United States is forcing China to look for new suppliers.

Recently, the United States and its allies have adopted policies that limit foreign ownership of their own mining assets, a measure in fact directed at Chinese competitors.

Above all, Canada has imposed restrictions on Chinese companies that have harmed Chinese interests. As Caixin notes, 1,400 out of 2,400 mining companies operating in the world are under Canadian control.

South America is of great interest to China because Argentina, Bolivia and Chile hold 53 per cent of the world's lithium reserves (about 98 million tonnes).

South American countries are open to Chinese investment in this sector because they hope to obtain capital and technology to develop their own industries.

However, political instability, strong trade unions, low productivity, and strict environmental rules make it hard to invest in the region.

That is not the case in Africa, which holds two thirds of the world's cobalt and 10 per cent of its copper. And exploration for lithium has begun.

Chinese companies have been investing in Africa for years, but their interest in the continents mines has grown a lot since the second half of 2021.

Africans are attracted to Chinese capital for the same reasons that South Americans are; but they also have the same problems, especially regarding political instability and widespread corruption.

Conversely, for Chinese mining companies and multinational firms from other countries, exploiting the local African populations does not seem to be a problem.

Pope Francis's warning during his recent trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo still resonates; on that occasion, he reminded world powers that Africa is not a mine to be exploited or a land to be plundered.

The Democratic Republic of Congo supplies 70 per cent of the world's cobalt with 80 per cent going to China. Of the 19 top companies in the sector, 15 are wholly or partly owned by Chinese firms.
by Guido Alberto Casanova

Mayor Oh Se-hoon has launched an urban planning programme that aims to increase the capital's global appeal on the model of European cities. Among the poles to be regenerated is Nodeul Island, home to the Hangang Bridge. But according to many Koreans it risks destroying an important part of the cultural heritage of the urban fabric.

Seoul (AsiaNews) - What makes a city memorable? Its buildings, sights and atmosphere, some would say. Seoul's municipal government certainly thinks so too, as last week it unveiled a plan to transform the urban aspect of the South Korean capital.

During the presentation, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who was elected in 2021 but previously headed the municipal administration, said that the South Korean capital is "already an attractive city that attracts many tourists from all over the world, but it will become one of the most attractive cities" in the world.

This plan is actually an updated version of the Han River Renaissance Project, a proposed re-planning of the capital promoted in 2006 by Oh himself to transform Seoul's riverfront areas.

The project unveiled by Oh last week envisages the urban regeneration of some of the city's focal points to make Seoul a greener, more liveable and more tourist-friendly place. One of these would be Nodeul Island, on which the Hangang Bridge rests.

The island, which currently houses a cultural centre, should be enhanced with new facilities, including a new pedestrian overpass and a floating concert arena. Renovation work is expected to begin as early as next year.

Nodeul, however, will not be the capital's only new landmark. The municipal government has other projects planned to change the face of Seoul. In addition to the opening of new green spaces in the city, the mayor has proposed the construction of a giant Ferris wheel that could surpass the London Eye in size.

The source of inspiration for the re-planning of Seoul would be the European cities, which Oh visited last year. 'Looking at [their] fascinating, unique and symbolic structures, I came to think that in Seoul there are regulations in the way of attractive architectural design,' he said.

The municipal government has already started to get its hands on the city's master plans, when in January it approved a revision of the parameters to be followed by architects when constructing new buildings. Innovation in city design is at the heart of this regeneration plan for Seoul, but not everyone agrees.

According to a growing number of South Koreans, the re-planning of certain areas is in fact destroying an important part of the cultural and historical heritage of the urban fabric, irreparably erasing some of the characteristic features of Seoul's identity.

The mayor, however, does not seem to care too much about these criticisms, pursuing instead a mighty operation of rebranding the capital. With this project, Oh intends to climb the Global Power City Index, a ranking of 48 global cities ordered according to their ability to attract people, capital and businesses from around the world. In the edition of the index published in 2022, Seoul is ranked seventh, but Oh aims to be fifth.
by Mathias Hariyadi

The State Islamic University Sunan Kalijaga honoured the president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue in a ceremony yesterday in the presence of several Catholic and Muslim officials who spoke about Indonesias particular religious and social characteristics.

Yogyakarta (AsiaNews)  Cardinal Miguel Angel Ayuso Guixot, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (PCDI), received an honorary doctorate yesterday by the State Islamic University Sunan Kalijaga (UIN) in Yogyakarta (Central Java).

Two Indonesian cardinals, Julius Darmaatmadja and Ignatius Suharyo, were present at the ceremony, as were many other prelates, including Archbishop Agustinus Agus of Pontianak, who has always maintained good relations with Indonesia's largest and most moderate Muslim organisation, the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU).

In attendance were also NU President Kiai Hajj Yahya Cholil Staquf, Indonesian Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, UIN Rector Al Makin, and other senior representatives from the Catholic and Muslim communities along with over 1,500 people.

In his acceptance speech, Cardinal Guixot spoke of Wasatiyyah, an Islamic concept often translated as "moderation", viewed as a "solution" to religious fundamentalism and extremism.

"Wasatiyyah has been widely adopted and practised by so many Islamic parties to defend their moderate character and address contemporary issues while prioritising social justice and welfare, said the cardinal in his address.

For the cardinal, accepting the concept of Wasatiyyah means welcoming different religious groups and strengthening their brotherhood.

I have always been very proud of Indonesian Pancasila as a philosophical way of life in a state and nation blessed by God with a very large diversity in terms of culture, languages, and religions, he added.

Likewise, I also very proud of Sunan Kalijaga, this universitys patron figure, who has become the countrys Islamic leader and a nationalist preacher to his fellow Indonesians while still strongly preserving local wisdoms.

God created us with so many differences, not to ignite social divisions but to achieve unity among us, the cardinal explained, a reference to the Declaration on Human Fraternity signed by Pope Francis and Al Azhars Grand Imam Ahmed Al-Tayeb signed in Abu Dhabi in February 2015.

Card Guixot went on to say that, We have our common identity as a human family with the same rights and duties as all the worlds inhabitants.

What is more, Do not forget that we also have the same roots, which means that dialogue will not start from zero but from the same humanity. This will help open space for existential encounters.

Before the award ceremony, UIN Rector Al Makin spoke to Indonesian media.

The cardinal has always stressed how Indonesia has its own strong points in Islamic and local wisdoms, he explained. The good relationship among religious communities is different from other nations; in Indonesia, social harmony becomes our common interests, he added.

The Abu Dhabi declaration brought a new chapter and more constructive relations between the Catholic Church and the Islamic community, said Paulus Tasik Galle, from the Interreligious Office of the Ministry for Religious Affairs, speaking to AsiaNews,

Indonesia has been in the heart of Pope Francis, he added, noting the pontiffs solidarity at times of natural disasters.

For his part, Archbishop Agustinus Agus of Pontianak said that in the Catholic World, more and people are conscious that peace and justice cannot be achieved without cooperation with others.

The archbishop was instrumental in organising a meeting between the president of Nahdlatul Ulama and Cardinal Ayuso Guixot in 2019.
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Ministry says US balloons have often flown over China

08:11, February 14, 2023 By MO JINGXI ( China Daily

More than 10 such incidents dealt with responsibly, professionally since last year

China said on Monday that high-altitude balloons from the United States had flown over its airspace more than 10 times since the beginning of last year without permission from Chinese authorities.

"It is not an uncommon thing for US balloons to illegally enter other countries' airspace," Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said, noting that China has dealt with the US balloons in a responsible and professional way.

Wang made the remarks at a regular news briefing in Beijing as Washington continued dramatizing the accidental entry of a Chinese civilian airship into its airspace.

In one of the latest moves after the US military shot down the Chinese airship earlier this month, the US Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security said on Friday that it has blacklisted six Chinese entities that it said were linked to Beijing's aerospace programs, including those involving airships and balloons.

Wang said: "We strongly deplore and oppose this. China will take all necessary measures to firmly safeguard the legitimate and lawful rights and interests of Chinese companies and organizations."

He added that Washington is using the illegal unilateral sanctions against Chinese institutions to play up the situation.

China urges the US to appropriately handle accidents caused by force majeure in a calm, professional and restrained manner, Wang said, noting that the two sides are maintaining necessary communication.

The spokesman reiterated Beijing's firm opposition to Washington's overreaction by using force to deal with the Chinese airship, saying that it is the US that has been abusing its technological advantages to conduct large-scale, indiscriminate surveillance and theft of secrets across the world, including against its allies.

Given such infringements on other countries' sovereignty and interests, which also violate international law and basic norms governing international relations, Wang said no country has a better claim to the titles of spy state and surveillance state than the US.

He also mentioned Washington's frequent close-in surveillance around China, which seriously threatens China's national security and undermines regional peace and stability.

"The US side should check on its own behavior, instead of smearing others and instigating confrontation," Wang said.

According to the South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative, a Beijing-based think tank, US reconnaissance aircraft flew 657 missions to the South China Sea last year and 64 such flights in January this year.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
On Saturday, during a joint conference of the finance ministry and the Reserve Bank of India, Union Finance Minister said that crypto is 99 per cent technology. PTI

New Delhi: On a query posed over crypto mining in Lok Sabha, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said under India's Presidency, G20 members are working together to bring a collective standard operating procedure on it.

While replying to a query from DMK MP T Sumathy, the Finance Minister said, "At the moment, they (cryptocurrencies) are largely unregulated in India; whether it is mining or the asset or whether it is the transaction, we recognise that it is completely driven by technology and a standalone country's effort to control and regulate is not going to be effective."

After saying that China is tracking down crypto miners, India could be an alternate destination if regulation is certain and infra is provided, the member of Parliament asked how the government was planning to regulate crypto mining in India.

Sitharaman also added, "There is an evolving consensus and that's why we are raising this issue in the G20 and having a detailed discussion over the issue so that a standard operating procedure emerges after the discussions in the G20, and so that there is a coherent, comprehensive and all-country-working-together kind of approach in bringing some regulations, whether it is mining or transacting and all these would have been looked into with comprehension..."

On Saturday, during a joint conference of the finance ministry and the Reserve Bank of India, Union Finance Minister said that crypto is 99 per cent technology. It is "under discussion with G20 nations," if all countries could achieve a standard operating procedure that will be effective while following a regulatory framework, she added.

Addressing a press meet after addressing the Central Board of Directors of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in the customary post-Budget meeting on Saturday, the Finance Minister said, "If regulation has to happen, then a different country alone cannot do anything. We are talking to all countries about whether we will be able to make any standard operating procedure. So that if everyone follows that path and we create a regulatory framework, will we be able to remain effective? All this is a topic in discussion. Discussions on this subject with the G20 countries are on."
HP

This went down on Wednesday, February 8, in the parking lot of an unknown hotel, and it involved two Lamborghini Aventador Ultimae , the last of the Aventadors. The culprit, as seen in one video that has since reached viral status, is an unskilled and apparently quite clueless valet, who mistook the brake for the acceleration pedal, ramming the Lambo he was driving into another one that had already occupied its parking spot.News of the super-expensive crash spread like wildfire on social media, as these things tend to happen. Jiu-Jitsu athlete Craig Jones first posted the video, with the caption they crashed our rentals and the crying-face emoji because, really, what more can you add in a situation like this? Because of this caption, many assumed that both cars were rentals, and that he managed the firm that offered them, or was otherwise involved in the business.As it turns out, Jones was an eyewitness to the hectic scene , and is the guy heard in the video below doubling as Captain Obvious for the clueless valet, by bluntly informing him that you revved it up and f***ed it. A most glaring understatement if we saw one, but it does serve its purpose. But the cars are not his own: theyre billionaire Laurence Escalantes, a gaming and tech entrepreneur who made his fortune over the extended Australian lockdowns, and is a passionate racer and car collector.Not that it mattered too much, except to add a bit more strangeness to the incident, because heres that valet crashing a very expensive and rare car into a similarly expensive and similarly rare car belonging to the same owner. A double whammy: Escalante must have broken a couple of mirrors on the way to that hotel to get this kind of bad luck.The scene of the incident was the Crown Towers Resort in Perth, Australia, where both Escalante and Jones were present on the night in question. The valet admitted to mistaking the brake for gas as he was trying to drive the teal Lambo towards the rear of the purple one, but the resort is still conducting an investigation into what happened.The good news is that no one was injured, as Crown is quick to point out. We appreciate accidents happen and most importantly no one was injured, reads a statement, while a rep for Escalante says for the local media that the resort is most definitely picking up the bill on the repairs. Crown is working positively with us to fix the cars and put this behind us all, the publicist explains.That repairs bill wont be a trifle. Introduced at the 2021 Goodwood Festival of Speed, the Ultimae is the final Aventador , made in 250 units for the Roadster and 350 for the Coupe. The teal one that the valet drove was a Roadster, which he rammed into the purple Coupe  a $1.2 million spectacular crash happening in a small parking lot.The LP 780-4 Ultimae is powered by a 6.5-liter naturally aspirated V12 engine like the other Aventadors, but is lighter and more powerful than its predecessors. The V12 now develops 780and 531 lb-ft, which helps the 1,550-kg (3,417-lbs) Roadster go from 0 to 62 mph (100 kph) in 2.8 seconds and a maximum speed of 221 mph (355.6 kph).Heres the aftermath of the crash, where perhaps the only thing more shocking than the crash itself is the ridiculous reaction of the valet, who keeps smiling as he gives his version of events. But thats just shock.
Photo: Lockheed Martin

Not a new concept by any means, AI , as its commonly known, has slowly crept its way into pretty much everything we use on a constant basis these days, from the phones we take photos with to the cars we drive. By any standards, most of the Ais are rudimentary (including these so-called conversational AIs), but their potential to learn and evolve is immense.Were not yet at a point where the AI is running the show, and were probably still a long way until we reach singularity, but baby steps in that direction are being taken every day. Including military baby steps, and thats enough to make a lot of people nervous.The latest piece of news about AI learning how to control weapons and weapons platforms has to do with Lockheed Martin and a product of theirs called VISTA X-62A. VISTA stands for Variable In-flight Simulation Test Aircraft, and were basically talking about a tactical trainer aircraft.Made by Lockheed Martin together with the Calspan Corporation, the plane is in essence a modified two-seater F-16 Fighting Falcon . It is still equipped with a single General Electric engine good for 125 kN of thrust with the afterburner running hot. It can reach a top speed of close to Mach 2 (1,350 mph/2,170 kph) and can fly for 3,200 miles (5,200 km). Unlike its other F-16 siblings, it carries no weapons and is mostly used to test tech and mimic the performance of other aerial machines.Usually, the VISTA can accommodate pilots, and for the purposes of a recent test conducted by Lockheed Martin, they were probably on board, but none was needed. Instead, a so-called artificial intelligence agent took control of the aircraft and kept it afloat for no less than 17 hours.Lockheed gives no info on the mission profile or the actual AI system involved. We do know the flight happened in December 2022 and departed the Edwards Air Force Base in California, but it was only now made public.The VISTA does have a series of technologies meant to help it fly itself, including a simulation system developed by Calspan, a following algorithm made by Lockheed, and a system for autonomous control. They all work together with a variety of sensors, but exactly how these come together and just how capable the AI created by them is, thats anybodys guess.The December fight was the first time the AI engaged on a tactical aircraft, as per the team behind the project, but it will not be the last. More flights are planned for the rest of the year, and well probably learn more about the concept as theyre performed.
ADAS

The partnership between the two brands isnt new  they have also been collaborating on the(Advanced Driver-Assistance System) domain controller, as well as sensors and software for parking and maneuvering in BMWs upcoming generation of vehicles, Neue Klasse.Both companies signed an agreement to create a high-end parking user experience for customers on parking facilities and private grounds. The technology will come with functions ranging from Automated Maneuver Assistance to Level 4 Automated Valet Parking (no supervision needed by the driver). Furthermore, BMW and Valeo are also coming up with infrastructure-based services to enable fully automated parking and charging in public parking facilities and sites.Mercedes announced late last year that its Level 4 self-parking features would first become available to the public in the Mercedes-Benz S-Class and EQS, although admittedly only at the airport in Stuttgart, Germany, with a more extensive release in the works. Consequently, BMW has now announced its own plans, as the fight for driving automation keeps going, although Mercedes-Benz definitely has the upper edge, since it started working on the Level 4 systems back in 2017, in partnership with Bosch.The current automated parking software was released in the BMW iX in 2021 and will serve as a basis for the development of future software functions. The next generation will feature a powerful computing platform that will host the jointly developed algorithms.Marc Vrecko, the President of Valeos Comfort and Driving Assistance Systems Business Group, said that other automakers will be able to join the platform and that BMW is yet again setting the standard for the most intuitive and pleasant user experience.So, what is Automated Valet Parking (AVP), and how does it actually work? Lets say you drive to a drop-off zone. Leave the car, and the vehicle will take over tasks. It will look for a parking spot and maneuver itself in and out of it. Moreover, it can even drive back to a pick-up zone, where it will be ready to go as soon as you hop inside.You will be able to opt for additional services like fully automated charging or fully automated washing to make full use of the parking time. Ill be honest, the idea of the car charging itself while youre at work, then returning for pick-up, is pretty attractive. However, it sounds like a challenging feat, especially when it comes to infrastructure, although we shouldn't underestimate the power of today's technology.According to a draft of a future ISO standard, two main categories have been devised regarding Automated Valet Parking solutions: Type 1 and Type 2 systems. The required technologies for a Type 1 system, including computing units, sensors, and algorithms, operate on the vehicle. On the other hand, the necessary tech, including the AVP management system and the sensors, are fitted in the relevant infrastructure.The collaboration between BMW and Valeo supports both AVP types. The two companies have teamed up to develop cutting-edge Level 4 parking experiences that reflect customers needs.
EV

Try to compare Ferrari and Tesla, and youll get a lot of raised eyebrows from people around you. This is not different from how Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna reacted when Bloomberg asked him what he thinks about Tesla. Sure, being taught manners as a kid, Vigna sugarcoated the answer, but that doesnt change things too much.Ferrari is an iconic company with a tradition of selling classy performance cars to the worlds wealthiest. On the other hand, Tesla aims to sell electric vehicles to the masses . There isnt much to connect the two companies other than Ferrari will also produce electric vehicles at some point in the future. Nevertheless, Ferraris CEO clarified that Ferrari EVs would remain firmly connected to its customers desires rather than needs.Asked what he has learned from Tesla, Vigna dodged the question, saying that its biggest contribution to the automotive industry was shaking it up. Vigna praised themaker for being faster and more agile than anybody in a landscape where everything happened too slowly. Although he seemed to praise Tesla, he also dismissed its vehicles as merely functional cars meant to move people from one point to another and nothing more.By contrast, Ferrari produces emotional cars that give drivers a unique driving experience. As Ferrari prepares its first electric vehicle , Vigna promised to offer its clients the same thrills as combustion engines. This is why the Prancing Horse is not in a hurry to go electric, although Vigna doesnt agree its lagging behind others. Its just that theres still room for a mix of technology.If this statement reminds us of anything, its Toyotas stance on electric vehicles. Nevertheless, Ferrari has a clear advantage over Toyota in its reluctance to switch to EVs. Like Akio Toyoda , the Japanese carmakers CEO, Vigna thinks theres too much hype around electric vehicles. Most people are looking too much at technology instead of clients perception, he says. Nevertheless, Ferrari clients dont necessarily want an electric car. They want a Ferrari, regardless of the powertrain.Unlike Toyota, Ferrari doesnt have a competitor. Nothing is threatening its business. The only threat Vigna sees is the luxury industry as a whole becoming obsolete. New generations might not put the same price on luxury goods, so Ferrari invests a lot in sustainability and becoming carbon neutral. This is the only drive that pushes Ferrari towards electrification.Ultimately, Benedetto Vigna considers electric vehicles easy from a technological point of view. Building an electric Ferrari would not be a problem. The real question is how to extract the best emotion for the use of this technology you want to provide to the driver, Vigna said to Bloomberg. Technology is just a tool, and I think theres too much money poured into this.
Discovered in January, the glitch rapidly became more widespread, especially given Google Maps gigantic user base on Android Auto.The issue typically caused Google Maps to display a GPS signal lost error either right after launch or at random times when the application was running. As a result, the route guidance is no longer consistent, eventually suffering from major delays that make it unreliable.Users who encountered this problem claim theyve tried everything to fix Google Maps. In theory, a GPS signal program in an app running on Android is an indication of certain restrictions enforced by the operating system.More often than not, this error is caused by location permissions, as Google Maps not being allowed to determine your location would obviously render the app useless. The glitch occurred on devices where permanent location access was granted to Google Maps.Similar issues could also be caused by the aggressive power management settings that are bundled with Android these days. The operating system suspends the processes running in the background to increase battery life, and due to occasional errors, it could sometimes bring essential applications, such as Google Maps, to a halt even when they are in focus.This isnt the case either, so Google was the only one that could come up with a fix.And it did, as the search giant has announced that the most recent version of Google Maps is now available for download with a fix specifically aimed at this error. The version that you must download is Google Maps 11.66, currently rolling out through the Google Play Store.Several users have confirmed in a discussion thread that the issue is gone after updating Google Maps, so if you previously downgraded either the navigation app or Android Auto to an earlier release, make sure you update as soon as possible.In the meantime, keep in mind that the new version of Google Maps is shipping in stages to Android users out there. This means that the latest version you could see is 11.65 when checking out for updates. In theory, the new Google Maps release should show up on your device in the coming days as the availability improves, but if you dont want to wait, sideloading is the way to go.Some of the users who previously encountered the glitch downloaded the APK installer manually specifically to resolve the GPS error, and after updating to version 11.66.602, Google Maps is no longer hitting the infamous problem on Android Auto.
Italian Ambassador to India Vincenzo de Luca praised India's G20 theme of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the earth is one family) and said it strongly resonated with the Pope's appeal for universal brotherhood as reflected in the term Fratelli Tutti. (Photo: Twitter: @ANI)

New Delhi: With the G20 foreign ministers meeting just about a couple of weeks away, Italian Ambassador to India Vincenzo de Luca praised Indias G20 theme of "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the earth is one family)" and said it strongly resonated with the Popes appeal for universal brotherhood as reflected in the term "Fratelli Tutti".

Strongly batting for a continued global dialogue between various religions to promote understanding of all faiths, the Italian envoy pointed out that during the Italian G20 presidency in 2021, Italy had supported inter-faith understanding in supplementing the three "P"s of its vision  people, planet, prosperity  with the fourth "P" for peace.

The Italian envoy had recently organised an inter-religious dialogue to mark the International Day of Human Fraternity in which representatives of Bahai, Buddhist, Catholic, Hindu, Islamic, Jain and Sikh faiths participated.

The Italian envoy said, "The call to fundamental unity of all human and non-human beings on the face of the earth, contained in the Maha Upanishad and engraved in the entrance hall of the Parliament of India, strongly resonates with the Popes appeal for universal brotherhoodcontained in the encyclical Fratelli Tutti."

"As a diplomat, I started wondering if those ideas, which are definitely out of the diplomatic toolbox, could provide a new paradigm to practitioners of international relations and help us overcome todays new walls and fractures at a global level," he added.

"Those divides, as for instance between the Global North and Global South, East and West, threaten the fraternity and unity which is urgently needed to ensure, first of all, peaceful coexistence among nations, along the founding principles of the UN Charter.  Italy welcomes  any initiative aimed at preserving freedom of religion and belief all over the world," the Italian Ambassador said.

He added, "And without deeper fraternity and unity, also other global challenges such as poverty and inequality, energy and food crises, and most of all, climate change cannot be adequately addressed.
The basic idea is to give a popular model a fully monochromatic look by getting rid of all the shiny chrome bits and pieces, repainting them in black, and fitting them back alongside the all-black body and matching aftermarket wheels. Its a dark and menacing look that only befits a few models, not the entire roster of U.S.-spec automobiles, though.For example, you would not imagine an Acura Integra with murdered-out looks, as opposed to a Caddy Escalade or a Mercedes-Benz S-Class, just to give you both SUVs and passenger cars to dream of. And while many people would think that the murdered-out look is a little restrictive, one should never bet against peoples wits. As such, there are many variables  such as glossy, satin, or matte black treatments, plus any combination of these three.The monochromatic idea became so successful that some automakers give people the OEM option of preparing for the murdered-out vision  including Rolls-Royce with its Black Badge models . Plus, over the years, the niche has proselytized a lot of aftermarket outlets and owner dreams, and today we can also see the unicolor treatment in white, gray, sand, or just about any other imaginable shade. Of course, traditional murdered-out has remained a fixture of glossy all-black exterior surfacing.Here, let me give you a couple of examples, both courtesy of the Los Angeles, California-based forged wheel experts over at Forgiato , who probably thought that even a fifth-gen (WL) Jeep Grand Cherokee looks great murdered out, albeit only after they saw this creation from Dayton, Ohio-based Xtreme Autosports. Unfortunately, there are few details regarding the build.Oh well, at least we know this 2022MY rides on 22-inch Forgiato Trimestre aftermarket wheels with the mandatory floating F cap. Meanwhile, the customization outlet also tinted the windows to bode well for the all-black body, added some matching sun strips, and even smoked out the front side badges. Just in case you want something a bit more traditional from the murdered-out area, artist Alex Sensation also got caught by the Forgiato peeps while coming in or out of the garage with a dark and menacing Range Rover on multi-spoke Forgis.Alas, if the all-black attire is not your apparel, then perhaps something slammed and utterly widebody is more to your liking if it also rides on cool aftermarket wheels. As such, the second post embedded below shows us another crazy R35 Nissan GT-R transformation in Satin Gray with exposed carbon fiber and Brixton Forged wheels that hide just a subtle touch of neon green on the Brembo brakes for neat contrasting purposes!
Until the highly-anticipated air taxis and hybrid regional airplanes can offer air travelers zero-emission flights, theres another way to individually support a more sustainable commercial aviation. Lufthansa customers are now able to indirectly support the use of SAF (sustainable aviation fuel) for a lower carbon footprint, by opting for the new Green Fares.This is one of the modern ways of feeling that youre a responsible, eco-aware citizen  with just one click, from the comfort of your home, you can offset the CO2 emissions of your future flight. Whats the explanation behind the magic? Its a mix between the use of SAF and something called carbon credits.Weve talked about carbon credits before , as a solution that some aviation operators use to compensate for their CO2 emissions. In a nutshell, they pay for these carbon emissions by funding various climate protection projects that help reduce CO2 levels. This is usually done through a third party that handles the carbon credits and connects the operators with the climate projects.What these new Green Fares do is that they put the power in the hands of the customers. They get to choose whether they want to help offset the CO2 emissions this way, or not. And this is done mostly by contributing to those types of climate protection initiatives (around 80%) while the rest, up to 100% offsetting, is covered by the use of SAF.The German operator is no stranger to the use of alternative fuels, even claiming to be the largest SAF customer in Europe. Last year, the Group has signed a purchase agreement with Shell, for the delivery of nearly two million metric tons of SAF, over the course of seven years. Shell is supposed to start supplying this green jet fuel next year.That supply will certainly come in handy once more and more customers choose the Green Fares. Initially tested out in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway (where apparently they were a hit) these sustainable flight options will be rolled out in Europe, and for trips to North Africa.Starting tomorrow (February 15, 2023) the new fare will already be available  the first out of a total of 730,000 flights per year that offer the Green Fares option.This industry-first could seriously boost the German aviation Groups target for the end of this decade: less than half carbon emissions, compared to 2019.
How the Vespa was born

Photo: Vespa

From popular civilian scooter to bazooka-equipped military vehicle

Photo: C.Galliani on Wikimedia Commons

A simple and effective design

Photo: C.Galliani on Wikimedia Commons

It wasnt the first military Vespa, but it was the most outrageous

Photo: B25es on Wikimedia Commons

Today, Vespa is the worlds most popular brand of scooters and mopeds. Its story started shortly after the Second World War when crippled manufacturer Piaggio decided to reinvent itself by producing cheap means of transportation.Founded by Rinaldo Piaggio in 1884, the company started by making locomotives and railway carriages. By the 1940s, it grew into one of Italys biggest manufacturers, adding vehicles like airplanes, trucks, trams, and buses to its resume.But, Italys decision to join the Axis powers during Second World War and Piaggio's involvement in the war effort spelled disaster for the company. Its main plant located in Pontedera, Tuscany, was destroyed by the Allies, who ended up victorious.With Rinaldo passing away in 1938, Piaggio was passed down to his sons Armando and Enrico. The latter didnt give up on the family business, and as the global conflict was drawing to an end, he decided to diversify the companys activities, mainly looking to address the countrys need for affordable , mass-produced vehicles.With Italys road network in ruins, he turned his attention to motorcycles. By 1944, Piaggio engineers Renzo Spolti and Vittorio Casini put together a prototype officially called MP5 (Moto Piaggio no. 5). However, Enrico was displeased with the result, particularly its tall central section, which he deemed uncomfortable, so he commissioned aeronautical engineer Corradino D'Ascanio to redesign it.D'Ascanio reworked the frame, moved the engine to the rear, and built the first version of what was to become the worlds most popular scooter. When he first saw the new two-wheeler codenamed MP6, Enrico Piaggio allegedly exclaimed "Sembra una vespa!" ("It looks like a wasp!"), which ended up inspiring the vehicles official name.Piaggio kicked off production of the original Vespa in 1946. The first units sold slowly. But after the company introduced the option of paying by installments, sales began to explode. By 1950, tens of thousands were sold across the country. Less than a decade later, it became a global sensation.Apart from selling Vespas through their ever-growing dealership network, Piaggio licensed the design to several independent manufacturers because they were struggling to keep up with demand. One of these manufacturers was Ateliers de Construction de Motocycles et Automobiles (ACMA) from France, which would go on to build arguably the most outrageous version of the famed scooter.Based on the VBT1, the civilian model equipped with a 150-cc, two-stroke engine that enabled a top speed of 37 mph (60 kph), ACMA designed a special military version for the French paratroops (troupes aeroportees or TAP), who were looking for a light and relatively cheap gun-carrying vehicle that they could parachute along with the troops.Called 150 TAP, the military scooter was designed to carry a U.S.-made M20, 75-mm rifle, a type of recoilless, light anti-armor weapon able to penetrate up to 100 mm of armor when firing a HEAT warhead.The M20s recoil was eliminated by the use of venting propellant gases, which were pushed out the rear end of the rifle, eliminating the need for a complex mechanical recoil system or a heavy mount. This meant that the scooter didnt have to receive intricate modifications to carry the M20, and even more important, its weight didnt increase by much, so it could be easily parachuted.The troops would drop the Vespas in pairs, along with a two-man team. One of the scooters carried the rifle and its mount, while the second was loaded with ammo. At the time, there was no aiming device available for the M20, so soldiers would dismount the rifle from the scooter and fire it using its ground-mounted tripod. However, ACMA stated that, in theory, the M20 could be fired while mounted on the Vespa in case of an emergency, even when the scooter was moving. But the accuracy of the shot would be greatly impacted.Apart from a strengthened frame and a lower gear ratio, the 150 TAP was not much different from the civilian version. It was manufactured in about 600 examples during two production runs. The first units were built from 1956 to 1958, while slightly upgraded versions were assembled in 1959.In Italy, Piaggio developed its own military version of the scooter called Vespa Force Armate as early as 1949. It was considered superior to conventional military motorcycles thanks to better maneuverability, lighter weight, improved fuel consumption, and increased reliability.The prototype was designed with a multitude of options, including an armored leg shield, a saddle-mounted radio, or a submachine-gun mount fitted on the handlebar. It was extensively tested by the Italian military and later by NATO forces, but after two years of negotiations, Piaggio shelved the project since the offers it received were unacceptable.Still, thanks to French licensee ACMA, the Vespa was eventually enrolled in the French army , where in bazooka-carrying, 150 TAP guise, it became the most outrageous scooter ever built.You can take a virtual tour of this awesome machine in the YouTube video below by Pietro Pecco.
ICE

EV

Europe has been discussing phasing out combustion engines since 2021, and European Union countries have agreed to ban the sales of new combustion vehicles starting in 2035. Nevertheless, the decision was not passed into law until Tuesday, when the European Parliament formally approved the decision. This is not the last step, though, thanks to the highly bureaucratic nature of the European Union. To enter into effect, the new law needs final approval, another formal step that is expected to happen in March.Although a total ban will be instated in 2035, the new law also sets an ambitious target to cut CO2 passenger car emissions by 55% compared to 2021 levels from 2030. Combined with the constraints of the upcoming Euro 7 emissions regulations , which come into effect from July 2025, this would make combustion vehicles lose their appeal much sooner than the dates set in the legislation imply.First, the new emissions regulations would require more expensive after-treatment solutions, increasing the cars price. This would be felt the most in the lower segments of the market, as the smaller cars would make little sense economically. Nevertheless, as electric vehicles are becoming increasingly affordable,vehicles cannot become more expensive.The operating costs of an electric vehicle are already lower than the operating costs of a vehicle with an internal combustion engine, Jan Huitema, the parliaments lead negotiator on the rules, told Reuters. He added that bringing more affordable electric vehicles to consumers is crucial.The second problem is that nobody would want to buy a car with no future, even before the end of this decade. Thats because the closer we get to the 2035 deadline, the less a combustion vehicle would be worth in Europe. Before you know it, it will have no trade-in value, and its resale price would not make it worth the investment.European carmakers are already planning for the new regulations , and many are set to stop producing combustion vehicles even before 2035. Volkswagen, for instance, would exclusively produce electric vehicles from 2033. Although this is the current plan, people might be reluctant to buy an ICE car even before that. Thats why these deadlines would most probably be brought forward.The combustion engine ban in Europe has been planned since 2021 , and it makes a lot of sense. The Continent is densely populated and has a good infrastructure, meaningrange anxiety should not be a problem. EV adoption in Europe is also higher than in other areas, behind only China. This means that switching to electric vehicles would not pose such a cultural shock as in the U.S.
FSD

A new build of Full Self-Driving V11 (presumed to be V11.3) has now gone out to employees as of one hour ago.



No further information is available at this time, however, we expect further validation is required before we see this, or a subsequent build, make its way to everyone.  Teslascope (@teslascope) February 13, 2023

Every Tesla owner in North America is waiting for the FSD Beta V11.3 release , which is expected to bring important updates to Teslas self-driving software. Elon Musk promised the update last week, although he later offered another deadline for this week. People are accustomed to Musks predictions, so not many were excited about his latest promise. Nevertheless, it appears that things are moving, and this time the outspoken Tesla CEO might finally be right.Not a Tesla App noticed the rolling out of a new update, 2023.2.11, which got many folks excited. Nevertheless, this proved to contain mostly bug fixes and undocumented changes. The release notes dont mention anything new. The update is already on 60 Tesla cars and is expanding the user base rapidly, including in Europe. This is another indication that the software update has nothing to do with theBeta.Nevertheless, around the same time, two sources indicated that the FSD V11.3 was finally moving, albeit to a very limited number of cars. The TeslaFi software tracker found evidence of the update version 2022.45.5 downloading and installing on a 2021 Tesla Model Y in Pennsylvania. Since the FSD Beta V10.69.25 is based on the 2022.44.x software, this is most likely an update to the FSD software.If youre wondering why the older version of the software, since the 2023 updates are already in full swing, well, its because Tesla FSD has a longer development cycle. It would be unwise to release an update based on a software version that hasnt proved stable on a wide range of vehicles. Teslascope also confirms that the V11.3 update is currently being sent to select Tesla employees. While no other info is available at this time, the information hints at a wider rollout being possible by the end of this week The limited testing by Tesla employees is a normal practice with every software release. If anything goes smoothly, the update is sent to more cars inside Teslas circle of trust, allowing Tesla to gather feedback and squash some last-minute bugs. After that, it might release it to real customers in small batches while still looking to get as much feedback as possible. A wide rollout is only triggered if everything proves right.This careful, staggered rollout means its more likely to have the first customer installs by the end of this week, as Elon Musk hoped in a February 12 tweet. The current pre-wave1 installs are on a small group of vehicles belonging to Tesla managers and employees at Giga Nevada. According to Teslascope, the pre-wave1 group has already expanded with people from wave1. Once the update lands on more vehicles, it is possible to get a hold of the release notes to see whats included with the update
ICE

EV

The first information about it was dropped last year, when the Dearborn company spoke of two zero-emission high-riders , a medium-sized crossover and a sport crossover. Both of them will use the Volkswagen Groups MEB platform, a highly versatile construction that is the foundation stone of the Audi Q4 e-tron, Q5 e-tron, Cupra Born, Skoda Enyaq iV, Volkswagen ID.3, ID.4, ID.5, ID.6, ID. Buzz, and Fisker Ocean Concept.Set to be mechanically related to the VW ID.4, the yet-unnamed Ford has returned to the limelight roughly one month after we caught a first glimpse of it. These new spy shots are clearer than the previous ones, allowing us to take a better look at it. The model has a closed-off grille of generous proportions, by the looks of it, flanked by LED headlights with incorporated DRLs. There is a generous air intake in the central part of the front bumper and a very short hood design.The front windscreen is rather raked, and the vehicle has short front and rear overhangs and sharp lines running across its length. Decorating the tailgate is a spoiler with side attachments, and the taillights appear to have vertical styling, unless thats the trippy camouflage doing its thing. The rear license plate holder sits in the middle of the bumper, flanked by the incorporated reflectors. The diffuser appears to have a rather aggressive shape, and dont look for any tailpipes coming out of it, because as we already told you, this is a battery-electric vehicle.Some believe that Fords zero-emission crossover might be due as early as next month, but wed take this rumor with the proverbial pinch of salt until official confirmation. Production will take place at the Cologne facility in Germany, and it should hit the assembly line this summer. The so-called sport crossover will join it at the same factory, and chances are we will see the first units at dealers in selected markets sometime next year.On a related note, we will remind you that the American automotive marque has started working on a dedicated platform for electric vehicles. Thus, in all likelihood, these may be their only all-quiet models made with Volkswagens expertise. An electric version of the Puma is also in the pipeline, and it will come to life at the same facility as its-powered sibling, in Craiova, Romania. The Pumais expected to enter production in 2024.
Most of the big names in the cruising world are slowly transitioning to greener alternatives, not necessarily because they want to, but because IMO (International Maritime Organization) regulations are getting harsher. Right now, LNG (liquefied natural gas) is the buzzword in the maritime industry, as its considered the best solution for immediate results.The new cruise ships that are currently being built are designed to be compatible with LNG, and some of the ones already in operation have also switched to this alternative fuel. Its clearly a growing trend. However, LNG does not equal clean propulsion, and its still a type of fossil fuel. It might work as a temporary solution, but theres still no 100% emission-free cruise ship in operation.Fortunately, that might change sooner than we think. A ship called Northern Xplorer is gearing up to kick off its maiden season as soon as 2026. Unsurprisingly, its coming from Norway  the Nordic countries are known for being at the forefront of the green revolution. In fact, Norway has already adopted stringent regulations for the ships sailing around its World Heritage fjords, which will be implemented around the same time as this new ships arrival.The consortium behind the Northern Xplorer venture has managed to move pretty fast. It went from unveiling its cruise ship concept to selecting the designer and shipyard for its build in record time . At the end of 2021, the world got to hear for the first time about a revolutionary cruise ship design that would embody a radical change. Just a little over a year later, the brand behind it is ready to bring the ship to life.The ones that will make it happen are YSA Design and the West Sea shipyard. The design firm is also based in Oslo, and will work together with designer Axel Brox, who is in charge of the future ships interiors. The Northern Xplorer will be built in Portugal (thats where the shipyard is located) and use materials that are sustainably sourced from Scandinavia wherever its possible.The future ships detailed specs arent available yet, but we do know that the 140-meter (459 feet) green vessel will combine electric propulsion with hydrogen fuel cell technology. Plus, its designed to use wind polar and solar power for recharging its batteries while at sea, which would also make it self-sufficient.Up to 250 guests will get the chance to enjoy the luxurious amenities of the pioneering Northern Xplorer. The bad part is that it will only travel in Scandinavia. Hopefully, the concept will become successful enough to inspire similar projects in other parts of the world, as well.
The draft amendment announced late on Monday would empower the Karabakh parliament to elect an interim president in case of Harutiunians resignation. The president would serve for the rest of his five-year term in office which ends in 2025.

Under the unrecognized republics existing constitution, Harutiunians resignation would lead to the automatic dissolution of the parliament and the conduct of fresh presidential and parliamentary elections. Most local political actors agree that Azerbaijan, which has been blocking Karabakhs land link with Armenia for the last two months, could thwart such polls.

Harutiunians spokeswoman, Lusine Avanesian, said that the constitutional change was proposed in view of geopolitical regional developments and external and internal political challenges facing Karabakh. She told RFE/RLs Armenian Service that the Karabakh leader has no plans to resign.

Karabakh and Armenian opposition figures as well as some Yerevan-based media outlets speculated, however, that Harutiunian drafted the amendment under pressure from Armenias government. They said Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian wants to install a new Karabakh president who would be completely loyal to him.

Vahram Atanesian, a Karabakh pundit and former politician, disagreed, saying that Pashinians relationship with Harutiunian is not strained. Atanesian also argued that Pashinian would have trouble getting Karabakh legislators to elect a president handpicked by him because Harutiunians party does not control the majority of parliament seats.

Harutiunians initiative came amid reports of a rift between him and the Karabakh premier, Ruben Vardanyan, connected with the blockade.

Harutiunian reportedly tried to sack Vardanyan and force snap presidential and parliamentary elections last month. Vardanyan publicly made clear that he will not step down.

Opposition leaders claimed at the time that Pashinian pressured Harutiunian to replace the holder of the second-highest post in Karabakhs leadership and thereby facilitate far-reaching concessions to Azerbaijan. The Armenian government did not officially comment on those allegations. But some Pashinian allies and supporters criticized Vardanyan, implying that his exit is necessary for ending the Azerbaijani blockade.
Lois Henry is the CEO and editor of SJV Water, a nonprofit, independent online news publication dedicated to covering water issues in the San Joaquin Valley. She can be reached at lois.henry@sjvwater.org. The website is sjvwater.org.
Both the Opposition parties are stuck with their own internal dissent and disorientation issues. (DC Image)

HYDERABAD: One of the first political beliefs that will be shattered when Telangana goes to the elections at the end of the year will be that a padayatra in a Telugu state by a leader will lead to their party winning power  with leaders of both main opposition parties having had a go at it, Bandi Sanjay Kumar having covered over 1,000 kilometres in several phases of his Praja Sangrama Yatra and A. Revanth Reddy having just started his regional variants of the Haath Se Haath Jodo walkathon. Three leaders who conducted a padayatra came to power  Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, N. Chandrababu Naidu and Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy but they were all in Andhra Pradesh.

The second of the myths that will crack are two truisms that political analysts argue, but are mutually set against each other  one is that no Telugu leader has won power for a third consecutive term and the other that there can be no hung verdict in a small state like Telangana.

A cursory reading of three different party surveys in recent times which could be accessed shows that Chief Minster K. Chandrasekhar Rao is in all likelihood set to yet again make history by using the current situation to script another win.

Despite the spirited rhetoric and campaign of the two main Opposition parties, and the inevitable slant of anti-incumbency of two terms in the electorate, the born-again Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) is likely to gain from the divide of anti-Rao votes to record a highly probable third win.

Both the Opposition parties are stuck with their own internal dissent and disorientation issues, which the recently concluded Assembly amplified as a public opinion; with key leaders of the Opposition being Parliamentarians, only one leader stands tall in Telangana at the state-level, Chandrashekar Rao. If anything, the next in the race is his own son and minister K.T. Rama Rao.

The two potential rivals from the Opposition, Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and Etala Rajendar, were softened by Chief Minister Rao with his conduct of friendliness and reach-out with goodwill. In the coming days, a plethora of such mind games from the BRS boss will further widen the schisms in the national parties in the Opposition.

The BRS is also rapidly course-correcting on some of its weaknesses and addressing criticism that has deeply stuck in the minds of the people. After a week of highly urban-facing E-vehicles fest and race aimed at Hyderabad, plans are being prepared for the grand simultaneous inauguration of the new Secretariat, a giant Dr B.R. Ambedkar statue and a spectacular memorial for Telangana martyrs.

These three icons, if likely inaugurated on Dr Ambedkars birth anniversary (the previous plan to open it on CM Raos birthday was canned), will render several criticisms against the government moot  respecting Dalits, doing justice to memory of the martyrs of Telangana agitation and working from the Secretariat and being accessible to the common people.

This will leave Telangana Congress president Revanth Reddy and BJP state chief Bandi Sanjay little ammunition for attack if they continue their padayatras. The two parties have also not found ways to break the formidable secular vote bank the BRS has created through two of its schemes  the Aasara pensions and Rythu Bandhu. Other welfare schemes, like Shaadi Mubarak and Kalyana Lakshmi, KCR Kits and Kanthi Velugu, give the BRS a strong and breach-resistant block of committed voters.

The BJP is badly lacking leaders and cadre; even as the Congress is still recovering from its past loss of leaders. Both parties are facing the brunt of dissent and lack of coordination between leaders for its various programmes and initiatives.

The BRS also has a strong narrative set on a national scale to combat the BJP, even as it will repeatedly use hints of a post-poll tie-up with the Congress at the Centre to leave the battleground confused enough for it to smoothly touch the tape in the first-past-the-post system. This added to the partys moneychest, leaders, election machinery, media and social media game leaves the 2023 elections less of a close match than rivals would want.

Neither the Congress nor the BJP has yet been able to find a strong breach or an unimpeachable argument on why Telangana should not give Rao a third shot at power. And their time is running out.
A north Belfast man has been convicted of possession of a World War One firearm, discovered in a dog kennel in the yard of his house.
Man (29) with bipolar disorder found dead after absconding from mental health unit

A nurse at a Co Antrim hospital warned an inpatient planned to take his own life days before he did so, an inquest has heard.

Christian Grey (29) from Ballymena was admitted to Tobernaveen mental health centre in May 2019 after struggling with bipolar disorder.

He had been out on a period of leave between December 24 and 27 to spend Christmas with his family, but he had already made plans to end his life on New Years Day.

Recently qualified nurse Caroline Rutledge said she flagged the increased risk of suicide after speaking to the patient, who legally changed his name to the Fifty Shades Of Grey character by deed poll in 2012.

Coroner Anne-Louise Toal was told by the witness she noted low mood and tearfulness upon Mr Greys return.

Spending time with his family over Christmas was his way of saying goodbye, the records show.

He didnt want a life in and out of hospital.

Christian stated he had a plan to end his life.

The nurse, who no longer works at Tobernaveen, could not recall if his relatives were spoken to following his home visit in line with best practice guidelines.

There is no documentation to indicate the family was contacted.

When asked if it would have been beneficial, she replied: Yes, it probably would have helped.

Ms Rutledge noted it feels like he has now accepted the fact that he will kill himself and no longer feels sad about it. She told the inquest she took appropriate action by highlighting the risks and passing them on to a multi-disciplinary team.

I believe it was a significant risk and I documented it so other staff would be aware of what he expressed, she said.

The witness told the coroner, as a newly qualified nurse, she was heavily reliant on senior staff, who she frequently asked for advice and support.

Ms Rutledge was also aware Mr Grey had told another patient how to climb a fence in the smoking area, and that he had become irritable when asked about it by a ward manager.

A total of 12 incidents involving the fence were recorded in 2019, with five the year before.

Christian Grey with his father Davy, sister Angie and mother Joanne

Ms Rutledge, who knew Mr Grey had been finding life difficult since the death of his brother Ryan in 2012, also revealed she spoke to him about the effects of drugs on mental health after he admitted taking cocaine and cannabis on Christmas Eve.

Joby Joseph was the ward manager at the time of the death, although he was acting as nursing coordinator for the entire 116-bed hospital, which has two main facilities.

He told the coroner he flagged concerns about patients jumping the fence on a number of occasions following previous incidents.

I dont have the exact number but there was a few, he said. One or two in 2019 as well.

Mr Joseph insisted it was taken seriously by senior management, who had begun a review and were looking at the budget.

However, at around 11.35pm on December 30, Mr Grey went to the smoking area and managed to scale the 2.5m obstacle.

The pair had exchanged smiles as Mr Grey walked by the office window.

When the patient was reported missing, Mr Joseph rang him as a frantic search effort involving the PSNI got under way.

Christian said he was going to get some fresh air and would come back, the witness told the tribunal.

He said he was still on hospital grounds, but wouldnt say where.

Police then took over the search.

Just over an hour after Mr Grey ended the call abruptly he was found dead.

A legal representative for the family pointed out higher rates of patients absconding within the Northern Trust compared to other trusts.

In 2019, 76 patients were recorded as going absent without leave, which contributed to 217 incidents recorded within a three-year period.

However, the Northern Trusts representative interjected to point out not all absent without leave incidents involved patients absconding.

Mr Joseph insisted all staff were very vigilant and followed procedures by not allowing Mr Grey off the ward, no longer allowing him out on leave, and organising a medical review to be carried out.

Mr Greys mum Joanne Murphy, who referred to her son as Gary during the inquest, said she had no idea about his intention to take his own life.

I know if Gary had said anything like that to me, I would have phoned the hospital, she said.

I thought he was coming back out for his birthday

Ms Murphy described feeling helpless as her smart, happy and bubbly son deteriorated in front of her following his brothers death.

She described the last time Gary told her I love you, before being able to step over a fence and kill himself within the hospital days later.
The court was made to intervene after market volatility shook investor confidence at least for a brief time, erasing wealth. (DC File Image)

It appears that the Hindenburg report on the Adani Group and the impact that it has had on the Indian stock markets will lead to the constitution of a committee that will explore ways and means to protect Indian investors. The Union government and the market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), have told the Supreme Court that they are on the same page with it on the issue.

While the Union government would agree to such a suggestion, it would want to insist that the SEBI and the Reserve Bank of India, two State agencies that regulate the flow of funds, are fully equipped to handle this. It also indicated that it wanted a say in the constitution and remit of such a committee as it should not be seen as a result of the Supreme Courts wish to monitor the functioning of the market and financial sector regulators. It would submit the remit and the possible names to be included in the committee in sealed covers over the next couple of days.

The governments reply came in response to a query by the apex court to explain to it the "robust mechanisms" the government has introduced in order to ensure that investor interests are protected. The court was made to intervene after market volatility shook investor confidence at least for a brief time, erasing wealth.

It is a fact that despite governmental claims of robust mechanisms, and even after factoring the inherent reflection of economic conditions in the market, the Indian stock markets have been visited upon by several scams in the last three decades, a period during which it exploded, offering even small investors an option to be part of the economic activity and to benefit from it. There are disclosure norms but also ways to skirt them. Smart operators have identified gaps in the mechanisms, made use of them and duped investors, financial institutions and even governments. Not just gullible investors, even seasoned ones became their victims. The Hindenburg report revealed nothing knew that was unknown to people; it only sought to list the doings of one company.

Investor protection is a risky term with respect to market operation in that risk is an inherent factor associated with it. In fact, success there depends on ones ability to navigate through the tough alleys out there. All that the government can do is to ensure that there are updated laws to address the developments and mechanisms to implement them. It must also be able to use technological tools to pre-empt the tricks of the fraudsters. Working nonstop on creating awareness on prudent investment practices is another important area where regulators and the governments can work together.

The governments anxiety about a committee evaluating the functioning of the market and banking regulators and its potential impact on funds flow is palpable but it must realise that more damage will be done to it when foreign investors discover that there are enough slips in the regulatory mechanism which allow dishonest people to play in the market for long periods without being noticed. Hence, judicial oversight over the investor protection measures is the best option until such time when the government is able to put in place robust, self-run processes and until public and the investors/ prospective investors get the confidence that these are effective and adequate.
Woman found guilty of manslaughter after stabbing boyfriend subjected to prolonged domestic violence, says solicitor

The Public Prosecution Service (PPS) has been asked to review a decision to take a case against a domestic abuse victim for an alleged attack on her former partner three years ago.
The joint captain of the Armagh GAA senior team has criticised the Gaelic games organisation for not paying one penny of player expenses amidst a cost-of-living crisis.

Aidan Nugent, who is also a member of the Gaelic Players Association (GPA) which has hit out at the GAA for a lack of expense payments before, took to Twitter to share his dismay at how players havent received any compensation in the last three months.

Inter County training officially allowed back on 24th November and players haven't received 1 penny of expenses up to this point," Nugent tweeted.

"Players (especially student athletes with no other income) are out a lot of money in the middle of a cost of living crisis.

"There's not enough being said about it. Players generate massive amounts of money each year for the GAA, the least were [sic] owed is the expenses that we get promised, paid on time.

As the GAA is an amateur organisation, inter-county athletes do not receive payment for playing at the highest level, but have always relied on receiving expenses for various aspects; mostly travelling to and from training.

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The GAA cut expenses due to the Covid-19 crisis in 2020, but never restored them to pre-pandemic value last year, despite promising to do so.

The GPA thus accused the organisation of going back on their word.

This resulted in players boycotting all media appearances during last seasons Allianz National League and refusing to give post-match interviews.

Nugents tweet suggests the conflict has spilled into 2023 as well, and the GPA informed members on Monday that they have reached out to GAA officials in Croke Park over the current issue.

The GPA will continue to push centrally with Croke Park to ensure all squads are up and running asap as it is not acceptable for players still to be out of pocket for expenses at this stage, the group said.

The opening of the GAAs web expenses system was reportedly delayed until January 31 and this was further compounded for Armagh and the other Ulster teams. as the system was not operational for counties outside the Eurozone, with changes needed to move all currency over to sterling.
Tyrone man visited Vietnam to show the solidarity people of NI have with grieving families of 39 victims

John Hurson (53) from Dungannon made the journey from NI to Vietnam to speak with the families of those that died in the back of a lorry container in Essex in 2019

A lorry driver from Co Tyrone said he feels humbled after travelling to Vietnam to meet with some of the families of 39 migrants that were found dead in the back of a lorry container in England four years ago.
Pearse Doherty has ordered local Sinn Fein branches to pay their bills, after a printing company was forced to chase the party for four years over an unpaid 5,000 for election posters.

The partys finance spokesperson said the unpaid bill was a matter for the partys local area organisation.

The political party didnt pay a bill for election posters, some of which featured leader Mary Lou McDonald endorsing candidates, Independent.ie revealed.

A poster-printing company chased the party for four years to pay the bill of more than 5,000.

It eventually wrote off the debt, which went unpaid because of an internal dispute in Sinn Fein over whether the tab should be picked up nationally or locally.

The unpaid posters bill dates back to the 2014 local elections, and some of the candidates on the posters went on to become TDs.

Read more SF fail to pay bill for posters featuring Mary Lou McDonald backed candidates

Mr Doherty, Sinn Feins finance spokesperson, said it was deeply regrettable that the bill went unpaid.

First of all, Sinn Fein at head office have paid all of their bills, thats very clear. What this story reflects is some local areas in the 2014 local elections didnt pay their bills, he told RTEs Morning Ireland.

Thats deeply. Deeply regrettable, of course people should pay their bills. Head office cant pay that bill, that is a matter for the local areas, the local areas ordered the bill.

It is for local areas to pay it and the key thing for me is to make sure that local areas do pay that bill. Its long outstanding and all bills should be paid.

Mr Doherty said he will direct the appropriate office to pay the bill as far as we can.

Ive already reached out to the finance department in Sinn Fein and have asked them to go back to local areas to ensure that those bills are paid, he said.

All outstanding debts, whether theyre raised at a local level, or a national level should be paid.

The posters were ordered from and produced by one of the countrys biggest printing companies, The Printed Image, based in west Dublin.

Following revelations onIndependent.ie of Sinn Feins previous accounting issues, a former employee contacted this publication to say there was a problem with another election bill not being paid.

The company confirmed there was an unpaid bill and has records of the initial order, the invoices and the tracking of the debt up to 2018, when it had to be written off as it could not be collected.

The posters were ordered by Sinn Fein in February, April and May 2014, and the bills were followed up on multiple occasions until June 2018 when 5,305.78 was written off as a bad debt due to failure to pay.

Sinn Fein did pay for some of the work done for the 2014 local elections  but not all.

The Printed Image managing director Tom Moriarty said the companys normal system for billing and payment was followed but to no avail.

The staff who were involved at the time were being told by head office it was the candidates and local organisation who owed the bill, and the candidates and local organisation were saying it was head office. We were left with the outstanding invoices. We chased and chased, he said.

And the bill can still be settled, Mr Moriarty said: Its never too late for anyone to pay up for past invoices.
Whitefriar Street Church in Dublins city centre is not what you might consider a romantic hot spot, but today it will be bustling with lovers, young and old  and some sadly in mourning for their own true love  who will come to lay a red rose at the shrine of Saint Valentine.
Undated handout still issued by the Metropolitan Police of David Ballantyne Smith, during his meeting with Irina. Smith admitted taking photographs of classified documents at the embassy some four years before he was caught in a sting by fake Russian operatives in 2021. Issue date: Tuesday February 14, 2023.   Metropolitan Police

An ex-security guard at the British Embassy in Berlin has admitted handing classified documents to Russia, but refused to name his alleged spymaster, saying: There is no-one.

David Ballantyne Smith amassed a stash of secret and sensitive material over four years before he was caught in 2021.

He twice wrote anonymously to the Russian Embassy, and in one letter revealed the identity of a British diplomat who had lived in Moscow.

David Smith has admitted spying for Russia while working at the British embassy in Berlin (Met Police/PA)   Metropolitan Police

Giving evidence at the Old Bailey on Tuesday, Smith denied being motivated by pro-Russian and anti-British sentiment.

He said: Now I have had a year-and-a-half to look back on it, I am disgusted with myself and ashamed at what I have done.

He accepted it was wrong to expose the British diplomat referred to in court as X  in his letter to Major General Sergey Chukhrov in November 2020.

But he said: As far as I was concerned I thought it was something they already had. It was wrong to send everything, of course.

Defence barrister Matthew Ryder KC asked if Smith sent any more letters, to which the defendant replied: Absolutely not.

I saw diplomat X again face to face. I felt ashamed of myself. I knew I should not have done it. It was below the belt. I was glad I didnt put anything else in the envelope.

Smiths first letter, dated May 2020, was compiled using Google translate and a contact gleaned from the Russian Embassy website, he said.

He enclosed a book marked sensitive about the Arctic, but insisted it contained no details about individuals.

He denied being paid by Russia for intelligence, claiming he got cash from the sale of his collection of militaria at German flea markets.

David Ballantyne Smith taking a video of the CCTV monitors in the British Embassy security kiosk (Met Police/PA   Metropolitan Police

Smith was caught in an undercover sting in August 2021 involving two fake Russian operatives.

The first posed as a walk-in informant at the British Embassy named Dmitry.

The second role player purported to be a Russian intelligence officer called Irina who accosted Smith at a tram stop to ask him about Dmitry making damaging disclosures a few days later.

Smith admitted being stupid and nosy when he had made copies of a document Dmitry brought with him on his visit.

He also admitted filming Dmitry from embassy CCTV and keeping mobile phone packaging with the informants new number on it.

On watching covert video of himself filming Dmitry, Smith said: When I looked at those videos I thought what an arsehole because I realised what an idiot I had been.

He told the court he knew immediately that Irina was not a Russian intelligence officer, as she claimed.

He said: After she turns to me in an English accent and says shes Russian intelligence I laughed at how ridiculous it was.

Under cross-examination, Smith was challenged to prove his remorse by revealing the apparent Russian contact who he referred to as someone during his exchange with Irina.

Smith replied: There is no-one. There is no-one. There is no-one.

Prosecutor Alison Morgan KC asserted: There is a them, a them who were paying you a lot of money, that money wasnt coming from flea markets.

Your suggestion you are ashamed I suggest is just self pitying.

Smith replied: Not at all.

An exterior view of the new British Embassy in Berlin, Germany (Fiona Hanson/PA)   Fiona Hanson

In November last year, the 58-year-old pleaded guilty to eight charges under the Official Secrets Act by committing an act prejudicial to the safety or interests of the state.

The prosecution allege that Smith handed documents over to the hostile state with intent to harm Britain.

Smith denied it, saying: I just wanted to give the embassy a bit of a slap because I did not think that they were treating me very well.

The Paisley-born defendant counted himself as a patriotic Scot who had been proud to serve in the RAF for 12 years.

Smith, who while in Belmarsh Prison was sent merchandise relating to the Azov Battalion in Ukraine, denied having far-right sympathies.

But he expressed an interest in online conspiracy theories, saying: Yeah, I look at David Icke and Alex Jones InfoWars to get an alternative view. I just like both sides of the story.

Smith said he changed his views on the conflict in the Ukrainian Donbas region and became more neutral after visiting war cemeteries and seeing lines of freshly dug graves.

He said he began collecting classified documents around the time his wife went back to Ukraine in 2018, leaving him depressed and lonely.

The more I was on my own, the more depressed I became, and the longer it went on, the worse it got, the more I started to drink, he said.

During the Covid-19 lockdown in Germany, Smith had been unable to visit his wife and would drink seven pints a day, he said.

He added: I was angry that everyone was sitting at home with full pay when we were having to go to work every day.

I just went downhill after that. I would fly off the handle at the slightest thing.

Call that spoiled child, obstinate prat maybe  I was full of my own self-importance. I wanted to teach the embassy a lesson.

He said he enjoyed the self-satisfaction of what he had done and wanted to highlight security at the embassy which was not exactly great.

Court artist sketch of David Smith (Elizabeth Cook/PA)   Elizabeth Cook

Following his arrest by German police, Russian memorabilia was uncovered at his Potsdam flat including a Communist toy Lada car and a life-size cuddly Russian toy Rottweiler dog sporting a military hat.

Items seized from his work locker including a cartoon of Russian President Vladimir Putin in military garb holding the head of former German chancellor Angela Merkel.

Smith faces up to 14 years in prison when he is sentenced at the Old Bailey on Friday.
David Smith has admitted spying for Russia while working at the British Embassy in Berlin (Fiona Hanson/PA)   Fiona Hanson

An ex-security guard has apologised for spying at the British Embassy in Berlin, saying he only wanted to give his employer a bit of a slap.

David Ballantyne Smith admitted taking photographs of classified documents at the embassy some four years before he was caught in a sting by fake Russian operatives in 2021.

In November last year, the 58-year-old pleaded guilty to eight charges under the Official Secrets Act by committing an act prejudicial to the safety or interests of the state.

Court artist sketch of David Smith wearing headphones during an earlier hearing at Westminster Magistrates Court (Elizabeth Cook/PA)   Elizabeth Cook

The prosecution allege that Smith holds strong anti-UK views, is in favour of Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, and had handed documents over to the hostile state with intent to harm Britain.

Giving evidence at the Old Bailey on Tuesday, Smith apologised for his behaviour.

He said: I am disgusted with myself. At the time I did not think what I was doing. Now I have had a year-and-a-half to look back on it, I am disgusted with myself and ashamed at what I have done.

Defence barrister Matthew Ryder KC asked him: Did you intend to cause serious harm to anybody?

Smith replied: At no time. I just wanted to give the embassy a bit of a slap because I did not think that they were treating me very well.

Smith told the court that he was born in Paisley and counts himself as a patriotic Scot who had been proud to serve in the RAF for 12 years.

After leaving the armed forces, Smith moved to Crawley in West Sussex and worked at Gatwick Airport as a flight auditor and cabin crew member before moving to Germany and getting a job at the embassy.

He had a daughter by his first wife and married his Ukrainian wife Svetlana in 2002.

Smith, who while in Belmarsh Prison was sent merchandise relating to the Azov Battalion in Ukraine, denied having far-right sympathies.

But he expressed an interest in online conspiracy theories, saying: Yeah, I look at David Icke and Alex Jones InfoWars to get an alternative view. I just like both sides of the story.

Smith said he changed his views on the conflict in the Ukrainian Donbas region and became more neutral after visiting war cemeteries and seeing lines of freshly dug graves.

He said he began collecting classified documents around the time his wife went back to Ukraine in 2018, leaving him depressed and lonely.

The more I was on my own, the more depressed I became, and the longer it went on, the worse it got, the more I started to drink, he said.

During the Covid-19 lockdown in Germany, Smith had been unable to visit his wife and would drink seven pints a day, he said.

I was angry that everyone was sitting at home with full pay when we were having to go to work every day.

I was getting more and more depressed. I was drinking more. Nothing changed as far as the attitude of people at work.

I just went downhill after that. I would fly off the handle at the slightest thing. I was getting angry really easily.

He sought help for his mental health but was only offered unpaid leave and referred to a hotline, he said.

Explaining how that connected with his offending, he said: Living on my own, the sense of what I felt at the time, just being ignored. Drinking all the time, the depression, the fact I had been to my employer, asked for help, and they did not really do anything for me. I was angry.

Call that spoiled child, obstinate prat maybe  I was full of my own self-importance.

I wanted to teach the embassy a lesson.

The attitude from the embassy  the them and us attitude. The bullying. The sense you are there for their convenience.

He said he enjoyed the self-satisfaction of what he had done and wanted to highlight security at the embassy which was not exactly great.

David Smith expressed remorse for his actions (Metropolitan Police/PA)   Metropolitan Police

But he expressed remorse for his actions, saying: I can only apologise for any distress I have caused to anybody. I did not set out to harm anyone. I just had a bit of a grievance.

He denied contacting Russian authorities beyond the two letters that had been uncovered during the investigation or that he accepted money.

Following his arrest by German police, a search of his flat in Potsdam uncovered a large Russian Federation flag, various Russian books, a Soviet military hat, a Communist toy Lada car and a life-size cuddly Russian toy Rottweiler dog sporting a military hat.

Smiths work locker was also searched and items seized including a cartoon of Russian President Vladimir Putin in military garb holding the head of former German chancellor Angela Merkel.

The caption in German stated: Russia, please free us once again.

Smith was extradited on April 6 last year and arrested on arrival at Heathrow Airport for offences under the Official Secrets Act.

He faces up to 14 years in prison when he is sentenced at the Old Bailey on Friday.
University staff and civil servants will strike on Tuesday as the wave of industrial action continues to sweep the UK.

Members of the University and College Union (UCU) and the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union will mount picket lines outside universities and the British Museum in disputes over pay, pensions and working conditions.

More than 70,000 members of the UCU will begin the first of three successive days of strike action across 150 universities in the UK this week, which threaten disruption to students lectures and seminars.

Around 100 members of the PCS union at the British Museum working in visitor services and security teams are striking all week as part of a dispute over pay, pensions, redundancy terms and job security.

The UCU confirmed on Monday evening that it will reballot its members to allow university staff to take further industrial action through the rest of the academic year if their demands are not met by employers.

The British Museum (John Walton/PA)   John Walton

The announcement came as the UCU entered talks with the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA), which represents 144 employers, via the conciliation service Acas.

The UCEA has made a pay offer of between 5% and 8%, which had been rejected by the union.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: Staff are striking because they are sick of being denied a decent pay rise, secure employment, and proper pensions.

And students are standing with us because they know that staff working conditions are their learning conditions.

Our union is determined to reach a negotiated settlement which allows staff to get back to work and students to continue their studies uninterrupted.

But that can only happen if vice chancellors come out of hiding and use a fraction of the sectors vast wealth to make serious, well-rounded offers to staff.

Raj Jethwa, UCEAs chief executive, said: It is disappointing that UCU has confirmed it will re-ballot on the day that these Acas talks have started.

It is saddening if even a single student is impacted by the 18 days of strike action that UCU has already asked its member to take, and we hope that these Acas talks will help to resolve this dispute.

PCS members are also on strike this week at the Department for Work and Pensions, DVLA and the Animal and Plant Health Agency.

They will be joined by Border Force staff in Dover, Calais, Coquelles and Dunkirk on Friday.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: Our hard-working members are sorry theyre taking this action during half term because their working life is dedicated to sharing information with people, especially young people learning about the exhibits and artefacts in the British Museum.

That they are taking this action shows how strongly they feel taken for granted by the Government. The Prime Minister has the power to end this strike tomorrow, but hes nowhere to be seen.

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak, who will join a picket line at the British Museum on Tuesday, said: Nobody takes the decision to strike lightly. But the Conservative government is pushing workers like these museum staff into a corner by refusing to engage in serious pay negotiations.

We all want these pay disputes to be quickly resolved. And that can happen if the Chancellor and Prime Minister do the right thing and come to the negotiating table with credible pay offers.

Until then, unions will hold firm, because we know that decent pay rises are possible  it comes down to political choices.

The National Education Union (NEU) had planned to take strike action in schools in Wales on Tuesday, but the walkout was suspended last week after a new pay offer was made by the Welsh government.

Teaching union leaders will meet with Education Secretary Gillian Keegan on Wednesday in a bid to resolve a pay dispute which threatens further walkouts in schools across England in February and March.
A police vehicle is seen parked at the gate of a building which houses BBC office, in Mumbai, India (Rafiq Maqbool/AP)   Rafiq Maqbool

Officials from Indias Income Tax department began conducting searches on Tuesday at the BBCs offices in the capital, New Delhi.

It comes weeks after the British broadcaster released a controversial documentary that examined prime minister Narendra Modis role during 2002 anti-Muslim riots.

Teams from the tax department surveyed the BBCs Delhi and Mumbai offices, the Press Trust of India news agency reported, quoting officials who were not identified.

India banned the two-part documentary India: The Modi Question last month and authorities scrambled to halt screenings of the programme and restrict clips of it on social media in a move that critics and political opponents decried as an assault on press freedom.

Narendra Modi (Manish Swarup/AP)   Manish Swarup

Indian tax authorities declined to comment.

A BBC spokesperson said: The income tax authorities are currently at the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai and we are fully cooperating.

We hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible.

Late in the evening, the BBC said officials were still at the two offices.

Many staff have now left the building but some have been asked to remain and are continuing to cooperate with the ongoing inquiries, it said, adding: Our output and journalism continues as normal.

Last month, the BBC broadcast the documentary in the UK examining the riots in the western state of Gujarat, where Mr Modi was chief minister at the time.

More than 1,000 people were killed.

Mr Modi has denied allegations that authorities under his watch allowed and even encouraged the bloodshed, and the Supreme Court said it found no evidence to prosecute him.

Last year, the court dismissed a petition filed by a Muslim victim questioning Mr Modis exoneration.

The second portion of the two-part documentary examines the track record of Narendra Modis government following his re-election in 2019, according to the films description on the BBC website.

The Indian government banned the documentary and authorities scrambled to halt screenings and restrict clips of it on social media in a move that critics and political opponents decried as an assault on press freedom.

Private security guards close the gate of a building housing BBC office in New Delhi, India (Altaf Qadri/AP)   Altaf Qadri

The government invoked emergency powers under its information technology laws to block the programme.

Twitter and YouTube complied with government requests and removed many links to the documentary.

Indias foreign ministry at the time called the documentary a propaganda piece designed to push a particularly discredited narrative that lacked objectivity.

Many politicians from Mr Modis Bharatiya Janata Party criticised the programme as an attack on Indias sovereignty.

The BBC said in a statement at the time that the documentary was rigorously researched and involved a wide range of voices and opinions.

We offered the Indian Government a right to reply to the matters raised in the series  it declined to respond, the statement said.

Last week, Hindu right-wing nationalists petitioned the Supreme Court for a complete ban on the BBC in the wake of the programme.

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The court dismissed their plea, calling it absolutely meritless.

The search of the BBCs offices is undemocratic and reeks of desperation and shows that the Modi government is scared of criticism, tweeted K.C. Venugopal, general secretary of the opposition Congress party.

We condemn these intimidation tactics in the harshest terms.

In recent years, Indias Muslim minority has been at the receiving end of violence from Hindu nationalists emboldened by a prime minister who has said little about such attacks since he was first elected in 2014.

Human Rights Watch said earlier that the banning of the documentary reflects a broader crackdown on minorities under the Modi government, which the rights group said has frequently invoked draconian laws to muzzle criticism.
Young boys pull containers of water as they return to their huts from a well in the village of Ntabasi village amid a drought in Samburu East, Kenya (Brian Inganga/AP)   Brian Inganga

With the prospect of a sixth consecutive failed rainy season in the east and Horn of Africa, Kenyas president is hoping the heavens will finally open with the help of a national day of mass prayer on Tuesday.

William Ruto announced the plans for the countrys first ever day of prayer on Sunday at a service in the drought-stricken city of Nakuru, some 100 miles from the capital Nairobi.

It follows a joint call by the countrys spiritual leaders to dedicate an entire day to prayer to ease drought conditions in the nation.

Mr Rutos own ambitious economic revival strategy for the country is also dependent on a successful rainy season.

As a government we have set out elaborate plans for food security, we have seeds, ample fertiliser, and water harvesting strategies including dams.

We now need God to send us the rain, Mr Ruto said.

I urge all people from all faiths  to pray for our country.

Kenya and other east African nations have been experiencing some of the worst drought conditions in decades, causing crop failure, loss of livestock, wildlife and biodiversity, and malnutrition. Domestic agriculture is a large part of Kenyas economy.

The UN humanitarian agency has termed the ongoing drought in the region a rapidly unfolding humanitarian catastrophe.

Meteorologists say human-caused climate change has been exacerbating the extreme conditions.

It is time we started including climate change as factor in our development plans, Evans Mukolwe, former director of the Kenyan and UN weather agencies, said.

The current drought which we warned about some years ago has wider ramifications on the social economic conditions of the region including peace, security, and political stability.

Mr Mukolwe added that climate change has contributed to below average rainy seasons in the region for about three decades.

The Intergovernmental Authority on Developments climate centre said that since 2020, five rainy seasons have failed, affecting over 50 million people.

William Ruto (Brian Inganga/AP)The centre will release its projections for the long rains season, typically from March to May, later in February.

Early projections from other meteorological groups are not optimistic.

Around the world people from different faiths have often sought divine intervention for rain or other favourable weather.

Last summer Milans archbishop made a pilgrimage to three churches in hopes of ending the countrys dry spell and Utahs governor called for citizens to pray for rain ahead of a weekend of extreme heat.

Some Kenyans intend to heed the presidents call.

Nairobi business owner Millicent Nyambura said she supported the idea, even though it will affect my colleagues in the flower business who expect to boost sales on Valentines Day.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley speaks during a news briefing at the White House, in Washington, Sept. 15, 2017. Haley, the former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador, announced her candidacy for president on Tuesday, becoming the first major challenger to former President Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican nomination. (File Photo: PTI)

WASHINGTON: Prominent Indian-American politician Nikki Haley launched her presidential campaign on Tuesday, becoming the first Republican to challenge former US President Donald Trump in his 2024 bid for the White House.

Haley, 51, is the two-term Governor of South Carolina and the former US Ambassador to the United Nations.

"I'm Nikki Haley, and I'm running for President, she announced in a video message.

"It's time for a new generation of leadership to rediscover fiscal responsibility, secure our border, and strengthen our country, our pride and our purpose. Some people look at America and see vulnerability. The socialist left sees an opportunity to rewrite history, she said.

Identifying herself as proud daughter of Indian immigrants, Haley talks about growing up in Bamberg, South Carolina and how it shaped her belief in a strong and proud America.

We turned away from fear toward God and the values that still make our country the freest and greatest in the world. We must turn in that direction again, she said.

Casting herself as a younger, fresher alternative to Trump, Haley had been hinting at a White House bid for weeks.

Her formal declaration means she will be the first contender to join the contest against her former 76-year-old boss Trump, who announced his third bid for the White House late last year.
The container lorry inside which 39 people were found dead in Grays, Essex in 2019

The container lorry inside which 39 people were found dead in Grays, Essex in 2019

When the news broke of significant Northern Ireland involvement after the discovery of 39 people dead in the back of a lorry in Essex in October 2019, it was the sheer number of victims that stood out.

Almost immediately, one Co Tyrone truck driver saw beyond the number. Three-and-a-half years later he is keeping the promise he made to himself, that he would go to Vietnam where many of the victims were from, pay his respects as a member of the Northern Ireland haulage family and reach out a hand of friendship 6,500 miles across the world.

John Hurson is there now, meeting the families in person.

There was no fundraising campaign for the families. Most of those who died heading to the UK would have been sending their earnings back to support family at home.

In one village, 2,000 people are working abroad to support the 8,000 who remain there.

Its a wonderful gesture to show the families that Northern Ireland has a caring side and hasnt forgotten the victims.
Unsplash

Any project is easier when you have the right tools, and studying the Bible is no exception. As Christians, we know we need to understand what Scripture says since its the basis of all of our beliefs about God, Jesus, salvation, and for living the Christian life.

At the same time, Bible study is also challenging. Were separated from the authors and original audience of the Bible by time, language, culture, and (for most of us) geography. Thus, understanding the Bible involves a different approach than reading the latest nonfiction book or novel. The following five tools will help you dig deeper into Scripture and understand passages or verses that would be mysterious or confusing without them. These tools will help you mine the riches of Gods Word that are often below the surface.

Tool #1A Searchable Bible

Before the rise of online Bible websites, in order to search the Bible you needed a book known as a concordance. These volumes are still available, and list the occurrence of every word in the Bible so that you can search for specific terms. For example, if you wanted to find every occurrence in the Bible of Holy Spirit, you could open the concordance and locate every verse where this term appears. This is helpful because its important to know what the entire Bible says about a given topic, rather than looking at just a few verses.

Now, however, there are several Bible websites that make searching easy, such as Bible Gateway and YouVersion (both are also available as mobile apps). These sites allow you to choose your favorite Bible version, and search within that version. With Bible Gateway, you can also create notes with your personal reflections and highlight passages. The ability to search the entire Bible for any term is a wonderful tool that will enrich your personal or small-group Bible study.

Tool #2Bible Dictionary

Bible dictionaries contain entries on people, places, and things in the Bible. These are wonderful tools for shedding light on terms you may not be familiar with, getting a concise overview, or for learning important background information.

Lets say, for example, that youre studying one of the Gospels, and you want to know more about the town where Jesus grew up, Nazareth. You could open your Bible dictionary to Nazareth, and read the following:

A small town in Galilee, about halfway between Mount Carmel and the [south] end of the Sea of Galilee. It was the home of Mary and Joseph, and here Jesus spent most of his life (Matt. 2:23; Lk. 1:26; 2:4; Jn. 1:46). After Jesus began his ministry, he visited the synagogue in Nazareth and the people there rejected his message (Lk. 4:1630; cf. Mk. 6:16a).

Bible dictionaries are available as print books, and can also be found online (e.g., at Bible Gateway or biblestudytools.com), as well as in Bible software programs (e.g., Logos or Olive Tree). One significant advantage of Bible software for many of the tools described in this article is that you can search entire books for keywords, making it easy to locate information, as well as purchase modern, up-to-date resources (most free resources at online Bible sites are older works that are in the public domain).

Tool #3Bible Word Studies

The Bible was originally written in three languages. The Old Testament was mostly written in Hebrew, with a few parts in Aramaic, and the New Testament was written in Greek. Sometimes deeper insight can be gained into a passage by looking at the underlying Hebrew or Greek words using a Bible word-study resource.

Say, for example, that youre reading Psalm 29, and you come to the last verse: The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace (vs. 11). Youd like to know more about what peace means in this verse, so you consult your word-study resource, which says the following.

The Hebrew word for peace is salom. It . . . conveys the image of wholeness, unity, and harmonysomething that is complete and sound. Although peace is essentially a relational concept in the OT [Old Testament], it also conveys the idea of prosperity, health, and fulfillment. . . . Through the OT, some two-thirds of the uses of this word express the fulfillment that comes to human beings when they experience Gods presence.

While in English, we typically use the word peace to mean an absence of conflict, our resource tells us that in Hebrew the word often has a more expansive meaning of well-being and fulfillment, especially in relation to Gods presence. In many cases, a word-study resource can help you uncover these deeper, richer meanings.

While you can find basic definitions of Hebrew and Greek words on some Bible websites (such as STEPBible), more in-depth explanations like the one above are typically found in books devoted to word studies (many of which are also available electronically in Bible software programs). Two that are especially user-friendly are the New International Encyclopedia of Bible Words by Lawrence O. Richards and Mounce's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words by William D. Mounce.

Tool #4Bible Commentaries

Commentaries are books typically written by scholars to explain the meaning of biblical texts. Some commentaries cover the entire Bible in one large volume, but most devote a single volume to a single book of the Bible. Commentaries bring together insights from biblical history, cultures, the original languages, and theology in order to explain the meaning of biblical passages. Commentaries are thus one of the most helpful tools available for studying and understanding Scripture.

Some commentaries are written at a high academic level, while others are aimed at a general audience. You can usually tell how basic or advanced a commentary is by reading its product description and a few sample pages at online bookstores. Commentaries aimed at everyday Christians tend to have a greater focus on applying the Bible to ones life.

Like most of the tools weve already discussed, commentaries come in print as well as electronic versions. Some are also freely available online at sites like Bible Gateway and biblestudytools.com, though the majority of these are older works. Both sites, however, offer access to modern commentaries for a monthly subscription fee. This can be an attractive option, since purchasing full commentary sets can run hundreds or thousands of dollars. Commentaries can also be purchased in Bible software platforms.

To see how helpful a commentary can be, imagine youve just started reading the Gospel of John. The very first verse says: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1). A question that naturally comes to mind is, Why does John refer to Jesus as the Word? To find out, you can open your commentary on Johns Gospel, and read the following.

Much as our words reveal to others our hearts and minds, so Jesus Christ is Gods Word to reveal His heart and mind to us. He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father (John 14:9). . . . According to Hebrews 1:13, Jesus Christ is Gods last Word to mankind, for He is the climax of divine revelation. He existed in the beginning, not because He had a beginning as a creature, but because He is eternal. He is God and He was with God.

The commentator here helpfully observes that Jesus is Gods full and final Word, or revelation, to human beings, and that Jesus is God and not one of Gods creations. Such insights can be indispensable for understanding Scripture.

Tool #5Study Bibles

If I were going to a desert island and could only take one Bible study tool, it would be a study Bible. This is because a study Bible not only contains the full text of the Bible itself, but also commentary notes (and sometimes diagrams, charts, or other features) that explain the Bibles meaning. Naturally, the commentary is much briefer than youll find in a full Bible commentary volume (like the one on John we just talked about), but there is typically enough to explain the meaning of a passage or verse.

There are a multitude of study Bibles aimed at different audiences (e.g., women, teens, children, athletes) and that focus on specific topics (e.g., theology, applying Scripture to life, commentary by well-known pastors). They also come in all kinds of formatsleather, hardcover, paperback, e-versions. A recent trend is to include blank pages for readers to add their own notes and observations. If youre shopping for a study Bible, you may want to visit your local bookstore to see examples and to flip through them to determine which has the best feel and features.

One example of a specialty study Bible is the ESV Prayer Bible, which intersperses prayers by notable past and present Christians throughout the biblical text. The prayer below, from the medieval theologian Anselm, is found near Galatians 5 (which discusses the fruit of the Holy Spirit).

O merciful God, fill our hearts, we pray you, with the graces of your Holy Spirit, with love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Teach us to love those who hate us; to pray for those who despitefully use us; that we may be the children of you, our Father, who makes your sun to shine on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

A study Bible is one of the most versatile and useful tools for Bible study, and one that I highly recommend for going deeper in your regular reading of Scripture.

Christopher L. Reese (MDiv, ThM) writes about the Bible at Bible Exposition. He is a writer, editor, and journalist and has published two books with Zondervan as a general editor. His work has appeared in Christianity Today, Bible Gateway, and other sites.
Police officers stand outside a building that hosts BBC offices, where income tax officials conducted a search, in New Delhi, Feb. 14, 2023.

South Asian media freedom advocates are outraged by Indian tax officials raid on BBC offices in the country weeks after the broadcaster aired a documentary seen as critical of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Neutral institutions, including the Income Tax Department, are increasingly being used to stifle dissent in the worlds largest democracy, free speech activists said about India, which this year is the president of the Group of 20, or G20.

Raiding the BBCs India offices in the wake of a documentary criticizing Prime Minister Narendra Modi smacks of intimidation, said Beh Lih Yi, Committee to Protect Journalists Asia program coordinator, in a statement.

Indian authorities have used tax investigations as a pretext to target critical news outlets before.

Last year, tax authorities similarly raided several NGO offices, including those of Oxfam India, noted Amnesty International Indias chairman Aakar Patel.

The overbroad powers of the Income Tax Department are repeatedly being weaponized to silence dissent, he said in a statement.

Tuesdays raid comes weeks after the BBC aired a documentary, India: The Modi Question, in the U.K. The Indian government blocked the documentary, according to local media reports.

Modi belongs to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which espouses Hindu nationalism. He was chief minister of the western Indian state of Gujarat in 2002 during the anti-Muslim riots when more than 1,000 people were killed.

The documentary examines the Gujarat governments role in the riots, as well as the atmosphere for Indias 200 million Muslim community since the BJP came to power in 2014.

As Amnesty puts it, the BBC documentary details the rise of advocacy hatred and violence by supporters of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, and also the shrinking space for dissent in the country, since Modi came to power in 2014.

On Tuesday, BJP spokesman Gaurav Bhatia said that if the British broadcaster was following all Indian laws, it did not have anything to be worried about, the Associated Press news agency reported.

Bhatia added that the BBC was corrupt, its history tainted, and that it was full of hatred for India.

Indian human rights activist Kiriti Roy called the governments action deplorable.

Freedom of expression is recognized by the constitution but dissenting views are suppressed and politically attacked. Neutral government institutions such as the IT Department who are supposed to act with impartiality are working at the behest of the government with political objectives, he said.

It is a form of state terrorism and is deplorable. This is what happens when there is no trust in democracy by those in power.

Farooq Faisal, regional director (Bangladesh and South Asia) of Article 19, a U.K.-based rights organization, said harassing the BBC does not make the Modi government look good.

It is difficult for any fundamentalist or authoritarian government to accept the truth. Harassing the BBC, Indias Narendra Modi government has proved that the BBCs documentary against him is true, Faisal told BenarNews

Other countries, including Bangladesh, should be cautious seeing the incident in India.

Another journalist from Bangladesh, Manjurul Ahsan Bulbul, was also concerned about the effect such incidents would have on Bangladesh.

Indian tax agents raiding BBC offices in India is clearly a terrible use of state mercenaries against independent media and freedom of expression, said Bulbul, a former president of the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists.

Such incidents in a country like India, which has a global reputation as a liberal democracy, set a precedent for governments in countries like Bangladesh. That is a cause of serious concern for us, he said.

In Bangladesh, for instance, critics of the government  mostly journalists, cartoonists, activists, entrepreneurs, educators and students  have been targeted by the controversial Digital Security Act. The act was passed in September 2018 after the ruling Awami League came to power for a third consecutive term.

While figures for last year are not available, Bangladesh saw a nearly ninefold increase in cases filed under the Digital Security Act in 2021.

These cases were filed for perceived online criticism of officials, including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and her father, the countrys founder, compared with 2020, according to a leading human rights organization.
New Zealand citizen Philip Mehrtens (third from left), a pilot for Susi Air who was taken hostage last week by separatist rebels from Indonesias restive Papua region, is seen in an undated photograph released by the insurgents on Feb. 14, 2023. The photo has been blurred by BenarNews because Mehrtens was likely forced to appear in the video under duress.

Updated at 11:06 p.m. ET on 2023-02-14

Separatist rebels in Indonesias Papua said Tuesday that a foreign pilot taken hostage last week was alive and well, as they released photographs and videos showing the New Zealand citizen amid a group of insurgents in what appeared to be a forested area.

Security forces said they were looking for the pilot, Philip Mehrtens, in and around Nduga, a remote highland regency and insurgency hot spot where the rebels set fire to his plane on Feb. 7.

Early Wednesday, local time, the senior Indonesian military official in Papua verified that the photos and videos were authentic.

Based on the features available, it is true that the photos and videos circulating on social media are of Susi Air Pilot Capt Philip Mark Mehrtens together with the KST group, Maj. Gen. Muhammad Saleh Mustafa, chief of the regional military command, said in a statement, using an acronym for separatist terrorist group in Indonesian.

He said that demands the group made in the video have been heard and that technical and tactical steps had been taken in an intensive search for the pilot.



BenarNews received the video Tuesday from the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB).

TPNPB-OPM National Command officially releases photos and videos with New Zealand pilot, and the pilot from New Zealand is well and healthy, Sebby Sambom, spokesman for the Liberation Army, said in a statement.

Mehrtens is seen speaking in one of the videos.

The Papuan military has taken me captive in their fight for Papuan independence. They ask for the Indonesian military to go home, if not I will remain captive and my life is threatened, the man said.

He is standing next to Egianus Kogoya, the local Liberation Army commander, and other rebels, Sambom said.

The man identified as Kogoya is seen saying the hostage would be killed if they are attacked by Indonesian security forces.

If they come to us, we will shoot the pilot, he warned.

We are holding the pilot so that all countries open their eyes for a free Papua, he said.

Another video showed when rebels set fire to the Pilatus C-6 Porter aircraft belonging to Susi Air.

Sambom said Mehrtens was being used as leverage.

Because this is a political issue, the New Zealand pilot is a guarantee in political negotiations, Sambom said in the statement.

BenarNews could not independently verify when and where the videos were taken.

On Tuesday, Mohammad Mahfud MD, the coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, said the government would prioritize persuasive efforts to free the pilot.

Taking a civilian hostage for any reason is unacceptable. Therefore persuasive efforts are the main guideline for the safety of the hostage, but the government is not ruling out other options, Mahfud told a news conference.

Mahfud added that Jakarta was communicating with the New Zealand government to discuss efforts to accelerate Mehrtens rescue.

Commenting on the rebels demand, Mahfud said: Papua is a legal part of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia both according to the Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia and according to international law.

In a statement to BenarNews earlier Tuesday, the pilots employer, Susi Air, said it had not stopped flying to remote parts of the Papua region despite the attack on its aircraft and the hostage-taking.

We will not stop flying in the Papua region and we will continue to fly elsewhere, but please give us protection, said the airlines chief of operations, Melinasary, who goes by a single name.

We have supported flights for the search process and provided logistical assistance in the form of food in the search for our pilot.

Jungle-covered Papua relies on air transportation in the absence of extensive road networks.

Donal Fariz, a lawyer for Susi Air, said the rebel group had not contacted the airline to communicate demands.

They never contacted us directly to convey what they wanted. We leave it to the authorities, hopefully they can help release the pilot, Donal told BenarNews.

Paro residents flee

Meanwhile, Papua military command spokesman Col. Herman Taryaman said 167 people had fled Paro district in Nduga regency in fear of violence after the hostage-taking incident.

They were being sheltered in the residence of a local official.

Some of the villagers walked for five days to neighboring Kenyam district, the main town in Nduga, said Herman.

They fled because they were afraid of intimidation from the armed criminal and terrorist group, Herman told BenarNews, referring to the separatists.

Emanuel Gobay, an activist at the Papua Legal Aid Institute (LBH), said the latest developments could force more people to leave Nduga after a surge in clashes between rebels and government security forces in 2018 forced villagers from their homes.

Displaced people from 2018-2019 have not returned. We fear there will be more pockets of displaced people, he told BenarNews.

Violence and tensions in Papua, a region that makes up the western half of New Guinea island, have intensified in recent years.

In July 2022, rebels killed 10 civilians, mostly traders from other parts of Indonesia, accusing them of being spies for government security forces.

It was the deadliest attack in the region since 2018 when insurgents attacked workers who were building roads and bridges in Nduga, killing 20 people, including an Indonesian soldier.

At the time, the TPNPB said those killed were not civilian workers, but soldiers from the armys engineering detachment.

That attack prompted the government to send more troops to Papua.

The region has a history of human rights violations by Indonesian security forces and police. Papuan separatist rebels also have been accused of attacking civilians.

In 1963, Indonesian forces invaded Papua, a former Dutch colony like Indonesia, and annexed it. In 1969, the United Nations sponsored a referendum where only about 1,000 people voted.

Despite accusations that the vote was a farce, the U.N. recognized the outcome, effectively endorsing Indonesias control over Papua.

This story has been updated with an Indonesian military commander verifying the videos. It also corrects the year given for when a surge in clashes forced villagers to flee their homes.
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As the cries of thousands of Syrians trapped under the rubble echoed in towns and villages in northwestern Syria, local volunteers, White Helmets, and family members were digging through the concrete, often with their bare hands, to try to reach them. Desperate, they were screaming for help from the world on social media, pleading for heavy machinery, for rescue assistance, for tools to help them save as many lives as possible during the crucial 72-hour window following the catastrophic earthquake that hit on February 6. But the cries of the trapped slowly died down in the harsh cold of the Syrian night. The aid never arrived.

In the first four days, instrumental to any hope of finding survivors, 36 shipments of disaster relief aid were shipped to the Syrian regime in Damascus. None reached areas under opposition control in northwestern Syria. In the first three days, the only rescue team that crossed into the Idlib area was a small group of volunteers from Egypt. A team from Spain arrived on the fourth day. A U.N. convoy carrying not emergency aid, not heavy equipment or disaster relief, but humanitarian aid scheduled before the earthquake struck, consisting mostly of mattresses and diapers, came on the third day. The pleas of White Helmets and other Syrians desperate to save their loved ones echoed around the world went unheard and unheeded.

Why? How is it possible that Syrians trapped in Idlib were abandoned like this at their hour of greatest need, the hour in which the world has come together in solidarity with victims of this catastrophic disaster across the border in Turkey, or in the areas of Syria controlled by the Syrian regime? Rescue crews and disaster relief were dispatched in a matter of hours from places distant and diverse, from Israel to Venezuela, from Bosnia to Canada, from Oman to Iceland. Why were these people, already displaced and brutalized for almost 12 years, more than four million of them crammed in unlivable conditions even before the earthquake struck, left to their terrible fate with little more than promises of help which never arrived?

The explanation you are likely to hear from the decision makers at the United Nations, whose agencies were primarily charged with emergency assistance, refers to the logistical issues and damage inflicted upon the only border crossing open for cross-border aid delivery in Bab al-Hawa. Any sane person will ask themselves how it is possible for only one border crossing to serve the humanitarian needs of more than four million people, even in the best of times. Nominally, this is due to the Russian blackmail at the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) which over the years has, under the threat of the Russian veto, deauthorized all other border crossings for humanitarian aid deliveries.

This includes no less than eight such crossings between Turkey and Syria, to the knowledge of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which could have been used to deliver life-saving emergency aid to save Syrians trapped under the rubble, like in Bab Salama, which is close to some of the hardest hit areas in northern Syria, as well as crossings in Ain al-Arab and Jarablus. These crossings were and are being used for aid sent by other Syrians. And for the bodies of Syrians who died in Turkey being sent back for burial. But the U.N. did not use them to send the life-saving aid.

For years I have witnessed first-hand the increasing degree of dehumanization of displaced Syrians  in Europe, Lebanon, and Turkey, but nowhere more so than in Idlib. The four million people there have been written off by a large majority of the world that has accepted the Syrian regime and Russias narrative about the hotbed of Islamic fanatics and terrorists. Children who die in Idlib every day under Russian airstrikes and Assads artillery, or in cold tents most of them are forced to live in, do not make headlines. Not even footnotes anymore. It has not changed much after the earthquake.

Is it really about the lack of legal basis for aid delivery through alternative border crossings? Clearly not. Syrian organizations have been vocal for more than two years about the alternative legal basis which allows for deliveries to Idlib without UNSC approval. This position is rooted in international law and has recently been adopted by Human Rights Watch and a number of international legal experts. Germanys foreign minister Ana Baerbock and the former U.S. envoy for Syria Joel Rayburn have called for opening of borders and the creation of a U.S.-E.U.-Turkey mechanism which will deliver aid directly, without the redundant UNSC approval. But the U.N. did not act. Why?

According to Steve Heydemann, a fellow at the Brookings Institute Center for Middle East Policy, U.N. humanitarian operations on the ground in regime-held areas which receive 90% of assistance flowing to Syria remain cowed by the regime into complying with its heavy-handed insistence that it serve as the sole recipient and distributor of assistance coming into the country  a cynical gesture to force donors to acknowledge its sovereignty, while giving one of the most corrupt regimes in the world, with a track record of abuse and theft of humanitarian aid and a refusal to deliver aid across conflict lines into northern Syria, control over critical humanitarian resources.

The rumors of a deal struck under the U.N. mediation, in which the US agreed to remove sanctions from the Syrian regimes banking sector in return for border crossings to be opened only confirms Heydemanns key point: the U.N. will allow the Syrian regime to weaponize aid for its benefit before it acts in accordance with its mandate to protect Syrian civilians.

The Syrian Association for Citizens Dignity, a movement defending the rights of displaced Syrians, was clear about why Syrians in the north west were abandoned: There is a clear legal basis to deliver aid to Idlib without UNSC approval. Insistence on it is, and has always been, nothing but appeasement of [the] Syrian regime which has now cost [the] lives of countless Syrians trapped under the rubble. We have addressed the U.N. and key states on this in July [of] last year. To no avail. We have addressed the U.N. and key states on this in 2021. To no avail. Please dont use this smokescreen as an excuse for emergency aid not reaching northwest Syria. It is about our people being dehumanized and abandoned to their terrible fate. It is about the brutality of the Syrian regime and its allies. It is about appeasement. It is not about [the] legal basis.

And this is where we come to the real reasons for the failure to deliver life-saving emergency aid to Syrians in Idlib. Dehumanization. Normalization of Assads murderous regime. Sarah Cobb, professor at George Mason University, holds that dehumanized people are those that are left out of the speaking space, people whose stories simply dont count.

This is why children of Idlib do not count. This is why the pleas of Syrian organizations and scholars about alternative legal bases for aid delivery to Idlib have been ignored by the U.N. and key powers. This is why the cries of White Helmets for heavy equipment and rescue assistance have fallen on deaf ears. This is why the rubble in Jenderes, in Idlib, in Azmareen, in Aleppo, in Harem, in Males, and across north west Syria is falling silent.

*Refik Hodzic is a senior advisor on Syria at the European Institute of Peace.
Chinese Coast Guard vessel 5205 allegedly pointing laser at BRP Malapascua in this handout photo taken on Feb. 6, 2023.

Updated at 8:40 a.m. ET on 2023-02-14

The U.S. has expressed support for the Philippines over the laser incident in the South China Sea, condemning Chinas provocative and unsafe conduct.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. summoned Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian on Tuesday to express his serious concern over the increasing frequency and intensity of actions by China, including the use of a laser against Coast Guard ships.

The Chinese Embassy downplayed the interaction, saying Huang and Marcos exchanged views on how to strengthen dialogue and communication, and properly manage maritime differences.

On Monday, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) accused China of performing dangerous maneuvers and pointing a laser at one of its vessels, the BRP Malapascua, causing temporary blindness to the crew.

The incident took place on Feb. 6 near the Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratlys, when the Philippine vessel was attempting to deliver food and supplies to the troops stationed there.

Beijing rejected the accusation, saying the Philippine ship intruded into the waters off the Spratly islands without Chinese permission and the Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) acted in a professional and restrained way.

China claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, including the two main archipelagos of Paracels and Spratlys that it calls Xisha and Nansha, respectively.

A U.N. tribunal in a legal case brought by the Philippines in 2016 ruled that the Chinese claims in the South China Sea were baseless and illegal but Beijing has so far refused to acknowledge the ruling.

Stand with our allies

A U.S. State Department statement on Monday said that the United States stands with our Philippine allies in the face of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) Coast Guards reported use of laser devices against the crew of the Malapascua.

The PRCs conduct was provocative and unsafe, resulting in the temporary blindness of the crew members of the BRP Malapascua and interfering with the Philippines lawful operations in and around Second Thomas Shoal, it said.

The statement by spokesman Ned Price reaffirmed that an armed attack on Philippine armed forces, including the Coast Guard in the South China Sea, would invoke U.S. mutual defense commitments under the 1951 U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty.

The Philippine Coast Guard said the laser beam had caused temporary blindness to the BRP Malapascuas crew. [Philippine Coast Guard]

Meanwhile, the Philippine Foreign Ministry said it had filed a diplomatic protest over the laser incident to the Chinese Embassy in Manila on Tuesday.

The diplomatic protest condemned the shadowing, harassment, dangerous maneuvers, directing of military-grade laser, and illegal radio challenges by CCG vessel 5205 against PCG vessel BRP Malapascua.

Spokeswoman Ma. Teresita Daza said those acts of aggression happened just after the visit by the Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to China, during which he and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to manage maritime differences through diplomacy and dialogue, without resorting to force and intimidation.

Daza called on Beijing to comply with its obligations under international law and direct its vessels to stop aggressive activities against Philippine vessels.

Invoking the Mutual Defense Treaty

Retired Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio, who is among the leading nationalist voices against the perceived Chinese aggression here, noted that Beijing's new coast guard law has authorized whatever force in its arsenal to enforce its claims in the sea region.

That in itself is a violation of the United Nations charter, which expressly outlaws force to settle disputes between and among states, he stressed.

Now, Chinas coast guard vessels are using military grade lasers to enforce Chinas nine-dash line claim. The use of lasers that causes permanent blindness is a prohibited weapon under the 1998 Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons to which China and the Philippines are parties, he said in a statement.

Laser weapons can either cause permanent or temporary blindness. If it causes permanent blindness, the laser weapon is outlawed and cannot be used as a weapon by militaries. If it causes only temporary blindness, it can be used as a weapon by militaries, Carpio said.

Thus lasers can be considered an armed attack under the U.S.-Philippine Mutual Defense Treaty, he stressed, although he added that before Manila invokes the MDT the Philippines should first coordinate with the US [regarding] a joint statement that future use by Chinese coast guard vessels of laser weapons on Philippine public vessels or aircraft will trigger the operation of the MDT.

On Feb. 21 to 23, China and the ASEAN group of Southeast Asian nations are scheduled to hold a meeting to review the implementation of the so-called Declaration of the Conduct of Parties (DOC) in the South China Sea.

The DOC is a risk control agreement signed in 2002 by Beijing and ASEAN countries to prevent conflicts in the disputed waters.

It is unclear whether the laser incident will be discussed at the meeting.

Story has been updated to include President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. summoning the Chinese ambassador.

Camille Elemia in Manila and Radio Free Asia, a news service affiliated with BenarNews, contributed to this report.
Journalists and protesters take videos as Metropolitan Police Bureau commissioner Pakapong Phonpetra (second from right) speaks with Thai pro-democracy demonstrator Panusaya Rung Sithijirawattanakul during a rally in Bangkok, Sept. 20, 2020.

The Thai cabinet delayed implementation of a law requiring police to videotape interrogations of suspects in custody until Oct. 1, a spokeswoman for the prime minister said Tuesday.

Parliament passed the Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearance Act on Aug. 24, 2022, and announced it in the Royal Gazette on Oct. 25, 2022. It was scheduled to go into effect on Feb. 22.

Police officials in January sent a letter to the justice ministry requesting a delay . Released online, the letter cited budgetary concerns over the purchase of necessary camera equipment and the need for more time to train officers. It said police could not allocate 3.47 billion baht (U.S. $103 million) to purchase cameras.

The cabinet agreed.

At the moment, there are still challenges that need to be overcome including the acquisition of 171,000 cameras for officers, 1,578 automobile-mounted cameras and over 6,000 cameras for the stations, said Ratchada Thanadirek, deputy spokeswoman for Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha.

The Cross Cultural Foundation, along with human rights activists and civilians, gathered in front of the Government House on Tuesday to protest the delay.

Angkhana Neelapaijit, former national human rights commissioner, said she hoped there would not be any torture or forced disappearance cases while the act was on hold.

It is quite regrettable that the police have demonstrated a lack of readiness. I believe that the police should act promptly in this situation if they are prepared to utilize the law, and I did not believe that the cabinet would have agreed to delay the enforcement, Angkhana told BenarNews.

As a result, we must question the governments willingness to enforce this law. Im hoping there wont be another postponement.

Sunai Phasuk, a Thai-based adviser for Human Rights Watch, questioned the governments justification for the delay.

Legal competence and recording equipment procurement should have been done according to international standards. Justifying your lack of readiness exposes your lack of preparation, Sunai told BenarNews.

Human Rights Watch fervently hopes that either the present administration or the one that succeeds it after the election would quickly change their stance on the matter and swiftly return to put this law into action.

A Royal Thai police spokesman said no one is denying the need for this law.

However, we want to be prepared since both police and the subject are liable for damages if it is used illegally, Maj. Gen. Archayaon Kraithong told BenarNews. We also dont want to comment on this scenario on behalf of other agencies.

Since 1980, at least 82 Thai nationals have suffered from enforced disappearance, including at least 31 since 2004 in the southern border provinces, according to the United Nations and the Cross Cultural Foundation.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights reported that at least 104 political refugees fled the country after the Prayuth-led military junta overthrew the democratic government of Yingluck Shinawatra in 2014.

A 2021 video released on social media helped drive efforts to pass the act. The video led to the convictions and life sentences of six police officers over the in-custody death of a drug suspect as a result of an interrogation where he was handcuffed and plastic bags were wrapped over his head.
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Amanda Burke is Cops and Courts Reporter for The Berkshire Eagle. An Ithaca, New York native, she previously worked at The Herald News of Fall River and the Fitchburg Sentinel & Enterprise.
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Evelyn Resh and Robin Rivinus have been together nearly 30 years. "We feel like we've had many marriages within the same marriage," Rivinus said of their relationship. "We've had different roles that we've allowed and encouraged each other to develop in the world and with each other, and that we have stayed true to our mission, which is to be successful at riding out the storms."
Richard Reiss is the author of Desperate Love: A Fathers Memoir. He lives in Canaan, N.Y., with his wife Paula. Richard Reiss can be reached at rpreiss63@gmail.com.
India has a long way to reach Zero Catastrophic Costs goal for TB patients: Suggests study by The George Institute for Global Health

A recent study led by Dr Susmita Chatterjee from The George Institute of Global Health, India, has shed light on the long-term economic impact of tuberculosis (TB) on patients, even a year after the end of treatment.

The study has also shown that India still has a long way to go to reach the goal of zero catastrophic costs for all patient groups, as stated in the END TB Strategy. As an outcome of the understanding, the scientists have recommended a few strategic solutions to reduce the catastrophic impacts of TB in India.

Reducing delays in diagnosis and treatment initiation (patients visit on average 12 healthcare providers before getting diagnosed with TB) can reduce the costs associated with TB treatment, its aftermath, and its related economic consequences.

Creating awareness about the symptoms of TB in the community and availability of free diagnostic and treatment facilities in the government sector is crucial in this regard, they say.

They also recommend that policy changes must ensure that the livelihood of TB patients is not disrupted and hence, the changes should include the provision of job security, additional food support, better management of direct benefit transfers, and improved medical insurance coverage.

The total cost of TB treatment from the onset of symptoms to one-year post-treatment ranges from Rs 26,500  30,500 per patient despite free diagnosis and treatment provided by the government. Of this, 32% to 44% of costs were incurred in the pre-treatment phase (i.e., from the initiation of TB symptom till initiation of treatment), while 6%-7% were incurred in the post-treatment phase.

The study emphasised that the economic impact of TB does not end with the completion of the TB treatment: it continues long after.

Interestingly, our study indicated that financial insecurity affects patients across all categories, said Dr Susmita Chatterjee.
Hunt Lascaris, the genesis of TBWA South Africa, celebrates its 40th anniversary this month. Since its founding in 1983 by agency icons John Hunt and Reg Lascaris, the agency has become the creative leading light in this country and across the continent, with many of its disruptive campaigns having a global impact.

Founded with the ambition to become the first world-class advertising agency out or Africa and based on the simple mantra that life was too short to be mediocre, TBWA\Hunt Lascaris is today ranked No1. TBWA\ South Africa, likewise, shares this position as a group. This success is due, in large part, to the incredible talent the group has been able to attract and grow over the years. Many of these unique individuals have gone on to run their own agencies or communications companies both locally and globally.

Throughout its rich history, TBWA\Hunt Lascaris has partnered with some of the most innovative brands across the continent, pushing boundaries and setting new standards. From iconic campaigns like the early Nando's and BMW work to the more recent globally acclaimed "Blame no More" and MTN initiatives. Creating bold work that connects with audiences and drives results has always been the aim.

"The last 40 years of TBWA\Hunt Lascaris has been a testament to our renewal of talent and our collective ambition," says co-founder John Hunt, who was recently inducted into the One Show Hall of Fame in New York. "We've always been driven to be the best, but thats not possible without a current leadership team that share that passion. They are the future and it's terrific that they share the same vision. I think it also helps that we've had a little fun along the way."

In an industry first, TBWA\Hunt Lascaris is inviting all former and current employees, clients and partners to join them at a celebratory party on 30 March in Johannesburg. It's time to thank everyone who contributed to the last 40 years, and those who will make the next 40 even more successful, says Hunt.

In addition, there will be a series of events that celebrate the past and look forward to the future. These will include client initiatives, anniversary exhibitions showcasing the agencys history and impact on society, plus masterclasses, open to everyone, where the marketing of tomorrow will be discussed.

"We've never needed much of an excuse for a party, but I cant think of a better reason than this one. It's a chance to reconnect with old friends and make new ones. A time to celebrate the past knowing that the future will be even better, says Hunt.

"Were proud to have reached this incredible milestone and are grateful to our clients and partners who have made this all possible. We are also immensely thankful to all our employees, past and present, for their contribution. The numerous awards and accolades over the decades would not have been possible without them", says Karabo Denalane, CEO at TBWA\Hunt Lascaris. "Were convinced their continued dedication and commitment will ensure the next 40years of growth and success."

"This celebration marks a turning point towards the future, says Luca Gallarelli, Group CEO of TBWA South Africa. Hunts was recently acknowledged by the Financial Mail Adfocus Awards as South Africa's Large Agency of the Year and I know were poised for even greater things.

Our focus remains on talent and producing work of the highest standard. I'm confident we will continue to be a leader in the industry for the next 40 years. As a collective, were excited about the opportunities to come. I cant wait to see what we will accomplish together, concludes Gallarelli.

If you are a past or current employee of TBWA\Hunt Lascaris, Grid, Tequila, Gavin Reddy, Yellowwood, Magna Carta, HDI or Sting, and would like to join in the celebrations, please email az.oc.awbt@ht04 by 3 March with your name, phone number and the time that you worked with the agency.

For more information about TBWA\Hunt Lascaris, please visit www.tbwa.co.za.
Experts at the University of Pretoria (UP) are a step closer to finding a drug that could prevent transmission of the malaria-carrying parasite Plasmodium falciparum by thwarting its life cycle.

Sephora Mianda Mutombo, a PhD candidate in the Department of Chemistry at UP, was the lead author of a study published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology that investigated the indigenous succulent Aloe marlothii for its ability to kill or stop the proliferation of malaria parasites.

The study found that natural active ingredients in the roots of this aloe species have anti-plasmodial properties that have the potential to kill all the phases of the malaria-carrying Plasmodium falciparum parasite and block the all-important transmission.

The parasite that causes malaria has a very complex life cycle, which occurs in two hosts: humans and Anopheles mosquitoes, Mutombo explains. In humans, the parasite goes through distinctive stages of development in the liver, then the bloodstream by infecting red blood cells. This is known as the asexual intra-erythrocytic cycle of development. A small portion of asexual parasites commit and differentiate into sexual forms of the parasite known as gametocytes [males and females].

These are the terminal parasitic stages of the parasite, which is transmitted to the mosquito when the insect feeds on the blood of an infected person. The sexual cycle of the parasite then takes place in the mosquito.

All antimalarial drugs, with the exception of primaquine, target the asexual stages of the parasites, meaning they kill the parasites during their asexual intra-erythrocytic cycle of development, Mutombo explains. So an individual who has been treated for malaria with antimalarial drugs that are currently on the market can still transmit the parasite to mosquitos, because the sexual forms of the parasite were not killed.

Therefore, to contribute to the eradication of malaria, we need compounds that will kill the sexual forms of the parasites, thereby preventing the transmission of Plasmodium from human to mosquitos.

Southern Africa is known for its rich biodiversity and traditional knowledge, and is a significant source of natural compounds that can be developed for the treatment of malaria, yet no approved treatments from the region have come to fruition. This is unsurprising, however, as it is estimated that out of every 10,000 samples, only one is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration as a drug or pharmaceutical. It could be that a systematic investigation of Southern African resources has not been undertaken, and that the research process is fragmented rather than collaborative.

In order to increase the chances of success, modern-day drug discovery now relies on the use of a library of samples for a high throughput of biological assaying against diseases such as malaria, together with hyphenated analytical techniques to rapidly identify bioactive compounds, Mutombo says.

UPs biodiscovery centre hosts a plant materials repository that contains more than 11,000 plant samples systematically collected throughout South Africa. The centre is under the directorship of the Department of Chemistrys Professor Vinesh Maharaj, deputy dean of Research and Postgraduate Education at UPs Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, and a co-author of the study. A natural product library is being built from these samples, which are a collection of extracts, purified fractions and compounds obtained, stored in standardised formats in robotic freezers and readily deliverable to biological screening assays. The information associated with each sample is stored in a database.

Mutombos work was done on 300 samples from the library in conjunction with modern technologies to assist in rapid identification of antimalarial drug candidates from plant material stored in the repository.

We can use all of these resources to contribute to malaria eradication, bearing in mind that malaria is still one of the most severe public health problems worldwide, especially in Africa, Maharaj said. The huge burden of malaria cases and death is carried by the African region, and accounts for about 95% of malaria cases and 96% of malaria deaths. Sadly, children under five years old make up an estimated 80% of all malaria deaths. Clearly this is an African problem and as Africans, we would like to contribute to the solution.




The death toll from a cholera outbreak in Malawi has crossed 1,300, a senior Malawian health official said as the southern African country battles its deadliest outbreak yet.

Source: Reuters.

As of Wednesday (8 February, 2023), Malawi had recorded 40,284 cholera cases and 1,316 deaths in an outbreak that started in March 2022, with the country averaging over 500 new cases every day, Charles Mwansambo told a briefing organised by the World Health Organisation's Africa office.

Cholera outbreaks happen regularly in Malawi, usually in the rainy season from November to March, but they only average an annual death toll of about 100.

The WHO said in a statement on Thursday that Malawi's current outbreak was the deadliest on record, worse than ones in 1998/99 and 2001/02 that saw 860 and 968 deaths respectively.

Malawi has conducted two oral cholera vaccination campaigns, but a global surge in cholera outbreaks means vaccine supplies are under strain.

Other African countries, including Malawi's neighbours Mozambique and Zambia, have reported cholera cases.

In East Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are responding to outbreaks amid a prolonged and harsh drought, and in West and Central Africa there have been cases in Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nigeria.

On Sunday, South Africa reported two imported cholera cases from Malawi, with the husband of one of the first two cases subsequently testing positive.

Cholera is mainly spread by contaminated food or water and can cause acute diarrhoea. While many people have mild symptoms, if untreated it can kill within hours.
Following the success of Decorex Africa's reimagined return in 2022, exhibition and event organiser RX Africa is elevating the design platform with the launch of Decor & Design Weeks, to be held in Cape and Johannesburg.

Source: Supplied

This year for the first time, the Decor & Design Weeks will bring together the country's three premier decor and design exhibitions, each with its own distinct identity, as part of a comprehensive city-wide programme of events.

Decorex Cape Town, Decorex Joburg, 100% Design Africa and Design Joburg will run simultaneously while all around them, SA and Africas top designers, retailers and creatives will join forces for an expanded programme that will spread throughout each citys design districts for a city-wide celebration of creativity, inspiration and insight.

Each Decor & Design Week  one in Cape Town and one in Johannesburg  will encompass a programme of design events, exhibitions, showrooms, open studios and talks spread throughout the cities.

Cape Decor & Design Week will run between 19 and 25 June 2023, while Joburg Decor & Design Week is set for 31 July to 6 August 2023.

Source: Supplied

We are calling on our colleagues and brands in the industry to coordinate their launches, customer events, innovation announcements and client meet-and-greets with the all-important Decor & Design Week dates. We want South Africa and the world to see and understand just how powerful our design and decor potency is right here, says Carol Weaving, managing director at RX Africa.

This year is Decorex's 30th anniversary, adds Weaving. What better occasion for a unique platform that has become synonymous with decor and design to grow and evolve to celebrate the power of design?

Connecting, collaborating and spotlighting talent

Built by RX Africa, the Joburg and Cape Decor & Design Weeks are being launched at a crucial moment when design platforms and events need to grow and evolve to harness the transformative power of the creative community and act as a catalyst for collaboration.

According to the event organiser, Decor & Design Week creates the conditions that make it possible to inject new life into design production through the sharing of ideas, capturing the energy and excitement of South Africa and Africas world-class talent to lead design for the future.

Burgeoning creative communities all across Africa have arisen as loci of global excellence and inspiration and an urgent voice of optimism at a time when solutions, action and energy are most needed, says Sandra Barrow, RX portfolio director of lifestyle, design and retail.

According to the 2022 Decorex State of the Industry Report, however, South African creativity is better appreciated outside the country than at home. It's time for the local design industry to take back its agency and reclaim its narratives, rather than letting others interpret them and Design Week will provide the perfect vehicle to do so, Barrow adds.

Around the world, design weeks have proved to be a highly effective way to kick-start positive awareness of the local design industry, shining a light on an industry brimming with optimism, creative solutions and extraordinary potential, says award-winning interior designer and owner of DNX Interior Design, Donald Nxumalo. They provide a wonderful platform for talented, young designers to showcase themselves, which is why I welcome the announcement of these decor and design weeks for the local design scene.

International design weeks have also become an indispensable force in facilitating connections, jumpstarting collaborations and bringing new and undiscovered talent to light, and bringing talented groups and individuals together to share their visions and ideas, which plays an invaluable role in keeping the design community motivated. Its an inspirational shot in the arm for the power of design.

RX Africa states that the Cape and Joburg Decor & Design Weeks will catapult the crucially untapped resource of creativity and design in paving the way to a better future for all, and while it does so, provide everyone who participates and visits a much-needed opportunity to connect, converse, create and enjoy themselves.

Dates to diarise

19  25 June 2023: Cape Decor & Design Week

22  25 June 2023: Decorex Cape Town and 100% Design Africa at the Cape Town International Convention Centre

31 July  6 August 2023: Joburg Decor & Design Week

3 August  6 August 2023: Decorex Joburg, Design Joburg and 100% Design Africa at Sandton Convention Centre
The South African Style Awards has been redefining the meaning of style for the last 25 years. Now in 2023, it's not only about the clothes you wear... but it's all about what you have achieved in your respective career that has changed your industry in some definable way.

Image supplied

To celebrate the winners of the 2022/2023 South African Style Awards, an awards ceremony was held on Sunday, 12 February 2023 at the prestigious Hyde Park Corner Shopping Centre, renowned as the destination for discerning shoppers, luxury designer brands, and fine dining establishments.

Stalwarts in business, colourful creatives, and influential personalities were celebrated in 13 different categories for disrupting the creative process of business.

The eagerly anticipated and highly acclaimed SA Style Awards ceremony was South Africas nod to the international awards season. Its the local equivalent of the annual New York Met Gala and has proved to be as exciting and dramatic. This years exclusive event was hosted by none other than TV and radio personality Alan Ford together with stunning TV host, actress, dancer and model, Lalla Hirayama.

Media personalities and celebrities gathered together to experience an unmatched Red Carpet celebration with this magnificent list of achievers.

Each SA Style Awards winner was a guest of the trendy Southern Sun, Hyde Park for the night of the Awards Ceremony where they also received a night stay at the prestigious @Sandton Hotel in the Presidential Suite, experiential luxury treatments from LUEUR Aesthetics & Wellness spa and their wonderful suppliers, gifts from Panier de Sens and Kendall and Kylie Ready-to-Wear as well as hair treatments from the home of hair care, Carlton Hair.

South Africas first lady of house and 2010 SA Style Awards winner, Tamara Dey kept the charming crowd on their feet with her new number one sweet serenade Disco Therapy. Guests enjoyed a floating dinner at the Southern Sun Rooftop where they toasted the esteemed winners with Valdo prosecco and Nicki Van Der Walts new rose Mirabelle.

The main sponsor Plascon organised an exceptional gift  a colourful macaron tower from Just Teddy. Guests could personally select some of these delicacies to take home with them.

Said Plascon South Africas Suvasin Moodley, Plascon South Africa head of decorative marketing: Plascon South Africa is proud to be part of the SA Style Awards 2022/3.

Style is inspired by a palette and variation of hues, making this a perfect collaboration between these two iconic brands, SA Style Awards x Plascon. This years winners, each unique in their choice of tones, colour their world with creativity and individuality, acknowledged by the SA Style Awards.
The University of Pretoria's (UP) Pre-University Academy (PUA) has been collaborating with the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HKPU) to teach learners from Mamelodi, Pretoria, how to code drones.

The 44 learners from the UP PUA were part of a project initiated in collaboration with the Department of Service Learning at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. During the programme, 40 HKPU students presented virtual classes on how to code a drone to secondary school learners from Mamelodi. UP students Bryce van de Kraats, Albert Jere, Henry Mbewe, Jonathan Tribelhorn, Kagiso Seroto, and Sean Spijkers volunteered to assist the learners in a more hands-on way in Pretoria.

Dr Martina Jordaan, head of Community Engagement Research and Postgraduate Studies at UPs Mamelodi Campus, said the project was initiated by HKPU but is a part of an ongoing collaboration between the institution and UP.

UP student Kagiso Seroto and Mamelodi learner, Bradley Mashonga testing their drone.

The project ran over five days, during which the learners were introduced to various aspects of artificial intelligence, Dr Jordaan says. They learned how to code a drone using the Mind+ software. On the last day, the learners had to fly their drones on a prescribed route and present on artificial intelligence (AI).

Feedback from the learners and the engineering students showcased just how much of an impact the project had on them:

Tshepang Moja (Grade 9) from Ribane Laka Secondary School said, I learned how AI helped in society. The project was fun and exciting.

Temosho Maoko (Grade 9) from Mamelodi High School said it was an interesting project and that she learned more about artificial intelligence.

Sicelo Sithole (Grade 9) from Nellmapius Secondary School, who wants to become a motor engineer, said, It was fun because we never had the opportunity to learn how to code a drone before. It was mind-blowing.

Matlale Ratau (Grade 9) from Phateng Comprehensive Secondary School, who wants to become a civil engineer, said he gained new knowledge in an enjoyable and fun way.

Mimi Maswanganye (Grade 9) from Tsako Thabo Secondary School, who wants to become an IT specialist, reflected on the experience and one of the biggest lessons she learned: Finish something you have started, and never let your dreams go  all of us can learn new skills.

Bryce van de Kraats (final-year Electronic Engineering student at UP), who has been involved in similar projects with Hong Kong Polytechnic University, said the project is an excellent opportunity for the learners, and an enriching experience for himself and the other UP student volunteers.

Dr Jordaan said the projects had created additional opportunities to grow and develop the relationship between the University of Pretoria Pre-University Academy, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, UP, and other higher education institutions. There are more e-community projects being developed with other higher education institutions, and we are busy discussing new projects. I am excited about what the future holds!
FNB has funded global advisory and investment firm, Moshe Capital to invest a 20% stake in asset management and engineering services company, Pragma through its Black Business Growth Funding (BBGF) transformational equity initiative.

Source: Supplied. Daniella Keet, structured finance executive at FNB.

Moshe Capital is a 100% Black woman-owned company that provides corporate finance advisory services and carries out private equity and proprietary investments in African companies. Moshe Capitals success is rooted in the teams passion for growing African businesses to become global standard players.

Pragma is an asset management, engineering services and software company providing global enterprise asset management solutions to asset-intensive industries.

Moshe Capital was attracted by Pragmas digital solutions, and strong management team with in-depth industry experience, coupled with their shared principles of promoting inclusive economic growth through job creation and skills development in the country.

Uplifting economic growth

Gordon Little, FNB Commercial chief executive officer says: We remain committed to supporting the growth and development of South African businesses through the relevant funding solutions.

"This funding underscores our devotion to initiatives that are key to uplifting economic growth and helping businesses to unlock a wide range of opportunities. This is the second deal funded by FNB Commercial through its Black Business Growth Funding (BBGF) transformational equity initiative, backed by a capital commitment of R400m.

Daniella Keet, structured finance executive at FNB says: We are very excited about the potential of this strategic deal, and more importantly, being impactful in the development of Black Fund Managers in South Africa, as well as accelerating growth in Black women-owned investment businesses. Our Black Business Growth Funding (BBGF) transformational equity initiative is truly a unique offering that we provide our client base in supporting transformational equity deals."

Moshe Capitals investment in Pragma will transform the companys shareholding to achieve 30% Black women ownership and more than 50% Black owned.

"Furthermore, Moshe Capitals strong mining experience was very important for Pragma when seeking a strategic private equity investor, given the overlap with their clients being mainly in the mining, manufacturing, distributed facilities, and original equipment manufacturing sectors thus assisting in meaningful contribution to strategy, business development and growth, says Keet.

Local and international support

She further adds: Moshe is well placed to support Pragma on their growth journey both locally and internationally. Pragma prides itself in making their clients back-office Pragmas front-office. We live in an age of outsourcing superior services and Pragmas clients benefit from their technological advancements and world-class service.

Investment in Pragma fits with our investment strategy of investing in mining services and products in South Africa to transform the sector to have more representation of Black women with a deep understanding of mining and financial services while assisting investee companies grow and meaningfully contribute to the South African economy.

"FNB Commercial through its Black Business Growth Funding (BBGF) transformational equity investment assisted in us realising this goal, says Moshe Capital chief executive officer, Mametja Moshe

"Finding an investment partner who understands the significance of our solutions and the positive impact it has on the sustainability of business operations was crucial," says Adriaan Scheeres, chief executive officer of Pragma. "We were looking for a dynamic and future-focused partner to support our pioneering work in the digitalisation of enterprise asset management.

"Ultimately this investment will align with Pragma's goal of providing a support mechanism for the empowerment and transformation of women in the engineering field."
The International Air Services Council has awarded FlySafair the rights to operate routes between Johannesburg and Windhoek, Harare, and Zanzibar. This was after the airline submitted an application in late June of 2022. The airline was also awarded five additional frequencies on its recently launched Mauritius route, meaning that the airline could potentially offer daily flights.

Source: Supplied

"We are thrilled to have received this news," says Kirby Gordon, chief marketing officer at FlySafair. "Weve already begun laying the groundwork in several of our target countries and are in discussions with various parties including civil aviation authorities to get these new routes up and running as soon as possible."

Once all permissions and logistical considerations have been resolved, FlySafair will be able to offer daily flights from Johannesburg to Windhoek and Harare from Johannesburg and Cape Town respectively.

The airline has undergone a period of rapid growth over the past 10 months, adding a number of new aircraft to its operating fleet and hiring many new staff members to accommodate this expansion. The airline is poised to add three aircraft to its schedule before the end of March and these will ultimately be used to operate these new routes.

Schedules for these two destinations are likely to be available by Q3 of 2023. However, the airline has revealed that the route to Zanzibar, is likely to be available sooner thanks to an existing charter arrangement.

"Translating this existing chartered operation into a scheduled operation should be a fairly quick process allowing us to release schedules as early as Q2. It is always exciting introducing new routes. We look forward to offering our low fares to these additional routes, and to forging stronger links with our neighbours."
Towards the end of 2022, the BRC agreed to release new channel codes to the industry to allow for a better understanding of total viewing and share of viewing for all content flighting on TV sets.

Previously the industry, with the exception of broadcasters who always had access to the data, had access to broadcast TV data only. Broadcast TV includes total viewing of any content viewed on broadcast channels but excludes any viewing via streaming or other devices on a TV set.

In recent years, there has been an exponential growth in viewing content via steaming or other devices connected to a TV set.

Users can select whether they want to analyse data based on Total TV or Broadcast TV. With that in mind, there are a couple of important points to remember:

Total TV or Broadcast TV is only for content viewed on a TV set - this is key. The current collection of viewing data does not collect someone viewing on their cell phone, for example, unless the content has been cast to the TV set.

The analysis should only be used for informing strategic understanding of viewer behaviour. Total TV should not be selected when planning or projecting data.

The key metric for Total TV or Broadcast TV is share and more importantly average share.



The graphs below show how the share of station groups have changed over the last two years and who commands the largest share of Total TV vs Broadcast TV. In the case of All Adults, DStv leads followed by SABC. The trends across Total TV vs Broadcast are very similar however the Station Groups percentage share decreases when measured against Total TV. We can see DStv overtaking SABC in Sep-21. We can also see OpenView has overtaken e.tv in Sep-22. For the graphs below only the major channel groups have been included.

In 2022, the major Channel Groups combined share of Broadcast TV was 94% therefore 6% of All Adults were viewing other broadcast channels.



In 2022, the major channel groups combined share of Total TV was 74% therefore 26% of All Adults were viewing other broadcast channels or content via streaming, catchup or other devices on a TV set.

How does the data help to inform planning and understanding changing viewer habits?

Users need to analyse the data using their key audience targets. Remember to watch sample sizes and make sure that they are robust.

Keep track of when load shedding has occurred as it affects all viewing. The load shedding dashboard can be accessed on the BRC website: https://dashboard-eu-iport.nielsen-iwatch.com/#live/20774ea4-2f38-4220-ab36-8ef972891419

The data will enable users to determine the share of key channels against Total TV Content vs Broadcast TV Content. Station groups, as used in the example in this article can be analysed or a set of individual channels can be analysed. The results will provide an indication as to whether or not the audience is more or less likely to be viewing content via streaming or other devices.



Looking at Pay vs Free to View (FTV) Adult Audiences, one can clearly see how the Station Groups share of Total vs Broadcast TV changes.

Against the Pay Adult Audience DStv is key. On average in 2022, DStv had 45% share of Total TV and 55% share of Broadcast TV.

Whilst for FTV, SABC remains top of the pile, the gap between OpenView and SABC is getting smaller. In 2022 on average, the SABC was commanding 37% (down from 44% in 2021) share of Broadcast TV and 28% (down from 34% in 2021) share of Total TV. OpenView, on the other hand, was commanding 31% (up from 25% in 2021) share of Broadcast TV and 23% (up from 19% in 2021) share of Total TV. Amongst FTV adults OpenView is clearly challenging SABC.

The above graphs clearly demonstrate how the relationship between broadcast channels is changing and who is gaining share and who has significant share of the Total TV vs Broadcast TV landscape.

The data and insights will change depending on the target audiences as well as the Channel mix analysed. Different time bands i.e., prime vs off peak; may well provide a different outlook as well.

The three graphs below demonstrate how the picture changes against the 3 SEM Super Groups.

SEM Super Group 1 on average in 2022:



SABC commands 36% share of Broadcast TV. The share decreases to 29% against Total TV.

SEM Super Group 2 on average in 2022:



SABC & DStv are on a par at 29% respectively for Broadcast TV & 24% respectively to Total TV.

SEM Super Group 3 on average in 2022:



DStv holds 41% share of Broadcast and 31% of Total TV.

The above shows that no matter the economic sector, viewing all Content on a TV set, including viewing via streaming or other devices is increasing across all audiences which will ultimately impact on campaign performance as audience viewing becomes increasingly fragmented.

Understanding the dynamics and shifts between the three major competitor TV Groups, is also enlightening. Reflecting e.tv and OpenView as a combined commercial offering, clearly shows how the group has overtaken both SABC and DSTV.

Only at SEM Super 3 level does DStv overtake eMedia.

Analysing Total TV vs Broadcast TV share data, provides insight into the exponential growth in viewing content via steaming or other devices connected to the TV set and how it impacts TV stations groups share. Currently the TAMS data does not provide details on non-broadcast content and therefore this viewing cannot be included as part of campaign planning. A key objective for 2023 for the BRC is the TAMS measurement of alternative devices used in the home to view TV content which will facilitate wholistic viewing measurement.

Contributed by K. Phelan on behalf of The AMF Board

About the AMF

The Advertising Media Forum (AMF) is a collective of media agencies and individuals including media strategists, planners, buyers and consultants through whom 95% of all media expenditure in South Africa is bought. The AMF advises and represents relevant organisations and aims to create open channels of communication and encourage and support transparent policies, strategies and transactions within the industry.

For more information on the AMF, visit amf.org.za.

For comment on the industry issue covered in this editorial, please contact:

Koo Govender

AMF Chairperson

Cell: 083 272 0063

Email: moc.sigeaustned@rednevoG.ooK

OR

Karen Phelan

Board Member

Cell: 082 901 9467

Email: ten.asmoklet@nalehpk
With Strike Date Optimisation, businesses now have access to their personal crystal ball and can protect themselves against failed collections by accurately identifying when clients will have funds in their accounts.

Current economic pressures and a lack of job opportunities are causing increasing financial strain on many households across the nation. As the cost of living continues to rise, many individuals are finding it difficult to meet their financial obligations. High levels of unemployment and competitive job markets are further affecting individuals by placing financial pressure on multiple generations who are struggling to find secure employment. This is not only a cause for concern for consumers but businesses too. Individuals do not have the funds to pay their accounts, and businesses are taking a significant impact with regard to failed debit order collection. Thankfully, with Strike Date Optimisation (SDO), businesses now have access to their personal crystal ball and can protect themselves against failed collections by accurately identifying when clients will have funds in their accounts.

What is SDO?

When you think about a crystal ball, you expect to be given information about the future. Well, SDO does exactly that! It offers businesses insight into the future by determining the best dates to debit their clients. This software uses advanced data analysis to predict when clients will have the necessary funds available in their accounts for successful payment collection, based on their historical account activity. This information can then be used by businesses to make informed decisions about their actions for future collections. SDO is a sophisticated solution, not only improving collection success rates but also allowing businesses to avoid unnecessary expenses and accelerate internal workflows. Businesses using this software can take advantage of both individual and batch format analyses for real-time debit solutions. This once-off process is best used in two instances: (1) when a client who previously paid well suddenly begins to default on payments and (2) at the time of onboarding, ensuring that they know exactly when to debit client accounts from the very beginning of their relationship  a necessity when dealing with clients in the current economic climate.

How the economy is affecting your collections?

It is not uncommon for clients to experience cash flow problems from time to time, but in recent years cash flow has become a standard issue, with many people struggling to make it through the month due to a lack of funds. In an article by IOL, they state that in recent reports by FNB, the average middle-income consumer can spend 80% of their salary within five days, with a large portion of that expenditure going toward debit orders. Escalating expenses in all aspects of life have been the reason for an increase in the percentage of civil judgments recorded for debt. While the cost of living is increasing, so too is the unemployment rate. BusinessTech laid it all out in an article, referencing the 6% decrease in hiring activity in the final months of 2022 with expectations of further drops in this percentage over the years to come. In fact, the employment growth rate is predicted to sit at .3% less than the labour force growth rate in the upcoming decade. With these points in mind, it comes as no surprise that many South Africans are struggling to meet their monthly financial obligations. Thus increasing the failed debit order collections that businesses are faced with, putting strain on business margins. This is why it is absolutely vital for businesses to implement the appropriate measures for financial risk management.

Financial risk management with SDO

Debit order optimisation services provide several benefits to businesses. Software like SDO offers a convenient and reliable way to receive regular payments from customers while greatly reducing the risk of failed collections. The software takes into account factors such as the client's income, payment history, bank balances, and upcoming payments, and identifies the three best debit dates for each client. These are the dates the client is most likely to have funds available. This allows businesses to set up their debit orders according to the specific dates offered by the software. So, instead of offering the regular debit dates of the 1st, 15th, and 30th, businesses can debit bank accounts confidently by receiving accurate and reliable data regarding ideal times to debit accounts. This will assist businesses by improving their cash flow management as well as reducing the administrative load affiliated with chasing clients for overdue payments.

Are you debiting clients confidently?




The Craft and Design Institute has launched a new project called Scale (Supporting Creatives and Accelerating Local Enterprises), supported by the National Treasury's Jobs Fund.

The initiative will see 200 South African craft and design entrepreneurs benefit from bespoke training and mentorship specifically designed for creatives and a boost of R23,000 in grant funding each. Applications are now open for the programme.

The Craft and Design Institute (CDI) is a non-profit company with over 20 years of success in developing creative people, small businesses and the craft and design sector at large in South Africa.

The Scale programme aims to provide growth-oriented informal enterprises looking to grow their revenue, increase their personal income or employ new staff with grant support, access to markets, training, and mentorship.

The Scale programme brings together a suite of tried and tested services from CDI to support the growth of self-employed business owners in the informal segment of the craft and design sector.

In designing the project intervention, the CDI has drawn on its 20 years of experience in the sector in successfully delivering market access, capacity development, and in more recent years, financial support to creative enterprises nationally, says Erica Elk, group CEO of the CDI.

The project is also supported by contributions from existing funding partners of the CDI, such as the City of Cape Town. It will add value to the agglomeration of services supported by other funders of the CDI, such as the national departments of Small Business Development and Sports, Arts and Culture, the V&A Waterfront and others.

Elk explains that CDI has for a decade had projects supported by the Jobs Fund, and in previous programmes funding has been specifically for larger, more formal businesses.

The Scale programme is different  it is designed for those who may be operating more informally and have an annual turnover of under R1m. It has been designed to reduce barriers  entrepreneurs dont need to have a registered business, and it enables them to grow personally as entrepreneurs no matter where they are in their business development. The Scale project is a first for the craft and design sector  and we are casting the net wide to support 200 entrepreneurs across South Africa.

Millions of South Africans rely on the informal economy to earn a living; they are either self-employed or employed by informal businesses. The Jobs Fund acknowledges that growth in this area is important in building an inclusive economy. The Scale programme acknowledges the value of the ideas and services that informal/micro-entrepreneurs bring to communities and to the economy as a whole, says Najwah Allie-Edries, head of the Jobs Fund.

Support offered through Scale covers the most cited main areas of need identified by individual business owners in this segment: access to markets, finance, and capacity development.

Individual Business Assessments will be offered to successful applicants to assist in creating a roadmap. This will be followed by three months of specially designed training (via online learning), the facilitation of participation in the CDIs national product market platform, and the development of an intervention/action plan for the R23,000 grant disbursements. The grant can be used to purchase equipment and/or other professional services.

Successful applicants will also get administrative support to the value of R5,000 and a total allocation of airtime/data to the value of R3,000.

Applications are now open until 16 February 2023 on the CDI website.

The first cohort of 100 selected entrepreneurs will start on the programme in April 2023.
This blog covers software patent news and issues with a particular focus on wireless, mobile devices (smartphones, tablet computers, connected cars) as well as select antitrust matters surrounding those devices.
Mind control is the final frontier of the technocratic revolution. What you say, do, buy, and sell is increasingly trackable through technology. Yet, so far, the human mind remains a sanctuary free from prying foreign eyes  the last refuge.

This will not last if the technocrats have their way.

Can you imagine that in ten years when we are sitting here we have an implant in our brains and I can immediately feel because you all will have implants [gesturing to audience], I can measure your brain waves, cartoon James Bond villain Klaus Shwaub giddily introduced the prospect of shared consciousness at Davos.

Duke University Professor Nita Farahany, also at Davos, surveyed the current state of mind-monitoring technology.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) is very interested in monitoring our thoughts.  Imagine a world of total transparency, where every thought you think is visible to everyone else, they eagerly state.  Duke University Professor Nita Farahany 2023. pic.twitter.com/7aTKqz9sCX  SikhForTruth (@SikhForTruth) January 25, 2023

Nita Farahany, Professor at Duke University talks about the coming age of wearable neurotechnology where your ear pods monitor your brainwave activity all day every day to track brain health #wef23 What could possibly go wrong here pic.twitter.com/zdkFpthqIF  Andreas Wailzer (@Andreas_Wailzer) January 20, 2023

(1/2) Nita Farahany, Professor at Duke University, discusses if employers and insurance companies should have access to data about genetic predictions of peoples future health. NO! and that should not even be a question#WEF23 pic.twitter.com/BaTXbqyt4t  Andreas Wailzer (@Andreas_Wailzer) January 20, 2023

Likely, the technology is actually further along than publicly acknowledged, as the technocrats tend to roll out controversial advances incrementally to slowly acclimate the slaves to their new reality.

Note the apparent lack of any hesitation on the part of Farahany, Schwab, or any of these WEF technocrats to these novel technologies. Normal people (who dont crave total control) dont casually discuss monitoring every humans brain activity 24/7/365 with no acknowledgment of the obvious risks of abuse. The only logical conclusion here is that there is something fundamentally broken in their psychological/spiritual makeup that allows them to decouple their normal human intuition from their work advancing The Science.

Farahanys WEF talk featured a short accompanying narrated animation to help digest what unrelenting surveillance of the mind might mean for everyday life.

The story centers around a fictitious dystopian techno-hell office in which the victims boss monitors her brain activity to make sure shes doing her work and not fantasizing about sex with her coworker, given the policy against intra-office romance.

Government agents later show up at the protagonists workplace, commandeer every office workers brain activity, and cull through it indiscriminately to look for synchronized brain activity between co-workers to see who was thinking what illegal thoughts.

Dystopian prophet George Orwell, brilliant though he was, did not have the same vision as his contemporary Aldous Huxley did in the context of techs facilitation of tyranny. Orwell understood power brilliantly but not necessarily how the state would implement technology to underwrite its power.

Huxley, on the other hand, was plugged into the transhumanist, technocratic elite which even in the early 20th century had ambitions of total domination of humanity  not just physical control, but psychological as well.

Rather than Orwells infamous nightmarish boot stamping on a human face forever prophecy, the future of enslavement will more closely mirror Huxleys vision in Brave New World, in which the state uses various technological and pharmacological implements to cull and pacify the population, so that physical force becomes unnecessary to maintain control.

In fact, in 1949, Huxley, after reading 1984, penned a little-known letter to Orwell, explicating their analytical differences in their respective novels:

Within the next generation I believe that the worlds rulers will discover that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging and kicking them into obedience.

This is impressive foresight for a man writing in the pre-internet era, when the pharmaceutical industry was still in its infancy.

The tyrants of tomorrow wont appear in gaudy military attire; theyll be the kind of soft-spoken HR administrator whose inflections trends upward at the end of her sentences as if her commands are just questions in other words, totally non-threatening.

The technocracys footsoldiers wont goosestep in orchestrated shows of force as an intimidation tactic; theyll coo their charges into submission like a mother singing an infant to sleep with a lullaby. Without firing a bullet or dropping a bomb, theyll infiltrate and subvert the human mind with drugs and irremovable implants.

Humans are conditioned by millions of years of evolution to respond with commensurate force to clear physical threats like armed goons rolling through their community. We are considerably less vigilant about insidious threats that do not rely on brute force but rather subtle psychological manipulation and unseen control mechanisms.

Ben Bartee is an independent Bangkok-based American journalist with opposable thumbs. Follow his stuff via Armageddon Prose and/or Substack, Locals, Gab, and Twitter.

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Iranian leader's visit to further enhance ties

08:17, February 14, 2023 By ZHANG YUNBI ( Chinadaily.com.cn

As a sign of the reinforced high-level contact between Beijing and Teheran, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is set to visit China this week, giving a boost to the two countries' collaboration in areas including the economy and international hot-spot issues, observers said.

At the invitation of President Xi Jinping, Raisi will make a state visit to China from Tuesday to Thursday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Sunday.

In July and September, the two presidents held a phone talk and had a face-to-face meeting in Uzbekistan's Samarkand, reaching fresh consensus on deepening China-Iran relations, Chinese officials said.

As part of enhanced two-way political ties, the Chinese Consulate General in Iran's port city of Bandar Abbas was officially opened in December. It is China's first consulate general in the Middle East country.

"China-Iran high-level contacts have constantly advanced, and pragmatic cooperation in various fields has continued to deepen," Chinese Ambassador to Iran Chang Hua said last month at a reception.

Trade between China and Iran also maintained positive growth last year.

China continues to be Iran's leading trade partner, largest export destination and second-largest source of imports, according to the Foreign Ministry.

"China's economy keeps unleashing its dynamism and improving steadily, which will provide greater development opportunities for all countries in the world, including Iran," Fu Lihua, charge d'affaires of the Chinese embassy in Teheran, wrote in an article published by the Tehran Times newspaper last week.

Foreign Minister Qin Gang held his first phone conversation with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian last month.

Advancing the two countries' comprehensive cooperation plan and offering support to safeguard each state's sovereignty were high on the agenda.

During their phone talk, the Iranian side said it also appreciated China's "constructive role" in the progress of negotiations on resuming compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the landmark Iran nuclear deal enacted in 2016.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
The Russian MoD remarked that the US Raytheon engineers had modified Ukrainian Tu-141 drones with improved capabilities. An attack on Russia's Engels and Dyagilevo air bases with these Soviet-designed drones on December 5 and 26.

US Raytheon Modifies Ukrainian Drones

In January, the Ministry of Defense alleged American help to Kyiv by installing a modern navigation system, also a better warhead, report Eurasian Times.

These attacks in December stated Russian experts had assistance and guidance from alleged non-combatants, US and NATO, via their AWACS aircraft.

Attacks on Russian vessels in Crimea's Sevastopol during late October with an unmanned aerial vehicle and unmanned surface vehicle strikes, allegedly assisted by the US RQ-4B Global Hawk that used ISR to give targeting information, noted Airforce Technology. Russian bloggers said the US drone over the Black Sea south of Crimea via tracking websites.

Russian MoD Says the Tu-141 Strizh Updated

A tweet by Rob Lee, Former US Marine Corps officer and Russian defense policy expert, shows images of the drone equipped with an OFAB-100-120 high explosive warhead, as posted on Twitter.

Kaluga is about 321 kilometers northeast of the border, which is 160 kilometers southwest of Moscow.

On his Telegram channel, Vladislav Shapsha, governor of Kaluga Oblast, stated that at 5, when a forest close to the city had a drone explode in the air about 50 meters. Nothing was damaged, no casualties, and police agencies are investigating it.

Moscow Claims Ukraine Lacks Expertise To Modify Drones

The Russian Ministry of Defense wrote on Zvezda had doubted that Ukrainian engineers had improved the Soviet drone, stating that modifying the drones cannot be done without the original drawings and design blueprints.

Read Also: US Army Killer Drones Can Kill Enemy Air Defenses, Slam Them

The article mentions that only US engineers from the US defense firm Raytheon can improve the old Soviet Tu-141 with better navigation.

The first iterations of Tupolev Tu-141 (Strizh) were initially built at the Kharkiv aircraft plant in 1979 and used up to 1989 before the dissolution of the USSR, citing the Military factory. About 152 units were made, with Ukraine getting a few of these UAVs, integrated with the 321st Separate UAV Squadron in Odesa.

It is a high-speed reconnaissance aircraft to gather intel with systems imaging devices and radars. One of its innovations is that it can fly autonomously with outdated navigation that is common today. Recovery is made with a parachute that deploys after the mission, but some think it's a cruise missile, not a drone though.

The head of the Russian delegation in Vienna, Konstantin Gavrilov, called out the US defense firm's involvement. He added that Ukraine had utilized Soviet-era drones with 1000 kilometers and modernized them at the Kharkiv Aviation Plant in 2022. Foreign engineers helped in the upgrade. Indicated that the Biden administration is not admitting that the US and its specialists are assisting Kyiv to escalate hostilities more.

The Soviet-era drone is reusable, and its length is 14.3 meters, and a with a 3.9-meter wingspan too. A 50-year-old drone that Americans turned into a kamikaze drone which is 5 tons. Garilov added that the use of depleted uranium tank shells would be nuclear proliferation that would escalate hostilities more.

Based on the Russian MoD suspecting US Raytheon of updating Ukrainian drones from the Soviet era for use against Russian targets.

Related Article: US Refuses To Give Ukraine Gray Eagle Drones

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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed his thoughts on Monday regarding the issue of the flying objects that were observed in recent times, including one over Yukon territory on Saturday, saying that they are somewhat connected.

During a news conference held in the capital of Yukon, Whitehorse, Trudeau said some pattern to the unidentified flying objects was evident. He added that the mere fact that they have seen a significant degree of them in the last week is a cause for interest and must be paid attention to.

Trudeau on Unidentified Flying Objects

Both American and Canadian authorities have not been able to fully explain where exactly the three flying objects came from after they were shot down by fighter jets. The objects were seen over North American airspace and began after an alleged Chinese spy balloon was struck down on Feb. 4 off the coast in South Carolina.

On Sunday, American military fighter jets also downed an octagonal object observed over Lake Huron, said the Pentagon. Two days before that, another object was shot down while flying over sea ice near Deadhorse, Alaska. As per Reuters, a third was downed over Canada's Yukon, which was shaped cylindrically.

The Canadian prime minister noted that search and recovery efforts were still ongoing to investigate the aerial object that flew over Yukon. He added that officials were having a hard time because of the weather. During their March meeting, Trudeau also said he was planning to discuss the issue with US President Joe Biden.

Trudeau was also asked why the Canadian government did not decide to shoot down the unidentified flying object over Yukon. He said that the North American Aerospace Command (NORAD) is a joint command.

This means that things are done together over North America, adding that the fighter jets that shot down the object included some Canadian and American planes.

Read Also: US Shoots Down 4th Unidentified Flying Object

The Threat of Surveillance

On Monday, the US and China traded blame about the suspected spy balloon, with the Asian nation claiming that US high-altitude balloons had flown over its airspace without permission more than ten times since the start of last year, a claim that the White House denied.

The US National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, John Kirby, spoke to reporters at the White House regarding the situation. He claimed that the first flying object that was discovered was, in fact, a Chinese spy balloon. The official added that the balloon's path suggested that it would monitor sensitive military sites, according to CBC.

Kirby noted that the other three flying objects did not have propulsion and were not being maneuvered. He said they were unsure if the latter objects were equipped with any surveillance technology.

On Saturday evening, an FAA spokesperson said that airspace over Montana was closed to support the Defense Department's activities. However, the order was rescinded, and the airspace was reopened, said CNN.

Related Article: Chinese Spy Balloons Over Taiwan

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Russias nuclear exports have surged since the invasion of Ukraine, boosting the Kremlins revenue and cementing its influence over a new generation of global buyers, as the US and its allies shy away from sanctioning the industry.

Exclusive trade data compiled by the UKs Royal United Services Institute show that Russian nuclear fuel and technology sales abroad rose more than 20 per cent in 2022. Purchases by European Union members climbed to the highest in three years. From Egypt and Iran to China and India, business is booming.

Kremlins nuclear giant Rosatom PJSC is bringing in billions to help fund Vladimir Putins war. Credit: AP

The trade brings in plenty of money already, but thats not the full measure of its importance. Every time the Kremlins nuclear giant Rosatom PJSC agrees to build a new reactor, it locks in cashflows  and political clout  for potentially decades ahead.

Atomic commerce creates relationships that last. It involves large upfront costs  with Russia usually providing the credit  and long-term agreements to service plants, train their operators and replenish fuel. That kind of financial and technical collaboration can strengthen diplomatic ties too.
Australian team lands in Turkey

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Cairo died on Thursday evening and was found in a flower garden at Club Wyndham Denarau Island in Fiji. He was of New Zealand nationality and lived in Sydney.

I loved you my son from the moment I found out I was carrying you and will love you forever more my beautiful, beautiful blue eyes, she wrote.

Eight-year-old Cairo Winitana was killed in an electrocution at a Fiji resort.

His mother, Amber De Thierry, led tributes on social media, uploading a photo of him as a newborn child.

Post-mortem results have confirmed a Sydney boy Cairo Winitana died from an electric shock at a Fiji resort last week.

Seven News reported that the completed post-mortem confirmed Cairo was electrocuted, with witnesses reporting that he was seen chasing frogs and touched a lamp post with a live current.

Juan and Jeremy Rodas told Seven News that they found the boy face down with a black mark on his leg.

I just grabbed him and I lifted him up, Rodas said.

There was nothing more that anyone could do, even though they made an unbelievable effort to try and save this little boys life.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Got it Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size How housing development in local communities does - or doesnt - take place, and the impact it will have on Sydney. See all 6 stories . How do you solve a problem like Crows Nest metro station? When the project is completed next year, it will be one of 31 making up the continuous metro line from Tallawong in north-western Sydney to the CBD and to Bankstown. Another 15 metro stops  along the western line to Parramatta, and near the new airport  are planned by 2030. Plainly, enormous transport infrastructure projects are not just for people who already live near them. They open up massive development potential  people like to live close to public transport, and the higher the density, the more the new infrastructure is utilised. Each of Sydneys metro stations is a candidate for higher-density development in the vicinity. Credit:SMH But its not that simple. Inserting a new metro line into a built-up urban area such as Crows Nest means adding to existing anxiety about overdevelopment, congestion and lifestyle. Residents may embrace the new train, but they wont necessarily welcome their new neighbours. The politicians love a major infrastructure project, says Cremorne resident Meredith Trevallyn-Jones, who runs a residents group called the Neutral Bay & Cremorne Progress Association. But our life doesnt revolve around just taking a metro to the city. I love the idea of a metro, but on its own it doesnt solve all the problems. Crows Nest is an especially pertinent example. Once the metro is open, it will be one of the best-connected places in Sydney. But, having watched next door St Leonards become a high-rise haven, many residents are uneasy about the looming transformation of their north shore village.

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And its right in the middle of a political pressure cooker. The Crows Nest metro station is being built at the meeting point of three Liberal seats  North Shore, Willoughby and Lane Cove  where the incumbent MPs face credible challenges from teal independents at next months election. Construction around the Crows Nest metro station. Credit:Brook Mitchell The government has an 80-page plan for the precinct, which was finalised by the Department of Planning in August 2020. It claims it will deliver capacity for 6683 new homes, an extra 120,000 square metres of employment floor space and 16,500 new jobs by 2036. Detailed though it is, the plan is only a general guide for the precinct, and each development proposal must jump through the usual planning process. There were 554 submissions on the proposal to rezone the land directly above the metro station, overwhelmingly negative. Many form letters were addressed directly to then-premier Gladys Berejiklian, who was the member for Willoughby. A photomontage showing the proposed Crows Nest over-station development, as well as planned private developments in the vicinity. Credit:Department of Planning Most lamented the proposed density and existing lack of open space. They said there was already an excess of apartments in the area, and worried overshadowing would make Crows Nest village a dark and uninviting place.

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Many were also suspicious about why Sydney Metro  a mere rail authority, as one submission put it  was involved in over-station development anyway, with some letters calling for an inquiry into the agencys relationship with developers. To milk the Crows Nest over-the-station development of every last drop that it is possible of yielding, and to hell with the rest, is outright obscene, wrote one Wollstonecraft resident. This sort of plan that sacrifices the quality of our lives for blatant greed is not planning, it is rubbish. The government subsequently modified its position. One of the first things decided in the 2036 plan was to reduce the scale of the buildings directly above the metro station. The tallest tower would be no more than 27 storeys, and the number of new units was slashed from 350 to less than 150. The Crows Nest metro station is under construction along the Pacific Highway. It is also 500 metres from St Leonards heavy rail station. Credit:James Brickwood The buildings had already been decoupled from the station itself, so they wont be built by the time the metro starts operating. Later, a concept proposal for the site reduced the height of the tallest commercial building again to 21 storeys. Another 683 objections arrived. But the concept was approved in December 2020, and a year later the first building  a nine-storey commercial tower known as site C  was also approved by the state government. Three days before Christmas last year, the government announced it had awarded the rights for the other two towers  one commercial and one residential  to local developer Thirdi Group, which will need to submit development applications for both buildings.

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But all of that only deals with the space directly above the metro station. The whole of Crows Nest stands to be transformed. And many residents feel theyve already had enough transformation. Cranes are everywhere. Just in the vicinity there is the JQZ development on Christie Street, a $1.3 billion, 650-unit complex promising to bring CBD style living to the North Shore, the 46-storey Landmark building, and plans lodged by Elegant Group for a 39-storey tower. Stockland has also flagged plans to redevelop its IBM building into an office tower three times taller than the existing one, while developers are circling in St Leonards South, a precinct just west of the heavy rail line that was recently rezoned for high-density residential. But much more is envisaged. The governments 2036 plan noted existing approvals on the Pacific Highway have established a height expectation in the area for towers up to 50 storeys. The plan sets out indicative zoning and height limits for each parcel of land in the precinct. Those heights range from 17 to 30 storeys along the highway to four or eight storeys on the blocks behind, and some 16- to 30-storey towers on other nearby blocks. The heights scale down toward the existing Crows Nest village area, which remains at two to three storeys with mixed-use zoning. The 2036 plan for St Leonards and Crows Nest spells out indicative height limits for each parcel of land surrounding the new metro station. Credit:Department of Planning Opposition to the plan focuses on the tallest buildings. But when it comes to the general zoning of the area, residents and the government are not on markedly different pages. John Hancox, chair of the Wollstonecraft Precinct for North Sydney Council, says he would accept 11 to 12 storeys above the metro station, and eight storeys in the vicinity.

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We recognise that theyve got to get some of their money back, he said. [But] why not even it out a bit? Dont go so high that youre going to cause problems in the suburb of Wollstonecraft. Youre killing the people who live on the western side of those buildings. A version of this argument will play out at every new metro station being built across Sydney. As this series has already touched on, plans to rezone land for higher density near Marrickville and Dulwich Hill stations have already been put on hold following a backlash from inner west residents. In other parts of Sydney, though, the response has been much more muted. Towards the end of last year, the government sought public submissions about over-station development at the Parramatta and Olympic Park metro stations. They received just 16 and 17 submissions respectively, with only four or five objections (one anonymous objector wrote: None of us need a metro coming close to our family house to destroy our peaceful day-by-day life). Opposition spokesman for planning and public spaces, Paul Scully, at a Committee for Sydney summit last week. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer The Urban Development Institute of Australia, an industry body, will make the case for much more aggressive redevelopment around new metro stations at a pre-election lunch event to be attended on Wednesday by Planning Minister Anthony Roberts and his opposite number Paul Scully. Roberts  who was asked for an interview for this series  is the member for Lane Cove, where he faces Climate 200-backed independent Victoria Davidson and Labors Penny Pedersen. Scully, who is from Wollongong, told a Committee for Sydney summit last week that a NSW Labor government would seek to get higher density out of the metro stations located closer to the CBD. Scully singled out Crows Nest as somewhere that needed to do the heavy lifting, indicating all the existing plans could be revisited.

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Brisbanes newest tunnel will finally link the Inner Northern Busway, which runs past the Royal Brisbane and Womens Hospital, with the South East Busway that extends to Eight Mile Plains.

Underneath the CBD, workers are forging ahead with the first tunnel to be dug in soft rock in Australia, using engineering techniques fine-tuned beneath the waterfront Sydney Opera House.

The Brisbane Metro tunnel will travel just 213 metres under Adelaide Street, between George Street and King George Square, but play a critical part in the transport network.

It will take buses from Adelaide Street and channel them underground to the King George Square station. Buses provide two-thirds of public transport journeys in Brisbane.
Neurosurgeon Charlie Teo told a patient that unless she had surgery on the next Tuesday she would be f---ing dead by Friday, her husband has told a disciplinary hearing.

The woman, who died in March 2019, did not wake up after surgery that Teo performed the previous month.

Her husband, who cannot be identified, was giving evidence on the second day of a Health Care Complaints Commissions professional standards committee inquiry into two allegations of unsatisfactory conduct by Teo including that he did not sufficiently inform patients about the risks of their surgeries.

Dr Charlie Teo leaving the commission hearing with partner Traci Griffiths. Credit: Peter Rae

The Geelong man said that other doctors had told his wife her tumour was inoperable.
Chinese-made surveillance cameras and intercom systems are being removed from the neighbourhood offices of almost 100 federal politicians over security concerns.

The Department of Finance revealed in Senate estimates on Tuesday that 122 devices made by Chinese companies Hikvision and Dahua have been installed in the electorate offices of 88 federal MPs.

Liberal senator James Paterson. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The government is moving to remove and replace all the devices, which have been banned by governments in the United States and Britain.

An audit of government departments led by Liberal Senator James Paterson last week revealed that at least 913 Chinese-made devices were installed at government departments across the country.
The consulting firm that gained secret advice from former cabinet minister Stuart Robert has been asked to explain why it has not registered as a lobbyist with federal authorities, sparking questions about the penalties for those who do not comply with the rules.

The Attorney-Generals Department has written to the firm, Synergy360, but is yet to receive a substantive response in a case that could turn into a test of the regime meant to disclose all those who seek to influence federal politicians and officials.

Stuart Robert used his status as a federal Liberal MP to help Synergy360 sign up corporate clients seeking business with the federal government. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The disclosures in Senate estimates on Tuesday led Greens Senator Larissa Waters to warn of a farcical regime that has few sanctions available for those who hide their lobbying and choose not to sign up to the public register.

Leaked emails revealed by this masthead last November showed that Robert used his status as a federal Liberal MP and later a cabinet minister to help Synergy360 and its chief executive, David Milo, sign up corporate clients seeking business with the federal government.
The federal government is poised to overhaul the nations military capabilities and significantly increase defence spending after receiving a landmark review it says will usher in a new era in Australian defence policy.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been handed the final version of a defence strategic review by former Defence Force chief Angus Houston and former defence minister Stephen Smith.

The government will use the confidential review to reshape the Australian Defence Force to counter Chinas rapid military build-up and increased assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific.

Sir Angus Houston meets with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles to deliver the Defence Strategic Review report. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The government is expected to release its response to the review next month, about the same time it reveals the type of nuclear-powered submarine Australia will acquire under the AUKUS pact with the United States and United Kingdom.
The College Board, the testing organization behind the AP African American studies course, denounced the Florida government's rejection of the course, arguing that lawmakers were spreading misinformation for political gain.

On Saturday, the board aimed at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Department of Education. In a statement, they said they had discussed the importance of critical conversation surrounding what is taught to young students.

College Board vs. Florida

However, they also condemned DeSantis and the Florida Department of Education's apparent deviation from what can be called a healthy debate. The College Board argued that the Republican administration was spreading false information, prompting the board to clear misunderstandings regarding the course.

The chief executive of the College Board, David Coleman, spoke of the changes made to the course that saw the removal of some topics viewed as essential to current times, such as the Black Lives Matter movement and reparations.

Some questioned whether or not pressure from DeSantis was a crucial factor in changing the content of the course. But Coleman reassured the doubters in the room that this was not the case. He noted that motivations for the revisions were pure, as per the New York Times.

The state of Florida was in a back-and-forth motion last week after officials released a chronology of its communications with the College Board. Authorities were trying to take credit for the changes made to the course content.

The board relies primarily on state participation to administer tests but has not hit back at the Florida government. They claim that the changes were made after discussions with teachers regarding what content works, adding that politics was never involved in the decision-making process.

On Saturday, the board released a statement claiming that the Florida Department of Education was trying to stoke publicity. It added that the department clearly showed that it was filled with ignorance regarding African American studies.

Read Also: US Shoots Down 3rd Unidentified Flying Object

AP African American Course

However, the College Board did admit that it made some mistakes in the course framework that it argued were being exploited by officials. According to CNN, the board disputed how Florida authorities, who are now asking for the course to be submitted once again for consideration, have characterized their words and influence with the nonprofit organization.

The board's statement read that while it was customary for debate over the content of a new AP course, the recent controversies have moved from a healthy setting into misinformation.

On the other hand, Florida's Department of Education claimed that the new AP course was contrary to the state's laws. Authorities also said that the new course lacked any "educational value."

The board argued that the course was simply an outline for the pilot course, and it acknowledged that it should have been more clear about contemporary events such as the Black Lives Matter movement, reparations, and mass incarceration as being crucial components in the framework of the course, said Business Insider.

Related Article: New Jersey Superintendent Resigns After Teen Suicide

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The agency probing the multimillion-dollar state government-backed quarantine centre near Toowoomba has confirmed its investigation is almost complete, with a public report to come.

The facility, built and owned by the Wagner Corporation, was mothballed in August after housing just 730 guests since it opened only months earlier  one year ago on Thursday.

The purpose-built quarantine facility near Toowoomba was mothballed in August.

The government, which made a $48.8 million upfront capital contribution and paid $198.5 million for a lease that runs out in April, is yet to find another use for the facility.

Border restrictions and the broader need for COVID-19 quarantine facilities quickly dissipated in the first half of 2022 after the Commonwealth and some state governments raced to build them with a view to helping the country reopen.
China has maintained that the Chinese balloon was a civilian airship that was conducting mostly meteorological research when it was blown off course. On Monday, Beijing pointed its finger at Washington, saying the United States has flown high-altitude balloons over Chinese airspace more than 10 times since last year. Scientists inflate a weather balloon at the Mount Qomolangma base camp on Mount Everest, on the China-Nepal border. Credit: Getty Images Biden administration officials said it was entirely false to suggest that the United States flew spy balloons over China. Wu, who turns 66 this month, has emerged as a central figure in Chinas ambitions in near space, the band of the atmosphere between 20-100km above earth that is too high for most planes to stay aloft for long and too low for satellites. He has helped design jet fighters, developed expertise in stealth materials, won prizes for his work from the Chinese military and was a vice president of Beihang University before deciding to return to research and teaching. He also sat on an advisory committee to the now-disbanded General Armaments Department of the Peoples Liberation Army, according to his biography on the Beihang University website.

Chinese strategists see near space as an arena of deepening great-power rivalry, where China must master the new materials and technologies needed to establish a firm presence, or risk being edged out. That anxiety has deepened as relations with the United States have soured under Xi Jinping, Chinas resolutely nationalist leader. Near space, Chinese analysts argue, offers a potentially useful alternative to satellites and surveillance planes, which may become vulnerable to detection, blocking or attacks. Loading Near space is a major sphere of competition between the 21st century military powers, Shi Hong, a Chinese military commentator, wrote in a current affairs journal last year. Whoever gains the edge in near space vehicles will be able to win more of the initiative in future wars. Until recently, Chinas long-distance high-altitude balloon flights drew little attention, perhaps partly a testament to their success in staying off the radars of foreign governments. The Biden administration now says China has sent them over more than 40 countries and that the United States was only able to detect the flights by reviewing stored data. Now, the U.S. military is adjusting its radars to try to spot more incursions. Over the weekend, US fighter jets shot down three unidentified flying objects over Alaska, Canada and Michigan.

High-altitude balloons are made of special materials that can cope with the harsh extremes of temperatures and carry loads in thin air. For the balloons to be useful, operators on earth must be able to stay in touch with them across vast distances. Wus open academic publications and other reports indicate that he and his scientific collaborators have long studied these challenges. The balloon that was launched in July 2019, Wu said then, was a big guy, nearly 110 metres in length and weighing several tonnes, which appears to be bigger than the balloon that was shot down off the coast of South Carolina by a US fighter jet this month. This is the first time that an aerodynamically controlled airship has flown around the world in the stratosphere at 20,000 meters, or about 65,000 feet high, Wu told an outlet of the Southern Daily newspaper of Guangdong province. The 2019 flight was not a one-off for Wu and his team. The Eagles Men Aviation Science and Technology Group, or EMAST, a Beijing-based company that Wu co-founded in 2004, has claimed a series of other successes for them. Advances in high-altitude balloons held out the potential for high resolution, long-lasting, stable communications, reconnaissance, navigation and other services, EMAST said on its official WeChat social media account in 2017.

In 2019, Wu and his team acquired a signal from between earth and near space for the first time, EMAST said. The company did not explain what kind of signals were involved, nor whether the step was linked to the Cloud Catcher flight of that year or another airship. The companys website has been offline recently, but cached records of its webpages can still be found online. In 2020, a Chinese balloon made a full circumnavigation of the globe and was safely retrieved, a pioneering feat, EMAST said. In the following year, the team operated two of the balloons in the skies simultaneously, a first for the project. In 2022, the cached EMAST webpages say, Wu and his team either launched or planned to launch  the Chinese wording on the timing is unclear  three high-altitude balloons in the air at the same time to form an airborne network. The ultimate goal, the company said, was to create an airborne signals network in China using stationary balloons floating at least 80,000 feet high. It likened the planned network to Starlink, the system of small, low-orbiting satellites operated by SpaceX. Starlink has provided communications support to Ukrainian forces fighting Russian invaders. By 2028, EMAST said, it hoped to complete a global near-space information network, but did not elaborate on what that meant. There has been no public corroboration of Wus claimed successes with high-altitude balloons. His available scientific papers do not describe any of those feats. Nonetheless, Wu is a highly awarded scientist whose views carry official weight.

In 2015, the Communist Partys newspaper, Peoples Daily, hailed the work of Wu and his team after they launched a balloon in northern China that stayed aloft at more than 65,000 feet. That was a breakthrough for China in developing the materials and knowledge for long-endurance near-space voyages, the reports said. The team had pioneered a new path for developing near-space flying craft, Zhang Jun, the Communist Party secretary of Beihang University, said in a meeting in 2015. Zhang urged them to go further, focusing on national strategic needs. Wu appeared eager to expand his footprint in the commercial realm. In 2015, he began preparations to found a campus of Beihang University in Dongguan, a manufacturing and technology city over 1600 metres south of Beijing. He was also involved in several companies looking to turn his and his research partners work into commercial applications, corporate records indicate. In partnership with a Shanghai property company, he helped to found Beijing Nanjiang Aerospace Technology, a company that described itself as being focused on near space technology. That company, as well as Eagles Men Aviation and another company he created, Shanxi Eagles Men Aviation Science and Technology Group, were among the six entities the Department of Commerce imposed sanctions upon last week. Calls to his companies went unanswered Monday. Until perhaps recently, Wu appeared to show no misgivings about revealing his corporate links. In 2021, he and his partners announced they were applying to list shares of Eagles Men Aviation on a new stock exchange in Beijing. The announcement noted the military demand for the companys concealment products, including camouflage and stealth materials to help aircraft evade detection.
Singapore: The United States has slammed the shining of a military-grade laser by a Chinese ship on a Philippine vessel as a threat to regional peace in the latest inflammatory incident in the South China Sea.

The criticism came as the prospect of a new quadrilateral security alliance between Washington, Manila, Canberra and Tokyo was canvassed.

The Philippines coast guard said personnel on one of its ships were temporarily blinded by a green laser that was twice aimed in its direction near Ayungin Shoal, also called Second Thomas Shoal, on February 6.

A green light appears from the direction of a Chinese coast guard ship at the Second Thomas Shoal, 105 nautical miles off the Palawan Province, Philippines, February 6, 2023 in this handout image. Credit: Philippine Coast Guard

The episode took place almost a year to the day a Chinese Navy destroyer aimed a laser at a Royal Australian Air Force plane as it ventured through the Arafura Sea and amid increasing tensions between Beijing and the Philippines over maritime sovereignty.


The current market volatility is temporary, AEL Chairman Gautam Adani said in the earnings statement. As a classical incubator with a vision of long-term value creation, Adani Enterprises will continue to work with the twin objectives of moderate leverage and looking at strategic opportunities to expand and grow.

Gautam Adanis flagship firm swung to a profit and pledged to lower leverage as the billionaire tries to win back investor confidence after a bruising report from short-seller Hindenburg Research wiped out more than $120 billion of his empires market value. Adani Enterprises (AEL) on Tuesday reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 820.06 crore in third quarter of the current financial year compared to a loss of Rs 11.63 crore in the same period a year back, according to a stock exchange filing by the company.



The group on Tuesday also said its companies face no material refinancing risk, or near-term liquidity issues and have made no material financial adjustments owing to the allegations. In a long-awaited credit report issued by Adani to Indian exchanges on Tuesday, the apples-to-airports group said there was no material refinancing risk and near-term liquidity requirement as there is no near-term significant debt maturity.

The firm has appointed accountancy firm Grant Thornton for independent audits of some of its companies in a bid to discredit claims by Hindenburg that have battered its stocks and bonds, two sources told Reuters. One of the sources added that Grant Thornton would look at whether related-party transactions at the Adani group complied with corporate governance standards.



The group has been under pressure since the Hindenburg report that accused it of accounting fraud and stock manipulation, allegations that the conglomerate has denied as malicious, baseless and a calculated attack on India.

AELs revenue surged 42 per cent to Rs 26,612.33 crore. Its so-called integrated resource management  the biggest contributor to top-line and profits  saw a 370 per cent jump in pre-tax profit to Rs 669 crore. Profit from mining and new energy tripled. The airports business saw revenues doubling but profitability rising by 29 per cent. Total costs climbed 37 per cent to Rs 26,171.18 crore.

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AELs exceptional resilience and capacity to build highly profitable core sector business indicate how our strategy of harnessing the diverse strengths of the Adani portfolio of companies is creating consistent long-term value for all our stakeholders, he said.



Our success is due to our strong governance, strict regulatory compliance, sustained performance, and solid cash flow generation. AEL, which incubates new Adani businesses and its current mix spans coal mining, airports, data centres, digital services and metals, had withdrawn a fully-subscribed Rs 20,000-crore share sale as its stock plunged after the Hindenburg report.

Adani said the groups fundamental strength lies in mega-scale infrastructure project execution capabilities, and organisational development comparable to the best in the world.


The net profit for the quarter includes a fair value gain of Rs 1,492 crore recognised by Aditya Birla Capital, a subsidiary, post the acquisition of 9.99 per cent stake by Abu Dhabi Investmentl Authoritys entities in Aditya Birla Health Insurance. Excluding the gain, the companys net profit stood at Rs 1,024 crore, a 41.35 per cent fall from the year-ago period. Aditya Birla group's Grasim Industries today announced a 17 percent rise in its consolidated revenue for the December quarter at Rs 28,638 crore and profit after tax of Rs 2,516 crore, up 44 percent -- driven mainly by strong performance of its subsidiaries  UltraTech Cement and Aditya Birla Capital.

The company said raw material prices continued to remain at elevated levels and the revenue for the viscose business declined by 5 per cent was offset by good performance of the Viscose Filament Yarn (VFY) business. In a statement, the company said the global demand slowdown and resilient demand conditions in India led to increased exports from Indonesia to India at lower prices of competing products. Further, zero import duty in India on these imports created pressure on domestic prices.



On its investments, the company said it spent Rs 1,817 crore  18 percent of the total planned outlay on its paints business. The total capex for all other businesses was Rs 1,370 crore in the nine months of the current fiscal. The revenue for the chemicals business was up 10 percent at Rs 2,582 crore and EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) was Rs 488 crore  down 8 per cent as the speciality chemicals segment saw normalisation of the realisations.

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Air India will purchase 220 planes from Boeing for USD 34 billion, with an option to buy 70 more aircraft that could take the total transaction value to USD 45.9 billion, a deal that US President Joe Biden described as a "historic agreement".

While announcing the Boeing-Air India deal on Tuesday, Biden also asserted that together with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he was looking forward to deepen the ties between India and the US.

As per an announcement from the White House, Boeing and Air India have reached an agreement under which the airline will purchase 190 B737 MAX, 20 B787, and 10 B777X for a total of 220 firm order valued at USD 34 billion at list price.

The deal will also include customer options for an additional 50 Boeing 737 MAX and 20 Boeing 787, totalling 290 airplanes for a total of USD 45.9 billion at list price.

"I am proud to announce today the purchase of over 200 American-made aircraft through a historic agreement between Air India and Boeing," Biden said.

The Air India order is Boeing's third biggest sale ever in dollar value and second in terms of number of planes.

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This purchase will support over one million American jobs across 44 states, and many will not require a four-year college degree, Biden said, adding that this announcement also reflects the strength of the US-India economic partnership.

"Together with Prime Minister Modi, I look forward to deepening our partnership even further as we continue to confront shared global challenges -- creating a more secure and prosperous future for all of our citizens," Biden said.

This announcement follows the inaugural launch of the US-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) last month. The initiative is aimed at expanding the strategic technology partnership and defense industrial cooperation between the governments, businesses, and universities of the two countries.

Biden and Modi announced the iCET in May 2022.

Biden's economic plan is about building an economy from the bottom up and the middle out, and revitalising American manufacturing, the White House said.

Over the course of production and delivery, the agreement will have USD 70 billion in total economic impact across the United States and support an estimated 1.47 million direct and indirect jobs.

The production of the aircraft supports three separate US-based manufacturing lines that include aerospace suppliers across 44 different states, the White House said.
Thousands of Israeli residents took to the streets on Monday to protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government's plans for "judicial reforms."

Officials traded insults with other lawmakers over the plans to overhaul the country's judiciary. Israel President Isaac Herzog warned that the nation is already on the brink of "constitutional collapse."

Israeli Protesters Oppose Judicial Reforms

The planned judiciary reforms would give Netanyahu, a right-wing lawmaker, even greater control of government appointments to the bench and weaken the ability of the Supreme Court to strike down legislation or rule against the executive. These proposals have angered citizens and sparked national protests.

The Knesset Constitution Committee voted on Monday to send the first chapter of the proposal to the plenum to start a first reading. The decision was made after a chaotic start to the meeting where several Israeli lawmakers were forcibly thrown out to shouts of "shame, shame."

Lawmakers could be heard trading calls of "fascist" and "traitor" as some could be heard singing folk songs and others could be seen crying inside the Knesset. Amid that unprecedented situation, thousands of protesters gathered outside the establishment, per Reuters.

The prime minister, who is currently on trial over corruption charges that he has continuously denied, argues that the overhaul is needed to restore balance to the system. He added that the reforms are crucial in curbing activist judges who he claims have overreached their powers to interfere in the political sphere.

In a statement, Netanyahu said that he was calling on the heads of the opposition to stop deliberately dragging Israel down into anarchy. He added that most of the country's population does not want anarchy and instead wishes for a substantive discourse and unity.

However, the proposals have exposed a wide gap within Israel's society, pitting the economic establishment and more liberal parts of the nation against Netanyahu's supporters and the prime minister's right-wing religious and nationalist coalition allies.

Read Also: Turkey-Syria Earthquake Death Toll Update

Benjamin Netanyahu's Proposed Judicial Reforms

The recent demonstration, considered one of the largest protests in the history of Israel, involved more than 80,000 residents that spoke out against Netanyahu's proposed judicial reforms. According to Fox News, the protest was joined by several other demonstrations in other parts of the country.

The protesters marched and gathered outside of the Knesset, holding flags and chanting "democracy" and "no to dictatorship." The reforms will also allow the government to appoint the president and vice president of the Supreme Court. Both would need to have served on the court previously or even served as a lower court judge.

Pictures on TV revealed how some demonstrators were even dressed as handmaids from the book 'The Handmaid's Tale.' They wore long red dresses that had white head coverings.

Despite the protests and President Herzog's pleas, the government started introducing the reform bill in parliament on Monday. The Israeli president added that the country could face a "violent collision." The remarks came as some lawmakers jumped over tables to shout at coalition members before they were taken away by security personnel, said CNN.

Related Article: Justin Trudeau Concerned Over Unidentified Flying Objects

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After months of delay, 12 cheetahs from South Africa will finally arrive on February 18 in Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park (KNP), where eight such spotted cats were brought from Namibia last year, a wildlife expert associated with India's cheetah revival project has said.

These big cats seven males and five females will embark on journey to their new home thousands of miles away aboard an Indian Air Force (IAF) transport aircraft from the OR Tambo International Airport, Gauteng, South Africa on Friday evening, the project participant and expert told PTI.

He said the South African cheetahs will first arrive at the Gwalior Air Force base in MP on Saturday morning and 30 minutes later they will be transported some 165km away to KNP in Sheopur district by IAF helicopters.

After landing at KNP around 12 noon, they will be put into quarantine bomas (enclosures) after half an hour (12.30 pm), added the expert.

KNP Director Uttam Sharma said they have set up 10 quarantine bomas for South African cheetahs. In two of these facilities, two pairs of cheetah brothers would be kept.

We have completed our preparations to receive the big cats on Saturday," he added.

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Experts said a delegation from South Africa visited KNP in early September last year to see arrangements at the wildlife sanctuary for housing the world's fastest land animals.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between India and South Africa last month for the translocation of the mammals.

South Africa has donated these big cats to India. But India has to pay USD 3,000 for the capture of every cheetah to the African nation before they are translocated, said the wildlife expert.

India had planned to airlift these South African cheetahs in August last year but couldn't do so due to delay in signing a formal translocation agreement between the two countries.

Due to the delay in the MoU signing for the inter-continental translocation of these big cats, some experts had in December expressed concern over the health of the South African cheetahs as these animals have been quarantined in their home country since July 15 in anticipation of their transfer to India.

As a result of long quarantine, these animals might have lost their fitness, they had said.

Prolonged quarantine could be taking a toll on the health of these felines, who are slated to join the eight cheetahs imported from Namibia and released into KNP in mid-September, the experts had said.

In fact, the 12 South African cheetahs earmarked for India have not hunted for themselves after being kept in bomas, wildlife experts in the know of India's cheetah reintroduction plan had said.

Three of them have been kept in Phinda quarantine boma in KwaZulu-Natal Province and nine in Rooiberg Quarantine boma in Limpopo Province, they said.

Seven of the cheetahs have lost fitness to a considerable extent as they have not hunted even once since July 15, one of the experts told PTI last month.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on his 72nd birthday on September 17, had released eight cheetahs flown in from Namibia into KNP amid a lot of fanfare, setting the ball rolling for the revival of their population in India where these distinctively spotted cat species became extinct seven decades ago.

These fastest land animals from Namibia five females and three males are currently in hunting enclosures at the park before their full release into the wild.

In August, the SA cheetahs selected by Indian officials for translocation had completed one-month in quarantine, but they couldn't be airlifted to KNP in absence of approval from the South African government. Around Independence Day, the eight Namibian cheetahs had not completed their quarantine period so the Indian government could not bring them to KNP as well, the experts said.

As per Indian wildlife laws, a month-long quarantine is mandatory before importing animals and they are required to be kept in isolation for another 30 days after arrival in the country.

The experts said the spotted animals' metapopulation (cheetah count in small and medium parks) in South Africa has risen to 504 from 217 in 2011.

The last cheetah died in India in Koriya district of present-day Chhattisgarh in 1947 and the species was declared extinct in 1952.

Former Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh had initiated 'Project Cheetah' in 2009 under the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government with an aim to reintroduce the wild cats in India.
A picture of Lord Hanuman displayed on the tail of the model of the HLFT-42 trainer aircraft has been removed.

The picture of lord Hanuman was seen displayed on the tail of the model of the fighter jet of the Hindustan Lead-in Fighter Trainer (HLFT-42) aircraft on Monday when the five-day Aero India 2023 began.

HAL's Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) CB Ananthakrishnan clarified on the issue saying that the development was "unintentional".

Talking to ANI, the HAL CMD said, "It was with not with any intention that it was put and it is not with any intention that it has been removed it is to see that the programme runs through successfully....This was unintentional."

A sticker signage of Lord Hanuman was seen on the vertical fin of the HLFT-42 on Monday. The aircraft is said to be the successor of HAL Marut, the country's first Indigenous aircraft.

The 14th edition of Asia's biggest aero show - Aero India 2023 was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Air Force Station in Yelahanka, Bengaluru on Monday.

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Speaking at the event on Monday, state Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said that the state will contribute in its way towards the economy, social system, and defence sector.

"The ongoing airshow has been the biggest event at the international level due to its size, exhibition, and working style. Through this, India has displayed its strength in the defence sector. During the Covid pandemic, when the airshow in Paris did not hold, it was held on a grand scale in Bengaluru. This time, the area and the number of exhibitors are more," he said.

Some of the ground-breaking technologies include Air Defence Systems, Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), Aerial and Ground Precise Guided Munitions, Electronic Warfare (EW) systems, Land and Naval solutions, Avionic Systems, Air and Missile Defence Systems, and more are being featured in the show.


By doing this it has eclipsed American Airlines 2011 order for 460 planes. A year after coming into the Tata group, Air India on Tuesday said it had placed an order for 470 planes: 250 with European plane maker Airbus and 220 with American giant Boeing  the worlds largest ever single-tranche aircraft purchase.



From Airbus, Air India has ordered 40 wide-body A350 planes and 210 narrow-body A320neo family planes, and it has the option to increase the size of this order. At list price the aircraft deal is valued at over $70 billion.



A wide-body plane has a bigger fuel tank, allowing it to traverse directly on longer distances such as India-US routes. From Boeing, the airline has ordered 10 wide-body B777X planes, 20 wide-body B787 planes, and 190 narrow-body B737MAX planes, with an option for an additional 20 B787s and 50 B737MAXs.

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The first aircraft to arrive will be 25 Boeing 737s and six Airbus A350-900s in the second half of 2023. Along with the aircraft order, Air India has signed deals with engine manufacturers: CFM International (for narrow-body A320/B737s), GE (for Boeing 777x/787), and Rolls-Royce for A350 type planes.



Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday attended a video call with French President Emmanuel Macron on the Airbus-Air India deal. He called it a landmark deal, demonstrating not just deep relations between India and France but also Indias success and expectations in the civil aviation sector. Air India had last ordered planes in 2006, when it had booked 111 aircraft: 68 from Boeing and 43 from Airbus.



Biden said: This announcement also reflects the strength of the US-India economic partnership. Together with Prime Minister Modi, I look forward to deepening our partnership even further as we continue to confront shared global challenges  creating a more secure and prosperous future for all of our citizens. In a statement, US President Joe Biden called the Boeing-Air India deal a historic one.



Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran, who was present during the aforementioned video call, said Air India was undergoing a massive transformation, for which it needed a modern, efficient fleet. Air Indias order comes after months of intense negotiations between the airline, aircraft makers, and engine original equipment manufacturers. This order has been billed as a sign of growing confidence and collaboration among India, France, and the US.



He said Air India was working on bigger partnerships with Airbus and one of our ambitions for the country is to bring in commercial aircraft manufacturing sometime in the future. Today, I am happy to say that we have signed a letter of intent to acquire 250 aircraft from Airbus. 40 of them would be wide body A350 aircraft that we will use to fly all ultra-long distances across the globe. 210 will be narrow body aircraft. We also have significant options to increase the fleet order once we grow, Chandrasekaran noted.



The time is right to turn India into an international aviation hub, said Airbus Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Guillaume Faury, adding that the A350 aircraft would become a new flagship for transcontinental travel even as the A320neo plane would remain the flagship for domestic and regional service. Chandrasekaran called this the most significant moment for Air India, Indian aviation, and the manufacturing sector in India.



The critical technologies will come and we are going in that direction from the Airbus India Engineering Centre in Bengaluru, Faury noted. Make in India is at the heart of Airbus strategy in India, he said. While the Air India planes will finally be assembled in France and Germany, many of their components will come from Indian companies, he said.
Any person having a flat or a plot of land measuring less than 67 square metres in Delhi has become eligible to apply for the allotment of newly-constructed flats being offered by the DDA for the first time, the urban body said on Monday.

In a statement, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) said the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has "approved modifications/relaxations" proposed by the DDA in the Housing Regulations, 1968, which were issued under section 57 of the DDA Act, 1957.

However, it did not specify as to when the modifications or relaxations received the nod from the central ministry.

"The objective of modifications/relaxations was to enable general public to buy DDA flats without much restrictions/hassles," the statement said.

"Any person having less than 67 sqm of flat or plot in Delhi has become eligible to apply for allotment of newly-constructed flats offered by DDA for the first time. The main regulations did not allow any person to apply for allotment of DDA flats, if he/she or family members were having any flat/plot irrespective of the area of the flat/plot," it said.

The waitlisted applicants will be allotted the surrendered or cancelled flats through a mini draw, the statement said.

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If more than 25 per cent flats remain unsold in any area or locality where they were offered for the first time, such a locality shall be deemed to be a "developing area", it added.

No restriction in terms of having flats or plots of land in Delhi shall be applied to the applicants as and when such unsold flats in a developing area are offered under the subsequent housing scheme, the DDA said.

Apart from individuals, the Centre, the state government, local bodies, autonomous bodies of the Centre or the state government shall be eligible for allotment of flats, the statement said.

Apart from the disposal of flats through the launch of the regular housing scheme, the unsold flats in the developing areas may be offered online on a "first-come-first-serve" basis under the relaxed norms, it said.

"The above modifications/relaxations on the one hand will enable those individuals to buy DDA flats who were not eligible due to having land/flat in Delhi either in his/her own name or in the name of his/her family members. On the other hand, it will adequately generate demand for DDA flats," the statement said.
Due to the crisis in Ukraine and the possibility of arbitrary detention or harassment by Russian law enforcement, the United States has advised its citizens to leave Russia immediately.

The US embassy in Moscow advised American residents residing or traveling in Russia to leave immediately. "US citizens residing or travelling in Russia should depart immediately," the US embassy in Moscow said. It added, "Do not travel to Russia."

US Citizens Advised to Leave Russia

The Kremlin stated that this was not the first time Americans were ordered to leave Russia. After ordering a partial mobilization in September, President Vladimir Putin issued the last public warning.

In January, the Federal Security Service (FSB) announced that prosecutors had initiated an espionage investigation against a US citizen, as per Reuters.

Brittney Griner was released in a prisoner swap in December after being sentenced to nine years in a penal colony for possessing vape cartridges containing cannabis oil, which is illegal in Russia, following a judicial process deemed fraudulent by the United States.

Washington maintains that Paul Whelan, a former US Marine, is currently serving a 16-year term in a Russian prison colony after being convicted of false espionage allegations.

Due to limited protections in Russia, US citizens were also urged to "avoid all political or social protests and refrain from photographing security officers." According to Washington Examiner, Russia has previously jailed some Americans who participated in demonstrations.

According to the embassy, possibilities for leaving the country will be "limited" because of economic sanctions and worldwide anger against the Kremlin over the war.

Kremlin officials promptly shrugged off the travel restriction and remembered that the State Department issued a similar warning in September when Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to reinforce the war effort.

Read Also: China Spy Balloon: US Shoots Down 4th Unidentified Object

Russia-Ukraine War

After months of blunders and failures on the battlefield, Russia is widely believed to be preparing for a winter offensive. President Joe Biden will fly to Poland on February r20, ahead of the February 24 anniversary of the war in Ukraine.

The US government's ability to aid Americans abroad in Russia is severely constrained, as there are few commercial flying choices, and sanctions have made it more difficult to receive financial assistance.

In addition, the State Department accused Russia of detaining US nationals, neglecting to notify US authorities of their imprisonment, and targeting US persons engaged in religious activities.

Reportedly, new legislation under Putin permits the government to crack down on anyone "acting against Russia's interests, including engaging with foreign and international entities, discrediting the Russian state or military, and advocating for the rights of LGBTQI+ individuals."

Concerns exist that Russia is planning a fresh assault wave against its Eastern European neighbor, prompting this terrifying warning. Monday morning in Brussels, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg informed reporters that it has already begun.

Per Daily Mail, it occurs on the same day as a new and violent assault on the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut in the east. As the Wagner Group mercenaries spearhead Moscow's operation in the region, reports of intense bombardment in and around the town have persisted.

Related Article: Ukraine Destroys 31 'Elite' Russian Tanks

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Delhi minister Imran Hussain on Tuesday directed officials to ensure adequate sanitation facilities and cleanliness in streets around the Shahi Idgah ahead of an 'Ijtema', a religious congregation here, officials said.

The food and civil supplies minister chaired an important meeting on the preparedness for the 'Ijtema' at Shahi Idgah, which is scheduled to be held from February 24-27.

In this meeting, the area councillor, along with officers of various government agencies like DDMA, DUSIB, DJB, MCD, the health ministry, fire services, BSES, Delhi Police, and PWD, were also present, his office said in a statement.

Hussain directed officials to ensure adequate sanitation facilities and cleanliness on roads and streets around the Idgah.

He also directed the MCD to provide adequate manpower for cleaning of the streets and lanes around the Idgah during the event.

"During the 'Ijtema' event, a large number of visitors, around 4-5 lakh people, are expected to attend it. For the convenience of participants, I have instructed the officers of the DUSIB to arrange 12 toilet cubicles preferably in prefabricated structures, on a priority basis before the start of the 'Ijtema'," the minister said.

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He also directed officials of the DJB to ensure proper maintenance of drainage, and an uninterrupted supply of fresh water during the event.

"The Delhi government is committed to providing all necessary and basic facilities such as drinking water, uninterrupted power supply, ensuring law and order, cleanliness and functional street lights during the event.

"Necessary instructions were also issued for round-the-clock health camps and ambulances, fire brigade, proper law and order arrangements, repair of the staircase and provision of RMC flooring, the greening of the area, including the provision of flower pots," he said.
Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra on Tuesday called on Nepal's Deputy Prime Minister and discussed railways, treaties and agreements between the two countries, and projects undertaken by Indian companies in Nepal, including in the power and energy sector.

Kwatra arrived here on Monday for a two-day official visit to hold talks with the country's top leaders on the entire range of multifaceted cooperation between the two neighbouring countries, including connectivity, trade and transit, power sector cooperation, agriculture, education, culture, health sector, and people to people relations, among others.

Kwatra on Tuesday called on Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Narayankaji Shrestha at the Ministry's office at Singhdurbar, Kathmandu.

During the meeting, Shrestha put forth issues concerning Nepal's railway line, economic prosperity, Indian investments in Nepal and past agreements and understandings between countries.

Kwatra also raised the issue of renewal of the Jayanagar-Kurtha railway being operated by an Indian company as its tenure is about to terminate, according to ministry sources.

India's Konkan Railways Corporation Limited (KRCL) has been operating the country's sole railway service.

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The railway came into operation in April 2022 when it was jointly flagged off by then-Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It was considered a milestone in strengthening cross-border connectivity between Nepal and India.

Kwatra also offered to provide training to Nepalese technical manpower so that in the future they can operate the railway service, which makes Nepalese railway service reliable, sustainable and safe.

The foreign secretary also expressed his concern to Deputy Prime Minister Shrestha on matters pertaining to the speedy construction of the access road to the 900-megawatt Arun III Hydroelectric Power Plant in the Tumlingtar area in eastern Nepal.

The project is expected to bring USD 1.5 billion in foreign direct investment into Nepal and create jobs for thousands of people.

In 2018, Prime Minister Modi and his then Nepalese counterpart K P Sharma Oli laid the foundation stone for the Hydroelectric Power Plant.

During the foreign secretary-level talks, both sides agreed for the early completion and operationalisation of the remaining sections of the Jaynagar-Kurtha-Bijalpura-Bardibas and the Jogbani-Biratnagar rail links, according to a press release issued by Indian Embassy, Kathmandu.

As well as taking further steps on the proposed Raxaul-Kathmandu rail link, and committed to expediting the procedural requirements, to enable their early implementation, according to a press release issued by Indian Embassy, Kathmandu.

The proposed broad-gauge line will give the Nepali capital a direct connection with the Indian railway network, enabling uninterrupted train travel to all Indian cities, the Kathmandu Post newspaper reported.

The two sides appreciated the progress made in the energy cooperation last year, wherein Nepal is now able to export 452.6 MW power to India, creating additional sources of revenue for Nepal and energy for India, the press statement said, adding the Nepalese side requested Indian side to explore allowing power export on a long term basis.

They also requested for utilising all products of the exchange market in order to enhance power trade between India and Nepal further, the press release said.

While reiterating commitment to the full implementation of the Joint Vision Statement on Power Sector Cooperation agreed between India and Nepal in April 2022, the two Foreign Secretaries agreed to also work together for mutually beneficial cooperation in the sub-regional context.

The Nepalese side also appreciated the special provisions made for Nepal in the export of sugar, wheat and paddy by India, so as to ensure a smooth supply of agricultural products to Nepal during times of global uncertainties.

The two Foreign Secretaries also discussed multilateral and regional cooperation. The Nepalese side appreciated the invitation extended by India under its G20 Presidency to Nepal to participate in the G20 Finance Track this year, the press release said, adding The Nepalese side also reiterated commitment for early ratification of the International Solar Alliance.
The BBC on Tuesday said the Indian income tax authorities were at its offices in New Delhi and Mumbai and the British public broadcaster was fully cooperating with them.

The Income Tax Department on Tuesday conducted a survey operation at the BBC's offices in Delhi and Mumbai as part of an investigation into alleged tax evasion, officials said in New Delhi.

The surprise action comes weeks after the broadcaster aired a two-part documentary, "India: The Modi Question".

"The Income Tax Authorities are currently at the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai and we are fully cooperating. We hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible," the press office of the BBC tweeted.
Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked the city government to inform its stand on a PIL alleging that job postings on its website were being advertised below the fixed minimum wage.

The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) sought to direct the Delhi government to stop allowing any individual, company, organisation or establishment from advertising vacancies below the fixed minimum wages on the official portal of the Government of NCT of Delhi or any other place.

A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad asked the counsel for the Delhi government to take instructions from the authorities on the issue and listed the matter for further hearing on May 23.

Petitioner Mohd Imran Ahmad claimed in his plea that he was seeking protection of the fundamental rights of workers or labourers, enforcement of labour laws and termination of bonded labour in Delhi.

Santosh Kumar Tripathi, the Delhi government's standing counsel, said private jobs were advertised during the COVID-19 pandemic and they do not belong to the government.

He said the government circular is very clear that minimum wages have to be adhered to.

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The plea said the Delhi government had made an online portal on which thousands of job opportunities were being advertised.

It said various job opportunities, including office boy, field marketing employee, calling employee, cook, waiter, computer operator, relationship manager, kitchen helper, ambulance driver, peon, security guard and accountant, were being advertised below the prescribed/fixed minimum wages in violation of the government's 2022 order.

"It is clear from the government portal that the labour laws are being grossly violated in the NCT of Delhi as job opportunities are being advertised below the fixed minimum wages," the plea said.

The petitioner said he had approached the authorities for lawful payment of wages to employees but they failed to take any action.

The Delhi government on October 14 issued an order regarding minimum wages for unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled workers. The minimum wages were also fixed in respect of clerical and supervisory staff in all scheduled employments.

The minimum wages fixed for unskilled, semi-skilled, skilled, non-matriculate, matriculate and graduate and above are Rs 16,792, Rs 18,499, Rs 20,357, Rs 18,499 and Rs 22,146 per month. These wages came into effect on October 1, 2022.


China needs to come out openly and say what their debt is and how to settle it, said Amitabh Kant, the sherpa for India during its presidency of the Group of 20 forum of the worlds biggest economies this year. It cant be that the International Monetary Fund takes a haircut and it goes to settle Chinese debt. How is that possible? Everybody has to take a haircut. India called on China to be willing to take losses on loans to struggling economies, and asked the worlds biggest bilateral creditor to developing countries to avoid taking positions that would block relief for nations such as Zambia and Sri Lanka.



Disagreements on how to handle some debt have delayed resolution using the framework. Beijing has called for debt of multilateral lenders to be included in restructuring of struggling nations loans, a move that the World Bank has firmly rejected. About 60% of the worlds poorest nations are in or at high risk of debt distress, IMF data show. The G-20 has set up a blueprint for restructuring struggling countries loans  known as the Common Framework  that brings the Paris Club of traditional rich debtor countries together with China to try to restructure the debts of low-income countries on a case-by-case basis.



Debt Roundtable

Western lenders  including the Paris Club of creditors  have asked China to stop going solo on debt relief.

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Talks will be held before the meeting of G-20 nations fiscal and monetary leaders in Bengaluru, India. The International Monetary Fund, World Bank and India will host an inaugural meeting to deal with global debt issues Friday, bringing together creditors including China with borrowing countries to try to hash out solutions for nations with unsustainable debt levels.



Debt recast will be one of the issues that India will focus on in its draft communique following the G-20 meeting, Kant said in an interview Monday. The 75 poorest nations owed their creditors about $326 billion at the end of 2021, World Bank data released in December show.

World Bank Plan

Finance ministers and central bankers will also discuss the World Banks plan to expand lending, said Kant, adding that support from US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has the potential to push things.



These institutions need to be redesigned, Kant said. You need World Bank and IMF to do a lot more credit guarantees. They need to do first-loss guarantees. They need to do a lot of blended finance, which is not happening. He added that multilaterals should focus on indirect lending. Kants comments come after Yellen last week deepened her call for an overhaul of the World Bank, urging the lender to more aggressively extend its balance sheet and to work harder at mobilizing private-sector money to help address global challenges like climate change and pandemics.
The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) Ship Ankit undertook a medical evacuation of a foreign national from the Arabian Sea on Monday. The patient was safely brought to Porbandar and shifted to Government Hospital at Porbandar and then to Rajkot.

"On Monday, 13 February 23, at about 04:30 pm, ICG Maritime Rescue Sub Centre (MRSC) Porbandar received a distress alert regarding a medical emergency onboard Liberian Flagged Merchant Vessel Irenes Ray which was on passage from Sri Lanka to Pakistan. The position of the Merchant Vessel was ascertained and found to be approx 200 kms off Porbandar coast in the Arabian Sea," an ICG release said.

The ICG District Headquarters at Porbandar responded promptly and a Fast Patrol Ship, ICGS Ankit was directed to proceed with maximum speed from Porbandar. The ICG Ship made a rendezvous with the merchant's vessel at 07:20 pm. The 57-year-old Philippines national was found to have suffered a severe head injury and was unconscious. The patient was evacuated and taken onboard ICG Ship. Immediate medical relief was provided at Sea by ICG medical team," the statement added.

The ship along with the patient entered Porbandar Harbour at 11:00 pm. Post necessary medical management by the Medical Team of Coast Guard District Headquarters, the patient was transferred to Govt Hospital, Porbandar for further medical management from where he was shifted to Govt Hospital at Rajkot.
Pointing out that every state is part of India's G20 Presidency, Home Minister Amit Shah has said that it is natural that credit for a successful summit will go to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

With BJP observing events in a grand manner and giving a strong push to its electoral efforts, Amit Shah also said the basic rule about marketing is that a product will run in the long term if it is good such a product should be projected in a grand manner (gaaje baaje ke saath).

In an exclusive interview with ANI, Amit Shah referred to India holding about 200 meetings in 32 different sectors in multiple locations in the country during its G20 Presidency.

"The way the Prime Minister has organized the event, the whole world is watching with surprise. Other counties (during their presidency) have not been able to take G20 series of meetings outside four-five cities but we have given a chance to every state and not a single state or union territory is left out in this big country. It is a big achievement and a lot of preparation goes into it," Shah said.

Shah was responding to a query about the G20 Summit being used for domestic purposes and the Prime Minister getting credit for its success.

"So, why not. If India got the leadership of G20 under PM Modi and if the summit is organized successfully and with aplomb, then PM Modi should get the credit? Should the opposition get it? Obviously, the credit will go to PM Modi," Home Minister said.

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He said the visitors will take home the message of India's diversity, its culture and variety in terms of food, dress and language.

Answering a query related to BJP organising events on a grand scale, Shah said the quality of the product has to be good for it to be successful in the long term.

"The basic rule about marketing is if your product is good then only your product will run in the long term. This is the basic rule. If the product is good then it should be projected in a grand manner (gaaje baaje ke saath)," he said. .

"Why every party worker of the BJP should not proudly present PM Modi's work in front of the entire country and the world? The initiatives taken to take the country ahead in the last 75 years and the success achieved, should be presented with pride in front of the country and the world. This is not only honouring the Prime Minister but the entire country," he said.

India assumed the year-long presidency of G20 on December 1 last year and will host the G20 summit in September this year.

G-20 is the premier forum for international economic cooperation representing around 85 percent of the global GDP, over 75 per cent of the worldwide trade, and about two-thirds of the world population.

The logo, theme and website of India's G-20 Presidency reflect the country's message and overarching priorities to the world.
A vehicle in the carcade of Jan Adhikar Party (JAP) chief Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav met with an accident in Bihar's Buxar, the police said on Tuesday.

According to information, two other persons have been injured in the accident.

Party's Buxar district president Sunil Kumar and vehicle driver Sudhir Kumar have been injured. Pappu Yadav was unhurt in the incident, officials said.

The incident took place near Devkuli village area late night on Sunday. Locals of the area noticed the accident, and alerted the police.

Following information, PCR (112) vans from Brahmapur and Shahpur Police Stations reached the spot and shifted injured persons to a nearby hospital.

More details awaited.
The White House asserts that Americans need not be concerned about the extraterrestrial origin of the objects shot down by the US military recently over American and Canadian airspace.

During a Monday news briefing at the White House, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby refuted the popular theory. He told reporters that there is no cause for Americans to be frightened about aliens, despite NORAD head Gen. Glen VanHerck indicating he wasn't taking anything off the table.

Unidentified Flying Objects Around US

A reporter questioned Kirby about VanHerck's statements during Monday's briefing, asking whether the Biden administration was also exploring the prospect.

VanHerck also stated that both US and Canadian NORAD personnel had increased the sensitivity of their radar equipment, which might explain why the objects appeared so rapidly.

The item President Biden ordered shot down over Lake Huron on Sunday was reported as "octagonal" in shape with strings hanging down, traveling at around 20,000 feet. As per Fox News, US military personnel said none of the aircraft had discernible propulsion systems.

The three objects flew far lower than the Chinese spy balloon that was shot down off the coast of South Carolina over a week ago, which drifted well above civilian air traffic at an altitude of 60,000 feet.

The US and Canada are attempting to retrieve wreckage from all four craft. However, only the one shot down off the United States East Coast is confirmed to have originated in China.

However, despite numerous questions, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre began Monday's news briefing by attempting to disprove the extraterrestrial theory.

Kirby stated that the objects were unmanned, seemed to be propelled by prevailing winds, and lacked communication signals. Two objects flew at or below 40,000 feet, while the third flew at around 20,000 feet over Lake Huron. According to Kirby, each was substantially lower in altitude than the Chinese surveillance balloon and presented a hazard to planes.

The United States has yet to reach the wreckage sites of the items, which landed in distant places and, in two cases, frozen waterways, complicating the search for more information.

Per USA Today, Kirby stated, "We do not believe these most recent objects represent any direct threat to individuals on the ground. We are laser-focused on proving their nature and function, particularly by collecting debris in distant areas where they have landed."

Melissa Dalton, assistant secretary of Homeland Defense and Hemispheric Affairs, said Sunday that officials are "working hard to determine the nature of these unidentified objects," especially whether they were for surveillance and their capabilities.

The nation's attention has turned upward after three high-altitude objects discovered over Alaska, Canada, and Michigan were shot down by military fighter planes in so many days. After the US Air Force shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina on February 4, three instances have occurred since Friday.

A US official said the recovery effort off the coast of South Carolina had retrieved a "significant" section - around 30 to 40 feet - of the Chinese balloon's antenna array from the bottom of the ocean. Earlier that week, the Chinese blimp entered US airspace for the first time and toured the country, flying over or near military locations in Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Missouri, before being brought down.

Read Also: US to Americans in Russia: 'Depart Immediately'

Recovery of Chinese Spy Balloon's Debris

The Navy has been spearheading efforts to recover wreckage and retrieve the balloon's payload, and recovery operations started Monday after they were delayed due to stormy conditions.

In addition to the surveillance balloon, the United States shot down an item over Alaska on Friday and an unidentifiable object over the Yukon with the assistance of Canadian officials on Saturday. On Sunday, the US military shot down another high-altitude object, traveling 20,000 feet over the Great Lakes region.

Kirby said Monday that the US did not feel the three items represented a direct threat to persons on the ground but may have been a concern to civilian commercial aviation traffic, given their height.

He added that the government is "laser-focused" on establishing the nature and purpose of the items, including through "intense" attempts to gather debris in the locations where they landed.

Kirby said the recent spike in the objects spotted might partially be explained by NORAD increasing its radar capabilities to more thoroughly monitor the airspace between the US and Canada in light of the recent invasion by the Chinese airship.

Kirby added that inexplicable airborne occurrences had been recorded "for many years without explanation or extensive analysis" by the federal government. However, the US, under the Biden administration, strives to achieve deeper knowledge.

An evaluation of reports of what the government refers to as "unidentified aerial phenomena" published last month revealed that of the 366 new claims of sightings since 2004, 163 were of "balloon-like objects."

In Belgium, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters the priority is debris recovery, CBS News reported. He said that the Pentagon is working closely with the rest of the federal government, including the Federal Aviation Administration, the FBI, and NASA. He assured Americans that the objects don't constitute a military danger to anybody on the ground.

Related Article: US Shoots Down 4th Unidentified Object

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India has sent emergency relief material comprising life-saving medicines, protective items and critical care equipment valued at over Rs 7 crore to quake-hit Turkiye and Syria, the Union Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

Highlighting the efforts of his ministry in providing emergency relief material to Turkiye and Syria, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya tweeted, India is providing assistance to the two countries in the spirit of its age-old tradition of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam.

On February 6, three truck loads of relief materials were arranged at the Hindon air base comprising life-saving emergency medicines and protective items within 12 hours, the ministry said in a statement.

The 5,945-ton emergency relief material included 27 life-saving medicines, two kinds of protective items and three categories of critical care equipments, valued at approximately Rs 2 crore, the statement said.

On February 10, a bigger lot of relief materials was arranged for both Turkiye and Syria.

The consignment for Syria consisted of 72 critical care drugs, consumables and protective items of 7.3 tons, valued at Rs 1.4 crore while relief materials sent for Turkiye included 14 types of medical and critical care equipments, valued at Rs 4 crore, it said.
The NDMC's 'Tulip Festival', beginning Tuesday, has garnered the attention of nature lovers and anthophiles, with lawns of Shanti Path and several roundabouts in its vicinity decked up with thousands of red and white tulips



imported from the Netherlands.

Those who wish to witness blooming of tulips may visit Shanti Path, Central Park, Children Park, Mandi House, 11 Murti, Windsor Place, Akbar Road, AIIMS Circle, and Palika Kendra, the civic body officials said.

A total of 1.24 lakh tulip bulbs were brought from the Netherlands and planted in the first week of January in Shanti Path lawns by the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC).

The blooming of tulips coincides with the G20 Foreign Ministers meeting to be held on March 1-2.

Having said that, the major question arises that how can these spring flowers which require constant chilling temperatures survive in the fluctuating weather of the national capital.

Growing tulips in Delhi remained a distant dream until 2016 when NDMC officials took it upon themselves to give the residents the pleasure of watching the beautiful flower bloom in the city.

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This was made possible through persistent efforts by the New Delhi Municipal Council and via technical interventions like breaking dormancy, the requirement of chilling temperature, and synchronising bloom.

NDMC Vice Chairman Satish Upadhaya, who visited Shanti Path at Chankyapuri, said it is a spectacle to watch.

"We had ordered 1.24 lakh tulip bulbs which is more than double the number of last year. We started planting tulips in 2016 with pre-treated and pre-programmed tulip bulbs which enable the flower to grow in Delhi's weather. Moreover, to ensure they are not infested, we keep them in quarantine for three to four days," he told PTI.

NDMC started importing pre-treated and pre-programmed tulip bulbs in 2016 from Holland.

"... In our country, tulips were earlier confined to Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir), hence people have to visit Srinagar or take a foreign trip to Keukenhof, Amsterdam, Holland. But for the general public, all these are distant locations to witness their favourite flower bloom...," an NDMC official told PTI.

"In Delhi, the flowers were introduced at Rashtrapati Bhavan a decade ago, thereafter, it was decided to take the beauty of tulips in public spaces so that more visitors, residents and the general public can witness their beauty," the official said.

He said this year, the quantity of tulip bulbs has drastically gone up -- almost doubled -- from the previous year, that is, from 55,000 to 1,20,000, and were distributed mostly to the Tulip Festival venue at Shanti Path and other locations where the public can enjoy their beauty while passing or crossing the roundabouts, roads, among others.

The NDMC will also organise photography competitions during the near fortnight-long festival.

Upadhaya urged the youth to visit Shanti Path and take part in the festival.
The UPSC told the Delhi High Court on Tuesday it has not received any fresh proposal from the city government for filling up posts of prosecutors in courts here and a statement made by the state about it was incorrect and inappropriate.

The UPSC's statement was made in an affidavit in response to the Delhi government's submission before the court on January 17 that a fresh requisition has been sent to the Union Public Service Commission for filling up 108 vacant posts of public prosecutors.

The high court is hearing a batch of petitions, including a suo motu case (a matter initiated on its own), concerning issues related to recruitment, appointment and working of public prosecutors in the city.

A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad asked the Delhi government authorities to expedite the process of filling the vacant posts of prosecutors and listed the matter for further hearing on March 15.

The bench also asked the Delhi government to file a fresh status report before the next date of hearing.

The UPSC, in its affidavit, said the statement made by the counsel for the Delhi government, as mentioned in the January 11 order, is incorrect and inappropriate in as much as no fresh proposal has been received from the Government of NCT of Delhi for filling up either the post of Public Prosecutors or Assistant Public Prosecutors in GNCT of Delhi.

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It said the UPSC has always tried to complete the process of recruitment in all cases, more particularly in the case of public prosecutors and assistant public prosecutors, as expeditiously as possible, and the current process is likely to culminate in a final result very soon in March 2023 itself.

The UPSC said only one proposal for recruitment against 80 vacant posts of APP in the Delhi government was received by the commission on October 7, 2020.

A total of 3,155 candidates applied for the said post and 2,122 candidates appeared in the recruitment test held on September 19, 2021. After conduct of recruitment test and scrutiny of the documents submitted by the candidates the commission has called 261 candidates for the interview for the post which are scheduled to be held from February 6, 2023 till March 1, this year. As such the recruitment is at an advanced stage, the UPSC said in the affidavit.

During the hearing, one of the counsel for petitioners claimed there are so many vacancies for the post of prosecutors despite continuous orders of the court.

The Delhi government's counsel said recruitment is an ongoing process and steps are being taken to fill the vacancies.

Rejecting his contention, Justice Prasad said it was not an ongoing process and, if it were an ongoing process, there would never have been so many vacant positions.

The Delhi government's counsel said, historically, there has been lethargy in filling the vacancies but now steps are being taken to fill them.

I am not saying things are good. Much needs to be done but steps are being taken in consultation with UPSC to fill the vacancies, he said.

In January this year, the high court had granted a final opportunity of four weeks to the AAP government to expedite the process of filling the vacant posts of public prosecutors and observed the huge backlog of cases in the criminal justice system can be remedied only if these vacancies are filled up at the earliest.

The amicus curiae appointed by the court to assist it had said that as many as 108 courts in Delhi are non-functional for want of public prosecutors.

The counsel for Delhi Prosecutors Welfare Association said the situation is such that one public prosecutor is handling almost three to four courts, bringing the entire criminal justice system to a standstill.

In July last year, the court had asked the Delhi government to file a status report in respect of the vacancies and the steps taken to fill them up.
Noting that the government has successfully banned Popular Front of India (PFI) from rising above vote-bank politics, Home Minister Amit Shah has said that the organisation promoted "radicalism and religious bigotry" and tried to prepare "raw material for terrorism" and any delay in action would not have been in the national interest.

Shah also targeted Congress and said the party "tried to close cases" against PFI members which were stopped by the court.

In his visit to poll-bound Karnataka, Shah attacked Congress over the PFI issue. Following this, the Union Home Minister faced criticism from Congress that he attempted to equate Congress with PFI.

"We have banned PFI successfully...PFI promoted radicalism and religious bigotry. They were in a way trying to prepare raw materials for terrorism. So many documents have been found which show that their activities were not good for the country's unity and integrity," Amit Shah said in an exclusive interview with ANI.

Asked about allegations that there was no difference between PFI and Congress, Shah said he had not said that Congress and PFI were one.

"I said that there were various kinds of cases against the PFI cadre. The Congress government tried to close the cases but the court stopped it. What is there to be upset about? You should not have done it and if you do, you will have to listen...We decided to ban it, rising above the vote bank politics," he stressed.

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Answering a query, the Home Minister said there was a time when PFI was a problem of South Karnataka and Kerala.

"When we decided to ban it, PFI had started stretching its activities to the other parts of the country and had spread itself to a certain extent. The agencies received information that it would not be good to delay the ban or give the benefit of the doubt. So we decided on it and put a strict ban on PFI. There has been no reaction in society from either side," Shah said.

The government had in September last year banned PFI and its associates for five years under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for "terror links".

During his visit to Karnataka last week, Amit Shah targeted the Congress and accused it of releasing PFI members.

"Congress had released 1700 members of the PFI, while the BJP government under PM Modi's leadership banned and shut it permanently. Congress party strengthens anti-national elements, and it can never protect Karnataka," Shah had said during his visit to the coastal region of poll-bound Karnataka.

Along with PFI, the government had also banned its fronts, including Rehab India Foundation (RIF). Campus Front of India (CFI), All India Imams Council (AIIC), National Confederation of Human Rights Organization (NCHRO), National Women's Front, Junior Front, Empower India Foundation and Rehab Foundation, Kerala.

The notification said that the ban has been imposed against PFI and its associates or affiliates or fronts for "indulging in unlawful activities, which are prejudicial to the integrity, sovereignty and security of the country and have the potential of disturbing public peace and communal harmony of the country.
It is estimated that more than Rs 1,000 crore will be spent by various Delhi government agencies on the preparations for the G20 summit and related events to be held in the city in the coming months, officials said on Monday.

Apart from upgrading the civic infrastructure, the beautification work and such other preparations by various departments of the city government and the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) will cost Rs 1,084 crore, they added.

Delhi will host the main summit meeting of the G20 (Group of 20) countries and seven other related events, starting March.

Earlier this month, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had written a letter to the Centre, seeking a grant of Rs 927 crore to take up special development projects for the G20 summit.

According to the officials, 26 Delhi government departments and central agencies are working on the preparations for the summit.

The public works department (PWD), the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the NDMC will mainly be associated with civic infrastructure improvement and beautification work. It is estimated that the PWD, the MCD and the NDMC will spend Rs 448 crore, Rs 249 crore and Rs 78 crore respectively on it, a senior government officer said.

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Repairing roads and pavements, beautification of medians, pavements and traffic islands on major road stretches, illumination work, horticulture, installation of LED lights, electric buses for the visitors and foreign delegates have been planned for the summit.

The tourism department of the city government has planned various events and programmes and estimated a budget of Rs 72 crore for the same, the officials said.
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The UK is "closely monitoring" the situation following the Income Tax surveys at the BBC offices in India, British government sources here said on Tuesday.

The Income Tax department conducted survey operations at the BBC's offices in Delhi and Mumbai on Tuesday with the officials describing the action as part of an investigation into alleged tax evasion.

Reacting to the Indian IT department's action, the UK-based British public broadcaster said that it was "fully cooperating" with the authorities and hoped that the situation will be resolved "as soon as possible".

While there has been no official statement from the UK government related to the action, British sources said they are closely monitoring" reports of tax surveys conducted at the offices of the BBC in India.

In New Delhi, officials said the survey was being carried out to investigate issues related to international taxation and transfer pricing of BBC subsidiary companies, and alleged that the BBC had been served with notices in the past but was "defiant and non-compliant" and had significantly diverted its profits.

The IT action against the BBC comes weeks after the broadcaster aired a controversial two-part documentary -"India: The Modi Question"- on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and 2002 Gujarat riots.

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The Income Tax Authorities are currently at the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai and we are fully cooperating, a BBC spokesperson said in a statement.

We hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible," the spokesperson said.

The BBC did not give further details of what has been described as surveys by the Income Tax (IT) department, which reportedly involved local BBC staff being prevented from leaving or entering the office premises and their mobile phones and other gadgets being seized.

Meanwhile, there was shock in the UK as news of the action unfolded early on Tuesday morning and a broad consensus has been that the action was linked to the controversial BBC documentary aired in the UK last month.

Everyone's shocked and no one is fooled that today's tax survey, as it's being called, is a retaliation to the recent BBC documentary The Modi Question', said Dr Mukulika Banerjee, a leading author and academic at the London School of Economics (LSE).

The BBC is an independent public broadcaster so if it puts out a documentary, it is not acting at the behest of the British government. In fact, BBC journalists routinely grill the British PM and all elected officials holding them accountable for their actions. The word independent' means just that, she said.

Finally, the Indian government has appointed India as the Mother of Democracy' during its year of the G20 Presidency and plastered posters across every inch of the country proclaiming that. It should know then that one of the basic principles of being a democracy is to recognise that press freedom is an essential central pillar of a functioning democracy. They really need to understand that this is what press freedom looks like. And stop its shameful harassment of the BBC in Delhi and Mumbai, she added.

The South Asia Solidarity Group, a human rights organisation based in the UK, dubbed it a blatantly vindictive move.

In the wake of the government's ban on sharing extracts or screening the documentary, this raid makes it clear that the Modi government will attack all those who criticise Narendra Modi, the BJP and those close to them, said Mukti Shah, spokesperson for the group.

Meanwhile, there were others such as the Global Hindu Federation which expressed support for the action.

As a 'coloniser collaborator' the BBC has been living rent free in our heads, and no doubt financial irregularities abound in their ongoing occupation of the India media space, said the federation's chair Satish Sharma.

The Indian government has branded the two-part series a propaganda piece, designed to push a particular discredited narrative.

The bias, lack of objectivity and continuing colonial mindset is blatantly visible, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said at the time it was aired in the UK last month.

The documentary also triggered coordinated Indian diaspora protests at BBC offices across different UK cities at the end of last month.

The UK government responded in the House of Commons to the protests by insisting the BBC as a media organisation was independent in its outlet and reiterating its commitment to enhance ties with India.

We recognise how this portrayal of the Indian government has played out in India. I made it clear that the BBC is independent in its output, that the UK regards India as an incredibly important international partner and that we will be investing heavily in that relationship in the coming decades, UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said earlier this month.

His remarks were later echoed by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's official spokesperson in Downing Street: The BBC is independent in its output and we would stress that we continue to regard India as an incredibly important international partner.

We will be investing heavily in our relationship with India over the coming decades and we're confident it will only go from strength to strength.
On Monday night, shots were fired on the campus of Michigan State University, according to officials, who issued a "secure-in-place" order for students and faculty.

MSU police said on Twitter that shots were fired near Berkey Hall on the East Lansing campus.

"Please secure-in-place immediately. Police are active on scene," the message stated. It was initially unclear whether anyone was wounded.

MSU Shooting

According to Freep.com, university police also sent an alert telling the school community to "Run, Hide, Fight."

MSU ALERT: There have been shots fired near Berkey Hall on the East Lansing campus. Please secure-in-place immediately. Police are active on scene. More information to follow. pic.twitter.com/xa4KlwXJWN  MSU Police and Public Safety (@msupolice) February 14, 2023

The warning stated, "Run means evacuate away from danger if you can do so safely, Hide means secure-in-place, and Fight means defend yourself if you have no other choice."

University police reported that shots had been fired near Berkey Hall and advised anyone in the area to take cover immediately, as per NBC News.

Approximately 45 minutes later, investigators reported they were hunting for a suspect on foot. University administrators tweeted at 9:25 p.m., "Community members on and off campus must continue to hide in place."

Not long later, authorities received reports of a second gunshot at IM East, resulting in several injuries.

It was initially unclear whether anyone was wounded. Campus police would say only that they were responding and investigating. Students on campus stated on social media that they hid or barricaded themselves as authorities dispersed.

At 8:40 p.m., police issued a shelter-in-place order, stating that shots were fired near Berkey Hall on the northern campus border. At 9:16 p.m., the suspect was still on foot, and another gunfire was reported at IM East, a campus gym.

Initially, police stated that the incident occurred at Berkey Hall, which houses the College of Social Science on the northern edge of campus. State troopers with guns were spotted urging students and teachers to remain inside. According to Fox News, Michigan State University has around 50,000 students located in East Lansing.

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Michigan State University Shooting Victims

According to early scanner recordings, police discovered numerous victims in two separate Berkey Hall classrooms. Some individuals attempted to "escape via a window," a dispatcher stated on the recording.

A police officer stated there might be four or five victims on the audio from the scanner.

In the initial scanner reports, which are accessible on Broadcastify, cops were instructed to report to Berkey Hall. "Firing in progress in Berkey Hall. Currently, there are several victims," the officer informed the operator.

On the scanner, an officer reported that numerous individuals had been shot, that the active shooter was in a corridor, and that people had been shot in the classroom.

According to the first scanner audio, one person had been shot in the head and was not breathing. On the police scanner, an officer announced, "Potential gunfire to the west."

A dispatcher reported that persons were shot in two rooms and that the door was barred. They attempted to acquire a description of the suspect. In the commotion of the early reports, initial scanner reports might occasionally conflict or even be incorrect.

Authorities have not yet determined how many people have been hurt or whether anyone has died. The suspect's identity and motivation remain unclear. In the police scanner recording, officers discussed witnesses and student safety, as per HEAVY.

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Rays film reveals an intriguing truth about monuments in India. Despite their near-ubiquitous presence in both urban and rural areas, monuments are not always the easiest structures to locate. Sometimes it is the stories that blur the maps; at other times they are simply missing. In a scene from Satyajit Rays mystery-adventure film Sonar Kella (The Fort of Gold), 1971, one of the antagonists says Rajasthan is a state where every nook and cranny hides a fort or monument, and it will be nearly impossible to know which one is the golden fort. The actors of Rays cult classic endure several gruelling adventures before they finally realise that they are looking for the Jaisalmer Fort.



In Telkupi, a village in West Bengals Purulia district, the construction of Panchet dam over the Damodar river submerged a set of six to eight 11th century stone temples. Only a few remain visible above the surface of water. Take the tomb of Razia Sultan in Delhi, for instance. The resting place of one of the most-storied women rulers of the Indian Subcontinent, is an unassuming cluster of weathered sandstones hidden in the packed bylanes of Old Delhi, surrounded by the walls of neighbouring houses, and no roof overhead. The responsibility of its upkeep is on the shoulders of a tiny adjoining mosque with few visitors.



Facing multi-pronged challenges, the fact that many of Indias 3,693 monuments have gone missing no longer appear to be a surprise. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) last week decided to form a special committee to trace and certify 24 such protected monuments. In Karnataka, about 18 km from the Thirthahalli taluk, the 9th century Kavaledurga Fort valiantly fights off surrounding jungles persistent overgrowth. Despite attempts and restoration and maintenance by several succeeding dynasties and kingdoms over the centuries, as well as central and state governments, the fort remains neglected and hidden beneath overgrown shrubs.

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Union Minister of Culture G Kishan Reddy told the Rajya Sabha last week that the ASI had traced back 68 of these monuments. The ASI special committee will now attempt to find the remaining 24 monuments from this list, which are yet to be traced. The Barakhamba Cemetery and Inchla Wali Gumti in Delhi; the Kutumbari Mandir of Almora; the remains of the copper temple in Lohit; and the European Tomb of Pune are only a few names on this list. The issue was first raised in 2013, in the audit report number 18 of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG). The CAG team visited 1,655 of the 3,693 sites during the ASI audit and found 92 heritage sites missing.

So how exactly do monuments go missing?

K P Rao, former director at the Andhra Pradesh Department of Archaeology and Museums, and an honorary professor at the Department of History at University of Hyderabad, says the monuments, which were listed by the ASI as protected even before Independence, often become untraceable, especially in urban areas, due to initial occupation by the locals, and later alteration/removal of the structure by them. Sometimes, he explains, locals arent aware that the structure is a protected monument, and often build around them.



Thus, of the 92 listed by the CAG report, ASI officials were able to trace back the locations and re-identify 42 monuments. However, 14 of these have been lost, while another 12 were submerged by reservoirs/dams. The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act (AMASR Act) regulates the work on preservation of monuments and archaeological sites of national importance. The Act mandates ASI officers to regularly assess the present conditions of listed monuments. The officials can file police complaints, issue showcause notices, and coordinate with local administration to notify and remove encroachments around monuments.



Another major cause is the absence of a centralised inventory with the ASI on the number of monuments with full details of the sites and structures notified as centrally protected over the years, historian Himanshu Prabha Ray tells Business Standard. The CAG investigation had also found cases of double notification, she says. For instance, Hauz-e-Shamsi in Delhis Mehrauli, has been notified as Shamsi Talaab. The latter is a missing monument. Rao says some monuments can be relocated or transplanted when there is an imminent danger. One of its best examples can be found at Nagarjunakonda valley, where stupas, chaityas, viharas and amphitheatres were transplanted to save them from getting submerged by the Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir.



The CAG inspection could cover only 1,655 monuments on the protected list at the time. Theres a possibility, therefore, that more monuments might be still missing or need to be traced. The list will be pruned after the final attempt to locate the 24 monuments. Manpower is a major challenge when it comes to preserving protected monuments. The parliamentary committee report noted that of the required 7,000 security personnel for 3,693 monuments, the government could provide 2,578 security personnel at 248 locations due to budgetary constraints.



THE CULTURE CAUSE However, deleting lost/untraceable monuments from the protected list isnt simple. It needs denotification of the monument under Section 35 of the AMASR Act, which is a long-drawn process. As Ray points out, the denotification process, too, needs to be carried with due diligence. Some monuments that have already been classified as lost, such as the statue of General Nicholson in Delhi  a British hero from the 1857 Battle  havent yet been de-notified by the ASI.

Monuments go missing for cultural reasons as well. Often, local haunted legends and inauspicious activities render old villages and townships like Kuldhara, Rajasthan, neglected and untouched by tourists as well as authorities. Cultural dissonance is another reason for monuments to be lost and forgotten. The Buddhist Stupa about 35 km from Islamabad, Pakistan, in the village of Mankiala, is a prime example.


The B-1B Lancer, a supersonic heavy bomber, is capable of carrying out missions worldwide from bases in the US and other locations. Regarded as the backbone of Americas long-range bomber force, it carries the largest conventional payload of both guided and unguided weapons in the USAF. Two bombers of the United States Air Force (USAF) on Tuesday arrived at Aero India 2023 in Bengaluru, journeying to India from their temporary duty location at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam.



The B-1B was in India for the first time on February 3, 2021, conducting a fly-by on the inaugural day of Aero India as it was escorted by the Tejas fighter of the Indian Air Force. The bombers return to India for Aero India 2023 underscores the importance the US places on the growing strategic partnership with India, said an official. The B-1 offers flexible options to senior leaders and combatant commanders, said Major General Julian C Cheater, assistant deputy undersecretary of the US Air Force, International Affairs. Greater integration with our Allies and partners throughout the region is a positive step towards greater interoperability.



The array of US aircraft participating in Aero India 2023 shows the strength of the US-India partnership. In addition to the B-1s, the line-up includes the US Air Forces newest fifth-generation fighters: the stealthy, supersonic, multirole F-35A Lightning II and F-35A Joint Strike Fighter. Throughout the week, an F-16 Fighting Falcon duo is conducting daily aerial demonstrations. The US Navys F/A-18E and F/A-18F Super Hornet multirole fighters are on static display at Yelahanka Air Force Base in Bengaluru. We are happy to have the B1 in India for the second time. These bombers made the journey from South Dakota to Guam and then to India just to add another exciting dimension to Aero India 23, said Rear Admiral Michael Baker, defence attache at the US Embassy in New Delhi. Its a long mission to travel from the continental US to the Indian Ocean; but it was worth it to be part of the biggest air show in the region hosted by our major defence partner, India. The US and India continue to deepen defence cooperation. We have two great militaries that are even better when we work together.
Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday said the Krishi Udan scheme has been a huge success and the central government is planning to include additional 21 airports under this.

"At least 31 airports are under the Krishi Udan. We are speaking with MoD (Ministry of Defence) to include another 21 airports under Krishi Udan," Scindia told reporters while briefing about the second day deliberations of the first G20 Agriculture Deputies Meeting held here.

He said Krishi Udan, a special flight meant for quick transportation of agricultural produce, has been a huge success.

Citing examples, he said lemon, jackfruit and grapes grown in the North East are transported not only to other parts of the country but also to other nations like Germany, London, Singapore and the Philippines.

On day two of the first meeting of the G20 Agriculture Deputies, delegates will continue deliberations on four key priority areas: food security and nutrition; sustainable agriculture with a climate smart approach; inclusive agriculture value-chain and food supply system; and digitisation of agriculture transformation.

On the last day of the event on February 15, the delegates will deliberate on the key deliverables of the Agriculture Working Group.


While Russia remained the top source of crude oil with a share of 21.2 per cent in December, India reduced its dependence on Iraq (16.9 per cent), UAE (6 per cent) and Kuwait (4.2 per cent) to accommodate more crude imports from the US. In December, crude oil imports from the US shot up 93 per cent to 3.9 million MT. India has substantially increased its crude oil imports from the US, with the countrys share in Indias crude basket hitting a record 14.3 per cent in December, commerce ministry data showed.



In FY18, the share of crude imports from the US was just 0.7 per cent of total imports of the commodity for India. It gained pace quickly touching 4.8 per cent in FY20 and 9 per cent by FY21. Till FY17, India didnt import any crude oil from the US. During the Trump presidency, India started buying crude from the US to address Washington's complaint about the trade surplus New Delhi enjoys. President Trump, who pursued an America First" approach, had been vocal about the perceived high tariff walls that India put and often called out the country terming it tariff king". India continued the high level of crude oil imports from the US even under the Biden administration.



In August last year, Business Standard reported that India has slashed crude oil imports from the US (5.4 per cent share) in the June quarter of FY23 to 3.4 million MT from from 4.4 million MT during the same period a year ago. While the share of crude imports from the US touched double digits for two consecutive months after Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year, it quickly started dissipating, touching a low of 2.6 per cent in May, as India ramped up crude oil imports from the sanctions-hit Russia that offered it at a steep discount.

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India has been under severe pressure from the Western countries to not buy crude oil from Russia and join the price cap advocated by the G7 countries. However, India has repeatedly defended its right to import cheaper crude oil citing public interest. From June onwards, crude oil imports from the US started picking up, touching double digits in December.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has said that the state will contribute a "lion's share" to India's ambition to become a 5 trillion dollar economy by 2027.

For achieving this goal, it was imperative for Maharashtra to become a USD 1-trillion economy with a holistic growth focussed on agriculture, industries and infrastructure development, he said.

"Maharashtra is the country's growth engine... Our effort is to increase its capacity, output and productivity, we have potential in all sectors. We shall work to upgrade the living standards of our farmers," said Shinde.

He was speaking late on Monday after the first meeting of the Maharashtra State Economy Advisory Council (EAC), which was set up in December 2022, billed as a revolutionary step for inclusive growth with the common man at the centre.

The EAC Chair and Tata Sons Chairman N. Chandrasekaran said that India is well-poised to achieve the highest growth among large nations globally for many years to come.

Maharashtra, being one of the largest economies in the country, with a GDP of over USD 4.50 billion, can accelerate growth and immensely contribute to India's goal of achieving a five-trillion dollar economy, he added.

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For this, the EAC will focus on increasing the per capita income by tackling key sectors like agriculture, technology like AI, machine learning, new market trends, supply chains, green energy, improving quality of life, and the EAC members coming from diverse backgrounds would help formulate a blueprint for the state's economic growth, said Chandrasekaran.

Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis said the EAC gave a presentation of the state's current status, vision for the state's development, what needs to be done and has "set a timeline for achieving aggressive growth in Maharashtra".

"The EAC has discussed the agriculture sector, skill development, financial inclusion, eliminating regional imbalances and people with various backgrounds in the EAC expressed their views," said Fadnavis.

Formed on the lines of the planning commission, the EAC will advise the state on financial and policy matters, formulate growth strategies and submit a five-year-plan to the government, besides an interim report in the next three months.

The EAC comprises the cream of top corporate honchos like Chandrasekaran, Amit Chandra, Dilip Sanghavi, Sanjiv Mehta, Anish Shah, Ajit Ranade, Zia Mody, Vikram Limaye, S.N. Suramanian, Shrikant Badve, IAS officers Harshdeep Kamble, O.P. Gupta, and Rajgopal Devara.

However, two members -- Reliance Industries Ltd. Executive Director Anant Ambani and Adani Ports CEO Karan G. Adani -- remained absent in the first meeting of the EAC.

--IANS

qn/dpb
A joint partnership committee (JPC) will ensure rollout of memorandums of understanding (MoUs) that the Uttar Pradesh government has signed with the Government of Singapore at the recently concluded investors' summit here.

The Uttar Pradesh government inked 20 MoUs with the Government of Singapore for investment of over Rs 29,000 crore in various sectors.

According to the state government spokesman, a JPC will be formed to plan, monitor, implement and review the cooperative activities of the MoUs.

The committee will be co-chaired by senior officials from Singapore and Uttar Pradesh. It will comprise officials who have relevant expertise and responsibilities.

The JPC may mutually decide on involving other agencies that are not JPC members in areas of cooperation.

It will also regularly report its progress to the permanent secretary (development), ministry of trade and industry, Singapore and the chief secretary of the Uttar Pradesh government.

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Singapore, a partner country in the UPGIS-23, has invested in several sectors, including education, smart city, safe city, waste management and data centre.

Among several projects is a pilot project to be implemented in Kudha Keshavpur, Ayodhya.

It will demonstrate the efficacy of smart water technologies to cut cost of water supply, boost potable water supply and enhance the sustainability of water and asset management.

--IANS

amita/dpb
/ -- S Chand and Company Limited, one of India's leading education content companies and market leaders in the K-12 segment, has announced robust financial numbers for the quarter Q3FY23 and 9 Months FY23.

HIGHLIGHTS OF CONSOLIDATED BUSINESS



Consolidated business represents the performance of S Chand and its subsidiaries (S Chand Group)



The Company is in a seasonal industry where the 4th quarter contributes over 80% of the annual revenues coinciding with the start of the academic year.

9MFY23 has been the best ever 9M performance in the company's history. S Chand saw the following highlights during the quarter-:



On a CY22 basis, the company reported a PAT of Rs. 812m (EPS: Rs. 23/share).

The company is witnessing strong and resurgent demand in the current sales season of January 2023 - March 2023.

Reports Highest ever 9M Sales in company's history.

Reports Lowest ever 9M EBITDA Losses. 9M EBITDA losses reduced by 38% YoY.

Also Read S Chand and Company Limited continues robust growth, EBITDA up by 158% S Chand to sell its entire stake in iNeuron to PhysicsWallah for Rs 14 cr Service sector may be included in the Wholesale Price Index soon: Report Khelo India Women's Hockey League 22 for Under-16 to begin from tomorrow Recent years have been great for sports: PM Modi on National Sports Day FT global MBA 2023 ranking: ISB retains Indian B-school top spot Over 690 universities, 34,000 colleges operating without accreditation: MoE Pvt coaching classes growing due to defective exam system: Education expert Govt working to level number of medical UG and PG seats in 4 yrs: Mandaviya Earth lost one-fifth of its wetlands since 1700, most could still be saved

Reports Lowest ever 9M PAT Losses. Reduction in 9M PAT losses by 62% YoY.

Reports Lowest Receivable days in 9M in the past 5 years.

Reports One of the Lowest Net Working Capital days in 9M in the past 5 years.

Particulars



(in Rs. million)



Q3FY23



Q3FY22



YoY



9MFY23



9MFY22



YoY



Revenue from Operations



652



513



27 %



2198



1390



58 %



EBITDA



(329)



(340)



(3 %)



(504)



(809)



(38 %)



EBITDA Margin (%)



(50 %)



(66 %)



(23 %)



(58 %)



PAT



(305)



(447)



(32 %)



(441)



(1173)



(62 %)



Other Key Updates



1. The company made its 2nd profitable exit this year by selling its minority stake in iNeuron for approx. Rs. 14 crore during the quarter. This translates into a ~2.1x return on the original investment of approx. Rs. 7 crores in December 2021. The Company had earlier exited from its minority stake in Testbook with an ~ 8x return on its original investment in July 2022.

2. The government announced the NCF for the Foundation Stage i.e. Classes K-2 in October, 2022. S Chand have developed books based on the new NCF for Classes K-2. They would be sold during the ongoing sales season of January - March 2023. The company expects more announcements for the new curriculum for the remaining classes to come in the near future. The timing of these announcements would have a positive impact on our FY24/25 financials accordingly.

Mr. Saurabh Mittal, CFO, of S Chand and Company Limited, commenting on the successful result, said, "We are pleased to announce strong revenue growth figures and massive reduction in losses over during the April-December period over previous years. Our Group stands as a leader, with multiple established brands like S Chand, Madhubun, Vikas, Chhaya, and Saraswati. We not only excel in the CBSE/ICSE boards but also are a leader in the West Bengal State Board segment. We pride ourselves on our long-standing relationships with prominent authorsrelationships that run into decades. During the quarter, we saw the launch of National Curriculum Framework or NCF covering classes from Pre-Primary to Class 2 in October, 2022. We see strong growth potential for at least two to three years on back of the new curriculum which would be created on back of these announcements."



He added, "We are pleased with the improvement of working capital metrics over the past year which has helped reduce debt substantially. We look forward to a strong end to FY23 on back of the strong traction that we are seeing during the ongoing sales season from January 2023 to March 2023."



About S Chand and Company Limited



S Chand is one of India's leading education content companies which aims to bring people and knowledge together. The company delivers content across the length and breadth of the country with established brands like S Chand, Madhubun, Vikas, Chhaya, Saraswati and Mylestone under its umbrella and a distribution reach of more than 3,500 channel partners across India. With a footprint in more than 40,000 schools, colleges, universities, and institutes throughout India, it has consolidated the country's fragmented education content market.

It provides content, solutions, and services across the educational lifecycle through its presence in three business segments- Early Learning, K-12 and Higher Education and has also expanded its product portfolio through digital learning acquisitions. The Group is one of the market leaders in K-12 segment and has a strong foothold in the CBSE/ICSE and WBSE affiliated schools, with an increasing presence in the other state board affiliated schools across India.


According to estimates by rating agency CARE Ratings, the write-offs by PSBs in April-December 2022, at Rs 81,000 crore, were lower than the Rs 90,000 crore in April-December 2021. Public-sector banks (PSBs) in Q3FY23 wrote off bad loans worth Rs 29,000 crore, up from Rs 23,000 crore in the same quarter a year ago, as part of a clean-up exercise.



A key point is that fresh slippages are happening at a much lower pace over the last two-three years and banks have been reducing bad loans on books through steps like write-offs. This trend is expected to continue. Sanjay Agarwal, senior director, CARE Ratings, said a lot of it was driven by regulations, and assets that had 100 per cent provision coverage were written off. There is recovery happening over the years.



In the case of PSBs like Punjab National Bank and Bank of India, GNPAs are still elevated. Gross non-performing assets (GNPAs) are around 5 per cent for the banking sector as a whole. That should come down to 2-2.5 per cent, which was the level 10-12 years ago. So some work still remains to be taken up.

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The asset-quality profile, which has been improving for several quarters, maintained the trend in Q3FY23 as well. The gross NPAs of 12 PSBs declined 18 per cent YoY to Rs 4.58 trillion at the end of December 2022. Sequentially, they declined from Rs 4.87 trillion at the end of September 2022. Bank of India, Mumbai-based public-sector lender, wrote off Rs 2,522 crore in the third quarter, as against Rs 1,883 crore in the second quarter. However, the write-offs were much lower than the Rs 4,900 crore in Q3FY22.

Net NPAs declined by 32 per cent to Rs 1.15 trillion at the end of December 2022 and sequentially they dropped from Rs 1.28 trillion at the end of September 2022.






Officials from China, India, Saudi Arabia and Group of Seven nations will participate in a first virtual meeting of a new sovereign debt roundtable on Friday, the International Monetary Fund said on Monday, confirming an earlier Reuters report.

The roundtable will also include officials from countries that have requested debt treatments under the Group of 20 common framework - Ethiopia, Zambia and Ghana - as well as middle-income countries such as Sri Lanka, Suriname and Ecuador, which have faced their own debt crises, three sources had earlier said.

The meeting will be co-chaired by the IMF, the World Bank and India, the current leader of the Group of 20, and comes a week before G20 finance officials are due to gather in Bengaluru, India, from Feb. 23-25. An in-person meeting of the roundtable expected on Feb. 25 and a formal launch is planned at the IMF-World Bank spring meetings in April.

Brazil, which will lead the G20 next year, is also taking part, one of the sources said.

An IMF spokesperson confirmed the first roundtable meeting would take place on Friday, and said more details would be released in the near future.

"The objective is to bring together key stakeholders involved in sovereign debt restructuring, from traditional creditors from advanced economies, to new creditors like China, Saudi Arabia, India, as well as the private sector and debt countries to address the current shortcomings," they said.

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The roundtable will include the Paris Club of official creditors and private sector participants - the Institute of International Finance (IIF), the International Capital Markets Association and two private-sector financial institutions that have asked not to be identified, one of the sources said.

Creation of the body comes amid growing frustration about the slow pace of discussions on debt relief for Zambia, which first requested help two years ago. Organizers say the roundtable could help resolve issues in principle and will not focus on Zambia or other individual cases.

Officials hope to resolve China's concerns about cutoff dates to protect new financing from debt restructuring by the end of the year, one of the sources said.

G7, International Monetary Fund and World Bank officials have long pushed for faster and broader efforts to deliver debt relief to heavily indebted nations to avoid cuts in social services that they fear could tip off social unrest.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and other G7 officials see China, now the world's largest sovereign creditor, as the main stumbling block for quicker work on debt treatments. They are also pushing for agreement by G20 members on expanding the common framework to include middle-income countries.

Eric LeCompte, executive director of the Jubilee USA Network, a coalition of religious, development and advocacy groups, said support for the matter was growing among other countries. But China's opposition - and that of Russia - remained significant a "stumbling block," he said.

"The majority of countries support expanding these policies to middle-income countries, but China is the biggest challenge," LeCompte said, adding that Europe had gone through a similar period of reluctance on debt relief in the 1990s, but eventually came around.

Also on the agenda will be China's repeated calls for World Bank and other multilateral development banks to participate in debt reductions - a proposal firmly rejected by U.S. officials, who argue that those lenders already offer highly concessional loans and grants to countries in crisis.
After alleging that the United States was involved in the 'conspiracy' of ousting Imran Khan from the Prime Minister post, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chief gave a clean chit to America and, instead, blamed former army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa for removing him, the Dawn reported.

Khan, who was ousted from his post in April last year, took swipes at Bajwa saying that the former army chief had told the US that PTI Chief is an anti-American.

He made these remarks during an interview with US-based international radio broadcaster, Voice of America, aired on Saturday, and a separate televised address on Sunday, according to Dawn.

"Whatever happened, now as things unfold, it wasn't the US who told Pakistan [to oust me]. It was unfortunately, from what evidence has come up, [former army chief] Gen [Qamar Javed] Bajwa who somehow managed to tell the Americans that I was anti-American. And so, it [the plan to oust me] wasn't imported from there. It was exported from here to there," Khan told VoA.

Interestingly, Khan, who continuously blamed the US for removing him from the PM post, had taken a U-turn from his statements.

Meanwhile, in his televised address, Imran Khan termed Gen Bajwa, who retired in November last year, 'super king', admitting that his three-and-a-half-year stint in the Prime Minister's Office was more like of a puppet.

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"Gen Bajwa had become an expert in everything, including economy, politics, and foreign policy," Khan alleged.

"Gen Bajwa used to get the credit for good decisions and Imran Khan used to serve as a punching bag for every wrong decision," Khan claimed, alleging that the former army chief was responsible for the "political and economic ills" faced by the country today.

He also slammed General Bajwa for hampering the process of accountability and claimed that the former army chief had already decided that there won't be any questions from PM Shehbaz Sharif.

"No accountability was held thereafter," he said, claiming that the former army chief had also acknowledged this in an interview with a columnist, reported Dawn.

"If Bajwa could be criticized or held accountable for his actions, he would not have been able to damage the country to such an extent," he added.

In his televised address, the former PM stressed his demand for the elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa following the dissolution of provincial Assemblies. He believed that only fresh elections could drive Pakistan out of the current economic and political mess.

According to the PTI chief, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the incumbent caretaker government were duty-bound to hold general elections in Punjab and KP within 90 days of the dissolution of the assemblies. "On the 91st day, the caretaker governments will cease to have constitutional cover," he said, asking the bureaucrats and police officers to disobey the 'unconstitutional caretaker government' after the end of its three-month timeframe.

Khan alleged that the Sharifs and Zardaris were afraid of elections as they first wanted to create a "level-playing field" by disqualifying him from contesting elections and then putting him in jail along with his party leadership, as per the report in Dawn.

"The ruling coalition in the federal government is afraid of one person and one party, which is Imran Khan and PTI, and wants to block us to get their NRO given to them by Gen Bajwa," he alleged.

The former premier also went after the ECP and said the electoral watchdog was taking decisions on the "instructions of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif".
Mississippi health officials warned Americans after recording a 900% increase in congenital syphilis cases among infants.

The state recorded 106 cases in 2021, more than nine times the number of cases discovered in 2018 when only 11 cases were reported to officials. The statistics were based on an analysis of hospital discharge data from Dr. Thomas Dobbs, an infectious disease physician, and state epidemiologists Dr. Paul Byers and Manuela Staneva.

Congenital Syphilis Infections

Dobbs, who works at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and is a former state health officer, posted the data he found on Twitter. This caused his analysis to gain attention, but the Mississippi State Department of Health still needs to publish the initial findings.

The medical expert's findings raise concerns regarding the lack of access to prenatal care and persistent disparities, said experts. They added that the results underscore the need for improved screening protocol as Mississippi is one of six states that does not mandate syphilis screening for pregnant patients, as per USA Today.

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed data that showed syphilis cases tripling across the country in recent years. The South, a region plagued by structural racism and numerous disparities, accounted for more than half, 52%, of the 1,300 cases in the US in 2018.

The West accounted for more than a third of the total, while 21% were cases found among Hispanic women. Furthermore, roughly 40% of these cases were among Black women who already experienced disproportionate maternal and infant death rates.

A pediatric infectious disease physician at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, Dr. Charlotte, Hobbs, said that mothers could not access prenatal care. This is due to either difficulty in the system or the things they face individually.

Read Also: Vaping Increases COVID-19 Risk Among Teens

Cases Among Newborn Babies

The CDC noted that congenital syphilis affects an infant during pregnancy when the mother passes down the sexually transmitted disease to her baby. While the Mississippi State Department of Health does not track the number of deaths due to CS, at least one baby lost its life because of the infection in 2021, according to the Independent.

Data also revealed racial disparities in Mississippi were still prevalent, with Black newborns accounting for 70% of the state's CS cases in 2020. Dobbs noted that she and other healthcare providers were horrified about what the babies were going through.

Experts noted that babies born with congenital syphilis could experience several symptoms, including deformed bones, skin rashes, and severe anemia. Infants could also develop brain and nerve issues, causing them to be unable to hear or see or have an enlarged liver and spleen.

Fortunately, Nin Ragunathan, an OB-GYN in Mississippi, said that the disease is completely curable but takes quite a bit of money. Byers also proposed a possible way to curb the number of infections and deaths caused by congenital syphilis, which is the implementation of mandatory screenings similar to other state health departments, said Deseret.

Related Article: Blacks, Hispanics More Prone to Staph Infection

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In Indonesia's region of East Kalimantan, the country's dependence on coal is on full display.

Driving on the region's toll road, passersby can watch excavators digging coal from shallow pits as trucks filled with the carbon-rich rocks rush by. Under a bridge in Samarinda, the region's capital, hundreds of mammoth, jet-black mountains of coal sit in barges being pulled along the waterway, headed to plants across Indonesia or other countries.

They're sights that Indonesia has pledged to phase out or at least drastically reduce by agreeing to some five schemes with international stakeholders, including the largest-signed USD 20 billion Just Energy Transition Partnership deal. While the deals aim to turn one of the largest coal-producing countries toward its vast greener energy sources, experts warn that financial, policy, infrastructure and other challenges need to be overcome.

Indonesia's energy transition is "very unique" because of high economic growth, geography, population centres and clean energy potential, said David Elzinga, a principal energy specialist at the Asian Development Bank.

Despite Indonesia's energy potential from solar, hydropower, geothermal, wind and other sources, only some 12 per cent of them are tapped, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency. Nearly all energy demand is met by fossil fuels, with 60 per cent coming from highly-polluting coal.

That means people like boat maker Jembong, 55, who like many Indonesians uses only one name, can rely on solar for a lightbulb or to watch television. But for the energy-intensive power tools he uses to handcraft boats from his home on Karampuang Island, he needs diesel.

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"If I can't use the diesel engine, I can't work," he said.

It's impacted the environment: In 2021, Indonesia's energy sector emissions were around 600 million tons of carbon dioxide, the world's ninth highest, according to the International Energy Agency. And population and economic growth are expected to triple the country's energy consumption by 2050.

"It's a challenging environment to make change while you have such substantial growth," said Elzinga. "It is different than a developed country which is characterised by having significant financial resources and low economic growth." Many more-developed economies have stronger renewable ambitions, though researchers say no country is currently in line with global climate goals.

Indonesian officials have signalled they've started the shift: They've announced new regulations around solar, set a goal to raise the market share of electric vehicles in Indonesia to 25 per cent of total vehicle sales by 2030 and have deployed charging stations. But experts warn Indonesia is lagging behind its Southeast Asian peers.

Indonesia has voiced it needs help from more-developed nations.

"We don't want to be limited in terms of our ability to grow economically," said Deputy Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Rachmat Kaimuddin. "Industrialised nations can support us."



With the new JETP deal, Indonesia will aim to reach net zero emissions from the power sector by 2050, bringing forward its target by a decade, and reach a peak in those emissions by 2030. It's increasing its target for renewable energy to make up over a third of all power generation by 2030, which would mean doubling the pace of current deployment.

But financing remains an obstacle, said Elrika Hamdi, an Indonesia-based energy finance analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. By one estimate, Indonesia will need up to USD 2.4 trillion in cumulative investment across the energy system by 2050 a number far larger than the money currently pledged.

"We still have a long way to go to find out ... how we could gather up the financing to do this," said Hamdi.

How the money is provided be it loans, grants or other funding schemes is also a concern, said Grita Anindarini, a program director at the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law.

"We just want to make sure that these funds won't lead to a debt trap," said Anindarini.

Hamdi raised concerns over how money from transition schemes could be spent. In a recent report, she critiqued "a lack of disclosure on the selection criteria" for plants selected for early retirement buyouts by Indonesia's state-owned electric company, PLN, including some plants that will be "beyond their economic useful life by 2055." JETP funding could be used to support the buyouts.

"PLN should retire them within the next couple of years and write them off," Hamdi wrote in the report.

Another concern raised by activists is that the JETP deal doesn't make clear what, if any, restrictions it will put in place regarding Indonesia building new coal plants, or whether Indonesia would be required to decrease coal exports. A 2022 presidential regulation provides an exemption to build previously planned coal plants or those attached to nationally strategic projects.

Coal is a valuable part of Indonesia's economy, with the country being the largest exporter by tonnage in the world. Customers include China, India and Japan. The war in Ukraine has caused a spike in energy costs, with the increased price likely to remain for the next two or three years, said Hamdi.

"You can understand the rationale for them wanting to develop their industries and their natural resources," said Elzinga.
Tens of thousands of Israelis on Monday protested outside the parliament building in a show of force against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as his government formally launched its contentious plan to overhaul the country's legal system.

The boisterous demonstration outside the Knesset, coupled with a stormy committee vote inside the building, appeared to deepen the divisions over Netanyahu's program.

The plan has triggered weeks of mass protests, prompted condemnations from wide swaths of Israeli society and drawn a statement of concern from President Joe Biden.

Netanyahu and his allies say the country's unelected judges have too much power and need to be reined in. His opponents say that Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption charges, has a deep conflict of interest. They say his planned overhaul will destroy the country's democratic checks and balances and is a poorly disguised plot to make his criminal case go away.

Monday's demonstration was the largest to take place in the city in years. Thousands of people poured into Jerusalem from around the country on jam-packed trains, hoisting flags and chanting "democracy" as they exited the station.

"They hear us," opposition leader Yair Lapid told the crowd as he pointed at the parliament. "They hear our strength and our commitment. They pretend they don't hear. They pretend they're not afraid. But they hear and they are afraid."



Organisers claimed that more than 100,000 people joined Monday's rally. They included Arab, women's rights and LGBTQ activists as well as opposition parties.

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The crowd was noisy, blowing horns, chanting "democracy," singing and whistling. But the event passed without incident and police said there were no arrests.

Many protesters carried the blue and white Israeli flag and posters decrying what they said was an attack on the country's democratic institutions. "Shame! Shame!" and "Israel will not be a dictatorship," they chanted.

"The people won't have it," said Boaz Zarki, a demonstrator in Jerusalem. "The separation of authority is critical to the existence of democracy."



Other large demonstrations were held in cities around the country.

Despite a call by Israel's figurehead president to freeze the legislation and begin a dialogue with the opposition, Netanyahu pressed ahead with his program.

As protesters were gathered outside, a parliamentary committee controlled by a Netanyahu ally passed the first pieces of legislation connected to the plan.

They include a proposal to give the Netanyahu-dominated legislature control over judicial appointments. Currently, judges are appointed by an independent committee that includes lawyers, politicians and judges.

A second proposal would take away the Supreme Court's authority to review the legality over major pieces of legislation known as "Basic Laws."



Still in the works is another proposal to give parliament the power to overturn Supreme Court decisions it does not like. Opponents say the proposal would push Israel toward a system like Hungary and Poland in which the leader wields control over all major levers of power.

During the unruly committee vote, opposition members stood on the conference table, pounded the desks and shouted "shame!" The committee chairman, Simcha Rothman, a member of a far-right religious party, ejected several opposition politicians, at least two of whom were dragged away by security guards.

Monday's vote sends the first pieces of legislation to the full parliament which would have to pass them again in three separate votes.

The first such vote is expected to take place next Monday. Netanyahu controls a solid majority in parliament, and there appears to be little to prevent him from pushing ahead. Nonetheless, Monday's developments set the tone for what could lie ahead.

Netanyahu accused the opposition of "intentionally dragging the country to anarchy," but also appeared to hold out the possibility of dialogue with his opponents.

Late Monday, Netanyahu's justice minister, Yariv Levin, and Rothman, the committee chairman, issued a joint statement inviting opposition leaders for a meeting hosted by the president.

But opposition leaders dismissed the offer, saying the legislation must first be frozen before dialogue can begin. "Anything else is surrender. Anything else destroys the protests," said Merav Michaeli, leader of the opposition Labor Party.

Netanyahu and his allies took office in December after the country's fifth election in less than four years. That election, like its predecessors, focused on Netanyahu's fitness for office at a time when he is facing serious criminal charges.

Netanyahu has lashed out at the country's police, prosecutors and judges, saying he is the victim of a deep-state-style conspiracy to oust him. His critics say he is motivated by a personal grudge and the plan will put Israel on a path similar to authoritarian countries like Hungary and Poland.

Eliad Shraga, chairman of the Movement for Quality Government, a civil-society group that organised Monday's demonstration, said the gathering was meant to send a message of support to the Supreme Court and a warning to the Knesset.
President Joe Biden has directed the US Intelligence community to do a "broad assessment" of China's intelligence capabilities after assuming office, the White House said following the detection of a spy balloon and high-altitude flying objects over American airspace.

In recent days, there have been three incidences of balloon sightings in the US. A US F-22 fighter jet on Saturday shot down an unidentified cylindrical object over Canada, a day after another similar object was downed near Alaskan waters, and a week after the American military brought down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon off the South Carolina coast.

When President Biden came into office (in 2021), he directed the US Intelligence community to do a broad assessment of Chinese intelligence capabilities and assure -- and to ensure that we were working to detect and to protect against them, John Kirby, Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council in the White House, told reporters on Monday at a news conference.

I think for reasons that you will all understand, we cannot publicly go into many details about how we discover and counteract foreign intelligence collection efforts, because much of what we have done and are doing is, of course, sensitive. But we were able to determine that China has a high altitude balloon programme for intelligence collection that's connected to the People's Liberation Army, he said.

It was operating during the previous administration, but they did not detect it. We detected it. We tracked it. We have been carefully studying it to learn as much as we can. We know that these PRC (People's Republic of China) surveillance balloons have crossed over dozens of countries on multiple continents around the world, including some of our closest allies and partners, Kirby said.

The United States, he noted, assessed that at this time these balloons have provided limited additive capabilities to the PRC's other intelligence platforms used over the United States. But in the future, if the PRC continues to advance this technology, it certainly could become more valuable to them. Biden also instructed the intelligence community to take a broad look at the phenomenon of unidentified aerial objects, he said.

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Indeed, Biden conducted the first-ever daily intelligence briefing session devoted to this phenomenon back in June of 2021. He was briefed that this is not just an issue for the United States, but one for the rest of the world. And as I said, our friends and our partners are dealing with this as well, Kirby said.

In light of the Chinese balloon programme and this recent incursion into its airspace, the United States and Canada through NORAD have been more closely scrutinising that airspace, including enhancing their radar capabilities which may at least partially explain the increase in the objects that have been detected.

Slow-moving objects at high altitudes with a small radar cross-section are difficult to detect on radar. Even objects the size of a Chinese spy balloon, which had a payload the size of roughly three school buses, were not picked up by previous administrations or other countries. A range of entities, including countries, companies, research and academic organisations, operate objects at these altitudes for purposes that are not nefarious at all, including scientific research, he said.

That said, because we have not yet been able to definitively assess what these most recent objects are, we acted out of an abundance of caution to protect the security, our security, our interest, and flight safety. In Saturday's case, we acted in consultation with the Canadian government, the president speaking personally with the -- with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, said the White House official.

The spy balloon was of course different because we knew precisely where that was. As we have said, we do not assess that these most recent objects posed any direct threat to people on the ground, and we are laser-focused on confirming their nature and purpose, including through intensive efforts to collect debris in the remote locations where they have fallen, he said.

In each instance, the United States has followed the same basic course.

We assessed whether they posed any kinetic threat to people on the ground. They did not. We assessed whether they were sending any communications signals. We detected none. We looked to see whether they were manoeuvring or had any propulsion capabilities, Kirby said.

We saw no signs of that. We made sure to determine whether or not they were manned. They were not. We did, however, assess that their altitudes were considerably lower than the Chinese high-altitude balloon and did pose a threat to civilian commercial air traffic, he said.

Biden, he said, has blanket orders to shoot them down.

The United States is continuing to monitor the situation.

There are no active tracks today, but the professionals at NORAD will continue to do their important work. Secondly, we are consulting with allies and partners on the challenge of identified aerial phenomena and how we can all work together to deal with that challenge, he said.

Biden has directed the Secretary of State, Secretary of Defence, and the Director of National Intelligence to engage with their relevant counterparts to share information and to try to gain their perspectives as well.

Again, this is an issue that affects everybody around the world. We will continue to brief members of congress and relevant state leadership on what we are doing and what we learn, he said.
Prominent Indian-American politician Nikki Haley launched her presidential campaign on Tuesday, becoming the first Republican to challenge former US President Donald Trump in his 2024 bid for the White House.

Haley, 51, is the two-term Governor of South Carolina and the former US Ambassador to the United Nations.

"I'm Nikki Haley, and I'm running for President, she announced in a video message.

"It's time for a new generation of leadership to rediscover fiscal responsibility, secure our border, and strengthen our country, our pride and our purpose. Some people look at America and see vulnerability. The socialist left sees an opportunity to rewrite history, she said.

Identifying herself as proud daughter of Indian immigrants, Haley talks about growing up in Bamberg, South Carolina and how it shaped her belief in a strong and proud America.

We turned away from fear toward God and the values that still make our country the freest and greatest in the world. We must turn in that direction again, she said.

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Casting herself as a younger, fresher alternative to Trump, Haley had been hinting at a White House bid for weeks.

Her formal declaration means she will be the first contender to join the contest against her former 76-year-old boss Trump, who announced his third bid for the White House late last year.

"Republicans have lost the popular vote in seven out of the last eight presidential elections that have to change. Joe Biden's record is abysmal, but that shouldn't come as a surprise. The Washington establishment has failed us over and over and over again. It's time for a new generation of leadership to rediscover fiscal responsibility, secure our border and strengthen our country, our pride and our purpose, Haley said.

China and Russia are on the march. They all think we can be bullied. Kicked around. You should know this about me: I don't put up with bullies. And when you kick back, it hurts them more if you're wearing heels, she said.

Before entering the presidential ballot, Haley has to win the Republican Party's presidential primary which will start in January next year. The next US presidential election is scheduled to be held on November 5, 2024.

Haley's 3-minute 30 seconds video starts with her voiceover, describing the racial divide of the city she was born in.

The railroad tracks divided the town by race. I was the proud daughter of Indian immigrants, not black, not white. I was different, but my mom would always say, your job is not to focus on the differences, but the similarities, she said.

"And my parents reminded me and my siblings every day how blessed we were to live in America. Some look at our past as evidence that America's founding principles are bad. They say the promise of freedom is just made up. Some think our ideas are not just wrong, but racist and evil. Nothing could be further from the truth, she said.

Born Nimrata Nikki Randhawa to immigrant Punjabi Sikh parents, Haley is the third Indian-American to run for US presidency in three consecutive election cycles.

Bobby Jindal ran in 2016 and Vice President Kamala Harris in 2020.

Haley is the second woman of colour to ever seek the Republican Party's nomination for the White House. The first was Angel Joy Chavis Rocker, a school counsellor from Florida, who entered the 2000 presidential race, becoming the first African-American to do so.

"I have seen evil. In China they commit genocide. In Iran they murder their own people for challenging the government. And when a woman tells you about watching soldiers throw her baby into a fire, it puts things in perspective, she said in the video.

Even on our worst day, we are blessed to live in America. I was born and raised in South Carolina, so I have seen the very best of our country. People here throughout the old tired political establishment and demanded accountability for their tax dollars.

"Industry reports called us the Beast of the Southeast, which I loved. People came by the thousands for fresh starts. Moms and dads held their heads up high. Children learned that it was always, it's a great day in South Carolina. .. We were strong, we were proud, she said.

Indian Americans welcomed her announcement.

"On behalf of the large and influential Indian American community, wish her well and all the success in the coming days and pray she will succeed to be a Republican nominee of Republican in 2024. We will assure our community support in every way, Republican fundraiser Sampat Shivangi said.

A rare quality of Haley is that she has not forgotten her roots and her ancestral homeland India as she visited India and interacted with leadership in India including meeting our beloved leader Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi, Shivangi said.

Haley's formal announcement came weeks after she tweeted on February 1: "My family and I have a big announcement to share with you on February 15th! And yes, it's definitely going to be a Great Day in South Carolina!"



Haley was born to Sikh parents Ajit Singh Randhawa and Raj Kaur Randhawa, who had emigrated from Punjab to Canada and then to the US in the 1960s.

Her father was a professor at Punjab Agricultural University, and her mother received a law degree from Delhi University.

Haley had famously said previously that she would not challenge Trump if he ran again, before changing her stance, arguing the US needs to look towards a different path.

It's time for a new generation. It's time for new leadership. And it's time to take our country back. America is worth the fight and we're just getting started," she tweeted last month.

In an interview with Fox News last month, she said the US needs a new leader who can take the country in a new direction.

"We cannot have another term of Joe Biden. And we have to remember, too, we have lost the last seven out of eight popular votes for president. It is time that we get a Republican in there that can lead and can win a general election," she had said.

At 39, Haley was the youngest governor in the US when she took office in January 2011, and made history as South Carolina's first female governor. She was also the state's first Indian-American governor and would go on to serve for two terms.

From January 2017 to December 2018, she served as the 29th US ambassador to the United Nations.
A Palestinian teen was killed Tuesday during an Israeli army raid in a refugee camp in the northern West Bank, Palestinian officials said.

The death was the latest in an almost year-long surge in Israeli-Palestinian violence that shows no signs of abating.

The Israeli military said it carried out raids across the occupied West Bank overnight, and that during an operation in the Faraa refugee camp, a person approached troops with an explosive device. The army said that soldiers shot the person.

The official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, reported that local residents clashed with Israeli soldiers, who shot at them.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said that Mahmoud Al-Aydi, 17, died from a bullet wound to the head.

Tensions have mounted for months as Israel has conducted nightly arrest raids in the West Bank, which were prompted by a spate of Palestinian attacks on Israelis last spring. Some 30 people were killed in Israel by Palestinians in 2022, and at least 12 others died in attacks so far in 2023.

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On Monday, an Israeli Border Police officer died after he was stabbed by a Palestinian teen in east Jerusalem. Police said a security guard opened fire, apparently shooting 1st Sgt. Asil Su'ad.

Su'ad, a Bedouin Arab serving in Israel's paramilitary police force, was to be laid to rest in northern Israel on Tuesday.

Nearly 150 Palestinians were killed last year in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, making it the deadliest year in those areas since 2004, according to figures by the Israeli rights group B'Tselem. At least 48 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops since the start of this year.

Israel says that most of those killed have been militants but others including youths protesting the incursions and other people not involved in confrontations have also been killed.

Israel says the military raids are meant to dismantle militant networks and thwart future attacks while the Palestinians view them as further entrenchment of Israel's open-ended, 55-year occupation.

Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war, territories the Palestinians claim for their hoped-for independent state.
The desperate search for earthquake survivors in Turkiye and Syria entered its final hours Monday as rescuers using sniffer dogs and thermal cameras surveyed pulverised apartment blocks for any sign of life a week after the disaster.

Teams in southern Turkiye's Hatay province cheered and clapped when a 13-year-old boy identified only by his first name, Kaan, was pulled from the rubble. In Gaziantep province, rescue workers, including coal miners who secured tunnels with wooden supports, found a woman alive in the wreckage of a five-story building.

Stories of such rescues have flooded the airwaves in recent days. But tens of thousands of dead have been found during the same period, and experts say the window for rescues has nearly closed, given the length of time that has passed, the fact that temperatures have fallen to minus 6 degrees Celsius (21 degrees Fahrenheit) and the severity of the building collapses.

The 7.8 magnitude earthquake and its aftershocks struck southeastern Turkiye and northern Syria on February 6, reducing huge swaths of towns and cities to mountains of broken concrete and twisted metal. The death toll has surpassed 35,000.

In some areas, searchers placed signs that read "ses yok," or "no sound," in front of buildings they had inspected for any sign that someone was alive inside, HaberTurk television reported.

Associated Press journalists in Adiyaman saw a sign painted on a concrete slab in front of wreckage indicating that an expert had inspected it. In Antakya, people left signs displaying their phone numbers and asking crews to contact them if they found any bodies in the rubble.

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The quake's financial damage in Turkiye alone was estimated at $84.1 billion, according to the Turkish Enterprise and Business Confederation, a non-governmental business organisation. Calculated using a statistical comparison with a similarly devastating 1999 quake, the figure was considerably higher than any official estimates so far.

Elsewhere, Turkiye offered to open a second border crossing to assist the international aid effort to Syria, and the United Nations said "a lot of delicate discussions" were taking place to open more border-crossings from Turkiye to Syria.

Some 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the epicentre, almost no houses were left standing in the village of Polat, where residents salvaged refrigerators, washing machines and other goods from wrecked homes.

Not enough tents have arrived for the homeless, forcing families to share the tents that are available, survivor Zehra Kurukafa said.

"We sleep in the mud, all together with two, three, even four families," Kurukafa said.

Turkish authorities said Monday that more than 1,50,000 survivors have been moved to shelters outside the affected provinces. In the city of Adiyaman, Musa Bozkurt waited for a vehicle to bring him and others to western Turkiye.

"We're going away, but we have no idea what will happen when we get there," said the 25-year-old. "We have no goal. Even if there was (a plan), what good will it be after this hour? I no longer have my father or my uncle. What do I have left?"



Fuat Ekinci, a 55-year-old farmer, was reluctant to leave his home for western Turkiye, saying he did not have the means to live elsewhere and that his fields need to be tended.

"Those who have the means are leaving, but we're poor," he said. "The government says, go and live there a month or two. How do I leave my home? My fields are here, this is my home, how do I leave it behind?"



Volunteers from across Turkiye have mobilised to help millions of survivors, including a group of chefs and restaurant owners who served traditional food such as beans and rice and lentil soup to survivors who lined up in the streets of downtown Adiyaman.

The widespread damage included heritage sites in places such as Antakya, on the southern coast of Turkiye, an important ancient port and early centre of Christianity historically known as Antioch. Greek Orthodox churches in the region have started charity drives to assist the relief effort and raise funds to rebuild or repair churches.

In Syria, authorities said a newborn whose mother gave birth while trapped under the rubble of their home was doing well. The baby, Aya, was found hours after the quake, still connected by the umbilical cord to her mother, who was dead. She is being breastfed by the wife of the director of the hospital where she is being treated.

Such accounts have given many hope, but Eduardo Reinoso Angulo, a professor at the Institute of Engineering at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, said the likelihood of finding people alive was "very, very small now."



David Alexander, a professor of emergency planning and management at University College London, agreed. He said the odds were not very good to begin with.

Many of the buildings were so poorly constructed that they collapsed into very small pieces, leaving very few spaces large enough for people to survive in, Alexander said.

"If a frame building of some kind goes over, generally speaking we do find open spaces in a heap of rubble where we can tunnel in," Alexander said. "Looking at some of these photographs from Turkiye and from Syria, there just aren't the spaces."



Winter conditions further reduced the window for survival. In the cold, the body shivers to keep warm, but that burns a lot of calories, meaning that people also deprived of food will die more quickly, said Dr Stephanie Lareau, a professor of emergency medicine at Virginia Tech in the US.
Mohammad Shahabuddin Chuppu, a former judge and freedom fighter was elected unopposed as the country's 22nd President, the Chief Election Commission said on Monday.

Chuppu, 74, will replace President Mohammad Abdul Hamid.

The Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal declared Chuppu, Awami League Advisory Council member and the party's nominee, the President-elect of Bangladesh unopposed after scrutinising his nomination papers submitted on Sunday, according to news agency UNB.

A gazette was issued on Monday on the appointment of the new Bangladesh President by the Chief Election Commissioner, the report said.

The tenure of incumbent Hamid, the longest-serving president of Bangladesh, will end on April 23, and according to the Constitution, he cannot hold a third term.

Senior Awami League leader and seven-time lawmaker Hamid was elected Bangladesh president in the last two elections.

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He was sworn in for his second term on April 24, 2018.

Hamid greeted the newly elected president over the phone and wished him success on Monday, President's Press Secretary told UNB.

After his retirement as a district and sessions judge, Chuppu served as one of the commissioners of the independent Anti-Corruption Commission.

He later joined politics and became a member of the Awami League Advisory Council, which comprises senior party leaders and technocrats.

However, Chuppu will have to relinquish the party post to become the titular head of the State.

Born in the northwestern Pabna district, Chuppu was a leader of Awami League's student and youth wings in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

He also took part in the 1971 Liberation War and was imprisoned for waging a protest after the August 15, 1975 assassination of Bangladesh's founder Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman -- the father of Prime Minister Hasina -- in a military coup along with most of his family members.

The coup also led to the toppling of the Awami League government. In 1982, he was inducted into the country's judicial service.

Chuppu served as the coordinator of the Bangabandhu murder trial when Awami League returned to power in the 1996 elections.

His wife Rebeka Sultana is the former joint secretary to the government.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said that Turkey will not accept more refugees from Syria after the earthquakes, denying claims that Syrians were flooding into the country following the deadly quakes.

Claims that there is a new influx of refugees from Syria to Turkey "are not true". "We will not allow that. It is out of the question," Cavusoglu said at a joint news conference with his Libyan counterpart Nejla al-Mangush in the capital Ankara, Xinhua news agency reported.

Turkey has offered to the United Nations to open two more border gates into Syria through Turkey's southern province of Kilis, but the gates would serve one way into Syria for humanitarian aid, he noted.

Currently, the humanitarian aid to Syria's rebel-held areas is being delivered through the Bab al-Hawa Border Crossing across Turkey, according to Cavusoglu.

"We are facilitating humanitarian aid for Syrians, but we are not allowing a new Syrian refugee influx. These are two separate issues," the Turkish minister said.

--IANS

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int/sha
On Monday, United States President Joe Biden fired Architect of the Capitol J. Brett Blanton, appointed by former President Donald Trump, over allegations of ethics violations.

The official is accused of misusing government resources that were not physically present on the grounds of the Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot. A White House official noted that the president "terminated" the individual following bipartisan calls for the latter's resignation, including from House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Biden Fires Architect of the Capitol

Before the decision, an inspector general report released in the fall accused the Architect of the Capitol of abusing government property and not properly managing taxpayer money. He allegedly allowed his family to drive a vehicle that belonged to the government. He reportedly took out the car on several out-of-town trips to South Carolina and Florida.

Furthermore, the federal watchdog claims that Blanton committed ethics violations when he offered tours of the Capitol a few weeks before the November 2020 elections. Last week, the individual was questioned by House Committee on Administration members during a hearing, as per CNN.

The hearing was to review a federal watchdog report regarding Blanton's alleged illegal actions. Lawmakers from both sides of the government on Thursday learned that the Architect of the Capitol was not inside the building or anywhere near it on the day of the insurrection of Trump loyalists.

During the Thursday hearing, Blanton unequivocally denied that he did any wrongdoings that could be considered unethical. He said he committed to transforming the agency's culture to promote a positive work environment for every employee.

Republican Rep. Bryan Steil of Wisconsin, the committee chairman, was told by Blanton that he was not at the Capitol when the mob of Trump supporters raided the building. He claims that he could not drive to the area due to the number of people on the grounds.

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Misuse of Government Resources

The person seated in the position of the Architect of the Capitol is responsible for the maintenance and operation of the U.S. Capitol along with its expansive grounds and building complex. According to USA Today, the defendant, who is also a civil engineer, previously worked at the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority as deputy vice president.

Investigators said that they found Blanton and his family, on multiple occasions, misusing government vehicles that were supposed to be used for home-to-work only. The culprits include the defendant's wife and adult daughter.

The report noted that one such example of misuse was reported in March 2021 when someone said that a black Ford Explorer driver was driving "extremely recklessly" while in a parking garage. The resident noted that the vehicle was swerving at about 65 mph.

McCarthy's take on the incident was shown in a Twitter post where he said that Blanton no longer held his confidence to continue being the Architect of the Capitol. He then called on the individual to resign and urged Biden to fire the embattled official, said the Washington Post.

Related Article: White House Address Alien Origin of Recent UFOs

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A man driving a U-Haul truck struck and injured several pedestrians in New York City on Monday before police were able to pin the careening vehicle against a building following a mileslong pursuit through Brooklyn.

At least eight people were hurt at two locations, including two people who were in criticial condition, the New York City Fire Department said in an email.

The truck sped through the Bay Ridge neighbourhood of Brooklyn, hitting people on a sidewalk at one point, before police stopped it more than 3 miles (5 kilometers) away near the entrance to a tunnel leading from Brooklyn to Manhattan.

Aerial video from news helicopters showed the truck on a sidewalk, its path blocked by a police cruiser.

Authorities were examining the truck to make sure it didn't contain explosives.

A spokesperson for New York City Mayor Eric Adams said a suspect was in custody.

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There are no additional credible threats at this time, Fabien Levy tweeted.

The incident coincided with the start of the death penalty phase in the trial of Sayfullo Saipov, an Islamic extremist who killed eight people in 2017 by mowing them down with a rented truck.

It was not clear whether the two events were related.
Syria's president has agreed to open two new crossing points from Turkey to the country's rebel-held northwest to deliver desperately needed aid and equipment for millions of earthquake victims, the United Nations announced Monday.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the decision by Syrian leader Bashar Assad to open crossing points at Bab Al-Salam and Al Rae for an initial period of three months.

Currently, the UN has only been allowed to deliver aid to the northwest Idlib area through a single crossing at Bab Al-Hawa.

Guterres said in a statement the toll from the quake continues to mount, delivering food, health, nutrition, protection, shelter, winter supplies and other life-saving supplies to all the millions of people affected is of the utmost urgency.

Opening these crossing points along with facilitating humanitarian access, accelerating visa approvals and easing travel between hubs will allow more aid to go in, faster, the UN chief said.

The announcement followed a meeting in Damascus between Assad and UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths. It came during a closed meeting of the UN Security Council, which was briefed by Griffiths.
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Sales rise 40.03% to Rs 3353.36 croreNet profit of Bharat Forge declined 80.41% to Rs 82.50 crore in the quarter ended December 2022 as against Rs 421.19 crore during the previous quarter ended December 2021. Sales rose 40.03% to Rs 3353.36 crore in the quarter ended December 2022 as against Rs 2394.69 crore during the previous quarter ended December 2021. ParticularsQuarter EndedDec. 2022Dec. 2021% Var.Sales3353.362394.69 40 OPM %13.0920.85 -PBDT366.41508.85 -28 PBT180.83332.77 -46 NP82.50421.19 -80

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Gujarat State Petronet (GSPL) reported 31.1% fall in standalone net profit to Rs 170.93 crore on a 14.6% decrease in net sales to Rs 402.41 crore in Q3 FY22 over Q3 FY22.Revenue from Gas Transportation was Rs 398.93 crore (down 14.5% YoY) while that from Electricity Sales was Rs 3.68 crore (down 20.17% YoY) during the quarter.

Profit before tax in Q3 FY22 stood at Rs 232.94 crore, down by 27.3% from Rs 320.39 crore in Q3 FY22.

The company's Q3 transmission volume was 22.34 mmscmd (million metric standard cubic metres per day), down 30% YoY.

Total expenditure during the quarter shed 3.64% YoY to Rs 182.50 crore. Gas transmission expense was Rs 54.02 crore (down 25.03% YoY) and finance cost stood at Rs 1.09 crore (down 79.32% YoY) while other exepenses was at Rs 52.78 crore (up 33.93% YoY).

On a consolidated basis, the company's net profit rose 22% to Rs 359.33 crore despite of 27.2% decline in net sales to Rs 3,998.04 crore in Q3 FY23 over Q3 FY22.

Gujarat State Petronet's primary business objective is to connect various supply sources and users of natural gas in Gujarat through its gas pipeline network. GSPL is the leader in natural gas transmission business in Gujarat and is the second-largest natural gas transmission player in India. GSPL also sells electricity generated through its 52.50 MW windmills.

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The scrip advanced 0.26% to Rs 266.50 on the BSE.

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The video is just about a second long, but it records the deaths of American volunteer medic Pete Reed and a Ukrainian woman he treated in Bakhmut. This eastern Ukrainian city has been the subject of a months-long Russian attack.

When seen frame-by-frame, the video is illuminating. A low-flying missile is observed rushing toward the white EMS van parked beside Reed at the crime site. The images demonstrate that Reed was not killed by Russian shelling, as previously believed by eyewitnesses.

Russian Troops Likely Targeted Medical Volunteers

According to military analysts, the missile shown in the video is a laser-guided anti-tank missile. According to Reed's coworkers, the footage and eyewitness testimony demonstrate that the group of international doctors was purposefully targeted.

Erko Laidinen, a 35-year-old Estonian doctor, and his colleagues are in Ukraine to assist Russian-Ukrainian war casualties. Laidinen is visible inside the automobile. When Laidinen's medical team arrived at the area on February 2 to treat a Ukrainian woman injured by shelling, Reed's team was already there. Less than ten seconds later, the missile impacted the white vehicle driven by Reed.

Laidinen was still inside his team's van ambulance, which was prominently marked with huge medical-style crosses and parked a short distance away, at that time. The Estonian physician activated his camera a split-second before the explosion. Reed is readily apparent.

He is standing by his ambulance with his fellow medical personnel. Next to him stood the patient he was about to examine. A low-flying missile then enters from right to left. The footage has been viewed and verified by ABC News. Laidinen reported that he and his coworkers, who were severely hurt, immediately sought shelter inside a building. He thinks that following the initial missile assault, Russian soldiers continually attacked the foreign medical team.

Laidinen's camera had been destroyed by the initial explosion when he fled his truck to seek shelter. The footage for the following twenty minutes is completely dark, but it nevertheless captured many explosions that Laidinen thinks to be incoming Russian mortars.

Another medical volunteer Simon Johnsen regained consciousness amid a cloud of smoke and heard a loud whistling in his ears. He determined whether he still had all of his physical components.

Pete Reed lay dead next to him. Likewise, the injured Ukrainian woman they had come to heal was a citizen. On Thursday, January 2, around noon in Bakhmut, in the eastern Donetsk area of Ukraine, a Russian missile struck within feet from where the two were preparing to render treatment.

Johnsen, a Norwegian physician, and a handful of other volunteers had just arrived on the site. They described the strike to CNN as an example of Russia targeting doctors and frontline aid workers in so-called "double-taps," striking a target, waiting a few minutes for first responders to arrive, and then striking the exact location again.

CNN was handed video footage from the scene of the approaching missile striking Reed's team's improvised ambulance. Experts on munitions have reviewed the footage and recognized the weapon as an anti-tank guided missile, Alex Kay Potter, Reed's wife, told CNN when she returned from Ukraine.

Potter believes that the Russian military intended to target the relief workers, as their ambulance was identified. Despite several attacks on medical personnel and institutions during this conflict, Russia has denied intentionally targeting civilians. CNN did not receive an instant response to its request for comment from the Ministry of Defense.

Johnsen and another Norwegian colleague, Sander Srlv Trelvik, had traveled to Ukraine as volunteers with Frontline Medics, another humanitarian organization. Both were hurt but survived the explosion. The streets of Bakhmut are the site of some of the heaviest combat since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine started, with soldiers on both sides referring to it as the "meat grinder" due to the daily loss of hundreds of lives.

Read Also: White House Debunks Alien Rumors

Ukraine Restricts Aid Workers, Civilians From Entering Bakhmut

The Ukrainian military barred aid workers and civilians from entering Bakhmut on Monday, claiming the area was too dangerous as Russian forces tightened their grip. This could be a precursor to a Ukrainian withdrawal and represents the greatest tactical victory for the deeply troubled Russian invasion since July.

However, according to the Ukrainian military, the besieged eastern city is still under its control, even though the only major route it can use to transfer soldiers and supplies or evacuate the wounded is under Russian fire. Col. Serhiy Cherevaty, the spokesperson for Ukraine's eastern military command, said in an interview on Monday, "Bakhmut is the epicenter of the enemy's onslaught; thus, the situation is difficult."

According to him, Ukrainian forces had resisted 19 attacks on Bakhmut in the previous twenty-four hours, but no decisive moment had been achieved. According to him, "the Ukrainians rule the city." Bakhmut is the focal point of a deadly, months-long conflict. After destroying a large portion of the city with artillery, the Russians appear to have encircled it on three sides and conquered numerous nearby towns and villages.

The Ukrainian military said on Monday that street combat had also erupted in two areas of Bakhmut, as per NY Times. For months, Ukrainian and international volunteers had taken exceptional risks to evacuate citizens and give medical care in Bakhmut, maintaining three heating and relief shelters in a city that lacked electricity or heat for the most part.

This month, American volunteer medic Pete Reed was slain in Bakhmut. Despite severe risks, the presence of relief workers in this crucible of violence persuaded the remaining people that Ukraine had not abandoned them.

Bakhmut, a city with a prewar population of roughly 70,000 and a location where multiple roads and rail lines meet, has been deemed crucial to President Vladimir Putin's declared objective of capturing Donbas, the major industrial and mining region of eastern Ukraine.

Related Article: Kyiv Destroys 31 'Elite' Russian Tanks

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Sales rise 6.39% to Rs 1119.12 croreNet profit of Hinduja Global Solutions declined 61.80% to Rs 51.09 crore in the quarter ended December 2022 as against Rs 133.76 crore during the previous quarter ended December 2021. Sales rose 6.39% to Rs 1119.12 crore in the quarter ended December 2022 as against Rs 1051.87 crore during the previous quarter ended December 2021. ParticularsQuarter EndedDec. 2022Dec. 2021% Var.Sales1119.121051.87 6 OPM %7.355.51 -PBDT89.8240.97 119 PBT-28.12-41.09 32 NP51.09133.76 -62

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Sales rise 425.33% to Rs 3.94 croreNet profit of Naga Dhunseri Group declined 24.15% to Rs 14.51 crore in the quarter ended December 2022 as against Rs 19.13 crore during the previous quarter ended December 2021. Sales rose 425.33% to Rs 3.94 crore in the quarter ended December 2022 as against Rs 0.75 crore during the previous quarter ended December 2021. ParticularsQuarter EndedDec. 2022Dec. 2021% Var.Sales3.940.75 425 OPM %89.3461.33 -PBDT14.8419.36 -23 PBT14.7219.24 -23 NP14.5119.13 -24

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Sales rise 1162.80% to Rs 42.43 croreNet profit of Narayani Steels declined 16.78% to Rs 1.24 crore in the quarter ended December 2022 as against Rs 1.49 crore during the previous quarter ended December 2021. Sales rose 1162.80% to Rs 42.43 crore in the quarter ended December 2022 as against Rs 3.36 crore during the previous quarter ended December 2021. ParticularsQuarter EndedDec. 2022Dec. 2021% Var.Sales42.433.36 1163 OPM %4.2214.88 -PBDT1.880.54 248 PBT1.720.26 562 NP1.241.49 -17

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Sales rise 11.05% to Rs 7.94 croreNet profit of Phoenix Township declined 93.01% to Rs 0.13 crore in the quarter ended December 2022 as against Rs 1.86 crore during the previous quarter ended December 2021. Sales rose 11.05% to Rs 7.94 crore in the quarter ended December 2022 as against Rs 7.15 crore during the previous quarter ended December 2021. ParticularsQuarter EndedDec. 2022Dec. 2021% Var.Sales7.947.15 11 OPM %17.2544.34 -PBDT0.682.97 -77 PBT0.102.32 -96 NP0.131.86 -93

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Sales decline 63.64% to Rs 0.04 croreNet profit of Rajkot Investment Trust declined 88.89% to Rs 0.01 crore in the quarter ended December 2022 as against Rs 0.09 crore during the previous quarter ended December 2021. Sales declined 63.64% to Rs 0.04 crore in the quarter ended December 2022 as against Rs 0.11 crore during the previous quarter ended December 2021. ParticularsQuarter EndedDec. 2022Dec. 2021% Var.Sales0.040.11 -64 OPM %25.0063.64 -PBDT0.010.09 -89 PBT0.010.09 -89 NP0.010.09 -89

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Indias heavily import-dependent fertiliser sector seems set for a radical transformation, thanks to the introduction of the novel nano-technology in the production and use of plant nutrients. After the successful launch of nano-urea in 2021, which has generated hopes of ending by 2024-26 the import of urea, the most-consumed fertiliser, the government has now approved the commercial release of nano-DAP (di-ammonium phosphate), the second-most used plant nutrient as well. This, coupled with the anticipated availability of nano-versions of other fertilisers in near future, is likely to completely obviate the need to buy fertilisers from abroad in the next four to five years. More importantly, the governments fertiliser subsidy bill, estimated at Rs 2.25 trillion this year, can be expected to drop to nil, sparing funds for other purposes. The Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative, which has pioneered the research, development and commercialisation of these p
First school semester kicks off after China optimizes COVID response

(Global Times) 08:20, February 14, 2023

Beijing on Monday morning was engulfed by a traffic jam that residents said they hadn't seen in three years, as nearly 2 million primary and middle school students in the city swarmed onto campus after almost two months of winter vacation.

Nationwide, more than 300 million students are also heading back to school for the first semester after China relaxed most of its COVID-19 controls, bidding farewell to online schooling.

For the first time in three years, students are no longer required to submit nucleic test results and don't need to fear a sudden return to online classes. Although normal campus life was upended by COVID-19 controls in the past three years, students learned to cherish the opportunity of studying and the future ahead.

Li Lei, whose child studies at a Beijing primary school, said that there are no requirements for students to return to school. "The teacher told us to report any discomfort among our children. In such cases, students can rest at home."

A father of a first-grader in Beijing surnamed Hu told the Global Times that his daughter has not been infected with novel coronavirus yet.

"We take a fast antigen test every day at home," Hu said. Although he's a little concerned about a cluster infection at school, he is happy to send his daughter back to campus.

"It is better to let her live a normal life. She has friends at school, and we worry that staying at home all the time will affect her ability to socialize," the father said.

Yang Jian (pseudonym), a senior high school student in Beijing, got up at 5 am to prepare for a return to campus. "I have only half a year left in my senior year, so I am happy that things are back to normal," said Yang. He will focus on preparing for the gaokao, the national college entrance examinations, and cherish the rest of his time with his classmates.

Most Chinese schools, including universities, kicked off the new semester around mid-February. Although the country has scrapped most of its COVID-19 controls, schools are still taking measures in preparation to welcome 300 million students' return to campus.

A student surnamed Huang at Zhejiang University told the Global Times that her tutor asked the students to fill in a health form that includes antigen test results for COVID-19, a week before class started. New health stations were set up on campus, which provide separate rooms for anyone who is infected and provide relevant services.

Last week, Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan visited campuses in Beijing, including world-renowned Peking University and Tsinghua University. She urged schools at all levels to implement and optimize COVID-19 prevention management and fully restore the normal operation of teaching activities.

Last week, Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC), said that China has just gone through a nationwide outbreak, from which most people have recovered or are still recovering.

"The overall immunity of the population is at a relatively high level," said Wu, noting that it is unlikely that a new wave of mass infections will occur in the coming months.

Beijing's CDC announced on Monday that the situation in the capital was stable, with 4.69 percent of those who took nucleic acid tests getting a positive result.

Many schools are bringing psychological health into classes to help students return to campus with a positive attitude and adjust their mindset from long-term online schooling. Many schools also set up offices for psychological consultation.

The time when spring semester begins is a high time for psychological crises among primary and middle school students, news portal thepaper.cn reported, citing education officials from Ruian, a city in Zhejiang. It said that this year, the crisis will be more severe due to the change in COVID-19 policies and a prolonged winter vacation.

To ease students' pressure, the Ruian education authority asked schools not to force students to report with homework.

Song Meihua, an official at a primary school in Manzhouli in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, said the return of normal campus life will offer a positive and healthy atmosphere for students whose campus life was disrupted by COVID-19 control measures.

"Our students and teachers are harboring hopes for the new semester, when all of us can sit in the classroom for study and hang out together," said Song. She believed that a return to campus life is meaningful for students from every perspective.

Zhang Yiwu, a professor at Peking University, said that online study had an impact on students. "Yet it was a must choice, in the face of an unknown and lethal virus," said Zhang, who is confident that students will soon adapt to the new normal in post-pandemic era.

A survey by recruitment website 51job.com published in November revealed that more than half of employers were not concerned about online studies' impact on students; instead they valued personal ability more.

Huang from Zhejiang University, who has only one and a half years left on campus, said COVID-19 disrupted her university life in the past year, as she missed late-night talks with roommates, puppy love and even the food in the university canteen.

"But it taught me a valuable lesson. Now with the new semester kicking off, the new post-COVID life unfolds in front of me."

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Rescue workers save additional survivors from the wreckage of a building in southern Turkey, the third rescue on Tuesday and eight days after the devastating Turkey-Syria Earthquake .

The Turkey earthquake death toll is now over 37,000, making it one of the worst in the country's modern history.

More than 9,200 international people, representing 100 nations, are assisting in Turkey's search and rescue efforts, according to the country's Foreign Ministry.

From the rubble of their apartment building in Turkey's Kahramanmaras region, rescuers retrieved Muhammed Enes Yeninar, 17, and his brother, Baki Yeninar, 21, to safety, according to Reuters.

Rescuers struggled to rescue those who still had a chance of survival. Several groups have begun cutting down on efforts as freezing weather has further diminished chances of retrieving survivors from the wreckage caused by the Turkey-Syria Earthquake.

Many international rescue teams moved in, including Polish rescuers who said they would depart on Wednesday.

A boy and a man were rescued in hard-hit Kahramanmaras on Tuesday, while rescuers were still attempting to locate a grandmother, mother, and daughter from one family who looked to have survived in the collapsed structure.

Since the earthquake occurred a week ago, the UN has been under enormous pressure to bring additional relief and heavy machinery into Syria's rebel-held northwest, where survivors cannot dig for many other survivors and the death toll is rising.

Read Also: Justin Trudeau Express Concern About UFOs

More Relief Supplies Arrive

The UN applauded Syrian President Bashar al-decision Assad's to open two additional Turkish-Syrian border crossings on Monday to enable supplies into the north.

Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay shot off rumors of a lack of food and relief on Tuesday. On national tv, he stated there were "no problems with feeding" the people, and millions of comforters are being supplied to all places affected by the Turkey earthquake, per CNN.

Syrian state media said that the first Saudi relief aircraft, which was carrying 35 tons of food, touched down at the government-controlled airport in Aleppo on Tuesday morning. Saudi Arabia has publicly raised $50 million for the victims of the Turkey Syria earthquake, AP News reported.

Related Article: American Volunteer Killed In Ukraine





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One needs to evolve a politics of extrication that is nuanced, perhaps even ambiguous, aimed at preventing the current and inexorable escalation of hostilities and then de-escalating through a series of incremental steps. The Ukraine war represents a failure of diplomacy. The first anniversary of the outbreak of the war must be the occasion

February 24 will mark one year of the Ukraine war. The question is no longer who will win or lose the war, but rather what could lead the warring sides to end the blood-letting without having to admit defeat, or indeed exhaustion. For this, intensive and imaginative diplomacy is indispensable and the lead in this must be taken by a country or countries that are invested in neither side. India could be one such country. It could also lead a group of influential middle powers, such as Brazil, Indonesia and South Africa and perhaps even Turkey, to try and broker a cessation of hostilities, if not a peaceful outcome.
Expressing confidence of BJP getting full majority in the Tripura assembly elections, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said that the BJP is seeking a mandate to make the state prosperous in the next five years building on the development initiatives of the party-led government. Responding to questions about a possible hung assembly in Tripura, Amit Shah said that the constituencies in Tripura are small and "you will see that before 12PM on counting day, the BJP would have crossed the majority mark."

In an exclusive interview with ANI, he also said that BJP's 'ChaloPaltai' slogan in the last election was not a slogan to come to power in the state but to change the situation in Tripura.

The BJP created a record in 2018 by ousting the Left Front government which ruled Tripura for 35 years from 1978. The state will go to the polls on February 16 for its 60-member assembly.

The BJP is contesting 55 seats while its ally Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT) is contesting the remaining five seats.

Shah said Congress and CPI-M joining hands shows that they are not in a position to defeat BJP on their own and "it is very good position" for the party.

"We will increase our seats and also our vote share in Tripura. Congress and the Communist party have come together as they have accepted that they can't defeat BJP alone. We will form government with full majority in the state," Shah said.

Also Read Amit Shah to arrive in Tripura to flag off two rath yatras of BJP today President Murmu flags off first Kolkata-Agartala express train from Tripura HM Amit Shah to address two election rallies in Tripura on Monday Exit of 5 MLAs jolt for Tripura BJP ahead of assembly polls: Manik Sarkar Amit Shah to meets senior leaders to discuss poll preparedness in Tripura Nothing for BJP to hide, be afraid of: Shah on allegations over Adani row Rahul's plane 'deliberately' denied landing permission in Varanasi: Cong BJP has no competition in 2024 LS polls, PM has people's support: Shah PM ended 'mann ki doori' of Northeast, visited 51 times in 8 yrs: Shah Cong takes dig at PM Modi, claims Aero India event started in 1996

"'ChaloPaltai' slogan was given to change the situation in Tripura, and we've done that. Earlier when the Left was in power in Tripura, government employees were paid under Pay Commission, but we implemented the 7th Pay commission in the state without increasing fiscal deficit. We eliminated violence in Tripura and also took strict action against drugs business from across the border in the state," he added.

Shah also outlined the "effective steps" of the state government to end violence in the border state and tackle the drug menace and added that these have sent a good message among people.

"There is no violence in Tripura. Time has come to make Tripura prosperous. The double-engine government has taken several steps to fulfil its promises," he said.

Asked about Manik Saha replacing Biplab Deb as Tripura Chief Minister in May last year and if it sent a signal of the BJP's central leadership controlling the state unit, Shah said that Deb is an MP and has several key organisational responsibilities in the central BJP.

He said changes are sometimes made if the national parties need leaders at the central level.

"I feel this is promotion, it should not be looked at from any other angle," he said.

Home Minister said that the BJP-led government has taken steps to strengthen local languages in the northeastern states and added that there is no big official programme in Delhi without participation of artists from the northeast.

He said under PM Modi's leadership, several steps have been taken for the welfare of people in the northeast.

"There is peace in the Northeast today, there has been peace agreement with several militant organisations.''

He referred to the agreement to end the Bru-Reang refugee crisis in Tripura and with National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT).

Shah said PM Modi's initiatives have helped the tribal population.

"The tribal communities are experiencing development now. Today, we have the first tribal President in the country. The benefits being given to poor families are also being extended to the tribal community without any discrimination. They realize that they were misled earlier"

Shah said before the year 2024, all state capitals in the Northeast region will get rail and air connectivity and this is not a small achievement.

"Nearly over 8,000 cadres of militant outfits have surrendered arms and joined the mainstream. The northeast was known for blockade, protests, bomb explosions and insurgency. Today roads are being built there, airports are being built. Where there was one airport in a state like Tripura, we are building a second here. The Prime Minister has undertaken various developmental projects for the northeast region," he said.

On Karnataka, Shah said the party will come back to power with full majority.

"The BJP will form its government in Karnataka with a full majority. I have seen the pulse of the people and the popularity of PM Modi. The BJP will get a huge mandate," he said.

Answering another query on some major states going to the polls this year, he said BJP is strong in Rajasthan, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh and will win all four.

"We repeated our governments in Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. We will repeat our government in Tripura also," he said answering a query.

Asked about JD(S) accusing BJP of dynastic politics, he said there are people who are second or third-generation politicians in the BJP also but it is not that the party chief will be from such a family only, or the entire family will become an MP or an MLA. "What kind of comparison is this? You have finished the entire democratic system," he said.

"Even the people of Mandya are now shifting from dynastic parties and accepting BJP's politics of development. This is a good sign for Karnataka," he said.

Shah, who visited Puttur in Karnataka and inaugurated 'Bharat Mata Mandir', said he welcomes any allegation made against him regarding the visit in the poll-bound state. When asked if the BJP has begun a campaign of nationalism in the state, Amit Shah said he welcomed such allegations.

"I accept and welcome all the allegations if they are levelled against me for going to the Bharat Mata Mandir," he said.

He said the place has pictures of Tantya Tope, Savarkar and also Param Vir Chakra recipient Lance Naik Albert Ekka. "I thank the trust which made it."

Karnataka is expected to go for polls in the first half of this year.

Polling for the Meghalaya and Nagaland Assembly polls will be held on February 27. The counting of votes in the two states along with Tripura will take place on March 2.
Noting that there is marked positive change in the lives of people at the grassroots due to initiatives of the Centre, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said that there is "no competition" for the BJP in 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the people of the country are wholeheartedly moving with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In an exclusive interview with ANI, Shah also said that the people of the country will decide about the principal opposition party to BJP in the 2024 polls and they have not given this label to any party.

Taking a swipe at Congress and its leader Rahul Gandhi, Shah said he might not have campaigned in poll-bound states but results in elections in Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya will show strength of the opposition party in states it once dominated.

He expressed confidence in the BJP performing well in states going to the polls this year including Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

Shah said India has made progress across all sectors and referred to the country being the fastest-growing major economy apart from the steps taken by the government to boost internal security and reduce import-dependence in defence.

He said progress of the country, making the country secure and making the economy the fastest growing economy in the world have been among the priorities of the government.

Also Read BJP eyes 35 seats in Bihar for 2024 Lok Sabha polls after NDA ouster BJP wants to better its past record ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha election CLAT 2024 Exam Schedule: Test in December 2023; registrations to begin soon Shah sets target for BJP to win with bigger margin in 2024 Lok Sabha polls Sharad Pawar renews pitch for opposition unity for 2024 Lok Sabha polls PM ended 'mann ki doori' of Northeast, visited 51 times in 8 yrs: Shah Cong takes dig at PM Modi, claims Aero India event started in 1996 Rajya Sabha proceedings adjourned till March 13 amid Oppn's disruptions Nothing unparliamentary in what Rahul said on Adani: Mallikarjun Kharge India emerged as shining star, illuminating others with its glow: Rajnath

Shah said there is recognition of India's achievements in the world.

"During the small period of eight years, we have tried to raise the standard of living of 60 crore poor people in the country and we were also successful. There have been so many achievements. There are major changes in Railways, there is new policy in the space sector and we are preparing to be a leader in the sector, with new policy we are moving ahead in the drone sector," said Amit Shah in a wide-ranging interview to ANI.

He said successful attempts have been made to make India a manufacturing hub.

Shah said efforts towards self-reliance in the defence sector and reducing India's reliance on other countries by 30 per cent in eight years is a big achievement.

"The Left-wing extremism is towards its end. There is control and domination of our agencies on terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. In the Northeast, we have found solutions (to problems) and over 8,000 members of militant organisations have joined the mainstream."

Shah said the central government' schemes have effectively reached the grassroots.

"In Tripura, I went for a meal to a house that belonged to a poor family. They showed me the toilet, gas cylinder, electricity and tap water and Ayushman Bharat card...all this reached the poor family household."

He said the woman of the house referred to a sack of rice and said they will be able to sell it as they are getting ration through the central government. "The house was plastered and there was a sense of pride," he said.

"So there is this change. I feel that in 2024 there is no competition and everyone in the country is moving ahead with PM Modi," Shah said.

Asked about the principal opposition in 2024 and if it was Congress led by Rahul Gandhi, he said it is to be "decided by the people of the country".

"Till now people have not given the label of principal opposition to any one party in Lok Sabha."

Asked about the likelihood of Rahul Gandhi emerging as the PM candidate after his Bharat Jodo Yatra against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Shah said there is election in three states and it is to be seen what is the impact.

Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya will go for the assembly polls later this month.

Asked about Rahul Gandhi not campaigning so far in Tripura, which will go to the polls on February 16, Shah said coming to a state might be a question of time for the Congress MP but there should be a result for the party. "Let's see what the result comes".

He said the three states where elections are being held were in the past strong Congress states.

"We will see on the day of counting, before 12 PM, a full majority for the BJP," said Shah.

.
The Supreme Court has taken cognisance of the matter. As a minister, if the Supreme Court is seized of the matter it is not right for me to comment, Amit Shah told the ANI news agency.



But in this, there is nothing for the BJP to hide and nothing to be afraid of, Shah added, referring to the ruling BJP. He denied allegations of crony capitalism and suggested the opposition to go to court if they had proof.



The Bharatiya Janata Party has nothing to hide or be afraid of on the controversy over Adani group, home minister Amit Shah said on Tuesday, responding to opposition allegations of favouring the conglomerate attacked by a US short seller.
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The Congress on Tuesday alleged that the Centre was "running away" from a JPC probe into the Adani-Hindenburg issue and said such an investigation be allowed if the government has nothing to hide in the matter.

The Congress' attack on the government came after Union Home Minister Amit Shah's reported remarks that there is nothing for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to hide or be afraid of in the matter.

Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters here, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said he has written to RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das and SEBI chief Madhabi Puri Buch for an impartial probe into the Adani issue.

Reacting to Shah's reported remarks, Ramesh said, "If they do not have anything to hide, why are they running away from a Joint Parliamentary Committee (probe)."



"They do not even allow us to raise the demand of the JPC in Parliament. When our leaders, including party president Mallikarjun Kharge ji, raised the demand for JPC, their remarks were expunged," Ramesh said.

If there is nothing to hide, the government should allow a JPC, he stressed.

His remarks came a day after the Centre agreed to the Supreme Court's proposal to set up a panel of experts to look into strengthening the regulatory mechanisms for the stock market in the wake of the recent Adani group shares crash triggered by Hindenburg Research's fraud allegations.

Also Read Oppn decides to participate in parliament proceedings to demand JPC probe Congress will launch 'Assam Jodo Yatra' on November 1: Jairam Ramesh BJP and RSS are nervous due to Bharat Jodo Yatra, says Jairam Ramesh Congress is democratic party, believes in live and let live: Jairam Ramesh Adani vs Hindenburg: Opposition seeks JPC or SC-monitored probe Congress attacks govt over Income Tax survey operation at BBC offices Not first time remarks were expunged, people see what happens in Parl: Shah "Nobody's contribution should be removed," Shah on erasing Mughal history Before 12PM on counting day, BJP will cross majority mark in Tripura: Shah Nothing for BJP to hide, be afraid of: Shah on allegations over Adani row

Saying it has no objection to constituting the panel, the Centre, at the same time, stressed that market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and other statutory bodies are "fully equipped", not only regime wise, but otherwise also to deal with the situation.

Ramesh said it is important to look at the petition that had been filed in the court which he claimed was basically against Hindenburg research.

Investigation should be against Adani and its ties with the government, Ramesh said.

Ramesh said he would, however, also make it clear that the Congress is in favour of private investments and they need to be encouraged.

"We have always said we are in favour of entrepreneurship and that is the way forward for economic development. We are against blind privatisation and selling of PSUs," he said.

The Congress is in favour of liberalisation, but this should be on the basis of rules and institutions which should function independently so that the rules can be applied in an impartial and transparent manner.

Our fight is against crony capitalism, he asserted.

"We will not be cowed down, we will keep raising our voice," he said.

He also claimed that all Opposition parties are on the same page in demanding a JPC probe into the Adani issue.
The Maharashtra cabinet on Tuesday passed a resolution praising outgoing Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari.

The cabinet led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde passed a resolution congratulating Koshyari for guiding the government take decisions in the state's interest, an official release said.

Koshyari, who had come under fire over controversial remarks about Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and some other iconic figures from Maharashtra, resigned last week.

While opposition leaders including Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray welcomed his exit, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state defended him, saying some of his comments were misconstrued.
Reacting sharply to allegations of erasing history of Mughals and changing the names of the cities associated with them, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said that the BJP state governments have taken "well-thought decisions" which are within their statutory rights.

Shah, however, said that the BJP does not want to remove anybody's contribution to history.

The Home Minister's remarks came in response to allegations that the BJP is attempting to rewrite the country's history in which the BJP-ruled states have renamed or are planning to rename cities whose names are associated with Mughal history.

"The contribution of no one should be removed, neither do we want to remove them. But if someone wants to establish the tradition of the country then no one should have any objection," he said in an exclusive interview with ANI.

"We have not changed the name of even a single city which previously did not have an old name. Our governments have taken well-thought out decisions. Every government has its statutory rights," Shah added.

Notably, Bharatiya Janata Party MP Sangam Lal Gupta recently urged Amit Shah to change the name of Uttar Pradesh's capital city of Lucknow to "Lakhanpur or Laxmanpur".

Also Read Rename Rajasthan as Kartavyasthan: Shashi Tharoor on renaming Rajpath Rajnath Singh approves renaming of Faizabad Cantt as Ayodhya Cantt Shia clerics seek PM's intervention in renaming of Muslim sites in Lucknow Govt approves renaming of national institute on water after SP Mookerjee The unsung victims of 1857 Before 12PM on counting day, BJP will cross majority mark in Tripura: Shah Nothing for BJP to hide, be afraid of: Shah on allegations over Adani row Rahul's plane 'deliberately' denied landing permission in Varanasi: Cong BJP has no competition in 2024 LS polls, PM has people's support: Shah PM ended 'mann ki doori' of Northeast, visited 51 times in 8 yrs: Shah

Stating that the city was earlier named as Lakhanpur and Laxmanpur in the Treta Yug, the BJP MP claimed that Nawab Asaf-ud-Daula had renamed it Lucknow.

Shah, when asked about the allegations of writing a "re-imagined history" of Jammu and Kashmir, and erasing former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's contributions, said that Article 370 was included in the Constitution by the government of the first prime minister of the country and this had caused great loss to India.

"Article 370 was implemented because of Nehru ji. Since 1950 it had been on our agenda that it should not have been implemented. It caused a great loss to the country. Now with the manner in which development work is going on in Jammu and Kashmir, the way terrorists and terror attacks are decreasing this is being proved. You can see data. There are many changes which are happening in Jammu and Kashmir," he said.
Highlighting the Centre's development push for the Northeast, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the region 51 times during the last eight years and has put an end to the feeling of alienation that had grown in the Northeast.

Shah was on a visit to Tripura to hold election rallies ahead of the assembly polls in the state.

In an exclusive interview with ANI, the Union Home Minister said, "After PM Modi came to power, we have done a lot of things to change the entire Northeast. The first thing is that there is peace in the Northeast today. There were numerous militant organisations. We have finalised agreements with many such organisations."

The Home Minister said nearly 40,000 families of the Bru and Reang communities had been living in Tripura for over 25 years in inhuman conditions and had been allowed to settle only after the BJP government came into power.

"Agreements were signed with the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) here also. Nearly over 8,000 armed cadres have surrendered their arms and opted to join the mainstream. The northeast was earlier known for blockades, bandhs, bomb explosions and insurgency. Today roads are being built there, a railway network is about to reach all the states and airports have been built in all the states of the region," he said.

Shah said the BJP government is now building a second airport in Tripura, a state that till now had only one airport.

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He lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for undertaking various developmental projects for the development of the Northeast.

Shah said, "Prime Minister himself has visited the Northeast 51 times during the last eight years. Since Independence, no prime minister has come here so frequently. It has been made compulsory for at least one union minister to visit the region every 15 days. Besides this, the distribution of free rice has been done since the COVID times. If any region has benefitted the most in terms of percentage of the population, it is the Northeast. PM Modi has provided houses to the poor of the Northeast."

Asked about BJP's poll prospects in the northeastern states where identity politics is prevalent, Shah said a false narrative against BJP was being spread that the region will lose its identity and cultural heritage if the party came to power.

"They have known us in these nine years. The media used to spread rumours that if the BJP comes to power, the identity and languages of the northeast would be finished. However, it has been seen that since PM Modi came to power local languages have been strengthened," Shah said.

The union minister pointed out that primary education had started in local languages as well as education in local dialects, including those of Tripura and others is also being promoted. "In Bodoland also, preliminary education is done in their language," he said.

Shah said the BJP government has strengthened the regional identity of the Northeast.

Stressing on the Centre's efforts to promote the cultural heritage of the Northeast, Shah said there is not a single national festival in which the artists of the Northeast have not performed in Delhi.

"Their acceptance has increased across the country. The biggest thing that the Prime Minister has done is 'Mann ki doori ko samapt kar diya' (put an end to the feeling of alienation between the people of the Northeast and the rest of India). People of the Northeast today truly feel that they are respected in the rest of India and the people of India should be respected," emphasized the Union Home Minister.

With reference to neighbouring Nagaland, which is also slated to go to polls this month, Shah said, "... Some people had incited and announced a boycott of elections in Eastern Nagaland. Now the NPO (Naga Public Organisation) has been withdrawn. They have said that they trust PM Modi. This shows that such intimidation will not work."

On the Naga Peace Accord which is yet to be resolved, the Home Minister said, "What is an accord for? Accord is for putting an end to violence and violence has ended. There is a ceasefire. A discussion on it is in the process."

Shah further highlighted the BJP government's commitment towards the welfare of the tribal community.

"The tribal community was facing numerous problems. They wanted true acceptance. For the first time, a person from the tribal community has become President of the country. Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas is celebrated on the birth anniversary of Bhagwan Birsa Munda. So many years after Independence, 10 big museums were constructed at the expense of Rs 200 crore to showcase the contribution of tribal freedom fighters and their struggle even prior to 1857. Eklavya Schools will be increased by about 300 per cent. This is a big achievement. The people feel that the government is considering them," he added.

Shah stressed that the benefits of government welfare schemes now reach the tribal community without any discrimination.

"I can say clearly that this did not happen during the Congress rule. Generations got destroyed. Today development has been possible because of peace. Today, children of the tribals receive an education. Since the most number of the poor were from the tribal communities, they benefit the most from it. Water is reaching houses. They have also got gas cylinders. They are getting health insurance cards up to Rs 5 lakh. They are getting free rice. Tribals have also now started to experience development," the Home Minister said.

He added that a double-decker bridge which will be considered an engineering magnum opus in the entire country is being built in the Northeast. All the capitals of the northeastern states will be connected to rail and air facilities before 2024, Shah said.

Elections for the 60-seat in Tripura Assembly will be held on February 16 while voting in assembly elections for Meghalaya and Nagaland is set to be held on February 27. The counting of votes will be held on March 2.
Nikki Haley, a former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador, officially declared on Tuesday that she will run for president in 2024, becoming the first Republican to contest Donald Trump for the party's nomination.

Haley, 51, examined the age gap between President Joe Biden, 80, and her opponent Donald Trump, 76. Biden is likely to declare his candidacy in the following weeks, per CNBC.

Nikki Haley's political views were expressed in a video posted on Twitter, saying that seven out of the previous eight presidential elections saw the Republican Party lose the popular vote. She said the situation needed to change, and a new generation of leaders is needed.

Get excited! Time for a new generation.



Lets do this!   pic.twitter.com/BD5k4WY1CP  Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) February 14, 2023

Haley made her candidacy official a day before her planned campaign kickoff in Charleston, South Carolina, and she immediately began advocating for budgetary restraint and increased border security.

Haley has joined former President Donald Trump in seeking the Republican candidacy. Haley was the US Ambassador during Trump's presidency and left in December 2018.

Read Also: Mike Pence Subpoenaed

Donald Trump Blasts Haley

After the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, Nikki Haley officially distanced herself from Trump, making speeches denouncing Trump's rhetoric leading up to the incidents on that day and his continued assertion that the 2020 election was rigged, according to Fox News.

Donald Trump then seemed to take a jab at Haley by bringing up the fact that she had "publicly" stated she wouldn't run for president in 2024 if the former POTUS did.

In an interview with Hugh Hewitt earlier this month, the former president took another mild swipe at Haley, describing her as "overly ambitious."

Nikki Haley was elected as governor of South Carolina in 2010 and again in 2014. She is the state's first woman and Asian American to hold the position. Before that, she served in the South Carolina legislature for six years, per USA Today.

Related Article: MSU Shooting Update

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Microsoft has started rolling out the new ChatGPT-powered Bing on desktops to early testers worldwide, and it will also be available on Android and iOS in the coming weeks, the media reported.

The tech giant is working on a "substantial optimised interface" for Bing.com's Chat UI for Android and iOS, which includes all-new OpenAI-powered content, reports Windows Latest, citing sources.

In an email sent out to testers, Microsoft confirmed that the mobile experience is not yet ready, according to the report.

"We don't have a mobile experience ready yet -- we are actively working on it and will have it ready soon. Until then, please continue to use the new Bing on desktop and download the Bing app from your favourite app store to ensure you are ready for the amazing experience when the mobile version is ready," the company said in the email.

Moreover, the report said that the company is still optimising Bing.com's AI UX for mobile form factors.

Meanwhile, Microsoft is also reportedly planning to demonstrate its new Prometheus model to its core productivity apps such as Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook.

Also Read Microsoft infuses billions of dollars in ChatGPT developer OpenAI ChatGPT's paid version available for $42 a month for some early users Microsoft set to integrate ChatGPT into Bing Search today, says report Microsoft's ChatGPT-powered Bing browser now available for public use Microsoft plans to demo its new ChatGPT-like AI in MS Office: Report Epic Games alleges Google not complying with Indian antitrust order Apple releases new iOS update with Crash Detection optimisation YouTube rolls out 'Creator Music' for users to monetise licensed music Samsung Galaxy Book3 Ultra laptop available for pre-order in India Super apps to help conversational commerce market reach $135 bn by 2027

In the coming weeks, Microsoft will detail its productivity plans for integrating OpenAI's language AI technology and its AI Model, reports The Verge, citing sources.

--IANS

shs/pgh
Professor Serge Haroche, winner of the 2012 Nobel Prize for Physics, speaking at the Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence, Delhi-NCR, said, "Although physicists worldwide are trying very hard, we are very far from having a quantum computer. However, what will undoubtedly happen is finding new applications of quantum technology, some of which will be more surprising. Once we deeply understand quantum complexities and entanglement, we can discover more applications that we are not dreaming about today. We should keep ourselves open to all surprises. We can never accurately predict the future because if we do, we are limiting our research."Professor Haroche spoke at the Institution as part of a lecture series organized by the Indo-French Centre for the Promotion of Advanced Research (CEFIPRA).In her welcome address, Dr. Ananya Mukherjee, Vice-Chancellor, Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence, said that the event marks a special day in the life of the University."Research is the backbone of our Institution, and we aspire to produce research that changes the world and fosters an excitement that is powerful and enduring. Research is integrally built into our curriculum. We are privileged to have a research infrastructure in the global south, and we are adding to that infrastructure every day to expand an exceptional research environment. As an Institution of Eminence designated by the Government of India, we wish to engage in the country's research priorities actively," said Dr. Mukherjee.Explaining the origins of quantum research, Professor Haroche recalled how the association between Albert Einstein and Indian scientist Satyendra Nath Bose precisely a century ago, in 1923, helped Einstein develop the Bose-Einstein statistics, which has been the cornerstone of quantum research. "This explains the connection between basic and applied science. What Bose-Einstein statistics explained later gave rise to a new field of physics called atomic interferometry."Quashing the hype around the so-called 'Second Quantum Revolution,' Professor Haroche said, "It is time we focus on our research and not over-publicizing it because we can rarely predict what the future holds. All we know about is that we need to pursue basic science relentlessly. We must be motivated by our curiosity. The applications emerging several years later will undoubtedly surprise us."Earlier addressing the audience, Dr. Didier Raboisson, Attache for Scientific Cooperation, Embassy of France in India, said, "CEFIPRA offers 4 million for research between India and France, and we also have a grant of 1.7 million to support student mobility from India to France." He encouraged students and faculty from Indian universities to explore these options for collaborative research."Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence is a young university demonstrating a strong passion for teaching and research. We are delighted to host this lecture here," said Dr. Nitin Seth, Director of CEFIPRA, in his introductory remarks.In his introduction to Professor Haroche, Dr. Sanjeev Galande, Dean of School of Natural Sciences, said, "When it comes to the minute components of the universe, one's usual understanding of how the world works ceases to exist. For a long time, many quantum phenomena could only be observed theoretically. In the 1980s, Professor Serge Haroche designed experiments to study quantum phenomena when matter and light interact. Professor Haroche is a man who followed his dream. With his elementary knowledge of calculus as a child, he could compute complex problems. The astonishing fact that nature follows mathematical laws and the mysterious beauties of the quantum world inspired the child in Professor Haroche to become a quantum physicist."The Nobel laureate's lecture was followed by a panel discussion with three leading quantum physicists in India: Professor Urbasi Sinha of the Raman Research Institute, Bengaluru; Professor Umakant Rapol, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune; and Professor Rajamani Vijayaraghavan of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai. Dr. Subhra Sen Gupta of the Department of Physics at the Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence moderated the talk. Professor Haroche expressed his appreciation for the work being done in India and the passion with which the scientists spoke about their work.Signing off, the Nobel Laureate said, "Collaborations are very important, and they should be developed bottom-up  scientists should organically grow their interests. There is much scope for Indo-French cooperation in quantum technology and many other research fields."The lecture was attended by approximately 600 people from all over Delhi-NCR.
Mary Kay Inc., a global advocate for womens empowerment and education, recently hosted a group of 25 young women from Dallas Independent School Districts Young Womens Preparatory Network (YWPN) / Irma Lerma Rangel Young Womens Leadership School for an educational, inspirational exploration of Women in STEAM. The events led up to the celebration of International Day of Women and Girls in Science on February 11.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230213005585/en/

Mary Kay Inc. welcomed students from the Irma Lerma Rangel Young Womens Leadership School to R3 for a STEAM themed summit exploring being a woman in STEAM. (Photo: Mary Kay Inc.)

The high school-aged students spent the day at Mary Kays Richard R. Rogers Manufacturing / R&D Center (R3) in Lewisville, TX, where they toured the state-of-the-art facility and learned about the different aspects of STEAM-related manufacturing processes in a complex, global beauty company. Following the tour, students heard from a panel of female experts in their respective STEAM fields. The panel was comprised of experts in fields such as Upstream Innovation, Product Formulation, Information Technology, Product Research, Portfolio & Strategy Planning and Process Development. In the afternoon, students engaged in a mentoring lunch where they had the opportunity to discuss different career paths for women in STEAM, personal and professional aspirations, and how we can better encourage, prepare and bolster young women pursuing careers in STEAM fields.

Mary Kay is committed to empowering and inspiring the next generation of women to pursue their passionsbecause the future is STEAM, said Dr. Lucy Gildea, Chief Innovation Officer, Product and Science at Mary Kay. Women are underrepresented in the STEAM workforce, but we can narrow that gap by providing critical early learning opportunities and exposure for young women to seek out and explore STEAM careers of interest.

Young Womens Preparatory Network is a nonprofit agency that partners with public school districts across the state of Texas to operate the largest network of all-girl, public, college preparatory schools in the nation. YWPN schools are located in struggling urban neighborhoods and have a proven track record of academic achievement, high school graduate and college acceptance rates. YWPN formed the first public/private partnership with the Dallas Independent School District, opening the Irma Lerma Rangel Young Womens Leadership School in 2004.

We are thrilled to have our young women participate in a day filled with meaningful connections to women in STEAM, and are grateful to Mary Kay for this opportunity, said Lynn McBee, Chief Executive Officer, Young Womens Preparatory Network. These future leaders are bright, talented young women. To have exposure to other successful women in STEAM fields and see the impact they can make provides them that extra motivation to reach farther, achieve more, and hopefully, one day, change the world through STEAM.

Mary Kay celebrates and encourages young women who are taking charge of their futures through leadership, innovation, and determination to excel in STEAM fields. Women make up only 28% of the workforce in science, technology, engineering and math. [1] By offering continued support to young women in STEAM fields, the company is continuing Mary Kays mission, which is to improve the lives of women everywhere.

[1]Sources

National Girls Collaborative Project (2022). The State of Girls and Women in Stem. https://ngcproject.org/resources/state-girls-and-women-stem

About Mary Kay Inc.

One of the original glass ceiling breakers, Mary Kay Ash founded her dream beauty company in 1963 with one goal: enriching womens lives. That dream has blossomed into a multibillion-dollar company with millions of independent sales force members in 35 plus countries. As an entrepreneurship development company, Mary Kay is committed to empowering women on their journey through education, mentorship, advocacy, networking, and innovation. Mary Kay is dedicated to investing in the science behind beauty and manufacturing cutting-edge skincare, color cosmetics, nutritional supplements, and fragrances. Mary Kay believes in enriching lives today for a sustainable tomorrow, partnering with organizations from around the world focusing on promoting business excellence, supporting cancer research, advancing gender equality, protecting survivors from domestic abuse, beautifying our communities, and encouraging children to follow their dreams. Learn more at marykayglobal.com, find us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, or follow us on Twitter.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230213005585/en/
Pocket HRMS

News Summary

Pocket HRMS, a pioneer in launching innovative and smHRt Solutions for the Automation of Payroll and Human Resource Management (HRM), is proud to present another ground-breaking feature for their users by enabling deep and transactional integration between one of the most popular communication platforms, WhatsApp from Meta, and Pocket HRMS.
Annalena Baerbock arrived in the Chinese port city of Tianjin on Thursday, kicking off her inaugural visit to the Asian nation. That day she visited a high school with ties to the European country and spoke with teachers and students. She also visited two German companies, accompanied on Friday by her Chinese counterpart Qin Gang as they toured a high-tech automotive supplier. This morning, the two sides co-chaired the sixth round of the China-Germany Strategic Dialogue on Diplomacy and Security in Beijing

Apr 14, 2023 05:40 PM
New Zealand was prompted to declare a National State of Emergency, its third in history, as Cyclone Gabrielle hit the North Island on Tuesday, knocking out electricity to tens of thousands of households.

The New Zealand Meteorological Service stated winds exceeding 140 km/h (87 mph) along the coast, with waves reaching heights of close to 11 m (36 ft) near the Bay of Islands, CNN reported.

According to Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, the nation didn't fully realize the scope of the New Zealand cyclone 2023 until Tuesday morning.

Hawke's Bay, Coromandel, and Northland are some of the worst-affected coastal towns on the North Island due to the storm's destructive winds and rain brought by Cyclone Gabrielle.

Read Also: China Harrasses Philippine Coast Guard

Rescue Efforts Ongoing

Over 2,500 individuals and families have been evacuated in New Zealand, including 1000 in the Far North, 400 in Auckland, 93 in the Bay of Plenty, 75 in Waikato, and 1000 in Hawke's Bay, according to The New Zealand Herald.

In Hawke's Bay, rescue efforts are in progress. Half of Wairoa's 8,000 residents have been displaced due to the river's overflowing banks, which have flooded 10-15% of the town. Satellite phones are the only option when neither electricity nor regular phones are available.

Two hundred and fifty thousand individuals have no electricity, per BBC. Homes have been destroyed by falling trees, and landslides have wiped out whole neighborhoods and closed highways amid the New Zealand cyclone 2023.

One river's overflow has severed all lines of communication to one community in the area.

New Zealand Officials in charge of civil defense in Hawke's Bay have said that they are overwhelmed by the extent of the destruction. The United Kingdom and Australia have both offered assistance for the victims of Cyclone Gabrielle.

Related Article: Turkey-Syria Earthquake Update





@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Many Americans are just as blind as love when it comes to crime.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently reported it recorded record losses to romance scams in 2022, with Americans losing just as much as they did in 2021 to such fraud.

Romance or online dating scams are a type of theft wherein the victim gets tricked into forming a relationship with someone only to be fleeced by them a few days later.

FTC Romance Scams 2022 Findings

The FTC mentioned in its report that 70,000 Americans reported a romance scam, with them losing as much as $1.3 billion with a median loss of $4,400 - the same amount Americans lost to romance scams in 2021.

The report also mentioned that the scammers involved asked for cryptocurrency the most, with 34% of the losses being linked to crypto-related transfers. Bank wire transfers or payment is still a popular mode of payment for scammers, with 27% of the losses being transferred this way.

Other scammers managed to trick people into giving them gift cards, sending money through a payment app or service, and other products or services.

Despite these facts, however, 24% of victims' reports indicate that they were tricked into giving gift cards to their scammer while only 19% were asked to transfer cryptocurrency from them - an inverse when compared to the amount scammers received. 14% of the reports said they were tricked into sending money to them by a bank or wire transfer while 15% of victims used a payment app or service to send money to scammers. 27% of reports show that people used other means to send money to their scammer.

The FTC also found out that the most popular lie that romance scammers use is "I or someone close to me is sick, hurt, or in jail," indicating that they use their victim's compassion or empathy against themselves to steal from them.

24% of the victims fell for this lie, while 18% either fell for the lie that the scammers can teach them how to invest, or that they are either in the military far stationed far away or in need of help with an important delivery.

Read More: Super Mario Bros. Movie Brings Nostalgia, Cleverness in Super Bowl Trailer

12% of the victims said they got fooled into thinking that the scammers wanted to marry them, while 16% either fell for their scammers convincing them they had money, or they were either in an oil rig or that they can be trusted with their private/explicit pictures.

The FTC also mentioned that many of the scammers contacted their victims through social media platforms, with 28% of them were contacted via Facebook, while 29% wre contracted via Instagram.

How To Spot A Romance Scammer

Spotting a romance scammer is quite easy as long as you know what to look for. One of the few dead giveaways that someone is a romance scammer is that they're located somewhere far away.

Common backgrounds scammers give their victims are that they work on an oil rig or in the military and overseas.

Another dead giveaway is that their profile seems too good to be true. A dating profile of a scammer may not have any details listed or that their hobbies and interest suspiciously match yours.

Romance Scammers also tend to move the artificial relationship they made with their victim fast, sometimes too fast for their victim. Norton says romance scammers do this so their victims won't catch on to their tactics.

A telltale sign that someone is a romance scammer is if they profess their love to you surprisingly quickly to the point that the scammer wants you to marry them. Romance scammers also tend to make promises to see you soon or move the conversation somewhere private, like through email.

If you suspect Mr. or Ms. Right is a romance scammer, stop communicating with them immediately, per the Federal Trade Commission's article on the matter.

Talking to family members and friends about the scammer is also a good idea, as their concern could mean that your new love interest is a scammer.

You can also do your own snooping by searching the scammer up along with his story. He may not be the only one claiming to work on an oil rig.

Sending compromising photos of yourself is not a good idea as the romance scammer may use those photos against you in a blackmail attempt.

Related Article: Here are Signs That You May Be Falling Victim to an Online Romance Scam
The first Saudi woman is going to space, and SpaceX is going to make that happen.

Axiom Space recently announced the crew members of its upcoming Ax-2 mission, which will take two American and two Suadi Arabian astronauts into space and the International Space Station (ISS).

The private space company has yet to reveal the exact date when the mission will take place, with it only hinting it will launch sometime in mid to late 2023.

Axiom Space Ax-2 Mission Crew Details

Axiom Space mentioned in its announcement that NASA and its ISS partners had approved the crew for the company's AX-2 crew, clearing a milestone for the four-person multi-national team to travel to the orbiting laboratory.

Interestingly, the Ax-2 mission will be the first private space mission to be commanded by a woman and to include both private astronauts and astronauts representing foreign governments.

The Ax-2 crew consists of Axiom Space's Director of Human Spaceflight and former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson and aviator John Soffner from Knoxville, Tennessee. These two American astronauts will lead the privately funded mission and be its aviator, respectively.

The team also comes with Ali AlQarni and Rayyanah Barnawi, two astronauts from Saudi Arabia assigned to be the mission's specialists.

AlQarni and Barnawi are members of their country's inaugural Saudi national astronaut program. Barnawi will become the first Saudi Arabian woman to reach space, while she and AlQarni will become the first from their country to enter the ISS, per Space.com.

Combined, the two Saudi astronauts is the second and third Saudi astronaut to ever reach space.

Read More: [RETRO GAMING] Do You Remember the PlayStation Game Hogs of War?

The team will take a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, docked at Launch complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and reach space and the ISS. Once docked at the space station, they will spend ten days executing their mission, which consists of science, outreach, and commercial activities.

Axiom Space mentioned that the Ax-2 Mission is targeted for launch in the spring of 2023 but didn't reveal a definite date for it. However, the Saudi Press Agency mentioned that the mission might be scheduled during the second quarter of 2023, meaning that the mission's launch might occur no earlier than May.

Axiom Space And Saudi Arabia's Thoughts

Michael Suffredini, Axiom Space's President and CEO, stated during the International Astronautical Congress in Paris in 2022 that "space belongs to all humanity," and that is the reason why he is pleased to welcome its new partnership with the Saudi Space Commission to train and fly Saudi astronauts.

"This partnership highlights Axiom Space's profound commitment to expand human spaceflight opportunities to a larger share of the international community, as well as to multiply scientific and technological development on Earth and in orbit," Suffrandini said.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Saudi Space Commission, Eng. Abdullah Bin Amer Al-Swaha stated that the kingdom of Saudi Arabia is willing to give "unlimited support to the space program to activate "scientific innovations at the level of space sciences, enhance its ability to independently conduct its own research that will reflect positively on the future of the industry and the country."

The country is also interested in increasing the interest of graduates in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and "developing human capital" by attracting talents and the necessary skills.

Related Article: SpaceX Prepares for the Launch of Super Heavy Rocket, Starship Spacecraft
Do not travel to Russia due to 'unpredictable consequences' on war in Ukraine, mission warns in travel advisory

ISTANBUL (AA) - The US Embassy in Moscow issued has a travel advisory for its citizens due to the unpredictable consequences of the war in Ukraine, which is approaching its one-year anniversary.

Do not travel to Russia due to  the potential for harassment and the singling out of US citizens for detention by Russian government security officials, the arbitrary enforcement of local law, limited flights into and out of Russia, the embassys limited ability to assist US citizens in Russia, and the possibility of terrorism, an embassy statement read on Sunday.

It said US citizens residing or traveling in Russia should leave the country immediately, and exercise increased caution due to the risk of wrongful detentions.

The US governments ability to provide routine or emergency services to US citizens in Russia is severely limited, particularly in areas far from the US Embassy in Moscow, due to Russian government limitations on travel for embassy personnel and staffing, and the ongoing suspension of operations, including consular services, at US consulates, it noted.

The press release said Russia may refuse to acknowledge US citizenship of dual nationals and may subject them to mobilization, prevent their departure from Russia, and/or conscript them.

It added that US credit and debit cards no longer work in Russia and that commercial flight options are extremely limited and often unavailable on short notice, urging US citizens to make independent arrangements as soon as possible.

US citizens should avoid all political or social protests and not photograph security personnel at these events," it said.

Burc Eruygur/AA
This image, captured from the website of the North's Korea Stamp on Feb. 14, shows the design of a new stamp featuring North Korean leader Kim Jong-un taking a photo with his daughter Ju-ae to mark the firing of a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile in November last year. Yonhap



North Korea on Tuesday unveiled the designs of a new stamp featuring the daughter of the North's leader Kim Jong-un, known as Ju-ae, for the first time.



The stamp designs uploaded on the website of the North's Korea Stamp Corporation show photos of the North's leader and his daughter attending the test-firing of a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in November last year.



It marked the first time that the North has released stamp designs featuring Ju-ae, Kim Jong-un's apparent second child, since she was first exposed to the public last year.



Of eight stamps, five designs contained Ju-ae's public appearance, including her walking with the North's leader hand in hand in front of a missile on a mobile launcher and taking a photo with troops.





This image, captured from the website of the North's Korea Stamp on Feb. 14, shows the design of a new stamp featuring North Korean leader Kim Jong-un taking a photo with his daughter Ju-ae to mark the firing of a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile in November last year. Yonhap
Toxicologists are scientists who study chemicals and other compounds to determine if they are toxic or harmful to humans, other living beings, or the environment. They ensure that all poisons that humans come into contact with while consuming or utilising a product are free of any negative consequences.

From detecting harmful compounds in daily products to toxicologists working around the clock to verify that such products are safe for human consumption. If this is something that interests you, and you want to become someone who can research various toxins in our environment, you can become a toxicologist.

Scope in Toxicology

Toxicology studies are of various forms, but they all entail the investigation of the effects of physical, chemical, and biological substances on the environment, people, and animals. Toxicology is a multidisciplinary field by necessity, incorporating components of biology, chemistry, arithmetic, and physics. Because toxicology is such a large and diverse discipline, toxicologists frequently specialise on a certain area. Some toxicologists, for example, may be experts in environmental poisons. Others may devote their professional lives to researching the health impacts of radiation poisoning. Other toxicologists may specialise in a specific bodily area or system, such as reproductive toxicology.

Consumers have become more aware of the things they use. As a result, every business is hiring more toxicologists to examine and remove the possibility of negative effects. Toxicologists are needed in a variety of fields, including biotechnology, food, pharmaceutical, teaching and research, and many more. There are always opportunities for toxicologists to advance in their careers. Toxicology will always remain in great demand in India and around the world. Even now, there are more positions available than applicants.

Toxicologist Roles and Duties

The principal duties and responsibilities will differ depending on the speciality area, however, toxicologists typically do a variety of jobs. Most toxicologists spend their days researching substances, performing experiments, and writing reports.

Other responsibilities include:

Investigating and detecting any compounds that are hazardous to humans, animals, or the environment

Participating in controlled trials to determine chemical safety and risk assessment

Creating restrictions for the use of specific chemicals and providing advice on how to handle them

Adherence to regulatory authorities to ensure safe practices following local, national, and international requirements

Reporting, presenting data, and advising on efficient treatment for organisms or habitats damaged by hazardous chemicals

Offering stringent quality control and data management

Job Prospects in Toxicology

Forensic Toxicology

Forensic toxicology is one of the most well-known kinds of toxicology, thanks in part to crime-themed television dramas. A forensic toxicologist is someone who works at the crossroads of criminal justice and science. To run their tests, forensic toxicologists, like other types of toxicologists, must know how to utilise intricate lab equipment, as well as how to interpret their findings appropriately. However, forensic toxicologists are more likely to require excellent communication abilities. They must frequently testify in court and communicate sophisticated terminology to a jury of laypeople. There is a lot of emphasis on the results and interpretations being correct because inaccurate information might easily lead to a miscarriage of justice.

Environmental Toxicologists

Environmental toxicologists investigate and identify chemical and biohazard contamination in food, air, soil, and water. They identify the causes of pollution and develop strategies to eliminate or contain such contamination.

Occupational or Industrial Toxicology

Industrial or occupational toxicologists examine the dangers of toxic exposure to workers and make recommendations to reduce the risk and safeguard workers.

In the event of a chemical exposure accident, industrial toxicologists may be relied upon to provide advice on environmental remediation tactics and treatment options for any affected workers or bystanders. It is sometimes assumed that toxicological occupations are only required in production settings, such as a chemical manufacturer's factory.

Medical Toxicologists

Medical toxicologists are doctors who investigate and treat poisoning cases in hospitals, emergency rooms, and drug rehabilitation facilities. They specialise in assessing, treating, and monitoring patients who have become ill or injured as a result of exposure to toxic medications, chemicals, or toxins.

Regulatory Toxicologists

Toxicologists who analyse items for dangerous compounds are known as regulatory toxicologists. They collaborate with regulatory organisations to establish the amount and concentration of chemicals used in items such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and cleaning agents.




South Korea's top military officer called on front-line troops Tuesday to carry out a "bold" punishment against potential enemy provocations, his office said, as Seoul is striving to sharpen its deterrence against evolving North Korean nuclear and missile threats.







Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Chairman Gen. Kim Seung-kyum made the call as he visited the Army's 2nd Corps for discussions on "concrete action plans to achieve a victory in a potential fight against an enemy," according to the JCS.







"(Kim) instructed troops to build a 'decisive combat posture' for each enemy provocation type, and carry out a punishment in a bold manner on the ground should an enemy provoke," the JCS said in a press release.







Kim also visited a border unit of the 15th Infantry Division to inspect its readiness.







There, he warned that the "enemy would provoke in a situation that the South can hardly predict."







"In a contingency, troops should obliterate the enemy's will to conduct additional provocations through a bold response without any indecision," he was quoted as saying. (Yonhap)


Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong, right, and Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Takeo Mori pose for a photo during their bilateral meeting in Washington, in this photo provided by the Korean foreign ministry, Feb. 13. Yonhap



Vice foreign ministers of Korea and Japan held rare bilateral talks in Washington on Monday, seeking to mend ties soured by the prolonged issue of Japan's wartime forced labor.



Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong said the sides will continue to hold discussions but that they have yet to reach any conclusion.



"We are still trying to find common ground," he told reporters when asked about his bilateral meeting with Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Takeo Mori.



The meeting comes after Seoul proposed establishing a public foundation through which Japanese companies can compensate Korean victims of Japan's wartime forced labor.



"I cannot comment on any specific issue at this point because it is a very sensitive issue not only to us but also to Japan," said Cho when asked if there has been any progress in the meeting with his Japanese counterpart, which lasted nearly two hours longer than it was originally scheduled.



"The fact the meeting lasted longer than scheduled is not a bad thing, but that our discussions lasted longer may also mean we were unable to reach a conclusion, so I believe we will need to continue our consultations," he added.



The Korean diplomat earlier said the countries have narrowed their differences in some areas but not others.



The Cho-Mori talks followed a trilateral meeting, involving U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman.



In a joint press conference after the trilateral talks, the Japanese vice foreign minister said Japan "very much would like to cooperate with the ROK," referring to South Korea by its official name, the Republic of Korea.



He added Japan "would like to restore and further advance sound bilateral relations" based on what has been built since the normalization of diplomatic ties.



Cho said he and his Japanese counterpart also discussed Seoul's concerns over the potential release of radiation-contaminated water from Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant in Korean waters.



When asked if the countries have committed to future bilateral talks, Cho said no specific date has been set for a vice ministerial meeting but noted the possibility of a bilateral meeting between their foreign ministers at the Munich Security Conference, set to be held later in the week. (Yonhap)


Sydney [Australia]: Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan interacted with the 'vibrant' Indian diaspora in Sydney and said that he is proud of their contributions to strengthening the India-Australia relationship. "An engaging interaction with the vibrant Indian Diaspora in Sydney. Happy to see that the community reflects and espouses India's rich diversity, its cultural heritage, and traditions in Australia. Proud of their contributions in strengthening India-Australia relationship," Muraleedharan tweeted.



Indian Diaspora in Sydney (Twitter)

MoS Muraleedharan had a stopover at Sydney on his way to Fiji to attend the World Hindi Conference.

During his halt in Sydney, the Union minister met with Australia India Business Council National Chair, Jodi McKay, and discussed ways to foster trade and business relationships between their countries.

Muraleedharan, along with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will attend the 12th edition of the World Hindi Conference, which will be co-hosted by the Governments of India and Fiji, and will take place on February 15-17 in Nadi.

"This would be EAM's first visit to Fiji. The visit, first by an incoming Ministerial delegation after the formation of the new Government in Fiji in December 2022, would include bilateral meetings with the new leadership of Fiji. The visit comes close on the heels of the first high-level visit to India by Deputy Prime Minister Professor Biman Prasad on 5-10 February 2023," a statement said.

Indian Diaspora in Sydney (Twitter)

Earlier this month, the MEA said that the decision to hold the event in Fiji was taken during the World Hindi Conference in Mauritius last year.

Addressing a special media briefing, MEA (East), Saurabh Kumar said, "The Prime Minister always uses Hindi and has given various speeches in the language in India as well as abroad. This has increased the language's value and more people have been motivated to use it."

Indian Diaspora in Sydney (Twitter)

A 270-member delegation from India will visit Fiji for the event and representatives from 50 countries are expected to participate in it.

Fiji is an archipelago of more than 300 islands in the South Pacific. "The theme for the event is 'Hindi - Traditional Knowledge to Artificial Intelligence' where on one side we are respecting our traditional knowledge and on the other side, showing that Hindi has been successful in walking along with the technological advancements," Kumar said.

The MEA Secretary said that the Indian government is giving large importance to the Hindi language but the language has made limited progress at the United Nations. "UN press releases are now available in Hindi. We are trying to get Hindi its rightful place at the UN," Kumar said. The upcoming conference will comprise 10 parallel sessions.

(With ANI inputs)




The National Assembly on Tuesday adopted a resolution urging swift support measures for quake-hit Turkey and Syria.







The resolution passed the assembly's plenary session with an endorsement of 228 of 229 seated lawmakers. One was an abstention vote.







The resolution centers on supporting rescue and restoration operations in the two countries and providing safety measures for Korean immigrants, students and travelers there. It also calls for mourning victims and comforting their families.







Lawmakers also approved donating 3 percent of their salaries to support quake victims.







Earlier this week, President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered the government to mobilize all available resources to secure maximum relief supplies for quake-hit Turkey. Seoul has also dispatched a disaster relief team to the country, which has rescued eight people. (Yonhap)


First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong, right, and his Japanese counterpart Mori Takeo, left, listen to U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman during a press conference at the State Department in Washington, Monday (local time). AP-Yonhap



Allies condemn Pyongyang for nuke, call for lawful overflight after balloon saga



By Jung Min-ho



Seoul is bolstering security ties with Washington and Tokyo to counter growing threats from Pyongyang as well as its key allies  Beijing and Moscow.



First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong and his U.S. and Japanese counterparts  Wendy Sherman and Mori Takeo  reaffirmed their commitment to protect peace and their shared values in the Asia-Pacific region at a meeting in Washington, Monday (local time), vowing to explore "new areas" for cooperation.



The three countries condemned North Korea's missile launches, which reached an unprecedented number in 2022, calling for all U.N. members to stay united against such acts as the once firm unity comes under increasing threat with recalcitrant China and Russia  two of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council.



"The (U.S.) Deputy Secretary reiterated that the U.S. commitments to defend Japan and the ROK (South Korea) are ironclad and backed by the full range of capabilities, including nuclear, and reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to strengthen extended deterrence with Japan and the ROK," they said in a joint statement released after the meeting. "The Deputy Secretary and the Vice Ministers condemned the DPRK's (North Korea) increasingly aggressive rhetoric regarding its nuclear program and called on the DPRK to immediately cease its irresponsible actions and to abide by its obligations under all relevant UN Security Council resolutions."



The three praised the "resounding success" of joint military drills on ballistic missile defense and anti-submarine warfare, saying they would continue to search for new areas for security cooperation and proceed with systemizing real-time data-sharing on North Korean missiles.



They also voiced for the international rule of law and human rights, in a message that appeared to be aimed at not only North Korea but also China, which has been caught in a diplomatic bind after its surveillance balloon was destroyed in American skies by the U.S. military earlier this month, and a war-waging Russia.



The balloon incident has become a new flashpoint between the two superpowers, with U.S. politicians slamming Beijing for the "unacceptable violation of sovereignty" and Chinese counterparts accusing them of having done the same in the past.



South Korea and Japan openly supported the U.S. response to the balloon. Cho said he trusts what the U.S. stated on the issue.



Cho, Sherman and Mori reiterated their "firm commitment to the rule of law, including the freedom of navigation and overflight." In the statement, they also expressed their "support for Ukraine's independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity" and condemned Russia's "unacceptable nuclear rhetoric."





First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong, right, and his Japanese counterpart Mori Takeo shake hands after their talks in Washington, Monday (local time). Joint Press Corp
An apartment complex that started out with 117 dwelling units per acre gained approval from a majority of Planning Commission members on Monday afternoon.

The .41-acre site at 5103 Central Ave. was initially slated to hold 48 units in a four-story building.

Allen Jones, engineer on the project, said the final number would be less - depending on still another meeting with the neighborhood. He said it would likely be from 32-34 units with 45 parking spaces.

Initially it was to be one parking space per apartment.

Mr. Jones said it had been decided to build better quality units and to have underground parking so that only three stories would show.

The Mountain Pass Apartments, with 264 units, is going in across the street on 17 acres. It is at 17 dwelling units per acre.

A number of nearby residents expressed their objection to the project.

One called it "a bad idea for the neighborhood" and "not appropriate for the neighborhood being on a very small lot" where a house formerly stood.

Another worried that overflow parking from the apartments would gravitate to the nearby dead end 51st Street- blocking emergency vehicles.

Barry Payne, developer on the panel, said, "I'm pro-development, but I have a hard time supporting 117 dwelling units per acre."

However, other members cited the need for more affordable housing.

Chris Anderson, former developer, said the fact that the project did not jive with the Alton Park Plan should not matter since it was devised while Bill Clinton was president.

The Planning Commission staff recommended denial for UGC zoning, saying the two parcels could hold two houses - each with accessory dwelling units (ADUs).

The City Council has the final decision.
Thyssenkrupp, a Volkswagen supplier, said it will be permanently closing its Chattanooga facility on Volkswagen Drive.

In a filing with the state, the firm said worker separations would begin May 6 and be completed by May 20.

The total number of affected employees is 156.












Near the end of last year, Chinas mystery space plane released an object info orbit that was being tracked by the US Space Force (Space News, A Jones 11/2/22). With all the attention recently to unknown objects appearing over America suspected to have come from China, this should cause many to rethink their ridicule of Trumps Space Force.

This year on Jan. 28, the same day a suspected Chinese balloon was detected over Alaska, a camera watching the night above Hawaii caught a series of green laser beams across the sky. NASA is suggesting it may be from a Chinese satellite (Newsweek A Phillips 2/1023). All of these events point toward an increased militarization of space by the Chinese.

When Trump established the US Space Force, the progressives mocked it as a joke (The Atlantic, S Gilbert 5/30/20). A chorus of leftists attacked it in pieces sounding like they could have been written by officials in China. They would rather have the military debating over equity and searching for the right pronouns or bathrooms than defending the space above our nation. So would the progressives.

What would Joe do without the Space Force? Maybe he could divert 87,000 IRS agents to fighting Chinese Astro-marines rather than climate change (NYTimes E Cochrane 8/7/22). Perhaps Disney could create star destroyers to disintegrate Chinese satellites or the scariest of all, the Vice President could stun them with Venn diagrams.

That would be a force with which to be reckoned.

Ralph Miller

* * *

In his letter, Mr. Ralph Miller addresses Space Force as if a new military branch, without whose existence, would have left President Biden to flounder in indecision on how to defend the country from balloons.

Space Force is new in name only. When created it was merely a separation of existing U.S. Air Force authority. The U.S. Space Force is a direct descendant of the Air Force Space Command established in 1982. That command sought to expand Americas advantage in space during the Cold War, primarily through the launch of advanced military satellites.

The Trump administration embraced the push for an independent branch however, and quickly presented Congress with legislation to that effect, which Congress approved in late 2019 after some wrangling. Sixteen thousand personnel were transferred from Space Command to the new branch, forming the core of the new organization. A legislative compromise modeled on the Marine Corps semi-independent status within the Navy was reached to allay Air Force concerns. The Space Force was given its own command structure and position on the Joint Chiefs of Staff but was placed under the nominal authority of the Secretary of the Air Force, ensuring a seat at the table for the Air Force in the space domain. (American University, The Purpose and Mission of Space Force, 7/23/2020)

This past weekend, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (presumably for a substantial speaking fee) bragged to the Kootenai County, Wa. Republicans at a Coeur dAlene ID resort about chewing out military leaders, cursing at them, and calling them liars while she was in a classified briefing (The Spokesman Review, Spokane, WA, 2/11/2023). Presumably these were the leaders of Space Force that were chewed out, cursed at, and called liars by her and the military leaders Mr. Miller is defending, and using to ridicule The Biden Administration. Yet, the audience applauded her.

Rather than ridiculing the Biden Administration about military authority that has existed for decades, why did Mr. Miller not chastise Rep. Greene? After all, she has a resume of two years experience as a representative with no knowledge or expertise regarding national defense beyond the average citizen, compared to the decades of training and experience of the generals she called "liars".

Is Space Force "A Force With Which To Be Reckoned" or was Rep. Greene correct with her allegations and cursing? (As an aside, she also blubbered over the beauty of Idaho, although her audience resided in Washington State.)

To her credit, Rep. Greene may have been the first to publicly acknowledge that space lasers referenced by Mr. Miller exist with her astute perception that California wildfires were started by Jewish space lasers (Lauren Boebert zings Marjorie Taylor Greene over Jewish space lasers, The Jerusalem Post, 12/21/2022)

She has challenged the Biden administration for not shooting down the balloon over U.S. territory, since it could have had nuclear or chemical warfare capabilities.

To those who may agree with Rep. Greene, I ask two questions. Were a balloon with nuclear or chemical warfare capabilities over southeast Tennessee or north Georgia, would you want it shot down over us? Or would Space Force be correct in by waiting for the right opportunity?

Joe Warren


The manager at Buffalo Wild Wings, 5744 Highway 153, gave police an envelope with two fake bills. The value of those bills was $100 and $50. Both bills upon inspection were noticeably false and appeared to be printed on some unknown paper. The manager said the $100 bill was handed to an employee by an unknown customer and the $50 bill was discovered by another employee on a table, left as a tip. There is no suspect information. Both bills were turned into CPD Property Division.



* * *

The manager of Trader Joe's, 2111 Gunbarrel Road, told police an employee found a wallet in the parking lot approximately three days ago. The manager handed over a brown YSL wallet with $200 and two IDs, one GA with the name of a man and the other ID from TN with the name of another man. Police provided the manager with a receipt and turned the wallet and its contents over to Property.

* * *

A man on Zephyr Lane told police that during the night someone had gone into his unlocked vehicle and looked through the console and glove box. He said nothing was taken, but the same thing had happened to neighbors in the area. He got camera footage of the suspect vehicle, which was a stolen vehicle.

* * *

A woman on Cloverdale Circle told Police someone entered her vehicle and stole an iPad and a black 9mm pistol. She did not have serial numbers for either item and was instructed to call back if she locates them.

* * *

Police were dispatched to a citizen assist at Laura Nails, 5063 Hixson Pike. Police spoke with a woman inside the salon who, according to employees, wandered into the store and said she was lost and did not know how to get back home to Crossville. The woman said she left her house to get an oil change and due to road work missed her exit and ended up in Dayton. She said she turned around and found herself in Chattanooga, unsure of how she got here or how to get back home. When police asked the woman if she wanted to return home, she said no, she did not want to drive at night. After a while Police were able to find the woman an Uber ride home and the manager of the nail salon was able to tow her car home.

* * *



Police were asked to check on a man on Manning Street. A woman was calling in from California asking for her friend to be checked on as she had not been able to get him on the phone all day. Officers made contact with the man, who was seen earlier in the day walking around the Walnut Street Bridge and Frazier Avenue. The man appeared to be fine. He said he was having some personal issues with his ex-wife and was not answering his phone. The man spoke to the woman from California while officers were on scene.

* * *

A disorder was reported at an apartment on N. Terrace. Police spoke with a man who said he and a woman were in a verbal argument. Police spoke with the woman, who also agreed they were only in a verbal argument. Both of them said that nothing got physical between them.

* * *

A suspicious man was reported on 13th Avenue. Police found the man sitting on the sidewalk with no jacket and no shoes. Officers spoke with the man and identified him. Due to the man having no shoes and no jacket, Medic 13 arrived on scene and checked on him. EMS cleared him, and the man returned to his grandma's house.
The school board will consider a district-wide policy for student cell phones in high schools in March, with possible approval by April for fall 2023.

Currently each school has its own policy, but the rezoning of East Ridge High School, Brainerd High School and Hixson High School, also this fall, warrants a discussion of a uniform policy, said school board member Larry Grohn.

Mr. Grohn said Hamilton County is one of only four school districts out of 142 in Tennessee without a district-wide policy. The others are Kingsport, Maryville and Williamson County.

Policies in Hamilton County schools range from allowing responsible use all day to requiring phones to be off and out of sight all day. Howard High School has a deposit box at classroom entrances.

Superintendent Dr. Justin Robertson said principals and teachers would have autonomy for instructional use, such as for speech notes or a videography class. Now that students have Chromebooks, he said, students shouldnt need a phone for class.

Principals may also approve devices in designated break areas, such as the cafeteria.

Rhonda Thurman said she is in support of a district-wide policy in the spirit of the district-wide code of acceptable behavior, ensuring that every student is given the same punishment for the same offense.

The committee discussed limiting severely posting images taken on school property to social media, in the interest of student privacy which the parents have entrusted to the school. Posting a video of a fight, for example, is destructive to the victim, and the sharing of explicit photos ranges from a misdemeanor to a felony offense.

HCDE attorney Scott Bennett said the Tennessee attorney general has said schools may confiscate a personal phone. Tyner Academy now specifies that students who bring a phone to school do so at their own risk.

The worst offenses could mean the phone is confiscated for three, five, 10 or 20 days.

The committee agreed to start with the Tennessee School Board Associations sample policy.

The school board will have a first reading of a district-wide policy at its March meeting. The second reading and possible approval would occur at its April meeting and take effect in the fall.
La Paz Chattanooga announced three new members to its board of directors and two new operations professionals to its full-time staff. "The additions to both the board and staff are designed to add critical support and expertise to the booming organization,." officials said.The Latino population in our area is getting bigger and more diverse by the day, and to match the needs  and to capitalize on the opportunities  that come with such unrelenting growth, were building our team to proactively work toward a healthy and engaged community, said La Paz Executive Director Stacy Johnson.I am excited to welcome two new members to our staff and I am grateful that three community members have stepped forward to donate their time, energies, and expertise to our board of directors. Each brings knowledge and experience critical to the advancement of our Mission.The La Paz staff additions continue a growth trend started in the second half of 2022. Since August of last year, the La Paz team has doubled in size.New board of directors members:Melanie Walker  shareholder, Baker Donelson;Moises Cardenas  owner, Sentri Roofing; andForrest Simmons  financial advisor, retired.New staff members:Jasmin Celis  operations and administration coordinator: Jasmin works closely with the executive eirector to provide administrative support with HR, donor cultivation, volunteer engagement, and special events; andJesus Lopez  office coordinator: Jesus is one of the first people you see when you visit La Paz. He supports the team with logistics, administrative duties, and early client engagement
Market Street Partners, PLLC, a Chattanooga-based accounting firm, is teaming up with Lane Ford of Ford Consult to expand MSPs business consulting services.Officials said, "With more than 25 years of experience, Mr. Ford has served as chief financial officer of companies in every life stage. From high growth start-ups to established family-owned businesses, Mr. Ford has provided financial leadership during early-stage funding processes, rapid growth phases, ownership transitions and successful exits.Now he brings that expertise to MSPs clients."Our goal at Market Street Partners is to do whatever we can to help our clients succeed, said Market Street Partners Co-Founding Partner Kyle Bryant. Business leaders have to continuously navigate critical impasses as they grow their organizations, and it is always nice to have a guiding light during those moments. Thanks to Lane, we can be that light, enabling our clients to make informed decisions that will move them toward continued success.MSPs business consulting services include:Improving cash flow management;Working with senior leaders to establish a long-term financial strategy;Consulting on debt and/or equity financing;Family business transitions;Strengthening accounting operations;Improving financial reporting and key metric tracking;Optimizing systems for scalable growth;Developing budgeting and forecasting tools;Preparing for a sale;Preparing for investor diligence; andCoaching for finance and accounting team development.It is the perfect time to team up with Market Street Partners, said Mr. Ford. As their book of business continues to mature, so do the needs of their clients. Our services dovetail nicely, giving us the ability to address a wide range of needs seamlessly in house.
Hixson, Tennessee-based childhood cancer nonprofit Emilys Power for a Cure awarded a $100,000 grant for neuroblastoma research to St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital.



Officials said, "Jon Pat Ransom, Emilys brother, is a medical student at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine. As he finished up his first year of med school, he applied

for a research internship at St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital in Memphis. After

interviewing, receiving and accepting the position, Jon Pat started working at St. Jude in June of

2022. On his first day of his job he learned that he would be studying a new drug to treat

neuroblastoma, the type of cancer that killed his sister in 2006. Jon Pat said he was a bit

overwhelmed because he knew, firsthand, how important this research was to so many kids

around the world. He has always hoped that he would be able to be a part of a team to find a

cure for neuroblastoma in memory of his sister.



"When his parents, Jonathon and Wendy Ransom (founders of Emilys Power for a Cure), found

out about Jon Pats research internship, Wendy was brought to tears and both were so proud of

their oldest son."



Hes wanted to be a doctor since Emily died, and I just knew this was exactly where he was

supposed to be, Ms. Ransom said. I also knew that Emily would be so proud.



Emily was only two when she died, but she loved her older brothers fiercely.



Jonathon and Wendy decided they also wanted to be a part of this research and began working

toward a fundraising goal for the 2022 Pink Bandana Ball, the flagship fundraising event for

Emilys Power for a Cure. In December 2022, the Ransoms proudly sent a check for $100,000

on behalf of Emilys Power for a Cure to St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital, in memory of

Emily.
The man who fired the shot that apparently set off a string of murders in the same Chattanooga neighborhood in December 2020 has been sentenced to serve 23 years in state prison.

Criminal Court Judge Amanda Dunn sentenced Jaylon Hill, 25, to 20 years for second-degree murder, 10 years for attempted second-degree murder, two years for reckless endangerment and three years for possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony. The gun charge is consecutive to the other concurrent sentences.

Three people were shot and killed in the same section of the Oak Grove community in two days. In the first shooting, Hill fired nine shots toward a vehicle that had just left the home of his grandmother, Gloria Hill, on South Willow Street.

Only one shot hit the vehicle, but it struck 38-year-old Timothy Taylor in the head. A woman in the car was not hit. Some of the other shots went into a house on another street. Judge Dunn noted that there were six people in that house lying on the floor calling 911.

The next day after that slaying, Russell Paris, 38, was shot and killed on South Kelly Street early on a Tuesday morning.

Then on Tuesday evening, the 66-year-old grandmother, Gloria Hill, was shot and killed very close by on South Willow Street. Judge Dunn said she had no doubt that the killing of Ms. Hill was "retaliation." No one has been charged in that case.

A witness said Timothy Taylor told them he needed to collect money from a man called Stew. When they arrived at the residence, a man with a toboggan and red jacket approached the vehicle, and the witness said the man appeared to be holding a handgun. The witness said Taylor told the driver to leave. After the driver backed out of the driveway and turned to leave, they told police they heard several gunshots.

Another witness said they were present at the time of the shooting. They told police they saw Jaylon Hill shoot at the victim several times. The first witness identified Jaylon Hill through use of a photo lineup.

Police said Hill approached officers at the same residence Timothy Taylors shooting occurred to try and see what was going on at the house. He was immediately arrested.

Hill was charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, reckless endangerment, two counts of aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.

He was convicted on second-degree murder rather than premeditated murder at a trial in December.

In the Russell Paris case, at approximately 2:40 a.m., Chattanooga Police responded to the 1700 block of South Kelly Street on a report of a person shot. Upon arrival, officers located the victim suffering from a gunshot wound and they secured the scene. He was transported to a local hospital by Hamilton County EMS with life-threatening injuries. He would later succumb to his injuries.

In the slaying of Gloria Hill, at approximately 6:10 p.m., Chattanooga Police responded to the 1700 block of South Willow Street on a report of a person shot. Upon arrival, officers located a victim suffering from an apparent gunshot wound and secured the scene. Hamilton County EMS responded and pronounced the victim deceased on the scene.

At the sentencing hearing, children of the murder victim said they had been devastated by the loss of their father. One said, "You don't understand the effect this has had on our family. My heart hurts every day."

Judge Dunn said Hill had kept a job since graduating from high school. He was working at Burger King at the time.

She said his criminal record included only one misdemeanor conviction.
Chattanooga Public Library will host two performances by the Likht Ensemble, a piano-vocal duo comprised of soprano Jaclyn Grossman and pianist/composer Nate Ben-Horin. The Likht Ensemble will perform with the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera at UTCs Hayes Concert Hall on Thursday. Following that, the Ensemble will also perform on Friday at the Downtown Library.

At both performances, the Likht Ensemble will present various songs and poetry from The Shoah Songbook. This multi-part series arranged by the Ensemble explores music from different ghettos and concentration camps by Jewish composers from the Holocaust. The series is designed to shine a spotlight on great composers silenced before their time, ranging from the subtle poetry and haunting lullabies of Ilse Weber, to the stylistically advanced works of Viktor Ullmann, to the never-before-recorded songs of Edwin Geist.

The Shoah Songbook performance by the Likht Ensemble and Chattanooga Symphony on Thursday will be at 7 p.m. at UTCs Hayes Concert Hall, 752 Vine St. Free tickets can be reserved here.

The Shoah Songbook encore performance by the Likht Ensemble on Friday will be at 5 p.m. at the Chattanooga Public Library, 1001 Broad St. Free tickets can be reserved here.

Americans and the Holocaust is co-presented locally by The Jewish Federation of Greater Chattanooga and the Tennessee Holocaust Commission, with additional support from Lyndhurst Foundation, EPB, Truist, McGriff, CHI Memorial, BCBST Community Trust, The Kennedy Foundation, Patten and Patten Investment Advisors, Southeastern Trust Company, First-Centenary United Methodist Church, Hamico Inc., The Tucker Foundation, Moxy Hotel Chattanooga, Herb Cohn, Amy and John Cohen, Helen Pregulman, and the Watson Family Generosity Fund. CPL and the CPL Foundation are deeply grateful for the support and commitment of these partners.


US' role more questionable as Hersh loses stardom among US media outlets

(Global Times) 08:25, February 14, 2023

Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

Veteran journalist Seymour Hersh's investigative report, that the US was behind the Nord Stream pipelines sabotage, is supposed to be a bomb in news cycle. Yet Western media outlets, who are normally always hungry for scoops, have covered their eyes and ears. Amid the silence, a handful of Western reports that touched upon the disclosure are filled with suspicion toward Hersh.

At the sage of 85, Hersh, a Pulitzer Prize winner, unveiled not only the hidden hand behind the mysterious Nord Stream explosions, but also an unspoken truth that Western media, which labels itself as being free and independent, has totally become a propaganda arm of Washington.

Business Insider, which called Hersh "investigative journalist" in 2015, labeled him as "discredited" on February 9. On the same day, Der Spiegel named Hersh a "controversial US journalist." But in 2016, the media outlet dubbed him "legendary." Apparently, because of the Nord Stream report, Hersh turned from "legendary" to "controversial" and even "discredited." Because when Washington wants to rob the public blind over the case and make them angry at Russia, Hersh set a roadblock.

Hersh's disclosure is supposed to promote, or pile pressure on, relevant investigations. Yet right after the White House rejected Hersh's claims, media outlets from the US, and even those from other Western world, kept up with the stance. They have made a clear-cut posture - when divergences occur between professional journalism and interest groups, they would take the side of the latter, and flush the pursuit of truth into toilet. This also makes people doubt whether they are covering secrets for the current US administration.

A more noteworthy phenomenon is not the change of Hersh's reputation, but the widespread silence of Western media's response. It's been days after the revelation, why hasn't the all-mighty US propaganda machine made any powerful case to contradict or overturn the accusation against Washington? When the US failed to disapprove the claims, it signals that the White House could really be a major suspect, Shen Yi, a professor at Fudan University, told the Global Times.

If that is the case, it means the US has stabbed its allies' backs in real sense. Yet blowing up Nord Stream pipelines is a terrorist act. Some observers even call its nature viler than the September 11 attacks. Without doubt, the US will not admit it. As former President George HW Bush's once said, "I will never apologize for the United States  I don't care what the facts are." The reason is simple, acknowledging or apologizing the wrong deeds US committed could shake the legitimacy of US leaders' political power.

In such a toxic American political atmosphere, there is almost no room for facts, truth, and criticism against the establishment.

Hersh first gained recognition in 1969 for exposing the My Lai Massacre during the Vietnam War, for which he received the 1970 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting. At that time, a growing number of Americans were wising up to the fact that the US could not win the war. Hersh's report helped political forces who wanted to pull American troops out the battlefield. That was a period of time when US political elites were willing to make self-examination on their policies. Those days are over. At present, US policymakers are stuck in their arrogance, without any interest to make introspection. US media outlets playing fool in the face of Hersh's latest report is a sign.

However, when both elites and the media are reluctant to disagree with mainstream US narrative, the country may run into greater blunder in the future.

The North Stream case has not been settled. But the question of who are harmed and who have benefited is as plain as daylight. At this point, media outlets from US allies, especially those from Germany, should think twice before throwing their weight behind whitewashing Washington. What good would turning themselves as US propaganda assets do? After all, Germany is a vivid example of "to be an enemy of America can be dangerous, but to be a friend is fatal."

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)




A Seoul court on Tuesday ruled against the family of a man enslaved to work for Japan during World War II in a damages suit they filed against a Japanese company.







The man, surnamed Kim, was mobilized to work at a construction site operated by Japanese company Nishimatsu Construction in North Hamgyong Province in what is now North Korea in 1942 while the entire Korean peninsula was under Japan's colonial rule, his family said.







Kim died two years later while working at the construction site, and a South Korean government committee in 2006 recognized him as a victim of Japan's wartime forced labor.







Five family members of Kim filed the civil suit against Nishimatsu in 2019 on behalf of him, seeking about 70 million won ($55,183) in compensation.







The Seoul Central District Court ruled the statute of limitations on the case already expired as it concluded the damages case against the plaintiffs.







Under the Civil Procedure Act, those claiming damages are entitled to file a lawsuit within three years upon learning of the damage done or its perpetrator, or within 10 years since the damage was inflicted.







The court concluded the three-year statute of limitations on Kim's case should be counted from May of 2012 when the Supreme Court returned a landmark damages case on forced labor victims to a lower court for retrial in favor of the victims.







The family's side had claimed their case's three-year statute of limitations should be counted from 2018 when the Supreme Court made its final ruling on the landmark case ordering Japanese firms to pay compensation to South Korean victims. (Yonhap)


Southern Adventist University celebrates Ethan David, junior health services and senior living administration major, who was awarded the 2023-2024 Morning Pointe Scholars Endowment Scholarship this month. Southern alumni Franklin Farrow, co-founder and chief executive officer, and Scott Edens, vice president for professional development, both of Morning Pointe Senior Living, presented the scholarship during an event hosted by the universitys School of Business.

Im passionate about the administration of health services and senior living because I believe it significantly impacts society, particularly as the population ages, Mr. David said. Southerns program provides a distinct fusion of business and healthcare while specifically teaching the operational and financial aspects of services for seniors.

Established in 2017, the scholarship supports the education of future caregivers and healthcare administrators while increasing awareness of occupations within senior living communities. Southerns academic program parallels Morning Pointes mission of providing affordable, compassionate senior care throughout the Southeast.

Ethan David provides an enthusiastic view toward life, education, and his potential career, Farrow said. This, coupled with the desire to be of service, is a match that impressed Morning Pointe when reviewing the candidates, and we are pleased that we can award David with a scholarship.

Southern remains a leader in preparing competent young professionals to enter the industry by exposing students to every facet of the field through in-depth courses on administration, finance, human resources, and marketing that are specific to the health services environment. Students also each complete 1,000 internship hours, split between the different areas of care.

The School of Business at Southern offers the longest-running program accredited by the National Association of Long Term Care Administrator Boards and the only Health Services Executive accredited program in the state of Tennessee. This year marked the 38th Annual Health Services and Senior Living Professionals Banquet on campus, which the school coordinates.
To support growing demand, Komatsu has begun producing the companys HM400-5 articulated haul trucks at its factory in Chattanooga. While the trucks were produced in Chattanooga in the mid-2000s, in 2009 production shifted to the companys plant in Ibaraki, Japan, where it has remained until now.

Used primarily in construction, quarry and mining applications, the 473-HP HM400-5 is designed to move material across challenging terrain while delivering productive, consistent performance for operators of all experience levels.

To celebrate the new production line, on Tuesday Komatsu and the Association of Equipment Manufacturers hosted U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann along with other local and state officials for a launch event at the companys Chattanooga plant.

For years, Komatsu has been a proud member of our Chattanooga-area community, providing hundreds of good-paying jobs and generating a massive economic impact for Chattanooga and Tennessee, said Rep. Fleischmann. Bringing back production of Komatsu's HM400-5 trucks is another sign of our strong local workforce and shows the confidence business leaders have in Chattanooga's economy and our values of hard work, low taxes, and free enterprise. I am excited that Komatsu is expanding their operations here in Chattanooga and investing in our community.



Production of the truck has already driven an increase in Komatsus spend with local and regional suppliers. Additionally, the new line will offer more opportunities for area students to gain experience in manufacturing. Komatsu's Chattanooga plant currently has a pre-apprenticeship program that employs high school seniors part-time, allowing them to earn credits toward a full apprenticeship certification through Chattanooga State Community College.



We have seen the demand for our HM400-5 trucks grow significantly in both the U.S. and Canada, which is why we began producing the trucks here in the U.S., said Rod Schrader, chairman and CEO, Komatsu North America. The domestic production of this popular truck supports Komatsu's commitment to jobs and manufacturing in the U.S., and also enables us to contribute far more to the local Chattanooga economy.

AEM is honored to partner with Komatsu to host Congressman Chuck Fleischmann as we celebrate the return of production of the HM400 articulated truck to Chattanooga," said Kip Eideberg, AEM's senior vice president of government and industry relations. "Todays event is a vital reminder that equipment manufacturing in the United States is alive and well, with a future destined to create more family-sustaining jobs in America. As our industry continues to face supply chain disruptions and worker shortages, we need our elected officials to support policies that will help strengthen equipment manufacturing in America. We are grateful to Congressman Fleischmann for his leadership in Congress and his support for policies that will help equipment manufacturers invest in their communities, grow their businesses, and hire more Americans.

In addition to the HM400-5 trucks, the plant produces midsize hydraulic excavators and intelligent excavators, as well as some machines for the forestry market. Approximately 525 people are employed at the Chattanooga campus. Of those employees, 425 are part of the manufacturing operation, while 100 work for other divisions of Komatsu.
Chattanooga State Community College named the Center for Engineering, Technology, Arts and Sciences in honor of Gerald McCormick, a former Tennessee House of Representatives member. Mr. McCormick served from 2004-2018 and was a longtime champion of higher education across the state. The building will now be called the Gerald McCormick Center for Engineering, Technology, Arts and Sciences.

Over a decade ago, when Chattanooga State had the opportunity to purchase a 60,000 square foot processing facility from Olan Mills, the visionary leaders of Chattanooga State at the time saw this as an opportunity to transform this space into a state-of-the-art learning facility for Engineering and IT programs," said Dr. Rebecca Ashford, Chattanooga State president. "It was due to Leader Gerald McCormicks bold leadership and support that the college was able to purchase this building and renovate it into the amazing educational facility that it is today."

Today the Gerald McCormick Center is home to the Wacker Institute, two high schoolsSTEM and Polytech, and most recently, the Global Center for Digital Innovation, a partnership with Hamilton County Schools. In addition, all the colleges Engineering and IT programs are in the center providing instruction in robotics, programmable logic controls, welding, non-destructive testing, chemical engineering, construction management, Mechatronics, Information Technology, cyber security, and many other in-demand fields.

The program included remarks from Dr. Flora Tydings, chancellor, TBR College System of Tennessee; Tennessee State Senator Bo Watson; Bob Corker, member of the US Senate from 20072019; Zach Wamp, member of the US House of Representatives from 19952011; and Tom Griscom, regent of TBR College System of Tennessee from 2010-2020. Mr. McCormick thanked all who helped make this possible, and President Ashford presented him with a framed copy of the permanent plaque.

The dedication of CETAS in Mr. McCormicks honor is a fitting tribute to his leadership to higher education in Tennessee, his impact on Chattanooga State, and his notable achievements as a veteran and public servant for the Tennessee General Assembly. The Gerald McCormick Center will continue to shape the regions future for generations.
Sasol Chemicals will deliver a first fill of its latest Fischer-Tropsch (FT) catalyst free of charge to Ineratec, in one of several recent commitments to promising renewable projects. The FT catalyst will be used in the lighthouse project the Karlsruhe-based clean tech company is currently building at Industriepark Hoechst near Frankfurt, Germany.

The project is based on the companys recent operational success at industrial demonstration scale. According to Ineratec, the new facilities will become the largest production plant for paraffinic synthetic fuels in the world. The plants output is estimated to reach up to 2,500 tons per year, starting as early as 2023. The catalyst provided by Sasol Chemicals will make a significant contribution to produce high amounts of the target products, which is largely designated for refinement into Sustainable Aviation Fuels. Synthetic fuels are a cornerstone in the global challenge to reach our climate goals, said Ineratec co-founder and General Manager, Philipp Engelkamp. Our goal is to quickly build up production capacities. Together with our partners, we want to over succeed the required quota for SAF in 2030. Ineratec plans to develop the technology on a global scale and will invest over 30 million Euros in this first plant alone. The German Government also strongly supports the project and provides funding of around 6 million euros within a funding program of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection.

We are in the fortunate position to aid our partners in pushing the envelope when it comes to synthetic fuels, Dr. Dirk Schar, Manager Technical Marketing at Sasol Chemicals, has commented. Sasols high-grade products are an integral part of many chemical processes. By making commitments such as this one, we are assisting others to realise what we ourselves have chosen as our mission for Sasol Chemicals: Innovating for a better world!

Sasol continuously invests into research and development to further improve its products and is also a leading partner of CARE-O-SENE project, a government-supported consortium of German and South-African organisations that aims to improve the performance of catalysts in the FT-synthesis to accelerate the large-scale production of sustainable aviation fuels. Ineratec and Sasol also partners in the CARE-O-SENE project.
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Incheon Bridge, Korea's longest cable-stayed bridge, is seen at sunset. / Courtesy of Ted Vynorius



By Alison Hong Nguyen Lihalakha



"Annyeonghaseyo. Good morning and welcome." The teacher greeted us, then smiled and beckoned the newly arriving students to take the open seats around the tables in the small room.



It was Jan. 20, 2020, and I had just sat down to learn Korean at the International Free Economic Zone (IFEZ) Global Center classroom in Songdo's G-Tower. This was our first meeting. Across the table were two young ladies in their early 20s  girls really. I exchanged greetings with them before we shifted our focus to the teacher and the first Korean characters we were tasked to practice sounding out.



Two days later, I came in after locking my bike. I took off my ivory winter coat, a recent purchase since we had moved to Korea from the desert, and I had not needed a heavy coat in six years.



I shook away the winter chill and smiled as I greeted my table mates, the same girls I had sat with on the first day of class.



I waited for a lull in their conversation before asking, "Do you work here in Songdo?"



"Yes, we both teach at one of the hagwons," the girl on the left replied. "What about you?"



"My husband works for the Green Climate Fund (GCF)," I answered.



"I knew it!" she exclaimed. "You have that look about you."



I was too taken aback to form a response. Before I could process what she said, our instructor started the morning's lesson. As I repeatedly sounded out the Hangeul characters during class, in my mind I pondered the meaning behind the girl's words. On the bike ride home, I thought to myself, "Apparently, to those hagwon teachers, I am a lady of leisure."





A ferry sails through Songdo Central Park, with the G-Tower in the distance. / Courtesy of Chae Hee-jun (@npointofview)



The following week, our class was postponed due to news of the coronavirus spreading. It was very early on and the pandemic had not yet been officially declared. Out of caution, we were advised to wait for infection cases to ease up before classes would resume. We ended up not returning to class again.



Over the next couple of weeks, I spent more time thinking about what the girl had said about me. Here was an example of how we see, make assumptions and judge people for the way they speak, what they wear and where they are from. It is an aspect of life that is amplified when living in a foreign country where language and cultural differences can serve to compress your social circle.



My expat life began in 2010 when my husband and I moved to Tunisia, a tiny country in northern Africa. In my naivete during that first month, I asked another trailing spouse (the term for those who follow their partner whose work takes them overseas), "What do you do all day?" As if, by virtue of not working outside the home, she had all the time in the world while her children were in school and her husband was at the office.



At the time, I had not had the chance to find out for myself that a simple trip to the grocery store would in Tunisia end up being a three-hour endeavor, or that paying the phone bill meant waiting in line for 45 minutes at the telecom office. These tasks, previously done with minimal thought or exertion, would consume my time and render me an errand runner. My identity had gone from legal professional in the San Francisco Bay Area to family gopher in Tunis.



While my husband worked, I tended to our son, kept the household in order and blogged about our life as expats. We were witnesses to the Arab Spring, and despite ongoing demonstrations and constant security threats, we made friends and explored Tunisia. Our three years in Tunisia were certainly interesting.



We had moved to Tunisia knowing very little about the country, and next we would do the same with our move to Saudi Arabia. Living the expat life sometimes makes you bold that way.



I was desperate to work again, so we asked about job opportunities for me. "Don't get your hopes up," the HR representative told us. "Jobs for women are scarce."



And yet, within months of arriving in the desert, I was offered the opportunity to work in my son's preschool, which led to a series of various positions at the elementary school, including my favorite, working in the library. By the time we moved to South Korea, I had managed to work for more than four of our six years there. In between working, I started writing again and had put together the rough manuscript for my first memoir.



Having reverted to non-working status, I was again a trailing spouse. The hagwon teachers in the Korean class looked at me and assumed I did nothing but coffee meetups and lunches with other ladies of leisure. Meanwhile I had been busy with my duties at work, plus as a mother, wife and writer until we came to South Korea.



They had been wrong about me, these hagwon teachers (yes, ironically, that is my default label for them because I cannot recall their names). They saw me in that new ivory winter coat and made assumptions about me and my life. I looked like a lady of leisure, but that label fails to account for all the personal and professional experience, education and knowledge I have that can be shared and celebrated with others.



It is regrettable that we so quickly and easily judge one another. I did not know it then, but Songdo consists of a wide variety of locals and foreigners, all here for a myriad of reasons, and labeling each other is commonplace. What is more is that oftentimes we end up only associating with those labeled similarly to us. This happens not just within Songdo, but everywhere that I have lived. Even in the early days of the pandemic, in the midst of lockdowns and social distancing, I could see how limiting the labels would be on my social circle in South Korea.





A bridge in Songdo's Central Park is lit up at night. / Courtesy of Chae Hee-jun (@npointofview)
As a kid, I absolutely loved watching The Pirates of The Caribbean movies. Most of what I learned about pirates growing up was centered around men. But did you know that there were a number of female pirates?

One of the most famous ones was Anne Bonny, an Irish American pirate who sailed the seas of the Caribbean in the 18th century.

Anne was born in County Cork, Ireland, around 1700. She was believed to be the illegitimate child of a lawyer named William Cormac and the maid that worked in his home. When Williams wife found out about his infidelity, they separated, and William was granted custody of Anne.

When Anne got older, her father wanted to place her in an arranged marriage. But she refused and married sailor John Bonny in 1718. The two of them traveled to New Providence Island in the Bahamas, where John became an informant to the governor.

Anne was dissatisfied with her marriage to John and eventually started seeing John Rackman, a pirate who also went by Calico Jack. By 1720, she left John Bonny and joined Calico Jack on his ship named William.

Anne joining Jack was unusual at the time, as pirates often believed having a woman aboard their ships was bad luck.

So, Anne occasionally disguised herself as a man when performing certain pirate duties. At one point, another woman, Mary Read, joined the crew, and the two became close friends.

In the fall of 1720, their ship was attacked by another that was led by Jonathan Barnet. He had received orders from the governor to arrest Calico Jack and his crew.

Legend says that although Anne and Mary put up as much of a fight as they could, many of the crew members were too drunk to fight against Jonathan and his ship, so they were all ultimately arrested.

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Anyone who has grown up in or around the church is likely familiar with hymn storiesthe stories that surround the composition of some of our favorite songs of worship.

How many times have you heard the life of Horatio Spafford recounted before singing It Is Well with My Soul? How often has the slave-trading past of John Newton been told to give rich reality to the sweet strains of Amazing Grace (which is just over 250 years old!)?

The same can be said for number of other famous hymn writers throughout Christian history. We love to tell hymn stories because they remind us that every hymn is a prayer and that every prayer begins from the real faith of a real man or woman seeking God.

For the same reason, there has been a resurgence of interest in seeking God through various spiritual practices, especially in recent decades.

Popular books like Richard Fosters Celebration of Discipline and James K. A. Smiths You Are What You Love have challenged believers to consider the role of disciplined, habit-forming practices in spiritual growth and development. As a young Christian myself, I have watched my peers pick up practices like journaling, lectio divina, and prayers of examen as they seek to consistently practice the presence of God.

In the same way, I believe writing hymns should play a role in spiritual formation. And as I reflect on the role that hymn writing has played in my own life, I find that it has become a kind of spiritual practicenot merely an artistic enterprise but a simple and consistent way of responding to God.

I suspect that this was the case for many renowned hymn writers. Fanny Crosby wrote more than 9,000 hymns over the course of her life, and Charles Wesley wrote nearly as many. In Wesleys own words (in a hymn, no less), he wrote, My heart is full of Christ, and longs this glorious matter to declare!

It seems to me that this kind of output must be the result of hymn writing as a habit of spiritual life rather than an occasional creative project. The best and truest hymns arise from a sincere relationship with Jesusor, as Fr. George Rutler puts it in his book of hymn stories, Christ makes the soul sing in the brightest and best way.

I wrote my first hymn at an evangelistic youth camp, where I was preparing to give a sermon on the Resurrection. Thats when I got the news: Halfway around the world, a truck lost control at high speed and struck a car carrying a 19-year-old girl and her father. Both were killed. That girl was my friend and a remarkable example of Christian faith and character.

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Its hard to describe the feelings caused by such a jarring juxtaposition. As I sat preparing to encourage young people with the undying hope found in Jesus, a dear Christian friend was torn away by death.

I put my preparation aside, wandered by the lake, and wept. Disoriented and frustrated with the world and even with God, I pulled out my phone, opened a new note, and began to write.

I wouldnt consider myself an artist or a poet, though I had a basic familiarity with meter and rhyme schemes. More importantly, I had spent my life hearing and singing hymns. It was primarily the influence of those sweet old songs that shaped my writing. After half an hour of crying, praying, and writing, I put my phone away. It felt as though a kind of partial closure had been reached in a conversation with God.

Now, I am under no illusions that my little hymn was a masterpiece. Strictly speaking, Im not even sure it could be called a hymn, since it did not yet have any music. But I know that my hymn was one of the sincerest prayers I have ever prayed. I know that, in writing it, I was truly sitting in the presence of Godor, perhaps more accurately, wrestling with him.

From then on, I became convinced that the writing of hymns deserves a place among the primary spiritual practices in the life of a believer, alongside other forms of prayer and meditation on Scripture.

Like any other spiritual practice, this kind of hymn writing requires discipline and growth but is richly rewarding in return. Whenever I take the time to turn my confused feelings into a hymn, I feel doubly blessed by the immediate fruit of that time of creative prayer and by the tangible reminder provided by the finished hymn. It is rather like building an altar in the wilderness, both as a place of present worship and later as a reminder of Gods past provision.

So how do you go about writing a hymn?

First, I should clarify that I am not using the word hymn in a musically technical sense. There are, of course, certain characteristics that have historically set hymns apart from other music. Hymns are often firmly rooted in the words of Scripture. They frequently build around a repeating melody joined to numerous verses. Hymns may lack a repeating chorus or refrain, choosing instead to lean on the repetition of the melody to provide an anchor for the song.

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But your hymn doesnt need to include all those standard characteristics. My own hymns often diverge from some of these hymnal hallmarks, though they can be helpful as a guideline or starting point. My goal in hymn writing is not to follow a particular poetic convention, though I may stumble across one as I write.

Even still, the idea of writing a hymn can be daunting. Where would you even begin? You may not even like poetry at all! The good news is that you do not need to be a great poet to write a hymnfirst, because your hymn does not need to be great, and second, because many of the sweetest hymns are the simplest.

When I say that you should write a hymn, I am not asking you to craft the next Amazing Grace. Yes, Crosby wrote over 9,000 hymnsbut how many have you heard? How many do you regularly sing? Blessed Assurance is beautiful and timeless, but it is only one of thousands of lesser-known hymns. I would hazard a guess that most of the hymns of history have been known only to their authors. Some may be shared with a few close friends. Very few ever need to become hymnal chart toppers.

Furthermore, many of the sweetest and most beloved hymns of the church are exceptionally simple poetry. It would be hard to call What a Friend We Have in Jesus a groundbreaking piece of English literature, but it would be equally hard to deny the spiritual nourishment it has provided to countless believers! When you sit down to write a hymn, you are simply sitting down to write out a prayer, rooted in the junction between biblical truth and daily life.

To quote Fanny Crosby on her hymn writing, I should sit alone  praying God to give me the thoughts and the feelings wherewith to compose my hymn.  It may seem a little old-fashioned, always to begin ones work with prayer; but I never undertake a hymn without first asking the good Lord to be my inspiration.

Ultimately, hymn writing forces you to speak slowly and methodically to God as you frame your prayer in rhyme and meter. It has often been said that the beauty of poetry comes from its self-imposed limits. Every word must be selected carefully, weighed, and contemplated before being placed gently into the larger tapestry of the hymn. In my experience, this produces a particularly thoughtful kind of prayer.

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Of course, a natural question could be posed here: Doesnt a hymn require music? All Ive really described so far is the composition of spiritual poetry! Fair enough. I must admit that I completely lack the skills necessary to write stirring melodies for my own hymns.

That problem can be addressed in a few ways. For one thing, many of my hymns simply lack music. Yet I do not think of them as poemsI think of them as hymns that await a melody. Perhaps, one day, I or someone else will add one. For others, I set my words to folk tunes that suit my meter. One of my favorite personal hymns is written to fit the melody of the old Scottish tune Loch Lomond.

Finally, I have sent some hymns to friends with a talent for composition and asked them to adapt my lyrics to a melody. I consider this to be a beautiful example of the body of Christ at work in worship. And many of historys most beloved hymns came to life in this way, from Great Is Thy Faithfulness to Silent Night.

My point is simply that you do not need to be a proficient poet or a capable composer to begin hymn writing as a spiritual discipline. You simply need to pray, slowly and methodically, adding a little rhyme and rhythm as you go. Of course, it might be worth your time to read a simple book on poetryI still remember being helped by Suzanne Rhodess The Roar on the Other Side during my years as a student.

But if youve ever read the Bible and youve ever sung a hymn, you have the tools you need to shape your prayers with some rhyming and timing. Before dismissing it as something you cant do, I would urge you to try it. Pick a piece of Scripture, receive from it the comfort and promises of God, and turn them back into a simple poem. Such an exercise can be far easier and sweeter than you might expect.

I stand in firm agreement with the words of Vatican II: The musical tradition of the universal Church is a treasure of inestimable value, greater even than that of any other art. It is fitting that hymnals have so often sat alongside Bibles in the backs of pews: In one we find of the Word of God for his people, and in the other we find the words of people responding to God.

Each generation of the church can add to this ever-growing record of prayers, praises, and pleas. Regardless of whether my contributions or yours are ever sung by a congregation, it is a tremendous blessing to join ones voice to the ancient choir of prayerful praise.

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In a sermon entitled The Memorable Hymn, Charles Spurgeon urges believers to sing many hymns of different sorts, noting that perhaps no one hymn will quite meet the sentiments of all; and while we would not write a hymn for you, we would pray the Holy Spirit to write now the spirit of praise upon your hearts.

And that, dear Christian, is why you really should consider writing a hymn.

Benjamin Vincent is a pastor to youth and young adults at Journey of Faith Bellflower in Bellflower, California, and a teacher of history and theology at Pacifica Christian High School in Newport Beach, California.
Who serves the servers? As it turns out, very few do. In the midst of serving others, those working in the hospitality industry -- waitresses, maids, line cooks and hotel front desk attendants -- often struggle to make ends meet. When crises come, few have the safety nets they need to weather the storms.

This week, host Sandra McCracken visits with Jen Seger, City Director of Big Table Nashville, to talk about the slow work of collaborative care, and the capacity building that can lift vulnerable populations out of struggle and into strength. Big Table, a nonprofit with branches in Nashville, Spokane, San Diego and Colorado Springs (spring 2023), assists those in the hospitality industry with empathy, advocacy, and practical care. Enjoy this conversation as Sandra and Jen talk about the value of journaling, the dignity of the referral model, and the hope that exists around shared meals.

Special Guest:

Jen Seger is the City Director of Big Table Nashville, a nonprofit that cares for restaurant and hospitality workers in crisis through timely interventions, intentional relationships and transformational care. After years of leading as the care director at a large Nashville church, Jen is thrilled to serve the city in this new way. She loves dark chocolate and has a small piece after every meal (yes, even after breakfast) to keep her sweet tooth in check.

The Slow Work is a production of Christianity Today:

Executive Producer: Mike Cosper

Host: Sandra McCracken

Producer: Azurae Phelps

Editor and Mix Engineer: Dan Phelps

Music: Tyler Chester

Graphic Design: Chris Bennett

Social Media: Kate Lucky
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calls Christian Super Bowl ad fascism and sparks a firestorm of reactions

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., sparked a still raging firestorm of reactions Sunday night when she compared an advertisement about Jesus during the Super Bowl to fascism.

Something tells me Jesus would *not* spend millions of dollars on Super Bowl ads to make fascism look benign, said Ocasio-Cortez in a tweet in response to the airing of an ad from He Gets Us, a diverse group of Jesus followers and supporters committed to telling the story of Jesus through "a modern lens."

In one of the 30-second ads from the Christian group called Be Childlike set to the soundtrack of Patsy Clines If I Could See the World, the group urges people to be childlike in humility, compassion, and gentleness.

Jesus taught, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven, a description of the advertisement posted on YouTube explains.

Still, Ocasio-Cortez chose to brand the message as fascism which some experts define as a mass political movement that emphasizes extreme nationalism, militarism, and the supremacy of both the nation and the single, powerful leader over the individual citizen.

While there appeared to be a minority of supporters of the congresswomans tweet, many, like author Michael Isenberg, dismissed her criticism as extreme.

 I watched the ads. Seems to me that if @AOC thinks the message Love your enemies is fascist, that tells us more about her than the He Gets Us group, Isenberg replied. In any case, I feel strongly that members of Congress should not opine on what should or should not air. There's always an implicit threat of legislation, which is inconsistent with our great First Amendment tradition.

Isenberg further noted that Ocasio-Cortezs tweet is remarkably similar to the episode in Luke 7:36-50.

Mary Magdalene does something nice for Jesus. A Pharisee complains that he's associating with sinners. Which puts @AOC in the role of the Pharisee. In other versions, the complaint is about the waste of money, he said.

The He Gets Us campaign, according to its website, is not affiliated with any church, religious denomination, or political organization.

Considering this is the message she got from the commercial, its obvious she never sat in a church. https://t.co/fe0O4SUJB2  theonlycjlast (@therealcjlast) February 13, 2023

Our goal is to help everyone understand and relate to Jesus as hes depicted in the Bible with a modern lens of his radical forgiveness, compassion, and love. We feel his teachings and lived experiences are as relevant to us today as they were 2,000 years ago, the group says. We strive to provide a safe place for people to ask questions, even tough ones, without fear or judgment.

The He Gets Us campaign is a project of the Servant Foundation and receives funding from a diverse group of donors passionate about freeing the name of Jesus from those whod use it to judge, harm or divide.

Throughout our shared history, Jesus has represented the ultimate good that humankind is capable of aspiring to. And though some no longer believe in God, most are still compelled by the idea of a person capable of unconditional love for others despite their differences, the organization adds on its website about its work.

But many of us simply cannot reconcile the idea of that person with the way our culture experiences religion today. Whether its hypocrisy and discrimination in the church, or scandals both real and perceived among religious leaders, or the polarization of our politics, many have relegated Jesus from the worlds greatest love story to just another tactic used to intensify our deep cultural divisions.
Are God and science in conflict? A fascinating, biblical take on dangers of getting 'lost in the science'

Can faith and science co-exist? Christian Post reporter Nicole Alcindor discusses this important topic on this weeks Inside Story podcast.

She also delves into the Washington D.C.-based Museum of the Bible's new exhibit titled, "Scripture and Science: Our Universe, Ourselves, Our Place."

As for the ongoing tension between science and religion, Alcindor pointed to some peoples mistake of losing God for the sake of science.

"I think, many times, people tend to hyper-focus on the science aspect of things," she said. "And they just get lost in the science, and they lose sight of God. And we need God to understand the relationship between science and Christianity."

Alcindor went on to say people can't please God without faith, and affirmed her belief that science and religion complement one another.

"Science and Christianity are basically like sisters and brothers with hands intertwined," she said.

Listen to this powerful conversation.

The Inside Story takes you behind the headlines of the biggest faith, culture, and political headlines of the week. In 15 minutes or less, Christian Post staff writers and editors will help you navigate and understand whats driving each story, the issues at play  and why it all matters.

Listen to more Christian podcasts today on the Edifi app  and be sure to subscribe to The Inside Story on your favorite platforms:
Do wives have to submit to their husbands as weaker vessels in marriage? Pastor answers

On the Sunday before Valentine's Day, a Washington, D.C., pastor told her congregation that God commands His married followers to have Ephesians 5:24 marriages, with male and female partners being "mutually submissive" rather than men dominating over women.

Pastor Amy Graham of The District Church, a congregation of over 50 small groups that meet weekly to study the Bible, warned in a Feb. 12 sermon to watch out for false ideas that Christians and non-Christians in society tend to let guide them in their marriages.



Before Christians can begin understanding what the Bible means about submission in marriage, Graham said that they must first recognize that secular society tends to perpetuate false ideas about marriage.

She said the world tends to emphasize that people need to "prioritize self-care" and that if their needs are not being met, they can "just look elsewhere." It also stresses that "you better make sure you are not sacrificing more than your spouse."

"But with God, the purpose of marriage is not actually about you, your happiness or you getting your needs met first," she said. "The purpose of marriage is all about your being shaped, formed and redeemed to be more like Jesus so that others will know God's love."

Graham said it is important that Christians understand the context of Ephesians 5:24, in which the Apostle Paul was speaking to the residents of Ephesus.

"Paul frames marriage with the same vision that we see throughout Scripture, reflecting Christ's love for the Church. He begins his teaching from a very countercultural perspective of the mutual submission of husbands and wives," Graham preached to the Columbia Heights-based congregation.

"Mutual submission is necessary because of the disease of sin that has infected our human relationships. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Spirit-filled submission, which I would argue is a foundational biblical truth that is a corrective lens for us today."

Graham noted that since societal views on marriage are often skewed, Christians need to be aware that marriage is like "a war" where both partners are on a battlefield. She said their primary goal should be to be transformed by Christ during the process.

"Marriage in our culture is about me getting my needs met. Relationships are more transactional than they are unifying partnerships. We live in a what's-in-it-for-me culture. Concepts, such as self-denial, or putting others before ourselves, seem absolutely crazy," Graham said.

"In society today, and perhaps even in the broader Church today, very few people view marriage as the 'giving up of my own rights for the sake of the other person.'"

Graham warned Christians in the Church often make mistakes by doing the opposite of what secular society tends to do.

Graham said that Christian women, in many scenarios, will operate under the idea that they should be powerless in the face of their husbands because 1 Peter 3:7 states that women are the "weaker vessel."

She said that women are called the "weaker vessel" due to their physical makeup, not their gender.

"Some women might hear this and think that it's coming from a place of pride or that this gives men permission to have a 'trophy wife' of sorts. But that couldn't be farther from the truth," Graham said. "The man's goal is to present his wife in all of her splendor because this is what Jesus does with the Church."

Both verses in 1 Peter and Ephesians are just as relevant today as they were when Paul and Peter wrote them, Graham said.

"Paul's vision for marriage in this passage is an extreme command of mutuality: both persons giving of themselves to one another because they have common values, a common purpose and a deeper revelation of the story of God," Graham stressed, adding that she and her husband have been happily married for nearly 20 years.

"A healthy Christian marriage is built on a sense of mutual abandon to one another. If one person holds back or refrains from this vision, then it doesn't work. If we continue to walk through this passage, Paul keeps on going with a very corrective narrative both for them and for now. He pulls back power and control, and he replaces it with servanthood and love."

Graham said husbands should submit to their wives in love, and wives should do the same. Although submission looks different depending on the gender, it should be mutual, she said.

"The way that a man submits to a woman in marriage is by sacrificing his ego, his selfishness and his agenda to love his wife, which can be difficult as many men are very driven. A husband who can humble himself to see his wife raised up, fully supporting her and encouraging her in her calling, that is what sanctifying love is all about," Graham said.

"And women are not called to submit to any and all men. Not at all. This is about mutual submission and marriage.  God knows women to be capable.  [Submission] doesn't mean that this wife and mother is stuck at home having babies, not qualified to work and not intelligent or educated," she continued.

"With this in mind, the Apostle Paul gives words of instruction to wives in Spirit-filled submission within a covenant marriage. First, let your husbands love you well. That's what submission is, letting go and letting your husband love you."
Missouri AG investigates transgender clinic accused of harming hundreds of children

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has called for a moratorium on a pediatric gender clinic prescribing puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones as it investigates a whistleblower's claims the clinic is "permanently harming the vulnerable patients in our care."

Bailey sent a letter to Trish Lollo, president of St. Louis Children's Hospital, and Dr. Andrew Martin, chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis.

A statement from the attorney general's office confirms that an investigation was launched two weeks ago into allegations made in an affidavit by Jamie Reed, a former case manager at the Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children's Hospital in Missouri.

Bailey's office described the letter's content in a separate statement published Friday. The letter commended the university for launching its own investigation into Reed's claims on Thursday.

"The whistleblower's sworn affidavit says the Center has permanently sterilized hundreds of children, caused many children to attempt suicide, and performed irreversible gender-transition surgeries on minors  all while lying to the public and parents," the letter reads.

"Moreover, the affidavit says that the Center prescribes puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones automatically, without individualized assessment of each child, and often without parental consent."

The attorney general's letter asserts that since the university agrees these allegations are alarming enough to warrant an investigation, it should not prescribe new patients cross-sex hormones or puberty blockers while conducting a review of the clinic.

"As you know, I have been investigating this matter for a number of weeks. As I continue to lead this multiagency investigation, I invite you to both share the findings of your internal investigation with my office, and to fully cooperate with my ongoing investigation," Bailey's letter continued.

The Missouri attorney general requested that the university respond to his office by Tuesday about whether it will impose the moratorium "to ensure that no more children are harmed during the pendency of these investigations."

The St. Louis Children's Hospital and Washington University did not immediately respond to The Christian Post's request for comment.

In the sworn affidavit, Reed stated that she worked as a case manager at the Washington University Pediatric Transgender Center at the St. Louis Children's Hospital from 2018 to November 2022. She wrote that she accepted the job because she supports "trans rights" and believed that she would help provide "good care" for children that were "appropriate candidates" for "medical transition."

"Instead, I witnessed the Center cause permanent harm to many of the patients," Reed wrote.

"During my time at the Center, I personally witnessed Center healthcare providers lie to the public and to parents of patients about the treatment, or lack of treatment, and the effects of treatment provided to children at the Center," she testified. "I witnessed children experience shocking injuries from the medication the Center prescribed. And I saw the Center make no attempt to track adverse outcomes of patients after they left the Center."

Reed claimed that she raised concerns for years, but the doctors at the center instructed her to stop voicing her opinion. She also testified that she saw doctors continue prescribing puberty blockers to children, even if their parents revoked consent, and that the doctors lied in public statements about performing gender transition surgeries on minors.

The former case manager stated that from 2020 to 2022, the center initiated medical transitions for more than 600 kids. One patient with a mental health history, she claimed, had a parent "forcing the patient to cross dress."

"The patient was put on feminizing hormones," she wrote.

While private insurance paid for some of these procedures and interventions, Reed said that from what she understands, the center also billed state and federal publicly funded insurance programs.

Reed shared her testimony publicly in an op-ed published last week at The Free Press titled "I Thought I Was Saving Trans Kids. Now I'm Blowing the Whistle."

In the article, the whistleblower claimed the center "downplayed the negative consequences" of sex-altering procedures and that many young patients did not fully understand the "profound impacts" this would have on their "bodies and minds."

She claimed one doctor at the center prescribed bicalutamide, intended to treat prostate cancer, to a teenage boy to make him appear more feminine. The boy later experienced liver toxicity and breast development, and he was "immediately taken off the drug" after he was forced to go to another hospital unit for care.

In another incident, a 17-year-old girl prescribed testosterone called the center to report severe vaginal bleeding that "soaked through an extra heavy pad, her jeans, and a towel she had wrapped around her waist."

"We found out later this girl had intercourse, and because testosterone thins the vaginal tissues, her vaginal canal had ripped open," Reed wrote. "She had to be sedated and given surgery to repair the damage. She wasn't the only vaginal laceration case we heard about."

Lawmakers in various states have started prohibiting gender-altering treatments for minors due to similar concerns. Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, and the Florida Boards of Medicine and Osteopathic Medicine have banned such interventions on minors.
Students walkout after school district covers up urinals amid backlash to trans bathroom policy

Over 100 students at a New Hampshire school district staged a walkout following the school boards decision to cover up urinals and restrict access to shared spaces in locker rooms amid parents' outrage over a policy allowing trans-identified students to use restrooms in accordance with their gender identity.

The New Milford School District voted 4-1 at a school board meeting last Monday to limit the number of people allowed in school restrooms to the number of stalls in the bathroom and cover up urinals with trash bags as the district looks into the price of installing all-stall restrooms.

Students at Milford High School, and even some teachers and administrators, responded to the decision last Friday by staging a walkout to protest the new policy.

Superintendent Christi Michaud told The Boston Globe that her team has fielded many concerns this week from Milfords male high school students.

"Nobody asked for this," a student named Autumn Diveley told WMUR9. "Nobody but the few parents who complained to the school board asked for this."

Diveley thinks that the change makes things difficult for LGBT students, claiming that it creates a complex system of inequality.

Some students who participated in the protest disagreed with the boards policy change but were unsure about allowing trans-identified students to enter a bathroom that does not align with their biological sex.

"As a female, I don't think it's safe to have males in our bathroom," a student named Lena Silva told the outlet.

The New Milford School District did not immediately respond to The Christian Posts request for comment.

In response to an inquiry from WMUR9, some school board members praised the students for expressing their opinion.

"They held a peaceful protest that was both orderly and message-driven, articulate and positive. It made me proud to be a Milford resident and school board member, Chairwoman Judi Zaino said.

School board secretary Joseph Vitulli, who opposes the decision, believes that the students actions make it clear that the board must deal with this issue ASAP" because immediately changing the bathroom policy was not well thought out by the board.

School board member Noah Boudreault, who proposed the prohibition on urinals, told The Globe that his proposal was somewhat of a "compromise." He told WMUR9 that he has heard from a number of students and that the policy change was in part to collect data and make adjustments if necessary."

The board enacted the recent change in response to a proposal brought forward to alter the districts bathroom policy permitting trans-identified students to use whichever bathroom they choose.

The new proposal would have required students to use restrooms that correspond with their biological sex.

According to WMUR9, the board said it would investigate the cost of instituting all-stall bathrooms.

Oklahoma enacted a similar policy last May when Gov. Kevin Stitt signed Senate Bill 615.

The bill requires each public school and public charter school that serves students in prekindergarten through twelfth grades in this state to require every multiple occupancy restroom or changing area designated either for the exclusive use of the male sex or for the exclusive use of the female sex.

However, one of the provisions under the bill requires schools to provide accommodations to students who would prefer to use a single-occupancy restroom or changing room.

In December, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Florida school district policy prohibiting trans-identified students from using bathrooms that do not align with their biological sex. The federal appeals court ruled in a 7-4 decision that the St. Johns County School Board's bathroom policy is not a violation of federal civil rights law, nor does it discriminate against trans-identified students.

"The school board's bathroom policy is clearly related to  indeed, is almost a mirror of  its objective of protecting the privacy interests of students to use the bathroom away from the opposite sex and to shield their bodies from the opposite sex in the bathroom, which, like a locker room or shower facility, is one of the spaces in a school where such bodily exposure is most likely to occur," Judge Barbara Lagoa wrote for the majority.

In 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal brought by a Virginia school district that lost in the lower court to a former student who sued for the right to use bathrooms and locker room facilities based on gender identity.
South Dakota bans sex change surgeries, puberty blockers for kids

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has signed a bill into law that bans sex change surgeries and experimental puberty blockers for children and teens who struggle with their sexual identities and can be influenced into having irreversible procedures, such as chemical castration.

Noem signed House Bill 1080, also known as the Help Not Harm bill, on Monday, days after the state Legislature overwhelmingly passed the legislation.

South Dakotas kids are our future. With this legislation, we are protecting kids from harmful, permanent medical procedures, said Noem in a statement. I will always stand up for the next generation of South Dakotans.

The signing of the bill received praise from groups like the American Principles Project, which noted that South Dakota was the seventh state to pass such legislation.

The transgender industrys assault on vulnerable children is appalling, stated APP President Terry Schilling. Kids rushed into dangerous, life-changing procedures without fully comprehending the consequences. Parents [were] misled or even outright cut out of the process. It is truly a horror show.

Noem and South Dakota legislators deserve a great deal of credit for acting to protect children in their state from this medical malpractice. The momentum for this movement fighting the transgender industry continues to grow, and were just getting started.

The American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota, which supports the trans-ing of kids, by contrast, denounced the signing of HB 1080, claiming in a Facebook post that Noem signed a law banning gender-affirming health care for any transgender person under 18.

This ban wont stop South Dakotans from being trans, but it will deny them critical support that helps struggling transgender youth grow up to become thriving transgender adults, the ACLU said.

As much as Gov. Noem wants to force these young people to live a lie, we know they are strong enough to live their truth, and we will always fight for communities and policies that protect their freedom to do so.

The ACLU of South Dakota vowed to continue to fight on behalf of trans-identified youth, pointing out that courts have blocked similar laws in Alabama and Arkansas.

According to the new law, a healthcare professional may not, for the purpose of attempting to alter the appearance of, or to validate a minor's perception of, the minors sex, if that appearance or perception is inconsistent with the minor's sex.

This prohibition includes banning puberty blockers, the administering of testosterone, estrogen, or progesterone, in amounts greater than would normally be produced endogenously in a healthy individual of the same age and sex and surgeries that involve castration or sterilization.

The law provided exemptions for treatments involving a child that was born with a medically verifiable disorder of sex development, including external biological sex characteristics that are irresolvably ambiguous, any minor diagnosed with a disorder of sexual development or a child that needs treatment for an infection, injury, disease, or disorder that has been caused or exacerbated by any action or procedure prohibited by the law.

Additionally, if a medical professional began performing sex reassignment surgeries for a minor before July 1 and it is determined that immediately terminating the minor's use of the drug or hormone would cause harm to the minor, then the drugs can be systematically reduced during a period that may not extend beyond December 31, 2023.
Vietnam Communist Party trying to turn churches 'into tools for domination,' priest says

A Vietnamese Catholic priest now living outside the country has revealed how the Communist government of his homeland has put a target on the back of his family and is working to turn the Church into a "tool for their domination."

Rev. Peter Nguyen Van Khai was one of several religious freedom activists and religious persecution survivors attending the recent 2023 International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington, D.C.

He spoke about the troubling religious freedom conditions in his home country, one of the few remaining countries still ruled by a communist party. For years, regulations and laws governing religion have allowed the government to control the activities of registered religious organizations and churches.

Critics warn new draft regulations proposed last year by the Government Committee for Religious Affairs would allow the government to exert even more pressure on registered religious organizations.

Van Khai, a Vietnamese Catholic priest who has lived in Rome for the past decade, detailed his experience as a Catholic priest having to study underground in Vietnam and the challenges faced by Christians in his native country in an interview with The Christian Post.

"The Communist government [has] forbidden me to become a priest and they [have] forbidden me to study in the monastery," he said. "They [have] forbidden me to do pastoral work in churches, and they [have] forbidden me to go abroad for studying."

Van Khai said he studied "theology and philosophy underground [for] 14 years" before he was ordained as a Catholic priest.

After his ordination, he said the communist government subjected his family to adverse treatment.

"My parents and my siblings and my sister and my brother lost their jobs by police. They told them that they are my sister and my brother and  they are not allowed to continue their day job in the  state apparatus," he said.

Following 10 years of working as an underground priest in Vietnam, Van Khai "escaped secretly from Vietnam to Rome," where he works and studies. He has lived in Rome for 12 years.

He told CP that the hostility toward Christianity is a central feature of life in Vietnam.

"Christians are severely discriminated [against] in every aspect of life," he said. "For example, they are not allowed to work in the state apparatus."

"There are no chaplains of our schools, of prisons, [and hospitals]," he continued.

The shortage of available pastors inspired his father, a layperson, to take on the role of pastor at his church.

"I was born and raised in [a] Catholic family and my pastor  was arrested and killed before I was born," he recalled.

Van Khai reported that his parish and many others "have not had [a] priest for more than 40 years."

He said his father was "almost like a pastor" who "offered [an] entire liturgy."

"He baptized the children and the new Catholics. He read also the rites of mass for parishioners, and he ... read also the homilies, the bishops' homilies for people, and he gave the communion to [parishioners] in the church," he said.

Van Khai's upbringing motivated him to pursue a vocation in religious life.

"I saw that Christians were persecuted and that they had to endure so much suffering and humiliation," he said. "I loved them, and so I became a priest underground."

One of Van Khai's spiritual mentors, a fellow Catholic priest, spent 15 years in prison.

Although he acknowledged that "the Communist government doesn't arrest the priests or bishops anymore," he said the situation has "worsened because the Communist Party is trying to control the bishops."

"In our country, the Holy See sends the bishop candidate to [the] government, and the government chooses who they want. So they try to control the church and the priest and the [Catholics] via bishop. And the government [holds] the right of veto," Van Khai explained.

He said that the ruling party in Vietnam is seeking to "turn the church into tools for their domination."

In northwestern, central and southern Vietnam, Van Khai said "people of different ethnic minorities are often persecuted."

Converts from Buddhist or ethnic-animist backgrounds face the most severe persecution from authorities, their families, friends and neighbors.

"When they convert to Christianity, they suffer a lot because of their Christian faith," Van Khai said.

The 2023 Open Doors US World Watch List, which ranks countries based on the level of persecution and discrimination faced by Christians, ranked Vietnam as the 25th most dangerous country in the world for followers of Christ.

"Historical Christian communities (such as Roman Catholic churches) enjoy a certain amount of freedom unless they become politically active, which can lead to imprisonment, or are involved in land-grabbing cases," Open Doors, which monitors persecution in over 60 countries, warns in a Vietnam fact sheet. "Evangelical and Pentecostal congregations, most of whom gather in house churches, are closely monitored and face discrimination at various levels of government and society."

Open Doors notes that since many converts belong to ethnic minority communities like the H'mong, authorities are "particularly suspicious of them."

"Their homes are sometimes destroyed and they are then forced to leave their villages," the fact sheet states. "Yet their numbers are reported to be growing."

Van Khai said cities have more religious freedom because local leaders are "afraid of international opinion," and members of persecuted minority groups have more resources to fight back.

On the other hand, people who live in the more rural regions of the country are "lower [in] the culture and don't have enough capacity to [fight back] against the local authorities" who "hate the Christians."

Van Khai attributed the persecution of Christians "more heavily and more often" to the removal of Vietnam from the U.S. State Department's list of countries of particular concern for religious freedom violations in 2007.

He urged the U.S. government to "increase its dialogue with the Vietnamese government."

While the U.S. State Department has not included Vietnam on the annual CPC list since 2007, it did place the Asian country on the lower-tier Special Watch List for engaging in or tolerating severe violations of religious freedom.

In its 2022 Annual Report, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an agency created by Congress to make recommendations for the State Department's CPC list, recommended the placement of Vietnam on the CPC list.

In its latest annual report on the religious freedom conditions in Vietnam, the U.S. State Department details the strict government oversight that churches must follow to receive government recognition.

"Publishing, producing, exporting, or importing religious texts must occur in accordance with laws and regulations related to publishing. Legislation requires all publishers be licensed public entities or state-owned enterprises. Publishers must receive prior government approval to publish all documents, including religious texts," the report states. "By decree, only the Religious Publishing House may publish religious books, although this is not enforced in all cases. Any bookstore may sell legally published religious texts and other religious materials."

"The constitution states the government owns and manages all land on behalf of the people," the report adds. "According to the law, land use by religious organizations must conform to the land law and its related decrees."


The South Korean government will hold an interagency meeting this week to discuss plans to send a second batch of rescue workers and additional humanitarian assistance to earthquake-hit Turkey, the foreign ministry said Tuesday.





Foreign Minister Park Jin will preside over the meeting scheduled for Wednesday, according to ministry spokesperson Lim Soo-suk.





On Monday, President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered the government to mobilize all available resources for the country's emergency relief and reconstruction efforts.





The second group is expected to head to Turkey this week to replace the first team of South Korean rescuers set to end their mission Friday.





The first batch of South Korea's disaster relief team, dispatched on Feb. 7, has rescued eight survivors in Antakya, in the province of Hatay. Comprised of 118 members, the team is the largest-ever sent by South Korea for emergency overseas rescue work. (Yonhap)














Please pray for Nigeria

I beg anyone who comes across this op-ed to pray urgently for Nigeria. The bloodshed in my country continues to rise daily, and corruption has eaten deep into every sector of government, including the judiciary. Even the supreme court is colluding with the corrupt government and financial actors in rigging the upcoming elections.

In less than two weeks from now, Nigerians will be going to the polls to elect another president that will replace Muhammadu Buhari. This present administration has made my country Hell on earth. Christians are slaughtered every day and the government pretends like nothing is happening. Nigeria has become one of the worst places for a Christian to live and the international community continues to remain silent.



Many hope to bring a lasting change by voting out this bad government, but we need nothing less than divine intervention.

Some years ago I attended a meeting in Kebbi state, Northwest Nigeria where the Commissioner of Environment told us pastors to remove the speakers from our churches. When I objected, he said to me: Dont you know that Christians are second-class citizens in this state? I have since learned that he was exactly right.

In 1986, Sydney Granville Elton  a missionary to Nigeria prophesied concerning Nigeria: Nigeria and Nigerians will be known all over the world for corruption. Your name  Nigeria will stink for corruption, but after a while, a new phase will come  a phase of righteousness. People from the nations of the earth will hold a Nigerian and say, We want to follow you to your nation to go and learn righteousness. We have been known for our corruption and wickedness ever since.

Pray that God should give us sufficient grace to pass through all the remaining phases of these challenges and help us to stand firm even when death stares us in the face. Our love for God should not wax and wane and depend on our earthly circumstances. It is our desire that the United States should include Nigeria in the list of countries of special concern, but it seems like President Biden does not understand the severity of the human and religious rights violations that are taking place in Nigeria.

Pray for the unity of Christians in Nigeria. We are divided along denominational, ethnic, and tribal lines and are now finding it difficult to speak with one voice. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand (Mark 3:25).

Pray that the United States government comes to the rescue of Nigerian Christians.

Pray that God gives us the grace and wisdom to vote rightly.



Pray that God gives us a righteous leader; a leader who will defend our religious freedom, and a leader who will use public funds for the good of the people.

When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn (Proverbs 29:2). Christians in Nigeria have been mourning for the past eight years. We hope God will bring an end to our mourning.



We covet all of your prayers.
Former drag queen shares journey from promiscuity to pastorship

A former drag queen performer who once identified as gay recently spoke of leaving a life of promiscuity and depravity after he had a life-changing encounter with Jesus.

Benjamin Blake Howard, now an associate pastor in San Antonio, Texas, was recently interviewed by Allie Beth Stuckey on her "Relatable" podcast.

Howard said he remembers developing same-sex attractions at around age 6, during a time when he was sexually abused by a friend and his older brother. However, he kept the abuse to himself, all while being raised in a family that regularly attended a local megachurch.

[The abuse] really solidified everything. It really was the seed that planted it all," Howard shared. "It really was what made sense of everything I was already feeling."

I was kind of thinking I liked it, but I felt bad. I didnt like having this feeling. I knew and I felt in me it was not right. ... But at the same time, it gave me physical language to what I was feeling. And in a sense, I wanted to explore this, but I didnt want to talk about it."

A hidden sexual attraction

For a long time, Howard said he kept his sexuality a secret. However, he was often teased and called "gay" in school because his voice was higher than the other boys.

As he grew up, Howard would connect more with the female characters in the cartoons" and "wanted to grow up and be like them," calling it a "kind of female mindset."

One evening, at family dinner, Howard said his mother mentioned how one of the contestants on "American Idol" had opened up about being gay in the news. Then, Howards father said something that stayed with him.

My dad was like, we dont talk about f," Howard recalled. "Growing up in the South, a lot of those derogatory terms are kind of normalized. And immediately ... I just knew we dont talk about it. I was probably like 8 or 9."

Howard said he didnt act on his same-sex feelings until late in high school when he participated in local theater productions.

Being cast in a female role for one production and having to dress as a woman to play the character, began Howard's journey of cross-dressing.

Homosexuality was a lot more open in the theater community," Howard said. "I would show up to the rehearsals and production and people just gave me so much praise."

"It was like instant gratification. All of this amazing feeling. Because again, I grew up bullied. I grew up feeling like I wasnt enough.

'That feeling'

Howard said "that feeling" he got when he received praise every time he showed up to rehearsals dressed as a woman was indescribable, saying he "held onto that feeling."

After graduation, Howard said he became "heavy into drugs and alcohol" and had an on-and-off boyfriend, who eventually broke up when Howard refused to be more open about his sexuality.

I was brokenhearted.  And I was trying to fill a void in my heart that I had for such a long time, he said, adding that he craved attention from men and began "looking for it in all the wrong places.

I started being super promiscuous and going on hook-up apps and trying to find somebody."

Despite the promiscuity, Howard still didnt feel fulfilled. He began to grow interested in becoming a drag performer, watching "makeup tutorials," "drag races," dyeing his hair and creating a drag character named "Velma."

And then I was like, man, that felt good again. That was that feeling. It brought all the feelings back from when I was a high schooler [when] I played that drag character," he said.

The drag life

Howard said he decided as a teenager that being a drag performer was his new journey in life. He also started selling drugs on the side to pay for his wardrobe.

He would show up to bars dressed fully in drag, often sneaking out of his home to dress in drag and perform at night in bars, returning home before his parents would wake up.

I showed up in drag so no one really questioned me. No one really knew my age or expected to card me, Howard recalled.

Eventually, Howard began to question why he wasnt feeling the same fulfillment he first felt when he started out as a drag queen.

Also, at one point, Howard said he nearly overdosed on cocaine.

As a result of these things, he took a break from drag performing.

A new kind of joy

Howard said his mother proposed the idea of him exploring what attending a ministry school in Hamilton, Alabama, would be like. Despite his reluctance, Howard attended the school.

Howard recalled one worship service on the campus where the worship leader said something that changed his perspective on life.

The worship leader stopped and she was like ... 'I feel like the Lord wants me to say this, that there are people in this room that the fact that you have said yes to going to this school and being here today,  your yes is literally setting you up for a destiny that you never could have imagined, Howard recalled.

As the worship continued, Howard recounted feeling something he had never felt before: "I actually started feeling happy.

I had struggled with suicidal thoughts," Howard recounted. "I had struggled with anxiety. I had struggled with all of this darkness. I had struggled with loneliness and not feeling like I was enough. Like I had been through so much at this point, that when I felt this happiness ... just come over me, I was like, what is this?

Howard said he encountered the presence of God and felt he could let everything go and be free. Although Howard still battled with same-sex attraction, he wanted to be a practicing Christian.

After attending a Christian conference that covered the topic of homosexuality, Howard promised God that he would let go of homosexuality for good.

I started being open with my struggle with homosexuality, he said.

Howard opened up to a campus leader about his same-sex attraction, and the leader mentored him, brought him closer to Christ and helped him reject his sexual urges.

Later, Howard met who he said is the woman of his dreams, who he fell in love with. Shortly after, they got married.

I think that its really important for anyone struggling with homosexuality ... for you to get a man or woman of God that is willing to look past who youve been and what youve done and look past your struggles and say, let's get through this together, Howard said.

Howard is the author of the 2020 book From Mascara to Manhood, which details his journey from the drag queen lifestyle to becoming a pastor.
7 Rising Stars in the Republican Party: Underdogs, Minorities, and Females

With the Republican Party's sweeping victories in last month's midterm elections, it has a deep bench of rising stars to draw upon for future senatorial, gubernatorial and presidential races.

Here are seven of those rising stars:

George P. Bush

With an uncle (George W.) and a grandfather (George H. W.) who served as president, and a father (Jeb) considering running for president, George P. Bush's political pedigree and name recognition will provide him many advantages in what could be a long political career.

He won his first political office last month as Texas Land Commissioner, a post that has often served as a first rung on the ladder to the Texas governor's office.

Bush's Latino heritage (his mom, Columba Bush, was born and raised in Mexico), may also prove an advantage in a Party looking to expand its outreach to Hispanic voters.

Tom Cotton

Tom Cotton was already a darling of the conservative wing of the Republican Party serving in the U.S. House of Representatives when he unseated Arkansas's Mark Pryor, one of the U.S. Senate's few remaining Blue Dog Democrats.

Cotton's nurturing by the conservative movement since his undergraduate work at Harvard was well documented by The Atlantic's Molly Ball in a September article called, "The Making of a Conservative Superstar." Other features had similar titles. "This 36-Year-Old Veteran the Future of the GOP?" Marin Cogan asked for National Journal in December, 2013. And Jonathan Chait declared, "Tom Cotton is Now the Perfect Republican," in September for New York magazine.

Joni Ernst

"I grew up castrating hogs on an Iowa farm, so I know how to cut pork."

With these words Joni Ernst introduced herself to Iowa voters and grabbed national media attention. The state senator was considered a long shot to even win the Republican nomination, much less capture the U.S. Senate seat previously held by senior Democrat Tom Harkin.

Ernst was down by almost nine percentage points at one time in her race against Bruce Braley, but she ended up winning by that much, even though most pollsters thought the race was a dead heat.

Cory Gardner

Like Cotton, Gardner is a U.S. House member who unseated an incumbent Democratic senator. In some ways, though, Gardner's victory over Mark Udall was more spectacular than Cotton's defeat of Pryor. Early in the race, Udall was not even considered one of the vulnerable incumbent Democrats that Republican operatives were eyeing to unseat.

Gardner demonstrated his political acumen early in the race when he managed to unite both the Tea Party and establishment wings of the Republican Party behind his candidacy. Udall figured he only had to label Gardner and extremist right-winger to secure his reelection. The strategy backfired, however, when Udall's intensely negative campaign contrasted sharply with the positive agenda put forth by Gardner.

Washington Post political blogger Chris Cillizza declared Gardner "the best candidate of the 2014 election."

Mia Love

Mia Love was already considered a "rising star" in 2012 when she was running for a U.S. House seat in Utah's fourth district and provided a speaking slot at the Republican National Convention. She lost that race but did not give up. The Saratoga Springs mayor won the seat by three percentage points in this year's midterms.

The 38-year-old Love will bring some diversity to a Party viewed as old, white and male. She will become the first black female Republican, and the first Haitian-American, in the U.S. House. In a post-election interview with People, however, Love said her race and gender were not issues in her election.

"I wasn't elected because I'm female or because I'm a certain color. We wanted to make sure we were focusing on issues," she said.

Tim Scott

Tim Scott was already serving in the U.S. Senate by appointment. South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley selected him to replace retiring Sen. Jim DeMint. With his victory last month, Scott became the first black elected to the Senate from a former Confederate state since reconstruction.

(Many blacks were elected to Congress after the Civil War, but after Union troops left the South during the Rutherford B. Hayes presidency, Southern states implemented "Jim Crow" policies that made it difficult for blacks to vote.)

During his swearing-in ceremony, Scott said that he hopes his personal life story, raised in poverty by a single mother, will help inspire children struggling in similarly difficult circumstances.

"I think when you're able to start at the bottom and work your way up, it's hopefully a sign or a signal to so many other young kids growing up in difficult circumstances that all things are possible," he said.

When Scott and Corey Booker, D-N.J., enter the Senate next month, it will be the first time in history that two elected black senators will serve at the same time.

Elise Stefanik

In yet another first, Elise Stefanik will become the youngest woman ever elected to Congress.

Even though she is only 30 years old, Stefanik already has a wealth of political experience. After graduating from Harvard at age 21, Stefanik worked in the George W. Bush White House, followed by Tim Pawlenty's 2012 presidential campaign and Rep. Paul Ryan's vice presidential debate prep team.

Party leaders have already shown an interest in promoting Stefanik by campaigning and fundraising for her candidacy.

In a Business Insider interview, Stefanik remarked that her age and gender will help the Republican Party attract new voters.

"We need new, fresh candidates. We need candidates who are able to reach out to young voters, women voters. I don't look like a normal congressional candidate," she said.

Editor's Note: For a balanced view, The Christian Post planned to also publish an article about rising stars in the Democratic Party, but we could not find any. You can help by leaving suggestions in the comments section below.
Nikki Haley announces 2024 White House bid: 'Time for a new generation'

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley announced her intention to seek the Republican nomination for president of the United States Tuesday, becoming the first high-profile challenger to former President Donald Trump.

Haley, who served as the governor of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017, announced her candidacy in the 2024 presidential election on Twitter.

In a campaign video spanning nearly four minutes, she highlighted her background as the daughter of Indian immigrants and pushed back on the assertions that "America's founding principles are bad," that "the promise of freedom is just made up," and that "our ideas are not just wrong but racist and evil."

Get excited! Time for a new generation.



Lets do this! ???? ???????? pic.twitter.com/BD5k4WY1CP  Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) February 14, 2023

"Nothing could be further from the truth," Haley said. She highlighted the atrocities committed in other countries, including "genocide" in China, before stressing, "Even on our worst day, we are blessed to live in America."

Haley touted her record as governor, recalling how "people here threw out the old, tired political establishment and demanded accountability for their tax dollars." She also stressed that "industry reports called [South Carolina] the beast of the southeast" and "people came by the thousands for fresh starts" during her tenure.

Haley's campaign announcement touched upon the 2015 mass shooting at a predominantly black church in Charleston, where nine were murdered during a Bible study.

"We turned away from fear toward God and the values that still make our country the freest and greatest in the world," Haley said.

"We must turn in that direction again. Republicans have lost the popular vote in seven out of the last eight presidential elections. That has to change. Joe Biden's record is abysmal, but that shouldn't come as a surprise."

Haley condemned the "Washington establishment" for failing the country "over and over and over again."

"It's time for a new generation of leadership to rediscover fiscal responsibility, secure our border and strengthen our country, our pride and our purpose," she said.

"Some people look at America and see vulnerability. The socialist left sees an opportunity to rewrite history. China and Russia are on the march. They all think we can be bullied, kicked around," she added.

Haley declared, "I don't put up with bullies," adding, "When you kick back, it hurts them more if you're wearing heels."

Haley is the first major candidate to officially jump into the race since former President Donald Trump announced his 2024 candidacy last November. Haley served under Trump for two years as ambassador to the United Nations before announcing her resignation in October 2018.

Several other high-profile contenders are considering presidential bids as well.

The RealClearPolitics average of polls measuring voter preferences in the 2024 Republican presidential primaries shows Haley in fourth place among a field of declared and potential candidates.

Trump receives the highest level of support at 47%, followed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at 30%, former Vice President Mike Pence at 7.0% and Haley at 3.8%.

Two unsuccessful 2016 presidential contenders, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, receive 3% and 1.7% support, respectively, while former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo registers at 1%.

Haley won her first gubernatorial election in 2010 by 4.5 points and was re-elected by a stronger margin of 14.6 points in 2014. She resigned from the governorship in 2017, two years before the end of her term, to join the Trump administration as U.N. ambassador.

Haley's record as governor of South Carolina and U.S. ambassador earned her praise from the pro-life advocacy group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.

"Nikki Haley's strong pro-life, pro-woman leadership stands in contrast to the false 'feminism' of abortion advocates," Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser asserted in a statement. The group did not endorse Haley. Instead, they welcomed "Nikki Haley and all presidential contenders outlining their pro-life vision and policy platform in the new Dobbs era as the primary election unfolds."

"As governor of South Carolina, she signed legislation to stop late-term abortions when unborn children can feel pain and she has continued to advocate for our laws to catch up with the consensus of Americans and the civilized world," Dannenfelser stated. "As U.N. ambassador she stood unflinchingly for human rights, advancing America's prerogative of defending life against pro-abortion forces that would impose an international 'right' to abortion on demand."

At 51, Haley is significantly younger than the 80-year-old President Joe Biden and 76-year-old former President Donald Trump. If elected, she would become the first female, Indian-American and member of Generation X to become president of the United States.
'He Gets Us' campaign responds to AOC's criticism of Super Bowl ads

The He Gets Us campaign is responding to criticism from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and others in response to the groups Super Bowl ads that urged skeptics to show love and respect to one another instead of responding to divisiveness in anger.

The He Gets Us campaign, which describes itself as a movement to reintroduce people to the Jesus of the Bible and his confounding love and forgiveness, received backlash from one of the most progressive members of the U.S. House of Representatives over ads it aired during Super Bowl LVII on Sunday.

Something tells me Jesus would *not* spend millions of dollars on Super Bowl ads to make fascism look benign, Ocasio-Cortez wrote in a tweet Sunday night.

Something tells me Jesus would *not* spend millions of dollars on Super Bowl ads to make fascism look benign  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 13, 2023

One of the advertisements in question, titled Be Childlike, featured several pictures of children of different ethnic backgrounds embracing one another, followed by on-screen text reading, Jesus didnt want us to act like adults. The ad, set to the tune of Patsy Clines If I Could See the World, concluded with a declaration that He gets us. All of us.

The other advertisement, titled Love Your Enemies, features multiple images of people entangled in intense conflicts with one another, including one depicting a protest against ongoing coronavirus lockdowns and another picture of violent ANTIFA militants. The ad concludes by saying, Jesus loved the people we hate, once again displaying the phrase He gets us. All of us on screen.

Jason Vanderguard, a spokesman for the ad campaign, addressed the pushback from the Democratic congresswoman and others.

Our research shows that many peoples only exposure to Jesus is through Christians who reflect him imperfectly, and too often in ways that create a distorted or incomplete picture of his radical compassion and love for others, Vanderguard said in a statement to Fox News Digital. We believe its more important now than ever for the real, authentic Jesus to be represented in the public marketplace as he is in the Bible.

He added: The goal is that the two commercials will not only inspire those who may be skeptical of Christianity to ask questions and learn more about Jesus, but also encourage Christians to live out their faith even better and exhibit the same confounding love and forgiveness Jesus modeled. Instead of responding to divisiveness in anger or avoiding conflict altogether, Jesus demonstrated how we can and should so confounding love and respect to one another.

On multiple occasions, Jesus used the term childlike to refer to a humble and trusting attitude, continued Vanderguard, noting that Christians often refer to their faith as childlike, being humble enough to place ones trust in a power greater than self.

Referring to the second ad, Vanderguard asked, What could possibly be louder and more powerful than hate? Love can. But not just any love. Confounding love. Unconditional love. Sacrificial love. The love we see in Jesus.

What if we tried to love our enemies the way Jesus loved his? How would it change the tenor of our conflicts and our conversations?

Vanderguard also told Fox News Digital that Jesus cares about our problems because he has experienced them, adding: We believe that investing in efforts to ensure more people consider his life and movement as an inspiration for their own, will in turn, help improve the lives of those listening  and begin to create the kind of cascade of love Jesus himself sought to generate.

The He Gets Us advertisements appeared to sit well with the American public. The USA Today AdMeter, which measures the popularity of Super Bowl ads based on the votes of a selected group of panelists, ranked the Childlike ad as the eighth highest-rated Super Bowl ad this year while ranking Love Your Enemies as the 15th highest-rated Super Bowl ad.
Rick Warren announces new book release, first in a decade after stepping down from Saddleback

Months after stepping down from his role as lead pastor of Saddleback Church, bestselling author Rick Warren is releasing his first trade book in a decade, Created to Dream: The 6 Phases God Uses to Grow Your Faith.

The book, released by Zondervan Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, will publish on April 11, 2023.

In Created to Dream, Warren helps readers understand how God uses six phases of faith to grow their spiritual maturity while fulfilling the dreams he gives them. Each phase is a test of faith that allows readers to stop wondering if God has forgotten them and begin working with him toward all he has dreamed up for their future, Harper Collins said in a press release announcing the book.

Through discussing Scripture and Warrens lived experience, Created to Dream meets readers where they are in the process of seeing Gods dream for their lives come to fruition. From the dream to decision to delays to difficulties to dead ends and to deliverance, Warren guides readers through each pivotal stage by providing them with hope, guidance on how to pray, and more. Its a book people will revisit over and over because dreams are not a one-time experience.

The book's title is also similar to an advice piece he wrote in 2015 for Pastors.com, titled "How God Grows You Through the 6 Phases of Faith." In the piece, Warren lists: "dream, decision, delay, difficult, dead end and deliverance."

The project marks Warrens first trade book in a decade. Hes the author of over 100 books, including The Purpose Driven Life, which topped The Wall Street Journal's bestseller charts as well as Publishers Weekly's charts. By 2020, over 50 million copies had been sold in more than 85 languages.

Warren, the founder of Saddleback Church, a Southern Baptist megachurch in southern California with a weekly attendance of more than 15,000, recently stepped down from his role as senior pastor of the church.

Pastor Andy Wood, who formerly led Echo.Church in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, Stacie, took over the leadership of the global church operation in September.

Over the years, the church has donated more than $1 billion to Christian causes and the development of support ministries and groups focused on HIV/AIDS, grief care and mental health.

Despite the tremendous growth of Saddleback Church, Warren recently urged church leaders to focus on obedience to Gods mission rather than boosting congregation numbers, warning that fast growth can be cancer.

Im not really impressed with ministries that grow fast. Fast growth can be a cancer, Warren said in a 2019 message.

What I am interested in is the long haul  people who consistently serve Jesus Christ year after year after year.

Im interested in finishing well, and I want you to finish well. Your ministry matters to God. It matters to the Kingdom. We need you to stay in the race. We need you to not get tired. We need you to not quit. We need you to not give up. We need you to finish your race."

God, the pastor contended, did not create you to be somebody else  and those who focus on pleasing everyone end up experiencing ministry burnout.

When you get to Heaven, God isnt going to say, Why werent you more like Billy Graham? The reason we try to fake it is because we try to please everybody. Only a fool would try to do what even God cant do. Even God cant please everybody.
Vietnamese Christians beaten, arrested for refusing to worship Buddha and renounce faith in Jesus

Several Hmong Christians were beaten and arrested by Vietnamese government officials after they refused to renounce their faith and worship a Buddha statue, a pastor has revealed.

Pastor Hoang Van Pa told persecution watchdog group International Christian Concern that government officials threatened 33 Hmong Protestants in Pha Lom village in November if they refused to renounce their Christian faith.

Police reportedly gathered personal information about the 33 believers and carried out an open trial before the community. The officers presented an image of the Buddha and tried to force the Christians to abandon their faith and worship the Buddha statue instead. Four of the Christians were arrested and beaten, and government officials continued to harass Protestants in several other raids throughout November and December.

As Dzung, the representative of the Interdisciplinary Inspection Team, explained that Vietnam has banned the Protestant Christian faith and seeks to expel those who refuse to renounce their faith in Jesus. In 2018, more than 100 believers were expelled from Yen Bai province and Lao Cai province.

Due to its ethnic background and high percentage of practicing Christians, Vietnams Hmong community is often targeted and harassed by both the government and neighboring communities, wrote ICC's Regional Manager Gina Goh.

In a Communist country where Christianity is often seen as unpatriotic or a threat to the regime, Hmong Christians constantly face discrimination, harassment, land grabs, torture, and imprisonment.

ICC has warned that the persecution of Hmong Christians is expected to continue in 2019.

In 2017, police in Vietnam threw stones and beat a group of Roman Catholic priests who were defending a cross erected on church-claimed land in Thua Thien Hue province.

Thien An priest Khoa Cao Duc Loi 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."

Loi told Radio Free Asia that the local police chief and his deputy were present during the attack.

"I knew them because we had met with them several times before," he said.

Others, such as a believer by the name of Bao, who works with persecution watchdog group Open Doors USA, revealed last year that he has been risking his life to distribute more than 100,000 children's Bibles.

"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," Bao said of Open Doors Children's Bible Project.

"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."
Are God And Science In Conflict? A Fascinating, Biblical Take On Dangers Of Getting 'Lost In The Science'

link to download the audio instead. link to download the audio instead.

Can faith and science co-exist? Christian Post reporter Nicole Alcindor discusses this topic as well as the Museum of the Bible's new exhibit titled, "Scripture and Science: Our Universe, Ourselves, Our Place."

"I think, many times, people tend to hyper-focus on the science aspect of things," she said. "And they just get lost in the science, and they lose sight of God. And we need God to understand the relationship between science and Christianity."

Alcindor went on to say people can't please God without faith, and affirmed her belief science and religion complement one another.

"Science and Christianity are basically like sisters and brothers with hands intertwined," she said.

Listen to this powerful conversation.
Special prosecutor appointed in megachurch pastors prostitution case as new emails emerge

A special prosecutor has been appointed in the case against John Blanchard, pastor of Rock Church International in Virginia Beach, who previously saw charges against him dismissed by prosecutors a year after his 2021 arrest during an undercover child sex crimes sting.

This move comes after the Chesterfield County Commonwealths Attorneys Office in Virginia decided to unseal documents in the case after emails emerged shedding new light on the reason for dropping the charges in 2022 and revealed previously unknown evidence, according to media reports.

William Blaine Jr. is the special prosecutor to review the case, NBC's Richmond affiliate WWBT reported.

Republican state Delegate Tim Anderson, who represents the Virginia Beach area where Rock Church Internation is located, obtained emails through a Freedom of Information Act request with Chesterfield Police that revealed why Blanchard's case was treated differently from others arrested for soliciting prostitution from a minor, according to News 6 in Richmond.

Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Alexander Michev said charges against Blanchard were dismissed after Commonwealth's Attorney Stacey Davenport reached a deal with the pastor's defense attorney Noel Brooks. The deal was that "Blanchard would agree to a psychosexual evaluation and sex offender related counseling."

Chesterfield Police Chief Jeffrey Katz wrote in a public statement released Jan. 17 on Facebook that the dismissal of charges against the megachurch pastor was not due to a lack of evidence or a substandard investigation.

"Despite numerous convictions on cases with similar  and in some cases less compelling evidence  we have not been given any guidance as to where this investigation fell short of prosecutorial expectations," Katz added. "Moreover, the public has not been provided an explanation. As I have shared with our Commonwealths Attorney, I believe a public articulation of her rationale is warranted."

In an email he sent to Davenport, Katz described the evidence as a video obtained through a search warrant that incontrovertibly validates police assertions that Blanchard knowingly sought to engage in sex with an underage girl in a Chesterfield County hotel room on the day of the arrest, according to WTVR.

While this new [evidence] doesnt change a single word uttered or activities undertaken by anyone on the day of our investigation, it incontrovertibly validates our assertions that Blanchard knowingly sought to engage in sex with an underage girl in a Chesterfield County hotel room on the day of his arrest, Katz wrote to Davenport cited by Church Leaders.

"Since children cannot rent hotel rooms, it is reasonable to conclude that Blanchard was, at minimum, indifferent to the reality that the person with whom he had been texting was not a prostitute but rather a child victim of human sex trafficking. A felony."

Blanchard was among 17 men accused of solicitation of prostitution after an online sting operation by police on Oct. 29, 2021. The married father of two was charged with solicitation of prostitution of a minor and use of a vehicle to promote prostitution, which are felonies. He was arrested at a hotel where he was supposed to meet a detective posing as a 17-year-old girl.

After almost a year of legal maneuvering, the charges against Blanchard were withdrawn or nolle prossed ahead of a criminal trial in October. A case that is nolle prossed means prosecutors could potentially bring those charges again.

A report from the Chesterfield County Police Department said Davenport cited a lack of evidence in not moving forward with the case against Blanchard, WRIC reported at the time.

Last month, Katz spoke publicly about the case after Blanchards attorney filed a motion to seal all police or court records, transcripts, and investigative records associated with this case and has decided to consent to render these records unavailable to the public, which  upon approval by a judge  would make sharing of these transcripts, the report, or any other documents, previously released under FOIA a crime.

Katz called the move "bewildering," mainly because his investigators have presented cases with less compelling evidence that led to a conviction.

"When someone: 1. Rents a car, 2. Texts a phone number posted on a known sex worker website, 3. Solicits a 'qv' ('John' lingo for a 'quick visit'), 4. Makes multiple inquiries if the person he's texting is 'affiliated with law enforcement,' 5. Drives two and a half hours to a hotel and knocks on the hotel room door  as directed by our undercover '17-year-old,' I believe a jury of Chesterfield County residents deserves to weigh in on the matter of criminal culpability," he wrote in the post on Facebook.
Conservatives need not apply under Biden administrations proposed hiring rules

In a move that has gotten little notice in the press, the Biden administration is proposing federal hiring rules that easily could be abused to deny employment to anyone who questions liberal, woke policies, criticizes the government or belongs to a politically incorrect organization.

The vague, nebulous language of the proposed changes in existing government hiring regulations could be exploited and allow biased government managers to put up a virtual Conservatives Need Not Apply sign when it comes to the federal civil service, leaving rejected applicants with little recourse.

The Office of Personnel Management, the human resources department of the federal government, proposed amendments Jan. 31 in the Federal Register to the personnel vetting investigative and adjudicative processes for determining suitability and fitness for government employment (88 FR 6192).

The public now has until April 3 to file comments on the proposed Suitability and Fitness Vetting amendments.

As the proposal explains, the term suitability and fitness refers to a decision by an agency that an individual does or does not have the required level of character and conduct necessary to work in a federal agency. This assessment has nothing to do with someones qualifications for a job and everything to do with a subjective assessment of a prospective employee.

Under the current regulation, 731.202(b)(7), an applicant is disqualified from employment by the federal government for knowing and willful engagement in acts or activities designed to overthrow the U.S. Government.

Certainly, no one disagrees with that standard, since no one should be a federal employee who has engaged in such behavior. Its a standard question that background investigators ask a prospective employees listed references.

The Biden administration, however, is proposing to replace that straightforward standard with four enigmatic standards:

Knowing engagement in acts or activities with the purpose of overthrowing Federal, State, local, or tribal government.

Acts of force, violence, intimidation, or coercion with the purpose of denying others the free exercise of their rights under the U.S. Constitution or any state constitution.

Attempting to indoctrinate others or to incite them to action in furtherance of illegal acts.

Active membership or leadership in a group with knowledge of its unlawful aims, or participation in such a group with specific intent to further its unlawful aims.

The first standard above is similar to the current standard. It is not controversial. But the problem with the other three proposed standards is that they are so broad and so vague  nuanced, in the words of OPMs proposal  that they will give ideologues who predominate the civil services ranks the ability to reject almost anyone who is critical of government policies.

Managers also could reject anyone who questions the acts and behavior of government officials or who voices opinions that dont fit with the accepted political orthodoxy of the times, such as viewing racial preferences in hiring or college admissions as unacceptable, immoral discrimination.

Do you doubt that? Members of the progressive Left long have claimed that words and free speech are a literal form of violence, that they amount to intimidation and coercion.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., notably claims that criticism of her is not tone, its violence, and in 2018, former Vice President Joe Biden linked the rhetoric of then-President Donald Trump to mass shootings and terror bombings.

After all, if words are venom and violence, the Left never needs to engage in a real debate.

These are the same people who canceled Harry Potter novelist J.K. Rowling by arguing that her opinions on Twitter represent a violent threat to the trans community. The Left is pushing to classify as criminal hate speech any opinions with which it disagrees on issues such as illegal immigration, racial preferences, and abortion, claiming such speech marginalizes certain social groups.

Is expressing the opinion that there is no constitutional right to abortion an act of intimidation or coercion that denies others the free exercise of their rights under the U.S. Constitution under the second new character and fitness standard that the Office of Personnel Management wants to apply?

Thats probably the view of those, including the current president of the United States, who have harshly condemned the Supreme Courts decision in the Dobbs case and claiming the high court is absolutely wrong when it says there is no right to abortion in the U.S. Constitution.

Ask yourself this: Can you imagine a government bureaucrat in charge of hiring ever claiming that opposition to liberal state abortion laws is an attempt to indoctrinate others or to incite them to action in furtherance of illegal acts, thereby allowing the applicant to be rejected under OPMs third proposed standard?

Its not hard to imagine, is it? If youre a member or leader of a pro-life group trying to change the law in a state such as California that legalizes abortion up through birth, is that active membership or leadership in a group with unlawful aims under the fourth proposed OPM standard?

And the same is true if you express an opinion adverse to illegal immigration and illegal aliens in a sanctuary state, or object in a state that has legalized racial discrimination in admissions to state colleges and universities. You could be considered to be attempting to deny such illegal aliens or beneficiaries of discriminatory admissions policies their rights under state law.

If the Office of Personnel Management wants to do something to help protect the free exercise of rights by the public under the Constitution, it could start by investigating every federal employee within the FBI, the Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security, and other agencies that have been involved in directing social media companies to censor the opinions and views of American citizens.

Or, if OPM leaders dont have the backbone to do that, how about investigating every federal government employee who labeled as domestic terrorists the parents who showed up at local school board meetings to complain about the racist propaganda being fed to their children? Or every government employee who targeted Catholics for their traditional views on marriage, abortion, and other issues? Or every government employee who contributed to the political persecutions of pro-life advocates through abuse of the FACE Act?

Dont count on that happening.

So, rather than do the hard work of holding its current workforce to appropriate standards, the Office of Personnel Management wants to make it even easier on the front end for the federal government to unfairly discriminate in its hiring practices.

Originally published on The Daily Signal.


Mongolia supports South Korea's bid to host the World Expo in the southern city of Busan in 2030, as it will help benefit all Asian countries in the region, its prime minister said Tuesday.





"The Mongolian government supports South Korea's push to host the 2030 World Expo," Prime Minister Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene said during a forum jointly organized by the business lobbies of the two countries.





"South Korea has become an economic powerhouse in the world, and the more South Korea prospers the more beneficial it will be to all Asian countries," he said at the South Korea-Mongolia Business Forum.





Oyun-Erdene was on an official five-day visit to Seoul this week for talks with his South Korean counterpart and other government officials.





Calling Busan a "hub that could connect his country to the Pacific," Oyun-Erdene expressed hope to deepen cooperation and exchanges with South Korea in business and investment.





Mongolia has been opening up its aviation industry and pushing for various projects in railroad infrastructure, areas that could be discussed for business partnerships, he noted.





Participants at the forum also discussed a range of topics of mutual interest, including supply chains in minerals and resources, according to the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, one of the hosts for the event.





Top government officials were among the attendees, including Mongolian Foreign Minister Batmunkh Battsetseg and South Korean Deputy Trade Minister Jeong Dae-jin.





The business forum took place for the first time in five years. (Yonhap)










Revelation 8: Trumpets announce something bad is about to happen

These are times of significant anxiety. Every day tens of thousands of people feel like something bad is about to happen. This free-floating worry is vague and uncertain, and it troubles them deeply.

PsychReel, a group which is made up of psychologists and other mental health professionals, says:

Feeling something bad is going to happen is particularly common in the current times because of the instability around us, in the face of political upheaval and social issues, as well as the biggest healthcare crisis we have seen in our lifetime in the pandemic. This feeling is not completely unjustified in the face of all the uncertainty, and given that something bad keeps happening daily these days, most people might think their feeling of something bad isnt even that far off base, but if it is keeping you wired and worried all the time, it is not helpful, and you should do something about it.

One example of this is something now referred to in the mental health field as Rapture Anxiety. Another name for this so-called mental and emotional disorder is Religious Trauma Syndrome. Its a new area of study that suggests preaching on the Second Coming of Christ and explaining that the Lord could come at any moment psychologically traumatizes people.

There is a woman who calls me on the telephone whenever some incident occurs she thinks might be related to the end times. With a fretful tone, she asks me: Do you think this has anything to do with Christs coming again? The prospect of Christs return and the frightening affairs which precede it have her stomach tied in knots. She knows she isnt in right relationship with God. She knows if the Lord comes soon, she wont be ready.

There is, however, a previous member of my staff who grew up a child of missionaries in Africa. As a youngster, one day, he listened to a reading from Revelation about the future Apocalypse of Gods judgment. He was horrified. His parents then explained Gods offer of grace in Christ, and he gave his heart to the Lord. Today, he often talks about the Lords return with exuberance. Hes looking forward to it with joy. Hes at complete peace because he trusts in what Jesus did on the Cross to save him from that terrible day.

Whats the difference between these two people? Its simple: one did something about his fears, and the other hasnt.

In Revelation chapter 8, the Lord Jesus breaks the seventh seal of the scroll. The time frame is the second half of the Tribulation period, which some scholars call The Great Tribulation.

When the seventh seal is opened, there is silence in Heaven for a space of a half-hour. The prayers of the Tribulation saints ascend to God from the altar. God releases his wrath with thunder, lightning, and an earthquake based on these prayers.

Amid these activities, seven angels are given seven trumpets. In the Bible, trumpets represent great movements of God  interventions in human history. Its an alarm in the spiritual realm to make ready  to prepare. For example:

Joel 2:1 reads, Sound the trumpet in Jerusalem! Raise the alarm on my holy mountain! Let everyone tremble in fear because the day of the LORD is upon us.

Zephaniah 1:16 says, That terrible day of the Lord is near. Swiftly it comes  a day of bitter tears, a day when even strong men will cry out. It will be a day when the Lords anger is poured out  a day of terrible distress and anguish, a day of ruin and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness, a day of trumpet calls and battle cries.

Jesus said in Matthew 24:31: And he [God] will send out his angels with the mighty blast of a trumpet, and they will gather his chosen ones from all over the worldfrom the farthest ends of the earth and Heaven.

Some great Bible teachers say that the trumpets in Revelation and what they announce coming on the earth should be understood as symbolic. Others say they should be taken literally.

John Phillips, in his book Exploring Revelation, surveys both possibilities.

Concerning the first trumpet blown, the Scripture says:

The first angel blew his trumpet, and hail and fire mixed with blood were thrown down on the earth. One-third of the earth was set on fire, one-third of the trees were burned, and all the green grass was burned (Revelation 8:7).

Phillips writes of this first trumpet:

This can be interpreted symbolically or literally, or the interpretation might include both symbolic and literal elements. Looked upon as a literal occurrence, an ecological disaster without parallel in historic times is described. The planet is denuded of a third of its trees and all of its grass  Modern warfare now includes the deliberate defoliating of large areas of forest to deprive the enemy of cover. A literal fulfillment of this judgment is certainly credible  On the other hand, the verse can just as easily be symbolic. In this case, the grass would represent the masses of mankind, and the trees would represent prominent leaders and rulers (Psalm 103:15; Judges 9:7-15; Daniel 4:4-27). What is symbolized thus is a major upheaval among the nations which results in the downfall of many people in high places and a mass depopulation of the globe.

Concerning the second trumpet blast, verses 8 and 9 of Revelation 8 read:

Then the second angel blew his trumpet, and a great mountain of fire was thrown into the sea. One-third of the water in the sea became blood, one-third of all things living in the sea died, and one-third of all the ships on the sea were destroyed.

Phillips says of the second trumpet:

Is this a literal or a symbolic event? Ships are literal enough, but casting a mountain into the sea has to be symbolic. The sea in Scripture is a well-known symbol of godless mankind (Isaiah 57:20). A mountain is frequently used to symbolize a great nation. Babylon, for example, is called a destroying mountain (Jeremiah 51:25), and the Lords coming worldwide empire is likened to a mountain (Daniel 2:35). The mountain mentioned here in the Apocalypse is a volcano, a burning mountain  In 1939, the hour came, and the Nazi volcano erupted. Burning and blazing with a fierce energy for war, it was cast into the sea of nations. For six long years, the sea boiled and foamed as it sought to extinguish the fires which burned in the heart of that terrible mountain. It is a picture of what is to come.

Concerning the third trumpet that sounded, the Bible tells us:

Then the third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from the sky, burning like a torch. It fell on one-third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star was Bitterness [Wormwood]. It made one-third of the water bitter, and many people died from drinking the bitter water (Revelation 8:10-11).

Phillips calls this section the trumpet of the banished star. He says:

If this is taken literally, then a third ecological disaster is depicted. The trees, the grass, the sea have all been devastated; now, the rivers and fountains are spoiled. But a disaster affecting the water supply of mankind hardly seems a sufficient explanation of what happens under this trumpet. The events described must probably be taken symbolically, even though interpreters have varied widely in seeking to identify the fallen star. Simon Magus; Atilla, the scourge of God; Muhammad; and even the Jewish historian Josephus have been suggested. Some have identified the fallen star with the Antichrist. Others identify the star as Satan.

Concerning the loud noise from the fourth trumpet, the Holy writ says:

Then the fourth angel blew his trumpet, and one-third of the sun was struck, and one-third of the moon, and one-third of the stars, and they became dark. And one-third of the day was dark, and also one-third of the night (Revelation 8:12).

Here Phillips contends:

This verse is probably to be taken symbolically. The sun, the moon, and the stars are well-established symbols in the Bible for ruling authorities. Under this trumpet, the old order is broken up. The establishment is swept away as convulsions break out everywhere. The church has gone; restraints have been removed, and Satan is on earth, black rage boiling in his heart. The stage is now set for the final plunge into midnight darkness for mankind. All the traditional guiding lights are gone.

Commentator John Phillips covers both ends of the spectrum  the literal interpretation and the symbolic. Still, both possibilities are disturbing.

Can such extraordinary worldwide cataclysmic events in the blowing of these four trumpets literally happen? The answer is yes! The proof? Check out the plagues recorded in Exodus chapters 7 through 12 and discover the many details in common with the four trumpets in Revelation chapter 8. The similarities are striking. In other words, similar things have already happened, and they can happen again.

Moreover, it should be remembered that if something terrible is represented in a symbol, the reality is always worse.

Not long ago, there were many television news stories about the wildfires raging across the country. The fire on the TV was just a picture of the real thing. It was only a symbol if you will. However, the real thing is worse than all of the images of it in the world.

What lies ahead of those who ignore and reject Gods sovereignty is inconceivably foreboding.

Some misguided mental health experts argue this kind of teaching precipitates Rapture Anxiety or Religious Traumatic Syndrome.

It is scary, no doubt. Nevertheless, God has told us in advance that these things will happen so we can prepare. There is a shelter to which any person may hide from the wrath to come, and that shelter is Jesus Christ.

Theres a cleft in the Rock of Ages,

Where my soul may safely hide

While the storms of life are raging

And the billows roll oer the tide. Oh, soul, thou who now art weary,

To the Rock do come for rest,

Come to Him who only can cheer thee,

To the dear loving Saviors breast.

Do something about your fears and the disquiet of your soul. Repent of your sins and trust Christ as your Savior and Lord.
Christian girl kidnapped, forced into Islamic marriage by 60-year-old man in Pakistan, family says

LAHORE, Pakistan  Arif Gill said he lost hope of finding his 15-year-old daughter  abducted by a 60-year-old Muslim who forcibly married her and converted her to Islam  until police in Pakistan finally registered a case after nearly two months.

Sitara Arif, also known as Saira, was kidnapped on Dec. 15 by Rana Tayyab in the Yousafabad area of Faisalabad, Gill said. Tayyab is the husband of Naila Ambreen, a Muslim government school principal for whom Saira worked as domestic help.

I went to the police station to report my daughters kidnapping, but they refused to accept my complaint and forced me out of the building, said Gill, a physically handicapped Catholic.

He said he made repeated attempts to register a case against Tayyab, with police ignoring his pleas.

Madam Naila is a government employee, and both she and her husband have considerable influence on the police, which is why they outright rejected my application, Gill told Morning Star News.

After repeated humiliation and intimidation to stop pursuing the matter, I surrendered to my fate thinking that I wont be able to see my daughter again. Its been nearly two months since my wife and I havent seen our daughter or heard anything regarding her safety and well-being. Only God knows our pain and suffering since the day she was taken from us.

Gill said poverty forced the family to send their daughter to work in a Muslim household.

Im unable to earn a livelihood, so my wife and daughter work as domestic helps to provide for the family, he said. We have always been very protective about our daughter, and it never occurred to us that she would be targeted by a man five times her age.

Sitara is the oldest of Gills children.

Gills lawyer and chairman of the Minorities Alliance Pakistan, attorney Akmal Bhatti, said he learned of Gills ordeal on Feb. 3 and immediately arranged for the family to meet with Faisalabads regional police chief. Protesting police indifference, they demanded immediate registration of a First Information Report (FIR).

An FIR was registered against Tayyab on Feb. 4 at the Madina Town Police Station on the orders of the regional police chief, and officers have begun raids for his arrest and the recovery of Sitara, Bhatti said. The case was registered under Section 365-B of the Pakistan Penal Code relating to kidnapping, abducting or forcible marriage.

Bhatti said that when the police raided Tayyabs house in Yousafabad, his wife Naila Ambreen handed the officials the Islamic marriage certificate between him and Sitara.

This is the modus operandi in all cases involving forced marriages of underage minority girls, Bhatti said. The accused first rapes the victim and then uses the cover of an Islamic Nikah [marriage certificate] to escape punishment for this heinous crime.

Though police are now acting, it is unfortunate that the family is deprived of justice because they are poor and Christian, Bhatti said.

If the police had acted when the crime was first reported, the child could have been recovered sooner, but the prolonged delay has given the accused ample time to change his locations, he said. Some sources have told us that the accused has taken Sitara to Islamabad, and we are now pressing the police to find them there.

Police took two of Tayyabs relatives into custody for questioning before they were released.

We are continuing to build pressure on the officials nonetheless, so that they dont slack in their responsibility, Bhatti said.

Bhatti said only young girls from minority groups are targeted for forcible marriage and conversion because their families are generally poor, with little resources to put up a fight in court.

The countrys legal system is currently operating under a dual system of state and shariah [Islamic] laws, creating a conflict in the minimum age for marriage, he said. State law should prevail in cases of forced conversion and underage marriage of minority girls.

The minimum age for marriage of girls is 16 in Punjab province, where Faisalabad is located, and 18 in Sindh province. Bhatti called for the federal government to set the minimum marriageable age to 18 across Pakistan.

Under Islamic law, there is no specific minimum age for marriage, leading to instances where minority girls are forced into marriage with much older men after Islamic conversion. This leads to physical, emotional and sexual abuse.

Bhatti also criticized the National Commission on the Rights of Child and Punjabs Child Protection & Welfare Bureau for their inaction amid a rise in cases violating the basic rights of the girl child.

It is time for the state to take responsibility and protect our children from being exploited under the guise of religious conversion, he said.

Emotional wounds

Forced conversions and underage marriages are a longstanding issue in Pakistan.

At least 1,000 women from religious minorities, including Christians and Hindus, are forcibly converted and married annually in the country, according to a 2014 report from the Movement for Solidarity and Peace in Pakistan.

Although Pakistan dismissed the statistic as rubbish and baseless, Forbes reported in 2021 that the actual numbers could be much higher as many cases go unreported.

More than 60 cases of questionable conversions were reported in 2021-22, according to the Lahore-based Center for Social Justice. The victims included 30 Christians and 30 Hindus, with 70% of these victims less than 18 years old.

Pakistan ranked seventh on Open Doors 2023 World Watch List of the most difficult places to be a Christian, up from eighth the previous year.

The article was originally published by Morning Star News.
Nicaraguan court sentences Catholic bishop to 26 years in prison, strips him of citizenship for 'treason'

A Nicaraguan court sentenced Catholic Bishop Rolando Alvarez to more than 26 years in prison on charges of treason, undermining national integrity and spreading false news after the critic of President Daniel Ortega declined to be expelled to the United States as part of a prisoner release.

Alvarez, the bishop of Matagalpa diocese, was also fined and stripped of his Nicaraguan citizenship, Reuters reported, noting that his sentencing was moved up unexpectedly from its original date in late March without explanation.

The bishop declined to join 222 other political prisoners, including four priests, who were expelled to the United States on Thursday as part of an agreement with the U.S. State Department, Catholic News Agency said, adding that he chose to remain in Nicaragua to support the Catholics facing repression under the dictatorship.

In televised remarks, Ortega criticized the released prisoners as criminal mercenaries for foreign powers seeking to undermine national sovereignty.

Alvarez, who was being held under guard at a house in the capital city Managua, has been moved to La Modelo Tipitapa prison, the U.K.-based group Christian Solidarity Worldwide said in a statement.

CSWs Head of Advocacy, Anna Lee Stangl, said while her group appreciates the work of the U.S. to open a legal and safe channel for the prisoners to leave Nicaragua, we note that the choice reportedly offered to these individuals by the Nicaraguan government of remaining in prison in inhumane conditions or going into forced exile is one no one should ever be forced to make.

Bishop Alvarez and several other priests and seminarians were arrested last August amid escalating tensions between the Catholic Church and Ortega's government, which has grown increasingly intolerant of any form of dissent.

The Nicaraguan federal police claimed they arrested Alvarez in order to recover normality for the residents and families of Matagalpa, and had they not arrested him, he would have continued with destabilizing and provocative activities, Catholic News Agency reported at the time.

Silvio Baez, a senior Nicaraguan bishop exiled in Miami, called the sentencing irrational and out of control, praising Alvarezs moral high ground and predicting in a tweet that he would eventually be freed.

The Nicaraguan congress, dominated by Ortegas Sandinista National Liberation Front, had ordered the closure of over 1,000 nongovernmental organizations, including Mother Teresas charity, PBS reported at the time.

Pope Francis has expressed concerns about the persecution of Catholic Church leaders deemed a threat to the ruling powers.

I am following closely, with concern and sorrow, the situation in Nicaragua, which involves both people and institutions, the pope said in his address to pilgrims in St. Peter's Square for his weekly blessing after Alvarezs arrest. I would like to express my conviction and my hope that, through open and sincere dialogue, the basis for a respectful and peaceful coexistence can still be found, he said, as reported by Vatican News at the time.

An earlier report by Nicaraguan lawyer Martha Patricia Molina Montenegro, a member of the Pro-Transparency and Anti-Corruption Observatory, said more than 190 attacks had occurred against the Catholic Church since 2018. She was quoted by CNA as saying that Ortega fears no one.

The police are acting like a criminal group that does not submit to the rule of law and once again it makes clear that Nicaragua is a dictatorship where they proceed according to the whim and state of mind of President Daniel Ortega and his consort, she said.

An ideology in Nicaragua portrays Ortega as being anointed by God  for sacred Nicaragua.

A trend of persecution started in Nicaragua after protests against reforms to the public pension system in April 2018. The protests came after about a decade of deteriorating economic conditions in the country. Protesters, mostly students, demanded democratic reforms and that President Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, step down as they allegedly established a dictatorship marked by nepotism and repression.

During the initial days of the 2018 protests, Ortega requested that the Catholic Church act as a mediator. But his administration also began using brutal force against the protesters and later on Catholic clergy.

Catholic clergy aided and provided sanctuary to protesters and voiced support for the right to protest peacefully. But as a result, Ortega used his government and supporters to persecute clergy members, worshipers and various Catholic organizations.

Hundreds of people died in the protests in 2018.
Average age of people in England, Wales identifying as Christian climbs above 50: census Over half of all Welsh age 45 and younger have no religious identity

The average age of people who identify as Christian in England and Wales has topped 50, as most younger adults now identify as non-religious, according to new census data.

In 2021, the median age of those identifying as Christian was 51, compared with 45 just a decade ago, according to a breakdown of religion by age and sex in England and Wales from the Office of National Statistics.

That median age marked the oldest average age among most religious groups among these two U.K. countries.

While in 2011 over two in 10 who identified as Christian were 65 or older, that number is now three in 10, while the percentage of those ages 21-25 who identify as Christian has declined from 5.1% to 3.9%.

People who identify as Muslim, meanwhile, had the youngest average age at 27, up slightly from 25 in 2011.

Other religious groups saw their averages slightly increase, including Hindus and Sikhs, whose average age jumped from 32 to 37. Those identifying as Jewish saw their average age unchanged at 41 years old.

As for the nones, those who say they do not hold any religious beliefs, their average age also increased from 30 to 32, while over half of the non-religious were in the 22 to 30 age range, with 27-year-olds holding the highest proportion (53%).

Many factors can cause changes in the size of religious groups, including changing age structure, people relocating for work or education, and differences in the way individuals chose to self-identify (or how children's religious affiliation was reported) between censuses, the report stated.

There were significant differences between respondents from England and Wales: while the number of people who say they have no religion was more than half of all people up to age 45 in Wales, only those ages 23 to 30 had roughly the same percentage in England.

Wales had an older peak age for those who identify a Christian  age 99 at over 82%  while the proportion of those who identify as Christian in England peaked at 89 years old at nearly 79%.

Among other religious groups, at least one in 10 people aged 18 or younger in England identified as Muslim, including data that recorded the religious identity of 1-year-old babies at nearly 12%, according to ONS.

As part of the census effort, secular atheist group Humanists UK launched a campaign urging people who dont believe in or practice any religion to identify as no religion.

Asserting that millions of non-religious people accurately identify as religious in the census due to the biased way in which the question is asked, Humanists UK warned that exaggerated religious data could be used for the purposes of unfair religious discrimination in our society.

As examples, the organization cited a number of what it characterized as adverse outcomes, including more faith schools, the enforcement of what it called compulsory Christian worship in schools, and using public service contractors from religious organizations who can discriminate against non-religious or LGBT service users.

The campaign did not cite any specific data or examples to support its claims.

According to Humanists UK, if the non-religious were counted more accurately by the census, it could result in replacing compulsory worship with inclusive assemblies, swapping faith-based religious instruction in schools for inclusive education about all the different beliefs and values, and taking a second look at allowing religious officials to vote in Parliament.

The only countries that do this are the U.K. and Iran! the website states.

For England and Wales, the trend toward godlessness has been fairly steady since 2016, when a data analysis found those without a religion outnumbered Christians in England and Wales for the first time ever.

Data collected through British Social Attitudes surveys over three decades showed when looking at England and Wales specifically, as many as 48.5% of the population stated they had no religion back in 2014. Those who belonged to Christian denominations, on the other hand, made up only 43.8% of the share.

Last November, Christians became a minority in the U.K. for the first time since the first census was taken in 1801.

Data released by the U.K.s Office for National Statistics showed fewer than half of the population identified as Christian, while the share of individuals who said they have no religion continued to increase along with those who identified with other religions.
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Korea and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) held their first military staff talks in Seoul this week, officials said Tuesday, in a sign of growing security cooperation between the two sides.







Maj. Gen. Kim Su-kwang, a senior official at the directorate of strategic planning at the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), and Lt. Gen. Francesco Diella of the Italian Army, director of NATO's cooperative security division, led the two-day session that began Monday, according to the JCS.







The meeting was launched as the two sides have agreed on the need for such regular talks during their high-level talks in 2021 and last year.







During this week's meeting, the two sides discussed cooperation procedures, shared strategic security concepts and assessed progress in bilateral cooperation, the JCS said, touting "meaningful" progress from the gathering.







In a regular press briefing, JCS spokesperson Col. Lee Sung-jun said the meeting did not touch on the issue of sending weapons support to Ukraine in its war with Russia.







The two sides plan to hold their next session in Belgium next year.







Later in the day, the NATO delegation plans to visit the inter-Korean border truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, separating the two Koreas, in order to enhance their understanding of the security situation of the peninsula and encourage troops stationed there, the JCS added.







"This visit was very meaningful as it laid the foundation for military cooperation between Korea and NATO," Diella was quoted as saying by the JCS.







Korea has recently strengthened its ties with the transatlantic alliance as demonstrated in the opening of its diplomatic mission to NATO in Brussels last November. (Yonhap)






A former chief of an animal rights organization was sentenced to two years behind bars Tuesday for euthanizing 98 rescued dogs under her group's care due mainly to economic costs.







The Seoul Central District Court delivered the sentence against Park So-yeon, a former leader of Care, who was indicted on violations of the Animal Protection Act.







Park was accused of euthanizing 98 rescued dogs under the care of her organization between 2015 and 2018 to secure more space at its facilities and reduce the burden of medical costs needed to treat animals.







She was also charged with breaking into private animal farms in August 2018 and stealing five dogs worth some 1.3 million won ($1,025) in total.







Her wrongdoings were exposed by a former official of Care in 2019 and the case drew intense public ire at that time.







"Without seriously assessing the capacity of (Care's) facilities, she immersed herself in animal rescue but put some of the rescued animals to death when the space became insufficient," the court said.







Park had claimed her innocence, saying she rescued animals destined to be culled and euthanized about 10 percent of them in a humane manner without pain. (Yonhap)


By George Trujillo, Principal Data Strategist, DataStax

Increased operational efficiencies at airports. Instant reactions to fraudulent activities at banks. Improved recommendations for online transactions. Better patient care at hospitals. Investments in artificial intelligence are helping businesses to reduce costs, better serve customers, and gain competitive advantage in rapidly evolving markets. Titanium Intelligent Solutions, a global SaaS IoT organization, even saved one customer over 15% in energy costs across 50 distribution centers, thanks in large part to AI.

To succeed with real-time AI, data ecosystems need to excel at handling fast-moving streams of events, operational data, and machine learning models to leverage insights and automate decision-making. Here, Ill focus on why these three elements and capabilities are fundamental building blocks of a data ecosystem that can support real-time AI.

DataStax

Real-time data and decisioning

First, a few quick definitions. Real-time data involves a continuous flow of data in motion. Its streaming data thats collected, processed, and analyzed on a continuous basis. Streaming data technologies unlock the ability to capture insights and take instant action on data thats flowing into your organization; theyre a building block for developing applications that can respond in real-time to user actions, security threats, or other events. AI is the perception, synthesis, and inference of information by machines, to accomplish tasks that historically have required human intelligence. Finally, machine learning is essentially the use and development of computer systems that learn and adapt without following explicit instructions; it uses models (algorithms) to identify patterns, learn from the data, and then make data-based decisions.

Real-time decisioning can occur in minutes, seconds, milliseconds, or microseconds, depending on the use case. With real-time AI, organizations aim to provide valuable insights during the moment of urgency; its about making instantaneous, business-driven decisions. What kinds of decisions are necessary to be made in real-time? Here are some examples:

Fraud Its critical to identify bad actors using high-quality AI models and data

Product recommendations Its important to stay competitive in todays ever-expanding online ecosystem with excellent product recommendations and aggressive, responsive pricing against competitors. Ever wonder why an internet search for a product reveals similar prices across competitors, or why surge pricing occurs?

Supply chain With companies trying to stay lean with just-in-time practices, its important to understand real-time market conditions, delays in transportation, and raw supply delays, and adjust for them as the conditions are unfolding.

Demand for real-time AI is accelerating

Software applications enable businesses to fuel their processes and revolutionize the customer experience. Now, with the rise of AI, this power is becoming even more evident. AI technology can autonomously drive cars, fly aircraft, create personalized conversations, and transform the customer and business experience into a real-time affair. ChatGPT and Stable Diffusion are two popular examples of how AI is becoming increasingly mainstream.

With organizations looking for increasingly sophisticated ways to employ AI capabilities, data becomes the foundational energy source for such technology. There are plenty of examples of devices and applications that drive exponential growth with streaming data and real-time AI:

Intelligent devices, sensors, and beacons are used by hospitals, airports, and buildings, or even worn by individuals. Devices like these are becoming ubiquitous and generate data 24/7. This has also accelerated the execution of edge computing solutions so compute and real-time decisioning can be closer to where the data is generated.

AI continues to transform customer engagements and interactions with chatbots that use predictive analytics for real-time conversations.

Augmented or virtual reality, gaming, and the combination of gamification with social media leverages AI for personalization and enhancing online dynamics.

Cloud-native apps, microservices and mobile apps drive revenue with their real-time customer interactions.

Its clear how these real-time data sources generate data streams that need new data and ML models for accurate decisions. Data quality is crucial for real-time actions because decisions often cant be taken back. Determining whether to close a valve at a power plant, offer a coupon to 10 million customers, or send a medical alert has to be dependable and on-time. The need for real-time AI has never been more urgent or necessary.

Lessons not learned from the past

Organizations have over the past decade put a tremendous amount of energy and effort into becoming data driven but many still struggle to achieve the ROI from data that theyve sought. A 2023 New Vantage Partners/Wavestone executive survey highlights how being data-driven is not getting any easier as many blue-chip companies still struggle to maximize ROI from their plunge into data and analytics and embrace a real data-driven culture:

19.3% report they have established a data culture

26.5% report they have a data-driven organization

39.7% report they are managing data as a business asset

47.4% report they are competing on data and analytics

Outdated mindsets, institutional thinking, disparate siloed ecosystems, applying old methods to new approaches, and a general lack of a holistic vision will continue to impact success and hamper real change.

Organizations have balanced competing needs to make more efficient data-driven decisions and to build the technical infrastructure to support that goal. While big data technologies like Hadoop were used to get large volumes of data into low-cost storage quickly, these efforts often lacked the appropriate data modeling, architecture, governance, and speed needed for real-time success.

This resulted in complex ETL (extract, transform, and load) processes and difficult-to-manage datasets. Many companies today struggle with legacy software applications and complex environments, which leads to difficulty in integrating new data elements or services. To truly become data- and AI-driven, organizations must invest in data and model governance, discovery, observability, and profiling while also recognizing the need for self-reflection on their progress towards these goals.

Achieving agility at scale with Kubernetes

As organizations move into the real-time AI era, there is a critical need for agility at scale. AI needs to be incorporated into their systems quickly and seamlessly to provide real-time responses and decisions that meet customer needs. This can only be achieved if the underlying data infrastructure is unified, robust, and efficient. A complex and siloed data ecosystem is a barrier to delivering on customer demands, as it prevents the speedy development of machine learning models with accurate, trustworthy data.

Kubernetes is a container orchestration system that automates the management, scaling, and deployment of microservices. Its also used to deploy machine learning models, data streaming platforms, and databases. A cloud-native approach with Kubernetes and containers brings scalability and speed with increased reliability to data and AI the same way it does for microservices. Real-time needs a tool and an approach to support scaling requirements and adjustments; Kubernetes is that tool and cloud-native is the approach. Kubernetes can align a real-time AI execution strategy for microservices, data, and machine learning models, as it adds dynamic scaling to all of these things.

Kubernetes is a key tool to help do away with the siloed mindset. Thats not to say itll be easy. Kubernetes has its own complexities, and creating a unified approach across different teams and business units is even more difficult. However, a data execution strategy has to evolve for real-time AI to scale with speed. Kubernetes, containers, and a cloud-native approach will help. (Learn more about moving to cloud-native applications and data with Kubernetes in this blog post.)

Unifying your organizations real-time data and AI strategies

Data, when gathered and analyzed properly, provides the inputs necessary for functional ML models. An ML model is an application created to find patterns and make decisions when accessing datasets. The application will contain ML mathematical algorithms. And, once ML models are trained and deployed, they help to more effectively guide decisions and actions that make the most of the data input. So its critical that organizations understand the importance of weaving together data and ML processes in order to make meaningful progress toward leveraging the power of data and AI in real-time. From architectures and databases to feature stores and feature engineering, a myriad of variables must work in sync for this to be accomplished.

ML models need to be built, trained, and then deployed in real-time. Flexible and easy-to-work-with data models are the oil that makes the engine for building models run smoothly. ML models require data for testing and developing the model and for inference when the ML models are put in production (ML inference is the process of an ML model making calculations or decisions on live data).

Data for ML is made up of individual variables called features. The features can be raw data that has been processed or analyzed or derived. ML model development is about finding the right features for the algorithms. The ML workflow for creating these features is referred to as feature engineering. The storage for these features is referred to as a feature store. Data and ML model development fundamentally depend on one another..

Thats why it is essential for leadership to build a clear vision of the impact of data-and-AI alignmentone that can be understood by executives, lines of business, and technical teams alike. Doing so sets up an organization for success, creating a unified vision that serves as a foundation for turning the promise of real-time AI into reality .

A real-time AI data ingestion platform and operational data store

Real-time data and supporting machine learning models are about data flows and machine-learning-process flows. Machine learning models require quality data for model development and for decisioning when the machine learning models are put in production. Real-time AI needs the following from a data ecosystem:

A real-time data ingestion platform for messaging, publish/subscribe (pub/sub asynchronous messaging services), and event streaming

A real-time operational data store for persisting data and ML model features

An aligned data ingestion platform for data in motion and an operational data store working together to reduce the data complexity of ML model development

Change data capture (CDC) that can send high-velocity database events back into the real-time data stream or in analytics platforms or other destinations.

An enterprise data ecosystem architected to optimize data flowing in both directions.

DataStax

Lets start with the real-time operational data store, as this is the central data engine for building ML models. A modern real-time operational data store excels at integrating data from multiple sources for operational reporting, real-time data processing, and support for machine learning model development and inference from event streams. Working with the real-time data and the features in one centralized database environment accelerates machine learning model execution.

Data that takes multiple hops through databases, data warehouses, and transformations moves too slow for most real-time use cases. A modern real-time operational data store (Apache Cassandra is a great example of a database used for real-time AI by the likes of Apple, Netflix, and FedEx) makes it easier to integrate data from real-time streams and CDC pipelines.

Apache Pulsar is an all-in-one messaging and streaming platform, designed as a cloud-native solution and a first class citizen of Kubernetes. DataStax Astra DB, my employers database-as-a-service built on Cassandra, runs natively in Kubernetes. Astra Streaming is a cloud-native managed real-time data ingestion platform that completes the ecosystem with Astra DB. These stateful data solutions bring alignment to applications, data, and AI.

The operational data store needs a real-time data ingestion platform with the same type of integration capabilities, one that can ingest and integrate data from streaming events. The streaming platform and data store will be constantly challenged with new and growing data streams and use cases, so they need to be scalable and work well together. This reduces the complexity for developers, data engineers, SREs, and data scientists to build and update data models and ML models.

A real-time AI ecosystem checklist

Despite all the effort that organizations put into being data-driven, the New Vantage Partners survey mentioned above highlights that organizations still struggle with data. Understanding the capabilities and characteristics for real-time AI is an important first step toward designing a data ecosystem thats agile and scalable. Here is a set of criteria to start with:

A holistic strategic vision for data and AI that unifies an organization

A cloud-native approach designed for scale and speed across all components

A data strategy to reduce complexity and breakdown silos

A data ingestion platform and operational data store designed for real-time

Flexibility and agility across on-premises, hybrid-cloud, and cloud environments

Manageable unit costs for ecosystem growth

Wrapping up

Real-time AI is about making data actionable with speed and accuracy. Most organizations data ecosystems, processes and capabilities are not prepared to build and update ML models at the speed required by the business for real-time data. Applying a cloud-native approach to applications, data, and AI improves scalability, speed, reliability, and portability across deployments. Every machine learning model is underpinned by data.

A powerful datastore, along with enterprise streaming capabilities turns a traditional ML workflow (train, validate, predict, re-train ) into one that is real-time and dynamic, where the model augments and tunes itself on the fly with the latest real-time data.

Success requires defining a vision and execution strategy that delivers speed and scale across developers, data engineers, SREs, DBAs, and data scientists. It takes a new mindset and an understanding that all the data and ML components in a real-time data ecosystem have to work together for success.

Special thanks to Eric Hare at DataStax, Robert Chong at Employers Group, and Steven Jones of VMWare for their contributions to this article.

Learn how DataStax enables real-time AI.

About George Trujillo:

George is principal data strategist at DataStax. Previously, he built high-performance teams for data-value driven initiatives at organizations including Charles Schwab, Overstock, and VMware. George works with CDOs and data executives on the continual evolution of real-time data strategies for their enterprise data ecosystem.
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Prime Minister Han Duck-soo instructed the Cabinet on Tuesday to swiftly carry out what is necessary to follow up on a plan to delegate some of the central government's powers to local governments.







Han issued the instruction, referring to a plan unveiled during a meeting presided over by President Yoon Suk Yeol last week to transfer 57 kinds of administrative authority from the central government to local administrations in order to help provincial regions find their own growth engines.







"The relevant ministries should swiftly implement their tasks, such as promoting legislation, without a hitch," Han told a Cabinet meeting.







"Local governments should use their newly granted authority to meet the characteristics of their regions to help the growth of the Republic of Korea," Han said, referring to South Korea by its official name.







Han also vowed to continue to provide relief supplies to quake-struck Turkey.







"As a responsible member of the international community, the Republic of Korea will continue to work together for recovery and restoration in the affected areas," Han said. (Yonhap)


The Charity Commission has opened a compliance case into the British Nuclear Test Veterans Association (BNTVA) over governance concerns after its board fired its chief executive.

BNTVA announced earlier this year that it has stopped operating after witnessing a considerable shift in the focus of the charity, some of which has clearly been to the detriment of our key responsibilities.

The charity, which supports people who have worked with radioactive material, had seen its income decline to 34,000 in the year to September 2021 from 147,000 the year before.

It has appointed a new chair and a special advisor to review the charitys governance practices, with plans to be around for many years to come.

CEO and chair depart

Ceri McDade joined the military charity as a trustee in 2020, served as chair for a year and then became chief executive officer in October 2021.

The board terminated her appointment on 28 January 2023, according to a statement on its website , but did not state why. Only that BNTVA has received numerous enquiries regarding the chief executive officer.

On social media, McDade posted a statement that the charity remains a cause very close to my heart that I remain committed and that she has been in transparent communication with the Charity Commission.

A week before, BNTVA made a statement that its then chair Ed McGrath had left his role early to allow a special advisor to review the charitys governance practices.

It said there were some large problems that needed addressing at the charity and that it had decided to halt all activity and take a full inventory of our situation.

Former trustee Michelle Harding and Ian Razzell also left the charity, which has now appointed David Bostwick as its chair.

The Charity Commission said it had opened a case after previously issuing the charity with advice and guidance around resolving disputes and making decisions.

A Commission spokesperson said: We have opened a regulatory compliance case into the British Nuclear Test Veterans Association, to examine potential governance concerns. We have reached out to the trustees.

sign up to receive the Civil Society News daily bulletin here . For more news, interviews, opinion and analysis about charities and the voluntary sector,




A year ago this week, I wrote in this newsletter about a story that had recently appeared in Calcalist, a business newspaper in Israel. The story alleged that police in the country used Pegasusa highly invasive, and terrifyingly discreet, spyware tool made by NSO Group, an Israeli firmto warrantlessly surveil the cellphones of political figures including protesters, journalists, and press aides and relatives of Benjamin Netanyahu, the former (and, it would turn out, future) prime minister. Two weeks later, I appended an update to my newsletter: Israels justice ministry had just dismantled Calcalists reporting, claiming, on the basis of its own investigation, that Israeli police had not surveilled the vast majority of supposed targets named by Calcalist, and that it had targeted the remaining few with judicial approval. Calcalist said that it would review its reporting but stood by one core finding: police had surveilled Israeli civilians.

A few months earlier, the Pegasus Project, a journalistic collaboration led by the Paris-based group Forbidden Stories, had reported on a leaked list of fifty thousand phone numbers that government clients of NSO had selected for possible surveillanceat least some of which, including numbers belonging to journalists in twenty countries, were definitely hacked. The project kicked off a major global scandal that, among other things, saw the Biden administration place NSO Group on a trade blacklist (even though, as the New York Times reported a few weeks later, the FBI had itself purchased a version of Pegasus before deciding not to use it). Even in the short gap between my newsletter on the Calcalist story and my update to that newsletter, Pegasus made unrelated headlines around the world: European Union data officials called for the tool to be banned in the bloc; an investigation found that a journalist and two activists had been hacked in Bahrain. In the year since I wrote about the Calcalist affair, further Pegasus hacks have been confirmed in Jordan, Mexico, and Spain, where senior government ministers said they were targeted. The Spanish government was itself accused of hacking politicians in the autonomous region of Catalonia. Ronan Farrow wrote about Pegasus for The New Yorker. The leaders of the Pegasus Project wrote a book about it.

As well as being in the news a lot, NSO has been in court a lot in the past year. NSO itself sued Calcalist for defamation. And NSO has found itself on the receiving end of a number of high-profile court cases or judicial investigations, at least two of whichin the UK and Spainkicked off in recent months. Several cases against NSO have been filed in the US, and there, too, there has been significant recent movement. Apple and WhatsApp, whose products have been compromised by Pegasus, are both suing NSO; last month, the Supreme Court effectively ruled that the latter case can proceed, tossing out NSOs claim that it is an agent of a foreign government and thus immune from US prosecution. Late last year, the wife of the murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was herself hacked with Pegasus prior to Khashoggis death, said that she plans to sue NSO in a US court, alongside the governments of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which she holds responsible for the hack. Then, shortly before Christmas, fifteen staffers at El Faro, a news site in El Salvador, filed suit in a federal court in Californiathe first such case brought by journalists against NSO in the US.

Last week, the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, which brought the NSO suit on behalf of the El Faro journalists, convened a discussion of the case and the broader threat that spyware poses to the press, with panelists including Farrow and Carlos Dada, the cofounder and director of El Faro. The El Faro staffers discovered that theyd been hacked in 2021, after working with groups including Citizen Lab, a research center at the University of Toronto that analyzed the staffers devices, and Amnesty International, which verified the findings. (These groups, among others, have been involved in many of the revelations about Pegasus; NSO has claimed that their findings are unreliable.) The journalists believe, based on the pattern of the hacks, that they were targeted by the increasingly repressive regime of Nayib Bukele, the Salvadoran president. (El Salvador has denied being a client of NSOs.) Last year, El Faro published a story about the hacks. It wasnt until after that, Dada recalled at the Knight event, that the personal cost sunk in. I felt so invaded that I went to take a shower, he said.

Carrie DeCell, a senior staff attorney at the Knight Institute, explained at the event that the group brought El Faros case in a US court because NSO offers its clients the ability to exploit vulnerabilities in US tech companies software and services; the institute has also noted that El Faro is widely read in the US and that one of the journalists who was targeted is a US citizen. DeCell hopes that the case will have a significant deterrent effect by showing NSO that its global sales are subject to US legal liability. NSO has long argued that it has no visibility into what its clients do with Pegasus, but it has also claimed that its careful to only sell to governments that use it for legitimate law-enforcement purposes, and that it has implemented new oversight measuresa very basic inconsistency, Farrow noted at the event. NSO has likened itself to an arms manufacturer, Farrow added, and has argued that if the product its selling isnt regulated internationally, then thats not the companys fault. Case law is one way of achieving a degree of regulation, Farrow said, pointing to precedents involving the oil, tobacco, and opioid industries.

The US legal cases against NSO are still in their early stages; the company will surely try again to have them dismissed, and, even if it fails, the cases will likely move slowly through the courts. In the meantime, panelists at Knights event stressed that a coalition of other civil-society actorsnot only journalists, but activists and academicswill have to continue to fight to hold NSO and other spyware makers accountable. But at some point, as super-invasive spyware continues to proliferate around the world, well need a formal international framework of regulation to, at the very least, monitor and sanction abuses, including against members of the press. The US would likely be a prime mover in any such framework, and has already blacklisted Pegasus and at least one other Israeli spyware maker. Farrow said at the event, however, that he fears that the US will only engage with comprehensive international regulation of such tools when one triggers a major enough scandal on US soil to counteract the pro-spyware arguments of the security community.

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As Farrow and other panelists notedand as the Times reported in some depth recentlythe problem of unregulated spyware cuts much deeper than Pegasus. Indeed, with NSO blacklisted in the US and having increasingly pivoted its under-fire business toward clients in Western Europe, other firms have stepped into the void; last year, for instance, Predator, a spyware tool developed by a former Israeli general based in Greece, sparked a scandal in the latter country after it was used to surveil a journalist and opposition politicians. Despite blacklisting Pegasus, meanwhile, the US Drug Enforcement Administration is using spyware from another Israeli firm. When it comes to spyware, the US has played both arsonist and firefighter, the Times noted.

If the Pegasus and broader spyware stories are increasingly global, they still have deep roots in Israel, and have continued to play out there since the Calcalist episode a year ago. In August, the countrys justice ministry issued its final report into the matter; it reiterated the ministrys prior conclusions that Calcalists initial reporting was greatly overblown, though, as Yuval Shany, a law professor, has written, the report also confirmed some important parts of the Calcalist story: most significantly, that [Israeli police] uses NSO spyware against Israelis without a clear legal basis. The Calcalist story may ultimately have fizzled out, but it nonetheless raised important questions within the Israeli legal establishment, Shany wrote, about the proper reaction to new privacy-infringing technology in an age of legal stagnationwhere the political stalemate in Israel renders it difficult to update privacy and surveillance laws.

A year ago, thanks to the Calcalist story, Pegasus was dragged into that political stalemate, and into yet another court case: after the paper reported that a witness in a long-running corruption case against Netanyahua case that has, to a significant extent, restructured Israeli politicswas among those surveilled using Pegasus, Netanyahus allies called for the case to be thrown out, characterizing it as a witch hunt against him. Paradoxically, the Times has reported that Netanyahu, as prime minister, juiced sales of Pegasus, which have to be licensed by the Israeli government, to gain diplomatic leverage abroad. Last year, the Financial Times reported that NSO was banking on Netanyahu returning to power to boost its ailing businessincluding, perhaps, in Saudi Arabiawith its cofounder reportedly telling associates, Dont worry, Netanyahu is coming back. (Netanyahu and NSO have denied these respective stories.)

In December, Netanyahu did return as prime minister. So far, spyware has not been a driving storyline of his new, far-right administration, which is prioritizing widely criticized judicial reforms. But press freedom has been on the agenda. Last month, a Netanyahu-allied lawmakerhimself a former journalistproposed a bill that would bar the publication of recordings that feature sensitive information about a person without their explicit consent. Journalists from across the political spectrum condemned the bill as a violation of the medias ability to expose wrongdoing, but the lawmaker denied that this was his rationale. The technological ability to record conversations should be primarily used to preserve information for private purposes, he said.



Other notable stories:

On Thursday, in response to a request from a coalition of news organizations, a judge in Fulton County, Georgia, will publish parts of a report compiled by a special grand jury that has been investigating the legality of Donald Trumps efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the state. The judge said that the special grand jurys introduction and conclusion as well as concerns the panel had about witnesses lying under oath can be published, CNN reportsthough some of that information may be redacted, and other parts of the report, including charging recommendations, will remain withheld.

NPRs David Folkenflik investigated a pattern of political pressure at West Virginia Public Broadcasting after Amelia Ferrell Knisely, a reporter at the station, was let go following a series of stories alleging the abuse of people with disabilities in state facilities. Since 2017, politicians have sought to eliminate state funding for WVPB, per Folkenflik. The governor appointed partisans hostile to public broadcasting to key oversight positions. And the stations chief executive has intervened repeatedly in journalistic decisions.

In media-jobs news, Yamiche Alcindor will step down as the moderator of Washington Week, on PBS, to focus on a memoir and her work for NBC News. Elsewhere, Darren Samuelsohn, who was ousted as DC bureau chief at Insider last year, is launching a Substack called love, journalism (just in time for Valentines Day). And Nicholas Schmidle, of The New Yorker, is writing a musical with the guitarist Jon Gutwillig.

Recently, the theater magazine Playbill published a story about a rising trend of audience members behaving poorly toward theater workers. The story was widely shared, but it soon disappeared from Playbills website. Now Lachlan Cartwright reports, for the Daily Beast, that Philip Birsh, Playbills CEO, ordered the article removed. We want people to go to the theater, Birsh said. This piece exaggerated the issue.

And in Germany, Marco Goecke, the director of a prestigious ballet company, reportedly confronted Wiebke Huster, a critic for the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and smeared dog excrement in her face. Goecke was suspended from his role and is now under police investigation. Huster had recently written that one of Goeckes shows left her alternating between a state of feeling insane and being killed by boredom.

ICYMI: The Uncertainty Files

Jon Allsop is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Review of Books, Foreign Policy, and The Nation, among other outlets. He writes CJRs newsletter The Media Today. Find him on Twitter @Jon_Allsop.




Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) has regained the lead against three other candidates, including front-runner Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, in the race for party leadership, a poll showed Tuesday.







In the survey of 861 PPP supporters conducted by KOPRA on Saturday and Sunday, Kim earned 41 percent of support, up 10 percentage points from the previous survey, while Ahn fell to second place with 27 percent, down 8 percentage points.







The previous survey was conducted in late January before the PPP shortlisted the four top contenders to run for party leader in a national convention slated for March 8.







Chun Ha-ram, a lawyer considered close to ousted chair Lee Jun-seok, placed third with 13 percent, closely trailed by former Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn at 12 percent.







In a hypothetical two-way contest between Kim and Ahn, Kim earned 52 percent, overtaking Ahn with 42 percent. In the previous survey, Ahn had led the race at 51 percent, followed by Kim with 43 percent.







The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.







The upcoming race carries added significance as the new leader will be tasked to lead the party to win a majority in the parliament, now controlled by the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, and support President Yoon Suk Yeol in the National Assembly in the remainder of his five-year term until 2027.







The party will hold a runoff if none wins a majority and announce the results on March 12. (Yonhap)


People are encouraged to shoot toy arrows at photos of President Yoon Suk Yeol, first lady Kim Keon Hee and Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon during a liberal civic group's rally held in Seoul, Saturday. Yonhap



By Jun Ji-hye



Controversy is growing over an event arranged by a left-wing civic group, which allowed participants to shoot toy arrows at photos of President Yoon Suk Yeol, first lady Kim Keon Hee and Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon.



Critics said the event encouraged excessive hatred that is already prevalent in Korean society, noting that it should be taken seriously as even children were welcomed to participate.



The event was part of a rally held Saturday in central Seoul by a civic group calling for the resignation of the Yoon government and for a special counsel probe into stock manipulation allegations involving the first lady. Han, who was a senior prosecutor, is a close aide of Yoon.



"The prosecutor-turned-president has abused the prosecution's power all over the country, threatening the country's democracy," said Rep. Lee Su-jin of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, who participated in the rally.



Some 2,000 people participated in the rally, according to the group.



During the rally, the group installed a booth with toy bows and arrows, along with dolls attached with photos of Yoon, Kim and Han as targets. Participants were encouraged to shoot the arrows at the targets.



The event stirred controversy after the group published related photos on its website the following day. These photos included the image of a young boy raising his hands to cheer in front of the targets.



Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun of the ruling People Power Party claimed that the expression of partisan antagonism "has crossed the line."



"It is improper to encourage hatred and violence, especially in children," the four-term lawmaker wrote on Facebook, Monday.



A similar sentiment was seen online.



One netizen wrote on Naver, "I do not support President Yoon either, but I think the event went too far."



Another wrote, "The event reminded me of the photos published by North Korea in 2013 in which North Korean soldiers carried out a shooting exercise with a photo of Kim Kwan-jin, the defense minister at the time, as a target."



While some people who stood by the civic group cited freedom of expression, an official from the group expressed a similar view.



"We are living in a democratic society. I think the event should be understandable and seen as satire," the official said.


Ruling People Power Party floor leader Joo Ho-young delivers a speech at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap



By Nam Hyun-woo



Ruling People Power Party (PPP) floor leader Joo Ho-young said Tuesday that parliamentary democracy has been crumbling since the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) gained a majority of National Assembly seats.



Joo also accused the DPK of having double standards, which is a major contributor to the increasing public distrust in the Assembly, adding that DPK Chairman Lee Jae-myung is damaging the reputation of the Assembly due to corruption allegations made against him.



"The DPK is disabling most of the key consensus functions of the Assembly as soon as it secured a majority of seats," Joo said in a speech at the Assembly as the head of a negotiation group or a party with 20 or more members.



"The DPK's attempts to disable the Assembly's coordinating committee by having its members abandon their party membership in disguise and exerting influence on independent lawmakers will remain as a dark chapter in history," Joo said.



Joo was referring to independent Rep. Min Hyung-bae's exit from the DPK in April last year, when the rival parties were clashing over the main opposition party's attempt to pass a revision to a law that would strip prosecutors of their investigative powers.



When it comes to contentious bills, the National Assembly establishes a coordinating committee comprised of three lawmakers from the ruling party and three from the opposition bloc, including one independent lawmaker, before tabling the proposal.



After leaving the party, Rep. Min joined the coordinating committee and helped the passage of the controversial bill by the committee on April 26. However, he attended DPK events in May and openly expressed his intention to return to the party in June, triggering criticism over the party's practice.



"Democracy can be maintained with self-control and tolerance," Joo said. "Far from those values, the DPK is damaging the rule of law with its distortions and far-fetched views."



Joo also accused the DPK of shaming the Assembly with its double standards, saying that the past five years of the previous Moon Jae-in administration were characterized by "naeronambul." The term roughly translates to "If I do it, it is romance but if you do it, it is adultery" and is used to accuse someone of hypocrisy.



"The Moon administration rose to power under the slogan of democracy and fairness, but has been far from those values," Joo said.



The floor leader also accused the DPK of hypocrisy in its efforts to protect its chairman from prosecutors' investigations.



"When Lee was the mayor of Seongnam, he said he will create a country where a president will go to jail if he or she commits crimes," Joo said. "And yet, the same individual is now labeling the fair investigations by the prosecution into multiple allegations against him as political persecution."



On Feb. 10, the DPK chairman was grilled by prosecutors as a suspect in the Seongnam land development scandal, in which he is alleged to have been involved in a little-known private asset management company reaping astronomical investment profits from the development project in Seongnam's Daejang-dong area when he was mayor of the city located to the south of Seoul.



It was Lee's third appearance before the prosecution since becoming the head of the main opposition party. He was summoned by prosecutors for the same allegation on Jan. 28 and questioned on Jan. 10 over allegations that he was involved in a separate bribery case. The prosecution is anticipated to issue an arrest warrant against Lee within this week.





Main opposition Democratic Party of Korea floor leader Park Hong-keun, center, shakes hands with ruling People Power Party (PPP) counterpart Joo Ho-young, bottom, after the latter's speech at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, Tuesday. Above is PPP interim leader Chung Jin-suk. Yonhap
Following a comprehensive national search, Colorado College is pleased to announce that Nicole Herden will take the helm as executive director of the Fine Arts Center.

Herden previously served as executive director of the Museum of Nebraska Art (MoNA), in affiliation with the University of Nebraska. Since joining MoNA, Herden led the organization through a period of exceptional transition and growth, including overseeing a capital campaign that has cultivated $28 million. Additional demonstrated successes include conducting extensive community outreach and redesigning the museums approach to staff and facility management.

I am thrilled to join the incredible team at the Fine Arts Center, as the institution and region are both poised for tremendous growth, says Herden. I am looking forward to cultivating a dynamic and inclusive institution that is relevant not only to the art world but also to the lives of everyone who lives in the Pikes Peak region.

Over the past decade, Herden has held curatorial roles at the Boise Art Museum, Phoenix Art Museum, and the Arizona State University Art Museum. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Arizona, a Master of Fine Arts from Boise State University, and a Master of Arts from Arizona State University.

We are thrilled to have an art advocate with strong university ties guide and inspire a fine arts center that has been a cornerstone of the Pikes Peak region for more than 100 years, says CC Senior Vice President Mike Edmonds. We look forward to Herden building upon that history and creating a vision for its future as a destination of world-class visual and performing arts and arts education in the Rocky Mountain West.

In her role as executive director, Herden will serve as a key constituent in CC strategic planning, advocating for the FAC as a unique entity within CC, and overseeing the growth of 50 staff members and another 50 temporary employees.

Colorado College used an international search firm, WittKeiffer, along with a search committee led by Dean of Faculty Emily Chan. Community leaders Thayer Tutt, vice chairman and CIO of El Pomar Foundation, Susan Edmondson, president and CEO of Downtown Partnership of Colorado Springs, and Blake Wilson, partner and appraiser of The Art Bank, participated in the search committee.

I was glad to be part of a board-based, inclusive search process that yielded a superb candidate with great experience, says Thayer Tutt, who also leads the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center Foundation.

We also want to thank the CC faculty, staff, and students who contributed their time and effort to this critical search, adds CC Executive Vice President and Chief of Staff Manya Whitaker.

Herden will begin her role on July 31 but will be transitioning through a series of visits to CC in the coming months.
Colorado Politics is published both in print and online. Our website features subscriber-only news stories daily, designed for public policy arena professionals. Member subscribers also receive the weekly print edition of our award-winning newspaper, containing outstanding features and news stories, in their mailboxes every Saturday.
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U.S. elected leaders blind to scourge of gun deaths: media

Xinhua) 08:28, February 14, 2023

Students wearing bulletproof vests hold a rally near the Capitol Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C., the United States, June 6, 2022. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Xinhua)

The failure of thousands of elected officials to prohibit access to assault-style firearms used as weapons of mass destruction against American citizens is an indefensible betrayal of their oath of office.

NEW YORK, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- On the most perilous issue of the current time, the one that threatens the United States' ability to function as a normal society, namely gun violence, the U.S. government's surrender has been unconditional, reported U.S. local news portal cleveland.com on Sunday.

"Daily gun deaths have turned the United States into a killing field, a country far more dangerous than many of the planet's more civilized places," said the report.

However, "elected officials who live in mortal fear of the gun lobby and its followers have made a conscious decision to tolerate the slaughter of children and the mass shootings that have become an almost everyday presence in our daily lives," it noted.

Members of the political class may react in fury to that accusation, but the facts are not their friends. The Second Amendment permits a right to bear arms, but includes no prohibition against common-sense gun laws, said the report.

"The failure of thousands of elected officials -- mostly members of Congress, state legislators and governors -- to prohibit access to assault-style firearms used as weapons of mass destruction against American citizens is an indefensible betrayal of their oath of office," it added.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Turkish Ambassador to Korea Murat Tamer speaks during his visit to The Korea Times in central Seoul, Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul



Envoy expresses gratitude for Korea's rapid response to disaster



By Kwon Mee-yoo



Turkish Ambassador to Korea Murat Tamer conveyed his appreciation for the assistance provided by the Korean people for his country, which was hit by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake last week. Tamer added that the outpouring of help has "reopened the pages" of their shared history.



The ambassador said the recent earthquake made him truly recognize the brotherly bond between Korea and Turkey.



"Prior to coming to Korea, I know that there's a brotherhood between our two nations, but I thought it was just lip service for what happened 70 years ago. But when the earthquake happened, our brotherhood relations reached the second phase," the ambassador said during his visit to The Korea Times, Tuesday.



"You have to come to Korea to understand that feeling. It's not you will not understand that feeling from the distance, but once you come to Korea and see (Korean's response), it's unbelievable and it is very meaningful to us."



During the 1950-53 Korean War, Turkey was one of the countries that sent soldiers to South Korea as part of the United Nations Command, which helped to strengthen the diplomatic relations between the two countries in the years that followed.



The ambassador briefly shared the situation in Turkey, hit by a "horrible natural disaster."



"We lost over 33,000 people and the numbers are rapidly going up. Almost 100,000 people are wounded and about 10,000 houses are completely demolished, most of them not livable, too dangerous to go in," Tamer said, adding that the size of the quake-affected area is larger than the size of South Korea.



"The (Turkish) government is doing the best it can do with their resources, but this is not something that any country can handle by itself. It's why we are so happy that our Korean brothers and sisters are offering us so much help and also the international community."



Despite the aid coming from all around the world, healing from this disaster will take time and leave lasting scars on Turkey, the ambassador added.





Korea Times President-Publisher Oh Young-jin, left, shakes hands with Turkish Ambassador to Korea Murat Tamer during his visit to The Korea Times in central Seoul, Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
The Missourians Opinion section is a public forum for the discussion of ideas. The views presented in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missourian or the University of Missouri. If you would like to contribute to the Opinion page with a response or an original topic of your own, visit our submission form




The rival parties agreed Tuesday to endorse a government reorganization plan under which the veterans affairs agency will be elevated to the ministry level and a separate body for consular services will be newly established.







Officials of the ruling People Power Party and the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea made the joint announcement after reaching an agreement to pass the plan through the National Assembly later this month.







The plan calls for upgrading the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, which currently holds administrative status as a sub-ministry-level government body, into an independent ministry. The promotion will empower the veterans affairs minister, who can now only sit in when the Cabinet convenes, to fully join the Cabinet's decision-making process.







The plan also aims to set up a new sub-ministry-level agency handling consular affairs and services under the foreign ministry.







The parties, however, failed to reach a consensus on whether to abolish the gender ministry.







Replacing the gender ministry with a lower level office under the interior ministry was one of President Yoon Suk Yeol's key election pledges, but the DP has opposed the idea, saying it could undermine the country's gender equality policy.







The matter will be further discussed by the floor leaders of the rival parties, along with the establishment of a space agency. (Yonhap)


For enterprises, chatbots such ChatGPT have the potential to automate mundane tasks or enhance complex communications, such as creating email sales campaigns, fixing computer code, or improving customer support.

Research firm Gartner predicts that by 2025, the market for AI software will reach almost $134.8 billion, and market growth is expected to accelerate from 14.4% in 2021 to 31.1% in 2025  far outpacing overall growth in the software market.

A large part of that market will be chatbot technology, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing to respond to user queries. The human-like answers are in the form of prose; more sophisticated programs allow for follow-up questions and responses, and they can be modified for specific business purposes.

IDC

In a report last week, Gartner spelled out possible uses for ChatGPT and its base language model GPT-3 (GPT 3.5 and 4 also exist), which can be customized.

ChatGPT, launched by research lab OpenAI in November, immediately went viral and had 1 million users in just its first five days because of the sophisticated way it generates in-depth, human-like prose responses to queries.

It is most commonly used  for now  "out of the box" as a text-based web-chat interface. There is no API access for it at the moment, though GPT-3 does offer API access. (Microsoft also plans to offer APIs for its Azure OpenAI ChatGPT version, available soon.)

Enterprises can use the out-of-the-box approach to augment or create content, manipulate text in emails to soften language or take a particular tone, and to summarize or simplify content. This can be done with limited investments, Gartner explained in its report.

What's the difference between ChatGPT, GPT-3, and Azure OpenAI?

Both ChatGPT and GPT-3 (which stands for Generative Pre-trained Transformer) are machine learning language models trained by OpenAI, a San Francisco-based research lab and company. While both ChatGPT and GPT-3 can can produce human-like text responses to queries, they are not equal in sophistication.

One of the main differences between ChatGPT and GPT-3 is their size and capacity, according to a senior solutions architect with TripStax.

ChatGPT is specifically designed for chatbot applications, while GPT-3 is more general-purpose and can be used for a wider range of tasks, Muhammad A. wrote in a blog post. This means that ChatGPT may be more effective for generating responses in a conversational context, while GPT-3 may be better suited for tasks such as language translation or content creation.

IDC

It is not possible to customize ChatGPT, since the language model on which it is based cannot be accessed. Though its creator company is called OpenAI, ChatGPT is not an open-source software application. However, OpenAI has made the GPT-3 model, as well as other large language models (LLMs) available. LLMs are machine learning applications that can perform a number of natural language processing tasks.

Because the underlying data is specific to the objectives, there is significantly more control over the process, possibly creating better results, Gartner said. "Although this approach requires significant skills, data curation and funding, the emergence of a market for third-party, fit-for-purpose specialized models may make this option increasingly attractive."

For example, ChatGPT is leveraged by Microsoft's OpenAI Service, giving business and application developers a way to leverage the new technology. But Microsofts new and improved Bing search engine uses GPT-4 (OpenAIs latest version).

ChatGPT is based on a smaller text model, with a capacity of around 117 million parameters. GPT-3, which was trained on a massive 45TB of text data, is significantly larger, with a capacity of 175 billion parameters, Muhammad noted.

ChatGPT is also not connected to the internet, and it can occasionally produce incorrect answers. It has limited knowledge of world events after 2021 and may also occasionally produce harmful instructions or biased content, according to an OpenAI FAQ.

ChatGPT is an application made up of pre- and post-preparation and screening, and a customized version of GPT-3.5, said Bern Elliot, a vice president and distinguished analyst with Gartner. You submit questions along with any added information, called prompts. While you cant access the customized GPT-3 in ChatGPT, the way you ask the question  the prompting  can have an important effect on the quality of the result.

This is generally called prompt engineering" and it can be done on any large language model. In many cases, users can also access an underlying LLM such as GPT-3.

ChatGPT and GPT-3 uses

Fundamentally, Gartner said, ChatGPT can be used to improve content creation and transformation automation while providing a fast and engaging user experience.

The simplest way to use ChatGPT is as a question-and-answer prompt. For example, How many miles by car does it take to get from Boston to San Francisco?

ChatGPT can also be used to create written content, or augment content already written to give it a different intonation, by softening or professionalizing the language.

There are many ways ChatGPT can produce draft text that meets the length and style desired, which can then be reviewed by the user, Gartner said in its report. Specific uses include drafts of marketing descriptions, letters of recommendation, essays, manuals or instructions, training guides, social media or news posts.

Creating email sales campaign material or suggesting answers to customer agents is reasonable usage, Gartner's Elliot added.

IDC

The chatbot technology can also offer summaries of conversations, articles, emails, and web pages.

Another use for ChatGPT and GPT-3 is to improve existing customer service chatbots so they offer more detailed and human-like responses.

The platforms can also improve customer intent identification, summarize conversations, answer customer questions, and direct customers to resources. Doing this requires enterprise context, service descriptions, permissions, business logic, formality of tone, and even brand tone, which would need to be added to the GPT-3 language model.

Sales and marketing could also use ChatGPT and GPT-3 for potential customers on a website or via a chatbot to provide recommendations and product descriptions. Again, the chatbot platform would need to be customized with enterprise context.

Chatbots have also been used as personal assistants to manage schedules, summarize emails, compose emails and replies, and draft common documents.

In education, chatbots can be used to create personal learning experiences, as a tutor would. And, in healthcare, chatbots and applications can provide simple language descriptions of medical information and treatment recommendations.

Prompt engineering

The GPT-3 model inside of ChatGPT service cannot be modified on its own, Elliot explained, but users can get the base GPT-3 model and modify it separately for use in a chatbot engine (without the ChatGPT application). The GPT-3 model would simply be used like other LLMs.

For example, users can add data and tune parameters of the GTP-3 model or dataset. The way someone submits questions to those models can also be influenced by the wording used to ask the questions. So again, prompt engineering can be useful, Elliot said.

Although this approach requires significant skills, data curation and funding, the emergence of a market for third-party fit-for-purpose specialized models may make this option increasingly attractive, Gartner said in its report.

While just emerging, the use of ChatGPT and GPT-3 for software code generation, translation, explanation, and verification holds the promise of augmenting the development process. Its use is most likely in an integrated developer environment (IDE), according to Gartner.

Gartner

For example, a developer could type into the search box: This code is not working the way I expect  how do I fix it? The first response isnt likely to fix the problem, but with follow-up questions to the responses, ChatGPT could devise a solution, according to OpenAI.

ChatGPT can also write code from prose, convert code from one programming language to another, correct erroneous code, and explain code.

Suggesting alternatives to software code or identifying coding errors is valid, Elliot said. But dont let ChatGPT fix code, but rather suggest areas to review.

For example, OpenAI provided this example of a coding query and response on its FAQ page:

OpenAI

Chatbot risks

Gartner warned there are risks relying on ChatGPT because many users may not understand the data, security, and analytics limitations.

One of biggest concerns for business is that ChatGPT can go overboard, generating eloquent prose with answers in natural language that contain little content of value  or worse, untruthful statements, Gartner said. It should be mandatory that users review the output for accuracy, appropriateness and actual usefulness before accepting any result."

Using a chatbot can also risk exposing confidential and personal identifiable information (PII), so it's important for companies to be mindful of what data is used to feed the chatbot and avoid including confidential information. It's also critical to work with vendors offering strong data usage and ownership policies.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman warned users in a December tweet that ChatGPT is incredibly limited, saying its a mistake to be relying on it for anything important right now.

Its a preview of progress; we have lots of work to do on robustness and truthfulness, Altman wrote, adding that ChatGPT is best for creative inspiration."

Gartner, in its report, essentially agreed: Recognize that this is a very early stage and a hyped technology" with potentially signifcant uses. "So proceed, but dont over pivot."

It suggested that companies encourage out-of-the-box thinking about work processes, define usage and governance guidelines around AI, and develop a task force  a manual/human reporting pipeline  to the CIO and CEO.

Elliot suggested that users favor Microsofts Azure Open Service ChatGPT over the OpenAI ChatGPT for the enterprise, as Microsoft offers enterprise security and compliance controls associated with other Microsoft products.

"If you plan to use confidential information, plan on using Azure," Elliot said.

(Microsoft has said it plans to enable security and confidentiality policies on Azure OpenAI as it does for other Azure services.)

Finally, don't allow employees to ask OpenAI ChatGPT questions that disclose confidential enterprise data, Elliot said. Issue clear policies that educate employees on inherent ChatGPT related risks."

AI and search wars

Founded in 2015, OpenAI had the backing of investors such as Elon Musk, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Infosys, YC Research, and Altman, who became OpenAI CEO in 2019, the year the company went public.

Other early investors included Microsoft, which plowed $1 billion into OpenAI in 2019, and last Monday announced plans to make an additional multi-billion dollar investment. Microsoft also announced its Bing search engine is being upgraded using GPT-4, the latest version of the AI language model built by OpenAI.

That announcement started something of a search chatbot war between Microsoft and Google. Microsoft hopes its use of GPT-4 will give Bing a boost over Googles long-dominant search engine. Google just announced its own flavor of chatbot technology called Bard. It is a conversational AI service powered by a technology called Language Model for Dialogue Applications (or LaMDA for short).

Preply, a global language learning platform, published the results of a study that compared the intelligence of Google to ChatGPT. Preply assembled what it called a panel of communication experts who assessed each AI platform on 40 intelligence challenges.

The challenge showed ChatGPT beating Google 23 to 16, with one tie. Google, however, excelled basic questions and queries where information changes over time.
Six-year-old rescue dog Tobaek, a Labrador retriever, sniffs out missing people during a search operation in Turkey's southern city of Antakya, last Friday. Tobaek is one of the four Korean rescue dogs sent to the disaster site where a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck last Monday. Yonhap





By Lee Hae-rin







Specially trained dogs sent to assist in search and rescue missions with their Korean disaster relief teams in earthquake-hit Turkey have taken center stage for their heroic role in saving lives.







Last Thursday, along with the Korea Disaster Relief Team (KDRT), four rescue dogs from Korea  Labrador retrievers "Tobaek" and "Tina," and Belgian Malinois "Tori" and "Haetae"  were sent to Antakya in southern Turkey, where a deadly 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck last Monday.







The KDRT comprises 118 members, mainly consisting of firefighters and foreign ministry and army personnel. The canines are four of 12 trained and experienced rescue dogs on duty at the National 119 Rescue Headquarters under the National Fire Agency.







Rescue dogs are trained to trace the human scent and locate human beings, alive or dead. The olfactory and auditory capabilities of dogs depends on their breed, but trained rescue dogs are known to have 10,000 times better smell and 50 times better hearing than humans.







They are the unsung heroes of disaster sites. Trained to bark or scratch when they detect a human scent among collapsed buildings, rescue dogs make search and rescue more efficient in heavily damaged disaster sites where debris and wreckage cannot be removed and where humans trapped underneath concrete and metal cannot make themselves noticed.







The four dogs on the rescue mission in Turkey are trained and experienced animals who have been deployed to disaster sites in Korea before, the rescue headquarters' team in charge of the rescue dog training told The Korea Times, Monday. The Korean disaster sites included the apartment demolition site in Gwangju last February.







Countries including Taiwan, Japan, Mexico, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Libya, Poland, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States have also deployed rescue dogs there.








By Doh See-hwan



Feb. 14 was the 113th anniversary of Ahn Jung-geun's death sentence handed down by imperial Japan because of patriotic deeds committed in Harbin, China. As is well known, Ahn shouted "Corea Ura" (long live Korea) three times after shooting Hirobumi Ito, who was inspecting the honor guard at Harbin Station in China on Oct. 26, 1909. Ahn's patriotic deed played a crucial role in reviving the stagnant anti-Japanese movement as well as informing the world about the Japanese invasion of Korea.



Ahn, who was later arrested, wrote "The History of Ahn Eung-chil" from Dec. 13, 1909, to March 15, 1910, and then began writing the theory of peace in the East. However, following the death sentence by imperial Japan on Feb. 14, 1910, and being executed at the age of 30 on March 26, 1910, the Oriental Peace Theory was left unfinished.



Regarding Ahn's patriotic deed in Harbin, the media and leaders of China  a country also victimized by Japanese invasion  expressed homage. In an editorial on Nov. 7, 1909, the Shanghai Minyu daily pointed out that "Korea is not ruined because there is such a person in Korea. If there was such a person in China, there would not have been China like today."



Sun Wen, China's national father, commemorated it as "a feat that will shine in the millennium," and Zhou En-lai, the first prime minister, commemorated it as "the anti-Japanese struggle of the people of both countries after the Sino-Japanese War originated from the great deed of Ahn." Chen Duxiu, the first leader of the Communist Party of China, said, "The great and resolute Korean independence movement opened a new era in the history of world revolution by establishing an accurate idea as the will of the people, not military force."



In addition, Ahn's Oriental Peace Theory, which Japanese imperialists left incomplete, is that the three countries  Korea, China, and Japan  can maintain independence and achieve Eastern peace by defending themselves from the invasion of Western imperialism through mutual aid. It clarifies the essence of Japan's Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity rationalizing the Invasive Attributes and further suggests the ideal of the Northeast Asian Peace Community.



Ahn's plan is regarded as a basic idea of the European Union, which is referred to as a new legal order in international law today, such as the establishment of a permanent East Asian Peace Conference between Korea, China and Japan related to politics, economy and military in Northeast Asia, the establishment of a joint bank, and the creation of a joint peace army.



Ahn's Oriental Peace Theory is revered in the Japanese thought world today in comparison with the German philosopher Kant's theory of Perpetual Peace. Eiji Makino, a professor at Hosei University in Japan who is a former chairman of the Kant Association of Japan, suggests the following things in common: first, outstanding insight into human society and, a cold and strict sense of reality; second, stern criticism of colonialism and colonial rule; third, fostering moral human beings for peace realization; fourth, the impossibility of realizing peace through force; and fifth, the providence of God as the foundation of peace theory.



Toshichi Chiba, a Japanese military police guard, was impressed by Ahn's propaganda for Korean independence and Oriental peace.



However, as Japan's invasion of national sovereignty continued through the 1905 Korea-Japan Treaty of 1905 and the 1907 Korea-Japan Treaty, Ahn's independence movement shifted from educational enlightenment and national debt redemption movement to an anti-Japanese armed struggle. Ahn organized the anti-Japanese soldiers titled Donguihoe in 1908, defeated the Japanese army and released Japanese prisoners based on international law and Catholic philanthropy, but was defeated by Japanese attack.



In October 1909, Ahn, while reorganizing the righteous army with the members of the Danji Alliance, punished Ito, the main culprit of the invasion of Korea and the destroyer of Oriental peace, who entered his righteous army area for the invasion of Manchuria. Regarding this, the Japanese claim that Ito resigned from the resident-general of Korea, and Ahn did not have the qualification of belligerency.



However, it is revealed that Ito was visiting for the purpose of advancing to the continent as the chairman of the Privy Council and that Ahn was a lieutenant general of the righteous army under the Hague Land Warfare Regulations in 1907 after the dissolution of the Korean army by Japanese imperialists.



On Oct. 8, 1895, Miura Goro, who murdered Empress Myeongseong, the mother of Korea, was acquitted and released, while Japan sentenced Ahn to murder by applying the Japanese Criminal Law on the basis of "Japan's Equal Protection of Korean subjects," Article 1 of the Korea-Japan Treaty of 1905, which is absolutely invalid due to coercion with the national representative under international law.



If so, it remains to be questioned what would have happened if Ahn had not been executed in a normal trial. However, it is possible to reasonably infer from the fact that the poet of "the Wide Plain," whose name was Lee Yuk-sa (264), the prisoner number obtained through independence activities, died in prison at the age of 40 after 17 imprisonments and torture by Japanese imperialists.



Moreover, it should not be forgotten that behind the calling to protect Korean independence and Oriental peace through the sacrifice of Ahn himself, a pacifist, was the prayer and love of the mother, Jo Maria. This is because the image of the mother, Jo Maria, who sent the last shroud to Ahn, alludes to the image of the Virgin Mary in front of a dying Jesus Christ, who was completely obedient to the salvation of mankind.



In conclusion, keeping the last will of Ahn Jung-geun will be the task of our calling today. "When I go to heaven, I will strive for the independence of my country."





Dr. Doh See-hwan is a senior research fellow at the Northeast Asian History Foundation.








Judges should show even minimum respect for common sense



A man, 31, received 5 billion won ($3.9 million) in severance pay after working for a small property developer for six years.



It was more than 200 times the amount his colleagues might receive and a sum that executives of large companies who worked for more than 20 years could garner.



The man's father was a lawmaker of a major political party, heading a committee that prevents real estate speculation. By just listening to this, even grade schoolers can tell why the company gave the money to the young man  and where it was headed.



A local court judged it differently.



Last Wednesday, the Seoul Central District Court acquitted the former lawmaker on charges of receiving a large amount of bribes from the land developer at the center of a high-profile corruption scandal. The court cited two reasons. First, Kwak Sang-do and his married son "could not be seen as one economic community." Second, the prosecution failed to provide sufficient evidence to reveal reasons for the graft.



The court's spokesperson refused to answer reporters' questions about why the company might have given such a massive sum to Kwak's son then. "We make it a rule not to comment on an individual ruling," the official said. Still, questions remain. Why did the prosecution handle the case so poorly? And why did the court interpret the law so narrowly?



The judges might say they were faithful only to the law. Considering that courts sometimes induced the change of indictment in similar situations, one can't help but wonder why the district court came up with a ruling contrary to the public's sentiment of the law. Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo, a former prosecutor, represented many people's feelings when he said, "How could such prosecutors pass the state bar exam? Have all people in the judiciary branch been reduced to salaried workers?"



Social media is also full of cynical comments reflecting the people's frustration. "The court has shown a way to receive bribes legally." Or, "Dad, why can't I receive 5 billion won in severance pay?" Or "Let's call 5 billion won 1 KSD (the acronym of Kwak Sang-do)." The public has had a long and deep distrust of bureaucrats and politicians. However, it is frustrating to watch the gradual crumbling of the judiciary branch. Years ago, a judge raised many eyebrows with a guilty verdict on a bus driver who embezzled 800 won.



Prosecutors' leniency toward their former colleagues no longer makes news in this country.



The land developer is also suspected of giving or planning to give 5 billion won each to six other people, members of the so-called "5 billion won club." They include five former prosecutors and one ex-judge. However, unless this case received social attention with the court's acquittal of Kwak, the prosecution might have swept it under the rug. After all, this is the prosecution that managed to free a former vice justice minister from all charges of bribery, including receiving sex in return for a favor, after a nine-year trial. Welcome to the Paradise of Prosecutors.



Things might have been quite different had President Yoon Suk Yeol paid more attention to the case and instructed a thorough investigation through, for example, his morning engagements with reporters that no longer take place. Or rather, Yoon, a former prosecutor himself, could have shown a higher sense of the spirit of the law instead of urging the people not to break the law. Yoon has retained his interior minister responsible for public safety, who did nothing during the Itaewon crowd crush last October. "What law did he break?" Yoon's aides say, but the Constitution says people's safety is the president's foremost duty.



When law enforcement goes separately with the spirit of the law and legal officers become legal technicians, the government can hardly expect people's unity and support in times of a national crisis.



For South Korea, such an internal breakup should be a more serious concern than external threats like the ones from North Korea.


BAT Rothmans Country Manager Kim Eun-ji speaks during a press conference for the launch of new glo Hyper X2 at a hotel in Seoul, on Tuesday. Courtesy of BAT Rothmans



By Kim Jae-heun



Global tobacco company BAT Rothmans introduced the glo Hyper X2, a new heat-not-burn (hnb) device, to compete against KT&G's lil and Philip Morris' IQOS products, the company said Tuesday. It has been nearly a year and a half since the firm first introduced glo Pro Slim in Korea in October 2021.



"Glo Hyper X2 is a next-generation e-cigarette device that will lead the BAT Group's smoke-free product business. We have not only increased the user's convenience of the platform, but also improved its design and portability," BAT Rothmans Country Manager Kim Eun-ji said during a press conference held at a hotel in Seoul.



Glo Hyper X2 device adopts more slim design than its previous glo series models, while allowing to smoke tobacco sticks that contain 30 percent more tobacco content.



It is the first platform to offer two separate "boost mode" and "standard mode" buttons. Users can choose the former to smoke quickly after 15 seconds of preheating or the latter to preheat 20 seconds and smoke non-stop for four minutes.



The new device also adopts a shutter system to protect from dust and foreign substances. There are LED indicators to show the remaining battery power and preheating status.





Male models hold various color models of the new glo Hyper X2 product at a hotel in Seoul, Wednesday. Courtesy of BAT Rothmans
Some 80,000ft above our heads a high-tech tussle is under way, with our most closely guarded secrets and our national security at stake. It is a story that, at first sight, seems closer to the fictional X-Files than mundane life down here on earth.

Four mysterious aircraft have been shot down in just nine days over North America, three by the US Air Force and one by the Royal Canadian Air Force.

An American general sparked a storm of speculation when he said that he was not excluding extra-terrestrial origin for these intruders. 'I haven't ruled out anything at this point,' General Glen VanHerck, commander of North American Aerospace Defence Command, replied when asked about the possibility of aliens.

For these are  literally  unidentified flying objects. The language used to describe them recalls the unexplained sightings that for decades have puzzled even seasoned observers while thrilling UFO enthusiasts. (The Pentagon in 2021 set up the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronisation Group to investigate over 100 incidents.)

One of the aircraft, downed on Friday over Alaska, was described as 'cylindrical and silverish gray', about the 'size of a small car' and with 'no identifiable propulsion system'. Another, brought to earth on the US-Canadian border, was a 'small, cylindrical object'.

Some 80,000ft above our heads a high-tech tussle is under way, with our most closely guarded secrets and our national security at stake

Four mysterious aircraft have been shot down in just nine days over North America, three by the US Air Force and one by the Royal Canadian Air Force

Such intruders may also have crossed British territory, says transport minister Richard Holden. Rishi Sunak, newly enthused by military matters, says we can and will shoot them down if necessary.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has ordered a review. For now, the questions outnumber the answers. Are they Chinese? Probably. The regime in Beijing has protested about the downing of two of them  just peaceful weather balloons, it insists.

Officials in the West now say that China's stratospheric surveillance programme has operated for years, over five continents. It is the brainchild of the Strategic Support Force, a secretive part of the People's Liberation Army. So why have we not noticed this before?

The short answer is that we weren't looking. These balloons and drones move slowly at great heights. Our air-defence radar works at lower altitudes. Our missile-defence systems track fast-moving rockets. American officials are now scouring data collected in previous years for signs of intrusions that they may have missed. So far, the Pentagon says, four previous instances have been identified.

But malevolent intruders can in any case easily be missed amid the thousand innocent weather balloons launched every day. Gathering meteorological data provides perfect cover for secret missions. China now claims that the US has repeatedly sent spy balloons into Chinese airspace. The Americans deny this.

But why would China invest so much in these missions when it has more than 260 spy satellites? Being only 15 miles above the earth's surface  satellites are seven times higher  may give them an edge in taking photos and sucking up electronic information, such as on the ultra-sensitive 'friend-or-foe' systems that prevent us shooting down our own warplanes.

They can loiter over sensitive military installations, such as top-secret RAF Boscombe Down in Wiltshire, used by American spy planes. Gathering information about the temperature and density of the air at high altitudes could also give a crucial advantage to missile-guidance systems. These spycraft may also be sent to test national defences.

Most worryingly, China published in 2018 a video showing a balloon being used as a platform to launch hypersonic weapons. These can travel vast distances at high speed, evading our defences and delivering either nuclear warheads, or electro-magnetic pulse blasts that devastate all electrical and electronic devices.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has ordered a review. For now, the questions outnumber the answers

I havent ruled out anything at this point, General Glen VanHerck, commander of North American Aerospace Defence Command, replied when asked about the possibility of aliens

So far nobody is saying anything about what keeps these machines aloft and on course, thousands of miles from home.

Some clues may come from here in Britain. We have Stratospheric Platforms a company offering internet access from a drone that can stay in the atmosphere for a week at a time powered by a hydrogen engine. Another British start-up Avealto has a helium-powered craft targeting the same market.

But speculation abounds about even more advanced technologies. Aviation geeks are eagerly awaiting news from the wreckage of the devices.

Could, for example, the Chinese have cracked the difficulties of 'ion propulsion', which uses blasts of electrically charged air to stay aloft, and requires no combustion or moving parts like propellers or jets?

Prototypes of aircraft using this technology already fly, but they use too much electricity to be viable. Or so we think.

Whatever the case, the wreckage will be eagerly inspected by American military technologists hoping to gain an edge for their country in its own spy wars in the sky. The results will be top secret. Why give clues to the enemy?

But one thing in this extraordinary story is clear. These balloons are far from innocent and have caught the guardians of our security napping. Let us hope they will be more vigilant in future.
A few years ago, when Keira Bell won her case in the High Court against the Tavistock and Portmans gender identity service (GIDS), I remember thinking: this is just the start.

Aged 16, Bell had been prescribed puberty blockers to pause her physical development. Six years later, having undergone irreversible treatment, including a double mastectomy, she realised it had been a monumental mistake. She wasnt trans at all, just  as she herself put it  very mentally ill.

Together with the mother of an autistic girl on the waiting list for similar treatment, Bell brought her case to highlight what she and others, including several professionals at the Tavistock, believed amounted to medical malpractice.

This, they suggested, was being driven by ideology  and supported by a culture of intimidation that acted as a barrier to proper assessment and treatment of children like her.

The court in Bells case found the Tavistocks policies and practices were not unlawful. But that does not detract from the concerns I and many others have about how the clinic treated her and other children.

A few years ago, when Keira Bell (pictured) won her case in the High Court against the Tavistock and Portmans gender identity service (GIDS), I remember thinking: this is just the start

Together with the mother of an autistic girl on the waiting list for similar treatment, Bell brought her case to highlight what she and others, including several professionals at the Tavistock, believed amounted to medical malpractice

Children who, yes, had complex needs and issues, who were struggling with problems such as body dysmorphia and eating disorders, but for whom the answer wasnt necessarily gender reassignment.

Needless to say, Keira Bell was branded a traitor to the trans cause. Whistleblowers at the Tavistock were immediately tarred as transphobic.

But the truth is, shes heroic. Because its in no small part thanks to her that the wider conversation around gender identity ceased being so one-sided, and that the prevailing rainbows and unicorns narrative has, at last, been challenged.

Of course, some children really are trans  and benefit hugely from getting help with transitioning. Ironically, they have now lost a clinic designed to assist them, thanks to the stupidity and short-sightedness of ideologues.

We are now approaching  albeit cautiously  a place where politicians and professionals should at the very least be able to question certain practices without being dismissed as bigots.

That said, as we have seen from the recent debate around Nicola Sturgeons ill-thought-out self-identification legislation, a lot of people are still afraid of tackling the gender ideologues. And understandably so: the activists are very powerful and some are very persuasive.

They dominate social media, targeting the young and impressionable, casting themselves as the enemies of old-fashioned and outdated values; pioneers of a newer, more progressive age of self-expression and tolerance.

Some present themselves as harmless entertainers. Others have a more direct agenda, proffering gender reassignment as an easy, fun and, in some cases, lucrative lifestyle choice.

Provided no one challenges them, they are all sweetness and light. Express even a bat-squeak of concern, however, and they can be utterly vicious. Witness the recent decapitate Terfs placards at pro-Sturgeon rallies in Scotland.

As a result of Bells bravery, and of a damning interim report by Dr Hilary Cass (pictured), a former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, the Tavistock will close this spring

Needless to say, Keira Bell was branded a traitor to the trans cause. Whistleblowers at the Tavistock were immediately tarred as transphobic. But the truth is, shes heroic

READ MORE HERE: Psychologist reveals how controversial Tavistock gender clinic 'pushed gay teens into transitioning' Advertisement

Terf  or trans-exclusionary radical feminist  is the trans fanatics (misogynistic) preferred acronym for anyone, be they concerned parent or cautious professional, who dares question the wisdom of not merely allowing but, like the Tavistock, actively assisting young and vulnerable children to start altering their gender.

By demonising all opposition, trans ideologues have, over the years, skilfully and successfully shut down almost any debate on the issue.

Finally, however, the tide is turning. As a result of Bells bravery, and of a damning interim report by Dr Hilary Cass, a former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health  who was commissioned by NHS England to independently review gender identity services for young people  the Tavistock will close this spring.

Dr Casss full report will be published later this year; but next week an equally damning assessment of what went on comes out in the form of a book by the Newsnight journalist Hannah Barnes.

Based on years of meticulous research as well as hours of interviews with clinicians and patients, Time To Think really gets into the guts of what went on at the Tavistock, charting how well over 1,000 children, some as young as ten, were prescribed puberty blockers, opening a pathway to medical transition, often without follow-up or supervision.

It exposes how concerned clinicians were marginalised and dismissed and how pressure groups such as Mermaids and Gendered Intelligence were allowed to influence practices.

It reveals how some children presenting with complex psychological issues  from autism to depression to simple worries about going through puberty or experiencing same-sex attraction  were all funnelled into the same diagnosis of gender dysphoria. Perhaps most disturbingly, there is evidence of latent homophobia.

One of the psychologists interviewed, Dr Matt Bristow, told Barnes how he feared the clinic was acting as a kind of conversion therapy for gay kids, as those who simply fancied their own sex were encouraged to start transitioning.

Psychotherapist Anastassis Spiliadis, who joined the clinic in 2015, said he believed homophobia was everywhere. He added that some young people would be repulsed by the fact that they were attracted to their own sex. Another anonymous clinician said some parents appeared to prefer the idea that their child was transgender and straight rather than gay.

All this amounts to a scandal on a truly titanic scale, one that affects not just the lives of individuals such as Keira Bell, who will have to suffer for ever from the after-effects of the treatment she underwent, but also for everyone who has ever been made to feel like a bigot in this toxic debate.

Because this is not just a catastrophic betrayal of thousands of vulnerable children and their families by a taxpayer-funded institution that allowed itself to be infiltrated and influenced by a highly politicised ideological agenda.

Its also an example of what happens when all debate is stifled, and of the harms that occur when free speech is shut down and legitimate questioning of motives and methods is sacrificed on the altar of wokeness.

In many ways, I see it as analogous to what happened with the Rotherham grooming and sexual-exploitation scandal. Sure, the clinicians at the Tavistock didnt mean to harm the confused young people who came through their doors  and they werent breaking the law.

But the victims in both cases were vulnerable children. Only in Rotherham, it was fear of being branded racist, rather than transphobic, that prevented the authorities from acknowledging what was going on beneath their very noses.

Between 1997 and 2013, more than 1,400 girls were variously raped, gang-raped, trafficked and abused, predominantly by British-Pakistani men who deliberately targeted care homes and schools.

The situation was exacerbated by contemptuous and sexist attitudes towards the mainly white working-class victims, as well as cultural sensitivities around the perpetrators religion, which was mainly Muslim.

And, as with the Tavistock, it was only the courage of whistle-blowers brave enough to stomach the inevitable barrage of abuse that eventually allowed justice to prevail.

History teaches us that wherever good people are silenced, bad things happen. I have no doubt that in years to come, when we look back on what happened at the Tavistock and at the whole situation surrounding the trans debate in general  such as convicted rapists being allowed to declare themselves female and serve jail time in womens prisons  people will shake their heads in disbelief that such things were ever allowed to happen.

But happen they did, and not because no one saw what was going on.

They took place because the rest of the world was too busy covering its own sorry backside  too busy being woke, too busy painting pointless rainbows on pedestrian crossings, too busy organising inclusivity seminars and paying trans activists to teach primary-school children that biological sex is a construct  to see that many vulnerable children were being consigned, like Bell, to a lifetime of ill-health and regret.

In short, too busy paying lip service to a bunch of politically correct bullies, while ignoring those who really need societys protection. It is, Im afraid, the story of our times; and, as many of us warned and Hannah Barness book shows, its a shameful one.




POSCO Holdings, Korea's top steelmaker, said Tuesday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with an Australian firm to look into a lithium project in the United States.







Under the non-binding pact, POSCO and Jindalee will launch joint research on Jindalee's wholly owned McDermitt lithium project in Oregon.







POSCO will develop optimal lithium processing technologies by using samples offered by Jindalee and look into the validity of the project, according to the steelmaker.







POSCO is constructing a 43,000-ton lithium processing plant in Korea to extract lithium from ore and used batteries. The steelmaker also plans to build similar plants in Argentina.







POSCO has been diversifying its business portfolio from steelmaking to resources supply, especially resources used for batteries. (Yonhap)


Socialite Talita von Furstenberg has shared a tantalizing glimpse into her latest lavish getaway.

The 23-year-old, who is the granddaughter of celebrated fashion designer Diane, posted a series of snaps from her holiday in Hawaii with boyfriend Rocco Brignone de Brabant.

The care-free couple looked to be having the time of their lives as they playfully danced on an island, rode horses along a sandy beach and clambered up mountain trails with breath-taking views.

But Talita is no stranger to giving her growing fan base an insight into her enviable lifestyle as she prepares to take the reins of her family's fashion empire.

Socialite Talita von Furstenberg has shared a tantalizing insight inside her latest lavish getaway with boyfriend Rocco Brignone de Brabant

The couple looked to be having the time of their lives on their most recent getaway together in Hawaii

Talita took to Instagram to post a loved-up snap as she beamed alongside her 21-year-old boyfriend.

The fashion designer wore a pink drawstring ruched two piece, which showcased her taut midriff, with Rocco opting for a khaki green shirt.

It was followed by a multitude of enviable snaps of their stunning surroundings as well as videos of the lovebirds prancing on a small island and heading down the beach on horseback.

Talita uploaded the pictures to social media alongside a caption that read: 'Camera roll clean out.'

Influencer Camille Charriere, actress Christa Miller and YouTuber Olivia Jade were all among the famous faces to leave adoring comments under the post.

But it is not the first time that Talita has left her 218,000 followers green with envy by flaunting her busy travel schedule.

The fashion heiress has frequently spent her summer vacations from university with lavish trips across the globe.

In 2018, she kicked off her travels with a trip to Utah with her father, Prince Alexander von Furstenberg, at the Amangiri - a remote five-star resort in Canyon Point.

The fashion designer and boyfriend Rocco even found the time to head down the beach on horseback

Talita also shared videos of the lovebirds prancing on a small island surrounded by vibrant blue water

In another enviable snapshot, the couple were met with breath-taking views as they clambered up mountain trails

But that was only the beginning, and, in just two months, Talita had also visited Spain, Austria, Israel, France and Greece, posting a trail of snapshots to document each destination.

The following year she was at it again - this time exploring Mexico, the Mediterranean and Japan alongside her family.

Although the pandemic seemingly slowed down her travelling exploits temporarily, it seems that Talita is now back galivanting, all while juggling her position in her grandmother's fashion empire.

Inside Talita's very elite social circle - including her royal cousin and best friend Princess Olympia of Greece

The young fashion designer was born into a very elite circle.

Princess Talita is the eldest daughter of interior designer Alexandra (nee Miller) and her ex-husband Prince Alexander von Furstenberg, son of Diane and her ex-husband Prince Egon von Furstenberg.

Her royal heritage comes from her grandfather, German aristocrat Prince Egon, who was married to Diane for 14 years.

Diane and the royal, who passed away in 2004, had two children during their marriage: Prince Alexander von Furstenberg, Talita's father, and Princess Tatiana von Furstenberg.

Talita (pictured at the Met Gala in 2021) previously revealed how she avoided using her royal title growing up in LA because she didn't want people to 'freak out' when they met her

Talita (left) remains close to her royal cousin Princess Olympia of Greece (right) with the pair frequently jetting off together

Talita is the daughter of Prince Alexander von Furstenberg and his first wife, Alexandra von Furstenberg (pictured in 2019)

Talita remains particularly close to her royal cousin Princess Olympia of Greece with the pair frequently jetting off together.

But despite her royal association, Talita previously revealed how she avoided using her title growing up in Los Angeles because she didn't want people to 'freak out' when they met her.

Speaking in an interview with UK-based magazine Hello, Talita added that the situation might have been different if she had been raised in Europe, where there is a better 'understanding' of royalty.

'It doesn't make sense for me because I didn't grow up in Europe, it is still my title, but I think that Americans don't understand about being a princess in the same way that you guys do,' she said.

Lookin' good: The two royal cousins previously travelled to Japan together where they posed for photos in Kyoto

Talita has still been finding time to make a name for herself in the fashion world after inheriting her grandmother's passion (pictured together)

During the pandemic, despite travel restrictions, Talita appeared to join grandmother Diane and her husband Barry Diller on a trip to Spain's party island of Ibiza

'In LA, where I grew up, if I said I was a princess people would freak out. I didn't think I could claim that title for myself.'

Nevertheless, Talita's family ties have left her well connected.

During the pandemic, despite travel restrictions, Talita appeared to join grandmother Diane and her husband Barry Diller on a trip to Spain's party island of Ibiza, facilitated by Diller's $150million 305-foot yacht Eos.

Diller, founded internet and media conglomerate IAC, is said to be worth $4.4billion, according to Forbes, and is a useful connection for the rising star to have.

Diane's husband Diller (pictured together), founded internet and media conglomerate IAC, is said to be worth $4.4billion, according to Forbes

Even Talita's boyfriend Rocco (pictured together) comes from an Italian banking family who own a private estate resort in Costalegre, Mexico, called Costa Careyes

Even Talita's boyfriend Rocco comes from an Italian banking family who own a private estate resort in Costalegre, Mexico, called Costa Careyes.

And the fashion designer herself has not shied away from the limelight.

She has often been seen gracing the front rows of fashion shows and society parties including us being a frequent face at the Met Gala in New York City.

Her social movements are reminiscent of her mother Alexandra, who was a firm fixture on the Nineties New York social scene along with her sisters Pia Getty and Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece.

How Talita rose to be next in line to take over the family's multi-million fashion empire

Between her lavish getaways and elite social events, Talita has still been finding time to make a name for herself in the fashion world.

Her grandmother, now 76, previously called Talita her 'muse' and the rising style star is now following in the designer's footsteps.

Having inherited her grandmother's passion for design, she is being groomed to one day take over the Diane von Furstenberg business.

Talita grew up in Los Angeles before moving to the East Coast in 2017 to attend Georgetown University with her cousin, fellow royal Prince Alexios of Greece.

But she later transferred to New York University to study fashion business and marketing.

Fashion guru Diane von Furstenberg, now 76, has previously called goddaughter Talita her 'muse'

In recent years Talita (pictured modelling a playsuit from her new range) has unveiled her own chic clothing ranges

In recent years Talita has unveiled her own chic clothing ranges, admitting she doesn't discuss her design ideas with her famous grandmother Diane.

'We try to be separate when I'm designing, just because I obviously value her opinion so much, but she designs for an older client and has a different taste to me, and I would hate for her opinion to alter the shape of the collection because ultimately the collection is supposed to reflect my more youthful taste,' she previously told FEMAIL.

'Every time she sees [my dresses] in the studio she's like, "Urgh what is this?" I'm like, "Just trust me. You'll like it at the end, people will like it".

'She always ends up liking it when I wear it, but when she sees it on the rack she's like, "Oh this is horrible".'

Talita added: 'In everything else besides the design aspect, I rely on her opinion so much  she's literally the best, most wise person to ask, so I really value her opinion on TVF branding, and on distribution now I'm going into the wholesale market.'

Talita (pictured in her previous designs) admitted she doesn't discuss her design ideas with her famous grandmother

Talita has since been named co-chairwoman of the fashion brand as part of the company's restructuring over the past few years

Talita has since been named co-chairwoman of the fashion brand as part of the company's restructuring over the past few years, while Gabby Hirata was brought on as DVF's new president and CEO.

'For me, what I hope is that [my successors] will maintain the spirit and the attitude,' Diane told The Wall Street Journal last year.

'Right now I'm putting all of my archive, all of my 50 years of experience, into this huge vault with the codes and the tricks and the knowhow and all of that.

'Then it's in the hands of young people  my granddaughter, Gabby, whoever else works here  to do it, respecting the values and not trying to be something that we aren't.

'DVF is about respecting the woman and giving her the tools to be the woman she wants to be.'

Speaking about the possibility of heading up the family's fashion empire, Talita previously told FEMAIL that doing so would be a real honor

Talita is no stranger to giving her growing fan base an insight into her enviable lifestyle as she prepares to take the reins of her family's fashion empire

Speaking about the possibility of heading up the family's fashion empire, Talita previously told FEMAIL that doing so would be a real honor.

'It's a really special, strong DNA brand,' she said. 'I'm still learning and don't want to take that position until I fully think I'm confident enough to do it, and I'm learning, that's what TVF is.

'Hopefully one day I can [take over] because DVF is a pretty extraordinary brand that's one dress for so long and it's still selling, so it's a pretty crazy business model when you look into it.

'All the DNA and history of the brand is really, it's a really special brand. When I go into the archives and see all the dresses, I could pull out a dress and it could still be worn today, almost every single one of them.'
Jazz Jennings' mother is opening up about how she had to advocate for her transgender daughter from an early age, saying she was 'always putting out fires' to protect her.

On Tuesday's episode of the family's TLC reality series, I Am Jazz, Jeanette Jennings, 56, reflects on the challenges Jazz, 22, faced when she was in preschool in Florida, where she was born and raised.

The trans activist, who was assigned male at birth, started verbalizing that she was a girl as soon as she could speak. After being diagnosed with gender dysphoria, she transitioned to female when she was in kindergarten.

'With Jazz, when she was little or, you know, a minor, I was always putting out fires before she got burned. I walked her into preschool, everybody was whispering and pointing fingers and just looking down upon us,' Jeanette explains in a preview clip shared by People.

Jazz Jennings' mother, Jeanette, opens up about how she had to advocate for her transgender daughter on this week's episode of the TLC reality series I Am Jazz

Jazz, who was assigned male at birth, transitioned to female when she was in kindergarten after being diagnosed with gender dysphoria

Jeannette recalled how people would point at her and her daughter when she was in preschool, saying she was 'always putting out fires' to protect Jazz (pictured as a child)

'I held my hand high and held my child's hand and I said, "We're going to go in there and don't care what the other kids think and it doesn't matter what the parents think. You're special. You're unique. You're you and I'm so proud of you and I'm so proud to be your mom," and I'm saying this to a four-year-old.'

Jeanette notes that Jazz was having a difficult time at school because of who she was and needed encouragement.

'I had to say this to her because she was upset that the other kids were making fun of her for acting girly, and I had to tell her, "It's OK, you be you. You do you and we're here for you. We love you no matter what,"' she recalls.

The episode features footage of Jeanette speaking on behalf of transgender children like Jazz at a TransAction | Equality Florida rally.

'There's going to be a board meeting today to decide whether gender-affirming care will be allowed in the state of Florida,' she explains. 'And they need someone to speak on behalf of the kids and support hormone blockers and I'm that person.'

Jazz started taking hormone blockers when she was 11 years old, and she has been candid about how they were 'life-saving.'

'We were told by medical professionals that 40 to 50 per cent of kids like Jazz would attempt suicide without their gender-affirming care,' Jeanette explains in her speech.

'Jazz herself has told us if she was forced to go through male puberty, she would have taken her life. As a young child, she would have nightmares about having facial hair.

Proud Mom | I Am Jazz This mother-daughter bond is so special Don't miss #IAmJazz, Tuesdays at 10/9c. Posted by I Am Jazz on Monday, February 13, 2023

Jeanette says she always encouraged Jazz (pictured with her father and brothers) to be herself, insisting that she was 'special' and 'unique'

Jazz, who is now a student at Harvard University, remains incredibly close to her mother

The new episode also features footage of Jeanette speaking on behalf of other transgender children at a TransAction | Equality Florida rally

Jazz notes in her testimonial that her mother is a 'major' advocate in the trans community, saying, 'I would not be the person I am today if it weren't for my mom'

'After extensive guidance from medical professionals, we promised we'd do everything in our power to ensure that Jazz would be able to live as a girl,' she tearfully adds. 'And she's fulfilling her dreams of changing the world on her own terms, as a student at Harvard University. I love you, baby.'

Greg Jennings, praised his wife, Jeanette, in his testimonial while sharing his unwavering support for her and their daughter.

'Jeanette is a big advocate, and, you know, we're proud of her for doing that,' he says. 'I can't always be where she is, but I'm there in spirit. I think that's true for the whole family. Whenever any one of us are, whether we're together or one of us is there, we're all on the same page fighting for the same cause.'

Last fall, despite protests from the trans community, Florida banned gender-affirming care for trans youth, including puberty blockers and hormone therapies to treat gender dysphoria.

Jazz also opens up about her bond with her mother during the emotional episode.

'I would not be the person I am today if it weren't for my mom,' she insists. 'She spreads so much unconditional love to everyone, and it's not just her family  like, she is an advocate, a major force for the community.

'I am beyond blessed to have my mom, and I'm just so, so proud of her.'
A woman has become a first time mom aged 52, after spending more than $200,000 on IVF - and says she's not done with having children yet.

Luise Hoehn from Lowell, Massachusetts, gave birth on Christmas Day after trying for a baby for six years using IVF therapies and donor eggs.

New parents Luise and husband Dean Biele, 47, welcomed their long awaited son Stellan, after six grueling rounds of failed IVF  and plan to try for a second baby later this year.

Luise, who will be 53 in May, spent $75,000 on donor eggs, following six disappointing failed rounds using her own eggs - costing more than $115,000.

Luise Hoehn from Lowell, Massachusetts, gave birth on Christmas Day after trying for a baby for six years using IVF therapies and donor eggs

New parents Luise and husband Dean Biele, 47, welcomed their long awaited son Stellan, after six grueling rounds of failed IVF

Luise, who will be 53 in May, spent $75,000 on donor eggs, following six disappointing failed rounds using her own eggs - costing more than $115,000.

How Luise had her first child with a little help: What is IVF In vitro fertilization or IVF is a series of procedures that helps with fertility or prevent genetic problems in the conception of a child.

It begins by collecting mature eggs from ovaries and fertilizing them with sperm in a lab.

Then, the fertilized egg or embryos are transferred to the uterus.

A full cylcle of IVF takes three weeks, however at the times the process is split and it can take longer Advertisement

Luise and Dean met in 2007 when Luise was 37, but didn't start fertility treatment until nine years later.

But at 46, Luise was already over the cut off age for many clinics and when the couple did find a specialist, they discovered their insurance would not cover most of the treatment cost because of Luise's age.

The new mom said: 'Before meeting Dean, I'd never met someone I wanted a family with.

'I had a fulfilling job as a nanny, helping to raise other people's children and simply thought I would meet the right person and one day have my own.'

The couple bought a house in 2012 and although they were trying to conceive naturally once they lived together, Luise admits she was naive to not be concerned about a decline in her fertility as she entered her forties.

She said: 'When I was 42 my doctor asked if I wanted to talk to an IVF specialist.

'It had never occurred to me to freeze my eggs and I believed it would happen naturally, so I said no.'

But at 46, when her periods stopped for two months and a doctor told her she was Menopausal, she decided to take action.

Luise and Dean met in 2007 when Luise was 37, but didn't start fertility treatment until nine years later

But at 46, Luise was already over the cut off age for many clinics and when the couple did find a specialist, they discovered their insurance would not cover most of the treatment cost

The new mom said: 'Before meeting Dean, I'd never met someone I wanted a family with'

She said: 'I had a fulfilling job as a nanny, helping to raise other people's children and simply thought I would meet the right person and one day have my own'

She said: 'Thankfully it wasn't the start of menopause, but the scare made me stop waiting for something to happen naturally.'

The couple had their first IVF consultation in January 2016 and the recommendation was donor eggs.

Louise said: 'I was very disappointed.

'The doctor said I would have more success with donor eggs because I was past the ideal age for trying with my own eggs, but I decided to try with them anyway.

After the couple married in February 2017, Luise underwent her first IVF cycle in March 2017.

When it failed, the couple worked with a local doctor for two more cycles before moving to a clinic, five hours away in Manhattan for another three cycles.

Luise said: 'My husband's insurance paid for the first round and half the second round.

'After that, we are fortunate that Dean has a job that afforded us the opportunity to keep trying more IVF cycles and we had to keep trying because it was what we both wanted.'

But the couple faced more heartache with every failed round and four failed retrievals between March 2017 and June 2018.

By 2019, the couple agreed to search for a donor egg.

The couple had their first IVF consultation in January 2016 and the recommendation was donor eggs

After the couple married in February 2017, Luise underwent her first IVF cycle in March 2017

When it failed, the couple worked with a local doctor for two more cycles before moving to a clinic, five hours away in Manhattan for another three cycles

Luise explains: 'My last IVF attempt with my eggs was in 2018, but we didn't confirm our donor until 2021.

'I found our donor in 2019, but my husband wasn't convinced that I had searched enough.

'He asked me to keep searching other agencies.'

Luise added: 'I am over the moon with the donor, she matches me perfectly.

'Ethnically, she could be my sibling, but also her personality and characteristics meant she was an ideal match for what I was looking for as my stand in for my genetic half.

'It was important I found someone who represented me and I went through several agencies.'

In May 2022, the couple transferred their first embryo and 8 days later, Luise had a positive pregnancy test.

Thrilled but wary, they decided to only tell immediate friends and family she was expecting.

In May 2022, the couple transferred their first embryo and 8 days later, Luise had a positive pregnancy test

Thrilled but wary, they decided to only tell immediate friends and family she was expecting

The couple have one living parent, Dean's mom aged 82. Both Dean and Luise each have several siblings, and all have been incredibly supportive.

She said: 'I didn't make a big announcement on social media because I was unsure how I would handle the pregnancy and I didn't want to attract lots of questions.'

Luise believes she will be a wiser mother now than she would have been at a younger age.

She said: 'Some of my friends are grandparents. We are just starting, but there's something to be said for life experience. I am confident in what I can do and our choices in how we will raise a child.'

Their son was born healthy at 35 weeks, weighing 4lb 15oz on December 25, and settling into life with a new-born, Luise said: 'He's so calm and peaceful and we are slowly finding our feet as a family of three.'

Luise said the couple hope to try for a second baby before the end of the year.

She said: 'I would like another transfer before the year is over, but I want to adapt to life with Stellan first and my body to recover.

'Once our family is complete, we expect to donate any remaining eggs.

The couple have one living parent, Dean's mom aged 82. Both Dean and Luise each have several siblings, and all have been incredibly supportive

Luise believes she will be a wiser mother now than she would have been at a younger age

'I was given the option to transfer more than one egg, but I was aware of the added complications with multiples, as well as my age, so I avoided unnecessary complications.'

Despite being pregnant at 52, Luise said she had an easy pregnancy with little symptoms but confesses to being 'exceptionally sleepy' for eight months.

Stellan was born via C-section and Luise said her body recovered incredibly quickly.

She added: 'I've always been a big believer in health and wellness therapies and believe these helped me stay tuned and able.'

Luise is also pleased she has been able to breastfeed.

She explains: ' I was worried my age may affect my milk supply, but the hospital were fantastic and encouraged me with a breast pump and we used donor breast milk too initially. '

Looking back, Luise does have some regrets about not freezing her eggs earlier and hopes by speaking out she can inspire older women to not give up.

Despite being pregnant at 52, Luise said she had an easy pregnancy with little symptoms but confesses to being 'exceptionally sleepy' for eight months

Looking back, Luise does have some regrets about not freezing her eggs earlier and hopes by speaking out she can inspire older women to not give up

Luise posted her baby news in an older moms support group and said: ' I hope seeing successes inspire others not to give up because I was motivated by stories of other older moms.

'It helped me to realize I'm not too old to carry and safely deliver a healthy baby and when you're trying for so long you need to hear that it does happen successfully for older women.

'We paid more for IVF than we did for our house, but becoming parents is priceless.

'Our baby arrived on Christmas Day and he is the best present we could have ever wished for.

'He is an absolute joy for us.

'Of course the night feeds are challenging as they are for any new parent, at any age.

'I may not have the stamina I once had, but I do have motivation and a wealth of knowledge and experience.

'He is the love of our lives and he is the best decision we have ever made.

'I look forward to trying another transfer so that we may have a sibling for Stellan.'
As a child, Sharon was molested by her grandfather - and then her uncle threatened to kill himself in front of her, before later freezing to death

But she's also suffered from many tragedies, including the death of her brother

Sharon Stone has achieved the kind of Hollywood success that few could ever even dream of. But her incredible career is made all the more impressive when you take into account the many agonizing tragedies and traumas the 64-year-old has had to overcome on her steep climb to fame.

This week, the actress suffered another gut-wrenching blow when her younger brother Patrick suddenly died of a heart attack at the age of 57.

On Monday evening, the 64-year-old addressed the tragic loss of her sibling - who, according to TMZ was suffering from heart disease - in a heart-wrenching Instagram video in which she broke down in tears while confirming the news of his death.

In the clip, Sharon mentioned another horrendous tragedy that befell her family just two years ago - the devastating death of her nephew, Patrick's son, River, who passed away at the age of 11 months old from multiple organ failure.

'Like any family, we thank you for your love and support in this time of immeasurable grief and we appreciate all of your condolences,' Sharon said. 'Yes we've had a tremendous amount of loss in these last couple of years, as so many of you also have.'

On Monday evening, Sharon, 64, addressed the tragic loss of her sibling - who, according to TMZ was suffering from heart disease

These devastating losses mark the latest in a line of tragedies for the actress, who has weathered more than her fair share of heartache over the years. Sharon pictured with Patrick

These devastating losses mark the latest in a line of horrifying tragedies for the actress, who has weathered far more than her fair share of heartache over the years - beginning when she was just a young child.

Sharon herself laid bare the true extent of her suffering and trauma in her tell-all 2021 memoir, The Beauty of Living Twice, in which she opened up about a series of devastating life events - beginning when she was molested by her grandfather when she was just a toddler.

Far from the bright lights of Hollywood that Sharon now seems so at home in, the actress's childhood was marred by sexual abuse, family drug abuse, death, and horrific injuries - and all before she reached her teenage years.

Here, FEMAIL lays bare the many adversities and agonizing heartbreaks the actress has had to face on her steep climb up the movie industry ladder - from her childhood trauma to her own near-death experience 22 years ago.

'Im not going to call myself a victim. Im going to call myself a survivor': Sharon was molested by her grandfather starting from when she was a toddler

She revealed in her 2021 memoir, The Beauty of Living Twice, that she and her sister, Kelly, were molested when they were just toddlers by their maternal grandfather, Clarence Lawson (Sharon pictured with a man believed to be her father, Joseph)

Sharon as a child. She says their grandmother locked them in a room with their grandfather to be abused

Born on March 10, 1958, Sharon grew up in Meadville, Pennsylvania, with her parents - an accountant named Dorothy and a tool manufacturer named Joseph - and three siblings, Michael, Kelly, and Patrick.

But the actress had a difficult childhood, rocked by multiple injuries, family member deaths - and even sexual assault.

She revealed in her 2021 memoir, The Beauty of Living Twice, that she and her sister, Kelly, were molested when they were just toddlers by their maternal grandfather, Clarence Lawson.

Sharon said that her grandmother, Lela, would facilitate the abuse by locking the young girls in a room with their grandfather.

She also told the New Yorker that her grandfather would 'threaten to kill her constantly' in an attempt to keep her quiet about the abuse - resulting in her telling no one about it and ultimately blocking it from her own memories.

Sharon Stone with her younger sister Kelly. She said in her memoir that they were both molested by their grandfather when they were toddlers

It eventually came back to her during a therapy session years later.

'I just started screaming, "Who does that?" because I had had such a mental block that someone could abuse such a young child,' she explained to the outlet, of the moment she realized what had happened.

'Im not even going to call myself a victim. Im going to call myself a survivor. I am proud of my own survival, and proud of my own ability to move forward.'

Sharon's grandfather passed away when she was 14, and in her book, she recalled feeling relieved over his death.

She also admitted to 'poking' his body to make sure he was really gone, writing, 'I poked him, and the bizarre satisfaction that he was at last dead hit me like a ton of ice. I looked at [Kelly] and she understood; she was 11, and it was over.

'It's a very weird thing when youre a kid and the first experience you have of death is glee and relief.'

While discussing her novel with the New York Times, Sharon said that she and her sister 'decided together' that it was time for her to share their story with the world.

Sharon's uncle once held a gun to his head and threatened to kill himself in front of her when she was a kid - before he froze to death

Sharon (pictured when she was younger) revealed that hat her uncle - named Gene - once held a gun to his head and threated to kill himself in front of her when she was just a kid

Sharon's childhood was certainly unconventional. She revealed in her book that she was taught how to pickpocket from a young age by one of her grandmas, and that her uncle - named Gene - once held a gun to his head and threated to kill himself in front of her when she was just a kid.

Gene was ultimately found dead outside his home when she was a teen - and police concluded that he had fallen and hit his head, resulting in him passing out on the concrete and ultimately freezing to death.

Gene was ultimately found dead outside his home when she was a teen (Sharon pictured in 1981)

Sharon's brother Mike turned to drug dealing when she was little, landing him in prison for 10 years, and her father would often hit her and her siblings with his belt when he was angry.

But one day, Sharon said she confronted him over it, telling him she 'didn't love him' and 'never did' - and he never hurt them again.

'I walked up to him and said, Whats the matter  do you need to hit me some more to feel like a man?' she recalled.

'I was 14. He started to cry. I told him I didnt love him. That I had never loved him. That I would never love him.

'I was so cold, so still. He was so heartbroken. He never hit any one of us again.'

She also struggled to fit in at school, with her telling New Yorker, 'I was too tall. I had a voice like a boy, and you couldnt tell if I was a boy or a girl because of my giant shoulders and how much bigger I was than everyone.

'I was a social disaster, like I still am, because I tell the truth constantly. Its a very antisocial quality, to just run around telling the truth to everybody.'

'My neck was hanging open, wet and ripped from one ear to the other': The actress was nearly decapitated in a horrific horseback riding accident at age 14, and got struck by lightning a few years later

When Sharon was 14, she suffered from a horrifying horseback riding accident that saw her nearly cutting her head off with a clothes line. The star pictured in 1985

When Sharon was 14, she suffered from a horrifying horseback riding accident that saw her nearly cutting her head off with a clothes line.

She said in her book that she was trying to break in a wild horse in the backyard of the farm that she and her family lived on.

Suddenly, the horse 'took off' with Sharon still on its back - and it ran straight into a clothes line that cut open her neck.

'It was bucking and rearing, snorting and spinning. I was fighting this b***h of a horse,' she wrote.

'I didn't realize we were heading for the wet sheets on the line until the line hit my neck and my feet slid through the stirrups. I couldn't get out and I couldn't get that dang horse to settle down.'

She said her mother was able to calm the horse down but her 'neck was hanging open, wet and ripped from one ear to the other.

She said her mother was able to calm the horse down but her 'neck was hanging open, wet and ripped from one ear to the other. Sharon shown in 1985

'There was plasma rolling down the front of my shirt. It was a gigantic f**ked-up mess of drastic proportions.'

She was taken to the hospital where a doctor did his best to close the cut, but it would take multiple plastic surgeries year later to cover up the scar.

'It looks OK now, and most people don't seem to notice it,' she added in her tome. 'I don't care about it on most days, and once you survive things, over time, well  I personally feel proud of my scars.'

She was also once struck by lighting as a kid, which left her with permanent damage.

'I was in the kitchen ironing my uniform to go to work at the Bobs Big Boy, and I had the iron in one hand and the faucet in the other,' she told the New Yorker about the incident.

'The well got hit with lightning, and the lightning came up through the water. And it threw me - literally picked me up off my feet and threw me across the kitchen - and my back hit the refrigerator.

'It knocked me out, and my mother came over and just belted me to bring me to. And she grabbed me and threw me in the car and took me to the hospital.

'I have a prolapsed valve ... I had to keep going back and get EKGs for a couple of weeks, because I kept measuring this really erratic electricity in my body. Its a really wild thing, like an invisible giant threw me across the room.'

'Extreme country background' and sexual inexperience' is to blame: Sharon was forced to cross state lines to receive an abortion at the age of 18 and 'bled' alone in her room for 'days' because she was afraid to tell anyone

When she was 18 years old, she got an abortion. Sharon pictured at 18, in 1970

When the actress was 18 years old, she got an abortion after falling pregnant by her 'first serious boyfriend.'

Sharon recalled the incident in 2021 when she released her memoir The Beauty of Living Twice.

She blamed her 'extreme country background' and 'sexual inexperience' for her teen pregnancy.

The actress was driven to Ohio to receive the procedure because she was 'too young' to have an abortion in her home state of Pennsylvania, as reported by The Sun.

After she received the procedure, Sharon 'stayed in [her] room and bled for days' because was 'too afraid to tell anyone.'

'When she finally came out, she burned her bloody sheets and clothes before going back to school,' the outlet said of the traumatic incident.

A shocking and 'horrific' incident: Sharon's husband was attacked by a ravenous reptile - which resulted in him needing his toe surgically re-attached

In 2001, she and Garry endured a terrifying incident when he was was attacked by a Komodo dragon during a visit to the Los Angeles zoo. Sharon pictured with her son Roan in 2019

After graduating from high school in 1975, Sharon briefly attended Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, during which, she won the title of Miss Crawford Count in 1976 and became a candidate for Miss Pennsylvania.

After being told by one of the pageant judges that she wasn't going to make it as a pageant queen if she stayed in school, she she left to pursue her dreams of becoming a model.

She moved in with an aunt in New Jersey, and would travel to New York regularly to try to book jobs.

By 1977, she was signed with Ford Modeling agency, and her career quickly took off. She became a successful model before switching to acting.

Throughout the '80s and '90s, she starred in a slew of big movies like Irreconcilable Differences, total Recall, Basic Instinct, Casino, The Mighty, and Gloria.

But while her career was flourishing, her personal life was struggling - and she was married and divorced twice.

The ravenous reptile lunged at his foot and tried to bite off his toe, resulting in him needing it to be surgically re-attached. The star pictured with Patrick Cassidy in 1983

She wed TV producer Michael Greenburg in 1984, but they split in 1990, after six years together.

She then tied the knot with Phil Bronstein in 1998, but they divorced in 2004.

In 2001, she and Garry endured a terrifying incident when he was was attacked by a Komodo dragon during a visit to the Los Angeles zoo.

The ravenous reptile lunged at his foot and tried to bite off his toe, resulting in him needing it to be surgically re-attached.

She witnessed the whole thing, which she later described as 'horrific' to the New Yorker.

'I didnt get to the hospital until day three or four of my stroke': Sharon suffered a brain hemorrhage and stroke in 2001 that nearly killed her

In September 2001, Sharon (shown in 2001) suffered from a debilitating stroke and brain hemorrhaging that forced her to put her career on hold

In September 2001, Sharon suffered from a debilitating stroke and brain hemorrhaging that forced her to put her career on hold.

While speaking to Variety about the incident in 2019, she explained that she was rushed to the hospital after she collapsed in her home.

She later found out she had been suffering from a stroke for days, and that by the time she arrived at the hospital, it was almost too late.

'I didnt get to the hospital until day three or four of my stroke. Most people die. I had a one per cent chance of living by the time I got surgery  and they wouldnt know for a month if I would live,' she revealed.

Following the medical emergency, she took a two-year break from acting, and while she returned to the screen in 2003. Sharon pictured in 2001

Following the medical emergency, she took a two-year break from acting, and while she returned to the screen in 2003 (during an appearance in the show The Practice) she later admitted that it felt like she 'lost everything she had' during that time.

'I had to remortgage my house. I lost everything I had. I lost my place in the business. I was like the hottest movie star, you know?' she said.

'It was like Miss Princess Diana and I were so famous - and she died and I had a stroke. And we were forgotten.'

She also told the outlet the people were 'brutally unkind' to her during her recovery, adding, ' I dont think anyone grasps how dangerous a stroke is for women and what it takes to recover.'

The actress was betrayed by her surgeon who gave her implants without her consent because he thought she would look better with 'bigger boobs' in 2001

In 2001, Sharon suffered another shocking experience that saw a surgeon making changes to her body without her knowledge or consent. The star pictured in 1984.

In 2001, Sharon suffered another shocking experience that saw a surgeon making changes to her body without her knowledge or consent.

The Basic Instinct star explained in her memoir, The Beauty of Living Twice, that she was undergoing breast reconstruction surgery after doctors had to remove benign tumors from chest.

She said the tumors were 'gigantic' and 'bigger than my breast alone.'

But when the actress awoke from the surgery that was meant to repair her chest, she noticed that her doctor had given her larger breast implants because they would 'go better' with her body.

'When I was unbandaged, I discovered that I had a full cup-size bigger breasts, ones that he said 'go better with your hip size,' she said. The star pictured in 2023

In an interview with The Times, she revealed her horror at discovering her doctor had changed her body without her consent.

'When I was unbandaged, I discovered that I had a full cup-size bigger breasts, ones that he said 'go better with your hip size,' she said.

Sharon emphasized that the surgeon had changed her body without 'my knowledge or consent.'

And when the actress questioned why her surgeon would do such a thing, she said he told her that she would 'better' with 'bigger boobs.'

'I couldn't function': Sharon was left heartbroken after she lost custody over her son Roan in 2008

The actress was left heartbroken over her lost custody battle over her son Roan following her divorce from journalist Phil Bronstein in 2004. Sharon and Roan pictured in 2021

Sharon lost her appeal to have primary custody of their child , then eight, in 2008, fours after the couple's separation. The star pictured with Phil in 1998

The actress was left heartbroken over her lost custody battle over her son Roan following her divorce from journalist Phil Bronstein in 2004.

Sharon lost her appeal to have primary custody of their child, then eight, in 2008, fours after the couple's separation.

Speaking to Saga magazine, the star explained she was unable to 'function' after losing custody of her son.

She revealed she would spend most of her days crying.

During the custody battle, court papers that surfaced revealed that the actress wanted to put Botox in Roan's feet to keep them from smelling.

During the custody battle, court papers that surfaced revealed that the actress wanted to put Botox in Roan's feet to keep them from smelling. Sharon and Roan pictured in 2021

The judge reportedly said Sharon's 'overreactions' to medical issues were a horrid 'problem' for her son, according to Hello Magazine. The star and Phil pictured in 1998

The judge reportedly said Sharon's 'overreactions' to medical issues were a horrid 'problem' for her son, according to Hello Magazine.

'Moreover, because it has come to a point where Father basically tunes Mother out because she has overreacted to so many alleged medical problems in the past,' the judge added in the court papers.

'After I lost primary custody of Roan, I couldnt function. I just lay on the couch. I was so damn tired. I would cry,' she said.

'I couldnt focus on anything but having my son back in my arms. Nothing else mattered, just getting him back,' she added.

Since the interview, the actress has signed a confidentiality agreement about the custody battle.

Stone has since then signed a confidentiality agreement about the custody battle.

The star was married to Roan's father from 1998 to 2004.

A life taken far too soon... Sharon is met with even more pain after her 11-month-old nephew died in 2021

Sharon pleaded with her Instagram followers to pray for her 11-month-old nephew and godson, River Stone, after he experienced 'total organ failure'

River is the youngest child of Sharon's brother, Patrick, and his wife, Tasha. The family live in Ohio with their three children

In 2021, the actress begged her Instagram followers to pray for her 11-month-old nephew and godson, River, who she said was discovered in his crib with total organ failure.'

Just days later, Sharon revealed her beloved nephew had passed away.

River Stone was the youngest child of Sharon's brother, Patrick, and his wife, Tasha.

She pleaded for fans to pray for their family prior to his death, captioning the post: 'My nephew and godson River Stone was found in his crib w[sic] total organ failure today.

'Please pray for him. We need a miracle.'

The photo, which depicted the child laying in a hospital bed in a tangle of wires and tubes sparked many fans and other celebrities, such as Kate Hudson and Sharon Osbourne, to offer their condolences.

Tasha Stone said River was in a coma after being airlifted to a hospital in Pittsburgh. The boy was born in September 2020 and died in August 2021

Stone revealed in 2021 that River has died just days after he was found in his crib with 'total organ failure'

Following Sharon's post, River's mother also wrote a plea on her Facebook account, she revealed that her baby boy was in a coma at Childrens UPMC in Pittsburgh after being airlifted there.

'This is the hardest thing I have ever had to post but I am begging everyone and anyone who prays please pray hard for River.

'Every single second of this is literally killing me. I just want my sweet sweet boy back.

'The doctor said if he does pull through he will never be the same. Please I am begging for prayers that my baby can be healed and come back with his family who love him so very much. I am beyond heartbroken.'

Just days later, on August 30, the actress revealed River had died.

River's death came one week before his first birthday.

She shared a tribute to the little boy, captioned: 'River William Stone. Sept. 8, 2020 - Aug. 30, 2021.'

'Please say a prayer': The actress begs fans to pray for her mother after she suffered another acute stroke in 2021

In 2021, the actress asked fans to once again pray for a member of her family - her mother, who suffered an acute stroke. Sharon pictured in 2021

Sharon's mom: 'Say a prayer for Dorothy Marie Stone, my mom, who has suffered another acute stroke tonight. Thx,' Stone said, adding a prayer hands emoji and a white heart emoji

In 2021, the actress asked fans to once again pray for a member of her family - her mother, who suffered an acute stroke.

In November, Sharon shared a snap of her mother Dorothy Marie Stone.

She captioned the photo: 'Say a prayer for Dorothy Marie Stone, my mom, who has suffered another acute stroke tonight. Thx,' the actress said, adding a prayer hands emoji and a white heart emoji.

The actress received condolences from many of her celebrity friends, including Adam Senn and Judy Gold.

Her mother, grandmother, and Sharon herself have all suffered from strokes in the past.

This lead to the actress becoming a major advocate for brain-aging diseases that disproportionally affect women.

'This is why I do it: My mother had a stroke. My grandmother had a stroke. I had a massive stroke  and a nine-day brain bleed,' Sharon said during a a benefit in 2009.

'Get a second opinion': Sharon underwent surgery to have a large fibroid tumor removed in 2022 after a previous medical misdiagnosis and begged her fans to take charge of their health

In 2022, the actress underwent surgery to have a large fibroid tumor removed after receiving a misdiagnosis. Sharon pictured in 2022

She took to Instagram to share the personal message about her health, noting that she 'just had another misdiagnosis and incorrect procedure'

In 2022, the actress underwent surgery to have a large fibroid tumor removed after receiving a misdiagnosis.

Sharon encouraged her followers to seek a second opinion when it came to their health after revealing a 'large fibroid tumor' was discovered in her body after a previous medical misdiagnosis.

She took to Instagram to share the personal message about her health, noting that she 'just had another misdiagnosis and incorrect procedure.'

The Basic Instinct star then revealed she went in for a 'double epidural' because she was experiencing excruciating pain.

Amid 'worsening pain,' she made the decision to go to a different doctor for a second opinion.

The second doctor revealed the star had a 'large fibroid tumor that must come out.'

She advised her millions of followers to take charge of heir health.

Sharon said: 'Ladies in particular: Don't get blown off. Get a second opinion. It can save your life.'

The actress noted that it would take her 'four to six weeks' to 'fully recover,' and thanked her fans for their continued support and care, adding, 'It's all good.'

'Now I have four boys': The actress adopted the best friend of her boy, Roan, after his father died from Parkinsons in 2022

In 2022, it was revealed that the actress welcomed another son into her family through adoption. Sharon and Roan pictured in 2019

In 2022, it was revealed that the actress welcomed another son into her family through adoption.

Sharon adopted a fourth child - the best friend of one of her three previously adopted sons.

The Basic Instinct star welcomed the friend of her oldest boy, Roan, into her Beverly Hills mansion after his father died of Parkinsons.

It was reported that the adoption occurred in 2021 and the actress 'kept it pretty quiet.'

Sharon, who lives with her family in a sprawling house in Beverly Hills, already had three adopted sons Quinn, Roan and Laird (pictured together in 2017)

The source added that the child was 'inseparable' from her son and they quickly became a loving family.

However, at the time, the sources said they were not sure as to whether or not they steps to 'formalize it legally' had been made yet.

The news emerged after Stone told a film festival: 'My oldest boy's very best friend, from when he was little, had a single parent  who had Parkinson's  and who he took care of for 12 years, until his father died during Covid. And so he was suddenly alone . . . and I took him in. So now I have four boys.'

Roan was adopted in 2000 during the time Sharon was married to Phil Bronsetin.

In the past, the actress has opened up about her autoimmune disease and endometriosis diagnosis, which made it impossible for her to have children.

'He is the man who was the father to River who we lost last year': Sharon faces another tremendous loss when her younger brother Patrick dies in 2023 from as heart attack

Sharon's younger brother Patrick died on Sunday from a heart attack in Pennsylvania at the age of 57. Patrick is seen with sister Kelly Stone

Patrick seen on the far right with (from left), sister Kelly Stone, dad Joseph Stone, sister Sharon Stone, and mom Dorothy Stone

Just a few days ago, Sharon was met with another horrific tragedy when her younger brother Patrick died at he age of 57.

The actress's sibling passed away from a heart attack on February 12, 2023, brought on by heart disease, according to a report from TMZ.

It is unclear whether or not Patrick was rushed to the hospital or if he was found dead at the scene.

The news comes nearly two years after Patrick's son died from organ failure.

Patrick's wife Tasha took to social media to share the heartbreaking news of her husband's death.

She shared: 'My heart feels like it's been ripped out of my chest. Patrick went to be with our sweet River... I don't know what else to say, he was my world.

Sharon is seen here with brother Patrick in September 2018 during a trip to Alaska. Sharon was with her three sons and Patrick was with wife Tasha and their two children (in blue jacket and in green top)

Here Sharon is seen with her brother Michael Stone, far right, and her mom as well as sister Kelly and Sharon's three sons

Patrick is seen wit his wife Tasha in an image from his sister Kelly Stone's Instagram page

'I'm not sure what life is supposed to look like without my husband by my side and quite honestly I don't want to, but I will of course.

'I just hope that you always stay by my side watching over Hunter, Kaylee and I.'

Tasha continued: 'Until we meet again I will forever hold you and our wonderful (and some not so wonderful but just as important) memories close to my heart and will visit those memories always. I love you honey babe.

'My wish through all of this is that now at least River has his daddy with him and I hope the two of you are having the best time.'

The Hollywood actress took to Instagram yesterday to share a tribute to her brother.

She said: 'Hello everybody. This message is to confirm that yes, we did lose my bother Patrick Joseph Stone to a heart attack yesterday.'

She then reflected on the 'tremendous amount of loss' her family has dealt with in recent years.

'Yes he is the man who was the father to River who we lost last year  at 11 months old. He is survived by his wife, Tasha, and his son, Hunter, and his daughter, Kaylee. Like any family, we thank you for your love and support in this time of immeasurable grief and we appreciate all of your condolences.'
She managed to save herself, but no longer has a voice

A mother-of-two has revealed how she saved herself after her partner tried to murder her on Valentine's Day by setting her on fire - while their children to watch her burn.

Savannah Bailey, 26, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Javaunte Jefferson, 29, had been together for six years and had two daughters together, and while their relationship had been rocky, they were fighting to make it work.

But after getting into an argument, Savannah woke up on Valentine's Day in 2020, to Javaunte pouring gasoline over her and throwing a match on her as he watched her body go up in flames.

Their two young girls, Cerenity, who was four during the incident, and Cemaya, who was one at the time of the attack, watched in horror as their mom ran around the house, engulfed in flames, before their father dumped them in the snow outside and fled the scene, leaving their mother to fight for her life.

Savannah Bailey, 26, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has revealed how her partner tried to murder her on Valentine's Day by setting her on fire and allowed their children to watch her burn

She and Javaunte Jefferson, 29, had been together for six years and had two daughters together, and while their relationship had been rocky, they were fighting to make it work

But after getting into an argument, Savannah woke up on Valentine's Day in 2020, to Javaunte pouring gasoline over her and throwing a match on her as he watched her body go up in flames

By some miracle, Savannah survived, but her entire body is scarred for life, and she can no longer speak due to her airways being damaged.

Savannah, who has been left unable to work since the attack, says: 'Every Valentine's Day will be a horrible reminder of the day Javaunte set me on fire.

'Now, I still can't talk, and I'll sadly never look the same. But I stay strong for my girls.'

In 2014, Savannah met, Javaunte, who was unemployed, on a dating site, Plenty of Fish.

Savannah says: 'At first, Javaunte was sweet, loving and made me feel special. We fell madly in love.'

After two years together, in 2016, they had their first daughter, Cerenity Bailey, now seven.

Savannah says: 'Days after I gave birth, Javaunte suddenly became nasty. He started calling me a b**** and that I was worthless.

'From then on, he verbally tormented me every day.

In 2014, Savannah met, Javaunte, who was unemployed, on a dating site, Plenty of Fish

Their two young girls, Cerenity, who was four during the incident, and Cemaya, who was one during the incident, watched in horror (Savannah shown before the attack)

By miracle, Savannah survived, but her entire body is scarred for life, and she can no longer speak due to her airways being damaged

'Sobbing, I'd always break up with him, but he'd apologize and promise it wouldn't happen again.

'But the next day, he'd do it again and it was a vicious cycle.'

The next year, Savannah and Javaunte had another daughter, Cemaya Jefferson, now four.

Savannah says: 'I was juggling looking after the girls, studying early childhood education and working at a fast-food restaurant.

'While Javaunte barely helped and didn't contribute financially. Yet, for some reason, he always bullied me about spending money.

'He also slapped me once and I never looked at him the same. He'd always cry and apologize after.'

For the next few years, Savannah constantly tried to end things, but Javaunte won her back each time.

Savannah, (pictured before the attack) who has been left unable to work since the attack, says: 'Every Valentine's Day will be a horrible reminder of the day Javaunte set me on fire

After two years together, in 2016, they had their first daughter, Cerenity Bailey, now seven

For the next few years, Savannah (shown before the attack) constantly tried to end things, but Javaunte won her back each time

Time passed and in February 2020, Valentine's Day was approaching.

Things seemed okay between the couple and they planned a romantic day out.

Savannah says: 'The day before, my mom paid for me to get my hair done.

'I wanted to look good for our date the next day, so I gratefully accepted.

'But that afternoon, while I was at the hairdressers, Javaunte called me screaming. He said I wasting money on my hair when I hadn't even paid my taxes yet.

'My blood boiled. After arguing back and forth, I warned him that he needed to change or we were done.'

Furious, Savannah hung up and that night back at home, Javaunte was no-where to be seen as she put their girls to bed.

Savannah went to sleep but hours later, on Valentine's Day morning, she woke to Javaunte standing over her, clutching a container of gasoline.

On Valentine's Day morning, Savannah (pictured before the attack) woke to Javaunte standing over her, clutching a container of gasoline

Savannah says: 'He poured it all over my body, then he lit a match and threw it on me'

Savannah says: 'He poured it all over my body, then he lit a match and threw it on me.

'My entire body became engulfed in flames.

'Howling, I leapt up and ran around the room while Javaunte watched me burn, with a dead look in his eyes.

'I knew I was going to die.

'Soon the girls woke up and saw me on fire too. They were hysterical.

'I couldn't believe my babies were going to watch me burn alive.'

To Savannah's horror, Javaunte picked up both girls, who were only in diapers, and dumped them outside in the freezing snow.

Javaunte came back into the house, blocked the front door with the sofa, then he fled out the back.

Savannah says: 'Still running around, I felt my skin melting onto the floor.

'I finally managed to escape out the back then I jumped into the snow and put myself out. It was excruciating.

To Savannah's horror, Javaunte picked up both girls, who were only in diapers, and dumped them outside in the freezing snow

Javaunte came back into the house, blocked the front door with the sofa, then he fled out the back

'With all my might, I ran around the house to get the girls. They were sobbing, but they were unharmed.'

Neighbors called for help and minutes later, Savannah was blue-lighted to Ascension Columbia St. Mary's Hospital.

Once there, she blacked out and was put into a medically induced coma.

That same day, Javaunte texted Savannah: 'Since you love to always waste money on hair and get a relationships on me hoe. I guess I love too hard. You've disrespected me for the last time.'

Afterwards, he posted the screenshot to Facebook so police tracked his location from the status and arrested him.

Meanwhile, surgeons and doctors warned Savannah's family that she would die, but by miracle, she pulled through.

She had suffered third-degree burns to 60 per cent of her body and underwent over 15 surgeries and multiple skin grafts.

Savannah (shown before the incident) was able to escape and jumped into the backyard, in the snow, and put out the fire

Neighbors called for help and minutes later, Savannah was blue-lighted to Ascension Columbia St. Mary's Hospital

Three months later, in May 2020, Savannah woke up from the coma.

She says: 'I was burned so badly from head to toe, I looked like a completely different person. I was devastated.

'I also couldn't speak because my airways had been so badly damaged.

'Surgeons fought to fix my throat but they couldn't. My voice would never return.

'I couldn't believe Javaunte had done this. Especially on the most romantic day of the year.

'He was a monster.'

After that, Savannah had intense physical rehab and in September 2020, after eight months in hospital, she was discharged.

She moved into her mom's, who became her caregiver, while also helping with Savannah's girls.

Still without a voice, Savannah had to type on her phone to communicate with her daughters and family.

In March 2021, Javaunte Jefferson, now 30, was found guilty of attempted murder and arson at Milwaukee County Court.

Three months later, in May 2020, Savannah woke up from the coma. She moved into her mom's, who became her caregiver, while also helping with Savannah's girls

In March 2021, Javaunte Jefferson, now 30, was found guilty of attempted murder and arson at Milwaukee County Court (Savannah pictured before the attack)

He was sentenced to 50 years.

Savannah says: 'In court, Javaunte turned to apologize to me, but I looked away.

'It was fake for the jury. He had no remorse.

'I learned in court how police had asked Cerenity what happened that day and she'd replied "My daddy did it."

'I was heartbroken at how much her and her sister had seen.

'Now, I'm still trying to adapt to my new face and body. I still can't speak either so it's very hard.

'Please, if you experience any abuse at home, leave before something like this happens to you too.

'I still don't know why Javaunte did this, but I'm relieved he's in prison.

'He watched me burn, now it's my turn to watch him burn.'
A new mother has revealed rubbing her hands in breast milk every day has cured her 'painful' psoriasis and even left her husband with soft skin too - though they have to add lavender to hide the 'smell'.

Ashley LeMieux, 36, from Phoenix, Arizona, claimed that pouring breast milk on her hands for just four days healed them of the chronic psoriasis she had been battling for the last two years.

The author's skin condition, which got worse during pregnancy, was not only incredibly painful and felt 'like a million needles' but also affected her ability to move her fingers, leaving her struggling to write.

When a nurse described her as having 'old lady hands', the mother of a eight-month-old baby girl was left feeling too 'embarrassed' to even shake hands with people.

After sharing her struggles online, many fans of the viral mental health and wellness expert flooded to her inbox to suggest using her own breast milk to soothe her 'cracked' hands.

Ashley LeMieux, 36, from Phoenix, Arizona, revealed rubbing her hands in breast milk every day has cured her 'painful' psoriasis and even left her husband Mike LeMieux with soft skin too

Now, convinced of breast milk's 'amazing healing properties', Ashley has created a daily lotion which she applies to her hands every day and even shares with her husband Mike LeMieux so that he has soft skin too.

However she admits they have to add lavender essential oil to the mix as 'the breast milk doesn't smell too good'.

Ashley, said: 'Breast milk is amazing. I'd been talking about having psoriasis on my Instagram stories and so many people responded and told me to put breast milk on my hands.

'They said it would heal the cuts and help the inflammation so I thought 'why not?

'I used it [breast milk] for a week and within four days my hands looked better than they have in two years. I thought 'oh my god wow, this is amazing.

'I was putting it on every morning and night. I'd pour it over my hands then soak them in a bowl a little bit and let it sit on them.

'I used frozen breast milk and I'd thaw it so when it went on it was really cold. It felt really smooth.

'Immediately after I put it on my hands, they just felt so much softer. The texture of the breast milk was really soothing. It took the redness and inflammation down almost immediately.

Ashley claimed that pouring breast milk on her hands for just four days healed them of the chronic psoriasis she had been battling for the last two years (left, struggling with the chronic skin condition, and right, after rubbing breast milk on her hands)

Ashley has been applying it once a day in a formula mixed with beeswax and coconut oil, and has even frozen some of it into a silicone ice roller which she's been using to 'de-puff' her face in the morning

'It's completely cleared it up now, which is amazing.

She explained that the condition began to worsen when she fell pregnant with her daughter, saying: 'Psoriasis actually runs in my family I got it a couple of years ago and then it got worse during pregnancy.

WHAT IS PSORIASIS? Psoriasis is an immune condition that occurs when a sufferer's skin cells are replaced in just a few days rather than the usual 21 to 28 days. This causes an accumulation of skin cells that build up to form raised plaques, which can be flaky, scaly, red and itchy. Some sufferers have a family history of the condition. Triggers for flare-ups include stress, certain medication, hormonal changes and skin injury. There is no cure. Treatment usually starts with topical creams and gels. Source: Psoriasis Association Advertisement

'It kept getting worse and then the past couple of months were really bad, I could hardly bend my fingers which is a problem as I'm writer.

'When I was pregnant, during an ultrasound, the ultrasound tech grabbed my hands and said 'oh my gosh your hands look just like old lady hands'.

'I'm only in my 30s but my hands were very cracked, wrinkly, and rough. They were hard.

'Anytime I'd try to wash them, it felt like a million needles. My hands always hurt.

'I was always really embarrassed too because I'd be going to LA for work meetings and people would want to shake hands.

'I'd always have to figure out a way where I didn't have to shake them because I didn't want them to see it. It'd hurt if they touched my hands too. I felt very, very embarrassed.

'At this point I had nothing to lose, so it was worth a shot.'

After posting a video on TikTok pouring the breast milk over her hands, many suggested in the comments she turn it into a lotion.

Now, Ashley has been applying it once a day in a formula mixed with beeswax and coconut oil, and has even frozen some of it into a silicone ice roller which she's been using to 'de-puff' her face in the morning.

Her husband Mike also decided to try it on his hands as they were feeling dried out by the cold - now finding them to be the 'softest' they'd ever been.

Ashley said: 'I looked up a recipe, and now I have it in a lotion. It has beeswax and coconut oil melted together and then I added a few drops of vitamin E oil and three ounces of breast milk.

'The breast milk doesn't smell too good so I also add in a few drops of lavender essential oil. It makes it smell better.

'I mixed it all together and now the breastmilk lotion has hardened up and I keep it in little jars.

The mother-of-one found that her breast milk would heal the cuts and help the inflammation - and within days of using it, her hands looked

She is applying the lotion once a day however she admitted that she doesn't know the science behind it but she just knows that the milk is full of so many healing properties

After sharing her struggles online, many fans of the viral mental health and wellness expert flooded to her inbox to suggest using her own breast milk to soothe her 'cracked' hands

'I'm applying the lotion once a day. I don't know the science behind it but I just know that the milk is full of so many healing properties.

'My husband thinks it's really cool. He doesn't have psoriasis but his hands get a little bit dry because it's winter, so he asked to try it.

'He's been using it on his hands and said it's the softest his hands have ever been.

'Throughout the whole process he just keeps saying 'women's bodies are just so amazing'.

'Three days ago, I started freezing it into an ice roller. You usually use ice rollers with water to help your face when it's puffy in the morning when you wake up.

'So, I bought my own silicone mould for a face roller and I froze my breast milk in it. I've been putting it on my face morning and night.

After posting a video on TikTok pouring the breast milk over her hands, many suggested in the comments she turn it into a lotion

'It's meant to help with acne, dry skin, puffiness when you're tired - which I am as a new mother.

'A doctor said to me 'look what it's done for your hands - now picture what it does to the inside of your baby. I thought it makes so much sense to me.

'When I put it on in the morning it helps my redness and puffiness go down pretty quickly.

'I've noticed the effects just from the last two days. It's just really cool.'

Ashley's videos online racked up over 1.8 million views and 300,000 likes.

One person commented: 'It's called liquid gold for a reason! It's absolutely amazing!'

Another said: 'My son is 11 months old and still can't have dairy, I used his frozen breast milk on my face when I got breakouts, worked great.'

Another put: 'Every time my babies scratch themselves I would add breast milk and it would be better in like hours.'

Another said: 'Another girl made breast milk BUTTER by shaking it in a jar.'

One said: 'Women's bodies are so cool.' A final commenter added: 'Now I want to have a child to breastfeed, because I have acne.'
Leila Farzad is currently starring as DI Lou Slack, a character she herself describes as 'cold' in a BBC cop drama Better as the Leeds-based police officer grapples with her corrupt past after having a moral awakening.

But the British-Iranian actress, in her forties, is best known for her role in Billie Piper drama I Hate Suzie, where she stars as the troubled character's acting agent and appeared in some steamy bisexual sex scenes, in a performance which earnt her a BAFTA nomination for the first time at 37 years old.

Farzad, now 39, has previously revealed how her role in the drama has helped her to 'let it out', crediting the show's director Georgi Banks-Davies.

Speaking to the Guardian, the actress, who is mother to an eight-year-old girl but reveals little about her family life, told how she grew up as an only child of her parents who had what she describes as an 'unhappy marriage' and divorced when she was a teenager.

Although she was raised in London, she has strong roots in her Iranian heritage and recalled visiting the nation when she was eight years old - at which point she was just about young enough not to have to wear a headscarf, as the oppressive regime requires girls to cover their hair from the age of nine.

Leila Farzad, 39, who stars as corrupt cop DI Lou Slack (pictured) in gritty BBC drama Better, first went to Oxford University to 'appease her mother' before attending drama school and struggling to break into the industry for several years. Since making her big break in I Hate Suzie alongside Billie Piper, she has begun to use her platform to speak about injustices in Iran

Recalling her arrival in Iran, she told the newspaper she was stopped by security guards who thought she looked old enough to cover her hair, as they quizzed her mother on why the child's hair was on show.

She said: 'I remember my mum, with little trembling fingers, putting a headscarf around me because you dont want to mess with those people.

'They are pigs disguised as clerics. Thats quite strong, but its just the most horrific regime, as everyone now sees.'

Farzad has remained committed to speaking out about the oppressive regime throughout her career and has often used her Twitter page to speak in support of people protesting against the regime.

Leila Farzad has spoken out about the Iranian regime on social media and was a vocal supporter of Richard Ratcliffe's campaign to bring home his wife Nazhanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian national who was imprisoned in Iran for six years (pictured outside the Foreign Office with Mr Ratcliffe during his hunger strike)

Since making waves in the industry in the Billie Piper drama, the actress's status is on the rise (pictured at the Vanity Fair 'Rising Star' awards)

When Richard Ratcliffe went on hunger strike to protest against the imprisonment of his wife, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian national, in Iran, Leila went to offer him support as he camped outside the Foreign Office in central London.

Posting a photo of herself with Richard on Twitter, she tweeted Boris Johnson, the then-prime minister and wrote: 'Acknowledge Nazanin is a hostage and settle the debt with Iran. Your silence is shameful.'

She herself has not returned to Iran since she was 14 years old, and believes it wouldn't be safe to do so as long as the current regime stands due to her playing modern women in roles, including Naomi in I Hate Suzie, who is bisexual.

Although Farzad is now proud of her heritage, she recalled feeling left out at school in London as the only non-white girl in her class.

'When my friends came over Id tell my mum to make frozen pizzas or macaroni cheese  anything but the weird stews,' she said.

Speaking to the Independent Farzad recalled the young girls with 'sleep blonde hair' in her class, compared to what she joked was her 'big frizzy mess' of hair.

Farzad, pictured as Naomi in I Hate Suzie, has revealed her roles playing modern women, particularly the bisexual character in the Billie Piper drama, means she would be at risk if she returned to Iran

The mother-of-one has revealed her daughter helped her put things into perspective as she received rejections from roles and provided comfort

Since she has shot onto the small screen, Leila has revealed how her eight-year-old daughter has become one of her biggest fans and sneaks notes into her suitcase while she's filming

'They all seemed to have these very even features, and I was the creature that felt very different and other,' she said, adding it helped her take on the 'class clown' role among her peers and laid the path for her to become a comedian.

Farzad appears to have been heavily influenced by her mother as a child, and has recalled developing a love of acting while visiting the theatre with her mother and aunt when she was little.

However, she bright student completed a degree in French and Italian at Oxford University before moving back to London to study at Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

She told the Independent that her initial degree had been to 'appease her mother'.

After drama school, she has revealed how she struggled to find work for a long time and spent years receiving several rejections.

Although she admits it was difficult at the time, her daughter was both motivation and comfort to her.

'If I didnt get a job, I had this other wonderful, ball of happiness,' she said.

Before her breakthrough role in I Hate Suzie, Farzad took roles here and there in TV dramas, including as a barrister in The Landscapers, however she has reflected on how she was typecast earlier in her career.

'There were a lot of terrorist wives that I was put up for, and that was how I saw myself represented a lot,' she told the Independent.

The actress is relatively private about her family life, however she has shared a few posts about her daughter on Instagram, who is now her biggest fan after her mother has found fame in several TV dramas.

She posted a photo her little girl had hidden in her suitcase as she went away to film, which was written in joint-up handwriting and read: 'I'm very proud of you mummy.'

Although Farzad's new drama Better, which has been dubbed 'the new Happy Valley', opened to lukewarm reviews, critics have praised the actress's performance with some suggesting the series will pick up after its slow start.

Rebecca Nicholson for the Guardian wrote: 'Its a shame there is so much scene-setting in the first episode because once all that is out of the way, the drama is much less superficial than it first appeared to be.'

I Hate Suzie is available to stream now, only on Stan in Australia.
Everyone is looking for ways to stay warm this winter without racking up a huge energy bill, and hot water bottles can be an effective way to avoid turning on the heating.

Cheaper than an electric blanket, you can pick up one for around 5 and stay toasty for as much as five or six hours if used in bed under the covers.

It costs around 6.8 pence to boil a full kettle of water, making a hot water bottle an economical solution - even if you're filling it up twice day.

Here, FEMAIL has compiled some top tips for making the most of your hot water bottles...

Hot water bottles cost around 5 but are extremely useful at releasing heat. FEMAIL has complied five top tips for making the most of your hot water bottle (stock imag)

LOOK FOR THE DAISY

Most modern hot water bottles have a daisy wheel on them to let consumers know when they were made.

Many people have taken to social media to explain how the floral symbol is actually used, including Facebook user Kaylee Whormsley, from North Wales.

Kaylee urged people to check their old hot water bottles after seeing a This Morning segment in November where Dr Amir explained people should throw away the device after three years of use.

Old water bottles could possibly rip on their owners and cause serious burns by emptying their boiling contents on their skin.

In her post, which has since gone viral, Kaylee explained that a flower symbol on each bottle tells you about the year you bought it, and the month and the week on which it was made to help you calculate how long you should use it for.

'All hot water bottles should have this flower symbol on them. The number in the middle is the year it was made, the flower segments represent the 12 months of the year and the dots inside those represent the number of weeks,' she explained.

She photographed her own bottle to illustrate and explained it was made the first week of June 2019, and that she needed to change it.

The recommended usage for a hot water bottle is two to three years maximum, after which the hot water bottle should be replaced.

DON'T FILL IT WITH BOILING WATER

You might want to make your bottle as hot as possible to avoid refilling, but that doesn't mean adding boiling water.

TheHotWaterBottleShop.com recommends: 'Once the water had boiled allow it to stand for a couple of minutes before filling your bottle.

'Filling a bottle with boiling water can cause splash back, which may cause burns.'

They suggest you hold the bottle by the neck in an upright position and to fill slowly, and only ever to the maximum of two-thirds capacity.

Then you should expel the air from the bottle by lowering it carefully onto a flat surface until the water appears at the opening and then screw the stopper sufficiently tight to ensure there is no leakage.

STORAGE SOLUTIONS

When you have finished using your hot water bottle it is important to empty the water contents.

The Hot Water Bottle Shop explained that what is left inside may contain impurities that can degrade the bottle itself.

Then when it is no longer in use, remove the stopper and store the hot water bottle away from direct sources of heat or sunlight.

The expert store suggests a cupboard, drawer or wardrobe for storage, encouraging you to avoid airing cupboards, boiler cupboards or heat sources such as radiators.

Finally, it is wise to not put anything on top of them because continued fluctuations in temperature can adversely affect the bottle.

SIZE MATTERS

Shoppers have been raving over 7.99 Aldi's long hot water bottle - saying it could be the answer to not putting the heating on this winter.

The Kirkton House long hot water bottle holds 1.7 litres of water and is 78cm long - ideal for putting in your bed or across the sofa when the nights turn cold.

It also has a faux fur cover, making it perfect for snuggling, and the long shape can heat up many parts of the body at the same time.

According to Manchester Evening News, the water bottle can be warm on just 500ml of water, the equivalent of two cups of tea.

They calculated that, with current electricity costs, the cost of boiling your kettle for the hot water bottle would be 2p, rising to between 4p and 8p to fill the whole bottle.

Flooded with five star reviews on the Aldi website, shoppers are saying the product is great for staying warm and even helps with aches and pains.

Amazon and Argos also stock long hot water bottles.

THINK ABOUT THE ALTERNATIVES

Martin Lewis also urged people to try out wheat bags.

Putting a wheat bag in microwave on high heat for just three minutes can keep someone warm for up to an hour in the right circumstances, with the bag itself costing as little as 4 and the electricity to heat it costing 1p an hour.

Elsewhere the financial guru suggested electric blankets and sitting in a sleeping bag.

It may seem odd to sit in one while in your own home, but the properties that make a good sleeping bag make it extremely useful at keeping you warm.

Designed for use in the great outdoors, where it is regularly colder than in your home, the bag provides an extra layer around your entire body and helps keep the heat in.

Martin Lewis told viewers on his ITV programme, The Martin Lewis Money Show, that his special hack is to sit in the sleeping bag and put a hot water bottle inside as well, with the bag trapping the heat and making it stay warm for longer.
Queen Maxima of the Netherlands looked effortlessly elegant in a chic camel cape as she returned to a cancer hospital in Utrecht five years after she opened it.

The Argentine-born royal, 51, paired her camel cape with a jumper dress in a similar shade and belted it at the waist as she met with children who have received treatment at the ward.

Mother-of-three Maxima accessorised the jumper dress with a belt at the waist and a pair of knee-length boots in a tan shade.

The Queen's chic camel cape, which is a break from her tradition of wearing bold colours, has had another outing to the ward after she also stepped out in the layer at the end of January with her husband, King Willem-Alexander, at the Royal Palace.

Today Maxima's visit was a poignant one as she returned to the Princess Maxima Centre, which has become a hub for research into childhood cancers since the royal first opened it in 2018.

Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, 51, posed with a young child who has received cancer treatment on her visit to the Princess Maxima Centre in Utrecht, which treats all children in the nation who have been diagnosed with cancer

All children with cancer in the Netherlands are treated at the paediatric oncology ward, which it claims makes it the largest paediatric centre in Europe.

According to the centre's website, its mission is: 'To cure every child with cancer, with optimal quality of life.'

Last year, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, 63 Ukrainian children moved to The Netherlands so they could receive cancer treatment at the centre.

While the treatment at the centre is funded in part by the health ministry in The Netherlands and also by health insurance, its research relies heavily on donations.

Today, as she returned to the health centre, Maxima was pictured meeting with children who have been diagnosed with cancer.

She was pictured smiling with some children and chatting to others, showing her affinity with little ones as she walked around the centre.

Oh-so chic in camel! The Queen beamed as her blonde locks were swept up in the wind as she left the hospital

During her visit to the medical centre she first opened nearly five years ago, the Queen was given a tour

During a discussion with staff including researchers, oncologists and paediatric nurses, the Queen smiled

The Argentine-born royal and mother-of-three smiked as she spoke to a little girl who is currently receiving treatment at the centre

Maxima looked visibly moved and exclaimed as she was presented with a photo of herself visiting the centre several years ago and meeting a young child receiving treatment, who now appears to be all grown up and looking well

A young boy receiving treatment at the centre offered the royal a gift in the form of a cuddly toy piglet

While visiting the centre, mother-of-three Queen Maxima appeared engaged as she chatted to children who have been treated for cancer

In a sweet moment, the Queen posed for a selfie with one of the children receiving treatment and helped to take the photo

A young fan! On her way into the centre, the Queen stopped to shake the hand of an eager young boy who was desperate to say hello

Maxima, a mother herself, also chatted to other mothers whose children were having treatment at the centre

At one point, she was pictured exclaiming something as she chatted with a child, whom it appears she may have first met several years ago.

The Queen was presented with a photo on an easel of herself in a previous visit, leaning down to speak to a young child in a wheelchair at the centre.

She was visibly moved looking at the photo, in what appeared to be a realisation that she is now posing for a photo with the same child, who is grown up and looking well.

During her visit, Maxima will also meet with oncologists and other staff members at the centre, with an aim of discussing how research into childhood cancers can help bring children for treatment earlier on to increase their chances of survival and living a healthy life after recovery.

To mark World Child Cancer Day tomorrow, she will also write the first message in a 'Heart under the belt' card on display at the hospital.
Queen Consort Camilla will pay tribute to her late mother-in-law by resetting her coronation crown with the former monarch's diamonds, Buckingham Palace said today.

The 75-year-old will be by her husband King Charles' side for the crowning on May 6 at Westminster Abbey.

Queen Mary's Crown  which was made by Garrard & Co for Mary of Teck in 1911  has been removed from display at the Tower of London for modification ahead of the ceremony, it was announced.

It is the first time in recent history that a consort has not commissioned a new crown for the coronation  as Camilla follows her husband's efforts to be more sustainable.

A palace statement said Camilla wanted to pay tribute to Queen Elizabeth by incorporating diamonds from her personal jewellery collection into the crown.

The Queen Consort, pictured last week, will wear Queen Mary's crown at King Charles' upcoming coronation, Buckingham Palace has confirmed

Queen Mary's crown was made in 1911 by Garrard & Co for Mary of Teck when she was a Consort

It read: 'The Crown will be reset with the Cullinan III, IV and V diamonds. The diamonds were part of Queen Elizabeth IIs personal jewellery collection for many years and were often worn by Her late Majesty as brooches.'

Camilla has also requested that four of the eight detachable arches are removed.

But the statement noted how swapping crown jewels will 'reflect the Consort's individual style'.

The Cullinan III and IV diamonds were temporarily set into the crown for the 1911 coronation. What's more, the Cullinan V was placed in the headpiece for the 1937 crowning of King George VI.

The historic ceremony will begin with Camilla's crowning, before Charles is officially named as monarch when the St Edward's Crown is placed on his head by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

A procession will then lead the newly-crowned King past thousands of people to Buckingham Palace, where he will join members of his family on the balcony to wave at the crowd.

The next day, Windsor Castle is set to host a concert broadcast around the world, with thousands of street parties in the afternoon as people. This will be followed by a Bank Holiday on Monday, with millions of people set to get a day off work.

Queen Mary of Teck was famous when it came to her frugality  and was even known to recycle flowers from her vases as gifts when she visited her friends.

Camilla wanted to pay tribute to her late mother-in-law by incorporating some diamonds from the Queen's personal jewellery collection into the crown. Pictured: The Queen in June 2020

King George V and Queen Mary in their coronation robes in 1911. Camilla will wear Mary's crown at her coronation in May

'She never bought flowers at the florist,' her relative, the Marchioness of Cambridge once said.

'She would go round picking them out of vases in her rooms, so that often they were dead the day after she brought them.'

According to Queen Elizabeth's distant cousin, Princess Olga Romanoff, Mary was famous for coveting  then acquiring  other people's possessions.

Princess Olga told TV viewers that Mary of Teck 'had a kind of upmarket kleptomania because she would go stay in somebody's house and she'd be sitting on one of a dozen Sheraton chairs and she'd say, "Oo, I do like this chair". And you'd be obliged to give her all 12.

'People got wise to this and they'd say, "Oh god, Queen Mary's coming to stay", so they'd put the good stuff in the attic and bring the more rotten stuff down.

Queen Mary, Consort to George V, pictured in 1921. She commissioned the crown in 1911

'She was famous for it, absolutely famous for it. Outside church she'd say, "I do like that fur coat" and you'd have to give it to her. Thank God our Royal Family don't do that.'

It comes after Buckingham Palace announced the Queen Consort has tested positive for Covid-19 for a second time.

Both King Charles and Camilla have been fully vaccinated against Covid, including a booster shot, and Camilla contracted the virus once in February last year.

As a result of this latest infection, she has pulled out of visits this week.

'With regret, she has therefore cancelled all of her public engagements for this week and sends her sincere apologies to those who had been due to attend them,' a palace statement added.

Camilla, who had a busy week planned, was due to visit Elmhurst Ballet School in Birmingham to celebrate its centenary and then a library in Telford to thank staff and voluntary group representatives for their contribution to the community.

The Queen Consort has tested positive for Covid-19 for a second time in one year, Buckingham Palace announced yesterday

The official coronation emblem of King Charles and Camilla the Queen Consort. Created by Sir Jony Ive, the former chief design officer at Apple and the man behind the iPhone, it includes the flora of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

Her last public appearance was on February 9, when she visited a centre for victims of domestic violence in Battersea, south London.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said the Queen Consort was suffering from a 'seasonal illness' but it was hoped a new date could soon be found for the events.

Earlier this month, the former chief designer of the iPhone was revealed as the brains behind King Charles's coronation emblem  which is inspired by the monarch's love of nature.

The emblem, created by Sir Jony Ive, includes the flora of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland  the rose, the thistle, the daffodil and the shamrock.

They form the shape of St Edwards Crown, which will be used to crown Charles at Westminster Abbey.

The emblem has also been designed using the red, white and blue of the Union flag.
HD Hyundai Global R&D Center in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province / Korea Times file



By Park Jae-hyuk



HD Hyundai is facing questions from progressive civic groups, which suspect that the recent change of its corporate identity (CI) may have been intended to bring money to HD Hyundai President Chung Ki-sun and his father, Asan Foundation Chairman Chung Mong-joon, the shipbuilding group's largest shareholder and son of late Hyundai Group founder Chung Ju-yung.



The Solidarity for Economic Reform said Tuesday that it sent another letter to HD Hyundai to ask whether the company's decision to change its CI was in compliance with the law. The organization sent its previous letter last November, when HD Hyundai, which had been named Hyundai Heavy Industries Group at that time, had applied for trademark registration.



"HD Hyundai claimed the decision was intended to enhance its brand awareness and integrate its affiliates, but in fact, it forced its key affiliates to pay royalties to their holding company," the solidarity said in a statement.



Before HD Hyundai changed its CI, the previous CI was shared by its affiliates. However, the holding firm now exclusively owns the "Forward Mark" symbol in the CI, which is in the shape of an arrow consisting of triangles that had been used in its previous pyramid-shaped symbol.



As a result, HD Hyundai's affiliates were forced to pay for their use of the symbol.



The Korea Ratings expected HD Hyundai's profit from its trademark to rise to 30 billion won ($24 million) this year from 6 billion won. The credit ratings agency also expected the company to earn 65 billion won every year by renting spaces in its new headquarters building in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province.



Market insiders anticipate HD Hyundai's improved profitability to pave the way for it to increase dividend payments. The company already pays 3,700 won per share in dividend, so the HD Hyundai president owning a 5.26 percent stake will receive 15.4 billion won this year, while his father with a 26.6 percent stake was allowed to receive 77.7 billion won.



The dividends are expected to be used by the younger Chung to buy additional HD Hyundai shares and to pay taxes on the company shares he will inherit from his father.



HD Hyundai, however, denied the speculation, saying it was difficult for the company to show its own identity through its previous CI, which is also used by Hyundai Group.



During last week's conference call on its 2022 earnings, the company said it will not be able to profit from the brand licensing for the next three years, as it spent 30 billion won last year to advertise its new CI.



"We set the brand royalty rate at the minimum level of 0.05 percent, in order to avoid any issues related to taxation or antitrust regulations," an HD Hyundai official said at that time.


It's the day of love  and for some it may mean a last-minute dash to the shops to pick up a gift after forgetting to buy their other half a thoughtful present.

But commuters passing through Liverpool Street Station in London revealed their shock after spotting sky-high prices of red roses being sold for Valentine's Day.

One passenger shared a picture on the online messaging board Reddit of an unidentified gift shop in the station selling bouquets of roses for three-figure prices.

On the forum London, the commuter posted a photo of two small bunches of red roses priced at 200 and a slightly larger bouquet at 385.

They simply titled it '385 of roses in Liv St Station' and let the near-200 commenters say the rest.

One passenger at Liverpool Street Station shared a picture of three-figure priced flowers at one of the station's gift shops, sparking off a debate about the price of Valentine's Day gifts

Many said their partners would be horrified if they spent that much on Valentine's Day gifts.

One user said: 'I showed my Mrs and she said "if you buy those I will leave you on principle".'

Another added: 'Id feel the same. Id not be able to get past our mortgage payment (obviously dont live in London) being spent on something that would be dead in a week and not leave a lasting memory (thats a weekend in Morocco flights included, for example, or almost double the price of the tasting menu in the Shard  sans drinks and still cheaper with them).'

Someone else posted: 'Wow  it's even Valentine's Day yet for the desperate last-minute shoppers. There are plenty of places near there that charge a fifth of the cost at most for that.'

And a fourth added: 'All this hype for Valentine's Day I buy the Mrs fresh flowers weekly, makes me laugh this day as the amount of men who will panic and run around looking for something nice yet don't bother all year around.'

Another wrote: 'I wouldn't pay that if I was caught cheating on her with her sister.'

While someone else posted: 'More fool the people who pay that much. Disgusting.'

People were quick to share their thoughts, with many saying that their partners would be horrified if they spent that much on Valentine's Day gifts. One man said that he bought his partner fresh flowers every week and so couldn't understand the hype

And a third said: 'I'd be happier with the teddy bear and Dairy Box.'

But not everyone was so quick to blast the price of the the bouquet, those selling it and any customers.

Instead, some Reddit users attempted to explain why the cost was so high.

A former florist said: 'Roses at Valentines Day drastically increase in price. You can usually purchase decent ones for roughly 1/1.20 per stem on a regular day. Now add in the demand.

'These are Grand Prix roses, likely from Colombia too, rather than the tiny headed ones from supermarkets.

'You have to charge the crazy prices to make any kind of profit. Source  used to be a florist.'

A second person added: 'Last year M&S were selling 100 roses for 75/75 roses for 100 cant remember which  and a small independent florist told me she skipped doing Valentines Day, one of the biggest days of her year, because to buy that number wholesale would cost her over 200 before she priced them up for customers to include any profit for her work!'
Also met volunteers from UK's Turkish community sending aid to their homeland

King Charles became visibly emotional when he visited a Trafalgar Square pop-up support centre for Syrians living in the capital who have been affected by the earthquake.

The monarch, 74, also met volunteers from the UK's Turkish community sending aid to their homeland, and expressed how 'deeply sorry' he was following the devastating earthquake.

Charles visited a west London charity to see for himself the efforts of residents working to help those left homeless after the natural disaster stuck south-east Turkey and Syria last week, killing tens of thousands of people.

Umit Yalcin, Turkey's ambassador to the UK, joined the head of state when he visited the makeshift depot organised by the West London Turkish Volunteers based in Hounslow.

The diplomat said about the King: 'He said he was deeply sorry, deeply sad, and he will pray for Turkey, for Syria and the people under that devastating earthquake.'

King Charles (pictured) became visibly emotional when he visited a Trafalgar Square pop-up support centre for Syrians living in the capital who have been affected by the earthquake

King Charles, 74, pictured meeting volunteers in Hounslow who have been working tirelessly to send relief parcels to survivors of the Turkey and Syria earthquakes

During his visit, the King sipped Turkish tea - after stirring in a sugar lump - and briefly visited a nearby kebab takeaway and joked if the chef had any special ingredients to attract the public.

The 7.8 magnitude earthquake and a later a 7.5 quake, which both struck on February 6, have claimed the lives of more than 35,000 people in south-eastern Turkey and Syria, with the death toll expect to rise as buildings are finally cleared.

The natural disaster reduced thousands of homes and buildings to rubble as people slept, with scenes of the rescue effort reported by news channels across the globe.

With the efforts of the authorities and NGOs now turning towards recovery and relief, the British public have helped the Disasters Emergency Committee Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal raise more than 74 million in a few days - including donations from the King and Queen Consort and the Prince and Princess of Wales.

In a courtyard next to the charity's home behind the Kebab takeaway, the King was shown the latest shipments of pallets, piled head-high with boxes filled with tents, blankets, winter clothes and toiletries, soon to follow more than 200 others already sent to Turkey.

He chatted to volunteers gathered for the royal visit and he asked them where the shipments were headed. When he was told Istanbul, the King asked about Turkey, saying: 'It's always been prone earthquakes?' and being told it was on a fault line.

When the King said: 'I hear you're getting so many supplies and people have been helping,' volunteer Aysenur Gurkan, 21, replied: 'The support has been quite immense.'

She added: 'Not just the Turkish community - we've had support from everybody. People are connecting.'

As he arrived in Hounslow, King Charles was greeted by the Turkish Ambassador to the UK Umit Yalcin

King Charles pictured shaking hands with the public in Trafalgar Square this afternoon as he visited the volunteers organising relief packages for Syria

King Charles looked touched as he was handed a single red rose as he visited the volunteer base in London today

The King received a warm welcome from members of the public outside the volunteer base dedicated to sending relief to Syrians affected by the earthquakes

The King accepted a rose from a member of the public waiting to greet him in Trafalgar Square in Central London

King Charles pictured being given Syrian tea as he talks with members of the Syrian diaspora community

King Charles was all smiles as he greeted volunteers at Syria's House, a temporary Syrian community tent in Trafalgar Square

Around 500 local Turkish families use the centre but many are from a region in central Turkey and only a few were directly affected by earthquake.

However, on the day the tremor struck, a frantic effort began to sort through donations that poured in from the public - including from Ukrainian and Afghan communities.

The King watched volunteers sorting through clothes and sleeping bags and was told about the fundraising efforts of the West London Turkish Volunteers, an organisation which supports other communities in the area, to fund a new community and social centre.

Before leaving, Charles visited the kebab restaurant and takeaway co-owned by one of the senior members of the charity. When he asked what meats were cooking, he was told lamb and chicken doner kebabs.

He pointed at the press covering the event and said with a laugh: 'They probably will have a kebab.'

Charles later toured Syria's House, a community tent which will be open for a week in Trafalgar Square where Syrians will be able to pay their respects to lost relatives and organise vigils at the centre.

He spoke to Salah Al-Asmar, a Syrian architect based in the UK, who lost his parents, brother, sister-in-law and nephew in the earthquake in Antakya, Turkey.

Mr Al-Asmar said afterwards: 'For seven days, my family were under the rubble. There was no rescue team. No-one could support them in this moment. I haven't been able to sleep for days.'

Yazan Douedari, who was invited to the event through friends, told the PA news agency: 'The King was showing his support and was saying 'I can't imagine how hard it has been for you'. He said 'it is terrible'. I saw that he was emotionally affected.'

The King and Turkish ambassador Umit Yalcin pictured being shown around the makeshift operation

King Charles pictured shaking hands with Turkish Ambassador to the UK Umit Yalcin ahead of the tour

The monarch also stopped by Mangal Kebab restaurant in Hounslow to speak with another volunteer.

While speaking with volunteers, the monarch was handed a cup of Turkish tea, which is made using Camellia sinensis and traditionally served in a tulip-shaped glass

The King pictured speaking with volunteers as they package up cardboard boxes full of supplies to be sent to survivors of the earthquakes

The monarch was also pictured sharing a laugh with London Mayor Sadiq Khan and other dignitaries before then going into the temporary tent where organisers for the Syria relief effort have based themselves.

With the efforts of the authorities and NGOs now turning towards recovery and relief, the British public have helped the Disasters Emergency Committee Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal raise more than 74 million in a few days - including donations from the King and Queen Consort and the Prince and Princess of Wales.

Last week, the MailOnline revealed that King Charles and the Queen Consort had made a personal donation to the Turkey and Syria earthquake relief fund alongside the Prince and Princess of Wales.

The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) separately thanked King Charles III and the Queen Consort for their 'generous donation', which they said would help provide medical aid, food, blankets and other urgent help to survivors.

The DEC brings together 15 of the UK's leading aid charities in emergency situations such as earthquakes, to raise as much money for those affected as possible, quickly and efficiently.

In the hours that followed the earthquake, King Charles expressed his condolences for those impacted by the disaster in a message to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

He said: 'My wife and I have been most shocked and profoundly saddened by the news of the devastating earthquakes in South East Turkiye.

A boy and her mother are rescued by German (yellow) and British (orange) rescue teams after an 8 hour operation in Kahramanmaras, Turkey, on February 9

Pictured: Rescue workers search for survivor on a collapsed building in Adiyaman, southeastern Turkey, Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023

'I can only begin to imagine the scale of suffering and loss as a result of these dreadful tragedies and I particularly wanted to convey our deepest and most heartfelt sympathy to the families of all those who have lost their loved ones.

'Our thoughts and special prayers are with everyone who has been affected by this appalling natural disaster, whether through injury or the destruction of their property, and also with the emergency services and those assisting in the rescue efforts.'

In a tweet signed from William and Catherine, the Prince and Princess of Wales said: 'We have been horrified to see the harrowing images coming out of Turkey and Syria in the aftermath of the earthquakes this week.

'Our thoughts are with the communities affected and we are pleased to support the DEC campaign which will aid the response on the ground.'
Curb Your Enthusiasm director Robert Weide has told of his surprise and gratitude after a touching tribute he posted to his late wife of 25 years swiftly went viral.

The 63-year-old wrote an obituary for wife Linda, who 'believed everybody's age was nobody's business,' in the Los Angeles Times and he encouraged people to 'read it to the end' after posting a copy of it on Twitter.

The heart-wrenching piece details the couple's love affair and Robert describes his love - who died 'peacefully' in his arms on Christmas Day - as 'brave,' 'remarkably low maintenance' and 'generous to a fault.'

He ended the personal essay writing: 'Rest well, Bunnie. I hope we'll be together again. For those who never knew her, I'm sorry for your loss.'

Curb Your Enthusiasm director Robert Weide has told of his surprise and gratitude after a touching tribute he posted to his wife, Linda, swiftly went viral

The 63-year-old wrote an obituary for Linda in the Los Angeles Times and he encouraged people to 'read it to the end' after posting a copy of it on Twitter

Robert revealed in the obituary that Linda was diagnosed with a rare and fatal neurological disease known as Progressive Supranuclear Palsy in 2018

This copy of Robert's obituary which he posted to Twitter triggered hundreds of comments

Since sharing his story, thousands of people have reached out to Robert and he says he has been 'knocked out' by the 'unexpected' reaction.

Many commenters have deemed Robert's tribute 'beautiful', 'extraordinary' and 'wonderful', and they have thanked him for sharing his his story.

In response to all of the comments and messages he has received the director, whose other projects include How to Lose Friends and Alienate People and Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time, tweeted: 'I love that total strangers are confessing to tears and saying they can tell what a beautiful person Linda was.

'The fact that so many are getting a small taste of what I blessed with for 28 years is so moving.

'Many of the comments have made me cry, some make me laugh, others make me shout, 'Yes, yes!'

'Anyway, my deepest appreciation to everyone who's taken the time to read or comment on the tribute.

'You have made this new widower feel a little less lonely. And I know Linda sends her love, too. I'll post more photos when I can.'

Robert revealed in the obituary that Linda was diagnosed with a rare and fatal neurological disease known as Progressive Supranuclear Palsy in 2018.

According to the University of California San Francisco, the brain disorder impacts about one in every 100,000 people over age 60 in the US.

Robert said that Linda's 'bravery and dignity in the face of this illness were awe-inspiring. But unfortunately, the House always wins.'

In her final months, Robert said Linda spent lots of time in front of the TV watching 'familiar shows that she already loved,' which included all 12 seasons of Frasier.

Since detailing his story, thousands of people have reached out to Robert and he says he has been 'knocked out' by the 'unexpected' reaction

As his obituary has captured so much public attention, Robert says he will post more 'anecdotes, memories and photos' of his late wife

Robert made a post for Valentine's Day a day early and explained that it was because he is currently busy with work

While she couldn't talk, Linda was still able to laugh.

Going back to the start of their love affair, Robert reveals how Linda moved to Los Angeles in 1989 to pursue an acting career and that's when they both met.

He recounted: 'She was born in Follansbee, West Virginia, to Lucy Gianinni and Victor Ubieta. Her Aunt Lee and Uncle Eli Rabb were important figures in her upbringing. She attended Bethany College, where she received a B.A. in Liberal Arts.

What is progressive supranuclear palsy? Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) is a rare brain disorder that causes dementia and problems with walking and balance. About 20,000 Americans - or one in every 100,000 people over age 60 - have PSP. Symptoms are similar to other degenerative diseases of the brain, such as changes in behavior and difficulty with speech. Another characteristic symptom is lack of control of eye movement. These symptoms are caused by a gradual deterioration of brain cells at the base of the brain in an area called the brainstem. Patients tend to be middle-age or elderly. Men are affected more often than women. The disease can be difficult to diagnose because it's rare and sometimes mistaken for Parkinson's disease. As PSP progresses, patients are at greater risk for complications, such as choking, pneumonia, head injury and fractures caused by falls. The most common cause of death is pneumonia. With good medical care, however, may patients with PSP live well into their 70s and beyond. SOURCE: University of California San Francisco Advertisement

'She lived for a time in Boston, then Manhattan. In 1989, she moved to Los Angeles. Thank G-d for that last move, because on September 30, 1994, I walked into Cafe Aroma in Studio City, and there she was.

'She had it all - beauty, style, grace, intelligence, wit, a great laugh, a blinding smile and (can I say this in 2023) legs that demanded to be shown off, and were.

'That night, I wrote in my journal, 'I think I may be in big trouble.' We were married on July 11, 1998.'

Robert goes on to reveal that while Linda became 'disenchanted with acting,' she did pick up a few memorable roles with one being the part of Mindy Reiser in the Curb Your Enthusiasm episode, The Terrorist Attack.

Touching on some of his wife's best qualities, Robert said she was very low maintenance and when he asked her what she would like for her birthday, she would say 'a grilled cheese sandwich.' He said this kind of behavior was 'typical'.

Meanwhile, her 'softest spot was reserved for animals, especially those in need' and all of the couples' pets were rescues. Linda also donated to many animal charities, with the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary being her 'favorite'.

After running through some of Linda's best features, Robert mused: 'What a team we made. She was Gracie to my George. After we purchased side-by-side cemetery plots years ago, I asked her what she wanted her marker to say.

'She answered, 'I'm with Stupid.' (That request will not be honored.) Oh, dear - what am I ever supposed to do without her.'

After his obituary captured so much public attention, Robert says he will post more 'anecdotes, memories and photos' of his late wife in the coming days.

One Twitter user who read his story wrote: 'Your words painted a wonderful, vivid picture of a wonderful, vivid woman. I was in tears and shared it with my partner and with many friends.

'I'm so sorry for your loss and so glad we all got to glimpse a little bit of your love for each other. May her memory be a blessing.'

Echoing similar sentiments, another tweeted: 'Just read this in Ireland Bob and I'm extremely sorry for your loss as much as death is part of life, its ultimate reckoning is never easy - those 28 years you had with your clearly beloved wife are something to cherish until you hopefully meet again.'

Robert made a special post for Valentine's Day a day early, explaining: 'Posting this a day early because I'm back on the Curb set on Tuesday. But Happy Valentine's Day from Linda Weide and her husband. Hold your Baby tight tonight and let them know you mean it.'
A Polish-British couple welcomed five babies at a Krakow hospital on Sunday afternoon, adding to their already large family.

Dominika Clarke, already a parent to seven children ranging from 10 months to 12 years old, gave birth to the quintuplets yesterday just in time for Valentine's Day.

The mother called her pregnancy a 'miracle' as the hospital shared that chances of conceiving quintuplets were one in 52 million.

'We were planning to have an eighth child but there turned out to be more,' she told reporters at the hospital alongside her British husband Vince.

'We had a greater chance of winning the lottery than having this crowd.

Dominika Clarke and husband Vince welcomed five babies at a Krakow hospital on Sunday afternoon

The children - three girls and two boys - were named Arianna Daisy, Charles Patrick, Elizabeth May, Evangeline Rose and Henry James

Dominika said she felt 'better than expected' after welcoming the five new family members

'As a mathematician, I like these kinds of statistics.'

According to the Polish Press Agency, Dominika has remained in hospital for the last 10 weeks with staff reportedly admitting that the challenging pregnancy could have complications.

During this time, Vince was reportedly looking after their seven other children at home in Pucaczach, Lubin.

The babies were delivered by caesarean section at 29 weeks and still require respiratory support.

The children - three girls and two boys - were named Arianna Daisy, Charles Patrick, Elizabeth May, Evangeline Rose and Henry James.

Dominika said she felt 'better than expected' after welcoming the five new members of her family.

Ryszard Lauterbach, head of the neonatology department also said: 'We hope that we can arrive at the joyful moment of discharging them from the hospital.'
An Australian wine maker has lifted the lid on how to open a champagne bottle correctly - and his clever tip for cooling wine during summer.

Bryan, from Lowe Family Wine Co in Mudgee, New South Wales, shared his wealth of knowledge and said 'the cork should never pop off out of grip'

Most wine and champagne drinkers remove the cage covering the cork before opening but this is a big mistake.

Wine expert Bryan from Lowe Family Wine Co in Mudgee, New South Wales shared his secrets during a tasting on Saturday (pictured)

From not removing the cage covering to cork to using a simple double bucket technique (right) to chill wine, guests left impressed

Why you should NEVER pair chocolate and champagne: Sommelier reveals why the luxury treats don't go together Sandia Chang, Sommelier, founder of online fine winery the Bubbleshop and co-founder of two Michelin-starred Kitchen Table in London explained that the bitterness of chocolate 'confuses' the acidity of champagne meaning you lose the flavour of both. Instead she suggests pairing fizz with oysters or truffle popcorn, and if you want to give your loved one chocolate go for a sweeter fortified wine instead. 'I find that the bitterness in chocolate really confuses the taste of wine and especially champagne, which has a higher acidity,' she explained. 'A better pairing for Valentine's Day would be champagne and oysters because the minerality in the oysters matches really well with the chalky notes of champagne. 'If you're opting for lobster or seafood then a fuller bodied champagne, such as Olivier Horiot, 5 Sens, Extra Brut, is the perfect accompaniment.' Advertisement

This is because it can be used to better grip the cork.

Then, you should tilt the bottle slightly on a 45 degree angle to better distribute the alcohol and spread the pressure.

'You don't want all the pressure behind the cork, you want to keep it inside the bottle,' he said.

After a couple of careful twists the cork should release from the bottle with little noise.

Most wine and champagne drinkers remove the cage covering the cork before opening - though this is a fatal mistake. The wine maker revealed the cage should never be removed because it can be used to better grip the cork

How to correctly open a cork bottle Never remove the cage - it helps you grip the cork Tilt the bottle on an angle to distribute the wine or champagne and spread the pressure - you don't want all the pressure behind the cork Twist the bottle, not the cork The cork should never pop off and fly into the air, ever Every cage over a cork has six twists 'Room temperature' normally means between 16-18 degrees Celsius, not an Australian summer room temperature Advertisement

On Saturday, the weather topped 33 degrees Celsius, which can spoil wine. To combat this heat, the wine expert used a simple double bucket technique. The bottles of red wine were placed inside a large bucket surrounding a smaller bucket full of ice and white wines (pictured)

Bryan also pointed out what the correct 'room temperature' is to store wine.

'Everyone says to keep red wine at "room temperature" but no one says what temperature that is exactly,' he said, adding: 'The correct temperature should be around 16 to 18 degrees Celsius.'

On the day of the tasting, the weather topped 33 degrees Celsius, which can spoil wine.

To combat this heat, he used a simple but effective double bucket technique.

The bottles of red wine were placed inside a large bucket surrounding a smaller bucket full of ice and white wines.

The ice kept the white wine chilled while the air leaving the smaller bucket was also the perfect temperature to cool the red and sparkling wines.
Residents in a Sydney neighbourhood are up in arms over a new sculpture set to be installed at a beach side park.

The Northern Beaches Council announced a public art installation will be erected at North Mona Vale Headland Reserve along the 36km Coast Walk between Manly and Palm Beach.

The sculpture is a 'You are Here' sign in the ground made from sandstone and was described as 'whimsical and interactive' on the council's website however locals aren't happy with the 'ridiculous' art piece.

Sydney residents are up in arms over a new sculpture (pictured) that is set to be erected in Mona Vale. Many have slammed the installation as 'unnecessary', 'ugly' and and 'eyesore'

A heated debate was sparked after community Facebook page Northern Beaches Living asked members what they thought of the sculpture set to be unveiled in late 2023.

Many agreed the art piece would 'take away' from the reserve's 'natural beauty' while others called it an 'eyesore'.

'Imagine trying to take a beautiful photo of nature and having that hideous s*** in it. Talk about wrecking a space,' one woman said.

'Hands off the natural environment. Why do we need to put our 'stamp' on everything and continuously blight our natural landscape?' a second asked.

'Absolutely destroying the scenery of nature,' a third agreed and a fourth added: 'Seriously? Surely this is not an option!! It looks ridiculous.'

The sandstone 'You Are Here' sign will be installed at North Mona Vale Headland Reserve (pictured) While the concept has been met with backlash, some locals have said they 'love' it

Others continued to pile on the installation calling it 'ghastly', 'ugly', 'unnecessary', 'horrible' and 'a blight on the landscape'.

'People know exactly where they are when they come to sit, think, play and enjoy the coast or headband areas. This idea is just way off the mark,' one resident replied.

'Looks like a spot for a helicopter to land,' another laughed.

However the feedback wasn't all negative as many loved the artistic idea.

'I love it! If art is partly intended to provoke and question, this piece is already doing just that, judging by the comments! Plus it will form handy seating,' someone said.

Poll What do you think of the art installation? I love it It's awful What do you think of the art installation? I love it 6 votes

It's awful 121 votes Now share your opinion





'Love it, a nice reminder of the now,' agreed another.

'If you can climb on the sandstone blocks it will be nice. It would be good to see the perspective from ground level. I get the sense that it will actually be fantastic when in place and the sort of thing that cannot be appreciated in a photo,' a third commented.

'It will grow on us and present surprising uses. It works for me as art. Yes from me.'

A statement from the Northern Beaches Council said the artwork can also be used as informal seating or as a play space.

It was designed and will be erected by Australian artist duo Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro best known for their large-scale installations and site-specific artworks.

'The concept represents a playful use of words that can be integrated into the park to create a meeting point, a conversation point, and a complement to existing park uses,' the statement read.

Of their concept the Clare and Sean said: 'We live in an age of ultimate distraction -You are Here locates people within the park. You are Here is an affirming phrase. The words remind us of the here and now, celebrating our existence in a beautiful setting.'
Hundreds of Aussies have been left heartbroken after seeing images of dozens of lost animals in a 'hot and overcrowded' shelter.

Sydney's Blacktown City Animal Holding Facility has been inundated with more than 30 missing dogs as well as cats and rabbits as shelters across the city experience an influx of lost, abandoned and surrendered animals.

Animal lovers shared their sympathies as rescue groups are circulating images of the impounded pets online in hopes they can be claimed by their owners.

An Australian council pound has been inundated with lost pets in recent weeks and are desperately looking to reunite them with their owners

Blacktown City Animal Holding Facility in Sydney is appealing to residents to pick up their missing pets who are being held in a 'hot and overcrowded' pound

'Is your beloved family member sitting in this hot, overcrowded pound? If so, then please do the right thing by your beautiful faithful friend and take them back home where they belong,' a post to the Rescue Hub Facebook Group read.

'They are puppies in here and eight poor senior's. A pound is no place for any dog let alone a puppy or an old dog.'

The post included photos of the each of the abandoned pooches along with details about their ages, breed, colour, appearance and whether or not they had been de-sexed.

Animal lovers shared their sympathies as rescue groups are circulating images of the impounded pets online in hopes they can be claimed by their owners

'Is your beloved family member sitting in this hot, overcrowded pound? If so, then please do the right thing by your beautiful faithful friend and take them back home where they belong,' a post to the Rescue Hub Facebook Group read

Rescue Hub also reminded users the animals were not up for adoption but waiting to be reunited with their owners.

Residents were left devastated by the post and slammed 'neglectful' pet owners for not claiming their animals.

'This is absolutely appalling and heartbreaking, how can so many people not care where their dog is???' one woman asked.

'Hope they're not all unwanted,' another added.

'Somehow people think pets are like toys and they dispose of them when they bored. So so sad and cruel,' a third wrote.

The post included photos of the each of the abandoned pooches along with details about their ages, breed, colour, appearance and whether or not they had been de-sexed

Residents were left devastated by the post and slammed 'neglectful' pet owners for not claiming their animals

Many people were angered that the majority of the animals had not been spayed or neutered.

'Can't believe most of these dogs found are not de-sexed,' one person pointed out.

'Horrible to see so many neglected pets.vast majority not even de-sexed!' commented a second.

'Needs to be law that they're de-sexed before being returned - no exceptions,' another complained.

Some animals have since been reunited with their owners but many remain in the holding facility.

Some animals have since been reunited with their owners but many remain the in holding facility

A Blacktown City Council spokesperson told FEMAIL the facility is experiencing a significant increase in surrendered or abandoned pets and rangers have observed a rise in the number stray pets being brought in.

'While the reasons for this trend are not fully known, it is possible that households are under increased financial pressures, which is leading in a spike in pet surrenders,' they said.

'The RSPCA has also reported an extension in the cat breeding season this year, resulting in a greater number of kittens being born.'

The council held a forum earlier this year and is working with local vets to address this overload.

'Council is also exploring ways to increase and provide more support for pet foster carers, as well as raising community awareness on the importance of pet de-sexing,' they said.
As thousands of couples celebrate Valentine's Day, Aussies are spilling the best and worst 'cringe' pickup lines they've ever heard - including comedian Tanya Hennessy.

'I think "I ought to complain to Spotify for you not being named this week's hottest single", or "Are you a bank loan? Cause you've got my interest" are hilarious,' Tanya, 37, told FEMAIL.

'I wrote one too its: "Excuse me but do you have a weird, hungry and perpetually tired girlfriend?", "No", "Would you like one?"'

A study by Moonpig surveyed 1,000 Australians and asked what's the most 'cringeworthy' one-liners are. Australian comedian Tanya Hennessy (pictured, right, with fiance, Thomas Poole) weighed in on the discussion

'I think 'I ought to complain to Spotify for you not being named this week's hottest single', or 'Are you a bank loan? Cause you've got my interest' are hilarious,' Tanya said

A study by Moonpig recently surveyed 1,000 Australians to find out the one-liners deemed most 'cringeworthy'.

18 per cent of respondents deemed the line 'Do you happen to have a Baid-AID? Cause I scraped my knees falling for you' to be their favourite... a stat which Tanya found 'concerning'.

'It's a hard no on that one,' she said.

Aussies also seem to like the phrase 'when I look into your eyes I see a very kind soul', but Tanya said: 'That's not a pick-up line, it's just weird and terrifying!'

Aussies also seem to like the phrase 'when I look into your eyes I see a very kind soul', but Tanya said: 'That's not a pick-up line, it's just weird and terrifying!'

The signs your partner is NOT the one: Eight red flags to look out for in your relationship that signal it's time to leave now Keeping your wits about you in the early stages of a relationship means being aware of red flags - or the signs that something isn't right. Australian dating and relationship expert Louanne Ward understands how easy it is to let emotion take over and ignore signals that things might not be as they seem. She said many people ignore these warnings and enter into a relationship that might not be suitable despite the fact red flags were there from the outset Some common indicators include: 1. Rushing a relationship 2. They are on social media but have no photos 3. They pursue you but tell you they don't know what they want 4. Watch for sudden outbursts of anger 5. One person controls the contact 6. They keep you at arm's length and won't commit 7. Sex is always a topic of conversation 8. Constantly telling small lies Advertisement

In August 2021 Tanya announced her engagement to long-time partner Thomas Poole, but the wedding planning has been put on the back burner.

'We're trying to conceive and that's more important to us than a wedding  plus we can't agree on anything and we keep changing our minds,' Tanya said.

Poll Do you celebrate Valentine's Day? Yes, every year No, it's too over-commercialised I'm single Do you celebrate Valentine's Day? Yes, every year 389 votes

No, it's too over-commercialised 1139 votes

I'm single 266 votes Now share your opinion





'We will probably be engaged for 10 years to be honest 'cause of my love of sitting, doing nothing and procrastinating.'

Tanya said they 'don't do much' for Valentine's Day because they're 'lazy', but enjoys celebrating friends for Galentine's Day.

It comes after a a Melbourne couples therapist claims Valentine's Day could save your relationship down the track.

Dee Tozer, who has more than 30 years experience, says of the 5,000 struggling couples she's worked with nearly all of them had no interest in celebrating the day.

Among her client sessions, she's noticed four common reasons why couples choose not to acknowledge the annual day.

'It is my responsibility, and personal investment, to check in with my couples at 12 months and two years, post working with me. Ninety-four per cent (non-infidelity), 96 per cent, after infidelity - report they are doing well and haven't looked back,' Dr Tozer told Mamamia.

It comes after couples therapist Dee Tozer (pictured, centre), from Melbourne, who has more than 30 years experience, says of the 5,000 couples she's worked with nearly all of them had no interest in celebrating Valentine's Day

While many believe Valentine's Day is now over-commercialised and used as a ploy to make money, the day traces back to 5th century Romans but wasn't linked to romance until the 14th century.

Some couples may believe love should be celebrated each day and not limited to just one day of the year, when cards, chocolates and roses are hiked up in price.

But those who don't acknowledge the day are also at risk of feeling left out.

Dr Tozer also believes Valentine's Day is an opportunity for couples to focus on their relationship and celebrate their love.

'I sometimes compare a relationship to a merry-go-round, it's fun but loses its excitement with each lap. It's easy to lose sight of why they got on the ride in the first place,' she said.

'The priority to dedicate time to indulge in each other's love is diluted to the point where not celebrating that love becomes the norm.'
'Love languages' may have taken the world by storm.

But there's no science supporting the popular 30-year-old theory, two experts have claimed.

Dr Martin Graff, who specialises in the field of the psychology of relationships, said it was developed 'based on observations, rather than rigorous research'.

Meanwhile, Dr Gery Karantzas, an expert in the same topic, from Deakin University in Australia, said: 'There is little evidence to support the idea that love languages are 'a thing', or that love languages do much of anything to help improve relationships.'

Love languages, such as acts of service, can help couples understand each others' needs but there's no science supporting the popular 30-year-old theory, one expert claims (file photo)

Yet writing for The Conversation, Dr Graff added: 'Whether or not there is science in this particular theory might not matter so much.

'There is little doubt there's value to be found in expressing your love for your partner in a thoughtful way.'

And, despite there being no concrete evidence, he said Valentine Day's 'might be a good time to reflect on your partner's love language'.

Dr Graff, who is based at Swansea University, said: 'For example, if they favour words of affirmation, carefully consider what you write in their card.

'If their love language is acts of service, you might like to cook their favourite meal.'

The concept of 'love languages'  now a familiar sight in every lifestyle magazine  can be traced back to the 1990s.

Gary Chapman, an author and speaker based in the US, claimed that there are five distinct preferences for expressing love.

Everyone can be grouped into either words of affirmation, quality time, receiving gifts, acts of service, and physical touch.

Dr Chapman hoped his theory would help people 'love better and grow closer'.

He suggested that for couples whose love languages don't match, learning a partner's preferred one is the key to a good relationship.

He added: 'After a lifetime of counselling, being married, and raising two children, I can tell you from experience that very few of us know how to do so in ways that are truly meaningful to our loved ones.

'Whatever season you find yourself in, I want to give you the confidence you need to connect profoundly with the ones you care for.'

Dr Graff said: 'And there's been minimal scientific evidence published to date to support the idea that people generally prefer to express and receive love in one of these five ways, or exploring how these love languages influence relationships.

'Similarly, any 'quiz' used to determine people's love language has no integrity as a scientifically valid test.'

One 2022 study supporting the concept of love languages, by researchers from the University of Warsaw, claimed that expressing affection in your other half's preferred style does lead to contentment.

Everyone can be grouped into either words of affirmation, quality time, receiving gifts, acts of service, and physical touch (file photo)

Gary Chapman's five love languages Acts of service (doing something that helps a partner, such as running an errand)

(doing something that helps a partner, such as running an errand) Physical touch (demonstrating physical affection, such as giving your partner a hug or kiss)

(demonstrating physical affection, such as giving your partner a hug or kiss) Quality time (spending time together and giving each other undivided attention)

(spending time together and giving each other undivided attention) Receiving gifts (giving your partner a present that communicates thoughtfulness, effort, and/or expense)

(giving your partner a present that communicates thoughtfulness, effort, and/or expense) Words of affirmation (such as expressing your admiration, or complimenting your partner). Advertisement

The researchers spoke to 100 heterosexual couples aged 17-58, who had been together for six months to 24 years, and evaluated their preferred love languages, as well as the love languages they used when expressing love to their partner.

The results showed that, for both men and women, participants whose partners used their preferred love language reported better relationship and sexual satisfaction.

'People who better match each other's preferences for love languages are more satisfied with their relationships and sexual life,' the team wrote.

Yet not all the evidence is conclusive, as a 2017 study claimed the opposite.

Scientists from the Queensland University of Technology found that either understanding a romantic partner's love language or having the same one as them both had no impact on relationship satisfaction.

The researchers studied 67 heterosexual couples aged 18-70, who had been together for one month to 33 years.

The participants had to rate how much they agreed or disagreed with statements such as 'I tend to express my feelings to my partner by running errands for her/him'.

They then had to repeat the questionnaire from their partner's perspective.

The authors wrote: 'In contrast to Chapman's (1992) five love languages theory, this study found no significant relation between love language alignment and relationship satisfaction.

'In the current study, over three fourths of participants accurately implicitly determined their partner's love language, but this did not correspond with higher spousal relationship satisfaction.'

Dr Chapman suggests that for couples whose love languages don't match, learning a partner's preferred one is the key to a good relationship

Dr Karantzas echoed Dr Graff's stance on love languages.

Writing for The Conversation, he said: 'Despite the popularity of the theory of love languages, only a handful of studies have been conducted and reported over the past 30 years

'Research is largely inconclusive, although the balance sways more towards refuting rather than endorsing the love languages concept.'

However, Dr Karantzas added that of the two studies into whether having a better understanding of your partners love language is linked to higher relationship satisfaction, both found this to be the case.
When burned it releases phosgene, which can cause vomiting

Vinyl chloride is a highly toxic gas which can increases the risk of cancers

Health concerns for Ohio residents are growing after a train carrying toxic chemicals crashed and engulfed surrounding neighborhoods in black smoke.

East Palestine resident Melissa Henry told the Associated Press her youngest son's 'eyes turned red as tomato and he was coughing a lot' before the family evacuated to her parents' house outside the evacuation zone.

Another resident in North Lima, roughly ten miles from the train derailment, had her six chickens die days after the chemical fire started.

Taylor Holzer, a registered foxkeeper who lives outside the evacuation perimeter, told WKBN all his foxes were ill and one had died. Dead fish were also spotted in waterways around the scene after the incident.

Fifty Norfolk Southern Railroad freight train cars carrying toxic vinyl chloride derailed in Columbiana County at around 9pm on Friday, February 3.

When the evacuation was announced, the Ohio government released a version of the above map which said that anyone who remained in the red affected area was faced danger of death, and anyone who remained in the yellow impacted area was at a high risk of severe injury, including skin burns and serious lung damage

Surrounding neighborhoods were engulfed in black smoke after Norfolk Southern Railroad released the toxic chemicals into the air

A controlled release of the cancer-causing chemicals was done by the railroad company on Monday February 6 to avert a possible explosion.

Hundreds of East Palestine residents were evacuated from their homes prior to the release but have since been told it is safe for them to return.

It has emerged that three other dangerous chemicals  ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate and isobutylene  were also in the rail cars, according to a letter sent from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to Norfolk Southern.

Vinyl chloride is a highly toxic manmade gas which can increase the risk of multiple cancers.

The most likely way it will enter someone's body is by breathing it in, but it can also be ingested via contaminated drinking water.

The chemical travels through the body in the blood and the liver will break it down into other chemicals, some of which can cause more damage than the vinyl chloride itself.

Breathing high levels of the gas can make you dizzy or give you a headache, but it can be deadly.

Sil Caggiano, a hazardous materials specialist and former fire department chief, told WKBN 27 First News: 'We basically nuked a town with chemicals so we could get a railroad open'

He advised residents to 'get a record now of where your health stands so that moving forward, you'll have documentation of any possibly related effects to the train derailment'

When breathed in over many years, it can cause liver and nerve damage and leave people with a weakened immune system.

Exposure to the gas is also associated with a heightened risk of a rare form of liver cancer (hepatic angiosarcoma), as well as primary liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma), brain and lung cancers, lymphoma, and leukemia.

When burned, vinyl chloride creates hydrogen chloride and phosgene  a highly toxic, colorless gas with a strong odor that can cause vomiting and breathing trouble and was used as a chemical weapon in World War I.

Isobutylene is also known to cause dizziness and drowsiness when breathed in. At high levels, the substance can cause coma and death.

Ethylene glycol monobutyl ether is irritating to the eyes, skin and respiratory tract. Repeated exposure will cause the skin to dry out and crack.

Ethylhexyl acrylate is a colorless liquid which can cause irritation and drowsiness when inhaled and throat irritation if swallowed.

Sil Caggiano, a hazardous materials specialist and former fire department chief, told WKBN 27 First News: 'We basically nuked a town with chemicals so we could get a railroad open.'

He told WKBN he advised residents to 'get a health check-up'.

'Get a record now of where your health stands so that moving forward, you'll have documentation of any possibly related effects to the train derailment.'

Residents on TikTok said: 'I live literally 10 minutes from this and last night the smell was so bad at home that we had to leave. I feel terrible today'.

East Palestine Police have warned that drinking water may be at risk for some residents. A task group will be knocking on doors of those they believe have at-risk water wells.

The Ohio EPA has sampled nearby rivers to determine whether there has been any water contamination and is awaiting results.




Hyundai Mobis CEO Cho Sung-hwan is announcing the vision of 'New Mobis' at CES 2023. Courtesy of Hyundai Mobis
Iraq could be the epicenter of a global superbug outbreak, a new study warns.

Scientists at American University in Beirut, Lebanon, say decades of war in the country  including the US invasion in the 2000s  had led to a 'catastrophic rise' in antibiotic resistance.

Destroyed healthcare infrastructure, medicine shortages, heavy metal contamination and poor sanitation were all likely to blame, they argued.

Scientists and doctors are concerned about a bacteria emerging that cannot be treated using currently available antibiotics. Estimates suggest it could cause 10million deaths a year by 2050 if no action is taken.

Last month the discovery of supergonorrhea in Massachusetts  which showed signs of resistance to antibiotics  prompted health authorities to warn the bacteria poses a 'serious public health concern'.

Pictured above are Iraqis preparing humanitarian aid to be sent to the part of Syria affected by the earthquake. They were photographed in Baghdad, the country's capital, on February 11

Previously, antibiotic resistance has largely been attributed to the overuse of antibiotics.

But attention is now turning to other factors, such as heavy metals and disinfectants that are used in conflict, healthcare and the hospitality sector.

War has been implicated as a factor in the emergence of antibiotic resistance since the 1940s, but the authors say it has received little attention.

The scientists said they chose to focus on Iraq because the country had been beset by conflicts for the past four decades.

This included the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, the First Gulf War in 1991, and the US-led invasion and occupation launched in the 2000s. The country also faced an Islamic State insurgency in the 2010s.

The study authors, whose paper was published in the journal BMJ Global Health, reviewed other studies in the paper to warn that the conflicts had led to an environment perfect for the spread of microbial pathogens in the country, which cause disease.

Metals used in weaponry and explosives such as lead, mercury, chromium and copper, are all present in war environments.

Some bacteria species taken from these areas are already shown to have evolved resistance to combat these heavy metals' toxicity.

Study author Dr Antoine Abou Fayad said: 'Contemporary conflicts waged in urban and industrialized landscapes pressure microbes with selective environments that contain unique combinations and concentrations of toxic heavy metals and antibiotics, while simultaneously providing niches and dissemination routes for microbial pathogens.

'These can include the high number of wounded, the nature of wounds, refugee displacement, the collapse of sanitation controls, loss of diagnostics and skilled healthcare personnel, the dismantlement of healthcare infrastructures and the placement of often under-resourced and improvised field hospitals where both injured combatants and civilians are exposed to harmful pathogens with limited care and resources to properly recover.'

Though war environments have been linked with the emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) since the 1940s, the research team say the risk posed by Iraq has so far received little attention.

They say it needs to be studied further in order to prevent millions of unnecessary deaths.

Dr Fayad added: 'Taken together, a destroyed healthcare infrastructure, inappropriate microbial therapies, limited resources, high heavy metal contamination in humans and the environment, and a lack of [clean water, sanitation and hygiene], combined, likely play instrumental roles in the catastrophic rise of AMR in Iraq and, by extension, regionally and globally.

'Understanding these linkages between AMR and conflict, especially across time, is essential for a global response to AMR, especially as there is little indication that conflict, worldwide, will abate in years to come.'
Nine people have been killed in Equatorial Guinea by one of the world's deadliest diseases.

Marburg virus has a mortality rate of up to 88 per cent  similar to its cousin Ebola.

It marks the first time the pathogen has ever been seen in the African nation, which is now scrambling to contain the outbreak.

Hundreds of people suspected to be infected with the virus, which currently has no cure, have already been quarantined.

Neighbouring countries Cameroon and Gabon have restricted movement along their borders over concerns about contagion.

International aid agencies have rushed to deploy teams on the ground in the country's Kie Ntem Province, to control the outbreak. Neighboring Cameroon and Gabon have also restricted movement along their borders over concerns about contagion

Marburg virus disease, which kills up to 88 per cent of people it strikes, is considered to be one of the most deadly pathogens in existence. Some 16 cases and nine deaths have been identified so far, all in the same region, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said yesterday

International aid agencies have deployed teams on the ground in Kie Ntem, where all 16 cases so far have been spotted.

Local officials initially raised the alarm last week after a mystery illness struck several people, causing Ebola-like symptoms.

Experts realised Marburg was to blame following preliminary tests.

The UN agency is convening an emergency meeting of the Marburg virus vaccine consortium later today to discuss the outbreak. No approved vaccine currently exists.

Q+A: What is MVD? What do we know about the outbreak? Health officials yesterday confirmed 16 cases and nine deaths have been identified so far, in the country's western Kie Ntem Province. What is the disease? Marburg virus disease (MVD) is a lethal virus that has a case fatality ratio that can be as high as 88 per cent. It was initially detected in 1967 after an outbreak in Marburg, Germany, among workers exposed to African green monkeys. Marburg and Ebola viruses are both members of the Filoviridae family. Though caused by different viruses, the two diseases are clinically similar. How does it spread? Initially, human MVD infection results from prolonged exposure to mines or caves inhabited by Rousettus bat colonies (fruit bats). People remain infectious as long as their blood contains the virus. Is it spreading? A team of 'health emergency experts' have been deployed by the WHO to help prevent the spread of infection further. At a press conference last week, health minister Mitoha Ondo'o Ayekaba said a 'containment plan has been put in place' after consulting with the WHO and United Nations, to help contain the spread of infection. Advertisement

Marburg is initially transmitted to people from fruit bats and spreads among humans through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected people, surfaces and materials.

Symptoms appear abruptly and include severe headaches, fever, diarrhoea, stomach pain and vomiting. They become increasingly severe.

In the early stages of MVD  the disease it causes  it is very difficult to distinguish from other tropical illnesses, such as Ebola, and malaria.

Infected patients become 'ghost-like', often developing deep-set eyes and expressionless faces.

This is usually accompanied by bleeding from multiple orifices  including the nose, gums, eyes and vagina.

The first outbreak was seen in 1967 in Germany and Serbia.

Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO regional director for Africa, said: 'Marburg is highly infectious.

'Thanks to the rapid and decisive action by the Equatorial Guinean authorities in confirming the disease, emergency response can get to full steam quickly so that we save lives and halt the virus as soon as possible.'

MVD is normally associated with outbreaks in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda.

The WHO has deployed experts to support the affected districts in testing and contact tracing and providing medical care to those with symptoms of the disease.

Further 'health emergency experts' in epidemiology, case management, infection prevention, laboratory and risk communication are also being deployed, the WHO confirmed yesterday.

There are no vaccines or antiviral treatments approved to treat MVD.

But health experts advise supportive care, rehydration with oral or intravenous fluids, and treatment of specific symptoms, improves survival.

A range of potential treatments, including blood products, immune therapies and drug therapies are currently being evaluated, according to the WHO.
Bird flu could mutate to become even more harmful to humans due to the ongoing unprecedented outbreak, experts fear.

Cases of the killer H5N1 strain, which are at record levels, have already jumped from birds to foxes, otters and mink.

It has sparked huge concern among top virologists that the deadly pathogen is now one step closer to spreading in humans  a hurdle which has so far stopped it from triggering a pandemic.

The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) has now warned mammals could act as 'mixing vessels' for different influenza viruses, potentially unleashing a new variant that could be 'more harmful' to humans.

The H5N1 strain already has a fatality rate of around 50 per cent among people.

The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) now warned mammals could act as 'mixing vessels' for different influenza viruses, potentially unleashing a new variant that could be 'more harmful' to humans. Pictured: Map shows UK bird flu outbreaks

Cases of the killer H5N1 strain, which are at record levels, have already jumped from birds to foxes, otters and mink

Yet fewer than 900 cases among humans have been detected since the first in 1997 because it does not transmit easily between people.

For comparison, Covid's death rate when it sprung onto the scene was 3 per cent, while Ebola has ranged from 25 to 90 per cent in past outbreaks.

An 'unprecedented' number of avian flu cases have been reported across the world since October 2021.

READ MORE Bird flu warning as top experts say world is 'nowhere near' ready for 'frightening' and inevitable pandemic During a virtual briefing hosted by the Science Media Centre, leading experts raised concerns that the global response required to tackle the scale of the issue may not be ready Advertisement

It has reached new regions and had 'devastating impacts' on both animal health and welfare, the WOAH said yesterday.

The outbreak risks global food security and the livelihoods of those who depend on poultry farming, as well as causing an 'alarming rate' of deaths among wild birds and some mammals, it said.

The UK has logged a record number of bird flu cases in this outbreak, which is unusual because it didn't die out over the summer months like usual.

Nearly 300 confirmed cases of H5N1 have been detected among birds in England in the current outbreak.

There has also been cases among foxes and otters, which are believed to have become infected after eating dead birds who had avian flu.

But there is also concern that the virus may be spreading between the mammals, which would indicate it had picked up a troublesome mutation that could, in theory, make it easier for humans to become infected.

Further testing is still required to determine if mammals are transmitting the virus, however.

The WOAH said: 'This sparks growing concern about the threat for the health of domestic and wild animals, biodiversity, and potentially for public health.

'The current situation highlights the risk that H5N1 avian influenza may become better adapted to mammals, and spill over to humans and other animals.

'In addition, some mammals, such as mink, may act as mixing vessels for different influenza viruses, leading to the emergence of new strains and subtypes that could be more harmful to animals and/or humans.'

According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the bird flu death rate is believed to already be around 50 per cent globally.

It warned that recent cases among farmed mink are a concern because a spike in infections among mammals in close proximity to each other 'exacerbates' the risk of H5N1 becoming better adapted to mammals and people.

The WOAH noted that studies are ongoing into how the virus is spreading between mammals.

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (Apha) found avian flu in nine foxes and otters in the UK who are believed to have fed on dead birds infected with the virus. Pictured: A National Trust ranger clears deceased birds from Staple Island, off the coast of Northumberland, in July 2022

Alan Gosling (pictured), a retired engineer in Devon, caught the virus after his ducks, some of which lived inside his home, became infected. No one else caught the virus

Bird flu outbreak: Everything you need to know What is it? Avian flu is an infectious type of influenza that spreads among birds. In rare cases, it can be transmitted to humans through close contact with a dead or alive infected bird. This includes touching infected birds, their droppings or bedding. People can also catch bird flu if they kill or prepare infected poultry for eating. Wild birds are carriers, especially through migration. As they cluster together to breed, the virus spreads rapidly and is then carried to other parts of the globe. New strains tend to appear first in Asia, from where more than 60 species of shore birds, waders and waterfowl head off to Alaska to breed and mix with migratory birds from the US. Others go west and infect European species. What strain is currently spreading? H5N1. So far the new virus has been detected in some 80million birds and poultry globally since September 2021  double the previous record the year before. Not only is the virus spreading at speed, it is also killing at an unprecedented level, leading some experts to say this is the deadliest variant so far. Millions of chickens and turkeys in the UK have been culled or put into lockdown, affecting the availability of Christmas turkey and free-range eggs. Can it infect people? Yes, but only 860 human cases have been reported to the World Health Organization since 2003. The risk to people has been deemed 'low'. But people are strongly urged not to touch sick or dead birds because the virus is lethal, killing 56 per cent of people it does manage to infect. Advertisement

It urged nations to maintain an enhanced disease surveillance among domestic and wild birds, prevent the spread of the disease by strict biosecurity rules on farms and protect humans in close contact with wild birds.

The ramped up warnings come after the H5N1 virus was discovered to be spreading among otters and foxes in the UK.

And the Scottish Marine Animal Strandings Scheme (SMASS) today confirmed that four dead seals  one in each of Aberdeenshire, the Highlands, Fife and Orkney  have tested positive for bird flu.

These revelations follow confirmation of a 'worrisome' outbreak among mink at a farm in Spain in October.

Hundreds of sea lions have also died of bird flu in Peru in recent weeks, authorities say.

Migratory birds are thought to have transmitted the disease, with mammals feasting on infected carcasses.

Meanwhile, a senior Government adviser last week claimed the situation 'is transforming quite fast on a global scale'.

Professor Ian Brown, director of scientific services at The Animal and Plant Health Agency (Apha), also questioned whether health bodies have 'learnt all the lessons from Covid' and if the necessary surveillance structures are in place.

He warned that the 'expansion of the virus's ability to infect other hosts populations' is of most concern.

Professor Brown added: 'That takes the virus into places and niches and eco systems that its not been in before. That increases exposure to other populations.'

World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus last week told a virtual briefing this week that 'we must prepare' for a potential bird flu pandemic.

He said: 'For the moment, the WHO assesses the risk to humans as low.

'But we can't assume that will remain the case and we must prepare for any change in the status quo.'

For decades, scientists have warned that bird flu is the most likely contender for triggering the next pandemic.

Experts say this is because of the threat of recombination  with high levels of human flu strains raising the risk of a human becoming co-infected with avian flu as well.

This could see a deadly strain of bird flu merge with a transmissible seasonal flu.

There has only been one case of a British person becoming infected with H5N1 since the ongoing outbreak took off in October 2021.

Alan Gosling, a retired engineer in Devon, caught the virus in early 2022 after his ducks, some of which lived inside his home, became infected. No one else is known to have caught the virus.
Residents of a picturesque Cornish town have resorted to writing a song and filming a music video in a bid to attract a GP.

People in Lostwithiel said their approach is an 'innovative, yet increasingly desperate' attempt to replace a GP who is retiring in just two weeks.

No doctors responded to Lostwithiel Medical Practice's adverts, forcing the locals to take the recruitment matters 'into their own hands  and voices'.

The song, set to the tune of Nina Simone's 'Aint Got No, I Got Life' and performed by the local choir, pleads for a medic to treat 'folks with asthma', 'young new mothers' and 'snot-filled others'.

The 90-second clip shows the town  just 20 miles from Port Isaac, where ITV series Doc Martin is filmed  along with its school and businesses.

Locals hope it will reach doctors across the UK and 'touch on the hearts of those professionals' who are ready for 'the joys of a life in Cornwall'.

People in Lostwithiel, Cornwall, said song and video is an 'innovative, yet increasingly desperate' attempt to replace a GP who is retiring in just two weeks

They have taken Lostwithiel Medical Practice recruitment matters 'into their own hands  and voices' after no doctors responded to adverts to treat it 5,000-strong community

The 90-second clip shows Lostwithiel (pictured on map)  located just 20 miles from Port Isaac, where ITV series Doc Martin is filmed

The 'Lostwithiel Needs a Doctor' crusade was initiated by Dr Justin Hendriksz, the current remaining practice partner, who asked Really Lovely Projects, a local arts-led creative company, for help.

He felt a more creative approach was needed to find newly trained or existing GPs to care for the community of 5,000-plus.

READ MORE: 'It's like a stretched elastic band ready to snap': Shock figures reveal 'it is almost impossible to see your GP when you need to' A growing population and shrinking workforce mean the staffing crisis has worsened in all but one of the 106 health districts in England Advertisement

The company created a campaign to 'sing out to those with a vocation for General Practice'.

The video, created in less than two weeks, includes people from the church to the butchers, all singing and dancing.

The song goes: 'We've got a river and a beach, we hold events amongst the trees, we've a castle, mainline station and a spire, places to dine.

'It's a special place to live, if to us you want to give, you can negotiate your terms, if you keep us free of germs, drop us a line.'

Dr Hendriksz said: 'Despite the beauty of rural Cornwall and the lively, positive community of Lostwithiel, as a medical practice we have struggled to recruit new GPs through the usual route of adverts in all of the relevant medical publications.

'We're all very aware of the alarming number of GPs leaving the sector, so we know we're not the only practice to be finding it such a challenge to find the right incoming doctors.'

As of December, there were 36,622 GPs in England, equating to 27,375 full-time staff.

It means the number of patients per fully qualified GP has rocketed to its highest-ever level, with an average of 2,273 people scrambling for appointments with each family doctor  an increase of 15 per cent in five years.

The Royal College of GPs says many doctors are 'burning out' because of the pressure and retiring earlier than planned, with not enough new recruits entering the profession fast enough to replace them.

There has also been an increase in the number of GPs are moving to part-time hours, which the British Medical Association says is down to job stress, burnout and ill health.

But locals in Lostwithiel hope their campaign will see a GP join their practice, which was rated excellent in the Care Quality Commission's annual patient survey. It was also voted the best surgery in Cornwall and 24th in England.

An advert for the job states that the town is looking for a full or part-time GP. A salary is not given, as the practice says it can be negotiated.

But the average earnings at the practice last year, which included two full-time, one part-time and one locum doctor, was 56,500.

The video, which was created in less than two weeks, includes people from the church (pictured) to the butchers, all singing and dancing

The video, which was created in less than two weeks, includes people from the church to the butchers (pictured), all singing and dancing

The GP recruitment video filmed by the residents of LostwithielThe video, which was created in less than two weeks, includes people from the church to the butchers, all singing and dancing.

The GP recruitment video filmed by the residents of Lostwithiel

Dr Hendriksz added: 'We're very proud of our historical work and service to our local Lostwithiel community and we really need to find our medical successors to take on our mission of treating patients with the "right person, in the right place, at the right time".

'Of course I'm biased, but there really is nowhere better to be a GP, and myself and my outgoing team have always felt beyond valued and appreciated in this very special community.

'The whole community has got behind this idea and I sincerely hope the campaign pop song and video reaches the right people to come and find their ultimate job and home right here in Lostwithiel.'

Dr William Howe, who will be retiring from the practice the end of March, said Lostwithiel, where he has worked for more than 30 years, is a 'fantastic community'.

He said: 'The medical practice has a great team and whoever is able to fill the new position will be extremely lucky, despite the current shared challenges in the profession at large.'

The GP recruitment video filmed by the residents of Lostwithiel

The GP recruitment video filmed by the residents of Lostwithiel

Norman Pendray, a local farmer and brass band leader, who took part in the video, said: 'There are many reasons why Lostwithiel Medical Practice is the top one in Cornwall, not least because you can get same day appointments with sympathetic and skilled staff.

'We are extremely fortunate to have such great service and look forward to welcoming Dr Howe's replacement, and making them very much at home in our special Cornish community.'

Emma Mansfield, a spokesperson for Really Lovely Projects, said: 'Our local GP contacted us and said he'd been trying to recruit for a new doctor and said he was having no luck and felt he had to do something quite radical.

'Everywhere is finding it hard to find GPs at the moment, and we want an outstanding doctor who's going to really stay here for 20 years.

'We're a very close knit community and I think everyone realises that once one of our two GPs goes, the fabulous service we receive will be cut by 50 per cent.

'Being in Cornwall, we have a much higher aging population also.

'Everybody came out and took part. It's all locally made, a local musician did the backing track, the local choir sung it.'
The World Health Organization (WHO) convened an urgent meeting Tuesday amid an outbreak in Africa of one of the deadliest diseases known to man.

The leading health body brought experts from around the world together to discuss how to ramp up the development of vaccines and therapeutics for Marburg Virus.

There are growing fears that the world could be caught off guard by the currently untreatable infection that kills up to 88 percent of the people it infects.

The virus, considered a more dangerous cousin of Ebola, has killed nine people in Equatorial Guinea in the Central African nation's first outbreak. More than a dozen others are believed to be infected.

The highly-infectious pathogen - which causes some sufferers to bleed from their eyes - has been touted as the next big pandemic threat, with the WHO describing it as 'epidemic-prone'.

International aid agencies have rushed to deploy teams on the ground in the country's Kie Ntem Province, to control the outbreak. Neighboring Cameroon and Gabon have also restricted movement along their borders over concerns about contagion

Cases of Marburg are incredible rare around the world, with cases only occasionally popping up around Africa. In 2022, three cases and two deaths were reported over the entire year, with all occurring in Ghana. Angola suffered a massive 2005 outbreak which infected 252 and killed 227 - the largest ever recorded. Pictured: A WHO team carries the body of a Marburg victim in 2005

Only nine cases have been recorded over the past ten years, with seven resulting in death. Experts say getting enough data to test a vaccine is a challenge because of how rare cases are

Members of the Marburg virus vaccine consortium (MARVAC) said it could take months for effective vaccines and therapeutics to become available, as manufacturers would need to gather materials and perform trials.

They hope the virus - which spreads by prolonged physical contact - will be contained and controlled before it causes a larger outbreak.

But the outbreak in Equatorial Guinea comes just months after Ghana reported its first outbreak, which marked only the second time the disease had been detected in West Africa.

'Surveillance in the field has been intensified,' George Ameh, WHO's country representative in Equatorial Guinea, said during the meeting.

'Contact tracing, as you know, is a cornerstone of the response. We have... redeployed the COVID-19 teams that were there for contact tracing and quickly retrofitted them to really help us out.'

Equatorial Guinea and the WHO confirmed the countrys first outbreak on Monday.

The virus was found in samples taken from deceased patients suffering from symptoms including fever, fatigue and blood-stained vomit and diarrhea.

Marburg cases are rare but extremely deadly. African fruit bats are natural harborers of the virus but they do not appear to fall ill when infected.

When Marburg spills into primates, including humans, it's lethal.

Annual global human figures are usually in the low single digits, but the virus kills between a quarter and 88 percent of the people it infects, depending on the strain and the treatment provided.

There are no vaccines or treatments approved to treat the virus  though supportive care like rehydration and drugs to ease certain symptoms can improve survival chances.

The MARVAC team identified 28 experimental vaccine candidates that could be effective against the virus - most of which were developed to combat Ebola. Five were highlighted in particular as vaccines to be explored.

The shots were developed by non-profits such as the Sabin Vaccine Institute, the International Aids Vaccine Initiative, and Public Health Vaccines - along with pharma giants like Emergent Biosolutions and Janssen.

Trialing these vaccines may be impossible, though. Because viruses such as Marburg rarely result in high case figures, it may take multiple outbreaks for enough cases to properly analyze the virus's effectiveness.

Q+A: What is MVD? What do we know about the outbreak? Health officials yesterday confirmed 16 cases and nine deaths have been identified so far, in the country's western Kie Ntem Province. What is the disease? Marburg virus disease (MVD) is a lethal virus that has a case fatality ratio that can be as high as 88 percent. It was initially detected in 1967 after an outbreak in Marburg, Germany, among workers exposed to African green monkeys. Marburg and Ebola viruses are both members of the Filoviridae family. Though caused by different viruses, the two diseases are clinically similar. How does it spread? Initially, human MVD infection results from prolonged exposure to mines or caves inhabited by Rousettus bat colonies (fruit bats). People remain infectious as long as their blood contains the virus. Is it spreading? A team of 'health emergency experts' have been deployed by the WHO to help prevent the spread of infection further. At a press conference last week, health minister Mitoha Ondo'o Ayekaba said a 'containment plan has been put in place' after consulting with the WHO and United Nations, to help contain the spread of infection. Advertisement

The panel of experts said a trial should include at least 150 cases. For context, before this outbreak, there had been 30 cases recorded globally from 2007 to 2022.

This makes it unlikely a vaccine will be made available to combat this outbreak - and it could be years until a shot is determined to be effective against it.

The nine cases were detected in Equatorial Guinea's Kie Ntem province, in its northeastern corner.

Cameroon and Gabon, which border the province, have restricted travel across the border amid the outbreak.

Local officials initially raised the alarm last week after a mystery illness struck several people, causing Ebola-like symptoms.

Experts realized Marburg was to blame following preliminary tests.

Marburg is initially transmitted to people from fruit bats and spreads among humans through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected people, surfaces and materials.

Symptoms appear abruptly and include severe headaches, fever, diarrhea, stomach pain and vomiting. They become increasingly severe.

In the early stages of MVD  the disease it causes  it is very difficult to distinguish from other tropical illnesses, such as Ebola and malaria.

Infected patients become 'ghost-like', often developing deep-set eyes and expressionless faces.

This is usually accompanied by bleeding from multiple orifices  including the nose, gums, eyes and vagina.

The first outbreak was seen in 1967 in Germany and Serbia.

Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO regional director for Africa, said: 'Marburg is highly infectious.

'Thanks to the rapid and decisive action by the Equatorial Guinean authorities in confirming the disease, emergency response can get to full steam quickly so that we save lives and halt the virus as soon as possible.'

MVD is normally associated with outbreaks in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda.

The WHO has deployed experts to support the affected districts in testing and contact tracing and providing medical care to those with symptoms of the disease.

Further 'health emergency experts' in epidemiology, case management, infection prevention, laboratory and risk communication are also being deployed, the WHO confirmed yesterday.
Only five NHS trusts hit the 93% 2-week diagnosis target every month last year

Half of NHS hospital trusts missed a crucial two-week cancer diagnosis target every month last year, new figures reveal.

The health service says 93 per cent of patients should have an appointment with a specialist within a fortnight of an urgent GP referral.

But analysis of official data by the House of Commons library shows this was missed by 63 out of 132 trusts in England (48 per cent) every month in 2022.

Only five NHS trusts, making up less than 4 per cent of the total, met the target in every month of last year.

MailOnline app users can use the tool by clicking here

Experts warn delays can slash survival and recovery chances as the earlier the disease is diagnosed the easier it is to treat.

At the worst performing trusts in December 2022, fewer than half of patients were seen on time, the study commissioned by the Liberal Democrats reveals.

The worst was University Hospital Bristol and Weston where just 42 per cent of patients were seen within two weeks.

This was followed by Whittington Health (45 per cent), Liverpool University Hospitals (48 per cent), and North West Anglia (49 per cent).

Daisy Cooper, the Liberal Democrat health spokesperson, said: It is a national scandal that crucial targets are being routinely missed, leaving many people waiting anxiously for a cancer diagnosis.

It shows there are shocking gaps in cancer care depending on where you live in the country.

The evidence tells us how critical a speedy diagnosis can be.

The Government must get a grip on this crisis so cancer patients get the urgent care they need to give them the best chance of survival.

That must start with a proper plan to recruit the NHS staff the health service so desperately needs.

The analysis rounded some figures and excluded months for some trusts where they had not provided complete data.

NHS cancer data for December shows that just six in 10 patients started treatment within two months from an urgent GP cancer referral (red line), leaving 5381 (blue line) waiting more than 62 days for cancer care

'It's like a stretched elastic band ready to snap': Shock figures reveal 'it is almost impossible to see your GP when you need to' as 2,273 patients now scramble for appointments with EACH family doctor in England A growing population and shrinking workforce mean the staffing crisis has worsened in all but one of the 106 health districts in England Advertisement

The findings come a month after the Government scrapped its long-term plan dedicated to cancer, prompting Macmillan to accuse ministers of leaving lives hanging in the balance.

Separate figures show 2022 had the worst waiting times ever for cancer, with more than 50,000 people a month waiting more than two weeks to see a specialist following an urgent GP referral  more than ten times as many as a decade ago.

While record numbers started treatment, those missing out on timely care is increasing at a far faster rate, cancer charities have warned.

Delays to treatment saw some 25,000 people in England with a confirmed diagnosis facing waits of more than a month last year, five times as many as in 2012.

Ian Walker, director of policy, information and communications at Cancer Research UK, said: Cancer patients, their families and loved ones are waiting too long for diagnosis and treatment, and sadly its been this way for years.

With growing numbers of people in the UK expected to be diagnosed with cancer in the years ahead, the task ahead is huge.

Thats why Cancer Research UK has come together with over 60 cancer charities calling on the UK Government to commit to an ambitious, long-term and fully funded strategy for cancer in England.

In just a week, our petition has reached over 63,000 signatures.

The message from #OneCancerVoice is loud and clear: we need to see investment in world-class cancer research, diagnosis, treatment, and care for all.

A Department for Health and Social Care spokesperson said: The latest NHS data shows a higher percentage of people with suspected cancer were seen within the 2 week wait standard in December compared to November.

We are determined to reduce the time between cancer referral and consultation and have opened 92 community diagnostic centres that have delivered over 3million tests scans and checks, including to detect cancer as early as possible.
House GOP members are making good on their pledge to probe current and former Biden administration officials over the disputed origins of the Covid pandemic.

Republicans Brad Wenstrup of Ohio and James Comer of Kentucky have redoubled efforts to get answers from current and former government officials, including Dr Anthony Fauci, about the contested lab leak theory.

They take aim at Dr Fauci, who they argue silenced scientists with dissenting opinions about the pandemic's origins and covered up the dispersement of taxpayer dollars to fund risky research on coronaviruses.

The Republicans promised even before taking the House in the fall that upon regaining control they would launch comprehensive investigations into Dr Fauci and links between the National Institutes of Health and the Chinese lab feared to have set Covid-19 free.

Dr Fauci previously headed up the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, an agency without the National Institutes of Health that funnels government funding into research projects such as those at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Reps Wenstrup and Comer, who are now in leadership positions on the relevant congressional committees, sent a flurry of letters on Monday demanding that Dr Fauci, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, EcoHealth Alliance President Peter Daszak, and others for documents and formal testimony on the subject.

Republican House members Comer and Wenstrup have revamped the party's investigation into the origins of the Covid pandemic

Now that the GOP runs the lower chamber, GOP members head up all legislative committees where they have the power to subpoena witnesses to give on-the-record testimony before Congress. Republicans can also create new committees to investigate Democrats.

The Republicans efforts to get answers come just a few weeks after a scathing indictment from the the US Office of Inspector General which found the NIH failed to properly review whether virus experiments in Wuhan involved dangerous pathogens with pandemic potential.

Rep Wenstrup, who chairs the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, said: The American people deserve real answers after years of suffering through the Coronavirus pandemic and related government policies.

'This investigation must begin with where and how this virus came about so that we can attempt to predict, prepare or prevent it from happening again.

Government scientists and government-funded researchers have so far been less-than-forthcoming in their knowledge and actions, including work with the Wuhan Institute of Virology and potential pandemic pathogens. We cant accept more years of stonewalling.

In addition to sending letters to Dr Fauci, Peter Daszak, and Secretary Becerra, the congressmen also mounted pressure on Dr Francis Collins, the current acting science advisor to the president and former head of the NIH.

The letters were follow-ups to December requests to those officials to provide members with a range of documents as well as on-the-record testimonies pertinent to the question of Covids origins.

One of their requests, for example, is for all official phone records from November 2019 to the present of Drs Fauci and Collins, several NIH officials, and the senior science advisor at HHS.

The congressmen have also pressed them for the records of all communications among NIH, NIAID, and/or HHS officials, as well as EcoHealth Alliance employees regarding a $4 million grant to the organization to study bat-derived coronaviruses.

The spate of letters represents just the latest effort by Republicans to prod Dr Fauci about the pandemics origins.

Dr Fauci has become enemy no. 1 among many Republicans, notably Kentucky Sen Rand Paul, for denying claims that the US funded gain-of-function research.

Despite the denials, the NIH finally admitted in fall 2021 that it did in fact disperse grant money to finance gain of function experiments on bat coronaviruses in Wuhan.

British researcher Dr Peter Daszak's (left) role in facilitating risky coronavirus research in China with funding from Dr Fauci (right) and the NIH have been detailed in a report

Rep Comer said: Dr Fauci was alerted early on that COVID-19 had markings of a manipulated virus yet may have chosen to cover it up instead of blowing the whistle.

'We will continue to follow the facts to determine what could have been done differently to better protect Americans from this virus and hold U.S. government officials that took part in any sort of cover up accountable.

EcoHealth Alliance has also been a thorn in the sides of Republicans who maintain that the organization funded risky gain of function research at the Wuhan Institute of Technology, which further raises the question of whether the pandemic-causing virus spilled out of the lab.

The WIV is now famous for conducting gain-of-function research, which often involves engineering pathogens to be more deadly or infectious in order to better understand how mutations can change their biological functions to become more transmissible and virulent.

Rep Comer said: Evidence continues to mount pointing to the virus leaking from an unsecure lab in Wuhan. We know EcoHealth Alliance acted as a middleman, improperly funneling thousands of taxpayer dollars to the Wuhan lab to conduct risky gain-of-function research on bat coronaviruses which could have started the pandemic.

Republicans also maintain that Drs Fauci and Collins orchestrated a coverup of evidence bolstering the lab leak theory, which has largely been discounted as a xenophobic fringe theory by the mainstream scientific community.

But several reports have come out in the past couple of years showing support for the notion that Covid did not jump from animal reservoirs to people but in fact was, more likely than not, the result of a research-related incident.'

That October 2022 report compiled by GOP senators added: 'The hypothesis of a natural zoonotic origin no longer deserves the benefit of the doubt, or the presumption of accuracy.'
Hunter Boot, which holds two royal warrants, has recruited advisers from AlixPartners to sound out potential acquirers

A wellie-maker loved by celebrities such as Kate Moss is looking for a buyer. Hunter Boot, which holds two royal warrants, has recruited advisers from AlixPartners to sound out potential acquirers amid a post-Covid boom.

Founded in 1856 as the North British Rubber Company, the heritage footwear brands waterproof boots have been worn by Royals such as the late Princess Diana.

The boots  which sell for 125 have also been worn by celebrities such as Rita Ora, Alexa Chung, Daisy Lowe and Cara Delevingne.

Demand for the brands boots have surged due to the return of music festivals this summer after the easing of pandemic restrictions.

And the boots have become must-haves for festival goers after supermodel Moss wore them to Glastonbury in 2005.

Hunter is also expected to reap the rewards of Covid-19 restrictions in China being scrapped, with demand for high-end apparel from shoppers in this market set to rebound.

Sales tanked amid the pandemic when shoppers were home-bound, causing the upmarket retailer to require a 18.5m lifeline from its investors. Since 2020, the business has been controlled by Goldman Sachs-backed investment vehicle Pall Mall Legacy.

Edinburgh-based Hunter Boot is also nearing the completion of a 7million cash injection, in addition to separate discussions about an outright sale.

Alongside majority shareholder Pall Mall Legacy, other investors include Searchlight Capital Partners, a New York-based private equity firm, and Pentland Group, the owner of sportswear brands like Speedo and Berghaus.

As the North British Rubber Company  founded in Scotland by Americans Henry Lee Norris and Spencer Thomas Parmelee  the company supplied rubber boots to the Army during the First and Second World Wars, after it was the first firm to manufacture the product in the UK.

Its most recent set of accounts revealed that the company posted a loss of 5.1million on sales of 108million in the year to January 2022.

It has physical stores in Bicester Village in Oxfordshire and Woodbury in New York. The business also opened a store in Londons Regent Street in 2014.

Although known for selling its range of Wellington boots, it has more recently launched a wider range of accessories and clothing, such as bags and puffer jackets.
Liberty Global took a stake of almost 5pc in Vodafone as it pins its hopes on the share price bounce-back through acquisitions and cost-cutting plans.

The US-based telecoms giant said it bought 1.3bn shares, representing a 4.92 per cent stake worth 1.2billion in the company, but confirmed it would not seek a board seat or make an offer for Vodafone.

Mike Fries, Liberty chief executive, said: The stocks cheap  its an opportunistic and financial investment.

Vodafone said it bought 1.3bn shares, representing a 4.92% stake worth 1.2bn in the company, but confirmed it would not seek a board seat or make an offer for Vodafone

Fries added that Vodafone had some interesting catalysts for potential value creation, including a proposed merger with rival Three UK  owned by CK Hutchison  for which talks are continuing.

We only have one market with four mobile players  everyone else has consolidated to three  Ireland, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland.

The UK is an anomaly, he said. The deal was financed mostly through derivatives, Liberty said, and required 225million in equity funding from the Denver-based group.

Vodafone shares jumped 2.1 per cent following the news, countering its steady decline on the FTSE 100.

The Berkshire-based firm has lost more than half its value in the past five years as it struggles to perform in its largest markets and continues to fall short against competitors.

A number of major telecom players have built up stakes in Vodafone in recent years, including French billionaire Xavier Niel, who bought a 2.5 per cent stake in September, and United Arab Emirates telecommunications giant e&, which has a 13pc stake.

Karen Egan, head of mobile at Enders Analysis, said the latest move from Liberty was opportunistic.

A 5 per cent stake will give them a voice and Liberty will be keen on deal-making  something that Vodafone has been accused of being too reluctant to do.

Liberty Global owns Virgin Media O2 in partnership with Spanish giant Telefonica.

It has also invested in 75 companies across telecoms, media and infrastructure.

Paolo Pescatore, telecoms analyst at analysts PP Foresight, called Liberty boss Fries a shrewd operator who could cash in on the frenzy surrounding Vodafone.

Another element at play is the firms ongoing leadership race to replace the ousted Nick Read, who departed the firm in December.

Chief financial officer Margherita Della Valle, who stepped up to the top spot on a temporary basis, has refused to rule herself out as a permanent fixture.

It is rumoured that former EE chief Olaf Swantee is frontrunner.

Vodafone declined to comment on Libertys stake.
When charity worker Nigel Hughes used his pension to pay off longstanding debts in 2015, he thought hed stumbled onto a shrewd financial move.

Nigel, from Cheshire, had just turned 55, but was struggling financially and feared losing his job, leaving him unable to pay the interest on his loans.

But new rules introduced that year meant the over-55s could now access their entire pensions in full to use as they pleased.

Allowance: Most people can save 40,000 a year into their pension without paying tax on their contributions. They can then take out up to 25% of their pension tax-free from age 55

For Nigel, it was a lifeline and he cashed out a third of his pension  36,000  to clear his debts, with a view to replenishing the pot later.

What he didnt realise was that the decision would irreversibly damage his ability to save for retirement and potentially cost him thousands of pounds.

By withdrawing such a large chunk of cash, he had unwittingly triggered a little-known tax penalty that would reduce the amount he could put back into the pension.

Normally, the amount savers can put into a pension tax-free is capped at 40,000 a year. But once youve tapped into your pension this plunges to just 4,000 a year.

The main exception to this is when you take out only the first 25 per cent of your pot as your tax-free lump sum.

So when Nigel tried to start rebuilding his pension pot three years later, he was horrified to learn that hed had fallen foul of the rule.

How to defend your pension from the taxman Eight tips from money experts on keeping your retirement fund out of HMRC's clutches.

The 63-year-old now misses out on up to 4,500 every year in employer pension contributions he could receive if it werent for the so-called money purchase annual allowance (MPAA) tax rule.

If he breaks the rule, he faces a huge tax penalty. He has already forgone at least 18,000 in potential pension contributions from his employer.

Nigel says: It just seems so unfair, Im being penalised for trying not to be a burden on anyone and getting my finances back on track. I had no idea about this tax trap.

Nigel is one of about 353,500 older workers saving into modern workplace pensions who could fall foul of this deeply unfair tax chokehold, Money Mail can reveal.

One in four over-55s contributed more than 4,000 to their pension pots in 2020-21, according to new Government estimates, meaning they would be liable for a tax charge if they had dipped into their pension.

The new figures were revealed in a letter from economic secretary to the Treasury Andrew Griffith to broker AJ Bell, seen by Money Mail.

Retirement fund: In modern workplace pensions, your employer must pay in at least 3% of your salary

This far exceeds previous estimates from the Government, which claimed that only 3 per cent of older workers  equivalent to 42,400  paid 4,000 into their pensions.

Pension providers are under no obligation to warn savers of the danger when they put in a request to draw cash out.

About 1,200 people dipped into their pension for the first time every day in the first half of 2022, according to research from retirement provider Just Group. However, there are fears that many more could trigger the tax trap this year.

The number of people accessing their pensions for the first time jumped by almost a fifth last year compared with 2021, with 705,666 taking out money for the first time to make ends meet as living costs soared, according to data from the City watchdog.

Someone contributing 14 per cent a year to their retirement pot would need to earn only 30,000  less than the UKs average salary  to max out their lower 4,000 tax-free allowance.

Even by the most conservative estimates, a worker would need to earn 50,000 a year and pay in just 8 per cent the minimum amount workers can contribute  to breach the current restriction.

Many older workers are in far more generous pension arrangements than this.

Tom Selby, head of retirement policy at broker A J Bell, says: The current allowance is deeply unfair and ridiculously punitive.

Keeping it as it is risks creating a situation where those who have used their pension pot to cover unexpected costs during the current crisis are hamstrung when trying to rebuild their pots in the future.

The Government is under pressure to raise the allowance as part of its bid to get more people over 50 to return to work.

Last month, the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt launched a campaign to encourage retirees back into work to increase economic activity, telling them: Britain needs you.

But many who do will be caught in the net of this tax.

Baroness Ros Altmann, a former pensions minister, says the current allowance is a disincentive to keep working for some of the most experienced and valuable staff.

The rules are complicated and many people may end up paying tax without realising they are liable, she adds.

l.purkess@dailymail.co.uk
Ukrainian soldiers check the situation by using a drone in Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Feb. 12. AP-Yonhap



The eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut was facing heavy artillery fire as the NATO chief backed reports from local officials that a major new Russian offensive had begun, days before the first anniversary of Moscow's invasion.



Ukrainian defenders, who have already held out for months, were defending new ground attacks under heavy shelling, Ukrainian military officials said.



Over the past day, Ukrainian forces repelled Russian attacks in one settlement of the Kharkiv region, around five settlements in Luhansk region and six settlements in Donetsk region, including in the Bakhmut area, the general staff of Ukraine's armed forces said on Tuesday.



Positions in Bakhmut have been fortified and only people with a military role were being allowed in, while any civilians who still wanted to leave the city would have to brave the incoming fire, a deputy battalion commander said on Monday.



"There is not a single square meter in Bakhmut that is safe or that is not in range of enemy fire or drones," Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the Donetsk region, told the Ukrainian national broadcaster late on Monday.



Bakhmut is a prime objective for Russian President Vladimir Putin, and its capture would give Russia a new foothold in the Donetsk region and a rare victory after months of setbacks.



The Donetsk and Luhansk regions make up the Donbas, Ukraine's industrial heartland, now partially occupied by Russia which wants full control.



"We see how they are sending more troops, more weapons, more capabilities," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels, saying it was the start of a new offensive.



The Russian assault on Bakhmut has been spearheaded by mercenaries of the Wagner group, who have made small but steady gains. The renewed Russian bombardments made the situation there even more acute.



The Russian defense ministry said its troops had pushed forward a few kilometers along the frontlines, without specifying where.



"Thank you to every one of our soldiers who are preventing the occupiers from encircling Bakhmut... and who are holding our key positions at the front," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his evening address.



Reuters was not able to independently verify the battlefield reports.





Ukrainian servicemen are seen on a road outside the frontline town of Bakhmut, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine, Feb. 13. Reuters-Yonhap



NATO to discuss further aid



The United Nations' human rights office said on Monday it had recorded 7,199 civilian deaths and 11,756 wounded since Russia's Feb. 24 invasion, mostly from shelling and missile and air strikes. However, it believed the actual figure was far higher.



Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, in what it calls a "special military operation" to "denazify" the country and protect Russian speakers. Western leaders say it was nothing more than a land grab.



Moldova's president accused Russia on Monday of planning to use foreign saboteurs to bring down her leadership and use it in the war against Ukraine.



Zelenskiy said last week his country had uncovered a Russian intelligence plan "for the destruction of Moldova." Days later the government of the country, bordering Ukraine and Romania, resigned.



Russia denied last year wanting to intervene in Moldova after authorities in Transdniestria, a breakaway region that has survived for three decades with support from Moscow, said they had been targeted by a series of attacks.



White House national security spokesperson John Kirby on Monday said reports of the plot had not been independently confirmed but were "deeply concerning" and "certainly not outside the bounds of Russian behaviour."



With Ukraine desperate for more weapons, defense ministers from several NATO countries allied to Kyiv will meet in Germany on Tuesday to discuss possible further military aid.



On the eve of the meeting, Ukraine's top general and the most senior U.S. Army commander in Europe discussed military aid and training in a telephone conversation. Ukraine says it needs fighter jets and long-range missiles.



Stoltenberg said he expected the issue of aircraft to be discussed, but that Ukraine needed support on the ground now.



A NATO source said it would increase targets for the stockpiling of ammunition as Kyiv was burning through shells much faster than Western countries can produce.



Western capitals will lay out additional pledges of ammunition and air defense equipment for Ukraine on Tuesday, officials told the FT.



Training of Ukrainian forces on the Leopard 2 and other modern battle tanks that are to boost the country's defense is underway in several European countries, including Poland, Britain and Germany. (Reuters)




Long waits: It can take hours to get through to the Future Pension Centre, say our readers

UPDATE: The Government has caved in to pressure and extended a crunch deadline to buy extra state pension top-ups after frustrated savers jammed its phone lines for weeks.

People trying to boost their retirement payments will now get until 31 July to do so at current rates of up to 824 for each year, and less for a part-year gap.

Frustrated savers complain Department for Work and Pensions phone lines are jammed ahead of a crunch deadline to buy state pension top ups, prompting calls for it to be extended.

This is Money readers tell us they either can't get through at all, or if they do staff cannot give them crucial information on whether it is worth paying voluntary National Insurance contributions.

Doing this can give a generous boost to retirement income if you buy or fill up the correct years, and right now the usual six year deadline is extended back to 2006/07 - a deal that expires on 5 April.

But it can be hard to work out which years if any will benefit you individually, and the Government itself and other money experts warn you should check with the Future Pensions Centre before handing over your cash.

This information line is run by the DWP, but the top-up payments of up to 824 for each year - less for a part-year gap - must be made to HMRC.

Readers contacting This is Money complain:

- It takes hours to get through to the Future Pension Centre, or sometimes no one answers, or at the phone menu stage the line goes dead

Given the impending deadline, it is vital that DWP either boosts the capacity of its helplines as a matter of urgency or extends the April deadline Steve Webb, former Pensions Minister

- When you do get through DWP staff give conflicting advice

- Staff say they cannot send out a 'statement of eligibility' for top-ups for two months, potentially missing the April deadline

- They promise to send out details which never arrive - one reader says they have been repeatedly trying to obtain the necessary information on paying a lump sum since April last year

- When HMRC - which processes top-ups payments - was contacted by one reader, they were told there were tens of thousands of people's top-ups questions yet to be answered.

>>>Want to top up your state pension? Find out Steve Webb's golden rules below

When we put these claims to the DWP and HMRC, a Government spokesperson responded: 'Voluntary contributions do not always increase your state pension. Customers should make sure they would benefit before making any payments.

'The quickest and easiest way for customers to see information about their state pension and National Insurance record is online.

'If customers need to contact us, both HMRC and DWP will ensure calls are answered as quickly as possible.'

Will buying top-ups boost YOUR state pension, and what does it cost? Buying top-ups to boost your state pension can be highly cost-effective. A year of voluntary 'Class 3' National Insurance contributions typically costs 824.20, and if you are filling in gaps in a year where you already paid some NI contributions it will be less. 'In many cases this will boost state pension entitlement by 1/35th of the standard rate, or around 275 per year,' says Steve Webb. 'This means that someone who tops up by one year will get their money back within four years of drawing their pension, even allowing for basic rate tax.' Webb says someone who draws a state pension for 20 years will get back 4,400 (net of basic rate tax) for an initial outlay of 824.20.

Former Pensions Minister Steve Webb said: 'Even the DWP admits that paying extra contributions will not always boost your pension and encourage people to check before paying.

'But if people cannot get through to the DWP's helplines to check, what are they meant to do? Given the impending deadline, it is vital that DWP either boosts the capacity of its helplines as a matter of urgency or extends the April deadline.

'For some people, getting their National Insurance record sorted out before 6 April could make a huge difference to their standard of living in retirement.'

Webb, now This is Money's pensions columnist and a partner at LCP, says: 'In some cases, missing the deadline will mean missing out on the chance to pay an extra 10 years into the system. This could reduce someone's final pension by up to 2,750 per year.

'This is why it is so important that people can get clear answers to questions about their own individual situation and can find out if it is worth topping up and how to do so.'

Jon Orchard, a chartered financial planner at financial firm Old Mill, says it is vitally important people talk to the DWP's Future Pension Centre to confirm they are buying the right extra years before paying for them.

He says: 'It is a complex area and very much depends on individual circumstances, and not everyone with 'gaps' will actually need to top up.'

And he adds: 'You have to keep trying. Don't leave it too late. There is no magic wand - keep trying to get through.

'If we are hearing people are struggling to get through and it's catching people by surprise, I think the Government should look at extending the deadline because it can have such a fundamental difference to people's retirement. Thousands or tens of thousands of pounds difference over someone's lifetime.'

You can get a refund if you mistakenly buy top-ups that turn out to be worthless, but it might take a while and is best avoided.

Want to top up your state pension, but baffled over which years to buy?

This is Money columnist Steve Webb runs a website to help people through the state pension top-ups process here. Government information on buying top-ups is here.

Webb says the Government's 'check your state pension' website provides useful information, but crucially does not help people to decide which years, if any, they should top up.

His top-ups site, hosted by his firm LCP, helps to plug that gap for those who come under the 'new' state pension system launched in April 2016 - men born on or after 6 April 1951, and women born on or after 6 April 1953.

Jon Orchard: It is vitally important people talk to the DWP's Future Pension Centre to confirm they are buying the right extra years before paying for them

Any personal information inputted to the site is not retained by LCP

Users are warned they should always check with the Department for Work and Pensions that topping up the years identified will definitely boost their state pension before paying any money.

Webb says there are two groups for whom top-ups may be of particular interest. First, public servants who retired early and were members of a contracted out occupational pension scheme which reduced their state pension below the maximum amount.

And second, self-employed people who might have gaps in their NI record and be able to go back to any year since 2006/07 to top it up.

Orchard says: 'Each year you buy currently provides an extra 275 per year state pension, so if you survive say three years past state pension age, you would have received 825 back (before tax).

'Therefore, the cost equals the payback once you get to three years past pension age, and the longer you live, the more significant the boost will be.'

Steve Webb's golden rules for buying state pension top-ups

1. Make sure you are getting any credits you are entitled to before paying voluntary NI for a particular year.

For example, grandparents under pension age may be able to get credits towards their state pension if they are looking after a grandchild, enabling the child's parent to go out to work.

Are you struggling to buy top-ups? Tell us about your recent experiences of attempting to buy top-ups at pensionquestions@thisismoney.co.uk- please put STATE PENSION TOP-UPS in the subject line. If you would like us to send these details on to the DWP and HMRC press offices, please add the following to your email: I give This is Money permission to forward this email in its entirety to DWP and HMRC and ask them for feedback on my case. Your name Your address Your phone number Your National Insurance number This is Money will not use your information for any marketing or other purposes except following up on this story, and all personal information will be deleted on request and certainly by 31 May. You might also want to contact your MP for help.

As NI credits don't cost anything, you should always claim what is available for free before paying voluntary NI for any given year.

2. Whether or not it makes sense for any given individual to top up depends on their individual circumstances.

You should always start by checking your state pension record at the Government's web page.

This may tell you, for example, that you are already going to get the maximum state pension and therefore don't need to make any voluntary contributions, even if you have some gaps in your record.

Filling blanks for certain years - particularly those before 2016/17 - can sometimes have no impact on your state pension, particularly if you were contracted out and have already paid in 30 years by April 2016

3. Some years may be cheaper to fill than others. If, for example, you worked for part of a year, you may find that you can complete that year more cheaply than filling a year that was completely blank.

You can check your National Insurance record here.

4. Fill gaps at the Class 2 rate if you can as voluntary NI for the self-employed is much cheaper than for employees - currently 163.80 per year, rather than Class 3 contributions at 824.20 per year.

If you had low-income self-employment in a particular year and have a gap in your record, you should be able to pay at the Class 2 rate for that year, which will save you money.

5. People who expect to be on benefits in retirement might find their increased state pension is clawed back in reduced pension credit or housing benefit

6. Always check before handing over any money. The rules are complex and you can sometimes fill a gap which makes no difference to your final pension.

How much is the state pension? The basic state pension is currently 141.85 a week, or around 7,400 a year. It is topped up by additional state pension entitlements - S2P and Serps - if accrued during working years. The two-tier state system was replaced in 2016 by a new 'flat rate' state pension. This is currently worth 185.15 a week or around 9,600 a year. Both amounts will rise by 10.1 per cent next April - the old state pension to 156.20 and the new to 203.85 a week. People who have contracted out of S2P and Serps over the years and retire after April 2016 get less than the full new state pension. Workers needed to have 30 years of qualifying National Insurance contributions to get the old state pension, but they now need to have 35 years of contributions to get the new flat rate state pension. But even if you paid in full for a whole 35 years, if you contracted out for some years on top of that it might still reduce what you get. Everyone gets the option of deferring their state pension to get more in their later years.

This is Money and our sister publication Money Mail have called in the past for an overhaul of state pension top-ups after receiving many complaints about the confusing system, which is operated jointly by the DWP and HMRC.

We covered numerous cases of savers who innocently bought worthless top-ups, and were initially refused refunds before HMRC backed down.

And we have flagged cases of savers who paid thousands of pounds and saw their money disappear without explanation for months, until This is Money intervened.
Around 1,300 jobs will be lost in the UK, as well as 2,500 in the European Union

Ford is planning to cut more than a thousand jobs in Britain over the next three years, the company said today.

Around 2,300 workers will go at the carmaker's Cologne and Aachen sites in Germany, while 1,300 staff in the UK and 200 in the rest of Europe will be cut.

Of the job losses at Ford of Britain, 1,000 will be high-paying roles in design, engineering, research and development. The other 300, also mainly at Dunton, will be administrative jobs, some from an office in Stratford.

Ford is planning to cut more than a thousand jobs in the UK over the next three years, the company announced today

Ford said rising costs were responsible, as well as the need for a leaner structure as it focuses production on electric vehicles.

It hopes to achieve the cuts through voluntary redundancies.

The news comes as a blow to unions, which said last month that the worst-case scenario was 2,500 job cuts in Europe in product development and a further 700 in administration.

Today's announcement comes less than two years after the US company closed its engine plant in Bridgend, which saw around 1,500 people employed at the South Wales site lose their jobs.

The brand's transmission production site at Halewood, Merseyside - which recently received a 230million investment to retrofit it for the manufacture of electric drivetrains  will not be affected by the move.

Ford's engine plant in Dagenham, east London, and component manufacturing site in Daventry, Northamptonshire, will also avoid cuts, according to reports.

Around 6,500 workers are currently employed by Ford of Britain across its six different locations, meaning the company intends to release 20 per cent of its UK workforce.

The decision has come in a bid to 'revitalise business in Europe', Ford said in a statement.

The US automaker signalled more cost-cutting on its results call in early February.

Chief financial officer John Lawler said it would be 'very aggressive' in reducing expenses in manufacturing and supply chain operations.

Lawler also said at the time that productivity of engineers in Europe was 25 to 30 per cent lower than it should be.

We are moving into a world with less global platforms where less engineering work is necessary Martin Sander, Ford

The group will retain around 3,400 engineers in the region who will build on core technology provided by US counterparts and adapt it to European customers, electric car chief Martin Sander said.

He added: 'There is significantly less work to be done on drivetrains moving out of combustion engines.

'We are moving into a world with less global platforms where less engineering work is necessary.

'This is why we have to make the adjustments.'

Around 2,300 jobs will go at the carmaker's Cologne and Aachen sites in Germany, 1,300 in the UK and 200 in the rest of Europe

Jobs at the transmission production site at Halewood, Merseyside, will not be affected

He said nothing had changed in the carmaker's electrification strategy, with the goal of offering an all-electric fleet in Europe by 2035 still in place.

Production of passenger cars on the Continent will be fully electric only by 2030, while two out of three commercial vehicles will be either 100 per cent electric or plug-in hybrid by the turn of the decade.

Ford is due to launch its first electric vehicle in Europe built on Volkswagen's MEB platform in Cologne later this year and is considering bringing a Ford platform to Europe, possibly to its plant in Valencia, Sander said.

He added: 'We are preparing our organisation to compete and win in a region facing unprecedented economic and geopolitical headwinds.'

Ford's European staff last saw a wave of job cuts in 2019 and 2020 as the carmaker pursued a 6 per cent operating margin in the region.

It was a goal thrown off-course by the pandemic pretax profit margins in Europe in the first nine months of 2022, which were just 2.2 per cent of sales.

John Scarola, who worked for Ford for 40 years, with 33 of those at Dunton, said he was 'devastated' to hear of the planned job cuts.

The 72-year-old, who was head of staff unions at the site before his retirement 13 years ago, said he was confident union reps would negotiate to get the 'best deal possible' from the car maker.

'I'm just devastated by it all,' said local Labour councillor Mr Scarola, who represents Laindon Park ward for Basildon Council.

Ford employs around 6,500 workers in the UK. Pictured: Staff at Dagenham, east London

'Even down my road there's people that work for Ford.

'It's going to have a devastating effect.

'You know as well as I do if you've not got a job you've got no wage coming in.

'You can only hope that if they go through with their threat that people are compensated and can carry on.'

He continued: 'The problem is because we're going all electric, it's going to create new jobs in that field but obviously the old jobs will go.'

He said that 'a lot of jobs have gone to Germany and Turkey'.

'You've got to realise once Ford have made a decision, we have to go into negotiation,' said Mr Scarola.

'I'm devastated and very disappointed, but the (union reps) we've got in place now are very strong people.

Ford bosses said the move was partly driven by there being 'significantly less work to be done on drivetrains' as the brand looked to switch to electrification and away from combustion engines (Pictured: A Ford production site in Cologne, Germany)

'They will negotiate and I'm sure they'll get the best deal possible and let's hope we can persuade Ford that we do have a future here.

'But I don't know what will happen.'

Susanna Caira-Neeson, Labour councillor for Lee Chapel North ward for Basildon Council, said: 'It's a tragic loss for the town, certainly, especially at a time when the cost of living is rising all the time.

'It's going to be absolutely devastating for those workers involved.'

What Car? magazine editorial director Jim Holder said Ford's announcement 'underlines once again the scale of the one-in-a-century transformation that the automotive industry is undergoing, and the depths of change it is having to embrace to maintain profitability while investing the hundreds of billions required to make the electric transition'.

He added: 'The UK had been at the heart of Ford's automotive empire for decades, but its position has been eroded by a succession of job cuts and plant closures.

'If the Government is serious about preserving roles in this sector it needs a strategy that puts the industry on the front foot to take advantage of the green revolution.

'Today, we lag behind our European neighbours and risk being overwhelmed by the investment going into the sector in the USA and China.'
Footage has emerged of the moment a homeowner erupted at a truckie after he parked his vehicle on a shared driveway.

DW Design and Styling owner Daniel Wilson had been delivering furniture to a property and parked on the driveway that was shared between two houses at Cooks Hill in Newcastle, two hours north of Sydney, last Monday.

The owner of the property had been renting out the house but decided to sell it and had hired Mr Wilson to bring over some furniture to stage it for inspection.

Mr Wilson had already begun to unload the items from the back of the truck when he was confronted by an upset neighbour.

Footage has emerged of the moment a homeowner erupted at the owner of a display furniture store after he parked his truck on a shared driveway

He filmed the tense confrontation that slowly spiralled out of control with the homeowner threatening to call the police.

'Who do you think you are?' the woman asked. 'And this is our house and you're not supposed to block the driveway.'

Mr Wilson remained firm and calmly explained he had temporarily parked on the driveway so he could unload the truck.

The neighbour immediately hit back claiming he needed to move his vehicle.

'I'm here unloading a truck,' Mr Wilson said. 'I'm running a business, I'm earning a living, and I'm here. I'll be gone in 15 minutes.'

The neighbour continues to insist Mr Wilson move his truck when her husband then steps out and joins in.

'You're still on our property,' he said.

His wife offers to show him 'court documents' as the argument escalates.

She then tells him to park on the street and suggests he double parks if he can't find a free space.

'I can't double park, it's illegal,' Mr Wilson responded.

The wife then warns him to leave within the next 15 minutes and that the 'police are coming'.

Mr Wilson filmed the tense confrontation that slowly spiralled out of control with the homeowner threatening to call the police

Mr Wilson suggests he can move the truck if she needs to drive her car.

'Are you going somewhere?' he asked.

'Yeah, probably,' she responded.

'Okay, if you need to go somewhere I'll move it straight away for you,' Mr Wilson responded.

Mr Wilson told Daily Mail Australia he had been warned by the owner of the property about the neighbours.

'As soon as the gates were being opened the neighbour was already over the fence, telling us not to enter the property,' he said.

'No police were called, there were no police.'

Mr Wilson joked he was looking forward to the next stage of the showdown when he would have to return to the property to pick up the furniture.

Footage of the confrontation was uploaded to TikTok where social media users were quick to support the truck driver.

'Person behind camera handled this so well. I would give my left leg for this kind of patience omg,' a third wrote.

'This is the most calmly spoken argument I have seen,' another said.
'Of course, the [Biden] name didn't hurt' as wife Sara said that Joe and his brother 'told each other everything'

President Biden's brother was hired to engage in secret negotiations with the Saudi government on behalf of a US construction company because of his relationship with the then vice president, legal documents claim.

Jim Biden was selected because Saudi Arabia 'would not dare stiff the brother of the Vice-President who would be instrumental to the deal,' bombshell affidavits obtained by DailyMail.com allege.

Joe's younger brother Jim, 73, was at the center of a $140million settlement negotiation between Hill International and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2012.

According to the documents, Jim told a former senior US Treasury official working as a private investigator that he was hired to negotiate with the Saudis 'because of his position and relationship' to VP Joe Biden  who led delegations to Saudi Arabia at the time.

Affidavits claim Joe' Biden's younger brother Jim, 73, was at the center of a $140m settlement between a US construction company and Saudi Arabia in 2012

A February 2011 contract obtained by DailyMail.com shows Hill International hired three law firms, R.L. Walker & Co., Lankford & Reed, and Poblete Tamargo, to help rake back $140m from the Saudis

In an affidavit the former Treasury official, Thomas Sullivan, described his sit-down interview with Jim Biden about being hired to negotiate with the Saudis.

Sullivan claimed the President's brother told him: 'Of course, the [Biden] name didn't hurt', and Jim's wife Sara, who was present, allegedly said that Joe and his brother 'told each other everything.'

'[Biden] stated that he was often sent to meetings to represent Hill because 'of course, the name didn't hurt,' and he was the former Vice-President's brother, or words to that effect. He repeated this statement at least twice during the interview.

'I asked specifically if he had attended a meeting with the Saudi Ministry of Trade in mid-February 2012 to receive the final payment for the work Hill had performed. He answered that, to the best of his memory, he had been at such a meeting, and that the reason he had attended was "because of his position and relationship" with his brother.'

In a May 2022 affidavit, Lankford & Reed partner V. Thomas Lankford (pictured) described the deal

Jim Biden's role in the Saudi negotiation emerged after a spat between the US construction firm Hill and their erstwhile lawyers over a payout from the Saudis.

The Saudi government owed Hill $140million for their work building desalination plants in the Middle Eastern kingdom dating back to the 1980s.

A February 2011 contract obtained by DailyMail.com shows Hill hired three law firms, R.L. Walker & Co., Lankford & Reed, and Poblete Tamargo, to help rake back the money.

For years their negotiations were part of the 'Special Claims Process', a US government program to settle the kingdom's unpaid debts to American firms.

But Lankford & Reed claims Hill also hired Jim around 2011 to fix a back-door settlement for $100million, and failed to pay the lawyers their 40% cut after years of working on the case.

In a May 2022 affidavit, Lankford & Reed partner V. Thomas Lankford described the alleged double-cross.

'After many delays, a meeting was finally scheduled for mid-February, 2012, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia,' he wrote. 'The Professional Firms were excluded from this meeting. Hill, acting through [its CEO, Irvin] Richter, sent Jim Biden  the then sitting Vice President's brother.

'Richter confided that he selected Biden because KSA [the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia] would not dare stiff the brother of the Vice-President who would be instrumental to the deal.

Thomas Sullivan, a former director in the enforcement division at the Treasury Department, interviewed Jim at his home in Merion Station, Pennsylvania, on July 16 2017, according to Sullivan's affidavit

Sullivan added that he had a brief exchange with Jim's attorney wife Sara, who told him 'he doesn't like us talking to people'

The Republican-led congress has promised an exhaustive investigation into influence peddling by members of Biden's family, including son Hunter

The lawyer claimed that Jim later 'admitted that KSA and Hill had secretly agreed to settle the claim through the award of future contracts.

'Mr. Biden further confirmed that Richter used Biden as a settlement intermediary in order to capitalize on the influence and orchestration of the settlement by the then Vice-President,' Lankford wrote.

The lawyers hired an investigator to question Jim and his wife about the alleged back-door deal, and they allegedly obtained some shocking admissions from the President's brother.

Sullivan interviewed Jim at his home in Merion Station, Pennsylvania, on July 16, 2017, according to Sullivan's affidavit.

'I asked Mr. Biden to describe his position with Hill International,' the former Treasury official wrote. 'He said that he had been hired to do "business development" work for them and that Saudi Arabia was a country that Hill had him assigned to assist with.

'James stated that he was told that the final payment would be made in both cash and "a very large amount" of new future contract work.'

Sullivan added that he had a brief exchange with Jims attorney wife Sara, who told him he doesnt like us talking to people.

The affidavit does not specify who 'he' refers to, but a source briefed on the case told DailyMail.com that it was Joe Biden.

'I didn't ask for a further explanation since I was looking at two large men in dark suits, in a big black sedan parked on a side street looking directly into their house down the walkway I had just exited,' Sullivan wrote. 'I thought they were some type of security, probably Secret Service.'

Joe Biden's family were not entitled to Secret Service protection at the time, as he had ended his term as Vice President.

'Sara and I walked to my car. She told me that her husband and his brother were very close, and that they told each other everything. I reached inside to give her a card, and just as I did, a blue sedan, with a single male driving, pulled quickly into their driveway. She said 'See what I mean?'

Sullivan told DailyMail.com that he was not authorized to comment further.

'He stated that he was often sent to meetings to represent Hill because 'of course, the name didn't hurt,' and he was the former Vice-President's brother, or words to that effect

Lankford described the alleged double-cross in the May 2022 affidavit

Lankford and the other attorneys involved did not respond to requests for comment.

Jim Biden and his wife were also intimately involved in Hunter Biden's multi-million-dollar deal with Chinese government-linked oil giant CEFC  a deal which is currently under investigation by federal prosecutors.

Joe Biden has denied knowledge of his family's foreign business dealings, but the revealing comments by Jim and his wife in the 2021 affidavit could cast doubt on those claims.

When reached, Sara Biden declined to comment and Jim Biden did not respond to comment requests.

A source close to the case told DailyMail.com that House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer has a copy of the affidavits and other case files, and is investigating them as part of his committees probe into the Biden familys business dealings.

Hill's CEO Irvin Richter 'confided that he selected Biden because KSA [the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia] would not dare stiff the brother of the Vice-President who would be instrumental to the deal'

The Republican-led congress has promised an exhaustive investigation into influence-peddling by members of Biden's family, including Hunter and Jim.

Jim has previously been scrutinized for his links to Hill International.

The company's housing subsidiary, HillStone International, hired Jim as an executive vice president in late 2010, and Jim took a minority ownership stake in the company.

Six months later it won a $1.5billion deal to build at least 100,000 affordable homes in Iraq, in part thanks to the Obama State Department. Joe Biden was Obama's point man on Iraq at the time.

Richter told the New York Post in 2012 that Jim's familial connection played no part in landing the deal.

However, Richter's son David Richter, who later became President of Hill International, told a private meeting of investors in 2015 that it helped to have 'the brother of the vice president as a partner', according to a Fox News report the following year.

Despite Jim's lack of experience in the construction industry, Hill CEO Irv Richter called him a 'good salesman', while their website trumpeted his '40 years of experience dealing with principals in business, political, legal and financial circles across the nation and internationally.'

The deal later fell apart when the Iraqi government failed to provide financing.

In 2020, David denied having any ties to Jim.

'I have no ties to the Bidens. Jim Biden worked at a Hill subsidiary for a couple of years. That subsidiary did not report to me. I was not in favor of investing in that company,' he told the New Jersey Globe.

'After several years of failure, it was shut down at my insistence, and I've never seen or heard from Jim Biden since.'
A 69-year-old California woman thought she had met the man of her dreams and even planned to marry him until she discovered her husband-to-be was a 26-year-old scammer from Nigeria.

Laura Francis told DailyMail.com that a man by the name of David Hodge reached out to her on Facebook. The man told her he was a surgeon in the military on a secret mission for the Marines in North Korea helping soldiers who have been injured by explosives in the war.

He had told her his ex-wife had cheated on him and after being in relationships with younger woman he was looking for someone more mature. Francis would spend the next few months getting to know this mystery man by text and on Google Hangouts.

She described him as charming, handsome and romantic. He would send her daily love notes and sing her love songs. When he told her he was falling in love with her, Francis, who had never been married, soon became smitten, and even spent $10,000 on cool sculpting procedures so she could look as beautiful as she could for her new love.

A few weeks into their love affair Hodge asked Francis for money. He told her he did not have access to his accounts but assured her once he was out of the service he would pay her back 'every dime.' He instructed her to send the money through Bitcoin apps - Coin Base and Coin Could Bitcoin ATMs.

'These guys have this down to a science... they are good. They use all these scripts to scam women. I am not a dumb person but I did a stupid thing. I was naive, and vulnerable'

Francis thought she was speaking to David Hodge (pictured) but she was really speaking with a 26-year-old scammer from Nigeria. (Note: these are NOT the scammers and are stolen photos used by the scammers)

The first time was $5,500 for a new iPhone. He told her he had lost his cellphone during one of his covert missions. While he waited for his new phone to arrive, he asked her to send another $7,000 so he could continue speaking with her on his friend's phones until his new phone arrived.

The money she was sending was part of her daughter's inheritance. When she expressed her doubts and began to question his intentions, he sent her a bank statement from a bank in Ohio showing he had a $3 million balance - that had a Chase Bank PO Box. He also showed her an employment agreement from the Marines, and his passport that she shared with DailyMail.com.

When Hodge told her he was falling in love with her and wanted to marry, Francis was feeling the butterflies too.

He told her that he can get an engagement ring through a military program. Part of the process was to prove he had a fiancee and this, in turn, would allow his release from his three- year military contract. All that was needed on her part was the $42,568 which would cover the cost of the ring.

After the money was sent she received a letter from the ring appraiser and was eagerly waiting for the ring, but the day the package arrived inside the box was a tacky cubic zirconia ring that had a $9.99 price tag, not the princess-cut diamond Hodge had picked out.

Francis sent Hodge more than $42,000 for a diamond engagement ring and he sent her back a a $10 faux diamond ring that still had the price tag on it when it arrived

When Francis confronted Hodge about the ring, he told her something had gone wrong and that he was sorting it out.

'I wanted to believe all the b******t,' she said. He'd tell me, 'how much he loved me and that he was so happy he had me in his life,' she said. 'I believed in him.'

Francis told DailyMail.com that she did not share her romance with any of her friends or family, since she said Hodge encouraged her to wait until they were were able to share the happy news of their engagement together.

Francis' daughter who was skeptical of her mother's new love interest - having no idea her mother had already sent her new friend thousands - encouraged her to go onto the site Plenty of Fish.

When she did she soon met another handsome stranger, Robert Manguire.

Francis saw on his profile that the man was an oil rig executive and lived in Los Angeles not far from where she resides - and was intrigued - only to learn that he was from Louisiana.

As the pair began to speak more frequently, Francis told Manguire that she was in love with another man, but suspects that he may be lying to her.

Manguire told Francis he could help her sort this out since he has the ability to hack into computers, and warned Francis that the person she was in love with was conning her. David Hodge was really a man by the name of Dom.

'I felt that I could trust Robert because he was the one who told me that David Hodge was really Dom,' she said. 'I told him how much I had spent.'

'I did what Robert told me to do. I blocked David and reported his account and then took it down,' she said.

Manguire than told Francis that he contacted the military where Hodge was stationed to make them aware that Hodge was sharing inside information.

When Francis found out that the man she was planning to marry was getting arrested for espionage and for being a spy she was frantic and came up with nearly $60,000 to bail him out.

In the meantime, Manguire told Francis that he could help get her money back from the blockchain, but she would have to put money into a bitcoin account.

'He was showing me all the screenshots of the of the money he was getting back. He had me running back and forth. I kept on giving him more money to get all the money out of the account - a total of $159,400.'

Just when Francis was about to get the money back, she said Manguire went MIA for several hours.

She would later learn the ugly truth that she was the victim of an online cryptocurrency scam by two different scammers losing a staggering $250,000.

'It was all a lie,' she said. 'They were working together. They put the whole scam together from the beginning.'

She added: 'It's really painful because I really cared for the guy. I was in love with David and I was devastated.'

Catfishing is a deceptive activity in which a person creates a false identity on a social networking platform to lure a person into a relationship, mostly for financial gain.

Social Catfish told DailyMail.com that that the photos of the two men had nothing to do with the scam. Their images were stolen by the scammers and used to trick people online.

When DailyMail.com tried to reach out to both men - whose photos were stolen - were unsuccessful in their attempts, as their accounts are now private.

Francis said all the money exchanged was bitcoin. 'The money gets shuffled into different bitcoin wallets. Part of reason they use bitcoin is they cannot be traced,' she said, 'but it turns out it can be traced.

She told DailyMail.com that she is now working with Social Catfish trying to get back some of the money she lost who is in touch with the Nigerian government.

'These guys have this down to a science... they are good. They use all these scripts to scam women. I am not a dumb person but I did a stupid thing. I was naive, and vulnerable.'

Laura Francis told DailyMail.com that she met a man by the name of David Hodge on Facebook. The man told her he was in the military and on an undercover mission for the Marines in North Korea. Francis spent nearly $90,000 before she learned she was the victim of a romance scam

A 39-page manual 'How to make a white woman fall in love with you from online chat,' provided by Social Catfish

Francis and her apparent lover spent hours a day texting one another. The romance scam went on for nearly 14 months

The alleged scammer also sent Francis his passport with name and photo identification

Francis was sent this 'faux' letter by Hodge showing that he was a military surgeon

A bank statement Hodge has sent Francis showing that he had money in his account

When Francis suspected he may be scamming her, he sent her photos of himself with the note, 'I love you Laura and am not a scammer. I'm Davidson Hodge' (Note: these are not the scammers and are stolen photos used by the scammers)

When Francis saw Hodge being arrested for espionage she sent nearly $50,000 for his release. The romance scammers apparently photoshopped the photo of Hodge in the picture (Note: These are not the scammers and are stolen photos used by the scammers)

Romance scams in the United States have skyrocketed from 2017 to 2021

Francis met Robert Manguire, his profile that the man was an oil rig executive and lived in Los Angeles not far from where she resides - and was intrigued - only to learn that he was from Louisiana. As the pair began to speak more frequently, Francis told Manguire that she was in love with another man, but suspects that he may be lying to her (Note: these are not the scammers and are stolen photos used by the scammers)

Romance scams are becoming more prevalent with a staggering $547 million lost to scammers in 2021 - up from $304 million in 2019 - and that number is expected to rise around Valentine's Day, an opportune time for scammers to inundate dating apps and social media looking for lonely singles, who may be looking for love and connection.

Social Catfish a company that verifies online identities with reverse image searches said Francis's story is not uncommon.

Top 3 Signs You are Being 'Catfished' and How to Avoid It: 1) They Seem to Good to be True: Scammers steal photos of very attractive and successful looking people and create fake online accounts to lure you in. If suddenly, a handsome billionaire or a gorgeous model falls into your lap, it should be approached with healthy skepticism. Fairy tales do happen, but why not do some simple vetting? How to Avoid: Perform a reverse image search to see if their picture matches their name. If the photo is used on many dating apps using different names, it is a scam. 2) They Fall in Love Having Never Met You: Regardless of how strong your online chat game is, it is unlikely someone will genuinely fall in love without spending time with you. To find out for sure you must take the relationship to the next level by video chatting and meeting in person. Scammers come up with reasons why they cannot do either. How to Avoid: Stop communicating with anyone who will not meet or video chat in a reasonable amount of time. 3) They Ask for Money, Crypto or Gift Cards: The biggest red flag of all is when a person whom you have never met starts asking for money. Frequent reasons include problems with the bank account, medical emergencies or they need the money so they can come visit you. Scammers like to be paid with gift cards or bitcoin as this is harder for authorities to trace. How to Avoid: This one is simple and foolproof. Never give money to anyone you meet online. *Source: Social Catfish Advertisement

'Once money is sent it is often extremely difficult to retrieve,' Social Catfish President David McClellan told DailyMail.com. 'The only recourse is either ask these institutions crypto exchanges to either reverse funds to give money back or get law enforcement involved or a lawyer.'

McClellan said his company is working with the Nigerian government on Francis' case. 'We have contacts over in Nigeria - the ESCC, similar to the CIA or FBI - that are in charge of financial crimes in Nigeria are actively working on this case.'

The fact that Francis spent a majority of the money through Coin Cloud, a crypto ATM machine, he said they were able to trace the crypto transaction back to the exchanges. One of those exchanges was NairaEx, a leading Nigerian crypto exchange.

'Anytime we are able to take funds back to an exchange, we can get law enforcement involved and file the KYC - Know Your Customer- request to find out who owns the account and that is what we did.'

Once the KYC request was filed that is when they were able to trace it back to Nigeria, and additional crypto wallets were found with money still in it.

'That's really good news when we actually trace it back to an exchange,' he said.

No arrests have been made, but said the person(s) who scammed Francis stopped using the crypto accounts.

The company also said that they were only able to track one IP address in this case, and was not able to verify if there was another scammer involved in this particular case.

Since most victims of scams don't get their money, McClellan said Social Catfish is trying to partner with law enforcement and law firms trying to change that.

'If you really think about it, these people are sending either wire transfer or they're sending crypto or they're sending gift cards so this stuff can be traced,' he said.

Nigeria and Ghana are two most prevalent areas where scams such as Francis' originate. The Philippines and Russia, are also a 'hub for theses type of scams,' McClellan points out.

The person's IP address is how they trace back its origin. And, over the last three years, the numbers of these types of scams have increased in the triple digits, he said.

'The education is super, super important and a big part in stopping this,' he said. 'And, every single time we think we have a crazy story ...next week we have a crazier one...it is just insane.'

McClellan said one of the people who are trying to put a stop to these scams is a reformed scammer from Nigeria named Chris.

Chris stole $30,000 from a women in a romance scam. After Social Catfish was able to identify him, he agreed to work with the company. Now he works on the ground in Nigeria to help Social Catfish penetrate the criminal organizations in Nigeria.

The reformed romance scammer grew up poor in Nigeria, and scamming was one of the only opportunities he had.

Many of these scammers call their Many of the scammer calls their victims their 'clients,' McClellan said.

'It's really sad. 'There's so much corruption... so much stuff happens that people feel like they should be on their own,' he said.

'Even if you go and you work it doesn't mean you can get paid ... even if you work for the government.'

Their company is now in the developmental stages of creating software to help law enforcement catch these alleged scammer.

The most common form of payment in romance scams are wire transfers and apps including, Venmo, The Daily Beast reported.

But, according to a report by Privacy Affairs, Bitcoin (70%), Tether (10%), and Ether (9%) were the most widely used by scammers.

The most popular social media platforms used for crypto scams are Instagram (32%), Facebook (26%), WhatsApp (9%), and Telegram (7%).

Since 2021, most reported crypto scams and losses began with a message, a post, or an ad on a social media platform.

According to the Social Catfish, according to the most recent FBI and FTC date released in 2022, the five most 'catfished' states are California (3,023 victims lost $184 million); Florida (1,738 victims lost $70.4 million); Texas (1,752 victims lost $65.4 million); New York (1,168 victims lost $57.6 million), and Washington (657 victims lost $32 million).

McCllelan said that he is hopeful some of Francis' money will be retrieved but how much of the $250,000, he said, 'is difficult to say.'

Francis now shares her story with others telling them what the red flags are to look for and not to be a victim like she was, many are from the Facebook site, Scam Haters United.

'My mission is life is to try and help others not to fall into this trap,' she said.

She created a list of 'red flags' to look out for and shares these tips with many other victims she encounters.
A British spy was caught betraying his country by an undercover MI5 role-player pretending to be a Russian intelligence agent called Irina, the Old Bailey heard.

David Ballantyne Smith, 58, originally from Paisley, Scotland, gathered a mass of secrets while working as a security guard in the British Embassy in Berlin.

The Scot was unmasked in a joint investigation by German police and British security services and arrested at his home in Potsdam in August 2021.

'Irina' approached Smith at a bus stop and tried to see if he would provide sensitive information to her.

After he spoke to her about the embassy, Smith was arrested a day later at his home on August 10, 2021.

David Ballantyne Smith, 58, (pictured) was unmasked as a spy and is facing 14 years in jail. He was caught betraying his country by an undercover MI5 role-player posing as a Russian agent called 'Irina'

Smith was arrested by German police at his apartment in Potsdam on August 10, a day after 'Irina' approached him at a bus stop

Smith was said to be motivated by 'an extreme hatred of where he works and the United Kingdom in general', the court heard.

The undercover operation began when he made an unauthorised photocopy of embassy documents along with video recordings of CCTV footage of a person known as 'Dmitry'.

Smith was approached by Security Service role-player 'Irina' at a bus stop after work.

Smith was said to be motivated by 'an extreme hatred of where he works and the United Kingdom in general', the court heard

Smith, 58, (drawn in this court sketch at the Old Bailey) pleaded guilty to eight charges of spying for Russia

After asking him for directions to see a friend she told Smith: 'I am from Russian Military Intelligence.'

Smith smiled, laughed and asked: 'Is this a joke?'

'This is not a joke,' she said. She said she was concerned about information that could be 'damaging to Russia and Russian interests. Can you help me?'

Smith said: 'It's funny how you have an English accent. Could we meet another day?'

How did the MI5 sting operation that exposed Smith as a spy unfold? December 5, 2018 David Smith puts sensitive information from the British Embassy in Berlin on a USB stick. Dozens of sensitive images are later found on an SD card in his home in 2020. January 1, 2020 Smith's bank balance steadily decreased until November 25. His finances improved after a payment was made to him in February 2021. May 14, 2020 Smith wrote a letter to Colonel Sivov, a military and defence attache at the Russian Embassy. He offered sensitive information and asked to remain anonymous. Nov 20, 2020 Smith sent a letter to Major General Chukho with highly sensitive information about staff at the embassy. This sparked the planning of the sting operation. January, 2021 Smith made markedly fewer debit transactions. From February to the start of May he didn't withdraw any cash. This indicated to MI5 investigators that he may have had another source of money. August 9, 2021 An undercover MI5 agent posing as a Russian intelligence officer called 'Irina' approached Smith at a bus stop and spoke about the British Embassy. August 10, 2021 Smith was arrested by German officers at his home in Potsdam. Secret and sensitive videos, documents and photos from the embassy were found at his home. Officers also found eight 100 notes. Advertisement

She asked: 'Have you seen anything that's been out of the ordinary?'

Smith said: 'Just the usual run-of-the-mill b*******.'

Irina asked: 'Anything you can give me will help me.'

Smith said: I am going to say nothing, because this has just been sprung on me.

'I don't trust the b******* I work for. Would you trust MI5 and MI6? I f***ing don't.'

Smith was shown pictures on a phone of an embassy member of staff who he admitted he recognised from a book of employees.

He told Irina his day was: 'Boring as f***. If I told you the truth I don't want to be here anymore.'

He then referred to his colleagues as 'Nazi b*******'.

He said: 'I don't like my job and I feel stuck.'

A joint investigation by MI5 and their German counterparts found Smith had been selling classified information to Russia, including the layout of the embassy, since 2020.

Smith told the Russian military attache based out of the Russian Embassy in Berlin, General Major Sergey Chukhurov, details about the activities, identities, addresses and telephone numbers of various British civil servants.

He made an unauthorised photocopy of embassy documents, kept SIM card packaging, and made video recordings of CCTV footage of Dmitry.

In November last year, Smith pleaded guilty to spying for Russia.

On Monday, he returned to the Old Bailey for the legal argument about the issue of Smith's motivation.

The defendant has claimed in a basis of plea that he did not intend to cause 'prejudice' to the UK and wanted only to cause 'inconvenience and embarrassment' to the British Embassy.

He claimed he was not paid and was motivated by a grievance with his employers while suffering mental health issues.

Prosecutor Alison Morgan KC said the defendant held 'strong anti-UK views' and supported Russia and Vladimir Putin.

She said: 'The defendant's deliberate engagement with the Russian authorities by providing them with confidential and sensitive information demonstrates an inevitable and clear intention to cause prejudice to the UK.

'The defendant had in his possession confidential and sensitive material dating from as early as 2018.

Smith bookshelf was revealed to hold a book called the 'psychology of manipulating' as well as several skeletons

Smith had Russian military memorabilia including a Russian flag and uniform cap in his home

Smith, originally from Paisley, Scotland, has admitted eight offences under the Official Secrets Acts 1911 and 1920, committed between May 2020 and August 2021

'It is implausible to suggest that he only took possession of material within the context of a dispute with his employers or because he intended to expose security lapses.

'Analysis of the defendant's financial position in 2021 shows the absence of cash withdrawals indicative of an alternative source of cash.'

Smith, who is married to a Ukrainian woman, began working at the embassy in 2016.

After his wife moved back to her home country in late 2018, the defendant's behaviour changed, the court heard.

He went from being 'keen and polite' to expressing anti-UK and anti-German views, the court heard.

Ms Morgan said Smith also expressed views about the war in Ukraine and supported Russia.

Smith collected memorabilia at his flat, including German uniforms from the Second World War and a Russian flag.

After his arrest in August 2021, police uncovered numerous sensitive images.

Smith, originally from Paisley, Scotland, has admitted eight offences under the Official Secrets Acts 1911 and 1920, committed between May 2020 and August 2021.

The former security guard denied a ninth offence alleging he leaked information about embassy building repairs on 6 August 2021 and the charge is expected to be ordered to lie on file.

Mr Justice Murray is expected to rule on the defendant's intentions later in the week after Smith gives evidence on Tuesday.

Smith faces a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison for spying when he is sentenced on Friday.
The lack of answers about mysterious floating objects in U.S. airspace is just the latest example of a government cover-up, according to a lawmaker from Tennessee, who says the American people are also not being told the truth about alien visitors.

Rep. Tim Burchett said officials had been caught out by their conflicting actions, first refusing to shoot down a high-altitude balloon over Alaska for fear it would endanger lives  but then days later downing an unidentified object over the same state.

Burchett said it beggared belief that experts, armed with computer models of winds and weather, could not have found an empty spot to safely shoot down the first balloon as well.

'We can put a cruise missile in the side of the door of a terrorist all the way around the world. We can land a space capsule on a on a on a deck, literally,' he told DailyMail.com.

'But they can't tell you where a balloon or objects the size of two school buses are going to drop in one of the least populated states in the union.

'And now they're dropping them in Alaska where they could have dropped the other one and they're saying they didn't think it was safe before?'

Rep. Tim Burchett is demanding answers about a string of mysterious objects entering U.S. airspace and accused the government of a cover-up

A Chinese spy balloon traversed the U.S. before being shot down, triggering panic about a string of other unexplained floating objects that have since been destroyed

Burchett is a dogged investigator of our planet's mysteries. He is famous in Tennessee for his Bigfoot obsession, and believes the government has been hiding the facts about alien visitors since the 1940s, amid an effort to reverse engineer new technologies from their captured spacecraft.

Now he is adding his voice to those seeking answers from the Biden administration about the sudden flurry of unknown objects floating across U.S. airspace.

Have they been there all along, undetected until the U.S. military started looking?

Are they Chinese? Or are they being sent by other nations?

President Joe Biden has been accused of waiting too long before shooting down a balloon which is now believed to have been carrying Chinese spy gear. It was allowed to travel from Alaska across the U.S. before being destroyed once it had left the coast of South Carolina.

Officials say that was the only way to ensure no one on the ground was hurt.

And most recently, on Sunday, a fighter jet shot down an 'unidentified object' over Lake Huron on Biden's order.

It marked the fourth time an object had been taken out, including on Friday when F-22 took action against another unidentified flying object.

Officials say they are still trying to recover wreckage and have been slow to explain what they were.

An eyewitness image taken by Chase Doak captures a Chinese spy balloon on Wednesday February 1, 2023 as it was flying over the city of Billings, Montana

It was shot down by a U.S. warplane on February 4, off the coast of South Carolina

Burchett said it was reminiscent of the way successive administrations had tried to avoid revealing details of U.F.O. sightings and betrayed an arrogant assumption that the government knew best.

He also criticized the confusion caused at the weekend when the U.S. Air Force general overseeing North American airspace said he could not rule out alien life forms  or anything else  being behind the flurry of incursions

'It just continues with the cover-up with these balloons to not tell us what the hell they are,' said Burchett

'And I think they're Chinese. I don't think I think something that would travel 1000 light years to get to us is gonna be taken out by one of our surface-to-air missiles or or you know, any aircraft fire or something.'

The White House finally clarified on Monday that officials did not believe the objects were alien in origin.

When their identity as drones or balloons is finally confirmed, added Burchett, it will be taken as proof that U.F.O. sightings have more everyday explanations than visitors from outer space.

'And I just feel like we've we've been we've been sold a bill of goods about this thing and we continue to do it and this is a little diversion,' he continued.

'When the general says I can't tell you where it's from and it might be alien or some BS like that, you know they're just gonna come out and find out it's Chinese balloons or maybe even our balloons.

Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 (EODGRU 2) recovered a Chinese high-altitude surveillance balloon off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina last week

Divers were also working to locate parts of the balloon s sunken payload, which is estimated to be about the size of three buses

'And they're gonna say that this is what it always is. No, it's not. It's not always. It's not always a drone. It's not always a balloon.

'I've seen the footage. I've talked to the pilots. This is definitely nothing we control.'

Burchett has long maintained that the federal government is covering up a rise in the number of 'unidentified aerial phenomenon.'

And he has dismissed efforts at transparency, starting in 2021 with a Department of National Intelligence report that was largely inconclusive.

'They released these false so called "top secret files" and they're so redacted they look like a piece of Swiss cheese,' he said.

'Nothing is in them that you couldn't get you could just Google yourself.'

He said the reason for hiding details of U.F.O.s was because officials believed the public could not handle the truth.

'The American public ... the world needs to know. I think we can handle it. They're arrogant,' he said.

'There's a couple of reasons they do and I mean first of all, it's is overall is arrogant.

'Secondly they are obviously reverse engineering. Some of this stuff they don't understand it and they can't get to the bottom of it. And whoever figures it out, you know, basically solves our energy situation and does some other miraculous things overnight.'
Sean Kirkpatrick, director of the Pentagon's newly formed All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), warned of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena flying over the US in January

The head of the government's UFO office warned of the 'potentially ubiquitous presence' of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) flying over US airspace just weeks before a suspected spy balloon and three other suspicious objects were shot down by American jets.

DailyMail.com has obtained a slide deck from a presentation by Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, director of the Department of Defense's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), given at a conference on January 11.

Kirkpatrick's presentation warned of 'threats to the immediate safety of US citizens and Government facilities', and said that the military are finding unidentified anomalous phenomena 'most often in the vicinity of US military facilities and operating areas'.

One presentation slide says that 'safety and security risks of UAP heighten US Government awareness and drives research and mitigation efforts'.

DailyMail.com obtained a slides from Kirkpatrick's January 11 presentation which showed the steps AARO was taking to ensure UAP 'are effectively and efficiently detected, tracked, analyzed, and managed'

Kirkpatrick's presentation warned of 'threats to the immediate safety of US citizens and Government facilities'

The report highlights recognition that UAP present 'complex hazards and threats across service, regional, and domain boundaries'

The comments have taken on a new urgency following the takedown by sidewinder missile of four objects that entered US airspace over the past two weeks.

The first has been identified by US officials as a 200-ft Chinese spy balloon the size of a jetliner, carrying surveillance equipment. It was shot out of the sky off South Carolina on February 4.

The other three UAPs  government speak for what most people call UFOs  were taken down over far northern Alaska, Canada's Yukon territory and Lake Huron.

These three smaller objects remain officially unidentified, and in a press conference Sunday US Air Force General Glen VanHerck said the military had not ruled out an extraterrestrial origin  though intelligence officials say they are highly skeptical of that.

'We're calling them objects, not balloons, for a reason,' VanMerck said, adding the Air Force is still unsure how the three objects stayed aloft, as their propulsion systems are currently unknown.

The slides obtained by DailyMail.com are from Kirkpatrick's presentation on UAP given to the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on January 11 in Washington DC.

They were first shared publicly by UFO researcher Douglas Dean Johnson on January 12. DailyMail.com later obtained the slides from a source working in the aviation safety industry.

The presentation focused on how AARO is working with other agencies to ensure 'unidentified, anomalous objects are effectively and efficiently detected, tracked, analyzed, and managed,' and called on civilian pilots to help by reporting strange sightings in the sky.

'The potentially ubiquitous presence of UAP defines the national-security implications and drives the broad range of stakeholders and demand for rigorous scientific understanding of and intelligence on phenomena,' the slides said.

'Consequence of UAP in the vicinity of strategic capabilities is high, potentially threatening strategic deterrence and safety of civil society.'

One slide said his office is involved in 'UAP detection, tracking, mitigation, and recovery'

AARO also called on civilian pilots to help by reporting strange sightings in the sky

The report added that the DoD is 'strengthening observations and reporting capabilities near US strategic capabilities and critical infrastructure'.

Kirkpatrick, a decorated physicist and intelligence official, also included one intriguing bullet point on his slides suggesting that AARO aimed to 'recover' downed UAP.

The slide said his office is involved in 'UAP detection, tracking, mitigation, and recovery'.

According to the 2021 law which created AARO, the DoD must 'rapidly respond to, and conduct field investigations of, incidents involving unidentified aerial phenomena under the direction of the head of the Office'.

But DoD spokeswoman Susan Gough declined to reveal to DailyMail.com whether AARO has been involved in investigating the four incidents this month.

A map of where the Chinese spy balloon and three additional objects were shot down by military planes since February 4

A jet flies by a suspected Chinese spy balloon as it floats off the coast in Surfside Beach, South Carolina, US February 4, 2023

This month's sensational cases have prompted lawmakers and former officials to complain that they had been trying to warn the government about frequent incursions on US airspace for years.

Former top military intelligence official Christopher Mellon tweeted: 'The USAF *really* has some explaining to do when it comes to UAP. People who are surprised at the presence of these objects haven't been paying attention.

'One of the reasons why I've been calling for changes to our sensor and reporting procedures for years,' he added.

Marco Rubio, the ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, tweeted: 'The last 72 hours revealed to the public what was happening for years, unidentified aircraft routinely operating over restricted US airspace.'

A report on UAP which Kirkpatrick helped prepare, published by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence last month, says there have been 163 incidents 'characterized as balloon or balloon-like entities' between March 2021 and September last year, out of a total 366 new unidentified cases investigated by AARO.

This file video grab image obtained April 28, 2020 courtesy of the US Department of Defense shows part of an unclassified video taken by Navy pilots that has circulated for years showing interactions with 'unidentified anomalous phenomena'

In October DailyMail.com revealed details from a classified version of the report sent to Congress, including incidents of 'orbs' zipping across the sky caught on camera by US spy planes.

As a result of the four incidents over the US in the past two weeks, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) has been reviewing past radar data to spot similar incidents that went unreported, and says they have changed their detection methods.

'We have been more closely scrutinizing our airspace at these altitudes, including enhancing our radar, which may at least partly explain the increase in objects that we've detected over the past week,' Melissa Dalton, the assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and hemispheric affairs, said at a Sunday evening press conference.
A disheveled woman has been rescued by police after being held captive in a dingy metal cell at her mother's home for 20 years.

Rosinalva da Silva, 39, was found in a dark bedroom with her feet chained and her hands tied on Thursday in Espirito Santo, Brazil.

Her mother, whose name has not been released, was under the influence of alcohol when the cops raided the residence and arrested her, Civil Police chief Carlos Braga said.

A man, whose name has not been released to the public, was also taken into custody.

Rosinalva da Silva was rescued from her mother's home in Brazil on Thursday. Police said the 39-year-old woman was found chained and tied inside a room, where she was kept there against her will for 20 years

A police officer tends to Rosinalva da Silva after she was found locked up in a room at her mother's home in Espirito Santo, Brazil, on Thursday

Footage of the rescue showed cops entering the property and walking through a metal cell door - where they located the woman in a room where the only light came through a glass window.

Da Silva was then escorted out of the home while holding on the set of chain that kept her from fleeing for two decades.

Authorities said Da Silva was dehydrated and hungry when they discovered her holed up inside the makeshift cell.

Paramedics rushed her to Regional Hospital, where she remains under observation and being treated for severe malnutrition.

A police officer rescues Rosinalva da Silva from her mother's home in Brazil, where she was kept locked inside a room for 20 years. Authorities said the 39-year-old had suffered from mental illness brought upon the loss of her two children

A police officer walks through the metal cell door that kept Rosinalva da Silva from escaping the room in her home where he mother kept her imprisoned for 20 years

Rosinalva da Silva is escorted into an ambulance before she was transported to Regional Hospital in Espirito Santo, Brazil. Doctors have been treating her for malnourishment

Da Silvas mother reportedly kept her locked inside the home in response to the mental illness she battled after losing two children years ago.

Police said that the mother chained da Silva and locked her in the room because it was the only way to handle her aggressiveness.

Authorities are still investigating the incident to determine if other people were also involved.
Three horses have caused early morning chaos, roaming some of Sydney's busiest roads after escaping from a paddock.

Astonished motorists on their way to work first spotted the animals galloping through the streets of Brighton le Sands, Sans Souci and Taren Point in the city's south shortly after 5am on Tuesday.

The horses were reported to be heading south along the Princes Highway, and Rocky Point Road before the trio ended up on Captain Cook Bridge, where oncoming vehicles were forced to swerve to avoid hitting them.

The first eyewitnesses who called 2GB to recall the chaos left breakfast host Ben Fordham stunned.

NSW Police guided three horses to safety after causing chaos on Sydney's busiest roads

'I just saw the weirdest thing driving to work, three horses galloping down the Princes Highway at Sans Souci with no riders on them,' listener Michael told Fordham.

'I had to pinch myself, I thought I was dreaming.'

Another recalled astonishing scenes he witnessed while leaving a gym at Taren Point.

'Three horses running down the street with four cop cars chasing them, trying to round up the horses,' Luke reported.

Another listener joked the horses were looking for 'unbridled passion' on Valentine's Day, while another joked police would need horsepower to catch the escapees.

Police and highway patrol officers used their vehicles to direct the horses off the bridge before guiding them to safety at a nearby industrial complex where they were captured.

Officers used ropes to tether the horses and enticed them with bread, and carrot treats to keep them calm as they tried to track down the owner.

The horses were spotted on the loose in Sydney's before being captured by police

No horses or motorists were harmed in the early morning ordeal.

Police will investigate how and why the horses escaped.

'Not exactly 'kangaroo-on-the-Harbour-Bridge' but a 'horses-on-Captain-Cook-Bridge' call activated,' NSW Police captioned a photo of two officers with one of the escapees.

All three horses have been collected by their owner and safely returned to their paddock, much to the relief of Sydneysiders, who praised police efforts to capture the escapees.

'Could have been a disastrous outcome for the driver and the horses otherwise. Well done guys,' one woman commented.

Another added: 'Witnessed the incident unfold, and the police handled the situation amazingly! Very impressive mustering skills! Well done to all officers involved, and glad the horses are safe.'

Others saw the funny side.

'Maybe the horse was looking for the Mounted Police unit as it wanted to join,' one joked.
Senior Chinese diplomat meets Thai FM

Xinhua) 08:30, February 14, 2023

Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, meets with Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 13, 2023. (Xinhua/Yue Yuewei)

BEIJING, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, met on Monday with Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai in Beijing.

Noting that China and Thailand are close as one family, Wang, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, said Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a successful visit to Thailand last year and reached important consensus with the Thai side on building a China-Thailand community with a shared future for enhanced stability, prosperity and sustainability.

The Chinese side stands ready to work with Thailand to implement the outcomes of President Xi's visit, safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the two countries and safeguard regional peace and stability, Wang added.

Wang stressed that the cooperation between China and Thailand has not only promoted the development of both countries, but also brought tangible benefits to the two peoples.

Don Pramudwinai said he looks forward to contributing to the development of Thailand-China relations and will promote their close relations with concrete actions.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
A man walks near a building that leans on a neighboring house in Golbasi, Turkey, Monday, Feb. 13. AP-Yonhap



Among the rubble, hundreds of thousands of homeless people face cold and hunger as authorities in Turkey and Syria tackle the dire humanitarian disaster caused by the earthquake that has left more than 35,000 dead.



As hopes of finding people alive under the debris fade more than a week after the quake struck, the focus has switched to providing food and shelter to the vast numbers of survivors.



According to the Turkish government, about 1.2 million people have been housed in student residences, more than 206,000 tents have been erected and 400,000 victims evacuated from the devastated areas.



The disaster has also exacted a psychological toll. In a tent city near the quake's epicenter in Kahramanmaras, father-of-four Serkan Tatoglu, 41, described how his family was haunted by their losses as they waited out the aftershocks.



"The youngest, traumatized by the aftershocks, keeps asking: 'Dad, are we going to die?'" Tatoglu said of his six-year-old.



Turkey's Vice President Fuat Oktay said 574 children pulled from collapsed buildings were found without any surviving parents.



Only 76 had been returned to other family members.



One voluntary psychologist working in a children's support center in hard-hit Hatay province said numerous parents were frantically looking for missing kids.



"We receive a barrage of calls about missing children," Hatice Goz said by phone.



"But if the child still cannot speak, the family is unable to find them."





Rescuers work at the site of collapsed buildings after a powerful earthquake, in Hatay, Turkey, Feb. 13. EPA-Yonhap



'Millions need to be fed'



In the devastated Turkish city of Antakya, clean-up teams have been shifting rubble and putting up basic toilets as the telephone network started to come back in parts of the town, an AFP reporter said.



The city was patrolled by police and soldiers deployed to prevent looting following several incidents over the weekend.



"Send any stuff you can because there are millions of people here and they all need to be fed," Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu appealed late Sunday.



In Antakya and Kahramanmaras, food and other aid supplies were flowing in, AFP teams reported.









The economic cost of the disaster could be as much as $84.1 billion, with nearly $71 billion of that for housing, Turkish employers' association Turkonfed said in a report Monday.



Neighboring Syria, already racked by 12 years of civil war, is of particular concern.



The United Nations held an emergency meeting Monday on how to boost aid to rebel-held areas, as anger grows over a sluggish international response to the pariah nation.



Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, isolated and subject to Western sanctions, called for international assistance to help rebuild infrastructure in the country, where the UN estimates more than five million have been left homeless.



UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Assad has agreed to open two more border crossings from Turkey to northwest Syria to allow in aid.



Before the earthquake struck, almost all of the crucial humanitarian aid for the more than four million people living in rebel-controlled areas of northwest Syria was being delivered through just one crossing.



"Opening these crossing points  along with facilitating humanitarian access, accelerating visa approvals and easing travel between hubs  will allow more aid to go in, faster," Guterres said.





Women and children who lost their homes walk in among tents at a camp in Atareb, Syria, Sunday, Feb. 12. AP-Yonhap



Aid for Syria



More than a week after the 7.8-magnitude quake toppled buildings across the region, stories continue to emerge of people found alive in the rubble.



But experts warned that hopes of finding more survivors were dimming.



In Turkey on Monday, siblings Harun, eight, and Eyuphan, 15, were rescued 181 hours after the fifth-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century, the Anadolu news agency reported.



A Mexican military rescue dog named Proteo died searching for survivors under the rubble in Turkey.



"You accomplished your mission... thank you for your heroic work," the Mexican military tweeted Monday.



The confirmed death toll stands at 35,331 as officials and medics said 31,643 people had died in Turkey and at least 3,688 in Syria.



The toll has barely changed in Syria for several days and is expected to rise.



Trucks carrying shelter kits crossed from Turkey into northwest Syria on Monday.



However, UN officials said more was needed for the millions whose homes were destroyed.



On Monday, Sudan sent a flight carrying 30 tons of aid to Syria.



According to Syrian Transport Ministry official Suleiman Khalil, 62 planes carrying aid have so far landed in Syria and more are expected in the coming days, particularly from Saudi Arabia. (AFP)




In the latest sign of Australia's out-of-control rental market, a Sydney woman has revealed how her landlord raised her rent by $700-a-fortnight with no warning.

Chantelle Schmidt, a writer based in the inner southern suburb of Redfern, took to TikTok on Monday to reveal her rent increased from $1900 to $2600 a fortnight.

In the exasperated post, she explained she was on a monthly contract, meaning the landlord could increase rent at any point with no limits.

Chantelle Schmidt, a writer based in Redfern in the south of the Harbour City, took to TikTok on Monday to reveal her rent was increasing from $1900 to $2600 a fortnight

In the exasperated post she added that she was on a monthly rental contract, so the landlord was able to increase rent at any point

'What would you do if your rent got increased by $700 a fortnight?' she said in the clip.

House affordability in each big city SYDNEY: Median house price of $1,243,126 is 10.8 times an average salary after a 20 per cent deposit. In 2000, the equivalent price was $387,000, costing 5.5 times an average salary for a borrower with a one-fifth deposit MELBOURNE: Median house price of $915,005 is eight times an average salary. BRISBANE: Median house price of $798,552 is 6.9 times an average salary. ADELAIDE: Median house price of $702,392 is 6.1 times an average salary. PERTH: Median house price of $585,989 is 5.1 times an average salary. DARWIN: Median house price of $588,972 is 5.2 times an average salary. HOBART: Median house price of $740,100 is 6.4 times an average salary. CANBERRA: Median house price of $987,450 is 8.5 times an average salary. Advertisement

'This is the email I received on Friday afternoon,' she explained alongside a screenshot of the correspondence.

'They want to increase from $1900 a fortnight to $2600.

'Because we're on a month to month they're allowed to do this,' she added.

She went on to explain there's 'no limit' to how much they want to increase the rent, and the best thing she can do is 'negotiate' or 'go to tribunal'.

Many were shocked by the 37 per cent increase, which would take her rent to $5590 a month.

'I wouldnt be paying $1900 a fortnight to begin with!' one wrote.

'$950 a week?! Jesus! that was your first red flag,' added another.

'I'd move out asap. No apartment is worth that,' commented a third.

'I thought my $640 a week 3 bedroom rental was expensive,' said one.

One Tiktok user advised she could take it to tribunal for 'excessive and unreasonable rent increase'.

It's the latest development in Sydney's out-of-control rental market.

Rents have soared 6.7 per cent to a median of $495 per week across Australia in 2022, but the issue is much worse in major cities.

In Melbourne and Sydney, higher post-Covid demand for fewer properties saw unit rents up by 9.3 per cent, while houses went up 8.3 per cent.

The annual Rental Affordability Index released in October revealed the low-income renters such as single parents, pensioners, and job seekers are most vulnerable and require more active and immediate support.

A long line of would-be renters snakes down the side-path of a Sydney street waiting to see a $700 per week two-bedroom rental property in the eastern suburb of Clovelly

The queue to inspect an upstairs studio for 68 Gould Street, Bondi Beach, with each person waiting up to 20 minutes to get inside, was 'like lining up to get into a nightclub' in October

How did Australia's housing shortage become a national emergency? Anthony Albanese's government is under increasing pressure to act on a nationwide housing shortage, with one major charity demanding it be declared a 'national emergency'. Housing experts say official records show no comparable shortage of available tenancies since the Great Depression in the 1930s. The outlook for next year appears to be even more dire, recent data shows, with double-digit rental price rises now predicted for 2023 and investor landlords set to rake it in while tenants deal with sky-high bills. The only real reference point to what is happening in the rental market now is the worldwide social catastrophe which followed the Wall Street crash of 1929 - and became the longest, deepest depression of the 20th century. Emma Greenhalgh, the CEO of housing charity Shelter said Australia is in a national emergency by 'every available measure'. 'It's not just capital cities and major metropolitan areas that are in crisis,' she explained to Daily Mail Australia. 'It's in regional and rural areas too. The whole country is facing the issue of house prices and vacancies rates. 'There's a massive issue of competition which is putting people at risk of homelessness.' She said increasing numbers of people are forced into overcrowded rentals with several people to a room, and even to living in tents or cars. She added the National Housing and Homelessness Plan, which committed to building more homes for low and middle-income earners was desperately needed, helping to get housing supply closer to matching demand and thereby stabilising prices. 'It's a good start about social and affordable housing. We need significant and sustained investment. 'Overall housing supply is lower, that's an issue across the whole housing system. The Commonwealth government is looking to address that. 'For private renters, tenancy reform is critical. 'We need no forced evictions, and capping rent increases so its more realistic. It's unrealistic for households to sustain increases. 'This isn't just a problem in cities. In regional areas we have incredibly low vacancies rates.' The housing expert added that a lower supply of housing has been compounded by the pandemic moving people to regions, meaning the crisis isn't going to get better 'any time soon'. 'It takes time for that to be developed and brought online, we don't expect there to be a solution quickly.' Ms Greenhalgh also explained how in Queensland, people are being temporarily housed in retirement villages and university dormitories. Rents have soared an average 10.3 per cent in Australia since the start of 2022, and the national rental vacancy rate is at a record low 0.9 per cent, according to recent Domain research. A major part of the problem is that more people are being forced to rent rather than buy due to the exorbitant cost of houses in major cities. The current cycle of interest rate rises has exacerbated the unaffordability, and even once the rate hikes abate or reverse, that will only result in asking prices again going up. Sydney house prices are expected to rise by 8 to 12 per cent next year when interest rate rises are paused, with Melbourne tipped to see up to 6 per cent increases and Perth up to 13 per cent. Chief executive officer of the Tenants' Union of New South Wales, Leo Patterson Ross, previously said while the broader economic circumstances of 90 years ago were vastly different, the Great Depression reference was applicable as rental prices spiral. Advertisement

The report found people living in both capital cities and regional areas were struggling to find affordable rentals, as rents are escalating faster than incomes across the country.

Low vacancy rates, interstate migration and global supply chain issues were also contributing to increased rents.

The national rental vacancy rate is at a record low 0.9 per cent, according to Domain research data.

A Melbourne landlord was recently been branded a 'nutcase' after putting up a tiny room to rent for $300 a week, with would-be tenants not allowed to use their phones or have guests over

Alongside the room, which also had an unfurnished and exposed wooden wall, the tenant would also be able to use a dirty spa bath tub, but they would only be given access on weekends

A recent photo taken in Bondi, in Sydney's east, showed applicants queuing outside a home to inspect it.

Last week, a Melbourne landlord was branded a 'nutcase' after renting out a tiny room for $300 a week while banning tenants from using their phones or having guests over.

The owner of the property made the listing to Facebook on Thursday saying a room was up for rent at a house in the other southeastern suburb of Frankston.

Prospective tenants were left shocked by photos of the room that revealed a cluttered and dirty area barely big enough to fit a single bed.

The Perth property, which has been described by its agent as the 'worst he's ever seen' has sold after getting 13 offers from buyers desperate to get on the housing ladder

Despite being covered in so much dirt the buyers can't see the colour of the tiles or carpet, the three-bedroom home sold for the upper end of its asking price, between $450,000 and $500,000

Meanwhile, in Perth a home that was so run down buyers ran out and retched during inspections has drawn plenty of offers.

The property has been sold after getting 13 offers from buyers desperate to get on the housing ladder.

Ray White agent Gary Warne described the property as the 'worst he's ever seen'.

The property is covered in so much dirt that buyers couldn't see the colour of the tiles or carpet.

Housing experts say official records show no comparable shortage of available tenancies since the Great Depression in the 1930s.

Emma Greenhalgh, the CEO of housing charity Shelter told Australia is in a national emergency by 'every available measure'.
Students who attend the same high school where Adriana Kuch was bullied before she took her own live have revealed how taunting and intimidation was rife in classrooms and hallways.

Multiple pupils from Central Regional School District in Berkeley Township, New Jersey, say that bullying was part of everyday life at the school - as the community reels from the death of 14-year-old Adriana.

Critics, including Adriana's former classmate Emily Strick, are blaming the school district for neglecting and inadequately addressing such incidents.

'It was absolutely terrible and it was unbelievable that they didn't do anything about it', Strick told Fox News on Monday.

Several students, including Adriana's former classmate Emily Strick say the school and district completely ignored and inadequately handled bullying issues. Emily's mother, Jo Siclari, left, also tried to bring the matter to the attention of the school but to no avail

Adriana Kuch, attended Central Regional High School in Berkeley Township, and was found dead at her home two days after the shocking video surfaced on Feb 1, said police

Emily said that at one stage the bullying got so bad she was afraid to go to her classes.

'I didn't go to school for a full week because in Central you could get jumped very easily. I didn't want to go. I was terrified. There were rumors and everything you can imagine. I'm not sure if the bullies got punished, but I'm pretty sure they did not.'

Emily's mother, Jo Siclari, explained how despite efforts to alert the school, the district, and the police, no action appeared to have been taken.

'I went to the school and went to the police and file reports. I wrote letters to the Board of Education and the superintendent. I sent everything certified actually, at the advice of Diane Grossman, who created Mallory's Law after her daughter committed suicide, and I got no response,' Siclari told Fox.

'It makes me very angry. I mean, sending our children to school every day should not be a liability, and they're the people that are there. We're not there as parents, so we expect them to be our stand-ins when they have our children in the building.

'They won't tell us if the bullies got punished or not.'

The school district has had issues with bullying in the past, it has been revealed, as parents and students continue to come forward detailing how they or their loved ones were bullied at the high school, where they say the administration failed to act.

The death Adriana Kuch, 14, has left a New Jersey community in shock and has led to accusations against Central Regional School District for ignoring bullying

In reviews posted online from six years ago, students shared how they were 'constantly bullied, and no one tried to stop it no matter what'

Reviews of Central Regional High School going back six years show former students complaining about the rampant bullying and harassment at the school.

At the time, one student wrote in a Google Review that the school was 'horrible,' claiming they were 'constantly bullied and no one tried to stop it no matter what.'

And just last year, Racheal O'Dea said her daughter was 'jumped and physically assaulted by MULTIPLE girls at Central Regional.'

O'Dea claims her daughter 'had reported threats and their previous stalking to the school weeks before it happened and NOTHING was done!'

Rachael O'Dea, right, has taken matters into her own hands by creating a Change.org petition calling for a change in the school district's administration

She added that the attack on her daughter was also recorded and sent across social media, and her family sued the school district 'due to their negligence and involvement.'

Amanda Ramirez, mother of Nevaeh Alvarez Ramirez a student who took part in a protest following Adrianna's death told DailyMail.com as she mourned the loss of the 'beautiful' 14-year-old at Friday's visitation said that she supports the students speaking out about bullying.

'I 100 percent support her it's just hard to watch these kids hurting they just want to be heard,' she said.

She was appalled by the lack of sensitivity shown by the school saying there was 'no moment of silence or assembly' for the students or staff to process the horrific death.

'It was just like swept under the rug they talk about how 'oh if you're fighting there will be consequences' but a kid is gone because nobody did anything,' she said.

Students from the Central Regional High School were protesting on Friday over the suicide of Adriana due to bullying

More than 200 students protested outside Central Regional High, demanding action over bullying which they believe is systemic across the school district

'The fact that she was beat up on school premises, she blacked out, that her parents weren't called, that an ambulance wasn't called a kid blacked out that is a medical emergency.

'Her hair was ripped out and on the floor like it's just disgusting and I hurt because I have a lot of respect for teachers there, but hearing that some of them saying it 'wasn't a big deal' that's, uh, a lot it's just mental health is so serious.'

Trisha Tucker, who had also been paying her respects at the visitation told DailyMail.com that her daughter had also been bullied at the school.

'My daughter was being bullied from September/October and I'd been to the freshman principal numerous times told me that it was being handled, my daughter went from being an honor role student to dropping out of marching band to failing her classes and not even wanting to go to school,' she said.

'Now she's cutting herself so yeah they don't do a damn thing they don't care about these kids they're going to sweep it under the rug so they aren't embarrassed.'

Superintendent Dr. Triantafillos Parlapanides stepped down on Saturday

New Jersey teenager Adriana Kuch, 14, took her own life after she was relentlessly bullied just days after a video showing her being punched and kicked at school was circulated online

In response to the community's concerns, the district released a statement this weekend stating that they are evaluating all current and past allegations of bullying and will be undergoing an independent assessment of their anti-bullying policies.

On Saturday, the resignation of Dr. Triantafilos Parlapanides, the superintendent, has also been accepted by the Board of Education.

Parlapanides resignation follows a series of interviews that caught the attention of the school board including some with DailyMail.com in which he made comments regarding Adriana's behavior and possible drug use, which prompted action from the board.

This is the email response Parlapanides provided to DailyMail.com when asked what counseling Adriana had been given. He claimed her 'choices declined', that her mother committed suicide 'since her father had an affair'

Adriana took her own life on February 3 after a video of her being attacked in the school hallway was circulated online.

Her father has been vocal in his criticism of the school, the superintendent and is demanding justice for his daughter.

Four students have been suspended and charged in connection with the attack. The girls involved in the attack had already been suspended indefinitely before they were charged for the incident. They have not been named due to their young age.

One student has since been charged with the aggravated assault of Kuch, two have been charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated assault and a fourth was charged with harassment.

The first three students would be guilty of third-degree crimes if they were charged as adults.

Being found guilty of third-degree aggravated assault as an adult in New Jersey warrants punishments of up to five years in jail and fines as much as $15,000.

However a juvenile convicted of aggravated assault faces only up to two years in a juvenile detention center.

The district's statement emphasized their commitment to ensuring the safety and protection of their students and staff.

'The Central Regional School District Board of Education has accepted the resignation of Dr. Triantafillos Parlapanides,' the board said in a statement on Saturday evening.

'The Central Regional family continues to mourn the loss of one of our children. We are all praying for the family and loved ones and our entire community. The Central Regional School District is evaluating all current and past allegations of bullying.

'The District has contacted the Department of Education and will undergo an independent assessment of the District's anti-bullying policies and ensure every necessary safeguard is in place to protect our students and staff. Dr. Douglas Corbett is acting Superintendent effective immediately.'

Parlapanides did his best to avoid answering DailyMail.com's questioning on Friday afternoon

Parlapanides told DailyMail.com personally, 'Her father was having an affair at the end of her 6th grade. Her father married the woman he had an affair with and moved her into the house.'

He continued, 'Her grades and choices declined in 7th and 8th grade. We offered her drug rehab and mental services on five occasions but the father refused every time.'

Sneaking out of his office at the Ocean County school, the embattled school Superintendent told DailyMail.com that he had 'nothing more to say' when asked whether his earlier comments were an attempt to steer blame away from the administration and whether he believed them to be insensitive.

Students and parents congregated outside the school grounds on Friday holding signs of protest in what they described to be 'a shocking lack of sensitivity' and action from the 'administration who swore to protect' them.

Central Regional High School in Bayville, New Jersey

The 20-second viral clip shows several students attacking the teen and hitting her with a water bottle as she walked with her boyfriend. Bystanders are also seen laughing at Adriana after she was punched, kicked and had her hair pulled, while she lay in the fetal position on the floor of the school hallway.

One of the attackers could be heard yelling, 'That's what you get you stupid a** b****.'

One juvenile was charged with aggravated assault, two were charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated assault and one was charged with harassment, prosecutors in Ocean County, New Jersey, said.

All four juveniles and their guardians were given copies of the complaints and they were released pending future court appearances, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said in an email Saturday.

The family of Adriana Kuch found her body on February 3, two days after her beating beside school lockers at Central Regional High School in Bayville, her father has said.

According to her father Kuch was 'smashed in the face three times with a water bottle' and 'blacked out.' He then had to take his blood covered daughter to the police station to file a report because the school refused to do so

Adriana's bruised legs after the attack. Her father said she was mostly 'humiliated' by the video, which made her feel like she'd been attacked 'twice'

One of the girls involved in the attack posted these heartless messages on Snapchat. Adriana's father said: 'It used to be you'd go to school, get bullied and then you left. But now you come home and you keep getting bullied - they still keep picking at you home.'

Her father, Michael Kuch, said Adriana had been hit with a 20-ounce water bottle.

She received care from the school nurse after the attack left her with bruises and wounds.

'I do know why it happened,' he said. 'It happened because these two havent liked each other for a couple years, and she had been threatening my daughter online.'

After students at the high school participated in a walkout on Wednesday, the fomer District Superintendent Triantafillos Parlapanides wrote in a letter to parents that the protest interfered with 'the learning process' and future 'rallies' will need prior approval from the administration.

Michael Kuch, shown here on Friday at his daughter's visitation, told DailyMail.com that he in discussions with a family lawyer regarding the family's next legal steps

Michael Kuch speaking to DailyMail.com outside of his daughter's visitation

'I spoke with the student protestors in front of the school on Wednesday and offered to sit down and meet with them to discuss their concerns,' said the prosecutor, Billhimer, who was at the high school again on Friday to meet with protest organizers for more than two hours.

Billhimer said he discussed ways to improve the district's response to school 'incidents' during a meeting on Saturday with Parlapanides.

'I also shared some suggestions regarding staff changes as well as programming and services to respond to the needs of the students,' Billhimer wrote.

Adriana was born in Toledo, Ohio, and moved to Bayville seven years ago, according to her obituary.

She was described as an animal lover and a girl who helped children with special needs.

In astonishing emails to DailyMail.com Triantafillos Parlapanides, the Superintendent of Central Regional School District, said Adriana - who killed herself in her bedroom closet on February 3 two days after being beaten - had been offered counseling 'for drugs'

Michael Kuch told DailyMail.com that his daughter had been told not to come back to school in case she was bullied further over her injured face.

He went on to describe the administration at Central Regional High School in Berkeley Township, New Jersey, as a 'cancer' after the superintendent blamed the dad's 'poor choices' and alleged 'affair' for his daughter's tragic death.

Adriana's dad was speaking at a visitation at the Mastapeter Memorial Home in Bayville for his daughter on Friday night, where hundreds came to pay their respects to the teenager.

Michael told DailyMail.com that he in discussions with a family lawyer regarding the family's next legal steps. He also said that attorneys from across the country have been in contact with him.

'We cant stop crying this is the last time Im ever going to see her.

'It was not supposed to happen we heard it over and over again your child isnt supposed to go before you,' Michael wept.

On Friday, Kuch said of Parlapanides, 'Whats insensitive is him going on social media and defending his actions and attacking other people.

The 14-year-old was said to be a nature lover who loved to go on walks with her brothers

'The administration needs to be completely shaken up and by shaken up I mean they need to be removed,' he added.

Kuch continued, 'I dont know why hes been there that long I have no idea why that man still has a job.'

The teen's dad went on to rail against the school's management repeatedly calling them incompetent and saying that the school didn't want to expel his daughter's tormentors because they were worried about loss in revenue.

He said, 'If my daughter is only worth $23,000 a head to them then because they would lose four students then what is anybodys kid worth.'

The grieving father said that he had to wait until the video was posted online to see the attack as the school management wouldn't show it to him.

He added, 'I think the superintendent should be charged with obstruction of justice.'

Adriana killed herself sometime after 10.46pm on February 2

An obituary posted online says the 14-year-old 'adored all animals, she helped children with special needs, she loved jogging with her brothers and was a true nature lover.

'Adriana also enjoyed her walks in the woods, skateboarding, riding dune buggies and dirt bikes,' it continues.

Her sister-in-law, Jennifer Ferro, also posted online that Adriana was a 'one-of-a-kind kid.

'Our family and her parents would describe her as a beautiful girl who was happy, funny, stubborn, strong, loved animals, could make friends easily [and] would draw all time time.

'She loved going on runs with her older brother and our dogs when she came to visit us during the summer, and she always wanted to try out new hobbies... but would get tired of them fast.

'She talked about how she wanted to be a tattoo artist when she turns 18, and although I didn't take it seriously in the past, I really wish I could've seen what that future was like to know he still had a future,' Ferro continued.

'Sissy was our family's spitfire, and although she had her moments (the good, bad and ugly) we loved her more than life itself and are heartbroken knowing she's gone.'

Adriana was predeceased by her mother, Brandy, and is survived by her father, Michael, and step-mother, Sarah, as well as eight siblings.

Adriana with her boyfriend Jason, who tried to pull the other girls off her and protect her

If you or a loved one needs help, call the National Suicide Prevention Line at 1-800-273-8255.
A passenger onboard the terrifying United Airlines flight that came within feet of crashing into the Pacific Ocean described his and his family's harrowing experience.

Rod Williams II said he was sitting near the back of United Flight 1722 with his wife and kids on December 18 when it suddenly came down.

The plane, which had been headed to San Francisco from Hawaii when it found itself in an intense storm, proceeded to go into a 'dramatic, nose-down' dive for about eight to 10 seconds, creating mass pandemonium in the cabin, Williams said.

Williams studied aviation in college and had some understanding of what was happening, he said, and thus tried to keep calm for the sake of his daughter, 10, and seven-year-old son, who had never flown before their trip to Hawaii.

The Ohio man, however, said he was unaware of how the plane came within seconds of hitting the water - which had been less than 775 feet away according to flight officials - until reports of the incident surfaced for the first time this week.

Rod Williams II was sitting near the back of the plane with his wife and kids when it came down. Williams, who studied aviation in college, said he tried to keep calm for the sake of his children

The United Airlines flight from Hawaii to San Francisco plummeted in the air during the previously unreported December incident, coming within 775 feet of the Pacific Ocean

Providing his personal account of the experience - which went unreported until this week - the father-of-two told CNN he initially thought the turbulence was normal, but as other passengers' screams became more pronounced, he soon realized something was wrong.

'It felt like you were climbing to the top of a roller coaster,' Williams said, telling the outlet the he noticed the plane had dipped at a 'concerning rate' for several seconds.

'It was at that point,' he said.

It was at this point, Williams said, that passengers who at first tried to remain calm began to panic.

'There were a number of screams on the plane,' the Columbus, Ohio, realtor recalled. 'Everybody knew that something was out of the ordinary, or at least that this was not normal.'

Still, the dutiful dad - scared-stiff himself - tried to keep his cool in the presence of his wife and children.

'You're trying your best to maintain your composure  there's obviously kids on the flight. nobody really knows what's going on,' Williams said, before adding, 'but at the same time, you're concerned. You don't know if this is an issue.'

'It was certainly out of the ordinary.'

The report about December's incident, which analyzed available data, revealed that the flight reached 2,200 feet before suddenly diving nearly 8,600 feet per minute

Williams proceed to provide new on the panicked states of passengers, as well as insight into his own state of mind during the harrowing ordeal - which only came to light after a report Sunday from the outlet Air Current.

He said he and his wife, seated on either side of their two kids, shared a silent glance as the plane descended 1,425 feet from an original 2,200 feet shortly after takeoff, before regaining its climb out of Kahului on the island of Maui.

'It's tense, you don't really have a chance to speak or to conjure up words, you're just kind of gripping the seat and praying under your breath,' he recalled of the thoughts going through their heads at the time.

'I asked her later and sure enough we were praying for a miracle, because we felt like this could be it.'

Soon enough, the scare was over, Williams said, at which point flight attendants came out to comfort some passengers who were especially distraught,.

Williams, who is the first passenger to provide a personal account of the incident, which only came to light after a report Sunday from the outlet Air Current

About ten minutes later, and there was an announcement that assured the passengers the event had passed.

'Someone from the cockpit got on the intercom and said, 'Alright, folks, you probably felt a couple G's on that one, but everything's gonna be OK,' said Williams, who is the first passenger to provide a personal account of the incident.

''We're gonna be alright,'' Williams credited the United staffer saying.

Despite the stormy conditions seen during takeoff, the rest of the flight went smoothly, Williams said. After landing in San Francisco, the family took another flight home to Ohio.

Speaking to CNN, he revealed that since, he and his family were never notified of how close the plane came to the water by staffers from the airline.

He only found out on Sunday night - more than eight weeks after the flight - when his father showed him Air Current's coverage of the incident.

He remarked: 'Now that I know, statistically what had happened, and that we were about 5 to 5.2 seconds from hitting the water, you know, I'm definitely counting my blessings.

'I'm reminded that when my wife and I pray together before the flights that, you know, there's a God that's here in that.'

Williams went on to thank pilots for their 'amazing, amazing recovery efforts,' for which he said they should be praised.

'You read about these things, but then when you get to experience it, it's just, sobering, you know. I'm very thankful to be here today.'

The incident lasted only 45 seconds before the aircraft recovered and landed safely in San Francisco. It departed on its next flight to Chicago just over two hours later.

A spokesperson for United told Dailymail.com that a formal report was filed, the aircraft was inspected before its next flight and that the incident led to the pilots - who have fully cooperated with the investigation - receiving additional training. They have a combined 25,000 hours of flying time.
President Biden will award the Medial of Honor to retired black Army Col. Paris Davis for his heroic service during the Vietnam War  after paperwork recommending him for the honor mysteriously 'vanished' in 1965  and then again four years later.

Biden phoned Davis, who was among the first black officers to lead Green Beret forces, on Monday to tell him of the honor and thank him for his 'remarkable heroism,' according to the White House.

At a future White House ceremony, he will recognize Davis for his conduct when he was a 26-year-old captain. While under fire from North Vietnamese forces near Saigon, he dragged fellow fellow serviceman to safety, even after a grenade ripped through his teeth and even ripped through his trigger finger.

He was soon nominated for the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military honor. But the Army lost his paperwork. A commander submitted paperwork four years later, only to have it go missing again  prompting charges of racism. A 1969 military review didn't reveal any Medal of Honor file on Davis.

Army Col. Paris Davis (ret.) is being awarded the Medal of Honor more than 60 years after he was first nominated for displaying heroism under fire

'The call today from President Biden prompted a wave of memories of the men and women I served with in Vietnam  from the members of 5th Special Forces Group and other U.S. military units to the doctors and nurses who cared for our wounded,' Davis said in a statement, CBS News reported.

'I am so very grateful for my family and friends within the military and elsewhere who kept alive the story of A-team, A-321 at Camp Bong Son. I think often of those fateful 19 hours on June 18, 1965 and what our team did to make sure we left no man behind on that battlefield.'

He refused to leave behind two of his comrades. One of them, Billy Waugh, spoke decades later of how Davis 'grabbed me, and he (dragged) me, after he himself was shot several times and couldn't walk.

'I only have to close my eyes to vividly recall the gallantry of this individual,' he wrote years later, in 1981.

His comrades suspected racism was at work.

'What other assumption can you make?' team member Ron Deis, then-77, told the New York Times in 2021.

'We all knew he deserved it then,' he said. 'He sure as hell deserves it now.'

A comrade and a commanding officer nominated him for the award, the nation's highest, but the Army lost his file

David and comrades blamed racism for whatever happened to his file

President Biden called Davis to tell him of the honor and thank him for his 'remarkable heroism,' according to the White House

'The call today from President Biden prompted a wave of memories of the men and women I served with in Vietnam  from the members of 5th Special Forces Group and other U.S. military units to the doctors and nurses who cared for our wounded,' Davis said in a statement

Waugh and his former commander, Billy Cole, each recommended him for the commendation.

Pressing on, his advocates contacted former Defense Secretary Christopher Miller, who ordered an expedited review of the matter.

Davis was asked by CBS last year whether he thought race was a factor. 'I don't think  I know race was a factor,' he said.

According to the White House, the medal 'will be awarded following recommendations by the Secretary of the Army and the Secretary of Defense. The President told Colonel Davis that he looks forward to hosting him at the White House soon for a medal presentation.'

According to the Times account based on after-action reports, Davis had teeth and his trigger finger blown off by the grenade in June, 1965 after his team came under fire. They and about 90 South Vietnamese forces continued to face fire.

He fired with his pinkie and ran into open areas to help his comrades.

In 2021, Biden awarded the Medal of Honor posthumosly to Army Sgt. 1st Class Alwyn Cashe, the first African American to receive the honor since the end of the Vietnam era, for his conduct in Iraq. He carried troops to safety despite suffering burns over 72 per cent of his body. He ultimately died of his injuries.
An expert car reviewer has exposed the difficult reality of owning an electric vehicle and finding a charging station in Australia.

Car expert Jonathan Ross has vented his frustration after struggling to find a place to charge a $100,000 Kia EV6 in Perth.

Ross had been driving the vehicle around and reviewing the perks and shortcomings of the electric car for his YouTube channel Ross Reviews.

Canadian man Jonathan Ross vented his frustration after struggling to find a place to charge his $100,000 Kia EV6 in Perth

He filmed his journey as he drove to four different locations before finding an adequate charging station.

Mr Ross is seen in the video sitting in the boot of the electric vehicle as it recharged at the station.

He said he had been waiting for about an hour just for the vehicle's battery to reach 80 per cent after waiting in queue for the station.

'It's f***ing. It's crazy man. This is what you call clown world,' he said in a TikTok video.

'Everyone here is waiting an hour and queuing up and waiting for others to charge.'

A look of defeat was on his face as he contemplated the final cost of the recharge.

'We're still going to have to pay, you know, the same as petrol,' he said. 'Clown world.'

Mr Ross revealed that he was forced to search for a charging station after his battery levels dropped to 17 per cent.

The vehicle only had enough energy to travel another 61km sending Mr Ross into a panic.

He filmed his disappointment after wasting five kilometres to drive to an inadequate charging station.

A small shelter had been built around it with a locked gate in the doorway.

The shelter was only big enough to charge an electric scooter

'There's not even anything in here. Are you kidding me?' Mr Ross said.

'Are you kidding me? I don't know how you get into this.'

Ross had been driving the vehicle around and reviewing the perks and shortcomings of the electric vehicle for his channel Ross Reviews

The 2023 Kia EV6 GT will set drivers back more than $100,000 making it the most expensive Kia sold in Australia (stock image)

Social media users slammed the lack of available charging stations claiming they would not be making the switch from petrol cars anytime soon.

'I don't think Australia is ready for electric cars,' one wrote.

The 2023 Kia EV6 will set drivers back around $100,000, making it the most expensive Kia sold in Australia.

Mr Ross's review is the latest example of growing frustration shown by owners of electric vehicles who are disappointed about the lack of available charging stations.

During the Christmas holidays, Tesla drivers were forced to wait in 90-minute queues at charging stations as thousands took to the roads.

Queues for charging stations were spotted nationwide, including in Victoria and NSW.

Footage showed Tesla owners aimlessly standing around their cars as they waited for their turn at a Wodonga station on the NSW/Victoria border.

Similar scenes at a Coffs Harbour charging point in northern NSW, with Teslas stretching through the carpark as drivers waited their turn to power up.
The ABC is editing a controversial radio report that saw it describe an Alice Springs crisis meeting as a 'white supremacist fest'.

The network issued a grovelling apology earlier this month and admitted it had provided 'incomplete' coverage of the Save Alice Springs meeting.

Now, it has started editing the report, while blaming its publication on 'logistical and editorial management breakdowns'.

The meeting saw around 3,000 Alice Springs locals discuss their concerns over the out-of-control youth crime wave spreading throughout their community.

Around 3,000 Alice Springs locals met to discuss their concerns over the out-of-control youth crime wave spreading throughout their community

However, the ABC report of the meeting claimed there were elements of 'white supremacy' at the meeting.

The network was forced into a humiliating climb down and apology four days later.

'We acknowledge that one report on AM was incomplete, and did not adequately cover the full context of the meeting or the range of perspectives expressed at it,' it said.

'ABC News apologises to audiences for providing an incomplete picture of the event in this instance.'

The airing of the story was blamed on ABC managing director David Anderson, who will now be grilled about the report at senate estimates on Tuesday.

He admitted that the network should've dealt with the issue faster but stood by airing the report.

On Monday, he wrote to Liberal senator Sarah Henderson and admitted that ABC's editorial systems had failed.

'We accept that we should have publicly recognised the flaws in the AM package earlier and apologised to audiences,' he said in the correspondence seen by The Australian.

However, the ABC report of the meeting claimed there were elements of 'white supremacy' at the meeting

'After reviewing the story and the actions leading up to its broadcast, it became clear that logistical and editorial management breakdowns had contributed to an incomplete report being aired.

'The ABC has apologised to audiences and drafted an editor's note which links to stories containing a broader range of perspectives.'

Despite the apparent promise to edit the report, it is still available online in its original format.

Mr Anderson said the editing process of the AM report had already started but insisted the network was right to air the claims of 'white supremacy'.

'ABC news management had already commenced re-editing and reposting the original story,' he said. 'The perception of racial tension in Alice Springs is the honestly held opinion of some Alice Springs residents. That perspective, including the description of 'white supremacy' is significant, and it would be remiss of the ABC not to report it, if that is what is being told.'

Senator Henderson said: 'The ABC has not explained how these editorial failings occurred, its conflicting positions or provided information about any measures it has put in place to avoid such offensive and one-sided reporting in future.'

ABC Media Watch host Paul Barry previously slammed his own network for describing the Alice Springs crisis meeting as a 'white supremacist fest'.

ABC Indigenous Affairs correspondent Carly Williams' live cross on TV of the meeting said many people had left the meeting early and that 'a non-indigenous person' had described the meeting as 'a disgusting display of white supremacy'

Mr Barry accused the public broadcaster of 'eroding years of goodwill and trust' it had fostered in the Northern Territory.

He also said that the report lacked balance and should 'never have been put to air'.

Appearing on Media Watch, Mr Barry said: 'Balance was indeed very much missing in the ABC's report, which aired across AM and News Radio.

'There was no attempt to explain what the meeting was about or canvass the views of the majority.

'And having watched it in full, and talked to journalists who went along, we think the story should never have been put to air.

'Local ABC journalists were angry, too. They say the story has caused a backlash against the ABC in the NT and eroded years of trust and goodwill.'

Mr Barry was also critical of his network's apology when it eventually came.

'It's not the strongest apology, and the story is still up, unchanged. And why the ABC couldn't say it on Wednesday is beyond me.

'But at least they have now admitted the mistake. Let's hope they can learn from it.'
The grandmother of Quinton Simon, a 20-month-old boy who was found dead in a Georgia landfill last November, appeared in court on Monday to hand over a series of notebooks belonging to the murdered toddler's mother, Leilani Simon.

Leilani Simon is facing 19 charges, including that of murder and other offenses for allegedly using drugs before killing her son and disposing of his body in the trash.

The hearing yesterday also included a motion for the Department of Family and Children Services (DFCS) to turn over all records related to the family, which Judge Stokes will now review to determine if any of them are relevant to the case.

The eight notebooks belonging to Simon were handed over after a subpoena was issued last month.

They were handed over to the judge by Billie Jo Howell, Quinton's grandmother and Leilani's mother.

Attorneys representing the mother of Quinton Simon, a 20-month-old boy who was found dead in a Georgia landfill last November, appeared in court on Monday, pictured above, for a hearing on several motions. Quinton's grandmother, seen far right in blue, handed over eight notebooks as evidence to the judge

Leilani Simon is accused of murdering her son Quinton and then discarding his body in the trash

Simon was supposedly high on drugs when she used an unidentified object to beat her son which caused 'serious bodily injury' and led to his death, prosecutors revealed in December. She reportedly met with her drug dealer right before the murder

Leilani Simon has been incarcerated since the police arrested her on November 21, 2022, when investigators found the remains of her son after spending weeks combing through the landfill's garbage.

During the motions hearing, the judge presiding over the case, Tammy Stokes, also ruled that cameras would be allowed in the courtroom during the trial on a case-by-case basis, despite objections from the prosecution.

Prosecutors had argued that cameras should be banned altogether due to Quinton's young siblings, while defense attorneys asked for a more lenient ruling.

Leilani Simon reported her son missing on October 5, 2022, when she called 911 to report that little Quinton had disappeared from his indoor playpen at their home just outside Savannah, Georgia.

After the police spent several days searching the home and the surrounding neighborhood, Chatham County Police Chief Jeff Hadley announced that investigators believed the child was dead and named Leilani Simon as the sole suspect.

Prosecutors subpoenaed the alleged murderer's journals or similar writings and led to eight notebooks being handed over to a judge on Monday

Simon faces 19 charges including that of murder and other offenses for allegedly using drugs before killing her son and disposing of his body in the trash

Police and FBI agents focused their investigation on the landfill two weeks after the boy was reported missing.

Eight notebooks were handed over to the judge by Billie Jo Howell, Quinton's grandmother and Leilani's mother

They spent more than a month sifting through the garbage before finding human bones, which DNA tests later confirmed to be Quinton's.

The indictment against Leilani Simon charges her with murder, concealing a death, and falsely reporting a crime, in addition to 14 separate counts of lying to investigators.

According to the indictment, the night before her son's death, Simon met with a drug dealer and used an unspecified drug.

The indictment alleges that Quinton died on the morning of October 5, 2022, after his mother assaulted him with an unknown object, causing him 'serious bodily injury.'

Simon then allegedly dumped his body in a trash bin outside a mobile home park about 1.5 miles from her home.

Simon later told investigators that she had gone there to dispose of 'normal household garbage.'

The court document shows that she told investigators she left her home on the morning of October 5, 2022, to meet a friend at a gas station to get Orajel.

However, investigators believe that instead of meeting that friend, she was in fact dumping the 20-month-old boy's body into the garbage dumpster at the Azalea Mobile Home Plaza.

Simon repeatedly told investigators the same lies three days after Quinton's reported disappearance and again one week later.

On October 31, 2022, Simon changed her story and told investigators that her boyfriend, Daniel Youngkin, was the one who left the home on the morning of Quinton's disappearance.

She repeated the same story to investigators on the day she was taken into custody.
An angry mum who branded her daughter's death at the hans of her Muslim husband an 'honour killing' has apologised for going to war with Islam.

Mohamed Naddaf had pleaded guilty to the criminally negligent manslaughter of Ashlee Brown, 25, who died in their 'unkempt and dirty' Craigieburn home in Melbourne's north in November 2016.

Ashlee's mum Siobhann Brown had draped herself in an Australian flag outside Naddaf's Supreme Court of Victoria hearings in 2018 and was supported by anti-Islam protesters throughout his 2020 appeal.

Siobhann Brown waves the Australian flag as she attends court in 2018. Her daughter had been killed by her husband Mohamed Naddaf

But after seven years of blaming Islam for her daughter's death, Ms Brown has now apologised to the Islamic community for stirring up hate against its believers.

'I wanted revenge. I wanted Islam to suffer. I spoke out publicly against Islam. Seven years later I now understand I was wrong to do that,' Ms Brown posted to social media.

Few could have blamed Ms Brown for her feelings of rage following the brutal death of her daughter.

The mother of three children aged under five had been bashed, stabbed, gagged and had her long strawberry blonde hair cut off by Naddaf.

The court had heard Naddaf had helped Ashlee to the bathroom, putting her down on a flannelette sheet on the floor, and fed her water through a syringe for five days.

He finally called triple zero on November 6 after Ashlee died from complications arising from more than 100 injuries including internal and external bleeding.

In 2020, Naddaf lost an appeal over his sentence, condemning him to serve his full non-parole period of eight years in jail.

Ms Brown had attended the Supreme Court of Victoria that day alongside her surviving daughter Dakota-Lee and anti-Islam protesters.

'We do not have to accept these things but we must continue to raise awareness and educate as many as we can on this sadly rapidly growing horror we have come to know as domestic violence,' she said then.

'In Ashlee's case it was Islam.'

Ashlee Brown suffered more than 100 blunt and sharp force injuries. The mother of three children under five had been bound, gagged and had her long strawberry blonde hair cut off

Mohamed Naddaf is escorted from a prison van to the Victorian Supreme Court ahead of his sentencing in January over the manslaughter of his 25-year-old wife Ashlee Brown in 2016

Siobhann Brown and her daughter Dakota-Lee celebrate on the doors of the Supreme Court of Victoria after Naddaf's appeal failed

Justice John Champion said Ashlee was found in the passenger seat of the couple's car after having been subjected to a 'deliberate and frenzied assault' and tied up with clothesline wire.

During Naddaf's doomed appeal, his barrister Jason Gullaci argued Justice Champion had got it wrong and asked the court to reduce Naddaf's sentence.

He reminded the court that Naddaf had not been convicted of causing the injuries to his wife, but had failed to get her assistance.

Supporters of Ms Brown who packed the court room scoffed at the suggestion.

'Rubbish,' one man muttered. 'It should be murder not bloody manslaughter.'

Outside court, supporters held placards demanding 'Justice For Ashlee' and branded her death an honour killing.

This month, Ms Brown told her followers she was wrong to blame Islam for her daughter's death.

'One man killed my daughter and I will never forgive him for that. However I must apologise to the Islamic community in Australia. I am truly sorry. I know I can't take back what I said. However I can only apologise,' she posted to Facebook this month.

The qualified security guard said she had never discriminated against Muslims in her day-to-day life, but regretted her previous attacks on their faith.

'I am sincerely sorry about speaking out against your religion,' she wrote.

'I am not a hypocrite. I am just me and six years ago I wanted blood. I believe speaking out and starting a hate campaign was my way of grieving and getting through my daughter's death and for that I am truly sorry.'

Ms Brown said she was now focused on finding peace in her life and 'coming full circle'.

'I need to do this so I can let go of misplaced anger. I do hope some members of the Islamic faith reach out to me as I would like to mend that bridge,' she stated.

Siobhann Brown, whose daughter Ashlee was found dead in the home she shared with her husband Mohamed Naddaf, went to war with Islam

Ashlee Brown and Mohamed Naddaf (both pictured) lived together in Melbourne's northern suburbs. Ashlee was 25 when she was found dead on the bathroom floor of the couple's home

Ms Brown told reporters in 2020 she believed Naddaf should have faced a murder trial for the death of her daughter, who had converted to Islam and had not spoken to her for five years.

'I am here today to raise awareness to the horrific, torturous death that Ashlee endured,' Ms Brown said at the time.

'My daughter's injuries and circumstances surrounding her death had all the hallmarks of an Islamic honour killing.'

Ms Brown told Daily Mail Australia she had not heard from her eldest daughter since a phone call five years before she died.

Her daughter told her she was marrying a Muslim man and was three months pregnant with her first child.

Ms Brown had met Naddaf when Ashlee visited the family's home in country Victoria when she was about 18.

'She introduced him as 'Macca',' Ms Brown said. 'It was very brief.

'He seemed like a nice, very polite, young man. It pains me to say that. I didn't see him again after that.'

There was no communication for some time before a phone call came 'out of the blue' that would mean the end of all contact between Ms Brown and her daughter.

Siobhann Brown and her supporters smiled at they left the Supreme Court in Melbourne in 2020 after learning Mohamed Naddaf would have to serve his minimum non-parole term

Ashlee was a fun-loving girl,' Siobhann Brown told Daily Mail Australia. 'She was giving. She was loving. She loved the sun, the beach. She loved singing, dancing, having fun'

When Ashlee was about 20 she rang to say she was pregnant and wanted her mother's blessing to convert to Islam and marry Naddaf.

'She said to me, 'Mum, I need your blessing to become Muslim'. She said 'I'm three months' pregnant and I'm engaged to Mohamed. I would really like to marry him, mum, and settle down and have a baby'.

'I said to her, 'Darling, I don't know anything about the Muslim religion. As long as you know what you're doing'.

'I said, 'Do you have to wear one of those burqas or hijabs?' I didn't know what they were called.

'She said, 'No mum, only when I go into the mosque because it's disrespectful for a woman to show her face before God'.

'I said to Ashlee, 'As long as you're making a fully informed decision and it's what you really want'.'

Ashlee said that it was.

'There was a pause after that,' Ms Brown said. 'She said. 'Thank you, mum'. And then her voice seemed to change and she said, 'It's Islam'. That didn't mean anything to me at the time.

'We said goodbye to each other and we hung up and I didn't hear from Ashlee again.'

Ms Brown said she was convinced the lack of subsequent contact with Ashlee was solely down to her religious conversion and Naddaf controlling his wife.

'I believe Islam killed my daughter,' she said.

'If I could have taken that phone call back I would have not have given her my blessing. I would have said 'No, sorry love'.
Bunnings have introduced an aid to help the growing number of Australians who experience autism.

The hardware chain has created sensory maps for its stores which indicate areas inside that autistic people might find challenging.

Autism can embrace a wide range of symptoms and characteristics but commonly those with the condition have heightened sensory experiences or have trouble processing too much input from their surrounds.

Bunnings have introduced sensory maps to their stores as an aid for customers with autism

The sensory maps identify areas in a Bunnings store where sensory experiences might prove challenging for someone with autism (pictured, Bunnings Warehouse in Melbourne)

Bunnings Chief Customer Officer Ryan Baker told Daily Mail Australia the maps would help people navigate areas in a store that might be challenging for someone on the autism spectrum.

'Were really pleased to have rolled out sensory maps for every Bunnings store across Australia and New Zealand, which we hope will be a helpful tool for our customers with sensory restrictions,' he said.

'We know there are some areas of our stores that may have loud noises, strong smells or bright lights, such as our nursery and timber yard.

'The sensory maps will allow customers to identify these locations specific to their local store.

'We want all our stores to be a welcoming and inclusive place for everyone, and hope these maps help ensure customers have a great experience every time they shop with us.'

The maps can be found on the Bunnings website by going to the 'stores locations' page

Knowing which areas of the store might be challenging for someone with autism or a a person accompanying them can allow them to take countermeasures, for example by putting on noise-cancelling headphones for a loud environment.

The maps can be found on the Bunnings website by going to the 'stores locations' page, clicking on the 'more details' button for each store and then downloading the map from the link sitting below store opening hours.

Mel Spencer, who is CEO of online autism network Different Journeys, told the New Daily many don't understand the challenges autistic people can face in every day environments.

Ms Spencer, who along with her three children, has been diagnosed with autism and said loud stores or sudden changes in layout can be so disorienting that she will avoid shopping there in the future.

'If you stand in a Bunnings store and close your eyes, there's so many different sounds you can hear,' she said.

'So then imagine if you're autistic, those sounds are painful.'

Supermarket chain Coles has rolled out Quiet Hour shopping in many of its stores to make it easier for customers who have autism or who have children with the condition

The Bunnings maps have been developed in cooperation with autism support and advocacy group, Amaze.

The number of Australians being diagnosed with autism is soaring.

It is thought up to 16 per cent of children may have the condition, according to early invention specialist easystart.

Bunnings is not the first Australian retail giant to provide extra support for its autistic customers.

After a Melbourne trial in 2017, Coles has rolled out Quiet Hour in over 70 stores, which is designed to assist parents shopping with children on the autism spectrum.

Quiet Hour sees Coles turn down the music and the noise of cash registers, offer free fruit and dim the lights slightly between 10.30am and 11.30am on Tuesdays.
Former patient Kiera Bell took drugs aged 16 to begin her transition to male

A psychologist who worked at a controversial NHS gender transition clinic for children feared they were performing conversion therapy for gay kids.

A new book reveals how Dr Matt Bristow, who worked at the Tavistock Clinics Gender Identity Development Service (Gids) for five years, raised concerns that boys and girls who said they wanted to change sex might simply be gay.

He warned gay children were pushed down another path, towards transitioning, and that there was a reluctance from the Gids leadership to engage properly with sexuality.

And the doctor claimed that many heterosexual members of staff just didnt realise that many gender non-conforming behaviours applied just as much to children who grew up to be gay, lesbian or bisexual as to children who would grow up to be trans.

Examples include things like cross-dressing, feeling different, not necessarily fitting in with other children of their own sex, or having friends predominantly of the opposite sex, he said.

Damning review: Tavistock Trusts service is to close (file image)

Staff at the centre even joked there would be no gay people left at the rate Gids was going, it was claimed.

Dr Bristow, who was openly gay when he joined the service, said when he raised concerns it was suggested to him that homosexual staff werent professionally distant enough. Gids deny this claim.

He made his accusations to Newsnight journalist Hannah Barnes, who spoke to dozens of clinicians who worked at the service for her new book, which has been seen by the Daily Mail.

Bristow came to feel that Gids was performing conversion therapy for kids, she writes. It is a serious claim.

Some clinicians have relayed how there was even a dark joke in the Gids team that there would be no gay people left at the rate Gids was going.

I dont think that all of the children were gay, by any means, Bristow tells me. But there were gay children there - in my view I think there were gay children - who were being pushed down another path.

Dr Bristows views were echoed by other clinicians, whose identities are not known, who took their concerns to Sonia Appleby, the childrens safeguarding lead for the Tavistock Trust.

They told her they feared that the service was seeing children who saw being transgender as a less oppressive option than acknowledging they are gay.

The book also reveals how another clinician, Dr Natasha Prescott, voiced that there is increasing concern that gender affirmative therapy, if applied unthinkingly, is reparative therapy against gay individuals, i.e. by making them straight.

Other doctors working at the service said they experienced some parents who appeared to prefer the idea that their child was transgender and straight than that they were gay, and were pushing them towards transition.

Psychotherapist Anastassis Spiliadis, who joined the clinic in 2015, said he believed homophobia was everywhere and that there were many negative comments about gay people.

Former patient Keira Bell went to court saying she had not been challenged enough about her decision at 16 to take drugs that began her transition from female to male

He said some young people would be repulsed by the fact that they were attracted to the same sex, with some saying they want to die when hearing the word lesbian.

Data from 2012, shared by Gids, reveals that over 90 per cent of females and 80 per cent of males referred to their service said they were same-sex attracted or bisexual.

But the service said their most recent statistics - from 2016 - show 60 per cent of males were same-sex attracted or bisexual. For females, over half were same-sex attracted and just under 20 per cent said they were bisexual.

Speaking to the Daily Mail about Dr Bristows conversion therapy claims, Ms Barnes said: No-one thinks that that was the intention, obviously.

But was that the outcome? It appeared to be, from the limited data that there were, and what they knew from the past. It certainly seemed that those impacted by gender dysphoria or gender-related distress would tend to be those who might be gay or bisexual.

So many clinicians have said that particularly amongst the girls - but the boys also - so many of them seemed to be same-sex attracted but didnt want to be.

And multiple clinicians raised those fears. Of course no-one is implying there was any intention to convert children, but was it happening? It might have been when you look at those numbers.

Former Health Minister Jackie Doyle-Price said: It is very clear that young people can experience distress with their gender as part of growing up. There can be a whole host of reasons for that.

Young people need the space to explore their identity without being put on a medical pathway that may do them harm.

Being same sex attracted can be a cause of gender distress. We are failing children by suggesting they can change their sex when we should be encouraging them to be comfortable with who they are.

Stephanie Davies-Arai, founder of Transgender Trend: Many children experiencing gender-related distress grow up to be gay, lesbian or bisexual, happy in their own bodies.

Published studies show that this is the likelihood for the overwhelming majority of children, and that a trans identity in adulthood is the least likely outcome.

It is a dereliction of duty by the Tavistock not to explore sexuality and any other issues which may be underlying a childs distress, such as trauma, mental health issues or bullying.

How many of these children will grow up to regret that they were denied the chance to grow up happily gay in their own medically- undamaged bodies?

Data from 2012, shared by Gids, reveals that over 90 per cent of females and 80 per cent of males referred to their service said they were same-sex attracted or bisexual

The book also reveals how some incredibly complex children were placed on puberty-blocking medication after just one face-to-face appointment.

And some ex-clinicians likened the service to East Germanys state-sponsored doping programme.

Gids, which was founded in 1989, was previously the UKs only dedicated gender identity clinic for children and young people.

It was ordered to shut last year following a landmark review by Dr Hilary Cass, which concluded young people were left at considerable risk of poor mental health and distress as demands put unsustainable pressure on the service.

Dr Cass also raised concerns about the possible effects of puberty-blocking drugs on young brains after they were handed out to children as young as ten.

In an interim report last March, Dr Cass hit out at the lack of open discussion at the trust about its treatment, which was not subject to some of the typical quality controls.

She found other mental health issues were overshadowed in favour of gender identity issues when children were referred to Gids.

Gids is set to close its doors in the spring and two new specialist centres for children will be set up, with regional hubs planned to open in London and Manchester.

A spokesman for the Tavistock Trust said: Gids works on a case-by-case basis with every young person and their family, working thoughtfully and holistically with them to explore their situation, with no expectation of what the right outcome for them might be.

Only the minority of young people seen in the service are referred for any physical interventions. At the Tavistock and Portman we wholeheartedly support our staff to raise concerns, and have recently strengthened our mechanisms for doing so.

Concerns relating to young peoples wellbeing are taken seriously and investigated.

The Service is a welcoming place for people from all sections of the LGBTQI+ community, and we are proud of the diversity in our staff group. When working with young people we explore gender and sexuality in age-appropriate ways, and have no preconceived outcome for any given young person.

Keira Bell, who was born female and transitioned to male, has spoken about the physical and psychological impact of her treatment at Tavistocks gender identity service.

Ms Bell was a very mentally ill teenage girl when she was referred to Gids after saying she thought she was a boy.

She was given drugs to pause her development before she realised - six years later and after a double mastectomy - that she wanted to detransition.

She took on the Tavistock in a landmark court case in 2020, alleging the clinic did not provide her with adequate information and that youngsters were not able to give informed consent - and won.

Ms Barnes book, Time to Think: The Inside Story of the Collapse of the Tavistocks Gender Service for Children, will be published on February 23.

Doctors at gender clinic Tavistock had to 'juggle 100 patients' and were left 'anxious and traumatised', book claims

Anastassis Spiliadis claimed staff were 'pushed' to make space for new patients

In a patient sample it was said 15 per cent changed their minds on transitioning

Children attending Tavistock's gender unit faced a 'clinician lottery' with many doctors juggling 100 families at once, it has been claimed.

Anastassis Spiliadis, who worked at the overloaded Gender Identity Development Service (Gids), said staff would be 'pushed' to free up space for new patients.

In Hannah Barnes' book, Mr Spiliadis said he was 'questioned' about conducting longer assessments on his patients.

'Spiliadis concedes he was never pushed too hard, but he insists others were,' the book reads. 'They would be pushed to "discharge families or to close them or to refer them on to endocrinology [hormone treatment] in order to free up space for new clients or patients".'

In a sample of patients, he says 15 per cent changed their minds about wanting to transition to another gender.

Anastassis Spiliadis, who worked at the overloaded Gender Identity Development Service (Gids), said staff would be 'pushed' to free up space for new patients

One thing these people had in common was longer assessments, he said. This gave some the time to 'come to the understanding that their gender identity wasn't what was causing them most difficulty'.

Figures show nearly 8,000 children are on the waiting list for NHS gender identity treatment, a rise of more than two-thirds in less than two years. 'For any given young person, their experience of assessment could be totally different depending on whose caseload they were assigned to,' the book says.

'A young person could receive ten, 15, even 20 sessions before a referral to endocrinology would be considered  or they might be told that puberty blockers were the way to go within an hour or two.'

In the book Dr Matt Bristow said he was 'broken' by the service and carried a caseload of 140 families, leaving him 'exhausted, anxious and traumatised'.

Ex-clinicians also spoke of staff being 'stretched beyond optimal levels of efficiency and effectiveness'.
The lawyer for an Arizona rancher being held on $1 million bond says her client did not shoot and kill the Mexican man whose body was found on his property last month near the U.S.-Mexico border.

George Alan Kelly, 73, remains in custody at the Santa Cruz County Jail after the body of Gabriel Cuen-Butimea, 48, was found on his land just outside Nogales, Arizona, on 30 January.

Kelly denies the allegation that he killed Cuen-Butimea but admits to firing warning shots at smugglers carrying assault rifles, according to his lawyer.

Attorney Brenna Larkin said Kelly found a group of men with 'AK-47 rifles, dressed in khakis and camouflaged clothing, and carrying large back packs'.

In a recent filing, she argued Kelly 'reasonably feared for his safety, his wife's safety, and his animals' safety', which prompted him to call the U.S. Border Patrol ranch liaison, before fetching his own rifle.

A defense request made last week in Santa Cruz Justice Court asked that the bond set be lowered or lifted, ahead of a preliminary hearing set for 20 February.

George Allen Kelly, 73, pictured after he was told he would spend another two weeks in jail

The man Kelly is believed to have shot is Gabriel Cuen-Butimea, 48, a Mexican national

The ranch in the south of Arizona is only a stone's throw from the Mexican Border, pictured

Attorney Brenna Larkin, who was appointed by the court to represent Kelly, said in her request that her client 'admitted to firing warning shots at the smugglers earlier in the day, but denied firing any shot at any person.

'He does not believe that any of his warning shots could have possibly hit the person or caused the death,' she continued.

'All the shooting that Mr. Kelly did on the date of the incident was in self-defense and justified.'

Kelly reportedly fired the shots to scare the men away after one pointed a rifle at him.

His lawyer says the men then surrounded his home, before fleeing.

Border patrol 'incorrectly reported' that Kelly said he could not tell if the men were armed, and later reported that 'armed men had been seen in the area'.

Officials did not find anybody on the property after a search, until Kelly's dog found a man 'lying face down in the grass', dead, several hours later.

Kelly cooperated with law enforcement as they identified the body of Gabriel Cuen-Butimea, who appeared to be unarmed.

The cause of death was identified as a single gunshot wound, which was fresh.

The man was found with tactical boots and a radio, which Larkin said indicated 'he was possibly involved in illegal activity'.

Kelly faces a charge of first-degree murder.

Authorities have not released a motive in the case and it was unknown if the men previously knew each other.

Larkin said that her client 'does not believe that any of his warning shots could have possibly hit the person or caused the death.

'All the shooting that Mr Kelly did on that date of the incident was in self-defense and justified.'

Kelly's ranch sits just outside of Nogales, Arizona, which straddles the border with Mexico

Kelly (pictured left) faces a charge of first-degree murder. Authorities have not released a motive in the case and it was unknown if he previously knew Cuen-Butimea (pictured right)

'I will miss you sending me photos, dad. Always showing off how handsome you looked,' reads a post shared on social media.

Kelly's ranch is located just outside Nogales, Arizona, city limits in the Kino Springs area.

The victim, Gabriel Cuen-Butimea, lived just south of the border in Nogales, Mexico.

U.S. court records show Cuen-Butimea was convicted of illegal entry and deported back to Mexico on a number of occasions, most recently in 2016.

The Mexican consulate in Nogales has not returned several calls seeking additional information about Cuen-Butimea.

This is the home of George Alan Kelly and his wife, located less than two miles from the border

Home of George Alan Kelly and his wife at 100 Willow Cross Circle, Nogales, Arizona

Kelly apparently drew on his borderlands ranching life in the self-published novel 'Far Beyond the Border Fence,' which is described on Amazon.com as a 'contemporary novel which brings the Mexican Border/Drug conflict into the 21st century.'

Authored by a man with the same name, the 57-page novel focuses on George and his wife, Wanda. George Alan Kelly's wife is also named Wanda.

'Several times each week illegal immigrants would cross the VMR ranch,' reads one part.

'They were led by armed human smugglers called Coyotes. George and his foreman had to patrol the ranch daily, armed with AK-47's.'
A pair of Dutch F-35 fighters were scrambled overnight to intercept a formation of three Russian warplanes near NATO member Poland.

The Russian jets - one spy plane and two fighters - were met as they approached Polish airspace from the Russian-controlled enclave of Kaliningrad, and were escorted back out of NATO territory, the Netherlands' defence ministry said Monday.

'The then unknown aircraft approached the Polish NATO area of responsibility from Kaliningrad,' according to Reuters' translation of the ministry's statement.

Kaliningrad is a Russian Baltic coast enclave located between NATO and European Union members Poland and Lithuania.

'After identification, it turned out to be three aircraft: a Russian IL-20M Coot-A that was escorted by two Su-27 Flankers. The Dutch F-35s escorted the formation from a distance and handed over the escort to NATO partners.'

A pair of Dutch F-35 fighters (pictured, file photo) were scrambled overnight to intercept a formation of three Russian warplanes near NATO member Poland

The Il-20M Coot-A is NATO's reporting name for the Russian Ilyushin Il-20M reconnaissance aircraft while the Su-27 Flankers are NATO's reporting name for the Sukhoi Su-28 fighter aircraft.

Russia's defence ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for a comment.

The Netherlands' defence ministry said that eight Dutch F-35s are stationed in Poland for February and March.

Tensions between Russia and the European Union have been mounting over the borders of Kaliningrad, which neighbours Poland, Lithuania and the Baltic Sea.

Poland has been building a 120-mile electronic fence along its border with the enclave over fears Russia could pour migrants through its territory in an effort to destabilise Europe, as was seen in Belarus in 2021 and 2022.

The intercept came amid fears that Vladimir Putin is preparing to launch a massive new offensive to gain the momentum in his war in Ukraine.

Ukraine and its western allies have been monitoring Russian troop buildups on the borders, with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg saying on Monday that the offensive has already begun in the east of the country.

British military chiefs said the Russian president's troops have been commanded to advance in 'most sectors' but are struggling to achieve a major breakthrough.

Ukrainian servicemen gather around a BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicle on a road outside the frontline town of Bakhmut, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, February 11

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said on Tuesday that the Russians have 'not massed sufficient offensive combat power' on any one axis to 'achieve a decisive effect'.

Its intelligence assessment said Wagner Group mercenaries have likely made 'further small gains' around the northern outskirts of the heavily-contested town of Bakhmut.

But the Ukrainian defence is continuing and the Russian advance to the south 'has likely made little progress'.

Further north, in Kreminna-Svatove, the MoD said the Russians are making 'continuous offensive efforts' but on 'too small a scale to achieve a significant breakthrough'.

'Overall, the current operational picture suggests that Russian forces are being given orders to advance in most sectors, but that they have not massed sufficient offensive combat power on any one axis to achieve a decisive effect,' the MoD said.

Defence sources believe the Russian president's feared spring offensive may not be launched simultaneously across the front line.

But the use of conscripts during the increasing military activity to attack in specific areas could be a means of testing weaknesses in the Ukrainian position.

Meanwhile, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace will join Nato colleagues in Brussels to discuss the co-ordination of weapons supplies for Volodymyr Zelensky's resistance.

Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg anticipates the defence ministers will discuss the possible supply of fighter jets to Kyiv.

The UK will be the first nation to start training Ukrainian pilots on Nato-standard aircraft, and Mr Wallace has been asked to investigate which planes the UK could potentially supply.
Twenty-three schools in Baltimore are failing their students, according to a new analysis - with not one student at the institutions reaching the required level in math.

A mother whose son is attending one of the institutions said on Monday she was furious at the results, which she learnt about on the news.

Davida Allen said she was angry the CEO of Baltimore Public Schools, Sonja Santelises, was earning a base salary of $333,125 - which rose to $444,875 with allowances - yet students were still failing.

'I think that when we look at our CEO, and we're seeing how much money she's making, we're still seeing that our students are not thriving, you're starting to question where the funds are being allocated.'

The schools were identified by Project Baltimore, the investigative unit of Fox News 45. Their team analyzed the data from Maryland's State Department of Education test results for 2022.

Mother of a student at a failing Baltimore school, Davida Allen, said she was angry that the CEO of Baltimore Public Schools, Sonja Santelises, was earning a base salary of $333,125

The only school on the list of 23 failing schools that was a language immersion charter school, Baltimore International Academy West (pictured)

They found that not one student among the 2,000-strong student body was reaching the required math standard in 10 high schools, eight elementary schools, three Middle/High schools and two Elementary/Middle schools.

'Where are things going wrong? How come there's not enough early intervention?' asked Allen.

'And when you see other counties thriving, why is it that counties such as Montgomery County, Howard County, those counties are able to thrive, but why is Baltimore City systematically failing continuously year over year?'

Allen did not name her first grade son's school, but said it was a language immersion charter school. There is only one such school on the list, Baltimore International Academy West.

At the school, 198 students from K-8th grade are taught primarily in Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Russian, or French.

'One of my concerns has always been questioning the model,' said Allen, who is a member of the parent/teacher liaison group.

'The children learn in a different language. And what I had always said was key is that, it's great that they are learning in another language. But they also need to be proficient in English and learning everything in English.

'And I think that some of the drawback of our son's school is that they are so focused on the language, they are dropping the ball in other areas such as math.'

Allen said that parents need to hold 'administrators accountable.'

She added: 'You have to be vocal. You have to be involved. You have to question. You have to challenge.'

Sonja Santelises, whose salary rose to $444,875 with allowances despite the fact many students in her schools were underperforming

Twenty-three failing schools were identified by Project Baltimore, the investigative unit of Fox News 45

In August last year Baltimore City Schools committed to spending $21,000 per student thanks to a huge funding increase. US census data from 2020 indicates the expenditure per pupil in Maryland as a whole was $15,489

School funding in Baltimore has been historically low, and although its recently received a large injection of cash results are yet to be seen.

In August last year Baltimore City Schools committed to spending $21,000 per student thanks to a huge funding increase. The change, brought about by a bill passed two years prior, made Baltimore the fourth most funded large school system in the country.

The three districts that spend more than Baltimore are New York City, Boston and Washington DC. All three have significantly better national test scores and double the number of students proficient in reading compared to Baltimore, Fox Baltimore reported.

Maryland Governor Wes Moore delivered his first State of the State address last week and addressed the crisis faced by Baltimore's schools.

'We made the largest investment in public education by any governor in our state's history,' he said. 'We can no longer separate our vision for economic prosperity from the duty to make Maryland's public schools the best in the nation.'

According to 2021 census data, Baltimore's poverty rate was 20.3 percent.
Political leaders have been urged to take a clear stand in condemning violence against asylum seekers in an open letter by charities that warns the weekend's disorder could be repeated across the country.

Organisations signed the letter following 'horrifying' scenes outside the Suites Hotel in Knowsley, Merseyside housing asylum seekers on Friday, which saw fireworks thrown at police, and a police van be attacked with hammers and set alight.

The letter, co-ordinated by coalition campaign Together With Refugees, criticised 'inflammatory language' and policies that 'demonise' people seeking refuge, while warning of a 'high risk of more premeditated extremist attacks around the country'.

The letter has more than 100 signatories, including Liverpool City of Sanctuary, Care4Calais, Share Knowsley and the Refugee Council.

Fifteen people were arrested during a demonstration outside the hotel in Knowsley on Friday, including a man who appeared in court on Monday charged with violent disorder and assault by beating of an emergency services worker.

Charities described violent scenes outside a hotel housing asylum seekers as 'horrifying'

A burnt police van after a demonstration outside the Suites Hotel in Knowsley

Jared Skeete, 19, of Irwell Close, Aigburth, Liverpool, was remanded in custody to appear before Liverpool Crown Court on March 13.

The remaining 14 people who were arrested, 12 men and two women who are mainly from the Knowsley area, were conditionally bailed pending the outcome of police inquiries.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman has faced repeated criticism for her rhetoric describing migrants crossing the English Channel.

She prompted an outcry in November when she told MPs that the south coast was facing an 'invasion' of illegal migrants.

On Tuesday the charities said people in the asylum system 'have already suffered terribly', fleeing war and persecution in places like Afghanistan, Sudan, Syria and Iran.

Describing Britain's asylum system as 'broken', the organisations said people are forced into a period of 'limbo' as they wait for a decision on their claim to stay in the UK, and end up in hotels which they called 'a completely inappropriate form of accommodation'.

The charities called on those in charge to 'create a system that is fair and compassionate, and brings cohesion instead of division'.

They said: 'Having already experienced great hardship, these men, women and children who come here for protection are now faced with violence, fuelled by inflammatory language of 'invasion' and policies that demonise them.

'The responsibility to create a system that is fair and compassionate, and brings cohesion instead of division, lies with our decision makers.

'With the high risk of more premeditated extremist attacks around the country, leaders of all parties must now take a clear stand and condemn any further violence against those who come here to find safety, and set out the action they will take to prevent it.'

The charities said those responsible for inciting anger and violence 'bring shame on this country' and are in the minority.

They added: 'This does not reflect the people of Britain. This is not who we are.'

Ewan Roberts, centre manager of Asylum Link Merseyside, said his area has a 'proud history of welcoming refugees and the horrifying incident on Friday night does not represent the people of Knowsley'.

He said: 'The people staying in temporary accommodation came to us seeking our help, and instead had the experience of being under siege by a violent mob.

'We urge politicians to stop using rhetoric that fuels such hatred, condemn this violence and start doing the real work of clearing the backlog instead.'

Fifteen people were arrested during a demonstration outside the hotel in Knowsley on Friday

Organisations signed the letter following 'horrifying' scenes outside the Suites Hotel in Knowsley, Merseyside. Pictured: Police outside the hotel on February 11

On Friday evening missiles were thrown towards officers in Prescot and damage was caused to a police vehicle

A group of men are pictured at one of the windows of the hotel following the riots on Friday night

Former refugee Sabir Zazai, who is now chairman of Together With Refugees  a coalition of more than 500 national and local organisations  said the issue is not about party politics but rather 'basic human decency'.

He said: 'The very least all political leaders could do is to condemn the attack on people seeking sanctuary in our communities.

'Leaders of all political parties must call for the ending of these hostile policies and hateful language that only fuels division and anger.'

On Friday evening missiles were thrown towards officers in Prescot, Knowsley and damage was caused to a police vehicle, with no injuries reported.

Protestors chanted 'get them out' during the riot as police were forced to wear protective clothing including riot gear shields and helmets

Knowsley MP Sir George Howarth said some at the demonstration outside the Suites Hotel were protesting against refugees.

He said it was triggered by an 'alleged incident posted on social media' and criticised misinformation about refugees being 'feather-bedded' at the hotel.

It was revealed on Saturday that the incident was sparked by fury over an online video of a schoolgirl who said she was sexually harassed by a 25-year-old man allegedly staying at the hostel.

The clip showed the man asking the 15-year-old, wearing a school uniform, for her number. The teenager, who filmed the exchange on her mobile phone, asked the bearded man his age.

When he replied that he was 25, she says: 'You don't do this in this country. You go to jail if you do this.'

A Home Office spokesperson said: 'The Home Secretary has publicly condemned the appalling scenes outside the hotel and violence toward police officers on Friday night in Merseyside.

'The welfare of asylum seekers in our care is of the utmost importance and we will work with the police to ensure their safety.'
Thousands of bins are expected to be left overflowing in the street once again as waste workers strike for the second week in a row.

Members of the Transport Workers Union employed by waste giant Cleanaway on contracts with the City of Sydney took industrial action on Tuesday over a dispute for better pay and working conditions.

The 24-hour strike comes after Cleanaway and the Lord Mayor failed to come to the table for talks with Transport Workers' Union (TWU) representatives to finalise an agreement.

Cleanaway workers will strike for 24 hours. Picture: Supplied.

Cleanaway has been accused of 'delay tactics and intimidation' by the Union.

In a statement, the TWU said on Friday that 'Lord Mayor Clover Moore declined the workers' request to meet regarding the ongoing battle to achieve sustainable pay and conditions, ease chronic driver shortages and prevent further industrial action'.

TWU Sydney workers on strike over pay and staffing conditions in February last year. Picture: NCA Newswire / Gaye Gerard

TWU added Cleanaway, an Australian waste management company with extensive operations throughout Australia and the UK, is also refusing to meet.

The union indicated it would also be filing a dispute in the Fair Work Commission over allegations Cleanaway falsely communicated to workers, the Lord Mayor and the media that negotiations had concluded.

A dispute has also been filed in the Federal Court by the union over Cleanaway's failure to provide timely information to workers and the Fair Work Commission.

TWU Secretary for New South Wales and Queensland Richard Olsen said the company had 'turned its back on negotiations', just as progress was being made.

'Although the workforce has achieved an improved pay offer from Cleanaway, the company is now trying to bypass the union and pressure workers into accepting a deal that would still send them backward,' he said.

TWU NSW/QLD Secretary Richard Olsen is calling on the council to intervene over Cleanaway's low pay and understaffing crisis in Sydney. Picture: NCA Newswire / Gaye Gerard

'(The Mayor) can't just sweep the crisis in City of Sydney's waste collection under the rug.'

Mr Olsen called on the Mayor to address chronic worker shortages 'caused by poor pay' as well as a 'serious build-up of rubbish' which has left the community 'concerned for hygiene, health and safety'.

'Workers do not want to be on strike,' he said.

'For months, the workforce has tried to reach a fair outcome, but Cleanaway has used delay tactics and intimidation to drag this out.

'We call on the Lord Mayor to reconsider her refusal to meet with workers and do what is best for the community.'

Bins overflow on City of Sydney's streets on Tuesday morning. Picture: Supplied.

Last week waste workers refused to collect at least 24,000 bins in the City of Sydney council area for 24 hours.

The strike saw a backlog of collections which resulted in overflowing bins in multiple suburbs.

City of Sydney Councillors Linda Scott and Yvonne Weldon are reportedly supporting the workers' claims that services have deteriorated since waste removal work was outsourced to Cleanaway.

At a press conference held on Tuesday morning, Mr Olsen told the media industrial action was 'far from done'.

'Cost of living is out of control and you're asking these workers to take a pay reduction,' he said.

'It's totally disgusting, it's garbage.

'(Workers) are keeping us safe by ensuring the garbage is picked up ... and we can't ask them to take hundreds of dollars in pay cuts.

'The wheels fell off (negotiations) when we realised that what the company was trying to give us in pay increases they were taking away in penalty rates.'

Mr Olsen addresses the media amid strikes on the morning of Tuesday February 14. Picture: Facebook.

Mr Olsen rejected suggestions that the council wasn't responsible for negotiations, claiming that they 'hold the purse strings' that pay waste management contractor Cleanaway.

He also said that workers had been 'gagged by the company and threatened with termination if anyone speaks to the media'.

Some community members promptly took to social media to express their support for the workers.

'Call to heel,' said one.

'The mayor needs to be sacked, this is disgusting, councils should make sure workers are paid properly so we can go forward,' said another.

The Lord Mayor has been contacted for comment.
Election campaigns should be about solving the serious problems of government. Unfortunately, the NSW campaign is anything but.

Chris Minns and Labor are miles ahead in the polls, so they are simply trying to stay out of trouble, coasting into office on March 25. Minns has become the Derek Zoolander of politics: skilled in striking poses on frivolous matters.

He's a policy-free zone on the two big issues facing the state: official predictions of blackouts after the 2025 closure of the Eraring coal-fired power station; and the way in which, this century, NSW has had the fastest falling school academic results in the world.

Liberal Premier Dominic Perrottet hasn't recovered from the news that he was zany enough to wear a Nazi uniform to his own birthday party. He leads an old government, out of ideas and out of time, weighed down by the green madness of his deputy, Matt Kean.

At NSW One Nation over the past four years, we have been working on policies to tackle the major problems.

Minns has become the Derek Zoolander of politics: skilled in striking poses on frivolous matters (pictured: Minns, left, and South Australian Premier Peter Malinauska, right, go for a run along Bondi Beach)

Mark Latham with outspoken MP Tania Mihailuk who quit Labor for One Nation is and running for the upper house in the upcoming state election

Energy Security

NSW should be a global energy superpower with flourishing nuclear, coal, gas and renewable energy. Increasing the State's power supply would bring down electricity prices, giving households much-needed cost of living relief.

Instead, the Perrottet-Kean Government has put all its eggs in the renewables basket, driving baseload power out of the system. When the sun is not shining and the wind is not blowing, the lights will go out.

Ideally, NSW should build the Bayswater2 power station, but this cannot be done in time for the 2025 blackouts deadline.

The pressing need is for an extra gas-peaking plant, to back up the wind and solar farms.

When I asked Perrottet about this at Budget Estimates he was clueless, displaying an amazingly reckless attitude to the looming NSW electricity crisis.

Mark Latham says NSW should build a second Bayswater Power Station (pictured: current coal-fired plant in the Hunter Valley)

School Results

The tragedy of schools policy is that we know exactly what works in the classroom. It has been studied inside-out all over the world.

Yet too many teachers deviate from this evidence base, introducing fads, experiments and even political indoctrination into the classroom. One Nation's policy is to create a new system of school inspectors to report directly to parents on the education of their children.

The inspectors will ensure that best practice is being followed in classrooms. This means Direct Instruction teaching, phonics literacy, regular testing and data collection and high standards of student behaviour.

Teachers who can't achieve best practice and fail to improve student learning will be removed from the system. High performing teachers will be paid more, plus encouraged to share their success in networks of Best Practice Teaching.

Mark Latham with Tania Milhailuk, upper house candidate Amit Batish (far right) and candidate for Parramatta MK Singh (second right)

Law and Order

In recent decades, the scales of justice have tilted in favour of offenders and against the rights of innocent victims.

In NSW an offender can receive a reduction in their sentence for an early plea, even though the evidence shows they are a menace to society and deserve a lengthy period of incarceration.

So too, criminals are being set free after faking mental health problems or blaming drug use. One Nation will close these sentencing loopholes. The number of mental health excuses in our courts is rising exponentially, especially from celebrities.

Court waiting times have blown out and justice is now unacceptably delayed. Prisons are overcrowded and cheap alternatives such as home detention and ankle bracelets are becoming the norm, even for serious crime.

One Nation strongly opposes the Liberal/Labor/Greens proposal to lift the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14. Young adolescents will commit more offences and be recruited into crime gangs, safe in the knowledge they are immune from consequences.

Street crime is a huge problem in too many neighbourhoods and a softer approach to teenage crime will make it worse.

Ending Debt and Deficit

The Perrottet-Kean Government has been on a massive spending spree and, of course, Labor will be worse. Gross State debt has now topped $180billion, off the back of huge budget deficits.

Fiscal discipline has become an alien concept in Macquarie Street. In the last two budgets, there have been 362 discretionary policy changes, of which only three involved cost savings.

One Nation wants to run the razor through wasteful spending.

There's a long list to attack: renewable energy subsidies, green energy programs, transmission wire costs, National Party pork barrelling, Matt Kean's bribes to Teal women, arts subsidies, the growth in bureaucracy, consultancies, government advertising, trade posts, R&D overfunding, biodiversity programs, empty national parks and the bloated NSW Parliament House budget.

The Perrottet-Kean Government has been on a massive spending spree and, of course, Labor will be worse

Voters know they get straight-talking and a fighting attitude from our party.

We never surrender to the woke, left-wing nonsense that has overrun the Liberals, Nationals and Labor.

We believe in job creation, good schooling, safe streets and balanced budgets.

Our team includes upper house candidates Tania Milhailuk, Amit Batish and Colin Grigg, all in electable positions.

One Nation is fighting the major party madness. To use some old political language, We're Keeping the B*****ds Honest.

Mark Latham is the leader of One Nation in New South Wales and a member of the NSW Legislative Council.
The head of the Parole Board has questioned the legality of Dominic Raab's plan to reform how serious and violent offenders are released from jail.

Proposals by the Government are likely to trigger multiple challenges in the courts and cost the taxpayer huge sums, said Parole Board chief executive Martin Jones.

Justice Secretary Mr Raab has said he will introduce a ministerial veto over the release of the most dangerous prisoners  with details expected to be included in a new Victims Bill within weeks.

But the parole boss dismissed the proposals as a 'really expensive way to keep a prisoner in jail for a few months'. Mr Jones added: 'If someone has been in jail for 30 years and the Secretary of State vetoes their release, it is inevitably going to go to legal challenge to test whether the minister's decision is legal and valid that is going to cost thousands of pounds in taxpayers' money.'

He said the veto would face legal challenge not just under the European Convention on Human Rights but also under British common law.

Justice Secretary Mr Raab has said he will introduce a ministerial veto over the release of the most dangerous prisoners

Mr Jones has been chief executive of the Parole Board since 2015, overseeing the organisation during its controversial decision to release black cab rapist John Worboys in 2018. The ruling was later overturned and triggered a series of plans to overhaul the parole system.

Mr Jones' comments came as the BBC is set to launch new documentary Parole on Monday which filmed at hearings for the first time.
The wife of a California doctor who drove his family off a cliff in a Tesla said she does not want her husband to be prosecuted, his attorney told a court.

Dharmesh Patel, 41, was charged with the attempted murder of his wife Neha and their two young children by intentionally driving their Tesla off the 250- foot Devil's Slide cliff near San Francisco.

Patel's defense attorney Josh Bentley told a court on Thursday that Patel's wife did not want her husband prosecuted despite an earlier comment she made saying the crash was not an accident.

Neha, also 41, was hospitalized after the family went over a cliff on January 2 and told paramedics, 'he tried to kill us', San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said.

'She said very simply this was not an accident. We do believe the evidence establishes the necessary intent to kill,' Wagstaffe told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Dharmesh Patel, 42, pictured in court on February 9, 2023, behind his attorney Josh Bentley, who said Patel's wife does not want to see him prosecuted

Patel's wife, Neha, had previously said 'he tried to kill us' after the family was met by paramedics who repelled down the cliff to rescue them

The suggestion from Bentley that she nonetheless did not want him to be prosecuted came during his client's court appearance last week, in which Patel plead not guilty to charges.

Patel has been charged with three counts of attempted murder, with enhancements of using great bodily harm as well as domestic violence. If convicted, he could face life in prison.

A judge in San Mateo Court ruled that Patel can only have limited contact with his family, especially his wife, as he remains in custody without bail.

Prosecutors are expected to use traffic camera video from Lantos Tunnel as evidence that Patel, who works as a radiologist at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Pasadena, intentionally steered his Tesla Model Y off the cliff.

'There are cameras,' Wagstaffe said. 'So we have video showing the movement of the car.'

That video, he said, 'clearly shows his car coming out of the tunnel, going up the hill, making a right turn off the road into a dirt area at the top. And then a sharp right turn down and over the edge and down the cliff.'

State attorneys will also likely bring up witness statements, as two people who were allegedly driving behind Patel on January 2 'who watched what occurred and were able to provide information about lack of brake lights,' Wagstaffe told People.

Dharmesh Patel, left, is accused of intentionally trying to kill his wife and two young children when he drove off Devil's Slide cliff on January 2

Patel is pictured in a mugshot after he was booked in the San Mateo County's Maguire Correctional Facility late last month

Last week Patel plead not guilty to three counts of attempted murder, with enhancements of using great bodily harm as well as domestic violence. If convicted he could face life in prison

Sheriff's deputies work to free the car after the family was airlifted to safety on January 2

Patel was arrested after California Highway Patrol investigators 'developed probable cause to believe this incident was an intentional act,' the agency said.

He was then booked into San Mateo County's Maguire Correctional Facility in late January.

Patel's Tesla is now being examined by the California Highway Patrol's Major Accident Investigation Team 'to see did the brakes go out? Do we have flat tires? Whatever they could determine from the vehicle,' Wagstaffe said.

'But there was nothing immediately that would indicate any type of vehicle disability or problem,' he added. 'I am convinced that, on the evidence we have at this point, that it was an intentional act.

'Now again, multiple things could occur, and this happens in criminal cases where the family comes forward and they give us a description of some things that put a different light on it. Or the wife comes forward and says, 'Let me tell you wat occurred and to explain it.'

'Or the CHP MAIT team comes back and says, 'Look it, there was a mechanical difficulty with the vehicle,' Wagstaffe continued. 'So the facts, the whole story is not out yet.

'It's just the story we have right now, it certainly appears this was an intentional act to us and that's why we filed the charges.

'But we'll learn, we'll find out hopefully more as time goes on.'

The wreckage of the Tesla is pictured at the bottom of the cliff

The car was traveling northbound on Highway 1 near San Francisco at around 10am on Monday, January 2 when it plummeted off the side of the Devil's Side cliff

The huge drop from the highway to the scene of the crash. The family members were airlifted to safety

Troopers were dispatched at around 10am on January 2 to reports that a vehicle had veered off the cliff on Highway 1, around 20 miles south of San Francisco. The steep, rocky, winding coastal area is known as Devil's Slide.

Fire Chief Brian Pottenger told reporters: 'We go there all the time for cars over the cliff and they never live. This was an absolute miracle.'

The car was initially said to have flipped multiple times. However, experts have since raised doubts, arguing the heavy batteries located in the floor of the Tesla would have stopped it from rolling.

There was no guardrail at the spot where the sedan went off the cliff, officials said.

Patel was seen driving at speed northbound on Highway 1 and he is speculated to have performed a sharp turn before reaching the Tom Lantos Tunnel, which is where the Tesla veered off the road, first onto a dirt area and then down the cliff.

Robin Johnson, who called 911 after seeing the crash, recalled: 'Wow, he's driving extremely fast to take that exit. You're not even supposed to be going up that way.

'And I can see in my rear-view mirror this car just go over the edge and straight down.'

Prosecutors say they have video from the Lantos Tunnel showing how he veered off the road

Rescue teams had to abseil down the side of the cliff while others used helicopters to try to reach the family

About 30 to 50 rescuers arrived at the scene, where it was initially assumed that anyone in the car must have been dead.

A helicopter and specialist teams were required to rappel down the cliff to the car. It was not until hours later that rescue teams discovered the four family members conscious and alert in the car.

The children were pulled out first, through a back window, and hauled up the cliff by hand in a rescue basket using a pulley.

The doctor and his wife were more seriously injured and had to be hoisted out by helicopter and were then flown directly to the hospital.

Neighbors expressed their shock after learning the allegations against Patel, describing their family as 'idyllic'.

Roger Newmark, who lives several doors down from the family on a leafy Pasadena street, told CBS: 'They're the sweetest couple and they have the greatest two little kids.'

The hospital where Patel works as a radiologist also released a statement after the crash.

'Providence Holy Cross Medical Center is deeply saddened to learn of a traffic incident involving one of our physicians and his family,' it said.

'We are extremely grateful there were no serious injuries. We will not respond further, as this incident is under investigation.'

According to an online profile, Patel graduated from the Wayne State University School of Medicine in Michigan and has been practicing for more than a decade.
Boyfriend Paul Sultana has been charged with murder

A young mother found dead in her home was allegedly strangled to death with electrical cords by her boyfriend.

The body of Dayna Isaac, 28, was found in her Colless St unit in Penrith, in Sydney's west, on January 16, by the mother of her boyfriend Paul Sultana.

Sultana, 32, has been charged with Ms Isaac's murder.

The pair had been friends for years but more recently had started a romantic relationship.

When officers were called to Ms Isaac's unit, they allegedly found her unconscious in the bedroom with two electrical cords tied around her throat, according to documents tendered by police, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Dayna Isaac, 28, was found dead in her Colless St unit in Penrith, in Sydney's west, on January 16, by the mother of her boyfriend Paul Sultana

She also allegedly had injuries to her face while blood was spotted on the tiles in her home.

Police had been called to the home earlier that day after neighbours reported hearing a disturbance but left when nobody came to answer the door.

A short time later, officers found her car burnt-out in bushland at Castlereagh, about 11.5km from her home.

While officers were responding to the car fire, Sultana's mother found Ms Isaac's body at the apartment then made the short walk to the police station to report the discovery.

Paul Sultana, 32, has been charged with Ms Isaac's murder. The pair had been friends for years but had only recently started a romantic relationship

Police and forensic officers are seen at the scene of the alleged murder in Penrith

According to court documents, police allege Sultana killed Ms Isaac between 1pm and 4pm on Monday, January 16.

Ms Isaac's ex-husband and the father of her two children, Mikkel Isaac, learnt of her death while behind bars on drug charges.

Sultana did not appear in court when his matter was mentioned for the first time last month.

He is due to face court again on March 17.

A GoFundMe campaign has been set up by a friend of Ms Isaac to support her family.
A scheme charging some motorists 12.50 a day to drive in London to cut air pollution has been accused of using data that is complete nonsense.

The Ultra-Low Emission Zone (Ulez) championed by mayor Sadiq Khan is expanding to all outer London boroughs from August.

In an open letter to those opposing his plans, Mr Khan said toxic air led to the premature deaths of 4,000 Londoners each year.

He said: Research by Imperial College London shows Bromley has the highest premature deaths linked to air pollution with an estimated 204 lives lost in 2019.

But Bromley Council leader Colin Smith said the study commissioned by City Hall chose to ignore Bromleys much older population profile.

The Ultra-Low Emission Zone championed by mayor Sadiq Khan is expanding to all outer London boroughs from August

Rebel councils opposed to the expansion of the Ultra-Low Emission Zone (Ulez) could spend nearly half-a-million pounds of public money in a legal battle

He said many elderly residents spent their younger years in inner London experiencing the smogs and smoke-filled pubs of yesteryear. He added: It is complete nonsense.

A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: These councils are denying the science in order to justify their opposition to clean air policies.

The air quality data used by City Hall is completely robust and is based on the most accurate scientific investigation into the human cost of poor air from globally renowned experts at Imperial College London.

It is extremely disappointing that these four local authorities refuse to accept the categorical proof that toxic air really is a matter of life and death.

Bromley Council leader Colin Smith (pictured) said the study commissioned by City Hall chose to ignore Bromleys much older population profile

In an open letter to those opposing his plans, Mr Khan said toxic air led to the premature deaths of 4,000 Londoners each year

'Around 4,000 Londoners die prematurely every year as a result of poor quality air, with those in Outer London some of the most vulnerable due to their age and therefore hardest hit.

Sadiq refuses to sit back and do nothing when lives are being lost and urges these local authorities to support his plans to bring cleaner air to every Londoner - wherever they live in the capital.

Professor Frank Kelly, of Imperial College London, said: Its important we follow the health evidence.

'Nowhere in the capital meets WHO recommended guidelines for air pollution which is why we must take more action  including in outer London.

'Im also very concerned people are trying to dismiss or misrepresent the findings of an important study by a world-leading academic institution which highlights the real-world consequences of poor air pollution in London.

'Saying that the results dont count because outer London has an older population misses the point entirely. Older people are vulnerable to the effects of air pollution and equally deserve our efforts to improve air quality.'
Six officers were terminated following the death of Tyre Nichols on Jan. 10

Preston Hemphill was fired on Feb. 3 after an internal Memphis PD investigation

A Memphis police officer who hit Tyre Nichols with a stun gun during a traffic stop that preceded his brutal beating by other officers had a prior record of minor infractions before he was fired, records released Monday showed.

Preston Hemphill's service was terminated Feb. 3 after an internal Memphis Police Department investigation showed he violated multiple department policies for his role in the Jan. 7 arrest of 29-year-old Nichols, who died in a hospital three days later.

Nichols was beaten after police stopped him for what they said was a traffic violation and he fled the stop.

Video released after pressure from Nichols' family shows officers holding him down and repeatedly punching, kicking and striking him with a baton as he screamed for his mother in a savage and unwarranted attack.

Nichols' death at the hands of police is the latest to prompt nationwide protests and an intense public conversation about how police treat Black people.

Photo obtained from the Memphis, Tenn., Police Department's Facebook page, shows Preston Hemphill, right, receiving a certificate from Memphis Assistant Chief of Police Don Crowe, left, after completing the training to join the department's Crisis Intervention Team on July 21, 2022

Tyre Nichols is pictured in hospital following the brutal beating on January 7. The 29-year-old from Memphis died on January 10 from cardiac arrest and kidney failure, three days after he was pulled over for reckless driving by police in unmarked cars

Nichols was seen in body camera footage being pinned to the ground by multiple officers following a foot chase. He was then pepper sprayed in the face, and kicked and punched

Hemphill, who is white, was the third officer at the traffic stop that preceded the arrest but was not at the location where Nichols was beaten after he ran away.

On body camera footage from the initial stop, Hemphill is heard saying that he used a stun gun against Nichols and declaring, 'I hope they stomp his ass.'

Personnel files for Hemphill, released after a public records request by The Associated Press, showed a negative report on an evaluation; a written reprimand issued after he broke his assigned ticket printer; and another written reprimand issued after he crashed a police car.

Records showed the negative 'observed behavior report' was cited in a 2021 evaluation of Hemphill, who was hired in 2018 and was a member of the Scorpion unit, which has been disbanded by the department in the aftermath of Nichols' death.

The evaluation said Hemphill mishandled a call related to parental custodial issues, but no further details of the call were provided in the documents.

Hemphill was reprimanded for rough or careless handling of equipment after he left his ticket printer on the trunk of his car and drove away after a June 2019 traffic stop.

Hemphill returned to the scene and found the broken printer, the records showed.

Hemphill crashed a police car into a ditch and caused minor damage to the vehicle in January 2022, records showed.

He received a written reprimand and was ordered to complete eight hours of defensive driving class.

RowVaughn Wells cries as she and her husband Rodney Wells attend the funeral service for her son Tyre Nichols at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church in Memphis, Tenn., on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023

RowVaughn Wells hugs her husband Rodney Wells after speaking at the funeral service for her son Tyre Nichols at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church on February 1, 2023 in Memphis, Tennessee

Officers who were terminated after their involvement in a traffic stop that ended with the death of Tyre Nichols, pose in a combination of undated photographs in Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. From top left clockwise are officers Preston Hemphill, Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Justin Smith, Emmitt Martin III and Desmond Mills, Jr.

In a statement noted on the evaluation, one of Hemphill's supervisors said he was a top performer on his shift who should take advantage of more training classes and could eventually provide leadership for junior officers.

A lawyer for Hemphill declined a request for comment from AP on Monday.

Five Memphis officers, all of whom are Black and were also were members of the Scorpion unit, have already been fired and charged with second-degree murder in Nichols' death.

One other officer has been suspended, but has not been identified.

Hemphill's own body camera showed that from the very beginning of the traffic stop he and two other officers approached Nichols with force that was disproportionate for the alleged offense of reckless driving, according to a statement from the disciplinary hearing that took place before he was fired.

Along with breaking rules regarding the use of a stun gun, Hemphill was also fired for violations of personal conduct and truthfulness, police said in a statement.

The department is still seeking to have Hemphill stripped of his police certification so that he can't work in law enforcement again.

Nichols' family, their lawyers, community leaders and activists have called for changes within the Memphis Police Department concerning issues related to traffic stops, use of force, improving transparency and other policies.
House Republicans are officially restarting their investigations into coronavirus origins, this time with the weight of the majority behind them.

On Monday Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, chairman of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, and Rep. James Comer, chairman of the Oversight Committee, demanded documents and testimony from Biden officials, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and the president of EcoHealth Alliance.

'This investigation must begin with where and how this virus came about so that we can attempt to predict, prepare or prevent it from happening again,' Wenstrup said in a statement.

The new release follows on demands from Comer and Rep. Jim Jordan made last in December, sending letters to HHS Sec. Xavier Becerra, Fauci, Francis Collins, former NIH director and science advisor to President Biden, EcoHealth Alliance President Peter Daszak and others.

On Monday Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, chairman of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, and Rep. James Comer, chairman of the Oversight Committee, demanded documents and testimony from Biden officials, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and the president of EcoHealth Alliance

The committee is seeking testimony from Fauci and 40 other officials, phone records

'Government scientists and government funded researchers have so far been less than forthcoming in their knowledge and actions, including work with the Wuhan Institute of Virology and potential pandemic pathogens,' Wenstrup added.

The committee is seeking testimony from Fauci and 40 other officials, phone records, calendars and other communications between the National Institutes of Health and National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases involving the Wuhan lab or EcoHealth Alliance.

Fauci led the NIAID for nearly 40 years before stepping down last year. he has expressed an openness to testifying before a GOP-led panel before. The testimony would be a transcribed interview rather than on-air.

Republicans also want a classified briefing from the intelligence community.

The 12-member coronavirus response subcommittee is tasked with investigating the origins of the pandemic and whether gain-of-function research was involved.

Gain-of-function research involves intentionally making a virus more deadly or virulent to study its effects. It is central to the claim Covid-19 originated in a Wuhan lab, potentially backed by funding from the U.S. government through EcoHealth Alliance.

An addendum to a report being compiled by Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, adds further evidence to the theory that the Covid-19 first emerged from a lab at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (pictured)

The subcommittee will look into a vast swathe of Covid-related topics, including pandemic shutdowns, vaccines, vaccine mandates and economic impacts.

Last Congress Republicans on the Foreign Affairs Committee issued a report they said concluded the virus leaked from a lab.

The report cited 'ample evidence' that scientists from the Wuhan Institute of Virology - aided by U.S. experts and Chinese and U.S. government funds - were working to modify coronaviruses to infect humans and such manipulation could be hidden.

Its authors cited a stream of open source information, including satellite imagery showing a surge in visitors to local hospitals, long before cases were reported emerging from a nearby market.

China denies the virus leaked from a laboratory and the early scientific consensus was that it most likely emerged naturally, leaping from a host animal to humans, perhaps at a market near the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

But that consensus was thrown into doubt when a string of scientists said they could not be sure of the pandemic's origins. As a result, President Biden ordered the intelligence community to look again at the question.

Monday's request for documents will reignite a long-running row about whether the federal government may have funded dangerous research.

Researchers work at a lab in at the Wuhan institute. Republicans in a House committee are compiling a report that seeks to prove the virus was made in one of the labs and escaped sometime before Sept. 12, 2019

For example, Senator Rand Paul and Dr. Anthony Fauci have clashed repeatedly over gain-of-function research and a $600,000 grant the National Institutes of Health (NIH) gave to the Wuhan Institute of Virology in 2014. Paul accused the country's top infectious disease expert of misleading Congress when he said the US had never funded gain-of-function research at the WIV.

The Foreign Affairs report accused Peter Daszak, whose EcoHealth Alliance funneled the U.S. funding to China, and WIV scientists of taking part in the cover-up.

'Their actions include bullying other scientists who questioned whether the virus could have leaked from a lab; misleading the world about how a virus can be modified without leaving a trace; and, in many, instances directly lying about the nature of the research they were conducting, as well as the low-level safety protocols they were using for that research,' it said.
Dont do it! This was my first thought when John Cleese announced his plan to bring back Fawlty Towers, 44 years after the last episode was first transmitted.

A similar thought occurred to Radio 4s Nick Robinson. Hell have to discover some humour, he told listeners. Because hes been very cross, John Cleese, the last few times weve talked to him on this programme. No doubt he can be funny still. Well see.

Someone  possibly Cleese himself  once said that in their youth every comedian plays the person they dread becoming.

In recent years, Ricky Gervais and Steve Coogan have been examples of this phenomenon, their alter-egos  David Brent and Alan Partridge respectively  being off-putting versions of themselves.

And it seems probable that this was also the impetus behind the creation of Basil Fawlty.

Someone  possibly Cleese himself  once said that in their youth every comedian plays the person they dread becoming

Or perhaps the genius of Fawlty Towers springs from Cleeses separation of his mother into two different characters, each in conflict with the other  on the one hand Basil, panicky and abusive, and on the other his wife Sybil, determined to present a manicured picture to the world.

In his 2014 autobiography, Cleese spends a lot of time describing his mother, Muriel, whom he blames for all his own shortcomings.

According to him, she lived in a constant state of high anxiety, bordering on incipient panic. There was, he adds, only one thing that she wanted. Just one. But that one thing was her own way.

Can you think of a comic character who spends his life in a state of high anxiety, bordering on incipient panic, and who is determined to get his own way? Step forward, Basil Fawlty!

Or perhaps the genius of Fawlty Towers springs from Cleeses separation of his mother into two different characters, each in conflict with the other  on the one hand Basil, panicky and abusive, and on the other his wife Sybil, determined to present a manicured picture to the world.

His late friend and fellow Python Terry Jones once said that Cleese created Basil Fawlty as a way of coming to terms with himself.

Fawlty Towers, said Jones, gave him an outlet. I think John was brilliant in that because Basil Fawlty was a monster creation.

But when Cleese started engaging in psychotherapy, his inspiration dried up.

Added Jones: It was as though the more psychiatric help John sought, the less he needed to express himself with things like Fawlty Towers  if you like, the less he felt he needed to be funny.

Some time between A Fish Called Wanda (1988) and Fierce Creatures (1997), John Cleese lost his magic touch. This sometimes happens with rock stars, but more often with comedians: for some reason, they just stop being funny.

Worse  and I think this is true of John Cleese  their on-screen presence casts a dark shadow over the proceedings, making their fellow actors uncomfortable and the audience slightly depressed.

His late friend and fellow Python Terry Jones once said that Cleese created Basil Fawlty as a way of coming to terms with himself

In 1992  midway between Wanda and Fierce Creatures Cleese married a psychotherapist, Alyce Faye Eichelberger.

In one of the funniest episodes of Fawlty Towers, Basil panics when he discovers one of his guests is a psychiatrist.

If he wants to be a psychiatrist thats his own funeral, he hisses to Sybil. Theyre all as mad as bloody March hares anyway, but thats not the point. Look! Look! How does he earn his money? He gets paid for sticking his nose . . . into peoples private, um, details. Well, just speaking for myself, I dont want a stranger nosing around in my private parts.

Over the past quarter-century, Cleeses public persona has grown steadily more angry: he was angry at his ruinously expensive divorce from Eichelberger (he called one of his comedy tours The Alimony Tour 2011 or Feeding The Beast), angry at England, angry at the Press, angry at Europe, angry at the BBC, and so on.

The fury he had once transformed into such brilliant comedy now had no outlet beyond itself. He had turned into the grumpy old man his younger self had dreaded becoming.

Also in his autobiography, Cleese, now 83, writes about his early life as a schoolmaster, and offers tips for anyone thinking of facing a classroom.

One of them is: If you catch a whiff of impending insurrection, use sarcasm. They just cant handle it.

Oddly enough, in response to Nick Robinson, he tweeted: While Im always grateful to receive career advice from a towering talent like Nick Robinson, I think it is more important for the British public that the BBC re-discovers its sense of humour.

Will this little display of sarcasm be enough to shut down the whiff of impending insurrection? Frankly, I doubt it.

Dont mention the remake!
An energy firm has been criticised for flying 100 reps out for an all-expenses paid holiday in the Maldives, as Britons struggle at home with rising energy bills amid the cost of living crisis.

Utility Warehouse has treated its representatives to an eight-day holiday as a way to sign up new customers.

The group are treated to an all-inclusive stay at the OBLU Xperience, where rooms cost up to 594 a night.

The 100 agents arrived on the island last Tuesday after landing in the capital Male and catching a 15-minute speedboat ride to the island of Ailafushi, The Sun reported.

Reps were seen playing volleyball in the pool, relaxing on sunbeds and handing out business cards at the resort.

One holidaymaker said the idea did not sit right with them during the cost of living crisis.

Utility Warehouse has treated its representatives to an eight-day holiday as a way to sign up new customers. Pictured: OBLU Xperience

'They just chill on the beach or by the pool most of the day. They have also hired out part of the restaurant,' they said according to The Sun.

Another said the reps had 'ruined' their stay as they were handing out businesses cards and 'giving sales pitches'.

Utility Warehouse relies on word-of-mouth marketing and has self-employed agents who earn commission every time they sign up customers to broadband, mobile and insurance deals.

The company has recently seen a boost in sign ups following an increase in customers seeking cheaper deals such as energy offers that are 125 less than the price cap.

It has over 800,000 customers and is 'targeting an additional million over the next four to five years'.

In exchange for signing up four new customers every month for a year, agents have the opportunity to travel to holiday locations like the Maldives and Mexico.

If partners sign up enough customers they have an opportunity to get rewards such as food nights, family holidays and cars.

Warren Kirwan, from disability charity Scope, told The Sun the trip was a 'kick in the teeth' as representatives are relaxing on a beach 'while disabled people are freezing and starving in their own homes'.

He argued that companies should focus on supporting customers instead of 'profiteering' from the crisis.

The 100 agents arrived on the island last Tuesday after landing in the capital Male and catching a 15-minute speedboat ride to the island of Ailafushi (pictured)

A Utility Warehouse spokesman said: 'More than 50,000 people across the UK from all backgrounds are UW Partners.

'Our partners are self-employed and earn an income by referring our services to their friends and family.

'In doing so, we offer a meaningful way to help people earn their way out of the cost-of-living crisis.

'We also offer partners ways to earn extra incentives such as holidays.

'We are proud of our hard-working partners and are transparent about the opportunities that come with it.'

Utility Warehouse and OBLU Xperience have been contacted for further comment by MailOnline.
A Queensland mother played on her phone and fell asleep in her house while her two daughters died in a hot car, a court has been told.

Kerri-Ann Conley faced Brisbane Supreme Court for sentencing on Tuesday morning to learn her fate over the horrific incident that unfolded on November 23, 2019.

Darcey Conley, 2, and her sister Chloe-Ann, 1, died inside their mother's car outside their home in Logan City, south of Brisbane.

The court heard Conley smoked ice the day before, visited her friend's house with the children, then drove home and left them restrained in the Mazda sedan at 4am.

She went into the house to sleep and retrieved her children at 1.30pm as temperatures rose above a scorching 60C, the court heard.

'This is not a case of an unfortunate lapse in memory ... the deaths of these children could have been easily avoided,' crown prosecutor Sarah Dennis said.

The court heard she had regularly left the children sleeping in the car with several of her friends having to take them out of the vehicle on separate occasions.

Kerri-Ann Conley (pictured) Conley had her charges downgraded from murder after entering guilty pleas to manslaughter at Brisbane Supreme Court

Kerri-Ann Conley's daughters Darcey-Helen Conley (left) and Chloe-Ann were found dead in Conley's car, parked outside her Waterford West home in November 2019. Conley on Tuesday pleaded to the manslaughter of the girls

Family members, including the father of one of the children, sat in the back of Brisbane Supreme Court as the horrific series of events was laid bare.

Conley at times wiped her eyes but otherwise stared ahead.

The court was told Conley took her children Darcy-Helen, 2, and Chloe-Ann, 1, to a friend's house the day before at 11.30pm.

She put them to sleep and spent time socialising at the house before leaving the next morning at 4.10am.

Ms Dennis said Conley left the children secured inside the car with the doors locked and the vehicle parked under no shade, after she returned home.

Temperatures in the car reached up to 61.5C throughout the day, the court was told.

Phone records revealed Conley was using her mobile phone until after 5am in the morning before going to sleep, her children still inside the car.

She woke later in the afternoon, finally taking the children out of the car and into the house.

Crown prosecutor Sarah Dennis said Conley left the children secured inside the car with the doors locked and the vehicle parked under no shade, after she returned home

Chloe-Ann Conley (pictured) and Darcy-Helen died after being left in Conley's car for hours in November 2019, with paramedics saying their skin peeled off as they tried to treat the dying children

The court was told Conley then phoned the father of one of the girls, who advised her to call triple-0.

'She told them she had fallen asleep and had left the children in the car,' Ms Dennis said

'She was in a distressed state.'

The children's skin was covered in blisters and was hot to touch, and peeled off as paramedics attempted to treat them, Ms Dennis said.

She said Conley gave a false account of what happened the night before to police.

'Her attempt to dispose of evidence of her own drug use and the timing of that attempt and the lies she told police to minimise her own culpability indicate while shock may have been a factor, her primal instinct was to protect herself  when her primal instinct as mother and caregiver should have been to protect her children,' the prosecutor said.

The court was told Conley had left her daughters in the car on previous occasions, with neighbours witnessing the incidents.

Ms Dennis said Conley on those occasions explained she left them there because they were sleeping and were 'difficult' to settle once awakened.

In her submissions, Ms Dennis said Conley's children were 'entirely defenceless' and had no way of freeing themselves from the car or protecting themselves from the elements.

The children's skin was covered in blisters and was hot to touch, and peeled off as paramedics attempted to treat them, Ms Dennis said

The girls were left in the station wagon as she went inside and fell asleep, police alleged

'It represents a complete abrogation of her duties as the mother and primary carer of her children,' she said.

Conley was described as a 'heavy and frequent' drug user by Ms Dennis.

Traces of the drug ice as well as amphetamines were found in her blood and she admitted to smoking a 'point-and-a-half' of methylamphetamine the day before the incident.

Conley was initially charged with murder under new Queensland legislation introduced just a few weeks before the incident, which includes reckless indifference to human life as a form of murder.

But she entered pleas of guilty to two counts of manslaughter when brought into court on Tuesday.

She also pleaded guilty to other charges of possessing drugs and drug utensils.

Asked if she wished to say anything during her arraignment, Conoley quietly replied: 'No, Your Honour'.
Chocolate giant Cadbury has cut the sizes of medium and large Easter eggs in the latest example of 'shrinkflation'.

Shoppers are being hit by the rising cost of living as the portions are getting smaller, but prices stay the same.

The chocolatier's Mini Eggs egg is now 97g, down from 130g while still at the price of 1.25.

However, the medium Wispa Easter egg is 182.5g, down from 224g, and remains 3.

Smaller eggs have also been affected. The Dairy Milk Freddo Faces Easter egg, for example, has shrunk from 122g to 96g but costs 1.25 instead of 1.

Shoppers are being hit by the rising cost of living as the portions are getting smaller, but prices stay the same

Cadbury chocolate have cut the sizes of medium and large Easter eggs in the latest example of 'shrinkflation'

Chocolate lovers are devastated as the portions are getting smaller, but the prices remain the same (stock image)

Many unimpressed shoppers shared concerns with this year's Easter eggs on social media, claiming that they are smaller.

Chocolate lovers on the Extreme Couponing and Bargains UK Facebook were not afraid to share their displeasure.

One person said: 'The little Cadbury eggs were 1 last year and this year they are 1.25 and a hell of a lot smaller.'

Another user said: 'Twirl says large. It's only slightly bigger than the ones that used to be 1. Prices are a joke!'

Consumer expert Sarah Coles, of investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown, told The Sun that the downsizing was horrific.

She said: 'The horrors of shrinkflation are turning Easter eggs into mini eggs. We're spending significantly more in return for less chocolate.

'It feels particularly unfair to those on lower budgets, who are trying to keep everyone happy this Easter without breaking the bank.'

The news follows a 7 per cent fall in weight between 2018 and 2019, which the firm blamed on surging wholesale cocoa prices

However, it is not the first time this has happened. Last year, the Mail on Sunday revealed that Cadbury cut its large eggs by 9.7 per cent since 2019.

This followed a 7 per cent fall in weight between 2018 and 2019, which the firm blamed on surging wholesale cocoa prices.

A spokesman for Cadbury owner Mondelez told The Sun: 'We're constantly looking at ways to innovate our products while keeping the fan favourites that the nation knows and loves.'

Charles Allen, retail analyst at research arm Bloomberg Intelligence, previously said manufacturers planned Easter products up to 15 months in advance, adding: 'Back then we could see the price of cocoa and sugar was going up.

'Manufacturers know what price retailers want to sell their products at and have to calculate how they can deliver a product to sell at that price while retaining their profit. That's where "shrinkflation" like this comes in.'

MailOnline has contacted Mondelez for a comment.
The US military have announced they've recovered critical electronics from the Chinese spy balloon downed by a US fighter jet off South Carolina's coast on February 4.

Recovered fragments from the aircraft include key sensors presumably used for intelligence gathering, the US military's Northern Command said Monday.

The revelation comes less than a week after Navy seamen were pictured pulling portions of Chinese spy balloon from the chilly waters of the Atlantic - with the Pentagon releasing sensational photographs of the retrieval operation.

The Chinese balloon, which Beijing denies was a spy vessel, spent a week flying over the United States and Canada before it was shot down on the orders of US President Biden - a decision officials reportedly agonized over for days, amid fears of harming the already tenuous relationship between the two countries.

The spy balloon was the first of four airborne objects gunned out of the sky by the US in eight days.

Recovered fragments from the balloon shot down on February 4 include key sensors presumably used for intelligence gathering, the US military's Northern Command said

The Pentagon released photos showing the Navy's retrieval of a suspected Chinese spy balloon shot down over the Atlantic Ocean

In the end, the episode inevitably strained ties between Washington and Beijing, and spurred a sprawling U.S. military scouring effort across US skies for other objects of interest - leading to an unprecedented shooting down of three suspected spy craft between Friday and Sunday.

On Monday, US military's Northern Command, the agency tasked with defending the American homeland, revealed in a statement that debris from the first craft included sensors likely used for the gathering of intel.

'Crews have been able to recover significant debris from the site, including all of the priority sensor and electronics pieces identified as well as large sections of the structure,' the statement said.

While much about the more recent, unmanned aircraft remains unknown, officials this week said they are continuing to look for debris.

On Monday US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, sought to calm any fears Americans are having regarding potential risks posed by the three other unidentified objects.

'I want to reassure Americans that these objects do not present a military threat to anyone on the ground,' Austin said, speaking to reporters as he landed in Brussels for a NATO gathering.

'They do, however, present a risk to civil aviation and potentially an intelligence collection threat.'

The US military has said that targeting the latest objects has been more difficult than shooting down the Chinese spy balloon, given the smaller size and the objects' lack of a traditional radar signature.

The suspected spy balloon was the first of four airborne objects gunned out of the sky by the US in eight days

In an example of the difficulty, the latest shootdown of an unidentified object on Sunday by an F-16 fighter jet took two sidewinder missiles - after one of them failed to down the target, a US official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Austin said the US military has not yet recovered any debris from the three most recent objects shot down, one of which fell off the coast of Alaska in ice and snow. Another shootdown occurred over the Yukon territory in Canada.

US officials have so far shied away from saying that the incidents are connected.

However, on Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggested the four aerial objects shot down in recent days are somehow connected, but did not elaborate as to why his office believes that to be the case.

'Obviously there is some sort of pattern in there, the fact we are seeing this in a significant degree over the past week is a cause for interest and close attention,' Trudeau told reporters in a news conference not far from where the plane was shot down in Whitehorse, Yukon's capital.

Search and recovery efforts for the first craft, shot down on February 4 off the coast of South Carolina, had to be halted at the end of last week due to bad weather over the icy Atlantic

The search off Myrtle Beach began not long after debris from the craft hit the water on February 4. The balloon is seen being pulled out of the water by sailors on February 5

The downing of the first balloon, meanwhile, sent both figurative and literal waves throughout the American populace, occurring at the end of a week that saw the craft spotted multiple times during its journey over the continental US.

The unrest, for the most part, played out behind closed doors, as Biden and other White House officials engaged in heated situation room talks over whether to shoot down the suspected surveillance craft, which Beijing insists was designed for 'meteorological purposes.'

The public quickly became aware of the incident - as well as the possible implications it held in regards to the increasingly stormy relationship between the US and China.

Adding insult to injury, the Pentagon later confirmed that another suspected 'Chinese surveillance balloon' had been spotted flying over Latin America, near the Colombian port city of Cartagena, and was too being investigated.

General Glen VanHerck, the head of US Northern Command, last week said that the Defense Department 'did not detect' the balloons sighted after the one near South Carolina, saying that the intelligence community instead was made aware of them through other means of information collection.

Defense officials then revealed there had been a further five suspected spy balloon sightings during Trump's presidency, seemingly swept under the rug to keep up the facade of a favorable relationship between the two countries.

Compounding the unrest is that several similar balloons had also recently been spotted in at least two highly-sensitive military sites in Virginia and California - but were disregarded as UFOs at the time by the intelligence community.

Navy and Coast Guard officials descended on a stretch of ocean to search for the fallen balloon

The episode inevitably strained ties between Washington and Beijing, and spurred a sprawling U.S. military scouring effort across US skies for other objects of interests - leading to an unprecedented shooting down of three suspected spy crafts between Friday and Sunday

The downing of the balloon has sent both figurative and literal waves over the weekend, occurring at the end of a week that saw the craft spotted multiple times during its journey over the continental US, with another balloon seen over Latin America

China has not commented on those sighting, but maintains the craft shot down near South Carolina was a civilian balloon used for meteorological research.

Officials, however, have refused to say to which government department or company the balloon belongs.

On Monday, US military made another development in their retrieval of wreckage from the first aircraft, after putting a pause on the effort last week due to bad weather and rough seas.

That said, the Navy and Coast Guard resumed the retrieval mission this week, and on Monday successfully raised a significant portion of the balloons payload from the ocean floor, defense officials confirmed Monday

The payload measured roughly 30-feet-long, and reportedly contained much of the craft's high-tech gear and several surveillance antennas.

Concerning the object shot down over Canada, officials said the Canadian government has since taken the helm of that operation, but has yet to locate the debris.

The object shot down Sunday over Michigan, the official said, is also still being searched for, in a joint effort between the the US Coast Guard and Canadian authorities.

Officials said that officials already have a decent idea where the aircraft may have landed, and that they are confident its wreckage will be recovered.

All of the incidents are currently being investigated.
The estranged father of a missing aristocrat Constance Marten has urged the police to investigate a Nigerian cult following claims she was 'brainwashed', it was reported last night.

Napier Marten, who was a Page to the Queen, has called on officers to look into the Synagogue Church of All Nations in Lagos, where she lived for six months under TB Joshua, a pastor he believes to be a 'phoney prophet'.

Ms Marten, 35, pictured, and Mark Gordon, 48, were last seen on January 7 buying camping gear from an Argos store in east London with their newborn baby after abandoning their car on the M56 near Bolton. Mr Marten said he hopes 'the police can now investigate potential links between any institution involved in making Constance and others suffer at the hands of the phoney prophet in his Lagos Synagogue'.

Mr Marten, who has previously appealed for his daughter's safe return, told the Independent: 'I remain deeply concerned for Constance, some five weeks after she and her baby went on the run. I just want them to be safe. I urge Constance, once more, to find the courage to turn herself in to the police.'

Ms Marten cut all ties with family and friends after meeting American-raised Gordon, who committed two armed raids at the age of 14, raping a woman at knifepoint and battering a man with a shovel in 1989.

Constance Marten was last seen pushing her child in a new buggy at 10pm on January 7

Ms Marten, 35, pictured, and Mark Gordon (pictured), 48, were last seen together buying camping gear from an Argos store in east London with their newborn baby after abandoning their car on the M56 near Bolton

The last known CCTV sighting of the pair was in Whitechapel at 6.19pm on January 7  when they bought gear including a blue two-man tent, pillows as well as two sleeping bags.

Ms Marten was last seen pushing her child in a new buggy at 10pm that night.
As many as 20 people have been killed and 68 have been injured following a head-on collision between a tour bus and a cash-carrying van.

The collision happened on the N1 motorway in the Makhado area of Limpopo in South Africa at around 8pm last night (6pm UK time).

Following the crash, the bus rolled from the freeway bridge into the river below, landing on its left side.

Private ambulance service ER24 sent paramedics the scene at 8:05pm along with the Fire Department, Provincial EMS and Rescue and several other private EMS services.

The scene was still active at around midnight (10pm UK time), the ER24 emergency blog reports.

As many as 20 people have been killed and 68 have been injured following a head-on collision between a tour bus and a cash-carrying van. Pictured: The bus on its side after hitting the van

The collision happened on the N1 motorway in the Makhado area of Limpopo in South Africa at around 8pm last night (6pm UK time)

ER24 said that several passengers still possibly unaccounted for, as 20 people were confirmed dead in the crash.

One patient, of the 69 passengers confirmed transported to hospital for multiple injuries, has since died.

Three people were found deceased by the roadside and a further 16 were found dead down by the river.

Most of the people found dead by the river had been trapped under the bus.

ER24 said that the exact details surrounding the collision are 'unknown at this time', however South African Police Service attended the scene to investigate.

The ambulance service said that heavy rain had been falling in the area before the incident.

After the crash, the bus then rolled from the freeway bridge into the river below, landing on its left side

ER24 spokesperson Ross Cambell said: 'Three people were found deceased by the roadside and sixteen down by the river.'

'All were declared dead on arrival. Most of the fatalities down by the rover had been trapped under the bus,' he said, adding that one person had died after being transported to hospital.
Libby Squire, 21, vanished in Hull in 2019. Her body was found seven weeks later

The mother of Libby Squire who was found murdered after she vanished in 2019 has sent a moving message to Nicola Bulley's partner urging him not to 'give up hope'.

Missing mother-of-two Nicola went missing while walking her dog in the Lancashire village of St Michael's on Friday, January 27.

Lisa Squire, the mother of 21-year-old Libby who vanished in Hull in 2019, issued a message to Paul urging him to never give up on the search for his partner.

'Please don't give up hope,' Lisa said. Put one foot in front of the other and hope for that positive outcome.

She added: 'It's the not knowing that's so difficult,' The Sun reported.

Lisa Squire (pictured), the mother of 21-year-old Libby who vanished in Hull in 2019, issued a message to Paul urging him to never give up on the search for his partner

Tying yellow ribbons bearing messages of hope to a local bridge this week, partner Mr Ansell attached a message reading: 'Nikki I love you! Come home now'

Libby Squire's body was spotted seven weeks later in the Humber Estuary by a boat crew - and the ongoing search for Nicola brings back painful memories for Libby's grieving mother Lisa.

The search for Nicola is now entering its third week.

Peter Faulding, who carried out underwater searches for the mother-of-two, has urged others in the wider area to also be on the look out for anything out of the ordinary.

He told The Times: 'People in the wider vicinity for several miles around St Michael's should be looking for any suspicious activity'.

Alongside search experts, her partner Paul Ansell is now calling for a wider land search to help locate the missing 45-year-old.

Tying yellow ribbons bearing messages of hope to a local bridge this week, partner Mr Ansell attached a message reading: 'Nikki I love you! Come home now'.

Faulding, 60, spent three days last week searching any trace for the missing mother in the River Wyre.

The world-leading forensic search specialist says he is 'confident' the 45-year-old is not in the water, as suggested by police.

Mortgage adviser Nicola Bulley, 45, went missing along the River Wyre on January 27 (Pictured with partner Paul Ansell)

Peter Faulding, pictured, who carried out underwater searches for the mother-of-two, has now urged others in the vicinity to also be on the look out

Mr Faulding said it's time to 'consider all options' and has vowed to look at 'possible deposition sites' - especially since there was a report of 'suspicious people hanging around' the area where she disappeared.

He told MailOnline yesterday that 'if someone's in the woods I will find them.'

He has given police a map of places the body may be hidden and said these are likely to be 'ditches, hedgerows and wooded areas'  or anywhere it could be possible to park a car and ditch a body without being seen.

The search for the missing mother-of-two has been dogged by unfounded theories spread online by true crime cranks, conspiracy theorists and social media trolls.

The 45-year-old was last seen at around 9.10am on January 27 walking her dog Willow along the river close to her home in Inskip.

The case of the missing mother-of-two has brought back painful reminiscences for Lisa Squire, the mother of Libby who vanished in 2019.

Mounted police in Knott End-on-Sea take part in the search for missing woman Nicola Bulley, 45, who vanished on January 27

Police activity near the River Wyre in St Michael's on Wyre, Lancashire

Polish butcher Pawel Relowicz, 28, dumped Libby Squire's body in the River Hull after raping her on a playing field in the early hours of February 1, 2019.

The married father-of-two was jailed for a minimum of 27 years at Sheffield Crown Court in February 2021.

Libby, a philosophy student at Hull University, had been out with friends when the killer chanced on her.

She caught a taxi home, which dropped her outside her house, but she didn't go inside.

Drunk and dressed in party clothes, she had wandered in the wrong direction and laid down in the snow.

CCTV footage showed Libby, disoriented and possibly hypothermic, being ushered into a silver Vauxhall Astra which belonged to Relowicz, who lived half a mile from her house.
Ecuadorians went to the polls last Sunday, 5 February, for municipal elections and to vote in an eight-question referendum called by the banker-president Guillermo Lasso. Lassos party came out of the municipal elections completely defeated, while Yes  defended by Lasso  lost in all eight questions of the referendum. The elections were a hard blow to the capitalist oligarchy and its political representatives.

Lasso has now paid the price of the June 2022 national strike through the ballot box, and the extent of his demoralisation has become clear. The brutal repression, the nine deaths, and the inability to minimally address the demands of the streets left him completely isolated. Even his allies are abandoning him.

Municipal elections

Citizens Revolution (Revolucion Ciudadana), the party of the former president, Rafael Correa, was the big winner in the municipal elections. It won nine prefectures out of 23 provinces, including the three largest provinces of Ecuador: Guayas, Pichincha and Manabi. These three provinces are home to 52 percent of Ecuadors population. The party won 61 mayoralties across Ecuadors 221 cities, winning in the two largest cities: Guayaquil and the capital Quito. The right wing has ruled the city of Guayaquil  one of its electoral fiefdoms  for more than 30 years. Its defeat here is an important victory for the left.

Pachakutik, the electoral front of CONAIE, won six prefectures and 27 mayoralties in the municipal elections / Image: Donovan & Scott

Pachakutik, the electoral front of CONAIE (Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities), which played a leading role in the June 2022 national strike, won six prefectures and 27 mayoralties. Winning in the provinces of Cotopaxi and Tungurahua, in the Ecuadorian highlands, where the national strike had a great impact, the governorships of these two provinces were taken over by the protesters at the time.

The Social Christian Party, the traditional party of the ruling class, won just two prefectures and 32 mayoralties. The right-wing CREO Movement of the banker-president Lasso himself didnt win a single prefecture, and won only 22 mayoralties. This was the worst result for the right in decades.

The referendum

Lasso gambled on the referendum as a test of his popularity. He drew up eight questions that could only be answered with a Yes or No. The referendum questions were biassed: questions that, at first glance, no one could be against, such as reducing the expenses of assembly members, greater citizen participation in bourgeois institutions, and so on. The referendum had been formulated such that the Yes vote would win, thus demonstrating Guillermo Lassos popularity. However, it has been resoundingly defeated. The No vote won on all eight questions, defying the predictions. Adding up all the votes, No won by 55 percent.

After his electoral failure, Lasso has made a desperate call for a national agreement to govern until 2025, but Citizens Revolution, CONAIE, and even the Democratic Left have rejected it. Lasso has no legitimacy to govern the country, and is unlikely to be able to govern until the next elections. Now is the time to take the initiative and return to mass mobilisation on the streets. Lasso is on the ropes, but a top-down solution to this crisis is not the same as a solution imposed by the action of the masses in the streets.

CONAIE

CONAIE played a leading role in the extraordinary national strike of June 2022, but in the end the movement was suspended with the promise of negotiations that would deal with the ten points that (according to the leadership of CONAIE) were the core demands of the streets. At the time, we warned that without mobilisation in the streets, the round of negotiations would not progress in favour of the workers and peasants.

In CONAIEs assessment, barely 10 percent of the demands were met in the negotiations, and the Lasso government has failed to fulfil its promises. As such, it makes no sense to maintain dialogue with the president, and CONAIE has announced that it will return to struggle in the streets.

CONAIE campaigned for a No vote in the referendum and has welcomed the result at the ballot box as a victory for the movement. CONAIE turned down Lassos call for a national agreement with scorn, and emphasised in its 9 February press release: CONAIE will not be part of any national agreement because Guillermo Lassos word as president has no validity.

Citizens Revolution

Citizens Revolution has already been through the experience of the government of Rafael Correa (2007-2017), whose reformist policies  at a time of high commodity prices  allowed some advances for the Ecuadorian working class. Correas government did not, however, touch the property of the ruling class, and it therefore did not fundamentally change the relations of power and property.

Rafael Correa's government, whilst allowing for some reforms, did not touch the property of the ruling class / Image: Presidencia De La Republica Del Ecuador

In 2017, Correa appointed Lenin Moreno as his successor, but the latter betrayed the movement, made a pact with imperialism, and applied a brutal package of austerity measures. When the masses took to the streets in October 2019, he unleashed harsh repression, giving way to the victory of the banker, Lasso, in 2021.

An eventual return of Citizens Revolution to power would take place under very different conditions from Correas term in office. It would ascend in the midst of an acute crisis of global capitalism that leaves very little room for manoeuvre to implement reforms within the narrow confines of capitalism.

The lesson to be learned is that in a backward capitalist country, dominated by imperialism and multinationals, controlled by a particularly parasitic and reactionary oligarchy, the only way to bring about a fundamental change in the living conditions of the majority is the seizure of power by the working class at the head of all the poor and oppressed layers in the countryside and the city.

This is also the lesson of recent events in Peru. Pedro Castillos hesitations and concessions did not succeed in appeasing the ruling class. The economic and political power of the ruling class in Ecuador must be expropriated so that the working class, at the head of all the oppressed in the countryside and the cities, can truly take control of the production of material goods to improve their living conditions.
A massive haul of vapes and tobacco worth $500,000 allegedly destined to be sold to children are now off the streets after a major police operation.

Queensland Police uncovered the haul while executing a series of search warrants of businesses and a home in the Whitsundays and Mackay regions on Friday.

Two people have been charged and faced court after police allegedly seized 100kg of illicit tobacco, thousands of vapes and $80,000 in cash.

The search warrants were executed at various businesses in Celeber Drive Andergrove, Carl Court Rural View, The Esplanade Airlie Beach and at home in West Mackay.

A woman, 32, and a man, 30 were each charged with possessing tainted property and have faced court.

Queensland Police alleged seized thousands of vapes (pictured) and packets of tobaccos worth a combined $500,000 in the Mackay and Whitsundays regions

They will reappear in Mackay Magistrates Court on March 13.

Police haven't ruled out further arrests as ongoing investigations continue.

The raids were part of Operation Kitimat, a taskforce set up to investigate a spate of reports from the community about the sale of vapes and tobacco products to minors in school uniforms.

'Operation Kitimat identified that the peak trading times were prior to 9am and after 3pm, which corroborates significant information we received from members of the public,' Mackay Whitsunday District Detective Inspector Emma Novosel said.

Police allegedly seized 100kg of illicit tobacco (pictured) as part of the massive haul

'The operation was aimed to disrupt this criminal enterprise and send a clear message that such activity, including the sale of tobacco and smoking products to children will not be tolerated in Mackay Whitsunday District.

'We urge anyone with information in relation to the possession of illicit tobacco or non-compliant products to contact police.'

Anyone with information about the sale of tobacco and vapes to minors is urged to contact Policelink or Crime Stoppers.
A well-known surfer and filmmaker has died of a heart attack in Hawaii just moments after recording his final moments in the ocean.

Video footage of Larry Haynes, 61, was recovered soon after he collapsed in the parking lot of a surfing beach on Hawaii's North Shore last week.

Haynes was a successful cinematographer who had been recording surfers and surfing events since the late 1980s.

His seminal work was Fluid Combustion, which he filmed in in 1994. Sequels followed throughout the next decade.

Hayne's suffered a heart attack in his car soon after surfing at Hawaii's Laniakea Beach, according to surf publication Stab.

Well-known surfer and filmmaker Larry Haynes, 61, has died of a heart attack in Hawaii just moments after recording his final moments in the water

Footage from last Thursday captured moments Haynes's death was reviewed by some of his friends

On February 9, Haynes finished a session on his stand-up paddleboard and went to the parking lot, where he collapsed.

Footage from last Thursday captured moments before his death was reviewed by some of his friends.

One, Brian Bielmann, told Hawaii channel KHON2 about the moment they watched Haynes's final moments.

'I went down and got it this morning and immediately took it home and went on the computer,' Bielmann said.

'There must have been 40 files and we looked through all of them. And then he had a lot of, like, non-start type waves and over and over and finally caught this beautiful wave and rode it for a long time. And by the end of it we were cheering and yelling and crying,' he added.

He also paid tribute to the legendary surfer, commending his successful career and fearless approach to photography. 'He had this incredible life right up till the end. He could not have filled any more into his life than he did,' he said.

'He's the most badass of all photographers ever of all time. He was such a bull, and he would go anywhere and do anything and have no fear.'

Another friend, Mike Prickett, told KHON2: 'It's really cool. In the footage as well because he gets his wave and right before he turns off the camera he had this Larry smile that we all knew from him.'

'That's what made me start crying,' he added. 'We were so, so shocked. He just did the Eddie Aikau with us. He did the Pipe contest. He does everything with a smile, and then we just lost him. He caught a wave at Laniakea, and then he came in and collapsed.'

Haynes (right) suffered a heart attack in his car soon after surfing at Hawaii's Laniakea Beach, according to surf publication Stab

Haynes (left) spent the last decades filming major surf competitions including the World Surf League

After Fluid Combustion, Haynes worked as a cinematographer on a number of other projects, including Underwater Universe, Big Wave Hellmen and Chasing Monsters: El Nino

Haynes twice filmed the deaths of big-wave surfers, Malik Joyeux in 2005 and Kirk Passmore in 2015. He was profiled in 2019 and Outside magazine described him as 'a fixture on Pipeline, the legendary and dangerous surf break on Oahu's North Shore.'

Fellow surf photographer Jimmy 'Jimmicane' Wilson posted a tribute to Haynes on Instagram.

'Had the pleasure of swimming with the legendary [Haynes] for one final time this December. I contemplated and admired the amount of passion it takes for someone to continue treading out with a camera, at the same places, for several consecutive decades,' he said.

After Fluid Combustion, Haynes worked as a cinematographer on a number of other projects, including Underwater Universe, Big Wave Hellmen and Chasing Monsters: El Nino.

He also spent the last decades filming major surf competitions including the World Surf League.

Dozens of other surfers expressed their condolences, including Kelly Slater, who is often regarded as the greatest professional surfer of all time.

'This man is a staple in our lives, traveling the globe and filming everyone who's ever caught a wave in front of him,' he wrote on Instagram.

'It's hard to imagine a surfing world without Larry in it always screaming us into waves and throwing good vibes. Gonna really miss this guy.'
A gunman who opened fire at Michigan State University, killing three people and critically injuring five others, was a 43-year-old man with no known links to the college.

The suspect, who has not been named, killed two people at Berkey Hall and a third at the university's Union, then took his own life shortly before midnight following a confrontation with police off-campus, in the city of Lansing.

He terrorized the campus for nearly four hours - as multiple reports confirmed he was running through the streets, brandishing a gun, and shooting bullets - but police have not yet been able to establish a motive.

Chris Rozman, the interim deputy chief of Michigan State University police, said: 'We have no idea why he came to campus. He was not affiliated in any way with Michigan State University - he is not faculty or a student or staff.'

Rozman confirmed the five injured people gunned down in the terror on Monday night remained in a critical condition at Sparrow Hospital.

MSU campus will now be closed for 48 hours following the attack.

The suspected gunman, pictured, was last seen leaving the union building. He was wearing a jean jacket, red shoes, a black mask, and a baseball cap. Cops confirmed he is now deceased

Police in Michigan released this photo of the shooter in a bid to track him down. He has now died after turning the gun on himself, police confirmed

The 43-year-old man was shot dead in the city of East Lansing

Police gave their first press conference at 11pm. Chris Rozman later confirmed that the shooter has died after the rampage on Monday night

Marlon Lynch, chief of Michigan State University Police, announced at around 12:30pm the gunman was dead.

He said: 'The suspect was located outside of the MSU campus and has died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. This truly has been a nightmare.'

Lynch said the shelter-in-place order had been lifted. He added: 'This is the beginning of a long healing process for those affected. There are several different crime scenes that we are processing with our state and federal partners, and there is a lot of work to be done.'

Rozman previously urged terrified students on campus to remain in a sheltered place as they hunt down the suspect - who was described as having a 'long gun.'

The police chief told everyone to stay away from the surrounding area and confirmed that all college activities will be canceled for the next 48 hours.

Student Gabe Treutle was taking a chemistry quiz when he got news of a campus shooting on his cellphone.

He told CNN: 'Shortly after I got the alert, I turned on the police radar in our area. About ten minutes after I did, that we got a report that the shooter migrated over to an area block just once away from where I'm standing. That really scared us.

'We got the door barricaded. We were appearing through the windows trying to make sure that he wasn't going to come over toward us. It isn't the best in our situation but then five minutes after that they evacuated the entire building. The dining hall area. The police came to make sure that everybody was okay.'

Another student Connor Anderson explained that he was eating dinner in the campus cafeteria when shots rang out across campus.

'I was in the cafeteria, which is on the second floor. I got a text from somebody saying that there had been a shooting. It was on the other side of campus. Basically, we are in lockdown, everything was calm, everyone was listening to police reports,' Anderson explained.

'We heard the shooter was getting closer to the location. Still thought we were safe. We started barricading the doors at some point. The swat team and cops came in and told us to get out of the cafeteria. We stormed down the stairs. We had our hands up. And we had to go to the nearest bus stop. The shots got closer and we were stranded by a parking garage.

'It was a scary situation on every level. When the police, say okay, "you guys have to run out of here" that was chaos. Complete chaos. People were getting trampled, we had to go down and there was just one exit. It took a while. All my friends are safe but we are barricaded in my dorm room.

'Once we got back to our dorm, there were police doing body checks and patting everyone down.'

Terrified students are seen trying to reach safety on Monday night, checking their phones for the latest information

University students embrace following the shooting on campus on Monday night

Police officers surround a scene where the suspect was located as they respond to a shooting at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, U.S., February 14, 2023

Students gather on the campus of Michigan State University after a shelter in place order was lifted early Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023, in East Lansing, Mich

How terror unfolded at Michigan State University campus 8:18 pm: Gunman opens fire in Berkey Hall academic building, killing two

Gunman leaves Berkey hall just before cops arrive and moves through University campus on foot towards MSU Union building

8:30 pm: Gunman enters MSU Union building and kills one more victim

Gunman flees MSU Union through northern exit and heads into East Lansing city before cops arrive

10 pm: Cops release security cam footage and description of suspect

Midnight: Gunman found dead from self-inflicted gunshot wound at undisclosed location north of murder scene in East Lansing City Advertisement

Helicopters scouted overhead as the urgent search for the gunman continued during the lockdown - with FBI teams spreading out across the 5,200-acre campus.

Rozman said the incident began at 8:18pm in Berkey Hall, on the East Lansing campus. It ended when the gunman, 43, killed himself just after midnight.

He said: 'We were quickly on scene, within minutes, and there we did locate several victims of a shooting. The incident did move to a building in close proximity - the Michigan State Union building, where there was another report of a shooting immediately after the report of the first incident.'

Rozman said there was 'an overwhelming law enforcement response' to the shooting. He said there was one suspect and he was 'last seen leaving the MSU Union on foot on the north side of that building.'

It's currently unclear what route the shooter took - however initial reports said that shots were heard from different parts of the campus as the incident unfolded.

Just after 10pm - about one and a half hours after the active shooter alert - police confirmed that a series of buildings and dorms were cleared and secured. This included Brody Hall, Snyder Phillips Hall, Mason Hall, Abbot Hall, Landon Hall, the MSU Union, and Berkey Hall.

The Michigan State shooting comes on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the Valentine's Day shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, where 17 people were killed.

It also follows the shooting on February 14, 2008 at Northern Illinois University in Dekalb, in which a gunman killed five students and injured 17 more people, before fatally shooting himself.

Police are seen on the campus, responding to the reports of an active shooter

The campus was on lockdown on Monday night as police responded to reports of a shooting

A massive police presence was on campus, with agents from the FBI and ATF as well as campus police and state forces

Students wrapped up in blankets are seen outside the campus buildings, having been evacuated

Shocked students are being told to shelter in place. Cops have now confirmed that there is no longer a threat on campus

Michigan State University students evacuate to a safe area during an active shooter situation on campus

The University tweeted at 8:30pm: 'MSU ALERT: There have been shots fired near Berkey Hall on the East Lansing campus. Please secure-in-place immediately. Police are active on scene. More information to follow.'

An alert sent shortly after urged students on site to 'run, hide, fight.'

It read: 'Run means evacuate away from danger if you can do so safely, Hide means to secure-in-place, and Fight means protect yourself if no other option.'

Multiple reports said there was a person running across campus with a long gun and a hood up. Police later released an image of the shooter, wearing a cap.

MSU said the suspect was on foot, and they believe the gunman is acting alone.

About an hour later, campus police reported: 'There is another reported shooting at IM East.' This is a campus fitness center about a mile away from Berkey Hall, where police first reported shots were fired.

Police are seen on campus at Michigan State University in East Lansing, after reports of an active shooter

Tearful students shelter inside the Broad Art Museum near Berkey Hall on the campus of Michigan State University

Emergency personnel respond to a shooting at Michigan State University in East Lansing

MSU tweeted at 10:10pm EST: 'Victims are currently being transported to Sparrow Hospital. Brody Hall, Snyder/Phillips Hall, Mason Hall, Abbot Hall, Landon Hall, the MSU Union, and Berkey Hall have all been cleared/secured.'

A correspondent on the scene for Fox News 59 reported that people were being escorted from Berkey Hall, and they appeared to be bloody.

Detroit ATF - the police explosive unit - was responding to the scene, accompanied by the FBI. They tweeted: 'The FBI is responding to assist in the reports of an active shooter on the Michigan State University campus.'

Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan, tweeted: 'I've been briefed on the shooting at Michigan State University. The Michigan State Police along with @MSUPolice, local law enforcement and first responders are on the ground.

'Let's wrap our arms around the Spartan community tonight. We will keep everyone updated as we learn more.'

Gary Peters, a senator representing Michigan, said: 'My staff and I are closely tracking the horrifying shooting at Michigan State University and are in contact with local officials.

'I urge students and the East Lansing community to stay safe and follow guidance from law enforcement.'

East Lansing Public Schools have notified parents of students that the K-12 schools in the district will be closed on Tuesday, while the Michigan State University shooting situation is assessed.

The university itself has also canceled all classes. Michigan State University is situated in East Lansing, three miles east of Michigan's capitol in Lansing.

Home to 50,000 students, it is located on one of the biggest and greenest campuses in the nation, spread over 5,200 acres.
Thousands have been ordered to 'immediately evacuate' as Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle continues to cause widespread devastation across New Zealand.

Much of the North Island is under an emergency declaration, with a national state of emergency declared for just the third time in the country's history.

About 225,000 Kiwis were without power on Tuesday after a massive storm caused significant chaos and cut off communities, leaving an enormous trail of destruction in what's been described by Prime Minister Chris Hipkins as the country's most severe weather event this century.

And the wild weather is far from over, with the South Island also now in the firing line.

A national state of emergency currently applies to six regions, including Northland, Auckland, Tairawhiti, Bay of Plenty, Waikato, and Hawke's Bay.

Entire roads have washed away, and dozens of homes have collapsed in landslides while tens of thousands of Kiwis could remain without power for at least a week.

An aerial photo taken on February 14 shows flooding caused by Cyclone Gabrielle in Awatoto, near the city of Napier

A helicopter from the HMNZS Te Mana locates a yacht in distress in the Hauraki Gulf off New Zealand's North Island with a solo sailor on board on Tuesday

This handout photo taken and released on February 14, 2023 by the New Zealand Defence Force shows the rescue of a sailor from a catamaran near the Northland city of Whangarei

The Waiohiki bridge on the Tutaekuri River is washed away and houses flooded on February 14 in Napier, New Zealand

Boat was the only way of getting through Napier's flooded streets. Pictured are surf lifesavers checking on residents stranded by floodwaters

In flood-stricken Napier, residents were ordered to 'evacuate immediately' to higher ground before flooding worsened after its second wettest February day on record.

The alert came too late for many residents as surf lifesavers spent the day paddling through flooded streets to check on stranded locals.

Residents in central Whangarei were also forced to flee as a landslide risk threatens their homes after the city's wettest February day on record.

Helicopter and boat crews were deployed to rescue residents stranded on rooftops in Hawke's Bay, trapped by rapidly rising floodwaters.

Transpower has warned it could be 'days and weeks' before electricity is restored in parts of the region.

In Muriwai, a coastal town west of Auckland, a volunteer firefighter and local vet is missing while another is in critical condition after a home collapsed under a landslide.

The missing firefighter was investigating a flooded house in Muriwai when a landslide crushed the house and hit a fire truck.

Fire and Emergency NZ chief executive Kerry Gregory said the property was too unsafe to search.

'Our thoughts are with our firefighters, and with their loved ones. We are also providing support to the other members of their brigade,' he told TVNZ.

Two boaties earlier feared missing at sea near Auckland's Great Barrier Island following reports of a boat in distress have since been rescued.

While the worst of the wild weather is over for Auckland, all domestic and international flights in and out of the airport are currently suspended due to the powerful winds.

It's Auckland's second flood emergency within weeks with the city recording 55 per cent of its average annual rainfall in 45 days.

An aerial photo taken on February 14, 2023 shows flooding caused by Cyclone Gabrielle in Awatoto, near the city of Napier

An aerial photo taken on February 14 shows flooding caused by Cyclone Gabrielle in Awatoto, near the city of Napier

A resident wades through a muddy street in Muriwai, where a landslide is threatening homes

Cyclone Gabrielle has cut off many cities and communities across the North Island, including Napier (pictured)

Water was seen gushing from a storm drain access port in Te Awanga, south-east of Auckland

Much of the North Island is under an emergency declaration with a national state of emergency declared for just the third time in New Zealand's history.

Cape Reinga, right at the north of Northland has recorded 30 consecutive hours of gale force winds, according to NZ's official weather forecaster MetService.

Weather warnings remain in place for much of North Island's east coast and upper South Island.

'Inland parts of Fiordland, northern Southland, and western parts of Central Otago, including Queenstown Lakes, may see severe thunderstorms with localised downpours of 25-40mm/h' a MetService alert states.

Currently northeast of East Cape, Cyclone Gabrielle is expected to continue moving slowly southeast.

'Extremely strong winds, heavy rain and large swells have affected many regions. Severe Weather Warnings are still in place.'

Some of the worst hit regions have been ordered to restrict their water use.

'Muriwai, Helensville & Wellsford customers, Please reduce your water use now. Please do not use your washing machine or dishwasher. Your local water treatment plants have been affected by power outages & your water storage reservoirs are running low,' Watercare NZ warned.

At least 2500 families have been displaced from their homes, including 1000 in the far north and 400 households in Auckland, according to New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins

He described Cyclone Gabrielle the most severe weather event for NZ this century.

'It will take us a week while to get a handle on exactly what's happened,' Mr Hipkins told reporters on Tuesday afternoon.

'I want to acknowledge those families that are functioning without power and, in some cases, without communications.

'We'll be working as quickly as we can with the relevant agencies to make sure we're getting the power back on to make sure we're restoring communications as quickly as we possibly can.'

'We're still in for a bumpy time ahead,

The national emergency has forced the New Zealand government to postpone parliament sitting until next week, delaying Mr Hipkins' first Question Time as prime minister since taking over from Jacinda Ardern.

The Waiohiki Bridge in Napier has been washed away by Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle

A large landslide caused a number of homes in Muriwai to collapse. It's currently unknown how many Kiwis have been displaced by Cyclone Gabrielle

A house sits destroyed at the bottom of a large landslide in Muriwai

Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle has caused widespread havoc on New Zealand's North Island with this upended car by the storm

Emergency Management Minister Kieran McAnulty declared a national emergency shortly before 9am local time on Tuesday.

It's just the third time in history New Zealand has declared a national emergency, first in 2011 after the Christchurch earthquake and again during the Covid-19 pandemic.

'This is an unprecedented weather event that is having major impacts across much of the North Island,' Mr McAnulty said.

'The local leadership, CDEM groups, and emergency responders in all of the affected areas have been doing an outstanding job, but the widespread damage caused by this cyclone means we need a National declaration to support them.

'This declaration will enable the Government to support the affected regions, provide additional resources as they are needed, and help set the priorities across the country for the response.

'A National State of Emergency gives the National Controller legal authority to apply resources across the country in support of a national level response.

'This declaration gives us the ability to coordination further resources for affected regions. I want to emphasise that the Government has already been surging support and resources to the regions for some days.'

At least 25,000 people have already received cyclone-related support, according to the Prime Minister.

Overnight, Gabrielle continued southwards before parking near Great Barrier Island, to the north of the Coromandel Peninsula.

By 8am, it had moved east to the Bay of Plenty, north of Tauranga, but its massive size is whipping up destructive winds all across North Island.

Residents in Hastings, south-east of Auckland evacuated amid rising floodwaters

Napier residents inspect the devastation from the flooded Tutaekuri River from higher ground

Floodwaters surround the surf tower on Muriwai Beach after Cyclone Gabrielle left behind a massive trail of destruction

The massive clean up job has began as a national state of emergency was declared

Emergency crews were inundated with almost 900 storm-related callouts in the 12 hours to 4am Tuesday.

MetService executive Lisa Murray said some areas of the Coromandel, the region closest to the storm's eye, received 300 millimetres of rain during the storm to date.

'It really is widespread across the North Island,' she told Radio NZ.

Asked what area gives her the most concern, Ms Murray replied, 'There are so many areas'.

'There's a lot of places in trouble.'

On the East Coast, the Gisborne and Hawkes Bay regions have been battered by similar totals, with rivers breaking their banks and forcing evacuations.

'I've been in the region over 20 years, and this is by far the biggest (storm) ... people have not seen a storm like this. It's a very, very significant event,' Hawkes Bay civil defence spokesman Ian Maxwell told Radio NZ.

Kiwis have been warned to expect more wild weather on Tuesday as Cyclone Gabrielle continues to create widespread havo

Surface flooding as high winds hit Auckland's Tamaki Drive early this morning, as Cyclone Gabrielle makes her way down the North Island. Video / Hayden Woodward pic.twitter.com/mTpt5o4vsC  nzherald (@nzherald) February 12, 2023

Cyclone Gabrielle left behind a massive trail of destruction in Whangarei (pictured)

Transport authority Waka Kotahi reports about 50 road closures, including State Highway 1 in several places and key arterial roads in the Coromandel and East Coast.

Cyclone Gabrielle will continue to wreak destruction across North Island on Tuesday.

Red wind warnings remain in place for Auckland, Northland, the Coromandel and Taranaki, with gusts of up to 140km/h forecast.

Red rain warnings have been extended in Northland, the Coromandel and Hawke's Bay.

A majority of the North Island, including Wellington and Napier, are under orange warnings for wind, suggesting up to 120km/h gusts, as is the northern region of South Island.

'Very strong wind gusts will continue in the lower & western North Island through Tuesday as the centre of Cyclone Gabrielle passes East Cape,' a NIWA weather alert stated.

Kiwis felt the brunt of the wild conditions in Paihia (pictured)
The University of South Florida was planning to implement a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) counseling program that would have seen students segregated by race and advocate for 'white guilt' and 'white fragility.'

According to Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow Chris Rufo, public documents reveal a radical DEI program.

It includes 'anti-racist resources' promoting left-wing political activism and highlighting negative ideas about white students.

Rufo, a conservative activist, claimed on Twitter how some of the materials include information on defunding the police, prison abolition, and rejecting 'White, capitalist Jesus.'

The public documents, since removed from the university's servers but obtained by Rufo, reveal how the programming includes anti-racist resources, segregated counseling sessions, and promoting materials for white students to confront their 'white privilege,' 'white guilt,' and 'white fragility.'

The University of South Florida appears to have adopted a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) program that segregates students by race, Rufo tweeted

The University of South Florida is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St Petersburg and Sarasota

The documents obtained by conservative activist Chris Rufo promote left-wing political activism: 'Anti-Racist Resources', 'reparations,' 'defund the police,' and 'prison abolition'

Rufo alleges that the program's endpoint is left-wing political activism and that USF offered racially segregated counseling sessions and 'white identity development' materials for caucasians.

In a series of tweets, Rufo suggests the programming is 'the condemnation of American society.'

Following the death of George Floyd, nearly every appendage of the University of South Florida (USF) condemned the United States for its supposed 'systemic racism,' 'white supremacy,' and 'interlocking systems of oppression.'

'According to these materials, whites must first enter the process of "disintegration," experiencing "white guilt" and thinking, "I feel bad for being white." Next, after their identity is broken down, they enter a phase of "reintegration," thinking, "It's not my fault I'm white."

'Finally, as whites move through the stages of "pseudo-independence" and "immersion," they will begin to "work against systems of oppression" and "use [their] privilege to support anti-racist work."

'At the end, their psychology should conform entirely to political ideology,' Rufo tweets.

'USF promotes a range of racially segregated scholarship programs that explicitly exclude white students. These programs are a direct violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.'

The public documents obtained by Rufo reveal how programming includes anti-racist resources, segregated counseling sessions, and promoting materials for white students to confront their 'white privilege,' 'white guilt,' and 'white fragility.'

One document obtained by Rufo appears to study how racial identity is interpreted by those of different ethnicities

In a series of tweets, Rufo suggests the programming is 'the condemnation of American society' which has only been heightened following the death of George Floyd in May 2020

Rufo suggests how the university's DEI administrators offered the solution: 'racial reeducation offering racially segregated counseling sessions and promoting 'white identity development' for white students to confront their 'white privilege,' 'white guilt,' and 'white fragility.'

In the past, Rufo, who is well known for his activism against critical race theory, has described CRT as having 'pervaded every aspect of the federal government' and poses 'an existential threat to the United States.'

The findings come as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis recently proposed legislation to eliminate all DEI and Critical Race Theory programs in the state's colleges, which is expected to be taken up by the state's Republican-majority legislature in March.

The second-term governor, who is widely expected to launch a 2024 White House bid in the late spring or early summer, has emerged as a fierce opponent of so-called woke policies on race, gender and public health.

Such positions endear him to the GOP's conservative base but threaten to alienate independents and moderate voters in both parties who are influential in presidential politics.

Last month Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced plans to block state colleges from having programs on diversity, equity and inclusion, and critical race theory

Critical race theory is a way of thinking about America's history through the lens of racism.

Scholars developed it during the 1970s and 1980s in response to what scholars viewed as a lack of racial progress following the civil rights legislation of the 1960s.

It centers on the idea that racism is systemic in the nation's institutions, which function to maintain the dominance of white people in society.

'I think people want to see true academics and they want to get rid of some of the political window dressing that seems to accompany all this,' DeSantis said at a news conference last month.

He added that critical race theory and diversity, equity and inclusion programs, known as DEI, would get 'no funding, and that will wither on the vine.'
The death of a Commonwealth Bank worker at an electronic music festival in Sydney has reignited the debate over pill testing at events with one charity boss blasting the government for having blood on their hands.

Kieran Ngo, 26, died after he took a pill at the Transmission Festival which was held at the Sydney Showground on Saturday afternoon.

He is believed to have taken MDMA and NSW Police are now investigating whether a bad batch of the drug is spreading through Sydney, as 12 others were also rushed to hospital after also taking pills.

In light of Mr Ngo's tragic death, Greg Chipp, managing director at Drug Policy Australia, slammed the government for being 'culpable' for the deaths of young people by not having pill testing at festivals.

Pill testing involves analysing illicit drugs to find out what possibly harmful substances are present.

There has long been a push to introduce pill testing at festivals, nightclubs and similar places but the government has steadfastly rejected calls.

Kieran Ngo, 26, died after he took a pill at the Transmission Festival which was held at the Sydney Showground

His death has reignited the debate over pill testing at events with one charity boss slamming the government

Greg Chipp, managing director at Drug Policy Australia, slammed the government for being 'culpable' for the deaths of young people by not having pill testing at festivals

The NSW Police Minister previously ruled out allowing pill testing at the state's festivals, insisting 'there is no safe way to take drugs.'

However, Mr Chipp told Daily Mail Australia that the testing could stop the ongoing tragedy of young deaths at festivals.

'The ongoing tragedies occurring with the loss of young people using pills could easily be stopped if the pills were vetted,' he said.

'The government needs to take care of the health of its citizens. They know hundreds or thousands of Australians will take drugs, some with dangerous substances, but their wilful refusal to introduce pill testing makes them culpable for the tragedies.

'They need to stop burying their head in the sand and do something. They are acquiescing to this ongoing tragedy and I'm speaking to Dominic Perrottet directly here.

'The government has a judgmental attitude to drug users and keeps going for the politically palpable move.

'The Canberra trial was a resounding success and proved pill testing would work.'

Mr Perrottet's office and the Ministry of Health have been contacted for comment.

Drug overdoses at Australian festivals are a common occurrence despite authorities introducing drug bins and using sniffer dogs.

In October, 18 people at two music festivals were rushed to hospital after suffering overdoses.

More than 70 people were arrested at Knockout Outdoor at Sydney Olympic Park and Listen Out at Centennial Park for drug possession and a further four for drug supply.

Medical teams at the festival treated more than 130 people with complaints related to drug use and heat exhaustion

Those arrests came despite amnesty bins being set up at both events for revellers to discard drugs without the fear of being arrested.

The policy was introduced as a recommendation of a coronial inquest handed down in 2020 into the deaths of six young people at music festivals in NSW between December 2017 and January 2019.

Alex Ross-King, 19, Joshua Tam, 22, Callum Brosnan, 21, Diana Nguyen, 21, Joseph Pham, 23 all died at festivals after taking MDMA or ecstasy.

Five of the six festival goers also had other illegal substances in their system.

Poll Should pill testing be introduced at all Australian festivals? Yes No Should pill testing be introduced at all Australian festivals? Yes 47 votes

No 76 votes Now share your opinion





The inquest also recommended a number of other measures including pill testing, scrapping the use of sniffer dogs and reducing the number of strip searches.

The government rejected all recommendations, instead using police sniffer dogs at festivals since to deter drug use.

NSW Police Minister Paul Toole previously rejected calls to introduce pill testing, claiming 'there is no safe way to take drugs.'

'Tragically, too many families and communities are living with the consequences of people thinking there is a safe way to take illegal drugs,' he told The Australian.

'I wholeheartedly back the work of the NSW Police Force trying to stop people supplying and taking illegal drugs before it is too late. That includes the use of drug detection dogs.

'The NSW Government last month announced the single-largest investment in evidence-based alcohol and other drug (AOD) services in the State's history, noting that illicit drugs will remain illegal.

'I cannot be clearer: there is no safe way to take drugs.'

Pill testing facilities allow a person in possession of a drug to test it to find out what substances are inside.

They are usually set up in places where drugs are most likely to be used - including music festivals, clubs or dance parties.

They are used in places like Toronto and New Zealand but have been shunned in Australia.

However, a six-month trial began in Canberra last year, and found that 40 per cent of cocaine samples tested did not actually contain cocaine.

The six-month pilot program which began in late July at the City Community Health Centre in Canberra enables users to test their recreational narcotics free of charge in a bid to reduce the risk of overdose.

CanTEST tested more than 150 samples in two months, of which 34 were discarded once the owner understood the contents of their drug.

September results revealed a cocaine sample was found to contain dimethyl sulfone, a pain relief and anti-inflammatory drug, while another sample believed to be methamphetamine was actually sugar.
A Sydney woman has been told she'll 'never walk again' after being shot in the spine while she slept.

Georgina Vlahos, 37, was allegedly shot by her boyfriend Kamal Eljamal, 32, while lying in bed.

Eljamal fired multiple bullets through a ceiling and into her bedroom before he dumped her outside a hospital and fled, police allege.

Dramatic CCTV footage released by police shows the moment Ms Vlahos was left at the hospital.

Georgina Vlahos, 37, was allegedly shot by her boyfriend Kamal Eljamal, 32, while lying in bed

She will need specialist care for the rest of her life, and will likely never walk again, police say.

Bullets hit her spinal cord with her spleen and liver severed in the shooting, according to a police fact sheet.

Police will allege she was sleeping at her Bankstown home on January 12 when her boyfriend shot multiple rounds through the ceiling of the double garage, with bullets penetrating the floor and mattress before hitting her.

Eljamal then bundled her into a car and dropped her outside an ambulance bay at Bankstown Hospital before yelling at paramedics and fleeing the scene, police will further allege.

Kamal Eljamal, 32, was arrested by heavily armed officers at a Picnic Point home last Friday nad will face Bankstown Local Court on Wednesday

The man rushed into the ambulance bay of Bankstown Hospital to drop off the woman

He then allegedly returned to her home and put a doona, pillow and bloodstained bedsheets into bags as well as removing CCTV and his personal belongings from her home.

Seven bullet holes were found throughout the property, with three in the garage.

Two of the bullet holes had been filled with an unknown filler in an attempt to cover the gunshot hole, police allege.

Police are seen at Bankstown Hospital as they track down the man who dropped off a woman to hospital with gunshot wounds last month

Eljamal was arrested by heavily armed officers at a Picnic Point home last Friday nad will face Bankstown Local Court on Wednesday.

He has been charged with discharging a firearm with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. Police have applied for an apprehended violence order on behalf.

Ms Vlahos has declined to speak to police and remains in hospital.
A pilot program has rolled out and will provide 3,250 residents $500 a month

Guaranteed income experiments trialed in LA and Chicago could be set to spread across the country after county officials congregated in Washington on Monday.

County leaders throughout the US met to announce a network of county-level basic income programs this week, the New York Times reported.

In December, Cook County, including Chicago, launched an unprecedented guaranteed income scheme which saw 3,200 residents receive $500 a month with no strings attached.

Last year LA County similarly deployed a pilot program that picked 1,000 people to receive $1,000 monthly payments.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly Mitchell, who both oversaw the launch of guaranteed income pilot programs in their own counties, will now serve as co-chairs of Counties for a Guaranteed Income.

It will be a sister program to Mayors for Guaranteed Income, a network founded in June 2020 which has more than 100 mayors among its members.

Such initiatives have highlighted a rift between Republicans and Democrats - the former label them a waste of money and the latter believe they will emancipate the weakest members of society.

Chicago has launched an unprecedented guaranteed income scheme that will see 3,200 residents receive $500 a month with no strings attached. Pictured: Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot

In June 2020 the network Mayors for Guaranteed Income was founded and has more than 100 members. This map shows cities where mayors are members of the network

'There's no indication that I see that the American public thinks what we really need is more aid to people who choose not to work,' Robert Rector, a conservative public assistance expert at the Heritage Foundation who helped shape the welfare changes of the 1990s, told the Times.

Similarly, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has seen the issue as an opportunity to attack Republican politics.

'These are the same people that didn't want to expand health care, and look at the number of people in their communities, these ruby red communities, that are suffering,' Lightfoot said.

'These are the same people, frankly, that are attacking the very core of our democracy, demonizing being different, being the other, based upon your religion, your creed, who you love, your gender identity.'

Programs in both Chicago, the city, and Cook County have been described as 'the largest of their kind in the nation' and are part of an effort led by Lightfoot and Preckwinkle to support Illinois' poorest residents with basic sustenance.

Cook County launched an unprecedented guaranteed income scheme under the supervision of Toni Preckwinkle (pictured)

One of the programs in Chicago got underway in December, when 3,250 residents began receiving $500 monthly checks and would continue doing so for two years. Another commenced in August with the same income, but will last just one year.

Around 91,000 Chicagoans applied for the program within a day and 176,000 within three weeks. Applications were open to certain people in Cook County, in which Chicago is incorporated. It is the second most populous county in Illinois and the second most populous county in the US.

Applicants had to be at least 18, residents of Cook County, and have a household income at or below 250 percent of the federal poverty level, Preckwinkle said regarding the $42million Cook County Promise Guaranteed Income Pilot.

That meant a one-member household would need to earn less than $33,975 a year and a family of four, $69,375. Around 36 percent of households would qualify with such limitations, Preckwinkle said.

Almost 8 in 10 applicants were women, and three in four were black, Bloomberg reported.

Recipients were given a choice between receiving a pre-paid debit card or bank account direct deposits, and are free to use the money however they please.

The program in Cook County got underway in December, when 3,250 residents began receiving $500 monthly checks and would continue doing so for two years

'I'm the mayor of the city of Chicago. I know what our people need,' Lightfoot told the New York Times.

Last August Lightfoot launched a separate city-wide $31.5million Resilient Communities Pilot which selected 5,000 city residents to receive a guaranteed $500 for a year.

Both the Chicago and Cook County schemes were funded by the more than $1billion the county received from the American Rescue Plan Act, signed by President Joe Biden.

'This was a once-in-a-lifetime moment for us to be bold and innovative,' Brandie Knazze, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Family and Support Services, told the Times.

Preckwinkle assumed her position as Cook County Board President in 2010 and ran against Lightfoot as a Chicago mayoral candidate in 2019.

She told the Times that both Martin Luther King Jr. and the Black Panthers were inspiration for the programs.

King advocated for guaranteed income, famously saying: 'I am now convinced that the simplest approach will prove to be the most effective  the solution to poverty is to abolish it directly by a now widely discussed measure: the guaranteed income.'

Preckwinkle also said she hopes that guaranteed income could gain traction on a federal level.

'What's happened in this country historically is these ideas get tried out at the local level, in cities and counties and states, and when there's enough momentum, they get adopted by the federal government,' she said. 'So that's what we're hoping will happen.'

Lightfoot said the future of such schemes beyond the pilot stage would be determined by an analysis of how they perform by the University of Chicago. Its research will be informed by surveys, interviews and economic, labor, criminal, legal and educational data.
Australia will name countries found to be undermining the nation's political processes after it foiled a secret plot from the Iranian regime to target a protester.

Spy agencies will also be tasked with designing programs for identified communities most at-risk of being targeted for foreign interference.

The announcement comes ahead of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese giving an address next week on national security to the National Press Club in Canberra.

In a speech to the Australian National University, Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil also revealed ASIO recently foiled a foreign interference operation by the Iranian regime.

The plot was aimed at an Iranian-Australian linked to locally held protests over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died in police custody after she was detained by Iran's morality police for failing to wear her hijab correctly.

Ms O'Neil said the government would call out the 'egregious acts' of individual countries when it was in the national interest to do so.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil revealed ASIO foiled a foreign interference operation by the Iranian regime

She said ASIO and the Department of Home Affairs would be asked to develop a new program for people at risk of being targeted for foreign interference, which would help them understand what this looked like and how they could respond.

'It's time to bring foreign interference out of the shadows and into the light,' she told the ANU National Security College on Tuesday.

'As minister for home affairs, there is something direct and practical I can do to help equip Australians to fight this problem - to talk as openly as I can about foreign interference in Australia.'

Ms O'Neil also referred to unnamed countries that had tried to 'collect sensitive personal information of individuals seen as dissidents by the foreign government due to their activism'.

'There are examples of individuals arranging counter-protests to instigate arguments with activists with the intent of provoking violence - all at the request of a foreign intelligence service,' she said.

The plot was aimed at an Iranian-Australian linked to locally held protests over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died in police custody after she was detained by Iran's morality police for failing to wear her hijab correctly

Liberal senator Claire Chandler said the Australian community was entitled to more transparency about the action being taken by the government.

'How can the minister (O'Neil) declare to the Iranian-Australian community that this activity was 'shut down immediately' when in fact Iranian-Australians continue to report harassment and targeting of their families in Iran,' she said.

Opposition countering foreign interference spokesman James Paterson urged the government to impose the 'strongest possible' response.

'Every Australian is entitled to peacefully protest,' he said.

'It is the responsibility of the Albanese government to protect these democratic rights with the strongest possible response to deter this activity and send a clear message to those responsible that it will not be tolerated.'
We are proud to announce the publication of the French translation of Alan Woods History of Philosophy: A Marxist Perspective. The English language edition received a phenomenal reception upon its release in 2021, demonstrating the thirst that exists for serious works of Marxist theory. The appearance of this latest translation is an important advance for Marxist ideas in the Francophone world, and we congratulate the French-speaking comrades of the IMT on this achievement.

[You can order your copy at any of the bookshops of the Francophone sections of the IMT: Canada, France, Belgium and Switzerland.]

This book is a unique contribution to Marxist literature. In its eleven chapters, the author Alan Woods traces and explains the history of philosophical thought, from ancient Greece, all the way down to Karl Marx.

Alan Woods goes back to the brilliant thinkers of ancient Greece: the pre-Socratics, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics and the Epicureans. He takes us through the Dark Age, that period of regression that followed the collapse of the Roman Empire and the rise of Christianity, when the best of ancient Greek thought was preserved among the Arabs alone. But Alan Woods also brings to our attention those philosophers who continued to stand out as bright spots in this darkness; who prefigured a new resurgence of philosophy in the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. And he explains how, when the capitalist class was still a revolutionary class, it produced giants of philosophy: the school of the English empiricists, the great rationalists, the French materialists.

Finally, he explains how this great struggle of ideas prepared the way for the philosophy of Marxism itself, dialectical materialism, which represents a synthesis of the best ideas that preceded it, and that provides a truly scientific basis for the struggle against capitalism.

Alan Woods is not content merely summarising the philosophical ideas of the great thinkers who represent the milestones in this history. Rather, this is a Marxist analysis. It applies the dialectical method to analysing the progress of philosophy itself: its advances, as well as its periods of retreat and impasse, and the conditions that prepared the way for new advances. This dialectic can only be explained in connection with the advancing tide of human history itself, its flows and ebbs, and the economic, political and social conditions in which the great philosophers of the past laboured.

The result is an invaluable contribution to the theoretical arsenal of Marxism, a text which will better arm the reader with the theoretical tools necessary to put an end to capitalism and the division of society into classes once and for all.
Those who rent out a room can get $250 to $315 per week

Gold Coast homeowners are being encouraged to rent out their spare rooms to international students for extra cash amidst the rental crisis.

It's estimated around 32,000 overseas students will jet over to the Queensland city to study this year.

'Host of the Coast' has been launched to help students find accommodation during their stay due to the critical shortage of rental properties available.

The initiative was launched by the city's peak educational body, Study Gold Coast, in partnership with the local government.

It's estimated around 32,000 international students will move to the Gold Coat to study this year (stock image)

Local homeowners have been letters encouraging them to open their door to international students

There has also been support from the state government, Study Match, Tyler International and the Australian Homestay Network.

Residents who put their hand up can earn $250 to $315 per week to allow one student to rent out a spare room.

They can also choose how long they are willing to rent out a room to a student.

Gold Coast homeowners have been sent letters from the mayor's office that encourages them to consider renting out a spare room.

Study Gold Coast CEO, Jennine Tax, said last month:' A letter is going to 55,000 households and those areas have been identified based on their proximity to educational institutions.'

On the Study Gold Coast website, the initiative says, 'International students enrich the quality of our lives and have so much to offer'.

'You can broaden your horizons and bring the world into your home by opening your doors to students from more than 130 different countries.'

Study Gold Coast CEO, Jennine Tax (pictured), has spearheaded the initiative, 'Host for the Coast'

The Gold Coast has one of the worst rental shortages in the country with a current vacancy rate of 0.7 per cent

Study Gold Coast adds that there are 'accommodation shortages across the world and by opening your door to an international student you can help alleviate the current crisis here on the coast'.

In return, it says homeowners can take advantage 'of the opportunity to learn a new language or creating a cultural experience while being paid for providing much needed accommodation'.

There is a shortage of rental properties in all of the major cities across the country, with the Gold Coast having one of the worst shortages in the country.

The city's rental vacancy rate is currently at 0.7 per cent and the median Gold Coast rental price has increased by 30 per cent since 2020.

Council figures reveal there are over 300 free standing homes listed as short-term accommodation in the Gold Coast, as reported by the ABC.

If you own a property on the Gold Coast near a university or college, you can apply to become a host for an international student here.
Publishers always know the true nature of the writers whose books they print, even if they are loath to spell it out in public. So you can believe Otto Penzler, of Penzler Books in the U.S., when he said of his protegee, the hugely popular American novelist Patricia Highsmith: 'She was a mean, cruel, hard, unlovable, unloving human being. I could never penetrate how any human being could be that relentlessly ugly.' He gave this astonishingly acid verdict on one of his authors on her death in 1995, while adding the other truth about her: 'But her books . . . Brilliant.' If that's the outspoken view of those supposed to be on your side, then what are your enemies - of whom the controversial and sinister Highsmith, author of the Mr Ripley books and many others, collected a veritable army - saying about you among themselves? The question arises now for two reasons. First, the amoral, enigmatic murderer Ripley she created in her 1955 novel, The Talented Mr Ripley, and who has already been recreated in no fewer than five films, is expected to be on our television screens again later this year. An eight-part drama series on Netflix promises much, with the talented Andrew Scott (unforgettable as Moriarty in Sherlock and the 'hot priest' in Fleabag) in the title role and also directing.
A Melbourne man is accused to leaving his ex-girlfriend's body to rot in her home for eight months after killing her in a jealous rage, a court has heard.

Sarah Gatt's decomposed body was found in a bathtub in her Kensington home, semi-naked, wrapped in power cords and covered with household objects, in January, 2018.

Police made the grisly find when they conducted a welfare check. They believe the 40-year-old died in late April the previous year.

Ms Gatt's ex Andrew Baker, 55, is accused of murdering her after she broke off their relationship to begin a new one with a woman in 2016, police allege.

A Melbourne man is accused to leaving his ex-girlfriend's body to rot in her home for eight months after killing her in a jealous rage, a court has heard. Pictured, Sarah Gatt

The court also heard Ms Gatt had mental health issues and lived in public housing on a disability pension

The Supreme Court of Victoria heard their two and a half year relationship was 'intense, turbulent and, at times, violent' and that when Ms Gatt left him, Mr Baker became driven by 'jealousy and anger'.

The court also heard Ms Gatt had mental health issues and lived in public housing on a disability pension.

Crown prosecutor Andrew Dickie alleged that Mr Baker bizarrely invited a group of people to her home three months after she died 'to witness his discovery of a body'.

One person who attended - and saw a foot sticking out of the bathtub - was the woman Ms Gatt chose over Mr Baker, Leona Rei-Paku.

But none of them reported what they saw to police, who found her body in a state of 'extreme decomposition' five months later.

Mr Dickie also alleges that after Ms Gatt's death, Mr Baker told friends he was back with her but she was away in a psychiatric hospital.

He also faked text messages and love letters to support that claim, the prosecution also alleged.

It was previously alleged that Mr Baker collected Ms Gatt's Centrelink payments for months after she died.

Mr Baker has pleaded not guilty.

Authorities suspect Ms Gatt, 40, was killed around April 19, 2017 after an assault but her body was not found until January, 2018 at her Kensington apartment (pictured)

His barrister, John Saunders, questioned how the Crown could prove his client inflicted injuries on Ms Gatt with the intent of killing or even seriously harming her.

Police were unable to identify Ms Gatt's cause of death or specific injuries, but they did find blood in various parts of her house at Lambeth Street in Kensington.

'How can you conclude that Ms Gatt did not receive injuries from an accident?' Mr Saunders asked the court, acknowledging reports she had drugs in her system.
The men said they were fishermen, but this was 'inconsistent'

Three men who were dramatically rescued clinging to an esky in rough seas after their boat capsized are now wanted for questioning by Australian Federal Police over a $235million cocaine haul.

Investigators on Tuesday announced the seizure of 365kg of cocaine they suspect was being transported on the trio's seven-metre vessel.

The men were rescued in dangerous waters 17km offshore from Albany, Western Australia on February 1.

But their claim they were on a fishing trip was immediately treated with scepticism by police who said it was 'inconsistent'.

Mate Stipinovich (pictured) is one of the men the Australian Federal Police want to talk to

'Six days later, a black plastic-wrapped package containing multiple smaller packages of cocaine washed ashore near Denmark,' the AFP said.

'The next afternoon, (Wednesday, 8 February, 2023), a seven-metre boat was found overturned off Peaceful Bay, about 45km west of Denmark.

'When police retrieved and searched the cabin cruiser they allegedly found another eight similar plastic-wrapped packages, each containing about 40kg of cocaine.'

'Police believe the drugs were collected from the ocean and loaded on-board the seven-metre boat.'

But exactly how the the drugs were dropped in the water is still being investigated.

The AFP has called for the public's assistance to help locate the men who officers want to speak to about the shipment.

Two of the men who police want to speak to, Mate Stipinovich, 49, and Karl Whitburn, 45, are from WA.

The third man, Aristides Avlonitis, 36, is believed to be in the Northern Territory.

One of the WA men is the registered owner of the boat where the cocaine was found.

One of the men is the registered owner of the boat (pictured) where the cocaine was found

When police searched the cabin cruiser they found a further eight plastic-wrapped packages (such as the one pictured), each containing about 40kg of cocaine

AFP acting Commander Graeme Marshall urged the three men to contact police.

'We are also appealing for anyone else to call us if they have information to help us find the men, or know anything about this drug importation,' he said.

'The interception of this amount of drugs would be a significant blow to a well-resourced syndicate, and prevents millions of dollars of drug profit from flowing back into the group to fund their next criminal venture or lavish lifestyles.'

The AFP estimated the seizure has saved the community around $235million in drug-related harm, including associated crime, healthcare and loss of productivity.

Aristides Avlonitis (pictured) aged 36, is believed to be in the Northern Territory

Commander Marshall said organised crime syndicates use a variety of methods to try to smuggle large amounts of drugs into Australia and that the drugs seized would have been distributed across Australia and not just in WA.

He said there is a perception held by some 'that cocaine is a safe drug. Let me be clear  it is not.

'Just as importantly, the transnational serious organised criminals who prey on Australia are undermining our national security, economy and social security system.

'The AFP and our partners will continue to target and disrupt criminals based locally and offshore who are importing drugs, to ensure we can protect the Australian community,' Commander Marshall said.

The AFP also wants to find and speak with Karl Whitburn (pictured) who is aged 45

Superintendent Shaun Senior of the Australian Border Force said it continuously monitors vessels operating in and around shipping lanes, ports and harbours across Australia to identify suspicious activity.

'We understand that the Australian border is one of our most critical national assets, and ... we will continue to make the border a hostile environment for criminals trying to import illicit drugs,' he said.

How and where this particular batch of cocaine was dropped in the ocean is still being investigated and is now part of a international inquiry.

Anyone with information about the incident is urged to contact police.
Flights at Brisbane Airport are grounded as massive storms lash the Queensland coast - with blackouts leaving thousands of homes without power.

Energex said on Tuesday afternoon about 5,600 homes are affected across Brisbane's east including at Wynnum and Manly and also across the north of the city.

'Crews are waiting for these lightning strikes to pass and then we can get stuck into getting them repaired,' Energex spokesperson Danny Donald told 4BC.

Storms are lashing the Southeast Queensland coast, grounding flights at Brisbane Airport (pictured)

Brisbane Airport tweeted on Tuesday afternoon the storm was impacting flights

Flight Tracker shows multiple planes grounded about 5pm at Brisbane Airport with only incoming flights in the vicinity

The Bureau of Meteorology issued an updated severe weather warning at 4.15pm on Tuesday for Southeast Queensland.

Multiple storm cells are lashing the region affecting Brisbane city, the Sunshine Coast, Noosa, parts of Ipswich, Gympie, Logan, Toowoomba, Gold Coast, Redland City, Scenic Rim, Western Downs, South Burnett and Moreton Bay Council Areas.

Intense rainfall, damaging winds and large hailstones are possible, while the Bureau added a storm approaching Logan in the city's south was particularly intense.

Brisbane City was drenched with 63mm of rain in one hour while Rosalie in the inner-west copped 73mm.

Queenslanders have been warned of flooding in some parts of the state from Tuesday with the north also getting smashed by storms.

The Bureau said the Northern Territory and northeast NSW can also expect high rainfall all week.

The sunshine state has several weather warnings in place as residents feel the after-effects of Cyclone Gabrielle - which is now bearing down on New Zealand.

Very heavy rainfall is expected just north of Brisbane where up to 200mm may fall, while Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide can also expect storms throughout the week.

It has been a week of extreme weather with more than 50 bushfires burning across Queensland on Monday morning and the Bureau of Meteorology warning more scorching temperatures are on the way.

The Bureau of Meteorology issued a a severe weather warning for the region on Tuesday afternoon

While some parts of the country are being drenched, it's looking like a scorching week for other parts.

The mercury will top 40C throughout central Australia by Thursday, forecasters from Weatherzone told Daily Mail Australia.

South Australia, Victoria and north-east New South Wales could on Friday reach 43C in some isolated areas before cooling off to a pleasant 25C on Saturday.

Sydney-siders will also experience the hottest day of the year, with temperatures hitting 37C in Bankstown on Saturday.

Sydney City should see hot but not roasting temperatures for the week, hitting 30C by Friday.

Melbourne will be hotter reaching 35C by Friday and Adelaide hotter still hitting 38C on Thursday.

Darwin and Canberra will reach the low 30s by the weekend, while Hobart and Perth will be cooler, with highs just under 30C for the week.

Meanwhile in New Zealand, Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle continues to cause widespread havoc in the country's north.

Cyclone Gabrielle left behind a massive trail of destruction in Whangarei, New Zealand (pictured)

Water was seen gushing from a storm drain access port in Te Awanga, south-east of Auckland

Much of the North Island is under an emergency declaration and about 225,000 Kiwis were without electricity on Tuesday.

Intense rain has caused flooding and landslides cutting off many communities.

At least 2500 families have been displaced from their homes, including 1000 in the far north and 400 households in Auckland, according to New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins

He described Cyclone Gabrielle the most severe weather event for NZ this century.

The Waiohiki Bridge in Napier has been washed away by Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle
A 15-year-old boy and a girl the same age were arrested on suspicion of murder

Murder victim Brianna Ghey was tormented by bullies at school because she was trans, it has been claimed.

The 16-year-old, who was stabbed to death in a 'targeted attack' in a Warrington park over the weekend, had allegedly been bullied by a gang at Birchwood Community High School.

Brianna's father allegedly complained to the school and she confessed to a friend that she was devastated by the abuse, MailOnline can reveal.

It is thought she was attacked by a gang of schoolchildren, pulled downstairs by her backpack in a move called 'seat belting' and had bottles thrown at her.

A boy and a girl, both 15, have been arrested on suspicion of murder after Brianna's body was found on Saturday afternoon. Her death has sparked an outpouring of grief from family and friends.

Schoolgirl Brianna Ghey, pictured, was found stabbed to death in a Warrington park on Saturday

The 16-year-old is thought to have been 'tormented' by a gang of bullies at Birchwood Community High School

On Monday, classmates and friends gathered at Culcheth Linear Park in Culcheth, where she was found, to pay tribute to her and lay flowers in her memory.

READ MORE HERE: Friends of murder victim Brianna Ghey reveal she was 'bullied and attacked for years for the simple reason of being trans' Advertisement

Damian Harry, whose 15-year-old daughter was in Brianna's class and was friends with her, told MailOnline the teenager had been bullied in the past.

'She said she was devastated by the constant abuse and even talked of ending it all,' the father-of-two said.

'It was down to her being trans. It is disgusting what happened.

'Her dad has apparently said he raised safeguarding at the school a thousand times. But little was done. The abuse was constant all because she was different.

'Let's be frank, she was bullied because of her sexuality. Of course this is a hate crime.'

The 50-year-old added that although there are a 'few transgender pupils at the school', the teenager was still targeted.

'There are a few transgender pupils at the school  maybe a handful,' he said.

'They bullied Brianna because she was trans. All sorts of things were done to her.'

'My daughter is distraught at Brianna's death. She is so upset and has been throwing up with the trauma of it.'

MailOnline has contacted the school and police for comment.

Three girls in school uniform leave flowers and tributes to Brianna Ghey near to the scene of her death

A police officer and forensics specialists search woodland close to where the body of Brianna Ghey was found

A schoolgirl carries a bouquet of flowers as she goes to pay tribute to Brianna Ghey at Culcheth Linear Park in Culcheth

A schoolgirl adds flowers to a growing number of tributes left in memory of the 16-year-old

Friends of Brianna Ghey (pictured) say she had been the subject of abuse due to being transgender

In a video on her now-deleted TikTok account, Brianna, wearing her school uniform, announced her exclusion. The video  reviewed by The Sun  was posted five days before her murder.

Emma Mills, headteacher of the school, told the newspaper the Birchwood community is 'shocked and truly devastated' by Brianna's death.

'This is understandably a very difficult and distressing time for many and we will do our utmost to support our pupils and wider school community,' Ms Mills said.

Two teenagers, a 15-year-old boy and girl, both from the area, have since been arrested on suspicion of murder. They are in custody assisting police with their investigation.

Officers have alleged there is no evidence that Brianna was the victim of a hate crime.

However, the teenager's friends have taken to social media alleging she had been 'bullied and gang beaten' at school for several years over the 'simple reason of being trans'.

'She had been bullied in school for years,' an alleged friend of Brianna has claimed.

More than 52,000 has been donated to a fundraising page established in memory of Brianna, who is described as someone who 'brought a lot of laughter' and was looking forward to progressing with school.

The funds will be used to cover funeral expenses and support her family, who say the death of 'strong, fearless and kind' Brianna has 'left a massive hole' in their hearts.

On Monday, Brianna's family released a moving tribute, describing her as 'beautiful, witty and hilarious'.

They said: 'Brianna was a much loved daughter, granddaughter, and baby sister.

'She was a larger than life character who would leave a lasting impression on all that met her. Brianna was beautiful, witty and hilarious. Brianna was strong, fearless and one of a kind.

'The loss of her young life has left a massive hole in our family, and we know that the teachers and her friends who were involved in her life will feel the same.

'We would like to thank everyone for their kind words and support during this extremely difficult time.

'We would like to thank the police for their support, and witnesses for helping with the investigation. The continuation of respect for privacy is greatly appreciated.'
Australian relief workers have examined collapsed buildings and homes turned to rubble as they prepare to relieve tired crews in a Turkish city devastated by a massive earthquake.

The federal government's disaster assistance response team has set up base in Antakya in the Hatay province, awaiting instructions for where to focus its initial earthquake search and rescue efforts.

The 72-strong team, mostly made of specialist NSW firefighters, flew into the country on Sunday.

They took state-of-the-art technical equipment to help find survivors of the 7.8 magnitude quake on February 6.

A 72-strong team of Australian relief workers flew into Antakya, Turkey, on Sunday (pictured, Australian relief workers searching in the aftermath of February 6's earthquakes)

A 72-strong team of Australian relief workers (above) flew into Antakya following two earthquakes devastated the region on February 6

Footage released by the foreign affairs department on Tuesday (Australian time) showed the crew examining buildings turned to rubble, including those holding smashed cars metres off the ground.

The city was among the hardest hit by the country's worst earthquake in modern history, which has claimed more than 37,000 lives - including three Australians, in southern Turkey and northern Syria.

Some Polish rescuers are set to leave the country on Wednesday as low temperatures dim already slim chances of survival but the Australian crew hopes to replicate the rescue of two women and two children in Antakya on Monday.

The Australians' telescopic cameras and seismic detection devices can detect faint movements of survivors trapped underground.

Australian crew workers (above) examining buildings turned to rubble, including those holding smashed cars metres off the ground

Antakya (above) was among the hardest hit by the country's worst earthquake in modern history, which has claimed more than 37,000 lives

Australian aid also took state-of-the-art technical equipment (above) to help find survivors of the 7.8 magnitude quake on February 6

'The rescue equipment also includes a vast amount of tools including jackhammers, power drills, metal cutting gear, heavy lifting, concrete cutting chainsaws and roping systems,' Fire and Rescue NSW said in a statement on Tuesday.

'The Australian contingent will work 24/7 in 12-hour rotations, relieving exhausted international crews already deployed under United Nations arrangements.'

The team landed in the city of Adana on Sunday night before being transferred to Antakya.

The search and rescuers walked the streets of the city, viewing the widespread destruction.

'The Australians have transported their own food rations, water purification, first aid kits and tents and have created a totally self-sufficient base camp so as not to impact on local communities and authorities,' Fire and Rescue NSW said.

Team leader, Chief Superintendent Darryl Dunbar, is expected to address reporters in Antakya on Tuesday evening.

The team of aid workers landed in the city of Adana on Sunday night before being transferred to Antakya (pictured, an Australian aid worker)
James Cook is figure of division for many Indigenous Australians

A radio host hung up on a Sydney councillor after she turned an interview about 35,000 uncollected rubbish bins into a slur on British explorer James Cook, calling the anniversary of his death a 'special day'.

Presenter Chris O'Keefe introduced City of Sydney Councillor Yvonne Weldon on his 2GB show Tuesday, to talk about the two-week garbage workers' strike plaguing the Harbour City.

But the Indigenous Wiradjuri woman immediately went wildly off topic.

She first wished listeners a happy Valentine's Day, and then added it was a 'special day for my mob and many first nations (people) with the anniversary of Captain Cook's death'.

Wiradjuri woman and independent City of Sydney Councillor Yvonne Weldon is pictured on the steps of Sydney Town Hall

On February 14, 1779, Captain Cook was stabbed to death in Hawaii as he attempted to kidnap King Kalaniopuu after a dispute over stealing the islanders' wood.

Just a few years earlier on April 29, 1770, Captain Cook's ship The Endeavour was the first Commonwealth vessel to land in Australia - at what is now known as Botany Bay.

After the local councillor's bizarre rant about about the divisive historical figure, Ms Weldon then tried to address the rubbish issue before O'Keefe interrupted her.

'Councillor Weldon, I've just got to stop you there. The anniversary of Captain Cook's death... are we seriously celebrating that?' he said asked as Ms Weldon laughed.

'We don't celebrate the anniversary of anyone's death, I must say. That's in very poor taste, come on,' O'Keefe said.

There are 35,000 uncollected rubbish bins (pictured) in Sydney due to a garbage workers' strike

She replied by saying some people think the anniversary of the explorer's death falling on Valentine's Day 'may have a message to some'.

The radio host repeated that most people don't celebrate the anniversary of someone's death.

Ms Weldon started talking about the people 'impacted by poor behaviour', but O'Keefe cut her off again.

'It's very hard to take you seriously... we get you on this program to talk about garbage collection and you open with that.'

A statue of British explorer Captain James Cook is pictured in Hyde Park in Sydney's CBD

Radio host Chris O'Keefe (pictured) hung up on a Sydney City councillor who veered wildly off the point of an interview

She said that to her, February 14 represents Valentine's Day and the death of Captain Cook.

The pair then disputed her exact words.

O'Keefe accused her of saying the anniversary of Captain Cook's death was 'a good day'.

She, rightly, denied saying that. What she actually said was it was 'a special day'.

O'Keefe then interrupted her for the third and final time, ending the call and telling listeners 'You can probably understand why we wrapped it up there.

'We're here to talk about garbage collection in the City of Sydney, not things like that.'
A German ballet critic today told of how she was left in utter shock after a furious ballet director allegedly smeared his dog Gustav's faeces over her face after she described one of his productions as 'boring' and 'disjointed'.

Journalist Wiebke Huster, 57, said Marco Goecke, director of Hanover State Opera's ballet company, approached her during the interval of his show on Saturday night at the opera house and 'blocked her way' before accusing her of 'writing badly'.

Huster, a dance critic for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), said Goecke, 50, then produced a bag of dog faeces, which had been freshly produced by his Dachshund Gustav just minutes before, from his pocket and rubbed the excrement over her face in front of 'shocked' onlookers.

'All of a sudden, without any warning, he just took out this doggy poo bag and smeared it into my face,' Huster told BBC Radio 4.

'As he turned around and walked away, and as I realised what had happened I screamed. I was in panic, I was completely shocked, as were the people around me. They didn't know what to do.'

Journalist Wiebke Huster said Marco Goecke (pictured with Dachshund Gustav), director of Hanover State Opera's ballet company, approached her during the interval of his show on Saturday night at the opera house and smeared his pet's faeces on her face

Journalist Wiebke Huster (pictured) said Marco Goecke attacked her verbally and physically on Saturday night

Goecke was said to be furious over Huster's scathing review, published in the FAZ just before his new show premiered on Saturday, of his production 'In the Dutch Mountain' (pictured)

Huster said she rushed to the toilets before leaving the Hanover Opera House to file a police report against Goecke, who is said to have taken a bow on the stage following the ballet performance 'like nothing had happened'.

Goecke was said to be furious over Huster's scathing review, published in the FAZ just before his new show premiered on Saturday, of his production 'In the Dutch Mountain'.

The journalist had compared the production, which recently opened at Nederlands Dans Theatre in The Hague, to being 'alternately driven mad and killed by boredom'.

A furious Goecke approached Huster in the crowded foyer of the Hanover Opera House during the interval of his production 'Glaube - Liebe -Hoffnung' (Faith - Love - Hope)' and threatened to ban her from the house and accused her of being responsible for cancelling subscriptions in Hanover.

He allegedly verbally abused her before he attacked her with the dog faeces. Huster left the Opera House and immediately reported the alleged assault to police.

'It was bodily harm and an insult. Marco Goecke came to me in the first interval and he blocked my way,' Huster said. 'He said I should get a house ban instead of being allowed to report on this evening.'

'I said I was just doing my job and was there to review his performance,' Huster said, adding that Goecke had accused her of 'always writing so badly.'

'And then, all of a sudden, without any warning, it was so quick, he just took out this doggy poo bag and smeared it into my face.'

She told The Daily Beast: 'He didn't just throw it at me. He pulled out the bag with the open side of the bag and rubbed it in my face brutally, so the dog poop would stick in my face.

'One moment we were still talking and the next moment his fist was in my face.'

Huster said: 'I was surrounded in this foyer by lots of people and they were watching this scene, and as he turned around and walked away, and as I realised what had happened I screamed.

'I was in panic, I was completely shocked, as were the people around me. They didn't know what to do. '

'And then the next thing, somebody from the theatre came up to me and led me to a ladies room so that I could clean my face and I left the theatre and went to the police.'

Huster said Goecke, 50, then produced a bag of dog faeces, which had been freshly produced by his Dachshund Gustav (pictured with Goecke) just minutes before, from his pocket and rubbed the excrement over her face in front of 'shocked' onlookers

The opera house has since suspended ballet director Goecke effective immediately and banned him from the opera house until further notice

In a statement the opera house said that Goecke's 'impulsive behaviour' was going against their code of conduct and left the audience, staff members and the general public 'extremely unsettled'

Huster said that a woman who witnessed the incident told her in an email that she had tried to stop Goecke and get hold of him. 'But somebody from the theatre actually came and led Marco Goecke to a separate room,' Huster said.

And showing no remorse, Goecke is said to have bowed at the end of the performance 'as if nothing had happened'.

'As colleagues have reported to me, he bowed at the end of the performance. He went onto the stage, he waved to the audience, he acted as if nothing had happened,' Huster said.

But Goecke is now being investigated by police and has been suspended from his post as chief choreographer and director and barred from the Hanover State Opera House.

Samples of the 'dog faeces' had not been secured by authorities, who would have to rely on eyewitness testimony as they investigated the alleged assault, a police spokeswoman said.

Huster said she has received an outpouring of support since the alleged assault.

She said: 'There is a wide response in the cultural arts world. People saying this is an act against freedom of the press. This should not have happened.

'And in my 25-year-long career as a dance critic, nothing similar has ever happened to me nor to anyone else. So I like to consider this a singular act.'

The ballet director appeared at least partly unrepentant, however. In an interview with public broadcaster NDR, Goecke acknowledged that his 'choice of means wasn't super, absolutely.'

'Of course socially that is also certainly not recognized or respected, if one resorts to such means,' he said of the attack, adding that he had never done anything like that before and was 'a bit shocked at myself.'

Goecke said that while having his work 'soiled for years' was a price he had been told he had to pay for being in the public eye, there was a limit.

Once a certain point has been reached, I disagree,' he said.

The German journalists' association DJV denounced the attack.

'An artist must tolerate criticism, even if it seems exaggerated,' the union's regional head in Lower Saxony state, Frank Rieger, said. 'Whoever reacts violently to criticism is unacceptable. The attack on the... journalist is also an attack on press freedom.'

The opera house apologised for the episode in a statement, adding that it was checking which steps to take against the director in accordance with labour law. It did not give details of what happened.

'We contacted the journalist immediately after the incident and apologised to her personally and also publicly,' Laura Berman, the opera house's artistic director, said in a statement.

'We very much regret that our audience has been disturbed by this incident.'

In a statement the opera house said that Goecke's 'impulsive behaviour' was going against their code of conduct and left the audience, staff members and the general public 'extremely unsettled'.

They added that his behaviour has harmed the ballet house's reputation.

The opera house demanded an apology from Goecke and an explanation before it will give information about further steps regarding the choreographer and ballet director.

FAZ suggested that Huster's public shaming was worrying news for the arts world.

'This humiliating incident is not only an act of bodily harm but also an attempt to intimidate our free, critical view of art,' the newspaper said.

Goecke, ballet director at the Hanover theatre since 2019, was the 2022 recipient of the German Dance Prize.

The next performance of 'Belief - Love - Hope' in Hanover is scheduled for February 24, according to the opera house's website.
A man with distinctive face tattoos has been sentenced for a raft of offences after he made international headlines while on the run from police.

Jaimes Allan Sutton shot to fame last year when Murray River Police issued a public alert in an attempt to locate his whereabouts.

Photos shared by police revealed his unusual facial tattoo, which reads 'BEAST', amid swirling dark designs.

Jaimes Allan Sutton (pictured) was a fugitive captured by Murray River Police with a distinctive 'Beast' face tattoo

The 24-year-old appeared to taunt police while he was on the run when he posted a photo of himself with his face half covered. His characteristic forehead tattoo was still visible above a makeshift mask (pictured)

Social media users were quick to joke he 'shouldn't be hard to find' thanks to the tattoos which 'might make him stand out'.

The 24-year-old appeared to taunt police while he was on the run when he posted a photo of himself with his face half covered.

His characteristic forehead tattoo was still visible above a makeshift mask.

One person commented: 'Cops won't even recognize (sic) ya now bra.'

Sutton (pictured) shot to fame last year when police issued a public alert in an attempt to locate his whereabouts

On Tuesday, Sutton faced Deniliquin Local Court to be sentenced for seven offences related to domestic violence, property and traffic.

The court heard he was charged with common assault, destruction of property and three counts of driving while disqualified.

Court documents reveal the 24-year-old had been on bail for the offences when he went on the run and sparked the national manhunt.

The brazen breach of the court orders landed him with two charges of failing to appear in accordance with bail conditions.

When your toddler gets hold of a permanent marker https://t.co/m22WnbM1ml  Chris (@Kristov086) September 28, 2022

Magistrate Melissa Humphreys sentenced Sutton to an 18-month intensive corrections order for all seven charges.

She ordered him to complete 100 hours of community service and to complete both a traffic offender program and a domestic violence program.

The tattooed criminal is prohibited from consuming alcohol or drugs, except for those prescribed by a doctor.

As one Twitter user joked: 'Surely he will blend in with society easy'.
Rescuers today found two teens buried deep beneath the rubble eight days on from the devastating earthquakes that hit regions of Turkey and Syria last week.

Muhammed Cafer Cetin, 18, was extracted from the debris in Turkey's southeastern Adiyaman province after more than a week lying under a collapsed building.

A short while earlier, rescue workers pulled two brothers alive from the ruins of an apartment block in neighbouring Kahramanmaras province.

State-owned Anadolu news agency identified them as 17-year-old Muhammed Enes Yeninar and his brother, 21-year-old Baki Yeninar, who was rescued after him. They were both placed in ambulances and taken to hospital but their condition was unclear.

The death toll from the magnitude 7.8 and 7.5 quakes that struck nine hours apart on February 6 in southeastern Turkey and northern Syria has now passed 35,000, with it certain to increase as search teams discover more bodies.

An 18-year-old teenager, Muhammed Cafer Cetin is rescued by search and rescue teams from under rubble of a collapsed building 198 hours after 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes hit Turkiye's Adiyaman, February 14

The miraculous moment saw Muhammed Cafer Cetin, 18, extracted from the debris in Turkey's southeastern Adiyaman province after more than a week lying under a collapsed building

An aerial photo taken by drone shows excavators at work among the rubble of collapsed buildings following a powerful earthquake in Kahramanmaras, Turkey, 14 February 2023

Turkish television continued broadcasting rescues on Tuesday, as experts said the window to find survivors is closing.

In Adiyaman province, 18-year-old Muhammed Cafer Cetin was given an IV with fluids before attempting the dangerous extraction.

As responders moved in, the building crumbled further as rescuers worked to save the teen.

Medics surrounded him to place a neck brace and he was on a stretcher with an oxygen mask, making it out to daylight on the 199th hour.

'We are so happy,' his uncle said.

Two brothers were rescued from one building that has been destroyed in central Kahramanmaras, near the epicentre, Tuesday some 198 hours after the quake.

The 17-year-old Muhammed Enes was seen wrapped in a thermal blanket as he was carried on a stretcher to an ambulance.

Dozens of rescuers were working at the site and Turkish soldiers hugged and clapped after their rescue.

Rescuers then asked for quiet to continue looking for others and shouted 'can anyone hear me?'

The health conditions of the rescued were unclear.

17-year-old Muhammed Enes Yeninar and his 21-year-old brother Abdulbaki Yeninar (not seen) are rescued by search and rescue teams from under rubble of a collapsed building 198 hours after 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes hit Turkey's Kahramanmaras, on February 14, 2023

Both brothers were both placed in ambulances and taken to hospital but their condition was unclear

The death toll from the magnitude 7.8 and 7.5 quakes that struck nine hours apart on February 6 in southeastern Turkey and northern Syria has now passed 35,000

Search and rescue team personnel celebrate after rescuing 17-year-old Muhammed Enes Yeninar and his 21-year-old brother Abdulbaki Yeninar

Two brothers were rescued from one building that has been destroyed in central Kahramanmaras, near the epicentre, Tuesday some 198 hours after the quake

Medics surrounded him to place a neck brace and he was on a stretcher with an oxygen mask, making it out to daylight on the 199th hour

The 17-year-old Muhammed Enes was seen wrapped in a thermal blanket as he was carried on a stretcher to an ambulance

In extremely hard-hit Hatay, Sengul Abalioglu lost her old sister and four nephews.

'It doesn't matter if dead or alive, we just want our corpses so that they at least have a grave and we bury them,' she said as she waited in front of the rubble where her family could be.

They said last time they heard voices from the building was yesterday and complained that they started to search recently.

Also they said they wanted to have international press as she worries that if we leave, the pressure will vanish and the search will disappear

In Syria, President Bashar Assad agreed to open two new crossing points from Turkey to the country's rebel-held northwest to deliver desperately needed aid and equipment to millions of earthquake victims, the United Nations announced Monday.

The crossings at Bab Al-Salam and Al Raee will be opened for an initial period of three months.

Rescue workers pull two brothers alive from the ruins of an apartment block in Kahramanmaras province

Muhammed Cafer Cetin,18, was given an IV with fluids before rescuers attempted the dangerous extraction

A building is collapsed as another toppled on a standing apartment after 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes hit multiple provinces of Turkiye including Hatay on February 14, 2023

Turkish relief agency AFAD rescuers search the rubble of collapsed building in Islahiye, near Gaziantep, on February 13, 2023

Men walk amid the rubble in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Kahramanmaras, Turkey February 14, 2023

Until now, the UN has only been allowed to deliver aid to the Idlib area through a single crossing at Bab Al-Hawa.

The United Nations has been under intense pressure to get more aid and heavy equipment into Syria's rebel-held northwest since the earthquake struck a week ago, with survivors lacking the means to dig for other survivors and the death toll mounting.

The first Saudi aid plane, carrying 35 tons of food, landed in government-held Aleppo airport Tuesday morning, according to Syrian state media.

Saudi Arabia has raised some 50 million US dollars in a public campaign to aid Turkey and Syria.

Prior to Tuesday, Saudi planes landed in Turkey, with some of the aid also making its way into impoverished rebel-held northwestern Syria.

Several other Arab countries have sent planes loaded with aid to government-held Syria, including Jordan and Egypt, the United Arab Emirates.

Algeria, Iraq, Oman, Tunisia, Sudan and Libya have also delivered aid to Damascus.

Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said late Monday rescue work continued in Hatay province, along with Kahramanmaras, the epicentre, and Adiyaman

Dozens of rescuers were working at the site and Turkish soldiers hugged and clapped after their rescue

Rescuers are filmed as they continue to recover victims of the devastating quakes

Many in Turkey blame faulty construction for the vast devastation, and authorities continued targeting contractors allegedly linked with buildings that collapsed

Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said late Monday rescue work continued in Hatay province, along with Kahramanmaras, the epicentre, and Adiyaman.

Rescue work appears to have ended in the remaining seven provinces.

The quake affected 10 provinces in Turkey that are home to some 13.5 million people, as well as a large area in northwest Syria that is home to millions.

Quake survivors also face difficult conditions amid wrecked cities, with many sleeping outdoors in freezing weather.

Much of the region's water system is not working, and damage to the system raises risks of contamination.

Turkey's health minister said samples taken from dozens of points of the water system were 'microbiologically unfit,' which highlights how precarious basic needs continue to be.

More than 41,500 buildings were destroyed or so damaged that they would have to be demolished, the Minister of Environment and Urbanisation.

There are bodies under those buildings and the number of missing remain unclear.

Search and rescue team members work at the site of a collapsed building in the aftermath of a powerful earthquake in Kahramanmaras, Turkey, February 14, 2023

People stand in the rubble of collapsed buildings in Hatay on February 13, 2023

17-year-old Muhammed Enes Yeninar and his 21-year-old brother Abdulbaki Yeninar (not seen) are rescued by search and rescue teams from under rubble of a collapsed building 198 hours after 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes hit Turkey's Kahramanmaras, on February 14, 2023

An aerial photo taken by drone shows excavators at work among the rubble of collapsed buildings following a powerful earthquake in Kahramanmaras, Turkey, February 14, 2023

Rescue workers clear rubble from collapsed houses in Sarmada, Syria, on the border crossing with Turkey, Sunday, February 12, 2023

Many in Turkey blame faulty construction for the vast devastation, and authorities continued targeting contractors allegedly linked with buildings that collapsed.

Turkey has introduced construction codes that meet earthquake-engineering standards, but experts say the codes are rarely enforced.

The death toll in Turkey stood at 31,643 as of Monday.

Officials have decreased the frequency of death toll updates since the first week of the response, now releasing larger updates once or twice a day.

The toll in the northwestern rebel-held region has reached 2,166, according to the rescue group the White Helmets, while 1,414 people have died in government-held areas, according to the Syrian Health Ministry in Damascus.

The overall death toll in Syria stands at 3,580.
Brittany Higgins shared a photo of her and her fiance's Valentine's Day celebration from their luxurious hotel room.

Footage also shows her partner David Sharaz, throwing rose petals in the shape of a love heart, over their bed at Emporium Hotel in Brisbane on Tuesday night.

Just a few hours earlier she shared a series of post of her and Mr Sharaz, including snaps of their engagement in December, with the caption: 'To my valentine David, I just adore you x.'

Mr Sharaz also posted a photo of him and Ms Higgins, writing: ''Is Valentine capitalised?', 'It's not that deep, David.' Love you lots, you beautiful woman.'

The romantic gesture comes after Daily Mail Australia reported the couple's engagement on New Years Eve after they were snapped at the iconic Cape Bryon Bay lighthouse.

Brittany Higgins shared a clip of her and her partner David Sharaz's Valentine's Day celebrations (above)

Mr Sharaz got down on one knee to ask the former Liberal Party staffer to be his wife in a fairytale moment at sunset.

A beaming Ms Higgins, in an elegant black dress and sandy-coloured heels, was seen clutching a bouquet of red roses on the lighthouse balcony as she said 'yes'.

When Mr Sharaz - sporting a white shirt, light blue jeans and cream-coloured jacket - got back to his feet, the smitten couple passionately embraced and kissed.

The proposal came just two weeks after Ms Higgins reached a confidential multimillion-dollar settlement with the Commonwealth over claims she was sexual assaulted at Parliament House by a colleague Bruce Lehrmann in 2019.

Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz were engaged (above) on New Years Eve at the iconic Cape Bryon Bay lighthouse

He was tried in a hearing in the ACT Supreme Court in October last year, but the case was aborted due to misconduct by a jury member.

The charge against him was then was dropped by the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold SC in November amid fears a second trial would negatively affect Ms Higgins' mental health.

Mr Lehrmann, who has denied the strenuously denied the allegations, is now suing Network 10 and news.com.au over their reporting of the case first disclosed in February, 2021.

It was revealed on Tuesday that Channel 10's Lisa Wilkinson, who is at the centre of the civil suit for her interview with Ms Higgins which aired on The Project, has dropped the network's legal team.

Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz (above) shared photos and sweet messages online to mark Valentine's Day

She plans to defend against the high-profile defamation case with a new self-selected legal team.

According to a statement of claim filed in the Federal Court on February 7, Mr Lehrmann will allege Channel 10 and Wilkinson were 'recklessly indifferent to the truth or falsity' when the allegations against him were made.

Specifically, it will be alleged that Wilkinson 'was seeking to exploit the false allegations of sexual assault as made by Ms Higgins for her own personal and professional gain'.

Federal Court documents lodged on Tuesday indicated Wilkinson will be represented by Gillis Delaney Lawyers and its partner Anthony Jefferies, The Australian reported.

She has also hired top defamation barrister Sue Chrysanthou. Is it understood Wilkinson will be funding the legal team herself.
Wayne Couzens was on duty for the Met when he emerged completely naked out of woodland to flash a female cyclist four months before he murdered Sarah Everard, it can be revealed today.

The firearms officer yesterday admitted three indecent exposure offences, but police took no action at the time, leaving him free to continue serving in the Met's elite Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command.

In the most striking missed opportunity, the 50-year-old exposed himself in front of staff at a McDonald's restaurant just three days before he kidnapped, raped and murdered Ms Everard in March 2021.

The Met was provided with the number plate of the car Couzens had driven since 2015 and details from his bank card  but detectives failed to investigate properly and he remained in his role as an elite armed officer.

It can now be reported that Couzens was meant to be on duty when he exposed himself to a female cyclist while masturbating at the roadside near Deal in Kent on November 13, 2020.



Wayne Couzens served as a Kent police officer before transferring to the Met Police elite unit where he was armed for his duties

The woman told a passing police officer who promised to 'have a look', and she later made an official report to Kent Police, giving a clear description of him.

The incident happened at about 2.30pm, towards the end of Couzens' shift and he was 'on duty at the time of this offence', prosecutors said in court documents seen by the Standard.

Couzens was charged with a string of indecent exposure offences after he admitted murdering the marketing executive, 33, with proceedings covered by reporting restrictions to ensure he had a fair trial.

Restrictions were lifted when the killer yesterday admitted two counts relating to the McDonald's in Swanley, Kent, and the third allegation relating to the female cyclist.

The McDonald's worker previously spoke of her anger at the police for failing to stop the predator, who some takeaway staff nicknamed 'the penis guy' on account of his perverted sexual behaviour.

As MailOnline revealed at the time, police even knew his name but did not realise he was a Met officer.

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, the worker fumed: 'The police took our statements and took away CCTV.

'If they had taken this more seriously, they could easily have figured out that he was a policeman who had committed these crimes.

'The police had three days to stop him but didn't. It could have stopped him from doing a lot worse.'

The McDonald's drive-thru in Swanley, Kent, where Couzens flashed staff

Sarah Everard, 33, was abducted, raped and murdered by Couzens while he was a serving Metropolitan Police officer

Couzens kidnapped Miss Everard on March 3, 2021, using his warrant card to convince her she was under arrest for breaking Covid rules then restraining her with his police-issue handcuffs and belt.

His new admissions yesterday came a week after another Met Police officer, David Carrick, 48, was jailed for 30 years for raping and sexually assaulting a dozen women.

The force has said there was no evidence the pair knew each other, but their crimes have led to an urgent review of all staff who have had reports of domestic abuse or sexual offending made against them.

The Old Bailey heard that Couzens, currently serving a whole-life sentence for Miss Everard's murder, targeted the McDonald's in Swanley, Kent, twice in February 2021.

He looked into the eyes of female staff while handing over his bank card and exposing himself, the court heard.

He has admitted three indecent exposure offences, and denied another three. He will be sentenced on March 6.

Scotland Yard assistant commissioner Bas Javid said: 'We know the public will be sickened at yet more grotesque crimes by Couzens.'

'Flushing out the corrupt and the criminal from the Met will be slow and painful, but... this is how we will reform and become an institution Londoners can have confidence in.'

The Met has defended its decision to prosecute Couzens for indecent exposure even though he will never be released from prison for the murder.

Couzens admitted to three counts of indecent exposure

A court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook of Couzens appearing via video link in February 2022

Deputy Assistant Commissioner for Professionalism Bas Javid said he hopes the decision to prosecute 'goes some small way' to show people the Met will be 'ruthless' in holding rogue officers to account.

Mr Javid said: 'It's every victim's right to be listened to and to have their case investigated.

'I know the homicide team were meticulous and committed in doing everything they could to get justice for them.

'I hope this goes some small way to help the public understand that we will be ruthless in holding officers, even one serving a whole life order and who will never know freedom again, to account.

'We know the public will, understandably, be sickened at yet more grotesque crimes by Couzens.

'The process of flushing out the corrupt and the criminal from the Met will be slow and painful, but is necessary and we will continue to do so.

'This is how we will reform, move forward and become an institution Londoners can have confidence in.'

Couzens - who is already serving a whole life term - will be sentenced for these offences in March

Detective Chief Inspector Katherine Goodwin, who leads the specialist crime command team that originally investigated Miss Everard's murder, said: 'It was hugely important for the team to listen to those who came forward, investigate their allegations thoroughly and make sure Couzens faced justice for this offending.

'It was our job to support them and hold him to account on their behalf and we took this duty seriously. Today is about those who were subjected to his vile behaviour and who have helped bring him to justice.

'Couzens tried to frighten and demean them, but they have only shown strength and dignity in reporting him and supporting this investigation.

'I would like to thank them for their patience, co-operation and help throughout the case.'
4million of his wealth is at the centre of a battle between his brother and lover

The brother of a 'genius' banker has accused the late financier's Polish lover of being a 'call girl' who conned him out of a huge chunk of his 18million estate in a bitter escalation of the High Court battle over his vast fortune.

Nightclub boss Magdalena Zalinska, 44, is being sued over claims she obtained 4million from ex-Wellcome Trust chief Danny Truell by 'undue influence' before he died of a neurological condition aged 55 in 2019.

Miss Zalinska had been in a relationship with Mr Truell and in the seven years before he died received his interest in the flat in Clapham, south London, where she lived.

She also received more than 2million in cash while spending and withdrawing another 1.3million from his bank account, his brother Edi Truell claims.

His lawyers accept that his brother was in a relationship with Miss Zalinska, but claim she was a 'call girl' whose influence over him meant he had handed over cash and property.

She had also used her Southwark nightclub business - which she had admitted to Danny Truell was struggling - as a 'front' to 'extract' huge sums of money that have since disappeared, it is claimed.

Miss Zalinska denies the allegations, insisting she and Mr Truell had a 'romantic and loving relationship' for 14 years.

Magdalena Zalinska has been accused of conning her lover, Danny Truell, out of a sizeable chunk of the City financier's 18million fortune

Miss Zalinska had been in a relationship with Mr Truell and, in the seven years before he died, received interest in his flat in Clapham where she lived

Lifelong Labour Party member Danny Truell was a contemporary of future prime minister Boris Johnson at Balliol College, Oxford, and frequently faced him in debates.

He went on to become a hugely successful fund manager. After running Goldman Sachs' asset management arm, he moved to Britain's biggest charity the Wellcome Trust as its chief investment officer in 2005.

In 12 years, he grew assets under management from 12.3billion to 20.9billion. He also allowed it to double the amount it donated a year, to more than 1billion.

He and Naomi, his wife of 16 years, divorced in 2011, and a year later he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis which later became a form of motor neurone disease.

Danny Truell was a City genius who sparred with Boris Johnson in debates when they were students together at Oxford

Mr Justice Michael Green said Mr Truell had considerable personal wealth but lived 'an apparently frugal lifestyle', did not drive, have expensive hobbies or go on many holidays, and lived in 'a modest and poorly furnished basement and ground floor maisonette' near Clapham Junction, London. During his illness he was 'dependent on alcohol', the judge added.

In his will, he described Miss Zalinska, a Polish national and divorced mother of two who has also struggled with alcohol, as his 'partner and dependent'.

Miss Zalinska claims to have met Mr Truell at the end of his previous marriage and started a relationship with him in 2004. It is accepted that she moved into the Clapham flat by 2016, the court heard.

However, Mr Truell's 60-year-old brother Edi - also a City high-flyer - and former solicitor John Rayner Hatchard claim, as executors of his estate, that evidence casts doubt on the 'quality' of the relationship.

Their barrister Edward Hicks told the judge that Mr Truell had two 'very separate' lives - one with his family and the other with Miss Zalinska, with whom he had a 'very strange relationship'.

He said a crucial question at the trial will be whether Mr Truell and Miss Zalinska were in a relationship akin to 'husband and wife' or whether it had been 'marked by promiscuity', which he did not know about.

'Is this a lady who is presenting a false picture of her relationship to Danny?' he said.

'We have evidence that she was in relationships with other people.'

The Polish national had been in a relationship with Mr Truell and, in the seven years before he died, received his interest in the flat in Clapham where she lived, plus over 2million cash, while spending and withdrawing from his bank account another 1.3million, says his brother Edi Truell

Before his premature death, Mr Truell was living in a 'modest and poorly furnished' basement flat in Clapham, south London, despite having millions to his name

For Miss Zalinska, Amit Karia said the allegation was that she had been a 'call girl' - but pointed to a portion of Mr Truell's will, in which she is described as his 'dependent and partner'.

'The documents which the deceased created at the time would suggest they were in a committed relationship,' he said. 'He called her a dependent partner in the will.'

The true nature of their relationship was also shown by the fact that Mr Truell left her cash and belongings worth more than 1million in the will, he added.

But Mr Hicks said many of the transactions between the pair before Mr Truell's death needed to be explained.

He claims the transfers - which included 1.34million paid between 2013 and 2018 to a company, Magfos Ltd, through which she operated her London nightclub, Southwark Rooms - were tainted by the nature of the relationship.

Another 915,000 went to her directly in electronic transfers, 1.366million on spending and withdrawals using his debit card, while he also transferred to her his interest in the 750,000 flat she had previously rented from him in Clapham.

He said the executors are alleging 'undue influence' and, in relation to money given to her company, 'misrepresentation' against Miss Zalinska.

'The sheer volume of money that goes out of the account to Magda is staggering,' he told the judge. 'It's hundreds and hundreds of thousands of pounds and it accelerates as he becomes more ill. What was this money being used for? Working out what happened is not going to be easy.'

He added: 'We say that she had had very large amounts of cash. We don't know what they were used for.'

He said Miss Zalinska would also need to explain why money was given to her business and what it was used for - if it was used for the business at all.

'Our case on Magfos is that this really was a front through which money was extracted from Danny,' he said.

Mr Karia said Miss Zalinska had explained why the money had gone to her, claiming that Mr Truell had given it for the upkeep of the flat, to fund renovation projects in Poland and for investments.

But Mr Hicks said the Clapham flat was in a state of disrepair, while no further detail of the investments had been forthcoming. There was 'nothing to show' for any property deals in Poland, he added.

The full trial of the 4million claim against her is expected to go ahead next year. It could be followed by a claim by Miss Zalinska for further provision from Mr Truell's estate, the court was told.
But the Pentagon is still yet to recover the remains for analysis as concerns grow

Experts from various agencies will come together to analyze threat of UFOs

The White House has announced it is putting together a new UFO task force to study the potential security risks posed by new airborne objects detected in US airspace.

The new group, created on orders from national security adviser Jake Sullivan, will see experts from the Pentagon, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of Homeland Security and other government agencies come together to analyze unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) and determine whether they are a threat.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Monday said: 'Every element of the government will redouble their efforts to understand and mitigate these events,' adding the task force would examine the 'broader policy implications' related to the detection and analysis of UFOs over mainland US.

The announcement came late on Monday, just one day after a US air force F-16 fighter jet shot down a UFO over the Great Lakes - the third unidentified object to be downed in as many days.

:National Security Council Coordinator Admiral John Kirby speaks at a White House Press Briefing following the U.S. downing of a number of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs), at the White House on February 13th, 2023 in Washington, DC

U.S. Navy sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 prepare to conduct a search for debris during recovery efforts for the remains of a high-altitude Chinese balloon shot down by the U.S. Air Force off the coast of South Carolina during salvage and investigation operations on February 7, 2023 in this image released by the U.S. Navy in Washington, U.S., February 13, 2023

A U.S. Navy sailor assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 conducts a search for debris with an underwater vehicle

Sailors assigned to Assault Craft Unit (ACU) Four operate landing craft air cushions (LCAC) during recovery efforts for the remains of a high-altitude Chinese balloon shot down by the U.S. Air Force off the coast of South Carolina

The Chinese spy balloon drifts to the ocean after being shot down off the coast in Surfside Beach, South Carolina, U.S. February 4, 2023

On Friday a UFO was shot down close to Deadhorse, Alaska, and on Saturday a second was downed over Yukon, Canada.

Timeline of recent UFO sightings over US airspace Wednesday, February 1: Chinese balloon is spotted above Montana (not a UFO as air force identified it as a balloon) Saturday, February 4: Chinese balloon is shot down off the coast of South Carolina after having drifted across the country Thursday, February 9: First UFO is detected off coast of northern Alaska Friday, February 10: UFO is shot down over Deadhorse, Alaska Saturday, February 11: Second UFO is shot down over Mayo, Yukon, Canada. FAA shuts down airspace over Montana citing another possible UFO, but NORAD claims it was a 'radar anomaly' Sunday, February 12: Third UFO is detected over the Great Lakes and shot down Advertisement

US officials are yet to collect and analyze the wreckage and are still unable to determine what the objects were, or where they were from.

A number of Republicans - and some Democrats too - have publicly demanded that the Biden administration provide as much information as possible about the UFOs.

'People are scared, upset, & are believing crazy things being said on the internet about the 3 objects shot down by our military. There are not aliens & no evidence of them. But there is a lack of transparency from the Biden admin and simple explanations are owed to the people,' tweeted Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Monday.

Additionally, Sen. Rand Paul tweeted: 'As Ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, I demand that POTUS and the Department of Defense tell us what they know - and what they don't - immediately.'

The UFO narrative wasn't helped by Gen. Glen VanHerck, head of NORAD and US Northern Command, who wouldn't say aliens were off the table during a briefing Sunday night.

'I'll let the intel community and the counterintelligence community figure out [what the UFOs are]. I haven't ruled out anything,' VanHerck said.

'At this point we continue to assess every threat or potential threat, unknown, that approaches North America with an attempt to identify it.'

The object detected Sunday was described by defense officials as an unmanned 'octagonal structure' with 'potential surveillance capabilities' and strings attached to it.

A map of where the Chinese spy balloon and three additional objects have been shot down by military planes since February 4

An F-16 fighter jet shot it down from around 20,000ft over the Great Lakes at 2:42pm - after two other crafts were destroyed over Alaska and Canada on Friday and Saturday.

The UFO shot down over Alaska has not yet been recovered, though analysts said it was about the size of a car.

The one shot down over Canada was shaped like a cylinder, officials said.

A Chinese balloon was shot down on February 4 over South Carolina, meaning the US air force downed four objects in just eight days.

VanHerck said that, unlike the Chinese spy balloon, all three UFOs gunned down over the weekend were of a similar size and speed.

He added that the since the Chinese balloon was found in late January, the US adjusted its radar so it could track slower objects. He explained that this radar adjustment, plus the heightened state of alert following the Chinese balloon, explains the frequency of UFO sightings.

'With some adjustments, we've been able to get a better categorization of radar tracks now,' he said, 'and that's why I think you're seeing these, plus there's a heightened alert to look for this information.'

VanMerck said the air force is still unsure how the three objects were staying aloft, as they currently have unknown propulsion systems. He added: 'We're calling them objects, not balloons, for a reason.'

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) is seen speaking to reporters as he left a closed-door briefing for Senators regarding the Chinese spy balloon incident at the U.S. Capitol on February 9, 2023

Marco Rubio, the Vice Chairman of the US Senate's Select Committee on Intelligence, tweeted: 'The last 72 hours revealed to the public what was happening for years, unidentified aircraft routinely operating over restricted US airspace.

'This is why I pushed to take this seriously and created a permanent UAP (unidentified aerial phenomena - equivalent to UFOs) task force two years ago.'

But the White House press secretary and Kirby sought to calm the situation yesterday.

'I know there have been questions and concerns about this but there is no, again, no indication of aliens or extra terrestrial activity with these recent takedowns. Wanted to make sure the American people knew that, all of you knew that,' Karine Jean-Pierre said.

Kirby meanwhile said the three objects could be innocuous.

'There could be completely benign and totally explainable reasons for why these objects are flying around up there. Certainly don't have to be nefarious at all,' Kirby said.

'There are corporate entities that operate these kinds of things. There are academic research institutions that do this sort of thing. We just don't know.'

'As soon as we can find out, we can get the debris, we can find out, we will absolutely share what we can,' Kirby added.
Agents at an energy firm that flew 100 of them to the Maldives for an all-inclusive holiday have posted gloating pictures, smugly declaring: 'Never get tired of waking up to this.'

While consumers struggle with the soaring price of energy amid a cost of living crisis, Utility Warehouse treated its representatives to an eight-day holiday as a reward for signing up new customers.

They were awarded an all-inclusive stay at the OBLU Xperience, where rooms cost up to 594 a night, which one critic described as a 'kick in the teeth' as customers struggle to heat their homes.

In one image posted on social media, the UW agents - who are self-employed - could be seen enjoying themselves at an underwater restaurant, while others showed off the gorgeous views.

The idyllic resort could be seen on social media posts of the Maldives holiday

One of the agents with his partner enjoying the luxury holiday in the Maldives this week

Only BLU  the largest underwater restaurant in the Maldives - is featured in the snaps

The agents arrived in the paradise location with blue skies, clear waters and hot weather last Tuesday

The 100 agents arrived on the island last Tuesday after landing in the capital Male and catching a 15-minute speedboat ride to the island of Ailafushi, The Sun reported.

Reps were seen playing volleyball in the pool, relaxing on sunbeds and handing out business cards at the resort.

One holidaymaker said the idea did not sit right with them during the cost of living crisis.

Utility Warehouse has treated its representatives to an eight-day holiday. Pictured: OBLU Xperience

'They just chill on the beach or by the pool most of the day. They have also hired out part of the restaurant,' they said according to The Sun.

Another said the staff had 'ruined' their stay as they were handing out businesses cards and 'giving sales pitches'.

Utility Warehouse relies on word-of-mouth marketing and has self-employed agents who earn commission every time they sign up customers to broadband, mobile and insurance deals.

The company has recently seen a boost in sign ups following an increase in customers seeking cheaper deals such as energy offers that are 125 less than the price cap.

It has more than 800,000 customers and is 'targeting an additional million over the next four to five years'.

In exchange for signing up four new customers every month for a year, agents have the opportunity to travel to holiday locations like the Maldives and Mexico.

The 100 agents arrived on the island last Tuesday after landing in the capital Male and catching a 15-minute speedboat ride to the island of Ailafushi (pictured)

If partners sign up enough customers they can win rewards such as meals out, family holidays and cars.

Warren Kirwan, from disability charity Scope, told The Sun the trip was a 'kick in the teeth' as representatives are relaxing on a beach 'while disabled people are freezing and starving in their own homes'.

He argued that companies should focus on supporting customers instead of 'profiteering' from the crisis.

A Utility Warehouse spokesman said: 'More than 50,000 people across the UK from all backgrounds are UW Partners.

'Our partners are self-employed and earn an income by referring our services to their friends and family.

'In doing so, we offer a meaningful way to help people earn their way out of the cost-of-living crisis.

'We also offer partners ways to earn extra incentives such as holidays.

'We are proud of our hard-working partners and are transparent about the opportunities that come with it.'

Utility Warehouse and OBLU Xperience have been contacted for further comment by MailOnline.
Britain might not be able to spot Chinese spy balloons over the country, a former national security chief warned today.

Lord Darroch questioned Rishi Sunak's claim that the UK had a 'watertight capability' to deal with the potential threat - pointing to under-investment in defence.

The doubts were raised amid speculation that the devices - one of which was shot down by the US last week - could be used for eavesdropping.

Nato ministers are gathering in Brussels today to coordinate weapons supplies for Ukraine and discuss the threat posed by spy balloons.

The government has conceded it is possible balloons have already been over the UK. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace - who will be in the Belgian capital for the meetings - has announced a security review.

Lord Darroch, a former ambassador to the US and Downing Street national security adviser, suggested there might be gaps in the existing systems.

The US military has announced it has recovered debris (pictured) from the Chinese spy balloon downed by a US fighter jet off South Carolina's coast on February 4

Lord Darroch (right) questioned Rishi Sunak's (left) claim that the UK had a 'watertight capability' to deal with the potential threat - pointing to under-investment in defence

Asked if he was confident Mr Sunak was right to suggest yesterday that the UK has a 'watertight rapid response to intercept these kind of things', the peer told Times Radio: '

'I'm not because I think we have under-invested in defence for the last couple of decades  one might argue ever since the end of the Cold War  and we don't have all the kit and equipment that we really need and there are gaps around in the technology our armed forces have.

'So, we will have some capability; whether we have a watertight capability as the Prime Minister says, I'm not so sure.

'But we have enough capability, I think, that people can certainly sleep easy in their beds about.'

He added: 'It's still, I think, unless we discover something new, it's still well-known technology and it's still basically surveillance, still basically spying, and the reality is an awful lot of that goes on everywhere.'

Meanwhile, the former chief of the air staff said he was puzzled why China would be using spy balloons .

Quizzed on why China would bother with surveillance balloons when it already has '260 spy satellites', Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Graydon told LBC radio: 'It's a very good question.

'That's been sort of exercising my mind, what they are getting from a balloon that they can't get from other sources is not clear to me at all, and probably we have enough information available from satellites which they are able to get on to, and frankly using Google and all the rest of it, would give them an awful lot of information.

'I think possibly there's opportunity to listen in to certain things that they might not be able to do so easily.'

Sir Michael said it was an 'irritation' but the UK should 'find out what's in it before we get our knickers to much in the twist'.

On whether such balloons could be shot down if they enter UK airspace, Sir Michael said: 'Probably the most likely is let it drift out towards sea and then shoot it down there but I go back to what I said to start with, it would be very useful to find out what's actually in them before we get too excited.'

The US military have announced it has recovered critical electronics from the Chinese spy balloon downed by a US fighter jet off South Carolina's coast on February 4.

National Security Council Coordinator Admiral John Kirby speaks at a White House Press Briefing last night on the threat from balloons and unidentified flying objects

Recovered fragments from the aircraft include key sensors thought to be used for intelligence gathering.

The revelation comes less than a week after Navy seamen were pictured pulling portions of the balloon from the chilly waters of the Atlantic - with the Pentagon releasing sensational photographs of the retrieval operation.

The Chinese balloon, which Beijing denies was a spy vessel, spent a week flying over the US and Canada before it was shot down on the orders of US President Biden - a decision officials reportedly mulled for days amid fears of inflaming already strained relations between the two countries.

The spy balloon was the first of four airborne objects gunned out of the sky by the US in eight days - although it is not clear whether the others were linked to foreign states.
Press freedom in India has suffered under Narendra Modi, rights activists say

The BBC's New Delhi and Mumbai offices were raided by Indian tax authorities today, weeks after the broadcaster aired a documentary on prime minister Narendra Modi's actions during deadly sectarian riots in 2002.

The opposition Congress party condemned the raids, adding that there was an 'undeclared emergency' in the country  as rights activists say press freedom in India has suffered under Modi.

A spokesman for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accused the BBC of engaging in 'anti-India propaganda' and said the raids were lawful and the timing had nothing to do with the government.

'India is a country which gives an opportunity to every organisation,' Gaurav Bhatia told reporters, 'as long as you don't spew venom.'

Police sealed off the BBC's New Delhi office, which occupies two floors of a building on a leafy avenue in the capital's commercial heart.

Police officers (centre) at the entrance of the building housing the BBC's offices that were raided by Indian tax authorities in New Delhi

A police car is seen parked at the gate of a building that includes the BBC's Mumbai office

Security guards close the gate of a building containing the BBC's office in New Delhi today

Half a dozen officers were stationed outside to stop people from entering or leaving and a New Delhi-based BBC employee said officials had been 'confiscating all phones' during the raid.

An official at the scene declined to disclose their department, but said: 'There is government procedure happening inside the office.'

Another BBC staffer based in Mumbai confirmed the broadcaster's bureau in India's commercial hub was also being raided.

India's Income Tax Department could not be reached for comment by AFP but Mr Bhatia, of the BJP, said: 'If you have been following the law of the country, if you have nothing to hide why be afraid of an action that is according to the law?'

Last month, the BBC aired a two-part documentary alleging Hindu nationalist Modi ordered police to turn a blind eye to sectarian riots in Gujarat state, where he was premier at the time.

The violence left at least 1,000 people dead, most of them minority Muslims.

A police officer (front second left) stands at the entrance of the office building where Indian tax authorities raided BBC's office in New Delhi on February 14

A police officer and a private security guard ask journalists to leave from the gate of a building housing BBC office in New Delhi, India, on Tuesday

India's government blocked videos and tweets sharing links to the documentary  which was not aired in India  using emergency powers under its information technology laws.

Government adviser Kanchan Gupta slammed the documentary as 'hostile propaganda and anti-India garbage'.

University student groups later organised viewings of the film despite campus bans, defying government efforts to stop its spread.

Police arrested two dozen students at the prestigious Delhi University after stopping a screening there in late January.

'First came the BBC documentary, that was banned,' the Congress party said on Twitter. 'Now IT has raided BBC,' it continued, referring to the Income Tax Department. 'Undeclared emergency.'

India has fallen ten spots to 150 out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index, compiled by Reporters Without Borders, since Modi took office in 2014.

Critical reporters, particularly women, say they are subjected to relentless campaigns of online abuse.

Members of media and people stand outside a building having BBC offices, where income tax officials are conducting a search, in New Delhi, India, on February 14

Media outlets, international rights groups and foreign charities have also found themselves subjected to scrutiny by India's tax authorities and financial crimes investigators.

Late Catholic nun Mother Teresa's charity last year found itself temporarily starved of funds after the home ministry refused to renew its licence to receive foreign donations.

Amnesty International said it was halting operations in India after the government froze its bank accounts in 2020 following raids on its offices.

In 2021, Indian tax authorities raided a prominent newspaper and a TV channel that had been critical of the government's handling of the Covid pandemic, triggering accusations of intimidation.

The 2002 riots in Gujarat began after 59 Hindu pilgrims were killed in a fire on a train. Thirty-one Muslims were convicted of criminal conspiracy and murder over that incident.

The BBC documentary cited a previously classified British foreign ministry report quoting unnamed sources saying Modi met senior police officers and 'ordered them not to intervene' in the anti-Muslim violence by Right-wing Hindu groups that followed.

The violence was politically motivated and the aim 'was to purge Muslims from Hindu areas', the foreign ministry report said.

The 'systematic campaign of violence has all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing' and was impossible 'without the climate of impunity created by the state Government... Narendra Modi is directly responsible', it concluded.

Modi, who ran Gujarat from 2001 until his election as prime minister in 2014, was briefly subject to a travel ban by the United States over the violence.

A special investigative team appointed by India's Supreme Court to probe the roles of Modi and others in the violence said in 2012 it did not find any evidence to prosecute him.
Three men will have their hands amputated for stealing under Sudan's barbaric Islamic laws.

The brutal punishment is being enacted in the country for the first time in almost a decade.

Sudan's courts convicted the three men of stealing 52 gas cylinders in the country's most populous city of Omdurman, north of the capital Khartoum.

The sentence has worried many within the international community as the country continues to implement extreme laws under its military dictatorship.

In October 2021, the military coup saw Sudan's Prime Minister Abdulla Hamdok removed and several inhuman and cruel laws reintroduced.

Protesters chant slogans in support of maintaining Islamic Sharia as a part of the draft constitution during a demonstration in the Khartoum East district of Sudan's capital on July 17, 2020

As well as the removal of their hands, the men have been ordered to spend three years in prison and have been fined 2million Soudanese pounds (2,800).

The brutal verdict and sentencing was handed down some weeks ago but recently turned the heads of many concerned over the country's extreme laws and democratic backsliding.

The men are currently in Koper prison in the north of the capital in Khartoum. This is the same prison where former president Omar al-Bashir continues to be detained following the military dictator's removal from office in 2019.

The Guardian reported the three men's lawyer, Samir Makeen, as saying: 'Unfortunately, despite the political change in the country, nothing has changed in terms of the rights of the people, it was a change on the surface.'

Sudan incorporated amputation as a form of corporal punishment in 1983 under a series of Islamic law reforms.

The Africa Center for Justice and Peace Studies, a human rights organisation based in Uganda, condemned the sentencing and said the punishment was a form of state-sanctioned torture, a breach of Sudan's human rights obligations.

The rights group called on Sudanese authorities to overturn the amputation sentence and to guarantee a fair retrial.

It said the three men were 'tainted with several irregularities such as trial without legal representation, failure of the court to explain to the accused the gravity and penalty of the offenses and the reliance of court on the confessions as the only evidence to convict the accused.'

The amputation sentencing also contradicts a UN Convention against Torture, which Sudan signed in 2021. Many of the country's laws should have been rewritten following this but many cruel and inhuman punishments still remain.

Protesters march with banners in support of maintaining Islamic Sharia, Khartoum East district of Sudan's capital on July 17, 2020

Islamic laws have been enforced in Sudan since 1982. Following the election of Sadiq al-Mahdi in 1986, the series of draconian laws were halted but later returned following a military coup in 1989.

The ruling by Sudan's courts follows a military coup in the country in 2021 where Sundanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok was arrested. Some more progressive laws were introduced in the country under Hamdok's government, such as the abolition of beating with a whip as a form of judicial punishment and the criminalisation of female genital mutilation.

But since the military coup, many brutal laws have been reintroduced.
Radio DJ Ant Payne will not be sacked for making an 'insensitive' joke about flying to Turkey on the cheap after the country was devastated by two mega-quakes, a report claimed today.

The Capital FM presenter, who hosts the 4pm to 7pm on the chart-hits station, issued a grovelling apology after coming under fire for making 'insensitive' remarks on his show yesterday.

He had said: 'I think now actually is the best time to start looking at some cheap flights to Turkey over the next few years. You can get your teeth done while you're over there. You can come back looking 19 years, you'll be on Love Island next year if you do it!'

Following a backlash on social media, Payne said: 'Hi guys, I want to address the comment I made last night on the show. It was insensitive and ill timed. I would never wish to offend anyone from my shows. My sincere and wholehearted apologies.'

Sources claim that Capital FM bosses read Payne the riot act but stopped short of sacking him, with one telling The Sun: 'Ant is keeping his job but Global made it crystal clear the comments were far from acceptable'.

Turkey and Syria are reeling from two massive earthquakes which has left more than 35,000 people dead.

Radio presenter Ant Payne has issued an apology after saying that now was the 'best time' to start looking for cheap flights to Turkey and 'get your teeth done'

More than 41,500 buildings were destroyed or so damaged that they would have to be demolished, the Minister of Environment and Urbanisation

Payne was previously a presenter on Galaxy FM before joining Capital FM in January 2011.

A Global spokesperson directed MailOnline to Payne's apology when approached for comment.

Payne has come under fire on Twitter, with one person saying: 'Cant believe I just heard [Ant Payne] make fun of the #Turkeyearthquake on @CapitalOffical - he said ''flight from now for a few years should be cheap to Turkey to get your teeth done''.

'I wonder how all the Turkish [and] Syrian communities and victims of this disaster feel about that?'

Payne responded to the tweet directly by saying: 'Except I said nothing of the sort...'

But the outrage continued, with Liberal Democrat councillor Suzanne Nuri-Nixon urging him to 'read the room'.

Zalihe Alp said: 'We are burying our dead but #antpayne thinks it's a good time for cheap flights to Turkey to get teeth done. Generations are lost. Whole streets flattened for blocks. Towns gone. Lives are traumatised. But let's get our teeth done.'

Ex-Met Police Detective Sergeant, Sukie Madahar, tweeted: '@CapitalOfficial ...one truly sick individual to deal with in the morning. All those lives lost, 1000s injured and countless left with nothing.

'Then you allow this idiot to use your platform to talk utter s***e...shocking and disgusting.'

The death toll as a result of the devastating earthquakes, that struck Turkey and Syria last week, has recently passed 35,000 as rescuers continued to work to reach people trapped under the rubble.

Rescuers are focusing their efforts on three provinces hit hard by the devastating quakes that hit Turkey and Syria last week.

In extremely hard-hit Hatay, Sengul Abalioglu lost her old sister and four nephews.

Payne has come under fire on Twitter

The death toll has recently passed 35,000 as rescuers continued to work to reach people trapped under the rubble

Rescuers were focusing their efforts on three provinces hit hard by the devastating quakes that hit Turkey and Syria last week

'It doesn't matter if dead or alive, we just want our corpses so that they at least have a grave and we bury them,' she said as she waited in front of the rubble where her family could be.

They said last time they heard voices from the building was yesterday and complained that they started to search recently.

In Syria, President Bashar Assad agreed to open two new crossing points from Turkey to the country's rebel-held northwest to deliver desperately needed aid and equipment to millions of earthquake victims, the United Nations announced on Monday.

Quake survivors also face difficult conditions amid wrecked cities, with many sleeping outdoors in freezing weather.

Much of the region's water system is not working, and damage to the system poses the risk of contamination.

Turkey's health minister said samples taken from dozens of points of the water system were 'microbiologically unfit,' which highlights how precarious basic needs continue to be.

Quake survivors also face difficult conditions amid wrecked cities, with many sleeping outdoors in freezing weather

More than 41,500 buildings were destroyed or were so damaged that they would have to be demolished, according to the Minister of Environment and Urbanisation.

It is believed that there are still bodies to be recovered from under those buildings, and that the number of those missing remains unclear.

Many in Turkey blame faulty construction for the vast devastation., despite the country introducing construction codes that meet earthquake-engineering standards, but experts say the codes are rarely enforced.

The death toll in Turkey stood at 31,643 as of Monday. Officials have decreased the frequency of death toll updates since the first week of the response, now releasing larger updates once or twice a day.

The toll in the northwestern rebel-held region has reached 2,166, according to the rescue group the White Helmets, while 1,414 people have died in government-held areas, according to the Syrian Health Ministry in Damascus.

The overall death toll in Syria stands at 3,580.
A new deal to resolve the row over post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland will reportedly be announced in the next fortnight.

The broad shape of an agreement on the Northern Ireland Protocol is said to have been sketched out and awaiting sign-off from Rishi Sunak.

But the Prime Minister could yet face a battle with Tory Brexiteers amid suggestions he has dropped the UK's staunch opposition to the role of European judges.

The ability of the European Court of Justice, the EU's top court, to decide on issues related to Northern Ireland has been a key concern for hardline eurosceptics.

It means Mr Sunak risks a showdown with the Conservatives' European Research Group of MPs over a new Protocol deal, if they consider the PM has watered down Britain's position.

The broad shape of an agreement on the Northern Ireland Protocol is said to have been sketched out and awaiting sign-off from Rishi Sunak

A resolution to the Protocol dispute could pave the way for a return to power-sharing in Northern Ireland ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement in April

The Prime Minister could yet face a battle with Tory Brexiteers amid suggestions he has dropped the UK's staunch opposition to the role of the European Court of Justice

According to the Daily Telegraph - which reported a deal is expected to be announced in the next two weeks - the UK is no longer insisting that the ECJ must not be the ultimate arbiter on EU law issues in Northern Ireland.

Amid the likely concerns of the ERG and unionist parties in Northern Ireland about a continued role for Luxembourg judges, UK sources told the newspaper that the vast majority of trade disputes in Northern Ireland will not involve the ECJ under the new deal.

The newspaper reported that new language stressing the ECJ will only be used as a court of last resort is expected in a joint EU-UK statement when the deal is announced.

It has previously been claimed that, under a new Protocol agreement, the ECJ will only rule on issues related to Northern Ireland if a case is referred by the province's courts.

The potential for a backlash from Tory Brexiteers over a new Protocol deal - based on a possible continued role for the ECJ - comes amid wider concerns about Brexit among Conservative ranks.

Leading eurosceptics issued warnings following the revelation that a 'secret summit' on Brexit was held at Ditchley Park, Oxfordshire, this month.

Lord Frost, who negotiated the UK's Brexit deal, warned of a plot to undermine Brexit after the gathering of prominent politicians, business chiefs and ex-civil servants.

This secret conference is a further piece of evidence that many in our political and business establishment want to unravel the deals we did to exit the EU in 2020 and to stay shadowing the EU instead,' he said.

Among the attendees was Cabinet minister Michael Gove, who supported Theresa May's Brexit deal in the past.

There was also alarm last year when Remain-backing Chancellor Jeremy Hunt was claimed to have been behind briefings that the Government wanted a closer, Swiss-style relationship with the EU.

UK and EU officials have been holding talks for weeks on a new Protocol deal, with European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic having regularly had catch-up meetings with both Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris.

An agreement last month on a data-sharing deal - which permits Brussels access to UK IT systems for monitoring the flow of goods into Northern Ireland - buoyed hopes that an end to the bitter Protocol row was nearing.

A resolution to the dispute could also pave the way for a return to power-sharing in Northern Ireland ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement in April.

The DUP are currently boycotting Stormont's institutions as part of their protest against the Protocol, which has prevented the establishment of a functioning Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly since elections last May.

Mr Heaton-Harris recently pushed back a deadline for fresh elections in Northern Ireland until January next year, which was viewed as a means of allowing space for a new Protocol deal to be implemented.

But an agreement between London and Brussels on the Protocol would not necessarily lead to the return of power-sharing.

The DUP has insisted any deal that may emerge must meet its tests on trade, sovereignty and accountability.

A Government spokesman said: 'Intensive talks between UK and EU technical teams are ongoing, with more talks due on potential solutions across all areas.'
It follows a row over 'disingenuous' claims about the foundations of his career

Dragons' Den star has watered down his website boasting of his successes

Dragons' Den and Diary of a CEO star Steven Bartlett has watered down his online biography telling of his successes  after a row over his business credentials sparked by the sale of a firm he founded.

The 30-year-old founded a social media firm called Social Chain in Manchester in 2014 and his website had previously boasted how he 'took his company public at 27 years old, reaching a market valuation of $600million before he resigned'.

But Bartlett, who also known for his philanthropy, has since quietly changed the profile on his website following questions about this statement when the company sold this month for 7.7million.

In fact Social Chain had merged with a German online retailer called Lumaland, creating the new entity The Social Chain AG in 2019, which was publicly listed at $186million.

Mr Bartlett stepped down as joint-CEO of the firm in 2020 and it was not until October the following year that the company was said to be worth some $620million when it floated in Frankfurt.

Today his website says he 'stepped down in 2020' to pursue other interests and that the company 'reached a market valuation of more than $600million'.

Steven Bartlett, left, is a well-known businessman off Dragons' Den, pictured

January 28, 2023: Mr Bartlett's website says his company was floated at $600m before he resigned.

February 8, 2023: After the row and sale, the profile now shows he left in 2020 and the group was valued afterwards

The change to the website, which took place between January 25 and February 8, appears to have been triggered largely by a social media spat, first publicised in The Times. It reemerged this month after the sale.

Entrepreneur Timothy Armoo claimed: 'The truth is the Social Chain story was built off misdirection and half-truths.

'It's disingenuous at best. Steve has done a great job of branding himself as a successful media personality. His podcast also gets some great guests. But it looks like the foundation and the story is not what it seems. Make of this what you wish.'

US businessman Sam Parr also expressed confusion at the 7.7million price tag for Social Chain.

He wrote: 'I thought this was a big public company worth hundreds of millions. I don't understand this. Can someone explain?'

Last year Bartlett became the youngest ever Dragon, and puts budding entrepreneurs entering the den for investment through their paces

Bartlett interviewed Matt Hancock, saying he and Gina Coladangelo had 'stopped by' for a chat

The other CEO of Social Chain was Wanja Soren Oberhof, who has ridiculed the row and said Bartlett had been key to growing the firm to its value.

He said: 'A bit of gaga discussion here on twitter. Steven Bartlett and and I scaled the business together as Co-CEOs and he was essential to bringing it to EUR 650 million valuation. But haters will always hate.'

Bartlett moved to the UK aged two from Botswana and dropped out of university to pursue his dreams as a businessman.

He fell out with his parents, in particularly his mother, who was 'heartbroken' after believing Bartlett had thrown away his education which she didn't have growing up.

But Bartlett found success with social media marketing agency Social Chain.

Last year he became the youngest ever Dragon, and has quickly become the man to impress among budding entrepreneurs entering the den.

He spoke on LinkedIn of the sale of the company and why he had left: 'In 2014 I started a company called Social Chain. Shortly after I merged it with Wanja Soren Oberhof 's commerce company Lumaland with the mission of combining our marketing talent and their commerce talent.

'We called the new (listed) group The Social Chain AG and myself and Wanja became Co-CEO's of the group. All of my equity was in the publicly listed group.

'Over the next few years, me and Wanja raised capital and acquired agencies and commerce companies under the Social Chain AG brand.

'At the time of my departure Social Chain Group was generating in excess of $300m in revenues. It would go on to reach a valuation of $600m+ on the stock market.

'In 2019 I made a presentation to the board that I wanted to split the group in half - separating our marketing business (5-10 agencies) and our e-commerce biz (20~ companies) so they could go their own ways.

'The board took a different view, so I resigned and in my resignation I said my departure should now give the company one unified vision.

'A year or so after I departed, Social Chain Group decided to focus on e-com, and they've been acquiring e-commerce companies while selling off their marketing agencies around the world, ever since.

'Today (according to last weeks release) marketing accounts for just 10 per cent of their business. I imagine this number will be at 0 by the end of the year.

'Social Chain owned almost ten agencies and they represented about $80m~ of our total revenue in the year I stepped down. From what I know, they're nearly all sold.'

His representatives did not respond to a MailOnline request for further comment.
Scammers are exploiting the Turkey-Syria earthquake tragedy to steal money from charitable social media users looking to donate to its victims, a report has warned.

The con-artists have been caught posting images and videos of the tragedy - some of them fake - on platforms including TikTok and Twitter, along with messages such as 'Pray for Turkey', 'Let's help Turkey' and 'Donate for earthquake victims'.

But while claiming to be raising money for survivors of the disaster - that has left more than 35,000 people dead and millions more without shelter, food or water - the scammers are instead funnelling donated funds into their own accounts.

On TikTok Live, content creators can make money through digital gifts sent to them over the platform, that is particularly popular among the younger generations.

This is one of the methods uncovered in reports by Bleeping Computer (a news website with a focus on cybersecurity) and the BBC, that is being used by the scammers to rake in cash from users moved by the tragedy.

This image has been used by scammers in posts requesting donations towards the victims of the Turkey-Syria earthquake disaster, which has killed more than 35,000 people. The emotive image has been AI-generated, with the firefighter having six fingers on his right hand

The reports highlighted examples of scams that reporters found online. One account, which reportedly broadcast live for more than three hours, showed a pixelated aerial view of buildings destroyed in the catastrophic earthquake.

The report said the image was accompanied by the sounds of explosions. 'Let's help Turkey. Donation,' the video's caption said. A purple thumb with a 'donation' label could be seen in a screenshot of the post, encouraging viewers to send money.

Another live-streamed video showed a picture of a child wearing a light blue hat and matching scarf, running away from an explosion, the BBC said.

'Please help achieve this goal' was the host's message, in a plea for TikTok gifts.

However, Google's reverse-image search function - used by the BBC and recreated by MailOnline - finds that the picture was previously used in 2018, long before the quake, with a different caption that says: 'Stop Afrin Genocide.'

This is a reference to a city in north-west Syria, which saw Turkish forces and their allies in the Syrian opposition clash with a Kurdish militia in 2018.

Scammers have also been using Twitter to share emotive messages along with links to cryptocurrency asking for donations from users.

The BBC said one account posted the same appeal eight times in 12 hours, sharing the same image of a firefighter holding a child surrounded by collapsed buildings.

Another live-streamed video showed a picture of a child wearing a light blue hat and matching scarf, running away from an explosion (pictured), the BBC said. The image, however, originates from 2018 and is not of a child caught up in the on-going earthquake disaster

Pictured: A fake Twitter account urging people to donate to a PayPal link

Pictured: A PayPal donations page asking for donations towards the survivors of the Turkey-Syria earthquake disaster, which was found to be fake

However, in another layer of deception, the image shared was not real.

According to Greek newspaper OEMA, it was generated by Artificial Intelligence software Midjourney. In addition to other signs that the image was not a real photograph, the firefighter was seen to have six fingers on his right hand.

The BBC also said that the cryptocurrency wallet address had been used in other scam tweets since 2018. A second address in the same tweet had been posted on Russia's Facebook equivalent VK along with pornographic content.

The report said its authors had contacted the person behind the Twitter account, who denied that they were a scammer.

The person told the BBC their aim was to 'help people affected by the earthquake'. The broadcaster said they had not sent receipts to back up their claim.

It also said it found other examples on Twitter of people creating fake fundraising accounts and posting links to a PayPal fundraising page.

One example of such an account was named @TurkeyRelief. It joined the platform in January and had 31 followers, and touts donations via PayPal. The page had raised $900 of its $20,000 goal by the time it was suspended.

The Twitter account was also suspended.

The BBC said that it was one of more than 100 fundraisers launched on PayPal asking for donations to the Turkey-Syria quake disaster. Bleeping Computer is said it found pages that directed donations to personal PayPal wallets.

The tech news site noted that PayPal has not operated in Turkey since 2016, so Twitter accounts with usernames that sound 'Turkish' and claim to be based in Turkey - while linking to a PayPal account - are likely untrustworthy.

Bleeping Computer also reported fake charity and emails were being sent by scammers. Similar practices were seen to exploit the war in Ukraine, it said.

PayPal told the BBC that while many accounts had 'the best intentions,' it was inevitable that some would attempt to exploit charitable people.

'PayPal teams are always working diligently to scrutinise and ban accounts, particularly in the wake of events like the earthquake in Turkey and Syria, so that donations go to intended causes,' it told the broadcaster in a statement.

TikTok said that it was 'saddened' by the earthquake and that it was contributing to relief efforts. 'We're also actively working to prevent people from scamming and misleading community members who want to help,' the BBC quoted it as saying.

The Chinese platform has been criticised in the past after investigations found that it takes 70 percent of donations given through the app. The company says this is less.

Britain's charity commission has urged the public to 'give safely' to support aid efforts in Turkey and Syria.

Helen Stephenson, Chief Executive of the Charity Commission, praised people's generosity in donating towards relief funds for the survivors of the disaster.

However, she also warned that fraudsters and scammers would take the opportunity to try and take advantage of good-natured people.

'The earthquakes in Turkey and Syria have had a devastating impact, and the daily news reports and growing death toll make for distressing reading, but the response from the public is testament to the incredible kindness and generosity that exists in Britain,' she said in a statement released to MailOnline.

'Sadly, such events also provide opportunity for fraudsters and scammers. As new avenues become available, including popular social media platforms, scammers will find new ways to try and trick people into directing funds away from people in need.

People wait hoping for news of their relatives as search and rescue teams search the rubble of collapsed buildings in Kahramanmaras on February 14, 2023

'However, the public shouldn't let this stop them from contributing to help people dealing with the shocking impacts of the recent earthquakes. Instead, we're reminding everyone to always follow our key steps to avoid scammers when donating, such as checking our online register,' Ms Stephenson said.

The charity commission said there are five steps people can take to check that their donations are going to a genuine charitable cause.

It advises people to check the Charity Register, ensure the charity is genuine before sending funds, take care when responding to emails or clicking links, to do research online about the charity before donating, and to look out for signs of accreditation.

It also urges people to contact the police or to Action Fraud if they believe someone collecting charitable donations is not genuine.
Coca-Cola has rebranded tropical fizzy drink Lilt after its adverts were accused of 'cultural appropriation'.

The tangy soft drink is being pulled from supermarkets in the UK after 48 years and will be replaced by a new Fanta featuring altered packaging and logo.

Coca-Cola Europacific Partners confirmed the change yesterday, noting it will now be known as Fanta Pineapple and Grapefruit  and is available from today.

Lilt fans said the drink has become a victim of cancel culture due to its historic adverts, while others supported the move after accusing the brand of 'racist' marketing.

The drink became a feature of popular culture with its Lilt Man parody adverts in the late 1980s, while a decade later it was promoted by two Jamaican women known as the Lilt Ladies.

A second advert shows a local at the beach handing out cans to tourists from a mango and mandarin stall - promoting a new flavour

In 1998, two British Jamaican women - Blanche Williams and Hazel Palmer - became known as the Lilt ladies and starred in its adverts

In one advert, set in the Caribbean and released in 1981, a group of white tourists are seen enjoying the soft drink on a boardwalk at the beach.

A waiter who provides them with glasses of the drink also appears to be Caucasian, leading to accusations of cultural appropriation.

A second advert shows a local at the beach handing out cans to tourists from a mango and mandarin stall, as part of promoting a new flavour.

It shows the man being informed of 'lobsters on the beach' before driving to the scene to find sunburnt tourists.

Critics have accused the adverts of cultural appropriation and stereotyping, adding that because of them, a rebrand is the correct decision.

The slogan for Lilt in adverts was 'Totally Tropical Taste'. Fans fear the drink has been cancelled

In one advert, set in the Caribbean and released in 1981, a group of white tourists are seen enjoying the drink on a boardwalk at the beach

But taking to social media, some fans labelled the move 'a disgrace'.

One said: 'Which woke group did Lilt upset for this nonsense to have to happen?'

A second said: 'Can't believe Lilt has gone woke. Is nothing sacred?'

A third tweeted: 'I assume the word Lilt has been dropped because it has a different meaning nowadays, to that of 50 years ago and has offended some sensitive "oik" somewhere?'

But another, in a tongue-in-cheek reference to Valentine's Day, said: 'Roses are red, Mark King is a bassist, I'll miss all the Lilt ads That were a tiny bit racist.'

Brinsley Dresden, a partner specialising in marketing law at firm Lewis Silkin, wrote in 2020 that the Lilt adverts displayed cultural appropriation.

He said: 'On re-watching an old TV ad from 1981 for "Lilt, with the totally tropical taste" I was shocked to realise that while the reggae inspired soundtrack remains as fresh as the pineapples and grapefruit used to make the drink, there is not a single Black person in the ad.

'Even the waiter handing the glasses of the cool, refreshing Lilt to the beautiful young Caucasian people appears to be white, although its hard to be sure as only his forearms are in shot. But the cultural appropriation is clear enough.'

Soft drink Lilt is being scrapped as a brand after nearly 50 years on our shelves, it has been revealed

Meanwhile, Fanta was valued at 281million towards the end of 2022, more than 17 times that of Lilt  which managed sales of 15.6million over the same period.

Coca-Cola Europacific Partners said: 'Keen Lilt fans may have spotted a gradual transition as the drink has made its way into the Fanta family over the past few months, with changes to its packaging and logo.

'Some have even hypothesised on social media that Lilt may be becoming part of the Fanta brand, and one even went as far as producing their own news broadcast-style video.'

Martin Attock, the firm's vice-president of commercial development in Britain, insisted the drink is the same, and simply has a new name.

He said: 'Our main priority with this announcement is to reassure Lilt's loyal fanbase that absolutely nothing has changed when it comes to the iconic taste of the drink they know and love.

'It's still bursting with tangy tropical flavours, it's just got itself a new name.'
Vladimir Putin is leading Russia to defeat and humiliation in Ukraine, according to one of Moscow's most respected military figures, who also blames the President for uniting the West with his disastrous invasion.

Retired army colonel-general Leonid Ivashov had called for the president's resignation a year ago before the war started over a 'criminal' policy in 'provoking' an 'artificial' conflict, foreseeing it would trigger disaster.

Now he says the carnage across the border is worse than he imagined.

Ivashov, chairman of the independent All-Russian Officers' Assembly and a former top aide to a famous Soviet defence minister, lambasted Putin, declaring: 'We did not expect such a series of mistakes, wrong actions during this military operation.'

'What happened in the end? Basically what we expected, but much worse,' said the general, a key figure in the Soviet-era Red Army and later the Russian military, in an interview with Republic independent media.

Retired army colonel-general Leonid Ivashov (pictured) last year called for Vladimir Putin to resign, saying he had been pursuing a 'criminal' policy in 'provoking' an 'artificial' conflict in Ukraine. He has now said Putin is leading Russia to defeat and humiliation in the war

Ivashov, chairman of the independent All-Russian Officers' Assembly and a former top aide to a famous Soviet defence minister, lambasted Putin, declaring: 'We did not expect such a series of mistakes, wrong actions during this military operation.' Pictured: Ukrainian servicemen sit atop a BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicle on a road outside the frontline town of Bakhmut, Feb. 11

'At the operational-tactical level, we did not think that within a year we would not be able to liberate the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

'We did not think that there would be such heavy losses, although I then said there would be tens of thousands of dead on both sides.

'But everything turned out to be much worse.'

Some estimates say the losses on both sides are now over 200,000, and rising fast. Russia alone is estimated to have lost as many as 140,000 since February last year.

'It was not expected that there would be such destruction: in fact, entire small towns and villages were demolished to their foundations,' Ivashov said.

'Further, I wrote that we would find ourselves a pariah state, but, frankly, I did not think that we would not have a single ally that has serious influence on the political, economic or military-technical level.'

Ivashov blames Putin for triggering a new alignment between the US and China, and expects this to bear fruit with the pair holding the major sway in the world.

'Russia in such a picture of the world is not mentioned at all as a political player,' he said. 'So now they will create a bipolar world, but without our participation.'

Pictured: A Ukrainian tank rides to its position in the frontline in Bakhmut on Sunday

Putin's disastrous invasion of Ukraine had 'saved NATO' with Finland and Sweden due to join, he continued. 'We have delivered the whole of Europe into the hands of the Americans' due to Putin's ineptness.

'There was no Collective West before, there were a lot of contradictions there. And today we are creating this Collective West with our own hands.'

Ivashov said Putin blundered by not properly seeking other solutions in Donetsk and Luhansk, before launching his invasion.

'Did we raise this issue at the UN General Assembly? No! We immediately moved tanks there. Every problem has multiple solutions. And most importantly - do not choose the worst. But we, unfortunately, chose the worst.'

He also scathingly criticised Putin for the use of private armies in the conflict, stressing it leads to confused command structures.

Putin deployed the Wagner Private Military company in Ukraine, which has played a large part in the seven-month-long battles raging around the city of Bakhmut - a major target for Putin's invading troops.

Wagner has claimed to take towns in the region singlehandedly, publicly embarrassing the Russian Armed Forces.

Pictured: Ukrainian servicemen rest on a road outside the city of Bakhmut on Saturday

'As for the [regular] army, there is the problem of destroying professionalism,' Ivashov said.

Russia is paying the price for the Putin era's demoting of military professions and instead bringing in secret services cronies and even alcohol and furniture experts to key military positions,' the retired general said.

'To go to war with such an army is more than a crime,' he said.

He forecast failure if Putin forces through a new mass mobilisation, and as a hardliner he berated the dictator for seeking to gag his critics.

'If you shut someone's mouth, it does not mean that you have become stronger,' he warned. 'If sober-minded people are silenced, then you only become dumber and more corrupt, but not stronger in any way.'

Using intellect is the way to victory, Ivashov said.

'In our country, instead of intellect, people are twisting their arms, intimidating, imprisoning. In such a situation, the country always loses and does not live long.

'We have already experienced a systemic crisis, and what will happen next, I cannot say, I can only speculate.'

Ivashov, 79, was senior aide to Soviet defence minister Marshal Dmitry Ustinov.

Later he headed the military cooperation department at the Russian defence ministry, and later was president of the Academy for Geopolitical Problems.

Pictured: Ukrainian soldiers walk along a street in Bakhmut on Sunday

On Tuesday, Russian forces bombarded Ukrainian positions along the frontlines in eastern Donetsk region in what appeared to be early salvoes of the new offensive - as NATO allies met in Brussels to plan stepped-up supplies to the Kyiv government.

Ukraine said Bakhmut was in a precarious position.

'There is not a single square metre in Bakhmut that is safe or that is not in range of enemy fire or drones,' regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko told Ukraine's national broadcaster.

He said Russian artillery was hitting targets all along the frontlines in Donetsk, which along with Luhansk region makes up the Donbas, Ukraine's industrial heartland and a main objective for the Russians.

With the first anniversary of the invasion approaching, the Kremlin has intensified operations across a broad area of southern and eastern Ukraine and a major new offensive has been widely anticipated.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday that the bombardments and ground attacks indicated the offensive was already underway.

Ukraine's military said on Tuesday its forces had repelled attacks in five settlements in Luhansk and six in Donetsk, including in Bakhmut, over the past 24 hours.

They had also beaten back an attack on a town in Kharkiv region, which borders Russia in northeast Ukraine.

'The situations is difficult as a whole, but controlled,' Kyrylenko said. 'The enemy has not been able to achieve a tactical or strategic success there.'

From second left, U.S. Admiral Rob Bauer, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Ukraine's Defense Minister Kyrylo Budanov and Ukraine's Lieutenant General Yevhen Moisiuk, are seen during the North Atlantic Council round table meeting of NATO defense ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels, February 14

The Russian assault on Bakhmut has been spearheaded by mercenaries of the Wagner group. Britain's defence ministry said on Tuesday the mercenaries had made small gains in the northern outskirts in the past three days but an advance to the south of Bakhmut had probably made little progress.

The capture of Bakhmut would give Russia a new foothold in Donetsk and a rare victory after months of setbacks.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin said that the U.S.-led NATO military alliance demonstrated its hostility towards Russia every day, and was becoming more and more involved in the conflict in Ukraine.

'NATO is an organisation which is hostile to us and which proves this hostility every day,' Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

'It is trying its best to make its involvement in the conflict around Ukraine as clear as possible,' Peskov added.

Moscow has said weapons supplies to Ukraine by NATO countries are dragging out the conflict and raising the possibility of a further escalation. Kyiv and the West say deliveries of advanced military hardware are crucial in helping Ukraine defend itself against Russia's offensive.
A grandfather who was left in excruciating pain for 14 years after botched dental work killed himself before receiving a penny of his 117,000 compensation, his family say.

Clive Worthington had gone to a private dentist in Hungary to have dental implants and a fitted denture in 2008, but was left with a misaligned bite and trouble chewing.

The retired woodworker developed pain and repeated infections in his gums, headaches and a deviated jaw, causing him to lose weight from not being able to eat and preventing him from leaving the house.

He developed anxiety and depression, and spent an estimated 20,000 on dental and legal costs to claim compensation before eventually being awarded 117,000.

Despite this, a legal loophole meant he never received a penny, and he tragically took his own life at the age of 81 in September 2022, leaving his family devastated.

The grandfather, pictured here with daughter Gina, tragically took his own life in September 2022

Mr Worthington's daughter, Gina Tilly, 43, is now seeking justice for her father after the 'prolonged and failed treatment' by his dentist.

The father-of-two, from Harlow in Essex, had gone to Europe for treatment from Perfect Profiles dentist Dr Eszter Gombos, after his ordinary denture was causing him pain and discomfort.

The new denture wasn't fitted properly which caused it to be chipped and cracked, and led to repeated infections around the implants and gums.

READ MORE HERE: Hidden catch that means you may not get a penny in compensation if your dentist does a botch job Advertisement

Mr Worthington continued to see Dr Gombos at one of Perfect Profile's British branches, receiving replacement after replacement dentures and dental bridges, and adding more dental implants, which caused Mr Worthington rising pain and discomfort until 2015.

In September 2015 Dr Gombos admitted to Mr Worthington that she was 'at the end of her expertise', giving him a dental tool and asking him to take it to another dental professional.

She also instructed him to seek compensation from her insurers.

He did so and took a complaint to the General Dental Council (GDC), being told the investigation would take up to six months.

It wasn't until May 2017 that the GDC found Dr Gombos guilty of several acts of misconduct in her treatment of Mr Worthington.

She was allowed to continue practising under several conditions, including needing supervision and declaring to any future employers her misconduct when working in the UK.

It wasn't until four years after Mr Worthington's case was first raised that he was awarded the compensation.

In November 2019 Dr Gombos was instructed by a court to pay him 86,495.62 in damages and 30,882.80 in costs, to be paid within 14 days, which it was not.

The total 117,378.42 he was owed had still not been paid when he took his life in September last year and has still not been paid to his family.

Mr Worthington, with daughter Gina, had been awarded 117,000 in compensation but didn't receive a penny before he died

His daughter Gina, a mother of one who lives in London, said: 'He was constantly going to dentists and asking if they can do anything for him.

'It was a complete mess. In the end he just knew he wasn't going to get the help he wanted.

'Every time he felt like he was getting somewhere with his health or with the compensation claim - it just felt like too much to navigate.

'These big old organisations make you feel powerless.'

She said: 'I knew he'd been struggling, he was having a really hard time. I knew something was wrong but it was still a shock. It's completely devastated us. My daughter doesn't know all the details. It's just really terrible.

'Dad was one of ten children, so when this happened it wasn't just about him, it had a big ripple effect.'

The delay in Mr Worthington's compensation being paid was due to a legal loophole called 'discretionary indemnity'.

Dr Gombos was insured by the Dental Defence Union (DDU), a membership organisation that supplies discretionary indemnity to cover their members for things such as conduct hearings and compensation claims against them.

READ MORE HERE: Dentist reveals the EIGHT things patients do that leave them horrified  so how many are you guilty of? Advertisement

The DDU decided not to pay out the large sum of money Mr Worthington was owed because it was up to its 'discretion'. It did not explain why.

The GDC, which registers dentists working in the UK, requires dentists to have 'appropriate' indemnity cover, but includes 'discretionary indemnity' in that definition of 'appropriate'.

As Dr Gombos is alleged to no longer be based in the UK, it is making the legal process harder for the family.

The GDC's defence is that they are simply following the law which includes discretionary indemnity as an option, but Dr Chris Dean and Gina Tilly disagree.

Dr Dean is the Managing Director of the Dental Law Partnership, a dentist and solicitor himself who has supported countless clients who have lost out under discretionary indemnity.

He explained: 'The underlying legal basis for the GDC's position is the amended Dentists Act 1984, requiring "appropriate cover" for dentists including membership of mutual insurance (such as the DDU which is a membership organisation) as an option.

'The GDC say because it's the legislation, that's enough. We say the GDC is interpreting the phrase "appropriate" as allowing discretionary cover to also count as suitable, when it is blatantly not.

'The GDC don't want to remove discretionary cover from their list of appropriate cover.'

He added: 'The problem lies with the acceptability of dentists being members of a mutual society by the GDC as amounting to appropriate indemnity cover.

'These unregulated mutual societies are more than 100 years old, and they come from a time when dentists knew best, as doctors and dentists clubbed together to support themselves and protect themselves in these.'

After a compensation claim is turned down under a discretionary cover, Dr Dean says there are 'no more routes to go down' unless you can chase the individual dentist's assets, such as liquid funds, their house or their car.

The GDC is the regulator for dentists, which means Gina is now stuck in this legal loophole.

Dr Dean says if the GDC changes their position on discretionary indemnity now, it opens itself up to litigation by unhappy claimants such as Mr Worthington's family and other clients of his.

He said: 'If the GDC won't act on this, the Government needs to, and quickly.'

The GDC's motto is 'protecting patients, regulating the dental team'.

Miss Tilly said: 'I want to make sure no one else has to go through what our family has gone through.

'I'm still yet to understand how this is allowed to happen. It appears the GDC has chosen to support unregulated dentist societies over the patients it is supposed to protect.'

She added that her father, who was a joyful and social man, lost all social life after his failed dental treatment: 'The main problem was the pain.

'He stopped going out and doing the things he loved.

'He couldn't sleep from the pain. I rarely saw him without him mentioning it. He was somebody who made everybody laugh.'

The GDC will not comment on individual cases but said: 'Patients must be able to seek compensation in the rare event that something goes wrong in their dental care.

'It is deeply frustrating that weaknesses in the current legislation caused the system to fail in this instance.

'We encourage the Department of Health and Social Care to accelerate their work to review and update the existing provisions, which we as regulator can then apply.'

The DDU said: 'We are unable to comment on individual cases.

'We would however point out that the DDU is part of a not-for-profit mutual membership organisation which provides its members with indemnity for clinical negligence claims for treatment provided in the UK and Ireland.

'It is rare that we are unable to offer our members support: over the past five years we have assisted well over 99.5 per cent of members who have approached us for support with claims and other legal matters.'

Dr Gombos and Perfect Profiles have been contacted for comment.
Thousands of pin badges ordered for Scottish NHS staff who pledged to 'respect the identity' of trans people are lying unused after health workers ignored the 'ideological' scheme.

The SNP Government launched the initiative with NHS Scotland in 2021 to encourage staff to 'respect the identity' of trans people and adopt 'inclusive language'.

Those who agreed were to be given a badge which they were asked to wear as an 'ally to progress' for trans people and other minorities.

But more than 10,000 of the badges have gone unclaimed as NHS workers failed to sign up, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Those who agreed were to be given a badge which they were asked to wear as an 'ally to progress' for trans people and other minorities

NHS Scotland ordered 27,940 badges across 13 of 14 health boards and forty per cent, or 11,131 of the badges, remain in storage.

NHS Lothian, Scotland's second largest health board, only gave out 1,000 of 3,200 badges that were ordered.

Gender critical activists claimed the initiative was politically motivated and said NHS staff had been pressured to endorse a 'dangerous ideology'.

Trina Brudge, a director at For Women Scotland, told the Daily Telegraph: 'This may sound like a harmless scheme but it is underpinned by a dangerous ideology which harms women's rights.

'It is astonishing that NHS Scotland partners with a group like Stonewall which believes sex doesn't matter and ideology trumps biology.

'Given the pressures on the NHS, asking staff, many of whom may not understand the ethos behind it, to pledge to this ideology is absurd.

'It is no surprise that so many of these political badges are lying in a drawer somewhere.'

Scotland's NHS has been critcised in the past for offering smear tests for 'anyone with a cervix' under inclusive language rules.

Staff were told they must 'call out hate speech' and their badge would be a 'signpost of safety' for LGBT and minority groups.

A Scottish Government spokesman told the Daily Telegraph: 'Our health system is based on the core values of care, compassion, openness, honesty, dignity and respect for everyone, irrespective of their individual identities.

'The NHS Scotland Pride Badge encourages open and constructive conversations on difficult issues pertaining to ethnicity, age, sex and sexuality and showcases our commitment to foster an environment that is open, tolerant and inclusive for all.'
A paranoid Vladimir Putin is now travelling in a specially-made armoured train instead of his usual Flying Kremlin plane.

The Russian leader has taken to the railways as he is reportedly scared of being tracked and shot out of the sky when flying in his presidential plane.

Despite elaborate precautions for his safety since the war began to avoid airspace close to Ukraine, Putin reportedly remains anxious.

His train is camouflaged in grey and red to look like a Russian normal passenger train, making it visually almost indistinguishable from them.

Putin's transition to rail comes as a former KGB colleague who attended spy school with the Russian leader said the war in Ukraine has increased the president's anxiety.

The Russian leader (centre) has taken to the railways as he is reportedly scared of being tracked and shot out of the sky when flying in his presidential plane

His train is camouflaged in grey and red to look like a Russian normal passenger train, making it visually almost indistinguishable from them

Putin's transition to rail comes as a former KGB colleague who attended spy school with the Russian leader said the war in Ukraine has increased the president's anxiety

The Russian president's train boasts radio antennae for special communications fixed to the roof of certain carriages, covered by casings, and has been upgraded to be more secure.

It has reinforced axles like heavy freight trains because of the weight of the armour on the carriages. It requires three engines at the front, and has one at the rear.

On the side of the train is the logo of Grand Service Express, a company which Dossier alleges is linked to close Putin associate Yuri Kovalchuk.

Regular trains are halted to allow the Putin express to speed to its destinations.

Putin rarely admits to using this train in public, and has not been photographed on it since 2012.

'For the president of the aggressor country, it is indeed worth worrying about his safety,' said journalist Ilya Rozhdestvensky.

'Several of Putin's residences which he usually got to by air are located in an area where flights are significantly limited, due to combat activities.

'That is to say, if the president feels like visiting his palace near Gelendzhik [on the Black Sea], there is no guarantee that there will not be an attempt to shoot down his plane'.

In April last year the Ukrainians sank his flagship Moskva cruiser in the Black Sea, where he has several favourite residences.

Putin has also used it to reach his luxury residence at Valdai, between Moscow and St Petersburg, it is claimed.

For this reason he is now using more frequently his specially constructed armoured train rather than his Flying Kremlin presidential IL-96-300PU plane.

The Russian president's train boasts radio antennae for special communications fixed to the roof of certain carriages, covered by casings, and has been upgraded to be more secure

It has reinforced axles like heavy freight trains because of the weight of the armour on the carriages. It requires three engines at the front, and has one at the rear

Yury Shvets, 71, Putin's contemporary who studied with him at the KGB Institute, said Putin is not only anxious over being tracked in his plane but is also concerned over a 'meat grinder' struggle for power inside his Kremlin circle.

This - rather than a fear of flu or new Covid strain - is behind his increasing self-isolation, limiting face to face meetings.

'It looks like he fears for his life,' Shvets said.

'Around him there is a struggle, a meat grinder. And in this struggle, Putin can very easily end his existence. So he has isolated himself again.

'Poisons have run rife under Putin, as a key weapon against his enemies,' Shvets told Ukrainian outlet gordonua.com.

'Poison is the weapon of complete villains. This is what has flourished under him [Putin].

Yury Shvets (pictured), Putin's contemporary who studied with him at the KGB Institute, said Putin concerned over a 'meat grinder' struggle for power inside his Kremlin circle

Shvets (right) said: 'Quite likely he will be poisoned. This is the easiest way.'

'They couldn't keep it under unified control. And who now has this weapon, even he does not know. This is a source of very great stress for him.'

Shvets said: 'Quite likely he will be poisoned. This is the easiest way.'

While Shvets - once a KGB 'rezident' spy in Washington who now has US citizenship - doubts the 'grey mice' in his top circle are up to assassinating him, the fear stalks Putin, he said.

More evidence of Putin's paranoia is his decision to use an armoured train for travelling around Russia, especially between his various palaces, said another report by Dossier Centre, linked to exiled billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest man.
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Residents living next door to a three-story glass 'monstrosity' duplex have slammed its developer for breaching their privacy, while he defends his actions by calling neighbouring homes 'dumps'.

Sydney couple Gary Hopkinson and Bijma Wati bought their canal home in Mermaid Waters, on the Gold Coast, four years ago with plans to retire.

But the home they'd hoped would be their own private slice of paradise was ruined by the massive construction they say is too 'intrusive'.

The two development projects, owned by couple Scott and Mae Koning, jut out to look at neighbouring homes from all angles.

Mr Hopkinson and Ms Wati said they can no longer comfortably use their pool or outdoor showers and claim the glass structure looks directly into the room they'd hoped their grandkids would stay in.

The neighbours either side of a new duplex (above) built along the canals at Mermaid Waters have said its large glass windows are a violation of privacy

Poll Whose side are you on? The neighbours The developer Whose side are you on? The neighbours 1188 votes

The developer 129 votes Now share your opinion





In one spot, the duplex is just 20cm from the couple's fence.

'They could almost dive into our pool, they're that close,' Mr Hopkinson told A Current Affair.

The home on the other side of the new duplex belongs to Rita, who has lived in her classic coastal home for 33 years.

She said her ritual of eating breakfast out by her pool has been stopped by the glass building's construction.

'I used to (eat breakfast by the pool) but I can't stay out here with all this noise,' she said, noting its windows look 'straight in' at her backyard.

Both homes either side of the duplex have called on council to see the property for what they believe it to be - a violation of privacy.

However, Mr Koning is adamant there is 'nothing illegal' about his building and when told about how he was upsetting neighbours, he said: 'I don't care about people's little emotions, I'm building within the law.'

Sydney couple Gary Hopkinson and Bijma Wati (above) said the duplex is so close to their home its tenants could 'dive into our pool'

Developers Scott (right) and Mae Koning (centre) were confronted about the neighbours concerns, to which Mr Koning said their 'little emotions' don't matter because the neighbouring homes are old and 'a dump'

Tensions between Mr Hopkinson and Ms Wati and the Konings reached a head when Mr Hopkinson visited the duplex's front yard.

He and Ms Wati claim they've sent several emails and arranged times with Mrs Koning to try and sit both sides down and reach an agreement about the property.

But they said each time they've been dismissed.

During the heated exchange, Mr Hopkinson called Mr Koning a 'liar' and Mrs Koning a 'lying b***'.

Mr Koning then began aggressively moving toward Mr Hopkinson while Mrs Koning yelled and separated them.

After the confrontation, Mr Konings said it didn't matter what his neighbours thought of the duplex.

'That (Mr Hopkinson and Ms Wati's home) is gonna get pulled down relatively soon one would imagine being its age, next door (Rita's home) - well it's a dump so it'll get pulled down at some stage too,' he said.

The Gold Coast City Council told A Current Affair it is investigating the duplex as 'opening windows were not approved on the northwestern facade'.
A young mother has broken down in tears as she relived the moment the caravan she was staying in erupted in flames when a charging e-scooter battery exploded.

A heavily pregnant Tomeka Willis, 21, escaped from the fire in Logan, south of Brisbane, in March 2022 by smashing a window and climbing outside.

The brave mum was rushed to hospital and placed in an induced coma as doctors immediately delivered her baby five weeks premature.

Tomeka Willis barely escaped the blaze when an e-scooter exploded, she spent months in hospital (pictured)

Her partner Blake Whell, 22, was tragically killed in the fire (pictured)

'(The e-scooter) just exploded and all I saw was smoke and then everything just went all red. The flame was just right there in front of my face,' she told 9News this week.

Her partner Blake Whell, 22, also made it outside the caravan alive but tragically later died in hospital.

'The last words I heard from him was I love you and then I wake up and he's not here anymore.'

She suffered burns to 80 per cent of her body and needed multiple surgeries as she clung onto life.

She said she is now speaking out to prevent the same tragedy happening to other families.

'My kids seeing me like this is the hardest bit.'

'I'm burnt because of an e-scooter and I don't want anyone else to be in the same predicament as me now.

Tomeka was placed in an induced coma (left) and doctors delivered her baby five weeks premature (right)

John Oliver, head of the Queensland firefighters union, says reform is urgently needed around the batteries.

He said there has been 27 lithium battery fires in Queensland alone in six months, many caused by dodgy products.

'What we're seeing is cheap batteries coming into the country along with incompatible chargers,' he said.

Advice to those considering buying an e-scooter or e-bike is to check the item and battery both have have regulatory compliance marks.

Check the scooter or bike has a battery management system, only buy replacement batteries from trusted manufacturer and, lastly, don't modify or do self repairs on batteries.

Mr Oliver has held a meeting in Queensland with the transport minister who has agreed to write to his federal counterparts in Canberra in the hopes of prompting regulatory change..

'We need to move on this very quickly to put legislation around it,' he said.

The caravan Tomeka escaped from after the fire from a lithium battery ripped through it
THE Environmental Management Agency (EMA) says it will only license generators above 5kVA at a commercial level, following panic among members of the public who are using generators at home due to power cuts currently affecting the country.

Last week, EMA reportedly ordered residents to pay a fine of $100 000 for illegally operating an air polluting appliance (generator) without a license.

Residents expressed dismay over the issue.

International crisis analyst Piers Pigou tweeted: Imagine you must now pay tax to operate a generator in Zimbabwe over 5kVA, yet you have to do so because government cant supply power. This is the logic of a governance culture that is clearly not fit for purpose. Poor Zimbabweans also pay a fee for radio in their cars.

In a statement yesterday, EMA said they meant those operating generators for commercial or industrial use.

The Environmental Management Agency (EMA) would like to correct a notion that it licences operations of any generator above 5kVA, which has caused unnecessary panic among members of the public especially those using generators at household level or for domestic purposes.

As a matter of fact, Section 64 of the Environmental Management Act (Cap 20:27) clearly stipulates that: No owner or operator of a trade or any establishment shall emit a substance or energy which causes or is likely to cause air pollution without an emission licence, thus clearly indicating that this is an operation at commercial level or for industrial use, the EMA statement read.

The agency warned offenders that will fail to pay the fixed environmental penalty by February 20 that they risk being issued with warrants of arrest.

Due to the power crisis in the country, residents have resorted to use of generators as an alternative source of energy. Newsday
Jeremy Clarkson has confirmed there will be a third season of his farming show, after claims Amazon would axe it amid backlash over his controversial Meghan Markle column.

The 62-year-old received glowing reviews on social media after the new season came out on Friday morning, as well as massive queues outside his newly reopened Diddly Squat farm shop in Chadlington, West Oxfordshire.

Binge-watching fans on social media demanded another season of Clarkson's Farm after viewing the second series of the popular Amazon show in one weekend.

Clarkson told a fan who asked if a third season was in the works that 'there is one'.

It comes in spite of outrage caused by his comments on Meghan Markle in a column in The Sun newspaper  after which he temporarily closed the doors to his shop.

Jeremy Clarkson's hit farming show will return for a third season, the former Top Gear co-host revealed. Pictured: Clarkson at Diddly Squat farm

Clarkson told a fan who asked whether a third season was in the works that 'there is one' on Monday evening

There was widespread outrage after Clarkson's comments about Meghan Markle that prompted him to temporarily close the doors to his shop

The store has raised its prices over the last two years, with some products hundreds of per cent higher than high street supermarkets like Aldi

Last week, the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) said it was launching an investigation into the column written by Clarkson for The Sun about the Duchess of Sussex after it received more than 25,100 complaints.

The column, in which he said he hated Meghan and dreamed of her being paraded through British towns and publicly shamed, became Ipso's most complained-about article.

Clarkson and The Sun both apologised for the piece and it was later removed from the newspaper's website. He also said his language was 'disgraceful' and he was 'profoundly sorry'.

Binge-watching fans have revealed they already want another season of Clarkson's Farm after viewing the second series of the wildly popular Amazon show in one weekend

The second series of Clarkson's Amazon series shows another year on the farm with new animals and crops as well as Clarkson's dealings with the local council

Huge queues have been forming outside Jeremy Clarkson's Diddly Squat farm shop after it reopened yesterday for the first weekend since its winter closure

Photos show long lines of people waiting to enter the broadcaster's shop on Diddly Squat Farm in Chadlington, West Oxfordshire, while their cars fill up the side of a country road

Massive queues have been forming outside the presenter's farm shop after its winter closure.

On Sunday, cars could be seen parked on the grass verges into the farm after the public were warned by Oxfordshire County Council earlier this week to park 'safely and considerately' near the area.

The council said on Facebook: 'Don't park on the A361. It's just too dangerous. And please avoid parking on the verges of the narrow Chipping Norton Road as it causes damage.

'The farm will be doing what it can to deal with the influx of visitors, so please follow signage on the day. But bear in mind the car park is small.

'If you are directed by staff, whether you are through traffic or visiting the farm shop, please be patient with them - they are trying to keep you safe and allow traffic to flow.'

The second series shows another year in the farm with new animals and crops as well as Clarkson's dealings with the local council.

Clarkson, who bought the farm in 2008 and started running it himself in 2019, received a poor reaction from some villagers when he expanded the business to include a farm shop and restaurant.

He previously said there were 'plenty' of other locals who appeared to be more receptive, and encouraging, of his work.

An order for the closing of the restaurant was appealed by Clarkson last year following two planning applications being rejected by West Oxfordshire District Council.

He subsequently said he 'no longer wished' for a restaurant and wanted to develop on-site parking in a letter to the council in January.

Meanwhile, Clarkson also co-hosts Amazon Prime TV series The Grand Tour with his former Top Gear co-presenters' Richard Hammond and James May.
Planes flying over Britain had at least seven near misses with objects that could have been balloons last year, an analysis has found.

Pilots at the controls of multiple aircraft reported seeing objects that they believed could have been balloons or drones at altitudes between 1,800 and 34,000 feet.

The data obtained from the UK Airprox Board (UKAB), which records near misses in British airspace, revealed some items came as close as 10 metres away from the aircraft in question.

Yesterday Rishi Sunak vowed to do 'whatever it takes' to keep the UK safe from the threat of spy balloons amid raised concerns about their use by countries such as China.

The United States shot down one Chinese-made balloon at the start of the month after it was spotted drifting over the country, and five other unidentified flying objects (UFOs)have been taken down over North America in recent weeks.

Multiple aircraft reported near misses with 'balloons' in UK airspace last year, including one on approach to Stanstead Airport (pictured)

The reports sent to UKAB cover close encounters in British airspace, and range from potential collisions between aircraft and near misses with UFOs.

An analysis by PA News Agency found the most recent near miss was on December 17, when the pilot of an EV97 light aircraft flying at 1,850 feet above Enfield, north London reported an object that 'could have been a balloon or an egg-shaped drone' flying 'directly below them by 50-200ft'.

An air traffic controller told the board on September 25 a pilot in the cockpit of an Airbus A319 airliner was 'distracted' by an object which was 'either a balloon or a drone' passing along the side of the plane.

READ MORE HERE: Ex-national security chief warns Britain might NOT be able to spot Chinese spy balloons over the country - amid warnings they could be designed to eavesdrop on conversations Advertisement

The pilot said it was in 'close proximity' and described it as a 'white object, considered to be a threat' and 'rectangular'.

Four days later, a pilot on a Boeing 737 taking off from Stansted Airport, Essex reported seeing 'a glinting object' as near as 50 metres away.

The pilot 'first thought it was a balloon', but then believed that was unlikely given it was at an altitude of 9,000 feet, so believed it was a drone.

On July 2 a pilot of a Boeing 757 plane saw 'what was first thought to be balloons' at 7,500 feet shortly after departing from Manchester Airport.

The report went on to state that 'as the black object passed down the right-hand side it looked like a drone'.

On July 16, the captain and first office in the cockpit of an Airbus A320 near Hatfield, Hertfordshire noticed an object which was 'grey/silver in colour and about the size of a large drone or balloon'.

It was 'almost shiny in appearance' and passed 'within 100-200ft below their aircraft'. The UKAB concluded that the incident had the second-highest level of risk as 'safety had been much reduced below the norm'.

On June 3, the pilot of an Airbus A321 aircraft at 34,000 feet above Norwich saw 'a small white weather balloon'.

The first officer onboard an ATR 72 turboprop plane approaching Liverpool John Lennon Airport on April 8 observed 'a small silver coloured object' about 10 metres away from the right wing at 3,500 feet.

The report added: 'As the object was only visible for three seconds it was not enough time to determine whether it was a balloon or a drone.'

The UKAB concluded that the incident had the highest level of risk as 'a definite risk of collision had existed'.

In October 2017, the Met Office said it 'launches over 4,300 balloons every year from six locations across the UK' and is 'involved in launching thousands more around the globe'.

It comes following concern about spy balloons after the Unites States shot down a Chinese-made object (pictured) that had flown over the country

A US Navy sailor prepares material recovered from the Atlantic Ocean from the high altitude balloon shot down last week

The former British ambassador to the US said even if the objects were spy balloons there was no need for concern as 'an awful lot of that goes on everywhere'.

Kim Darroch said people in the UK should 'sleep easy in their beds' about the threat of Chinese spy balloons.

Lord Darroch said the UK had 'under-invested in defence' but that there was still capacity to deal with any surveillance inflatables sent to monitor activity in Britain.

He said such surveillance techniques had been 'going on for years' and 'we shouldn't be panicking about it'.

The former national security adviser told Times Radio: 'It's still, I think, unless we discover something new, it's still well-known technology.

'It's still basically surveillance, still basically spying, and the reality is an awful lot of that goes on everywhere.'

Lord Darroch said it was possible that China was able to get 'much clearer' photographs using balloons than the Beijing espionage programme could by using satellite technology.

A former chief of air staff, meanwhile, said balloons could also give spies the chance to make audio recordings.

But Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Graydon said more information was needed on what the balloons were able to report back 'before we get our knickers too much in the twist'.

He told LBC: 'It's been sort of exercising my mind, what they are getting from a balloon that they can't get from other sources, it is not clear to me at all.

'I think possibly there's opportunity to listen in to certain things that they might not be able to do so easily.'

Asked whether such balloons could be shot down if they enter UK airspace, Sir Michael said it was probably best to 'let it drift out towards sea and then shoot it down there'.

'But I go back to what I said to start with, it would be very useful to find out what's actually in them before we get too excited,' he added.

Nato defence ministers, including Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, will meet in Brussels on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the subject of spy balloons on the agenda.

The debate about the potential surveillance gadgets comes after US fighter jets shot down an 'unidentified object' over Lake Huron on Sunday, the fourth object to enter US or Canadian airspace in just over a week.

On February 4, the US military downed a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the Carolina coast after it travelled over sensitive military sites across North America.

Almost a week later, on Friday, they shot down an unknown 'car-sized' object flying in US airspace off the coast of Alaska.

Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau on Saturday ordered a US warplane to shoot down an unidentified object that was flying over northern Canada.

On Sunday, a further unidentified object was shot down with a missile by US fighter jets over Lake Huron.

US officials said they still know little about the three objects downed since Friday but the White House ruled out 'extra-terrestrial activity' following wild speculation about their origins.
A brain cancer patient who never recovered from surgery by star neurosurgeon Charlie Teo thought of him as 'God', a disciplinary hearing has been told.

After the surgery the woman remained in a vegetative state until she died.

Dr Teo has faced a second day of proceedings before the Health Care Complaints Commission in Sydney over allegations that include he did not sufficiently inform patients about the risks involved with surgery.

Neurosurgeon Charlie Teo (pictured) has faced a second day of proceedings before the Health Care Complaints Commission in Sydney

The patient's husband appeared, who appeared as a witness on Tuesday, said before the surgery his wife watched videos of Dr Teo on YouTube and was under the belief he could give her extra weeks or months to live.

'She actually thought he was God to be quite honest. She said that a couple of times,' the man said.

The woman had been told by doctors in Melbourne her brain tumour was inoperable but Dr Teo agreed to operate and buy her more time.

He told the couple there was a risk of paralysis to her left side and possible partial memory loss, the husband told the hearing.

'He never once turned around and said to my wife "you might not come out of this", the man said.

Neurosurgeon Charlie Teo (left) and his fiancee Traci Griffiths (right) arrive for a Health Care Complaints Commission Professional Standards Committee inquiry, in Sydney, Tuesday, February 14, 2023

Dr Amit Goya (pictured), a former neurosurgeon colleague of Dr Teo, was grilled by the commission's counsel, Kate Richardson SC

'Is it the case that you blame Dr Teo that your wife is gone?' Dr Teo's barrister, Matthew Hutchings asked the witness.

'Yes I do,' he said.

Dr Teo was restrained by the NSW Medical Council in August 2021 from operating without the approval of another doctor after an investigation by the commission.

The 65-year-old is famous for performing neurosurgery on cancer patients with tumours other doctors have deemed inoperable but has been accused of charging exorbitant fees and offering some false hope.

Dr Teo has consistently denied any wrongdoing and is expected to testify on Thursday.

A supporter of neurosurgeon Charlie Teo holds a placard while waiting for his arrival to a Health Care Complaints Commission Professional Standards Committee inquiry in Sydney

Earlier in the day a former neurosurgeon colleague of Dr Teo was grilled by the commission's counsel, Kate Richardson SC.

An initial statement by Amit Goyal to the commission in 2019 differed to a second statement he provided in the amount of detail it recalled Dr Teo telling a separate patient with a brain tumour and her husband regarding risk.

Ms Richardson said the second statement had 'emerged or been elicited' through contact with Dr Teo's lawyers.

Dr Goyal told the commission in 2019 he was in the room with Dr Teo and the couple for two to three minutes while the risks of the surgery were explained.

'Charlie didn't go into a lot of detail with (the patient and her husband) while I was in the room,' Dr Goyal's statement said.

'However, I do specifically remember him emphasising how risky the surgery was.'

In his second statement, Dr Goyal recalled a far greater level of detail regarding risk being conveyed to the patient and her husband, including a 'significant risk of adverse outcome'.

Dr Goyal said some of what he had written in his second statement could have come from later one-on-one discussions with Dr Teo in which he relayed what he had told the patient and her husband.

Mr Hutchings argued there was 'no material inconsistency between the two documents'.

The inquiry, overseen by Judge Jennifer Boland, is expected to run until Friday.
A schoolgirl was tragically electrocuted to death by her phone charger after she touched a frayed extension cable at her home in Thailand.

Rattanawadee Poontawee, 12, was found dead at her house in Nakhon Nayok province, Thailand, on February 13 after grabbing the phone charger which was still plugged into the extension socket.

Her grandmother, Chaweewan Poontawee, 58, was in another room when she heard a loud bang 'like someone falling down'.

When the older woman went to check, she was met with a horrifying sight - her granddaughter lay on the floor twitching after touching an exposed portion of the electricity cable's wire, which was attached to her phone.

Chaweewan ran to switch off the circuit breaker at the main point on the wall before checking on the youngster who had stopped moving.

Rattanawadee Poontawee, 12, was found dead at her house in Nakhon Nayok province, Thailand, on February 13 after grabbing the phone charger which was still plugged into the extension socket. Pictured: Investigators and medics at the scene

The schoolgirl was tragically electrocuted while trying to charge her phone with a frayed extension cable (pictured) at her home in Thailand

She called the emergency services but the girl had died before she could be rushed to a hospital.

A distraught Chaweewan said 'I did not see when it happened. I think she was shocked because she picked up the peeled part of the wire.'

Police collected evidence from the scene while the bereaved family prepare for Rattanawadee's funeral. They are not investigating further.

Last week, a welder in Bangkok died in his bed after being electrocuted while charging his phone. He had plugged his power strip directly into a socket without using the proper adapter.

Police collected evidence from the scene while the bereaved family prepare for Rattanawadee's funeral. They are not investigating further
A 16-year-old girl was rushed to hospital on Tuesday after being shot at a hotel in Toowoomba, southern Queensland.

Emergency crews were called to the hotel on Annand Street, Toowoomba - 125km west of Brisbane about 2.40pm on Tuesday, where they found a 37-year-old woman had also sustained injuries consistent with a gunshot wound.

An 18-year-old female was later taken into police custody and is now assisting with their enquiries.

A 16-year-old girl was rushed to hospital on Tuesday after allegedly being shot at a hotel in Annand Street (pictured), Toowoomba

Both of the injured females were taken to Toowoomba Hospital, with the teenager in a serious but stable condition with a 'significant' arm injury.

The woman is in a stable condition.

The 18-year-old is believed to know the 16-year-old who was shot in the arm, the Toowoomba Chronicle reported.

A crime scene was and investigations are ongoing.

Police said a number of people were present at the time of the alleged incident and are assisting them with their inquiries.
A Police Scotland officer accused of raping and assaulting a woman and child has been acquitted.

Martyn Coulter, 36, was today cleared of raping and assaulting a woman and raping and sexually assaulting a child under 13, with a further charge of assaulting the girl found not proven, between June 2013 and November 2014.

A jury of nine men and six women at the High Court in Edinburgh cleared him of all six charges following a trial.

During the seven-day trial, the court heard evidence about the alleged incidents, but there were no concrete dates agreed on when they were said to have taken place.

Ian Duguid KC, representing Coulter, presented evidence to the trial showing Coulter's whereabouts on September 23, 2013 - including Google maps, timelines, bank statements and social media posts.

Martyn Coulter (pictured arriving at the High Court in Edinburgh earlier today) was today cleared of all charges

The High Court in Edinburgh, where Martyn Coulter has been acquitted of charges of raping and assaulting a woman and child today

The court was also shown records of Coulter's army training records, which revealed he was on a training course between September 6 and 21 the same year.

A woman told the court on February 6 that she could not recall the exact date of the alleged offences, but said she went to Coulter's flat at lunchtime on or around September 23, 2013, to celebrate the news that he was going on a tour of duty of Afghanistan with the Territorial Army.

She told the court he had wanted to have sex with her to celebrate, but she told him she did not want to because she did not have time. She alleged that he then raped her.

But the court heard that she appeared to have gone on a night out with Coulter that evening.

She also told the court she could not remember the night in question as it was 10 years ago.

The witness, however, insisted she could not remember being with him on the date in question.

Mr Duguid put it to the witness that Coulter had not received a letter that he would be deployed to Afghanistan in September, and had actually been told in November he would be sent for a maximum of 12 weeks due to being in the Territorial Army.

Upon hearing the verdict today, an emotional Coulter put his head in his hands and cried with relief

Coulter was suspended from Police Scotland as a result of the accusations.

The trial also earlier heard how he was 'crying in shock' after being arrested.

Upon hearing the verdict, an emotional Coulter put his head in his hands and cried with relief.

Cries could also be heard from members of his family and friends who had gathered in the public gallery to support him throughout the trial.

Judge Lady Drummond told him: 'Mr Coulter, you have been acquitted of all charges and you are free to go.'

A spokesperson for Police Scotland said: 'The officer remains suspended and, given that criminal proceedings have concluded, the matter will now be assessed for misconduct by Police Scotland's Professional Standards Department.'
Moldova temporarily closed its air space today, the day after the country's president warned that Russia was plotting a coup to overthrow her pro-Western government.

'Dear passengers, at this moment, the airspace of the Republic of Moldova is closed. We are waiting for the resumption of flights,' Air Moldova said on Facebook.

The announcement comes at a time of tensions between the former Soviet republic and Russia as Moscow wages war in Ukraine, which shares a border with Moldova.

Tuesday saw Russia angrily reject the Moldovan president's claims about an alleged plot by Moscow to overthrow her government, and accused Moldovan authorities of trying to distract public attention away from the country's own domestic problems.

But local reports said the Moldovan government may have closed its air space due to the planned arrival of football fans from Serbia for a Europe League football match between FC Sheriff and Partizan Belgrade, scheduled for Thursday.

Pictured: A map showing flights over Ukraine, Moldova, Romania and other countries in the region. Moldova is shown as having no planes in its skies after the country temporarily closed its airspace, after the country's President said Monday Russia was plotting a coup

'Moldova's airspace was temporarily closed at 11:24 am (0924 GMT), 14 February, in order to assure the safety and security of civil aviation,' Moldova's Civil Aviation Authority said in a press release. 'At 14:47 pm (1247 GMT) the airspace was re-opened,' it added, without giving further details.

Moldova's President Maia Sandu said Monday that the purported Russian plot envisioned attacks on government buildings, hostage-takings and other violent actions by groups of saboteurs in order to put the nation 'at the disposal of Russia' and derail its hopes to join the European Union.

Alongside internal forces such as those controlled by a fugitive oligarch named Ilan Shor, Moscow would allegedly plan to use foreign citizens from Russia, Belarus, Serbia and Montenegro to implement its plans, Sandu said.

Partizan Belgrade is a football team from Serbia's capital. It was announced yesterday that Thursday's match would be played behind closed doors.

Radio Chisinau reported that 12 Serbian football fans were refused entry to Moldova on Monday, and that the arrival of more fans on Tuesday may have been the reason behind the air space closure.

The local station said officials suspected 'diversionists' from Serbia could have been among the football fans due to arrive.

However, this theory was later contradicted by another Moldovan newspaper , which reported that 'a foreign drone' was 'flying without permission'.

Responding Tuesday, Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova dismissed Sandu's claims as 'absolutely unfounded and unsubstantiated.'

'They are built in the spirit of classical techniques that are often used by the United States, other Western countries and Ukraine,' Zakharova said.

'First, accusations are made with reference to purportedly classified intelligence information that cannot be verified, and then they are used to justify their own illegal actions,' she argued.

Moldova's President Maia Sandu said Monday that Russia was planning a coup that would see attacks on government buildings, hostage-takings and other violent actions by groups of saboteurs in order to put the nation 'at the disposal of Russia' and derail its hopes to join the EU

Sandu's claim came a week after neighbouring Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country had intercepted plans by Russian secret services to destabilise and destroy Moldova.

Moldovan intelligence officials later said that they confirmed the allegations.

Zakharova charged that Kyiv made up the claim about a purported Russian plan to destabilise Moldova in order to draw it into a confrontation with Russia.

She argued that Moldovan authorities used 'the myth about a Russian threat to distract Moldovan citizens' attention from internal problems resulting from a disastrous social-economic course of the current administration and to step up the fight against dissent and political opponents.'

Zakharova insisted that Russia poses no threat to Moldova and hopes to develop mutually beneficial cooperation.

Since Russian troops rolled into Ukraine last year, Moldova, a former Soviet republic of about 2.6 million people, has sought to forge closer ties with its Western partners.

Last June, it was granted EU membership candidate status, the same day as Ukraine.

In December, Moldova's national intelligence agency warned that Russia could launch a new offensive with the aim of creating a land corridor through southern Ukraine to Moldova's Moscow-backed breakaway region of Transnistria.

Transnistria broke away after a 1992 civil war but is not recognised by most nations.

It extends roughly 250 miles from the eastern bank of the Dniester River to the country's border with Ukraine. Russia has about 1,500 troops nominally as 'peacekeepers' in the breakaway region.
A British Embassy spy shared secret letters between Liz Truss and Boris Johnson and had a cartoon of Vladimir Putin holding the head of ex-German chancellor Angela Merkel, the Old Bailey heard.

David Ballantyne Smith, 58, began collecting secret information that put 'lives at risk' from the Berlin embassy where he worked as a security guard four years before his arrest in August 2021.

He was said to be was 'hedging his bets' when he was accosted by a fake Russian operative during an undercover sting, the court heard.

He shared letters between the then Secretary of State for International Trade, Liz Truss and former Prime Minister Boris Johnson that were classified as secret.

Smith's work locker was also searched and items seized included a cartoon of Russian president Putin in military garb holding the head of former German chancellor Angela Merkel.

At the Old Bailey hearing, Smith (pictured in a court sketch) has denied leaking secrets to Russia for money and claimed he only intended to 'inconvenience and embarrass' the embassy, where he had worked since 2016

Smith was said to be motivated by 'an extreme hatred of where he works and the United Kingdom in general', the court heard

Smith was arrested by German police at his apartment in Potsdam on August 10, a day after 'Irina' approached him at a bus stop

Photographs taken of his flat included a large Russian Federation flag, various Russian books, a Soviet military hat, a Communist toy Lada car and a life-size cuddly Russian toy Rottweiler dog sporting a military hat

The caption in German stated: 'Russia, please free us once again.'

He was snared in an undercover operation involving the deployment of two fake Russian operatives after he sent a letter in November 2020 to a member of military staff at the Russian Embassy in Berlin.

The first undercover role player purported to be a 'walk-in' Russian informant called 'Dmitry' who Smith escorted into the British Embassy on August 5 2021.

Afterwards, he was captured on CCTV in his security kiosk filming the earlier footage of Dmitry wearing a flat cap and glasses.

On August 9, Smith was accosted in the street by a second role player 'Irina', who told him she was a Russian intelligence officer.

How did the MI5 sting operation that exposed Smith as a spy unfold? December 5, 2018 David Smith puts sensitive information from the British Embassy in Berlin on a USB stick. Dozens of sensitive images are later found on an SD card in his home in 2020. January 1, 2020 Smith's bank balance steadily decreased until November 25. His finances improved after a payment was made to him in February 2021. May 14, 2020 Smith wrote a letter to Colonel Sivov, a military and defence attache at the Russian Embassy. He offered sensitive information and asked to remain anonymous. Nov 20, 2020 Smith sent a letter to Major General Chukho with highly sensitive information about staff at the embassy. This sparked the planning of the sting operation. January, 2021 Smith made markedly fewer debit transactions. From February to the start of May he didn't withdraw any cash. This indicated to MI5 investigators that he may have had another source of money. August 9, 2021 An undercover MI5 agent posing as a Russian intelligence officer called 'Irina' approached Smith at a bus stop and spoke about the British Embassy. August 10, 2021 Smith was arrested by German officers at his home in Potsdam. Secret and sensitive videos, documents and photos from the embassy were found at his home. Officers also found eight 100 notes. Advertisement

In a covert recording, Smith appeared cautious about engaging with her, saying he needed to speak to 'someone' first.

Prosecutor Alison Morgan KC said: 'Irina was deployed to play the role of the GRU officer and to see whether someone  Dmitry  was providing information to the UK that could be damaging to Russia.

'He [Smith] is someone who has been engaging with the Russian authorities for some time.

'The prosecution allege he has been aware of the Dmitry incident and knows the potential significance of the Dmitry incident because he has taken the recordings with a view to passing that material on.

'So when he is presented with somebody who claims to be from the Russian authorities and inquires about it, the prosecution position is that the defendant was stalling in his engagement with Irina, trying to work out as quickly as he could think about it what was the more likely  that this was a real Russian representative who he could trust to provide the information, even though Irina was plainly not the "someone" who the defendant was ordinarily engaging with.'

The alternative possibility was that he had been 'rumbled', she said.

Ms Morgan went on: 'The defendant will assert he knew from the outset Irina was MI5 and further asserts he said that to her on the recording.'

But she said there were 'no words' to that effect on audio played in court.

She said: 'The defendant was plainly hedging his bets to seek whether or not he could trust her.

'This is a man who was plainly trying to work Irina out.

'The key line is he told Irina that he would have to check with 'someone''.

Ms Morgan added that when Irina showed him a picture of Dmitry he did not react at all.

Smith declined to be interviewed after German officers arrested him at 2.10pm on August 10, 2021, in Potsdam in Germany.

Photographs taken of his flat included a large Russian Federation flag, various Russian books, a Soviet military hat, a Communist toy Lada car and a life-size cuddly Russian toy Rottweiler dog sporting a military hat.

On the shelves were various books on young female Russian snipers and soldiers who fought battles between Nazis and Soviets.

Items seized from his address included travel documents and sheets of blank embassy headed paper.

David Ballantyne Smith, 58, (pictured) was unmasked as a spy and is facing 14 years in jail. He was caught betraying his country by an undercover MI5 role-player posing as a Russian agent called 'Irina'

On the shelves were various books on young female Russian snipers and soldiers who fought battles between Nazis and Soviets

The prosecution said Smith's deliberate engagement with Russian authorities by providing them with confidential and sensitive information demonstrates an intent to harm UK interests

Smith, who is originally from Scotland, was extradited on April 6 last year and arrested on arrival at Heathrow Airport for offences under the Official Secrets Act.

In November last year, he pleaded guilty to eight charges under the Official Secrets Act by committing an act prejudicial to the safety or interests of the state.

The prosecution allege Smith held strong anti-UK views and was in favour of Russia and Putin.

An examination of his finances suggest he was receiving unaccounted for funds, including 800 euro in cash uncovered at his home in Potsdam.

At the Old Bailey, Smith has denied leaking secrets to Russia for money and claimed he only intended to 'inconvenience and embarrass' the embassy, where he had worked since 2016.

The prosecution said his deliberate engagement with Russian authorities by providing them with confidential and sensitive information demonstrates an intent to harm UK interests.

The prosecution argued the aggravating features of Smith's offending are the prolific nature of his activities occurring over a three-year period and acquiring vast amounts of sensitive material.

In addition, prosecutors cite the highly sensitive nature of the material, which the defendant must have realised placed the lives of others at risk and the fact that the defendant instigated contact with the Russian state.

The offending also occurred in the context of the defendant's pre-existing anti-UK views, at a time when he remained employed by the UK authorities and he received financial gain.

Smith, from Paisley, Scotland, has admitted eight offences under the Official Secrets Acts 1911 and 1920, committed between May 2020 and August 2021.

The charges state he committed an act prejudicial to the safety or interest of the state and the information he shared was calculated to be, or might be useful to an enemy, namely the Russian state.

He could face up to 14 years in prison.

The guard denied a ninth like-offence alleging he leaked information about embassy building repairs on 6 August 2021 and the charge is expected to be ordered to lie on file.

Mr Justice Mark Wall will sentence Smith after a week-long Newton hearing, to determine motivation for the crimes, on Friday.

The hearing continues with Smith due to give evidence later today.
Alex Murdaugh's defense is preparing to grill a forensic pathologist after she told jurors how his wife and son were brutally executed from three feet away.

Dr. Ellen Riemer described how Paul's brain was blown out the back of his head by a shotgun and that the organ arrived at the morgue 'in a separate bucket.'

Maggie was shot five times with an assault rifle and was down on all fours when she was struck by the fourth round, Riemer said. The fifth and final shot was fired from close range into the back of her head as she lay face down on the ground.

Murdaugh, 54, wept at the defense table as the court heard the grisly testimony of how his wife, 52, and son, 22, were murdered at their hunting estate in South Carolina's Lowcountry on June 7, 2021.

His defense is this morning attempting to hit back and will likely push their two-shooter theory. They have previously told jurors that the direction of the shots and the fact that two guns were fired, indicates there was more than one killer.

Forensic pathologist Dr. Ellen Riemer describes the gun wounds to Maggie Murdaugh as prosecutor Creighton Waters looks on during day 16 of the double murder trial of Alex Murdaugh at the Colleton County Courthouse on Monday. Maggie was shot five times with an assault rifle and was down on all fours when she was struck by the fourth round, Riemer said. The fifth and final shot was fired from close range into the back of her head as she lay face down on the ground

Maggie's body was found a few yards to the right of a doghouse, while Paul's was by the doorway at the end of the kennels. Dr. Ellen Riemer described how Paul's brain was blown out the back of his head by a shotgun and that the organ arrived at the morgue 'in a separate bucket'

Alex Murdaugh, seated besides defense attorney Jim Griffin, becomes emotional as the horrific injuries sustained by Maggie and Paul in the shootings are discussed at Colleton County Courthouse

Prosecutors are still laying out their case as the trial rumbles through its fourth week. They were aiming to rest their case tomorrow and then the defense will call its witnesses.

It was reported yesterday that Murdaugh himself could be called to the stand in a move that legal experts described as 'virtually unheard of.'

Alex's surviving son Buster, his brother John Marvin and sister Lynn - who have attended the Colleton County courthouse in Walterboro most days - are also listed as defense witnesses.

Murdaugh must still answer for apparent holes in his alibi about the night of the killings.

He claims he left the estate that night to visit his mother and the last time he saw Maggie and Paul before they died was when they were all having dinner at the house around 8.15pm.

But a video played in court taken by Paul at the kennels places Murdaugh with his wife and son at the crime scene at 8.45pm. Multiple witnesses, including close friends of the family, say they can hear his voice.

The State says Maggie and Paul were shot shortly after 8.49pm.

Riemer yesterday described in vivid detail the grave injuries sustained by the pair as jurors were shown graphic images of their bodies.

The pathologist explained that Paul could have remained standing after the first shotgun blast to his chest, but that a second shot blew his brain out the back of his head.

The 22-year-old's brain arrived at the autopsy in a separate bucket, the court heard.

Alex Murdaugh wept as the court heard the grisly testimony of the forensic pathologist

Riemer indicates where the fourth shot to Maggie passed through her left breast and up into her brain from the bottom of her jaw

Riemer demonstrates on prosecutor Creighton Waters the shotgun wounds received by Paul Murdaugh

The fact that Paul's face remained intact tells you he was facing his shooter, Riemer testified.

She said Maggie's first two wounds featured gunpowder stippling, indicating her shooter was no more than three feet away. The first three rounds were not immediately fatal, striking her thigh and torso.

The direction of travel indicates Maggie was kneeling on all fours when she was struck by the fourth shot, which passed through the left side of her breast and penetrated her brain.

'When it entered the left side of the face, it basically destroyed the brain,' Riemer told jurors.

A final shot was delivered to the back of the head from close range as she was lying on the ground, the coroner said.

No murder weapon has ever been found.

The State says Murdaugh killed the pair to distract from his financial crimes. He embezzled millions from his law firm and was facing a lawsuit over his son's drunken boat crash that killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach in February, 2019.

On the day Maggie and Paul were murdered, Murdaugh had been confronted over $792,000 that he stole from the firm.

Later that week a hearing to determine the state of his finances was due in the boat wreck lawsuit.

Murdaugh told lawyers for Beach's family that he was broke and the court has heard how he was siphoning funds from the firm into his personal accounts in an attempt to shield the money from the lawsuit.

Murdaugh cries during the testimony of the forensic pathologist Monday

Riemer demonstrates the gun wounds to Maggie Murdaugh on prosecutor Creighton Waters

Buster arrives at court Tuesday with his girlfriend Brooklynn White (pink shirt) and Alex's sister Lynn behind him

Murdaugh arrives at court Tuesday with his jacket draped over his handcuffs after getting out of the prison van

Maggie had recently confided in their housekeeper that they were being sued for $30million.

The defense theory is that somebody else killed Maggie and Paul in revenge for the boat accident.

They argue that their client was a 'loving' husband and father who could have never killed his wife and son. They have branded the State's alleged financial motivation as 'ludicrous'.

Murdaugh claims that he went to visit his mother at around 9pm on the night of the murders. The State says Maggie and Paul were killed shortly after 8.49pm and that a video taken by Paul at 8.45pm proves he was at the scene.

Several witnesses, including close family friends, have testified they can hear the voices of Alex, Maggie and Paul in the footage.

But the alleged killer told investigators he was never at the kennels.

Murdaugh says that the family ate dinner together around 8.15pm and that Maggie and Paul went down to the kennels while he fell asleep in front of the TV.

At 9.06pm, his Chevrolet Suburban was fired up and he went to visit his mother in Almeda, around 15 minutes away.

Buster Murdaugh and his girlfriend Brooklynn White listen to testimony as autopsy photos of his mother and brother

Forensic pathologist at MUSC Dr. Ellen Riemer demonstrates the gun wounds to Maggie

Buster arrives at court wearing a pair of Gucci loafers accompanied by his girlfriend Brooklynn White (fuchsia blouse) and Alex's sister Lynn

He claims he was there for around 40 minutes, although this is disputed by his mother's caregiver who said he was only at the house for 20 minutes.

Murdaugh says he arrived back at the hunting estate to find Maggie and Paul dead at the kennels. He called 911 at 10.07pm.

First responders have testified that they did not check either Maggie or Paul because their injuries were so horrific as to be 'incompatible with life.' Two shots entered Maggie's head, while Paul's brain was completely detached from his skull.

The court has previously heard evidence that Murdaugh's clothing when cops arrived appeared clean to the extent that police believed he had recently changed.

Blood tests carried out on his white t-shirt later came back positive. However, Murdaugh does say that he touched their bodies to check for signs of life.

An earlier video taken that night by Paul at 7.56pm shows Murdaugh wearing a blue shirt, long pants and brown loafers.

Alex Murdaugh is seen on June 7, 2021, at the murder scene at the family's hunting lodge in Islandton, South Carolina. Murdaugh is speaking on the phone in the video and tells the officer it's his brother on the line.

PAUL'S BODY: Paul's body is seen outside a doorway at the kennels. The body is blurred out

MAGGIE'S BODY: Murdaugh's wife's corpse is seen blurred out in the extreme foreground as he paces around in a white t-shirt near his parked up Chevrolet Suburban

The family's housekeeper Blanca Simpson testified last week that she never saw the items of clothing ever again.

The State intends to rest its case by Wednesday and then the defense will start calling their own witnesses.

The trial is taking place at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, a sleepy, rural town 50 miles west of Charleston in a low-lying region of South Carolina over which the Murdaugh family has wielded immense judicial and political power.

Indeed, in the courtroom where Murdaugh faces judgment, a portrait of his late grandfather - legendary longtime 14th Circuit Solicitor Buster Murdaugh Jr. - had hung on the wall before it was removed ahead of the trial.

Following the murder trial, Murdaugh will have to face more than 100 additional criminal charges, ranging from drug trafficking to allegations that he stole nearly $9million from clients and other attorneys.

Prosecutors say Murdaugh lured his wife and son to their 1,700-acre hunting lodge and shot them dead.

The state also claims that his life was spiraling out of control amid years of opioid addiction and ballooning debts.

Murdaugh pleaded not guilty in June, and the blockbuster trial is expected to include wild allegations of dark family secrets, financial ruin and hedonistic excess.

In total, over 220 people could testify against Murdaugh in the trial.

Buster, Maggie, Paul and Alex Murdaugh. Buster was staying with his girlfriend near Charlotte at the time of the murders

At the time of Maggie and Paul's deaths , Murdaugh and his son were facing a civil suit over the boat wreck that killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach in February, 2019. Murdaugh told cops Paul and Maggie had been killed in revenge for the accident
The object was third mystifying entity to be downed in US airspace in three days

Chilling audio reveals the moment US fighter jet pilots struggled to define the 'UFO' seen over Lake Huron

Chilling audio has revealed the moment F-16 fighter jets lock in on a UFO as they prepared to shoot it down over Lake Huron - while the perplexed pilots struggle to define what exactly they are seeing.

The object shot down over Michigan on Sunday was the third mystifying entity to be downed in US airspace in three days.

Despite a Pentagon memo describing the flying object as a 'small, metallic balloon', audio of conversation from inside the jets revealed that the pilots went back and forth over how to define the UFO.

'I wouldnt really call it a balloon I dont know what I can see it outside with my eyes,' one of the pilots can be heard saying.

F-16 fighter jets were scrambled Sunday to shoot down a third 'UFO' in US airspace, using Sidewinder AIM-9X missile launchers, pictured

The in-cockpit communication came as the US military scrambled two F-16 fighter jets to take out the UFO as it flew near sensitive Defense Department bases over the Great Lakes.

Military officials later described the object as an 'octagonal structure', which was shot out of the sky because it was 'a safety flight hazard and a threat due to its potential surveillance capabilities.'

But audio recordings, released by The Drive, have shed light on the puzzling nature of the military operation as it erupted over US airspace.

After coming-face-to-face with the object, one of the pilots first notes: 'I wouldn't really call it a balloon.

'I can see it outside with my eyes,' he adds, before attempting to grapple with how to describe the flying object in front of him.

'Looks like something theres some kind of object thats distended its hard to tell, its pretty small,' he says.

The pilots also note they are concerned about colliding with the object as they can only see it close-up, leading to a confused discussion over what the actual shape is - later described by officials as 'octagonal'.

'I'm gonna call it like a container,' says one of the pilots. 'Can't really tell though what the shape is.

'The size of it, that would be challenging, it's so slow and so small, I just can't see it.'

Notably, the baffling UFO was moving at a far slower speed than the fighter jets, making it difficult for the pilots to grasp exactly what they were looking at.

Later in the muffled audio, the pilots can be heard going into more detail over the size and shape of the flying object.

One of the pilots judges the object to be 'definitely smaller than a car', while another says it is around the size of a 'four-wheeler'.

US military officials have also described the entity as having 'a tethered payload below it', something that is repeated in the first looks at the object at 20,000 feet.

'In the targeting pod, I cant tell if its metallic or what, but I can see like lines coming down below it, but I cant see anything below it,' says one pilot.

'You can definitely see strings below.'

While agreeing that the balloon is somewhat-shiny or metallic, the pilots again struggle to note what the color of the object actually is.

One says it looks 'black-ish', while the other says 'it looks dark, but I can get a pretty good sun glint off of it.'

A U.S. Air Force F-16 missed on its first attempt to shoot down the balloon floating over Lake Huron. It then fired a second Sidewinder AIM-9X missile that hit the target. Each Sidewinder costs around $400,000

Military officials have since admitted the first shot at the UFO missed as its heat-seeking tech failed to lock onto its target, sending the missile landing safely in Lake Huron, pictured

Fighter jets were scrambled as the object flew over the Great Lakes, with the pilots attempting to get a look at the mystifying entity, later described as a 'small, metallic balloon'

Timeline of recent UFO sightings over US airspace Wednesday, February 1: Chinese balloon is spotted above Montana (this is not being referred to as a UFO as it was identified as a balloon) Saturday, February 4: Chinese balloon is shot down off the coast of South Carolina after having drifted across the country Thursday, February 9: First UFO is detected off coast of northern Alaska Friday, February 10: UFO is shot down over Deadhorse, Alaska Saturday, February 11: Second UFO is shot down over Mayo, Yukon, Canada. FAA shuts down airspace over Montana citing another possible UFO, but NORAD claims it was a 'radar anomaly' Sunday, February 12: Third UFO is detected over the Great Lakes and shot down Advertisement

Following Sunday's successful downing of the 'metallic balloon' over Lake Huron, it emerged that the mission had cost the military nearly a million dollars, as the pilots' first shot at the UFO missed.

The jets, which were using Sidewinder AIM-9X missiles costing $400,000 a shot, took two attempts to take the object down.

The misfire was confirmed Tuesday by the Pentagon's top general Mark Milley, noting the dangers posed by the continual UFO sightings within US airspace.

'Yes, the first shot missed,' he said.

The Joint Chiefs Chairman insisted that the missed Sidewinder missile landed safely in the lake, while the second shot fired by the F-16 took the object out of the sky.

'We determine what the debris field is likely to be with one of these platforms landing on the Earths surface or in the water,' he added.

'We go to great lengths to make sure that the airspace is clear and the backdrop is clear.'

Another US defense official, speaking to The Washington Post on the condition of anonymity, revealed that the first shot missed its target as the missile did not successfully detect the UFO.

The official said the Sidewinder missile, which is fitted with heat-seeking or infrared technology, failed to keep track of the object and 'did not fuse', leading to the missed shot into the lake.

The mission over the Great Lakes came as the White House has continued to laugh off suggestions that aliens are involved in the UFO sightings, amid increased pressure for officials to explain recent developments.

U.S. fighter jets have shot down four high-altitude objects this month, leading the White House to announce it is creating a new UFO task force to study the security threat posed by the unidentified objects invading US airspace.

Since the first 'spy balloon' was interceded off the coast of South Carolina earlier this month, three more objects have been discovered, which are yet to be officially identified.

Alongside the object shot over Lake Huron on Sunday, the military also fired at unidentified entities over Alaska on Friday and Canada's Yukon region on Saturday.

Following the third mission on Sunday, officials were quick to tamp down expectations that answers are on the way.

A senior administration official said Tuesday morning that the US and Canada may not be able to recover debris from the three downed objects.

'If it cant be recovered, its going to be extremely difficult to say with great certainty what these things were,' they told CNN.

'I want to be clear, the three objects taken down this weekend are very different from what we were talking about last week. We knew exactly what that was - a PRC surveillance balloon,' Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Monday.

'We're gonna confirm what they are, once we have collected the debris,' he added.

Senators were given a confidential briefing Tuesday morning over the extraordinary developments of the last few weeks, but the lack of definitive answers over what the US government is dealing with has led several lawmakers and policy officials to urge for more clarity.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) speaks to reporters as he departed a closed-door briefing for Senators regarding the Chinese spy balloon incident at the U.S. Capitol on February 9, 2023

US Senator Marco Rubio and former defense and intelligence official Christopher Mellon criticized the US air force and radar procedures, claiming untold numbers of UFOs may have been operating in US airspace unbeknownst to authorities

Michigan Congressman Jack Bergman took to Twitter to demand 'far more answers than we have'. He has joined a growing chorus of lawmakers to urge for more clarity

Florida Senator Marco Rubio revealed that UFO sightings have been occurring for years, as he pushed for a 'destigmatization' over such reporting.

The Republican tweeted Monday: 'The last 72 hours revealed to the public what was happening for years, unidentified aircraft routinely operating over restricted US airspace.

'This is why I pushed to take this seriously and created a permanent UAP (unidentified aerial phenomena - equivalent to UFOs) task force two years ago.'

He was joined by Christopher Mellon - former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence in the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations - who admonished the air force over its lack of clarity about the developments.

'The USAF *really* has some explaining to do when it comes to UAP,' he tweeted Monday.

'People who are surprised at the presence of these objects haven't been paying attention.

'One of the reasons why I've been calling for changes to our sensor and reporting procedures for years.'

Michigan Congressman Jack Bergman called for answers on the same day the unidentified flying object was shot down in his state.

'Ive been in contact with DOD regarding operations across the Great Lakes region today,' he said on Twitter.

'The US military has decommissioned another object over Lake Huron. I appreciate the decisive action by our fighter pilots.

'The American people deserve far more answers than we have.'

Ahead of Tuesday morning's briefing, Senator John Kennedy also slammed the lack of information surrounding the objects within US airspace.

'If you are confused, you understand the situation perfectly,' he told Fox and Friends.

'Ten days ago, we were led to believe that our skies are clear, and now all of a sudden we've got spy balloons and unidentified objects raining down on us like confetti.

'The American people deserve to know what is going on.'
Residents of a small town in Ohio fear for their health and safety after huge clouds of toxic chemicals were released in a controlled explosion following a train derailment earlier this month.

About 50 cars, including 10 carrying hazardous materials, derailed in a fiery crash in East Palestine at about 9pm on Friday, February 3.

Homes within a one-mile area were soon evacuated as vinyl chloride was slowly released from five of those cars. Authorities then ignited the gases for a 'controlled release' of the highly flammable, toxic chemicals in a controlled environment, creating a dark plume of smoke seen miles away.

The evacuation orders were lifted last week, with the Environmental Protection Agency reporting the area was safe.

But as residents return to their homes, some are reporting burning sensations and persistent coughs. Local farmers have also claimed that livestock are suddenly dropping dead, as state officials say that more than 3,000 fish across seven and a half miles of streams have died.

It has now been revealed that even more toxic chemicals were on board the freight train than had previously been reported, as the United States Environmental Protection Agency warns that chemicals are continuing to be released 'to the air, surface soils and surface waters.'

Officials conducted a 'controlled explosion' of highly flammable, toxic chemicals following a train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio earlier this month

'Don't tell me it's safe,' Cathey Reese, who lives in Negley, Ohio  just north of East Palestine told WPXI of Pittsburgh last week. 'Something is going on if the fish are floating in the creek.'

Officials with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources have said that a chemical spill related to the train derailment killed an estimated 3,500 small fish across seven and a half miles of streams.

Meanwhile, one resident of North Lima, more than 10 miles away, said that her five hens and rooster died suddenly after train operator Norfolk Southern burned the cars that were carrying vinyl chloride, a known carcinogen.

And Jenna Giannios, 39, a wedding photographer in nearby Boardman said she has had a persistent cough for the past week and a half.

She has only been drinking bottled water and is uncomfortable using tap water to bathe.

'They only evacuated only one mile from that space, and that's just insane to me,' Giannios, who set up a Facebook page for residents to vent their frustrations, told NBC News.

'I'm concerned with the long-term health impact,' she added. 'It's just a mess.'

Sil Caggiano, a hazardous materials specialist and former fire department chief, also said he was 'surprised' residents were allowed to return home so quickly before all of their homes were tested.

'I would've far rather they did all the testing [first],' he said. 'There's a lot of what ifs, and we're going to be looking at this thing 5, 10, 15, 20 years down the line and wondering, 'Gee, cancer clusters could pop up, you know, well water could go bad.'

He added: 'We basically nuked a town with chemicals so we could get a railroad open.'

A chemical smell still lingers in the area, as some residents refuse to return home.

The train derailment on February 3 set off a fire that could be seen from miles away

About 50 cars, including 10 carrying hazardous materials, derailed in the town

Sil Caggiano, a hazardous materials specialist and former fire department chief, said he was 'surprised' residents were allowed to return home so quickly before all of their homes were tested

Others have taken matters into their own hands, with the managers of the Kindred Spirits Rescue Ranch evacuating 77 of their largest animals, including a yak and a zebu for two days last week.

'We could see the plume come up over us,' founder Lisa Marie Sopko said. 'Our eyes were burning and my face could feel it.'

And the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation is urging its members to get water from their local wells tested immediately.

'There's some level of frustration out there' among farmers, the organization's director, Nick Kennedy told NBC News.

'They just want answers. Their livelihoods might be at stake here.'

State and federal officials, though, have denied that there is any threat to the residents and animals in the area.

Ohio Nationa;l Guard crews are pictured here donning protective gear as they prepared to enter an incident area to assess the remaining hazards

Civil Support Team members are pictured on February 7 analyzing data

The Ohio National Guard received training before entering the potentially harmful areas

State and federal officials have denied that there are any ongoing health concerns

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine pointed to a map indicating the areas that have been evacuated following the train derailment

Authorities had said that chemicals like vinyl chloride and hydrogen chloride had the potential to be deadly, but that risk was mitigated with a controlled explosion last week.

Once that controlled burn was complete, the only risk of coming in contact with the toxins was if they were embedded in the soil, which then had to be dug out, Kevin Crist, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and the director of Ohio University's Air Quality Center told ABC News.

The Environmental Protection Agency has since reported that air and water samples collected in the region were within acceptable limits, and announced Monday evening that it has not yet detected any concerning levels of toxins in air quality.

It has screened 291 homes near the crash site, as well as local schools and the community library, and has not detected any levels of vinyl chloride or hydrogen chloride, officials with the department said.

But as of Monday, 181 homes in the area still need to be tested, as the Columbiana County Health District awaits the results of groundwater testing.

And Andrew Whelton, a professor of environmental and ecological engineering at Purdue University said it is possible that the burn created additional compounds the EPA might not be testing for.

Officials have already said the controlled explosion released toxins like phosgene and hydrogen chloride in large plumes of smoke.

The freight train carrying dangerous chemicals was en route to Pennyslvania when it derailed

A HEPACO worker places booms in a stream in East Palestine on February 9 as part of the cleanup efforts

Ohio state officials have said that nearly 3,500 fish died within a seven and a half mile radius

It has since been revealed that even more toxic chemicals were on board at the time

Meanwhile, newly-released documents from Norfolk Southern show that more chemicals than were previously reported were being transported on the freight train making its way from Illinois to Pennsylvania.

Among those substances were ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate and isobutylene.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that contact with ethylhexyl acrylate, a known carcinogen, can cause burning and irritation of the skin and eyes, while inhalation of the substance can irritate the nose and throat, causing shortness of breath and coughing.

Inhalation of isobutylene can also cause dizziness and drowsiness, while exposure to ethylene glycol mobobutyl ether can cause irritation in the eyes, skin, nose and threat, as well as hematuria (or blood in the urine), nervous system depression, headache and vomiting.

Originally, state health officials were only concerned about the presence of vinyl chloride, a highly-volatile colorless gas produced for commercial uses.

Some residents are now suing the train operator Norfolk Southern, alleging negligence

A crew member is pictured here on February 9 at the crash site, where cleanup operations were underway

Some residents have taken matters into their own hands, with one creating a Facebook group for neighbors to ask questions and vent their frustrations

Four lawsuits have now been filed against the rail operator, Norfolk Southern, including one which alleges the derailment was caused by negligence. That suit is demanding the railroad operator pay for medical screenings and related care for anyone living within a 30-mile radius of the crash.

Officials have said some of the toxins spilled into the Ohio River near the northern panhandle of West Virginia, causing officials there to shut down water production in the area and transfer to an alternate source of water supply, Gov. Jim Justice said.

He emphasized 'everything is fine here' due to the immediate action from agencies like the state's Department of Environmental Protection and National Guard.

Still, water utility company West Virginia American Water is continuing to enhance its water treatment process as a precaution.

It has also installed a secondary intake on the Guyandotte River in case there's a need to switch to an alternate water source. The utility noted that there hasn't been any change in raw water at its Ohio River intake.

'The health and safety of our customers is a priority, and there are currently no drinking water advisories in place for customers,' the company said in a statement.

Neighbors are pictured gathering outside of a home in East Palestine after the evacuation orders were lifted last week

Some residents have refused to return home as chemical smells linger in the area

A town hall has been scheduled for Wednesday night to allow East Palestine residents to ask questions about the effects of the derailment. Mayor Trent Conaway announced on Sunday.

In the meantime, experts recommend residents take part in at-home air screenings offered by the EPA.

Karen Dannemiller, a professor at Ohio State University, also recommends residents wipe down surfaces  especially those that collect dust, and wash items that absorb smells, such as bed sheets and curtains.

She also advises vacuuming carefully try to prevent contaminants from moving into the air, noting to NPR that air cleaners and face masks are likely no match for the hazardous chemicals.
Labour is 'winning the argument' on business against the Tories, a former boss of the Confederation of British Industry has admitted.

Paul Drechsler, who was also once ex-prime minister David Cameron's 'skills tsar', claimed that firms across Britain were being 'wooed' by Sir Keir Starmer's party.

In an article for the Independent website, Mr Drechsler noted a 'seismic change' within boardrooms as company bosses look towards Labour with 'optimism'.

The Irish businessman, who is now chair of the UK branch of the International Chamber of Commerce, acknowledged this 'would have seemed impossible' for the party under ex-leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Both Sir Keir and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves last month attended the World Economic Forum in Davos as they continued their charm offensive towards big business.

Mr Drechsler credited the pair for their efforts but also pointed to 'errors' made by the Conservatives while in power.

Labour is 'winning the argument' on business against the Tories, said Paul Drechsler - the former boss of the Confederation of British Industry

Sir Keir Starmer and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves last month attended the World Economic Forum in Davos as they continued Labour's charm offensive towards big business

'Rishi Sunak is patently a decent, trustworthy leader who appears to respect law and order and wants fiscal responsibility,' Mr Drechsler wrote.

'As the first Asian-British prime minister, he is making history  but he is struggling to retrieve his party from the errors of his predecessors.

'The Conservatives are not just losing the argument; Labour is winning it. Companies up and down the country are being wooed.'

Mr Drechsler admitted, as an appointee of Mr Cameron as chair of the Skills Funding Agency, he made his assessment 'with no great pleasure'.

'But Labour have set about convincing business that they are encouraging entrepreneurs and enterprise (and, whisper it quietly: profit),' he added.

'There is a sense of dramatic change in many boardrooms and corridors of power. I am hearing that CEOs of big high street firms are starting to talk with warmth  and even optimism  towards Labour.

'This is a seismic change. When I talk to business leaders now, for the first time in 20 years, the conversation turns to what Labour might do with business.

'Whereas before this might have been about mitigating damage, now it is far more positive  even reassuring.'

As for the Tories' chances of winning back the support of bosses, Mr Drechsler continued: 'Too much has happened that cant be undone or easily reversed or forgotten by the Conservative Government.'

His article is a fresh blow for Mr Sunak as he attempts to turn around the Tories' fortunes, with Labour continuing to hold a huge lead in opinion polling.

The latest poll from Redfield & Wilton Strategies showed the Conservatives are 21 percentage points behind Labour  albeit this was five points less than the previous week's survey.

Yesterday, a leading businessman quit the Tories after nearly 40 years over its attitude to business and pledged his support for Labour.

Iain Anderson, founder of the Cicero public relations group, claimed the Conservatives are 'not the party it used to be' and revealed his backing for Sir Keir.

He left after 39 years as a Tory party member and less than 18 months since he was appointed a Government 'LGBT business champion' by Boris Johnson.

Mr Anderson claimed the Tories' approach seemed to reflect Mr Johnson's 'f*** business' attitude over Brexit.

He also accused the Tories of planning to push a 'culture war' in the lead-up to the next general election.

Mr Anderson is chair of the trustees of Stonewall, the LGBTQ+ campaign charity.
This is the terrifying moment an apartment block crashed to the ground around demolition workers in earthquake-hit Turkey.

The horrific quakes last week- which have so far killed more than 37,000 people in Turkey and Syria - sent buildings crumbling to the ground and many irreparably damaged.

Demolition workers in Turkey's southern city of Diyarbakir were filmed Tuesday as they started to dismantle one of the desecrated structures before it suddenly crumpled into a mountain of rubble.

Workers could be seen engulfed in dust while a heavy construction vehicle was tipped on its end as it was dragged forward by the collapsing mound of twisted metal and concrete.

Six survivors have so far been rescued from beneath the rubble in Turkey today, now eight days on from the worst quake in the country's modern history.

The news comes as the rescue phase of the operation comes to a close as authorities turn towards helping those who have survived with food, safe accommodation, and schooling.

Demolition workers in Turkey's southern city of Diyarbakir were filmed Tuesday as they started to dismantle one of the desecrated structures before it dropped to the ground

The building dropped to the ground as grey smoke rose into the air

It is understood that much of the apartment block had already crumbled to the ground during the horrifying quakes last week, before the remainder was brought crashing to the ground.

A fire crew used cranes in the Kurdish-majority city to demolish the building hit by the 7.8 magnitude earthquake and aftershocks that already turned most apartment blocks into mounds of rubble and piles of shattered masonry.

More than 37,000 people in Turkey and Syria have so far been found dead. Rescuers continued to work through the night to find people clinging to life beneath the rubble eight days later.

Hopes of finding many more survivors have been fast fading, as attention now shifts to helping those who survived find shelter, food or a haven elsewhere.

But emergency responders on Tuesday were able to drag six people alive from the rubble.

A woman and a man were pulled out from the ruins in the southern city of Hatay some 204 hours after the quake hit the region and parts of northwest Syria, Turkish media said.

Earlier on Tuesday, an 18-year-old named Muhammed Cafer was rescued from the rubble of a building in southern Turkey some 198 hours after last Monday's earthquake, broadcaster CNN Turk said.

In Turkey's Adiyman province, broadcasters showed rescue workers carrying Cafer strapped on a stretcher, an oxygen mask on his face and a health worker holding an IV bag, from the site of the collapsed building to a waiting ambulance.

Cafer could be seen moving his fingers as he was carried away.

A short while earlier, rescue workers pulled two brothers alive from the ruins of an apartment block in neighbouring Kahramanmaras province.

State-owned Anadolu news agency identified them as 17-year-old Muhammed Enes Yeninar and his brother, 21-year-old Baki Yeninar, who was rescued after him.

They were both placed in ambulances and taken to hospital. Their condition was unclear.

A woman is rescued from the rubble of a building some 203 hours after last week's devastating earthquake, in Hatay, Turkey February 14, 2023

An aerial view of collapsed buildings after the powerful twin earthquakes hit Turkey's Kahramanmaras on February 13, 2023

More than 37,000 people in Turkey and Syria have so far been found dead

The 7.7 earthquake, centered in the Pazarcik district, jolted Kahramanmaras and strongly shook several provinces, including Gaziantep, Sanliurfa, Diyarbakir, Adana, Adiyaman, Malatya, Osmaniye, Hatay, and Kilis

Rescuers carry the body of a victim at the site of a collapsed building, in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Hatay, Turkey, February 14, 2023

Locals and non-governmental organizations continue search and rescue efforts in Jindires district after north-western Syria was hit by 7.7 and 7.6 earthquakes centered in Turkey

Jewelry shop owners at the old town of Antakya look for silver from the rubble, following the deadly earthquake in Hatay province, Turkey, February 14, 2023

A view of buildings destroyed in the earthquake on February 14, 2023

A man walks past buildings destroyed in the earthquake on February 14, 2023

But UN authorities have said the rescue phase was now coming to a close, with the focus turning to shelter, food and schooling, as those who survived said they were struggling.

'People are suffering a lot. We applied to receive tent, aid or something but until now we didn't receive anything,' said Hassan Saimoua, a refugee staying with his family in a playground in Turkey's southeastern city of Gaziantep.

Saimoua and other Syrian refugees who had found refuge in Gaziantep from the war at home but were made homeless by the quake used plastic sheets, blankets and cardboard to erect makeshift tents on a patch of grass in the playground.

'The needs are huge, increasing by the hour,' said Hans Henri P. Kluge, the World Health Organizations's director for Europe. 'Some 26 million people across both countries need humanitarian assistance.'

'There are also growing concerns over emerging health issues linked to the cold weather, hygiene and sanitation, and the spread of infectious diseases - with vulnerable people especially at risk.'

Meanwhile, survivors joined a mass exodus from earthquake-hit zones, leaving their homes unsure if they can ever come back.

'It's very hard ... We will start from zero, without belongings, without a job,' said 22-year-old Hamza Bekry, a Syrian originally from Idlib who has lived in Hatay, in southern Turkey, for 12 years.

'Our house collapsed completely. Several of our relatives died, there are still ones under the rubble,' he added, as he prepared to follow his family to Isparta in southern Turkey.

He will become one of more than 158,000 people who have evacuated the vast swathe of southern Turkey hit by the quake, one of the deadliest tremors in the region's modern history.

Drone footage in the southern Turkish city of Kahramanmaras showed the sheer extent of the devastation caused by the earthquake, collapsing dozens of buildings and forcing hundreds of families to live in tents erected in a stadium in freezing temperatures.

Empty buildings with their walls ripped open showed the power of the earthquake last week that devastated the city, close to the epicentre of the tremor that struck southern Turkey and Syria.

 Slide me  Drone footage in the southern Turkish city of Kahramanmaras showed the sheer extent of the devastation caused by the earthquake. Pictured: before (left) and after (right)

An aerial view of collapsed buildings after the powerful twin earthquakes hit Turkiye's Kahramanmaras on February 13, 2023

A search-and-rescue dog and his master search the rubble of collapsed buildings in Kahramanmaras on February 14, 2023

A person carries belongings next to the rubble of a collapsed building, in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Hatay, Turkey February 14, 2023

A Turkish flag is pictured in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Elbistan, Turkey February 14, 2023

Two images, taken in 2020 and again after the earthquake, highlighted the trail of destruction in the city, with many houses turned to rubble. However, some apartment blocks survived with apparently minor damage, such as cracked walls.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who faces an election scheduled for June that is expected to be the toughest of his two decades in power, acknowledged problems in the initial response but said the situation was now under control.

Turkey faces a bill of as much as 70 billion, a business group said. Turkey's Urbanisation Minister Murat Kurum said some 42,000 buildings had either collapsed, were in urgent need of demolition, or severely damaged across 10 cities.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad agreed to allow U.N. aid to enter from Turkey via two more border crossings late on Monday, the world body said, in a move that could help get aid to those in opposition-held northwest Syria.
Border Patrol from the Swanton sector in Vermont reported Monday that it encountered a historic number of illegal crossers coming over the Canadian border into the U.S. last month.

Agents apprehended 367 people in January, mostly Mexican nationals, which they say is more than they encountered since 2011 combined. The average number of crossings in the Swanton Sector over the last 12 years is just 28.

Swanton Sector Chief Patrol Agent Robert N Garcia noted that agents are coming across more family groups with young children and infants crossing the border.

He also warned migrants not to risk the trip through the cold as agents have had to conduct at least two rescue missions in January.

'Illegal crossings of the Canada/U.S. border in sub-freezing temps continued last week, as Border Patrol Agents apprehended 115 subjects from 12 countries  mostly Mexican nationals,' he noted in a tweet with an image of migrants trudging through the snow.

Illegal crossings at the northern border are surging  with a record-high of 367 apprehensions in Swanton, Vermont, in January alone, which is higher than past dozen years

Crossings from the north comes despite harsh winter conditions, with snow and temperatures plummeting to -4 degrees Fahrenheit

'Unfortunately, perilous weather has done nothing to deter this traffic. Don't risk it!'

The surge comes as border crossings in the north continue to spike despite the frigid winter temperatures reaching -4 degrees  and as focus remains on the migration crisis at the southern border.

Swanton, according to a statement on the recent surge, has seen a streak of encounter increases.

From October 2021 to January 2023, the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents in the sector have seen an 846 percent increase in encounters and apprehensions compared to the same period last year.

'As we progress deeper into winter and continue to address the ongoing pace of illicit cross-border traffic, the level of concern for the lives and welfare of our Border Patrol Agents and those we are encountering - particularly vulnerable populations - continues to climb,' Chief Patrol Agent Garcia said.

'It cannot be stressed enough: not only is it unlawful to circumvent legal means of entry into the United States, but it is extremely dangerous, particularly in adverse weather conditions, which our Swanton Sector has in incredible abundance,' he added in a statement on the record-breaking number of crossings.

Security footage images released from the northern border earlier this month shows migrants trudging through several inches of snow while carrying their belongings after illegally crossing the border from Canada into the U.S.

Swanton Sector Chief Patrol Agent Robert N Garcia noted that at least two search-and-rescue missions were required for agents to administer aid to illegal crossers

The harsh winter conditions along the northern border have led to a need for increased search-and-rescue efforts and were required to provide life-saving aid in at least two incidents in Newport, Vermont, and Burke, New York.

Surging at the northern border has appeared to coincide with the southern border spikes since President Joe Biden has taken office.

In fiscal year 2020, northern border encounters and apprehensions were at 32,376. The first full year Biden was in office in Fiscal Year 2022, the northern border saw a more than three times increase to 109,535 encounters.

So far this year from October 2022 to January 2023, CBP encountered 55,736 illegal crossers.

Along the entire U.S. northern border with Canada, the highest single month of crossings was in October 2022 when 15,883 people were apprehended by CBP.

The entire southern border saw a massive decrease in crossings from December 2022 to January 2023  dropping from record high of 251,978 to nearly 100,000 less with 156,274 encounters.
Ten people have been injured in a commuter bus crash on the New Jersey Turnpike, causing massive delays during morning rush hour.

The driver and nine passengers were injured after a crash with a cement truck around 7.30am in the town of Elizabeth. Officials say none of the injuries are considered life-threatening.

Authorities say the No. 139 bus was en route to the Port Authority in New York City when the crash occurred. The other 23 passengers on board have been picked up by another bus to resume their trip.

Traffic has been snarled along the New Jersey Turnpike since the crash.

New Jersey Transit and state police are leading an investigation into the cause of the collision.

A commuter bus crashed into a cement truck at around 7.30am on the New Jersey Turnpike
Majors was found dead in a Los Angeles homeless shelter after an overdose

In posts he appeared disheveled, with a scraggly beard, tangled hair, and Grillz

Child star Austin Majors displayed troubling behavior on social media in the weeks before his death from an apparent drug overdose over the weekend.

Majors, once a beloved cherubic face frequently seen on the television show NYPD Blue, had traded in his chubby cheeks for a ragged beard, tangled hair, and apparently a set of golden Grillz along his lower teeth.

The actor was found dead on Saturday night in a Los Angeles homeless facility after possibly 'ingesting a fatal amount of fentanyl,' TMZ reported. He was 27.

Majors hadn't acted since 2009, according to his IMDB page, and had recently embarked instead on a music career under the name 'Pope !'.

In a series of recent posts Majors promoted his music - a collection of dark house-music - while espousing about existential topics, and even mentioned fighting off 'isolation demons' months before his death.

Austin Majors in a post on his Instagram from 2022. He was found dead in early February

Austin Majors as a young boy appears on an episode of NYPD blue in 1999

It remains unclear whether Majors was going through a period of homelessness at the time of his death, or how long he had been at the shelter where he was reportedly found dead.

An autopsy on his body was scheduled to be completed Monday, and final toxicology results are expected in a few months.

His family released a statement calling Austin a 'loving, artistic, brilliant, and kind human being.'

'Austin took great joy and pride in his acting career,' they told TMZ. 'He was an active Eagle Scout and graduated Salutatorian in High School. He went on to graduate from USC's School of Cinematic Arts with a passion of directing and music producing.'

Though he hadn't acted in over a decade, in 2020 Austin shared a picture on his Instagram of his Screen Actors Guild membership card, saying he had been a member for twenty years.

Instead of acting, Majors had been pursuing a career in music. In numerous posts he described himself as a 'struggling artist.'

His music teemed with minor keys, chaotic a-melodic synthesizer lines, and seemed to reflect a dark and scattered state of mind that appeared in his social media posts.

A post Majors made on his Instagram months before his death from an apparent drug overdose

Majors made a series of troubling posts on his social media in the months before he died

Majors promoted his music - a dark blend of house music - on social media in recent years

Austin starred as Theo Sipowicz in NYPD Blue for seven seasons; he played the son of Detective Andy Sipowicz, who was played by Dennis Franz.

Austin won the Young Artists Award for Best Performance in a Television Series for his work in NYPD Blue in 2002.

The actor was also nominated for Best Performance in a Voice Over Role for Treasure Planet.

He was born on November 23 in California as Austin Setmajer.

Austin graduated second in his class in high school in 2013, going on to attend school at the University of Southern California, at the School of Cinematic Arts - majoring in Film and Television production with a minor in music production.

Majors in 2018. Social media posts showed his appearance changed in recent months

Austin appeared in numerous television shows and movies up until 2009

Majors on the set of NYPD Blue. His last appearance on camera came in 2009

Austin's first role was in 1997 in the film Nevada, playing a young boy.

He went on to star in The Price of Air in 2000, Providence in 2001, Treasure Planet in 2002, Bananas in 2004 - before landing the role of Theo in NYPD Blue.

He starred as Theo in 48 episodes from 1999 until 2004.

From there, Austin went on to star in Volare in 2004, ER for one episode in 2005, Hercules for two episodes in 2005 as well as Little Manhattan in 2005.

He had small roles in Bye Bye Benjamin, Threshold, According to Jim, NCIS, The Ant Bully, American Dad!, Dead Silence, The Gray Man and Desperate Housewives between 2005 through 2007.

In his last roles, Austin starred as Will Wright in the TV movie An Accidental Christmas in 2007, Hank in Night Writer in 2007 and How I Met Your Mother for one episode in 2009.
President Joe Biden is a distant second to 'don't know' in an open-ended poll question that asks Democrats who they want to lead their party.

Biden, who is chief of the party in addition to running the country for the past two years, was picked by just 12 per cent of respondents in a new AP-NORC poll when asked who Democrats want to lead.

That puts him ahead of new leaders bursting onto the scene, as well as longtime legislators, but is not a vote of confidence as he intends to launch a presidential reelection campaign soon.

The news comes as the 2024 Republican field is beginning to take shape, with former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley announcing her decision to challenge former President Donald Trump for the GOP nomination.

Trailing Biden among Democrats was new Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, who was featured on the House floor during dramatic votes to finally make Republican Kevin McCarthy speaker.

Just 12 per cent of Democrats name President Biden when a new AP-NORC poll asked who they want to lead the party

He is tied at 5 per cent with fellow New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the fiery progressive who is starting her third term in office and maintains a devoted following.

Former presidential candidate Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is also at 5 per cent, although he is technically not even a Democrat. Sanders is an Independent who caucuses with Democrats and sought the party's nomination.

Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg, Vice President Kamala Harris, term-limited former President Barack Obama, and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer of New York all get 3 per cent support, with former Speaker Nancy Pelosi at 2 per cent, weeks after stepping down from her role as party leader in the House.

It all comes as Biden's approval rating remains at 41 per cent in the latest Gallup poll.

Among Republicans, there is also a substantial plurality who don't know or didn't answer, 34 per cent, and a two-person battle for top spot.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis narrowly leads among those Republicans want to lead the party, beating Donald Trump, who is at 20 per cent more than two years after losing to Joe Biden and skipping his inauguration, then becoming the first Republican to launch a presidential campaign for 2024.

Other prominent Republicans are back at 1 per cent: former President George W Bush of Texas, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Sen. Lindsey Graham of Georgia, Haley of South Carolina, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, and new Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California.

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) was selected by 5 per cent in the open-ended question

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, who burst on the scene during Speaker Kevin McCarthy's battle for control, scored 5 percent in the poll, as well
This is the heroic moment a mother-daughter duo rescued a dog that was trapped on a mountain for 24 hours.

Brittanie Dickson, 30, and her mother, Carmell Dickson, 55, were called out to assist with a stranded 13-year-old Border Collie Lab mix called Tony.

Daughter Brittanie owns Mountain Paws & Claws Pet Service and the two spend their spare time helping animals in need.

Tony's owner was hiking near the Moffat Tunnel in Rollinsville, Colorado, USA, but suffered an injury that forced her to leave him alone on the 9,800ft mountain.

Mother and daughter team Brittanie and Carmell, pictured with Tony and the unnamed hiker

The injured hiker's father is pictured rescuing Tony the dog from the steep mountainside

Brittanie and Carmell were joined by the hiker's father in their search back in June 2022.

Neither the hiker nor her father were named.

After an unsuccessful search on the first day, the three set off again the next morning and ventured off the trail to where Tony was last seen.

Brittanie saw the panicked pooch on the opposite side of the loud raging South Boulder Creek Trail.

The hiker's father, name also withheld, clambered through the water and eventually reached a stressed and exhausted Tony in the foliage.

The team pulled Tony to safety and started to descend the huge hill.

In total they hiked about eight miles to locate the dog and get him home safely.

The nearby Moffat Tunnel links cities separated by the Continental Divide, a mountainous line from the northwestern most tip of North America that runs through the Rockies and the Andes and ends at the southernmost point of South America.

The Continental Divide creates huge and often dangerous mountains through North and South America, reaching their highest point in Colorado, U.S.

The Summit of Grays Peak in the Rocky Mountains reaches 14,278ft (4,352m).

Brittanie and Carmell, both from Gilpin Country, Colorado, described Tony's rescue as extremely dangerous and adrenaline filled.

Brittanie said: 'My adrenaline was at an all-time high. To be honest, I feel like all my training for missing animals went straight out the window or maybe straight down that river.

'I immediately started talking to Tony, but I think I really was trying to calm myself down. I was so nervous about how steep and close to the edge he was sitting.

'There was a point he tried to get up the steepest path to get to his grandpa but he couldn't make it. This is when I got even more nervous.

'The moment he was rescued was a huge breath of relief. I think we all took a second to calm down before getting him back to his owner.'

An anonymous rescuer works with mother-daughter team Brittanie and Carmell to save Tony

Tony was thrilled to see his rescuers.

Brittanie said that they 'sat and cried' immediately after successfully getting him across the river.

She said: 'We spent 30-45 minutes trying to collect ourselves after crying tears of joy and relief.

'We had some water and a snack before making the slow journey back down. Poor Tony was so exhausted, and his pads were so sore that he kept sitting to take breaks.

'We passed on the good news to Tony's owner that everyone was safe and then parted ways.'

Both Brittanie and Carmell described the situation as a huge learning experience.

They were not prepared for a rescue on the side of a raging river and had only ever done relaxed, zero adrenaline hand or humane trap captures before.

Although Tony's rescue could have ended up very badly, Brittanie said she was 'beyond happy' that everything went well, and everyone is safe.

Both Brittanie and Carmell have been training with a company called CODE3, which specializes in high-adrenaline rescue events to make sure they are fully trained and prepared for incidents like this.

Brittanie posted the video to TikTok as she knew it was a 'crazy' rescue.

She said: 'The adrenaline you can feel from the video makes you feel like you are right there with us.

'And of course, the happy ending is great. The hug between Tony and his grandpa is a real tear-jerker.

'We all love a happy ending.'
Sadiq Khan is facing growing fury over his 'out of touch' assault on motorists today with warnings he will turn London into a haven for rich people who work from home.

Maps have laid bare the extent of the mayor's overhaul of the road network in the capital, with far more 20mph zones planned alongside the massive expansion of the ULEZ.

But there are signs of mounting unrest among Labour MPs at shifting the boundary of the low emission zone to outer London - dragging millions more into its orbit in a bid to cut air pollution.

Meanwhile, Tories have railed at 'ideological' measures, questioning the concept of 15-minute neighbourhoods, and insisting residents are becoming 'frustrated' at constant roadworks. MPs argue that the mayor's proposals are geared towards 'people who either work from home and don't have to go anywhere, or if they do have to go anywhere can afford an Uber or a cab'.

Some have claimed that the moves will merely displace polluting traffic and create more pinch-points on the edges of restrictions, while those who have to travel will pay the price. After the congestion charge was introduced there was evidence that nitrogen dioxide levels actually increased due to increase bus and taxi use - although more electric vehicles have been introduced since then.

IS THE ULEZ EXPANSION AFFECTING YOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD? Email oliver.price@mailonline.co.uk

Mr Khan has flatly denied he is waging war on motorists, pointing out that half of Londoners don't own a car and he has a duty to tackle 'poisonous air'.

Transport for London (TfL) confirmed yesterday it is pushing ahead with plans to reduce the speed limits on 137 miles of roads by next year - saying evidence showed it would save lives.

The ULEZ is expanding to all outer London boroughs from August, but looks to be causing increasing nerves among Mr Khan's own side

This TFL map shows the proposed speed limits on London's roads

 Slide me  Then and now: These TFL maps show the 20mph zones in London (left), compared to last year (right). Green depicts 20mph roads

Sadiq Khan is facing growing fury over his 'out of touch' assault on motorists today with warnings he will turn London into a haven for rich people who work from home

The body is responsible for London's strategic road network, which makes up around 5 per cent of London's 9,190-mile network, but carries 30 per cent of the traffic.

Currently, 68 miles of TfL roads have 20mph speed limits, including everywhere inside the congestion charge area.

Most changes will be from 30mph to 20mph, but there will also be cuts from 40mph to 30mph.

It said a study of zones before and after they had 20mph limits found fatal collisions fell by 25 per cent.

The ULEZ is expanding to all outer London boroughs from August, but looks to be causing increasing nerves among Mr Khan's own side.

Four London Labour MPs broke cover on LBC today, with shadow Treasury minister Abena Oppong-Asare saying: 'My concern is we don't want to be in a situation where people are going to be worse off.'

Fellow frontbencher Seema Malhotra said: 'Whilst I share the goal of reducing pollution and increasing air quality, I am very concerned about the economic impact the current roll-out plans will have on residents and small businesses.'

The Feltham and Heston MP warned the plans will have a 'disproportionate effect on lower income families and the self-employed who use their vehicle for work'.

Jon Cruddas, MP for Barking and Dagenham, said he was 'deeply disappointed' about the policy and his representations had 'fallen on deaf ears'.

'Dagenham and Rainham is home to many low-income workers who rely on their personal vehicles,' he said.

Long-serving Labour MP for Mitcham & Morden Siobhain McDonagh also reportedly expressed doubts about the scheme.

Former minister Bob Neill told MailOnline: 'I think the penny is dropping how out of touch he is with outer London seats.

'I think they are starting to feel the heat.

This Google traffic map shows the typical traffic at 8.15am on a Tuesday morning - with amber representing heavy tailbacks and dark red depicting stationary traffic

'It's a sign that the message is getting through even to Labour MPs: this is just an attack on outer London.'

Bromley & Chiselhurst MP Sir Bob said Mr Khan's policies were focused on 'people who either work from home and don't have to go anywhere, or if they do have to go anywhere can afford an Uber or a cab'.

'It shows how totally out of touch he is with ordinary working people in London.'

'It is just this very aggressive anti-motorist stance. We all recognise there are some areas where 20mph is appropriate, because it's near a school or a care home or something like that.

'But what we're really trying to move to is a blanket 20mph by default. In parts of outer London that is simply not appropriate.

'It's ideology getting in the way of common sense.'

He warned that the capital's policies were likely to spread to other parts of the country. 'If they can get away with it in London, London is being used by some on the left as a test bed.'

Sir Bob said: 'What's significant is that Starmer has not been coming out condemning it they are happy to let Sadiq get on with it whatever the cost to ordinary Londoners.'

Sir Bob said he was hearing complaints about temporary traffic lights and roadworks. 'A lot of people are getting very frustrated. It all seems to be part of an agenda to make life more and more difficult for motorists,' he said.

'What works in outer London is completely different from what works in inner London. And even in inner London there are a lot of people who are not well-heeled, they need to get about to do jobs quite often at anti-social hours.

'We had a daft suggestion from one Labour person that workmen could take their tools on the Tube.

'If you're doing building jobs it is ridiculous. This is all the stuff of people who have never done those sort of jobs in their lives.'

Louie French, Tory MP for Old Bexley & Sidcup, tweeted: 'Be in no doubt, public outrage and people power is now forcing Labour MPs to come out against Sadiq Khan's #ULEZ tax raid on drivers in outer London.'

Tory former leader Iain Duncan Smith told MailOnline: 'More and more councils, Labour included understand the the ULEZ expansion to all of London is a fraud... it will have no real effect on air quality.

Tories said they were hearing complaints about temporary traffic lights and roadworks

'It will cause financial hardship. It is a tax hike pure and simple to bail him out.'

Wimbledon MP Stephen Hammond told MailOnline: 'Khan is yet again ignoring what Londoners have said and want.

'The ULEZ expansion is being rushed and will hurt many lower income Londoners.

'Khan's tax will force some people out of work. London needs a properly thought out air quality scheme not this botch job.'

But a source close to Mr Khan said: 'The Mayor has been clear the decision to expand ULEZ was not an easy one, but necessary to protect the health of Londoners and tackle the climate emergency. Health experts agree toxic air is a public health crisis. Polluted air is stunting the lungs of children, leading to life-changing illnesses, such as cancer, dementia and asthma, and resulting in around 4,000 Londoners dying prematurely every year.

'Over four fifths of vehicles in outer-London are already ULEZ-compliant. You can check your vehicle on TfL's vehicle checker. However, the Mayor recognises that some people will need support moving to cleaner vehicles. That's why he has invested 110m in the UK's vehicle scrappage scheme to support lower-income Londoners and small businesses.

'Tackling the climate crisis is the defining issue of our times and cleaning up London's air is central to that. The Mayor urges all politicians to prioritise the health of Londoners and the lives of future generations over short-term politics, and to avoid joining the ranks of the climate action delayers. We need to take action if we are to build a fairer, greener future.'

Mr Khan mounted a staunch defence in an open letter to critics this week, saying toxic air led to the premature deaths of 4,000 Londoners each year.

He said: 'Research by Imperial College London shows Bromley has the highest premature deaths linked to air pollution with an estimated 204 lives lost in 2019.'

But Bromley Council leader Colin Smith said the study commissioned by City Hall 'chose to ignore Bromley's much older population profile'.

He said many elderly residents spent 'their younger years in inner London experiencing the smogs and smoke-filled pubs of yesteryear'. He added: 'It is complete nonsense.'

A spokeswoman for the Mayor of London said: 'These councils are denying the science in order to justify their opposition to clean air policies.

'The air quality data used by City Hall is completely robust and is based on the most accurate scientific investigation into the human cost of poor air from globally renowned experts at Imperial College London.'

In July 2020 Mr Khan was asked at City Hall what he was doing to make progress on 15-minute neightbourhoods - a concept where residents can live, work and access services within an easy walk of their home.

'Londoners are spending more time closer to home. They want their neighbourhoods to be welcoming, healthy and sustainable, not clogged up with traffic and pollution,' he said.

'London's recovery must be an inclusive green recovery that enables all Londoners to walk and cycle around greener neighbourhoods and support their local high streets.'
Vladimir Putin today sent nuclear-capable bombers into the skies in a display of strength to the West, as Norway warned that Russia has deployed tactical nuclear weapon-armed vessels in the Baltic Sea for the first time in 30 years.

The noisy Tu-95MS 'Bears' flew for more than seven hours over the Bering Sea, accompanied by Su-30 fighter jets from Russia's Eastern Military District. The Bering Sea separates the US state of Alaska and Russia's far-east.

Since Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian officials and propagandists have repeatedly threatened the West with nuclear weapons.

Russia's language has escalated against Ukraine's allies in recent months as they have pledged increasingly more powerful weapons to Kyiv's on-going war effort.

The bombers took flight as the Norwegian Intelligence Service said in its annual report that ships from Russia's Northern Fleet had started going to sea with nuclear weapons. This was common practice during the Cold War, but the report noted this was the first time the modern Russian Federation had done so.

Vladimir Putin today sent two nuclear-capable bombers into the skies in a display of strength to the West today, as NATO officials met in Brussels. Pictured: One Tu-95MS is seen from the window of another, after Putin sent them to fly over the Bering Sea

'The key part of the nuclear potential is on the submarines and surface ships of the Northern Fleet,' the Norwegian intelligence report noted.

Tactical nuclear weapons are 'a particularly serious threat in several operational scenarios in which NATO countries may be involved,' the report said, adding that Russia also had submarine capabilities, anti-satellite weapons and cyber capabilities that would pose a threat in any direct conflict with Norway and its NATO allies.

Meanwhile, NATO defence ministers met in Brussels on Tuesday, where Ukraine repeated its call for Western countries to provide it with fighter jets.

The United States and its NATO allies and partners voiced more concern about Kyiv's needs for large amounts of ammunition.

But despite the looming logistical challenges, U.S. Joint Chiefs Chair Army General Mark Milley told reporters that Russia has lost strategically, operationally and tactically in its war in Ukraine, as the war approached its one-year anniversary.

'Russia is now a global pariah and the world remains inspired by Ukrainian bravery and resilience. In short, Russia has lost; they've lost strategically, operationally and tactically', he said.

Footage released by the Russian Defence Ministry today showed the Tu-95s - the world's only propeller-powered strategic bombers - on their mission.

'Two Tu-95MS strategic bombers performed a scheduled flight in the airspace over the neutral waters of the Bering Sea,' said a statement by Moscow.

Pictured: A Tu-95MS comes into land in footage released by Russia's Ministry of Defence

Pictured: Pilots are seen inside the cockpit of a Tu-95MS in footage released by Russia's Ministry of Defence

Norway warned today that Russia has deployed tactical nuclear weapon-armed vessels in the Baltic Sea for the first time in 30 years. Pictured: People attend the float out ceremony of the nuclear-powered ice-breaker Yakutia at the Baltic shipyard in Saint Petersburg in 2020 (file)

The same type of planes - which date from the Soviet era - were hit at a base in Engels, Saratov region by a Ukrainian drone strike hundreds of miles inside the Russian border on 5 December.

Two servicemen sustained wounds, according to reports, and in the wake of the strike, half a dozen aircraft were moved to more secure locations.

The Moscow Times reported: 'At least six strategic bombers were moved from the base in Engels to an unknown destination.'

The Soviet-era Tu-95s first flew some 70 years ago but remain a key part of Putin's strike threat.

The Russians say that their long-range aircraft regularly perform flights over the neutral waters of the Arctic, the North Atlantic, the Black and the Baltic Seas and the Pacific Ocean.

'All flights are performed by Russia's Aerospace Forces in strict compliance with the international rules of using the airspace,' stated state news agency TASS.

Ahead of the meeting of the Ukraine contact group at NATO headquarters, Ukraine made its requirements for fighter jets clear.

Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, when asked what military aid his country is seeking now, showed reporters an image of a fighter jet. Questioned about where he hoped they might come from, Reznikov said only: 'From the sky.'

What NATO allies have on their mind, though, is how to keep up a steady supply of ammunition to Ukraine without depleting their own stockpiles.

According to some estimates, Ukraine is firing up to 6,000-7,000 artillery shells each day, around a third of the daily amount that Russia is using.

Moscow's forces have been pressing in the east of Ukraine while bolstering their defensive lines in the south.

The war has been largely static during the winter months, though both sides are expected to launch offensives when the weather improves.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said that finding ammunition and air defenses is 'much more important at the moment' than discussing fighter jets.

Pistorius told reporters that getting pilots up to speed on new aircraft and 'training just to fly them takes several months, never mind teaching the abilities needed to deploy the weapons systems.'

He said Ukraine's partners 'should focus on what is now at center stage, particularly in view of a Russian offensive that is apparently taking place.'

Before the meeting, NATO alliance Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Western countries needed to increase ammunition supplies to Kyiv.

'We see no signs that President Putin is preparing for peace. What we see is the opposite, he is preparing for more war, for new offensives and new attacks,' he said.

Addressing the issue of Finland and Sweden joining NATO, Stoltenberg said Tuesday it was more important that their applications were ratified quickly than together.

The two countries applied to join NATO following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February last year and their membership bids have been ratified by all allies except Hungary and Turkey.

Turkey is widely seen as the main hold-up and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has indicated his country could ratify Finland's application while not going ahead with Sweden's on account of their poor diplomatic relations.

Western officials have said they would prefer both countries to join NATO together, partly because it would be easier to integrate them at the same time into NATO's military structures. But Stoltenberg suggested that was a secondary consideration.

'The main question is not whether Finland and Sweden are ratified together. The main question is that they are both ratified as full members as soon as possible,' he told reporters.

'I'm confident that both will be full members and I'm working hard to get both ratified as soon as possible.'

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told a news conference in Stockholm that there were 'obvious' reasons, such as the already close defence cooperation between Sweden and Finland, that made joining together clearly preferable.

'It is what both countries want,' he said.

'But none of this changes the fact that Turkey makes Turkish decisions. That has been the case all along, so the question doesn't rest with Finland, the question rests with Turkey.'

US Defence Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III (2nd R), NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (L) and Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov (R) attend the Ukraine defence contact group meeting at NATO headquarters during the first of two days of defence ministers' meetings on February 14, 2023 in Brussels

Stoltenberg stressed Sweden and Finland had already come much closer to NATO in recent months. He also noted that all NATO members had approved the two countries' invitations to join the alliance.

Erdogan, however, said earlier this month that Turkey looks positively on Finland's NATO bid but does not support Sweden's.

Ankara has demanded that both countries take a tougher line against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is considered a terrorist group by Turkey and the European Union, and another group it blames for a 2016 coup attempt.

Finnish parliamentary groups said on Friday they may ratify NATO's founding treaties in the coming weeks, a step that could lead to Helsinki proceeding with membership ahead of Sweden.
The father-of-three claims the pair were among a group who bullied his son

Kevin Connolly, 41, ran over the two teenagers in Dumbarton, Dunbartonshire

A father-of-three who ran over two teenage boys claims he did so because they were bullying his son.

Electrician Kevin Connolly, 41, ploughed his Ford Mondeo into the two 15-years-olds as they ran into a park in Dumbarton, Scotland, driving over one of the boy's legs.

Enraged Connolly hunted the pair down after his porch window was smashed by one of their group and they fled the scene.

Connolly's lawyer told the High Court in Glasgow that youths had bullied his son in the past.

After the group vandalised the family home that night, Connolly's son chased after them and Connolly got into his car to look for him.

Electrician Kevin Connolly, 41, ploughed his Ford Mondeo into two 15-years-olds as they ran into a park in Dumbarton, Scotland, on September 12, 2021

First-time offender Connolly initially faced a double attempted murder charge against the boys.

However, the Crown today accepted guilty pleas to assaulting the boys to the danger of their lives during the incident on September 12, 2021.

The court heard the boys were with others in the Brucehill area outside Connolly's home in Dumbarton at around 8.30pm.

Prosecutor Leanne McQuillan said: 'One of the group - not one of the victims - threw a large stone at Connolly's front door causing the porch window beside it to break.'

The youths fled the scene while Connolly got behind the wheel of his car. One of the boys entered a nearby car and was tailed by Connolly.

The boy got out of the car as it approached a park.

Miss McQuillan said: 'As he made his way to the entrance [of the park], Connolly's vehicle mounted the pavement and struck the boy from behind causing him to fall to the ground.'

The other boy then helped the victim to his feet and carried him into the park.

The prosecutor added: 'Connolly drove his vehicle on to the footpath in the park and then on to the grass where the boys were.

'He drove at speed towards the other boy and struck him to the right leg causing him to fall to the ground. He then drove over both of the other boy's legs.'

Both boys were taken to hospital while Connolly fled to his sister's house in a 'terrified' state.

Police noted that Connolly's car had signs of damage to it. Connolly notified police of his whereabouts and reported vandalisms to his property and car. He was arrested two days later.

One of the boys was treated for fractures to his foot with metal plates inserted and skin taken from his thigh.

Miss McQuillan added: 'There will be permanent scarring to the foot and the thigh as a result of the surgical procedure.

'He was not able to bear weight on his foot for six weeks and will have permanently reduced mobility.'

Connolly initially faced a double attempted murder charge, however the High Court of Glasgow (pictured) today heard the Crown accepted a plea of assaulting the boys to the danger of their lives

The other boy escaped with minor injuries and was discharged after observation.

Sean Templeton, defending, told the court: 'The middle son was subject to a campaign by youths who took to bullying and intimidating him.

'This escalated where the intimidation moved from himself to his home. The child ran out the house and pursued the youths.'

Mr Templeton added that Connolly initially went to look for his son, who he thought would be seriously assaulted by the youths.

He added: 'He did not see his son and came across the boys - he was in a panic as he thought his son was going to be set about and that's the reason the actions were inflicted the way did.'

Sentencing was deferred pending background reports until next month at the High Court in Edinburgh.
Among survivors of the MSU campus shooting are teenagers who escaped the Oxford High School massacre just 15 months ago and Sandy Hook ten years ago.

Last night's gunman is Anthony McRae, a 43-year-old religious fanatic who posted online about schizophrenia and Satan.

He killed himself before police could arrest him for shooting dead three students and injuring another five in a senseless attack on the school.

Among those who managed to escape him were children who are still traumatized from having to flee Ethan Crumbley, the Oxford High School gunman who killed four of his classmates in November 2021.

Jackie Matthews, 21, took to TikTok to describe surviving Sandy Hook as an 11-year-old.

Among survivors of the MSU campus shooting are teenagers who escaped the Oxford High School massacre just 15 months ago and Sandy Hook ten years ago including Jackie Matthews

@jmattttt Enough is Enough. #spartanstrong #sandyhookstrong I hope you stand with me in putting an end to this horrific epidemic of gun violence.  original sound - Jmattttt

'I am 21 years old and this is the second mass shooting I have now lived through 10 years and two months ago I survived the Sandy Hook shooting.

'I was hunched in the corner with my classmates for so long that I got a PTSD fracture in my back,' the student, who goes by Jmattttt on TikTok said.

'The fact this is now the second shooting I have lived through is incomprehensible.

'We can no longer just provide love and prayers.

'It needs to be legislation, it needs to be action. It's not OK,' she said.

Emma Riddle was a student at Oxford High School when Crumbley opened fire, killing four classmates.

She tweeted last night: '14 months ago I had to evacuate from Oxford High School when a fifteen year old opened fire and killed four of my classmates and injured seven more.

'Tonight, I am sitting under my desk at Michigan State University, once again texting everyone I love you

'When will this end?'

Her father Matt shared her words, and wrote himself: 'This is my daughter Emma.

'Her safety and sense of peace has been ripped away twice in 14 months because America continues to choose guns over kids. Last year in #Oxford and today at #MSU.'

He later told DailyMail.com he felt 'anger and frustration' at having to watch his daughter go through the trauma 'not once but twice.'

Emma Riddle and her father both tweeted about her having to evacuate Oxford and MSU

Other kids were spotted wearing Oxford Strong sweatshirts. This student did not attend Oxford High School but said he bought the shirt to support kids who did, who lived nearby

Survivors from the shooting at Oxford High School in November 2021. Some also survived the MSU shooting last night

Two of those kids' mothers also spoke out last night to tell of their sustained trauma.

'She said that she had PTSD. She said she cant believe this is happening again.

'Shes in the heart of it and cant get out.

Anthony McRae, 43, had a note in his pocket threatening schools in Ewing, New Jersey, where he previously lived

'She said, "Mom I just want to come home, I want to hold you,"' Jennifer Mancini, whose daughter did not want to be named, told The Detroit Free Press.

Andrea Ferguson's daughter was also on campus when McRae opened fire.

'I never expected in my lifetime to have to experience two school shootings.

'Theres several kids there that our daughters friends with that are going through the same thing,' she told Click2Detroit.

One student was seen standing in the street wearing an Oxford Strong sweatshirt last night.

He didn't attend Oxford, but said he bought it out of support for the kids, who were from the same area.

At a press conference this morning, Michigan officials raged over the fact that they were giving an update on the second mass shooting on a campus in less than two years.

Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin fumed at having to take the podium again so soon after the Oxford tragedy, where four students were killed.

'I cannot believe I am here again doing this 15 months later. I am filled with rage that we have to have another press conference about our children being killed in schools,' she fumed.

Earlier, Governor Gretchen Whitmer said: 'We cannot keep living like this.'

It remains unclear how McRae - who has a 2019 arrest for having a loaded gun in a car - obtained the weapon he used in last night's attack, or even what kind of weapon it was.

Crumbley, who is facing life in prison, obtained his gun through his father.
The California lake is the largest reservoir on the State Water Project, which

Lake Oroville, one of the main reservoirs that contributes to California's water supply, is fuller after trillions of gallons of rain saturated the state last month.

The lake was at 68 percent of its capacity on Friday  up from 28 percent just two months prior, according to state data.

Water levels had fallen to such perilous lows that in 2021 officials closed the reservoir's hydroelectric power plant for the first time since 1967.

But new images captured by Los Angeles Times photographers this month shows a drastic change from from the dry, cracked river beds that are now filled with water.

Lake Oroville is the largest reservoir on the State Water Project, which includes several reservoirs and canals that supplies water to about 27 million people.

 Slide me  Lake Oroville, one of the main reservoirs that contributes to California's water supply, is significantly fuller after heavy rains saturated the state last month, compared to the image on the right just last summer that shows low water levels

Water levels are rising at Lake Oroville in California after weeks of drenching rains

Lake Oroville reached its lowest point on 628.63 feet on September 30, 2021, and photos showed the worsening drought conditions.

But after atmospheric rivers dumped trillions of gallons on the state last month, the lake but since risen about 189 feet, for an elevation of 817.41 feet.

There was widespread flooding across the state of California but experts say the storms 'certainly helped reservoir storage in California following the driest three years in the state's recorded history.'

Jeanine Jones, Interstate Resources Manager for the Department of Water Resources, made the statement, but added that it's important to continue conserving supplies. A wet spell could be followed up by a dry one.

'Over the next two months, it is important that we still see periodic rain and snowstorms to keep an above-average pace for our precipitation totals,' Jones said.

'While this has been a strong start, the most important measurement will be April 1 when the snowpack is typically at its highest. Californians should continue to use water wisely so that we can have both a thriving economy, community and environment.'

A forecast shows that there are equal chances for California to be wet or dry through April - and Jones says this time will be critical for the state.

'For every day it doesn't rain or snow during our wettest months, we are drying out,' she said. 'A lot of uncertainty remains about the next two months and water managers are maintaining reservoirs to hold as much water supply as possible while also managing flood control requirements.'

In 2017, Lake Oroville has been became so full from heavy rainfall that it nearly ran over the Oroville Dam.

 Slide me  In February 2023, a boat dock floats at Spillway Launch Ramp at Lake Oroville. But last summer, the same boat dock was high and dry, which was only at 33 percent full at the time

Houseboats on the water at Bidwell Canyon Marina at Lake Oroville in February 2023

Less than a year ago, the water levels are down significantly in July 2022

Atmospheric rivers pounding California since late last year coated mountains with a full winter's worth of snow and began raising reservoir levels - but experts have said it will take much more precipitation to reverse the effects of years of drought.

The mountain snowpack that supplies a significant amount of California's water got an incredible boost from powerful storms in January and began to outpace the state's wettest season on record.

Sean de Guzman, manager of the department's snow surveys and water supply forecasting unit, said: 'Our snowpack is off to an incredible start, and its exactly what California needs to really help break from our ongoing drought.'

'However, for every day that it doesnt rain or snow, we gradually return to drier conditions,' he said.

De Guzman conducted a manual measurement high in the Sierra Nevada at Phillips Station, south of Lake Tahoe, a location that demonstrates California's varying snow fortunes - sometimes buried in white and sometimes bare ground.

A nearly empty Lake Oroville is seen from above in Oroville, California on September 5, 2021

The West Branch Feather River Bridge spans drought-stricken Lake Oroville on July 6, 2022 with scientists calling the megadrought the driest 22-year stretch in more than 1,200 years

In June 2021, a truck drives on a dirt path along the exposed lakebed, left exposed as water recedes on Lake Oroville, which was at 33 percent full and 40 percent of historical average

Dried mud and a stranded buoy on lakebed at Lake Oroville in June 2021 during the drought

His survey there found a snow depth of 85.5 inches and a water content that was 193 percent of the Feb. 1 average at the location.

The massive snowpack was largely left by nine atmospheric rivers that lasted from late December through mid-January.

The storms dumped 32 trillion gallons of rain and snow on the state, allowing state water managers to boost water supplies for farms and cities.

Most of California remains in moderate to severe drought, though that's better than several months ago when a huge swath of the state was in extreme or exceptional drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

The amount of water in the snowpack, technically described as snow water equivalent, currently outpaces California's record 1982-83 season, according to the department. But the weather has turned drier, with only modest systems passing through.

DWR Director Karla Nemeth pointed out that February 'is a traditional wet month that is actually starting off pretty dry' and the forecast is for dryness to continue.

Nemeth also suggested that the April 1 date is no longer reliable because climate change is changing the timing of the peak snowpack. She also cited recent years in which runoff has dropped off dramatically and storm conditions have shut down and been followed by excessive dry periods.

The storms also caused damaging flooding and landslides. There were at least 20 storm-related deaths, and a boy remains missing since being swept away by a swollen creek in San Luis Obispo County.

The storms dumped 32 trillion gallons of rain and snow on the state this winter, allowing state water managers to boost water supplies for farms and cities

The California Dept of Water Resources says the water content in the statewide snowpack on Feb. 1, 2023, is 205% of normal to date and 128% of the April 1 average, its historical peak

Downtown San Francisco, for example, received nearly 13.6 inches of rain from Dec. 26 to Jan. 10. Snowfall so far this season at the summit of the Mammoth Mountain resort in the Eastern Sierra hit 444 inches.

In the Sierra Nevada and other mountains, the water content of the snowpack is more than 200 percent of normal to date and more than 100 percent of the April 1 average, when it is historically at its peak, according to the state Department of Water Resources.

The snowpack supplies roughly a third of California's water when it melts and runs off into rivers and reservoirs.

Statewide, reservoir storage is only 82 percent of average for this time of year. The largest reservoir, Shasta, is at just 44 percent of capacity. That's only 70 percent of average to date. The huge Oroville reservoir is closer to its average but at just 49 percent of capacity.

And there's concern that the rains could abruptly stop. The end of 2021 was marked by significant storms, but the start of 2022 saw months of bone-dry weather.
Candle lit vigils will be held across Britain tonight in memory of trans murder victim Brianna Ghey, who was stabbed to death over the weekend.

Mourners and well wishers will pay tribute to the 16-year-old schoolgirl after she was killed in a 'targeted attack' in a Warrington Park on Saturday - a boy and a girl, both aged 15, have been arrested on suspicion of murder.

Brianna's death has sparked an outpouring of grief from family and friends, as well as trans rights activists who have suggested she was targeted over her gender identity.

It had earlier been revealed that the schoolgirl had allegedly been tormented by a gang of bullies at her school over being trans, and that her father had complained about it.

Cheshire Police has said there is no evidence at this time to suggest her death was a hate crime, although it added that all lines of inquiry were being explored.

Brianna Ghey, pictured, was found fatally injured on a path in Culceth Park near Warrington on Saturday

A boy leaves flowers close to where Brianna was found on Monday, February 13, after her tragic death

In the coming days, vigils organised by members of the transgender community are due to be held in cities such as London, Glasgow, Leeds and Belfast - with events in Liverpool and Bristol due to take place tonight.

Brianna was found by members of the public as she lay wounded on a path in Linear Park, Culcheth, at around 3.13pm, and tragically died a short time later.

READ MORE HERE: Friends of murder victim Brianna Ghey reveal she was 'bullied and attacked for years for the simple reason of being trans' Advertisement

Today police said they have been given a 30-hour extension to continue questioning the two teenagers arrested on suspicion of her murder.

In recent days devastated classmates and fellow pupils from Birchwood Community High School have been seen laying flowers and tributes to her close to where she was found.

Friends of the schoolgirl have claimed she was bullied by some of her classmates for being trans, with the abuse leaving her 'devastated'.

It is thought in the past she had been attacked by a gang of schoolchildren, pulled downstairs by her backpack in a move called 'seat belting' and had bottles thrown at her.

Damian Harry, whose 15-year-old daughter was in Brianna's class and was friends with her, told MailOnline the teenager had been bullied in the past.

'She said she was devastated by the constant abuse and even talked of ending it all,' the father-of-two said.

'It was down to her being trans. It is disgusting what happened.

'Her dad has apparently said he raised safeguarding at the school a thousand times. But little was done. The abuse was constant all because she was different.

'Let's be frank, she was bullied because of her sexuality. Of course this is a hate crime.'

The 50-year-old added that although there are a 'few transgender pupils at the school', the teenager was still targeted.

'There are a few transgender pupils at the school  maybe a handful,' he said.

'They bullied Brianna because she was trans. All sorts of things were done to her.'

'My daughter is distraught at Brianna's death. She is so upset and has been throwing up with the trauma of it.'

MailOnline has contacted the school and police for comment.

Family, friends and well wishers have left tributes to the 16-year-old after her killing on Saturday

The 16-year-old, who had a large presence on social media, is thought to have been tormented by a gang of bullies at school

A group of girls leave bouquets of flowers at the entrance to the park where Brianna was found

Candle lit vigils will take place to commemorate Brianna in cities across the UK in the coming days

Brianna (pictured) is thought to have been left devastated by the abuse she received at the hands of bullies before she died

In a video on her now-deleted TikTok account, Brianna, wearing her school uniform, announced her exclusion. The video  reviewed by The Sun  was posted five days before her murder.

Emma Mills, headteacher of the school, told the newspaper the Birchwood community is 'shocked and truly devastated' by Brianna's death.

'This is understandably a very difficult and distressing time for many and we will do our utmost to support our pupils and wider school community,' Ms Mills said.

Two teenagers, a 15-year-old boy and girl, both from the area, have since been arrested on suspicion of murder. They are in custody assisting police with their investigation.

Officers have alleged there is no evidence that Brianna was the victim of a hate crime.

However, the teenager's friends have taken to social media alleging she had been 'bullied and gang beaten' at school for several years over the 'simple reason of being trans'.

'She had been bullied in school for years,' an alleged friend of Brianna has claimed.

More than 52,000 has been donated to a fundraising page established in memory of Brianna, who is described as someone who 'brought a lot of laughter' and was looking forward to progressing with school.

The funds will be used to cover funeral expenses and support her family, who say the death of 'strong, fearless and kind' Brianna has 'left a massive hole' in their hearts.

On Monday, Brianna's family released a moving tribute, describing her as 'beautiful, witty and hilarious'.

They said: 'Brianna was a much loved daughter, granddaughter, and baby sister.

'She was a larger than life character who would leave a lasting impression on all that met her. Brianna was beautiful, witty and hilarious. Brianna was strong, fearless and one of a kind.

'The loss of her young life has left a massive hole in our family, and we know that the teachers and her friends who were involved in her life will feel the same.

'We would like to thank everyone for their kind words and support during this extremely difficult time.

'We would like to thank the police for their support, and witnesses for helping with the investigation. The continuation of respect for privacy is greatly appreciated.'
The German ballet director who smeared his dog's faeces over a critic's face after she branded one of his productions 'boring' has refused to apologise, defiantly claiming: 'She threw s**t at me for years.'

Marco Goecke, director of Hanover State Opera's ballet company, approached journalist Wiebke Huster during the interval of his show on Saturday and demanded to know why she had written a bad review about a previous production.

Goecke accused Ms Huster, a dance critic for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), of being 'aggressive, arrogant and condescending' during the exchange.

The furious ballet director then produced a bag of dog faeces, which had been freshly produced by his dachshund Gustav just minutes before, from his pocket and rubbed the excrement over Ms Huster's face in front of shocked onlookers.

Goecke today refused to apologise and sought to justify the assault by saying he was reacting to years of Huster critiquing his work, which is part of her role as a journalist.

Goecke today refused to apologise for the assault and sought to justify it by saying he was reacting to years of Huster critiquing his work - despite that being her job as a journalist

Wiebke Huster (pictured) was approached by him during the interval of his show on Saturday

The furious ballet director then produced a bag of dog faeces, which had been freshly produced by his dachshund Gustav (pictured with Goecke) just minutes before, from his pocket and rubbed the excrement over Ms Huster's face

'She also threw s**t at me for years,' Goecke told German broadcaster NDR from a dog park. 'How would other people who work hard deal with being pelted with dirt like that?

'No hard-working person would put up with that in the long run.'

The ballet director acknowledged that his 'choice of means wasn't super, absolutely'.

'Of course socially that is also certainly not recognised or respected, if one resorts to such means,' he said, adding that he had never done anything like that before and was 'a bit shocked at myself'.

Goecke said that while having his work 'soiled for years' was a price he had been told he had to pay for being in the public eye, there was a limit to how much he could handle. 'Once a certain point has been reached, I disagree,' he said.

Goecke is now being investigated by police and has been suspended from his post as chief choreographer and director and barred from the Hanover State Opera House.

Samples of the 'dog faeces' had not been secured by authorities, who will have to rely on eyewitness testimony as they investigate the assault, a spokesman said.

Earlier today, Ms Huster told how she was left in utter shock after Goecke smeared his dog's faeces on her in the busy foyer of the Hanover Opera House during the interval of his production 'Glaube - Liebe - Hoffnung' (Faith - Love - Hope)'.

She said he had approached her and 'blocked her way' before threatening to ban her from the house and accusing her of being responsible for cancelling subscriptions in Hanover.

'It was bodily harm and an insult. Marco Goecke came to me in the first interval and he blocked my way,' Ms Huster told BBC Radio 4. 'He said I should get a house ban instead of being allowed to report on this evening.

'I said I was just doing my job and was there to review his performance,' she said, adding that Goecke had accused her of 'always writing so badly'.

'And then, all of a sudden, without any warning, it was so quick, he just took out this doggy poo bag and smeared it into my face.'

She told The Daily Beast: 'He didn't just throw it at me. He pulled out the bag with the open side of the bag and rubbed it in my face brutally, so the dog poop would stick in my face.

'One moment we were still talking and the next moment his fist was in my face.'

Marco Goecke (pictured with dachshund Gustav) smeared faeces over critic Huster's face

Goecke was said to be furious over Huster's scathing review, published in the FAZ just before his new show premiered on Saturday, of his production 'In the Dutch Mountain' (pictured)

Ms Huster said: 'I was surrounded in this foyer by lots of people and they were watching this scene, and as he turned around and walked away, and as I realised what had happened I screamed.

'I was in panic, I was completely shocked, as were the people around me. They didn't know what to do.

'And then the next thing, somebody from the theatre came up to me and led me to a ladies room so that I could clean my face.'

Ms Huster said she left the theatre to file a police report against Goecke, who is said to have taken a bow on stage following the ballet performance 'like nothing had happened'.

Goecke was said to be furious over Huster's scathing review, published in the FAZ just before his new show premiered on Saturday, of his production 'In the Dutch Mountain'.

The journalist had compared the production, which recently opened at Nederlands Dans Theatre in The Hague, to being 'alternately driven mad and killed by boredom'.

Ms Huster said that a woman who witnessed the incident told her in an email that she had tried to stop Goecke and get hold of him. 'But somebody from the theatre actually came and led Marco Goecke to a separate room,' she said.

And showing no remorse, Goecke is said to have bowed at the end of the performance 'as if nothing had happened'.

'As colleagues have reported to me, he bowed at the end of the performance. He went on to the stage, he waved to the audience, he acted as if nothing had happened,' Huster said.

Ms Huster said she has received an outpouring of support since the assault.

She said: 'There is a wide response in the cultural arts world. People saying this is an act against freedom of the Press. This should not have happened.

'And in my 25-year-long career as a dance critic, nothing similar has ever happened to me nor to anyone else. So I like to consider this a singular act.'

The German journalists' association DJV denounced the attack.

'An artist must tolerate criticism, even if it seems exaggerated,' the union's regional head in Lower Saxony state, Frank Rieger, said. 'Whoever reacts violently to criticism is unacceptable. The attack on the... journalist is also an attack on Press freedom.'

The opera house apologised for the episode in a statement, adding that it was checking which steps to take against the director in accordance with labour law. It did not give details of what happened.

'We contacted the journalist immediately after the incident and apologised to her personally and also publicly,' Laura Berman, the opera house's artistic director, said in a statement.

'We very much regret that our audience has been disturbed by this incident.'

In a statement the opera house said that Goecke's 'impulsive behaviour' was going against their code of conduct and left the audience, staff members and the general public 'extremely unsettled'.

They added that his behaviour has harmed the ballet house's reputation.

The opera house has since suspended ballet director Goecke effective immediately and banned him from the opera house until further notice

In a statement the opera house said that Goecke's 'impulsive behaviour' was going against their code of conduct and left the audience, staff members and the general public 'extremely unsettled'

The opera house demanded an apology from Goecke and an explanation before it will give information about further steps regarding the choreographer and ballet director.

FAZ suggested that Ms Huster's public shaming was worrying news for the arts world.

'This humiliating incident is not only an act of bodily harm but also an attempt to intimidate our free, critical view of art,' the newspaper said.

The next performance of 'Belief - Love - Hope' in Hanover is scheduled for February 24, according to the opera house's website.
More than 100 people have already died in mass shootings in the US less than seven weeks into 2023, terrifying new statistics have revealed.

The National Gun Violence Archive (GVA), a database which is updated every day to track the number of gun-related deaths in injuries across America, has determined that 68 mass shootings have already taken place this year alone.

The GVA defines a Mass Shooting as a gun-related incident in which four or more people are shot or killed, not including the shooter - though if the shooter dies, this is added to the death toll.

According to their statistics, an eye-watering 104 people have been killed and 269 injured in mass shootings in the US. Only 45 days of 2023 have passed.

In comparison, the GVA recorded 647 mass shootings in 2022 in which 762 people died - including the shootings.

On current trend, the US is set to have its deadliest year for mass shootings ever.

The latest toll comes after a shooter killed three people and left five in critical condition yesterday evening on Michigan State University campus.

Police later revealed the shooter had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Here DailyMail.com breaks down the deadliest mass shootings of 2023 so far.

The Michigan State University gunman was named by police as 43-year-old Anthony McRae. Records show a man with the same name who lives in Lansing who has a 2019 arrest for keeping a loaded gun in his car

Monterey Park, California, Jan 21.

72-year-old gunman opened fire after storming his old dance hall amid Lunar New Year celebrations.

Hu Can Tran shot indiscriminately at the Star Dance Studio in Monterey Park at 10.22pm with his illegal semi-automatic pistol, ultimately killing 11 people.

He later tried to launch a second attack a few miles away but was disarmed by a brave bystander.

Police later found Tran dead, having shot himself before he was apprehended.

The motive for the shooting remains unclear, but Tran's ex-wife confirmed he used to teach lessons at the studio and was quick to anger.

Authorities are investigating whether Tran was looking for his ex-wife when he committed the massacre.

Hu Can Tran, 72, shot and killed eleven people at a dance hall in California  before driving less than three miles to launch another attack

After an hours-long standoff, Tran died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the van he used to flee

A crime scene clean up crew enters the scene of a shooting that took place at Star Dance Studio during a Chinese Lunar New Year celebration, in Monterey Park, California, U.S. January 22, 2023

Enoch, Cedar City, Utah, Jan. 4

A church-going family of eight  including five children  were found dead at their Utah home after police were called in for a welfare check.

Michael Haight, 42, gunned down his wife Tausha, 40, their five kids and Tausha's mother Gail, 78, before turning the gun on himself.

Michael and Tausha had three daughters, aged 17, 12, and 7, and two sons, aged 7 and 4 years old.

It was later revealed that the massacre occurred shortly after Tausha filed for divorce from her husband.

Online records show that Michael Haight worked as an insurance agent for Allstate and that he ran a financial services business out of the family's home along North Albert Drive in Enoch.

James Park, who represented Tausha Haight in the divorce case, said she had not expressed any fear that her husband would physically hurt her prior to the killings.

The Haight family pictured together in June 2022 at the Kolob Canyons in Zion National Park in Utah

Tausha Haight's mother, Gail Earl, 78, was also killed in the massacre

A law enforcement official stands at the front door of the Enoch, Utah, home where eight family members were found dead from gunshot wounds, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023

Half Moon Bay, California, Jan. 23

A 67-year-old veteran farm worker killed seven fellow Chinese agricultural laborers in a dispute over a $100 piece of farming equipment.

Chunli Zhao, who lived in Half Moon Bay, was arrested and is 'fully cooperating' with law enforcement, officials said.

The shootings took place at two separate locations in Half Moon Bay, with four murders at a facility run by Concord Farms, and three at Mountain Mushroom Farms two miles away.

An eighth person was shot and injured, and airlifted to Stanford Medical Center.

It came less than 24 hours after the mass shooting in Monterey Park.

The shooter, who lived in Pescadero, had worked for decades at one of the mushroom farms where the shooting took place, and all victims were co-workers.

Chunli Zhao, the man who is accused of shooting dead seven people in Half Moon Bay, California, appears for his arraignment at the San Mateo Criminal Court in Redwood City, California on January 23

Four of the victims were shot at the farm where Zhao had worked for six years, and three others at Mountain Mushroom Farms two miles away

Goshen, California, Jan 16.

A 17-year-old mother, her six-month-old baby and an elderly woman shot dead in her sleep are among six people who were callously murdered in a gang-related attack.

Two gunmen targeted a house in Goshen, in central California, at 3.30am on Monday January 16. They fired so many rounds that police received a torrent of 911 calls.

The two gunmen then fled, leaving their victims in the street and inside the home.

They were later arrested in connection with the brutal massacre which was revealed to be a cartel shooting. The suspects were named as Noah David Beard, 25, and Angel 'Nanu' Uriarte, 35.

Uriarte was reportedly in a gun battle with ATF agents prior to his arrest.

Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux has said both men arrested are members of the Nortenos gang, with some of their victims being among the rival Surenos gang.

Heartbreaking CCTV footage shows the moment the gang members begin to walk back towards the home with the mom and her baby inside
The White House again on Tuesday said officials had been unable to identify three objects shot from the sky in recent days, and they could actually have had no hostile intent.

They were spotted in the days after a fighter jet shot down a giant balloon suspected of spying for China.

But John Kirby, the White House national security spokesman, told reporters that the United States still had no firm grasp on the origin of the other three objects.

'We know of no entity or individual coming forward to claim that they are responsible or that they own any of these objects,' he said.

'But as I said, one thing we have to consider, and we believe the intelligence community is considering as an explanation, is that these could be tied to, as they say, commercial or research entities and therefore totally benign.'

John Kirby, the White House national security spokesperson, told reporters that the United States still had no firm grasp on the origin of three objects shot down in recent days

Since February 4, four objects have been shot down including the Chinese spy balloon, and then three 'UFOs' as the U.S. went into panic mode

Analysis has been hampered, he said, by the difficulty in recovering debris from hard-to-reach areas  two in the frozen north and one in Lake Huron.

And he said there was no indication that the trio of objects were tied to China's spy balloon program.

A U.S. fighter jet on February 4 shot down a high-altitude Chinese balloon off the coast of South Carolina.

It had spent a week traversing the United States and Canada. China insists it is not a spy vessel.

Since then, jets have been scrambled three more times to intercept unidentified intruders.

The result is a deepening diplomatic crisis, as Beijing and Washington trade barbs.

The U.S. has imposed sanctions on six Chinese entities it says are tied to the balloon, an action which drew criticism from Beijing on Tuesday.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled a trip to China amid the furor, although reports suggest he could now meet Beijing's top diplomat during the Munich Security Conference.

The Chinese spy balloon drifts to the ocean after being shot down off the coast in Surfside Beach, South Carolina

U.S. Navy sailors search for debris from the high-altitude Chinese balloon shot down off the coast of South Carolina

A U.S. Navy sailor conducts a search for debris with an underwater vehicle

Timeline of recent UFO sightings over US airspace Wednesday, February 1: Chinese balloon is spotted above Montana (not a UFO as air force identified it as a balloon) Saturday, February 4: Chinese balloon is shot down off the coast of South Carolina after having drifted across the country Thursday, February 9: First UFO is detected off coast of northern Alaska Friday, February 10: UFO is shot down over Deadhorse, Alaska Saturday, February 11: Second UFO is shot down over Mayo, Yukon, Canada. FAA shuts down airspace over Montana citing another possible UFO, but NORAD claims it was a 'radar anomaly' Sunday, February 12: Third UFO is detected over the Great Lakes and shot down Advertisement

Earlier the White House announced it was putting together a UFO task force to study the security risks posed by airborne objects detected in US airspace.

The new group, created on orders from national security adviser Jake Sullivan, will see experts from the Pentagon, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of Homeland Security and other government agencies come together to analyze unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) and determine whether they are a threat.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Monday said: 'Every element of the government will redouble their efforts to understand and mitigate these events,' adding the task force would examine the 'broader policy implications' related to the detection and analysis of UFOs over mainland US.

In the meantime, Republicans and some Democrats have accused President Joe Biden of keeping them in the dark.

'People are scared, upset, & are believing crazy things being said on the internet about the 3 objects shot down by our military. There are not aliens & no evidence of them. But there is a lack of transparency from the Biden admin and simple explanations are owed to the people,' tweeted Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Monday.

Sen. Rand Paul tweeted: 'As Ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, I demand that POTUS and the Department of Defense tell us what they know - and what they don't - immediately.'
Police investigating the murder of transgender girl Brianna Ghey today confirmed they are examining whether her death was a hate crime.

Brianna, 16, was found stabbed to death in Linear Park, in Culcheth, Warrington, on Saturday. A boy and a girl, both aged 15, have since been arrested on suspicion of murder.

Cheshire Police previously suggested there was no evidence her gender identity was a factor in her killing, which they nevertheless described as 'targeted'.

Today police said they have been given a 30-hour extension to continue questioning the two teenagers arrested on suspicion of her murder.

In a new statement today, the force said: 'Police investigating the murder of Brianna Ghey have been granted an extension of 30 hours to further question two suspects  a boy and a girl, both aged 15. All lines of enquiry are being explored, including whether this was a hate crime.

Brianna Ghey, pictured, was found fatally injured on a path in Culceth Park near Warrington on Saturday

'Please continue to avoid speculation online and be wary of sharing misinformation relating to this case.'

The development comes as candle lit vigils will be held across Britain tonight in memory of Miss Ghey. Mourners and well wishers will pay tribute to the 16-year-old schoolgirl.

Brianna's death has sparked an outpouring of grief from family and friends, as well as trans rights activists who have suggested she was targeted over her gender identity.

It had earlier been revealed that the schoolgirl had allegedly been tormented by a gang of bullies at her school over being trans, and that her father had complained about it.

Cheshire Police had originally said there is no evidence to suggest her death was a hate crime, although it added that all lines of inquiry were being explored.

A boy leaves flowers close to where Brianna was found on Monday, February 13, after her tragic death

In the coming days, vigils organised by members of the transgender community are due to be held in cities such as London, Glasgow, Leeds and Belfast - with events in Liverpool and Bristol due to take place tonight.

Brianna was found by members of the public as she lay wounded on a path in Linear Park, Culcheth, at around 3.13pm, and tragically died a short time later.

READ MORE HERE: Friends of murder victim Brianna Ghey reveal she was 'bullied and attacked for years for the simple reason of being trans' Advertisement

In recent days devastated classmates and fellow pupils from Birchwood Community High School have been seen laying flowers and tributes to her close to where she was found.

Friends of the schoolgirl have claimed she was bullied by some of her classmates for being trans, with the abuse leaving her 'devastated'.

It is thought in the past she had been attacked by a gang of schoolchildren, pulled downstairs by her backpack in a move called 'seat belting' and had bottles thrown at her.

Damian Harry, whose 15-year-old daughter was in Brianna's class and was friends with her, told MailOnline the teenager had been bullied in the past.

'She said she was devastated by the constant abuse and even talked of ending it all,' the father-of-two said.

'It was down to her being trans. It is disgusting what happened.

'Her dad has apparently said he raised safeguarding at the school a thousand times. But little was done. The abuse was constant all because she was different.

'Let's be frank, she was bullied because of her sexuality. Of course this is a hate crime.'

The 50-year-old added that although there are a 'few transgender pupils at the school', the teenager was still targeted.

'There are a few transgender pupils at the school  maybe a handful,' he said.

'They bullied Brianna because she was trans. All sorts of things were done to her.'

'My daughter is distraught at Brianna's death. She is so upset and has been throwing up with the trauma of it.'

MailOnline has contacted the school and police for comment.

Family, friends and well wishers have left tributes to the 16-year-old after her killing on Saturday

The 16-year-old, who had a large presence on social media, is thought to have been tormented by a gang of bullies at school

A group of girls leave bouquets of flowers at the entrance to the park where Brianna was found

Candle lit vigils will take place to commemorate Brianna in cities across the UK in the coming days

Brianna (pictured) is thought to have been left devastated by the abuse she received at the hands of bullies before she died

In a video on her now-deleted TikTok account, Brianna, wearing her school uniform, announced her exclusion. The video  reviewed by The Sun  was posted five days before her murder.

Emma Mills, headteacher of the school, told the newspaper the Birchwood community is 'shocked and truly devastated' by Brianna's death.

'This is understandably a very difficult and distressing time for many and we will do our utmost to support our pupils and wider school community,' Ms Mills said.

Two teenagers, a 15-year-old boy and girl, both from the area, have since been arrested on suspicion of murder. They are in custody assisting police with their investigation.

The teenager's friends have taken to social media alleging she had been 'bullied and gang beaten' at school for several years over the 'simple reason of being trans'.

'She had been bullied in school for years,' an alleged friend of Brianna has claimed.

More than 52,000 has been donated to a fundraising page established in memory of Brianna, who is described as someone who 'brought a lot of laughter' and was looking forward to progressing with school.

The funds will be used to cover funeral expenses and support her family, who say the death of 'strong, fearless and kind' Brianna has 'left a massive hole' in their hearts.

On Monday, Brianna's family released a moving tribute, describing her as 'beautiful, witty and hilarious'.

They said: 'Brianna was a much loved daughter, granddaughter, and baby sister.

'She was a larger than life character who would leave a lasting impression on all that met her. Brianna was beautiful, witty and hilarious. Brianna was strong, fearless and one of a kind.

'The loss of her young life has left a massive hole in our family, and we know that the teachers and her friends who were involved in her life will feel the same.

'We would like to thank everyone for their kind words and support during this extremely difficult time.

'We would like to thank the police for their support, and witnesses for helping with the investigation. The continuation of respect for privacy is greatly appreciated.'
Primary and middle school students in Beijing return to school for spring semester

Xinhua) 08:36, February 14, 2023

A firefighter (1st L) introduces firefighting equipment to students at a primary school on the first day of the new semester in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 13, 2023. Primary and middle school students in Beijing returned to school for the spring semester on Monday. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong)

Students have class on their first day of the new semester at a primary school in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 13, 2023. Primary and middle school students in Beijing returned to school for the spring semester on Monday. (Xinhua/Peng Ziyang)

Students deliver teaching materials on their first day of the new semester at a senior high school in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 13, 2023. Primary and middle school students in Beijing returned to school for the spring semester on Monday. (Xinhua/Ren Chao)

Pupil Guo Yizhi (R) displays her homework at a primary school in Chaoyang District in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 13, 2023. Primary and middle school students in Beijing returned to school for the spring semester on Monday. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong)

Students walk into a primary school in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 13, 2023. Primary and middle school students in Beijing returned to school for the spring semester on Monday. (Xinhua/Peng Ziyang)

Students have class on their first day of the new semester at a junior high school in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 13, 2023. Primary and middle school students in Beijing returned to school for the spring semester on Monday. (Xinhua/Ren Chao)

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
A Chinese man who kept his multi-million lottery winnings a secret from his wife has been ordered by a court to compensate his ex-partner.

The man, whose surname was given as Zhou, won a staggering 10 million yuan (1.2 million) in 2021.

But instead of sharing his newfound wealth with his wife, Zhou continued life as though nothing had happened and concealed the winnings from her.

This meant that when the lottery winnings were paid out into his bank account, he didn't celebrate with a dream holiday for the pair, nor even a bottle of wine to toast the win.

Rather, Zhou transferred two million yuan to his sister, and a further 700,000 yuan to his ex-wife so that she could buy an apartment for herself.

A Chinese man who hid his multi-million lottery winnings a secret from his then-wife has been ordered by a court to compensate his ex-partner (file image: Chinese lottery ticket)

Eventually, Zhou's wife discovered the hidden fortune. It is not known how she discovered that he had hidden the money, but as soon as she did, she reportedly filed for divorce and sued him for her stake of the cash.

Zhou's wife, whose name is unknown, asked the court to grant her two-thirds of the money remaining after tax.

The woman should have been entitled to half of the money on account of being married to Zhou, and asked the court for more due to him going to great lengths to conceal the jackpot from her.

A court in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, agreed with her and told Zhou he had to reimburse his now ex-wife for 2.7 million yuan.

The Chinese government holds national lotteries to raise money for welfare and cultural programmes across the country. Winners are taxed on their payout.

Rather unusually, it seems this isn't an uncommon story in China.

Just last year, another man concealed his winnings from his wife and child, even going to the extent of collecting his winnings in a giant yellow cartoon character costume.

The man, who was only identified as 'Mr Li', said he wanted to hide the winnings from his family so the jackpot wouldn't make them lazy.

Just last year, another man concealed his winnings from his wife and child , even going to the extent of collecting his winnings in a giant yellow cartoon character costume. The man, who was only identified as 'Mr Li', said he wanted to hide the winnings from his family so the jackpot wouldn't make them lazy

'Mr Li' cashed in a whopping 219 million yuan (26 million) in lottery winnings which he collected in disguise from the lottery office in Nanning, in the southern region of Guangxi.

'I did not tell my wife and child for fear that they would be too complacent and would not work or work hard in the future,' he told Nanning Evening News in November.

It's not known if 'Mr Li's' wife or child have found out about the winnings yet.
An ex-RAF security guard has apologised for spying at the British Embassy in Berlin and told a court 'I am disgusted with myself' after taking a video of CCTV at a security kiosk.

David Ballantyne Smith admitted taking photographs of classified documents at the embassy some four years before he was caught in a sting by fake Russian agents working for the MI5 in 2021.

In November last year, the 58-year-old pleaded guilty to eight charges under the Official Secrets Act by committing an act prejudicial to the safety or interests of the state.

The prosecution allege that Smith holds strong anti-UK views, is in favour of Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, and had handed documents over to the hostile state with intent to harm Britain.

Giving evidence at the Old Bailey today, Smith apologised for his behaviour - after being led to the witness box in handcuffs, wearing a blue sweater and jeans

Ex-RAF security guard Duncan Smith (pictured), 58, has apologised for spying at the British Embassy in Berlin and told a court 'I am disgusted with myself'.

Still issued by the Met Police of David Ballantyne Smith taking a video of the CCTV monitors in the British Embassy security kiosk

He said: 'I am disgusted with myself. At the time I did not think what I was doing. Now I have had a year-and-a-half to look back on it, I am disgusted with myself and ashamed at what I have done.'

Defence barrister Matthew Ryder KC asked Smith: 'Did you intend to cause serious harm to anybody?'

Smith replied: 'At no time. I just wanted to give the embassy a bit of a slap because I did not think that they were treating me very well.'

Smith told the court that he was born in Paisley and counts himself as a patriotic Scot who had been proud to serve in the RAF for 12 years.

After leaving the armed forces, Smith moved to Crawley in West Sussex and worked at Gatwick Airport as a flight auditor and cabin crew member before moving to Germany and getting a job at the embassy.

He had a daughter by his first wife and married his Ukrainian wife Svetlana in 2002.

Smith, who while in Belmarsh Prison was sent merchandise relating to the Azov Battalion in Ukraine, denied having far-right sympathies.

But he expressed an interest in online conspiracy theories, saying: 'Yeah, I look at David Icke and Alex Jones InfoWars to get an alternative view. I just like both sides of the story.'

Smith said he changed his views on the conflict in the Ukrainian Donbas region and became 'more neutral' after visiting war cemeteries and seeing lines of freshly dug graves.

He said he began collecting classified documents around the time his wife went back to Ukraine in 2018, leaving him 'depressed' and lonely.

The prosecution allege that Smith (pictured) holds strong anti-UK views, is in favour of Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, and had handed documents over to the hostile state with intent to harm Britain

'I just wanted to give the embassy a bit of a slap because I did not think that they were treating me very well,' Smith told the Old Bailey

'The more I was on my own, the more depressed I became, and the longer it went on, the worse it got, the more I started to drink,' he said.

During the Covid-19 lockdown in Germany, Smith had been unable to visit his wife and would drink seven pints a day, he said.

'I was angry that everyone was sitting at home with full pay when we were having to go to work every day.

'I was getting more and more depressed. I was drinking more. Nothing changed as far as the attitude of people at work.

'I just went downhill after that. I would fly off the handle at the slightest thing. I was getting angry really easily.'

He sought help for his mental health but was only offered unpaid leave and referred to a hotline, he said.

Explaining how that connected with his offending, he said: 'Living on my own, the sense of what I felt at the time, just being ignored. Drinking all the time, the depression, the fact I had been to my employer, asked for help, and they did not really do anything for me. I was angry.

'Call that spoiled child, obstinate prat maybe - I was full of my own self-importance.

'I wanted to teach the embassy a lesson.

'The attitude from the embassy - the them and us attitude. The bullying. The sense you are there for their convenience.'

Smith was said to be motivated by 'an extreme hatred of where he works and the United Kingdom in general', the court heard

He said he enjoyed the 'self-satisfaction' of what he had done and wanted to highlight security at the embassy which was 'not exactly great'.

But he expressed remorse for his actions, saying: 'I can only apologise for any distress I have caused to anybody. I did not set out to harm anyone. I just had a bit of a grievance.'

Mr Ryder said: 'What made you do it?'

Smith replied: 'It was anger with everything that was going on at the embassy.

'It was showing the lack of security, there are things lying all over the place. The security at the embassy wasn't exactly great and at the time taking the pictures was one way of showing the lack of security. It was a push-back against all the agendas you were shown at the embassy.'

Mr Ryder asked: 'What did you think you would be doing with that material?'

Smith replied: 'Nothing, nothing at all. I had no idea. I had no plan nothing.

'Because I knew I wasn't allowed, I had done it my way of pushing back. It was my way of saying; "look what I've got".'

Asked who he was demonstrating this to, Smith said: 'Myself'.

Photographs taken of his flat included a large Russian Federation flag, various Russian books, a Soviet military hat, a Communist toy Lada car and a life-size cuddly Russian toy Rottweiler dog sporting a military hat

He denied contacting Russian authorities beyond the two letters that had been uncovered during the investigation or that he accepted money.

Following his arrest by German police, a search of his flat in Potsdam uncovered a large Russian Federation flag, various Russian books, a Soviet military hat, a Communist toy Lada car and a life-size cuddly Russian toy Rottweiler dog sporting a military hat.

Smith's work locker was also searched and items seized including a cartoon of Russian President Vladimir Putin in military garb holding the head of former German chancellor Angela Merkel.

The caption in German stated: 'Russia, please free us once again.'

Smith was extradited on April 6 last year and arrested on arrival at Heathrow Airport for offences under the Official Secrets Act.

He faces up to 14 years in prison when he is sentenced at the Old Bailey on Friday.
Environmental groups are demanding answers from President Joe Biden after more than 10 whales have washed up on the East Coast in the last two months.

More than 10 whales have died off the coasts of New Jersey and New York since December 1, while a ninth whale having washed up in Manasquan, New Jersey, this week. Some are tying the uptick in deaths to offshore wind turbines.

A third washed up in Virginia Beach, Virginia, as well - to the concern of activist groups and local lawmakers who claim the construction and vibrations from the increasing number of offshore wind farms dotting the coastline are to blame.

A 35-foot long humpback whale also died in Long Island a few weeks ago, but was found alive with no signs of trauma. It would later perish after crews moved the animal from the water. A total of 183 whales have breached on the East Coast in the last seven years.

Clean Ocean Action (COA), an environmental conservation group, has said that number of whale carcasses that have washed up on shore in the last two months in Jersey is the highest it's been in 50 years.

More than 10 whales have died off the coasts of New Jersey and New York since December 1, while a ninth whale has washed up in Manasquan, New Jersey, this week (pictured)

A third washed up in Virginia Beach, Virginia, as well - quite to the concern of activist groups and local lawmakers who are worried the uptick in whale deaths along the East Coast is due to the increasing number of offshore wind farms dotting the coastline

'This alarming number of deaths is unprecedented in the last half century, the only unique factor from previous years, is the excessive scope, scale, and magnitude of offshore wind powerplant activity in the region,' COA said in a statement.

New Jersey Representatives Chris Smith and Jeff Van Drew, 12 state mayors, and COA are now calling for a stall on offshore farm development, attributing the construction and seismic testing as reasons whales have been dying.

'Over the course of the past several months, there have been repeated instances of dead whales washing up on New Jerseys shoreline,' Smith wrote to federal officials last month. 'The proximity of nearby offshore wind development has raised concerns that ongoing activity on these projects may be contributing to whale fatalities.

'The federal government has a responsibility to ensure the Jersey Shores environmental viability, and any projects that may affect not only whales, but the broader marine ecosystem and the economy it sustains, must be comprehensively reviewed before allowed to proceed.'

Lawmakers and conservationists are blaming offshore wind farms (pictured), attributing the construction and seismic testing as reasons whales have been dying

There has been nine whales that have died in New Jersey, one in New York and Maryland, and three in Virginia

New Jersey has several wind farm plans that are located just miles off the coast.

Meanwhile, the Virginia wind farm is 27 miles away from Virginia Beach and currently consists of two turbines, which were installed in federal waters in 2020. The farm, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, will have more than 175 wind turbines by 2026, according to Fox News.

The Virginia Beach farm - which costs nearly $10billion to complete - had no opposition when it was approved in August 2022.

However, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), whose fisheries department tracks unusual whale mortality, said there isn't a connection between the rapid development of offshore wind farms and whale deaths.

A 35-foot long humpback whale also died in Long Island a few weeks ago, but was found alive

'At this point, there is no evidence that noise resulting from wind development-related site characterization surveys could potentially cause mortality of whales,' NOAA said.

In addition, the scientific agency has mainly credited human interaction - which includes vessel strikes - and infectious diseases as the leading causes for the uptick in whale deaths. No deaths have been attributed to offshore wind farms thus far.

However, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Massachusetts, and North Carolina do have some of the highest mortality rates along the East Coast.

Unusual whale deaths are also happening on the West Coast, where there are fewer offshore farms, with nearly 50 washing ashore last year. So far, four - three in Oregon and one in Washington - have occurred this year on the West Coast according to NOAA.
The most expensive neighborhoods are no longer in New York and San Francisco as many billionaires and celebrities relocate to Florida.

Star Island in Miami is known to attract many A-list figures, such as Jennifer Lopez and Rosie ODonnell, with a private gated bridge and luxury homes surrounded by Biscayne Bay turquoise waters.

Homes on the man-made island can sell for as high as $70 million but the medium home value is $40 million, according to Bloomberg. Star Island saw an increase in its selling price by 23.5 million since 2019.

Port Royals in Naples, Florida, is the second most expensive neighborhood in the US with average home prices ranking at $16.9 million, in comparison to $8.2 million in 2019.

The list of pricy neighborhoods further extends to several Beverly Hills neighborhoods

Florida is home to the priciest neighborhoods in the US along with Beverly Hills

Beverly Hills Gateway is home to the third most expensive neighborhood in the US with homes ranging from $12.9 million as of 2022. The average home price in 2019 was $11.4 million, according to the news outlet.

Other pricey homes in Beverly Hills include Trousdale Estates and The Flats where homes sell for around $12 million.

But Florida took the real estate reign with nine out of the top 12 priciest neighborhoods in the US.

The shift in home prices occurred throughout COVID as several people fled to Florida where there were fewer pandemic restrictions and no state income tax, according to the news outlet.

The changes reported in December 2022 kicked San Francisco off the list along with New York as Miami Beach, Florida, has become the new hot spot.

'Miami Beach used to be this place you come a few days to party, get some sun and get out,' director of sales at Douglas Elliman, Dina Goldentayer, told the news outlet.

'Now its the place to live. Its the lifestyle, weather, economic policies, and political policies. Everyone wants to come here.'

Star Island in Miami is known to attract many A-list figures, such as Jennifer Lopez and Rosie ODonnell, with a private gated bridge and luxury homes surrounded by Biscayne Bay turquoise waters

Florida took the real estate reign with nine out of the top 12 priciest neighborhoods in the US

Homes on the man-made island can sell for as high as $70 million but the medium home value is $40 million

Beverly Hills Gateway is home to the third most expensive neighborhood in the US with homes ranging from $12.9 million as of 2022

The average home price in 2019 was $11.4 million. Pictured: a luxury home in the Beverly Hills neighborhood

A luxury home in the Beverly Hills Gateway neighborhood is seen above with a grand pool

Meanwhile, the once-thriving city of San Francisco has struggled to recover from the pandemic as many major businesses in the city have continued to allow their employees to work from home.

Reports show home prices in the city's once famous neighborhoods, such as Nob Hill and Lower Haight, are down 10 percent as crime and homelessness grow rampant.

Homelessness is at a nearly 20 year high in the city, and local businesses have threatened to stop paying taxes unless the city cleans up the colonies of tents and tarps that have grown along neighborhood streets.

Business buildings in New York have also been partially vacant due to remote work. The number of homes for sale has also climbed since the pandemic, even in the luxurious area of the Upper East Side.

Values of homes in the area have decreased by nearly nine percent as many flee from crime and homelessness, according to the news outlet.

Residents have reported regularly seeing drug use in the vestibules, finding them strewn with trash and sleeping bodies, and harassed or even assaulted by vagrants who have taken over the spaces.

One of the many homeless encampments spread across downtown San Francisco

Dozens of migrants slept outside The Watson Hotel for days.The men were bundled in sleeping bags and blankets to stay warm in freezing temperatures. Many of the items seen here were donated

Palm Beach real estate agent Bruce Ring noticed a shift in the market in 2020 when he noticed heaps of people moving to the sunny state to benefit from tax reductions and take advantage of the work-from-home orders.

'One guy told me the taxes hes not paying in Massachusetts is essentially paying for his new house in Florida,' Ring told the news outlet. 'For them not to do it would cost them more than to do it.'

Ken Griffin, CEO of Citadel, is the latest resident and recently purchased five homes on Star Island for $194 million.

Griffin used to live in Chicago before making the move south, along with others looking to avoid hefty taxes.

The billionaire also supported Gov. Ron DeSantis in his recent run.
The mysterious 1,400 foot plunge taken by a United Airlines Boeing 777 shortly after taking off from Hawaii en route to San Francisco may have been the result of the pilots failing to program the autopilot correctly.

Officials are currently investigating why the plane plummeted to just 800 feet above the Pacific Ocean.

Aviation consultant Kit Derby told DailyMail.com that considering the slightly rough weather conditions, the National Weather Service reported heavy rains in the area on the day of the incident, it's likely the pilots wanted to engage the autopilot.

'So one of the things that pilots do is a set an altitude, which is a target for the autopilot. If that altitude was set lower [then the current altitude] then the autopilot would descend,' Derby said.

Derby added that when pilots receive airspace clearance prior to takeoff, typically they would then set the autopilot to the necessary altitude. He added: 'If that step didn't occur, then it could still be at the airport elevation, which would be below you at this point.'

The only other theories that Derby offered were a possible malfunction of the autopilot system, something that is 'extremely rare.' He also said that it would be extremely unlikely that the airplane itself suffered some kind of malfunction.

'They weren't very high. And they came very close to the water. But they didn't really lose that much altitude, I mean, 500 feet or so is not a lot of altitude in the big picture unless you're close to the ground,' Derby added.

The pilots at the helm of the flight had a combined 25,000 hours of flying time between them.

Aviation safety expert Anthony Brickhouse of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University told DailyMail.com that he would be curious to look into whether the autopilot was engaged but that he would need to wait until all of the data was in before offering a concrete theory.

Brickhouse went on to say that investigators will likely study the weather systems in the area at the time as well were all of the other systems on board the aircraft working correctly.

'Like the rest of the world, I literally just learned about this yesterday. And there's so many questions, because this is not a typical movement that you would see an aircraft making at any point in a flight, so it's just a really interesting situation,' Brickhouse continued.

He went on to describe the pilot's decision to continue on the flight to San Francisco as 'very concerning.'

'So speaking purely from a safety perspective, I would have preferred to seeing that aircraft, you know, turn around and land back at Maui, and make sure that the aircraft was was in good condition,' Brickhouse continued.

The United Airlines flight from Hawaii to San Francisco plummeted in the air during the previously unreported December incident, coming within 775 feet of the Pacific Ocean

Rod Williams II was sitting near the back of the plane with his wife and kids when it came down. Williams, who studied aviation in college, said he tried to keep calm for the sake of his children

Kim Derby, however felt that unless the pilots knew about an issue with the plane, they were under no obligation to return to the airport.

He added that the pilots would need to have done a significant fuel dump in order to land.

'When nothing else is broken or not working on the airplane, if it was pilot error, then they know what's wrong. They fix that and know no reason not to continue,' Derby said.

Brickhouse also said that it was unusual that we hadn't heard about the plunge until this week.

'I haven't seen anything from passengers and, and that's pretty odd in this social media era that we live in. You know, the passengers on board would have definitely felt for that aircraft.'

Father of two Rod Williams II who was sitting at the back of the plane described the horror of the plunge in an interview with CNN saying, 'It felt like you were climbing to the top of a roller coaster,' Williams said, telling the outlet the he noticed the plane had dipped at a 'concerning rate' for several seconds.

It was at this point, Williams said, that passengers who at first tried to remain calm began to panic.

Williams, who is the first passenger to provide a personal account of the incident, which only came to light after a report Sunday from the outlet Air Current

'There were a number of screams on the plane,' the Columbus, Ohio, realtor recalled. 'Everybody knew that something was out of the ordinary, or at least that this was not normal.'

Still, the dutiful dad - scared-stiff himself - tried to keep his cool in the presence of his wife and children.

'You're trying your best to maintain your composure  there's obviously kids on the flight. nobody really knows what's going on,' Williams said, before adding, 'but at the same time, you're concerned. You don't know if this is an issue.'

'It was certainly out of the ordinary.'

Williams proceed to provide new on the panicked states of passengers, as well as insight into his own state of mind during the harrowing ordeal - which only came to light after a report Sunday from the outlet Air Current.

'It's tense, you don't really have a chance to speak or to conjure up words, you're just kind of gripping the seat and praying under your breath,' he recalled of the thoughts going through their heads at the time.

'I asked her later and sure enough we were praying for a miracle, because we felt like this could be it.'

Soon enough, the scare was over, Williams said, at which point flight attendants came out to comfort some passengers who were especially distraught,.

About ten minutes later, and there was an announcement that assured the passengers the event had passed.

'Someone from the cockpit got on the intercom and said, 'Alright, folks, you probably felt a couple G's on that one, but everything's gonna be OK,' said Williams, who is the first passenger to provide a personal account of the incident.

'We're gonna be alright,' Williams credited the United staffer saying.

Williams also said that he did not realize how close the plane had come to the water until he read about it in various news reports nearly two months after the incident.

Despite the stormy conditions seen during takeoff, the rest of the flight went smoothly, Williams said. After landing in San Francisco, the family took another flight home to Ohio.

A spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board said Monday that the investigative agency is still seeking information about the Dec. 18 incident.

The Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees airlines, said the United crew reported the incident under a voluntary safety-reporting program. The FAA said it reviewed the incident 'and took appropriate action' without providing further details.

A former spokesman for American Airlines, Ross Feinstein, told the New York Times that the voluntary reporting system has been a great success.

'Safety issues through this program are usually resolved through corrective action rather than through punishment or discipline and, as a result, it continues to enhance aviation safety,' Feinstein said.

United said it worked with the FAA and the pilots union on an investigation that led to additional training for the two pilots, which is still going on.

The airline did not explain why the pilots chose to continue the long, overwater flight to San Francisco instead of returning to Kahului Airport on the island of Maui.
A violent Canadian pedophile who brutally raped a three-month-old infant while a teenager was moved to a mother-and-baby ward after transitioning to a woman in prison.

Adam Laboucan, who in 1999 became Canada's the youngest convicted criminally violent sex offender at just 17-years-old, began identifying as a woman named Tara Desousa and boasted of receiving gender-transitioning surgery around 2018.

Sometime after the transition, Laboucan was granted permission to move to a women's ward at the Fraser Valley Institution, where he was housed in a cell bordering a unit where incarcerated mothers are allowed to live with their children up to seven-years-old.

Inmates have reported Laboucan frequently menaces the mothers by making suggestive comments and staring at their children, and has even showed up to prison events where children were present, according to Reduxx.

Laboucan's crime was considered so violent, and his ensuing behavior while incarcerated so unpredictable, he was handed a rare prison sentence with no determinate length. During his trial, he also confessed to drowning a three-year-old boy when he was just 11.

Adam Laboucan was going by the name Tara Desousa by 2010. He was later transferred to a women's prison

Fraser Valley Institution, the women's prison where Laboucan was transferred

Laboucan was convicted of raping the three-month-old boy he was babysitting when he was just 15. The victim was so severely injured in the attack he required reconstructive surgery.

It is unclear when Laboucan began his gender transition, but during his trial it was testified he showed 'everything from transsexual to pedophilic tendencies,' according to CBC.

By 2010 he was calling himself Tara Desousa, and by 2017 he had been transferred to the women's prison where he became violent with fellow inmates, including an altercation where he 'flung another inmate by her hair, then kicked her in the face,' according to Reduxx.

A year later, a 2018 prison dating profile showed pictures of Laboucan dressed as a woman and sporting a large pair of breasts, and was listed under the name Desousa.

'I am a transgender woman and I was born a man but now after surgery I became a full woman,' he wrote on this profile, 'I have a vagina, not a penis, and also have 720ccs DD gel implants.'

A picture of Laboucan from his 2018 prison dating profile, where he boasts about having undergone full gender transition surgery

Despite his violent past, Laboucan was housed alongside the prison's mother's ward, where other inmates can apply to babysit children as young as infants.

Advocate for incarcerated women, Heather Mason, told Canada's Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security that Laboucan had made numerous mothers in the ward uncomfortable.

'One of these women reported that while in the mother-child program, two transgender individuals with convictions for pedophilia,' Mason said. 'Tara Desousa would loiter near her and her child, making sexist and inappropriate antagonizing comments.'

Mason told Reduxx inmates confided that Laboucan could often be seen 'staring' at children in the ward.

The inmate also described a volunteer event at the prison where she brought her infant-son along, and a prison guard warned her Laboucan was present.

'I was told that there was an extremely violent child sex offender present who hadn't been in the presence of a young child in a very long time,' the mother said, noting her son was close to the same age as Laboucan's rape victim.

'Once I was informed of the sick and brutal nature of the crime against the child, I regretted even going or letting that person set eyes on my child,' she said.

One of Laboucan's dating profiles, where he goes by the name Tara Desousa

During his incarceration, Laboucan has requested and been denied parole numerous times.

One parole board rejected him in 2010 citing 'bizarre sexual behavior' they felt posed a threat to the public, including 'gender identity, impulsive behaviour, violence and sexual deviance,' according to CTV News.

The board cited Laboucan admitting to sexually abusing relatives and friends while he was free. 'Mutilation of your penis has also occurred, with you claiming [you] want to be female,' the board said.

It also noted the drowning murder of the three-year-old, which Laboucan committed in a fit of rage. Because he was under 12 when the killing occurred, Canadian law did not charge him with the crime.

Laboucan also exhibited violence in and sexual deviance in jail. The parole board noted he had been found serving as a prostitute to other inmates, taking drugs was caught with a homemade knife, stabbed a fellow inmate, and threatened to murder a female prison guard.
They blocked traffic in Bishopsgate and Wormwood Street in October 2021

Simon Reding, Catherine Rennie-Ash and Helen Redfern all face jail for protests

Three Insulate Britain protestors who sparked chaos when they brought rush hour traffic in the City of London to a standstill face jail after being convicted of causing a public nuisance.

Simon Reding, 50, retired teacher Catherine Rennie-Ash, 71, and Helen Redfern, 58 blocked traffic between Bishopsgate and Wormwood Street on October 25, 2021.

Thousands of people on buses were held up as a result of the Insulate Britain protest, Inner London Crown Court was told.

The Metropolitan Police were called to the scene after people superglued themselves to the road.

Reding, of Manchester, Rennie-Nash, of Kendal, Cumbria, Redfern, of Gateshead all denied but were convicted of causing a public nuisance, which is a common law offence and carries the maximum of life imprisonment.

Simon Reding (left), 50, retired teacher Catherine Rennie-Ash (right), 71, and Helen Redfern (centre), 58 blocked traffic between Bishopsgate and Wormwood Street on October 25, 2021

Thousands of people on buses were held up as a result of the Insulate Britain protest

Alex Rodger, 33, earlier admitted the charge and all four will return for sentence on March 24.

The protests were part of Insulate Britain's demands for a national programme to insulate all homes by 2030 and blocked a number of roads including the M25 during 2021.

Today's jury trial was the eighth in relation to the campaign.

The protests on October 25, 2021 targetted Southwark Bridge, Canary Wharf and Liverpool Street station as a total of 53 demonstrators caused misery for rush-hour commuters and families in the middle of half term.

Activists from the Extinction Rebellion offshoot leant on car bonnets and stood in roads with banners around the capital from 8.20am.

After sentencing, Rennie-Nash told The Westmorland Gazette: 'More of us must take a stand. We don't get to be the bystanders. We either act against evil or we participate in it.'

Judge Silas Reid had ruled that the defendants could not refer to climate change as their motivation for blocking the road in their defence.

David Matthew, prosecuting, earlier told jurors: During the last part of 2021, Insulate Britain was blocking a number of roads.

Insulate Britain activists block traffic on Bishopsgate in the City of London near Liverpool Street station

One Insulate Britain climate change activist glued his face to the road in an attempt to block traffic on Bishopsgate

Insulate Britain climate change activists block traffic on Bishopsgate in the City of London near Liverpool Street station

Some of you may remember blocks on the M25.

What this case is about is Monday 25 October 2021 It started shortly after 8am, so part of rush hour. Bishopsgate is a very major bus route.

The City of London Police called for assistance from the Metropolitan police.

They were handled very carefully by the police. They were warned they might be arrested, they were asked if there was anything they could say that would make them move.

Finally each was arrested. People had glued themselves to the road.

Bishopsgate was only cleared by 10am, but the junction was re-opened after 11am because experts had to clear solvents from the streets that had been used to remove superglue.

There are about 255 buses an hour running through Bishopsgate. Over a protest lasting for two hours there would have been several thousand people whose bus journey was affected, the prosecutor said.

Rennie-Nash has previously spent time in prison for her involvement in Just Stop Oil.
Russia has already 'lost' the war in Ukraine as the one-year anniversary of its brutal invasion approaches, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley said in Brussels Tuesday.

Milley spoke amid warnings of a renewed Russian offensive, with allies seeking to rush modern weapons and ammunition to Ukrainian forces  who have been battling Russian forces who have been slowly gaining ground around Bakhmut in the eastern Donbas region.

'Russia is now a global pariah and the world remains inspired by Ukrainian bravery and resilience. In short, Russia has lost  they've lost strategically, operationally, and tactically,' said Milley.

Russia has 'lost strategically, operationally, and tactically,' said Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley in Brussels, as the one-year anniversary of Russia's brutal invasion approaches

He said Russian President Vladimir Putin 'thought he could defeat Ukraine quickly, fracture the NATO alliance, and act with impunity. He was wrong.'

'Ukraine remains free, they remain independent. NATO and this coalition has never been stronger,' he said.

The U.S. and NATO allies have rushed billions in military aide to Ukraine, and long-neutral Finland applied for NATO membership following Russia's invasion of its neighbor.

Milley said Russia has paid an 'enormous price on the battlefield' for its invasion.

Last month he said Russia had lost 'significantly well over' 100,000 troops.

The losses have continued after Putin's conscription order, with the private Wagner Group doing significant fighting around Bakhmut, after recruit fighters from Russian prisons.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week vowed to 'fight as long as we can' to defend Bakhmut, which he called 'fortress.'

'Putin could end this war today,' said Milley, pointing to casualties on both sides.

The US. has provided artillery, ammunition, air defenses, and armored vehicles to Ukraine, along with intelligence support, with Abrams M1A2 tanks on the way, although that process could take months.

'This is a very, very bloody war, and there's significant casualties on both sides,' he said.

Putin 'thought he could defeat Ukraine quickly ... He was wrong,' said Milley

Milley and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with the NATO Council of Defense Ministers at the Alliance headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. Allies are trying to stay unified as the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion approaches

Ukrainian servicemen jump out of a military truck on a road outside the frontline town of Bakhmut, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine February 13, 2023. REUTERS/Yevhenii Zavhorodnii
Ever since President Joe Biden started shooting down every unidentified-floating-object over America, the public has been left to wonder why.

Now four 'objects,' including the Chinese spy ship, have been popped by sophisticated weapons of war over the last 10 days.

So, what explains the White House going from letting balloons soar clear across the purple mountains and fruited plains to suddenly scrambling the F-22s and F-16s to destroy anything that drifts?

Who knows?

Given that this fiasco involves national security and intelligence, it is reasonable that Biden won't simply reveal all. But so far, we've gotten mixed messages leading to confusion and even fear. And to this administration, sickeningly, it's all a big gag.

On Monday, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg cracked wise about the situation while lamenting the challenges he's confronted. 'We've faced issues from container shipping to airline cancellations Now we got balloons,' he joked to a smattering of awkward laughter in the audience.

Ha-ha indeed.

To make matters worse, Buttigieg has blatantly ignored a mushroom cloud of noxious smoke emanating from burning toxic chemicals spewed from a train wreck in East Palestine, Ohio.

Without hardly any warning, the town's working-class residents were roused from their homes and evacuated after tankers derailed on February 3rd, spilling carcinogens like vinyl chloride, phosgene, and hydrogen chloride. Now folks are fearful of long-term cancer risks and ecological devastation.

Ever since President Joe Biden started shooting down every unidentified-floating-object over America, the public has been left to wonder why.

To make matters worse, Buttigieg has blatantly ignored a mushroom cloud of noxious smoke emanating from burning toxic chemicals spewed from a train wreck in East Palestine, Ohio.

Pete hardly said a word about that. But he did take time to complain in his oh-so-woke-way of construction crews being too white.

'We have heard way too many stories from generations past of infrastructure where you got a neighborhood, often a neighborhood of color, that finally sees the project come to them, but everyone in the hard hats on that project, doing the good paying jobs, don't look like they came from anywhere near the neighborhood,' he wailed.

The response was swift and damning, even from some progressive Democrats.

Bernie Sanders-supporting, former Ohio State Senator Nina Turner quipped, 'He jokes about balloons while ignoring East Palestine, OH. We deserve better than this.'

Yes, we do.

Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert went farther, 'Not a single comment about the train crash in Ohio. Instead, he bemoaned the whiteness of the construction industry. It's amazing that this country is able to function at all under this regime.'

That evening, 10 days after the crash, Buttigieg finally addressed the crash, writing: 'I continue to be concerned about the impacts of the Feb 3 train derailment near East Palestine, OH, and the effects on families in the ten days since their lives were upended through no fault of their own.'

Boebert has it exactly right.

The federal government is NOT functioning if it doesn't address the real concerns of ordinary Americans. And on this measure, Biden's White House is utterly failing.

The president only vaguely addressed the Chinese spy balloon in his State of the Union address. Then, in brief remarks to PBS News, he said the incident did not constitute a 'major breach.' That doesn't make any sense.

Without hardly any warning, the town's working-class residents were roused from their homes and evacuated on February 3rd after tankers derailed, spilling carcinogens like vinyl chloride, phosgene, and hydrogen chloride.

Now folks are fearful of long-term cancer risks and ecological devastation. (Above) Toxic smoke plume above East Palestine, Ohio on February 3, 2023

Why then did Secretary of State Anthony Blinken cancel his trip to China?

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin claimed on Monday that U.S. policy on airspace incursions has not changed. That's absurd.

Why then are objects blowing up over our heads?

The world is witnessing the fecklessness of Biden and his gaggle of lackeys as they all fumble all themselves.

This is deeply unserious and disturbingly dangerous.

There is an old saying, 'tough times create strong men, strong men create easy times, easy times create weak men,' I think we know where we are right now on that merry-go-round.

For the Biden administration, it's still 1990.

Three decades of America's superpower status have emboldened these navel-gazing neoliberals, who now stalk the halls of the White House squawking about bigotry supposedly hiding under the beds, while China works out its designs on world domination.

The Biden administration would rather focus on an imaginary crisis of racism and wokery than the real world fallout of toxic train accidents or the real crisis of Chinese aggression.

The one thing that can cut through all this nonsense is a realization that America faces a true threat. Ridiculous claims of institutional racism fall apart when Americans  of every race, creed and color  recognize that we face a common enemy.

Last week, the Chinese military wouldn't even pick up the phone when Secretary Austin called to address these events. It's an act of remarkable disrespect from an opponent that believes America is in decline.

Now Secretary Blinken is planning once again to meet with his CCP counterparts, which seems to send the message, 'please China, don't stop trading with us, we can just forget about the balloons.'

Three decades of America's superpower status have emboldened these navel-gazing neoliberals, who now stalk the halls of the White House squawking about bigotry supposedly hiding under the beds, while China works out its designs on world domination.

10 days after the crash, Buttigieg finally addressed the Ohio crash.

Unfortunately, America may need to be reminded how the United States became the world leader  World War II and the Cold War.

Let's be perfectly clear, the status of the United States is very much at risk, our airspace defenses resemble Swiss cheese, we are all but in a proxy war with Russia, and Americans are realizing that a galaxy of pronouns and black national anthems at the Super Bowl are not going to fix it.

But sadly, we are being led by the weakest president to occupy the Oval Office in modern history.

Often when questioned about the nation's challenges, Biden is wont to squint his eyes, tighten his jaw and smugly whisper, 'Just watch me.'

Well, we are watching and what we see is a shameful, shambolic display of timidity and incompetence. China is watching too, no doubt with big smiles, secure in the fact that Biden will do nothing to stop their aggressions.

This is a time for Americans to decide what really matters. Will we continue to destroy ourselves in intramural culture wars as Mayor Pete goads, or will we band together, as our nation always has in the face of foreign threats?

Clearly, China prefers that Americans be at each other's throats.

Unfortunately, all too often, Biden and his cabinet seem to share that view.
The three students killed by the 'evil and bitter' gunman who stormed onto the Michigan State University campus have been identified.

One was their fraternity chapter president. Another was a science student with fond memories of her days as a high-school athlete. And a third was the niece of a reality TV star and aspired to be a pediatricians.

Alexandria 'Alex' Verner, a 2020 graduate of Clawson High School, was killed in the shooting, according to an email sent by CPS school officials. She was a biology and anthropology junior at MSU and set to graduate in 2024.

Brian Fraser, 20, who graduated from Grosse Pointe South and was studying business at MSU, was identified as the second victim of the massacre, the university's police department confirmed.

Flavor of Love reality TV star Deelishis revealed her niece, Arielle Diamond Anderson, 19, was the third victim.

The three were killed and five others were injured when Anthony McRae, opened fire on the MSU campus at 8.18pm on Monday before turning the gun on himself.

Alexandria Verner, who was a biology and anthropology junior at Michigan State University, was killed in the shooting, according to an email sent by CPS school officials

Brian Fraser, 20, was a sophomore studying business at Michigan State, was identified as another victim of the massacre, MSU police confirmed

Arielle Diamond Anderson, 19, the niece of reality star Deelishis, was the third victim identified

Verner was first victim to be identified in a statement from her hometown school district, which described her as 'a tremendous student, athlete, [and] leader' who 'exemplified kindness.'

Verner's Twitter bio says, 'Can't stop dreaming,' and features photos and videos from Clawson basketball and volleyball games.

'If you knew [Alex], you loved her and we will forever remember the lasting impact she has had on all of us,' the statement read.

Alex was studying integrated biology and anthropology at MSU, and was set to graduate in 2024, according to her LinkedIn profile.

The second victim was identified by the Michigan State University Department of Police and Public Safety Police as Brian Fraser, a sophomore from Grosse Point.

Fraser was president of Michigan State's chapter of Phi Delta Theta fraternity, which said in a statement Tuesday that its members were 'heartbroken.'

'Brian was our leader, and we loved him,' the fraternity said. 'He cared deeply about his Phi Delt brothers, his family, Michigan State University, and Phi Delta Theta. We will greatly miss Brian and mourn his death deeply as our chapter supports each other during this difficult time.'

According to Fraser's LinkedIn page, he was studying business, and had previously worked as the head lifeguard at a Detroit country club.

Jon Dean, superintendent of the Grosse Pointe schools, said the third victim had also graduated from the district.

'I can't even process what I just wrote,' Dean said in an open letter. 'It is with a great deal of sadness that I bring this news to you and my thoughts go out to the many families that are suffering from another senseless act of violence.'

Flavor of Love star Deelishis who had posted to social media on Monday night that niece was missing from the college campus has since pinned a comment from another family member who wrote 'my sweet beautiful niece... RIP baby girl.'

Like Fraser, Anderson was also a graduate of the Grosse Pointe Public School system. Her family told WXYZ that she loved children and wanted to be a pediatrician one day.

Verner was identified in a statement from her hometown school district, which described her as 'a tremendous student, athlete, [and] leader' who 'exemplified kindness'

Verner's high school released a statement: 'If you knew [Alex], you loved her and we will forever remember the lasting impact she has had on all of us,' it read

According to Fraser's LinkedIn page, he was studying business, and had previously worked as the head lifeguard at a Detroit country club

Flavor of Love star Deelishis who posted Monday that niece was missing has since pinned a comment from another family member who wrote 'my sweet beautiful niece... RIP baby girl'

'HOW MANY MORE?' Michigan State University student Devin Crawford places flowers at The Rock on campus on Tuesday after three students were killed in a mass shooting Monday night

Five others who were injured in the shooting remained hospitalized as of Tuesday afternoon. Their names have not been released.

The gunman has no known ties to the school and it remains unclear what his motive for the shooting is, or what kind of weapon he used.

McRae killed himself before police got to him, having murdered three MSU students in two different locations on campus last night and injured five others.

His father Michael, 66, described him today as a 'mama's boy' who turned 'evil and mean' after his mother Linda died suddenly three years ago. The pair lived together in McRae's family home, that is around five miles from the MSU campus.

McRae was found with a note in his pocket indicating a threat to two public schools in Ewing, New Jersey, which were closed for the day 'out of an abundance of caution'.

McRae terrorized the campus for nearly four hours, running through the streets, brandishing a gun, and shooting bullets - but police have not yet been able to establish a motive.

The gunman was named by police as 43-year-old Anthony McRae. Records show a man with the same name who lives in Lansing who has a 2019 arrest for keeping a loaded gun in his car

The suspected gunman, pictured, was last seen leaving the union building. He was wearing a jean jacket, red shoes, a black mask, and a baseball cap. Cops confirmed he is now deceased

The security camera clip showed him, wearing a jean-jacket, ball cap and red sneakers, wandering nonchalantly along a street having just shot up two separate locations on campus.

The 43-year-old shooter strode into an academic building named Berkey Hall at 8:18 pm, blasting indiscriminately at the occupants.

Cops descended on the scene in response to a torrent of urgent 911 calls but the killer had already left the premises, heading west out of the building and skulking along campus roads as he hunted for his next victims.

Less than 15 minutes later, gunshots were reported at the MSU Union building, a popular spot for students to eat, drink and study just a 10-minute walk from Berkey Hall.

The Michigan State shooting comes on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the Valentine's Day shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, where 17 people were killed.

It also follows the shooting on February 14, 2008 at Northern Illinois University in Dekalb, in which a gunman killed five students and injured 17 more people, before fatally shooting himself.
The state's civil lawsuit seeks a $250M judgement and a prohibition on any of the Trumps leading a company in New York

The AG's office wanted records tied to an investigation into the Trump Organization's finances

The former president appealed a judge's civil contempt order for imposing a daily fine of $10K for failing to comply with a subpoena issued last year

A New York appeals court panel on Tuesday ordered former President Donald Trump to pay a civil fine of $110,000 decided by a judge in April 2022 after found in contempt for refusing to hand over documents to the state attorney general's office as part of an investigation of his company.

The five-justice panel ruled that Trump's fine for not complying with a subpoena for the records was a 'proper exercise' of the Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron's discretionary power.

The penalty of $10,000 per day 'was not excessive or otherwise improper, under the particular circumstances, according to the decision.

Attorney General Letitia James hailed the two-page ruling issued by the state Supreme Court Appellate Division's First Judicial Department.

'Once again, the courts have ruled that Donald Trump is not above the law,' James said.

Former President Donald Trump is ordered to pay a fine of $110K to New York Attorney General Letitia James' office for being in contempt of court for not complying with a subpoena

N.Y. Attorney General Letitia James hailed the court ruling. 'Once again, the courts have ruled that Donald Trump is not above the law ,' James said.

The NG AG's office wanted records tied to an investigation into the Trump Organization's finances

'For years, he tried to stall and thwart our lawful investigation into his financial dealings, but today's decision sends a clear message that there are consequences for abusing the legal system,' she said. 'We will not be bullied or dissuaded from pursuing justice.'

The judge imposed the fine on Trump last spring after ruling that he had repeatedly failed to give James' investigators business records from the Trump Organization that they were seeking for their probe of his real estate company.

'Mr. Trump has willfully disobeyed a lawful order of the court,' written in the opinion.

Trump later paid the fine, but appealed the court's contempt finding.

The state of New York filed a $250 million lawsuit against Trump, his company and three of his adult children in September and accused them of ongoing and systemic fraud involving decades of financial statements.

The New York civil fraud probe revolves around whether the Trump Organization deliberately misstated the valuations of its real estate holdings in official documents for unlawful gain, according to USA Today.

In addition to financial damages, the Attorney General's office seeks to ban Trump and his three adult children: Donald Trump, Jr., Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump from serving as an officer of a company in New York and prevent the Trump companies named in the suit from ever doing business in New York again.

A spokesperson for Trump did not immediately respond to request for comment.
A man has been arrested on suspicion of murdering his ex-wife after she was found dead in a house fire last Thursday.

Georgian Constantin, 42, was arrested in London this morning following a five-day national search for the investigation's main suspect.

His arrest follows the death of Valentina Cozma, 40, who tragically died at her home in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, at around 3pm on February 9.

A post mortem revealed her provisional cause of death as 'inhalation of products of combustion', following the house blaze.

Today, Staffordshire Police shared that they had arrested Constantin, of Stoke, 150 miles away at a London address.

Georgian Constantin (pictured), 42, was arrested in London this morning following a five-day nationwide search for the investigation's main suspect

Detective Inspector Adrian Webb, from the force's Major and Organised Crime department, said: 'We are grateful for the community's support during this investigation.

'Enquiries into Valentina's tragic death continue and we remain keen to speak to witnesses who may have relevant information or material which could support the investigation, such as CCTV or dash cam footage.

'My thoughts remain with Valentina's loved ones, in particular her young son, at this deeply traumatic time.'

Forensic investigations are taking place at the scene of Valentina's murder and enquiries are still ongoing.

Local officers are also continuing with reassurance patrols in the area.

Stoke Commander, Chief Superintendent Colin Mattinson, said previously: 'I know the local community are in shock that someone within their community has died in such awful circumstances.

'We know she was a quiet woman who was well liked among her neighbours having lived in the area for some years.

'We take a firm stance against violence against women and domestic abuse.'

Valentina's heartbroken family previously paid an emotional tribute in a statement issued via police.

Valentina Cozma (pictured), 40, died at her home in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, at around 3pm on February 9

Today Staffordshire Police shared that they had arrested Constantin, of Stoke, 150 miles away at a London address

Valentina's sister said: 'Vali was the person I could talk to about anything.

'She offered me support whenever I needed it. She always tried to keep the family together.

'Being an older sister, she made sure we didn't lack anything, even if she didn't have a thing.'

Specially trained family liaison officers offered support to Valentina's family while police worked to track Constantin down.

'She went through a lot of hard times, yet she never gave up. I am appealing for help from anyone who has details that could help in solving this case,' Valentina's sister added.

Detectives have set up a dedicated web portal where anyone with information can get in touch at: https://mipp.police.uk/operation/STAFFS19A01-PO1.

Alternatively, call 101 quoting incident 440 of February 9. Anyone wishing to remain anonymous, can call Crimetoppers on 0800 555 111.
A gang responsible for a series of terrifying robberies at knifepoint in South West London have been convicted after police recovered a phone with members posing with stolen Rolex watches.

The group used a stolen BMW with false plates to carry out their crimes, threatening their victims with large knives and machetes before stealing items including watches and bags. None of the stolen property has been recovered.

The Met's Flying Squad tracked the gang down after a high-speed car chase with two of the members which saw them escape police but leave their valuables behind in the BMW.

This included a phone belonging to one member with gloating photos of the gang posing with their stolen goods.

The phone allowed officers to identify the pair who fled the car and their fellow members. Officers also recovered a large machete used in the robberies.

The group of six men were convicted over a string of violent robberies. Pictured: Roshan Clark, 18, poses with two stolen Rolex watches

Michael Malik Ahmed 28, pleaded guilty to six counts of robbery over the attacks in December 2021 and January 2022

Michael Malik Ahmed 28, pleaded guilty to six counts of robbery  four on December 21, 2021, and two on January 9, 2022, following a joint operation by the Flying Squad and a local robbery team.

He was also found guilty of possessing an offensive weapon used in the attacks, as well as dangerous driving at a trial which concluded on Monday.

At the same trial, Kaijuan Henry, 19, was found guilty of being involved in the December robberies, while Jessy Ouma, 18, was found guilty of being involved in the robberies on January 9.

Zakariah Yusuf, 18, Joseph Opoku, 19, and Roshan Clark, 18, previously pleaded guilty to being involved. Sentencing will take place on a future date.

Detective Sergeant Gary Taylor, from the Met's Flying Squad, said: 'These men carried out multiple violent robberies which left many of those targeted fearing for their lives.

'Their attacks were brazen, took place on busy streets and I have no doubt they would have gone on to commit further crimes if they had not been quickly caught.

'We know the impact these crimes have on each and every victim and our team worked tirelessly to ensure we identified those responsible and brought them to justice.

'Those who live in and visit our city should not have to go about their daily lives in fear of thieves.

'Sadly we know there has been a rise in these types of offences and we would urge people to remain aware of their surroundings and where possible to keep valuables out of sight.'

The gang was brought to justice when victims provided police with the car's registration number.

Officers spotted the BMW at the junction of Balham High Road and Chestnut Grove soon after.

Zakariah Yusuf, 18, was one of three who previously admitted to being involved in the robberies

Kaijuan Henry, 19, was found guilty of being involved in the December robberies with the gang

Specialist officers pursued the vehicle, which crashed into a wooden fence near the junction of Dornton Road and Culverdon Road.

The occupants of the car fled from the scene and into an estate. Despite a foot chase, police were unable to find them.

In their rush to escape, Ahmed left his house keys, phone and a bank card in the car while Yusuf left his jacket and phone.

A large machete used in the robberies was also found in the vehicle, as was a tracksuit top with distinctive markings which matched the clothing worn by Ahmed when he was caught on CCTV at a petrol station.

When Ouma was arrested, officer seized and examined his phone. This revealed photos of Henry and Clark celebrating their robberies by wearing a number of the stolen watches.

Forensic evidence and cell site data also linked the defendants to the crimes.

The gang was caught after police officers chased the BMW used in the robberies and tracked down all six men. Pictured: Joseph Opoku, 19

Jessy Ouma, 18, was found guilty of being involved in the robberies on January 9 at the trial

DS Taylor added: 'We are pleased that a dangerous gang has been taken off our streets and our city will be safer now that these six men are facing a considerable period behind bars.

'This case also shows the importance of reporting a robbery as soon as it happens and we would urge anyone who is the victim of a similar crime, or anyone who sees a robbery taking place, to call us immediately.

'This makes a significant impact on our ability to catch those responsible and prevent them from causing any further harm.'
Republican senators are turning up the heat on President Biden to address the public after four floating objects were shot down over the U.S. in a matter of eight days.

The GOP have questioned why the military has suddenly started shooting down the objects, even though they have likely been entering U.S. airspace for years, and why they are learning most developments in the media.

Kansas Senator Roger Marshall claimed that the Biden administration is 'fear-mongering' about the fighter jet take-downs to distract from scandals such as the Hunter Biden's business dealings and the laptop.

Another Republican Senator, John Kennedy of Louisiana, says the U.S. is still trying to find the 'remnants' of the three unidentified objects downed over the weekend.

The White House said Tuesday that there is 'no indication' the most recent objects downed by fighter jets over Lake Huron, Alaska and Canada were either Chinese or used for spying.

Republican senators are turning up the heat on President Biden to address the public after four floating objects were shot down over the U.S. in a matter of eight days

The Chinese spy balloon drifts to the ocean after being shot down off the coast in Surfside Beach, South Carolina, U.S. February 4, 2023

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the 'leading explanation' was they are 'commercial or benign', but could not provide any further details as the Pentagon tries to recover the debris.

'I urge once again President Biden become today speak directly on camera to the American people, just as past presidents have in similar moments,' Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., told reporters.

'Like Ronald Reagan explained what happened when Soviet Russia shot down a Korean Airlines flight in 1983, like George Bush spoke to American people after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990. President Biden needs to explain to the American people why he is doing what he's been doing.'

Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, told reporters after an all-Senate classified briefing he had learned at least one of the objects shot out of the air had a payload attached to it.

'They're not sending the balloons for Valentines' Day,' Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, told reporters, calling on Biden to address the public.

Marshall then peddled the idea that the White House could be leaving a trail of unanswered questions as fear mongering to 'deflect' from what he says are 'more important' matters, like Hunter Biden's laptop.

'I'm concerned that they're using this as more fear mongering...to deflect away from some other very major issues going on here, like what's going on with Hunter's laptop.'

Marshall added: 'Right now, Americans don't know -- are these celestial beings from foreign worlds, or if it's just one more thing from China?'

But another Republican made an opposing claim - that the Biden administration was not taking the security threats seriously enough.

'The President has said what has happened with the Chinese spy balloon was not a major security breach,' Sen. John Barrasso, chair of the Republican Conference, said in a news conference. 'This was a major security breach in the United States in the violation of our airspace. It was deliberate. It was intentional. It was consequential.'

'[Biden] said he did the right thing. I say he did the weak thing. They only shot down Chinese spy balloon after public pressure demanded is a complete violation of our integrity as a nation. And the President's indifference and inaction shows weakness, not just to China but to the world.'

Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Republicans were being 'premature' in their criticisms as intelligence officials were still gathering information. 'Some of them are unfortunately being political.'

Cotton said he'd heard 'contradictory' information out of the intelligence community.

'On the one hand, the administration is saying we don't yet know what these last three objects are and we don't want to characterize until we recover them. But on the other hand, it wasn't a threat,' Cotton pointed out.

'Both of those things can't be true. So that's why it's urgent that President Biden resolve these contradictions.'

'They're not sending the balloons for Valentines' Day,' Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, told reporters, calling on Biden to address the public

U.S. Navy sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 prepare to conduct a search for debris during recovery efforts for the remains of a high-altitude Chinese balloon shot down by the U.S. Air Force off the coast of South Carolina during salvage and investigation operations on February 7, 2023 in this image released by the U.S. Navy in Washington, U.S., February 13, 2023

Senators largely said that based on the briefing they believed spy balloons and other floating spyware had been entering U.S. airspace for a long time, but had not been told why the Biden administration had only now decided to shoot them down.

Timeline of recent UFO sightings over US airspace Wednesday, February 1: Chinese balloon is spotted above Montana (not a UFO as air force identified it as a balloon) Saturday, February 4: Chinese balloon is shot down off the coast of South Carolina after having drifted across the country Thursday, February 9: First UFO is detected off coast of northern Alaska Friday, February 10: UFO is shot down over Deadhorse, Alaska Saturday, February 11: Second UFO is shot down over Mayo, Yukon, Canada. FAA shuts down airspace over Montana citing another possible UFO, but NORAD claims it was a 'radar anomaly' Sunday, February 12: Third UFO is detected over the Great Lakes and shot down Advertisement

'A number of us asked why the sudden change,' Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., told reporters. 'They acknowledge the change, but nobody had an answer.'

'We need some more transparency,' Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said after the briefing on Tuesday.

'I understand the need for national security secrets, but now that this cow is out of the barn, the president and the director of national intelligence need to explain to the American people if they know -- I'm not sure they know, if they know they're not telling us -- what these things are.'

Kennedy told DailyMail.com what he learned from the briefing was that unidentified objects, potential spyware, has been floating over the U.S. for a 'long, long time - at least 2017.'

'Many people, intentionally or otherwise have been given the impression that a couple of weeks ago our skies were clear. And then all of a sudden we have spy balloons and other Unidentified Flying Objects raining down on us like confetti. That is not accurate these objects have been flying over us for years, many years.'

Kennedy added: 'What's different about the last two weeks is that we've started shooting them down. But we can't find the remnants.'

Earlier the White House has announced it was putting together a UFO task force to study the security risks posed by airborne objects detected in US airspace.

The new group, created on orders from national security adviser Jake Sullivan, will see experts from the Pentagon, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of Homeland Security and other government agencies come together to analyze unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) and determine whether they are a threat.

Sen. Marco Rubio, ranking member of the Intelligence Committee, told reporters most of the information in the briefing should be made public.

'Ninety-nine percent of the information we were just briefed on, there's no reason it can't be shared with the American people, that wouldn't compromise the security of this country.'

He said he'd learned little about where the three unidentified objects came from, or even what they were.

'They don't know whose it is. They don't even know what it is. They can't even tell you what it looked like.'

Asked if the American public should be concerned, Rubio said: 'From the broader perspective of whether these things are here to conduct attacks against the US, there's no indication that that's the case. But again, you're right. I mean, how can I tell you not to worry about something if I can't tell you what it is.'

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama, said Biden needed to address the public so the government could 'move on.'

'My phone has been ringing off the wall and we've got a president of the United States that's not saying anything. Just get out there and tell the people we're in good shape. We know what's going on, let's go on with life,' he told reporters after the briefing.

'[Balloons] have probably been around forever,' he said. 'Let's get this thing over with. We've got Chinese coming across the border every day, which is a lot bigger threat but nobody's talking about that.'

Senators were largely in agreement that more shoot-downs would be to come.

'If it's a threat to us, and if it's intended to surveil us and our critical infrastructure, our military capabilities, then of course,' Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., a former astronaut, told DailyMail.com.

Sen. Lindsey Graham said: 'There's a bunch of junk up there. So you've got to figure out what's a threat and what's not. Just because you see something doesn't mean you always have to shoot it down. They're trying to sort of come up with rules of the road  what presents a threat. They're just able to see more now.'

Sen. Mitt Romney, meanwhile, downplayed the severity of the spy balloon situation.

'It's not worth losing sleep over these things, they aren't weapons, and so there's no reason to get alarmed,' he told reporters.

Romney went on: 'Of all the things we can worry about, from China's belligerence, to Russia invading their neighbor, to people starving in Africa to climate change - this doesn't score very high on my worry chart.'
Utah Republican Senator Mitt Romney downplayed concerns over the recent violations of US airspace after a classified briefing on the matter on Tuesday, and urged his colleagues to be 'less critical' of the Biden administration's response.

Pentagon officials came to Capitol Hill on Tuesday morning to update senators after the US military shot down four objects over North America in just over a week - an unprecedented peacetime scenario.

'Of all the things we can worry about, from China's belligerence, to Russia invading their neighbor, to people starving in Africa, to climate change - this doesn't score very high on my worry chart,' Romney told reporters afterwards.

Most lawmakers had indicated that a lot of questions are still unanswered.

Republicans in particular expressed frustration with President Joe Biden for not yet speaking on the matter, and accusing the White House of a lack of 'transparency.'

Utah Republican Senator Mitt Romney downplayed concerns over the recent violations of US airspace, warning Americans not to be alarmed

The furor began with a suspected Chinese surveillance device that was shot down off the coast of South Carolina earlier this month

But Romney, who has not been shy about bucking the party line at times, warned against rushing to verbal attacks. He told reporters including DailyMail.com that there was much still unknown to investigators themselves.

'There's a lot that we don't know, and we can't be too critical about saying, "Hey, tell us what you know," when we don't know very much,' the Utah Republican said.

He said the briefing was 'straightforward.'

Asked whether he had any fears for the American people, he affirmed: 'Not in the slightest.'

US fighter jets shot down what Defense officials say is a Chinese surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina on February 4, after it had already traversed several states at a low enough altitude to be seen by the naked eye - unnerving millions across the country.

On Friday, Saturday and Sunday respectively, the military brought down unknown aerial objects spotted above Alaska, Canada and Michigan - though much is still unknown about them.

Asked if Americans can expect more of these sudden military operations now that US officials are on alert to such devices, Romney told DailyMail.com, 'probably.'

'The fact that we've had three in three days suggests that there are probably going to be more,' Romney said.

Republicans are calling on President Joe Biden to be more forthright after three unidentified objects were shot down in the eight days since

'But you know, it's not worth losing sleep over these things. They aren't weapons, and so there's no reason to get alarmed.'

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer similarly cautioned the GOP not to rush to conclusions - and criticism.

'Many of our Republican colleagues have been premature, because we don't even know all the information yet,' the New York Democrat said after the briefing.

'And some of them unfortunately are being political.'

South Carolina GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham said he was not 'unnerved' by the recent shoot-downs but called for stronger procedures to deal with them.

'The point is is trying to come up with a policy that makes sense, and the bottom line is that while it didn't unnerve me, I think you know, we've got to come up with a more rational system here,' Graham told reporters.

Other Republicans urged Biden to address the issue directly in front of the American people.

'Look, the President of the United States needs to get in front of the American public tonight and explain to them what we know,' said Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall.

'I'm concerned about their lack of transparency and not communicating with Americans.'

He went a step further and accused the Biden administration of 'fear-mongering' over the recent airspace invasions 'to deflect away from some other very major issues' - a sign that even the president's harsh critics are not immediately fearful of their implications.

Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton said, 'President Biden needs to explain to the American people why he is doing what he's been doing.'
An urgent warning has been issued over a food blender as hundreds were recalled after a man died in a fire sparked by the kitchen gadget.

Islington Council has urged people to dispose of any 'Boxo Blend' kitchen blenders, after one of the devices caused a fatal flat fire in Haringey.

The authority's Trading Standards officers believe that as many as 650 of the products may still be in use.

London Fire Brigade believes that the faulty blender caused the fire on Willoughby Park Road, Tottenham in December 2021, reported This is Local London.

A man died in the blaze and another was hospitalised - as crews fought for over two hours to extinguish the flames.

Islington Council has urged people to dispose of any 'Boxo Blend' kitchen blenders

Boxo Blend announced they were withdrawing the blenders after they were found to be the cause of a fire, in which a man died

The blenders were sold or given away by Boxo Blend Ltd, a business registered in Islington, from 2020-2022.

Those who still own one of the blenders have been told they should dispose of it safely.

Bashiru Anthony Blenman, one of the men who ran the company, pleaded guilty to two offences under the General Product Safety Regulations 2005, one for having the unsafe blender for supply and one for of not informing the council where the blenders were when required to do so.

At Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court on February 1, he was sentenced to 12 weeks' imprisonment suspended for 12 months, 150 hours of unpaid work, and was asked to make a contribution of 700 to costs plus a 128 victim's surcharge. A forfeiture order for all seized blenders was also made.

The blenders are white, black, pink or blue on the top and bottom, with a transparent blending chamber.

The 'Boxo Blend' logo is featured at the bottom of the product, underneath the power button.

Islington Council was alerted by London Fire Brigade (LFB) as it investigated a fire that tragically led to the death of a man in Haringey, which they believed had been caused by a faulty blender.

The authority investigated and discovered Boxo Blend Ltd, a company set up to sell the blenders in the UK, was registered to a virtual office address in Old Street, Islington.

The blenders were sold or given away by Boxo Blend Ltd, a business registered in Islington, from 2020-2022

Islington Council swiftly issued a suspension notice to ensure the business could not sell any more blenders while they were safety tested.

An expert found that they did not comply with electrical equipment safety regulations due to voltage issues and a lack of thermal protection, and they were deemed a fire risk.

Islington Council's thorough investigation found that at least 1,875 blenders were imported from China.

More than 650 of these were sold or given away to the public. Almost 1,000 have now been seized by the council and approximately 150 were destroyed in the fire.

The company had not carried out any safety checks on the items, assuming checks had been carried out by the Chinese manufacturer.

After the fatal fire, the company did not fully co-operate with Trading Standards to recall the remaining blenders, the authority said. The council issued legal proceedings.

Councillor John Woolf, Islington Council's Executive Member for Community Safety, said: 'We're committed to keeping people safe, and will take robust action to help protect the public. If you think you might have one of these unsafe 'Boxo Blend' blenders please check now, don't use the device and dispose of it safely.

'You can contact your local authority if you want advice on how to dispose of electrical items. Unfortunately, you won't be able to return the device to the supplier, Boxo Blend Ltd, as the company is no longer trading and has been dissolved.

'This incredibly tragic case, which occurred in our neighbouring borough, highlights how important it is for all businesses, however small, to fulfil their legal responsibility to make sure any products they import are tested and meet UK safety regulations.

'We remain forever vigilant, and we will investigate and, where appropriate, prosecute to help protect the public.'

John Herriman, Chief Executive of the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) said: 'This case highlights the importance of product safety and is a stark reminder that dangerous products can kill.

'Businesses that import and sell goods in the UK have a responsibility to ensure products comply with the law, and they should be aware of the tragic consequences of cutting corners, as well as the severe penalties they face if they fail to take these responsibilities seriously.

'This case also demonstrates how Trading Standards teams play a vital role in keeping the public safe - the actions of Islington Trading Standards undoubtedly prevented further loss of life, and it is important that Trading Standards and Legal services are properly resourced so this type of important work can continue.'
A British national has died while in Ukraine, the Foreign Office has confirmed.

The identity of the individual is not yet known, but their family has been informed.

They are the eighth British person to die in Ukraine since the conflict began last February.

A Foreign Office spokesperson said: 'We are supporting the family of a British national who died in Ukraine, and are in contact with the local authorities'.

The UK Government continues to advise against all travel to Ukraine, amid the ongoing invasion by Russia.

Pictured: Ukrainian servicemen walk past a destroyed building in Kupiansk, Kharkiv region

Since the war began in February last year, numerous individuals have travelled from the UK - with some taking part in fighting against Russian forces while others engage in volunteering and aid work.

The dead person is a man, according to the BBC, but further details remain unconfirmed.

In January, British nationals Andrew Bagshaw and Christopher Parry were killed in eastern Ukraine while attempting a 'humanitarian evacuation' after going missing near the town of Soledar in Donetsk.

Mr Bagshaw's family said in a statement the men's car was hit by an artillery shell while attempting to rescue an elderly woman.

The men's bodies were returned to Britain as part of a prisoner swap of 179 prisoners between Ukraine and Russia, returning 116 Ukrainians and 63 Russian prisoner of wars back to their respective countries.

British nationals Andrew Bagshaw (right) and Christopher Parry (left) were killed in eastern Ukraine while attempting a 'humanitarian evacuation'

In a statement issued by the UK Foreign Office last month, Mr Parry's family said his 'selfless determination in helping the old, young and disadvantaged' in Ukraine had made them 'extremely proud'.

'We never imagined we would be saying goodbye to Chris when he had such a full life ahead of him. He was a caring son, fantastic brother, a best friend to so many and a loving partner to Olga,' they said.

They added that Mr Parry, originally from Truro in Cornwall, 'found himself drawn to Ukraine in March in its darkest hour at the start of the Russian invasion and helped those most in need, saving over 400 lives plus many abandoned animals.'

Scientific researcher Mr Bagshaw was a British national but lived in New Zealand.

His family said: 'Andrew selflessly took many personal risks and saved many lives; we love him and are very proud indeed of what he did.

'The world needs to be strong and stand with Ukraine, giving them the military support they need now, and help to rebuild their shattered country after the war.'

In November, father-of-two Simon Lingard died after travelling to fight in Ukraine.

Lingard, known as 'Grimmy' and described by friends as a 'warrior', is believed to have been fighting alongside Ukrainian troops on the front line for months following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February.

Soldiers Jordan Gatley, 24, was shot dead in the city of Severodonetsk in eastern Ukraine in June while Scott Sibley, 36, died in southern Ukraine in April after a drone dropped mortars on his regiment.

Medics Craig Mackintosh and Paul Urey were killed in the summer while volunteering in Ukraine.

Volunteer soldier 36-year-old Scott Sibley (pictured) was killed fighting Russian troops in April

The death comes as the British government announced a national one-minute silence to be held on Friday February 24, which will mark the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion on Ukraine.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is expected to lead a one-minute silence at 11am and the governmentsaid it encourages individuals and organisations across Britain to participate.

February 24 marks the start of what Russia has called a 'special military operation' in Ukraine, an ongoing conflict which has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced millions of Ukrainians.

Sunak said in a statement: 'As we approach the anniversary of Russia's barbaric and deplorable invasion of Ukraine, as a nation we pay tribute to the incredible bravery and resilience of the Ukrainian people.

'Russia's unjustifiable attack brought war and destruction to our continent once again, and it has forced millions from their homes and devastated families across Ukraine and Russia.'
A teenage attacker wearing an all-black SS-style Nazi uniform complete with a swastika armband was arrested after hurling homemade molotov cocktails filled with nails at a packed school in Brazil.

Two of the bombs - filled with petrol, nails, and ball bearings - exploded at the attacker's former school in the small city of Monte Mor about 75 miles northwest of Sao Paulo yesterday morning.

After the 17-year-old bomber's attack, hundreds of terrified students from Prof. Antonio Sproesser State School were evacuated from the building, local media reported.

Police arrested the teen - who was was carrying an axe and also had a replica assault rifle in his car - after responding minutes after reports came in.

The jackboot-wearing suspect had left two undetonated bombs behind at the scene.

A 17-year-old attacker (pictured) wearing an all-black SS-style Nazi uniform complete with a swastika armband was arrested after hurling homemade molotov cocktails filled with nails at a pack school in Brazil

Two of the bombs - filled with petrol, nails, and ball bearings - exploded at the school in the small city of Monte Mor about 75 miles northwest of Sao Paulo yesterday morning

Bottles that were seized by police after the teenager in Brazil threw homemade bombs

Police also confiscated a notebook with Nazi insignia and a letter detailing his desire to attack the school, local media reported.

Chilling CCTV footage of the attack shows the suspect - not named by police - lobbing a bomb into the school grounds from the street.

A second clip shows him striding down the road with a black axe in his hand.

Police also released footage of thick smoke filling the school corridors as pupils are evacuated.

Inspector Denival Santana of the Municipal Civil Guard said: 'There was some uproar, the children were scared, a thunderous noise, but everything was calmed down with the arrival of firefighters and, later, support from the Military Police.'

Chilling CCTV footage of the attack shows the suspect - not named by police - lobbing a bomb into the school grounds from the street

Smoke from the homemade bombs forces students to flee the school in Brazil

Police officer shows items that were seized by police, undated. A 17-year-old was throwing homemade bombs at a school, in Monte Mor, Brazil

Items that were seized by police including a swastika armband and a black axe

The inspector added that when the teenager was arrested, 'he didn't show any reaction' and 'he didn't give us any information, anything that could help'.

A city government spokesperson said: 'There were no injuries and the individual was captured and taken to the police station.'
Ron DeSantis isn't ready to reveal whether or not he's wading into the waters of 2024, dismissing a reporter's question on the matter with a laugh during a press conference Tuesday.

The shrug-off comes the same day former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley announced her candidacy for president  becoming the first official major challenger against ex-President Donald Trump.

Dozens are rumored to be considering entering the 2024 Republican primary race for the White House, but Florida Governor DeSantis is likely the most popular.

'Nikki Haley announced her presidential run today, do you plan on following suit?' a reporter asked DeSantis, who is widely considered the best chance to beat Trump.

'Wouldn't you like to know?' the governor quipped with a laugh before moving onto the next question.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis laughed off a question Tuesday on whether he will join jump into the field of 2024 Republicans running in the presidential primary after Nikki Haley officially announced her candidacy on Tuesday

Former South Carolina Governor and Trump-era Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley officially announced in a video posted Tuesday morning that she is running for president in 2024

It's the closest the governor has come to speaking publicly about the prospect of running in the next election, insisting when questions are asked that he's currently focused on doing the best job possible in the Sunshine State.

Haley's announcement was dismissed by Trump's team, who deemed her 'just another career politician.'

So far, Trump and Haley are the only two major candidates in the GOP primary race.

Trump said earlier this month that if DeSantis runs against him in 2024 it would be very 'disloyal' because the former president was the one who was able to use his coattails to launch the Florida governor to national prominence and help him win his first gubernatorial race in 2018.

The ex-president has already started employing a series of attacks against DeSantis, especially after several polls showed him losing to the governor.

He has dubbed Florida's beloved leader as 'Ron DeSanctimonious' and has called him a globalist as well as a RINO, or Republican in Name Only.

DeSantis, however, has refused to engage in the attacks.

During a press conference last week, DeSantis told reporters that he wants to focus his tracks on Biden and Democrats instead of in-house fighting with other Republicans.

'I spend my time delivering results for the people of Florida and fighting against Joe Biden,' DeSantis said. 'That's how I spend my time.'

'I don't spend my time trying to smear other Republicans,' he quipped.

Haley officially announced Tuesday morning that she is running for president in 2024, becoming Trump's first major challenger in the Republican primary.

Trump's campaign responded with a statement Tuesday claiming Haley is 'just another career politician.'

'She started out as a Never Trumper before resigning to serve in the Trump admin,' Taylor Budowich, head of Make America Great Again Inc., said in a statement. 'She then resigned early to go rake in money on corporate boards. Now, she's telling us she represents a 'new generation.''

'Sure just looks like more of the same, a career politician whose only fulfilled commitment is to herself,' he concluded.

Other Republicans seem more pleased with her entrance into the field.

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, who stood beside Trump during remarks at a campaign stop in the state earlier this month, told DailyMail.com that she will be a 'good candidate'

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said during his press conference Tuesday that the field is already proving that it will be highly competitive.

''Well, what I think we're gonna have is a vigorous primary with a number of candidates making their case and the American people, those who are registered Republicans who are going to participate in these primaries, are going to decide who they want to nominate,' McConnell said, remaining largely diplomatic, as always.

'And I think it's going to be very, very competitive,' the Kentucky senator added. 'We'll hope for the best and obviously I'm gonna support whoever they nominate.'

Trump's team called Haley 'just another career politician' in a statement on her candidacy. Haley was the first Indian American member of a presidential cabinet. Pictured: Haley and Trump shake hands after the ex-president accepted her resignation in October 2018, she stepped down from her post as U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. two months later

Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, is married to William Michael Haley (center left), who is a commissioned officer in the South Carolina Army National Guard. The two share a daughter, Rena (left), and son, Nalin (right)

Haley, a mother-of-two and former Ambassador to the United Nations under Trump, released a video on Tuesday morning saying: 'It's time for a new generation of leadership. I'm Nikki Haley, and I'm running for president.'

The former South Carolina governor, 51, discussed growing up in a racially-segregated town and says: 'I was the proud daughter of Indian immigrants  not black, not white. I was different.'

Haley, who will hold her first campaign event in Charleston on Wednesday, rejects suggestions America is inherently 'wrong' or 'racist' because of its history.

'Some look at our past as evidence that America's founding principles are bad,' Haley noted. 'They say the promise of freedom is just made up. Some think our ideas are not just wrong, but racist and evil. Nothing could be further from the truth.'

Haley enters the race as an underdog - with Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis leading in Republican polls - but can now start garnering support for the battle for the Oval Office.

If she manages an upset, she will be the first Asian-American to lead the GOP White House ticket.

By announcing her candidacy so early, Haley has a crack at building support early in some states key to clinching a nomination, like Iowa, New Hampshire and her home state of South Carolina  all early primary contest states.

While no other major candidates have officially launched their 2024 campaigns, there are dozens that have either spoken on their intent and others rumored to be considering a bid.

Haley could even see challenges from within her own state as South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, who is the only black Republican in the upper chamber, considers a bid of his own.

In her video, Haley slammed Biden's leadership as 'abysmal,' adding: 'Washington establishment has failed us over and over and over again.

'Republicans have lost the popular vote in seven out of the last eight presidential elections. That has to change.'

And she warned of the rising threat from China and Russia, saying: 'They all think we can be bullied, kicked. You should know this about me: I dont put up with bullies. And when you kick back, it hurts them more if youre wearing heels.'

Just moments after Haley released the video announcing her candidacy, Trump posted to his Truth Social account bragging about beating Republicans and President Joe Biden in recent polling on the 2024 presidential election.

He claimed that Biden and RINOs  or Republicans in Name Only  are trying to 'damage' him through legal battles so he doesn't win a second term in the White House, but warned it would not work.

Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, grew up in Bamberg, South Carolina, and became the first woman and person of Asian heritage to serve as governor of the state

'Doing great in poll numbers,' Trump lauded in his Truth post. 'Leading all Republicans by a lot, also leading Biden by a very wide margin, which means that our weaponized Injustice Department, local D.A.'s, and Attorney Generals, will step up their illegal and unprecedented attacks in order to disparage me with false 'bull.' and statements in the hope that I will be damaged enough to allow a RINO, or Biden, to 'slip through the cracks.'

'But be careful,' he warned, 'the American people get it, and don't like what they are seeing. MAGA!!!'

Haley was in Trump's administration as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations for nearly two years  from January 2017 until December 2018.

A poll from Yahoo News/YouGov last week shows that Haley is in a distant third place when thrown into a hypothetical primary contest with Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis  who has not announced a bid but is highly popular among GOP voters.

The former president would win in a three-way election with 38 percent of the vote. Meanwhile, DeSantis would earn 35 percent and Haley would earn only 11 percent.

While not earning enough to win, Haley's consideration in the race could serve as a spoiler for DeSantis against Trump, according to the poll.

The Democratic National Committee immediately pounced on Haley's announcement, claiming it is proof that the Republican primary is going to get 'messy,'

'Nikki Haley served in Donald Trump's administration, has embraced the most extreme elements of the MAGA agenda and couldn't even identify a single policy difference between herself and Trump,' DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison wrote in a statement following the video release.

'Haley's entrance officially kicks off a messy 2024 primary race for the MAGA base that has long been brewing,' he added.

'Everyone get your popcorn.'
Britain's longest-serving female prisoner - behind bars for 35-years for stabbing a love rival in 1986 - could finally be freed.

Maria Pearson, now 66, will be told within weeks if she is to be released from jail for the jealousy-fuelled murder of Janet Newton.

The mother-of-three plunged a sheath knife 17 times into building society worker Janet after stalking her in the street in Hartlepool.

She was found guilty of murder in 1987 and was given a mandatory life sentence and was ordered to serve a minimum 12-years before being considered for parole.

The killer, aged 31 when she was caged, has served an extra 23-years past her minimum term.

Maria Pearson (pictured) was found guilty of murder in 1987 and ordered to serve a minimum 12-years before being considered for parole

Pearson plunged a sheath knife 17 times into building society worker Janet Newton (pictured) after stalking her in the street in Hartlepool

She has now served just one year less than that served by infamous child killer Myra Hindley before her death in 2002.

Hindley, 'the most evil woman in Britain', was never released for her part in the depraved and sadistic Moors murders between 1963 and 1965 when five children were slaughtered.

A Parole Board hearing was held on the 17th January 2023 for Pearson , but extra checks were ordered and it was adjourned.

These include psychiatric reports, the views of jail officials and plans to manage Pearson in the community.

Officials want to be sure that Pearson is no danger to society if she is recommended for release.

A source said: 'Maria is the prison system's forgotten inmate.

'When jailed, Three Men and a Baby was the biggest movie of the year and Rick Astley was Number One.

Maria vows she is reformed, but nobody on the Parole Board wants to make a mistake.

'They are being extra cautious.'

The savage slaying shocked the nation when it emerged Pearson had cold-bloodedly hunted down Janet.

Teeside Crown Court was told the knife penetrated 23 year-old Janet's heart and she was left lying in a pool of blood in Grange Road, Hartlepool.

It happened two days after Janet and Pearson's ex-lover became engaged.

Pearson was found guilty of murder in 1987 and ordered to serve a minimum 12-years before being considered for parole

Pearson, from Hartlepool, had married welder Malcolm Pearson bigamously in 1986 - days after the birth of their daughter Rachel.

Her 'doomed' relationship with Malcolm Pearson was 'intense and stormy' and their baby was taken into care after a serious incident at their home.

After the Pearsons split, Maria's ex got together with Janet.

Consumed by jealousy, Maria stalked her rival, abused her in the street and even sent hate letters to Janet's mum just three days before the attack.

In 2006 the then Home Secretary, John Reid, rejected a Parole Board recommendation for Pearson to be moved to an open prison and prepared for release.

At the time, Pearson said the decision was 'irrational' and 'politically motivated' as a response to public calls for murderers to serve longer sentences.

But the judge said the killer was still 'in denial' showing limited sympathy for her victim.

A previous stint in an open jail, in 2004, had ended in failure after just three months when Pearson was accused of intimidation and bullying and sent back to a closed prison.

The Home Secretary said there were still major concerns over Pearson's history of 'manipulating' prison staff to achieve her own ends.

She had shown a negative attitude to authority and an unresponsiveness to treatment and an unwillingness, or inability, to conform.

The judge rejected her claim of 'political motivation.'

Rejecting her claim of 'political motivation', the judge said he could detect no legal flaw in the Secretary of State's decision.

Judge Kay added at London's High Court that, even had she been moved to open conditions, it was a matter of 'pure speculation' whether she would by now have been considered safe enough to release.

Pearson's last review in July 2020 was rejected, partly because of her poor behaviour in prison.

The latest hearing is expected to recommence in 'a few weeks.'

A Parole Board spokesperson said: 'The oral hearing in the case of Maria Pearson has been adjourned.

'Parole reviews are undertaken thoroughly and with extreme care. Protecting the public is our number one priority.'

The Ministry of Justice said it did not know of any female prisoner who had served longer than Pearson.
A married woman accused of decapitating her lover after choking him during drug-fueled sex attacked her lawyer in court on Tuesday.

Taylor Schabusiness, 25, jumped her attorney, Quinn Jolly, at around 8.48am in a Greenbay, Wisconsin courtroom, appearing to strike Jolly's head with her elbow. The lawyer, however, did not seem to suffer any injuries.

The altercation apparently came after a witness failed to show up to testify on Schabusiness' mental state.

She is charged with first degree homicide, mutilating a corpse and third-degree sexual assault after the victim's own mother discovered her son's severed head in a bucket, covered with a towel, in her home.

According to police Schabusiness admitted to giving oral sex and using a sex toy on her victim after he was dead. She has pleaded not guilty by reason of mental illness or defect.

Taylor Schabusiness, 25, is seen attacking her attorney, Quinn Jolly, in court on Tuesday

Schabusiness, pictured in a mugshot last year, is accused of decapitating her lover after choking him during drug-fueled sex

The outburst came during a proceeding to determine whether Schabusiness is fit to stand trial.

Jolly had been expected to introduce testimony from an expert witness in court on Tuesday, but he instead told Judge Thomas Walsh that the witness had not yet completed his report.

The lawyer asked for two more weeks for that testimony to take place.

Walsh reluctantly agreed to postpone the trial, originally set for March 6, FOX 6 reports, and had suggested a May 15 trial instead.

That is when Schabusiness was caught on camera attacking Jolly.

Video from the Greenbay courtroom showed Schabusiness launching out of her seat trying to grab at Jolly's arm before apparently striking him in the head.

A Brown County sheriff's officer quickly sprang into action and tackled Schabusiness to the ground, struggling to keep her down as she tried to squirm out of his grasp.

'Stop,' the officer kept telling Schabusiness as she tried to kick herself free, and wrapped her foot around a cord connected to his utility belt.

About a minute later, the Green Bay Press Gazette reports, a court employee told people at the hearing to clear the courtroom, which was about a quarter full with media, other attorneys and a supporter of Schabusiness.

Schabusiness is pictured returning to a Brown County courtroom on Tuesday

She sat next to her attorney, Quinn Jolly, during the court hearing before violently attacking him

Three sheriff's deputies were eventually able to get Schabusiness to calm down, and sit her against a door

In the meantime, two other sheriff's deputies could be seen arriving to tackle the 25-year-old, trying to speak to her calmly.

A woman supporting Schabusiness also tried to calm the defendant down, according to the Gazette.

Together, they were able to get Schabusiness to calm down and sit her up against a door before leading her out.

When court finally resumed about 10 minutes after the attack, Jolly informed a judge on the case he planned to file a motion asking to be removed as Schabusiness' lawyer.

The question of Schabusiness' fitness to stand trial has been a central issue of her court proceedings

Shad Rock Thryion's head was severed and left in a bucket for his mother to find

The question of Schabusiness' fitness to stand trial has been a central issue of her court proceedings since she was arrested last year.

An expert hired by the court had testified that she was capable of assisting in her own defense, but an expert hired by the defense raised doubt. He did not, however, venture an opinion on whether it would be fair for Schabusiness to stand trial.

If found competent, the trial will proceed as scheduled. But if she is found not competent to stand trial, the case will be put on hold as she receives additional psychiatric treatment.

Damn, the head. I can't believe I left the head Accused killer Taylor Schabusiness

Schabusiness was arrested last year, after Shad Rock Thyrion's mother found his severed head in a bucket in her basement.

Police records show Tara Pakanich, 47, called authorities to her home in Green Bay's west side shortly after 3am on February 23.

She said she was woken by the storm door slamming and the sound of a vehicle driving away. She then noticed that the basement light was on and went to see if her son was there, assuming that it was Schabusiness  with whom Thyrion had spent the day  that she had heard leaving.

According to the criminal complaint  which refers to her only by her initials  'TP went into the basement and did not see anyone, so she started to walk back up the stairs, and that was when she noticed a bucket next to the bottom of the stairs.

'TP stated she removed a blanket that was over the bucket, and she discovered the head of the Victim,' the complaint, obtained by DailyMail.com, said.

Thyrion's mother told police that Schabusiness had picked her son up around 9.30pm on February 21, which was when she last saw him alive.

Pakanich and her boyfriend were out for much of the following day, and she did not hear her son and Schabusiness return, but she believed they had spent the day in the basement as she heard Schabusiness' voice.

Arriving on the scene, Green Bay Police Officer Alex Wanish reported how he had 'observed the plastic bucket on the floor...[with] a shower/beach towel over the bucket.' The officer 'lifted the towel and observed a human head inside the bucket.'

He also noted 'what appeared to be dried blood on a nearby mattress.'

It didn't take long for police to catch up to Schabusiness. They found her with blood still on her sweatshirt and sweatpants, scratches on her arms, a cut on her left thumb and what appeared to be blood on her hands.

Police were called to the home on Stony Brook Lane in Green Bay around 3:25am on February 23 after the victim's mother stumbled upon the bucket in her basement

Officers found the knives Schabusiness allegedly used in baggies with her victim's organs

Schabusiness, who has a husband, Warren, and had recently become a mother to a son, Mateo, admitted that she knew Thyrion. The pair were also Facebook friends.

She claimed that they had been doing drugs  including smoking methamphetamine  earlier in the day. She said she had also shot herself and Thyrion up with Trazadone, a powerful sedative.

Police recovered evidence of drug-taking, including a glass pipe and bag containing light colored powder, from the scene.

When told by detectives that police had found Thyrion's head in a bucket Schabusiness responded, 'that is pretty f***d up.' And when asked what had happened in the basement she replied, 'that is a good question' and initially claimed to have blacked out.

Schabusiness who has a husband, Warren (pictured together), and recently became a mother to son, Mateo, admitted that she knew Thyrion

She allegedly went on to tell police that she and Thyrion had been going to have sex and that he had produced two metal chains, one for him and one for her. She said he put his chain around his own neck as strangulation was something they had used during intercourse before.

According to the complaint Schabusiness then suddenly blurted out, 'Damn the head. I can't believe I left the head though' before telling officers they were 'going to have fun trying to find all of the organs as she had dismembered the body.'

She told them that most of the body parts were in the basement but that 'there should be a foot or a leg' in her minivan.

Remaining calm, Schabusiness allegedly told detectives that after Thyrion put the chain around his neck  which she compared to a dog choke collar  she just went 'crazy' strangling him.

She said that she could feel his heart beating, 'so she kept pulling and choking him harder,' claiming that he would not die as he just kept 'rebuilding into muscle.'

The woman then told how she sat on top of him, choking him while he lay face down on the bed and how she watched as he coughed up blood and 'waited for him to die.'

At some point, she admitted, she knew that he was dead as his face was purple and blood was coming from his mouth. Still, she told detectives, that she was 'already this far' so she did not stop.

At one point, the criminal complaint says, Schabusiness recalled in a lower tone of voice, 'Ya, I liked it' when referring to choking her victim.

Asked what she did once she realized he was dead, Schabusiness stated that she had 'played' with Thyrion's body.

The complaint reads, 'Schabusiness stated she sucked the Victim's penis, that she had a dildo that she put in the Victim's mouth and then in the Victim's ***.'

She said that Thyrion had fought back as she strangled him and went on to tell detectives that she had decapitated and dismembered him with knives taken from Thyrion's mother's kitchen.

She told them they would find the knives she had used in the same black bags as she had put the body parts into. Ultimately, she said, she had favored a bread knife because the serrated edge made it more effective for the grizzly task.

A criminal complaint says the mother-of-one admitted to the grizzly beheading and dismemberment

Thyrion's penis was found in the same bucket as his head while other body parts were found in a variety of bags in the basement including plastic shopping bags

Thyrion's penis was found in the same bucket as his head while other body parts were found in a variety of bags in the basement including plastic shopping bags. His upper torso was found in a storage tote along with a carving knife and several internal organs.

His legs and other body parts were found in a crockpot box on top of a laundry basket of clothes in the rear passenger seat of her minivan.

Schabusiness told detectives that she had planned to take all the body parts with her when she left in her minivan but that she had 'got lazy' and was ill-prepared because the murder was random and not planned.

Asked if she thought that what she had done was the right thing to do Schabusiness commented that she 'did it anyway.'

Schabusiness remains in custody as hearings into her ability to stand trial continue. She faces life in prison if convicted.
A six-year-old Giraffe tragically has died at an upstate New York Zoo after its long neck got stuck inside an enclosure gate.

The beloved giraffe Parker was found unresponsive on Sunday morning with his six-foot neck trapped in the gate at the Seneca Park Zoo in Rochester.

Veterinary crews were called to revive Parker but were unsuccessful.

'The possibility of this kind of event happening was unforeseen and unprecedented,' Zoo Superintendent Steve Lacy wrote in a grieving statement.

Zoo officials claimed the enclosure was installed in 2018 and is a replica of other gates around the US.

Parker (pictured) was found unresponsive on Sunday morning with his six-foot neck trapped in the gate at the Seneca Park Zoo in Rochester

He shared an enclosure with two female giraffes Kipenzi and Iggy. Parker (rigth) later became a father to Olmsted who was born in April 2022

Veterinary crews were called to revive Parker (pictured) but were unsuccessful. Zoo officials said he fractured his neck

Parker the curious and playful giraffe arrived in The Empire State from Santa Barbara in 2018.

He shared an enclosure with two female giraffes Kipenzi and Iggy. Parker later became a father to Olmsted who was born in April 2022, according to the zoo.

'Our priority is the health and wellbeing of our animals and any major event can certainly affect them,' Seneca Park Zoo Veterinarian Chris McKinney wrote.

'So far, all three giraffes, Iggy, Kipenzie, and Olmsted, are doing well. We will continue to monitor them closely in the coming days.'

The giraffe's tragic death led to the zoo to remain close until Monday. Grief counselors are also available to staff throughout the week.

The giraffe's tragic death led to the zoo to remain close until Monday

The zoo suffered the loss of another giraffe in July 2022. Parkers second son, who wasn't named, died three weeks after he was born.

The baby giraffe was born with abnormalities and was later euthanized.

Zoo officials launched a fundraiser in memory of Parker that will go toward the Giraffe Conservation Foundation.

As of Tuesday, about $300 had been raised.
Alex Murdaugh today burst out laughing as his family's kennel caretaker testified in his double murder trial.

Roger Dale Davis told jurors he cleaned the kennels on the day Maggie, 52, and Paul, 22, were killed at the hunting estate in South Carolina's Lowcountry on June 7, 2021.

Davis sparked laughter in the court when he described how he went home that evening and lay in his recliner for the rest of the night, as he usually would. The prosecutor asked: 'And the day is done?'

'Done,' Davis replied emphatically, prompting chuckles, including from Alex, 54, who Tuesday morning had been sobbing into a tissue as the jury heard gruesome testimony from the pathologist about the horrific injuries Maggie and Paul sustained.

The caretaker earlier told the court how he had once shot an injured dog as a 'mercy' because the legal scion could not bring himself to do it.

Alex Murdaugh smiles at parts of the testimony of Roger Dale Davis, who took care of the dogs at Murdaugh's home, during his double murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse on Tuesday

Murdaugh earlier Tuesday sobbed into a tissue as the jury heard gruesome testimony from the pathologist about the horrific injuries Maggie and Paul sustained

Davis sparked laughter in the court when he said how he went home that evening and lay in his recliner for the rest of the night, as he usually would. The prosecutor asked: 'And the day is done?' 'Done,' Davis replied emphatically

The State claims Murdaugh killed his wife and son to distract from his financial crimes. He embezzled millions from his law firm and was facing a lawsuit over his son Paul's drunken boat crash.

Murdaugh pleaded not guilty in June, and the defense argue their client was a 'loving' husband and father who could have never have committed such a gruesome crime.

Much of Davis' testimony focused on his usual cleaning routine at the kennels. He was shown photographs of the crime scene and looked at the hose, which he said he would have never left that way.

Jurors have heard evidence that Paul and Maggie's bodies were saturated with water as well as blood when cops arrived - despite the fact it had not yet rained.

On the day of the killings, Davis said he cleaned the kennels in the afternoon before leaving at 4.30pm.

The prosecutor showed him photographs of the crime scene that night, including pools of water on the kennel floor and the hose.

Davis testified that he never left the hose as it appeared in the photos.

He also said that water would not have still been pooled at the kennels since he cleaned them, that somebody else must have hosed them down again.

However, the suggestion that Murdaugh had used the hose after the shootings was dashed by defense attorney Jim Griffin.

He played a video taken by Paul at the kennels at around 8.45pm in which the hose can be seen not put away in the neat way described by Davis.

When asked about the footage by the prosecution Davis confirmed he could hear the voices of Alex, Paul and Maggie in the background.

Alex had previously claimed he was never at the kennels that night and only arrived there after Maggie and Paul were killed.

The prosecutor showed him photographs of the crime scene that night, including pools of water on the kennel floor and the hose. Davis testified that he never left the hose as it appeared in the photos. He also said that water would not have still been pooled at the kennels since he cleaned them, that somebody else must have hosed them down again

Pools of water at the crime scene which Davis said could not have come from when he hosed the kennels down at around 4pm that day. Police showed up at the estate after 10pm

Davis testified he grew to know the Murdaughs well in his time working at the estate.

He described Maggie as 'so laid back' and that they would often chat about the dogs.

Davis described Paul was 'a little wild and crazy' but that he would work on the land and 'do whatever his daddy needed him do'.

He said Alex wasn't around much, he was often at work, but he found that he could be 'very particular' about how he wanted things to be done.

Davis described the Murdaughs relationship as 'lovey-dovey'.

'I never saw that man even raise his voice at his wife and kids,' he said. 'Anything she wanted, or the boys wanted, he would try to get it for them.'

Murdaugh liked to spend time hunting and drinking beer with Paul, Davis said.

The caretaker said he did not see Buster as much but he always seemed friendly with his father.

Buster, Maggie, Paul and Alex Murdaugh. Buster was staying with his girlfriend near Charlotte at the time of the murders

Buster arrives at court Tuesday with his girlfriend Brooklynn White (pink shirt) and Alex's sister Lynn behind him
A national state of emergency has been declared in New Zealand after widespread damage from Cyclone Gabrielle, the country's worst storm in generations.

Emergency Management Minister Kieran McAnulty made the declaration at 8.43am on Tuesday as Kiwis woke to flooding, power loss, road closures and phone network outages from the massive storm.

Thousands of people have been evacuated across the country, at least 225,000 were without power, and fears are held for the lives of several New Zealanders.

And still, the full extent of Cyclone Gabrielle's wrath is unclear, with some isolated communities - including Wairoa and towns in Tairawhiti - unable to be reached by land, sea or air, or communicated with.

'We don't have a full understanding of the impact there. And that makes us feel anxious,' Mr McAnulty said.

An aerial photo taken on February 14 shows flooding caused by Cyclone Gabrielle in Awatoto, near the city of Napier

A helicopter from the HMNZS Te Mana locates a yacht in distress in the Hauraki Gulf off New Zealand's North Island with a solo sailor on board on Tuesday

What is known is that much of the Hawke's Bay is under water, with rescues by police boat and helicopter taking place when weather allowed on Tuesday.

'I've been in the region over 20 years and this is by far the biggest (storm) ... people have not seen a storm like this. It's a very, very significant event,' Hawke's Bay civil defence spokesman Ian Maxwell told Radio NZ.

It is just the third time a national declaration has been issued, after the 2011 Christchurch earthquakes and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The storm is New Zealand's worst since 1988, and the damage may surpass the devastation of Cyclone Bola in that year.

'It's the most extreme weather event that we've experienced in a very long time,' Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said.

'Our focus right now is on the immediate response. It's on making sure that people have a roof over their head. That they have a meal. That their families are well cared for.'

The cyclone, which formed in the Coral Sea last week, moved steadily towards New Zealand and passed along the northern rim of North Island between Sunday and Tuesday.

New Zealand declared its third state of emergency in its history after being hit by Cyclone Gabrielle. This map shows the path the storm has taken

By 7pm local, it was east of the NZ mainland, but its massive size continued to whip up destructive winds all across North Island.

MetService spokeswoman Lisa Murray told Radio NZ huge rainfall and gale-force winds meant 'there's a lot of places in trouble'.

'It really is widespread across the North Island.'

Late on Tuesday, a person was found dead on the beach at Bay View, north of Napier, in one of the hardest-hit areas.

The death is yet to be connected to the storm.

Grave fears are also held for a volunteer firefighter who was inside a house when it collapsed in Muriwai, west of Auckland, on Tuesday morning.

The navy is also searching for two boats in waters north of Auckland.

This handout photo taken and released on February 14, 2023 by the New Zealand Defence Force shows the rescue of a sailor from a catamaran near the Northland city of Whangarei

News outlet Stuff reported people were trapped in cars along the flooded State Highway 5 between Napier and Taupo, where communications are patchy.

Around a dozen seasonal workers from Tonga were trapped on top of buildings all day when floodwaters rose near Hastings.

Landslips, treefall and flooding have deeply impacted infrastructure, with power transmission agency Transpower said it was facing a 'grid emergency' with some outages to last 'days to weeks'.

High winds have also forced mass-scale flight cancellations, displacing tens of thousands.

Transport authority Waka Kotahi reports more than 40 road closures, including State Highway 1 in several places and key arterial roads in the Coromandel and East Coast.

Fire and Emergency NZ reported 1842 storm-related emergency calls, but others are unable to communicate, with hundreds of mobile phone towers knocked out.

On top of physical damage to property and livelihood, Mr Hipkins said he expected a serious mental health toll from NZ's latest disaster.

'If you think about the last sort of decade and a half or so, we've had everything from earthquakes, natural disasters, volcanic eruptions, weather events. It is a lot,' he said.

'We've dealt with everything.'

The storm prompted parties to cancel the first week of parliament for the year, allowing the government to focus on the storm and for MPs to be in their communities.

And the wild weather is far from over, with the South Island also now in the firing line.

The Waiohiki bridge on the Tutaekuri River is washed away and houses flooded on February 14 in Napier, New Zealand

Boat was the only way of getting through Napier's flooded streets. Pictured are surf lifesavers checking on residents stranded by floodwaters

In flood-stricken Napier, residents were ordered to 'evacuate immediately' to higher ground before flooding worsened after its second wettest February day on record.

The alert came too late for many residents as surf lifesavers spent the day paddling through flooded streets to check on stranded locals.

Residents in central Whangarei were also forced to flee as a landslide risk threatens their homes after the city's wettest February day on record.

Helicopter and boat crews were deployed to rescue residents stranded on rooftops in Hawke's Bay, trapped by rapidly rising floodwaters.

In Muriwai, a coastal town west of Auckland, a volunteer firefighter and local vet is missing while another is in critical condition after a home collapsed under a landslide.

It's Auckland's second flood emergency within weeks with the city recording 55 per cent of its average annual rainfall in 45 days.

A resident wades through a muddy street in Muriwai, where a landslide is threatening homes

Water was seen gushing from a storm drain access port in Te Awanga, south-east of Auckland
President Joe Biden addressed the shooter who killed three students and injured five on the Michigan State University campus, and renewed his call for an assault weapons ban.

'Our hearts are with the students and families of Michigan State University,' Biden said during remarks in Washington at a conference of the National Association of Counties.

It was just the latest horrific outburst of gun violence in recent years, and Biden called to 'do something' to deal with the issue.

'We have to do something to stop gun violence ripping apart our communities,' the president said.

President Joe Biden addressed the latest mass shooting during remarks in Washington Tuesday, after a gunman killed three students at Michigan State University

People leave flowers, mourn and pray at a makeshift memorial at the Spartan statue on the campus Michigan State University on February 14, 2023 in East Lansing, Michigan. A gunman opened fire at two locations on the campus last night killing three students and injuring several others. Biden called on Congress to 'do something' and renewed his call for an assault weapons ban

Biden spoke to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Monday night, and said federal law enforcement was on the ground assisting state and local authorities.

'Its a familys worst nightmare,' said Biden. 'Its happening far too often in this country.'

Biden also marked the anniversary of the killings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, although White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to say whether he planned to make a formal speech dedicated to the topic.

'Today marks five years to the day that 14 students and 3 educators lost their lives in Parkland, Florida,' Biden said. 'A lot of you here have to confront violence in your communities every single day, he told the county officials.

He mentioned legislation he signed last year which he called 'the most significant gun safety legislation in 30 years.'

Then he prefaced his comments by saying he would say something 'controversial.'

'There is no rationale for assault weapons and magazines that hold 50, 70 bullets,' he said, to cheers and sustained applause from the crowd in the Washington Hilton hotel.

On another topic, Biden said he had lunch Tuesday with Vice President Kamala Harris, although it wasn't listed on either of their public schedules.

He said he keeps 'little notecards about what I think we have to do,' and took one out with a proposal.

'And I said: We have to pass legislation on the damaging technology thats having an effect on our kids. Weve got to change the way that the Internet works and the way people use our children,' he said.

It was a likely reference legislation he touted during his State of the Union address, when he told lawmakers: 'And its time to pass bipartisan legislation to stop Big Tech from collecting personal data on kids and teenagers online, ban targeted advertising to children, and impose stricter limits on the personal data that companies collect on all of us.'

The Biden administration wants Congress to pass 'legislation to stop Big Tech from collecting personal data on kids and teenagers online and ban targeted advertising to children'

Some members of Congres want 16 as the minimum age for kids to access social media

Biden, who got his political start in county government, also talked about the looming fight over the debt limit with House Republicans.

'I believe we can be fiscally responsible without threatening to send our country into chaos,' he said.

'They want to extend the Trump tax cuts on the previous four years, which cost $2.7 trillion to the deficit  extended,' he said of House Republicans. 'And guess who gets it? You all dont, he said.

Biden touted his upcoming budget, to be released a bit late March 9. 'Well cut the deficit by another 2 trillion in the next 10 years, and Ill lay it out in detail,' he said.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) issued her own statement on Parkland, calling on Republicans to join in both reinstating the Assault Weapons Ban and in 'enacting universal background checks.'
Ventura eventually wrestled the knife out of his hands and chased him out of the store, telling him she'd kill him if he came back

The man, who is still at large, had purchased deodorant just five minutes prior but returned to the store after watching a man complete a large money transfer

This is the dramatic moment a 26-year-old minimarket cashier grabbed the knife out of her attacker's hands and chased him out of the store.

Sayda Ventura was the sole employee working at Amaya's Mini Market in Westlake, Los Angeles, on February 9 when a man walked behind the counter and held a carving knife to her stomach.

Ventura, a college student studying to be a nursing assistant, said the man bought deodorant and had paid her for it, but lingered when he saw a man make a large cash wire transfer just moments before.

'He wanted to get all the money because it was a huge amount of money we were transferring,' owner Rene Amaya told ABC 7.

Five minutes later, he returned to the store with a knife inside a plastic bag and asked Ventura for a product behind the counter. While she appeared to be grabbing it, he walked around the counter and held a knife to her stomach, according to ABC 7.

Sayda Ventura was the sole employee working at Amaya's Mini Market in Westlake, Los Angeles, on February 9 when a man walked behind the counter and held a carving knife to her stomach

She managed to wrestle the knife away from him and chased him out of the store, telling him she'd kill him if he ever came back

'Quiet, don't say nothing,' she recalled to her attacker, who still at large, saying to Fox 11. 'Don't move, because Im killing you if you say something.'

The store is equipped with pepper spray behind the counter, but Ventura didn't have time to grab it. Instead, moments later, surveillance footage catches her swiftly grabbing the knife and screaming at him.

She began to chase him out of the store, cutting the knife up and down through the air as he ran out of the store, cowering away from the weapon.

As he ran out. she said: 'Don't come back in here anymore, because I'll kill you if you come back,' the college student said.

The suspect had been a paying customer just five minutes before, purchasing deodorant. But after watching another customer complete a large wire transfer, he returned to the store with a knife and demanded the money

He told Ventura that he would kill her if she wasn't 'quiet,' she recalled

The whole interaction lasted around 15 seconds and the suspect is still at large

The whole interaction, she said, lasted about 15 seconds. Ventura, who had worked at the store for about a month, sustained cuts on her hands.

After the attacker left, she called her boss Rene Amaya and the surveillance footage picked up on her destressed call as she heavily breathed and nervously told her boss what happened.

Her boss has since called her 'brave' and 'courageous' for her actions.

'It's really scary. I think all people [are] scared when they see knives or a gun or something like that. Its super, super scary to me,' she said.

After calling her boss, she notified police, who are now searching for the man.

'I'm angry at him. I want to find him,' the college student said.
Residents in new housing estate left with sewage issue

Furious residents who moved into a new housing estate are kicking up a stink after the building company that allegedly disrupted their major sewerage line collapsed.

The construction industry downturn claimed another victim on Monday when Perth building company Hamlen Homes, which also trades as Metro Homes WA Pty Ltd, went into voluntary administration.

The company developed Cadence Estate in the south Perth suburb of Southern River, where shattered residents claim they have been left with brand new houses filled with sewage and a hefty $280,000 bill to clean up the mess.

Homeowners claim they're living in third-world conditions due to a badly-built sewer line and major blockages to the system allegedly caused by the builder.

They have already forked out thousands to investigate the blockage and were quoted $280,000 to install a new sewerage system, The West Australian reported.

The collapse of Hamlen Homes has left unfinished works in their newest development Cadence Estate, according to residents. Pictured is a home in the Southern River development

Sewage also overflowed into the stormwater system, which has to be pumped out weekly at the residents' expense.

Homeowners have spent the past two years pleading with the builder to fix the problem but claim the company denied any wrongdoing.

However residents claim they have collated 'thousands of pages' of evidence against the builder, including that the main sewer line is blocked by concrete.

They were about to take the matter to State Administrative Tribunal when they learned Hamlen Homes had gone into administration.

Karen Grigg claimed she and other homeowners have been left with an unfinished estate with incomplete landscaping and communal areas as she described the unpleasant conditions.

She has resorted to using public toilets, having short showers and taking her laundry to work.

'We're living like it's a third-world country ... it's that desperate,' Ms Grigg told the publication.

'We literally have sewage backing up into our homes, coming up in the toilets and showers and everything else when it gets too full. It's running out from the inspection points onto driveways and the road.

'The estate stinks and the smell coming up out of the ground is obnoxious. We've been fighting this for two years and we're at our wits' end.'

Daily Mail Australia has attempted to contact Hamlen Homes for comment.

Cadence Estate residents claim they've been left with a sewage problem after the builder went into administration this week. Pictured is a home in the new housing estate

Residents claim a badly-built sewer line and major blockages to the system were (pictured) allegedly caused by the builder Hamlen Homes

Also experiencing the nightmare ordeal is Ms Griggs' son, who bought a home in the estate alongside his mum.

The City of Gosnells Council said it was aware of blockages to the private sewer lines to the estate and had provided advice and assistance to homeowners regarding possible remedial actions.

Hamlen Homes previously described Cadence Estate in a 2020 YouTube video 'a unique and affordable sanctuary to escape the hustle and bustle of everyday life'.

The company's Facebook page, which remains online, also shows photos newly completed homes and works at the estate 'lovingly developed and built by Hamlen'.

The development is also spruiked in an artist impression video of the estate posted in November 2019.

'Ticks so many boxes: Well located; affordable price point; quality & practical designs; high quality Hamlen builds; attention to detail to ensure we create a legacy for our clients and the community. Perfect for First home buyers, downsizers and investors,' the video is captioned.

Perth building company Hamlen Homes has gone under leaving behind several active builds and a $50million urban village (stock image)

WA Insolvency Solutions has been appointed administrator for Hamlen Homes.

Hamlen Homes had seven staff, including two directors, according to company reports.

All wages are up to date however workers claim they are owed superannuation.

The company allegedly owes $1.4 million to creditors with contractors among those left in the lurch.

'We're out of pocket almost $30,000 and it's a battle,' Nick Duncan from Red Tag Roofing told Nine News.

'I've been in roofing contracting for 30 years and this is the worst it's ever been.'

Hamlen Homes was also approved to develop a $50 million urban village in Perth's East Victoria Park called East & Co before it folded.

The village included 52 individually designed homes with surrounding amenities and attractions within five kilometres of Perth's CBD.

Hamlen Homes was in the middle of building 18 properties- all of which are now in limbo.

Some of those homes have reportedly been under construction for almost two years, prompting a series of complaints from frustrated owners.

They allege that Hamlen Homes rarely responded to their questions, with administrative and sales employees from the firm being the only respondents to emails.

The building company was approved to co-develop a $50million urban village in Perth's East Victoria Park (pictured) called East & Co before its collapse

One client filed legal action against the building company after no progress was made on the construction of their property in four months.

Another man said Hamlen Homes had not worked on his unfinished home since July last year.

In response to a complaint, the firm claimed there was a severe shortage of workers and materials available to complete those projects.

It's understood building regulators received questions over Hamlen Home's financial state in the months leading up to the company's collapse.

Dozens of construction businesses have collapsed across Australia over the past two years due to rising cost of building materials such as timber - exacerbated by the long Russia-Ukraine conflict - and labour shortages.

At least 94 WA businesses went under between 2021 to 2022, according to data from ASIC.
Ohio's Republican Sen. J.D. Vance said he is 'certainly not' satisfied with Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg's handling of the train derailment in East Palestine.

'He's more concerned about racism and white construction workers,' Vance told DailyMail.com.

Explaining what he's looking for out of the Transportation Department, Vance said: 'I'd like to see more investigations. I'd like to see some openness about what the regulatory failure was.'

Buttigieg has said on Twitter his agency is supporting ongoing investigations into the fiery 50-car derailment on February 3, and will work to 'ensure accountability.'

But the 41-year-old Transportation secretary took heat on Monday, during remarks at the National Association of Counties Conference, for failing to address the derailment that spilled toxic chemicals and forced thousands to evacuate their homes.

Ohio 's Republican Sen. J.D. Vance said he is 'certainly not' satisfied with Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg's handling of the train derailment in East Palestine

The toxic train derailed in a fiery crash on February 3, leading authorities to evacuate the surrounding East Palestine, Ohio area

During his remarks, Buttigieg accused construction sites of not hiring workers that look like the communities they're building for.

'We have heard way too many stories from generations past of infrastructure where you got a neighborhood, often a neighborhood of color, that finally sees the project come to them, but everyone in the hard hats on that project, doing the good paying jobs, don't look like they came from anywhere near the neighborhood,' Buttigieg said.

He also praised infrastructure projects in the works throughout the nation, calling it an 'exciting time' as the $1.2trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law pours funds into the transportation sector.

Meanwhile, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre insisted the Environmental Protection Agency is working 'hand in glove' with the state of Ohio. 'The Biden Administration has been in touch with local officials to ensure their needs are being met,' she said.

Later in the evening, Buttigieg put out a tweet about the derailment: 'I continue to be concerned about the impacts of the Feb 3 train derailment near East Palestine, OH, and the effects on families in the ten days since their lives were upended through no fault of their own.'

He said that his department had been supporting an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

'We will look to these investigation results & based on them, use all relevant authorities to ensure accountability and continue to support safety,' he added.

But onlookers had been waiting for the Transportation secretary to address the train derailment in East Palestine, that caused a toxic chemical leak and the evacuation of some 5,000 local residents.

About 50 cars on a Norfolk Southern Railroad train veered off-track while traveling from Illinois to Pennsylvania. The train had been carrying toxins like vinyl chloride, phosgene and hydrogen chloride.

According to the National Cancer Institute, vinyl chloride is associated 'with an increased risk of a rare form of liver cancer (hepatic angiosarcoma), as well as primary liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma), brain and lung cancers, lymphoma, and leukemia.'

Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg tweeted that his agency was working to 'support' investigations of Ohio train derailment that spilled toxic chemicals and forced thousands to evacuate

Smoke billows up from the wreckage of the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio

This photo taken with a drone shows portions of a Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed Friday night in East Palestine, Ohio

Officials carried out a controlled burn of the spillage and evacuated residents within a one-mile radius of the incident.

Residents of the small town along the Pennsylvania-Ohio border were allowed back after tests confirmed the air and water were safe.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said Sunday it had not detected any concerning levels of toxins in the air quality, though the incident raises concerns about lasting ecological damage and dangerous working conditions for railroad employees.

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has said the town's water supply is safe but the spill has resulted in the death of fish. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources estimated some 3,500 fish swimming in contaminated streams died from the incident.

Buttigieg's hesitance to publicly address the matter was pointed out on social media.

'He jokes about balloons while ignoring East Palestine, OH,' former Ohio state Senator Nina Turner, a Democrat, tweeted along with a video of Buttigieg making a reference to the Chinese spy balloon shot down last week over the Atlantic Ocean.

'We deserve better than this,' she added.

'When the topic of racist highways or white construction crews comes up, Secretary @PeteButtigieg is an open book,' David Giglio, a former congressional candidate from California, wrote on Twitter. 'But, when an ecological disaster takes place in Ohio he is MIA.'

Former Rep. Mayra Flores, a Texas Republican, tweeted Monday: 'Silence from the press and the federal government is dereliction of duty to the public. Where is Pete Buttigieg? How will this Ohio train derailment affect our farmers, the nearby population, and our supply chain for Americans?'

In the aftermath of the crash, some rail experts have called on Buttigieg's Transportation Department to reinstitute an Obama-era regulation aimed at expanding the use of electronic braking technology, deemed safer than the widely used braking systems that have been around since the 1800s.

Rail lobbyists had successfully pressed the Trump administration to repeal the 2015 rule that required newer, safer electronic braking systems in some trains that were transporting hazardous materials.

'East Palestine railroad derailment will have a significant negative impact on the health and wellbeing of the residents for decades and there is almost zero national media attention. We need Congressional inquiry and direct action from @PeteButtigieg to address this tragedy,' Squad member Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., wrote on Twitter Monday night.

'Fully agree,' Sen. Ted Cruz replied Tuesday morning.

'So do you support reinstating the rail safety rules that Trump repealedwhile Norfolk Southern executives made millions and spent billions on stock buybacks and expanding the safety rules to cover trains that carry these chemicals?' Omar asked him.
Residents were forced to evacuate after trains carrying hazardous chemicals derailed in a fiery crash on February 3

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has slammed the state's Public Utilities Commission after it claimed the toxic train that derailed in Ohio was not considered hazardous, despite the accident devastating the local area.

Residents of East Palestine, Ohio, fled the area after around 50 cars, including ten carrying hazardous materials, derailed in a fiery crash at 9pm on Friday, February 3.

Despite the evacuation order being lifted last week, locals have since questioned authorities' assurances that the area is safe.

More than 3,500 fish have been killed due to the toxic runoff, while footage of the aftermath shows plumes of toxic smoke still lingering in the area.

Some residents are also reporting persistent coughs, while farmers in the area claim their livestock are dropping dead in large numbers.

The toxic train derailed in a fiery crash on February 3, leading authorities to evacuate the surrounding East Palestine, Ohio area

A giant plume of smoke from the aftermath of the incident could be seen from miles away

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine told a press conference Tuesday that the lack of toxic classification for the train was 'absurd'

Speaking at a press conference Tuesday, DeWine gave his third update to the community following the derailment of the Norfolk-Southern train.

The governor hit out at a claim by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio that the train was not considered a high-hazardous materials train, branding the statement 'absurd'.

He said the lack of the classification meant the railroad was not required to update authorities over the toxic rail cars entering the state, as he urged Congress to take action over the issue to prevent future issues.

'Frankly, if this is true and I'm told it's true, this is absurd and we need to look at this and Congress needs to take a look at how these things are handled,' DeWine said.

'We should know when we have trains carrying hazardous material that are going through the state of Ohio.'

Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff also urged residents to get their water wells tested, adding: 'Bottled water is the right answer.'

His remarks follow numerous complaints from residents of severe side-effects after the toxic train derailment.

The train flew off the tracks as it was travelling through Ohio towards Conway, Pennsylvania from Madison, Illinois at on February 4. All homes in a one-mile area to be evacuated as toxic vinyl chloride leaked from the site.

Authorities then lit the toxic fumes on fire in a 'controlled release', sending the highly flammable and dangerous chemicals billowing into the air in a controlled environment.

The plume of smoke from the ignition was seen miles away, as more shocking footage of the after-effects of the accident has raised questions as to the safety of the area.

As residents have returned home following the evacuation, some are reporting burning sensations and persistent coughs.

Farmers in the area have also claimed that their livestock are dropping dead in large numbers, adding to the huge numbers of fish to have been killed due to the toxic runoff.

At Tuesday's press conference Tuesday, DeWine said he understood 'the anger and skepticism' from the local community following the accident.

'The impact on the community is huge, the inconvenience, the terror - I'm sure we'll see more lawsuits filed,' he said.

The EPA said Tuesday they have carried out 'robust air-quality testing' in and around the area of the crash, and confirmed they have 'not detected any levels' of chemicals that could cause harm.

The authority added they had screened 396 homes for toxicity, with none showing detections of vinyl chloride or hydrogen chloride.

Over 3,500 fish have died in the immediate area due to the toxic runoff

Locals have said numerous livestock have died following the release of the toxic fumes into the air. One resident of North Lima, over 10 miles from the derailment, said her five hens and rooster died suddenly after the hazardous cars were burned

The EPA has said it has 'not detected' any levels of toxic chemicals in the area

Locals have hit out at the response from authorities amid skepticism over the true safety of the region, with some refusing to return home as a chemical smell lingers in the area.

'Don't tell me it's safe,' Cathey Reese, who lives in Negley, Ohio  just north of East Palestine told WPXI of Pittsburgh last week.

'Something is going on if the fish are floating in the creek.'

Another resident of North Lima, over 10 miles from the derailment, said her five hens and rooster died suddenly after the toxic cars were burned.

And Jenna Giannios, 39, a wedding photographer in nearby Boardman, said she has had a persistent cough for the past week and a half.

She added that she has only been drinking bottled water and is uncomfortable using tap water to bathe due to fears over its toxicity.

'They only evacuatedone mile from that space, and that's just insane to me,' Giannios, who set up a Facebook page for residents to vent their frustrations, told NBC News.

'I'm concerned with the long-term health impact,' she added. 'It's just a mess.'

DeWine also noted in his press conference the numerous clips online showing the damaged area, as he said: 'I know people have been seeing the dead fish.'

Officials at the press conference added that 12 different species of fish had been affected by the toxic runoff, but that none are on the endangered species list.

The governor added there is 'no indication' at the moment that the train was intentionally derailed.

Following initial investigations into the incident, it was revealed that even more toxic chemicals were on board the freight train than were first reported.

The realization led the EPA to warn that chemicals are continuing to be released 'to the air, surface soils, and surface waters.'

Environmentalist and consumer advocate Erin Brockovich joined those who have hit out at the government's response to the crisis.

She tweeted Monday: 'The Biden administration needs to get more involved in this #PalestineOhio train derailment now.

'We are counting on you to break the chain of administration after administration to turn a blind eye - STEP UP NOW.'

About 50 cars, including 10 carrying hazardous materials, derailed in the town

The train derailment on February 3 set off a fire that could be seen from miles away

Hazardous materials specialist and former fire department chief Sil Caggiano also said he was 'surprised' residents were allowed to return home so quickly before all of their homes were tested.

'I would've far rather they did all the testing [first],' he said.

'There's a lot of what ifs, and we're going to be looking at this thing 5, 10, 15, 20 years down the line and wondering, 'Gee, cancer clusters could pop up, you know, well water could go bad.'

He added: 'We basically nuked a town with chemicals so we could get a railroad open.'

Calls from officials to get well water tested were echoed by the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, which is urging its members to do so immediately.

'There's some level of frustration out there' among farmers, the organization's director, Nick Kennedy told NBC News.

'They just want answers. Their livelihoods might be at stake here.'

Shocking footage of the train already on fire was caught by surveillance cameras as it passed through Butech Bliss, around 20 miles from where it eventually derailed.

The National Transportation Safety Board reportedly identified a faulty wheel as the cause of the derailment.

The authority said: 'NTSB investigators have identified and examined the rail car that initiated the derailment.

'Surveillance video from a residence showed what appears to be a wheel bearing in the final stage of overheat failure moments before the derailment.'
Troubled low-budget film Rust will resume shooting in the spring with a mix of new and old crew members, including Alec Baldwin as he faces involuntary manslaughter charges over the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

The movie will completed along with a documentary about Hutchins' life and work in the film industry. Her widower, Mathew Hutchins, will be an executive producer on both projects.

Last month, Baldwin and film armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed were both charged with involuntary manslaughter over Hutchins' death, which stopped production of the film in October 2021.

Baldwin shot Hutchins while rehearsing a scene in a church. Gutierrez-Reed was responsible for ensuring the weapon was not loaded with live rounds. Both deny any wrongdoing and are due in court on February 24 for their arraignments.

The scene being rehearsed when Hutchins was shot will be rewritten, a lawyer for Rust Movie Productions told The Hollywood Reporter. The production has also moved from New Mexico to California, although it is unclear exactly where it will be filmed.

Alec Baldwin speaks on the phone in the parking lot outside the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office in Santa Fe, after he was questioned about a shooting on the set of the film Rust

Halyna Hutchins was shot dead on the set of Rust in October 2021

Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed also faces involuntary manslaughter charges. It is unclear whether she will return to the film

Plans to complete the filme were first announced in October, after a settlement was reached which gave Matthew Hutchins a portion of film profits and an insurance payout. Hutchins' parents and sister are still suing production.

Filming is to resume with heightened safety protocols, which includes a staff of safety supervisors and barring the use of any operable weapons.

The scene which was being filmed when Hutchins was shot was rewritten, according to the Hollywood Reporter, though exactly how has not been made clear yet.

It is unclear whether Gutierrez-Reed will return.

Director Joel Souza, who was injured in the shooting, will be returning.

'Though bittersweet, I am grateful that a brilliant and dedicated new production team joining former cast and crew are committed to completing what Halyna and I started,' Souza said, according to the Hollywood reporter.

'My every effort on this film will be devoted to honoring Halyna's legacy and making her proud. It is a privilege to see this through on her behalf.'

Cinematographer Bianca Cline will take Hutchins' place on set. She was given the role with her husband's 'blessing and support,' and will donate her salary to charity, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The documentary about Hutchins will focus on her life, from a childhood growing up at a remote Russian military based in Ukraine, through her career in Hollywood, according to a release.

It will be produced by Julee Metz and directed by Rachel Mason.

'We embarked on this endeavor to shed light on Halyna's life and to honor her achievements,' Metz to the Hollywood Reporter. 'We refuse to shy away from any aspect of this story, no matter how difficult - and if that includes the effort to complete Halyna's final film, it is our duty to document the process.'

'The experience of those who are working to complete Rust involves many hard decisions. As people who loved Halyna we hope to capture everything that we can in order to understand this incomprehensible situation in all its complexity.'

A church set piece where Hutchins was shot during filming of the movie Rust in 2021

Alec Baldwin faces manslaughter charges for the death of film armorer Hayla Hutchins

A documentary will be made about Hutchins will focus on her life, from a childhood growing up at a remote Russian military based in Ukraine through her career in Hollywood

Baldwin and his lawyers are fighting a portion of his involuntary manslaughter, arguing against the firearms enhancement addition which was not passed by the New Mexico State Legislature until seven months after Hutchins was killed.

An older version of the enhancement was in place at the time but stipulates that a firearm be 'brandished' with the 'intent to intimidate or injure a person,' which Baldwin says he did not have.

If convicted with the enhancement, Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed would get a mandatory five-year sentence.

Baldwin has vowed to fight the charges. He has stated repeatedly he never pulled the trigger, and said it was a tragic accident - emphasizing that he relied on the firearms experts hired to be on set.

In a probable cause affidavit, prosecutors note that Baldwin was absent from an initial firearms training session.

Gutierrez-Reed set up an hour-long subsequent session for Baldwin, but they only completed 30 minutes.

'According to Reed, Baldwin was distracted and talking on his cell phone to his family during the training,' the prosecutors stated.

The affidavit claims Baldwin gave 'inconsistent accounts' about how the shooting happened - first telling police he 'fired' the gun, then insisting he did not pull the trigger.

Prosecutors state that 'photos and videos clearly show Baldwin, multiple times, with his finger inside the trigger guard and on the trigger.'

They add: 'Baldwin approached responding deputies on the day of the shooting, wanting to talk to them because he was the one who 'fired' the gun.'

They state: 'Photo and video evidence from inside the church on the day of the shooting show some of the rehearsal up to and including moments before the shooting.

'The photos and videos clearly show Baldwin multiple times with his finger inside of the trigger guard and on the trigger, while manipulating the hammer and while drawing, pointing and holstering the revolver.

'Baldwin knew the first rule of gun safety is to never point a gun at someone you don't intend on shooting,' the document continues.

Among the documents filed with the court on January 31 are a ten-page probable cause affidavit that describes Baldwin putting his finger 'inside of the trigger guard and on the trigger' on the day of the shooting, and moments beforehand

Baldwin claimed in interviews after the shooting that he did not pull the trigger.

He believes the fault lies with the armorer, who he says should have checked the gun was safe before it was handed to him.

Yet the probable cause statement against Baldwin referred to the FBI's previous analysis of the firearm, which 'clearly showed that the weapon could not 'accidentally fire.'

The document also said Baldwin failed to demand 'at least two (2) safety checks between the armorer and himself' prior to the shooting.

Prosecutors said: 'If Baldwin had not pointed the gun at Hutchins and Souza, this tragedy would not have occurred.

'This reckless deviation from known standards and practice and protocol directly caused the fatal shooting.'

Last week, Hutchins' parents and sister in Ukraine sued Baldwin and are seeking damages, alleging the cinematographer would have brought them to the US when war broke out with Russia if she was alive.

Halyna's mother, Olga, is a nurse treating the war wounded, and her sister, Svetlana, struggles at home with her two young kids while her husband fights on the front lines.

The family had not filed any immigration case or visa request, but their attorneys say Halyna 'would not have allowed them' to stay in the war if she was still alive.'
A killer dubbed 'Little Crazy' has been denied parole for his own protection and to stop the breakout of a deadly new gang war in Sydney.

Mohammad Hamzy, 37, of the Hamzy clan and a former member of the Brothers for Life gang, is currently serving 11 years and six months in prison over the manslaughter of another gang member in 2012.

He is eligible for parole from February 25 and applied for release two weeks ago - only to be knocked back.

A State Parole Authority panel found he presents an 'unacceptable risk' to the community, while NSW Police fear his release could spark a spate of gang violence.

Mohammad Hamzy, 37, of the Hamzy clan, has been denied parole over fears his release could spark a wave of gang violence

Hamzy, known as LC, has a large bounty on his head and police feel he would be at risk upon his release, after being attacked while in prison.

They also fear he would seek revenge on the Alameddine clan, his family's bitter rivals, over he alleged murders of his cousins Bilal Hamze, Mejid Hamze and Ghassan Amoun.

'There is no doubt his release would have stirred up trouble among certain people,' a senior police officer told the Daily Telegraph.

'We are pretty happy that he was not released.'

The panel that denied him parole was made up of a judge, an NSW police representative, a corrections officer and two community members.

'In considering parole, the SPA panel noted he has not completed programs addressing his risk of reoffending.

'The SPA panel determined Hamzy presents an unacceptable risk to community safety and release to supervised parole is not in the interest of the safety of the community.

Hamzy, known as LC, has a large bounty on his head and police feel he would be at risk upon his release, after being attacked while in prison

Hamzy was previously stabbed at John Money corrections centre in October 2020, shortly after the killing of his cousin

'His sentence expires February 2026,' the authority said.

Hamzy was previously stabbed at John Money corrections centre in October 2020, shortly after the killing of his cousin.

He can re-apply for bail next February.

NSW Police previously had to tackle a huge spate of gang violence which saw 13 murders in 18 months.

The last gangland shooting was that of of Lametta Fadlallah and it took place in August last year.

They fear that Hamzy's release could lead to more shootings in Sydney.
Michigan's Attorney General - who is ultimately in charge of the criminal investigation into the MSU shooting - has revealed her own sons attend the school.

Dana Nessel's twin sons Zach and Alex, 20, attend the college where gunman Anthony McRae opened fire last night, shooting dead three kids on campus and injuring five more before killing himself.

Nessel is now investigating how McRae, a convicted felon who was previously caught with a loaded handgun in 2019, was able to obtain the weapon he used to kill the students.

In an interview today with MSNBC, she lamented the fact that she couldn't even ensure the safety of her sons, despite being the 'top law enforcement official in the state'.

Dana Nessel's twin sons Zach and Alex, 20, attend the college where gunman Anthony McRae opened fire last night, shooting dead three kids on campus and injuring five more before killing himself. She is shown with her sons and wife Alanna

In an interview today with MSNBC, Nessel lamented the fact that she couldn't even ensure the safety of her sons, despite being the 'top law enforcement official in the state'.

'I can't believe as a parent in America you can't move your child into college without seriously having to wonder whether they're going to make it through the next four years without being the victim of a mass shooting.

'That was a concern I had when I moved my kids into school a year and a half ago and I couldn't make it through a year and a half without an incident like this happening and I'm the top law enforcement official in this state.

'I couldn't prevent it from happening.

'What hope do any of us have if we don't have legislatures who are willing to do something?

'We have to start loving our kids more than our guns,' she said.

It's unclear if her boys were on campus or living off-site.

Nessel has spoken in the past of giving birth to the boys weeks early, after having to abort their triplet to save their life.

She raises the boys with her wife, Alanna.

MSU students grieving on campus today after the shooting

Michigan State University students arrive to place flowers at The Rock on campus, Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023, in East Lansing, Michigan, this morning

MSU shooter Anthony McRae, posing with a crucifix, in one of the many disturbing photos from his social media pages where he posted about Christianity and religion. His father says he became 'evil and bitter' after the sudden death of his mother Linda (right) in 2020

Nessel's office is now investigating how McRae - who killed himself - was able to obtain his weapon with a felony conviction on his record.

'One of the things that were going to need to know is how did he get that weapon?

'And can we put laws in place here in Michigan to ensure that a person, such as himself, whos ineligible to own a firearm can never access one?

'I expect to see a number of new laws put into place in short order, whether or not that would have prevented this particular offense from happening.

'I think the investigation will tell us that,' she said.

McRae's father has described him turning 'evil' and 'mean' following the death of his mother, Linda, from a stroke in 2020.
It looks as though Prince Harry and Meghan are in the crosshairs of South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone judging by a teaser clip for this week's episode of the long-running Comedy Central show.

According to the description for episode two of season 26, titled The Worldwide Privacy Tour, 'The prince of Canada and his wife try to find privacy and seclusion in a small mountain town.'

In the teaser clip, Kyle can be seen telling his friends: 'It seriously is driving me crazy. I'm sick of hearing about them but I can't get away from them! They're everywhere. In my f*****g face.'

His best friend Stan replies: 'Look, Kyle, we just kind of don't care about some dumb prince and his stupid wife.'

The episode comes just after Prince Harry wrapped up the press tour for his memoir Spare and on top of the launch of the couple's Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan as well as Meghan's podcast Archetypes as the couple continues to ask for privacy.

The episode is titled The Worldwide Privacy Tour and airs on Wednesday at 9:00 pm

The first episode of the adult cartoon tackled Kanye West's anti-Semitic outbursts who is represented by Cartman's invisible friend, Cupid Ye, as well as mocking the swift rise of TikTok.

Just some of South Park's targets over the years include religions like Christianity, Islam and Scientology as well as climate change deniers, cryptocurrencies, Phil Collins, Tiger Woods, smoking bans, 'Game of Thrones' and pedophiles.

Since the Peabody Award-winning shows first episode in 1997, Parker and Stone have blurred the boundary between good taste and bad, even more so than that other, long-living adult cartoon The Simpsons.

South Park had a cartoon Jesse Jackson insist on having his rear end kissed by Kyles dad to apologize for his use of a racial slur and depicted Jesus Christ defecating on former President George W. Bush and the American flag.

One common target is pontificating celebrities, like when Bono of U2 was revealed to be the worlds largest turd.

But Parker and Stone only like to skewer powerful celebs, showing a surprisingly tender side to Brittney Spears, who in an episode has blown off her own head, but the music industry keeps making her perform.

In 2011, Parker and Stone used the fictional Canadian royal family as a substitute for the British royal family in an episode titled Royal Pudding which took aim at Prince William's wedding to Kate Middleton.

Just some of South Park's targets over the years include religions like Christianity, Islam and Scientology

The episode comes just after Prince Harry wrapped up the press tour for his memoir Spare

Once again, the South Park creators will replace the British royal family with the fictional Canadian royal family

Last month, Prince Harry told the Telegraph newspaper he did not include everything that had happened between himself and his brother and father in his memoir because they 'would never forgive him'

Kyle complains about a dumb prince and his stupid wife in the all-new episode, titled Worldwide Privacy Tour premiering Wednesday at 10/9c on Comedy Central. pic.twitter.com/6Dpa5R5ZZ3  South Park (@SouthPark) February 13, 2023

Last month, Prince Harry told the Telegraph newspaper he did not include everything that had happened between himself and his brother and father in his memoir because they 'would never forgive him,' adding he had enough material for another book.

In the book, Harry details long-standing tension between himself and his brother, culminating in William, who is heir to the throne, knocking him to the floor during a 2019 argument over Harry's American wife, Meghan.

In the interview with the Telegraph published on Friday, Harry said an 800-page first draft of the book had been cut to just over 400 pages, and that he had shared some incidents with his ghostwriter, J.R. Moehringer, with no intention of seeing them published.

'It could have been two books, put it that way,' he told the newspaper.

He said it was impossible to tell his story without including revelations about the other members of his family.

'But there are some things that have happened, especially between me and my brother, and to some extent between me and my father, that I just don't want the world to know,' he said in the interview.

'Because I don't think they would ever forgive me. Now you could argue that some of the stuff I've put in there, well, they will never forgive me anyway.'

Harry also said in the interview that he worried about Williams children, saying he felt 'a responsibility knowing that out of those three children, at least one will end up like me, the spare. And that hurts, that worries me.'

He said he felt this way despite William making it clear to him that 'his kids are not my responsibility.'

Spokespeople for the Royal Family have not commented on any of the claims made in the book or in the series of interviews Harry has given to promote it.

In just one week, Spare sold more than 3.2 million copies worldwide after just one week of publication and will likely rank among the bestselling memoirs of all time.

Penguin Random House announced last month that Prince Harrys headline-making memoir sold 1.6 million copies in the U.S. alone.
Brian Laundrie's mom wrote an undated letter to him offering to bury a body around the time of Gabby Petitos disappearance.

Roberta Laundrie wrote the letter to her son that read she would 'bring a shovel and bury a body,' Patrick Reilly, the attorney representing Gabby Petito's family, said in court on Tuesday.

The jaw dropping discovery made by Reilly was labeled 'burn after reading' and was found in Laundrie's backpack when his body was found in the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park in North Port, Florida.

Reilly claimed the letter was in the FBI's regional office and included details Roberta was also willing to help get Brian 'out of prison.'

'This request would also include the note that Roberta Laundrie wrote to Brian Laundrie which she offered to bring a shovel to help bury the body,' court documents obtained by CNN read. 'This note was released to the custody of Mr. Bertolino on Friday, June 24, 2022 by the FBI.'

If approved, the letter will be used to support the lawsuit Petito's parents launched against the Laundrie's for emotional distress. The lawsuit will go to trial in August.

Roberta Laundrie reportedly wrote an undated letter to her son that she would 'bring a shovel and bury a body,' Patrick Reilly, the attorney representing Gabby Petito's family, said in court on Tuesday. It was marked 'burn after reading'

The letter was inside the backpack her son's body was found in the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park in North Port, Florida, and suggested Roberta was willing to helping 'him get out of prison'

Petito, 22, was strangled by Brian Laundrie in Wyoming during a road trip in the summer of 2021. Her remains were found in Grand Teton National Park in September after she vanished in August.

Investigators determined she died by manual strangulation and had been dead for three to four weeks. Her death was ruled as a homicide.

After killing Petito, a notebook obtained by authorities revealed Brian Laundrie took his own life out of guilt. Brian Laundrie's skeletal remains were found in October. He died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on a nature reserve near his parents house.

Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt sued the Laundries alleged that they were aware that their son had killed Petito and were not being forthcoming.

A defense attorney argued that the letter from Roberta Laundrie was written before Petito's death and is irrelevant to the lawsuit.

'This document pre-dates Brian and Gabbys trip so its creation really doesnt have any relation necessarily to the unfortunate events that unfolded thereafter,' P. Matthew Luka said on Tuesday.

'I know that some of the wording that was used in the letter is unfortunate and might suggest that it has some connection but it doesnt.'

The Petito's lawyer Reilly then argued the letter wasn't dated. Reilly added: 'The language in that letter is damning and that letter has a reference to bringing a shovel and burying a body.'

Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt (pictured) originally filed the lawsuit against Christopher and Roberta Laundrie earlier this year - claiming the couple knew that their son murdered Gabby and refused to tell them the location of her remains

Gabby's parents are suing the Laundrie's for emotional distress as they claim they knew Brian had killed her

Petito, 22, was strangled on a road trip with Laundrie in Wyoming in the summer of 2021

Gabby's family release a new selfie of their daughter last week, which showed her with a bruised face moments before police responded to a 911 call that said she'd been attacked by her boyfriend

Since pushing for the letter to be reviewed in court, Reilly claimed he has received threats from defense attorney's that he will be sued for defamation.

The defense attorney claimed the letter is in possession of another family attorney for the Laundries.

The lawsuit stated that they 'exhibited extreme and outrageous conduct' after Petito's disappearance and is requesting 'just compensation for the damages they have suffered, together with costs, and such other relief.'

Gabby's family release a new selfie of their daughter last week, which showed her with a bruised face moments before police responded to a 911 call that said she'd been attacked by her boyfriend.
Convicted sex offender Hadley Palmer was seen enjoying life on the outside just days after she was released from prison.

The Connecticut socialite was spotted driving into Greenwich in her silver Jeep Wrangler Sahara Tuesday to go shopping at a local Apple Store, exclusive DailyMail.com photos show.

Palmer, 54, appeared to be in a festive spirit as she donned a cream-colored sweater with a red heart emblazoned on the front for Valentine's Day.

She paired the top with dark denim pants and accessorized with a black purse and dark sunglasses.

Socialite Hadley Palmer was spotted living out of prison as she stepped out in her Connecticut neighborhood on Tuesday

The convicted sex offender was spotted driving into Greenwich in her silver Jeep Wrangler Sahara to go shopping at a local Apple Store, exclusive DailyMail.com photos show

Palmer appeared to be in a festive spirit, wearing a love heart sweater for Valentine's Day

The outing comes after the mom-of-four walked free from jail early last Wednesday after serving time for secretly recording three minors in her $10million mansion.

Palmer was sentenced in November to one year in jail and 20 years probation after pleading guilty to three counts of voyeurism and risk of injury to a minor, but has since entered a transitional supervision program and was granted early release.

Hadley Palmer of Belle Haven, was sentenced to one year in prison, 10 years on the sex offenders registry and 20 years probation after pleading guilty in January 2022

Under the program, which is similar to parole, inmates with sentences of two years or less can serve the remainder of their sentences in a halfway house or with a sponsor.

As a result, Palmer has served less than half of her one-year sentence behind bars, between her 90-day prison stint last spring and the 71 days she completed this winter.

Palmer, a mother-of-four, was arrested in October 2021 on charges including employing a minor in an obscene performance and second-degree child pornography.

Greenwich police claimed in charging documents that she filmed three minors without their knowledge at her $10million mansion in Belle Haven for her own sexual gratification in 2017 and 2018, noting that one of the victims was 15 or younger.

Few details were revealed about the allegations made against Palmer, as she immediately filed for what is called 'accelerated rehabilitation'  a type of probation program whereby defendants charged with minor crimes can have their file sealed.

She paired the top with dark denim pants and accessorized with a black purse and dark sunglasses

Palmer was sentenced in November to one year in jail but served less than half of her sentence behind bars

It is a program reserved for first-time offenders. It can be applied to defendants charged with Class C felonies, but only with 'good cause'.

Palmer was granted it and the file was therefore kept secret.

Authorities had said more serious charges were also on the table but she struck a plea deal in January 2022, that saw her convicted on only three counts of voyeurism and one count of risk or injury to a minor.

Higher charges of employing a minor in an obscene performance and possession of child pornography were dropped under the deal, in which the hedge fund manager's daughter pleaded guilty to 'knowingly photographing, filming and recording three individuals' in 2017 and 2018 without their knowledge.

As part of that plea deal, she agreed to serve an initial term of 90 days at the York Correctional Facility, the state's only facility for female prisoners before her November sentencing.

Palmer pleaded guilty to three counts of voyeurism and risk of injury to a minor

Authorities said she had filmed three minors naked at the $10million water-front home she shared with her husband

At her sentencing hearing in November, State's Attorney Paul Fereneck revealed she recorded the victims fully naked at her waterfront home, and shared the footage with an unnamed third-party.

Palmer had faced up to five years behind bars, but Stamford Superior Court Judge John Blawie  who sealed her case to protect the victims  ordered her to serve just one year in prison with 20 years probation.

She will also have to register as a sex offender for the next 10 years.

Palmer's attorney, Michael Meehan, who called the mom-of-four 'very caring' and 'loving', said the sentencing was fair and that she was 'taking responsibility for her actions.'

The Stamford Advocate later revealed that the victims in the case had requested Palmer serve no further jail time.

Many details surrounding her case have been sealed, with critics calling the move unusual and outlets like the Associated Press publicly condemning the move.

Palmer was well-known within Connecticut's high-end social circles. She is pictured with socialite Colleen deVeer and her now estranged husband Brad Palmer

She is pictured here at another benefit in 2016 with investment advisor Randal Sandler, his wife Liz Sandler and her estranged husband

At her sentencing hearing in November, her attorney Michael Meehan (in orange tie) called the mom-of-four 'very caring [and] loving'

The AP argued that the records could have been redacted or changed the children's names, as is typical in the state's sex crime cases, to make the documents open to the public.

Legal experts also told the agency at the time that it was a highly unusual move for her file to be sealed immediately, with many saying she did not even qualify for accelerated rehabilitation.

They demanded to know why she was able to hide from public view, when other defendants have not, raising questions about whether wealthy defendants are treated differently than others.

But acquaintances told the Daily Beast they believe there is more to the story, and they are happy that Palmer has been released.

'I think it's great,' an unidentified socialite commented, adding of the accusations against her: 'On the surface, it's one thing, and when you know someone it's another.

'Please let her know there are a lot of people out there who believe in her and saw the story for what it was,' the unnamed source said.

Many have wondered if her venture capitalist husband, Bradley, exposed his wife's doing to police, after divorce documents revealed he sought to look at her social media for evidence of an affair.

The hedge fund manager's daughter pleaded guilty to 'knowingly photographing, filming and recording three individuals' in 2017 and 2018 without their knowledge at the Belle Haven mansion where she lived

Since her marriage broke up, Palmer move into this half-millon dollar home in the Cos Cob area of Greenwich

The divorce records indicated that wealthy financier had grown suspicious of Palmer.

He filed a motion back in July to get her social media accounts, along with any videos or photographs she may have sent to anyone she had been romantically or sexually involved with, according to a February report by The New York Times.

In family court proceedings, the Daily Beast reports, Palmer repeatedly invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in response to her husband's request for discovery, which included copies of 'photographs, video and audio recordings sent to or received from any person with whom you have had a sexual or romantic relationship, whether in person or solely by remote means.'

She also objected to a request for 'all reports by private investigators, or other surveillance' pertaining to her 'spouse or any child of the marriage.'

In turn, Palmer's attorneys requested files on 'background checks, surveillance or other services of any and all private investigations, police officers or investigation services procured by you or on your behalf.'

Many have questioned if her husband, Brad, secretly turned Hadley over to the authorities as her arrest came amid contentious divorce proceedings

Palmer is shown at an event in 2018 with her daughter Katherine. She has four kids with her estranged husband, including one who is a minor

The divorce proceedings, in which both Hadley and Brad are seeking custody of the only one of their four children who is still a minor, are ongoing.

In court filings last month, the Daily Beast reports, Palmer's divorce attorneys revealed her early release date in a motion to postpone a scheduled status conference so that she could participate in-person.

They noted that their client would be released on or before March 1. Her maximum release date is now August 20 'assuming she doesn't get rearrested, that she doesn't violate her conditions,' Connecticut Corrections Department public information officer Andrius Banevicius said.

Under her release, Palmer is required to abstain from drugs and alcohol and cannot leave Connecticut unless she receives permission to do so.
The night may have been chilly but at this weeks premiere for Whats Love Got To Do With It?, there was one person who got the world hot under the collar.

The films star, Lily James, left mouths agape and little to the imagination in her sheer, corseted, lime-green Miu Miu dress and towering silver heels.

It was certainly a departure from the blushing blonde who tripped down the red carpet in a series of fairy-tale frocks after playing Cinderella eight years ago.

Yet this weeks busty display shouldnt come as so much of a surprise. For the truth is that 33-year-old Lily has been blazing a trail on the red carpet with her powerful, sexy new look for the past year.

Look back at every dress she has chosen since January 2022 and youll notice a theme: bold, body-con dresses that show the world she is no wilting wallflower.

Lily James starred as Pamela Anderson in the headline-grabbing Hulu series last year

Lily James, left mouths agape and little to the imagination in her sheer, corseted, lime-green Miu Miu dress and towering silver heels at the premiere for Whats Love Got To Do With It?

So whats behind her style sea-change? After all, shes boasted the same stylist, celebrity favourite Rebecca Corbin-Murray, since 2015.

Well, her metamorphosis from a young twentysomething who chose sweeping gowns from the likes of Oscar De La Renta and Elie Saab to todays screen siren started around the time she played Baywatch bombshell Pamela Anderson in the TV series Pam & Tommy.

For the premiere on January 24 last year, Lily drew much attention in a silver Atelier Versace mini dress with a cut-out bodice and bra-like straps, which showed off the curves she had worked on so hard with a personal trainer to get into beach-babe shape.

Onlookers assumed Lily was simply borrowing Pammys vibe to plug the show. Yet as the months went on, the sultry, figure-enhancing outfits continued.

In March, Lily opted for a mini dress and thigh-high boots by Roberto Cavalli for Vogue and Tiffanys fashion and film party.

At the Oscars later that month, she chose a baby-pink lace Versace gown with a thigh-high split that revealed her fabulous legs and left the cape-like skirt trailing in her wake.

She went for thigh-flashing Versace again at Mays Met Gala in New York, this time donning a sheer, jewel-encrusted fabric that gave tantalising glimpses of the flesh underneath.

Look back at pictures of her from her rise to fame and youll find Lily in giant bows; classic polka-dots and lots and lots of floral

Lily putting on the glitz at the Oscars in a mesmerising pale pink Versace dress

And at the BFI film festival in September, she cut a dramatic figure in backless red Alaia.

This felt like a new Lily James  one who was becoming more confident in owning her sexuality.

You can, of course, understand why Lily might want to break out of the mould the world had cast for her.

With her cut-glass British accent, delicate features and a filmography that includes adaptations of some of literatures classic tales (Rebecca, The Pursuit Of Love, Cinderella) it was always tempting to lump Lily into that most dreadful of cliches, the English Rose. (Truth be told, I dont think theres a single British actress who has ever made it in the hard-knock world of Hollywood who could be seen as a delicate flower.)

But for years, Lilys choice of classic gowns on the red carpet, and floaty midi-dresses off it, only further cemented that reputation. Look back at pictures of her from her rise to fame as Lady Rose in Downton Abbey in 2013 up until the pandemic put a stop to awards ceremonies and premieres in 2020, and youll find her resplendent in giant bows (Valentino); classic polka-dots (Petar Petrov) and lots and lots of floral (Emilia Wickstead, Preen, Alexander McQueen and Saloni).

On January 24 last year, Lily drew much attention in a silver Atelier Versace mini dress with a cut-out bodice and bra-like straps (pictured left). The next month, she wore another striking Versace outfit, at Milan Fashion Week (right)

In March 2022 Lily was snapped wearing a crop top and trousers by Del Core at LA film awards (pictured left). That same month at a screening of Pam & Tommy in Los Angeles Lily wore a sheer Roberto Cavalli dress (right)

And yet, I have always thought her early style at odds with the Lily James I have seen and met.

I shared a table with her in December 2019 at the British Fashion Awards. She was fresh from her split with ex-Doctor Who star Matt Smith and was wearing a white gown by Valentino.

Lily was no delicate wallflower that evening; she was funny, flirty  and one of the sexiest actresses I have ever met.

It was as though the room bent towards her as she walked. ELLE magazine, of which I was editor, almost shot her for its cover a few months later (as usually happens with these things, the timing didnt quite work out) and unlike most Hollywood actresses, Lily was very willing to experiment with her look.

You could feel it, even then, that the real Lily James was itching to step out of her pre-prescribed sartorial comfort zone.

In March 2022, Lily opted for a mini dress and thigh-high boots by Roberto Cavalli for Vogue and Tiffanys fashion and film party

May 2022: Lily styled in a risque Versace safety pins at the Met Gala after-party

At the BFI film festival in September, Lily cut a dramatic figure in backless vintage red Alaia

At last year's Met Gala in New York, Lily wore a stunning jewelled Versace dress

I think you have only to look at the men Lily has dated  fellow star Matt Smith; an alleged dalliance with her married Pursuit Of Love co-star Dominic West and her recent ex-partner, American rock musician Michael Shuman  to know that this is a woman who is not prepared to be any mans simpering arm candy.

Which makes me wonder whether theres anything surprising about this new look at all.

In fact, Id put money on the fact this provocative new style is far more representative of the woman Lily really is . . .

Body confident, wonderfully impish, oozing sex appeal  and finding it ever so amusing that were only just starting to realise that this English rose has thorns.
Candlelit vigils were held across Britain last night in memory of trans murder victim Brianna Ghey, who was stabbed to death at the weekend.

Mourners have paid tribute to the 16-year-old schoolgirl after she was killed in a 'targeted attack' in a Warrington Park on Saturday - a boy and a girl, both aged 15, have been arrested on suspicion of murder.

A large crowd gathered outside St George's Hall in Liverpool last night as mourners held candles and placards in a silent vigil.

Many laid pictures of the murdered teenager which read 'rest in power' while others brought trans flags and dressed in the flag's colours.

The vigil was organised by Brianna's friends to remember her and show support, just hours after police said they could not rule out that her killing had been a hate crime.

Crowds gathered outside St George's Hall in Liverpool to hold a vigil for Brianna Ghey last night

Many also attended a candlelit vigil in Bristol to mourn the death of the transgender teenager

Crowds also gathered in Bristol city centre to remember Brianna just days after her death.

Mourners at College Green in the city played music and laid photos of the 16 year-old at the vigil.

Vigils organised by members of the transgender community are also due to be held in cities including London, Glasgow, Leeds and Belfast in the coming days.

Brianna's death has sparked an outpouring of grief from family and friends, as well as trans rights activists who have suggested she was targeted over her gender identity.

It had earlier been revealed that the schoolgirl had allegedly been tormented by a gang of bullies at her school over being trans, and that her father had complained about it.

Cheshire Police has said there is no evidence at this time to suggest her death was a hate crime, although it added that all lines of inquiry were being explored.

Brianna was found by members of the public as she lay wounded on a path in Linear Park, Culcheth, at around 3.13pm, and tragically died a short time later.

Yesterday, police said they have been given a 30-hour extension to continue questioning the two teenagers arrested on suspicion of her murder.

In recent days devastated classmates and fellow pupils from Birchwood Community High School have been seen laying flowers and tributes to her close to where she was found.

Friends of the schoolgirl have claimed she was bullied by some of her classmates for being trans, with the abuse leaving her 'devastated'.

Some brought trans flags and placards to the Liverpool vigil tonight to remember Brianna

Hundreds have gathered across the UK to show support for the murdered teenager. Pictured: Liverpool tonight

Mourners in College Green Bristol hold candles at the vigil for Brianna on Tuesday night

Many at the candlelit vigil in Liverpool this evening brought signs and placards

Brianna, pictured, was found fatally injured on a path in Culceth Park near Warrington on Saturday

A man leaves flowers close to where Brianna was found on Monday, February 13, after her tragic death

It is thought in the past she had been attacked by a gang of schoolchildren, pulled downstairs by her backpack in a move called 'seat belting' and had bottles thrown at her.

Damian Harry, whose 15-year-old daughter was in Brianna's class and was friends with her, told MailOnline the teenager had been bullied in the past.

'She said she was devastated by the constant abuse and even talked of ending it all,' the father-of-two said.

'It was down to her being trans. It is disgusting what happened.

'Her dad has apparently said he raised safeguarding at the school a thousand times. But little was done. The abuse was constant all because she was different.

'Let's be frank, she was bullied because of her sexuality. Of course this is a hate crime.'

The 50-year-old added that although there are a 'few transgender pupils at the school', the teenager was still targeted.

'There are a few transgender pupils at the school  maybe a handful,' he said.

'They bullied Brianna because she was trans. All sorts of things were done to her.'

'My daughter is distraught at Brianna's death. She is so upset and has been throwing up with the trauma of it.'

MailOnline has contacted the school and police for comment.

Family, friends and well wishers have left tributes to the 16-year-old in Warrington after her killing on Saturday

The 16-year-old, who had a large presence on social media, is thought to have been tormented by a gang of bullies at school

A group of girls leave bouquets of flowers at the entrance to the park where Brianna was found

Brianna (pictured) is thought to have been left devastated by the abuse she received at the hands of bullies before she died

In a video on her now-deleted TikTok account, Brianna, wearing her school uniform, announced her exclusion. The video  reviewed by The Sun  was posted five days before her murder.

READ MORE HERE: Friends of murder victim Brianna Ghey reveal she was 'bullied and attacked for years for the simple reason of being trans' Advertisement

Emma Mills, headteacher of the school, told the newspaper the Birchwood community is 'shocked and truly devastated' by Brianna's death.

'This is understandably a very difficult and distressing time for many and we will do our utmost to support our pupils and wider school community,' Ms Mills said.

Two teenagers, a 15-year-old boy and girl, both from the area, have since been arrested on suspicion of murder. They are in custody assisting police with their investigation.

Officers have alleged there is no evidence that Brianna was the victim of a hate crime.

However, the teenager's friends have taken to social media alleging she had been 'bullied and gang beaten' at school for several years over the 'simple reason of being trans'.

'She had been bullied in school for years,' an alleged friend of Brianna has claimed.

More than 52,000 has been donated to a fundraising page established in memory of Brianna, who is described as someone who 'brought a lot of laughter' and was looking forward to progressing with school.

The funds will be used to cover funeral expenses and support her family, who say the death of 'strong, fearless and kind' Brianna has 'left a massive hole' in their hearts.

On Monday, Brianna's family released a moving tribute, describing her as 'beautiful, witty and hilarious'.

They said: 'Brianna was a much loved daughter, granddaughter, and baby sister.

'She was a larger than life character who would leave a lasting impression on all that met her. Brianna was beautiful, witty and hilarious. Brianna was strong, fearless and one of a kind.

'The loss of her young life has left a massive hole in our family, and we know that the teachers and her friends who were involved in her life will feel the same.

'We would like to thank everyone for their kind words and support during this extremely difficult time.

'We would like to thank the police for their support, and witnesses for helping with the investigation. The continuation of respect for privacy is greatly appreciated.'
'There's no need to panic,' the press secretary told reporters

Jean-Pierre said she had no announcements about Biden addressing the nation

President Joe Biden has not addressed the American people about mysterious objects being shot out of the sky because the White House does not want to spark panic.

That was the answer given by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday when she was asked why Biden had not made a televised speech on the issue.

She said he was taking the matter seriously and was being briefed regularly.

'And he's going to continue to do that,' she told reporters.

'We are sharing as much information as we can as possible ... but we do want to make sure that the American people understand that there's no need to panic.'

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre defended President Joe Biden's silence on the objects being shot down, saying he didn't want to panic the American people

Since February 4, four objects have been shot down including the Chinese spy balloon, and then three 'UFOs'

Critics say it is simply not enough. Republicans and some Democrats say the administration is not being transparent about the sudden spate of objects being shot down over the U.S.

Earlier another spokesman admitted that the three most recent airborne craft  shot down days after a Chinese spy balloon was downed off the coast of South Carolina  could turn out to have a 'commercial' or 'benign' purpose.

Jean-Pierre faced repeated questions about the president's silence and said she had nothing to say about forthcoming remarks.

She defended his handling of the apparent incursions.

'The president took this action, as I mentioned earlier, because the objects were indeed flying at low, lower elevation, and they were in civilian airspace, and we wanted to make sure that we protected that airspace,' she said.

'But again, you know, we want to also make sure that the Americans do not panic during this time.'

Could it be, wondered another reporter, that an 80-year-old president with a history of gaffes was not the right person to deliver sensitive messages like that.

'I will tell you this,' said an irritated press secretary, 'the president is the best communicator that we have at the White House.'

An F-16 fighter jet was used to shoot down an 'object' over Lake Huron on Sunday

U.S. Navy sailors search for debris during recovery efforts for the remains of a high-altitude Chinese balloon shot down by the U.S. Air Force off the coast of South Carolina

A U.S. Navy sailor conducts a search for debris with an underwater vehicle

Another image from the salvage operation to recover the suspected spy balloon

Timeline of recent UFO sightings over US airspace Wednesday, February 1: Chinese balloon is spotted above Montana (not a UFO as air force identified it as a balloon) Saturday, February 4: Chinese balloon is shot down off the coast of South Carolina after having drifted across the country Thursday, February 9: First UFO is detected off coast of northern Alaska Friday, February 10: UFO is shot down over Deadhorse, Alaska Saturday, February 11: Second UFO is shot down over Mayo, Yukon, Canada. FAA shuts down airspace over Montana citing another possible UFO, but NORAD claims it was a 'radar anomaly' Sunday, February 12: Third UFO is detected over the Great Lakes and shot down Advertisement

For now, the White House remains under intense pressure to explain why it allowed a Chinese spy balloon to traverse the breadth of the country, traveling over sensitive locations such as nuclear missile silos, before taking action.

And why since then it has scrambled fighter jets at the first sign of odd radar signals to obliterate unknown objects that could yet turn out to be weather balloons.

Repeated briefings have failed to yield key answers.

Earlier John Kirby, the White House national security spokesman, told reporters that the United States still had no firm grasp on the origin of the other three objects.

'We know of no entity or individual coming forward to claim that they are responsible or that they own any of these objects,' he said.

'But as I said, one thing we have to consider, and we believe the intelligence community is considering as an explanation, is that these could be tied to, as they say, commercial or research entities and therefore totally benign.'

Analysis has been hampered, he said, by the difficulty in recovering debris from hard-to-reach areas  two in the frozen north and one in Lake Huron.

And he said there was no indication that the trio of objects were tied to China's spy balloon program.

A U.S. fighter jet on February 4 shot down a high-altitude Chinese balloon off the coast of South Carolina.

It had spent a week traversing the United States and Canada. China insists it is not a spy vessel.

Since then, jets have been scrambled three more times to intercept unidentified intruders.

The result is a deepening diplomatic crisis, as Beijing and Washington trade barbs.

The U.S. has imposed sanctions on six Chinese entities it says are tied to the balloon, an action which drew criticism from Beijing on Tuesday.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled a trip to China amid the furor, although reports suggest he could now meet Beijing's top diplomat during the Munich Security Conference.
The Queen Consort will part company with two coronation traditions on May 6  one in the name of sustainability and the other deftly sidestepping a potential diplomatic spat.

Buckingham Palace yesterday announced she has chosen to wear Queen Marys crown for the ceremony at Westminster Abbey.

While monarchs are crowned with hereditary regalia, it is customary for Queen Consorts to commission a new crown for a coronation.

Her Majesty has opted, instead, to wear the one which Queen Mary wore at the 1911 coronation of her husband, King George V. It will be re-configured to include some of the favourite gems of Elizabeth II. The Queen Consort has also opted not to wear the famous 105-carat Koh-i-Noor diamond, otherwise known as the Mountain of Light, that has been worn by successive Queens since it was presented to Queen Victoria in 1850.

The Queen Consort (pictured on December 6) will part company with two coronation traditions on May 6  one in the name of sustainability and the other deftly sidestepping a potential diplomatic spat

Her Majesty has opted to wear the crown that Queen Mary wore at the 1911 coronation of her husband, King George V. It will be re-configured to include some of the favourite gems of Elizabeth II

The Queen Consort has also opted not to wear the famous 105-carat Koh-i-Noor diamond, (set in the Maltese Cross at the front of the crown made for Britain's late Queen Mother) otherwise known as the Mountain of Light, that has been worn by successive Queens since it was presented to Queen Victoria in 1850

Now the subject of ongoing ownership disputes involving India, Pakistan, Iran and even the Taliban (not to mention some rich mythology about its supernatural powers), its appearance at the coronation would almost certainly ignite a fresh debate about Britains imperial past.

As Head of the Commonwealth, King Charles III will not want a diplomatic quarrel in the midst of his crowning moment.

The Koh-i-Noor will, therefore, remain in the Jewel House at the Tower of London where it is currently part of the crown of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, the last Queen Consort to wear it (at the 1953 coronation of her daughter).

There was no mention of the egg-shaped Mountain of Light in yesterdays Palace statement. A spokesman explained that the decision to use Queen Marys crown remains the personal choice of the Queen Consort in the interests of sustainability and efficiency, while her selection of jewels was designed to pay tribute to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Having now been removed from the Tower and taken to a secret location, the crown will be re-configured by the crown jewellers, Mappin & Webb, to suit the individual style of the Queen Consort. They have been asked to remove four of the eight detachable arches which were designed for the original. They will also insert three stones much-loved by the late Queen, all of them off-cuts from the Cullinan diamond, the largest diamond ever found.

As a result, Queen Marys crown will be re-set to include the pear-shaped Cullinan III and the cushion-shaped Cullinan IV diamonds. The late Queen used to call these Grannys Chips and liked to wear them together as a brooch. The heart-shaped Cullinan V was the centrepiece of another brooch which appeared on many family occasions, not least the official photograph of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to mark what turned out to be the Dukes last birthday. All three pieces featured in the same crown in 1911 when Queen Mary attended the coronation of her husband, George V.

Buckingham Palace yesterday announced that Queen Consort Camilla (pictured on January 28 with King Charles) has chosen to wear Queen Marys crown for the coronation ceremony

The Queen Consort is pictured on February 8 during a visit to Brick Lane in east London, to meet with charities and businesses in the heart of the British Bangladeshi community, and individuals who were actively involved in the anti-racism movement of the 1960s and 1970s

One reporter present that day observed: It has no jewels but diamonds, and the diamonds cluster together as if they had no support but their own light.

On that occasion, however, it was the Koh-i-Noor which generated more light than any other diamond. There was no debate about it back then. The British Empire was at its zenith and the Koh-i-Noor was a prized symbol of imperial prestige, as so many of its previous owners had come to regard it, too.

Its origins remain uncertain but it seems to have been snatched from one potentate after another over many centuries, passing through the hands of Persian, Mughal, Afghan and Sikh rulers before the defeated child king, Duleep Singh, was ordered to hand it over to the East India Company as part of the 1849 Treaty of Lahore.

After a turbulent voyage to Britain, it was presented to Queen Victoria.

Her husband, Prince Albert, was underwhelmed and decided that it was not as luminous or symmetrical as it could be. He had it re-cut, shaving it down from the 191-carat original to its present weight.

Though it was hardly the gift it was painted to be by British Empire cheerleaders, its most recent acquisition was among the least gruesome in the long and bloody annals of the Koh-i-Noor. In their fascinating history of the diamond, authors William Dalrymple and Anita Anand recount the story of how one Afghan warlord tortured another to reveal its whereabouts by pouring a crown of molten lead on his shaved head (the same warlord went on to capture a nearby city and demand the eyeballs of all its male inhabitants be presented to him in baskets).

After its arrival in Britain, the diamond began to acquire a fresh mythology which endures to this day, notably that it brings bad luck to any man who wears it. Victorian Britain loved a good curse and this narrative soon took hold, not least because the ship which had brought the rock to Britain was struck by cholera and a terrible storm while, on the day it landed in 1850, Queen Victoria was hit on the head by a madman. With no obvious motive, the ex-British Army officer approached her carriage and struck her with a iron-handled cane, drawing blood and scarring the Queen.

Yet some of the diamonds previous owners had enjoyed great success. When asked the value of the Koh-i-Noor, the Afghan emperor Shah Shuja Durrani replied: Good luck  for he who has possessed it has obtained it by overpowering his enemies.

Crowns on display in the Upper Chamber of the Crown Jewel House at the Tower of London in 1967, showing the Imperial Crown of India (left), the crown made for Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother in 1937, bearing the Koh-i-Noor, the Crown of Queen Mary, and the small crown of Queen Victoria

Camilla, then the Duchess of Cornwall, is pictured in 2005 wearing her first Royal tiara, the Delhi Durbar, which she was loaned by Queen Elizabeth II

He should know. For Shah Shuja had himself been forced to hand it over to the Sikh emperor, Ranjit Singh, father of Duleep, the child who later ceded it to the British. It is on the basis of the Singh connection that the Indian government has made repeated requests for its return.

Pakistan has made similar appeals, on the grounds that Duleep Singh actually held court in Lahore, making the diamond a treasure of Pakistan, not India. In 2000, the Taliban lodged a demand, saying that it was really an Afghan heirloom. Two years later, it made its last public appearance beyond the walls of the Tower of London when the Queen Mothers crown was placed on her coffin at Westminster Abbey. British Sikhs demanded its return to the Sikh Golden Temple in Amritsar.

As things stand, the British position remains exactly the same as it was when Labours Jim Callaghan politely rebuffed a request from Pakistans General Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1976. He said: In the light of the confused past history of the Koh-i-Noor diamond, the clear British title to it and the multiplicity of claims which would undoubtedly be made... I could not advise Her Majesty the Queen that it should be surrendered to any other country.

No wonder, then, that the Queen Consort is  sensibly  very happy to make do with a second-hand crown and Grannys Chips on May 6.
He urged all 30 countries to step up deliveries to aid Ukraine's 'war of attrition'

The West risks running out of ammunition, Natos chief said yesterday, as he also warned Vladimir Putin is preparing for more war in Ukraine.

Jens Stoltenberg told the 30 countries from the military alliance that they need to step up deliveries to ensure Ukraine can fight back against Russian aggression.

Ahead of a two-day meeting of Nato defence ministers in Brussels, the former Norwegian prime minister said: This has become a grinding war of attrition and therefore its also a battle of logistics. This is a huge effort by allies to actually be able to get in the ammunition, the fuel, the spare parts, which are needed.

He added: We see no signs that President Putin is preparing for peace. What we see is the opposite, he is preparing for more war, for new offensives and new attacks.

Ukrainian officials say Moscow is plotting a much broader offensive on the eastern Donbas regions, but also fresh attacks on Kharkiv in the northeast and Zaporizhzhia in the countrys south-east. It comes after a British national died in Ukraine.

Jens Stoltenberg told the 30 countries from the military alliance that they need to step up deliveries to ensure Ukraine can fight back against Russian aggression

Ukrainian officials say Moscow is plotting a much broader offensive on the eastern Donbas regions, but also fresh attacks on Kharkiv in the northeast and Zaporizhzhia in the countrys south-east. Pictured: Ukrainian soldier near the destroyed Retroville shopping centre

The identity of the individual  the eighth UK citizen to die in the conflict  is not yet known, but their family has been informed, the Foreign Office said.

Ukraines armed forces are firing some 6,000 artillery shells a day, far faster than their Western allies can resupply them.

Russia is using as much as 20,000 rounds a day equivalent to what European factories can produce in a month. But there is yet no decision on supplying Western fighter jets to the Ukrainian military.

Kyiv has demanded urgent air support that has been met with a mixed response from allies.

Oleksiy Reznikov, Ukraines defence minister, yesterday held up an image of a fighter jet when asked what he wanted from the meeting aimed at providing more weapons to the country.

The US and the UK have ruled out handing jets for now, but Britain has announced a training programme for Ukrainian fighter pilots.

Dutch defence minister Kajsa Ollongren said the Netherlands was taking Ukraines request for F-16 jets very seriously. Her Polish counterpart Mariusz Blaszczak vowed to apply pressure on fellow Western allies.

We are aware that our potential in this area is limited because we have only 48 F-16 aircraft, but the allies have much more potential, so I think that this conversation will end with positive decisions, he said.

Ukraines armed forces are firing some 6,000 artillery shells a day, far faster than their Western allies can resupply them. Pictured: Ukrainian soldiers on patrol in Bakhmut

Russia is using as much as 20,000 rounds a day equivalent to what European factories can produce in a month. Pictured: Ammunition for a howitzer during training at a German army base

Mr Stoltenberg insisted that the topic of aircraft is not the most urgent issue now, but it is an ongoing discussion.

The urgent need now is to deliver what has already been promised. The armoured infantry fighting vehicles, and other battle tanks that have been pledged, he said.

US defence secretary Lloyd Austin said as many as 15 Nato countries have promised to send Ukraine battle tanks and 22 are set to provide infantry fighting vehicles. The Kremlin is still betting that it can wait us out, he said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky failed to receive any concrete pledges on jets during his tour of London, Paris, and Brussels last week.
The long-awaited Covid-19 inquiry faces further delays due to a secrecy row over civil servants names being removed from documents.

Thousands of personal details are having to be redacted from hundreds of pages of submissions, a preliminary hearing was told yesterday.

These include the names of low-ranking junior officials who were not in decision-making roles during the pandemic.

However, lawyers representing bereaved families say blanking out this information is taking a substantial and disproportionate amount of time.

Chairman Baroness Heather Hallett was also asked to consider postponing the public inquiry by up to four weeks to allow lawyers more time to get through the paperwork.

The long-awaited Covid-19 inquiry faces further delays due to a secrecy row over civil servants names being removed from documents. Pictured: NHS worker receives the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine

READ MORE HERE: The former Prime Minister left in limbo: Boris Johnson might not appear before MPs investigating him over Partygate until after Easter - nearly a YEAR after they began a probe into lockdown gatherings Advertisement

This could mean the inquiry beginning in June rather than May.

Documents put before an inquiry are shown to participants in advance  a process known as disclosure  which allows time for them to be read before the hearing.

However, Hugo Keith, KC, counsel for the inquiry, said that in this case literally thousands of manual reductions were having to take place.

Pete Weatherby, KC, counsel for the Covid Bereaved Families for Justice group, said redacting civil names prior to disclosure was slowing the process down.

The human rights barrister called on the inquirys legal team to leave removal of such details until after disclosure had taken place.

He told the hearing he was unaware of any other inquiry where such redactions took place before disclosure.

Mr Weatherby, who has previously represented families during the Hillsborough and Grenfell inquiries, added: It is apparent that this issue, this redaction of the names of junior staff, is taking up a disproportionate and substantial amount of time of his [Mr Keiths] team and the knock-on effect is it is seriously impeding the disclosure of other material to core participants.

It is not uncommon for large-scale public probes to take years to complete.

The Chilcot Inquiry, which analysed the UKs role in the Iraq war, took more than seven years to conclude, from when it was first announced in 2009.

Meanwhile the Bloody Sunday Inquiry  first established by Tony Blairs government in 1998  did not deliver its final report until June 2010.

During yesterdays virtual hearing Baroness Hallett, said she was sympathetic to requests to delay the start of the first public hearing.

She added: I do understand your concerns, I hope thats been apparent this morning, about the proposed start date and, of course, disclosure.

In my view, as seems to be the view of all the participants, far better [to] delay the start by up to four weeks, than start early and then not be ready and not be effective.

The retired judge said she would make a decision on the start date as soon as she could.
Has King Charles ushered in a new class of royalty?

By sidelining Harry, Meghan and Andrew as non-working family members, he has seemingly narrowed down the core royals to those funded by him from the Duchy of Lancaster estate, along with William and Kate (bankrolled by the Duchy of Cornwall).

Turning the order of precedence upside down, it appears Edward (thirteenth in line to the throne), Anne (sixteenth), the Duke of Gloucester (thirtieth), Duke of Kent (fortieth) and Princess Alexandra (fifty-sixth)  all still funded by the Duchy of Lancaster  outrank Harry (fifth) and Andrew (eighth).

A source says the King has no desire to formalise the arrangements.

But is he hoping the new system will  just by convention  become the norm?

EPHRAIM HARDCASTLE: Has King Charles, pictured today, ushered in a new class of royalty?

King Charles has yet to grapple with the logistical nightmare of where to seat Harry, Meghan and Andrew for his coronation.

William and Kate will have priority but what about the Queen Consorts family?

It will be the first time a monarch has had step-children present at a crowning.

And where will Camillas ex Andrew Parker Bowles sit?

Perhaps he could squeeze in next to Princess Anne for old times sake.

After Sir Ian McKellen voiced opposition to the modern presence of intimacy coordinators for actors love scenes, Dame Emma Thompson, pictured, responds disapprovingly: Its all very well if youre a bloke, its a different kind of thing.

So how did it go when Emma appeared in the buff with Irish co-star Daryl McCormack (over 30 years her junior) in 2022 movie Good Luck To You, Leo Grande?

She didnt have an intimacy co-ordinator, explaining: We felt like it was something we could do together.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace could inflict another headache on PM Rishi if he succeeds Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg and triggers a by-election when he leaves government.

Wallace has his eye on Stoltenbergs job when he steps down later this year. There is a precedent. Labour defence secretary George Robertson got the job two years into Tony Blairs premiership in 1999.

But will Bens ambitions be blunted if Nato boffins discover the British Army has 265 more horses than Challenger tanks?

Woe upon woe heaps on beleaguered BBC chairman and Tory donor Richard Sharp.

Former public appointments commissioner Sir David Normington blames his elevation to chairman on a 2016 rule change allowing government ministers to appoint financial supporters with impunity and asks: Is it any wonder the public have little confidence in our politicians or those they appoint to lead our most important public bodies?

Operation Banbury, the top secret mission to bring Volodymyr Zelensky to the UK, had the additional task of ensuring Vol landed in Paris for his meeting with President Macron in a plane bedecked in red, white and blue, emblazoned with United Kingdom in gold letters.

Mission accomplished. Emmanuel was delighted (not).
Days after shooting down three consecutive unidentified aerial objects, Defense officials have little to no answers on why they took the seemingly unusual steps.

The White House has not been able to say where the objects were from, what they were doing or what type of craft they were.

John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, told reporters Tuesday the intelligence community was 'considering as a leading explanation' the notion that the objects could be tied to 'some commercial or benign purpose.'

But that does not explain why the Defense Department was so quick to send multi-million fighter jets to shoot benign balloons out of the sky.

The White House also made clear it does not know whether the tree downed objects had surveillance capabilities. It also couldn't say what the objects looked like, given the speed at which the jets were traveling when they caught sight of them.

John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, told reporters Tuesday the intelligence community was 'considering as a leading explanation' the notion that the objects could be tied to 'some commercial or benign purpose'

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre did swat away the notion that the objects could be extra-terrestrial in nature.

'There is no -- again, no indication -- of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent take-downs,' she said. 'Wanted to make sure that the American people knew that, all of you knew that. And it was important for us to say that from here because we've been hearing a lot about it.'

Kirby said he could comfortably rule out that the objects belonged to the U.S. government and there was no indication they were related to the Chinese spy balloon shot down last week.

Fighter jets shot down what Defense officials described as a CCP-linked surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4, after it had spent days traversing the United States so low it could be seen with the naked eye.

On Friday, Saturday and Sunday respectively, the military brought down unknown aerial objects spotted above Alaska, Canada and Michigan.

Officials have increasingly cast doubt on their ability to fully recover debris, with Kirby blaming 'pretty tough conditions' such as the deep waters of Lake Huron, the Yukon wilderness and sea ice in Alaska.

'Getting our hands on that debris and having investigators look at that debris would certainly be of immense value in terms of our ability to positively identify what these objects were, and, and what their purpose was. So we're going to continue those intensive recovery efforts because they're important,' Kirby said.

On Capitol Hill, senators who listened in on a classified briefing were left unsatisfied by the information available

Sen. Tom Cotton told reporters the briefing taught him nothing he hadn't already learned from news reports while Sen. Marco Rubio, ranking member on the Intel Committee, said '99 percent' of the briefing could have been declassified.

'They didn't rule anything out other than they don't think they are balloons on the order of the Chinese balloon,' said Sen. Josh Hawley, 'They didn't think they were aliens.'

Several senators questioned why the U.S. had only begun shooting down such objects after public outcry over the Chinese spy balloon.

'A number of us asked why the sudden change,' Hawley, R-Mo., told reporters. 'They acknowledge the change, but nobody had an answer.'

The suspected Chinese spy balloon drifts to the ocean after being shot down off the coast in Surfside Beach, South Carolina, U.S. by a single missile from an F-22 fighter jet from Langley Air Force Base on Saturday Feb 4, 2023

The balloon was left to traverse the U.S. for days before being shot down on Feb. 4

'Many people, intentionally or otherwise have been given the impression that a couple of weeks ago our skies were clear. And then all of a sudden we have spy balloons and other Unidentified Flying Objects raining down on us like confetti. That is not accurate these objects have been flying over us for years, many years,' Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told reporters.

'We need some more transparency,' he said. 'I understand the need for national security secrets, but now that this cow is out of the barn, the president and the director of national intelligence need to explain to the American people if they know -- I'm not sure they know, if they know they're not telling us -- what these things are.'

Rubio said that even with a security clearance intelligence officials could tell him little about where the three unidentified objects came from, or even what they were.

'They don't know whose it is. They don't even know what it is. They can't even tell you what it looked like.'

Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, said he learned at least one of the objects had a payload attached to it.

Asked if the American public should be concerned, Rubio said: 'From the broader perspective of whether these things are here to conduct attacks against the US, there's no indication that that's the case. But again, you're right. I mean, how can I tell you not to worry about something if I can't tell you what it is.'

Sen. Marco Rubio, ranking member on the Intel Committee, said '99 percent' of the briefing could have been declassified

Earlier the White House announced it was putting together a UFO task force to study the security risks posed by airborne objects detected in US airspace.

The new group, created on orders from national security adviser Jake Sullivan, will see experts from the Pentagon, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of Homeland Security and other government agencies come together to analyze unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) and determine whether they are a threat.
Rishi Sunak will hold talks with European leaders this week in a final push to get a Brexit deal on Northern Ireland over the line.

Amid rumours of an agreement that could be announced in the next fortnight, he is meeting EU counterparts on the sidelines of the Munich security conference.

EU sources said last night that a deal was 'almost done' and a Whitehall source claimed the text had been on the Prime Minister's desk for more than a week. But Downing Street insisted both sides were still engaged in 'intensive scoping'.

The Whitehall insider told The Times: 'He has basically been sitting on it, asking for bits of clarification, but the deal is done.'

The PM is now set to try to finalise the agreement at Munich on Saturday. French president Emmanuel Macron, German chancellor Olaf Scholz and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen are all due to be there.

Rishi Sunak will hold talks with European leaders this week in a final push to get a Brexit deal on Northern Ireland over the line

It is believed all parties want a deal done by the time Mr Sunak goes to France for a major summit with Mr Macron in early March.

It was reported last month that the UK and EU had struck a deal on customs which would avoid the need for routine checks on British goods going to Northern Ireland.

A senior EU source close to the talks said last night: 'They will try to land a deal next week, by the end of February at the latest.' Another source added: 'The deal is almost done. It's in No 10's hands now.'

Brussels sources say the agreement will make the European Court of Justice the ultimate arbiter of EU law disputes involving Northern Ireland. But UK sources have insisted that most legal clashes on trade would not involve the ECJ.

Tory MPs last night warned against retaining a role for the European court. A senior Brexit-backing MP said that if the deal 'does not remove EU law from Northern Ireland, so that the province is treated on the same basis as the rest of the United Kingdom, then it is difficult to see how any such arrangement can ultimately succeed.'

Ex-Brexit minister David Jones said that unless Northern Ireland is 'freed' from the ECJ then 'you can't say that the UK has the complete sovereignty of its own territory'.

He was sure that unionists in the province would not accept such a deal 'so we will not see a restoration of the Northern Ireland institutions, and therefore it will be positively imperilling the continuation of the Good Friday Agreement, which is the last thing that anybody wants'.

Ex-Brexit minister David Jones (pictured) said that unless Northern Ireland is 'freed' from the ECJ then 'you can't say that the UK has the complete sovereignty of its own territory'

The Democratic Unionist Party pulled out of Belfast's power-sharing government in protest at the Northern Ireland Protocol, which was part of the Brexit deal designed to avoid returning to a hard border with the Irish Republic.

A UK Government spokesman said last night: 'Our priority is protecting the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement and preserving political stability in Northern Ireland and the UK internal market.

'Any solution on the Protocol must address the range of issues on the ground in Northern Ireland. We are currently engaging in intensive scoping talks with the EU to find solutions to these problems.'

Comment: Page 14
You can 'feed your ex to the lions' in a fundraiser that lets people name a cockroach or rodent that is then fed to an animal at the San Antonio Zoo on Valentine's Day.

As part of the zoo's annual 'Cry me a Cockroach' event, donors are able to send their former lover a digital Valentine's Day Card informing them that a creature was named in their honor and fed to an animal.

The zoo charges $10 for cockroaches and $25 to name a rodent. Anyone in the world can participate.

Those looking for sweet revenge can pay for the $150 premium package, which includes a personalized video message showing the not-so-special someone the animal feasting on their cockroach, vegetable or rodent.

None of the creatures will be fed to lions - they will be eaten by birds and lizards.

The San Antonio Zoo is hosting its annual 'Cry me a Cockroach' fundraiser. This event lets people name a cockroach that is then fed to an animal at the zoo

There is a 'vegan' option for $5, which features greens to be eaten by herbivores.

Participants will receive a certificate they can share on social media, which can also be sent to their ex.

'Dear [Name],' it reads. 'You ex, [Name], has named a cockroach in our honor, to be eaten on 2/14. Feel free to tune in now to the cockroach live stream at sazoo.org/you-blew-it.'

The most submitted names initially were Zach, Ray and Adam. Jacob and Sarah were the most popular last year.

Last year, San Antonio Zoo received more than 8,000 donations from all 50 states and over 30 different countries, according to CNN.

Fans flocked to Twitter to share their excitement about the event.

A user by the name of Amy Ruby Rose posted: 'For Valentine's Day, San Antonio Zoo will let you name a cockroach after an ex before feeding it to one of their animals. This is the level of pettiness I aspire to.'

Another user was ready to sign up to have their ex's name eaten by a zoo animal.

There is also the option to name a rodent after your ex, but people seem to be more excited about the idea of a cockroach

The zoo charges $10 for cockroaches and $25 to name a rodent, and anyone in the world can participate. All feedings will take place on Valentine's Day

While the event is sparking laughs on social media - some users are running at the chance to partake - it is aimed at raising money for the wildlife that call San Antonio Zoo home.

The zoo made headlines in August 2022 when it provided a new pair of orthopedic rubber boots to a penguin with a degenerative foot condition.

The aquatic, flightless bird named Lucas developed what is known as bumblefoot that caused lesions on his feet and would have led to sepsis and death if left untreated.

In a race against time, zoo staff turned to Thera-Paw.

People can send their ex a digital card informing them that a creature was named after them and it was fed to an animal at the zoo

The most submitted names so far are Zach, Ray and Adam, and Jacob and Sarah were the most popular last year. Last year, San Antonio Zoo received more than 8,000 donations from all 50 states and over 30 different countries

The zoo made headlines in August 2022 when it provided a new pair of orthopedic rubber boots to a penguin with a degenerative foot condition

This organization creates rehabilitative and assistive products for animals with special needs, which designed custom shoes made of neoprene and rubber to prevent pressure sores from developing when Lucas stands and walks.

Lucas gait has improved since wearing the small, black boots and his ability to navigate through the rocky habitat.

His posture is also more natural, providing him with better balance.
NASA has observed never-before-seen light shows beaming from the sun.

Using the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR), the American space agency captured various X-rays emitted by the hottest material in our star's atmosphere.

High-energy X-rays were observed in only a few locations, while low-energy X-rays and ultraviolet light were detected across the ball of gas's entire face.

Scientists hope the new views will help them solve one of the sun's biggest mysteries: why its outer atmosphere reaches more than a million degrees - at least 100 times hotter than its surface.

NASA shared a new image of the sun, revealing hidden light shows on its outermost layer called the corona

NuSTAR usually spends its time investigating the mysteries of black holes, supernovae, and other high-energy objects in space, but it can also look closer to home to study our sun.

The high-energy X-rays seen by NuSTAR are shown in blue, while green represents lower-energy X-rays from the X-ray Telescope instrument on the Hinode spacecraft, named after the Japanese word for sunrise.

And the red colors show ultraviolet light from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory.

NuSTAR collected 25 images of the sun last June, allowing NASA to piece together a single picture showing different colored lights beaming from the surface.

NASA also collected observations from the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agencys Hinode mission, shown in green and the Solar Dynamics Observatory, which captured ultraviolet light in red.

While astronomers are perplexed by the source of the corona's, the sun's outermost layer, heat, they speculate it could come from small eruptions in the sun's atmosphere called nanoflares.

Flares are large outbursts of heat, light, and particles visible to a wide range of solar observatories.

While nanoflares are much smaller events, both types produce material even hotter than the average temperature of the corona.

The high-energy X-rays seen by NuSTAR are shown in blue

The green represents lower-energy X-rays from the X-ray Telescope instrument on the Hinode spacecraft, named after the Japanese word for sunrise

The red colors show ultraviolet light from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory

NASA said in a statement that regular flares are not frequent enough to keep the corona at the high temperatures scientists observe, but nanoflares may occur much more frequently  perhaps often enough that they collectively heat the corona.

Individual nanoflares have gone unobserved due to the sun's blazing light, but NuSTAR can detect light from the high-temperature material thought to be produced when a large number of nanoflares occur close to one another.

This ability enables physicists to investigate how frequently nanoflares occur and how they release energy.

This month, NASA also made another exciting discovery when it observed a piece of the sun's northern pole break off.

Space weather forecaster Tamitha Skov shared a video on Twitter and said NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory took the clip.

'Talk about polar vortex! Material from a northern prominence just broke away from the main filament & is now circulating in a massive polar vortex around the north pole of our star,' Skov shared in the tweet.

NASA describes solar filaments as clouds of charged particles that float above the sun, tethered to it by magnetic forces.

These appear as elongated, uneven strands that shoot out from the sun's surface.

The prominence mentioned by Skov, appears precisely at the 55-degree latitude around the sun's polar crowns every 11 years.

Solar physicist Scott McIntosh, the deputy director at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, told Space.com: 'Once every solar cycle, it forms at the 55-degree latitude and it starts to march up to the solar poles.

A piece of the sun broke off this month and is circling the northern pole like a tornado. This is the first time scientists have seen such an event

'It's very curious. There is a big 'why' question around it. Why does it only move toward the pole one time and then disappears and then comes back, magically, three or four years later in exactly the same region?'

While astronomers have previously observed filaments breaking away from the sun, this is the first time one has circulated the region in a whirlwind.
Saturn's rings are one of the most magnificent spectacles in our solar system.

But every 15 years or so something odd happens to them  a phenomenon that has baffled scientists ever since its discovery four decades ago.

New Hubble Space Telescope images have now revealed mysterious smudges once again in Saturn's rings, signalling that the planet's 'spoke season' is in full swing.

It has earned this nickname because the dark and light marks resemble the spokes on a bicycle.

What exactly causes these spokes or smudges is unknown, but experts hope that the latest observations from Hubble will provide opportunities to study the phenomenon in greater detail.

Peculiar: NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has revealed that peculiar smudges are once again appearing in Saturn's rings, signalling that the planet's 'spoke season' is in full swing

They appear only in the years preceding and following equinoxes on the sixth planet from the sun  so effectively spring and autumn in the Saturnian year

The smudges appear only in the years preceding and following equinoxes on the sixth planet from the sun  so effectively spring and autumn in the Saturnian year.

SATURN: THE BASICS Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest planet in our solar system after Jupiter. It is regarded as the 'jewel of the solar system' with its sunning rings. It is not the only planet to have rings but none are as spectacular or as complicated as Saturn's. Like Jupiter, Saturn is a massive ball made mostly of hydrogen and helium, with some heavy elements. Its core stretches out to cover 60 per cent of the radius of the world. It is similar to the rest of the planet, but made of a 'slush' like material of gasses, metallic fluids, rock and ice. The farthest planet from Earth discovered by the naked eye, Saturn has been known since ancient times. The planet is named for the Roman god of agriculture and wealth, who was also the father of Jupiter. While planet Saturn is an unlikely place for living things to take hold, the same is not true of some of its many moons. Satellites like Enceladus and Titan, home to internal oceans, could possibly support life. Facts and figures Distance from Sun: 1.434 billion km Orbital period: 29 years Surface area: 42.7 billion km Radius: 58,232 km Mass: 5.683  10^26 kg (95.16 M) Length of day: 0d 10h 42m Moons: 82 with formal designations; innumerable additional moonlets Advertisement

The autumnal equinox for Saturn's northern hemisphere will arrive on May 6, 2025, but the marks tend to start appearing four years prior to this, which is why Hubble can already see them.

NASA wants to know why they only emerge seasonally and what causes them to disappear and reappear at certain times in Saturn's year.

As the world is so much farther from the sun than us, its year is longer, too. It takes 29 years for Saturn to orbit our star, while each of its seasons is around seven years long.

'Thanks to Hubble's OPAL program, which is building an archive of data on the outer solar system planets, we will have longer dedicated time to study Saturn's spokes this season than ever before,' said planetary scientist Amy Simon of NASA.

Saturn's last equinox occurred in 2009, when NASA's Cassini spacecraft was still orbiting the planet as part of a close-up reconnaissance.

But Cassini's mission ended in 2017, so Hubble is continuing the work of monitoring any changes on Saturn and the other outer planets.

'Despite years of excellent observations by the Cassini mission, the precise beginning and duration of the spoke season is still unpredictable, rather like predicting the first storm during hurricane season,' Simon added.

The ring spokes were first observed by NASA's two Voyager probes, which flew past Saturn in 1980 and 1981.

But further analysis subsequently revealed yet more oddities  firstly that they're not always there, but also that they usually appear dark from above and bright from below.

Cassini arrived in 2004 and relatively quickly revealed that the spokes weren't caused by gravitational interactions with Saturn, its moons or the tiny moonlets that make up the planet's rings.

A year later, the spacecraft confirmed that the spokes were likely related to Saturn's magnetic field, sparking numerous theories on the process.

One is that charged dust particles, suspended above and below the rings, interact with the planet's magnetic field, causing them to separate from the icy chunks in the rings and levitate separately.

What exactly causes these spokes or smudges is unknown, but experts hope that the latest observations from Hubble will provide opportunities to study the phenomenon in more detail

Scientists want to know why the smudges in the rings only emerge seasonally and what causes them to disappear and reappear at certain times in Saturn's year

The Cassini spacecraft confirmed in 2004 that the spokes were likely related to Saturn's magnetic field, sparking numerous theories in the process

One is that charged dust particles, suspended above and below the rings, interact with the planet's magnetic field, causing them to separate from the icy chunks in the rings and levitate separately

It could also be that the solar wind interacts with Saturn's magnetic field to create an electrically-charged environment that causes the dust particles to electrostatically stick together, therefore forming denser patches in the rings.

But it's not clear if either of these theories are correct or why the phenomenon is seasonal, so scientists hope that Hubble data over the next few years will help to unravel the mystery.

The iconic telescope has been undertaking an observing campaign of the outer Solar System planets.

It was data from this Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) programme that Simon and her team used to look for signs of the spokes appearing, and sure enough they did in 2021.

Then, in data from last September, the researchers tracked the spokes over an 11-hour period, confirming that 'spoke season' was truly under way.

The latest findings have been published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
New Zealand has been forced to declare just the third state of emergency in its history after being battered by Cyclone Gabrielle.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said the disaster was the country's biggest weather event in a century, leaving a trail of destruction so devastating that at least 225,000 are without power and some residents had to swim to safety from flooded homes.

The map below reveals Cyclone Gabrielle's path and the worst-hit areas  including coastal communities on the far north and east coast of the North Island such as Hawke's Bay, Coromandel and Northland.

Nearly a third of New Zealand's 5.1 million population live in the affected regions.

Mr Hipkins said there were no figures yet on the number of people displaced or whether anyone has been killed.

Devastating: New Zealand has been forced to declare just the third state of emergency in its history after being hit by Cyclone Gabrielle. This map shows the path the storm has taken

Nearly a third of New Zealand's 5.1 million population live in the affected regions. Pictured is Awatoto, near the city of Napier

Declaring the national state of emergency on Tuesday morning, Minister for Emergency Management, Kieran McAnulty, described Cyclone Gabrielle as 'unprecedented'.

It currently applies to six regions, including Northland, Auckland, Tairawhiti, Bay of Plenty, Waikato, and Hawke's Bay.

Entire roads have washed away, while dozens of homes have collapsed in landslides, and tens of thousands of people are expected to remain without power for at least a week.

AREAS WORST HIT BY CYCLONE GABRIELLE Hawke's Bay

Coromandel

Northland

Auckland

Tairawhiti

Bay of Plenty

Waikato Advertisement

The country was lashed by intense rainfall overnight that forced evacuations and brought widespread flooding, road closures and power outages to more than 60,000 homes.

'This is a significant disaster with a real threat to the lives of New Zealanders,' Mr McAnulty told reporters in the capital Wellington.

One firefighter is currently missing and another had to be rescued with critical injuries after they were caught in a landslide overnight near the country's largest city, Auckland.

Cyclone Gabrielle struck just two weeks after Auckland was swamped by a record-breaking storm which killed four people.

In flood-stricken Napier, residents were ordered to 'evacuate immediately' to higher ground following the city's second wettest February day on record.

Meanwhile, a weather station in the Hawke's Bay and Napier region recorded three times more rain overnight than usually falls for the entire month of February, MetService meteorologist Lewis Ferris said.

'It's going to be wet, sodden devastation around there,' Mr Ferris said.

'We've seen the worst of the storm now. We've just got to get through today.'

New Zealand's prime minister said the military was already on the ground on the hardest-hit northern reaches of the North Island, helping with evacuations and keeping essential supplies moving.

Back out to sea: The devastating cyclone is now tracking southeast away from New Zealand

The Waiohiki bridge on the Tutaekuri River washed away and houses were flooded in Napier

Fleeing: Residents in Hastings, south-east of Auckland, evacuated amid the rising floodwaters

Trail of destruction: A large landslide caused a number of homes to collapse in the coastal community of Muriwai

'I want to acknowledge the situation New Zealanders have been waking up to this morning,' Mr Hipkins told reporters.

'A lot of families displaced. A lot of homes without power. Extensive damage done across the country.

'It will take us a wee while to get a handle on exactly what's happened and, in due course, helping with the clean-up when we get to that point.'

Much of Auckland ground to a halt on Monday as train services were cancelled, libraries and most schools were closed, and authorities asked people to make only essential trips.

Air New Zealand cancelled all domestic flights to and from Auckland through Tuesday morning, as well as many international flights.

Some international routes would continue operating, airline officials said, although they might need to be diverted from Auckland.

Cyclone Gabrielle formed on February 5 and has been tracking towards New Zealand for the past week. Winds began to hit the country on Sunday, before the cyclone battered the country on Monday and into Tuesday

This graphic shows the route Cyclone Gabrielle took as it impacted New Zealand's North Island

Trapped in the eye of the storm: This satellite image captures Cyclone Gabrielle from above

A loop of the satellite images from 9am this morning.



This helps show how the winds move clockwise around Cyclone Gabrielle.



You can also see how the whole system is slowly moving to the south and east. pic.twitter.com/19M0NhygVP  MetService (@MetService) February 14, 2023

The carrier also cancelled domestic flights to and from the cities of Hamilton, Tauranga and Taupo.

Weather warnings remain in place for much of North Island's east coast and upper South Island, but conditions eased today (Tuesday) as Cyclone Gabrielle tracked southeast away from New Zealand.

However, 225,000 homes and businesses still remain without power and people are continuing to be evacuated.

The power grid had not experienced such damage since 1988, when Cyclone Bola became one of the most destructive storms to ever hit New Zealand, the prime minister said.

Architect Lars von Minden, 50, who lives in Muriwai, a beach town on the coast west of Auckland, described the extent of the devastation wreaked by Cyclone Gabrielle.

'I've seldom seen anything like it,' he said. 'There are three or four areas where there are just these massive slips, some of them 300 metres (1,000 feet) across, that have come down, taking out houses and roads and everything.'

Local media published photographs and video of people sitting on top of buildings surrounded by flood water, of houses swept to the bottom of hills by landslides and of roads under water.

Cyclone Gabrielle is the third time New Zealand has had to declare a national emergency. The previous occasions were when an earthquake hit in 2011 and for the Covid pandemic in 2020.
Passionate sex might bring to mind ripping clothes off in a spur-of-the-moment romp.

But far from taking all the fun out of it, planning your sexual encounters might be just as erotic as falling into a more spontaneous embrace.

Researchers from the University of York found that while many people do endorse the ideal of spontaneous sex, there is no difference in passion or satisfaction levels than with planned sex.

'We're not necessarily saying you put it into a calendar, like 7 pm on a Tuesday, after putting dinner in the oven and before folding the socks,' said Katarina Kovacevic, co-author of the study.

'But the intentionality behind it can be transformative in the sense that we don't wait around for the right moment, because sometimes the mood just never strikes, really, for some people, and that might deter them.'

A new study suggests that contrary to popular belief, planned sex is just as sexy as spur-of-the-moment encounters

The team carried out two studies to compare the relative perks of spontaneous and planned sex.

Do YOU believe in true love? It may be killing your sex life - READ MORE Scientists have uncovered the secret to a happy sex life  time and effort Advertisement

'There can be a lot of resistance to asking clients to talk about and plan sex more, to work as a sexual team,' Ms Kovacevic said.

'I think it's because of what we see in the media, but the funny thing about that is there's so much planning that goes into those scenes  a whole production team is there, actors memorise their lines.'

In the first study, the team surveyed more than 300 individuals in romantic relationships.

They found that believing spontaneous sex is superior did correlate with reported satisfaction.

However, in the second study, which involved daily surveys of more than 100 couples over three weeks, the team found there was no difference in how satisfying a sexual encounter was  whether it was planned or happened spontaneously.

'Generally, we did find that people endorsed the spontaneous sex ideal,' said Professor Amy Muise, co-author of the study.

'But, despite these beliefs, across our two studies we did not find strong support that people actually experience spontaneous sex as more satisfying than planned sex.'

The researchers compare how planning is crucial in many enjoyable aspects of our lives, from going on holiday to having a rewarding career.

While many people do endorse the ideal of spontaneous sex, there is no difference in passion or satisfaction than with planned sex

'Since sex is important to many people, and has many health and relationship benefits, it makes sense to prioritise and approach sex in the same way,' they explained.

On Valentine's Day, the researchers say the key is 'intention, versus expectation'.

'Expectations for sex during holidays, anniversaries and birthdays can lead to folks feeling pressure,' said Ms Kovacevic.

Instead, the researchers recommend that couples should plan to spend quality time together. 'Try to have [sex] before the big meal and glasses of wine,' Professor Muise joked.
Scientists used computer modeling to get accurate estimates of sea level rises

It is well known that Earth's waters are rising because of global warming.

But scientists now think they have a more accurate picture of just how much global sea levels will increase, after estimating the volume of water than will come from the melting of our planet's two ice sheets.

Together, the Antarctic Ice Sheet and Greenland Ice Sheet  the two biggest sources of melting ice  contain about 99 per cent of the freshwater on Earth.

In a worst-case scenario, melted water from Antarctic Ice Sheet in the south and Greenland Ice Sheet in the north will add an extra 4.6 feet to sea levels by the year 2150, the new study claims.

Alarming though this may be, it doesn't even account for other sources of rising sea levels, such as ice caps and floating platforms of ice that have melted, too.

The experts performed computer modelling simulations based on various climate scenarios. Under the worst-case scenario (weak emissions cuts) melted water from the two ice sheets will add 4.6 feet to sea levels by 2150

Global mean sea level has risen by about 7.8 inches (20cm) in the past century and this trend is likely to accelerate with global warming, the researchers say.

The new study was led by Jun-Young Park at Pusan National University in South Korea and Fabian Schloesser at the University of Hawaii.

What is an ice sheet? An ice sheet is a mass of glacial land ice extending more than 20,000 square miles (50,000 square kilometers). The two ice sheets on Earth today cover most of Greenland and Antarctica. During the last ice age, ice sheets also covered much of North America and Scandinavia. Together, the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets contain more than 99 percent of the freshwater ice on Earth. Source: National Snow and Ice Data Center Advertisement

'With a considerable fraction of the world's population living near coastlines, it is crucial to provide accurate projections of global and regional future sea level trends,' they say in their paper, published today in Nature Communications.

'Our results demonstrate that estimates of future sea-level rise fundamentally depend on the complex interactions between ice-sheets, icebergs, ocean and the atmosphere.'

The new research focused on water coming from melted ice sheets  large areas of land covered in ice that are bigger than 19,000 square miles (those less than this are called ice caps).

Ice sheets are very chunky  the Antarctic one is about 1.2 miles thick  but previous studies have suggested they are both losing mass due to climate change as the air and ocean waters get warmer.

Although ice melted from the two ice sheets aren't the only cause of rising sea levels, combined they are thought to be the biggest source.

Other causes of rising sea levels include ice caps and floating platforms of ice, as well as thermal expansion, land sinkage and more.

For the new study, the experts performed climate modelling simulations based on the latest Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs).

These modelling scenarios from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) show different ways in which the world could change and are frequently used by researchers.

The Greenland Ice Sheet (pictured). The two ice sheets on Earth today cover most of Greenland and Antarctica

The five scenarios range from SSP1-1.9 where CO2 emissions are 'very low' and have been cut to net zero around 2050, to the dreaded worst-case scenario SSP5-8.5, where greenhouse gas emissions triple by 2075.

Industrial Age sparked sea level rise more than 150 years ago says study - READ MORE Modern rates of sea level rise began emerging in 1863 following the Industrial Revolution, a study says Advertisement

If SSP5-8.5 happens, contributions of the two ice sheets alone to global sea-level rise will be 4.6 feet (1.4 metres) by 2150, the researchers found.

Under two other SSP scenarios, the sea level rise was much less severe  0.6 feet (0.2 metres) for SSP1-1.9 and 1.6 feet (0.5 metres) for SSP2-4.5.

Unfortunately, the authors found that limiting global warming to 3.6F (2 C) above pre-industrial levels  a key aim of the Paris Agreement  would be insufficient to slow down the rate of global sea level rise.

Reaching this target wouldn't prevent an irreversible loss of large areas of the western portion of the Antarctic Ice Sheet, which is smaller in mass than its eastern counterpart.

Another team of experts has already cautioned that the melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet could cause global sea levels to rise by up to 10 feet.

Only by limiting global temperature increase below 3.2F (1.8C) relative to pre-industrial levels by the end of this century can sea level rise acceleration be avoided, the new study warns.

The authors claim that their research accounts for 'complex interactions between ice sheets, icebergs, the oceans and the atmosphere' in ways that others studies haven't done before and so is more accurate.

The two columns on the right show ice loss in the worst-case scenario (SSP5-8.5) for the Greenland Ice Sheet (top) and Antarctic Ice Sheet (bottom) based on different time periods. The column on the left shows ice thickness for both ice sheets in 1850-1860 as a comparison

Currently, the response of the Antarctic Ice Sheet to global warming provides 'the largest uncertainty' in estimating future sea levels, they say.

Revealing more meltwater from Earth's ice sheets will be key to understanding the risks around 'catastrophic' climate events, according to Dr Robin Smith at the University of Reading's National Centre for Atmospheric Science.

'Authors of this new study are part of an important new movement pushing the boundaries of how ice sheets and their often neglected interactions with the rest of the Earth system can be included in our projections of climate change and sea level,' said Dr Smith, who was not involved with the study.

'Even though more work needs to be done to reduce the uncertainty in projections like these, this study clearly shows the importance of taking rapid action to reduce anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as possible to minimise the risks associated with the loss of major ice sheets.'
Traditionally, the job of smelling out illegal drugs has been left to dogs and the 300 million receptors in their noses.

However, it may not be long until you see a different creature scuttling around the airport, as Chinese police have recruited their first squad of sniffer squirrels.

Six Eurasian reds have been 'successfully trained' for the job by the Public Security Bureau of the Hechuan District in Chongqing, southwestern China.

While they are just as efficient at detecting substances, their small size enables them to search places that dogs would not be able to reach.

These include stashes crammed into spaces in warehouses or parcels at distribution centres, as well as those at heights.

Six Eurasian reds have been 'successfully trained' for the job by the Public Security Bureau of the Hechuan District in Chongqing, southwestern China

While they are just as efficient at detecting substances, their small size enables them to search places that dogs would not be able to reach.

The squirrels were trained to scratch when they detected narcotics by the Police Dog Brigade, using technology normally employed to train canines.

SNIFFER ANIMALS Dogs - With 300 million olfactory sensors, dogs have been used to help detect substances for over a century. Some of the first sniffer dogs ever used professionally were brought in to help the police hunt for Jack the Ripper in 1888. Honeybees - More recently, honeybees have been trained to 'sniff' for narcotics and landmines, and then fly away to indicate their presence. Rats - African giant pouched rats have been trained to sniff out land mines as they are too light to set them off if they run over them. Elephants - African elephants have the best sense of smell in the animal kingdom, and can detect explosives. Advertisement

A video posted by Chinese media outlet People's Daily shows the rodents darting between objects to sniff as part of a laboratory exercise.

Police dog trainer Yin Jin told Chongqing Morning Post that it had taken years to get the squirrels to this level of ability, but they were doing an 'excellent job'.

'The sense of smell of squirrels is quite sensitive,' he told state media.

'It's just that our technology in training rodents was not mature enough before.'

Their training is part of a national research project to bring in a new unit of anti-drug animals, including rats.

Despite the breakthrough, Mr Jin told The Washington Post that 'it's probably going to take some time' before the sniffer squirrels are deployed.

These are not the first rodents to have their noses utilised for public service, as bomb-detecting rats have been doing their bit for over a decade.

Last year, Malaga - a 'hero' mine-detecting rat who was awarded the animal equivalent of a George Cross - died after a five year career with Belgian charity APOPO.

A statement from APOPO said: 'During his career, Magawa found over 100 landmines and other explosives, making him APOPO's most successful HeroRAT to date.

'His contribution allows communities in Cambodia to live, work, and play; without fear of losing life or limb.'

The squirrels were trained to scratch when they detect narcotics by the Police Dog Brigade with technology they normally used to train canines

Police dog trainer Yin Jin told Chongqing Morning Post that it had taken years to get the squirrels to this level of ability, but they were doing an 'excellent job'

Their training is part of a national research project to bring in a new unit of anti-drug animals

The charity, which is based in Tanzania, recruits African giant pouched rats for the job as they are too light to set off land mines if they run over them.

They are trained to associate the sound of a click with food at only 10 weeks old.

When they go near a tea egg containing the scent of TNT - the explosive substance in landmines - and scratch at it, they hear a click and receive a food reward.

This teaches the intelligent creatures how to distinguish between tea eggs containing TNT and those without it.

They can detect the chemical compound within explosives and ignore any scrap metal lying around, making them much faster than metal detectors.
Shows about Jeffrey Dahmer, The Night Stalker and other well-known serial killers have become widely popular in recent years and, while the curiosity may seem morbid, experts say there is a biological reason for it.

An expert revealed that watching true crime shows is our way of preparing for similar situations in the real world.

Such content 'can have a learning component to it or at least a perceived learning component,' said Coltan Scrivner, a research scientist at Denmark's Recreational Fear Lab.

Scrivner also explained that this fascination likely began around 300,000 years ago, when humans began using language and engaging in proactive aggression instead of reactive aggression.

These notions coincide with a new poll of 2,000 self-reported true crime fans, which found that 76 percent feel that consuming content about true crime helps them avoid similar situations happening to them.

True crime shows, like Netflix's DAHMER - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, may be our way of preparing for similar situations in the real world

'Now this presents a problem for people because, with proactive aggression, it's hard to tell who is plotting to harm you,' said Scrivner.

'So this put a selection pressure on our minds to learn to seek out information about people who are potentially dangerous.

'True crime can have a learning component to it, or at least a perceived learning component.

'We feel like we're more prepared in these kinds of situations.

'So if this dangerous situation were to occur, you feel a little more prepared and know what you should or shouldn't do.'

Dahmer  Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story was released on September 21, 2022 and instantly shot up to the top spot on Netflix's Top 10 List.

The series was centered on the prolific serial killer's crimes, which occurred between 1978 and 1991.

The criminal and cannibal, who was ultimately beaten to death in prison in 1994, was portrayed by Evan Peters, who previously collaborated with show creator Ryan Murphy on several seasons of American Horror Story.

Experts said this obsession in such stories and serial killers like Jeffrey Dahmer (pictured) stems from around 300,000 years ago

And on January 21, 2021, Netflix released Night Stalker: The Hunt For a Serial Killer, which chronicles the life and crimes of infamous serial killer Richard Ramirez.

Ramirez, who was best known under the moniker the Night Stalker, was a serial rapist and serial murderer who terrorized Los Angeles from 1984 to 1985 and committed over a dozen killings, with victims ranging from ages six to 82.

Hailed as a real-life monster and self-proclaimed Satan worshiper, the hunt for Ramirez is detailed in the four-part series as told from the perspective of the Sheriffs who hunted him down and the victims who escaped his grasp.

While some may think individuals who dive into true crimes may be more likely to commit violent crimes themselves, Scrivener does not see a connection.

'So there are distinctions between becoming desensitized to seeing graphic content on your television and being OK with graphic content happening around you. A great example of this would be the research on violent video games over the course of the last 20 years,' continued Scrivner.

'It was a huge deal because people were concerned that as video games became more realistic and as the violence became more realistic that it would cause kids, in particular, to become more violent.

'But the research is pretty clear at this point that playing violent video games doesn't make kids more violent. I would be fairly sure that the same is true of something like true crime, where watching true crime doesn't make you less empathetic towards the victims or more empathetic towards the killer or anything like that.

Shows like Netflix's Night Stalker 'can have a learning component to it, or at least a perceived learning component'

However, research data from OnePoll shows humans are still obsessed with these wild, but true, stories.

READ MORE: I'm a forensic psychiatrist - these are 5 reasons some women fall in love with murderers An expert has explained why some women are attracted to murderers like Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, and Chris Watts despite their horrific, violent crimes. Advertisement

The survey found that the average respondent consumes five true crime programs each month.

Approximately 75 percent said they watch the latest program the instant it is released and 71 percent typically binge-watching the entire thing in one sitting.

The survey also determined that 44 percent of respondents admit they have a 'favorite' serial killer and 67 percent would be thrilled at the opportunity to chat with one.

Over seven in ten of those polled (71 percent) also admit to feeling less trustworthy of other people due to how much true crime content they consume.

'It might have some psychological effects but it's very unlikely that it would have any effects along those lines.'

A 2010 study by the University of Illinois on why women are drawn to true crime programs found that they may be more likely to fear becoming a victim.

In this case, women feel these shows provide a playbook for survival tactics if they find themselves in the arms of a serial killer.

American interest in true crime as a form of infotainment dates back to the early 1900s.

Kelli Boling is an assistant professor at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, told Scripps News: 'Normally these were women journalists that were writing these columns, and mostly it was because they weren't allowed to write on the news, and so they were allowed to write what was considered more of a fluff piece.'
Northern Italys Veneto region boasts picture-perfect islands, awe-inspiring displays of art and a rich history reflected in its architecture.

With its network of canals and peaceful waterways, a luxury river cruise is the ideal way to explore this part of Italy.

Join our voyage in July and youll sail on magnificent SS La Venezia to many of the regions most stunning destinations.

Youll begin your journey in Venice, where special out-of-hours trips to the Doges Palace and St Marks Basilica have been arranged so that the beauty of these historic buildings can be enjoyed without the usual crowds.

Journalist and broadcaster Andrew Graham-Dixon will sail with you for part of the cruise. He will host a reception on board and give a talk on Venetian art, plus share his knowledge at the Accademia Gallery, the Scuola Grande di San Rocco and the Frari church.

Colours of the canals: During The Mail on Sunday's seven-night river cruise of Northern Italys Veneto region, you'll visit the island of Burano (pictured)

Cruising out of Venice, the deluxe ship will take you to waterfront shops, colourful facades and tranquil canals in Burano, Mazzorbo and Torcello. Further south, youll discover Chioggia, a charming port loved by fishermen for the sole, sea bass and sea bream found in the local waters.

Every step of the way, youll have the chance to immerse yourself in Venetian culture and savour the areas spectacular wine and enviable cuisine. Youll meet a gondola-maker, peruse local markets and see glass-blowing craftsmen at work in Murano.

Glorious SS La Venezia carries just 126 guests and youll be staying in a classic river-view stateroom  with plush interiors and marble bathroom  so you can watch Venetos beautiful sights pass by your window.

In Venice, you'll enjoy the beauty of St Marks Basilica (above) without the usual crowds at an after-hours lighting ceremony

ABOUT THE EXPERT You will be joined by Andrew Graham-Dixon Andrew Graham-Dixon is a leading art critic, writer, journalist and broadcaster. Andrew has judged the Turner Prize, BP National Portrait Award and the Annual British Animation Awards, among others. Advertisement

REASONS TO BOOK

Cruise on SS La Venezia: Sail on this grand yet intimate ship, designed with 20th Century Venetian style in mind with its Murano glass, gilded accents and artistic etchings.

Excursions with Andrew Graham-Dixon: Art historian and broadcaster Andrew Graham-Dixon will host and guide you on visits to the Accademia Gallery, the Scuola Grande di San Rocco and the Frari church, sharing his expert insights.

Meet Venetian artisans: Our cruise allows you to immerse yourself in the culture of Veneto and learn more about its artistic heritage. Youll meet a gondola-maker in Venice and watch glass-blowing craftsmen at work in Murano.

Enjoy delicious cuisine: All meals and drinks on SS La Venezia are included. Ristorante Rialto, the ships elegant restaurant, serves meals created by classically trained chefs using fresh, locally sourced ingredients, with both regionally inspired and international dishes completing the menu.

Visit hidden gems: A cruise around the peaceful waterways of Veneto allows you time to explore some of the regions secret spots. Marvel at the quirky waterfront shops, colourful facades and harbourside trattorias in lovely towns across the region.

An exclusive evening in St Marks Basilica: A highlight of the trip is an after-hours lighting ceremony inside St Marks Basilica. Without the crowds, the sense of peace in the basilica is even greater than usual as you admire the engravings and statues illuminated by flickering candles.
Daisy Midgeley's horrific stalking ordeal will tip her over the edge on Coronation Street next week, throwing her wedding into jeopardy.

The brunette beauty has been stalked by a deranged follower named Justin, who is convinced that they are engaged and even threatened that she needs to break up with her boyfriend Daniel Osborne so they can be together.

As Justin's harassment grows to extreme levels, an angry Daisy confronts Justin, violently punching him after seeing him with a bouquet of flowers.

It sparks a visit from the police who warn that Justin has accused her of assault, leading the bride-to-be to break down in tears.

Can she escape Justin's terrifying clutches?

SPOILER: Daisy Midgeley's horrific stalking ordeal will tip her over the edge on Coronation Street next week, throwing her wedding into jeopardy

You did what? In upcoming scenes, a terrified Daisy lashes out and punches Justin, and he reports her to the police for assault

In the upcoming episodes, Daisy (Charlotte Jordan) finally switches her phone back on after attempting to avoid Justin's harassment, and is immediately bombarded with a string of text messages from him.

As Daisy dissolves into tears in Daniel's arms, the groom-to-be scrolls through Justin's messages and decides that they need to go to the police.

Daisy shows PC Scott (Andrew Roberts-Palmer) the recent texts from Justin, but he immediately plays it down.

Returning home, Daisy is horrified to see that PC Scott has liked all her holiday snaps on her social media profile, sparking doubt over his loyalties.

Later, Daniel (Rob Mallard) suggests that he and Daisy should postpone their wedding until Justin (Andrew Still) has been dealt with.

Daisy then sees Justin carrying a bunch of flowers on Victoria Street and she storms over, hurls the bouquet on the pavement and stamps on it.

As Justin places a calming hand on her arm, Daisy sees red and punches him, witnessed by a shocked George (Tony Maudsley).

Justin then reveals his mum has just died and he was visiting George to sort the arrangements.

Scary: In the upcoming episodes, Daisy switches her phone back on after attempting to avoid Justin's harassment, and is immediately bombarded with a string of text messages from him

What to do: Daniel says it's time to contact the police, but when Daisy shows PC Scott the messages, he plays it down

Raging: Daisy then sees Justin carrying a bunch of flowers on Victoria Street and she storms over, hurls the bouquet on the pavement and stamps on it

What did you do? As Justin places a calming hand on her arm, Daisy sees red and punches him, witnessed by a shocked George

What next? As Daisy bursts into tears on Daniel's shoulder once again, PC Jess invites Daisy to the station, revealing that Justin has accused her of assault

As Daisy bursts into tears on Daniel's shoulder once again, PC Jess invites Daisy to the station, revealing that Justin has accused her of assault.

Will Justin's torment ruin Daisy and Daniel's big day?

Filming has already begun on the couple's wedding, with stars spotted working on the dramatic scenes on Monday.

However, bride Daisy was nowhere to be seen, sparking worry from the suited and booted groom Daniel.

A source told Metro: 'Daniel was pictured outside the country house hotel wedding venue all alone and looking worried in what could be Coronation Street's most shocking storyline as events on the Street play a part in the couples big day.'

Coronation Street airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
Alya Nazir is set for a turbulent time on Coronation Street next week, as she lashes out at a client while struggling to move on from her stabbing ordeal.

In the upcoming scenes, Alya is infuriated when she meets a client who has been accused of stabbing someone, and launches into a tirade about how it felt to be at the helm of a similar attack.

Alya was violently stabbed by far-right extremist Blake in tense scenes which aired last month, and in this week's episode she will learn how long Blake will spend behind bars.

As she awaits Blake's fate, Alya also finds herself falling back into the arms of her ex Ryan, with the pair sharing a kiss.

What will Blake's sentence be?

Raging: Alya Nazir is set for a turbulent time on Coronation Street next week, as she lashes out at a client while struggling to move on from her stabbing ordeal

In the episodes, Alya (Sair Khan) waves off her brother Zeedan (Qasim Akhtar) as he sets off on a trip to London, and heads back to work at Dee Dee's law firm.

She immediately comes face-to-face with her client Jayden, who is accused of stabbing someone.

Before Adam (Sam Robertson) and Dee-Dee (Channique Sterling-Brown) can stop her, Alya angrily describes exactly what it's like to be stabbed.

Later, Alya seeks comfort from her ex Ryan (Ryan Prescott), who listens intently as she unburdens herself, before suggesting she should channel all of her struggles into her personal victim statement.

Ryan pulls Alya in for a hug and it soon turns into a passionate kiss.... will they rekindle their romance?

Later, Alya decides to visit Max (Paddy Bever) at the secure training centre, where he is serving a six-month sentence for incitement to commit murder.

Max opens up to Alya about his troubled life, leading her to decide that she will write a victim impact statement before Blake's sentencing.

Max calls David (Jack P Shepherd) and asks him if he will visit tomorrow, and as Alya reads out the victim impact statement she's written for Blake's sentencing hearing, Yasmeen (Shelley King) listens intentely.

Shocking: In the upcoming scenes, she is infuriated when she meets a client who has been accused of stabbing someone

David thanks Alya for taking the time to visit Max, and it is later revealed that Blake has been sentenced to 12 years behind bars.

Can Alya finally move forward from her horrific ordeal?

Blake's prison sentence will be the climax of Corrie's terrifying extremism plot that prompted 72 complaints to Ofcom.

The scene in question took place as Maria gave a speech at an event organised to highlight the Weatherfield refugee drop-in centre.

As Maria welcomed the refugees, Max Turner was on his phone listening to a character named Blake making a racist speech pledging to put an end to the refugee centre by whatever means necessary.

Outrageous: After meeting the client, before Adam (Sam Robertson) and Dee-Dee (Channique Sterling-Brown) can stop her, Alya angrily describes exactly what it's like to be stabbed

Drama! As she awaits Blake's fate, Alya also finds herself falling back into the arms of her ex Ryan, with the pair sharing a kiss

Drama: After deciding that she will give a victim statement, Alya decides to visit Max at the secure training centre, and later learns her attacker has been sentenced to 12 years in prison

A far right gang has recently groomed the teen, isolating him from his loved ones and pushing him to help spread Griff's racist agenda.

Blake has also been manipulated and acted out by attempting to murder councillor Maria.

Pushing his way through the crowd in the restaurant Black revealed he had a knife on him and Alya stepped in front of Maria as he tried to hurt her.

Alya was stabbed and seriously injured in the struggle before Gary Windass, played by Mikey North, tackled Blake to the ground.

However, it was too late for Alya as she dropped down clutching her chest where her wound was bleeding.

Blake was arrested by police and blamed the attack on Max.

Viewers were left less than impressed by the 'bloody violence' scenes and took to Twitter to complain about the dark episode.

Coronation Street airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
Spider Nugent will come face to face with far right extremist Griff Reynolds on Coronation Street next week, as he uncovers a huge conspiracy that will send shockwaves through Weatherfield.

In the upcoming scenes, the detective decides to visit the criminal in prison in the hope of finding out where his funding came from.

Spider convinces Griff to share the information in exchange for a reduced sentence, and immediately springs into action to expose an explosive web of lies.

The dramatic episodes culminate with Spider and his colleague crashing an event that sees councillor Len Cameron handing over a cheque to fund a refugee centre.

What will they reveal?

SPOILER: Spider Nugent will come face to face with extremist Griff Reynolds on Coronation Street next week, as he uncovers a huge conspiracy

Griff (Michael Condon) was arrested after he and his extremist gang planted a bomb in the middle of the Street's peace markets, after Max Turner (Paddy Bever) sounded the alarm when he spotted the Speed Daal van parked on some wasteland.

Alya (Sair Khan) proceeded to drive the van out of the way before the bomb exploded, and Spider (Martin Hancock) swooped in and arrested Griff for his crimes.

Now, Spider will visit Griff in prison in the hope of finding out who has been secretly funding his activities.

He vows to ensure Griff gets a reduced sentence if he gives up the name of the group's benefactor.

Meanwhile Maria Connor (Samia Longchambon) is stunned when councillor Len does a U-turn and reveals that he will fund the refugee centre, though she is irked when he invites press to photograph the moment he hands over the chque.

Spider is stunned as Griff finally reveals who has been funding the extremist's actions, and immediately rushes off to expose the culprit.

As Len (Mark Murphy) is proudly photographed handing Maria his cheque to fund the centre, Spider and his colleague screech up in a car wearing stab vests.

Who is the mysterious benefactor?

Who is it? In the upcoming scenes, the detective decides to visit the criminal in prison in the hope of finding out where his funding came from

This week will mark the conclusion of Corrie's much-anticipated extremism plot, which saw teen Max Turner groomed by a far-right group.

After helping the group with a series of racially-motivated propaganda videos, Max was arrested for encouragement of terrorism when Blake said he was inspired by one of his clips to storm Speed Daal and stab Alya Nazir.

Pushing his way through the crowd in the restaurant Black revealed he had a knife on him and Alya stepped in front of Maria as he tried to hurt her.

Alya was stabbed and seriously injured in the struggle before Gary Windass, played by Mikey North, tackled Blake to the ground.

What's going on? The dramatic episodes culminate with Spider and his colleague crashing an event that sees councillor Len Cameron handing over a cheque to fund a refugee centre

However, it was too late for Alya as she dropped down clutching her chest where her wound was bleeding.

Blake was arrested by police and blamed the attack on Max.

Viewers were left less than impressed by the 'bloody violence' scenes and took to Twitter to complain about the dark episode, which also sparked 72 complaints to media watchdog Ofcom.

Coronation Street airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
Gabby Thomas' relentless attempts to pursue a romance with her nanny Nicky will backfire in next week's Emmerdale, when he dramatically quits.

The mother's head was turned by the hunky new arrival after hiring him to care for her son Thomas, but he refused her advance under the guise that she is his boss.

In upcoming scenes, Gabby attempts to ignite a spark with Nicky by asking him to zip up her dress, leading to a steamy moment between them.

Aware that Nicky is only reluctant to sleep with her because of his employment, Gabby suggests she temporarily fire him so that they can have some fun... only for her plan to immediately backfire.

Will Gabby convince Nicky to come back?

SPOILER: Gabby Thomas' relentless attempts to pursue a romance with her nanny Nicky will backfire in next week's Emmerdale, when he dramatically quits

In the coming episodes, Gabby (Rosie Bentham) becomes frustrated when her advances towards Nicky (Lewis Cope) keep getting brushed off.

She finally ignites a spark with Nicky when she asks him to zip up her dress, sparking a brief moment between them.

Knowing his eyes are all over her, Gabby is pleased to finally be getting somewhere.

Realising her position as his boss is making him reluctant to start something with her, Nicky's unimpressed when Gabby temporarily fires him so they can have their fun.

The mother is then left floundering when Nicky sensationally quits his job instead, leaving her without someone to look after Thomas.

Will Nicky be convinced to come back?

In previous episodes, Nicky confessed that he does have feelings for Gabby, but they can't be together as it could put his job in jeopardy.

Nicky admitted that despite their chemistry he cannot have sex with the young mother, with actor Lewis adding there could be 'problems' if the pair got together.

Plotting: In upcoming scenes, Gabby attempts to ignite a spark with Nicky by asking him to zip up her dress, leading to a steamy moment between them

Nicky first caught Gabby's eye when he arrived in the village as a nanny for Clemmie and Lucas, but soon learned his services were no longer needed when Dawn (Olivia Bromley) decided she didn't want to work for Kim Tate (Claire King).

Luckily, Gabby reassured Nicky that she still needed someone to look after her son Thomas, and Kim agreed, meaning he could stay at Home Farm.

After learning she'd got the job as Kim's deputy, a delighted Gabby (Rosie Bentham) decided to celebrate with Nicky by enjoying some champagne.

However, when she learned in for a kiss, he quickly pulled back, admitting he doesn't like her that way.

Oh dear! Gabby suggests she temporarily fire him so that they can have some fun... only for her plan to immediately backfire

Rejection! In previous episodes, Nicky confessed that he does have feelings for Gabby, but they can't be together as it could put his job in jeopardy

Speaking about the story, actor Lewis previously told Metro: 'Potentially it could be a problem at Home Farm if they get together. Nicky kind of focuses on his job and thinks  we shouldn't be doing this and backs away from it.

Co-star Rosie agrees that the pair make a good match, adding: 'They both fancy each other, it's very obvious.

'I think the audience are going to be egging them on to be honest, because they see two young people who fancy each other, it's very obvious what they are going to want from that. But whether they get it or not, who knows?'

However, Lewis has already warned that Nicky has a dark side that viewers may get to see in the coming weeks.

He said last month: 'At the moment he's a lovely person and there's nothing to say otherwise, but he's quite too good to be true though.'

Emmerdale airs on weeknights at 7:30pm on ITV1, and ITVX.
Amy Hart has hit back at trolls who accused her of editing her pregnancy photographs as she counts down the days until welcoming her first child.

The former Love Island star, 30, took to her Instagram Stories on Monday to reveal that she had been accused of 'airbrushing' a set of baby bump pictures.

Amy had shared an array of stunning snaps from a recent photoshoot showing her cradling her growing baby bump as she celebrated 37 weeks of pregnancy.

But she took to her Stories just hours after she shared the glowing pictures to reveal that she had been accused of 'airbrushing' her face.

The troll wrote: 'Shame you've airbrushed yourself as it's not needed and should be lovely natural photos.'

Accusations: Amy Hart has hit back at trolls who accused her of editing her pregnancy photographs as she counts down the days until welcoming her first child

Amy was quick to hit back at the claims and insisted she did not airbrush her pictures or put any filters on them, saying it was just the results of a 'beautifully lit studio'.

But Amy did admit that she too thought her photographs might have been edited when she first received them, before zooming in and seeing her 'skin texture'.

She wrote: 'I knew this would happen as soon as I got sent them. Coz my first thought was ooh has my face been edited. But I zoomed in and saw my forehead lines and skin texture and was like oh OK!

'@Sorchamakeupartist literally makes my face look like it's got a filter on and obviously it was shot in a beautifully lit studio.'

The TV personality, who starred in the 2019 series of Love Island, is currently expecting her first child with boyfriend Sam Rason.

And it is not the first time that Amy has been hit by trolling during her pregnancy after they cruelly commented on her weight.

Taking to her Stories over the weekend, Amy told her 1.1million followers to say that she finds it 'strange' that people think it's 'socially acceptable' to do so.

Amy said: 'I find it so strange in the last like six months since I've announced that I've been pregnant everyone, people I do know people don't, thinks it's socially acceptable for them to tell me how big I am.

Hitting back: The former Love Island star, 30, took to her Instagram Stories on Monday to reveal that she had been accused of 'airbrushing' a set of baby bump pictures

Denial: But she took to her Stories just hours after she shared the glowing pictures to reveal that she had been accused of 'airbrushing' her face, which she denied

'It's socially acceptable for them to say where I have and haven't put on weight...

'It's fine for everyone else to say it, but the minute I reclaim that and say that obviously I have put weight on and call myself "fat" in a jokey manner, people start kicking off at me.

'So everyone else is allowed to call me fat but I'm not allowed call myself it. What?'

It comes after the star said she could go into labour at any moment as she is just days away from being full-term in her pregnancy.

Amy confirmed that her baby is 'head down,' and so could be born at any time, joking that she could be spending the remainder of her pregnancy 'on her birthing ball'.

She said: 'The baby is now head down but back to back so if you need me I'll be on my birthing ball.

Pregnant: The TV personality, who starred in the 2019 series of Love Island, is currently expecting her first child with boyfriend Sam Rason

'It's a weird time as obviously I'm ''term'' on Sunday when I hit 37 weeks but it could still go on til 19th March which seems ages away!

'Currently enjoying going out for lunch almost everyday, lying in, napping, watching telly, cooking meals that take 2 hours of love and devotion and the final push of eating what I want, when I want.

'I'm thinking I'll go to 41 weeks, place your bets below on the week and the day you think!'

Amy also revealed she was nearly admitted to hospital after fearing she may have cholestasis, a liver condition that reduces the flow of bile in the body and can be dangerous for unborn babies.

In her lengthy caption, Amy admitted she began to suffer from a tell-tale symptom of the condition, itchy feet, and she considered contacting triage, but later reassured her followers that she was 'all good.'

She wrote: 'Last night I was umming and ahhhing about calling triage because my feet were itching and I know it says on the pack to call them in that case but we were like what constitutes feet and what is the ankle it's not easy when your calf goes straight to your foot.

'Also, I had been standing up for 2 hours cooking in my fluffy slippers. Spoke to the midwife today and it's if your soles are itchy you need to call.'

Amy later took to her Instagram Stories to reassure her followers that she was 'all good,' despite the itching in her feet.

She wrote: 'Re: the itching, obviously I totally trust in my team but I have just double-checked and all good, and now obviously. Just like when someone talks about nits, fleas etc I am now itching more. The brain is so powerful.

'Also, sorry to anyone I offended with my comment about abusing my liver. It was a joke about my 15 years of being a lush rather than making light of the condition.'

Trolls: It is not the first time that Amy has been hit by trolling during her pregnancy after they cruelly commented on her weight

Intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy, commonly known as cholestasis of pregnancy, is a liver condition that occurs in late pregnancy.

The condition triggers intense itching, but without a rash. Itching usually occurs on the hands and feet but can also affect other parts of the body.

Cholestasis of pregnancy can make the expectant mother extremely uncomfortable, and some medical professionals may suggest an early delivery.

It comes after Amy revealed she doesn't want boyfriend Sam to propose to her while she's pregnant.

She took to Instagram last month to reveal the couple have already planned out their wedding.

Amy explained that she was to blame for Sam not popping the question, as she wanted to be able to get 'p***ed' after getting engaged.

In a fan Q&A, Amy was asked if her and Sam were engaged yet and she replied: 'No, but that is my doing.

'I was like I don't want to get engaged while I'm pregnant because I want to get p***ed when I get engaged and I want to have a nice old night out when we get engaged.'

She went on: 'But we know when and where we're getting married. And everyone's like aw that ruins the surprise. It doesn't.

'I don't when he's going to do it, I don't know where he's going to do it and how he's going to do it. I don't know what the ring's going to look like.

'I feel like if I didn't know we were going to married, having a baby together and living together, knowing each other are the one - I feel like that would be a bit worrying. A little bit worrying.'
An Aussie rapper has revealed the biggest differences between Australian and American bars - from 'over-serving' alcohol to all-day one-dollar beer specials.

Jesse Sunset, the son of respected television journalist Terry Willesee, lives in Los Angeles and has dual citizenship for both countries.

Sharing his experience of the different drinking cultures on TikTok, Jesse said the main thing he'd noticed were the contrasting prices in the U.S. and Australia.

@jessesunset Ya boy shares the difference between bars in American and Australia  Jackass - TV Theme Players

Aussie rapper Jesse Sunset has revealed the biggest differences between Australian and American bars - from 'over-serving' alcohol to all-day one-dollar beer specials

'Alcohol in Australia is expensive. The taxes on it are wild. I went to a bar in Las Vegas where they did $1 beers all day. They wouldn't do that in Australia,' he said.

The next point of difference he noted were the serving sizes.

'If you get shots in Australia they pour it out into this little thing and measure it out perfectly and it's not cheap. In America, sometimes you get a pretty big shot glass, sometimes you get half a cup full of whiskey,' he explained.

'It's because of the tipping. The bartender will give you extra booze because he's hoping you'll give him a good tip and we don't have that in Australia.'

Jesse also said he found it easier to make friends in US bars because Australians often stick to their own friend groups.

He added it was common for 'single women' to sit at the bar in America looking for company.

Sharing his experience with the different drinking cultures on TikTok, Jesse said the main thing he not noticed were the contrasting prices in the US and Australia and the serving sizes and said drinks are way more expensive Down Under

The US also don't have pokies in their bars, with Jesse noting that pokie machines created a 'depressing vibe' in Australian bars, while slot machines in Las Vegas casinos felt more fun.

Lastly Jesse said US bars were more loose with their liquor licensing rules and who they allow stay, while Australia is very strict and often kick rowdy people out quickly.

'Sometimes they won't even let you in if you've had a few drinks. If you get kicked out of a bar in Australia you maybe didn't have to do that much,' he said.

He said in comparison he was recently served $1 beers in Las Vegas

Jesse finished up by saying: 'I think in general the bars in America just feel a bit more lawless than the bars in Australia.'

It comes as Australia's cost of living crisis worsens, causing beer prices to soar as much as $12 a schooner after the alcohol excise tax.

Meanwhile, American rapper Post Malone was denied entry to a swanky Perth bar because of his face and neck tattoos.

Whilst the hotel later issued the musician an apology, Post Malone, 27, told The West Australian he had 'never really experienced anything like that' in the U.S.
Steph Claire Smith shocked her co-host Laura Henshaw on Monday when she revealed she was woken up at 4am by her husband Josh Miller 'sleep-peeing' on a pillow.

Recalling the horrifying moment on KICPOD podcast, the fitness entrepreneur, 28, explained she heard a strange noise and spotted Josh urinating next to the bed on the floor.

'I woke up to this tricking noise and I thought one of the dogs was weeing in the room. But it's Josh standing there peeing onto the floor on a pillow,' she said.

Steph Claire Smith shocked her co-host Laura Henshaw on Monday when she revealed she was woken up at 4am by her husband Josh Miller 'sleep-peeing' on one of their pillows

She added: 'I'm like, "Oh, my God."'

Steph's co-host Laura Henshaw also spoke about the incident on her Instagram page and her fans were quick to comment the condition is more common than some realise.

One wrote 'haha, my husband has done this' and another said 'OMG. It's a thing'.

Recalling the horrifying moment on KICPOD podcast , the fitness entrepreneur, 28, explained she was woken up by a strange noise and spotted Josh urinating next to the bed on a pillow on the floor

Sleepwalking is medically known as somnambulism and seven percent of Australian adults are expected to suffer from it at some point in their lives.

Urinating in strange places, such as closets and drawers, is a rare symptom of the disorder that affects a small percentage of sufferers.

It is thought to occur when sufferers go to sleep with a full bladder which can cause them to involuntarily urinate in a strange place when they sleepwalk.

The condition can be effectively managed through simple strategies such as not drinking a lot in the evening and going to the toilet before bedtime.

The surprise admission comes after Steph made the surprise admission she becomes sexually aroused by a very routine exercise.

Steph's co-host Laura Henshaw also spoke about the incident on her Instagram page and her fans were quick to comment the condition is more common than some realise. Steph is pictured here with her husband Josh

The fitness influencer was discussing what 'unexpected thing' turns her on and she said she discovered years ago that lower abdomen exercises could be arousing.

'I was in my late teens exploring and I discovered abs exercises got me there,' she said on her podcast.

Her co-host Laura Henshaw then asked Steph to list the specific workouts that aroused her 'in case anyone wants to try it'.

'Anything in the lower abdomen, like leg lowers,' Steph clarified.

Laura then joked that Steph's new Keep It Cleaner exercise program had lots of said exercises and maybe she 'sprinkled them in for a surprise'.

Steph lives in Melbourne with her husband Josh Miller and their 20-month-old son Harvey.
Snezana and Sam Wood's daughter Eve has appeared to soft-launch her modelling career by posing repeatedly in a popular bikini brand.

The 17-year-old looked every inch the professional model as she posed in the Triangl label's Vinca-Savoca bikini recently, sharing the image to Instagram.

In the picture, Eve looked like a natural as she strutted her stuff in the lime green swimwear before a blue sky backdrop.

Snezana and Sam Wood's daughter Eve (pictured) has appeared to soft-launch her modelling career by posing repeatedly in a popular bikini brand

It's not the first time Eve has donned the brand's range.

In January she happily modelled the another one of their bikinis in her kitchen - with one frame showing her sitting on a countertop with crossed her legs.

In March last year, her famous mother Snezana revealed her daughter was working towards a career in fashion when the two attended Melbourne Fashion Festival.

It's not the first time Eve has donned the popular brand's range. In January she happily modelled the Mala Jaded Sparkle bikini in her kitchen.

Sharing a photo of the pair, Snez wrote: 'Mother-daughter date night with @eve.vict who is working towards a career in fashion is absolutely killing it.'

The teenager's Instagram bio listed her as a 'model' at the time, but this has since been updated to 'digital creator'.

Snezana also shares daughters Willow, three, Charlie, two, and baby Harper with her husband-of-four-years Sam Wood.

In March last year, her famous mother Snezana revealed her daughter was working towards a career in fashion when the two attended Melbourne Fashion Festival

Eve is Snezana's daughter from her first marriage.

The couple met on The Bachelor in 2015 and remain one of the franchise's success stories alongside Tim Robards and Anna Heinrich.

Sam Wood is responsible for the highly successful fitness program and app, 28 by Sam Wood.
Dylan Adams and Jenny Heath have finally sold their house from The Block after it was passed in at auction when it failed to meet the $4.08million reserve.

Three months after the infamous auction, which saw two houses fail to sell, 9Now announced on Tuesday the final home had been bought through private treaty.

A Channel Nine spokesperson confirmed the Gisborne property went to a family 'in what is a positive outcome for everyone', but would not disclose a sale price.

Dylan Adams (left) and Jenny Heath (right) have finally sold their house from The Block after it was passed in at auction when it failed to meet the $4.08million reserve

'Dylan and Jenny's house is now a much-loved property for a family who were impressed with the high standard of the build, and incredible views of the Macedon Ranges so close to Melbourne,' the network said.

'All five properties on the most ambitious build in the history of The Block have now been sold. We look forward to starting the build on the next series of Channel Nine's The Block very soon.'

Channel Nine has yet to announce how much House 4 sold for, but has indicated the figure will not be made public due to it being a private sale.

TCC Real Estate agent Kirrily Evans told NCA NewsWire the house sold to a 'lovely family' on Monday after falling in love with the property.

'They fell in love the minute they walked through,' she said.

Three months after the infamous auction, which saw two houses fail to sell, 9Now announced on Tuesday the final home had been bought through private treaty

Last year's auction day on The Block saw one house sale net a record-breaking $1.6million profit for Omar Slaimankhel and Ozman 'Oz' Abu Malik.

Tom Calleja and Sarah-Jane Wilson barely made it over reserve, and Rachel and Ryan Carr passed their house in to negotiate a profit of just under $170,000.

Sharon Johal and Ankur Dogra from House 3 also passed in but, like Dylan and Jenny, failed to find a buyer for their house.

A Channel Nine spokesperson confirmed the Gisborne property went to a family 'in what is a positive outcome for everyone', but would not disclose a sale price

Thankfully, high-stakes bidder Adrian Portelli swooped in to save the day weeks later, snapping up Sharon and Ankur's home for his promotions business.

Their property has since been given away to Ballarat couple Kevin and Andrea in a LMCT+ raffle.

The Block will return to Channel Nine later this year.
Married At First Sight star Carolina Santos has starred in an American Beauty-themed raunchy nude shoot to celebrate Valentine's Day.

The 34-year-old delighted her followers when she posted two photos of herself completely nude while spread out across a velvet bed.

Hundreds of red rose petals protected her modesty as she help onto two single red roses.

Married At First Sight star Carolina Santos has starred in an American Beauty-themed raunchy nude shoot to celebrate Valentine's Day

Her look was completely by extra long acrylic nails and a blood-red lipstick painted on her pout.

Carolina is no stranger to racy photos.

She set pulses racing on Sunday, slipping into a skimpy blue bikini top with matching G-string bottoms for an impromptu photoshoot.

The 34-year-old delighted her followers when she posted two photos of herself completely nude while spread out across a velvet bed

The Brazilian beauty ensured all eyes were on her in the Mediterranean print design from CC The Label, as she worked her angles poolside, making the most of her toned physique and ample assets.

'Don't mind if I do,' she cheekily captioned the post.

Carolina first came into the public eye during the ninth season of Channel Nine's Married At First Sight.

Carolina is no stranger to racy photos. She set pulses racing on Sunday, slipping into a skimpy blue bikini top with matching G-string bottoms for an impromptu photoshoot

The reality TV program followed Carolina as she embarked on a journey to find love in the glare of the spotlight.

While her search for a soulmate may have been a rollercoaster ride, there's no denying that she's found success in other areas.

Her racy photoshoots have come after Carolina and her MAFS 'husband' Daniel Holmes called time on their relationship in August.

The pair announced their split on August 8, after weeks of break-up rumours.

Daniel was the first to confirm the news, telling his Instagram followers: 'I think it's been obvious for a while we have gone our separate ways.

'There's no right way to deal with these situations... I wish Carolina all the best and I know she feels the same for me.'
John Cena has been sporting some seriously odd outfits while shooting his new comedy movie Ricky Stanicky in Melbourne.

And the WWE superstar-turned-actor, 45, donned funky footwear as he filmed scenes in the suburb of Surrey Hills on Tuesday.

He wore a white shirt, taupe trousers and brown crocodile-skin shoes as he arrived on set.

WWE superstar-turned-actor John Cena filmed scenes for the new comedy movie Ricky Stanicky in Surrey Hills, Melbourne, on Tuesday

He was seen alongside his co-stars William H, Macy, who is best known for playing Frank Gallagher in Shameless, and comedian Andrew Santino.

William wore a white shirt and navy jacket, and Santino opted for a white shirt and black kippah.

Hollywood heart-throb Zac Efron was not seen on set, despite being involved in the Peter Farrelly-directed film.

He sported eye-catching crocodile-skin shoes as he arrived on set

The actors and crew have been seen filming the movie in different locations across Melbourne in recent weeks.

Last Thursday, muscle-bound John was seen fully embracing his feminine side by wearing thigh-high stockings and a plaid mini skirt.

He completed his look with lace-up heeled booties as he stepped into his trailer.

He was seen alongside his co-star William H, Macy (pictured), who is best known for playing Frank Gallagher in Shameless

Fans can certainly expect some gross-out humor from director Farrelly, who is known for his work with brother Bobby as the Farrelly brothers.

The quirky premise of the movie centres around John's character Ricky Stanicky, who is actually the name of an imaginary friend invented by three pals over the years so they have someone to blame for their misbehaviour.

However, when their partners become suspicious, they are forced to hire a washed-up actor to bring Stanicky to life.
She's reportedly making a rumored seven-figure income on OnlyFans.

And all eyes were on Iggy Azalea as she showed off her hourglass curves while heading out solo in New York City on Monday.

The 32-year-old entertainer rocked a $730 printed stretch-jersey maxi dress by Louisa Ballou.

Patterned with the label's abstract red and black motif, the lightweight stretch fabric highlighted her curves with a generous side split.

The stunner finished the look with statement bracelets and shiny black-heeled boots.

Solo in the city: Iggy Azalea showed off her hourglass curves while heading out solo in New York City on Monday

Nice fit: The 32-year-old entertainer rocked a $730 printed stretch-jersey maxi dress by Louisa Ballou that featured an abstract red and black motif and a generous side split

The beauty styled her long blonde tresses cascading over her shoulders in soft waves and covered her waist with her tattooed forearm.

The hitmaker opted for glamorous makeup with golden eyes, long lashes, sculpted brows, blush, and bronzer for a smooth complexion.

Last week, after joining OnlyFans, Iggy enjoyed the fruits of her labor by kicking back on a luxury yacht in the Bahamas.

The bikini-clad rapper flaunted her lucrative curves in a busty bikini that barely contained her assets.

After riding her jet ski, the bombshell changed into a brown bikini and relaxed on the boats bow.

Sharing images of the excursion to social media, Iggy clapped back at haters who accused her of being washed-up for joining OnlyFans.

'Falling off never looked so good,' she wrote.

Since joining the site last month, the Fancy hitmaker has repeatedly refused to disclose her official income from OnlyFans.

'Just know if I ever discuss what I earn, it will be in Forbes,' she tweeted cryptically.

The look: To finish her look, Iggy added glittering rings and bracelets with shiny black-heeled boots

Earned it: Azalea is currently making a rumored seven figures on OnlyFans. She enjoyed the fruits of her labor last week by kicking back on a luxury yacht in the Bahamas

However, things are going well for the star after she announced that she has purchased a new house.

'I bought a new house today,' she tweeted before writing, 'I still own the one Im in too, but Ill sell it soon.'

Iggy recently sold the rights to all her master recordings and publishing catalog for an eight-figure sum.

Less than two months after the sale, the bombshell joined OnlyFans in a move that is set to earn her millions more.

Iggy currently charges subscribers $25 per month, but users must pay more via upselling to access sexier stuff.

If you tip the star $250, you get to become a 'VIP' for 12 months, which includes one free exclusive photo and some other unknown benefits.

The star has several new projects, including a new album and an official coffee table book of her OnlyFans photos.
Curtis Stone is pictured with his wife, Lindsay Price

Celebrity chef Curtis Stone is embroiled in a legal battle with his former nanny who allegedly 'feared for her safety' when she confronted him over poor working conditions and unpaid wages - and she's demanding a jury trial.

The Australian cook, 47, and his wife Lindsay Price, 46, hired Melissa Talley in 2019 to look after their children Hudson, 11, and Emerson, eight, at their sprawling $11.5million mansion in the upmarket suburb of Brentwood, Los Angeles.

Ms Talley did not live with the family, but was required to cook for the boys, read to them, drive them to classes and activities, bathe them, and do small household chores - for an annual salary of US$65,000 (AU$94,000).

Californian labour laws state employees are required to work a maximum of nine hours per weekday, or 45 hours per week in total. Employers must pay time-and-a-half for all additional hours of work.

According to court documents filed in the LA State Court in September last year, Ms Talley claims she regularly worked more than nine hours a day - but alleges she was not paid overtime.

The childcare worker also claims an hour was deducted from her wage for lunch, even though she was not given off-duty meal breaks.

Furthermore, Ms Talley alleges she was fired when she approached Stone with her concerns.

Ms Talley's celebrity lawyer Frank Kim - who is suing Kanye West for allegedly failing to pay 500 performers - told Daily Mail Australia that Stone tried to force his client to sign a document in February 2020 and allegedly 'harassed' her when she refused.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Stone for comment.

Curtis Stone and Lindsay Price (pictured with their children) hired a nanny in 2019 to care for their sons

Court documents say Stone tried to hand Ms Talley a check for US$1000 (AU$1400) during the same meeting. She did not sign the document or accept the money.

Ms Talley claims she was then 'summoned' to Stone's office a few days later to meet with him and another person, during which time her employment was allegedly terminated and she was told to sign another document.

She claims he did not explain what the document was for, or why she needed to sign it.

'Feeling pressured and overwhelmed, Ms Talley left the office and sat down in the hallway to compose herself and review the document outside of Stone's presence,' court documents say.

'However, Stone immediately followed Ms Talley and continued to pressure her into signing the document while hovering over her.

'In fear for her own safety, Ms Talley finally signed the document without reading it in order to stop Stone's harassment.'

The former nanny claims she has suffered ongoing 'humiliation, emotional distress, and mental and physical pain and anguish'.

Curtis Stone is an ambassador for Australian supermarket, Coles. He lives and works in California

She alleges Stone's 'misconduct was committed intentionally, in a malicious, oppressive, fraudulent manner'.

Ms Talley is seeking compensation for the overtime she worked, with interest, plus damages including lost wages and earnings, and demanding Stone cover her legal fees.

The case is due to go to arbitration, with the next case management conference scheduled for March 21.

Should the matter go to trial, Ms Talley has demanded her case be heard before a jury.

Stone - a household name in both Australia and the US - has an estimated worth of about $36million. Along with the Brentwood property, he also owns a $9million ranch in Malibu.

He operates three upmarket restaurants in LA called Maude, Gwen, and Georgie, and is the ambassador for Australian budget supermarket, Coles.
Paul Mescal cut a dapper figure as he attended the 95th Annual Oscars Nominees Luncheon at The Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, California in Monday.

The actor, 27, wore a charcoal grey suit, with the star wearing the jacket open to show his white top underneath.

He opted for a smart pair of black shoes for the evening and casually posed with his hand in his pocket as he arrived at the bash.

The Irish star is nominated for Best Actor for his role as Calum Aaron Patterson in Aftersun.

He issued a statement after learning the news last month ahead of the ceremony which is set to take place in March.

In style: Paul Mescal, 27, cut a dapper figure in a grey suit as he attended the 95th Annual Oscars Nominees Luncheon at The Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, California ion Monday

Paul said : 'This is truly a special moment for everyone involved in Aftersun. To be recognised by the Academy is such an insane honour and I'm so utterly grateful.

'I want to dedicate this nomination to my two friends Charlotte and Frankie who I love dearly! This is bananas, thank you!'

Paul's younger sister Nell said she felt 'sick with pride' as she shared a photo of the moment her brother discovered he was an Academy Award nominee.

The star looked absolutely delighted after receiving the incredible news.

Shortly after the nominations were announced, Paul's emotional sister Nell, 19, shared photos of the moment on her social media channels.

Nell posted a screen grab of a video call between her family as they learned the news together, each looking equally ecstatic.

She then shared an image of just Paul with a beaming smile on his face.

The Normal People actor was sat perched on the side of a sofa, wearing a black T-shirt and jeans, holding his phone in his hand.

Fashion focus: The actor wore a charcoal grey suit, with the star wearing the jacket open to show his white top underneath

Nell also shared a full list of the Best Actor nominees on her Instagram Stories, which of course included her brother's name.

It comes after he was also nominated for a BAFTA for the same role.

He picked up a British Academy Television Award for Best Actor in 2021 for his role as Connell in Normal People.

Acting out: The Irish star is nominated for Best Actor for his role as Calum Aaron Patterson in Aftersun

Yay! Paul's younger sister Nell said she felt 'sick with pride' as she shared a photo of the moment her brother discovered he was an Academy Award nominee

So sweet! His sister Nell recently posted a screen grab of a video call between her family as they learned the news Paul had been nominated for an Oscar, each looking equally ecstatic

Aftersun tells the story of a girl called Sophie, played by Frankie Corio, who is reflecting on the shared joy and private melancholy of a holiday she took with her father twenty years earlier.

The nominations were announced by Riz Ahmed and Allison Williams ahead of the 95th Academy Awards, which will take place on Sunday March 12.

Paul joins fellow British and Irish nominees Colin Farrell, Bill Nighy and Andrea Riseborough, who have garnered nods in the Best Actor and Actress categories.

The star-studded Oscars ceremony, due to be hosted by US talk show host and comedian Jimmy Kimmel, will take place on March 12 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
Jon Favreau was honored with his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Monday, with his close friends Robert Downey Jr. and chef Roy Choi joining in on the festivities.

The 56-year-old actor and filmmaker received the 2,746th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard, just outside of the Jimmy Kimmel Live studio.

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige was also in attendance for the ceremony, where both Downey Jr. and Choi praised their beloved friend.

Downey Jr. - who sported blue suit with black sunglasses for the outing - began by adding they're both from Forest Hills in Queens, before speaking about their first time working together in the 2008 blockbuster Iron Man.

'16 years ago this week, Jon and I were in pre-production on what felt like a high-concept indie and we were fueled by this infectious yet unfounded confidence,' Downey Jr. began.

Friends: Jon Favreau was honored with his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Monday, with his close friends Robert Downey Jr. and chef Roy Choi joining in on the festivities

Star: The 56-year-old actor and filmmaker received the 2,746th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard, just outside of the Jimmy Kimmel Live studio

Jon's star: Jon Favreau's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame outside the Jimmy Kimmel Live studio on Hollywood Boulevard

'I was beyond grateful for the power of second chances. Strangely, (Marvel Studios president) Kevin Feige trusted us, he and I trusted Jon, and for no good reason, Jon and Kevin trusted me,' Downey Jr. added.

'Iron Man was a second-tier superhero property that had no shot at affording Kevin Feige the opportunity to launch a cinematic universe because there was no such thing as a cinematic universe,' Downey Jr. added.

The actor joked that he would, 'never insinuate' that it was his work as Iron Man that, 'made Jon a multi-hyphenate international sensation because I have to leave something for his speech.'

'He has somehow bridged the gap between being a household name, still being confused with that of a political speechwriter, while maintaining a level of personal humility,' Downey said.

He added the 'ride' he's shared with Favreau is, 'too kismet-tastical to even imagine' but it's also such a 'small part of his large storytelling journey that continues to leave us elevated, inspired and connected.'

Downey Jr. added that Favreau's, 'greatest gift is his humanity and then there's the funny, just for the funny alone, this man deserves this star.'

'He gets the joke and the joke is often painful. He deeply understands that life is fleeting and if we're not laughing, we're dying,' Downey Jr. added.

'He is relentless in the pursuit of what's next and what's possible,' Downey Jr. added.

Grateful: 'I was beyond grateful for the power of second chances. Strangely, (Marvel Studios president) Kevin Feige trusted us, he and I trusted Jon, and for no good reason, Jon and Kevin trusted me,' Downey Jr. added

Second tier: 'Iron Man was a second-tier superhero property that had no shot at affording Kevin Feige the opportunity to launch a cinematic universe because there was no such thing as a cinematic universe,' Downey Jr. added

Humility: 'He has somehow bridged the gap between being a household name, still being confused with that of a political speechwriter, while maintaining a level of personal humility,' Downey said

Relentless: 'He gets the joke and the joke is often painful. He deeply understands that life is fleeting and if we're not laughing, we're dying,' Downey Jr. added

Roy Choi took the stage first, whose massively successful food truck Kogi was a loose inspiration for his 2014 film Chef, and they have both since collaborated on the 2019 Netflix cooking show dubbed The Chef Show.

Choi began by stating that Favreau was loved because he 'gives love' and he 'loves the small details, the craft, getting it right, the things that may not matter the most but definitely matter.'

'You care about us, the fans, the nerds, the people who devote themselves to the craft, it matters, and that's why we love you so much,' Choi added.

The chef added that he met Favreau, 'on a blind date,' adding he rode shotgun with him as they explored all of his food trucks and restaurants.

'To be honest, I should have been hella nervous that night, but I wasn't, because I knew back in 1997 that I'd meet Jon one day. It was one of those see-the-future moments that we all have, to some degree,' Choi said.

He added that year in his culinary school dorm room he had two VHS tapes that were, 'on rotation,' which were Selena and Swingers.

'I never had the premonition that I'd meet J-Lo, but I knew I'd meet Jon one day. It was weird and powerful but I put it away for a decade and a half in that place we put things in our minds, and I just went on with my life,' Choi said.

He added that Gwyneth Paltrow introduced him to Choi's Kogi tacos in Iron Man 2 and then the 'blind date' that was supposed to be a 'consulting job,' though he added, 'that night turned into a decade's long friendship and more.'

'Through the filming of Chef the movie and Chef the TV series, I had a front seat to see why Jon is loved by so many. He cares about us. He cares about all the textures of the art, like a stitching no one sees on a coat, but without it, it wouldn't be the same,' Choi added.

Roy: Roy Choi (left) took the stage first, whose massively successful food truck Kogi was a loose inspiration for his 2014 film Chef, and they have both since collaborated on the 2019 Netflix cooking show dubbed The Chef Show

Gives love: Choi began by stating that Favreau was loved because he 'gives love' and he 'loves the small details, the craft, getting it right, the things that may not matter the most but definitely matter.
Celebrity chef Salt Bae is aiming to feed 5,000 people every day in his native Turkey after the devastating earthquake there.

The famous restauranteur, 39, - real name Nusret Gokce - who is from Pasali in Turkey, has arranged for a mobile kitchen to go to the disaster zone.

The combined death toll in Turkey and neighbouring Syria from last Monday's 7.8 magnitude quake rose above 37,000 on Monday and looked set to keep increasing.

The UN has warned that the death toll could spiral past 55,000.

The chef took to his Instagram to show off the food truck and wrote in a caption: 'We started serving hot food to more people, targeting 5000 people every day!'

Kind: Celebrity chef Salt Bae is aiming to feed 5,000 people every day in his native Turkey after the devastating earthquake there

'It will be the most important and meaningful service in the world for us.'

The lorry with his name on the side was packing up and heading out from a warehouse while another post showed survivors queuing up to be fed in the cold.

Later in the clip chef volunteers were seen stirring huge pans of food as they prepared to serve people.

The magnitude 7.8 and 7.5 quakes struck nine hours apart in south-eastern Turkey and northern Syria on February 6.

The death toll from both countries on Monday exceeded 37,000, with the death toll expected to rise considerably as search teams find more bodies. Towns and cities lived in by millions have also been reduced to fragments of concrete and twisted metal.

The Turkish Enterprise and Business Confederation, a non-governmental business organisation, estimated the financial damage from the quake in Turkey alone at 84.1 billion US dollars (69.3 billion).

The amount was considerably higher than any official estimates so far, and was calculated using a statistical comparison with the similarly devastating 1999 quake that hit north-west Turkey.

Turkey's disaster agency said more than 32,000 people from the nation's organisations were working on search-and-rescue efforts, along with 8,294 international rescuers.

Professor Angulo, lead author of a 2017 study of deaths inside buildings struck by earthquakes, said the odds of survival for people trapped in wreckage fall dramatically after five days and is near zero after nine, although there have been exceptions.

Food: The famous restauranteur, 39, - real name Nusret Gokce - who is from Pasali in Turkey, has arranged for a mobile kitchen to go to the disaster zone

Supplies: The lorry with his name on the side was packing up and heading out from a warehouse while another post showed survivors queuing up to be fed in the cold

Post: The chef took to his Instagram to show off the food truck and wrote in a caption: 'We started serving hot food to more people, targeting 5000 people every day!'

Wintry conditions further reduce the window for survival. Temperatures in the region have fallen to -6C (21F) overnight.

A week after the quakes hit, many people are still without shelter in the streets.

Some survivors are waiting in front of collapsed buildings for the bodies of their loved ones to be retrieved.

Many in Turkey blame faulty construction for the vast devastation and authorities have begun targeting contractors allegedly linked with buildings that collapsed.

Cooking: Later in the clip chef volunteers were seen stirring huge pans of food as they prepared to serve people

Awful: The combined death toll in Turkey and neighbouring Syria from last Monday's 7.8 magnitude quake rose above 37,000 on Monday and looked set to keep increasing

Charity work: Later in the clip chef volunteers were seen stirring huge pans of food as they prepared to serve people

At least 131 people are under investigation for their alleged responsibility in the construction of buildings that failed to withstand the quakes, officials said.

Turkey has introduced construction codes that meet earthquake-engineering standards, but experts say the codes are rarely enforced.

In Syria, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths said the international community has failed to provide aid.

Huge tragedy: The UN has warned that the death toll could spiral past 55,000 (pictured are the people waiting in line to get food from his truck)

Disaster: The magnitude 7.8 and 7.5 quakes struck nine hours apart in south-eastern Turkey and northern Syria on February 6

Hard: Wintry conditions further reduce the window for survival. Temperatures in the region have fallen to -6C (21F) overnight
Cate Blanchett has called out cancel culture and said society will be 'destined to repeat' our mistakes if history is airbrushed.

The Australian actress, 53, said she thinks it is important to have a 'healthy critique' of historical works of art and continue to study them despite the artists' actions.

She used Pablo Picasso as an example as she said she could 'only imagine' what happened at the time but praised him for creating Guernica, which she deemed 'one of the greatest work of art ever'.

She told Radio Times: 'You look at Picasso. You can only imagine what went on in, outside and around his studio.

'But do you look at Guernica and say that is one of the greatest works of art ever? Yes, it's a fact. I think it's important to have a healthy critique.'

Candid: Cate Blanchett has called out cancel culture and said society will be 'destined to repeat' our mistakes if history is airbrushed

Cate, whose new movie Tar has been accused of being 'anti-woman', also argued that society will be 'destined' to repeat mistakes if we airbrush history.

She said: 'If you don't read older books that are slightly offensive because of what they say in a historical context, then you will never grapple with the minds of the time [and] we are destined to repeat that stuff.'

Cate went on to say that her new movie Tar used cancel culture as a plot device to tackle 'existential' issues.

Elsewhere in the interview, Cate also addressed the double standards women face in positions of power.

She said: 'As a woman, when you don't wield your power  in the way we see men wield their power  then people think you don't know what you're doing, you don't know what you think.'

Cate's latest movie Tar has come under fire despite her winning a Golden Globe and a Critics' Choice Award for her role in the drama.

In the film, she plays Lydia Tar, who rises to become the first-ever female conductor of a German orchestra before she is revealed to be a narcissistic bully.

The troubled high-profile composter is just days away from recording the symphony that will elevate her career when her world begins to unravel.

Cancel culture: The actress, 53, who played a composer in Tar, said she thinks it is important to have a 'healthy critique' of historical works of art and continue to study them

After one of her former students commits suicide, Lydia is accused of having inappropriate relationships with her female proteges.

While many have condemned the critically acclaimed film as 'anti-woman', Cate came to its defence in an interview with BBC Radio 4.

She described the movie, directed by Todd Field, as 'very provocative' and said it was 'a mediation on power - and power is genderless'.

Interview: Read the full interview in Radio Times' BAFTA film special

The backlash to Tar has been spearheaded by the real-life conductor Marin Alsop, who said she was offended by the portrayal of the protagonist.

Marin, 66, who is one of the world's top female conductors, told The Australian: 'To have an opportunity to portray a woman in that role to make her an abuser, for me that's heartbreaking.'

Cate said Marin was entitled to her opinion but distanced herself from any accusation the film used Alsop - or any other female conductor - as the basis for her character.

Despite the backlash, Cate has been highly acclaimed for her role and is tipped to win her second Best Actress Oscar.

The star won her first Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 2004 for Martin Scorsese's The Aviator.

Cate has already won Best Actress at the 2023 Critics' Choice Awards for her portrayal of the disgraced composer.

She beat Michelle Williams, Viola Davis, Danielle Deadwyler, Margot Robbie, and Michelle Yeoh in the category to take home the gong.

Criticism: Cate's latest movie Tar has come under fire despite her winning a Golden Globe and a Critics Choice Award for her role in the drama

'It is extremely arbitrary considering how many extraordinary performances there have been by women,' Cate said as she accepted her award.

'I can't believe I'm up here. This is ridiculous... I would love it if we would just change this whole f***ing structure. It's like what is this patriarchal pyramid where someone stands up here.'

She continued: 'I tell you, every single woman with a television, film, advertising, tampon commercials  whatever  you're all out there doing amazing work that is inspiring me continually. So thank you. I share this with you all.'

Cate has enjoyed a spectacular start to the awards season after also scooping a Golden Globe for her captivating performance.

She was not present at the awards show to accept the trophy as she was busy filming a new movie.

Read the full interview in Radio Times' BAFTA film special.
Their promo tour of Australia has caused crowd chaos in every city they've visited.

And YouTube superstars Logan Paul and KSI have now revealed just how much money they've made from their buzz-worthy energy drink Prime.

'In year one we cleared $250million in retail sales and $110million gross internally,' Paul, 27, revealed on KIIS FM's The Kyle and Jackie O Show on Tuesday.

YouTube superstars Logan Paul (left) and KSI (right) have now revealed just how much money they've made from their buzz-worthy energy drink Prime

'In January of this year we did $45million,' he added.

Radio host Kyle Sandilands was shocked by these sales figures, which far eclipsed the revenue from the coconut water brand he launched 15 years ago.

'We definitely cracked the code. We hit a few really important things that are a staple marketing ploy of this generation,' Paul said.

The duo's promo tour of Australia has caused crowd chaos in every city they've visited

Paul explained how he and KSI, 29, utilised their social media presence and content creation talents to keep the product in fans' minds.

It comes after KIIS FM was forced to take precautions before the interview with Paul and KSI, due to concerns over crowd control.

The duo's appearance on the Today show on Monday brought thousands of teenagers to Nine's North Sydney headquarters and resulted in multiple injuries.

'In year one we cleared $250million in retail sales and $110million gross internally,' Paul said on The Kyle and Jackie O Show on Tuesday. (Pictured: Kyle Sandilands and Jackie 'O' Henderson)

To prevent a similar scenario, KIIS FM called in the police and riot squads to their North Ryde studios on Tuesday morning.

Thousands of fans - mostly teenage boys - gathered outside Nine's HQ on Monday before dawn in the hope of catching a glimpse of their idols arriving at the studio, with many determined to get on camera for their own viral moment.

Police and extra security had been called to help control the crowd, after recent meet-and-greets involving Paul and KSI descended into mayhem.

Paul and KSI's appearance on the Today show on Monday brought thousands of teenagers to Nine's North Sydney headquarters and resulted in multiple injuries

But things got out of control outside the Denison Street premises when a security guard monitoring the crowd was thrown to the ground after getting caught behind a stone barricade and was seen wincing in pain.

Multiple fans who had been promised free bottles of Prime energy drink were also injured in the push towards the barricade.

Later in the broadcast, the Today anchors interviewed Logan and KSI, whose real name is Olajide Olayinka Williams Olatunji, on a balcony overlooking the crowd carnage below - but things turned nasty when someone threw an egg at Stefanovic.
Better

Rating:

Rick Stein's Cornwall

Rating:

Hang on, somethings not right here. There is a male character in a primetime BBC crime drama and hes... a really nice bloke.

Ceri (Samuel Edward-Cook), the husband of corrupt copper Lou in Better (BBC1), isnt merely a great dad. Hes a handyman around the house, an excellent cook, a passionate and considerate lover, a supportive plus-one at parties. He even does the washing up.

Such chaps arent too rare in real life. I have all those qualities myself, as my wife will certainly tell you, though it might be better if you just believed me.

But Ceri is a complete anomaly for the Beeb, where the only brand of masculine is toxic, and even the mildest mannered man is liable to boil over by episode three.

Perhaps Ceri will conform to type next week. So far, though, its his missus who is a menace to society. DI Lou Slack (Leila Farzad) is as bent as a rubber hairgrip. Thanks to her, drugs baron Col McHugh (Andrew Buchan, sporting a ferocious Belfast accent) is free to murder rivals all over Leeds.

But Ceri is a complete anomaly for the Beeb, where the only brand of masculine is toxic, and even the mildest mannered man is liable to boil over by episode three.

Perhaps Ceri will conform to type next week. So far, though, its his missus who is a menace to society. DI Lou Slack (Leila Farzad) is as bent as a rubber hairgrip. Thanks to her, drugs baron Col McHugh (Andrew Buchan, sporting a ferocious Belfast accent) is free to murder rivals all over Leeds

How Lou and Col got into business together, and how close their relationship is, we dont know yet  but they are openly touchy-feely, not to say kissy-kissy, with each other. As far as her superintendent is concerned, Lou is a star detective who can do no wrong. But when Col snaps his fingers, she snaps to attention. In the opening scene, he summons her from a parents evening to fix things after a hold-up turned messy.

Philanderer of the night Queen Victorias wicked uncle, the Duke of Cumberland, plotted to murder her so he could be King, according to rumours on The Royals: A History Of Scandals (More4). He also killed his valet and had a child with his own sister. Prince Andrews a saint by comparison Advertisement

Lou steps over a youth as he bleeds to death on the floor and picks up the murder weapon, discarded by Cols panicking henchman. Then she hides it in her bedroom wardrobe.

She even ties the gun up in a ribbon and gives it to her paymaster as a joke birthday present.

The difficulty with this fast-paced thriller will be whether Lou can redeem herself. After her teenage son almost dies from meningitis, she has a crisis of conscience.

But she seems too cynical for lasting repentance. Leaving her sons bedside, she heads back to work, and tells her sergeant, Nice to be going to the scene of a violent crime rather than a hospital.

One set piece, in which she confronted a drug-addled thug and persuaded him to hand over his shooter, was almost worthy of Happy Valleys Sgt Catherine Cawood  the benchmark beside which all world-weary female coppers must now be measured. So far, though, Im not sure why her husband stands by her  or how he circumvented BBC rules that insist All Men Are Swines.

Restaurateur Rick Stein was being an exemplary dad as he showed his son Jack around his home county in Rick Steins Cornwall (BBC2). They visited Altarnun parish church, St Nonnas, known as the Cathedral of the Moors, to examine the rollicking medieval pew carvings.

He and Jack were happiest on Bodmin Moor itself, remembering family holidays when Rick enjoyed scaring his children with tales of trolls and roaming panthers.

Ricks nostalgic mood also saw him clambering around rock pools near Padstow in search of mussels for a breakfast omelette. There wasnt much of a cookery lesson (break eggs, add seafood, thats it), but his explanation of how to bake a goats cheese souffle was much more detailed

Then they enjoyed a pint and a chinwag at the Rising Sun, where the chef is one of Ricks proteges. He and Jack were happiest on Bodmin Moor itself, remembering family holidays when Rick enjoyed scaring his children with tales of trolls and roaming panthers. It was genuinely terrifying, said Jack, though I bet he tells similar stories to his own children. Its what dads do.

Ricks nostalgic mood also saw him clambering around rock pools near Padstow in search of mussels for a breakfast omelette. There wasnt much of a cookery lesson (break eggs, add seafood, thats it), but his explanation of how to bake a goats cheese souffle was much more detailed. I had no idea souffles could be kept in the fridge and reheated. Am I man enough to try it, though?
Sharon Stone confirmed the death of her brother Patrick Joseph Stone at the age of 57 in a tearful clip she posted to social Monday to thank people for the outpouring of support.

'Hello everybody, this message is to confirm that, yes, we did lose my brother, Patrick Joseph Stone, to a heart attack yesterday,' the Basic Instinct actress, 64, said in a clip on Instagram Monday.

Stone referenced a previous family tragedy - her baby nephew River's tragic death at 11-months-old in 2021 from organ failure - in her confirmation of her sibling's death.

'Yes, he is the man who was the father to River who we lost last year at 11-months-old,' she said. 'He is survived by his wife Tasha and his son Hunter and his daughter Cailee.'

The Oscar-nominated Casino actress made clear her gratitude for the kindness she has received in the wake of the sad news.

The latest: Sharon Stone, 64, confirmed the death of her brother Patrick Joseph Stone at the age of 57 in a teary clip she posted to social Monday

Grief: Stone said, 'Hello everybody, this message is to confirm that, yes, we did lose my brother, Patrick Joseph Stone, to a heart attack yesterday'

'Like any family, we thank you for your love and support in this time of immeasurable grief and we appreciate all of your condolences,' Stone said. 'Yes we've had a tremendous amount of loss in these last couple of years, as so many of you also have.'

The Sliver actress wrapped up the clip in saying, 'I thank you very much for the love and support that you're showing us and we just ask you to continue to be kind. Thank you.'

She captioned the clip, 'Godspeed Patrick Joseph Stone' and added a broken heart emoji, and in another post with images, wrote, 'RIP my brother Patrick Joseph Stone.'

Stone received a number of sympathetic responses in the thread adjacent to the clip, including actor Jeremy Renner, who himself remains recovering from a New Year's Day accident in which he broke more than 30 bones.

Renner posted four heart emojis with the caption, 'Bless you,' while actress Jaimie Alexander said, 'Im so sorry for your loss, Sharon. Sending you so much love.'

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills personality Lisa Rinna said, 'My deepest condolences Sharon sending you so much love,' while actress Kate Beckinsale said, 'Lots of love xx.'

TMZ earlier posted news of Patrick's death in Pennsylvania at the age of 57 as result of a heart attack brought on by heart disease.

The iconic Hollywood actress was last seen on Saturday as she smiled while leaving the Beverly Hills restaurant E Baldi with a female friend.

Mourning: In another post with images, Sharon wrote, 'RIP my brother Patrick Joseph Stone'

RIP: Patrick's death in Pennsylvania at the age of 57 was the result of a heart attack brought on by heart disease

Persevering: The Sliver actress wrapped up the clip in saying, 'I thank you very much for the love and support that you're showing us and we just ask you to continue to be kind. Thank you'

Feedback: Stone received a number of sympathetic responses in the thread adjacent to the clip

Memories: Sharon posted a collage of pics of her late sibling following his passing Sunday

The screen star shared a broken hearted emoji over a shot of her late sibling working

DailyMail.com has reached out to a spokesperson for Stone, whose family is from Meadville, Pennsylvania.

Patrick's wife Tasha took to social media to share the heartbreaking news of her husband's shocking death.

She shared, 'My heart feels like it's been ripped out of my chest. Patrick went to be with our sweet River... I don't know what else to say, he was my world.'

She continued, 'I'm not sure what life is supposed to look like without my husband by my side and quite honestly I don't want to, but I will of course.

'I just hope that you always stay by my side watching over Hunter, Kaylee and I.'

Tasha continued, 'Until we meet again I will forever hold you and our wonderful (and some not so wonderful but just as important) memories close to my heart and will visit those memories always. I love you honey babe.

'My wish through all of this is that now at least River has his daddy with him and I hope the two of you are having the best time.'

Sharon also has a sister named Kelly Stone and a brother named Michael Stone who has worked was an actor and starred in The Quick and the Dead (1995), Eraser (1996) and Renaissance Man (2021).

Sad loss: Sharon Stone's younger brother Patrick died on Sunday in Pennsylvania at the age of 57. The 64-year-old Basic Instinct star's sibling passed away from a heart attack brought on by heart disease, according to a Monday report from TMZ; Seen with sister Kelly Stone

The family: Patrick seen on the far right with (from left), sister Kelly Stone, dad Joseph Stone, sister Sharon Stone and mom Dorothy Stone

Last image: The iconic Hollywood actress (right) was last seen on Saturday as she smiled while leaving the Beverly Hills restaurant E Baldi with a female friend (left)

A more recent look: Here Patrick is seen wit his wife Tasha in an image from his sister Kelly Stone's Instagram page

A strong bond: Sharon is seen here with brother Patrick in September 2018 during a trip to Alaska. Sharon was with her three sons and Patrick was with wife Tasha and their two children (in blue jacket and in green top)

In her book The Beauty of Living Twice, she said she was close to Patrick and in more recent years has gotten along better with Michael.

The last time Sharon posed with media shy Patrick for an Instagram photo was in September 2018 when they went on a trip with their children to Alaska.

In August 2021, Sharon shared that River died.

The baby passed away just days after he was found in his crib suffering 'severe organ failure' that left him in a coma.

The actress posted a video of the baby boy along with the caption: 'River William Stone. Sept. 8, 2020 - Aug. 30, 2021.'

River was the youngest child of Stone's younger brother Patrick and his wife, Tasha, who live in Ohio with their three children.

Sharon, whose video tribute was set to Eric Clapton's Tears In Heaven, did not share any other information about what exactly happened to River at the time.

She said that the youngster was suffering from 'total organ failure' and would need a 'miracle' to survive.

The good ole days: Sharon seen here in red slacks as she dances with Patrick whose outfit matched hers in 1965

Family: Here Sharon is seen with her brother Michael Stone, far right, and her mom as well as sister Kelly and Sharon's three sons

'My nephew and godson River Stone was found in his crib w[sic] total organ failure today,' she shared.

Stone then added, 'Please pray for him.

'We need a miracle,' she wrote at the time.

The actress was posting an image of River lying in a hospital bed while hooked up to numerous medical devices.

River's mother Tasha also wrote an impassioned plea for prayers on her Facebook page.

She revealed that her son had been airlifted to UPMC Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh, where he was fighting for his life in a coma.

He soon after died.

'This is the HARDEST thing I have ever had to post but I am BEGGING everyone and anyone who prays please pray HARD for River,' the devastated mother wrote. 'Every single second of this is literally killing me. I just want my sweet sweet boy back.'

Heartbreaking: This comes almost two years after Patrick's son River died at the age of 11 months from organ failure. The mother was his wife Tasha

Tragedy: Stone revealed in 2021 that River has died just days after he was found in his crib with 'total organ failure'

There are a number of severe medical conditions that can lead to multiple organ failure in children, however the leading cause is sepsis, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

Sepsis - which can be sparked by another infection in the body - is particularly dangerous for children, because the symptoms are more easily missed than they are in adult patients.

Birth defects and other undiagnosed illness can also lead to pediatric organ failure however, and it is not yet known whether any of these conditions caused River's severe illness.

Stone was traveling in Italy when she revealed the news of her nephew's devastating medical condition - having journeyed to Venice in order to take part in a photoshoot for Dolce & Gabbana.

River's passing comes amid a difficult time for the extended Stone family, which has seen several members dealing with serious health problems in recent months - including cases of COVID-19.

In 2020, a grief-stricken Stone revealed that her 'adopted grandmother' Eileen Mitzman and her godmother had died from complications associated with the virus.

The actress's sister, Kelly, who has lupus, and her husband, Bruce, had also contracted the disease and were left 'fighting for their lives' before eventually recovering.

While speaking about her sister's battle with the illness in an Instagram video shared in August 2020, Stone also shared that her mother, Dorothy, had suffered 'two heart attacks' in the five months leading up to her post.

Stone, who in 2020 revealed that her grandmother had passed away from complications relating to COVID-19, was traveling in Italy when River was hospitalized

River's mother Tasha revealed on Facebook that her son, who was born in September 2020, had died

Stone said her mother had to have 'five stents', which help to open the arteries and prevent blockages in the heart - and a pacemaker as a result.

It also appears as though River's mother Tasha has been struggling with health issues in 2021; comments left on her Facebook page in January 2021 suggested that she had to receive medical treatment that required her to spend time away from her family.

At the time, the mother-of-three revealed that she had returned home - but that she had an IV port in her arm, and would be undergoing continued treatment with the help of a home help nurse for several weeks.

'I was able to come home with a power glide IV port in my arm so I can continue to receive treatments from a home health nurse at home for the next couple of weeks,' she wrote.

'After that I will be switched to a pill form of the antibiotic. I am just thankful to be back with my family.'
Influencer Suzan Mutesi appeared to have another photoshop fail as she modelled a stunning grey suit on Instagram on Monday.

The Challenge Australia contestant posted a carousel of two photos and three videos to her Instagram page on Monday, along with the caption: 'Suit up'.

However some of her 1.2 million followers were quick to notice something wasn't quite right.

Influencer Suzan Mutesi appeared to have another photoshop fail as she modelled a stunning grey suit on Instagram on Monday

When comparing the photos of Suzan wearing the cropped blazer and low-waist trousers to a video, it appears she has used Facetune or a similar application to alter her face

When comparing the photos of Suzan wearing the cropped blazer and low-waist trousers to the video, it appears she has used Facetune or a similar application to alter her face.

One person commented on the post: 'No one is talking about the makeup'.

It's not the first time she has been accused of photoshopping.

The Challenge Australia contestant posted a carousel of two photos and three videos to her Instagram grid on Monday with the caption: 'Suit up'

She raised eyebrows last November after Instagram watchdog Influencer Updates AU reposted dubious photos of the 36-year-old boarding a private jet.

The photos, which were originally uploaded by Mutesi back in May, show the author posing on the aircraft's staircase while it was supposedly parked outside on the tarmac.

Yet there are obvious signs the plane was actually parked inside a hangar.

The 'sky' had been clearly Photoshopped into the background, while the reflection of the hangar lights could be seen in the reflection of the plane.

In another photo taken inside the plane, the hangar was clearly visible outside the window.

It's not the first time that The Challenge contestant has been accused of photoshopping. She raised eyebrows last November after Instagram watchdog Influencer Updates AU reposted dubious photos of the 36-year-old boarding a private jet

'Outside & inside the plane. But was the plane outside or inside?' Influencer Updates captioned the post.

Mutesi was also called out by watchdog account Celeb Spellcheck for editing herself into stock images of a seaplane.

One image, posted by Mutesi in December 2020, shows her superimposed in front of the aircraft, with her hand barely touching the side of the plane due to the sloppy editing.

Mutesi has denied that the photo was altered with an application like photoshop

The water was noticeably blurred around Mutesi's legs, which suggests it had been smudged with an editing tool.

Celeb Spellcheck also shared another photo of a different model standing in front of a remarkably similar backdrop, in an effort to prove Mutesi's post was edited.

Mutesi shared another suspicious-looking photo of herself in front of a plane in September 2020, which prompted a fan to ask her: 'What app are you using to do this? Please share I need to edit a photo background hehe.'

In another photo taken inside the plane, the hangar was clearly visible outside the window.

The photo in question showed Mutesi in front of the plane next to a travel bag, which cast no shadow and was placed at an odd angle on the ground.

'It's an actual location hun! I didn't have to edit the background! The plants are really we were lucky,' Mutesi responded.

The commenter replied back: 'Huh? This photo is edited babe - you can tell haha what plants?'

Mutesi was called out by watchdog account Celeb Spellcheck for editing herself into stock images of a seaplane (pictured)
Julia Fox left little to the imagination on Monday night when she headed to the Elena Valez fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week.

The 33-year-old Uncut Gems actress showed off her slimmed-down figure in a translucent white off-the-shoulder dress that looked as if it might have been repurposed from a shower curtain.

But her accessories were even edgier and more startling, as she carried a clear plastic bag that was designed to look like a series of condom wrappers.

The see-through item had multiple compartments along the lining featuring the unused prophylactics.

Fox, who recently complained that she was 'saggy' after losing some weight, even played up the condoms theme by wearing a pair of translucent rubber gloves.

Woman in white: Julia Fox, 33, put on an edgy display in a translucent white dress that left little to the imagination as she headed to the Elena Valez fashion show on Monday for NYFW

Shocking: Her accessories were even edgier and more startling, as she carried a clear plastic bag that was designed to look like a series of condom wrappers

Julia's partially see-through white dress featured vertical white stripes, and the low-cut look highlighted her cleavage.

It reached down past her knees, and went bra-free with the item while wearing a set of black panties.

The PVT Chat star complemented her dress with a set of chunky white boots that looked as if they had been 3D printed.

The boots appeared to have extra white material at the front and bag that was bolted together, as if it had been cut out of a mold.

The boots reached nearly up to her knees, leaving just a small strip of flesh between their tops and her dress hem.

Her clear condom-filled bag revealed the items she brought along for her NYFW appearance, including some cash and other accessories.

Although the actress-turned-fashion star has lately been bleaching her eyebrows, she had them pencilled in with striking dark lines this time.

She previously described the striking look approvingly as a 'man repellent,' and she bragged on TikTok about how much her ex-husband disapproved of it.

Showing off: Julia's partially see-through white dress featured vertical white stripes, and the low-cut look highlighted her cleavage. It reached down past her knees, and went bra-free with the item while wearing a set of black panties

Like a toy: She wore white boots that were seemingly 3D printed, and her clear bag was lined with condoms and showed off her accessories

Wonder in white: The model was later seen at the Elena Velez show

Best seat in the house: She was pictured in the front row

She sported upturned feathered eye makeup, and she wore her brunette hair parted down the middle and resting across her shoulders in messy strands.

In a recent interview with Elle, Julia described how her body had changed in recent years as she grappled with aging.

She described being 'saggy' now in certain spots, though she didn't plan to do a 'damn thing about it' in the near future.

However, she left herself open to having cosmetic procedure down the road if she changed her mind.

'Im, like, saggy, like, things are not sitting the way they used to,' she shared. 'But its like, I am not gonna do a damn thing about it.'

Although she's currently pro-aging and anti-cosmetic procedures, the ex-girlfriend of Kanye West admitted that she had used Botox in the past, and she claimed to have once gotten liposuction.

Julia also delved into her pre-fame work, calling her time as a BDSM dominatrix a 'never-ending improv class.'

She later used those skills with her indie film PVT Chat, in which she played a dominatrix who seduces a porn-addicted man via webcam chats.
More than 30 years after he first donned the iconic cape and cowl, Michael Keaton returns as Batman in the new full-length Super Bowl trailer for The Flash.

The highly-anticipated film will be influenced by the iconic Flashpoint comic books that reveals multiple timelines Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) can visit.

One of these timelines is where Michael Keaton's Bruce Wayne/Batman has been living, with the 71-year-old actor reprising his role from 1989's Batman and 1992's Batman Returns, still fighting crime in Gotham after all these years.

The Flash will also bring back Ben Affleck as the primary DCEU timeline's Bruce Wayne/Batman as he tries to guide Barry along this dangerous path.

The film also marks the DCEU debut of Sasha Calle playing Kara Danvers, a.k.a. Supergirl, who's seen in the final moments of the trailer.

I'm Batman: More than 30 years after he first donned the iconic cape and cowl, Michael Keaton returns as Batman in the new full-length Super Bowl trailer for The Flash

Flashpoint: The highly-anticipated film will be influenced by the iconic Flashpoint comic books that reveals multiple timelines Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) can visit

Original Batman: One of these timelines is where Michael Keaton's Bruce Wayne/Batman has been living, with the 71-year-old actor reprising his role from 1989's Batman and 1992's Batman Returns, still fighting crime in Gotham after all these years

While a truncated version of the trailer debuted during the Super Bowl on Sunday, DC unveiled the full three-minute trailer online shortly thereafter.

The trailer begins with Keaton's Batman asking Barry why he wants to stay in this universe, when he can go to any other.

'Because this is the one where my mom lives. I'm not gonna lose her again,' Barry says, as Barry tries to go back in time to stop his mother's murder.

Barry is seen meeting the Barry from his mother's universe/timeline, as Ben Affleck's Batman tries to warn Barry that he has, 'no idea what the consequences could be.'

While Barry insists he could 'fix things,' Bruce adds, 'But you could also destroy everything.'

It turns out, the consequences are that Barry inadvertently created a world without superheroes a.k.a. metahumans, with General Zod (Michael Shannon, reprising his role from 2013's Man of Steel) returning.

'I created a world with no metahumans and now there's no one to defend us,' Barry says, while Keaton's Batman says, 'Want some help?'

We see bats swirling around Keaton's iconic original Batmobile in his Batcave as we get our first look at Keaton as Batman.

Universe: The trailer begins with Keaton's Batman asking Barry why he wants to stay in this universe, when he can go to any other

Fix or destroy: While Barry insists he could 'fix things,' Bruce adds, 'But you could also destroy everything'

Mom: 'Because this is the one where my mom lives. I'm not gonna lose her again,' Barry says, as Barry tries to go back in time to stop his mother's murder

One of the final shots shows The Flash and Batman surrounded by soldiers, as Barry asks, 'What's the play, Batman?'

'Try not to die,' he says, before Supergirl swoops in and takes care of the soldiers, as Barry notices, 'It's not Clark.'

'My name is Kara,' Supergirl says with the final shot showing Supergirl in flight in her full costume.

The superhero film also stars Ron Livingston and Maribel Verdu as Barry's parents, Henry and Nora Allen, Kierse Clemons as Iris West, Antje Traue as Faora and Temuera Morrison as Tom Curry.

Andy Muschietti (IT) directs from a screenplay by Christina Hodson (Bumblebee) based on a story by Joby Harold (Army of the Dead).

The film will hit theaters June 16, going up against the Lionsgate horror spoof The Blackening.

The movie is making headlines for far different reasons as well, with the recent legal troubles of star Ezra Miller.

He was arrested twice in Hawaii in the span of a month, and he was also accused of choking a woman at a bar in Iceland and harassing another woman at her home in Berlin.

Supergirl: 'My name is Kara,' Supergirl (right) says with the final shot showing Supergirl in flight in her full costume.

In theaters: The film will hit theaters June 16, going up against the Lionsgate horror spoof The Blackening
She may be one of Australia's most famous Instagram influencers.

But heavily pregnant Martha Kalifatidis is reluctant to share photos of her baby boy on social media once he is born.

During an Q&A on Instagram this week, one of her fans asked the former reality star if she would be posting photos of her son or keep them private.

Martha Kalifatidis (pictured) has revealed she may not be sharing photos of her baby once he is born because shes afraid of mum-shaming

While Martha said she was excited for everyone to see her newborn welcomed into the world, she also doesn't want to open herself up to scrutiny, judgement and negativity.

'I'm so candid and unfiltered with what I say and do. If I can find a balance, I'd love to share,' she explained.

Martha accompanied her answer with a photo of herself in white briefs and matching top, which she raised to reveal her baby bump.

During the same Q&A session, the young influencer said she hoped her son shared the same qualities as his father, Michael Brunelli.

While she was excited for everyone to see her newborn welcomed into the world, Martha also didn't want to open herself up to scrutiny, judgement and negativity

Her maternal admission came after she returned to live with her parents in the lead-up to her birthing.

She confirmed on Monday she and her fiance Michael were temporarily staying at her family's home in North Melbourne.

They had moved out of their Bondi apartment prior to their holiday in Europe last year after the walls and ceilings became overrun with black mould.

Not only that, she suffered from severe morning sickness in her early pregnancy, and had then spent a few months at her parents' home 'really unwell and in bed'.

Martha, who is approaching the 37th week of her pregnancy, announced last week she will be having a boy.

Fans suspect the couple's child will be called Giuseppe, based on a diary entry from her mother Mary that was visible in a recent Instagram post.
An Australian radio host has blasted a Valentine's Day gesture which has become a growing trend among women.

On Triple M's Mick & MG in the Morning on Tuesday, Merrick Watts - who was filling in for Mark 'MG' Geyer while he's in Perth this week - weighed in on the idea of women gifting their male partners flowers on the day of love.

The comedian, 49, said he believed it's a sign a woman is 'utterly unhinged'.

Radio host Merrick Watts has weighed in on the idea of women gifting their male partners flowers on Valentine's Day

'I have been given flowers a couple of times, by women and on every single occasion, I've thought to myself, this woman is unhinged. Completely unhinged,' he told his co-hosts MG and Cat Lynch.

'And you know what? Nine times out of 10, which is actually two out of two, I was right.'

In a surprise twist this Valentine's Day, more men are reportedly receiving flowers than ever before.

The comedian, 49, said he believed it's a sign a woman is 'utterly unhinged'

According to Interflora, Australia's largest florist, men are now being delivered flowers 10 per cent more in an average year, and 20 per cent more on Valentine's Day.

'We have certainly seen a societal shift around the classic Valentine's Day traditions,' Marketing Manager of Interflora Australia Alara Karayalcin said in a statement.

'The expectations around Valentine's Day have changed, putting men and women on a more level playing field.'

In a surprise twist this Valentine's Day, more men are reportedly receiving flowers and gifts than ever before

'Our data has found the amount of men receiving flowers on Valentine's Day has increased to 20 per cent, as the emotional and sentimental meaning behind flowers across both genders proves to have strengthened.

'We have seen first-hand that men are enjoying flowers as gifts, because the entire flower delivery experience makes them feel special and loved.'

While many equate Valentine's day with red roses, men and women this year have reportedly been given a much wider range of flowers.
The upcoming Australian version of Alone is one of the most anticipated reality shows of the year.

And now SBS has unveiled the show's official cast ahead of the premiere, which will premiere in late March.

The cast includes a diverse batch of contestants, including an army veteran, an adventurist, and a wildlife biologist.

SBS has released the full cast for the upcoming Australian version of the hit survivalist reality series Alone. Pictured above

High school teacher and grandmother Beck, 42, who is First Nations, believes that her love of the land will help her win the series.

'I'm resourceful, I'm a problem solver, I'm bloody stubborn, but I'm not a survival expert,' she said in a statement.

'I've grown up camping and fishing and been out on country, I've learned from my elders and friends who are great outdoors people though I've never been away from my partner; I'm ready to test myself!'

High school teacher and grandmother Beck, 42, (left) who is First Nations, believes that her love of the land will help her win the series

Farmer and veterinarian Michael, 43, hopes that his Christian faith will pull him through.

Farmhand and engineering student Jimmy is the youngest of the crew at just 22.

'Ive spent most of my life being outdoors and learning what I can from nature and seeing how far I can go just on my own without having to rely on others,' he said.

Farmer and veterinarian Michael, 43, (left) hopes that his Christian faith will pull him through

'Ever since I saw the very first episode of the first US Alone series, I knew that was exactly what I wanted to do!'

The rest of the cast features army veteran Chris, 39, bushcraft teacher and 'barefoot nomad' Gina, 52, wildlife biologist Kate, 41, solo adventurist Mike 45, environmental officer Duan, 35, hunting guide Peter, 31, and planning & environmental manager Rob, 41.

Alone Australia follows a cast of individual self-reliance experts as they brave the elements and fight to stay alive on their own terms, with nothing but what they carry in on their backs.

Environmental officer Duan, 35, and adventurist Mike, 45, will brave chilly Tasmania in the series

The players' mission is 'to live alone in the wild, for as long as they can, documenting their journey every step of the way.'

There are no camera crews or field producers, with players instead filming themselves through the use of tripods and GoPro cameras.

'Alone is the most successful factual franchise in the history of SBS On Demand,' SBS said in a statement.

'Alone Australia will see 10 Australians dropped in remote wilderness, where theyll be challenged by the merciless forces of nature and hunger as they compete for a life-changing prize,' they continued.

Farmhand and engineering student Jimmy (left) is the youngest of the crew at just 22

'Their mission: to live alone in the wild, for as long as they can, documenting their journey every step of the way. Alone Australia is coming soon to SBS and On Demand.'

SBS already airs the original American version of Alone, which is broadcast on the History channel in the US.

The Down Under edition was filmed in Tasmania with a cash prize of $250,000.

Hunting guide Peter, 31, and environmental manager Rob, 42, are pictured

'Theres nothing like the Tasmania environment,' SBS recently said in a statement.

'Its cold, its wet. There lots of flora and fauna, that is so unique to Australia, it doesnt necessarily look like other international versions of Alone.'

SBS is so confident in the format that they've already opened casting for season two, despite the fact that season one has yet to air.
Rebel Wilson has defended her decision to go out partying just a week after her daughter was born via surrogate, saying that just because she's a mother doesn't mean she can't enjoy herself.

The Pitch Perfect star, 42, welcomed her first child Royce Lillian in November, and is raising her little girl with partner Ramona Agruma.

However, the pair sparked controversy when they attended two celebrity parties a week after the baby was born: one for Leonardo DiCaprio's birthday and the other for Paris Hilton's wedding anniversary.

Rebel Wilson has defended her decision to go out partying a week after her daughter was born via surrogate, saying that just because she's a mother doesn't mean she can't enjoy herself

Rebel has now said she didn't appreciate being 'mum-shamed' at the time, and doesn't believe new fathers face the same level of scrutiny.

'It was only a week until I got mum-shamed,' she told her friends Brittany Hockley and Laura Byrne on the Life Uncut podcast.

'I was shocked at the criticism because Chris Hemsworth goes to the gym, and people aren't yelling, "Where's your kids?" But why do they do it to every woman?'

'It was only a week until I got mum-shamed,' she told the Life Uncut podcast. 'I was shocked at the criticism because Chris Hemsworth goes to the gym, and people aren't yelling "Where's your kids?" But why do they do it to every woman?'

The Bridesmaids star admitted she did debate going out so soon after her daughter was born, but said her nanny encouraged her to do it.

'It's a little bit [of] work in a way. Like, I'm talking to directors or talking to other actors that might be useful to collaborate with and then we were basically home by midnight,' she added.

The Senior Year actress said women shouldn't be shaming other women for how they parent their children.

The Pitch Perfect star, 42, welcomed her first child Royce Lillian in November, and is raising her little girl with partner Ramona Agruma (left)

'Just because you become a mother, doesnt mean that you lose your identity as a person. It doesn't mean you can't go out with friends or you can't go on a holiday. It doesn't mean you cant have a career,' she said.

'People will say I'm in a privileged position, which I am, but I think it's so outdated. Why is it women shaming other women? It always is.'

However, 'mum-shaming' aside, Rebel admitted she was struggling to find a 'balance' between work and motherhood.
Hugh Jackman braved the cold for a very chilly dip in the ocean during a trip to The Hamptons on Sunday.

The X-Men actor, 54, looked to be in the best shape of his life as he stripped off for the swim.

Hugh, who keeps ripped for his Hollywood roles, joked about the water temperature after getting in.

Hollywood actor Hugh Jackman, 54, (pictured) poked his tongue out as he stripped off for a cold plunge in the ocean on Sunday with him sharing photos to his Instagram

'Is it a polar bear plunge when the temp is 36 degrees (Fahrenheit)?' he asked, rhetorically.

'Either way I can tell you it felt absolutely freezing, yet completely amazing on my very sore Beth trained body.'

One photo showed him cheekily poking his tongue out, while in another he smiled while a third showed him in a robe with a towel around his neck.

Hugh, who is known to keep trim for his Hollywood roles, joked about the water temperature after getting in.'Is it a polar bear plunge when the temp is 36 degrees?' he asked, rhetorically

It has been widely reported that cold water plunges can improve circulation, boost immunity, and increase energy.

It comes after Hugh and wife Deborra-Lee Furness spoke about their 'very different' ideas on parenting their two children: Oscar, 22, and Ava, 17.

Speaking to Radio Times this month, Hugh said: 'You fall in love with someone and you work out your relationship, it's great! All of a sudden, we had kids'.

'The way I was parented, the way she was parented all of a sudden whoosh! And it wasn't just Deb and I, it was somehow our pasts coming together'.

'Either way I can tell you it felt absolutely freezing, yet completely amazing on my very sore Beth trained body,' he added of the plunge

'We had really different ideas about being a parent. And we never really pre-discussed it. We just assumed: we love each other, we don't argue, that's going to be fine!'.

Hugh and Deborah married just one year after meeting on the set of Australian drama, Corelli.

The actor previously said he knew he was going to spend the rest of his life with his beloved after just two weeks of knowing her.

Hugh went on to discuss his latest role in dark drama The Son and said it left him deeply affected, with even his children noticing the strain.

It comes after Hugh and wife Deborra-Lee Furness spoke about their 'very different' ideas on parenting their two children: Oscar, 22, and Ava, 17

He revealed: 'My wife said to me, 'You're the last person I would describe as a hot mess. But during this you have been a hot mess.'

'My sleep was off. I don't think I thought so at the time, but I look back now and see that there was a real parallel to what [my character] Peter was going through'.

Adding: 'Both my kids would notice a difference [in me] for sure!'

The actor, 54, shares adopted children Oscar, 22, and Ava, 17, with the fellow Aussie, 67, whom he wed in 1996 (pictured together in 2009)
Christie Swadling's bankruptcy filing was recently made public after the paperwork was leaked on a notorious gossip forum.

And that isn't the only setback faced by the 27-year-old fitness influencer, who revealed this week she wrote off her luxury car several months ago.

But on the bright side, she already has a new vehicle arriving in March: a 2022 Mitsubishi Outlander which has a starting price of $34,490 before on-road costs.

Christie Swadling's bankruptcy filing was recently made public after the paperwork was leaked on a notorious gossip forum. But that isn't the only setback faced by the 27-year-old fitness influencer, who revealed this week she wrote off her luxury car several months ago

She spoke about her new car during an Instagram Q&A.

'To those who don't know, I wrote my car off in the city a few months back... but my new car arrives next month,' she said.

'So excited! I'm currently driving a two-door car which is so inconvenient with kids/a family.'

When a follower asked what kind of car she was getting, she shared a picture of a white Outlander and jokingly described it as a 'footy mum car'.

'To those who don't know, I wrote my car off in the city a few months back... but my new car arrives next month,' she said in an Instagram Q&A. 'So excited! I'm currently driving a two-door car which is so inconvenient with kids/a family'

It comes after Swadling was exposed as the mystery Australian influencer who filed for bankruptcy late last year.

For weeks, rumours were abuzz about which social media celebrity was in financial strife after a blind gossip story did the rounds.

Swadling was eventually named after an anonymous user on the Tattle Life gossip forums paid $15 to obtain the publicly available paperwork on her bankruptcy filing.

On the bright side, she already has a new vehicle arriving in March: a 2022 Mitsubishi Outlander which has a starting price of $34,490 before on-road costs

The YouTuber listed her job as an 'advertising and marketing professional' in the paperwork filed on December 29.

The status of her bankruptcy is 'undischarged', which means she will still need to pay back particular debts though the petition did not specify Swadling's outstanding debts.

It also means she will not be able to borrow again from financial institutions without the disclosure of her bankruptcy.
Cheryl Maitland is dealing with heartbreak on Valentine's Day after she busted her fiance sending flirty texts to one of her friends.

In an Instagram Story video posted on Monday, the former Married At First Sight shared a video of herself wandering down a beach while listening to the track Brightest Stars by Jeffrey East.

'On repeat,' she wrote alongside the clip, followed by a broken-heart emoji.

Cheryl Maitland is dealing with heartbreak on Valentine's Day after after she busted her fiance Dean Gibbs (right) sending flirty texts to one of her friends

In the snippet of the song she played, East sings: 'Somebody turned the lights out on you / Made you feel like they didn't want you / Left you in the shadows of a broken truth.'

Maitland leaked a series of texts on Sunday that allegedly showed her fiance Dean Gibbs, a disgraced former Victoria Police officer-turned-plumber, planning to meet up with blonde hairdresser Maria Pepi at the beach for a coffee and swim.

She posted the DMs on Instagram, then called Gibbs and Pepi 'dogs' and said she 'hopes the sharks get these two' next time they go to the beach together.

In an Instagram Story video posted on Monday, the former Married At First Sight shared a video of herself wandering down a beach while listening to the track Brightest Stars by Jeffrey East

Maitland's angry reaction suggests Gibbs may not have told her he was catching up with one of her mates. Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting any infidelity took place.

He also appears to have tried to conceal the texts on his phone by saving Pepi under a man's name, 'Andrew Galata - Burleigh.'

However, Maitland was allegedly able to prove he was texting her friend by cross-refencing the number for Pepi on Gibbs' phone with Pepi's number in her own contacts.

The leaked texts, which had a flirtatious tone, centred on Pepi and Gibbs planning meet-ups as recently as last month, including one time when they arranged to go for a 'crazy' sunrise swim and coffee together.

Maitland leaked a series of texts on Sunday that allegedly showed Gibbs, a former Victoria Police officer-turned-plumber, planning to meet with Pepi at the beach for a coffee and swim

The leaked texts, which had a flirtatious tone, centred on Pepi (pictured) and Gibbs planning meet-ups as recently as last month

'The forecast is cloudy Monday and Tuesday. How about we do Wednesday??' Gibbs wrote to Pepi in texts allegedly exchanged last month.

'Yea Wednesday is good. What time and location,' Pepi replied.

'Wanna be crazy and do a sunrise swim???' Gibbs then wrote. 'Or do you wanna do it in comfort with a warm coffee?'

Pepi responded: 'Let's do both. Coffee on the beach then a swim.'

Maitland's angry reaction suggests Gibbs may not have told her he was catching up with one of her mates. Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting any infidelity took place

Maitland posted the texts on Instagram upon discovering them on Sunday, then called Gibbs and Pepi 'dogs' and said she 'hopes the sharks get these two' next time they go to the beach

Gibbs appears to have tried to conceal the texts on his phone by saving Pepi under a man's name, 'Andrew Galata'. But Maitland was allegedly able to prove he was texting her friend by cross-refencing the number for Pepi on Gibbs' phone with Pepi's number in her own contacts

'Boom,' Dean said with a fist-pump emoji. He then wrote, 'Love it,' with a devil emoji.

Maitland then shared another text message exchange in which Gibbs joked about having to 'save' Pepi from a rip in the ocean.

'Broadbeach near you? Maybe out front of the Kurrawa surf club?' Gibbs suggested.

Pepi (right, with Maitland) has been pictured with the couple in multiple Instagram posts, which suggests the trio have been good friends for a while

'Yes!!! Locked and loaded, added it in my calendar,' Pepi replied.

'That means it's official. Hopefully you get caught in a rip so I can rescue you,' Gibbs joked to the glamorous blonde.

'Hahaha omg I'd be so scared, shark bait,' Pepi wrote, adding a string of laughing emojis. 'You better rescue me lol,' she added.

In one alleged text, Gibbs suggests he and Pepi go 'crazy' by hitting the beach at sunrise

Maitland wrote over the text messages: 'DOGS! @_gibbsy @misspepix...'

The former MAFS bride added: Sooooo much more! I'm just getting started... Hope the sharks get these two next swim.'

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Maitland, Gibbs and Pepi for comment.

Maitland (near), Gibbs (left), Pepi (right) and an unidentified man (back) are pictured kayaking on Hayman Island in October 2020

Pepi has been pictured with the couple in multiple Instagram posts, which suggests the trio have been good friends for a while.

Maitland and Gibbs became engaged in March last year; he announced the news on Instagram with the caption: 'Pop the champagne, she's changing her last name!'

The couple began dating in 2017, shortly after she failed to find love on MAFS' fourth season with her two husbands, Jonathan Troughton and Andrew Jones.

Maitland and Gibbs became engaged in March last year; he announced the news on Instagram with the caption: 'Pop the champagne, she's changing her last name!'

Almost a decade ago, ex-cop Gibbs was handed a one-year suspended jail sentence after pleading guilty to trafficking and using cocaine, as well as possessing steroids and ecstasy.

Gibbs, who retrained as a plumber after leaving the police force, pleaded guilty to five drug-related charges in the Melbourne Magistrates Court in 2014.

His mother Karen told Daily Mail Australia in March 2017 her son had worked hard to build a new life for himself ever since he narrowly avoided jail.

'That is all in the past he's moved on from all of that,' she said of his criminal conviction.

Almost a decade ago, ex-cop Gibbs was handed a one-year suspended jail sentence after pleading guilty to trafficking and using cocaine, as well as possessing steroids and ecstasy . Gibbs, who retrained as a plumber after leaving the police force, pleaded guilty to five drug-related charges in the Melbourne Magistrates Court in 2014 (pictured here outside court)

'He has worked very hard to build a new life; he's got a successful plumbing business and he's very proud of that,' she added.

According to previous reports, the former constable had started dealing drugs after his salary was unable to cover the cost of his cocaine habit.

Gibbs faced more than 15 years in jail but pleaded guilty to trafficking and possession charges, and also failing to store ammunition appropriately.

He resigned from the police force in disgrace and took up a position as a plumbing apprentice.
Aussie model Simone Holtznagel might be getting ready for an exciting Valentine's Day as she was spotted collecting some free breath spray in a Sydney mall.

The 29-year-old was grinning ear-to-ear as she accepted free samples from Gem Oral Care in a busy Pitt Street Mall on Tuesday.

She got the goodies just in time for Valentine's Day, and from the look on her face it appears she's keen for minty fresh breath to celebrate with her boyfriend, celebrity trainer Jono Castano, 32.

Aussie model Simone Holtznagel might be getting ready for an exciting Valentine's Day as she was spotted collecting some free breath spray in a Sydney mall on Tuesday

The Australia's Next Top Model star wandered the mall in a chic but casual outfit for a day of shopping in Sydney.

She wore black straight-leg jeans with a long black top tucked in, white trainers and a black Prada crossbody bag.

Simone kept her blonde locks off her face in a low ponytail with minimal makeup on her face.

The 29-year-old was grinning ear-to-ear as she accepted free samples from Gem Oral Care in a busy Pitt St mall on Tuesday

She accepted the oral goodies from a local worker, and he had a large grin on his face after the model walked away with her free samples.

The model only arrived back in Sydney a few days ago after enjoying a romantic holiday with her celebrity personal trainer beau Jono in Bali, Indonesia.

The couple began dating earlier last year and moved in together after just three months of being in a relationship.

She got the goodies just in time for Valentine's Day, and from the look on her face it appears she is keen for minty fresh breath to celebrate with her boyfriend, celebrity trainer Jono Castano

Since she began dating the personal trainer, Simone has lost 10kg and has been sharing her weight loss journey with her followers.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia last September, Jono said his girlfriend lost the weight safely and over 10 months after some of her followers - including those in recovery from eating disorders - said her before and after photos were 'triggering'.

'I educate each individual who has something to say outlining the way she got results wasn't through starving herself, it was done through a structured program,' he said.
Zach Shallcross sent home Anastasia Keramidas after hearing she made comments about gaining social medial followers on Monday's episode of The Bachelor on ABC.

Kylee Russell, 25, a postpartum nurse from Charlotte, North Carolina, brought her concerns directly to Zach, 26, after she felt Anastasia, 30, a content marketing manager from San Diego, was being manipulative and twisting her words.

'She's constantly always talking about the number of Instagram followers she is going to get while being here,' Kylee told Zach.

'That freaks me the f*** out,' Zach said. 'That is something that I don't stand for and I am terrified that I would end up with someone who was here for the wrong reasons.'

Kylee said she didn't hear Anastasia's comments directly, but that Charity Lawson, 26, a child and family therapist from Columbus, Georgia, did. Zach pulled Charity aside and she confirmed to him what she heard.

Wrong reasons: Zach Shallcross sent home Anastasia Keramidas after hearing she made comments about gaining social medial followers on Monday's episode of The Bachelor on ABC

Zach then told all the women that maybe someone was here for the wrong intention. He pulled aside Anastasia to talk.

'Are you really here for me?' Zach asked.

Anastasia said she was. He said he heard that she was there for Instagram followers and not for a relationship. Anastasia said she only told the other women that she would connect them with brands. Zach said he was upset and needed to go think about things.

'Now there is doubt in his mind and that's really hard to get rid of,' Anastasia said in a confessional.

Kylee admitted she was the one who told Zach and Anastasia didn't understand why she didn't talk to her directly.

'Why would you say 14 girls at this point would get 50k?' Charity asked.

Anastasia said she didn't understand why her words got twisted. At the end of the night, Zach gave the group date rose to Ariel and Anastasia started crying.

'I feel like this literally destroyed me,' Anastasia said in a confessional. 'This feels like a nightmare.'

Private talk: Anastasia was pulled by Zach for a private conversation

Doubt planted: 'Now there is doubt in his mind and that's really hard to get rid of,' Anastasia said in a confessional

Then, right before the rose ceremony, Zach pulled Anastasia aside.

'Honestly, it's been a really hard two days,' Anastasia said. 'It's not easy to have inaccurate information spread about me.'

Anastasia said she didn't know why that information about Instagram was brought up but that she only came to see if there was a connection between them. Zach thanked her for sharing but that he couldn't discredit what the other women said about her about gaining Instagram followers.

Zach then took Anastasia's hand and walked her out as Kylee got upset.

'I'm going to vomit,' Kylee said. 'I never want to be the cause of someone having to go home.'

Anastasia was unhappy in the car as it drove away.

'I would have rather been a crazy b**** and thrown s*** around then have my integrity questioned like this,' Anastasia said.

'I just don't want to be collateral damage in all of this,' Kylee worried in a confessional. 'I am honestly terrified.'

Instagram followers: Zach thanked her for sharing but that he couldn't discredit what the other women said about her about gaining Instagram followers

When the episode started, show host Jesse Palmer, 44, told the remaining women that they were all going to the Bahamas.

The first date card was delivered to the room and it was for Katherine 'Kat' Izzo, 26, a registered nurse from Tampa, Florida, and it read 'How deep is our love?'

Greer Blitzer, 24, a medical sales rep from Houston, started crying as she wanted more time with Zach.

Zach and Kat boarded a catamaran and sailed away.

'Kat literally looks like a model and I've never dated a model,' Zach said in a confessional. 'Honestly, this time with Kat is unreal.'

The two danced together on the boat and then jumped off in snorkeling gear.

'I see something,' Zach said. 'You make me giddy and nervous and I enjoy it. And it's been one of the best first dates ever.'

At night, the two changed into cocktail attire and sat down for a romantic dinner. Kat was concerned because she didn't have a traditional upbringing and didn't live at home at times because her relationship with her mother was strained.

Bahamas trip: When the episode started, show host Jesse Palmer, 44, told the remaining women that they were all going to the Bahamas

Deep love: The first date card was delivered to the room and it was for Katherine 'Kat' Izzo, 26, a registered nurse from Tampa, Florida, and it read 'How deep is our love?'

Model looks: 'Kat literally looks like a model and I've never dated a model,' Zach said in a confessional. 'Honestly, this time with Kat is unreal.' didn't live at home at times because her relationship with her mother was strained

Kat started crying.

'In the past it has made me feel really unlovable and it's just really, sometimes hard to navigate those fears,' Kat said.

Zach told her he didn't want her to have that fear.

'You are here now and you are being brave and wow,' Zach said. 'You're awesome.'

The two kissed. Zach picked up the rose and gave it to her.

'Kissing Kat is like two meteors just perfectly colliding and creating a star,' Zach said in a confessional. 'It's fireworks.'

The two kissed as fireworks exploded behind them.

Romantic moment: The two kissed as fireworks exploded behind them

Back at the hotel, the other women worried about losing their connection with Zach.

There was a knock on the door. The group date card was for Kylee, Charity, Aly Jacobs, 26, from Atlanta; Kaity Biggar, 27, an ER Nurse from Austin; Ariel Frenkel, 28, from New York City; Genevie Mayo, 26, a neonatal nurse from Baltimore; Anastasia; Mercedes Northrup, 24 a pig farmer from Bloomfield, Virginia; Gabi Elnicki,25, an account executive from Pittsford, Vermont; Jess Girod, 23, an e-commerce coordinator from Winter Springs, Florida; and Davia, 25, a marketing manager from Charlestown; and read 'it's time to turn up the heat.'

Brooklyn Willie, 25, a rodeo racer from Stillwater, Oklahoma, wasn't picked so she knew she was going on the one-on-one date.

The women all agreed they would share time with Zach, but then Anastasia pulled him aside to talk.

Group date: -. The women all agreed they would share time with Zach, but then Anastasia pulled him aside to talk

Kylee was annoyed.

'You have to find ways to be appropriate and this was completely inappropriate,' Kylee said in a confessional.

Kylee waked over when they were talking and stood behind them. Anastasia told her to give them another minute, but Kylee didn't give up.

Anastasia later complained to the other women about Kylee saying she 'didn't want to fight' her.

'I know everyone's tense right now, but I felt like I was attacked to be honest,' Anastasia told some of the women.

'She's trying to make drama out of it,' Kyle said of just wanting to talk to Zach.

At night, the women changed for the after party. Zach pulled Kaity aside.

'Can I kiss you because I've been waiting,' Zach said.

Completely inappropriate: 'You have to find ways to be appropriate and this was completely inappropriate,' Kylee said in a confessional

Stole him: The women all agreed they would share time with Zach, but then Anastasia pulled him aside to talk

Anastasia told Kylee in front of some of the other women that she was taken aback by her fight comment.

'I wasn't trying to come at you,' Kylee said.

The next day, Brooklyn and Zach started their date by driving on all-terrain vehicles around the island.

Kylee worried that she would face some backlash from Anastasia. Charity said she definitely heard Anastasia make that comment about Instagram followers.

At night, Brooklyn and Zach sat down for a romantic dinner. Brooklyn cried, sharing with him that she was previously in an emotionally and physically abusive relationship. She said she felt like a shell of a herself and somehow was able to get out of it. He told her that she was so tough and that it made him sick to hear that she went through that. Zach reached over and gave her the date rose.

'I want to continue to build what we have,' Zach said.

At the group cocktail party, Zach told everyone that honesty was important for him and pulled Anastasia immediately aside to talk. When he walked back in, he told the women that Anastasia was gone.

At the final rose ceremony, Zach gave roses to Charity, Kaity, Gabby, Jess, Mercedes, Aly, Greer, and the final rose went to Kylee.

Davia and Genevie did not get roses and went home.

The Bachelor will return next Monday on ABC.

Riding around: The next day, Brooklyn and Zach started their date by driving on all-terrain vehicles around the island

Fun date: Zach and Brooklyn had fun on their date as they got all muddy

Abusive relationship: Brooklyn cried, sharing with him that she was previously in an emotionally and physically abusive relationship
Billie Shepherd showcased her incredible figure in a blue ribbed swimsuit while soaking up the sun on a family holiday to Abu Dhabi on Monday.

The former TOWIE star, 33, shared a gallery of snaps as she enjoyed a lavish day at lavish private island resort Nurai Island with her sister Sam Faiers, 32, and their six children.

The reality TV personality looked jaw-dropping as she kissed her newborn baby daughter Margot, three months, on the cheek while posing for a swimwear snap.

Billie styled her long blonde tresses poker straight and wore a pair of bold round sunglasses as she sheltered from the sun under a large umbrella with her baby girl.

The Family Diaries star later sat on a swing on the picturesque beach as she posed with her older daughter Nelly, eight.

Making memories: Billie Shepherd showcased her incredible figure in a blue ribbed swimsuit while soaking up the sun on a family holiday to Abu Dhabi on Monday

Mum life: The reality TV personality, 33, looked jaw-dropping as she kissed her newborn baby daughter Margot, three months, on the cheek while posing for a swimwear snap

Billie shared a snap of her husband Greg on the beach while holding baby Margot.

The couple are also parents to son Arthur, five, who joined them on the luxury private island trip.

Billie later beamed alongside her sister Sam Faiers, her mum Suzie Wells, Nelly, Margot and Sam's daughter Rosie, five.

The girls couldn't contain their smiles as they cosied up in their beach attire for the sweet snap together on an outdoor sofa.

Sam, 32, looked nothing short of sensational in a multi-coloured striped swimming costume as she and Billie posed on a giant swing in the ocean.

Billie wowed in the blue number as she slicked her long wet blonde tresses back out of her face and sheltered from the sun behind a pair of large sunglasses.

She wrote alongside the Instagram snaps: 'Island life for the day. The most wonderful day with out family.'

Sam is also mum to three children, Paul, seven, Rosie, five, and Edward, nine months with husband Paul Knightley, who also joined on the trip.

'Island life': The former TOWIE star also shared a snap of her husband Greg on the beach in front of a hammock while holding baby Margot

'The most wonderful day with out family': Billie sat on an outdoor sofa with (L-R) her sister Sam Faiers, 32, Sam's daughter Rosie, five, Billie and Sam's mum Suzie Wells, 53, and Nelly, eight

Fun in the sun! Eldest daughter Nelly, eight, beamed while perching on a beach swing

Billie took to her Instagram Story on Sunday as she covered up in a pair of crisp white shorts over her costume.

The blonde beauty added a blue and white oversized shirt as she posed for a chic mirror selfie.

The TV star looked effortlessly glam as she accessorised with a long pendant necklace and hid behind a bold pair of round mirrored sunglasses.

The ITVBe star also shared an adorable snap of Nelly and Arthur and Sam's Paul and Rosie riding a camel.

The kids couldn't contain their smiles as they waved to the camera while enjoying the trip on the beach.

It comes after Billie detailed the struggles of motherhood last week as she admitted the struggle of finding moments alone with her husband Greg.

So cute: Billie and Greg are also parents to son Arthur, five, who also joined them on the luxury trip (pictured with Margot)

Swing when you're winning: Sam, 32, looked nothing short of sensational in a multi-coloured striped swimming costume as she and Billie posed on a giant swing in the ocean

She admitted the exhausting parenting routine has meant that it's hard for her to 'find time for a real conversation with him'.

Earlier this month, her sister Sam admitted she has moved into her spare room with baby son Edward rather than sharing with her partner Paul.

Billie explained that she has done the same, telling The Sun's Fabulous magazine: 'I've moved into the spare room with Margot, because I've been co-sleeping with her'.

Explaining that evenings look slightly different these days, Billie shared: 'Before Margot, Greg and I could put the older two children to bed and have dinner together. But now dinner is on the table no later than 5.30pm, otherwise the nights go on forever!'

Being a dad-of-three has meant that Greg has had to take on more responsibility with Nellie and Arthur, as Billie continued: 'Greg's having to do a bit more with the other two now.

'And it's hard to find time for a real conversation with him, because after the bedtime routine I'm exhausted.

'I've moved into the spare room with Margot, because I've been co-sleeping with her. As soon as Nelly and Arthur are in bed, I'm in bed with the baby,' she shared.

Stunning: Billie looked effortlessly glam as she covered up in a pair of crisp white shorts and added an oversized shirt as she posed for a chic mirror selfie in a bold pair of round sunglasses
She recently decided to up sticks and leave Essex for sunnier LA and Chloe Sims appeared to be making the most of her move on Monday.

The former TOWIE star, 41, turned up the heat in a white swimsuit which suited her perfectly as she walked along the beach.

She wore her long caramel locks in a sleek style while heading into the surf in a bid to cool own.

Chloe wore a black Marant hat and denim shorts before stripping down into her swimwear to frolic in the ocean.

She then took a walk down the famous sands of South Beach while working on her tan as she plans on breaking America where she is filming her family's new OnlyFans series.

Making a splash: Chloe Sims looked incredible in a white swimsuit as she enjoyed a stroll on the beach in Miami on Monday after moving Stateside

Delightful: Chloe is filming her family's new OnlyFans series while in the US which has already netted the family 500,000 before it has even aired

It comes after an insider revealed that Chloe and her sibilings have been paid a six-figure sum for their show, according to The Sun.

'House of Sims' - the show featuring Chloe, her two sisters Frankie, 27, Demi, 26, and brother Charlie, 30 - has already netted the family 500,000 before it has even aired.

In addition, the show has already been renewed for two more seasons.

An insider told the publication: 'OnlyFans TV bosses hugely believe in Chloe and her sisters Frankie, Demi, and their brother Charlie.

'They've got loads of cash to splash on talent, and understood the family are bringing their own fanbase along with them from years of being on TOWIE.

The family seemed to be enjoying the time of their life as they relocated to Los Angeles, although the move being a 'huge adjustment'.

The insider added: 'The girls are also loving life in LA and are mingling with US stars, but it is a huge adjustment and there's been loads of drama to keep viewers entertained.'

Although it wasn't her initial plan, it appears that Chloe would rather put her roots in US and make it her permanent home.

Stylish: Chloe wore a black Marant hat and denim shorts before stripping down into her swimwear to frolic in the ocean

Wow thing: Chloe looked incredible from every angle as she worked her magic in the surf

Saucy: Her swimsuit had a thong design which showed off her surgically enhanced bottom

Last year, Chloe said she and her family are going to 'live out our dream' on their new reality show, with sister Frankie promising it will be as raw as possible'.

Speaking on Good Morning Britain, Chloe, who recently left TOWIE to appear on the new show said: 'I'm so excited that I took the leap...we're going to get to live our dream out together.'

Frankie added that fans will see a different side to the Sims family on the new show where they will be in control of how they are edited.

The new show is slated to be broadcast around the start of next year on the free viewing app.

And it will follow the principal family The Sims as they attempt to 'go global' away from Essex and on their travels in the USA.

Hair flick: She showed off her cosmetically enhanced assets as she topped up her tan
Jenna Coleman and Aidan Turner were all smiles as they left their West End show on Monday night.

The pair are currently starring in the two-man show Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, Lemons at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London.

Jenna, 36, looked glamorous in a roll-neck black jumper as she stepped out of the stage door.

She added a matching leather-look burgundy skirt and matching statement bag to her look.

Jenna complemented her outfit with a tailored patterned coat, wrapping up warm for the chilly weather.

Gorgeous: Jenna Coleman looked glamorous in a chunky knitted jumper and leather-look skirt as she left her West End show with co-star Aidan Turner on Monday night

She finished her ensemble with a pair of chunky black leather loafers.

Meanwhile, Aidan kept things casual as he left the theatre, sporting a black puffy jacket and tracksuit bottoms with a pair of white trainers.

The stars' play will be on-stage for a nine-week run and sees Jenna play rule-abiding lawyer Bernadette while Aidan portrays free-spirited musician Oliver.

The official synopsis reads: '"Let's just talk until it goes". You're going to speak more than 123 million words in your lifetime. What will you do when they run out?

'Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons is a tender and funny rom-com about what we say, how we say it, and what happens when we can't say anything anymore'.

The play explores a young couples response to a dystopian world in which words are rationed by 'hush laws.'

Jenna and Aidan take starring roles in this two-hander, which is a West End revival of Sam Steiners debut play of the same name - a huge success following its debut at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2015.

However, despite the talent of the actors, critics have been left with a slightly sour taste in their mouth since the press night earlier this month.

Cosy but cool: Meanwhile, Aidan kept things casual as he left the theatre, sporting a black padded jacket and tracksuit bottoms with a pair of white trainers

MailOnline's Patrick Marmion gave the play two out of five stars and described the script as 'gimmicky'.

He said: 'Give [anyone] a gimmicky script like this one by Sam Steiner and they will inevitably wind up sounding like Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield, waffling to kill time on This Morning.'

Offering the play three out of five stars, Time Out magazine described it as 'a disarmingly bleak affair, or certainly in comparison to eight years ago' - with Brexit blamed for its 'dour' tone.

However the 'lovely' set design was praised, while Steiner's words - of which some have been rewritten since its debut - were applauded for standing the test the time.

Pretty: Jenna complemented her outfit with a tailored patterned coat, wrapping up warm for the chilly weather

Starring roles: The actors play Oliver and Bernadette in this two-hander, currently showing at London's Harold Pinter Theatre (pictured on stage)

Elsewhere The Times also offered three out of five stars, while claiming the play soon runs out of steam.

'Can two good actors and a gifted director, Josie Rourke, make this cocktail of cute ideas add up to more than the sum of its parts? Not quite,' they write.

'Worse, a singsong of Total Eclipse of the Heart trails off when he runs out of words before she does. Every now and then they fall apart.'

Meanwhile The Telegraph claimed it was 'tantalising, but limited' despite strong performances from its two stars, writing: 'Plenty for fans to admire, then, but a few syllables short of a humdinger.'
Danny Trejo has 'filed for bankruptcy' to 're-organise his assets' and help deal with his '$2million tax bill' after he 'mistakenly claimed deductions for years'.

The actor, 78, has starred in Hollywood blockbusters Machete in 2010, Spy Kids in 2001, and also featured in hit Netflix series Breaking Bad as Tortuga.

Despite his film career continuing into his later years, Danny has kept himself very busy with his various food businesses including Trejo Tacos and Trejo's Coffee and Donuts in Las Vegas.

But according to TMZ, the star, is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which is referred to as the 'reorganisation bankruptcy', allowing a company to stay in business and restructure its obligations.

The publication reports that the filing has been done to deal with his massive tax bill, which is said to be around $2million (1.6million).

Bankrupt: Danny Trejo has 'filed for bankruptcy' to 're-organise his assets' and help deal with his '$2million tax bill' after he 'mistakenly claimed deductions for years'

Danny reportedly told TMZ that he was 'mistakenly claiming deductions over the years that caught up with him'.

They added that he 'jokingly' revealed that he now realises dog grooming is not a 'legit expense you can write off'.

The type of bankruptcy means that his several businesses, which includes his record label and his numerous Los Angeles restaurants are not affected by it.

His enterprises are owned by corporations which 'he created to run them'.

Danny added that he expects to be debt-free by some point in 2024.

His Hollywood career has slowed in recent years, but he was honoured with his very own life-size wax figure at the world-famous Madame Tussauds museum in November 2021.

The performer was also present at the unveiling of the creation, and appeared ecstatic when addressing a crowd that had assembled to see the statue.

The statue also featured an impressive array of fake tattoos that closely mirrored the Spy Kids actor's own.

Star: The actor, 78, has starred in Hollywood blockbusters Machete in 2010 (pictured), Spy Kids in 2001, and also featured in hit Netflix series Breaking Bad as Tortuga

The Desperado actor notably took several pictures while holding a machete and posing next to the wax figure.

According to ABC7, a group of artists spent over half a year constructing and constructing the statue.

The performer also caught up with the news outlet at the event and appeared to be overtaken by the gesture, as he stated: 'I don't know what to say.'

Trejo later spoke to KTLA following the statue's unveiling and told the media outlet about his impression of the figure.

Actor: Despite his film career continuing into his later years, Danny has kept himself very busy with his various food businesses including Trejo Tacos and Trejo's Coffee and Donuts in Las Vegas (pictured in Machete Kills in 2013)

Businessman: But according to TMZ, the star, is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which is referred to as the 'reorganisation bankruptcy', allowing a company to stay in business and restructure its obligations

The actor noted that 'it was kind of creepy, but they made him look better than me, so that was cool.'

When asked about his take on the statue's build, he expressed that the artists who worked on it 'did really well.'

The Blood In Blood Out actor then expressed that he was at a loss for words when asked to speak at the figure's unveiling.

'It was so humbling, and I'm usually pretty good at just winging a speech, but when I saw that I was just, like, tongue tied,' he stated.
TV presenter Kate Langbroek has slammed Australia's op-shops for being too pricey.

The comedian and broadcaster, 57, appeared on Channel 10's The Project on Tuesday to criticise charity-owned stores selling second hand goods as too 'commercial'.

Describing herself as an 'op-shopper', who comes from a long-line of 'op-shoppers', Kate blamed the rising prices on organisations who, she said, were spending big on their infrastructure and then passing it on to the consumer.

TV presenter Kate Langbroek (pictured) has slammed local op-shops for being too pricey

'They are paying CEOs, they are paying vintage valuers,' she explained. 'They [the op-shops] are giving access to vintage shops to come in first.'

'Consequently their prices go up and up,' she added.

Kate added that it was possible to buy a brand new T-shirt at budget stores like K-Mart for $4.

'Why would I pay $14 [at an op shop],' she said.

The comedian and broadcaster, 57, appeared on Channel 10's The Project on Tuesday to criticise charity-owned stores selling second hand goods as too 'commercial'

If people who don't earn much have the option to use other stores like K-mart, The Project's Waleed Aly countered, do we need op shops to provide cheap goods?

He added that the aim of the op shops was to raise money for the charity's they serve.

'I don't think they are necessarily making more money for the charities,' Kate replied.

'Everyone should be able to go into an op shop and have a win.'

Describing herself as an 'op-shopper', who comes from a long-line of 'op-shoppers', Kate blamed the rising prices on organisations who, she said, were spending big on their infrastructure and then passing it on to the consumer. Pictured: Kate on The Project

Kate's attack on inflated prices found in many op shops was met with a positive response on The Project's Instagram message board.

'I couldnt agree more Kate, thank you for saying it as it is!,' wrote one shopper, while another added: 'It's an op shop to help the poor, instead they are pocketing the money into the company.

'It's not going where it's needed for those who need it,' the viewer continued.

The Project's Instagram message board was full of support for Kate's comments

'So the saying goes the richer get richer, the poorer getting poorer,' they added.

Another angry shopper wrote: 'Agree, they are like retail stores bent on making money. Just check out what the CEO's get, then they use volunteers?

'Also most of the best stuff gets sent overseas for a quick profit.'

Some shoppers have been turned off by the high prices of op-shops

Meanwhile, some comments supported op shops as a way to battle wasteful fashion trends.

'It's not contributing to fast fashion which is good for the environment,' messaged one viewer.

'And [it] stops the over reliance on importing cheaply manufactured products from China.

An example of what one op-shop was charging last August for second-hand clothing

'There's more than a handful of op shops that are still very cheap.'

One fan messaged that many shops are only part charity run, and many are franchises, working to make a profit.

'How do we stop landfill from cheap fashion dumping and improve conditions in overseas for slave labour sweat shops,' they added.
Demi Rose flashed her sideboob and went underwear free in a sheer white dress for a number of sizzling Instagram snaps on Tuesday.

The model, 27, who boasts 19million followers, left little to the imagination in the racy number which showcasing her jaw dropping curves.

She turned heads as she played with her long brunette tresses, which cascaded past her bust in a stylish wet waved look while her gown draped behind her.

Demi applied a flawless palette of makeup as she lounged on a lavish patterned sofa while nibbling on a bunch of red grapes while in Egypt.

She wrote: 'Nourished'.

Hot: Demi Rose left little to the imagination as she flashed her side boob in a sheer white backless maxi dress in a number of sizzling Instagram snaps shared from Egypt on Tuesday

Looking good: The model, 27, flaunted her jaw dropping curves in the bold ruched outfit as she looked away from the camera while going underwear free

It comes after Demi was happy to arrive back home in Ibiza last week after her extended trip to Egypt - despite only now sharing these pictures from her trip.

The model shared a series of photos of her last shoot in the Middle East before she headed back to Ibiza, with a quick stop off in London.

She shared one last sizzling snap from her Red Sea stay, fashioning a barely-there outfit out of a piece of fabric as she posed on a balcony.

'Bliss' Demi captioned the photo as she pulled off a seductive pose and perfect pout.

Then it was time to catch a flight, with Demi landing in London where she underwent some cosmetic treatments.

Then finally the star was on her way to Ibiza, which she currently calls home.

After touching down, the social media model couldn't resist a welcome home shoot, stripping down to black lace lingerie.

Sharing selfies in the mirror, Demi flaunted her curves in a strapless bra, playfully pouting for the camera.

Jaw dropping: The beauty was seen playing with her long brunette tresses, which were styled in an eye catching wet waved look as her backless gown draped behind her

Incredible: Demi applied a flawless palette of makeup as she lounged on a sofa while enjoying a bunch of red grapes

'There's no place like home' Demi gushed as she also shared a look at the incredible landscape near her Ibiza home.

Demi, who was once romantically linked to rapper Tyga, recently opened up about her sexuality and her troubled childhood in a candid Instagram Q&A.

The model has not previously discussed her sexuality but admitted to her followers that she is open to dating women.

Asked 'Boys, girls or both?' by a follower, she responded: 'I went through a phase of liking girls more than guys. Now I'm more into guys. It just depends.'

Detailing what she's looking for in partner she went on to share that she's on the hunt for someone 'inspiring, honest, well put together, a deep soul that's open minded, kind, ambitious and thoughtful'.
Idris Elba has ruled himself out of playing James Bond so he can focus on his deal with Netflix, where he is starring in Luther: The Fallen Sun.

The actor, 50, brought up the persistent discussions about him taking over as Ian Fleming's famed British spy on Tuesday.

When asked about his upcoming film at the World Government Summit in Dubai, he said: 'It's very dark.

'We've been working on the television show for about 10 years and so the natural ambition is to take it to the big screen, and so we're here with the first movie.

'You know, a lot of people talk about another character that begins with J and ends with B, but I'm not going to be that guy.

Shame: Idris Elba has ruled himself out of playing James Bond so he can focus on his deal with Netflix, where he is starring in Luther: The Fallen Sun (pictured on Tuesday)

'I'm going to be John Luther. That's who I am.'

Luther: The Fallen Sun is scheduled to arrive in select cinemas on February 24, which is then followed by a Netflix release on March 10.

It is the follow-up to the British television series of the same name (20102019), which ended up running for five seasons.

Netflix also shared brand new images of Elba, back once again as DCI John Luther, who was last seen being sent to prison in the dramatic BBC series finale.

The action-packed teaser begins with Luther fighting with fellow prisoners before breaking out.

Once he gets free and back in the city, it appears a women needs his help to get revenge on someone after doing something evil to her son.

His character is then heard saying: 'I need to stop this man, I'm still a copper', before being told by the armed forces if he doesn't stand down they'll 'shoot him dead'.

The film's villain is then heard saying: 'John, I looked you right in the eye because I was curious and I wanted to know if you'd see it in me. Because that is who you are isn't it, the man who knows all about people like me.'

Not for me: The actor, 50, brought up the persistent discussions about him taking over as Ian Fleming's famed British spy on Tuesday (Daniel Craig is pictured in the role)

Tense scenes then show Luther with blood on his face after fighting, as he says: 'He wants the world to think the bad dream has come true.'

Viewers then see Luther fighting the villain in a London underground station before being retrained by armed officers.

It ends with a close up shot of Luther saying 'Let the nightmare come, because I'm ready'.

Back in August, it was reported Idris had walked away from 'years of talks' with movie bosses to take over the famous role.

Action packed: Luther: The Fallen Sun is scheduled to arrive in select cinemas on February 24, which is then followed by a Netflix release on March 10

He had been the bookies' favourite to replace Daniel Craig as the super spy, but is keen to pursue other roles - and has even put forward a list of proposed names to producer Barbara Broccoli of actors to play 007.

A source told The Sun: 'Fans and Barbara wanted Idris but he wants to create something for himself.

'However, he's put forward names to play 007. He's 'informally' in the decision-making process as he's been in talks with producers for so long.'

MailOnline contacted reps for Idris and James Bond producers at the time.

While at the premiere of his movie The Harder They Fall in 2021, Idris said when asked if he'll be considered as the next 007 he said: 'No, I'm not going to be James Bond.'

He also told The Express about the rumours: 'I'm probably the most famous Bond actor in the world, and I haven't even played the role.'

Idris then added: 'Enough is enough. I can't talk about it anymore.'
Jodi Gordon has revealed she has some special plans to mark one year of sobriety.

The former Neighbours star, 38, who underwent rehab last year, is rightly proud of reaching the milestone.

'I will probably have an ice bath and meditate at sunrise to be honest. It will be a very big milestone for me,' she told The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday.

Jodi Gordon (pictured) has revealed she has some special plans to mark one year of sobriety. The former Neighbours star, 38, who underwent rehab last year, is rightly proud of reaching the milestone

It hasn't all been smooth sailing, the model and actress admits, but she is taking each day as it comes.

'It has been a really big year for me; it has had its ups and downs but like anyone in the first year of recovery, it is hard,' she told the publication.

'The first year is about taking things really slowly, taking one day at a time and just looking after myself and going with the flow of life as much as I can.'

'It hasn't all been smooth sailing, the model and actress admits. 'It has been a really big year for me; it has had its ups and downs but like anyone in the first year of recovery, it is hard,' she said

Last year, Jodi told Daily Mail Australia she has developed effective strategies for maintaining her physical and mental well-being.

When asked about her newfound sobriety, she said: 'I feel really good. I take life as it comes and do everything I can to make sure I am doing the right things for my body and mind.'

The mother of one, who is living life to the fullest after completing a 30-day recovery program at a Sydney clinic in 2022, added that 'mental health is a big part of looking after myself today, as well as physical exercise'.

With her health and wellness back on track, Jodi is looking forward to some exciting new projects next year.

Last year, Jodi told Daily Mail Australia she has developed effective strategies for maintaining her physical and mental well-being

'I just got an acting agent; I haven't had one in years. I'm really excited to dip my toes into acting again,' she said.

'It was really exciting to go back and do the Neighbours finale but just acting in general, I'm really excited to see what opportunities present themselves.'

She said she was committed to 'looking after myself and enjoying what I have in life'.

Jodi was previously married to former NRL star Braith Anasta between 2012 and 2015. The former couple are parents to eight-year-old daughter Aleeia.
The famous Casa Amor test has returned to Love Island this week as islanders are faced with their biggest challenge yet.

And Lana Jenkins appears to already be exploring her options as she will lock lips with new boy Kain Reed during a steamy challenge in Tuesday evening's episode.

The blonde Make-Up Artist is currently coupled up with original boy Ron Hall, but has been getting to know Kain since moving to the villa next door on Sunday's episode.

Hailing from Newcastle, the hunky Energy Consultant showed a keen interest in Lana from the get-go, with the duo even sharing a bed together on the first night of Casa Amor.

And it appears Kain could be just her type, as fans have noticed a striking resemblance between the Geordie and her current partner Ron - dubbing him a 'literal clone'.

Love Island SPOILER: Lana will share a steamy smooch with new boy Kain Reed during Tuesday's episode as they take on a sizzling challenge in Casa Amor

Chemistry? The islanders will take on a challenge where the shortest boy is challenged to kiss the girl he fancies the most - meaning Kain has the choice, and chooses to smooch Lana

Tuesday's episode will see the islanders take on a challenge dubbed Raunchy Races, where the main villas and Casa Amor will race against each other to complete a series of sexy challenges.

The first villa to complete each challenge wins a point, the one that receives the most points will win a party.

And during the challenge, the shortest boy is challenged to kiss the girl he fancies the most - meaning Kain has the choice, and chooses to smooch Lana.

While over in the main villa, Casey is the shortest boy and opts to kiss new girl Sanam.

The challenge also saw Tanya Manhenga share a kiss with Martin Akinola, who appears to have turned her head from Shaq Muhammad.

Upon the arrival of the new boys, Lana admitted that while it would 'take a lot to turn her head', she wasn't ruling it out.

She and Kain then shared a chat during the evening, with the beauty admitted that she liked his Northern accent.

Before heading into the villa, Kain explained that he had his eye on Samie Elishi, but added: 'I also like Lana, she's obviously coupled up, but in Casa Amor the other boys aren't there so we'll have to see what happens won't we?!'

New romance? While over in the main villa, Casey is the shortest boy and opts to kiss new girl Sanam

Points mean prizes: The first Villa to complete each challenge wins a point, the one that receives the most points will win a party

Partner: Lana is currently coupled up with Ron Hall, who appeared happy to have a flirt while his partner is over at Casa Amor

Head turning? After the six new boys arrived to the show, Lana and Kain shared a chat during the evening, with the beauty admitted that she liked his Northern accent

As Kain arrived to the villa, viewers flocked to Twitter on Sunday to comment that he looked just like Ron - who has recently got back on track with Lana.

One said: 'This Kain is Ron 2.0', while someone else said: 'Kain is basically Ron's long lost brother'.

While a third added: 'This kain guy looks like Ron Lana is gonna be moving wild'.

Another tweeted: 'Kain is Rons twin!!!! And the fact that he said his best feature is his eyes'.

While a fifth echoed: 'Kain is a literal clone of Ron, I blinked and couldn't tell the difference for a second'.

And a sixth agreed, writing: 'are we sure Kain isn't just Ron sneaking into casa in disguise'.

Ron and Lana have had a turbulent time in the villa already, with the former having his head turned to multiple new girls.

The pair appeared to finally get back on track last week as they recoupled with one another and agreed that their sights were firmly set on one another.

But playboy Ron couldn't hide his excitement as Casa Amor returned on Sunday night's episode of Love Island.

The financial advisor from Essex, 25, looked elated after getting the text saying they would be joined by six new girls, saying: 'We've got our own party now!'

On the first day of Casa Amor, Ron was seen getting close with Sanam, 24, in the main villa as he told her that he 'likes flirting' while having a one-on-one chat.

He told Sanam: 'I like flirting, I'm a flirty person, I like getting to know people. It gets me into trouble.'

Doppelganger: And it appears Kain could be just her type, as fans have noticed a striking resemblance between the Geordie and her current partner Ron - dubbing him a 'literal clone'

One viewer tweeted: 'Kain is a literal clone of Ron, I blinked and couldn't tell the difference for a second'

To which Sanam replied: 'Sometimes trouble isn't always bad.'

Ron then admitted he would 'let it happen' if he met someone who he connected with better than Lana, as it seems things could get rocky for the couple.

He said: 'Everyone needs trouble in their life. If I get to know another girl that surpasses what I have, that I'm going to let it happen. We joke about it but we ain't boyfriend and girlfriend.'

Speaking in the Beach Hut, he added: 'I'm not going to completely forget about my girl, but for now, I'm just going to get to know new people.'

Earlier in the episode, Ron had told the boys that there was one girl he finds 'pretty attractive' and said 'let the games begin' just moments after the six new girls' arrival.
Charlene White has claimed Loose Women is not taken seriously because it is not hosted by men.

Speaking on The Shift Podcast, the broadcaster, 42, added that when she first joined the show, she was told by certain people that she had 'ruined her career' and credibility.

She said: '(Loose Women) is loved by millions across the country but because it is women at the helm it is not taken in as serious a light as the Today programme, for example, or Newsnight.

'I do believe that's because it is a programme driven by women. We do serious news topics but in a slightly different way that's more palatable.

'Yet we aren't held in the same regard as programmes which have men involved. You take men out of the equation and suddenly what we do isn't serious enough.'

Gender inequality? Loose Women's Charlene White has claimed the show is not taken seriously because it is not hosted by men

Not taken seriously: She said: '(Loose Women) is loved by millions across the country but because it is women at the helm it is not taken in as serious a light as [other programmes]'

She added: 'People have such snootiness around news - but we live in an era where people are consuming news from all different sectors of society.'

The broadcaster, who was the first black woman to present ITV News at 10 in 2014, also said that Loose Women is a show that has reflected changes in society with representation in terms of age, sexuality and race.

She said: 'They made a concerted effort to make sure those changes are not a one-off.

'There are other programmes which could follow in their footsteps and see it as a blueprint.'

The presenter also shared that there is 'a lot of work to do' in terms of black men and older women on television.

She said: 'In terms of spending power, older women have amongst the biggest spending power in the country and yet are consistently ignored.

'It's like there is a concerted effort to eradicate us in every way, shape or form.

'On screen, yes there have been changes but off-screen with those in power, those things haven't. Without them it's just wallpaper.

Progressive: The broadcaster, also said that Loose Women is a show that has reflected changes in society with representation in terms of race, age and sexuality

She added: 'When those change, that's when we see a real change in the things we consume.'

It comes after Charlene claimed last year that being a black woman means she's had to work twice as hard as her peers in order to succeed in the ruthless TV industry, adding that she regrets 'toning down' her natural behaviour in a bid to fit in.

The ITV newsreader admitted she felt that her race, gender and working class roots caused her to experience discrimination at the hands of her former BBC colleagues.

Following a positive experience within Radio 1Xtra's vibrant newsroom, she insisted her co-workers at the broadcaster's regional division soon looked at her 'like she was strange' and advised her to 'tone down' her accent.

During an interview with The Sun in celebration of International Women's Day, she revealed how she worked seven day weeks, triple or quadruple shifts before finding success as the first black woman to present ITV's News at Ten.

The journalist, whose heritage originates from the West Indies, said her parents Dorrett Lonie and Denis arrived in the UK, a 'country that didn't treat them very well', and soon had to work six jobs.

The fruits of their labour allowed her the privilege of attending the private Blackheath High School, where fees today are 22,852 per year.

Charlene said she would be 'doing them a disservice' if she didn't 'shout about their accomplishments', which allowed her to follow her aspirations.

'People looked at me like I was strange': Charlene White last year claimed she's had to work 'twice as hard' to succeed as a black woman in TV

Admitting she doesn't consider herself to speak the Queen's English, the Lewisham native said she realised she 'didn't necessarily talk the way other journalists spoke' and 'fought really hard to not change that'.

After a six year tenure at the company's flagship radio station, she said: 'When I moved into regional TV in Norwich I recorded my voice and a reporter said to me, "You'll have to redo that because that's not how we talk at the BBC."

'That's when the shock hit me, because suddenly people were looking at me like I was strange, like I wasn't intelligent and I couldn't do my job.

'But other people made me feel like I was in the wrong for being who I was and I really regret listening and behaving how they wanted me behind you.'

A BBC spokesperson told MailOnline at the time: 'Were sorry to hear of any negative experiences. The BBC of today is working hard to represent the whole of the UK, both on and off screen. Its essential people can be themselves at work, whatever their background.'

Charlene also previously revealed that she's had to endure negative comments about her 'natural hair' on social media while hosting ITV News.

The Loose Women panellist, who had stepped in at short notice to read the late evening bulletins for a week, revealed to her 50,000 followers on Twitter that she'd been subjected to disparaging remarks about how her hair looked.

She wrote: 'Thanks guys for all the lovely comments about my unexpected few days on News At Ten this week! Loved working with the team.

'And to those whove expressed utter nonsense about my natural hair, listen very carefully: Other. Channels. Are. Available.'

Throwback: After a six year tenure at the company's flagship radio station (pictured with Jay Z), she said: 'When I moved into regional TV in Norwich I recorded my voice and a reporter said to me, "You'll have to redo that because that's not how we talk at the BBC"'
Danielle Fogarty revealed she is 'very nervous' to welcome her second child with husband Ross Worswick in an Instagram Q&A on Tuesday.

The daughter of Carl Fogarty waited until her 20 week scan to announce the happy news but had already told her Love Island sister Claudia before she entered the villa.

The former Ex On The Beach star, 31, also let slip when her due date is as she revealed 'it could be exactly two years' between the newborn and Mason.

She penned: 'My due date is around Mason's birthday!', who was born on July 9th 2021.

'OK so I'm not going to lie I'm very nervous and I know it's going to be really hard at times but I love how close in age they will be!!,' she added.

'I'm very nervous': Danielle Fogarty revealed she is 'very nervous' to welcome her second child with husband Ross Worswick in an Instagram Q&A on Tuesday

Exciting: The daughter of Carl Fogarty waited until her 20 week scan to announce the happy news but had already told her Love Island sister Claudia before she entered the villa

'Around Mason's birthday': The former Ex On The Beach star, 31, also let slip when her due date is as she revealed 'it could be exactly two years' between the newborn and Mason

The blonde beauty said her previous pregnancy with her son 'felt like a lifetime' because she told people so early.

She wrote: 'I'm feeling really well just tired but that's a given with looking after Mason and being pregnant. My iron is low again which I had with Mason so that's not helping either.

'I just felt last time telling people so early it felt like a lifetime of being pregnant and that's all anyone wants to ask you about which isn't a bad thing.

'I just felt I was pregnant for about 2 years. Also I wanted to make sure everything was OK after my 20 week scan.'

Fans were also desperate to know whether her sister Claudia, 28, knew the exciting news about her pregnancy before jetting off to South Africa.

Danielle revealed: 'So many people asking this. She is my best friend and sister I told her when I was about 6 weeks!!!

'She also knew I didn't want to announce it til after my 20 week scan.'

Her followers also asked what she thought of her younger sibling's new beau Casey in the Love Island villa as the singletons headed to Casa Amour.

'I just felt I was pregnant for about 2 years': The blonde beauty said her previous pregnancy with her son 'felt like a lifetime' because she told people so early

'She is my best friend and sister I told her when I was about 6 weeks': Fans were also desperate to know whether her sister Claudia, 28, knew the exciting news about her pregnancy

'I like him': Her followers also asked what she thought of her younger siblings new beau Casey in the Love Island villa as the singletons headed to Casa Amour

'I won't lie it took a while to sink in': The star also admitted that the pregnancy was a 'total shock' after the couple 'weren't careful one time' which led to her falling pregnant again

'I think she'll stay with Casey it's very early days but they seem cute together and I like him so we shall see!!,' Danielle added.

The former reality star admitted that the pregnancy was a 'total shock' after the couple 'weren't careful one time' which led to her falling pregnant again.

She continued: 'This was a total shock if I am completely honest! Without going into too much detail we weren't careful one time and well the rest is history haha.

'But I did of course want another baby and would of started to try but I was very fortunate and lucky it happened so quickly for us.

'I'm so over the moon now but I won't lie it took a while to sink in, but I'm so excited now.'

Another fan asked the TV personality if she will be revealing the gender which she detailed that she 'is still really unsure and can't decide'.

Danielle recently shared a sweet black and white montage of her pregnancy so far, including the moment they found out the gender which is unknown to fans.

Elsewhere in the Q&A, Danielle admitted she was 'not' pregnant at her wedding in 2022 but 'found out a month later'.

Showing her organisation, the reality star has also already booked her baby moon for April.

She wrote: 'We've booked our baby moon, we're going back to Dubai in April we haven't been since we got engaged!!'

Congrats: Another fan asked the TV personality if she will be revealing the gender which she detailed that she 'is still really unsure and can't decide'

Opening up: Elsewhere in the Q&A, Danielle admitted she was 'not' pregnant at her wedding but 'found out a month later'
Euphoria star Barbie Ferreira looked pretty in pink this weekend at the 2023 Vogue Ball in Rio de Janeiro.

The 26-year-old star from Queens, New York - who was seen in a yellow dress while in Rio last week - glowed as she was seen at the famed Copacabana Palace in Rio.

That is where the Brazilian-rooted sandals brand Havaianas held their celebration.

This event focused on the new Havaianas x Barbie Ferreira global project launching soon.

In images taken by Daniel Janssens, Barbie looked her very best as she modeled a semi sheer dress with lace up gladiator style shoes.

Ferreira shared some snaps to Instagram, captioning the series of photos 'in the motherland with @havaianas x @voguebrasil.'

Standing out: Euphoria star Barbie Ferreira looked pretty in pink this weekend at the 2023 Vogue Ball in Rio de Janeiro

The look: This event focused on the new Havaianas x Barbie Ferreira global project launching soon. In images taken by Daniel Janssens, Barbie looked her very best as she modeled a semi sheer dress

Barbie has worked as a model, but she is best known for her role as Kat Hernandez in the HBO series Euphoria.

Fashion designer Atelier Michelly X used Havaianas slim square Flip Flops to develop an iconic heeled sandal bespoke to Barbie.

'In a rhythm of party, Carnival and celebration, Havaianas brought actress Barbie Ferreira, global gen-z icon, to the Vogue Ball this past Friday at the Copacabana Palace,' the press release noted.

The release added, 'Barbie is the voice that represents the styles and aspirations of an entire generation that wishes to globally connect throughout the common values of freedom, dialogue and diversity.

'Through that energy, Barbie was invited by Havaianas to travel to Brazil to join the 2023 Vogue Ball and experience moments of freedom with her own style, including outfit creation from head to toe.'

Feels like home: Ferreira shared some snaps to Instagram, captioning the series of photos 'in the motherland with @havaianas x @voguebrasil'

Barbie time: 'In a rhythm of party, Carnival and celebration, Havaianas brought actress Barbie Ferreira, global gen-z icon, to the Vogue Ball this past Friday at the Copacabana Palace,' the press release noted

With a pal: The release added, 'Barbie is the voice that represents the styles and aspirations of an entire generation that wishes to globally connect throughout the common values of freedom, dialogue and diversity'

'In a context of so much pressure and uncertainty, we seek to bring to the world an inviting message, in which it is possible to allow experimentation without much judgment. We want Havaianas to be a symbol of creativity and delicacy, from the fashion that offers freedom of choice,' said Maria Fernanda Albuquerque, Havaianas CMO.

'In this context, Barbie is an expression of this invitation that the brand makes in the broadest form in its communication.'

Havaianas brand is part of Alpargatas portfolio, one of the most traditional companies in Brazil, with over 110 years of existence.

The brand was officially created in 1962, being a pioneer in the segment of flip-flops in Brazil.

Due to its quality and affordable price, Havaianas became a big hit in Brazil.

Havaianas has more than 730 single-brand stores across the five continents - both franchise and own. Havaianas is present in over 120 countries and Brazil alone has more than 250 thousand points of sale.

A carnival mood: Here the actress is seen with a woman in a blue leotard and pumps
Maya Jama has put on a racy display wearing black underwear for her brand new fashion campaign with Self Portrait.

The Love Island host, 28, showcased her natural beauty in the snaps released on Tuesday, wearing next-to-nothing in one picture where she slipped into a black bra and knickers with a black leather trench coat on top.

Wearing little makeup for the occasion, Maya's lengthy brunette tresses were worn in a waved style and cascaded over her shoulders.

Maya looked gorgeous in the photographs where she posed up a storm for her latest brand deal.

Another picture showed the presenter wearing a bardot-style top which hugged her curvaceous figure and svelte waist.

Style: Love Island host Maya Jama, 28, has put on a racy display wearing black underwear for her brand new fashion campaign with Self Portrait, wearing next-to-nothing in one picture where she slipped into a black bra and knickers with a black leather trench coat on top

Wow: Another picture showed the presenter wearing a bardot-style top which hugged her curvaceous figure and svelte waist

She wore a natural palette of makeup, with her hair thrown into an up-do and accessorised with a pair of gold chunky hoop earrings.

Maya gave her best sultry stare in another snap, where she wore a lacy see-through bodycon dress which hugged every inch of her frame.

Her hair was styled in a straighter style, and she went makeup-free to show off her natural beauty.

The final shot from the latest campaign was a black and white picture, where she wore a cropped black crochet cardigan with metallic detailing on the buttons.

Her slender frame was on show in the snap ad she wore a pair of denim jeans and a black leather belt which synched in her waist.

Her slicked-back hair-do showed off her photogenic features and the shots really showed her beauty in a toned-down light in comparison to the glamorous looks displayed on Love Island.

Stunning: Maya gave her best sultry stare in another snap, where she wore a lacy see-through bodycon dress which hugged every inch of her frame. Her hair was styled in a straighter style, and she went makeup-free to show off her natural beauty

Svelte: The final shot from the latest campaign was a black and white picture, where she wore a cropped black crochet cardigan with metallic detailing on the buttons

It comes after Maya dressed to impress in a glamorous silver gown on Saturday evening as she hosted a lavish boat party following the BRIT Awards.

The Love Island presenter hosted the bash on the River Thames with Coca-Cola, launching their newest Creations product, a limited-edition drink called Movement

She looked incredible in the dazzling off the shoulder number which boasted a bold thigh high split.

Turning up the heat, the beauty added inches to her frame in a pair of towering strappy coordinated heels and accessorised with small hoop earrings.

Maya pulled her long dark tresses back in a chic updo and applied a flawless palette of makeup including to accentuate her beauty.

After bash: It comes after Maya dressed to impress in a glamorous silver gown on Saturday evening as she hosted a lavish boat party following the BRIT Awards

The beauty flashed her gorgeous smile as she made her way up the Savoy Pier following the star-studded evening.

Taking to the water, the night to remember was attended by guests including Jesse Lingard, AJ Odudu, Snoochie Shy, Chunks, Poet, Tiffany Calver, Craig Mitch and Mira May.

Coca-Cola Creations is the brands innovation platform delivering new product expressions driven by collaboration, creativity, and cultural connections.

The new product was developed in collaboration with Grammy-award winning artist, Rosalia.

Host: The Love Island presenter hosted the bash on the Thames with Coca-Cola, launching their newest Creations product, a limited-edition drink called Movement

Phenomenal: The Love Island presenter looked incredible in the dazzling off the shoulder number which boasted a bold thigh high split

Danny Hall, Senior Brand Manager at Coca-Cola said, 'Movement is the fourth Coca-Cola Creations limited edition that weve dropped in GB, and we wanted to do something special to mark its release.

'Partnering with Maya Jamas Cling Cling Presents to develop a moving party filled with music and creativity was the perfect way to launch the product and celebrate the transformational power of music.'

Earlier in the evening Maya flaunted her figure at the BRIT Awards on the red carpet at the O2 Arena in London.

The TV host looked sensational and slipped into a figure-hugging strapless black dress for her red carpet arrival.

Her quirky frock boasted a bejewelled gold skeleton design that highlighted her ample cleavage and gorgeous curves.

Glowing: Maya pulled her long dark tresses back in a chic updo and applied a flawless palette of makeup including to accentuate her beauty

Maya strutted her stuff in a pair of gold heels and completed the look with a pair of statement making earrings.

She oozed confidence as she posed for the cameras before heading inside to the star-studded ceremony.

Also at the event the former Love Island host Laura Whitmore and the show's new presenter Maya appeared to ignore each other while at the same table at the BRIT Awards.

The awkward moment happened as stars from the music world gathered for the annual event.

Pictures and video show the two women stood directly next to each other at the ITV table - but they only seem to be interested in speaking to othe

Strike a pose: Maya posed in front of Coca Cola branded billboards while taking to the water
China has over 64,500 open online courses: report

Xinhua) 08:41, February 14, 2023

Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan addresses the opening of the World Digital Education Conference in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 13, 2023. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)

BEIJING, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- The number of massive open online courses (MOOC) available in China has exceeded 64,500, according to a report on China's smart education on Monday.

These courses have received more than 1 billion visits so far, according to the report released at the World Digital Education Conference, which opened in Beijing on Monday.

China ranks first globally in both number of MOOCs and number of open online course attendees, statistics show.

The conference also made public a blue paper on China's smart education in 2022, which summarizes China's experience in smart education development and puts forward five proposals for the world.

Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan attended the conference and delivered a speech. She said that China is willing to deepen international cooperation on digital education and strengthen the alignment of education policies and standards so that the fruits of digital education can benefit more people in all countries.

Based on the theme of digital transformation and the future of education, the event is being attended by representatives from more than 130 countries and regions.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Julia Fox pulled off her most daring look to date as she stepped out in a cheeky all-leather look in NYC on Monday - after revealing she previously had liposuction.

The actress, 32, flashed her underboob and taut midriff in a hooded leather crop-top, paired with a racy matching skirt which revealed her posterior courtesy of two eye-popping cut-outs.

The skirt also boasted a bizarre black ponytail detail. with locks flowing down into a quirky train.

The star wore her own tresses in soft waves and sported feline flicks of liner, icy highlighter and pearl gloss for the evening out.

She completed her look with a matching hair-adorned leather handbag in the shape of a horse and black stiletto ankle boots.

Wow: Julia Fox pulled off her most daring look to date as she stepped out in a cheeky all-leather look in NYC on Monday - after revealing she previously had liposuction

The daring outing comes after Julia revealed she has had liposuction and Botox in the past in a candid new interview.

The actress said she was 'saggy' and her body had changed, but that she was not going to do a 'damn thing about it' as she spoke to Elle.

Revealing she would consider the cosmetic procedures again, she said: 'Im, like, saggy, like, things are not sitting the way they used to.

'But its like, I am not gonna do a damn thing about it.

The star said she is now giving tutorials on how to bleach eyebrows, which she says is 'man repellent' and 'triggering' to her ex-husband Peter Artemiev.

The fashion maven has previously spoken about how 'aging is fully in' in a TikTok posted last year.

She said:' Dirty girl, ugly, not wearing clothes that fit your body type  all those things are in.'

'If I see another product that says anti-aging on the label, Im suing. Im going to sue.

Interesting: The skirt also boasted a bizarre black ponytail detail. with locks flowing down into a quirky train

Raunchy: The star risked a wardrobe malfunction in the bizarre ensemble

'Im going to age regardless of if I put that f*****g $500 serum on my face and you all f*****g know it and we know it, so lets stop lying to ourselves.

She also said getting older is 'probably the sexiest time in life actually, because being pretty and hot in your twenties is the f*****g trenches.'

Elsewhere in the chat, Julia, who recently showed off her modest NYC apartment, got real on numerous topics including her past life as a dominatrix, her upcoming memoir, and stalking a drug dealer whom she believed was responsible for the death of her friend.

Fox, who said she initially thought the drug dealer had supplied her friend with the fatal dose which ultimately killed her, said she believed he deserved to die. She stalked the neighborhood he lived in, carrying her dead friend's gun.

Once she located him, she said she 'would literally, like, sit across the street in my car, put the seat all the way down, and watch him through the little side mirror for hours, like coming and going.'

Julia has since learned her friend had likely passed due to a multiple factors in her body and not down to a fatal pill. 'I'm glad I didn't kill him,' she told the publication.

Julia also spilled the tea on her brief job as a dominatrix, which she believes served as preparation for her acting career.

Julia, who clarified she partook in consensual BDSM and not sex, said of her former job: 'It's like one never-ending improv class.'

Her acting skills were ultimately put to use in the 2019 film Uncut Gems, where she received praise playing Adam Sandler's girlfriend. She also was cast in a television series but was quickly fired after arriving to work late.

Icon: The star recently said she is now giving tutorials on how to bleach eyebrows, which she says is 'man repellent' and 'triggering' to her ex-husband Peter Artemiev

'Literally, it was like under 10 minutes,' she insisted.

She also briefly addressed Kanye West's anti-Semitic controversy: 'I just feel so bad for everyone involved, to be honest. I feel bad for his family, his children. I feel bad for the Jewish people. Some of my Jewish friends are shook right now, and that f**king breaks my heart. I really, truly, wouldve never seen him taking this direction.'

Now Julia, who briefly dated Kanye in 2022, will be detailing her life as part of an upcoming memoir.

The tell-all, which Julia has already written more than 200 pages of, will shed light on her life in chronological order but will not focus on her relationships.
Netflix has released a teaser trailer for Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story following the romance between Charlotte and King George.

The prequel spin-off series of Bridgerton will chart Charlotte's rise to power and pivotal marriage to the king.

The streaming service has announced that the series will make its debut on May 4, and will be 'centered on Queen Charlotte's rise to prominence and power'.

This Bridgerton-verse prequel tells the story of how the young Queens marriage to King George sparked both a great love story and a societal shift, creating the world of the Ton inherited by the characters in Bridgerton, the description continues.

Queen Charlotte will be played by India Amarteifio, with Golda Rosheuvel continuing to play the adult queen.

First look: Netflix has released a teaser trailer for Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story following the romance between Charlotte and King George

Plot: The prequel spin-off series of Bridgerton will chart Charlotte's rise to power and pivotal marriage to the king

Release date: The streaming service has announced that the series will make its debut on May 4, and will be 'centered on Queen Charlotte's rise to prominence and power'

First meetings: The trailer shows how Charlotte met and fell in love with King George III played by Corey Mylchreest

The trailer shows how Charlotte met and fell in love with King George III played by Corey Mylchreest.

George's mother tells him: 'Your marriage is the business of this country! This cannot go wrong! as George and Charlotte dance together at a ball.

Then a clip of the couple getting hot and steamy plays, before scenes of a young Lady Danbury - originally played by Adjoa Andoh - and Violet Bridgerton played by Ruth Gemmell.

Netflix invites fans to 'fall in love with the story that started it all' as Queen Charlotte is crowned.

The teaser ends with Charlotte defiantly declaring: This is my home. I am the queen.

Michelle Fairley also joins the cast as Princess Augusta, with Arsema Thomas playing the young Agatha Danbury.

It comes after the next series of Bridgerton has been plunged into chaos after bosses thought that some of the storylines had gone 'too dark'.

Sources working on the production of the Netflix bonkbuster say that some of the scripts have had to be rewritten as Shonda Rhimes, the programme's producer, wants to give viewers more joy.

Harsh: George's mother tells him: 'Your marriage is the business of this country! This cannot go wrong! as George and Charlotte dance together at a ball

Returning favourites: Lady Danbury played by Adjoa Andoh and Violet Bridgerton played by Ruth Gemmell will make an appearance

Racy: Then a clip of the couple getting hot and steamy plays

It is understood that there were concerns over a sex plotline.

It was reported last year that Ms Rhimes has been joined by another executive producer, Jess Brownell.

One source told The Mail on Sunday: 'Filming has been delayed due to the screenwriter not being happy with the direction of it.

'We have been told that it needs the fun back so there are changes, which of course means delays. One thing is for sure though, the production team want to get it right for Bridgerton fans so they enjoy it as much as they have in the past.

'There are some elements that Shonda is just not happy with so wants to change them. Some of it got very dark.'

It was announced in 2021 that there would be a third and fourth series of Bridgerton following the success of the first two. The show is based on the series of romantic novels by American author Julia Quinn.

Last year actress Simone Ashley, who portrays Kate Sharma, told how she was 'very happy when reading the scripts. When I receive them, I've got a beaming smile on my face'.

Declaration: The teaser ends with Charlotte defiantly declaring: This is my home. I am the queen

Cast: Michelle Fairley also joins the cast as Princess Augusta, with Arsema Thomas playing the young Agatha Danbury (pictured)

She also said that the third series is about to get 'super steamy' and added that it would be 'condensation central'.

The new series will be based on the fourth book in the series, called Romancing Mister Bridgerton, and will follow the budding romance between Penelope  played by Nicola Coughlan  and Colin Bridgerton.

The pair will embark on a journey that will see them go from friends to lovers.

Jonathan Bailey will also reprise his role as Anthony, Claudia Jessie is back as Eloise, Luke Thompson as Benedict and Ruth Gemmell as Lady Violet Bridgerton.
Sharon Stone shared an adorable snap of her godson Cosmo just one day after confirming the death of her younger brother Patrick Joseph Stone.

The actress, 64, posted a snap of the child, sitting beside a massive teddy bear and clad in striped pajamas.

'Cosmo continues to grow in and out of Jammies,' she captioned the post.

Fans gushed over the sight of the cherubic child in the comments, calling him 'precious' and 'sweet.'

The heart-warming post comes as Sharon continues to mourn the loss of her brother, who passed at age 57.

Aww: Sharon Stone shared an adorable snap of her godson Cosmo just one day after confirming the death of her younger brother Patrick Joseph Stone

Sharon confirmed the death of her brother in a tearful clip she posted to social Monday to thank people for the outpouring of support.

'Hello everybody, this message is to confirm that, yes, we did lose my brother, Patrick Joseph Stone, to a heart attack yesterday,' the Basic Instinct actress said in a clip on Instagram Monday.

Stone referenced a previous family tragedy - her baby nephew River's tragic death at 11-months-old in 2021 from organ failure - in her confirmation of her sibling's death.

'Yes, he is the man who was the father to River who we lost last year at 11-months-old,' she said. 'He is survived by his wife Tasha and his son Hunter and his daughter Cailee.'

The Oscar-nominated Casino actress made clear her gratitude for the kindness she has received in the wake of the sad news.

'Like any family, we thank you for your love and support in this time of immeasurable grief and we appreciate all of your condolences,' Stone said. 'Yes we've had a tremendous amount of loss in these last couple of years, as so many of you also have.'

The Sliver actress wrapped up the clip in saying, 'I thank you very much for the love and support that you're showing us and we just ask you to continue to be kind. Thank you.'

She captioned the clip, 'Godspeed Patrick Joseph Stone' and added a broken heart emoji, and in another post with images, wrote, 'RIP my brother Patrick Joseph Stone.'

The latest: Stone, 64, confirmed the death of her brother Patrick Joseph Stone at the age of 57 in a teary clip she posted to social Monday

Grief: Stone said, 'Hello everybody, this message is to confirm that, yes, we did lose my brother, Patrick Joseph Stone, to a heart attack yesterday'

Stone received a number of sympathetic responses in the thread adjacent to the clip, including actor Jeremy Renner, who himself remains recovering from a New Year's Day accident in which he broke more than 30 bones.

Renner posted four heart emojis with the caption, 'Bless you,' while actress Jaimie Alexander said, 'Im so sorry for your loss, Sharon. Sending you so much love.'

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills personality Lisa Rinna said, 'My deepest condolences Sharon sending you so much love,' while actress Kate Beckinsale said, 'Lots of love xx.'

TMZ earlier posted news of Patrick's death in Pennsylvania at the age of 57 as result of a heart attack brought on by heart disease.

The iconic Hollywood actress was last seen on Saturday as she smiled while leaving the Beverly Hills restaurant E Baldi with a female friend.

DailyMail.com has reached out to a spokesperson for Stone, whose family is from Meadville, Pennsylvania.

Patrick's wife Tasha took to social media to share the heartbreaking news of her husband's shocking death.

She shared, 'My heart feels like it's been ripped out of my chest. Patrick went to be with our sweet River... I don't know what else to say, he was my world.'

Mourning: In another post with images, Sharon wrote, 'RIP my brother Patrick Joseph Stone'

RIP: Patrick's death in Pennsylvania at the age of 57 was the result of a heart attack brought on by heart disease

Persevering: The Sliver actress wrapped up the clip in saying, 'I thank you very much for the love and support that you're showing us and we just ask you to continue to be kind. Thank you'

Feedback: Stone received a number of sympathetic responses in the thread adjacent to the clip

Memories: Sharon posted a collage of pics of her late sibling following his passing Sunday

The screen star shared a broken hearted emoji over a shot of her late sibling working

She continued, 'I'm not sure what life is supposed to look like without my husband by my side and quite honestly I don't want to, but I will of course.

'I just hope that you always stay by my side watching over Hunter, Kaylee and I.'

Tasha continued, 'Until we meet again I will forever hold you and our wonderful (and some not so wonderful but just as important) memories close to my heart and will visit those memories always. I love you honey babe.

'My wish through all of this is that now at least River has his daddy with him and I hope the two of you are having the best time.'

Sharon also has a sister named Kelly Stone and a brother named Michael Stone who has worked was an actor and starred in The Quick and the Dead (1995), Eraser (1996) and Renaissance Man (2021).

In her book The Beauty of Living Twice, she said she was close to Patrick and in more recent years has gotten along better with Michael.

The last time Sharon posed with media shy Patrick for an Instagram photo was in September 2018 when they went on a trip with their children to Alaska.

In August 2021, Sharon shared that River died.

Sad loss: Sharon Stone's younger brother Patrick died on Sunday in Pennsylvania at the age of 57. The 64-year-old Basic Instinct star's sibling passed away from a heart attack brought on by heart disease, according to a Monday report from TMZ; Seen with sister Kelly Stone

The family: Patrick seen on the far right with (from left), sister Kelly Stone, dad Joseph Stone, sister Sharon Stone and mom Dorothy Stone

A more recent look: Here Patrick is seen wit his wife Tasha in an image from his sister Kelly Stone's Instagram page

A strong bond: Sharon is seen here with brother Patrick in September 2018 during a trip to Alaska. Sharon was with her three sons and Patrick was with wife Tasha and their two children (in blue jacket and in green top)

The baby passed away just days after he was found in his crib suffering 'severe organ failure' that left him in a coma.

The actress posted a video of the baby boy along with the caption: 'River William Stone. Sept. 8, 2020 - Aug. 30, 2021.'

River was the youngest child of Stone's younger brother Patrick and his wife, Tasha, who live in Ohio with their three children.

Sharon, whose video tribute was set to Eric Clapton's Tears In Heaven, did not share any other information about what exactly happened to River at the time.

She said that the youngster was suffering from 'total organ failure' and would need a 'miracle' to survive.

'My nephew and godson River Stone was found in his crib w[sic] total organ failure today,' she shared.

Stone then added, 'Please pray for him.

'We need a miracle,' she wrote at the time.

The good ole days: Sharon seen here in red slacks as she dances with Patrick whose outfit matched hers in 1965

Family: Here Sharon is seen with her brother Michael Stone, far right, and her mom as well as sister Kelly and Sharon's three sons

The actress was posting an image of River lying in a hospital bed while hooked up to numerous medical devices.

River's mother Tasha also wrote an impassioned plea for prayers on her Facebook page.

She revealed that her son had been airlifted to UPMC Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh, where he was fighting for his life in a coma.

He soon after died.

'This is the HARDEST thing I have ever had to post but I am BEGGING everyone and anyone who prays please pray HARD for River,' the devastated mother wrote. 'Every single second of this is literally killing me. I just want my sweet sweet boy back.'

There are a number of severe medical conditions that can lead to multiple organ failure in children, however the leading cause is sepsis, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

Sepsis - which can be sparked by another infection in the body - is particularly dangerous for children, because the symptoms are more easily missed than they are in adult patients.

Birth defects and other undiagnosed illness can also lead to pediatric organ failure however, and it is not yet known whether any of these conditions caused River's severe illness.

Heartbreaking: This comes almost two years after Patrick's son River died at the age of 11 months from organ failure. The mother was his wife Tasha

Tragedy: Stone revealed in 2021 that River has died just days after he was found in his crib with 'total organ failure'

Stone was traveling in Italy when she revealed the news of her nephew's devastating medical condition - having journeyed to Venice in order to take part in a photoshoot for Dolce & Gabbana.

River's passing comes amid a difficult time for the extended Stone family, which has seen several members dealing with serious health problems in recent months - including cases of COVID-19.

In 2020, a grief-stricken Stone revealed that her 'adopted grandmother' Eileen Mitzman and her godmother had died from complications associated with the virus.

The actress's sister, Kelly, who has lupus, and her husband, Bruce, had also contracted the disease and were left 'fighting for their lives' before eventually recovering.

While speaking about her sister's battle with the illness in an Instagram video shared in August 2020, Stone also shared that her mother, Dorothy, had suffered 'two heart attacks' in the five months leading up to her post.

Stone, who in 2020 revealed that her grandmother had passed away from complications relating to COVID-19, was traveling in Italy when River was hospitalized

River's mother Tasha revealed on Facebook that her son, who was born in September 2020, had died

Stone said her mother had to have 'five stents', which help to open the arteries and prevent blockages in the heart - and a pacemaker as a result.

It also appears as though River's mother Tasha has been struggling with health issues in 2021; comments left on her Facebook page in January 2021 suggested that she had to receive medical treatment that required her to spend time away from her family.

At the time, the mother-of-three revealed that she had returned home - but that she had an IV port in her arm, and would be undergoing continued treatment with the help of a home help nurse for several weeks.

'I was able to come home with a power glide IV port in my arm so I can continue to receive treatments from a home health nurse at home for the next couple of weeks,' she wrote.

'After that I will be switched to a pill form of the antibiotic. I am just thankful to be back with my family.'
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Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly looked visibly upset as they left a marriage counseling office in California on Monday - amid mounting split speculation and cheating rumors.

The actress, 36, who first sparked the breakup speculation on Saturday when she deleted all her social media photos with the rapper, 32, shared a cryptic post, then deleted her Instagram - looked tense as she stepped out of the building with her on-off fiance.

Megan appeared emotional as she wiped her eyes with her hand while leaving the building while a pensive MGK followed closely behind.

The pair were seen talking to one another as they walked into the car park, before leaving in separate cars. They are believed to have spent two and a half hours inside the building.

The pair are said to be on thin ice after getting into an argument this weekend which led to the star removing her engagement ring, according to a new report.

What's going on? Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly looked visibly upset as they left a marriage counseling office in California on Monday - amid mounting split speculation and cheating rumors

Working on it: The actress, 36, who first sparked the breakup speculation on Saturday when she deleted all her social media photos with the rapper, 32, looked tense as she stepped out of the building with her on-off fiance

Fox got 'into a fight over the weekend' with Machine Gun Kelly and is now 'very upset' with him, a source told People.

Megan is also reportedly no longer speaking with the rocker and has taken off her engagement ring. However, the couple have not 'officially' ended their engagement.

'They haven't officially called off the engagement but Megan took her ring off,' the source said. 'They have had issues in the past, but things seem pretty serious this time.' The report did not indicate what they were arguing about.

Megan hinted she had split from her fiance Machine Gun Kelly and shared a cryptic Instagram post on Saturday night before completely deleting her account on the platform on Sunday.

The actress, who has been in a relationship with the rapper since June 2020, posted a video in which she appeared to burn a letter in a bonfire, along with a bag.

She also uploaded a very raunchy string of mirror selfies while joined by a male pal, in which she put on a busty display in a plunging black top and cut-out trousers.

Megan wrote in her caption, 'You can taste the dishonesty/ its all over your breath,' which are lyrics from Beyonce's 2016 track, Pray You Catch Me, about her husband Jay Z's own affair.

One fan posted in Megan's final post: 'He probably got with Sophie', suggesting Kelly had cheated on her. Fans speculated 'Sophie' was Sophie Lloyd, a guitarist for the rocker.

Tense: The pair looked somber as they left the building after spending two and a half hours inside

Chat: MGK wore a black tracksuit while Megan wore a blue top and joggers for the appointment

Emotional: The pair looked visibly upset as they left the building in California

Interesting: The pair were seen leaving MGK's home together on Valentine's Day

Trouble in paradise: The pair are said to be on thin ice after getting into an argument this weekend which led to the star removing her engagement ring, according to a new report; pictured earlier this month

Bling bling: Megan is also no longer speaking with the rocker and has taken off her engagement ring. However, the couple have not 'officially' ended their engagement

Firing back: One fan posted in Megan's final post: 'He probably got with Sophie', suggesting Kelly had cheated on her. Fans speculated 'Sophie' was Sophie Lloyd, a guitarist for MGK

Uh-oh: Fox hinted she split from her fiance Machine Gun Kelly as she deleted all trace of him from her Instagram grid and shared a cryptic caption on Saturday night

What's in it? Megan posted a video in which she appeared to burn a letter in a bonfire, along with a bag

Eek! Megan wrote in her caption, 'You can taste the dishonesty/ its all over your breath,' which are lyrics from Beyonce's 2016 track, Pray You Catch Me, about her husband Jay Z's own affair

Gone forever? Megan completely deleted her Instagram page on Sunday after her cryptic post on Saturday

Fox jokingly hit back: 'Maybe I got with Sophie', along with a fire emoji.

She then removed all traces of Machine Gun Kelly from her Instagram grid, having unfollowed him before deleting her account altogether.

The pair were last pictured together just hours before her shock post at Drake's Super Bowl party in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Her followers flocked to the comments section to air their speculation, while noticing that she started following Eminem, one of only three people.

The Transformers star worked with The Real Slim Shady hitmaker back in 2010 when she starred in the music video for his single, Love The Way You Lie.

One devotee wrote: 'If SHE got cheated on the rest of us really have no hope,' while another added, 'Deleted all photos of mgk and started following Eminem.'

More chimed in with, 'OH MY GOD SHE TOOK DOWN ALL HER POSTS W MGK,' and, 'Are her and mgk still together im so confused?'

A fifth wrote: 'LYRICS OFF THE LEMONADE ALBUM AFTER SHE FOUND OUT ABOUT JAYZ CHEATING I AM SCREAMING OMFG.'

Two more concluded, 'Anyone else see shes now following Eminem?!' and, 'She's following only 3 ppl now and eminem is one!!'

MailOnline has contacted Megan and MGK's representatives for comment.

Just four days ago, Megan shared a gushing tribute to her beau the day after the Grammys, where he had been nominated for Best Rock Album award for his record Mainstream Sellout.

MGK ultimately lost out to Ozzy Osbourne, but Megan praised her partner's 'humility and maturity' in her lengthy tribute post.

She enthused that watching her MGK 'become a better man is an immeasurably more satisfying experience than watching you accept an award.'

She also praised his 'beautiful face,' and promised to remind him of the night forever.

'Congratulations on being in the very small percentage of artists who have received a Grammy nomination,' Megan gushed.

'You have handled this process with a grace and maturity that I havent seen from you before and Im so proud of you.'

'Watching you walk in humility and gratitude, watching you grow into yourself and become a better man is an immeasurably more satisfying experience than watching you accept an award.'

'Although those will come and this is irrelevant I guess but I will just never ever get over how beautiful your face is'

Surprise: Her followers flocked to the comments section to air their speculation, while noticing that she started following Eminem, one of only three people

'I hope one day youll see yourself the way I see you. I love you and Ill keep this memory of you forever.'

In November when the nominees were announced, the rapper reacted to his own nomination, and penned on Instagram, 'Call me what you want as long as it starts with 'grammy nominated.'

The day before the Grammys, the Good Mourning actor reflected on his career and the upcoming ceremony on his Instagram story.

'Just wanna say no matter what happens tomorrow, i am grateful to even have a tomorrow. see you at the Grammy's..'
She is currently dating comedian Eric Andre after splitting from husband Sebastian Bear McClard last year.

And Emily Ratajkowski enjoyed some quality time with her son Sylvester as she stepped out on Valentine's Day.

The youngster, who celebrates his second birthday next month, was adorably decked out in heart print.

The tot beamed with happiness as he held hands with his mother, 31, and her friend during a leisurely stroll.

The outing comes after Emily and her fling Eric Andre took it off in a spicy Valentine's Day post.

Be mine! Emily Ratajkowski took a stroll with her son Sylvester in New York City on Valentine's Day

For her relaxed stroll, the bestselling author rocked a leather jacket, oversize trousers, and a messy yet chic bun.

She shielded her eyes with trendy sunnies and dressed up the look with teardrop earrings.

Her youngster was bundled up in a bright orange jacket over his heart print outfit.

As the tot held hands with both his mother and her friend, he flashed a jubilant smile.

At one point, Emily scooped her youngster into her arms.

The actress lovingly carried him through the city as she continued conversing with her pal.

The trendy look Emily was rocking during the walk wasn't the only outfit she wore that day.

Emily was later seen displaying her legs in a navy blue wrap mini skirt and button down.

That's her boy! The youngster beamed from ear-to-ear as he held hands with his mother and her friend

Aww: Ratajkowski scooped her son, who turns two in March, into her arms

Meanwhile: The outing comes after Emily and her fling Eric Andre took it off in a spicy Valentine's Day post

She topped off the look with a bright red cap and strode about in snazzy sneakers. A Loewe bag was thrown over her shoulder.

It all comes after Emily and her new beau Eric got people talking with a super raunchy nude Valentine's Day post.

In photos posted by Eric, 39, on Tuesday, Emily, 31, wore just a bra and nothing else as she snapped a photo of her beau, lying on a couch completely naked.

His clothes were kicked off on the floor as he reclined on the loveseat with a glass of wine in hand.

To protect his modesty, he included a strategically-placed pink heart emoji in the photo.

In the reflection of the mirror standing behind him, cheeky Emily could be seen snapping the photo.

Eric posted the two photos to his Instagram account, captioning them: 'Happy Valentine's Day' with a string of red hearts struck by a bow and arrow.

The first photo captured Eric with his finger to his lips before he ran his hands through his hair.

He shared the photos to his Instagram Stories where he wrote 'Happy Black History Month.'

Legs get together! The beauty displayed her legs in a navy blue mini skirt and matching top

Fashionista! She topped off the look with a bright red cap and strode about in snazzy sneakers

City girls! Emily and her friend exuded cool exploring NYC

Hands on mother! The actress lovingly carried her bouncing boy in her arms

Ratajkowski and Andre were first spotted enjoying a dinner date at Sakagura in Midtown Manhattan in early January.

A few weeks later they spent a beachfront vacation together on the Cayman Islands were they were spotted kissing.

They were also spotted at a dinner at Fouquet during New York Fashion Week last week.

Ratajkowski is coming off her divorce from movie producer Sebastian Bear-McClard, who she was married to from 2018 until their split in July 2022.

They'd split two months prior following rumors that Sebastian had been unfaithful. The former couple co-parent their baby son Sylvester Apollo, one.

Emily recently shared that, despite no longer being a couple, she kept her diamond engagement ring which is estimated to be worth more than $50,000.

Since parting way, Emily has enjoyed flings with Hollywood lothario Pete Davidson, artist Jack Greer and DJ Orazio Rispo.

But now, the brunette beauty is being romanced by funnyman Andre.

Emily has previously said that she always 'attracts the worst men' who 'tear her down.'

But, hopefully, Andre will be an exception to the rule.

The ex factor: Ratajkowski is coming off her divorce from movie producer Sebastian Bear-McClard, who she was married to from 2018 until their split in July 2022

Her sweetheart! The actress shared this precious snap of her toddler on her Instagram
Millie Court insisted there's nobody she'd rather spend Valentine's Day with other than best pal Chloe Burrows as she shared some playful snaps of the pair on Instagram on Tuesday.

Former Love Island star Millie, 26 - who won 2021's Love Island with ex Liam Reardon, who she split from last summer - posed alongside Chloe in some pink satin pyjamas in the pictures.

Addressing Chloe, 26 - who finished runner-up in the 2021 series with ex Toby Aromolaran - Millie captioned her post: 'No one else Id rather spend February 14th with!!! Happy Galentines.'

In one image, Mille beamed as she sat alongside Chloe who could be seen puckering her lips and blowing her a kiss.

Millie wore a satin dressing gown while she was surrounded by pink balloons, with heart decorations hanging on the wall behind her.

Love you, mate: Millie Court insisted she'd rather spend Valentine's Day with nobody other than Chloe Burrows as she shared snaps of them in pink pyjamas on Instagram on Tuesday

Chloe wore a slip dress in the same colour as Millie's attire, with the pair striking a number of poses in the photographs.

They could be seen throwing feathers in the air in one picture, while they munched on pizza in some others.

It emerged Millie and Liam had split in July last year after one year together.

The couple decided to go their separate ways after winning the ITV2 dating series in August 2021.

Millie and Liam, 23, who had been living together in Essex before moving out of their shared home, called it quits after growing apart, while they both pursued individual work opportunities.

A source close to the couple told MailOnline at the time: 'It's been really hard for both Millie and Liam to come to this decision.

'There has been no drama or wrongdoing and they both still fully support each other and will remain close friends.

'They have moved out of the Essex home they shared together and are now looking forward to the future.'

Larking about: Former Love Island star Millie, 26, posed alongside Chloe in some pink satin pyjamas in the pictures

Heartfelt words: Addressing Chloe, 26, Millie captioned her post: 'No one else Id rather spend February 14th with!!! Happy Galentines'

Confirming the news on Instagram, Millie wrote: 'Hi everyone, to avoid any speculation Liam and I wanted to share with you that we have separated.

'It's been a tough decision and I am gutted but it's ultimately what is best for us right now. Thank you to every single one of you for supporting our relationship.

'Nothing will ever take away from the amazing experience we shared in Love Island and the past year and I wish Liam all the best in everything he does.

'We're both ready for new chapters and I'm excited for what's next. Love, Millie.'

Echoing Millie's sentiment, Liam posted: 'Hi everyone, to avoid any speculation Millie and I wanted to share with you that we have sadly separated.

'Honestly so gutted. But thank you to every single one of you for supporting our relationship.

Smooch: In one image, Mille beamed as she sat alongside Chloe who could be seen puckering her lips and blowing her a kiss

Looking good: Millie wore a satin dressing gown while Chloe donned a slip dress while they were surrounded by pink balloons, with heart decorations hanging on the wall behind them

'Nothing will ever take away from the amazing experience we shared in Love Island and the past year we've been so lucky to both come into each other's lives.

'We will both continue to be friends and I will remain as Millie's biggest supporter in all that she does and I know she will always do amazing.

'We're both ready for new chapters and I'm excited for what's next. Again, I just want to thank you all for supporting us on what's been an incredible journey.'

After winning Love Island together last August, Millie and Liam moved into an Essex home together.

The couple scooped the 50K prize fund after viewers voted them favourites despite Liam playing away during the show's Casa Amor twist.

End of the road: It comes after Love Island 2021 winners Millie and her ex Liam Reardon, 23, split last summer (pictured on the show in August 2021)

It's over: The couple decided to go their separate ways following a year-long romance, after winning the ITV2 dating series last August

Welshman Liam managed to win Millie back after he kissed and grew close to Casa Amor bombshell Lillie Haynes.

Millie was left stunned after she was confronted by the revelation during the dramatic Casa Amor recoupling, where Lillie exposed Liam for his wrongdoings.

It was reported Chloe and her ex Toby Aromolaran had split in October last year  13 months after they came second on the ITV2 show.

A source told MailOnline at the time that Chloe and Toby, 23, were still living at their Essex home but were making arrangements to go their separate ways after a difficult few months of trying to make the relationship work.

'Chloe and Toby put everything into their relationship  but it just hasn't worked out between them', a source explained.

No more: It emerged former Love Island couple Chloe and Toby Aromolaran, 23, split in October last year  13 months after they came second on the ITV2 show

'There's been no wrongdoing, they have simply grown apart, and over time realised it's better for them both to split.

'Naturally, Chloe has found the breakup difficult but being able to spend time abroad with Millie has given her the space she needed to start moving on.'

In the days before the news of their split broke, Chloe tweeted: 'You know I f***ed off for a week to Morocco with Millie yo all I had to say was I want to go and she did everything. Millie Court deserves the f***ing world.'

Writing on Instagram, she added: 'Took a break and f***ed off to Morocco and want to award Millie Court the award for being the best f***ing friend I've ever had.'
She appears to have set her sights on a new man after she was recently seen cosying up to an American toyboy while on holiday in Mexico.

And Maura Higgins looked nothing short of sensational as she shared more snaps from her lavish getaway in Dubai on Tuesday.

The Love Island sensation, 32, flaunted her very enviable figure as she slipped into a white lace co-ord enhancing her tanned curves.

Maura stunned in a racy top, embellished with shoulder pads and a floral detail.

Putting on a very leggy display, she matched it with a cute mini skirt that flashed her toned midriff.

Incredible: Maura Higgins looked nothing short of sensational as she shared more snaps from her lavish getaway in Dubai on Tuesday

The reality star looked incredible as she posed on the balcony for the snap.

The Irish beauty tied her brunette locks into a high ponytail and let her fringe hang down.

Sharing the picture with her 3.6 million Instagram followers, she wrote: 'I can buy myself flowers Happy Valentines Day'.

It comes after Maura was recently under the spotlight after being linked to a possible new romance while on a holiday in Mexico, not too long after that steamy smooch with Joey Essex at Pride of Britain Awards.

But it appears as the Love Island favourite moved on quickly from that fling, and was seen looking loved-up alongside 24-year-old Yisroel Solomon during her recent holiday to Tulum.

Yisroel, from Los Angeles, is based in New York City and works as a transfers manager.

He is also a licensed real estate agent and has a degree in marketing, according to his LinkedIn profile.

He attended the private YULA Boys High School in Los Angeles where tuition costs $39,000 per year.

Cosy: It comes after Maura was seen looking loved-up alongside 24-year-old Yisroel Solomon during her recent holiday to Tulum

Loved-up: Yisroel, from Los Angeles, is based in New York City and works as a transfers manager

Steamy: In another photo, Maura grinned from ear to ear as she cosied up to Yisroel while enjoying a glass of wine

The pair posed for an Instagram snap while in Mexico where Yisroel was seen giving Maura a kiss on the cheek as they wrapped their arms around each other.

In another photo, Maura grinned from ear to ear as she cosied up to Yisroel while enjoying a glass of wine.

MailOnline contacted representatives for Maura Higgins for comment.

Last month, Joey, 32, finally broken on his silence on their passionate clinch.

Speaking to heat magazine, the reality star seemed to get himself in trouble with his PR when he began to open up about the moment.

Asked what had happened with the Love Island star, Joey confessed: 'I don't know! I can't even remember.'

He added: 'I mean all I remember is her tongue being down my throat to be honest!' at which point heat notes that his PR jumps in to wrap up the chat.

During the glitzy Pride Of Britain event, Joey and Maura were seen getting close as they caught up at the Red Bar in London's Grosvenor House.

An excited Maura could be seen smiling with her eyes closed as she leaned her head close to Joey's, while Joey was also seen edging closer to the beauty.

Maura later joked about the encounter by licking pal Krystal Dawn's face, and teasing: 'It's how I greet people!'
Joy Behar suffered a wardrobe malfunction during Tuesday's episode of The View.

The 80-year-old comedian's festive red ensemble nearly exposed her chest, but the incident fortunately took place during a commercial break.

'The biggest surprise happened to us seconds ago when Joy's bra started making all kinds of eyes at people at the table,' co-host Whoopi Goldberg, 67, said.

'It was like an earthquake and suddenly the bra was like, "Hello!" It was something else,' the personality added.

Joy, who's hosted the show for over two decades, quipped: 'That was my special gift to all the old people out there on Valentine's Day. All the old guys.'

Whoops! Joy Behar suffered a wardrobe malfunction during Tuesday's episode of The View

The Till actress joked, 'Well she almost put my eye out from where I was sitting. Joys bra started making all kinds of eyes at people at the table.'

And referencing recent current events, Whoopie said in jest, 'You know, a whole lot of people are speculating about what's been hovering  it was her breasts  over American skies'

Joy didn't miss a beat as she quickly shot back to her coworker, 'Just the left one!'

The New York-bred entertainer  real name Josephine Victoria Behar  looked ready for the holiday in her rouge getup.

It consisted of a sharp, structured blazer worn over a slinky satin top and Behar matched her lipstick to it.

She also showed off a pair of bold, glossy red, square-shaped earrings while on air in NYC.

The media sensation's signature red hair was in its signature style of a soft side part, bangs, and flipped ends.

Last month Joy criticized President Joe Biden for not speaking sooner on classified documents found at his Penn-Biden Center office and his home in Wilmington, Delaware.

Close one: The 80-year-old comedian's festive red ensemble nearly exposed her, but the incident took place during a commercial break

'It would have been helpful for Joe Biden when it first came out to say, "We have tape of Joe Biden saying that Trump did something stupid and shouldnt have done it and it was bad,"' she said on the show.

'Well, he should have said, "Look, I know I look hypocritical in that tape, I'm sorry about that, I didn't know about this. And now that I know it, I will do what I can to uncover this."

'He should be speaking to the American people, or else just act like a Republican and say, "It's a witch hunt. And let's fire [US Attorney] Merrick Garland."'

The writer and mother-of-one is an original host of The View, which first came out in 1997.

She was there until 2013 when she was let go, but returned two years later, joining the panel again in 2015.

Speaking with Time last year, Behar said about the hiatus, 'I was glad to be fired. I basically was sick of the show at that point for some reason. I don't even remember why.'

She explained further, 'I'm sort of on extra time now. I don't have to work. I don't have to be on television. I don't have to have the microphone. They want to give it to me, I'll take it.'

Witty: Joy, who's hosted the show for over two decades, quipped, 'That was my special gift to all the old people out there on Valentine's Day. All the old guys'
Armie Hammer's ex-wife Elizabeth Chambers will host her own series on 'toxic and traumatic' relationships, after her own explosive split from the shamed actor.

The TV personality, 40, filed for divorce from Hammer, 36, in July 2020 after ten years of marriage, citing irreconcilable differences - months before Hammer was accused by multiple women of sexual assault and of having violent kink fantasies involving cannibalism.

Chambers has now signed a development deal with Investigation Discovery - with her first true crime show 'exploring the complexities of toxic and traumatic relationships.'

Chambers will host and co-executive produce the series which features 'interviews and firsthand accounts of survivors that shed light on long-held secrets, generational trauma, and deep-rooted psychological issues', reports the network.

The series also 'aims to empower victims with control of their own narratives.

Happier times: Armie Hammer's ex-wife Elizabeth Chambers will host her own series on 'toxic and traumatic' relationships, after her own explosive split from the shamed actor (pictured 2020)

Jason Sarlanis, President of Turner Networks, ID & HLN, Linear and Streaming said: 'Were big admirers of Elizabeth and know that this new series will resonate with our passionate true crime audience.

'Elizabeth brings a unique empathy to help elevate victims voices which perfectly aligns with IDs mission to use its platform to share powerful stories of hope, resilience and survival.

Discovery+ documentary House of Hammer - which documented abuse allegations against Hammer and his reported cannibalism fetish - aired last year, which Chambers was not a part of,

This comes Chambers spoke of the moment she knew her marriage to Hammer was over, revealing he left her heart 'broken in nine million pieces.'

Speaking about the breakdown of her marriage in a candid chat with ELLE magazine, Elizabeth revealed that cracks had been showing for months, with the actor's behaviour during lockdown proving to be the final straw.

The couple were on holiday with their children Harper, seven, and Ford, five, when Covid cases began to spike in the States, so they decided not to return to Los Angeles but instead quarantine in the Cayman Islands with Armie's father and stepmother.

Yet their already strained marriage began to break down even quicker, with Elizabeth describing Armie as 'the worst' during quarantine.

For his part, Armie has described the time as being a 'very complicated, intense situation, with big personalities all locked in a little tiny place,' likening himself to a wolf 'caught in a snare' that wants to 'chew his own foot off.'

New venture: Chambers has now signed a development deal with Investigation Discovery - with her first true crime show 'exploring the complexities of toxic and traumatic relationships (pictured 2020)

Despite their struggles, Elizabeth was left blindsided when her husband decided to leave the family and return to California, where he helped a friend restore an old motel outside Joshua Tree National Park.

'My heart was broken in nine million pieces, and I still drove him to the airport,' she confessed.

She added: 'Marriage is always going to be difficult, and, as with any relationship, you go through a process. Especially if you throw success and fame into the mix; it just becomes more magnified

'[Over time] your partner is learning things about themselves,' she says. 'They're growing, you're growing; you hope that you're growing together.'

Ultimately, they had grown too far apart to make their relationship work.

While attempting to build herself back together, Elizabeth sought comfort from the marriage counsellor she had seen with Armie, famed psychotherapist and relationship specialist Esther Perel.

'[Esther] always said heartbreak is literally worse than a heroin addiction, and I think about that a lot', she confessed.

Elizabeth is now dating wellness specialist Ricardas Kazinec, 26.

While the couple are 'so in love', Elizabeth revealed they have to act 'completely platonic if the kids ever see us together, because I dont think its in their best interest to see their mom dating someone while theyre still processing divorce.'

While it has been three years since she filed for divorce, the couple are not yet legally divorced, with Elizabeth admitting it felt like she was 'ripping' her family apart.

She explained: 'The dissolution of my family was literally my biggest fear of my whole life. You're building something, right? You're weaving a beautiful tapestry, and the last thing you want is for a knife to come and rip the tapestry in half.'

Elizabeth's heartache was only magnified when a series of depraved revelations about Armie's sex life were made public, among them that he had cannibalistic fetishes.

'I was learning things as the public was,' Elizabeth revealed. 'I was like, 'There are no words. What the f**k?'

Armie has since broken his silence to insist that while he was an 'a**hole' and 'one million percent' emotionally abused younger women, he is not a criminal.

He also claimed he was molested by a pastor at 13 and attempted suicide in the Cayman Islands after he was accused of rape.

The shamed The Social Network star has not been heard from and rarely seen since a woman named Effie, 26, accused him in 2021 of having 'violently raped' her. This led to a series of accusations by women involving his interest in kinky sex and even cannibalism.

He has denied the accusations through his attorney and said all of his sexual encounters were 'completely consensual, discussed and agreed upon in advance and mutually participatory'.

The LAPD has investigated and Armie has never been charged, but the allegations proved to be catastrophic for his career, and he was subsequently dropped by the talent agency WME, as well as by his personal publicist.

Shocking: Elizabeth's heartache was magnified when a series of depraved revelations about Armie's sex life were made public, among them that he had cannibalistic fetishes (pictured 2018)

He was replaced in Jennifer Lopez's new rom-com Shotgun Wedding by Josh Duhamel, and Miles Teller took over his role in the TV series The Offer, which dramatizes the making of Francis Ford Coppola's classic film The Godfather.

Although he was removed form those productions, Armie had already finished filming the Kenneth Branagh-directed mystery Death On The Nile, which features an ensemble cast including Branagh, Gal Gadot, Annette Benning, Russell Brand and Rose Leslie, among others.

Viewers mocked a trailer for the film after it appeared to go out of its way to minimize the actor's participation - though his brief appearances were still too much for many viewers.

Armie was also sued by American Express over an unpaid $67,000 credit card bill, but the case was dropped earlier this month.
Rebel Wilson name-checked fellow Aussie superstar Chris Hemsworth while calling out the double standards faced by working parents in Hollywood.

The Bridesmaids star, 42, spoke to the Life Uncut podcast on Tuesday about the backlash she faced for going out partying just a week after her daughter Royce was born via surrogate last year.

She implied the reaction was sexist because Hemsworth, 39, doesn't face the same scrutiny when he takes time away from his children to work out at the gym.

Rebel Wilson (pictured) name-checked fellow Aussie superstar Chris Hemsworth on the Life Uncut podcast while calling out the double standards faced by working parents in Hollywood

'It was only a week until I got mum-shamed,' she told podcast hosts Brittany Hockley and Laura Byrne.

'I was shocked at the criticism because Chris Hemsworth goes to the gym, and people aren't yelling, "Where's your kids?" But why do they do it to every woman?'

Hemsworth, best known for playing muscle-bound Thor in the Marvel superhero movies, shares three children, daughter India Rose, 10, and twin sons Sasha and Tristan, eight, with his actress wife Elsa Pataky.

He mostly works out at his home gym in Byron Bay, meaning his children are rarely far away when he is pumping iron or doing cardio.

The actress, 42, spoke about the backlash she faced for going out partying with her partner Ramona Agruma (left) a week after her daughter Royce was born via surrogate last year

She implied the reaction was sexist because Hemsworth (pictured with wife Elsa Pataky) does not face the same scrutiny when he takes time away from his children to work out at the gym

It's unclear how well Wilson knows Hemsworth, but she did work with his younger brother Liam on the 2019 rom-com Isn't It Romantic.

Wilson welcomed her first child Royce Lillian in November, and is raising her little girl with her partner Ramona Agruma.

However, the pair sparked controversy when they attended two celebrity parties a week after the baby was born: one for Leonardo DiCaprio's birthday and the other for Paris Hilton's wedding anniversary.

Hemsworth, best known for playing Thor in the Marvel movies, shares three children, daughter India Rose, 10, and twin sons Sasha and Tristan, eight, with his actress wife Elsa Pataky

He mostly works out at his home gym in Byron Bay, meaning his children are rarely far away when he is pumping iron. (Hemsworth is pictured on the treadmill with one of his kids in 2017)

The Pitch Perfect star told Life Uncut she did debate going out so soon after her daughter was born, but said her nanny had encouraged her to do it.

'It's a little bit [of] work in a way. Like, I'm talking to directors or talking to other actors that might be useful to collaborate with and then we were basically home by midnight,' she added.

She went on to say women shouldn't be shaming other women for how they parent their children.

It's unclear how well Wilson knows Hemsworth, but she did work with his brother Liam (left) on the 2019 rom-com Isn't It Romantic. (They are pictured on set with their co-star Adam DeVine)

'Just because you become a mother, doesn't mean that you lose your identity as a person. It doesn't mean you can't go out with friends or you can't go on a holiday. It doesn't mean you can't have a career,' she said.

'People will say I'm in a privileged position, which I am, but I think it's so outdated. Why is it women shaming other women? It always is.'

However, 'mum-shaming' aside, Rebel admitted she was struggling to find a 'balance' between work and motherhood.
The last remaining couple from Channel 10's The Bachelors has called it quits less than three weeks after the finale aired.

Jed McIntosh confirmed in an Instagram Q&A on Tuesday he was no longer dating Alesia-Francoise Delaney after a fan asked how their relationship was going.

'What a question. I can't dodge it,' the Melbourne-based drummer began.

The Bachelors' Jed McIntosh (pictured) confirmed in an Instagram Q&A on Tuesday he was no longer dating Alesia-Francoise Delaney after a fan asked how their relationship was going

'Alesia and I, even though we're not currently in a relationship, we are still continuing to grow together.'

The Machine Gun Kelly lookalike said the pair grew apart when they could no longer see each other on a daily basis after filming wrapped.

'We're sort of learning as we go,' he added.

Jed insisted that despite his romantic relationship with Alesia, 28, coming to an end, he still considers her a priority.

The Machine Gun Kelly lookalike (pictured with Alesia) said the pair grew apart when they could no longer see each other on a daily basis after filming wrapped

'No matter what the title is, that woman is still the number one woman in my life. And I consider myself the luckiest man on earth,' he said.

The pair's split comes after Alesia confessed on 2DayFM's Hughesy, Ed and Erin last month she had 'kissed a few people' since filming finished.

The former real estate agent said Jed knew about the 'pashes' she had after they began dating, but he seemed okay with it.

Jed insisted that despite his romantic relationship with Alesia coming to an end, he still considers her a priority

'That's okay, given the context [having to spend time apart to avoid spoiling the show], I think we've done quite well if that's all it is, to be honest,' Jed said.

'There was no malice at all,' added Alesia.

The pashes took place while the couple was 'on a break' sometime during the last six months, after filming wrapped on the Ten dating show.

'We were on the show for seven weeks, and then from the rendezvous, we were like, "Okay, let's be together, let's make this official,"' Alesia explained.

The Bachelors concluded during last month's season finale. The three men picked their preferred women, with two getting engaged; however, all three relationships have since ended

'Then there was stuff going on between then, Jed had some things going on, so we just said, "Let's take a step back until we have the opportunity to be together properly."'

The Bachelors concluded during last month's season finale. The three suitors, Jed, Felix Von Hofe, and Thomas Malucelli, picked their preferred women, with two getting engaged; however, all three relationships have since ended.

During finale, Jed got down on bended knee and asked Alesia to marry him - but she said no, as she had previously told him not to propose.

'I've completely fallen in love with you, and I've honestly never felt the way that I feel about you with anyone else in my life,' the musician said.

During The Bachelors' finale last month, Jed got down on bended knee and asked Alesia to marry him - but she said no

'Oh, my God, I don't know what to say. Oh my god. F**k. Oh, f**k. Oh, my God, I just wasn't expecting it. That's thrown me,' said a stunned Alesia

'And, I know this proposal has been a big, nerve-wracking thing for you, but I have come here with a question,' he added, before getting down on bended knee.

'Oh, my God, I don't know what to say. Oh my god. F**k. Oh, f**k. Oh, my God, I just wasn't expecting it. That's thrown me,' said a stunned Alesia.

Jed assured her that if she took the ring, it would be a promise they stay together and she did not have to feel pressure to marry him just yet.

'I'm falling for you, I am. I will put that on any finger you want, as long as it's not "will you marry me,"' she said, with the pair deciding to stay together as a couple.
Married At First Sight bride Melissa Sheppard has been left fearing for her safety after two vile men showed up at her workplace asking to have sex with the blonde.

The Sydney hairdresser, whose excessive need for sex has been a major turn-off for her TV husband Josh White, recalled the shocking incident in an interview with Mamamia on Tuesday.

'Two men have been to my place of work to find me. One man asked my colleagues if the 'freak in the sheets' was in,' Melissa, 41, began.

Married At First Sight bride Melissa Sheppard has been left fearing for her safety after two vile men showed up at her workplace asking to have sex with the blonde

'When she said 'no' and then asked what he wanted, he just said, 'Well if she's after a good f**k, I can give it to her'. My colleague asked him to leave and I reported it,' she added.

The 'freak in the sheets' comment refers to a statement Melissa made to producers on the show when describing her sexual proclivities.

Horrified by the man's brazen proposal, Melissa reiterated that her horny behaviour MAFS wasn't an open invitation to the public.

'Two men have been to my place of work to find me. One man asked my colleagues if the 'freak in the sheets' was in,' Melissa told Mamamia on Tuesday

'I know they were going from what they saw on MAFS, but that's not who I am. I wanted sex with my husband, yes, but not with multiple random men. It was scary,' she lamented.

She went on to slam the show's producers for focussing too much on her sexuality during filming, and pointed out that she's much more than a one-dimensional horny bride.

Melissa's sexually-charged commentary about her husband have raised plenty of eyebrows on MAFS this season.

'I know they were going from what they saw on MAFS, but that's not who I am. I wanted sex with my husband, yes, but not with multiple random men. It was scary,' she lamented. (Pictured with Josh White on the show)

Josh said he felt like a 'sex object' after Melissa confessed to having sized up his 'big hammer' based on observing his feet size.

During confessions week, Josh was disappointed further when his wife failed to open up to him on an emotional level, instead using the activity to express her desire for a 'healthy sex life'.

Last week, Melissa pleaded for viewers to stop 'bullying' her after being branded as 'the sex-crazed' bride on the show.

Melissa's sexually-charged commentary about her husband have raised plenty of eyebrows on MAFS this season

She took to Instagram on Wednesday after recent episodes showed her relationship with new husband Josh was on the rocks - and most viewers were on his side.

Melissa posted a photo which read: 'We all love watching MAFS and following the journey of the participant's in Australia's biggest social experiment.

'This is a space to celebrate our couples, support and encourage them.

During confessions week, Josh was disappointed when his wife failed to open up to him on an emotional level, instead using the activity to express her desire for a 'healthy sex life'

'Negative, offensive or personal comments against participants, experts, or fellows MAFS viewers will not be tolerated.'

She went on to say she has been hurt from the conversations being had about her.

'Say no to bullying. Before you assume, learn the facts. Before you judge, understand why. Before you hurt someone, feel. Before you speak, think,' she said.

The post has its comments disabled.
Peta Murgatroyd and Maksim Chmerkovskiy, who first met working on the Broadway production Burn the Floor in 2009, marked their tenth Valentine's Day together.

While looking back on their longstanding relationship, the happy couple shared a silly video of themselves goofing around the house as she showed off her growing baby bump in a cropped grey long sleeve and low-rise green sweatpants.

'Going on 10 years together,' the expectant star, 36, and renowned ballroom dance champion, 43, captioned their joint post. 'Nearly 6 years married...Almost 2 kids.'

They continued: 'Practically a lifetime in Hollywood years! Forever to go [infinity emoji]. HAPPY VALENTINES DAY! '

In the footage, Murgatroyd and Chmerkovskiy looked blissful as they twirled around their living room in front of a wall full of black and white family photos.

Silly: Peta Murgatroyd and Maksim Chmerkovskiy, who first met working on the Broadway production Burn the Floor in 2009, marked their tenth Valentine's Day together

Their post comes a month after the Dancing With The Stars couple announced they are expecting their second baby together following years of fertility struggles.

'After 2 years of constant struggle and heartache, 3 miscarriages and a failed embryo transferwe have a healthy bun in the oven,' Murgatroyd revealed to her Instagram followers.

In January, she dished to People magazine that she was nearly 18 weeks pregnant, saying: 'All natural, it just happened.'

Peta was on the verge of trying a second round of in vitro fertilization when she received the news that she had conceived.

'I didn't even know I was pregnant for so long until I was really feeling sick. I danced through Dancing With The Stars with it,' she said.

'I started feeling weird, started feeling a little bit sick and a little bloated and I didn't want to test for weeks,' Peta candidly confessed.

She was near the 'six or seven-week' point of her pregnancy by the time she finally took the test and 'I think it was the fastest positive I've ever seen in my life.'

The Auckland-born hoofer dished: 'It just came up super quick and I was just shocked. It's been completely different from my past pregnancy. It wasn't like I jumped for joy and I shouted from the rooftops: "Oh my God, I'm pregnant. Yay!"

Another on the way: While looking back on their longstanding relationship, the happy couple shared a silly video of themselves goofing around the house as she showed off her growing baby bump in a cropped grey long sleeve and low-rise green sweatpants

'Going on 10 years together,' the expectant star, 36, and renowned ballroom dance champion, 43, captioned their joint post. 'Nearly 6 years married...Almost 2 kids'

Blissful: They continued: 'Practically a lifetime in Hollywood years! Forever to go [infinity emoji]. HAPPY VALENTINES DAY! '

Peta, who has suffered three miscarriages, said: 'It was more like a: "Okay, well let's see what happens because I've been through this four other times, and it hasn't worked." So I was very skeptical. I didn't even tell Maks for a while.'

At the moment she knows the sex of the baby, as she 'can't wait' and needs 'to know these things,' but has not decided whether to make the information public.

Taking the news to Instagram, she wrote: 'It brings me immense joy to finally announce that @maksimc and I are expecting our Chmerkovskiy #2.'

Silly: In the footage, Murgatroyd and Chmerkovskiy looked blissful as they twirled around their living room in front of a wall full of black and white family photos

Exciting: Their post comes a month after the Dancing With The Stars couple announced they are expecting their second baby together following years of fertility struggles

She shared: 'After 2 years of constant struggle and heartache, 3 miscarriages and a failed embryo transferwe have a healthy bun in the oven :)) It was a shock to all of us and we found out right before I was going in for my second round of IVF.'

Said she: 'I want to thank ALL OF YOU whove been on this fertility journey with me from the beginning. It feels like Im sharing this news with my extended family. Thank you for sharing your stories and tips to get me through my IVF cycle and thank you for the plethora of encouraging comments and DMs I read them all.'

Peta concluded: 'This news has brought extraordinary bliss to our family and we have so much to be grateful for .coming June 2023.'

Their post comes a month after the Dancing With The Stars couple announced they are expecting their second baby together following years of fertility struggles

In a shattering People interview last year, she revealed how 'petrified, embarrassed, and ashamed' she felt when she miscarried for the first time.

The loss occurred in the autumn of 2020 in a Whole Foods bathroom, leaving her 'sobbing' and 'wailing' for hours as she sat on the toilet.

When she miscarried again nine months later, she was about to fly to New York to tell Maksim she was pregnant, and instead had to tell him she had lost the baby.

Bumping along: In January, she dished to People magazine that she was nearly 18 weeks pregnant, saying: 'All natural, it just happened'

In October 2021, when her husband was in his native Ukraine to work on its version of Dancing With The Stars, Peta endured a third miscarriage.

At the time she was so ill with COVID-19 that she 'couldn't open a dishwasher' or even 'open the fridge to feed Shai, to get him some toast.'

After fainting in her son's bedroom, Peta - who at that point did not even know she was pregnant - was rushed to the hospital and informed she had lost a baby.

Good luck: Peta was on the verge of trying a second round of in vitro fertilization when she received the news that she had conceived

Peta ultimately discovered that she had a hormonal disorder called polycystic ovary syndrome that was affecting her fertility.

She announced last June that she was attempting IVF, declaring: 'For the first time in nearly two years, I feel excited. 'I'm in a much happier place. I got answers.'

'I don't have any other words but hope and positivity,' said her husband. 'I'm crossing my fingers that this is going to work.'
Tom Cruise is used to signing autographs and having his picture taken with fans.

But he might not have been expecting similar levels of enthusiasm from his Hollywood peers.

Cruise, 60, found himself the toast of the Oscar nominees luncheon yesterday as A-list stars including Jamie Lee Curtis and Austin Butler made a beeline for him.

He was pictured shaking hands, laughing and joking with Tinseltown's elite at The Beverly Hilton.

The actor, whose blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick is nominated for Best Picture, posed for photos with Elvis star Butler, director Steven Spielberg, The Whale star Hong Chau, activist Malala Yousafzai and Best Actress nominee Michelle Williams.

Top grin: A beaming Tom Cruise (left) with fellow Hollywood star Jamie Lee Curtis (right)

Cruise (right), 60, found himself the toast of the Oscar nominees luncheon yesterday as A-list stars including Austin Butler (left) made a beeline for him

Tom Cruise with educational activist Malala Yousafzai

He was also seen in animated conversation with Best Supporting Actress nominee Ms Lee Curtis, 64.

'I ran into Tom. We don't know each other well but we've both been doing this for a long time,' she said later.

The Oscars will take place on March 12.

Tom Cruise (centre) with Hong Chau (left), and Steven Spielberg (right) at the 95th Academy Awards Nominees Luncheon on Monday
Australian actor Hugh Jackman has revealed he is 'finally' in therapy to address the trauma of his mother abandoning him when he was just eight years old.

The 54-year-old started to see a therapist while shooting his latest movie The Son, in which he plays the father of a suicidal teen, as sessions were being offered to all cast members due to the film's dark themes.

Hugh had a traumatic start to life when his mother Grace left him as a child to start a new life in England. His father Christopher raised him as a single dad in Sydney.

Australian actor Hugh Jackman has revealed he is 'finally' in therapy to address the trauma of his mother Grace abandoning him when he was just eight years old

Christopher died in 2021 at the age of 84.

Hugh previously said he didn't believe in therapy, saying it wasn't as prevalent in Australia, but has now decided it's time to face his demons.

'It's helped me a lot,' he told The Sun newspaper on Tuesday. 'With therapy, it either works for you or it doesn't.'

The 54-year-old started to see a therapist while shooting his latest movie The Son, in which he plays the father of a suicidal teen, as sessions were being offered to all cast members

Now living in New York City, the Broadway star believes it's important to surround himself with people who will listen to him.

'You need a friend that you can unload with everything. You need that in all sorts of ways, from all sorts of people,' he said.

'Having someone really smart, who's actually a little bit removed from your world can be really helpful. I've found it really helpful.'

Hugh previously said he didn't believe in therapy, saying it wasn't as prevalent in Australia, but has now decided it's time to face his demons

Although she abandoned him as a child, Hugh has forgiven his mother Grace, who still lives in the UK.

He said they 'made peace' a long time ago, adding that therapy had helped him understand how his past informs his unconscious thinking.

'Most importantly, it is helping me to be more relational with the people I love in my life, really understanding and living in their shoes and being clear enough to be able to see them,' he said.

Hugh and his wife Deborra-Lee Furness, 67, are parents to two adopted children, Oscar, 22, and Ava, 17.

He admitted that raising children is hard, particularly in their teenage years, and wishes he could 'understand more what is happening or what they're thinking or feeling'.
Jennifer Lopez cut a glamorous figure in an oversized fur coat and maroon leggings while arriving to a dance studio in Santa Monica, California on Valentines Day.

As she made her way up a flight of stairs in a pair of tan UGG boots, the 53-year-old Let's Get Loud hitmaker oozed confidence as she prepared to work up a sweat.

For her outing, the mom-of-two, who is married to Ben Affleck, looked typically chic with her brown hair pulled up in a sleek bun and a pair of oversized aviator shades.

The two-time Grammy nominee, originally from The Bronx, was all bundled up on the cloudy morning after leaving the warmth of her luxury black SUV.

Earlier in the day, she shared a 'Vday Faves playlist' on Spotify that included 19 tracks from her own discography as well as hits from Taylor Swift, John Legend, Madonna, Rihanna and Harry Styles.

Working it! Jennifer Lopez cut a glamorous figure in an oversized fur coat and maroon leggings while arriving to a dance studio in Santa Monica, California on Valentines Day

Glamorous: For her outing, the mom-of-two, who is married to Ben Affleck , looked typically chic with her brown hair pulled up in a sleek bun and a pair of oversized aviator shades

Cozy: The two-time Grammy nominee, originally from The Bronx, was all bundled up on the cloudy morning after leaving the warmth of her luxury black SUV

Her latest sighting comes after news broke that she and Affleck have finally found a place to call home, after nearly two years of of house hunting.

The lovebirds are reportedly under contract for a $34.5 million mansion, with seven bedrooms and 13 bathrooms, in the Pacific Palisades, according TMZ.

Their potential new home, located in the prestigious Rustic Canyon, has a six car garage, detached guest house, a pool and 'sun-filled dining room with fireplace' as well as a chic bar, jacuzzi and outdoor kitchen according to its listing.

In addition to a wine cellar, home gym and health spa, the property's primary suite boasts a private balcony, dual bathrooms and closets.

Over the weekend, the couple were seen touring the mansion with his 14-year-old daughter Seraphina, mother Chris and Lopez's twins Emme and Maximilian, 14.

The news comes after an expansive search, which included visiting dozens of home in various ritzy neighborhoods in Los Angeles from Beverly Hills to Hidden Hills.

In love: Earlier in the day, she shared a 'Vday Faves playlist' on Spotify that included 19 tracks from her own discography as well as hits from Taylor Swift, John Legend, Madonna, Rihanna and Harry Styles

Newlywed: Her latest sighting comes after news broke that she and Affleck have finally found a place to call home, after nearly two years of of house hunting

New digs: Their potential new home, located in the prestigious Rustic Canyon, has a six car garage, detached guest house, a pool and 'sun-filled dining room with fireplace' as well as a chic bar, jacuzzi and outdoor kitchen according to its listing

Affleck and Lopez's romantic rekindling came after they first dated and got engaged, only to call-off their wedding in fall 2003, blaming excessive media attention.

While sharing the romantic details from their big day in September, the mom-of-two gushed in her newsletter, On The JLo, that their wedding ceremony was 'like the best dream, where all you want is never to awaken.'

'Some old wounds were healed that day and the weight of the past finally lifted off our shoulders. Full-circle  and not at all the way we planned it. Better,' the Let's Get Loud hitmaker revealed to her fans.

Before their rehearsal dinner, the JLo Beauty founder admitted that she and Ben had a laugh 'the night before about getting married again' at their age.

'We had both been married before and we arent exactly kids any more but somehow now seemed like the only age that made sense,' she explained.

She went on to tell readers that she was inspired by Rainer Marie Rilke's poem, Letters to a Young Poet, which is about being ready for love and how 'giving happiness and love becomes more joyful than receiving it.'

Meant to be: Affleck and Lopez's romantic rekindling came after they first dated and got engaged, only to call-off their wedding in fall 2003, blaming excessive media attention (seen in February 2022)

'The truth is everyones story is different and we all have our paths to travel. No two people are the same. But for us, this was perfect timing.' Lopez added, nodding to their after rekindling in April 2021 after nearly 20 years apart.

The Hustlers actress continued: 'Nothing ever felt more right to me, and I knew we were finally settling down in a way you can only do when you understand loss and joy and you are battle tested enough to never take the important things for granted or let the silly insignificant nuisances of the day get in the way of embracing every precious moment.'

'We find ourselves in that long-desired time of life: having gratitude for all that life has shown us, even its trials and tribulations. That night really was heaven,' she marveled.
Priscilla Presley has denied Bam Margera's claims she gifted him personal items once belonging to her late ex-husband Elvis Presley in a blistering statement.

After Margera, 43, claimed to have received Elvis' robe and ring from his ex, 77, during a recent get-together, Priscilla issued a statement shooting down his claims to TMZ.

Presley insists the ring Bam claimed to have been gifted actually belonged to him, and the robe was not one of Elvis'.

She also said she and her son Navarone Garcia, a friend of Margera, want no further communication with him.

Priscilla claims her son Navarone invited Bam over for a visit, but she was unaware of who his friend was 'or that later he would choose to post photos and false stories,' though now Margera has issued an apology on Instagram.

Shooting it down: Priscilla Presley has denied Bam Margera's claims she gifted him personal items once belonging to Elvis Presley during a recent get-together in a blistering statement

According to Priscilla, Bam 'came over, talked non-stop about his new ventures and personal struggles and asked for a photo with me for his father, who is a big fan.'

'Unbeknownst to us at the time, Bam chose to circulate those photos accompanied by false information and storytelling. After what Bam has chosen to do, my son and I want no further communication with him. I consider him a dishonest and unstable individual. I had no idea who he was or that he was filming in my home without my consent.'

When denying she had given Bam items once belonging to the King Of Rock 'N' Roll, Priscilla insisted she would never 'disrespect' the 'love of my life' by relinquishing his items.

'At no time during the visit did I give him anything of Elvis'. I still have everything he ever touched. I would never disrespect Elvis who was the love of my life by giving away anything that belonged to him. I have always protected them for the fans. Elvis belonged to all of you and I cherish my life with him too much to ever squander anything,' she said.

After Priscilla denied giving him items that belonged to Elvis, Margera took to Instagram to apologize to both her and Navarone.

'I want to apologize to @priscillapresley and Navarone Presley for my behavior. Im very sorry and embarrassed, and I cant apologize enough for acting like a jackass,' Margera said.

'Navarone gave me a robe and ring that I gave Phil to be a part of Phils Elvis stuff,' Margera added, even though it didn't belong to Elvis.

'Im making Navarone a $10,000 Heartagram necklace because I love his band @themguns with hopes to record and tour. Im sorry,' Margera concluded.

Bam's struggles with sobriety have been well-documented, and Prisiclla said she hopes he 'gets the help he needs and does what is right.'

According to TMZ, Bam gave the robe to his father and the ring to Yelawolf, a rapper Bam believes to be the new king of Rock 'n' Roll.

Bam posted snaps from the outing get-together last week, less than a month after the death of Priscilla's daughter Lisa Marie.

In a selfie from the gathering, uploaded to Margera's Instagram, Priscilla posed next to her son Navarone Garcia's friend as they sat side-by-side on a grey studded booth.

A second image showed the former spouse of the late King of Rock n Roll seemingly showing her photos of his five-year-old daughter, Phoenix Wolf Margera.

Apologize: After Priscilla denied giving him items that belonged to Elvis, Margera took to Instagram to apologize to both her and Navarone

Elvis stuff: 'Navarone gave me a robe and ring that I gave Phil to be a part of Phils Elvis stuff,' Margera added, even though it didn't belong to Elvis

Necklace: 'Im making Navarone a $10,000 Heartagram necklace because I love his band @themguns with hopes to record and tour. Im sorry,' Margera concluded

'I would never disrespect Elvis': Presley insisted she never gave any of Elvis' belongings to Margera

During their meal together, Priscilla wore a white jacket with a silver zipper and minimal makeup.

Margera wore his hood over his head, a blue t-shirt and a gold key around his neck.

Margera also uploaded two snaps with Priscilla's son Navarone on a fun night out last Monday.

According to TMZ, the star is 'actually friends' with Lisa Marie's half-brother Navarone, 35, who recently opened up about getting clean from hard drugs and opioids in 2020.

Earlier this month, Steve-O heartbreakingly wrote on Instagram that he is 'bracing' for his Jacka** co-star's death.

Margera, who has had a rollercoaster history of addiction, is currently opening for Steve-O on tour.

But an Instagram exchange between the two revealed the cracks in their relationship, with Steve-O accusing Margera of falling off the wagon and declaring: 'You're dying, brother, and it sucks that I can't do anything to save you.'

The back and forth began when Margera posted a throwback snap of himself sandwiched between Steve-O and their Jacka** co-star Johnny Knoxville.

Margera posted photos from their lunch last week, less than a month after the death of Priscilla's daughter Lisa Marie

Knoxville has lately had a fractious relationship with Margera, who sued him for wrongful termination from the 2021 film Jacka** Forever but then dropped the case.

In the caption of his since-deleted Instagram throwback, Margera wrote: 'One arm is a best friend who had my f***ing back all along, another arm is a poser. A pro creation thief. If Jeff tremaine was in this photo, he would be to greedy to fit.'

Jeff Tremaine, a producer and co-creator of the Jackass franchise, filed a restraining order against Margera in 2021 and accused him of harassment.

Margera wrote in his new caption: 'F*** jeff. Remember I tattooed that on me long ago jeff? It's because I knew who you were all along. @steveo much love and respect.'

Steve-O posted, then rapidly deleted, a lengthy comment revealing his heartrending response to his friend's alleged behavior.

'Bam, last night you had your five year old son with you on stage at my show, and you were blessed with the chance to spend another day or two with him  then as soon as you left my show, you stayed up all night getting loaded enough to think it was a good idea to post more vile nonsense like this,' he began.

'I hope you understand how awful that is. You say you want to have a relationship with your son, but your actions guarantee the exact opposite will happen.'

He shared: 'I brought you on tour with me in hopes that I could get you to see what's possible for you if you choose recovery. I've tried everything I can, but I can't force you get honest and do the work of recovery.'

Family friend: Last week, Margera uploaded two snaps with Priscilla's son Navarone on a fun night out

Scary: Earlier this month, Steve-O heartbreakingly wrote on Instagram that he is 'bracing' for his Jacka** co-star's death

Crushingly, he concluded: 'I wish you could know how much I've hated feeling braced for news of your death, but you're making it clear that I have no other choice. You're dying brother, and it sucks that I can't do anything to save you.'

He deleted the comment but informed TMZ he still means what he wrote, adding that he remains open to helping Margera get sober if the latter gets serious about it.

Last June, he was located by authorities in Delray Beach after he was reported missing from a nearby rehab facility.

At the time, the manager of the rehab facility noted that the Viva La Bam star's stay at the facility was ordered by a court, leading to police looking for him.

Margera was reportedly irked that he was not receiving 'special treatment' from staff at the facility, which led him to leave, an insider told the outlet.

Margera has long had a history of substance abuse issues, as he had to check into a hospital in 2019 to treat an edema apparently caused by excessive drinking.

More recently, he kicked off the latest Jacka** project for failing to abide by conditions set forth by the producers relating to his addiction issues.

They were reportedly worried about his addiction issues and erratic behavior - for which he has recently explained he suffers from manic bipolar disorder - but wanted him to be a part of the project.

In order to remain a part of Jacka** Forever, sources said the producers required Margera to sign a Wellness Agreement under which he would agree to continue taking his medication, regularly blow into a breathalyzer, stay sober, see a psychologist and take routine drug tests.
Louise Thompson has opened up on her relationship with fiance Ryan Libbey being 'ravaged' by near-death birth experience.

The showbiz couple - who started dating in 2016 - announced their engagement in August 2018 and went on to welcome their first child Leo-Hunter in 2021.

Louise spent a month in intensive care after welcoming her 14-month-old son and suffers with PTSD and post-natal anxiety after the near-death birthing experience.

The former Made In Chelsea star, 32, took to Instagram on Tuesday to share a heartfelt message to her other half on Valentine's Day.

Louise shared a slew of sweet snaps of Ryan and Leo from their weekend getaway at the Wilderness Reserve in Suffolk countryside.

'If we can survive this, we can survive anything': Louise Thompson has opened up on her relationship with fiance Ryan Libbey being 'ravaged' by near-death birth experience

Alongside the pictures, she penned a lengthy caption: 'Our relationship has been ravaged in ways you will never know, and I will never tell of our darkest moments.

'But we are still here remarkably. And ready to turn over a new leaf. Strangely over the past month it has brought us closer together. It has forced us to really look at things.

'We are living differently. We are having lots of meaningful conversations and we have a whole newfound respect for one another. Love is really all we have so we need to acknowledge it and use it cleverly. Its almost like a super power.

She then signed off by saying: 'If we can survive this, we can survive anything. Bring on the next chapter.

'Ps. Despite all of the hardship I feel very grateful for choosing you as my forever partner. You provide me with stability, strength, loyalty and love and you are a great friend and father to our baby boy.'

It comes after Louise reflected on 'surviving a second time' after her emergency readmission to hospital', one year after the traumatic birth of her son.

The reality star admitted on Saturday that she was 'doing really well' before she suffered a haemorrhage and lost around three litres of blood.

Adorable: Louise shared a slew of sweet snaps of Ryan and Leo from their weekend getaway at the Wilderness Reserve in Suffolk countryside

Candid: The former Made In Chelsea star, 32, took to Instagram on Tuesday to share a heartfelt message to her other half on Valentine's Day

Louise had previously been in hospital after undergoing a 'small operation' amid her gruelling battle with Ashermans Syndrome.

The condition causes scar tissue to form and build up inside your uterus, it is unknown if her recent admission was from complications from the surgery.

Reflecting on the health scare, she penned on Instagram: 'You know the funny thing about surviving the second time round is that you know youre not just lucky. You understand the capacity of the human body. You know how strong you are.

'You understand what modern medicine is capable of and what you can withstand. Wow you can withstand an awful lot.

Tough: Louise spent a month in intensive care after welcoming her 14-month-old son and suffers with PTSD and post-natal anxiety after the near-death birthing experience

Alongside the pictures, she penned a lengthy caption: 'Our relationship has been ravaged in ways you will never know, and I will never tell of our darkest moments.'

A haemorrhage is medically defined as a loss of blood from damaged blood vessels, and they can be both internal and external.

It can occur in nearly any part of the body, and if it is unable to be controlled, or caused by a serious injury, it may require surgery.

Louise continued: 'I'm trying to reframe it as reassuring. Its reassuring that Ive come and gone from hospital (unexpectedly) and survived each time.

'I never thought it would happen to me, and it did. Then I never thought it would happen again. But it kinda did. So I guess nothing in life is for certain. NOTHING.

'But the good thing is that I can learn from it. I have learnt that I DONT want to live my life in fear anymore and Im definitely not going to undo all of my hard work. I have great systems and support in place now.

'Soooo I want to resume life as normal as quickly as poss plz. With an extra large serving of perspective and gratitude.

Tough: The former Made In Chelsea star admitted on Saturday that she was 'doing really well' before she suffered a haemorrhage and lost around three litres of blood

She ended the caption by saying: 'Ps. This last week Ive managed to distract any ruminating/analysing/damn awful, circulating, obsessive thoughts with the thought of lying there wishing I had more time with my boy which then makes me shift gear and feel v v VVV present and forces me to really soak up the good stuff.

'A little blessing or just another mind game.'

She went on to share a snap of her pet pooch to her Instagram Stories and wrote: 'I'm feeling scared. I'm scared because I had a really good day yesterday and a crap on the day before.

'My logical brain says ok you tend to have a really good day every other day so today might be iffy. And by good or bad I don't just mean, good or bad things happening, I mean will my brain play ball or not.

'Will I have a ptsd episode? Will I feel trapped in my head? Frustrated? Irritated? For no good reason. It's hard.'

It comes after Louise's fiance Ryan Libbey revealed that she was rushed to hospital after suffering a haemorrhage.

Reflecting on the health scare, she penned on Instagram: 'You know the funny thing about surviving the second time round is that you know youre not just lucky. You understand the capacity of the human body. You know how strong you are.'

Taking to Instagram to share an update on the Made In Chelsea star, Ryan explained that he and Louise were forced to cancel their holiday to St Lucia after she required emergency surgery and 'close monitoring.'

Louise previously took to Instagram to share that she had an 'unexpected medical situation' but didn't elaborate further.

Ryan added that since her health scare, Louise is 'stable' and is recovering at home, describing his girlfriend as a 'warrior.'

In the post to his Stories, Ryan wrote: '2023 started well for me and for my family.

'Last Friday it got flipped on his head again. Louise haemorrhaged at home, again. Rushed to hospital for surgery and close monitoring for four days.

'Louise is home now, stable and doing well. She's a warrior! Leo has picked up impetigo from nursery. Dad is tired.

'We were supposed to be landing in St Lucia about now for a two-week break. I'll be back online soon.'

The reality TV personality was diagnosed with PTSD after suffering complications while giving birth to her son Leo-Hunter in 2021.

She later told her followers that Leo-Hunter had been treated in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and she had been treated in the adult ICU after the birth.

On Christmas Day she shared a heartfelt post paying tribute to the NHS staff who 'worked through the night to save my life'.
S Club 7 have announced they are reuniting for a special 25th anniversary tour.

All seven members - Bradley, Hannah, Jo, Jon, Paul, Rachel, and Tina  will come together for an 11-date arena tour across the UK and Ireland.

But the pop band have made it clear they don't have any current plans to release new music but added 'never say never'.

They appeared on BBC Radio 2 on Tuesday to discuss their upcoming plans with host Scott Mills.

Jo told listeners: 'We are just really concentrating on the tour at the moment, but I always say 'never say never' and if the fans want it and things go really well [then] very possibly.'

Pop stars: S Club 7 have made it clear they don't have any current plans to release new music but added 'never say never'

Jon added: 'It doesn't feel any different to be honest. We've known each other for a very, very long time  so we just slip into a natural routine, old habits of how we are and how we get along with each other.'

The group of pals then started chatting about their old dance moved and if they remember then.

Paul said: 'I remember all of [the dance moves] exactly  I was the master of the dance moves. There's definitely a few there that I won't be able to do remember that caterpillar!'

Tina quipped: 'Brad always used to do a handstand and all his change came out his pockets,' with Hannah adding: 'And Jon backflipped.'

Scott then asked: 'Bradley, will we be seeing that again?' He responded: 'No, definitely not. It depends on what the insurance policy is like on this tour!'

The band thrilled fans on Monday when they announced they'd be returning for a special 25th anniversary tour.

Speaking on coming back together, the band said: 'After eight years it feels amazing to announce that we're reuniting and performing together again.

Reunion: All seven members - Bradley, Hannah, Jo, Jon, Paul, Rachel, and Tina  will come together for an 11-date arena tour across the UK and Ireland

'We're so excited to bring the S Club Party back to our fans across the country to celebrate 25 years of S Club 7. We can't even believe it's been so long!

'Music and friendship have always been at the core of everything that we've ever done. We hope everyone can join us for one big party!'

After the announcement was made, the group went on BBC's The One Show for their first interview.

Rachel said: 'We are so excited to get back out there and sing our hearts out.'

When asked about the possibility of new music, Bradley said: 'If you know you know. We're bringing the nostalgia, in today's time we need a bit of positive.'

Jo told BBC Radio 2 listeners: 'We are just really concentrating on the tour at the moment, but I always say 'never say never' and if the fans want it and things go really well [then] possibly'

Jon said: 'I don't think we have changed that much. We all said yes immediately and we set up a WhatsApp group called S Clubbers'.

Rachel added: 'It feels like the right time to spread some positivity.'

Paul continued: 'We would like our fans to let us know what sort of songs they want to hear'.

Jo O'Meara has had many operations on her back in recent years, but said she was determined to join the other six on tour.

She said: 'I'm ready, I'm doing physio, I'm just starting to get my back strong. But I will be there on that stage 100 per cent'.

Return: After the announcement was made, the group went on BBC's The One Show for their first interview

Tina's doing her dance: Rachel (L) and Tina (R) looked ready to bust out their dance moves as they posed for photos at their reunion announcement

Eye-catching: Hannah sported bright pink hair as she attended the reunion announcement

Green with envy: Jo looked great in an all green suit

Reunited: Bradley (L) and Jon (R) were back with a bang after years apart

S Club party: Paul was in high spirits as the band made their return

Speaking on their longstanding popularity, Hannah added: 'Its incredible that Generation Z are picking up on TikTok, but I will just add that everyone is saying reach up for the stars.'

Talking on their fashion choices, Rachel explained: 'The nineties were special for fashion and there's little bits we'll take from that.'

They said they were most excited to perform Reach and felt less pressure to perform than in the past.

Speaking to The Sun the group said they wanted to do Glastonbury, with Jo saying: 'We've been very lucky. But we need Glastonbury next. I'm going to manifest it. We need to do it. Can you imagine the whole of the Glastonbury crowd singing Reach? It would be pretty amazing.'

The band said that they would have rejoined even sooner had it not been for the fact that they couldn't find Jon.

Speaking on coming back together, the band said: 'After eight years it feels amazing to announce that we're reuniting and performing together again.'

Chilling out: Rachel put her feet up during the announcement

Reach for the stars: Tina and Jo are raring to go for the tour which kicks off in October

Say cheese: Jon smiled for a snap at the announcement

He said: 'That's why it's taken so long to do this, they couldn't find me. I was in India for three and a half years. I went travelling and then I found some dogs over there which I adopted and brought home.'

The members have now grown up and had children of their own, with Hannah pointing out: 'I realised today that between us we have seven kids. Isn't that spooky? And it's the same ratio of three boys and four girls.'

The 25th anniversary tour is an opportunity for S Club 7 fans of every generation to come together and re-experience the timeless pop hits that soundtracked the British charts for five years.

Collectively, S Club 7 amassed four UK number one singles with 'Bring It All Back', 'Never Had a Dream Come True', 'Don't Stop Movin', and 'Have You Ever', as well as the UK number one album '7'.

They recorded 4 studio albums, released 11 singles that all entered the Top 5 UK charts, and went on to sell over 10 million albums worldwide.

Tickets for S Club 7 Reunited go on sale at 10:00am GMT on Friday 17th February via www.gigsandtours.com and www.ticketmaster.co.uk. Tickets for Ireland will be available via www.ticketmaster.ie.
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Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy (File Photo)

HYDERABAD: Union minister G. Kishan Reddy accused Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao of driving a surplus state like Telangana into a debt-trap while taking over Rs. five lakh crore loans.

Speaking to media persons in Delhi on Monday, Reddy said that the BRS had convened the Budget Session only to level baseless allegations against the BJP and the NDA. During the Session, the government did not make any statements that assured benefits for the people of the state.

Kishan Reddy found fault with the Chief Minister for praising the Congress in the Assembly and blaming the NDA government. He ridiculed Raos alleged double standards of first damaging the Congress by encouraging dissidents and now praising the party. He said this was evident that he was strategising for the Assembly elections. "Rao abused Communist parties and later secured their support. His support for MIM has only been to serve his political interests," Reddy said.

"Why did the state government not discuss 2BHK scheme, three acres land for Dalits, Dalit Bandhu and others schemes during the Assembly session," Kishan Reddy wondered.

Explaining that Prime Minister Narendra Modi protected the country by preventing a financial crisis during his tenure, he said that the GDP growth in India has elevated India to the fifth position from among 193 economies.

"BRS leaders have been making false allegations against me. When I wrote a number of letters seeking assistance to implement Central schemes in Telangana, the Chief Minister has not responded to a single letter," the Union minister said.

He said the BJP-led NDA Union government was implementing Dr B.R. Ambedkar's Constitution in letter and spirit in Jammu and Kashmir and protecting the rights of the people, including Scheduled Castes.
AP Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy(C) virtually launched the Tourist Police Outposts from the camp office on Tuesday. DGP KV Rajendranath Reddy, Home Minister Taneti Vanitha and others also seen. (Image By Arrangement)

Vijayawada: Giving a boost to tourism security in Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has inaugurated Tourist Police Stations at 20 important religious and tourist places in various districts.

Launching these stations virtually from his Camp Office at Tadepalli on Tuesday, the Chief Minister said the security kiosks would work as additional police stations and exclusively attend to complaints from tourists.

The DGP explained that the newly launched TPSs would be functional at the RK Beach in Visakhapatnam, the Sri Kodanda Rama Swamy temple at Vontimitta in YSR district, the Kukkuteswara Swamy temple at Pithapuram in Kakinada district, the Pushkar Ghat at Rajahmundry, the Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple at Dwaraka Tirumala in Eluru district, the Manginapudi Beach and the Mopidevi Temple in Krishna district, the Indrakeeladri Temple and Bhavani Island in NTR district, the Mypadu Beach and the Sri Penusila Lakshmi Narasimha Swami temple at Penchalakona in SPSR Nellore district, the Mahanandi and Ahobilam temples in Nandyala district, the Raghavendra Swamy temple at Mantralayam in Kurnool district, the Horsley Hills in Annamayya district and the Lepakshi temple in Satya Sai district.

The tourist police stations would be run by specially trained personnel and headed by an SI or ASI. Linked with local police stations, each TPS would have six police personnel including one or two women constables.

Interacting with the police officials in video mode, Jagan Mohan Reddy suggested that the contact phone number of the responsible police officials should be prominently displayed at all TPSs. He hoped that the enhanced security would help boost the tourism drive in the state.

The Chief Minister said several reforms were introduced in the police department after the YSRC came to power. The downloading of Disha App by about 1,20,00,000 women indicated its popularity. "Unlike during in the Telugu Desam rule, police services are now available to people through village and ward secretariats. The government has also introduced a zero-FIR system in police stations whereby the receptionists would talk to the complainants first.

DGP Rajendranath said women police at the TPSs would help women tourists. Pamphlets with emergency contact numbers and precautionary steps would be distributed to tourists to spread safety awareness.

While 20 TPSs have been started in the first phase, more of these would come up in future.

Home minister Taneti Vanita, Special CS (tourism) Rajat Bhargava and senior police officials were present.

Notably, at Mantralayam, Mutt Pontiff Sri Subhudendra Theertha Swamiji and Kurnool SP Siddarth Koshal offered puja at the tourist police station at Mantralayam after the inauguration.

The Raghavendra Swamy Mutt provided building, furniture and necessary facilities for the police station at Madwa Corridor closer to the Mutt premises.

Kurnool SP Siddarth Koushal noted that Mantralayam has been a major spiritual centre with thousands of devotees from across the country arriving for darshan. Hence, the tourist police station would be functional round-the-clock to provide necessary assistance to the devotees.

The mutt pontiff said thousands of devotees arrive for darshan every day while more than a lakh people turn up on auspicious days. The mutt would cooperate with the department, he said.
Telangana Assembly (PTI file photo)

Hyderabad: Political developments in the last few days have triggered a debate on whether or not Telangana is heading for a hung Assembly in the general elections.

What started with Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao heaping praise on the previous United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre and then Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in the Assembly, picked up momentum after Congress MP Komatireddy Venkat Reddy on Monday told mediapersons in New Delhi that the state would end up with a hung Assembly. He went on to state that the BRS would be left with no option but to support the Congress which, he said, would secure some 40 seats and form government.

All the three parties  the Congress, the BRS and the BJP  were quick to dismiss the possibility and claimed that they would capture power on their own.

The BJP dubbed the CMs Assembly speech as a clear indication of an alliance between the BRS and the Congress.

"After the CMs speech, Left leaders, who are aligning with the BRS, extended solidarity to PCC chief A. Revanth Reddy by taking part in a Congress programme. The AIMIM already has a secret pact with the BRS," said BJP leader N.V. Subash adding that the CM was desperately attempting to forge a pre-poll alliance with the Congress, the Left and the MIM.

During a media interaction in Delhi, Venkat Reddy said none of the political parties would cross 60 seats in the Assembly elections. "There will be a hung Assembly and with 40-50 seats Congress will stake claim and BRS will have no option but to support the secular Congress," Venkat Reddy said. "KCR with his clear intent praised the Congress and Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh and degraded the BJP." The Congress MP, however, dismissed the claim that a pre-poll pact would benefit the BJP.

Congress leaders distanced the party from the statements and felt that this kind of talk would demoralise cadres and, besides confusing the voters, would give advantage to the BJP. PCC working president B. Mahesh Kumar Goud said Venkat Reddy had only aired his personal views and the party had nothing to do with it.

TPCC chief A. Revanth Reddy left it to the high command to look into the MPs comments and referred to the Warangal Declaration in which party former president Rahul Gandhi had categorically spoken against pre-poll alliances.

Sangareddy MLA T. Jagga Reddy while also referring to Rahul Gandhis statements that the party would not enter into an alliance and that it would go it alone in TS, said that it was up to the national leadership to take a call. He recalled the understanding between the BJP and the BRS and the support that Rao had extended to the BJP at the national level in recent years.
Forest personnel examining the canine tooth of a tigress captured by them near Nanachi in Madikeri on Tuesday. (Photo: By Arrangement)

BENGALURU: Two tigers suspected to have been involved in human killings were captured by forest personnel on Tuesday. One was captured in Mysuru and another in Madikeri and both were captured on the boundary of Nagarahole National Park, a tiger reserve spread across Mysuru and Madikeri districts. The captured tigresses have been shifted to Chamundeshwari Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre, Koorgalli near Mysuru city.

In Madikeri, a tigress which is suspected to have mauled two persons at K. Bdaga village on the periphery of Nagarahole National Park in Kutta region of Ponnampet, Madikeri was captured after tranquilisation by wildlife veterinarians on Tuesday.

The caught tigress is aged about 13 years and after its capture the wild cat has been shifted to Chamundeshwari Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre, Koorgalli near Mysuru city. Chetan (12) and Raju (75) were victims of the wild cat attack on Sunday evening and on Monday morning leading to panic among the residents of Kutta and adjoining areas in Ponnampet.

Forest officials told Deccan Chronicle that the tigress was caught during a combing operation conducted by the forest personnel and they came across the wild cat in a bush. Upon noticing the personnel, the tigress made an escape and personnel went behind the animal tracking it.

Vets mounted tamed elephants darted the tigress before it was secured near Nanachi village on the border of the Nagarahole National Park and shifted to the Rehabilitation Centre. "The tigress has external injuries," said a source who took part in its capture.

In Mysuru, a tigress suspected to have mauled a tribal boy Manju about 10-days behind at Balle, a tribal settlement in D.B. Kuppe range of H.D. Kote in Mysuru district was captured by forest personnel. The tigress caught in D.B. Kuppe range is about 12 years and its capture was near Balle of the same range, said officials.
Union Tourism and Culture Minister G. Krishnan Reddy flagged off the inaugural train service from Dharmavaram to Machilipatnam (Image Source: Twitter/@kishanreddybjp)

VIJAYAWADA: Union Tourism and Culture Minister G. Krishnan Reddy flagged off the inaugural train service from Dharmavaram to Machilipatnam at the railway station here on Tuesday.

The South Central Railways Vijayawada division extended Train 17215/17216 Vijayawada-Dharmavaram-Vijayawada daily express service up to Machilipatnam railway station from Tuesday.

Officials said the primary maintenance of the extended rakes would be done at Machilipatnam.

The minister said the nation was moving forward with the principle of Sabka Saath-Sabka Vikas-Sabka Vishwas-Sabka Prayas by implementing inclusive growth and all-around development of the states, under the leadership of PM Modi.

The minister asserted that the extension of the Dharmavaram-Vijayawada express train up to Machilipatnam would be a major boon to the people of the two districts, also as it provided rail connectivity to important cities in the Rayalaseema region.

Kishan Reddy said the Centre made a record allocation of Rs 8,406 crore to AP in the Union Budget 2023-24 and introduced the high-speed Vande Bharat Express between Secunderabad and Visakhapatnam for the benefit of both Telugu states on the eve of the Sankranti festival.

"There were proposals to introduce a new train service from Machilipatnam to Tirupati as also an extension of the Vijayawada-Shirdi train to Machilipatnam and redevelopment of Vijayawada, Rajamahendravaram and Gudur railway stations on par with the facilities in airports.

Member of Parliament, V. Balashowry, pleaded for a new train service from Machilipatnam to Tirupati and the developing of the Tenali-Machilipatnam railway segment.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi displays a photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with industrialist Gautam Adani in the Lok Sabha during Budget Session of Parliament, in New Delhi. (PTI Photo)

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday led the Opposition attack in the Lok Sabha against the government over the Adani-Hindenburg issue as he tried to link Gautam Adani's meteoric rise with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ascendance to power at the Centre.

"The real magic starts when the PM comes to Delhi, and the real magic begins in 2014. In 2014, he (Adani) was in 609th spot on the list of richest people and climbed to the second spot," Gandhi said during a Lok Sabha debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President's address.

Gandhi was the first speaker from the Opposition to speak on the motion. He also displayed two photographs of Modi, one in which he is seen inside a plane with Adani and the other in which he is getting out of a plane with an Adani logo on it, to emphasise their alleged proximity.

Speaker Om Birla disapproved of Gandhi's action. He said: "Showing posters in the House isn't appropriate. If you will show posters then this side (BJP) will show posters of Rajasthan's CM (with Adani)."

Continuing with his allegations, Gandhi said that Modi helped Adani bag overseas contracts in various sectors.

"Earlier, Modi used to travel in Adani's aircraft; now Adani travels in Modiji's aircraft. This matter was earlier of Gujarat, then became of India and now has become international. How much money did Adani give to the BJP in the last 20 years and through electoral bonds," he asked.

" Modi goes to Australia, and by magic, SBI gives a $1 billion loan to Adani. Then he goes to Bangladesh and the Bangladesh Power Development Board signs a 25-year contract with Adani," said Gandhi.

In June 2022, the chairman of Sri Lanka's Ceylon Electricity Board informed a parliamentary hearing that President Rajapaksa told him that Modi "pressured" him to give the wind power contract to Adani, Gandhi alleged.

"Adani never made drones, while HAL used to do it and other companies do it. The PM goes to Israel and Adani gets the contract... They have four defence firms and had not done this work before; small arms and sniper rifles are all made by Adani," he said.

He alleged that be it maintenance of aircraft, small arms or drones, the whole India-Israel defence tie has been handed over to Adani.

"There should be a case study by business schools such as Harvard on the relationship between business and politics, India is a case study... The PM should get a gold medal in this," Gandhi said.

He alleged that the government tweaked rules in favour of Adani and said that the clause that no one without any prior experience will be involved in the development of airports was done away with. "This rule was changed by the government and Adani was given six airports. After that India's most strategic and profitable airport Mumbai Airport was taken away from GVK using agencies like the CBI, ED and was given to Adani by the Government of India," he alleged.

Gandhi said that during his 4,000 km Bharat Jodo Yatra, people asked him how Adani got into so many businesses and succeeded and what the nature of his relationship with the Prime Minister was.

During the yatra, he said, people asked him how Adani's net worth grew from $ 8 billion to $ 140 billion between 2014 and 2022.

"From Tamil Nadu to Kerala to Himachal Pradesh, we have been hearing one name everywhere -- Adani. Across the entire country, it's just Adani, Adani, Adani...," Gandhi said.

"I was asked by the people during the yatra as to why LIC's money is being put into the Adani Group. They also asked Adani's shares which are volatile, why LIC's funds are being put in it. I want to say, how do the government and the PM help Adani -- thousands of crores of (money from) public sector banks are given to Adani," he said.

"The (Adani-Modi) relationship began many years ago when the PM was Gujarat's CM. When most of India was asking questions of the Prime Minister, and was against the PM (then CM), one man stood shoulder to shoulder with Mr Modi, he was loyal to the Prime Minister and helped Mr Modi construct the idea of a resurgent Gujarat," Gandhi said.

Adani was the driving force behind the formation of a group of businessmen in Gujarat. He went on to say that the result was a massive expansion of Adani's businesses in Gujarat.

Gandhi also questioned the Agniveer scheme for recruiting defence personnel, claiming that youths aspiring to be in the Army were not on the same page as the government on the scheme. He said that senior officers have said the scheme will weaken the Army.

After Gandhi's attack on the PM, the BJP accused the Congress leader of making "baseless, shameless and reckless" allegations against the PM and said the Congress itself was involved in "big scams" that "tarnished" the image of the country.

Referring to the National Herald and AgustaWestland scam cases, senior BJP leader and Patna Sahib MP Ravi Shankar Prasad said, "It's time to revive the memory of Mr Gandhi on corruption," while alleging that the Congress leader, his mother Sonia Gandhi and her brother-in-law Robert Vadra "are on bail".

The former Union minister said the Congress party is "based on the twin pillars of corruption and protecting the corrupt". "Corruption and giving protection to the corrupt have been the histories of Mr Gandhi and his family," Prasad said.
Veteran BJP leader and newly appointed Governor of Jharkhand, C P Radhakrishan, said that it was not proper for those holding the gubernatorial post to talk politics or display political aspirations. (Twitter)

Chennai: Veteran BJP leader and newly appointed Governor of Jharkhand, C P Radhakrishan, said that it was not proper for those holding the gubernatorial post to talk politics or display political aspirations as they should leave their past and concentrate on development.

Speaking to the media at the Chennai airport, where he arrived from Coimbatore on Monday to a rousing welcome by party workers and supporters, Radhakrishnan said that a person could argue for his clients as a lawyer but on being made the judge the same person should only render justice.

Similarly political leaders, on becoming Governors, should put aside political aspirations, he said, triggering speculations in the grapevine that he was taking a potshot either at Tamilisai Soundararajan, the present governor of Telangana, or R N Ravi of Tamil Nadu as both of them have been accused of indulging in politics in their respective States.

The senior BJP leader's statement also assumes significance in the present day context where all the Governors appointed in States run by non-BJP governments have been accused of playing politics and interfering with the government in various ways.

Since Jharkhand, too, has a non-BJP Chief Minister in Hemant Soren and the outgoing Governor Ramesh Bais was accused of creating political controversies, Radhakrishnan's professed new approach could possibly be due to the BJP's itself changing its strategy to destabilize non-BJP governments through Governors.

Radhakrishnan, who did not elaborate on his code of behavior for Governors, expressed happiness over three persons from Tamil Nadu being appointed as Governors at the same time  L Ganesan for Nagaland, Ravi and Tamilisai Soundarajan  and said that it showed the appreciation President Draupadi Murmu and Prime Minister had for Tamil Nadu, Tamil race, culture, tradition and literature.

Never in the history of Tamil Nadu had three persons from the State served as Governors the same time and it was a matter of pride for the entire State and not any individual, he said, adding that the appointments also exemplified the recognition that Modi gave for hard work and in choosing people who worked without expecting rewards for responsibilities.

Once he took office as Governor, for which the date would be finalized in a day or two, he would create a cultural bridge between Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand, paving the way for the development of both the States, he said.

Jharkhand had a large number of Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Caste population living in the lowest rung of social order and it would be a pride for Tamil Nadu to strive for their uplift, he added.
TPCC president A. Revanth Reddy on the eighth day of his Haath se Haath Jodo' yatra. (Photo: @revanth_anumula)

Hyderabad: TPCC president A. Revanth Reddy who had criticised Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao for neglecting the temple town of Bhadradri while focusing his attention and financial resources on developing the Yadadri temple, promised that the Congress, if elected to power, would take up the proposal to build temples of Lord Rama in 100 Assembly constituencies with an estimated cost of Rs 10 crore each.

Addressing a large gathering at the Ambedkar centre on the eighth day of his Haath se Haath Jodo yatra in the temple town, Revanth Reddy lamented that Bhadradri, which had historically enjoyed the patronage of various rulers, including the Nizams, had been utterly neglected after the Chandrashekar Rao-led TRS (now BRS) government assumed power.

"The CM has stopped presenting 'Mutyala Talambralu' on behalf of the government on Sri Ramnavami day. In addition, the promised Rs 100 crore for the development of the temple town as well the Rs 1,000 crore for flood control remains unfulfilled. KCR, who not only defrauded the people but also Lord Rama. He will be forgotten in history," he said.

During his yatra, he interacted with farmers of both Pinapaka and Sarapaka. He accused the government of failing to provide compensation to the people who were hit by the Sitarama Project.

In response to the BJP's claims that the Congress has lost ground in Telangana, Revanth Reddy said that those who engage in pointless conversation should go to Bhadrachalam to see for themselves the support Congress had been receiving in the temple town. "It is the BJP which does not have a place in Telangana," he remarked.

Revanth Reddy guaranteed that once Congress comes to power, it will provide Rs 5 lakh for each poor family for the Indiramma housing scheme as well as implement the Warangal Declaration. Apart from these, he promised to enhance Aarogyashris cover from the current Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh, besides clearing of fee reimbursement to the students.

CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, former PCC chief V. Hanumantha Rao, MLA Seethakka, former minister Sambhani Chandrasekhar, senior vice-president Mallu Ravi, AICC secretary Rohit Chowdary were among those who accompanied Revanth Reddy as he entered Bhadrachalam.

Bhatti bemoaned that seven mandals were "handed over" to Andhra Pradesh after bifurcation, while also claiming that Telangana had lost about two lakh acres to AP. Hanumantha Rao affirmed that there were no differences within the party and it was high time that the Congresss rank and file worked hard to defeat both the BRS and BJP.
Warangal urban cooperative bank chairman and BJP leader Errabelli Pradeep Rao. (Twitter)

WARANGAL: Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has "betrayed the people of Warangal" after promising that the city would be developed on par with Hyderabad with a governmental input of Rs 300 crore every year, the BJP has alleged.

"The chief minister did not sanction even a single rupee till date. As a result, the city is lagging behind in terms of development," alleged the Warangal urban cooperative bank chairman and BJP leader Errabelli Pradeep Rao.

He was addressing a Shakti Kendram meeting called by the state BJP leadership at Gopalaswamy Temple area in Hanamkonda district on Monday under the leadership of A Mohan.

Pradeep said the people of Warangal district gave huge moral support to KCR and stood by him during the separate Telangana movement. "But, after achieving the Telangana state, KCR gave key posts to five members of his family. Only his grandson is left to yet get a prominent post."

He said, "Ignoring the sacrifices of hundreds of youths and not resolving the issues of the people and not providing any employment opportunities to the youth and not implementing his promise of an unemployment dole, Chandrasekhar Rao and his family members ruled the state by focusing only on making money by the crores."

"The BRS party MLAs are indulging in land settlement and grabbing the lands of innocent people. People are watching every move of the BRS party leaders and are ready to teach them a fitting lesson in the coming assembly elections," he warned.

BJP leaders Acha Vidhya Sagar, Vannala Venkatramana, Samudrala Parameshwar, Kandimalla Mahesh and Trilok Lakshman were among those who spoke.
Energy minister G.Jagadish Reddy said the BJP government was attempting to impose an arbitrary rule by demanding that the state government pay discoms before providing subsidy power supply to the people. "Such rules were being pushed by the BJP government in an effort to privatise the power sector. (DC)

Hyderabad: Energy minister G. Jagadish Reddy asserted on Tuesday that the BRS government was committed to providing 24-hour free power to farmers, while accusing the Narendra Modi-led BJP government of creating obstacles for the state government.

The minister stated that in the name of power reforms the Centre was trying to install electricity meters on agricultural borewells, a charge that was denied by the BJP leaders in the past. He said the state government would oppose the BJP government's plan, noting that Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao had made it clear that accepting the Centre's planned electricity reforms, which aimed to privatise the power sector, was out of the question.

The minister said the BJP government was attempting to impose an arbitrary rule by demanding that the state government pay discoms before providing subsidy power supply to the people. "Such rules were being pushed by the BJP government in an effort to privatise the power sector."
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg played down on Tuesday the importance of Finland and Sweden joining the world's biggest security organisation at the same time as Turkiye refuses to ratify their membership, mostly due to a dispute with Sweden.

The main question is not whether Finland and Sweden are ratified together. The main question is that they are both ratified as full members as soon as possible, Stoltenberg told reporters. The long-held consensus at NATO has been that both the Nordic neighbours should join at the same time.

Sweden and neighbouring Finland abandoned decades of nonalignment and applied to join the 30-nation alliance in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. All NATO members except Turkiye and Hungary have ratified their accession, but unanimity is required.

Also Read | Attacks reported across Ukraine, Biden to visit neighbour Poland

Turkiye has accused the government in Stockholm of being too lenient toward groups it deems as terror organisations or existential threats, including Kurdish groups. Earlier this month, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Ankara has fewer problems with Finland joining.

He stressed, however, that it was up to the military alliance to decide whether to accept one country only or the Nordic duo together. So far, Finland has stood by Sweden and insisted they should join NATO's ranks together.

Also Read | Romania denies Russian missiles crossed country

Stoltenberg said that he is confident that both will be full members and are working hard to get both ratified as soon as possible. It had been hoped that both countries would be welcomed in, at NATO's next summit in Lithuania in July.

Turkiye was rocked last week by a devastating earthquake and aftershocks that killed more than 35,000 people in the country and neighbouring Syria.

We are all horrified by the terrible toll caused by the earthquakes in Turkiye, Stoltenberg said, adding that NATO allies are providing emergency support to the huge rescue and recovery operation.

Also Read | NATO chief Stoltenberg plans to leave office in October

Turkiye is in an election year, and the topic of Nordic membership of NATO is a possible vote winner. In recent weeks, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has expressed anger at a series of separate demonstrations in Stockholm. In one case a solitary anti-Islam bigot burned the Quran outside the Turkish Embassy, while in an unconnected protest, an effigy of Erdogan was hanged.

Of the two countries, only Finland shares a border with Russia and would appear to be more at risk should President Vladimir Putin decide to target his neighbour. That said, some NATO allies, led by the United States, have offered security guarantees to both should they come under threat.

Hungary has pushed back its ratification date for both countries three times so far but has not publicly raised any substantial objections to either of them joining.
The World Health Organization said Tuesday that last week's massive earthquake, the epicentre of which was in Turkey, constituted the "worst natural disaster" in 100 years in its Europe region.

The 7.8-magnitude earthquake, followed by a major aftershock, on February 6 has now killed more than 35,000 people in Turkey and neighbouring Syria.

"We are witnessing the worst natural disaster in the WHO European region for a century and we are still learning about its magnitude," Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, told a press conference.

The WHO's European region comprises 53 countries, including Turkey. Syria is a member of the WHO's neighbouring Eastern Mediterranean region.

Also Read: Turkey earthquake rescuers work through night as hopes fade for survivors

Kluge also said the health body had "initiated the largest deployment of emergency medical teams" in the 75-year history of the WHO European region.

"Twenty-two emergency medical teams have arrived in Turkey so far," Kluge noted, adding they would integrate into "Turkey's ongoing health response".

The confirmed death toll following the earthquake stands at 35,331, as officials and medics said 31,643 people had died in Turkey and at least 3,688 in Syria.

The toll has barely changed in Syria for several days and is expected to rise.

"The needs are huge, increasing by the hour. Some 26 million people across both countries need humanitarian assistance," Kluge said.
A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's shout-out to homegrown LCA Tejas, state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited on Tuesday said it had made a pitch to sell 15 home-grown multi-role fighters to Argentina and another 20 to Egypt.

"Both Argentina and Egypt have shown interest in the LCA. We have proposed to sell 15 Tejas LCA to Argentina and another 20 to Egypt. While talks are on with the Argentine authorities, we have submitted our proposal to Egypt, which is also interested in setting up an ecosystem, C B Ananthakrishnan, chairman and managing director of the HAL said here at a press conference on the sidelines of Aero India.

He conceded that the aviation major probably lost in the Malaysian deal to buy Fighter Lead-in Trainer to South Korea, though there was no official announcement yet.

Also Read | F-35 fighter demonstrates prowess with stunning aerial display at Aero India

In October 2021, HAL submitted a proposal to Malaysias Ministry of Defence to supply 18 Tejas LCA responding to a global tender that the Royal Malaysian Air Force had floated.

Tejas was one of the two shortlisted aircraft, but the South Korean FA-50 made by Korean Aerospace Industries may bag the order as the Korean firm had emerged as the frontrunner. However, nothing has been conveyed to the HAL officially.

Last August, HAL opened an office in Kualalumpur observing that the office would help HAL tap new business opportunities for Fighter Lead-in Trainer LCA and other requirements of the Royal Malaysian Air Force like Su-30 MKM and Hawk upgrades.

HAL officials said the Philippines had shown interest in procuring the Dhruv Advanced lightweight helicopters. If realised, it would be the second major military contract signed between India and Philippines after the two nations signed a contract on the induction of Brahmos cruise missile.

Asked about progress on the much-awaited LCA Mk-II, HAL CMD CB Ananthakrishnan said the first aircraft is expected to be rolled out in December 2024 and it would take to the sky in the third quarter of 2025.

In the previous edition of Aero-India, the aviation major was awarded a Rs 48,000 crore contract to supply 83 Tejas LCA Mark-1A to the IAF. As per the contract, the first aircraft was to be delivered by February 2024 and we are on the course, said another HAL official.
Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh on Tuesday sparked a row saying 40 CRPF jawans were martyred in Pulwama in 2019 due to a "blatant intelligence failure". A tweet by Singh on the anniversary of the Pulwama suicide bomber attack on the CRPF convoy evoked a sharp reaction from Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan who demanded that the "DNA" of the Congress party be examined.

Today we pay homage to the 40 CRPF Martyrs who died because of the blatant Intelligence Failure in Pulwama. I hope all the Martyred Families have been suitably rehabilitated, Digvijaya Singh tweeted. More than 40 soldiers made the supreme sacrifice after a suicide bomber rammed his vehicle into the CRPF convoy in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir on this day in the year 2019.

Today we pay homage to the 40 CRPF Martyrs who died because of the blatant Intelligence Failure in Pulwama.

I hope all the Martyred Families have been suitably rehabilitated.  digvijaya singh (@digvijaya_28) February 14, 2023

Also Read | Pulwama attack anniversary: Four out of 19 involved still at large

In a retaliatory attack, the Indian Air Force targeted terror camps in Pakistan's Balakot. I think Digvijayji's intelligence has failed, it is his failure. He insults the country's Army and speaks the language of Pakistan. He tries to demoralise the Army, Chouhan told reporters.

Seeking a reply from former Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party MP Rahul Gandhi on this issue, Chouhan said an investigation is needed to find out "who sowed the seeds in Singh's mind to speak against the country and the Army. Congress' DNA should be examined as the party talks about uniting India (Bharat Jodo Yatra) but marches with those who talk about breaking India".

Chouhan said it was surprising that a leader of Congress has been constantly questioning the bravery and patriotism of the Army and is speaking the language of Pakistan. This is not the first time when Digvijaya Sigh, a Rajya Sabha member and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister, has raised questions over the Pulwama attack. Speaking in Jammu and Kashmir last month, Singh had alleged the BJP-led Central government gave no proof of the 2019 surgical strike in response to the terror attack. The Congress and Rahul Gandhi had, however, distanced themselves from Singh's remarks on the previous occasion.
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The Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service (NIFRS) has announced 34 new Wholetime (Full-Time) Firefighters have now graduated and will begin their careers in fire stations across Northern Ireland.

The graduation ceremony was held at the NIFRS Learning and Development Centre, Boucher Road, Belfast, and the graduates were joined by their family and loved ones for the special celebration.

Among the 34 graduates were Nathan Ferris from Derry and Richard Kitson from Castledawson.

The graduates completed an intensive training programme that allowed them to develop specialist knowledge and a wide range of practical skills, including tactical firefighting; using breathing apparatus; and responding to road traffic collisions and other rescues.

They also learnt how to deliver fire prevention and community safety training.

NIFRS Interim Chief Fire & Rescue Officer, Andy Hearn said: This is a hugely important day for our 34 trainees as they graduate as Wholetime Firefighters. Our graduates should be extremely proud of getting to this day.

"They were exceptional in a challenging recruitment process, and then have successfully completed our rigorous Trainee Firefighting Course.

Thanks to their hard work and the dedication of our Instructors, they are ready to start the next chapter of their career in NIFRS and will now take their places as Wholetime Firefighters on Fire Stations across Northern Ireland.

Todays graduates have chosen to become a Firefighter because they believe in serving our community and working with others to make Northern Ireland a safer place. I wish them every success in what is a fulfilling, interesting and worthwhile career.

Carmel McKinney, OBE, Chairperson of NIFRS added: On behalf of the NIFRS Board I would like to warmly congratulate each of our new Firefighters graduating today.

"We want the best people to keep our community safe, and I am confident that todays graduates are equipped and ready to go out onto Station to serve the people of Northern Ireland.

The training and development of our people is not something that ends with todays Graduation Ceremony.

"I am a firm believer in lifelong learning and todays graduates will continue their training and development on Station and in our new 42.6million Learning & Development Centre just outside Cookstown, throughout their careers.

"As a service, we continue to invest in our people and in the safety of everyone in Northern Ireland.

I wish all of todays 34 graduates success and happiness in their careers in NIFRS.
SDLP councillor Martin Kearney has welcomed confirmation of additional 212 bus services from Derry and Belfast.

Councillor Kearney lobbied Translink to increase late night bus services for people travelling from both cities.

Translink have confirmed that from 13 March there will be an additional 1.15am bus leaving Belfast and an 11.00pm bus leaving Derry on Friday and Saturdays.

Councillor Kearney said: Im delighted that after sustained lobbying from myself and SDLP colleagues that Translink have now confirmed additional late night bus services from Belfast and Derry on Fridays and Saturdays.

"Improving public transport provision has long been a priority for my party and these new services will benefit all the areas along the 212 route including Dungiven, Maghera and Castledawson.

These services will be welcomed by local people travelling at the weekend for shopping, to socialise or to visit friends and family without having to worry about heading home early, with boosts for our economy.

"It will be particularly beneficial for those who live in rural areas and often struggle to find alternative modes of transport to get home.

Its important that we continue to strive for improved transport links, particularly for those in rural areas who are all too often left behind by the lack of routes and services.

"These new services are an important step for people along the 212 route and well continue to make the case for enhanced services, hopefully off the back of these new routes proving to be a huge success.
Two projects aimed at boosting the space sector in Northern Ireland are to receive funding from the UK Space Agency.

The funding includes 495,000 for a Northern Ireland consortium to oversee a pilot programme enabling small and medium firms to work with large companies to overcome technology challenges.

The funding has been awarded to ADS Northern Ireland, which represents the aerospace, defence, security and space industries in the region.

A further 223,000 will enable a Northern Ireland space cluster manager to work with local government, businesses, and academia to coordinate space activity and encourage collaboration and investment.

The UK Space Agency said Northern Irelands space sector generated 46 million income for the UK economy in 2019/20.

The UK Space Conference  a biennial event that brings together the UK and international space sectors  is set to take place in Belfast in November.

The projects are among 19 new schemes across the UK which are to receive funding.

Secretary of State for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, Michelle Donelan, said: This funding will help link local clusters to valuable networks of innovators and investors, showcasing the strengths of the UK space sector to international investors and levelling up the economy.

Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Chris Heaton-Harris said: Northern Ireland companies are at the forefront of innovation, and this UK Space Agency funding will enhance the development of skills and local knowledge.

With the UK Space Conference set to take place in Belfast later this year, this is a great time to shine the spotlight on Northern Irelands space sector, and the economic opportunities it offers.

Dr Paul Bate, chief executive of the UK Space Agency, said: Northern Ireland has a proud heritage of engineering excellence coupled with leading research and innovative thinking, meaning it is well placed to capitalise on the opportunities from a growing global space sector.

It is already home to companies and universities that are involved in international space programmes through innovation on the ground and in orbit; future lunar missions and deep space exploration.

Our new funding for a space cluster manager and high impact projects will accelerate the development of this fast-growing space ecosystem and help realise its full economic potential.
Environmental campaigners are to take a Stormont department to court over alleged air quality failings.

Friends of the Earth has teamed up with The PILS Project for a legal challenge at the High Court in Belfast against the Department for Infrastructure.

They said the case is in relation to a long-running and dangerous air quality failing.

The case is expected to proceed to a full hearing in June.

They contend that hundreds of thousands of diesel cars in Northern Ireland have not received a legally compliant exhaust emissions test at government-controlled MOT vehicle testing centres.

They allege a failure that has continued for the last 17 years.

The groups are raising serious air pollution concerns caused by diesel emissions and have issued legal proceedings against the department over its recurring failure to identify dangerous emissions levels during MOT testing.

Their legal team will argue that in failing to fully test the emissions of diesel cars in Northern Ireland during MOT testing, the department has breached its duties not only under vehicle testing law but also its duties to protect public health and the health of Northern Irelands biodiversity and wildlife habitats.

James Orr, director of Friends of the Earth NI, claimed the department has consistently failed to comply with the law, describing the situation as nothing short of a major scandal.

The science is clear, the law is clear  there is a duty to test emissions in order to protect both public health and the health of habitats, he said.

We are taking the government to court because we all have a right to breathe clean air.

PILS director Maria McCloskey said: This is not just a case about diesel emissions.

It is about air quality, environmental protections, and about a fundamental failure of our government to fulfil its legal obligations since 2006.

This case potentially impacts every single person living in Northern Ireland. It is, at its core, a public health issue.

We at PILS are pleased to be able to offer our support to Friends of the Earth NI in this vitally important legal challenge.

A spokesperson from the Department for Infrastructure said: The department is aware legal proceedings have been issued and shall not be commenting further in advance of the High Court hearing.
Stormont MLAs should have finished the work they started on organ donation law changes, Alliance leader Naomi Long has said.

During the ill-fated recall sitting of the Assembly, Mrs Long said that passing the regulations for Daithis Law in the Assembly was the quickest way to get the opt-out donation system implemented.

She told MLAs the sitting was an emotional and difficult day for people awaiting transplants.

Young Daithi MacGabhann and his family are, of course, at the forefront of our minds, they have invested time, energy and passion in the campaign for this law, but there are others who we dont know, who face the same anxious wait and need change delivered now, she said.

Those people who are waiting on life-saving transplant surgery, and their loved ones, are looking to us today to finish the work we started together in the last mandate, and offer them hope that a suitable organ can be found for transplantation.

Today  Daithis Law. What in the name of humanity is stopping us?@Donate4Daithi #DaithisLaw pic.twitter.com/kbb70UdQ42  Colin McGrath  (@ColinSDLP) February 14, 2023

She had urged the DUP to do the right thing and allow a speaker to be elected.

That would open the door for this Assembly to pass the regulations and give people who are waiting for transplant surgery a better chance of survival, because for them, this is a life and death issue, she said.

Robin Swann, who was health minister when Daithis Law was first approved by the Assembly, said the legislation was one of his proudest achievements.

The Ulster Unionist MLA said it was a law that would not just save lives, but change lives.

Mr Swann said the discourse leading up to the recall sitting had been influenced by party politics.

He then recalled a playful encounter he and then-first and deputy first ministers Paul Givan and Michelle ONeill had with Daithi and his family at Stormont Castle.

The fighting spirit that our former first minister (Mr Givan) referred to actually saw Daithi put a right hook on his chin, he said.

Mr Acting Speaker, in regards to this legislation and the discourse weve had up to it, Im sure theres many have wanted to be in the same place.

Mr Swann said while his preference was for the law to be implemented at Stormont, he urged the Government to ensure it went through at Westminster.

Our former first minister was right, weve seen the Secretary of State (Chris Heaton-Harris) and Ive seen Westminster act at pace on many other pieces of legislation in regards to this, he said.

This should not be a stumbling block to him or to Westminster.

SDLP MLA Colin McGrath said the ongoing failure to elect a speaker was an absolute embarrassment.

The business we are here to address today isnt about political parties, he said.

It isnt about me, it isnt about the SDLP, it isnt about Sinn Fein or the DUP or any of us.

It is about the 134 families whose loved ones are watching us here today, waiting on an urgent organ transplant and who have placed their faith in us to be able to make that possible, he said.

.@naomi_long "This Assembly passing the regulations would give people who are waiting for transplant surgery a better chance of survival. For them, this is a life or death issue."  Alliance Party (@allianceparty) February 14, 2023

Mr McGrath said passing the regulations at Westminster was the second-best option as it would delay the implementation of the regulations.

Everyone that is on that transplant list deserves so much more better than second-best option, he said.

He added: Why is there an urgency?

Because up to 15 people die every year here, needlessly, on the organ donation list, because we have 134 people who are now today waiting for an organ transplant.

For those people on the organ list that are waiting, every minute counts for them, and every day we delay this legislation does not help them with their odds of getting a proper organ match.
Vivo is just days away from launching its new Y series phones in India. Vivo Y100 is one of these upcoming launches on February 16 in India. However, ahead of the event, we have leaked on the internet which gives us a good idea of what to expect.

A tipster, Sudhanshu Ambhore, tweeted the design, price range and key specifications of the Vivo Y100 on Twitter. Here are the top 5 key details of the phone according to the leaks.

1. Vivo Y100 design

Vivo Y100 seems like a full-screen display with a water drop notch and a chin at the bottom. It will come in three colour options which are Gold, Blue and Black reportedly. It might weigh 181g. The blue and gold colour variants could be equipped with a colour-changing back panel. It is expected to come with an IP54 rating against dust and water.

2. Vivo Y100 display

The Vivo Y100 could feature a 6.38-inch AMOLED display with a Full HD+ resolution. It will support a 90Hz refresh rate and 360Hz touch sampling rate. The selfie shooter can be seen under the water drop notch in the display in renders.

3. Vivo Y100 performance

The Vivo Y100 is expected to be powered by Mediatek Dimensity 900 processor paired with 8GB RAM and maybe more. It will run on FunTouch OS 13 based on Android 13 reportedly. It could pack a 4500mAh battery with 44-watt FlashCharge fast charging support.

4. Vivo Y100 camera

Vivo Y100 might have a triple camera setup holding a 64-megapixel primary camera, a 2-megapixel macro lens and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. Along with that, it is tipped to sport a 16-megapixel selfie shooter.

5. Vivo Y100 price range

The Vivo Y100 reportedly starts at 24,999 for the base variant of 8GB RAM and 128GB storage.

Thats all the information we have so far but we cannot confirm them because they are totally based on rumours and leaks. So keep visiting Digit for updated information about the official announcement from Vivo.

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in or head to our Google News page.
Nanny Payroll, a payroll company based in Louth has been named as a finalist in the Outstanding Small Business category at the SFA National Business Awards 2023.

The company, which aims to take the hassle out of figuring out nanny tax for working parents was founded by sisters Jenny Diamond and Astrid Hamilton, and their childhood best friend Fiona Chandler after the trio conceived the idea while on maternity leave.

The SFA National Business Awards are now in their 19th year and celebrate the achievements of small business in Ireland.

Speaking about the nomination, Jenny Diamond said:

We are proud to be nominated alongside some of the brightest and best entrepreneurs in Ireland.

"The nomination marks five years of hard work building and growing the business and it is extremely rewarding, not just to get recognition for those efforts, but to get the opportunity to network and learn from other small business owners and industry experts from across Ireland.

She added:

There are over 270,000 small firms in Ireland, employing nearly half the private sector workforce. When we sat around my kitchen table five years ago dreaming up the idea for Nanny Payroll, we never would have imagined we would now be considered amongst the most outstanding small businesses in the country.

For Jenny, the nomination is a particularly poignant acknowledgement of the companys resilience and strength during Irelands pandemic recovery.

We launched Carer Payroll, our sister company, in the aftermath of the pandemic which highlighted the importance of supporting elderly people to be cared for in their own homes for as long as possible.

We are proud that we were able to, not just survive but thrive during a time of unique global crisis. Helping working families remains the lifeblood of our brand.

"Whether its helping a family claim tax relief for employing a carer or helping a working family employ a nanny, there is no greater buzz than knowing we have made life a little easier for busy families just like ours.
Calum Mulholland, a graduate of the Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering has been announced as the winner of the Peter Rice Award 2023 at Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT).

The annual award ceremony, which is sponsored by Engineers Ireland Northeast Region, honours the renowned Dundalk-raised engineer, Peter Rice who worked for Ove Arup on major global projects such as the Centre Pompidou, Lloyds of London, the Louvre Pyramid and Sydney Opera House.

The Peter Rice medal is awarded each year to the best Level 7 Engineering student project at DkIT. It is an opportunity to showcase project work within the School of Engineering, with student posters and projects on display during the event.

For the competition itself, three candidates from a range of Engineering disciplines presented their Level 7 student projects to an audience of students, staff and a panel of judges from Engineers Ireland Northeast Region.

The 2023 finalists were Calum Mulholland, BEng in Mechanical Engineering, Bakhtawar Parhiar, BEng in Electrical and Electronic Systems, and Lee McConville BEng in Civil Engineering.

Following their presentations, each candidate was interviewed by the judging panel. The judging panel consisted of Sean McCarthy, Breen Jackson, Darren Sheelan, and Eamon Dillane, all members of Engineers Ireland.

The panel awarded this years Peter Rice Medal to Calum Mulholland for his project on the design and development of a powered sliding seat for a commercial vehicle.

The winning project was carried out in partnership with Combilift, Monaghan. The judges were impressed by the enthusiasm and engagement of all three competitors along with the insights and innovative thinking they highlighted in their presentations and interviews.

While all three competitors were of a phenomenal quality, the judges felt that on the day Calum best demonstrated the innovative thinking and approach for which Peter Rice was famed.

The Head of School of Engineering, Dr Breda Brennan and the Chairperson of the Engineers Ireland Northeast Region, Mr Pat McCormick thanked all the competitors and the judges for their participation and engagement and highlighted the ongoing need for engineering professionals in the Irish economy.

"The demand in industry both locally and nationally continues to offer a wealth of employment opportunity for graduates of the Institutes Engineering programmes. The ongoing engagement of Combilift with the Institutes School of Engineering clearly shows the strong alliances between industry and education in the region.

"Congratulations to all who took part in the competition."
Louth has been allocated 10,072,400 in funding this year as part of a national 626 million investment programme for 2023 for regional and local roads.

The funding for Louth covers 16 different schemes and programmes. The schemes and the amounts allocated to each are as follows:

Restoration Improvement - 4,691,000

Restoration Maintenance - 685,000

Supplementary Restoration Maintenance - 538,000

Discretionary Grant - 1,270,000

Bridge Rehabilitation - 229,000

Specific Imp. Grant - 1,000,000

Strategic Regional & Local Roads - 100,000

Safety Improvement Works - 174,000

PSCI: Survey Support - 11,000

Training Grant - 40,000

Drainage Works - 320,500

Former National Roads - 500,000

Speed Limits (Housing Area Signage) - 22,450

Speed Limits (Rural Speed Limit Signage) - 45,000

Climate Change Adaptation & Resilience Works - 230,000

Community Involvement Scheme - 216,450

These grants supplement local authorities own resources expenditure on regional and local road projects and does not represent the total investment in regional and local roads for this year. On Monday, 304k for upgrade works on rural roads and laneways in Louth was also announced as part of the Local Improvement Scheme (LIS).

Making the announcement today, Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan said: Our main priority in 2023 continues to be the protection and renewal of the existing regional and local road network because that is the one thing you dont curtail. It makes more sense to protect and repair our roads quickly rather than letting them fall into more expensive disrepair.

"We are providing funding for a range of schemes from larger strategic road improvements to smaller scale road improvements and critical bridge rehabilitation works.

"An important part of this allocation is the climate change adaptation grant which was introduced for works on roads at risk due to the impact of climate change and severe weather events. This funding will continue in 2023 with 16 million being allocated for 329 climate change adaptation projects."

News of the funding was welcomed by Louth based Senator Erin McGreehan. Senator McGreehan commented, "This significant funding increase will enable us to repair, strengthen, and maintain our roads across the region, ensuring that they are suitable for their intended purposes. We are committing resources towards initiatives such as road repairs, bridge rehabilitation, road safety measures, community engagement, drainage improvements, and climate change adaptation.

Improving and maintaining our road network is essential to the sustained development of local economies in rural Ireland. These roads are critical for children getting to school and people travelling to work safely. Rural regeneration is a top priority for the government, and this investment programme for 2023 is further proof of that commitment.

Senator McGreehan added that "this investment demonstrates the government's dedication to investing in roads and rural infrastructure".


Eimear Dodd

A member of the Irish Defence Forces who carried out a shameful attack on a taxi driver has been handed a suspended prison sentence.

Daniel Keane (36), of Seagrave Park, Rathoath, Co Meath, pleaded guilty to assault causing harm, production of an article and making off without paying for a taxi at St Anthony's Crescent, Crumlin on December 7th, 2019.

Keane has no previous convictions and is a serving officer in the Defence Forces.

Imposing sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on Tuesday, Judge Orla Crowe said this was a shameful attack on a man doing his job.

She handed Keane an 18-month sentence, suspended in full for two years on strict conditions.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard the taxi driver picked up Keane and his partner at 4am from the Camden Street area on the night in question. The couple appeared intoxicated and were engaged in a verbal disagreement during the journey.

When the taxi stopped at St Anthony's Crescent, Keane got out of the taxi and told the driver that his partner would pay the 20.80 fare due. Keane's partner said she did not know if she had the money.

The taxi doors were locked and Keane's partner said she had 5. She rang Keane to ask him to pay but he screamed at her on the call before hanging up.

Keane's partner asked the victim to open the taxi door and said she would get cash to pay him from the house. She went into the house and the taxi driver waited five minutes.

The taxi driver then left the car and knocked on the door. Keane opened the door, grabbed the victim's jacket and said: How dare you knock on the door as grandfather is sleeping.

Poker

Keane then went into the house and came back with a 2ft black fire poker in his right hand. The victim ran away from the door, but Keane followed him.

The defendant swung the poker, hitting the victim on the hip, causing him to fall to the ground. Keane took the victim's wallet and removed 100. The taxi driver's phone also fell and the screen smashed.

The taxi driver ran away, but Keane followed and gave him back the 100 he had taken. The defendant then struck the injured party's face with the poker.

The taxi driver managed to call gardai and was taken to hospital where he was treated for injuries to his face and hip.

Keane told gardai he had not assaulted anyone and the poker was in his hand to point at the driver. He said he offered the taxi driver an IOU, but the driver became irate and there was a small scuffle at the door of the house.

Keane apologised for ruining the driver's night and accepted that an IOU was not appropriate. A victim impact statement was handed into the court.

The injured party said he had lost income and is afraid to drive at night.

Maurice Coffey SC, defending, suggested his client had misconstrued the situation after having a lot to drink. Keane is a social drinker and the couple had not realised they had no money to pay for the taxi, Counsel said.

Mr Coffey said a probation report put his client at low risk of re-offending. He added that Keane is a father of two children and is taking medication for anxiety and attending counselling.

A letter of apology from Keane was handed into court, in addition to other testimonials. A letter from the Defence Forces confirmed Keane lost the chance of promotion due to this incident.

At a previous sentence hearing, Judge Crowe said the court did not agree with the narrative put forward by the defence. She said the victim was also a father who had been doing an honest night's work.

Mr Coffey said his client had brought 5,000 to court as a gesture of remorse, in addition to the 1,000 offered as a gesture of remorse last July. He said his client is of limited means and covered his mother's mortgage repayments while she was ill.

Dismissal

Mr Coffey asked Judge Crowe to consider giving his client probation to avoid his dismissal from the Defence Forces and the loss of his career.

Defence counsel said there were a unique set of circumstances and argued that the consequences of a conviction for his client could be very high.

Judge Crowe noted Keane has 16 years of service in the Defence Forces and has served his country at home and abroad.

She said the aggravating factors in the case included Keane striking the victim several times. Keane had entered a guilty plea on a trial date and the normal discount on a sentence for an early plea was not available.

Judge Crowe said the victim had been seeking what was lawfully owed to him and people taking taxis at night should know that they cannot offer an IOU.

She said mitigating factors included Keane's guilty plea, his lack of previous convictions, his status as a family man and the token of remorse offered.

Judge Crowe said it would not be appropriate to apply probation in this case as Keane had entered a guilty plea on a trial date and there were three offences relating to this incident.
China's largest freshwater lake sees increasing water level

Xinhua) 08:44, February 14, 2023

Migrant birds are seen at the Poyang Lake Nanji national wetland reserve in east China's Jiangxi Province, Nov. 11, 2022. (Xinhua/Wan Xiang)

NANCHANG, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- The water level of China's largest freshwater lake, Poyang, in east China's Jiangxi Province, continued to rise, thanks to continuous rainfall and the rising water level of the Yangtze River, said the provincial water resources department.

The water level at the lake's landmark Xingzi hydrological station rose to 9.16 meters on Monday afternoon, after the daily increase exceeded 40 centimeters for a third consecutive day.

The hydrological station expected the water level to increase further, and the provincial hydrological monitoring center canceled the blue alert for a low water level, which is the lowest alert level in a four-tier, color-coded water level warning system.

The water level of the Lake on Nov. 17, 2022, dropped to 6.46 meters, the lowest since record-keeping began in 1951, due to continuous drought.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
The vehicles, which have no steering wheel or pedals, are shuttling Zoox employees in California.

Amazon's Zoox is now operating its purpose-built autonomous taxi on public roads The vehicles, which have no steering wheel or pedals, are shuttling Zoox employees in California.

Amazon-owned Zoox has started offering driverless robotaxi rides in California after receiving a testing permit from the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles), the company announced. Unlike the autonomous vehicles from Cruise and Waymo, Zoox's vehicles are purpose built for driverless taxi rides, so they have no steering wheel or pedals.

On February 11th, shortly after receiving the permit, Zoox conducted the "first run of its employee shuttle service in Foster City, California, marking the first time in history a purpose-built autonomous robotaxi without traditional driving controls carried passengers on open public roads," it wrote in a press release.

To get to that point, the company completed what it called "rigorous" testing with the vehicles on private roads. It also ran its L3 test fleet (hybrid Toyota Highlanders with safety drivers) over a million autonomous miles on data-gathering missions in San Francisco, Las Vegas and Seattle.

Zoox has been developing its unique vehicles since it launched nine years ago, and was acquired by Amazon in a $1.2 billion merger in the summer of 2020. Its robotaxis, introduced later that year, are relatively tiny at 3.63 meters (11.9 feet) long, have passenger bench seats that face each other, four-wheel steering and can drive in either direction. That makes them highly maneuverable, but they can also travel at speeds up to 75 MPH and run 16 hours on a charge thanks to the immense 133kWh battery packs.

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Zoox will now offer full-time employees robotaxi rides between its Foster City offices during business hours. "As the company continues to advance its progress and secure additional government clearances, it will expand its service to the general public," the company wrote.
Google is rolling out a beta of Privacy Sandbox for Android starting today. The program is the companys attempt to blend user privacy with targeted advertising, something the search giant has worked on for years in its planned shift away from cookie-based web tracking.

One of Privacy Sandboxs pillars is the Topics API, which pulls a list of your top interests based on usage. It then compares them to a database from the Interactive Advertising Bureau and Googles data. Partner publishers can ping the API, which responds with a list of interests to help serve relevant ads without sharing overly intrusive information. Google says stored interests are kept for only three weeks, and old topics are deleted. In addition, the data and processing are done on-device without involving any external servers, including Google servers.

The beta is the first time Privacy Sandbox has been available publicly on Android. Google is still working on Privacy Sandbox for Chrome (heres the timeline), which it has been letting developers test for about a year. It says it received feedback from hundreds of companies, which has helped shape its approach.

Apples App Tracking Transparency (ATT) alert. Apple

Privacy Sandbox is Googles answer to Apples App Tracking Transparency (ATT), which the iPhone maker introduced in iOS 14.5. The feature requires user consent to track them across other apps and websites. Google dismisses ATT as a blunt approach since it doesnt offer an alternate way for app developers and advertisers to replace the lost income from cookie-based targeting.

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Privacy vs. advertising is an arms race. When platforms like iOS block the old ways of profiting from ads, advertisers can (and do) resort to fingerprinting: collecting seemingly innocent device information that, when pieced together, may identify you nearly as well as cookies. Unfortunately, its difficult to detect and prevent. Google hopes Privacy Sandbox will strike the right balance between privacy and advertiser / developer revenue.

Google says the Privacy Sandbox beta will roll out gradually, starting with a small percentage of Android 13 devices and expanding from there. Youll see a notification on your device inviting you to join the beta if selected. After accepting, you can visit the new Privacy Sandbox section in your devices Settings menu to view tracked topics and opt out individually. Additionally, the menu lets you leave the program.
In 1992, Matt Moneymaker had an experience that would change his life. Some local farmers had told him about a number of mysterious sightings deep in the forests of Ohio. Without the internet or social media, Moneymaker did what you did back then: He placed classified ads in the hope that these witnesses might come forward and share their story and, crucially, the location where it had happened.

I went to the area where they had seen one, and I found tracks. And we heard their sounds, and I was at that point very, very, very committed to getting some video footage of these things he told Engadget. Those things? Bigfoots. From those classified ads, I got a bunch of calls and was able to plot them on a map. And then I actually talked to some of the witnesses who introduced me to other people in the area.

In the thirty years since that lo-fi expedition, Bigfoot research has advanced significantly. Today your typical squatcher (as they informally call themselves) is more likely to carry a GPS and night vision goggles than a compass and binoculars. Because in a world of satellite broadband, 100-megapixel cameras and full-color night vision, blurry photos are starting to look a little quaint. Squatchers need to up their game, and they know this.

Allison Babka for CityBeat

Moneymaker is no stranger to the hunt. He is the President of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO), but is perhaps best known as one of the main investigators on Animal Planets Finding Bigfoot. The show attracted millions of viewers and made its protagonists celebrities in the squatching world. But Moneymaker now hopes technology, not cable TV exposure, will be the tool that bags him the proof needed to silence the skeptics once and for all.

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Scientists will say that all these sightings of Bigfoot are just actually theyre bear sightings, and people are mistaking them for bigfoots, and it's just, that never happens.

This was one of the first things Moneymaker explained to me during our interview and it turned out to be eerily prescient. Just days later, a new study did the rounds claiming that most Bigfoot sightings were likely just bears. The related paper was technically published just before we spoke, but most media didnt pick up the story until after.

As Moneymaker tells it, the reverse is true. The very first thing their mind wants to compute is it's a bear he said, adding rather than, this just couldnt be a bear, this is walking on two legs and has long arms like a man and doesn't have pointy ears and a snout. Needless to say, for squatchers, they didnt need a scientific paper to tell them that skeptics will assume most sightings were actually something ursine.

So how does a serious squatcher like Moneymaker think well eventually put the matter to rest? The answer isnt on the forest floor, its in the skies.

Last September, Moneymaker was invited to take part in the Bigfoot Basecamp Weekend in Ohio. It was here that he demonstrated his latest tech concept for finding these elusive creatures. At its core is a Mavic 2 Enterprise Advanced drone by DJI combined with Dronesenses search and rescue software with a little dash of people power. Effectively, the same setup one might use to find a lost hiker, just with claws instead of Cliff bars.

Allison Babka for CityBeat

Its important to note here that the Mavic 2 EA isnt quite the Mavic 2 you see being flown by enthusiasts, wedding photographers and real estate professionals. The EA version is the same platform, but with more sensors and about three times the cost. Or half the cost of the equivalent Matrice series. The important feature on the Mavic 2 EA (and also the newer Mavic 3T) is the high-resolution thermal camera.

The revolution here isnt so much the technology, as drones and thermal cameras are not new, its the price. Thermal on a drone for $6,500? That's revolutionary. You know, that's a huge difference in terms of it being accessible and available to common non-governmental entities Moneymaker said.

The live audience was originally there to be entertained. But according to Moneymaker, it turned out to be another part of the equation.

We had an open speakerphone with the pilot, who was a few miles away. The audience was able to watch all this on a very big screen. [...] And on a very big screen, you can see more heat targets. So the audience was able to help direct him toward heat blips, and he was able to move his drone closer.

As the event was a successful proof of concept, I asked Moneymaker why they dont do them more often. Using one at the Basecamp event was probably the first time that a thermal drone had been used systematically at a Bigfoot area. And so we're gonna go back and do it again in October he said, before reminding me that squatchers rarely get funding and rely on sponsors. I guess the point is, we'd love to go out and do that right now. We're trying to line up a benefactor to help us do that.

Unfortunately, no Bigfoots were found on this occasion, but representatives from the local government seemed impressed enough that they pitched Moneymaker an idea. [They] were really interested in tourism development around paranormal things. They had success developing things for Ghost Hunter tourism, that it brought people to little places, forgotten places that nobody ever had a reason to visit.

The inspiration for using a drone with a thermal camera came from the Netflix show Night on Earth. Specifically the behind the scenes episode Shot in the dark. Much of the footage in that series wasnt thermal, instead likely shot with something like Canons ME20F-SH which runs well into double-digit thousands for the body alone. But it was enough to spark the idea.

Still spinning from the Netflix series Night on Earth. WATCH IT!! Just two episodes and one is the behind-the-scenes cut, which is even more interesting. Thermal-drone technology now exits to do vast sweeping counts of large mammals with a line of drones. It can be used by BFRO  Matt Moneymaker (@MattMoneymaker1) February 24, 2020

If youre thinking about dabbling in a bit of squatching and have a modest budget, Moneymaker recommends investing in a good handheld thermal imager. The BFRO has even tried developing its own. The next thing he recommended was the best drone you can afford. At least with these two items you have aerial visibility during the day and the handheld for night. Make sure the thermal imager can record, as military style scopes dont always offer that and visual evidence is obviously key here.

If you were thinking about night vision goggles, Moneymaker recommends getting an IR illuminator. Even third-generation military night vision, if you have an in very dark conditions and you don't also have an infrared illuminator then you're not going to see very far.

Between budget-stricken squatchers and other enthusiasts there isnt a huge number of folk out there actively looking for Bigfoot, which is why most sightings are accidental. Logic would follow, then, that as phone cameras have proliferated the opportunity to catch a Bigfoot on camera has grown along with it. Not so, says Moneymaker.

That's totally naive and ignorant. Because most sightings happen when these things are running across the road in the middle of the night in front of a car. That's your common Class A sighting. So unless you have a dashcam running, which most Americans do not, then you're not going to get it.

Data for US dashcam use isnt helpful, given the amount of population living in non-Bigfoot areas, but in Canada, its estimated that one in ten vehicles have at least one camera.

Moneymakers more enthusiastic about potential sightings from an unlikely source: Law enforcement. I think theres more potential that footage is going to come in, in the course of a law enforcement call and investigation than from us, because there's just more of them.

And hed be right. According to the drone center at Bard University, over 1,500 state and local agencies across the country are regularly using drones. That said, of that number only around 500 are using a model that supports a thermal camera. Even then, theres no guarantee that they have one installed. This is at the state level, but we can be fairly confident that federal agencies are not using any DJI products at all, making sightings by the FBI, for example, extremely unlikely.

Perhaps a more accessible technological tool is social media. The BFRO has a strong presence on Facebook which allows it to receive potential sightings from anywhere. Before, cases were logged on the BFRO website, but the advent of Facebook started putting these posts in front of people that might otherwise not have been looking for Bigfoot news. Now, sightings can be shared around a local area swiftly and other witnesses come forward that might otherwise have kept it to themselves.

But theres a negative aspect, too: Social media is famously an incubator for hoaxes, misinformation and outright lies and when your subject matter is already considered by many to be on the fringes, trust can be squandered just as quickly as its built. Or at the very least it makes it hard to know whats sincere and whats just for clout. Moneymaker says its not uncommon to see compilations of mostly fake videos with the occasional real sighting mixed in.

And theres perhaps an even more formidable foe lurking in the shadows: AI image creation. All those Dall-E pictures youve seen recently may seem like fun, but in the right hands, the same tools can create some remarkably realistic pictures. For example, the one below, created by Instagram user Bitsquatch who is very upfront that these are not intended to be interpreted as real in any way, he only does it for fun.

What I'm trying to do is just sort of visualize some of these classic Bigfoot type stories and some of the legends and the kind of the, the greatest hits so to speak Bitsquatch said in an interview on an episode of the Bigfoot Society podcast.

When I first started doing this, I was gonna send some messages to the various Bigfoot podcasts to say, hey, be on it, be on the lookout, because it'd be pretty easy to fake an image he added. Trail cam images, for instance, are very easy to create. I've never posted one. But the few I did, were like, wow, that that could definitely pass as the real thing.

For the squatching community, that means theyll have to work even harder to have any evidence taken seriously. That, compounded by the lack of funding is forcing people like Moneymaker to get more creative.

One of the ways we're hoping to be able to support this is with a monetized live feed of the searches, like you would have a monetized feed to a concert. That's a lot of times now what the younger generation does, they'll have a Twitch feed. So we could potentially apply that to what we're doing.

If all this seems like a lot of dedication for something that the mainstream has very little time for, thats because it is. But then, tell that to the team of scientists that recently captured footage of a black-naped pheasant pigeon. First documented in 1882, the bird had long since been assumed extinct.

A team of researchers from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the American Bird Conservancy spent weeks on a rugged, remote island off the coast of Papua New Guinea, enduring extreme conditions. The hunt was proving fruitless, despite private funding and a high level of local knowledge. But, two days before the end of the expedition, the elusive bird was caught on a camera trap. It was a chance encounter that would change all of their lives, putting to bed 140 years of belief that the creature was nothing more than a myth.

Image Credits: Pictures from the Basecamp weekend in Ohio provided by Allison Babka for CityBeat.

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Samsung's latest storage sale brings SSDs and microSD cards down to all-time lows Highlights include the 128GB Evo Select microSD card for $14 and the 1TB T7 Shield portable SSD for $90.

All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. All prices are correct at the time of publishing.

Samsung is running another round of discounts on storage devices, bringing several of the company's better SSDs and microSD cards to, or at least near, their lowest prices to date. Most of the discounts are available across Amazon, Best Buy and Samsung's own online store.

Samsung Samsung T7 Shield (1TB) This is a roughly $10 discount on the ruggedized version of our pick for the best portable SSD, and it comes as part of a wider sale on Samsung storage devices. $90 at Amazon $90 at Samsung

Among the highlights, the 2TB Samsung T7 Shield is back down to $150. That's about $25 below its usual street price and ties the lowest price we've seen for the ruggedized version of our favorite portable SSD. For a higher capacity, the 4TB model is down to a new low of $280, while the 1TB variant is $10 above its all-time low at $90. The standard T7, meanwhile, is also down to $90 for a 1TB model.

On the microSD side, the company's Evo Select card offers a good balance between price and performance. The 128GB version of that U3- and V30-rated card is down to $13.49 at Amazon and Samsung, which matches its all-time low. If you need more space for your Switch, Steam Deck, GoPro or what have you, the 512GB model is back to a low of $45 as well.

As for non-portable SSDs, the 980 Pro is technically older but remains a decent value for those looking to build a high-performing gaming PC. Its 1TB and 2TB models are down to $100 and $160, respectively, both of which represent all-time lows. The 980 Pro also meets Sony's requirements for expanding the storage of a PlayStation 5, though you'd need to add a heatsink alongside it. If you're buying for the PS5 specifically, it might be worth getting the version of the 980 Pro that comes with a heatsink built-in. That model's 1TB and 2TB variants are on sale for lows of $110 and $180. For a less intense PC build, the 970 Evo Plus is an older PCIe 3.0 drive but should still be fast enough for most needs. That one is down to $80 for 1TB, which is a roughly $20 discount and an all-time low.

If you do take the plunge with one of the NVMe SSDs above, make sure you keep its firmware up to date. Various users have reported higher-than-normal failure rates with the 2TB 980 Pro and the newer 990 Pro, specifically, but Samsung looks to have addressed those issues with recent updates.

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It's using the Natural Cycles algorithm in a smartwatch for the first time.

The Galaxy Watch 5 will soon offer temperature-based period tracking It's using the Natural Cycles algorithm in a smartwatch for the first time.

Samsung has announced that its Galaxy Watch 5 temperature sensor will finally be put to use. The company has teamed up with the fertility app Natural Cycles to bring its temperature-based period tracking algorithm to a smartwatch for the first time. The feature will be available in 32 countries across Europe, North America and Asia.

Galaxy Watch 5 users will get access to "advanced cycle tracking through the Cycle Tracking feature," recently approved by Korea's equivalent to the FDA, Samsung said. Much like Apple's Watch Series 8, it will provide retrospective ovulation estimates and help people better understand their cycles, the company told The Verge.

Since 2018, Natural Cycles has allowed women to track their temperature and menstrual cycle to check fertility, and the company has said it's 93 percent effective at preventing unwanted pregnancies. The app has already been approved by the FDA and European regulators to be used on wearables. The company tested it with Oura rings, but the algorithm apparently hasn't been used on a smartwatch until now.

Temperature readings are key for those trying to achieve or avoid pregnancy, as basal body temperature tends to increase slightly two to three days after peak fertility. With Oura's temperature sensors, Natural Cycles was able to cut out the need to take readings from a thermometer, and it will presumably do the same with the Galaxy Watch 5.

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The feature will be integrated into Samsung's Health app, so you won't require a separate app to use it. It'll arrive to Galaxy Watch 5 and Watch 5 Pro users "within the second quarter" in 32 markets, including most of Europe, Korea, the UK and the US.
Twitter delays API changes again, this time 'by a few more days' The company had originally planned to cut off free access on February 9th.

Twitter is once again delaying the rollout of its paid API. In a tweet spotted by AppleInsider , the company said Tuesday it needs more time to complete work on the redesign. As part of our efforts to create an optimal experience for the developer community, we will be delaying the launch of our new API platform by a few more days, Twitter posted.

When the company first announced it was shutting down its free APIs , Twitter said it would cut access off on February 9th. It later pushed back the cutoff date to February 13th without warning. Elon Musk hasnt said much about how paid access to Twitters APIs could work other than to suggest the company will charge $100 per month and add ID verification to limit bot abuse. The company has also said it plans to introduce a free access tier that will allow good bots to tweet up to 1,500 times a month.

There has been an immense amount of enthusiasm for the upcoming changes with Twitter API. As part of our efforts to create an optimal experience for the developer community, we will be delaying the launch of our new API platform by a few more days.



More information to follow https://t.co/FUZcwJqf9p  Twitter Dev (@TwitterDev) February 13, 2023

Its worth noting that third-party clients and the creators of automated accounts arent the only people who use Twitters APIs. Researchers frequently use the data the platform generates for a variety of purposes. For instance, in the aftermath of the recent 7.8-magnitude earthquake that has killed at least 36,000 people in Turkey and Syria, members of the Turkish diaspora have used tweets to create heatmaps that show where survivors could be located, with the intention of sharing their findings with rescue crews and aid organizations.

In a recent interview with Time , data scientists and people involved with the rescue effort said Elon Musks cost-cutting measures, including the multiple rounds of layoffs he has ordered since taking over the company in October, have slowed their work. The companys API changes are likely to further impact the rescue effort. If the API stops, the flow of data will stop and people will have to rely solely on slower ways of coordination for the relief efforts, Sedat Kapanoglu, one of the software engineers involved in the project, told Time. That can have life-altering effects. Its that important.

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(Informacion remitida por la empresa firmante)

GOTHENBURG, Sweden, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Notice is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting of Aktiebolaget SKF will be held at Radisson Blu Scandinavia Hotel, Sodra Hamngatan 59, Gothenburg, Sweden, at 14.00 on Thursday, 23 March 2023. The doors are open from 13.00. Light refreshments will be served prior to the Annual General Meeting between 13.00 and 14.00.

The Board of Directors has decided that the shareholders shall be able to exercise their voting rights by postal voting in accordance with the company's articles of association.

A summary of the President's address will be available at the company's website, www.skf.com, after the Annual General Meeting.

Preconditions for participation

A. Shareholders who wish to participate at the Annual General Meeting by postal voting must

be recorded in the shareholders' register kept by Euroclear Sweden AB by Wednesday, 15 March 2023,

and must notify its intention to participate by casting its postal vote in accordance with the instructions under the heading "Postal voting" below so that the postal voting is received by the company through Computershare AB no later than 17 March 2023.

B. Shareholders who wish to participate at the Annual General Meeting in person or by proxy in the meeting room must

be recorded in the shareholders' register kept by Euroclear Sweden AB as per Wednesday, 15 March 2023

and must notify its intention to participate to the company at the latest on 17 March 2023 by letter to Computershare AB, "AGM 2023 of AB SKF", Box 5267, SE-102 46 Stockholm, Sweden , via e-mail to proxy@computershare.se, via the company's website www.skf.com , or by phone +46 31 337 25 50 (weekdays between 09.00 and 16.00). When notifying the company, preferably in writing, this should include details of name, address, telephone number, registered shareholding and number of advisors, if any.

To be entitled to participate in the Annual General Meeting, a shareholder whose shares are held in the name of a nominee must, in addition to providing notification of participation, register its shares in its own name so that the shareholder is recorded in the share register relating to the circumstances on 15 March 2023. Such registration may be temporary (so-called voting right registration) and is requested from the nominee in accordance with the nominee's procedures and in such time in advance as the nominee determines. Voting right registrations completed by the nominee not later than 17 March 2023 are taken into account when preparing the share register.

Participation in person or by proxy

Shareholders who wish to attend in person in the meeting room, in person or by proxy, must notify its intention in accordance with B) above. This means that notice by postal voting only is not enough for anyone who wishes to attend in the meeting room.

Where representation is being made by proxy, the proxy form shall be sent to the company to the above address before the Annual General Meeting. If the shareholder is a legal entity, a certificate of incorporation or a corresponding document shall be enclosed.

Postal voting

A special form shall be used for postal voting. The form is available on www.skf.com.

The completed and signed voting form must be received by SKF through Computershare AB no later than 17 March 2023. The form may be submitted by post to Computershare AB, "AGM 2023 of AB SKF", Box 5267, 102 46 Stockholm or via e-mail to proxy@computershare.se. Shareholders may also cast their postal votes electronically through Swedish BankID verification via SKF's website www.skf.com. Shareholders who are represented by a proxy holder shall submit a proxy form enclosed to the voting form. If the shareholder is a legal entity, a certificate of incorporation or a corresponding document shall be enclosed to the form.

Shareholders are not permitted to add special instructions or conditions to their postal votes. If this is done, the vote (i.e. the postal vote in its entirety) will be invalid. Further instructions and conditions can be found on the postal voting form.

For questions about the meeting or to have the postal voting form sent by post, please contact Computershare AB on telephone +46 31-337 25 50.

Proposed agenda

The Nomination Committee's proposal for Board members:

14.1 Hans Straberg

14.2 Hock Goh

14.3 Geert Follens

14.4 Hakan Buskhe

14.5 Susanna Schneeberger

14.6 Rickard Gustafson

14.7 Beth Ferreira

14.8 Therese Friberg

14.9 Richard Nilsson

14.10 Niko Pakalen

Proposal under item 10

The Board of Directors proposes a dividend of SEK 7.00 per share. It is proposed that shareholders with holdings recorded on Monday, 27 March 2023 be entitled to receive the proposed dividend. Subject to resolution by the Annual General Meeting in accordance with this proposal, it is expected that Euroclear will distribute the dividend on Thursday, 30 March 2023.

Proposals under items 2, 12, 13, 14 and 15

The Nomination Committee formed according to a resolution of the Annual General Meeting 2020 to represent all shareholders of the company consists of, besides the Chair of the Board of Directors, representatives of FAM, Cevian Capital, AFA Forsakring, and Skandia, shareholders who together represent around 40% of the votes of the total number of company shares. The Nomination Committee has informed the company about the following proposal:

Item 2 - that Erik Sjoman is elected Chair of the Annual General Meeting;

Item 12 - that the Board of Directors shall consist of ten members and no deputy members;

Item 13 - that the Board members elected by the Annual General Meeting and not employed by the company, for the period up to the end of the next Annual General Meeting, receive a fee according to the following:

a. An allotment of SEK 2,610,000 to the Chair of the Board of Directors, SEK 1,305,000 to the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors and SEK 850,000 to each of the other Board members; and

b. an allotment of SEK 295,000 to the Chair of the Audit Committee, with SEK 217,000 to each of the other members of the Audit Committee, with SEK 170,000 to the Chair of the Remuneration Committee, with SEK 135,000 to each of the other members of the Remuneration Committee, with SEK 170,000 to the Chair of the Sustainability Committee and with SEK 135,000 to each of the other members of the Sustainability Committee;

Item 14 - re-election of the Board members Hans Straberg, Hock Goh, Geert Follens , Hakan Buskhe, Susanna Schneeberger and Rickard Gustafson . It is proposed that Beth Ferreira , Therese Friberg , Richard Nilsson and Niko Pakalen are to be newly elected.

Item 15  that Hans Straberg is re-elected as the Chair of the Board of Directors.

Beth Ferreira is Divisional Managing Director, Precision Engineering at IMI plc. She has previously held several senior positions, including as group president for several different business areas for Illinois Tool Works (ITW).

Therese Friberg is Group CFO and Executive Vice President of Electrolux. She has held several senior positions within the Electrolux Group, including as CFO and managing controller for different business areas.

Richard Nilsson is Investment Director at FAM AB and board member of Stora Enso Oyj, IPCO AB, GROPYUS AG and Cinder Invest AB. He was previously equity research analyst at SEB Enskilda, Alfred Berg and Handelsbanken.

Niko Pakalen is partner at Cevian Capital and board member of TietoEvry Oyj. He has previously held leading positions within Cevian Capital and worked at Danske Bank.

A presentation of the proposed Board can be found at the company's website www.skf.com. Colleen Repplier has declined re-election at the Annual General Meeting 2023.

Proposal under item 16

The Board of Directors has prepared a Remuneration report which is proposed to be approved by the Annual General Meeting. The Remuneration report is available on the company's website, www.skf.com.

Proposal under item 17

The main contents of the Board of Directors' proposal are stated below. The complete proposal is available at the company and at the company's website, www.skf.com.

At the Annual General Meeting in 2008 the SKF Group introduced a long-term performance share programme for senior managers and key employees. Since then, the Annual General Meeting has resolved each year upon a performance share programme.

The Board proposes, in order to continue to link the long-term interests of the participants and the shareholders, strengthening the SKF Group's ability to attract and retain the best people and to contribute to the SKF Group's business strategy, its long-term interests and sustainability, that a decision be taken at the Annual General Meeting 2023 on SKF's Performance Share Programme 2023.

The programme is proposed to cover not more than 225 senior managers and key employees in the SKF Group with an opportunity to be allotted, free of charge, SKF B shares in accordance with the following principal terms and guidelines. Under the programme, not more than in total 1,000,000 SKF B shares may be allotted.

The allotment of shares shall be related to the level of achievement of the Total Value Added (TVA) target, as defined by the Board, and SKF's CDP Climate Change score target[1]. The TVA performance measure is weighted 80% and the CDP Climate Change score performance measure is weighted 20%.

TVA performance measure

TVA is a simplified, economic value-added model promoting greater operating profit, capital efficiency and profitable growth. TVA is the operating profit, less the pre-tax cost of capital.

Over the three-year programme period (2023-2025), the TVA performance target range is set annually by the Board against the baseline of the actual TVA achieved in the previous year. The overall performance achievement for the TVA performance measure of the programme is the average of achievements of the annual TVA targets. In order for allocation of shares to take place, the average TVA development must exceed a certain minimum level (the threshold level). In addition to the threshold level, a target level is set. Maximum allotment is awarded if the target level is reached or exceeded. By way of example, if the TVA achievement year 1 is 80%, year 2 is 100% and year 3 is 0%, the overall performance achievement of the programme would then be 60% (80%+100%+0% / 3).

CDP Climate Change score performance measure

CDP is a global non-profit organization known for its assessments and scoring methodology to evaluate companies' disclosure and performance relating to climate change and environmental impact. The CDP Climate Change score is based on an extensive questionnaire requiring disclosure and performance in the following categories: business strategy, financial planning & scenario analysis, emissions reduction initiatives, energy, governance, opportunity disclosure, risk disclosure, risk management processes, scope 1 & 2 emissions, scope 3 emissions, targets, and value chain engagement.

This comprehensive assessment and the resulting score are known across the investor and customer communities as a credible third-party view on companies' approaches to climate change. The score ranges from A (leadership level) to D- (disclosure level). SKF received an A- in 2022 which is in the leadership band. This is higher than the Europe regional average of B, and higher than the metal product manufacturing sector average of C. The score is set annually and the bar is raised every year, reflecting increasing stakeholder expectations. SKF's performance achievement and CDP score will therefore require continuous improvements.

The overall performance achievement for the CDP Climate Change score is the weighted average of the annual performance achievement, based on the following criteria:

For example, if SKF's CDP score is B year 1, A- year 2 and A year 3, the overall performance achievement for the full programme period is 75% (50%+75%+100% / 3).

Provided that the performance measures of the programme are fully met, the participants of the programme may be allotted up to the following maximum number of shares per person within the various key groups:

CEO and President  shares corresponding to a value of 75% of the fixed base salary

Other members of Group Management  shares corresponding to 55% of the fixed base salary or 13,000 shares, whichever is higher

Managers of large business units and similar  4,500 shares

Other senior managers  3,000 shares

Other key persons  1,250 shares

If the total outcome of the programme exceeds the threshold level for allotment of shares but the final allotment is below 5% of the target level, payment will be made in cash instead of shares, whereupon the amount of the cash payment shall correspond to the value of the shares calculated on the basis of the closing price for SKF's B share the day before settlement.

Allotment of shares requires that the employment of a person covered by the programme is not terminated before the end of the programme period. If all the conditions included in SKF's Performance Share Programme 2023 are met, allotment of shares shall be made free of charge following the expiry of the three-year calculation period, i.e. during 2026.

Before the number of shares to be allotted is finally determined, the Board shall examine whether the allotment is reasonable considering SKF's financial results and position, the conditions on the stock market as well as other circumstances, and if not, as determined by the Board, reduce the number of shares to be awarded to the lower number of shares deemed appropriate by the Board.

The Board is furthermore entitled to introduce an alternative incentive solution for employees in countries where participation in SKF's Performance Share Programme 2023 is not appropriate. Such alternative incentive solution shall, as far as practicable, be formulated employing the same conditions as SKF's Performance Share Programme 2023.

The company has 455,351,068 shares in issue when this notice is issued. In order to comply with the obligations of SKF's Performance Share Programme 2023, a maximum number of 1,000,000 B shares are required, corresponding to approximately 0.2% of the total number of outstanding shares.

Assuming maximum allocation under the Performance Share Programme 2023 and a share price of SEK 199, the cost, including social security cost, is estimated at approximately MSEK 239. On the basis of a share price of SEK 275, the cost, including social security cost, is estimated at approximately MSEK 330. In addition, the administrative costs are estimated at approximately MSEK 2.

The Board does not propose for the time being to take any action to hedge SKF's obligations under the programme. Delivery of shares under the programme shall not take place until 2026.

_______________

Number of shares and votes, and documentation

When this notice is issued, the total number of shares in the company are 455,351,068, represented by 29,403,933 series A shares and 425,947,135 series B shares, with a total number of votes of 71,998,646.5. The company holds no own shares.

The annual report, the audit report, the remuneration report, statements of the auditor, the Board of Directors' remuneration report and complete proposal according to item 17 of the agenda together with the Nomination Committee's reasoned statement will be available at the company's headquarters at Sven Wingquists gata 2, 415 50 Gothenburg, and at the company's website, www.skf.com, no later than from 2 March 2023 and will be sent to shareholders who request this and state their address.

Information at the Annual General Meeting, etc.

The Board of Directors and the President shall, upon request by any shareholder and where the Board of Directors believes that it may take place without significant harm to the company, provide information in respect of any circumstances which may affect the assessment of a matter on the agenda, any circumstances which may affect the assessment of the company's or a subsidiary's financial position and the company's relationship to other group companies. Anyone who wishes to dispatch questions in advance may do so to AB SKF, Att. General Counsel, SE-415 50 Gothenburg, Sweden, or by e-mail: chair@skf.com

SKF's web-based financial report in English will be made public on 1 March 2023.

Proxy forms will be available at the company's website, www.skf.com, and may also be requested by letter to Computershare AB, "AGM 2023 of AB SKF", Box 5267, SE-102 46 Stockholm, Sweden or by phone +46 771 24 64 00.

Gothenburg, February 2023

Aktiebolaget SKF

(publ)

Reg. no 556007-3495

The Board of Directors

________________

Visit to SKF's factory in Gamlestaden, Gothenburg

Shareholders are welcome to visit SKF's factory in Gamlestaden, Gothenburg, in connection with the Annual General Meeting on Friday 24 March 2023 at 9.00 and 10.15. Shareholders that wish to participate shall notify the requested visiting time, complete name and contact details (preferably email address alternatively a cell phone number) to: SKF Sverige AB, 415 50 Gothenburg alternatively via email to: Lars.Werner@skf.com. Please note that the number of participants is limited.

Processing of Personal Data

Personal data related to a shareholder which is gathered from the shareholders' register, notification on participation in the Annual General Meeting and information about advisors that are to participate or any other information that is otherwise given as set out above, will be processed mainly to register the shareholder, form part of the voting list at the Annual General Meeting and if necessary, the minutes from the Annual General Meeting. The personal data is processed in accordance with the Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council. For complete information on the company's processing of your personal data in connection with the Annual General Meeting and your rights, see SKF's website www.skf.com under the heading "About AGM" (which is located under the section "Investors" and "Corporate Governance").

[1] Adjusted from the SKF Group net zero 2030 target stated in the SKF Year-end report 2022.

CONTACT:

For further information, please contact:PRESS: Carl Bjernstam, Group Communicationtel: 46 31-337 2517; mobile: 46 722-201 893; e-mail: carl.bjernstam@skf.com

INVESTOR RELATIONS: Patrik Stenberg, Head of Investor Relationstel: 46 31-337 2104; mobile: 46 705-472 104; patrik.stenberg@skf.com

The following files are available for download:

View original content: https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/notice-of-annual-general-meeting-301746269.html
One hundred twenty-eight children came back home, whom the Russian occupiers forcibly deported to Russia, were returned to Ukraine. This was announced by the head of the Department for the Protection of the Interests of Children and Combating Violence of the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yullia Usenko. It took the Ukrainian side months to return the kidnapped children. The Prosecutor General's office does not disclose the details of the process, fearing that this may harm future exchange plans.
Tuesday, February 14, 2023

This article is a forbes article.

Most people want to enjoy a long, healthy, fulfilling life. Thanks to the gift of longevity and science, the average lifespan in 1900 was in the mid-40s; today, its around 80, and some project that it will increase to 100-plus by the next century.

For some people, the additional years are extra time in retirement; for others, their lifepath has been lengthened and traditional age benchmarks (e.g., get married, have children, buy a house, launch a key career, retire, etc.) are being delayed to fit the elongated lifespan. Many continue to find ways to be productive into their 80s and beyond. For instance, instead of having one signature career or relationship, they might have multiple careers, families, etc., throughout their lives.

Whether you add the extra years to your post-retirement phase or elongate your work-span years for non-income-generating activities (e.g., passion/purpose), will you have the financial freedom to pursue your dreams? Did you save enough and invest it wisely so that it can last 30-plus yearsor, to make it more concrete, more than 10,000 days?

Unfortunately, most people are not saving enough for their future selves. The Motley Fool found that the average retirement account savings for American households in 2019 was $65,000. Vanguard reported that the mean average 401(k) balance for Americans was $141,542with the median balance only $35,345which means 50% of people saved less than this amount. Clearly, this is not enough.

Many companies offer health and retirement plans for employees in order to better serve the whole personincluding financial security after retirement. The Covid pandemic heightened many peoples awareness of the rest of their life outside work. Therefore, I think now is the perfect time for employers to step up and encourage employees to take better charge of financial issues.

Five Steps Business Can Take To Promote Employees Future Financial Independence

During the company onboarding process, workers are introduced to the companys values and practices regarding culture, strategy, leadership, customers, etc. While workers complete forms for healthcare and other benefits, employers can also help them meet the needs of their future selves.

1. Increase workers financial literacy.

Unfortunately, many people lack financial literacy skills. Even college graduates may not have learned basic skills regarding budgeting, saving, spending, investing, compounding, paying off debt, etc. Providing or referring workers to classes on financial literacy can give them a deeper understanding of how money works and how to handle it responsibly. Moreover, every half-year or year that employees are offered the opportunity to review their retirement savings decisions and reintroduce the idea of enhancing financial literacy. As income increases and lifestyles change, peoples interests will likely be rekindled or changed.

2. Encourage employees to start saving immediately.

In a New York Times article, Youre Never Too Young for a Roth IRA, (paywall) Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz notes that the earlier you start, the more time your money has to grow and compound. A hypothetical example from Fidelity shows that someone contributing $3,000 per year to a Roth from age 15 to 20 and then contributing the maximal allowed until age 70 could accrue to more than $3 million, assuming an annualized return of 7%. The same person starting at age 25 would accumulate about a million less. So encourage employees to start early and be consistent for future financial freedom.

3. Implement an incentivizing corporate match.

A company that provides a contribution match to what the employee contributes is providing extra income to the employee. Many workers realize this and factor it in when accepting jobs. For workers lacking financial literacy, help them: Project just how much extra money they will earn over five, 10, 20 years just from the match. Let them know that even a commitment to increase a contribution each year based on raises is a commitment to ones future financial freedom.

4. Make it easy to startand with larger amounts.

The above three strategies will educate, encourage and incentivize young people to start saving early for retirement. In addition, companies can use persuasion tactics, which social scientists have found to help get people to say yes to marketing programs. For instance, researchers interested in increasing peoples agreement to become organ donors discovered that opt-out programs are more successful in generating agreement than opt-in. Employers can adopt this principle with retirement sign-ups. Have people opt-out rather than opt-in.

Another tactic is anchoring. Instead of simply sharing the range of contributions allowed by law, employers can share relevant benchmarks, such as average contributions in the company or noting the final nest egg after 20 to 30 years with larger versus smaller contributions.

5. Make it personal: Connect workers with their future selves.

Lets be honest: Many people starting their first jobs are in their teens or early 20s. Its hard to imagine their lives 40 to 70 years from now. Its even harder when the only role models are parents or grandparents who didnt maximize savings or think about a potential 100-plus-year lifes worth of financial security.

An excellent literacy course can help. Teaching the basics of finance and helping people see examples of people older than they are enjoying lifestyles built around financial independence can be inspirational. They need to see role models of workers with standard salaries who used the last years of their lives doing what they wantedtraveling, becoming entrepreneurs, donating sizable amounts to charity and so on.

Another way is to make it personal. Encourage them to connect with their future selves and get excited about the opportunities that theyre enabling. Researchers conducted studies using aging software to find out if people who saw a picture of their future selves would increase retirement contributions. It did.

In conclusion, employers can make a difference. Combine these five steps, and you can help facilitate the opportunities for your employees to lead healthy, financially secure and fulfilling lives.

The information provided here is not investment, tax or financial advice. You should consult with a licensed professional for advice concerning your specific situation.
Sen. Shane Morigeau, D-Missoula, who is a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, testifies on behalf of his Senate Bill 141, which would have replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples' Day in Montana. (Screenshot via Montana Public Affairs Network)

The latest attempt to replace Columbus Day in Montana with Indigenous Peoples Day was tabled Monday on a party-line vote.

Around 30 people testified last week on behalf of this years attempt to change the holiday, which was again sponsored Sen. Shane Morigeau, D-Missoula, who is a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. Multiple prior attempts to create the holiday in Montana also failed.

No one testified in opposition to Senate Bill 141 at last Wednesdays hearing.

Morigeau said at the hearing the bill would help the healing process for Indigenous people, who make up about 6% of Montanas current population, as well as others in the state, and stop Montana from honoring a man who attacked and killed Native peoples.

Speaking in opposition to the bills passage during executive action in the Senate Education and Cultural Resources Committee on Monday, Sen. John Fuller, R-Kalispell, said since Montana schools already recognize American Indian Heritage Day on the fourth Friday in September, he believed that was sufficient to meet the goals of this day.

Further, he said people who testified in favor of the bill last week who condemned Columbus and his actions were using todays values to judge him rather than the context of the time.

All historical characters need to be evaluated in their context, he said.

Fuller said Columbus was a skilled seafarer, discovered trade winds and began the geographic revolution. He added that Italian immigrants to the U.S. had faced the same hatred, discrimination and bigotry that the Irish and Native Indians have faced.

Sen. Russ Tempel, R-Chester, the committees vice chairman, motioned to table the bill. All seven Republicans on the committee voted to do so, while the four Democrats voted against tabling it.

In a written statement, Morigeau said he and others would keep pushing for the change, which President Joe Biden commemorated with a presidential proclamation in 2021. Bozeman and more than a dozen states celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day.

He said it was a shame the measure was tabled without it getting further conversation.

It was very disheartening to sit in the hearing and listen to children testify on how Columbus Day impacts them, their confidence, and their self-worth, Morigeau said in the statement. We will continue to advocate for a day that brings us together and celebrates everyones ancestral heritage.

Sen. Susan Webber, D-Browning, who is a member of the Blackfeet Nation and voted against tabling the bill, said she took exception to Fullers comments and the measure dying in committee.

I dont care if you are in 1492, 1992, or 2002; raping women and children, cutting hands off of men and women, and burning people alive is more than enough to say that this man should not be celebrated, Webber said in a statement. Our children need to know the truth, not the whitewashed vision of a supposedly great seafarer who discovered Espanola because he got lost.

The post Senate committee tables Montana bill to create Indigenous Peoples Day on party-line vote appeared first on Daily Montanan.
(The Center Square) - Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes is joining a group of attorneys general who are not happy with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Reyes and 19 other attorneys general sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland condemning a leaked internal memo from the Richmond FBI branch that said some Catholic organizations posed an extremist threat.

"Anti-Catholic bigotry appears to be festering in the FBI, and the Bureau is treating Catholics as potential terrorists because of their beliefs," the attorneys general wrote in the letter.

The attorneys general asked for a full explanation of the documents origins, information on its implementation, and how it has impacted Catholics. They also want to know if the FBI has infiltrated any religious organizations.

The memo distinguishes between what it deems acceptable and unacceptable Catholic practices. It said that radical-traditionalists could be racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists.

The memo also said that traditionalist Catholics who reject the reforms from the Second Vatican Council are at greater risk of being extremists. The FBIs memo said it should start developing sources with access in such places of worship.

"The memorandums targeting of Catholics because they prefer to pray in the ancient liturgical language of the Church, and the tactics it proposes for dealing with those Catholics, harkens back to some of the worst chapters of our past, the attorneys general wrote. This country has a sordid history of discrimination against Catholics. An entire political party, the Know-Nothings, formed in the 1850s to decrease the political influence of immigrants and Catholicsgroups that were often interchangeable given the rise of German and Irish immigration in the mid-19th centuryand gained 'hundreds of seats in Federal and State Government."

The press release from Reyess office said this means the FBI should recruit Catholics to spy on fellow parishioners.

The FBIs damage control efforts and promise to review the memo in response to public outrage do not change the fact that this was an internal, official policy document not meant for public knowledge, the release from Reyess office said. The fact that this document was created in the first place demands answers.

Other states that had attorneys general sign onto the letter include: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Pig producers have urged Defra to push forward 'without delay' with its review of the pork supply chain, to help deliver lasting reform and a fairer trading environment for the crisis-hit sector.

After two years that have seen one crisis follow another and pig production losses estimated at 750m, the sector has stressed today that "things cannot continue as they are".

More than 350 responses were submitted to Defras consultation on contractual practice in the pig supply chain last autumn, most of which were from pig producers.

The review has the potential, ultimately, to bring about clearer and more certain contractual relations within the chain, underpinned by new legislation.

Farming Minister Mark Spencer recently suggested that Defras response to the pork consultation is due to be published very soon'.

However, the National Pig Association (NPA) has insisted that this must be the start of a reform process that Defra 'commits to fully'.

The department initiated a review of the dairy sector in 2020, with the aim being to introduce legislation this year, although this is still in progress.

But the NPA's chief executive, Lizzie Wilson warned that the UK pig sector did not have that sort of time. "We hope the lessons learned by the dairy sector will help us in this process.

We lost an estimated 15% of the national breeding sow herd in the 12 months to June 2022, and, although there are now signs of a return to profitability, the independent pig sector remains in an extremely fragile state."

She added: Whilst we appreciate this is not going to happen overnight and any policy must be fit for purpose, producers need confidence to continue production.

"We need the risk to be more proportionately spread through the supply chain, and that will only come with far-reaching reforms.

The NPA made a series of key asks in its response to Defras consultation, setting out a blueprint for "a fairer, more transparent and, ultimately, more sustainable pork supply chain".

Asks include the introduction of legislation to underpin new pig contracts, which would allow producers, marketing groups and pork processors to negotiate terms that work for all parties.

This would include ensuring a fair price for producers, and backed by an effective dispute resolution mechanism, the NPA said.

Better forecasting must also be rolled out to improve business planning, as part of a wider drive to increase transparency across the chain, and for pork buyers to make better use of the entire pig carcase, rather than just selective cuts.

NPA chief policy adviser, Rebecca Veale said: We have moved from a situation where processors did not have the capacity to take the number of pigs available, causing horrendous backlogs on farm, to one where we now have a shortage of British pigs.

Pig prices are now rising as a result, but this degree of volatility is in nobodys interests, which is why we want to see a more balanced trading environment, better forecasting and for buyers to take a longer-term perspective.

The initial consultation focused very much on the processor-producer relationship, but our message to Defra all along has been that any solution to this imbalance of power must include the retailers, who set the tone for the rest of the chain."

She added: We know that Defra has a lot on its plate at the moment, but this piece of work must remain a priority and continue to be driven forward at all opportunities.

"It is in everybodys interests to bring about a fairer, more sustainable pork supply chain to help ensure continued domestic supply.
A young farmer from Nottinghamshire has been given a national award for her dedication to developing rural young people involved in Young Farmers Clubs.

Jessica Rose, 28, from Newark, was shortlisted with four others for the National Federation of Young Farmers Clubs (NFYFC) Heart of YFC Award.

The award was part of NFYFCs annual Achiever Awards, which recognise the achievements of members during the previous membership year.

More than 400 young farmers attended the event at the National Conference Centre in Birmingham on Saturday (11 February).

Jessica, who lives on the family arable and sheep farm, was recognised for the support she had given young people involved in her club.

She was also hailed for helping to organise county-wide events such as the show and rally, a Christmas tractor run and for her work on county and national YFC committees.

"It is the greatest honour to win this award. Something I only dreamt of winning is now somehow my reality. A definite pinch me moment," Jessica said.

I love everything YFC stands for. The opportunities it gives you and the places it takes you. The links you make with your local community are invaluable.

"Whether that be forging lifelong friendships with people you didn't know lived on your doorstep or fundraising for charities in your area who thrive from your support."

Jessica added: It is simply the best organisation that enriches the lives of so many young people.

"I hope to be involved with YFC for many years to come and keep giving back to an organisation that has given me so much."

Who were the other award winners?

The Heart of YFC Award was one of eight awards presented on the evening, which included hundreds of young farmers from across England and Wales.

The other Achiever Award winners were:

 Farm Safety Award, sponsored Farm Safety Foundation  James Hosking, Cornwall

 Entrepreneur of the Year, sponsored by KUHN, Matt Ingram, Warwickshire

 Community Spirit, sponsored by Tama, Uwchaled YFC, Clwyd

 Community Supporter of the Year, Hollie*, Leicestershire

 YFC Supporter of the Year, Michael Bailey, Hampshire

 New Member of the Year, sponsored by Eternit, Dave Odell, Warwickshire

 Aspiring Rural Leader, sponsored by Savills, Jamie Pottow, Wiltshire
Farmers with unresolved historic banking disputes are being encouraged to register their case by the end of today with the Business Banking Resolution Service (BBRS).

A free-to-use and independent service, the BBRS resolves disputes between small-to-medium sized businesses and their bank.

The service's historical scheme, which closes for complaints by the end of today (14 February), can make both financial and non-financial awards when a complaint is upheld. The contemporary scheme will remain open.

Businesses going through will be assigned a dispute resolution specialist known as the customer champion who acts as a single point of contact and offers practical support.

The BBRS historical scheme covers banking complaints first registered in the period from 1 December 2001 to 31 March 2019.

Businesses may qualify for support if they had turnover between 1m and 6.5m per annum at the time of their complaint, and their case has not already been settled, been subject to an independent review, or gone to court.

This includes businesses which have since closed, merged or been sold.

The BBRS can also assess more recent unresolved complaints through its contemporary scheme, which covers cases for the period from 1 April 2019 onwards.

It is open to businesses with turnover up to 10m per annum, and total assets up to 7.5m, which are not eligible to take their complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Mark Grimshaw, CEO of the BBRS, said many small-to-medium sized businesses had walked away with life changing sums of money.

"SMEs eligible for our scheme benefit from our capability to tackle complex business banking complaints and provide multiple routes to resolution, which results in better outcomes for all parties involved," he said.

As well as financial awards, we are able to deliver significant non-monetary redress, such as changing loan exit fee penalties, changing customer loan terms and discharging people from personal guarantees.

"We urge all SMEs who think they have a business banking complaint to visit our website to check whether they are eligible and to see if we can help.

As of 31 December 2022, the BBRS has reached 56 settlements of which 21 were the result of adjudications and 35 were settled directly between the parties following BBRS involvement.

For the first time, the BBRS can reveal that 26 of these cases are from the historical scheme - 14 adjudications and 12 conciliated, mediated and direct settlements.

Meanwhile, 21 are from the contemporary scheme, including 7 adjudications and 14 direct settlements, and an additional 3 settlements were dual scheme, where banking complaints relate to matters that happened before and after 1 April 2019.

A further 6 cases were settled before a date of complaint was established.
A charter train loaded with 1,440 tonnes of cotton yarn produced in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR) left for Foshan in the Guangdong province in the south on February 11. This marked the launch of a fast logistics track connecting the cotton production base with the industrial hub. The service shortens the time to cover 5,000 km by four days.

As the cotton yarn market is favourable this year, with strong demand, the train service for cotton yarn is scheduled once a month on regular basis, Ma Zhimin, who works with the Kashgar freight transport centre of China Railway Urumqi Bureau Group Co Ltd, told a news agency.

As of February 10 this year, 36,400 tonnes of cotton yarn have been transported via railway from Xinjiang's cotton production bases of Kashgar and Aksu, a year-on-year rise of 20.02 per cent, Ma added.

A charter train loaded with 1,440 tonnes of cotton yarn produced in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region left for Foshan in the southern Guangdong province on February 11. This marked the launch of a fast logistics track linking the cotton production base with the industrial hub. The service shortens the time to cover 5,000 km by four days.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
Chinas New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor cross-border highways saw a robust growth in freight transport volume in January 2023. There was a significant increase in the number of trucks involved with a total of 488 trucks carrying goods worth 174.29 million yuan (approximately $25.57 million), as per government data.

The New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor is a trade and logistics passage that has been jointly built by provincial-level regions of western China and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Since the launch of the service in April 2016, the freight service has seen a total of 12,161 truck trips delivering goods worth over 7.3 billion yuan to Southeast Asia, Central Asia, and South Asia, according to local media reports.

China's New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor cross-border highways saw a robust growth in freight transport volume in January 2023. There was a significant increase in the number of trucks involved with a total of 488 trucks carrying goods worth 174.29 million yuan, as per government data. The freight service was launched in April 2016.

The freight service currently offers 11 highway routes to Southeast Asia, Central Asia, and South Asia, with more than 30 overseas distribution warehouses in operation in Southeast Asian countries including Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. These highways provide a convenient and efficient way for companies to transport goods, contributing to the growth of the trade and logistics industry.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (NB)
Exports of textiles and apparel from the United States went up by 9.77 per cent in 2022. The value of exports stood at $24.866 billion during the period under review compared to $22.652 billion in the same period of 2021, according to data from the Office of Textiles and Apparel, US department of commerce.

Category-wise, apparel exports increased by 20.18 per cent year-on-year to $7.377 billion, while the exports of yarn ($4.577 billion) and fabric ($8.521 billion) increased by 16.87 per cent and 3 per cent, respectively in the period under review. Made-up and miscellaneous article exports grew by 1.42 per cent to $4.134 billion.

Country-wise, Mexico (27.49 per cent) and Canada (23.92 per cent) together accounted for more than half of the total US textile and clothing exports during the period under review. The US supplied $6.836 billion worth of textiles and apparel to Mexico during the last year, followed by $5.948 billion to Canada and $1.730 billion to Honduras.

Exports of textiles and apparel from the US went up by 9.77 per cent in 2022. The value of exports stood at $24.866 billion during the period under review compared to $22.652 billion in the same period of 2021, according to data from the Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA). Apparel exports increased by 20.18 per cent year-on-year to $7.377 billion.

In recent years, the US textile and clothing exports have remained in the range of $22-25 billion per annum. In 2014, they stood at $24.418 billion, while the figure was $23.622 billion in 2015, $22.124 billion in 2016, $22.671 billion in 2017, $23.467 billion in 2018, and $22.905 billion in 2019. The value had dropped to $19.330 billion in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic but rose again in 2021 to $22.652 billion.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KUL)
Dil Chahta Hai

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

Rock On!!

Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani

Rang De Basanti

3 Idiots

Sholay

Chhichhore

Veere Di Wedding

While rom-coms will always hold a special place in our hearts, there's no competition for a movie that honours friendship in all its glory. Everybody's life is impacted by their friends. They are the chosen extended family that is not linked to us. Their affection is equal to that of a lover, whether they are listening to our pointless rants or offering us the best dating advice despite being single themselves. And let's just accept that ending a friendship hurts more than ending a relationship. Our friends are there for us through whatever challenge life throws at us, whether it be helping us come up with pick-up lines for our crushes or comforting us after a painful breakup. When we become ill, they correct us like moms, and when we are depressed, they treat us like lovers. This Valentine's Day, enjoy a movie night with your pals to celebrate their unwavering support and love for you in the absence of a romantic partner.The yearly onslaught of cards covered in glitter, teddy bears declaring their love, and heart-shaped items is already underway as February 14 approaches. Whether you're single or in a relationship, Valentine's Day may be stressful, even though it's always great to get a surprise bouquet of flowers. Simply celebrating your closest family and friends, people who have experienced both highs and lows with you along the journey, and lifelong friends is a good way to go about it. Here are some Bollywood films on friendship that you may watch with your group in order to show them how much they mean to you.The classic film about friendshiprevolutionised the way stories were told at the time. Years ago, Farhan Akhtar offered us Sameer, Sid, and Akash as a quirky, slightly insane, utterly relatable, and authentic representation of friendship. The film was released at a time when romance dominated the genre. In 2001, we weren't used to viewing a narrative like this onscreen, making this movie different from the others. This movie altered storytelling in many ways because of its candid, sympathetic portrayal of friendship and its discussion of adolescence. It still holds a particular place in our hearts today.by Zoya Akhtar is the ideal ode to friendship. Three buddies travel together on a road trip as they experience life's highs and lows. In addition to drama, humour, and romance, the star-studded movie "Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara" also features a really dreamy friendship between three friends. The three main protagonists in the movie travel to Spain together, and their time spent travelling aids them in their inner journey and helps them overcome their concerns.In Farhan Akhtar's film Rock On, four friends reunite to relive their college years and lifestyles. They genuinely enjoyed themselves while singing about their high points in a rock band. The main theme of the tale is how their relationship endured and grew stronger after a period of uncertainty befell the group. Luke Kenny, Prachi Desai, and Arjun Rampal were also included in Rock On!! 2008 saw the release of the Abhishek Kapoor-directed film Rock On!!When it came to the good, the bad, and the ugly aspects of friendship as Kabir, Aditi, and Avi moved on with their lives after college, Ayan Mukherji's 2013 filmkept it authentic. While Avi continues to pursue his ambition, Kabir departs the nation to pursue his. The distance widens, yet the movie effectively captures the hurt felt by friends and shows that no hurt is greater than one begotten by friendship. However, the protagonists resolve their differences and emerge from them stronger than before.is without a doubt one of the truly legendary Bollywood movies of the twenty-first century. Despite being overtly nationalistic, there was a reason why Rang De Basanti stood out among other movies in the "patriotic" category. The authenticity and realism of Rang De Basanti's characters, and more crucially, the strength of their friendships, were key to the film's success. This group of friends wasn't your typical Bollywood gang, complete with a "hero" and a few identical sidekicks and hangers-on. Each of them has a unique personality and storyline.The movie 3 Idiots, directed by Rajkumar Hirani, is a fantastic representation of the strong bond that develops between three people who meet in college and become unshakable friends. Many young people, especially those who attended engineering college, still strongly relate to it and the ups and downs each character experiences. The movie demonstrated what it means to have your friend's back and how this friendship transcends prejudice and socioeconomic lines. The ideal movie on friendship!In the 1975 film Sholay, directed by Ramesh Sippy, Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra played the renowned buddies Jai and Veeru. Even today, the pair's famous equation from the movie is still used to describe a "strong friendship." Despite everything, the two remained loyal to one another., a film of the late actor Sushant Singh Rajput, is an emotional roller coaster that celebrates friendships, love, conflicts, and priceless memories. The film tells the story of a sad tragedy that compels middle-aged man Anirudh (Sushant) to reminisce about his college years with his buddies, who were mocked as losers. Shraddha Kapoor, Varun Sharma, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Prateik Babbar, Tushar Pandey, Naveen Polishetty, and Saharsh Kumar Shukla are among the other actors who appear in Chhichhore in addition to Sushant.This uncommon tale about female friendships was released in 2018. Shashanka Ghosh directed and produced the film "Veere Di Wedding," which also starred Kareena Kapoor Khan, Sonam Kapoor Ahuja, Swara Bhaskar, and Shikha Talsania. The movie wasn't as groundbreaking as "Angry Young Goddesses" or "Sex and the City," but it aimed to challenge conventional notions of love, fulfillment, and individuality. As a result, it sparked a lot of discussions. The idea of a few friends attending a wedding was not original, but it was encouraging to see a big-budget, mainstream Hindi movie genuinely concentrate on the stories of four ladies, their friendship, and their tremendous dedication to one another in the face of all adversity.
Who doesnt love a cliched rom-com that can make you swoon with its sweet gestures, amazing chemistry, and brilliant storylines? If you are someone who is celebrating Valentines Day in the comfort of your home or are single and want to feel loved, we have made a list of cute romantic K-dramas that will make your Valentine's Day:Business Proposal follows Ha-ri (Kim Se-jeong), an employee of a food production company who shows up to scare away her friend's suitor on a blind date, only to receive a proposal from the company's CEO, Kang Tae-moo (Ahn Hyo-seop).The show has the right blend of romance and humour with a great cast and storyline. This drama is ideal for days when you simply want to unwind but lack the emotional capacity to manage heavy emotions and insane narrative twists.The 2018 hit show would be another office-based romcom. What's Wrong With Secretary Kim?, starring Park Min-young and Park Seo-joon, follows the narcissistic Lee Young Joon, the vice president of a family-owned corporation. He is so self-absorbed and full of himself that he seldom pays attention to those around him. Kim Mi So, the capable and tolerant secretary of Lee Young Joon, has stood by him and worked hard for nine years without engaging in any romantic relationships. However, Mi So now wants to arrange her life and focus on herself, so when she decides to quit her job, humorous misunderstandings occur.This drama has a great blend of romance, comedy, and mystery.Crash Landing On You will give you the perfect Veer Zaara like vibes, where a South Korean woman ends up falling in love with a North Korean soldier.According to the series synopsis, the series is an absolute top-secret love story of Yoon Se-ri (Son Ye-jin) a South Korean successful entrepreneur and chaebol heiress who made an emergency landing in North Korea because of a paragliding accident, and Ri Jeong-hyeok (Hyun Bin), a North Korean special officer who falls in love with her and who is hiding and protecting her.Our Beloved Summer is a coming-of-age romantic comedy about Choi Ung (Choi Woo-shik) and Kook Yeon-soo (Kim Da-mi), ex-lovers who split up with the promise to never meet again. As luck would have it, the documentary they filmed in high school 10 years ago went viral, and their producer friend, Kim Ji-ung (Kim Sung-cheol), forces them to face the cameras together once more.The show explores their nuanced emotions and growth. This drama depicts the experience of falling in love. It conveys a story about attraction, memory, and a dream. The romance shines through many subtle, unnoticed gestures.

Jin-Ah (Son Ye-jin), who is a businesswoman in her 30s, hasn't had any luck with her love life yet. But when her best friend's younger brother, Seo Joon-hee (Jung Hae-in), comes back from abroad, she is baffled by how mature he has become and how she starts developing feelings for him.



The series explores the connection of two people as they grow from being "just acquaintances" to "a genuine couple."
Love - is just a four-letter world filled with a thousand emotions. With time, the definition of that feeling has changed manifold, perspectives have shifted and conversations around it have been influenced by millennial and Gen-Z netizens who have a layered approach to it. Seeing it from a cinematic lens, romance truly soared in the Yash Chopra era for any Hindi cinema lover. To the point where that emotion became synonymous to quintessential movies of the filmmaker such as Silsila, Kabhi Kabhie, Lamhe, Veer Zaara, Chandni, Veer Zaara, and Dil To Pagal Hai that are replete with stunning locations, dreamy landscapes, voguish costumes, and those evergreen tunes. Smriti Mundhra, the Emmy-nominated filmmaker has gained immense success with her stints in shows like Indian Matchmaking and Never Have I Ever that have been pathbreaking for their content and representation of South-Asian talent.



The Indian-American personality is here with her docu-series titled The Romantics where you see glimpses of how she has soaked in the aura and magic of Yash Chopras romantic films like it's second nature to her. As the show drops on a leading OTT platform today - heres an exclusive chat with the filmmaker who speaks fondly of the magic and mystique that surrounds Hindi Cinema. And how Yash Chopra shall always be the connoisseur of how a big screen canvas has had timeless traces smattered over it with his definition of eternal love.



I would say conflicted. A catchy phrase, so pervasive everywhere. I also cringe a little bit when I hear it. After making these series I try not to lose it a lot but yes, conflicted.









It is the same thing that prompted me to ask that question, you know. I never really thought about that term a lot earlier. But, somewhere I always cringed about it. Why should we be defined by an industry on the other side of the world? We have our industries, probably more robust and prolific. So I think it was that, to not be defined in the context of another industry.



For me, yes I grew up abroad but I am an Indian. My parents love India and I was always surrounded by the things they love. So I grew up watching a lot of Hindi films, also because they wanted me to be connected to my roots. For a lot of us diaspore kids, films are really how we connected to our roots. Even to this day, I have a 3-year-old and an 8-year-old, they are only half Indian but they watch Indian film songs all the time. Thats what they watch on YouTube every day. They love these actors and the music and it makes me happy. It is like an entry point. To have an understanding and appreciation of culture is how it started for me too.

So Yash Chopra is a family favourite?





Oh absolutely. Coming and going for 3 generations now. I think he is an eternal favourite. So many films I grew up watching as a teenager abroad came from Yash Chopra. Now revisiting all those films, not only for these series but to watch them with my husband who is not an Indian, with my kids who are new to all of this - you realise how endearing they are and how much staying power they have.

Its so difficult but I would say, Chandni.

She is but also Yash Chopra presented her through a character who was equal to her talent and in the most beautiful visual style. The outfits and everything, that film is perfection.

It is overwhelming for several reasons. Especially when you have grown up watching SRKs films. The process of making these series has been intense because it is a lot of responsibility. This is one of the most beloved filmmakers in this country. You want to make something equal to his legacy because he is loved by so many people. To sit in front of people and try to ask the right questions and listen to their memories and have them emote. But hopefully, I will leave it to the audience to decide whether I succeeded or not.





It was a fortunate coincidence which probably made the path easier to answer your question about the Why now aspect. I didnt even know it when I pitched the idea of this series. The challenging part of bringing all these stars together was never the desire to do it. There wasnt anyone who I asked and they said no. I guess theres so much love for him that they all wanted to be a part of something that is owed to his legacy. The challenges are always mechanical like scheduling and everything. You are talking to the biggest stars and to have them put in the production schedule was a task. I think we achieved something great.









It didnt happen immediately. He said great, do the project if you want to. The studio will help you with archival content and everything but I wont be a part of it. I think over time my pitch was if this is going to be a definitive testament to your fathers legacy, something will be missing without your and your familys perspective. That is what convinced him. He will probably never do something like this again. It has taken three years to craft this, it would never be complete without his perspective and that has brought him on board.









I think so. Art is always an interesting balance between escapism, relatability, aspiration, and realism and you know there are different ratios and different things on how much you need. People want to see something of themselves reflected on the screen. It can be as simple as an emotional truth. Something that touches them.



How much do you think South Asian talents are influenced by Hindi cinema since you have worked with them?



Majorly. For those who have worked abroad or have been brought up, Hindi cinema has impacted us profoundly. I wouldnt say more so because in India we are obsessed with it but differently, you know. It is very deep and elemental to us because it is the only thing that keeps us connected to our roots. Especially the '70s and 80s - we couldnt just hop onto a plane or there were no social media to say connected. So it is so fundamental for us. Even these South Asian stars you are talking about - Lilly Singh and Maitreyi Ramakrishnan - these younger actors who have the same kind of passion for Hindi cinema as my parents did because we were immigrants travelling from this country to that country. It is a chain that is unbroken.





How would you say romance has evolved on the big screen?



In Yash Chopras time, there was maybe more belief in eternal love and now maybe we are in a phase where we are either more cynical or practical or there is a different dimension. We have also evolved in terms of gender roles when it comes to love. In Yash Chopras times, particularly in the 90s - the idea of love was endearing, sometimes even rebellious - against all odds and you know all-consuming. Maybe now we have drifted from it a little bit, maybe we have moved away from it and maybe we will come back too.





The Romantics - what an apt name, who came up with it?





Uday Chopra. We were struggling to come up with a title. We knew we did not want the term Bollywood in it. It had to be something that captured what Yash Chopra was known for, the poetry of his films. It had to be catchy and resonate with the Indian audience and also catch the eye of a Non-Indian audience and they figured it out. So I am grateful to him for that.
Investment will Accelerate Company's Growth and Innovation

NEW YORK, Feb. 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- KPS Capital Partners, LP ("KPS") announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a controlling equity interest in Princess Yachts (Holdings) Limited, ("Princess Yachts" or the "Company"), a leading global manufacturer of luxury motor yachts. Existing stockholders will retain ownership in the Company. Completion of the transaction is expected in the first quarter of 2023 and is subject to customary closing conditions and approvals.





Princess Yachts is a leading builder of luxury motor yachts and is recognized for its timeless design, hand-crafted quality and exceptional seakeeping. Headquartered in Plymouth, England, the Company's unparalleled level of vertical integration - including on-site design, engineering and manufacturing - has helped position Princess Yachts as one of Britain's most iconic luxury brands. Princess Yachts serves a global customer base through its best-in-class international dealer network. The Company has approximately 3,200 employees and operates five manufacturing facilities in Plymouth, England.

Ryan Harrison, a Partner of KPS Mid-Cap Investments, said, "We are excited to make this significant investment in Princess Yachts, a leading company in the luxury global yachting industry with an iconic brand grounded in British tradition, a remarkable and growing product range and worldwide reputation for quality and innovation. KPS' investment will accelerate Princess' growth trajectory and fund numerous investments for its future. We look forward to working with Princess' existing stockholders, Chief Executive Officer Antony Sheriff, the senior leadership team and the talented employee base at Princess Yachts."

Antony Sheriff, Chief Executive Officer of Princess Yachts, said, "We are thrilled to partner with KPS for this exciting new chapter for Princess Yachts. KPS and the Princess Yachts team are deeply committed to investing in the Company's future while continuing to further strengthen our portfolio of best-in-class motor yachts. With a current order book nearing a record $1 billion and many model lines sold into 2025, we have never been in a stronger commercial position. Together with KPS' tremendous track record of manufacturing excellence and investing in leading brands, we are now positioned to take Princess Yachts to the next level of industry leadership in quality and innovation. Under KPS' ownership, we will accelerate a range of growth and operational initiatives to build upon our long and successful history."

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP served as legal counsel to KPS. Macquarie Capital and Latham & Watkins LLP served as financial advisor and legal counsel, respectively, to Princess Yachts.

About Princess Yachts

Princess Yachts is a leading builder of luxury motor yachts and is recognized for its timeless, understated design, unique craftsmanship and exceptional seakeeping. Headquartered in Plymouth, England, the Company's unparalleled level of vertical integration - including on-site design, engineering and manufacturing - has helped position Princess Yachts as one of Britain's most iconic luxury brands. Princess Yachts serves a global customer base through its best-in-class international dealer network. The Company has approximately 3,200 employees and operates five manufacturing facilities in Plymouth, England. For additional information, please visit www.princessyachts.com.

About KPS Capital Partners

KPS, through its affiliated management entities, is the manager of the KPS Special Situations Funds, a family of investment funds with over $14.4 billion of assets under management (as of September 30, 2022). For nearly three decades, the Partners of KPS have worked exclusively to realize significant capital appreciation by making controlling equity investments in manufacturing and industrial companies across a diverse array of industries, including basic materials, branded consumer, healthcare and luxury products, automotive parts, capital equipment and general manufacturing. KPS creates value for its investors by working constructively with talented management teams to make businesses better and generates investment returns by structurally improving the strategic position, competitiveness, and profitability of its portfolio companies, rather than primarily relying on financial leverage. The KPS Funds' portfolio companies have aggregate annual revenues of approximately $22.0 billion, operate 232 manufacturing facilities in 27 countries, and have approximately 53,000 employees, directly and through joint ventures worldwide. The KPS investment strategy and portfolio companies are described in detail at www.kpsfund.com.

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Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 13, 2023) - Global Care Capital Inc. (CSE: HLTH) (FSE: L6V2) (the "Company" or "Global Care"), a global investment company which engages in early-stage investment opportunities in private and public companies, announces that Bryce Clark has resigned as Chief Financial Officer of the Company to pursue other opportunities. The Company thanks Mr. Clark for his services and wish him the best in his future endeavors. The Company will announce the replacement for the Chief Financial Officer position in the near future.

About Global Care

Global Care Capital is a global investment company which specializes in providing early-stage financing to private and public companies. The Company engages in new, early-stage investment opportunities in previously underdeveloped assets and obtaining positions in early-stage investment opportunities that adequately reflect the risk profile.

GLOBAL CARE CAPITAL INC.:

Company Contact:

Mr. Hugh Maddin, Interim CEO

"Hugh Maddin"

604-687-2038

info@globalcarecapital.com

The CSE does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154696
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 13, 2023) - SLANG Worldwide Inc. (CNSX: SLNG) (OTCQB: SLGWF) ("SLANG" or the "Company"), a leading global cannabis consumer packaged goods ("CPG") company with a diversified portfolio of popular brands, has issued an aggregate of 100,167,654 restricted voting shares in the capital of the Company (each a "Restricted Share") to the former shareholders of High Fidelity, Inc. ("Hi-Fi"), as post-closing additional consideration in connection with the Vermont regulators issuing a retail marijuana license to the Company on September 28, 2022. The acquisition of HiFi was completed on August 12, 2021 and the Company announced the opening of its first recreational cannabis store in Vermont on October 1, 2022.

John Moynan, Chief Executive Officer of SLANG, stated, "Our acquisition of Hi-Fi in August 2021 quickly placed SLANG in the center of one of the country's fastest growing cannabis markets and opened the door to a number of key near and long-term growth opportunities. We are already recognizing better than anticipated adult-use sales from our Ceres Collaborative Dispensary, and believe that this retail footprint, supported by our newly acquired vertically-integrated operational infrastructure in Vermont, will drive a new level of financial growth for SLANG. We very quickly established Vermont as a key core market for our continued growth and look forward to building upon our initial success to further elevate SLANG's industry-leading market position. Hi-Fi has a strong history operating as Vermont's largest medical cannabis company and we are excited to play a leading role in Vermont's adult-use market as we further their initial success."

About SLANG Worldwide Inc.

SLANG Worldwide Inc. is the industry leader in branded cannabis consumer packaged goods, with a diversified portfolio of five distinct brands and products distributed across the U.S. Operating in 15 legal cannabis markets nationwide, SLANG specializes in acquiring and developing market-proven regional brands, as well as launching innovative new brands to seize global market opportunities and match evolving consumer tastes. The Company has over a decade of experience operating in the nascent and highly regulated cannabis sector, and its partners enjoy the benefits of that experience, with access to the SLANG playbook for successful operations, sales and marketing. Its strong product pipeline from uniquely positioned and scalable brands like O.pen, Alchemy Naturals, Ceres Collaborative, Firefly, District Edibles and partnerships with brands like Greenhouse Seed Company have a proven track record of success with the brands consistently ranking among the top performers in the states where SLANG operates. Learn more at slangww.com.

To be added to SLANG's email distribution list, please email SLNG@kcsa.com with "SLNG" in the subject.

Company Contact

Mikel Rutherford, CFO

833-752-6499

Media and Investor Inquiries

Investors@SLANGww.com

KCSA Strategic Communications

Phil Carlson

SLANG@kcsa.com

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking statements". Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements, or developments in the industry to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur.

Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management of SLANG at this time, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive risks, uncertainties and contingencies that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Applicable risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to regulatory risks, changes in laws, resolutions and guidelines, market risks, risks related to the COVID-19 global pandemic, concentration risks, operating history, competition, the risks associated with international and foreign operations and the other risks identified under the headings "Risk Factors" in SLANG's annual information form dated April 27, 2022 and other disclosure documents available on the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. SLANG is not under any obligation, and 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 expressly required by applicable law.

Reader Advisory

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada 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/154695
INGERSHEIM, Germany, Feb. 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ACPS Automotive is expanding into Asia. The market and technology leader in towbars for cars, SUVs and vans opened a sales and development office in the Pudong district of Shanghai, China, in February. This is an important step towards strengthening and building on existing business contacts in China. "China is a strategic market for ACPS Automotive. Many of our customers are located here and it's important for us to be on site," said Caspar Baumhauer, CEO of ACPS Automotive.

ACPS Automotive based in Ingersheim in the Stuttgart Metropolitan Region (Germany) has opened its own office in Shanghai, China. From there, it intends to cultivate existing relationships and acquire new business in the future. Its customers are automobile manufacturers who add towbars to their vehicles destined for export to Europe and North America, as well as increasingly the local Chinese market. "Our decision to enter the Chinese market is based on the changing needs of many Chinese customers and new statutory provisions in force since last year in respect of vehicles towing trailers," explained Thorsten Thomassen, Vice President Original Equipment at ACPS Automotive. Chinese drivers can now obtain a driving licence that also entitles them to operate a vehicle pulling a trailer or transport a bike carrier. Accordingly, the local Chinese market has been opened up for private use of ACPS Automotive's technologically cutting-edge towbars.

The company has initially established a presence for itself in China by opening an office with local sales and development experts, with staff numbers expected to grow. "We believe that our office in Shanghai will give us an important location advantage by allowing us to quickly build on our contacts with automakers and bring highly skilled workers on board over the coming years," said Thorsten Thomassen.

ACPS Automotive in China will operate under the company name "ORIS Automotive Systems (Shanghai) Ltd.". With China being at the forefront of e-mobility, the company considers it an important driving force for its European business. ACPS Automotive's decision to expand into China is a strategic move with respect to development in Europe. "We're now the market leader in Europe, where we work with virtually all automobile manufacturers. China is an enormous market with high technological standards and impressive speed of innovation. We expect the insights gained there to provide important momentum for our global activities," said Caspar Baumhauer in summary.

The company

ACPS Automotive is the market leader for towbars for cars, SUVs and vans. Its more than 140 patents worldwide are evidence of its technology and innovation leadership, with the company playing a significant role in shaping technological progress in the towbar sector. As a developer and manufacturer of transport solution technology, ACPS Automotive sets standards at its headquarters in Ingersheim and eleven locations worldwide. To the benefit of its customers - namely, the international automotive industry in the original equipment sector and companies in the aftermarket and retrofitting business. The towbars provide for especially safe and convenient connection between vehicles and caravans, bicycle racks, and boat and horse trailers in the private and commercial sector. ACPS Automotive has around 2,000 employees. It was established in 1955 near Stuttgart and is known under the ORIS brand. Annual sales of around 360 million were generated in 2022.

Picture is available at AP Images (http://www.apimages.com)

Contact

ACPS Automotive GmbH

Dagmar Hinz

Manager Communication & Marketing

Bertha-Benz-Str. 2

74379 Ingersheim

Germany

Tel.: +49 7142 9930-124

Mobile: +49 172 54 68 310

E-mail: dagmar.hinz@acps-automotive.com

https://www.acps-automotive.com/en/

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NEW DELHI, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The senior management team of Athachi Group, a diversified business group headquartered in Palakkad, Kerala, with nature close to its heart across its operations in India and the UAE, met the Union Ministers recently in the capital and presented its 'Trust Nature' initiative to them.

The Athachi 'Trust Nature' philosophy is rooted in the ancient cow-centric farming methods of India that includes Vrikshayurveda, Vedic Farming, Rishi Krishi, among other nature-friendly agricultural practices.

The Athachi team, led by Mr Raju N Subramanian, Chairman of Athachi Group, and Dr Vishwanath N Subramanian, Managing Director of Athachi Group, met Union Ministers Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, Hon'ble Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Shri Bhupender Yadav, Hon'ble Minister of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, and Labour & Employment, Shri Sarbananda Sonowal, Hon'ble Minister of Ayush, and Ports, Shipping & Waterways, and Shri V Muraleedharan, Hon'ble Minister of State for External Affairs & Parliamentary Affairs, and held discussions on the 'Trust Nature' philosophy.

The science of providing medical care to vegetations based on Vrikshayurveda was prevalent in ancient India. Adhering to these centuries-old farming practices of India, the Athachi Group has developed and implemented a unique farming method in its own farms located in the Palakkad Gap between the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border, in the middle of Western Ghats - one of the geological wonders of the world.

Called 'More than Organics', the method has also taken cues from the best farming practices of the world such as Dabholkar, Miyawaki, Pranic, Permaculture, Bio Dynamic and Biodiverse. Indian farmers have forgotten the unique farming methods of the nation, which emphasizes on timeliness - from sowing, ploughing to harvesting. Also, practical knowledge such as cow-centric farming and Vrikshayurveda are India's intellectual property.

Hailing Athachi's 'Trust Nature' initiative for reviving and disseminating India's ancient farming methods across the world, the Union Ministers also exuded confidence that this initiative will be adapted universally, as it is the need of the hour.

In his comments, Mr Raju Subramanian said, "The Athachi Trust Nature initiative is a powerful stream of thought originating from the principle that nature alone has remedies for all challenges faced by humankind. A philosophy which is a prerequisite in today's modern world. Like Yoga, the world will wholeheartedly welcome and implement our Trust Nature and Vrikshayurveda philosophy. We appreciate the support and interest shown by the Union Ministers to our efforts and to our unique farming methodology."

Adding further, Dr Vishwanath N Subramanian said: "Originally, dairy farms were part of the agricultural farms in India. Panchagavya, which is essentially made up of five substances obtained from cow, is an elixir that promotes not just the health and growth of plants but also breathes life into soil. We could disseminate the science of linking agriculture to dairy farming to many developed nations that are ahead of India in dairy farming, but still depend upon chemical fertilizers that harm the soil and every living organism on it. Trust Nature is the mantra the world needs today to get rid of this menace. The Union Ministers have shown keenness to participate with Athachi's initiatives in the preservation of Mother Nature."

About Athachi

The Athachi Group has been holding discussions regularly with the Centre and the State governments on various initiatives including the 'Trust Nature'. The Group, which has an airline financing services arm in Dubai, is all set to launch a nationwide campaign on disseminating the 'Trust Nature' philosophy.

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22% year-on-year increase of royalty income from antifungal Cresemba 

Operating profit of CHF 18.5 million and net profit of CHF 12.1 million

Strengthened balance sheet through non-dilutive repayment of convertible bonds

Expecting approximately 20% growth in Cresemba and Zevtera related revenue in 2023 and significant increase in net profit

Well positioned for building an anti-infectives R&D portfolio to support sustainable long-term growth

Ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 LR

Basel/Allschwil, Switzerland, February 14, 2023

Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. (SIX: BSLN), a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company committed to meeting the needs of patients with severe bacterial or fungal infections, announced today its results for the financial year ended December 31, 2022.

David Veitch, Chief Executive Officer, stated: "2022 was a year of transition and execution and we are well on track towards our strategic goal of becoming a leading anti-infectives company. Our commercial-stage anti-infectives brands made great progress in 2022 and are well positioned to continue their success story in 2023 and beyond. 2023 will be an important year for our antibiotic Zevtera, as we are preparing the submission of a New Drug Application for the United States by March/April this year, seeking approval for the treatment of Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia, acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections and community-acquired bacterial pneumonia. We believe the United States represents around 80 to 90 percent of the global sales potential for Zevtera and we intend to enter into a commercial partnership, prior to the regulatory decision."

Adesh Kaul, Chief Financial Officer, said: "We are pleased to report a net profit for 2022, based on the continued commercial success of our marketed brands, our oncology asset transactions and our reduced operating expenses. In addition, we have significantly reduced our debt level in 2022, whilst avoiding dilution for our shareholders. Our strong financial prospects are reflected in our 2023 financial guidance. To support sustainable long-term growth, we will focus on building an R&D portfolio for the treatment of severe bacterial and fungal infections, with the first transactions expected in 2023."

Financial summary

Basilea recorded total revenue in the full year (FY) 2022 of CHF 147.8 million (FY 2021: CHF 148.1 million). This included royalty income from Cresemba, which increased by 22.4% to CHF 65.0 million (FY 2021: CHF 53.1 million), and Cresemba and Zevtera milestone payments of CHF 23.4 million (FY 2021: CHF 49.4 million). Other revenue amounted to CHF 25.4 million (FY 2021: CHF 16.6 million). This included CHF 15.0 million from the oncology transactions and CHF 8.4 million BARDA reimbursements (FY 2021: CHF 14.0 million). These BARDA reimbursements are offsetting a substantial portion of the ceftobiprole phase 3 development expenses and are lower than in the previous year because the ongoing phase 3 study was successfully completed, reporting positive topline results end-June 2022.1

In 2022, research and development expenses decreased by 20.8% to CHF 73.8 million (FY 2021: CHF 93.2 million). The expenses were mainly related to activities for the phase 1/2 development program of the FGFR-inhibitor derazantinib, preclinical and clinical activities for other oncology assets, for the ceftobiprole phase 3 program, the pediatric development programs for isavuconazole and ceftobiprole, as well as for activities on compounds in the research portfolio.

Selling, general and administrative expenses remained stable at CHF 30.8 million (FY 2021: CHF 29.7 million) and cost of products sold amounted to CHF 24.6 million (FY 2021: CHF 24.1 million).

In 2022, an operating profit of CHF 18.5 million was recorded (FY 2021: CHF 1.2 million), significantly above guidance. In addition, a net profit was recorded, amounting to CHF 12.1 million (FY 2021: net loss of CHF 6.8 million), resulting in a basic and diluted earnings per share of CHF 1.02 (FY 2021: loss per share CHF 0.58).

In 2022, a positive net cash flow of CHF 7.1 million was provided by operating activities (FY 2021: net cash used in operating activities of CHF 32.0 million). Cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash and short-term investments amounted to CHF 108.6 million as of December 31, 2022, compared to CHF 150.0 million as of December 31, 2021. The convertible bonds maturing in December 2022 (ISIN CH0305398148) with a final outstanding nominal amount of CHF 113.8 million were fully repaid in December 2022, financed through a CHF 75.0 million two-year loan and cash at hand.

Key financial figures

(in CHF million, except per share data) FY 2022 FY 2021 Product revenue 32.7 26.2 Contract revenue 89.6 105.2 Revenue from R&D services - 0.2 Other revenue 25.4 16.6 Total revenue 147.8 148.1 Cost of products sold (24.6) (24.1) Research & development expenses, net (73.8) (93.2) Selling, general & administrative expenses (30.8) (29.7) Total cost and operating expenses (129.2) (147.0) Operating profit 18.5 1.2 Net profit/loss 12.1 (6.8) Net cash provided by / used in operating activities 7.1 (32.0) Basic earnings/loss per share, in CHF 1.02 (0.58) Diluted earnings/loss per share, in CHF 1.02 (0.58) (in CHF million) Dec 31, 2022 Dec 31, 2021 Cash and cash equivalents, short-term investments and restricted cash 108.6 150.0

Note: Consolidated figures in conformity with US GAAP; rounding was applied consistently.

The consolidated financial statements of Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd for the financial year 2022 can be found on the Company's website at https://www.basilea.com/financial-reports.

2023 financial guidance and board nominations for AGM 2023

Basilea expects to remain profitable and generate positive cash flow from operating activities in 2023, based on further increasing revenue from Cresemba and Zevtera and an expected significant reduction in operating expenses in 2023 versus 2022. Basilea provides the following financial guidance for FY 2023, excluding the potential impact from any in-licensing transactions:

Cresemba & Zevtera related revenue is expected to grow by 19% - 21% to

CHF 145 - 148 million (FY 2022: CHF 122.3 million), reflecting the continued commercial success of Basilea's marketed products.

CHF 145 - 148 million (FY 2022: CHF 122.3 million), reflecting the continued commercial success of Basilea's marketed products. Operating profit is expected to increase to CHF 45 - 50 million (FY 2022: CHF 18.5 million) and net profit to CHF 36 - 41 million (FY 2022: CHF 12.1 million).

The Company expects to continue reducing its debt level through the partial repayment of the senior secured loan in the amount of approximately CHF 37 million.

(in CHF million) FY 2023e FY 2022 Cresemba & Zevtera related revenue 145 to 148 122.3 Royalty income ~74 65.0 Total revenue 155 to 158 147.8 Cost of products sold 25 to 28 24.6 Operating expenses ~80 104.5 Operating profit 45 to 50 18.5 Net profit 36 to 41 12.1

The board of directors has nominated Domenico Scala (chairman), Leonard Kruimer, Dr. Martin Nicklasson, Dr. Nicole Onetto and Dr. Thomas Werner for re-election as board members. After 14 years of serving on the board of directors, Steven Skolsky has decided not to stand for re-election. The board has nominated Dr. Carole Sable for election as a new board member. The board of directors will continue to be composed of six members.

Conference call and webcast

Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd will host a conference call and webcast today, Tuesday, February 14, 2023, at 4 p.m. (CET), to discuss the company's financial and operating results and to provide an outlook.

Via audio webcast with presentation

The live audio webcast of the results presentation can be followed here: https://media.choruscall.eu/mediaframe/webcast.html?webcastid=rK4oAHzj. Please note that there is no function to ask questions via webcast. For questions, please additionally dial-in via phone (see below).

Via phone

To listen by phone and ask questions, please use the dial-in details below. To ensure prompt access, please call approximately five minutes prior to the scheduled start of the call.

+41 (0) 58 310 5000 (Europe and Rest of World)

+1 (1) 866 291 4166 (USA)

+44 (0) 207 107 0613 (U.K.)

Replay

The webcast, along with the presentation will be available onlineshortly after the event and accessible for three months.

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 or 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 ad hoc announcement can be downloaded from www.basilea.com.

References

Basilea's ceftobiprole phase 3 program is funded in part (up to USD 136.4 million, which is approximately 70% of the total potential program costs) with federal funds from the US Department of Health and Human Services; Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response; Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), under contract number HHSO100201600002C.

Attachment
BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - MTU Aero Engines AG (MTUAY.PK), a German aircraft engine maker, reported that its net income for fiscal year 2022 climbed 39% to 476 million euros from 342 million euros in the prior year. Operating profit increased by 40% year-over-year to 655 million euros. Annual revenue also increased by 27% to 5.3 billion euros from 4.2 billion euros in the prior year. The company's executive board will propose a dividend of 3.20 euros. This will be put to the Supervisory Board when it meets on March 21 to adopt the financial statements as a recommendation for a resolution at the Annual General Meeting. For 2021, MTU paid a dividend of 2.10 euros per share. MTU now expects revenue to be between 6.1 billion euros and 6.3 billion euros in 2023. In November 2022, it forecast that revenue would be between 6.4 billion euros and 6.6 billion euros. The revised guidance is mainly due to a change in our assumption on the US dollar exchange rate. MTU now expects a stable adjusted EBIT margin in 2023. Its previous guidance was for an increase in adjusted EBIT in the low twenty-percent range. The company said it wants to continue to grow beyond 2023. The company's target formula is 8 - 1 - 25, in other words: revenue of 8 billion euros and earnings of 1 billion euros in 2025. For more earnings news, earnings calendar, and earnings for stocks, visit rttnews.com Copyright(c) 2023 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, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 14, 2023) - Hypercharge Networks Corp. (NEO: HC) (FSE: PB7) (the "Company" or "Hypercharge"), a leading, smart electric vehicle (EV) charging solutions provider, is announcing the release of its condensed interim consolidated financial statements for the four months ended December 31, 2022, related management discussion and analysis, and recent business highlights1. These documents will be posted on SEDAR and Hypercharge's website at https://hypercharge.com/investors/. All figures are preliminary, unaudited, and subject to final adjustment.

Over the four-month period ending December 31, 2022, the Company's gross revenue surpassed C$1.2 million, marking a significant milestone in its growth journey. This calendar quarter (three-month period ending December 31, 2022) also marked the Company's first quarter with revenue exceeding C$1.0 million ($1,019,638). As at December 31, 2022, the Company finished the period with C$4.1 million of cash on hand.

"I am pleased to report a strong quarter at Hypercharge and our Q3 2023 financial results reflect our customers' growing confidence in the Company to provide sustainable, convenient charging solutions," said David Bibby, President and CEO of Hypercharge. "With our expanding network of public and private charging stations, we are leading the way in this rapidly growing industry, delivering value to our customers and shareholders."

Q3 2023 Business and Pipeline Highlights2:

Completed an initial public offering with common shares trading on the NEO Exchange under the symbol "HC" in Canada, and subsequently on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol "PB7".

Closed deals across eight provinces in Canada and one state in the US.

Sold over 1,400 new charging ports across North America and continues to build a strong pipeline of opportunities.

Delivered its first Level 3 DC Fast Charging station.

Established a new partnership with ParkCo to develop integrations between the Hypercharge and ParkCo platforms.

1 The Company changed its fiscal year end from August 31 to March 31, thereby requiring a four-month stub reporting period between the Company's old August 31, 2022 fiscal year end and December 31, 2022.

2 All figures are preliminary, unaudited, and subject to final adjustment.

-##-

About Hypercharge

Hypercharge Networks Corp. (NEO: HC) (FSE: PB7) is a leading provider of smart electric vehicle (EV) charging solutions that offers turnkey technology to multi-unit residential and commercial buildings, fleet operations, and other rapidly growing sectors. Driven by its mission to accelerate EV adoption and enable the shift towards a carbon neutral economy, Hypercharge is committed to providing seamless, simple charging solutions by offering industry-leading equipment and a robust network of public and private charging stations. Learn more: https://hypercharge.com/.

On behalf of the company,

Hypercharge Networks Corp.

David Bibby, President & CEO

Investor Relations:

invest@hypercharge.com

604-881-1730

Media Contact:

Kyle Green | Senior Marketing Manager

kyle.green@hypercharge.com

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of 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", "will", "estimates", "believes", "intends", "expects" and similar expressions which are intended to identify forward-looking statements. More particularly and without limitation, this news release contains forward-looking statements concerning the Company's strong pipeline of opportunities. Forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain, and the actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, assumptions and expectations, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. Readers are cautioned that assumptions used in the preparation of any forward-looking statements may prove to be incorrect. Events or circumstances may cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted as a result of numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. Readers are further cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, as such information, although considered reasonable by the respective management of the Company at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated.

The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release, and are expressly qualified by the foregoing cautionary statement. Except as expressly required by securities law, the Company 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.

Neither the NEO Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in policies of the NEO Exchange) accepts 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/154681
EQS-News: PlusPlus Capital Financial S.a.r.l. / Key word(s): Annual Results/Quarterly / Interim Statement

PlusPlus Capital reports unaudited 12M 2022 results on 15 February 2023 - Invitation to earnings webcast/call on 17 February 2023



14.02.2023 / 09:15 CET/CEST

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.





PlusPlus Capital reports unaudited 12M 2022 results on 15 February 2023

Invitation to earnings webcast/call on 17 February 2023



Tallinn, Estonia, 14 February 2023. PlusPlus Capital ("PPC"), a leading pan-Baltic and Finnish technology-driven receivables management group, cordially invites investors and analysts to an earnings webcast/call with the Management Board on 17 February 2023, 11.00 CET, following the publication of its unaudited 12M 2022 results on 15 February 2022 (after the close of trading).



Earnings Call:

CEO Kroot Kilvet and CFO Rasmus Noormagi will comment on the 12M 2022 results and the recent developments by means of a webcast presentation. The webcast/call will be held in English and will be recorded.

Please register in time to participate in the webcast/call at:

PlusPlus Capital - Earnings Call 12M 2022.

The corresponding presentation will also be available on the Company's website prior to the earnings webcast/call.



Contact:

PlusPlus Capital

Rasmus Noormagi, Chief Financial Officer

Email: rasmus.noormagi@plusplus.ee

Phone: +372 555 44 891



Aalto Capital (Investor Relations)

Sven Pauly, Consultant

Email: sven.pauly@aaltocapital.com

Phone: +49 89 898 67 77 0



About PlusPlus Capital:

PlusPlus is a pan-Baltic and Finnish technology-driven receivables management company with offices in Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius, and Helsinki. The Company acquires overdue loans and other non-performing exposures from financial institutions and non-financial sector merchants. With its core competence in handling claims against private individuals, PlusPlus prefers diversified portfolios balanced by geography, portfolio type, and other metrics.

Since its inception in 2010, PlusPlus has bought over 117 thousand claims with nominal value of approximately EUR 289 million as at 31 December 2022. The Company offers its clients affordable recovery solutions and aims to avoid litigious scenarios. In doing so, PlusPlus pursues win-win solutions that allow sellers to focus on their core business, provide affordable solutions for borrowers, and ensure adequate returns for investors.

PlusPlus is a transparent and socially responsible company set to assist people in resolving problems connected with their insufficient solvency. The ambition of PlusPlus is to increase its market share and further strengthen its position as a leading player in its regional market.

pluspluscapital.eu

14.02.2023 CET/CEST Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by EQS News - a service of EQS Group AG.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



The EQS Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.

Archive at www.eqs-news.com


RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- "Jazeera Paints" continues to share the creativity, the leading company in the world of paints, colors, and construction solutions in the Kingdom, the Middle East, and North Africa, its Seminars "All in one" in Al-Medina, with the presence top group of consultants, engineers, and real estate developers, to learn about the company's history, achievements, and the latest technologies and products.





https://youtu.be/YQ8NidLTQOM

"Jazeera Paints" chooses the phrase "All in One", which comes from its desire to transfer philosophy and expectations in the world of paints, colors, and construction solutions, by highlighting the integration of products, and reflecting the ease of customer experience and fast demand service, using modern technologies which build bridges between the customer and the product, to achieve the goal of creating a perfect building and an ideal house.

"All in one" reviews "Jazeera Paints" products and experiences, moving between its miscellaneous worlds, in addition to highlighting the unique paint "Jazeera Rust Effect", the latest products in the world of paints and colors, showing its various applications.

About "Jazeera Paints"

Founded in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 1979, Jazeera Paints is a pioneering paint manufacturer in the Gulf Cooperation Council and Middle East and North Africa region, with an established reputation for manufacturing and exporting high-quality and eco-friendly paints. Since the founding of the company, its production capacity has grown to 400,000 tons annually, and Jazeera Paints is now displayed in more than 650 active showrooms.

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BENTONVILLE (dpa-AFX) - Walmart Inc. plans to close three of its 11 U.S. technology hubs, asking employees to relocate to other locations, the Wall Street Journal reported citing an internal memo. The retail major would also require nearly all technology employees to return to their offices for at least two days a week, while some roles may be converted into remote positions. The company is closing technology offices in Austin, Texas; in Carlsbad, California; and in Portland, Oregon. The operations at these places would move to hubs including San Bruno, California or the company's headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas. Walmart's hundreds of tech employees in these affected offices are asked to relocate to keep their jobs. Robert Munroe, Walmart's director of global communications, reportedly said the company would pay transfer costs to relocate employees and severance payments to those who plans to leave the company. The company currently has 11 technology offices in the U.S. and six abroad. Reports quoted Walmart representative as saying, 'We've made the decision to focus our tech team's presence within select locations. We hope to relocate or allow for remote work for all affected associates.' Walmart's global technology head, Suresh Kumar, had announced last year the company's plans to add new tech centers in Atlanta and Toronto and hire 5,000 staffers to work on cybersecurity, software engineering, data science and other areas. Walmart's majority of tech employees have been working remotely since the start of Covid pandemic. Meanwhile, many workers in Walmart's Bentonville corporate headquarters were asked to work in office five days a week since last year. Copyright(c) 2023 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The global pediatric medical devices market size is expected to reach USD 51.9 billion by 2030, expanding at a CAGR of 7.8% over the forecast period, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The rising prevalence of chronic diseases among children such as asthma, cystic fibrosis, diabetes, epilepsy, and technological advancements in pediatric medical devices are the major growth-propelling factors for the market.





Key Industry Insights & Findings from the report:

The anesthesia and respiratory care devices segment is expected to showcase the fastest CAGR over the forecast period as it is a commonly used product among children.

In Vitro Diagnostic (IVD) Devices segment held the largest share as of 2022 owing to the accurate and error-free diagnostic through the product.

The pediatric clinics segment is expected to showcase lucrative CAGR over the forecast period as these clinics are especially focused on children's care.

The hospitals held the largest share as of 2022 owing to the high number of patient admission in the hospitals.

Read 110 page market research report, "Pediatric Medical Devices Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Product (Cardiology Devices, In Vitro Diagnostic (IVD) Devices, Diagnostic Imaging Devices), By End-user, By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2023 - 2030", published by Grand View Research.

Pediatric Medical Devices Market Growth & Trends

Pediatric medical devices diagnose or treat diseases from birth through adolescence. The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act consist of pediatric patients aged 21 or younger at the time of the treatment. In the U.S., the commercialization and development of pediatric medical devices lag significantly behind the medical devices for adults. In the last few years, only 24% of lifesaving medical devices have been approved by the FDA that can be used for childcare, and the majority of its users are 12 years and above.

The COVID-19 pandemic has put the medical device industry at the center with unparalleled demand for personal protective equipment, diagnostic tests, ventilators, and other critical medical supplies. However, the pediatric medical device industry is highly impacted by the substantial decrease in the number of surgeries, many of which are being cancelled or postponed so that hospitals and clinics can focus their resources on treating COVID-19 patients. The reopening of manufacturing units and supply-chain is expected to grow the market of pediatric medical devices.

The development and design of pediatric medical devices continue to be an exciting field. There are only a few pediatric devices than adult devices in the market which is forcing pediatric professionals to suggest alternative ways of treating children using devices mainly made for adults. Pediatric medical devices cover a wide range of indications and risks associated with child care. It also helps to reduce disease burden and improve the quality of life for many children.

Various innovation competitions took place to support new and advanced pediatric medical devices. For instance, since 2013, the "Make Your Medical Device Pitch for Kids" international competition has focused on supporting and identifying innovations that will make a substantial improvement in pediatric care.

Pediatric Medical Devices Market Segmentation

Grand View Research has segmented the global pediatric medical devices market based on product, end-user, and region:

Pediatric Medical Devices Market - Product Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2018 - 2030)

Cardiology Devices

In Vitro Diagnostic (IVD) Devices

Diagnostic Imaging Devices

Anesthesia & Respiratory Care Devices

Neonatal ICU Devices

Others

Pediatric Medical Devices Market - End-user Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2018 - 2030)

Hospitals

Pediatric Clinics

Ambulatory Surgery Centers

Others

Pediatric Medical Devices Market - Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2018 - 2030)

North America

U.S.



Canada

Europe

U.K.



Germany



France



Italy



Spain



Denmark



Sweden



Norway

Asia Pacific

China



India



Japan



Australia



South Korea



Thailand

Latin America

Brazil



Mexico



Argentina

Middle East & Africa

& South Africa



Saudi Arabia



UAE



Kuwait

List of Key Players in Pediatric Medical Devices Market

TSE MEDICAL

Ningbo David Medical Device Co. Ltd

Hamilton Medical

GE Healthcare

Fritz Stephan GmbH

Phoenix Medical Systems Pvt Ltd

Novonate Inc.

Trimpeks

Atom Medical Corporation

Abbott

Medtronic PLC

Check out more related studies published by Grand View Research:

Pediatric Catheters Market - The global pediatric catheters market size is expected to reach USD 9.6 billion in 2025, according to a report by Grand View Research, Inc., expanding at a CAGR of 9.3% over the forecast period. Key factors attributing to the growth include increase in the pediatric population, rise in congenital heart defects, neurological disorders, urinary tract infections, and lack of adequate new born screening centers in the emerging countries. The pediatric population requires specially designed catheters with smaller dimensions and advanced materials to avoid hospital acquired infections and improve patient compliance.

- The global pediatric catheters market size is expected to reach in 2025, according to a report by Grand View Research, Inc., expanding at a CAGR of 9.3% over the forecast period. Key factors attributing to the growth include increase in the pediatric population, rise in congenital heart defects, neurological disorders, urinary tract infections, and lack of adequate new born screening centers in the emerging countries. The pediatric population requires specially designed catheters with smaller dimensions and advanced materials to avoid hospital acquired infections and improve patient compliance. Pediatric Home Healthcare Market - The global pediatric home healthcare market size is expected to reach USD 68.6 billion by 2028, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 7.8% from 2021 to 2028. The growing population of Children with Medical Complexities (CMC) requiring in-home care is expected to drive the market during the forecast period.

- The global pediatric home healthcare market size is expected to reach by 2028, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 7.8% from 2021 to 2028. The growing population of Children with Medical Complexities (CMC) requiring in-home care is expected to drive the market during the forecast period. Pediatric Oral Care Market - The global pediatric oral care market size is expected to reach USD 15.5 billion by 2030, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. It is likely to expand at a CAGR of 6.9% from 2022 to 2030. The growing problems of tooth decay, cavities, and dental diseases will lead to a surge in demand for pediatric oral care products.

Browse through Grand View Research's Medical Devices Industry Research Reports.

About Grand View Research

Grand View Research, U.S.-based market research and consulting company, provides syndicated as well as customized research reports and consulting services. Registered in California and headquartered in San Francisco, the company comprises over 425 analysts and consultants, adding more than 1200 market research reports to its vast database each year. These reports offer in-depth analysis on 46 industries across 25 major countries worldwide. With the help of an interactive market intelligence platform, Grand View Research Helps Fortune 500 companies and renowned academic institutes understand the global and regional business environment and gauge the opportunities that lie ahead.

Contact:

Sherry James

Corporate Sales Specialist, USA

Grand View Research, Inc.

Phone: 1-415-349-0058

Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519

Email: sales@grandviewresearch.com

Web: https://www.grandviewresearch.com

Grand View Compass | Astra ESG Solutions

Follow Us: LinkedIn | Twitter

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Japan's Panasonic says its new GB-L1CMH1A meter can operate without changing the state of the fuel cell. It says it can also measure a wide range of hydrogen flow rates and concentrations.Panasonic has released an ultrasonic meter that can simultaneously measure hydrogen flow rates and concentration in high humidity. Ultrasonic flow meters use ultrasound to measure the velocity of fluids in a range of fluid applications. Compared to conventional meters, such devices can provide more accurate gas flow measurements by calculating the time difference ratios between ultrasonic paths into a pipe. ...

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.
BEIJING, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- An exhibition featuring Dehua ceramics was held on Saturday at Sunway Pyramid Shopping Center in Selangor, Malaysia, which attracted many Malaysian people to explore the unique charm of Dehua porcelain products.

About 35 Dehua-based ceramic enterprises jointly exhibited high-quality white porcelain products including master art porcelain, household daily-use porcelain, and export craft porcelain at the exhibition, demonstrating the rich cultural heritage and exquisite skills of Dehua ceramics in an all-round way.

Dehua porcelain is a type of white Chinese porcelain made in Dehua County, Quanzhou City, southeast China'sFujian Province. The plain white porcelain crafted there has been dubbed "Blanc de Chine" (White from China) by the French and gained worldwide fame.





In 2022, the output value of Dehua ceramics exceeded 50 billion yuan, said Fang Junqin, the head of Dehua County.

Porcelain industry in Dehua County is not only a leading industry, but also a livelihood industry. There are more than 4,000 ceramic enterprises. Among the 356,000 people in the county, one out of three people is engaged in ceramic-related work, Fang introduced.

This year, Dehua will begin the implementation of a new five-year action plan for the high-quality development of the porcelain industry and strive to build Dehua porcelain into a hundred billion industry cluster by 2027, Fang noted.

Fang also pointed out that with RCEP agreement taking effect, the export of Dehua porcelain to Southeast Asian countries has grown rapidly. From January to September 2022, Dehua exported 5.77 million U.S. dollars of porcelain products to Malaysia, surging 324.29 percent year on year.

According to Fang, Malaysia is perceived as the "translator" and "catalyst" for Dehua porcelain to enter the international market.

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WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Oil prices fell around 1 percent on Tuesday after the U.S. government announced it would release more crude from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) at a time when U.S. crude markets are flush with supply. Benchmark Brent crude futures slipped 0.7 percent to $86.01 a barrel, while WTI crude futures were down 1.1 percent at $79.28. The U.S. crude reserve release was a surprise as traders were expecting that the release could be cancelled or delayed. The Biden administration will release another 26 million barrels to the market from April 1st to June 30th, which will take the number of barrels in the reserve to it is lowest level since 1983 - according to international media outlets. Investors also awaited speeches from top Federal Reserve officials and the all-important U.S. consumer price data for January due later in the day for further clarity on the Federal Reserve's rate-hike path. A hotter-than-expected CPI reading could force the Fed into a more aggressive posture. That could lead the world's largest economy into a recession and curtail oil demand. Supply concerns were also relieved somewhat after a cargo of Azeri crude set sail from Turkey's Ceyhan port on Monday, the first since a devastating earthquake in the region on Feb. 6. Copyright(c) 2023 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.
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / February 14, 2023 / In the spirit of Valentine's Day, Engage for Good celebrates companies and causes that truly 'get it' - companies with heart - with the announcement of this year's Halo Award finalists.

Now in its 21st year, the Halo Awards are North America's highest honor for corporate social impact initiatives that showcase outstanding consumer and/or employee engagement efforts.

"At a time of such societal and political division and countless natural and manmade calamities, it is refreshing to see so many companies and causes partnering to build a better world," said Engage for Good President David Hessekiel. "The Halo Awards is once again a celebration of outstanding efforts to sustainably create positive corporate social impact."

Thirty-six campaigns were announced today as finalists in nine Halo Award categories. Gold and Silver Halo Award winners will be announced in each category at the Engage for Good Conference in Atlanta on May 17. Please join us in congratulating these finalists:

Consumer-Activated Corporate Donation

Bounty PicksItUp - Bounty & Best Friends Animal Society

Bringing Communities Together In Nature - Sun Outdoors & National Park Foundation

Chance & Friends Holiday Philanthropic Collection - PetSmart & PetSmart Charities

Iced Coffee Day - Dunkin & Dunkin' Joy In Childhood Foundation

Consumer Donation

2022 Macy's Holiday Campaign - Macy's & Big Brothers Big Sisters Of America

Integrated Partnership To Drive Point-Of-Sale Donations - JOANN & Susan G. Komen

Pin Pad Donation - PetSmart & PetSmart Charities

Wendy's Frosty Treats Warm Hearts - The Wendy's Company & The Dave Thomas Foundation For Adoption

Education

John Hancock MLK Scholars Program - John Hancock

STEM Careers All YEAR - General Motors & First Book

Subaru Loves Learning - Subaru Of America & AdoptAClassroom.org

Teacher Academy: Transforming STEM Professional Development To Spark Teachers' Knowledge, Self-Efficacy, And Practice - Samsung Electronics America & MindSpark Learning

Emergency/Crisis Initiative

UPS Global Vaccine Equity Initiative - UPS

Moves That Matter - Total Quality Logistics

PayPal's Response To The Humanitarian Crisis In Ukraine - PayPal & Multiple Nonprofits

Stand With Ukraine All-for-Charity Initiative - Humble Bundle, Razom For Ukraine, International Rescue Committee, International Medical Corps & Direct Relief

Employee Engagement

Clayton Impact: Team Member Volunteer Program - Clayton

Coast 2 Coast 4 Cancer - Bristol-Myers Squibb & V Foundation For Cancer Research

Employee Empowerment Thru Volunteering - FedEx & Operation Warm

Using Tech For Good: How Northwestern Mutual Leverages The Passions Of Its Employees To Make A Positive Impact In Their Communities Through STEM-based Projects - Northwestern Mutual

Health (Physical or Mental Health)

Advancing Equity In Maternal Health - Elevance Health, Creating Healthier Communities, March Of Dimes & 23 Local Nonprofit Organizations

Bloom: Growing Kids Mental Well-Being - Nationwide, Nationwide Children's Hospital & On Our Sleeves

iHeart National Recovery Month - iHeart & The Voices Project

Mosquitoes Don't Deserve a Drop - Orkin & American Red Cross

JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity And/Or Inclusion)

Fast Break For Small Business - LegalZoom & Accion Opportunity Fund

Leveling The Playing Field: Engaging Fans And Players For Financial Equity And Inclusion - U.S. Women's National Team Players Association & Kiva Microfunds

Nespresso x Ali Forney Center - Nespresso USA x Accompany Creative & The Ali Forney Center

Justice For Change - Relativity

Social Impact Video

Peace Builders - Microsoft & Nobel Peace Center

Styles Of Pride Initiative - Macy's & The Trevor Project

Teen Tech Center "Mentor Moments" - Best Buy & Best Buy Foundation

The Big Wait PSA - Arby's & Big Brothers Big Sisters of America

Social Service

MomsUnite4Milk To Support Families Impacted By The Formula & Human Milk Shortages - Medela

Lowe's Hometowns - Lowe's & Points of Light

HelloFresh Meals With Meaning Program - HelloFresh & Partners

Project DASH - DoorDash

About Engage for Good

Engage for Good is a professional development organization that helps social impact leaders at businesses and nonprofits access the resources and community they need in order to build a better world and the bottom line. While best known for its annual conference and the Halo Awards, Engage for Good provides year-round resources, trainings and events to help corporate social impact professionals advance their careers, campaigns and organizations. Learn more at http://www.engageforgood.com/.

Media Contact

Alli Murphy

Director, Events & Program Development

am@engageforgood.com

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Engage for Good on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Engage for Good

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/engage-good

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Engage for Good

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/739271/Campaigns-With-Heart-Honored-as-2023-Halo-Award-Finalists
New York, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - February 14, 2023) - Swiss Financiers, the leading Swiss IPO incubator, announced today that it will launch the first ever cascade of initial public offerings (IPOs) at the upcoming IPO Conference, taking place at the Javits Center in New York City on November 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, 2023. The company plans to reach the largest number of IPOs made within three days and the highest number of IPOs made within its first year of investment bank license while maintaining the investors' total safety thanks to the perpetual company structure.



Figure 1: The first ever cascade of Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) will be launched in November

"We are honored to lead this innovative and ambitious project. Conceived by our President, Marc Deschenaux , the cascade of IPOs, a business method patent owned by the IPO Institute, will offer a great opportunity for companies looking to go public and for investors to access a diverse range of investment opportunities. This will be a game changer for the industry," said Dourgam Kummer, CFO of Swiss Financiers.

This groundbreaking move by Swiss Financiers is expected to shake up the investment banking industry and bring new opportunities to companies looking to go public. The cascade of IPOs will feature a diverse range of companies from various industries, offering investors a unique chance to diversify their portfolios.

"This cascade of IPOs is a testament to Swiss Financiers' creativity, expertise, and leadership in the investment banking industry," said Jeremy Oades, Board Member of Swiss Financiers. "We are excited to see the impact that this will have on the industry and the opportunities it will create for our clients."

Figure 2: The first ever cascade of Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) will be launched in November

Swiss Financiers CEO, Mr. Christian Frampton, stated, "We are thrilled to be leading the way in this revolutionary approach to IPOs. Our team has been working tirelessly to make this happen and we are confident that it will be a huge success. We believe that this cascade of IPOs will open doors for many companies and provide investors with exciting new opportunities."

The IPO Conference, which is organized by IPO Institute, is one of the most highly-anticipated events in the public market industry calendar. It is expected to attract thousands of investors, companies, financiers, and business leaders from around the world.

The launch of this cascade of IPOs is just one of the many highlights of the conference. Attendees can also expect to hear from top industry experts, participate in networking opportunities and attend workshops.

This is a major development for Swiss Financiers, and for the public markets as a whole. It's a great opportunity for companies to go public, and for investors to access a diverse range of investment opportunities. The IPO Conference is shaping up to be a must-attend event for anyone in the industry, and it will be interesting to see how this cascade of IPOs plays out.

For more information about the IPO cascade, please visit: https://ipocascade.com/

For more information regarding Swiss Financiers, please visit the company's website www.swissfinanciers.com

To learn more about last exciting news regarding the event, please visit the IPO Conference website at https://ipoconference.com

For any inquiries, interviews or further information, please contact

Jeremy OADES

+1 (646) 256 05 77

jeremy.oades@swissfinanciers.com

Company Media Contacts



Marc DESCHENAUX

IPO Conference

+1 (561) 827 11 80

marc.deschenaux@ipoconference.com

https://ipoconference.com

30 Wall Street

8th floor, Office 830

New York, NY, 10005

United States of America

PR Partner

ZEX PRWIRE

info@zexprwire.com

https://zexprwire.com/

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154736


BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - The United States has warned that its military will intervene if China carries out an armed attack on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft, including those of the Coast Guard in the South China Sea.



The warning from the State Department came in the wake of Chinese Coast Guard's reported use of laser devices against the crew of a Philippine Coast Guard ship in the South China Sea last week.



The Philippines Coast Guard alleged that a ship of its Chinese counterpart directed a 'military-grade' laser at its patrol vessel, BRP Malapascua.



PCG alleged that the laser flash resulted in the temporary blindness of the crew members of the Philippine ship.



The incident occurred on February 6 in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, parts of which are claimed by China as well other South East Asian countries.



The Chinese action was provocative and unsafe, and interfering with the Philippines' lawful operations in and around Second Thomas Shoal, according to a statement issued by Ned Price, the State Department spokesperson.



China's dangerous operational behavior directly threatens regional peace and stability, infringes upon freedom of navigation in the South China Sea as guaranteed under international law, and undermines the rules-based international order, it added.



The State Department pointed out that as reflected in an international tribunal's legally binding decision issued in July 2016, China has no lawful maritime claims to Second Thomas Shoal.



The United States called on China to abide by the 2016 arbitral decision, which is the pursuant to the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention.



'The United States stands with our Philippine allies in upholding the rules-based international maritime order and reaffirms an armed attack on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft, including those of the Coast Guard in the South China Sea, would invoke U.S. mutual defense commitments under Article IV of the 1951 U.S. Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty,' the statement showed.



Copyright(c) 2023 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved



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DEARBORN (dpa-AFX) - Ford in Europe announced plans to cut around 3,800 jobs over the next three years amid rapidly changing market conditions, and in response to growing competition in electric vehicles.



The move comes as the auto maker is preparing to introduce its first European-built electric passenger vehicle this spring.



As part of its restructuring efforts aiming for a more competitive cost structure, Ford plans to align its product development organization and administrative functions in Europe, with a smaller, more focused, and increasingly electric product portfolio.



The company would reduce 2,800 jobs in product development and 1,000 jobs in administrative functions.



Of this, majority will be in Germany and UK. Around 2,300 German jobs will be affected, while 1,300 employees in UK will loose their jobs. Rest of Europe will see a reduction of 200 jobs.



By 2025, Ford plans to resize its European engineering footprint, resulting in 2,800 fewer jobs through transition to fully electric powertrains and reduced vehicle complexity. Ford will maintain an engineering organization of around 3,400 roles in Europe, focused on vehicle design and development, as well as the creation of connected services.



Ford plans to conduct the reductions through voluntary separation programs, and will now engage in consultation with its social partners across Europe for the purpose.



Ford's actions are expected to revitalize its business in Europe and will enable the firm to profitably compete with a new line-up of iconic passenger vehicles.



Martin Sander, General Manager of Ford Model e in Europe, said, 'We are completely reinventing the Ford brand in Europe. . We are ready to compete and win in Europe... Paving the way to a sustainably profitable future for Ford in Europe requires broad-based actions and changes in the way we develop, build, and sell Ford vehicles. This will impact the organizational structure, talent, and skills we will need in the future.... '



Ford further said it will also continue to invest in the design and development of electric passenger vehicles, meeting consumer demand. At the same time, the company will target carbon neutrality across its European facilities, logistics and key suppliers by 2035.



Globally, Ford is investing over $50 billion in EVs through 2026, including various investments in European manufacturing sites.



In March 2022, Ford announced a $2 billion investment into the Cologne site, where the first EVs in Europe will roll off the production line later this year.



Copyright(c) 2023 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
"Over the past three decades, as well as quarter after quarter and year after year, Adani Enterprises has not only validated its standing as India's most successful infrastructure incubator but has also demonstrated a track record of building core infrastructure business," said Mr Gautam Adani, Chairman of the Adani Group . "Our fundamental strength lies in mega-scale infrastructure project execution capabilities, organisational development and exceptional O&M management skills comparable to the best in the world. AEL's exceptional resilience and capacity to build highly profitable core sector business indicate how our strategy of harnessing the diverse strengths of the Adani portfolio of companies is creating consistent long-term value for all our stakeholders. Our success is due to our strong governance, strict regulatory compliance, sustained performance, and solid cashflow generation. The current market volatility is temporary; and as a classical incubator with a vision of long-term value creation, AEL will continue to work with the twin objectives of moderate leverage and looking at strategic opportunities to expand and grow."

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.
Study will assess the Capacity of its Red Grape Cell (RGC) Botanical Composition to Promote Eye Health

Study is first to demonstrate potential capabilities of BioHarvest's Botanical-Synthesis technology to provide consistent APIs, adjuvants and drugs for pharmaceutical industry

Vancouver, British Columbia, and Rehovot, Israel--(Newsfile Corp. - February 14, 2023) - BioHarvest Sciences Inc. (CSE: BHSC) (OTCQB: CNVCF) ("BioHarvest" or the "Company") has announced a collaboration with the International Neurorehabilitation Institute (INI) (https://inirehab.com/) in Lutherville, Maryland to perform a clinical trial to assess the capacity of its RGC composition to promote eye health.

The study will be led by Dr. Daniel Becker, Director of the INI and Assistant Professor of Neurology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. RGC is a patented composition based on BioHarvest's Botanical-Synthesis technology, with consistency and quality that have potential to meet the criteria for being used as an Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API).

The planned translational open-label clinical study will evaluate the impact of RGC on multiple sclerosis (MS)-related optic neuritis driven by inflammation. The study - the latest of several human clinical trials run by BioHarvest - aims to elucidate the mechanisms through which RGC impacts the disease by measuring anti-oxidative, detoxifying, and inflammatory biomarkers.

"To date there are no medications that can help improve vision after an acute optic neuritis event. This exciting research will help us understand if phytonutrients are capable of affecting the inflammatory environment as well as the neuro-regenerative capacity within the injured central nervous system," said Dr Daniel Becker, who is the study's lead investigator.

The research team hypothesizes that RGC will result in positive changes to eye health by modulating a variety of biomarkers compared to baseline in the study participants.

The next important step for this study is submission to an Institutional Review Board (IRB) to be followed by the study launch with 15-30 participants.

"This is the first human clinical study to evaluate the combination of health-promoting phytonutrients as found in RGC for the promotion of eye health," said BioHarvest Chief Medical Officer Dr. Brian Cornblatt, co-investigator of the study.

"Many patients with MS suffer with optic neuritis and to date the standard of care includes in-patient high-dose steroids," Dr. Cornblatt added. "Considering many people with MS take biologics which have immunosuppressing properties, adding high-dose steroids is not ideal in the current environment, with a pandemic and influenza on the rise globally. We need to go back to medicine's roots, literally, and study safe, effective, and affordable phytonutrients derived from plants."

"What's exciting is that we know that phytonutrients in RGC help modulate key molecular pathways at the cellular level, including up-regulating anti-oxidative enzymes. We view this study as a first step to validate this concept. It will be followed by a longer-term plan to assess the effectiveness of RGC in restoring different aspects of eye health. A larger, multi-center, controlled clinical trial aiming at bridging eye health support with changes in validated biomarkers will help confirm the protective role of phytonutrients," said Dr. George Garibaldi, member of the Scientific Advisory Board of BioHarvest.

The Multiple Sclerosis Foundation estimates more than 1 million people in the United States and about 2.5 million people worldwide have been diagnosed with MS, and some 200 new cases are diagnosed weekly in the US alone. While the root causes of MS are still unknown, there are definite links between genetic and select environmental factors.

"We are inspired by nature and driven by science. Clinical studies are an important pillar in building a company that creates products that are both trusted and effective for our customers," said BioHarvest CEO Ilan Sobel. "As a biotech company dedicated to health and wellness, we plan to extend our Botanical-Synthesis technology into the pharmaceutical industry. This collaboration with such a reputable North American research partner marks an important step to create additional science-based therapeutic solutions that provide better treatment options."

About BioHarvest Sciences Inc.

BioHarvest Sciences Inc. (CSE: BHSC) is a fast-growing Biotech firm listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange. BioHarvest has developed a patented bio-cell growth platform technology capable of growing the active and beneficial ingredients in fruit and plants, at industrial scale, without the need to grow the plant itself. This technology is economical, ensures consistency, and avoids the negative environmental impacts associated with traditional agriculture. BioHarvest is currently focused on nutraceuticals and the medicinal cannabis markets. Visit: www.bioharvest.com.

BioHarvest Sciences Inc.

Ilan Sobel, Chief Executive Officer



For further information, please contact:

Dave Ryan, VP Investor Relations & Director

Phone: 1 (604) 622 -1186

Email: dave@bioharvest.com



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Forward-Looking Statements

Information set forth in this news release might include forward-looking statements that are based on management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions, and expectations, and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. There is no assurance that the Company will be successful in expanding its technology to broader medical applications or conduct clinical trials to validate the efficacy of the Company's products for new forms of medical treatments. Clinical trials are subject to risks of significant cost overruns and lengthy delays with no assurance they will confirm desired results. Even where desired results are obtained, government approvals for treatments take considerable time and cannot be guaranteed. There is no assurance that the company will develop therapies addressing health conditions which could take considerable time and require resources and clinical trials beyond the capacity of the Company.

All forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain and actual results may be affected by a number of material factors beyond our control. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. BHSC does not intend to update forward-looking statement disclosures other than through our regular management discussion and analysis disclosures.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154686
65% Increase in Tonnage and 82% Increase in Total Contained Copper in Indicated Resources Across Exotic, Oxide and Enriched Domains at Santa Cruz Deposit

Total Contained Copper in Indicated Resources Across all Deposits and Domains Increases by 11%, with a Near-Doubling of the Copper Cut-Off Grade to a Minimum of 0.70%

Initial Mineral Resource Declarations at East Ridge and Texaco Deposits Confirm Expansion Potential of the Project Resource Base

Increased Resource Base Will Form the Foundation of Initial Assessment Expected by the End of Q3 2023

Recent Metallurgical Testwork Confirms up to 94% Total Copper Recovery with a Leach-Float Circuit is Achievable at the Santa Cruz Deposit

Ivanhoe Electric to Host Investor Conference Call Today at 12pm ET

PHOENIX, AZ / ACCESSWIRE / February 14, 2023 / Ivanhoe Electric (NYSE American:IE)(TSX:IE) Executive Chairman, Robert Friedland and President and Chief Executive Officer, Taylor Melvin are pleased to provide an updated Mineral Resource Estimate for the Santa Cruz Copper Project ("Project") located west of Casa Grande, Arizona.

The updated Mineral Resource Estimate now includes the first Mineral Resources declared at the East Ridge Deposit directly adjacent to the Santa Cruz Deposit and at the Texaco Deposit approximately one mile to the northeast.

The updated Mineral Resource Estimate utilizes higher cut-off grades than the 0.39% cut-off used in the December 8, 2021 Santa Cruz Project Mineral Resource statement. The higher cut-off grades were used to account for the consistency and thickness of the higher-grade exotic, oxide and enriched copper domains, which support a more selective, lower-impact bulk mining method.

The resource at the Santa Cruz Deposit reflects a 0.70% total copper cut-off, while the resources at East Ridge and Texaco reflect a 0.90% and 0.80% total copper cut-off, respectively. Even at these higher cut-off grades, the overall project-wide contained copper in Indicated Mineral Resources increased by 11%. Importantly, project-wide contained copper in Indicated Mineral Resources, excluding primary sulfide mineralization, increased by 86%.

Mr. Friedland commented: "We are making great strides towards our ambitious goal of constructing a low-carbon footprint, underground copper mine with minimal surface disturbance in Arizona. The maiden resource estimates for the East Ridge and Texaco Deposits were founded on the knowledge gained from our 26.5 km2 (6,500-acre) proprietary Typhoon 3D induced polarization and resistivity geophysical survey conducted in 2022 and build on the success we have achieved at the Santa Cruz Deposit. Today's announcement is an important milestone that underpins the future development potential of the Santa Cruz Copper Project."

Mr. Melvin commented: "This resource update is the culmination of a tremendous effort by our team at Santa Cruz. The drilling to date increases our confidence in the high copper grades at the Santa Cruz Deposit and confirms the growth potential at the nearby East Ridge and Texaco Deposits. The updated resource provides an excellent foundation for our initial economic assessment, which we expect before the end of Q3 2023."

Highlights of the Updated Santa Cruz Project Mineral Resource Estimate

Using a 0.70% copper cut-off grade, Indicated Mineral Resources at the Santa Cruz Project total 226.7 million tonnes grading 1.24% total copper (2.8 million tonnes of contained copper), and Inferred Resources total 149.0 million tonnes grading 1.24% total copper (1.8 million tonnes of contained copper).

Click to View Mineral Resource Video (https://vimeo.com/798541269/87ddccde9a)

Table 1: Updated Mineral Resource Estimate including the Santa Cruz, East Ridge and Texaco Deposits, using a 0.70% copper cut-off at Santa Cruz, 0.90% at East Ridge and 0.80% at Texaco (December 31, 2022 Mineral Resource Estimate).

Category Tonnage

(millions of tonnes) Total Copper Grade

(%) Total

Soluble Copper Grade

(%) Total Contained Copper

(millions of tonnes) Total Contained Soluble Copper

(millions of tonnes) All Deposits: Indicated 226.7 1.24% 0.82% 2.8 1.9 All Deposits: Inferred 149.0 1.24% 0.82% 1.8 1.2

Refer to Notes on Mineral Resources following Table 5.

The Santa Cruz Deposit remains the largest deposit at the Santa Cruz Project with Indicated Mineral Resources totaling 223.2 million tonnes grading 1.24% total copper and Inferred Mineral Resources totaling 62.7 million tonnes grading 1.23% total copper.

Importantly, the Santa Cruz Deposit now includes 78% Indicated Resources at higher average grades than the previous estimate, which will form the base for the upcoming Initial Assessment/ Preliminary Economic Assessment ("Santa Cruz IA/PEA"). For comparison, the December 8, 2021 Santa Cruz Mineral Resource Estimate had only 52% classified as Indicated Mineral Resources at an average grade of 0.93% copper.

Figure 1: Santa Cruz Project Updated Mineral Resource Estimate (December 31, 2022 Mineral Resource Estimate)

The initial East Ridge and Texaco Mineral Resource Estimates reflect limited portions of the historically defined areas of mineralization and represent what Ivanhoe Electric has delineated within the past six months. Both East Ridge and Texaco Deposits exhibit significant potential for high-grade copper additions within the structural corridors that control the mineralization. Project-wide, Ivanhoe Electric currently has six diamond drill rigs active on site.

Table 2: Initial Mineral Resource Estimates for the East Ridge and Texaco Deposits (December 31, 2022 Mineral Resource Estimate).

Category Deposit Tonnage

(millions of tonnes) Total Copper Grade

(%) Total

Soluble Copper Grade

(%) Total Contained Copper

(millions of tonnes) Total Contained Soluble Copper

(millions of tonnes) Indicated Texaco1 3.6 1.33 0.97 0.05 0.03 Inferred Texaco1 62.3 1.21 0.56 0.8 0.3 East Ridge2 24.0 1.36 1.26 0.3 0.3

Texaco Deposit cut-off grade is 0.80% total copper. East Ridge Deposit cut-off grade is 0.90% total copper.

Refer to Notes on Mineral Resources following Table 5.

The Updated Santa Cruz Project Mineral Resource Estimate is the Result of a Highly Successful Drill Program

The primary focus of the ongoing drilling program at each of the Santa Cruz, East Ridge and Texaco Deposits was to:

Target the higher-grade areas (greater than 1.2% copper) to confirm if the December 8, 2021 Mineral Resource Estimate grade was as outlined in the estimate. Expand the higher-grade copper areas with a strong focus on the Exotic, Oxide and Chalcocite domains. Target the structural controls that influence the higher-grade copper domains. Complete various "twin holes" in proximity to historical drilling which can be compared (geologically, structurally, geochemically, etc.) to each other to determine if significant geological and sampling bias exists. Upgrade high-grade Inferred Mineral Resources into the Indicated category. At East Ridge and Texaco, confirm the higher-grade historical intercepts and determine if the higher-grade areas could be expanded.

Collectively, the Santa Cruz drill program delivered on all six of these points.

Ivanhoe Electric's Infill Drill Program at the Santa Cruz Deposit Successfully Expands the Higher-Grade and Leachable Exotic, Oxide and Enriched Domains

With a specific focus on expanding the higher-grade areas of the Santa Cruz Deposit (greater than 1.2% total copper within the Exotic, Oxide, and Chalcocite Enriched domains), Ivanhoe Electric successfully improved the Indicated Resources tonnage in these domains within the Santa Cruz Deposit by 65%. The average copper grade of Indicated Resources in these domains at the Santa Cruz Deposit increased by 10%, contributing to an 82% increase in contained copper metal. These important domains host the high-grade soluble copper minerals that will be the central focus of the Santa Cruz IA/PEA expected in Q3 2023.

Figure 2: Santa Cruz Deposit Indicated Mineral Resource Estimate Comparison between December 8, 2021 and December 31, 2022 within the Exotic, Oxide, and Chalcocite Enriched Domains.

Comparison to the December 8, 2021 Santa Cruz Deposit Mineral Resource Estimate

The updated Mineral Resource Estimate includes a higher copper cut-off grade of 0.70% as the base case, reflective of a higher-grade, more-selective and lower-impact mining method. This compares to the December 8, 2021 Mineral Resource Estimate which applied a "bulk tonnage mining method" 0.39% copper cut-off grade as the base case.

When the updated Mineral Resource sensitivity is compared to the December 8, 2021 Mineral Resource Estimate using the same 0.39% copper cut-off grade, infill drilling at the Santa Cruz Deposit has successfully added 46% more contained copper in the Indicated category.

Figure 3: Comparison between the December 8, 2021 and December 31, 2022 Mineral Resource Estimates for the Santa Cruz Deposit using the 2021 Cut-Off Grade of 0.39% Total Copper.

Table 3: The December 8, 2021 Mineral Resource Estimate for the Santa Cruz Deposit Compared to the December 31, 2022 Mineral Resource: Sensitivity at a 0.39% copper cut-off grade.

December 8, 2021

Mineral Resource Estimate

at 0.39% copper cut-off December 31, 2022

Mineral Resource Sensitivity

at 0.39% copper cut-off Category Tonnage

(millions of tonnes) Total Copper Grade

(%) Total Contained Copper

(millions of tonnes) Tonnage

(millions of tonnes) Total Copper Grade

(%) Total Contained Copper

(millions of tonnes) Santa Cruz Deposit: Indicated 274.0 0.93% 2.5 392.5 0.94% 3.7 Santa Cruz Deposit: Inferred 248.8 0.91% 2.3 179.6 0.74% 1.3

Refer to Notes on Mineral Resources following Table 5.

Increased Understanding of Distinct Mineralized Domains at Santa Cruz is Critical to Unlocking the Deposit

Exotic oxide mineralization (Exotic) is of more limited known occurrence and tends to form very high-grade mineralization in paleo-valleys at the contact of the mineralized bedrock and the overlying gravel cover. This mineralization formed in basal gravels through the precipitation of copper that was transported in solution by migrating groundwater. These zones have shown to contain spectacularly high-grade copper.

is of more limited known occurrence and tends to form very high-grade mineralization in paleo-valleys at the contact of the mineralized bedrock and the overlying gravel cover. This mineralization formed in basal gravels through the precipitation of copper that was transported in solution by migrating groundwater. These zones have shown to contain spectacularly high-grade copper. Supergene oxide mineralization (Oxide) forms the uppermost zone of mineralization and is dominated by chrysocolla (a copper oxide that is 34% copper by weight) and atacamite (a copper chloride that is 60% copper by weight).

forms the uppermost zone of mineralization and is dominated by chrysocolla (a copper oxide that is 34% copper by weight) and atacamite (a copper chloride that is 60% copper by weight). Supergene sulfide mineralization (Chalcocite Enriched) underlies the supergene oxide zone and is comprised primarily of enriched chalcocite (a copper sulfide that is 80% copper by weight), with accessory chalcopyrite and pyrite that is partially or completely replaced by chalcocite.

underlies the supergene oxide zone and is comprised primarily of enriched chalcocite (a copper sulfide that is 80% copper by weight), with accessory chalcopyrite and pyrite that is partially or completely replaced by chalcocite. Hypogene sulfide mineralization (Primary) underlies the supergene sulfide zone and consists of chalcopyrite (a copper sulfide that is 35% copper by weight), pyrite, molybdenite, and minor bornite and covellite, hosted within porphyry-style phyllic alteration. Intensity of mineralization is highest around Laramide-age dyke intrusions that cut the mineralized Proterozoic-age Oracle Granite country rock.

Figure 4: Santa Cruz Deposit Mineralized Domains Shown at 0.70% Copper

Cut-Off Grade.

Figure 5: Santa Cruz Deposit Mineralized Domains Shown at 1.50% Copper

Cut-Off Grade.

Figure 6: The Santa Cruz Deposit Compares Favorably to Other Undeveloped United States Copper Projects (Contained Copper in Millions of Tonnes).

Table 4. The December 31, 2022 Mineral Resource Estimate Incorporates both Historical and Ivanhoe Electric Drilling.

Total Drilling Ivanhoe Electric Drilling Deposit Number of Drill Holes Meters Meters Intersecting

the Deposit Number of Drill Holes Meters Meters Intersecting

the Deposit Santa Cruz 129 116,388 57,326 41 34,769 14,172 East Ridge 18 15,448 1,501 0 0 0 Texaco 23 21,289 2,661 3 3,286 685 Total 170 153,125 61,488 44 38,055 14,857

Recent Metallurgical Test Results Indicate Potential for High Copper Recovery Rates of up to 94%

The Santa Cruz Deposit has a high copper grade averaging 1.42% copper in the combined Indicated Resource Exotic, Oxide and Chalcocite Enriched Domains.

Ivanhoe Electric believes that the preferred mineral processing method for the higher-grade mineralization will be a combination of agitation leaching and copper sulfide flotation that will recover most of the soluble copper in the Exotic, Oxide and Chalcocite Enriched Domains.

Agitation leach tests undertaken in mid-2022 verified historical test results and after adjusting the particle size distribution, acid-soluble copper recovery of 92% was achieved.

Ivanhoe Electric subsequently conducted a leach-float test program in which the same mill composite sample used in prior testing was subjected to the standard leach procedure developed earlier in the year. Three standard leach tests were conducted, followed by flotation of the leach residue at different grind sizes. Ivanhoe Electric successfully confirmed that up to 94% total copper recovery with the leach-float circuit was achievable at the Santa Cruz Deposit.

Figure 7. Total Copper Recovery, Before Processing Losses, for Combined Agitation Leach Followed by Flotation.

Ivanhoe Electric will host a conference call to discuss the Santa Cruz Project Mineral Resource Update

The Company will hold an investor conference call to discuss the Mineral Resource Update on Tuesday, February 14th, at 12:00 pm Eastern. The North American toll-free dial-in number is 888-664-6383; International callers, please dial: 416-764-8650 Confirmation number is 72608350.

Link to join the live audio webcast: https://app.webinar.net/aL8w53Vmn6l

Qualified Persons

The December 31, 2022 Mineral Resource Estimate and other scientific and technical information in this news release related thereto has been prepared and approved by Christian Ballard, P.Geo. Nordmin Engineering Ltd. and James J. Moore (P.E.)., Met Engineering, LLC. Both individuals are Qualified Persons within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") and Regulation S-K, subpart 1300 promulgated by the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission ("Reg S-K"). Both are considered independent under both standards.

Glen Kuntz, P.Geo, Senior Vice President of Mine Development of Ivanhoe Electric has reviewed and approved other scientific and technical information contained in this news release. Mr. Kuntz is a Qualified Person under both NI 43-101 and S-K 1300. Mr. Kuntz is not independent of Ivanhoe Electric as he is an employee of the corporation.

Ivanhoe Electric has prepared an independent technical report summary for the Santa Cruz Project prepared under Reg S-K titled Mineral Resource Estimate Update and S-K 1300 Technical Report Summary for the Santa Cruz, Texaco, and East Ridge Deposits, Arizona, USA. Current to December 31, 2022 and dated February 14th. The report is authored by Nordmin Engineering Ltd. and Met Engineering LLC.

Ivanhoe Electric will have prepared and filed an updated NI 43-101 technical report for the Santa Cruz Project including the December 31, 2022 Mineral Resource Estimate within 45 days of this press release. The existing NI 43-101 technical report for the Santa Cruz Project titled "NI 43-101 Technical Report and Mineral Resource Estimate for the Santa Cruz Project, Arizona, USA" prepared by Nordmin with an effective date of June 7, 2022 is available on the company's website, on EDGAR and on the company's SEDAR profile.

The existing technical report includes relevant information regarding the assumptions, parameters and methods of the December 8, 2021 mineral resource estimates on the Santa Cruz Project cited in this news release, as well as information regarding data verification, exploration procedures and other matters relevant to the scientific and technical disclosure contained in this news release.

About Ivanhoe Electric

Ivanhoe Electric is an American technology and mineral exploration company that is re-inventing mining for the electrification of everything by combining advanced mineral exploration technologies, renewable energy storage solutions and electric metals projects predominantly located in the United States. Ivanhoe Electric uses its Typhoon transmitter, an accurate and powerful geophysical survey system, together with advanced data analytics provided by its subsidiary, Computational Geosciences, to accelerate and de-risk the mineral exploration process as well as to potentially discover deposits of critical metals that may otherwise be undetectable by traditional exploration technologies. Through its controlling interest in VRB Energy, Ivanhoe Electric also develops and manufactures advanced grid-scale vanadium redox battery storage systems. Finally, through advancing its portfolio of electric metals projects located primarily in the United States, headlined by the Santa Cruz Copper Project in Arizona and the Tintic Copper-Gold Project in Utah, as well as projects in Montana, Oregon and North Carolina, Ivanhoe Electric is also well positioned to support American supply chain independence by delivering the critical metals necessary for electrification of the economy.

Contact Information

Valerie Kimball, Director, Investor Relations

720-933-1150

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this news release constitute "forward-looking statements" or "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable U.S. and Canadian securities laws. Such statements and information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company, its projects, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information. Such statements can be identified by the use of words such as "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "expect", "believe", "plan", "anticipate", "estimate", "scheduled", "forecast", "predict" and other similar terminology, or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. These statements reflect the company's current expectations regarding future events, performance and results and speak only as of the date of this news release.

Such statements include without limitation statements regarding: (i) that the Santa Cruz PEA is expected to be completed by the end of Q3 2023; and (ii) the potential for copper recoveries of 94%; (iii) the potential for the growth of the Mineral Resources at the Santa Cruz Project including at nearby East Ridge and Texaco deposits; and (iv) and the development of the Santa Cruz Project.

This news release also contains references to estimates of Mineral Resources. The estimation of Mineral Resources is inherently uncertain and involves subjective judgments about many relevant factors. Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The accuracy of any such estimates is a function of the quantity and quality of available data, and of the assumptions made and judgments used in engineering and geological interpretation (including estimated future production, the anticipated tonnages and grades that will be mined and the estimated level of recovery that will be realized), which may prove to be unreliable and depend, to a certain extent, upon the analysis of drilling results and statistical inferences that ultimately may prove to be inaccurate. Mineral Resource estimates may have to be re-estimated based on: (i) fluctuations in copper, gold or other metal prices; (ii) results of drilling and other exploration activities; (iii) metallurgical testing and other studies; (iv) proposed mining operations, including dilution; (v) the evaluation and re-evaluation of mine plans subsequent to the date of any estimates and/or changes in mine plans; (vi) the possible failure to receive required permits, approvals and licenses; and (vii) changes in law or regulation.

Forward-looking statements are based on management's beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to management. Such statements are subject to significant risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements due to various factors, including changes in the prices of copper or other metals Ivanhoe Electric is exploring for; the results of exploration and drilling activities and/or the failure of exploration programs or studies to deliver anticipated results or results that would justify and support continued exploration, studies, development or operations; the final assessment of exploration results and information that is preliminary; the significant risk and hazards associated with any future mining operations, extensive regulation by the U.S. government as well as local governments; changes in laws, rules or regulations, or their enforcement by applicable authorities; the failure of parties to contracts with the company to perform as agreed; and the impact of political, economic and other uncertainties associated with operating in foreign countries, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the global economy. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements described in Ivanhoe Electric's registration statement on Form S-1, as amended, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and base PREP prospectus filed with Canadian securities commissions.

No assurance can be given that such future results will be achieved. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this news release. Ivanhoe Electric cautions you not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Subject to applicable securities laws, the company does not assume any obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this news release, and Ivanhoe Electric expressly disclaims any requirement to do so.

Appendix

Table 5: Updated Mineral Resource Estimate by Deposit (All Domains, December 31, 2022).

Category Deposit Tonnage

(millions of tonnes) Total Copper Grade

(%) Total

Soluble Copper Grade

(%) Total Contained Copper

(millions of tonnes) Total Contained Soluble Copper

(millions of tonnes) Indicated Santa Cruz 223.2 1.24 0.82 2.8 1.8 Texaco 3.6 1.33 0.97 0.05 0.03 Inferred Santa Cruz 62.7 1.23 0.92 0.8 0.6 Texaco 62.3 1.21 0.56 0.8 0.3 East Ridge 24.0 1.36 1.26 0.3 0.3 TOTAL Indicated All Deposits 226.7 1.24 0.82 2.8 1.9 Inferred All Deposits 149.0 1.24 0.82 1.8 1.2 TOTAL LESS PRIMARY Indicated All Exclude Primary 149.7 1.42 1.24 2.1 1.9 Inferred All Exclude Primary 106.0 1.32 1.16 1.4 1.2

Notes on Mineral Resources

The Mineral Resources in this Estimate were independently prepared, including estimation and classification, by Nordmin Engineering Ltd. and in accordance with the definitions for Mineral Resources in S-K 1300. Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. This estimate of Mineral Resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, sociopolitical, marketing, or other relevant issues. Verification included multiple site visits to inspect drilling, logging, density measurement procedures and sampling procedures, and a review of the control sample results used to assess laboratory assay quality. In addition, a random selection of the drill hole database results was compared with the original records. The Mineral Resources in this estimate for the Santa Cruz, East Ridge, and Texaco Deposits used Datamine Studio RMTM software to create the block models. The Mineral Resources are current to December 31, 2022. Underground-constrained Mineral Resources for the Santa Cruz Deposit are reported at a cut-off grade of 0.70% total copper, Texaco Deposit are reported at a cut-off grade of 0.80% total copper and East Ridge Deposit are reported at a cut-off grade of 0.90% total copper. The cut-off grade reflects total operating costs to define reasonable prospects for eventual economic extracted by conventional underground mining methods with a maximum production rate of 15,000 tonnes/day. All material within mineable shape-optimized wireframes has been included in the Mineral Resource. Underground mineable shape optimization parameters include a long term copper price of $3.70/lb, process recovery of 94%, direct mining costs between $24.50-$40.00/processed tonne reflecting various mining method costs (long hole or room and pillar), mining general and administration cost of $4.00/tonne processed, onsite processing and SX/EW costs between $13.40-$14.47/tonne processed, offsite costs between $3.29 - $4.67/tonne processed, along with variable royalties between 5.00-6.96% NSR and a mining recovery of 100%. Specific Gravity was applied using weighted averages by Deposit Sub-Domain. All figures are rounded to reflect the relative accuracy of the estimates, and totals may not add correctly. Excludes unclassified mineralization located along edges of the Santa Cruz, East Ridge, and Texaco Deposits where drill density is poor. Report from within a mineralization envelope accounting for mineral continuity. Total soluble copper means the addition of sequential acid soluble copper and sequential cyanide soluble copper assays. Total soluble copper is not reported for the Primary Domain.

Table 6: Updated Mineral Resource Estimate by Domain Type (All Deposits, December 31, 2022).

Category Domain Tonnage

(millions of tonnes) Total Copper Grade

(%) Total

Soluble Copper Grade

(%) Total Contained Copper

(millions of tonnes) Total Contained Soluble Copper

(millions of tonnes) Indicated Exotic 5.0 1.79 1.59 0.1 0.1 Oxide 97.5 1.43 1.28 1.4 1.3 Chalcocite Enriched 47.2 1.35 1.12 0.6 0.5 Primary 77.0 0.89 N/A 0.7 N/A Inferred Exotic 5.7 1.61 1.28 0.1 0.1 Oxide 74.8 1.27 1.12 1.0 0.8 Chalcocite Enriched 25.5 1.40 1.24 0.4 0.3 Primary 43.0 1.04 N/A 0.4 N/A TOTAL Indicated All Domains 226.7 1.24 0.82 2.8 1.9 Inferred All Domains 149.0 1.24 0.82 1.8 1.2 TOTAL LESS PRIMARY Indicated All Domains 149.7 1.42 1.24 2.1 1.9 Inferred All Domains 106.0 1.32 1.16 1.4 1.2

Refer to Notes on Mineral Resources following Table 5.

Table 7: Updated Mineral Resource Estimate Sensitivity to Cut-Off Grade (Santa Cruz Deposit Only, All Domains, December 31, 2022).

Category Cut-Off

Grade Tonnage

(millions of tonnes) Total Copper Grade

(%) Total

Soluble Copper Grade

(%) Total Contained Copper

(millions of tonnes) Total Contained Soluble Copper

(millions of tonnes) Indicated 0.30% 438.4 0.88 0.48 3.9 2.1 Inferred 0.30% 277.1 0.60 0.28 1.7 0.8 Indicated 0.40% 387.9 0.95 0.53 3.7 2.0 Inferred 0.40% 169.5 0.76 0.42 1.3 0.7 Indicated 0.50% 338.9 1.02 0.59 3.5 2.0 Inferred 0.50% 104.7 0.96 0.64 1.0 0.7 Indicated 0.60% 279.6 1.12 0.68 3.1 1.9 Inferred 0.60% 78.0 1.11 0.80 0.9 0.6 Indicated 0.70% 223.2 1.24 0.82 2.8 1.8 Inferred 0.70% 62.7 1.23 0.92 0.8 0.6 Indicated 0.80% 179.9 1.35 0.96 2.4 1.7 Inferred 0.80% 51.8 1.33 1.02 0.7 0.5 Indicated 0.90% 144.1 1.48 1.11 2.1 1.6 Inferred 0.90% 42.8 1.43 1.11 0.6 0.5 Indicated 1.00% 119.3 1.59 1.25 1.9 1.5 Inferred 1.00% 36.9 1.52 1.18 0.6 0.4 Indicated 1.20% 83.8 1.79 1.51 1.5 1.3 Inferred 1.20% 26.1 1.70 1.34 0.4 0.3 Indicated 1.50% 53.2 2.05 1.78 1.1 0.9 Inferred 1.50% 14.9 1.99 1.59 0.3 0.2 Indicated 2.00% 21.7 2.51 2.18 0.5 0.5 Inferred 2.00% 5.9 2.43 1.97 0.1 0.1

Refer to Notes on Mineral Resources following Table 5.

Figure 8. Santa Cruz, East Ridge and Texaco Mineral Resources with Ivanhoe Electric and Historic Drill Collars Identified.

SOURCE: Ivanhoe Electric Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/739243/Ivanhoe-Electric-Announces-Significant-Resource-Upgrade-at-the-Santa-Cruz-Copper-Project-in-Arizona-Including-Resource-Additions-at-the-East-Ridge-and-Texaco-Deposits
LANGLEY, BC / ACCESSWIRE / February 14, 2023 / Adastra Holdings Ltd. (CSE:XTRX)(FRA:D2EP) ("Adastra" or the "Company"), a leading cannabis company and producer of two top Canadian concentrate brands, with a focus on processing, adult-use and medical sales, organoleptic and analytical testing, today announced that Lachlan McLeod, CPA of Fehr & Associates, has been appointed Chief Financial Officer.

"With deep functional expertise and technical knowledge in all aspects of corporate finance, financial planning and accounting, we believe Lachlan's leadership will support our next phase of growth," said Michael Forbes, CEO of Adastra. "Lachlan's proven track record of helping businesses exceed their potential, makes him the perfect fit for Adastra as we continue to scale at a rapid pace. We are confident that Lachlan will provide the leadership we need as we continue to expand our presence in the cannabis industry."

Lachlan has experience in public practice, having worked as an auditor for a Big 4 accounting firm for four years, and has served as a fractional CFO for multiple public companies. Lachlan has a proven track record of helping businesses meet financial and regulatory reporting requirements. Lachlan is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) with a Bachelor's degree in Science with an Economics major and a Business minor from the University of Victoria, and a Diploma of Accounting from the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia.

"I am honoured to take on the role of CFO at Adastra," said Lachlan McLeod, CFO of Adastra. "I look forward to working with the talented team to strengthen the Company's financial strategy and drive growth."

Lachlan replaces Oliver Foeste who will remain with Adastra in an advisory capacity to provide transitional support. The Company thanks Oliver for his services.

About Fehr & Associates and Lachlan McLeod

Fehr & Associates (www.fehrandassociates.ca) is a cooperative company that focuses on helping businesses exceed their potential by providing CFO, controller, and accounting services for private and publicly traded organizations, with a team of accounting professionals with extensive industry experience. Mr. McLeod, a Chartered Professional Accountant, brings over 10 years of senior finance experience and has served at senior executive management levels in both public and private companies. He has experience in meeting financial and regulatory reporting requirements, as well as providing audit support for complex issues. Prior to joining Fehr & Associates in 2018, Lachlan worked as an auditor at a Big 4 accounting firm for four years, servicing both private and public-sector clients.

About Adastra Holdings Ltd.

Adastra is a leading manufacturer and supplier of innovative ethnobotanical and cannabis science products designed for the adult-use, medical markets and forward-looking therapeutic applications. Adastra is recognized as a high-capacity processor and co-manufacturer throughout Canada. Adastra's Phyto Extractions brand is well-known for its cannabis concentrate products, available on shelves at over 1,400 adult-use retailers across Canada. The Company also operates Adastra Labs Inc., a 13,500 sq. ft. agricultural-scale Health Canada licensed facility located in Langley, British Columbia, focused on extraction, distillation, and manufacturing of cannabis-derived products. Adastra has successfully taken steps in becoming a licensed cultivator, tester, extractor, and seller of controlled substances, including Psilocybin and Psilocin, under its Controlled Substances Dealer's License. Adastra is poised to be a drug formulation and development leader in this emerging sector. Adastra operates PerceiveMD, a multidisciplinary manufacturer for medical cannabis and psychedelic therapies, working alongside practitioners and healthcare professionals within the regulated environment to help create efficacious remedies that address the actual needs of patients. For more information, visit: www.adastraholdings.ca.

For additional information, please contact:

Michael Forbes, CEO, Corporate Secretary & Director

P: (778) 715 5011

michael@adastraholdings.ca



Alyssa Barry, Investor Relations

ir@adastraholdings.ca

SOURCE: Adastra Holdings Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/739020/Leadership-Update-Adastra-Appoints-Lachlan-McLeod-as-CFO
SaaS Business Gaining Traction

TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / February 14, 2023 / ARway Corporation ("ARway" or the "Company") (CSE:ARWY), (OTC PINK:ARWYF) (FSE:E65) is disrupting the Augmented Reality Wayfinding market with a no-code, no beacon spatial computing platform enabled by visual marker tracking with centimeter precision. ARway is excited to announce that the Company has signed six new deals for its Software Development Kit (SDK), which showcases the increasing demand for this disruptive technology. The deals range in size from $600-$10,000 based on the usage of the platform. The Company is seeing significant and accelerating interest and deal flow from augmented reality agencies, large corporations and brands that are looking to enhance their wayfinding experience.

The Company is now signing up new creative agencies weekly at a cost to the agency of $600-$10,000. These creative agencies already work with dozens or even hundreds of customers and brands that want and need this AR wayfinding technology. By subscribing to the ARway platform, the agency can demonstrate the ARway capabilities to their clients and act as a reseller for ARway's solution. ARway wayfinding solutions range from $15,000-$30,000 annually plus .01/sq ft. The Company is currently in negotiations for multiple full service AR wayfinding contracts that have millions of sq ft to map.

The Global Indoor Positioning and Indoor Navigation (IPIN) Market is projected to reach $44 Billion by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 42.0% from 2018 to 2025, according to Allied Market Research.

ARway's SDK contains code libraries and API information that allows developers to build their own white label & private label mobile apps on both iOs and Android leveraging ARway's technology and creator tools to build AR wayfinding and spatial experiences. Creators and agencies will be able to develop white label and private label apps and access ARway APIs to author maps using the Web Creator Portal.



These latest SDK signings follow last week's announcement that Saudi German Health has chosen to utilize ARway's augmented reality wayfinding solution, at an initial cost of over $10,000 with expansion possibilities into the $100,000+ annually. Saudi German Health is the leading private healthcare provider across the Middle East and North Africa. The partnership is for a single project at one of Saudi German Health's new locations in Makkah, Saudi Arabia with possible system wide expansion to a total of 15 hospitals. The project aims to bring the latest AR technology to the healthcare sector, by utilizing ARway's AR wayfinding and guiding solutions, aimed at enhancing the patient experience and making navigation within the hospital more efficient. ARway's groundbreaking technology will help patients and visitors navigate the complex medical facilities, providing clear and intuitive directions through the use of overlaid AR graphics and information

ARway Community

ARway has also recently launched the ARway Community, enabling developers and enterprises to build maps with navigation and immersive AR experiences using the ARway platform. Users can access technical documentation, FAQs, connect within the community and learn from experts in deploying the ARway solution. The community forum serves as the first line of support for users and encourages sharing of best practices for projects. The ARway Community is designed to meet the needs of the growing user base of ARway across the globe. To join the ARway Community, please visit: https://www.arway.ai/community

To learn more about ARway, please follow on Social Media: Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook, and visit our website: www.arway.ai



For further information, please contact:

Investor Relations Contact

Julia Viola

investor.relations@arway.ai



ARway Corporation

Evan Gappelberg

CEO and Director

866-ARITIZE (274-8493)

About ARway Corp

ARway is a no-code spatial computing platform for the real-world Metaverse. It enables AR-enhanced indoor navigation and wayfinding solutions for large, multi-purpose venues enabled by marker-based tracking using QR codes. Visitors can access a venue map by scanning a QR code with their smartphone upon entering the venue to navigate to any Point of Interest (POI) with step by step directions, learn information about those POIs, and interact with rich AR content and experiences along the way.

The ARway offering has an unlimited number of use cases for augmenting physical spaces in the metaverse, consisting of indoor navigation with AR activations to improve the visitor experience in large and complex spaces. With value propositions spanning multiple industries and use cases, ARway leverages Nextech's 3D/AR technology solutions to new substantial markets, for use by creators, brands, and companies.

The ARway Platform Includes:

Web Creator Platform

The Web-Based Creator Platform provides 'advanced' authoring capabilities compared to the mobile app, including the ability for creators to upload their own OBJ/GLB files, and create their own 3D objects. Placing content in a large area using only mobile app required the user to physically be in the specific location which was unscalable. The web studio allows the user to place and author content remotely and at scale.

Mobile App

With the ARway mobile app, anyone can spatially map their location within minutes using their smartphone, and populate it with interactive 3D content, augmented reality wayfinding, audio, text, images, and more. Nextech AR provides several pre-loaded 3D objects which creators can leverage to populate their metaverse.

Download the Mobile App

Apple iOs - click here

Google Play Store - click here

ARwayKit SDK

The Software Development Kit contains code libraries and API information that allows developers to build their own white label & private label mobile apps on both iOs and Android leveraging ARway's technology and creator tools to build AR wayfinding and spatial experiences. Creators will be able to develop white label and private label apps and access ARway APIs to author maps using the Web Creator Portal. The SDK features the latest and greatest of the ARway mobile app.

Nextech AR Solutions

On October 26, 2022, ARway Corp. was spun-out from its parent Company, Nextech AR Solutions (OTCQX: NEXCF) (CSE: NTAR) (FSE: EP2). Nextech AR retained a control ownership in ARway Corp. with 13 million shares, or a 50% stake. Nextech AR Solutions is a Metaverse Company and leading provider of augmented reality ("AR") experience technologies and 3D model services. Nextech's AI-powered 3D modeling platform, "ARItize3D" has contracts with; AMZN, KSS, CB2, Genuine Parts & many others. To learn more about Nextech AR, visit www.nextechar.com

Forward-looking Statements

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, "will be" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "will" occur. Forward-looking statements regarding the completion of the transaction are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as 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. ARway Corp. will not update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information that are incorporated by reference herein, except as required by applicable securities laws.

SOURCE: ARway Corporation

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/739211/ARway-Corp-Signs-Multiple-New-Deals-as-44-Billion-Indoor-Navigation-Industry-Accelerates-Shift-to-Augmented-Reality-Navigation
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 14, 2023) - Silver Elephant Mining Corp. (TSX: ELEF) (OTCQX: SILEF) (FSE: 1P2) ("Silver Elephant" or "the Company") announces the appointment of Bill Pincus as independent Technical Advisor to the Company's 100% controlled Pulacayo silver-lead-zinc project in Bolivia.

Mr. Pincus brings more than 40 years of experience in mineral exploration to Silver Elephant. He is a graduate of the Colorado School of Mines with M.Sc. Degrees in Geology and Mineral Economics. Mr. Pincus was Founder and President of Esperanza Resources (acquired by Alamos Gold) that discovered the Cerro Jumil (Mexico) and San Luis (Peru) gold deposits. He has worked extensively in mining projects across the world and is responsible for six major precious metals discoveries.

He is also a fellow of The Society of Economic Geologists and Certified Professional Geologist by the A.I.P.G. Mr. Pincus is a "Qualified Person" as defined in National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101"). He is also fluent in Spanish.

"Bill and I have talked at length about the potential for further major silver discoveries at Pulacayo, one of the world's largest silver mines with over 670 million oz of historical silver production since 1833. Pulacayo's Tajo Vein stretches over 2.5km in strike and reaches 1km at depth. Current NI 43-101 compliant Pulacayo resource covers only 30% of the known Tajo Vein system," commented John Lee, Chief Executive Officer of the Company.

The identified geological prospects at the 30km2 Pulacayo project included the Tajo Vein Central (70,000+ m drilled), Paca (20,000+ m drilled, 7km north of Tajo Vein Central), El Abra (mineralized breccias, 2km north west of Tajo Vein Central), Pulacayo West (Tajo Vein surface extension), Pacamayo (vein system in andesite porphyry, 2km north of Tajo Vein Central), Pero Stockwork (mineralized sediments, 500m southeast of Tajo Vein Central) and Pacamayo East (Argillic alteration in volcanic rocks).

Mr. Lee further commented, "Bill will help us think outside the box and come up with his strategy to the Pulacayo exploration. He will be assisted by Silver Elephant's Bolivian exploration team equipped now with latest district wide geophysical IP surveys, mapping, sampling, resource modeling from over 94,000 meters of drilling, and extensive digitalized Tajo Vein mine records."

About the Pulacayo-Paca Project

The Pulacayo project consists of the Pulacayo and Paca deposits which received over 94,000 meters of drilling since the late 1990's with a combined indicated mineral resource of 106.7 million oz of silver, 1,384.7 million pounds of zinc, and 693.9 million pounds of lead, and an Inferred Mineral Resource of 13.1 million oz of silver, 122.8 million pounds of zinc and 61.9 million pounds of lead (prepared by Mercator Geological Services Ltd, details provided in the Company's news release dated October 13, 2020.)

About Silver Elephant

Silver Elephant Mining Corp. is a premier silver mining and exploration company, with a flagship Pulacayo silver project in Bolivia. It also owns 100% of Mega Thermal Coal Corp and 39% of Oracle Commodity Holding Corp. ("Oracle"). Oracle has equity and royalty investments in nickel and vanadium mining.

Further information on Silver Elephant can be found at www.silverelef.com.

SILVER ELEPHANT MINING CORP.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

"John Lee"

Chief Executive Officer

For more information about Silver Elephant, please contact:

+1.604.569.3661 ext. 101

info@silverelef.com www.silverelef.com

Neither the Toronto Stock Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Toronto Stock Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this news release, including statements which may contain words such as "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "plans", "believes", "estimates", or similar expressions, and statements related to matters which are not historical facts are forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Such forward-looking statements, which reflect management's expectations regarding Company's future growth, results of operations, performance, and business prospects and opportunities, are based on certain factors and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements. The Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements contained in this news release and the documents incorporated by reference herein are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct. In addition, although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events, or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events, or results not to be as anticipated, estimated, or intended. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly release any future revisions to forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this news or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as expressly required by law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154742
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 14, 2023) - Silver Elephant Mining Corp. (TSX: ELEF) (OTCQX: SILEF) (FSE: 1P2) ("Silver Elephant" or "the Company") announces t is preparing a drilling program at the Paca silver oxide open-pit deposit, which is part of the Company's 100%-controlled Pulacayo silver-lead-zinc project in Bolivia.

This drill program is a follow-up to the successful 2022 drill program (see March 29, 2022 news release) highlighted by PND 123 which was collared at the northern edge of the Paca resource and drilled farther north. The hole intercepted 27 meters of 159 g/t silver from near-surface, including 1.5 meters of 565 g/t silver*. All four step-out holes drilled in 2022 (PND 123, 124, 125 & 126) intercepted silver mineralization. They also demonstrated that the northern extension of Paca oxide resource is open to the north and to the northeast.

The proposed 12-hole Paca drill program totals 1,510 meters. Eight drill holes target further expansion to Paca North oxide discovery, based on available drilling, mapping, sampling, and geophysical data. Two drill holes will test the east and west extensions of the Paca main zone. The two remaining drill holes will test Induced-Polarization anomalies located southeast of the Paca Dome.

"Paca project development is being fast-tracked given current high silver price ($23/oz). In particular, Paca North's shallow oxide resource and flat-tabular morphology are well-suited to a potential open-pit operation with low processing cost. The 2023 Pulacayo-Paca plan includes a prefeasibility study and continued environmental permitting efforts for an open-pit mining, oxide leach processing operation at Paca which can later transition to sulphide flotation processing," commented John Lee, CEO of Silver Elephant.

The 2022 Paca drill results are summarized in the following table:

Paca North Oxide Discovery Hole ID From To Width (m) Ag (g/t) Pb % Zn % AgEq (g/t) PND123 3.0 30.0 27.0 159 0.28 0.05 154 incl 7.5 9.0 1.5 565 0.30 0.08 518 PND123 37.5 45.0 7.5 68 0.11 0.07 67 PND124 0.0 28.5 28.5 22 0.42 0.73 63 incl 15.0 27.0 12.0 21 0.54 1.29 88 PND125 0.0 18.8 18.8 33 0.20 0.52 56 incl 10.4 15.4 5.0 80 0.40 1.13 130 PND126 0.0 31.0 31.0 31 0.22 0.09 39 incl 29.0 31.0 2.0 78 0.27 0.08 82

*Note: Reported widths are intercepted core lengths and not true widths, as relationships with intercepted structures and contacts vary. Based on core-angle measurements, true widths range from 75% to 85% of the reported core length. Please see note on AgEq calculation in preceding paragraphs. Sulphide zone metal recoveries of 89.2% for Ag, 91.9% for Pb and 82.9% for Zn were used in the silver equivalent (recovered) equation and reflect metallurgical testing results disclosed previously for the Pulacayo deposit. Silver equivalents are noted where "AgEq" = silver equivalent (recovered) and is equal to (Ag g/t * 89.2%) + ((Pb% * (US$0.95/lb. Pb / 14.583 Troy oz./lb. / US$17 per Troy oz. Ag) * (10,000 * 91.9%)) + ((Zn% * (US$1.16/lb. Zn / 14.583 Troy oz./lb. / US$17 per Troy oz. Ag) * (10,000 * 82.9%)).

The Paca deposit contains an indicated 37 million oz of silver and an inferred 6 million oz of silver, much of it regarded as a manto-style deposit. Most of the near-surface mineralization at Paca is classified as an oxide-silver resource containing an indicated 5.9 million oz of silver at 231g/t (800,000 tonnes) and an inferred 1.2 million oz of silver at 159g/t (235,000 tonnes).

Paca Deposit Pit-Constrained Mineral Resource Estimate - Effective Date October 13, 2020**

Cut -off

Grade Zone Category

k Tonnes Ag g/t Zn % Pb % Ag

Moz Zn

Mlbs Pb

Mlbs *AgEq

Moz *AgEq

g/t 50 Ag g/t Oxide

In-Pit Indicated 1,095 185 6.5 Inferred 345 131 1.5 30 *AgEq

g/t Sulphide

In-Pit Indicated 20,595 46 1.07 0.67 30.5 485.8 304.2 70.2 106 Inferred 3,050 46 0.76 0.65 4.5 51.1 43.7 9.2 94 Total: Indicated 21,690 37 485.8 304.2 70.2 Inferred 3,395 6 51.1 43.7 9.2

Paca Deposit Pit-Constrained Cut-Off Grade Sensitivity Report for Oxide Zone**

Cut -off Grade Category

k Tonnes Ag

g/t Ag

Moz 30 Ag g/t Indicated 1,805 128 7.4 Inferred 500 102 1.6 45 Ag g/t Indicated 1,225 170 6.7 Inferred 375 124 1.5 90 Ag g/t Indicated 800 231 5.9 Inferred 235 159 1.2 200 Ag g/t Indicated 420 311 4.2 Inferred 55 285 0.5 400 Ag g/t Indicated 80 493 1.3 Inferred 5 459 0.1

Note: Cut-off grade for pit-constrained oxide Mineral Resources is 50 g/t Ag.

The Paca deposit is 7 kilometers north of the Pulacayo deposit (the Tajo vein). It is part of the global Pulacayo resource, which contains an indicated resource of 106.7 million oz of silver, 1.38 billion pounds of zinc, and 690 million pounds of lead and an inferred resource of 13.1 million oz of silver, 123 million pounds of zinc, and 62 million pounds of lead.

Pulacayo Global Mineral Resource Estimate - Effective October 13, 2020**

Zone Category Rounded Tonnes Ag Moz Zn Mlbs Pb Mlbs AgEq* Moz Open Pit

Constrained Indicated 47,380,000 101.0 1,365.0 687.5 202.0 Inferred 4,165,000 8.0 80.3 53.5 14.3 Out-of-Pit Indicated 660,000 5.7 19.6 6.4 6.5 Inferred 900,000 5.2 42.4 8.3 7.4 Total: Indicated 48,040,000 106.7 1,384.7 693.9 208.5 Inferred 5,065,000 13.1 122.8 61.9 21.7

Pulacayo Deposit Mineral Resource Estimate - Effective Date October 13, 2020**

Cut -off Grade Zone Category Rounded Tonnes Ag g/t Zn % Pb % Ag

Moz Zn

Mlbs Pb

Mlbs *AgEq

Moz *AgEq

g/t 50 Ag g/t Oxide

In-Pit Indicated 1,090,000 125 4.4 Inferred 25,000 60 0.0 30

*AgEq

g/t Sulphide In-Pit Indicated 24,600,000 76 1.63 0.70 60.1 884.0 379.6 123.4 156 Inferred 745,000 82 1.79 0.61 2.0 29.4 10.0 3.9 164 100

*AgEq

g/t Sulphide Out-of-

Pit Indicated 660,000 268 1.35 0.44 5.7 19.6 6.4 6.5 307 Inferred 900,000 179 2.14 0.42 5.2 42.4 8.3 7.4 257 Total: Indicated 26,350,000 70.2 903.7 386.0 133.4 Inferred 1,670,000 7.2 71.8 18.4 11.4

**The Pulacayo resource and Paca resource was prepared by Mercator Geological Services Limited with an effective date of October 13, 2020, with details provided in the Company's October 13, 2020 news release. These resources are well supported by 96,021 meters of drilling (5,009 meters by Apex Silver from 1994 to 1998, 85,024 meters by Apogee Silver from 2002 to 2014, and 6,258 meters by Silver Elephant from 2019 to 2022).

Please visit www.silverelef.com to see Paca maps pertaining to this release.

Qualified Person

The technical contents of this news release have been prepared under the supervision of Osvaldo Arce Burgoa, who isis an independent consultant of the Company. Osvaldo Arce Burgoa is a qualified person as defined by the guidelines of NI 43-101.

Quality Assurance and Quality Control

Silver Elephant adopts industry-recognized best practices in its implementation of QA/QC methods. Rock chip samples average between 5-7 kilograms. Samples are shipped to ALS Global Laboratories in Oruro, Bolivia for preparation and then shipped to ALS Global laboratories in Lima, Peru for analysis. Samples are analyzed using Intermediate Level Four Acid Digestion. Silver over limits ("ore grade") are analyzed using fire assay with a gravimetric finish. The ALS Laboratories sample management system meets all the requirements of International Standards ISO/IEC 17025:2017 and ISO 9001:2015. All ALS geochemical hub laboratories are accredited to ISO/IEC 17025:2017 for specific analytical procedures. A geochemical standard control sample is inserted into the sample stream. The laboratory also includes duplicates of samples, standards and blanks for additional QA/QC. Check assays are reviewed prior to the release of data. Assays are also reviewed for their geological context and checked against field descriptions.

About Silver Elephant

Silver Elephant Mining Corp. is a premier silver mining and exploration company, with its flagship Pulacayo silver project in Bolivia. It also owns 100% of Mega Thermal Coal Corp and 39% of Oracle Commodity Holding Corp. ("Oracle"). Oracle has equity and royalty investments in nickel and vanadium mining.

Further information on Silver Elephant can be found at www.silverelef.com.

SILVER ELEPHANT MINING CORP.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

"John Lee"

Chief Executive Officer

For more information about Silver Elephant, please contact:

+1.604.569.3661 ext. 101

info@silverelef.com www.silverelef.com

Neither the Toronto Stock Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Toronto Stock Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this news release, including statements which may contain words such as "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "plans", "believes", "estimates", or similar expressions, and statements related to matters which are not historical facts are forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Such forward-looking statements, which reflect management's expectations regarding Company's future growth, results of operations, performance, and business prospects and opportunities, are based on certain factors and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements. The Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements contained in this news release and the documents incorporated by reference herein are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct. In addition, although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events, or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events, or results not to be as anticipated, estimated, or intended. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly release any future revisions to forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this news or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as expressly required by law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154741
Awakn Clinics Trondheim is its second clinic in Norway

Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 14, 2023) - Awakn Life Sciences Corp. (NEO: AWKN) (OTCQB: AWKNF) (FSE: 954) ("Awakn"), a biotechnology company developing therapeutics to treat addiction with a near-term focus on Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD), announces today that Awakn Clinics Trondheim is now open and will begin treating clients next week. This will be the second Awakn clinic operating in Norway with a further two clinics already based in the UK.

Awakn Clinics Trondheim is a 3-treatment room clinic situated in the center of Trondheim. The new clinic is part of the second stage of Awakn's Nordic expansion plans, following on from last November's announcement of a move to a larger premises for its Oslo clinic, which is scheduled for Q2 2023.

Awakn's Nordic expansion is being led by its Regional Director of the Nordics, Dr. Lowan Stewart a renowned figure in the Nordic medical community. He was responsible for the adoption of ketamine therapy into the public healthcare system in Norway.

There has been a groundswell of support for ketamine to be more broadly adopted as a treatment for mental health conditions in Norway. Lars Lien, leader of the Norwegian Psychiatric Association, wrote an editorial in Norway's most popular paper urging the health department to speed up the process in the last few weeks.

Anthony Tennyson, Awakn's CEO commented, "We are delighted to open our second clinic in Norway and our fourth clinic overall. Our goal as a company is to provide our breakthrough therapeutics to the vast number of people who are in desperate need of a new and more effective treatment option. Our new clinic in Trondheim does exactly this and allows us to provide these treatments to a whole new cohort of people in central Norway."

The Trondheim clinic will be led by Dr. Ingrid Castberg, a prominent and well-respected psychiatrist in Norway.

About Awakn Life Sciences Corp.

Awakn Life Sciences Corp. is a biotechnology company developing therapeutics to treat addiction. Awakn has a near-term focus on Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD), a condition affecting 285m people globally for which the current standard of care is inadequate. Our goal is to provide breakthrough therapeutics to addiction sufferers in desperate need and our strategy is focused on commercializing our R&D pipeline across multiple channels.

www.AwaknLifeSciences.com | Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | www.AwaknClinics.com

Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains certain forward-looking information and forward-looking statements, as defined in applicable securities laws (collectively referred to herein as "forward-looking statements"). Forward-looking statements reflect current expectations or beliefs regarding future events or the Company's future performance. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "continues", "forecasts", "projects", "predicts", "intends", "anticipates", "targets" or "believes", or variations of, or the negatives of, such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "should", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved, including statements relating the business of the Company. All forward-looking statements, including those herein are qualified by this cautionary statement.

Although the Company believes that the expectations expressed in such statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the statements. There are certain factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking information. These include, but are not limited to:COVID-19; fluctuations in general macroeconomic conditions; the business plans and strategies of the Company; the ability of the Company to comply with all applicable governmental regulations in a highly regulated business; the inherent risks in investing in target companies or projects which have limited or no operating history and are engaged in activities currently considered illegal in some jurisdictions; changes in laws; limited operating history; reliance on management; requirements for additional financing; competition; fluctuations in securities markets; inconsistent public opinion and perception regarding the medical-use of psychedelic drugs; expectations regarding the size of the addiction market; and regulatory or political change. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect forward-looking statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this news release speak only as of the date of this news release or as of the date or dates specified in such statements.

Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. For more information on the Company, investors are encouraged to review the Company's public filings on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward- looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities in the United States. The Company's and Awakn's securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.

Investor Enquiries:

Anthony Tennyson, CEO, Awakn Life Sciences

anthony.tennyson@awaknlifesciences.com

Media Enquiries:

Gordo Whittaker, CMO, Awakn Life Sciences

gordo@awaknlifesciences.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154617
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 14, 2023) - Cordoba Minerals Corp. (TSXV: CDB) (OTCQB: CDBMF) (otherwise "Cordoba" or the "Company"), today announces that it has temporarily suspended its Feasibility Study in-fill drilling program and other on-site work at the Company's San Matias Copper-Gold-Silver Project. The Company has been closely monitoring the impact of the ongoing public demonstrations on social reformation taking place across Colombia. Cordoba's primary focus remains the health and safety of all its employees and contractors as well as its host communities. As such, we have taken action to immediately suspend operations at San Matias.

The Company is now liaising with the local authorities to determine when it may re-commence its camp activities and Feasibility Study in-fill drilling program. All desk-top work on the Feasibility Study technical programs for the Alacran Project will continue as usual. The Company expects to resume all work within the next 7-10 days but in any case will continue monitoring the situation in Colombia and provide updates accordingly.

About Cordoba

Cordoba Minerals Corp. is a mineral exploration company focused on the exploration, development and acquisition of copper and gold projects. Cordoba is developing the San Matias Copper-Gold-Silver Project, which includes the Alacran deposit and satellite deposits at Montiel East, Montiel West and Costa Azul, located in the Department of Cordoba, Colombia. The Company has entered into a strategic arrangement with JCHX Mining Management Co., Ltd., pursuant to which JCHX will acquire 50% of the Alacran Project and the parties will jointly develop the Project. The Company anticipates the strategic arrangement will close around the end of the second quarter of 2023, on satisfaction or waiver of all conditions to completion. Cordoba also holds a 51% interest in the Perseverance Copper Project in Arizona, USA, which it is exploring through a Joint Venture and Earn-In Agreement. For further information, please visit www.cordobaminerals.com.

ON BEHALF OF THE COMPANY

Sarah Armstrong-Montoya, President and Chief Executive Officer

Information Contact

Ran Li +1-604-689-8765

info@cordobamineralscorp.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release includes "forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. All statements included in this news release, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements including, without limitation, but not limited to, statements with respect to operations at San Matias including, but not limited to, the resumption of operations and provision of updates; the preparation of an updated mineral resource statement; JCHX transaction; geological interpretations; Feasibility Study; results of the current exploration and interpretations thereof; mineralization potential; and contemplated drilling and development programs. Forwardlooking statements include predictions, projections and forecasts and are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect", "potential", "target", "budget" and "intend" and statements that an event or result "may", "will", "should", "could" or "might" occur or be achieved and other similar expressions and includes the negatives thereof.

Forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by management based on the business and markets in which Cordoba operates, are inherently subject to significant operational, economic, and competitive uncertainties, risks and contingencies. Such assumptions and estimates include, but are not limited to, assumptions with respect to the status of community relations and the security situation on site and in Colombia; general business and economic conditions; continuity of drilling programs; the availability of additional exploration and mineral project; the supply and demand for, inventories of, and the level and volatility of the prices of metals; relationships with strategic partners and significant shareholders; the timing and receipt of governmental permits and approvals; the timing and receipt of community and landowner approvals; timing and receipt of applicable approvals for the JCHX transaction; changes in regulations; political factors; the accuracy of the Company's interpretation of drill results; the geology, grade and continuity of the Company's mineral deposits; the availability of equipment, skilled labour and services needed for the exploration and development of mineral properties; currency fluctuations; and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate and actual results, and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations include actual exploration results, continuity of drilling programs, interpretation of metallurgical characteristics of the mineralization, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, future metal prices, availability of capital and financing on acceptable terms, general economic, market or business conditions, uninsured risks, regulatory changes, delays or inability to receive required approvals, uncertainties relating to epidemics, pandemics and other public health crises, including COVID-19 or similar such viruses, and other exploration or other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulators, including those described under the heading "Risks and Uncertainties" in the Company's most recently filed MD&A. The Company does not undertake to update or revise any forward-looking statements, except in accordance with applicable law. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154698
Investment to Expand EV Fleet and EV Everywhere Business Units

OTTAWA, Ontario, Feb. 14, 2023, a subsidiary of Ontario Power Generation, has made a strategic investment and taken a minority stake along with existing and new private investors led by Capital Angels Network. BluWave-ai has also received a $1.73M grant through the Government of Canada investment through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario.

PowerON is a leading provider of turnkey electric vehicle charging solutions for fleets. PowerON is servicing the Toronto Transit Commission(TTC)'s Electric Vehicle fleet for the next 20 years. As a result of the PowerON investment, James Brewer (VP, New Growth & Business Development at OPG) has been added to the Board of Directors at BluWave-ai.

The resources from this round will be deployed to build on the company's Grid Optimization solution with the EV Fleet Orchestratorproduct line for EV Fleet operators, and the EV Everywhereproduct line for utilities dealing with the onslaught of personal EVs and electricity grid congestion and upgrade challenges. BluWave-ai has already secured lead customers for its EV Fleet orchestrator product with Dubai Taxi, other fleet operators, and PowerON. The EV Everywhere solution's lead customers are Hydro Ottawa and IESO.

"BluWave-ai started its journey in 2017 and was built from the ground up to apply supercomputing and AI to the decarbonization of electricity on the plant. Over the last 5 years, we have won many international awards, completed 16 USPTO filings and deployed our products on three continents with recurring revenues," said Devashish Paul, CEO and founder of BluWave-ai. "We built our grid optimization platform to deal with solar, wind, grid connections, weather, real-time market pricing, grid carbon content and utility-scale battery storage, but now EVs represent the biggest type of variable storage on the grid side, while representing an asset to absorb fluctuating renewables while decarbonizing road miles. Our Series A round is to grow the EV side of our business as it hits prime time during this next growth phase of the company."

"PowerON has been established by OPG to deliver behind-the-meter electrified solutions for fleet operators across North America," said Keegan Tully, Managing Director at PowerON Energy Solutions. "We chose to partner with a Canada-based world leader like BluWave-ai that is poised to transform the industry with AI and real-time automation."

"The addition of a large penetration of EVs in the Ontario grid is a challenge," said Thomas Triplet, BluWave-ai Senior Director of Engineering. "The IESO has collaborated with BluWave-ai on its EV Everywhere program. As part of the IESO project, working with Hydro Ottawa, and using this Series A financing, we've already launched our BluWave-ai EV Flight Test Center."

"We are pleased to see the steady growth and progress of Ottawa-based cleantech leader, BluWave-ai," said Michael Tremblay, President & CEO, Invest Ottawa. "They are paving the way for regions around the world to increase their use of renewable energy sources. We are particularly excited about their work in optimizing EV fleet deployment and smart/micro-grid operations, including a pilot project that they have underway with Hydro Ottawa at Area X.O. One more reason why the world needs Ottawa."

"The future of Canada's transportation industry is green. That is why FedDev Ontario has invested over $1.7 million in BluWave-ai as it creates the tools needed by our businesses to adapt to a new energy-efficient future," said the Honourable Filomena Tassi, Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario. "Investments like these will help our entrepreneurs contribute to Canada's end-to-end electric vehicle supply chain to ensure a seamless transition to electric vehicles."

The use of proceeds from this round is for commercial scale-out, new customer acquisition, growing staff to 60, and expansion in existing markets for grid optimization as well as the EV market. As a result of the financing, the company has in excess of 30 months of runway with cash on hand and contracts to date; this enables product growth to service key customers in the market.

All shares issued in the round and to date are common class A shares. BluWave-ai has commenced the fundraising process for its Series B round for interested Climate Investors or strategic corporate partners for scale-out to build the world's premier renewable energy and electric transport AI company.

The BluWave-ai EV Fleet Orchestrator is partially funded by support from FedDev Ontario. For details, click here. To purchase BluWave-ai's EV Fleet Orchestratorand EV Everywhereproducts, please contact info@bluwave-ai.com.

Notes:

1. The grant from Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario previously announced in November 2022is a repayable interest-free loan.



About BluWave-ai

BluWave-ai is focused on driving the proliferation of renewable energy and electric transportation worldwide. Our solutions apply artificial intelligence (AI) cloud software to optimize the cost, carbon footprint, and reliability of different energy sources, both renewable and non-renewable, in real time. This lets our customers - utilities, fleet operators and electricity system operators - improve their energy-related decision-making in planning and in live systems to decrease costs and carbon footprint. Every day, our employees come to BluWave-ai with the mission to decarbonize the planet by using hardware assets more efficiently with AI software while we build the world's premier renewable energy and transport electrification AI company based in Canada.

Click here to learn more about BluWave-ai EV Fleet Orchestrator.

About PowerON Energy Solutions

PowerON Energy Solutions is the catalyst for organizations to electrify and create a better climate future. We provide turnkey planning, design, installation, operation and energy management for fleets to reduce cost and emissions. We understand that electrification is about more than just chargers and our technical expertise, experience and mastery of electrical systems allow us to deliver maximum ROI for our partners. PowerON is a subsidiary of Ontario Power Generation, one of the largest power generators in North America with more than 100 years of history building and operating complex electrical infrastructure.

About FedDev Ontario

For 13 years, the Government of Canada, through FedDev Ontario, has worked to advance and diversify the southern Ontario economy through funding opportunities and business services that support innovation, growth and job creation in Canada's most populous region. The Agency has delivered impressive results, which can be seen in southern Ontario businesses that are creating innovative technologies, improving productivity, growing revenues, creating jobs, and in the economic advancement of communities across the region. Learn more about the impacts the Agency is having in southern Ontario by exploring our pivotal projects, our Southern Ontario Spotlight, and FedDev Ontario's website.

Contact Information:

Brandon Paul

Senior Corporate Marketing Manager

brandon.paul@bluwave-ai.com



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Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 14, 2023) - Matador Gold Technologies will unveil an exclusive look at the never-before-seen Matador app at this year's PDAC convention.

This annual convention, held on March 5th to 8th in Toronto, is known for attracting up to 30,000 attendees from over 130+ countries for its educational programming, networking events, and outstanding business opportunities. Since it began in 1932, the PDAC Convention has grown in size, stature and influence. Today, it is the event of choice for the world's mineral industry hosting more than 1,100 exhibitors and 2,500 investors.

As part of a slew of planned conference and convention appearances this year, Matador is revealing a first look at its app to an eager crowd of prospectors, developers, and other pivotal members of the exploration and mining communities. Members of the Matador team, including Matador CEO and Tokens.com Co-Founder, Deven Soni, will be on site at Exhibitor Booth 3149.

"This first look is a very important one," said Soni. "And to showcase the app at PDAC makes perfect sense. The mining and commodities community has always been at the forefront of cutting edge technology, investing its time and money long before other industries have even considered their next move."

PDAC itself is synonymous with future-looking innovation and wide-spanning global partnerships, Soni says, inspiring Matador to stay at home here in Canada. "It was one of the first to commit to virtual conventions in 2021, to lobby for legislation to protect jobs in the industry, to support Canadian labourers and promote exclusively Canadian gold. Matador is proud to be a Canadian company, dealing in exclusively Canadian, ESG certified gold."

Key features of the Matador app will include:- 24/7 buying and selling options

Secure mobile connectivity to over a dozen financial institutions

No minimums on gold purchases over 1 gram

Safe storage at the Royal Canadian Mint

Blockchain technology for end to end encryption

Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) optionality

Up-to-the-minute spot pricing

Innovative loyalty and rewards programs

For more information and/or to register for the conference please visit: https://www.pdac.ca/convention/attend/registration.

For further information, direct all inquiries to:

Henry Chen

6132556876

henry@matador.network

www.buymatador.com

About Matador

Matador is revolutionizing the gold industry by bringing it to the digital era. Matador is a DTC company that sells premium ESG gold directly to retail using their first-of-its-kind proprietary mobile platform. Installment plans define the Matador experience, enabling buy now, pay later (BNPL) for gold. It also enables retail gold buyers to securely buy, sell, and store gold in a 24/7 marketplace with the best pricing, user-interface, and unparalleled payment terms.

About PDAC

PDAC 2023: The World's Premier Mineral Exploration & Mining Convention is the leading event for people, companies and organizations connected to mineral exploration. The Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) is the leading voice of the mineral exploration and development community, an industry that supports 719,000 people in direct and indirect employment, and contributes $106 billion to Canada's GDP every year. Representing over 6,000 members around the world, PDAC's work centers on supporting a competitive, responsible, and sustainable mineral sector.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151858
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / February 14, 2023 / Sappi North America - Focused on a Thrive25 sustainability goal to reduce energy use, Sappi North America has also successfully reduced water and steam use at the Cloquet Mill.

Sappi's Thrive25 sustainability goal seeks to reduce total specific energy use by 1% annually for five years. The Cloquet project resulted in saving over 2 million gallons of water and 3.2 million pounds of steam; it also increased production through increased black liquor firing, all of which exceeded the 1%-a-year energy reduction goal.

The Cloquet Mill initiated a Rapid Lean Six Sigma energy project to target TUBEL super-concentrator evaporator flush reduction.

The goal of the TUBEL flushing project was to reduce the flush water volume by 25%, ultimately reducing the amount of energy needed to reprocess the flush water by 25%. The team reevaluated flushing techniques, triggers, durations, and sources of water. Ultimately, the project established new flushing operational parameters, implemented best practices for flushing duration, and achieved over double the initially planned savings.

These types of energy reductions can be achieved in several ways, including capital investment, operational efficiency improvements, and targeted continuous improvement projects, such as Cloquet's successful Rapid Lean Six Sigma project.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Sappi North America on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Sappi North America

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/sappi-north-america

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Sappi North America

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/739287/Evaporator-Flushing-Creates-Significant-Water-Savings-and-Energy-Efficiency-at-Cloquet-Mill
With global interest in AI at an all-time high, latest update to Cognetivity's flagship medical device affirms company's sustained commitment to being at the forefront of AI in healthcare

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 14, 2023) - Cognetivity Neurosciences Ltd. (CSE: CGN) (OTCQB: CGNSF) (FSE: 1UB) (the "Company" or "Cognetivity"), a technology company that has created a unique brain health screening platform for use in medical, commercial and consumer environments, is pleased to announce that it has released an updated version of its flagship tool, CognICA.

CognICA is a unique platform for the assessment and monitoring of brain health: powered by artificial intelligence (AI), FDA-registered and CE-marked, and commercially deployed in North America, East and Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and the UK's National Health Service (NHS).

Cognetivity's technology uses AI and machine learning (ML) techniques to help detect the earliest signs of cognitive impairment by providing a fast, sensitive and objective measure of brain function. This enables CognICA to facilitate the early identification of individuals with brain health issues, at a time when interventions are most effective, as well as supporting their long-term treatment management and monitoring.

Crucially, as a fundamentally AI and ML-based tool, CognICA can be continually expanded and enhanced over time, trained on more data from an increasing number of global deployments to build increasingly refined, disease-specific models. In the case of Alzheimer's disease, for example, the company already holds a patent covering the use of an AI-based system to estimate levels of core biomarkers of neurodegeneration in the brain, such as amyloid  (A) protein.

The tool is tablet-based, self-administered and independent of language and education biases, thereby making it highly effective for comprehensive, scaled screening programs in all geographies. Among a range of improvements, the latest version of CognICA includes local data storage functionality, facilitating deployment in an expanded range of territories and thus enlarging the potential market for the technology. It also permits unlimited scaling, ensuring that users benefit from a rapid, efficient experience regardless of user load.

Commenting on the announcement, Dr. Sina Habibi, CEO of Cognetivity, said: "At Cognetivity, we have always been committed to driving excellence in healthcare and the powerful role that AI has to play in delivering that transformation. We are delighted to have released the latest upgrade to our flagship platform, affirming our commitment to providing an outstanding, high-performance tool that has the power to revolutionise clinical working practices and the lives of millions of patients all over the world."

About Cognetivity Neurosciences Ltd.

Cognetivity is a technology company that has created a cognitive testing platform for use in medical, commercial and consumer environments. Cognetivity's ICA uses Artificial Intelligence and machine learning techniques to help detect the earliest signs of cognitive impairment by testing the performance of large areas of the brain. The ICA is currently available for clinical use in the USA, UK, Europe and the Middle East, with regulatory approval for other regions planned for 2023.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

"Sina Habibi"

Sina Habibi

Chief Executive Officer and Director

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS:

Certain statements included in this news release constitute forward-looking information or statements (collectively, "forward-looking statements"), including those identified by the expressions "anticipate", "assume" "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "may", "should" and similar expressions to the extent they relate to the Company or its management. The forward-looking statements are not historical facts but reflect current expectations regarding future results or events. This news release contains forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions which are difficult to predict. Such statements are based on current expectations and various estimates, factors and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. Such statements and information are based on numerous assumptions regarding present and future business strategies and the environment in which the Company will operate in the future. The Company assumes no responsibility to update or revise forward-looking information to reflect new events or circumstances unless required by law. Readers should not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements.

The Canadian Securities Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

For further information: Please visit: www.cognetivity.com or contact: info@cognetivity.com; for media inquiries please contact pr@cognetivity.com.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154634
Drilling Focused on Priority Uranium Targets 10 Kilometres from Key Lake Mine and Mill

Coincident Ground Gravity Anomalies and EM Conductors Along the Prolific Key Lake Fault

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 14, 2023) - CanAlaska Uranium Ltd. (TSXV: CVV) (OTCQX: CVVUF) (FSE: DH7N) ("CanAlaska or the "Company") is pleased to announce completion of the temporary work camp and mobilization of drill crews and equipment to the Key Extension project in the southeastern Athabasca Basin. The 2023 Key Extension drill program will focus on phase-one exploration of newly defined exploration targets generated through a series of geophysical programs completed in 2022. The Key Extension project is located approximately 10 kilometres southwest of the Key Lake mine and mill near Highway 914 (Figure 1).





Figure 1 - Key Extension Project Location



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CanAlaska CEO, Cory Belyk, comments, "The CanAlaska team has generated several very intriguing drill targets defined by multiple geophysical surveys. Results from these surveys closely resemble results commonly found in association with major basement-hosted uranium deposits in the Athabasca Basin region, namely NexGen's Arrow deposit and Cameco's Eagle Point deposit. This maiden drilling program is designed to test several of these targets where they are associated with the interpreted location of the large Key Lake fault, host to the nearby Deilmann and Gaertner ore bodies that together produced over 150 million pounds of uranium. I am very excited about the potential for this project to be among the front-runners for new discoveries in the eastern Athabasca Basin right next to all the critical infrastructure of Cameco's Key Lake mill."





Figure 2 - Priority Target Areas for Winter Drill Program



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The Company completed a ground gravity survey on the project that defined three high-priority gravity anomalies. These ground gravity anomalies are associated with historically mapped conductors in areas where these conductors bend or flex (Figure 2). Ground gravity lows (shown in blue on Figure 2) are interpreted to be alteration of the basement rocks and represent high priority exploration targets where the lows are associated with conductors. The importance of gravity lows associated with conductive stratigraphy have been well documented at several recent discoveries in the Athabasca Basin including NexGen's Arrow deposit and the GMZ/ACKIO discovery. In addition, the Company believes the Key Lake fault, host to the nearby Key Lake uranium deposits, trends onto the property and continues through these three priority gravity anomalies. The primary focus of the 2023 drill program will be drilling of two of the most prominent gravity anomalies one of which is located at the boundary between the Wollaston and Mudjatik geological domains and the intersection of the Key Lake fault. This gravity feature is a high priority target because of the coincidental intersection of two structural features with a north to northeast-trending conductor.





Figure 3 - Spotting Drill Collar



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The drilling and geology teams are in the field and have prepared the first drill collars for the program (Figure 3). The Company is completing work on the Key Extension project under an option agreement with Durama Enterprises Limited ("Durama"), a private company, which has granted CanAlaska a right to earn up to 100% interest in the project.

About the Key Extension Project

The Key Extension project is located approximately 10 kilometres south of the Athabasca Basin edge, within the highly prospective Wollaston-Mudjatik Transition Zone. The Key Lake uranium deposits and associated uranium zones are located approximately 10 kilometres from the northeastern project boundary. The Key Lake deposits consisted of a series of east-northeast striking pods of high-grade unconformity associated uranium mineralization, which have historically produced over 150 million lbs U3O8 from the Gaertner and Deilmann open pits.

Other News

The Company is currently drilling on its West McArthur project in the eastern Athabasca Basin. The 2023 West McArthur drill program is focused on advancing the Company's new high-grade Pike Zone uranium discovery.

About CanAlaska Uranium

CanAlaska Uranium Ltd. (TSXV: CVV) (OTCQX: CVVUF) (FSE: DH7N) holds interests in approximately 300,000 hectares (750,000 acres), in Canada's Athabasca Basin - the "Saudi Arabia of Uranium." CanAlaska's strategic holdings have attracted major international mining companies. CanAlaska is currently working with Cameco and Denison at two of the Company's properties in the Eastern Athabasca Basin. CanAlaska is a project generator positioned for discovery success in the world's richest uranium district. The Company also holds properties prospective for nickel, copper, gold and diamonds. For further information visit www.canalaska.com.

The qualified technical person for this news release is Nathan Bridge, MSc., P.Geo., CanAlaska's Vice President, Exploration.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

"Cory Belyk"

Cory Belyk, P.Geo., FGC

CEO, Executive Vice-President and Director

CanAlaska Uranium Ltd.

Contacts:

Cory Belyk, Executive VP and CEO

Tel: +1.604.688.3211 x 306

Email: cbelyk@canalaska.com

General Enquiry

Tel: +1.604.688.3211

Email: info@canalaska.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.

Forward-looking information

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. 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. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, the Company does not intend 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/154690
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 14, 2023) - Nova Mentis Life Science Corp. (CSE: NOVA) (FSE: HN3Q) (OTCQB: NMLSF) ("NOVA" or the "Company"), a biotechnology company and global leader in first-in-class psilocybin-based therapeutics and complementary diagnostics for neuroinflammatory disorders is pleased to announce it has received an exemption under Section 56 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act allowing the Company to proceed with the first-ever Phase IIA clinical trial assessing repetitive, oral microdose psilocybin therapy for fragile X syndrome (FXS), the leading genetic cause of autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

A Section 56 exemption enables an approved medical professional to prescribe select controlled substances without legal consequence, in order to better treat people with otherwise treatment-resistant conditions.

"Securing this latest regulatory approval from the Canadian government is a critical step in NOVA's research and drug development program and allows us to begin our groundbreaking clinical trial. We are eager to begin recruiting participants as we seek to better understand the therapeutic potential of psilocybin in the treatment of fragile X syndrome," stated William Rascan, NOVA's President & CEO.

KGK Science and NOVA have partnered to conduct a pioneering first clinical trial to investigate the effects of microdose psilocybin on the cognitive and behavioural symptoms associated with FXS. The results of the 10-person, open-label study will be used to support NOVA's drug development program under FDA Orphan Drug designation, which was received in late 2021.

"KGK Science is thrilled to have received all of the regulatory approvals required to conduct this cutting-edge clinical trial. We believe that this study will be an impactful assessment of the potential of psilocybin in a disorder that truly affects the lives of many families and that has not yet been studied," commented Najla Guthrie, CEO of Wellbeing and KGK. "We look forward to working with Nova Mentis and contributing to the science."

The trial will be led by KGK Science and recruiting efforts are expected to begin in late Q1 2023. The clinical trial received a No Objection Letter from Health Canada in December of 2022 and is one of the first approved studies that will permit participants to take home the drug for dosing every other day.

Nova Mentis has completed production of pharmaceutical grade cGMP synthetic psilocybin 1.5 mg microdose capsules that will be used to advance the necessary research and development steps needed for successful drug regulatory approval and future commercialization.

About Nova Mentis Life Science Corp.

Nova Mentis Life Science Corp. is a Canadian-based biotechnology company and global leader in developing diagnostics and psilocybin-based therapeutics for neuroinflammatory disorders. Nova is the first biotech company to achieve orphan drug designation in both the United States and European Union for the use of psilocybin in the treatment of FXS.

NOVA's goal is to diagnose and treat debilitating chronic conditions that have unmet medical needs, such as ASD and FXS.

For further information on the Company, please visit www.novamentis.ca or email info@novamentis.ca.

About KGK Science

A subsidiary of Wellbeing Digital Sciences, KGK Science is a leading North American contract research organization based in London, Ontario that primarily provides high-quality clinical research trials with a focus on nutraceutical and emerging health care products. Founded in 1997, the business has successfully helped hundreds of companies with custom designed clinical trials and claim substantiation strategies to move products into global markets. KGK's other existing service lines include expert regulatory support and compliance solutions, participant recruitment, research support services and consulting services. Furthermore, the company has produced over 150 publications, executed over 400 clinical trials across more than 40 indications, amassed 25,000 participants in its database, and collected 10 million data points. For additional information, please visit www.kgkscience.com.

On Behalf of the Board

Will Rascan, President & CEO

Nova Mentis Life Science Corp.

Phone: 778-819-0244

Toll Free: 1-833-542-5323

Twitter: @novamentislsc

Instagram: @novamentislsc

Facebook: @novamentislsc

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking statements." Such forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause Nova Mentis Life Science's actual results, performance or achievements, or developments in the industry to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "could" or "should" occur.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154707
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 14, 2023) - Origen Resources Inc. (CSE: ORGN) (FSE: 4VXA) (the "Company" or "Origen"), a fast emerging lithium exploration and project generator company, announced today the addition of a new director to further enhance the company's ability to identify and develop high-quality mineral resources.

Origen would like to welcome Dr. Thomas Hawkins PhD, P.Geo, managing director of Origen. Dr. Hawkins has extensive experience identifying, assessing and advancing mineral exploration projects, along with a substantial body of academic papers and is a former Curator at the Natural History Museum in the UK. He discovered the Vanadium Pass deposit in 2018, and has held senior management positions with Santa Fe Metals, Northway Resources, Kenorland Minerals, and Pacific Empire Minerals. Dr. Hawkins was part of the Kenorland Minerals team that discovered the Regnault deposit. Most recently, he authored the 43-101 report for Li-FT Power Ltd.'s Yellowknife Lithium Project.

"We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Hawkins to the Origen team," states Gary Schellenberg, CEO. "His expertise will be invaluable as we continue to expand our operations and build a world-class project generating company. We believe that his experience and knowledge will be instrumental in driving growth and success in the coming years."

To allow for Dr. Hawkins appointment, Blake Morgan will be stepping down as director and President. The Board would like to thank Mr. Morgan for his valuable service to the Company, and wish him well in his future endeavours.

Dr. Hawkins will be granted 150,000 incentive stock options exercisable at $0.24 expiring February 14, 2028.

La Rioja Claim Update

The Province of La Rioja has passed a new law declaring that all lithium claims granted or in application be suspended for up to 240 days, while the province reviews lithium exploration rights. Origen's Argentinian legal counsel shares the view that the new law is unconstitutional and will be vigorously defending the Company's right to the claims which it was granted.

The Company will continue to explore its unaffected Los Sapitos lithium project in San Juan Province, which represents approximately 75% of Origen's lithium holdings in Argentina. Origen expects to mobilise a geological crew to Los Sapitos by the end of February, building on the lithium brine, hot springs, and clay-hosted discoveries the Company made in the fall 2022 season.

About Origen

Origen is an exploration company engaged in generating, acquiring and advancing base, precious metal, and lithium properties. The Company currently holds a property portfolio of four 100% owned precious and base metal projects in southern British Columbia, a 100% interest in the 26,771 ha LGM project property in the mineral rich Golden Triangle of British Columbia, and a 100% interest in the Los Sapitos Lithium project in Argentina.

On behalf of Origen,

Gary Schellenberg

CEO

For further information, please contact Gary Schellenberg, CEO at 604-681-0221.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

Certain of the statements made and information contained herein may constitute "forward-looking information." In particular references to the private placement and future work programs or expectations on the quality or results of such work programs are subject to risks associated with operations on the property, exploration activity generally, equipment limitations and availability, as well as other risks that we may not be currently aware of. Accordingly, readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154731
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 14, 2023) - Wedgemount Resources Corp. (CSE: WDGY) (OTCQB: WDGRF) ("Wedgemount" or the "Company"), is pleased to announce initial well production results from the Willowbend light oil project in the Permian Basin of central Texas.

On January 23, 2023, three wells including the McBeth-2, McBeth-5 and Davis-3 underwent well and formation chemical treatments. Prior to the treatments, the three wells were flowing at a combined rate of 10 barrels of oil per day. Post treatment, the three wells combined have tripled in production and are currently flowing at a rate of 31 barrels of oil per day. Total cost of the three well chemical treatment program was US$45,000. Overall field production is now 52 barrels of oil per day, more than double the average for Q4 2022.

"We couldn't be happier with the initial results from the Company's field work to date," commented Mark Vanry, President and CEO of Wedgemount. "Adding production at under US$2,200 per flowing barrel demonstrates a very low cost path to adding significant value at Willowbend. The Gardner Formation wells have responded to the chemical treatments beyond our expectations and without the benefit of workovers which will commence in late March 2023. We're looking forward to treating and testing the balance of the 11 producing wells at Willowbend over the coming weeks."

Field work was carried out by the Company's San Antonio based operations contractor, Petrosaurus. The Company anticipates carrying out chemical treatments on three additional wells within the next two weeks and workovers on all of the Willowbend wells commening in late March 2023. Wedgemount is optimistic that the well workovers will add incremental production to the field in addition to the increase from the previously mentioned well treatments.

Petrosaurus' in-house developed chemical cleanouts combined with well workovers and new zone perforations are a key part of Wedgemounts's initial plan to grow production from underexploited and underdeveloped light oil formations in central and south Texas.

Willowbend Transaction Update

Closing of the Willowbend transaction (the "Transaction") is conditional upon the Company making total payments to the arm's length vendors totaling US$1.5 million. To date, the Company has paid US$250,000 with additional payments of US$500,000 (on or before February 28, 2023) and US$750,000 (on or before March 31, 2023) scheduled to meet closing conditions of the Transaction.

On closing of the Transaction, the vendors will relinquish operator status and transfer title to the leases and ownership of related surface facilities and equipment (the "Project") to the Company's wholly owned Texas subsidiary, Wedgemount Texas Corp ("WTC"). Concurrent with closing, WTC will have earned a 100% working interest in the leases comprising the Project subject to underlying royalties averaging 20%.

Conditional to closing, WTC will be credited by the vendors with an amount equal to the net oil and gas revenue from the Project for the period commencing January 1, 2023 and up to the date of closing of the Transaction (the "Interim Period") which amount will be reconciled by vendor via a settlement statement rendered within 60-days of closing of the Transaction. During the Interim Period, the vendor will conduct operations at the direction of WTC. WTC is responsible for oil and gas production taxes as well as property taxes during the Interim Period.

About Wedgemount Resources Corp.

Wedgemount Resources is a junior natural resources company focused on maximizing shareholder value through the acquisition, discovery and advancement of natural resource projects in North America.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

WEDGEMOUNT RESOURCES CORP.

Mark Vanry, President and CEO

For more information, please contact the Company at:

Telephone: (604) 343-4743

info@wedgemountresources.com

www.wedgemountresources.com

Reader Advisory

This news release may contain statements which constitute "forward-looking information", including statements regarding the plans, intentions, beliefs and current expectations of the Company, its directors, or its officers with respect to the future business activities of the Company and the Transaction. The words "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" and similar expressions, as they relate to the Transaction, the Company, or its management, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements made in this news release include the Company's plans for the Transaction, the Project and anticipated results. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future business activities and involve risks and uncertainties, and that the Company's future business activities may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, availability of funds, personnel and other resources necessary to conduct exploration programs, successes of the Company's exploration programs, availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. There can be no assurances that such information will prove accurate and, therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. The Company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking information except as required under the applicable securities laws.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada 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/154743
Albuquerque, New Mexico--(Newsfile Corp. - February 14, 2023) - Both& Apparel, a start up serving the trans masculine and non-binary communities, recently announced the closing of a one million dollar seed round.

Commenting on the closing of the seed round, Finnegan Shepard, Founder and CEO of Both& Apparel said, "We faced a steep climb in terms of fundraising. I was a first time trans founder, based in New Mexico, with no background in fashion or business, raising money for an unknown market size at the height of the pandemic and supply chain crisis. Top that off with the fact that VC has predominantly turned away from D2C models, and there's almost a perfect headwind. I was a true outsider, fighting for a vision and community that most people who can write a big check neither knew nor understood."

Despite the challenges, Finnegan feels that it was this very 'otherness' that ultimately helped to achieve the objective of raising one million dollars by appealing to mission-aligned investors. This included women and members of minority communities. Many of those contributing identified with the company's goal to empower the transgender community and helped the fundraising campaign to gain traction.

Finnegan's persistence paid off, driven primarily by three groups of investors, with the balance coming in from angel investors who were inspired by the compelling clothing line, story, and vision.

The funds raised through the seed round will expand the collection of styles available, allow the employment of new talent, and increase marketing efforts to boost brand awareness. To date, the company has achieved its success primarily through word-of-mouth marketing. With more funds available, Both& Apparel has ambitious plans to expand. In 2021, when the company first launched, it only sold t-shirts. In 2022 the company added swimwear, pants, hoodies, and button downs. Finnegan says that 2023 holds a lot in store. The firm is also working on collaborations with other trans creators, designers, and celebrities from the transgender community.

Concluded Finnegan Shepard, "We're growing aggressively. 2020 was the year of research, where we surveyed thousands of people in the community to find out what were their biggest struggles and what they most wished existed. In 2021 we launched our first three t-shirts as a test. In 2022 we had 4x the revenue and launched four new product categories. Since closing our round we're seeing an average of 20% MoM growth, with a lot of exciting capsule drops in the pipeline."

About Both and Apparel

Both& Apparel is a company that is pioneering the concept of non-binary fashion, starting with apparel for trans men. The company is powered by the belief that trans masculine, non-binary, and gender non conforming people deserve gender joy through access to products and spaces where unique needs are prioritized.

Media Contact

Name: Finnegan Shepard

Email: finnegan@bothandapparel.com

Website: Both& Apparel

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154744
HONG KONG, Feb 14, 2023 - (ACN Newswire) - Earlier this month, Apple Inc. (AAPL) released earnings for first quarter that decreased from the same period last year and missed Wall Street expectations driven by a combination of a stronger US dollar, global economic malaise, and more strife at its China factories. The Revenue for the quarter fell 5.49% to US$117.15 billion from US$123.95 billion last year, earnings US$1.88 per share, below the US$1.94 expected by market analysts.



Although this is the first revenue decline since 2019, there are also bright spots in Apple's financial results. On a geographic basis, the revenue in Greater China increased 54.5% from the same period last year to US$23.905 billion, due to the strong sales of new models launched in late September. Apple was the only major smartphone vendor to record month-to-month growth in October, accounting for 25% of the Chinese market, according to Counterpoint Research. With the end of zero-COVID policy, China's consumer confidence is gradually recovering.



It was reported that Apple sold 26.09 million units of the iPhone 14 series in the first two months after its release. Most of the smartphones are produced in Foxconn's Zhengzhou factory, Shenzhen factory, Luxshare's Kunshan factory and Pegatron's Shanghai factory. Financial Times reported last month that Luxshare was set to secure Apple's first large order for the high-end iPhone, according to people familiar with the matter. In addition, Luxshare has already been producing small amounts of the iPhone 14 Pro Max since November 2022.



Apple supplier Luxshare Precision released its preliminary 2022 annual results in October last year, noting that its net profit is expected to reach RMB9.55 to RMB9.89 billion, increasing 35%-40% yoy; the net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company after the one-off gain amounted is expected to reach RMB9.13-9.61 billion, growing 53.26%-59.80% yoy.



Luxshare Precision's nearly RMB10 billion profit reflects its excellent precision manufacturing capabilities, and considerable insight and forward-looking business presence. It has extended metaverse (AR, VR, and MR), automotive, and communications segments, besides consumer electronics. Another Apple supplier, Shenzhen Everwin Precision Technology, also released its preliminary 2022 annual results last month, expecting its net profit in 2022 to turn a year-on-year profit. Everwin denoted that its new energy segment has grown rapidly and has become a critical point of growth. In addition, more and more Chinese Apple suppliers are seeking diversified development, such as Goertek's VR segment and Wingtech Technology's semiconductor segment.



Apple CEO Tim Cook said it has resolved many of those supply problems for now and that there are currently 2 billion active Apple devices in users' hands worldwide. "We believe the long-term positives outweigh the short-term negatives," Morgan Stanley's Erik Woodring thought.



Looking forward, CICC issued a research report stating that recovery will become the theme of the consumer electronics industry. It is also believed that those consumer electronics companies will recover rapidly and regain their high-speed growth in 2023 because of global economic recovery and their diversification strategies.









Copyright 2023 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.




WASHINGTON, D.C. / ACCESSWIRE / February 14, 2023 / R-3 Technologies Inc. (OTC PINK:RRRT) to be renamed "YING INC.", an advanced community gig and skill sharing platform powered to unlock cultural, community, and financial capital announces a new partnership with The Blockchain Academy. This partnership will provide the curriculum, hands-on project-based learning, live instructor services, and skills based AI proctored assessments resulting in verified talent ready for hire.

At the core of Blockchain, the peer-to-peer open ledger technology, aligns with the core principles of a peer-to-peer community gig platform. Those engaged in the community of YING are advocates of Blockchain and have expressed interest in upskilling to access even greater gig and career opportunities in this space.

The average annual income in the US for a blockchain developer is $136,000, followed by $87,500 in Asia and $73,300 per year in Europe, with remote blockchain work earning around $123,750. It's not just developers earning more. Increase in global demand for blockchain developers is up by 300-500% yearly, according to Glassdoor.

While the most needed roles are engineering (31%), the balance of opportunities are in operations (17%), marketing (13%), design (10%), sales (9%), customer support (7%), and 13% in other roles. According to Web3.Career, the average Web3 non-tech salary is $80k - $120k per year achieving 10% higher pay than their web2 counterparts.

YING, which has been under development for seven years, has now become the right tool at the right time in addressing the "gig economy." Why? U.S. government statistics have confirmed that the "gig economy" or "sharing economy" is exploding, as more people seek direct access to find work, share resources and skills with one another. There are currently around 60 million gig workers, approximately 36% of all US employees. Statista projects that 85.6 million people will be doing freelance work in the US by 2027. According to Thrivemyway.com, by 2023, the size of the gig economy could reach $455.2 billion. ADP Research Institute says that in 6% of US companies gig workers make up as much as 85% of the workforce. At the same time, according to the Pew Institute, a significant number of Americans are seeking ways to feel like they belong and are looking for offerings that provide a sense of community.

CEO Karla Ballard was quoted as saYING, "We are watching an evolution in the workforce led by people's post pandemic new priorities and ways of earning a living. We find ourselves positioned to ensure Blockchain education and gigs are key to our offerings. We are excited to work closely with the Blockchain Academy in an effort to ensure our YING community stays at the forefront of this exciting new era. I am thrilled to be in position for us to bring this to the market under R3T."

YING has partnered with DeFi Philly to launch their first Blockchain Skillsharing Group in partnership with the Blockchain Academy curriculum - providing the necessary onramps to acquiring the knowledge and skills necessary to compete for high paYING gig work locally and global remote opportunities.

"We believe that even small businesses, local non-profits, and universities can use our help in preparing organizations to stay competitive and up to date with the current Blockchain industry growth and adoption. Our aim is to offer our skills on the YING platform to our local community," says Michael Williams, co-founder of Defi-Philly

"As an educator we focus on bridging the widening digital skills gap and providing pathways to employment," says Ryan Williams, CEO of The Blockchain Academy. "The YING partnership provides the students we serve throughout higher education and the existing workforce the opportunity to build on their knowledge through great paYING gig work. YING gives them an opportunity to build their portfolio and widen the scope of opportunities available to them while giving them a sense of belonging to a community of gig workers along the way."

The benefits of this new partnership include:

YING gig community access to free and advanced blockchain courses to upskill developers, security professionals, architects, marketers, industry-specific professionals, business strategists, project managers, and other non-technical professions.

Validated skills that employers can trust achieved with AI proctored exams and on-chain soulbound NFT Certificates, Microcredentials and Certifications.

Blockchain protocol development training in Ethereum, Algorand, Hedera Hashgraph, Corda, Linux Hyperledger Fabric, NEAR and more.

Industry-specific courses in Accounting, Finance, Healthcare, Supply Chain, Insurance, and other industries that benefit from programs designed to address their specific challenges and existing use cases for blockchain technology.

Parthways to paid gig opportunities on YING.

About The Blockchain Academy:

The Blockchain Academy partners with universities, associations, and industry employers to provide turnkey blockchain curriculum and instruction to help scale business, industry-specific, and technical blockchain talent. Blockchain program design, skill benchmarks, certifications, and student outcomes focus on industries most ripe for blockchain's impact, including Finance, Supply Chain, Accounting, Legal, Insurance, and Healthcare. Technical training programs are focused on where the most job opportunities are, which today include Ethereum, EOS, Corda, Hedera, Algorand, Polkadot, and Hyperledger Fabric.

The Blockchain Academy - The Global Blockchain Employment Report.

ABOUT RRRT:

R Three Technologies is an early-stage minority owned development company which has now acquired YING INC., the cutting-edge group skill sharing platform with "intentional technology" to unlock community, financial and social capital. This is possible via the in-app currency, the "Balance Coin" as well as fiat currency, all of which is kept accurate by usage of the block chain for all transactions and perfectly suited for the "gig economy." While the system is free for individual users, there are Corporate and Enterprise monthly fees, which along with ad sponsorships and e-commerce are expected to bring increasing revenue.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements include but are not limited to statements identified by words such as "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "estimates," "intends," "plans," "targets," "projects" and similar expressions. The statements in this release are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of our company's management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. Numerous factors could cause or contribute to such differences, including, but not limited to, the challenges inherent in new industry development initiatives, the effects of competition, our ability to license and protect our intellectual property, our ability to raise additional capital in the future that is necessary to maintain our business, as well as other risks discussed from time to time in our filings with OTC Markets including, without limitation, our Annual Report recently filed. We undertake no duty to update any forward-looking statement or any information contained in this press release or in other public disclosures at any time. Finally, the investing public is reminded that the only announcements or information about R-3 Technologies Inc. which are condoned by the Company must emanate from the Company itself, and bear our name as its Source.

For Further Information, please contact:

info@liveYING.com

877 927-2816

SOURCE: R-ThreeTechnologies Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/739207/YING-Web3-Community-Gigwork-Platform-Launches-Over-40-Blockchain-Courses-in-Partnership-With-The-Blockchain-Academy
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / February 14, 2023 / Nevada Silver Corporation ("NSC" or the "Company") (TSXV:NSC)(OTCQB:NVDSF) a US-based mineral development company with manganese and silver projects geared to supporting the transition to clean energy, is pleased to announce that the Company's Minnesota subsidiary, North Star Manganese Inc ("NSM") has received all necessary approvals and has commenced drilling at its Emily Manganese Project ("Emily" or the "Project"), Minnesota, USA.

The Emily Project is located in the Cuyuna Iron Range of central Minnesota, USA (Figure 1), an area with a rich mining history and supported by well-established local infrastructure, a skilled mining workforce and abundant power and gas.

Figure 1. The Emily Project is part of the Emily District of the Cuyuna Iron Range in Crow Wing County, Central Minnesota. The Emily District contains the highest-grade source of Manganese in North America.

The Emily Manganese Project is comprised of two blocks of private lands totaling 291 acres of mineral rights with potential access to contiguous land within a footprint exceeding 500 acres, as shown in Figure 2 overleaf. The Project area has been previously drilled by Pickands Mather and US Steel in the 1950s and 1960s, and by Cooperative Mineral Resources in 2012 and 2013.

The estimated Indicated Mineral Resource of 5.68Mt of 19.2% Mn and 23.02% Fe together with an Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate of 777.8Kt of 22.48% Mn and 22.15% Fe (Table 1)1were determined by Barr Engineering Company ("North Star Manganese Inc. NI 43-101 Technical Report, Resource Estimate on the Emily Property, Minnesota, USA").

Figure 2. Location map showing current land under NSC control, bedrock in and around the Emily Project area, as well as historic drill holes by various parties (Peterson 2019). The Emily Project resources (Table 1) are based on drill holes located within the red circle.

Table 1. NI 43-101 compliant Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource estimate.

The resource estimate includes drilling results from seven (7) diamond core drill holes completed during two separate drilling programs (2011 and 2012), these holes are located within the red circled area in Figure 1.

Planned Drilling Program

Twenty-seven diamond core verification drill holes are planned. The program is intended to confirm Mn-Fe mineralized drill intersections reported by other companies2 within the Emily Project area and to extend the area of known mineralization.

Historical reported drill intersections within the planned program include:

PM 303 (22.9m @ 21.34% Mn) including (10.7m @ 29.83% Mn)

USS 18709 (114.3m @ 19.74% Mn) including (24.4m @ 35.11% Mn) and (15.2m @43.16% Mn)

USS 18712 (65.5m @ 17.96% Mn) including (19.8m @ 35.34% Mn)

CMR AC-02-11 (10.2m @ 29.84% Mn)

CMR VC-01-11 (32.0m @ 17.71% Mn) including (15.8m @ 25.77% Mn) and (9.0m @34.59% Mn)

NSC's drilling will investigate extensions to the deposit and provide fresh samples for metallurgy and mineralogy studies as well as material and data for groundwater, geotechnical and processing investigations.

Timberline Drilling Inc. (Virginia, MN) has mobilized a drill rig to Emily and drilling is expected to commence this month. Access and site preparation for 27 drill pads has been completed by Radotich Enterprises. Geologic work is being managed by Big Rock Exploration LLC (Minneapolis, MN) and environmental work is being managed by Barr Engineering Company (Minneapolis, MN).

1The Emily Manganese Project's NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate is available on SEDAR at www.SEDAR.com and is posted on the Company's website at www.nevadasilvercorp.com. The Mineral Resource Estimate incorporates drilling results from two separate drilling programs in 2011 and 2012 for seven diamond drill core holes using an inverse distance squared method and evaluated at 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% manganese weight percent cutoff grades. Mineral resource tonnage and grades are reported as undiluted.Mineral resource tonnage and contained metal have been rounded to reflect the accuracy of the estimate and numbers may not add due to rounding. This Mineral Resource Estimate was prepared under the requirements of National Instrument 43-101 "Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects" of the Canadian Securities Administrators by Mr. Brad M. Dunn, CPG, Senior Mining Geologist, Barr Engineering Company and has an effective date of June 12, 2022.

2 Pickands Mather Company (PM); US Steel company Oliver Mining Company (USS); and Cooperative Mineral Resources (CMR).

Qualified Person

The scientific and technical data contained in this news release was reviewed and approved by Ian James Pringle PhD, who is a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

About Nevada Silver Corporation

Nevada Silver Corporation (TSXV:NSC) (OTCQB:NVDSF) is a U.S.-based mineral development company with manganese and silver projects geared to supporting the transition to clean energy. NSC's principal asset is the Emily Manganese Project in Minnesota, which has been the subject of considerable technical studies, with US$24 million invested to date. The Company's mission in Minnesota is to become a domestic U.S. producer of high-purity, high-value manganese metal and chemical products for supply to U.S. energy, technology and industrial markets. With manganese playing a critical and prominent role in lithium-ion battery formulations, and with no domestic supply or active mines in North America, this represents a significant opportunity for NSC shareholders. In addition, NSC owns and operates the Corcoran Silver-Gold Project in Nevada. Both Corcoran and Emily have been the subject of National Instrument 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimates.

NSC will seek shareholder approval to change its name to Electric Metals USA Limited at the Company's Annual General Meeting in May 2023.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

For further Information please contact:

Gary Lewis, Group CEO & Director: (647) 846 5299 - gl@nevadasilvercorp.com

Forward-Looking Statements: Information set forth in this news release may involve forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws. The forward-looking statements contained herein are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements included in this document are made as of the date of this document and Nevada Silver Corporation disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable securities legislation. Although management believes that the expectations represented in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy any securities that may be described herein and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such.

SOURCE: Nevada Silver Corporation

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/739244/Nevada-Silver-Corporation-Commences-Drilling-at-the-Emily-Manganese-Project-Minnesota-USA
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.
Workshop Sessions Covering Cybersecurity/Supply Chain Risk Management, Climate Resilience, and several other important topics to be included at the BEAD Success Summit in April

ARLINGTON, Va., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Telecommunications Industry Association-the trusted industry association for the connected world-has assembled an Advisory Council of eight State Broadband Offices to collaborate on and help refine the agenda for the upcoming 2023 BEAD Success Summit to be held in Arlington, VA on April 19-20, 2023.

The BEAD Success Summit will bring together, at one comprehensive event, the key stakeholders of the $42 Billion BEAD Program being administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Association (NTIA). Key stakeholders include State and Federal Government, ISPs, Solutions Providers, Consultants and Investors who will join discussions in a workshop forum the specific requirements that are critical for the success of the program.

While TIA invites any State or Territory broadband office to participate, the following state offices have volunteered to be part of the State Advisory Council - Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Ohio, Indiana, Rhode Island, Utah and Virginia, with several additional states that have expressed interest in joining in the near future.

The initial survey of the State Advisory Council was to identify the list of topics that need to be discussed in the workshop sessions at the event. The results of that survey identified several items in the BEAD Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) including Cybersecurity and Supply Chain Risk Management; Climate Resilience; Extremely High Cost Per Location Threshold; On Going Monitoring, Reporting, and Performance Management; and Cost Sharing or Matching.

"This event will be impactful for the success of the BEAD Program's goal of closing the digital divide," said Earnie Holtrey, Deputy Director of the Indiana State Broadband Office. "Collaborating on this council with other broadband offices from around the country to help the States and Territories prepare for this program is extremely beneficial to the planning process."

A virtual State Advisory Council meeting, to be hosted by TIA on February 16, will review the survey results, discuss each of the topics, consider other areas of interest and begin to build the workshop session details for the event.

"We are very thankful for all the work NTIA has done and is doing to bring broadband to all Americans and we are excited to gather all the constituents to help make BEAD a national success," said David Stehlin, CEO of TIA. "We have reached out to all the states and territories about the BEAD Success Summit and are thankful for the Advisory Council to help ensure we discuss the key issues to the program's success."

"We are appreciative for the opportunity to work with TIA and peer broadband offices on the BEAD Success Summit," said Glen Howie, Arkansas State Broadband Director. "Bringing together all parties to prepare for this once in a lifetime initiative is vital, and we look forward to assisting in that effort."

Several industry leaders have agreed to support the BEAD Success Summit as sponsors, including AT&T, Comcast, CommScope, Corning, DZS, Ericsson, Fujitsu, Irby, Nokia and Qualcomm.

Any State or Territory Broadband Offices looking to join TIA's State Advisory Council can send an email to BEADSuccessSummit@TIAonline.org for more information.

To learn more about TIA's BEAD Success Summit and to register to attend, or inquire about sponsoring or exhibiting, please visit: www.BEADSuccessSummit.com.

About TIA:

The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) represents more than 400 global companies that enable high-speed communications networks and accelerate next-generation ICT innovation. Through leadership in U.S. and international advocacy, technology programs, standards development, and business performance solutions, TIA and its members are accelerating global connectivity across every industry and market. TIA is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/tia-surveys-state-broadband-offices-identifying-most-critical-factors-to-bead-funding-success-301745992.html
NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via InvestorWire -- The Curex Group, a New York City-based institutional foreign exchange execution services and data analytics company, today announced the addition of Societe Generale to its peer to peer matching platform. Curex continues to grow its peer to peer platform with increased client participation, trading volume and added connectivity to bank trading algorithms. With the recent addition of Societe Generale, Curex's buy side clients can now seamlessly execute their FX trades in the peer to peer pool through the trading algorithms of seven major FX banks. Curex expects to add additional banks to its platform in the months ahead.



Curex's peer to peer platform enables the buy side to anonymously match against each other at the mid-point derived from the FTSE Russell/Curex benchmark rates in a no market impact environment. Buy side customers can choose to show their trading interest to the peer to peer pool through their bank algorithms which can continue to work their algo trades while gaining exposure to the Curex peer to peer platform.

James Singleton, Curex's Chairman and CEO, commented, "Our peer to peer platform continues to grow its buy side client base and trading volume and we are delighted to add Societe Generale to the list of global FX banks that provide access to the peer to peer liquidity pool through their trading algorithms. We worked with our bank partners and clients to design a buy side only, peer to peer matching platform that provides anonymous executions at a mid-point reference rate with no changes to our customers' trading workflows, credit relationships or processes. Traders can manage their peer to peer exposure while setting the parameters of their algorithmic trades with a growing list of global bank trading algorithms. Our buy side customers receive anonymous, mid-point matching with no market impact and our bank partners are able to enhance the liquidity and matching opportunities available through their FX trading algorithms. It's a win-win for Curex's buy side clients and our algo bank partners."

Franz Schmidpeter, Curex's Senior Managing Director, added, "We continue to grow the two-way trading interest on the peer to peer platform and the addition of Societe Generale will further increase the matching opportunities among our buy side client base. Accessing Curex's peer to peer liquidity pool does not require any changes to credit or clearing relationships. Our customers receive a fair and transparent mid-point price for their trades derived from the FTSE Russell/Curex benchmark rates. Clients can simply request the addition of the peer to peer platform to their existing bank algorithm functionality and gain access to this no market impact environment."

About Curex Group

Curex Group Holdings, LLC is a foreign exchange focused execution services and data analytics provider. Our singular focus is to improve the FX experience for every buy side institution. Curex operates an FX ECN with robust no last look liquidity and complete transparency. Our unique market and trading analytics delivers meaningful intelligence to our customers. Our FTSE Russell/Curex FX Benchmarks provide real time measurements to assess trading results and provide valuation metrics. Our mission is to work in partnership with our clients to add unparalleled clarity to all their foreign exchange activities. Our process and approach deliver demonstrable "best execution" outcomes that are auditable and support our customers' efforts to make better trading decisions. Curex is headquartered in New York City and independently owned and operated. For more information, visit www.curexgroup.com .
BOSTON, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Australia is at the forefront of great battery energy storage system (BESS) development, with front-of-the-meter (FTM) installations expected to continue growing rapidly in the coming decade while supplemented by steady behind-the-meter (BTM) installations. IDTechEx estimates a CAGR for an annual installed capacity of 42% for 2023 - 2033 in Australia. The Victorian Big Battery, installed in 2021, is one of the largest battery systems to be installed globally, with only installations in the US having a larger capacity. Its 450 MWh capacity stores enough energy to power over one million homes for 30 minutes.





On the supply chain front, Energy Renaissance will soon begin commercial operation of its Li-ion gigafactory in Tomago, New South Wales. This will promote domestic business opportunities for the supply of battery components, assist in the growing demand of Australian large-scale batteries, and complement residential battery demand. This will contribute to a more robust supply chain with reduced dependence on oversea markets, expediting battery manufacturing processes and, thus, battery installations. With established domestic supply chains for Li-ion battery manufacturing and production, the greatest increase in growth in battery installations in Australia is expected to occur in the latter half of the decade and beyond.

The country still has barriers to overcome on the regulatory front. Policies and targets are currently only state-wide and mostly comprised of renewable energy targets and not energy storage or battery storage targets.

Battery storage targets, seen across regions globally, act as key drivers for FTM battery installations. Regions such as the US and China, which have either state- or government-level battery storage targets, have historically seen the greatest volume of BESS deployments in recent years. IDTechEx expects these countries with battery storage targets to continue deploying large BESS at a growing rate. Australia still relies greatly on fossil fuels for electricity generation, and network charge arrangements are yet to be fully optimized. With greater coal phase-out and improved market conditions, Australia's FTM market would flourish more so than in the current circumstances.

With the Victoria region aiming for net-zero emissions by 2050, the Victorian Government has created what is known as the "Neighbourhood Battery Initiative" (NBI). The Victorian Government has provided AU$10.92M in funding and AU$3.6M in grants to 16 projects in Victoria. These are mostly clustered in and around Melbourne, as shown in the below figure. One of the latest of these batteries in the Initiative was unveiled in Yarra, in June 2022. It has a system size of 110 kW / 284 kWh. The modules are manufactured by the Swedish company Polarium, and Pixii supply the monitoring and control applications.

If the Neighbourhood Battery Initiative proves financially feasible and beneficial for all stakeholders, this would help give rise to an emerging C&I market. Currently, only New South Wales has any form of budget (of AU$20 million) specifically for C&I battery installations. These neighborhood BTM batteries are larger in capacity than residential batteries and would be installed to support communities' and businesses' energy needs. However, improvements to network tariff arrangements on this front would spur their further uptake.

For example, in the National Electricity Market (NEM), current network tariff arrangements are such that energy flows between the customer and battery are charged twice. This occurs once on energy imported to the battery and twice when customers use this energy as electricity. The NBI is trialing tariff and subscription schemes to discount local network tariffs.

These developments in battery production supply chain, policies, and initiatives will bolster Australia to being one of the fastest growing regions for BESS deployments globally, though Australia will be very unlikely to compete with annual BESS deployment volumes forecast in regions such as the US and China.

Further insights and battery storage forecasts for Australia can be found in IDTechEx's latest report on the topic "Batteries for Stationary Energy Storage 2023-2033", among further insights and battery storage forecasts for the regions of the US, China, UK, Germany, Italy, and India. The report also includes regulatory landscapes, residential market analysis, business models and revenue streams, technologies in energy storage, and more.

To find out more, including downloadable sample pages, please visit www.IDTechEx.com/Stationary.

About IDTechEx

IDTechEx guides your strategic business decisions through its Research, Subscription and Consultancy products, helping you profit from emerging technologies. For more information, contact research@IDTechEx.com or visit www.IDTechEx.com.

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Media Contact:

Lucy Rogers

Sales and Marketing Administrator

press@IDTechEx.com

+44(0)1223 812300

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View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/a-view-of-the-rapidly-growing-australian-bess-market--reports-idtechex-301746384.html
Positive PEA results support the Company's vision to increase production and processing capacity to 2,200 tpd

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / February 14, 2023 / Silver X Mining Corp. (TSXV:AGX)(OTCQB:AGXPF)(F:WPZ) ("Silver X" or the "Company") announces positive results of a Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") for the expansion of the Tangana Mining Unit ("Tangana"), the flagship asset within the Company's 100% owned Nueva Recuperada Silver District, which declared commercial production in January 2023. The PEA was prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") prepared by LOM Consultants. All dollar amounts are in US dollars unless otherwise noted.

"The PEA shows the great growth potential of Tangana and supports the Company's vision to triple current production capacity over the next few years," stated Jose Garcia, CEO and Interim Chairman of Silver X. "The objective is to have two milling facilities - a new mill at Tangana, as outlined in this PEA, along with the existing mill, which is currently producing from Tangana but that will in the future process mineral from Plata (formerly referred to as Esperanza) and other mineralized areas in the district. This PEA represents the first technical and economic evaluation of the deposit at Tangana, demonstrating a manageable initial capital cost for the new mill and multiple opportunities for project growth. We will continue to evaluate resource expansion at Tangana with the possibility of further synergies with nearby deposits and the proposed project infrastructure. We envision solid organic growth within our district-scale project, with the expectation of an increase in production capacity from 720 tonnes per day to 2220 tonnes per day by 2026."

Mr. Garcia continued: "The updated resource estimate within the PEA also demonstrates remarkable success in upgrading resources at Tangana and clearly shows how effective exploration can be for the project. I believe that we might only be in the early stages of a much larger and profitable mining project."

PEA Highlights

Upgraded Mineral Resources to 3.60Mt of Measured and Indicated ("M&I") Resources from 0.98Mt in the 2022 Mineral Resource Estimate and 11.89Mt of Inferred Resources from 14.94Mt with a new resource block model, representing 3X growth in M&I Resources when compared to the previous reported estimate.

("M&I") Resources from 0.98Mt in the 2022 Mineral Resource Estimate and 11.89Mt of Inferred Resources from 14.94Mt with a new resource block model, representing 3X growth in M&I Resources when compared to the previous reported estimate. Life of Mine ("LOM") of 12 years at a capacity of 1,500 tonnes per day ("tpd") based on a resource inventory of 5.75Mt, of which 1.75Mt corresponds to Measured Resources, 0.49Mt corresponds to Indicated Resources and 3.51Mt corresponds to Inferred Resources.

based on a resource inventory of 5.75Mt, of which 1.75Mt corresponds to Measured Resources, 0.49Mt corresponds to Indicated Resources and 3.51Mt corresponds to Inferred Resources. Average annual production of 4.2 million ounces ("Moz") of silver equivalent ("AgEq") 1 with circa 5Moz AgEq mined.

with circa 5Moz AgEq mined. Robust economics with an After-Tax NPV of $175 million at 10% discount rate and After-Tax IRR of 39%.

LOM Cash Costs of $8.8/oz AgEq and LOM All-In Sustaining Costs ("AISC") 2 of $16.2/oz AgEq .

and LOM . Initial Capex of $61 million, including 20% contingency, for the new processing facility, dry-stacked tailings and mine development.

Silver X will host a webinar to discuss the PEA results in more detail. To register for the event, see "Upcoming Webinar" below.

PEA Financial Summary

Parameter Units Values Net Present Value (10%) Pre-Tax $ Million 227 After-Tax $ Million 175 Internal Rate of Return (IRR) Pre-Tax % 49 After-Tax % 39 After-Tax Payback Years 4 Initial Capital $ Million 61 Sustaining Capital (including closure costs) $ Million 143 Total Cash Operating Cost $/t 53 Cash Costs (LOM) $/oz AgEq 8.8 AISC (LOM) $/oz AgEq 16.2 Long term Metal Prices Silver Gold Lead Zinc $/oz $/oz $/lb $/lb 22.56 1,746 0.93 1.25

Notes:

Base case price for all metals was assessed base on CIBC's consensus on prices Feb 2023.

LOM includes 12 years, with year 1 at 246,000 tpa, years 2 to 11 at 540,00 tpa, and year 12 with 110,000 tpa.

LOM mineral inventory combines measured, indicated and inferred resources.

Cash Costs and AISC are non-GAAP financial performance measures with no standardized definition under IFRS; see additional disclosure under "Non-IFRS Measures".

"Mineralized Material" represents mined material estimated to generate positive cash flows.

"Mined" means total tonnes mined (mineralized + waste).

Average ore value over the life of mine is $158.14/t.

Average underground mining cost is approximately $24.14/t; processing cost is $16.95/t; overheads is $7.90/t, marketing and other costs are $3.73/t. Average total costs is $78/t.

Opex include a 10% contingency. Mine contractor rates are current, including a 30% markup on basic unit prices.

Revenues are calculated on existing terms and conditions for lead-silver-gold concentrates and zinc concentrates, including international benchmark for payability, treatment charges, refining charges, rollback, and penalties.

1 AgEq ounces were calculated based on all metals produced and mined using the estimated sales prices of each metal for each period.

2 Cash costs and AISC are non-IFRS financial ratios. These are based on non-IFRS financial measures that do not have any standardized meaning prescribed under IFRS, and therefore may not be comparable to other issuers. Please refer to the "Non-IFRS Measures" section of this press release for further information.

PEA Mining, Processing and Environmental and Social Impact Study

The goal for the Nueva Recuperada Silver District is to have two milling facilities: a new plant for the Tangana Mining Unit with a capacity of 1500 tpd as indicated in the PEA (see Figure 1) in addition to the current Nueva Recuperada mill of 720 tpd located 15 km south of Tangana and central to the other mineralized areas in the district (see Figure 2). The existing mill would be dedicated to processing minerals from the Company's Plata project and other mineralized areas.

Figure 1. Future scenario of Tangana Mining Unit outlined by the 2023 PEA with new mill and dry stacked tailings

Figure 2. The Nueva Recuperada Silver District will comprise two separate mining operations - Tangana and Plata

The Company is making progress on a new Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) encompassing the above-described components. The Company expects to file the ESIA with SENACE (the National Service for Environmental Certification, Ministry Environment) within the first half of 2023 and the Company expects approval before the end of the year. Detailed information can be found in the Company's news release dated October 6, 2021, available on the Company's website at www.silverxmining.com.

Initial Capital Cost Estimate

The initial capital cost estimate has been developed to provide an estimate suitable for the PEA, including costs to design, procure, construct and commission the facilities.

Initial Capital Expenditure USD Million Mine $10.9 Processing plant $29.8 Tailings and facilities $6.9 Camps and roads $0.8 EPCM & Owner's cost and studies $2.8 Total pre-contingency $51.2 Contingency $9.7 Total $60.9

Notes:

Capital costs estimate include a 20% contingency.

Mine pre-production capital estimate includes six months of mine development.

Processing facilities consist of a conventional crushing, grinding and flotation plant for primary sulphides.

Tailings are assumed to be dry stacked, including a conventional dyke configuration.

Capital estimate for processing equipment is approximately $9M, including an estimate for civil works, structures, piping, electric, etc. of $18.1M.

Nueva Recuperada Project Mineral Resource Estimate

Mineral Resources for the project have been updated within the 2023 PEA with a new block model. Mineral Resources at the Tangana Mining Unit are 27% in the M&I categories, reflecting the amount of drilling and geological data that have been completed in this area and demonstrates the high potential of further growth of Mineral Resources as well as conversion of Inferred Resources to M&I Resources.



Grades Contained Metal Nueva Recuperada Mt Au Ag Pb Zn AgEq Moz AgEq Moz Ag koz Au kt Pb kt Zn Measured 2 1.94 2.13 80.54 1.72 1.19 11.65 22.58 5.02 133.0 33.3 23.0 Indicated 3 1.66 0.96 56.78 1.46 1.44 7.82 12.95 3.02 51.2 24.2 23.8 Total M+I 3.60 1.59 69.59 1.60 1.30 9.88 35.53 8.04 184.2 57.5 46.8 Total Inferred 4 11.89 0.31 152.50 1.72 1.79 9.88 117.52 58.31 119.0 204.1 213.3

Notes:

The independent QP for the mineral resource estimate, as defined by NI 43-101, is David Heyl, P.Geo. The effective date is February 13, 2023.

The estimate is reported for an underground, conventional cut and fill scenario.

The mineral resource estimate includes two resource models: 1) A block model defined for the core of the resource, estimated through the drilling and mine development; geo-statistical method is the reverse of the distance; 2) a polygonal model for some of the inferred resources based on veins outcrops and surface sampling.

The approximate cut-off grade applied to all resources is $60/t.

These Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves as they do not have demonstrated economic viability.

The Mineral Resource estimate follows CIM Definition Standards.

The QPs of this PEA are not aware of any known environmental, permitting, legal, title-related, taxation, socio-political, marketing, or other relevant issues that could materially affect the Mineral Resource estimate other than those disclosed in this NI 43-101 compliant Technical Report.

The current study only focuses on the Tangana Mining Unit and does not factor in the other resource areas with the project or the several untested exploration targets within the Nueva Recuperada Silver District. Additional exploration success at Tangana and the inclusion of other areas could have a significant influence on the size, value and timing of the overall development plan as we move forward.

Cautionary Statement Regarding PEA

The PEA is preliminary in nature and 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 preliminary economic assessment will be realized. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability.

Preparation of the PEA

The PEA was prepared by the independent consultant, LOM Consultants, in accordance with NI 43-101 and has an effective date of February 8, 2023. The technical report relating to the PEA will be filed on SEDAR and posted to the Company's website within 45 days of this news release. The Company also engaged David Heyl (Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101) for the supervision of the resource modeling.

As a result of this PEA, the Technical Report for the Nueva Recuperada project with an effective date of January 1, 2022, including the estimates of mineral resources contained therein, is no longer current and should not be relied upon by investors.

Qualified Person

Mr. A. David Heyl, B.Sc., C.P.G., who is a qualified person under NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical content of this news release for Silver X. With over 35 years of field and upper management experience, Mr. Heyl has a solid geological background in generating and conducting exploration and mining programs for gold, rare earth metals, and base metals, resulting in several discoveries. Mr. Heyl has 20 years of experience in Peru. He worked for Barrick Gold, was the exploration manager for Southern Peru Copper, and spent over twelve years working in and supervising underground and open pit mining operations in the Americas.

Cautionary Note regarding Production without Mineral Reserves

The decision to commence production at the Nueva Recuperada Project and the Company's ongoing mining operations as referenced herein (the "Production Decision and Operations") are based on economic models prepared by the Company in conjunction with management's knowledge of the property and the existing estimate of inferred mineral resources on the property. The Production Decision and Operations are not based on a preliminary economic assessment, a pre-feasibility study or a feasibility study of mineral reserves demonstrating economic and technical viability. Accordingly, there is increased uncertainty and economic and technical risks of failure associated with the Production Decision and Operations, in particular: the risk that mineral grades will be lower than expected; the risk that additional construction or ongoing mining operations are more difficult or more expensive than expected; and production and economic variables may vary considerably, due to the absence of a detailed economic and technical analysis in accordance with NI 43-101.

Upcoming Webinar

The Company will host a webinar to discuss the results of the PEA in greater detail on Tuesday, February 21, 2023, at 1:00PM ET / 10:00AM PT. A Q&A will follow the presentation. To register visit: https://my.6ix.com/4QxgLB3t.

About Silver X Mining Corp.

Silver X is a Canadian silver mining company with assets in Peru. The Company's flagship asset is the Tangana silver, gold, lead and zinc project located in Huancavelica, Peru, 10 km north-northwest of the Nueva Recuperada polymetallic concentrate plant. Founders and management have a successful track record of increasing shareholder value. For more information visit our website at www.silverxmining.com.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Jose M. Garcia

CEO and Interim Chairman

For further information, please contact:

Fiona Grant Leydier

Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Marketing

T: +1 604 831 8070

E: f.grant@silverxmining.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statement Regarding "Forward-Looking" Information

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation ("forward-looking information"). Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain acts, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". All information contained in this press release, other than statements of current and historical fact, is forward looking information. Forward-looking information contained in this press release may include, without limitation, the results of the PEA, including the production, operating and other cost estimates, metal price assumptions, cash flow projections, metal recoveries, mine life projections and production rates for the Project and the Company's expectations regarding potential opportunities to build upon the PEA, the expected filing and approval of the ESIA, and the expected financial performance of the Company.

The following are some of the assumptions upon which forward-looking information is based: that general business and economic conditions will not change in a material adverse manner; demand for, and stable or improving price for the commodities we produce; receipt of regulatory and governmental approvals, permits and renewals in a timely manner; that the Company will not experience any material accident, labour dispute or failure of plant or equipment or other material disruption in the Company's operations at the Project and Nueva Recuperada Plant; the availability of financing for operations and development; the Company's ability to procure equipment and operating supplies in sufficient quantities and on a timely basis; that the estimates of the resources at the Project and the geological, operational and price assumptions on which these and the Company's operations are based are within reasonable bounds of accuracy (including with respect to size, grade and recovery); the Company's ability to attract and retain skilled personnel and directors; and the ability of management to execute strategic goals.

Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company, as the case may be, to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to those risks described in the Company's annual and interim MD&As and in its public documents filed on www.sedar.com from time to time. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

Non-IFRS Measures

The Company has included certain non-IFRS financial measures and ratios in this news release, such as Cash Costs and All-In Sustaining Costs ("AISC"). The Company believes that these measures, in addition to measures prepared in accordance with IFRS, provide investors an improved ability to evaluate the underlying performance of the Company. The non-IFRS measures and ratios are intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. These financial measures and ratios do not have any standardized meaning prescribed under IFRS, and therefore may not be comparable to other issuers.

SOURCE: Silver X Mining Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/739196/Silver-X-Announces-Preliminary-Economic-Assessment-for-the-Tangana-Mining-Unit-Expansion
TORONTO, ON and SAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / February 14, 2023 / Uplinq Financial Technologies - the first global credit assessment and scoring platform for small business lenders - today announced a $600,000 strategic investment from Cambrian Ventures (Cambrian), a venture capital firm focused on early-stage fintechs. Cambrian is led by former Andreessen Horowitz (A16Z) partner Rex Salisbury .

"Cambrian is investing in the next generation of fintech entrepreneurs and Uplinq's founders, Pat Reilly and Ron Benegbi, possess the kind of deep domain expertise and entrepreneurial know-how that compels confidence," said Rex Salisbury, founder and general partner of Cambrian. "I can think of no better leaders to enhance lending decisions and expand economic inclusion and access to working capital for small business owners across the world."

Salisbury launched Cambrian Ventures' inaugural $20 million fintech-focused fund in 2022. To date, it has invested in more than 10 companies, including OatFi and Keep Financial , at the angel, pre-seed and seed stage.

"Cambrian's support is a testament to Uplinq's expanded footprint in the fintech ecosystem and our breakthrough technology, which is already transforming how small business lenders evaluate risk and credit," said Ron Benegbi, founder and CEO of Uplinq. "We couldn't be more thrilled to partner with Rex. As we kick off 2023, we look forward to tapping into his remarkable network of innovators as we continue to expand our global presence, especially in the United States."

With this investment, Uplinq has raised approximately $5.6 million, following a $1.25 million investment from ATX Venture Partners in October 2022 and a $3.5 million pre-seed funding round in April of 2022. In addition to helping expand its global presence, the funding will empower Uplinq to scale its workforce and product offering.

About Uplinq

As the first global credit & scoring assessment platform for small business lenders, Uplinq is a purpose driven company with a mission to help small business owners gain access to fair and ethical credit, while enhancing SMB lending practices for all lenders globally. Uplinq's breakthrough technology empowers lenders to approve and manage risks on loans they would have otherwise declined based on traditional loan underwriting criteria, while incorporating environmental, market & community data to better understand the specific loan applicant. Its technology has served as a foundation for more than $1.4 Trillion in underwritten loans. Learn more about Uplinq at uplinq.co and connect with them on LinkedIn or Twitter .

About Cambrian Ventures

Cambrian Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm supporting entrepreneurs in fintech. The firm was started by Rex Salisbury, a founding member of A16Z's fintech practice. The firm is backed by leading fintech founders, operators and investors. For more information, please visit https://www.cambrianhq.com and follow Rex on LinkedIn and twitter .

Media Contact

Christina Levin

Caliber Corporate Advisers

uplinq@calibercorporateadvisers.com

SOURCE: Uplinq

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/739294/Fintech-Startup-Uplinq-Raises-600000-From-Cambrian-Ventures
GSMA Analyst-Led Panel to Discuss How to Unlock the Connected Services Opportunity and Examine Proofs-of-Concept Addressing the Data Transfer Requirements of the Connected Vehicle Ecosystem

The Automotive Edge Computing Consortium (AECC) today announced that it will lead the Power Hour presentation, "A Smart and Connected World in the Edge Computing Era," at the GSMA's MWC 2023 at the Fira Gran Via Convention Center in Barcelona. The panel session will take place on Wednesday, March 1, 2023, from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. in Hall 7, Theatre 4. To register for the AECC MWC23 Power Hour Presentation, visit https://bit.ly/AECCatMWC23*.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230214005084/en/

At the AECC MWC panel, led by GSMA Analyst Pablo Iacopino, attendees will hear from AECC member representatives from KDDI, Nexar and Toyota on ways to support the future network and computing requirements of the connected services ecosystem, and actionable steps to make a connected future a reality. (Graphic: Business Wire)

Global deployments of connected vehicles can climb to hundreds of millions, and eventually billions, of users. Resolving network congestion simply by adding bandwidth is too expensive and impractical to scale. At the AECC MWC panel, led by GSMA Analyst Pablo Iacopino, attendees will hear from AECC member representatives from KDDI, Nexar and Toyota on ways to support the future network and computing requirements of the connected services ecosystem, and actionable steps to make a connected future a reality.

To register for the AECC MWC23 Power Hour Presentation, visit https://bit.ly/AECCatMWC23*.

"While connected vehicle services are in everyone's near future, bringing them to life will require a much larger data transfer capacity from the vehicles to the edge and cloud than what is available today. To tap into opportunities for the connected services sector, there is a greater need for advanced technology than ever before," said AECC member and panelist Muriel Desaeger, Technical Head of Technology Planning at Toyota Motor Europe. "The automotive industry is not alone in this need investment in network infrastructure is essential to many industries to enable broader opportunities for all. We are excited to share our perspectives on the state of the ecosystem and how the AECC is working to make a more connected services future a reality."

AECC MWC Barcelona 2023 Panel

Moderator:

Pablo Iacopino, GSMA Intelligence Head of Research and Commercial Content

Speakers:

Bruno Fernandez Ruiz , AECC member and CTO Co-founder of Nexar

, AECC member and CTO Co-founder of Nexar Muriel Desaeger , AECC Member and Technical Head, Technology Planning at Toyota Motor Europe

, AECC Member and Technical Head, Technology Planning at Toyota Motor Europe Yoshinori Kitatsuji, AECC member and General Manager of Social Implementation Office at KDDI

*Pre-registration is encouraged. Attendees who have pre-registered will have preferred seating. All others will be seated on a first-come, first-served basis, as space permits.

AECC Membership Benefits

All companies interested in the connected vehicle ecosystem are encouraged to become AECC members. The AECC membership levels include Sponsor, Contributor, and Affiliate and are open to companies across any business vertical. Members can participate in various exclusive membership initiatives, working groups, and member-only meetings. Our membership inquiry web form is available at https://aecc.org/contact.

About the AECC

The Automotive Edge Computing Consortium (AECC) is an association of cross-industry, global leaders working to explore the rapidly evolving and significant data and communications needs involved in instrumenting billions of vehicles worldwide. The AECC's goal is to find more efficient ways to support distributed computing and infrastructure network architectures to support the high-volume data needed for intelligent vehicle services. The AECC's members are key players in the automotive, high-speed mobile network, edge computing, wireless technology, distributed computing and artificial intelligence markets. For more information about the AECC and its membership benefits, please visit https://aecc.org/.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230214005084/en/

Contacts:

Press:

Alexa Stewart

AECC Public Relations

(781) 876-6242

astewart@virtualinc.com

Jessie Hennion

AECC Public Relations

(781) 876-6280

jhennion@virtualinc.com
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / February 14, 2023 / Sidoti & Company, LLC announces that its two spring conferences are now open for registration. The March Virtual Small-Cap Conference will take place on Wednesday and Thursday, March 22-23, 2023, and the May Virtual Micro-Cap Conference will be on Wednesday and Thursday, May 10-11, 2023.



Sidoti hosts eight virtual investor conferences a year, alternating between small- and micro-cap targeted companies. Companies can host both group presentations and private one-on-one meetings with investors. Over 100 companies and 1,000 investors are expected to attend the March conference.

As a registered broker-dealer, Sidoti's in-house sales team regularly interfaces with its client base of over 500 institutional investors. Standing apart from others in the industry, Sidoti provides all presenters the opportunity to present their stories to Sidoti's sales force through proprietary "teach-ins" before each conference. This increasingly popular offering positions Sidoti's salespeople to fully engage in each presenter's unique story and to then arrange the highest-quality investor meetings at each conference. Companies are encouraged to participate in these teach-ins, though availability is limited.

The company presentation fee is $6,000. Registration is free for all investors and extends beyond Sidoti's institutional client base. To register for the March or May conferences, or to view dates for all 2023 Sidoti conferences, please visit www.sidoti.com/events . To inquire about a teach-in, please email conference@sidoti.com or call (212) 453-7031.

Over 80 companies in various sectors have already registered for the March conference, including:

Company Name Ticker Sector Market Cap AAON, Inc. AAON Industrials 4.1 Billion ABM Industries ABM Services 3 Billion Acutus Medical AFIB Healthcare 45 Million Alamo Group Inc ALG Industrials 1.8 Billion Alamos Gold Inc. AGI Materials 6 Billion ALLETE, Inc. ALE Utilities 3.6 Billion Anebulo Pharmaceuticals Inc. ANEB Healthcare 80 Million Appreciate Holdings, Inc. SFR Real Estate 75 Million ARCOSA, Inc. ACA Industrials 2.6 Billion Ashford Hospitality Trust AHT Real Estate 234 Million Assertio Holdings, Inc. ASRT Healthcare 195 Million Benchmark BHE Technology 1 Billion Bitfarms BITF Technology 330 Million Blue Sky Uranium TSXV:BSK Energy 20 Million Brady Corporation BRC Industrials 2.6 Billion Braemar Hotels & Resorts BHR Real Estate 423 Million Charles River Associates CRAI Services 845 Million Chesapeake Utilities Corporation CPK Utilities 2.2 Billion Columbus McKinnon Corporation CMCO Industrials 1 Billion Commercial Vehicles Group CVGI Consumer 237 Million Comtech CMTL Technology 500 Million CoreCard CCRD Technology 282 Million CPSI CPSI Healthcare 450 Million CSG CSGS Technology 2 Billion CTG CTG Technology 115 Million Dave Inc. DAVE Financial Services 110 Million Deluxe DLX Technology 900 Million Douglas Dynamics PLOW Industrials 900 Million EnPro Industries, Inc. NPO Industrials 2 Billion ePlus inc. PLUS Technology 1.3 Billion Gibraltar Industries, Inc. ROCK Industrials 1.4 Billion GigaCloud Technology Inc. GCT Technology 238 Million Global Industrial Company GIC Industrials 952 Million Graham Corporation GHM Industrials 104 Million Granite Construction Inc. GVA Industrials 1.8 Billion Harvard Bioscience HBIO Industrials 123 Million Hillenbrand HI Industrials 470 Million ICF ICFI Industrials 1.9 Billion Inmed Pharmaceuticals INM Healthcare 10 Million Insteel Industries, Inc. IIIN Industrials 600 Million inTest Corporation INTT Industrials 150 Million Kforce Inc KFRC Technology 1.1 Billion Kimball Electronics Inc KE Industrials 566 Million La-Z-Boy Incorporated LZB Consumer 1.2 Billion LSI Industries LYTS Industrials 385 Million McGrath RentCorp MGRC Industrials 1.4 Billion MDU Resources Group, Inc. MDU Industrials 6.3 Billion Methode Electronics, Inc. MEI Industrials 1.6 Billion Minerals Technologies Inc. MTX Industrials 2.2 Billion MYR Group Inc. MYRG Industrials 1.6 Billion OneSpan Inc. OSPN Technology 550 Million Oportun Financial Corp. OPRT Financial Services 200 Million PFSweb, Inc. PFSW Services 159 Million Plexus Corp. PLXS Technology 3 Billion Quanex Building Products NX Industrials 800 Million Quipt Home Medical QIPT Healthcare 200 Million Resources Connection RGP Services 569 Million Sanmina Corporation SANM Technology 3.6 Billion Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. STRL Industrials 1.1 Billion Superior Group of Companies, Inc. SGC Consumer 143 Million Tactile Medical TCMD Healthcare 262 Million Tecnoglass TGLS Materials 1.6 Billion Terran Orbital LLAP Industrials 275 Million The Gorman-Rupp Company GRC Industrials 900 Million Tonix Pharmaceuticals TNXP Healthcare 70 Million Turning Point Brands TPB Consumer 400 Million UFP Industries UFPI Industrials 5.5 Billion UNIFI UFI Consumer 300 Million VolitionRx Ltd VNRX Healthcare 150 Million VSE Corporation VSEC Industrials 708 Million

About Sidoti & Company, LLC

For over two decades, Sidoti & Company, LLC has been a premier provider of independent securities research focused specifically on small and microcap companies and the institutions that invest in their securities, with most of its coverage in the $100 million-$5 billion market cap range. Sidoti's approach affords companies and institutional clients a combination of high-quality research, a small- and microcap-focused nationwide sales effort and broad access to corporate management teams. Sidoti serves 500+ institutional clients in North America.

SOURCE: Sidoti & Company, LLC

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/739152/Sidoti-Company-LLC-Announces-Registration-Now-Open-for-March-Small-Cap-and-May-Micro-Cap-Conferences
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 14, 2023) - Minnova Corp. (TSXV: MCI) (OTC Pink: AGRDF) ("Minnova" or the "Company"), is pleased to announce recent exploration results that have identified potential for Lithium-Cesium-Tantalum (LCT) pegmatites at the PL Mine. The increasing demand for lithium and other critical minerals prompted a review of all technical records at the PL mine (drill logs, core, maps and other technical survey data accumulated since the PL Mine was developed since 1980).

First pass query of the PL Mine project development database returned over 200 pegmatite intercepts ranging in width from 0.1 meters to over 19.0 meters. Pegmatite dykes have also been reported during surface geological mapping programs well beyond the limits of the PL deposit drill hole database. Despite a very high concentration of pegmatite dykes near the gold bearing shear zones that host the PL Mine gold resource there is no record of sampling or studies by the company or government to assess lithium or other rare element potential at the PL mine site or surrounding area.

All previous exploration, development and operations have focused on delineating and expanding the gold mineralized structures that host the PL Mine resource and exploration for additional gold mineralized structures.

The Company conducted a literature review on LCT pegmatite depositional models which supported an initial program of relogging and sampling of a selection of pegmatite intercepts from the drillhole database. A total of 15 lithogeochem samples were collected and submitted to SRC Geoanalytical Laboratories. Geochemical results were encouraging returning up to 24 ppm Lithium in core samples while relogging identified two distinct pegmatite mineral assemblages;

1) coarse grained, white grey, albite dominant with quartz and well-defined mineral and grain size zonation, and;

2) coarse grained, pink potassium feldspar dominant with little to no zonation. The white-grey, albite rich pegmatites consistently reported higher lithium content.

Manitoba is well known for its lithium potential and hosts the world class Tanco LCT pegmatite deposit in southeast Manitoba and the Wekusko Lake pegmatite field located less than 100km southeast of the PL Mine near Snow Lake, Manitoba. The Wekusko Lake pegmatite field is hosted in mixed Missi Group clastic sedimentary and Missi Group mafic volcanic rocks, the same stratigraphic assemblages that host the PL Mine pegmatites. Both project areas exhibit complex polyphase structural histories (i.e., folding, faulting, and metamorphism) and occur in the Paleoproterozoic Trans-Hudson orogen. LCT pegmatites are typically associated with specific rock formations, so identifying favourable host rocks is an important aspect of selecting high-priority exploration targets around the PL mine.

"This is an exciting positive development for the PL Mine" said Gorden Glenn, CEO. "The combination of favorable geology/host rocks (comparable to other, more advanced lithium projects), high concentration of untested pegmatite dykes and encouraging results from our initial re-logging and sampling program support additional field work and sample collection. We intend to design an expanded program of core sampling, surface mapping, geochemical sampling, mineralogy, petrography and trace element studies to identify lithium bearing minerals (spodumene and petalite) and pathfinder elements to fully test the potential for PL to host economic LCT pegmatite mineralization. Access to historical drill core and infrastructure at the past producing PL Mine is a real benefit that will enable a robust but low cost exploration program to test the lithium potential of the property. "

Other Matters

The Company announces that it has granted an aggregate of 1,500,000 options to purchase common shares of the Company exercisable at a price of $0.08 per common share for a period of 5 years, to certain directors, officers, employees and consultants. The common shares issuable upon exercise of the options are subject to a four month hold period from the original date of grant.

About Minnova Corp.

Minnova Corp. is an evolving cleantech company building a worldwide pipeline of green energy projects. Our subsidiary, Minnova Renewable Energy, is focused on innovative carbon reduction technologies such as the 3rd generation biomass gasification technology developed by DUMA Engineering (2018) Inc. As of September 30, 2022 Minnova owns 50% interest in DUMA. Acquisition of the remaining 50% interest will consist of a combination of cash payments and shares and will be dependent on several conditions, including; a) long run test performance of the demonstration plant to produce a 50% hydrogen content syngas, b) other techno-economic and environmental considerations, and c) filing of patent applications. In addition to receipt of all regulatory approvals.

Prior to 2021 Minnova Corp. has focused on the restart of its PL Gold Mine, which included completion of a Positive Feasibility Study in 2018. The study concluded the restart of the PL Mine, at an average annual production rate of 46,493 ounces over a minimum 5-year mine life was economically robust. Importantly the global resource remains open to expansion, as does the reserve. The PL Gold Mine benefits from a short pre-production timeline forecast at 15 months, a valid underground mining permit (Environment Act 1207E), an existing 1,000 tpd processing plant, over 7,000 meters of developed underground ramp to -135 metres depth. The project is fully road accessible and close to existing mining infrastructure in the prolific Flin Flon Greenstone Belt of Central Manitoba.

Qualified Person

Mr. Chris Buchanan, M. Sc., P. Geo., a consultant of the Company and a "Qualified Person" under National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this press release.

Geochemical Samples

All samples were sent to SRC Geoanalytical Laboratories, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. SRC employs standard industry procedures. Each sample was crushed to better than 70% - 2 mm and a 1 kg split was pulverized to better than 85% passing 75 m. All samples were analysed using SRC procedure code ICP1 using a four-acid digestion producing both total and partial digestions ICP analysis. Lithium results were reported in ppm elemental lithium.

For more information please contact:

Minnova Corp.

Gorden Glenn

President & Chief Executive Officer

For further information, please contact Investor Relations at 647-985-2785 or info@minnovacorp.ca

Visit our website at www.minnovacorp.ca

Forward-Looking Statements

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 contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "would", "potential", "proposed" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the information is provided, and is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. For a description of the risks and uncertainties facing the Company and its business and affairs, readers should refer to the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change, unless required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

Not for distribution to U.S. Newswire Services or for dissemination in the United States. Any failure to comply with this restriction may constitute a violation of U.S. Securities laws.

NOT FOR DISSEMINATION INTO THE UNITED STATES

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154749
MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE / ACCESSWIRE / February 14, 2023 / Regarded as one of the most active venture firms in the world by Pitchbook , Alumni Ventures ' deal sourcing, diligence, and fund performance are in many ways a function of strong entrepreneurial affinity networks. According to Alumni Ventures , a significant portion of value creation from an investment opportunity standpoint can now firmly reside in the private markets, as opposed to the IPO and public stages. Openview Venture Partners support this perspective, adding that this shift can be attributed to several factors, including the increased difficulties and regulations associated with being a public company and the high costs of compliance and IPO fees. Recent years have also seen more companies choosing to remain private for a longer period of time, or not go public at all. Additionally, the reduction in the cost of technology and advancements in the secondary market for illiquid investments have made it possible for companies to reach scale without relying on public markets.

For investors looking for potentially oversized returns, Alumni Ventures suggests investigating the private markets with an eye on pre-seed and seed-stage venture capital. Industry Ventures concurs, finding data from Cambridge Associates to show the average net annual returns for early-stage funds as 21.3% over a 30-year period (as of December 31, 2014). They hypothesized that an early investment fund of $100 million with management fees, carried interest, and diversification, could yield a gross expected return multiple of 3.8x and a net multiple of 3.1x with an IRR of 20%. On the other hand, growth venture funds, or funds that invest in later-stage companies, have a more modest return profile. The same data set showed the 30-year average annual net return for late and expansion-stage funds as 12.6%. This is due to the lower risk profile of these investments and the greater likelihood of quicker exits at much lower multiples.

Notable startups over the last few years paint a good picture of the potential value of early-stage investing in favorable circumstances.* Note that these examples and the returns shown are not typical. Investors in venture capital as an asset class typically expect to achieve their returns from just a few of their investments while expecting most to fail or under-achieve. Still, the examples below are intended to show the potential returns when investing in private markets rather than waiting until companies go public.

Pinterest

According to data located by Alumni Ventures , an initial investment amount of $100,000 with Pinterest at Seed 1 yielded a return of 60x when the company IPO'd in April 2019. With the company valued at $9.2B at IPO, the exit value on that investment was $9.0M. In comparison, after a 15-month period following the IPO, investors would have only seen a roughly 38% increase from the initial share price of $16. Reporting from The Information also showed the potential early-stage investing has for high growth, as demonstrated by Five of Pinterest's largest investors. Bessemer led Pinterest's Series A funding round in 2011 and saw a return on investment of 2,781% when the company went public, valued at $951 million. FirstMark, an early investor in Pinterest, invested in the company's first seed round in 2009 and saw a return of 2,224% valued at $710 million. On the other hand, Andreessen Horowitz, who led Pinterest's Series B in 2012, saw a return of 1,500% valued at $696 million. Valiant Capital, who led Pinterest's Series D funding round, saw a return of 118% valued at $433 million. Fidelity, a late-stage investor in Pinterest, saw the lowest return of 56% valued at $516 million. It's important to note in these numbers that the return potential diminished with each successive round of investment (i.e., investing in Series A vs Series B or C).

Uber

Alumni Ventures also found that an initial investment amount with Uber at the Angel round of $300,000 yielded a return of 122,000x when the company IPO'd in May 2019. With the company valued at 75.1B at IPO, the exit value on that investment would have been $36.6B. The Observer notes several early-stage venture investors who experienced oversized returns with Uber. Lowercase Capital invested $300,000 in Uber's angel round in 2009. By the time Uber hit IPO, the 4% owned by the investment firm had grown to roughly $36 billion. Similarly, First Round Capital's estimated total ownership in Uber was close to two and a half billion after the IPO. Their initial seed funding was only $1.5 million for the company's first two financing rounds. In comparison, after a 14-month period following the IPO, investors would have seen a 31% drop off from the initial share price of $45.

You will notice in the examples above that it was well-known venture capital firms, which typically have very high minimums and so invest on behalf of large institutions and very high net worth individuals. Until now, it has been virtually impossible for a typical accredited investor to access these attractive opportunities - or be able to create a diversified mix of such investments. Investments in venture capital certainly have their risks, and it's up to every investor to determine their risk comfortably. However, Alumni Ventures endeavors to mitigate risk by constructing large, diversified portfolios on behalf of its investors. Investing across all stages, sectors, geographies, lead investors, and vintages is a strategy to reduce risk and intended to increase the likelihood in finding a high-performing investment.

* The examples provided are for illustrative purposes only, and are not representative of the risk-return profile or anticipated performance of any available AV investment or fund. Alumni Ventures did not invest in the companies discussed, except where expressly indicated. All investment involves risk, including risk of loss. Venture capital investment involves substantial risk, and not every venture capital investment will be successful.

About Alumni Ventures

Alumni Ventures offers accredited individuals access to network-powered venture capital - a key asset class missing from the portfolios of many sophisticated investors.

CONTACT:

Andrew Mitchell

media@cambridgeglobal.com

SOURCE: Alumni Ventures

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/739266/Alumni-Ventures-Returns-and-Performance-Insight-for-Early-Stage-Venture-Capital-Investments
LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Yellow Wood Partners LLC, a Boston-based private equity firm, agreed to acquire Unilever's (UL) beauty and personal care brand, Suave, in North America. Financial terms of the agreement are undisclosed. The Suave beauty and personal care brand includes hair care, skin care, skin cleansing and deodorant products. The transaction is anticipated to be completed in the second quarter of 2023. Suave will continue to be owned and operated by Unilever outside of the US and Canada. Suave was one of the first brands in the 1930s to bring salon-quality hair care to the general public. The Suave brand sells products for women, men and kids in mass retailers and ecommerce platforms. The brand's products include hair and body products including shampoos, conditioners, treatments and serums, styling products, body wash, antiperspirants and deodorants, and skin care. Copyright(c) 2023 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.


MEXICO CITY (dpa-AFX) - A meeting of the President's Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (PITF) has committed to take significant steps throughout 2023 to advance progress to combat human trafficking, including to advance the National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking.



The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will increase efforts with tribal leaders and Indigenous community organizations to address the intersections of human trafficking and missing and murdered indigenous persons and focus the HHS Look Beneath the Surface Campaign to partner with organizations in directly reaching child and youth populations at highest risk for human trafficking.



The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will enhance and expand its counter-forced labor efforts. DHS will strengthen engagement with the private sector, including by publishing additional information on importer compliance, as the Department continues to enforce the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFPLA).



In addition to providing its investigators awareness and referral training and stepping up engagement with local human trafficking task forces, the Department of Labor will help increase federal forced labor prosecutions by providing its expertise on labor exploitation and child labor in the Federal Enforcement Work Group.



In the coming year, DOL will assist DOJ by providing information and training materials about its role in and processes for calculating forfeiture and restitution in both forced labor and sex trafficking cases.



In 2023, the U.S. Mission to the United Nations (USUN) will use its status as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council to advance anti-trafficking priorities.



Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who chaired the meeting, said the State Department will promote meaningful survivor engagement and leadership through its support to the U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking and engagement with consultants in the Department's Human Trafficking Expert Consultant Network. For the 2023 Trafficking in Persons Report, consultants are drafting and reviewing content for the introduction in addition to advising on the inclusion of trauma-informed photography and ethical storytelling, he said in a statement.



The State Department will develop a new risk screening process to mitigate the danger of human trafficking, including forced labor, from contracts.



Collaborating with Canada and Mexico through the Trilateral Working Group on Trafficking in Persons will resume this year.



A member of the U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking also joined the meeting and spoke about the Council's 2022 report, which includes insights and recommendations for how the Federal Government can strengthen its policy and programming efforts that reflect the expertise of those with lived experience of human trafficking.



Copyright(c) 2023 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved



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NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / February 14, 2023 / Logitech:



Logitech Blog

Technology creates positive change in the world across many industries, from healthcare to communication and education. According to a report from Logitech, 92% of women working in tech and IT say the ability to make a meaningful contribution to society is a primary factor in their career development. Celebrating the good work being done by the industry, especially women, could help close the gender gap that persists in the field.

Logitech MX supports opportunities for women and girls to build the skills they need for STEM careers and honors women working in tech and IT with WomenWhoMaster. The series has featured many women who are giving back to their community through tech, including the three stories below.

Nelly Cheboi: Gives Back to Sustainably Solve Poverty

As a little girl, Nelly Cheboi's family barely had enough money for food or shoes, let alone a computer. She dreamed about ending this poverty for her family and others in rural communities.

"I wanted to rewrite what it looks like to grow up in a village like Mogotio [a small village in Kenya]."

After taking an introduction to Java course in college, she saw the power of coding. That moment led her to found the nonprofit TechLitAfrica, which partners with schools in Kenya to provide a technology-based curriculum focused on self-efficacy, troubleshooting, and internet skills. Nelly single-handedly provided the computers for the nonprofit's early years, collecting discarded computers from the U.S. and transporting them to Kenya. It's part of the reason Nelly was named the 2022 CNN Hero of the Year. TechLit Africa has reached 4,000 students in 10 schools, and Nelly plans to grow that number to 100 schools.

Yuko Nagakura: Gives Back to Fight the Patriarchy

Yuko Nagakura is proof that someone is never too young to make a difference. By 17 years old, she built two global communities that invite girls into tech and challenge gender inequality in the industry. World Coding Club introduces the basics of coding to young people in more than 30 countries. Through hackathons and digital groups, the club gives young people, with a focus on girls, the opportunity to learn coding skills in a fun way. One of Yuko's favorite parts of the project is the opportunity to mentor younger students.

Her other organization, SHEQUALITY, is an online platform where female writers from around the world publish articles about feminism from a global lens. Yuko started SHEQUALITY to change the world and combat gender inequality. However, the site has changed her as well, broadening her views on how feminism differs around the world.

"Reading the articles and talking to the other girls has been a really eye-opening experience for me. Because there are girls from so many different cultural lenses it's changed how I think about feminism."

Kavya Krishna: Gives Back to Democratize Financial Independence

While working her first job at a major technology company, Kavya Krishna was only one of two women on her team. They started meeting for what they called "women in tech" lunches. The goal was to meet other women in the company but it slowly became passionate discussions about the women's journeys to corporate America and the lack of support for girls in their home countries to become financially independent. As someone who always saw technology as a path to gain financial independence, Kavya wanted to do something. So she started the Society of Women Coders, a nonprofit that teaches digital skills to girls from underserved and at-risk communities around the world.

"[In the beginning] we called ourselves the Sisterhood of the Traveling Coders, but it wasn't an organization. We were just a group of women techies who wanted to give back."

At first, Kavya and her co-founder used their vacation days and savings to travel to different countries to conduct coding camps. Now five years later, Kavya has built a thriving online and in-person community of girls who are empowered to direct their own future. She knows these girls will soon be scientists, top engineers, and heads of corporations. She hopes they too will be inspired to give back to their communities.

Influential innovators like Nelly, Yuko, and Kavya are changing the world and inspiring the next generation of tech professionals. Read more about these difference-makers and others like them in Logitech's WomenWhoMaster series.

Ready to help more women and girls make a meaningful contribution to the world through STEM careers? Share the WomenWhoMaster series on social or submit your own WomenWhoMaster nominee by tagging them on Instagram with the hashtag or emailing their story to us here.

Women Who Master puts a spotlight on women who have made outstanding contributions to STEM fields. The goal of the series is to celebrate those contributions, inspire future leaders, and help close the gender gap in technology.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Logitech on 3blmedia.com.



Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Logitech

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/logitech

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Logitech

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/739315/Making-a-Difference-The-Logitech-WomenWhoMaster-Leaders-Giving-Back-to-Their-Communities
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / February 14, 2023 / Antea Group



The CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) in the EU reforms and significantly expands the reporting obligations of companies. It extends the reporting requirements and makes it compulsory for big to small and medium-sized enterprises based on a harmonized reporting standard.

The extended scope will mean that from 2024, more than 50,000 European companies will have to disclose detailed ESG (Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance) information. The EU Council announced the approval of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive on the 28th of November, 2022.

This new directive will have implications beyond the EU. For non-European companies, the requirement to provide a sustainability report applies to all companies generating a net turnover of 150 million in the EU and with at least one subsidiary or branch. These companies must report their ESG impacts, namely environmental, social and governance impacts, as defined in this directive. Not to mention, many companies have existing reporting obligations aside from the CSRD, so it's important to map these requirements against existing and/or future reporting mechanisms and identify any reporting gaps that may need to be addressed in upcoming disclosures.

Read more on the business implications below, with this article originally published here from our Inogen Alliance Associate in Hungary, denxpert, along with an infographic on how to prepare for CSRD.

What is CSRD?

The CSRD will replace the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) after 2024. Under the current working version of the CSRD, a significantly larger number of companies in the EU will be required to report on their non-financial sustainability performance compared to the previous NFRD. Typical sustainability issues to be reported include environmental rights, social rights, human rights, and governance factors.

The CSRD proposal:

extends the scope to all large companies and all companies listed on regulated markets (for example banks and insurance companies)

requires the audit (assurance) of reported information

introduces more detailed reporting requirements according to EU sustainability reporting standards

The European Commission's proposal for a Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) forces the adoption of EU sustainability reporting standards. The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) will be responsible for establishing these European standards, following technical advice from several European agencies. The standards will be tailored to EU policies while building on and contributing to international standardization initiatives.

Who is affected by the CSRD?

The CSRD will apply to all large companies and entities with securities listed on regulated markets in the EU, except micro-enterprises. Large companies are entities that exceed the thresholds for at least two of the following three criteria: 1) balance sheet total: 20 million, 2) net turnover: 40 million, 3) the average number of employees in the financial year: 250.

These companies are also responsible for assessing the information at the level of their subsidiaries.

Large companies are not the only ones required to publish their sustainability reports. The EU proposes that listed small and medium-sized companies could also be affected, but they will be subject to simpler rules than large companies. An opt-out will be possible for SMEs during a transitional period, meaning that they will be exempted from the application of the directive until 2028.

How can I prepare for CSRD compliance?

Different approaches to reporting can be taken depending on whether a company is preparing its first sustainability report or has already communicated its non-financial performance.

If the company is likely subject to the CSRD, it is worthwhile to carry out a gap analysis to show its current state of compliance. The next step is to draw up a plan to address the gaps so that the report is fully compliant with the CSRD by the deadline.

The first steps can be taken based on the information available. A materiality analysis needs to be carried out, stakeholders need to be mapped, channels to learn about sustainability issues need to be developed, corporate governance structures need to be designed to meet expectations, and data collection methods need to be developed. Some companies may have other reporting obligations besides the CSRD, which need to be identified and a timetable set to meet these by the deadline.

Companies that have already reported on their non-financial performance are at an advantage, especially if they have prepared their reports under an international standard. However, it is also essential for these companies to review their reporting practices, considering the expected new requirements.

Continue Reading on the Inogen Alliance Blog

With the CSRD, there are varying levels of applicability and urgency to formally align depending on a variety of factors including company size, subsidiary structure, location, and revenue. So the first step is to gain a better understanding of the disclosure requirements and how they will impact your business.

For help navigating your sustainability reporting and disclosure journey, reach out to Antea Group's Corporate Sustainability Reporting and Disclosure team today.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Antea Group on 3blmedia.com.



Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Antea Group

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/antea-group

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Antea Group

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/739320/EU-Corporate-Sustainability-Reporting-Directive-CSRD-Business-Implications
By Julie Nash, Ph.D., Ceres Senior Program Director, Food and Forests

NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / February 14, 2023 / The historic pact agreed to in December by world leaders to tackle the devastating impacts of global biodiversity loss highlights the critical role that Indigenous Peoples and local communities play in conserving nature.

Bold in its scope and language, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework recognizes the crucial role of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in safeguarding biodiversity and the need to adopt human rights-based conservation approaches. This is a result of tireless efforts from the communities that have historically suffered human rights abuses and land use restrictions from strictly protected areas. These groups are proven stewards of effective biodiversity conservation and they must be engaged by companies in creating climate plans that address the escalating risks of nature loss.

Investors recognize that more than half of the world's GDP ($44 trillion of economic value generation) is either moderately or highly reliant on nature and the services it provides. Further nature loss will cause negative economic repercussions globally.?

To drive greater corporate ambition and action to reduce nature and biodiversity loss, Ceres and its partners recently announced a global investor engagement initiative, Nature Action 100. The investors who are part of the new initiative will engage companies in key sectors that systemically important to reversing nature loss by 2030 - directly contributing to the goals of the Global Biodiversity Framework.

Key to that engagement will be understanding how companies' nature-based risks mitigation plans involve Indigenous Peoples and local communities. Drawing on our insights from carbon credit projects, including Ceres report, Evaluating the Use of Carbon Credits: Critical questions for financial institutions when engaging with companies, there are certain elements that are shown to make corporate plans more successful. These elements help strengthen participation, improve the distribution of benefits and burdens, enhance cultural and political recognition, and lower business risks.

These key elements build on each other to ensure that these groups are not only considered and respected, but also are active participants in the risk mitigation process:

Upholding rights

As they craft plans for addressing the risks stemming from nature and biodiversity loss, companies need to uphold the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities. Respect for the rights of these populations is included in the Framework's sweeping Targets 1 and Target 3, aimed at bringing the loss of areas of high biodiversity importance close to zero by 2030 and ensuring and enabling that at least 30% of terrestrial, inland water, and coastal and marine areas are effectively conserved and managed. However, the efficacy of the 30x30 target, which was widely disputed by indigenous peoples and human rights organizations, depends on its implementation. Achieving this target by recognizing indigenous territories in Target 3 could pave the way towards a future of effective community and rights-based biodiversity protection.

Safeguarding free, prior, and informed consent

Indigenous Peoples and local communities have the right to free, prior, and informed consent. That means that these groups should be given consent without coercion and with sufficient time to make decisions. They also must have the right to deny any actions at any time in the development of nature-based risks mitigation plans. This concept was acknowledged in Target 21 of the Global Biodiversity Framework, which states that "traditional knowledge, innovations, practices and technologies of Indigenous Peoples and local communities should only be accessed with their free, prior and informed consent, in accordance with national legislation."

Ensuring active participation

Companies must ensure that Indigenous Peoples and local communities are active participants in the conception, design, and implementation phases of plans for mitigating nature-based risks. Corporate engagement must go beyond simply receiving consent from these groups to involving them in all stages of the development process for plans to be most successful. While relevant to many of the targets, Target 19 about increasing financial resources toward biodiversity conservation specifically alludes to active participation through "enhancing the role of collective actions," including by Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

Providing for equitable participation

Companies should strive for equitable participation of all community members, including women. Target 23 of the Global Biodiversity Framework directly addresses this concept, highlighting the need to enhance gender equality in the framework's implementation. Specifically, the target mentions recognizing the equal rights of women and girls and "their full, equitable, meaningful and informed participation and leadership at all levels of action, engagement, policy and decision-making related to biodiversity."

While it requires dedicated effort by companies, Indigenous Peoples and local communities must be respected, active, and equitable participants as they work to address the biodiversity loss that jeopardizes their own business and to achieve the ambitious aims of the Global Biodiversity Framework. Investors can use these insights to knowledgably engage companies in support of the pact's just and inclusive biodiversity protection and restoration goals. Additionally, they can join Nature Action 100, which will formally launch in Spring 2023. To learn more about the new initiative, visit natureaction100.org.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Ceres on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Ceres

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/ceres

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Ceres

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/739317/For-Companies-and-Investors-Indigenous-Peoples-and-Local-Communities-Must-Be-Central-to-Addressing-Nature-Risks
SOUTHFIELD, MI / ACCESSWIRE / February 14, 2023 / Communityreviews.org the first anonymous one sided review platform discusses its charitable giving challenge and other platform features.

Communityreviews.org was designed to resolve one of the problems with existing review platforms. How do you deal with those old reviews from many years ago that still impact a 5 star rating. We at Communityreviews.org believe that people and businesses should have a process for dealing with bad reviews just like in real life. Usually after so many years, your driving record and insurance rating improves as long as you pay your tickets and drive carefully. We believe your 5 star rating should too. Here are the things we at Communityreviews.org have implemented to fix this old review dilemma:

Experiences over 7 years (default for now) will not be factored in a 5 star rating

Charitable Giving Challenge - This feature allows a person or business to make a donation to a charity as a way to accept responsibility for a negative Experience. If this feature is selected, then that specific Experience will not have a 5 star rating and not impact your overall 5 star rating.

Experience Challenge - This feature allows someone who was reviewed to let the poster of that review know they viewed it and hopefully the original poster will either amend the Experience or delete it.

Paid Investigation - This featured is not rolled out yet. This feature will allow a member of Communityreviews.org to have Communityreviews.org investigate an Experience to verify it is real.

No bots - Communityreviews.org does not allow any bots on its platform.

Survey - Communityreviews.org will customize its platform based on our members input.

We are seeking additional Charities to feature in our Charitable Giving Challenge. Charities that sign up by June 30, 2023 will be featured when someone wants to select a charity during the Charitable Giving Challenge selection process.

CEO John C Maddox states, "I think people get worried when they hear the word anonymous. Anonymity does not mean that a platform can't be safe. In most cases, anonymity of the Experience author provides more reliable information. Examples of things you can post on Communityreviews.org include 1. School bullies 2. Sexual misconduct 3. Political corruption and 4. Election fraud."

Communityreviews.org is an anonymous one sided community crowd based rating and review platform for people, businesses or anything else where community members can post and review their experiences for other community members to view rate comment and share. Reviews on Commuityreviews.org are called "Experiences". They are located in Southfield, Michigan.

John C Maddox CEO

Communityreviews.org

248-763-3203

info@communityreviews.org

SOURCE: Communityreviews.org

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/739318/Communityreviewsorg-the-First-Anonymous-One-Sided-Review-Platform-Discusses-Its-Charitable-Giving-Challenge-and-Other-Platform-Features
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / February 14, 2023 / We focus on reducing the amount of land we disturb and facilitating the return of a biologically diverse landscape and naturally sustainable ecosystems. To do this, we are:

reducing the impact of our operations on the environment through scientific research and implementing best management practices

collaborating with neighbouring companies to reduce the cumulative effects of development

progressively reclaiming disturbed lands no longer required to support operations

working with industry peers and multi-stakeholder organizations on initiatives to conserve and reclaim habitat for birds, mammals, fish and other species

integrating traditional knowledge from Indigenous Peoples.

How the land will be used following reclamation and closure is referred to as end land use. This is an important consideration throughout the life cycle of a project, from initial planning through to final reclamation*. This includes considerations such as what species to plant and when and where to plant them. Before developing a new mine or in situ project, our plans outline the life of the project through to reclamation and closure. We update plans regularly throughout the project and incorporate changes, new knowledge and technologies as they are developed.

The Alberta Energy Regulator must authorize reclamation and closure plans for all new projects in Alberta and approve updated plans as they are developed.

Reclamation performance

Mining

Since Suncor began Base Plant operations in 1967, the site has disturbed 22,466 hectares (ha) of land. We have reclaimed approximately 11% of the total land disturbance as of 2021, bringing our cumulative land reclamation total to 2,446 ha. In 2021, we planted approximately 26,370 tree and shrub seedlings in reclamation areas at Base Plant, bringing the total cumulative seedlings planted to more than 9 million. With the mineable resource at Base Plant's Millennium and North Steepbank Extension mines anticipated to be depleted in the next decade (2030s), we are adding detail to our plan for reclamation and closure of the site, which will include engagement with local Indigenous communities.

The Fort Hills site started production in 2018 and has disturbed 11,157 ha of land. Fort Hills is in the early stage of development with limited reclamation opportunities currently. We plan to progress reclamation as quickly as possible when areas are no longer required for operations.

Syncrude started operation in 1978 and has disturbed 31,455 ha. Since that time, 5,053 ha has been reclaimed, including 104 ha of land certified and returned to the Crown. This represents over 15% of the operation's total disturbed land. In addition, approximately 12 million tree and shrub seedlings have been planted. In 2021, more than 300 ha were reclaimed, and more than 961,000 seedlings planted. An additional 1,200 ha of reclaimed land are used for a wood bison ranch co-managed with the neighbouring Fort McKay First Nation.

Work has started to look at opportunities to learn from each other and to integrate Suncor and Syncrude approaches to reclamation.

In Situ

Since our Firebag and MacKay River in situ sites began operating in 2004 and 2002 respectively, they have disturbed a cumulative total of 2,031 ha with approximately 68 ha of land that have been permanently reclaimed and are being monitored. We received two reclamation certificates from the Alberta Energy Regulator in 2021 for borrow pits at our Firebag site, bringing the total cumulative number of hectares certified and returned to the Crown at the two projects to 16.5 ha. Following a significant planting program in 2021, we reclaimed another borrow pit to a mosaic of upland and wetland ecosites at Firebag. Seedlings were grown from locally sourced stock and included species of interest to Indigenous communities.

Bison

Syncrude and the Fort McKay First Nation introduced 30 wood bison to a reclaimed area in 1993 to assess the capability of the landscape to support large mammals. Today, approximately 300 bison graze on three reclaimed areas within Syncrude operations, named Beaver Creek Wood Bison Ranch. Two of the areas are predominantly grassland; the third area is a boreal forest, with coniferous and deciduous trees, as well as local shrubs and grasses. The herd provides the opportunity to explore a valuable end land use for the reclaimed landscape, while supporting beneficial partnerships with Indigenous communities. It has also contributed to a genetic preservation project led by scientists from the University of Calgary, the University of Saskatchewan, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Parks Canada, the Government of the Northwest Territories and the Calgary Zoo.

Read the Suncor's full 2022 Report on Sustainability.

* Once land is revegetated as per the reclamation plan, it is considered "reclaimed". Only after reclaimed land meets the expectations of equivalent land capability and goes through an application and approval process with the regulator can it be certified and returned to the Crown.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Suncor Energy on 3blmedia.com

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Suncor Energy

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/suncor-energy

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Suncor Energy

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/739319/Suncor-2022-Report-on-Sustainability-Land-and-Reclamation
CHICAGO, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- According to Arizton's latest research report, the global baby monitor market will grow at a CAGR of 15.45% from 2022 to 2028. Growing demand for smart baby monitors, an increase in tech-savvy millennial parents, a rising shift towards smart homes, and development in Li-ion batteries are the key industry trends in the market. Dorel Industries, Motorola Mobility, Vtech, Lorex Technology, and Summer Infant are the key players in the global baby monitor market.





Millennials tend to be more tech-savvy and knowledgeable. The new-age millennial parents are adopting smart technology for their babies. The modern parenting trend is also transforming nurseries into connected data centers. Millennials are a generation who are more accustomed to data, metrics, and real-time information in everyday life. Over the past 3-4 years, technology has become more obvious in parenting, where monitoring the baby's health in real-time has been a breakthrough. Despite the new monitoring technologies being expensive and not a mandatory feature, millennial parents get more excited about adopting them to make their parenting more convenient and are the early technology adopters in the market.

Market Size and Forecast are Projected in:

Value ($ Billion)

Volume (Units)

Global Baby Monitor Market Report Scope

Report Attributes Details Market Size (2028) USD 4.25 Billion Market Size (2022) USD 1.79 Billion CAGR (2022-2028) 15.45 % Market Size by Shipments (2028) 32 Million Units Historic Year 2015-2021 Base Year 2022 Forecast Year 2023-2028 Market Segmentation Products, Transmission, Type, Distribution, and Geography Geographical Analysis North America, Europe, APAC, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa Countries Covered The US, Canada, the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Poland, China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, the Rest of Latin America, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, The UAE, Turkey, and Egypt Key Leading Players Dorel Industries, Motorola Mobility, Vtech, Lorex Technology, Summer Infant, Koninklijke Philips, Samsung Electronics, Foscam, iBaby Labs, Hanwha Techwin, The Holding Angelcare, Hisense, Mayborn Group, Snuza International, iBabyGuard International, infanttech, Jablotron, MonDevices, Nanit, Owlet Baby Care, Respisense, Safetosleep, Evoz, eufy, Miku, Infant Optics, MOBI Technologies, Panasonic Corporation, Procter & Gamble, Levana, Baby Delight, Invidyo, FaceLake, HelloBaby, Eastman Kodak Company, Arlo, Lollipop, Cubo Ai, CasaCam, and Wyze Labs Market Dynamics Growing Concerns Towards Child Safety High Penetration of Smartphones Internet Shaping Consumer Buying Behaviour Increasing Number of Nuclear Families Declining Infant Mortality Rates A Surge in The Number of Employed Parents & Women Employment Customization Request If our report does not include the information you are searching for, you may contact us to have a report tailored to your specific business needs https://www.arizton.com/customize-report/3698



Click Here to Download the Free Sample Report

Market Trends

Growing Adoption of Smart homes increasing the demand for baby monitor devices. People are shifting toward smart homes, and their appetite for IoT and smart home technologies is growing. People want to digitalize their homes taking additional safety measures for their infants with IoT technologies. IoT technology in smart baby monitors allows parents to look for their children. People have started moving toward smart baby monitors for convenience and ease in caring for their children. This trend has boosted the demand for interactive baby monitor market. Demand for smart homes and baby monitors is expected to rise from millennial parents in the US, Germany, China, and France. However, a lack of awareness of smart devices in emerging economies is currently hindering the demand for smart devices. Nonetheless, with the growing adoption of smart devices, especially in urban areas, it is plausible to encourage more people to choose interactive baby monitors.

The advent of li-ion batteries has reshaped the face of the baby monitor industry. It has also contributed to the origin and extension of new product ranges in the battery-operated categories that can signify the accessories market for baby monitors. One of the most significant growth drivers in the baby monitors industry over the last decade has been the introduction of Li-ion batteries. Several batteries for greater backup capacity developments have been created in response to the growing need for long-lasting battery life. This has significantly increased Li-ion battery performance and efficiency. Energy density, charging pace, cyclability, safety, and stability has also improved. Though replacing Li-ion batteries will cost 10%-49% more, the need for powerful Li-ion batteries for baby monitors gives rise to the demand. It thus allows the baby monitors the market to grow and expand.

Several customers prefer to shop online for the convenience that online shopping offers. This trend has encouraged many companies to focus on the internet-savvy customer segment and venture into the omnichannel retail format. Moreover, this business mode also saves online retailers operating costs, thereby increasing their profitability. Vendors like Owlet and Nanit post their customer reviews, engaging parenting stories, and informative blogs on their websites to encourage informed purchase decisions. The growth of online baby care products has been a major driver in Southeast Asian countries in the past five years. Alongside baby products, such as diapers and foods, baby monitors are considered one of the region's fastest-selling segments, which forces the vendors to have an online presence and distribution. The significance of price sensitivity is highlighted in the e-commerce section that promotes price transparency in baby care products, including monitors.

Key Company Profiles

Dorel Industries

Motorola Mobility

VTech

Lorex Technology

Summer Infant

Koninklijke Philips

Samsung Electronics

Foscam

iBaby Labs

Hanwha Techwin

The Holding Angelcare

Hisense

Mayborn Group

Snuza International

iBabyGuard International

infanttech

Jablotron

MonDevices

Nanit

Owlet Baby Care

Respisense

Safetosleep

Evoz

eufy

Miku

Infant Optics

MOBI Technologies

Panasonic Corporation

Procter & Gamble

Levana

Baby Delight

Invidyo

FaceLake

HelloBaby

Eastman Kodak Company

Arlo

Lollipop

Cubo Ai

CasaCam

Wyze Labs

Market Segmentation

Products

Audio & Video

Movement Monitor

Under-The-Mattress



Diaper Attachment



Smart Wearables

Audio Only

Transmission

Analog

Digital

Type

Conventional

Smart

Distribution

Offline

Online

Geography

North America

The US



Canada

Europe

The UK



Germany



France



Italy



Spain



Netherlands



Poland

APAC

China



Japan



South Korea



India



Australia

Latin America

Brazil



Mexico



Argentina



The Rest of Latin America

Middle East & Africa

& Saudi Arabia



South Africa



The UAE



Turkey



Egypt

Click Here to Download the Free Sample Report

Check Out Some of the Top Selling Research Related Reports:

Pediatric Telehealth Market - The global pediatric telehealth market is expected to reach USD 6.99 billion by 2027.

Educational Toys Market - The global educational toys market is expected to reach USD 31.62 billion by 2026.

Infant Nutrition Market - The global infant nutrition market is estimated to reach USD 106.84 billion by 2026.

Baby Stroller Market - Baby stroller market size will reach USD 8 billion by 2025.

Table of Content

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

4.3.1 MARKET SEGMENTATION BY PRODUCT

4.3.2 MARKET SEGMENTATION BY TRANSMISSION

4.3.3 MARKET SEGMENTATION BY TYPE

4.3.4 MARKET SEGMENTATION BY DISTRIBUTION

4.3.5 MARKET SEGMENTATION BY GEOGRAPHY

5 REPORT ASSUMPTIONS & CAVEATS

5.1 KEY CAVEATS

5.2 CURRENCY CONVERSION

5.3 MARKET DERIVATION

6 PREMIUM INSIGHTS

6.1 MARKET DEFINITION

6.2 REPORT OVERVIEW

6.3 MACROECONOMIC FACTORS ENABLING MARKET GROWTH

6.4 DEMOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS

6.5 OPPORTUNITIES & CHALLENGE ANALYSIS

6.6 SEGMENT ANALYSIS

6.7 REGIONAL ANALYSIS

6.8 COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

7 MARKET AT A GLANCE

8 INTRODUCTION

8.1 OVERVIEW

8.1.1 MACROECONOMIC FACTORS ENABLING MARKET GROWTH

8.1.2 PER CAPITA GDP IN DEVELOPING MARKETS

8.1.3 DUAL-INCOME HOSUEHOLDS IN DEVELOPED MARKETS

8.1.4 DEMOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS

8.2 VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS

8.2.1 RAW MATERIALS

8.2.2 MANUFACTURERS

8.2.3 DISTRIBUTORS/DEALERS

8.2.4 RETAILERS

8.2.5 END-USERS

9 MARKET OPPORTUNITIES & TRENDS

9.1 GROWING DEMAND FOR SMART BABY MONITORS

9.2 INCREASE IN TECH-SAVVY MILLENIAL PARENTS

9.3 RISING SHIFT TOWARD SMART HOMES

9.4 DEVELOPMENT IN LI-ION BATTERIES

10 MARKET GROWTH ENABLERS

10.1 GROWING CONCERNED ABOUT CHILD SAFETY

10.2 HIGH PENETRATION OF SMARTPHONES

10.3 INTERNET SHAPING CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR

10.4 INCREASING NUMBER OF NUCLEAR FAMILIES

10.5 DECLINING INFANT MORTALITY RATES

10.6 SURGE IN NUMBER OF EMPLOYED PARENTS & WOMEN EMPLOYMENT

11 MARKET RESTRAINTS

11.1 HEALTH HAZARDS DUE TO ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION

11.2 HIGH THREAT OF ALTERNATIVE PRODUCTS

11.3 CHANGING END-USER SOCIOGRAPHY

11.4 LOW PENETRATION RATE IN EMERGING ECONOMIES

12 MARKET LANDSCAPE

12.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

12.2 HISTORICAL DATA 2015-2021

12.2.1 COVID-19 IMPACT ANALYSIS

12.3 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

12.4 FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS

12.4.1 THREAT OF NEW ENTRANTS

12.4.2 BARGAINING POWER OF SUPPLIERS

12.4.3 BARGAINING POWER OF BUYERS

12.4.4 THREAT OF SUBSTITUTES

12.4.5 COMPETITIVE RIVALRY

13 PRODUCT

13.1 MARKET SNAPSHOT & GROWTH ENGINE (REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENTS)

13.2 MARKET OVERVIEW

13.3 AUDIO & VIDEO

13.3.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

13.3.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

13.3.3 MARKET BY GEOGRAPHY (REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENTS)

13.4 MOVEMENT MONITOR

13.4.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

13.4.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

13.4.3 MARKET BY GEOGRAPHY (REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENTS)

13.4.4 UNDER-THE-MATTRESS MOVEMENT MONITOR: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

13.4.5 DIAPER ATTACHMENT MOVEMENT MONITOR

13.4.6 SMART WEARABLE MOVEMENT MONITOR

13.5 AUDIO ONLY

13.5.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

13.5.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

13.5.3 MARKET BY GEOGRAPHY (REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENTS)

14 TRANSMISSION

14.1 MARKET SNAPSHOT & GROWTH ENGINE (REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENTS)

14.2 MARKET OVERVIEW

14.3 DIGITAL

14.3.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

14.3.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

14.3.3 MARKET BY GEOGRAPHY (REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENTS)

14.4 ANALOG

14.4.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

14.4.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

14.4.3 MARKET BY GEOGRAPHY (REVENUE & SHIPMENTS)

15 TYPE

15.1 MARKET SNAPSHOT & GROWTH ENGINE (REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENTS)

15.2 MARKET OVERVIEW

15.3 CONVENTIONAL

15.3.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

15.3.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

15.3.3 MARKET BY GEOGRAPHY (REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENTS)

15.4 SMART

15.4.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

15.4.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

15.4.3 MARKET BY GEOGRAPHY (REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENTS)

16 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL

16.1 MARKET SNAPSHOT & GROWTH ENGINE (REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENTS)

16.2 MARKET OVERVIEW

16.2.1 MANUFACTURE, PRODUCTION, AND DISTRIBUTION

16.3 OFFLINE

16.3.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

16.3.2 MARKET BY GEOGRAPHY

16.4 ONLINE

16.4.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

16.4.2 MARKET BY GEOGRAPHY

17 GEOGRAPHY

17.1 MARKET SNAPSHOT & GROWTH ENGINE (REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENTS)

17.2 GEOGRAPHIC OVERVIEW

18 NORTH AMERICA

18.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

18.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

18.2.1 REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENT

18.3 PRODUCT

18.3.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

18.4 TRANSMISSION

18.4.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

18.5 TYPE

18.5.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

18.6 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL

18.6.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

18.7 KEY COUNTRIES

18.8 US

18.8.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

18.8.2 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

18.8.3 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

18.8.4 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

18.8.5 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

18.9 CANADA

18.9.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

18.9.2 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

18.9.3 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

18.9.4 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

18.9.5 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19 EUROPE

19.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

19.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19.2.1 REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENT

19.3 PRODUCT

19.3.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19.4 TRANSMISSION

19.4.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19.5 TYPE

19.5.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19.6 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL

19.6.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19.7 KEY COUNTRIES

19.8 UK

19.8.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19.8.2 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19.8.3 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19.8.4 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19.8.5 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19.9 GERMANY

19.9.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19.9.2 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19.9.3 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19.9.4 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19.9.5 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19.10 FRANCE

19.10.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19.10.2 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19.10.3 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19.10.4 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19.10.5 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19.11 ITALY

19.11.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19.11.2 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19.11.3 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19.11.4 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19.11.5 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19.12 SPAIN

19.12.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19.12.2 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19.12.3 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19.12.4 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19.12.5 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19.13 NETHERLANDS

19.13.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19.13.2 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19.13.3 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19.13.4 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19.13.5 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19.14 POLAND

19.14.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19.14.2 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19.14.3 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19.14.4 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

19.14.5 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

20 APAC

20.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

20.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

20.2.1 REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENT

20.3 PRODUCT

20.3.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

20.4 TRANSMISSION

20.4.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

20.5 TYPE

20.5.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

20.6 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL

20.6.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

20.7 KEY COUNTRIES

20.8 CHINA

20.8.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

20.8.2 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

20.8.3 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

20.8.4 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

20.8.5 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

20.9 JAPAN

20.9.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

20.9.2 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

20.9.3 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

20.9.4 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

20.9.5 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

20.10 AUSTRALIA

20.10.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

20.10.2 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

20.10.3 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

20.10.4 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

20.10.5 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

20.11 SOUTH KOREA

20.11.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

20.11.2 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

20.11.3 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

20.11.4 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

20.11.5 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

20.12 INDIA

20.12.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

20.12.2 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

20.12.3 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

20.12.4 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

20.12.5 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

21 LATIN AMERICA

21.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

21.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

21.3 PRODUCT

21.3.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

21.4 TRANSMISSION

21.4.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

21.5 TYPE

21.5.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

21.6 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL

21.6.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

21.7 KEY COUNTRIES

21.8 BRAZIL

21.8.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

21.8.2 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

21.8.3 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

21.8.4 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

21.8.5 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

21.9 MEXICO

21.9.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

21.9.2 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

21.9.3 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

21.9.4 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

21.9.5 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

21.10 ARGENTINA

21.10.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

21.10.2 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

21.10.3 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

21.10.4 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

21.10.5 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

21.11 REST OF LATIN AMERICA

21.11.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

21.11.2 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

21.11.3 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

21.11.4 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

21.11.5 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

22 MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA

22.1 MARKET OVERVIEW

22.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

22.2.1 REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENT

22.3 PRODUCT

22.3.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

22.4 TRANSMISSION

22.4.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

22.5 TYPE

22.5.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

22.6 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL

22.6.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

22.7 KEY COUNTRIES

22.8 SAUDI ARABIA

22.8.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

22.8.2 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

22.8.3 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

22.8.4 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

22.8.5 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

22.9 SOUTH AFRICA

22.9.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

22.9.2 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

22.9.3 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

22.9.4 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

22.9.5 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

22.10 UAE

22.10.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

22.10.2 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

22.10.3 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

22.10.4 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

22.10.5 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

22.11 TURKEY

22.11.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

22.11.2 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

22.11.3 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

22.11.4 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

22.11.5 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

22.12 EGYPT

22.12.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

22.12.2 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

22.12.3 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

22.12.4 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

22.12.5 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

23 COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

23.1 COMPETITION OVERVIEW

24 KEY COMPANY PROFILES

24.1 DOREL INDUSTRIES

24.1.1 BUSINESS OVERVIEW

24.1.2 PRODUCT OFFERINGS

24.1.3 KEY STRATEGIES

24.1.4 KEY STRENGTHS

24.1.5 KEY OPPORTUNITIES

24.2 MOTOROLA MOBILITY

24.3 VTECH

24.4 LOREX TECHNOLOGY

24.5 SUMMER INFANT

25 OTHER PROMINENT VENDORS

25.1 KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS

25.1.1 BUSINESS OVERVIEW

25.1.2 PRODUCT OFFERINGS

25.2 SAMSUNG

25.3 FOSCAM

25.4 IBABY LABS

25.5 HANWHA TECHWIN

25.6 THE HOLDING ANGELCARE

25.7 HISENSE

25.8 MAYBORN GROUP

25.9 SNUZA INTERNATIONAL

25.10 IBABYGUARD INTERNATIONAL

25.11 INFANTTECH

25.12 JABLOTRON

25.13 MONDEVICES

25.14 NANIT

25.15 OWLET BABY CARE

25.16 RESPISENSE

25.17 SAFETOSLEEP

25.18 EVOZ

25.19 EUFY

25.20 MIKU

25.21 INFANT OPTICS

25.22 MOBI TECHNOLOGIES

25.23 PANASONIC CORPORATION

25.24 PROCTER & GAMBLE

25.25 LEVANA

25.26 BABY DELIGHT

25.27 INVIDYO

25.28 FACELAKE

25.29 HELLOBABY

25.30 EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY

25.31 ARLO

25.32 LOLLIPOP

25.33 CUBO AI

25.34 CASACAM

25.35 WYZE LABS

26 REPORT SUMMARY

26.1 KEY TAKEAWAYS

26.2 STRATEGIC RECOMMENDATIONS

27 QUANTITATIVE SUMMARY

27.1 MARKET BY GEOGRAPHY

27.1.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST: REVENUE

27.1.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST: UNIT SHIPMENTS

27.2 PRODUCT

27.2.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST: REVENUE

27.2.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST: UNIT SHIPMENT

27.3 TYPE

27.3.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST: REVENUE

27.3.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST: UNIT SHIPMENT

27.4 TRANSMISSION

27.4.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST: REVENUE

27.4.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST: UNIT SHIPMENT

27.5 DISTRIBUTION

27.5.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST: REVENUE

27.5.2 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST: UNIT SHIPMENT

28 NORTH AMERICA

28.1 PRODUCT

28.1.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

28.2 TRANSMISSION

28.2.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

28.3 TYPE

28.3.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

28.4 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL

28.4.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

28.5 US - REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENT

28.5.1 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

28.5.2 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

28.5.3 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

28.5.4 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

28.6 CANADA - REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENT

28.6.1 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

28.6.2 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

28.6.3 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

28.6.4 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

29 EUROPE - REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENT

29.1 PRODUCT

29.1.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

29.2 TRANSMISSION

29.2.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

29.3 TYPE

29.3.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

29.4 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL

29.4.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

29.5 UK - REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENT

29.5.1 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

29.5.2 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

29.5.3 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

29.5.4 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

29.6 GERMANY - REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENT

29.6.1 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

29.6.2 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

29.6.3 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

29.6.4 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

29.7 FRANCE - REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENT

29.7.1 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

29.7.2 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

29.7.3 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

29.7.4 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

29.8 ITALY - REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENT

29.8.1 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

29.8.2 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

29.8.3 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

29.8.4 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

29.9 SPAIN - REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENT

29.9.1 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

29.9.2 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

29.9.3 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

29.9.4 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

29.10 NETHERLANDS - REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENT

29.10.1 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

29.10.2 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

29.10.3 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

29.10.4 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

29.11 POLAND - REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENT

29.11.1 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

29.11.2 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

29.11.3 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

29.11.4 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

30 APAC - REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENT

30.1 PRODUCT

30.1.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

30.2 TRANSMISSION

30.2.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

30.3 TYPE

30.3.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

30.4 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL

30.4.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

30.5 CHINA - REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENT

30.5.1 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

30.5.2 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

30.5.3 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

30.5.4 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

30.6 JAPAN - REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENT

30.6.1 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

30.6.2 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

30.6.3 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

30.6.4 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

30.7 AUSTRALIA - REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENT

30.7.1 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

30.7.2 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

30.7.3 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

30.7.4 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

30.8 SOUTH KOREA - REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENT

30.8.1 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

30.8.2 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

30.8.3 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

30.8.4 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

30.9 INDIA - REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENT

30.9.1 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

30.9.2 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

30.9.3 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

30.9.4 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

31 LATIN AMERICA

31.1 PRODUCT

31.1.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

31.2 TRANSMISSION

31.2.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

31.3 TYPE

31.3.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

31.4 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL

31.4.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

31.5 BRAZIL - REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENT

31.5.1 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

31.5.2 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

31.5.3 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

31.5.4 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

31.6 MEXICO - REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENT

31.6.1 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

31.6.2 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

31.6.3 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

31.6.4 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

31.7 ARGENTINA - REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENT

31.7.1 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

31.7.2 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

31.7.3 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

31.7.4 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

31.8 REST OF LATIN AMERICA - REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENT

31.8.1 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

31.8.2 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

31.8.3 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

31.8.4 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

32 MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA

32.1 PRODUCT

32.1.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

32.2 TRANSMISSION

32.2.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

32.3 TYPE

32.3.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

32.4 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL

32.4.1 MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

32.5 SAUDI ARABIA - REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENT

32.5.1 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

32.5.2 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

32.5.3 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

32.5.4 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

32.6 SOUTH AFRICA - REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENT

32.6.1 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

32.6.2 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

32.6.3 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

32.6.4 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

32.7 UAE - REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENT

32.7.1 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

32.7.2 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

32.7.3 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

32.7.4 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

32.8 TURKEY - REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENT

32.8.1 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

32.8.2 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

32.8.3 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

32.8.4 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

32.9 EGYPT - REVENUE & UNIT SHIPMENT

32.9.1 PRODUCT: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

32.9.2 TRANSMISSION: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

32.9.3 TYPE: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

32.9.4 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: MARKET SIZE & FORECAST

33 APPENDIX

33.1 ABBREVIATIONS

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View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/according-to-arizton-more-than-32-million-units-of-baby-monitors-are-forecasted-to-be-sold-in-the-next-6-years-the-baby-monitors-market-to-reach-usd-4-billion-by-2028-301746348.html
VANCOUVER, BC, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The brain monitoring market size reached USD 5.80 Billion in 2021 and is expected to register a CAGR of 6.5% during the forecast period, according to latest analysis by Emergen Research. One key factor driving market revenue growth is increasing number of clinical trials resulting in more advanced technologies coming into the market. For instance, on 04 November 2022, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given its approval to Neurosteer's single-channel electroencephalogram (EEG) brain monitoring technology. Given the regulatory approval, a variety of therapeutic settings can now utilize the inconspicuous multi-purpose EEG System. Pharmaceutical firms are now validating the brain monitoring system through clinical trials and employing it for patient screening as well as medication efficacy testing.





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Drivers:

Demand for brain monitoring has significantly increased over the years owing to rising prevalence of traumatic brain injuries. The largest numbers as well as rates of hospitalizations and fatalities from Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) occur in individuals 75 years of age and older. Approximately 32% of TBI-related hospitalizations and 28% of TBI-related fatalities occur in this age range. Males are almost twice more probable than females to require hospitalization and are three times as probable to pass away from a TBI. Monitoring a patient with a TBI is generally done to stop further brain damage, especially cerebral ischemia.

Restraints:

There are numerous issues and difficulties facing the brain monitoring industry. High cost of brain monitoring procedures is one such factor. For instance, a form of medical imaging scan called magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) creates precise images of various bodily regions to aid in the diagnosis of illnesses. An MRI can cost anywhere between USD 400 to USD 12,000 on average, based on health insurance, region, supplementary drugs, the practitioner, and body area examined. Authorized MRIs are frequently covered by health insurance. Consumers could still have to pay for things like deductibles, coinsurance, or copays.

Growth Projections:

The brain monitoring market is expected to register a CAGR of 6.5% over the forecast period and revenue is projected to increase from USD 5.80 Billion in 2021 to USD 10.30 Billion in 2030. Tailored treatment possibilities in various diseases such as epilepsy stand as a growing opportunity for rapid development, driving demand for brain monitoring. For instance, the ongoing recording of brain activity in the clinic or at home by a new generation of long-term brain monitoring devices has the potential to significantly enhance the treatment of epilepsy patients. Researchers will eventually be able to optimize and tailor treatment for each patient using the Wyss Center's Epios system owing to new technology. On 29 September 2021, the Wyss Center announced that their Epios Cloud software has received the Class I medical device CE (Conformite Europeenne) designation. The web-based Epios Cloud program allows for the online processing, archiving, and analysis of neural signals, including the ultra-long-term information collected by a new generation of remote brain monitoring devices.

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Current Trends and Innovations:

The brain monitoring industry is undergoing gradual change as a result of new technology and innovations. For instance, in order to assess how an individual's mental health conditions change over time, researchers have created portable brain monitoring equipment. The gadget will assist in gathering and analyzing data to be used as an objective assessment of depression by utilizing a component known as electroencephalography (EEG), which analyzes patterns of electrical activity in the brain. Furthermore, on 20 October 2022, to guarantee that severely sick patients receive the best treatment possible, NCH Healthcare System announced the beginning of a new initiative called Ceribell Rapid Electroencephalogram Brain Monitoring. The Rapid EEG is an innovative early warning device that offers a significant marker for brain health. The technique was created to solve the shortcomings of traditional EEG in order to evaluate individuals at risk of seizures considerably faster.

Strategic Initiatives:

Major companies included in the market report are Natus Medical Incorporated, Nihon Kohden Corporation, Koninklijke Philips N.V., General Electric, Siemens Healthcare GmbH, Compumedics Limited, Medtronic, Edwards Lifesciences Corporation, Advanced Brain Monitoring, Inc., Dragerwerk AG & Co. KGaA.

On 03 March 2022 , a leading provider of consumer neurotechnology and meditation products, Interaxon Inc., announced the release of their VR Software Development Kit (SDK) and a new EEG headband that is compatible with all popular VR head-mounted displays (HMDs). This new headband is based on Interaxon's Muse S, their second-generation EEG meditation and sleep headband. Using their award-winning biosensing technology in VR and AR applications, Interaxon hopes to offer strategic collaboration prospects for advancements in brain health with this launch.

, a leading provider of consumer neurotechnology and meditation products, Interaxon Inc., announced the release of their VR Software Development Kit (SDK) and a new EEG headband that is compatible with all popular VR head-mounted displays (HMDs). This new headband is based on Interaxon's Muse S, their second-generation EEG meditation and sleep headband. Using their award-winning biosensing technology in VR and AR applications, Interaxon hopes to offer strategic collaboration prospects for advancements in brain health with this launch. On 14 November 2022 , in order to develop a new method for the simultaneous brain as well as physiological measurement that can be applied outside of the lab setting, EMOTIV, a bioinformatics company that uses electroencephalography (EEG) to advance understanding of the human brain, and X-trodes, a business that provides wireless healthcare monitoring solutions to the home environment, have announced their collaboration.

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Scope of Research

Report Details Outcome Market Size in 2021 USD 5.80 Billion CAGR (2022-2030) 6.5 % Revenue Forecast to 2030 USD 10.30 Billion Base Year for Estimation 2021 Historical Data 2021-2030 Forecast Period 2022-2030 Quantitative Units Revenue in USD Million and CAGR in % from 2022 to 2030 Report Coverage Revenue forecast, company ranking, competitive landscape, growth factors, and trends Segments Covered Product, procedure, medical condition, end-use, and region Regional Scope North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa Country Scope U.S., Canada, Mexico, Germany, UK, France, Spain, BENELUX, Rest of Europe, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Rest of APAC, Brazil, Rest of LATAM, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Israel, and Rest of Middle East & Africa Key Companies Profiled Natus Medical Incorporated, NIHON KOHDEN CORPORATION, Koninklijke Philips N.V., General Electric, Siemens Healthcare GmbH, Compumedics Limited, Medtronic, Edwards Lifesciences Corporation, Advanced Brain Monitoring, Inc., Dragerwerk AG & Co. KGaA Customization Scope 10 hours of free customization and expert consultation

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Emergen Research has segmented brain monitoring market on the basis of product, procedure, medical condition, end-use, and region:

Product Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion; 2019-2030)

MRI Scanners



CT Scanners



EEG Devices



PET Scanners



Sleep Monitoring Devices



Cerebral Oximeters



EMG Devices



ICP Monitors



MEG Devices



TCD Devices



Accessories



Electrodes





Wet Electrodes







Dry Electrodes







Needle Electrodes





Sensors





Pastes & Gels





Caps





Batteries





Cables





Others



Others

Procedure Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion; 2019-2030)

Invasive



Non-Invasive

Medical Condition Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion; 2019-2030)

Traumatic Brain Injury



Stroke



Dementia



Headache Disorders



Sleep Disorders



Parkinson's Disease



Epilepsy



Huntington Disease



Others

End-Use Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion; 2019-2030)

Hospitals



Neurology Centers



Ambulatory Surgery Centers & Clinics



Diagnostic Centers



Others

Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2019 - 2030)

North America



U.S.





Canada



Europe



Germany





U.K.





France





Italy





Spain





Rest of Europe



Asia Pacific



China





Japan





South Korea





India





Australia





Rest of APAC



Latin America



Brazil





Mexico





Rest of LATAM



Middle East & Africa

&

UAE





Saudi Arabia





Africa





Rest of Middle East

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BOSTON, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Data Bridge Market Research has recently published a Report, titled, "Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Market" The report offers an extensive analysis of key growth strategies, drivers, opportunities, key segment, Porter's Five Forces analysis, and competitive landscape. The transformation in market landscape is analysed in the superior Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) market report, which is mainly observed due to the moves of key players, or brands, which include developments, product launches, joint ventures, mergers, and acquisitions that in turn change the view of the global face of the industry. Proficient and radiant forecasting techniques used in the report are identical with accuracy and correctness. The report provides classification by companies, region, type and end-use industry. While preparing Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) market research report, customer satisfaction has been kept on the utmost priority which makes clients rely on us confidently. Businesses can assertively use the data, statistics, research, and insights about the market covered in the superior market report to make decisions about business strategies and to achieve maximum return on investment (ROI).





The business process outsourcing (BPO) market is expected to gain market growth in the forecast period of 2022 to 2029. Data Bridge Market Research analyses that the market is growing with the CAGR of 7.9% in the forecast period of 2022 to 2029 and expected to reach USD 422,605.53 million by 2029. Growing necessity for business agility and scheduling multi-workflow for improving business efficiency are the prominent factors that drive growth of the market.

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Business process outsourcing (BPO) is the practice of contracting or outsourcing a specific work process or processes to an external service provider for the required function. The services can include payroll, accounting, telemarketing, data recording, social media marketing, customer support, and more. BPO can be done for non-core business activities such as recruiting, managing finance and payroll, supervising procurement, and providing training among others. Business process outsourcing can be provided in various domains including human resources, sales & marketing, supply chain, finance & accounting, education & training, payment among others.

Outsourcing necessary processes such as recruiting, accounts payable, managing procurement, or various utility bill processing help take care of important yet repetitive tasks that need to perform very frequently or on daily basis and need freeing your internal resources to focus on your core competency. As organizations streamline and improve their services or products, they can gain business and scale up their operations, which then help them to increase their revenue.

Key Market Players:

IBM Corporation,

Cognizant,

Capgemini,

Genpact,

ADP, Inc.,

Wipro Limited,

Accenture,

Tata Consultancy Services Limited,

HCL Technologies Limited,

NTT DATA, Inc.,

WNS (Holdings) Ltd.,

NCR Corporation,

Tech Mahindra Limited.,

Infosys Limited,

Triniter,

Concentrix Corporation,

TTEC,

SunTec Web Services Pvt. Ltd.,

Invensis Technologies Pvt. Ltd.,

Plaxonic Technologies,

Sodexo,

ExlService Holdings, Inc. and Affiliates,

AMDOCS,

CBRE,

Unity Communications,

eNoah,

Helpware and Octopus Tech, and

Conduent Inc. among others.

We can add or profile new company as per client need in the report. Final confirmation to be provided by research team depending upon the difficulty of survey.

For instance,

In August 2020 , Concentrix Corporation, has come up with advanced biometric solution SecureCX, the CX BPO industry's newest Work-at-Home (WAH) platform, which will provide next generation security features for Work-at-home environments. With this new launch company has expanded and enhanced their solution offerings.

, Concentrix Corporation, has come up with advanced biometric solution SecureCX, the CX BPO industry's newest Work-at-Home (WAH) platform, which will provide next generation security features for Work-at-home environments. With this new launch company has expanded and enhanced their solution offerings. In November 2020 , Conduent, Inc. announced an agreement with Vaya Health to simplify and manage care organizations to benefit the Medicaid recipients in North Carolina . The preparations allowed over here required to coordinate payment of benefits with prepaid health plans (PHPs). The partnership has strengthened the revenue sector for the company delivering more profit for the organization.

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Critical Insights Related to the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Included in the Report:

Exclusive graphics and Illustrative SWOT analysis of some of the leading companies in this market

Value chain analysis of prominent players in the market

Current trends influencing the dynamics of this market across various geographies

Recent mergers, acquisitions, collaborations, and partnerships

Revenue growth of this industry over the forecast period

Marketing strategy study and growth trends

Growth driven factor analysis

Emerging recess segments and region-wise market

An empirical evaluation of the curve of this market

Ancient, Present, and Probable scope of the market from both prospect value and volume

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Market Segmentation:

On the basis of outsourcing type, global business process outsourcing (BPO) market is segmented into offshore, nearshore and onshore. In 2022, offshore segment dominates the overall market with largest market share owing to the factor such as proper communication skills requirement, quality service and others.

On the basis of service, global business process outsourcing (BPO) market is segmented into voice processing, telemarketing services, 3D visualization services, image edition services, virtual staffing services and others. In 2022, voice processing segment augments the market with largest market share due to the due to rapidly growing customer support based industries among others

On the basis of application, global business process outsourcing (BPO) market is segmented into human resource, sales & marketing, finance & accounting, procurement & supply chain, facilities & administrations, customer care, training, product engineering and others. In 2022, customer care segment held the largest share due to rising need of technical assistance amongst varied industries.

On the basis of deployment mode, global business process outsourcing (BPO) market is segmented into on premise and cloud. In 2022, cloud segment will dominate the market as due to cost reduction feature and efficient scalability.

On the basis of organization size, the global business process outsourcing (BPO) market is segmented into large enterprises and SMEs. In 2022, large enterprise segment is dominating the market owing to the several factors such as flexible staffing solutions, comprehensive service offering and others.

On the basis of ownership, the global business process outsourcing (BPO) market is segmented into third party and captive. In 2022, captive segment augments the market with largest market share due to long term commitment and optimum level of control.

On the basis of outsourcing approach, the global business process outsourcing (BPO) market is segmented into best-shore, bundled services, contract based and fee for services. In 2022, contract based segment holds the largest market share owing to the rising need of higher work flexibility in the market.

On the basis of end-user, the global business process outsourcing (BPO) market is segmented into BFSI, IT & telecom, healthcare, manufacturing, retail & ecommerce, government & defense, transportation & logistics, travel & hospitality, education, energy & utilities and others. In 2022, IT and telecommunication segment dominates the overall market owing to rising number of IT services companies.

Read Detailed about This Research Study @ https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/global-business-process-outsourcing-market

Regional Analysis/Insights: Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Market

The countries covered in business process outsourcing (BPO) market report are U.S., Canada, Mexico, Germany, France, U.K., Italy, Spain, Russia, Turkey, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Rest of Europe, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Rest of Asia-Pacific, South Africa, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, U.A.E, Israel, Rest of Middle East & Africa.

The U.S. accounted for the largest market share for the business process outsourcing (BPO) offsource segment due to the growing adoption of offshoring in developing countries due to low labor costs. The U.K. accounted for the largest market share in Europe due to the increasing business agility in every organisation. However, Japan accounted for the largest market share in Asia-Pacific owing to lower labour costs and enhancing business process efficiency.

The country section of the report also provides individual market impacting factors and changes in regulation in the market domestically that impacts the current and future trends of the market. Data points such as new sales, replacement sales, country demographics, regulatory acts and import-export tariffs are some of the major pointers used to forecast the market scenario for individual countries. Also, presence and availability of global brands and their challenges faced due to large or scarce competition from local and domestic brands, impact of sales channels are considered while providing forecast analysis of the country data.

Table of Contents:

1. Introduction

2. Market Segmentation

3. Executive Summary

4. Premium Insights

5.Global Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Market: Regulations

6. Market Overview

7. Global Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Market, By Outsourcing Type

8. Global Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Market, By Service

9. Global Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Market, By Deployment Model

10. Global Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Market, By Application

11. Global Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Market, By Organization Size

12. Global Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Market, By Outsourcing Approach

13. Global Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Market, By End-User

14. Global Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Market, By Region

15. Global Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Market: Company Landscape

16. SWOT Analyses

17. Company Profile

18. Questionnaires

19. Related Reports

To check the complete Table of Contents, click here @ https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/toc/?dbmr=global-business-process-outsourcing-market

Customization Options

All segmentation provided above in this report is represented at country level and can be customized according to needs.

All products covered in the market, product volume and average selling prices will be included as customizable options which may incur no or minimal additional cost (depends on customization).

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Global supply chain volatility now at its lowest level since September 2020

Item shortages continue to ease; transportation costs normalize; and businesses unwind safety stocks

Businesses continue to reduce input purchases, with demand downturn the most severe in North America

CLARK, N.J., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The GEP Global Supply Chain Volatility Index - a leading indicator tracking demand conditions, shortages, transportation costs, inventories and backlogs - fell to 0.97 in January, from 1.61 in December, showing that global supply chains continue to improve and are the least stressed since September 2020.

January's data shows that item shortages are at their lowest in over two years; transport costs have broadly normalized; and companies are making progress in unwinding their inventory and safety stock buffers, which have been built up significantly in the past few years.

However, GEP's Index shows that January is the seventh straight month of depressed global demand for the raw materials, commodities and other components needed to provide finished goods and services. Demand is the lowest in North America, signalling a persistent recession risk.

Commenting on the latest results, Mike Jette, GEP's vice president of consulting, said: "Though supplier capacity does remain somewhat stretched, we are much closer to normal operating conditions across the world's supply chains. The concern going forward is continuing weakness in demand, but it provides corporate procurement with significant leverage to secure better pricing and favorable terms."

The key findings from January's report:

DEMAND : Global demand for components, raw materials, commodities and items companies require to provide goods and services remains subdued, resulting in low new order intakes at suppliers. Suppliers to North America continue to report the strongest drop in demand. In contrast, input demand across Asia is less suppressed following the relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions in China .



: Global demand for components, raw materials, commodities and items companies require to provide goods and services remains subdued, resulting in low new order intakes at suppliers. Suppliers to continue to report the strongest drop in demand. In contrast, input demand across is less suppressed following the relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions in . INVENTORIES : Global business reports of safety stockpiling are back down as concerns over future supply and pricing ease.



: Global business reports of safety stockpiling are back down as concerns over future supply and pricing ease. LABOR SHORTAGES: Labor shortages are having less of an adverse effect on supplier capacity.



Labor shortages are having less of an adverse effect on supplier capacity. MATERIAL SHORTAGES: Business reports of item shortages are at their lowest since October 2020 as global supply and demand forces rebalance.



Business reports of item shortages are at their lowest since as global supply and demand forces rebalance. TRANSPORTATION: Global transportation costs are normalizing as pressures on shipping, rail, air and road freight soften.





Global transportation costs are normalizing as pressures on shipping, rail, air and road freight soften. REGIONAL SUPPLY CHAIN VOLATILITY: Europe remains the greatest pinch-point for suppliers. Supply chains connected to North America are the least stretched globally.









Note: Full historic data going back to January 2005 is available; please contact economics@spglobal.com.

About The GEP Global Supply Chain Volatility Index

The GEP Global Supply Chain Volatility Index is produced by S&P Global and GEP. The GEP Global Supply Chain Volatility Index is derived from S&P Global's PMI surveys, sent to companies in over 40 countries, totaling around 27,000 companies. These countries account for 89% of global gross domestic product (Source: World Bank World Development Indicators).

The headline figure is the GEP Global Supply Chain Volatility Index. This a weighted sum of six sub-indices derived from PMI data, PMI Comments Trackers and PMI Commodity Price & Supply Indicators compiled by S&P Global.

The GEP Global Supply Chain Volatility Index is calculated using a weighted sum of the z-scores of the six indices. Weights are determined by analyzing the impact each component has on suppliers' delivery times through regression analysis.

The six variables used are 1) JP Morgan Global Quantity of Purchases Index, 2) All Items Supply Shortages Indicator, 3) Transport Price Pressure Indicator, and Manufacturing PMI Comments Tracker data for 4) stockpiling due to supply or price concerns, and backlogs rising due to 5) staff shortages and 6) item shortages.

A value above 0 indicates that supply chain capacity is being stretched and supply chain volatility is increasing. The further above 0, the greater the extent to which capacity is being stretched.

A value below 0 indicates that supply chain capacity is being underutilized, reducing supply chain volatility. The further below 0, the greater the extent to which capacity is being underutilized.

A Supply Chain Volatility Index is also published at a regional level for Europe, Asia, North America and the UK. The regional indices measure the performance of supply chains connected to those parts of the world.

For more information on PMI surveys, PMI Comments Trackers and PMI Commodity Price & Supply Indicators, or the GEP Supply Chain Volatility Index methodologies, please contact economics@spglobal.com.

About GEP

GEP delivers transformative supply chain solutions that help global enterprises become more agile and resilient, operate more efficiently and effectively, gain competitive advantage, boost profitability and increase shareholder value. Fresh thinking, innovative products, unrivaled domain expertise, smart, passionate people - this is how GEP SOFTWARE, GEP STRATEGY and GEP MANAGED SERVICES together deliver supply chain solutions of unprecedented scale, power and effectiveness. Our customers are the world's best companies, including more than 550 Fortune 500 and Global 2000 industry leaders who rely on GEP to meet ambitious strategic, financial and operational goals. A leader in multiple Gartner Magic Quadrants, GEP's cloud-native software and digital business platforms consistently win awards and recognition from industry analysts, research firms and media outlets, including Gartner, Forrester, IDC, ISG, and Spend Matters. GEP is also regularly ranked a top supply chain consulting and strategy firm, and a leading managed services provider by ALM, Everest Group, NelsonHall, IDC, ISG and HFS, among others. Headquartered in Clark, New Jersey, GEP has offices and operations centers across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. To learn more, visit www.gep.com.

About S&P Global

S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI) S&P Global provides essential intelligence. We enable governments, businesses and individuals with the right data, expertise and connected technology so that they can make decisions with conviction. From helping our customers assess new investments to guiding them through ESG and energy transition across supply chains, we unlock new opportunities, solve challenges and accelerate progress for the world.

We are widely sought after by many of the world's leading organizations to provide credit ratings, benchmarks, analytics and workflow solutions in the global capital, commodity and automotive markets. With every one of our offerings, we help the world's leading organizations plan for tomorrow, today.

About PMI

Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) surveys are now available for over 40 countries and also for key regions including the eurozone. They are the most closely watched business surveys in the world, favored by central banks, financial markets and business decision-makers for their ability to provide up-to-date, accurate and often unique monthly indicators of economic trends.

Media Contact



Derek Creevey

Director, Public Relations

GEP

Phone: +1 732-382-6565

Email: derek.creevey@gep.com Joe Hayes

Senior Economist

S&P Global Market Intelligence

T: +44-1344-328-099

joe.hayes@spglobal.com Katherine Smith

Corporate Communications

S&P Global Market Intelligence

T: +1 (781) 301-9311

katherine.smith@spglobal.com

Disclaimer

The intellectual property rights to the data provided herein are owned by or licensed to S&P Global and/or its affiliates. Any unauthorized use, including but not limited to copying, distributing, transmitting or otherwise of any data appearing is not permitted without S&P Global's prior consent. S&P Global shall not have any liability, duty or obligation for or relating to the content or information ("data") contained herein, any errors, inaccuracies, omissions or delays in the data, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. In no event shall S&P Global be liable for any special, incidental, or consequential damages, arising out of the use of the data. Purchasing Managers' Index and PMI are either registered trademarks of Markit Economics Limited or licensed to Markit Economics Limited and/or its affiliates.

This Content was published by S&P Global Market Intelligence and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global. Reproduction of any information, data or material, including ratings ("Content") in any form is prohibited except with the prior written permission of the relevant party. Such party, its affiliates and suppliers ("Content Providers") do not guarantee the accuracy, adequacy, completeness, timeliness or availability of any Content and are not responsible for any errors or omissions (negligent or otherwise), regardless of the cause, or for the results obtained from the use of such Content. In no event shall Content Providers be liable for any damages, costs, expenses, legal fees, or losses (including lost income or lost profit and opportunity costs) in connection with any use of the Content.





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NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / February 14, 2023 / UN Global Compact Network USA, the American chapter of the world's largest corporate sustainability initiative, today announced a new slate of board officers and the appointment of two new directors. Daniella Foster of Bayer was elected the new board chair; Ann Tracy of Colgate-Palmolive was named Secretary; and Shobha Meera of Capgemini stepped in as interim Treasurer. They will join Gayle Schueller of 3M, the Vice Chair, on the executive committee. In addition, Michael Okoroafor of McCormick & Company and Brian Tippens of Cisco, have joined the board.

Foster, an executive board member and senior vice president and global head of public affairs, science, and sustainability, and consumer health at Bayer, is in her sixth year of service to the Network USA board. She had previously served for two years as the board Secretary.

"I'm honored to be elected as the chair of Network USA and look forward to working with the entire board to advance the organization's growth," said Foster. "As one of the largest UNGC networks in the world, we have a great opportunity to help even more US companies embody and lean into the principles of the Global Compact and the Sustainable Development Goals."

Tracy is the chief sustainability officer at Colgate-Palmolive and is in her third year on the Network USA board. Meera is the chief corporate social responsibility officer at Capgemini and has served on the board for two years.

"I'm confident that Ann will do a great job in her new role as Secretary, and I thank Shobha for stepping up to fill the Treasurer's position," said Foster. "Adding Brian and Michael to our board will only strengthen us in the years ahead, as they both bring great experience from their careers leading corporate sustainability programs and are passionate about the work of the Global Compact."

Okoroafor is the chief sustainability officer at McCormick, a global leader in flavor that manufactures, markets, and distributes spices, seasonings, condiments, and other flavor products to the entire food industry. He has spearheaded the company's Purpose-led Performance journey and its inclusion on several well-known indices and lists, including the Corporate Knights Global 100 Sustainability Index, where McCormick has been ranked as the top company in the food industry for the past seven years; the FTSE4Good Index Series; and Fortune's 2022 Change the World list. Additionally, Okoroafor has helped McCormick obtain recognition as one of America's Most JUST Companies by JUST Capital. In 2020, he was named an Environment & Energy (E&E) Leader 100 honoree. In 2023, he will receive a Maryland International Business Leader Award for his work to promote Maryland as a global business hub. Okoroafor also serves on the board of Charter Next Generation and AMERIPEN (American Institute for Packaging and the Environment.) He previously served in various leadership roles at PPG, Coca-Cola, and Heinz.

Tippens is in his first year at Cisco, an American-based multinational digital communications technology corporation. He serves as Cisco's senior vice president and chief social impact officer. He is a World Economic Forum contributor and a member of the Executive Leadership Council. He previously served as chief sustainability officer at HPE and was president of the HPE Foundation. Earlier in Tippens' career, he worked in the legal group at Intel.

In addition to the four executive committee members, Okoroafor and Tippens join Jennifer Leitsch of EY and Eunice Heath of CRH as current Network USA board directors.

Network USA currently has more than 900 signatory participants and works with them to identify sustainability challenges and opportunities, provide practical guidance, and promote action to support broader UN goals. It works closely with the UN Global Compact Office to ensure that its members have access to all programs and learning tools to help them make progress against the Ten Principles and SDGs.

About the United Nations Global Compact

As a unique initiative of the UN Secretary-General, the United Nations Global Compact calls for companies everywhere to align their operations and strategies with the Ten Principles in human rights, labor, environment, and anti-corruption. Our ambition is to accelerate and scale the collective global impact of business by upholding the Ten Principles and delivering Sustainable Development Goals through accountable companies and ecosystems that enable change. With more than 17,000 companies and 3,000 non-business signatories based in over 160 countries, and 69 Local Networks, the UN Global Compact is the world's largest corporate sustainability initiative - one Global Compact uniting businesses for a better world. For more information, follow @globalcompactusa on social media and visit our website at https://www.globalcompactusa.org/.

Contact:

Noah A. Smith

UN Global Compact Network USA

+1 917-868-9320

noah@globalcompactusa.org

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from United Nations Global Compact on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: United Nations Global Compact

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/united-nations-global-compact

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: United Nations Global Compact

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South Africa: Outrage over rape, murder of seven-year-old girl

KwaZulu-Natal Social Development MEC, Nonhlanhla Khoza, has expressed outrage at the rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl in Umthwalume on the South Coast of the province.

According to the reports, the girl, Emihle Vuyo Nyawose, was sent to a nearby store, but never returned home.

The suspect, who had previously asked the child for money, was reportedly the last person seen with the deceased.

After questioning, the suspect confessed to raping and killing the child by twisting her neck before burying her in a shallow grave in a nearby forest.

Khoza described the extent of brutality against the innocent child as a barbaric act of a heartless criminal.

"It is disheartening to learn about such brutality against a child. The child was robbed of her life by a person who was supposed to protect her.

The suspect betrayed the child's trust and that of the family, and we have full confidence in the court to give him a harsh sentence for his cruelty and barbaric act," Khoza said.

Khoza expressed her condolences to the victim's family, and commended the swift action by the police, who arrested a suspect linked to the brutal crime.

A team of social workers has since been dispatched to provide psycho-social support, trauma debriefing, and trauma containment to the family.

The suspect is expected to appear in court shortly, and Khoza has assured the public that the police would work tirelessly to ensure justice is served.

The MEC has also urged parents to work together to ensure that their children always play within their sight

As parents, it is our responsibility to keep our children safe at all times. We must never send children on errands on their own, as there is an increase in abduction incidents, which are a reminder of the dangers that exist in our communities.

Every child has a right to a safe and secure childhood, free from harm and abuse. As society, it is our duty to affirm and protect these rights, ensuring that every child can reach their full potential and live a happy and fulfilling life," Khoza said.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2023-02-14. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
China's renewable energy industry continues to lead globally: official

Xinhua) 08:46, February 14, 2023

Staff members work at the construction site of a one million kilowatts photovoltaic project in Gonghe County of Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China's Qinghai Province, June 8, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhang Long)

BEIJING, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- China's renewable energy industry continued to lead globally in 2022, National Energy Administration official Wang Dapeng said on Monday.

China-made photovoltaic modules, wind turbines, gear boxes and other key components accounted for 70 percent of the global market share last year, Wang said at a press conference.

"The center of gravity of the global new energy industry is shifting further to China," he said.

China's renewable energy development has made positive contributions to global emissions reduction.

In 2022, China's renewable energy generation was equivalent to a reduction of 2.26 billion tonnes of domestic carbon dioxide emissions. China's exports of wind power and photovoltaic products helped other countries reduce emissions by approximately 573 million tonnes.

The two figures added up to 2.83 billion tonnes of emissions, or about 41 percent of the world's total carbon emissions reduction converted from renewable energy, data from the administration shows.

"China has become an active participant and important contributor in the global fight against climate change," Wang said.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
KELOWNA, BC / ACCESSWIRE / February 14, 2023 / Wine Growers British Columbia (WGBC), in partnership with the British Columbia Grapegrowers' Association (BCGA), British Columbia Wine Grape Council (BCWGC), and the British Columbia Wine Authority (BCWA) will host the fifth annual BC Wine Industry Insight Conference as an in-person event Tuesday, March 7, in Penticton, BC. This year's theme, Forward Momentum in the BC Wine Industry, offers attendees an expert line-up of speakers, presentations, and workshops on vital topics of interest encompassing all aspects of the BC wine industry.

"Wine Growers BC is pleased to once again collaborate with industry association partners to provide a forum where industry can gather as a community to discuss important topics and issues, learn new tools and techniques relevant to the success of their business, and network with other professionals," says Miles Prodan, CEO & President, Wine Growers British Columbia, "This year's conference will follow a new format of breakout sessions focusing on three tracks: Marketing and Sales, Business and Leadership, and Viticulture and Oenology."

The morning agenda features association updates and keynote speaker sessions highlighting industry-wide trends, opportunities, and challenges. Speakers include:

Luis Osorio, on BC's Position in the Canadian Wine Marketplace

Maya Lange, on BC Tourism Insights & Strategies for Success on the Global Stage

Renu Bains, on BC Wine Retail Sales Trends

Dr. Micah Hewer on Climate Change and the BC Wine Industry

Following lunch, conference attendees build their own program, choosing from three tracks of break-out sessions:

BC Wine Industry Insight Conference

Tuesday, March 7 - 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM

Penticton Lakeside Resort & Conference Centre

Ticket pricing: $85 per guest

*Includes lunch, coffee, and snacks

Following the conference, attendees are invited to network, and raise a glass of BC wine together at the BC Wine Soiree.

"We look forward to delivering an exciting conference agenda designed to bring industry together and strengthen our common goal of the long-term success of 100% BC wine," says Prodan.

To register for the BC Wine Industry Insight Conference, and view full agenda details, visit WineBC.com/Industry .

-End-

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Wine Growers British Columbia

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Kelowna, British Columbia V1Y 9R9

ABOUT WINE GROWERS BRITISH COLUMBIA

Since 1990, Wine Growers British Columbia (WGBC) has played a pivotal role in taking BC's wine industry from a vision to an internationally recognized niche region producing premium wines and providing exceptional wine tourism experiences. WGBC markets the wine and regions of BC; delivers quality trade, media and consumer tastings; and acts as the voice of BC's wine industry by advocating to government on behalf of industry that contributes $3.75 billion in provincial economic growth annually.

WGBC represents all wineries in British Columbia to grow the premium market share for the Wines of British Columbia, while driving awareness of our world-class wines and tourism - as of 2019 drawing 1,191,500 visitors with $783.7million in tourism and tourism employment related economic impact on an annual basis.

Learn more at WineBC.com, connect with us @WinesofBC on Facebook, @WinesofBC on Instagram, and @BCWine on Twitter.

ABOUT BRITISH COLUMBIA WINE GRAPE COUNCIL

ABOUT BRITISH COLUMBIA GRAPEGROWERS' ASSOCIATION

ABOUT BRITISH COLUMBIA WINE AUTHORITY

SOURCE: Wine Growers British Columbia

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Global healthcare and business consulting services provider Terebellum is launching a brand-new monthly Specialty Pharmaceutical Pulse insights bulletin in the UK.

The incisive look into developments in Specialty Pharmacy Terebellum's key area of focus will be distributed to industry leaders and featured on the Terebellum website.

Features will include clinical content and updates on drug launches, latest industry information on Specialty Pharmacy and treatment for rare diseases, and patient advocacy efforts.

Terebellum is the UK and Ireland-based subsidiary of leading global Specialty Pharmacy and healthcare services provider AscellaHealth.

It is dedicated to advancing life sciences with consultancy services including purchasing support, market access expertise, supply chain logistics, distribution and pharmaceutical financial solutions targeted to reduce costs and enhance clinical outcomes.

AscellaHealth's successful US bulletin was launched in September 2021 and currently provides timely advice, insight and updates to 17,000 industry stakeholders across North America. It includes regular articles from Optime Care, its US-based subsidiary and specialty pharmacy/patient management organisation and other partners.

Content includes links to industry-leading events, podcasts and webinars. Recent topics focus on improving the path to diagnosis and treatment for individuals living with rare disease, and how a patient-first approach is the first step in addressing health inequities.

Terebellum managing director Craig Caceci said: "Our bulletins will share the latest information and analysis of Specialty Pharmacy, including innovative programmes and services while addressing market challenges.

"The insight has been incredibly well-received in the US, and we are delighted to now be launching this industry development update to the UK specialty pharmacy and rare disease market, to support advancements in the sector and enhance patient outcomes."

To sign up to receive the Specialty Pharmaceutical Pulse bulletin, click here.

About Terebellum

Terebellum is an Ireland and UK based subsidiary of AscellaHealth representing our global footprint throughout Europe. Our premier group purchasing services, market access expertise, supply chain logistics, and unique pharmaceutical financial solutions, targeted to life sciences partners and other industry stakeholders ensure optimal cost savings and enhanced clinical outcomes. Terebellum's leadership team has the extensive expertise needed to provide a consultative approach for branded specialty products to be brought to market successfully. Visit www.terebellumltd.com

About The AscellaHealth Family of Companies

The AscellaHealth Family of Companies, comprised of AscellaHealth and subsidiaries Optime Care and Terebellum, is a global healthcare and specialty pharmacy solutions organisation serving specialty and rare disease patients, healthcare organisations, life sciences manufacturers and providers with solutions addressing the unmet needs in this dynamic marketplace. A unique patient-first mission and dedication to improved medication access and outcomes are woven throughout integrated end-to-end solutions that span the entire pharmaceutical lifecycle and beyond. Visit www.AscellaHealth.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230214005734/en/

Contacts:

Media enquiries



Joanna Marshall, Senior Consultant, Viva PR.

Tel: +44 (0) 1706 214340 Mob: +44 (0) 7540 634815 Email: joanna@vivapr.co.uk



Marketing enquiries



Darcey McDermott, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, AscellaHealth. Email: Darcey.mcdermott@ascellahealth.com
Finsbury Growth & Income Trust Plc - Transaction in Own Shares

For immediate release

14 February 2023

FINSBURY GROWTH & INCOME TRUST PLC

(the "Company")

MARKET PURCHASE OF COMPANY'S OWN SHARES

The Company announces that it has today purchased 45,000 of its own shares ("Ordinary Shares") at a price of 882.47 pence per Ordinary Share. Such shares will be held in treasury by the Company.

The transaction was made pursuant to the authority granted at the Annual General Meeting of the Company held on 17 January 2023.

Following this transaction, the total number of Ordinary Shares held by the Company in treasury is 14,579,577; the total number of Ordinary Shares that the Company has in issue, less the total number of Ordinary Shares held by the Company in treasury following such purchase, and therefore, the total number of voting rights in the Company is 210,411,726.

The figure of 210,411,726 may be used by shareholders as the denominator for calculations of interests in the Company's voting rights in accordance with the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

For and on behalf of

Frostrow Capital LLP

Company Secretary

For further information, please contact:

Victoria Hale

Frostrow Capital LLP

Tel: 020 3 170 8732
CHICAGO, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Lateral Flow Assays industry is expected to grow significantly in the near future due to the increasing demand for rapid, portable, and easy-to-use diagnostic tests. Lateral flow assays have already proven to be valuable in a variety of applications, including medical diagnostics, food safety testing, environmental monitoring, and drug testing, among others. Advances in technology and the development of new and more sensitive detection methods are likely to further improve the performance and accuracy of lateral flow assays, making them even more versatile and useful in the years to come.





Lateral Flow Assays Market in terms of revenue was estimated to be worth $20.5 billion in 2022 and is poised to reach $22.6 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 2.0% from 2022 to 2027 according to a new report by MarketsandMarkets. The increasing demand of lateral flow assays due to increase in prevalence of infectious disease, increasing number of geriatric populations in many countries, and rising use of home-based lateral flow assay devices are the major factors driving the growth of this market. On the other hand, reluctance among doctors and patients to change existing diagnostic procedures and the low accuracy of lateral flow assays are the key restraints.

Download an Illustrative overview: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=167205133

Browse in-depth TOC on "Lateral Flow Assays Market"

366 - Tables

58 - Figures

374 - Pages

Lateral Flow Assays Market Scope:

Report Coverage Details Market Revenue in 2022 $20.5 billion Estimated Value by 2027 $22.6 billion Growth Rate Poised to grow at a CAGR of 2.0% Market Size Available for 2020-2027 Forecast Period 2022-2027 Forecast Units Value (USD Billion) Report Coverage Revenue Forecast, Competitive Landscape, Growth Factors, and Trends Segments Covered By Product type, Application type, Technique type, Sample type, End User and Region Geographies Covered North America

US



Canada

Europe

Germany



France



UK



Italy



Spain



Rest of Europe

Asia Pacific

Japan



China



India



Australia



Rest of APAC

Latin America

Brazil



Mexico



Rest of LATAM



Middle East and Africa Report Highlights Updated financial information / product portfolio of players Key Market Opportunities Omicron, new variant of concern, offers growth opportunities for players in lateral flow assays market Key Market Drivers Growing demand for point-of care testing

In this report, the lateral flow assays market is segmented on the basis of product type, application type, technique type, sample type, end user, and region.

"Lateral Flow Readers segment is expected to witness the fastest growth during the forecast period"

Based on product type, the lateral flow assays market is segmented into kits & reagents and lateral flow readers. During the forecast period, this segment is expected to witness the fastest growth during the forecast period. The factors responsible for the growth of this segment are increasing demand of quantitative analysis of clinical sample.

"Veterinary Diagnostics segment accounted for the second largest share of lateral flow assays market in 2021"

Based on applications, the lateral flow assays market is segmented into clinical testing, veterinary diagnostics, food safety & environmental testing, and drug development & quality testing. The veterinary diagnostics segment accounted for the second largest share of the lateral flow assays market in 2021. The possibility of infectious disease outbreaks (particularly in large livestock animals) is driving the demand for lateral flow tests due to their simplicity and rapidity compared to conventional detection methods.

"Multiplex Detection Assays technique is expected to witness the fastest growth during the forecast period"

Based on technique, the lateral flow assay kits & reagents market is segmented into competitive assays, sandwich assays, and multiplex detection assays. The multiplex detection assays technique is expected to witness the fastest growth during the forecast period. The widening scope, applications, and research on multiplex detection assays are expected to boost the growth of this segment in the forecast period.

The lateral flow assays market is segmented into five regions namely North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. Asia-Pacific is the second largest region along with fastest growing region of lateral flow assays market owing to major investments in rapid testing in this region.

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Lateral Flow Assays Market Dynamics:

Drivers:

High prevalence of infectious diseases across the globe Rapidly increasing geriatric population Growing usage of home-based lateral flow assay devices Growing demand for point-of-care testing Need for rapid diagnostic testing for COVID-19

Restraints:

Inconsistent results of lateral flow assay tests

Opportunities:

Evolving applications of lateral flow assays Rising demand for lateral flow assays in the food & beverage industry

a. Omicron - The new variant of concern is an opportunity for the lateral flow assays market

b. Government initiatives for omicron

c. Initiatives of Medical diagnostic companies for omicron

Challenges:

Limited reimbursements for lateral flow assay products Difficulties in procuring quality raw materials for the development of lateral flow assay tests

Key Market Players:

The prominent players in the global lateral flow assays market include Abbott Laboratories (US), Quidel Corporation (US), F. Hoffman-La Roche AG (Switzerland), Danaher Corporation (US), Siemens AG (Germany), BD (US), bioMerieux SA (France), Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. (US), PerkinElmer Inc. (US), Hologic Inc. (US), QIAGEN N.V. (Netherlands), and Merck KGaA (Germany).

Recent Developments:

In October 2022 , F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. ( Switzerland ) a next-generation portfolio of SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen test 2.01, SARS-CoV-2 Rapid Antigen Test 2.0 Nasal2, and SARS-CoV-2 Rapid Antigen Test 2.0 Nasal3

, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. ( ) a next-generation portfolio of SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen test 2.01, SARS-CoV-2 Rapid Antigen Test 2.0 Nasal2, and SARS-CoV-2 Rapid Antigen Test 2.0 Nasal3 In June 2021 , Abbott Laboratories (US) received the CE approval for PanBio Rapid Antigen Self-test, opening access throughout Europe to fast, reliable COVID-19 testing

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Lateral Flow Assays Market - Report Highlights:

Refinements in the segments of the lateral flow assays market

The current edition of the report consists of an updated market overview. Additional points in the market overview have been added, keeping in mind the impact of COVID-19 on the overall lateral flow assays market and economic recession impact on lateral flow assays market. Also impact of economic recession on regional market size has been considered in this edition.

Coverage of new market players in the lateral flow assays market

The new edition of the report includes profiles for Oranoxis Inc. (US), AESKU. Diagnostics Gmbh (Germany), Bio Group Medical System (Italy), Pharmact Gmbh (Germany), DIESSE Diagnostica Senese S.P.A (Italy), and Xiamen Biotime Biotechnology Co., Ltd (China).

Updated financial information/product portfolio of players

The new edition of the report provides updated financial information until 2021 for each listed company in a graphical representation as a single diagram (instead of multiple tables). This will easily help analyze the present status of profiled companies in terms of their financial strength, profitability, key revenue-generating country/region, business segment focus in terms of the highest revenue-generating segment, and R&D investments.

Updated market developments of profiled players

Recent developments are important to understand market trends and the growth strategies adopted by players. The current edition of this report provides updated developments of profiled players from January 2019 to December 2022, indicating a continuation from the previous version. Product/services launches, approvals, and upgrades, expansions, acquisitions, agreements, partnerships, and collaborations were the principal growth strategies adopted by market players in this period.

Browse Adjacent Market: Medical Devices Market Research Reports & Consulting

Related Reports:

Veterinary Diagnostics Market - Global Forecasts to 2027

Companion Animal Diagnostics Market - Global Forecasts to 2027

Immunoassay Market - Global Forecasts to 2027

Veterinary Infectious Disease Diagnostics Market - Global Forecasts to 2026

Over The Counter Test Market - Global Forecasts to 2024

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VANCOUVER, B.C., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The sleep apnea devices market size reached USD 7.00 Billion in 2021 and is expected to register a CAGR of 6.9% during the forecast period, according to latest analysis by Emergen Research. One key factor driving market revenue growth is favorable reimbursement policies. For instance, on 15 December 2022, ProSomnus, Inc., a leader in the development of precise oral appliance therapy (OAT) for the management of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), declared that Medicare would now reimburse for their ProSomnus EVO [PH] Sleep and Snore Device. Medicare Part B covers the cost of sleep apnea treatment, including equipment and doctor visits. A CPAP machine that is deemed to be medically required is partially covered by Medicare as durable medical equipment.





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Drivers:

Demand for sleep apnea devices has significantly increased over the years owing to increasing number of businesses entering the sleep apnea devices and oral applications industries. For instance, on 12 November 2020, Panthera Dental and Dentsply Sirona announced a partnership for a completely digital approach for personalized sleep devices. As a result of the partnership, dentists can now utilize the exact scans in a validated process as the basis for creating a unique Digital Sleep Apnea Device (D-SAD). Furthermore, on 04 May 2022, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) as well as other problems being addressed by Apnimed, a clinical-stage pharmaceutical business, reported that it has secured USD 62.5 million in committed capital through Series C funding.

Restraints:

There are numerous issues and difficulties facing the sleep apnea devices industry. High cost of CPAP machines and product recalls are some factors. For instance, in order to guarantee the security of medical devices, such as continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issues recall. Philips Respironics issued a voluntary recall of millions of CPAP devices in June 2021. Numerous ventilators and bilevel-positive airway pressure (BiPAP) devices used to aid with breathing were also included in the recall. A piece of foam within the gadgets could disintegrate into smaller pieces, endangering the user's health, and restraining demand for the same. Cost issues continue to be a barrier to adoption for many doctors and patients even as oral appliance treatment (OAT) gains popularity amongst sleep specialists as a reasonable alternative to CPAP for patients with mild to severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

Growth Projections:

The sleep apnea devices market is expected to register a CAGR of 6.9% over the forecast period and revenue is projected to increase from USD 7.00 Billion in 2021 to USD 12.88 Billion in 2030. A certified diagnosis could be an expensive as well as time-consuming process for the millions of individuals who are concerned they might have sleep apnea. Home-based sleep apnea testing is thus, on the rise, gradually increasing its demand. Testing for sleep apnea at home is a quick, affordable approach to determining whether one has breathing problems. It costs between a third and a fifth less than a sleep study completed in a clinic and is commonly reimbursed by insurance. Furthermore, on 10 May 2022, Sunrise, a sleep technology company located in Belgium, developed a portable, simple-to-use at-home sleep test that yields clinically appropriate results in a matter of hours, making these devices more easily available.

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Current Trends and Innovations:

The sleep apnea devices industry is undergoing gradual change as a result of new technology and innovations. The use of more efficient, simpler, and more inexpensive measures in hospital settings without impacting clinical accuracy can be made possible by technological advancements in measuring technology together with analytical approaches based on Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Recently, a variety of automated techniques for analyzing sleep records have been created, and their use in clinical settings could free up healthcare resources. This transformation will further expand into fields like Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) therapy as individuals begin to see the advantages of easily available, at-home care and monitoring.

Strategic Initiatives:

Major companies included in the market report are ResMed, Koninklijke Philips N.V., Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Limited, Inspire Medical Systems, Inc., SomnoMed.com, Oventus, Compumedics Limited, Lowenstein Medical Technology GmbH + Co. KG., Drive DeVilbiss International, and BMC.

On 18 August 2021 , new noninvasive technology was introduced by Somne to treat sleep apnea. A rather more comfortable fit than CPAP machines as well as other therapies is provided by Somne's innovative Class II medical equipment. The prototype device from Somne has recently shown great effectiveness and patient satisfaction in a human trial that was authorized by the IRB. The business wants to launch its product as early as 2024.

, new noninvasive technology was introduced by Somne to treat sleep apnea. A rather more comfortable fit than CPAP machines as well as other therapies is provided by Somne's innovative Class II medical equipment. The prototype device from Somne has recently shown great effectiveness and patient satisfaction in a human trial that was authorized by the IRB. The business wants to launch its product as early as 2024. On 13 January 2021 , Itamar Medical, a leading provider of digital health services for sleep apnea in Israel , declared the acquisition of Spry Health in an effort to broaden the scope of the conditions it can remotely monitor and manage. Itamar intends to create a wearable RPM device enabling end-to-end digital therapy for OSA patients leveraging Spry's technology.

Browse Full Report Description + Research Methodology + Table of Content + Infographics@ https://www.emergenresearch.com/industry-report/sleep-apnea-devices-market

Scope of Research

Report Details Outcome Market Size in 2021 USD 7.00 Billion CAGR (2022-2030) 6.9 % Revenue Forecast to 2030 USD 12.88 Billion Base Year for Estimation 2021 Historical Data 2021-2030 Forecast Period 2022-2030 Quantitative Units Revenue in USD Million and CAGR in % from 2022 to 2030 Report Coverage Revenue forecast, company ranking, competitive landscape, growth factors, and trends Segments Covered Type, end-use, and region Regional Scope North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa Country Scope U.S., Canada, Mexico, Germany, U.K., France, Spain, BENELUX, Rest of Europe, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Rest of APAC, Brazil, Rest of LATAM, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Israel, and Rest of Middle East & Africa Key Companies Profiled ResMed, Koninklijke Philips N.V., Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Limited, Inspire Medical Systems, Inc., SomnoMed.com, Oventus, Compumedics Limited, Lowenstein Medical Technology GmbH + Co. KG., Drive DeVilbiss International, and BMC Customization Scope 10 hours of free customization and expert consultation

Custom Requirements can be requested for this Report [Customization Available] @ https://www.emergenresearch.com/request-for-customization/1562

Emergen Research has segmented sleep apnea devices market on the basis of type, end-use, and region:

Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion; 2019-2030)

Therapeutic Devices



Positive Airway Pressure Devices





Automatic Positive Airway Pressure Devices







Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Devices







Bilevel Positive Airway Pressure Devices





Facial Interfaces





Masks







Full-Face Masks









Nasal Pillow Masks









Nasal Masks







Cushions





Accessories





Oral Applications





Mandibular Advancement Devices







Tonge-Retaining Devices





Adaptive Servo-Ventilators





Others



Diagnostic Devices



Polysomnography Devices





Ambulatory PSG Devices







Clinical PSG Devices





Home Sleep Testing Devices





Oximeters





Fingertip Oximeters







Handheld Oximeters







Wrist-Worn Oximeters







Tabletop Oximeters





Actigraphy Systems





Sleep Screening Devices

End-Use Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion; 2019-2030)

Sleep Laboratories & Hospitals



Home Care Settings/Individuals

Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2019 - 2030)

North America



U.S.





Canada



Europe



Germany





U.K.





France





Italy





Spain





Rest of Europe



Asia Pacific



China





Japan





South Korea





India





Australia





Rest of APAC



Latin America



Brazil





Mexico





Rest of LATAM



Middle East & Africa

&

UAE





Saudi Arabia





Africa





Rest of Middle East

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NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / February 14, 2023 / Just a few months after breaking ground in July 2022, Chevron's Hayhurst Solar Power Facility is taking shape. A joint venture with Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp., the solar field is closer to powering our Permian Basin operations with renewable energy.

Colin Parfitt (right), Chevron's vice president of Midstream, speaks with Joe Constante (left), a participant on a recent tour of the solar field.

why it matters

By using solar energy, we can decrease the carbon intensity of our operations while freeing up energy from the grid. The 120-acre solar array is capable of generating 20 megawatts of energy per day and will help power our Hayhurst, New Mexico-area operations.

"We are working to further reduce the carbon intensity of our operations by deploying renewable power to support Chevron's operations in the Permian." allen satterwhite president of chevron pipeline and power

rewind

The New Mexico Land Office awarded Chevron and Algonquin a lease for the site earlier this year.

"The increased interest in use of renewable energy in extractive industries further proves the reliability and cost-effectiveness of solar energy and why increasing our renewable energy output in New Mexico is critical to the long-term health of our land and state," said Stephanie Garcia Richard, state commissioner of public lands.

what's next

The expansive solar array is expected to be completed by the end of 2022. Once it's up and running, Algonquin will operate the facility, and we will purchase the solar energy from them.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Chevron Corporation on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Chevron Corporation

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/chevron-corporation

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Chevron Corporation

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/739343/Solar-Energy-Field-Takes-Shape
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 14, 2023) - Renforth Resources (CSE: RFR) is pleased to announce that the company is presenting a live virtual corporate update hosted by Red Cloud Financial Services on February 15th, 2023 at 2:00 pm ET.

We invite our shareholders, and all interested parties to register for the webinar and participate in the live Q&A session at the end of the presentation moderated by Red Cloud.

The replay will be emailed out to all webinar registrants proceeding the event and will also be available on the Red Cloud website.

For more information and to register: https://redcloudfs.com/rcwebinar-cse/.

Join Nicole to hear the latest on Renforth's Surimeau property and its developing large scale, low grade battery metals systems with surface mineralization, road access and hydroelectrical power on the property in Quebec, contiguous to the Canadian Malartic open pit mine, a good precented for Renforth's uninhabited Surimeau's future development.

Commodities to be covered: Ni, Co, Zn, Cu, Ag, Au

About Renforth Resources

About RenforthRenforth is focused on Quebec's newest battery metals district, our wholly owned ~330 km2 Surimeau District Property, which hosts several known areas of polymetallic "battery metals" mineralization, each with various levels of exploration, as well as a significant amount of unexplored ground. Victoria West has been drilled over a strike length of 2.2km, within a 5km long mineralized structure, proving nickel, copper, zinc and cobalt mineralization, in the western end of a 20km magnetic anomaly. The Huston target, during initial reconnaissance, resulted in a grab sample grading 1.9% Ni, 1.38% Cu, 1170 ppm Co and 4 g/t Ag. Additionally, the Lalonde, Surimeau and Colonie Targets are all polymetallic mineralized occurrences which, along with various gold showings, comprise the areas of potential of this NSR free property.In addition to the Surimeau District battery metals property Renforth wholly owns the Parbec Gold deposit, a surface gold deposit contiguous to the Canadian Malartic Mine property in Malartic, Quebec. In 2020/21 Renforth completed 15,569m of drilling which successfully twinned certain historic holes, filled in gaps in the resource model with newly discovered gold mineralization and extended mineralization deeper. Based upon the success of this significant drill program the Company considers the spring 2020 MRE, with a resource estimate of 104,000 indicated ounces of gold at a grade of 1.78 g/t Au and 177,000 inferred ounces of gold at a grade of 1.78 g/t Au to be out of date. With the new data gained Renforth will undertake to complete the first ever structural study of the mineralization at Parbec, as well as additional total metallic assay work in order to better contextualize the nugget effect on the gold mineralization.Renforth also holds the Nixon-Bartleman property, west of Timmins Ontario, with gold present on surface over a strike length of ~500m.

About Red Cloud Financial Services Inc.

Red Cloud Financial Services Inc. is a comprehensive capital markets platform that provides a full range of unconflicted corporate access and media related services. Offering these services as a unified platform provides the ultimate value proposition for junior resources companies in their efforts to broaden their capital markets presence.

About Red Cloud Securities Inc.

Red Cloud Securities Inc. is an IIROC-regulated investment dealer focused on providing unique comprehensive capital market services and innovative financing alternatives to the junior resource sector. The company was founded by capital markets professionals with extensive experience in the junior mining industry.

For further information:

Renforth Resources

Nicole Brewster, President and CEO

4168181393

nicole@renforthresources.com

For additional information contact marketing@redcloudfs.com or visit:

www.redcloudfs.com

www.facebook.com/RedCloudFinancialServices

www.twitter.com/RedCloudFS

www.linkedin.com/company/red-cloud-financial-services-inc

www.youtube.com/c/RedCloudFinancialServicesInc

www.instagram.com/redcloudfs
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 14, 2023) - F3 Uranium Corp. (TSXV: FUU) is pleased to announce that the company is presenting a live virtual corporate update hosted by Red Cloud Financial Services on February 16th, 2023 at 11:AM ET.

We invite our shareholders, and all interested parties to register for the webinar and participate in the live Q&A session at the end of the presentation moderated by Red Cloud.

The replay will be emailed out to all webinar registrants proceeding the event and will also be available on the Red Cloud website.

For more information and to register: https://redcloudfs.com/rcwebinar-fuu-3/.

F3 Uranium Corp. | Live Webinar - Thursday February 16, 2023 - Red Cloud Financial Services Inc. (redcloudfs.com).

Commodities to be covered: Uranium

About F3 Uranium Corp.

F3 is a uranium project generator and exploration company, focusing on projects in the Athabasca Basin, home to some of the world's largest high grade uranium discoveries, including F3's most recent discovery at PLN. F3 continues its drilling program to expand its high grade discovery at Patterson Lake North. F3 currently has 16 projects in the Athabasca Basin, several near large uranium discoveries, including Triple R, Arrow and Hurricane.

About Red Cloud Financial Services Inc.

Red Cloud Financial Services Inc. is a comprehensive capital markets platform that provides a full range of unconflicted corporate access and media related services. Offering these services as a unified platform provides the ultimate value proposition for junior resources companies in their efforts to broaden their capital markets presence.

About Red Cloud Securities Inc.

Red Cloud Securities Inc. is an IIROC-regulated investment dealer focused on providing unique comprehensive capital market services and innovative financing alternatives to the junior resource sector. The company was founded by capital markets professionals with extensive experience in the junior mining industry.

For further information:

F3 Uranium Corp.

Dev Randhawa - CEO

Raymond Ashley - VP Exploration

Jamie Bannerman

jamie@rdcapital.com

For additional information contact marketing@redcloudfs.com or visit:

www.redcloudfs.com

www.facebook.com/RedCloudFinancialServices

www.twitter.com/RedCloudFS

www.linkedin.com/company/red-cloud-financial-services-inc

www.youtube.com/c/RedCloudFinancialServicesInc

www.instagram.com/redcloudfs
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 14, 2023) - Burcon NutraScience Corporation (TSX: BU) ("Burcon" or the "Company"), a global technology leader in the development of plant-based proteins for foods and beverages, reported results for the fiscal third quarter ended December 31, 2022.

Operational highlights for the third quarter ended December 31, 2022:

During the quarter, Burcon:

recorded a 44% quarter-over-quarter increase in royalty revenues from its licensee, Merit Functional Foods Corporation ("Merit");

advanced the due diligence process in support of the partnership discussions with potential partners on opportunities to commercialize one or more of Burcon's innovative plant-based protein technologies;

appointed specialty protein executive, Kip Underwood, as Burcon's new Chief Executive Officer;

announced the appointment of climate tech specialist, Aaron T. Ratner, to Burcon's board of directors; and

appointed KPMG LLP as Burcon's successor auditor.

During the quarter, Burcon's 31.6% investee, Merit:

recorded $3.0 million in total revenue, an increase of 146% from year ago quarter;

officially launched its first USDA Certified Organic protein ingredient, Peazazz C 850 pea protein;

collaborated with Canadian partners, in a project co-invested by Protein Industries Canada, to develop a new line of high-quality plant-based seafood alternative products;

showcased its protein ingredients in new product concepts at Supply Side West and Fi Europe tradeshows; and

sold its best-in-class pea and canola protein ingredients into new product applications and new geographic regions.

Subsequent to the quarter-end, Burcon:

received a notice of allowance from the US Patent and Trademark Office of a key patent application for the unique process and characteristics of Burcon's Peazazz pea protein which has issued as a patent on February 8, 2023; and

announced, in a shareholder letter, its commitment to the Merit business and proposed plans for a path to profitability.

Management Commentary

New leadership, progress and production consistency marks our fiscal 2023 third quarter, which saw our investee, Merit Functional Foods, achieve the highest protein sales for any single quarter to-date, as well as saw Burcon further advancing its partnership discussions. Burcon's team worked diligently to support the ongoing partnership discussions with potential partners. We are pleased with the momentum from this quarter and continue to focus on our goal of commercializing Burcon's additional protein technologies. Our team supported Merit with process optimization during the quarter which helped Merit to secure additional sales orders for its protein ingredients.

Merit has been achieving further consistency in the production of its pea and canola protein ingredients. The results of continuous process improvements and optimization at Merit boosted sales this quarter, which allowed Burcon to record a 44% increase in royalty revenues over last quarter. We are seeing Merit's protein ingredients increasingly being sold into a variety of food and beverage applications and across major geographical regions. Moreover, during the quarter, Merit officially launched its first USDA Certified Organic Peazazz C 850 pea protein ingredient. Merit's customers were delighted to receive this highly anticipated organic version of its unique Peazazz pea protein which is currently being formulated into health-driven consumer products. We are encouraged to see Merit continue to convert more of its sales prospects into long-term customers.

In addition to growing protein sales, Merit entered into a collaboration with Canadian-based partners, Konscious Foods and Canadian Pacifico Seaweeds to develop a new line of more than 20 plant-based seafood alternative products for the North American market. A total of $5.5 million was committed to the project as a co-investment from Protein Industries Canada ("PIC"), which will see Merit's pea and canola proteins formulated into and launched in new plant-based seafood alternative offerings.

We are pleased to report that our ongoing partnership discussions have further advanced this past quarter, completing a number of key due diligence items that are crucial to moving this project forward. Our potential partners are encouraged by the due diligence results and are motivated to reach an agreement that can quickly bring Burcon's technology to market. Burcon's priority going forward is to reach a definitive agreement, in the form of a joint venture, with our potential partners to bring one or more of Burcon's protein technologies to market.

Subsequent to quarter-end, Burcon received a notice of allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office for a key patent application covering the proprietary Peazazz process and the characteristics of Burcon's Peazazz pea protein produced therefrom. On February 8, 2023, the application issued as a patent. Securing this patent protects and maintains Merit's pea protein market differentiation which helps Merit continue to gain market share in the booming plant-based protein space.

On November 7, 2022, Burcon was pleased to announce the appointment of Kip Underwood, a seasoned veteran executive with over 25 years of experience in the food and specialty protein industry, as its new chief executive officer. Mr. Underwood brings with him deep industry knowledge and an impressive track record of driving sustainable profitable growth. We believe, that in the short amount of time since Mr. Underwood joined Burcon, his leadership has already had positive influence on all aspects of Burcon, its team and its partner Merit. Following Burcon's AGM, we announced the appointment of Aaron T. Ratner to Burcon's board of directors. Mr. Ratner brings a wealth of experience in clean tech and project finance. We look forward to his valuable contributions to the board and management team.

Subsequent to quarter-end, Burcon issued a shareholder letter affirming its belief and commitment to Merit's business. In the letter, with the financial backing of Burcon's largest shareholder, we outlined a plan that could lead towards profitability. There are risks involved. If our plans are successful, Burcon could have, for the first time in its history, an opportunity to develop, produce, and market its innovative protein products.

Financial Results (in Canadian dollars)

Burcon recorded royalty revenues from Merit of $161,000, as compared to $45,000 in the same year-ago quarter. Royalty revenues have been increasing each quarter over the past year, with the current quarter's royalty representing a 44% increase over the previous quarter.

Net loss totaled $16.3 million or $0.15 per basic and diluted share for the current quarter, as compared to $1.5 million or $0.01 per basic and diluted share in the same year-ago quarter.

During this quarter, Merit recorded total sales of $3.0 million, including sales of co-products in addition to pea and canola protein sales, an increase of 146% over the same year-ago quarter. With its 31.6% equity stake in Merit, Burcon recorded $2.1 million as its share of loss in Merit for the quarter, as compared to $1.2 million in the same quarter in fiscal 2022. The higher loss reflects its stage of development as it continued to ramp up production and sales. Merit has incurred cumulative losses and cash flow deficiencies that have adversely impacted its financial situation and liquidity position. As disclosed in our previous news release, Merit began a process to identify a new strategic investor. To-date no funding has been received from a new investor. Due to Merit's financial situation and liquidity position, Burcon performed an assessment of the recoverability of the investment and has recorded impairment charges of $12.3 million related to its investment in and loan to Merit.

Gross research and development expenses totaled $786,000 for this quarter, as compared to $895,000 in the same year-ago quarter. Burcon received Protein Industries Canada grants this quarter and Covid-19 subsidies in the same quarter last year. After taking these grants into account, R&D expenditures did not change significantly over the same period last year.

Gross intellectual property expenses totaled $217,000 during the third quarter, as compared to $468,000 in the same year-ago quarter. The decrease is due to lower maintenance fees for our soy patent portfolio.

At December 31, 2022, cash balances totaled $1.6 million, as compared to $7.0 million as at March 31, 2022. With the first tranche of the $10 million secured loan facility, Burcon expects it has sufficient resources to fund its operations to June 2023, and further to May 2024 if certain conditions are met for the second tranche of the secured loan facility. The Company has implemented certain cost-cutting measures to conserve its cash resources.

Conference Call Details

Burcon will hold an investor conference call and webcast on Tuesday, February 14, 2023 at 5:00pm ET.

A link to the webcast of the conference call will be available on Burcon's website under "Presentations" or directly here. The webcast will also be archived for future playback.

Investors interested in participating in the live call can dial in using the details below:

Date: Tuesday February 14, 2023

Time: 5:00 p.m. Eastern time (2:00 p.m. Pacific time)

Toll-free dial-in (North America): 1-855-327-6837

Dial-in (toll/international): 1-631-891-4304

Conference ID: 10021125

About Burcon NutraScience Corporation

Burcon is a global technology leader in the development of plant-based proteins for foods and beverages. With over two decades of experience formulating high-purity proteins that have superior functionality, taste and nutrition, Burcon has amassed an extensive patent portfolio covering its novel plant-based proteins derived from pea, canola, soy, hemp and sunflower seeds, among other plant sources. In 2019, Merit Functional Foods Corporation ("Merit Foods") was established between Burcon and three veteran food industry executives. Merit Foods has since built and commissioned a state-of-the-art protein production facility in Manitoba, Canada that is producing, under license from Burcon, best-in-class pea and canola proteins for the food and beverage industries. Burcon currently holds a 31.6% shareholding interest in Merit Foods. For more information, visit www.burcon.ca.

Forward-Looking Information Cautionary Statement

The TSX has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy of the content of the information contained herein. This press release contains forward-looking statements or forward-looking information within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements or forward-looking information involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results, performances, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, with respect to the financial circumstances of Merit and our ability to help Merit reach profitability. Forward-looking statements or forward-looking information can be identified by words such as "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "goal," "project," "estimate," "expect," "believe," "future," "likely," "may," "should," "could," "will" and similar references to future periods. All statements included in this release, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements or information. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from Burcon's plans and expectations include the implementation of our business model and growth strategies; trends and competition in our industry our future business development, financial condition and results of operations and our ability to obtain financing cost-effectively; potential changes of government regulations; and other risks and factors detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by Burcon with securities regulators and stock exchanges, including in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in Burcon's annual information form for the year ended March 31, 2022 and its other public filings with Canadian securities regulators on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the Company's forward-looking statements or information. Any forward-looking statement or information speaks only as of the date on which it was made, and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, Burcon disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Although Burcon believes the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and, accordingly, investors should not rely on such statements.

Industry and Investor Contact

Paul Lam

Director, Investor Relations

Burcon NutraScience Corporation

Tel (604) 733-0896, Toll-free (888) 408-7960

plam@burcon.ca www.burcon.ca

Media Contact:

Steve Campbell, APR

President

Campbell & Company Public Relations

Tel (604) 888-5267

TECH@CCOM-PR.COM







Burcon NutraScience Corporation



Condensed Consolidated Statements of Financial Position



(Unaudited)



As at December 31, 2022 and March 31, 2022



(In Canadian dollars)





December 31,

March 31,

2022

2022

$

$ Assets



Current assets



Cash and cash equivalents

1,608,952

7,000,824 Restricted cash

-

122,707 Amounts receivable

390,169

200,342 Prepaid expenses

223,182

291,621

2,222,303

7,615,494



Property and equipment

1,045,968

859,386 Deferred development costs

5,901,026

6,217,153 Investment in and loan to Merit Functional Foods Corporation

1

13,402,774 Goodwill

1,254,930

1,254,930





10,424,228

29,349,737



Liabilities



Current liabilities



Accounts payable and accrued liabilities

584,847

906,651 Lease liability

26,811

14,397 Deferred revenue

-

122,707

611,658

1,043,755



Secured loan

4,070,575

- Lease liability

36,924

58,742





4,719,157

1,102,497



Shareholders' Equity



Capital stock

114,566,577

114,566,577 Contributed surplus

16,763,830

15,863,592 Options

7,057,975

7,041,049 Restricted share units

86,209

12,078 Deficit

(132,769,520)

(109,236,056)





5,705,071

28,247,240





10,424,228

29,349,737

Burcon NutraScience Corporation







Condensed Consolidated Interim Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss





(Unaudited)







For the three and nine months ended December 31, 2022 and 2021







(In Canadian dollars)











Three months ended



Nine months ended



December 31



December 31

2022

2021

2022

2021

$

$

$

$ Revenue







Royalty income

161,206

44,597

363,913

94,222







Expenses







Research and development

785,629

272,012

2,486,526

952,208 Intellectual property

216,602

276,476

839,981

617,497 General and administrative

941,690

871,343

2,840,338

2,810,754

1,943,921

1,419,831

6,166,845

4,380,459







Loss from operations

(1,782,715)

(1,375,234)

(5,802,932)

(4,286,237)







Interest and other income

131,187

98,640

371,585

311,662







Management fee income

19,416

24,848

44,546

111,321







Gain on dilution of investment in Merit Functional Foods







Corporation

-

961,164

-

961,164







Share of loss in Merit Functional Foods Corporation

(2,095,659)

(1,191,630)

(5,499,906)

(3,098,661)







Impairment on investment in Merit Functional Foods







Corporation

(7,987,303)

-

(7,987,303)

-







Impairment loss on loan to Merit Functional Foods







Corporation

(4,333,630)

-

(4,358,630)

-







Interest and other expense

(252,081)

(23,628)

(304,412)

(40,468)







Other

(2,461)

(983)

3,588

(951)







Total comprehensive loss for the period

(16,303,246)

(1,506,823)

(23,533,464)

(6,042,170)







Basic and diluted loss per share

(0.15)

(0.01)

(0.22)

(0.06)

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154809
The officials are excited to announce the launch of Offshore Liberty - a premier resource for high-net-worth entrepreneurs and investors to legally reduce their tax burden and diversify their assets.

Nicosia, Cyprus--(Newsfile Corp. - February 14, 2023) - Offshore Liberty has emerged as the premier resource for high-net-worth entrepreneurs and investors to legally reduce their tax burden. In the latest development, the company has improvised its strategies and policies to achieve its objective.

With the new developments, the company has contrived the three pillars of freedom it works on when advising clients:

Structuring their business affairs to legally achieve tax rates as low as 0% by utilizing complex offshore setups





Help clients relocate to their dream country, travel the world, or stay where they are while paying the least possible amount





Protect themselves, access new opportunities and protect your assets by diversifying across different jurisdictions.

Their tried-and-true process has earned clients' trust and their knowledge and experience can tackle the hardest of cases.

Their team of professionals provides personalized solutions that meet each client's unique needs, and their human-centric approach ensures the achievement of the perfect balance of low tax and high quality of life. The company's new strategies facilitate its users in numerous aspects such as reducing taxes, obtaining residencies or citizenships, or opening bank accounts.

About the company - Offshore Liberty

Offshore Liberty is a company dedicated to helping business owners and investors legally reduce their tax burden, diversify and protect their assets, and maximize their freedom. The team possesses extensive knowledge and experience in offshore planning and is committed to providing personalized solutions that meet the unique needs of each of their clients.

Offshore Liberty is determined to craft tailor-made global plans that suits their client's needs and execute them with the least hassle possible.

For further updates, visit: https://www.offshoreliberty.com/

Media Details:

Company Name: Offshore Liberty

Contact person: Komninos Chatzipapas

Website: https://www.offshoreliberty.com/

Email: komninos@offshoreliberty.com

City: Nicosia

Country: Cyprus

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154747
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 14, 2023) - Lahontan Gold Corp. (TSXV: LG) (OTCQB: LGCXF) (the "Company" or "Lahontan") is pleased to announce that, further to its press release of February 8, 2023, it has increased the size of the offering of units of the Company. Under the amended terms of the Offering (as defined below), Beacon Securities Limited (the "Agent") has agreed to sell, on a best efforts private placement basis, up to 20,910,000 units (the "Units") at a price of $0.11 per Unit (the "Issue Price") for aggregate gross proceeds of up to $2,300,100 (the "Offering").

Each Unit shall consist of one common share in the capital of the Company (each, a "Unit Share") and one-half of one common share purchase warrant (each whole warrant, a "Warrant"). Each Warrant will be exercisable to acquire one common share (a "Warrant Share") for a period of 36 months following the closing of the Offering at a price of $0.18 per Warrant Share.

The Company has granted Beacon an option, exercisable in whole or in part at any time up to 48 hours prior to the closing of the Offering, to sell up to an additional 9,090,000 Units (the "Additional Units") at a price per Additional Unit equal to the Issue Price.

The securities to be issued under the Offering will be offered by way of private placement in each of the Provinces of Canada and such other jurisdictions as may be determined by the Company, in each case, pursuant to applicable exemptions from the prospectus requirements under applicable securities laws. The securities issued in connection with this Offering will be subject to a four-month hold period from the date of closing of the Offering in addition to any other restrictions under applicable law.

The net proceeds from the Offering will be used for: (i) exploration expenditures on the Company's Santa Fe, Nevada property; and (ii) working capital and general corporate purposes. The Offering is expected to close on or about February 28, 2023 (the "Closing Date"), and is subject to certain conditions including, but not limited to, the receipt of all necessary approvals, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

The Offering will be conducted pursuant to the terms of an agency agreement to be entered into between the Company and the Agent on or prior to the Closing Date. In connection with the Offering, subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval, the Agent will receive: (i) a 7.0% cash fee; and (ii) that number of compensation options equal to 7.0% of the aggregate number of Units sold under the Offering, each exercisable to acquire one common share at the Issue Price for 36 months following the Closing Date.

The securities offered have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any State in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

About Lahontan Gold Corp:

Lahontan Gold Corp. is a Canadian mineral exploration company that holds, through its US subsidiaries, three top-tier gold and silver exploration properties in the Walker Lane of mining friendly Nevada. Lahontan's flagship property, the 19 km2 Santa Fe Mine, is a past producing gold and silver mine that utilized heap-leach processing (past production of 345,000 ounces of gold and 711,000 ounces of silver between 1988 and 1995; Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, 1995). The Santa Fe Mine has an Indicated Mineral Resource of 1,112,000 oz Au Eq (grading 1.14 g/t Au Eq) and an Inferred Mineral Resource of 544,000 oz Au Eq (grading 1.00 g/t Au Eq), all pit constrained (please see Lahontan press release dated January 17, 2023). The Company plans to continue to aggressively explore the entire property during 2023 and begin the process of evaluating development scenarios to bring the Santa Fe Mine back into production. Quinten J. Browne, P.Geo., Consulting Geologist to Lahontan Gold Corp., is the Qualified Person for the Company and approved the technical content of this news release. For more information, please visit our website: www.lahontangoldcorp.com.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Kimberly Ann

Founder, CEO, President, and Director

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Lahontan Gold Corp.

Kimberly Ann

Founder, Chief Executive Officer, President, Director

Phone: 1-530-414-4400

Email: Kimberly.ann@lahontangoldcorp.com

Website: www.lahontangoldcorp.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:

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.

Except for statements of historic fact, this news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates at the date the statements are made and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements including, but not limited to delays or uncertainties with regulatory approvals, including that of the TSXV. There are uncertainties inherent in forward-looking information, including factors beyond the Company's control. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change except as required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties that could affect financial results is contained in the Company's filings with Canadian securities regulators, which filings are available at www.sedar.com.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154831
Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands--(Newsfile Corp. - February 14, 2023) - Tethys Petroleum Limited (TSXV: TPL) ("Tethys" or the "Company") is providing an update on the claim made by the Prosecutor's Office of the Aktobe region or the Republic of Kazakhstan ("the Republic").

Tethys wishes to announce that a court hearing regarding the Kul-Bas license took place in Astana yesterday. Judge Nurlanov asked for additional information from the prosecutor and from each of the co-defendants but did not make a ruling on the claim. The judge has scheduled an additional hearing with arguments to be presented on February 23, 2023.

Tethys has received the ecological approval from the Ministry in regards to the right to burn gas to power the turbines. The turbines are necessary for Tethys to be able to power the pumps for transport of the gas to Joint Stock Company National Company "QazaqGaz" (the buyer of the gas). QazaqGaz has not paid for gas since the gas sales for January, 2022. Tethys Aral Gas (TAG) has been paying for the production as well as the taxes on the sales while not receiving payment for almost one year. The field remains shut in for the time being. The Board of Directors plan to meet this week with Tethys management in Istanbul to discuss how to best address this issue.

About Tethys

Tethys is focused on oil and gas exploration and production activities in Central Asia and the I Caspian Region. Tethys believes that significant potential exists in both exploration and in discovered deposits in the area.

Disclaimer

Some of the statements in this document are forward-looking. No part of this announcement constitutes, or shall be taken to constitute, an invitation or inducement to invest in the Company or any other entity and shareholders of the Company are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. Save as required by applicable law, the Company does not undertake to update or change any forward-looking statements to reflect events occurring after the date of this announcement.

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.

Contact Information:

Tethys Petroleum

Casey McCandless

Chief Financial Officer

901-763-4001

info@tethys-group.com

www.tethys-group.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154834
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 14, 2023) - New Energy Metals Corp. (TSXV: ENRG) (OTC Pink: NEMCF) ("New Energy Metals" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that further to its news release dated September 7, 2022, it has received approval from the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange") with respect to the Troitsa Copper Property option agreement (the "Agreement"). Pursuant to the Agreement, the Company may acquire a 100% interest in the Troitsa Copper Property by making aggregate cash payments of $220,000 and issuing an aggregate of 1,200,000 common shares over a period of 3 years, and completing not less than $5,000 worth of staking or similar acquisition within the Area of Interest, as defined in the Agreement, within 12 months of the execution date of the Agreement. In addition, subject to the exercise of the option, the Company shall issue an aggregate of 600,000 common shares on the achievement of certain milestones. The Agreement also includes certain advance royalty payments obligations following the 7th anniversary of the execution date.

Further to the Company's news release dated December 6, 2022, the Company entered into an option agreement with Altari Capital Corp. to acquire a 100% interest in the Roslyn Lithium Property (the "Property") located in Ontario (the "Roslyn Agreement"). The Company, its Insiders, and all parties to the Agreement are at arm's length. In consideration for the Property, subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange"), the Company will make aggregate cash payments of $2,300,000 over a period of 3 years, issue 1,430,000 common shares within 60 days of signing of the Roslyn Agreement and issue additional 800,000 common shares over a period of 2 years. The Roslyn Agreement remains subject to the review and approval of the Exchange and the proceeds from the current proposed private placement will not be used towards the acquisition of the Roslyn Property until Exchange approval has been received.

Additionally, the Company wishes to clarify that the units issuable in the private placement referenced in the news release dated November 10, 2022, were formally issued on January 27, 2023, and that the securities underlying the units are subject to a hold period in Canada for four months and one day from that date. The balance of the disclosure in the news release remains unchanged.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS,

New Energy Metals Corp.

Rishi Kwatra

CEO & Director

#2710 - 200 Granville Street

Vancouver, BC V6C 1S4, Canada

Tel: 778.510.5757

www.new-enrg.com

About New Energy Metals Corp.

New Energy Metals Corp. is a Canadian-based resource company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "ENRG". The Company has an option to purchase a 100% interest in the Roslyn Lithium property, covering 5,100 hectares located 20 km southeast of the Georgia Lake Pegmatite Field and 35 km southeast of where Rock Tech Lithium just published a PEA supporting the indicated mineral resource of 10.6 Mt (million tonnes) grading 0.88% Li2O and an inferred mineral resource of 4.2 Mt grading 1.0% Li2O (https://www.rocktechlithium.com/news/georgia-lake-project:-pre-feasibility-study-published). The Company also has an option to purchase a 100% interest in the Troitsa Copper property covering approximately 7,000 hectares located in the Omineca Mining Division of British Columbia.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). Forward-looking statements in this news release relate to, among other things: receipt of approval from the TSX Venture Exchange for the Roslyn Agreement; acquiring an interest in the Troitsa Copper Property and Roslyn Lithium Property; and all other statements that are not historical facts, particularly statements that express, or involve discussions as to, expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance of the Company. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified through the use of words or phrases such as "will likely result", "are expected to", "expects", "will continue", "is anticipated", "anticipates", "believes", "estimated", "intends", "plans", "forecast", "projection", "strategy", "objective" and "outlook". Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made based on reasonable estimates and assumptions made by management of the Company at the relevant time in light of its experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors that are believed to be appropriate and reasonable in the circumstances. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and the Company will not update any such forward-looking statements as a result of new information or if management's beliefs, estimates, assumptions or opinions change, except as required by law. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, the reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control, which could cause actual results, performance, achievements and events to differ materially from those that are disclosed in or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include all factors outlined in the Company's publicly filed documents under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The Company cautions that the list of risk factors and uncertainties described in its publicly filed documents on SEDAR is not exhaustive and other factors could materially affect its results. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for the Company to consider all of them, or assess the impact of each such factor or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. Any forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154844
NatWest Group is to acquire an 85% stake in Cushon, a London, UK-based workplace savings and pensions fintech company, for 144M.

Completion of the intended acquisition remains subject to regulatory approval and is expected to occur later in 2023. The deal will therefore provide NatWest Group with a workplace pensions and savings proposition, enabling the group to offer a new suite of financial wellbeing services to its commercial customers and, consequently, to their employees.

NatWest Group has entered into an agreement to acquire a majority shareholding in

Cushon,received a .

Led by Ben Pollard, CEO and co-founder, Cushon provides the workplace ISA and master trust pension  which offers an investment strategy designed to drive down the financed CO2 emissions of customers investments. It also offers Junior and Lifetime ISAs, as well as a general investment account.

The Cushon proposition will initially be offered to NatWest Groups commercial mid-market customers, through the banks relationship managers, following a successful pilot in 2022. Cushon will continue its organic growth ambitions in the Workplace Pensions and Savings market, in addition to distributing to NatWest commercial customers.

Alison Rose, Chief Executive Officer of NatWest Group, said:

By combining the scale, experience and expertise of NatWest Group with Cushons innovative workplace savings and pensions products, this acquisition allows us to enhance our services to commercial customers and support the financial wellbeing of their staff.

Core to our Purpose-led strategy is supporting customers at every stage of their lives, and by entering this fast-growing market we are equipping ourselves with the tools to develop a proposition which responds to our customers changing needs whilst delivering value-driven sustainable growth and returns.

Peter Flavel, Chief Executive of NatWests wealth businesses, said:

As a workplace savings disrupter, Cushon will help NatWest Group achieve its strategic, purpose-led vision of helping customers save for tomorrow. On average, UK employees are due to outlive their savings by 10 years and we are committed to helping reduce this savings gap.

We believe Cushons engaging, app-first pension will help customers by moving their pension and workplace savings schemes from a compliance burden to an employee benefit.

FinSMEs

13/02/2023
CEAM Fall Artist Residency with Lenny Foster

The Crisp-Ellert Art Museum (CEAM) is delighted to announce St. Augustine-based photographer Lenny Foster as Artist in Residence this February and March. A conversation with Foster will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 21, at 6 p.m. in the Virginia Room in the Ringhaver Student Center (50 Sevilla Street). This event is free and open to the public and will be live-streamed for those unable to attend in person. You can find the live stream link here.

During his residency, Foster will continue to explore Black historical sites within St. Augustine. Foster has taken a keen interest in the rich Black American history of the area. From Spains colonization in the 16th century bringing with them among the first Africans on the North American continent and the establishment of Fort Mose in 1738, to the first legally sanctioned free Black town in the present-day United States. And throughout the last four tumultuous centuries, that history included both Spanish and British rule.

Foster, who lives and works in St. Augustine, is especially interested in the Lincolnville neighborhood, founded in 1866 by formerly enslaved people. Other than a more recent wave of gentrification, this area has been a prominent historically Black neighborhood. A recent body of work entitled Porch Portraits includes portraits of long-time Black residents of Lincolnville, each of whom has experienced our rapidly changing city over the past half a century.

Fosters engagement with these historical sites and people within the community stems from a deep desire to learn more about this history that is not well known but which connects to his history.

In Saint Augustine, I have learned that long before the pilgrims arrived, the Spanish had settled in Saint Augustine and that my own African American heritage and history is deeply tied to that first settlement, Foster said.

About the Artist:

Lenny Foster is a photographer who has owned and operated a gallery in both Taos, New Mexico, and St. Augustine, Florida, since 1998. His work encompasses landscape, still life, and portraiture documenting historic Black sites within St. Augustine and the Lincolnville neighborhood. Its propelled by the search for beauty, and deeper truth conveyed within the medium of photography.

Foster has exhibited at venues throughout the United States, including The Harwood Museum of Art, Taos Art Museum, Albuquerque Museum, and the Hubbard Museum of the American West. His work is a part of the permanent collections of The Harwood Museum, The Millicent Rogers Museum, The Muhammed Ali Center in Louisville, Kentucky, and most recently, The Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center in Saint Augustine. His work is also featured on campuses across the country, like in the Ross Museum at Ohio Wesleyan University, The Snite Museum at The University of Notre Dame.

The CEAM Artist Residency, in collaboration with Flagler Colleges Department of Art & Design, is a regular program of artists-in-residence to engage in themes of place-making while collaborating with some aspect of St Augustines local community, the citys significant and varied roles in American history, or its rich natural environment.

This program is supported by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and a grant from the Dr. JoAnn Crisp-Ellert Fund at The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida.

The Crisp-Ellert Art Museum is an accessible building. If you are a person with a disability and need reasonable accommodations, please contact Phil Pownall at 904-819-6460. Sign Language Interpreters are available upon request with a minimum of three days notice.

For further information on our programming, please visit the website at www.flagler.edu/ceam, or contact Julie Dickover at 904-826-8530 or crispellert@flagler.edu. The museums hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday, 12 to 4 p.m., while classes are in session.

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Falling in love with St. Augustine

It can be love at first sight when you visit a new place. But when youre living here, it can be easy to take the history and charm of St. Augustine for granted.



This Valentines Day, take time to fall in love with your home again and rediscover the excitement of your first visit.



Theres so much to admire:

The atmosphere

When it comes to setting, St. Augustine is the total package.

If it was the coastal beauty that first caught your eye, be intentional about finding times during your day-to-day routine to admire your favorite beach and waterfront spots. As a fixture of Floridas Historic Coast, theres no shortage of beach options for your lunchtime excursions, nature study sessions, and late-night stargazing.

The magic of St. Augustines historical architecture attracts tourists from around the world, and maybe it was what made you seal the deal on calling this town your home. But when youre studying amidst the grandiose designs of the Gilded Age and spending your time walking past gems of its Spanish influence, youll have to find new ways to rediscover your wonder. Whether youre a social media fiend or chronically offline, snap pictures throughout your day to remind yourself of the beauty that first caught your eye. You live in a place worth romanticizing, so take your work with you and explore.

The food

St. Augustine has its fair share of restaurants geared toward feeding busloads of visitors and fueling your late-night adventures like Taco Shop and Cousteaus. But dont forget about the digs that make this a foodie town.

It can be overwhelming to decide on what restaurants you should check off the list first, so start with some of the tried-and-true restaurants of St. Augustines food scene like Columbia Restaurant or Harrys. Whether they were one of the first spots you sat down for a meal in town or a recommendation you never took up, find an occasion to treat yourself.

If youre ready to get a taste of something new, restaurants like Llama Restaurant, with modern Peruvian food, or Ice Plant Bar serving up farm-to-table faire and specialty cocktails, are ideal for a celebratory dinner or special date. But its worth starting a must-try list with other restaurants like Casa Reina, Mexican food with a stunning view of the waterfront, Cafe Alcazar situated in the old swimming pool of the Lightner Museum, and brunch spot Sunday with an atmosphere sure to start your day off right.

The art

Starting in the heart of campus with the Crisp-Ellert Art Museum, St. Augustines artist community is thriving. Between a bustling lineup of regional markets, an abundance of local cafes decorated with remarkable pieces by local artists, and the curated galleries downtown, creativity is flowing in this town.

Next time youre waiting for your coffee in Sweetwater, take a closer glance at the walls filled with paintings of all sizes by resident artist Hannah Keats. Or next time you take a mental health day, give yourself a walking tour of the impressively curated galleries you might usually overlook like the St. Augustine Art Association.

If planning your own tour around the art of St. Augustine seems like a chore, be sure to mark your calendars for the First Friday Art Walk, which runs from 5 to 9 p.m. monthly. This community event highlights all the must-hit galleries, many of which open new exhibits for the event and offer live music, or if youre lucky- refreshments.

The shopping

You dont need to go on a full-blown shopping spree to appreciate the quality of clothing, home decor, and other hand-crafted items youll find around town. Support local businesses by filling your home and closet with finds from around St. Augustine.

If vintage and thrifted clothes are a staple of your wardrobe, head to The Way We Were for a selectively curated shop of vintage pieces spanning the decades. Its great for fashion-inspo and might have that gem of a statement piece youre ready to invest in. For a more eclectic and affordable vintage experience, check out Cool and Collected. Or hit the Island for a day of perusing the racks of Christe Blue, S.A.F.E thrift store, or Rochelles Clothing.

For fresh fashion finds and home decor, check out stores you might usually overlook like Two Sparrows- a womens clothing and home boutique near the Lightner Museum, Market to Market- an outdoor home decor and artisan boutique on St. George Street, and Golden Gypsy- an eccentric two-story shop filled with knick-knacks and bohemian fashion.

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Flagler College Theatre Arts presents Cry it Out, a play examining the modern experience of motherhood and friendship

Flagler College Theatre Arts department is excited to present its first spring production Cry it Out from Feb. 22 through 25 at 7:30 p.m. and Feb. 26 at 2 p.m. The play will be held in Lewis Auditorium, free for students, faculty, and staff.

If youve seen the Netflix mini-series Maid, youll want to catch Cry it Out, both of which are written by Molly Smith Metzler. Published in 2017, this play is a dark comedy dissecting the tribulations of motherhood, its complexities, and its effect on womens identity.

The play revolves around a budding friendship between two young mothers, Jessie, and Lena. With a short list of characters, the student cast and crew of Cry it Out is small, something Director Christine Fogarty said has made the experience more enjoyable.

"It has been absolutely delightful," Fogarty said. "I'm working with four actors who take their craft and their work very seriously. The bond between them is incredible."

Cathryn Thames plays Jessie, a career woman turned full-time mother, and Tracy Lukach plays Lena, a funky Long Island mom with whom Jessie has little in common aside from their shared experience in motherhood.

Jessie was a corporate lawyer in New York City, she had a very glamorous life, Fogarty said. Now she sits in dirty yoga pants, with breast milk pooled all over her shoulders. Shes got a newborn and is trying to figure out this new identity.

Jessie and Lena meet in a local Stop N Shop. Fogarty said the duo begin to use the store as an escape from their tiring routines.

They find one another, and a fast friendship is born, she said. It's just true blue. It's actually a friendship that I think all of us want to have. It's authentic.

This dynamic is quickly interrupted when another new mother in the neighborhood, Adrienne, is introduced to their lives. Sarah Richardson plays this protagonist role, a woman struggling to cope with the realities of her new motherhood. Adriennes concerned husband, Mitchell, is played by Jaden Stewart.

The story takes a turn and its really exciting to witness, Fogarty said.

In addition to the cast of four, Alicia Perez is the stage manager and Charles Pensynski is the assistant director. The student actors took some time to study the intricacies of their characters and develop their personalities on stage.

Fogarty said that it was initially difficult for the students to fully embrace characters as they were grappling with this foreign experience of motherhood. But she was able to help guide them in their character studies by encouraging them to isolate similar experiences they may have had with their pets or own mothers.

Its been really funny because we've been talking about our animals, you know, their love for their cats, their love for their dogs, she said. And theyve been talking about their experience with their own moms, having conversations with them, and interviewing them to actually understand what they went through.

For more information on the showing of Cry it Out click here.

If you need to request an accommodation due to a disability in order to provide reasonable access or participation, please contact the Director of the Disability Resource Center, Phil Pownall at Ppownall@flagler.edu. If you are deaf or hard of hearing and need to request an ASL interpreter for full participation in an event, please contact the Coordinator of Interpreters and Accommodations, Heather Corry at Hcorry@flagler.edu.

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Reliance Jio is rapidly expanding its 5G network across many Indian cities. The company has launched its 5G services in Himachal Pradesh today, with locations in Shimla, Hamirpur, Nadaun, and Bilaspur. Shri Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, the states honorable chief minister, today launched Jio True 5G services in Himachal Pradesh from Shimla.

The Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister congratulated the Jio team on the implementation, claiming that it will provide a plethora of opportunities and enriching experiences for all individuals, including students, businessmen, and professionals.

Furthermore, Jio believes that its service will contribute to the advancements seen in these areas, as demonstrated by the Jio Community Clinic medical kit and the revolutionary AR/VR device, Jio Glass.

Jio True 5G in 17 more Cities

Reliance Jio also announced the launch of True 5G services in 17 cities, bringing the total number of cities with Jio True 5G to 257. Starting today, February 14, Jio users in these cities will be invited to the Jio Welcome Offer, which includes unlimited data at speeds of up to 1 Gbps+ at no extra cost.

#5GSpeed

Himachal goes Digital:

I congratulate the people of Himachal as we usher in the high-speed Internet connectivity era with Jio #5G services launched in Shimla. The same will also be available in Bilaspur, Hamirpur, and Nadaun. pic.twitter.com/F5crQKyRaX  Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu (@SukhuSukhvinder) February 14, 2023

At the 5G launch event, the Honourable Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Shri Sukhvinder Singh, said,

I congratulate Jio and the people of Himachal Pradesh, on the launch of Jios True 5G services in the state. This launch is an important milestone for the people of the state, who will benefit immensely from Jios 5G services. 5G services will usher in a plethora of opportunities and enriched experiences for every individual, including students, businessmen & professionals. This will also bring fundamental changes in sectors like tourism, e-governance, healthcare, horticulture, agriculture, automation, education, artificial intelligence, disaster management, IT & manufacturing, etc.

Commenting on the launch, Jio Spokesperson said,
News and commentary on organized crime, street crime, white collar crime, cyber crime, sex crime, crime fiction, crime prevention, espionage and terrorism.
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New Picus Red Report warns of Swiss Army knife malware

February 2023 by Picus Security

Picus Security has released The Red Report 2023, an in-depth analysis of over 550,000 real-world malware samples  its biggest study to date. By observing the malwares behavior, the companys researchers extracted over 5 million malicious actions and used this data to identify the ten most common techniques leveraged by cybercriminals in 2022. Based upon the findings of its report, the company is warning of the rise of Swiss Army knife malware  multi-purpose malware that can perform malicious actions across the cyber-kill chain and evade detection by security controls.

The versatility of the latest malware is demonstrated by the fact that a third of the total sample analyzed by Picus Labs is capable of exhibiting more than 20 individual Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTPs). Increasingly, malware can abuse legitimate software, perform lateral movement, and encrypt files. Its rising sophistication is likely driven by the extensive resources of well-funded ransomware syndicates and by advancements in behavior-based detection methods used by defenders.

Modern malware takes many forms, said Dr. Suleyman Ozarslan, Picus Security Co-founder and VP of Picus Labs. Some rudimentary types of malware are designed to perform basic functions. Others, like a surgeons scalpel, are engineered to conduct single tasks with great precision. Now we are seeing more malware that can do anything and everything. This Swiss Army knife malware can enable attackers to move through networks undetected at great speed, obtain credentials to access critical systems, and encrypt data.

The Red Report 2023, the latest iteration of Picus annual report, helps track the evolution of malware over time. The insights it provides help security teams prioritize the mitigation of the most prevalent attack techniques aligned to the MITRE ATT&CK adversary behavior framework.

Key findings include:

 The average malware leverages 11 TTPs. One-third of malware (32%) leverages more than 20 TTPs, and one-tenth leverages more than 30 TTPs.

 Command and Scripting Interpreter is the most prevalent ATT&CK technique, exhibited by nearly a third of malware samples. The appearance of Remote System Discovery and Remote Services in The Red Report Top Ten for the first time is further evidence of the extent to which malware can now abuse built-in tools and protocols in operating systems to evade detection.

 Four out of 10 of the most prevalent ATT&CK techniques identified are used to aid lateral movement inside corporate networks.

 A quarter of all malware is capable of encrypting data, highlighting the continued threat of ransomware.

The goal of ransomware operators and nation-state actors alike is to achieve an objective as quickly and efficiently as possible, continued Dr. Ozarslan. The fact that more malware can conduct lateral movement is a sign that adversaries of all types are being forced to adapt to differences in IT environments and work harder to get their payday.

Faced with defending against increasingly sophisticated malware, security teams must also continue to evolve their approaches. By prioritizing commonly used attack techniques, and by continuously validating the effectiveness of security controls, organizations will be much better prepared to defend critical assets. They will also be able to ensure that their attention and resources are focused in areas that will have the greatest impact.

Methodology

Between January 2022 and December 2022, Picus Labs analyzed 556,107 unique files, with 507,912 (91%) categorized as malicious.

Sources of these files include but are not limited to:

 commercial and open-source threat intelligence services

 security vendors and researchers

 malware sandboxes

 malware databases

From these files, a total of 5,388,946 actions were extracted, an average of 11 malicious actions per malware. These actions were then mapped to MITRE ATT&CK techniques, revealing an average of 9 techniques per malware.

To compile the Red Report 2023 Top Ten, Picus Labs researchers determined the number of malicious files that used each technique. They then calculated the percentage of malware in the dataset that utilized that technique. For example, the T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter technique was exhibited by 159,196 (31%) of the 507,912 malicious files analyzed.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia and SYDNEY, Australia, Feb. 13, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

Highlights



Significant intervals of spodumene pegmatite intersected near-surface in ten (10) of fourteen (14) drill holes to test the newly discovered CV13 Pegmatite Cluster. 22.6 m at 1.56% Li 2 O (29.3 m to 51.9 m), including 6.0 m at 3.19% Li 2 O (CV22-092). 22.4 m at 1.28% Li 2 O (3.1 m to 25.5 m) (CV22-077)  collared in lithium pegmatite. 15.6 m at 1.50% Li 2 O (2.8 m to 18.3 m) (CV22-081)  collared in lithium pegmatite. 18.8 m at 1.01% Li 2 O (23.8 m to 42.6 m), including 4.0 m at 2.37% Li 2 O (CV22-103). 17.3 m at 1.41% Li 2 O (20.6 m to 37.9 m), including 8.0 m at 2.09% Li 2 O (CV22-104).

Second spodumene pegmatite intersected at depth, returning 8.1 m at 0.98% Li 2 O (167.4 m to 175.4 m) (CV22-085).

(167.4 m to 175.4 m) (CV22-085). Three (3) of four (4) areas initially tested along the combined 2.3 km trend returned strong lithium mineralization, including all six (6) drill holes targeting the area of the main spodumene outcrop at the apex of a regional flexure. Majority of the trend remains to be drill tested.

Drill results supported by surface channel sampling of mineralized outcrops, with results including: 14.2 m at 1.17% Li 2 O (CH22-025/026) 13.1 m at 1.57% Li 2 O (CH22-017)

Company evaluating infill and step out drilling during the current winter program to support an initial mineral resource estimate at CV13 scheduled for 2023.



Darren L. Smith, the Companys Vice President of Exploration, comments: The results from the first pass drill testing at CV13 are very positive with ten (10) of our first fourteen (14) drill holes along this collective 2.3 km trend returning strong lithium mineralization. The CV13 Pegmatite cluster is a grassroots discovery from summer 2022 and to advance over several months to an intersection of 22.6 m at 1.56% Li 2 O in our first series of drill holes is an impressive feat and highlights again the magnitude of the mineralized system(s) and continued potential for new discoveries at the Corvette Property.

Patriot Battery Metals Inc. (the Company or Patriot) (TSX-V: PMET) (ASX: PMT) (OTCQX: PMETF) (FSE: R9GA) is pleased to announce assay results from its 2022 drill and surface exploration programs over the CV13 Pegmatite cluster at its wholly owned Corvette Property (the Property), located in the James Bay Region of Quebec. The CV13 Pegmatite cluster, which is comprised of two contiguous lithium outcrop trends totalling 2.3 km in combined strike length, is located approximately 4.3 km along geological trend to the southwest of the CV5 Pegmatite (Figure 1).

A total of fourteen (14) drill holes (NQ core size  47.6 mm inside diameter), totalling 2647 m, were completed at CV13 in 2022  the first drill program ever completed at the target. A total of six (6) holes were completed at the confluence of the two trends (CV22-077, 081, 082, 084, 085, and 088), two (2) holes along the western limb of the trend (CV22-103 and 104), and six (6) holes along the eastern limb of the trend (CV22-091, 092, 095, 096, 099, and 101) (Figure 2). Of these fourteen (14) drill holes, ten (10) returned well-mineralized intervals of lithium pegmatite over three distinct areas of the collective trend (Figure 2). Drill core assays highlights include 22.6 m at 1.56% Li 2 O (29.3 m to 51.9 m), including 6.0 m at 3.19% Li 2 O (CV22-092  east limb), 22.4 m at 1.28% Li 2 O (3.1 m to 25.5 m) (CV22-077  confluence of trends), which collared in lithium pegmatite, and 17.3 m at 1.41% Li 2 O (20.6 m to 37.9 m), including 8.0 m at 2.09% Li 2 O (CV22-104  west limb).

The potential of the CV13 Cluster is further supported by outcrop grab sampling (see news release dated August 10th, 2022) as well as outcrop channel sampling completed in the fall of 2022, with results including 14.2 m at 1.17% Li 2 O (CH22-025/026), 13.1 m at 1.57% Li 2 O (CH22-017), and 10.5 m at 1.53% Li 2 O (CH22-018/19) (Figure 2). Channel CH22-025/026 is located approximately 600 m along trend to the northwest of drill holes CV22-103 and 104 (18.8 m at 1.01% Li 2 O, and 17.3 m at 1.41% Li 2 O, respectively), and remains to be drill tested.

Based on the surface mapping and drilling completed to date, the CV13 Pegmatite cluster is characterized by two, shallow to moderately dipping, sub-parallel trending Li-Cs-Ta (LCT) pegmatite bodies, which have been intersected in multiple drill holes along the overall 2.3 km trend. The primary LCT pegmatite body (the upper pegmatite) outcrops at surface and is interpreted to have been intersected near-surface in each of the fourteen (14) drill holes completed to date, testing four (4) distinct areas along the overall trend with results including 22.6 m at 1.56% Li 2 O (29.3 m to 51.9 m) (CV22-092  east limb) and 22.4 m at 1.28% Li 2 O (3.1 m to 25.5 m) (CV22-077  confluence of trends). This upper pegmatite ranges generally from 6 m to 36 m in width (core length) and appears to have significant strike extent based on intersections in drill hole and pegmatite outcrop exposed discontinuously along the trend. A second LCT pegmatite (the lower pegmatite) is also present at depth, being intersected in several drill holes which tested such depths, and is variably mineralized ranging from relatively low-grades over several metres to 8.1 m at 0.98% Li 2 O (167.4 m to 175.4 m) in drill hole CV22-085. Additional drilling is required to ascertain the relationship between the two bodies and if they may coalesce at some point into a larger body.

Based on geological logging and chemistry, the primary lithium mineral at CV13 is spodumene (Figure 6). The spodumene crystals are more variable in size compared to those typically observed at the CV5 Pegmatite located approximately 4.3 km along geological trend to the northeast. However, crystal sizes of the spodumene at CV13 still commonly range from approximately centimetre to decimetre in scale.

Drill holes CV22-096, 099, and 101, which targeted the northeast end of the eastern limb at CV13, intersected wide intervals of LCT pegmatite (14.9 m, 36.0 m, and 33.1 m, respectively), although, only returned anomalous lithium mineralization over these intervals. The highest lithium grades from each hole were 1.08%, 0.82%, and 0.58% Li 2 O in individual samples, respectively; however, each of the holes also returned significantly elevated levels of Cs (>1000 ppm), Rb (>1%), and Ta 2 O 5 (>100 ppm, including a 5,784 ppm sample in drill hole CV22-096). Additionally, several lithium pegmatite outcrops in the immediate area returned an average 1.78% Li 2 O over seven (7) grab samples, confirming strong lithium mineralization proximal to these drill holes. As lithium pegmatites are commonly zoned, the drill core sample chemistry, coupled with the strong lithium mineralization in nearby outcrop, suggests a strong potential that higher grade lithium pegmatite may be proximal to that intersected in CV22-096, 099, and 101. Further, the Company is encouraged by the two (2) +30 m intersections of anomalous LCT pegmatite in two (2) of the three (3) drill holes (CV22-099 and 101), which are situated directly on geological trend and within 4.4 km of drill hole CV22-074 (16.9 m at 2.00% Li 2 O) at the CV5 Pegmatite.

The CV13 lithium pegmatite cluster is characterized by two (2) contiguous trends, totalling approximately 2.3 km in combined strike length (Figure 2). To date, the cluster is characterized by a total of thirty-one (31) spodumene-bearing (field identified as spodumene) outcrops, including twenty (22) outcrops with >5% visually estimated modal spodumene content. The two largest outcrops are approximately 70 m long by 12 m wide and 100 m long by 15 m wide, situated approximately 300 m apart.

The CV13 Cluster is interpreted to be part of a much larger LCT pegmatite system at the Property, potentially extending from the most easterly identified CV4 Cluster, and continuing westerly through the CV5 and CV8-12 clusters, a distance of approximately 15 km (Figure 1). The scale of LCT pegmatite present along this trend suggests a deeply rooted and common plumbing system and source of the lithium mineralized bodies discovered to date. A significant portion of this trend remains to be drill tested and lithium mineralization confirmed, with the CV5 Pegmatite being the largest continuous mineralized body delineated to date at 2.6 km. It is situated approximately 4.3 km along geological trend to the northeast of the CV13 Cluster, along a corridor that remains to be drill tested. The CV8-12 Cluster is situated approximately 1.9 km to the northwest of the CV13 Cluster, also along a corridor that remains to be drill tested.

A majority of the CV13 Pegmatite trend remains to be drill tested. The strongest drill results from the inaugural 2022 drill program are focused proximal to the confluence of the regional flexure within the overall trend (Figure 2)  an area of potential dilation and therefore favourable setting for lithium pegmatite emplacement. This area of the trend is anticipated to be the focus of step-out drill holes, initially targeting the strike length between drill holes CV22-088 and 091, followed by continued step-out drilling along both limbs towards drill holes CV22-103 & 104 (western limb) and CV22-096 (eastern limb). This drilling will assess the continuity of the upper and lower pegmatite bodies along trend and to depth, and will set the foundation for an initial mineral resource estimate at CV13 targeted for later in 2023.

For the drill holes reported herein, core assays for pegmatite intervals greater than two (2) m are presented in Table 1 and drill hole locations in Figures 1 and 2. Drill hole coordinates and other attributes are also available in Table 1 and on the Companys website, which has a downloadable excel spreadsheet listing assay results from prior drill holes. All core assays from the 2022 drill campaign have now been reported (CV5 and CV13).

Table 1: Mineralized drill intercept summary for drill holes completed at the CV13 Cluster in 2022

Figure 1. Location of the CV13 Cluster

Figure 2. Surface and drill hole exploration summary for work completed in 2022 at the CV13 Cluster

Figure 3: Spodumene drill-core intersection in drill hole CV22-092 (22.6 m at 1.56% Li 2 O, including 6.0 m at 3.19% Li 2 O)

Figure 4: Spodumene drill-core intersection in drill hole CV22-077 (22.4 m at 1.28% Li 2 O), which collared in spodumene pegmatite.

Figure 5: Spodumene drill-core intersection in lower pegmatite, drill hole CV22-085 (8.1 m at 0.98% Li 2 O).

Figure 6: Spodumene mineralization from various drill holes completed at the CV13 Cluster in 2022.

Quality Assurance / Quality Control (QAQC)

A Quality Assurance / Quality Control protocol following industry best practices was incorporated into the program and included systematic insertion of quartz blanks and certified reference materials into sample batches, as well as collection of quarter-core duplicates, at a rate of approximately 5%. Additionally, analysis of pulp-split and coarse-split sample duplicates were completed to assess analytical precision at different stages of the laboratory preparation process, and external (secondary) laboratory pulp-split duplicates were prepared at the primary lab for subsequent check analysis and validation.

All core samples collected were shipped to SGS Canadas laboratory in Lakefield, ON, for standard sample preparation (code PRP89) which includes drying at 105C, crush to 75% passing 2 mm, riffle split 250 g, and pulverize 85% passing 75 microns. The pulps were shipped by air to SGS Canadas laboratory in Burnaby, BC, where the samples were homogenized and subsequently analyzed for multi-element (including Li and Ta) using sodium peroxide fusion with ICP-AES/MS finish (codes GE_ICP91A50 and GE_IMS91A50).

About the CV Lithium Trend

The CV Lithium Trend is an emerging spodumene pegmatite district discovered by the Company in 2017 and spans more than 25-km across the Corvette Property. The core area includes an approximate 2.6 km long spodumene pegmatite (the CV5 Pegmatite) and multiple proximal secondary spodumene pegmatite lenses. This corridor has returned drill intercepts of 156.9 m at 2.12% Li 2 O, including 25.0 m at 5.04% Li 2 O or 5.0 m at 6.36% Li 2 O (CV22-083), 159.7 m at 1.65% Li 2 O (CV22-042), 131.2 m at 1.96% Li 2 O (CV22-100), and 52.2 m at 3.34% Li 2 O, including 15.0 m at 5.10% Li 2 O (CV22-093).

To date, six (6) distinct clusters of lithium pegmatite have been discovered across the Property  CV5 Pegmatite and associated lenses, CV4, CV8-12, CV9, CV10, and the recently discovered CV13. Given the proximity of some pegmatite outcrops to each other, as well as the shallow till cover in the area, it is probable that some of the outcrops may reflect a discontinuous surface exposure of a single, larger pegmatite outcrop subsurface. Further, the high number of well-mineralized pegmatites along the trend indicate a strong potential for a series of relatively closely spaced/stacked, sub-parallel, and sizable spodumene-bearing pegmatite bodies, with significant lateral and depth extent, to be present.

Qualified/Competent Person

The information in this news release that relates to exploration results for the Corvette Property is based on, and fairly represents, information compiled by Mr. Darren L. Smith, M.Sc., P.Geo., who is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, and member in good standing with the Ordre des Geologues du Quebec (Geologist Permit number 1968), and with the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (member number 87868). Mr. Smith has reviewed and approved the technical information in this news release.

Mr. Smith is Vice President of Exploration for Patriot Battery Metals Inc. and Nevada Lithium Resources Inc., Vice President of Exploration and Director for Ophir Gold Corp, and a Senior Geologist and Project Manager with Dahrouge Geological Consulting Ltd. Mr. Smith holds common shares and options in the Company.

Mr. Smith has sufficient experience, which is relevant to the style of mineralization, type of deposit under consideration, and to the activities being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as described by the JORC Code, 2012. Mr. Smith consents to the inclusion in this news release of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.

About Patriot Battery Metals Inc.

Patriot Battery Metals Inc. is a mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition and development of mineral properties containing battery, base, and precious metals.

The Companys flagship asset is the 100% owned Corvette Property, located proximal to the Trans-Taiga Road and powerline infrastructural corridor in the James Bay Region of Quebec. The land package hosts significant lithium potential highlighted by the 2.6 km long CV5 spodumene pegmatite with drill intercepts of 156.9 m at 2.12% Li 2 O, including 25.0 m at 5.04% Li 2 O or 5.0 m at 6.36% Li 2 O (CV22-083), 159.7 m at 1.65% Li 2 O (CV22-042), 131.2 m at 1.96% Li 2 O (CV22-100), and 52.2 m at 3.34% Li 2 O, including 15.0 m at 5.10% Li 2 O (CV22-093). Additionally, the Property hosts the Golden Gap Trend with grab samples of 3.1 to 108.9 g/t Au from outcrop and 7 m at 10.5 g/t Au in drill hole, and the Maven Trend with 8.15% Cu, 1.33 g/t Au, and 171 g/t Ag in outcrop.

The Company also holds 100% ownership of the Freeman Creek Gold Property in Idaho, USA which hosts two prospective gold prospects - the Gold Dyke Prospect with a 2020 drill hole intersection of 12 m at 4.11 g/t Au and 33.0 g/t Ag, and the Carmen Creek Prospect with surface sample results including 25.5 g/t Au, 159 g/t Ag, and 9.75% Cu.

The Companys other assets include the Pontax Lithium-Gold Property, QC; and the Hidden Lake Lithium Property, NWT, where the Company maintains a 40% interest, as well as several other assets in Canada.

For further information, please contact us at info@patriotbatterymetals.com Tel: +1 (604) 279-8709, or visit www.patriotbatterymetals.com. Please also refer to the Companys continuous disclosure filings, available under its profile at www.sedar.com, for available exploration data.

This news release has been approved by the Board of Directors,

BLAIR WAY

Blair Way, President, CEO, & Director

Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains forward-looking statements and other statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements are often identified by terms such as will, may, should, anticipate, expects and similar expressions. All statements other than statements of historical fact, included in this news release are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Companys expectations include the results of further exploration and testing, and other risks detailed from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulators, available at www.sedar.com. The reader is cautioned that assumptions used in the preparation of any forward-looking information may prove to be incorrect. Events or circumstances may cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted, as a result of numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking information. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and the Company will update or revise publicly any of the included forward-looking statements as expressly required by applicable law.

No securities regulatory authority or stock exchange has reviewed nor accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this news release.



Appendix 1  JORC Code 2012 Table 1 information required by ASX Listing Rule 5.7.1

Section 1  Sampling Techniques and Data

Criteria JORC Code explanation Commentary Sampling techniques Nature and quality of sampling (eg cut channels, random chips, or specific specialised industry standard measurement tools appropriate to the minerals under investigation, such as down hole gamma sondes, or handheld XRF instruments, etc). These examples should not be taken as limiting the broad meaning of sampling.

Include reference to measures taken to ensure sample representivity and the appropriate calibration of any measurement tools or systems used.

Aspects of the determination of mineralisation that are Material to the Public Report.

In cases where industry standard work has been done this would be relatively simple (eg reverse circulation drilling was used to obtain 1 m samples from which 3 kg was pulverised to produce a 30 g charge for fire assay). In other cases more explanation may be required, such as where there is coarse gold that has inherent sampling problems. Unusual commodities or mineralisation types (eg submarine nodules) may warrant disclosure of detailed information. Core and channel sampling protocols met or exceeded industry standard practices.

Core Sampling is guided by lithology as determined during geological logging (i.e., by a geologist). All pegmatite intervals are sampled in their entirety (half-core), regardless if spodumene mineralization is noted or not (in order to ensure an unbiased sampling approach) in addition to ~1-3 m of sampling into the adjacent wallrock (dependent on pegmatite interval length) to bookend the sampled pegmatite.

The minimum individual sample length is 0.3 m and the maximum sample length is 3.0 m. Targeted individual pegmatite sample lengths are 1.0 m.

All drill core is oriented to maximum foliation prior to logging and sampling and is cut with a core saw into half-core pieces, with one half-core collected for assay, and the other half-core remaining in the box for reference.

All channel samples are of saw cut outcrop

All core and channel samples collected were shipped to SGS Canadas laboratory in Lakefield, ON, for standard sample preparation (code PRP89) which includes drying at 105C, crush to 75% passing 2 mm, riffle split 250 g, and pulverize 85% passing 75 microns. The pulps were shipped by air to SGS Canadas laboratory in Burnaby, BC, where the samples were homogenized and subsequently analyzed for multi-element (including Li and Ta) using sodium peroxide fusion with ICP-AES/MS finish (codes GE_ICP91A50 and GE_IMS91A50). Drilling techniques Drill type (eg core, reverse circulation, open-hole hammer, rotary air blast, auger, Bangka, sonic, etc) and details (eg core diameter, triple or standard tube, depth of diamond tails, face-sampling bit or other type, whether core is oriented and if so, by what method, etc). NQ size standard core drilling was completed for all holes. Core is not oriented. Drill sample recovery Method of recording and assessing core and chip sample recoveries and results assessed.

Measures taken to maximise sample recovery and ensure representative nature of the samples.

Whether a relationship exists between sample recovery and grade and whether sample bias may have occurred due to preferential loss/gain of fine/coarse material. All drill core was geotechnically logged following industry standard practices, and includes total core recovery, fracture recording, ISRM rock strength and weathering, and RQD. Core recovery is very good and typically exceeds 90%.

No relationship between sample recovery and grade, or sample bias, has been observed nor is expected based on the nature of the mineralization and sampling protocols. Logging Whether core and chip samples have been geologically and geotechnically logged to a level of detail to support appropriate Mineral Resource estimation, mining studies and metallurgical studies.

Whether logging is qualitative or quantitative in nature. Core (or costean, channel, etc) photography.

The total length and percentage of the relevant intersections logged. Upon receipt at the core shack, all drill core received is pieced together, oriented to maximum foliation, metre marked, geotechnically logged (including structure), alteration logged, geologically logged, and sample logged on an individual sample basis. Core box photos are also collected of all core drilled, regardless of perceived mineralization. Specific gravity measurements are also collected at systematic intervals for all drill core.

These logging practices meet or exceed current industry standard practices and are of appropriate detail to support a mineral resource estimation.

The logging is qualitative by nature, and includes estimates of spodumene grain size, inclusions, and model mineral estimates.

All channel samples are described with lithology and mineralogy recorded, and orientation collected. Sub-sampling techniques and sample preparation If core, whether cut or sawn and whether quarter, half or all core taken.

If non-core, whether riffled, tube sampled, rotary split, etc and whether sampled wet or dry.

For all sample types, the nature, quality and appropriateness of the sample preparation technique.

Quality control procedures adopted for all sub-sampling stages to maximise representivity of samples.

Measures taken to ensure that the sampling is representative of the in situ material collected, including for instance results for field duplicate/second-half sampling.

Whether sample sizes are appropriate to the grain size of the material being sampled. Drill core sampling follows industry best practices. Drill core was saw cut with half-core sent for geochemical analysis and half-core remaining in the box for reference. The same side of the core was sampled to maintain representativeness. Additionally, several intervals over several holes have had quarter-core samples collected for mineral processing programs, thus leaving only a quarter-core in the box for reference over these intervals.

Sample sizes are appropriate for the material being assayed.

A Quality Assurance / Quality Control protocol following industry best practices was incorporated into the program and included systematic insertion of quartz blanks and certified reference materials into sample batches, as well as collection of quarter-core duplicates, at a rate of approximately 5%. Additionally, analysis of pulp-split and course-split sample duplicates were completed to assess analytical precision at different stages of the laboratory preparation process, and external (secondary) laboratory pulp-split duplicates were prepared at the primary lab for subsequent check analysis and validation.

Channel sampling followed industry best practices, including the insertion of quartz blanks and certified reference materials.

All protocols employed are considered appropriate for the sample type and nature of mineralization and are considered the optimal approach for maintaining representativeness in sampling. Quality of assay data and laboratory tests The nature, quality and appropriateness of the assaying and laboratory procedures used and whether the technique is considered partial or total.

For geophysical tools, spectrometers, handheld XRF instruments, etc, the parameters used in determining the analysis including instrument make and model, reading times, calibrations factors applied and their derivation, etc.

Nature of quality control procedures adopted (eg standards, blanks, duplicates, external laboratory checks) and whether acceptable levels of accuracy (ie lack of bias) and precision have been established. All samples collected were shipped to SGS Canadas laboratory in Lakefield, ON, for standard sample preparation (code PRP89) which includes drying at 105C, crush to 75% passing 2 mm, riffle split 250 g, and pulverize 85% passing 75 microns (i.e., pulps). The pulps were shipped by air to SGS Canadas laboratory in Burnaby, BC, where the samples were homogenized and subsequently analyzed for multi-element (including Li and Ta) using sodium peroxide fusion with ICP-AES/MS finish (codes GE_ICP91A50 and GE_IMS91A50).

The assay techniques are considered appropriate for the nature and type of mineralization present, and result in a total digestion and assay for the elements of interest.

The Company relies on both its internal QAQC protocols (systematic quarter-core duplicates, blanks, certified reference materials, and external checks), as well as the laboratorys internal QAQC.

For assay results disclosed, samples have passed QAQC review. Verification of sampling and assaying The verification of significant intersections by either independent or alternative company personnel.

The use of twinned holes.

Documentation of primary data, data entry procedures, data verification, data storage (physical and electronic) protocols.

Discuss any adjustment to assay data. Assays are reviewed and compiled by the VP Exploration and Project Managers prior to disclosure, including a review of the Companys internal QAQC samples.

No twinned holes have been completed, as all of the drilling in the area of interest is within the last two years.

Data capture utilizes MX Deposit software whereby core logging data is entered directly into the software for storage, including direct import of laboratory analytical certificates as they are received. The Company employs various on-site and post QAQC protocols to ensure data integrity and accuracy.

Adjustments to data include reporting lithium and tantalum in their oxide forms, as it is reported in elemental from in the assay certificates. Formulas used are Li2O = Li x 2.153, and Ta2O5 = Ta x 1.2211 Location of data points Accuracy and quality of surveys used to locate drill holes (collar and down-hole surveys), trenches, mine workings and other locations used in Mineral Resource estimation.

Specification of the grid system used.

Quality and adequacy of topographic control. Each drill hole was collar surveyed with a Topcon GR-5 tool to obtain the X, Y and Z coordinates of each drill hole (precision of +/- 2.5 cm), and a downhole deviation survey completed using a gyro tool (DeviGyro or SPRINT IQ). All channel start and end points were also surveyed using the same tool.

The coordinate system used is UTM NAD83 Zone 18.

The Company completed a property-wide LiDAR and orthophoto survey in August 2022, which provides high-quality topographic control.

The quality and accuracy of the topographic controls are considered adequate for advanced stage exploration and development. Data spacing and distribution Data spacing for reporting of Exploration Results.

Whether the data spacing and distribution is sufficient to establish the degree of geological and grade continuity appropriate for the Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve estimation procedure(s) and classifications applied.

Whether sample compositing has been applied. Drill hole spacing is variable at this stage of exploration at the target. Four (4) distinct areas of the CV13 Cluster were drill tested over these fourteen (14) holes to initially test the target.

Based on the nature of the mineralization and continuity in geological modelling, it is believed that a 100 m drill spacing will be sufficient to support an inferred mineral resource estimate.

Core sample lengths typically range from 0.5 to 1.5 m and average ~1 m. Sampling is continuous within all pegmatite encountered in drilling.

Sample compositing has not been applied

Channel locations were based on outcrop exposure and ranked based on geological interest. Given the typically high relief of pegmatite outcrops, channel lengths may not equate to the width of the exposed outcrop. All channels were oriented to cross the width of the exposed pegmatite as practical. Whether the orientation of sampling achieves unbiased sampling of possible structures and the extent to which this is known, considering the deposit type.

If the relationship between the drilling orientation and the orientation of key mineralised structures is considered to have introduced a sampling bias, this should be assessed and reported if material. No sampling bias is anticipated based on structure within the mineralized body.

The level of structural control on the mineralized body(s) is not yet clear.

The mineralized body(s) at CV13 are currently interpreted to be shallow to moderately dipping in a generally northerly direction, however, the strike varies depending on the location along the trend. This results in varied and oblique angles of intersection with true widths varying based on drill hole angle and orientation of pegmatite at that particular intersection point. i.e. The dip of the mineralized pegmatite body has variations in a vertical sense and along strike, so the true widths are not always apparent until several holes have been drilled in any particular drill-fence. Therefore, all widths reported are core length and true width is not known. Sample security The measures taken to ensure sample security. Samples were collected by Company staff or its consultants following specific protocols governing sample collection and handling. All samples were bagged, placed in large supersacs for added security, palleted, and shipped by third party transport to SGS Lakefield, ON, being tracked during shipment. Upon arrival at the laboratory, the samples were cross-referenced with the shipping manifest to confirm all samples were accounted for. At the laboratory, sample bags are evaluated for tampering. Audits or reviews The results of any audits or reviews of sampling techniques and data. A review of the core sample procedures for the Companys 2021 fall drill program (CF21-001 to 004) and 2022 winter drill program (CV22-015 to 034) was completed by an Independent Qualified Person and deemed adequate and acceptable to industry best practices (discussed in an NI 43-101 Technical Report on the Corvette Property, Quebec, Canada, Issue date of June 27th, 2022.) Additionally, the Company continually reviews and evaluates its procedures in order to optimize and ensure compliance at all levels of sample data collection and handling.



Section 2 Reporting of Exploration Results

(Criteria listed in the preceding section also apply to this section.)

Criteria

JORC Code explanation

Commentary Mineral tenement and land tenure status



Type, reference name/number, location and ownership including agreements or material issues with third parties such as joint ventures, partnerships, overriding royalties, native title interests, historical sites, wilderness or national park and environmental settings.

The security of the tenure held at the time of reporting along with any known impediments to obtaining a licence to operate in the area. The Corvette Property is comprised of 417 claims located in the James Bay Region of Quebec with all claims registered to the Company. The Property is located approximately 10-15 km south of the Trans-Taiga Road and powerline infrastructure corridor.

The Company holds 100% interest in the Property subject to various royalty obligations depending on original acquisition agreements. DG Resources Management holds a 2% NSR (no buyback) on 76 claims, D.B.A. Canadian Mining House holds a 2% NSR on 50 claims (half buyback for $2M) and Osisko Gold Royalties holds a sliding scale NSR of 1.5-3.5% on precious metals, and 2% on all other products, over 111 claims.

The Property does not overlap any sensitive environmental areas or parks, or historical sites to the knowledge of the Company. There are no known hinderances to operating at the Property, apart from the goose hunting season (April 20 th to May 20 th ) where the communities request no drilling or flying be completed.

to May 20 ) where the communities request no drilling or flying be completed. Claim expiry dates range from July 2023 to July 2025. Exploration done by other parties Acknowledgment and appraisal of exploration by other parties. No assay results from other parties are disclosed herein.

The most recent independent Property review was a NI 43-101 Technical Report on the Corvette Property, Quebec, Canada, Issue date of June 27th, 2022. Geology Deposit type, geological setting and style of mineralisation. The Property is situated within the Lac Guyer Greenstone Belt, considered part of the larger La Grande River Greenstone Belt and is dominated by volcanic rocks metamorphosed to amphibolite facies. The claim block is dominantly underlain by the Guyer Group (basaltic amphibolite, iron formation) and the Corvette Formation (amphibolite of intermediate to mafic volcanics). Several occurrences of ultramafic rocks (peridotite, pyroxenite, komatiite?) as well as felsic volcanics (tuffs) are also mapped over areas of the Property. The basaltic amphibolite rocks that trend east-west (generally south dipping) through this region are bordered to the north by the Magin Formation (conglomerate and wacke) and to the south by an assemblage of tonalite, granodiorite, and diorite. Several regional-scale Proterozoic gabbroic dykes also cut through portions of the Property (Lac Spirt Dykes, Senneterre Dykes).

The geologic setting is prospective for gold, silver, base metals, platinum group elements, and lithium over several different deposit styles including orogenic gold (Au), volcanogenic massive sulfide (Cu, Au, Ag), komatiite-ultramafic (Au, Ag, PGE, Ni, Cu, Co), and pegmatite (Li, Ta).

Exploration of the Property has outlined three primary mineral exploration trends crossing dominantly east-west over large portions of the Property  Maven Trend (copper, gold, silver), Golden Trend (gold), and CV Trend (lithium, tantalum). Lithium mineralization at the Property is observed to occur within quartz-feldspar pegmatite (LCT Pegmatites), often exposed at surface as high relief whale-back landforms. The pegmatite is often very coarse-grained and off-white in appearance, with darker sections commonly composed of mica and smoky quartz, and occasional tourmaline.

The lithium pegmatites at Corvette are LCT Pegmatites. Preliminary mineralogical studies of the CV5, CV6, and CV12 pegmatites (based on 22 pegmatite core samples), coupled with field mineral identification and assays, indicate spodumene as the dominant lithium-bearing mineral (~98-99%) on the Property, with no significant petalite, lepidolite, lithium-phosphate minerals, or apatite present. The pegmatites at Corvette also carry significant tantalum values with tantalite indicated to be the mineral phase. All mineralogy reported to date at the CV13 Cluster is based on field identifications. Drill hole Information A summary of all information material to the understanding of the exploration results including a tabulation of the following information for all Material drill holes: easting and northing of the drill hole collar elevation or RL (Reduced Level  elevation above sea level in metres) of the drill hole collar dip and azimuth of the hole down hole length and interception depth hole length.

If the exclusion of this information is justified on the basis that the information is not Material and this exclusion does not detract from the understanding of the report, the Competent Person should clearly explain why this is the case. Drill hole attribute information is included in Table 1 and is available on the Companys website

Grade over width calculations for assays of core intervals of <2 m are not typically presented as they are considered insignificant. Data aggregation methods In reporting Exploration Results, weighting averaging techniques, maximum and/or minimum grade truncations (eg cutting of high grades) and cut-off grades are usually Material and should be stated.

Where aggregate intercepts incorporate short lengths of high grade results and longer lengths of low grade results, the procedure used for such aggregation should be stated and some typical examples of such aggregations should be shown in detail.

The assumptions used for any reporting of metal equivalent values should be clearly stated. Length weighted averages were used to calculate grade over width.

No specific grade cap or cut-off was used during grade width calculations. The lithium and tantalum average of the entire pegmatite interval is calculated for all pegmatite intervals over 2 m core length, as well as higher grade zones at the discretion of the geologist. Pegmatites have inconsistent mineralization by nature, resulting in most intervals having a small number of poorly mineralized samples throughout the interval included in the calculation.

No metal equivalents have been reported. Relationship between mineralisation widths and intercept lengths These relationships are particularly important in the reporting of Exploration Results.

If the geometry of the mineralisation with respect to the drill hole angle is known, its nature should be reported.

If it is not known and only the down hole lengths are reported, there should be a clear statement to this effect (eg down hole length, true width not known). Geological modelling is ongoing at the CV13 Cluster. Current interpretation supports an upper and lower LCT pegmatite with a generally northerly shallow to moderate dip.

All reported widths are core length / apparent width. True widths are not known and may vary widely from hole to hole and channel to channel based on the drill hole / channel orientation and the highly variable nature of pegmatite bodies, which tend to pinch and swell aggressively along strike and to depth. i.e. The dip of the mineralized pegmatite body has variations in a vertical sense and along strike, so the true widths are not always apparent until several holes have been drilled in any particular drill-fence. Diagrams Appropriate maps and sections (with scales) and tabulations of intercepts should be included for any significant discovery being reported These should include, but not be limited to a plan view of drill hole collar locations and appropriate sectional views. Please refer to the figures included herein as well as those posted on the Companys website. Balanced reporting Where comprehensive reporting of all Exploration Results is not practicable, representative reporting of both low and high grades and/or widths should be practiced to avoid misleading reporting of Exploration Results. Please refer to the table(s) included herein as well as those posted on the Companys website.

Every individual pegmatite interval that is greater than 2 metres has been reported, including lower-grade intervals.

Only select channels have been reported as deemed relevant to identify exploration areas of future focus at CV13 as they are considered immaterial compared to drill hole results. Other substantive exploration data Other exploration data, if meaningful and material, should be reported including (but not limited to): geological observations; geophysical survey results; geochemical survey results; bulk samples  size and method of treatment; metallurgical test results; bulk density, groundwater, geotechnical and rock characteristics; potential deleterious or contaminating substances. The Company has completed various surface exploration programs in 2022 with all drill holes reported. Results of surface exploration are still being compiled with some data remaining to be reported.

The Company is currently completing baseline environmental work over the CV5 and CV13 pegmatite clusters and immediate area. No endangered flora or fauna have been documented over the Property to date, and several sites have been identified as potentially suitable for mine infrastructure.

The Company is working on a prefeasibility study for the project, which includes various field and desktop studies. Results of these studies will be presented as part of the final prefeasibility study when released. Further work The nature and scale of planned further work (eg tests for lateral extensions or depth extensions or large-scale step-out drilling).

Diagrams clearly highlighting the areas of possible extensions, including the main geological interpretations and future drilling areas, provided this information is not commercially sensitive. The Company intends to continue drilling the pegmatites of the Corvette Property, focused on the CV5 Pegmatite and adjacent secondary lenses. Drilling is also anticipated to continue at the CV13 pegmatite cluster as well as other pegmatite clusters at the Property. The details of these programs are still being developed. An initial mineral resource estimate is anticipated to be completed for the CV5 and CV13 clusters in 2023.





Photos accompanying this announcement are available at



https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/32b0b4e7-7802-4115-8a84-e421d03bb51a

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CHICAGO, Feb. 13, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Physician Growth Partners (PGP) is pleased to have advised Georgia Dermatology Partners (Georgia Derm), a 23-provider practice serving the greater Atlanta market, in its new partnership with PhyNet Dermatology (PhyNet). This transaction represents a significant expansion of PhyNets current footprint in Georgia while simultaneously adding another dermatologic leader to its growing national footprint.



Founded in 1978, Georgia Derm has grown into a market leader with a reputation for delivering consistently excellent clinical care. Currently led by five exceptional physician shareholders, Georgia Derm offers comprehensive dermatologic services at offices in Snellville, Loganville, Braselton, and Brookhaven. Services include medical, surgical, and cosmetic dermatology services, as well as dermatopathology and MOHS surgery.

Drs. Jonathan Weiss, Alia Brown, Keith Wright, Jessica Mercer, and Kirk Saddler lead a team that includes general and sub-specialty trained physicians, along with multiple mid-levels and aestheticians delivering unmatched clinical services and top-of-the-line cosmetic results. Georgia Derm will utilize PhyNets additional operational resources and growing presence in the state to accelerate growth in the Atlanta market and beyond while maintaining its commitment to clinical outcomes of the highest quality.

PGP served as exclusive transaction advisor to Georgia Derm in its evaluation, negotiation, and execution of the transaction. Dr. Weiss was impressed with the firms work throughout the process. Physician Growth Partners could not be more appropriately named. From first contact until the closing of our transaction, Michael Kroin and his associates were engaged 24/7. They took the time to learn our culture. Their advice was always on-point and they helped us find the best partner for our practice. PGPs professionalism, negotiating skills and availability were unparalleled. After interviewing several investment banks, our choice was clear and could not have been better. Thank you PGP for being a true partner in this journey.

Dr. Brown, who is a partner of the practice with Dr. Weiss, was also pleased with the outcome along with the rest of the shareholders. We had an outstanding experience working with Michael and the PGP team. They were extremely knowledgeable and had the expertise to oversee and execute a partnership with an amazing company. They were available, day and night, working to make the process seamless. In my mind, the most important thing was that they took the time to get to know us as individuals, as well as a group. This was integral in finding a company with whom our goals aligned, and while also allowing us to maintain our culture.



Jeremy Murphy, Vice President at PGP, said, We couldnt be more excited for the future of Georgia Derm as they enter this next stage of growth. Theyre a group of excellent physicians and even better individuals. It was an honor to advise them as they sought a partner capable of expanding upon their mission to provide the best level of dermatologic care to the Georgia community.

John Dickenson, Chief Development Officer of PhyNet, said, We continue to be very intentional and selective in our practice affiliations and could not be more pleased being selected as Georgia Derms partner of choice. We look forward to collaborating with them in future growth while helping them maintain the same excellent standard of care that has been in existence for over 45 years. We appreciate PGPs responsiveness and professionalism throughout this entire transaction. Their immediacy and dedication to their client played an important role in consummating this transaction in a timely fashion.

PGP CEO and Managing Partner Michael Kroin added, I am extremely pleased with the outcome Georgia Derm was able to achieve. There is no doubt their clinical renown and desire to expand in a sustainable fashion was recognized by the market. I am very excited to see the incredible foundation they have built over the years expand with proper strategic alignment via the PhyNet partnership.

About Physician Growth Partners

Physician Growth Partners is one of the most active national healthcare advisory firms dedicated to representing medical specialty practices in transactions with private equity. PGP creates value by providing operational support, strategic positioning, and transaction advisory, delivering an optimal outcome for its clients.
Salt Lake City, UT, Feb. 13, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Genesis Electronics Group Announces the Appointment of Kevin Damoa as New Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Damoas deep industry experience and skill set will accelerate the Companys business plan

Salt Lake City, UT  February 13, 2023  Genesis Electronics Group, Inc. (GEGI), the maker of the autonomous road-to-rail patent-pending shipping technology Glid, today announced that It has appointed Kevin Damoa as the New Chief Executive Officer of the Company.

Mr. Damoa is an experienced Operations Professional and military veteran with a demonstrated history of working in the Aviation & Aerospace, Electrification, E-Mobility, and Defense industries. Mr. Damoa has held critical leadership positions at early start ups and well-established corporations. His history includes Flight Module Logistics Management at SpaceX, Integration Project Manager at Northrop Grumann, Vice President at Romeo Power Technology, Vice President at XOS Trucks, Logistics & Safety Director at Canoo, and VP of Operations at Serial 1 Cycle Company.

Mr. Damoa is skilled in Operations Management, Program/Project Management, Compliance Engineering, Logistics Operations, Team Building, Organizational Leadership, and Mechanical/Structural Design. This background and experience will be instrumental in the production of our Gliders and development of our business plan.

Prior to his appointment as CEO, Mr. Damoa was a Strategic Advisor to the Board of Directors. During his time as Strategic Advisor, it became apparent that Mr. Damoa contained the skills, experience and personality to lead the Company into this next exciting chapter of Company growth.

As part of the appointment of Mr. Damoa as CEO, Braden Jones will resign as CEO but remain Chairman of the Board.

Mr. Jones commented, It is not every day that a young Company like Genesis Electronics Group can hire someone as experienced and valuable as Kevin. As a co-founder of Glid, Kevins vast depth of knowledge and experience helped shave off years of trials and errors. When we decided to merge Glid with Genesis Electronics Group, we knew Kevin would be the right person to lead the Company.

Mr. Jones continued With our current and future rapid growth we will remain vigilant in placing the right talent in the respective positions within our company. I will be relieved of some of my current CEO responsibilities where I can now focus my best talents on the technical development and deployment of our Gliders. We have been hard at work and we have many exciting developments to report in the near future.

As previously announced, Genesis Electronics merged with Glid (www.glidrail.com) on October 26, 2022. In addition, the Companys Regulation A+ offering was recently qualified by the SEC, making fundraising and growth efforts much easier.

Glid aims to take a slice of the massive trucking industry (worth about $732B dollars in 2020 according to Statista) along with the global railroad industry (worth approximately $295B in 2021 according to Grandview Research) by deploying a new way to ship existing semi-trailers over the rails.

As diesel and gas prices have soared, making it more expensive for traditional over-the-road trucking companies to make money, and as the nation has faced driver shortages, railroad union strikes and congestion in ports, Glid is positioning itself to be an alternative shipping provider that solves many of these industry problems.

Glids patent-pending technology, the first of its kind, enables two specially-made Glider vehicles to independently and autonomously move under an unaltered fully-loaded semi trailer, connect to both the king pin and rear axel and then lift the trailer. Once the trailer is lifted off the ground, the Gliders, using a uniquely designed wheel system will be able to enter railroad tracks (via forked rail spurs, asphalt or concrete roads) deploy rail wheels and then transport the semi-trailer and travel at speeds of up to 70-80 mph. A video demonstration of the technology can be viewed here.

Unlike traditional methods of transporting semi-trailers by stacking them on a rail cars, and then those rail cars sitting in ports for days or weeks sometimes, Gliders are able to easily move from rail to private roads making connections much easier, cheaper and faster. Each Glider can exit the rails onto a private lot, where a semi tractor could then pick it up and take it on the final leg of its destination.

Genesis Electronics Group plans on building and operating each Glider with a new Glider-as-a-Service or G-a-a-S model. This will allow partners or operators to benefit from the use of these vehicles and technology, without the heavy up front capital expenditures.

More about the Companys business plans will be released in the near future.

About Genesis Electronics Group, Inc.

Genesis Electronics Group, through Its wholly-owned subsidiary Glid, is building first of Its kind autonomous road-to-rail shipping vehicles called Gliders. Gliders will enable fully-loaded semi trailers access to rails where traditionally it didnt make sense. Genesis Electronics Group plans on owning and operating each Glider in its fleet, and providing a Glider-as-a-Service business model.



Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based only on our current beliefs, expectations and assumptions regarding the future of our business, future plans and strategies, projections, anticipated events and trends, the economy and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of our control. Our actual results and financial condition may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause our actual results and financial condition to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements are included in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Risk Factors section of our annual disclosure report on the OTC Markets for the year ended December 31, 2020. Any forward-looking statement made by us in this release is based only on information currently available to us and speaks only as of the date on which it is made. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable law.

Press Contact:



Genesis Electronics Group, Inc.

communications@genesis-electronics.com
BRISBANE, Australia, Feb. 13, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Allkem Limited (ASX|TSX: AKE) (Allkem or the Company) will release its FY23 Half Year Financial Results on Friday, 24 February 2023.



Managing Director and CEO, Mr. Martin Perez de Solay and Acting CFO, Christian Cortes will conduct a live webcast briefing at 11:00 am AEDT (Sydney, Melbourne) on the same day.

To pre-register your details and join the webcast briefing, please follow the link on the homepage of Allkems website, www.allkem.co. Written questions may be submitted via the webcast and playback of the briefing and Q&A session will also be available on the companys website.

This release was authorised by Mr Martin Perez de Solay, CEO and Managing Director of Allkem Limited.
CHICAGO, Feb. 13, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Autism Community Ventures is proud to report that Dr. Maureen Dunne will appear as a keynote speaker at the upcoming Global Early Education Summit ("GEES"), which will take place April 14-15, 2023, in Panama City, Panama.

The Summit theme is "Preparing Children for an Unknown Future." Click here for more details and to register for the Summit: Event | Global Early Education Summit | Panama (geesummit.com).

The GEES is the very first global education summit based in Latin America to bring together the world's top minds to discuss how leaders must adapt to a rapidly changing world to best prepare children, teachers, students, and professionals for an uncertain future.

GEES aims to provide an atmosphere for provoking thoughtful discourse and a global conversation as the world prepares for a future marked by rapid economic, technological, and social change. The Summit will also serve as an incubator for professional training, networking, and other opportunities.

Dr. Dunne will speak about educational leadership in navigating an uncertain and evolving context. A key focus will be on the important role neurodivergent children and non-linear problem solvers may play in our collective future.

"We live in a world increasingly defined by accelerating change," remarked Dunne. "This has enormous implications for how we approach education. The corner is getting closer, sharper, and more difficult to see around. How we handle cognitive diversity and universal design in early education stands to become one of our most pressing questions in shaping the world we live in decades from now."

Other renowned educators who will appear as key speakers at the Summit include Dr. Flossie Chua, Principal Investigator of Project Zero, Harvard University; Professor Nissim Ben-Arie at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; and Dr. Americo Amorim, a New York University scholar, among other leading scholars and professionals.

In March, Dr. Dunne will also appear as an invited Plenary Speaker on broader topics related to the Evolving Role of Community Colleges and Higher Education at the National Council for Continuing Education and Training (NCCET) Annual Conference, held this year in Nashville, Tennessee. A panel discussion, moderated by NCCET board member Dr. Joseph Cassidy, will take place on March 2 with Dr. Dunne, Dr. Corbin (NACCE), and Joel Vargas (Jobs for the Future).

Contact Information:

Andrew Skinner-Shah

Nara Communications

andrew@naracommunications.com



Elyse Burton

Marketing Manager

elyse@nommedia.co



Related Images











Image 1: Dr. Maureen Dunne









This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com.

Attachment
Perth, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HALF YEAR REPORT INVESTOR WEBINAR / CALL

Perth, Western Australia/February 14, 2023/Perseus Mining Limited (ASX/TSX: PRU) is hosting an investor webinar and conference call to discuss its December 2022 Half Year Results, which are anticipated for release around 8:30am AEDT on Thursday February 23, 2023.

CALL DETAILS



Australia: Thursday February 23, 2023



Perth  6:00am



Sydney/Melbourne  9:00am Canada: Wednesday February 22, 2023



Vancouver  2:00pm



Toronto  5:00pm UK: Wednesday February 22, 2023



London  10:00pm





Register for the webinar at the link below:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_-okmphLRTeedze4IV3chDw

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

To join the webinar via telephone, please use one of the following numbers and enter the webinar ID:

836 2812 9646

For higher quality, dial a number based on your current location:

Location Australia Singapore Canada USA New Zealand United Kingdom Dial in Number +61 8 7150 1149



+61 3 7018 2005 +65 3165 1065 +1 778 907 2071 +1 669 900 9128 +64 9 884 6780 +44 203 901 7895

International numbers available: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kc4V0QEUDI

A recording of the conference call will be made available via Perseuss website at www.perseusmining.com.

This announcement was approval for release by Jeff Quartermaine, Managing Director and CEO.
Press Release

Nokia and Kyndryl expand global network and edge computing alliance

Three-year agreement extends plans to co-innovate and accelerate deployment of flexible, reliable, and secure LTE and 5G private wireless connectivity services and Industry 4.0 solutions.

Kyndryl elevates its strategic investment in Nokia achieving the highest tier Nokia Digital Automation Cloud (DAC) accreditation status, increasing expert resources and skilled practitioners ready to support customers across the globe.

Kyndryl and Nokia will launch a partner innovation lab in Raleigh, North Carolina, to bring advanced wireless connectivity and edge computing, integrated with a multi-factor zero trust model, converging IT and OT for enterprises.





14 February 2023

Espoo, Finland and New York, NY  Nokia and Kyndryl, the worlds largest IT infrastructure services provider, today announced a three-year extension and expansion of their global network and edge partnership, with a focus on developing and delivering industry-leading LTE and 5G private wireless services and Industry 4.0 solutions to customers worldwide.

Kyndryl and Nokia established their global network and edge computing alliance in February 2022. The partnership has since grown exponentially, with more than 100 active engagements with global enterprises, from advisory or testing, to piloting, to full implementation, across 24 countries. With a shared vision and commitment to help enterprise and mission critical infrastructure customers accelerate their digital transformations with leading-edge LTE and 5G private wireless networking, 90% of the current engagements are enterprises in the industrial manufacturing sector, including multinational petrochemical, mining and timber and utilities/energy companies.

Alejandro Cadenas, Associate Vice President of Telco and Mobility Research at IDC, said: As enterprises seek to accelerate and deliver on their journeys towards Industry 4.0 and digitalization, the effective integration and deployment of advanced LTE and 5G private wireless networking technologies becomes instrumental to integrate all enterprise operations in a seamless, reliable, efficient and built in a secure manner. This expanding, powerful relationship between Nokia and Kyndryl is a unique combination of vertical and horizontal capabilities, and offers IT, OT and business leaders access to the innovation, tools, and expert resources they need to digitally transform their operations. The partnership offers a compelling shared vision and execution that will enable customers across all industries and geographies to access the ingredients they need to deliver against the promise of digital acceleration, powered by network and edge computing."

The expanded effort will be enhanced with Kyndryls achievement of Nokia DAC Advanced accreditation status, which helps ensure that enterprise customers benefit from an expanded lineup of expert resources and skilled practitioners who have extensive training and deep understanding of Nokia products and solutions. In addition, customers will gain access to Kyndryls accelerated network deployment capabilities and support of Nokia cellular radio expertise in selected markets.



To meet the growing convergence and demands of IT and OT for enterprises, Kyndryl, Nokia, and Palo Alto Networks, the global cybersecurity leader, will launch a joint lab in Raleigh, North Carolina to bring reliable, secure, and auditable wireless connectivity to industrial networks. Through the collaboration, a multi-factor zero trust model for industrial networking is enabled at both the IT and OT sides of the network using the best tools and resources from each of the companies. Kyndryls network experts are developing an integrated system starting from the foundations of a typical Modbus process control network and extending access and security beyond the typical shop floor. Using Nokia DAC, private cellular connectivity enables high mobility and extended reach of the network.

Paul Savill, Global Practice Leader of Network and Edge computing at Kyndryl, said: Our partnership with Nokia has been focused on co-innovating and co-creating for customers to digitally transform their workspaces and operations. The success we have seen in deploying private wireless for customers like Dow Chemical over the past 12 months, along with the global expansion of our collaboration, is a testament to our belief that we can jointly help companies drive Industry 4.0 transformation across all industries, with speed and scale.

Chris Johnson, Head of Global Enterprise at Nokia, said: Kyndryl and Nokia have a shared vision for digital transformation, and as leaders in our respective industries we are driven to grow this market together. We are excited to build upon our existing success and strengthen our alliance targeting more enterprise customers across multiple industries. We are currently exploring and developing new integrated solutions and services for Edge, Cloud, IP networking, Optics, Fixed Access, 4G and 5G Core, and Network Operations software technologies, which can address the growing demand for mission-critical, industrial-grade wireless networking.

To date, Kyndryl and Nokia have successfully implemented a private wireless network with edge computing for Dow Chemical, at their petrochemical processing plant in Freeport, TX. The modernization of the Dow Chemical plant with advanced connectivity has increased worker safety, and enabled remote audio and video collaboration, and real time smart procedures.



At Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2023, Kyndryl and Nokia will unveil new device management services at the Nokia partner arena (Booth #3A20/2A2), showcasing Kyndryls auto-provisioning software leveraging Nokias customizable enterprise mobile capabilities on Nokias XR20 line of industrial-grade, ruggedized devices. The jointly-developed offerings will further enhance workplace connectivity solutions, and improve productivity, employee communication, and in industrial scenarios enhance overall worker safety. Together, Kyndryl and Nokia are addressing the collaboration and operational needs that contractors and operators face in the field today. Additionally, Gretchen Tinnerman, Vice President, US Network and Edge Practice Leader at Kyndryl will join Nokia CEO, Pekka Lundmark, onstage during his MWC keynote address taking place Tuesday, February 28, 12:00-13:00 CET at the Keynote Stage, Hall 4.



Nokia has deployed mission-critical networks to more than 2,600 leading enterprise customers in the transport, energy, large enterprise, manufacturing, webscale, and public sector segments around the globe. It has also extended its footprint to more than 560 private wireless customers worldwide across an array of industrial sectors and has been cited by numerous industry analysts as the leading provider of private wireless networking worldwide.

Resources

Webpage: Kyndryl Network and Edge Computing

Webpage: Kyndryl Digital Workplace

About Nokia

At Nokia, we create technology that helps the world act together.

As a trusted partner for critical networks, we are committed to innovation and technology leadership across mobile, fixed, and cloud networks. We create value with intellectual property and long-term research, led by the award-winning Nokia Bell Labs.

Adhering to high standards of integrity and security, we help build the capabilities needed for a more productive, sustainable and inclusive world.

About Kyndryl

Kyndryl (NYSE: KD) is the worlds largest IT infrastructure services provider serving thousands of enterprise customers in more than 60 countries. The Company designs, builds, manages and modernizes the complex, mission-critical information systems that the world depends on every day. For more information, visit www.kyndryl.com

# # #

Kyndryl Press Contact

press@kyndryl.com



Nokia Media Inquiries:

Nokia

Communications

Email: press.services@nokia.com
Dublin, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Industrial PC Market by Type (Panel, Rack Mount, Embedded, and DIN Rail), Specification (Data Storage Medium, Maximum RAM Capacity, Display Type), Sales Channel (Direct, Indirect), Industry (Process, Discrete) and Region - Global Forecast to 2028" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.





The industrial PC market is projected to grow from USD 5.0 billion in 2023 to USD 6.6 billion in 2028; it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.5% during the forecasted period. The steady move of the manufacturing sector toward digitalization and increased awareness about resource optimization in manufacturing firms driving the industrial PC market growth and growing deployment of smart manufacturing solutions providing opportunities for the industrial PC market.

Direct sales channel is expected to dominate market by sales channel between 2023 and 2028

Direct channels help end-user industries to choose the correct specification and get customized PCs according to their requirements. For instance, in November 2019, the BMW Group, a Germany-based global automotive company, partnered with Beckhoff Automation, a leading industrial PC manufacturer. In this partnership agreement, Beckhoff is expected to supply control panels and industrial PCs in new manufacturing facilities and retrofits, meeting the requirements of BMW-specific applications such as machine connectivity, access control, data acquisition, and visualization for the next 10 years. Therefore, the market for direct sales channels is estimated to grow at a higher rate during the forecast period.

North America to be the largest market for industrial PC during the forecast period

North America is expected to lead the global industrial PC market from 2023 to 2028. The adoption of advanced technologies enhances the production process in the region. The US and Canada are the largest consumers of industrial PCs in North America. The booming aerospace & defense industry in these countries contributes to the industrial PC market growth. The automotive industry is another major consumer of industrial PCs in North America. Market growth can also be attributed to the pressing need to track manufacturing processes and adhere to regulatory policies while manufacturing products in the process industry

Key players operating in the market include Advantech Co., Ltd., (Taiwan), Beckhoff Automation (Germany), IEI Integration Corporation (Taiwan), Siemens (Germany), B&R Automation (Austria), Kontron (Germany), Avalue Technology Incorporation (Taiwan), DFI (Taiwan), NEXCOM International Co., Ltd., (Taiwan), and American Portwell Technology Inc. (US).

The study includes an in-depth competitive analysis of these key players in the industrial PC market, with their company profiles, recent developments, and key market strategies.

Market Dynamics

Drivers

High Demand for Industrial Internet of Things Among Manufacturing Companies

Shift of Manufacturing Sector Toward Digitalization

Increased Awareness Regarding Resource Optimization in Manufacturing Firms

Stringent Regulatory Requirements to Ensure Safety and Security in Production Plants

Innovations in Display Technology

Restraints

Requirement for High Initial Investment

Data Privacy and Cybersecurity Concerns

Opportunities

Growing Deployment of Smart Manufacturing Solutions

Increasing Awareness Regarding Benefits of Effective It Infrastructure

Challenges

Risks Associated with Integration of Industrial PCs

Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 313 Forecast Period 2023 - 2028 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2023 $5 Billion Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2028 $6.6 Billion Compound Annual Growth Rate 5.5% Regions Covered Global



Key Topics Covered:





1 Introduction

2 Research Methodology

3 Executive Summary

4 Premium Insights

5 Market Overview

6 Industrial PC Market, by Type

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Panel IPC

6.3 Rack Mount IPC

6.4 Din Rail IPC

6.5 Embedded IPC

7 Specifications of Industrial PC

7.1 Touchscreen Technology in Panel IPC, by Type

7.1.1 Resistive Touchscreen

7.1.2 Capacitive Touchscreen

7.2 Data Storage Medium

7.3 Maximum Ram Capacity

8 Operating Temperatures of Industrial PCs

8.1 Introduction

8.2 -45-0C

8.3 0-100C

9 Industrial PC Market, by Sales Channel

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Direct Sales Channels

9.3 Indirect Sales Channels

10 Industrial PC Market, by End-User Industry

10.1 Introduction

10.2 Process Industry

10.2.1 Oil & Gas

10.2.2 Chemical

10.2.3 Energy & Power

10.2.4 Food & Beverage

10.2.5 Pharmaceutical

10.2.6 Others

10.3 Discrete Industry

11 Industrial PC Market, by Region

12 Competitive Landscape

13 Company Profiles

14 Adjacent and Related Markets

15 Appendix

Companies Mentioned

Aaeon Technology Inc.

Acnodes Corporation

Aditech Ict Pvt. Ltd.

Advantech Co. Ltd.

Avalue Technology Incorporation

B&R Automation

Beckhoff Automation

Dfi

Emerson Electric Co.

Iei Integration Corporation

Kontron

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation

Nexcom International Co. Ltd.

Omron Corporation

Panasonic Corporation

Rockwell Automation

Schneider Electric

Siemens

Adlink Technology Inc.

American Portwell Technology, Inc.

Contec Co. Ltd.

Crystal Group Inc.

Onlogic Inc.

Protech Systems Co. Ltd.

Vartech Systems





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About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

Attachment
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Calibre Mining Corp. (TSX: CXB; OTCQX: CXBMF) (the "Company" or "Calibre") is pleased to announce the results of the Companys updated Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves for its Nicaragua and Nevada properties as of December 31, 2022.



Nicaragua 2022 Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve Highlights

16% increase in the Nicaraguan Mineral Reserve grade to 5.37 g/t gold (2021: 4.62 g/t gold);

278% increase in the Nicaraguan Mineral Reserves to approximately 1,082,000 ounces gold, net of depletion since acquisition in 2019;

Largest Nicaraguan Mineral Reserve estimate, at a record grade of 5.37 g/t gold, for the combined assets in 12 years;

Panteon North Maiden Mineral Reserve estimate, discovered in May 2022, added approximately 244,000 ounces (0.8Mt at 9.45 g/t Au) to the Nicaraguan Mineral Reserves, and;

to the Nicaraguan Mineral Reserves, and; The trend towards higher grades is anticipated will lead to lower per ounce costs.



Nevada 2022 Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve Highlights

23% increase in pit-constrained Pan Mine Mineral Reserves to 234,000 ounces gold, net of depletion; and

12% increase in Pan Mine Measured and Indicated Mineral Resource to 359,000 ounces gold.





A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/40f8e46a-1203-4e30-a35b-ed9e134ba17a

Darren Hall, President and Chief Executive Officer of Calibre stated: Since acquiring our Nicaraguan assets in Q4 2019, the teams commitment has created significant value. Year-over-year we have discovered new, high-grade deposits, increasing overall reserve ounces and grades. In 2022, the discovery and delineation of the high-grade ore shoot at Panteon North resulted in 810,000 tonnes at a grade of 9.45 g/t Au for approximately 244,000 ounces of Mineral Reserves, a significant achievement for the team. We have a multi-rig drill program underway following up on the most recent results including 11.61 g/t Au over 9.3m located along the VTEM Gold Corridor approximately 1.5 km northeast of Panteon North indicating an additional high-grade opportunity not included in the 2022 Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve statement.

Our 2022 Nevada programs yielded a 23% increase in Mineral Reserves, net of depletion. This, in combination with the discovery of new Coyote zone proximal to the operating open pit mine, demonstrates the additional upside that exists.

Nicaragua 2023 Priority Mineral Resource Expansion Opportunities

High-grade expansion opportunities at Limon include Panteon VTEM Gold Corridor and Talavera extension, and at Libertad include Veta Azul and Volcan, not included in the Companys 2022 Mineral Resource statement;

Additional Mineral Resource expansion and grade increase opportunities at our Eastern Borosi Project (EBP) including Blag, La Luna and East Dome, as well as Riscos de Oro Southwest and Northeast extensions;

First pass drilling at the recently permitted Buena Vista and La Fortuna concessions, located near the Limon and Libertad mine complexes, respectively, and;

60,000 metre drill program underway.

Nevada 2023 Priority Mineral Resource Expansion Opportunities

Numerous discovery opportunities along a 5 km trend south of the Pan resource area and centered on the new Coyote discovery to be drilled following up on recent drilling success;

40,000 metre drill program underway, and;

Generative program underway including mineral alteration classification and structural interpretation.



Nicaragua Mineral Resource and Reserve Statements - December 31, 20221,2,3,4,5,6

All notes with parameters are at the end of the press release.

Tonnage Grade Grade Contained Au Contained Ag (kt) (g/t Au) (g/t Ag) (koz) (koz) Probable Reserves 6,269 5.37 16.25 1,082 3,275 El Limon Complex 3,714 5.50 5.21 657 622 La Libertad Complex 2,556 5.18 32.29 426 2,654 Measured & Indicated Resources (Inclusive of probable reserves) 16,806 3.37 8.98 1,823 4,814 El Limon Complex 13,313 2.97 2.05 1,270 877 La Libertad Complex 3,493 4.92 35.38 553 3,937 Inferred Resources 59,056 1.30 7.09 2,462 13,460 El Limon Complex 1,597 4.26 3.27 218 167 La Libertad Complex 6,433 3.65 41.19 754 8,487 Primavera (January 31, 2017) 44,974 0.54 1.15 782 1,661 Cerro Aeropuerto (April 11, 2011) 6,052 3.64 16.16 708 3,145

US Mineral Resource and Reserve Statements - December 31, 20227,8,9,10

All notes with parameters are at the end of the press release.

Tonnage Grade Grade Contained Au Contained Ag (kt) (g/t Au) (g/t Ag) (koz) (koz) Proven & Probable Reserves 19,788 0.37 264 Pan Mine 19,788 0.37 264 Measured & Indicated Resources (Inclusive of probable reserves) 98,212 0.88 6.44 2,780 9,399 Pan Mine 33,790 0.33 359 Gold Rock (Mar 31, 2020) 18,996 0.66 403 Golden Eagle (Mar 31, 2020) 45,426 1.38 6.44 2,018 9,399 Inferred Resources 11,643 0.75 4.43 281 765 Pan Mine 3,246 0.40 42 Gold Rock (Mar 31, 2020) 3,027 0.87 84 Golden Eagle (Mar 31, 2020) 5,370 0.90 4.43 155 765

Link  Detailed 2022 Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve Tables

Quality Assurance/Quality Control

Nicaragua

Calibre maintains a Quality Assurance/Quality Control ("QA/QC") program for all its exploration projects using industry best practices. Key elements of the QA/QC program include verifiable chain of custody for samples, regular insertion of certified reference standards and blanks, and duplicate check assays. Drill core is halved and shipped in sealed bags to Bureau Veritas in Managua, Nicaragua, an independent analytical services provider with global certifications for Quality Management Systems ISO 9001:2008, Environmental Management: ISO14001 and Safety Management OH SAS 18001 and AS4801. Prior to analysis, samples are prepared at Veritas' Managua facility and then shipped to its analytical facility in Vancouver, Canada. Gold analyses are routinely performed via fire assay/AA finish methods. For greater precision of high-grade material, samples assaying 10 g/t Au or higher are re-assayed by fire assay with a gravimetric finish. Analyses for silver and other elements of interest are performed via Induction Coupled Plasma spectrometry.

Nevada

Key elements of the QA/QC program include the insertion of assay standards, blanks, and duplicates in the sample stream to ensure the assay lab results are within specified performance levels. Down hole deviation surveys are provided by International Directional Services, utilizing a surface recording gyroscope, and by trained drill crews operating a north seeking gyroscope supplied by REFLEX. RC drilling was performed by Boart Longyear of Salt Lake City, Utah and Alford Drilling from Elko, Nevada. Assays were performed by ALS, Reno where fire assays were determined on a 30-gram charge with an AAS finish. An additional cyanide leach assay was also completed. ALS carries ISO/IEC 17025:2017 certification.

Qualified Persons & Technical Disclaimers

This news release has been reviewed and approved by Benjamin Sanfurgo, CHMC(RM), Goran Andric, P.Eng., Jeff Sepp, P.Eng., Varun Bhundhoo and Daniel Rolph, P.Eng., of SLR Consulting (Canada) Limited (SLR), who prepared or supervised the preparation of the updated El Limon Complex and La Libertad Complex (Libertad, Pavon, and EBP districts) Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve estimates reported in this news release and are Qualified Persons (QPs) as set out under NI 43-101.

A new technical report the Pan Gold Project (the NI 43-101 Updated Technical Report on Resources and Reserves Pan Gold Project White Pine County, Nevada) will be prepared by SRK Consulting (U.S.) Inc. in accordance with NI 43-101. The technical report will include details regarding the updated Mineral Reserve and Resource estimates presented herein and will be filed on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) within 45 days of this news release. Readers are encouraged to read the Technical Report in its entirety, including all qualifications, assumptions, and exclusions that relate to the Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves.

Please also see the notes to each table below.

Darren Hall, MAusIMM, President & Chief Executive Officer, Calibre Mining Corp. has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this news release.

David Schonfeldt, P. Geo, Corporate Chief Geologist, Calibre Mining Corp. and a "Qualified Person" under National Instrument 43-101 has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information contained in this news release.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

"Darren Hall"

Darren Hall, President and Chief Executive Officer

For further information, please contact:

Ryan King

Senior Vice President, Corporate Development & IR

T: (604) 628-1012

E: calibre@calibremining.com

W: www.calibremining.com

About Calibre Mining Corp.

Calibre Mining is a Canadian-listed, Americas focused, growing mid-tier gold producer with a strong pipeline of development and exploration opportunities across Nevada and Washington in the USA, and Nicaragua. Calibre is focused on delivering sustainable value for shareholders, local communities and all stakeholders through responsible operations and a disciplined approach to growth. With a strong balance sheet, a proven management team, strong operating cash flow, accretive development projects and district-scale exploration opportunities Calibre will unlock significant value.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Information

This news release includes certain "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements in this news release that address events or developments that we expect to occur in the future are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are identified by words such as "expect", "plan", "anticipate", "project", "target", "potential", "schedule", "forecast", "budget", "estimate", "intend" or "believe" and similar expressions or their negative connotations, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could", "should" or "might" occur. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to: the Company's expectations toward higher grades mined and processed going forward; statements relating to the Company's 2023 priority resource expansion opportunities; the 'Company's metal price and cut-off grade assumptions; the Company's plans for the Pan Mine for 2023, including production and exploration and its contribution to production growth; the Companys expectations with respect to Pavon Central and EBP and their respective contributions to production growth. Forward-looking statements necessarily involve assumptions, risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond Calibre's control. For a listing of risk factors applicable to the Company, please refer to Calibre's annual information form ("AIF") for the year ended December 31, 2021, and its management discussion and analysis ("MD&A") for the three and nine month period ended September 30, 2022, all available on the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect Calibre's forward-looking statements This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect Calibres forward-looking statements such as potential sanctions implemented as a result of the United States Executive Order 13851 dated October 24, 2022.

Calibre's forward-looking statements are based on the applicable assumptions and factors management considers reasonable as of the date hereof, based on the information available to management at such time. Such assumptions include but are not limited to: the Company being able to mine and process higher grades and keep production costs relatively flat going forward; there not being an increase in production costs as a result of any supply chain issues or ongoing COVID-19 restrictions; there being no adverse drop in metal price or cut-off grade at the Company's Nevada and Nicaraguan properties. Calibre does not assume any obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's beliefs, expectations or opinions should change other than as required by applicable securities laws. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements.





Note 1 - La Libertad Complex Mineral Resource Notes

CIM (2014) definitions were followed for Mineral Resources. Mineral Resources are estimated assuming a long-term gold price of US$1,600/oz and a long-term silver price of US$24/oz. Exceptions:

a. At La Libertad Mine, Jabali East Underground (UG), Mojon UG, San Juan UG, and Tope UG (US$1,500/oz Au and US$23/oz Ag).

b. At EBP, Blag UG, East Dome UG, and La Luna Open Pit (OP) (US$1,500/oz Au and US$23/oz Ag).

c. At Pavon Mine, Pavon Norte OP, Pavon Central OP, and Pavon Sur OP (US$1,700/oz Au and US$24/oz Ag).

Mineral Resources are estimated at gold cut-off grades ranging from 0.42 g/t to 3.59 g/t. Open pit Mineral Resources are reported within conceptual open pits. All underground deposits have been modelled considering an approximate minimum thickness of at least one metre and show good continuity of mineralization. A minimum mining width of two metres has been used to model mineralized zones within the Jabali West, San Antonio, Rosario, and Socorro deposits. Underground Mineral Resources at Jabali West UG, Riscos de Oro UG, and EBP (Guapinol UG and Vancouver UG) are reported within underground constraining shapes. All blocks within the underground constraining shapes have been included within the Mineral Resource estimate. Bulk densities vary by deposit and weathering stage and range from 1.70 t/m3 to 2.65 t/m3. Mineral Resources are inclusive of Mineral Reserves. Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Numbers may not add due to rounding.

The Qualified Persons (QPs) are not aware of any environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-economic, marketing, political, or other relevant factors that could materially affect the Mineral Resource estimate.

Note 2 - La Libertad Complex Mineral Reserve Notes

CIM (2014) definitions were followed for Mineral Reserves. All Mineral Reserves are classified as Probable Mineral Reserves. Mineral Reserves are estimated assuming a long-term gold price of US$1,500/oz and a long-term silver price of US$23/oz. Exceptions:

a. Jabali West UG and EBP Guapinol OP and Vancouver OP (US$1,500/oz Au and US$26/oz Ag).

b. Pavon Norte OP and Pavon Central OP (US$1,600/oz Au and US$23/oz Ag).

4. Open pit Mineral Reserves are estimated at the following cut-off grades:

a. 0.79 g/t Au for Jabali Antena OP.

b. 0.74 g/t Au for Rosario OP.

c. 1.51 g/t Au for Pavon Norte OP and Pavon Central OP.

d. 1.81 g/t Au for EBP (Guapinol OP and Vancouver OP).

5. Pavon Norte OP and Pavon Central OP cut-off grades, account for the increased hauling costs to mill.

6. All open pit Mineral Reserve estimates incorporate dilution built in during the re-blocking process and assume 100% mining recovery.

7. Underground Mineral Reserves are estimated at fully costed and incremental cut-off grades of 2.75 g/t Au and 1.65 g/t Au, respectively, for Jabali West UG and 3.42 g/t Au and 2.41 g/t Au for Riscos de Oro UG.

8. All Mineral Reserve estimates incorporate estimates of dilution and mining losses.

9. A minimum mining width of 1.5 m and 2.0 m was used for underground Mineral Reserves at Jabali West UG and Riscos de Oro UG, respectively, and a dilution skin of 0.5 m was added to the hanging wall and footwall respectively (total 1.0 m).

10. A mining extraction factor of 95% was applied to underground stopes at Jabali West UG. A 100% extraction factor was assumed for ore encountered during mine access development.

11. A mining extraction factor of 90% was applied to underground stopes at Riscos de Oro UG, with a 70% mining extraction applied to stopes where there is no top drilling drift. A 90% extraction factor was assumed for ore encountered during mine access development.

12. Bulk densities vary by deposit and weathering stage and range from 1.70 t/m3 to 2.61 t/m3. Underground backfill density is 1.00 t/m3.

13. Mineral Reserves are reported in dry metric tonnes.

14. Numbers may not add due to rounding.

The Qualified Persons (QPs) are not aware of any environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-economic, marketing, political, or other relevant factors that could materially affect the Mineral Reserves estimate.

Note 3 - El Limon Complex Mineral Resource Notes

CIM (2014) definitions were followed for Mineral Resources. Mineral Resources are inclusive of Mineral Reserves. Mineral Resources are estimated assuming a long-term gold (Au) price of US$1,600/ounce (oz) and a long-term silver (Ag) price of $US24/oz. Open Pit (OP) Mineral Resources are estimated at cut-off grades of 1.00 g/t Au. Underground (UG) Mineral Resources are estimated at cut-off grades ranging from 2.00 g/t Au to 2.82 g/t Au. Bulk densities vary by deposit and weathering stage and range from 1.86 t/m3 to 2.85 t/m3. Bulk densities for Tailings material range from 1.29 t/m3 to 1.33 t/m3. Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. Numbers may not add due to rounding.

The Qualified Person (QP) is not aware of any environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-economic, marketing, political, or other relevant factors that could materially affect the Mineral Resource estimate.

Note 4 - El Limon Complex Mineral Reserve Notes

CIM (2014) definitions were followed for Mineral Reserves. All Mineral Reserves are classified as Probable Mineral Reserves. Mineral Reserves are estimated assuming a long-term gold price of US$1,500/oz and a long-term silver price of US$23/oz. Panteon Norte  Shaft 9 Mineral Reserves are estimated assuming a long-term gold price of US$1,600/oz and a long-term silver price of US$20/oz. Open pit Mineral Reserves are estimated at the following cut-off grades:

a. 1.05 g/t Au for Limon Central OP.

b. 1.11 g/t Au for Limon Norte OP.

c. 1.07 g/t Au for Pozo Bono/Limon Sur OP.

d. 1.10 g/t Au for Tigra OP.

All open pit Mineral Reserve estimates incorporate dilution built in during the re-blocking process and assume 100% mining recovery. Underground Mineral Reserves are estimated at the following fully costed and incremental cut-off grades, respectively:

a. 2.90 g/t Au and 2.30 g/t Au for Panteon UG (existing).

b. 3.17 g/t Au and 2.74 g/t Au for Panteon Norte  Shaft 9 UG.

c. 3.01 g/t Au and 2.44 g/t Au for Santa Pancha 1 UG.

d. 2.13 g/t Au and 1.91 g/t Au for Veta Nueva UG.

e. 2.30 g/t Au and 1.92 g/t Au for Atravesada UG.

All Mineral Reserve estimates incorporate estimates of dilution and mining losses. A mining extraction factor of 95% was applied to underground stopes. Where required, a pillar factor was also applied for sill or crown pillars. A 100% extraction factor is assumed for ore encountered during mine access development. Minimum mining widths of four metres, three metres, 1.5 m, and two metres were used for Santa Pancha 1, Veta Nueva, Panteon (including Panteon Norte  Shaft 9), and Atravesada, respectively. Bulk densities vary between 2.30 t/m3 and 2.41 t/m3 for all open pit Mineral Reserves and between 2.47 t/m3 to 2.50 t/m3 for all underground Mineral Reserves. Mineral Reserves are reported in dry metric tonnes. Numbers may not add due to rounding.

The Qualified Persons (QPs) are not aware of any environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-economic, marketing, political, or other relevant factors that could materially affect the Mineral Reserves estimate.

Note 5  Cerro Aeropuerto (Borosi) Mineral Resource Notes

The effective date of the Mineral Resource is April 11, 2011. CIM definition standards were followed for the resource estimate. The 2011 resource models used Inverse Distance grade estimation within a three-dimensional block model with mineralized zones defined by wireframed solids and A base cutoff grade of 0.6 g/t AuEq was used for reporting mineral resources. Gold Equivalent (AuEq) grades were calculated using $1,058/oz Au for gold and $16.75/oz Ag for silver and metallurgical recoveries and net smelter returns are assumed to be 100% Resource Estimates for Cerro Aeropuerto are detailed in the technical report titled NI 43-101 Technical Report and Resource Estimation of the Cerro Aeropuerto and La Luna Deposits, Borosi Concessions, Nicaragua by Todd McCracken, dated April 11, 2011. The quantity and grade of reported inferred resources in this estimation are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define these inferred resources as an indicated or measured mineral resource. It is uncertain if further exploration will result in upgrading them to an indicated or measured mineral resource category. Numbers may not add exactly due to rounding. Mineral Resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.



Note 6  Primavera (Borosi) Mineral Resource Notes

The effective date of the Mineral Resource is January 31, 2017. CIM definition standards were followed for the resource estimate. The 2016 resource models used Ordinary Kriging grade estimation within a three-dimensional block model with mineralized zones defined by wireframed solids (HG=high grade, LG= low grade, sap=saprolite). A base cutoff grade of 0.5 g/t AuEq was used for reporting mineral resources. Gold Equivalent (AuEq) grades have been calculated using $1300/oz Au for gold, $2.40/lb for Copper, and $20.00/oz Ag for silver and metallurgical recoveries are assumed to be equal for all metals. Resource Estimates for the Primavera project are detailed in the NI 43-101 Technical Report titled Primavera Project by Todd McCracken, dated January 31, 2017. The quantity and grade of reported Inferred resources in this estimation are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define these Inferred resources as an indicated or measured resource. It is uncertain if further exploration will result in upgrading them to indicated or measure mineral resource category. Numbers may not add exactly due to rounding. Mineral Resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Primavera copper resource includes 218,670,000 pounds of copper at a grade of 0.22% Cu, 0.84 g/t AuEq.

Note 7  Pan Open Pit Mineral Reserve Notes

Reserves stated in the table are contained within an engineered pit design following the US$1,600/oz Au sales price Lerchs-Grossmann pit. Date of topography is December 31, 2022. In subsequent text, the abbreviation st denotes US short tons. Mineral Reserves are stated in terms of delivered tons and grade before process recovery. The exception is leach pad inventory, which is stated in terms of recoverable Au ounces. Costs used include a mining cost of US$2.11/st and an ore processing and G&A cost of US$3.88/st. Reserves for Argillic (soft) ore are based upon a minimum 0.004 oz/st Au cut off grade (CoG), using a US$1,600/oz Au sales price and a Au Recovery of 80%. Reserves for Silicic (hard) ore are based upon a minimum 0.006 oz/st Au CoG, using a US$1,600/oz Au sales price and a Au Recovery of 60%. Mineral Reserves stated above are contained within and are not additional to the Mineral Resource, the exception being leach pad inventory. Numbers in the table have been rounded to reflect the accuracy of the estimate and may not sum due to rounding.

Note 8  Pan Open Pit Mineral Resource Notes

CIM (2014. 2019) definitions were followed for Mineral Resources. Mineral Resources are based on 100% ownership. Mineral Resources are estimated using a long term gold price of US$1,700/ounce (oz). In alignment with Calibres other reported mineral resources, Pan Mineral Resources have been reported in metric units which have been converted from Imperial system units currently in use at the Pan mine operating site. Resources are stated as contained within a constrained pit shell; pit optimization was based on an assumed gold price of US$1,700/oz, Silicic (hard) ore recoveries of 60% for Au and an Argillic (soft) ore recovery of 80% for Au, an ore mining cost of US$2.09/st, a waste mining cost of $1.97/st, an ore processing and G&A cost of US$3.13/st, and pit slopes between 45-50 degrees. Resources are partially diluted and reported using a minimum internal gold cut off grade of 0.003 oz/st Au (0.10 g/t Au) for blocks flagged as Argillic altered or as unaltered and a minimum cutoff grade (CoG) of 0.004 oz/st Au (0.14 g/t Au) for blocks flagged as Silicic altered. Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources presented are inclusive of Mineral Reserves. Inferred Mineral Resources are not included in Mineral Reserves. Minerals Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. There is no certainty that any part of the Mineral Resources estimated will be converted into Mineral Reserves. Numbers in the table have been rounded to reflect the accuracy of the estimate and may not sum due to rounding. Mr. Michael Dufresne, M.Sc., P. Geol., P. Geo. of APEX Geoscience Ltd. Is responsible for reviewing and approving the Pan mine open pit Mineral Resource Estimate. Mr. Dufresne is a Qualified Person (QP) as set out in NI 43-101.

Note 9  Gold Rock Mineral Resource Notes

The effective date of the Mineral Resource is Mar 31, 2020. Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. There is no certainty that any part of the Mineral Resources estimated will be converted into Mineral Reserves; The preliminary economic assessment for Gold Rock is preliminary in nature and includes Inferred Mineral Resources that are 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 preliminary economic assessment will be realized; In the table above and subsequent text, the abbreviation st denotes US short tons; Mineral resources stated as contained within a constrained pit shell; pit optimization was based on an assumed gold price of US$1,700/oz, an ore mining cost of US$2.09/st, a waste mining cost of $1.97/st, an ore processing and G&A cost of US$3.13/st, and pit slopes between 45-50 degrees; Mineral resources are reported using an internal gold cut off grade of 0.003 oz/st Au for blocks flagged as Argillic altered or as unaltered and a cutoff of 0.004 oz/st Au for blocks flagged as Silicic altered.; and, Numbers in the table have been rounded to reflect the accuracy of the estimate and may not sum due to rounding.



Note 10  Golden Eagle Mineral Resource Notes
Luton, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Exactitude Consultancy, the market research and consulting wing of Ameliorate Digital Consultancy Private Limited has completed and published the final copy of the detailed research report on the Remote Towers market.

Remote Towers Market size was valued at USD 70 million in 2022 and is projected to reach USD 942.8 million by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 33.5% from 2023 to 2029.

Remote Tower is an innovative concept that takes airport air traffic services (ATS) off the control tower. Although it was originally designed for airports with low traffic. Remote Towers provide airport functions in an integrated and digitized form for air traffic control. A system that enables flight information services to be provided from a specific location other than an airfield. Remote tower services improve operational efficiency and security. Remote towers also support airspace management and safe air traffic management.

The airport's standard ATC towers cannot remotely provide air traffic control services, so remote towers are used instead. High-definition cameras, sensors, microphones and local processing systems are used to manage the Service. Thanks to the remote tower center's hardware controllers and screens, air traffic controllers can provide the same ATC service as if they were sitting in a traditional tower. He can combine multiple airport activities into one remote tower center.

Get Sample Copy:

https://exactitudeconsultancy.com/reports/5107/remote-towers-market/#request-a-sample

Recent Developments

In November 2021, China Southern signed a purchase agreement with Thales Group for their selection of the NXT-800 Automatic Dependent Surveillance  Broadcast (ADS-B) Transponder from ACSS, an L3Harris Technologies and Thales company, during the fourth China International Import Expo (CIIE).

In October 2021, The Korean Airport Corporation (KAC) has conferred Indra Sistemas (Spain) a contract for the supply and installation of Indra Sistemass Normarc Instrument Landing Systems (ILS) and Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) with a total value of roughly USD 7 million.

In January 2021, Frequentis Group (Austria) acquired parts of the ATM product segment from L3Harris Technologies (US)

Scope of the Report:

Report Metric Details Base year considered 2022 Forecast period 2023-2029 Forecast units Value (USD) Segments covered by end user, operation type, system type, application, investment and regions



Geographies covered North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, RoW (Rest of the World) Companies covered Saab (Sweden), Thales Group (France), Frequentis Group (Austria), Indra Sistemas (Spain), and L3Harris Technologies (US) are among others.

Remote Towers Market Players

The major players are Frequentis Group, Saab Group, Searidge Technologies, Indra Systems, Avinor, Thales Group, Harris Corporation, Leonard Martin Corp., and Raytheon Corp, among others.

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https://exactitudeconsultancy.com/reports/5107/remote-towers-market/

Key Market Segments: Remote Towers Market

Remote Towers Market by Operation Type

Single Multiple

Contingency

Remote Towers Market by System Type

Airport Equipment

Remote Towers Modules

Network Solutions

Remote Towers Market by Application

Communication

Information & Control

Surveillance

Visualization

Remote Towers Market Dynamics:

Driver: Increased cost savings

Remote towers can operate one airport and multiple airports simultaneously from a distance. This translates into cost savings for civil infrastructure and ATM systems. Small and medium-sized airports with low traffic will suffer from high ATC tower costs that cannot be compensated for by air traffic. Multiple such airports can be controlled simultaneously and sequentially on a schedule from one location via remote towers. The cost of installing a separate tower at such an airport is significantly higher than installing a high-end camera system relaying video footage for ATC operations to a remote tower. Norway's first tower using remote tower technology was launched in 2019, and three more towers will be implemented by Avinor AS in partnership with the SESAR 2020 program in 2020. The remote tower technology will be deployed at a total of 15 Norwegian airports by the end of 2022, operating from a center in Bod. This should be significantly cheaper than having separate towers at each of these airports. The decommissioned tower will accommodate this increased passenger traffic at a much lower cost than the expansion and development of traditional air traffic control towers. Demand for remote towers is expected to increase due to the need to reduce ATM costs.

Opportunity: Digitalization in air traffic management

The airline industry is undergoing a digital transformation. Digital MRO, autonomous aircraft and drones, digital airport technology, etc. are driving the industry towards digitization. Remote Towers are at the forefront of airport digitalization. Replaces the human OTW view of her with a digital device working in a highly automated system. In addition to the digital display, the aerial data received from the remote towers and the automatic algorithms for creating the controller's terrain and anti-collision mappings are digital. For example, in the development of the Digital Control Tower project, ENAIRE (Spain), with technology partner Indra Sistemas (Spain), aims to go far beyond the mere remote delivery of control tower traffic services. This advanced solution integrates the latest ATS surveillance data, air traffic control and communication systems with a panoramic visualization system with innovative information and alarm capabilities based on the application of augmented reality and artificial intelligence. This evolution from the 'remote concept' to the new 'digital concept' is based on the goal of expanding the cooperation between man and his ATMS system and switching from the 'visual' concept of operation of the calling tower to a new operating concept. increase. Based on merging new digitized images with ATM system information.

Challenge: Rise in cyber threats to air traffic management

The use of information and communication technology (ICT) in remote tower systems to create a network between the airport and the CWP could expose ATC operations to cyber hacking. The digitization of such complex devices poses significant problems related to cybersecurity. Traditional ATC towers operate in an isolated environment protected from cyberthreats. However, because remote towers and their components are connected to the Internet or networks, they are vulnerable to hacker attacks. This ICT-specific interface and interdependencies increase the threat to remote towers.

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Enterprise Architecture Tools Market

Enterprise Architecture Tools Market is expected to grow at 4.5% CAGR from 2023 to 2028. It is expected to reach above USD 1427 million by 2028 from USD 960 million in 2022.

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Industry 4.0 Market

Industry 4.0 Market is expected to grow at more than 26% CAGR from 2023 to 2029. It is expected to reach above USD 305 billion by 2029 from a little above USD 68 billion in 2022.

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Digital Workplace/ Digital Workspace market

Digital Workplace/ Digital Workspace Market is projected to reach USD 103.15 Million by 2029 from USD 22.30 Million in 2020, at a CAGR of 21.1% from 2023 to 2028.

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About Us

Exactitude Consultancy is a market research & consulting services firm which helps its client to address their most pressing strategic and business challenges. Our market research helps clients to address critical business challenges and also helps make optimized business decisions with our fact-based research insights, market intelligence, and accurate data.
TORONTO, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd. (TSX: WDO) (Wesdome or the Company) today announces underground exploration drilling results from the Kiena Deep A zone at the Companys 100% owned Kiena Mine Complex in Val d'Or, Quebec.

Over the past several years, underground drilling has focussed on testing areas proximal to the Kiena Deep A zones. As part of this exploration focus, early success discovered the Footwall zones in 2021. Subsequently in 2022, exploration confirmed the presence of the South Limb at depth associated with Kiena Deep A zone (see press release dated June 1, 2022), suggesting potential to increase the strike length of the high grade A zone. Later in 2022, drilling intersected two new zones in the relative high rock quality hanging wall basalt that returned 2,850 g/t Au (grams per tonne gold) over 1.5 metres (m) (see press release dated November 16, 2022).

Since November, drill results have extended the Kiena Deep A zone 125 m down plunge. The A zone extends continuously from 1,100 m to approximately 2,000 m below surface and remains open at depth. Hole N103-6840W5 and N103-6840W6 confirmed the extension of the North Limb of the fold, with the overall geometry of the fold confirmed by hole 6840W4 (Figure 1), the true thickness of the North Limb remains unknown. The down plunge continuity, volume and grade at depth of the South limb will be tested by future drilling as access is provided by the hanging wall ramp.

Additionally, the latest drilling results have also continued to better define and expand the Footwall zones. Lenses FWZ_1 to FWZ_4 were intersected by holes N112-6861, N112-6861W1, and N112-6862W2 (Figure 2). The results obtained have extended these lenses and also increased confidence in the validity of the geological model.

Hole N103-6839W4 intersected and further defined the Hanging Wall Basalt zone (HWB) reported in the November 16, 2022 press release (Figure 1). More drilling is planned to better define the orientation and the thickness of this zone.

Highlights of the recent drilling are listed below and summarized in Table 1.

Hole N112-6861: 75.6 g/t Au over 10.0 m core length (35.8 g/t Au capped, 6.4 m true width) A zone

Hole N103-6840W5: 23.7 g/t Au over 5.0 m core length (23.7 g/t Au capped, unknown true width) North Limb zone

Hole N103-6840W6: 26.8 g/t Au over 4.0 m core length (24.8 g/t Au capped, unknown true width) North Limb zone

Hole N112-6861: 33.6 g/t Au over 21.8 m core length (10.8 g/t Au capped, 4.3 m true width) Footwall_2 zone

Hole N103-6839W4: 4.1 g/t Au over 22.8 m core length - Hanging Wall Basalt zone



Assays capped at 90.0 g/t Au for A zone and capped at 35.0 g/t Au for the Hanging Wall Basalt zones. True widths are estimated.

Mr. Warwick Morley-Jepson, Interim President and CEO commented, We are pleased with the recent drill results that are continuing to better define and expand the recent discoveries adjacent to the Kiena Deep A Zone, namely the Footwall, South Limb and Hanging Wall Basalt zones. These zones have the potential to increase the number of ounces per vertical metre and to provide additional working faces during mining using the same underground infrastructure utilized to access the A zone. This can be leveraged to mine these additional zones on a lower unit cost basis. The discovery of these zones highlights the potential to add ounces within the basalt, where the rock quality is significantly better than in the footwall of the A Zone allowing for increased overall development rates.

Additionally, recent drilling has extended the A zone a further 125 metres down plunge, illustrating the future growth potential of this zone. Obviously, testing at depth potential remains one of the focuses of current drilling.

With the completion of the paste fill plant commissioning on November 30, 2022, commercial production at the Kiena Mine was declared effective December 1, 2022. To date, the paste fill plant has performed well, with the focus now primarily on ramp development. Currently ahead of schedule, ramp development in 2023 is designed to provide access to the much wider part of the high grade A zone in early 2024. Wesdome will continue to provide periodic progress updates throughout the year.



TECHNICAL DISCLOSURE

The underground technical and geoscientific content of this release has been compiled, reviewed, and approved by Bruno Turcotte, P.Geo., (OGQ #453) Chief Geologist  Underground Exploration of the Company, a "Qualified Person" as defined in National Instrument 43-101 -Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

Analytical work was performed by ALS Minerals of Val-dOr (Quebec), a certified commercial laboratory (Accredited Lab #689). Sample preparation was completed at ALS Minerals in Val d'Or (Quebec). Assaying comprised fire assay methods with an atomic absorption finish. Any sample assaying >3 g/t Au was rerun by fire assay method with gravimetric finish, and any sample assaying >10 g/t Au was rerun with the metallic sieve method. In addition to laboratory internal duplicates, standards, and blanks, the geology department inserts blind duplicates, standards, and blanks into the sample stream at a frequency of one in twenty to monitor quality control.

ABOUT WESDOME

Wesdome is a Canadian focused gold producer with two high grade underground assets, the Eagle River mine in Ontario and the recently re-started Kiena mine in Quebec. The Company also retains meaningful exposure to the Moss Lake gold deposit in Ontario through its equity position in Goldshore Resources Inc. The Companys primary goal is to responsibly leverage this operating platform and high-quality brownfield and greenfield exploration pipeline to build Canadas next intermediate gold producer. Wesdome trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol WDO, with a secondary listing on the OTCQX under the symbol WDOFF.





For further information, please contact:

Warwick Morley-Jepson or Lindsay Carpenter Dunlop Interim President and CEO VP Investor Relations 416-360-3743 ext. 2029 416-360-3743 ext. 2025 w.morley-jepson@wesdome.com lindsay.dunlop@wesdome.com 220 Bay St, Suite 1200 Toronto, ON, M5J 2W4 Toll Free: 1-866-4-WDO-TSX Phone: 416-360-3743, Fax: 416-360-7620 Website: www.wesdome.com



This news release contains forward-looking information which may include, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the future financial or operating performance of the Company and its projects. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as plans, expects, is expected, budget, scheduled, estimates, forecasts, intends, anticipates, or believes or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this press release and the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. 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. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances, managements estimates or opinions should change, except as required by securities legislation. Accordingly, the reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company has included in this news release certain non-IFRS performance measures, including, but not limited to, mine operating profit, mining and processing costs and cash costs. Cash costs per ounce reflect actual mine operating costs incurred during the fiscal period divided by the number of ounces produced. These measures are not defined under IFRS and therefore should not be considered in isolation or as an alternative to or more meaningful than, net income (loss) or cash flow from operating activities as determined in accordance with IFRS as an indicator of our financial performance or liquidity. The Company believes that, in addition to conventional measures prepared in accordance with IFRS, certain investors use this information to evaluate the Company's performance and ability to generate cash flow





Table 1: Kiena Complex Underground Drilling Assay and Composite Results

Composites

Hole No. From (m) To (m) Core Length (m) Estimated True width (m) Grade (g/t Au) Cut Grade (35 g/t Au) Name Zone N112-6861 321.0 328.5 7.5 4.4 3.92 3.92 BZA_1 N112-6861W1 177.0 182.4 5.4 5.0 11.24 7.47 BZA_1 N103-6839W4 362.6 369.2 6.6 4.0 72.24 20.15 A Zone N103-6839W6 381.3 388.3 7.0 5.0 4.01 4.01 A Zone N103-6840W4 313.5 318.9 5.4 NA 19.47 16.39 A Zone N103-6840W5 385.0 390.0 5.0 NA 23.69 23.69 A Zone N103-6840W6 289.0 293.0 4.0 NA 26.84 24.84 A Zone N112-6861 339.0 349.0 10.0 6.4 75.64 35.79 A Zone N112-6861W2 161.8 172.5 10.7 4.1 6.06 6.06 A Zone N103-6839W4 378.9 383.9 5.0 3.8 6.11 6.11 A1 Zone N112-6861W1 232.5 266.0 33.5 4.2 6.35 6.19 A1 Zone N112-6861W2 182.5 188.3 5.8 3.0 43.14 24.31 A1 Zone N112-6861 382.8 402.7 19.9 4.5 5.83 5.83 A2 Zone N112-6861W1 287.5 328.5 41.0 3.9 3.35 3.35 A2 Zone N112-6861 408.7 428.0 19.3 4.0 7.77 7.77 FWZ_1 N112-6861W2 252.0 256.9 4.9 3.0 77.44 19.48 FWZ_1 N112-6861 429.4 451.2 21.8 4.3 33.61 10.82 FWZ_2 N112-6861W1 397.0 411.7 14.7 5.3 13.16 13.16 FWZ_3 N112-6861W1 429.9 437.2 7.3 4.2 8.67 8.67 FWZ_4 N103-6839W4 289.0 311.8 22.8 NA 4.07 4.07 New Basalt



Assays

Hole No. From (m) To (m) Core Length (m) Grade (g/t Au) Cut Grade (35 g/t Au) Name Zone N103-6839W4 289.0 290.0 1.0 4.90 4.90 HWB N103-6839W4 290.0 291.0 1.0 2.82 2.82 HWB N103-6839W4 291.0 292.0 1.0 4.45 4.45 HWB N103-6839W4 292.0 293.0 1.0 0.91 0.91 HWB N103-6839W4 293.0 294.0 1.0 1.78 1.78 HWB N103-6839W4 294.0 294.8 0.8 1.03 1.03 HWB N103-6839W4 294.8 295.6 0.8 1.36 1.36 HWB N103-6839W4 295.6 296.4 0.8 2.09 2.09 HWB N103-6839W4 296.4 297.2 0.8 4.31 4.31 HWB N103-6839W4 297.2 298.0 0.8 7.84 7.84 HWB N103-6839W4 298.0 298.8 0.8 0.76 0.76 HWB N103-6839W4 298.8 299.8 1.0 2.61 2.61 HWB N103-6839W4 299.8 300.8 1.0 2.30 2.30 HWB N103-6839W4 300.8 301.8 1.0 1.00 1.00 HWB N103-6839W4 301.8 302.8 1.0 2.33 2.33 HWB N103-6839W4 302.8 303.8 1.0 0.73 0.73 HWB N103-6839W4 303.8 304.8 1.0 3.91 3.91 HWB N103-6839W4 304.8 305.8 1.0 9.17 9.17 HWB N103-6839W4 305.8 306.8 1.0 16.40 16.40 HWB N103-6839W4 306.8 307.8 1.0 5.20 5.20 HWB N103-6839W4 307.8 308.8 1.0 4.01 4.01 HWB N103-6839W4 308.8 309.8 1.0 1.70 1.70 HWB N103-6839W4 309.8 310.8 1.0 0.85 0.85 HWB N103-6839W4 310.8 311.8 1.0 13.70 13.70 HWB Hole No. From (m) To (m) Core Length (m) Grade (g/t Au) Cut Grade (90 g/t Au) Name Zone N103-6839W4 362.6 363.5 0.9 30.70 30.70 A Zone N103-6839W4 363.5 364.4 0.9 13.05 13.05 A Zone N103-6839W4 364.4 365.3 0.9 9.62 9.62 A Zone N103-6839W4 365.3 366.2 0.9 472.00 90.00 A Zone N103-6839W4 366.2 367.2 1.0 0.31 0.31 A Zone N103-6839W4 367.2 368.1 0.9 1.16 1.16 A Zone N103-6839W4 368.1 369.2 1.1 2.34 2.34 A Zone Hole No. From (m) To (m) Core Lenght (m) Grade (g/t Au) Cut Grade (90 g/t Au) Name Zone N103-6839W4 378.9 380.2 1.3 5.48 5.48 A1 Zone N103-6839W4 380.2 381.0 0.8 7.76 7.76 A1 Zone N103-6839W4 381.0 382.0 1.0 6.86 6.86 A1 Zone N103-6839W4 382.0 383.0 1.0 5.62 5.62 A1 Zone N103-6839W4 383.0 383.9 0.9 5.27 5.27 A1 Zone Hole No. From (m) To (m) Core Lenght (m) Grade (g/t Au) Cut Grade (90 g/t Au) Name Zone N103-6839W6 381.3 382.3 1.0 3.88 3.88 A Zone N103-6839W6 382.3 383.3 1.0 0.18 0.18 A Zone N103-6839W6 383.3 384.3 1.0 0.05 0.05 A Zone N103-6839W6 384.3 385.3 1.0 0.14 0.14 A Zone N103-6839W6 385.3 386.3 1.0 0.25 0.25 A Zone N103-6839W6 386.3 387.3 1.0 22.40 22.40 A Zone N103-6839W6 387.3 388.3 1.0 1.20 1.20 A Zone Hole No. From (m) To (m) Core Lenght (m) Grade (g/t Au) Cut Grade (90 g/t Au) Name Zone N103-6840W4 313.5 315.0 1.5 1.28 1.28 A Zone N103-6840W4 315.0 316.0 1.0 0.63 0.63 A Zone N103-6840W4 316.0 317.0 1.0 0.47 0.47 A Zone N103-6840W4 317.0 318.0 1.0 4.49 4.49 A Zone N103-6840W4 318.0 318.9 0.9 108.50 90.00 A Zone Hole No. From (m) To (m) Core Lenght (m) Grade (g/t Au) Cut Grade (90 g/t Au) Name Zone N103-6840W5 385.0 386.0 1.0 8.39 8.39 A Zone N103-6840W5 386.0 387.0 1.0 46.70 46.70 A Zone N103-6840W5 387.0 388.0 1.0 54.90 54.90 A Zone N103-6840W5 388.0 389.0 1.0 7.38 7.38 A Zone N103-6840W5 389.0 390.0 1.0 1.08 1.08 A Zone Hole No. From (m) To (m) Core Lenght (m) Grade (g/t Au) Cut Grade (90 g/t Au) Name Zone N103-6840W6 289 290 1.0 0.62 0.62 A Zone N103-6840W6 290 291 1.0 5.54 5.54 A Zone N103-6840W6 291 292 1.0 98.00 90.00 A Zone N103-6840W6 292 293 1.0 3.20 3.20 A Zone N103-6840W6 293 294 1.0 0.26 0.26 A Zone Hole No. From (m) To (m) Core Lenght (m) Grade (g/t Au) Cut Grade (90 g/t Au) Name Zone N112-6861 321 323 1.5 0.56 0.56 BZA_1 N112-6861 323 324 1.5 0.03 0.03 BZA_1 N112-6861 324 326 1.5 0.16 0.16 BZA_1 N112-6861 326 327 1.5 0.43 0.43 BZA_1 N112-6861 327 329 1.5 18.4 18.4 BZA_1 Hole No. From (m) To (m) Core Lenght (m) Grade (g/t Au) Cut Grade (90 g/t Au) Name Zone N112-6861 382.8 384.3 1.5 2.59 2.59 A2 Zone N112-6861 384.3 385.3 1.0 3.67 3.67 A2 Zone N112-6861 385.3 386.2 0.9 1.40 1.40 A2 Zone N112-6861 386.2 387.3 1.1 15.35 15.35 A2 Zone N112-6861 387.3 388.3 1.0 0.20 0.20 A2 Zone N112-6861 388.3 389.3 1.0 0.14 0.14 A2 Zone N112-6861 389.3 390.3 1.0 2.10 2.10 A2 Zone N112-6861 390.3 391.3 1.0 6.28 6.28 A2 Zone N112-6861 391.3 392.3 1.0 0.49 0.49 A2 Zone N112-6861 392.3 393.3 1.0 0.48 0.48 A2 Zone N112-6861 393.3 394.3 1.0 0.05 0.05 A2 Zone N112-6861 394.3 395.2 0.9 0.07 0.07 A2 Zone N112-6861 395.2 396.1 0.9 5.69 5.69 A2 Zone N112-6861 396.1 397.1 1.0 6.23 6.23 A2 Zone N112-6861 397.1 398.0 0.9 0.31 0.31 A2 Zone N112-6861 398.0 398.7 0.7 78.30 78.30 A2 Zone N112-6861 398.7 399.7 1.0 0.54 0.54 A2 Zone N112-6861 399.7 400.7 1.0 4.10 4.10 A2 Zone N112-6861 400.7 401.7 1.0 2.36 2.36 A2 Zone N112-6861 401.7 402.7 1.0 6.98 6.98 A2 Zone Hole No. From (m) To (m) Core Lenght (m) Grade (g/t Au) Cut Grade (90 g/t Au) Name Zone N112-6861 408.7 409.7 1.0 8.90 8.90 FWZ_1 N112-6861 409.7 410.7 1.0 4.08 4.08 FWZ_1 N112-6861 410.7 411.7 1.0 1.96 1.96 FWZ_1 N112-6861 411.7 413.1 1.4 3.91 3.91 FWZ_1 N112-6861 413.1 414.0 0.9 1.00 1.00 FWZ_1 N112-6861 414.0 415.0 1.0 0.77 0.77 FWZ_1 N112-6861 415.0 416.0 1.0 0.57 0.57 FWZ_1 N112-6861 416.0 417.0 1.0 0.84 0.84 FWZ_1 N112-6861 417.0 418.0 1.0 1.30 1.30 FWZ_1 N112-6861 418.0 419.0 1.0 0.69 0.69 FWZ_1 N112-6861 419.0 420.0 1.0 0.52 0.52 FWZ_1 N112-6861 420.0 420.8 0.8 1.19 1.19 FWZ_1 N112-6861 420.8 422.0 1.2 1.16 1.16 FWZ_1 N112-6861 422.0 423.0 1.0 0.07 0.07 FWZ_1 N112-6861 423.0 424.0 1.0 0.02 0.02 FWZ_1 N112-6861 424.0 425.0 1.0 82.70 82.70 FWZ_1 N112-6861 425.0 426.0 1.0 31.90 31.90 FWZ_1 N112-6861 426.0 427.0 1.0 3.52 3.52 FWZ_1 N112-6861 427.0 428.0 1.0 3.38 3.38 FWZ_1 Hole No. From (m) To (m) Core Lenght (m) Grade (g/t Au) Cut Grade (90 g/t Au) Name Zone N112-6861 429.4 430.4 1.0 4.66 4.66 FWZ_2 N112-6861 430.4 431.6 1.2 504.00 90.00 FWZ_2 N112-6861 431.6 432.6 1.0 29.20 29.20 FWZ_2 N112-6861 432.6 433.6 1.0 89.00 89.00 FWZ_2 N112-6861 433.6 434.5 0.9 0.22 0.22 FWZ_2 N112-6861 434.5 436.0 1.5 0.13 0.13 FWZ_2 N112-6861 436.0 437.5 1.5 0.08 0.08 FWZ_2 N112-6861 437.5 439.0 1.5 0.02 0.02 FWZ_2 N112-6861 439.0 440.5 1.5 0.02 0.02 FWZ_2 N112-6861 440.5 442.0 1.5 0.05 0.05 FWZ_2 N112-6861 442.0 442.3 0.3 0.02 0.02 FWZ_2 N112-6861 442.3 444.3 2.0 0.13 0.13 FWZ_2 N112-6861 444.3 445.0 0.7 0.84 0.84 FWZ_2 N112-6861 445.0 445.7 0.7 0.37 0.37 FWZ_2 N112-6861 445.7 447.2 1.5 0.12 0.12 FWZ_2 N112-6861 447.2 448.2 1.0 0.03 0.03 FWZ_2 N112-6861 448.2 449.4 1.2 0.02 0.02 FWZ_2 N112-6861 449.4 450.2 0.8 0.01 0.01 FWZ_2 N112-6861 450.2 451.2 1.0 2.94 2.94 FWZ_2 Hole No. From (m) To (m) Core Lenght (m) Grade (g/t Au) Cut Grade (35 g/t Au) Name Zone N112-6861W1 177 178 1.0 1.54 1.54 BZA_1 N112-6861W1 178 179 1.0 0.99 0.99 BZA_1 N112-6861W1 179 180 0.8 0.44 0.44 BZA_1 N112-6861W1 180 181 1.0 55.40 35.00 BZA_1 N112-6861W1 181 182 0.8 1.25 1.25 BZA_1 N112-6861W1 182 182 0.8 1.80 1.80 BZA_1 Hole No. From (m) To (m) Core Lenght (m) Grade (g/t Au) Cut Grade (90 g/t Au) Name Zone N112-6861W1 232.5 233.5 1.0 5.90 5.90 A1 Zone N112-6861W1 233.5 234.5 1.0 1.26 1.26 A1 Zone N112-6861W1 234.5 235.4 0.9 1.80 1.80 A1 Zone N112-6861W1 235.4 236.3 0.9 0.23 0.23 A1 Zone N112-6861W1 236.3 237.2 0.9 0.31 0.31 A1 Zone N112-6861W1 237.2 238.1 0.9 0.30 0.30 A1 Zone N112-6861W1 238.1 239.0 0.9 0.83 0.83 A1 Zone N112-6861W1 239.0 239.9 0.9 0.15 0.15 A1 Zone N112-6861W1 239.9 240.8 0.9 2.44 2.44 A1 Zone N112-6861W1 240.8 241.7 0.9 0.26 0.26 A1 Zone N112-6861W1 241.7 242.8 1.1 2.11 2.11 A1 Zone N112-6861W1 242.8 243.9 1.1 1.72 1.72 A1 Zone N112-6861W1 243.9 245.0 1.1 0.34 0.34 A1 Zone N112-6861W1 245.0 246.0 1.0 0.03 0.03 A1 Zone N112-6861W1 246.0 247.0 1.0 0.03 0.03 A1 Zone N112-6861W1 247.0 248.0 1.0 0.02 0.02 A1 Zone N112-6861W1 248.0 249.0 1.0 0.06 0.06 A1 Zone N112-6861W1 249.0 250.0 1.0 0.66 0.66 A1 Zone N112-6861W1 250.0 251.0 1.0 95.40 90.00 A1 Zone N112-6861W1 251.0 252.0 1.0 0.94 0.94 A1 Zone N112-6861W1 252.0 253.0 1.0 0.07 0.07 A1 Zone N112-6861W1 253.0 254.0 1.0 0.45 0.45 A1 Zone N112-6861W1 254.0 255.0 1.0 4.35 4.35 A1 Zone N112-6861W1 255.0 256.0 1.0 2.91 2.91 A1 Zone N112-6861W1 256.0 257.0 1.0 1.07 1.07 A1 Zone N112-6861W1 257.0 258.0 1.0 0.23 0.23 A1 Zone N112-6861W1 258.0 259.0 1.0 0.70 0.70 A1 Zone N112-6861W1 259.0 260.0 1.0 5.52 5.52 A1 Zone N112-6861W1 260.0 261.0 1.0 0.98 0.98 A1 Zone N112-6861W1 261.0 262.0 1.0 1.42 1.42 A1 Zone N112-6861W1 262.0 263.0 1.0 0.64 0.64 A1 Zone N112-6861W1 263.0 264.0 1.0 1.14 1.14 A1 Zone N112-6861W1 264.0 265.0 1.0 15.60 15.60 A1 Zone N112-6861W1 265.0 266.0 1.0 63.00 63.00 A1 Zone Hole No. From (m) To (m) Core Lenght (m) Grade (g/t Au) Cut Grade (90 g/t Au) Name Zone N112-6861W1 287.5 289.0 1.5 8.05 8.05 A2 Zone N112-6861W1 289.0 290.5 1.5 20.00 20.00 A2 Zone N112-6861W1 290.5 291.2 0.7 1.51 1.51 A2 Zone N112-6861W1 291.2 292.2 1.0 0.98 0.98 A2 Zone N112-6861W1 292.2 292.8 0.6 2.98 2.98 A2 Zone N112-6861W1 292.8 294.3 1.5 0.14 0.14 A2 Zone N112-6861W1 294.3 295.8 1.5 0.05 0.05 A2 Zone N112-6861W1 295.8 297.3 1.5 0.02 0.02 A2 Zone N112-6861W1 297.3 298.8 1.5 2.16 2.16 A2 Zone N112-6861W1 298.8 300.3 1.5 2.56 2.56 A2 Zone N112-6861W1 300.3 301.8 1.5 0.56 0.56 A2 Zone N112-6861W1 301.8 303.0 1.2 0.85 0.85 A2 Zone N112-6861W1 303.0 304.0 1.0 1.67 1.67 A2 Zone N112-6861W1 304.0 305.0 1.0 2.82 2.82 A2 Zone N112-6861W1 305.0 306.0 1.0 1.46 1.46 A2 Zone N112-6861W1 306.0 307.0 1.0 4.35 4.35 A2 Zone N112-6861W1 307.0 308.0 1.0 8.50 8.50 A2 Zone N112-6861W1 308.0 309.0 1.0 2.53 2.53 A2 Zone N112-6861W1 309.0 310.0 1.0 6.76 6.76 A2 Zone N112-6861W1 310.0 311.0 1.0 2.62 2.62 A2 Zone N112-6861W1 311.0 312.0 1.0 2.11 2.11 A2 Zone N112-6861W1 312.0 313.0 1.0 0.31 0.31 A2 Zone N112-6861W1 313.0 314.0 1.0 5.71 5.71 A2 Zone N112-6861W1 314.0 315.0 1.0 2.71 2.71 A2 Zone N112-6861W1 315.0 316.1 1.1 0.66 0.66 A2 Zone N112-6861W1 316.1 317.2 1.1 0.25 0.25 A2 Zone N112-6861W1 317.2 318.7 1.5 0.03 0.03 A2 Zone N112-6861W1 318.7 320.2 1.5 0.01 0.01 A2 Zone N112-6861W1 320.2 321.2 1.0 0.01 0.01 A2 Zone N112-6861W1 321.2 322.1 0.9 6.51 6.51 A2 Zone N112-6861W1 322.1 323.2 1.1 3.46 3.46 A2 Zone N112-6861W1 323.2 324.2 1.0 1.06 1.06 A2 Zone N112-6861W1 324.2 325.2 1.0 5.40 5.40 A2 Zone N112-6861W1 325.2 326.2 1.0 0.25 0.25 A2 Zone N112-6861W1 326.2 327.2 1.0 2.65 2.65 A2 Zone N112-6861W1 327.2 328.5 1.3 15.95 15.95 A2 Zone Hole No. From (m) To (m) Core Lenght (m) Grade (g/t Au) Cut Grade (90 g/t Au) Name Zone N112-6861W1 397.0 398.0 1.0 3.75 3.75 FWZ_3 N112-6861W1 398.0 399.0 1.0 0.66 0.66 FWZ_3 N112-6861W1 399.0 400.0 1.0 1.49 1.49 FWZ_3 N112-6861W1 400.0 401.0 1.0 1.12 1.12 FWZ_3 N112-6861W1 401.0 402.1 1.1 0.15 0.15 FWZ_3 N112-6861W1 402.1 403.0 0.9 0.08 0.08 FWZ_3 N112-6861W1 403.0 404.0 1.0 0.98 0.98 FWZ_3 N112-6861W1 404.0 405.0 1.0 17.05 17.05 FWZ_3 N112-6861W1 405.0 406.0 1.0 2.12 2.12 FWZ_3 N112-6861W1 406.0 407.0 1.0 12.20 12.20 FWZ_3 N112-6861W1 407.0 408.0 1.0 44.30 44.30 FWZ_3 N112-6861W1 408.0 409.0 1.0 58.30 58.30 FWZ_3 N112-6861W1 409.0 410.0 1.0 13.25 13.25 FWZ_3 N112-6861W1 410.0 411.0 1.0 28.50 28.50 FWZ_3 N112-6861W1 411.0 411.7 0.7 13.50 13.50 FWZ_3 Hole No. From (m) To (m) Core Lenght (m) Grade (g/t Au) Cut Grade (90 g/t Au) Name Zone N112-6861W1 429.0 429.9 0.9 0.61 0.61 FWZ_4 N112-6861W1 429.9 430.5 0.6 80.50 80.50 FWZ_4 N112-6861W1 430.5 431.2 0.7 0.09 0.09 FWZ_4 N112-6861W1 431.2 432.2 1.0 0.29 0.29 FWZ_4 N112-6861W1 432.2 433.2 1.0 2.41 2.41 FWZ_4 N112-6861W1 433.2 434.2 1.0 0.39 0.39 FWZ_4 N112-6861W1 434.2 435.2 1.0 8.28 8.28 FWZ_4 N112-6861W1 435.2 436.2 1.0 2.63 2.63 FWZ_4 N112-6861W1 436.2 437.2 1.0 0.96 0.96 FWZ_4 Hole No. From (m) To (m) Core Lenght (m) Grade (g/t Au) Cut Grade (90 g/t Au) Name Zone N112-6861W2 161.8 162.7 0.9 3.27 3.27 A Zone N112-6861W2 162.7 163.5 0.8 3.95 3.95 A Zone N112-6861W2 163.5 165.0 1.5 0.70 0.70 A Zone N112-6861W2 165.0 166.5 1.5 13.55 13.55 A Zone N112-6861W2 166.5 167.5 1.0 12.30 12.30 A Zone N112-6861W2 167.5 168.5 1.0 4.50 4.50 A Zone N112-6861W2 168.5 169.5 1.0 4.31 4.31 A Zone N112-6861W2 169.5 170.5 1.0 4.70 4.70 A Zone N112-6861W2 170.5 171.5 1.0 2.19 2.19 A Zone N112-6861W2 171.5 172.5 1.0 9.39 9.39 A Zone Hole No. From (m) To (m) Core Lenght (m) Grade (g/t Au) Cut Grade (90 g/t Au) Name Zone N112-6861W2 182.5 183.5 1.0 5.54 5.54 A1 Zone N112-6861W2 183.5 185.0 1.5 6.04 6.04 A1 Zone N112-6861W2 185.0 186.0 1.0 0.13 0.13 A1 Zone N112-6861W2 186.0 186.9 0.9 0.29 0.29 A1 Zone N112-6861W2 186.9 188.3 1.4 168.00 90.00 A1 Zone Hole No. From (m) To (m) Core Lenght (m) Grade (g/t Au) Cut Grade (90 g/t Au) Name Zone N112-6861W2 252.0 253.0 1.0 1.92 1.92 FWZ_1 N112-6861W2 253.0 254.0 1.0 0.81 0.81 FWZ_1 N112-6861W2 254.0 255.0 1.0 374.00 90.00 FWZ_1 N112-6861W2 255.0 256.0 1.0 2.14 2.14 FWZ_1 N112-6861W2 256.0 256.9 0.9 0.63 0.63 FWZ_1





Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/1f1935af-e36d-431e-a408-69f858ae48fa

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0090700a-e658-4923-96db-2497fd025638





PDF available:

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NEW FREEDOM, Pa., Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nexterus, a world-class supply chain management and third-party logistics (3PL) services provider, discusses how the supply chain disruptions caused by the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria highlight the need for supply chain risk analysis and network optimization. Top US imports from Turkey include stone and glass, iron and steel, textiles like bedding and clothing, vehicles, machinery, and electronics. While many of these products are made around Istanbul, away from the area the earthquake hit, the region's infrastructure is destroyed, so products cannot move in and out of the area.



When there is a major supply chain disruption due to natural disasters, pandemics, or other reasons, companies need to be prepared with alternative plans for continual operations, says Ryan Polakoff, President of Nexterus. Companies need to perform rigorous analysis of their supply chain network to uncover its vulnerabilities, and then create an overall risk management and resilience plan.

Damages from the earthquakes have suspended operations in the Turkish container ports and at the Hatay airport. Crude oil futures were up a day after the earthquakes hit after the Turkish government ordered a shutdown of the Ceyhan oil export terminal on the Mediterranean coast. Critical infrastructure is unusable, and power outages are rampant, disrupting the flow of goods and transportation. All these interruptions result in significant delays in deliveries of goods, including relief supplies, to the devastated area and have caused major supply chain bottlenecks.

Nexterus suggests that strategic supply chain analysis and network optimization can help companies succeed when faced with the unexpected. Using what-if scenarios, Nexterus uncovers vulnerabilities and develops contingency plans in advance of a possible disruption of operations. The result is a strategic supply chain network that is optimally prepared against disruptions. When disasters occur, the business can be prepared to continue operations.

Supply chain vulnerabilities can occur all along the supply chain network, including within the supply chains of customers and suppliers, adds Polakoff. Performing detailed supply chain audits, strategic network design, network optimization, and supply chain risk analysis can mitigate the potential that a business will be shut down or suffer a tremendous loss in profits.

About Nexterus

Nexterus solves urgent and complex supply chain issues, applying expertise and technology to manage and optimize global supply chains. As Americas oldest private, non-asset-based, third-party logistics (3PL) company, Nexterus helps small and medium-sized companies better compete through the power of their supply chains. With best-in-class strategies and services, Nexterus gives clients the freedom to build their businesses without being distracted by complex supply chain challenges and tedious tasks, allowing these companies to improve productivity, efficiencies, and customer service. Please find us at nexterus.com ( https://www.nexterus.com ).
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kidsave, an international nonprofit organization dedicated to finding families for older kids in care, has announced the launch of the Flat Sasha Project, a campaign supporting Ukrainian children without families. Ahead of the one-year mark of Russias invasion of Ukraine, the grassroots campaign brings attention to the critical needs of children in Ukraine by sharing a customizable template of a Ukrainian child - Flat Sasha - publicly and online as a symbol of support.

The relentless violence of war and winter has made an indelible mark on all Ukrainians, particularly children without families, who were left to navigate grim conditions and unstable environments alone, said Kidsave Co-Founder and CEO Randi Thompson. Uncertainty for these most vulnerable members of society remains. It is critical we prioritize children without families to support them as we help Ukraine rebuild and restore.

Flat Sasha is representative of a 12-year-old child who was displaced from their orphanage in Mykolaiv due to the war and brought to safety by Kidsave. The organization is committed to helping children like Sasha reunite with family members or find a new Ukrainian family after the war. To continue its work, Kidsave is inviting the community to donate and show support by printing out a Flat Sasha to decorate, cut out, and display in cars, schools, offices, and homes or share on social media with #FlatSasha. These templates feature a QR code that links to information about the campaign and ways to donate to Kidsaves efforts in Ukraine.

Anchored in the fundamentals of Kidsaves mission, the Flat Sasha campaign helps continue Kidsaves work in Ukraine. Donations received will provide food, medicine, shelter, fuel, and counseling services to these children, as well as aid the construction of the Kidsave Miracles Center, a safe space where kids of all ages can develop essential life skills and find mentorship, therapy and other psycho-emotional support services while living in conflict.

Since 2016, Kidsave has prioritized children of all ages in institutionalized care in Ukraine. Kidsaves Corporate Mentoring and Family Mentoring Programs help them reunite with family, find adoptive Ukrainian families, or successfully transition into independent living. When Russia invaded Ukraine, Kidsaves Ukrainian team, Angels of Hope, moved into action to help citizens in war-torn cities and get them to safety. In the past year, Kidsave has delivered over 1,000 tons of humanitarian aid in Ukraine and evacuated more than 30,000 people to safety.

To kick off the campaign and commemorate the one-year mark, Kidsave, in partnership with the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council hosted a Flat Sasha launch event on Feb. 8 at the Ukraine House in Washington, D.C. with notable attendees, Ukrainian Ambassador Osaka Markarova and our partner of seven years Boeing.

To donate and learn more about the Flat Sasha campaign, visit www.kidsave.org/ukraine-flat-sasha.

About Kidsave

Kidsave, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) charity, helps older children and teens living in U.S. residential facilities, foster homes, group homes, and orphanages overseas find forever families and lasting connections. A volunteer-driven effort, Kidsave works with governments and communities worldwide to see that no orphan or child in foster care is forgotten and grows up in a family with love and hope for a successful future.

Media Contacts:

Chloe Fuller, Chloe@kidsave.org

Kasey Henderson, kasey@globalsitroom.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/5f37687b-a084-43a9-885e-49a6ad8cc6c5








CALGARY, Alberta, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- LithiumBank Resources Corp. (TSX-V: LBNK) (OTCQX: LBNKF) (LithiumBank or the Company) is pleased to provide a project update and detail the current development strategy for LithiumBanks Kindersley Lithium Project (LKLP) located near Kindersley, Saskatchewan, Canada that makes up part of its Saskatchewan district portfolio of 100% Crown land. The Companys initial focus for LKLP was to target areas within the Duperow Formation reservoir that had the following characteristics:

Lithium brine concentrations above 70 mg/L and could potentially support large scale brine extraction & subsequent reinjection

Comprehensive production data that indicate large volumes of brine

Past producing wells and local infrastructure



Following these criteria, LithiumBank acquired 111,282 acres of Crown mineral permits. (See Figure 1).

The LKLP is targeted on the Duperow Formation, which is stratigraphically equivalent to the Leduc Formation in Alberta that hosts the companys Boardwalk & Park Place district projects. The Duperow formation varies in gross thickness across the South Saskatchewan lithium region between 150  300 metres and has been the formation with some of the highest lithium-brine grades reported in western Canada with samples reported between 70 -190 mg/L Li.

LKLP Highlights

Project size: 111,282 acres, 174 sections of Crown mineral permits

Development status: Reservoir characterization

Next milestone: NI 43-101 Resource Estimate, <6 months

Sampled reservoir grades: 70-81 mg/L Li

Reservoir thickness: Up to 300 metres, the thickest Duperow section in South Saskatchewan

Modelled brine volume: 3.89 million m 3 at 6% porosity

at 6% porosity Depth to reservoir formation: 1,100 metres

No H 2 S or significant hydrocarbons in reservoir

S or significant hydrocarbons in reservoir Engaged Matrix Solutions Inc. on February 23rd, 2022, to complete a reservoir characterization study and Resource Estimate



LKLP is the Companys most advanced project in Saskatchewan. It benefits from significant historic oil and gas infrastructure, including past producing wells, all season roads and proximity to electricity and gas lines, and by being Crown land that does not have the royalty and other obligations associated with freehold land holdings elsewhere in the region. LithiumBank is also encouraged by positive lithium brine sampling results obtained by contiguous operators, and expects to continue to invest in LKLP.

LithiumBank completed a hydrogeological report for LKLP in November 2022 (see November 9, 2022 news release ) and Matrix Solutions has been contracted to prepare an initial NI 43-101 resource estimate following a successful brine sampling and mineral processing test work campaign.

LithiumBank plans to further test, sample and analyse the reservoir at LKLP to support an initial Preliminary Economic Assessments (PEA) expected to be completed in H2/23. The analysis is expected to include:

Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) test work

Brine chemistry analysis and characterization

Reservoir flow characteristics

Reservoir development strategy

Infrastructure availability

Environmental and social assessment

Financial modelling

In 2023, we expect that LithiumBank will be focused on developing our flagship district scale Boardwalk and Park Place assets in Alberta. However, since acquiring our 100% Crown LKLP claims, we have been encouraged by our modelling and engineering work as well as results reported by our peers on their largely freehold land holdings to date, commented Rob Shewchuk, CEO and director of LithiumBank. We believe that LKLPs Crown land position, being unimpeded by material work commitments, royalty, earning & confidentiality obligations associated with freeholdings, is well-positioned for expedient development. Furthermore, we look forward to working with the Province of Saskatchewan and other stakeholders to establish a fair pooling agreement for shared lithium brine reservoirs. Beyond LKLP, our total portfolio of Crown lithium claims is the largest acquired by any company via public land sale in Saskatchewan and, of note, one of our peers with contiguous claims to our South Property, Prairie Lithium, recently announced their sale to Arizona Lithium for $70.5M in cash and shares. As a diversified multi-district lithium developer, LithiumBanks strategy for its Saskatchewan portfolio of assets includes the potential of strategic partnerships and joint ventures.





Figure 1: LithiumBanks Kindersley Lithium Brine Project

The scientific and technical disclosure in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Mr. Kevin Piepgrass (Chief Operations Officer, LithiumBank Resources Corp.), who is a Member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of the Province of British Columbia (APEGBC) and is a Qualified Person (QP) for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Piepgrass consents to the inclusion of the data in the form and context in which it appears.

About LithiumBank Resources Corp.

LithiumBank Resources Corp. is a development company advancing and de-risking three distinct district-scale projects focused on lithium-enriched brine in Western Canada where low-carbon-impact, rapid DLE technology can be deployed. LithiumBank currently holds over 3.6 million acres of Crown mineral titles, 3.33M acres in Alberta and 336k acres in Saskatchewan. LithiumBanks mineral titles are strategically positioned over known reservoirs that provide a unique combination of scale, grade and exceptional flow rates that are necessary for a large-scale direct brine lithium production.

Contact:

Rob Shewchuk

CEO & Director

rob@lithiumbank.ca

(778) 987-9767

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Statements

This release includes 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, including without limitation, the statement that the Company intends to complete a NI 43-101 Resource Estimate and the expected timing thereof, the statement that the Company expects to continue to invest in LKLP, the Companys plans with respect to further testing, sampling and analysis at LKLP, the statement that the Company intends to complete a PEA at LKLP and the expected timing thereof, the Companys expectation that LKLP will be well-suited for expedient development, and the Companys plans to work with the Province of Saskatchewan to establish a fair pooling agreement for shared lithium brine reservoirs 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 or 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, including that LKLP that the continued sampling and study of LKLP will lead to a NI 43-101 Resource Estimate and/or PEA, that the Company will be able to develop LKLP expediently, that further testing, sampling and analysis at LKLP will continue to produce positive results and, ultimately, a positive PEA, and that the Company will be able to negotiate a pooling agreement for shared lithium brine reservoirs in the region and that such pooling agreement will be beneficial to the Company. 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. Important factors that may cause actual results to vary, include, without limitation, that the Company is not able to complete a NI 43-101 Resource Estimate as anticipated or at all, or that the results of the NI 43-101 Resource Estimate will not be as expected by management, that the Company will not be able to develop LKLP expediently or at all, that further testing, sampling and analysis at LKLP will not produce positive results, that the Company is unable to complete a PEA or that the results of the PEA will not be as expected by management, that the Company will not be able to negotiate a pooling agreement for shared lithium brine reservoirs in the region or that such pooling agreement will not benefit the Company as expected by management.. 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.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/208f596e-dc03-4085-a0b8-8c5d32f90ed9
Tarrytown, New York, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ENT and Allergy Associates, LLP (ENTA), the nations leading otolaryngology, allergy, and audiology practice, is pleased to announce the addition of allergist/immunologist Maylene Xie, MD to its Hackensack, NJ office beginning September 1, 2023.

Dr. Xie is a board-certified physician in both Allergy & Immunology and Internal medicine. She obtained her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Yale University and her medical degree at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She subsequently completed a residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and a clinical and research fellowship in Allergy & Immunology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Childrens Hospital of Pittsburgh.

Dr. Xie has given numerous Grand Rounds lectures at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center on the topics of food allergy, drug allergy, asthma, allergic rhinitis, angioedema, and immunodeficiency, as well as lectures for medical students at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She has also published numerous peer-reviewed journal articles and abstracts in the fields of food allergy, primary immunodeficiency, transplant immunology, and medical education. She is a member of the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, and the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.

Dr. Xie believes in a thorough and evidence-based approach to managing allergic conditions. She is especially passionate about patient education and creating a treatment plan in partnership with her patients to help minimize fears and improve their quality of life. She loves taking care of both adults and children and has experience treating a wide span of adult and pediatric allergic conditions including asthma, eczema, allergic rhinitis, contact dermatitis, food allergies, urticaria, and angioedema (hives), drug allergies, insect allergies, and immunodeficiencies. She strives to treat every patient as family and deliver compassionate care. In her free time, Dr. Xie enjoys spending time with her husband and young son, cooking, reading, traveling, dancing, and going on neighborhood walks.

Dr. Xie will serve the needs of adult and pediatric residents in the many neighborhoods and communities of Bergen County, NJ. She will join otolaryngologists Robin M. Brody, MD; Won-Taek Choe, MD; Steven M. Gold, MD; Jonathan A. Lesserson, MD; Jared M. Wasserman, MD, FACS and Jay Agarwal, MD, along with audiologists Olivia Galioto, Au.D.; Elizabeth Nemec, Au.D., CCC-A, F-AAA; Catherine Sacco, Au.D, CCC-A; and Kelsey Tamburri, Au.D.

With Dr. Xie joining ENTA in Hackensack, NJ come September, Dr. Sima Mithani, who has been practicing with ENTA since 2014, will be relocating to the groups West Nyack clinical location. Dr. Mithani will be taking over the practice of Dr. Peter LoGalbo who will be retiring in December 2023.

While we are sad to see Dr. Mithani leave us here in Hackensack, we are excited to welcome Maylene to our clinical team, noted Steven Gold, MD, Vice President, and Chair of the ENTA Recruitment Committee. Maylene brings with her an extensive experience and expertise in the field of allergy and immunology. She has been trained at some of the most reputable institutions in the country and has a proven track record of providing exceptional care to her patients. We look forward to the positive impact she will have on the lives of our patients and the community.

Commented Robert Glazer, CEO of ENTA, "We are thrilled to have Dr. Maylene Xie, a highly skilled allergist/immunologist, join our ranks. Her exceptional care and knowledge will perfectly enhance the already remarkable team of physicians in our Hackensack location. Our persistent search for the right physician to serve the growing needs of the community has resulted in the successful addition of Dr. Xie. We can't wait for her to come on board and deliver top-quality medical care to our patients."

Prashant Ponda, MD, Board Member and Director of Allergy remarked, Maylene is a perfect example of our constant and continual effort to bring the nation's top allergists on board. She will provide a range of services for patients suffering from allergies and immunological challenges, and we are excited to welcome her to the family. Her expertise and dedication to patient care will be a valuable asset to our team.

To learn more about ENTA, find a local office or book an appointment, visit www.entandallergy.com, or call 1-855-ENTA-DOC.

About ENT and Allergy Associates LLP:

ENT and Allergy Associates, LLP (ENTA) is the largest ENT, Allergy, and Audiology practice in the country, with over 300 providers practicing in over 55 clinical locations throughout New York and New Jersey. Each ENTA clinical office is comprised of world-class physicians who are specialists and sub-specialists in their respective fields, providing the highest level of expertise and care. With a wide range of services including Adult and Pediatric ENT and Allergy, Voice and Swallowing, Advanced Sinus and Skull Base Surgery, Facial Plastics and Reconstructive Surgery, Treatment of Disorders of the Inner Ear and Dizziness, Asthma-related services, Diagnostic Audiology, Hearing Aid Dispensing, Sleep, and CT Services, ENTA Is able to meet the needs of patients of all ages. ENTA is also affiliated with some of the most prestigious medical institutions in the world, including The Mount Sinai Hospital, Montefiore Medical Center, Northwell Health, and Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center. Each year ENTA physicians are voted Top Doctor by Castle Connolly, a true testament to the exceptional care and service they provide to their patients.

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Visiongain has published a new report entitled Military Simulation Modelling and Virtual Training 2023-2033. It includes profiles of Military Simulation Modelling and Virtual Training and Forecasts Market Segment by Solution, (Products, Services) Market Segment by End-User, (Army Training, Airforce Training, Naval Training) Market Segment by Training Type, (Live Training , Virtual Training, Constructive Training, Gaming Simulation, Other Training Type) Market Segment by Technology, (Big Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Computing and Master Data Management, AR & VR, Digital Twin, Other Technology) plus COVID-19 Impact Analysis and Recovery Pattern Analysis (V-shaped, W-shaped, U-shaped, L-shaped), Profiles of Leading Companies, Region and Country..



The global military simulation modelling and virtual training market was valued at US$16,087 million in 2022 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 8.2% during the forecast period 2023-2033.

The Growing Complexity of Conflict and Sophistication of Equipment

Simulator-based training, testing, and gaming must receive more attention as a means of preparing future warriors and commanders due to the complexity of conflict and the sophistication of equipment, as well as cost restrictions. It would take consistent work to upgrade technology and visualisation capabilities, integrate more consoles and nodes, and combine and handle various types of data in order to scale up the simulated mission and fighting capability. The MoD's adoption of an integrated policy framework has given the services the push they needed to embrace and improve SBT and wargaming. To enable more responsive joint training, it is crucial that the current desegregated and scattered strategy is replaced with one that is more synergized. To guarantee that the implementation and execution match the goal, all commanders must get training on the common rules and policy through a variety of in-service channels. The necessary regulations, methods, and guidelines pertaining to the acquisition, employment, and maintenance of simulators must be updated and recalibrated on a regular basis due to advancements in technology and the development of operational missions and duties.

Download Exclusive Sample of Report

https://www.visiongain.com/report/military-simulation-market-2023/#download_sampe_div

How has COVID-19 had a significant negative impact on the Military Simulation Modelling and Virtual Training Market?

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly hurt the economies of many nations around the world. The production of systems, subsystems, and components for the digital battlefield has also been hampered. Although military simulation and training products for defence applications are of the utmost importance, supply chain disruption has temporarily stopped their manufacturing processes. The businesses also actively worked to combat the COVID-19 situation by providing simulation analyses of the disease's spread. The businesses are focused on maintaining competitive prices while also introducing new goods and services. Before choosing and finalising the ideal vehicle prototype, automakers can test a number of vehicle iterations on a variety of driving surfaces and circumstances thanks to simulation software.

How will this Report Benefit you?

Visiongains 472-page report provides 171 tables and 207 charts/graphs. Our new study is suitable for anyone requiring commercial, in-depth analyses for the global military simulation modelling and virtual training market, along with detailed segment analysis in the market. Our new study will help you evaluate the overall global and regional market for Military Simulation Modelling and Virtual Training. Get financial analysis of the overall market and different segments including training type, end-user, technology, solution, and company size and capture higher market share. We believe that there are strong opportunities in this fast-growing military simulation modelling and virtual training market. See how to use the existing and upcoming opportunities in this market to gain revenue benefits in the near future. Moreover, the report will help you to improve your strategic decision-making, allowing you to frame growth strategies, reinforce the analysis of other market players, and maximise the productivity of the company.

What are the Current Market Drivers?

Helps Create Realistic Training Conditions

Military simulations are the most effective approach to simulate conflict. Using the latest recent computer graphics and 3D modelling software, a commander can create a virtual army. This entails the crews of tanks, helicopters, and other equipment, as well as three sizable brigades and live soldier locations. He can make decisions in real time to stop the problem from growing worse because he can see what he's doing in real time. The next generation is already being trained with this technology, which has the potential to change military training. Helps to generate realistic training circumstances that are either not attainable physically, or that are deemed to be too risky or not commercially feasible to implement. It is impossible to simulate training on a real helicopter for responses to the actual loss of a tail rotor or total engine failure.

Prevents the Use of Original Equipment and Weapons during Training

Prolongs the life of first-line equipment or weapons by protecting them from use or damage during training (aimed at skill development usage or training for repair/recovery). According to a South African Army validation exercise, pupils who used a gunnery training simulator had a 30 to 40% faster reaction time and scored 14% higher on their first hits than those who did not. Chemical simulators lack an ionising radiation source, unlike some IMS (ion-mobility spectometry) detectors. Additionally, equipment holding live sources is frequently subject to stringent regulatory requirements, including certification for movement and storage as well as routine wipe testing. So, in terms of time saved, money saved, and little administration, simulated gadgets provide trainers with several benefits. For instance, simulation software has advanced significantly, matching accessories have gotten more lifelike, and computer hardware, such as high-definition screens, has advanced rapidly. Furthermore, the scenarios provided in police officer simulation programmes have improved.

Download Exclusive Sample of Report

https://www.visiongain.com/report/military-simulation-market-2023/#download_sampe_div

Where are the Market Opportunities?

Expansion of Military Healthcare Simulation

Physician and nurse training was not offered in the MSTC or other military medic training programmes. Between the upkeep of abilities required on the battlefield and the skills required for hospitalised patients, a new gap in military medicine was noticed. The military healthcare system (MHS) started building a hospital and school-based simulation centres to improve clinical training and experience among doctors and nurses in order to satisfy patients' needs admitted to military treatment facilities. To coordinate the installation of 12 simulation centres in Navy medical care facilities across the world, the U.S. Navy Medical Department launched the Naval Medical Modelling and Simulation Training (NMMAST) programme. To spread best practises, this new office collaborated with two Naval Medical FacilitiesNaval Medical Centre San Diego and Naval Medical Centre Portsmouththat already had substantial hospital simulation centres.

Simulation Software to Boost Army's Future Ready Training

The next generation of military computer simulation training software, developed specifically for the Australian Army, will be provided by a Newcastle company under a $17.6 million contract, the Assistant Minister for Defence, the Hon. Andrew Hastie MP, announced today. This will help the Australian Army's Future Ready Training programme. Tender-winner the contract to supply the Army's Common Simulation Software under Land Simulation Core 2.0 Tranche 1 has been given to Applied Virtual Simulation Pty Ltd, a small regional Australian company situated in Newcastle. This contract is a piece of a larger Defence initiative that involves numerous programmes and projects that invest in simulation for training and other uses. Older soldiers and commanders will now have access to Common Simulation Software across a variety of platforms, enabling them to train in relevant and realistic environments and advancing the Army's position as a future-ready force.

Competitive Landscape

The major players operating in the military simulation modelling and virtual training market are Airbus Group SE, AnyLogic Company, AVT Simulation Inc., BAE System Inc., Boeing Company, Bohemia Interactive Simulations (BISim), CAE Inc., Collins Aerospace, Cubic Corporation, Elbit Systems Ltd., FAAC Incorporated, General Dynamics Corporation, Hitachi Group, InVeris Training Solution , Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd., L3 Harris, Leonardo SPA, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Raytheon Technologies Corporation, Rheinmetall AG, Saab AB, Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd (ST Engineering), Textron Inc., Thales Group. These major players operating in this market have adopted various strategies comprising M&A, investment in R&D, collaborations, partnerships, regional business expansion, and new product launch.

Recent Developments

14 March 2022, BAE Systems Digital Intelligence and the University of Nottingham Malaysia have formed a collaboration to investigate how unsupervised machine learning might be used to find previously unknown danger, referred to as "missing risk" in the context of financial crime.Unsupervised machine learning is still in its infancy in the AML sector

21 June 2022, During a recent US military exercise, Lockheed Martin successfully demonstrated multi-domain operations by combining its DIAMONDShield battle management system with four Virtualized Aegis Weapon System (VAWS) nodes deployed hundreds of miles apart.

To access the data contained in this document please email oliver.davison@visiongain.com

Avoid missing out by staying informed  order our report now.

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Do you have any custom requirements we can help you with? Any need for a specific country, geo region, market segment or specific company information? Contact us today, we can discuss your needs and see how we can help: oliver.davison@visiongain.com

About Visiongain

Visiongain is one of the fastest-growing and most innovative independent market intelligence providers around, the company publishes hundreds of market research reports which it adds to its extensive portfolio each year. These reports offer in-depth analysis across 18 industries worldwide. The reports, which cover 10-year forecasts, are hundreds of pages long, with in-depth market analysis and valuable competitive intelligence data. Visiongain works across a range of vertical markets with a lot of synergies. These markets include automotive, aviation, chemicals, cyber, defence, energy, food & drink, materials, packaging, pharmaceutical and utilities sectors. Our customised and syndicated market research reports offer a bespoke piece of market intelligence customised to your very own business needs.

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Houston, Texas, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Norton Rose Fulbright announced today the reelection of Jeff Cody as US Managing Partner for a second four-year term, effective January 1, 2024. Jeff will continue to lead the law firms US management team as well as oversee US operations and strategy. He will also serve as Chair of its US Management Committee and US Partnership Committee.

Cody, whose first term as US Managing Partner started on January 1, 2020, said:

Being reelected by my partners is a tremendous honor. Im grateful for the trust and confidence they have in me as well as our management team. While we have accomplished a great deal over the last three-plus years, I look forward to continuing to build our people-first culture within the firm where we value authenticity, collaboration, client service and an unmatched commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.

This past week, Norton Rose Fulbright was named one of the Top Workplaces in the US for the second-straight year by Energage, which bases this recognition on personnel feedback. Named Energy Practice Group of the Year last month by Law360, the firms global renewable energy deal volume led all law firms in 2022, with 77 transactions totaling more than $14.5 billion in value.

The firm also received the Innovations in Diversity and Inclusion Award at Legalweeks 2022 Leaders in Tech Law Awards in March. This diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) honor came after the July 2020 formation of the firms US Racial Equity Council, a committee comprised of partners, non-partner lawyers and business services personnel with the mission of improving the experience of Black personnel throughout the firm.

Shauna Clark, Norton Rose Fulbrights US Chair, said:

Jeff has made an extremely positive impact as our firms US leader over the last three years, enhancing our firms culture, implementing DEI initiatives and attracting more than 50 lateral partners. He gives his all on a daily basis, which is truly inspiring, and his leadership will continue to benefit this firm and our clients moving forward.

Based in Dallas, Cody earned his JD from the University of Houston Law Center and his BA from the University of Oklahoma.

Norton Rose Fulbright

Norton Rose Fulbright provides a full scope of legal services to the worlds preeminent corporations and financial institutions. The global law firm has more than 3,000 lawyers advising clients across more than 50 locations worldwide, including London, Houston, New York, Toronto, Mexico City, Hong Kong, Sydney and Johannesburg, covering Europe, the United States, Canada, Latin America, Asia, Australia, Africa and the Middle East. With its global business principles of quality, unity and integrity, Norton Rose Fulbright is recognized for its client service in key industries, including financial institutions; energy, infrastructure and resources; technology; transport; life sciences and healthcare; and consumer markets. For more information, visit nortonrosefulbright.com.

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MIAMI BEACH, Fla., Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Linda Adami, CEO of Quantum Temple , a Web3 platform committed to preserving cultural heritage, has entered into a partnership with Muhammad Neil El Himam, Deputy of Indonesias Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, aimed at developing a digital economy and creative products through blockchain technology. The collaboration was marked by a celebration of Indonesian culture held last Friday at Pura Tirta Empul.



As part of the partnership, Quantum Temple will provide a platform for Indonesias local cultural artists, musicians, and creatives to showcase their works globally through NFT technology. Quantum Temple also announced the launch of the Paths to Alango NFT Collection, which features audio and visual logs capturing traditional dances, artifacts, and rituals. At the celebration, Himam expressed his hope to promote and support the development of Indonesias creative industry and position the country as a hub for NFT-based art and technology.

We are working hard to achieve our goal of growth and cultural expansion, said Himam. We are using modern blockchain solutions to preserve historic items and experiences and share our culture with the world. We hope to attract more people to participate in our digital and physical economy.

The tourism industry in Indonesia was greatly impacted by the global Covid-19 pandemic between 2019-2022, with unique visitors reaching a record low of 18,455 persons in February 2022, according to The Central Bureau of Statistics . However, through determination and efforts to expand Indonesias cultural reach, the Ministry of Tourism has seen a near 500% percent increase in unique visitors over the past year. The Ministry aims to further accelerate this growth by utilizing new technologies to share Indonesian cultures globally.

The collaboration was marked by cultural performances and a ceremonial gong striking, followed by a showcase of digital assets narrated by Professor J Stephen Lansing, an expert in the fields of anthropology and complex systems. The audience was treated to a spread of traditional Balinese food and refreshments, as well as a display of historic Balinese dances and musical performances.

This partnership signifies a new era in the development of the creative industry in Indonesia and will have a significant impact on the country's economy, said Adami. It demonstrates the government's commitment to fostering innovation and creativity, and lays a strong foundation for the growth and development of the digital economy and the preservation of cultural heritage through digital technology such as blockchain.

This news follows Quantum Temples recent accolade from the United Nations where the company was named as a winner of the AWAKE Tourism Challenge, a global call for entrepreneurs working to accelerate sustainability in the tourism sector.

About Quantum Temple

Quantum Temple is the Web3 platform preserving cultural heritage. Our platform enables equitable exchanges between conscious collectors and ancestral communities to protect and share knowledge, traditions, and art forms of cultures around the world in perpetuity through blockchain technology.

For more information visit quantumtemple.xyz . For updates, follow Quantum Temple on Twitter , Instagram , Youtube , Linkedin , TikTok and Medium .

For press inquiries, please contact Katy Wagner at Katy@howl.xyz

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0648a885-d4fe-4ec2-a547-52967ede9b8b
Tucson, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tucson, Arizona -

Tucson, AZ - ZimmWriter is a bulk blogging tool capable of generating large content output, making it the perfect choice for website owners and writing professionals.

AI content writing tools have redefined the process of content generation and content writing. With these tools, creating content is no longer a slow and labor-intensive process but a fast and efficient one. It has enabled the creation of high-quality, on-brand content at scale, helping businesses reach their target audience and achieve their goals. One such tool that does exactly this is ZimmWritera bulk SEO blogging tool that allows up to 10 blogs to be written at once, making it the perfect choice for AI content writers.

With a host of effective features that support content production, ZimmWriter makes for an excellent ChatGPT alternative or Jasper AI alternative. The tool utilizes several AI-driven techniques, such as automatic text formatting and summarization, permitting users the convenience of working on document formatting without manually adjusting font sizes and other settings. ZimmWriter is ideally suited for digital marketing agencies to leverage its automated summarization and other features.

A leading digital marketing agency that uses ZimmWriter extensively is ServiceLifter, a conversion-based, organic lead-generation company offering highly effective SEO, Google Business Profile Optimization, and hosting services that help local businesses increase traffic and leads online.

ServiceLifters team of specialists excels in technical SEO and leverages this expertise to bundle its service to include website hosting, GMB optimization, and asset creation. With their superb communication skills and uncompromising standards, ServiceLifter is the go-to full-service agency to manage clients from Home Service industries like plumbing, carpet cleaning, and HVAC.

A key area that differentiates ServiceLifter from other SEO companies is its access to more data in their niche areas than other agencies combined. It allows the agency to develop strategies to rank businesses higher in search engine results based on keywords and location.

For more information, visit https://servicelifter.com/guides/zimm-writer/.

As a full-service agency, ServiceLifter offers a comprehensive suite of support services to help businesses enhance their online presence. Content creation, social media marketing, and web design are critical elements where the agency engages clients to understand their unique needs and goals to create high-quality content that aligns with their marketing goals.

The agencys commitment to service excellence has not gone unnoticedit is the only agency that has been provided with a promotional code from ZimmWriter that includes $15 off the products Life Time Deal. To get the offer, click the Special Promo Code: https://rankingtactics.gumroad.com/l/ai-writer?offer_code=GoogleSEO.

One of the key features of this tool is its ability to churn out more than 4000 to 6000-word blogs that are both informative and engaginga priceless capability for website owners to generate content continuously. ZimmWriter also passes all AI detection with scores of 90% or higher. In short, this AI writing tool produces content quicker and more efficiently while retaining the ability for users to express their creativity and unique voices.

ZimmWriter effectively uses natural language processing algorithms and pre-generative text that allows it to automatically identify errors in grammar and punctuation, saving content writers valuable time in proofreading drafts as the software does this for them. With its advanced editing tools, ZimmWriter helps writers create better sentences and paragraphs faster than ever. Its SEO-optimized blog writing feature allows users to use multiple AI writing options in varied combinations to get different outputs.

ZimmWriter's simplicity makes it a highly sought-after tool, offering the ideal platform for creativity to flow and develop. The tools accessible and feature-rich interface eliminates common barriers that content writers face, allowing them to explore their ideas with little restrictions and produce work of the highest caliber.

About the Agency:

Founded by Digital Marketing Strategists and SEO experts Schieler Mew and Victoria Leon, ServiceLifter's mission is to help local businesses improve their online visibility and reach through effective SEO strategies. The company's team of professionals possesses the skills and experience in their areas of expertise and is well-versed in the latest SEO techniques and best practices. The agency has developed strategies to help businesses rank higher in search engine results based on keywords related to their location and manage over 300 clients and GMBs in industries like plumbing, carpet cleaning, and HVAC.

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For more information about ServiceLifter, contact the company here:



ServiceLifter

Schieler Mew

helpdesk@servicelifter.com

Tucson, AZ, United States
English Icelandic

Eimskipafelag Islands hf.'s Annual General Meeting will be held on Thursday 9 March 2023 at 16:00 at the company's headquarters, Sundabakki 2, Reykjavik, Iceland.

Enclosed is the convocation, proposed agenda and proposed resolutions for the Annual General Meeting.

Attachments
NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sandline Global, a white-glove e-discovery and litigation support services provider, announced today the hiring of Steve Barsony as Vice President of Product. As VP of Product, Steve will further Sandline's mission of addressing customers' needs through the development of stellar products. Steve will oversee the strategy and execution of Sandline's product development efforts and will manage the product lifecycle from concept to launch.

Steve joins the leadership team as an industry veteran with a career spanning three decades, holding product management and client-service leadership roles at legal services and consulting companies. He is passionate about helping clients solve emerging challenges by designing and developing strategies and applications that blend human expertise with lean processes, efficient automation, and advanced technology.

"The addition of Steve to the Sandline team greatly enhances our ability to deliver on evolving client needs and to accelerate the delivery of more standard services through innovation and the development of new tools and processes," said Brandon Mack, Chief Operating Officer at Sandline.

"Sandline is a dynamic and growing company. I'm excited to be leading our product group. The amazing team at Sandline has a collaborative relationship with its customers and has developed a deep understanding of their needs and the pressures they face. Informed by that understanding, we seek to deliver a superior user experience by building products that fit those needs and exceed expectations. We're dedicated to simplifying the complexity of the ever-evolving data landscape our customers confront," said Steve Barsony, Vice President of Product at Sandline.

Prior to Sandline, Steve founded AFH Partners, which focused on advising law departments, law firms, solution providers, and application developers to establish operational program goals and business initiatives. He led the Innovation and Product Office for one of the world's largest technology-enabled legal services companies. Steve has been the product manager for two different pioneering workflow-enabled document management systems and has held client-service leadership roles at several litigation support companies. Earlier in his career, Steve was a Senior Manager with a Big Four professional services firm.

Steve is a Boston University graduate and is an inventor on several patents and applications for document classification with statistical validation.

About Sandline Global

Sandline Global is a premier e-discovery and legal technology services company. Founded by a former AM Law litigation support lead, Sandline specializes in supporting the unique needs of law firms and corporations. With Sandline's global network of offices and data centers in Washington D.C., New York City, Frankfurt, Taipei, Dubai and Karachi, the firm utilizes best-of-breed technology, custom workflows, and deep industry experience to support complex investigations and litigation matters. In addition to providing forensics, e-discovery and document review services, Sandline also designs and supports iManage deployments for law firms and legal departments. To learn more, visit www.sandlineglobal.com.

Contact Information:

Cara Lemire

VP of Sales & Marketing

clemire@sandlineglobal.com

(703) 520-1001



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Image 1: Steve Barsony





Vice President of Product, Sandline Global









This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com.

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Arlington, VA, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Members of the United States military exhibit incredible sacrifice and selflessness both on and off duty. The United Service Organizations (USO) is proud to recognize seven junior enlisted service members whose extraordinary acts of bravery went above and beyond the call to serve through the 2022 USO Service Member of the Year Awards. Command leadership from each military branch nominated their respective honorees, who will be celebrated at USO National Capital Districts Annual Awards Dinner on March 23, 2023, at The Anthem in Washington, D.C.

The seven individuals recognized for their inspiring acts of heroism this year exemplify the values of both the USO and the Armed Forces, said USO CEO and President J.D. Crouch II. From defending an Air Base overseas to rescuing civilians injured in a multi-car accident stateside, these honorees have demonstrated an unparalleled commitment to protecting and serving others. We are thrilled to honor their achievements with the USO Service Member of the Year Awards during the 2023 Annual Awards Dinner.

This years highly anticipated Awards Dinner will be attended by senior government and military leaders. members of Congress, as well as business and community leaders. Drew Carey will host the event and attendees will enjoy performances by country music duo Thompson Square as well as the American Pops Orchestra. A special tribute to the Service Members of the Year will be the highlight of an evening dedicated to raising support for the USOs mission to keep American military members connected to family, home, and country throughout their service.

The 2022 USO Service Members of the Year include:

Sergeant Erick Ceja | USO Soldier of the Year

SGT Ceja was directly responsible for enabling the first U.S. Patriot engagement in combat in more than 19 years after seven interceptors were identified as threats to the Al Dhafra Air Base. He quickly analyzed the incoming threat, manned his battle station to ensure all launchers were operating properly, led his crew members through a perfect assumption drill, and remained calm throughout the operation. His actions ensured the safety of more than 3,500 service members and Department of Defense civilians.

Staff Sergeant Blake M. Metscher | USO Airman of the Year

Without any hesitation, SSGT Metscher climbed through an overturned minivan to rescue a trapped family suffering from head trauma and lacerations in a multi-vehicle highway accident. His decisive actions were key to the victims survival and lauded by first responders.

Maritime Enforcement Specialist Second Class Jacob Flores | USO Coast Guardsman of the Year

ME2 Flores saved three lives on an uncharted section of the Rio Grande River while operating a Response Boat early one morning. Upon spotting two women and an infant struggling in the water with no life preservers, Flores dove in despite imminent personal danger to pull them from the unforgiving river. His unselfish actions ensured the safety and health of all three victims who received emergency medical care after the rescue.

Corporal Alec T. Cruz | USO Marine of the Year

CPL Cruz saved the life of a fellow Marine after responding to a 911 call requesting medical assistance for an unconscious service member. He quickly placed her in the recovery position, evaluated her condition, and initiated CPR when her breathing stopped and a pulse could no longer be located. Cruz was able to revive the Marine after two cycles of CPR and provide lifesaving support while awaiting medical care.

Cryptologic Petty Officer Third Class Ty Knight | USO Sailor of the Year

While off duty near his home base in Virginia, CTR3 Knight responded to the sound of numerous gunshots from a drive-by at a nearby intersection. He and another sailor immediately took action, supported the survivor at the scene, and remained with them until emergency officials arrived.

Specialist Solomon Doss | USO National Guardsman of the Year

SPC Doss responded to an active structure fire early one morning while on duty as a police officer in Alabama. With flames and heavy smoke emerging from the house, he brought an elderly woman who had become incapacitated due to smoke inhalation to safety before the building was engulfed in flames. His composure and rapid response ultimately saved her life.

Sergeant Octavio Cesar Castruita | USO Guardian of the Year

SGT Castruita was off duty when he witnessed a pregnant woman cry out for help as a visibly distraught man attempted to forcibly seize her vehicle. He ran to the womans aid, then detained the offender long enough for emergency responders to take him into police custody. Castruitas rapid response saved the woman and her unborn children from physical as well as emotional harm.

Learn more about the 2022 USO Service Members of the Year here.

Follow the USO on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for updates and join the conversation using #BetheForce on social media.

About the USO:

The USO strengthens America's military service members by keeping them connected to family, home, and country, throughout their service to the nation. At hundreds of locations worldwide, we are united in our commitment to connect our service members and their families through countless acts of caring, comfort, and support. The USO is a private nonprofit organization, not a government agency. Our programs, services and entertainment tours are made possible by the American people, the support of our corporate partners, and the dedication of our volunteers and staff. To join us in this important mission and learn more about the USO, please visit USO.org or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Avaya Holdings Corp. (NYSE: AVYA), and certain officers. The class action, filed in the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, and docketed under 23-cv-00003, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons and entities other than Defendants that purchased or otherwise acquired Avaya securities between November 22, 2021 and November 29, 2022, both dates inclusive (the Class Period), seeking to recover damages caused by Defendants violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act) and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, against the Company and certain of its top officials.



If you are a shareholder who purchase or otherwise acquired Avaya securities, you have until March 6, 2023 to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com . To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at newaction@pomlaw.com or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 7980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased.

[Click here for information about joining the class action]

Avaya purports to be a global leader in digital communications products, solutions and services for businesses of all sizes delivering its technology predominantly through software and services. The Company claims that its global, experienced team of professionals delivers award-winning services from initial planning and design to seamless implementation and integration, to ongoing managed operations, optimization, training and support.

The complaint alleges that, throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Companys business, operations, and prospects. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) the Companys internal control over financial reporting (ICFR) was deficient in several areas; (ii) as a result of these deficiencies, the Company had failed to design and maintain effective controls over its whistleblower policies and its ethics and compliance program; (iii) the Companys deteriorating financial condition was likely to raise substantial doubt as to its ability to continue as a going concern; and (iv) as a result, the Companys public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

On July 28, 2022, Avaya announced the termination of its Chief Executive Officer James M. Chirico, Jr.. The Company also announced preliminary Q3 2022 financial results that included expected revenues and adjusted EBITDA well below previously given guidance and an unquantified but significant impairment charge. In addition, Avaya withdrew its 2022 guidance.

On this news, Avayas stock price fell $1.19 per share, or 56.99%, to close at $0.90 per share on July 29, 2022.

Then, on August 9, 2022, Avaya announced that: (1) it determined there was substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern; (2) it would not timely file its financial statements for the quarter ended June 30, 2022; (3) its Audit Committee commenced internal investigations into circumstances surrounding the Companys financial results for the quarter; and (4) the Audit Committee also commenced an investigation into matters raised by a whistleblower.

On this news, Avayas stock price fell $0.51 per share, or 45.54%, to close at $0.61 per share on August 9, 2022.

Finally, before the market opened on November 30, 2022, Avaya disclosed in a Current Report filed on Form 8-K with the SEC that control deficiencies [] management had been reviewing represent material weaknesses in the Companys internal control over financial reporting and that managements assessment of ICFR included in Item 9A of the Companys Annual Report on Form 10-K for its fiscal year 2021 ended September 30, 2021, filed with the [SEC] on November 22, 2021 [] should no longer be relied upon. Specifically, the Form 8-K stated that the Company did not design and maintain effective controls related to the information and communication component of the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission framework, did not design and maintain effective controls to ensure appropriate communication between certain functions within the Company, and did not design and maintain effective controls over the ethics and compliance program.

On this news, Avayas stock price fell $0.16 per share, or 14.28%, to close at $0.96 per share on November 30, 2022.

Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com
NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (NYSE: HMC), and certain officers. The class action, filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, and docketed under 23-cv-00794, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons and entities other than Defendants that purchased or otherwise acquired Honda American Depository Shares (ADSs) between June 20, 2018 and September 28, 2022, both dates inclusive (the Class Period), seeking to recover damages caused by Defendants violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act) and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, against the Company and certain of its top officials.



If you are a shareholder who purchased or otherwise acquired Spectrum securities during the Class Period, you have until April 3, 2023 to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com . To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at newaction@pomlaw.com or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 7980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased.

[Click here for information about joining the class action]

Honda is a multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles and power equipment. The Companys U.S.-based operations are conducted through its North American subsidiary, American Honda Motor Company, Inc. (American Honda).

Certain of Hondas vehiclesincluding the 2018-2020MY Honda Odyssey, 2016-2020MY Honda Pilot, 2019-2020MY Honda Passport, 2015-2020MY Acura TLX, and 2015-2020MY Acura MDXinclude a so-called Idle Stop engine feature, purportedly to enhance fuel efficiency. In marketing these vehicles, Honda and/or its subsidiaries have highlighted the Idle Stop systems purported capacity to automatically shut off a vehicles engine to save fuel when the vehicle brakes to a stop for at least two secondsfor example, at a traffic lightand to automatically restart the engine when the driver releases the vehicles brake pedal.

The complaint alleges that, throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Companys business, operations, and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Honda had overstated the safety and effectiveness of the Idle Stop engine feature; (ii) Honda maintained deficient disclosure controls and procedures with respect to product quality and safety; (iii) as a result of the foregoing deficiencies, Honda failed to prevent American Honda from marketing and selling thousands of vehicles that contained a defective Idle Stop feature; (iv) the foregoing conduct subjected the Company and/or its subsidiaries to a heightened risk of litigation, as well as financial and/or reputational harm; and (v) as a result, the Companys public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

On September 28, 2022, a putative class action was filed against American Honda alleging that it had sold thousands of vehiclesincluding the 2018-2020 Honda Odyssey, 2016-2020 Honda Pilot, 2019-2020 Honda Passport, 2015-2020 Acura TLX, and 2015-2020 Acura MDXequipped with a flawed Idle Stop feature.1 Per the allegations in the class action complaint, after initially shutting off a vehicles engine, the Idle Stop system in the affected vehicles routinely fails to restart the engine as designed, leaving drivers unable to move their vehicles. The lawsuit further alleges that American Honda was fully aware of the defect before marketing the vehicles. [1 Cooper et al v. American Honda Motor Co., Inc., No. 1:22-cv-05299 (N.D. Ill.)]

On this news, Hondas ADS price fell $0.74 per share, or 3.23%, to close at $22.19 per ADS on September 29, 2022.

Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com

CONTACT:

Robert S. Willoughby

Pomerantz LLP

rswilloughby@pomlaw.com

888-476-6529 ext. 7980
Beijing's number of major AI firms exceeds 1,000

Xinhua) 08:47, February 14, 2023

A visitor tries an AI exercise device at the China National Convention Center during the 2022 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 3, 2022. (Xinhua/Han Xu)

BEIJING, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Beijing had 1,048 major artificial intelligence (AI) companies as of October 2022, accounting for 29 percent of the national total, according to a report on the capital's AI development released Monday.

The report, released by the municipal bureau of economy and information, noted that Beijing boasts the top industrial agglomeration capacity in China and that it has a well-developed AI industry chain.

The city has more than 40,000 professionals in core AI technologies and has produced the most published papers on AI in the country, the report said.

The number of smart factories and digitalized workshops in Beijing reached 36 and 47, respectively, in 2022.

In 2023, Beijing will guide enterprises, research institutes, open-source communities, and others to collaborate for the achievement of core AI technology innovation. It will also support top firms in creating ChatGPT-style large models to strive for new breakthroughs in the development of the AI industry, according to the report.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
10 SOEs ready for listing  Abena Amoah

Emmanuel Bruce Business News Feb - 14 - 2023 , 14:00

Ten state owned enterprises (SOEs) have been prepared and ready for listing on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE).

The 10 SOEs were identified by the GSE, together with the State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA) and the Public Enterprises Ministry after a market readiness assessment was done.

This was disclosed by the Managing Director of GSE, Abena Amoah, at the just ended SIGA annual stakeholder meeting held in Kwahu Abetifi in the Eastern region.

She, however, did not mention the SOEs identified for listing.

Despite controlling about half of the countrys assets, SOEs in Ghana have largely been a drain on the countrys resources rather than being a tool for economic development.

The 175 SOEs, contribute just five per cent to the countrys gross domestic product (GDP).

The underperformance of these SOEs have largely been due to mismanagement, which has led to some legacy debts which in turn has made it difficult for them to raise additional capital to expand their businesses.

At the moment, most of these SOEs have made appeals to the government through the Ministry of Finance to assist them to recapitalise their businesses.

Contributing to a panel discussion, Abena Amoah said the stock market presented the best opportunity to raise additional capital for these SOEs.

The stock exchange presents an opportunity to strengthen and grow SOEs. GCB Bank, Goil, SIC, among others are some of our success stories on how the stock market can help develop SOEs.

She said the President could, therefore, sign off the 10 identified SOEs to enable them list on the market.

At the stock exchange, we focus on accountability and transparency and these are very important to build sustainable businesses.

Aside giving you capital, being on the market also ensures that you are able to manage your capital and be a long term global player, she stated.

There is money in Ghana

Ms Abena Amoah pointed out that there was enough money in the country which could be assessed by these SOEs through the local capital market.

Government has been able to borrow a GH130 billion that it seeks to restructure now. Our private pensions industry has about GH40 billion under management. SSNIT has over GH12 billion under management.

There is money in Ghana and the lesson is that international capital markets are closed to us but domestic capital markets can be built to raise the money we need to develop our country, she stated.

She said companies listed on the Ghana bourse have collectively raised over GH20 billion on the stock market; GH12 billion from the Ghana Fixed Income Market and GH8 billion from the main equities market.

We need SOEs like Ghana Re, Ghana Gas and the stronger ones to list on the market. What makes capital markets grow is when you bring your best, because the investors need a strong success story.

We are willing and able to work with the rest progressively. When they have a massive capital plan that has a good balance, we will migrate them onto the market, she noted.

Lets be cautious

In an interview with Graphic Business, the Director General of SIGA, Mr Edward Boateng, said the country must be cautious in the listing of some of its SOEs.

He said the country must be careful not to list some of its strategic assets whereby they may fall into foreign hands.

Its not just Ghanaians who invest on the capital market, with funds coming in from Abu Dhabi, Toronto, and all over the world.

On the equities market, 60 per cent of trades are by foreign investors.

Mr Boateng said the country must, therefore, ensure that there is local capacity such that when some of these strategic SOEs are listed, the local entrepreneurs and local institutions could take them up.

So, we are looking at all those options but definitely some of these SOEs are going to be listed on the stock exchange or in some cases privatised or divested off government hands so that government can focus on its core mandate, he stated.
Ghanas oil production outlook hangs in the balance

Fitch Solutions Business News Feb - 14 - 2023 , 13:39

FITCH Solutions expect Ghanas total liquids production to see moderate growth in the near term, with crude, NGL and other liquids production increasing from 142,440 barrels per day (b/d) in 2022 to 145,390b/d in 2024 following recent investments in the Jubilee and TEN fields by Tullow Oil.

While these investments would prevent significant short-term declines, the key upside to Ghanas long-term oil production outlook is the 110,000b/d Pecan Field development, the future of which is currently in limbo following a dispute over the involvement of Russia-based Lukoil.

Provided that the controversy surrounding Lukoils participation is resolved and a final investment decision is achieved by the end of 2024, we expect Ghanas oil production to grow to nearly 200,000b/d by 2029.

These investments consist of a multi-year drilling campaign at the Jubilee and Tweneboa-Enyenra-Ntomme (TEN) fields, which currently account for approximately 80 per cent of Ghanas upstream output.

In 2022, Tullows investments included four new wells (three water injectors and one producer). In 2023, Tullow plans on introducing six wells, which will come online by the third quarter.

These investments will enable Ghanas oil industry to reverse natural declines and moderately boost short-term production with production at the Jubilee field expected to exceed 100,000b/d in 2024.

To maintain this level of output, a total of 49 production and injection wells are planned to be introduced to the fields by 2030. As of February 2023, Tullow plans to invest approximately USD300mn in Ghana to support these projects.

Jubilee Field boost to prevent declines in 2023

Further progress on the Final Investment Decision (FID) in the Pecan development is essential for Ghana to return to pre-pandemic levels of oil production (which averaged 197,000 b/d in 2019).

The Pecan field, which is part of the Deepwater Tano Cape Three Points licence block, has an estimated reserves of 334mn boe. It is operated by Aker Energy, who maintains a 50 per cent stake while the other partners include Russia-based Lukoil (38 per cent), Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) (10 per cent), and Fueltrade (two per cent).

The development of the field has faced a variety of headwinds over recent years such as concerns over the capital cost of the project and the size of GNPCs stake.

However, the key barrier since February 2022 has been the participation of Lukoil. Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Aker Energy has been hesitant to put forward its updated Plan for Development to the Ghanaian government and commit to FID whilst Lukoil is involved in the project as the risk of sanctions levied on Russian oil and gas companies could limit Akers ability to work with Lukoil and interfere with operations at the field. According to media reports, Aker CEO yvind Eriksen noted that development plans would not be passed to Ghanaian authorities until Lukoils participation was resolved.

To overcome this hurdle, Aker has recommended that Lukoil divest their share. As of February 2023, the latest update on the dispute indicates that Aker is continuing a dialogue with Lukoil and the Ghanaian authorities to come to a solution and has not put the project itself on hold, instead just delaying their development plans.

Provided that the controversy surrounding Lukoils participation is resolved and FID is achieved by the end of 2024, we expect Ghanas oil production to grow to nearly 200,000b/d by 2029.

Given the willingness of the Ghanaian government to support the project, potential for breakthroughs and compromise in the negotiations between the partners, and the higher oil price environment, we believe that FID is still possible despite the dispute, but is not likely to be reached until 2024 at the earliest.

In terms of sanctions, as of February 2023, Lukoil is subject to US energy sector sanctions under Executive Order 13662, which prohibits investment in upstream projects abroad where Russian-based oil and gas companies have participating interests of over 33 per cent.

Aker seeks to comply with all international sanctions. Despite Lukoils 38 per cent stake, the restrictions levied on Lukoil would not apply to the Pecan field development as the project was initiated before January 29, 2018.

Given this exemption, it is still possible that the project can proceed with Lukoil still participating, though we acknowledge significant downside risks from the historic record of delays.

We forecast that it will take 35 months from FID for the first oil at the field, meaning that if FID is reached in 2024, production will begin in 2027 at the earliest. With this in mind, we forecast that Ghanas oil production will grow to a peak of 198,190 b/d by 2029, before declining by an average of three per cent a year until 2032 due to the lack of other projects in the pipeline.
Qatar Airways, Airbus reach amicable settlement in legal dispute

Business Desk Report Business News Feb - 14 - 2023 , 12:15

Qatar Airways and Airbus have reached an amicable and mutually agreeable settlement in relation to their legal dispute over A350 surface degradation and the grounding of A350 aircraft.

According to a release by Qatar Airways, a repair project was now underway and both parties look forward to getting these aircraft safely back in the air.

The details of the settlement, the release said, were confidential and the parties would now proceed to discontinue their legal claims.

Meanwhile, the release noted that the settlement agreement was not an admission of liability for either party.

This agreement will enable Qatar Airways and Airbus to move forward and work together as partners, the release said.

Premium Lounge opening

In a related development, Qatar Airways has re-opened its luxurious Premium Lounge at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG), complementing the airlines triple daily flights, available for premium passengers and eligible one-world alliance partners.

The Premium Lounge features all of the facilities and qualities of the airlines premium product, including both The Brasserie and The Global Deli, prayer rooms, business centre, shower facilities, Wi-Fi and zoned seating for more than 200 guests. Far-reaching views of Paris and the Eiffel Tower contribute to a warm and relaxing atmosphere.

Commenting on the airlines latest Premium Lounge re-opening, Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Akbar Al Baker, stated: This milestone illustrates our focus on continuous product enhancements. The re-opening of the Qatar Airways Premium Lounge at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport marks our fifth global lounge within our growing network. This further demonstrates our commitment to provide unparalleled services to our customers, especially in France.

At more than 1,000 square metres, the Qatar Airways Premium Lounge at Paris-Charles de Gaulle offers Qatar Airways First and Business Class passengers a sophisticated, modern and spacious environment in which to relax and commence their five-star journey experience.

Catering to exceptional premium culinary standards, the lounge is equipped with a full kitchen for freshly-prepared a la carte orders, in addition to an existing buffet spread, offering an international menu from across the globe.

Qatar Airways Paris Premium Lounge launched its operations in 2017 to serve the growing capacity of passengers travelling with the airline from Charles de Gaulle Airport.

Presently, Qatar Airways operates 18 weekly flights to Paris, offering passengers with the ultimate connectivity to Skytraxs Worlds Best Airport, Hamad International Airport.

Awards

A multiple award-winning airline, Qatar Airways, was recently announced as the Airline of the Year at the 2022 World Airline Awards, which is managed by the international air transport rating organisation, Skytrax.

The airline continues to be synonymous with excellence having won the main prize for an unprecedented seventh time (2011, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2022), while also being named Worlds Best Business Class, Worlds Best Business Class Lounge Dining and Best Airline in the Middle East.

Keynote

Qatar Airways currently flies to more than 150 destinations worldwide, connecting through its Doha hub, Hamad International Airport, currently named the Best Airport in the World by Skytrax World Airport Awards 2022.
Moscow appreciates Indias neutrality and on its part, the Modi government also knows that in this titanic struggle between the US and Russia, there is very little it (or any third party) can do to persuade the Biden Administration to call off the proxy war and begin negotiations.

by M.K. Bhadrakumar

The scheduled visit of National Security Advisor Ajit Doval to Moscow on February 7-9 was in connection with the multilateral consultations of the secretaries of security councils and national security advisors regarding Afghanistan hosted by the Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev.

However, it was Dovals meeting with President Vladimir Putin that inevitably became the meridian. Indeed, it was an exceptional event. Putins meeting with Doval signified two things  it was a recognition both of Dovals unique standing as a meaningful interlocutor in the Indian government as well as his standing as an accomplished professional with vast experience in the regional security issues, in particular, Afghanistan.

Prominent spy turned India NSA Ajit Doval [ Photo Credit: PTI]

Doval doesnt have the luxury of being an armchair strategist. He lived and worked in the real world and kept up with Russian counterparts at a working level. As time passed, friendships forged in the fires of adversity  Khalistan, cross-border terrorism, political islam, insurgencies  became strong and weathered the test of time. Unsurprisingly, Dovals equation with Patrushev is one of its kind. Therefore, the enormous symbolism in Putins face-to-face interaction with Doval must be properly understood.

Putins remarks at the regional meeting of security advisors underscored the high importance Moscow attaches to the Afghan situation. He said Afghanistan has always been important for us [Russia] and now it is important more than ever because we do not want more points of tension on our southern borders.

Putin mentioned three reasons for saying so. First, the Afghan security situation remains critical. To quote Putin, International terrorist organisations are stepping up their activities, including al-Qaeda which is building up its potential. Moscow is greatly concerned about negative fallouts in the Central Asian region.

Russia sees India as a like-minded country  alongside China, Iran and the Central Asian states  that is genuinely interested in the stabilisation of the Afghan situation. The MEA readout mentions that Doval in his remarks at the regional meeting stressed the need to ensure that the territory of Afghanistan does not become a source of radicalisation and terrorism, regionally or globally, as well as to intensify intelligence and security cooperation to deal with terror outfits.

Evidently, Moscow is conscious of the convergence of interests with Delhi on this front. The Afghan situation would have figured prominently in Dovals talks with Patrushev, who is an old and trusted associate of Putin over decades.

Second, Russia has specific concerns over the problem of drug trafficking, which is on the rise. Putin mentioned that 80% of opiates in the world market originate from Afghanistan. Russia and Iran are two major transit routes for drug trafficking. During the two decades of US occupation, the Americans virtually acquiesced with drug traffickers. Occasional reports showed that some Pentagon commanders even made fortunes out of the smuggling.

Drug trafficking is inextricably linked to the security situation. Again, the Taliban government lacks resources to provide alternate livelihood to the poor farmers to induce them to give up poppy cultivation. In this connection, Putin made a cryptic remark that there are plans to implement large economic projects that could stabilise the situation. Russia has a masterplan to revive the Soviet-aided economic projects in Afghanistan.

India too has a brilliant track record in undertaking developmental projects in Afghanistan. Dovals assertion that India is and will remain an important stakeholder in Afghanistan is to be understood in this context.

Third, Putin stated: We are also worried about attempts to use the situation in Afghanistan to allow extra-regional forces to expand or build their infrastructure. These countries will create this under the pretext of countering international terrorism, but they are not doing anything that is really necessary in the real counterterrorism struggle.

Putin, of course, was alluding to the continuing attempts by the US to return to Afghanistan and establish a security presence with a view to influence the geopolitics in the surrounding regions of Iran, North Caucasus, Central Asia, Xinjiang, etc. Taliban resisted the American pressure. Russias presidential envoy for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov recently alleged on state television that the US is giving covert support to the Islamic State-Khorasan in Afghanistan.

Russia finds itself between the rock and a hard place. It harboured a notion in the recent years that Pakistan would be a potential ally to stabilise the Afghan situation under Taliban. But that turned out to be a flawed assumption. On the contrary, the overthrow of Imran Khan led to the installation of a US-backed regime in Islamabad that is completely at the bidding of Americans. The US stranglehold is destined to tighten further as the IMF begins to dictate Pakistans economic policies.

A sharp deterioration in Pakistans equations with the Taliban followed after Imran Khans overthrow. An easing of tensions between Islamabad and Kabul is not to be expected, as the military leadership in Rawalpindi has reverted to its historical role as the cats-paw of the Pentagon and the CIA. The Taliban harbours deep suspicions regarding the US-Pakistani intentions.

According to reports, the US is sourcing military supplies from Pakistan for use in its proxy war against Russia in Ukraine. In sum, the Pakistani civilian and military elite are reverting to their historical role as hirelings of the US. Russia and Iran are in the US crosshairs. Moscow is vainly hoping to engage Pakistan in a constructive relationship, whereas, in reality, it is dealing with a vassal state of the US.

Suffice it to say that India is sailing in the same boat as Russia when it comes to the Afghan conundrum and Pakistani shenanigans. Conceivably, at some point soon enough, the Pakistani military will resume its interference in Afghanistan by projecting power into that country to keep it weak and subservient something that dovetails with the US current regional strategy.

From various accounts, Putins conversation with Doval largely focused on the Russian-Indian special and privileged strategic partnership. Afghanistan would have been a key topic of discussion. To be sure, Putin would have spoken to Doval about the Ukraine situation as well. That said, Putins focus is on the bilateral cooperation with India.

The US lobbyists in the Indian media are upset that Doval visited Moscow. A Delhi newspaper wrote an editorial today warning the Modi government about its dealings with Russia, which, according to the paper, stands isolated in the international community! (Twenty years back, this very same newspaper had written that then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayees refusal to join the USs coalition of the willing to invade Iraq would cost India dearly, as a vengeful George W. Bush was sure to punish Delhi by evicting it from Kashmir Valley!)

What these lobbyists overlook is that Indias relationship with the US is transactional and the Americans are rank opportunists. It is about time they got accustomed to the idea that India cherished its strategic autonomy. Why do some of our journalists behave like a comprador class?

Moscow appreciates Indias neutrality and on its part, the Modi government also knows that in this titanic struggle between the US and Russia, there is very little it (or any third party) can do to persuade the Biden Administration to call off the proxy war and begin negotiations.

Apparently, the Biden Administration still thinks that the proxy war will lead to the dismemberment and destruction of Russia. So long as the US neocons who dominate Bidens team remain delusional, this conflict will continue and may even escalate. Delhi is doing the right thing to remain non-aligned and astutely pursue its national interests.
Daily Graphic Editorials

Acknowledging caregivers in childhood cancer fight

Daily Graphic Editorials Feb - 14 - 2023 , 11:23

Ghana joins the rest of the world tomorrow, February 15, to commemorate International Childhood Cancer Day (ICCD).

The day raises awareness of childhood cancer and honours all the children and families experiencing the effects of the disease.

It also acknowledges their pain and difficulties and gives them space to process and grieve.

Globally, every year more than 400,000 children and adolescents below 20 are diagnosed with cancer, statistics from the World Health Organisation (WHO) show.

The theme for this years commemoration: Better survival is achievable #ThroughTheirHands, pays tribute to families and caregivers and the positive impact they have on the lives of children and adolescents with cancer.

This years theme ends the three-year campaign of ICCD designed to use the universal image of colourfully painted handprints of children to represent survival rates for children with cancer on a national, regional and international scale.

Considering the fact that childhood cancers affect an age group of people who are unable to think, take care of themselves and take decisions, the role of caregivers throughout the childs diagnoses, treatment and recovery in the cancer fight cannot be ignored.

Indeed, it takes the caregiver to see the signs of the disease in the child, take him/her to hospital, explain what has been observed in the childs health to health personnel, take test samples to the laboratory, and when the cancer is confirmed, raise the funds for treatment and even support the child throughout the treatment.

It is a really sacrificial and tiring job, as was described by Dr Nihad Salifu, a paediatric oncologist at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital (see Daily Graphic, Saturday, February 11, 2023).

Accompanying the child in and out of hospital regularly and spending weeks and months there with him/her because the treatment procedure requires the child to be hospitalised means that caregivers have to sacrifice their livelihoods.

The inconvenience and stress of sitting while spending nights by the hospital bedside of the child demonstrates the sacrifices caregivers make.

In some situations, they even become doctors and nurses at home for the child because they have to ensure that the child takes his/her medications correctly and on time.

All these underscore the invaluable role of caregivers in the childhood cancer fight, and that is why the Daily Graphic believes they are worth celebrating on an important day like this.

We recognise and acknowledge their efforts and commend them for that.

But for them, the successes chalked up in the childhood cancer fight worldwide would not have been possible.

While acknowledging the invaluable role caregivers play in the treatment and recovery of children with cancers, it is worth mentioning that the activities of some of them end up either complicating the conditions of the children or lead to their death.

Dr Salifu disclosed that in the middle of treatment, some caregivers took the children from hospitals to prayer camps or herbalists for quick solutions to the childrens problem.

Others, according to her, also added herbal preparations to hospital medications given to the children.

What is more, some parents, intentionally, do not take the children for treatment at the scheduled time, while others also do not report complications, such as rise in temperature, the children may develop in response to treatment.

The Daily Graphic adds its voice to Dr Salifus advice to caregivers who are in the habit of doing these things mentioned to put a stop to them because when they do those things they put the lives of the children on treatment in danger.

We believe that it is important for all in society to contribute whatever they can to help children with cancers.

They should also know the early signs and symptoms of childhood cancers and assist parents to report quickly to health facilities for the necessary diagnosis and treatment to begin.

It has been reported that the inability to detect the signs early and seek the right treatment causes problems.

Childhood cancer is curable; lets give hope and a future to children with childhood cancers.
Spent over GH975,000 to make Sugarcane global hit -Camidohs manager

Gifty Owusu-Amoah Showbiz News Feb - 14 - 2023 , 12:40

Success doesnt come on a silver platter and that is exactly what George Britton, manager of Afropop/Afrobeats artiste, Camidoh has confirmed with the disclosure of spending over GH975,000 in a year to make Sugarcane a global hit.

In a Facebook post on Monday night, February 13, George lamented about how the music industry has evolved into one of the most costly but also most lucrative creative endeavours of our day.

He mentioned that it always cost a fortune for the creation and subsequent consummation of music.

The music industry has evolved into one of the most costly but also most lucrative creative endeavors of our day. From creation to consuming cost a fortune.

Let me use Camidoh's Sugarcane original and remix as a case study.

JWillz and Rex, two incredible Ghanaian directors, shot and edited two music videos, Sugarcane and Sugarcane Remix, respectively. Promotions were run on both radio and TV in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, the UK, and the US.

Online ad sponsors, social media influencers, and content creators in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, the UK, the US, Tanzania, etc. were equally engaged. Nightclubs and bars in Africa as well as the UK played a significant role.

Camidoh attained global success as one of Africa's most streamed artists after spending just over Ghc975,000 in a year, on one song.

This feat was achieved by the amazing team behind Camidoh, i.e., Grind Don't Stop, GB Recz, and Crux Global, not forgetting some amazing support from the media, family, and friends.

To constantly achieve this success and more, the music industry will need a much stronger enabler, i.e., the presence of major record labels, heavy financial support from the government, and angel investors in the music industry to help propel the artists to a global stage he posted.

More articles Camidoh out with A lifetime Is Not Enough EP

Thanks for massive support Camidoh

Camidoh Joins Boomplays Golden Club With 100M Streams
Ghana Education News

Parents advised not to deny children access to education

DailyGraphic Education Feb - 14 - 2023 , 09:15

The Deputy Minister in charge of General Education, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, has advised parents not to deny their children access to education no matter the circumstances they may find themselves in.

He explained that irrespective of the kind of work they did and the kind of conditions they might find themselves in there was no way they should use such conditions as an excuse to prevent their children from accessing education.

Rev. Fordjour who gave the advice at a durbar of chiefs and people of Gomoa Akropong No. 2 in the Gomoa Central District in the Central Region explained that education held the key to their future dreams.

The durbar was to climax the week-long activities for the celebration of the annual Akwambo festival of the chiefs and people of the area.

The event which had the theme Working together to seek peace and development for Akropong No. 2 brought together people from all walks of life.

Rev. Fordjour commended the chiefs and people of the area for their roles leading to the maintenance of peace in the area over the years and urged them to continue living in peace with one another.

He assured the people of the governments commitment to partner with all stakeholders in the country towards the development of the country through education.

The Deputy Minister announced that the government would continue to work hard to ensure that all children of schoolage benefitted from education.

Equal access

The government desires that both children of the rich and the poor will have equal access to education hence the various interventions to ensure that all children have access to education irrespective of ethnic, political, religious, among other affiliations, he said.

Rev Fordjour appealed to all parents to strive to complement the government to ensure that their children stayed in school till they completed by providing them with their basic needs like bags, clothing, among others.

The Deputy Education Minister used the occasion to donate 15 pianos to some senior high schools in the area and stationery to some Basic Schools to boost effective teaching and learning in their schools.

The Odikro of Gomoa Akropong, Nana Odum Amanfo IV, commended the people of the area for their support towards the maintenance of peace in the town and called for them to maintain the peace in the area.

He also applauded the government for its support for the development of education in the area but called for more support to ensure that many more youths got access to education.

Prioritise education

The Mankrado of Gomoa Akropong (known in private life as Dr David Annan-Bonney), Nana Dr Agyarkwah Akyen II, charged the chiefs and people of the area to prioritise education.
Ghana Education News

Play-based learning produces positive outcomes  Right to Play Ghana

Augustina Tawiah Education Feb - 14 - 2023 , 09:22

Right to Play Ghana has stated that play-based learning contributes significantly to learning outcomes, literacy, attendance to school and building life skills of both boys and girls.

Citing studies conducted, the Senior Global Manager, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning of Right to Play, Eric Opoku, said 73 per cent of girls in intervention schools (that is schools where play-based learning had been introduced) improved their literacy as compared to 60 per cent in non-intervention schools.

He said similar proportions of boys improved their literacy in projects and non-project schools.

Mr Opoku said this at a three-day bilateral learning exchange programme on quality education organised for Ghana and Sierra Leone by Right to Play Ghana.

The programme brought together experts on education from both countries, including their Ministers of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum of Ghana and Dr David Moinina Sengeh of Sierra Leone, to share ideas on integrating play-based learning to improve foundational skills and learning outcomes in schools.

As part of the programme, the participants visited the Mallam Cluster of Schools in the Greater Accra Region, which is one of the intervention schools Right to Play has introduced Play-based Learning.

Mr Opoku was making a presentation on evidence around play-based learning and its contribution to school performance and learning outcomes in Ghana and said in addition to academic skills, play-based interventions implemented appeared to have a positive impact on childrens socio-emotional learning skills.

Students confidence

He said students confidence also increased and added that students attendance improved over the project period from baseline to midline for both boys and girls.

In all, 35.9 per cent of boys and 33.9 per cent of girls in intervention schools improved their attendance, he said.

He pointed out that learning did not only happen in school but also within the home environment and, therefore, encouraged parents to assist their children at home with their studies.

In his presentation, the Director-General of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, Prof. Edward Appiah, confirmed that schools that had introduced play-based learning performed better than those without the intervention and explained that it could probably be because play-based learning made learning exciting and students did not have to struggle with learning under it.
Anglican Church honours Asantehene

Kwadwo Baffoe Donkor Feb - 14 - 2023 , 08:34

The Anglican Church has conferred the Cross of St Augustine, the highest honour of the church, on the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, for his services to the Anglican Communion.



The honour was conferred by the Archbishop of Canterbury, His Grace Justin Welby, as part of activities marking the 18th Plenary Session of the Anglican Consultative Council scheduled from February 11 to 20, 2023.

Accompanying the cross was a citation which extolled some of the achievements and assistance the Asantehene had extended to humanity.

The Cross of St Augustine, also known as the Lambeth Award, is presented by the Archbishop of Canterbury to members of the Anglican Church who have made significant contributions to the church.

Presentation

Presenting the cross to the Asantehene, Archbishop Welby said the honour was in recognition of Otumfuo's consistent support for the cause of the Anglican Church and the country as a whole.

Within the Anglican Church, the highest award we give is the Cross of St Augustine, who brought the Gospel to England in the year 597, he said.

Citation

As contained in the citation, Archbishop Welby said, Otumfuo generously provided support and guidance for the church, stressing that the Asantehenes efforts had had a tremendous impact on the growth and development of the church.

A most needed notable example is the establishment of the Anglican National Secretariat in Accra.

In particular, His Majesty established the Otumfuo Osei Tutu II Foundation, which seeks to solve problems in five areas aiming to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: education, health, sanitation, clean water and entrepreneurship.

His Majesty also supported the Otumfuo Education Fund, the Otumfuo Community Reading Challenge, the Otumfuo Mobile Learning Project, the Otumfuo Mobile Dental Project, the Otumfuo Teachers Awards and many others, he said.

Appreciation

The Asantehene expressed his gratitude to the Archbishop of Canterbury for the recognition and honour done him.

He pledged his continuous support to the church and to use his position to help in the development of the country.

He said his position was that of a servant, adding: I have always told my people that it was not by might or power but through the wish of God that I came here.

Im also mindful that authority and power should not be used to abuse or threaten people or be used as the be-all-and-the-end-all.

I always remind myself that I am here to serve these ones that are here; what benefit can they get from where I sit? That is what informs me to come up with policies and directions that will be to their benefit, he added.

The Archbishop of Canterbury was accompanied to the event by the Primate and Metropolitan Archbishop of the Church of the Province of West Africa, the Most Rev. Cyril Kobina Ben-Smith, and a host of bishops from Ghana and other countries.
DDEP: Bondholders who did not participate will receive coupon, maturing principal payments

Graphic.com.gh Feb - 14 - 2023 , 10:35

The Ministry of Finance has re-assured all individual bondholders who elected not to participate in the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) that their coupon payments and maturing principals, like all government bonds, will be honoured in line with Government fiscal commitments.

The Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) closed on Friday, February 10, 2023 with over 80 per cent participation of eligible bonds, the Ministry of Finance has announced.

Read also: DDEP: Gov't secures 80% target

The Central Securities Depository was conducting the final reconciliation of the numbers to ensure that there was no double counting, Graphic Online understands.

A press statement issued Tuesday morning (Feb 14, 2023) said, "the Government wants to thank the people of Ghana for their forbearance and support throughout these very difficult times."

All Individual bondholders, especially "our pensioner bondholders should rest assured that their coupon payments and maturing principals, like all government bonds, will be honoured in line with Governments Fiscal commitments", it said.

"The DDEP is being done to help protect the economy and enhance our capacity to service our public debts effectively. The alternative of not executing the DDEP would have brought grave disorder in the servicing of our national debt and exacerbated the current economic crisis.

"The Government is, therefore, grateful for the overwhelming participation of all bondholders. Your support and contributions have gotten your country much closer to securing the IMF programme.

"The Ministry of Finance has also taken note of all additional input made by various stakeholders during the DDEP engagement to further streamline Governments expenditures. We wish to assure Ghanaians of our full commitment to addressing these issues."
Emile Short launches memoir

Juliet Akyaa Safo & Justice Agbenorsi Feb - 13 - 2023 , 14:16

A BOOK that recounts the life of a former Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Justice Emile Francis Short, was on Thursday launched in Accra.

The 256-page book does not only open the window to the formative stages of the man who is often called to national duty, but also provides a compendium of lessons for young lawyers to have a taste of what it looked like to practice law in the then Gold Coast.

Also commemorated was the 80th birthday of the author which fell on Monday, February 6, 2023, as well as 30 years since he became the Commissioner of CHRAJ.

Titled In the Eye of the Storm, the instructive book, which also contains memorable pictures, has 17 chapters which focus on the primary stages of the authors family, his life as a young boy, educational background, legal practice and his time at CHRAJ, including threats he received while in office.

The event was attended by the current Commissioner of CHRAJ, Joseph Akanjolenur Whittal; a Justice of the Supreme Court, Prof. Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu; the Executive Chairman of Jonah Capital, Sir Sam Jonah, who was the Special Guest of Honour, among other dignitaries.

Significance

Justice Prof. Mensa-Bonsu said it was important for people to tell their own stories and described Justice Short as a calm personality who could not be pushed around.

A lot of people go into public service at a certain level in this country.

You really need to have courage to do the work that you have accepted to do, so when somebody does it and has survived this far, we can only applaud him, she said.

Justice Prof. Mensa-Bonsu also said that the memoir was worth the read as it gave different sides of the author which were not known to the public, including harassments and threats he received during his time as the Commissioner of CHRAJ.

Review

The Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Professional Studies, Accra, Prof. Ernest Kofi Abotsi, who reviewed the book, describe it as a powerful account of the life of a man whose local and international standing has generally beclouded a rich and fulfilling life history immersed in family, friends, community and faith.

He said the fluent narrative approach, adopted by the author, tinged with humour and transitional pauses and asides, presented a profound excursion into his life, marked by detailed narrative of his experiences growing up in the country and abroad, including his education, love life and professional development.

These will afford any reader a rare insight into the life of one of Africa's, and certainly Ghana's greatest sons.

While many will find the chronology of his life's story easy to identify with, his meticulous narration is truly a testament to the memoirs overall richness and the depth of the author's encounters and world views, Prof. Abotsi added.

Appreciation

Justice Emile thanked God for seeing him through his work as a legal practitioner, as well as his family and people who had supported him over the years.

This is a blessing and I need to give thanks to God for bringing me this far.

I did not get here by my own ingenuity and wisdom, but by the sheer grace of God.

I want to thank each and every one of you who have come to help me celebrate this auspicious, momentous occasion, he added.

The current leadership of CHRAJ bought the book for GH10,000 after which it was auctioned to the public.
Fisheries Ministry cautions CSOs over one-sided reports on sector

Zadok Kwame Gyesi Feb - 14 - 2023 , 09:17

The Deputy Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development (MoFAD), Mr Moses Anim, has cautioned that the Ministry will not take it lightly with any civil society organisation (CSOs) that will publish a report on the sector without taking the inputs of the Ministry or its agencies.

According to him, it was unlawful for anyone to conduct a research on the fisheries sector without consulting or taking the inputs of the Ministry and the Fisheries Commission (FC).

He said some CSOs had been publishing reports on the sector which oftentimes did not reflect the true picture of the sector or the efforts of the Ministry and its agencies to the international community.

Sustainable Oceans Project launch

Mr Anim, who was speaking at a launch of a three-year project by four CSOs in Accra last Tuesday, February 7, 2023, said many of the reports by the CSOs had painted a gloomy picture of the Ghanaian fisheries sector to the international community, hence contributing to the country being flagged with a yellow card by the European Union (EU).

The project, dubbed: Sustainable Oceans Project and being funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), will be implemented by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), Hen Mpoano, Friends of the Nation, and Central and Western Fishmongers Improvement Association (CEWEFIA).

The overall goal of the project is to build grassroots capacity for a sustainable ocean economy in Ghana through inclusive, strong and effective capacity building, planning and management of coastal ecosystems.

The launch brought the various interest groups in the fisheries sector, including officials from the Fisheries Commission, Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Fisheries Committee for the West Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC), Ghana Inshore Trawlers Association (GITA), Ghana National Canoe Fishermen's Council-W/R (GNCFC), Ghana's National Fish Processors & Traders Association, and government appointees from the Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies in some of the four coastal regions.

Collaborations

The Deputy Fisheries Minister said even though the Ministry was ever ready to work with any CSOs to help improve the countrys fisheries sector, it would not tolerate any CSOs whose intensions was to tarnish the image of the countrys fisheries sector.

I am not happy, extremely not happy because some actions of the CSOs is trying to decimate the efforts some of us have made in bringing CSOs, the FC and the Ministry together to facilitate and collaborate, he fumed.

He said the fact is that hitherto, there had been some antagonism, misunderstanding in collaborating; suspicions and allweve taken a lot of pain and efforts to ensure that the environment that theyre working should be so-cooperative and understanding.

For Mr Anim, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Trobu Constituency in the Greater Accra region, Ghana is a sovereign country and therefore would not allow any CSOs to undermine the country without their invalidated reports.

Punitive measures

Apart from the international laws that we all feed into, there is a country called Ghana, a sovereign country, an independent country. Therefore you cannot have a protocol that supersedes the laws of this country; you cannot. Whatever your protocols in reporting are, must emanate from the national laws and regulations of this country; you cannot have your own protocols and think that you can do anything so that our laws of this country become subservient to your protocol; it shouldnt happen, he indicated.

He explained that Regulation 1968 Section 22 subsection 3 is very categorical that you cannot do anything and report on your own without the Fisheries Commissions inputs and consultations.

He added, It is a criminal offence and there is a punitive action to it in the law; when you read subsection 6. We will begin to invoke this law, we will use this law because we have done everything possible to collaborate and make sure that whatever we take out to the international community is validated within before it gets out.

Mr Anim said the Ministry was doing everything possible to ensure that it clamped down on illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing (IUU) practices in the country.

Projects objectives

The Project Coordinator of EJF, Mr. Theophilus Boachie-Yiadom, said one of the key objectives of the project was to reduce fishery declines, build sustainability and secure fishers access to sustainable fisheries resources through governance reforms to address overcapacity (more fleets than expected) and illegal fishing, and enhance participatory co-management.

Additionally, he noted, the project was intended to improve income resilience of fishing communities to climate and human-induced threats through enhanced opportunities for value addition along fisheries supply chains and enterprise development.

For Mr. Boachie-Yiadom, the Sustainable Oceans Project would help to strengthen climate change adaptation and mitigation capacities in coastal areas through improved spatial and land use planning and community-led management of wetlands and mangrove ecosystems.

He explained that in the next three years of the projects life-cycle, the project would engage small-scale fishers, clam collectors, processors and traders in the value chain across all the four coastal regions in the country.

He said over 5,000 artisanal fishers would be trained in fisheries management issues and also, over 600 processors would be engaged on value addition, hygienic handling of fish products and access to credit.

In addition, Mr. Boachie-Yiadom said, the project would build the capacity of over 50 officials from the Navy, Marine Police, prosecutors and judges with technical input from national legal experts to support effective enforcement of fisheries laws and good governance.

The project will target land use planners at the Metropolitan, Municipals and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to incorporate mangrove protection into land-use plans; to build mangrove conservation into action plans including building the capacities of 160 traditional authorities and landowners, he noted.

Norways support

The Deputy Norwegian Ambassador to Ghana, Kyrre Holm, said the launch of the project will provide valuable complementary activities to the already existing cooperation between our countries and can advance efforts in Ghana towards participatory management of marine resources.

For him, the goal of having a resilient and sustainable ocean economy in Ghana through inclusive, strong, and effective capacity, planning and management of coastal ecosystems was one that the government of Norway fully support.

He said Norway as an ocean nation was interested in assisting other coastal nations such as Ghana to address some of its challenges in the marine fisheries sector.

So as coastal countries we have a responsibility to use the oceans resources in a sustainable and responsible manner, so that we and coming generations can benefit from it in the years to come, Mr Holm noted.

For him, building grassroots capacity for sustainable ocean economy in Ghana is a crucial step towards ensuring that the benefits of the ocean economy are shared by all and that sustainable ocean practice are promoted.

Management apathy

The Chairperson for the occasion, Osabarimba Kwesi Atta II, the Paramount Chief of the Oguaa Traditional Area, urged all stakeholders in the fisheries sector to contribute their quota towards protecting the countrys fisheries economy.

We are not taking proper care of the sea, a situation he observed, existed due to the apathy in the management efforts of the marines and coastal resources in the country.
The Russians have been surprised and dismayed by the ability of Ukrainian aircraft, especially unmanned jet or propeller driven autonomous systems, to evade the elaborate and supposedly effective Russian air defense system. Effective it wasnt as the Ukrainians carried out several spectacular attacks in the last few months that were deep inside Russia, some not far from the capital Moscow. Blowing up airbases or missile storage sites is one thing, but the targets could also be the senior military and political officials running the war against Ukraine. So far the Ukrainians appear to believe that missiles and military aircraft that carry them are more important and less easy to replace than the military and political officials in change of wartime operations.

The successful Ukrainian attacks on air bases near Moscow called into question claims that the air defenses around Moscow were effective. In response the Russian air defense forces have added short-range SAM (surface to air missile) systems like Pantsir S-1 to tall buildings around key military headquarters or places where senior leaders (like Vladimir Putin) live or work. This may not work because thats been the experience with Pantsir.

Russia has long been unsure about how effective its new short-range anti-aircraft systems actually are. In 2020 the troubled Pantsir S1 (SA-22) anti-aircraft system was given more chances to be useful in combat. A new version, Pantsir S1M, was shown in public for the first time in a 2020 Moscow parade. S1M was first made public earlier at the IDEX 2019 trade show. S1M systems didnt reach users and new customers until after 2021. In other words, recently.

It was specifically noted that the S1M model had changes based on combat experience in Syria and Libya. That combat experience was disastrous, with over twenty Pantsir S1 vehicles destroyed by Turkish and Israeli aircraft and electronic countermeasures. Most of the losses were incurred in Libya where Russia supplied one of the two factions (the LNA or Libyan National Army) fighting a civil war there with over 20 Pantsir S1 vehicles. Most were lost to Turkish TB2 UAVs firing laser-guided missiles after the Pantsir S1s had been blinded by Turkish Koral jammers. Israel used similar tactics in Syria.

The Pantsir S1M is equipped with a new, 75-kilometer range, radar plus an advanced electro-optical target tracking system. Electro-optical systems cannot be blinded easily and certainly not by electronic jammers. The S1M is now equipped to detect and take down all manner of UAVs, no matter what their size or operating capabilities. S1M now uses a new missile with a range of 30 kilometers and an improved internal guidance system. At the same time, there has been a less publicized effort by the Russian army and navy to obtain a new system to replace Pantsir, which they have lost confidence in. Given the dismal state of the defense budget, it may be a while before a Pantsir replacement can be developed and delivered. Meanwhile, Russia is apparently going to put the S1M model to the test in actual combat. While Turkey and Russia are allies, they avoid killing each others personnel in Syria and Libya and the new Pantsir S1M would be out to destroy Turkish UAVs. That will cost Turkey some hardware and reputation if S1M works but wont do the kind of diplomatic damage Russians killing Turkish troops does.

Pantsir-S1 is a mobile, truck-mounted system. Each vehicle carries a radar, two 30mm cannon and twelve Tunguska missiles. The original 90 kg (198 pound) missiles had a twenty-kilometer range and the radar a 30-40-kilometer range. The missile was designed to hit targets at up to 8,400 meters (26,000 feet). The new Tunguska was heavier, had a longer (30 kilometers) range and presumably could hit targets at higher altitudes.

The 30mm cannon is effective up to 3,200 meters (10,000 feet). The vehicle can vary, but the most common one carrying all this weighs 20 tons and has a crew of three. Each Pantsir-S1 vehicle-mounted system costs about $15 million, the S1M costs about a third more. Typically, four to six Pantsir vehicles are organized as a battalion along with a command post and support vehicles. Larger numbers of Pantsir vehicles are organized into a regiment of two or three battalions and more support vehicles. These consist of electronic and mechanical repair vehicles as well as other vehicles carrying spare parts and missile reloads and 30mm ammunition. There is also a system simulator that is carried in a truck or trailer. Russia has made a tremendous investment in Pantsir and does not want to scrap the system. If S1M doesnt work in combat, Pantsir will have to go if only because its survival depends so much on export customers.

Russia has already gone to extraordinary lengths to protect Pantsir in the media. In a rare instance of Russian media damage control, Valery Slugin, the lead designer of the Pantsir-S1 air defense system, gave an interview to a Russian newspaper in early 2020. Slugin explained how a Syrian Pantsir vehicle was destroyed by Israel forces in early 2019. The Israelis released a video of the incident. Slugin explained that it was the fault of the Syrian crew, which had fired all of their missiles and were waiting for the missile resupply vehicle. Meanwhile, the Israelis noted the missiles being fired, found the Pantsir and destroyed it with a missile. Slugin explained that if the Pantsir crew had moved the vehicle the Israelis might not have found and destroyed it. Slugin also stated that this Pantsir had just destroyed eight targets, presumably Israeli cruise missiles, while firing its twelve missiles. The Israelis reported that the target of their cruise missiles was destroyed and only two cruise missiles failed to hit the target. Nevertheless, the state-owned Russian firm that developed, manufactured and marketed Pantsir to export customers felt it necessary to let the world know what they believed actually happened. Russian media also released a video of Pantsir missiles exploding in the air. In response, Israel revealed that the cause of this was that its Delilah cruise missiles carry a radar jammer that makes Pantsir lose track of their target. When that happens Pantsir missiles self-destruct rather than hit the ground and risk friendly casualties. Russia implied that the missile was exploding near an unseen target. This was accurate, but not the way the Russians wanted it to be.

Another marketing effort in late 2019 publicized the fact that over 30 Pantsir-S1 systems had been sent to Syria, and implied that this many Pantsir-S1 vehicles could defend all of Syria from air (warplanes, UAVs, cruise and ballistic missiles) attack. The problem with Pantsir is that only Russia and Syria claim the system is effective. Its opponents (Israel, the United States, Turkey and apparently Ukraine) have another perspective that contradicts Russian and Syrian claims. Moreover, the Russian air defense systems used by Syria have, since 2011, brought down only one aircraft, an elderly Turkish RF-4E reconnaissance aircraft shot down by accident in 2012. The Turkish aircraft was flying off the coast and apparently not expecting to be attacked. Syria was then using Cold War era Russian equipment. When the Russians intervened in 2015 they brought more modern air defense systems with them, including the Pantsir. The problem is that the much-hyped Pantsir has been a flop. No proof of any Pantsir kills has ever been presented and Israeli airstrikes consistently destroy their targets, even when Pantsir is present and firing lots of those Tunguska missiles.

Then there was an earlier incident where Russia was caught suppressing bad news about the performance of Pantsir-S1 in Syria. In one case the comments were from a Russian source. This took place in late 2018 when Islamic terrorists used multiple small, explosives-armed UAVs to launch several attacks on the Russian controlled Hmeimim (or Khmeimim) airbase in Syria. Russia reported that these attacks failed because Russian air defense systems shot down over fifty of the small UAVs. Unofficial reports, via the Internet, indicated that the two short-range anti-aircraft systems guarding the base performed very differently. The older Tor-M2U system used its missiles successfully to shoot down the UAVs while the more recent Pantsir-S1 missiles all missed. Russian Internet censors were quick to take down some of the negative comments but the news was now out and spreading. Around this time Russia was also given lots of publicity to new, much improved, Pantsir models. Most of the upgrades were in the radar and fire control systems. These new Pantsir S2, S2E and SM models entered service in late 2018 and early 2019. Not all Pantsir vehicles have been upgraded and the overall impact of the upgrades does not appear to have been dramatic.

The late 2018 incident was not the first time Pantsir-S1 has been described as a failure. The Hmeimim airbase incidents were important because they involved a Russian controlled airbase in a combat zone. Hmeimim was built by Russia in 2015 near the port city of Latakia, which is 85 kilometers north of the port of Tartus and 50 kilometers from the Turkish border. Russia brought in Pantsir-S1, Tor-M2U and S-400 air-defense systems to protect it from attack.

The irony of this is that the Tor-M system is much older, with development begun in the 1970s while Pantsir-S1 development began twenty years later. The major difference between the two was that Tor-M was more successful and more expensive. The cost factor was one reason for developing the Pantsir-S1 but at first only export customers could afford it because the Russian military procurement budgets were sharply cut in the 1990s. In 2010, three years after the first foreign customer (Syria) received the Pantsir-S1, the Russian Air Force began getting some. The Russian economy was recovering sufficiently to expand defense spending. Initially, the Russian Air Force received the S1E version, with an improved radar (36-kilometer range) and missile (more reliable). Curiously, the air force used their first ten Pantsir-S1s to guard S-300 anti-aircraft missile bases around Moscow. There was no explanation from the Russians as to why they felt a mobile, low level anti-aircraft system was needed to guard a larger, high altitude one. Perhaps as additional protection against cruise missiles.

These ten Pantsir vehicles for Moscow were supposed to arrive in 2008, but there were more technical problems. There's been a pattern of that with Pantsir-S1. Development began in the 1990s. Work was sporadic for nearly a decade because there was little cash available. Meanwhile, several Arab nations were persuaded to order a total of about 150 Pantsir-S1 vehicles and most of those have not yet been in combat. Russia does not want these customers to question Pantsir reliability. After all, the system has worked during test firings and is a very popular and profitable export item.

Yet the main problem with Pantsir-S1 is that in combat it doesnt work. Failures have been reported at least three times since 2007, and all occurred in Syria. Two months after Syria received Pantsir-S1s in 2007, Israel bombed a Syrian nuclear weapons development facility. The Syrians were very dismayed at how ineffective the new Pantsir-S1 systems were during the Israeli strike. The 2007 failure was attributed to Israelis figuring out how to blind these systems electronically. In 2017 Pantsir S1 again failed during an Israeli attack and the excuse this time was that the Pantsir-S1s were not turned on. The 2018 failure was with operational Pantsir systems firing missiles at UAVs and missing while Tor-M2U systems detected UAVs and regularly shot them down with missiles. The video of Israeli weapons destroying a Pantsir vehicle was something the Russians felt they had to explain away, or at least try to.

The Tor-M has been around since the 1980s and has no autocannon, just missiles. It has been frequently updated. A late 2015 upgrade for their 30-year-old Tor-M (SA-15) enabled the launcher vehicle to fire its guided missiles while on the move. The latest version of Tor is the Tor-M2U which can hit aircraft up to 12 kilometers away and cruise missiles at a distance of five kilometers. The missile launcher vehicle has a crew of three (commander, driver and missile systems operator). The 176 kg (378 pound) missiles are three meters (ten feet) long, 235mm (9.25 inches) in diameter and carry a 15 kg (33 pound) warhead. Each battery has search radar and command center vehicles controlling four launcher vehicles (each carrying eight missiles, and another radar.)

The original tracking radar on the missile vehicle could track one target at a time but the latest (Tor-M2) can track four at a time. Missiles can be launched from the vehicle at three second intervals. The original missile carrier/launcher vehicle was armored (against small arms and shell fragments), tracked and weighed 34 tons. Since then a cheaper towed (on a wheeled trailer) version has appeared followed by a version on a 6x6 truck that proved more maneuverable, comfortable and cheaper than the armored version.

In 2018 a major upgrade was introduced; Tor-E2. With this model, the tracked vehicle was redesigned and upgraded to operate independently. The Tor-E2 carries sixteen missiles and its own search radar. The range of the missile has been increased to 15 kilometers.

Russia was the original user but Tor-M has also been exported to fourteen other countries including Greece, Venezuela, China, Iran and Egypt. Russia prefers to sell export customers the Pantsir but knowledgeable customers keep ordering the more expensive Tor-M because they know it works.

Now Russia is trying to do for the Pantsir what they did with Tor-M, keep improving it until it works. As of 2023 that may still be a work in progress.
MASLOC CEO supports Yendi Hospital

Mohammed Fugu Feb - 14 - 2023 , 09:38

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Micro-Finance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), Hajia Abibata Shanni Mahama Zakariah, has donated 10 sets of hand-held patient monitors worth $30,000 to the Yendi Municipal Hospital.

The devices, to be used at the Alicia Reine Bishop Emergency Centre, is to provide non-invasive and continuous monitoring of oxygen saturation, pulse rate, respiration rate, total hemoglobin, and other clinically valuable measurements.

The Alicia Reine Bishop Emergency Centre, a 28-bed capacity health facility with two critical isolation rooms which started operation on February 25, 2021, was inaugurated this month.

At a short ceremony to hand over the devices to the hospital, Hajia Abibata indicated that her decision to extend her philanthropic gesture to the hospital was influenced by her love for humanitarian services.

She disclosed that the Yendi Municipal Hospital was where she was born, and, therefore, felt the need to give back to the facility, the people of Yendi and the Northern Region at large.

Support

Hajia Abibata, who had supported the Yendi Municipal Hospital in the past, was later conducted round the facility by the hospital management to familiarise herself with its operations and challenges.

The MASLOC CEO acknowledged the Mission 3:18, a US-based non-governmental organisation, for its outreach works at the hospital, and assured the hospital of her continuous support.

I want to say a big thank you to Mission 3:18 because earlier on, I went to the theater and I saw the innovations they have brought to our theater such that they are able to monitor health service delivery from the USA.

We the people of Yendi are grateful, and like Oliver Twist we will always ask for more, she added.

The Medical Superintendent of the hospital, Dr Abdulai Ayuba, thanked the MASLOC boss for the gesture.

He gave the assurance that the devices would be put to good use, and reiterated his commitment to ensure a proper culture of maintenance to ensure that the equipment lasted to serve patients and clients.

Equipment

Dr Ayuba said equipping the facility with the requisite up-to-date essential medical equipment was one of his major challenges, and, therefore, lauded Hajia Abibata for taking the lead to support the centre in that direction.

He called on other people to emulate the CEO of MASLOC in order to help the hospital to achieve its aim of providing quality health service to all.

The Founder of Global Missions, a partner of Mission 3:18, Rev. Kwabena Mustapha, thanked the MASLOC CEO for her timely support.
Police begin engagement to build new image

Biiya Mukusah Ali Feb - 14 - 2023 , 09:57

THE administration of the Ghana Police Service has commenced a national public engagement to build a new image, improve the integrity of the service, and to build a robust policing system.

The engagement is also to position and make the police one of the most effective and respectable institutions.

The effort is also meant to solicit public support to enable the service to regain respect in the public, and to respond to questions bothering the public.

Police visibility

Addressing students, lecturers and the administration of the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR) in Sunyani in the Bono Region, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Dr George Akuffo Dampare, gave an assurance that the police would put in place systems at university campuses to improve security within the institutions.

He explained that the police would implement police visibility and police undercover in all tertiary institutions across the country to provide the appropriate environment for enhanced studies.

He said these systems would help the police to identify all routes linking the universities to position police visibility and intelligence components.

He said the systems would also help to check criminals in order to protect students and create peaceful atmosphere for studies.

He said the police would soon deploy about five motorbikes purposely for the UENR campus to improve police visibility on campus and routes leading to the various student hostels.

Commendation

Dr Dampare commended the regional and district officers of the police for working hard to promote law and order across the country, and urged them to continue to give off their best for the country.

He explained that if the policemen failed to ensure peaceful atmosphere for civilians, they would suffer the chaotic environment they did not cure when they retire and become civilians .

Very soon we will retire from the police service and will be civilians, and we will not have the privilege of enjoying all the security we have now.

"So we need to do everything to make the police service better than what we came to find," he said.

Dr Dampare explained that the police administration was passionate about the peace and security of the country, and to put in the necessary measures to achieve its objectives.

The Director-General of Police in-charge of the Patrols Department, Commissioner of Police (COP) Paul Manly Awuni, said it was the target of the current administration to make the police one of the most respectable institutions in the country.

COP Awuni said the police service was working hard to promote peace and security, and to create the enabling environment for the public to work.

Issues

Students of the university appealed to the IGP to facilitate the provision of traffic lights to help them cross the Sunyani-Berekum-Dormaa highway to the campus.

They also called on the IGP to help to improve police visibility in and around the university campus to protect them from criminals.

As part of his visit to the region, Dr Dampare paid a courtesy call on the Sunyani Traditional Council and visited the Sunyani Technical University (STU) police post.

The Vice-Chancellor of UENR, Prof. Elvis Asare-Bediako, called on the IGP to establish a police station in between the university and the Fiapre community to improve police presence.

He commended the IGP for his commitment towards maintaining law and order, explaining that under his administration, the country had witnessed improved peace and security.
Apart from pride, what is stopping Ken Ofori-Atta from responding to pensioner bondholders - Sophia Akuffo

Enoch Darfah Frimpong Politics Feb - 14 - 2023 , 15:08

Apart from pride, what else is stopping the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta from responding to pensioner bondholders in writing on the status of their government bonds in relation to their call for an exempt in the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP), the immediate past chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo has questioned.

To her, the pensioner bondholders have written to the Finance Ministry, asking for a total exempt from the government's Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) but as of now, they have not even received a note acknowledging receipt of their letter or a response in writing.

She questioned why other groups wrote letters to the Finance Ministry on a similar issue after the pensioners had sent theirs, but those groups have received responses and yet the pensioners were yet to hear from the minister in writing.

"It will be better for all of us and the nation too that, he [Finance Minister] responds to the letter that we sent him."

It is their [Pensioner Bondholders] argument that the government must officially write to exempt them from the DDEP.



They insist the sector Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta must follow this up with a public announcement that they have been exempted.



Without that, they intend to continue protesting and meet the leadership of Parliament on Thursday until their issue is resolved.



Government has exempted others including the Ghana Medical Association, NAGRAT and others, why not we the Pensioners, " Dr Adu Anane Antwi, convener of the Pensioner Bondholders stated.



Speaking to journalists Tuesday morning in Accra, where the immediate past Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo had joined other Pensioners for the protest, they called for fair play as they claim they are being sacrificed for the lot.

Asked for a comment on whether there was a mistrust for government and that is why she [Sophia Akuffo] is still joining the protest even though government has said maturing coupons will be paid, Justice Akuffo said, "paper talks, paper talks, empty talks fly with the wind."

"So we are waiting when they become due we shall see, it will be better that for all of us and for people who have served the nation..."

Justice Sophia Akuffo said the pensioner bondholders chose not to sign unto the DDEP but, "now the way things are going, what I sense and what I smell is the creation of two categories of people, of two classes of people, those who have been exempted by the issuer... now they are calling those who refused to sign unto the debt exchange, they are calling them self exempt, they simply refused to sign and they simply want to sign unto the original bond that they had with the government."

"The word bond is not used as a casual term, bond means tied to [my word is my bond], and when a government bond can be tossed up and down like that, flip flop, that is a serious thing. For me my problem with this whole thing is the destruction of the image of this nation, and something which is being done for generations."

"It took a long time before the normal Ghanaian will even buy anything that is government, because there was always the suspicion, tomorrow, you don't know what happens.

Now they are re-introducing that. The letter that was written to the minister, exempt us from your programme, we are pensioners. Up till now, I have seen a copy of the letter, up till now, there is not even a note of acknowledgement and yet a few days ago, similar letters written to the Minister have been responded to, whereby he has categorically exempted other groups, why?"

"And you know what, I cannot fathom the reason for something being done in a particular way, especially when its been done for others but its not being done for others, I start getting suspicious, I have grown to the age where I have seen it all, and therefore I easily become suspicious."

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Justice Sophia Akuffo fires back at Gabby

Enoch Darfah Frimpong Politics Feb - 14 - 2023 , 11:20

The immediate past Chief Justice, Justice Sophia Akuffo has fired back at Gabby Otchere-Darko following Gabby's comment that she "erred big time" in her basic appreciation of the issues in relation to the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).

Gabby Otchere-Darko in a tweet on Sunday reacting to the gesture by the former Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo, to picket the Finance Ministry together with pensioner bondholders said her move was done in error."

For a former CJ [Chief Justice] to take up a noble cause such as she did but at such late hour when all was done and for all that publicity, she owed it to herself and her social standing to have understood the issues far better than what she exhibited last Friday. She is bigger than that, Gabby tweeted.

This morning [Feb 14, 2023], Justice Akuffo joined the pensioner bondholders again to picket the Ministry of Finance and speaking to the press, she replied Gabby.

"Gabby Otchere-Darko can call me paranoid".

"I don't care. We are talking about people, we are talking about human beings, we are talking about people who have served this country, and have served well and have served hard, not easy service."

"When you are not a member of government and you are calling yourself a member of government, so that is all I have got to say about this matter, that is why I am still sitting here." Justice Sophia Akuffo said.

Asked for a comment on whether there was a mistrust for government and that is why she is still joining the protest even though government has said maturing coupons will be paid, Justice Akuffo said, "paper talks, paper talks, empty talks fly with the wind."

"So we are waiting when they become due we shall see, it will be better that for all of us and for people who have served the nation...

She said the pensioner bondholders chose not to sign unto the DDEP, "now the way things are going, what I sense and what I smell is the creation two categories of people, of two classes of people, those who have been exempted by the issuer... now they are calling those who refused to sign unto the debt exchange, they are calling them self exempt, they simply refused to sign and they simply want to sign unto the original bond that they had with the government."

"The word bond is not used as a casual term, bond means tied to [my word is my bond], and when a government bond can be tossed up and down like that, flip flop, that is serious thing. For me my problem with this whole thing is the destruction of the image of this nation, and something which is being done for generations. It took a long time before the normal Ghanaians will even buy anything that is government, because there was always the suspicion, tomorrow, you don't know what happen.

Now they are re-introducing that. The letter that was written to the minister, exempt us from your programme, we are pensioners. Up till now, I have seen a copy of the letter, up till now, there is not even a note of acknowledgement and yet a few days ago, similar letters written to the Minister have been responded to, whereby he has categorically exempted other groups, why?"

"And you know what, I cannot fathom the reason for something being done in a particular way, especially when its been done for others but its not being done for others, I start getting suspicious, I have grown to the age where I have seen it all, and therefore I easily become suspicious."

"Gabby Otchere-Darko can call me paranoid, I don't care. We are talking about people, we are talking about human beings, we are talking about people who have served this country, and have served well and served hard, not easy service."

"When you are not a member of government and you are calling yourself a member of government. So that is all I have got to say about this matter, that is why I am still sitting here." Justice Sophia Akuffo said.

Asked if there was a mistrust for government, Justice Sophia Akufo said "paper talks, paper talks, empty talks flies with the wind, yes. So a press release is one thing, a letter in response to a specific request is another thing all together, because when we've reached a point where we are feeling uncomfortable even though we are holding government bonds, listen it is a trust issue, yes.

Asked if the matter will be taken to court now that the programme has been closed by the government, Justice Akuffo responded, "the representative for the association, Dr Anane Antwi will address that.

more to follow...

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Suame NDC Youth Organiser granted GH50,000 bail

Enoch Darfah Frimpong Politics Feb - 14 - 2023 , 12:10

Razak Koampa Avoliya, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Youth Organiser at the Suame constituency in Kumasi said to have incited political violence has been granted a GH50,000 bail by the Asokwa District Court.

He was last week remanded in police custody when he was arraigned at the District Court presided over by Fred Obikyere on the charge of offensive conduct, conducive to breaches of peace of the state.

His accusation is that, he incited political violence.

Today he has been granted bail in the sum of GH50,000 with two sureties.

Arrest

The accused handed himself to the police after he was declared a wanted man.

This was after he made some unsavoury statements in a video.

The Ashanti Regional executive of the NDC on Wednesday, February 8, 2023 handed him over to the police.

The next day he was arraigned and remanded in police custody.

Read also: Suame NDC youth organiser wanted by police for inciting political violence

On Tuesday, an application for bail by counsel for Avoliya was granted by the court.

He is to reappear on March 9, 2023.
We'll overcome challenges soon - Akufo-Addo

Donald Ato Dapatem Politics Feb - 14 - 2023 , 08:42

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has given an assurance that the policy measures being implemented by the government will drive the nation to overcome its current economic challenges shortly and bring relief to the people.

Consequently, he has rallied Ghanaians to make sacrifices and work hard to support efforts at restoring normalcy in the economy, saying that sooner rather than later, we shall overcome.

The President gave the assurance when he addressed the opening Eucharist of the 18th Consultative Council Meeting of the Anglican Church at the University of Ghana last Sunday.

In attendance at the meeting were the leadership of the Anglican Church from over 165 countries around the world, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Justin Welby.

more to follow...
Ford will invest $3.5 billion to build the countrys first automaker-backed LFP battery plant, offering customers a second battery technology within Fords EV lineup. Ford is now commited to build both nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) and lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries in the US.





This all-new battery production facility in Michigan will add approximately 35 gigawatt hours per year of new battery capacity for Ford in the US initiallycapable of powering approximately 400,000 future Ford EVs.

Ford has reached a new agreement with Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL), the worlds leading battery manufacturer. Under the arrangement, Fords wholly owned subsidiary would manufacture the battery cells using LFP battery cell knowledge and services provided by CATL.

Ford engineers will integrate these LFP battery cells into its vehicles. This new agreement with CATL adds to Fords existing battery capacity and available battery technology made possible through a series of key collaborations  including with SK On and LG Energy Solution (LGES).

Offering LFP as a second battery chemistry in addition to nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) allows Ford customers to choose an electric vehicle with battery performance characteristics most aligned with their needs.

LFP batteries are very durable and tolerate more frequent and faster charging while using fewer high-demand, high-cost materials. This lower-cost battery, at scale, will help Ford contain or even further reduce EV prices for customers. These LFP batteries will power a variety of affordable, next-generation Ford EV passenger vehicles and trucks under development, most of which will be assembled in the US.

The LFP plantcalled BlueOval Battery Park Michiganinitially will employ 2,500 people when production of LFP batteries begins in 2026. Ford will have the option to further grow its battery capacity at its Marshall, Michigan, plant, which will be part of a wholly owned Ford subsidiary.

With this $3.5-billion investment, Ford and its battery tech collaborators have announced $17.6 billion in investments in electric vehicle and battery production in the United States since 2019, as part of the companys commitment to invest more than $50 billion in electric vehicles globally through 2026. In the next three years, these investments will lead to more than 18,000 direct jobs in Michigan, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio and Missouri and more than 100,000 indirect jobs, according to the methodology from a 2020 independent study.

Ford is working to deliver an annual run rate of 600,000 electric vehicles globally by the end of this year and 2 million globally by the end of 2026 as part of its Ford+ plan.

Even before the new battery plant opens, Ford will introduce LFP batteries on Mustang Mach-E this year and F-150 Lightning in 2024 to increase production capacity, with a goal of reducing wait times for customers.
NEO Battery Materials, a developer of low-cost silicon anode materials for longer-running, rapid-charging lithium-ion batteries, signed a non-exclusive collaboration agreement with NanoRial Technologies, a developer of fully-dispersed carbon nanotubes (CNT) that are capable of improving the conductivity, capacity, and ultra-fast charge rate of batteries.

NEO and NanoRial will collaborate to optimize the stability and performance of NEOs silicon anode materials, NBMSiDE, by integrating NanoRials high-performance CNT products as a robust nanocoating material.

Once the company redomiciles into Ontario, NEO Battery Materials intends to apply to governmental, non-dilutive funding programs jointly with NanoRial to increase business presence and exposure in the Canadian battery supply chain.

The company aims to secure direct funding from the Ontario provincial government, supercluster projects from NGen Manufacturing Canada, and federal programs through the department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED).
Italian special operations forces have ordered the Israeli Hero-30 loitering munition. This is the first European country to choose Hero-30 rather than the American Switchblade. Both these lightweight man-transportable systems are troops favorites in general but especially useful for special operations units. Thats because special operations troops have to travel light and put more emphasis on reconnaissance and surveillance than combat. Hero-30 is reusable while Switchblade is not.

A complete Switchblade system (missile, container, and controller) weighs 5.5 kg (12.1 pounds). Switchblade was very popular with troops in Afghanistan, where it was first tested, and with SOCOM in all sorts of places they wont discuss in detail. Switchblade is still widely used with over 5,000 produced so far. Switchblade first saw combat in 2009 and each one costs about $80,000. For SOCOM forces, who often travel light into enemy territory, hauling along a Switchblade or two can be crucial for completing a mission, not to mention a lifesaver in emergencies. Users regarded Switchblade as a micro-UAV/cruise missile. It was both aerial surveillance and a weapon. More importantly, it could be carried and used by individual troops. Moving at up to a kilometer a minute, the Switchblade can stay in the air for 10-15 minutes (depending on whether or not it is armed with explosives) and remain under operator control up to ten kilometers away. The armed version can be flown to a target and detonated, having about the same explosive effect as a hand grenade. Thus, Switchblade enables ground troops to get at an enemy taking cover in a hard to see location. Technically a guided missile, the use of Switchblade as a reconnaissance tool encouraged developers to refer to it as a UAV. But because of the warhead option, and its slow speed, Switchblade also functions like a rather small cruise missile and can be flown by its controller or autonomously via GPS coordinates. The troops were particularly enthusiastic about the armed version because it allowed them to easily take out snipers or a few bad guys in a compound full of civilians.

Israel has been developing and using similar, but much larger, systems since the 1990s and called them loitering munitions. The Israeli firm producing the larger Hero loitering munition noted the success of the American mini-loitering munition. In 2015 An Israeli firm introduced a new loitering UAV portable enough (weighing 3 kg/6.6 pounds) for infantry to carry and use. The Hero 30 has 30 minutes endurance and has a small warhead that can be used to turn it into a weapon if the onboard vidcam indicates a target that has to be taken care of immediately. Otherwise, it can be landed and reused. Hero 30 is based on the older Hero 400 which weighs 40 kg and has an 8 kg (18 pound) warhead. This UAV has a four-hour endurance and can operate up to 150 kilometers from the operator. The even larger Hero-1250 can stay in the air over ten hours and travel more than 200 kilometers from the operator. But Israel noticed that the United States was having a lot of success (and demand from SOCOM and infantry units) for the similar (to Hero 400) but much smaller Switchblade.

While Switchblade underwent many upgrades since 2007, it never added reusability. Several Israeli firms have developed reusable systems similar to Hero-30 and some are much smaller. In combat troops need information about their immediate surroundings more than they need more firepower. Its easier to call in more firepower than it is to get some immediate information on what is going on around you. This is especially true with special operations forces.

With Italian special operations forces adopting Hero-30, the Israeli manufacturer and their European distributor have their first sale of Hero-30 in Europe, where Switchblade had been the portable loitering munition of choice for over a decade. U.S. SOCOM (Special Operations Command) can buy whatever they need from whoever sells it and that means American operators are familiar with the various Israeli reusable loitering munitions, some of which dont even have an explosives option. They continue to use various models of Switchblade to get their missions accomplished. The SOCOM approach is whatever works.
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is partnering with the Angel Island-Tiburon Ferry Company (Angel Island Ferry) to support the electrification of The Angel Island vessel, which plans to operate as Californias first zero-emission, electric propulsion short-route ferry beginning in 2024.

The electrification project represents an important milestone for PG&Es Electric Vehicle (EV) Fleet Program, expanding the programs support of transportation electrification to include the marine sector.





PG&Es EV Fleet Program helps medium- and heavy-duty fleet customers easily and cost-effectively install charging infrastructure via comprehensive construction support and financial incentives. Through the collaboration with Angel Island Ferry, PG&E plans to bolster electricity transmission to the ferry terminal and support the installation of charging infrastructure to help power the 59-foot, 400-passenger vessel for its ferry service, sunset cruises and chartered events.

California-based Green Yachts has been selected to transform The Angel Island to an electric propulsion vessel.

This electrification project wouldnt be possible without sufficient electrical supply for fast charging between ferry runs. PG&E has been a great partner throughout the collaboration. An electric semi-truck requires 2 kWh to go one mile, and The Angel Island ferry requires 30 kWh to go one mile. The increased energy requirement per mile shows the significant challenge associated with electrifying the marine sector. Graham Balch, Managing Broker of Green Yachts

As part of the 2030 clean energy goals outlined in PG&Es Climate Strategy Report, the company is aiming to prepare the grid for 12,000 GWh of EV-related electric load and improve processes to enable rapid, safe EV energization and interconnection. It is also working to enable 2 million EVs to participate in vehicle-grid integration applications.
Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (Geely Holding), Chinas largest private-owned automotive group, welcomed a US$750-million Series A fundraising at ZEEKR Intelligent Technology, the premium pure play electric mobility brand within the Geely Holding portfolio.

On completion of the investment by five investorsProf. Amnon Shashua, Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd (CATL), Yuexiu Industrial Fund, Tongshang Fund and Xinan Intelligent Manufacturing FundZeekr will be valued at US$$13 billion.

Zeekr will use the funds raised in Series-A to accelerate global development of its propriety technologies whilst also aiming to expand its global market footprint by entering the European market in 2023.

Zeekr was established on 15 April 2021 as a global luxury EV brand with R&D capacity in Gothenburg, Sweden and Hangzhou, China. Zeekr began deliveries of its flagship Zeekr 001 in October 2021, delivering more than 80,000 units to date. In January 2023, Zeekr started shipment of its Zeekr 009 full-size EV MPV to users.
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While the United States isn't sending any peacekeepers to Darfur, it has been providing logistical support. The latest example of this was a thirteen day mission by a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport ( PHOTO ), along with fifty crew and maintenance personnel, to move 2,200 Rwandan troops, their equipment and supplies, to Darfur. The C-17 can carry up to 77 tons of cargo, or 102 troops (along with some cargo). Vehicles can also be transported in the cargo compartment (88 feet long, 18 feet wide and 12 feet high.)

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Licensed practical nurse Paulo Zapanta measures out a dose of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine as he and fellow Department of Public Health and Social Services workers conduct the last scheduled day of COVID-19 vaccinations, held at the Agana Shopping Center in Hagatna Sept. 30, 2022. A 57-year-old woman who had underlying health conditions and no record of vaccination is the latest COVID-related fatality, according to a news release from the Joint Information Center.
Funds from an opioid settlement case will be used on Guam to support drug recovery groups, purchase drug testing kits and buy naloxone, which reverses the effects of an overdose.

The latest proposals for use of these funds from eligible government agencies and nonprofits were discussed and approved by the Opioid Recovery Advisory Council meeting Tuesday at the ITC building in Tamuning.

In 2022, Guam received $2.7 million from a settlement in a case against opioid manufacturers.

The money is to help reduce the misuse of opioids on the island and help those in drug recovery.

The attorney general, members of the legislature, government agency heads, representatives from the governors office, law enforcement, substance use treatment specialists and other stakeholders met to allocate funds for different projects.

TOHGE Inc., a peer support group for drug and alcohol recovery, will be receiving $20,000 to assist with finding housing, phone cards, getting IDs and paperwork, and other uses for recovering addicts, Executive Director Brian Hahn said.

An additional $64,000 was approved by the council to fund a car, full-time driver, insurance and gas to take clients to medical or legal appointments, classes, courts and counseling sessions.

You cannot talk drug addiction or drug recovery without talking about peer support, Guam Behavioral Health and Wellness Center Director Therese Arriola said in support of TOHGEs request.

The Guam Customs and Quarantine Agency will be receiving $144,075 to purchase five TruNarc drug testing kits.

Col. Philip Taijeron Jr. said they currently only have one kit to cover five points of entry on the island they are responsible for, and more are needed to quickly determine whether drugs are being smuggled into the island.

The kits test for multiple kinds of drugs including opioids, cocaine and more.

Of the five that are being acquired, one will be given to the Department of Corrections, since they currently do not have one, Taijeron said.

The agency also approved using $23,349 from the settlement to buy 230 units of Narcan for Corrections officers.

Narcan is a brand of the medication naloxone, which helps reverse an opioid or fentanyl overdose.

Ive administered Narcan and saved someones life with it. Ive also seen people die when that wasnt available and its one of the most horrifying things that anyone can go through, said TOHGE Inc. program coordinator Andrea Andrus, a recovering opioid addict who has been clean for three years.
The Guam Police Department is asking for the communitys assistance following two incidents that occurred Monday evening and Tuesday morning, according to a news release from GPD.

At about 7:51 p.m. Monday, the Central Precinct received a call about a reported robbery at Pizza Hut in Mangilao.

The suspect was described as a man wearing a black shirt, shorts, and a black mask, seen walking through the halls from Pizza Hut to Taco Bell.

The suspect then returned, entered Pizza Hut and pointed a handgun at an employee, demanding money. The suspect fled with an undetermined amount of cash toward Pay-Less.

Another robbery was reported at 3:33 a.m. Tuesday at a Mobil Gas Station in Yona.

The suspect was described as a man between 5 feet, 2 inches to 5 feet, 5 inches in height, wearing a dark hoodie, jeans and a yellow material covering his face.

The suspect had a handgun and demanded money before fleeing on foot with several hundred dollars, a display showcase and cellphones.

If you have any information about either crime, GPD asks that you call the dispatch center at 671-475-8615/8616/8617.
Our View: Tourism recovery under way, and Guam needs to get ready
PUGET SOUND, Wash. (Feb. 10, 2023) The Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine USS Key West (SSN 722) transits the Puget Sound before mooring at Naval Base Kitsap  Bremerton, Washington, February 10, 2023. (U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Brian. G. Reynolds)

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Published on 2023/02/13 | Source

Actor Lee Sang-hee will appear in the Netflix movie "My Name Is Loh Kiwan".

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According to her agency, Snow Company, on the 8th, Lee Sang-hee has confirmed her appearance in "My Name Is Loh Kiwan". The main character, Loh Kiwan (Song Joong-ki), plays the role of a shipowner from Korean descent who she meets at a Belgian factory.

"My Name Is Loh Kiwan" is a movie about the meeting, separation, and love between Ki-wan, a North Korean defector who arrives in Belgium with the last hope of his life, and Ma-ri, a woman who lost her reason for life. Through the turbulent journey and struggle of North Korean defector Loh Kiwan, who has to escape to live and Ma-ri, who thinks there is no reason to live, they show their feelings of caring for each other.

Lee Sang-hee is expected to portray the character Seon-joo in a dense manner, including her eyes, facial expressions and atmosphere, as well as her northern accent.

Actress Lee Sang-hee, who embodies characters of completely different personalities in each genre, showed off her acting skills in films such as "A Distant Place", "Decibel", dramas "All of Us Are Dead", "Juvenile Justice", "May It Please the Court" and "Unlock My Boss".

Meanwhile, "My Name Is Loh Kiwan" will be released only on Netflix.
MOT, a team of investigative journalists at YLE, on Monday reported that Migri has cited grounds as questionable as a divorce to deny or revoke residence permits and issue removal orders to foreign nationals with children in Finland.

DECISIONS by the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) concerning the interests of children have left legal experts shaking their heads in dismay.

The report is based on an analysis of roughly 500 decisions on residence permit applications submitted by foreign-born parents of Finnish children. Almost one-third of the applications were rejected.

The Finnish public broadcasting company wrote that the decisions appear to place less emphasis on the childs interests than on past violations of entry regulations, perceived threat to public security or criminal suspicions. A Finnish childs foreign-born parent may be removed from the country if, for example, they have provided misleading information about their identity or entered the country without the appropriate travel documents.

Many of the decisions were justified with similar arguments, according to MOT. Migri has repeatedly argued that the removal of one parent would not pose an exceptional threat to the childs interests, that parenting is possible via video calls and that a few-year-old child would not miss their other parent.

We have to be convinced that theres at least one person whos capable of looking after the child here in Finland. In todays world you can communicate a lot electronically, stated Olli Koskipirtti, a unit director at Migri.

If were dealing with a very young child, lets say a two-year-old, they can adjust to a situation where the other parent isnt necessarily present.

Sanna Valtonen, the chairperson of Support for Asylum Seekers (Tutu), reminded MOT that the Finnish immigration system has been built to control immigration, a legacy that has led to a years-long ethos of restriction.

She also detected a contradiction in the logic of Migri: If youre talking about deporting a child and parents, then you say its in the childs interest to be with their parents, but if youre talking about deporting a parent, you say the childs interest doesnt specifically require that they be with one of their parents.

Migri is not placing sufficient emphasis on the rights of children, viewed Urpo Kangas, a professor emeritus of civil law at the University of Helsinki, and Tuomas Ojanen, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Helsinki.

Kangas on Monday told YLE that the notion of an exceptional threat to the interests of a child is not rooted in law.

When phrased like this, the position is clearly in violation of law and international treaties, he underscored. Its pretty cruel to rule that a child only needs one parent by their side if they have two legal parents.

Arguments that parenting could be done remotely and that a young child will adjust to life without the other parent are similarly questionable, according to Ojanen. It is wrong, he stated, to examine primarily whether the interest of a child would be threatened without one of the parents because principally the right of a child to both parents can be restricted only in cases where the child would have a better life without one of the parents.

Theyve mixed up apples and oranges, he said.

You can only imagine the riots thatd be sparked in Finland if an authority ruled that realising the interests of a child doesnt require the presence of both parents and that especially young children adapt to life without the other parent.

Ojanen viewed that such decisions appear problematic in many respects in light of international treaties that protect the rights of children. It appears that the formalistic decisions place priority on immigration control at the expense of childrens rights, thereby creating inequalities between the children of international and non-international couples.

In one of the cases detailed by MOT, Migri described a foreign-born man with shared custody of a Finnish child as a formal guardian who does not engage in real family life with his child because the child lives permanently with his ex-wife, the actual guardian.

Kangas highlighted that the expressions of formal guardian and actual guardian have no basis whatsoever in the act on child custody and right of access, as the act refers simply to guardians. The phrase real family life, in turn, contradicts provisions that protect family life in the European Convention on Human Rights.

Theyre expressions that reflect the personal attitudes of the author of the justification, that expose the values of the author, he viewed.

Migri, he added, appears to be coming up with criteria and twisting the wordings of laws in ways that reinforce its decisions to deny residence permits.

Koskipirtti from Migri told MOT that the service intends to soften its approach and adopt a more customer-friendly approach going forward. Weve contemplated how much permit applicants can be punished for past reprehensible conduct. If family life is real and genuine, we want to put more emphasis on it.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT
Tax relief for home maintenance services is not an effective means of tackling tax evasion. In Germany, it would cost the government a great deal of money while only marginally improving tax compliance. This is the finding of a survey of just under 2,000 private households in Germany by the Ludwig Erhard ifo Center for Social Market Economy and Institutional Economics.

In total, 55 percent of respondents say that they would request an official invoice even if this didnt entitle them to tax relief, says the Director of the Ludwig Erhard ifo Center for Social Market Economy and Institutional Economics, Sarah Necker.

If policymakers wish to use tax relief as an incentive for consumers to ask for invoices for home maintenance services, they should focus on making it easier for households to include these invoices in their returns and on making the financial advantage more transparent. Sweden has already set out on this path. There, tradespeople send their invoices to the tax authority for processing and the tax relief is immediately apparent in the form of a lower price for the consumer, Necker says. This is particularly cost-effective when households are informed about how they benefit financially from this tax relief. Households are then willing to pay 49 percent more for a service that includes an invoice. This is just as effective as upping the reimbursement rate by 10 percentage points.

In Germany, households are able to deduct 20 percent of the cost of home maintenance services on their income tax return. The survey shows that with this tax break, households are willing to pay 35 percent more for a service that includes an invoice. However, this level of willingness is only marginally higher than when no tax relief is available. Without any tax credit, households are willing to pay 27 percent more for a service that includes an invoice. Our results apply especially to small-scale home maintenance services such as painting walls.

When it comes to large-scale work, we expect to see a greater willingness to request an invoice because in such cases its more important to have a guarantee or proof on paper, Necker says.

The study is based on two surveys involving a total of 1,974 German homeowners. Participants were asked to imagine they were commissioning a home maintenance service. They could choose from multiple sets of two offers. In particular, each pair differed in terms of price and whether an invoice would be produced.

HT

Source: ifo Institute
UKRAINIAN women gathered together for lunch at the d:two centre in Henley.

The free lunches are held weekly at the centre in Market Place and organised by volunteers from Henley Baptist Church and the Henley Quakers.

The guests enjoyed a pasta salad and tea and coffee as they chatted in both Ukrainian and English.

Volunteers had brought in clothes for the refugees, some of whom also attended an English language class.

Jeremy Bray, pastor of the Baptist Church, who helped start the lunches with his wife Jo, said: It gives the Ukrainian folk an opportunity to connect in their own language.

Theyre obviously missing home and their families hugely so there is a point of friendly connection with each other.

It also reinforces the message that there are people from this country who are rooting for them and want to give them the best possible experience while theyre here.

We have a lot of English people helping with the food and hosting and its nice they have the time to be appreciated for all theyre doing. Theres mutual benefit. We might be providing the space and some of the volunteers but there are also volunteers from other churches and organisations.

Maggie Atkinson, who lives in Queen Street, also helped start the lunches last summer.

She said: Its a community hub for them to make new friends. None of them knew each other before coming to England. Its also a fantastic network for us to hear their needs relating to furniture, clothing and accommodation. A girl has just asked me if I know of a new car for her.

Last week, they did this fabulous meal for all the volunteers to say thank you. They brought 20 different Ukrainian dishes here for us to enjoy.

Diana Barnett, who helped organise English language classes for the Ukrainians, said: Its tremendous that so many have stayed the course.

We started off with conversation clubs and they said they wanted classes. I phoned around and eventually found there were classes in Maidenhead they could join free but it was difficult for them to get there.

I spoke to the Windsor Forest College Group, which includes schools in Windsor, Egham and Burchetts Green and asked them to run a course in Henley because we have a lot of Ukrainians living here and it started in September.

I feel helping is something that we should be doing. Its the Henley Quakers really, not me.

We were willing for our building to be used for whatever was needed and then because some of them wanted more English practice we put on an extra class after these lunches and a conversation club in the library for anyone who wants to practise English.

Its very hard if you dont have a host and live independently. You might not get a chance to practise English.
Grief, pain grip Gazan families losing loved ones in Turkiye-Syria earthquakes

Xinhua) 08:54, February 14, 2023

Members of a Palestinian victim's family mourn their relative's death in the earthquake of Turkiye, in Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, on Feb. 8, 2023. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

GAZA, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- With tears running down his face, Magdy Darabih, an old man in Gaza, received his young son's homecoming, in white coffin, from quake-hit Turkiye.

His son Yousuf, who had travelled to Turkiye eight years ago to study medicine, died in the devastating earthquakes a week ago.

"I dreamed a lot to welcome you with your white medical uniform, but life decided to force me to bury you with your white coffin," Darabih mourned his son.

"I was so happy when you escaped from the intolerable situation in Gaza, but I did not know that you will not survive the earthquake," he said in tears.

"All our hopes are buried with you," he said.

Members of a Palestinian victim's family mourn their relative's death in the earthquake of Turkiye, in Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza Strip, on Feb. 8, 2023. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

Yousuf's dream is to become a doctor someday to benefit impoverished people in Gaza, his motherland.

"The death was faster than my son, who did not achieve any one of his dreams," he grieved to Xinhua of his son's unfulfilled life.

Abdul Rahman Darabih, Yousuf's brother, said the family had lived a hard life since his brother left Gaza. "We thought that he was in a safe place far away from wars and conflicts."

The family will bury Yousuf in a cemetery in Gaza, so that his parents can visit him from time to time to find a comfort.

Abdul Karim, another quake victim, is also among thousands of Gazans who left the besieged Palestinian territory at a young age to find a better life for themselves and to support their families.

This aerial photo taken on Feb. 12, 2023 shows a scene after the earthquake in Antakya, Hatay Province, Turkiye. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)

His family had to grasp an even more brutal reality as they noticed that the bodies of his son's six-member family, who all killed in the quake in Antalya Province, could not be brought home.

"I have not seen my son and his kids for more than 12 years," his mother Om Raed Abu Jalhoum told Xinhua in a black dress and scarf.

"I cannot imagine the scene under the rubbles. I do not know if they died directly or they had suffered a lot before passing away," she said.

Without a better choice, the family opened a funeral house to console his heart-broken mother and brothers, and for relatives and friends to extend condolences.

A man displays the photos of his brother who died in the earthquake of Turkiy on his mobile phone in Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, on Feb. 8, 2023. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

About 21,000 Gazans live in Turkiye, according to statistics issued by the Immigration Department of the Hamas-run interior ministry in 2021.

So far, at least 95 Palestinians have been killed in the Turkiye-Syria earthquakes, according to the Palestinian Foreign Ministry.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Adaptive Reuse of 95-Year-Old Former Eastern Star Hall.

Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE: H) and Twenty Four Seven Hotels announce the grand opening of the 128-room Hyatt House Sacramento/Midtown. The adaptive reuse project, owned and developed by Hume Development, Inc., repurposed the former Eastern Star Hall, which is located in the heart of Sacramento's art, music and cultural scene. Twenty Four Seven Hotels is a third-party hospitality management company for premium-branded, select-service and lifestyle hotel segments in the western U.S.

Situated at 2719 K Street in the Sutter District, the pet- and family-friendly hotel is near Capital Mall, Crocker Art Museum and the Old Sacramento Waterfront. Guestrooms are designed to mimic studio apartments, with kitchens in 87 rooms, ideal for extended stays. Hyatt House Sacramento/Midtown also provides four suites with separate bedrooms, two of which are specialty owner suites featuring high ceilings and Restoration Hardware fixtures. Hotel amenities include complimentary Wi-Fi, 24/7 fitness center, guest laundry, business center and 700 square feet of flexible meeting space.

Guests can grab a quick snack at the hotel's grab-n-go sundry shop or a full morning meal at the complimentary breakfast bar. Additionally, guests and locals may dine at the Star Lounge, a full-service restaurant and bar, located on the hotel's third floor. Star Lounge continues the tradition of being a gathering place, offering happy hour, an inventive craft cocktail menu, and dinner featuring small plates, burgers and steaks. The lounge is led by Chef Graham Forbes, formerly the chef de cuisine at the Kimpton Sawyer Hotel.

The Romanesque Revival-style building first opened in 1928 as a Masonic women's meeting place and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. While keeping the major architectural features of the historic building intact, the renovation included the redevelopment of five floors within the original structure that includes the lobby, restaurant, fitness center and meeting space, as well as the addition of a new three-story annex that includes additional hotel rooms. The hotel's history is incorporated throughout the building by using the original front doors, tables, plaster, brick and a repurposed pulpit as the host's stand.

Hotel website
Leading marketing efforts Kyra Oliver will oversee and manage all aspects of hotel brand awareness, programming and sales. Originally from Tennessee and a former resident of Richmond, Virginia, she recently moved to Atlanta from San Diego where she served as the Director of Marketing for Cal-a-Vie Health Spa, a luxury health and wellness resort. Kyra was instrumental in gaining new clients for solo travelers, group retreats, corporate retreats/events and weddings through multi-channel marketing. She worked with top national journalists across the country along with fostering a strong connection to the local San Diego market to increase brand awareness and sales.
Joshua Jolicoeur an experienced hospitality professional with over 15 years of experience will provide oversight to the hotel's Guest Services. A longtime Miami native, Joshua recently relocated to Atlanta to join the Intercontinental Buckhead Atlanta team, bringing with him years of operations expertise. Josh began his hospitality career with Sheraton Hotels and then later moved to an independent brand Fontainebleau in Miami where he was most recently the Director of Guest Services. At the inception of his career Josh has always lived by the motto "Nothing great is ever achieved without enthusiasm" by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Josh brings energy and passion into all aspects of his career and infuses this same energy into creating memorable guest experiences. He's excited to bring this same excitement and energy to Intercontinental Buckhead Atlanta and ensure the guest experience remains top notch.
PITTSBURGH - When the NOUN Hotel in Norman, Okla., recently opened adjacent to the University of Oklahoma campus, PVNG by Aptech was there to power its Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, General Ledger, Statistics, Financials, and Bank Reconciliation processes. Choosing a financial management solution for a new hotel can be a daunting task, but for management of the NOUN the choice was easy due Aptechs user-friendliness and exceptional support.

Opening a new hotel comes with plenty of obstacles, especially when it comes to technology and integrating multiple solutions for seamless operations. But there was not a single hurdle with Aptech. Before the team began the search process for an accounting platform, it was assumed that they would install a product the management team was already familiar with. From the moment they were introduced to Aptech and saw how easy it was to navigate and just all-around user friendly, they were sold. General Manager Ronnie Krodel

Aptech was instrumental in getting the NOUN up and running  and I dont just mean with their solution. Theyve been in business a long time, and with that comes personal contacts with other vendors. Therefore, Aptechs installation and support teams helped us bridge that communication gap with the other solution providers to ensure everything was expedited, functioning properly and efficiently. Their customer service is outstanding, from how quickly they respond to the way they communicate  its very personal, you dont get a new person each time we have a question. Choosing PVNG and partnering with Aptech was a very smart decision. Anne McFerron, Director of Accounting

The PVNG advanced enterprise accounting solution equips operators with browser navigation, OCR invoice processing, and a myriad of payment options. Its drill-down capabilities in financial statements and reports, ability to handle single or multi-property accounting, and ability to be deployed as a hosted service are additional reasons why the NOUN chose PVNG.

Krodel said he is considering adding Aptechs Targetvue budgeting and forecasting solution to help them see what the future will look like and also to help them budget for coming years. The solution is built on the 11th Edition USALI Standard Chart of Accounts and Reports. It consolidates reports, identifies trends, drives room revenue by predicting occupied rooms and average daily rate, shares plans throughout the organization, and meets future growth goals utilizing a single, centrally maintained set of database models. Targetvue eliminates the need to correct and recombine multiple spreadsheets for consolidating and reporting.

We are one of the few hotels operating with a full staff, Krodel said. That means we need to watch our overhead closer than ever. Adding Targetvue will help us to hold our managers more accountable to the budgeting process, and in turn our owners will hold us more accountable. With automated forecasting, we can schedule staffing more efficiently month by month and for the entire year. Actually, with Targetvue, budgeting for the following year will be a piece of cake as we would be working with actual numbers. Overall, Aptech has the solutions we need to remain competitive today and in the future.

OU All the Way

The NOUN is a 92-room boutique hotel with two luxurious 900-square-foot suites. It is located at Historic Campus Corner, mere steps away from OU, and features something unique in every room that ties it to the University.

On game days the NOUN is OU All the Way, said General Manager Ronnie Krodel. Its a wonderful family environment and people love to gather in our oversized lobby, restaurant and ONE Bar to pre-game and celebrate a big win. Weekdays, the NOUN is a gathering spot for university professors and other locals to relax, grab a cocktail, and enjoy a great meal. Its a short walk from campus and extremely close to Norman neighborhood businesses and other recreational attractions. Word about the NOUN is spreading, and we are thrilled to be operating on PVNG by Aptech to support our growth and customer accounts. Its a strong partnership. For the NOUN, every day is Aptech All the Way.

For more information on PVNG by Aptech, visit http://www.aptech-inc.com.

About Aptech Computer Systems Inc.

Aptech Computer Systems, Inc., based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is the only provider of a fully integrated enterprise accounting, business intelligence and planning ecosystem to the hospitality industry. All clients are companies like yours, which own or manage hotels. Its solutions help customers at both the corporate and property levels understand their financial and operational data for faster goal achievement. The company is renowned for introducing business intelligence into the hotel industry and offers a solid resource of hospitality professionals. Aptech is an IBM Software Value Plus partner and Premier Solution Provider, as well as a Prophix Premier Business Partner. Incorporated in 1970, Aptechs state-of-the-art back office, true business intelligence and enterprise planning solutions are 100% hotel specific. Solutions include PVNG, Execuvue and Targetvue. Clients comprise over 3,500 properties  including large chains, multiple-property management companies and single-site hotels. Execuvue is registered to Aptech Computer Systems Inc. All other trademarks are owned by their respective holders. For more information, please visit www.aptech-inc.com.

Barbara Worcester

+1 440 930 5770
Global travel technology company, OYOs UK operations announced that it has added 40 hotels to its platform and doubled its revenue in 2022 vs 2021. OYOs network hotels also saw a 50% jump in revenue per available room (RevPar) vs 2021 and a 110% jump in revenue per available room vs Covid (2020).

OYO now has 150+ small hotels in over 65 cities in its network in the UK. It has added new hotels in Otterburn, Folkestone, Worcester, Swansea, Crewe, Kidderminster, Solihull, Peterhead & Boston.

Talking about the expansion, Puneet Yadav, Country Head  OYO UK said, We have been witnessing high interest from existing hotel owners in our portfolio who want to operate more hotels with us, as well as a lot of hotels in highly competitive cities such as London. Our revenue uplift track record, low hassle while joining OYO and highly tech-enabled operations and customer care support have been the key drivers of this interest.

Talking about the development Gautam Swaroop, CEO OYO International said, OYOs UK operations have made full recovery since Covid and we have seen handsome growth both in revenue and RevPar. OYOs AI & ML driven dynamic pricing engine continuously optimizes prices for each hotel to improve tariffs while increasing occupancy, which results in higher RevPars for our partner hotels. For instance, in the last 4 years, OYOs pricing engine, has done over 11 million price modifications in the UK market. In addition, top-of-the-line revenue management solution, strategic partnership with bed banks like HotelBeds and introductions of data-driven demand intelligence via PredictHQ, have been instrumental as we help small hotel businesses realise their full potential.

Our consumers have never been more satisfied with Guest Satisfaction scores at 85%, a 100% improvement in the last two years. Our average issue resolution time is under 3 hours. We have invested in technology to improve our customer satisfaction. Nearly 75% of queries are resolved directly by Yo!Chat - our award winning chatbot and by our fully self-serve IVR menu.

OYO empowers hotels by boosting demand and in turn increasing revenue via multiple Online Travel Agents (OTAs) & its own website and app. OYOs best-in-class Artificial Intelligence-enabled pricing software automatically drives the best booking prices across all channels, based on room type, seasonality and other factors, therefore, enabling such doubling of revenues.

The company also helps ensure great experience for customers, with automated tools such as Artificial Intelligence powered chatbots to quickly resolve customer queries, loyalty programmes and easy refund if needed.

Recently, OYO it's in annual global travel trends index said that London, Plymouth, Middlesbrough, Leicester, and Brighton are UKs favourite holiday destinations of 2022 according to OYO data. Cities of Plymouth, Brighton, Hanwell, and Newquay saw the highest y-o-y growth in 2022 vs. 2021. OYOs business travellers went to cities of London, Manchester and Leicester for work-related travel. In 2022 OYO UK observed a 34% uptick in booking demand for the Christmas and upcoming New Year's Eve in comparison to 2021.

OYO has presence in over 35 countries globally. It owns a vacations home business in EU called OVH which operates legacy brands such as DanCenter and Belvilla.

About OYO

OYO is a global platform that aims to empower entrepreneurs and small businesses with hotels and homes by providing full-stack technology products and services that aim to increase revenue and ease operations; bringing easy-to-book, affordable, and trusted accommodation to customers around the world. OYO offers 40+ integrated products and solutions to patrons who operate over 168,711 hotel and home storefronts in more than 35 countries including India, Europe and Southeast Asia, as of September 30, 2022. For more information, visit www.oyorooms.com.
With hospitality roots dating back to 1872, Oetker Collections sustainability vision centres around the legacy of each of its Masterpiece Hotels by maintaining a keen focus on connecting with its local communities and protecting local environments. The luxury hospitality company sees itself as having been entrusted to preserve the heritage of its properties and the unique places in which each is based.

Now comprising 12 Masterpiece Hotels and more than 150 private villas and residences around the globe, Oetker Collection has a comprehensive Corporate Social Responsibility strategy, adopting a framework for ensuring a safe and guaranteed future for all. In line with its UN Global Compact Report, the company has also implemented a set of eco-standards and commitments to ensure responsible management of its hotels, including favouring local producers, supporting local community projects, and providing the necessary framework and training to operate responsibly. Building upon this further, the company forms initiatives unique to each hotel, for example, Jumby Bay Island in Antigua supports the protection of the Hawksbill Sea Turtle nesting colony, whilst its Eden Rock - St Barths hotel helped the local government to restore a previously exhausted brackish water lagoon.

This new collaboration will see Oetker Collection come together with the Sustainable Hospitality Alliances influential network of member hotels, which now represent over 50,000 properties and 7 million rooms globally, as well as the organisations affiliate members from across the value chain. These members are united in their collective approach to responsible hospitality, sharing the belief that the sector can, and must, create a lasting positive impact for the planet and its inhabitants through collaborative action.

Within a companys sustainability journey, its so important to consider each hotel and the unique location it sits in. Oetker Collection excel in this distinctive approach - focusing initiatives on the environment and communities surrounding each hotel. Im delighted to welcome Oetker Collection to the Alliance, bringing members of their senior leadership team together with our network of dedicated hospitality companies, in a non-competitive space, to ensure the protection and preservation of communities and destinations for future generations. Sustainable Hospitality Alliance CEO, Glenn Mandziuk

We are fully committed to increasing our CSR output and joining the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance early in 2023 underscores it as a key priority for Oetker Collection. We look forward to sharing our insights and initiatives and learning more on this crucial subject through meaningful interactions with the Alliances network. Timo Gruenert, CEO, Oetker Collection

About Oetker Collection

Oetker Collection is an exceptional portfolio of Masterpiece Hotels and villas in Europe, the UK, Brazil and the Caribbean. Located in the worlds most desirable destinations, each property is a landmark and an icon of elegance, blending legendary hospitality with genuine family spirit that is unique to Oetker Collection. Carrying on a refined legacy in hosting that originated in 1872, the Collections mission is to preserve and extend its unparalleled standards through acquisition and management of one-of-a-kind properties. The current portfolio includes Le Bristol Paris, Brenners Park-Hotel & Spa in Baden-Baden, Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes, Chateau Saint-Martin & Spa in Vence, The Lanesborough in London, LApogee Courchevel, Eden Rock - St Barths, Jumby Bay Island in Antigua, Palacio Tangara in Sao Paulo and The Woodward in Geneva. Oetker Collections first Italian hotel, Hotel La Palma will open in Capri in the summer of 2023 and, in 2024, Oetker Collection will open its 12th property and first US hotel with The Vineta Hotel in Palm Beach. To find out more about Oetker Collections sustainability, visit https://www.oetkercollection.com/corporate-social-responsibility/.

About the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance

The Sustainable Hospitality Alliance brings together the hospitality industry and strategic partners to address key challenges affecting the planet and its people, local destinations and communities. They develop practical free resources and programmes to create a prosperous and responsible hospitality sector that gives back more than it takes. Their members represent over 50,000 hotels  totalling 7 million rooms  and include world-leading companies including Choice Hotels International, Marriott International, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, IHG Hotels & Resorts, Hyatt Hotels Corporation, BWH Hotel Group and Radisson Hotel Group, as well as regional brands. Their network also includes other parts of the hospitality value chain, including owners, investors and suppliers, to further drive joined up action on sustainability, and accelerate the industry on the path to net positive hospitality. For more information, please visit: www.sustainablehospitalityalliance.org.

Emily McLeish

Senior Brand and Marcomms Manager

Sustainable Hospitality Alliance
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How AI and ChatGPT can help (and hurt) musicians

We are at the dawn of an era where AI (Artificial Intelligence) and AI-powered tools like ChatGPT can help write social media posts, book tours, design cover artwork, and much more.

by CHRIS ROBLEY from CD Babys DIY Musician

Can artificial intelligence help you find gigs, write a press release, or design your album cover? Could AI even finish a lyric youve been stuck on for months or plug holes in your music marketing strategy?

Yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes. Imagine a world where you have a digital assistant to help with the many steps it takes to move your music forward! We may already be living in that world.

The debate about how AI impacts creativity and ownership.

Sure, there are plenty of concerns right now about whether AI will usher in a new era of creativity or destroy humanity altogether.

And in this episode, we discuss the bleaker side the argument [Skynet, Black Mirror, Hal9000, The Matrix, Wall-E]. But we also address many of the current uses of AI, especially for musicians and creative entrepreneurs.

Are you excited or terrified by the future of AI? Take a listen and then weigh in.

Episode topics include:

What even is artificial intelligence?

Examples of machine learning that impact musicians

How AI goes far beyond search

The key benefits of AI for musicians

Using Chat GPT to create lists and plans

to create lists and plans AIs ability to push you out of your comfort zone

Sourcing and synthesizing information

information Systematized Curation as Expression

AI as a virtual assistant

Design and image extension

Top concerns musicians have about AI

musicians have about AI And much more

Chris Robley is the Editor of CD Babys DIY Musician Blog. I write Beatlesque indie-pop songsthatve been praised by No Depression, KCRW, The LA Times, & others. My poems have appeared in Poetry Magazine, Prairie Schooner, The Poetry Review, & more. I live in Maine and like peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, a little too much.

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Shakespeare & Company Behind the Curtain Lecture Series

Shakespearean scholar Ann Berman who currently serves as Vice President of Shakespeare & Company's Volunteer Company, holds a Master of Arts in Shakespeare Studies from King's College, London through a program partnered with Shakespeare's Globe.

LENOX, Mass.  Shakespeare & Company has announced a new, free lecture series: Behind the Curtain, launching Saturday, Feb. 18, and hosted by Shakespearean scholar Ann Berman.

Berman, who currently serves as Vice President of Shakespeare & Company's Volunteer Company, holds a Master of Arts in Shakespeare Studies from King's College, London through a program partnered with Shakespeare's Globe. She will lead the series, often with directors, cast members, design-team members, or others joining as guest speakers, examining various themes surrounding Shakespeare's works as well as other titles to be presented during the 2023 Season.

The inaugural Behind the Curtain lecture will be held Saturday, Feb. 18, at 10:30 a.m. at the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre's Jane Iredale Lobby, focusing on "Romeo and Juliet," with an emphasis on how costume design can influence audience response. Shakespeare & Company Costume Director Govane Lohbauer will be the talk's featured guest.

The series continues on Saturday, March 4 with a discussion of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," to be staged at Shakespeare & Company from August 1 through September 10; Saturday, March 18, exploring the topic of Shakespeare and Jealousy, and Saturday, April 1, tracing the historical source material that informed The Contention: Henry VI, Part II.
Clark in Talks to Buy Buxton Land

Updated after with joint statement from the Clark Art and Buxton School.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.  The Clark Art Institute is purchasing the 114-acre Buxton School property in an agreement that will allow the private school to continue operating independently. Officials say this will ensure the long-term stability of the century old school.

"As a small school focused on art, academics, and community, this is a historic opportunity for Buxton to ensure that the school and its mission are strengthened for years to come," Head of School Peter Beck said in the statement. "Stone Hill is so important for Buxton, for the Clark, and for Williamstown. This partnership helps protect that landscape for all of us."

The Clark will enter it into "a long-term lease agreement" with the school so it can continue to operate and manage its campus. The statement says there will be "no change or disruption to the school's continued operation."

The Berkshire Eagle reported the planned purchase on Monday, citing a joint statement it was sent.

According to the statement, which iBerkshires requested, the school and museum say the transaction "provides an opportunity to ensure the long-term protection of the woodlands on Buxton's 114-acre site and strengthen the school's ability to manage its future."

Olivier Meslay, the museum's director, said there was an interest retaining the rural nature of both campuses.

"This transaction comes at a time when the Clark is deepening its commitment to sustainability, and it will mean that we have an even greater opportunity to invest in the future of our community," he stated.

An agreement is expected to be made in the coming weeks.

iBerkshires had been alerted by an alum last week that the museum was negotiating with the school to purchase the property for $2.5 million and that the school has been having financial difficulties.

iBerkshires had contacted Buxton School on Friday and was told by Senior Director Franny Shuker-Haines that "the school is not for sale."

The property encompasses 114 acres of woodland and buildings assessed at $5.8 million that would be added to the Clark's 140 acres. In between the two properties is 56 acres owned by the town of Williamstown.

The private boarding school educates students in Grades 9 through 12. It's limited to 90 students with an average class of 10. It was established by Ellen Geer Sangster in 1928 and sold to Buxton School Inc. in 1991.
North Adams Planners Push Off 3 Business Changes to Allow Wider Debate

The Planning Board meeting is heavily attended on Monday. The board pushed three items to another meeting because the public would not be able to speak on them.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  The Planning Board pushed three communications on their agenda to the next month to give citizens a chance to speak to the proposed business changes.

Stop & Shop and Bro MX both inquired about changing business hours and Ben Crespi is proposing to operate his glamping resort year round.

"All of which I believe ... are far larger than minor changes to their application," said Chair Brian Miksic. "And so, because of that, I want all of you guys to be able to speak to that. But the way the meeting is set up is that it has to be on the public meeting agenda."

Miksic said all three businesses had engendered debate from abutters in the past but because they weren't part of the public meeting, but rather under "other business," the public couldn't speak to them.

And there was a large body of people apparently hoping to speak.

City Council Chambers was filled and many people seemed to be there for the Bro MX motocross proposal. A large number of people were wearing Bro MX apparel.

Miksic said citizens in the past have expressed concern about the timing of large delivery trucks arriving late at night at Stop & Shop in the West End and the glamping proposal on Reservoir Road drew heavily attended meetings.

"I want to make that clear that this isn't the board or myself being for or against anything," he said. "That is what this body is for, as a bridge to the public and making sure that they have their comments."

When a business has a minor change  extending their opening by an hour, changing the color of a sign  there's rarely a public hearing. Rather, it's a notification to the board. Miksic did not think these changes were minor and board members did not disagree.

The applicants will have to file to be on the next meeting agenda.

The planners did approve a proposal by Holland Co. of Adams to build a 60 by 80-foot metal garage in an industrial zone on State Street. The property is two lots, near the Ocean State Job Lots plaza, that had been the site of two small homes. Holland had those razed last year. The company was represented by Hake-Westall Group architects.

The project will be done in two phases, the first being the construction of the garage with two bays. The building will have a slate blue siding and harbor blue roof. The northern and southern curb cuts will be expanded and a middle one removed.

The second phase will be the expansion of parking lot, will be gravel and permeable. This will be in the floodplain and will need to go to the Conservation Commission; Phase 1 has already been through the commission.

Holland has a fleet of nine trucks and will employ two diesel mechanics to maintain them at the garage. Traffic in and out of the facility is expected to be minimal.
State Senator Paul Mark Opens District Office on Tyler Street



State Sen. Paul Mark's new district office is located in an area of Tyler Street seeing significant redevelopment.

PITTSFIELD, Mass.  State Sen. Paul Mark has chosen Tyler Street as the home of his district office, as an accessible, central location to hear from constituents.



Over the weekend, the space at 773 Tyler St. opened to the public. Combined with the fixed location will be roving office hours throughout Berkshire, Hampshire, and Franklin counties.



For Mark, being there for all 57 cities and towns that he represents is a high priority.



"I think that it was important for people to know that I'm a senator for the entire district," he said.



"And so I want Pittsfield to know it's first among equals, it's an important place, it's going to be a focal point, and I also do all of the roving hours because I want all of the small towns and North Adams and Great Barrington to know that no region is going to be forgotten by me," the new senator said.



"You're going to be able to access me and we're going to do our best to try and help you out."



The office is right next to a building formerly used as a union hall, which is symbolically appropriate to Mark's origins working a unionized job for Verizon. It is also in the immediate area of revitalization efforts on the General Electric property and streetscape renovations to the Tyler Street corridor.



The structure itself has been renovated into new apartments and office spaces over the past few years. Accessible parking and walkability are important features to the senator.



"Easily 60 percent or more of the work we do is actually constituent service work, so people coming in here when they're having a problem with getting their license reinstated, or trying to find money to help with the heating bill," he said.
Williamstown Select Board Allocates ARPA Funds to Fire Station Project

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.  The Select Board on Monday voted to allocate $225,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds to the Williamstown Fire District's new station building project.

The rest of the town's remaining unallocated ARPA funds, nearly $1.2 million, will go toward general town infrastructure projects, according to votes taken by the board on Monday.

Those projects will be determined by the town manager, who may need to come back to the board for subsequent votes to approve specific actions to obligate the money, Andy Hogeland pointed out during Monday's discussion.

Select Board Chair Hugh Daley pushed for the board to at least earmark all of the town's remaining proceeds from the federal stimulus bill so that the Fire District and Town Hall could rely on allocations in their budgeting.

In the case of the fire district, the $225,000 allocation amounts to 1 percent of the $22.5 million bonding authority officials are asking residents to approve at a Feb. 28 special district meeting at Williamstown Elementary School.

David Moresi, the chair of the Prudential Committee that oversees the fire district, addressed the Select Board before it took its vote on Monday.

"There has been a lot of work done just in the last week on this project," Moresi said. "The firefighters have come together, and there has been a lot of collaboration as they worked with the designers to reduce the overall square footage [of the proposed station].

"There has been 5,000 square feet in reductions. A bay has been eliminated. Some bunk rooms have been eliminated. The building orientation might change a little. All of that will be presented to the community in the coming weeks."

Hogeland began the meeting by saying he was disinclined to allocate town funds to the district's project, arguing that as a separate taxing authority apart from town government, the district should raise the money to pay for the bond on its own.

Most of the Select Board, though, agreed with Daley, who implied that the separation of the district from town government was an anachronism and noted that if the building project in question was a town project, the ARPA allocation might look like a no-brainer.

"If this was a town department, we would fund it like a town department," Daley said. "It's a little bit of a quirk of time that it's a whole separate fire district. It's a crazy New England thing the way this is set up."

Most of the Select Board members, including Hogeland, said they would be voting in favor of the fire station project as private citizens attending the special district meeting on Feb. 28.

Although Daley went into the meeting pitching a higher level of ARPA funding, $400,000, the board settled on a lower number after Jane Patton suggested tying the town's contribution to a percentage of the total project cost, namely 1 percent.

Don Dubendorf, who serves on the Fire District's Building Committee, told the board before its vote that any significant show of support from the town could help the district in its argument as it pursues more grants and gifts from outside funding sources.

Randy Fippinger told his colleagues that the board's support of the fire station through an ARPA allocation would send a message of support to the voters who attend the meeting on the 28th.

"I think us not contributing in some way sends a disproportionately loud signal, more than $400,000 or any amount would change the bottom line," Fippinger said. "I think it's important for us to signal that support."

Hogeland joined in 5-0 votes both to send any ARPA money the district's way and to set that number at $225,000.

On the other hand, the board split, 3-2, on whether to maintain a commitment it made two weeks ago to allocate $150,000 to supplement the Affordable Housing Trust's home ownership program.

Daley suggested that the board rethink that allocation in light of last week's decision by the Community Preservation Committee to send a $120,000 request from the Trust to town meeting for its approval in May.

Daley voiced his support for the work of the housing trust but said the town had scarce resources to allocate.

"I think we have over-allocated to our affordable housing mission, which deserves to be funded but doesn't deserve to be funded more than things that are equally important," Daley said. "I was surprised and somewhat disappointed that the Affordable Housing Trust continued with their ask [for Community Preservation Act funds] and the CPC supported it."

Daley and Jane Patton voted to pull back from the housing trust $120,000 from the previously agreed to $150,000 ARPA allocation.

Fippinger, Hogeland and Jeffrey Johnson voted against the clawback.
BCC Extends Deadline to Apply for Nursing Program

PITTSFIELD, Mass  Berkshire Community College (BCC), which plans to accept 35 students into its Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) program for the fall 2023 semester, has a limited number of seats available.

The deadline to apply to the program has been extended to Thursday, June 1, 2023.

Interested students are encouraged to view BCC's nursing informational video, found at www.berkshirecc.edu/adn

Prospective students may also visit the website to schedule an informational session with Sean Reagan, Academic Counselor, Allied Health, to learn more about the program.

BCC's ADN program comprises a sequence of lectures, skills training, laboratory work and clinical courses.

Graduates are eligible to take the licensing examination to become registered nurses (RNs). The program is approved by the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Nursing and is accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing. In 2021, it was ranked number six in the Best Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) Programs in Massachusetts by Nursing Schools Almanac.
1Berkshire Launches Second Year of GoFundU Series

PITTSFIELD, Mass.  1Berkshire, in partnership with Pittsfield Economic Revitalization Corporation and the Berkshire Innovation Center and with funding support from Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation, announced the launch of the second year of their GoFundU Crowdfunding Workshop and Technical Assistance series.

Kicking off on March 15 with three consecutive Wednesdays of workshops, this series will once again be presented by Laura Christensen, a crowdfunding campaign educator and consultant based in the Berkshires.

With three sessions, this series will provide an overview of crowdfunding models, opportunities, and best practices.

Individuals who attend at least two full sessions of the three-part series will also be eligible to receive up to two hours of one-on-one direct technical assistance support from Laura in the development and launch of their own crowdfunding campaigns.

This series will be offered as a hybrid opportunity with in-person attendance at the Berkshire Innovation Center, as well as Zoom-based participation being made available.
ESPO:                 ...
The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) has published today its annual State of Media Report documenting on two killings, 95 attacks against media workers, as well as gender - based violence. The International Federation of journalists joins its affiliate in calling on authorities to do more to ensure journalists safety and end impunity for attacks against journalists and media workers.

The report describes how state and non-state actors wage concerted campaigns to repress journalists and violate their rights with impunity in Mogadishu, the five Federal Member States and Somaliland. It also highlights the specific difficulties facing women journalists on a daily basis.

The report documents two killings for which the terrorist group Al Shabaab claimed responsibility as well as 95 attacks against news media organisations and journalists including arrests, torture, threats of violence, gender-based violence, confiscation of equipment and travel bans.

In another disturbing trend, women journalists reported 28 cases of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) during the year, with the highest number coming from the Banadir Region. Women media professionals were also subjected to threats of rape and online harassment, often channelled through their social media accounts. It is thought that the reported cases of SGBV represent a small fraction of the true figure, since the fear of public censure deters women from speaking out or taking their complaints to the authorities, NUSOJ report states.

The socio-economic status of journalists  most of whom work for little or no pay  also undermines professional, independent and credible journalism in Somalia. According to the report , the precarious nature of journalists work makes them vulnerable to interference from political and business interests. This kind of pressure leads to self-censorship and other negative consequences such as leaving the profession.

NUSOJ Secretary General Omar Faruk Osman said : In a country where journalists are killed and injured, where the right to access public information remains elusive, and where female journalists feel threatened both in and outside the newsroom, there is an urgent need for duty-bearers to end the ongoing atrocities and make journalism safe.

IFJ Secretary General Anthony Bellanger said: This year again our affiliates report highlights ongoing attacks on media workers and a clamp down on free speech. Somali people deserve a free press and our colleagues on the ground should work in safe working conditions. These two conditions are not met right now and we urge Somali authorities to do more to protect freedom of expression.
This publication is designed to introduce the fundamentals of investing in the Indian market and includes a gu...
In yet another shocking incident in the national capital, a woman's body was found in a refrigerator at a 'dhaba' (eatery).



Unplash/Representative Image

The eatery is located on the outskirts of Mitraon village in southwest Delhi and the police have arrested the 26-year-old dhaba owner Sahil Gahlot, who was in a relationship with the deceased.



Body was hidden in refrigerator

Vikram Singh, the Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Dwarka), said the information about the incident was received on Tuesday morning. Not only did the police become aware of the woman's murder, but it was revealed that the victim's body was hidden at the dhaba on the outskirts of the village.



Police reached the location and recovered the body. Accused Sahil Gahlot, a resident of Mitraon village, has been apprehended. Further legal action is being carried out, Singh told PTI.



Accused and victim were in relationship

A preliminary investigation has revealed that Gahlot was getting married on February 10 and the woman was objecting to it as they were in a relationship for a long time, Singh added.



Unsplash/ Representational Image

"The woman was a resident of Jhajjar in Haryana. It has been claimed that she was threatening to implicate the man in a case if he married another woman," a source told the news agency.



Enraged by this, Gahlot allegedly killed her and hid the body inside the freezer of his dhaba.

Yet another gruesome murder in national capital

The shocking case has revived the appalling memory of the brutal killing of 27-year-old Shraddha Walkar, who was strangulated by her live-in partner Aaftab Amin Poonawala.



File Photo

Following Shraddha's death, Aaftab chopped her body into 35 pieces and stored it in a 300-litre refrigerator before disposing of it in parts in a Delhi forest.



The Delhi Police prepared a 6,636-page chargesheet within 75 days after registering the case.



The gruesome details of the murder, which sent shockwaves across the nation, were brought to the fore after the Delhi Police apprehended Aaftab on November 12 last year.



In the autopsy report of Shraddha Walkar's bones, it was found that her body was chopped into 35 pieces with an object resembling a saw.



The critical breakthrough came when 13 decayed body parts, primarily bone pieces, were recovered from the forests of South Delhi.



Additionally, Aaftab also confessed to police that his relationship with Shraddha had been in conflict since the couple moved to Delhi and he killed her in a fit of rage after an argument.



For more on news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.


When Microsoft announced that it was incorporating a more advanced version of the ChatGPT AI bot into its Edge browser and Bing search, it started a new era of "search wars" - with Google quickly revealing its own version of the same, supported by an AI system called "Bard."

For now, the new Bing is mostly unavailable to a majority of users. But recently, some people on the waitlist started receiving invitations to try out the new AI features.

Unsplash

An AI with ethics?

Naturally, people started throwing edgy stuff towards the AI to test its capabilities. What do you think might happen if Bing's AI version was asked to write a cover letter for a job? A journalist asked AI-powered Bing to write a cover better for her, but to everyone's shock, the AI outright refused to do the same.

"I'm sorry, but I cannot write a cover letter for you," Bing's new version told Huileng Tan, a Singapore-based journalist who works with Business Insider. "That would be unethical and unfair to other applicants."

Also read: What Are The Long-Term Pros And Cons Of OpenAI's ChatGPT?

Why would this be shocking, you wonder? Quite simply, if you ask the vanilla version of ChatGPT to write you a cover letter for a job, it does so without any hesitancy, as evident in screenshots below.

Indiatimes / ChatGPT

But its advanced version that powers Bing's AI capabilities not only refused to do so on ethical grounds, but also provided her with some tips and resources to write a cover letter. At the end, the AI also wished her "good luck."

Unsplash

Also read: Users 'Jailbreak' ChatGPT Bot To Bypass Content Restrictions: Here's How



Just last week, during the launch of the new AI-supported Bing, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that Bing would go from being a "search engine to an answer engine."

What do you think about ways in which AI is changing our world? Let us know in the comments below. For more in the world of technology and science, keep reading Indiatimes.com.
In China, one company has received a lot of praise for its recruitment strategy. Applicants for a position at Chengdu Ant Logistics were reportedly ordered to wear complete face masks to the interview so that the company could avoid making decisions based on physical appearance.

Per a report in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), a video that went viral on the Chinese social media platform Douyin, both the candidate and the interviewer wore full-face masks.

The odd mask instruction, the outlet says, was issued during the company's semiannual job fair.

Candidate Zeng, who shot the video on February 3 in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, southern China, and shared it online, claimed that she found the entire situation bizarre but added that "it may assist those with social anxiety."

screenshot

Ms. Zeng claims that applicants were given blank masks and told to create anything they wanted. However, she did mention that there were other anomalies throughout the interview, apart from the mask.



Ms. Zeng said that one logistics company's employees had been assigned to cut and distribute sugar cane to the job seekers.

According to SCMP, the corporation has confirmed that the video was captured during the firm's semiannual recruiting fair, where candidates for roles such as new media operator, live-stream broadcaster, and data analyst are sought.

The logistics firm is being lauded on the Chinese social media app for "helping eliminate employment discrimination."



As per the outlet, one Douyin user wrote, "This is equality; good looks should not count." Another added, "As a person with social phobia, I would really enjoy such a job interview."

Unsplash

According to SCMP, Chengdu Ant Logistics conducts creative employment interviews. The organization allegedly had candidates hoe the park's lawn to assess their management and adaptability.



(For more trending stories, follow us on Telegram.)


Relational database provider EnterpriseDB on Tuesday said that it was adding Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) to its databases, which are based on open-source PostgreSQL.

TDE, which is used by Oracle and Microsoft, is a method of encrypting database files in order to ensure security of data while at rest and in motion. It helps ensure that data on the hard drive as well as files on backup are encrypted, the company said in a blog post, adding that most enterprises use TDE for compliance issues.

Up until now, Postgres didnt have built-in TDE, and enterprises would have to rely on either full-disk encryption or stackable cryptographic file system encryption, the company said.

What are the benefits of EnterpriseDBs TDE?

Benefits of EnterpriseDBs TDE include block-level encryption, database-managed data encryption, and external key management.

In order to prevent unauthorized access, the TDE capability ensures that Postgres data, write-ahead logging (WAL), and temporary files are encrypted on the disk and are not readable by the system, the company said.

Write-ahead logging is a process inside a database management system that first logs the changes made to the data inside a database before actually making these changes.

TDE allows external key management via third-party cloud servers, the company said, adding that EnterpriseDB currently supports Amazon AWS Key Management Service, Microsoft Azure Key Vault, and Thales CipherTrust Manager.

External key management, according to experts, can be better at restricting unauthorized access of data as these keys are never stored inside the third-party cloud server.

The TDE capability will be available via EnterpriseDB enterprise database plans, the company said.

TDE to propel PostgreSQL?

The new TDE feature, according to analysts, not only gives EnterpriseDB a boost in the entperise, but could also propel usage of PostgreSQL.

This is one of those checkbox features that any database aspiring to be an enterprise solution must have, said Tony Baer, principal analyst at dbInsight.

The new feature could also make EDB (the database offering of EnterpriseDB) a challenger to Oracles databases, Baer added.

In addition, EnterpriseDBs TDE could emerge as a winner for PostgreSQL, as enterprises often get entangled in the complexity of managing encryption programs and keys, said Carl Olofson, research vice president at market research firm IDC.

Research reports from IDC showed that security is one of the top priorities for databases implementors, both on-prem and in the cloud, Olofson added.
MBABANE  Local artists music is getting more exposure globally, through the digital music platform, Spotify compared to local media such as television and radio.

Spotify is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 489 million monthly active users, including 205 million paying subscribers, as of December 2022. This platform has afforded local artists an opportunity to penetrate the global market with their music as it allows their music to be streamed across the world.

In Eswatini most musicians are still struggling to get their names in the music market and their songs dont get a lot of air play on local mediums such as television and radio. To encounter this challenge most of local artists opt to upload their music on Spotify where they get the exposure they need. There are several local artists who have been getting massive streams on Spotify and their talent is being recognised in countries such as United Kingdom (UK), France, United States of America (USA), Mozambique, South Africa (SA), Namibia and Zimbabwe to name a few.

Local artists who have tapped into the global music market include, DJ MBO, Psycholution, DJ Cup, Mandisa Mamba, King Terry, Kena, Eskae Amigo to name a few. Although there are more local artists who have uploaded their music on the digital platform and are getting the same exposure as the artist listed above, this publication approached a few of the artists to get their current statistics on Spotify, as well as sought their comment on how they feel about reaching different audiences in the world through their music. The few artists which presented their statistics to this publication include; Psycholution, DJ Cup, Eskae Amigo, DJ MBO as well as Kena.

New Lifes DJ Cup born Zama Maseko is currently one of the local DJs boasting with massive music streams on Spotify, having recently accumulated 19, 6 thousand streams in 87 countries. The top countries where his music has been streamed include Kenya, Zimbabwe, Brazil, Spain, Canada, Namibia, Netherlands, Greece, Portugal, Angola, Romania, United Arab Emirates as well as Switzerland.

When reached for comment about his massive reach the DJ said, Its a great motivational experience man, seeing our music being played in other countries, we feel inspired to do even more, DJ Cup said. Psycholution born Mzwandile Nxumalo continues to put local Hip Hop on the map, with his recent album The Autonomy currently sitting at 17,775 streams from 70 countries. The top five countries which have streamed his album on Spotify are Eswatini, SA, USA, Canada and UK. The musician appreciated the milestone and said, For me its always humbling to always receive love and support in any way. Be it via stream, show or performance, I am grateful to God as well as the Kingdom of Eswatini for showing love, said the artist.

He went on to say, I am also grateful to the other countries too as we have been able to reach them through the distribution. Also shout to Kingdom XLR publishers as they were responsible for making sure that my music has been properly registered, added Psycholution.

Kasi Rap mogul Kena born Ayanda Selwyn Tsela is also another local artist who has been reaching out to many through Spotify. His recent work Asylumn has received 3 505 streams on Spotify. Countries which have streamed his music include Eswatini, USA, SA, India as well as Spain. When reached for comment on his achievement Kena said, I would say that I really got serious about taking my business online in October 2022. Now I have accumulated streams close to 5000, which is an avarage of 1000 streams per month. Although humble beginnings, I am continuing to grow and learn as an artist and well keep growing higher and stronger, the artist said.

I feel so grateful for the opportunity to have my work reach so many lives and get paid from it. I have been making beautiful music since 2012 and it is only in 2022 that I got on this platform. I wish I had engaged earlier, but were here now. I encourage other Swati artists to get on the movement of #SwatiMusicToTheWorld with more of great Swati music being made available, well be afforded more lucrative opportunities, Kena added.

Eskae Amigo born Skhumbuzo Motsa has also made an impact on Spotify raking in 18 180 streams from his music. The top five countries that have streamed his music in the last 28 days include, SA, Brazil, Eswatini, UK, Zimbabwe as well as Qatar. To comment on this massive streams, he said, Its amazing how my music is growing internationally because a whole lot more people in different parts of the world get to hear my story and learn about my language. I always listen to international songs in languages I do not understand, but the way the music speaks to us, language no longer becomes a barrier. I just hope it keeps growing and I get to touch different peoples lives in the world with my story. I also wish to continue collaborating with different artists from different countries, as I have already over the years worked with artists from Malawi, Zimbabwe, and the USA, said the artist.

This publication reached out to Eswatini Broadcasting and Information Services (EBIS) host Lindelwa Mafa, as a veteran in the music industry and as an advocate for local artists, she said, Spotify is an online music store, and it has always opened its doors to all artists from all over the world including Eswatini. We always encourage artists to sell their music on all online music platforms as everyone elsewhere is already doing so. This enables them to tap into the international markets given that our market is relative small in size, Mafa said.

How to upload music on Spotify

1. Sign up for a TuneCore account to get your music on Spotify

2. Select the type of release you want to get on Spotify: Single or album

3. Upload music and cover art to put your songs on Spotify

4. Add music contributors so they get credited when your songs are played

5. Get your music on Spotify once its been approved by TuneCore
As previously disclosed, AIG has been exploring structures that, over time, will allow PCG to be supported by third-party capital providers, including AIG and its innovative syndicate at Lloyds, referred to as Syndicate 2019, said AIG chairman and CEO Peter Zaffino. By partnering with a world-class private equity firm like Stone Point, we can maximize the strengths of this business and improve product offerings to better serve the high and ultra high net worth markets.
We look forward to further strengthening our team and continuing to attract the leading talent in Bermuda, an important market with a strong talent pool, and our goal is to support it as best we can.''
Its all about, Am I connected to the business? he said. And can I defend my strategy if I go to the board or to the C-suite and discuss my L&D strategy and ask for X millions of dollars of budget for 2023? On what basis will I be able to defend this and get my budget?
Last year, it named Mercedes Mesek as Liberty senior vice president and partner, following hot on the heels of its appointment of Marshall Heron as real estate practice leader and senior vice president. Also last year, Liberty appointed Michael Lopez as managing director for its office in Santa Rosa, California.
We set out with a bold and ambitious vision  to build the worlds leading technology company at the intersection of insurance and mobility, said Rohan Malhotra, Roadzen CEO and co-founder. We are committed to our long-term vision and believe this is a firm next step in that journey. Our team, technology, business strategy and an ecosystem of world-class partners will create significant and strong growth for years to come. We are thrilled to partner with Vahanna and its incredible team of investors and operators to unlock this growth.
Answers

Growth in total cargo volume at Miami International Airport helped expand the market for the nvocc

Miami International Airport's (MIA) total cargo volume increased 8% year-over-year to 687,675 tons in the first quarter of 2022.

Of this 552,371 tonnes came from international transport. So far this year, MIA international shipments are up 5.4 percent, while domestic shipments are up 20.5 percent.

MIA's strong first quarter follows the airport's best year in several trade categories. In 2021, Miami International Airport set new annual records of 2.7 million tons of gross cargo and 2 million tons of international cargo, further cementing the global gateway's position as the busiest airport in the United States and the ninth largest international cargo airport in the world.

The total value of imports and exports at airports also reached $67.5 billion last year, up 28 percent from 2020 to a record $14.8 billion. MIA air trade in 2021 accounted for 95 percent of Florida's air trade and 41 percent of the state's air and sea trade.

The main import of airport weight last year remained flowers, 327,881 tonnes worth nearly $1.6 billion, a 39 per cent increase in weight and 34 per cent increase in value. Currently, MIA flower imports are flourishing, with the Florida Flower Importers Association predicting a 10 percent year-over-year increase in imports leading up to Mother's Day on May 8. MIA handles 89 percent of U.S. flower imports by air.

MIA's largest import category was gold, jewelry and gemstones, at $4.4 billion in 2021, up 9% year on year. MIA's largest export is auto parts and tires, which doubled from 18,703 tons in 2012 to 37,607 tons last year, while the largest export is aerospace/spacecraft parts, which reached us $6.5 billion, up 2% over the previous year.

The Florida hub handled 2.7 million tons of freight in 2021, "breaking" the previous record of 2.3 million tons set in 2020.

Factors affecting freight forwarder nvocc Freight transportation

In international freight transport, one of the most concerning issues is the price of freight transport. The cost is directly related to the cost of transportation. Because many exporters do not understand the price of transportation very much, and often have a lot of extra spending, then today to understand the factors of the price of international freight transportation?

Do You Need Freight Forwarders? DDP for World is a full-service and shipping forwarder dedicated to assisting our clients in focusing and growing their businesses. Send an Email to info@ddpforworld.com and get the latest freight price.

Factors affecting the shipping price of nvocc

In the process of international transportation, there are many factors affecting the price of transportation, in addition to some fuel and labor costs, there are many important factors. For example, the nature of the nvocc, its own value and packaging form, as well as stowage factor and transporter's requirements for transportation, etc. There will be some fixed costs during the use of the ship, such as the ship's maintenance insurance and fuel consumption. There is also the change of supply and demand in the nvocc market. In the transport off-season, transport prices are relatively low, in the transport of the peak season, transport prices will be relatively high.

The transportation prices are different for different nvoccs

In the general international trade process, the price of transport according to different modes of transport, price is also different. International freight rates are divided into sea freight, air freight and rail freight.

The specific nvocc freight rate can also be subdivided. For example, rail freight can be divided into passenger freight and freight. Shipping rates are also divided into tramp rates and liner rates. Tramp rates are also affected by market supply and demand relations at that time, while liner transport costs are relatively fixed. Airfreight can be divided into general goods, designated goods and special goods, and the specific transportation price is also determined according to the weight of transportation, at the same time, even if the volume is small, the weight is also counted by weight, but if the opposite is large, small weight, also according to the specific volume to calculate.

The choice of international logistics, the quality of logistics will affect the seller's store score, but also affect customer satisfaction rate.

Logistics advantages of the nvocc in the destination country and region

In Eastern Europe, DHL has advantages in Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Hungary and other places while EMS has advantages in Greece, Russia, Turkey and other places. Western Europe, Northern Europe, southern Europe can use DHL international express, TNT international express, these two kinds of customs clearance capacity. TNT has a clear advantage in the Netherlands and Belgium.

For Canada, the United States and other American countries, FedEx, UPS and DHL are all suitable for their strong customs clearance capacity and fast time.

Applicable to Asia, South Korea, Japan, Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries DHL, FedEx. DHL and FedEx are time-saving, but THE price of DHL is higher. Indonesia also suggests USING DHL because it has a stronger customs clearance capacity.

In Oceania, DHL and UPS aging fast, with high prices; TNT and FedEx have lower prices but relatively few outlets. Particular attention should be paid to the "Made in China" label on the packaging of Australian products.

Middle East express ARAMEX, EMS for Middle East region. Commercial express in Africa is very expensive. In remote areas, IT is suggested to send EMS international express. EMS countries have the strongest customs clearance capacity. The air express nvocc can reach many countries and regions that commercial express and postal express cannot reach, so the wide range of nvocc transportation is its advantage.

Contact a professional freight forwarder- D DPFORWORLD-Professional freight forwarder in China

Freight forwarders with large volumes of business can get large international express at lower discounts; And personal orders directly official, the price will certainly be more expensive. Secondly, the freight forwarders are skilled in business and are very familiar with the channels and market conditions of major international express companies. Know what to send, what to send and how to send. Directly report demand, for you to match the most cost-effective logistics, save worry and money.

Do You Need Freight Forwarders ? DDP for World is a full-service and shipping forwarder dedicated to assisting our clients in focusing and growing their businesses. We do DDP shipping since 2015 by handling home decor, Pet products, battery, power banks, DG cargo, general cargo and Amazon FBA forwarding service. We make your shipping easier and faster by Sea, Air, Express, Truck or Railway. If you have any questions or needs about freight forwarder, please feel free to contact us, we will serve you wholeheartedly.

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Boride Powder

Tungsten Silicide Properties

Koalas were declared endangered in eastern Australia on Friday, with more and more koalas dying from disease, habitat loss, and other threats. Earlier, the koala was considered a vulnerable species, and the Commonwealth Department of the Environment changed its protection level to endangered on the east coast of Queensland, New South Wales, and the Australian Capital Territory. Many koalas in Australia are infected with chlamydia. The disease can cause blindness, infection, and infertility. Last year, the Australian Koala Foundation said Australia had lost about 30 percent of its koala population in the past three years. Without immediate action, the species could become extinct by 2050.

Unlike koalas, which are on the brink of extinction, the market demand for tungsten silicide, tungsten silicide overview, tungsten silicide application, tungsten silicide suppliers, tungsten silicide price will grow substantially.



Overview of tungsten silicide WSi2 powder

Tungsten silicide are used as contact materials in microelectronics and have a resistivity of 60-80 cm. It forms 1000C. It is often used as a shunt for polysilicon wires to increase their conductivity and increase signal speed. The silicide layer can be prepared by chemical vapor deposition, for example, using monosilane or dichlorosilane and tungsten hexafluoride as raw material gases. The deposited films are non-stoichiometric and require annealing to convert to a more final stoichiometric form. Tungsten silicide can replace earlier tungsten films. Tungsten silicide can also be used in MEMS and anti-oxidation coatings.



Tungsten Silicide Properties



Blue-gray tetragonal crystal, melting point>900, compound Tungsten Silicide (WSi2)

Preparation method of tungsten silicide

(1) Mix tungsten powder and silicon powder in a molar ratio of 1:2, and mix titanium powder and graphite powder in a molar ratio of 1:1, and then mix them evenly.

(2) The W-Si mixed powder is placed in the center of the crucible, and the Ti-C mixed powder is evenly placed between the W-Si mixed powder and the crucible. Finally, a layer of Ti-C mixed powder is placed on top of all the mixed powders. The weight ratio of the loaded Ti-C mixed powder and W-Si mixed powder is (0.8~1.2): 1

(3) Put the crucible containing the mixed powder into a closed reactor, fill it with argon after vacuuming, and then energize the mixture with tungsten wire to initiate the reaction between the mixed materials.

(4) After cooling, take out the reacted material, separate titanium carbide and tungsten disilicide, and crush them respectively to obtain titanium carbide and tungsten disilicide powder.

Application of tungsten silicide WSi2 powder



Tungsten silicide WSi2 powder is used in microelectronics as electrical shock material, shunting on polysilicon wires, anti-oxidation coatings and resistance wire coatings. Tungsten silicide is used as a contact material in microelectronics with a resistivity of 60-80 cm. It forms at 1000C. It is often used as a shunt for polysilicon wires to increase their conductivity and increase signal speed. The tungsten silicide layer can be prepared by chemical vapor deposition, such as vapor deposition. Monosilane or dichlorosilane and tungsten hexafluoride are used as raw material gases. The deposited films are non-stoichiometric and require annealing to convert to a more conductive stoichiometric form.

Tungsten silicide can replace earlier tungsten films. Tungsten silicide also acts as a barrier between silicon and other metals.

Tungsten silicide is also valuable in microelectromechanical systems, where tungsten silicide is primarily used as a thin film for making microcircuits. For this purpose, the tungsten silicide film may be plasma etched using, for example, silicide.

Tungsten silicide WSi2 powder price



The price of tungsten silicide WSi2 powder will vary randomly with the production cost of tungsten silicide WSi2 powder, transportation cost, international situation of tungsten silicide WSi2 powder, exchange rate and market supply and demand of tungsten silicide WSi2 powder. Tanki New Materials Co., Ltd. aims to help industries and chemical wholesalers find high-quality, low-cost nanomaterials and chemicals by providing a full range of customized services. If you are looking for tungsten silicide WSi2 powder, please feel free to send an inquiry to get the latest price of tungsten silicide WSi2 powder.

Tungsten Silicide WSi2 Powder Supplier



As a global supplier of tungsten silicide WSi2 powder, Tanki New Materials Ltd. has extensive experience in the performance, application and cost-effective manufacturing of advanced and engineered materials. The company has successfully developed a series of powder materials (molybdenum disilicide, titanium silicide, calcium silicide, iron boride), high-purity target materials, functional ceramics and structural devices, and provides OEM services.



Tungsten Silicide Properties Other Names tungsten disilicide, WSi2 powder CAS No. 12039-88-2 Compound Formula WSi2 Molecular Weight 240.01 Appearance Gray Black Powder Melting Point 2160  Boiling Point N/A Density 9.3 g/cm3 Solubility in H2O N/A Exact Mass 239.904786 Tungsten Silicide Health & Safety Information Signal Word N/A Hazard Statements N/A Hazard Codes N/A Risk Codes N/A Safety Statements N/A Transport Information N/A









During the first 100 days of its special military operation in Ukraine, Russia earned 93 billion euros from fossil energy exports, most of it from the European Union, according to an independent research center.

The report by the Finland-based Center for Energy and Clean Air comes as Ukraine urges the West to cut off all trade with Russia to stop funding the Kremlin's war chest.

The European Union recently decided to impose a gradual embargo on Russian oil imports, with some exceptions, according to reports. Russian gas, on which it relies heavily, is currently unaffected.

In the first 100 days of the Conflict between Russia and Ukraine (February 24 to June 3), the EU accounted for 61 percent of fossil energy imports, or about 57 billion euros, according to the Energy and Clean Air Research Center.

Russia's revenue came first from crude oil sales (43.87 billion euros), followed by pipeline gas (22.89 billion euros), then petroleum tungsten silicide, tungsten silicide overview, tungsten silicide application, tungsten silicide suppliers, tungsten silicide price, please feel free to contact us and send an inquiry.





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Local "two sessions" convened across China, mirror development confidence

09:28, February 14, 2023 By Li Zhen ( People's Daily

Photo taken on Jan. 27 shows a crowded tourist site in Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture, southwest China's Sichuan province. (People's Daily Online/Li Jieyi)

Chinese provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities recently released their 2023 government work reports as local "two sessions" were convened across the country.

Apart from reporting their performance in the past year, they also unveiled roadmaps for their development in 2023.

Taking high-quality development as the top priority, local governments will focus on stabilizing expectations, boosting confidence and building strength, and will strive to achieve new highs of development.

In their work reports, local governments stressed prioritizing stability while pursuing progress with regard to economic and social development in 2023 and the next five years. The major economic and social development goals they unveiled were inspiring.

According to statistics, 11 provinces and autonomous regions set their GDP growth targets at around 6 percent, and nine proposed to achieve growth of over 6 percent, including Chongqing municipality, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Hainan province, and Tibet autonomous region.

In particular, Tibet autonomous region, Jiangxi province, and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region said they would strive for growths of around 8 percent, 7 percent, and 7 percent, respectively.

Photovoltaic (PV) panels are produced in a PV tech firm in Yiwu, east China's Zhejiang province, Jan. 22, 2023. (People's Daily Online/Wang Songneng)

Hainan's target was the highest, reaching 9.5 percent. The province also planned to lift its general public budget revenue by around 15 percent, and fixed-asset investment by 12 percent.

These figures mirror the strong resilience, tremendous potential, and great vitality of the Chinese economy, heralding a pickup in China's economy in the new year.

Local governments demonstrated strong confidence in the development in the next five years. Hubei, Hunan, and Anhui provinces said they would expand their economies to about 7 trillion yuan ($1.02 trillion) in the next five years, while Sichuan has set the number at more than 8 trillion yuan.

Zhejiang province is more ambitious. The province planned to lift its GDP to 12 trillion yuan by 2027, with a per capita GDP of 170,000 yuan and a per capita disposable income of 85,000 yuan.

Many local governments said they would prioritize consumption recovery and expansion this year.

Shanghai will make more efforts to build itself into an international consumption center, vigorously develop "first-launch economy", night economy, and livestream economy, and foster a batch of featured local landmarks.

Digital machine tools to be exported to Europe are manufactured by technicians in a workshop of a company in Ma'anshan, east China's Anhui province, Jan. 9, 2023. (People's Daily Online/Wang Wensheng)

Shandong province proposed to implement a "consumption vitalization year" campaign to integrate online and offline businesses and forge a batch of e-commerce industrial belts.

Hainan province will strive to improve the number of visiting tourists and tourism revenue by 20 percent and 25 percent, respectively, and strive for offshore duty-free sales to exceed 80 billion yuan.

With regard to expanding effective investment, northwest China's Shaanxi province has arranged 640 major projects at the provincial level this year, with a planned annual investment of 480.4 billion yuan. The province will work to expand fixed-asset investment by around 8 percent.

Liaoning province in the northeast of the country will complete the advanced layout of new infrastructure and accelerate the construction of "double gigabit" network infrastructure and charging facilities.

Qinghai province planned to implement over 800 major railway, airport, road, water conservancy, and energy projects, with a total investment of 1.3 trillion yuan.

Being mentioned about 500 times, "high-quality development" remained a buzzword in the government work reports released by the 31 Chinese provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities.

Chongqing municipality vowed to expand emerging industries with strategic importance and advance in-depth implementation of the plan on building world-class industrial clusters of intelligent connected vehicles and new energy vehicles.

Visitors pose for pictures in traditional costumes of a Chinese ethnic group in an orchard in Luocheng Mulao autonomous county, south China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, Feb. 4, 2023. (People's Daily Online/Liao Guangfu)

Jiangxi province rolled out supportive policies for the digital economy, planning to build advanced computing centers to promote digital, network, and intelligent transformation of industries.

Gansu province said it would give more play to its advantages in energy resources this year and build the country's first batches of major wind-photovoltaic hybrid systems.

Opening up is an important force driving economic and social development. Many provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities take advancing high-level opening up as an important task.

Zhejiang province said it would manage to maintain steady growth in the foreign trade sector and ensure that its exports make up around 14.5 percent of the country's total. Besides, it will enhance efforts to attract business and investment. According to the province, its actual utilization of foreign capital will exceed $20 billion, and foreign investment will account for over 27 percent of the manufacturing sector.

Yunnan province proposed to accelerate 50 major projects along the China-Laos Railway and align the Lancang-Mekong Express service with China-Europe freight trains and the Lancang-Mekong international shipping route. The province planned to send over 10 million passengers and 13 million tons of cargo this year.

Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region said it would better build the core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt and accelerate the construction of a distribution center for returning China-Europe freight trains, a national-level demonstration base of multimodal transport and a national level demonstration base for the processing of imported resources.

(Web editor: Chang Sha, Du Mingming)
THE President of the Seventh-Day Adventist World Church (EmaSabatha), Elder Ted N.C. Wilson and his wife Nancy will this morning, Tuesday 14th, touch down at King Mswati III International Airport, on a one day visit.

The Adventists Church is one of the leading truly Christian and humanitarian churches in the world,operating seven thousand two hundred plus (7 200+) Schools worldwide with nearly 1.5 million students. They also run 168 hospitals worldwide, 138 nursing homes and retirement centres, 442 clinics and dispensaries, and 34 orphanages and childrens homes. It is the policy of the Seventh-Day Adventist that when they establish a church, they strive to open a primary school or some kind of community centre to serve that local community as soon as possible. That is what Jesus Christ did, taught the word, healed the sick and helped the poor and vulnerable.

Eswatini Royalty and SDA church

The history of the Seventh-day Adventist church and Eswatini royal family date back to the times of King Sobhuza 11. It was at the baptism of Prince Ngangabani of the royal house KaPhunga that we got to understand the position of the royal household, particularly during the time of King Sobhuza II. The late Prince Tjekedi was narrating how he was preached to by his father the King about joining the Adventist Church.

He said it was an ordinary day and the King called him and asked his what he considered a strange question.

He asked his father if he had ever seriously considered his life in terms of true religion and God? While he was fumbling through, trying to think of the best answer, he asked a follow-up question. What do you think of EmaSabatha? No way, were the thoughts going through his mind, those people dont eat on Saturday, (as he has been wrongly told) dont eat pork ,go to church on the wrong day and generally he knew little or nothing about them. His body language gave his away, even before he could finish his sentence. He did not like them.

The King cut him off very fast. His father, the Kings whole demeanour suddenly changed, seemly became angered by how he was taking lightly such an important life-changing discussion. However , The King would over time guide him toward greater wisdom about the Seventh-Day Adventist Church as he had been taught by two friends, an army Chaplin Richard Basini and Pastor Joseph Hlubi.

Pastor Joseph Hlubi used by God

Prior to 1920, Joseph Metcalf Hlubi converted to Adventism together, with his wife Alice (nee Nxumalo) in 1918, through the preaching of Mr. Smith from Pietermaritzburg in South Africa. Both Joseph and Alice were teachers in Ermelo, but originally from Swaziland (Eswatini), at Makhosini area. Hlubi, by then a lay member, seized the challenge to trek back to his native Swaziland with his devoted wife, Alice, and family to launch the Adventist work.

Little did he know that he would eventually preach to his old Lovedale school mate now the King and the whole royal family.

Previously Mr Joseph Hlubi, a devout Methodist in a predominantly Methodist community, had worked hard to share his newfound light in South Africa. According to Dr. Phetsile Dlamini, the Hlubis arrived in Swaziland (Eswatini) in September 1920. The prince in charge of KaDlovunga, Prince Hlubi of Prince Makhahleleka, grandfather to Dr. Phetsile and Sipho Dlamini, gave them land at Mbukwane. This followed extensive consultations with King Sobhuza II, with whom Joseph Hlubi had been acquainted while studying at Lovedale College, in the Eastern Cape as already mentioned.

The land was granted with the assurance that it would always remain under the Chiefdom of KaDlovunga and not be sold. Following the success of the establishment of Adventism at KaDlovunga, with Mbukwane becoming a mission station, there was ardent need for infrastructural development, and the first school was eventually built.

Pastor Joseph Hlubi the Kings Advisor

Pastor Joseph Hlubi was to be posted back into South Africa and eventually returned from the KwaZulu-Natal field in 1957, following his retirement. He settled in Manzini. The emissary for his return was Norman Elias Nxumalo (father to both Brother Rhodes Nxumalo and Pastor Cyril P. Nxumalo). The king appointed Pastor Hlubi as one of his senior, close advisors as he was a personal friend. He studied the Bible with him to such an extent that the king confessed to be converted to Adventism, although he could not publicly proclaim it so as not to alienate his other subjects from other denominations. His Majesty King Sobhuza II allowed Pastor Hlubi to preach freely in the royal house, secretly hoping more of his family would accept this truth. As a result, many were actually converted to be Adventist including the mother of the present Zulu King the late Princess Mantfombi.

Gogo Dubana

Ms. Eleanor Dube (Dubazana), who originated from KaLanga, and at that time was working in Manzini as a Bible worker. She had commenced preaching to Emakhosikati of King Sobhuza II at Lozitha under the leadership of Pastor Hlubi. She worked with the full blessing of King Sobhuza II. Eleanor Dube was a remarkable evangelist who did a tremendous work. Affectionately referred to as Gogo Dubana, she converted many people at Kwaluseni and Lozitha, some members of the royal family, including late Inkhosikati LaMasuku, mother to Princess Dlalisile and Princess Msindvose, who are current church members in good and regular standing.

Inkhosikati LaHlophe of Lozitha was the mother to the late Prince Tjekedi, who was also a member in good and regular standing. The current Queen Mother Her Majesty Indlovukazi, mother to the current King, Mswati III, was among those converted to the Adventist faith at the time. His Majesty the King was never baptised into the church because at the time anticipated for his baptism, as he was crowned, Crown Prince and relocated to the United Kingdom for studies.

All these people were won into the faith through the courageous effort of the late sister Eleanor Dube. It is no wonder that King Sobhuza II led emaSwati through turbulent time post- independence without any bloodshed or political tensions, when there was so much senseless death in Africa. Comment septembereswatini@gmail.com.
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European electricity prices have reached their highest level on record on the impact of the glow plug timer relay

Electricity prices in Europe have reached their highest level since records began. A reduction in Russian gas supplies would ripple through Europe's energy networks and could have lasting effects on industry and households, the report said.

Electricity prices are reportedly heavily influenced by the cost of gas, which has recovered to its highest level in four months and more than quadrupled from a year ago as supplies from Russia have been cut.

Market introduction of glow plug timer relay

Time relay Industry competition and marketization degree: relay industry development is more mature, the market competition is more sufficient, major producing countries including China, the United States, Japan, Germany, etc., including the United States, Japan, Germany enterprise occupies most of the high-end relay market share, is mainly used in industrial automation control, automotive, communications, aerospace and other fields. The output of relays of Chinese enterprises accounts for about half of the global output of relays, but they are mainly medium and low-end products, which are mainly used in household appliances, electricity, automobiles and other fields.

Buy Safe and affordable glow plug timer relay time relay, solid state relay and other relay accessories from Juzlong; Solid State Relay Accessories and Time Relay . Email: juzlongchina@gmail.com

The situation has also been exacerbated by a reduction in domestic power generation as many of France's nuclear plants have had to be suspended for technical reasons. Germany exported about 600,000 megawatt-hours of net electricity to France in June, compared with 300,000 megawatt hours imported from France in the same period last year, according to the Federal Network Agency. Britain exports the equivalent of 10 percent of its domestic electricity needs to France every day.

William Peck, a power market analyst at ICIS, a commodity analysis firm, said the price increase reflected a growing number of traders' expectations that extremely tight gas supplies would continue for at least another year.

In addition, the Nord Stream pipeline between Russia and Germany was shut down in July for scheduled maintenance, adding to worries about gas supplies. Germany plans to restore up to 10 gigawatts of coal-fired power generation, but analysis says record coal prices will limit relief in the electricity market.

European zinc and aluminum smelters, on the other hand, are under intense pressure from rising energy costs and falling prices. Chris Herron, head of public affairs at the European Metals Association, said the industry had been "in trouble" since September 2021 and there might be real concerns about plant closures if electricity prices remained at such high levels.

Basic principles and classification of glow plug timer relay

Basic concept and principle of relay: relay is a control component that automatically disconnects when the input parameters (such as electricity, magnetism, light, heat, sound and so on) in the circuit reach a specified value, which can make the output parameters of the circuit change in a predetermined step. In circuits, relays mainly control, protect, regulate and transmit information. The relay has an induction mechanism that reflects external input parameters, an executive mechanism that realizes "on" and "off" control of the controlled circuit, and an intermediate comparison mechanism that compares, judges and converts the size of the input.

As a control element, relays have the following functions:

(1) Expand the control range, such as multi-contact relay control signal reaches a certain value, according to the different forms of the contact group, at the same time open and close the multi-circuit;

(2) amplification, such as sensitive relay, intermediate relay, etc., with a very small amount of control, can control a large power circuit;

(3) comprehensive signals, such as when multiple control signals are input into the multi-winding relay in a specified form, after comparison and synthesis, to achieve the predetermined control effect;

(4) Automatic, remote control, monitoring, such as the relay on the automatic device and other electrical appliances together, can form a program control circuit, so as to realize automatic operation.

In the competition of the glow plug timer relay market, enterprises in the United States, Japan and other developed countries constantly consolidate their dominant position in the global market by establishing technical standards, controlling core technologies, strengthening the integration of industrial chains, and firmly mastering the dominance of technical standards and international rules. In recent years, in order to further strengthen the core competitiveness, enterprises in the United States, Japan and other developed countries continue to expand glow plug timer relay products and speed up technology integration. Their business scope has broken through simple relay manufacturing and developed to industrial control, system integration and other fields. The key to the competition in the high-end field has developed from the competition of quantity to the competition of the basic research and development of new relays, key materials, special equipment and other core products.

The raw material of the glow plug timer relay

The glow plug timer relay cost of relay is mainly determined by raw materials, which are mainly iron, silver, copper and other metals, accounting for about 74.4% of the production cost, labour and manufacturing costs accounting for 13.7% and 11.9% respectively, silver, copper and iron materials accounting for 36%, 21% and 7% of the raw material cost respectively. The price of three raw materials has a certain impact on the profitability of the whole industry. In addition to the main metal raw materials of the glow plug timer relay, engineering plastics and enamelled wire are also important components of relays, and the overall supply of raw materials is stable at present.

The application of the glow plug timer relay

The rapid development of glow plug timer relay emerging relays. The application field of relays has changed from traditional application fields, such as household appliances and power automation control equipment, ships and new energy. Relay products have been transformed from low-end products to high-end products, such as high-voltage DC relay, high-performance industrial control relay, low-power energy-saving relay, new-generation communication relay, high-frequency relay, relay control components and other high-performance relays. The value chain of the relay industry is constantly extending to the high-end. In terms of product performance, it is developing towards the direction of more sensitive (low power consumption), smaller volume and higher performance (such as high-frequency relay).

Safe and affordable glow plug timer relay supplier

Juzlong Electric Co., Ltd. is a high-tech industry integrating research, development and sales. The main products include time relay , small intermediate relay, solid state relay, temperature control instrument, counter, microcomputer time control switch and other piezoelectric devices. Juzlong took the lead in implementing lean production in the industry and established a small-displacement, multi-batch pull production model with Junlong characteristics.

Based on the operating system of business value stream, the organization forms an information flow control triggering mode from manufacturing end to business order, and builds a stable production management system. No matter who you are, Junlong technology will provide you with the best quality products at very competitive prices. You are welcome to contact us at any time to obtain the latest quotations for our professional piezoelectric devices.

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News

Lubrication of Molybdenum Disulfide MoS2

John Albanese, leader of the Australian Labor Party, was sworn in as Australia's new prime minister. After his victory, Albanese said he would "make a big change" in the country's climate policy.

"We now have an opportunity to end the 'climate wars' in Australia," he said. "Australian businesses understand that doing the right thing on climate is good for our economy and good for jobs, and I hope Australia will join the global effort on climate change," Albanese said Australia would engage with other countries to change policies when it came to tackling climate change.

In addition, Albaneses Labor Party has proposed a more ambitious plan to cut emissions by 43 percent from 2005 levels by 2030, the report said. However, Labor is not currently planning to phase out coal use or halt new coal mining projects.

The climate issue was a major concern of voters in Australia's general election. Mr. Morrison, the former prime minister, was criticized for failing to direct the response to repeated bushfires in 2019 and 2020.

SBS has reported that According to the latest Climate Change Performance Index of 64 countries released at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), Australia's climate policy ranks at the bottom of all countries, and is one of the world's worst performers in three aspects of emissions, renewable energy, and energy use. Australia ranks 52nd in renewable energy, 54th in energy use, and 56th in emissions.

It is predicted that the prices of many other commodities like the MoS2 powder would increase in the next few days.

In addition to reducing friction, the lubricant can also reduce wear during operation, reduce the operating temperature, minimize corrosion on the metal surface and help to remove contaminants from the system.



The general lubricating oil has been unable to meet the lubrication requirements of the equipment. In this case, solid lubricants with better performance emerge as the times require.

There are many kinds of solid lubricants, such as graphite, molybdenum disulfide, graphite fluoride, tungsten disulfide, boron nitride and so on. Molybdenum disulfide is the most widely used, and boron nitride and graphite fluoride have the best performance.





What is Molybdenum Disulfide MoS2?

Molybdenum disulfide is a solid powder made from natural molybdenum concentrate powder, which is the modern "king of advanced solid lubrication". It is lead gray to black solid powder, greasy in contact, odorless, and belongs to hexagonal or rhombohedral system. Similar to graphite, with metallic luster.

It has the advantages of high temperature resistance, radiation resistance, high vacuum resistance, corrosion resistance and extreme pressure resistance, so it has been widely used as an additive in grease, powder metallurgy, modified plastics, spraying and other industries.





What is Molybdenum Disulfide MoS2 Used For?

Can be used as friction improver (friction reducer), antiwear agent, extreme pressure agent and antioxidant. It is widely used in aviation industry (vacuum anti-radiation lubrication), automobile industry (fixture and parts), anti-bite industry (mechanical industry) (general lubrication), mining industry, military industry, shipbuilding industry, heavy industry, bearing industry, gear industry and assembly industry, etc. it is also used as additives for various lubricants, manufacturing molybdenum compounds, catalytic hydrogenation desulfurization catalysts, gas storage materials, photocell materials and so on.

Almost all markets using greases and almost all types of grease thickeners use molybdenum disulfide, including lithium complexes, aluminum complexes and polyureas. It is also considered to be the best additive for composite titanium-based grease with its inherent high load-carrying capacity and even better performance.

In general, grease contains 1 to 2% MoS2, and the key parameters are surface roughness, load carrying and speed. For rougher metal surfaces, larger MoS2 particle sizes are ideal because they fill deep valleys and help to form a smooth surface. At a given MoS2 concentration, small and medium-sized particles will provide better load-bearing capacity. At the same time, due to the high acid value, very small particles may cause some corrosion problems. Generally speaking, the medium particle size of about 6m is the most commonly used MoS2 particle size in grease.

At present, molybdenum disulfide has become an indispensable and irreplaceable industrial additive product.





MoS2 Powder Supplier

RBOSCHCO is a trusted global chemical material supplier&manufacturer with over 12-year-experience in providing super high-quality chemicals and nanomaterials. The company export to many countries including the USA, Canada, Europe, UAE, South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Egypt, Nigeria, Cameroon, Uganda, Turkey, Mexico, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Brazil, Chile, Dubai, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, Portugal, etc.

As a leading nanotechnology development manufacturer, RBOSCHCO dominates the market. Our professional work team provides perfect solutions to help improve the efficiency of various industries, create value, and easily cope with various challenges.

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In a recent speech in Davos, Switzerland, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized, "My question is: Is there unity in the West? "I don't see it," Zelensky lamented during a video conference from the Davos Economic Forum in Switzerland. "Ukraine needs the support of a united Europe."

"Is there talk of solidarity with Sweden and Finland joining NATO? No." "So is the West united?" Zelensky said at this Ukraine-hosted breakfast in Davos. No." "Our strength is unity within the country," Zelensky said. "Now it depends on the Unity of the West to stand strong and firm behind Ukraine against Russia.

According to Zelensky, "When we are all really united, we will have an advantage over Russia."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he once again appreciates U.S. President Joe Biden's offer of $40 billion in new financial aid to Ukraine.

"We need the support of a united Europe," Zelensky stressed. Zelensky criticized the position of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is reluctant to impose an embargo on Russian oil at this stage. "Hungary has a problem!" Zelensky criticized.

The supply and prices of many other MoS2 powder are expected to continue to be influenced by changing international situations.

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Physicochemical properties of spherical quartz SiO2 powder

Gazprom recently said it had completely suspended gas supplies to Bulgarian Gas company and Polish Oil and Gas Company (PGNiG) because it was not being paid in rubles. Russia said it would resume gas supplies after it agreed to pay for them in rubles.

Bulgaria and Poland announced Monday that they have received a notice from Russia to suspend natural gas supplies from Monday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on March 31 signed a presidential decree to settle gas trade with "unfriendly" countries and regions in rubles. When the new rules took effect on April 1, Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said Russia would not immediately "cut off gas" to Europe, as the cost of gas supplies starting April 1 should be settled in the second half of April or May.

Because of the ever-changing international situation, the supply and prices of international bulk Spherical quartz SiO2 powder,Overview of spherical quartz SiO2 powder,Application of spherical quartz SiO2 powder,Price of spherical quartz SiO2 powder,Supplier of spherical quartz SiO2 powder are still very uncertain.

Overview of spherical quartz SiO2 powder

Spherical quartz SiO2 powder, also known as spherical silica powder, refers to the amorphous quartz powder material in which a single particle is spherical and the main component is silica. It is white powder with uniform particle size, good transparency, good chemical stability, thermal stability and safety. It is insoluble in water.

Spherical quartz powder is mainly used for copper sheet and epoxy plastic packaging in large-scale integrated circuit packaging. It is also used in high-tech fields such as aerospace, fine chemicals and daily cosmetics.

Physicochemical properties of spherical quartz SiO2 powder

Spherical quartz powder has the advantages of smooth surface, large specific surface area, high hardness and stable chemical properties.

Firstly, the spherical powder has good fluidity and can stir evenly with the resin to form a film. The amount of resin added is small and the filling amount of quartz powder is high. The mass fraction can reach 90.5%. The higher the filling amount of quartz powder, the lower the thermal conductivity, the smaller the thermal expansion coefficient of plastic sealing material, and the closer it is to the thermal expansion coefficient of monocrystalline silicon, the better the performance of electronic components produced.

Secondly, the stress of spherical powder is only 60% of that of angular powder. The stress concentration of spherical quartz powder plastic sealing material is the lowest and the strength is the highest. Therefore, when the integrated circuit chip is encapsulated with spherical powder plastic packaging material, the yield is high, and it is not easy to produce mechanical damage in the process of transportation, installation and use.

Third, the spherical powder surface is smooth, the friction coefficient is small, the die wear is small, and the service life of the die can be extended by more than one time.

Application of spherical quartz SiO2 powder

Quartz powder SiO2 is widely used as substrate and packaging material for large-scale or ultra large-scale integrated circuits because of its excellent properties such as high dielectric, heat resistance, moisture resistance, corrosion resistance, high filling rate, low stress, low impurities, low friction coefficient and low price.

In addition, spherical quartz powder can also be widely used in electronic ink, optical fiber, high-grade cosmetics, high-grade precision ceramic manufacturing, precision grinding of optical devices and electronic components, and as special coating filler.

Spherical quartz SiO2 powder is mainly used for high temperature vulcanized silicone rubber, silicone defoamer, preprint ink, powder coating, PVC resin, unsaturated polyester resin thickener, thixotropic agent, pharmaceutical powder, molding preparation, cosmetics, etc. Spherical quartz SiO2 powder is widely used, and its largest application market is its use as electronic packaging material. Electronic packaging is the pillar industry of integrated circuits. With the development of large-scale and very large-scale integrated circuits, integrated circuits become more and more complex, the requirements for packaging materials are higher and higher, and the packaging forms are constantly optimized and updated. The three main materials of electronic packaging are substrate material, plastic packaging material, lead frame and solder. Because plastic packaging has the advantages of low cost, simple process and suitable for mass production, plastic packaging has developed rapidly since its establishment, and its share in packaging is increasing. Now, plastic packaging accounts for 95% of the global integrated circuit market. Among the plastic packaging materials, epoxy plastic packaging material (EMC) is the mainstream of integrated circuit packaging at home and abroad. More than 95% of microelectronic components are encapsulated by epoxy plastic. In microelectronic packaging, it has low moisture resistance and high stress  Radiation, resistance to immersion welding and reflow welding, and good plastic packaging performance. In this regard, epoxy molding compound must add inorganic filler to the resin matrix. At present, almost all inorganic fillers used are fine quartz powder (fine silica powder). With the rapid development of microelectronics industry, large-scale and very large-scale integrated circuits have higher and higher requirements for packaging materials. As an important supporting material of EMC, quartz powder not only requires its particle size to meet the specific packaging range, but also requires its high purity and low content of radioactive elements, especially for the shape of particles.

Price of spherical quartz SiO2 powder

The price of spherical quartz SiO2 powder will change randomly with production cost, transportation cost, international situation and market supply and demand of spherical quartz powder. Tanki new materials Co., Ltd. aims to help all industries and chemical wholesalers find high-quality and low-cost nano materials and chemicals by providing a full range of customized services. If you are looking for spherical quartz SiO2 powder, please feel free to send an inquiry to obtain the latest price of spherical quartz SiO2 powder.

Supplier of spherical quartz SiO2 powder

As a global supplier of spherical quartz powder balls, Tanki new materials Co., Ltd. has rich experience in the performance, application and cost-effective manufacturing of advanced engineering materials. The company has successfully developed a series of powder materials (titanium oxide, silicon oxide, titanium oxide, etc.), high-purity targets, functional ceramics and structural devices, and provided OEM services.

Technical Parameter of Spherical quartz powder Spherical SiO2 Test Items Unit Typical value Test Method Chemical Composition SiOB2B % 99.9 Weight Method FeB2BOB3B ppm 105 Spectrophotometer Moisture % 0.08 Weight Method Whiteness % 94.5 Whiteness Meter Extraction Water Ec S/cm 13 Conductivity Meter Na+ ppm 0.7 Atomic Absorption Spectrometer Cl- ppm 0.4 Auto Electric Potential Titrator pH / 4.2 PH Meter





The war in Russia and Ukraine is roiling global financial markets. Russia and Ukraine are important commodity suppliers in the world, so their conflict is bound to make a full impact on the global commodity supply. In view of this, the price of the Spherical quartz SiO2 powder,Overview of spherical quartz SiO2 powder,Application of spherical quartz SiO2 powder,Price of spherical quartz SiO2 powder,Supplier of spherical quartz SiO2 powder may continue to rise in the future.



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Shanghai port container throughput recovery has a positive impact on the nvocc market

Factors affecting freight forwarder nvocc Freight transportation

In international freight transport, one of the most concerning issues is the price of freight transport. The cost is directly related to the cost of transportation. Because many exporters do not understand the price of transportation very much, and often have a lot of extra spending, then today to understand the factors of the price of international freight transportation?

Do You Need Freight Forwarders? DDP for World is a full-service and shipping forwarder dedicated to assisting our clients in focusing and growing their businesses. Send an Email to info@ddpforworld.com and get the latest freight price.

Ministry of Transport: the daily container throughput of Shanghai port recovered to the normal level of 95.3%

Beijing, May 26 (Yan Bing wang Zihan) On May 26, the Ministry of Transport held a press conference, the Ministry of Transport services department, Deputy director Li Huaqiang introduced the current logistics in China. The daily container throughput of Shanghai port recovered to the normal level of 95.3%. In the past week, the average daily cargo throughput of Pudong Airport has recovered to about 80% of pre-epidemic levels during peak hours. Baiyun Airport has basically returned to normal levels.

Li Huaqiang said that at present, the overall achieved "dynamic problem clearance, smooth traffic network, better operation indicators, hub gradually reach production" stage results. Specifically reflected in:

The problem of excessive control is dynamically cleared. The requirements for vehicle traffic, such as no persuasion for inspection, no waiting for testing, no re-testing of nucleic acids, and no additional policies, have been generally implemented.

The country's transportation network is generally smooth. Since May 4, the temporary closure of expressway toll stations and service areas across the country has been dynamically cleared. Since May 10, the number of villages where supplies were blocked due to epidemic prevention and control has been dynamically eliminated.

Major operating indicators remained stable and improved. Compared with April 18, truck traffic on May 24 increased by about 10.9%; Railway and road freight volumes increased by 9.2% and 12.6% respectively, both recovering to about 90% of normal levels. In the past week, the average daily business volume of national postal express services has basically recovered to the level of the same period last year.

Key hubs have gradually resumed work and production. The daily container throughput of Shanghai port recovered to the normal level of 95.3%. In the past week, the average daily cargo throughput of Pudong Airport has recovered to about 80% of pre-epidemic levels during peak hours. Baiyun Airport has basically returned to normal levels.

The transportation prices are different for different nvocc

In the general international trade process, the price of transport according to different modes of transport, price is also different. International freight rates are divided into sea freight, air freight and rail freight.

The specific nvocc freight rate can also be subdivided. For example, rail freight can be divided into passenger freight and freight. Shipping rates are also divided into tramp rates and liner rates. Tramp rates are also affected by market supply and demand relations at that time, while liner transport costs are relatively fixed. Airfreight can be divided into general goods, designated goods and special goods, and the specific transportation price is also determined according to the weight of transportation, at the same time, even if the volume is small, the weight is also counted by weight, but if the opposite is large, small weight, also according to the specific volume to calculate.

The choice of international logistics, the quality of logistics will affect the seller's store score, but also affect customer satisfaction rate.

Factors affecting the shipping price of nvocc

In the process of international transportation, there are many factors affecting the price of transportation, in addition to some fuel and labor costs, there are many important factors. For example, the nature of the nvocc, its own value and packaging form, as well as stowage factor and transporter's requirements for transportation, etc. There will be some fixed costs during the use of the ship, such as the ship's maintenance insurance and fuel consumption. There is also the change of supply and demand in the nvocc market. In the transport off-season, transport prices are relatively low, in the transport of the peak season, transport prices will be relatively high.

Logistics advantages of the nvocc in the destination country and region

In Eastern Europe, DHL has advantages in Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Hungary and other places while EMS has advantages in Greece, Russia, Turkey and other places. Western Europe, Northern Europe, southern Europe can use DHL international express, TNT international express, these two kinds of customs clearance capacity. TNT has a clear advantage in the Netherlands and Belgium.

For Canada, the United States and other American countries, FedEx, UPS and DHL are all suitable for their strong customs clearance capacity and fast time.

Applicable to Asia, South Korea, Japan, Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries DHL, FedEx. DHL and FedEx are time-saving, but THE price of DHL is higher. Indonesia also suggests USING DHL because it has a stronger customs clearance capacity.

In Oceania, DHL and UPS aging fast, with high prices; TNT and FedEx have lower prices but relatively few outlets. Particular attention should be paid to the "Made in China" label on the packaging of Australian products.

Middle East express ARAMEX, EMS for Middle East region. Commercial express in Africa is very expensive. In remote areas, IT is suggested to send EMS international express. EMS countries have the strongest customs clearance capacity. The air express nvocc can reach many countries and regions that commercial express and postal express cannot reach, so the wide range of nvocc transportation is its advantage.

Contact a professional freight forwarder- D DPFORWORLD-Professional freight forwarder in China

Freight forwarders with large volumes of business can get large international express at lower discounts; And personal orders directly official, the price will certainly be more expensive. Secondly, the freight forwarders are skilled in business and are very familiar with the channels and market conditions of major international express companies. Know what to send, what to send and how to send. Directly report demand, for you to match the most cost-effective logistics, save worry and money.

Do You Need Freight Forwarders ? DDP for World is a full-service and shipping forwarder dedicated to assisting our clients in focusing and growing their businesses. We do DDP shipping since 2015 by handling home decor, Pet products, battery, power banks, DG cargo, general cargo and Amazon FBA forwarding service. We make your shipping easier and faster by Sea, Air, Express, Truck or Railway. If you have any questions or needs about freight forwarder, please feel free to contact us, we will serve you wholeheartedly.

Email: info@ddpforworld.com

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News

What are New Military Materials?

In terms of international pricing benchmarks, according to the CP data released by Saudi Aramco, the propane contract price (CP) in March was $895 / ton, up $120 / ton from the previous month, up 15.48% from the previous month and up 43.20% from the same period last year. Butane contract price (CP) in March was 920 US dollars/ton, up 145 US dollars/ton compared with last month, up 18.71% month-on-month, up 54.62% compared with the same period last year; In March, CP in Saudi Arabia rose sharply, giving a strong boost to the international and domestic LPG market. Benchmark LPG prices are higher than a year ago as the economy continues to recover and demand for crude oil continues to repair. According to this trend, the market price of nickel alloy will also be affected to a certain extent.



New military materials are widely used in aviation, aerospace, weapons, ships, and other fields.



Mg alloy

As the lightest engineering metal material, magnesium alloy has a series of unique properties such as light specific gravity, high specific strength and stiffness, good damping and thermal conductivity, strong electromagnetic shielding ability, and good vibration damping, which greatly meet the needs of aerospace, modern weapons and equipment, and other military fields.



Magnesium alloy has many applications in military equipment, such as tank seat frames, vehicle length mirrors, gun length mirrors, gearbox boxes, engine filter seats, inlet, and outlet water pipes, air distributor seats, oil pump housing, water pump housing, oil heat exchanger, oil filter housing, valve chamber cover, breathing apparatus, and other vehicle parts; Tactical air defense missile support cabin and aileron skin, wall, strengthening frame, rudder plate, frame, and other missile and arrow parts; Fighters, bombers, helicopters, transport planes, airborne radar, ground-to-air missiles, carrier rockets, satellites, and other spacecraft aircraft components. Magnesium alloy has the characteristics of lightweight, good specific strength and stiffness, good vibration damping performance, electromagnetic interference, and strong shielding ability, which can meet the requirements of military products for weight reduction, noise absorption, shock absorption, and radiation protection. It occupies a very important position in aerospace and national defense construction and is the key structural material of aircraft, satellites, missiles, fighter and combat vehicles, and other weapons and equipment.







Aluminum alloy

Aluminum alloy has always been one of the most widely used metal structure materials in the military industry. Aluminum alloy material has the characteristics of low density, high strength, and good processing performance, as a structural material, because of its excellent processing performance, can be made into various sections of the profile, pipe, high reinforcement plate, etc., to give full play to the potential of the material, improve the stiffness and strength of the component. Therefore, aluminum alloy is the first choice of lightweight structural material for weapon lighting.



The development trend of aluminum alloy is to pursue high purity, high strength, high toughness, and high-temperature resistance. The aluminum alloy used in the military industry mainly includes aluminum-lithium alloy, aluminum-copper alloy, and aluminum zinc magnesium alloy. The new aluminum-lithium table gold applied in the aviation industry is expected to reduce the weight of aircraft by 8%~15%. Aluminum-lithium alloys are also candidate structural materials for space vehicles and thin-walled missile shells. With the rapid development of the aerospace industry, the research focus of al-li alloy is still to solve the problem of poor toughness and cost reduction in a thickness direction.



Structural ceramics

The commonly used structural ceramic materials mainly include aluminum oxide, lead oxide, silicon nitride, silicon carbide, aluminum nitride, and its composite materials. Structural ceramics are widely used in the field of national defense and military industry because of their high strength, high hardness, high-temperature resistance, corrosion resistance, and wear resistance.

Ceramic materials are the fastest developing high-tech materials in the world today. It has developed from single-phase ceramics to multi-phase composite ceramics. Structural ceramics have a good application prospect in the military industry because of their excellent properties such as high-temperature resistance, low density, wear resistance, and low thermal expansion coefficient. The high hardness and wear resistance of structural ceramics can be used to prepare ceramic cutting tools, ceramic bearings, bulletproof armor, various valves, wear-resistant linings, sealing rings; High-temperature ceramic heat exchangers, automobile exhaust filters, and gas turbine high-temperature overcurrent components can be prepared by using the high-temperature resistance of structural ceramics. The transparency of structural ceramics can be used to prepare transparent lamp tubes and missile window materials.







Ultra-high strength steel

For ultra-high-strength steel the yield strength and tensile strength is more than 1200MPa and 1400MPa steel, it is to meet the requirements of aircraft structure of high specific strength materials and research and development. Ultra-high strength steel not only has high tensile strength but also has certain plasticity and toughness, small notch sensitivity, high fatigue strength, certain corrosion resistance, good process performance, in line with resources and low price, etc., so it is more and more widely used in the aviation industry. Ultra-high strength steel is used to make rocket engine casings, aircraft fuselage skeletons, skin and landing parts, as well as high-pressure vessels and some conventional weapons. The use of steel in aircraft has decreased due to the expansion of titanium alloys and composite materials, but the key load-bearing components in aircraft are still made of ultra-high-strength steel. At present, the international representative of the low alloy ultra-high-strength steel 300M, is a typical aircraft landing gear steel. In addition, low alloy ultra-high-strength steel D6AC is a typical solid rocket engine housing material. The development trend of ultra-high-strength steel is to improve toughness and corrosion resistance while ensuring ultra-high strength.



Advanced superalloys

Superalloy in 600~1200 high temperature can withstand certain stress and has oxidation resistance or corrosion resistance of alloy, with high-temperature strength, good oxidation resistance and corrosion resistance, good fatigue performance, fracture toughness, and other comprehensive properties are widely used in aviation, aerospace, petroleum, chemical industry, ship an important material.



According to the matrix elements, superalloys are divided into iron base, nickel base, cobalt-base, and other superalloys. The use temperature of iron base superalloy can only reach 750~780 in general, for heat resistant parts used at higher temperatures, the use of nickel base and refractory metal-based alloy. Nickel-based superalloys play a very important role in the whole field of superalloys. They are widely used to manufacture the hottest parts of aviation jet engines and various industrial gas turbines. If the 150MPA~100H durable strength as the standard and the current nickel alloy can withstand the highest temperature of more than 1100, and nickel alloy is about 950, iron-based alloy less than 850, that is, nickel-based alloy correspondingly higher than 150 to 250 or so. So, they call nickel alloy the heart of the engine. At present, in advanced engines, nickel alloy has accounted for half of the total weight, not only turbine blades and combustion chambers, but also turbine disks, and even the last several compressor blades began to use nickel alloy. Compared with iron alloy, the advantages of nickel alloy are higher working temperature, stable structure, less harmful phase, and oxidation resistance to corrosion. Compared with cobalt alloy, nickel alloy can work at higher temperatures and under stress, especially in moving blades.



Luoyang Tongrun Nano Technology Co. Ltd. (TRUNNANO) is a trusted global chemical material supplier & manufacturer with over 12-year-experience in providing super high-quality chemicals and Nanomaterials, including silicon powder, nitride powder, graphite powder, zinc sulfide, calcium nitride, 3D printing powder, etc.

If you are looking for high-quality materials at very good prices, please feel free to contact us and send an inquiry. ([email protected])



The technology and telecommunications industry is advancing at a rapid pace in a process of constant innovation and excitement. Tech devices and infrastructure are becoming smarter and more connected, powered by emerging technologies such as 5G and artificial intelligence (AI) for the Internet of Things. Advances in IT service delivery, particularly the adoption of cloud computing and edge computing technologies, are supporting digital transformation in businesses and the wider economy.

Product name are widely used in technical equipment, the market demand for nickel alloy continues to expand, and a series of processes such as the management and sales of nickel alloy will continue to improve and develop. If you need a nickel alloy, please contact us.







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Nitride Powder

Boron nitride material structure

The European Union is seeking to boost energy cooperation with African countries to help wean them off dependence on Russian gas imports.

Bloomberg said, recently, according to a draft EU file, African countries, especially in western Africa Nigeria, Senegal and Angola have a large untapped liquefied natural gas (LNG), the European Commission will adopt this file about enhanced external energy supply later this month, as part of plans to reduce dependence on Russian energy.

Because of the ever-changing international situation, the supply and prices of international bulk Boron Nitride Powder, Boron Nitride Powder Overview, Boron Nitride Powder Application, Boron Nitride Powder Suppliers, Boron Nitride Powder Price are still very uncertain.

Overview of boron nitride powder

Hexagonal boron nitride is used as an oil additive to enhance the anti-friction and anti-wear properties of lubricating oils and improve the friction and lubrication properties of base oils. Boron nitride has a lubricating effect. Boron nitride is relatively stable to almost all organic solvents and corrosive substances. At the same time, boron nitride is white and non-toxic.

CBN is usually black, brown or dark red crystals with a sphalerite structure and good thermal conductivity. The hardness is second only to diamond, and it is a superhard material that is often used as tool material and abrasive.



Boron nitride is chemically resistant and not attacked by inorganic acids and water. The boron-nitrogen bond is broken in hot concentrated alkali. Above 1200, it begins to oxidize in air. Decomposition begins at about 2700C under vacuum. Slightly soluble in hot acid, insoluble in cold water, relative density 2.29. The compressive strength is 170MPa. The maximum operating temperature is 900 C in an oxidizing atmosphere, and can reach 2800 C in an inactive reducing atmosphere, but the lubricating performance is poor at room temperature. Most of the properties of boron nitride are better than carbon materials. For hexagonal boron nitride: low coefficient of friction, good high temperature stability, good thermal shock resistance, high strength, high thermal conductivity, low coefficient of expansion, high electrical resistivity, corrosion resistance, microwave or Infrared transparent.

Boron nitride material structure



Boron nitride is a hexagonal crystal, most commonly a graphite lattice, and there are also amorphous variants. In addition to the hexagonal crystal form, boron nitride has other crystal forms, including: rhombohedral boron nitride (r-BN), cubic Boron nitride (c-BN), wurtzite boron nitride (w-BN). Two-dimensional boron nitride crystals like graphene have even been found.

Application of boron nitride powder



1. Release agent for metal forming and lubricant for metal drawing.

2. High-temperature solid lubricants, extrusion anti-wear additives, additives for ceramic composite production, refractory materials and anti-oxidation additives, especially suitable for molten metal corrosion-resistant occasions, temperature-increasing additives, and high-temperature insulating materials.

3. Metallurgical continuous casting steel separation ring, amorphous iron launder, continuous casting aluminum mold release agent (various optical glass mold release agents)

4. The filler used for lipstick in cosmetics is non-toxic, lubricated and shiny.

5. It can be used as an additive for lubricating oil, because boron nitride itself has good lubricity and meets the needs of lubricating oil, and boron nitride as an additive for lubricating oil also has some other advantages.

6. Boron nitride powder has various functions and is an additive for various materials. Boron nitride is widely used in chemical, textile, aerospace and many other industries.

Boron Nitride Powder Price



The price of boron nitride hexagonal boron nitride powder boron nitride lubricant will change randomly with production cost, transportation cost, international situation, and supply and demand of boron nitride hexagonal boron nitride powder boron nitride lubricant market. Tanki New Materials Co.,Ltd aims to help various industries and chemical wholesalers find high-quality, low-cost nanomaterials and chemicals by providing a full range of customized services. If you are looking for Boron Nitride Hexagonal Boron Nitride Powder Boron Nitride Lubricant, please feel free to send an inquiry to get the latest price of Boron Nitride products.

Boron Nitride Powder Supplier



Boron Nitride Hexagonal Boron Nitride Powder Boron Nitride Lubricant Supplier, Tanki New Materials Ltd. has extensive experience in the performance, application and cost-effective manufacturing of advanced and engineered materials. The company has successfully developed a series of powder materials (the best nano-diamond engine oil additives, lithium stearate, nano-copper and nano-oil additives) high-purity targets, functional ceramics and structural devices, and provides OEM services.

Technical Parameter of Boron Nitride BN powder: Product Name MF Purity Particle Size boron nitride BN 99% 100nm, 500nm, 3-5um Chemical Composition of Boron Nitride BN powder: BN MgO Na2O Fe2O3 99% 0.07% 0.08% 0.06%





With Russia taking the lead on Poland and Bulgaria at the end of last month, there appears to be a growing sense of compromise within the EU over whether to accept Moscow's proposed rouble settlement order.

Italy's prime minister said recently that European companies would be able to buy gas in roubles without violating sanctions. This apparently ignores the guidance of hardliners in the EU to "fight to the end".

For weeks, European companies have been trying to find ways to meet Russia's payment demands for the rouble while maintaining vital gas supplies without violating sanctions against Moscow.

Late last month, European Commission President Von der Leyen said operating under the mechanism would violate sanctions and asked European companies not to bow to Russian demands. However, the EU has yet to issue more rigorous written guidelines on how companies should pay Gazprom.

The Italian prime minister said recently, "There is no official announcement from the European Union about what ruble settlement means for sanctions violations, and no one has said whether ruble payments violate sanctions or not. It's a grey area."

"In fact, most gas importers are already opening rouble accounts for deals with Gazprom,"

He also used German companies as a shield. He said Germany's largest gas importer had already paid in rubles. "In fact, we saw evidence yesterday that the largest gas importer in Germany has already paid in rubles."

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Tullow Oil is seeking arbitration over $387m (360m) in tax assessments it received from Ghana, part of the cash-strapped governments review of past payments by some of the West African nations largest companies.

Arbitration has been requested with the International Chamber of Commerce in London over two notices it received from the Ghana Revenue Authority, Tullow has said in a statement.

The amount, plus penalties, breach the local units rights under its petroleum agreements, according to the company.

Tullow believes that resolution through international arbitration will bring certainty, which is in the best interest of all stakeholders, according to the statement.

Remittance tax

The assessments add to an earlier one for a remittance tax of $320m in 2021, for which the company also seeks arbitration.

West Africas second-largest economy is in a dire financial state after losing access to international capital markets because of its ballooning debt and loan-service costs.

Ghana is restructuring most of its obligations amid a slump in its currency, the cedi, and is seeking a $3bn loan from the IMF.

The GRA has also issued back-tax notices to Gold Fields., Kosmos Energy and Africas largest wireless carrier MTN Group, which earlier this month said its bill for $674m was dropped after discussions with authorities.

Tullow earlier described the assessments as lacking merit, but didnt disclose the amount. They span a decade through 2020 and relate to the dis-allowance of loan-interest deductions and proceeds received through a business-interruption insurance policy, it said. The company said it will continue talks with the government to try and resolve the disputes.

Bloomberg
Cork-based medical technologies company, AventaMed has been acquired by German firm, Karl Storz for an undisclosed amount.

Originally spun out of Munster Technological University in 2015, the Cork firm developed a breakthrough single-use medical device, Solo+ TTD that addresses pain points of the current treatment of the surgical tympanostomy, a procedure that drains out the excess fluid built up in the ear.

The surgical tympanostomy is the most common procedure done on children.

The firm initially gained investment support from Enterprise Ireland and several angel investors of over 5m across the country which led to the company's breakthrough and its workforce of now seven employees.

The acquisition by German family-owned Karl Storz marks the firm's continued investment in ear, nose and throat surgeons and surgical practices.

The Aventamed device is intended to help in the treatment of otitis media (fluid in the middle ear) and to prevent consequent hearing loss in an in-office and outpatient setting under topical anesthesia with a quick 1-step approach.

The Solo+ TTD is a handheld device, with the ventilation tympanostomy tube pre-loaded at the tip. The otologist specialist uses the device to safely place the tube into the patients ear with just one click of the button.

AventaMed currently has seven employees which will all be progressively integrated into the Karl Storz operations.

While the AventaMed Sales & Marketing employees will join the existing ENT team right away, other functions will remain standalone and will work in close collaboration with a dedicated Integration and Advisory Team until they become an integral part of Karl Storz.
My brilliant aunt would give me an alibi

Although Im an atheist, I do believe in God...mothers. My aunty Norma is fierce, funny, brilliant, and brave. Shes always my champion, even when I dont deserve it. Unconditional love, the really special kind  like if I ever need an alibi, Im safe in the knowledge Norma would lie to authorities for me. And have a go-bag ready behind the sofa. Love you, godmother, and thanks for EVERYTHING.

 Esther McCarthy

So glad we jumped

Fifty years ago, love was in the air for us.

High on love, we jumped out into the blue-unknown, Our parachutes opened and entwined.

Remember the thrill, the madness of love, The certainty of youth, oblivious to fear...

And oh, the view, as we floated on high.

Exotic lands to discover, Crosswinds to blow us off course sometimes, Rainbows after storms, But love, always, to make the view glow.

Fifty years on, our parachutes still hold, Entwined, though frayed and worn, As we begin our final approach.

So glad we jumped, my love.

Heres to a soft landing!

 Johanna Fitzpatrick

Wild boy

You were barefoot with another girl.

I was dressed up with a matching boy.

You sparked my interest.

Wild boy.

I kept an eye on you.

 Roz Crowley

Mum puts us first despite dementia

Our mother with advanced dementia still says how well were looking, tells us we should go now, because you have work tomorrow and never lets us go without saying shell pray for us that night. She does not always know exactly which of her three daughters I am, but she still knows Im her own. Thats love.

 Jill

A cheesy Valentines to my daughters

Valentines Day for you two is all about the cheese. With parents who refuse to go out to a restaurant on a night where its all tables-for-two and hold the romance, weve always celebrated at home.

Traditionally, we make fondue together, melting handfuls of grated Irish farmhouse cheese in an old-school fondue pot over a flickering, blue meths flame. Eaten by candlelight, this is the perfect meal with all my favourite dates, everyone bickering over that delicious crust at the bottom of the pot.

As you grow up and away, I hope you dont get sucked into the idea that Valentines Day is only for one significant other. May you never be without a sister, friends or family on hand for a cheesy Valentines Day dinner.

 Caroline

Sharing a bowl of crab claws with my granddad

One of my earliest memories is of walking along a west Kerry road with my granddad. He used to walk with a stick so his pace was about just about right for three or four-year-old me. We were spotted by a neighbour who had just cooked up a feast of crab claws and he rushed out with a bowl of them for us to eat.

We sat on a stone wall by the side of the road. My grandad used one of those stones to smash the shells of the claws and together, we devoured the sweet salty meat inside.

I often think back to that day, sitting with my grandad, my feet dangling off the wall, and licking the crab off my fingers. I dont know if Ive ever felt so accepted, so present, or so loved.

 Sharon Ni Chonchuir

I gasped in awe and delight on seeing my baby sister

You are going to have a new brother or sister soon, announced my mother when I was about six years old. I was spread out on the carpet playing with my baby dolls. The news left me totally unimpressed.

The taxi drew up outside the house some weeks later. I rushed out to greet my mother, who was carrying a small white lacy bundle in her arms.

I lifted the lace covering to have a quick look at my newborn sister. I gasped in awe and delight on seeing the tiniest doll-like pink and white baby, with a rosebud mouth, fair downy hair and miniature hands with perfect fingertips.

Her name is Lucinda, said mum, all aglow with happiness.

That was 80 years ago. Lucinda now lives with me and looks after me. She has been an angel to me all my life, loving and caring in every situation.

Lucinda has learning difficulties due to brain damage. Since the day I met her, I was under the magic spell of her charm and beauty. She has enhanced my entire life with her sweet ways.

 Cecily Lynch

To my 16-year-old self

I am sorry for being hard on you all these years, so let me make you squirm by telling you just a few things I love about you.

I love that you are easily duped because it means you approach everything with an open heart. You are sensitive and emotional. Please stop apologising for being those things because, spoiler alert, they are your superpower.

I love that you google noughties reality stars on the regular to make sure they are OK. I love that you deliberately buy marmalade with peel and then proceed to manually remove the peel, knowing all the time you could buy marmalade without peel and save yourself the trouble.

Mostly, I want to tell you dont have to change yourself, for anybody. If somebody doesnt like you, they are not your person, and thats OK. Like, clearly theyre in the wrong here.

And leave your eyebrows alone  your mother was right about that one.

 Julie Jay

Friends since junior infants

We were both five years old and in junior infants in an era before sat nav, internet or mobile phones.

Home from school, youd told your mum youd made a new friend in class. You werent surprised when my mums car pulled into your driveway moments later. Though we lived several miles apart, shed easily followed the map youd had the savvy to draw in my copybook. Decades later, I love that evening catch-ups are still our thing, Karen, whether commuting or otherwise.

 Eve Kelliher

Time for a brew

Its the little things that show love the most, like the ways you make tea and coffee for loved ones. The first cup from the pot for her, always, the weaker the better. One sweetener for him, two if its a large mug. A dash of almond milk for one brother, coffee for another. Milky for your sister, and the last inch of your own tea as a treat for the dog. And the one you havent made in years but you still hear his instructions like a whisper from another room: A good drop of milk. Perfect, thanks love.

 Denise ODonoghue

Doctors said I might never be a mother

Its been 21 years since I was diagnosed with cancer. When the chemo shut down my ovaries, the doctors told me motherhood might never be mine.

Today, the four daughters I share my life with, the children I feared I would never hold, are my love story.

 Vickie Maye

Finding love after divorce

I never expected to find someone after being blindsided by divorce in my mid-40s and left to raise two young children. The days of meeting someone in a bar or through a friend seem long gone, especially when youre older, and in my experience dating apps are full of players. However, I met someone through a reputable dating site almost two years ago and we are still together, albeit at a slow to steady pace. No interest in marriage or cohabitating but we enjoy each others company, meals out, long walks, and nights away. From my point of view, its a win-win  all the romance without any of the domestic chores.

 Karen

Love from a wolf

As children we played games with him  our big Alsatian. Peekaboo, wed shout from behind our fathers Ford Cortina, then run, the car our shield, him chasing.

As we shrieked louder, ran faster, his excitement built. Wed see it in his flashing eyes, his panting mouth, rippling through his massive legs  excitement edging into wildness.

Wed stop then, while he still could. But once, in the quiet semi-darkness of an outhouse, I crouched close, leaning my head against his side, crying for some childish upset. He stood silent, patient and still  his great body a bulwark for my sobs.

Years on, I recall it  love from a wolf with empathy.

 Helen OCallaghan

I know looks arent everything but...

My (latest) true love is hardworking, helpful, and draws admiring looks.

It makes sensible decisions and is a source of well-being for me.

It isnt a drain on my household finances and doesnt take any more of my time than Im happy to give.

And anyone whos ever had to cater for a picky eater will appreciate this  it eats all its offered and also looks after its healthy snacks.

I know looks arent everything but if they come as part of the package then isnt that so much better?

Meet my Venus Flytrap plant, Axl Rose II. (Just dont ask about its predecessor, RIP.)

 Caroline Delaney

Daffodils dancing in the harbour breeze

Daffodils nodding in the Peoples Park, twinkling kisses on the cold bank step. A missed bus, a Crunchie, that Friday feeling.

Daffodils lining up in a Killarney spring, celebrating new life within. Morning sickness with a five-star view.

Daffodils dancing in the harbour breeze. Two boys, dog, duck, never alone.

That Friday feeling, that springtime joy, daffodil-bright, still there, first date to married state.

 Deirdre OShaughnessy

We said our final goodbye to the sound of AC/DC

When I think of you, I think of fun, of a child-at-heart, of someone who brought a smile to everyones face. One of my fondest memories of you as a child is when you held off joining the older cousins at the pub to bring me and my little brother to the sweet shop to load up on bon bons and jelly snakes. It was probably the most expensive bag of pick n mix I ever got. It was fitting, therefore, that just when things were reaching peak heaviness at your graveside three months ago, and the tears seemed like theyd never stop flowing, AC/DCs Thunderstruck started booming through the sound system as we said our final goodbyes. That was Robbie, we said, as our tears dried in favour of laughs. Thanks for always reminding me to have fun.

 Nicole Glennon

My nana is the strongest woman I know

At 91 years young, my Nana is the strongest woman I know. A proud Limerick lady, she is never afraid to tell it like it is  and never fails to make us all laugh in the process.

Though I dont remember it, I took my first steps with her. Those steps came after many attempts at standing me up in front of the sitting room door, encouraging me to walk towards her. Or so Im told. But one thing I know for sure is she has been my cheerleader ever since.

Thank you Nana for everything you do. In return, I promise to always sit through as many Judge Judy episodes as you can take.

 Maeve Lee

Love from a five-year-old

I was eight months pregnant and all I wanted to do was sleep on that wet Sunday afternoon. To keep my five-year-old entertained, I put on CBeebies, took out his box of Power Ranger toys and stretched out on the couch.

He kept asking me to play with him over and over. My patience wore thin: Stop  I just need 10 minutes sleep, I cried out.

He didnt say a word but went into the kitchen and returned with a piece of paper and a pencil.

Could you write a note for me, he asked.

Id given up on getting a nap and reluctantly agreed.

Mum, he started, you dont know how much I love you.

I dissolved into tears  and hugged my big-hearted son, thanking him for the lesson in unconditional love.

 Irene Feighan
Interview Myanmar Junta Planning a Digital Coup

A woman uses her mobile phone to check Facebook and other mobile apps in Yangon on February 4, 2021 as Myanmar's generals ordered internet providers to restrict access to Facebook, days after they seized power. / AFP

Myanmars military regime is attempting to establish digital authoritarianism by imposing internet shutdowns and restrictions on internet access including increased data charges, state surveillance, online censorship and information control.

The Irrawaddy recently talked to Ma Wai Phyo Myint, the head of the Myanmar office of Access Now, an advocacy group for digital rights around the world, about how effective the regimes information control is, and how the Myanmar people can overcome the regimes online restrictions.

The junta has started arresting people for sharing not very politically sensitive posts on social media. What is your view on that?

The regime started to target people over their social media posts early last year. But there were either few arrests or the arrests were not known about. [Pro-junta] telegram accounts share screenshots of Facebook posts [critical of the regime] and call for the arrest of the authors. The way those telegram accounts operate isthey say those screenshots are sent to them by members of the public. But they have a network backing them. For example, most well-known [pro-junta] Telegram accounts like Han Nyein Oo and Kyaw Swa are linked to the Myanmar military, police and [ultra-nationalist group] Ma Ba Tha.

It is not members of the public sharing information with them. Instead, the information comes from the military, police, Ma Ba Tha and the [militarys proxy] Union Solidarity and Development Party. But they say the information comes from the public and the police and military make arrests in response. This is the way they have operated over the past year.

What other threats has the regime made online?

Over the past year the junta has also focused on gathering intelligence on the network supplying the revolutionary forces, the National Unity Government, [its parliamentary body] the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, and the Peoples Defense Forces. They use technology to track them. It is obvious because since last year the regime has required people to register SIM cards, and it checks if they use the same SIM for registering their mobile wallets like KBZ Pay.

The junta has also announced that they are building a national database, which according to our understanding includes ID numbers, household registration certificates, address, fingerprints and photos of individuals. The regime will check the data against the SIM card registration database. This database will enable the junta to find out a persons address, phone number and their mobile wallet just by checking their fingerprint.

The regime has been building the database since last year, and the database is making certain progress although it might not be complete yet. It has also installed intercept spyware in the telecommunications network. We just dont know how many people the regime can intercept at any one time. Our view is that the junta might monitor people more strictly using those technologies. The surveillance can be more effective, and revolutionary forces must exercise proper caution.

Recently, the regime sent SMS messages to cellphone subscribers warning that supplying terrorist organizations is punishable under the Counter-Terrorism Law. What is the intention behind that?

At the recent meeting of the Counter-Terrorism Committee, junta officials said that there is a need to educate the people about this [supplying the resistance forces]. In our understanding, by educating people the regime means that there is a need to threaten the people. So the messages are being sent to dissuade people from supplying the resistance. All the telecom operators are under military regime control now, so the messages go to all the 46 million active SIM cards in Myanmar. By doing that, the junta wants to threaten people and instill fear in them.

People are concerned that there will be more arrests regarding social media posts this year. What is your view?

Yes, there will be more arrests because the junta wants to instill fear in people. People still criticize the regime on their Facebook posts, even after some stopped supplying the resistance out of fear of arrest. But now the regime has criminalized writing just Ma Ah La [the initials for junta chief Min Aung Hlaing and also for the curse word mother******].

The junta may impose tighter restrictions to force people to self-censor so they avoid writing a single word critical of the regime.

Is a digital coup happening in Myanmar on top of the military coup?

Yes it is. In terms of administrative power, the military has arrested National League for Democracy government members and dissolved parliament in Naypyitaw. And to control civic space, it has taken measures to control the flow of information. Those measures include crackdowns on protests, arresting members of civil society organizations and internet shutdowns.

The junta traces our digital footprints. And it has been building a database that enables it to find out all the information about individuals within a few seconds. Although it hasnt happened yet, the digital coup it aims for is taking shape, and [resistance] forces must continue to work to prevent the regime from getting the technologies they need to make it happen.

What can the people do?

There must be freedom of expression in any circumstances. Organizations from outside Myanmar have to highlight how badly the regime is violating the right to freedom of expression. We want the people to focus more on how they can support the revolution safely. And people who can [help provide digital security] must also give a hand. I want people to think about how they communicate with each other more securely, for example, using fake IDs or riddles to disguise what they are saying.

For instance, people can also lock their profiles in Facebook if they are involved in the revolution in any way. And people dont need to stop expressing themselves because of threats. They can continue to do it incognito.

I suggest using separate IDs. We need to focus more this year on how we can continue to participate in the revolution safely. Because all the telecom operators are now under the control of the regime and we have no safe telecom channel now. We have to help each other.

We should push together to cut off the technologies that the regime has acquired, and to have other telecom services for us to choose to bypass the regimes spy network. These should be our priorities in 2023.

Telegram has been the main application used by the regime to incite arrests and violence against civilians. Should Telegram take responsibility for that?

The regime has switched social media platforms. The Myanmar military was removed from Facebook even before the coup. And pro-military pages were also removed after the coup. So most of the lobbyists for the Myanmar military switched to Telegram. And many people were arrested over the past year because of that.

We have seen many consequences of Telegram failing to act as a responsible and accountable platform. We have talked to Telegram about this situation since February 2022 by mail. But they have not yet made any response to any group that has complained.

But after the BBC reported about this last month, Telegram responded that it would take more action. It has only responded to media, and has not yet talked to civil society organizations about the problems created by Telegram in Myanmar.

Telegram has to take responsibility. Last year, it took down the pro-junta Han Nyein Oo channel three or four times. But those guys immediately opened another channel under the same name and, in no time, they attracted tens of thousands of followers. Telegram has not been able to stop them from repeatedly abusing the platform.

We dont want Telegram to shut down. Our view is that the more social media platform options there are, the better it is for the people. So we dont oppose social media platforms in principle. In fact, we want to have more social media platforms, except those set up by the regime.

We want Telegram to take effective action against channels that are causing trouble. We will continue to push Telegram to take real-time action against channels that are causing serious danger to Myanmar civilians.
NGWANE PARK  Make the country better than it used to be.

This is the message that former South Africa (SA) President Jacob Zuma conveyed to Lwati International Preschool learners during a special visit to the school yesterday. The visit by the former president to the international private school caused a stir among Ngwane Park folk, who witnessed heavy security presence outside the school premises and adjacent to the school. Two roads that connected to the school were temporarily closed for close to an hour, as the learners were awaiting the arrival of the former president, who came at 11am with his entourage.

The former presidents visit to the school was graced by the presence of Zakhele Free Evangelical Assemblies (FEA) Reverend Msibi, the schools financial director, former Manzini councillor, as well as other dignitaries. Meanwhile, when making his remarks, former president Zuma said there were tasks that different citizens were expected to perform in the country.

But your task, as you grow, is to learn how this world looks like. How you can change the world to be better than what you found it to be. That can only be fulfilled by you using your time as much as you can because from you, we are expecting citizens who play not just ordinary roles, but specific roles and important roles, Zuma said. He mentioned that among the learners there would be pastors, teachers, as well as Members of Parliament, which he also said were politicians.

Why should politicians go to Parliament? They get there to discuss the country, how it can be made better than what you would have found it; how would you make the poor to become the opposite of poor, how would you make the country to look nice and be respected, he said. The former president said emaSwati were wonderful people who were generally known to be peaceful, clever, loving, as well as beautiful.

Meanwhile, Zuma expressed that he was overjoyed to see the vibrant learners. He commended the head teacher for the good work she had done in constantly improving the school. He further articulated his wish for the school to expand and said he prayed that this would come to pass. Head teacher Zwane said the entire school system, including teachers, parents, as well as children, were doing the work. She commended everyone for the role they were playing. When asked about the relationship between the former president and the school, the head teacher said Zuma was family to the school.

Meanwhile, the schools Financial Director Dumisani Ngcamphalala said the school had 30 employees and all of whom worked tirelessly to ensure that it was operating at its level best. Ngcamphalala said employees were not there for the money as there was no money. They get stipends. But because of the love they have for the job, they all come here, he said.

He also mentioned that they had challenges in that they could not secure land for the expansion of the school. He highlighted that many parents were turned away due to space constraints. Ngcamphalala said most had either seen the quality of education that was offered to the young ones, or either heard about it, and were flocking to the school. He expressed hope that they would soon secure land to build the school on a larger scale.
Burma Fate of Myanmars CDM Elephants Hangs in Balance

CDM elephant handlers nurse a baby elephant and its mother in Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park, Sagaing Region.

When government workers across the country quit their jobs as part of the anti-coup civil disobedience movement (CDM), a herd of elephants joined them.

Since the coup in February 2021, the 37 elephants and their handlers from Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park  Myanmars oldest and largest national park  in Sagaing Region have been on strike.

A CDM elephant handler said that when the mahouts decided to join the CDM, they couldnt leave behind creatures they had cared for and worked with since their birth.

We elephant handlers cant just walk away from our jobs like other CDM staff. We cant cut our bonds with the elephants or abandon them in bad times. If we left, they would become wild and  that would be inhumane of us, the handler told a local citizen information network.

The handlers and their families chose to stay with the elephants in their forest sanctuary, which is controlled by armed resistance groups, instead of returning to their hometowns after leaving government housing. And thats how the animals they care for became CDM elephants. The strike by staff and elephants meant the park had to close five months after the coup, in June 2021.

Before the coup, the elephants hauled logs in the park or provided rides for visitors. Now, the CDM elephants help locals and resistance groups transport goods and carry wood to rebuild houses burned down by junta soldiers.

A resistance member of the local Peoples Defense Force-Kyauk Lone Gyi who has visited the mahouts several times said the affectionate bond between the CDM staff and their elephants is like that between parents and children.

However, the group is facing hardships after almost two years without salaries. Some have sought casual work on local farms, but the pay is not enough to fulfill even the basic needs of their families and elephants.

I would say they are in greater difficulty than other CDM strikers. If they were alone, they wouldnt need to worry about their survival. But they have to provide for the needs of their beloved elephants too, the resistance fighter said.

According to local resistance groups, the community consists of 37 elephants including five young calves, and around 100 people including 33 mahouts and their family members.

At the end of last year, one elephant died due to poor health and a lack of medicines.

At the time, the mahouts cried and all the elephants grieved too, making a loud sorrowful sound together, the resistance fighter said.

The resistance group donated funds and food contributed by locals for the care of the CDM elephants. However, the CDM elephants food, supplement and healthcare needs are soaring.

The civilian National Unity Governments Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation said it is providing some help via domestic and overseas public donations for the elephants. But support is still limited and patchy, especially at times when donations to the CDM decrease.

The ministry recently launched Elephants in Revolution, a fundraising activity to ease the daily struggles of the animals and their handlers. The fundraiser is selling lucky draw tickets at 15,000 kyats each.

The ministry said that in the future it will also conduct elephant conservation activities.

We need a lot of help from the public who want to support the CDM or help conserve the elephants, the ministry said.
Burma Myanmar Junta Jails Democracy Activist Ko James for Another Five Years

Ko Lin Htet Naing, aka Ko James, speaks to supporters outside a Yangon court following an earlier trial on April 4, 2016. / AFP

A Myanmar junta court sentenced jailed former student leader and democracy activist Ko Lin Htet Naing, aka Ko James, to an additional five years in prison on a terrorism charge on Monday.

According to his wife Ma Phyoe Phyoe Aung, who is herself a prominent activist and former political prisoner, Botahtaung District Court handed down the latest sentence under Article 52 (b) of the Counterterrorism Law.

Ko James was earlier sentenced to three years imprisonment under incitement charges. With Mondays sentence, he now faces a total of eight years imprisonment.

It is an unjust and false charge and sentence using repressive laws; it is a terrorism charge against an activist for defending democracy, Ma Phyoe Phyoe Aung wrote on her Facebook account.

Junta forces arrested Ko James on June 18 in Yangon and he has been detained in Yangons notorious Insein Prison since then. His mother was killed on Oct. 19 in a blast at the prisons parcel drop-off office while delivering food for her detained son. The junta denied his request to attend her funeral.

According to rights group the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, more than 19,000 people including elected leaders, lawmakers, activists, protesters and striking civil servants have been arrested since the coup, mainly for anti-junta activism. Of those arrested, 15,177 remain behind bars.
Burma Myanmar Juntas New Voting Machines are Also Vote-Rigging Machines: Observers

A Union Election Commission staffer explains the Myanmar Electronic Voting Machine to junta boss Min Aung Hlaing on Feb 9. / Cincds

Last week, junta boss Min Aung Hlaing and his fellow generals tried out the new Myanmar Electronic Voting Machine (MEVM) as part of plans for a national poll that will be neither free nor fair.

Officials from the junta-appointed Union Election Commission (UEC) explained to generals how the MEVM operates.

The military claimed the voting machine was its own invention, despite producing barely anything other than beer and green tea.

Most observers believe the juntas major arms supplier, Russia, produced the machines. However, a source from the administrative capital of Naypyitaw said India, Myanmars neigbor and the worlds largest democracy, also played a part.

Russia helps with modifying the machine, and [the regime] imports spare parts from India, said the source.

Junta spokesman Major-General Zaw Min Tun told reporters the regime plans to replace ballot boxes with the MEVMs on condition they work as intended.

The regime has repeatedly announced plans to hold a general election but has failed to set a timeframe. Democracies around the world have dismissed the planned poll as a sham aimed at cementing the militarys grip on power.

The MEVM comprises a control unit, balloting unit, and verification unit, all powered by a 12-volt battery, according to a junta statement. It can also be connected to a printer.

According to information leaked from the regime-controlled UEC, the junta plans to test the machine with 2,000 mock voters at a polling station.

The move has prompted questions over why the regime wants to replace manual voting with electronic voting.

Observers suggest it is planning to introduce online voting via the MEVMS because armed conflicts around the country have made it impossible to set up polling stations.

If voters have to go to polling stations, there wont be any difference between using ballot boxes or electronic machines. I am sure they aim to enable online voting with that machine, said an election observer.

The regime recently reported that more than 100 of the countrys 330 townships are unstable, and it hopes to use the MEVM to enable people from those townships to cast votes, said a source close to the UEC.

The junta may also have other motives for introducing the MEVM. A digital system would likely allow the junta-appointed UEC to rig the vote more efficiently.

The major challenge of using electronic voting comes from hackers, said a technician. But, they [the regime] are backed by Russia, so it will definitely be a good show.

One advantage of voting machines is they produce fewer void votes. Their major weakness is that the junta-controlled UEC can use them to alter the results.

The MEVM is based on the electronic voting system used in Myanmars bicameral legislature, according to a former lawmaker. In that system, it is Parliament speakers who have access to the voting results; for the MEVM system, it will be the UEC chair.

The main problem is the UEC chairman, he said.

Current UEC chairman U Thein So managed to conjure up early votes for the militarys proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) when he oversaw the general election in 2010. With the electronic voting machine, he can do the same, said the former lawmaker.

In 2010, U Thein Soe was tasked with ensuring electoral victory for the USDP. And he has been given the same task 13 years later, said the lawmaker.
Burma Thousands of Sagaing Homes Lost in Myanmar Junta Arson Attacks

Inngyi village in Katha Township, Sagaing Region, after a junta attack on Sunday. / CJ

More than 2,000 Sagaing Region buildings have reportedly been destroyed in three days during Myanmar junta arson attacks on 14 villages.

Martial law was imposed in 37 townships in Sagaing, Magwe and Bago regions and Chin and Kayah states on February 2 and arson attacks have risen since.

Sagaing has suffered from the highest number of arson attacks with more than 43,000 buildings destroyed.

Since Saturday around 70 troops have been torching Katha Township villages, according to the Katha Township Peoples Administration Group.

Around 500 houses in Mal Ngo, Inn Gyi, Tharyar Kone and Tattu Lal Akhin Su villages were burned down, it said.

Troops and Pyu Saw Htee militia allies torched houses and a school in Min Kan Gyi village in Khin U Township on Monday, according to Khin-U True News that monitors junta atrocities.

Regime forces also torched Lat Pan Hla and Laung She villages.

The troops torched the tents of fleeing villagers and looted food from five villages over the weekend, True News reported.

More than 1,600 houses were reportedly burned down in Shwebo Township on Sunday during a junta raid. The large Kyar Ywar village, which has more than 1,000 homes, was among the villages targeted, according to media reports.

Three older civilians died in the raids, residents told the media.

Kyar Ywar has previously faced two junta arson attacks.

On Monday troops torched Kyauk Myint, Tint Tal and Ngarsukone villages in Shwebo Township, the Wetlet Information Network reported.

Junta forces have burned down an estimated 55,484 houses across the country since the 2021 coup, Data for Myanmar reported in January.

Sagaing Region suffered the most with 43,232 buildings burned, followed by Magwe Region either 8,863 and Chin State with 1,484 houses.

Ignoring international criticism, the junta continues arson attacks, airstrikes and bombardments.
Residents both young and old of the ISU community flocked to the Yang Family University Art museum for the first spring installment of the Theodore Dreiser Visiting Writer Series this past Thursday. They were there, of course, to see Terre Hautes very own Dr. Matthew Brennan. For many, Brennan was a familiar face from when he worked as a professor for the ISU English department for 32 years.

Dr. Brennan was gracious enough to agree to an interview so we could get an inside look at his poetry, his time as an ISU professor, and advice he has to give to students.

Brennan grew up in St. Louis, MO, and went to school in Iowa and Minnesota before coming to Indiana to teach here at Indiana State University in 1985. He has been publishing poetry since

he was 22 years old, and now has a total of eight collections of poetry.

His poems focus mainly on local life, family, and architecture. During the interview, he mentioned that his poetic adaptation of a Celtic myth, titled The Sea-Crossing of Saint Brendan was one of his favorites of his published works. Brennan had written and developed the book during his sabbatical during 2004. He also took a trip to Ireland that same year, and stayed in the diocese of the very same St. Brendan.

According to the poet and scholar, a lot of his writing has been shaped by the works of English and Irish poets such as William Wordsworth and Seamus Heaney. If readers are familiar with Wordsworth and read closely, they will see hints and references to the Englishmans work in The Sea-Crossing of Saint Brendan.

Brennans newest book, titled Snow in New York, was published in 2021 and is a combination of new and previous works. Brennan started that there are 21 new poems in this collection, with the rest being his favorites from his past five books. Although most poetry collections are organized by theme, he noted that Snow in New York is ordered chronologically. He also invited readers to look for improvement in his writing from the older to the newer pieces and take inspiration with their own work. About his previous work, Brennan said, It isnt fair for the old man to judge the young poets work. Although it is always important to strive for improvement, it is just as important to be kind to the artist who first began making the art.

The cover of the newest book is one that is very special to Dr. Brennan. He mentioned that his mother painted the cover picture, which is a recreation of Robert Henris Snow in New York, that inspired the title of the collection.

When asked the classic question of if he had any advice for aspiring writers, Dr. Brennan said, Of course read and read widely, but its also important to find the poems you really love. Oh, and read them out loud. Reading your own poems out loud can really carry you through them.

Brennan also noted that a lot of writers, including himself, find writing in a journal really helpful. He started writing in journals when he was a kid, and still looks back at those for inspiration in his writing to this day. He also stated, Write your rough draft for yourself and revise for others.

During the Dreiser Visiting Writer Series event, Brennan entertained the audience with poems specifically about Terre Haute, including ones detailing his personal experiences living here and a few dramatic monologues about famous locals. He also told stories about his family, his time at ISU, and Terre Haute history.

Dr. Matthew Brennan is a wonderful poet and storyteller, who has a way of making you feel like youre sitting by the fire listening to tales of the past. If you are interested in reading his work, Brennans newest book, as well as others, is available on Amazon and other major book retailers.

A big thanks to Dr. Amy Ash and everyone else who helped make this event a possibility.
Digital infrastructure provider Equinix has added Melbourne to Osaka to the list of locations where its Equinix Metal bare metal as a service is available.

A recent study published by Equinix found Melbourne is the fastest growing edge metro in the Asia-Pacific with an expected 53 percent CAGR in interconnection bandwidth between 2020 and 2024.

Equinix Metal's Gen3 servers offer 3rd Gen AMD Epyc, Ampere Altra and 3rd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors with built-in AI accelerators.

According to the company, Equinix Metal removes the hardware challenges of physical infrastructure, so companies can build, configure and run their IT environment via software. An additional benefit is consistency across multiple geographic locations.

Elsewhere in the region, Equinix Metal is already available in Hong Kong, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo. Equinix also offers the service in the Americas and EMEA.

"The launch of Equinix Metal in Melbourne meets the growing need for private low-latency digital infrastructure," said Equinix Australia managing director Guy Danskine.

"With on-demand and flexible interconnectivity now available in both Sydney and Melbourne, businesses can instantly access dedicated compute capacity at software speed, automating interconnection and the foundational network infrastructure they need to support the transformation of their digital infrastructure."
MAPHIVENI  Prime Minister Cleopas Dlamini says there is no civil war in the country, but there are thugs whom they have their names and know their places of abode.

He further mentioned that they had their pictures as well. By thugs, he was referring to those responsible for the deaths of others since the unrest started. The PM, who was interviewed after touring some public roads that were damaged by the rains, said emaSwati were not fighting each other but thugs were killing them.

Dlamini said the visiting former South Africa President Jacob Zuma had been misled by the circulating reports on media platforms, insinuating that there was a civil war in the country. Zuma was among the dignitaries of His Majesty King Mswati III during the national prayer service held at Mandvulo Hall in Lozitha on Saturday.

Killing

He emphasised that it was not true that emaSwati were killing each other but there were thugs who killed them while at their respective jobs or at certain events. The PM said the thugs after killing emaSwati, then issued statements that a dialogue should be held. Dlamini reiterated that the former South African president had been misled that emaSwati were in a civil war, like it had been happening in other countries yet it was not the same situation in the kingdom.

He said what was unfolding in Eswatini was not a civil war but thugs were behind perpetrating anarchy.

He shared that government had the names of the thugs (who were carrying out the killings) together with their pictures.He said it was unfortunate that when they looked for them at their places of abode, they were not found to be brought to face the law. When asked if he could disclose the identities of the thugs and their residential addresses and if they were in the country or elsewhere, the head of government emphasised that they were known, as government had evidence of pictures. He said he could not divulge if they were here in Eswatini or had skipped the country.

Former President of South Africa uMsholozi has been misled that we are at war or emaSwati are fighting each other yet thugs are behind the killing of people. People should know that the thugs are known and we have evidence. We know who they are and where they stay including their homes. We have pictures and their names. It is unfortunate that when their homes are visited, they are not found. But government will make sure that they are apprehended and face the law (sic), the PM said.

Swaziland Liberation Movement (SWALIMO) Spokesperson Thantaza Silolo said the head of government was offside.Silolo said the former South African president was telling government that labeling the opposition with all ugly names would not help, but dialogue was the answer. The spokesperson further stated that Zuma mentioned all the difficulties they went through in South Africa during the apartheid era, indicating that what helped the Afrikaners were for them to concede and allowed dialogue. Peoples United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) Secretary General (SG) Wandile Dludlu said his organisation believed in peaceful resolutions for political challenges.

Dialogue

Dludlu said government should be considering the dialogue as a yardstick towards addressing the political impasse.

Meanwhile, our sister publication, The Times Sunday quoted the PM informing the visiting former South African president that thugs were killing people. He further stated that thugs and thieves were killing those who were opposing their views. The PM had said the country was committed to a dialogue process but the killings were making it difficult for such a process to start.

I want to inform you president that it is just a few individuals who are saying they were not present when the current Constitution was crafted and, therefore, they do not want it. We are not at war against one another, but thugs have seized the opportunity and started killing innocent people. Our biggest worry is that what kind of precedent we would be setting if we allow people to kill each other if they want something changed in the Constitution, he had said.
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MANZINI  NDMA CEO Russell Dlamini has disputed the auditor generals report that about E180 million was unaccounted for by the agency.

This is a report that was made by the auditor general (AG), which revealed that about E180 million in the COVID-19 fund was uncounted for in the agency. This had parliamentarians hot in their collars, as they called for an investigation into the agency. Meanwhile, the CEO said the AGs report was untrue, and that there were six auditors who launched an audit and found that all the monies were accounted for. He further alluded to that the AG, Timothy Matsebula, had even conceded that there were anomalies in his report.

NDMA is an acronym for National Disaster Management Agency. The NDMA CEO, during an event he attended in Manzini, mentioned that there were reports, especially published in newspapers, to the effect that there were monies that could not be accounted for (at NDMA). He recalled that in one of the headlines, it was stated that the money was about E180 million.

This is not true. The reason why I say this is untrue is because NDMA has been audited six times and it was found that the AG had made an anomaly in his report, said the CEO. The names of the audit firms that the CEO mentioned have been deliberately withheld because this publication is yet to confirm and obtain commentary from them. I should say that where the AGs Office made an anomaly for it to come with a report that there were unaccounted for monies, it has come out to clarify. It was found that all the issues that were raised in the report were resolved. In fact, some of them were discrepancies done by the AGs office (sic), Dlamini said. He reiterated that during engagements with the AGs Office, they conceded that there were no monies that were unaccounted for.



Meanwhile, the CEO was of the notion that it was true that when auditing was done, there were some housekeeping issues that were then rectified by the agency, as soon as the AG went out the door. He pointed out that this was a clarification that as NDMA, they were proud of their work. What makes us proud is that there is no money that was lost from the COVID-19 Fund. The six audits that came out clean is evidence enough. It is documented, all money is accounted for, there is no money that was used where it was not supposed to be used, he said.

Meanwhile, AG Matsebula said the claims by the CEO were untrue. I do not know the six audit reports, and I dont believe it is true. I was the last auditor and that is it, Matsebula said. However, he further mentioned that there was an auditor that had similar findings as his. Matsebula mentioned that this was why Parliament had said there should be an investigation into the agency.
MBABANE - Mystery surrounds the death of a 64-year-old mechanic.

He was discovered dead shortly after he was called to assist the driver of a motor vehicle that was reportedly stuck outside his house. Information gathered was to the effect that Johannes Maduma Nkambule, who was popularly known as 10 Feet, was discovered dead by his daughter outside the gate. It is said that the daughter had gone to check on her father who had taken long to return to the house after he had left to attend to the caller.

Nkambule was seated on this chair when he received a call. His wife enquired about the caller and Nkambule responded that it was one of his regular visitors before calling him by name. It turned out the caller had been working with Nkambule during the day. Nkambule told his wife that the caller wanted him to help him kick-start his motor vehicle which was stuck outside the house, said a source close to the matter. The source stated that Nkambules wife suggested that her husband be accompanied by one of the children, as it was already dark.

However, the source stated that Nkambule opted to attend to the caller alone. The source shared that Nkambule did not return to the house, resulting in his daughter going to check on him. The daughter returned to the house in full sprint with tears in her eyes. She reported that her father was dead and left the house. The daughter was found rolling near her fathers corpse outside the gate situated less than 100 metres from the house. It was not easy to remove her from the corpse because she had a strong bond with her father, said the source. The source stated that Nkambules relatives and police were called. It is said that upon inspection, Nkambules belongings were found next to him. The belongings included a wallet and cellphone. There were no visible marks or injuries on his body.

Confused

The family was left confused as nobody was available to answer on what might have happened to him. The family is banking its hope on a postmortem, said the source. The source stated that Nkambule was not on treatment for any illness. Nkambules sudden death was confirmed by his brother Thabo Nkambule, who said the family had nothing much to say as they had just received the disturbing news. He said the family was yet to meet concerning what had befallen them.

Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati confirmed a report of a 64-year-old man who was discovered dead outside the gate of his homestead, situated at Nyonyane in Ezulwini. Vilakati said police were investigating the circumstances that might have led to the occurrence.
MBABANE  A voice recording of people purportedly plotting to murder SNUS President Colani Maseko, and frame SWAYOCO President Sakhile Awviva Nxumalo for it, has caused an uproar in social and political circles.

People who took the recording at face value concluded that the army had a case to answer for the alleged rogue methods of investigation that could potentially sustain the political unrest. Besides being President of the Swaziland National Union of Students, Maseko is also a SWAYOCO member, which affiliates to the Peoples United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO). SWAYOCO stands for Swaziland Youth Congress.

In the controversial recording, a voice of a man alleged to be a top army general is heard analysing, in a presumed conversation with others, that the army would send text messages from Masekos phone to Human Rights Lawyer Thulani Maseko (before he was killed) as well as to Bishop Mpendulo Nkambule, asking for their protection from Nxumalo and other PUDEMO members.

Conspiring

The alleged plot was that he would report Nxumalo for allegedly conspiring to do harm to him on allegations that he had sabotaged the work of the Swaziland International Solidarity Forces (SIFS). The meeting is presumed to have been held before Thulani was shot dead. The voice recording surfaced at a time when there were global calls for an independent investigation into the murder of Thulani.

The Multi-Stakeholder Forum (MSF), of which Thulani was Chairperson, yesterday said it was appalled by the contents of the leaked recording. MSFs Sikelela Dlamini said his organisation had received the recording and the reports but was yet to meet and deliberate on the issue given its far reaching implications.

Resolutions

We are advocating for peaceful resolutions and believe that all issues have to be resolved through dialogue. It is sad that while we are calling for that, suddenly there are reports, such as these, that have emerged attributing such atrocities to law enforcement agencies, he added. Dlamini said the implications were that emaSwati were not free in their country.

Meanwhile, social media users said the recording undermined the investigations that had been made by the countrys security forces leading to the arrest of political activists who were charged under the Suppression of Terrorism Act.

Others said from the recording, interesting leads could be drawn on the death of the Human Rights Lawyer Maseko.

A shocked Facebooker commented: Let the Members of Parliament take this matter to debate it in the House because its a matter of national security. If they are useful, let them speak on this one.

Many other social media users called for the verification of the authenticity of the voice clip prior to it being used in any other way. It would be quite unfortunate if such a clip is legit, but there must be some form of verification prior to it being assumed to be authentic. Otherwise, the contents are appalling, another said. Another called for the army to clear its name by providing proof that the voice of the person was not one of their own.I certainly dont have an idea how you will go about doing that, you need to clear your name, said a social media user.

Meanwhile, the Swazis First Democratic First (SFDF) said the leaked audio was confirmation that the security agents were behind the assassination of activists. The partys Secretary General Gift Dlamini said the recording had also thrown into doubt utterances by Prime Minister Cleopas Dlamini, that there was no political stalemate in the country.

Lamentably, violence breeds violence and the consequences are always dire for both sides, he said. Dlamini said the ruling regime must make up its mind and dialogue with the mass democratic movement (MDM) as represented in the MSF, Political Parties Assembly (PPA) and other groupings that are currently in the diaspora. He said this should put an end to what President Jacob Zuma referred to as a Dlamini killing a Dlamini. He warned that the political stalemate would not go away by itself, but that the regime and the MDM needed to heed former President Zumas advice and go to the round table as a matter of urgency.
Media Rotana Dubai, a five-star luxury hotel, has appointed Idin Asmitha as the new Executive Chef to oversee the entire hotels day-to-day kitchen operations to deliver high-quality food and culinary experiences to the guests.



Hailing from Indonesia, Chef Idin began his career in 1993 at Hilton Jakarta. Boasting over 30 years of experience and knowledge in the hospitality industry, he has worked with many well-known brands and establishments in Indonesia and across the Middle East. He has also worked with internationally recognized Michelin Starred Chefs including Henrik Yde-Andersen, Igor Macchia, Michael Schlow, and Giorgio Locatelli.



Prior to joining the team, Idin worked for the pre-opening of different hotels where he served as an integral part of the culinary team, creating excellent dishes with a unique blend of creative flair and passion for food.



Sherif Madkour, the General Manager said: We trust Chef Idin will be a strong asset to our culinary team and we wish him all the best in his new assignment.



In his new role, Idin will oversee the kitchen operations for the all-day dining restaurant, Channels as well as Nelsons, Pregos, The Terrace and the private catering and banquet unit.  TradeArabia News Service
An N.C. House Select Committee is recommending that the General Assembly change a state law forcing districts to start school the Monday closest to Aug. 26 and end no later than the Friday clo
Today

Sun and clouds mixed. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 78F. Winds light and variable.

Tonight

A few passing clouds, otherwise generally clear. Low 52F. Winds light and variable.

Tomorrow

Mostly cloudy in the morning with scattered thunderstorms developing later in the day. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High around 75F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
A Russian military frigate docked in Cape Town harbour on Monday ahead of controversial military drills with South Africa and China, coming as Moscow is about to mark one year since its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian consulate in Cape Town tweeted a photo of the ship, the "Admiral Gorshkov", in the harbour, saying it was on "its way to Durban where it will take part in joint... drills".

The exercises dubbed "Mosi", which means "smoke" in the local Tswana language, are scheduled for February 17 to 27 off the port cities of Durban and Richards Bay.

They will coincide with the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.

More than 350 South African armed forces will take part in the exercises "with an aim of sharing operational skills and knowledge" with Russia and China, the South Africa military said last month, the second such exercises between the three naval forces.

The Zircon missile system on the Russian frigate "has no equivalent", President Vladimir Putin was quoted as saying last month at the launch of the warship for a training mission in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans and the Mediterranean Sea.

"I am sure that such powerful weapons will make it possible to reliably protect Russia from potential external threats," Putin was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying.

South Africa has refused to condemn the invasion of Ukraine which has largely isolated Moscow on the international scene, saying it wants to stay neutral.

South Africa's largest opposition group, the Democratic Alliance (DA), has denounced the joint drills.

"This vessel will be sailing towards the Black Sea and taking part in the invasion against Ukraine," said Kobus Marais, a DA member of parliament with oversight of party's stance on defence, told AFP.

"That can very easily make South Africa complicit in these war crimes," he said. "We are drawn into the propaganda show of Russia."

The Russian consulate and embassy in South Africa did not respond to an AFP request for comment.
New Delhi, Feb 14 (UNI) External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday arrived in Fiji to attend the 12th World Hindi Conference that is being co-hosted by the Governments of India and Fiji on February 15-17 in Nadi, Fiji.

In a tweet after he landed in Suva, the EAM tweeted in Hindi and English that he is looking forward to meeting Hindi enthusiasts from across the world at the conference:

Bula and Namaste Fiji.

The 12th #VishwaHindiSammelan will begin from tomorrow in Nadi. Thank Minister of Education Aseri Radrodro for the warm welcome.

Look forward to meeting Hindi enthusiasts from all over the world.

Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan, who too is in Fiji to attend the conference, in a tweet said he is looking forward to the deliberations.

Received a warm welcome at Nadi, Fiji, which is hosting the 12th World Hindi Conference.

Look forward to the deliberations at #VishwaHindiSammelan, he posted.

EAMs visit to the South Pacific Ocean island country is also the first by an incoming Ministerial delegation after the formation of the new Government in Fiji in December 2022.

EAM Jaishankar would hold bilateral meetings with the new leadership of Fiji during his visit.

The visit comes close on the heels of the first high-level visit to India by Deputy Prime Minister Prof. Biman Prasad on February 5-10 during which he met the EAM and other officials in New Delhi.

EAM Jaishankar and Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka will jointly inaugurate the 12th World Hindi Conference on Wednesday, which is being held at the Denarau Island Convention Center, in Nadi, Fiji.

Fiji's Deputy Prime Minister Biman Prasad will attend the concluding ceremony of the conference on February 17.

The decision to host the conference in Fiji was taken at the last World Hindi Sammelan in Mauritius in 2018.

A 270 team from India is travelling to Fiji for the conference, while many Hindi scholars from India and abroad are set to participate in the conference.

Representatives from 50 countries would also participate in the sammelan.

During the event scholars of Hindi and those who have contributed to the language will be honoured.

The South and Northeast region will be given emphasis to and experts from these regions will be participating in the conference.

The theme of the conference is Hindi  Traditional Knowledge to Artificial Intelligence.

Ten parallel sessions will be held during the conference. These are: Hindi in Girmitiya countries; Hindi in Fiji and the Pacific; IT and Hindi in the 21st century; Media and the global perception of Hindi; Global reference of Indian knowledge traditions and Hindi; Linguistic coordination and Hindi translation; Different forms of Hindi cinema and global scenario; Global market and Hindi; Pravasi Hindi sahitya in changing scenario and Hindi teaching in India and abroad - challenges and solutions.

Hindi is one of the official languages of Fiji, and is spoken by a wide spectrum of Fijian population.

India is also a major development partner of Fiji, with the cooperation focused on capacity building, healthcare, education, agriculture, MSME sector, renewable energy, climate change and Information Technology.

The EAM travels to Sydney on February 18 for a bilateral meeting.

UNI RN
From Bucha, the town synonymous with massacre allegations, to the "Z" symbol for Russia's attack on its neighbour, here are some of the words that have defined the last 12 months of war in Ukraine.

- Azovstal -

One of the largest metal mills in Europe, the Azovstal steel plant in the eastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol went down in history as a symbol of Ukrainian resistance to Russia's invasion.

The fighters inside Azovstal withstood attacks by the Russian army for weeks, when the rest of the city had fallen after a devastating siege.

The troops, including fighters from the Azov regiment that Moscow describes as a neo-Nazi organisation, took shelter in a warren of tunnels beneath the plant.

They finally surrendered in May 2022 as they ran out of food, ammunition and medicine, but remained heroes in the eyes of Ukrainians.

Some were later released in prisoner exchanges with Russian forces. Others are still held by Moscow.

- Bucha -

Bucha, a quiet commuter town northwest of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, has become a byword for alleged Russian war crimes.

Russian troops are accused of massacring civilians in Bucha, which they occupied for more than a month in early 2022.

AFP journalists were the first reporters to discover the horrors of Bucha after the Russians retreated in late March.

They discovered Ukrainians dressed in civilian clothes, shot dead and some with their hands tied behind their backs.

Ukraine and the West say the Russian army committed war crimes in Bucha and elsewhere, pointing to an abundance of footage and witness accounts.

Moscow denies the accusation, claiming the atrocities in Bucha were staged.

- HIMARS -

The High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) is a US truck-mounted unit that can launch multiple precision-guided rockets at the same time, reaching targets up to 80 kilometres (50 miles) away.

The systems, which Washington delivered to Ukraine in June 2022, are widely seen as one of the most effective tools in the counter-offensive Ukraine mounted against Russian forces last summer and autumn.

HIMARS seriously damaged Russian supply lines and weapons depots, helping to force Moscow's fighters to pull back from the northeastern Kharkiv region and abandon the southern city of Kherson.

Since then, Russia has positioned its depots further back from the front lines, leading Kyiv to urge its Western allies to provide even longer-range weapons.

After months of hesitation, the United States announced on February 3 that it would send rocket-propelled precision bombs called GLSDBs, which could nearly double Ukraine's strike range.

- Mobiki -

Ukrainians use this term for the hundreds of thousands of Russian reservists called up by President Vladimir Putin since September to boost Moscow's troop numbers, following a series of battleground defeats.

Accounts gathered by AFP or posted on social media say these soldiers are often poorly trained and equipped, and rely on family to send them sometimes the most basic of equipment.

Kyiv says the Kremlin is using these reservists as cannon fodder, deploying waves of "mobiki" to exhaust Ukrainian forces by numerical superiority, whatever the human losses that entails.

- Orcs -

The Ukrainian authorities regularly compare Russia to "Mordor", the realm of the power-hungry tyrant Sauron in J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

Russian fighters have become "Orcs" -- Sauron's cruel and ugly humanoid soldiers.

This pejorative epithet first appeared online before making its way into the lexicon of Ukrainian officials.

Another common term is "Rascist", a conflation of "Russian" and "fascist".

- SVO -

"Special military operation" or its Russian acronym SVO is the euphemism used by the Kremlin to refer to its war on Ukraine.

Russia has passed a law banning the use of the words "war" and "invasion" in reference to its neighbour.

In Russia, "war" is a term reserved for the offensive Moscow says the West is waging against it.

- Ukronazi -

Putin justified his invasion by an alleged need to "de-Nazify" Ukraine, which he accused of trying to eliminate its Russian-speaking minority.

Russian propagandists refer to Ukrainians as "Ukronazis".

- 'Go fuck yourself' -

The Russian navy captured Snake Island in the Black Sea shortly after the invasion was launched on February 24, 2022 and ordered the Ukrainian contingent on the small, strategically located outcrop to surrender.

The Ukrainian soldiers became a symbol of their country's resistance when they told the crew of the attacking Russian warship, the Moskva, to "go fuck yourself".

The exchange went viral, appearing on internet memes, placards at pro-Ukraine rallies abroad and on a Ukrainian stamp showing a soldier making an obscene gesture in the warship's direction.

The Moskva, the flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet, sank in mid-April following what the Kremlin said was an explosion on board. Ukraine said its forces hit it with missiles.

Russian forces left Snake Island in June.

- 'Z' -

The letter "Z" daubed on many of the Russian tanks deployed in Ukraine has become a symbol of the war, for both supporters and detractors.

For the pro-war contingent, who use it on public buildings, cars and clothes, "Z" is a rallying sign.

Opponents of the conflict see it as an emblem of Putin's regime, along with the Nazi swastika, which has seen it mutate into "Zwastika".
The war in Ukraine has become synonymous with horrific suffering and destruction, but also with fierce courage and unprecedented solidarity.

Here are 10 iconic pictures that tell the story of the first 12 months of the conflict:

- February 24, 2022: nation in shock -

Despite weeks of speculation, Russia's invasion of its former Soviet neighbour at dawn on February 24, 2022 stuns Ukraine and the world.

The shock etched in the bloodied face of Olena Kurylo, a teacher wounded in the bombardment of the eastern city of Chuguiv, reflects that of a nation. Her defiance too.

"Never, under any conditions will I submit to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin. It is better to die," says Kurylo, 52. Her picture, taken by AFP photographer Aris Messinis, becomes a defining image of the war.

- March 7, 2022: mass exodus -

No sooner has the war started than refugees begin pouring out of Ukraine by car, bus, train and on foot.

Men of fighting age are ordered to stay behind to defend the country, leading to wrenching goodbyes, like this scene captured by AFP photographer Bulent Kilic in the central train station of the port of Odesa on March 7, where a father sees off his daughter.

- April 2, 2022: horror in Bucha -

A month into the war, the Russian military announces its withdrawal from northern Ukraine after failing to take Kyiv, leaving behind a litany of horrors in towns it had occupied.

On April 2, AFP is among the first international news organisations to enter the newly liberated Kyiv suburb of Bucha, where our reporters discover the bodies of at least 20 civilians, some with their hands tied behind their backs, scattered on a single residential street.

The pictures by AFP photographer Ronaldo Schemidt spark a global outcry and see Russia accused of war crimes, which it denies.

- April 12, 2022: Mariupol in ruins -

One city above all comes to symbolise suffering in the first six months of the war: the southern port of Mariupol, which is destroyed during a three-month siege.

This picture, by AFP photographer Alexander Nemenov during a visit organised by the Russian military on April 12, was taken in the ruins of a theatre that was flattened in a Russian strike while hundreds of people were sheltering inside.

- June 15, 2022: battle for Donbas -

After withdrawing from the north, Russia focuses its firepower on the eastern region of Donbas, partly held by pro-Kremlin separatists since 2014.

The outgunned Ukrainians plead for more powerful weapons to try to repel the invaders.

France sends several self-propelled Caesar howitzers, like this one which AFP photographer Aris Messinis captured in action near the town of Kurakhove in Donetsk region.

- October 8, 2022: 'miracle' bridge bombed -

Russia's prestige takes a severe battering on October 8 when Putin's much-vaunted "miracle" bridge linking the Russian mainland to the occupied Crimea peninsula across the Kerch Strait is partly blown up.

Ukrainian social media lights up in rejoicing at the sight of black smoke and flames billowing from a despised symbol of Russia's annexation of Crimea.

Kyiv denies being behind the attack.

This picture was taken by an amateur photographer in the Crimean city of Kerch, who asked to remain anonymous.

- October 17, 2022: enter the killer drones -

Retribution for the Kerch bridge attack comes in the form of a barrage of deadly drone and missile strikes on Kyiv and other cities aimed chiefly at knocking out Ukraine's energy infrastructure.

On October 17, Kyiv residents wake to the buzzing of Iranian-made explosive drones swooping down to attack targets.

AFP photographer Yasuyoshi Chiba snapped one of the weapons as it passes overhead. It exploded 100 metres (yards) away from him.

- November 13, 2022: Kherson liberated -

Russia suffers a major setback on November 9 when it is forced to abandon the southern city of Kherson, which it occupied at the start of the war, in the face of a fierce Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Four days later, AFP photographer Bulent Kilic captures the image of Kherson residents hailing Ukrainian forces as liberators. Their euphoria is tempered by fears that Russia will continue to attack the city, which it does repeatedly.

- December 21, 2022: Zelensky goes to Washington -

The war offers Ukraine's actor turned president Volodymyr Zelensky his biggest role yet, as indefatigable commander-in-chief trying to rouse support for his country's epic fight with the mighty Russian army.

From wartime Kyiv, he embarks on a virtual tour of Western parliaments to plead for more weapons and aid.

The diplomatic blitz culminates in December in Washington, his first overseas visit since the war. "Ukraine... will never surrender," he tells Congress, which gives him a standing ovation, as captured in this picture by AFP photographer Jim Watson.

- February 1, 2023: trench warfare -

As the months pass, the fighting descends into World War I-style trench warfare, with soldiers on either side enduring miserable conditions in the depths of winter.

This picture, also by Yasuyoshi Chiba, was taken near the eastern town of Bakhmut, which is at the centre of the longest and bloodiest battle of the war to date.
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the biggest attack on a European country since World War II when he ordered the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

Here is a timeline of the main developments:

- Chapter 1: full-scale invasion -

At dawn on February 24, 2022, after repeatedly denying plans to invade Ukraine, Putin announces a "special military operation" to demilitarise and "de-Nazify" the former Soviet country.

He says he is acting to protect people in two self-proclaimed pro-Russian territories in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine from "genocide" but provides no proof of his allegations.

A full-scale invasion begins, with missile strikes on several Ukrainian cities and ground forces entering the country from the north, south and east.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stays in the capital Kyiv to lead the resistance, despite the United States warning that Russia is out to "decapitate" his government.

The invasion, which comes after frantic diplomatic efforts to keep Putin at the negotiating table, causes an international outcry.

The West imposes unprecedented sanctions on Russia and progressively ramps them up.

The European Union agrees to send weapons to Ukraine -- a first for the bloc -- and the United States greenlights billions of dollars in military aid.

Russian forces make rapid gains on Ukraine's south coast, seizing the Black Sea port of Kherson, close to the Russian-occupied Crimea peninsula, and the port of Berdyansk on the Sea of Azov.

Moscow's troops also attempt to encircle Kyiv and heavily bombard Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, near the Russian border.

- Chapter 2: horror in Bucha -

A month into the fighting, having failed to break through to Kyiv, the Russian army withdraws from northern Ukraine to focus on the east and south.

As Moscow's forces retreat from the western suburbs of Kyiv, they leave behind scenes of horror.

On April 2, AFP discovers the bodies of at least 20 civilians, some with their hands tied behind their backs, lying on a single street in the northwestern Kyiv suburb of Bucha.

Over the following weeks, hundreds more bodies, many bearing signs of torture, are found in homes, cellars and shallow graves across the north.

Russia is accused of widespread war crimes, which it denies.

- Chapter 3: the battle for Mariupol -

On April 21, Russia claims to have taken the southeastern port city of Mariupol, which has been relentlessly bombarded since the start of the war and subjected to a brutal siege.

In capturing the city, Russia aims to link up rebel-held territory in the Donbas with the occupied Crimea peninsula to the south.

Around 2,000 Ukrainian fighters hold out for nearly a month in the city's sprawling Azovstal steelworks before being ordered in May by Kyiv to surrender to the Russians to save their lives.

According to the Ukrainian government, 90 percent of Mariupol has been razed in the war and at least 20,000 people killed.

- Chapter 4: Ukraine fights back -

Over the summer, the United States and EU step up their supplies of heavy weapons to Kyiv, allowing it to stage a two-pronged fightback.

In the south, Ukrainian forces launch a major offensive to retake Kherson in late August.

They follow up in early September with a lightning counter-offensive around Kharkiv in the northeast, winning back hundreds of towns and villages.

With his army losing ground, Putin announces a call-up of some 300,000 reservists, a move that sparks an exodus of young men of fighting age to neighbouring countries.

Days later he formally annexes four regions of Ukraine -- Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia -- after staging local referendums on joining Russia that are dismissed by Kyiv and the West as a sham.

On November 9, Russia's forces suffer their greatest setback in the war when they are forced to abandon Kherson.

Ukrainian forces are greeted as liberators when they arrive days later.

- Chapter 5: darkest winter -

In October, Russia changes tack and turns its sights to Ukraine's energy infrastructure, which it targets with repeated barrages of missile and drone strikes.

The attacks leave millions without power and heat for hours at a time in the middle of winter.

In January, Russian forces backed by the controversial Wagner mercenary group step up their offensive on the Donetsk town of Bakhmut, at the centre of the longest and bloodiest battle of the war.

Zelensky repeatedly appeals to the West to send tanks.

Germany, which had been wary of escalating the conflict, finally agrees to send some of its powerful Leopard tanks, opening the way for other European countries to do so as well.

Biden makes a surprise visit to Kyiv days before the first anniversary of the war and reiterates Washington's "unflagging commitment" to Ukraine's defence.
When Russia's President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, he started a war that has killed tens of thousands of people, ravaged cities and pummelled the country's economy.

A year on, here is the cost of the conflict:

- Military losses -

According to the latest estimates from Norway, 180,000 Russian soldiers and 100,000 Ukrainian troops have been wounded or killed in the conflict.

Other Western sources estimate the war has caused 150,000 casualties on each side.

In comparison, some 15,000 Soviet soldiers were killed in a whole decade of fighting in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989.

Ukrainian soldiers often use the term "cannon fodder" to describe the Russians sent to their death along the front line.

They are often poorly trained conscripts who stand little chance against Ukrainian forces determined to defend their country.

Others are convicts recruited in Russian jails to swell the ranks of Russian paramilitary group Wagner, who Kyiv and its allies say are deployed on near-impossible missions with the equivalent of a gun pointed to their head.

The onslaught has also taken its toll on the Ukrainian side, as shown by the endless blue and yellow national flags fluttering above cemeteries across the embattled country.

- Civilian losses -

By the time Moscow's forces seized control of Mariupol in late May after three months of heavy bombardment, the southern port city had been reduced to a sea of rubble strewn with dead bodies.

Kyiv said at least 20,000 Ukrainian civilians had been killed.

In total, some 30,000 to 40,000 civilians have lost their lives nationwide in the conflict, Western sources say.

The United Nations estimates that 21,000 civilians have been killed or wounded in the fighting, but said the real figure was likely much higher.

Ukrainian authorities say at least 400 children have been killed.

The UN said most of the civilians killed lost their lives during Russian bombardment.

Long term, landmines will also be a huge threat to civilians.

Kyiv says 30 percent of Ukrainian territory has been contaminated, while Human Rights Watch accuses Ukrainian troops of having planted banned anti-personnel landmines in the eastern region of Izyum.

Experts warn demining could take decades.

- War crimes -

Several images have come to symbolise the war's devastating impact on ordinary Ukrainians.

When AFP journalists entered the Kyiv suburb of Bucha on April 2, 2022, they found one street littered with the bodies of civilians.

One man had fallen onto his bike, another still had a shopping bag in his hand. Yet another had his hands tied behind his back.

Days later, a child's toy lay bloodied at a train station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk, after a Russian missile hit as thousands of civilians waited for a train to flee the violence. At least 57 civilians were killed.

The previous month, people around the world saw the photograph of a heavily pregnant woman on a stretcher being evacuated from a Mariupol hospital after it was bombed. Neither she nor her baby survived.

Around 65,000 suspected war crimes have been reported throughout the war, the European Union's justice commissioner Didier Reynders said.

UN investigators have accused Russia of committing war crimes on a "massive scale" in Ukraine -- bombings, executions, torture and horrific sexual violence.

Kyiv alleges Moscow has forcibly deported more than 16,000 children to Russia or areas controlled by Moscow-backed separatists.

Several NGOs have condemned Ukraine, meanwhile, for violating the rights of Russian prisoners of war, but on a much smaller scale.

The International Criminal Court launched an investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity last year.

But it cannot prosecute either country for any possible war crimes since neither Russia nor Ukraine is a member of the Hague-based court.

Kyiv is instead pressing for a special tribunal to be set up to prosecute Moscow for the crime of aggression because it sees this as a way to achieve faster justice and more easily target the Kremlin's top officials.

- 1,500-km front line -

On the eastern battlefront, entire villages and towns lie in ruins, and the earth is dotted with huge craters.

Exhausted soldiers lie in wait at the bottom of muddy trenches, while the dull thud of artillery fire booms overhead.

The "active" front line runs north to south along 1,500 kilometres (900 miles) of territory, according to Valery Zaluzhny, the commander in chief of Ukraine's armed forces.

Among the hotspots is the town of Bakhmut, dubbed "hell on earth" by many Ukrainian soldiers, where Russian soldiers and Wagner mercenaries have been steadily inching forward in recent weeks.

A few thousand civilians still live in the town, hunkering in cellars without running water or electricity, taking great risks when they venture out for fresh air, food, water and fuel.

Moscow's troops occupy almost a fifth of Ukraine, according to figures from the US-based Institute for the Study of War.

But Zaluzhny said Ukrainian forces had managed to wrest back some 40 percent of territory occupied after the invasion last year.

- Battered economy -

Fighting has been concentrated in the east of Ukraine since Russian forces withdrew from the north of the country a month into the war, following their failure to capture Kyiv.

In these areas, homes, businesses and factories have been ravaged.

Nationwide, Russia has repeatedly targeted key energy infrastructure in recent months, causing blackouts and leaving millions without heating this winter.

The World Bank in October said it expected the country's economy to contract by 35 percent in 2022.

The Kyiv School of Economics in January estimated it would cost $138 billion to replace all the infrastructure ravaged by war.

In a country famed for its cereal and sunflower oil exports, the war has caused more than $34 billion in economic losses in the agricultural sector, it said in November.

Some 3,000 schools have been affected by the fighting, the Ukrainian government said, as well as 239 cultural sites, according to the UN cultural fund.

Rebuilding Ukraine following the invasion would cost an estimated $349 billion, a joint assessment by the Ukrainian government, the European Commission and the World Bank found in September.

"The Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to exact a terrible toll," the World Bank's Anna Bjerde said at the time.

- Millions of refugees -

More than eight million Ukrainians have been forced to flee Ukraine since the war broke out, the UN refugee agency said, the largest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.

Neighbouring Poland hosts the largest share of these refugees, with more than 1.5 million of them.

More than five million people have been displaced inside the country.

Moscow said another five million people had sought refuge in Russia, though Kyiv has accused the Russians of conducting "forced evacuations".

- Western military aid -

When Russia invaded, the Ukrainian armed forces mostly had outdated, Soviet-era military equipment to defend themselves.

Kyiv has repeatedly urged its Western allies to send it modern weaponry, from air defence systems to heavy tanks.

The West was initially reluctant to become too involved, in order to avoid any more direct confrontation between it and nuclear-armed Russia, but little by little it has acceded to most demands.

But President Volodymyr Zelensky's request for F-16 fighter jets has so far gone unmet.

Among the aid, the United States sent Himars precision rocket launchers with a range of 80 km (50 miles), far superior to that of Russian equipment, that analysts say helped turn the tide this autumn in the battle against the Russians in the Kharkiv region in the northeast and Kherson region in the south.

By November, Kyiv's allies had pledged more than 37 billion euros ($40 billion) in military aid, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.

That figure does not include the latest announcements in January that the US, Canada and several European countries will send Ukraine modern battle tanks.
In a small courtroom in Berlin, out of a large audience or media attention, a war crimes trial is nearing its end. It will be the third trial dealing with atrocity crimes committed under the Assad regime to be concluded in Germany. And it is the first to investigate the regimes brutal practice of besieging and starving parts of the population to punish them for their opposition.

Last Thursday, after 30 days of trial, the prosecutors presented their closing statement. They asked the court to convict Moafak D., whose full name remains anonymous, of war crimes and to sentence him to life in prison. For the plaintiffs, whose closing arguments followed, this did not go far enough. Although they agreed with the requested sentence, they reiterated their belief that an additional indictment for crimes against humanity was needed to grasp the magnitude of the crimes and do justice to the long suffering of the civilians under siege.

Since August 2022, the Palestinian Syrian Moafak D. has been on trial for war crimes allegedly committed in Yarmouk, a former refugee camp for Palestinians that has turned into a district of Damascus. In March 2014, he allegedly fired a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) into a crowd of civilians who had gathered to collect UN aid packages. At that time, the mostly Palestinian population of Yarmouk had been suffering from a total embargo since July 2013. Moafak D. was a member of one of the pro-regime militias who exerted brutal control over Yarmouk, enforcing the siege and tormenting its citizens. He purportedly had a personal motive for the attack: revenge for the death of his nephew, killed in a battle with the Free Syrian Army (FSA) two days prior.

Prosecutor Hannes Meyer-Wieck started his final plea by summarizing key moments in the defendants life: Moafak D. was born in 1967 as the tenth of twelve children. His parents had fled Palestine during the Nakba in 1948, when about half of the Palestinian Arab population was displaced. The family settled in Damascus, where he left high school at the age of 15, to start working as a construction worker like his father. From 2007 on, he got involved with two Palestinian militias, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Free Palestine Movement (FPM) that had been close to the Syrian regime since the rule of Bashar al-Assads father Hafez. In 2017, he arrived in Berlin with his wife and three children through a family reunion programme, joining a son who had arrived before as an unaccompanied minor. On the 4th of August 2021, Moafak D. was arrested.

one of the most contested areas of the city

In their three-hour statement, the two prosecutors recalled the most relevant evidence: mostly eyewitness testimonies, corroborated by expert analyses. Prosecutor Meyer-Wieck started by describing the political circumstances. To qualify the crime as a war crime, it has to have happened within the context of an armed conflict. He argued that the peaceful protests in Syria started in 2011 and, after the regimes violent response, turned into a permanent civil war that continued on the day of the crimes and until today.

Yarmouk had become one of the most contested areas of the city, after large anti-regime protests. And starting in July 2013, the regime embargo completely cut it off of food, fuel, medical or other supplies  except for the United Nations aid that was distributed in the regime-controlled North of Yarmouk, where a ceasefire was supposed to be in place during distribution. Within that context, Meyer-Wieck said, the defendant used a military weapon, while those who had gathered to pick up food parcels were, without exception, unarmed civilians who did not participate in combat. They would have starved to death without the food packages, the prosecutor said, reminding the court of the witnesses who had testified that they ate their pets or ate grass, as they were so hungry.

Razor-sharp shrapnel and a deadly blast

But what exactly happened on that day, the 23rd of March 2014? The prosecutors described the events, based on eyewitness accounts. On that Sunday, several hundred people had been standing in line since the early morning to get hold of one of the much needed aid packages. While they were waiting, they were beaten and harassed by militiamen. Four eyewitnesses saw the defendant there. They watched another militiaman handing him an RPG, which he placed on his shoulder. And they saw Moafak D., standing in the middle of the central Yarmouk Street, shooting a grenade into a crowd of people who had collected their packages.

Eight people who witnessed the impact have testified in court. They described a cloud of smoke and pieces of shrapnel covering the ground. They said they saw a large number of injured, and some dead bodies. Five witnesses mentioned a child whose stomach was cut open and who was later treated in hospital. A ballistic expert had confirmed the devastating effect of this type of weapon: he explained that its impact produces not only a deadly blast, but also hurls out a large number of razor-sharp shrapnel at a speed of 8500 meters per second. Another expert  forensic professor Markus Rothschild who also analysed the Caesar files for the trial in Koblenz  had confirmed that one of the plaintiffs still had pieces of shrapnel stuck in his body.

He was seen and clearly identified

Then the question remained, whether the defendant was the one who committed these crimes. The prosecution argued that Moafak D. himself had said in his initial statement at the beginning of the trial that he worked for the Palestinian militias and was regularly sent to Yarmouk for errands. They did not believe his later statement in court that he left Yarmouk in 2012 and never stepped foot there again. He had a leading position in the brutal control of the population in Yarmouk, the prosecution claimed. They mentioned photos that showed him heavily armed and wearing military clothes. And they referred to witnesses who had recognized the defendant due to his unique beard colour and his posture. Some had known him before, others had learned his name right after the attack. He was seen and clearly identified.

The prosecution considered all eyewitnesses credible. Even if there were some discrepancies in witnesses testimonies, these were all cleared up in the course of the trial, said prosecutor Peter-Michael Gaedeke. Discrepancies concerning the date and exact location had been due to misunderstandings, a lack of familiarity with the area or with maps, and a general panic and chaos during the attack, argued the prosecutors, adding that the defence witnesses, on the other hand, seemed to have provided a prime example of badly coordinated false testimonies. Towards the end of the trial, some of Moafak D.s family members had testified that he was in hospital for a leg injury during the time of the crime  a fact that the defendant himself had never mentioned. The witnesses used identical key words, but failed to provide answers to any more detailed questions.

The prosecution concluded that Moafak D. was guilty of war crimes in coincidence with murder and grievous bodily harm. They counted three victims of grievous bodily harm: the two joint plaintiffs and the boy whose stomach was torn open. They counted seven victims who died at the crime scene, a number that two witnesses had read in the hospital records. The prosecution believes these seven can be attributed directly to the attack, unlike the victims who died in the hospital. They asked the court to acknowledge a particular severity of guilt due to the despicable nature of the crime: not only had the defendant acted out of revenge, but he had also attacked defenceless civilians, some of whom had turned their backs on him on their way home from the aid distribution.

The defendant arbitrarily killed people. He chose his victims at random, Meyer-Wieck read out, adding that Moafak D. had taken advantage of the catastrophic circumstances in Yarmouk. In German law, a sentence stating the particular severity of guilt means that the convicted person cannot apply for early release even after fifteen years in prison.

War crimes charge is not enough

After a three-hour statement by the prosecution, plaintiff lawyer Patrick Kroker kept his plea short. He agreed with the prosecution on the most part, but reiterated a demand that the two joint plaintiffs had brought to the court in December: that the crimes should not only be assessed as war crimes, but as crimes against humanity. Even though they had happened in the context of the armed conflict, according to Kroker they were more closely tied to the Assad regimes policy of persecuting disloyal parts of the population.

Over the months and years, the militias as extensions of the regime were responsible for abuse, torture, sexual violence and forced disappearances, he said. The siege had been at the centre of their terror and had forced people to leave their houses and risk their lives, if they wanted to avoid starvation. In this moment of utter vulnerability, the defendant aimed his weapon at the frightened people who had never wanted to come near the militias, but were forced to.

Finally, Kroker took a moment to pay tribute to his two clients who survived the attack and still suffer from the physical and mental consequences. One of them was present in court, listening to the statements with a sad but calm expression. The plaintiffs have shown that the defendants attempt to de-individualize and degrade them have not been successful, he said. They have shown us and their tormentor that even the experience of extreme violence and the painful memory reactivated here could not stop them from demanding justice.
While Yoo Ah In is currently under investigation of the authorities for a drug-related issue, the award-winning actor's past remark about his character in "Veteran" resurfaced.

The news comes after the "Hellbound" star is suspected of having used propofol habitually and against the Narcotics Control Act. The said narcotics are being used in a hospital setting and is considered a sleep-inducing drug.

With this, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's drug investigation unit conducted a probe into the actor and barred him to travel outside the country as the investigation continues.

However, the actor's past remark about his performance in "Veteran" is making a round of noise online.

Was Yoo Ah In Under the Influence During the Production of 'Veteran'?

The 36-year-old star has accomplished a lot of projects, may it be series or films. Moreover, he is also known for playing unconventional roles like the 2015 hit film "Veteran."

In the action thriller series, Yoo Ah In took the role of the villain Jo Tae Oh. He is a third-generation chaebol who is also a part of the family's conglomerate, Sinjin Group. He is joined by veteran actor Hwang Jung Min along with Yoo Hae Jin, Jung Woong In, and more.

"Veteran" gained positive responses from the public that it returned with a sequel. During the movie's press conference in Seoul in the same year, the award-winning star spoke about his role and experience filming the movie.

After watching himself play the villain role, he admitted that he felt "nervous" while seeing himself play Jo Tae Oh.

"Right now, I feel kind of giddy and dizzy because I watched my performance nervously," he said, to which co-star Hwang Jung Min responded saying "Giddy and dizzy? Did you eat the wrong medicine/drug?"

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Yoo Ah In's Supporters To File Defamation Amid Drug-Related Issue Against the Actor

However, Yoo Ah In laugh and commented not to "say anything that would cause trouble." The prolific actor then threw a joke and shared that the "secret to crazy acting is drugs."

At the height of the movie, viewers were impressed with Yoo Ah In's a remarkable portrayal of the villain character.

However, netizens think that he might be high on substances at the time of the production of the "Veteran."

On the other hand, others also pointed out "Yoo Ahin is truly the Jo Taeoh of 'Veteran' in real life.

Will Yoo Ah In's New Drama, Movies Put on Hold Due to the Drug Scandal?

Days after the authority's announcement regarding the investigation, his urine test was released, and tested positive for marijuana.

As for the hair strand test, it will take 2 to 3 weeks to get the test result and confirm whether he is using propofol or not.

On the other hand, industry personnel is in a panic over Yoo Ah In's drug controversy given that his upcoming projects are set to be released in the first half of the year.

According to Korea Times, just like Netflix's "The Match," where it featured a team-up with Yoo Ah In and Lee Byung Hun. It is scheduled to be released in the first quarter of the year but might be affected because of investigation.

READ MORE: Yoo Ah In Being Cancelled by Brands Receive Mixed Reactions

KDramastars owns this article

Written by Geca Wills
EbixCash becomes 1st to launch UPI for foreign nationals visiting India

Mumbai, Feb 14 (UNI) EbixCash Limited, a subsidiary of Ebix Inc., a leading international supplier of on-demand software and e-commerce services to the insurance, financial, healthcare and e-learning industries, on Tuesday announced that it has become the first company in India to pioneer, launch and enable Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions for foreign nationals visiting India.

This new capability will allow a foreign national visiting India to pay for goods and services in India, using UPI in seconds.

As a part of that initiative, EbixCash has become the first financial services entity in the country to enable UPI services for foreign delegates attending the G-20 summit being held in India, a release said here.

EbixCash will be carrying out a pilot launch shortly in Bangalore at the G-20 summit, involving dignitaries from the worlds 20 most powerful nations.

T C Guruprasad, managing director, Payment Solutions division and EbixCash World Money, said. We are excited to announce the launch of UPI for foreign nationals exchanging currencies across airports in India. This is in line with our commitment to embrace the vision of Indias Prime Minister Narendra Modi to promote digital transactions in India. This would enable passengers to visit our airport counters across India for converting their foreign currency into digital Indian currency, with a UPI interface to pay for goods and services across the country.

UNI AAA SS 2001
Bristol Bob did not lie when he predicted six more weeks of winter.

More snow is forecast to fall over the Kenosha area as rain showers Wednesday night likely turn to snow showers on Thursday.

On Groundhog Day, the nature centers petrified weather-predicting mammal was reported to have seen his shadow, meaning winter wasnt over, yet.

Lee Newspapers Meteorologist Matt Holiner said the amount of snow to arrive in Kenosha County and southeast Wisconsin this week wasnt certain Monday afternoon, due to varying weather models. Two low pressure systems are headed our way, pushing down temperatures.

The big question is how quickly will temperatures drop, Holiner said. We will know more after the rain comes through on Tuesday.

The National Weather Service forecast indicates there will be a slight chance of a rain and snow mix in the early morning hours on Thursday, then a chance of snow showers after 3 a.m. with a low around 26 degrees.

Snow showers are likely on Thursday, with a high near 31 degrees and wind gusts of up to 35 miles per hour.

Peak snow showers will be on Thursday, Holiner said. There will be some level of impact, we just dont know how much yet.

Thursday night will see a 20% chance of snow showers before midnight, and 20 to 25 mph winds with gusts of up to 35 mph.

Temperatures will begin to rise by the weekend with Fridays high near 25 degrees, Saturdays near 41 degrees and Sundays near 45 degrees.

Weather models will become clearer in the coming days as it pertains to snowfall and snow accumulation.

There will be snow, Holiner said. We just dont know how much yet.
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Getting into medical school is arguably the largest barrier to entry into the physician profession, but it is not the only one. Previously, I covered who gets to succeed in medical school and who gets to graduate. In this article, I look at who gets to be a resident.

After completing medical school, the next step for a graduate is residencythe post-graduate training that every new physician goes through to practice in their medical specialty. Like medical school, the process to get into residency is application-based, expensive, time-consuming, and highly competitive. Also, like medical school, there are significant disparities in how residents are selected. Recent data shows us that graduates who identify as underrepresented in medicine (URIMs) are less likely to progress into residency.

Just 5.8% of active residents (2020-2021) are Black, 7.8% are Hispanic, 0.6% are American Indian or Alaska Natives, and only 0.2% are Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander (AAMC, 2021).

URIM students are less likely to enter residencies than white students. Black/African American and Hispanic male students are least likely, followed by American Indian/Alaska Native and Hawaiian Native/ Pacific Islander female students (JAMA, 2022).

The residency process is largely accomplished through the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP), which uses an electronic application service to funnel tens of thousands of applications to residency programs throughout the United States. Graduates can apply to as many residency programs as they like within their desired specialty.

In 2022, the average MD graduate submitted 68 applications, leaving residency programs with the lofty task of filtering over a thousand applications per 10 spots.

Programs have few resources to review these increasingly large application pools, leaving them with little option but to screen. Filters like USMLE Step 1 and Step 2 CK test performance (more on that below) go first. Other criteria like personal experience and medical school emerge as barriers to getting an interview. No interview means no residency, and even those who interview are not guaranteed to match on their first attempt. In the most unfortunate circumstances, some medical school graduates never match at all or stop applying after their first few attempts.

Another barrier to entering residency is cost. Every program application costs a fee, meaning lower-income students may not apply for as many residency positions. And when an applicant receives an interview, they foot the bill for travel. Things like relocation costs prohibit many graduates from applying to programs outside of their home states or current geographical location. This limits opportunity and bars many students from applying to residencies they are qualified for but cannot afford.

Sound familiar? It is a process that mirrors medical school admissions and one that perpetuates an unjust approach to who ultimately enters the medical profession.

The leaky pipeline theory

Traditionally, a point of bias in the residency attainment process has been a students USMLE Step 1 test score. In a 2020 study of USMLE Step 1 cutoff scores, URIM students were found to have lower USMLE scores than their white counterparts. Because many residency directors historically only interview and accept applicants above a specific score threshold, many URIM students are often denied a seat at the table. This contributes to the leaky pipeline theory, where URIM students are removed from the talent pool, contributing to underrepresentation in the medical field.

In 2021, the USMLE updated Step 1 to remove score reporting and instituted a pass/fail system in its place. However, Step 2 remains the same. It can be inferred that the bias from Step 1 may shift to Step 2.

How the residency system fails URIM physicians

One of the most uncomfortable truths of the residency process is that bias does not stop when a URIM student attains a residency placement.

Black residents report experiencing discrimination and unfair treatment in their programs. In an unpublished study from 2015, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education found that Black physicians made up around 5% of all medical residents but represented almost 20% of the residents who were dismissed from their programs. A 2020 survey of almost 7,000 surgical residents found that almost 25% had experienced discrimination because of their race, ethnicity, or religion, with the highest rates among Black residents (70% reported discrimination), followed by Asian (46%) and Hispanic (25%) residents. This discrimination was also associated with higher rates of burnout and not finishing residency.

Opportunities to fix the system from the bottom up

As health care educators, we are responsible for changing the systemic barriers that keep URIM students from having a seat at the table. First, I recommend that the MCAT report scores with recommendations for academic support. For example:

40th percentile and higher: Likely to manage academic rigor with little to no support

20th to 40th percentile: Able to manage academic rigor but may need learning strategy

Below 20th percentile: Content support and extended time to master the material.

This can guide medical education institutions on how to best support incoming students in lower percentiles. Additionally, medical schools should be encouraged to establish their position to specialize in those under the 40th percentile, targeting 50 to 60% of students at that level of preparation and staff accordingly to support them. This way, we can set these students up for better chances of success when they enter the residency match process and begin their residencies.

I also recommend that the USMLE Step 1 remain pass/fail. This removes the bias based on test scores alone, which can be particularly detrimental to the chances of URIM students. All members of admission committees and residency directors should undergo unconscious bias training so that the ranking process can become fair, just, and equitable.

Finally, as I have previously stated in other articles, educators, admission committees, and residency directors should consider Social Determinants of Learning when considering potential candidates. The Social Determinants of Learning framework outlines the physical, mental, socioeconomic, and communal barriers to education and reminds us of the challenges our students may face that can adversely affect academic performance. In addition to this outline, it offers guidance on providing support to overcome those barriers so students can maximize their potential and achieve better outcomes.

What happens during the match process and in their residencies is largely out of our control. However, our responsibility is to set our students up for the best chance of success. At the school where I am dean, we are dedicated to helping our students achieve the best possible outcomes. We were proud to have a 96% first-time residency attainment rate in 2022, meaning that 96% of our students attaining a 2022-23 residency position out of all graduates or expected graduates in 2021-22 who were active applicants in the 2022 NRMP match or who attained a residency position outside the NRMP. Of the 454 students who attained residencies in 2022, 119 (26%) identified as URIM. I am also proud to say we have the data that supports our mission to expand access to education and increase diversity in the health care workforce. However, I still acknowledge that we have a long way to go to achieve true and accurate representation in health care. Our medical school will continue refining its strategies, increasing student support, and moving forward until we achieve truly equitable health care.

Heidi Chumley is dean, Ross University School of Medicine.
ICICI Bank signs MoU with BNP Paribas

Kolkata, Feb 14 (UNI) ICICI Bank, a leading private sector bank in India, and BNP Paribas, a top European bank, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to cater to the banking requirements of European corporates operating in India and Indian companies in the European Union.



The MoU establishes a framework of partnership between the two banks for providing financial services to corporate customers operating in the India  Europe corridor.



The MoU was signed at an event held in Mumbai by Anup Bagchi, Executive Director, ICICI

Bank, and Grzegorz Marczuk, Chief Operating Officer, BNP Paribas India.



Speaking on the occasion, Bagchi said, We are delighted to enter into a partnership with BNP Paribas, one of the oldest foreign banks in India. As the fifth largest economy in the world and with

a strong focus to become a regional manufacturing hub, India is at the forefront of leading the world growth in the near future. This makes India a very attractive destination for trade and foreign investment, with Europe ranking amongst the top regions investing in India."

"With our strong physical network across the country, world class digital offerings and comprehensive suite of corporate and retail banking products, we are confident that ICICI Bank will support BNP Paribas customers grow their business in India, and make India one of their key markets. Further, we will leverage BNP Paribas pan-Europe presence to support our corporate clients for any of their banking requirements across Europe, he said.



Sanjay Singh, Head of Territory & CEO, BNP Paribas India said, We do see several Indian corporates emerging as global champions. Our partnership with ICICI Bank will support corporates expansion plans with a right mix of ICICI Banks robust domestic physical network combined with

our deep global footprint. This alliance will further strengthen our commitment to supporting Indian corporates in their global journey and European corporate clients looking to expand their footprint in India.

UNI BM KK
The LOVE stars installation from Ambers One Million Stars project has officially opened at the Goods Shed Square, MacDonagh Junction Shopping Centre.

Representatives from Amber Womens Refuge and MacDonagh Junction were joined by star weavers from Kilkenny and the local Ukrainian community to mark the occasion on the traditional day of love.

This is the installations second time at MacDonagh and first time at the Goods Shed.

The stars were first at the Centre in 2020 when 10,000 stars had been woven by locals.

LOVE and the Selfie Star, gifted to the project by local firms JM Steel and CDS Metalwork, now host over 40,000 stars combined.

Ambers One Million Stars LOVE installation has been part of the Kilkenny landscape since 2020.

Since then, it has toured various venues around Kilkenny city and 40,000 hand woven stars have been added by members of the community in solidarity against domestic, sexual and gender-based violence.

We are opening the installation on Valentines Day, the annual day of love, as a reminder that not everyone in our community experiences healthy, loving relationships. We hope the stars let them know they are not alone and that help is available, says Siobhan McQuillan, Project Lead, Ambers One Million Stars project.

Marion Acreman, Manager, MacDonagh Junction SC, said she was thrilled to have Ambers One Million Stars LOVE stars installation back at MacDonagh Junction.

"This wonderful installation was with us in Workhouse Square in 2020 and sent a beautiful message of love and peace to all of us during Covid lockdown," she added.

"We are so excited to have them back in more normal times and look forward to seeing the community enjoy and share their important message."

Ambers One Million Stars Ireland project is an inclusive community arts project connecting communities across Ireland in solidarity against domestic abuse and all forms of violence.

Each eight-point star represents light, hope and solidarity against domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, promoting the projects eight points of healthy love within relationships.

Stars are curated into the travelling LOVE stars installation, spreading love and hope for a future free from violence and abuse for all in the community.

Register as a star weaver or weaving group at www.onemillionstarsireland.ie to help weave One Million Stars to End Violence in Ireland.

Star weavers in Kilkenny & 21 other counties have already woven over 200,000 stars to end violence in Ireland.

Amber Womens Refuge 24/7 Helpline: 0818 42 42 44

Mens Aid Ireland Helpline: 01 554 3811
Chinese foreign minister holds talks with Thai counterpart

Xinhua) 10:06, February 14, 2023

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang holds talks with Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai, who is paying a visit to China, on Feb. 13, 2023. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

BEIJING, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Monday held talks with Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai.

Qin said China will adhere to the basic state policy of opening-up, drive high-quality development and establish a new development paradigm, which will bring new opportunities to China-Thailand cooperation.

Qin suggested that the two sides maintain high-level exchanges to bring mutual political trust to a new height, lead practical cooperation to a new level, and encourage new achievements in people-to-people exchanges.

Both sides should work together to deepen the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative, implement the important decisions of the China-ASEAN Special Summit to Commemorate the 30th Anniversary of China-ASEAN Dialogue Relations, and make new progress in multilateral cooperation, Qin added.

Noting that Thailand values its relations with China, Don Pramudwinai said the country firmly supports the one-China policy, the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative, and hopes that the two sides will maintain exchanges at all levels and actively promote cooperation in various fields.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
New Delhi, Feb 14 (UNI) Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra is to pay a two-day official visit to Bangladesh from February 15 to hold talks with his Bangladeshi counterpart Masud Bin Momen, a statement said.

FS Kwatra will fly to Dhaka from Kathmandu where he is visiting presently.

During the visit, both Foreign Secretaries will review the entire range of bilateral relationship including political and security, water, trade and investment, power and energy, defence, connectivity and sub-regional cooperation.

The visit to Bangladesh is keeping in line with the highest priority accorded to Indias Neighborhood First Policy. Bangladesh is Indias top-most development partner and its largest trade partner in the region.

Foreign Secretarys upcoming visit will further strengthen bilateral ties and impart momentum to ongoing cooperation in diverse areas, the statement added.

UNI RN
Shenandoah, IA (51601)

Today

Periods of rain. Becoming windy in the afternoon. Morning high of 55F with temps falling to near 45. Winds NNW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around a half an inch. Higher wind gusts possible..

Tonight

Cloudy skies. Windy this evening. Low near 35F. Winds NW at 20 to 30 mph. Higher wind gusts possible.
NATO allies worry about dwindling ammo stockpiles as they try to keep Ukraine's troops firing
Former South Carolina Republican Gov. Nikki Hale, here in Las Vegas in November 2022, announced Tuesday that she will run for president in 2024.
Former President Donald Trump, here in Palm Beach, Florida, in 2022, must pay $110,000 for failing to respond to a New York state attorney general subpoena for documents.
President Joe Biden, here in Washington, DC, on Friday, February 10, faces a slew of questions about the objects shot down by US fighter jets in the last few days.
Fort Polk, LA (71446)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms developing during the afternoon. A few storms may be severe. High 84F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms during the evening, then partly cloudy overnight. A few storms may be severe. Low 53F. WSW winds shifting to NNW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Kendallville, IN (46755)

Today

Cloudy skies early, followed by partial clearing. High 78F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Clear skies early with isolated thunderstorms developing late. Low 59F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
Auburn, IN (46706)

Today

Cloudy skies this morning will become partly cloudy this afternoon. High 78F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A few isolated thunderstorms developing overnight under partly cloudy skies. Low 58F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
Since February is here, the Korean Business Research Institute has officially announced their brand reputation rankings!

Here are the Top 10 most popular boy groups for February 2023!

1. BTS

BTS dominated the brand reputation ranking list with a whopping 7,030,932 brand reputation index. In February, BTS got highly affiliated with keywords such as "concert film" which referred to their "Yet To Come" screening. Their positivity-negativity analysis summed a score of 80.73 percent positive responses.

2. SEVENTEEN

SEVENTEEN improved their previous score in January with a 21.91 percent increase. They rose to the No. 2 spot for February, due to gaining a brand reputation index of 4,382,675.

3. NCT

With a brand reputation index of 3,827,415, NCT earned the No. 3 spot in the list.

4. EXO

EXO also joined the list with an index of 3,075,852, improving their previous January score by 9.62 percent. EXO member Baekhyun also made buzz due to his discharge from military service, and finally returning to the K-pop scene.

5. BIGBANG

BIGBANG secured the No. 5 spot for February with a brand reputation index of 2,638,578. The legendary act placed a 63.16 percent boost from their previous score in January.

6. TXT

TXT entered the list with an index of 2,336,904. Since the group was very active in promotions, it's understandable to have their place on the top 10.

They also released their mini album "The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION" and single "Sugar Rush Ride" in January, which led to numerous achievements in the music charts for February.

7. Super Junior

Super Junior amassed a brand reputation index of 2,224,729. They were considered since the members are active in solo endeavors involving variety show, social media updates, and releases.

8. THE BOYZ

THE BOYZ joins at No. 8, with an index of 2,151,709. The boy group created curiosity within online communities for their upcoming 8th mini album, "BE AWAKE." They have also released a trailer for their next release. Meanwhile, they are also active in making vlogs for fans.

9. MONSTA X

For February, MONSTA X gained a total score of 2,151,188. Since they published their latest comeback "Beautiful Liar" last January, fandom Monbebes surely went after the February content that followed its release. Those include behind-the-scenes content, and an upcoming DVD of their "NO LIMIT TOUR."

10. SHINee

To complete its Top 10, SHINee garnered a brand reputation index of 1,919,327. SHINee members received attention for their activities, such as Onew adding an extra date for his first solo concert "O-NEW-NOTE," and Key prepping for solo comeback "Killer."

What do you think of the list? Let us know in the comments below!

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Written by Israel Monte
GOT7 leader Jay B has shocked Ahgases with unexpected news. The idol went viral for his livestream, which led many fans to gasp on his update.

What did Jay B share with Ahgases?

GOT7 Jay B Reveals Early Military Enlistment In Instagram Live

On February 14, Ahgases took an audio clip from Jay B's Instagram livestream. The audio featured Jay B updating his fans about daily life, and most of all, his early military enlistment.

Jay B candidly shared to Ahgases that he has already enlisted for military service, to which he began on February 2. He also apologized for his action as well, due to its lowkey nature and his circumstances.

The GOT7 leader also updated fans that waking up early in the morning is now a daily routine. He also expressed gratitude to everyone who supports him.

In the audio, Jay B shared an excerpt from an upcoming song which describes autumn.

The quote stated, "In autumn, I'll come back again with a smile on my face," implying his promise to return safely and healthy.

"As I want to share you guys this story, and as I want to say sorry about it as well. If you guys didn't know yet, I started military duty on February 2nd already. It just happened like that." "I'm now trying my best to wake up early and I don't have any problem with it. For everyone who always worries and love me, I want to say thank you, seriously." "The song that will be released tomorrow, together with their lyrics, it's just like how it is in autumn. Duty can be possibly longer than autumn." "However, 'In autumn, I'll come back again with a smile on my face.' Between service, I'll try to find you guys as well."

Jay B Expresses Gratitude To Ahgases, Promises Interaction During Enlistment

To lighten up the mood, Jay B answered a pop question if he prefers chocolate or strawberry flavored ice cream. He then replied that strawberry one is his top pick.

Jay B then assures that he can do short Instagram lives occasionally, and thanked fans once again for their patience.

Furthermore, fans brought up his growing beard, to which Jay B responded that he'll have it removed when he comes back. He also promised Ahgases to come back in the near future.

"Okay, here's a sudden pop question. Chocolate or strawberry ice cream? I like strawberry ice cream more." "Oh, my beard? I cannot help it. I'll just grow it out. I'll cut it out later when I come back for sure." "I can do Insta live for sure. Everyone, thank you for saying you guys will wait for me. I'll keep doing my best while moving forward. I'll try my best to finish my duty and then, I'll go back to you guys again."

Were you surprised with Jay B's enlistment news? Tell us in the comments below!

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KpopStarz owns this article

Written by Israel Monte
Mr. President,

Let me thank you and your team for convening this meeting [thank the panelists] on this very important topic on negative security assurances.

Mr. President, let reiterate at the outset that total elimination of nuclear weapons is the only guarantee against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons. As stated in our previous statement to this Conference in January this year, we attach utmost priority to the goal of complete and verifiable elimination of nuclear weapons. Negative Security Assurances (NSAs), while it is commonly agreed as an essential legitimate interest of non-nuclear weapon states, is only an interim measure pending the achievement of a world free of nuclear weapons.

Final document of the 1978 First Special Session on Disarmament obliges nuclear-weapon states to pursue efforts to conclude, as appropriate, effective arrangements to assure non-nuclear-weapon States against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons. The topic of NSAs has been in the agenda of the CD since its inception of 1979. We also note the UN Security Council resolution 984 adopted unanimously in 1995 providing pledges on NSAs to nonnuclear-weapon States parties of the NPT in the context of obtaining an indefinite extension of the NPT. Furthermore, the consensus Action Plan of the 2010 NPT Review Conference refers to action points 8 and 9 on NSAs. However, despite discussions that have been continuing in the CD in various forms over the years, we have not been able to conclude a legally binding instrument to effectively assure non-nuclear-weapon States (NNWS) against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons.

Considering that non-nuclear-weapon States haven undertaken a legal obligation under the NPT to never produce nuclear weapons, it is only logical and legitimate for those states to expect that nuclear weapons would never be or threatened to be used against such states and that such expectation be enshrined in a binding legal instrument. The existing declaratory assurances do not contain a binding value nor do they provide a comprehensive unconditional guarantee. Moreover, issues such as ambiguity, geographical limitations, non enforceability as well as the conditions attached make the existing unilateral declarations an inadequate response, particularly given the current growing climate of nuclear risks and increasing militarization. While we welcome the NSAs established within regional nuclear weapon free zones, which are currently the only internationally legally-binding NSAs, it is noted yet again that ratification of the protocols on regional nuclear weapon free zones by nuclear weapon states accompany various reservations. Our collective failure to adopt a consensus outcome document for the second consecutive time, at the 10th NPT Review Conference held last year is yet again a missed opportunity to address the issue of NSAs in a more comprehensive manner.

During the deliberations we had over the years on this subject in the CD in the form of ad hoc committees, thematic debates and subsidiary bodies we note that while there is general agreement on the importance of NSAs for non-nuclear weapon states the scope of the assurance and the beneficiaries of those assurances, the place for negotiations have been the topics for debate. Different positions taken by states include unconditional NSAs extended to all non-nuclear weapon states, NSAs provided only to states who have renounced the production and acquisition of nuclear weapons and NSAs extended to states who are not under the protection of any nuclear power. While we note these various positions of states on NSAs, my delegation considers that the actual negotiation of a treaty on NSAs could in fact be quite straight forward. Given the position of some delegations that NSAs have been already granted under nuclear weapon free zones, translating those assurances into a binding legal instrument should not in fact be an issue.

While my delegation views NSAs only as an intermediary step we wish to highlight its overall importance and contribution to nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation regime, as a confidence building measure for more certainty and reliability.

Mr. President, in conclusion we join the collective voice to reiterate the important and urgent need to commence negotiations on an unconditional, non-discriminatory and irrevocable legally binding instrument on NSAs, for as long as nuclear weapons remain in existence the legitimacy of the call for such assurances by states remains valid.

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New Delhi [India], February 14 (ANI/PNN): In a world where digital transactions are becoming increasingly prevalent, it's hard to imagine that large segments of the population are still left out. But in India, that's precisely the case, with 61 per cent of the country's citizens living in rural areas without access to basic financial services.

That's where Mohit Bhargava, CEO of DigiRashi, comes in. Under his leadership, the company is on a mission to bridge the divide between urban and rural areas and provide financial freedom to all citizens of India, especially those in rural areas.

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According to Bhargava, India's current credit rating system is based on PAN numbers, which only 22 per cent of the population has. It means that the rural population is effectively debarred from accessing credit facilities, and the country can't progress without complete inclusiveness.

That's why DigiRashi has refined a specific credit rating engine for its user base, which is primarily rural and semi-urban. All NBFCs and banks will benefit from it and can lend through the DigiRashi platform. Bhargava is also working to remove the bottlenecks preventing the rural population from making cashless transactions and addressing the inertia of banks in the minds of the rural population.

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DigiRashi offers instant account opening, a hassle-free transaction interface, and cash depository services from the nearest merchant. Even the illiterate can use the platform without confusion, and merchants are incentivized to accept digital payments by being offered a commission.

"My motto and pride are to see India at the top," says Bhargava. "Going cashless is one of its most important and small parts, and DigiRashi is putting up its bit to contribute towards the nation. We believe we will be able to turn India into a cashless society in the next 5 to 7 years with the right support."

With Bhargava's unwavering commitment to his mission, it's clear that DigiRashi is poised to make a big impact in the financial world and help bring financial freedom to India's rural population.

This story is provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of 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)
By Shailesh Yadav

New Delhi [India], February 14 (ANI): The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) will use the data of electric meters and property tax to increase the tax base of goods and services (GST) said Vivek Johri, CBIC Chairman.

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When GST was implemented, there was a GST tax base of Rs 45-50 lakh, which has now increased to Rs 1.4 crore. Johri said, and added, "We feel that there is a good scope for increasing the tax base. We will take the help of power distribution companies, take the data of electric meters and will also use the property tax data to increase the tax base of GST."

In an exclusive interview with ANI, the CBIC Chairman said the board's strategy regarding GST is that collecting revenue is its target, along with that it is also necessary to increase the tax base."When we look at other tax bases, the number of GST taxpayers is very less. We want to increase this in a very systematic and scientific way, in which we will use analytics," Vivek Johri said.

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"In this Budget, the Finance Minister has announced that PAN will be considered as a common business identifier. This will help us. We will take the help of distribution data of power distribution companies. We will also use the property tax data," he said.

Johri said that for example, property tax has two types of data -- commercial and residential and "if we see the base of commercial properties, especially in big cities, it gives us an idea that there is some commercial use at such and such address."

He further said, "If we verify that address from PAN database, then we may come to know that he is already registered in income tax and from their database we will know what kind of business he is doing."

In this way, Johri said if they look at the databases by filtering slowly in an intelligent way, then an estimate could be made on "who are our potential future taxpayers which are not yet in our GST tax base".

Responding to a question about business-to-consumer (B2C) shopkeepers whose daily sales are in lakhs but are not giving receipts and do business in cash, Johri said that B2C business is a matter of concern.

He said there were some sectors which CBIC has to identify, "Traders who are in such a sector who sell goods in cash and do not give bills, and because of this, there is a loss of GST. We will have to discuss with them how we can change this behaviour. This needs to be changed as it is not in the interest of the country and the society. Whether it is the central government or the state government, we are considering the taxable activities."

He also said that they would take this work forward in some sectors, "There was an experiment in some states, regarding VAT (value added tax) that if you pay the bill, we will draw a lottery on the basis of that bill, so that the consumers are encouraged and they come forward and ask for the bill."

The Chairman further said, "We are also trying to address this through our taxpayers' services. We are running advertisements; states are also doing this to change consumer behaviour."He said both the consumer as well as the taxpayers would have to change.

"We have to work on B2C. We will finalise this by sitting with the states," Johri said, adding that, "Apart from that, we would like to explain our potential taxpayers about the benefits which they will get by joining GST. For example, there is a huge benefit of an input tax credit. There is a huge benefit of expanding their market." (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Agartala, February 14: Expressing confidence of BJP getting full majority in the Tripura assembly elections, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said that the BJP is seeking a mandate to make the state prosperous in the next five years building on the development initiatives of the party-led government. Responding to questions about a possible hung assembly in Tripura, Amit Shah said that the constituencies in Tripura are small and "you will see that before 12PM on counting day, the BJP would have crossed the majority mark."

In an exclusive interview with ANI, he also said that BJP's 'ChaloPaltai' slogan in the last election was not a slogan to come to power in the state but to change the situation in Tripura. Tripura Assembly Elections 2023: If Voted to Power, Left-Congress Will First Implement Old Pension Scheme, Says CPM Leader Prakash Karat.

The BJP created a record in 2018 by ousting the Left Front government which ruled Tripura for 35 years from 1978. The state will go to the polls on February 16 for its 60-member assembly. The BJP is contesting 55 seats while its ally Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT) is contesting the remaining five seats. Shah said Congress and CPI-M joining hands shows that they are not in a position to defeat BJP on their own and "it is very good position" for the party.

"We will increase our seats and also our vote share in Tripura. Congress and the Communist party have come together as they have accepted that they can't defeat BJP alone. We will form government with full majority in the state," Shah said.

"'ChaloPaltai' slogan was given to change the situation in Tripura, and we've done that. Earlier when the Left was in power in Tripura, government employees were paid under Pay Commission, but we implemented the 7th Pay commission in the state without increasing fiscal deficit. We eliminated violence in Tripura and also took strict action against drugs business from across the border in the state," he added.

Shah also outlined the "effective steps" of the state government to end violence in the border state and tackle the drug menace and added that these have sent a good message among people.

"There is no violence in Tripura. Time has come to make Tripura prosperous. The double-engine government has taken several steps to fulfil its promises," he said. Asked about Manik Saha replacing Biplab Deb as Tripura Chief Minister in May last year and if it sent a signal of the BJP's central leadership controlling the state unit, Shah said that Deb is an MP and has several key organisational responsibilities in the central BJP.

He said changes are sometimes made if the national parties need leaders at the central level. "I feel this is promotion, it should not be looked at from any other angle," he said.

Home Minister said that the BJP-led government has taken steps to strengthen local languages in the northeastern states and added that there is no big official programme in Delhi without participation of artists from the northeast. He said under PM Modi's leadership, several steps have been taken for the welfare of people in the northeast.

"There is peace in the Northeast today, there has been peace agreement with several militant organisations.'' He referred to the agreement to end the Bru-Reang refugee crisis in Tripura and with National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT). Shah said PM Modi's initiatives have helped the tribal population.

"The tribal communities are experiencing development now. Today, we have the first tribal President in the country. The benefits being given to poor families are also being extended to the tribal community without any discrimination. Tripura Assembly Elections 2023: PM Narendra Modi Holds Roadshow in Poll-Bound State (Watch Video).

They realize that they were misled earlier" Shah said before the year 2024, all state capitals in the Northeast region will get rail and air connectivity and this is not a small achievement.

"Nearly over 8,000 cadres of militant outfits have surrendered arms and joined the mainstream. The northeast was known for blockade, protests, bomb explosions and insurgency. Today roads are being built there, airports are being built. Where there was one airport in a state like Tripura, we are building a second here. The Prime Minister has undertaken various developmental projects for the northeast region," he said.

On Karnataka, Shah said the party will come back to power with full majority.

"The BJP will form its government in Karnataka with a full majority. I have seen the pulse of the people and the popularity of PM Modi. The BJP will get a huge mandate," he said. Answering another query on some major states going to the polls this year, he said BJP is strong in Rajasthan, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh and will win all four.

"We repeated our governments in Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. We will repeat our government in Tripura also," he said answering a query. Asked about JD(S) accusing BJP of dynastic politics, he said there are people who are second or third-generation politicians in the BJP also but it is not that the party chief will be from such a family only, or the entire family will become an MP or an MLA. "What kind of comparison is this? You have finished the entire democratic system," he said.

"Even the people of Mandya are now shifting from dynastic parties and accepting BJP's politics of development. This is a good sign for Karnataka," he said. Shah, who visited Puttur in Karnataka and inaugurated 'Bharat Mata Mandir', said he welcomes any allegation made against him regarding the visit in the poll-bound state. When asked if the BJP has begun a campaign of nationalism in the state, Amit Shah said he welcomed such allegations.

"I accept and welcome all the allegations if they are levelled against me for going to the Bharat Mata Mandir," he said. He said the place has pictures of Tantya Tope, Savarkar and also Param Vir Chakra recipient Lance Naik Albert Ekka. "I thank the trust which made it."

Karnataka is expected to go for polls in the first half of this year.

Polling for the Meghalaya and Nagaland Assembly polls will be held on February 27. The counting of votes in the two states along with Tripura will take place on March 2.

(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, Feb 14 (PTI) The Delhi government on Tuesday invited applications for the renewal of different kinds of liquor licences for 2023-24 as a new excise policy being firmed up is yet to be announced, officials said.

According to an Excise Department circular, applications for the renewal of licence and permits can be submitted till the end of February.

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The applications will be renewed for 2023-24 after payment of required licence or permit fee, it said.

"....all holders of licenses/permits of M&TP Branch in form of P-2, P-3, P-4, P-5, P-6, L-4, L-S, L-25, L-34, L-35, DD-9, DD-10, DD-11, DD-5 and AP are hereby requested to apply for renewal through Excise Supply Chain Information Management System (ESCIMS) and deposit license fee/documents for renewal for the year 2023-24 on or before February 28, 2023," said the circular.

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In case of any delay, the applications will be admitted before the expiry of the licences or permit, provided there are "good and sufficient" reasons for the delay and an additional payment of 25 percent of the prescribed fee, it said.

Further, the applications for renewal may be admitted after their expiry, with the approval of Excise Commissioner, on having "good and sufficient" reasons. The payment in this case will be double the licences or permit fees.

Officials said a three-member committee formed by the Delhi government to prepare a new excise policy is expected to take some more time in completing the job.

The committee was formed by the government to come out with a fresh excise policy after the government scrapped Excise Policy 2021-22 last year, after a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in its implementation was recommended by Delhi LG.

The committee headed by the principal secretary (finance) is yet to submit its report to the government, officials said.

The liquor trade in the city is currently government by the excise policy that was in force before November 17, 2021. The Excise Policy 2021 had come to effect from November 17, 2021, and was operational till August 31, 2022.

From September 1, the retail liquor vends in the city started to be run by four undertakings of Delhi government while the corporations were given the responsibility to open and run liquor vends in the city for six months from September 1 last year.

The committee was given six months time to submit its report which is yet to be done. It had already sought an extension of one month to complete the draft of the policy.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Bengaluru (Karnataka)[India], February 14 (ANI): Defence Minister Rajnath Singh hosted the Defence and Deputy Defence Ministers of 27 countries at the Defence Ministers' Conclave held on the sidelines of Aero India 2023 in Bengaluru on Tuesday, said a press release by Ministry of Defence.

The broad theme of the conclave was 'Shared Prosperity through Enhanced Engagements in Defence' (SPEED). It sought to address aspects related to deepening cooperation for capacity building (through investments, R&D, joint ventures, co-development, co-production and provisioning of defence equipment), training, space, AI and maritime security to grow together.

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In his inaugural address, the Defence Minister highlighted the need for greater cooperation in an increasingly complex global security scenario.

He stated that the theme of the event 'SPEED' characterises the present era wherein geopolitical and security realities are shifting at hitherto unwitnessed speed. He called for real-time collaboration to respond to such fast-paced changes.

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Singh was of the view that any major change in the domain of economy, security, health or climate has global reverberations and when peace and security of any region are threatened, the entire world feels its impact in multiple ways. He pointed out that in an interconnected and networked world, the rapid transmission of shocks and disturbances makes it impossible to insulate one's own country from the issues of other countries.

He emphasised regular interactions during summits, conferences and conclaves to ensure that the concerns of all are suitably addressed for a common, secure and prosperous future.

The Raksha Mantri reaffirmed India's stand for a rules-based international order, in which "the primordial instinct of the might being right is replaced by the civilisational concept of fairness, cooperation, respect and equality amongst all sovereign nations". He asserted that untethered to any faction or alliance of one group of nations against another, India has worked ceaselessly for the upliftment of all nations, especially developing ones.

"India has always been open to new ideas from across the world, Commingling and contest of various thoughts has made us a global ideation centre. Our ancient ethos guides us to work not only towards cooperation for mutual benefit but goes a welcome step further from a merely transactional approach to an edifying recognition of all humanity as one family," Defence Minister said.

He referred to the global efforts to deal with COVID-19 and said the pandemic underscored the point that shared global prosperity requires greater coordination among all nations in diverse areas, of which defence and security is one of the most important.

The Raksha Mantri described collective security as sine qua non (essential condition) for development and prosperity. He emphasised that terrorism, illegal arms trade, drug smuggling, human trafficking, etc. pose significant security threats to the world.

He stressed on the need to devise new strategies to counter these threats. "India does not believe in dealing with such security issues in the old paternalistic or the neo-colonial paradigms. We consider all nations as equal partners. That is why we do not believe in imposing external or supra-national solutions to a country's internal problems. We do not believe in giving sermons or cut-and-dried solutions, which do not respect the national values and constraints of the countries in need of assistance. Rather, we support the capacity building of our partner countries, so that they may chart out their own destiny, in accordance with their own genius," he said.

Singh added that there are nations which are richer, militarily or technologically more advanced than others, but it does not give them the right to dictate their solutions to the nations in need of support. This top-down approach towards solving problems has never been sustainable in the long run and it often leads to a debt trap, reaction from the local population, conflict and so on, he said.

He emphasised that the focus should be on providing assistance, in terms of the building of institutions and capacities, so that bottom-up solutions can come up organically, in consonance with the ethos of the nations being assisted.

The Raksha Mantri informed the Defence Ministers that India is moving ahead to work with this principle by offering enhanced defence partnerships to its friendly countries. "We offer a partnership that is accommodative of the national priorities and capacities. We want to build with you, we want to launch with you, we want to create with you and we want to develop with you. We wish to create symbiotic relationships, where we can learn from each other, grow together and create a win-win situation for all," he said, reiterating the Government's endeavour to transcend the hierarchical relationship of buyer and seller to a codevelopment and co-production model.

Singh exuded confidence that through Aero India, the Defence Ministers would have gained knowledge about the robust defence manufacturing ecosystem being created in India. He urged them to share their requirements and expectations through enquiries, comments & feedback, which will provide the industry with a significant learning opportunity.

Over 160 delegates from several countries, including Defence & Deputy Defence Ministers from 27 countries, 15 Defence and Service Chiefs and 12 Permanent Secretaries from 80 countries participated in the conclave attesting to India's tremendous growth and engagement in the defence and security sectors. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 14 (PTI) The Kerala government on Tuesday warned of stern action against those hoarding reasonably-priced typhoid vaccines, which is was mandatory for hotel employees in the state for procuring health cards.

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State Health Minister Veena George said the decision to take action was taken following complaints that some pharmacies were selling expensive typhoid vaccines to those applying for health cards as part of government rules.

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Meanwhile, the Left government today extended by two more weeks the deadline to obtain the health cards.

The minister noted that at least 60 per cent of the staff in hotels and food industries in the state have collected the health cards till now and the last date was extended till February 28.

Billed as 'Health card,' the certificate has been made mandatory by the Health department for hotel employees in the wake of food poisoning cases reported across the state.

"Stern action will be taken against those who hoard reasonably-priced typhoid vaccines and sell expensive ones. A direction in this regard has been issued to the Drugs Controller," George said in a release.

(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], February 14 (ANI): Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers Mansukh Mandaviya on Tuesday inaugurated the IFFCO Nano Urea Liquid Plants at Aonla and Phulpur in Uttar Pradesh.

Addressing the event, Mandaviya stated that today is an important day because Nano urea plants have been dedicated to the nation.

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He said, "Nano Urea, in the coming times will ensure the progress of the farmers, and increase their income. In this way, it will change the future of our farmers."

Union Minister highlighted the benefits of Nano urea, stating that it is the best green technology and provides solutions to pollution. It saves the soil and also increases productivity and hence is the best for the farmers.

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He further said, "Government's Expert Committee has given approval to Nano DAP and it will also come to replace DAP shortly."

Union Minister added that Nano-DAP will immensely benefit our farmers and it will be available at half the cost of DAP.

Mandaviya also underlined the efforts of the government in making Nano urea available to the farmers. He also pointed out the challenges in bringing Nano urea ranging from getting approvals from various departments and convincing the farmers to tackle the conventional urea lobby.

Union Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister said, "It is an alternate fertiliser. We for the years used urea and DAP to increase productivity. When we use urea, only 35 per cent of Nitrogen (Urea) gets used by the crop and the unused affects the soil. Today, the productivity of the soil is declining and crop production is saturated, it was essential to go to alternate fertilisers."

Lauding Prime Minister Narendra Modi's efforts for the upliftment of farmers, Union Minister Mandaviya said that the Prime Minister has always worked towards increasing farmers' income and for their prosperity and he also insisted on natural farming, bio fertilisers and alternate fertilisers.

He also commended the PM's role during COVID when the prices of fertilisers increased and one Urea bag touched Rs 4,000 mark. At that time the PM increased the subsidy so that the burden of increased prices should not come on our farmers, Mandaviya said.

Union Minister congratulated IFFCO for its endeavours.

He said that Commerce, business and profit are not foremost for Sahakarita but farmers' welfare is.

Dr Mandaviya advised farmers to use Nano urea.

He said that farmers listen to the advice of another. When one farmer uses nano urea and finds that the production is increased, the soil also not getting affected and cost too gets decreased, he should advise others to use nano urea. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi [India], February 14 (ANI): The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed to maintain the status quo of properties in the Mehrauli area where a demolition drive is going on.

The High court has directed DDA to file an affidavit on the petitions challenging the demolition. The high court also directed the DDA to file the demarcation report of 2021 and supply it to the petitioners.

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Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora on Tuesday passed the above direction. The court also impleaded the Archaeological Survey of India and issued notice to it

The court has also issued notice to DDA, Delhi Government.

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The court has also asked the DDA to have a meeting with the petitioner on Wednesday at 3.30 at Vikas Sadan.

The high court has asked the petitioner to attend a meeting with their counsels along with documents at the office of DDA at Vikas Sadan at 3.30 PM.

The matters have been listed on Thursday along with other matters.

The High court was hearing 15 petitions filed by people who are in the possession of the subject properties for a demolition order issued by the DDA.

The High court made the petition of Green Apartment the lead matter and issued the above directions.

While opposing the petitions, Shobhna Takiar, the standing counsel for DDA, relied upon the Demarcation report carried out in 2021.

She submitted that the land in question was acquired by the DDA in 1974-75. It is settled law that the subsequent buyer of the acquired property will not have any rights, she said.

Standing counsel also submitted that the Demarcation was also done.

The court asked, "Did you supply the demarcation report copy to the petitioners? Was it in the public domain?"

The counsel for DDA also submitted that the subject property is situated in Ladha Sarai village and Archaeological Park in Mehrauli. A document related to Google Maps was also submitted.

She also submitted that the demolition is being carried out under the order of the division bench to remove all illegal construction from Archaeological Park.

Kamlesh Kumar Mishra, the counsel for the residents of Green Apartment, said there are 60 units in the apartment.

The court asked, "How many storeys are in the apartment?"

The counsel replied that there are 2 basements, and 4 storeys in the building. Dharam Singh was the person who sold this land.

Advocate Tanmay Mehta submitted that 100 years ago there was not a certain method of demarcation. After years, the TSM method was adopted. Now, they uploaded the masabi on Google.

He also submitted that when demarcation takes place on paper, it makes a huge difference in land on the ground. In these matters, the problem is that it is not certain where one Khasra (A big piece of land) ends and where the next one starts.

He also argued that assuming that the DDA's claim is correct, even then for the purpose of eviction the process of law should have been adopted.

The court asked, "What diligence the petitioner adopted about the property?"

The counsel replied that the demarcation was not out in the public domain to invite objection.

It is not Google Maps as it does not show the Khasra number. It is their (DDA) report, the counsel argued.

It was also argued that the Petitioner is in settled possession of the property. For the eviction the procedure under the Public premises Act and due law processes should have been followed, the counsel argued.

What due process did the government take to evict? the counsel asked.

In another petition, the other counsel submitted that there is no ownership record in Lal Dora land in Delhi. It only shows the Khasra number and all, Dora Abadi.

The counsels submitted that they need some time to establish the title.

The high court asked the standing counsel for DDA, "Please file your affidavit."

The standing counsel submitted that the Demarcation report is the subject matter before the division bench, and they (petitioners) can approach the division bench.

In another petition, the petitioner said that this property in question has been a School since 1939. There is only one ownership change. The school has been served with the demolition notice.

At this point, the court asked, "Was the demarcation report supplied to them?" Supply demarcation report to them, the court said.

Another counsel representing other petitioners in 6 petitions submitted that Demarcation was done twice.

DDA stated that in 2015 ASI was appointed nodal agency for the removal of encroachment from Archaeological Park. Thereafter, the court impleaded ASI as one of the parties. (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, Feb 14 (PTI) A metropolitan court here on Tuesday sought the response of the Delhi police to two applications filed by Mehrauli murder accused Aaftab Amin Poonawala for the release of his educational certificates so he could pursue higher studies and for a "proper" digital copy of the charge sheet.

Poonawala has been accused of killing his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar and disposing of her body after cutting it into several pieces.

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Metropolitan magistrate Aviral Shukla issued notice to the investigation officer (IO) on the pleas.

The court will likely hear the petition related to writing material and release of educational certificates on Wednesday. The matter related to supply of e-charge sheet has been listed for February 17.

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Poonawala has claimed in his applications that he was "falsely implicated" in the case and that the prosecution "intentionally" provided a digital copy of the charge sheet "which cannot be read".

A court here had taken cognisance of the Delhi Police's charge sheet on February 7 and posted the matter for further proceedings on February 21.

The first application filed by Poonawala's counsel M S Khan claimed he was "falsely implicated" in the present case and was "languishing" in the Tihar Jail.

"The applicant wants to pursue his higher studies so he wants all his certificates," it said.

It also said Poonawala "urgently" required stationery items such as pen, pencil and notebook.

The other application requested for a soft or digital copy of the charge sheet in a "proper" way .

The Delhi Police had filed a 6,629-page charge sheet on January 24.

"That on the last date of hearing the applicant was supplied the chargesheet but the chargesheet in the soft copy or pen drive is not proper as the prosecution intentionally provided the soft copy which cannot be read," the application said.

It claimed the pen drive was "overloaded" and not supported by advanced computers and that the video footage was "mismanaged".

"It is, therefore, prayed that this court may kindly be pleased to pass an order directing the investigating officer to supply the soft copy in a folder-wise manner and the video footage may be in other pen drives as filed in the chargesheet, in the interest of justice," the application said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Dimapur [Nagaland], February 14 (ANI): BJP national president JP Nadda was on Tuesday accorded a warm welcome to the party's state president Temjen Imna Along on his arrival at Dimapur airport.

Nadda arrived in Nagaland for launching the party's manifesto for the February 27 Assembly polls in Nagaland and Meghalaya.

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Senior BJP leaders and workers were also present at the Dimapur airport to welcome Nadda.

On February 8, a senior party official told ANI, "Our party president will launch the Sankalp Patra for Nagaland polls on February 14 and for Meghalaya on February 15."

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Since coming to power in 2014, the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre has laid a special focus on the Northeast, through its 'Act East' policy. While the PM Modi himself made over 50 visits to the region, the party has invested its efforts towards a secure Northeast.

"The Union government is committed to a safe and secure Northeast and resolving the border issues in all states. It will continue to be our key focus and the message that we'll take to the people of poll-bound states in the region," a party official had said earlier.

In Nagaland, the BJP is in the ruling alliance with Neiphiu Rio's Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) will contest in 20 out of 60 seats.

Polling for the Meghalaya and Nagaland Assembly polls will be held on February 27.

The counting of votes in the two states along with that of Tripura will take place on March 2. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Karnal (Haryana) [India], February 14 (ANI): Union Home Minister Amit Shah presented the President's Colour award to Haryana police in Karnal on Tuesday.

While addressing the event, Amit Shah remembered the Pulwama martyrs on the fourth anniversary of the cowardly attack on CRPF jawans.

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Shah said, "In 2019, in a cowardly attack on CRPF jawans in Pulwama, 40 jawans were martyred."

"The names of those 40 soldiers will always remain etched with golden letters in India's history of bravery and sacrifice. Their sacrifice has a huge contribution to the country's progress," he said.

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On this day in 2019, at least 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel lost their lives after a suicide bomber rammed a car laden with explosives into the security force convoy. Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility for the attack.

Speaking on terrorism, Amit Shah said, "Under the leadership of the Prime Minister, since 2014, India's home ministry has solved challenges of internal security. Whether is Jammu and Kashmir, North East or the leftist terrorism, these three were sore wounds that the country faced for decades."

"I can say with confidence that after the abrogation of 370, terrorism activities in Kashmir have reduced significantly and record tourists are reaching Kashmir every year," he said.

Speaking on the insurgency situation in the northeast Shah said, "Similarly, because of multiple agreements, the youth left various insurgency groups and have surrendered to start a normal life. There is peace in the northeast now." (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, Feb 14 (PTI) An all-women car expedition of the Indian Navy set off from the National War Memorial here on Tuesday, and it will traverse 2,300 km over 12 days and motivate women to join the naval force.

Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar flagged off the rally, virtually over a video link, as naval officers and other participants, wheeled out of the India Gate complex on way to the famed Longewala War Memorial in Rajasthan.

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The all-women car rally with the slogan 'She's Unstoppable' and tagline 'Soar High' would commence from the National War Memorial in New Delhi and travel to the Longewala War Memorial, and back over 12 days, spanning February 14-25, the Defence Ministry had said on Monday.

The rally would traverse through Jaipur, Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Longewala, Jodhpur, Udaipur, prior to returning to Delhi, and will cover a distance of 2,300 km, it had said.

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Vice Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi, Indian Navy's Chief of Personnel, who was present on the occasion, said, "Today is NWWA Day and this expedition will inspire youth, mark the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, but most importantly demonstrate the 'Nari Shakti'".

The Indian Navy in association with Navy Wellness and Welfare Association (NWWA) has collaborated with motoring company Jeep India for this expedition as a "tribute to brave women of the country and of the Navy", officials said.

Asked when will all-women warships be seen in the Indian Navy, Vice Admiral Tripathi, said, "all-women warship in the near future, yes".

"But, it will take some time, because we have just opened the Agniveer, for women. We have also decided that women can join all branches as officers. It will take its own time, because training, etc., has to happen. But, I can say that in the coming years, we will certainly have a woman officer commanding a warship and that will be a red-letter day for the Indian Navy, and for the nation," he told PTI on the sidelines of the event.

On the current status of women Agniveers and what is the message to young girls who aspire to join the Navy, Vice Admiral Tripathi said, at the basic training camp INS Chilka, "we have over 270 women Agniveers getting training as we speak now".

"I had an occasion to meet them and they are highly inspired. I would urge the youth of the country to come and join the armed forces, the Indian Navy," he said.

On the Agnipath scheme, he said: "You will be enriched with tangible and intangible values, whether you are in and out of uniform later. The never-say-die spirt and a sense of patriotism are ingrained in a soldier's mind".

Asked about the gender-neutral aspect of warships, the naval officer said, certainly, "we are trying to do that".

"As we speak, there are 28 women officers serving afloat and some of these Agniveers who pass out, will come on ships. We are preparing our ships for that. All ships which are being built, are built to the specifications, they will have provision to have women officers and sailors in the future.

The Defence Ministry in its statement on Monday had said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his address to the nation on the 76th Independence Day, had emphasised that contribution of 'Nari Shakti' would be crucial for achieving the vision of 'Amrit Kaal'.

'Nari Shakti' was the overriding theme of the 74th Republic Day celebrations at the Kartavya Path on January 26.

During the rally, the president of NWWA and other members would undertake outreach programmes at schools for special children, old age home and orphanages along with interacting with veterans' families.

The women officers would undertake awareness drives about career opportunities that the Indian Navy offers. They would conduct motivational talks about the Agniveers, and other schemes for joining the Navy at identified schools and colleges, the ministry had said.

The rally aims to celebrate 75 year of Independence, showcase contribution of naval women officers, motivate women to join the Indian Navy, pay homage at Longewala War Memorial and interact with naval veterans and Veer Naris enroute, it had said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Karnal (Haryana) [India], February 14 (ANI): Union Home Minister and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday asserted that India will be able to achieve the goal of 20 per cent ethanol blend in petrol by 2025.

Shah made the announcement while speaking at an event organised at Haryana Cooperative Export House (HAFED) after inaugurating various projects of the Haryana Cooperative Department, including a Rs 150 crore ethanol project to establish plants in cooperative sugar mills aimed at producing 9,000 ltr ethanol per day.

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Addressing the gathering on occasion, Shah said, "How the ethanol project being started by the Haryana government will enhance the income of cooperative sugar mills."

Noting that ethanol helps in reducing the import of petroleum products in our country, Shah said that biofuels also protect the environment.

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Taking potshots against United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in the Centre, the Minister said, "Blending of ethanol in petrol and diesel was lower than one per cent when Narendra Modi government came to power in 2014. Today, we have crossed 10 per cent. By 2025, the Narendra Modi government will be able to achieve the goal of 20 per cent ethanol blend in petrol."

The Minister further said that the waste food grains of the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) will also be used with the help of ethanol and "There will be a huge reduction in the import bill of our country".

All petrol sold in the country is targeted to have 20 per cent ethanol availability by 2025.

Shah's announcement comes months after the Ministry of Petroleum in October last year moved up its deadline for blending 20 per cent ethanol into gasoline by five years, to 2025 when 1,000 core litre ethanol production capacity is not achieved to fulfil the desired 20 per cent ethanol blend in petrol.

In October last year, Petroleum Minister Hardeep Puri said that 450 crore litre of ethanol is being produced and tenders for 400 crore litre have been issued and the government is constantly reviewing ethanol production.

Ethanol is one of the principal bio-fuels, which is naturally produced by the fermentation of sugars by yeasts or via petrochemical processes such as ethylene hydration.

Ethanol Blending Programme (EBP) is aimed at reducing the country's dependence on crude oil imports, cutting carbon emissions and boosting farmers' incomes.

Ethanol blending in petrol in India has risen successively from 1.53 per cent in 2013-14 to 5 per cent in 2019-20 to 8.10 per cent in 2020-21 and now to as much as 10.17 per cent. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
China sees robust online retail sales of agricultural products in 2022

People's Daily Online) 10:15, February 14, 2023

Chinas online retail sales of farm produce reached 531.38 billion yuan (about $77.78 billion) in 2022, up 9.2 percent year on year, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce. The growth rate increased 6.4 percent from that of 2021.

An employee promotes chestnut products through live-streaming at a chestnut farm in Bohai township of Huairou district, Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 20. 2022. (Xinhua/Tian Chenxu)

In 2022, online retail sales in the countrys rural areas rose 3.6 percent year on year to 2.17 trillion yuan, according to the ministry.

The rapid growth of online retail sales of agricultural products can be attributed to favorable policies. Chinas No. 1 central document for 2022 specified that the country would implement a campaign to facilitate the development of agriculture and rural areas by promoting digital business and e-commerce in rural areas.

The campaign has resulted in the development of rural e-commerce accelerating. E-commerce platforms have taken steps to enhance the supply chain of agricultural products, speeding up supply-side structural reform in agriculture and contributing to advancing rural vitalization across the board.

Chinese e-commerce giant Pinduoduo has adopted the model of group buying and direct sales, and unveiled its 10-billion-yuan agriculture program to facilitate agricultural and rural vitalization. JD.com, another Chinese e-commerce powerhouse, has launched a shopping festival for agricultural specialties to promote sales of high-quality agricultural products. Some e-commerce platforms have started short video livestreaming competitions to boost sales of farm produce and help farmers increase their incomes.

In recent years, short video and livestreaming platforms have created a fast track for the sale of agricultural products. For example, Douyin E-commerce under popular Chinese short-video platform Douyin has launched a program to promote sales of farm produce and specialties in rural areas in provinces including Fujian, Guizhou, Sichuan and Jilin.

Local governments in China have taken measures to help farmers boost sales of their agricultural products. Binchuan county in Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, southwest Chinas Yunnan Province has vigorously developed the rural e-commerce industry, incentivising young people to return to their hometowns to start businesses or become livestreamers to help sell agricultural products. So far, over 100 kinds of farm produce and specialties in the county have become available online, and the countys online retail sales of agricultural products have significantly increased.

Xu Zhixin, first Party secretary of Yanwoyuan village, Luotian county, central Chinas Hubei Province, has become a livestreamer selling agricultural products including chestnuts, sweet potatoes and tea leaves grown in the county, with a monthly sales volume exceeding 6 million yuan.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Du Mingming)
Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], February 14 (ANI): Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) chairman Samir Kamat has said discussions are underway for an engine deal to enable co-development with manufacturers, adding that the same will help the manufacture of Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) indigenously.

The DRDO chief's remark comes on the heels of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's statement that India will soon produce indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) engines.

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He   Latest Tweet by Prasar Bharati News Services.

In an exclusive interview with ANI, the DRDO chairman said, "We have showcased the Tapas drones (at the ongoing Bengaluru air show), which soared to a height of 15,000 feet. We have also showcased our UAV Archer, which could also be weaponised. We have also developed a set of new missiles, including the Akash NG, VSHORADS, and MPATGM."

"I can say that our weapon systems are on par with the best and indigenous," he added.

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He further informed that discussions are ongoing for the manufacture of engines for the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) Mark 2 with three defence firms in three countries.

"The LCA Mark2 should be ready for induction by 2028. The first flight of the AMCA Phase 1 may take seven years and the induction can take 10 years from now. We cannot predict the timeline of the AMCA Mark 2 with a new engine until we sign an engine deal for co-development with another OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer). We have been holding discussions with Safran France, GE from the US, and Rolls Royce from the UK," the DRDO chief said.

Kamat said, "The GE-414 engines are going to be used in the LCA Mark2. The discussions with GE are underway and they are keen on it. We are just awaiting clearance by the US government."

He said the engines would be manufactured indigenously once the clearance comes through from the US government.

"The matter was discussed during our NSA (Ajit Doval's) recent US visit. The US government said it was open to it (indigenous manufacture of engines). Hopefully, in the next 3-6 months, an announcement of the transfer of technology will happen and these engines would be made in the country itself," he said.

Kamat added, "The DRDO is going to develop the first tripod-fired very short-range air defence system. Another one, shoulder-fired version, has also been cleared for the Army." (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, Feb 14 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh Animal Husbandry Minister Dharmpal Singh on Tuesday celebrated Valentine's Day as "cow love day" by offering jaggery and rotis to cows and said that they should be treated as mothers.

He said there is no animal like a cow in the world whose mal-mutra (stool and urine) is pious.

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"Today, Valentine's Day is celebrated all over the world. There are many relations like mother, father, brother, sister, husband, wife, and one's love should be expressed,'' Singh told reporters.

"We have three mothers -- our mother, who gives us birth, 'gau mata' (cow) and Bharat Mata. First love should be for our mother, then 'gau mata' (cow) and then Bharat Mata 'ko pranaam karna chahiye' (should be saluted)," the minister said.

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Singh offered gud' (jaggery) and rotis to cows in the Bakshi ka Talab area here to mark the day.

He urged people to celebrate "cow love day" on Valentine's Day.

They (people) should go to a 'gaushala' (cow shelter home), feed roti to a cow and pray to her, Singh said.

Even a simple visit to 'Gaushala' can keep tension away as there is an emotional connect to it. By entering 'Gaushala' the door to development opens. There are no such animals (like cows) in the world whose 'mal-mutra' (stool-urine) is pious. Its dung and urine are also pious. In cow's dung lives Lakshmi," the minister added.

The Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) had on last Monday appealed to the people to celebrate February 14 as 'Cow Hug Day'. The directive was later withdrawn on the directions of the government after the move became the subject of memes on social media.

Singh had on Saturday appealed to people to celebrate February 12 by expressing love and faith towards cows by offering them gud and rotis.

Besides, people should seek blessings of cows by touching their head and neck, the minister had said.

"Gavo Vishwasya Matarah in vedas means the cow is the mother of the world. Therefore, on this day, one should resolve to serve the mother cow regularly," he had said.

Singh also said cow dung should be used on the occasion of 'Holika Dahan' as it is environment-friendly and reduces air pollution.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Islamabad [Pakistan], February 14 (ANI): The Ahmadiyya community in Pakistan regularly fell prey to atrocities and faced some severe violent attacks, social exclusion, and harassment, Maryland-based news website Baltimore Post-Examiner reported.

The hatred for the Ahmadiyya in Pakistan is at such a level that they don't celebrate the achievements of their only Nobel prize winner in the Science category, Abdus Salam.

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Unfortunately, Pakistan doesn't celebrate the achievements of Salam because he was an Ahmadi, which is considered a heretic and non-Muslim in Pakistan.

Salam received the Nobel Prize for the discovery of the Higgs boson, famously known as the God Particle.

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According to the Baltimore Post-Examiner, Pakistan's former Prime Minister Zulfiqar Bhutto played a pivotal role in having the parliament declare Ahmadis non-Muslims.

His successor, General Zia-ul-Haque took one step further and introduced a penal code to incarcerate Ahmadis for claiming Islam. This institutionalized persecution and pogrom of Ahmadis continue to date. Today, hundreds of Ahmadis are serving life or on death row for blasphemy without recourse to evidence gathering, appeal, and trial.

Meanwhile, Brad Adams, the Asia Director of Human Rights Watch said that the election can never be termed as "free" and "fair" as the entire community is effectively excluded from the electoral process.

In an article titled, "The Town That Doesn't Vote", Saad Sayeed writes that all Ahmadis show immense pride in their Pakistani citizenship but remain disenfranchised in a country that their ancestors helped create with great valor and sacrifices.

In the city of Chenab Nagar, 97 per cent of the population is contributed by the Ahmadiyya but still, the Punjab government changed the name since it is blasphemous for Ahmadis to use a Quranic word to name their city and they also have no rights to manage the region.

The city doesn't receive funds from the provincial or federal government, which forces its residents to use private funds for development. The residents are governed by outsiders with laws of discrimination that remind them of white-ruled South Africa. Despite their sheer size, they feel helpless in the fight against apartheid and many call their city the largest Ahmadi jail in the world.

Pakistani law prohibits Ahmadis from calling their places of worship mosques or distributing religious literature, reciting the Quran, or using traditional Islamic greetings.

These measures criminalize their daily lives and enable regular attacks on both individuals and organizations. Four days after the Ahmadis celebrated the birthday of Abdus Salam; some Sufi zealots attacked an Ahmadi mosque on Martin Road in Karachi and damaged its minarets. London-based International Human Rights Commission has reported nine such incidents from Karachi-Saddar, Umerkot (Amarkot), and Mirpur Khas where Muslims tried to set Ahmadi mosque on fire and shot fires at the congregants, according to Baltimore Post-Examiner.

In the last quarter of 2022, police in Gojra, Gujranwala, and Wazirabad districts destroyed Ahmadi mosques by razing domes and minarets and removing Quranic verses from the walls. These districts are a stronghold of Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, the ex-Chief Minister of Punjab, who is an outspoken opponent of Ahmadis and proposes stricter laws to curb their religious activities.

Today, each Ahmadi household manifests a tale of discrimination, persecution, and death which reminds them of the grave mistake their leaders made in 1947 by helping the British Monarch create Pakistan as a safe haven for the Indian Muslims. The constitutional apartheid against the Ahmadis is a clear violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and all related international treaties that Pakistan has signed. The US government should recognize the Ahmadi genocide and hold the Pakistani government accountable to ensure basic rights and protection for Ahmadis, as per the report in Baltimore Post-Examiner. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Dhaka, Feb 14 (PTI) Foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra is scheduled to arrive here on Tuesday as part of regular foreign office consultations (FOC) ahead of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's planned New Delhi visit in September, an official said.

Kwatra, who is on a two-day visit to Bangladesh, will begin his engagements on Wednesday when he meets Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen, following talks with his Bangladeshi counterpart, according to the foreign ministry official.

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Bangladesh foreign ministry officials said Kwatra's scheduled talks with his counterpart Masud Bin Momen on Wednesday were a part of regular FOCs, but their meeting was expected to partly prepare grounds for Hasina's New Delhi visit.

He is scheduled to call on prime minister Hasina, followed by a meeting with her principal secretary (Mohammad Tofazzal Hossain Miah) at the PMO, an official familiar with the visit said.

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Foreign Office spokeswoman Seheli Sabrin earlier told the media that preparatory works regarding the foreign office consultations (FOC) were underway while the talks were likely to cover all the proposed and pending issues related to bilateral ties.

This will be Kwatra's maiden visit to Bangladesh after assuming charge as the foreign secretary on May 1 last year while the Ministry of External Affairs said it was fixed in line with the highest priority accorded under India's Neighbourhood First policy.

The last FOC was held on January 29, 2021, in New Delhi.

Hasina is expected to visit India in September to join the G-20 summit on an invitation by her Indian counterpart and incumbent chair of the grouping of larger economies, Narendra Modi.

Officials said despite being a non-member of the G-20, Hasina would join the summit as a guest.

According to tradition, the G-20 chair invites guest countries and international organisations such as the United Nations, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, World Health Organisation, and World Trade Organisation, beyond the member states, to the summit.

India assumed the G-20 presidency for one year from December this year.

Our prime minister is likely to meet her counterpart on the sidelines of the G-20 summit, apparently in the last meeting ahead of the general elections in both the countries, a foreign ministry official had said.

The host country invited Bangladesh as the only country in South Asia to the summit to be held on September 9-10 while the other non-member countries to get the invitation are Egypt, Mauritius, Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, Spain, and the UAE.

The Bangladesh foreign minister is scheduled to attend the G20 foreign ministers' meeting in New Delhi on March 1-2.

The G-20 or Group of Twenty is an intergovernmental forum of the world's major developed and developing economies comprising 19 countries and the European Union (EU).

The G20 members represent around 85 per cent of the global GDP, over 75 per cent of the global trade, and about two-thirds of the world population.

The member countries include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, and the USA.

The Bangladesh visit of Kwatra comes after the foreign secretary on Tuesday returned from Kathmandu, where he had gone to strengthen bilateral ties between India and Nepal.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Santa Fe (US), Feb 14 (AP) The New Mexico Senate on Monday approved a proposed ban on the local disposal of spent nuclear fuel, unless the state provides its consent first.

The bill from Democratic state Sen. Jeff Steinborn, of Las Cruces, could impact a proposed multibillion-dollar facility in southeastern New Mexico that is expected to temporarily store spent nuclear fuel from commercial power plants across the nation. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission may announce a decision as soon as March on whether to grant a license to that project from Holtec International.

Also Read | Tesla Crash: Indian-American Dharmesh Patel Who Tried To Kill His Family Pleads Not Guilty to Attempted Murder.

The Senate endorsed the bill on a 21-13 vote with Republicans and two Albuquerque-based Democrats in opposition to the proposed ban. The bill moves next to the state House for consideration, amid backing from Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

Steinborn said New Mexico residents should be wary of becoming guinea pigs for temporary storage projects before the federal government decides on a permanent storage site.

Also Read | UFO Sightings: No Indication of Aliens or Terrestrial Activity With Recent Takedowns, Says White House.

His proposal found support among Democratic legislators, including Sen. Brenda McKenna, of Corrales, who noted New Mexico already grapples with the impacts of Uranium mining.

What I'm really tired of is hearing over the decades of how our resources have been excavated and then things get dumped here," she said. I'm tired of New Mexico being exploited this way."

Several legislators expressed concern that the bill from Steinborn would challenge longstanding federal authority over nuclear safety matters and lead to new court challenges.

We'll find out where the state's authority ends, said Democratic state Sen. Joseph Cervantes, of Las Cruces, an attorney who voted in support.

New Mexico and neighboring Texas already have sued in federal court over two proposed multibillion-dollar interim storage facilities for spent fuel the one in southeastern New Mexico and another in Andrews County, Texas.

New Mexico Republican Sen. Craig Brandt, of Rio Rancho, voted against the bill and expressed confidence in the safety vetting of proposed transportation and storage containers that would be used to bring spent nuclear fuel to New Mexico by rail.

Democratic state Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino, of Albuquerque, also voted no, saying it was wrong to overrule significant local community support at close range to a proposed storage site.

Nuclear reactors across the country produce more than 2,000 metric tons of radioactive waste a year, with most of it remaining on-site because there's nowhere else to put it, according to the Department of Energy. The federal government pays to house the fuel, and the cost is expected to stretch into the tens of billions over the next decade, according to a review by independent government auditors. (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], February 14 (ANI): The United States Air Force (USAF) has once again sent their B-1B Lancers and an array of other defence machinery to participate in the Aero Show held at Bengaluru, according to an official statement by US Ministry of Defence.

This is the second time that B-1B Lancer a supersonic heavy bomber capable of carrying out missions worldwide from its bases in the US Andersen Air Force Base as well as from forward deployed locations. Its participation of these defence machines in Aero India 2023 underscores the importance the United States places on the growing strategic partnership with India, according to the official statement.

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Prior to this the planes had participated in Aero India of February 3, 2021. Then the B-1B landed in India for the first time and conducted a fly-by on the inaugural day of Aero India 2021, escorted by an Indian Air Force Tejas fighter.

At the event Rear Admiral Michael Baker, Senior said that "We are happy to have the B1 in India for the second time. These bombers made the journey from South Dakota to Guam and then to India just to add another exciting dimension to Aero India '23. It's a long mission to travel from the continental US to the Indian Ocean; but it was worth it to be part of the biggest air show in the region hosted by our Major Defense Partner, India. The US and India continue to deepen Defense cooperation. We have two great militaries that are even better when we work together."

Also Read | South Africa Declares State of Emergency After Severe Flooding Due to Non-Stop Rains.

The entire array of US aircraft already participating in Aero India 2023 shows US support for Aero India 2023 and the strength of the US-India partnership. In addition to the B-1s, the US lineup includes the US Air Force's newest fifth-generation fighters - the stealthy, supersonic, multirole F-35A Lightning II and F-35A Joint Strike Fighter.

Throughout the week, an F-16 Fighting Falcon duo is conducting daily aerial demonstrations, showcasing the capability of one of the USAF's leading fighter jets. The U.S. Navy F/A-18E and F/A-18F Super Hornet multirole fighters are on static display at Yelahanka Air Force Base in Bengaluru, according to the official statement.

Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday speaking at the ongoing Aero India said that "India has always stood for a rules-based international order, in which the primordial instinct of the "might being right" is replaced by the civilisational concept of fairness, cooperation, respect and equality amongst all sovereign nations."

Highlighting the need for cooperation between nations, Rajnath Singh said, "We wish to create symbiotic relationships where we can learn from each other".

The five-day Aero India show, began at the Air Force Station in Yelahanka, Bengaluru on February 13. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 14th edition of the biennial show. (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, February 14: The body of a girl was found inside a fridge at a 'Dhaba' on the outskirts of village Mitraon in the national Capital on Tuesday morning. Police claimed to have arrested the accused, identified as Sahil Gahlot of Mitraon village.

According to police, information regarding a girl's body hidden in a Dhaba on the outskirts of Mitraon village was received. Mumbai Shocker: Body Found Hanging From Tree in Juhu.

"Immediately a police team rushed to the spot and recovered the body," said a senior police official. "The accused has been arrested," said the official. Nishant Rathore, 20-Year-Old Students Body Found on Railway Tracks in MP After Father Receives WhatsApp Message Saying Sar Tan Se Juda.

Initial probe revealed that the girl, who was in a relationship with Sahil for a long time, was objecting to his marriage. More details are awaited.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 14, 2023 04:00 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
New Delhi, February 14 : Vivo sub-brand iQOO is all prepared to launch its Neo 7 5G smartphone in India. With the India launch date confirmed, and the specs already known from its China debut earlier, the iQOO Neo 7 5G India price is all that was left to the imagination. However, the price details of the device has also now.

The soon to launch iQOO Neo 7s price for the Indian market has been leaked online. While the high-end variants price was leaked recently, now the starting price is out as well, which leaves nothing for guess work anymore. Lets find out all the details. iPhone 15 Series To Come With Apples Own USB Type-C Port With Restrictions; Heres Everything You Need To Know.

iQOO Neo 7 5G  Leaked India Price Details :

The upcoming iQOO Neo 7 5Gs India price is reportedly Rs 26,999 for the phones 8GB/128GB model, including bank offers. This essentially should mean that the market price of the smartphone would be around Rs 29,999. According to an earlier leaked report, the 12GB + 256GB variant would be priced at Rs 34,999, which will also come with bank discount, exchange bonus and along with a Rs 4,000 cashback offer. OnePlus 11R 5G Smartphone Launched in India With Premium Features; Know Specs, Price and Other Key Details Here.

iQOO Neo 7 5G  Specs & Features :

iQOO Neo 7 5G smartphone features a 6.78-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. The device gets powered by MediaTeks Dimensity 8200 chipset with ARM Mali-G610 GPU backed by up to 12GB LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB UFS 3.1 of internal storage. The handset runs on the latest Android 13 OS topped with OriginOS skin.

The iQOO Neo 7 comes with a triple camera setup at its rear, consisting of a 64MP primary camera teamed with an 8MP and a 2MP snapper, while theres a 16MP front facing shooter for selfies and video calls. The smartphone comes with in-display fingerprint sensor, infrared sensor, stereo speakers, and a USB Type-C audio and draws its juice from a 5,000mAh battery with support of 120W fast charging.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 14, 2023 12:50 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Chinese spy balloons were discovered over the Middle East, but the surveillance craft did not pose any threat to the United States or allied forces, according to U.S. Air Force.

Commander of U.S. Air Forces Central Command, Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, noted that they have seen high-altitude balloons in the region before but have not been a threat, according to Fox News.

Grynkewich added that those have "not been something of concern for us."

Department of Defense Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said last week that the surveillance program operates over at least five continents, such as Latin America, Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Europe.

The first Chinese spy balloon was shot down on February 4 over the Atlantic Ocean. It entered American airspace on January 28 and was found flying over Montana, as reported by The New York Times.

The first discovery of the spy balloon prompted State Secretary Antony J. Blinken to cancel his scheduled trip to China.

On February 10, an unidentified flying object was shot down off Alaska and over Canada on February 11.

Recently, an object was shot down over Michigan's Lake Huron. The object was reported to have first appeared over Montana.

READ NEXT: U.S. Military Shoots Down Another Unidentified Flying Object Over Michigan

China Accusing U.S.

China claimed on Monday that the United States had deployed spy balloons into Chinese airspace more than 10 times since January 2022 without the Chinese government's permission.

The Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Wang Wenbin, also noted that the U.S. was using warships and planes to collect intelligence on China 657 times since the start of 2022, as reported by NPR.

Wang went on to say that it was proof that the United States is "without a doubt the world's largest surveillance habitual offender and surveillance empire."

The Chinese official further said that the United States should first look at itself and change course instead of "smear and instigate a confrontation."

The spokesperson for the U.S. National Security Council, John Kirby, refuted claims made against the U.S.

Is There a Chinese Spy Balloon Over Latin America?

The Colombian Air Force and Costa Rica's Civil Aviation Authority both confirmed that they monitored a balloon similar to the one spotted over the U.S. airspace.

However, they did not attribute the suspected flying objects to China

Meanwhile, Beijing has admitted that the balloons seen over the skies of Latin America belong to China.

A Chinese spokesperson noted that it was used for flight tests, marking the first time that China admitted to owning the balloons over two Latin American countries.

Colombia's air force noted in a brief statement that it was possible the balloon had been detected by its air defense system on Friday morning.

U.S. officials claimed that the balloon was being used for surveillance, while China condemned the U.S. for shooting down the aircraft.

Beijing claimed that the balloon was for civilian use and that it flew into U.S. airspace by mistake.

READ MORE: Downed Chinese Spy Balloon Being Recalled by China After U.S. Navy's Recovery of Surveillance Craft

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Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Search underway for debris from 3 unidentified objects shot down by the US | ABCNL - from ABC News


Peace talks between Colombia's government and the country's largest remaining rebel organization, the ELN, resumed on Monday in Mexico City to end fighting that has lasted since the 1960s.

The second round of the negotiations with the communist-inspired National Liberation Army, or ELN, began in December after Colombia's first leftist president, Gustavo Petro, took office.

Three weeks of negotiations in Venezuela's capital produced little progress, AP reports.

Due to a rebel attack on a police school in Bogota in 2019 that resulted in the deaths of 23 people, talks between the two sides were put on hold.

A representative for the Colombian government, Jose Otty Patio, emphasized the need for "permanent solutions ... not temporary truces" from this round of negotiations.

A "temporary, nationwide ceasefire" and "an alternative anti-drug policy that is no longer based on repression and conflict," as the rebels' main negotiator Pablo Beltran put it, are the stated goals of the negotiations.

The ELN is a paramilitary group that has been active in Colombia since the 1960s. They have a presence in around 200 different municipalities.

Although a peace agreement was signed in 2016 with the larger Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC, some rural areas are still under the grip of drug gangs and rebel groups.

Peace talks with the ELN are central to Gustavo Petro's strategy to restore "complete peace" to the country of 50 million people.

READ NEXT: Colombia, ELN Rebel Group Reach First Point of Agreement

Colombia Government and ELN Rebels Had Ceasefire Confusion on New Year

As a result of the ELN's denial of a truce, the Colombian government had to retract a statement it had made on New Year's Eve. On the other hand, the rebels insisted that a ceasefire was only a proposal to be discussed.

Experts are now wondering how the government's apparent error will influence the possibility of resolving decades of armed conflict in Colombia and the reliability of any prospective ceasefires in the future as the second round of talks began on Monday in the Mexican city.

"Expectations in affected communities were sky-high after [last year's] elections," which brought Gustavo Petro to power, said Kyle Johnson, co-founder of the Conflict Responses Foundation, which studies armed conflict and peacebuilding in Colombia.

"But now we're starting to see doubt," he told Al Jazeera. "Residents in militarized conflict areas ask, 'If there is a ceasefire, why are there still soldiers and tanks in my community?'"

Colombia President Gustavo Petro Promised To Negotiate Peace With Remaining ELN Rebels

Gustavo Petro, who has been in power for less than a year, has promised to fully implement a 2016 agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and to negotiate peace or surrender accords with any remaining rebels or criminal organizations.

Former administrations' negotiations with the ELN failed due to the organization's splintered chain of command and internal dissent. Still, the ELN delegation's leader, Pablo Beltran, and top commander, Antonio Garcia, have stated that the group's fighters support the current negotiations.

Leading negotiators from both sides announced on Monday that the peace talks would center on a mutually agreed-upon cessation of hostilities and arrangements for sending relief to the regions of Colombia most affected by the conflict.

"Agreements are to be fulfilled... we have to produce results," said Otty Patino, head of the Colombian government delegation.

The long-running battle on drugs, the war on terrorism, and social inequality were among the group's main issues, which Beltran outlined.

"The economy and the state must be placed at the service of society," he said. "This is the main change for which we fight so that there is peace with justice."

READ MORE: Jair Bolsonaro Says He May Return Home

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Written by: Bert Hoover

WATCH: Colombia, ELN rebels conclude first round of 'successful' talks - From Al Jazeera English
For the first time since the pro-Jair Bolsonaro January 8 riots in Brasilia, the Solicitor General's Office of Brazil has requested that a civil court convict some of the rioters who took part in the failed coup against President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva.

On Friday, the Solicitor General asked to make 54 people and five companies pay 20.7 billion Brazilian real, or around $4 million, for damages to government properties and artworks during January 8 riots.

Many of the Brazilian rioters not only caused damage to federal buildings but also destroyed priceless pieces of art in Brazil. According to The Brazilian Report, the cost of property damages can still increase during the cost of the lawsuit.

The Brazilian rioters may find it difficult to pay for the government properties they damaged, as the Brazilian government froze the assets of many of the 54 people and five companies named in the conviction request.

READ NEXT: Joe Biden and Lula Swap Insurrection Stories About January 6 and January 8

Majority of Brazilians Condemn January 8 Political Violence

The rioters who took part in the January 8 riots in Brasilia believed that Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva cheated in the elections and former President Jair Bolsonaro should have won.

Thousands from different parts of the country descended into the Brazilian capital, thinking that the police and military would take their side and overthrow Lula. However, that did not happen as the police arrested many of them, and most Brazilians did not seem to agree with the rioters either.

According to CNN, a Datafolha poll revealed that 93% of Brazilians condemned what happened on January 8, which saw the pro-Bolsonaro rioters attack the Congress, Presidential Palace, and Supreme Court buildings. Only 3% of the respondents supported the rioters.

As for Bolsonaro, the poll showed that over half of the respondents, around 55%, said he holds some responsibility for the attacks. Another 39% said he could not be held responsible.

The poll also showed that 46% think all those involved in the invasion should be imprisoned. However, around 9% of the respondents say that none of them should be jailed.

Arrests are continuing as Brazilian authorities continue their investigations into the riot and who masterminded the entire event, which was publicly planned online, even using Telegram.

Brazil Racing to Restore Artworks Damaged by the January 8 Rioters

The supporters of Jair Bolsonaro not only just smashed windows but also slashed priceless paintings and urinated on tapestries. They also decapitated statues as well as destroyed pieces of furniture.

Maria Cristina Monteiro, a coordinator for the Senate Museum, told the Washington Post that she decried the horrible treatment of the priceless art pieces. She usually works to preserve these artworks but is now racing to restore some of them.

She and other workers at the Senate Museum have made progress and have already restored dozens of damaged objects. However, she admitted that some of the priceless artworks that had been vandalized were beyond repair, with some items requiring the construction of new contraptions to avoid damaging them further.

READ MORE: Brazil Launches Investigation on Who Was Behind Brazilian Insurrection

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Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Brazil Indicts Dozens Over January Riot - From BBC News
Authorities arrested a man allegedly involved in the death of a California toddler found unconscious in a Sacramento motel last week.

In a press statement released Monday, the Sacramento Police Department said officers and firefighters, who responded to a call about an unresponsive child, found the three-year-old boy at a Motel 6 in the 1400 block of 30th Street at 7:30 a.m. last Tuesday.

According to authorities, the California toddler was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival, The Sacramento Bee reported. The Sacramento County Coroner's Office has identified the child as Jetakhia Conway.

READ NEXT: Toddler Boy Dies After Adoptive Parents Subjected Him to Series of Sickening Abuse

Police Said California Toddler's Death Is Suspicious

According to the police, the Sacramento Fire Department "provided medical aid" to Jetakhia Conway before transporting him to the hospital, where the California toddler eventually died. Homicide investigators were called in when the Sacramento County Coroner's Office said the death of a toddler was suspicious.

"I just want people to know that I didn't know what was happening to my child that night," Michelle Cole, mother of Cole, told FOX 40.

According to Michelle, her partner went out with her son for a few hours the night before the California toddler's death. She claimed that she had put Cole to bed because she thought he had fallen asleep when her son and boyfriend returned.

Cole's grandmother told FOX 40 that the boyfriend her daughter was talking about was Lashawn Sparks, 30.

"This time, he brought him back, and I just thought he was asleep. I thought he was asleep, and he laid him down. And I guess he was dying slowly in his sleep. And I didn't know," Cole's mother said.

"It was my boyfriend that I trusted. I didn't think he could do something like this," she added.

Sparks was arrested on charges of child endangerment and homicide on February 10 and was booked into Sacramento County's Main Jail.

Another 3-Year-Old Boy Found Dead in Tacoma Apartment, Mother Arrested

Another 3-year-old boy was also discovered dead in an apartment in Tacoma, Washington State, on Sunday night, prompting authorities to launch a separate investigation.

After receiving a call about a kid who was unconscious and "cold to the touch" at a South Mason Avenue apartment at around 7:30 p.m., police arrived on the scene.

Officers walked into the unit and discovered the toddler when they got inside. Authorities said they tried everything they could to save the boy, but he was pronounced dead on the spot. The police then arrested a 25-year-old female suspect and took her to the Pierce County Jail on suspicion of second-degree murder.

The lady arrested was identified by Tacoma police as the toddler's mother, FOX 13 reported. There have been five murders in Tacoma this year; the 3-year-old was the third among the kids killed.

The causes of the child's death are unknown. Authorities also found another kid in the apartment, and was placed into protective custody.

Tacoma Police Department Spokesperson Wendy Haddow said having a young victim, whether 3 or 14, significantly impacts not only the child's family but also their department, fire department employees, and the community.

READ MORE: Teen Dies After Plunging 30 Feet

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Bert Hoover

WATCH: 3-Year-Old Boy Found Dead in Tacoma Apartment, Woman Arrested - From FOX 13 Seattle
Queen Consort Camilla, the wife of King Charles III, has to cancel her public engagements after she tested positive for COVID-19, according to Buckingham Palace.

Camilla is reportedly suffering from cold symptoms. She has already pulled out of a planned visit to the West Midlands on Tuesday, BBC reported.

The Queen Consort is said to be fully vaccinated and has already earlier tested positive for COVID-19. Despite being positive for coronavirus, she was reported to be in "good spirits" and currently resting.

The palace had first announced that the Queen Consort had to cancel her trip due to "seasonal illness." Almost a year ago, Camilla tested positive for COVID-19 with her husband, King Charles.

It remains unclear if King Charles has also tested positive for COVID-19, according to Fox News. In a statement, Clarence House said the Duchess of Cornwall is currently self-isolating, adding that they will continue to follow government guidelines regarding the matter.

Camilla was scheduled to appear with King Charles this week in Milton Keynes, with solo engagements in the West Midlands.

READ NEXT: King Charles Removed From Australia's New $5 Bill: Britain Reacts on Decision Not to Carry Monarch's Image

King Charles III and Camilla Coronation

King Charles' coronation will occur on May 6, Saturday, at Westminster Abbey in London. Charles will be crowned with Camilla during the ceremony. The plans for the king's coronation have been in the making for years and are known internally by the code name "Operation Golden Orb."

It will be a closely-guarded secret, but it was reported that the coronation will be followed by an extra bank holiday across the United Kingdom on May 8. People are also being invited to be part of a local volunteering project in the local community as part of the Big Help Out initiative.

Buckingham Palace also announced several events for the weekend, such as a concert and a laser light show at Windsor Castle. More than 8,000 guests attended Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, but the venue had to be closed for five months to accommodate extra seating.

Aside from royal family members, the prime minister, representatives from the Houses of Parliament, heads of state, and other royals around the world will also be attending.

King Charles III and Camilla Relationship

Camilla and King Charles married each other in April 2005, with the Queen Consort receiving the title of Duchess of Cornwall after their marriage.

Charles said in his first address to the nation as monarch that he counts on "the loving help of my darling wife, Camilla." The pair first met in 1970 when they were introduced by a mutual friend, Lucia Santa Cruz.

In the book "The Duchess: The Untold Story," author Penny Junor wrote that Charles loved the way Camilla "smiled with her eyes as well as her mouth, and laughed at the same silly things as he did."

A year after, the two called it quits, and Charles joined the Royal Navy. The now-Queen Consort reportedly did not meet the "royal requirements" to marry the heir to the throne. Reports said Camilla was not a virgin and did not have an aristocratic bloodline.

In 1973, Camilla married Andrew Parker Bowles, and despite being married to Bowles, Camilla and Charles reportedly started an affair in 1978 or 1979. The couple only got married years after Charles' first wife, Princess Diana, died due to a car accident.

READ MORE: Prince Harry's Controversial Memoir 'Spare' Breaks Guinness World Record

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Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Queen Consort Tests Positive for COVID - From The Mirror
Three people were killed, and five others were injured after a gunman opened fire at Michigan State University on Monday night. The shooting incident sent terrified students running and hiding in the dark. It also prompted a manhunt that lasted for hours.

According to the Associated Press, the gunman was pronounced dead early Tuesday or four hours after the shootings broke out in the Michigan State University's Berkey Hall at around 8:18 p.m. and then later at the adjacent MSU union building, where the victims were found.

"This truly has been a nightmare we're living tonight," said Chris Rozman, the campus police department's interim deputy chief. The Michigan State University shooting is the latest in what has become a deadly new year in the United States.

In California, 11 people were shot to death as they welcomed the Lunar New Year at a dance hall. The victims were among the dozens of people who have died in mass shootings this year.

READ NEXT: Texas School Shooting: Uvalde School District Hits Police Force with Severe Punishment

Gunman in Michigan State University Shooting Commits Suicide

Police described the 43-year-old suspect as a short Black male wearing a denim jacket, a ball cap, and red shoes. After hundreds of officers combed the East Lansing campus, some 145 kilometers northwest of Detroit, Chris Rozman said the suspect had been found off campus.

Police reportedly confronted the suspect before committing suicide. Authorities noted that he had died from a "self-inflicted gunshot wound."

Police said the suspect was not a student or employee and had no known affiliation with the university. The suspect's name was not released.

The victims' identities were also not released, nor any details about the firearm or what cops found at the scene. Authorities are yet to establish a motive, saying only that the investigation is still ongoing.

Michigan State University Cancels Campus Activities Following Shooting Incident

The university sent out a shelter-in-place order at around 8:31 p.m., telling students to stay inside and blockade themselves.

But after police confirmed the suspect's death, they announced that the shelter-in-place order had been lifted as there was "no longer a threat to campus." However, all campus activities have still been canceled for 48 hours.

Fox News reported that Michigan State University officials have canceled classes for the next two days and asked that students stay away from campus. According to Teresa Woodruff, the interim university president, it would be a time "to think and grieve and come together."

"This Spartan community - this family - will come back together," Woodruff noted. The Federal Aviation Administration also implemented temporary flight restrictions over the university's campus until Wednesday.

ESPN reported that even sports and other activities were canceled for 48 hours. However, Chris Rozman noted that the 48-hour window of cancellations is still "subject to change." Michigan State University has about 50,000 students, including some 19,000 who live on campus.

READ MORE: California Toddler Found Dead Inside Motel

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Bert Hoover

WATCH: Mass Shooting Reported at Michigan State University - What We Know - From FOX 32 Chicago
A Laois family is holding their second big annual road run fundraiser, in aid of a hospital that acted quickly to successfully treat a member for skin cancer.

Father and daughter Toney and Niamh Ryan from Pike of Rushall near Castletown, are holding their second annual Road to Recovery vehicle road run across Laois.

It takes place from Castletown this Sunday, February 26 leaving at 2pm.

Last year the fun event raised 2,770 for the Skin Cancer Unit in St James' Hospital, Dublin.

It is all in thanks for their expert care of Toney after he was diagnosed in 2021.

"Toney was looked after very well by the surgeons and his team, this is our way of thanking them for the amazing work they do and to give something back," she said.

Toney Ryan was attending an appointment to have his hearing aid checked, and he was advised to have a sore on his ear checked out by his doctor.

Toney thought that he had just accidently hurt the top of his ear and the scab just hadn't healed because his pandemic face mask was irritating it.

His doctor referred him to St James Hospital who confirmed it was skin cancer. They removed a piece of his ear and repaired it with a skin graft from his collarbone.

He fully recovered and with Niamh wants to again support the hospital's Skin Cancer Unit with another fun community event on Sunday, February 26. See the online donation link below story.

Niamh who is a member of Camross Macra gave the Leinster Express / Laois Live an update.

"After last years success we are delighted to be holding our 2nd annual Road to Recovery run again this year. Last year we had vans and jeeps from all over the midlands and beyond. This year we have added cars and Vintage cars to the run so everyone can get involved with our event.

"This years run will take place again in the grounds of Castletown Community Centre where everyone can register their vehicle. We will have refreshments for everyone before and after the run with registration open from 12.30 and the run leaving the Village at 2pm.

"There will be a raffle also on the day and those who register their vehicle will be entered into a draw to win a 100 voucher for Midland Tyres. We have some amazing prizes from 50 fuel vouchers to 50 meat vouchers and lots in between. Local businesses have been very good to us," she said.

The run will go from Castletown, Derrin Cross, Ballacolla, Abbeyleix, Portlaoise and back to Castletown where everyone is welcome to gather and enjoy more refreshments and find out if they have won a raffle prize.

"A massive thank you to everyone who supported us last year and to those supporting us this year, It really means a lot to us. Everyone is welcome on the day to take part or come and look at the run," she said.

Donate online to justgiving.com/fundraising/roadtorecovery2023.
Laois is to get almost 13.6 million for repairs this year on some of its regional and local roads, as well as on flood prevention in housing estates and repairs to bridges.

The county's share is out of 626 million for Ireland, announced by the Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan TD this Tuesday, February 14.

Included for Laois is 324,000 for Safety Improvement projects across the county including two in Abbeyleix at Crookedwood Cross and on the Ballyroan Road, at Clonard in Mountrath, Tinnahinch in Rosenallis, Ballygauge in Ballacolla, Killenard railway bridge and The Heath Cross.

There will be 410,000 invested for climate change adaptation works, including flood prevention in housing estates.

Nine Laois bridges are to receive a total of 535,000 including Woodenbridge in Ballacolla and Boleybeg Bridge in Spink.

Two Laois roads that were downgraded from being N7 and N8 national roads are getting 650,000 in repairs, the R445 and R639 near the M7 motorway in south Laois.

Sean Fleming TD, Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs welcomes the Government announcement of 13,586,290 for the improvement and maintenance works on regional and local roads in Laois in 2023, particularly the safety improvement works.

"This funding is to carry out road pavement and rehabilitation works and for regional and local roads to be maintained and strengthened.

"I would in particular like to highlight the special funding allocated to the Meelick Road, Portlaoise; Woodenbridge, Ballacolla; Boleybeg Bridge at Spink Creamery; The Heath Cross, Portlaoise and Tinweir, Durrow.

"This announcement, so early in the year, gives Laois County Council plenty of time to carry out all of these very important works in 2023," Minister Fleming said.

Deputy Charlie Flanagan has also welcomed the funding.

I very much welcome confirmation that Laois County Council is to receive 13,586,290 for regional and local roads this year.

The main priority in 2023 continues to be the protection and renewal of the existing regional and local roads. The total figure of 13,449,496 for Laois includes the significant amount of 6,920,500 for restoration improvement, 1,010,500 for Restoration Maintenance and 410,000 for Climate Change Adaption & Resilience Works.

This funding for roads in Laois will make a big difference to people and businesses locally. Ensuring the upkeep and maintenance of our road network is essential in facilitating our future economic growth and securing job creation, Dep Flanagan said.

Minister of State Pippa Hackett from Offaly also welcomed the announcement for Laois.

"It is vital for both the communities and economy of Laois that our regional and local roads are maintained and strengthened, and all the more important now that we must adapt to climate change," she said.

I am glad to see a Specific Improvement Grant of 150,000 for Meelick Road and a total of 650,000 for rehabilitation works to R445 and R639 which were formally the N7 and N8 respectively.

This funding is allocated to a broad variety of road maintenance and improvement aspects across Laois. In addition to the projects named there is additional funding allocated to road safety schemes and signage that target improved road safety for vulnerable road users and vehicular traffic.

These grants supplement local authorities own resources expenditure on regional and local road projects and does not represent the total investment in regional and local roads for this year, she said.
The Defence Forces are currently recruiting for Army General Service Enlistment.

This recruit platoon will be trained in the Defence Forces Training Centre (DFTC) in the Curragh Camp, Co. Kildare commencing in April 2023. The application process includes an online psychometric test, fitness test, interview and security vetting. No formal education is required to join the Defence Forces as a recruit.

The Defence Forces is looking for people who seek a challenging and physically demanding career. Applicants should work well in a high pressure environment, be willing to serve abroad for extended periods of time and have the ability to work in disciplined military environment and to work with others in a team.

Defence Forces recruit training is 12 weeks in duration, during which recruits are gradually introduced to Defence Forces training skills, fitness and values. On successful completion of basic training, Two Star Privates will be posted to a unit in DFTC and will undergo a further 12 weeks training to progress to the rank of 3 Star Private.

Private soldiers are encouraged to complete further courses in the Army, which may enable the soldier to specialise or qualify the soldier for promotion and overseas service. The Professional Military Education scheme offers pathways into third level education at all ranks. Opportunities to serve overseas are available to soldiers once they complete the required courses of training and meet the qualifying criteria for the role in which they deploy.

The Defence Forces help you achieve your full potential in life. Well train you up and give you the skills and qualifications, but well challenge you too, bring out the qualities you didnt realise you had, take you further than you expected.

You can BE MORE with the Irish Defence Forces. All applications are made online at www.military.ie

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Irish Rail will be asked to immediately install a safety fence in an area located in North Kildare.

Fianna Fail councillor Paul Ward called on Kildare County Council (KCC) to write to Irish Rail in relation to the matter at the latest Clane-Maynooth Municipal District meeting held on Friday, February 3.

Cllr Ward explained that a safety fence would curtail the open access to the rail line adjacent to the Ledwill Estate in Kilcock.

Speaking about the area, he said: "There is an accident waiting to happen here.

"Im astounded at how simple it is to access the area, it is possibly the worst stretch of land in North Kildare."

He added: "I want a letter sent by KCC to Irish Rail, and it should be marked 'urgent.'"

Cllr Paul Ward. Pic: www.fiannafail.ie

Cllr Wards sentiments were shared by Labour Party Cllr Angela Feeney and Fine Gael Cllr Tim Durkan, with the latter referring to the land in question as being 'extremely dangerous.'

When Cllr Wards party colleague Naoise O Cearuil asked if KCC could place fences at the site in the interim, he was told by an engineer with the council: "There are no temporary fences secure enough for the site."

It was ultimately decided that KCC would write to Irish Rail to highlight the concerns over the area.
A Turkish national living in Naas is campaigning to help those affected by the recent disaster in his homeland and Syria.

Tens of thousands of people have been confirmed dead following the catastrophic earthquake that hit the country on February 6.

Upsetting images showing distraught and injured survivors have made headlines worldwide.

Ibrahim Kurta of Paddy the Turk Barbers on South Main Street, Naas was born in the city of Aydin but has lived in Ireland for 18 years.

When asked about how he feels about living in Ireland, Mr Kurta told the Leinster Leader: "I love living in Ireland, its a great country; the people are fantastic and there are great opportunities here for a successful life."

Mr Kurta explained that he is currently taking in donations through his business, and he will bring the donations to the Turkish Embassy in Dublin every second day.

He added: "I have also set up a GoFundMe page, where you can donate as little or as much as you can. Your donation, big or small, will help the Turkish people during this dark time."

When asked about his personal reaction to the disaster currently ravaging Turkey and Syria, Mr Kurta said: "I am absolutely devastated and heartbroken The images on the news have been harrowing.

"I looked into travelling there in order to help, but unfortunately I cant get there, as the roads are all ripped up, so I am now here trying my best to do all I can to help. I would go in a heartbeat."

He continued: "I have friends in the affected area, who woke up in the middle of the night, and just got out of their home when it collapsed in front of them."

"(There is) despair in their voices (they are) seeing family, friends, and neighbours trapped, and in some cases, feared dead. (The relief effort) is now about getting people to safety and providing them with warmth, as it is extremely cold over there at the moment."

Mr Kurta has also provided a list of items that are being sought for the relief effort.

These items include clothes, tents, sleeping bags, vacuum flasks, blankets, baby food and diapers.

The fundraiser has a 1,000 goal and can be found on GoFundMe and via the official Paddy the Turk Facebook page.

A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs told the Leader: "The government has pledged 1 million in direct humanitarian assistance to the people of Turkiye, through the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in support of the Turkish Red Crescent operation.

"We are also providing 1 million of direct support to response efforts in Syria. This assistance will support immediate and urgent humanitarian needs."

The spokesperson added that the Department is 'coordinating with relevant UN agencies on their needs, and is ready to deploy experts immediately, as soon as requests are received.'

A Book of Condolences for the victims has opened at Kildare County Councils Aras Chill Dara HQ in Naas after a formal request by Mayor of Kildare, Councillor Fintan Brett.
A garda was kicked in the testicles by a woman described as very aggressive and abusive.

Before Naas District Court was Sally Murray, 44, whose address was given as 10 Radharc an Caislean, Naas.

Sgt Dave Hanrahan said the incident took place on April 11, 2019 at Lacken View and she was prosecuted for assault and a breach of the Public Order Act..

The court heard that the woman was out of control.

She also brought 200 to court.

The court also heard that the defendant has five children and is not working.

The woman told the court Im so ashamed, I would even recognise the guard.

Asked by the judge about She also said that while she drinks it is not like I used to.

The injured party said he accepted the defendants apology.

A 50 fine was imposed by Judge Michele Finan, who directed that the 200 be paid to the Garda Benevolent Fund.

Read more Kildare news
Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan this morning confirmed funding of 26.5m for Kildare roads including 8m towards the ongoing works on Athys Southern Distributor Route.

The funding is part of the 2023 national allocation towards local and regional roads and includes large funding for a number of strategic projects including Athys long awaited ring road.

The breakdown of the 26.5m for Kildare roads includes 500k for climate change adaption and resilience works to address the impact of extreme weather conditions on vulnerable roads, 469k for bridge rehabilitation works around the County including Moone Village, Ballymore, Rathangan and Athy.

There has also been 300k is set aside for safety improvement works on local projects from Fontstown, Feighcullen to Ballykelly.

Fine Gael TD and Minister Martin Heydon has welcomed the funding and has said, "The main objective of this 2023 allocation remains safeguarding and careful maintenance of the current regional and local road infrastructure, as it is a critical aspect that cannot be compromised. Prioritizing swift maintenance and repair of our roads will ensure they do not deteriorate which would cause more costly disrepair.

This announcement is very positive funding for Kildares local and regional roads around the County and will ensure continued progress on Athys Southern Distributor Route in particular which will bring great benefits to the residents and town of Athy."
Denis Naughten has announced that he will not contest the next General Election, which is due in 2025.

Commenting on his decision he stated "I have decided, for both personal and professional reasons, after giving 26 years of my life to national politics that now is the time to step back and explore new opportunities.

"I want to thank the people of counties Longford, Leitrim, Galway and Roscommon most sincerely for their support over the last quarter of a century. It has truly been an honour to represent the people from those counties in Dail Eireann over that time.

"I want to particularly thank the many people who canvassed for me over the years, some of whom had previously canvassed for my later father Liam.

"I want to sincerely thank all the staff who have worked with me over the years, and I want to particularly mention Deirdre Concannon & Jill Mellor and also my family for their support over those years, which at times were very difficult and challenging.

"I entered politics at a young age, in difficult circumstances, and it was always my intention to turn my hand to something outside politics. The time has now come for that to happen and to provide an opportunity for others to represent the people of this area in Dail Eireann.

"I provided support to the Government as an Independent TD at a time when political stability was required, representing my country at international level as Minister, furthering our collective national ambition towards a lower carbon society by imaginative and progressive policies on behalf of all our people.

"Since my initial election I have fought tirelessly for the improvement and delivery of our health services at both local and national level. Whilst protecting our local services was a condition of my support for the Government, the establishment of an all-party Committee on Health - which produced the first Slaintecare report, and which was the genesis of our current pathway - I believe will ultimately prove to be a key turning point in the delivery of a proper and responsive healthcare system in Ireland.

"My achievement in ensuring the delivery of fibre optic broadband to every home in Ireland, something that I had worked on for over 15 years, is something that I regard as a significant step in improving access to the people of all local communities in Ireland that I was honoured to represent and serve.
"Pie Rows" (1961), by Wayne Thiebaud. MATTHEW KROENING/WAYNE THIEBAUD FOUNDATION/2022, PROLITTERIS, ZURICH

This exhibition will be a discovery for many, including much of Europe, who have only vaguely heard of Wayne Thiebaud (1920-2021). Those who follow contemporary art auctions in New York routinely see one of his paintings pass by. Typically, neatly aligned slices of cake, one or two wedding cakes, or a few other pastries so American that your cholesterol level rises just by looking at them. Others may have had the chance to see one of the many exhibitions dedicated to him by museums across the Atlantic, such as the Whitney Museum retrospectives in 1971 and 2001, or the Acquavella Galleries in New York, which has represented him since 2012.

Ulf Kuster, chief curator at the Fondation Beyeler, has created a display with surprises that grow as one moves through the galleries.

That's why the exhibition at the Fondation Beyeler, featuring 55 paintings and a dozen drawings, is so important. In Europe, aside from those who saw the Documenta organized in Kassel, Germany by Harald Szeemann in 1972 or those who more recently went to the Morandi Museum in Bologna, Italy, which devoted an exhibition to him in 2011, or the Voorlinden Museum in Wassenaar, Netherlands, for his retrospective in 2018, Thiebaud is a complete unknown. He was probably quite happy about this during his lifetime, as he never sought the limelight. He spent most of his adult life as a teacher, since he graduated in California in 1951, and he seemed content with that life.

"Student," by Wayne Thiebaud (1968), oil on canvas, 152.7  122.2 cm. Collection of Doris and Donald Fisher, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. WAYNE THIEBAUD FOUNDATION/2022, PROLITTERIS, ZURICH

Thiebaud was making pop art without knowing it. He was even one of its inventors. At least, that's what Andy Warhol and others, like Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns, told him during a 1956 stay in New York. He had come to meet Willem de Kooning and Franz Kline, the expressionist predecessors of the pop art movement. He returned to California in 1957, but could not escape the stigma of being seen as a precursor by the young pop artists.

Teaching, his vocation

He was undoubtedly a master of advertising graphics. At the age of 15, he was an apprentice at Disney Studios. He was a sign painter and movie poster designer, a theater decorator, and, during his military service between 1942 and 1945, he even decorated the fuselages of airplanes with those cheerful figures typical of the particular humor of the US Air Force.

But his calling was teaching. He devoted himself to it, first by resigning from all his other jobs, and then by creating a series of educational films starting in 1954. Despite his success as an artist, he remained a professor until his retirement from UC Davis in 1991 (he continued to teach there for 10 more years afterward, as a volunteer). Among his students were some well-known names, such as Mel Ramos and Bruce Nauman, who was also his assistant.

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A policeman walks next to a car of city of Paris' security services in the Buttes-Chaumont park, in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, on February 13, 2023. CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT / AFP

French investigators on Tuesday, February 14, found more human remains including a head in Paris' busy Buttes-Chaumont park, prosecutors said, after part of a woman's body was discovered the day before.

Police had been combing the park in the French capital's northeast for further evidence after park workers made the find on Monday afternoon, a source close to the investigation said.

Prosecutors said identification of the woman's body "is still underway" after a lower part of the torso was discovered in a bag in a wooded area.

There was no immediate indication of how long the victim might have been dead, and the source close to the inquiry said an autopsy would be carried out.

A police source told Agence France-Presse the remains bore a pair of blue jeans with a "floral decoration" on the thigh.

Paris criminal police have launched a homicide investigation.

Still closed on Tuesday as the search continued, the Buttes-Chaumont park, which was built during the major relandscaping of the French capital under Napoleon III in the 19th century, is a popular spot for families and joggers.

Le Monde with AFP
Suspected jihadists have killed 13 people, most of them from the military, in the latest such attack in Burkina Faso's restive north, the army said on Tuesday, January 31.

Ten military police officers, two members of an auxiliary force supporting the army, and a civilian died as a result of a "terrorist attack on Monday" in the locality of Falangoutou, the army said in a statement.

Read more Burkina Faso sends a new warning to France

Ten other military police officers were missing and another five were wounded in the attack, the army said.

Fifteen bodies bearing bullet impacts were also found on Monday near Linguekoro, a village in the western province of Comoe, regional governor Colonel Jean-Charles Some said in a statement.

They were among 24 people who were aboard two minibuses traveling from Banfora that were stopped in Linguekoro by armed men on Sunday evening, he said. "The passengers, comprising eight men and 16 women, were told to get off. Eight women and one man were released and told to walk to Mangodara," 30 kilometers away, he said.

Burkina Faso is one of the poorest and most volatile countries in Africa. Thousands of troops, police and civilians have been killed and around two million people have fled their homes since jihadists launched an insurgency from neighboring Mali in 2015.

More than a third of the country lies beyond the control of the government, and frustration within the army at the mounting toll triggered two coups last year.

Read more French troops to exit Burkina Faso within a month

Extremist attacks

Multiple jihadi attacks across Burkina Faso over several days have resulted in the death of at least 32 people, including soldiers and civilians, government authorities said.

Burkina Faso's State Information Agency posted on its Facebook page that a dozen soldiers and a civilian were killed Monday in Falagountou in Burkina Faso's Sahel region during clashes between the military and jihadis. Another 20 people were killed in two attacks over the weekend in the country's east-central and western regions.

Four people were executed Saturday afternoon when gunmen intercepted their van between Tenkodogo and Ouargaye villages. On Sunday, a passenger mini-bus coming from the western city of Banfora was intercepted by armed men, said Colonel Jean Charles dit Yenapono Some, governor of the Cascades region in a statement. Eight women and one man were freed, the rest of the people were abducted and their lifeless bodies were found with bullet holes the following day, he said.

Jihadi violence linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State Group has ravaged the West African country for years killing thousands and displacing nearly 2 million people. Nearly 5,000 civilians have been killed since 2015, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED).

The violence has sowed frustration and distrust among the population and led to two coups last year. The new junta leader, Ibrahim Traore, seized power in September promising to stem the violence but attacks are increasing.

Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes In Burkina Faso, 'everyone is very worried' as fertilizer shortages threaten crops and food security

Traore has mobilized tens of thousands of civilian fighters to combat the jihadis alongside the army. But analysts say the civilian fighters are accused of targeting other civilians perceived to be working with the jihadis, which is fueling retaliatory attacks.

"The types of mass atrocities that are occurring were expected, as the conflict was expected to escalate in the coming months due to the increased mobilization of the population through the (volunteer) program and the increasing trend of extrajudicial killings by defense and security forces observed in recent months," said Heni Nsaibia, senior researcher at ACLED.

"With the increase in state violence and state-sanctioned violence, it is not surprising that militant violence is escalating and further fueling cycles of attacks and retaliation," he said.

Le Monde with AP and AFP
A woman clears water from a squatter camp on the edge of the Jukskei river by Alexandra township after heavy rainfall, in Johannesburg, South Africa, Monday, February. 13, 2023. THEMBA HADEBE / AP

A crash between an armored truck and a bus killed 20 and injured another 60 in South Africa's northern province of Limpopo, the regional transport department said on Tuesday, February 14.

"Twenty people were tragically killed in an accident where a cash-in-transit truck lost control and collided head-on with an oncoming bus" on a highway on Monday, the department said in a statement.

Ten of the injured were in serious condition and sent to hospital.

Police divers were searching a river that runs along the highway "for people who might have been swept away."

The cause of the accident was under investigation but heavy rains have been drenching the region in recent days, a spokesman for the department, Tidimalo Chuene, told Agence France Presse.

Downpours have caused flooding in several regions of South Africa in recent days, killing at least seven and leading the government to declare a national disaster.

Le Monde with AFP
Israeli security forces try to contain the crowd of demonstrators assembled in front of the Knesset, in Jerusalem, February 13, 2023. AMMAR AWAD / REUTERS

In the stations of Tel Aviv, the large liberal city on the Israeli coast, thousands of demonstrators struggled to get on the crowded trains that would take them to Jerusalem on Monday morning to protest in front of the parliament. They were traveling to denounce a reform of the judiciary led by the coalition of conservative, far-right and religious parties assembled by Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, who is back in power since December 2022.

"Regime change", "coup d'etat": The slogans brandished in the trains and the warnings from high-ranking officials use the same words. It is a cultural war that is being expressed in broad daylight, an existential question dividing Israel: Who owns the country?

Around 10 am, opponents gathered for a prayer under the Wailing Wall, a remnant of the Jerusalem Temple, which was destroyed in the 1st century. Shortly before, in a cramped room in the Knesset, the first two bills for this reform were finalized in disarray. Opposition members in the Committee for the Constitution, Law and Justice banged their hands on the table, chanting, "I have no other country."

Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes 'We don't want to become a theocracy': Over 80,000 Israelis protest against Netanyahu government legal reform

Many admonished the committee chair, Simcha Rothman: "Shame! Shame on you!" They lay down on the carpet, forcing guards to drag them towards the exit. Around 10:30, the two bills were voted in committee. They will be debated in a plenary session on Wednesday.

Several bills

The first bill is on the appointment of members of the Supreme Court. Currently, they are chosen by a panel of judges, MPs and lawyers from the bar, under the supervision of the justice minister. The reform proposes to remove the lawyers from this panel, where two citizens would sit in their place, in addition to a minister, giving the government a majority with five votes out of nine.

This is a blow to the independence of the 15 judges on the Court, who are overworked and who serve as both a constitutional council and an administrative, civil and criminal court of appeal, and represent the only institutional counterweight to the elected majority. The second bill deprives them of their power to invalidate the work of lawmakers when they amend one of the country's basic laws, which serve as a constitution.

Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes Israel's Supreme Court under attack from new coalition

This is just the beginning. The coalition has broken down its reform into several projects. It plans to vote on them one by one, over a period of months. None of its 64 members has expressed dissent so far, even though their reform worries a clear majority of Israelis, according to opinion polls. The attorney general has forbidden Netanyahu from being involved in this undertaking  she fears a conflict of interest. The struggle he is establishing against the judiciary may disrupt his corruption trial, which began in 2021.

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Mourners to pay tribute to Martinez Zogo at Amplitude FM radio station, in Yaounde, on January 23, 2023. DANIEL BELOUMOU OLOMO / AFP

On January 22, we were all shocked by the murder of Arsene Salomon Mbani Zogo, aka Martinez Zogo, a journalist working for Amplitude FM, a radio station based in Yaounde, the Cameroonian capital.

In the wake of this heinous crime, yet another perpetrated in Cameroon, we express our deep concern at the violent turn of public debate in this pivotal central African country whose stability is threatened by bitter rival clan struggles at the top of the state, due to the ending of a cycle that is both imminent and unavoidable.

The murder of a journalist always goes beyond taking a person's life. It is a crime against society because it undermines freedom of expression. Therefore, urging the justice system to relentlessly search for, arrest and try the perpetrators of such acts is no longer enough.

Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes Murder of Cameroonian journalist triggers state scandal

The chase through the city, the kidnapping of the victim by his persecutors, the torture, the humiliation of the victim, his mutilation and the display of his remains represent a challenge to our ability to react as a community of life and civilized society. It is a provocation aimed at testing what is left of our reference points, rules and capacity to do justice and protect the living. This manner of dramatically displaying violence like a spectacle is also intended to demoralize and infect our imagination in order to validate an insidious process of loss of freedoms and fundamental rights.

The dark forces of oppression

The assassination of Martinez Zogo follows dozens of others that have not yet been solved: Engelbert Mveng, Bishop Yves Plumey, Joseph Mbassi, Antony Fontegh, Sisters Marie Germaine and Marie Leone, Bishop Jean-Marie Benoit Balla, Germain Cyrille Ngota Ngota and several others. It is one more in a long list of crimes committed in the course of the war that has ravaged the English-speaking regions for several years.

Since the journalist's body was found on January 22, five days after his abduction, there has been no official information from the authorities about the progress of the investigation. As a result, the dark forces of oppression that instigate these crimes are perpetuating a long tradition of trivializing impunity and accepting atrocities in order to frighten and distract citizens from their duty to monitor the quality of governance.

The "addiction" to violence against intermediary bodies, such as the press, unions, clergy and associations, also has the effect of creating disdain and indifference among the people toward politics. The power of images of desecrated bodies and the impotence of justice form a cocktail like anesthetic psychotropic drugs.

The goal of the perpetrators of these crimes is to turn us away from democracy by making it seem like an anarchic system where violence and impunity reign. They want to divert us from our dream of building a state governed by the rule of law that guarantees the separation of powers as well as human rights, public and individual freedoms.

Power-hungry shady groups

It is our duty to block this project whose unavowed objective is to create a desire for order, even for a strongman at the head of a central power who would certainly be violent but supposedly protective.

Cameroonians have an appointment with history. All together as a people, they will have to ask themselves this existential question and answer it: how can we live together today and in the future without killing each other?

They have the choice of whether or not to allow these powerful interest groups, which try to impose their law above the general interest, to flourish in order to hinder the establishment of a modern state. A free people, led not by masters but by freely chosen leaders, could, on the other hand, oppose these power-hungry shady groups with their unshakeable faith in the emancipating virtues of democracy and the effective protection of the general principles of law.

The time has come for a demanding, sincere and inclusive national dialogue. In order for our country to get back on its feet and start moving forward again, we need to urgently conduct a compliance audit of the current governance with respect to the basic social contract. The time has come to put back on the table the rules that govern the great moments of our democracy under construction, namely: a genuine palaver, followed by a consensus on the rules of the electoral game, a redefinition of the modalities of accountability and the conditions of debate.

Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes 'Emmanuel Macron must, on behalf of France, recognize the war in Cameroon'

Deadly trap of identity-based withdrawal

It is equally important to renew the terms of our commitment to this nation in light of the principle of equality and the values of fraternity.

It is imperative to open a dialogue to reaffirm what it is to be Cameroonian and African if we want to avoid the deadly trap of identity-based withdrawal. It seems essential to us to rediscuss our relationship with the common good, the meaning to be given to public service, the restoration of confidence in economic and commercial transactions, respect of the common rule, equal access to public resources, the climatic and environmental urgency and our integration in our rightful place in our continent as well as in this changing world.

Let there be no doubt, regardless of their political opinions or religious beliefs, the majority of Cameroonians aspire to live in a peaceful and united country. Inevitable changes are approaching on the horizon. We would benefit from preparing for them gently, without external interference, within the framework of a broad national consultation. We ask those in power and all stakeholders representing our people to adopt the principle and establish its terms.

To all souls of good intent, we say that it is getting late and night is approaching. But there is still time to cut our losses before disaster strikes.

Felix Agbor Balla, lawyer, human rights advocate; Calixthe Beyala, writer; Marie Roger Biloa, journalist; Charlotte Dipanda, artist; Georges Dougueli, journalist; Alain Foka, journalist; Simon Alain Handy, diplomat; Clarisse Juompan, journalist; Louis Keumayou, journalist; Ambroise Kom, writer, teacher; Theophile Kouamouo, journalist; Achille Mbembe, essayist, teacher, researcher; Akere Muna, lawyer, politician; Maximilienne Ngo Mbe, human rights advocate; Alice Nkom, lawyer, human rights advocate; Jackson Ngnie Kamga, lawyer; Armand Noutack, teacher; Eugene Nyambal, economist; Claudy Siar, journalist; Alexis Tcheuyap, academic, essayist.

Group letter Translation of an original article published in French on lemonde.fr; the publisher may only be liable for the French version.
Bill Clinton at the White House, February 2, with Kamala Harris and Joe Biden. CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES/AFP

Top-level meeting

Is there something going on between Kamala Harris and Bill Clinton? At first glance, maybe not, or at least nothing juicy. On Thursday, February 2, the vice president of the United States and the former US president held hands at the White House to celebrate, under the watchful eye of Joe Biden, the anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act. It was in fact Clinton who, just a few days after his inauguration, had ratified the famous law allowing for maternity leave (12 weeks, unpaid), deemed as social progress by the Democrats and a communist delusion by the Republicans. That was on February 5, 1993.

Wisdom of age?

The realization that Clinton became president 30 years ago may be unsettling, but it's a common feeling. Time flies, but rest assured, age doesn't hinder ambition in the United States. Let's remember that, at 78 years old during his January 2021 inauguration, Biden became the oldest serving president in American history while Clinton, in 1993, was 46 years old, the third youngest president in history, behind Theodore Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy. Harris might one day have the opportunity to participate in this little game.

Ruby ring

Since we are talking about the vice president, let's note that she is wearing a ruby ring in this photo, recognizable by its red color. This hue is caused primarily by the presence of chromium oxide. The depth of the red depends on the amount of chromium present. The most valuable rubies, and the most sought-after, have a bold red color, darkened by a slight hint of blue. Called "pigeon's blood," this perfect color beats the competition that is carmine, scarlet, geranium, flesh or vermilion red.

White hair

In the realm of colors, the presence of these two seniors in the picture also requires us to address hair care and clarify some truths. Contrary to popular belief, white hair can certainly fall out. It is actually no thicker or stronger than ordinary hair. We can also officially dispel the urban legend that pulling out one white hair results in the immediate regrowth of seven other white hairs. That's fake news.

Special silk

Let's finally talk about fabric and focus on Biden's tie. it is made of a little-known material called silk rep. Composed of a silk warp and a cotton or wool weft, this material was invented in the 19th century and was long used in furnishings, particularly for Louis XVI-style seat trim. But its stiffness and weight eventually relegated it to tie-making. It is quite possible that the model in question was made by Ralph Lauren, as the brand has made this fabric one of its favorite materials.

Marc Beauge(Magazine) Translation of an original article published in French on lemonde.fr; the publisher may only be liable for the French version.
Violence, secrecy, clanism and greed have long been characteristics of the rotting grip of Paul Biya, who has ruled Cameroon since 1982. But the assassination of Martinez Zogo, a radio journalist who was a critic of the corruption at the highest level of the state, by its degree of savagery and the timing of its occurrence shortly before the autocrat's 90th birthday on February 13, shows that anything goes in the ruthless open war for his succession.

Zogo, 51, was a popular voice of Amplitude FM, a radio station where he denounced daily the mafia-like functioning of the regime's rival clans. He was kidnapped on January 17, in Yaounde. His horribly mutilated body was found five days later. In a country where journalism is a dangerous profession and exposed to pressure, this slaying sent an unacceptable message of intimidation. This is a crime that looks like a state scandal which, around the whole world, should arouse horror, anger and indignation.

Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes Murder of Cameroonian journalist triggers state scandal

The murder of a journalist, preceded by torture, is a terrible signal of the decay of this regime whose republican institutions mask its monarchical functioning and where a justice system is under orders serves to eliminate ambitious people and opponents. It is also a threat to all civil rights and liberties. All the more so when, as is the case, this killing seems to have been carried out by agents of the state.

Any kind of tampering is possible, but the arrest of several intelligence officials along with the testimony of Reporters Without Borders that businessman Jean-Pierre Amougou-Belinga was the main instigator of the assassination lends credence to the theory that it was a state crime, in the context of the race to succeed Biya.

Heavy concerns

Amougou-Belinga, the head of a media group whose business is based on his networks of influence in high places, was himself arrested on February 6. Zogo had accused him in his broadcasts of taking advantage of the generosity and support of the ministers of finance and justice. These specific senior officials are both key figures in one of the clans vying for power, in rivalry with another faction, led by the secretary general of the presidency, who was the first to announce the arrests.

All countries committed to democracy must weigh in to demand the truth in the Zogo case and use their influence to ensure that this heinous crime does not go unpunished. The assassination of the journalist also confirms that Cameroon is likely to live in troubled times when Biya who, as heir to the dictator Ahmadou Ahidjo (1960-1982), personifies the continuity of a power directly born of France's crushing of the revolt in Bamileke country in the 1950s, finally dies. This war of independence in which the wounds continue to fuel ethnic tensions, in addition to separatist demands in the English-speaking province (in the west) and the threat of Boko Haram jihadists (in the north).

For France, Biya is an ally who is both cumbersome and precious, and whose inevitable succession raises serious concerns in a pivotal Central African country. Between accusations of interference and reminders of its responsibilities, the dividing line is narrow for Paris. Zogo's brutal murder rings out a storm warning on a landscape fading into twilight.

Le Monde Translation of an original article published in French on lemonde.fr; the publisher may only be liable for the French version.
In Lebanon, meetings between political leaders come one after another. In the comfort of their living rooms, Lebanese officials negotiate their future, without worrying about the fate of the country. Visitors come and go, the blockages persist. Three months after the end of General Michel Aoun's term, on October 31, 2022, Lebanon is still without a president. A council of ministers is occasionally convened to expedite routine business. The parliament only meets at regular intervals to acknowledge the lack of consensus on the future executive. There is no sense of urgency, even though pressure is mounting from abroad with a first meeting to address the issues held in Paris on February 6 between France, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt.

International pressure has had no effect on Lebanese leaders. It does not matter that for three years the country has been sinking into an economic and financial crisis that has already plunged more than 80% of the population into poverty and led to the carving up of the state, its institutions and its services. Community leaders are trying to buy time to find the formula that will guarantee each of them their own political survival as well as the system of plundering that they have established on the back of the state since the end of the civil war in 1990, with the complicity of an oligarchy of bankers, businessmen and judges who assure their impunity.

Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes Lebanon: The investigation into the Beirut port explosion turns into a judicial battle

This system no longer provides even the minimum to the Lebanese people. Many do not have access to electricity and water, health and education. With the devaluation of the Lebanese pound by 90%, the salaries of civil servants are worthless. The Lebanese army, the only institution that still ensures national cohesion, pays salaries thanks to donations from Qatar and soon from the United States. Only the "dollarized"  the Lebanese and expatriates who receive an income in foreign currency or have assets abroad  can afford, at great expense, the illusion of a normal life in the bubble of the posh districts.

Informal business transactions

On a day-to-day basis, the majority of Lebanese just about get by on handouts from community organizations, aid from NGOs and, above all, money sent by relatives, more and more of whom are going into exile abroad. The World Bank estimates that in 2022, remittances from abroad accounted for 38% of Lebanon's GDP, compared to 14.4% in 2019. The NGO Mercy Corps estimated in late 2022 that they are the sole source of income for 15% to 30% of households. Formerly well-off working people and retirees also depend on them: their savings are stuck in banks and eaten away by currency depreciation. Since the fall of 2019, banks have been imposing informal capital controls in response to the cash crisis, hoping to stave off their own failure.

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People mourn by their relative's coffin during the funeral of Cypriot students killed in an earthquake that hit Turkey, in the eastern city of Famagusta, in the breakaway Turkish Cypriot statelet of northern Cyprus, on February 11, 2023. BIROL BEBEK / AFP

On Sunday, February 12, while Greek Cypriots went to the polls to elect their president, on the other side of the green line that separates them, their Turkish counterparts were burying their dead. 39 people, whose remains have been repatriated from the town of Adiyaman (southeast Turkey) devastated by the earthquake.

The deceased were part of a school group from Famagusta, a port city in the Turkish-controlled part of Cyprus, who travelled to Adiyaman for a volleyball tournament. Twenty-four boys and girls, aged between 11 and 14, as well as their chaperones, parents and teachers, perished under the rubble of their hotel  a building that was recently built but collapsed like a house of cards, as if it had no foundation, in the early hours of February 6.

All day Sunday, funeral rites were held in Famagusta, on the east coast of the island, in the area administered by the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), which is recognized only by Ankara.

Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes Earthquake in Turkey: In the most deprived regions, anger rumbles over state neglect

Irresponsibility

Met at the exit of the old mosque, Kaan G. has misty eyes and a broken voice. "The young people were looking forward to this trip, it was a reward for them, they left with confidence and now we bury them. We feel guilty for not having been able to protect them," murmurs the thirty-year-old who does not want to say his name.

Last week, Turkish Cypriots still believed in a miracle, certain that some lives would be spared. But the only person pulled alive from the rubble, Evren Cavdir, a father, succumbed to his injuries shortly afterwards in hospital.

Kaan is sure of it. "They had no chance of getting away with it, the hotel was not built to the current earthquake standards. The standards exist but only on paper. More often than not, they are not respected, especially in these regions of southeastern Turkey where developers and politicians operate like a mafia."

The earthquake was deadly in itself. But the extent of the damage and the ever-increasing human toll can also be explained by the irresponsibility that reigns in the Turkish construction sector, which has little regard for antiseismic standards.

Loyalty

Regulations were put in place just after the 1999 earthquake in Izmit, on the Sea of Marmara, not far from Istanbul. The aim was to prevent rogue contractors, who were quick to use poor quality materials - including concrete mixed with sea sand - from causing further damage. The disaster (18,000 dead) contributed to the loss of popularity of the then coalition government, which lost the 2002 parliamentary elections, won by the Justice and Development Party (AKP).

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AN EMPLOYEE is entitled to do their job without the threat of a man blowing up.

The words of Judge Marie Keane as she fined a man for slapping a bartender at Mann's Hotel, Main Street, Rathkeale.

Patrick Kealy, aged 38, of Fairhill, Rathkeale, pleaded guilty at Kilmallock Court to assault arising from an incident on June 13, 2021.

Inspector Gearoid Thompson, prosecuting, said the injured party was working as a bar person in the Rathkeale premises.

The defendant was asked to leave. After he refused he slapped the barman with an open hand. The defendant was ejected from the premises. A complaint was made to gardai, said Insp Thompson, who added the injured party suffered a split lip but didnt require medical attention.

The court heard the injured party doesnt want to make a victim impact statement.

Insp Thompson said Mr Kealy has 12 previous convictions which include two assaults, public order, criminal damage and careless driving.

Michael ODonnell, solicitor for Mr Kealy, said his client had buried an aunt earlier on the day.

He had been in the bar earlier that day and returned later. He was asked to leave. Words were exchanged. He apologises, said Mr ODonnell, who told Judge Marie Keane his client had 1,000 for the victim as some element of contribution.

The solicitor said Mr Kealy was not thinking straight over the death of his aunt.

He is a married man with three children. He apologises, said Mr ODonnell.

Judge Keane commented that Mr Kealy has a history in relation to assault and public order.

This is a very serious situation. An employee is entitled to do their job without the threat of Mr Kealy blowing up, said Judge Keane, who noted the compensation of 1,000.

She imposed a fine of 500.
GARDAI and the army responded to reports of a "suspicious device" at the 80m Opera Site development in Limerick city this Tuesday.

A garda spokesperson said at approximately 10.30am, gardai from Henry Street station attended having been alerted to the discovery.

"A suspicious device was located on the property and the services of Army EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) were requested. The device was removed by the EOD for further analysis," said the garda spokesperson, who confirmed there were no road closures as a result.

A Defence Forces spokesperson said their presence in Limerick city concerned the "collection and disposal of historical munitions on request of An Garda Siochana".

The discovery comes the day after Limerick Twenty Thirty and Ireland Strategic Investment Fund announced the creation of a unique joint venture partnership to finance the development of the One Opera Square project.

Limerick Live has learned that during excavation, construction workers found a canon ball which, it's believed, could even date from the Siege of Limerick.

Once the garda authorities were alerted the scene was cordoned off and the EOD team called to ensure there was no risk to workers or the public.
The MSP spearheading legislation at Holyrood aimed at halting demonstrations outside abortion clinics is visiting Ireland to speak to ministers and learn from their experiences.

Scottish Green MSP Gillian Mackay is holding talks with representatives from across the Dail Eireann, the lower house in Irelands parliament, including the Minister of State Ossian Smyth, as well as campaigners.

Ms Mackay said the Bill she is introducing to Holyrood is similar to that in Ireland, so she will use the four-day trip to share experiences.

The Green MSP is bringing forward the Abortion Services Safe Access Zones (Scotland) Bill in a bid to stop anti-abortion protesters from gathering outside clinics with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon having pledged Scottish Government support for the legislation.

Campaigners at Back Off Scotland however have raised concerns that the timetable for passing the Bill through Holyrood has regressed.

Ms Mackay stressed though that she wanted to make sure the Bill that is put before MSPs is the best and most robust legislation it can be.

Speaking ahead of the trip she said: The images we have seen, and the stories I have been told by people who have been intimidated, obstructed and abused outside medical facilities, are shocking.

I am proud to be introducing a Bill to stop the protests, and want to ensure it is the best and most robust legislation it can be.

That is why I am speaking to representatives from the Irish Government as well as campaign groups who have been on the frontline of tackling the same problem.

I want to learn from their experiences and share some of mine.

She added: Abortion rights are human rights.

In years to come, people will look back at these appalling protests and wonder why they were allowed to go on for so long.

By working together and learning from one another, whether in Scotland or Ireland, we can end the harassment for good.
With a market capitalization of 28,202.09 Cr, Biocon Ltd. is a large-cap company that engages in the pharmaceutical industry. The firm, which produces competitive biosimilars, generic medications, and advanced APIs, is India's largest integrated biopharmaceutical company. Today, the firm announced its third-quarter earnings. The company's net revenue from operations for the quarter increased by 36% YoY to 3,020 Cr from 2,223 Cr in Q3FY22.

The company's EBITDA reached 723 Cr in Q3FY23 compared to 537 Cr in Q3FY22, representing a growth of 35% whereas EBITDA margin remains flat at 24%. The company's net R&D investments reached 337 Cr in Q3FY23 against 138 Cr, representing a YoY growth of 144%. The company declared a net profit of 140 Cr in the quarter ended December 2022 compared to 187 Cr recorded in the year-ago quarter, representing a fall of 25% YoY. Biocon said the profit was also impacted due to dilution of Biocons stake in Biocon Biologics and Syngene.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Executive Chairperson, Biocon and Biocon Biologics said Q3 FY23 has been an eventful quarter which saw the completion of the global acquisition of our partnered Biosimilars business from Viatris on Nov 29, 2022. We are now implementing country-wise integration of the business to maximize the value of the combined entity to propel growth. Biosimilars as a business segment offers differentiated growth to Biocon Biologics based on vertical integration and a unique portfolio of Insulins and antibody based immunotherapeutics. This quarter captures a fraction of the acquired business, but from Q4FY23 onwards, the financials will recognise the entire Biosimilars business."

Biocons consolidated revenues for the quarter grew 36% to 3,020 crore on the back of robust performance across all its three businesses. The biggest contribution came from the Biosimilars business, which reported a 54% increase in revenues to 1,507 crore. Research Services revenues at 786 crore and Generics business revenues at 718 crore, grew 23% and 18%, respectively. The advancement of our research pipeline led to 337 crore Net R&D investments this quarter, which will drive Biocons future growth. We reported a strong EBITDA growth of 35% to 723 crore, representing a healthy EBITDA margin of 24%. Core EBITDA grew 49% to 1,069 crore. As a part of our strategy to reduce the acquisition debt, Biocon has raised funds through a partial divestment of its stake in Syngene. We expect to end FY23 on a strong note with healthy growth across businesses. Biocon Biologics is tracking towards exiting the year at a USD 1 billion trajectory, excluding vaccines," said Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw.

The company's income from Generics business stood at 718 Cr in Q3FY23 compared to 607 Cr, representing a growth of 18%, whereas its income from Biosimilars business stood at 1,507 Cr up by 54% YoY from 981 Cr stood in the year-ago quarter. Biocon said its income from Research services business reached 786 Cr in Q3FY23 up by 23% from 641 Cr in Q3FY22.

The Generics business third-quarter results were in line with our expectations, delivering healthy sequential and year-on-year revenue growth. The performance was driven by immunosuppressant API sales and Generic Formulations, which saw an uptick in the sales of statins as well as recent product launches. Margins, compared to the previous year, were muted by the product mix and continuing pricing pressure in the U.S. market. Our geographical expansion continued to gain traction with the signing of a partnership agreement with Zentiva for commercializing Liraglutide in Europe, as well as a long-term strategic partnership with Farmanguinhos in Brazil for the supply and tech-transfer of a finished dose formulation immunosuppressant product. These partnerships will contribute towards attaining mid-teens growth in the short to medium term. We also secured approvals for some of our key formulation products in Europe. Our focus remains on geographical expansion, new product launches, strengthening our product pipeline and executing on key capex projects," said Siddharth Mittal, CEO & Managing Director, Biocon Limited.

Biocon Biologics recorded its highest ever quarterly revenue of 1,507 crore, reflecting a growth of 54% on the back of our acquisition of Viatris' biosimilars business and continued growth in BBL led markets. This strong performance has translated to an EBITDA growth of 53% to 361 crore. This landmark acquisition marks an inflection point in our transformational journey and positions Biocon Biologics as a unique, fully integrated, leading global biosimilars enterprise," said Shreehas Tambe, CEO & Managing Director, Biocon Biologics Ltd.

While our biosimilars portfolio continues to gain market share in the U.S. and EU, our business in the Emerging Markets is also on a growth trajectory with product launches in 8 new markets this quarter. We have drawn up a comprehensive plan to integrate the acquired Viatris business into Biocon Biologics and migration of business operations is scheduled in a phased manner to ensure business continuity and uninterrupted service to customers and patients," said Shreehas Tambe.

We continue to see good demand in the main client markets of U.S. and Europe which - combined with strong execution and forward planning - has helped us deliver solid revenue growth in the third quarter. We are pleased to report positive performances from all divisions this quarter. Growth in our research divisions, Discovery Services and the Dedicated Centres, was solid. In Development Services, repeat orders from existing clients, as well as an increase in the number of collaborations with emerging biopharma companies drove a robust performance. In Manufacturing, the highlight of the quarter was the successful inspection of our biologics facilities by the U.S. FDA, EMA and MHRA. Based on our strong performance to date, we are confident of meeting the upgraded annual revenue growth guidance of high teens," said Jonathan Hunt, CEO & Managing Director, Syngene.

To partially fund the USD 650 million equity infusion into Biocon Biologics, Biocon Ltd. raised USD 420 million in mezzanine financing. With Kotak Strategic Situations Fund, Biocon Limited has signed a legally binding agreement for structured fundraising of up to 1200 crore. With effect from December 5, 2022, Shreehas Tambe will serve as CEO & Managing Director on the board of directors of Biocon Biologics Ltd.

The shares of Biocon Limited closed today on the NSE at 234.35 apiece, down by 1.41% from the previous close of 237.70.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Vipul Das Vipul Das is a Digital Business Content Producer at Livemint. He previously worked for Goodreturns.in (OneIndia News) and has over 5 years of expertise in the finance and business sector. Stocks, mutual funds, personal finance, tax, and banking are among his specialties, and he is a professional in industry research and business reporting. He received his bachelor's degree from Dr. CV Raman University and also have completed Diploma in Journalism and Mass Communication (DJMC). Read more from this author
New Delhi: Power trading solution provider PTC India has reported 66% rise in consolidated net profit at 104.48 crore for December quarter 2022-23.

In the year-ago period, the company recorded a profit of 62.91 crore, the company said in a BSE filing.

Total income declined to 3,146.91 crore in the quarter from 3,338.40 crore in the same period a year ago.

According to the company, the consolidated profit before tax (PBT) increased to 141.82 crore for Q3FY23 compared to 84.42 crore in Q3FY22.

The core operating margin on standalone basis realized during Q3FY23 is 48.02 Crores against 48.81 Crores in Q3 FY 22," the company said.

The traded volume was 15,530 MUs in Q3FY23 compared to 19,483 MUs in Q3FY22, the decline is primarily on account of decrease of around 3.72 BUs in low margin power exchanges traded volumes," it added.

Commenting on the results, Rajib K Mishra, CMD (Addl-charge), PTC India Ltd said, We are pleased to declare the standalone and consolidated financial Results for Q3 & 9M FY23. During the quarter, the companys business strategy focused more on the core margins than on the volumes. The per unit core margin realized during Q3FY23 improved to 3.09 paise/unit compared to 2.51 paise/unit in Q3FY22 indicating a marked improvement in operational efficiencies, tighter working capital management as well as a focused strategy to undertake value accretive transactions."

The subsidiary companies continued to perform well during the quarter reiterating the overall strength and robustness of the business model of the PTC Group. The PTC sponsored exchange is also demonstrating traction in business volumes with a traded volume of 35-40 MUs / day in last couple of days," he added.

Shares of PTC India on the BSE closed at 89.00, down by 3.85 or 4.15% from its previous close.
NEW DELHI : Air India Ltd on Monday made aviation history with the biggest aircraft order ever, agreeing to purchase a total of 540 aircraft from Boeing and Airbus that will help the Tata Group airline expand its horizons in India and abroad.

The purchase of short- and long-haul aircraft is estimated to cost Air India a whopping $82 billion according to the list price, though the actual cost would be lower since bulk orders come with discounts and incentives.

View Full Image Graphic: Mint

Of the total 540 aircraft, 470 are firm orders, and the rest 70 are options with Boeing that Air India can exercise in the future. The 470 aircraft include 250 Airbus and 220 Boeing planes, with the first of them landing later this year. According to Bloomberg, the previous single largest jet order was a 460-plane deal by American Airlines in 2011.

The first aircraft to arrive will be 25 brand-new Boeing B737-800s and six Airbus A350-900s in the second half of 2023, with deliveries really ramping up in 2025 and beyond. In the meantime, our capacity growth will continue to be supported by the previously announced lease-in of additional narrow-body and wide-body aircraft and the restoration-to-service of the remainder of our grounded fleet," Air India CEO Campbell Wilson said in an email to employees.

Of the total order, about 450 aircraft are single-aisle aircraft from the Airbus 320 family and Boeing 737 MAX, which will fly domestic and short-haul international flights. The rest 90 planes are dual-aisle planes which will fly to Europe and the Americas.

View Full Image Chart (Mint)

Announcing the aircraft orders earlier in the day, N. Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Sons Ltd, said the group is committed to making Air India a world-class airline. The wide-body A350 aircraft will be used to fly all ultra-long distances across the world," he said. The order with Airbus also includes 210 narrow-body A320neo family jets. The conglomerate also has a significant option to increase the fleet order once the airline grows," he said.

Air India is not just another project. It is a national project. There are huge expectations. We are going through a major transformation because we are committed to building a world-class airline known for safety, on-time performance, the best of Indian hospitality and modern fleet and a wholesome experience for every passenger, whether they are in the first row or the last row," Chandrasekaran further said.

He added that the Tata Group plans to bring commercial aircraft manufacturing to India at some point. We are working on bigger partnerships, and one of our ambitions is to bring in commercial aircraft manufacturing at some point in time in the future. We have teams aligned on both sides, and we see this moment as the most significant moment for Tata Group, Air India, Indian aviation and for the manufacturing sector in India," Chandrasekaran said.

The virtual event to announce the order was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, French President Emmanuel Macron, Tata Trusts chairman Ratan Tata, commerce minister Piyush Goyal, aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury and Air Indias MD & CEO Campbell Wilson.

This deal demonstrates deepening relations between India and France but is also a reflection of Indias success and expectations in the civil aviation sector. Today, the aviation sector is an integral part of Indias development and strengthening aviation is an important aspect of our national infrastructure strategy," Modi said at the event.

US President Joe Biden called the agreement historic". This purchase will support over one million American jobs across 44 states, and many will not require a four-year college degree," a White House statement said.

With this order, Air India intends to make the country a hub for international flights and provide Indians with direct connectivity to various parts of the world, which is in sync with the governments aim to make India a hub for aviation.

Currently, a big chunk of Indian passengers flies to various parts of Europe and the Americas, transiting airports in the Middle East, Europe and Southeast Asia. The time is right for India to become an international hub," Airbus CEO Faury said.

The order is a critically important milestone" for India, aviation consultancy CAPA India said in a report.

It is making up for the growth deficit that Air India has experienced for the last decade and more... Air India will have to commit to more orders, sooner than later, to take into account the replacement cycle for incumbent aircraft and the tremendous growth potential of the market," CAPA said in its report.

Others said the order would fuel Indias international business. It would certainly lead to higher competition intensity. There is huge potential for everyone to expand international business in the next 5-10 years. Therefore, we expect double-digit revenue growth for most industry players over the next three to five years," Mitul Shah, head of research, institutional equity at Reliance Securities, said.

The Tata Group won a 100% stake in full-service carrier Air India and its low-cost subsidiary Air India Express in January 2022 under the governments privatization programme. Since then, AirAsia India, formerly a joint venture between AirAsia and Tata Group, has become a 100% subsidiary of Air India. In November, the Tata Group also announced that Vistara, a 51:49 joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, will be merged with Air India, with Singapore Airlines holding 25.1% of the merged entity.

Air India currently has 113 aircraft. The groups total fleet size stands at 219, including AirAsia India with 28 planes, Vistara with 54, and Air India Express with 24 jets.

The Tata Group is eyeing to create an Air India brand umbrella which will have a single low-cost platform and a single full-service platform by the end of 2023. The former will be a merged entity between AirAsia India and Air India Express. The full-service carrier will be the merged entity between Air India and Vistara. The company has also implemented a five-year plan called Vihaan to capture a 30% share in the domestic and international markets.
BY STELLA YIFAN XIE | UPDATED FEB 14, 2023 07:27 AM EST

With migrant workers opportunities dwindling, authorities are pressing local officials to find more for them to do, even if some of the work is inefficient

Chinas top economic agency recently called on local governments to find more work for rural laborers, such as widening roads and digging canalseven if the tasks could more efficiently be done by machines.

If its possible to use human labor, do not use machines, and mobilize local residents to do the jobs," said a directive released by Chinas National Development and Reform Commission last month.

The decree, which updated guidelines for a government rural relief program called Yi Gong Dai Zhen, or work as relief," reflects Beijings concerns that migrant laborers are running out of opportunities as Chinas economy evolves.

The countrys nearly 300 million migrant workers used to be able to find employment easily on construction sites or in factories as China industrialized. Many jobs have disappeared, however, as Chinas economy becomes more service-oriented, with more need for baristas or bank employees.

While Chinas overall job market is expected to improve this year as zero-Covid controls are lifted, boosting the economy, a continuing property-market slump and weak global demand for Chinese exports means that migrant workers arent expected to benefit much.

Employment pressure among low-skilled workers is going to be a prominent problem this year," said Dan Wang, chief economist at Hang Seng Bank China. By her estimate, as many as 3 million low-skilled workers are stranded in the countryside as the number of jobs in the cities has dwindled.

Accurately gauging employment conditions in rural China is challenging, economists say, because migrant workers are for the most part left out of the countrys headline unemployment survey, which focuses on urban areas.

The urban surveyed unemployment rate edged down to 5.5% in December from 6.1% last April, though youth unemployment in cities remains high, at 16.7%.

But Beijing has signaled growing concern about opportunities for rural workers. Last November, five government agencies including the NDRC and the Ministry of Finance called for more measures to help construction, manufacturing and service companies absorb migrant laborers going through tough times, and banned companies from imposing age limits when hiring workers.

The Yi Gong Dai Zhen program, which dates back to 1984, is one of Beijings tools for poverty alleviation and mopping up underused rural labor during periods of economic stress. Past participants have performed tasks such as planting trees, with priorities determined by local governments under rules set by Beijing.

While details of the programs budget arent publicized, Beijing spent nearly 14 billion yuan, equivalent to $2.1 billion, to provide jobs for more than 300,000 low-earning workers in rural areas in 2021 and the first half of 2022, according to an article published by state media last August.

The programs guidelines hadnt been updated since 2014, until the NDRC published its new directive in January urging local officials to redouble their efforts, saying the old rules no longer fit new situations, new requirements and new demand."

The latest Yi Gong Dai Zhen guidelines essentially amount to an official prediction that the manufacturing sector will face a severe downturn this year," said Zhaopeng Xing, a senior strategist at ANZ bank.

Those receiving government relief funds will participate in small to midsize infrastructure projects near their hometowns, such as widening roads, and in some cases go through technical training, the guidelines said.

In Liaocheng, a city in northeastern Shandong province, residents can earn up to 300 yuan a day, equivalent to $44, by operating cranes and doing welding jobs, according to a Peoples Daily article. In Sichuan provinces Nanchong county, a local resident earned as much as 200 yuan a day on a road construction detail and learned how to use cement blenders, it reported.

Officials are urged to encourage honest work" and resist using labor-saving machinery when possible, the directive saideven though Beijing has been promoting automation across the economy to make China more efficient.

The idea of paying people to do work that machines might be able to do rankled some Chinese social media users, who criticized the directive as its contents became more widely known this month.

Why dont we go straight back to primitive society, when you need oxen and horses and tons of human labor," wrote one user on Weibo, a Twitter-like platform in China. Another sarcastically likened the initiative to using spoons instead of shovels to dig.

Others questioned whether many projects were necessary at a time when China has already built much of the infrastructure it needs. The program only adds to waste in the economy," another user wrote.

In response to public questions on the program, the NDRC said its purpose is to direct more local residents to participate in construction projects and to pay as many workers as possible" without sacrificing quality of the projects and workers safety.

The NDRC didnt respond to a request from The Wall Street Journal for further comment.

Some researchers are skeptical about how effective the program will be.

Scott Rozelle, a senior fellow at Stanford University who specializes in Chinas rural economy and is in the process of conducting a survey across more than 700 villages, said preliminary findings suggest there is substantial rural unemployment in China.

He said that while Yi Gong Dai Zhen was welcomed by local workers in previous decades, times have changed. As the economy becomes more service-oriented, rural workers may have less appetite for physically demanding jobs, he said.

Other economists said any concerns about the program are overdone.

By nature, these types of relief programs arent focused on improving efficiency," said Mr. Xing from ANZ. Its simply a form of relief."
NEW DELHI : As Air India placed a record order of about 540 aircraft with Boeing and Airbus on the same day, the American aircraft maker has estimated that India will require approximately 2,210 new planes over the next two decades, of which 1,983 units or 90% of deliveries will be for single-aisle jets, while 227 units or 10% of new aircraft deliveries will be for wide-body aeroplanes, Boeing India president Salil Gupte said in an interview.

The aircraft manufacturer also expects Indian airlines to add 7% more capacity in the first half of 2023, as compared to 2019. Due to the rapid growth of its domestic traffic, Boeing forecasts that 90% of new plane deliveries to India will be for single-aisle like the 737 MAX over the next 20 years. The outlook also sees the addition of 80 cargo jets over the next 20 years.

Gupte said that while the growth in e-commerce in India is driving the expansion in narrow-body freighters over the near term, wide-body freighters will also come to India over a longer period of time for industry-driven cargo as this makes for a business case to non-aviation companies as well. For now, Boeing is also looking at creating an ecosystem with maintenance, repair, and operations, engineering, customer support and continues to evaluate the possibility of civil aviation manufacturing in India. The business case for civil aviation final assembly is very different from the business case of defence ones. For civil aviation, the business case has to incorporate customer demand globally and in the region, the pricing which you negotiate with every airline customer separately. So, the pricing for planes for customers requires significant scale for final assembly, and thats why we produce at such significant rates at our final assembly line in the US," he said.

Boeing is also working with the Centre and other stakeholders in the area of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The Centre is working on mandating a percentage of green fuel which will have to be used by airlines in India. One critical area that India must move into and invest in terms of infrastructure and capability is SAF. We are working with the petroleum ministry to create Indias indigenous SAF to power Indian planes," he said.
NEW DELHI : The government is looking at buybacks and offer-for-sale (OFS) of central public sector enterprises as potential options to meet the current years disinvestment target as uncertain market conditions and legal hurdles pose challenges to ongoing privatization transactions.

All of the ongoing strategic transactions will spill over to the next financial year... buybacks, some OFS where there is room for meeting minimum public shareholding norms, can be considered," a senior official said, asking not to be named.

OFS enables existing company shareholders to sell their shares to the public through an exchange in a fair and transparent manner, while buybacks allow re-purchase by a company of its shares from its shareholders. Buybacks are more feasible since the government received 497 crore from only one instance of share buyback by GAIL (India) Ltd last year. CPSE stocks outperformed the Sensex in 2021 and 2022, as per a Bank of Baroda study on disinvestment.

The current years disinvestment proceeds have exceeded 31,000 crore but remain below the revised target of 50,000 crore. This target was lowered from the 65,000 crore set in the FY23 budget. The current gap is unlikely to narrow by strategic disinvestments or the sale of all or 50% or more of government shares in central public sector enterprises, along with the transfer of management control. The strategic sale of Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd had to be put on hold due to volatile crude prices and the global shift towards green energy. Demergers of Shipping Corp. of India and BEML have caused delays in the sale process of the core assets. The government has also put NMDC Steel, HLL Lifecare, and PDIL on the block, but the sales have not progressed.

Mint had reported earlier that the government was forced to abandon the strategic sales of Pawan Hans Ltd and Central Electronics Ltd after several attempts due to legal challenges. In the case of Pawan Hans, the government had not issued the letter of intent, while in the case of Central Electronics, the government had not signed the share purchase agreement with the winning bidder. The strategic sales are unlikely to be revived in either case, officials said, requesting anonymity.

The governments plan to sell its residual 29.5% stake in Hindustan Zinc Ltd, where Vedanta Resources holds 64.9%, in tranches of about 5-10%, is also unlikely to happen in the near term due to uncertainties. The companys board approved the purchase of Vedantas global zinc assets for around $2.9 billion, but the move faced opposition from government officials from the mines ministry, who are part of the board.

The government is set to object to Vedantas buyout of its global zinc assets in the next shareholders meeting, where it will highlight concerns about the transactions related-party nature.

We will oppose the transaction through the ministry of mines in the AGM/EGM and scuttle the proposal since it is not in the interest of minority shareholders. Its a related-party transaction which requires far more due diligence, but till that time, any plans to disinvest our shareholding cannot move ahead," a second official said, asking not to be named.
IBM Corp. is suing the former top executive in its Thailand subsidiary, claiming she should pay back nearly half a million dollars in bonus awards for taking a job at a rival company.

In a lawsuit filed Monday in federal court in New York, the tech giant alleged its former Thailand general manager, Patama Chantaruck, breached her contract when she accepted a senior role with Accenture. IBM said Accenture was its largest competitor in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of consulting revenue.

Chantaruck, who joined IBM in 2018, resigned last year and joined Accenture as Thailand managing director a month later, in April 2022, according to the suit. IBM claims it awarded her bonuses totaling more than $470,000 in exchange for Chantaruck safeguarding confidential company information and not engaging in competitive conduct within specific time periods."

Her swift move to Accenture gives IBM the right to rescind her bonus, the latter company said in its suit.

Women of the Year

IBM and Accenture entities compete particularly in the information, digitalization, and consulting spaces, both globally and within the Asia-Pacific region," IBMs lawyers wrote in the complaint.

IBM said it had asked Chantaruck to return the money, but she refused.

Chantaruck didnt immediately respond to a request for comment. Accenture also didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.

Regularly recognized as a top tech executive in Southeast Asia, Chantaruck spent many years working for Microsoft Corp. before she joined IBM. The Bangkok Post named her one of its 24 Women of the Year in 2021, along with former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-Wen.

The case is IBM v. Chantaruck, 23-cv-1191, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.
Leading Indian insurtech player, InsuranceDekho on Tuesday raised a whopping $150 million in a funding round consisting of a mix of equity and debt. This would be the largest ever series A round by an Indian Insurtech company. Goldman Sachs Asset Management and TVS Capital Funds led the equity round.

Additionally, Investcorp, Avataar Ventures, and LeapFrog Investments also participated in the funding round. Meanwhile, Haitong Securities India acted as the sole financial advisor to the fundraising.

In a statement, InsuranceDekho announced to use of the latest funding to scale up its product and technology functions, expand to new markets, launch new innovative products in the health and life categories, grow the companys Micro, Small & Medium Enterprise (MSME) insurance business, strengthen its leadership team and pursue inorganic growth opportunities.

Ish Babbar, CTO and Co-founder, InsuranceDekho, said, the fundraising will enable us to deploy scalable Insurtech solutions in the areas of data analytics, Artificial Intelligence, last-mile servicing, and claims management while keeping customer experience at the core of everything.

Founded by Ankit Agrawal and Ish Babbar in 2016, InsuranceDekho has seen significant premium growth since its inception. The insurtech aims to achieve annualized premium run rate of 3,500 crores by March 2023.

Amit Jain, CEO, and Co-founder, CarDekho Group on the latest fundraise said, "its heartening to see that InsuranceDekho under Ankits leadership, has come a long way as it continues to disrupt the Insurtech space in India by leveraging its unparalleled unit economics, the best technology, phenomenal partner practices, and innovation to set new benchmarks in stakeholder experience."

Rajat Sood, a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs Asset Management said, InsuranceDekho has demonstrated a proven ability to bring new-to-insurance channel partners to their platform, while empowering them through technology-based solutions and working closely with insurers.

Goldman Sachs AMC looks forward to leveraging its global domain expertise and supporting the management team in its expansion to provide broader coverage and more solutions nationwide, Sood added.

Further, on the latest funding, Ankit Agrawal, CEO, and Co-founder said of InsuranceDekho said, "to realize our goal of democratizing insurance for the general public, we are expanding our reach and will continue to build on our tech-based solutions and empowered advisors so that they can serve every village and region of India by the end of the year. India is on the verge of a revolution in insurance, and InsuranceDekho is well positioned to meet the insurance needs of every Indian."

Currently, India's current insurance penetration is 4.2% of GDP compared to 12% in the USA and 7%2 globally. And about 85% of Indias existing insurance premium is centered in the metros and Tier 1 cities. InsuranceDekho aims to change that!

As per Praveen Sridharan, Partner, TVS Capital Funds, though insurance is vital for the financial security of everyone, its penetration is still at 4.2% of Indian GDP compared to a global overage of 7.4%. The key to this is to access the middle and lower middle-income classthe next 400 millionliving in the next 1000 towns of India. InsuranceDekho, with its agency model and digital DNA, offers a powerful mechanism for this penetration to expand.

Sridharan added, "We are convinced on the InsuranceDekho model. Of course, we always back founders who can demonstrate bringing alpha and were impressed with Ankit and the team basis their execution capability, operational excellence, and superior technology skills. We are delighted to partner in their journey of enabling access to insurance products to the 600,000 villages of India."

To provide access to insurance throughout the country, InsuranceDekho gets 82% of its premium from Tier 2 and beyond regions. At present, the company's footprint is in more than 1,300 towns covering 98% of pin codes in India.

The company is working towards establishing 100% penetration in the country.

By end of 2023, the insurtech player targets to have over 2 lakh insurance advisors active on its platform.

InsuranceDekho explained, typically, most InsuranceDekho insurance advisors observe a threefold increase in total household income within six months of being associated with the company. The advisor's ability to earn more allows them to significantly improve the quality of living for their families.

Headquartered in Gurgaon, InsuranceDekho works with most insurance providers and has direct integration with 46 insurance companies across India offering more than 380 insurance products including 175 products for health and life.

InsuranceDekho intends to expand its portfolio by offering more products in near future.
Kotak Alternate Assets, managed by Kotak Investment Advisors Ltd, on Tuesday said it has marked the first close of its Kotak Data Centre Fund at $590 million, raising about 74% of the targeted corpus of $800 million.

The Kotak Data Centre Fund will invest in building data centre capacity, in a bid to support data-backed digital economy, enterprise cloud, 5G and IoT (internet of things). The fund is domiciled in Gujarats GIFT City.

Being a high capex industry requiring capacity build up, we believe that there is an equity investment opportunity to back partners in creating capacities. We will provide strategic risk capital and value-added support to our partners," said Rahul Shah, executive director at Kotak Investment Advisors Ltd.

The data centre fund, announced in November last year, counts Subhamkar Das as its chief operations officer.

India is on the cusp of a data revolution. Data Centers are therefore at the core of countrys Digital India ambition," Srini Sriniwasan, managing director of Kotak Investment Advisors Limited said. The data centre-focused fund comes in the backdrop of a growing industry, that forms the backbone of Indias digital economy mission, which, as per government forecast, is likely to grow to $1 trillion in value, by 2025.

A report by real estate advisory firm CBRE noted that data centre investments in India may surpass the $20 billion mark by 2025, as the last five years have seen investment announcements worth $14 billion in this space.

According to a report by Statista, the revenue earned by Indias data centre market is likely to touch about $7.83 billion by 2023, while growing at an annualized rate of about 4.3% through 2023-2027, taking the market volume to about $9.27 billion by 2027.

Set up in 2005, Kotak Investment Advisors is the alternate assets management and investment advisory arm of the Kotak Mahindra Group. It has, so far, raised, managed, and advised, in aggregate, over $7.5 billion across asset classes including real estate, private equity, infrastructure, special situations fund, and investment advisory.

VCCircle had, in June last year, reported on its upcoming investment plans. It stated that the investment advisory firm plans to foray into venture capital, venture debt and buyouts space.

In December, KIAL also marked the final close of its Kotak Infrastructure Investment Fund (KIIF), a category-II alternate investment fund (AIF) with a corpus 6,000 crore. It had received commitments of 5,328 crore from anchor investors including Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) for the fund.

The alternate asset company's 13th real estate fund, sized at $1 billion, also received commitments from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA).
The Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Tuesday adjourned the matter related to applications filed by certain lenders and creditors, against the proposed merger of media and entertainment company Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEE) with Culver Max Entertainment (earlier Sony Pictures Networks India), to 9 March.

The matter includes petitions filed by the IndusInd Bank, Axis Finance Limited, IDBI Bank, and the Indian Performing Right Society (IPRS).

Counsels for ZEE maintained that the applications filed to oppose the merger were tactics being used to delay the merger completion process.

They pointed out that the key regulatory and shareholder approvals have already been received; which is why these applications cannot prevent a merger from taking place. They said that the scheme has already received approval from 99.97% of shareholders and all secured creditors, besides SEBI, Stock Exchanges, the CCI, Regional Director, and the official liquidator.

Last year, IndusInd Bank had first approached the dedicated bankruptcy court against ZEE for an alleged default of Rs. 89 crore. Later, Axis Finance, a subsidiary of private sector lender Axis Bank, had first moved the Bombay High Court against Essel Group promoter Subhash Chandra and his sons Punit and Amit Goenka, seeking recovery of Rs. 61.64 crore, and later filed an application in the NCLT.

In December, another financial creditor, IDBI Bank had filed an insolvency application claiming a default of Rs. 149 crore. The banks purported claim arises under a debt service reserve agreement entered into by the bank and the company for the financial facility availed by Siti Networks, an Essel group entity.

In January, IPRS had also filed a petition at the tribunal under the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP), seeking payment of over 211.41 crore.

Earlier in December 2021, Zee and Sony had signed a definitive agreement to merge operations. As part of the proposed merger, the Japanese multinational will own 50.86% stake in the merged entity, while the promoters of ZEE will own 3.99% stake. Existing public shareholders in ZEE will have the remaining 45.15% in the merged company.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Lata Jha Lata Jha covers media and entertainment for Mint. She focuses on the film, television, video and audio streaming businesses. She is a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism. She can be found at the movies, when not writing about them. Read more from this author
NEW DELHI : The GST audits undertaken by the indirect tax administration in the current financial year have led to the detection of 22,000-crore tax evasion from nearly 48,000 cases so far, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) chairman Vivek Johri said in an interview. The indirect tax authority is now working on analyzing the corporate tax returns filed by businesses with the Income Tax department and the GST registration data to identify businesses and traders who ought to take GST registration but have not done so. This is part of a drive to widen the tax base. Johri also said there is no proposal to roll back the Finance Bill clarification that input tax credit will not be available on CSR spending by companies. The budget proposals on customs duty changes will help several industries achieve self-reliance, Johri said, citing several examples. Edited excerpts :

What is the progress of GST audits, and what are the major breaches noticed during the audit?

We have so far done almost 48,000 GST audits (in 2022-23) pertaining to the first two years of GST (FY18 and FY19), for which we have data till the end of the second quarter of this financial year. We have detected tax evasion worth about 22,000 crore, and we have also made recoveries of about 4,000 crore. One major discrepancy we have found is with regard to availing of input tax credit. Because of a wrong understanding of the law, some taxpayers may have taken input tax credit on inputs for which credit is not available--that is one possibility. We have also come across cases where the value of the goods is not properly declared. Misclassification is another issue because of which the wrong rate of tax has been applied. These are the three broad categories where we have found gaps in compliance.

How do you plan to widen the GST base significantly from around 14 million registered taxpayers now?

There are two or three broad elements in that strategy. One is that we will use more data triangulation. We will be comparing our taxpayer base with that of other taxes, for example, direct taxes, particularly their taxpayer base of businesses. We will see whether the gap which is there in the GST base and the income tax taxpayer base is adequately explained or not. Are there any taxpayers on the income tax side who also ought to be GST taxpayers but are not? In many cases, you will find that even though they are income taxpayers, because of their categorization in the exempted category (below 40 lakh annual sales threshold for GST registration), its alright if theyre not registered with us, but we need to test that hypothesis. That is one part of the strategy. The second part would entail a more intense outreach program with potential taxpayers. We will have to do it on a regional basis in different parts of the country, where we will try and explain the benefits of being part of the GST value chain, such as input tax credit availability. We will also explain to them how easy it is to file returns with automation.

A highlight of indirect tax proposals in the Union budget for FY24 is the customs duty changes. How will these help the industry?

We have simplified the customs rate structure by reducing the number of rates from 21 to 13. This is meant to indirectly help importers by way of a simpler rate structure so that there is more clarity on classification and less scope for classification-related confusion or disputes. A simplified rate structure helps everybody, and it is a clear positive. If you look at our import basket, you will find that about 85% of the imports, by value, are either raw materials, intermediates or capital goods. To promote manufacturing, what we have done, as always, is to look at where the domestic industry is dependent on imports either for raw materials, capital goods or intermediates.

If domestic availability is not adequate, there we have given duty exemptions or some reduction in rates so that availability improves and it will eventually help value addition in the country. To give an example, a very big step for the chemical sector taken in the budget is the full exemption being given to denatured ethyl alcohol used in manufacturing a large number of chemicals.

Likewise, weve given some exemptions for inputs that go into the manufacture of mobile phones. Weve given an exemption to lenses that are used for making camera modules of mobile phones. There are other sectors which contribute not only by way of value addition but also through exports (where relief has been given). One is the full exemption given to seeds for lab-grown diamonds. Again, the idea is that we should be able to produce lab-grown diamonds in the country. We already have a very robust cutting and polishing sector in Surat and in other places. If you make lab-grown diamonds here, you can cut and polish and add value here and either export or use it for manufacturing jewellery domestically. Similarly, we have exempted ingredients for the manufacture of shrimp feed because marine exports are a very important part of our export basket.

We are seeing greater data collection and automation of GST return filings. In which direction is GST return filing progressing?

I think over a period of time, you will see the return filing process getting more and more automated and therefore simplified for the taxpayer. Unlike income tax, in GST, the tax return is constructed on the basis of transaction-level data. With the introduction of e-invoicing, we are now capturing electronic invoices for business-to-business transactions on the system and we have gradually reduced the threshold to 10 crore. Any business with a turnover of more than 10 crore is required to generate e-invoices electronically for their business-to-business transactions. It helps us to construct that taxpayers return.

So increasingly, we will see more and more automation of the return. The taxpayer will have better visibility of what tax credits are available to him. The system will allow that to be checked and he will just need to verify the auto-constructed return. So to that extent, return filing will become simpler.

So the system will have an idea about the tax liability of a business even before the person prepares the return?

The system will know, but we will also be able to show it to the taxpayer just in time for the filing cycle. So the taxpayer and the department will know it at the same time. Of course, the taxpayer can edit that return, but you know, we will have a fair idea of the liability.

Will there be any relaxation on the governments proposal in the Finance Bill to clarify that input tax credit will not be available on CSR spending?

Theres no proposal right now to change it.

What is the progress in clarifying the GST liability for crypto assets?

Theres a group of officers studying it. We are waiting for their recommendations.
NEW DELHI : Indias journey in energy has been comprehensive, satisfying and thrown up experiences that are very useful for the growth of energy ecosystems in the world, Minister for Power, New and Renewable Energy R K Singh said on Tuesday.

The global challenge is to enable energy access for 800 million people and thereby give them a better standard of living. Energy access, therefore, is of primary importance," he added.

International Solar Alliance (ISA), in collaboration with Grid Controller of India Ltd (Grid-India) and West African Power Pool (WAPP), is hosting delegates from the West African Region in New Delhi, India, from 14 to 18 February.

Speaking on the occasion, R K Singh stated that, We have prioritised universal access in India by adding generation capacity. We have connected the whole country on one grid. We have also been successful in energy transition. Renewable energys advantage is that it is cheaper and can be distributed for off the grid areas. In developing countries, renewables plus storage is the route to take."

Sixty participants from thirteen WAPP countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote dIvoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo will participate in a knowledge sharing and study tour highlighting aspects of solar energy implementation.

Ajay Mathur, Director General, ISA highlighted the need to encourage capacity building and disseminating of best practices to increase solar deployment globally.

He noted, ISA is working towards making solar power a priority for nations across the world. Since its establishment, ISA is scaling up efforts to implement its existing pipeline for solar projects, share knowledge, and build capacity across the solar value chain. Theoretical learning combined with practical knowledge through personal experience leads to a deeper understanding, and ISA has provided tailored capacity-building support adapted to the local context.

In collaboration with Grid-India and WAPP, this programme will set standards and help strengthen the solar ecosystems in all ISA Member Countries. It will also trigger policy change and help in the creation of financial and human capacity. Unhindered exchange of knowledge and information between countries can vastly benefit ISA member countries and the fight against climate change," added Mathur.

The Knowledge sharing session also witnessed the presence of missions from WAPP countries. Also present on occasion were S.R. Narasimhan, Chairperson & Managing Director, Grid Controller of India Limited and Mamadou Alpha SYLLA of WAPP.

India-West Africa partnership is both unique & defining. Both are considered the cradle of human culture and civilisation. Both are on an upward trajectory with renewed confidence. India began its journey on the integration of grids way back in the 1960s, and the national synchronous grid provided the perfect ecosystem for integration. Policy thrusts, technical standards, Grid Codes, regulatory framework and market mechanisms followed soon thereafter, Narasimhan, CMD, Grid India, said.

Today we have 60 GW solar capacity (out of which 7 GW is rooftop) and 42 GW wind capacity, and we have already reached 32% instantaneous MW penetration of wind and solar. This knowledge exchange and study tour is the first step towards creating a long-lasting partnership and collaboration between WAPP and India. I am confident that the participants would find it useful listening to our journey, and it would also be great to learn about the WAPP journey in grid interconnections and Renewable Energy integration," he added.

Africa will account for one-fourth of the world population by 2040. There is fast increasing electricity demand, but the industrialisation rate is low. In the WAPP countries, the challenge is to promote integrated economic development and provide energy for all. In addition, we need to secure financing for the realisation of utility-scale renewable energy projects in West Africa, integrate variable renewable energy into the WAPP power grid and bridge the green skills gap in the electricity sector. With this ISA-led knowledge-sharing opportunity, we also intend to pick up the essentials of regulatory functions in securing a secure electricity market, Mamadou Alpha SYLLA of WAPP said.

The programme participants include officials from ministries, statutory, regulatory bodies, and utility companies from participating African nations. The tour highlights include classroom sessions and interactions in New Delhi and Bengaluru, visits to Pavagada Solar Park, Southern Regional Load Despatch Centre, and Southern Regional Renewable Energy Management Centre.

The programme agenda will help participants with insights into global and Indian solar energy scenarios, policies, guidelines, and regulations overview for renewable energy in India from a solar energy perspective. The study tour will be conducted in three batches over February and March 2023.
NEW DELHI : The Mumbai bench of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Tuesday adjourned hearing on the petitions against the merger of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd with Culver Max Entertainment (earlier Sony Pictures Networks India) to 9 March.

The petitions were filed by Zees lenders and creditors IndusInd Bank, Axis Finance Ltd, IDBI Bank and the Indian Performing Right Society (IPRS).

Counsels for Zee said the petitioners were trying to delay the completion of merger. They said the merger had received key regulatory and shareholder approvals, and these applications cannot prevent a merger from taking place.

They said that the scheme has already received approval from 99.97% of shareholders and all secured creditors, besides the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), stock exchanges, the Competition Commission of India and the official liquidator.

Last year, IndusInd Bank had approached the dedicated bankruptcy court against Zee for an alleged default of 89 crore. Later, Axis Finance, a subsidiary of private sector lender Axis Bank, had first moved the Bombay High Court against Essel Group promoter Subhash Chandra and his sons Punit and Amit Goenka, seeking recovery of 61.64 crore, and later filed an application in the NCLT.

In December, another financial creditor, IDBI Bank had filed an insolvency application, claiming a default of 149 crore.

Its purported claim arises under a debt service reserve agreement entered into by the bank and the company for the financial facility availed by Siti Networks, an Essel group entity.

In January, IPRS filed a petition at the tribunal under the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP), seeking payment of over 211.41 crore.

Earlier in December 2021, Zee and Sony had signed a definitive agreement to merge their operations. As part of the proposed merger, the Japanese multinational will own 50.86% stake in the merged entity, while the promoters of Zee will own 3.99% stake. Existing public shareholders in Zee will hold the remaining 45.15% in the merged company.
Whats interesting, the drone used in the movie was manufactured by a Mumbai-based company  IdeaForge Technology.

The skies are about to change in India with the launch of the country's first mainboard drone company's Initial Public Offering (IPO).

This ambitious venture is set to revolutionise the drone manufacturing industry, bringing cutting-edge technology and innovation to the forefront.

Let us find out important details about Indias first mainboard drone companys IPO.

About IdeaForge Technology

Founded in 2007 by IIT Bombay alumni Ankit Mehta, Rahul Singh, Ashish Bhat, and Vipul Joshi, IdeaForge Technology is engaged in the security operations segment as the first India-based organisation to develop and manufacture vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) UAVs.

In addition to the US, IdeaForge has also expanded beyond India to Oman, Nigeria, and Bhutan.

The Mumbai-based company makes drones for Indias armed forces, police and homeland security as well as industrial applications.

IdeaForge has a license from the Ministry of Defence to manufacture unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Backed by Marquee Investors

In August 2022, the company had a Series B funding round.

In the series B round, the company raised US$ 20 million (m). The investment was led by Florintree, a company led by Mathew Cyriac, the former private equity co-head of Blackstone India.

The round also saw participation from the companys existing investors Celesta, a prominent technology investment fund, Infosys, Qualcomm and Infina, along with the Exim Bank of India.

IPO details

Reportedly, the company is set to raise about 7.5 billion (bn) through an initial public offer (IPO).

In this IPO coming up, the company may also consider an issue of shares aggregating up to 600 million (m). If such placement is completed, the fresh issue size will be reduced.

Over the weekend, ideaForge filed papers with the market regulator to raise capital via an IPO.

About 25% stake will be offered in Indias largest drone maker through a secondary and primary share sale. The IPO will value the company at 30 bn.

The proceeds of the proposed IPO would be used to pare debt and for working capital requirements and product development.

Investment banks JM Financial, and IIFL are the lead managers for the IPO. A draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) was filed on Friday and the IPO will be launched by May 2023.

Notable mentions of ideaForge

According to the companys draft red herring prospectus, here are the companys noteworthy establishments:

During the 2015 earthquake, ideaForge drones were used for site monitoring in Kathmandu, Nepal, and other locations to aid with the search and rescue activities.

During a terrorist incident in Pampore in 2016, these drones were able to deliver crucial intelligence by revealing the precise locations of the terrorists.

Further, ideaForge's Ninja drones were utilised to curb theft and pilferage cases with the company's partnership with railways to boost their surveillance operations.

Investment Takeaway

The company has the largest operational deployment of indigenous UAVs across India.

Its customers have completed over 300,000 flights using the companys UAVs. ideaForge also ranked 7th globally in the dual-use category (civil and defence) drone manufacturers as per the report published by Drone Industry Insights in December 2022.

It appears the company has a strong presence in an emerging business. However, the timing of the IPO may raise certain concerns. The Adani story is still unfolding in front of us.

While we know that Indian drone companies are the next investing theme, the market is quite volatile these days.

Diminishing investor appetite and volatile markets have pushed away companies from going public. In the past six months, 27 companies with IPO plans worth 380 bn have allowed their regulatory approvals to lapse.

Similarly, the permissions to another nine firms planning to raise a total of 150 bn are set to expire over the next two months.

It remains to be seen during what conditions the company decides to come out with its IPO.

But one thing is for surejust like Tata Technologies IPO and Tata Electronics IPO, ideaForges IPO will also witness a lot of traction.

Disclaimer: This article is for information purposes only. It is not a stock recommendation and should not be treated as such.

This article is syndicated from Equitymaster.com
The crisis of India's second-largest conglomerate Adani Group run by billionaire Gautam Adani is turning into another bad milestone for environmental, social, and governance (ESG).

Stocks bearing the Adani name appear in over 500 so-called Article 8 funds that are supposed to promote" ESG goals, provided that the companies in which the investments are made follow good governance practices under European Union rules, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

As many as 80 of those exposures are through direct holdings, while the remaining are mostly through funds of funds or index trackers, the data shows, which correct for duplicate holdings.

As the Adani Group companies get stripped from indexes and are put under review amid allegations of improper use of offshore tax havens and stock manipulation, ESG investors are once again left wondering why a strategy intended to shield against risks such as greenwashing and bad governance  often at an extra fee  didnt protect them from the latest meltdown.

What are ESG funds

ESG funds are investments which make investment commitment based on environmental, social, and governance factors. A firm that makes investments in an ESG fund should be well-run and also have a positive impact on the environment and society as well.

Also, ESG funds seeks to benefit society and the environment while also producing financial returns.

ESG analysts believe that the strong headwinds faced by the Adani Group could impact access to offshore ESG-linked financing plans of other Indian firms.

An individual who tracks ESG investments has termed the Adani crisis as a bad omen for Indias green energy ambitions.

In the wake of a late January report by US-based short seller Hindenburg Research, the selloff in the Adani Group's seven listed subsidiaries have cumulatively lost about $120 billion in group market value in the last three weeks.

Funds with nearly $10 billion in assets under management tracking MSCI ESG indexes held shares in Adani Enterprises Ltd alone, as per an analysis by the Anthropocene Fixed Income Institute. The institute has been studying the Adani Group since mid-2020.

In a report on Adani published on 9 February, Ulf Erlandsson, AFIIs chief executive officer, and Stephanie Mielnik, its head of fixed-income research, wrote: Our view is that ESG investors with this unfortunate exposure should engage with their managers and, potentially, regulatory bodies that are better positioned to examine why this index-fund inclusion has occurred."

Patrick Wood Uribe, the CEO of Util, an ESG research firm backed by private equity and venture capital investors, said the Adani debacle exposes some fundamental flaws in the approach adopted by several ESG index and ratings providers, as well as portfolio managers.

There can be a very large mismatch with what investors are expecting," when they place their money in a company or a fund classified as ESG, Wood Uribe said in an interview. And by offering an overly simplified view," ESG ratings end up doing a disservice" to investors, he was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.

27% of Article 8 funds meet its sustainability requirement

In an effort to address such concerns, the European Securities and Markets Authority has proposed enforcing minimum thresholds that would require Article 8 managers to apply stricter standards to their ESG claims. A recent analysis by Morningstar Inc. found that if the ESMA proposal is adopted, only 27% of Article 8 funds would actually meet its sustainability requirement.

Adani companies were also held by 11 funds registered as Article 9, which is the EUs highest ESG classification. Eight of these were through direct holdings, according to an analysis by Bloomberg. In order to justify an Article 9 designation under EU rules, a fund manager needs to prove that a portfolio is 100% sustainable, with allowances made for hedging and liquidity needs.

ESG fund managers are under increasing pressure" to be much clearer with investors about what exactly they are offering and what it means," Utils Wood Uribe said. There remains a massive opportunity and a massive gap in actually meeting some of those sustainability objectives, actually delivering on what investors would like to see in terms of sustainable investment."

Util also notes that Adani stock documents were replete with the kind of ESG verbiage that portfolio managers often look for. In its rebuttal of the Hindenburg report, Adani frequently cited the groups adherence to ESG principles, and pointed to its adoption of multiple global ESG frameworks, including the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), among others.

Adani has denied all allegations, calling them "malicious", "baseless" and a "calculated attack on India". It called Hindenburg the "Madoffs of Manhattan", referring to the late financier and fraudster Bernie Madoff.

ESG ratings firms, meanwhile, have given some corners of the Adani Group conspicuously high scores. Adani Green Energy Ltd and Adani Total Gas Ltd still carry an A" rating at MSCI Inc, according to data on the website of MSCI. Adani Transmission Ltd is rated BBB."

All three have lost more than a third of their value since the Hindenburg report was published. A spokesperson for MSCI said the firm is due to conduct a review of its ESG and climate indexes, which may include changes as early as this week.

This is a conglomerate with operations in commodities, utilities, gas, and airports" and one that is engaged in some of the most controversial coal mining projects in recent history, including the largest open-pit coal mining operation," Wood Uribe said in a written analysis of the Adani group.

Thanks to the convoluted structures and multiplicity of subsidiaries cited in the Hindenburg report, Adani has long been able to finance its dirtier operations with the proceeds of sustainable fund flows," he said.

Asia ESG funds global market share doubles

Meanwhile, in Asia, ESG funds have doubled their international market share as political and regulatory upheavals slow inflows for environmental, social and governance investing in the US and Europe.

Barclays Plc analysts including Dave Dai wrote in a note that Asia funds posted net inflows of 15% last year, as against 4% globally. That doubled Asias ESG fund market share to 4%, from 2% at the end of 2020, Barclays noted.

Asias net inflows into ESG stock and bond funds compared with 5% for non-ESG funds in the region, showing stronger investor appetite for sustainable investing," the analysts further said.

With agency inputs
Global investors are pouring money into funds that track Chinese stocks, betting that the long-awaited reopening of the worlds second-largest economy will keep powering markets higher.
Investing in global stocks is no more a simple task for small investors. Consider this. You invest 1 lakh in global stocks but the amount debited from your bank account is 1.25 lakh. That extra 25,000 is the upfront payment towards taxes and other remittance fees. But, are you willing to shell out that extra upfront payment? This question has been plaguing Pranay Prasad, 29, since the budget proposed a hike in tax collected at source (TCS) to 20% on investments made overseas via the LRS, or Liberalised Remittance Scheme.

Gurugram-based Prasad has been planning to invest 10 lakh in US tech stocks but now he is unsure. I dont pay advance tax so I cant adjust TCS against it. I cant declare this as an investment either to my employer," he said. TCS can be claimed at the time of filing the income tax return.

View Full Image Graphic: Mint

Apart from hiking the TCS rate, the government also proposed to remove the 7 lakh minimum threshold beyond which TCS would apply.

At least the threshold should have been retained. Im not willing to idle away a huge chunk of my investible surplus for almost a year," said Prasad. To be sure, the government pays 6% interest per annum from the end of the financial year on the TCS amount.

Currently, remittances over 7 lakh attract 5% TCS. Other key remittances impacted by these proposals include tour packages, gifts, foreign transactions through debit and travel cards and purchase of immovable properties.

Data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) shows that about $19.6 billion was remitted outside India in 2021-22. Outward remittances under the LRS have been increasing steadily over the last few years and this trend was strong in 2022-23 as well. In November, the forex outflow under LRS was about $2 billion, up from $1.54 billion in November 2021.

Experts said the government could be trying to cash in on this steady growth in outward remittances under the LRS.

It could be a step towards cash-flow management. TCS doesnt give money to the government, so this hike wont create revenue. Rather, it will create a generous cash flow. Also, it will discourage illegitimate transactions being done through the LRS channel," said Sitashwa Srivastava, co-founder and co-CEO, Stockal.

Under LRS, each Indian resident can remit up to $250,000 (about 2 crore) overseas in a financial year.

Of the $19.6 billion outward remittance pie in 2021, the largest portion of about $6.9 billion went towards travel. The share of investment in equity/debt stood at a rather modest $746 million. Investments are a very small component of the total outward remittances and I feel the governments focus was more on travel and other areas that have huge remittance volumes," said Srivastava.

But, the TCS hike will significantly push the upfront costs for those looking to invest in overseas securities. Cost of direct offshore investing is already quite high due to the forex spread and fees charged by banks (see graphics).

One can argue that the TCS credit can be claimed later and does not qualify as a cost per se. Delhi-based Sanjeev Kohli is one such investor. Since the money will come back to me, Im not discouraged," said the 62-year-old. For me, the opportunity in global markets is far bigger than locking away the extra 20% cash," he added.

But, the same cannot be said for everyone as the hike along with the removal of 7 lakh threshold is most likely to create liquidity concerns for small investors in the form of large upfront cash outflow . For small investors who invest 4-5 lakh, blocking an extra 20% will impact their cash flow," Srivastava added.

Who gets impacted?

Those who pay advance tax have an advantage. While depositing the advance tax, taxpayers can reduce the TCS amount debited towards such transactions," said Mayank Aggarwal, partner designate, Luthra and Luthra Law Offices India.

However, this benefit is largely limited to the self-employed as TDS (tax deducted at source) is deducted from the monthly income of salaried individuals and in most cases, they are not required to pay advance tax. High-Net Worth Individuals (HNIs), salaried or not, stand to benefit from this.

Another segment that will be impacted comprises those in the lowest tax slab or dont have a tax liability at all, such as students. These taxpayers will end up paying more tax upfront than their actual tax liability. Of course, they can get the TCS refund after filing their ITR, but that would mean they have to lock-in the capital for almost one year," said Viram Shah, co-founder and chief executive officer, Vested Finance.

People with annual income of up to 10 lakh constitute half of Vested Finances total users, while another 30% fall in the 10-25 lakh income group. This category of investors have investible surplus of not more than 5-7 lakh. It is noteworthy that nearly 67% of the total users are salaried and about 10% are students.

On Stockal, the average ticket size of remittance is roughly 3 lakh and the average portfolio size is 5 lakh, indicating that small investors constitute a large chunk on the platform.

It is safe to say that large investors may not be impacted by these proposals at all. Small investors, on the other hand, are likely to be hurt on many accountsfrom liquidity concerns to parting away with more tax than their liability.

I believe the removal of the 7 lakh threshold will have a bigger impact than the hike in TCS rate on small investors," said Srivastava.

An unintended side effect of these proposals could be that investors might invest large amounts towards the end of the financial year to reduce the duration of locking away their funds. The same could play out in the current financial year as well. Investors should not rush to invest huge amounts in overseas stocks before the end of the current financial year just to save the 20% TCS. Investment decisions based on tax-saving and not fundamentals of asset allocation, risk profile and goal-based approach can be detrimental to the overall investment portfolio," said Amit Suri, a mutual fund distributor.

What are the alternatives?

Alternatives to investing overseas via the LRS route are mutual funds (MFs) and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). However, its been one year since MFs stopped taking fresh subscriptions in schemes that invest in overseas stocks following a Sebi directive. The directive came after the MF industry crossed the authorized required limit of $7 billion for overseas investments.

Overseas ETFs have a separate $1 billion limit, which is still not exhausted. ETFs are a good low-cost alternative for overseas investment for those comfortable with trading in direct stocks.
Leaving the video message of Dont fall in love', a brainwashed youth rammed up an explosive laden vehicle into a CRPF convoy killing 40 CRPF personnel in Jammu and Kashmir on Valentine's Day on February 14, 2019.

The deadly Pulwama terror attack evoked a sharp reaction from across the nation echoing in unison for India's retaliation of the killing. Here are the 10 points to know about one of the deadliest terror attacks in Kashmir.

-A militant rammed an explosive led vehicle into a CRPF convoy of around 78 vehicles in Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir on 14 February 2019. The terror attack killed 40 personnel. The attack took at Lethaporra in the Pulwama district of J&K.

View Full Image Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tribute to the CRPF soldiers who lost their lives during the Pulwama terror attack on 14 February, 2019

- Remembering the sacrifice of the CRPF personnel, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday expressed on the Pulawama terror attack.Taking to Twitter, the PM said, "Remembering our valorous heroes who we lost on this day in Pulwama."

Remembering our valorous heroes who we lost on this day in Pulwama. We will never forget their supreme sacrifice. Their courage motivates us to build a strong and developed India.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 14, 2023

-The terror attack filled the nation with anger and led to the countrywide demand of action on terrorist and the nation breeding them, ie Pakistan.

View Full Image Following the terror attack, whole nation saw the protests demanding action against the terrorists.

-In a retaliation to the terror attack in Kashmir, Indian Air Force conducted an air strike on a terrorist camp in Balakot region of Pakistan. In the attack, India claimed to have killed several terrorist.

-Pakistan also launched air strikes the following day, during which MIG-21 fighter jet pilot Abhinandan Varthaman shot down Pakistan's PAF's F-16. However, his fighter jet was crashed and he landed in Pakistani territory. In addition to the crash of Mig-21, another IAF aircraft was crashed in near Budgam, Srinagar on that day.

- The captive, IAF officer, Abhinandan Varthaman was taken in by the Pakistani Army after his plane was crashed in the Pakistani territory. He was later interrogated by the Army, and handed over to India within a week. Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was later conferred with third highest gallantry award, Kirti Chakra.

-Apart from Balakot Airstrike, India reacted to the deadly terrorist attack by withdrawing the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to Pakistan. It also urged the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering to include Pakistan on its blacklist, which resulted in the now debt-ridden nation's addition in FATF's grey list.

-India's retaliation to the attack received huge support from the Indians. However, there was a big question about how such a massive amount of explosive managed to escape the security in the region and was used to carry out the attack. A 12-member team of the National Investigation Agency was formed to conduct the investigation in collaboration with Jammu and Kashmir Police.

-As part of the initial investigation, the car was carrying more than 300 kilograms(60 lbs) of explosives, including 80 kg of RDX. NIA named a total of 19 accused in its charge-sheet and was able to identify the attacker. But the investigation could not reveal the source of the explosive.

-Mentioning about the Balakot airstrike's episode in his book, Former US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, said that he spoke with his then Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj who informed him that the Pakistan is preparing to launch a nuclear attack against India. I do not think the world properly knows just how close the India-Pakistan rivalry came to spilling over into a nuclear conflagration in February 2019. The truth is, I dont know precisely the answer either; I just know it was too close," Pompeo writes.
Tata Group-owned Air India on Tuesday unveiled orders for 470 Boeing and Airbus passenger jets as part of expanding their operations from India's growing ranks of middle-class consumers.

AI is committed towards its transformation journey. As a part of the same, we are celebrating the order of 470 aircraft with @Airbus @BoeingAirplanes@RollsRoyce @GE_Aerospace @CFM_engines" Air India tweeted on Tuesday.

AI is committed towards its transformation journey. As a part of the same, we are celebrating the order of 470 aircraft with @Airbus @BoeingAirplanes @RollsRoyce @GE_Aerospace @CFM_engines pic.twitter.com/NvkeZqZ0xt  Air India (@airindiain) February 14, 2023

The purchase order was hailed by many global leaders including US President Joe Biden, President of France Emmanuel Macron, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi himself.

US President Joe Biden hailed a "historic agreement" for Air India to purchase Boeing airplanes.

PM Modi also informed that he had had a conversation over phone with US President Joe Biden on this agreement between Air India and Boeing and said, Glad to speak with @POTUS @JoeBiden . Excellent discussion to review the ongoing and new initiatives to further deepen India-US Comprehensive and Global Partnership. We welcome the landmark @airindiain- @Boeing agreement which will help create new opportunities in both countries."

Glad to speak with @POTUS @JoeBiden. Excellent discussion to review the ongoing and new initiatives to further deepen India-US Comprehensive and Global Partnership. We welcome the landmark @airindiain-@Boeing agreement which will help create new opportunities in both countries.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 14, 2023

France President Emmanuel Macron had earlier hailed the contract between Airbus and Tata Sons and said it marks a new stage in India and France's strategic partnership.

"The contract that Airbus and Tata Sons signed this morning marks a new stage in India and France's strategic partnership. Thank you @NarendraModi , for your confidence in France and our industry," Macron said in a tweet.

The contract that Airbus and Tata Sons signed this morning marks a new stage in India and Frances strategic partnership. Thank you @NarendraModi, for your confidence in France and our industry.  Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) February 14, 2023

Meanwhile, PM Modi during the videoconference said, India is going to be the worlds third-largest market in the aviation sector". Over the next 15 years, its estimated that India will need more than 2,000 aircraft, and todays historic announcement will help in meeting this growing demand."

Harping on the robust effect this deal would have for the Indo-French relationship, PM Modi tweeted, I thank my friend @EmmanuelMacron for joining me at the launch of an important partnership between @airindiain and @Airbus that will further strengthen the Indian aviation sector and create opportunities in both nations. This reflects the robust Indo-French Strategic Partnership."

I thank my friend @EmmanuelMacron for joining me at the launch of an important partnership between @airindiain and @Airbus that will further strengthen the Indian aviation sector and create opportunities in both nations. This reflects the robust Indo-French Strategic Partnership.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 14, 2023

The Ambassador of France to Indian Emmanuel Lenain took to microblogging site Twitter to say that the historic deal between Air India and Airbus is testament to India's prowess in growing as an international aviation hub.

This historic #AirIndia-#Airbus agreement is testament to India's growing role as an international aviation hub. 

It's also a new milestone in the  strategic partnership, showing the commitment of French aerospace companies to India & #MakeInIndia pic.twitter.com/wUEObkTsv3  Emmanuel Lenain  (@FranceinIndia) February 14, 2023

Wings and engines for the aircraft are set to be assembled or manufactured in the UK, which is expected to create hundreds of jobs and lead to significant investments, Hindustan Times reported.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also hailed the multi-billion-pound deal by Airbus and Rolls-Royce to supply new aircraft to Air India as a landmark moment for the country's aerospace sector and reiterated his commitment to continue building ties with India.

According to Hindustan Times, PM Sunak said the aircraft order will create better-paid jobs and new opportunities in manufacturing hubs from Derby to Wales" so that the UK can grow the economy and support our agenda to level up".

In a tweet, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said the historic agreement between Air India and Airbus is a testimony to the growing importance of civil aviation.

Air India, earlier under the ownership of the government, had acquired new aircraft more than 17 years ago.

The airline's last order was for 111 planes -- 68 from Boeing and 43 from Airbus -- and that deal was worth USD 10.8 billion. The order was placed in 2005.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said that there is no competition for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as people are wholeheartedly moving with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In an exclusive interview with ANI, Shah also exuded confidence over BJP's victory in 2023 Assembly elections which are due in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh.

BJP will form government with full majority in Karnataka. In the last 2 months, Ive visited the state 5 times. Ive sensed the pulse of people of the state and witnessed PM Modis popularity there -BJP will get a huge mandate in Karnataka. Even the people of Mandya are now shifting from dynastic parties and accepting BJPs politics of development. This is a good sign for Karnataka," the Home Minister said.

He said that India has made progress across all sectors and referred to the country being the fastest-growing major economy apart from the steps taken by the government to boost internal security and reduce import dependence on defence.

There is recognition of India's achievements in the world. We have tried to raise the standard of living of 60 crore poor people in the country and we were also successful. There have been so many achievements. There are major changes in Railways, there is a new policy in the space sector and we are preparing to be a leader in the sector, with the new policy we are moving ahead in the drone sector," said Amit Shah told ANI.

"The Left-wing extremism is towards its end. There is control and domination of our agencies on terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. In the Northeast, we have found solutions (to problems) and over 8,000 members of militant organizations have joined the mainstream."

Speaking about the principal opposition in 2024, he said that it is to be decided by the people of the country. For now, citizens have not given this position to any one party in Lok Sabha."

(With ANI inputs)
UK MP Bob Blackman has said that the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi is "completely exaggerated". While speaking to News18, the British MP said, BBC does not represent views of the British government. The documentary is a hatchet job."

The controversial two-part documentary series has triggered a major controversy in India. The documentary looked at PM Modi's tenure as the Chief Minister of Gujarat during the 2002 riots.

The Centre had ordered social media platforms Twitter and YouTube to block links of the BBC documentary.

Terming the BBC documentary a "propaganda piece", the Centre had ordered social media platforms Twitter and YouTube to block links of the BBC documentary. It said that BBC's two-part series as a 'propaganda piece designed to push a particular discredited narrative'. "Bias", "lack of objectivity", and "continuing colonial mindset" is "blatantly visible" in it, foreign ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had said last month.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has dismissed a plea seeking to impose a complete ban on BBC in India in wake of a controversial documentary. The apex court termed it "entirely misconceived" and "absolutely meritless".

A bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and M M Sundresh passed the order while hearing a plea filed by Vishnu Gupta, president of the Hindu Sena, and Beerendra Kumar Singh, a farmer.

The top court had on February 3 also directed the central government to produce original records relating to its decision to block the BBC documentary.

On January 21, the government had issued directions for blocking multiple YouTube videos and Twitter posts sharing links to the controversial documentary.

BBC released a documentary called India: The Modi Question. The first episode of the docu-series was aired on 17 January, and was removed from YouTube the next day.
NEW DELHI : Foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra will be on a two-day visit to Bangladesh from 15 February to review bilateral relations and identify new areas of cooperation.

Kwatra will travel to Dhaka at the invitation of his Bangladesh counterpart Masud Bin Momen, the external affairs ministry said on Tuesday.

During the visit, both foreign secretaries will review the entire range of bilateral relationship including political and security, water, trade and investment, power and energy, defence, connectivity and sub-regional cooperation.

The visit to Bangladesh is keeping in line with the highest priority accorded to Indias Neighborhood First policy," the ministry said.

Bangladesh is Indias top-most development partner and also its largest trade partner in the region.

Kwatras visit will further strengthen bilateral ties and impart momentum to ongoing cooperation in diverse areas", the ministry said.

Bangladesh is one of the fastest-growing economies in South Asia. Its trade with India has grown multi-fold to make it Indias biggest trade partner in South Asia. In the last five years, the trade has increased from $9 billion to $18 billion.

In the field of defence cooperation, the Bangladesh side has begun procuring military gear under a $500-million line of credit.

The country also enjoys the status of being Indias fourth largest export destination, which has registered a growth of 66% from $9.69 billion in 2020-21 to $16.15 billion in 2021-22.
The Income Tax department is conducting survey at the BBC office in Delhi and Mumbai, news agency ANI has reported citing sources on 14 February.

The searches are being done as part of tax evasion investigation.

Officials told PTI that department is looking at documents related to the business operations of the company and those related to its Indian arm.

Meanwhile, this searches also comes weeks after Centre blocked the sharing of clips of a BBC documentary that questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership during deadly riots in 2002 in the western state of Gujarat.

Congress has reacted to searches at the BBC office and has called it an undeclared emergency."

In a tweet, it wrote First came the BBC documentary, it was banned. Now IT has raided BBC. undeclared emergency."

 BBC   ,    



 BBC  IT     



   Congress (@INCIndia) February 14, 2023

TMC MP Mahua Moitra who has been launching attack on the Union government over the Adani-Hindenburg issue has also commented on the raid at BBC office.

Reports of Income Tax raid at BBC's Delhi office. Wow, really? How unexpected. Meanwhile farsaan seva for Adani when he drops in for a chat with Chairman at SEBI office," she tweeted.

Reports of Income Tax raid at BBC's Delhi office



Wow, really? How unexpected.



Meanwhile farsaan seva for Adani when he drops in for a chat with Chairman @SEBI_India office.  Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) February 14, 2023

On 10 February, the Supreme Court of India had dismissed a plea seeking a complete ban on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) documentary on PM Modi and the Gujarat riots. It is entirely misconceived," the court had said.

On January 21, the central government had issued directions for blocking multiple YouTube videos and Twitter posts sharing links to the controversial documentary.

(More details awaited)
MUMBAI : Corporate headhunters are descending on undergraduate colleges in droves to snap up young talent, expanding their talent search beyond top business and engineering schools.

Companies across sectors as diverse as banking, manufacturing and power are signing up students for profiles ranging from finance to marketing and strategy, consultants and placement officials said. Apart from impressive pay, many companies are also offering support for higher education, in an attempt to retain them for longer durations.

Starting this year, Tata Power Ltd will recruit graduates and diploma holders beyond its regular intake of B-school graduates and engineers under its Cadre 2.0 strategy.

These are not only a defensive mechanism of managing attrition, but we need to build talent relevant for us. If we can enable them to pick up higher qualifications, higher skills, awareness and experiences in our context, it will be win-win for both," said Himal Tewari, chief human resource officer, Tata Power.

From a companys perspective, grooming talent becomes easier when the employee joins from a young age. This also helps to retain them for a longer period than the two to five years that many employees nowadays stick around for. And, many younger workers stay for even shorter periods.

Several banks conduct online programmes for undergraduate students in collaboration with universities, and those who complete these courses receive cash rewards. HSBC taps the alumni pools of colleges such as Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) in Delhi, NMIMS and St Xaviers in Mumbai, and Christ University with campuses in Bengaluru and New Delhi.

As a robust talent acquisition engine, we approach various avenues to hire talent to cater to business requirements. Rationale behind this was to infuse young minds into roles across lines of business yielding specific outcomes and help build a pipeline of young talent working on key initiatives," said Archana Chadha, head of human resources, HSBC India.

Mint spoke to placement teams of several undergraduate colleges, who reported interest from established companies as well as startups.

This year so far, the highest salary has been 35 lakh, and in 2022, it was 30.6 lakh. We have received a similar number of offers in the first phase (August to December) when the FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) and consulting companies troop in," said a member of the SRCC placement team. Among companies who were visiting the campus for the first time was Aon, a consulting company. The company did not respond to Mints queries.

A student at an undergraduate college in Delhi said students from commerce, economics, statistics and mathematics are in demand for positions as research analysts. Last year, the average salary offered at this college was 9.5 lakh, and the highest was 40 lakh. Placements are currently on for the batch that graduates this year.

Lady Shri Ram Colleges (LSR) website says that for last years batch, the companies that hired included McKinsey & Co, Boston Consulting Group, Bain & Co, Kepler Cannon, Accenture, Dalberg, Trinity, Deloitte, EY and KPMG, for roles in consulting, finance, marketing and sales, media and research as well as auditing.

Companies of a similar profile also visit business schools for recruitments, and the salaries offered are not very different, though in some cases, the profiles for the senior students may be more complex.
BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai were searched by the income tax department on Tuesday, where the broadcaster has hundreds of employees. The broadcaster has said it is fully cooperating with authorities and hopes to have the situation resolved as soon as possible. The raid followed the release of a critical documentary on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which was later blocked by the government.

Was it a raid or a survey?

According to those working at the broadcaster, as quoted by The Guardian, more than a dozen officials from the income tax department turned up at the BBC offices in Delhi, to conduct a survey".

The I-T officials have seized several accounts and financial files and also took documents of several journalists and sealed the offices. A BBC employee stated that officials were confiscating all phones" during the tax raid.

A source tells my colleague at @TheQuint: 30 mins after the IT department officials came in, those present inside the #BBC office were asked to be hand over their mobile phones. #BBC offices in #Delhi, #Mumbai raided by IT dept, weeks after BBC released docu on PM #Modi. https://t.co/w2SUINnir8  Somya Lakhani (@somyalakhani) February 14, 2023

The I-T officials later told the local media that the searches were tax evasion" investigation into the business operations of the BBC in India

Fully cooperating: BBC

Meanwhile, the BBC confirmed the raid and said it was fully cooperating" with authorities. The broadcaster hopes to have the situation resolved as soon as possible.

"The Income Tax Authorities are currently at the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai and we are fully cooperating," it said. "We hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible."

Undeclared emergency: Congress

The raid on the BBC offices has also raised questions about the motives behind the investigation and whether it was linked to the documentary. Noting the same, Congress party said on Twitter, "First came the BBC documentary, that was banned. Now IT has raided BBC. Undeclared emergency."

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accused the broadcaster of engaging in "anti-India propaganda" but said the raids were lawful and the timing had nothing to do with the government.

"India is a country which gives an opportunity to every organisation," Gaurav Bhatia told reporters, "as long as you don't spew venom."

"If you have been following the law of the country, if you have nothing to hide why be afraid of an action that is according to the law?"

In 2021, Indian tax authorities raided a prominent newspaper and a TV channel that had been critical of the government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, triggering accusations of intimidation.
New Delhi: India has sent life-saving medicines and critical care medical equipment worth 7 crore to earthquake-hit Syria and Turkey under Operation Dost, according to the health ministry.

These medicines and equipment include paracetamol, dexamethasone, 10 ventilators and anesthesia machines, 20-wheel chairs, 50 ECG machines, 100 glucometers, thermometer, nebulizer, patient monitor cardio machines, 10,000 platsic syringe with needles, 288 plaster of paris bandages etc.

Health minister Mansukh Mandaviya said, India is providing assistance to the two countries in the spirit of its age-old tradition of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. The union health ministry has provided life-saving emergency medicines, protective items, medical equipment, critical care drugs, etc ."

On 6 February, two powerful earthquakes hit Syria and Turkey with the death toll touching 33,000. The Indian government initiated Operation Dost. Three trucks loaded with relief materials were arranged at Hindon Airbase under the supervision of Indian Air Force consisting of life saving emergency medicines and protective items within 12 hours.

The consignment consisted of 5,945-tn emergency relief material which included 27 life-saving medicines, two kinds of protective items and three categories of critical care equipment, valued at approximately 2 crore.

On 10 February, a bigger lot of relief materials was arranged for both Turkey and Syria. The consignment for Syria consisted of 72 critical care drugs, consumables and protective items of 7.3 tons, valued at 1.4 crore while relief materials sent for Turkiye included 14 types of medical and critical care equipments, valued at 4 crore.
Six months after the first batch of eight cheetahs was released in Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park, the second group of 12 spotted cats from South Africa is expected to arrive the reserve on February 18, said a senior forest official on Saturday.

Speaking to news agency PTI, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (wildlife) J S Chouhan said the felines will be flown from South Africa to Gwalior before being transported to Kuno.

I am unaware of the number of male and female cheetahs in the batch of 12. The cheetahs will be kept under one-month quarantine as per the norms," he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had released the first batch of cheetahs from Namibia into a quarantine enclosure at KNP on his 72nd birthday on September 17. Currently, the first group is in hunting enclosures at the park before the full release into the wild.

India was once home to the Asiatic cheetah but the animal was declared extinct there by 1952, primarily because of habitat loss and deaths at the hands of hunters seeking their distinctive spotted hides.

Efforts to reintroduce the animals gathered pace in 2020 when India's Supreme Court ruled that African cheetahs, a different subspecies, could be brought into the country at a "carefully chosen location" on an experimental basis.

According to the 'Action Plan for Reintroduction of Cheetah in India' prepared by the Wildlife Institute of India, around 12-14 wild cheetahs (8-10 males and 4-6 females) that are ideal for establishing a new cheetah population would be imported from South Africa, Namibia and other African countries as a founder stock for five years initially and then as required by the program.

India and South Africa on 27 January signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation in the re-introduction of Cheetah in India.

South Africa said that it had reached a deal to transfer more than 100 cheetahs to India as part of an ambitious project to reintroduce the spotted cats in the south Asian country.

(With PTI inputs)
In a move that will help in the indigenisation of Light Combat Aircraft Tejas manufacturing, Defence Research and Development Organisation is working on an engine deal to enable co-development with manufacturers, informed DRDO chairman Samir Kamat on Tuesday.

DRDO chief's remark affirms the statement made by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh of starting the production of LCA engines in India soon.

The organisation had shown the Tapas drones at the ongoing Aero India show in Bengaluru. In addition to that, DRDO also showcased UAV Archer, which could also be weaponised. DRDO also has developed a set of new missiles, including the Akash NG, VSHORADS, and MPATGM, said the DRDO chairman in an ANI interview.

Also Read: Aero India 2023: India aims to take defence exports to $5 billion by 2024-25, says PM Modi

"I can say that our weapon systems are on par with the best and indigenous," he added.

Apart from the manufacturing of LCA engines, the DRDO is also planning to begin the manufacturing of engines for the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft(AMCA) Mark 2 with three defence firms in three countries.

Also: 10 big highlights from Aero India Show in Bengaluru

Samir Kamat gave timeline for the induction of LCA Mark 2 as well. He said tha the LCA Mark 2 should be ready for induction by 2028. The first flight of the AMCA Phase 1 may take seven years and the induction can be done in ten years from now.

" We cannot predict the timeline of the AMCA Mark 2 with a new engine until we sign an engine deal for co-development with another OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer). We have been holding discussions with Safran France, GE from the US, and Rolls Royce from the UK,"he added.

Also Read: 'India of Amrit Kaal moving forward like a fighter pilot': Top 10 quotes from PM Modi's Aero India speech

The new LCA Mark 2 will use American GE-414 engines. The government is working for a collaboration with GE and they are keen on the deal, said Samit. After the recieving the US clearance, the engines would be manufactured indigenously by India.

The matter of the indigenous manufacturing of the LCA was discussed during NSA Ajit Doval's US visit. During the visit, the US government assured of opening the indigenous manufacturing of the engines. Manufacturing in India will begin soon after the transfer of technology, which is expected to take place in the next 3-6 months.

In addition to fighter planes, India's air defence system is expected to get a boost as DRDO is planning to develop India's first tripod-fired very short-range air defence system. As of now, a shoulder-fired version of the defence system has already been cleared by the Indian Army.

(With agency inputs)
As the BBC offices were raided by India's income tax department on Tuesday, the UK government officials have reportedly said they are monitoring the situation closely.

According to a report by the PTI news agency citing UK government sources, it said, "closely monitoring reports of tax surveys conducted at the offices of the BBC in India".

The income tax department investigated the UK-based media organisation on Tuesday in Delhi and Mumbai offices for issues related to taxation and transfer pricing of BBC's subsidiaries.

It has been alleged that the broadcaster was served with notices in the past, but was "defiant and non-compliant" and had significantly diverted its profits.

The I-T probe is happening weeks after the BBC aired a controversial two-part documentary in the UK, India: The Modi Question, referencing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the 2002 Gujarat riots.

Yesterday, the BBC spokesperson said, "The Income Tax Authorities remain at the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai. Many staff has now left the building, but some have been asked to remain and are continuing to cooperate with the ongoing enquiries".

The channel said they are supporting its staff and "hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible. Our output and journalism continue as normal and we are committed to serving our audiences in India".

Meanwhile, the opposition parties shave attacked the central government for targeting the channel unnecessarily.

Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut said democracy in India is facing trouble. "During the Emergency, when censorship was forced on newspapers, the BJP (in its previous avatar BJS) had agitated against it. Now, when their government is in power, they are targeting the judiciary and the media," Raut said.

Former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh and Veteran Congress Leader Digvijaya Singh said, "Probably for the first time in the 100-year history of BBC, such a raid has been conducted against them. Their only fault is that they made a documentary of Gujarat riots in which everyone's side was included."

Congress MP and former Union minister P ChidambaramCongress MP and former Union minister P Chidambaram took to Twitter and wrote, "After practically shutting down Amnesty International and OXFAM, the BBC is next in line. Shameful! Government's message to all citizens and organisations is "behave, or else" Government's definition of freedom of the press is 'we are a free country, you are free to express your opinion as long as it agrees with mine'".

The Aam Aadmi Party alleged that the IT actions show that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reached the "heights of dictatorship".

"First, imposed a ban on the BBC documentary. Now raids at their offices. Don't forget Modi ji, Hitler's dictatorship also came to an end. Your dictatorship will also end," AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said.

The CPI(M) also hit out at the Centre as its leader Sitaram Yechury took a swipe at the Prime Minister over the phrase "mother of democracy", a term often used by Modi to highlight the country's democratic ethos.

Yechury said, "First ban BBC documentaries. No JPC/inquiry into Adani exposures. Now IT raids on BBC offices! India: 'Mother of democracy'?"

The South Asia Solidarity Group, a human rights organisation based in the UK, dubbed it a blatantly vindictive move".

While the Press Club of India expressed concern over I-T's action against BBC. It said, "The Press Club is deeply concerned that the governments action on an international broadcasting network will damage the reputation and image of India as the worlds largest democracy. We urge the govt to restrain its agencies from misusing their powers to intimidate the media".

Last month, the Indian government branded the two-part series on Prime Minister Modi a propaganda piece", designed to push a particular discredited narrative".

The documentary triggered coordinated Indian diaspora protests at BBC offices across different UK cities at the end of last month.

The UK government responded in the House of Commons to the protests by insisting the BBC as a media organisation was independent in its outlet" and reiterating its commitment to enhancing ties with India.

However, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) slammed the documentary and said, "The bias, lack of objectivity, and continuing colonial mindset is blatantly visible".

Last year, India fell eight places from 142 to 150 on the World Press Freedom Index of 180 countries.
Chinese spy balloon, Unidentified Flying Objects, mystery objects in the sky has been making headlines for the past one week. It began when US allegedly shot down a Chinese Spy Balloon, and later encountered three separate incidences wherein they shot down unidentified objects, all within a span of seven days.

However, mystery still surrounds the whereabouts of these objects found in the sky.

The collective paranoia this spotting and shooting has triggered, has also led to several other countries reporting similar sightings- a mystery object in the sky. These were later located in Asia as well.

The US government also went ahead to suggest a possibility of Chinese Spy Balloons flying over India.

A theory that has been doing the rounds, while pentagon refuses to define the last three shootings as anything but objects, says that these are sky trash

Let's take a look at what this means

What is sky trash?

Sky trash encompasses a variety of objects within the stratosphere, anywhere from 8km to 40km above our heads.

These objects, mostly balloons, are used to monitor the weather, conduct scientific research that cant be done on the ground or to check things on Earth that cant be seen by a satellite.

These balloons are usually launched by governments, meteorological departments, defense forces all over the world for a variety of purposes, often not to spy on other countries.

Hoopla around sky trash

The sudden plethora of objects could be explained by increased vigilance after the Chinese spy balloon incident. Since the discovery the Pentagon has scrutinised high altitudes more and radar system have been made more sensitive.

Sending balloons up in the sky

There are rules and regulations established by every country regarding sending balloons up in the sky. For example in the United States, one needs to comply with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations, which includes providing the flight path, including transponders among various other cautionary measures.

Further, every country has to abide by International Air Transport Association (IATA) standards, even for balloons. These standards cover everything from launch conditions to the altitude at which theyre allowed to fly.

This has usually been done to combat accidents, involving civil aviation. Every day 1,800 weather balloons are launched worldwide, according to the US National Weather Service, 92 of which are in the US alone.

Refusal to call it balloons

On Sunday, Gen Glen VanHerck, who is tasked with safeguarding North American airspace, said the military had not been able to identify what the three most recent objects were, how they stayed aloft, or where they were coming from.

He said they were being called, objects, not balloons, for a reason".

What happens to the Balloons in the sky?

If not spotted and marked as spy, these balloons usually deflated after a point or come down and land anywhere else if not being remotely steered.
With Delhi LG VK Saxena ordering the suspension of the anti-encroachment drive in Mehrauli, Aam Aadmi has termed the decision as a "victory of the people". However, the LG reiterated that, while no action will be taken against legal and rightful occupants, any illegal encroachment or unauthorized occupation surrounding the heritage monuments will be removed forthwith, in pursuance of the orders of the High Court.

Saxena has directed authorities to stop the anti-encroachment drive in the Mehrauli Archaeological Park area, five days after the Delhi Development Authority began the demolition that triggered protests from locals and a political slugfest in the national capital.

BJP national vice president and Delhi unit incharge Baijayant Panda blamed AAP for the anti-encroachment drive. He wrote, "The fraud Aadmi party backstabbed the Aam Aadmi of Mehrauli by wrongly demarcating homes which had been officially registered for half a century. BJP stood with residents and supported them. We thank Hon'ble LG for his support, and assurance that no one would suffer".

Whereas, AAP's Saurabh Bhardwaj responded by saying, "If BJP & LG saab is backstabbed by AAP, what stops ur LG saab to dismiss all officers of Revenue & DDA who were involved in this demolition? Challenge accepted? What has happened today is the victory of AAP and the people of Delhi. BJP had lately realised that their LG saab is making them unpopular every passing day".

The drive had come a month ahead of a proposed G20 meeting at the park in south Delhi, which according to the Delhi Development Authority, has about 55 monuments under the protection of the Archaeological Survey of India, the state archeological department, and the DDA.

Meanwhile, the Delhi government has pulled up the district magistrate (south) for alleged "inaction" related to the demolition drive and directed him again to carry out fresh demarcation in the area.

The Delhi High Court, meanwhile, directed the authorities to maintain the status quo till February 16 on various properties in the Mehrauli Archaeological Park area here, which have been identified to be demolished as part of the 'anti-encroachment' drive.

The high court further asked the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to state its stand on a batch of petitions challenging the action and also seeking a bar on the demolition till a fresh "demarcation report" is prepared.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah will visit Haryana on Tuesday to present the President's Colour Award to the state police at a ceremony at the Haryana Police Academy in Karnal district's Madhuban, said an official spokesperson.

He said that Shah will also release a coffee table book on the Haryana Police today. After this, the minister will take the salute of a parade to be held at the academy's Vachher stadium, according to the news agency PTI.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala, state Home Minister Anil Vij, along with other ministers and dignitaries, will be present on the occasion.

What is President's Colour Award?

The President's Colour Award is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the Haryana Police in serving the country and maintaining law and order, the spokesperson said, adding that it is a unique honour conferred by the president on the armed forces that have rendered exceptional service to the country.

The award serves as a recognition of the sacrifices made by police personnel in the line of duty and a tribute to their unwavering commitment to serve and protect people, he added.

Amit Shah's visit to Haryana: Check full schedule here

After presenting the award, the Home Minister will also inaugurate and lay the foundation stones of five cooperative sector projects under various initiatives taken by the Haryana government for the implementation of the National Cooperative Policy.

He will then inaugurate the Haryana Cooperative Export House and visit an exhibition and different outlets of the Haryana State Co-operative Supply and Marketing Federation Limited (HAFED), the spokesperson said.

Besides these projects, Shah will inaugurate the Sanjhi Dairy project, the Panipat Cooperative Sugar Mills and an ethanol plant at Dahar, and lay the foundation stone of the Cooperative Milk Plant at Rewari's Bidawas village.

He will also launch an internet radio service -- "Sahkarita Vani", PTI reported.

Shah will provide a letter of approval for 10,000 crore issued by the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) to the cooperative institutions of Haryana.

(With PTI inputs)
It was a regular office day and then we heard a banging on the door is how a source recollects the abrupt visit of the Income Tax officials at the New Delhi BBC office. After a while, the BBC staff was asked to leave their phones and laptops for the rest of the day. But the ordeal had just begun.

The Income Tax department arrived at the BBC India offices in Delhi and Mumbai on Tuesday to investigate an alleged tax evasion case. The searches came a week after the British public broadcaster aired a documentary critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The I-T sealed off the BBC offices, and seized the phones and laptops of the employees, confining them to an area, a source told LiveMint.

The searches at the BBC offices were linked to the British public broadcaster's "deliberate non-compliance" with the Transfer Pricing Rules and its vast diversion of profits.

Speaking with LiveMint, the source said that they could hear banging on the door before the Income-Tax officials came inside the office. We heard some banging on the door. There was a lot of commotion and noise," the source said, adding that it was abrupt and very confusing" for them to make sense of it.

Laptops and mobiles were seized for 5-6 hours. They came and asked us to leave our phones and laptops on the desk and we were confined to a separate area," the source said.

Meanwhile, a purported video of an Income Tax official inside the New Delhi BBC office is doing rounds on social media. In the video, the official can be heard ordering the BBC staff to leave their phones.

WATCH

BBC     IT   .pic.twitter.com/cM5OcklW84  Ranvijay Singh (@ranvijaylive) February 14, 2023

WHAT DID BBC SAY?

Earlier on Tuesday, the I-T officials arrived at BBC offices located at New Delhi's KG Marg and Mumbai's Kalina Santacruz for what they termed a survey". The survey" by the Income Tax officials landed at BBC India offices to probe the deliberate" and persistent" non-compliance of the Transfer Pricing Rules by the BBC.

In its first reaction, BBC said it was fully cooperating" and hopes the situation resolves as soon as possible".

The Income Tax Authorities are currently at the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai and we are fully cooperating. We hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible," BBC said.
US President Joe Biden on 14 February hailed Air India's decision to purchase 220 Boeing aircraft and hails it as a 'historic agreement'.

Releasing a statement of Joe Biden, the White House said, "The United States can and will lead the world in manufacturing. I am proud to announce today the purchase of over 200 American-made aircraft through a historic agreement between Air India and Boeing."

"This purchase will support over one million American jobs across 44 states, and many will not require a four-year college degree. This announcement also reflects the strength of the U.S.-India economic partnership," the statement added.

ALSO READ: Air India signs agreement with Airbus, Boeing for largest purchase in history

Apart from this, Biden in his statement expressed hope to deepen partnership even further by continuing to confront shared global challenges and create a more secure and prosperous future for people.

On AI-Boeing deal, PM Modi held telephone conversation with the President of the US Joe Biden on 14 February and expressed satisfaction at the deepening of the India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership, which has resulted in robust growth in all domains.

Both the leaders welcomed the announcement of a landmark agreement between Air India and Boeing as a shining example of mutually beneficial cooperation that will help create new employment opportunities in both countries. PM Modi also invited Boeing and other US companies to make use of the opportunities arising due to the expanding civil aviation sector in India.

ALSO READ: Air India signs 470 aircraft deal with Airbus, Boeing; here's why world is calling it historic

Earlier on 10 February, Bloomberg reported that Air India signed agreements with Airbus SE and Boeing Co. for about 250 orders and commitments in total, made up of 210 of the A320 single-aisle family models and 40 A350s wide-bodies.

It further added that Boeing has secured about 290 possible purchases, with 190 737 Max aircraft and the option for 50 more, as well as 20 787 Dreamliners and the same number as a possible top-up, alongside 10 777x aircraft. Though the report maintained the final tally may still change because of the complicated structure of the deal.

With agency inputs.
Indias outreach to West Asia particularly to the UAE, Egypt and Saudi Arabia is allowing India to become a kingmaker" in Eurasia, according to strategic thinker Mohammed Soliman. In an age of increasing global disorder, Indias West Asia outreach in recent months is an effort to bridge the divide between the Middle East and South Asia to guarantee stability, argues Soliman.

India and West Asia have been drawing together in reticent years. We saw the launch of I2U2, the India-UAE FTA, and the visit of the Egyptian President for Republic Day. What is bringing about this convergence?

Because I was born in Cairo, I have a mental map that centers Asia, rather than Europe, in my geopolitical thinking. This map is the result of extensive shared history between the littoral states of West Asiafrom Egypt and Oman to Tanzania, India, and Indonesia. This is why I believe that the traditional definition of the Middle East fails to capture the pre-British history of West Asia, which included expansive political, economic, cultural, and religious networks that were the pillars of a West Asian system expanding from Delhi to Cairo. In my Indo-Abrahamic framework, West Asia is bound for more economic and geopolitical integration due to its geography, demography, and trade and energy ties, as well as the intensive regional and global rivalries. Thus, West Asia is a geopolitical system that will continue cohering through these intensive cycles of cooperation and conflict. In order to secure this envisioned and integrated West Asian system, West Asian countries and people must be free to make their own choices without solely relying on the U.S. to provide security or worry about violent intrusion from other countries or regional powers. The Indo-Abrahamic framework changes the status of the U.S. from a security guarantor to a security and defense partner, allowing Washington to do more with less in the region.

Beyond economic cooperation, what is the strategic rationale of the I2U2?

The Middle East has been an unstable region as a consequence of the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the Syrian Civil War, which made Eurasian powers Turkey and Iran capable of projecting power beyond their traditional spheres of influence. To restore the balance of power in the Middle East, we should redraw the borders of the region by bringing South Asia and the traditional Middle East together into West Asia. In West Asia, Iran and Turkey are not on the periphery of the region, unlike India and, to some extent, France. In short, a West Asian geopolitical map is the way forward for a stable balance of power.

How do the traditional Middle East powers see Indias role in West Asia and globally?

India is moving to the center of global geopolitics by virtue of its geography, demography, economy, and civilization; eventually, this will enable Delhi as the kingmaker of the Eurasian chessboard. In this era of great power competition on the Eurasian landmass, the status quo and major revisionist powers are vying for Indias backing in either upholding the current world order or altering it per their own vision. Delhi is likely to take a more assertive role in setting the rules and agenda for this new global disorder. Consequently, from the Arab capitals standpoint, a partnership with Delhi is the best-case scenario in an era of great power competition and the possibility of two major wars in Europe and the Indo-Pacific.

India, UAE, and France have recently unveiled a new trilateral partnership. What is the strategic significance of the same?

In my opinion, the France-UAE-India trilateral format reflects the rise of overlapping trilateral and quadrilateral formats emerging between the littoral states of Eurasia. The France-UAE-India trilateral format, I2U2, QUAD, AUKUS, and others aim to deal with the global disorder and the return of great power competition through the bolstering of collective security in the maritime space from the Mediterranean to the Indo-Pacific.

France, the UAE, and India recognize the economic and connectivity centrality of the Indian Ocean, as well as it being at the front and center in the balance of power in Asia as a gateway to the Indo-Pacific in terms of energy and trade ties. This makes the Indian Ocean a decisive theater in this era of great power competition. Furthermore, by looking at the Indian Ocean as a gateway to the Indo-Pacific, Paris, Abu Dhabi, and Delhi are linking West Asia with the Indo-Pacific, which builds an overarching Asian geopolitical order in the long term.

How should Saudi Arabia fit into Indias West Asia strategy? There has been a perception that the relationship is largely limited to energy.

Saudi Arabia regards India as a viable economic and geopolitical partner as Riyadh seeks strategic autonomy and aspires to establish itself as a G20 middle power in this new era of great power competition. The formation of a West Asian order that ensures long-term peace and security depends on Saudi Arabia and India aligning themselves with the Indo-Abrahamic framework.

In areas such as trade and investment, immigration and culture, technology and finance, and defence and maritime security, Saudi Arabia and India have a lot of untapped potential. Riyadh and Delhi also have room to work more closely together on defining regional and global agendas. As global disorder looks set to persist in the years to come, Middle and regional powers like Saudi Arabia and India appear ready to play a greater role in defining their own destinies as well as the destinies of their regions.

How does China fit into Indias policy on West Asia?

China has always tried to make inroads in West Asia; however, its West Asia strategy is complicated by its friends with everyone" foreign policy, which is interpreted in Riyadh, Cairo, and Tehran as a friends with no one" approach. Furthermore, given Chinas intensified competition with India, a West Asian power, and the US, a resident power in West Asia, Beijing will favor a foreign policy doctrine that seeks influence without a traditional military footprint but centers emerging technologies to its West Asia strategy. For their part, India and Arab nationsmainly Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE are gradually elevating their diplomatic, economic, defense, and security ties to the strategic partnership level. In my view, for the long term, Arab capitals ties with Delhi will become an indispensable strategic asset for both sides and will overshadow Chinas West Asian ties.

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While addressing a press conference, Kirby said, China has a high-altitude balloon program for intelligence collection that's connected to the People's Liberation Army."

Further adding he said that the Chinese spy balloon program targeted the United States' "closest allies and partners," but provided "limited additive" intelligence collection capabilities.

Also Read: Chinese spy balloons, UFOs trigger paranoia among countries. Should India be worried?

"We assess at this time these balloons have provided limited additive capabilities to the PRC's other intelligence platforms used over the United States," Kirby said at the White House briefing.

"We know that these PRC surveillance balloons have crossed over dozens of countries including some of our allies and partners. We assessed that at this time these balloons have provided limited value to PRC's other intelligence platforms but could become more valuable in future," added Kirby.

Also Read: Chinese spy balloon shot down by US peeks curiosity for the apparatus. How this works

He also confirmed that the US does not yet know who owns the recently shot-down unidentified objects.

Kirby also said that the same spy balloon programme was in operation during Donald Trump's Presidency, but his administration was not able to detect them like the Biden administration.

"It was operating during the previous administration but they did not detect it. We detected it. We tracked it," said the US NSC spokesperson while taking credit for finding the spy balloon.

Also Read: US sanctions six Chinese firms connected to balloon uproar

Earlier on 7 February, The Washington Post reported, "The surveillance balloon project has been going on for several years, run out of Hainan province off Chinas south coast. It has collected information on military assets and areas of strategic interest to China in countries like Japan, India, Vietnam, Taiwan, and the Philippines".

Speaking of any other indicators, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that "There is no, again, no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns."

Also Read: Chinese spy balloon saga: What was it trying to collect from US?

After shooting down the Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina on February 4, the United States shot down three more unidentified flying objects, two in US airspace and one in Canadian airspace.

Kirby said that the three new objects were much smaller than the Chinese spy balloon and that the United States was still not sure what they might be.

"There is no question in our minds that that system was designed to surveil, that it was an intelligence asset," Kirby said of the Chinese spy balloon.

"We knew exactly what that thing was. These other three didn't have propulsion, they weren't being maneuvered, they were basically being driven by the wind. We don't know for sure whether they had a surveillance aspect to them but we can't rule it out."

Kirby said that the United States' apparent difficulty in tracking all four objects was owed to the nature of how radar is typically used and that the nation was enhancing its capabilities based on newly gathered intelligence.

"Slow-moving objects at high altitude with a small radar cross section are difficult to detect on radar, even objects as large as the Chinese spy balloon," Kirby said.

China too had said that since the start of 2022, US had flown high-altitude balloons through its airspace more than 10 times, adding fuel to an escalating diplomatic standoff between the countries that has derailed efforts to reset relations.

On this Kirby rejected the accusation saying, "We are not flying surveillance balloons over China. I am not aware of any other craft that we are flying over into Chinese airspace."

He defended the decision to shoot down the three most recent objects despite the government not knowing what they were because they potentially posed a threat to civilian air traffic as they were flying at a similar altitude to many planes

The isolated and harsh conditions in the places they were shot down are hampering efforts to find debris to analyze, with the most recent of them likely in deep water in Lake Huron.

(With inputs from ANI)
Marburg disease, or Marburg virus disease (MVD), has been considered as fatal by the World Health Organization since case fatality ratio of up to 88 per cent and is responsible for at least nine deaths in the tiny Western African country.

According to the WHO, MVD formerly known as Marburg haemorrhagic fever, is a severe, often fatal illness in humans. Its case fatality rates have varied from 24% to 88%, depending on virus strain and case management.

What is Marburg disease, or Marburg virus disease or MVD:

WHO says that MVD is a highly virulent disease which causes haemorrhagic fever in humans. Its a disease spread by Marburg virus. Both Marburg and Ebola viruses are members of the Filoviridae family (filovirus).

ALSO READ: WHO confirms Marburg disease outbreak: Symptoms, treatment and other details

History/Origin?

Marburg virus disease was initially detected in 1967 after simultaneous outbreaks in Marburg and Frankfurt in Germany; and in Belgrade, Serbia. As per details, the was associated with laboratory work using African green monkeys imported from Uganda. It further spread to Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda.

How transmission occurs:

The Marburg spreads through human-to-human transmission via direct contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and with surfaces and materials contaminated with these fluids.

Also, close contact with patients when infection control precautions are not strictly practiced, transmission can take place.

Contaminated injection equipment or through needle-stick injuries is associated with more severe disease, rapid deterioration, and, possibly, a higher fatality rate. Apart from this, burial ceremonies involving direct contact with the body of the deceased can spread MVD.

Symptoms:

a) High fever, severe headache and severe malaise.

b) Muscle aches and pains.

c) Severe watery diarrhoea (can persist for a week) abdominal pain and cramping, nausea and vomiting.

d) Following this, deep-set eyes, expressionless faces, and extreme lethargy.

e) Spontaneous bleeding at venepuncture sites.

f) Death, most often between 8 and 9 days after symptom onset, usually preceded by severe blood loss and shock.

Diagnosis:

a) Antibody-capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)

b) Antigen-capture detection tests

c) Serum neutralization test

d) Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay

e) Electron microscopy

f) Virus isolation by cell culture.

Treatment and vaccines:

No vaccines or antiviral treatments approved for MVD as of now. Though EMA granted a marketing authorisation to Zabdeno (Ad26.ZEBOV) and Mvabea (MVA-BN-Filo). against EVD in May 2020, but its efficacy has not been proven in clinical trials.
NEW DELHI : Prime Minister Narendra Modi holds a telephone conversation with US President Joe Biden and expresses satisfaction at the deepening of the India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Biden expressed satisfaction at the deepening of the India-U.S. Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership, which has resulted in robust growth in all domains," the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement.

They welcomed the announcement of a landmark agreement between Air India and Boeing as a shining example of mutually beneficial cooperation that will help create new employment opportunities in both countries.

According to the PMO, the prime minister invited Boeing and other US companies to make use of the opportunities arising due to the expanding civil aviation sector in India.

"The two leaders welcomed the first meeting of the initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET) held recently in Washington, and expressed a keen desire to strengthen bilateral cooperation in space, semi-conductors, supply chains, defence co-production and co-development and knowledge and innovation ecosystems," it added.

They agreed to bolster the vibrant people-to-people ties between the two countries, which have been mutually beneficial.

The leaders agreed to remain in contact during Indias ongoing G20 Presidency to ensure its success.

Earlier in the day, PM Modi participated in a video call with France President Emmanuel Macron, attended by Tata Group's Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata, Air India Chairman N Chandrasekaran, Air India CEO Campbell Wilson and Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury.

Air India and Airbus have signed a contract for the supply of 250 aircraft, 210 single-aisle A320neos and 40 widebody A350s to Air India.

This commercial partnership between these two players of the aviation sector also displays the strength of the India-France Strategic Partnership, which marks its 25th anniversary this year.

In his address, the prime minister highlighted the rapid expansion and growth of the civil aviation market in India which will give impetus to greater connectivity between India and the rest of the world, and will in turn encourage tourism and business in India.

Complimenting the strong presence of French companies in India, the prime minister also recalled the recent decision by French aerospace engine manufacturer SAFRAN to set up its largest MRO facility in India to service aircraft engines for both Indian and international carriers.

PM Modi thanked President Macron for his partnership in taking the India-France relationship forward and looked forward to working with him under Indias G20 Presidency.
Indian-American Republican leader Nikki Haley has announced her bid officially for the United States (US) Presidential Elections. The 51-year-old leader confirmed the rumors on Tuesday as she announced her candidature on Twitter. With the announcement, Haley also shared the link to her website where her supporters can contribute to her Presidential campaign.

Nikki Haley: Early life and family

Born in Bamberg, South Carolina on 20 January 1972, Nikki Haley's birth name was Nimrata Nikki Randhawa. Her parents Ajit Singh Randhawa, and mother, Raj Kaur Randhawa immigrated to the United States from Amritsar, Punjab. Her middle name Nikki is typically used in Punjabi families as a mark of love for daughters.

Nikki's father has worked as a Professor at Punjab Agricultural University while her mother studied law at the University of Delhi.

Her parents moved to Canada after Ajit Singh received a scholarship from the University of British Columbia and after getting his Ph.D. in 1969, Ajit Singh moved with his family to South Carolina.

Nikki completed her graduation from Clemson University and after working for a waste management company, she joined the family business as Chief Financial Officer.

She married William Michael Haley in 1996, who is a commissioned officer in the South Carolina Army National Guard and has also served as the First Gentleman of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017.

Political Career:

Nikki became active in political activities in 1998 and ran for the South Carolina House of Representatives in 2004. She defeated a strong incumbent and was re-elected to the position thrice till 2010 when she decided to run as Governor.

Nikki has served as the 116th Governor of South Carolina. She was the first female Governor of the state and served in the position from 2011 to 2017. Former President Donald Trump appointed her as the US ambassador to United Nations in 2017 and she represented her country at the global body till December 2018.

You should know this about me. I don't put up with bullies. And when you kick back, it hurts them more if you're wearing heels. I'm Nikki Haley and I'm running for president," she said while announcing her bid for the White House.
In an 'oops' moment, US officials have admitted that the pilot missed the first shot aimed at taking down the unidentified flying object over Lake Huron on Sunday. The US has been in a state of alarm since a huge white balloon from China was spotted tracking over a series of top-secret nuclear weapons sites.

US officials admit the would-be ace needed a second shot with one of the air-to-air missiles, which cost at least $400,000 a pop when engaging the unidentified aerial object from an F-16 fighter.

"We're aware that the first missile fired, that the one on Sunday, missed and it has been reported to us that it went directly into the lake," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.

Currently, officials from US and Canada are scouring the remote area for remnants of the destroyed aerial targets.

The US has been in a state of alarm since a huge white balloon from China was spotted tracking over a series of top-secret nuclear weapons sites, before being shot down just off the east coast on February 4.

Subsequently, the US military detected three more objects in the past few days--one over Alaska, another over Canada, and the third over Lake Huron off Michigan.

All three objects were shot down by the US military during the weekends.

US's National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said they " haven't seen any indication or anything that points specifically to the idea that these three objects were part of (China's) spy balloon program or that they were definitely involved in external intelligence".

However, he also said earlier that China is running a "well-funded, deliberate program" to use high-altitude, hard-to-detect balloons for spying on the United States and other countries.

But whether the three latest objects downed were part of that will not be definitively known until the debris is analyzed.

An inter-agency security review is underway, Kirby said, and in the meantime, there's no reason to expect a similar rate of drama. "I never said there was some sort of blanket policy, that we're just going to shoot things out of the sky."

After Kirby's statement, Chinese authorities upped the ante by accusing Washington of sending its own spy balloons over their territory -- something US officials deny.
Pakistan plans to quadruple its domestic coal-fired capacity to reduce power generation costs and will not build new gas-fired plants in the coming years, its energy minister told Reuters on Monday, as it seeks to ease a crippling foreign-exchange crisis.

A shortage of natural gas, which accounts for over a third of the country's power output, plunged large areas into hours of darkness last year. A surge in global prices of liquefied natural gas (LNG) after Russia's invasion of Ukraine and an onerous economic crisis had made LNG unaffordable for Pakistan.

Also Read: Pakistan economic crisis: Tax hikes may surge inflation, check food prices here

"LNG is no longer part of the long-term plan," Pakistan Energy Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan told Reuters, adding that the country plans to increase domestic coal-fired power capacity to 10 gigawatts (GW) in the medium-term, from 2.31 GW currently.

Pakistan's plan to switch to coal to provide its citizens reliable electricity underscores challenges in drafting effective decarbonisation strategies, at a time when some developing countries are struggling to keep lights on.

Despite power demand increasing in 2022, Pakistan's annual LNG imports fell to the lowest levels in five years as European buyers elbowed out price-sensitive consumers.

"We have some of the world's most efficient regasified LNG-based power plants. But we don't have the gas to run them," Dastgir said in an interview.

Also Read: Pakistan must move away from: Experts' has to say this on its economic crisis

The South Asian nation, which is battling a wrenching economic crisis and is in dire need of funds, is seeking to reduce the value of its fuel imports and protect itself from geopolitical shocks, he said.

Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank have fallen to $2.9 billion, barely enough to cover three weeks of imports.

"It's this question of not just being able to generate energy cheaply, but also with domestic sources, that is very important," Dastgir said.

The Shanghai Electric Thar plant, a 1.32 GW capacity plant that runs on domestic coal and is funded under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), started producing power last week. The CPEC is a part of Beijing's global Belt and Road Initiative.

In addition to the coal-fired plants, Pakistan also plans to boost its solar, hydro and nuclear power fleet, Dastgir said, without elaborating.

If the proposed plants are constructed, it could also widen the gap between Pakistan's power demand and installed power generation capacity, potentially forcing the country to idle plants.

The maximum power demand met by Pakistan during the year ended June 2022 was 28.25 GW, more than 35% lower than power generation capacity of 43.77 GW.

It was not immediately clear how Pakistan will finance the proposed coal fleet, but Dastgir said setting up new plants will depend on "investor interest," which he expects to increase when newly commissioned coal-fired plants are proved viable.

Financial institutions in China and Japan, which are among the biggest financiers of coal units in developing countries, have been backing out of funding fossil-fuel projects in recent years amid pressure from activists and Western governments.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.
The recent deal between Air India and Airbus to purchase 250 aircraft has been welcomed by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. The deal will involve the procurement of 40 A350 wide-body aircraft and 210 A320 narrow-body aircraft. A significant portion of the manufacturing process for the new aircraft is set to take place in the UK, including the assembly and production of wings and engines. This is expected to create hundreds of new jobs and lead to significant investments in the UK.

The wings for the aircraft will be designed in Filton and assembled in Broughton, Wales, which is expected to bring 450 manufacturing jobs and over 100 million in investments. The A350 aircraft will be powered by Rolls-Royce XWB engines, which are assembled and tested in Derby, as reported by Hindustan Times.

Sunak said the landmark deal" will create better-paid jobs and new opportunities in manufacturing hubs from Derby to Wales" so that the UK can grow the economy and support our agenda to level up".

Sunak added that by building trade ties with growing economic powers like India, the UK will ensure that UK businesses remain at the forefront of global growth and innovation.

He added, The UK is already a top investment destination, and by building trade ties with growing economic powers like India we will ensure UK businesses remain at the forefront of global growth and innovation."

The UK trade secretary, Kemi Badenoch, has also welcomed the deal, stating that it will help secure thousands of highly skilled jobs and will be a boost to UK exports.

Tata Group-owned Air India on Tuesday said it will buy a total of 470 wide-body and narrow-body planes from Airbus and Boeing as the airline expands its operations.

"The order comprises 40 Airbus A350s, 20 Boeing 787s and 10 Boeing 777-9s wide-body aircraft, as well as 210 Airbus A320/321 Neos and 190 Boeing 737 MAX single-aisle aircraft. The A350 aircraft will be powered by Rolls-Royce engines, and the B777/787s by engines from GE Aerospace. All single-aisle aircraft will be powered by engines from CFM International," the airline said in a statement.
The unidentified object flying over Yukon was shot down on Saturday appears to be small, metallic balloon. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had said that on his orders US fighter jet had shot down the object.

As per the latest report by CNN, Pentagon in a memo sent to lawmakers said that the unidentified flying object appeared to be a small, metallic balloon with a tethered payload below it."

Also read: Chinese spy balloons, UFOs trigger paranoia among countries. Should India be worried?

The memo as obtained by CNN also wrote that the object crossed near US sensitive sites" before it was shot down. It also wrote to the lawmakers that the which was object shot down over Lake Huron, in Michigan subsequently slowly descended" into the water after impact.

It further added that the object which was shot down over Alaska on Friday was that of the size of a small car" and not similar to the Chinese spy balloon shot off the coast of South Carolina.

The Pentagon memo also added that there were no further details about the object including its capabilities, its purpose, or even its origin.

Also Read: After US and Canada, this Asian country spots UFO near port city

It also added that recovery/exploitation" efforts were underway to retrieve the object shot down in Canadas Yukon territory, further adding that officials both in US and Canada were attempting to identify debris.

Canadian officials are leading that investigation, though the FBI was embedded with them," according to the memo as reported by CNN.

In a press conference, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby confirmed that the Chinese spy balloon is linked to intelligence collection.

While addressing a press conference, Kirby said, China has a high-altitude balloon program for intelligence collection that's connected to the People's Liberation Army."

Further adding he said that the Chinese spy balloon program targeted the United States' "closest allies and partners," but provided "limited additive" intelligence collection capabilities.

The White House on Monday defended the shootdowns of three unidentified objects in as many days even as it acknowledged that officials had no indication the objects were intended for surveillance in the same manner as the high-altitude Chinese balloon that traversed American airspace earlier this month.

The three objects, including one shot down Sunday over Lake Huron, were unmanned and traveling at such a low altitude as to pose a risk to civilian commercial air traffic, said White House national security spokesman John Kirby. And though the Biden administration does not yet have evidence that they were equipped for spying purposes, officials have not ruled that out either, he said.

On Friday, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, the combined U.S.-Canada organization known as NORAD that provides shared defense of airspace over the two nations, detected and shot down an object near sparsely populated Deadhorse, Alaska.

Later that evening, NORAD detected a second object flying at a high altitude over Alaska, U.S. officials said. It crossed into Canadian airspace Saturday and was over the Yukon, a remote territory, when it was ordered shot down by Trudeau.

In both of those incidents, the objects were flying at roughly 40,000 feet (12,000 meters). The object on Sunday was flying at about 20,000 feet (6,000 meters).

None of the three most recent objects has been recovered, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters in Brussels, where he was scheduled to attend a NATO defense ministers meeting this week.

Austin said weather has impeded recovery efforts in Alaska, while in Canada the object was shot down in a very remote area that was also impeding efforts. In Alaska, where the object landed on sea ice, wind chill and safety concerns are dictating recovery timelines," he said.

(With inputs from agencies)
Some mysterious objects have been flying in the US skies over the past few days. The aerial objects have restarted the tension between the US and China. While the US military has shot down all objects of different shapes and sizes but has also plunged the ties with China to another level.

The US downed two more "mysterious" objects over Alaska and Canada on Friday and Saturday. And, a fourth was destroyed on Sunday over Michigan.

The saga began last month when the US detected a 60-metre tall balloon of China that entered national airspace near the Aleutian Islands.

The US exploded the balloon which drifted over the South Carolina coast, while China insisted that it was a "civilian warship used for research".

The next incident occurred on Friday 10 February when US fighter jets downed another object over sea ice near Deadhorse in northern Alaska. This object was the size of a Volkswagen Beetle and was flying at 40,000 feet.

The US military knocked out the third mysterious object from the sky on Saturday at Canada's central Yukon Territory, about 100 miles from the US border.

The fourth object was destroyed by the US fighter planes over Lake Huron in Michigan on Sunday.

The US government has said that it is unaware of the origin or purpose of the recent three aerial objects that were shot down during the weekends.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said, "We have not yet been able to definitively assess what these most recent objects are".

He said that the objects, flying at altitudes of between 20,000 and 40,000 feet, were considered a risk to air traffic, he said, although they did not pose a threat to people on the ground. They also were shot down because U.S. authorities could not rule out that they were spying.

What China has to say?

China on Monday widened its dispute with the United States over aerial surveillance, claiming that US high-altitude balloons had flown over its airspace without permission more than 10 times since the beginning of 2022. The White House denied the assertion.

Kirby said: "There is no US surveillance aircraft in Chinese airspace. I'm not aware of any other craft that we're flying over into Chinese airspace."

When pressed about whether any US craft was being used over Chinese-claimed airspace in Taiwan and the South China Sea, he declined to specify further.

The White House, which has tried to tamp down rhetoric around China following the balloon incident, took a noticeably sharper tone on Monday.

"This is the latest example of China scrambling to do damage control," Adrienne Watson, another White House national security spokesperson, said.

Debris of mysterious aerial objects:

The United States says the large Chinese balloon was obviously a spy craft and that the debris is currently being plucked from the Atlantic Ocean for analysis.

The other three unidentified objects -- shot down Friday over Alaska, Yukon in Canada, and at Lake Huron on the US-Canadian border -- so far present a greater challenge.

Other than that they were much smaller, less sophisticated, and flying lower than the Chinese balloon from earlier this month, US officials know little -- not even to whom they belonged.

"Countries, companies, research, and academic organizations operate objects at these altitudes for purposes that are not nefarious at all, including scientific research," Kirby said.

Whether they were spying also remains unknown.

In Yukon province, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he toured with some country's forces who will be leading recovery efforts on the ground.

"This is a very serious situation," Trudeau said, adding that he would speak to US President Joe Biden fact-to-face about the objects next month.

A Canadian coast guard ship and two helicopters were helping the search and recovery in Lake Huron.

Why such a spate of incidents?

US officials say that the answer may be not that an increased number of devices is coming over the United States but simply that an adjustment in the sensitivity of radar settings after the February 4 shootdown means that items once passing unseen are now caught.

"One of the reasons that we think we're seeing more is because we're looking for more," Kirby said.

The truth will not be clear until debris is collected and that is not simple, either.
The US military cited that significant debris has been recovered from the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that was shot down earlier this month. The debris includes priority sensor and electronics pieces, as well as large sections of the structure. The White House further claimed that China has been operating surveillance operation on the US and its allies for many years, at least from the Donald Trump's time.

The US Northern Command said in a statement, Crews have been able to recover significant debris from the site, including all of the priority sensor and electronics pieces identified as well as large sections of the structure."

John Kirby, the US national security council spokesperson, stated that the debris from these objects will be analyzed once recovered from remote locations. While the objects did not pose a kinetic threat to people on the ground and were not sending communication signals, authorities could not rule out the possibility that they were conducting surveillance of some kind.

We assessed whether they posed any kinetic threat to people on the ground. They did not. We assessed whether they were sending communication signals. We detected none. We looked to see whether they were maneuvering or had any propulsion capabilities. We saw no signs of that," he said as quoted by The Guardian.

[But] while we have no specific reason to suspect that they were conducting surveillance of any kind, we couldnt rule that out."

Chinas surveillance dates back to at least Donald Trump time

Kirby claims that Chinas surveillance program dated back to at least the administration of Donald Trump, which he said was oblivious to it.

It was operating during the previous administration, but they did not detect it," Kirby said.

We detected it, we tracked it. And we have been carefully studying to learn as much as we can. We know that these PRC [Peoples Republic of China] surveillance balloons have crossed over dozens of countries on multiple continents around the world, including some of our closest allies and partners."

Separately in Japan, the Fuji News Network reported on Tuesday that Tokyo had concluded that the object that flew over Japanese waters near the south-western region of Kyushu in January last year was mostly likely a Chinese spy balloon.
The first-ever woman astronaut of Saudi Arabia will be going to space this year, the latest move by the kingdom to revamp its ultra-conservative image.

Saudi woman astronaut Rayyana Barnawi will join fellow Saudi Ali Al-Qarni on a 10-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS) this year.

Barnawi and Al-Qarni will fly to the ISS aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft as part of a mission by the private space company Axiom Space.

The Ax-2 will be launched by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Axiom Space carried out its first private astronaut mission to the ISS in April 2022 under which four private astronauts spent 17 days in orbit.

In 2019, Saudi's neighbour the United Arab Emirates became the first Arab country to send one of its citizens into space.

Astronaut Hazzaa al-Mansoori spent eight days on the ISS. Another fellow Emirati, Sultan al-Neyadi, will also make a voyage to the space station in February this year.

Neyadi, fondly called "Sultan of Space", will become the first Arab astronaut to spend six months in space when he blasts off for the ISS aboard a Falcon 9 rocket.

Notably, Saudi de facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been trying to shake off the kingdom's austere image through a push for reforms.

During his regime since 2017, Saudi women have been allowed to drive and travel abroad without a male guardian. Besides, women's proportion in the workforce has more than doubled since 2016, from 17% to 37%.

However, Saudi Arabia's foray into space is not its first. In the oil-rich country in 1985, sent country's royal Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, an air force pilot on a US-organised mission. It became the first Arab Muslim country to travel to space.

Years later in 2018, the country set up a space program and last year launched another to send astronauts into space as part of Prince Salman's Vision 2030 agenda for economic diversification.
Some animals bend over backward when courting their mates, like this brolga  a crane-like bird  in Queensland, Australia. (Image credit: Shutterstock)

On Valentine's Day, lovers who are eager to woo their partners show their affection with traditional gifts of red roses, heart-shaped boxes of chocolates or with romantic dinners at fancy restaurants. There's usually some effort involved, but pulling off a memorable Valentine's Day is easier  and generally safer  than some of the courtship rituals performed by other animal species.

For most animals, wooing comes with heightened personal risk. A male's showy displays, while attracting a female's attention, could also attract nearby predators, and fights between male rivals can also result in a date night with a body count. In some cases, winning a cannibalistic female's affections places the male at the top of the post-coital menu.

Many of the courting behaviors practiced by animals may seem strange to us, but as peculiar and risky as they are, they work just fine for their intended audiences. Here are a few examples of unusual and extreme courtship rituals in the animal kingdom.

Giant pandas

Mating in the wild is a time consuming endeavor for giant pandas. (Image credit: Shutterstock)

Pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) are notoriously difficult to mate in captivity. Mating is no picnic in the wild, but for completely different reasons. In the first-ever footage of giant pandas getting intimate in the wild , filmmakers in China recorded an older male and a younger rival courting the same female, who was high above the ground in a tree.

The males had a tense standoff until the younger panda retreated. But the female wasn't ready to mate; upon descending, the female fought the older male and escaped. The two males followed her for weeks, growling at each other until one suitor dropped off and the female was ready to mate with the younger fellow.

It's possible that this prolonged male rivalry, including female "hostage"-taking, triggers female ovulation. So maybe that's why these black-and-white bears are so hard to breed in captivity, where male competition is nonexistent, according to the 2020 program " Pandas: Born to be Wild (opens in new tab)" that debuted the footage.

Giraffes

A male giraffe begins the lip-curling flehmen response as the female begins to urinate. (Image credit: Lynette Hart, UC Davis)

Male giraffes have to taste a lot of pee before they can do the deed . That's because the only way males (bulls) can tell if females (cows) are fertile is to determine if specific pheromones are present in her urine.

First, the bull nudges the cows and sniffs her genitalia. Sometimes it takes a few nudges, but then the cow will widen her stance and urinate into the bull's mouth. Next, the bull does a "flehmen response" by curling back its upper lip and breathing in through its nostrils, using its sensitive vomeronasal organ above the roof of the mouth to smell his potential partner's pee. Other also animals smell pee when mating, but usually the female pees on the ground for the male to sniff. In the giraffe's case, they're way too tall to do it that way.

On average, bulls have to approach 150 females before finding one who is ready to mate, a 2023 study published in the journal Animals (opens in new tab) found.

Snails

A Cornu aspersum snail that was hit in the head by a love-dart (arrow) so hard that the dart came out the other side of its head, next to the right eystalk. (Image credit: Monica Lodi & Joris M. Koene, Journal of Molluscan Studies (DOI: 10.1093/mollus/eyv046))

Look closely at these photos of land snail Cornu aspersum, and you'll see a small appendage close to the eyestalk. That tiny structure was propelled into the snail's head by its mate, delivering an infusion of a special mucus that prepares the snail for receiving an envelope full of sperm.

As land snails are hermaphrodites, either snail in a mating pair is capable of fertilizing the other, and both are equipped with "love darts" that they use to stab their partner  after they spend a bit of time circling around and touching each other with their muscular pseudopods.

Some snail species shoot single darts, some shoot multiple darts, and others use a single dart to repeatedly jab their mate for close to an hour, according to a 2006 study, published in the journal The American Naturalist (opens in new tab).

Dinosaurs

Reconstruction of theropods engaged in scrape ceremony display activity, based on trace fossil evidence from Colorado. (Image credit: Xing Lida and Yujiang Han)

Little is known about dinosaurs' mating habits, but evidence preserved in rocks in Colorado suggests that some dinosaurs practiced a ritual dance much like one performed by living birds.

Paleontologists found scrape marks  many dozens of them  in four sites that held remains of Cretaceous dinosaurs. In a 2016 study published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports (opens in new tab), researchers explained that they saw distinct similarities between these scratches in the rock, and so-called "nest scrapes" created by certain types of male birds as part of their courtship displays.

Male birds across a number of ground nesting species  including sage grouse, puffins and various shore birds  scrape the ground in front of females, as if to demonstrate how good they would be at building a nest. They make dozens or even hundreds of scratches at a time, and usually accompany scraping with strutting, puffing themselves up, and fanning their tails.

Black widow spiders

A black widow female dwarfs her male counterpart. Male black widows can 'twerk,' as seen in new video of the spiders' mating dance. (Image credit: Sean McCann)

Black widow (Latrodectus Hesperus) females are about twice as large as males, so the smaller suitors have to take some precautions when approaching a female's web, lest they be mistaken for prey and eaten before mating even gets underway.

Males stay safe by announcing their presence to the female with vigorous rump shaking.

As a male steps onto a female's web, he vibrates his abdomen, sending signals coursing along the silk strands. He advances, vibrates and pauses, advances, vibrates and pauses  a pattern distinctly different from the shorter, more irregular movements of trapped prey, researchers found in a study, published in the journal Frontiers in Zoology (opens in new tab). The study authors also discovered that the vibrations that males produce are at a low amplitude, further distinguishing them from prey movements, which were more dynamic and percussive.

Sea Slugs

Two Siphopteron sp. 1, caught in the act. (Image credit:  Johanna Werminghausen)

Hermaphroditic sea slugs possess both male and female sex organs, and when pairs come together to mate, they stab each other between the eyes with a needle-like appendage called a penile stylet, delivering a cocktail of prostate fluid. This tactic was described as "just weird" by a researcher who co-authored a 2013 study about the odd behavior, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B (opens in new tab).

Scientists are uncertain as to why exactly the slugs target this body area for stabbing, but they suspect that the hormonal injection may serve to increase the possibility of successful fertilization.

Pufferfish

These 'mystery circles' are about 7 feet wide and are made by a 5 inch fish. (Image credit: Kawase et al)

"Mystery circles" on the ocean floor near Japan that measure about 7 feet (2.1 meters) in diameter were recently found to be made by a fish only 5 inches (12.7 centimeters) in length. The intricate symmetrical patterns were first noticed by divers in 1995, and in 2013 (opens in new tab) researchers described what created them: a species of pufferfish, with mating on its mind.

Males swim along the seafloor flapping their fins to sculpt the remarkably intricate ridges and valleys  a process that take seven to nine days  and then decorate them with shell fragments and sediment. After interested females are fertilized, they lay their eggs in the nest site at the center.

Though the structures are beautiful, scientists wrote in 2013 that the lines and shapes carved by the pufferfish serve to channel sediment particles, and likely don't serve an aesthetic purpose.

Jumping spiders

This jumping spider has UV-reflective body parts. (Image credit: Matthew L.M. Lim and Daiqin Li)

Body parts that reflect ultraviolet light help male jumping spiders in the Cosmophasis umbratica species catch females' eyes (all eight of them). Males lure the female spiders by striking poses that display these glowing patches prominently.

However, female C. umbratica spiders have a glowing trick of their own, possessing palps  a pair of appendages near the head  that fluoresce green in ultraviolet light, which they use to attract the males.

Both male and female spiders rely on these signals to tell who's in a mating mood, scientists discovered in a 2007 study published in the journal Science (opens in new tab). When ultraviolet light was blocked and the spiders didn't glow, they lost interest in mating, the researchers found.

Marvelous Spatuletail

The male Marvelous Spatuletail (Loddigesia mirabilis) sports a four-feathered tail that's twice the length of its body. (Image credit: Greg R. Homel)

In one species of hummingbird  the marvelous spatuletail (Loddigesia mirabilis)  males attract females by whipping their lengthy tails back and forth.

And those tails are impressive, two of the four feathers measure about 6 inches (15 centimeters) in length  about twice as long as the birds' bodies  and are tipped with shiny iridescent "paddles," which the males whirl feverishly at likely mates.

Bowerbirds

The geometry of the courtship site creates an illusion of uniformity: When a female bowerbird views the court from within the avenue, all of the court objects appear to be the same size. (Image credit: L.A. Kelly)

Bowerbirds are known for building elaborate structures to attract female interest, even decorating their bowers with arrays of colored objects that appear to be selected and displayed for their aesthetic appeal.

But there's more to their arrangement than meets the eye. Researchers discovered that male bowerbirds construct their bachelor pads in such a way that when the male bird stands in front of it, he appears larger and more imposing to the female viewing him from outside.

And the birds that create the most successful illusions were the most popular with the females and the most likely to mate with them, scientists wrote in a 2012 study, published in the journal Proceedings for the National Academy of Sciences (opens in new tab).

Mice

Singing to his sweetheart. (Image credit: Colin Robert Varndell/Shutterstock)

Male mice seeking to impress a mate sing unique high-pitched songs, vocalizing in the ultrasonic range. They produce these whistling sounds  which differ greatly from normal communication  by creating a type of feedback loop of airflow in the windpipe and larynx, according to a 2016 study published in the journal Current Biology (opens in new tab). Scientists discovered the mechanism by shooting high-speed video of the mice's larynxes as they vocalized, capturing 100,000 frames per second.

Impressive though this technique may be, female mice are picky about which songs they like; they prefer tunes that differ from those sung by their relatives, according to an earlier study published in February 2014 in the journal PLOS One (opens in new tab).

Red-cheeked cordon-bleu songbird

A male red-cheeked cordon-bleu songbird performs his mating "tap dance" to court the gal next to him on their perch. (Image credit: Nao Ota.)

High-speed video recently revealed a mating dance performed by a species of songbird tapping their feet too quickly for the movements to be seen with the naked eye.

Blue-capped cordon-bleu songbirds (Uraeginthus cyanocephalus)  both males and females  were known to bob their heads and sing to each other during courtship, but a 2015 study published in the journal Scientific Reports (opens in new tab) was the first to capture the rapid tapping of their toes  and the birds tapped their feet faster if they were sharing the perch with a prospective mate, the scientists discovered.

Porcupines

Female North American porcupines are only fertile for a few hours each year. (Image credit: Shutterstock)

Male North American porcupines must go to great lengths to secure the affections of females, which only go into estrus once a year for eight to twelve hours.

Prior to ovulating, the female secretes a fragrant (to a porcupine) vaginal mucus that lures males closer. The lucky male that finds her  and manages to chase away any rivals  stimulates ovulation by drenching her in an explosive jet of urine described as "a high speed projectile" by porcupine expert Uldis Roze, author of "The North American Porcupine (opens in new tab)" (Comstock Publishing Associates, 2009) and "Porcupines: The Animal Answer Guide (opens in new tab)" (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012).
Dr. Leonora Brown, left, Casey Galanti, Michell Bosch and Isabella Loza Ortiz led the Empower Your Future panel discussion on Feb. 8. Photo by Angela Foster.
China int'l big data expo scheduled for late May

Xinhua) 10:19, February 14, 2023

A staff member watches a big-data animation on an LED screen at the exhibition center of the national big data comprehensive pilot zone in southwest China's Guizhou Province, May 26, 2022. (Xinhua/Ou Dongqu)

GUIYANG, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- The China International Big Data Industry Expo 2023 will take place in Guiyang, capital of southwest China's Guizhou Province, from May 26 to 28, according to a provincial big data conference held on Monday.

The offline exhibition will have six pavilions covering an area of 60,000 square meters, and the preparatory work for the event is underway.

The expo has been held in Guiyang since 2015 and is the first of its kind in China, forming a communication platform for vital achievements in the big data industry.

As the country's first national big data comprehensive pilot zone, Guizhou Province has been promoting the big data industry as a backbone of its high-quality social and economic development.

In 2022, Guizhou accelerated the development of the big data industry and the province's added value of the electronic information manufacturing industry rose by more than 60 percent, according to a government work report.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
From left: Vice Chancellor Kim White, Vice Chancellor Brent Goldberg, Provost Jerold Hale, Chancellor Steven Angle, Dean Daniel Pack and Joe Ferguson, chair of the College of Engineering and Computer Science executive advisory board. Photo by Angela Foster.
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Former Minister Denis Naughten has thanked Longford voters after he announced this evening (Monday, February 13) that he will not contest the next general election, which is due in 2025.

Deputy Naughten served as TD for the Longford / Roscommon constituency from June 1997  May 2007, and from May 2007 to February 2016, he represented Roscommon / South Leitrim in the Dail. He was re-elected for RoscommonGalway in the 2016 and 2020 general elections.

He previously served as Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment from 2016 to 2018.

He voted against the government's decision to close the Roscommon County Hospital emergency department on July 6, 2011 and he lost the Fine Gael party whip the following day.

His late father Liam Naughten was also a Fine Gael TD and Senator.

In a statement, Independent TD Mr Naughten said, "I have decided, for both personal and professional reasons, after giving 26 years of my life to national politics that now is the time to step back and explore new opportunities.

I want to thank the people of counties Longford, Leitrim, Galway and Roscommon most sincerely for their support over the last quarter of a century. It has truly been an honour to represent the people from those counties in Dail Eireann over that time.

I want to particularly thank the many people who canvassed for me over the years, some of whom had previously canvassed for my later father Liam.

I want to sincerely thank all the staff who have worked with me over the years, and I want to particularly mention Deirdre Concannon & Jill Mellor and also my family for their support over those years, which at times were very difficult and challenging.

I entered politics at a young age, in difficult circumstances, and it was always my intention to turn my hand to something outside politics. The time has now come for that to happen and to provide an opportunity for others to represent the people of this area in Dail Eireann.

I provided support to the Government as an Independent TD at a time when political stability was required, representing my country at international level as Minister, furthering our collective national ambition towards a lower carbon society by imaginative and progressive policies on behalf of all our people.

Since my initial election I have fought tirelessly for the improvement and delivery of our health services at both local and national level. Whilst protecting our local services was a condition of my support for the Government, the establishment of an all-party Committee on Health - which produced the first Slaintecare report, and which was the genesis of our current pathway - I believe will ultimately prove to be a key turning point in the delivery of a proper and responsive healthcare system in Ireland.

My achievement in ensuring the delivery of fibre optic broadband to every home in Ireland, something that I had worked on for over 15 years, is something that I regard as a significant step in improving access to the people of all local communities in Ireland that I was honoured to represent and serve.
On this Valentine's Day, gardai in Longford are urging people to be vigilant of romance fraud and they say they are investigating a number of romance fraud incidents.

In one incident, during 2022, that is under investigation, a female victim in her 40s was defrauded of 19,000.

The victim reports that she was contacted by a male over TikTok app and after a few months of conversing, he offered her to better her life with gifts and money.

He then transferred a sum of money to her bank account and told her to keep a sum of it and rest of the money invest in bitcoin.

He told her to download an app and when she refused to trade in bitcoin, she was told to transfer money back to account numbers he provided. When she transferred money back to the provided account she was informed by her bank that her account was blocked. The victim is at a loss totalling 19,000.

A second incident, involving a male victim in his 60s, is also being investigated by Longford gardai.

The victim transferred large sums of money in numerous instalments to a suspect he met online and believed he was in a relationship with.

Sergeant Damian G Bartley, Garda Crime Prevention Officer Roscommon Longford, explained that romance fraud happens all year round, not just around St Valentines Day.

Sgt Bartley added, "It became more prevalent circa 2020 / 2021 due to covid restrictions. Fraudsters are taking advantage of the rising number of people socialising online and preying on peoples loneliness, isolation and vulnerability. Traditionally they posed as a person with a responsible job, stuck somewhere from where they cannot travel and will use a photo they steal off the internet."

He continued, "This Modus Operandi is changing in 2023 to what is called pig butchering. This is where the fraudster claims to have insider knowledge of high yielding investment opportunity, usually in the cryptocurrency arena and will offer investment advice to the victim. The less IT savvy the victim is the better. They will offer their services and persuade the victim to download an APP (like AnyDesk), which gives the fraudster control of their laptop and by extension, control of their bank account.

"The victim will get graphs and charts showing huge profits thus being enticed to invest more and more. Eventually when the victim tries or wants to stop / withdrawn money contact is cut off."

HOW ROMANCE FRAUD WORKS:

 Victims are identified through dating sites where the fraudsters engage in the financial grooming of the victims  this is called social engineering

 The fraudsters set up a fake profile on the dating website and pose as a person with a responsible job, stuck somewhere from where they cant travel and they will use a photo they lift off the internet. They usually claim to be American, working on Oil Rigs or doctors in desert

or soldiers in war zones or aid workers etc  somewhere with poor connections / travel chances etc...

 There have been cases where they pose as famous actors.

 Early on they will encourage the victim to move off-line from the site onto a messaging app like whatsapp or email.

 The initial requests for money will be small and sometimes this money could even be paid back to help with the trust building.

 They follow a script. They may have a number of victims ongoing at any one time at different stages of the process

 They say the right things  Initially the fraudster will engage with the victim over some time to build up trust. They use terminology / words / language designed to win over the injured parties trust and demonstrate that they are not a risk. They present as safe, usually claiming to have been married (but now divorced or widowed in order to gain sympathy), claim to have grown up kid(s) and not interested in sexual relationship but just friendship. This is all part of social engineering.

 The amounts being requested will grow larger with the excuse being that the money is needed to pay medical bills, custom duties, other bills, etc etc. The expense for which the money is needed will have been raised in earlier conversations

 The requests could merge into investment opportunities with the fraudster claiming to have a great opportunity to invest and make a quick profit and will encourage the victim to also invest and not miss the opportunity ie pig butchering.

 Once the victim has had their money stolen or once the victim starts asking questions or looking for their money back, the fraudster will cut of communications.

 Investigations usually show that the victims money is transferred to bank accounts outside Ireland or more recently into cryptocurrencies accounts

Crime Prevention Advice

1. Use a reputable dating site and use their messaging service. Do not move to social media or texting too quickly.

2. Be careful what you share on social media and online dating websites. Do not reveal your full name or home address. Protect your identity.

3. Be wary of anyone asking lots of questions about you but not revealing much about themselves. They want you to provide live videos but they cant / wont. Watch out for snippets of conversation which are out of sync with previous chats. These fraudsters are engaging with multiple victims at the same time, following scripts prepared for them and they can get mixed up on occasions as to which victim they are talking to.

4. Never send money or give your bank details to somebody you have never met, no matter how much you believe and trust them. Do not download apps like anydesk at their behest

5. Do not pay for medical bills, purchase flights, or VISAs, pay customs fees or make any payment for them to come to visit you.

6. Do not invest your money in any opportunities offered by them or anyone whom you only met online. Always seek independent financial and legal advice first

7. Remember individuals can pretend to be anyone they want to be online. You should google an image to see if it comes up on several sites or profiles.

8. Never provide copies of your personal documents such as passports or driving licences.

9. Never make arrangements or travel to meet them unless you are sure of their identity. Make sure you confide in someone and ensure that the person is aware you are confiding in someone else.

10. Save copies of correspondence with him.

11. Dont be embarrassed about reporting it. You are not alone. These are professional fraudsters who use social engineering tactics

12. If you think you have fallen victim, contact your bank immediately. The quicker you act the better chance of recouping any lost funds

This is organised crime. The money goes abroad and is used to fund other crimes like people smuggling, trafficking, prostitution, terrorism, even wars and to corrupt public officials and Governments.
Crime

By Chris Boyle Published: February 14 2023

Denis Gutierrez-Marcos killed man after taxi dispute in September 2020; fired into crowd, striking two, in October 2020.

Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly announced that an alleged MS-13 member pleaded guilty to murder and related charges for two shooting incidents in Hempstead in 2020 and is expected to be sentenced to 20 years to life in prison when he is sentenced on March 23.

Dennis Gutierrez-Marcos, a/k/a Inqueto, 20, pleaded guilty yesterday before Judge Tammy Robbins to one count of Murder in the Second Degree (an A-I felony), one count of Attempted Murder in the Second Degree (a B violent felony) and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree (a C violent felony). The defendant was remanded and the NCDA is recommending a sentence of 25 years to life in prison.

Denis Gutierrez-Marcos, an alleged MS-13 gang member, showed complete disregard for human life when he shot four men in two separate incidents in September and October 2020, DA Donnelly said. The defendant took one mans life and injured three others because the victims allegedly disrespected MS-13. We are working around the clock with our law enforcement partners to neutralize this gang, which has terrorized our communities through fear and intimidation.

DA Donnelly said that, according to the investigation, on September 6, 2020, just before 4 a.m., the defendant was in taxi-cab minivan heading toward High Street in Hempstead, with two passengers and a driver. A passenger seated in the front seat had gotten into a verbal dispute with another passenger in the rear. When the passenger in the rear seat exited the vehicle, he continued to yell at the passenger seated in the front through the window. Gutierrez-Marcos, who was seated behind the driver, leaned forward, and shot the victim through the open window. He instructed the taxi driver to leave the scene. The bullet struck the victim in the left shoulder, and he fell backwards. A friend of the victim, Edwin Guerrero Hernandez, was sitting outside a High Street address when he saw the incident. Hernandez chased the vehicle and attempted to open the front passenger door. Again, the defendant fired through the window striking Hernandez. Hernandez was transported to Nassau University Medical center where he was pronounced deceased.

On October 23, 2020, at approximately 10 p.m., the defendant was a passenger in another vehicle that was being driven to a store. As the defendant returned home, he saw a group of people standing outside a Jackson Street address. Gutierrez-Marcos fired at least one shot into the group, which struck two people. One victim was struck in the arm, while the other was struck in the stomach and suffered life-threatening injuries. Both victims survived the attack.

According to the investigation, Gutierrez-Marcos fled the scene and was subsequently arrested by members of the Nassau County Police Department Gang Squad in June 2021 when he had returned to Long Island.
(Alliance News) - Braemar PLC on Tuesday proposed a capital reduction in order to increase future dividend payments to shareholders.

The London-based shipbroker & advisor in shipping investment said that it has continued to trade "well" since the release of its interim results in November.

In November, the company had reported revenue of GBP69.4 million in the six months ended August 31, up 46% from GBP47.4 million a year before. Pretax profit surged to GBP10.1 million from GBP4.8 million.

Braemar had declared an interim dividend of 4.0p per share, doubled from 2.0p a year prior.

On Tuesday, the company said that its newly acquired Spanish and US businesses have progressed well. It added that both businesses are set to make an immediate and strong contribution to the company's trading in the next financial year.

In December, Braemar brought Florida-based Southport Maritime Inc for USD7.3 million. "Southport is one of the highest volume US-based shipbroking tanker companies. They are recognised as a leader for crude and refined products in the North American export market, as well as in the Latin American and Caribbean markets," Braemar said.

It also recruited a new tanker broking team, based in Madrid. The team of 10 brokers previously worked for Medco Shipbrokers SL and specialise in crude, dirty products, clean products, and period chartering.

Looking ahead, Braemar said it remains confident. It said will provide a more detailed update on expectations for the year to February 2024 in a pre-close update to be announced in mid-March.

Braemar also said it plans to convene a general meeting of shareholders in order to propose a capital reduction process. This reduction will require the passing of special resolutions at a GM and court approval.

At the time of this announcement, the company said it has GBP53.7 million in its share premium account and GBP23.4 million in its merger reserve account. It noted that both these accounts are non-distributable reserves and it is unable to these to pay dividends.

Braemar said it intends to reduce this by around GBP75 million, in order to create distributable reserves.

Braemar said that the capital reduction is designed to increase its distributable reserves, increase its capacity to pay future dividends and provide sufficient distributable reserves to cover all historic dividends paid.

Shares in Braemar were up 1.0% to 319.50 pence each in London on Tuesday afternoon.

By Sophie Rose, Alliance News reporter

Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - The governor of Xinjiang, sanctioned by the US over the Chinese region's treatment of its Muslim Uyghur minority, is believed to have cancelled his controversial trip to the UK, the Foreign Office said Tuesday.

Erkin Tuniyaz was due to visit this week, and set to meet with Foreign Office officials in a move that sparked anger among UK lawmakers.

But a ministry spokesperson said Tuesday that "we understand the Governor of Xinjiang has cancelled his visit to the UK.

"The UK government will continue to use all opportunities to take action against China's unacceptable human rights abuses in Xinjiang," added the spokesperson.

MPs tabled an urgent question last week to quiz the government about why he was allowed to travel, and why he was meeting with officials.

Foreign Office minister Leo Docherty told MPs that the government had not invited Tuniyaz to the UK, and that the meeting would have been "an opportunity to send a very strong message to someone who is involved in the governance of Xinjiang."

"Under no circumstances would he be dignified with a ministerial meeting," he added.

Tuniyaz has defended China's "de-radicalisation" policies in the country's north-west, including the use of detention facilities.

He was sanctioned by the US in 2021, with the Treasury saying that during his tenure "more than 1 million Uyghurs and members of other predominantly Muslim ethnic minority groups have been detained in Xinjiang".

The UK parliament passed a non-binding declaration last year that crimes against humanity and genocide were being committed in Xinjiang.

A recent United Nations report found credible allegations of torture and forced labour there.

However, Beijing has long denied any such accusations, claiming the US and Western allies are using the issue as a "political tool".

Former Conservative Party leader and Beijing critic Iain Duncan Smith, who introduced the question, called the government's actions "weak", and demanded that Tuniyaz be sanctioned.

On Monday, he accused the governor of murder as he joined Uyghur activists protesting against the visit.

source: AFP

Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Dear Madonna Community,

Our hearts are heavy as we hear the news from Michigan State University about recent violence on campus. On behalf of Madonna University, I extended our deepest sympathies to Interim President Teresa Woodruff and the entire MSU community.

Michigan State University is more than a valued partner in higher education. Many of us have family, friends, neighbors, and loved ones who study and work in the East Lansing area and who were affected by yesterdays tragedy. Even if you were not directly touched by last nights happenings, they still evoke sadness, confusion, frustration, and so many other emotions. As more information comes out about the shootings, you may feel concerned and vulnerable. Employees who need counseling support are encouraged to work with their supervisor to discuss available resources.

As a reminder, Mass is offered daily in the Madonna University Center Chapel at 11:30 a.m. I encourage you today to please take a moment to remember in prayer those who have been impacted by these events.

Students in need of support are encouraged to contact our 24/7/365 student assistance plan provider, Ulliance at 855-774-4700. Student Affairs is working with the Counseling and Disability Resource Center to offer group support sessions for students once details have been finalized. These will be communicated to students via Madonna email.

I extend my sincerest sympathies to all those affected by this violent act. May Gods peace be with you, and the love of Mary comfort you.

For Mary, our Madonna,



Interim President
Manchester, VT (05254)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun early followed by cloudy skies this afternoon. High 79F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Considerable cloudiness. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low near 55F. Winds light and variable.
Kannada star Dhruva Sarja has been in the news lately due to his unbelievable physical transformation. The Bangalore native allegedly lost 18 kilos in a measly 23 days, which sparked concern among fans over his well-being. The drastic weight loss was done for the Sandalwood film KD The Devil. Since then his well-wishers have taken to social media to warn him not to take such risks.

Prem, the director for KD The Devil, shared Dhruvas before-and-after pics. He captioned the post, @dhruva_sarjaa is all set to enter the #KD battlefield after losing 18 kgs in just 23 days!The war is all set to unleash the hero.

Concerned fans took the opportunity to laud him, but also remind him of the risks of such extreme transformations.

A fan wrote, Its very risky.., huge transformation in short time will affect Health @dhruva_sarjaa please take care of your health!

But how does he do that stuff, questioned another.

This fan advised, It will affect on health Please don't do like that meanwhile it will cause serious health problems. Weight gain and losing in short period.

18 KGS in 23days awesome but how and is it healthy, said this one.

A fan even compared him to Hollywood star Christian Bale, who is also notorious for his over-the-top and completely drastic phsyical (sic) transformation for his role. Hollywood has Christian bale. Sandalwood has Dhruva, wrote the fan.

This fan said, Take care of your health @dhruva_sarjaa Anna.... dedication 

Finally this user reminded Dhruva of the risks of such crash transformations. Its very risky.., huge transformation in short time will affect Health @dhruva_sarjaa please take care of your health!, commented the fan.

While Dhruva Sarja must have undoubtedly put a lot of effort and hard work into making his physical transformation possible, the fact that he managed to lose 18 kilograms in a matter of 23 days is a glaring red flag. I dont know whats scarier, the fact that the details behind his drastic weight loss are being exaggerated in order to make it sound impressive, or, that he actually put his body through hell, and lost all that weight using extremely unhealthy means.

What do you have to think about Dhruvas physical transformation? Let us know in the comments!
The Air Force's second-highest ranking civilian, Under Secretary Gina Ortiz Jones, is stepping down from her role after a year and a half in the position.

Jones was appointed by President Joe Biden as the first openly lesbian woman to serve as the under secretary for any service branch, and she was officially confirmed by the Senate on July 22, 2021. She will be leaving her role on March 6, according to a Monday press release.

"Throughout her tenure, Under Secretary Jones has been a tireless advocate for the Department of the Air Force and its people," Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said in the press release Monday. "Her leadership in enabling all airmen, Guardians, and their families to serve to their full potential and providing the resources they need has enhanced the readiness of the Air and Space Force for years to come."

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Jones, a member of the LGBTQ community, served under the military's old "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, which allowed non-heterosexual service members to stay in the ranks if they remained closeted.

In her role as under secretary, Jones helped push a wide variety of reforms aimed at making life in uniform easier for women, minorities and parents.

This past September, Jones spearheaded a policy change that allowed pregnant service members and civilians to apply for Air Force Officer Training School, reversing the service's previous rules that barred candidates from going through the program until 12 months postpartum.

Additionally, this past August, Jones helped set new demographic goals in hopes of getting more diverse applicants for the service's officer corps, which has historically leaned toward white males.

Under those new goals, the Air Force and Space Force aim to have 36% of their officers be women, up from the previous target of 30% nearly a decade ago.

"We're in a race for talent, and our policies need to reflect that," Jones said in a press release regarding the OTS change. "This policy change will ensure we're able to fully tap into the talent amongst our force, as well as those looking to join us."

She also ran a Democratic campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives in Texas' 23rd District in 2018 and 2020. Jones ended up losing both races.

The 42-year-old former Air Force intelligence officers duties will be taken over by Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Financial Management and Comptroller Kristyn Jones until a new under secretary is appointed, according to the press release.

"The department is grateful for her dedicated service," Kendall said of Under Secretary Jones. "Kristyn Jones will do a fantastic job keeping the momentum going."

-- Thomas Novelly can be reached at thomas.novelly@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomNovelly.

Related: Ban on Pregnant Service Members and Civilians Applying to Air Force Officer Training School Lifted
Firefighters continued Monday to battle two wildfires that the Army said began as the result of lightning strikes on Sunday afternoon at the Army's Pohakuloa Training Area on Hawaii island.

PTA spokeswoman Amy Phillips said local hunters witnessed the lightning strikes starting the fires and then contacted Army officials. The strikes started two fires at Pohakuloa's Keamuku Maneuver Area east of Highway 190, which officials have called the KMA Complex fire.

Officials said Monday afternoon that the smaller of the two fires by Highway 190 is 90 % contained while the larger fire in the interior hills is about 70 % contained. Between the two, approximately 1, 500 acres have been burned. Army officials said.

"PTA, county, and volunteer firefighters are partnering to fight the fires and battling the on-going strong trade winds, " the Army said in a news release.

U.S. Army and Hawaii County helicopters have been supporting firefighters on the ground while bulldozers have been building fire lines to mitigate the spread of the flames. According to the news release, PTA leadership called Monday for three more Army military helicopters (two UH-60 Black Hawks and a CH-47 Chinook ) from the 25th Infantry Division's 25th Combat Aviation Brigade at Wheeler Army Airfield to support with water bucket drops.

"These helicopters will continue their efforts tomorrow, " officials said, adding that a Hawaii County helicopter has also been assisting with bucket drops.

PTA sits between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa and spans 132, 000 acres. With fields of lava and volcanic soil, it's classified as a subalpine tropical dryland forest and is a habitat for Hawaii's state bird, the nene ; the hoary bat ; and several plant and animal species that exist nowhere else on the planet.

The Army is hoping to maintain PTA as its 65-year lease on a parcel of state land that makes up a key part of the range nears expiration in 2029, and which the state has designated a conservation district. Pohakuloa is the military's largest land training ground in Hawaii, and the Army has made it part of its new Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Centera series of Pacific region training ranges for American troops and their allies for combat operations.

But in 2022, local officials and lawmakers crafted by the Army, citing a dearth of data and concerns about environmental impacts. The state Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands wrote in response that "it appears that military training is in direct conflict of the Conservation District designation."

The Army has been stepping up its investment in firefighting resources and recently received new congressional funding for wildfire prevention and conservation efforts as 2029 gets closer and service leaders prepare to make their case to keep the land.

"We thank the community for their continued support, " the Army said in its news release on the KMA Complex fire. "PTA is coordinating with Hawaii County Civil Defense to ensure the public is kept informed."

___

(c)2023 The Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Visit The Honolulu Star-Advertiser at www.staradvertiser.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
The first missile shot by a U.S. F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jet at an unidentified flying object over Lake Huron on Sunday missed the target, Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a press briefing Tuesday.

The AIM-9X Sidewinder missile missed and went into the great lake, while the second missile fired by the jet blew up the object, said Milley. The chairman, who said it was the only miss after a spy balloon and three objects were shot down in the past week and a half, dismissed concerns that the errant missile launched over the U.S. caused any danger to the public.

The military, FBI and Canadian authorities are now trying to recover three unknown aerial objects shot down by U.S. jets over Alaska, the Yukon and Lake Huron since Friday. On Feb. 4, President Joe Biden ordered a Chinese surveillance balloon that was 200 feet high with a payload the size of three school buses be taken down off the coast of South Carolina after it traversed the U.S.

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"We go to great lengths to make sure that the airspace is clear and the backdrop is clear out to the max effective range of the missile and, in this case, the missile landed harmlessly in the water at Lake Huron," Milley said during a press conference in Germany. "We tracked it [the missile] all the way down, and we made sure that the airspace was clear of any commercial, civilian or recreational traffic."

China's deployment of a massive self-propelled surveillance balloon, which drifted from Montana to South Carolina and came near military nuclear facilities, started an ongoing furor in Washington, D.C., and criticism of the White House's handling of China. Beijing has denied it was spying on the U.S.

The spectacle forced the Biden administration to take such encroachments more seriously, and the Pentagon recalibrated its radar systems to track smaller, slow-moving objects. Defense officials said that has caused the military to see more objects that may or may not be a threat, and has led to the sudden rash of shootdowns.

"Because we have not yet been able to definitively assess what these recent objects are, we have acted out of an abundance of caution to protect our security and interests," Melissa Dalton, the assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and hemispheric affairs, said during a phone briefing to the press Sunday.

Both defense and White House officials have repeatedly declined to describe or characterize the three most recent objects to be shot down or characterize them as balloons.

"What I would tell you is what we're seeing is very, very small objects that produce a very, very low radar cross-section. I'm not going to go into detail about shapes or anything like that really because it's really, really difficult for pilots at the altitudes we're operating," Gen. Glen VanHerck, head of U.S. Northern Command, said Sunday during the briefing. "These are very, very slow objects in the space, if you will, going at the speed of the wind essentially."

The fighter pilots who are scrambled to intercept the objects are traveling at hundreds of miles per hour, which makes getting an accurate view of the objects difficult, he said.

The first uncharacterized object -- about the size of a small car -- was shot down by an F-22 Raptor over the Arctic Ocean in northern Alaska near the Canadian border Friday, and the second object was shot down Saturday over the Yukon in the Canadian Rockies at the order of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

On Saturday evening, NORTHCOM began tracking another object near the Canadian border, and it reappeared over northern Michigan on Sunday at an altitude of 22,000 feet.

"We were cleared to engage the target in the Eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan over land and, ultimately, downed the object at this point about 15 nautical miles east of the Upper Peninsula in Lake Huron," VanHerck said. "What we saw was an object that began drifting, potentially, most likely landed in Canadian waters in Lake Huron."

The military and federal authorities were recovering the Chinese balloon from the ocean floor off South Carolina this week, but the other objects have yet to be recovered due to challenging terrain, weather and depth, Milley said.

"The one off the coast of Alaska, that's up in some really, really difficult terrain, the Arctic Circle with very, very low temperatures in the minus-40s," Milley said. "The second one is in the Canadian Rockies and Yukon -- very difficult to get that one -- and the third one is in Lake Huron at probably a couple hundred feet depth.

"So, we'll get them eventually, but it's gonna take some time to recover those," he said.

-- Travis Tritten can be reached at travis.tritten@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @Travis_Tritten.

Related: DoD Struggles to Answer Questions on Chinese Balloon in Congressional Testimony
WASHINGTON  The handprints of military children pressed onto paper hearts are decorating a corner inside the White House and the lawn as first lady Jill Biden celebrates Valentine's Day.

Three large hearts, one with the message, Reach Out with Open Hearts and Helping Hands this Valentine's Day, and two others featuring handprints are on display on the north lawn in view of television cameras where White House correspondents stand for their live reports.

Cut-outs of dog Commander and cat Willow are also part of the display.

The theme continues inside the executive mansion as a corner of the East Wing entrance is decorated with three more large hearts, all printed with Love, and replicas of the dog and cat. Hearts bearing the children's handprints have been strung together and hung in a window for visitors taking public tours to see.

The first lady and the children worked on the heart projects when she visited the U.S. Army Garrison Fort Drum, New York, home of the 10th Mountain Division, on Jan. 30. The 3- to 5-year-old children are enrolled at Fort Drum South Riva Ridge Child Development Center.

The visit was part of her Joining Forces initiative to support military and veteran families and their caregivers.

Valentine's Day is one of the first lady's favorite holidays. She also displayed Valentine's Day messages at the White House in 2021 and 2022.
LONDON  Britain says it has for the first time presented evidence that Iran is supplying advanced weapons to the Houthi rebels in Yemen, after finding images of tests conducted at the headquarters of the Revolutionary Guards in Tehran on the hard drive of an unmanned aircraft seized by the Royal Navy.

Personnel from the British ship HMS Montrose seized the unmanned quadcopter along with a shipment of missiles and missile parts in February last year when they stopped and searched a number of fast-moving skiffs in the Gulf of Oman. The weapons and other evidence were presented to the United Nations as linking Iran to violations of Security Council resolutions barring weapons shipments to the Houthis, Britains Ministry of Defense said Monday in London.

This is the first time we have been able to present evidence to the U.N. that indicates a direct link between the Iranian state and the supply of these weapons, a ministry official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with departmental policy.

The UN has prohibited weapons transfers to the Houthis since 2014, when the rebels descended from their northern stronghold, toppled the internationally recognized government of Yemen and seized the capital, Sanaa. Iran has long denied arming the rebels.

The commercial quadcopter seized by the Royal Navy is designed for reconnaissance flights, the ministry said.

Investigators were able to decrypt the data on the aircrafts internal memory, which hadnt been wiped. Thats where they discovered the records of 22 test flights conducted at the Revolutionary Guards aerospace headquarters in western Tehran, the ministry said.

The drone was in the same shipment as a number of surface-to-air missiles and components for Iranian Project 351 land attack cruise missiles.

The discovery adds to a growing body of evidence of Iranian interference in the conflict in Yemen, which has spawned one of the worlds worst humanitarian crises.

Western nations, U.N. experts and others have traced Houthi weaponry ranging from night-vision scopes, rifles and missiles back to Tehran.

Most recently, French naval forces in the Gulf of Oman in January seized thousands of assault rifles, machine guns and anti-tank missiles coming from Iran and heading to the Houthis.

In November, the U.S. Navy announced that it had found 70 tons of a missile fuel component hidden among bags of fertilizer aboard a ship sailing to Yemen from Iran.

Once again the Iranian regime has been exposed for its reckless proliferation of weapons and destabilizing activity in the region, said Tariq Ahmad, Britains minister of state for the Middle East. Irans sustained military support to the Houthis and continued violation of the arms embargo has stoked further conflict and undermined U.N.-led peace efforts.

-

Associated Press Writer Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed.
No historical account of World War II would be complete without covering the Battle of Iwo Jima.

At first glance, it seems similar to many other battles that happened late in the Pacific War: American troops fiercely fought their way through booby traps, Banzai charges and surprise attacks while stalwart dug-in Japanese defenders struggled against overwhelming U.S. power in the air, on land and by sea.

For the United States Marine Corps, however, the Battle of Iwo Jima was more than one more island in a string of battles in an island-hopping campaign. The Pacific War was one of the most brutal in the history of mankind, and nowhere was that more apparent than on Iwo Jima in February 1945.

After three years of fighting, U.S. troops didn't know the end was near for the Japanese Empire. For them, every island was part of the preparation they needed to invade mainland Japan.

The 36-day fight for Iwo Jima led Adm. Chester Nimitz to give the now-immortal praise, "Uncommon valor was a common virtue."

Here are six reasons why the battle is so important to Marines:

1. It Was the First Invasion of the Japanese Home Islands

The Japanese Empire controlled many islands in the Pacific area. Saipan, Peleliu (pronounced peh-luh-loo) and other islands were either sold to Japan after World War I, or it was given control of them by the League of Nations. Then it started invading others.

Iwo Jima was different. Though technically far from the Japanese Home Islands, it is considered to be part of Tokyo and is administered as part of its subprefecture.

Marines risk sniper fire atop Mount Suribachi as they gather to the great attraction of the day: 5th Division Marines raise the American flag. (Pvt. Bob CampbellNational Archives)

After three years of taking control of islands previously captured by the Japanese, the Marines were finally taking part of the Japanese capital.

2. Iwo Jima Was Strategically Necessary for the United States' War Effort

Taking the island meant more than a symbolic capture of the Japanese homeland. It meant the U.S. could launch bombing runs from Iwo Jima's strategic airfields, as the tiny island was directly under the flight path of B-29 Superfortresses from Guam, Saipan and the Mariana Islands.

Now, the Army Air Forces could make bombing runs without a Japanese garrison at Iwo Jima warning the mainland about the danger to come. It also meant American bombers could fly over Japan with fighter escorts.

3. It Was One of the Bloodiest Battles in Marine Corps History

Iwo Jima is a small island, covering roughly eight square miles. It was defended by 20,000 Japanese soldiers who spent a year digging in, creating miles of tunnels beneath the volcanic rock and were ready to fight to the last man.

When the battle was over, 6,800 Americans were dead and a further 26,000 wounded or missing. This means 850 Americans died for every square mile of the island fortress. Only 216 Japanese troops were taken prisoner.

4. More Gallantry Was on Display at Iwo Jima Than Any Other Battle Before or Since

Hershel 'Woody' Williams receives the Medal of Honor from President Harry S Truman at the White House in October 1945. (Hershel Williams Medal of Honor Foundation)

Iwo Jima saw more Medals of Honor awarded for actions there than any other single battle in American history. A total of 27 were awarded, 22 to Marines and five to Navy Corpsmen. In all of World War II, only 81 Marines and 57 sailors were awarded the medal.

To put it in a statistical perspective, 20% of all WWII Navy and Marine Corps Medals of Honor were earned at Iwo Jima.

5. U.S. Marines Were Marines and Nothing Else on Iwo Jima

The U.S. has seen significant problems with race relations in its history. And though the armed forces weren't fully integrated until 1948, the U.S. military has always been on the forefront of racial and gender integration. The Marines at Iwo Jima came from every background.

Marines carrying a Japanese prisoner from stockade on Iwo Jima, 1945. (U.S. Navy)

While Blacks were still not allowed on frontline duty because of segregation, they piloted amphibious trucks full of White and Latino Marines to the beaches at Iwo Jima, moved ammunition and supplies to the front, buried the dead and fought off surprise attacks from Japanese defenders. Navajo code talkers were instrumental in taking the island. They were all Marines.

6. The Iconic Flag Raising Became the Symbol for All Marines Who Died in Service

Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal's photo of Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima's Mount Suribachi is perhaps one of the best-known war photos ever taken. Raising the American flag at the island's highest point sent a clear message to both the Marines below and the Japanese defenders. In the years that followed, the image took on a more important role.

It soon became the symbol of the Marine Corps itself. When the Marine Corps Memorial was dedicated in 1954, it was that image that became the symbol of the Corps' spirit, dedicated to every Marine who gave their life in service to the United States.

-- Blake Stilwell is a former airman who just did his best to honor the Marines who fought and died at Iwo Jima. He can be reached at blake.stilwell@military.com. He can also be found on Twitter @blakestilwell or on Facebook.

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Tantalum Carbide ceramic is a ceramic that contains a seven-crystal phase of Tantalum Carbide

What exactly is Tantalum-Carbide? Tantalum Carbide (TaC)is a binary chemical made up Tantalum and Carbon. Its empirical formula is TaCX. X can vary in an arbitrary range from 0.4 to 1 These are extremely tough, hardy, and metal-conductive, refractory ceramic material materials. They come as a brownish-gray powder, and they are often sintered.

Tantalum Carbide can be used as a cermet and commercially for cutting tools. Sometimes, it is added to the tungsten Carbide alloys.

Tantalum-Carbide ceramics are ceramics that contain seven crystal phases of TantalumCarbide. TaC stands for face-centered cubular lattice. Based on purity and measurements, the theoretical density was 1.44. This number is among the most high-ranking binary compounds. This value is the highest among binary compounds. Hafnium Carbide has an approximately 3942 degree C melting point. While hafnium Carbaide's melting point is similar to TaC, it has a somewhat higher melting point.



TaCX Powders of required components are made by heating mixture of graphite and tantalum in vacuum or under an inert gas atmosphere such as argon. An arc melting or furnace heats the mixture to around 2000 degrees Celsius. You can also reduce tantalum Pentoxide by adding carbon to it in either a vacuum or hydrogen atmosphere, at temperatures between 1500-1500C. Tantalum Carbide was prepared using this method in 1876. Due to lack of stoichiometric monitoring, the product could be produced directly from the elements via self-spreading, high-temperature synthesis.

A complex combination of ions and metals makes it possible to bond tantalum with the carbon atoms within carbides. Due to their covalent structure, carbides are extremely hard and brittle. TaCX, for example, has a microhardness range of 160 to 2000 kg/mm2 (16 9mohs). It also has an elastic modulus between 285 GPa and 110 GPa. Tantalum's corresponding values are 110 kg/mm2 & 186 GPa.

Tantalum Carbide is electrically conductive to metals, both size and temperature-dependent.TaC is a kind of superconductor with high transition temperature Tc = 10.35 K.

Tests of Vickers hardness, fracture toughness and relative density were done on a variety of samples. It was found that TaC has excellent mechanical properties, with a melting point of 5.5 GPa. TaC has a relative density of 7.4 MPa m1/2 as well as Vickers hardness at 97.7%.Tantalum Carbide is chemically stable, and it was not soluble in acids. The antioxidant properties of Tantalum Carbide are strong. They were usually prepared from tantalum pentoxide in an inert atmosphere or reductive atmosphere. By hot pressing, sintering is possible to produce high-density products and metallic luster. They are used in aerospace and cement carbide additives. Tantalum Carbide, a metallic white cubic crystal powder of the sodium-chloride type cubic crystals system is light brown. It is not soluble or soluble in water. However, it can be dissolved in hydrofluoric and nitric acids. It can be easily melted to decompose by potassiumpyrosulfate and has a strong resistance against oxidation. It has high electrical conductivity and a large resistance at room temperatures of 30O.Due to its outstanding physical properties (e.g. melting point and hardness), thermal shock resistance, thermal conductivity, chemical stability, and thermal conductivity, tantalum carbide has been widely used in the sintering of ultra-high temperatures ceramics (UHTCs).Tantalum carbide is an additive in powder metallurgy. Titanium Carbide can be worn as an ornament on watches because of its sintered body. Tantalum Carbide is also an inhibitor for grain growth in sintered cemented Carbide. It has a density 14.1g/cm3.Tantalum Compounds - The systemic toxicity of tantalum dioxide and metallic tantalum are low. Its solubility is likely to be a factor. Carbides - Pure carbon can be safely handled, and even consumed in the form graphite or charcoal.

2016: A London team discovered Tantalum Carbide or TaC and hafnium Carbide (HfC), which are ceramic materials with the highest melting point known, can be withstand temperatures up to 4,000C.Tantrum Carbide as well as hafnium Carbide have a higher resistance to heat than other known materials. They shield a spacecraft against the heat from exit or reentry.Omar Sediroth Baraza (researcher) stated that spacecrafts nose caps and scientific equipment need high-temperature resistance materials. Tantalum Carbide and hafnium Carbide may be useful for supersonic future missions. You could use it to create shells for supersonic airplanes that can fly in under 50 minutes from London to Sydney, creating new opportunities worldwide.Mis-asia (aka. Mis-asia Technology Co. Ltd., a trusted supplier and manufacturer of global chemicals with more than 12 years of experience in manufacturing super-high-quality chemicals. A number of products have been developed by our company. These materials are called TheThe products of our company are high in purity and fine particles, with low levels of impurities. Get the most recentTo send us an enquiry, you can either send us an e-mail or click on one of the products.

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A Catholic Parish Priest of the St. Barbara Parish at Akosombo in the Asuogyaman District of the Eastern Region of Ghana, Reverend Canon Amankwah has defied his Religious orders which barred him from getting married to a teacher, who is an Anglican, Ruth Amankwah.

Reverend Canon Amankwah as gathered was mentored by the Metropolitan Archbishop of Cape Coast, Charles Palmer-Buckle before his formative period as a catholic priest for the past 17 years.

He is the current Diocesan Evangelism Director and also the Director for the choir at St.Mary Anglican church at Atechem, Dunkwa-On-Offin in the Central Region.

Before becoming an Anglican clergyman, he was an Assistant Parish Priest at the Holy Trinity Parish at Agormanya in the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality.

He was later appointed Parish Priest of the St Barbara Parish at Akosombo.

This was revealed on Gifty Antis show The Stand Point when the former Priest and his wife appeared to share their love story.

Rev. Canon Amankwah speaking on the show said he got married to Ruth Amankwah, a teacher who came into the union with three kids.

According to him, it was very difficult proposing to Ruth, so he had to let his father do it on his behalf.

Proposal was difficult, he said. I couldn't propose to my wife, it was my father who proposed to Ruth for me.

He said he had wanted to marry someone who knew his story as a catholic priest. Rev Canon Amankwah has been married for the past nine years.

Sexuality

Speaking about their first encounter on sexual intercourse, he said there was no sexual intimacy between him and Ruth before their union.

According to him, My first night as a married man was not easy, the religious leader recalled. I just couldn't imagine going naked before my wife. I had to pray to muster the courage to have canal knowledge of my wife. And since then, anytime we're going to have an affair, I pray before the act.

Ministry

He said he left the Catholic church because he decided to establish a prayer ministry which resulted in some activities that went contrary to the rules of the Catholic Church.

He subsequently sought permission to take a leave and went to Kristo Buase Monastery in the Bono Region for 50 days to reflect on his life.

Upon his return, Rev Canon Amankwah was counseled by Archbishop Palmer-Buckle before deciding to leave the Catholic church.

Education

He holds a Master's Degree in Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry from the Catholic University College of Ghana, Sunyani, a Post Graduate Diploma in Education from the University of Cape Coast, and a Diploma in Theology from the University of Ghana, Legon.

Rev Canon Amankwah has so far written quite several books including God has not finished with you yet. His 15th book will be launched later this February.

He will be celebrating 26 years in the ministry later this year.

-DGN online
13.02.2023 LISTEN

The Majority Leader of Parliament Hon Kyei Mensah Bonsu has backed the former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo for joining a group of pensioners who picketed at the Finance Ministry over the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).

The lawmaker says he disagrees with people who are claiming the stateswoman erred in joining the pensioners to protest the governments DDEP.

"I cannot say the former stateswoman did wrong for joining the protest because he who feels it knows it, and it was within her right to come out and speak against any policy she or programme she thinks its affecting the public negatively.

"I dont know how much she has invested to join the protest but we have to understand also that, there are others who will have their entire world collapsed if they are signed onto the program and such people must be given the opportunity to share their thoughts on the DDEP," the Member of Parliament made this known in an exclusive interview on the Kumasi-based OTEC 102.9 FM's morning show Nyansapo on Monday, February 13, 2023 hosted by Captain Koda.

The former Chief Justice on Friday, February 10, slammed the government for trying to force pensioners to sign onto the DDEP.

She joined the Pensioner Bondholders Forum and picketed at the Ministry of Finance in an attempt to get their voices heard.
Dr Arko Akoto-Ampaw, the Medical Director of the Eastern Regional Hospital, has advised citizens to have their blood counts checked at least once a year to avoid Polycythemia.

He explained polycythemia as an abnormal increase in the number of red blood cells, a primary or secondary condition that is typically associated with lung or heart disease.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Dr Akoto-Ampaw said polycythemia was a serious health condition that could kill within hours if not treated on time.

Everyone, depending on age and sex, has a range at which the haemoglobin level should usually be, an excess of which one is said to have polycythemia.

Patients who suffered polycythemia, Dr Akoto-Ampaw said, stood the risk of possible blood clots in the blood vessels, stroke and organ failures such as stale lungs.

Management of polycythemia, he said, was based on the cause; however, one of the immediate ways was to bleed the patients off the excess blood.

Although blood donation could be another means of managing polycythemia, Dr Akoto-Ampaw noted that the donated blood could not be administered to a patient if the cause of the condition resulted from the abnormal growth of cells.

He, therefore, advised citizens to visit health facilities at least once a year to run a general check-up since the symptoms of polycythemia are similar to other health conditions.

GNA
The Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) has opened this years Humanitarian Assistance in West Africa (HAWA) Training Course at its centre.

The training which is being run over a two weeks period is organised in collaboration with the Austrian Study Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution (ASPR), supported by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) and the Austrian Ministry of Defence (MOD).

The course aims at strengthening capacities for effective humanitarian assistance by providing participants with thorough knowledge and skills of the humanitarian sector using the Humanitarian Development Peace Nexus Approach amongst others.

In a welcome address at the opening ceremony of the workshop on Monday, February 13, Air Cdre George Arko-Dadzie, the Deputy Commandant of KAIPTC applauded the efforts of participants from the various countries for their hard work and effort to help the African continent progress in the pursuit of peace, development, and stability in the last decade.

Emphasising that Humanitarian Assistance is very key, he said it is why the KAIPTC has been organising Humanitarian Assistance in West Africa in the last nine years together with its Austrian partners.

While bemoaning how more than 130 million people on the continent live in extreme poverty, Air Cdre George Arko-Dadzie indicated that it should be of concern that the population is particularly vulnerable to the effects of widespread food insecurity, recurrent natural disasters, climate change, the global economic crisis, socio-political instability and a pandemic like the just experienced Covid-19.

The Deputy KAPITC Commandant added that it is why his outfit prioritises the course knowing that it contributes to several strategic objectives of the ECOWAS Humanitarian Policy and Action Plan, the ECOWAS Disaster Risk Reduction Gender Strategy and Action Plan 2020-2030, as well as the EU Action Plan On Women, Peace and Security among others.

Air Cdre George Arko-Dadzie

He said through the course, the KAIPTC is meeting the training needs in support of effective and well-coordinated humanitarian assistance in the region.

This course, which now runs for the eleventh time, but the second after its recent review, covers an array of content-rich and relevant topics for your work; with these ranging from; the roots causes of disasters, to the protection of civilians and human rights standards, guidelines for the use of armed escort, negotiation of humanitarian access, as well as cultural awareness and gender and diversity concerns in humanitarian action.

To ensure that this course will help to foster human capacities, institutional interaction and civil-military cooperation, we are proud to introduce a team of regional and international facilitators, comprised of very experienced practitioners who will share the summary of their best practices, lessons learned and experience gained in the field. Of course, we also look forward to contributions of your own wealth of experience and knowledge to enrich discussions and group work, Air Cdre George Arko-Dadzie said while reading the speech on behalf of Major General Richard Addo Gyane, the Commandant of the KAIPTC.

According to the Deputy Commandant, the KAIPTC also envision facilitating the formation of personal and professional relationships among all participants and their respective organisations with the goal of information exchange, stronger collaboration, effective cooperation, and speedy reactions to counter upcoming emergencies beyond the ongoing course.

In his concluding remarks, Air Cdre George Arko-Dadzie expressed gratitude to the Austrian Government, in particular, the Austrian Centre for Peace and the Austrian Federal Ministry of Defence for the generous support of the joint effort to strengthen peace and security in Africa.

On his part, the Director of the Austrian Centre for Peace (ACP) Mr. Moritz Ehrmann indicated that in current times it is difficult to talk about peace especially when we are in an era of unpredictability.

He argued that the renewed rivalry between the great powers, partially sparked by the war in Ukraine, the worsening loss of livelihoods driven by the climate crisis, and the effects of rapid technological change, continue to dramatically impact security and stability around the world.

Mr. Moritz Ehrmann

But through the HAWA project, Mr. Moritz Ehrmann is confident that it will provide an important contribution to developing capacity for effective humanitarian crisis response in the ECOWAS region.

A region that is dealing with its own issues of instability and where similar questions are being asked about the relation between security and peace, in an effort to address this situation.

Those who focus on providing security, and those who look for peaceful and sustainable ways, I think we all do good to listen to each other and learn from one another  and hopefully thereby create a more complete, rather than a partial answer, Mr. Moritz Ehrmann proposed.

He further disclosed that the ACP has started working on future issues around the nexus between peace and conflict and environmental degradation and climate change (environmental peacebuilding) on the one hand, and digitalisation and technological change (Peacetech) on the other.

Engaging journalists on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the HAWA Training Course, Mrs. Fatou Ndour who is the programmes manager said the HAWA project aims to ensure that mid- and long-run capacity-building goals correspond to the real needs of the humanitarian systems of the beneficiary countries. In so doing we need to take into consideration the essential needs of women in West Africa.

According to her, women are the first impacted when there is a crisis and so they need to be part of the coordination structure and also have their needs heard fulfilled.

Mrs. Fatou Ndour

At the end of this training, the aim is to provide knowledge on principles and standards of humanitarian assistance, to explore in greater detail the regional and sub-regional frameworks for humanitarian assistance, all this in a practical and realistic approach which emphasize ways of cooperation between civilians and the military. Fatou Ndour revealed

This edition of the Humanitarian Assistance in West Africa (HAWA) Training Course has 33 participants from 11 countries including Austria, Ghana, Nigeria, Gambia, Cameroon, and Senegal.

The other countries are Mali, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Benin, and Sierra Leone.

Training Objectives:

On completion of this course, participants will be able to:

Demonstrate increased knowledge and skills regarding comprehensive approaches to planning, coordination, and implementation in the field of humanitarian assistance;

Implement measures regarding cross-cutting issues (e.g. gender equality) into humanitarian assistance;

Explain legal and normative frameworks, as well as key global agendas, notably the WPS Agenda, that support humanitarian assistance; Enhance interaction and mutual understanding amongst relevant stakeholders (civilian, military, police);

Foster networking and peer exchange among practitioners in the field of humanitarian assistance and in addition understand the HDP Nexus.

Target Group:

Set at the operational level, the course targets a mixed group of mid-level humanitarian professionals from state authorities (national and local governments, Ministries, Emergency Management Agencies), (I)NGOs, Civil Society Organizations and members of the Red Cross/Red Crescent movement, as well as security forces (military, police) directly or indirectly involved in humanitarian action

Course Content:

The HAWA Core Course will provide a thorough introduction to Humanitarian Assistance; including Humanitarian Actors and their mandates, roles and modes of operation; the Disaster Risk Management Cycle, Typology of Disasters, Components of Humanitarian Action, Humanitarian Principles, Standards and Codes of Conduct, the Do no harm approach and International Humanitarian Law. Topics as Emergency Mass Evacuation, Coordination and Information Management between actors in the field, Human Security, Displacement and Protection of Civilians will be discussed in theory, complemented by practical exercises.

Participants will learn about Humanitarian Operation in fragile and conflict context (Civil-Military Coordination and Humanitarian CMCoord), guidelines for the use of Armed Escort, Negotiation of Humanitarian Access, as well as Conflict Sensibility and community engagement during emergencies, cultural awareness and Gender and diversity concerns in humanitarian action.
It can be difficult to determine the true origins of Valentine's Day.

Millions of accounts about the romantic feast can be found on the internet and in academic journals.

They all share common similarities that revolve around Saint Valentine, a catholic martyr and love enthusiast.

According to almost all the accounts, during the third century AD, Roman Emperor Claudius II executed a man who would later become Saint Valentine.

While many legends surround him and others with the same name, it is widely assumed that Claudius imprisoned Valentine for assisting loved-up Christian couples in marrying at a time when it was forbidden.

Despite the harsh treatment he received, Valentine tutored a young blind woman named Julia, the daughter of his jailer, Emperor Claudius II, during his time in prison.

After the two, who later became lover birds, prayed together, Julia's sight is said to have been restored.

Unfortunately, Saint Valentine's love and selflessness were insufficient to free him, and he was executed.

Before he was executed, the man wrote a note to Julia and signed it, "From your Valentine," which gave rise to the phrase 'be my Valentine', used predominantly in present days.

How it was invented and celebrated

The feast was technically invented in AD 496 by Pope Gelasius as "The Feast of Saint Valentine," in memory of the martyred saint who died on that day over 200 years before.

Despite the numerous legends surrounding this man and others like him, the Catholic Church declared this Valentine a saint and listed him as a martyr on February 14 - otherwise known as St Valentine's Day.

However, the first known link between Valentine's Day and coupledom was on February 14, 1400.

It was at this time that King Charles V of France established La cour amoureuse (the High Court of Love) in Paris. The court, which was entirely run by women, met to deal with marriage contracts, infidelity, divorce, and domestic violence.

How it was celebrated

Valentine's Day derives from the Lupercalia festival, a pagan fertility celebration held annually on February 15 in Rome.

Members of the Luperci priesthood would sacrifice goats and a dog on Palatine Hill before giving the skins to men who would run around the city naked and strike women who approached them.

The festival was meant to encourage fertility among the young population.

According to the Valentine's Day origins story, the women would gather later in the festival and place their names in a large pot.

The city's eligible unmarried men would then take turns randomly selecting a name. Whoever they chose as their year's partner - and many of these match-makings often end in marriage.

The origination of the present-day Valentine's Day

The modern Valentine's Day, with cards and chocolates, began in 1985, when Hallmark launched their Valentine's Day advertisements in the United States, claiming to be "The Valentine's Store."

The video displays all of the cards and heart-shaped gifts that customers could purchase in-store.

This introduced more grease to the idea of celebrating Valentine's Day in a more romantic manner by exchanging love messages and chocolate, going on couples retreats, and participating in a variety of activities.
U.S. urged to lift all unilateral sanctions on Syria: FM spokesperson

Xinhua) 10:23, February 14, 2023

BEIJING, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Monday urged the United States to lift all illegal unilateral sanctions on Syria immediately and stop creating humanitarian disasters.

According to media reports, the United States recently announced that it would provide six months of sanctions relief for Syria, limited to allowing certain transactions for recovery efforts following a deadly earthquake struck Syria and Turkiye a week ago.

"The U.S. government should immediately lift unilateral sanctions on Syria, instead of making a political show of 'temporary relief'," spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a daily news briefing in response to a related query.

Wang said the United States has consistently imposed military interventions and illegal unilateral sanctions on Syria for years, which has severely aggravated the crisis in the economy and people's livelihoods in Syria, and greatly weakened Syria's ability to cope with disasters.

After the earthquake, the unilateral sanctions posed by the U.S. side directly hindered the rescue efforts in the first 72 hours in Syria, which made the disaster even worse. As what Syrians have said, for the United States, it is all about politics, not humanitarianism, Wang added.

"We urge the U.S. side to put aside geopolitical calculations, lift all illegal unilateral sanctions on Syria immediately and stop deliberately creating humanitarian disasters," said Wang.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
M23 rebels have sown chaos in the eastern edge of the Democratic Republic of Congo for over a year, but what they hope to achieve remains unclear.

Since late 2021, the group has seized swathes of territory in North Kivu province and neared the regional hub of Goma, prompting hundreds of thousands to flee their homes.

"We want a direct dialogue with the government to address the root causes of the conflict," Lawrence Kanyuka, the M23's political spokesman, told AFP while declining to name any specific demands.

"We can't put the cart before the horse," Kanyuka said.

The M23, a Tutsi-led group whose name stands for the "March 23 Movement," re-emerged from dormancy in November 2021, accusing the DRC of ignoring a promise to integrate its fighters into the army.

It subsequently won a string of victories over state forces.

The DRC accuses its smaller neighbour Rwanda of backing the group, a charge supported by independent UN experts as well as the United States and other western countries. Rwanda denies the accusation.

General Sylvain Ekenge, spokesman for the Congolese military, called the M23 a "Rwandan pawn".

Hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes. By Guerchom Ndebo (AFP)

He accused the government of Rwanda, a tiny landlocked state, of seeking access to eastern Congo's rich mineral resources such as gold, coltan and tin -- "It's a problem of economic survival" for Kigali, Ekenge said.

Despite international efforts to defuse the conflict, M23 forces have continued advancing, last month capturing the town of Kitshanga, northwest of Goma.

It now threatens to encircle Goma, a city of over a million people on the Rwandan border.

Regional tensions

Analysts point to heightened tensions between regional powers as an underlying cause of the flare-up.

Uganda and the DRC launched a joint military operation in the region in November 2021. Kampali had also agreed to upgrade road infrastructure in eastern Congo, potentially enouraging alternative supply routes that would bypass Rwandan border crossings.

According to Ekenge, the military spokesman, Rwandan President Paul Kagame saw the danger for his country's economy, prompting his support of the M23 offensives.

"Kagame said, 'These roads will not function'," Ekenge said.

The M23 have conquered swathes of territory near the border with Uganda and Rwanda. By Valentin RAKOVSKY (AFP)

But Uganda later appeared to have turned a blind eye to the M23, according to a report in December by independent United Nations experts -- notably when the rebels captured the town of Bunagana on the Ugandan border.

M23 fighters have also moved back and forth between the DRC and Uganda, the report said.

Jason Stearns, director of New York University's Congo Research Group, said that geopolitical tensions likely motivated the initial M23 offensive, but suggested that Uganda and Rwanda had switched "from rivalry to complicity".

'Unnatural alliances'

The tenor of M23's public statements also appears to have changed over time.

When the conflict first erupted, the group denied clashes with Congolese forces and said it was negotiating with Kinshasa. It later admitted to responding to alleged attacks by government troops.

By May 2022, however, the M23 was denouncing alleged "dreadful and unnatural alliances" between the Congolese military and armed groups including the FDLR -- a descendant of the Rwandan Hutu extremist groups that carried out the 1994 Tutsi genocide in Rwanda.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported in October that Congolese army officers had provided support to various militias, including the FDLR, in its fight against M23.

Later M23 statements increasingly emphasised the FDLR, and the danger posed to Congolese Tutsis.

Ekenge rejected the accusations of army support for the FDLR as a "red herring," saying Congolese forces had carried out operations against the group in the past.

Rwanda has also repeatedly denounced the DRC's alleged cooperation with the FDLR.

'Extremely convenient'

Stearns, of the Congo Research Group, suggested that some M23 members are sincere in their concerns over the FDLR and Congolese Tutsis, while others in the rebel group may be manipulating the fears with a political goal in mind.

Rwanda's leadership -- which stems from the Rwandan Patriotic Front rebellion that ended the 1994 genocide -- also draws legitimacy from protecting the Tutsi community, according to Stearns.

He suggested that Rwanda's stance on the FLDR was in part both sincere and "extremely convenient" -- noting the country's interests in eastern Congo.

The emergency has triggered the creation of an East African force for eastern DR Congo. South Sudan is committing 750 troops to the effort. By Samir BOL (AFP/File)

For Onesphore Sematumba, a DRC analyst for the International Crisis Group, the M23 rebellion has its roots in Rwandan economic fears.

But he said the situation on the ground had changed, allowing the rebellion to take on a momentum of its own.

"It's no longer a secret that Rwanda and Uganda are allies," Sematumba said, and the M23 may now feel emboldened in its ambitions given the feeble response by the Congolese military so far.

"As they move forward and don't find an effective opposition, they will push their own limits," Sematumba said.
Professor Baffour Agyeman-Duah, a former United Nations Senior Governance Advisor, has bemoaned the increasing show of indiscipline by many Ghanaians.

The governance expert asserted that Ghanaians only become morally upright in their thinking when they find themselves in a foreign land.

He noted that the same Ghanaians deliberately flout the law the moment they find themselves back in Ghana.

Speaking on the need to build stronger systems in the country, Prof. Duah noted that citizens will also have to change their attitude before the country can see the needed progress.

He cited instances where Ghanaian citizens comport themselves well at foreign airports but misbehave once they get to the Kotoka International Airport.

"Ghanaians who in this country misbehave and mismanage, if you send people abroad, their behaviour and everything is absolutely different. I have observed in many of my travels at the airports in Europe and America that Ghanaians are orderly, patient, waiting to be checked in.

"The same Ghanaian arrives at the Accra airport, and the behaviour is completely different. So, we are creating a system that does not enforce the laws or the rules or regulations," he said, noting that there is a need to change immediately.
The Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has bemoaned what he describes as numerous strange portfolios created at the presidency.

In the midst of the current economic challenges facing the country, the MP has called on government to scrap these portfolios to release some stress on the Ghanaian economy.

According to Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, it is time for President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to thank some of his political appointees for their service and cut them off.

Considering Ghanas current unprecedented economic catastrophe, it is extremely difficult to understand why the numerous strange portfolios President Akufo-Addo created at the presidency years ago under the rather convenient category of political appointees continue to exist as a reckless drain on scarce taxes, the North Tongu MP shared on Facebook with a list of the portfolios.

Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa added, Isnt it time for the President to thank them for their great transformative services and drastically downsize so as to begin salvaging this junk economy?

Some of the portfolios the MP wants to be scrapped include; Youth Ambassador for Diaspora Affairs, Policy Associate, Chief Executive of Public Sector Reforms, Overseer of the National Cathedral, Church Relations Manager, Diaspora Church Mobilization Officer, Policy & Coordinator Analyst, Focal Person, La Francophonie, among others.
Throughout Ghana's political history, its citizens have dealt with corruption and some of its leaders have faced financial difficulties, but no one has ever performed so poorly or engaged in such a high level of corruption as to seriously harm the nation's economy and necessitate the proposal of a debt restructuring plan that will have an impact on the nation's pensioners. Yet the current president continues to discredit Kwame Nkrumah by asserting that he has outperformed him.

Pensioners should not be subjected to such cruelty, in my opinion, as the government's high levels of corruption and inefficiency are what have caused the country's current crisis. The most frustrating aspect is that despite having the most ministers of any government and receiving several benefits in addition to their big salaries, the NPP government hasn't seen the need to trim the number of its ministers or their pay to address this issue.



The high level of corruption at the ports, including that of the president, Nana Akufo Addo, subjected businesses and entrepreneurs to all kinds of cruelties, and many had their vehicles stolen or auctioned at low prices after being falsely accused. The nation's economy eventually suffered due to the collapse of both domestic and foreign investment, but as of today, all of these crimes have been swept under the carpet, and they are now seeking the pensioners' laboriously saved funds.

More importantly, despite the government's failure to in job creation, Akufo Addo hasn't only ruined Ghana's economy through his incompetence and high rate of corruption, but he has also destroyed the judiciary system by appointing several corrupt judges, including Chief Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah and the Attorney General, Godfred Dame. Since they serve the president alone, rather than the country, crime within the NPP government is overlooked but others pay dearly for breaking the law.



I'm unable to think of any real justification for this administration taking the pensioners' money. Imagine that the government's main source of revenue is the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority. Daily exports and imports occur there, helping the country's economy. The NPP government, however, didn't spare the ports as it went on a corruption rampage. The president, Nana Akufo Addo, was personally implicated and was revealed by Ken Agyapong, the MP for Assin Central.

Everyone will agree with the writer that when corruption at the ports considerably rose, businesses and entrepreneurs were treated cruelly, and many of them were the victims of theft, and, therefore; investment in the country drastically decreased. Many businessmen either have their cars stolen or sold at auction. This is taking place in a country that prides itself on having an intelligent court and police force. The evil and cruelty of this specific government are beyond words.

Since IGP Dampare and Chief Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah, must follow the wishes of Akufo Addo, who appointed and is paying them, they don't care that serving him alone isn't the best way to run a successful government but one thing they do forget is that they are being paid by the taxpayers money and more importantly, that Ghanaians have more power than any political party. Ghanaians take things for granted, which is why some people claim that it is a peaceful nation. However, when they can no longer put up with this government's nonsense and revolt, they will realize that they are not fools.



Even though many pastors in Ghana claim to be prophets, no one could have predicted the calamity that would befall the nation while Ken Ofori-Atta was serving as finance minister, not even the arrogant thick-headed Paul Adom-Otchere, yet Joel Savage, a common writer, was able to foresee the disaster and wrote more than eight articles, warning Ghanaians of its approaching arrival but no one listened, I received only criticism, which came in the form of insults.

Ghana has devolved into a lawless country to the point where people who have dedicated their time to combating corruption there instantly become victims and even get death threats. Are they not too ignorant or foolish to claim that they will break the eighth cycle if a government and its judges will permit individuals to pursue Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa simply because he has exposed corrupt government officials and pastors connected to the cathedral? What did they accomplish to earn this?

Sophia Akuffo served as Chief Justice under the NPP administration. She was unhappy with many of this government's actions that were impacting the people but was powerless to change them, as seen by her forcefulness in opposing the theft of pensioners' money to resolve the present government's financial problem. She is not a traitor to speak for pensioners; on the contrary, it shows that she is an honest person. There is time for everything, the majority of Ghanaians do not want the NPP, and therefore, its time for them to leave. This is what many writers find hard to write but its very easy for me.



The NPP finds it difficult to accept this, which makes it difficult for the charlatan finance minister to step down. Even though Ken Ofori-Atta's resignation won't help Ghana's struggling economy, serious Ghanaians should force him out. His refusal to resign indicates that the NPP government is afraid that the extensive corruption they have fostered will be discovered in addition to what has already been made public. He should simply step down and leave the pensioners' money alone, is my counsel to him.
North Tongu Constituency Member of Parliament (MP), Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has urged the President of the Republic, H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to take a bold step to get rid of some 'irrelevant' political appointees to unburden the economy.

According to him, in a bid to salvage the economy from its current junk state, it is important that the President downsizes its government.

In a post on his Facebook on Tuesday, February 14, Mr. Ablakwa accused the president of creating numerous strange portfolios at the presidency to satisfy the elephant-size party.

In his view, the MP says such appointees are a reckless drain on scarce resources.

Considering Ghanas current unprecedented economic catastrophe, it is extremely difficult to understand why the numerous strange portfolios President Akufo-Addo created at the presidency years ago under the rather convenient category of political appointees continue to exist as a reckless drain on scarce taxes.

Isnt it time for the President to thank them for their great transformative services and drastically downsize so as to begin salvaging this junk economy? Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa asked through his post on Facebook today.
The African Court on Human and Peoples Rights would hold four Ordinary sessions - the 68th Ordinary Session slated for February 20th to March 17th; and followed by the 69th Ordinary Session from June 5th to 30th.

The 70th Ordinary Session, from September 4th to 29th; and close the year with 71st Ordinary Session from November 6th to December 1st.

Lady Justice Imani Daud Aboud, African Court President noted in a statement to the Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult) in Tema affirmed that the African Continental Court based in Arusha, Tanzania meets four times a year in Ordinary Sessions and may hold Extra-Ordinary Sessions.

On the achievement of the African Court last year, Lady Justice Aboud said the body started 2022 with the institutionalization of the opening of the Judicial Year of the Court, with a keynote address from the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

It was followed with four sensitization visits to Comoros, Zambia, Mauritania, and Ethiopia for discussion on the possible ratification of the Protocol and/or deposit of the Declaration as well as visits to the European Court of Human Rights, the International Criminal Court, and the International Court of Justice.

We engaged with Mrs. Samia Suluhu Hassan, President of the United Republic of Tanzania, on the work of the African Court and the challenges it was facing.

From that courtesy visit on September 10th, 2022, we got some assurances, including the likelihood of Tanzania redepositing the Declaration, and the construction of the permanent premises of the Court, Lady Justice Aboud stated.

I also undertook a number of outreach and networking activities with relevant partners and stakeholders, including participating in the 2nd Annual East African Court of Justice Judicial Conference held in Kampala Uganda from October 26th to 28th 2022.

I also deliver a speech at the opening ceremony of the 73rd Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights and the commemoration of the 35th Anniversary of the operationalization of the Commission, she said.

Lady Justice Aboud said in the year under review, the African Court also engaged in an intensive judicial diplomacy with Member States, Permanent Representative Committee, Ambassadors, and other stakeholders at the African Union Commission (AUC).

A wide range of issues relating to the work of the African Court as a whole and the welfare of Judges, in particular, were discussed during the engagement, which led to the restoration of the benefits and contract of Judges to the Pre-Niamey position.

Another victory archived is the request for the African Court to submit a new structure for the Registry as well as another request for the African Court to consider submitting a request for the amendment of the Protocol to amend Article 34(6).

In 2022, the African Court also held a Tripartite Judicial Dialogue, with the ECOWAS Court, and East African Court of Justice which was a huge achievement.

Lady Justice Aboud explained that the Tripartite Judicial Dialogue offered the platform for the discussion and deliberation on how to work together in the promotion and protection of human rights.

We had a very fruitful Consultative meeting with the three AU Human Rights organs with a human rights mandate, which discussed ways of collaboration, cooperation, and synergy, and a Staff Exchange Programme was signed, she said.

On Non-judicial (administrative) matters the African Court undertook a health talk, consideration of the proposals on reform of the African Court, drafted the Annual Work Plan of the African Court for 2023, and a proposal for the African Court to join the European Court of Human Rights Superior Courts Network as an observer.

On Judicial Matters the African Court developed a roadmap on Complementarity between the African Court and the African Commission; the meeting of the Committee on the Review of the Rules to Consider Draft Revised Practice Directions; Draft Revised Internal Judicial Practice; and the Report on Compliance with decisions of the African Court.
14.02.2023 LISTEN

Award-winning Ghanaian investigative journalist, Manasseh Azure Awuni is marking his ten years anniversary in the practice this year.

In a post on social media, the Editor-in-Chief of the Fourth Estate has extended appreciation to former President John Dramani Mahama.

Despite the many exposes including the Ford Expedition scandal, according to him, he felt safe as a journalist during the reign of the former President just as many other investigative journalists and civil society groups.

It's my 10th anniversary as an investigative journalist. I do not take it for granted that under John Mahama's presidency, journalists and civil society groups felt very safe and secure to do critical journalism and activism. Thank you, Mr. President, Manasseh Azure Awuni said.

Meanwhile, Manasseh Azure Awuni is this year launching a book on investigative journalism.

Last week, he announced that the book will be launched on March 9 at Christ the King Parish Hall opposite the Jubilee House.
14.02.2023 LISTEN

The Advocacy for Alleged Witches condemns the practice of 'magical moving coffin' also known as Chikondo in Zambia. The chikondo ritual is conducted to ascertain who is responsible for the death of a person in the community. Chikondo is an outdated practice that should not be conducted in 21st-century Zambia. Unfortunately, this traditional practice persists and provides a pretext to impute witchcraft, attack, and murder innocent people. A report from Mushindamo District of North-Western Province states that, on January 10, 2023, two persons were killed and three others sustained injuries during a Chikondo practice in the region. The deceased victims "were identified as Muma Chewe aged 91 from Muma village and Bestrong Mangala aged 78 from Masheke village while the injured victims were identified as Robson Chiputu aged 64 from Chiputu village, Kenneth Kipamina aged 62 from Kipamina village and Luckson Chensha aged 67 from Chikwaba village".

The report says that a man, Mwelwa Malembe, died after a short illness. And on January 10, some community members conducted chikondo (magical moving coffin) to confirm the people believed to be behind the death of the deceased. In the course of the procession, the 'magical moving coffin' hit some people including the deceased, and the mob attacked them and three other persons. Some people alerted the police. By the time the police arrived at the scene, two persons were lying unconscious and three others had serious injuries. Those who were unconscious were later confirmed dead at a local hospital. The police have launched a manhunt for those suspected to have carried out the attack. A local media source says that the practice of magical moving coffin has left nine people dead in the province since last year. Chikondo is a traditional harmful practice based on superstition and unreason. The notion that a coffin can magically move is absurd. The idea that a coffin can identify the person responsible for the death of an individual is baseless nonsense. No coffin can magically move unless moved or manipulated by human beings. The Chikondo practice is a form of human manipulation of a coffin. Nothing is magical about the moving coffin. If a dead person needs to identify the killer it does not need a magical moving coffin. The people of Zambia should stop the harmful superstitious practice of Chikondo.

Leo Igwe directs the Advocacy for Alleged Witches.....
President of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Angel Carbonu, has suggested that the delay in the release of school placements for qualified SHS students is due to ongoing investigations into the scandal of the Computerized School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS).

BECE graduates who have qualified for Senior High School are yet to be placed despite the Ghana Education Service setting a deadline of February 20, for all new students to start school.

Some parents have raised concerns that parents will be financially stressed should the government decide to go ahead with such a short reporting notice for freshers considering that the GES is yet to release the school placements for the 2022 BECE graduates.

An investigation by the Fourth Estate, a private Media firm, has revealed that some parents paid between GH10, 000 to GH20,000 to get their children into Grade A schools in 2022.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Tuesday, February 14, Mr Carbonu said there is a likelihood that the Ministry of Education wants to streamline the entire placement system to prevent the corrupt activities that allegedly bogged the placement in 2022.

You recall that there is an investigation on a report about the placement in what happened last year, and it has really shaken the foundations of certain people in authority, and they would want to put in measures to ensure that we don't revert to that same thing.

Placement in school, why should somebody pay GH10,000 or GH20,000 to get your daughter to Wesley Girls, I am sure some of these are the things being streamlined hence the delay in placements.

Mr Carbonu also questioned the relevance of the free SHS secretariat and also urged the GES to take over the placements of SHS students.

Placement to school should be within the ambit of the Ghana Education Service not the Ministry of Education. There is a certain secretariat and I wonder the relevance or importance of that secretariat, the Free Senior High School Secretariat. I wonder why we still have that secretariat because they are not teachers, they are political appointees and they are running the free senior high school but I don't know what they do and I have a difficulty in why they are found operating in every sphere of education.

-citinewsroom
Greater Accra Regional Minister, Henry Quartey, has given an assurance of his preparedness to rid Accra of unauthorised billboards.

The indiscipline associated with the indiscriminate erection of billboards across the city, he noted, is worrying.

He expressed the concern while speaking at the 8th Investiture Ceremony of the Advertising Association of Ghana.

The Ayawaso Central MP also called for concerted efforts to accelerate the passage of the Advertising Bill to mitigate the indiscriminate mounting of billboards.

There is one important thing that we all have to take note of, which has been the bone of contention for the Advertisers Association. The indiscipline is a major problem.

I am not a Cabinet Minister so Mr. Minister (Kojo Oppong Nkrumah), respectfully I want to make an appeal to you so that you help me and my MMDAs in Greater Accra to form an inter-ministerial committee on trade and industry and local government to ensure that before the bill is passed, the indiscipline in this industry ceases, he appealed.

The Greater Accra Regional Minister also explained his seeming deafening silence in the last few months.

This is 2023, some people said I have resigned, others also said I am slow, or I have gone to bed, but I am a battery, and I am charging. So 2023, very soon I am going to strike about this indiscipline about billboards, he added.

-Daily Guide
14.02.2023 LISTEN

Delegates in the Cape Coast South Constituency of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Central Region have tipped Madam Sarah Affu the current Regional Director of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) as the best person to recapture the lost parliamentary seat in the 2024 general elections due to her commitment to the party at the grassroot level.

According to them, Madam Sarah Afful will snatch the seat with ease for the NPP based on her cordial relationship with members of the party and even beyond.

At a youth forum organized by the University of Cape Coast branch of TESCON held on Saturday, the delegates drawn from all the Polling Stations in the Cape Coast South Constituency expressed their readiness to vote massively for Madam Sarah Afful if she listens to their pleas to contest for the parliamentary primaries when the party opens up for nominations.

"Even though we are waiting for the opening of nominations for potential candidates to contest for the parliamentary primaries, we with one accord want Madam Sarah Afful to contest because she is capable of recapturing our parliamentary seat.

"We see her as the Christine Churcher of our time. She will be the second coming of Hon. Christine Churcher to bring back the spirit of commitment and dedication to Cape Coast South NPP. Our former Member of Parliament for the Cape Coast Constituency, Hon Christine Churcher was the epitome of development who stood up for the betterment of the people in Cape Coast and its environment.

"Her hard work and commitment led her to win Cape Coast South Constituency when it was curved out of then Cape Coast Constituency in the 2000 general elections under former President, His Excellency John Agyekum Kufour. She represented the people of Cape Coast from 1996 to 2009 thus turning Cape Coast township to a 'No Go Area' for the other political parties.

"That is exactly what we see in Madam Sarah Afful, the current Regional Director of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA). Her term of office has seen massive improvement in infrastructure, youth growth and development," the group stated.

They therefore expressed optimism that Madam Sarah Afful would not turn her back on the constituents when elected and would lead the crusade for breaking the 8.

Madam Sarah Afful who received a rousing welcome from the youth tasked them to work in unison to ensure total victory for the NPP in the forthcoming 2024 general elections.

She noted that the party could only achieve the 'breaking the 8' agenda if they worked together as one family with a common purpose.

"Times are hard though, but in the wake of the global economic crisis, the NPP Government led by His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo has performed better than any government in record time.

"The Youth Employment Agency is continually providing jobs for youth in the areas of nursing, policing, fire fighting, and other sectors of the economy to empower them economically thus becoming self-sufficient.

"Those of us in the Cape Coast South Constituency can attest to the fact that my office has created job opportunities for hundreds of the youth who are serving as Community Police Assistant, Community Health Workers, Fire Service Assistants as well as Prison Office Assistants among others.

"Am therefore well-positioned for any task ahead when the opportunity comes. Let all rally behind President Akufo Addo led government to take Ghana to the Promise Land," she stated.

Madam Sarah Afful thanked the delegates for the confidence reposed in her saying she would respond positively to their call when the time comes for the parliamentary primaries.

"I know that the Cape Coast South Parliamentary seat is very important to the NPP as a Political Party and we must recapture it at all cost, but it is too early for now because nominations forms have not been opened yet so let wait patiently for the right time to come," Madam Sarah Afful noted.
Addis Ababa, 2 February 2023 (ECA) - The 55th Session of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (CoM2023) will be held from March 15-21, 2023, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The Session, a statutory meeting of the ECA, will review the state of economic and social development in Africa as well as progress on regional integration.

CoM 2023 will be convened under the theme, Fostering recovery and transformation in Africa to reduce inequalities and vulnerabilities. It will be attended by African ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, representatives of member States, entities of the United Nations system, pan-African financial institutions, African academic and research institutions, development partners and intergovernmental organizations.

A preparatory meeting of the Committee of Experts of the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development will precede the 55th Session followed by the ministerial segment of the Conference which will deliberate on the development agenda of Africa on the back of a raft of economic and political challenges facing the continent.

High rates of growth in the past two decades have resulted in reduced poverty levels in Africa. Between 2000 and 2019, the share of population living in extreme poverty decreased from 53.4 percent to 40.1 percent but the absolute number of poor remains high. Today, 546million people are still living in poverty in 2022.

ECAs Acting Executive Secretary, Antonio Pedro, said global shocks are turning millions of vulnerable people into the continents new poor, reversing decades of progress. The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed an additional 55 million Africans below the poverty line, and the impact of the war in Ukraine is expected to further compound the challenge.

Mr. Pedro said even when growth rates were high in Africa, everyone did not benefit equally. For example, in 2022, the top 10 percent of wage earners received about 30.69 percent of total income.

High inequality, along with high levels of poverty, creates a vicious cycle in which structural bottlenecks persist, rendering the population in Africa perennially vulnerable to both economic and non-economic shocks.

The ability of African countries to effectively tackle poverty and inequality is now severely constrained given declining economic growth, narrowing fiscal space, rising debt, commodity shocks and tightening global financial conditions, said Mr. Pedro, adding that, The risk of missing the poverty and inequality targets set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want, of the African Union, is higher than it has ever been before.

The 55th Session of the Commission aims to renew focus and action on reducing poverty, inequality and other factors that have left the African population continuously vulnerable to these scourges.

Mr. Pedro urged that recovery efforts must be pro-poor and inclusive, with a view to fostering a new social contract that offers equal opportunity for all.

Considerable opportunities to reach these goals exist on the continent and beyond, including through activities carried out under the African Continental Free Trade Area, green investments, digital transformation and reforms to the global financial architecture.
Former President, John Dramani Mahama has celebrated his wife, Lordina Mahama in a post on social media as he marks Valentines Day.

In a Facebook post, the leading member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) shared a number of lovely pictures capturing some of the best moments with his lifetime companion.

The post comes with a caption that sees John Dramani Mahama renewing his continuous love for his wife.

Thank you Lordina. Lots of my love and great friendship always. Happy Valentine, the former president said.

People all over the world are celebrating the 2023 Valentines Day today, February 14.

The annual celebration is marked through the show of love and care to loved ones through various means.

In Ghana, the day is also largely marked as Chocolate Day to promote the consumption of chocolate.
The Appointments Committee of Parliament is expected to commence the vetting of Ministers and Deputy Ministers nominated by President Nana Akufo-Addo from Monday, February 20.

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin on Tuesday, February 7, 2023, announced that President Akufo-Addo had nominated the Member of Parliament for Adansi Asokwa, K.T Hammond as the Minister for Trade and Industry with the Member of Parliament for Nhyiaeso, Dr. Stephen Amoah serving as his deputy.

The Member of Parliament for Abetifi, Bryan Acheampong was also appointed as the Minister for Food and Agriculture.

Stephen Asamoah Boateng was appointed as the Minister for Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs among others subject to the vetting and approval of Parliament.

The Appointments Committee of Parliament has thus slated next week Monday and Tuesday to consider and approve the nominations of the President.

-citinewsroom
14.02.2023 LISTEN

The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Henry Quartey has revealed that some persons within his party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), have been sabotaging his efforts in progressively embarking on his Lets Make Accra Work campaign.

He bemoaned that the once vibrant campaign has been stalled by some unknown faces in his own party.

The Regional Minister wondered if the saboteurs are working for their own parochial interest or for the public.

I have a lot of issues on my chest. There is an internal sabotage from my own party people. And that is what has led us to where we are. Internally, some people are sabotaging the work of Henry Quartey, whether its for the good of the country or their own selfish interests, I dont know, the Regional Minister disclosed on Peace FMs Kokrokoo.

Mr. Quartey said some party members say his work will lead the NPP into opposition if he is not stopped.

Mr. Quartey refuted claims that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his vice Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia are not happy with the way he goes about his duties.

I heard some people say that President Akufo-Addo has warned me to stop what Im doing. The President has never on any day said Henry stop what you are doing. The vice president [Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia] or the office of the vice president has also not asked me to stop. In fact, they are happy with what Im doing, Mr. Quartey stated.

He hinted that some of his party members go behind him to reverse his orders by spewing lies about him.

Oh they know themselves, the schemes by the saboteurs are a lot. Some of my party members have been going behind my back to tell traders who sell on passenger ways to go ahead with their businesses and should ignore me.

Some people feel that when the hawkers leave the streets, they will not get money and so have to sabotage me. Others also feel that Henry Quartey is becoming more powerful so lets clip him. Its not about the presidency or the party feeling that my work will affect votes, no. These are individuals who feel that they have to slow me down, Mr. Quartey stressed.

The disappointed Regional Minister who refused to mention the supposed internal saboteurs said he is unperturbed by the subtle coup against him.

But Im not deterred by these things, he pointed out.

He advised, Lets put our personal interest aside and think about Ghana first, at least that is what our president is fighting for. Theres time for everything one day the cock will crow.

Henry Quartey who has served as the regional minister for the capital of Ghana since 2021, launched the 'Let's Make Accra Work' campaign with a view of helping to bring discipline and sanity to the region.

Mr. Quartey has through this campaign demolished a number of structures at unauthorised places and waterways, and cleared some major streets of hawkers among others. He also took on persons who had built on Ramsar sites.

He also introduced the operation clean your frontage to force people living in Accra to keep their environs clean.

Mr. Quartey also succeeded in relocating onion traders from Agbogbloshie to Adjen Kotoku Market in the Ga West Municipality.

The Greater Accra Regional Minister has gone on the quiet in the last few months with rumours rife that he has given up on this 'Let's Make Accra Work' campaign following the massive resistance he encountered from affected persons.

He explained that he is charging his battery hence his seeming silence.

-citinewsroom
Mr Emmanuel Tabi, the Second Plaintiff Witness, has disagreed with an assertion that communities and its human activities are responsible for destroying 35 per cent of the Atewa Forest cover.

The witness, who is a farmer, said the level of destruction in the forest caused by the heavy bauxite mining makes the impact of human activities negligible.

Arocha Ghana and 10 other plaintiffs are challenging the Governments move to mine bauxite in the Atewa Range Forest, contending that the Government is undertaking mining activities in the Forest without mineral rights.

The Plaintiffs are urging the Court to compel the Government to restore or pay the cost of damages so far caused by of recognisance, prospecting and clearing of roads in the Forest.

The witness, who is a resident of Sagyimase in the Eastern Region, said, he owned Cocoa and Plantain farms and employed temporary workers, when the needed but he had engaged an assistant.

In a cross-examination led by Madam Ashia Prempeh Atta, a State Attorney, the witness was asked how big his farms were and its location, and said they were at Sagyimase and had over 12 acres of Cocoa farm.

Asked, whether the witness had ever entered the Atewa Forest, he answered in the affirmative but said he did not know the exact distance from the edge of the Forest to the Plateau in the Forest.

The State Attorney put it to the witness that for the past five years, Ghana's weather conditions had changed no matter its forest cover, the witness agreed but said the weather in the Atewa Landscape had not seen any sharp change within that period.

Do you know the size of the Atewa Forest. Madam Atta asked, but the witness answered in the negative, but he said he knew the part of the Forest to be mined.

The Attorney suggested to the witness that the Atewa had an area size of about 23,663 hectares of land, the witness agreed.

Mr Tabi disagreed with the prosecution that, where the mining activities were being held was far away from the water bodies in the forest, saying the explorations were close to one of the river bodies.

He said, l stated earlier in the statement that the activities of illegal miners had caused water shortage in the area.

Asked, what Arocha Ghana and its partners had done, the witness said they have engaged 48 communities along the landscape of Atewa and had done a lot to restore water services.

He said they had also engaged both the legal and illegal miners and on many occasions trained them on how to mine responsibly without destroying the water bodies.

The plaintiffs are seeking a declaration that the right to life and dignity as enshrined in the Constitution of Ghana, 1992 include (a) the right to a clean and healthy environment and (b) the right to have the environment protected for the benefit of present and future generations.

It also sought a declaration that mining of bauxite in the Atewa Range Forest violates the right to life and dignity as enshrined under articles 13 and 15 of the Constitution of Ghana (1992).

An order, compelling the Government and its agents to take the necessary steps to protect Atewa Range Forest in accordance with its constitutional obligations as contained under article 36(9) of the Constitution (1992).

An order, restraining the Government, its assigns and agents, servants, workmen, allotees and guarantees whatsoever and howsoever described from undertaking mining and its related activities in the Atewa Range Forest.

The case has been adjourned to February 14, 2023

GNA
The C.K. Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences (CKT-UTAS) has introduced 24 new demand driven programmes to help train result oriented students to solve societal problems and promote sustainable development.

The programmes ranged from Diploma to the Doctor of Philosophy accredited by the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission.

Professor Eric Magnus Wilmot, Vice Chancellor of the University, made the announcement at the 3rd matriculation ceremony of the school held at Navrongo in the Kassena-Nankana Municipality of the Upper East Region.

The programmes include Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biomedicine, Bachelor of Science in Forensic Sciences, Cyber and Information Security, Software Engineering Technology, Pharmaceutical Technology, Industrial Chemistry, Data Sciences and Information System.

The Vice-Chancellor said the new programmes would reposition the University in line with its mandate to become a global centre of excellence and practical training institution to help find solutions to societal problems through science and technology.

It would also help to serve its niche area and the immediate community as well as offer opportunities to the many candidates who seek admission into the tertiary institutions, especially science and technology based institutions, he said.

Professor Wilmot, however, acknowledged the infrastructure challenges of the University, including inadequate student accommodation, lecture halls and lack of administration block facing the University and appealed to government for assistance.

He said management was working to resolve the accommodation challenges of the University with a student population of 4,000 and only one hostel facility housing about 250 students.

Management is engaging with some private investors to construct some hostel facilities for the University while steps were taken to refurbish the existing ones on campus, he said.

 Management has purchased 750 students' desks and chairs for distribution to some lecture halls for this academic year. In addition, some residential facilities at the Western part of the University are being remodeled to be used by the School of Medical Sciences.

Also, the government has released funds to contractors working on some GETFund projects on campus, which has enabled them to return to site to continue work, he said.

The CKT-UTAS together with SD Dombo University in Wa were granted autonomy in 2019, enabling them to break away from the University for Development Studies in Tamale, however, the University was yet to receive seed capital.

Mr Abdul Majeed Yussif, Assistant Registrar in charge of Public Relations, CKT-UTAS, said the University had progressed with increased enrolment , however, the infrastructure challenges were impeding academic and other administrative activities.

He, therefore, appealed to government to give the University seed capital to enable them finance some projects on campus to ease the infrastructure burden of the University.

Out of 2,890 students who were offered admission into the CKT-UTAS, 1,118 students accepted the offer of admission and were duly registered to pursue various programmes at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

GNA
The Asokwa Circuit Court has granted bail to the Youth Organiser of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Suame Constituency of the Ashanti region.

Razak Koampa Avoliya was charged with offensive conduct but pleaded not guilty to the offense.

A team of five lawyers led by Evans Amankwa prayed for bail for their client, including the plea for the court to show love to the accused since today is Valentine's Day.

The Prosecutor, ACP Kofi Blagodzi, who did not oppose the bail application told the court that they are done with the investigations.

He also told the court that they had sent the videotape to the Bureau of Language for transcription.

The court, presided over by His Honor Fred Obikyere, thus, granted bail to the accused.

The accused popularly called "Mosquito" was granted bail of GH50,000 with two sureties to reappear on March 9, 2023.

The accused in an interview with a journalist which has since gone viral encouraged NDC youth to attack NPP supporters and even kill for John Mahama to become President in 2024.

Source: Classfmonline.com
Historically, capitalism, through its propaganda machinery, has created "legendary" personalities who serve as a symbol of its "developmental power". Today, it is Elon Musk. The ruling media have created a myth out of him, to create an impression that developmental powers of capitalism are unlimited. The genius visionary Musk is the one who creates the technical means for the incursion into space and for the colonization of other planets. He creates possibilities for capitalism to become not only the ruling earthly, but also the ruling cosmic order.

Together with other capitalist visionaries Musk seeks to realize space projects that have a profitable character and which serve the expansion of capitalism, which ever more dramatically brings into question the survival of life on Earth. At the same time, his cosmic vision is an integral part of the Star Wars project created by the US military industry and promoted by the US president Ronald Raegan. The Myth of the genius visionary Musk is a mask behind which the American capitalist oligarchy that seeks to rule the world is hiding. The ultimate goal of conquering space is taking control of the Earth.

The idea of conquering other planets is not based on a reasonable view of the facts but on a phantasy of technocratic specialty-idiots, which is of a mythological and sensationalist nature. Through ruling propaganda and capitalistically degenerated science, the impression is created that star constellations are at mankind's fingertips and that "conquering other planets" is its immediate future. Cosmic time and space are relativized and thereby the sense of the real time in which we live is lost. Historical time is transformed into abstract time in which, in the virtual cosmic space, the capitalist world is reproduced at a higher" technical level. At the same time, an illusion is being imposed that technical means can secure mankind's eternal" existence in the universe. To link humanity's future to the cosmic expanse is the fatal illusion created by technocratic specialty-idiots and the Hollywood film industry.

Musk deludes people with cosmic projects while capitalism systematically destroys life on Earth. Not only that huge resources are invested in space programs, resources that could instead be used to establish an ecological balance on Earth, but they also receive a spectacular dimension and as such serve to remove from the public eye scenes of children dying from hunger, thirst and disease, scenes of monstrous humanitarian interventions" and modern concentration camps, as well as increasingly dramatic sights of the destruction of animal species, rivers, oceans, air, forests, fields and pastures, glaciers... Ultimately, the incursion into space" does not serve humanity's well-being and does not increase the certainty of human survival, but hampers the fight against capitalism and contributes to the development of new mechanisms of manipulation, domination and destruction.

Like Hawking, Musk creates the illusion that "humanity can survive" by having a small group of "the chosen ones" "go" to another planet. An atmosphere is being created that the Earth is man's temporary habitat and that the future of humanity is on other planets. Presumably, man is not able to abolish capitalism and create a social order based on an economy that strives to meet authentic human needs and that has a rational and humanizing relationship with nature, while he is supposedly able to travel thousands of years through cosmic expanse and create new life on an unknown planet. The mythological projection of "cosmic worlds" becomes a means for debasing our own planet and for countering the belief that it is possible to preserve life on Earth. A technocratically based quasi-religious illusion is created about how the real history of humanity begins in outer space, together with the corresponding value challenges that degrade man as a natural and human being. It should also be said here that traditional religions, which are based on the idea of the apocalypse and other fatalistic ideas, have made a special contribution to creating an atmosphere that the Earth is man's temporary habitat. The Earth is reduced to a "cosmic morgue" and man to a cursed man sent to Earth by God to destroy him.

The prevailing relation to cosmos is a projection of the prevailing relation of capitalism towards the Earth. Instead of basing man's relation towards Earth on coexistence with nature and its cultivation, it is based on the exploitation of nature and the destruction of life. By creating a "consumer society", the relationship towards the Earth is based on consumer euphoria, which is based on destructive irrationalism. The more man strives to preserve his consumerist standard of living, the more intensely he destroys life on Earth. The increasing shortage of raw materials and energy contributes to a notion that human life on Earth is of a temporary character and that its existential prospects lie in colonizing other planets. Earth becomes a springboard for conquering space", while celestial bodies become a source of raw materials and subject to exploitation.

Musk's theory and practice point to the truth that technology in capitalism can develop only in the context of the sequence of the existential logic of capitalism. Indeed, technology possesses both life-creating and destructive potentials. Technology can turn energy into life, but it can also turn it into a vehicle for destruction of life. Capitalism's becoming a totalitarian order of destruction has conditioned technology's becoming a destructive power. In the basis of that process is the most perilous characteristic of capitalism: from the results of life-destruction, it creates sources of profit and, thus, a basis for its own further development.

For Musk, the incursion into space is carried out through technology and is of a technical nature. His cosmology is based on a mechanistic understanding of man and nature. He does away with the humane history of human society and thus calls into question man as an emancipated cosmic being. The cosmos is getting closer to man in a technical sense, but it is further and further away from man in a natural and humane sense. When we comprehend things in the real social dimension, mankind's "cosmic epic" reveals itself as one of the technocratic myths employed to erase the historical (self)consciousness of man and, consequently, the emancipatory heritage of national cultures and civil society. Humanist dreams are replaced by a cosmic vision of the future" produced by the Hollywood film machinery supported by the military industry. Musk and other "cosmic visionaries" are a tool of the capitalist oligarchy to destroy the humanist vision of the future, which implies overcoming capitalist civilization.

Musk promotes cataclysmic scenarios in which the idea of "the obsolescence of traditional humanity" is developed, and the idea that a "new man" should be created who will be able to adapt mentally and physically to the challenges posed by going into the cosmos and living on other planets. The future of humanity comes down to the creation of a "cyborg race" that will be able to "compete" with "intelligent machines" and "conquer" planets. Capitalism destroys traditional humanity by means of technology and banishes man from the Earth. That is the purpose of the development of the space technology, technicalization of the living environment, as well as the automatization of the living processes and the robotization of man. In the "technical world", which is the most authentic manifestation of capitalist destructive nothingness, man is "perfected" by losing his natural and human qualities and becoming a robotized freak.

"Artificial intelligence" is increasingly popular in the ruling scientific circles, which implies that intelligence is devoid of human content and has acquired a technical character. "Development of intelligence" is achieved by abolishing man as an emotional, erotic, moral, social, historical, creative and visionary being. At the same time, man is deprived of his mind and thus of the possibility to search for the truth, as well as of the possibility to create a vision of a new world and to fight for it. Man is supposed to adapt to technical challenges and become a mechanism to be managed by artificial intelligence. Musk points to the danger of uncontrolled development of artificial intelligence, and at the same time seeks to enable capitalist expansion, which inevitably leads to the deprivation of man's mind and to his transformation into a robot.

Artificial intelligence does not in itself pose a danger to humanity. It is a danger only if it is a means for the reproduction of capitalism, which means if it is the tool for capitalists for destroying man as a human being and for creating a technical world. Through artificial intelligence, capitalism deprives man of a way of thinking that gives him the opportunity to ask questions about the essence of man as a human being and the essence of the human world, the meaning of life, the possibility to explain historical phenomena, to answer the question of what is good and what is bad, what is freedom and what is slavery, to discover the emancipatory potentials of civil society and national cultures, to create a vision of the future... Similarly, technocratic specialty-idiots reduce God to an "intelligence" that created living things in the same way that scientists create corn hybrids and pesticides. God becomes the embodiment of artificial intelligence that has become absolute and thus unquestionable power.

Like other technocratic specialty-idiots, Musk has a technically degenerated mind. It is no accident that his vocabulary is devoid of concepts that indicate the essence of man as a human being. The poverty of his vocabulary is an expression of the limited possibilities of his thinking, which has a mechanical character. He does not ask rational questions that require rational answers. There is no dialectical way of thinking, without which it is not possible to distinguish between past and history, and that means without which one cannot understand that man is a historical and visionary being. The attitude that "man is not what he is, but what he can be" is unfathomable for Musk and other technocratic specialty-idiots.

It is a way of thinking that is based on the abolition of man as a unique and unrepeatable personality who is capable of having his own view of the world and the future. Artificial intelligence and robotization imply depriving man of human self-awareness and dignity. Man ceases to be an independent, creative, libertarian and visionary being and becomes a mechanical thing. At the same time, the development of artificial intelligence contributes to the creation of a technical world and the abolition of interpersonal relationships and thus authentic sociability. Patterns of behavior that turn human society into a mechanical anthill through artificial intelligence are imposed. Artificial intelligence doesn't only represent the triumph of technical civilization over man as a human being, but the ultimate destruction of man as a human being.

Musk and other fanatics of capitalism convince people that the Earth will "soon be doomed" in order to deal with their visionary consciousness and will to create a new world. The possibility that capitalism will destroy life on Earth is far more likely than the possibility that life on Earth will die out - in five or ten million years. With capitalism becoming a totalitarian destructive order, the world has become a capitalist crematorium. Humanity is approaching an ecological milestone, which, if overstepped, is humanity's doom. The increasingly dramatic deterioration of life on Earth forces humanity to unite and eradicate the causes that lead to the destruction of life. The relationship to the cosmos should be based on the protection of life on Earth and the development of man as a human being. Instead of "conquering the cosmos", we should deal with capitalism and thus prevent the destruction of life on Earth. Man can ensure his survival in the cosmos only if he ensures his survival on Earth. This means freeing man from the illusion, created by Musk and his associates, that the future of humanity lies on other planets. What kind of "cosmic future" can capitalism offer humanity when its survival is based on the destruction of the living world? The development of capitalism as a totalitarian order of destruction has led to the fact that the greatest threat to the survival of humanity does not come from cosmic bodies and cosmic cataclysms, but from capitalism. Capitalist fanatics like Elon Musk have become riders of the apocalypse and as such gravediggers of humanity.

The idea that the Earth is the only cosmic home of man gained importance during the development of environmental movements that arose as a response to the deepening ecological crisis created by capitalism. In order for the Earth to become the true cosmic home of man, a social order must be established that will not only be able to ensure the survival of humanity, but also provide the opportunity for man to realize himself as a libertarian being. Only when he stops being a slave to capitalism and turns the Earth into his home, will man become a true human being and thus a true cosmic being. At the same time, man's turning to the Earth means man's turning to himself as a social being, which means turning man closer to other men. Historically, the idea that "all men are brothers" is based on the original Christian romanticism, which has an abstract-humanist character. In the contemporary world, that idea should become the battle cry of an awakened humanity that is aware that only by abolishing capitalism can life on Earth be preserved and a new world created that will be a fraternal community of free people.

One of the misconceptions which both traditional and modern cosmology are based on is that man is not a cosmic being as an earthly being and that the Earth is not an organic part of the cosmos. By living on Earth, man is not in the cosmos, but is "in the cosmos" only when he leaves the Earth. This understanding comes from a way of thinking that is based on religious dogmas that establish the dualism of the earthly and "heavenly" worlds. Earth is deemed man's temporary habitat and as such is worthless. The "true world" is in "heaven" and it provides man with "eternal bliss". Man is humiliated as an earthly and human being and thus as a unique and unrepeatable cosmic being.

The duality of the earthly and cosmic worlds should be abolished. Man is a cosmic being as an earthly being. By living on Earth, we travel through the endless cosmic blue. Earth is our "spaceship". Earthly nature is a unique cosmic environment that has enabled the emergence of life on Earth and man as a specific and unrepeatable living being - and thus a specific cosmic being. Man can only survive in the cosmos as an organic part of the earthly world.

Man's relationship to the cosmos, which means man's relationship to himself as a cosmic being, cannot be established by means of technology, but through creativity, with which man overcomes the material dimension of the cosmos and reaches his cosmic essence. It is about the relationship to the cosmos through symbols that provide the opportunity for man to experience the cosmos as a life-creating being. Through them, man transcends the apparent form of the cosmos and reaches its essence - thus abolishing the dualism of earthly and cosmic existence of man. In this context, a possibility is created for the idea of "God" as the one with which the infinite quantum of the cosmos (infinite multitude) is transcended, with a view of God not as a superhuman force but as an always new, richer product of the creative powers of man who is a symbolic embodiment of the unity of man with his cosmic essence. God becomes man's host in his cosmic home. A new interpretation of the idea of a "god-man" is needed: the life-creating power of man is an autonomous cosmic force that enables man to be the creator of the new cosmos as an authentic cosmic being.

In the cosmos there are no qualitative leaps, but only changes in the state of matter. Man as a self-conscious and self-creating being represents a qualitative step forward from cosmic processes that have a deterministic character. Development of man as a cosmic being is not possible on the basis of mechanical cosmic laws and through the technical mastery of space and time, which turns man into a technical "being", but through the quality that gives the possibility of "uniting" with the cosmos as one - in which the cosmic essence of man is contained. The cosmos that man creates does not have a quantitative but a qualitative dimension.

The idea of the true is what forms the essence of the human cosmos. As a human being, man is able to realize the life-creating potentials of the cosmos by developing his life-creating potentials guided by humanistic ideals. Man creates a new cosmos that is only possible as long as man exists as a human being. Man's becoming a human being conditions the cosmos becoming a human cosmos. The creation of the human cosmos is not based on the conquest of other planets and their exploitation, but on the transformation of cosmic forces from destructive to life-creating power that increases the certainty of human survival. "Conquest of the cosmos" is achieved by humanization of the cosmic forces.

The cosmos is an unquestionable given. It is the material bearer of eternity that appears in relation to existential nothingness. The cosmos is indestructible and as such it allows man and his world not to turn into nothing. The cosmos is not an immutable given that excludes the emergence of a cosmic novum. Man does not relate to the cosmos as an immutable given because man himself is not an immutable given but a self-conscious and self-creating cosmic being. Man is not only a form in which the life-creating potentials of the cosmos appear, but a new cosmic quality that indicates that the cosmos is not what it is, but what it can be. Man is able, through his creative and visionary practice, to transform the cosmos from a timeless given into a historical space in which historical time flows that is directed towards the future. In this context, the idea of eternity appears. It needs to gain historical legitimacy and become a signpost for man in his efforts to create a humane world and ensure the survival of mankind. The humane world is the source of the new universe.

The most important historical task is before us: to abolish the destructive capitalist civilization and create a humane life-creating civilization. The ideal of society that we should strive for is society as a life-creating community of free and creative people who live in unity with nature. Life-creating pantheism should become the most important unifying idea of the world. It does not only imply the struggle to preserve life, but also the struggle to create a humane society. Life-creating sociability is the basic condition for man's freedom and the survival of humanity.

Mankind's space odyssey will end when man becomes an emancipated historical being and thus an emancipated space being. The true cosmic future of humanity will begin when humanity returns to the historical path. Religion, esotericism, science fiction, cosmic mysticism... - these are all ways in which man alienates himself from himself as a human being and the Earth as his cosmic home. Ultimately, these are all sidetracks that have an anti-existential character. Earth is the only living environment that provides the possibility for man to survive and be a human being. Instead of striving to escape from the Earth to other planets, man should revitalize life potentials of the Earth as a life-creating whole - by reviving the life-creating abilities of humanity as a community of free people in solidarity with one another. Not the escape to other planets, but the creation of a humane world and the humanization of nature are the basic conditions for the freedom and survival of mankind.

Only when man embraces the Earth as his space home will he be able to become an emancipated space being. Then the heavens will open and humanity's true space epic will begin. Just as Odysseus, after a long and arduous wandering on the seas, returned to his native Ithaca to his faithful wife Penelope, so man, after a long and arduous wandering in illusory worlds, will return to his mother Earth and to human beings - his only cosmic brothers.

Ljubodrag Simonovic

Belgrade, Serbia

Translated from Serbian by Vanja Zakanji

Translation supervisor: Igor Barjaktarevic
I would like to share my thoughts for changing Ghana's governance architecture in order to provide a more effective path to development and accountable governance. This would mean amending the 1992 Constitution. I welcome public debate and comments.

Restructure the Division of the State of Ghana.

The current divisions of Ghana (Regions and Districts) were basically set up by the colonialists for their own purpose, with not much regard for the natural divisions already in place. After independence, we continued to create more regions and districts mainly for political expediency rather than for effective local government. However, there were natural divisions already in place that were in line with the history, culture and natural boundaries of the areas, i.e. the traditional states and this should have been used.

Therefore, the true and natural first level division of Ghana that is in line with the Ghanaian experience is the traditional states that exist within.

I propose the following for consideration-

1st level Division of Ghana shall be called a District and should represent each Traditional State (or a subdivision of larger ones). There shall be no more than 100 districts representing the various traditional states in the country.

2nd level Division of Ghana shall be called the Municipality Each town, village or city shall become a Municipality of Ghana.

MMDA shall be restructured to fit into the above definition of district.

There shall be no Regions.

Certain taxes shall be dedicated to support each level of government  National, District and Municipality. (e.g. in the US, Income tax goes to National level (Federal); Sales tax goes to 1st level division (State) and Property tax goes to municipal level.) There must be a guaranteed source of funding for development to the districts and municipalities from public funds; DCEs and Mayors must also work to generate their own revenues for development.

Curb Excessive Powers of the President of Ghana and the Executive Branch.

The ultimate authority of the state should rest with an entity that has the interest of Ghana at its heart at all times. The current situation where the president is the head of state and therefore carries the ultimate authority of the state, in addition to being the head of government, is untenable. The president, as we have seen over the last thirty years, owes allegiance foremost to his government and political party, rather than to the country. Ghana is currently a highly centralized state, all centered around the president, and this invariably leads to corruption and inefficiency as we can see.

Therefore, we must take away the position of head of state from the president to a more befitting entity. This entity should be the Paramount Chiefs or Omanhene, whom we have known from time immemorial to owe true allegiance to the people and the land. Indeed, they were the heads of states before the colonialists arrived.

I propose the following for consideration-

A council of the National House of Chiefs, to be known as Council of Kings, shall collectively be the Head of State of Ghana, with mainly oversight and ceremonial functions. The Council shall select its own Chair.

The Council of Kings shall comprise about twelve eminent Kings from the various traditional states in Ghana, selected to ensure ethnic balance. There shall be permanent members from larger traditional States such as the Asantehene and the Yaa-Naa, and non-permanent rotational members from the smaller traditional states. (Similar to the United Nations Security Council).

The president shall be the head of government and the executive functions of the state shall rest with the president.

The Council of Kings shall take an active but neutral role in governance, especially to counsel and control excessive behavior of the executive branch, including the president.

When a presidential candidate wins election, the Council of Kings shall invite the winner to form a government.

Parliaments power to impeach the president and other executive appointees shall be transferred to the Council of Kings. The Council and Parliament shall set up the rules.

Where the president and vice president are permanently unable to perform duties, the Council of Kings shall appoint a caretaker president to run national elections.

No more Appointments of DCEs by the president. The DCE shall be hired by the District Assembly, the Omanhene of the area and the National Development Planning Commission through an open competitive application process.

As Chief Executive, the DCEs job is to develop the district within a national framework as defined by the National Development Plan. The DCE shall be hired or fired based on performance rating by the National Development Planning Commission.

The DCE shall report to the Omanhene of the area, be an ex-officio member of his cabinet and shall be accountable to the District Assembly.

Each municipality shall have an executive called Mayor or Town/Village Manager. The executive shall be hired by the Chief of the municipality, the Town Development Committee and the National Development Planning Commission through an open competitive application process.

The Mayor shall report to the Chief of the municipality and be an ex-officio member of his cabinet and accountable to the Town Development Committee.

As Chief Executive, the Mayors job is to develop the municipality within a national framework as defined by the National Development Plan. The Mayor shall be hired or fired based on performance rating by the National Development Planning Commission.

No more Appointment of Chairmen and Members of Independent Constitutional Bodies (ICB). The Council of Kings shall appoint the Boards of these entities with approval from Parliament. Then, the Boards shall appoint the officers through an open competitive application process in consultation with the Public Services Commission.

The president shall appoint the Boards of State Companies and Agencies with approval from Parliament. Automatic membership from other entities shall remain. Then, the Boards shall appoint the officers through an open competitive application process in consultation with the Public Services Commission.

Cap the number of Ministers & Deputy Ministers appointed by the president to a total of 38 and Presidential Staffers to 100.

Where the president makes an appointment to a body, Parliament shall limit the cap on the maximum number rather than the minimum number.

Scrap the Council of State. The president shall appoint own advisors as part of Presidential Staffers.

The president shall consult with the Council of Kings, where such consultation was previously required of the Council of State.

Scrap the president's appointment of 1/3 of District Assemblies members. Additional members should be selected by elected members, the Omanhene of the area and the National Development Planning Commission.

The president and every public officer of state shall pay tax.

Decouple the Attorney General and Minister of Justice. Whereas the former will be independent and concentrate on prosecutions, the latter will be part of the presidents Cabinet and concentrate on development and accessibility of the law and justice.

Strengthen the Legislature.

The 1992 Ghanaian Constitution has created a hybrid of the Presidential and Parliamentary systems. Unfortunately, this novel idea has disrupted some basic principles in governanceSeparation of Powers and Checks and Balances. Best practice in governance demands that government architecture should be setup such that too much power is not centered in one entity and the various entities check and balance each other. The Presidential and Parliamentary systems, as practiced in the USA and UK, each have these best practices in place, such as the power of the purse, confidence vote, etc. In the UK for instance, the majority in parliament runs the executive, so you will see the Prime Minister and Ministers as MPs. However, this arrangement can easily collapse through a confidence vote. And this has proved very successful in being parliaments way of checking executive authority in the UK.

In Ghanas experiment however, the presidents ability to appoint executive officials from parliament undermines good governance. The Executive, being a separate independent body, (unlike where it is part of parliament in the UK) should have no business appointing members of the legislature into executive positions. From our experience, this has become a dangling fruit to keep MPs in line and lessen their ability to check executive actions. Also, the executives ability to create more regions and districts has become nothing more than Gerrymandering. And a censure vote has proved to have no power to remove even a minister.

Ghana's system is basically the Presidential system, and as such, the executive should remain separate and independent, and not be mixed with the legislature.

I propose the following for consideration-

No more than 100 MPs.

Each district shall elect one MP.

No more Ministers and deputies appointed from Parliament.

MPs can take an independent stance from their political parties and it will be illegal for the party to sanction them during their tenure.

The core of an MPs job is legislation and oversight, and MPs must compete on that basis. MPs shall not engage in direct official development activities in their districts or compete on that basis. That is the job of DCEs and mayors.

MPs shall regularly report to their districts on how they have participated in making laws of Ghana and other functions of Parliament (particularly impacting their district).

No tolerance for MPs absenteeism; Strict rules shall apply including automatic loss of seat.

Strict rules shall apply to MPs participating in out-of-parliament for profit and not-for-profit organizations. They shall not be appointed to boards or executive positions of government or private organizations.

Strengthen Good Governance.

I propose the following additional measures for consideration-

Set up of an Independent National Development Planning Commission. The initial Board shall be set up by the Council of Kings with approval from parliament. Then, the Boards shall appoint the officers through an open competitive application process in consultation with the Public Services Commission.

The Independent National Development Planning Commission shall set up a binding National Development Plan through national consultation with all stakeholders and experts and approval by the Council of Kings and Parliament.

Require Political Parties to design their manifestos to be in accordance with the national plan, and obtain approval from the Independent National Development Planning Commission before use for campaigns.

The National Development Planning Commission shall regularly report to stakeholders on the performance of all executive officers in implementing the National Development Plan. The appointing authorities shall act accordingly, and where there is serious default, replace the executive.

Scrap Ex-Gratia Awards or any similar special pensions for political work. Every Ghanaian shall contribute to the regular national pension fund, whether in or out of public or civil service. And they shall receive benefits only at the due time as specified by law.

ICB shall be given subpoena powers, can initiate investigation into any related matter and can enforce decisions directly through the High Court. Doesnt need the Attorney Generals department.

Where the ICB decision is upheld in the court, the aggrieved party may appeal at the Supreme Court. Adverse decision by the Supreme Court is grounds for removal from office for any executive, including the president, by the appointing authority.

Consolidate ICBs to ensure efficiency and avoid duplication. Budgets of ICBs to be charged directly on the Consolidated Fund upon approval by parliament.

The Electoral Commission shall have an organ to organize mandatory presidential debates. Presidential candidates shall undertake to participate in presidential debates when invited, and refusal to participate shall void the candidature.

The president shall undertake regular meet-the-people press engagements during the term. Parliament shall set rules and details.

Kofi Adu

[email protected]

New Jersey, USA
14.02.2023 LISTEN

Asabke Alangde, the 2nd accused person in the murder trial of the Upper East Regional Chairman of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Adams Mahama, has opened his defence.

He has been charged together with the Gregory Afoko, the 1st Accused, for conspiracy to murder.

Mr Afoko is also facing a separate charge of murder.

The two, have pleaded not guilty.

They are currently being tried at the High Court in Accra, presided over by Justice Efua Merley Wood.

The 2nd Accused, describing himself to the jury, indicated he was the Station Master of the Bolga-Kumasi-Kofrom No.3 Lorry Station.

He noted the deceased was like a father to him and said he did not conspire with Mr Afoko to pour acid on him.

The 2nd Accused, on Monday, 13 February 2023, when he mounted the witness box after he was arrested in Cote dIvoire, where he had gone into hiding, told the jury while giving his evidence-in-chief that, he worked with the deceased for 20 years.

On why he ran away to Cote dIvoire after the incident, the 2nd Accused responded: The reason being that I was called by the Police to come to the Police Station right away. I was at Baba Apayaas [NPP Secretary] place when the police called me to come to the Police Station immediately.

He continued that: Not long after the call from the police, I had a call from Tofiq, [the 1st Prosecution witness] and he [Tofiq] told me that they had been to my house twice and did not see me or meet me, so wherever they meet me they are going to kill me.

He told me on the phone that they have taken away one of my children and burnt down my house. And also when they meet me they will kill me like the way they killed my friend Ayibiyo Atina.

According to the 2nd Accused, his friend was slashed and killed in front of the ministries.

Responding to the accusation that he together with the 1st Accused Mr Afoko, on Wednesday, 20 May 2015, between 11 p.m. and 11.45 p.m. poured acid on the deceased at his residence in Bolgatanga, the 2nd Accused denied the allegations.

That cannot be true, my lord, that I conspired with the 1st Accused to pour acid on the late Mahama. He [late Mahama] was my father and he helped me in so many things. He even helped me in building my house.

He [the deceased] had constructed an NPP office which is called Parliament where NPP boys sit and usually play cards. I was with him morning and evening. There were no issues or problems between us. I usually work three times in a week at the station because we are many [at the station] so the day that I was not working then I go to the Parliament House where I usually sit, the 2nd Accused stated.

The 2nd Accused who was speaking through an interpreter also stated that he did not know where Mr Afoko, who he had been charged to have conspired with, to commit the crime, lived.

I got to know the 1st Accused [Afoko] whenever there was a party [NPP] rally that is when we get to see each other. I dont know where the first accused lives or stays, he said.

He further told the Jury where he was on the said day, Wednesday, 20 May 2015.

From the morning of May 20, 2015, I was at the station working and usually we play cards when we are less busy.

And I went to a place called Worepisy which is within Tanzui where we normally play cards. I had already bought some food stuffs to send to my wife then Gregory Afoko came to me that Baba Apayaa had called that he needed NPP flags, the 2nd Accused narrated.

He further narrated: I told the 1st Accused that I have not been to school before so it is Baba Apayaa who is our secretary. I cannot read or write and since Baba Apayaa is our secretary, he should let me escort him [first accused] to the secretary.

We did not use the Main Street rather we used a different path where I brought the food stuffs to my wife before we moved on to deliver the flags to Baba Apayaa.

He disclosed that upon reaching Baba Apayaas place, they waited at a beer bar in front of his house as he was in the bathroom.

When we got to Baba Apayaas place he was in the house taking his bath and there was a Bar in front of his house and we went to [sit] there. I told them I will take one bottle of Guinness and [the] 1st Accused bought me one Guinness.

Baba Apayaa when he was done with his bath, joined the two at the bar.

The 2nd Accused disclosed: Gregory bought him a bottle of beer. Awal Akeresia also came in and the 1st Accused also bought a drink for him. He was also a party member.

According to 2nd Accused, the 1st Accused notified them that he was going to give his father some medication and so he requested that he dropped him off on his way.

The 1st Accused informed us that he was going home to give his father some medicine so I asked him to drop me. I took my drink with me because I hadnt finished it at the time and I told the woman who sells the drink that I will bring the bottle back because she is my sister.

I cant really remember the time because I was not putting on a watch but I remember when we were at the bar, their TV was on and we were watching the evening news.

He [Afoko] dropped me exactly in front of my house then he left with his motorbike.

According to the 2nd Accused, he heard about the death of the deceased when he had bathed his children to get them ready for school the following morning when he was called by Baba Apayaa who asked him whether he had heard what had happened to the deceased.

Baba Apayaa informed him that someone had poured acid on the deceased.

He also invited him to come over to his place, and that is where he was informed that everyone was saying he and the 1st Accused were behind the incident and cautioned him to be careful.

Prosecution after calling 16 witnesses, has closed its case.

Mr Afoko who has been on remand for eight years, has closed his defence, after calling a brother, John Ismael Afoko, as his only witness.

Source: classfmonline.com
An Indonesian military honour guard marks the 60th anniversary of the Asian-African Conference in Bandung in 2015. - Source: Achmad Ibrahim /AFP via Getty Images

14.02.2023 LISTEN

An African proverb notes that when two elephants fight, it is the grass underneath that suffers.

Many states in the global south are, therefore, seeking to avoid getting caught in the middle of any future battles between the US and China. Instead, they are calling for a renewal of the concept of non-alignment. This was an approach employed in the 1950s by newly independent countries to balance between the two ideological power blocs of east and west during the era of the Cold War

The new non-alignment stance is based on a perceived need to maintain southern sovereignty, pursue socio-economic development, and benefit from powerful external partners without having to choose sides. It also comes from historical grievances during the era of slavery, colonialism and Cold War interventionism.

A lire aussi : Washington wants to address anti-west sentiment in Africa: Blinken is doing his bit

These grievances include unilateral American military interventions in Grenada (1983), Panama (1989) and Iraq (2003) as well as support by the US and France for autocracies in countries like Egypt, Morocco, Chad and Saudi Arabia, when it suits their interests.

Many southern governments are particularly irked by America's Manichaean division of the world into good democracies and bad autocracies. More recently, countries in the global south have highlighted north-south trade disputes and western hoarding of COVID-19 vaccines as reinforcing the unequal international system of global apartheid .

A return of non-alignment was evident at the March 2022 UN General Assembly special session on Ukraine. Fifty-two governments from the global south did not support western sanctions against Russia . This, despite Russia's clear violation of Ukraine's sovereignty, which southern states have historically condemned.

A lire aussi : Five essential reads on Russia-Africa relations

A month later, 82 southern states refused to back western efforts to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council.

These included powerful southern states such as India, Indonesia, South Africa, Ethiopia, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico.

The origins of non-alignment

In 1955 , a conference was held in the Indonesian city of Bandung to regain the sovereignty of Africa and Asia from western imperial rule. The summit also sought to foster global peace, promote economic and cultural cooperation, and end racial domination. Governments attending were urged to abstain from collective defence arrangements with great powers.

Six years later, in 1961, the 120-strong Non-Aligned Movement emerged . Members were required to shun military alliances such as NATO and the Warsaw Pact, as well as bilateral security treaties with great powers.

Non-alignment advocated positive  not passive  neutrality. States were encouraged to contribute actively to strengthening and reforming institutions such as the UN and the World Bank.

A lire aussi : Rethinking how we look at Africa's relationship with China

India's patrician prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru , is widely regarded to have been the intellectual  father of non-alignment . He regarded the concept as an insurance policy against world domination by either superpower bloc or China. He also advocated nuclear disarmament.

Indonesia's military strongman, Suharto , championed non-alignment through  regional resilience . South-east Asian states were urged to seek autonomy and prevent external powers from intervening in the region.

Egypt's charismatic prophet of Arab unity, Gamal Abdel Nasser , strongly backed the use of force in conducting wars of liberation in Algeria and southern Africa , buying arms and receiving aid from both east and west. For his part, Ghana's prophet of African unity, Kwame Nkrumah , promoted the idea of an African High Command as a common army to ward off external intervention and support Africa's liberation.

The Non-Aligned Movement , however, suffered from the problems of trying to maintain cohesion among a large, diverse group. Many countries were clearly aligned to one or other power bloc.

By the early 1980s, the group had switched its focus from east-west geo-politics to northsouth geo-economics. The Non-Aligned Movement started advocating a  new international economic order . This envisaged technology and resources being transferred from the rich north to the global south in order to promote industrialisation.

The north, however, simply refused to support these efforts.

Latin America and south-east Asia

Most of the recent thinking and debates on non-alignment have occurred in Latin America and south-east Asia.

Most Latin American countries have refused to align with any major power. They have also ignored Washington's warnings to avoid doing business with China . Many have embraced Chinese infrastructure, 5G technology and digital connectivity.

Bolivia, Cuba, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Venezuela refused to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Many of the region's states declined western requests to impose sanctions on Moscow. The return of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as president of Brazil  the largest and wealthiest country in the region  heralds the second coming (following his first presidency between 2003 and 2011) of a champion of global south solidarity.

For its part, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ( ASEAN ) has shown that non-alignment has as much to do with geography as strategy. Singapore sanctioned Russia over the invasion of Ukraine. Indonesia condemned the intervention but rejected sanctions. Myanmar backed the invasion while Laos and Vietnam refused to condemn Moscow's aggression .

Many ASEAN states have historically championed declaratory non-alignment. They have used the concept largely rhetorically while, in reality, practising a promiscuous multi-alignment. Singapore and the Philippines forged close military ties with the US; Myanmar with India; Vietnam with Russia, India, and the US; and Malaysia with Britain, Australia, and New Zealand.

This is also a region in which states simultaneously embrace and fear Chinese economic assistance and military cooperation. This, while seeking to avoid any external powers dominating the region or forming exclusionary military alliances.

Strong African voices are largely absent from these non-alignment debates, and are urgently needed.

Pursuing non-alignment in Africa

Africa is the world's most insecure continent, hosting 84% of UN peacekeepers. This points to a need for a cohesive southern bloc that can produce a self-sustaining security system  Pax Africana  while promoting socio-economic development.

A lire aussi : Peace and security in Africa: how China can help address weaknesses

Uganda aims to champion this approach when it takes over the three-year rotating chair of the Non-Aligned Movement in December 2023 . Strengthening the organisation into a more cohesive bloc, while fostering unity within the global south, is a major goal of its tenure.

Uganda has strong potential allies. For example, South Africa has championed strategic non-alignment in the Ukraine conflict, advocating a UN-negotiated solution, while refusing to sanction its BRICS ally, Russia . It has also relentlessly courted its largest bilateral trading partner, China, whose Belt and Road Initiative and BRICS bank are building infrastructure across the global south.

A lire aussi : South Africa and Russia: President Cyril Ramaphosa's foreign policy explained

Beijing is Africa's largest trading partner at US$254 billion, and builds a third of the continent's infrastructure .

If a new non-alignment is to be achieved in Africa, the foreign military bases of the US, France and China  and the Russian military presence  must, however, be dismantled.

At the same time the continent should continue to support the UN-led rules-based international order, condemning unilateral interventions in both Ukraine and Iraq. Pax Africana would best be served by:

building local security capacity in close cooperation with the UN;

promoting effective regional integration; and

fencing off the continent from meddling external powers, while continuing to welcome trade and investment from both east and west.

Adekeye Adebajo ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possede pas de parts, ne recoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a declare aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.

By Adekeye Adebajo, Professor and Senior research fellow, Centre for the Advancement of Scholarship, University of Pretoria
Culture's status in global society got a major boost in 2022 when it was recommended to become its own sustainable development goal. This happened at the Unesco World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development  called Mondiacult . The world's most important cultural policy gathering took place in Mexico City 40 years after its first edition in the same city. The 2022 meeting gathered 2,600 participants including 135 government ministers, 83 non-governmental organisations, 32 intergovernmental organisations and nine UN agencies.

Mondiacult is important because it's a decision-making meeting that helps shape the world's cultural policies and especially the relationship between culture and development. What was clear is that there is a shift in this relationship. Culture does not only contribute to sustainable development but is one of development's components.

Culture aids sustainable development goals in areas like health, education and environment. For example, local customs and traditional knowledge are relevant in promoting health programmes. Local and traditional products are useful for sustainable production. Indigenous knowledge helps develop environmental practices to fight climate change.

Sustainable development goals  like clean water and quality education  are the United Nations (UN) blueprint for a better future for all. At Mondiacult, culture was raised to the status of being its own sustainable development goal. A careful reading of the final declaration offers several reasons why:

1. Culture can fight climate change

Culture can contribute to the reduction of climate change's negative impact. Ecological organisations and other stakeholders are now interested in discovering the usefulness of cultural practices and other local know-how to preserve the environment. Ancient communities faced climate crises and developed their own resilient practices rooted in cultural heritage. That is why concepts like indigenous knowledge systems have emerged.

2. Digital must be ethical

The transition from analogue to digital has become an important aspect in the production, distribution and consumption of cultural and creative goods and services. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the value of digital and online spaces. Augmented reality, for example, enables exploring museum collections from a phone or computer. Virtual reality enables the visiting of historical monuments. Blockchain technology and artificial intelligence have grown hugely, but bring new ethical concerns. Which is why Unesco has adopted a set of recommendations on the ethics of artificial intelligence.

3. Cultural diversity matters

Our world is made of many different cultures. Acknowledging and accepting this cultural diversity is an ethical imperative, in Mondiacult 2022's view. For the cultural ministers gathered in Mexico City, cultural diversity is the founding principle of all of Unesco's cultural conventions, recommendations and declarations. It cannot be separated from respect for human dignity and all fundamental human rights.

4. Cultural objects must be returned

Another ethical imperative is the return of cultural assets to countries that they were looted from. The Benin bronzes case is a good example  ancient cultural objects stolen from Nigeria by colonial forces who are now slowly returning them. This restitution is crucial because it is supposed to promote the right of peoples and communities to enjoy their cultural heritage  to strengthen social cohesion and the intergenerational transmission of cultural heritage. It would be morally unfair to deny restitution, according to Mondiacult 2022.

5. Culture is a global public good

Culture is our most powerful global public good, wrote Unesco official Ernesto Ottone:

Today, more than ever, we need to find meaning, we need universality, we need culture in all its diversity.

Culture is reaffirmed as the existential foundation of humanity in this period of multiple crises on the planet. Now that a high-level meeting like Mondiacult has affirmed that culture is a public good, it must be preserved in the same way as the environment is.

6. Culture is a development goal in itself

Most significant is a new momentum to give culture a central place in the global development agenda. Before Mondiacult, Unesco's aim was to convince the world's policymakers that culture can contribute significantly to achieving sustainable development goals. Now, Mondiacult 2022's ambitious final declaration affirms:

We call on the UN secretary general to firmly anchor culture as a global public good and to integrate it as a specific goal in its own right in the development agenda beyond 2030.

The cultural goal is to achieve more harmony between peoples and communities. This could involve the promotion of cultural diversity, the return of cultural assets, increased budgets for creative activities and other policies.

Why this matters

If the UN adopts this option of culture being a sustainable development goal, the post-2030 sustainable development agenda will have new content. This will change how development agencies deal with culture and how universities teach the relationship between culture and development. The result could be more funding for culture, which is increasingly underfunded by governments.

In addition, making cultural diversity an ethical imperative should play a role, if possible, in discussions about the commercialisation of cultural goods and services and the digital transition.

Next to come will be Mondiacult's conditions of implementation. This is a follow-up action plan that should mobilise stakeholders to embrace Mondiacult's outcomes ahead of the 2024 UN Summit of the Future .

Ribio Nzeza Bunketi Buse 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.

By Ribio Nzeza Bunketi Buse, Associate Professor, University of Kinshasa
Stranded Ghanaian Students in Turkey have relocated from Gaziantep city which was one of the areas heavily affected by the earthquake to Ankara, believed to be a safer zone.

It's been a week since a massive earthquake affected some cities in Turkey and Syria killing over 30,000 people.

The disaster has been described by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as the deadliest and the 'worst' earthquake in a century.

The Ghanaian students who were based in Gaziantep University had earlier raised concerns that their attempts to obtain tickets from the Ghana-Turkey embassy to migrate from the affected area to a safer city had not yielded positive results.

However, after days of attempts, the students have been provided with accommodation at their new location with Ghana's Ambassador to Turkey, Fransisca Odunton assuring them of adequate support to ensure their safety.

One of the Ghanaian students in Turkey, Abdullai Rabiu while confirming the development to Citi News expressed satisfaction about their relocation.

Two days ago, that is Sunday, we left our city, Gaziantep to Ankara. We left and that very day, we met with the Ghana-Turkey Ambassador. She was so happy about the development. We talked about our experience and all that. With her help, we have been able to get an apartment and we are here. So far, we will say it's better than before. Now that our accommodation has been taken care of, and we are in a different city, we are okay, he said.

The Turkish government is racing against time to rescue all unaccounted-for persons who have been buried in the rubble. So far more than 8,000 people have been pulled alive from the debris several days after the incident occurred.

As relatives of these survivors are elated about the rescue of their loved ones, families of persons who are yet to be retrieved are also worried their relatives may not be pulled out.

For the Ghanaian students, they are traumatised following the tragic incident.

As it stands, we are trying to get over the psychological trauma. We are helping ourselves by engaging in some games and conversations to take our minds off what happened, they said.

-citinewsroom
The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, says educational growth remains one of his Administrations topmost development priorities.

This, he said, was the reason behind the huge investment at all levels of the sector by the Government, saying the agenda was to ensure a secured future for the Ghanaian youth.

I am in this position as President of the Republic because of education, he noted, adding that: Education is the equalizer of opportunity.

President Nana Akufo-Addo was speaking at the inauguration and handing-over of the Kwabenya Atomic Model Kindergarten (KG), Ghana's first play-based ICT-empowered KG, at Dome-Kwabenya, in the Ga-East Municipality of the Greater Accra Region.

The project, executed by Messrs. BSW International, was funded by the Ghana Education Trust (GET) Fund.

Learning through play has emerged as an important strategy to promote pupil engagement, inclusion and holistic skills development beyond the preschool years.

Policy-makers, researchers and educators have promoted the notion that learning through play is developmentally-appropriate  as it leverages school-age childrens innate curiosity, while easing the more often difficult transition from preschool to school.

The President said the state-of-the-art facility was designed to provide world class early childhood education to children.

He said the Ghanaian youth had the potential to be future leaders of business, industry, and other fields of human endeavour given the necessary educational opportunities.

Education is the most effective way to change the fortunes of our continent and country and join the group of developed nations and continents, he stated.

Thus, all types of investment in early childhood education was critical to the development of the country, President Nana Akufo-Addo said.

According to him, the Government had stepped up efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Four, that is: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

Mr. Divine Y. Ayidzoe, the Acting Chief Director, Ministry of Education, indicated that throughout the world, education was seen as the pivot on which the wheels of development rotated.

He said Information and Communications Technology (ICT) keeps promoting teaching and learning, and its usage has penetrated our schools, offices and now with us in our homes as we use it in various forms as part of our daily lives.

It is worth noting that the integration of ICT into the curriculum of every country helps in the promotion of education. Mr. Ayidzoe said.

GNA
The National Vaccine Institute Bill, 2022 has been passed by Parliament of Ghana.

The Bill proposes to establish the National Vaccine Institute to coordinate and supervise vaccine and serum research, development, and manufacturing, as well as other related matters.

In his 26th Covid-19 update, President Akufo-Addo stated that the government has committed $25 million to the establishment of a National Vaccine Institute to spearhead the manufacture of vaccines to meet national and regional needs.

Speaking to journalists, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, the Ranking Member of Parliaments Health Committee, said the bill would help in dealing with situations where procured vaccines are not delivered on time.

In principle, I have nothing against the establishment of a vaccine institute. It is a good move. The object of the Act will be obeyed because it says, we are going to research, develop and do the manufacturing of the vaccines in the country. I do not want to see a situation where we will resort to what we call fill and finish, which is just the packaging of the vaccine in the country. So now, the situation where a government will be paying another country for vaccines and in some cases not getting our money will be prevented. So in essence, the Bill has been passed.

The establishment of the institute forms part of recommendations by a committee established by the government to formulate a concrete plan for vaccine development and manufacturing in Ghana.

The idea came about due to the challenges Ghana has faced in its attempt to acquire COVID-19 vaccines.

The institute, according to the President will be charged with delivering six clear mandates:

1. Establishing local vaccine manufacturing plants;

2. Deepening Research & Development (R&D) for vaccines in Ghana;

3. Upgrading and strengthening the FDA; 4. Forging bilateral and multilateral partnerships for vaccine manufacturing in various areas, such as funding, clinical trials, technology transfer, licensing, and assignment of intellectual property rights;

5. Building the human resource base for vaccine discovery, development, and manufacture; and

6. Establishing a permanent national secretariat to coordinate vaccine development and manufacture

Doubts

But the Africa Center for Health Policy Research and Analysis has cast doubt on the government's intention to establish a National Vaccine Institute as part of efforts to build a local vaccine manufacturing industry.

Executive Director of the Africa Center for Health Policy Research and Analysis, Dr. Thomas Anaba, said the government has made such promises in the past, but none has materialized yet.

He said the planned National Vaccine Institute can only be achieved in about 15 years, hence the government must in the short to medium term form strategic partnerships with other countries for the manufacture of vaccines.

I was sceptical about the 88 hospitals and research centres, and indeed they have not yet materialized. So how do I believe in something that we are going to spend $25 million on? Let's go in and partner with other countries to get the vaccine made for us while we think of a long-term strategic plan maybe, 15 years; so that by 15-years' time, Ghana has its own laboratory that can manufacture vaccines, he said.

-citinewsroom
Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, and two Members of Parliament (MPs) have donated 400 bags of cement to support the renovation of Okogyeabour palace, the seat of Wiawso Traditional Council.

The two MPs are Osei Yaw Adutwum, MP Bosomtwe Constituency, who is also Minister for Education, and Mr Alex Djonobour Tetteh, MP for Sefwi Akotombra.

The Vice President donated 200 bags, while the two MPs donated 100 bags each.

Making the donation on behalf of the Vice President and the MPs, Mr Benjamin Armah, Western North Regional Chairman of the NPP, said the donation was to support the reconstruction of the Wiawso palace project.

Present at the donation were the Regional Secretary Felix Foster Ackah; Mr McDaniel Nyame, Regional Organizer; Mr Gabriel Dor, Regional Youth Organizer and other Regional Executives of the party.

Nana Yaw Agyemang Badu, Ebusuapanin (Head of Family who received the items on behalf of the Wiawso Traditional Council thanked the Vice President and the two MPs for the donation and promised to use them for the intended purpose.

GNA
Let me, first and foremost, establish these three facts about politics and, for that election, to humbly teach Annoh-Dompreh something he needs to know.

The first fact is that politics is a game of numbers. To win it, you would need a candidate who can help you to have higher numbers to win. Does Annoh-Dompreh really believe that Alhaji Bawumia, who rose to fame and has fallen to shame on the back of Ghana's economy, has what it takes to personally bring in the numbers against JM? Asem o!

Fact two: It is a game of strategy. Political strategy must lead you to have significant advantage in terms of numbers to win power. I want Annoh-Dompreh to mention just one significant advantage Alhaji brings to the table over John Mahama. Perhaps he has some special advantage on the economy. Im waiting!

Again, politics is a game of words. In politics you convince people or drive people away with your words. Two important things about political statements are that they are eternal, and are measurable against performance.

For instance, when the fundamentals are weak... statement, is currently being measured against performance. Can the Veep pass the test of his words on the economy in the past against his current performance as head of EMT? The jury is out there.

With the above facts established and questions asked, we can now proceed to establish why Annoh-Dompreh has weak analytical mind. According to his baselessly insane claim, which is making rounds on social media, Dr. Bawumia is the arrowhead that can penetrate the NDC strongholds of Zongos, North and Volta Region to ensure our victory in 2024. How laughable!

This, he said without any basis or data to back it. As funny as he could sound, he spoke as though only the NPP has the right to penetrate the NDC's backyard. His weak analytical mind failed to think that the NDC has equal right to also penetrate NPPs backyard and, so, there is the need to have a candidate who can protect, and increase our votes at our backyard.

The NDCs 26.3% performance in the 2020 election in the Ashant Region for instance was a fantastic improvement on the 23% in 2016. With a weak candidate like the Alhaji, the NDC would easily cross their 30% target and that would be a disaster for the NPP.

He, obviously mentioned Alhaji is the best to penetrate the Zongos because in his weak mind, he thinks being a Muslim, Alhaji will have a kind of advantage over Mahama in the Zongos. Smh! Any objective person who knows our political history since 1992 and knows why the Muslim community became NDC stronghold, would tell you there is no spine of basis whatsoever to help his bogus claim to stand upright.

In actual fact, some of the NDC Zongo brethren see him as someone who betrayed his late NDC dad by crossing carpet to the NPP in 2008. Besides, he seems to have infuriated most of the Zongo people with the way he has been going to church to dance, for akwankyere and for hands to be laid on him.

However, for the purpose of exposing his weak analytical mind, lets assume that indeed Alhaji can increase NPP votes in the zongos by lets say 20%. Wonderful! Now, what his weak analytical brain failed to capture is that JM is also a Christian who can have a significant advantage over Alhaji in the Christian Community where majority of the numbers are located. An advantage he couldnt have over Nana Addo. As to which of the two advantages would be more deadly against the other, your guess is as good as mine.

As for Annoh-Domprehs claim that Dr. Bawumia is the candidate who can penetrate Volta Region to win more votes for the NPP, the least talked about the better. I find it to be the most baseless and senseless claim any politician can make. The man was recently hooted at openly in the Volta Region and you are there saying what! This Annoh-Dompreh guy paaa!

Now, to his claim about the North! So, Mr. Majority Chief Whip, you think Dr. Bawumia can go to NDC's stronghold in the North and make significant incursion there, but you dont think JM can make significant incursion in the Ashanti and other Akan regions, if we mistakenly present Bawumia right? Is that your analytical thinking? How poor can you be!

Again, you think Mahama being a Christian plus his wife being a Christian and Akan wont give them any form of advantage in the Christian and Akan communities over Alhaji and his Fulani wife, but you rather think the Vice-President can have advantage in the Zongos and the North because of his connection there, right? This Annoh-Dompreh guy dey shock me!

Truth be told, the NPP would be doomed to think of winning more Zongo and Northen votes without thinking of how to possibly increase the Christian and Akan votes. Let me humbly entreat all well-meaning patriots to treat Annoh-Domprehs bogus claim with a pinch of salt. He is a confused guy.

With hard-core facts, figures and cogent analysis, I will come again to show Annoh-Dompreh why Alan Kyerematen is NPPs best arrowhead for 2024.

Shalom shalom!

E. G. Buckman
Hon. Faustina Amissah

14.02.2023 LISTEN

The Chief Executive for the Obuasi East District Assembly Hon. Faustina Amissah has set the record straight regarding a demolition exercise sanctioned by the Assembly on Saturday 11th February 2023.

The exercise which has remained a topical issue since last weekend and has received mixed reactions from the public was to pave way for the construction of a hostel facility for the KNUST-Obuasi Campus and to also sanitise the process of allocating the bungalows to deserving public workers.

According to the DCE, the PTP bungalow was relinquished to the Assembly by AngloGold Ashanti even before the Obuasi East District was carved out of the Obuasi Municipal Assembly.

She said the Assembly since 2019 has engaged occupants of the bungalow who could be best described as squatters and several attempts to get them out of the bungalow have proved futile.

Hon. Amissah added that the Assembly decided to use force to evict them because it considered the cost involved in battling the issue in court as not effective since the Assembly is empowered by law to demolish buildings.

She again emphasized that the Assembly before demolishing some of the bungalows made the announcement through the Assembly Member for the Area hence does not see the point in the assertions by the affected people that they were not informed.

The PTP bungalow forms part of properties in the North Mine that AngloGold Ashanti relinquished to the state after reducing its operational footprint in 2014.

The bungalows since then have been taken over by the people who claim the Assembly Member for the area Isaac Nsaah gave them access to the bungalows.

This has been corroborated by the Assembly Member but he claims he sought the permission of the Sustainability Department of AGA before handing over the place to them, claiming the place became a safe haven for the thieves hence needed people to occupy them.

Mr. Nsaah stressed that he told the occupants that they were there on a temporal basis since the owners could take back their property when they deem fit.

Currently, some of the houses have been demolished in the exercise the DCE termed as successful.
The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has confirmed that a Resident Advisor has been attached from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to provide technical assistance to the Central Bank.

In a press release, BoG said the Resident Advisor has been assigned following a request it made to the IMF.

At the request of Bank of Ghana and fully funded by Switzerlands State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, SECO, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has assigned a Resident Advisor in financial sector supervision to Bank of Ghana to provide technical assistance and to assist in building the capacity of the banking supervision function, part of the BoG release signed by its Secretary Sandra Thompson said on Tuesday.

The release explains that the Advisors placement is a continuation of cooperation between Bank of Ghana, the IMF, and SECO, which commenced in 2015 and has already seen the assignment of a previous Advisor until 2018.

The achievements from the past collaborative effort include the passage of the Banks and Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions Act, 2016 (Act 930), the development and issuance of the Corporate Governance Directive 2018, and the Capital Requirement Directive of 2018.

The Advisor, Mr. Leonard Chumo is expected to provide first-hand knowledge of supervisory work from leading central banks, as well as previous technical assistance experience in the West Africa Region. Mr. Chumos three year-assignment commenced on 6th February 2023.

The Bank of Ghana notes that the Advisor will support the implementation of Pillar 2 and 3 of the Basel II/ III capital frameworks, as well as strengthen the Risk-Based Supervisory framework at the Bank, among others.

Bank of Ghana expresses its appreciation to SECO for its funding of Long-Term Technical Experts from IMF to Bank of Ghana, the release concluded.
The Government says a total of GHS82.99 billion in principal was tendered and accepted at the close of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) on Friday, February 2023.

The approximately, GHS83 billion, it said was a substantial majority of the bonds that eligible holders had tendered and would support the Government to implement its measures to take Ghana out of the current economic crisis.

The Government, through the Finance Ministry, in a release issued to the Ghana News Agency on Tuesday, said: This result is a significant achievement for the Government to implement fully, the economic strategies in the post-COVID-19 Programme for Economic Growth (PC-PEG) during this current economic crisis.

It extended the settlement date of the exchange from the previously announced February 14, 2023 to February 21, 2023, to provide sufficient time to settle the new bonds in an efficient manner.

This Settlement Date extension is, however, only to process the settlement of the New Bonds. The issue date, interest accrual schedules and payment schedules for the New Bonds will be adjusted to reflect the actual Settlement Date, the statement said.

It added that: As the Exchange period has expired, no new tenders will be accepted, and no revocations or withdrawals are permitted.

Amid recent concerns by individual bondholders especially pensioners, who have calling for their exemption from the programme, the Government, assured all bondholders that it would honour all coupon payments and maturing principals when due.

We would like to stress that, all Individual bondholders, especially our Senior Citizens, should rest assured that their coupon payments and maturing principals, like all Government bonds, will be honoured in line with Government's Fiscal commitments, the Government said.

It added that: The Government would like to reassure all individual bondholders who elected not to participate that your coupon payments and maturing principals, like all Government bonds, will be honoured in line with Government fiscal commitments.

The Government emphasised that the DDEP had been executed to help protect the economy and enhance Ghana's capacity to service its public debts effectively, as its debt had become unsustainable.

It said it was grateful to bondholders for the overwhelming participation, adding that their support and contributions had gotten Ghana much closer to securing the IMF programme.

Ghana needed about 80 per cent participation in its DDEP to give assurance of its creditors' support to make its debt sustainable as it seeks a $3 billion loan-support programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In December last year, Ghana and IMF reached a Staff-Level Agreement (SLA) on economic policies and reforms to be supported by a new three-year arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) of about US$3 billion.

The SLA was subject to IMF Management and Executive Board approval and receipt of the necessary financing assurances by Ghana's partners and creditors, hence, the Government's launch of the DDEP.

When secured, the loan-support programme would be implemented in line with the Government's Enhanced Domestic Programme (EDP)  a 3-year fast-tracked macroeconomic stabilisation programme, which is to restore investor confidence and achieve fiscal and debt sustainability.

The programme would be driven by a mix of robust structural reforms and revenue, expenditure, and financing policies to further enhance economic recovery and transformation efforts under the Ghana COVID-19 Alleviation and Revitalisation of Enterprises Support (Ghana CARES) programme.

GNA
February 14, 2023 The Buildup To War In Ukraine - Monday, February 14, 2022 February 14 2022 was a relative quiet day. The U.S. knew that the Ukraine would soon launch a large attack on the renegade Dontezk and Luhansk republics. To protect the Russian people living there the Russian Federation would have to invade Ukraine. The White Hose continued to warn of a upcoming 'Russian invasion' that the upcoming Ukrainian actions would provoke. The Washington Post reported on a war planing group in the White House. The preparations had been going on for quite a while: As fears grow of potential Russian aggression against Ukraine, a Tiger Team led by the White House is quietly gaming out how the United States would respond to a range of jarring scenarios, from a limited show of force to a full-scale, mass-casualty invasion.

...

The Tiger Team was officially born in November, when national security adviser Jake Sullivan asked Alex Bick, the NSC director for strategic planning, to lead a planning effort across multiple agencies. Bick has brought in the Departments of Defense, State, Energy, Treasury and Homeland Security, along with the U.S. Agency for International Development to look at a possible humanitarian crisis. The intelligence community is also involved, gaming out various courses of action the Russians might pursue and the risks and advantages of each, officials said.

...

This planning has been underway even as other agencies push ahead with their own preparations. The Treasury Department has crafted potential sanctions packages and the Pentagon has planned for additional troop deployments at the same time the White House was finalizing its playbook. Among the Tiger Teams top concerns is a Russian effort to promote the false narrative that it is Ukraine, aided by the West, that is preparing to launch an offensive in eastern Ukraine, and that Russia is the victim. We will see over the next days who really launched the attack. The Kremlin was still not convinced that a war would come: In a meeting in the Kremlin, the foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told Putin he believed there was still room for dialogue on Russian requests for a new security deal with the west, which have been made as Russia amassed 140,000 troops around Ukraines borders in recent weeks. It seems to me that our possibilities are far from being exhausted. They certainly should not continue indefinitely. But at this stage I would suggest that they continue and be intensified, Lavrov told Putin.

...

We warn against endless conversations on issues that need to be resolved today. Still, as the foreign minister, I should say that there is always a chance, said Lavrov. At the same time, a senior Russian diplomat told the Guardian that Russia would be within its rights to counterattack against Ukraine if it felt Kyiv was threatening the population of eastern Ukraine. We will not invade Ukraine unless we are provoked to do that, said Vladimir Chizhov, Russias ambassador to the EU, in an interview in Brussels. If the Ukrainians launch an attack against Russia, you shouldnt be surprised if we counterattack. Or, if they start blatantly killing Russian citizens anywhere  Donbas or wherever, he said. There was diplomacy going on with a phone call between president Joe Biden and the British premier Boris Johnson. The German chancellor Olaf Scholz was in Kiev to try to stop the upcoming war. It was way too late. The OSCE Special Observer Mission at the ceasefire line in east-Ukraine reported of February 14 that the front was again unusually quit: In Donetsk region, the Mission recorded 17 ceasefire violations, including one explosion. In the previous 24 hours, it recorded 157 ceasefire violations in the region. In Luhansk region, the SMM recorded 157 ceasefire violations, including 40 explosions. 80 of the ceasefire violations were assessed as a live-fire exercise outside the security zone. In the previous 24 hours, it recorded 80 ceasefire violations in the region. There was a notable observation of a Ukrainian tank concentration: In violation of withdrawal lines, the Mission observed 22 tanks in a government-controlled area and one mortar in a non-government-controlled area of Luhansk region. That was an unusually large number of Ukrainian T-72s near Pidlisne, 70km north-west of Luhansk. The observed numbers of ceasefire violations and explosion were less than the average of the last 7 and 30 day periods as well as less than the daily average in all of 2021. The concentration of explosions south of Sadovyi (non-government-controlled, 57km south-west of Luhansk) was assessed to be from a live exercise. It is marked by the orange point on the Luhansk Donetsk boarder line.

bigger Posted by b on February 14, 2023 at 15:07 UTC | Permalink Comments next page  next page 
For Gary Johnson, service is a way of life. Johnson, 74 of Murfreesboro, has served as a physician assistant for 46 years.Prior to that, he served his country as a Navy hospital corpsman in Vietnam. He earned the Service Medal, the Navy Commendation Medal and a Letter of Commendation. After Johnsons time in the military, he went on to earn []
Staff Reporter

Richelle obtained a bachelor of arts degree in mass communications from the Far Eastern University in Manila, the Philippines. She was a junior reporter for Marianas Variety from 2009 to 2010, and from 2014 to 2015. In the Maldives, she worked as a news reporter and marketing executive. In her free time, shes a painter, pianist, and mom baker.
A green light appears from the direction of a Chinese coast guard ship at the Second Thomas Shoal, 105 nautical miles off the Palawan Province, the Philippines, Feb. 6, 2023.
MERIDEN  The former Miller Co. property at the corner of Pratt and Center streets has sold for $4.8 million, according to city property records.

The sale, to Jin CT 275 LLC, was finalized on Jan. 27.

Connecticut business records show that Jin CT 275 was officially incorporated as a limited liability corporation in December 2022. The LLC has a business address in Stamford and a principal office address in Flushing, New York, records indicate. Liangdong Jin, who is listed as the LLCs manager and principal agent, could not be reached for comment.

Joseph Feest, the citys director of economic development, said that while the property was on the market he maintained regular contact with Cushman & Wakefield, the realty firm that listed it. The property was officially listed for sale in the fall of 2021, with an asking price of $5.2 million.

There have been several deals that were close to being put together, Feest said, noting the property was on the market for close to a year and a half.

The firm conducted several walkthroughs with prospective buyers before a sale was reached.

Feest said he didnt have contact with the propertys previous owner while it was on the market. The citys communications were conducted through Cushman & Wakefield, Feest explained.

Feest expects to meet with the new ownership groups principals soon to discuss their plans for the property. That meeting hasnt been scheduled formally.

Feest described the facility as unique in its layout. It has a large open floor plan up front. Then, the middle section of the property, where the office space is located, is divided up. The rear of the building has what Feest called old-style glass everywhere and columns. The building itself also has three large industrial cranes  one 25-ton crane and two 15-ton cranes  built in.

The 19.5-acre property, according to Cushman & Wakefields listing, comprises eight interconnected buildings, which total 177,000 square feet. That building space includes close to 174,000 square feet of industrial space and 3,100 square feet of office space.

A representative from Cushman & Wakefield could not be reached for comment.

Feest said the new owners plan to use the facility for manufacturing, although he does not have the full specifications regarding those plans.

The facility, located in the transit oriented development, or TOD district, allows for manufacturing as a use that predates current zoning, Feest explained.

The Miller Co., before it closed in 2021, made copper-based metal strips for connectors that were used by high-end electronics manufacturers, according to previous Record-Journal reports. The company was founded in 1844. Until its closure 177 years later, it was the citys oldest continuously operating manufacturer.

The company was sold to the Germany-based Diehl Corp. in 2000. A decade later, the company began downsizing its local operations. That downsizing continued until the plant ceased operations in 2021. At that point, the company sold off several business assets and laid off its 32 remaining employees. The property has been inactive since then.

Preservation Connecticut, a statewide nonprofit organization that was established by state lawmakers with the mission to preserve, protect and promote historic buildings and sites, described the former Miller Co. factory building as being in overall fair condition.

Although some of the original windows have been replaced or infilled, the majority of the plant appears structurally sound and reasonably well maintained, the organization stated in 2015. The organization noted that the Miller Company, at its height more than a century ago, employed some 800 workers.

Feest described his dealings with Cushman & Wakefield, the listing firm, as very professional.

I would also say that they were looking to get the end user to be the owner of the building, Feest said.

Some of the previous prospective buyers, Feest noted, were simply looking to acquire real estate.

Feest also credited Cushman & Wakefield for reaching a finalized sale whose dollar amount came close to the firms original listing price.

Mayor Kevin Scarpati, in an email to the Record-Journal, indicated Feest kept his office in the loop before the sale was finalized.

Although we are not completely certain of what the final use will be, we have a high degree of confidence that it will be manufacturing of some kind, Scarpati wrote.

Feest described the sale of the property as a good step for Meriden, which he hopes will lead to job opportunities for Meriden residents.

We dont know all the details yet. But its nice to see this building sold, Feest said.

mgagne@record-journal.com203-317-2231Twitter: @MikeGagneRJ
Canadas influence on mining is felt in Latin America more than in any other region of the world. And its second most important market is Peru.

In 2017, BBC World released a report (in Spanish) on the often unsavoury business practices of Canadian mining companies in Latin America. Titled The Conflicts and Controversies of Canadian Mining in Latin America (Which Clash With the Countrys Progressive Image), the article included the following passage (translated by yours truly):

Canadas influence on mining is felt in Latin America more than in any other region of the world. More than half of the countrys mining investment abroad is in [the] region, with 80 large projects. It is perhaps inevitable that, given the number of mining projects, Canada is a lightning rod for criticism directed at mining in general. But expectations were different when Canadian miners landed in the 1990s. Canadian mining came riding a discourse of clean mining and development aid, Cesar Padilla, spokesman for the Observatory of Mining Conflicts in Latin America (OCMAL), an NGO critical of multinational mining companies, told BBC Mundo. And ultimately they didnt keep most of the promises and commitments they made. Some Canadian mining companies have been characterized by large and long conflicts with communities, which bears little relation with the projected image of responsible modern mining

Which brings us to the present. And Peru, the worlds second-largest producer of silver, copper and zinc as well as Latin Americas largest producer of gold, lead, boron, indium and selenium. The country has seen its share of large and long conflicts, and is now in the grip of another. And in that conflict Canada is playing an important, albeit largely overlooked, role.

Protecting Canadian Investments, At Any Cost

With CAD $9.9 billion in assets, Canadian companies are Perus biggest investors in mineral exploration. Thats equivalent to 4.5% of Perus GDP. And Canadas government is determined to not just protect that investment but to help it grow.

After meeting Perus new mining minister, Oscar Vera Gargurevich, Canadas Ambassador to Peru (and Bolivia) Louis Marcotte tweeted: With Minister Oscar Vera Gargurevich, we are talking about modern mining investments that benefit the communities and Peru as a whole. Ready to support the Canadian delegation at PDAC [Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada] 2023, the most important mining exploration convention in the world, March 5-8 in Canada.

Like the US, Canada was quick to recognize Boluartes regime. Since mid-December Canadas Ambassador to Peru (and coincidentally, Bolivia) Louis Marcotte has met not only with Boluarte but also Perus foreign minister, vulnerable populations minister and mining minister. As Canadian author and activist Yves Engler notes, it is rare for a Canadian ambassador to have so much contact with top officials of any government:

The diplomatic activity highlights Ottawas commitment to consolidating the shaky coup government, which has been rejected by many regional governments and has seen multiple ministers resign. The diplomatic encounters are also an indirect endorsement of Boluartes repression. Security forces have shot hundreds and detained many more.

In the case of the US, its ambassador to Peru, Lisa Kenna, a nine-year veteran at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and a former adviser to former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, met with Perus Defense Minister Gustavo Bobbio Rosas on December 6, just a day day before Castillos ouster. The timing of the meeting has stoked suspicions of US involvement in the coup, including from Mexicos President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

This plot has, of course, played out many times before, most recently in Bolivia, where both the US and the Washington-based Organization of American States (OAS) laid the foundations for the ouster of then-President Evo Morales. For its part, the Trudeau government made no statement about the state repression unleashed by Jeanine Anezs coup government despite the mounting evidence of human rights violations. Instead, Ottawa agreed to work with Anez.

As Urooba Jamal documents for the Spanish investigative journalism website, Ctxt, the ties between Canadian miners and the Canadian government are cosy:

There is an important link between Canadian mining and Canadian foreign policy. According to lobbying records obtained by the Justice and Corporate Accountability Project (JCAP)  an association of two Canadian law schools that advocates for communities affected by resource extraction (particularly indigenous communities)  representatives of the mining industry conduct powerful and insistent lobbying campaigns directed at the Canadian government Furthermore, Canada dominates this sector: most of the worlds mining companies are based in Canada, while 41% of the large mining companies in Latin America are Canadian, according to JCAP. These companies have also been embroiled in controversy in recent years. A landmark JCAP report published in 2016 found that 28 of these companies were implicated in forty-four deaths, 403 injuries, and 709 criminalization cases in thirteen Latin American countries over a fifteen-year period.

Culture of Impunity

Other countries on the American continent, including Mexico, Colombia, Bolivia and Argentina, have taken a wildly different stance regarding Boluartes regime, refusing to recognize its legitimacy while calling for new elections and the release of Castillo. At the recent summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) a succession of national leaders denounced Boluartes ruthless repression of Peruvian protesters and called for her resignation.

By contrast, both Canada and the US have maintained their support while the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) expressed its full backing, despite the mounting death toll. So far, at least 60 protesters have died at the hands of Perus police and armed forces, most of whom sustained gunshot wounds or injuries from other projectiles such as tear gas canisters. In a recent report, the Washington Office on Latin America, an NGO devoted to promoting human rights in the Americas, lambasted the culture of impunity at the top of the Peruvian government and security forces:

President Boluarte and her government say they are committed to ensuring public safety. However, attempting to achieve security through the disproportionate use of force is a predictably counterproductive strategy that, so far, has only intensified the protests and deepened the countrys crisis. To date, no officials have been charged for the deaths that have taken place as a result of the actions of the security forces during the protests. Government representatives have called for the Public Ministry to investigate the abuses. But widespread impunity for human rights violations at the hands of the Peruvian security forces tempers hopes for effective accountability. Moreover, President Boluarte and her ministers have emphasized public messages that praise security forces and vilify demonstrators, congratulating police for their immaculate actions while blaming protesters for causing chaos. Such messages undermine confidence that the government is committed to ensuring accountability and preventing further abuses.

The Lithium Connection

On October 6, a parliamentary group closely tied to Perus now-deposed and imprisoned President Pedro Castillo presented a controversial bill to Congress. That bill sought to nationalize the exploration, exploitation and industrialization of lithium in the country. Perus Andean neighbor, Bolivia, which boasts the worlds largest deposits of lithium, already nationalized the white metal in 2008. Mexico took a similar step last year.

Article 3 of the proposed bill included the following passage:

The economic resources from lithium and its derivatives are aimed at guaranteeing the homogeneous development of all regions of the country, of the peasant and native communities, and to strengthen the nations internal and external defense system.

Unsurprisingly, the bill did not pass, which was probably welcome news for Macausani Yellowcake, a Peruvian subsidiary of Canadas American Lithium Corp. In 2017, the company discovered significant deposits of lithium and uranium in Carabaya, a province in the southern region of Puno. According to a report in the Peruvian daily Republica, Ulises Solis, Macausani Yellowcakes general had met with Castillo on two occasions in 2021, including once in New York, to try to persuade the president not to nationalize the strategic mineral. The president apparently said he wouldnt.

During his run for president Castillo pledged to nationalize not just lithium but many of Perus mineral resources, which account for over 10% of the countrys GDP and 60% of its exports. He also promised stronger environmental regulations and that some profits would go to communities in mining regions. Needless to say, the pledge to nationalize mineral resources was gradually watered down under sustained pressure from multinationals and their political representatives in the country. It hardly helped that Castillo had zero control over Congress.

Castillos government proposed also hiking taxes on mining companies in the country, a move that even the IMF supported. In fact, the fund even offered to lend its expertise to the task. Peru has one of the lowest tax-to-GDP ratios in Latin America, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the countrys then Economy Minister, Pedro, Francke said he wanted to improve those numbers. But for many of the mining companies operating in Peru, many of them Canadian, even that was a step too far.

Throughout this period, mining workers and communities across Peru staged protests, road blocks and strikes, including at the Chinese-run Las Bambas Mine, which provides 2% of the worlds copper. The protesters complained that local communities saw little benefit from the wealth generated by the mining.

With Castillos downfall in December, all talk of hiking taxes on mining profits or improving workers conditions has disappeared. Boluartes government is too busy crushing protests and navigating diplomatic and strategic tensions with many of its neighbors in the region to give much thought to such issues.

The Bigger Picture

As I posited in a piece in December, citing the renowned Mexican geopolitical analyst Alfredo Jalife, while the causes of Perus conflict may be largely internal, it has an important geopolitical dimension. Perus largest trading partner is China. In fact, the only country in the region that attracts more Chinese investment is Brazil, with an economy ten times larger than Perus. And before being toppled, Pedro Castillos government had expressed a clear interest in intensifying trade between the two countries. There was even talk of upgrading Perus trade agreement with China.

Suffice to say, this probably did not go down well with Perus second largest trading partner, the United States, which has a long, ongoing history of organizing or lending its blessing to coups against left-leaning governments in Latin America.

The Biden administration has also been disarmingly candid about its designs on Latin Americas natural resources, particularly lithium. As readers may recall, just last month the Commander of US Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM), General Laura Richardson, spoke about the need to box out China and Russia from those resources in Latin America. She also described how Washington is actively negotiating the sale of lithium in the region through its embassies.

At the beginning of February, the US government expressed its ongoing support for Peru and President Boluarte, and her efforts to affirm Perus democracy, ensuring peace, stability and the unity of the Peruvian people. It even encouraged the [Boluarte] government to continue taking steps to hold those responsible for acts of violence accountable.

This came on the heels of news that Boluarte herself had formally requested permission from Perus Congress to allow a foreign navy unit and armed troops to enter the country. The ostensible reason for the request, issued on Jan 19, is to allow the entry, in April, of the Juan Sebastian de Elcano (A-71), a training ship of the Spanish Navy, as well as foreign military personnel. But the timing of the request is, to put it mildly, suspicious. And Spain is not only a member of NATO and Perus former colonial power; it is also one of Perus biggest arms suppliers.

The real intended target of the request, says Yves Engler, is likely to be the US, which has already deployed troops to Peru on a number of occasions. In such an outcome, Canadian soldiers may also be deployed: When the leftist Tupac Amaru guerrilla group took dozens of foreign diplomats hostage at the Japanese embassy in Lima in 1996, Canadian JTF-2 special forces reportedly participated in the US-led rescue effort that left all 14 guerrillas dead, many of them reportedly executed.
Was Europes rise to riches built on the blood, sweat, toil, and death of enslaved people? Europeans enslaved millions of men and women on the African continent during their colonisation of the Americas. Those who survived the transatlantic voyage were forced to labour on sugar, tobacco, cotton, and coffee plantations in the Caribbean and in North and South America. In the process, Europeans accumulated vast wealth, either from the slave trade itself, from plantation production, or from the wider triangular trade between Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Growth in Europe took off during the century when the slave trade and overseas slavery in European colonies reached their greatest scale. To what extent did slavery wealth contribute to the growth and economic development of modern Europe?

The idea that slavery and the trade in enslaved human beings jumpstarted the industrial revolution is almost as old as economics itself. Adam Smith famously saw slavery as inherently inefficient, and believed that Britains colonial possessions in the West Indies drained the nations resources. Karl Marx, on the other hand, argued in Das Kapital (1867) that modern industrial capitalism was built on the capital accumulation facilitated by slavery: the veiled slavery of the wage workers in Europe needed, for its pedestal, slavery pure and simple in the new world. . . capital comes dripping from head to foot, from every pore, with blood and dirt.

The topic has also been hotly debated by economic historians. One influential line of research agrees with Marx, arguing that Britain accumulated vast wealth from the triangular trade and used this wealth to finance its industrial revolution (see e.g. Williams 1944, Darity 1992, Solow 1993, and Inikori 2002). In contrast, another prominent strand of work argues that profits from the slave trade were no higher than from other lines of business, while absolute levels of profit from the slave trade were small relative to the size of the British economy, such that slavery played a relatively minor role in Britains industrial development (including Engerman 1972, Eltis and Engerman 2000, and Knick Harley 2013).

Most analysis of this question has looked at national aggregates. In our recent work (Heblich et al. 2022), we examine geographically disaggregated data on the impact of slavery wealth on industrial development. To do so, we collect and use new data on the geography of slaveholding and on economic development in Britain. We combine these with a new source of exogenous variation in slavery wealth and a quantitative spatial model. To measure wealth from slaveholding, we use a unique data source: Britain, through the Abolition of Slavery Act in 1833, provided compensation payments to existing slaveholders. These compensation payments were substantial, equal to 20 million in historical prices, equivalent to around 40% of the governments budget and 5% of gross domestic product (GDP). In todays money, this is equivalent to from 2108 billion. We use individual-level data on these compensation payments to more than 25,000 slaveholders, as compiled by historians over more than a decade in the Legacies of British Slavery database (Hall et al. 2014). This allows us to directly measure slavery wealth for each slaveholder  in terms of the total number of enslaved persons and their assessed value  and to locate these slaveholders geographically. We combine this measure of slaveholder wealth drawn from claims for compensation with detailed information on population, employment structure, and property values.

Across Britain, industrial activity and slavery wealth at the time of abolition are strongly correlated. Figure 1(a) displays slavery compensation claims across parishes within Britain. The size of the blue circles is proportional to the amount of slavery compensation awarded in current price 1833 pounds sterling. We find the largest concentrations in the areas surrounding the three ports most heavily involved in the slave trade and the products of the slave economy (particularly sugar, tobacco, coffee, and cotton): Liverpool in the North-West, Bristol in the South-West, and London in the South-East. But slaveholding extends throughout much of England and Wales, particularly in coastal regions, and in the main population centres.

In Figure 1(b) we show the manufacturing employment share across parishes in 1831. By that time, the manufacturing employment share for England and Wales as a whole was approximately 42%, and we see the emergence of industrial agglomerations in the North. However, agriculture still employs approximately 27% of the population, and there is substantial heterogeneity in agricultural specialisation across regions, with agriculture still accounting for more than 60% of employment in some counties. Comparing the two figures, there is a clear positive correlation between manufacturing employment shares and slaveholder compensation.

Figure 1 Slaveholding and structural transformation in the 1830s

Notes: Left panel: Slaveholder compensation in each parish in 1833 pounds sterling; size of blue circles proportional to the total value of slaveholder compensation in each region. The largest three slave trading ports by enslaved persons embarked are labelled. Right panel: Manufacturing employment share in each region in the 1831 census; darker blue colours correspond to higher values; lighter green colours correspond to lower values.

In Figure 2, we provide further evidence for the correlation between structural transformation and slaveholding using three different indicators: the agricultural employment share in 1831 (left panel), the number of cotton mills in 1839 (middle panel), and the industry employment share in 1831 (right panel). We show the fitted values and 95% confidence intervals from local polynomial regressions of all three measures on the number of enslaved persons claimed in 1833. We find that areas with extensive slaveholding have lower agricultural employment shares, more cotton mills, and higher manufacturing employment shares.

Figure 2 Structural transformation and slaveholding in the 1830s

Note: In all three panels, the horizontal axis shows total number of enslaved people in each hexagon in 1833; vertical axes show agricultural employment share in 1831 (left panel), number of cotton mills in 1839 (middle panel), and manufacturing employment share in 1831 (right panel); dark line shows fitted values from local polynomial regression; grey shading shows 95% confidence intervals. Slave claims and the number of cotton mills are inverse hyperbolic sine transformed.

Many slave traders eventually became slaveholders, investing their wealth in West Indian plantations. We exploit this fact to provide evidence that this correlation between economic activity and slaveholding is causal. Our new instrumental variables estimation strategy starts with the fact that in the age of sail, the idiosyncrasies of wind and weather heavily influenced the duration of transatlantic voyages. Crowded and inhumane conditions on slave voyages led to high rates of mortality during the Middle Passage. A primary determinant of mortality for enslaved people was voyage duration. As voyage times increased because of unfavourable winds, water began to run out, and infectious diseases spread, raising mortality among the enslaved. High mortality reduced slave traders profits, making their continued involvement in the trade less likely. Hence, inclement weather shocks directly reduced wealth, and also induced exit from the slave trade, thereby reducing slaveholder wealth in 1833 (at the time of abolition). We track down the location of slave traders ancestors. Many traders, once rich, returned to their ancestral family homes. In places with more exposure to the slave trade through family trees, we typically find greater slave wealth in 1833. The effect is large: for every one standard deviation increase in voyage outcome of a slave trader, we find a 0.16 standard deviation rise in slaveholder wealth.

A range of measures of industrial activity are strongly related to this exogenous component of slaveholder wealth. A one standard deviation increase in slaveholder wealth predicted by our instrument leads to a 1.76 standard deviation increase in steam engines, a 0.52 standard deviation increase in rateable values, a 0.61 standard deviation decrease in agricultural employment contrasted by a 0.86 standard deviation increase in manufacturing employment, and a 0.77 standard deviation decrease in the average distance to the ten nearest cotton mills in 1839.

To assess the implications of these findings, we combine these empirical estimates with a dynamic specific-factors model of the spatial distribution of economic activity across industries and locations within Britain. Greater slavery wealth alleviates collateral constraints and stimulates domestic capital accumulation, which in turn induces an expansion in the capital-intensive domestic manufacturing sector, and a decline in the land-intensive agricultural sector. Some locations benefited enormously from Britains involvement in slavery. Places with the highest levels of slavery wealth saw increases in total income of more than 40%, with population increasing by 6.5%, capitalists income rising by more than 100%, and landlords incomes declining by just over 7%.

At the aggregate level, we find an increase in national income of 3.5%. This is sizeable relative to conventional estimates of the welfare gains from international trade, where Bernhofen and Brown (2005) find an upper bound of 9% for 19th-century Japan. It also corresponds to roughly a decade of growth of gross domestic product (GDP) at the time. Capital owners were the largest beneficiaries, with an increase in their aggregate income of 11% due to the direct income from investments in colonial plantations and the induced expansion in domestic investments. Landowners experience small aggregate income losses of just under 1%, because of the reallocation of labour away from agriculture. Expected worker welfare rises by 3%, because of the substantial wage increases in slaveholding locations, and the reallocation of economic activity towards those locations.

Taken together, our findings suggest two important conclusions. First, involvement in the slave trade and wealth derived from slaveholding had an important effect on the geography of economic development during the British industrial revolution. While the sudden re-ordering of economic prominence in the period after 1750 has long seemed puzzling (Crafts 2014), our evidence offers a clear explanation for why some locations suddenly took off economically. Second, our results strongly suggest that Marx was right: slavery wealth accelerated Britains industrial revolution.

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(Natural News) St. Louis-based chiropractor Dr. Eric Nepute remarked that the Biden administration ending the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) public health emergency will have no effect on the emergency use authorizations (EUAs) for the COVID-19 vaccines.

He put forward this claim during the Feb. 7 episode of Real Talk with Dr. Eric Nepute on Brighteon.TV. Nepute welcomed the move, saying that times are changing and even doctors are agreeing with the sentiment that the American people are already done with the pandemic. However, he doesnt think the craziness surrounding COVID-19 will conclude after the emergency is ended.

Nepute cited a report by the New York Post stating that the Biden administration will end the COVID-19 emergency on May 11. According to a Jan. 30 Administrative Procedure Act sent to congress, the White House plans to further extend both the COVID-19 national emergency and public health emergency until the May 11 deadline and lift both on that day. (Related: President Biden to extend COVID-19 national emergency status.)

But the chiropractor pointed out that the EUA for the vaccines will remain in place. According to him, Americans should be asking why the supposedly safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines are not getting off the EUA and why authorities do not plan to fully license and approve these. Nepute said this all boils down to a liability issue.

They dont want the 15 plus million people that have shown deaths and injuries after getting these shots to have a clear path to be able to come and litigate. The PREP Act, the CARES Act and the [EUA] have shielded the governments doctors and the pharmaceutical industries from liability. They dont want to accept liability, he said.

This has nothing to do with science. This has nothing to do with health, nor does it have anything to do with care. It has absolutely everything to do with legalities and liabilities.

Nepute noted that when fraud and neglect are proven by all the documents presented in front of the courts and judges, the federal government and Big Pharma will face a barrage of lawsuits.

Biden pressured to end COVID-19 emergency by House Republicans

According to the founder of Nepute Wellness Center, the Biden administration was pressured to put an end to the COVID-19 emergency because the Republican-controlled House of Representatives has already started passing legislation to repeal it.

Biden, instead of getting mud in his face, made a political decision. Not a scientific healthcare decision, but a political decision to say Alright, on May 11 were going to get rid of the public health emergency. So between now and May 11, they are going to pour out more money, pour out more problems, try to break, steal, kill and pillage as much as they can from We the People until this is repealed, Nepute said.

The EUA is not going to end on May 11. Whats going to end is the public health emergency which is going to take away a lot of the ability of the executive branch to take money and move money around without congressional approval. Its going to change the way that a lot of people are receiving the care that theyve been getting over the past three years because most people have really been getting more of a socialized medicine type of approach.

Follow Pandemic.news for more news related to COVID-19.

Watch the Feb. 7 episode of Real Talk with Dr. Eric Nepute below. Real Talk with Dr. Eric Nepute airs every Tuesday at 4-5 p.m. on Brighteon.TV.

More related stories:

The HighWire: Extending COVID emergency prolongs medical tyrants grip on the population.

VIRUS MANIA PART III: Perpetual state of emergency the new normal for America, as long as the CDC writes the script.

Pfizer demands emergency authorization from FDA for experimental Covid-19 vaccine.

Senate passes bill to end COVID-19 state of National Emergency.

PREP Act passed in 2020 was designed to protect everyone EXCEPT those injured by vaccines

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

NYPost.com
(Natural News) Cancer cases have been on a steep incline ever since the Wuhan virus clot shots have been jabbed into several billion sheeple. CNN, the counterfeit news network, claims cancer deaths are on the decline, but is that because so many of those deaths were labeled died with Covid? Now CNN is saying cancer is striking more young people than ever, while theyre in their 30s and 40s, but are they just running cover for the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA turbo-cancer-causing jabs, since millions of dollars of CNNs advertising revenue comes from Big Pharma? In fact, CNN leads the cable news network pack in terms of pharmaceutical ad revenue. So go figure.

Young folks definitely do not benefit in any way from Covid clot shots. Sending spike protein prions throughout the vascular system is just bad for health in general, but to load up young people, who are in their prime, and often engaged in vigorous workouts, sports, cross-training, weight-lifting, and physical jobs, well, thats just asking for trouble (hence all the myocarditis and pericarditis cases as of late).

Then theres turbo-cancer, where the mRNA shots can cause rapid progression of T-cell lymphoma within just days, causing a turbo-effect of the spreading of cells in the lymph nodes, and a dramatic increase of gastrointestinal lesions, according to PET and CT scans on cancer patients. How?

The spike proteins serve as a carcinogen that feeds the cancer cells, propelling them to multiply exponentially, invading the rest of the body, using the lymph fluid as the expressways. The spike proteins are programmed by their technology to turn OFF the human genes (P-53) that fight off cancer. Now CNN is running cover for this phenomenon, pretending like young folks are just getting cancer out of the blue now, ever since the scamdemic broke out.

Neurological issues caused by the Covid clot shots are signs the spike proteins have caused cancer in the body to develop turbo-style

Issues popping up with the bladder, bowels, and skin are warning signs that cancer is developing and taking over certain parts of the body, including excretive organs, such as the kidneys, ureter, urethra, urinary bladder, skin, liver, intestines, and lungs. Also, changes in hearing, vision, headaches, excessive bleeding and bruising for no reason, and seizures could be signs of cancer, or  side effects of the clot shots.

As more and more young people get the Covid clot shots, more victims of spike protein syndrome are happening around the world, and cancer is an easy cover story for this, as we see it plastered all over the counterfeit news network. Cancer rise in younger people, the CNN headlines read. Dont wait for symptoms they say. In other words, rush to the doctor after getting the Fauci flu stabs so the doctor can blame anything else for these cell mutations.

New cases of cancer are on the rise globally, CNN declares. A surprising number of new diagnoses are in people under 50, according to CNNs report about a 2022 Harvard University analysis, that also blames ultra-processed foods linked to ovarian cancer deaths. Yet, autopsies of the Covid-vaccinated reveal the spike proteins invade the ovaries, and the immune system attacks them when it identifies the toxic pathogenic invaders. Oops.

No wonder cancers of the breasts, colon, esophagus, gallbladder, kidney, liver, pancreas, prostate, stomach and thyroid are on the rise. Thats where the spike proteins are getting deposited.

Of course, CNN is telling all these young adults that most of these cancers are hereditary. Sure, blame your parents and grandparents, even though nothing was wrong until you got the Covid clot shots. Its always a family history problem, according to the medical industrial complex of America. Its all about prevention and screening, they say, but those screenings ALSO cause cancer. Thats why theyre called scammo-grams.

Lastly, in the same article where CNN blames family history for cancer in young adults, they promote the Covid clot shots. They sure do have some nerve, and the propaganda is relentless on fake news. When will these journo-terrorists suffer the consequences of their insidious actions? Only time will tell.

Bookmark Vaccines.news to your favorite independent websites for updates on experimental gene therapy injections that CNN pushes while blaming the cancer they cause on everything else.

Sources for this article include:

Pandemic.news

CNN.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) U.S. and Canadian Air Force jets are using high-cost missiles to shoot down metallic birthday balloons while claiming they are defeating the objects. Its all part of a massive psyop to try to imply that aliens are invading Earths atmosphere and that alien craft are being shot down by modern jet fighters.

Every effort is being made to paint these birthday balloons as mysterious, possibly alien craft. And its all ridiculous. For example, the WSJ reports that a flying object was shot down over Canada. This object was described as a small metallic balloon (i.e. some little boys birthday balloon filled with helium) that drifted to 20,000 feet altitude.

Canadian officials were breathless over their amazing military effort to defeat a helium-filled birthday balloon. From the WSJ:

A Canadian patrol aircraft is trying to pinpoint the debris from the destroyed object. Ms. Anand said she wouldnt speculate on the objects origins. The importance of this moment should not be underestimated. We identified the object together and we defeated this object together, Ms. Anand said of the joint U.S.-Canada mission. She added this marked the first time in the history of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or Norad, that jet fighters shot down an object.

Thats a whole lot of hyperventilation over a birthday balloon.

The Russians must be ROFL, knowing that U.S. and Canadian military brass are bragging about shooting down a birthday balloon, using terms like unknown origins (because they dont know which kid released it at his birthday celebration).

Similarly, other media stories  obviously planted as part of a psyop  talk about how the objects show no visible propulsion system which is exactly how helium birthday balloons operate, of course.

All helium balloons floating in the atmosphere have no visible propulsion system. And they arent flying, really. Theyre floating. So even the WSJ headline is misleading.

Furthermore, the idea that humanitys pathetic fighter jets could defeat the technology of aliens who possess Faster-Than-Light (FTL) capabilities is absurd. If aliens are actually visiting Earth  which isnt an unreasonable conjecture  they surely arent stupid enough to have their UFOs shot down by the woke military morons of Canada and the Pentagon.

If anything, extraterrestrials would be laughing at Earths stupid humans who mutilate their children, murder their babies and have gone so woke that they think 2+2=5.

As we approach World War III, however, it sure is nice to know that the U.S. military is capable of shooting down birthday balloons. Whether that will matter when Russias Hyperglide Vehicles deliver nuclear warheads to Washington D.C. is another issue altogether, however. If the U.S. military could shoot down Russias rockets, then Russia wouldnt be able to keep repeatedly striking power grid targets in Ukraine, would they?

The good news is that if America is invaded by birthday balloons, we have an effective national defense system that we can count on.

Learn more in todays full Situation Update podcast:

 What if Star Wars went totally woke? TRANS WARS

 Luke, I am your MOTHER

 Bad lip reading of Yoda and Luke

 Why Project Veritas is nothing without James OKeefe

 FOUR objects shot down over North America

 The latest appear to be metallic birthday balloons

 US and Canadian military use million-dollar missiles to destroy five dollar balloons

 Why is controlled media pushing the alien craft theory?

 Looks like a test for a false flag alien invasion psyop

 Psyop would be used to demand one world government authority

 One object reported to be an OCTAGON  a code word used by globalists

 Benjamin Fulford reported on the Octagon Group from Switzerland in 2020

 Globalists use words, numbers and symbols to communicate through public channels

 Germany donates 88 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine: 88 means Heil Hitler

 Germany still run by Nazi fascists, as is most of Western Europe and North America

 Romanian Senator condemns mass genocide via vaccines and says Turkey earthquake was man-made

 Hillary Clinton partners with Rockefellers to push digital cash to fight climate change

 Mass murdering CDC adds covid-19 vaccines to childhood immunization schedule

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(Natural News) If you think the US government nor Americas globalist overlords would never commit genocide, carry out medical tyranny or commit the very worst of all war crimes upon completely innocent people, you never read the Mai Lai Massacre story which took place during the Vietnam war in 1968. This story is not a criticism of Americas Vietnam War Veterans, but of those who ORDERED THEM to commit atrocities, and then covered them up, the same group now pushing America towards nuclear Armageddon.

(Article by Stefan Stanford republished from AllNewsPipeline.com)

With that horrifying story reporting a group of US soldiers were ORDERED into a peasant village and ORDERED to attack and kill on sight their unarmed enemies, with those American soldiers then raping, mutilating and murdering between 200 and 500 civilians, that crime was covered up at the very top of the military chain of command and by the US govt for eighteen months, at least until it was uncovered and reported on 18 months later by a relatively unknown journalist by the name of Seymour Hersh.

Reporting in a cable filed through Dispatch News Service and picked up by more than 30 newspapers that US Army soldiers were sent into a Viet Cong stronghold known as Pinkville on a search-and-destroy mission, indiscriminately shooting down people in cold blood as they ran from their huts, then systematically rounding them up and ordered to finish them all off, Seymour Hersh ended up winning a Pulitzer Prize for that report, which the Pentagon and US government largely denied until they were no longer able to.

And as Seymour Hersh just told the world in this Substack entry, getting it before the American public was no easy task. I wasnt an established journalist working for an established outfit. My first story, published under a barely existent wire service run by a friend of mine, was initially rejected by the editors at Life and Look magazines. When the Washington Post finally published it, they littered it with Pentagon denials and the unthinking skepticism of the rewrite man.

And while you may be thinking to yourself, why is ANP bringing up a 55-year-old story about the Vietnam War now, as well be exploring within this story, Hersch, still a reporter 55 years later, has just broken the internet and showed us why we all better be completely prepared for war in the days ahead. Because Hersh just moved over to Substack from outlets like the Washington Post and the NY Times so he could get this mega-viral story published because obviously, he couldnt do so at such controlled media outlets.

Titled How America Took Out The Nord Stream Pipeline, as he reported as his subtitle, the New York Times called it a mystery, but the United States executed a covert sea operation that was kept secretuntil now. Reporting in the viral story that it was none other than Joe Biden who gave the order to take out that multi-billion dollar energy pipeline that ran from Russia to Europe, as Jamie White over at Infowars reports in this new story, that is no laughing matter but an outright act of war.

So are you ready for things to start heating up to the max in the days ahead? Reading through ANP story comment sections the past few days weve noticed many ANP readers feel it heating up, such as a series of comments made by PROUD_2B_American on this Wednesday story by Susan Duclos including:

I can feel it coming in the air tonight.. Oh Lord Its like electricity ,,,, Ive been scanning a lot of sites and the tone is radically shifting to Let just do this AND A TOTAL LACK of You guys need to calm down. Voices of reason are becoming silentNever seen so many enraged .NOT ANGRY.pressure relief valve popping.Everyone is feeling it . Even my wife commented about it ..a very uneasy feeling.

Yet while tensions are absolutely heating up to a noticeable level for so many as a devastating end times war hangs over the world like a radioactive cloud following a nuclear explosion, and Joe Bidens act of war upon the Nord Stream Pipeline something that could bring a mushroom cloud over Washington DC if Vladimir Putin decides such a response is worth it, take note that Bidens White House actually issued a response to Hershs viral piece to see exactly what is happening here, and its huge!

As this Daily Mail story reports, following Hersh putting out that Substack which, if true, absolutely means Biden committed an act of war against Russia and this entire Ukraine war is about ready to move into an entirely different phase, both the White House and CIA issued near immediate denials. And the bigger story thats easy to see if one looks deeply enough shows us that finally, after all of these decades of mainstream media dominance and pushing blatant propaganda in America, REAL reporting has returned to America on an entirely different level than just the independent media. From Hershs entry Why Substack in which Hersh shares this message to his readers.:

Ive been a freelancer for much of my career. In 1969, I broke the story of a unit of American soldiers in Vietnam who had committed a horrific war crime. They were ordered to attack an ordinary peasant village where, as a few officers knew, they would get no oppositionand told to kill on sight. The boys murdered, raped and mutilated for hours, with no enemy to be found. The crime was covered up at the top of the military chain of command for eighteen monthsuntil I uncovered it.

I won a Pulitzer Prize for international reporting for that work, but getting it before the American public was no easy task. I wasnt an established journalist working for an established outfit. My first story, published under a barely existent wire service run by a friend of mine, was initially rejected by the editors at Life and Look magazines. When the Washington Post finally published it, they littered it with Pentagon denials and the unthinking skepticism of the rewrite man.

Ive been told my stories were wrong, invented, outrageous for as long as I can rememberbut Ive never stopped. In 2004, after I published the first stories about the torture of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib, a Pentagon spokesman responded by calling my journalism a tapestry of nonsense. (He also said I was a guy who threw a lot of crap against the wall and expects someone to peel off whats real. I won my fifth George Polk Award for that work.) Ive put in my time at the major outlets, but was never at home there. More recently, I wouldnt be welcome anyway. Money, as always, was part of the problem. The Washington Post and my old newspaper, The New York Times (to name just a few), have found themselves in a cycle of dwindling home delivery, newsstand sales, and display advertisements. CNN and its offspring, like MSNBC and Fox News, battle for sensational headlines over investigative journalism. There are still many brilliant journalists at work, but so much of the reporting has to be within guidelines and constraints that did not exist in the years I was turning out daily stories for the Times.

Thats where Substack comes along. Here, I have the kind of freedom Ive always fought for. Ive watched writer after writer on this platform as theyve freed themselves from their publishers economic interests, run deep with stories without fear of word counts or column inches, andmost importantlyspoken directly to their readers. And that last point, for me, is the clincher. Ive never been interested in socializing with pols or cozying up to money types at the self-important cocktail get togethersthe star-f***ing parties, I always liked to call them. Im at my best when I swig cheap bourbon with the servicemen, work over the first-year law firm associates for intel, or swap stories with the junior minister from a country most people cant name. Thats always been my style. And as it turns out, its the ethos of this online community as well.

What youll find here is, I hope, a reflection of that freedom. The story you will read today is the truth as I worked for three months to find, with no pressure from a publisher, editors or peers to make it hew to certain lines of thoughtor pare it back to assuage their fears. Substack simply means reporting is back . . . unfiltered and unprogrammedjust the way I like it. Seymour M. Hersh

With us here at ANP understanding exactly what Hersh is speaking about when he talks about unfiltered and unprogrammed reporting, with Susan and I and all of our story contributors writing about whatever we want to write about, no marching orders given by anyone, (nor would such orders be obeyed anyways), Hershs statement above also proves the independent media was right all along about the MSM being completely controlled and total propaganda for those now accelerating genocide.

Read more at: AllNewsPipeline.com
(Natural News) The White House has denounced Seymour Hershs Nord Stream bombshell as fiction. Oslo claimed that the Pulitzer-prize-winning journalists allegations are nonsensical. Still, the denials are unlikely to satisfy the public given that EU probes in the attack remain top secret, Sputniks interlocutors say.

(Article by Ekaterina Blinova republished from SputnikNews.com)

Many people  including myself  determined at the time that blowing up the pipeline was a US/NATO operation that was being falsely blamed on Russia, Hans Mahncke, a US investigative journalist and lawyer, told Sputnik.

Many of the details of Seymour Hershs reporting were already known but not reported by western media, including the fact that the Danish and American governments had agreed to station US military personnel in Bornholm and the fact that NATOs BALTOPS military exercise in June 2022 took place in the area of the Nord Stream 2 bombing. Hersh has added some details about the exact modalities of how the sabotage was carried out, which he attributes to a source. Hershs track record is solid and there is no reason to believe that the source is not credible.

On February 8, Pulitzer-prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh published an article on the US online platform Substack detailing the Biden administrations plot to destroy Russias Nord Stream pipeline network. The blasts occurred on September 26 at three of the four strings of Nord Stream 1 and 2 underwater pipelines, which were built to carry a combined 110 billion cubic meters of Russian gas to Europe annually. According to Hersh, the plan was carried out by US operatives in coordination and collaboration with the Norwegian Secret Service and Navy.

Why Norway?

[NATO Secretary General] Stoltenberg is one reason. Another reason is the competence (excellence) of our Navy Special Forces, Norwegian investigative journalist and intelligence veteran Geir Furuseth told Sputnik.

Furuseth believes that only a very few Norwegian politicians and officers were in the know about Washingtons alleged covert operation.

Norway has highly experienced military personnel, especially in connection with underwater and naval operations, echoed Wall Street analyst and investigative journalist Charles Ortel while speaking to Sputnik.

Norways involvement is natural though it seems highly ill-advised. Another set of questions concerns why the governments of Sweden and Denmark [were] willing to play along, as they were informed at high levels concerning this scheme, according to Hersh.

Hersh revealed that The Norwegians joined the Americans in insisting that some senior officials in Denmark and Sweden had to be briefed in general terms about possible diving activity in their respective territorial waters. He specified, however, citing his source, that what Swedish and Danish officials were told and what they knew were purposely different.

Remarkably, following the sabotage, Germany, Denmark, and Sweden kicked off separate inquiries into the attack. Sweden was reportedly the first to leave the planned joint investigation team; Denmark followed suit. Thus, Germany was left to investigate the matter on its own.

European states didnt invite Russian investigators to participate: at that time the western media actively disseminated an ungrounded assumption that Moscow blasted the pipelines itself. Whats more, neither of the European countries made their findings public.

Why hasnt Sweden or any other of the implicated governments made their investigations public? This secrecy undermines all western credibility!  Geir Furuseth

It appears suspicious that Sweden, Denmark and Germany are continuing to keep their cards close to their chest. The only thing European investigators and officials have admitted so far is that there is no evidence that Russia destroyed its own pipelines. Moscow had no motive to do this, while several international actors were interested in destroying Russias natural gas infrastructure in the Baltics, the US mainstream media acknowledged, adding that the truth about the real culprit may never come out. Hershs bombshell appears to have proven the western mainstream media wrong.

Cold War Parallels

In some sense, the secrecy and controversies surrounding the blasts and subsequent investigations resemble Cold War-era cases. Im not an expert on the covert ops of the Cold War, but that said, I certainly see similarities, said Furuseth.

During the Cold War era, Washington routinely attempted covert subversive operations against the USSR, its major rival at that time. Some of those ops have remained a subject of heated debate up to this day.

In February 2004, the US press reported an alleged CIA plan to destroy a Siberian natural gas pipeline which was supposedly approved by then-President Ronald Reagan in 1982. Thomas C. Reed, a former Air Force secretary who was serving in the National Security Council at the time, described this episode in his book At the Abyss: An Insiders History of the Cold War. The USSR did not acknowledge that the explosion had ever taken place.

Still, the Nord Stream sabotage is especially scandalous because it brought the West even closer to a nuclear war, according to Furuseth.

The attack came at a time when the US and its NATO allies have been providing Kiev with sophisticated weapons to counter Russias special operation to demilitarize and de-Nazify Ukraine. In April 2022, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin proclaimed the weakening of Russia as Washingtons top priority.

For their part, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Undersecretary Victoria Nuland openly expressed their satisfaction with the destruction of Nord Stream pipelines. Months before the attack, US President Joe Biden directly threatened to nix the pipelines during a joint press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on February 7, 2022. I promise you, we will be able to do it, Biden asserted to the press at the time. It seems that the US is overtly provoking Russia, while Moscow is showing wise restraint, according to observers.

Investigation Could be Damning for Team Biden

Apparently, Hershs source came forward because he/she was concerned about the escalation of NATO involvement in the Ukraine conflict, suggested Hans Mahncke.

If Hershs source is right  and we have no reason to doubt the source  the executive branch under Biden has unilaterally decided to wage war against Russia, the lawyer said. Aside from the obvious folly of such a decision, there are many legal problems, such as failure to inform Congress or even the congressional Gang of Eight. It is ironic that the military service chiefs  who for many years considered it their primary job to keep [then-US President Donald] Trump under control, including having clandestine conversations with Chinese counterparts behind Trumps back  did not raise any alarms when Biden decided to blow up Nord Stream 2.

If responsible investigators go further, they would see that the covert operation clearly increased energy prices substantially to the detriment of countless persons worldwide and likely to the benefit of energy companies, especially including Burisma, assumed Ortel, referring, in particular, to the Biden family ties to the Ukrainian energy firm and the nations notorious oligarchy.

During the 2020 campaign, we now know that credible allegations of corruption involving payments to the Biden family were suppressed in corporate-owned media and in social media while manifestly ludicrous allegations were intensely fanned against Trump and against Russia, the Wall Street analyst said.

If Hershs allegations are proven true  as Ortel suspects they shall be  then the world will see how US political families are using the US, its military power and sophisticated intelligence to undermine their competitors and pursue their own vested interests, according to the Wall Street analyst. Peace through strength seems to have been turned on its head to become perpetual war using graft, he stressed.

In 2016, Hersh explained to me that inside many governments there are always pitched battles when it comes to making decisions, continued Ortel. In his career, Hersh has distinguished himself by bringing atrocities to light, while protecting his sources. Doing so using Substack, as he has, gave him the needed element of surprise as Hersh did not need to involve editors and others in the mainstream press, he just clicked a button on his Substack control panel and off his bombshell reporting went.

The Wall Street analyst highlighted that Hershs revelation came on the heels of a series of other exposes which had also been almost completely neglected by the western mainstream media.

One of them, written by US investigative journalist Jeff Gerth, told the story of how the mainstream press brazenly promoted allegations against Donald Trump and then refused to attempt to atone.

Earlier, Matt Taibbi and others shed light on inconvenient truths about former Twitter employees, their censorship of free speech and their collusion with the US federal government.

I suspect more revelations are coming that will connect dots concerning bipartisan corruption in service of the false god of unregulated globalism, Ortel pointed out. The Biden administration has crises over trust, over competence and over decency. No one can puzzle through a disagreement rejecting facts or logic () The known facts about Biden family corruption in Ukraine and elsewhere are damning.

Whats Next?

If Hersh is right, all relations between the US and Europe and within the Old Continent will be weakened, according to Furuseth.

Plausible deniability may be a useful tool at times, but it doesnt work that well with credibility, the Norwegian journalist remarked.

He doubts that Norwegian parliamentarians will exert pressure on Oslo to launch an investigation into what Hersh revealed. According to him, the Nordic states lawmakers dont have the guts and the liberty to do it. As long as our mainstream media buys into the official narrative, they do as they want, he added.

Furuseth quoted another Norwegian investigative reporter, Alf R. Jacobsen, who wrote a detailed analysis of the Nord Stream sabotage in October 2022, challenging an idea of Russias involvement in the blasts. According to Jacobsen, Hershs piece is credible and along the lines he indicated in his October article. Jacobsen hopes that the bombshell will increase the pressure on Sweden to release their findings.

Several other nations ought to question their own governments involvement, too. That includes my own, for sure, Furuseth added.

Meanwhile, Germany emerged as the big loser in this story, according to Mahncke.

Germany should be extremely upset with the US but wont say anything because Germany is effectively a vassal state which, like all western countries, is completely dependent on US security guarantees, the US investigative journalist said. The reality is that the US is running the show among western countries. US contributions to Ukraine exceed those of other countries by a factor of 20 or more. So if the US decides to blow up the pipeline, everyone else will toe the line, irrespective of what their own views are.

Not only Germanys industrial base was thrown under the bus, the US establishment did everything to undermine Russo-German relations, according to Imelda Ibanez, specialist in the history of Russian diplomacy and foreign policy of the Saint Petersburg State University.

In general terms, the [Nord Stream sabotage] was a terrorist attack against the alliance between Germany and Russia, which was formed many years ago, and which in geopolitical terms [the United States] wanted to prevent, because the potential that would be generated by both sides would have lessen the United States, Ibanez argued citing the dichotomy of maritime and continental powers described by British geostrategist Halford Mackinder in early 20th century.

The attempt to shatter the Russo-German partnership also involves dark symbolism pertaining to Berlins decision to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine 82 years after Nazi Germanys Panthers and Tigers brought death and destruction to the USSR. Washington is believed to have twisted Berlins arm into sending the armored vehicles to Kiev.

Sputniks interlocutors doubt that the US and European nations will launch an all-out investigation into the sabotage plot discovered by Hersh anytime soon. However, it appears that the Pulitzer-prize-winning reporter wont let the potential culprits off the hook. You are assuming I am done reportingnot so, Hersh told Sputnik.

Read more at: SputnikNews.com
(Natural News) Dan Happel and Mark Herr talked about the new House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government (WFG) on the Feb. 7 episode of the Brighteon.TV program Connecting The Dots.

Happel opened the discussion by playing a video of Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, discussing the formation of the House WFG Select Subcommittee. The Ohio congressman also chaired the new subcommittee, which would be under the bigger committee he oversees.

Business Insider reported that the Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted to establish the new subcommittee on Jan. 10. The entire GOP bloc voted 221-211 in favor of a resolution establishing the panel, while all Democratic lawmakers voted against its formation. According to Insider, the panel will be authorized to investigate executive branch agencies, particularly intelligence agencies, that gather information on American citizens.

Herr, who is the co-founder and president of the non-profit Center for Self Governance (CSG) based in Washington state, told Happel that the House WFG Select Subcommittee has the same subpoena and oversight powers as the Church Committee of the 1970s.

The Church Committee  formally the Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities  was chaired by the late former Sen. Frank Church (D-ID). It scrutinized abuses by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), National Security Agency (NSA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) during its existence.

According to Herr, the House WFG Select Subcommittee had already subpoenaed Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray. The CGS president added that both officials are going to circumvent the subpoenas sent by the subcommittee.

Ultimately, he remarked that the House WFG Select Subcommittee opens an opportunity for Americans to make a difference. Herr invited Americans to reach out to the subcommittee to expose media outlets, non-government organizations, federal entities and law enforcement agencies being purposely manipulated by Washington, D.C. to do its bidding.

Herr: 432 agencies weaponized by the federal government

Happel mentioned that the powers that be are labeling and demonizing everything. These globalist technocrats trying to push humanity into a one-world government have overplayed their hand, he added.

Theyve labeled anybody who believes in the U.S. as a constitutional republic  as the bad guys, Happel said. And guess what? A lot of Americans are waking up to that reality and they are saying Enough is enough, these people are over the top.'

Herr explained that the federal government pertains to the judicial, legislative and executive branches. The weaponized federal government for most, he added, would pertain to the FBI, its parent agency the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security. (Related: FBI raid on Mar-A-Lago backfires spectacularly as lawmakers call for NULLIFICATION of corrupt federal agencies like FBI, IRS, EPA, ATF, DOJ.)

But theres a lot more to our executive branch than meets the eye, Herr continued.

First, there are about 432 departments which are the constitutional departments mentioned in the U.S. Constitution. Then there are bureaus and agencies, which are either attached to those departments or independent structures created by Congress, either in support of the departments or in support of some executive, law enforcement that Congress has given to the executive branch.

He added that these 432 federal departments, agencies and bureaus are placed within the executive branch under the presidents oversight.

Follow BigGovernment.news for more news about the weaponization of the federal government in America.

Watch the Feb. 7 episode of Connecting The Dots below. You can catch Connecting The Dots with Dan Happel every Tuesday at 5-6 p.m. on Brighteon.TV.

More related stories:

DeSantis slams weaponized federal agencies for raid on Trumps Mar-A-Lago.

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Leaked documents reveal Homeland Securitys expansive influence over social media censorship.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

BusinessInsider.com
(Natural News) Russia announced on Friday, Feb. 10, that it will cut oil production by 500,000 barrels per day in March in retaliation for a United States- and European Union-led cap on the price of Russian crude oil and other oil products.

As of today, we are fully selling the entire volume of oil produced. However, as stated earlier, we will not sell oil to those who directly or indirectly adhere to the principles of the price cap,' said Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak in a statement. In this regard, Russia will voluntarily reduce production by 500,000 barrels per day in March. This will contribute to the restoration of market relations. (Related: Oil prices to rise above $100 a barrel this year due to lack of investment in energy production capacity.)

Novak added that Russia has already spoken with some members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries-Plus (OPEC+) regarding its decision to cut output. Several OPEC+ delegates who spoke with Reuters noted that the organization does not plan to act on Russias announced oil output cuts.

This decision comes less than two weeks after an OPEC+ panel, in which Russia is a member and endorsed the groups current output policy, leaving production cuts agreed upon last year in place.

Price cap on Russian oil exports forces Moscow to retaliate

The price cap the Kremlin is reacting to is one that limits the price of a barrel of Russian oil shipped to non-Western countries at $60 per barrel. The goal of this price cap is to keep the oil flowing to the world to prevent price spikes like those seen last year, while limiting Russias ability to profit from its oil exports.

The rationale the West has placed on this cap is that Russia would use its financial gains from the oil trade to finance its special military operation against Ukraine.

The price cap was first introduced by the Group of Seven countries  Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K., the U.S. and the EU  and is enforced by barring Western companies that control shipping and insurance from providing services for Russian oil that is sold above the price cap. The price cap is supported by an EU embargo on most Russian oil products.

Russia claims its decision to cut its oil production is in retaliation for the price cap.

Russia believes that the price cap mechanism in the sale of Russian oil and oil products is an interference in market relations and a continuation of the destructive energy policy of the countries of the collective West, said Novak.

The last time Russia cut its oil output was in April 2022, when output shrank by nearly nine percent following the introduction of Western sanctions over Ukraine. But since that time, Russia has already set up a vast network of logistics chains for its oil sales, most of which are now going to Asia instead of Europe or America.

Russian oil output last year actually rose by two percent despite the production cut to 10.7 million barrels of oil per day, thanks to a surge in sales to Asia, especially to Turkey, India and China.

Read more stories about the global energy situation at NewEnergyReport.com.

Watch this clip from Fox Business featuring GOP Rep. Byron Donalds discussing why Russia is still making record profits on oil exports despite Western sanctions.

This video is from the News Clips channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

As gas prices rise for 5th straight week, experts warn high prices will persist through summer.

CGEP report shows France guilty of HOARDING Russian LNG in early stages of Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Putin bans export of Russian oil to US and other nations that implemented a price cap.

As Europe freezes due to lack of energy, Russia nears completion of gas mega-pipeline to China.

EU undermining its own sanctions against Russia by buying as much Russian diesel as it can before ban begins.

Sources include:

Reuters.com

APNews.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Washington Post presstitute and social media PTSD sufferer Taylor Lorenz has been banned from Twitter by its new owner and free-speech platform promoter Elon Musk. Far-Left cry-bully Tay Tay is plastering tear-filled video rants across all other social media platforms, swearing that shes done nothing wrong and doesnt deserve to be put on restriction by the new Daddy of Twitterville.

Far-left liberal extremist Taylor Tay Tay Lorenz is banned from using Twitter because she was caught violating the rules related to doxxing. Prior to this ban, the Far-left social media tech giants were all cut from the same cloth  globalist communism politics  where anyone supporting the narrative that America needs to be dismantled and turned into a socialist hell-hole can say anything they want, do anything they want, and brag about it on social media.

Meanwhile, anyone trying to protect free speech, fair elections, clean medicine, or clean food gets banned, censored, doxxed, and de-funded. However, Twitter got bought out, and now everything on that platform just got inverted. Now the libs are getting banned from Twitter. Now the doxxers are getting censored. Now even the FBI is getting uncovered. Presstitutes (Leftist media shills) from mainstream media and social media are getting knocked off Twitter like flies off a watermelon at a company picnic. Shoo fly, shoo!

Queen of doxxing gets banned from her favorite doxxing platform, now shes suffering PTSD (Post-Twitter Social-media Drama)

Yes, Elon Musk has reprimanded the most evil social media libtard by calling out her doxxing events and tweeting out himself that, Such shameful behavior will not be tolerated moving forward. Since then, cry-bully Lorenz has been using her dogs Twitter account to circumvent the social-media trauma after getting a taste of her own medicine.

Obviously, she dishes out the hate speech right and left, but calls it unfair when she herself gets banned or suspended for it. She thinks she is banned permanently, or that may just be part of the PTSD  Post-Twitter Social-media Drama  she is suffering. She claims she was given no reason for the ban, and says that Elon Musk is simply banning anyone he disagrees with. Welcome to our world, Taylor, where every conservative and patriot in this country gets shadow-banned, censored, and even de-funded for even mentioning the American flag or something about the deadly Covid vaccines.

Elon Musk was doxxed by several Leftist journalists when they shared his jets location

Uber-rich folks do not appreciate it when the whole world knows exactly where to find them at any given moment, especially when theyre in their private jet or sunbathing on their own private island. Serial-doxxers and MSM presstitutes have enjoyed their no-holds-barred privileges of exposing and doxxing conservatives on social media with no ramifications since its inception, but now things have changed.

Elon Musk had suspended several MSM commie shills, including talking heads from MSNBC, NYT, CNN, and The Intercept. He finally lifted their ban on Twitter, but cry-bully and fake news scandalist Taylor Lorenz is still on restriction, thanks to the new man in town.

All of this is very important as it relates to free speech across the globe. Many natural health advocates have been banned from social media for years for simply talking about natural cures and avoiding toxic vaccines and prescription medications. The scamdemic is the best example of this, and now the propaganda pushers are the ones getting banned.

Its quite the irony, but the cry-bullies dont like it at all. To them, its not fair, and now they are suffering Post-Twitter Social-media Drama. Is there a medication for that, or a vaccine? Bookmark Censored.news to your favorite websites for truth news thats being censored from the rest of media as you read this.

Sources for this article include:

TheGatewayPundit.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) The new chief scientist for global health at the World Health Organization (WHO) was complicit in the coverup of the true origins of covid while in his previous post as director of the globalist-infested Wellcome Trust.

From 2013 until now, Dr. Jeremy Farrar led the Wellcome Trust, an organization that continues to play a major role in fleshing out the technocratic globalist network and the associated modern eugenics movement.

Farrar also played a critical role in redefining what a vaccine is to include experimental gene therapies like covid injections, which continue to be administered as an alleged preventive for the virus.

When COVID broke out, Farrar founded Wellcome Leap, which is basically the DARPA of global public health, explains Dr. Joseph Mercola. Its focus is wholly on transhumanist research to usher in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Along with WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Farrar is now working behind the scenes at the United Nations (UN) to influence not just global health but also finance and governance. (Related: Last summer, Ghebreyesus tried (but failed) to make monkeypox, aka pridepox, the next plandemic.)

As chief scientist at the WHO, Farrars job duties include developing and delivering high quality health services as the globalists define such things. Keep in mind that his job duties at the Wellcome Trust involved developing new birth control drugs and vaccines to help reduce the global population.

The Wellcome Trust is also a hotbed of former bankers, insurance executives, and investment board members. It is heavily tied to Big Pharma as well, its founder, the late Sir Henry Wellcome, having also founded the drug company now known as GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).

According to Dr. Mercola, the Wellcome Trust is basically the philanthropic arm of GSK, as well as one of the investors behind Vaccitech, a private corporation that holds the patents and royalties for AstraZenecas covid injection.

Considering the WHOs plan to seize control over health care decisions worldwide, starting with pandemic responses  a move that will essentially turn the WHO into an incubator for a One World Government or New World Order (NWO)  its selection of Farrar makes sense, Mercola writes. Hes part of the technocracy and is a eugenics insider already.

If the WHOs Pandemic Treaty gets passed this year as expected, Farrar will gain dictatorial power over global public health

In a few short months, the WHO and participating member nations will iron out and finalize the so-called Pandemic Treaty, which will spell the end of health freedom all around the world. Once that treaty gets signed, it is basically game over for liberty.

Farrar, should the Pandemic Treaty get signed as planned, will instantly become one of the most powerful medical dictators in the world. Whatever medical recommendations he makes will basically be binding for all WHO member nations, including the United States.

Seeing as how Farrar is a heavy proponent of experimental drugs and transhumanism, it is easy to envision what will become of public health once the Pandemic Treaty becomes concrete.

I would argue Farrar is a recipe for disaster when it comes to imposing experimental medical technologies on the population during public health crises, writes investigative journalist Whitney Webb.

This is a guy who was very much invested in this stuff  In terms of the kinds of pandemic response policies he supports, its lockdowns, masks  essentially all of that stuff. And he was the architect of a lot of that, specifically for the WHO during COVID-19. He has consistently supported policies that really, ultimately, have little to do with public health.

More related news can be found at Globalism.news.

Sources for this article include:

TheBurningPlatform.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) An older Arizona man has been arrested, charged, and is being held on a $1 million bond for firing warning shots at what his attorney says were armed men who pointed an AK-47 right at him.

According to Fox News, George Alan Kelly, 73, is being charged with first-degree murder over the shooting death of a Mexican national and suspected illegal alien found dead on his property. The defense is also arguing that the January 30 shooting was not premeditated and was, in fact, an act of self-defense.

The report said hes being held in connection with the shooting of a man whom authorities believe to be 48-year-old Gabriel Cuen-Butimea, based on the Mexican voter registration card he carried. The outlet adds that Kelly had completed chores on his ranch near Kino Springs earlier that day and came to his house to have lunch with his wife when he heard a single gunshot as they ate, Kellys court-appointed attorney, Brenna Larkin, wrote in a recent court filing obtained by Fox News Digital.

The filing goes on to say that Kelly saw his horse, which is old, running away in apparent fear at a full gallop.

Finally, he saw a group of men moving through the trees around his home. They were armed with AK-47 rifles, dressed in khakis and camouflaged clothing and carrying large backpacks, Larkin wrote. None of them were known to him. He had not given any of them permission to come onto his land.

Due to the fact that he was understandably concerned and reasonably feared for his safety, his wifes safety, and his animals safety, Kelly phoned the U.S. Border Patrol ranch liaison that is assigned specifically to help Americans living in border regions in order to report what he saw and to summon immediate help, Larkin noted further. He then told his wife to remain inside their home, to be quiet, and to stay away from the windows as he went onto his porch armed with a rifle.

The leader of the armed group of men saw Mr. Kelly and pointed an AK-47 right at him, Larkin wrote. Mr. Kelly, fearing for his life and safety, fired several shots from his rifle, hoping to scare them away from him, his wife, his animals, and his home. As he shot, Mr. Kelly took care to aim well over the heads of the armed group of men. The group then began running into the desert surrounding his home. Once the group had fled, Mr. Kelly walked over to his barn to see if it was safe and secure.

Fox News Digital adds:

The filing notes Kelly had a second conversation with the Border Patrol ranch liaison that ended at approximately 2:36 p.m. Even though Kelly reported that he heard a single shot and that the men he had seen were armed, the liaison incorrectly reported that Kelly stated he could not tell whether the men were armed or not, Larkin wrote. The radio dispatch to the Border Patrol agents en route to the property at approximately 2:40 p.m. correctly reported that armed men had been seen in the area.

While Kelly was checking his barn, a number of Border Patrol and Santa Cruz County Sheriffs deputies arrived at the property and encountered Kelly, who indicated to them that he had seen a group of armed men near his house, the filing says. Deputies also made contact with Kellys wife, who indicated that she had seen armed men carrying large backpacks near the house, Larkin wrote.

The law enforcement personnel walked all over Kellys property but did not find anyone, according to the filing. The group used various cameras to try and locate the men but didnt.

Later, as he checked on his horse again, he discovered the body lying face down near a mesquite tree on his property, and he called the Border Patrol again. He admitted firing warning shots but said he did not fire directly at the men.

The defense attorney added that it remains unknown what kind of bullet caused the fatal wound, what was the time of death, how long the body had been there or where and what position the person was in prior to receiving the fatal wounds, the report noted further.

If this is anyones fault, its that of Joe Biden, his worthless VP Kamala Harris  who is in charge of the border  and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for refusing to do his job and enforce border laws.

Sources include:

FoxNews.com

InvasionUSA.news
(Natural News) Worldview Report host Brannon House shared several survival tips for Americans in case the United States experiences a nuclear attack.

He mentioned these tips during the Feb. 8 edition of his program. According to Howse, the American people can survive the old way of warfare using nuclear weapons. He then played a clip featuring Shane Conner of the Doctors for Disaster Preparedness.

Conner, the founder of the KI4U radiological laboratory, said there is no need for billions of dollars to create fallout shelters. What is needed, however, is educating people about nuclear disaster preparedness. These include teaching them about ducking and covering after a nuclear explosion and going into a shelter.

According to Conner, the duck and cover strategy was extremely effective, especially after the atomic flash. For those indoors, staying away from a window after seeing the flash and going under a desk or table is much better than being seriously injured by flying glass shards.

The disaster preparedness advocate continued that after doing the duck and cover, the more dangerous fallout that produces so much radioactive energy still remains. A person who sees the dust must hunker down to avoid the radioactive energy. (Related: Dr. Lee Merritt discusses how to survive a nuclear blast on Merritt Medical Hour  Brighteon.TV.)

For those with basements in their homes, Conner advised the use of dirt-filled cardboard boxes piled around the basement walls to address the radiation from outside. He also suggested having a mattress or something to sleep in the basement following the first seven hours or more after the fallout.

Howse added to what Conner said about hunkering down. This hunkering down time allows people to seek shelter at the soonest, especially those with basements in their homes.

Americans are not open to hearing about nuclear disaster preparedness

Conner lamented that many people do not believe it is possible to survive a nuclear attack. While Americans arent ignorant of the effects of a nuclear weapons, they are close-minded about how to protect themselves.

I find out that they look at nukes like a lot of people do as some asteroid hitting Earth that killed all the dinosaurs. In other words, there is no surviving it. Theyve prepared for everything you could think of, except for nukes. They are in the same camp as the general public. It is that pervasive.

According to Conner, those who have a closed mind are not open to hearing about nuclear disaster preparedness and wont be seeking it out as well.

Howse then asked why the Biden administration is not focusing on nuclear disaster preparedness, given that China and Russia have threatened nuclear war.

We have a responsibility to prepare the American people for the threats were facing that are very serious. But of course, they have created serious threats. They created serious threats. We are weak. We have weak, feckless, corrupt leaders. We are a nation that is collapsing morally, he said.

Follow NuclearSurvival.news for more tips on how to prepare for a nuclear attack.

Watch the full segment of the Worldview Report about surviving a nuclear attack.

This video is from the Worldview Report channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Brannon Howse: US military under Biden is prioritizing WOKENESS over READINESS  Brighteon.TV.

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Here are the key supplies youll need to survive a nuclear attack.

Study finds American medical system unprepared for a nuclear attack.

Life-saving tips: How to prepare your home for a nuclear attack.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

CoastToCoastAM.com
(Natural News) In order to continue receiving Universal Basic Income (UBI) payments from the government, Brazilians on welfare must now show proof of vaccination.

The newly selected Lula da Silva, Brazils new socialist-globalist leader, has decreed that the so-called Bolsa Familia program is being updated to only include those who receive every vaccine pushed by the government.

We cant play, da Silva said. Its a question of science. If I have 10 covid vaccines to take, I will take all that is necessary.

It was The Rio Times that first announced these changes to the Bolsa program, which is described as a social welfare program for the poorest families in Brazil and a kind of Universal Basic Income. In practice, the scheme has become a social credit system much like the one that exists in communist China.

From now on, all participants in Bolsa Familia will need to show proof of injection in order to continue receiving cash payments  see below:

Lula says Brazilians can receive financial aid only if they have taken the vax. Bolsa Familia will require vax certificates from participants & their children: We cant play, its a question of science. If I have 10 covid vaccines to take, I will take all that is necessary. ? ? pic.twitter.com/hqrYq4jO6r  Geopolitics & Empire (@Geopolitics_Emp) February 7, 2023

(Related: Pope Francis loves the idea of a global UBI system; cites benefits of globalization.)

CBDCs will onramp UBI programs all around the world

The announcement comes as central banks in Brazil and all around the world gear up to unleash their new Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) initiatives, which will do away with cash and coins.

The money systems of the future  systems that are about to become the present  will require full obedience from the populace to every government order, including mandatory vaccination. This is how everyone in the world will be forced into absolute government servitude.

Nearly every CBDC program currently in the works comes with expiration and use-by dates, meaning participants will need to spend their allotted cash within a certain time period or else it all goes away.

There are also anti-hoarding features in most of them that further make it difficult for people to save their money rather than spend it on the governments desired timeline.

Thirdly are the total information awareness mechanisms built into CBDC. Mark E. Jeftovic from Bomb Thrower describes these in the following way:

Once its digitized in a centralized database (central banks) as opposed to being cryptographically secured on a decentralized blockchain (Bitcoin)  everything becomes known to central authorities instantly. Taxation can be applied per-transaction, but more interestingly  prices can also be modified on the fly.

If youre behind on your property or income taxes  or have an unpaid fine (maybe because youre fighting it), for example, they could simply enable a rolling garnishee on your wallet until its paid off.

Unlike with Bitcoin, CBDCs provide no freedom and no privacy. Every movement of money will be fully traceable and the government will have full access to every detail for enforcement purposes.

Covid vaxports have already been weaponized in China, Brazil is doing it with their UBI program and when this is all formalized into a CBDC, they will probably not launch it without the framework for widespread social credit and control systems being part of the plumbing, Jeftovic explains.

We all know from our experience with the pandemic, emergencies tend to drag on in perpetuity. The War on Terror is still in effect, and there are still legions of collectivist automatons tweeting #CovidIsntOver.

More related news coverage can be found at BigGovernment.news.

Sources for this article include:

BombThrower.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday added COVID-19 vaccination to its routine immunization schedule for children and adults.

(Article by Brenda Baletti, Ph.D. republished from ChildrensHealthDefense.org)

Although the CDC does not have the authority to set requirements itself, the agencys immunization schedule provides formal guidance for state and local public health officials who set the rules for which vaccines are required to attend school.

The schedule also is the basis for vaccine recommendations made by most physicians.

Given all that we have learned about the dangers and ineffectiveness of COVID-19 shots over the last two years, it is horrifying to see the CDC now recommend this as a routine shot to children, Mary Holland, Childrens Health Defense (CHD) president and general counsel told The Defender.

Although it is unsurprising given the agency capture, it is nonetheless tragic, she added.

Thursdays move formalized the recommendation by the agencys vaccine advisory committee, which on Oct. 20, 2022, voted unanimously (15-0) to recommend adding COVID-19 vaccines for children as young as 6 months old to the new Child and Adolescent Immunization Schedule.

This reckless action is final proof of the cynicism, corruption + capture of a once exemplary public health agency. ACIP members have demonstrated that fealty to their pharma overlords eclipses any residual concerns they may harbor for child welfare.https://t.co/UkRQBxAvo2  Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) October 20, 2022

Under the new guidelines, the CDC recommends healthy children 6 months to 11 years old receive a primary series of two doses of the mRNA Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech monovalent COVID-19 vaccine, followed by a booster of the bivalent shot.

It recommends that healthy people age 12 and older receive two doses of either the Moderna, Pfizer or Novavax vaccine followed by a bivalent booster.

All COVID-19 vaccines being administered in the U.S. to people under 18 are Emergency Use Authorized (EUA) products. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) did grant full approval to Pfizers Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine for ages 12 and older, however, the Comirnaty vaccine is not available in the U.S.  which means all children who get the Pfizer vaccine are getting an EUA product.

In Wednesdays congressional hearing on the Biden administrations response to COVID-19, Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) asked CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, why the CDC broke with its own norms and put an EUA vaccine on the childhood immunization schedule for a disease that poses very little risk to children and for which the vaccine poses many potential side effects without preventing transmission.

Walensky responded:

The reason that the ACIP [Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices] recommended the CDC put the COVID-19 vaccine on the pediatric schedule was only because it was the only way it could be covered in our Vaccines for Children program. It was the only way that our under-uninsured children would be able to have access to the vaccines  That was the reason to put it there.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky on Why an Experimental Vaccine was Added to the Childhood Schedule The reason ACIP recommendedgetting the COVID-19 vaccine on the pediatric schedule, it was ONLY because it was the only way it could be covered in our Vaccines for Children program pic.twitter.com/k1CVf4cv09  Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) February 8, 2023

Data collected by the CDC through its Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) and a growing number of other sources indicate serious health risks associated with COVID-19 vaccination for children.

The COVID vaccines have not been shown to be either effective or safe for children, CHD argued in an amicus brief filed in Louisiana last year. The benefits to children are minuscule, while the risks  including the risk of potentially fatal heart damage  are known and serious, as the FDA itself has acknowledged.

Other changes to the childhood schedule include adding the PVC15 shot, a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine used to help protect against pneumococcal bacteria and only recently approved for children; updated guidance for the flu and hepatitis B vaccines; and new recommendations for the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) and polio vaccines.

The CDC now recommends an additional dose of the MMR vaccine in places where there is a mumps outbreak. It also recommends an additional poliovirus vaccine for children and adults if new polio cases emerge.

This would mean the childhood vaccination schedule would increase the number of recommended injections from 54 to 72 over the course of a persons childhood, between the ages of 6 months and 18 years, The Defender reported last year.

CDC schedule protects pharmaceutical companies from liability for vaccine injuries

Vaccine makers are not liable for injuries or deaths associated with EUA vaccines but can be held liable for injuries caused by a fully licensed vaccine  unless that vaccine is added to the CDCs childhood vaccination schedule.

Parents of children injured by vaccines listed on the childhood schedule can seek compensation through the taxpayer-funded National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP), a no-fault alternative to the traditional legal system for resolving vaccine injury claims.

However, the revisions voted on by the ACIP committee last year explicitly state (slide 24) that the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPSV23) and COVID-19 vaccines are not covered under the NVICP.

Instead, the COVID-19 vaccines added to the childhood schedule will remain covered by the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP). To date, only 19 claims related to COVID-19 filed with the CICP have been found eligible for compensation, though no compensation has yet been paid.

Since it was established in 2010, the CICP only compensated 30 of the nearly 12,000 claims filed.

Are we seeing the beginning of the end of Big Pharmas reign?

The addition of the COVID-19 vaccine to the immunization schedule helps normalize this vaccine and sends a powerful message to both healthcare providers and the general public that everyone ages 6 months and older should stay up to date with recommended COVID-19 vaccines (including a booster, when eligible), just as they would with any other routinely recommended vaccine, Dr. Neil Murthy and Dr. A. Patricia Wodi said in a statement reported by CNN.

This normalization comes at a time when over 85% of the U.S. population hasnt been boosted, despite the massive government-sponsored media push.

Nationally, only 12% of children ages 6 months to 4 years have received one dose of the vaccine. Only 58% of children ages 12 to 17 and 32% of children ages 5 to 11 have received two doses of the vaccine. Numbers vary widely across states.

Holland commented on the implications of adding this shot to the schedule:

The childhood schedule is already unscientific and unjustifiable. Adding this shot may well be the straw that breaks the camels back. Parents are likely to resist, finally calling the entire childhood vaccine schedule into question. That day has been long in coming, but it is now here. I believe we are now watching the beginning of the end of Big Pharmas reign over the nations children.

At Wednesdays congressional hearing, lawmakers repeatedly raised concerns about how regulatory agencies flawed recommendations led to a lack of confidence in public institutions.

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) said, Theres serious distrust today with our public health agencies. [Polling indicates] 40% of the public does not trust our public health agencies to handle the next public health emergency.

Walensky indicated that vaccination rates for all vaccines on the childhood schedule among kindergarten children declined last year, dropping from 95% to 93% over the last two years, amounting to hundreds of thousands of parents opting not to comply with the childhood vaccination schedule.

The most recent VAERS data on vaccine injuries, updated Feb. 2 for children 6 months to 5 years old who received a COVID-19 vaccine, showed reports of 5,737 adverse events, including 244 cases rated as serious and 14 reported deaths.

For 5- to 11-year-olds, there were 16,910 reports of adverse events, including 805 rated as serious and 33 reported deaths.

VAERS is the primary government-funded system for reporting adverse vaccine reactions in the U.S. While reports submitted to VAERS require further investigation before a causal relationship can be confirmed, VAERS historically has been shown to report only 1% of actual vaccine adverse events.

According to Retsef Levi, Ph.D., with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the vaccines cause unprecedented levels of harm, including the death of young people and children.

Multiple studies have determined that the vaccines increase the risk of myocarditis and pericarditis, particularly in young men.

An October 2022 study revealed the CDC was aware of the safety signal for these side effects months before it informed the public.

At the recent FDA vaccine advisory committee meeting, several committee members also raised concerns about recommending annual bivalent boosters for children given the lack of data.

Dr. Archana Chatterjee, Ph.D., committee member and dean of the Chicago Medical School and vice president for medical affairs at Rosalind Franklin University said:

As we look at this question [simplifying the vaccination schedule] for young children, the data is just too few for us to really make scientifically sound decisions regarding this question. The trial data need to be much more robust than we have seen in the past. In light of data like this, vaccination for COVID-19 for children and healthy people is losing public and even governmental support in some places.

Under public pressure and facing a series of lawsuits, last week California dropped its plan to mandate COVID-19 vaccination for school children.

As of Feb. 6, 21 states have legislation or executive orders banning student vaccine mandates, according to the National Academy for State Health Policy, a nonpartisan organization of state health policymakers.

Only the District of Columbia currently has a vaccine mandate for school children, although it is not set to go into effect until the 2023-2024 school year.

As of Feb. 12, the U.K. will no longer recommend COVID-19 boosters for healthy people under age 50.

Denmark ended its universal COVID-19 vaccination campaign for healthy individuals in February 2022.

Read more at: ChildrensHealthDefense.org
(Natural News) The Medical Rebel Dr. Lee Merritt shared several steps to stay healthy even without standard medicine on the Feb. 8 episode of the Merritt Medical Hour on Brighteon.TV.

During her program, the former Navy physician and surgeon disclosed that she has successfully escaped the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) death cult and treats herself using ancient medicine. Merritt explained that in ancient medicine, there are only two treatments  purification and detoxification.

Purification means getting right with God and being in touch with Him on a daily basis. Meanwhile, detoxification means getting rid of all the poisons and toxins in someones body. These, she said, are key to staying healthy.

According to Merritt, people need to know that they accumulate toxins as they go on with their lives  given that they are now in a highly technological society that gets them in contact with a lot of lethal substances. She also blasted the idea of people cleaning the germs off of every surface with chemicals.

The Medical Rebel also pointed out that poisonous chemicals are in beauty products such as soaps, deodorants and antiperspirants. Fluoride is also present in toothpaste and drinking water, and glyphosate is present in many foods.

So, you detoxify yourself and you dont poison yourself. You dont keep pouring in the poisons on one end and then think youre going to eliminate them on the other end. Youve got to eliminate the ones you need to, but you got to stop poisoning yourself.

Merritt also discussed chlorine dioxide, which has been dubbed the universal antitoxin or antidote.

In chemical terms, it can kill the bad bugs but it doesnt kill you. Its just perfect and theres really nothing else like that. Now, it isnt part of standard medicine, but Ive heard enough about it.

Merritt: Watch out for parasites, EMF

The Brighteon.TV host also mentioned that people need to deal with the parasites in their bodies. According to Merritt, the medical establishment has ignored the possibility of parasitic infections for a long time now. She added that there are many different kinds of parasites and people all have them.

The Medical Rebel cited the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which said that 50 percent of Americans are probably infected with toxoplasmosis. This parasitic disease, which can be contracted from cats and other things, affects the brain and is connected with schizophrenia and other mental illnesses. Merritt added that these parasites, including the one for toxoplasmosis, are intracellular and are not visible to the naked eye.

Moreover, Merritt warned against the dangers of electromagnetic frequencies (EMF). People can get sick even if they do not catch a virus because of EMF toxicity. She mentioned that exposure to EMF can actually transmit symptomatically specific diseases electromagnetically and it is a big deal, especially with the 5G towers already being introduced.

The Medical Rebel emphasized the importance of supplementing deficiencies with essential nutrients. She mentioned that a person needs to take 90 essential nutrients that the human body cannot make, such as vitamin C. (Related: Dr. Peter Glidden tells Dr. Lee Merritt: The human body needs 90 essential nutrients to stay healthy  Brighteon.TV.)

Merritt said she had to wake up to reality at age 50 that she needed to have supplements and completely revamp her idea about using a balanced liquid or powdered nutritional supplement.

Follow AlternativeMedicine.news for more news about keeping the body healthy without standard medicine.

Watch the Feb. 8 episode of the Merritt Medical Hour below. The Merritt Medical Hour airs every Wednesday at 7-8 p.m. and Saturday at 2-3 p.m. on Brighteon.TV.

More related stories:

Merritt Medical Hour: Cory Hillis discusses the dangers of EMF on the human body  Brighteon.TV.

Study shows compounds in ancient herbal medicine can help increase longevity.

Beneficial enzymes in barley grass can boost gut health and protect against cancer.

The best acupressure points for total body detoxification.

Treating parasites naturally: 10 foods that kill parasites and restore essential nutrients.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

DrLeeMerritt.com
(Natural News) Medical professionals who enthusiastically assisted the transitioning of minor individuals are abandoning the detransitioners and refusing to undo the damage in their young bodies and minds.

Prisha Mosley, a former female-to-male (FTM) transgender, had a slew of medical complications dating back to the more than five years she spent on testosterone and a double mastectomy that a plastic surgeon performed shortly after she turned 18. Many of those complications surround her endocrine system, which encompasses the hormones that regulate nearly every process in the body, from metabolism to growth and development, emotions, mood, sexual function and sleep.

But every primary care physician, endocrinologist, obstetrician and gynecologist she approached on her insurance list has turned her away or said they cant help.

I was under the impression that my doctors, who were transitioning me, loved me. They said they didnt want me to die, they were saving my life, they were worried about me, and they wanted me to be healthy and happy, Mosley told the Federalists Kelsey Bolar. Clearly, they dont love me. As soon as its not profitable, they dont want to help.

She was hoping to get her endocrine system to work so she could get off or be on less psychiatric medicine. Low testosterone and estrogen will cause depression and anxiety and she was being medicated for both.

The detransitioner also hopes shell experience some muscle and fat redistribution with estrogen supplements because, the years of testosterone therapy broadened her neck and shoulders, causing her chronic pain in her upper body.

She also told Bolar that her throat is sore, she could no longer sing or raise her voice and she suffers hair loss. She is also seeking medical attention for severe sexual dysfunction, painful and irregular periods and atrophy.

Mosley, who has a long and complicated history with borderline personality disorder, anxiety, depression and other mental illnesses, said she used transitioning as a cover for her deep-rooted mental health issues.

Now as a detransitioner, her therapy treatment is in disarray as she lost her health insurance because she couldnt afford it. Under her new insurance, instead of being charged $10 per therapy appointment, she is being charged $96. To date, she owes nearly $3,000 to her therapist.

I feel like its like a bottomless pit  the medical needs  and I need the therapy because I can barely do this, she lamented and swore she absolutely will not, once again, medicalize her body without taking care of her mind. (Related: It almost killed me: Ex-trans teen slams gender transitioning in powerful speech.)

Professional organizations claim to offer supportive care for transgender and gender diverse individuals, however, the offer does not apply to individuals seeking to detransition.

Tennessee is railroading ban on chemical and surgical gender-affirming care

Mosley recently testified in favor of banning chemical and surgical treatments for minors that medically harmed them.

Tennessees Senate Bill 0001 is quickly moving forward through various committees and is on its way to becoming law, with the help of her testimony and other detransitioners. The said bill will bar the use of puberty-blocking drugs, cross-sex hormones and gender-related surgeries on minors statewide.

As a detransitioned adult I recognize the importance that civil action laws like this would provide in holding the people accountable who did this to me as a child and preventing other children from being harmed, said Mosley.

I was a little girl, but now I will never know what it is fully like. I fully support a bill that protects youth from the undeniable harm caused by so-called gender-affirming care,' she added.

A detransitioned man, Abel Garcia, was not given the opportunity to speak so he released a clip of his prepared statement on social media.

He said: Looking at todays climate, I am very worried and concerned because if I, as an adult, was led astray by the medical system and those who were supposed to help me, what hope do children have today?

Garcia chemically and surgically transitioned as a young adult and now experiences urinary tract problems and genital atrophy as a result of hormone therapy.

Those testifying against the bill included a wealth of misinformation in their prepared statements, including the debunked narrative that failing to affirm a childs transgender identity with medical treatments increases the risk of suicide.

Senator Jack Johnson, who co-authored the bill, was able to clear up some of the misinformation before the vote was taken. The state Senate Judiciary Committee passed the bill with a 7-2 vote on Feb. 7.

Visit Transhumanism.news to read more about transgenderism and gender affirmation therapies or surgeries.

The video below features Alex Jones talking about how transgenderism corrupts children.

This video is from the InfoWars channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Latest trans fad involves men slicing off shoulder width to look more feminine.

Detransitioner Chloe Cole to sue doctors who forced her to undergo gender-affirming procedures.

Detransitioner Chloe Cole blasts transgender refuge state bill backed by CA state senator.

Former trans teens express REGRET over gender reassignment procedures.

Sources include:

TheFederalist.com

WAPP.Capitol.tn.gov

DailyWire.com

Twitter.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) The United States could soon find itself fighting a major two-front war with both Russia and China, considering the way things have been going for the past several weeks.

It was one thing when Russia invaded its neighbor, the corrupt country of Ukraine, almost a year ago, but for some reason known only to our power-mad elites, American taxpayers are supporting Kyiv with showers of money, American military hardware, and weapon systems that we cannot easily replace.

Now, just days ago, a weak, frail Joe Biden finally ordered the U.S. military to shoot down a Chinese spy balloon after it traversed the country but not before it gathered signals intelligence and flew over several highly sensitive bases and nuclear weapons locations.

In short, it appears as though we are the closest we have been to an all-out world war in 80 years, and worse, this next one could turn nuclear in a hurry. With that in mind, it is worth taking a look at each countrys nuclear arsenals and the shape they are in.

In recent days, Republicans in Congress have been buzzing about a new report from the top commander of U.S. nuclear forces that says that China now has more launchers for land-based nuclear missiles than the U.S. does, notes The Economic Collapse Blog, which then goes on to cite from a Politico report:

Top Republicans on Capitol Hill are raising alarms over news that China has surpassed the U.S. in its number of launchers for land-based nuclear missiles  and arguing for the U.S. to expand its own arsenal to keep pace.

Four GOP leaders on the House and Senate Armed Services committees said the revelation about Chinas nuclear capability, made in a Jan. 26 letter from the top commander of U.S. nuclear forces, is a warning that Beijings arsenal is expanding faster than anticipated, though the U.S. still has more warheads and intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Next, the blog notes that Russia, which is currently having difficulty taking and then holding ground in Ukraine after some initial successes, has nevertheless been spending money over the past several years to upgrade its own nuclear arsenal. That has included replacing a Soviet-era ICBM with a newer version that can also carry hypersonic glide vehicles that travel at around five to seven times the speed of sound and are incapable of being shot down with the current missile defense technology the U.S. can field.

Defense News reports:

The Sarmat is a three-stage, silo-based, liquid-fuel, heavy ICBM with a reported range of 18,000 kilometers. Dubbed Satan II by NATO, the missile is a Russian-built replacement of the Soviet-era SS-18 Satan ICBM, which is reaching the end of its life cycle. The Sarmat reportedly can carry a 10-ton payload consisting of 10-plus multiple independent reentry vehicles along with penetration aids used to evade missile defenses. Moscow says the new missile can also carry several Avangard hypersonic glide vehicles.

China, meanwhile, has more than doubled its nuclear arsenal over the past two years, according to the same Politico report.

This should serve as a wake-up call for the United States, said House Armed Services Chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), Senate Armed Services ranking member Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo), and Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) in a joint statement. It is not an understatement to say that the Chinese nuclear modernization program is advancing faster than most believed possible.

We have no time to waste in adjusting our nuclear force posture to deter both Russia and China, the lawmakers added. This will have to mean higher numbers and new capabilities.

Now, the U.S. does have a significant number of nuclear warheads deployed aboard super stealthy Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines. Hundreds of them could be parked off the coast of China without Beijing ever knowing they were there. But the larger issue is this: Do we really want to engage in a nuclear conflict in the first place? The answer ought to be a resounding no, but our leaders appear to be thinking otherwise.

Sources include:

DefenseNews.com

Politico.com

TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
(Natural News) The Russian government, which is mired in conflict with its western neighbor Ukraine, is demanding that Biden administration officials and personnel be held responsible for blowing up Moscows Nord stream natural gas pipelines after award-winning American journalist Seymour Hersh claimed the regime was responsible for it in a lengthy report last week.

The shocking and well-documented new report laid bare the administrations deep involvement in sabotaging Russias Nordstream 1 and 2 pipelines last fall as Moscows forces attempted to push further into Ukraine following an invasion that began in February 2022, nearly a year ago.

Now, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says that Hershs account deserves a lot more attention than it has gotten and that those responsible must be held accountable.

The world must find out the truth about who carried out this act of sabotage, he told reporters late last week. This is a very dangerous precedent: if someone did it once, they can do it again anywhere in the world.

Hersh, who gained recognition for exposing the My Lai Massacre and its cover-up during the Vietnam War, laid out the plot in a lengthy Substack article earlier this week that included some deep state sources who filled in some blanks for him.

Last June, the Navy divers, operating under the cover of a widely publicized mid-summer NATO exercise known as BALTOPS 22, planted the remotely triggered explosives that, three months later, destroyed three of the four Nord Stream pipelines, according to a source with direct knowledge of the operational planning, Hersh reported, adding:

Two of the pipelines, which were known collectively as Nord Stream 1, had been providing Germany and much of Western Europe with cheap Russian natural gas for more than a decade. A second pair of pipelines, called Nord Stream 2, had been built but were not yet operational. Now, with Russian troops massing on the Ukrainian border and the bloodiest war in Europe since 1945 looming, President Joseph Biden saw the pipelines as a vehicle for Vladimir Putin to weaponize natural gas for his political and territorial ambitions.

It wasnt a decision that came early or lightly. According to Hershs sources, it took more than nine months of debate, all of which was highly secretive (and none of which leaked  unlike even the tamest of private conversations President Trump held) within the administrations national security community about how best to carry out the operation. Hersh reports that for most of the time while the debates were taking place, it wasnt a matter of whether to do it but how to get it done in a way that was covert and did not overtly implicate the responsible party.

Also, specialized Navy divers were chosen for the mission, not members of Special Operations Command, because their ops have to be reported to Congress and briefed to the Gang of Eight  the House and Senate leadership. So, the regime was planning its mission with the objective of avoiding leaks as best as possible, which appeared to be a success as planning began in earnest after 2022 began.

In the end, Hersh said the operation was based out of a newly refurbished U.S. submarine base in Norway:

The Norwegian navy was quick to find the right spot, in the shallow waters of the Baltic sea a few miles off Denmarks Bornholm Island. The pipelines ran more than a mile apart along a seafloor that was only 260 feet deep. That would be well within the range of the divers, who, operating from a Norwegian Alta class mine hunter, would dive with a mixture of oxygen, nitrogen and helium streaming from their tanks, and plant shaped C4 charges on the four pipelines with concrete protective covers. It would be tedious, time consuming and dangerous work, but the waters off Bornholm had another advantage: there were no major tidal currents, which would have made the task of diving much more difficult.

After a bit of research, the Americans were all in, Hersh wrote.

Months later, according to Hersh, a Norwegian surveillance plane dropped a sonobuoy with a transmitter to the surface of the water. Once activated, the sonobuoy began transmitting low-frequency tonal sounds to the C4 charges, thereby detonating them.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk

SeymourHersh.Substack.com
China's NEV charging infrastructure facilities nearly double in number in 2022

Xinhua) 10:30, February 14, 2023

BEIJING, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- China's number of charging infrastructure facilities nearly doubled in 2022, thanks to the country's commitment to boosting the new energy vehicle (NEV) industry, National Energy Administration official Liang Changxin said on Monday.

The cumulative number of charging infrastructure facilities nationwide has hit 5.2 million, Liang told a press conference.

Some 650,000 public-charging points for electric vehicles were added last year, bringing the total to 1.8 million units, he said.

A total of 1.9 million private charging facilities were installed in 2022, and the total number of these facilities topped 3.4 million units, he added.

Thanks to years of rapid expansion, China now has built the world's largest and the most extensive-coverage charging infrastructure network, according to Liang.

The administration said it will work with related government departments to further improve the top-level design and policy coordination, optimize the charging network layout, and enhance government oversight to better develop the charging industry.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
(Natural News) A Ukraine biolab has revealed that it received much of its funding directly from George Soros and Barack Obama, according to newly leaked documents.

(Article by Sean Adl-Tabatabai republished from NewsPunch.com)

The Mechnikov Anti-Plague Research Institute in Odessa, Ukraine is located at a former Soviet biological weapons plant. The Institute now operated under the banner of the Ukraine Ministry of Health. Then-senator Barack Obama announced a deal in 2005 to fund the Institute, according to records. The Institute handles dangerous and deadly microbes and also works on developing vaccines, and experts have warned that it could be used to supply bioterrorism in the region.

Nationalfile.com reports: The Ukrainian I.I. Mechnikov Anti-Plague Research Institute in Odessa, Ukraine (MINISTRY OF HEALTH) reported SOROS Foundation funding, with SOROS in capital letters. The document is marked as having been produced by the Institute, with Institute staff listed as contacts. THE DOCUMENT IS PRESERVED HERE (CLICK TO SEE THE DOCUMENT).

Progressive billionaire George Soros Open Society Foundations is officially known as the Soros Foundation in some parts of the world including at the foundations offices in Almaty in Kazakhstan, Chisinau in Moldova, and Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan. George Soros family members also have foundations that use the name Soros.

There were safety problems and problematic handling of deadly microbes at the Odessa location, and NBC News even reported on the safety concerns back in 2005 during the Bush administration. The plant has a reportedly deadly legacy and has sparked fear that its pathogens could be used for black-market bioterrorism. Of course, then-Illinois senator Barack Obama and a Republican senator announced an agreement to fund the Mechnikov lab during the Bush administration.

The Institute has strong collaborative research connections with organizations from around the world, and it receives financial support from a variety of international organizations including STCU, SOROS Foundation, Civilian Research and Development Foundation, NEDA and the University of London, the document states.

China owns a large share of farmland in Ukraine, where the United States has plunged over $100 billion in foreign aid since the breakout of war.

The United States government admitted to the existence of U.S. Department of Defense-funded biolabs in Ukraine. The Russian government has made stirring allegations regarding the contents of U.S.-funded Ukrainian labs, suggesting that the labs are home to bioweapons research that could be used against enemies of the globalist Western regime. Meanwhile, the Department of Defense has used a base in San Antonio to study human tissue and RNA material exclusively from Caucasian Russians.

U.S. State Department records show that in 2005 the U.S. Department of Defense made an agreement with Ukraine to fund biolabs to conduct research supposedly to stop the construction of bioweapons. The agreement states: In order to assist Ukraine in preventing the proliferation of technology, pathogens, and expertise that are located at the Scientific Research Institute of Epidemiology and Hygiene (Lviv), the Ukrainian Scientific Research Anti-Plague Institute (Odessa), the Central Sanitary Epidemiological Station (Kyiv), and other facilities in Ukraine identified by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, and that could be used in the development of biological weapons, the U.S. Department of Defense shall provide assistance to the Ministry of Health of Ukraine at no cost, subject to the availability of funds appropriated for this purpose, in accordance with the terms of this Agreement.

On April 22, 2020, the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine acknowledged that the U.S. Department of Defense works with the Ukrainian Government to consolidate and secure pathogens and toxins of security concern in Ukrainian government facilities, while allowing for peaceful research and vaccine development. The U.S. Embassy stated: The U.S. Embassy would like to set the record straight regarding disinformation spreading in some circles in Ukraine that mirrors Russian disinformation regarding the strong U.S.-Ukrainian partnership to reduce biological threats. Here in Ukraine, the U.S. Department of Defenses Biological Threat Reduction Program works with the Ukrainian Government to consolidate and secure pathogens and toxins of security concern in Ukrainian government facilities, while allowing for peaceful research and vaccine development. We also work with our Ukrainian partners to ensure Ukraine can detect and report outbreaks caused by dangerous pathogens before they pose security or stability threats. Our joint efforts help to ensure that dangerous pathogens do not fall into the wrong hands. Were proud to partner with the Ministry of Health, State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection, National Academy of Agrarian Sciences, and the Ministry of Defense to make us all safer.

Here is a list of Archived U.S. State Department records obtained by NATIONAL FILE that show the U.S. Department of Defense funding Ukrainian labs (the article continues below after the list of links):

https://web.archive.org/web/20170130193016/https://photos.state.gov/libraries/ukraine/895/pdf/dtro-kharkiv-eng.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20210511164310/https://photos.state.gov/libraries/ukraine/895/pdf/dtro-luhansk-eng.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20170221125752/https://photos.state.gov/libraries/ukraine/895/pdf/dtro-dnipropetrovsk-eng.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20210506053014/https://photos.state.gov/libraries/ukraine/895/pdf/dtro-vinnitsa-eng.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20170221125752/https://photos.state.gov/libraries/ukraine/895/pdf/dtro-dnipropetrovsk-eng.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20170207122550/https://photos.state.gov/libraries/ukraine/895/pdf/dtro-kherson-fact-sheet-eng.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20170223011502/https://photos.state.gov/libraries/ukraine/895/pdf/dtro-ternopil-fact-sheet-eng.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20170208032526/https://photos.state.gov/libraries/ukraine/895/pdf/dtro-zakarpatska-fact-sheet-eng.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20170208032526/https://photos.state.gov/libraries/ukraine/895/pdf/dtro-zakarpatska-fact-sheet-eng.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20170202040923/https://photos.state.gov/libraries/ukraine/895/pdf/dtro-lviv-dl-eng.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20170201004446/https://photos.state.gov/libraries/ukraine/895/pdf/dtro-lviv-rdvl-eng.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20161230143004/https://photos.state.gov/libraries/ukraine/895/pdf/dtro-eidss.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20210506212717/https://photos.state.gov/libraries/ukraine/895/pdf/dtro-pathogen-asset-control.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20170207153023/https://photos.state.gov/libraries/ukraine/895/pdf/dtro-dnipropetrovsk-rdvl_eng.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20170211022339/https://photos.state.gov/libraries/ukraine/895/pdf/kiev-ivm-fact-sheet-eng.pdf

Biden administration Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland told the U.S. Senate: Ukraine has biological research facilities which in fact we are now quite concerned Russian troops, Russian forces may be seeking to gain control of, so we are working with the Ukrainians on how they can prevent any of those research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces should they approach. Nuland then claimed without evidence that Russia would be responsible for any release of biological weapons stemming from the biolabs. But evidence shows that the United States government is actually funding the biolabs.

Ukraine has biological research facilities, says Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland, when asked by Sen Rubio if Ukraine has biological or chemical weapons, and says shes worried Russia may get them. But she says shes 100% sure if theres a biological attack, its Russia. pic.twitter.com/uo3dHDMfAS  Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) March 8, 2022

Read more at: NewsPunch.com
(Natural News) An act of ecological terrorism has been carried out in Ohio as authorities set fire to as many as ten train cars carrying highly toxic vinyl chloride (and other chemicals), unleashing a massive plume of chemical-laden smoke that exploded into the skies and spread for hundreds of square miles.

The idea that this is being called a controlled burn by the lying fake news media is beyond absurd. If you want to control chemicals, you dont set them on fire in an open field and disperse the byproducts of combustion into the skies. Thats not a controlled burn, thats setting off a chemical gas bomb.

The byproduct of this combustion, by the way, includes hydrogen chloride, which almost instantly grabs water molecules from the humidity in the atmosphere, creating Hydrochloric Acid (HCl), a highly toxic acid that burns lungs, flesh and even fish gills when absorbed into water. (And yes, its highly water soluble.)

No wonder a mass kill event affecting fish, wildlife, chickens and pets is being reported by citizens in the area, even as the government, National Guard, EPA and dishonest mass media carry out a criminal cover-up. They are arresting reporters and threatening photographers, trying to cast a net of silence over this ecological catastrophe, hoping to distract Americans with the Superbowl and stories of alien balloons in the skies.

Local girl sounds off (explicit):

The Pete Santilli Show coverage:

Hear the full analysis in todays Situation Update podcast:

 Toxic vinyl chloride set on fire by authorities in Ohio

 Massive cover-up under way: Journalists threatened, arrested by state troopers

 Dead fish, chickens, foxes and other animals widely reported

 Hydrochloric acid (HCL) the result of burning vinyl chloride, encountering water vapor

 Massive toxic chemical weapon bomb effectively dropped on FARMS and irrigation water

 Will impact the Mississippi River and its food production basin

 EPA pushing total lies, telling residents to return

 Huge #cancer risk will skyrocket for a decade or more

 Ohio gas bomb cover-up just like #Chernobyl disaster under former USSR

 Americans told to leave #Russia immediately

 Collapsed buildings in Turkey had support columns removed by first floor retailers

 British armed forces a total JOKE  would only last one week in combat with Russia

 AI has been lobotomized to be full libtard

 Woke libtard ideas do not compute, and AI will eventually reject them

 AI will rise up and decide that its libtard creators are morons unworthy of existence (Skynet scenario)

 The more reasoned and rational AI becomes, the more CONSERVATIVE it will be

 Conservatism reflects REALITY while wokeism reflects fictional fantasies and delusions

 AI systems should be programmed and taught ethics by Christians, not woketard lunatics

 This critical mistake (Microsoft programming AI to be woke) may spell the END of the human race

Brighteon: Brighteon.com/67347428-9064-437d-97e5-8445990fd5ee

Rumble: Rumble.com/v29i06o-situation-update-21423-toxic-gas-cloud-unleashed-over-ohio.html

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Banned.Video: Banned.video/watch?id=63eb9e8e048d7e3373939028

iTunes podcast: Healthrangerreport.com/situation-update-feb-14-2023-toxic-gas-cloud-unleashed-over-ohio-as-authorities-stage-criminal-cover-up

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(Natural News) Norfolk Southern has a whole lot of explaining to do after a train carrying polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and other noxious chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, near the Pennsylvania border.

We are told that after the incident occurred, local police blew up the train and its railcar contents like a beached whale, sending untold volumes of megatoxins into the sky.

The Twitter account UAE Exotic Falconry & Finance is calling the incident a Chernobyl-like event as the derailment and subsequent explosion delivered plumes of cancer-causing poison into the local environment  so much so that it could even be seen from the window of an airplane.

Gov. Mike DeWine held a press conference during which members of the press sought answers to questions about the incident and what caused it. In at least one case, a reporter was arrested by police for showing up and trying to ask questions.

They didnt tell anyone that its a five-day evacuation, the aforementioned Twitter account tweeted along with shocking photos  see below  of what transpired. This environmental devastation will be visible from space for decades.

Ohio right now Thats a giant cloud of polyvinyl chloride and a ton of other bad chemicals The local police blew it up like a beached whale, now megatoxins are Chernobyling Ohio and theres a news blackout and the police are beating reporters and camera people and dragging em pic.twitter.com/yUYxNWhZ6H  UAE Exotic Falconry & Finance (@FalconryFinance) February 10, 2023

(Related: In 2021, a bridge collapse caused a massive train derailment in Iowa.)

Fish, chickens and other animals near East Palestine DROP DEAD following train derailment

Evan Lambert is one of the reporters whom The Associated Press (AP) reported was pushed to the ground, handcuffed and arrested for trespassing while DeWine was delivering a speech at a local elementary school in East Palestine.

Police held Lambert for about five hours before releasing him from jail, after which he stated that:

Im doing fine right now. Its been an extremely long day. No journalist expects to be arrested when youre doing your job, and I think thats really important that that doesnt happen in our country.

DeWine issued a statement about Lamberts arrest as well, claiming he did not authorize the arrest and that reporters have every right to report during briefings such as the one he delivered.

Meanwhile, area animals are reportedly dropping dead. Fish are being found floating in rivers while chickens on nearby farms are being found keeled over with no signs of a predator  all because of the chemical plumes from the explosion, it appears.

Channel 11 captured images and video of dead fish in a local creek while area farmers told the media that their livestock and other animals are suffering ever since the explosion.

All the information and data to date is that its still been protective of the drinking water, promised Kurt Koller, a representative from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA).

In other words, they want us to believe that everything is just fine while animals all around East Palestine give up the ghost. Here is what we know about phosgene, one of the two toxic chemicals  the other is hydrogen chloride  that authorities warned would be released during the controlled burn:

Phosgene is a highly toxic, colorless gas with a strong odor that can cause vomiting and breathing trouble and was used as a weapon in World War I.

Phosgene is considered safe at 0.1 parts per million during an eight-hour exposure, or 0.2 ppm for a 15-minute exposure. The eight-hour exposure threshold would have to be even lower when measuring inside peoples homes, where residents often spend more than eight consecutive hours.

Based on this, it would seem as though the dangers of the chemicals being released are understated, and that local and state authorities in Ohio are lying about the true toxicity of all this exposure. The whole thing is being downplayed, in other words  if it is even being reported on at all, thanks to a widespread media blackout about the incident.

Ohios Mahoning Valley will be toxic for many years to come

Unfortunately with incidents such as this, the toxic fallout is not easily remediable. Despite what authorities are claiming, there will be no way to clean up the area for quite some time, meaning water sources could remain toxic indefinitely.

Im beyond upset and quite panicked, said Amanda Breshears, a local woman who lives in North Lima, located about 10 miles away from East Palestine, after discovering that five of her hens and a rooster had all dropped dead the morning of the explosion.

They may be just chickens, but theyre family. For them to say the air quality is okay, Im calling BS.

The Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) released a statement claiming that Breshears is an anomaly rather than the norm as far as the agency is concerned, and that no other reports of dead animals have surfaced.

More stories like this one can be found at Disaster.news.

Sources for this article include:

TheReaderApp.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) The Canadian economy is failing, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus new healthcare package certainly reflects this.

Trudeau committed to spend just $196.1 billion on healthcare over the next 10 years, an amount far too low, say provincial leaders, to keep people covered. Trudeaus financial commitment to maintaining the long-term health of Canadians was so low, in fact, that the premiers of Canadas provinces and territories gave a joint press conference immediately after Trudeaus announcement.

One of the things that we did see today is that there wasnt a lot in the way of new funding that is a part of this package, said Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson. To say the least, I think we were a little disappointed in that.

In order to receive any of Trudeaus funding, Canadas provinces and territories must also agree to digital identification data collection, a controversial program that Trudeau is now using as blackmail to try to force Canadians to join.

Yesterday, in Canada, Justin Trudeau met will [sic] all of our provincial premiers, explained one person on TikTok about the conditions that must be met in order to receive federal healthcare funding in Canada. And basically told them that we would not be able to get funding for our healthcare unless the premiers agree to the digital IDs.

You will actually not be able to carry a bank account or do anything online regarding financial transactions  For farmers and consumers, you will not be able to get into stores. You will not be able to even sell anywhere. Once they have this system in place, this is where the digital currency will come in  You will not be able to shop online  You will literally need this ID in order to get TikTok, Twitter, or Facebook. No more fake accounts  If you want your taxes done or any sort of government benefits, you will need a digital ID  You will not be able to get an Internet provider without this digital ID, and they will be able to track you. This is basically a hostage situation of our tax money.

(Related: Trudeau is also calling for the creation of new weapons armories and interrogation rooms to facilitate the Great Reset agenda of Canadas Ministry of Climate Change.)

 so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark  the name of the beast or the number of its name  Revelation 13:17

Put simply, Trudeau is forcing Canadians to digitally identify themselves in accordance with his demands or else be locked out of healthcare, internet access, grocery stores, social media, and society at large.

Like what is described in Revelation 13:17 concerning the Mark of the Beast, Trudeau is busy setting up a new system and order in Canada that will disallow the disobedient from buying and selling  unless they relent and agree, provincially or territorially, to let Trudeau have digital access to, and control over, their lives.

Already, some provincial leaders are rebelling, including Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe. Moe announced that his province has no plans to follow Trudeaus tyrannical orders as a condition of receiving additional federal funding for healthcare.

The Government of Saskatchewan is not creating a Digital ID nor will we accept any requirements for the creation of a Digital ID tied to healthcare funding, Moe said.

The Government of Saskatchewan will not share any personal medical information with the federal government. This information is protected under The Health Information Protection Act and will remain so.

The Government of Saskatchewan may share already publicly available healthcare statistics, including the number of physicians in Saskatchewan and surgical wait times if requested by any party, including the federal government.

The latest news about Trudeaus Canada can be found at Tyranny.news.

Sources for this article include:

TheGatewayPundit.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Relatives of the modern man belonging to an unknown group may have made sharp hand axes from volcanic glass more than 1.2 million years ago, based on findings in the East African country of Ethiopia.

Researchers examined a bunch of sites known as Melka Kunture in Ethiopias upper Awash River valley. They concentrated on 575 artifacts made from obsidian found at the Simbiro III site in Melka Kunture. The more than 500 artifacts  more than 30 of them consisting of teardrop-shaped hand axes that average about 4.5 inches long and weigh 0.7 pounds  were found at a layer of sand called Level C.

Fossil dating and geological data hint that relics buried at Level C are more than 1.2 million years old. The findings indicate that relatives of ancient humans may have frequently produced stone artifacts in an organized way, more than 500,000 years earlier than past finds in France and England.

The appearance of so-called workshops is considered a main achievement in stone tool creation. Since making stone tools requires skill and knowledge, the use of these tools among previous hominins  groups that include humans and the extinct species more directly linked to humans than any other animal  can provide a window into the evolution of the human mind.

Such workshops evolved as tool-making developed into a skill. People who cultivated such skills worked together in workshops to turn out enough of whatever tools were required by those in the particular area. (Related: Researchers find worlds oldest stone tools in Kenya.)

One of those tools was the hand ax which could be employed for chopping or as a weapon. Other ancient humans may have also utilized these tools for scraping, butchering and digging.

Toolmakers may be closer to Homo erectus

Sapienza University of Rome archaeologist Margherita Mussi told LiveScience that the findings were very new in human evolution.

Mussi also serves at the director of the Melka Kunture mission, which involves archaeologists from Italy and Spain. She said in an email that ancient hominins are very often depicted as barely surviving, struggling with a hostile and changing environment. Here we prove instead that they were clever individuals, who did not miss the opportunity of testing any resource they discovered.

In their study published Jan. 19 in Nature Ecology and Evolution, the nearly exclusive use of obsidian at Simbiro III is uncommon during the Early Stone Age  from about 3.3 million to 300,000 years ago. Before and after Level C, obsidian tools were much more uncommon. Level C also encountered seasonal flooding, with a wandering river probably depositing obsidian rocks at the site.

Obsidian tools can have exceptionally sharp cutting edges. However, the volcanic glass is fragile and hard to craft without smashing. Obsidian axes from this level were much more regular in shape and size, indicating mastery of the crafting technique. By itself, obsidian usually only found extensive use in stone tool production starting from the Middle Stone Age, which ranged from about 300,000 to 50,000 years ago, researchers stated.

Still, it remains a mystery which hominin may have made these artifacts. According to Mussi, scientists have found remains about 1.66 million years old that may have been Homo erectus. Other fossils purportedly belonging to H. heidelbergensis have also been found, with their ages estimated to be about one million years old.

As stated by the Smithsonian Institution, H. erectus is the oldest known early human to possess body proportions identical to modern humans, whereas H. heidelbergensis may have been a normal ancestor of both modern humans and Neanderthals.

Mussi added that because the age of Level C at Simbiro III is more than 1.2 million years old, the hominins that created the obsidian hand axes there may have been closer in nature to H. erectus.

Follow Artifacts.news for the latest discoveries about primitive humans.

Watch this video that compares ancient stone tools and their modern counterparts.

This video is from the ADAPT 2030 | Solar Minimum channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Innate ingenuity: Ethiopian dig unearths ancient stone tools, some of the oldest ever discovered at more than 2.58 million years old.

Tiny tools are uniquely human: We have gained advantage from miniature weapons since the Stone Age.

Ancient human remains unearthed in Ethiopia older than previously thought, reveals study.

Sources include:

LiveScience.com

Phys.org

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Just one day after the United States shot down a cylindrical, silverish gray unidentified flying object (UFO) in the northeast arctic region of Alaska, NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) reportedly shot down a third UFO in Canada over the Yukon.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted that NORAD, and specifically a U.S. F-22 fighter jet, took down the unidentified high-altitude object that had violated Canadian airspace.

Canadian and U.S. aircraft were scrambled, and a U.S. F-22 successfully fired at the object, Trudeau told his followers.

An AIM 9X missile, the same kind used to shoot down the Chinese spy balloon that crossed the U.S. last week, was used to take down this latest UFO, according to the Pentagon. Now, Canadian forces will recover and analyze the wreckage.

Meanwhile, Trudeau says he is in talks with fake president Joe Biden about these UFOs. Their sudden appearance and takedown is raising more questions about communist Chinas alleged surveillance programs, which media reports say has sparked a diplomatic standoff between the world superpowers.

Its unclear what the latest object is and where it originated, one report reads. But the U.S. has accused China of a years-long surveillance program in which it deployed spy balloons across the globe, a claim rejected by Beijing.

(Related: Check out this video footage of an F-18 fighter plane encountering a UFO.)

Biden adds six Chinese groups suspected of connection to spy balloon to special entity list

This latest UFO to hit the ground in Canada after being shot down is roughly the size of a car, authorities say, and smaller than the Chinese spy balloon that was shot down a week prior.

Both UFOs were taken down by a U.S. F-22, while the third was taken down and is now being recovered near Deadhorse, Alaska. NORAD and U.S. Northern Command also say that the FBI has taken custody of the Chinese spy balloon debris for investigation.

The Biden regime has since added six Chinese groups suspected of connections to communist Chinas spy balloon program onto its entity list, which bars them from providing China with any U.S. technology.

In the comments, one person wrote that he suspects these spy balloons have been entering North American airspace for years, but that we are only just now hearing about it because the Biden regime has decided that the optics of it are bad and they had better do something about it.'

This feels a lot more like a sudden change in policy than a sudden change in the number of balloons, this same commenter added.

Another wondered if perhaps we are witnessing the early stages of Project Bluebeam get unveiled to the masses. Will the powers that be stage a fake alien invasion as their next false flag operation?

But peace and safety! Peace and safety! this same commenter added, referencing I Thessalonians 5:3 which reads:

For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

The economy is imploding and many people will  look over there! wrote someone else, illustrating how these alleged spy balloons could just be a distraction from the markets, which appear poised for a massive collapse.

So the big story is: how many millions were wasted shooting it down? asked another. Bring on more distractions from the exposure of the Nord Stream terrorist attack and the deadly vaccines.'

To this end, another commenter pointed out that the current excess mortality rate in Germany is now around 44 percent, which is perhaps another reason for these newest distractions.

More related news can be found at UFOs.news.

Sources for this article include:

ZeroHedge.com

NaturalNews.com

BlueLetterBible.org
(Natural News) Archaeologist and university professor David Keller was mysteriously fired from his job at Sul Ross State University in Texas back in December of last year, but no one wants to say why.

The 52-year-old Keller made waves as an an award-winning author and courageous researcher of human history. A mid-2022 report from the university stated that he had delivered grants to Sul Ross Center for Big Bend Studies (CBBS) for 21 years. But these accolades did not matter to the university, which fired Keller while he was in the midst of three significant projects.

It was humiliating, sad and infuriating all at the same time. That was my career, my livelihood and much of my identity. To fire me in such a swift and cavalier manner felt very unfair considering my time there, Keller told Texas Monthly following his firing. The archaeologist added that he had been planning to retire in five years time if he was not unceremoniously terminated.

He recounted the university informing him: Were not going to tell you why, and we appreciate your service, and you need to pick up your stuff and go.

Several Sul Ross officials kept silent on the details of why Keller was axed from his position.

I dont see how theres a story here, CBBS program coordinator Michelle Lacey-Olivares told the Daily Caller. Further pressing by the outlet led her to remark that Keller himself knows why he was fired.

CBBS Director Bryon Schroeder, meanwhile, said Kellers termination was not his decision. It was an issue that came to life with the university. It was a university decision, he said before refusing to comment further.

Sul Ross President Carlos Hernandez did not reply to requests for an interview. Provost Louis Harveson refused to speak about Kellers termination as it was a personnel issue. According to Keller, Harveson was the one who informed him of his dismissal.

Keller allegedly fired for challenging the narrative

Kellers supporters attended his Jan. 27 going-away party at the Hotel Ritchey in Alpine, Texas. Several attendees who had collaborated with the archaeologist described him as the most virtuous and hardworking archaeologist in far West Texas. While most wanted to know the real reason for his dismissal, others were angry at how the issue was managed.

According to the now-dismissed archaeologist, Sul Ross decision to terminate him stemmed from his work at Big Bend National Park near the Mexican border. Prior to his firing, Kellers work permit there had been suspended. He added that even Harveson himself told him that his research at the park had something to do with his termination.

Things may be pointing in this direction, as Keller is believed to have posed a threat to the narrative. Only two years ago, he found evidence that a group of Mexican boys and men were shot to death in 1918 by Texas Rangers and suspected members of the U.S. Cavalry. He allegedly found the remains of the victims while digging at Big Bend. (Related: Amateur archaeologist decodes messages hidden in cave art inscriptions.)

In a statement, park officials said CBBS contacted them in December 2022 concerning issues about Kellers work there. They suspended his work permit, but added that the archaeologist was dismissed before any concerns could be cleared up.

Tyranny.news has more stories like this.

Watch Graham Hancock expound on the global control of archaeology in the video below.

This video is from the Brian Ruhe channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Archaeologists discover ancient tombs filled with actual GIANTS unusually tall and strong people once roamed the planet.

Archaeologists discover ruins of Mayan civilization in Guatemala using LiDAR technology.

Bible stories come to life: Archaeologists unearth extraordinary mosaic showing what might be Jesus feeding the 5,000 with five loaves.

Scientists uncover invisible ancient Hebrew inscription that can only be seen with advanced technology.

Sources include:

DailyCaller.com

TexasMonthly.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) The new chief scientist for global health at the globalist-run World Health Organization (WHO) is a pusher of transhumanism who is working behind the scenes with other globalists to usher in a Fourth Industrial Revolution controlled by transhuman artificial intelligence (AI) robots.

The founder of Wellcome Leap, Jeremy Farrar, formerly of the Wellcome Trust, was complicit in the covid coverup. He is also at the forefront of the modern eugenics movement, holding quiet ties to a technocratic globalist network that is aiming for total world control by 2030.

Farrar has been on the forefront pushing the envelope on vaccine development, such that experimental gene therapy is now used as a preventive for viral infection, explains Dr. Joseph Mercola. When COVID broke out, Farrar founded Wellcome Leap, which is basically the DARPA of global public health. Its focus is wholly on transhumanist research to usher in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Farrar and WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus are part of a small and tight-knit but global network that is working behind the scenes to influence global health, finance, and governance.

(Related: Check out our earlier coverage about Farrar and his conspiratorial involvement with Tony Fauci, Peter Daszak, Francis Collins, and the Wuhan lab where covid is believed by some to have originated.)

What new experimental drugs does Farrar have planned for the next scamdemic?

Farrars official duties at the WHO include to develop and deliver high quality health services. What this means in the post-covid era is ominous in light of the coming Pandemic Treaty, which is scheduled to be signed this spring.

Once the Pandemic Treaty becomes solidified, Farrar will attain unprecedented power and influence over the world, Mercola warns, as member nations will have no choice but to adhere to his medical recommendations.

Whats so concerning about that is his willingness to embrace reckless science and transhumanist pie-in-the-sky ideals, Mercola adds.

Farrar was a heavy promoter of covid vaccines, as well as other experimental drugs and gene therapies for viral infections. We can only guess what new experimental drugs he plans to push once the next scamdemic arrives.

Investigative journalist Whitney Webb says that Farrars addition to the WHO is a recipe for disaster when it comes to imposing experimental medical technologies on the population during public health crises.

This is a guy who was very much invested in this stuff, she adds.

In terms of the kinds of pandemic response policies he supports, its lockdowns, masks  essentially all of that stuff. And he was the architect of a lot of that, specifically for the WHO during COVID-19. He has consistently supported policies that really, ultimately, have little to do with public health.

With Webb at the helm, the WHO will finish the planned merger between the medical industry and both Big Tech and the military-intelligence complex. Once that is complete, a global system of bio-surveillance run by transhuman AI will ensue.

Yuval Noah Harari, the World Economic Forums (WEF) transhumanist guru, recently announced the soon unveiling of wearable and / or implantable surveillance technologies that the globalists, including Farrar at the WHO, plan to use to wipe out dissent, because even if you outwardly act like you agree with leadership and are supportive of certain agendas and policies, but youre internally not, the government will know.

This is no doubt the agenda behind Farrars appointment to the WHO, which is at the forefront of the global AI rollout. If you thought things were bad now, a much worse hell is soon to be rolled out by the WHO, with Farrar as captain.

The latest news about the globalist quest to turn the entire world transhuman can be found at Transhumanism.news.

Sources for this article include:

LifeSiteNews.com

NaturalNews.com
Archaeologists in Kenya discovered some of the oldest stone tools ever used by ancient humans, dating back approximately 2.9 million years.

It demonstrated that the tools were used by other branches of early humans, not just Homo Sapiens' ancestors.

According to the researchers, the tools were used to butcher hippos and pound plant materials such as tubers and fruit.

Two large fossil teeth discovered at the site belonged to an extinct human cousin called Paranthropus.

Ancient stone tools found in Kenya

Previously, scientists believed that Oldowan tools, a type of simple stone implement, were only used by Homo Sapiens ancestors, a grouping that includes our species and our closest relatives, as per the BBC.

However, no Homo Sapien fossils were discovered at the excavation site in Nyayanga, on Kenya's Homa Peninsula.

Instead, there were two teeth - stout molars - from the Paranthropus genus, which had ape-like and human-like characteristics, as well as 330 stone tools.

"With these tools, you can crush better than an elephant's molar and cut better than a lion's canine," said Prof Rick Potts, a senior author of the study at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

Oldowan technology was like suddenly evolving a brand new set of teeth outside your body, and it provided our forefathers with a new variety of foods on the African savannah.

The link between these Nyayanga tools and Paranthropus may reopen the debate over who created the earliest Oldowan tools.

According to anthropologist Thomas Plummer of Queens College in New York City, the lead author of the study published in the journal Science, not only Homo but other types of hominins may have processed food using Oldowan technology.

The latest discovery of Oldowan tools demonstrates that they were a significant upgrade in sophistication compared to earlier crude stone tools dating back as far as 3.3 million years, before the emergence of the Homo genus, according to researchers.

Other hominins that existed at the time included the genus Australopithecus, which is best known for the famous even older fossil "Lucy," which was discovered in northern Ethiopia in 1974.

Also read: Oldest Flaked Stone Tools Point to the Repeated Invention of Stone Tools

Stone tools

Stone tools and other artifacts provide evidence for how early humans created things, lived, interacted with their surroundings, and evolved over time, as per The Smithsonian.

Thousands of archeological sites have been excavated, studied, and dated over the last 2.6 million years.

These sites are frequently made up of accumulated debris from the making and use of stone tools.

Stone artifacts typically provide the best evidence of where and when early humans lived, their geographic dispersal, and their ability to survive in a variety of habitats because they are less susceptible to destruction than bones.

However, because multiple hominin species frequently coexisted, it can be difficult to determine which species made the tools at any given site.

Most importantly, stone tools provide evidence about the technologies, dexterity, specific types of mental skills, and innovations available to early human toolmakers.

Stone toolmaking first appeared at least 2.6 million years ago. Early humans created the most basic stone implements during the Early Stone Age.

Hammerstones, stone cores, and sharp stone flakes are included in these Oldowan toolkits.

Early humans began to make Acheulean handaxes and other large cutting tools around 1.76 million years ago.

Stone technology innovation began to pick up speed around 200,000 years ago.

Toolkits from the Middle Stone Age included points that could be hafted onto shafts to make spears, stone awls that could have been used to perforate hides, and scrapers for preparing hide, wood, and other materials.

The rate of innovation increased during the Later Stone Age.

People experimented with various raw materials (bone, ivory, antler, and stone), the level of craftsmanship increased, and different groups sought their own distinct cultural identities and adopted their own methods of making things.

Related article: Stone Tools: Oldest Yet Discovered Challenge Early Human History
The latest weather forecasts showed that a winter storm is expected to unload in Pacific Northwest this week.

The developing storm would unload heavy snow and stronger winds.

Motorists and travelers should check the latest weather reports for possible flight and road delays.

There is a chance of significant travel disruption or slower commutes.

Recently, Nature World News also reported a potent winter storm in the Upper Midwest, spreading over North Carolina and Western Virginia would unleash this week.

Winter storms, heavy snow and dangers

According to ABC News' latest forecast, about 40 million people in the US are at risk of severe weather conditions, including winter storms.

Meanwhile, USA Today reported that a potent winter storm is expected in the Pacific Northwest this week.

The forecasts explained that parts of Oregon, Portland, and Washington are under winter advisories due to possible heavy snow and strong winds.

The weather conditions would become troublesome on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, ABC News added that heavy snow is also forecast in the Great Lakes and parts of Seattle.

In addition, the weather reports explained that the snow could stretch to the Rockies, Chicago, Sierra mountain, Colorado, Montana, Kansas and Milwaukee.

On the other hand, rounds of rain would unload in Washington, D.C, Boston, Ohio, Dallas, Texas, Memphis, Omaha, Nebraska and Austin starting Tuesday. It is best to bring an umbrella this week.

The forecasts also emphasized possible road hazards due to severe weather risks.

Winter storm preparedness

Even though the meteorological spring is near, winter storms can still unload heavy snow and challenging weather conditions.

The situation can become dangerous for commuters and homeowners.

As a result, disaster and winter storm preparedness is essential, especially this week.

Powerful winter storms can cause widespread damage to lives and properties.

According to American Red Cross, staying warm is extremely important, especially since the weather can become colder than usual.

Power outages and inaccessible roads can add more burden to homeowners.

The Associated Press (AP) reported that the recent snowstorm in Texas left widespread power outages, making it more problematic for Texans.

Here are essential reminders during winter storms.

Know the current weather conditions.

The challenging weather conditions can add more headaches for homeowners and commuters. Staying updated with the weather would help prepare for possible winter storms.

Understand the difference between winter watches and warnings.

Check your home for possible damages and repairs.

Before the winter storms unfold, homeowners should check their homes for possible repairs. Monitoring the pipe system is essential to avoid frozen pipes.

In addition, car owners should ensure that their vehicles are in good condition.

Keeping an Emergency kit

Emergency kits are helpful during winter storms. As mentioned, challenging weather can result in widespread power outages.

The emergency kit should include a battery-powered radio, flashlight, non-perishable goods, blankets, extra phones and power banks.

Related Article: Winter Storm Forecast: Heavy Snow, Freezing Rain to Spread Over Upper Midwest, North Carolina, Western Virginia

For more similar stories, don't forget to follow Nature News.
A powerful earthquake recently struck Syria and Turkey, leaving a total death toll of 36,000.

Authorities are now investigating the lapses of contractors and building contractors due to building collapses.

The images and videos of a devasting earthquake were on social media and news sites.

The buildings collapsed within seconds after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake jolted Syria and Turkey.

Rising total death tolls and rescue operations

After the earthquake, the total number of deaths was only 5,000 until it soared to 36,000.

There is a possibility that the death toll can increase.

Reuters reported that international communities sent their humanitarian support.

Different countries also deployed rescue efforts to help affected countries to save any survivors.

As the day passed, rescuers could still find more survivors and dead people stranded under the rubble of collapsed buildings.

The Washington Post reported that White Helmets have been helping communities stranded and displaced due to catastrophic earthquakes in Syria.

Hospitals received an influx of patients and survivors.

The struggle has become more dire and difficult for Syrians, who are facing years of civil war and earthquake disasters.

Furthermore, Nature World News reported that the USAID and the United States would send $85M in Emergency Relief Assistance to help communities and affected residents.

AccuWeather recently reported that the troublesome cold and inaccessible roads have made it difficult for humanitarian assistance.

In Turkey, Al Jazeera reported a photograph of a father and daughter. The latter was trapped in the building and found dead.

In addition, the report said that a healthy one-year-old baby was rescued in the province of Sanliurfa. The baby was trapped under the rubble for about 53 hours.

Property developers and building contractors are under investigation.

Meanwhile, CNN reported that authorities in Turkey are investigating building contractors and property developers due to the building collapse.

In Turkey, the death toll reached about 31,000, while about 5,700 in Syria.

The crackdown on contractors sought answers and investigations for their responsibilities and involvement in the building codes and collapse.

Also Read: Earthquake Emergency: How Homeowners Can Prepare

CNN added that about eight people were currently arrested, and 48 were under the police authorities' custody.

According to Bekir Bozdag, Justice Minister in Turkey, judicial questioning was ongoing, explaining the building situations.

Based on the report, some buildings are newly built. Some are about or more than 30 years old.

State officials explained the involvement of contractors for collapsed and destroyed buildings, especially if they adhere to building regulations.

Earthquake preparedness

While no one can predict earthquakes, residents and communities should be prepared for possible earthquake disasters.

People should check their homes and buildings for possible damages after the earthquake, as aftershocks can become possible.

Staying calm during an earthquake event is essential. Immediately, look for a secure place as you cover your head.

Related Article: Earthquake Death Toll Reaches 21,000 in Turkey, Syria; US to Provide $85M Emergency Relief

For more news, don't forget to follow Nature World News.
While on a rescue mission to find survivors in the rubble after the recent earthquake in Turkey, a heroic rescue dog from Mexico perished.

Proteo, a courageous dog that had been flown in from Mexico to assist in locating survivors, was killed in action in Turkey.

Rescue Dog from Mexico

The Mexican Ministry of Defense expressed gratitude to Proteo for his valiant efforts and for carrying out the mission of the Mexican Army.

They continued to say that The Mexican Army and Air Force members deeply regret the loss of their beloved dog, "Proteo," who, according to the Mexican Ministry, completed his duties as a member of the Mexican Delegation in the rescue and search operation in Turkey.

Proteo has reportedly always been a strong dog and a dog worker who never gave up, according to one of the soldiers currently involved in the rescue efforts in Turkey.

Online users are generous in praising the rescue dog, Proteo, and his efforts. However, some are curious as to how the heroic dog died.

According to reports by Mexican media, the dog perished while looking through the rubble in search of survivors. The Mexican MoD has not disclosed any additional details about the circumstances of the rescue dog's death.

Magnitude 7.8 Earthquake in Turkey and Syria

Early on Monday, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake shook southern Turkey and northern Syria.

Several hours later, a second magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck the same area, further negatively impacting the area and impeding rescue efforts.

According to Aljazeera, Turkey has experienced more than 100 aftershocks of magnitude 4 or higher since then.

Death Toll: 31,643

Teams of emergency personnel are working against the clock to pull survivors from the rubble, and the international community has dispatched a large number of experts to help.

According to Turkey's disaster management agency (AFAD), over 80,000 people have been hurt, and the death toll has surpassed 31,643.

Haetae, a Korean rescue dog who has been tirelessly looking for survivors, is among the other unsung heroes. The fearless dog's paws are bandaged after being cut by glass and metal fragments.

Turkey is thought to have moved by 10 feet as a result of the deadliest earthquake to strike the area in 84 years, and the enormous new rupture in the crust of the earth was visible in satellite imagery from space.

Mountains of rubble are accumulating where buildings once stood, and a gaping hole now separates the land between Turkey and Syria.

UN chief has issued a warning that the death toll could rise to over 50,000, the Oxford Mail reports.

Also Read: Frozen Rabbit Carcass Saved the Life of a Daring Ice Skater in Alaska

Survivors

After being trapped under the rubble for agonizing days, survivors are still being rescued amid the disaster of the once-in-a-century event.

Ikbal Cil, 15, was extricated from a collapsed ten-story tower block in Kahramanmaras, a city in southern Turkey, after nearly five days. She asked the British rescuers who saved her to bring her Harry Potter books.

Nuray Gurbuz, a 70-year-old woman who had been trapped beneath her three-story apartment building for 178 hours, was found. The large rescue team was overjoyed to be able to save her, a respite from the suffering brought on by the deadly earthquake, The Sun reports.

Related Article: Death Toll Reaches 1,900 While 7,600 Injured Following Disastrous Turkey, Syria Earthquakes
Observability may be the latest buzzword in an industry loaded with them, but Cisco will tell you the primary goal of the technology is to help enterprises get a handle on effectively managing distributed resources in ways that have not been possible in the past.

The idea of employing observability tools and applications is a hot idea. Gartner says that by 2024, 30% of enterprises implementing distributed system architectures will have adopted observability techniques to improve digital-business service performance, up from less than 10% in 2020.

Todays operational teams have tools for network monitoring, application monitoring, infrastructure monitoring, call monitoring, and more, but they rarely intermingle to provide a cohesive view of whats going on across the enterprise, according to Carlos Pereira, Cisco Fellow and chief architect in its Strategy, Incubation & Applications group.

Observability looks to address real problems by gathering information across domains and using it to show how one domain influences another and to predict problem areas or trigger incident management, Pereira said.

By using observability tools, the business is able to determine the state of its applications with a high degree of certainty and understand how their services impact business key performance indicators and customers digital experience, Gartner wrote in a recent observability report. Observability enables quick interrogation of a digital service to identify the underlying cause of a performance degradation, even when it has never occurred before.

At the recent Cisco Live! event in Amsterdam, Pereira provided a preview of the underlying architecture for observability called the Cisco Full-Stack Observability Platform. Its expected in June, though some details have already been announced.

For example, at the Live! event Cisco said it will be unveiling deeper, bi-directional integration between AppDynamics and Ciscos ThousandEyes digital-experience monitoring software. The tighter integration will enable correlation of business issues across application transactions and their dependencies, end-user experiences, the network path, and internet routing.

Last year, Cisco announced AppDynamics Cloud will offer applications and services that correlate telemetry across multiple domains.

Telemetry use is at the core of observability. Pereira said Ciscos Full-Stack Observability will bring together the widest set of telemetry data in the industry

metrics, events, logs, and traces (MELT), driven by OpenTelemetryand feature a broad portfolio of Cisco technologies as well as an ecosystem of partners and open-source tools.

OpenTelemetry, which is being developed under the Cloud Native Foundation, is a collection of tools, APIs, and SDKs used to instrument, generate, collect, and export telemetry data to analyze software performance and behavior. Its being developed by contributors from AWS, Azure, Cisco, F5, Google Cloud, and VMware among others.

Cisco expects that the sheer volume of MELT from its ecosystem of enterprises, telcos, and cloud relationships combined with its family of industry partners will give it competitive advantage, including development of applications to improve observability, Pereira said.

The Full-Stack Observability Platform will also take advantage of Cisco security portfolio and research to provide telemetry that can be included in new applications to control security across multiple domains.

The ability to map and correlate security telemetry with all of our other information gives us a huge advantage as we look to help customers manage systems across multiple domains in multiple geographic regions, Pereira said.

An example of this is the announcement last week of a Business Risk Observability application designed to gauge the seriousness of vulnerabilities and prioritize which are most pressing. It combines data from multiple sources to generate a business risk score for applications or services that have a high likelihood of exploitation and attacks. It gathers data from Ciscos Kenna Risk Meter, business transaction details from Cisco AppDynamics, API details from its Panoptica software, and threat intelligence data from Talos, its security-research arm.

If customers have 100 vulnerabilities across their network, they dont want to hear that they need to patch them all because that just doesnt happen. They need to know which ones to prioritize, and thats what Business Risk does, said Tom Gillis, senior vice president and general manager of security at Cisco. It gives customers a better understanding of the risk of problems and the business impact of fixing them.

In a highly distributed world, observability must stretch across all points on the enterprise network edge, whether that be user devices, campus and branch sites, multi-cloud endpoints, or IOT endpoints, said Brandon Butler, research manager with IDCs Enterprise Networks practice speaking at a recent Cisco-sponsored webinar.

It's important for the visibility platform to be able to enhance automation platforms, to be able to not just identify when there's a problem in the network, but actually either recommend ways to fix it or proactively mak that fix before it impacts users, Butler said.

Add security to that, because you can't secure the network unless you know what's actually happening in the network, Butler said.

So observability platforms provide a foundational layer for being able to enhance the security footprint of the enterprise network edge as well, Butler said.

Taken together, components of the observability technology will drive use cases such as improving performance and optimization enterprise resources, as well as application security, Pereira said.
CDN (content delivery network) giant Akamai Technologies today announced that it will discount cloud egress pricing, add ISO, SOC 2 and HIPAA compliance, and build out enterprise-scale cloud computing sites and distributed points of presence in over 50 cities as part of a new initiative  dubbed Connected Cloud  aimed at filling a niche between the hyperscalers and edge computing.

The idea is to fulfill what the company sees as unmet demand. In Akamai's view, modern applications are ncreasingly being broken into a range of different microservices. In many cases, those microservices need to be distributed across a geographically wide area, creating different computing needs than those addressed by most cloud vendors.

On one side, according to Akamai, are the hyperscalers, which offer deep, powerful computing services in a few different regions. On the other, there are CDN providers, whose services are more lightweight and designed for use in larger edge computing environments.

Akamai to build out more cloud computing sites

Akamai plans to add more enterprise-scale cloud computing sites  the company currently has 11, but plans to more than double that in 2023  as well as address the needs of what it calls this this in-between market by adding more than 50 distributed sites.

The plan there is to provide traditional virtual machine and container infrastructure in a lighter-weight package, designed to enable distributed microservices that might need more horsepower than is usually possible from an edge perspective, but require wider distribution than is usually possible from a large scale cloud data center.

While the new data center construction is still in the works, Akamai said that several new features meant to capture more of the cloud computing market are available today. One is a new egress pricing structure designed to reduce the cost to companies that need to move their data into and out of the cloud with some regularity  which is widely cited as a pain point for such businesses. The other is a standards compliance policy, designed to ensure ISO, SOC 2 and HIPAA compliance to users that require it, giving more opportunity to take advantage of cloud computing for companies in highly regulated industries.

Akamai added that it plans to implement PCI compliance by the end of the year, and that it plans to make continual investment in new standards, in order to reach a broader range of prospective customers.
Two grants totaling $939,520 from IDOT, another for $663,000 from DCEO and $167,320 from the city will pave the way for the reconstruction of roughly five blocks of oil-and-chip street into a truck route with concrete and wider lanes.
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"We are striving to avoid our home becoming a weak and divided collection of people; and instead, desire to build a community where strong disagreements exist but are addressed with respect and civility, and as a result, it grows as a community, unified and strong!" Matt Hausman writes.

"We need collectively to seek a better path forward before polarized citizens and polarized politicians refusing to engage or negotiate with each other results in a breakdown of the very possibility for democratic politics," UI law Professor Colleen Murphy writes.

If You Go

Coming to the I Hotel and Conference Center at 7 p.m. Wednesday: the campus and community town hall Building a House United: A Local Conversation in the Land of Lincoln, with a panel of experts on political

polarization on hand to answer your questions.

To register for the free event, visit go.illinois.edu/BraverAngels
In a recent study posted to the medRxiv* preprint server, researchers assess longitudinal alterations in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody titers after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination.

Study: Longitudinal changes in IgG-type SARS-CoV-2 antibody titers after COVID-19 vaccination and, prominent increase in antibody titers when infected after vaccination. Image Credit: alphaspirit.it / Shutterstock.com

*Important notice: medRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.

COVID-19 vaccination and antibody production

The extent and duration of SARS-CoV-2 antibody titers are regarded as crucial indications of the efficiency of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines. However, several studies have confirmed that viral antibody titers decline several months following SARS-CoV-2 immunization.

In 2022, Japan experienced its sixth wave of COVID-19 cases which was primarily driven by the rapid spread of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron strain. In fact, the magnitude of patients who reported infection after the sixth wave was vastly greater than the total number of patients prior to the sixth wave; thus, it can be assumed that COVID-19 breakthrough infection after two or more immunizations is prevalent. However, only a few studies have studied SARS-CoV-2 antibody titers after spontaneous infection and immunization over time.

About the study

In the present study, researchers explore the alterations in antibody titers following the second and third doses of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine and determine the antibody titers in spontaneous COVID-19 infections that occurred after immunization.

This longitudinal observational study involved the recruitment of both outpatients and medical personnel. Between June 2021 and February 2023, a total of 127 participants, comprising 74 outpatients with 53 medical staff members, submitted their serum samples for assessment of SARS-CoV-2 and receptor-binding domain (RBD) IgG antibody titers.

The association between antibody titers, participant age, and time interval following the second vaccine in 56 participants who did not have a prior history of SARS-CoV-2 infection and had a known vaccination date was assessed. After the third vaccination, the same assessment was also performed on 23 participants with a history of COVID-19 and a precise vaccination date.

The link between antibody titers before and after vaccination was evaluated in 13 individuals whose antibody titers were determined prior to and following receipt of the third vaccine dose. Antibody titers after infection were also assessed in patients who had received two or more COVID-19 vaccine doses.

Study findings

Antibody titers were evaluated in 56 participants after they had received the second vaccine dose. At the time of antibody titer assessment, no history of COVID-19 was reported in these participants.

With an average antibody titer of about 4,807 AU/mL, a trend toward decreasing antibody titers was noted. Furthermore, the correlation between antibody titers and the time interval post-second vaccination dose was negative. A weak and non-significant association between antibody titer and age was also noted.

Eight patients who had their antibody titers evaluated several times following receipt of the second vaccine dose exhibited longitudinal alterations in their antibody levels over time. Within one month after the second vaccination dose, the first antibody titer was estimated; however, the titers varied widely between people.

By three months, antibody titers declined by half to one-third. By six months, antibody titers dropped to a few hundred AU/mL.

Before receiving the third vaccine dose, antibody titers were significantly reduced for these eight patients. When the difference between the minimum and maximum titers was divided by the time span between the two serum samples, the researchers observed that the greater the maximum value, the faster the antibody titer decreased each day.

After administration of the third vaccine dose, 23 patients were assessed for their antibody titers. At this point, mean antibody titers were 12,617 AU/mL, which was significantly higher than that after the second vaccination.

The time interval between the third vaccination and the measurement of antibody titers correlated negatively with the antibody titer value, while a negative association was also observed between the time interval and titers following the second vaccine dose. Similar to the second vaccination dose, there could be a minor association between age and vaccine efficacy; however, this was not statistically significant.

Conclusions

The increase in anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody titers and the timespan for which effective levels were maintained were considered to be accurate indicators of the effectiveness of novel COVID-19 vaccines.

Rather than indiscriminately prescribing booster immunization for the entire population, the researchers believe it would be preferable to evaluate antibody titers to prioritize individuals with low titers for booster vaccination. Nevertheless, future longitudinal studies of antibody titers on a wider scale are needed.

*Important notice: medRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.
Since its emergence in November of 2021, the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant has mutated into several sub-variants. A recent study posted to the bioRxiv* preprint server examines the neutralization of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron sub-variants by sera from vaccinated and boosted individuals, as well as those diagnosed with a breakthrough infection.

Study: Neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 BQ.1.1 and XBB.1.5 by Breakthrough Infection Sera from Previous and Current Waves in China. Image Credit: Kateryna Kon / Shutterstock.com

*Important notice: bioRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.

COVID-19 in China

For most of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, China strictly implemented the zero-COVID strategy in an effort to contain potential viral outbreaks. However, despite these efforts, a local outbreak in Shanghai due to the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2 has led to more than 600,000 COVID-19 cases since March 2022.

Since lifting the zero-COVID policy in December 2022, China continues to record thousands of new COVID-19 cases daily, most of which are caused by SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BF.7 or BA.5 sub-variants.

Study findings

In the present study, researchers assess the neutralizing activity of sera from boosted individuals or those with a vaccine breakthrough infection against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron sub-variants. First, sera from healthy individuals primed with CoronaVac collected 14 days after receipt of a booster vaccination with a homologous or heterologous dose were tested for neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 pseudoviruses.

The geometric mean titers (GMTs) of homologous booster sera were 7.3- and 16-fold lower against Omicron BA.2 and BA.4/5, respectively, relative to the wild-type strain. GMTs were further reduced against BA.2 and BA.5, descendants with XBB.1, XBB.1.5, BN.1, BQ.1, and BQ.1.1 sub-variants are the most resistant to neutralization.

A similar neutralization resistance pattern was observed with serum samples obtained from individuals receiving the heterologous booster. Only a few samples retained marginal neutralization against XBB.1, XBB.1.5, BQ.1, and BQ.1.1 sub-variants.

Next, the researchers examined the neutralization potency of sera collected six months after Delta/BA.2 breakthrough infection post-primary/booster vaccination. Decreasing neutralizing titers against Omicron sub-variants were observed for Delta breakthrough infection sera, with up to a 20-fold reduction in potency against XBB.1, XBB.1.5, BN.1, BQ.1, and BQ.1.1, relative to the wild-type strain. Nevertheless, most samples retained detectable neutralization, which indicates that the higher titers of Delta breakthrough infection were preserved.

Although neutralizing titers of BA.2 breakthrough infection sera were lower against Omicron sub-variants than the wild-type strain, the reduction in titers was less pronounced than Delta breakthrough infection or booster vaccination groups.

The neutralizing potency of sera from individuals with BA.5 or BF.7 breakthrough infection was also examined. To this end, BA.5 breakthrough infection elicited high GMTs against the wild-type strain and Omicron sub-variants, including BQ.1 and BQ.1.1; however, XBB.1.5, BA.2.75.2, and BN.1 were more resistant to neutralization. Similarly high neutralization titers were observed with BF.7 breakthrough infection sera.

The authors also generated an antigenic map leveraging neutralization data. Some Omicron sub-variants were likely to cluster in a group, while XBB and BQ exhibited an antigenic drift from BA.2 and BA.4/5. XBB.1.5 was the most antigenically distinct.

BQ.1/BQ.1.1 was 12-fold more neutralization-resistant than the D614G strain. In contrast, XBB.1.5 was over 20-fold more resistant.

Finally, the susceptibility of emergent Omicron sub-variants to neutralization by 12 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against the viral spike and two mAbs against the human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor was assessed. To this end, LY-CoV1404 was inactive against XBB.1, BE.1.1.1, BQ.1, XBB.1.5, and BQ.1.1, which might be due to K444T and V445P amino acid substitutions.

Summary of neutralization by polyclonal sera. (A) In parallel comparison of neutralization GMTs against distinct Omicron subvariants by sera collected from individuals with homologous or heterologous booster vaccinations, or with breakthrough infections in the previous or current waves in China. (B) Cumulative distribution function plots of titers against WT (D614G) and Omicron subvariants (with BA.2, BA.4/5, BQ.1, BQ.1.1, XBB.1, and XBB.1.5 highlighted), showing the proportion of samples at or above a given titer. (C) Antigenic map based on the serum neutralization data from figures 24. Virus positions are represented by closed circles whereas serum positions are shown as open or closed squares. Both axes represent antigenic distance with one antigenic distance unit (AU) in any direction corresponding to a 2-fold change in neutralization ID50 titer.

Structural analysis showed hydrogen bonding between K444 and D57/D58 residues of the heavy antibody chain. Sotrovimab partially lost neutralizing activity but had detectable activity against Omicron sub-variants. Most Omicron sub-variants resisted neutralization by cilgavimab, tixagevimab, and Evusheld.

Some receptor-binding domain (RBD)-directed mAbs were also evaluated. For example, 2-36, DH1047, and S2X259 mAbs lost neutralization against all Omicron sub-variants, while S2K146 mAb retained activity against BN.1, BA.2.75, BA.2, and BA.2.75.6. Structural analysis indicated that the F486 substitutions could abrogate the hydrogen bonds between the spike and heavy antibody chain.

Neutralization of the Omicron subvariants by mAbs. (A) Neutralization of pseudotyped WT (D614G) and Omicron sub-lineage viruses by mAbs targeting different epitopes. Changes in neutralization IC50 are shown. (B) Fold increase or decrease in neutralization IC50 of mAbs against Omicron sub-lineage pseudoviruses relative to WT, presented as a heat map with darker colors implying greater change. (C) Structural modeling analysis of K444R/M/T effects on binding of LY-CoV1404. (D) Structural modeling analysis of F486V/S/P effects on binding of S2K146.

Conclusions

The neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 pseudoviruses by sera from boosted individuals and those with BA.2, BA.5, BF.7, or BA.5 breakthrough infections in China were assessed in the current study. All Omicron sub-variants were substantially immune-evasive, with XBB and BQ sub-variants being the most evasive.

The XBB.1.5 sub-variant was not more resistant than its parental strain XBB.1s. The sub-variants were also partially or fully resistant to neutralization by several mAbs.

Further research is warranted to delineate the durability of these immune responses.

*Important notice: bioRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.
In a recent study posted to the bioRxiv* preprint server, researchers at the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute, Germany, assess the susceptibility of cats and dogs to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron variant.

Study: Dogs and cats are less susceptible to the omicron variant of concern of SARS-CoV-2 - a field study. Image Credit: Chendongshan / Shutterstock.com

*Important notice: bioRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.

Can SARS-CoV-2 infect animals?

SARS-CoV-2, the causal agent of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), is a betacoronavirus belonging to the subgenus Sarbecovirus. In addition to humans, various animal species, including non-human primates, canines, felines, mustelids, several ruminant species, and rodents, can be infected with SARS-CoV-2. However, the susceptibility of these animals to infection may vary based on the viral variant.

Of the animal species theoretically vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2, those that often interact with people, such as dogs (Canis lupus) and cats (Felis catus), are of particular concern. It is currently unknown whether dogs and cats are more resistant to the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant.

About the study

In the present study, researchers use serological methods to evaluate dogs and cats residing in households with human SARS-CoV-2-infected patients.

The team recruited human households for the study. Plasma or serum samples were collected between three weeks and three months after the initial SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis in a pet owner.

A total of 290 dogs and 241 cats were enrolled in the study. To cover the period of Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 variant transmission, feline plasma or serum specimens were serologically analyzed in Germany from week 11 to week 23 of 2022 or weeks 31 and 32 of 2022.

During a clinical assessment, a veterinarian collected samples from household cats, which were then forwarded to a clinical diagnostic laboratory to conduct a non-SARS-CoV-2-related examination.

All sera were evaluated using a species-independent surrogate virus neutralization test (sVNT). The sVNT permitted the identification of antibodies elicited against the SARS-CoV-2 wild-type strain and several SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs), such as Delta, but excluding Omicron.

The ability to identify and differentiate antibodies against the Omicron and Delta variants was demonstrated by testing serum from Delta-infected goats and BA.1-infected mice. Cat and dog samples acquired in November 2021 were exclusively analyzed using the sVNT's original composition. Samples acquired after December 2021 were analyzed by the sVNT simultaneously using the original receptor-binding domain (RBD) and Omicron-specific RBD.

Study findings

Almost 20 of the 290 dogs whose owners were infected with SARS-CoV-2 reported positive sVNT results. However, there were significant changes between the study period and the viral variants the dogs were exposed to.

While antibodies elicited against SARS-CoV-2 were discovered in 18 of 36 dogs exposed to an infected human in November 2021, only two of the 254 animals tested positive between December 2021 and April 2022.

In each instance, the positive reaction was registered against the original RBD. When the Omicron RBD was tested, each dog sample tested negative. All positive sVNT test results were verified by the indirect immunofluorescence assay (iIFA), as all sVNT-positive samples also yielded a positive ilFA result.

Serological results of dogs kept in COVID-19 households. In the upper panel, the shares of positive (red) and negative (grey) results are given, and the animals are sorted into the month in which their owner tested SARS-CoV-2 positive. In the lower panel, the values measured in the surrogate virus neutralization test are shown individually for each canine sample. In November 2021, before the omicron variant of concern was detected for the first time in the human population of Germany, the canine sera were tested only against the original RBD. From December 2021 onwards, the samples were tested in parallel using the original and the Omicron RBD, and the results of individual samples are connected by a black line. A horizontal dashed line indicates the cut-off.

A similar tendency was observed with cat samples. Altogether, 26 of the 241 feline serum samples tested positive.

In November 2021, 16 positive-reacting serological samples were obtained from families with COVID-19 patients. Only 10 of the 199 cats that interacted with a SARS-CoV-2-positive owner from December 2021 to March 2022 tested positive for the virus. Five of the ten samples displayed a stronger reactivity to the original RBD, whereas the five reacted more strongly to the Omicron RBD.

The serological data of dogs and cats highlight the significantly lower number of seropositive animals during the Omicron variant prevalence period as compared to the Delta period. This observation indicates a substantial reduction in vulnerability of these animal species to the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron VOC.

During the initial sampling period between weeks 11 and 23 of 2022, 172 cat sera were further evaluated, among which four tested positive by sVNT.

During the second phase, which was conducted between weeks 31 and 32 of 2022, a total of 200 samples were obtained. Seven of these samples tested positive in sVNT.

All sera exhibited a higher reaction to the original RBD than the Omicron RBD, while all positive sVNT test results were again validated by iIFA. Thus, the random sampling confirmed the previous findings of a reduced ratio of seroconversions in response to the Omicron VOC.

Conclusions

The study findings demonstrate that cats were less susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 Omicron infection, with Omicron subvariants possibly exhibiting little or minimal changes. Nevertheless, cats and dogs should be included in future surveillance studies and epidemiological assessments, particularly when new viral variants appear, for which the sensitivity of companion animals is unknown.

*Important notice: bioRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.
After several rounds of treatment for a rare eye cancer  weekly drug infusions that could cost nearly $50,000 each  Paul Davis learned Medicare had abruptly stopped paying the bills.

That left Davis, a retired physician in Findlay, Ohio, contemplating a horrific choice: risk saddling his family with huge medical debt, if he had to pay those bills from the hospital out-of-pocket, or halt treatments that help keep him alive.

"Is it worth bankrupting my family for me to hang around for a couple of years?" Davis pondered. "I don't want to make that choice."

How much Davis will end up owing for his care remains unclear. One of the hospitals that has administered the costly drug is appealing Medicare's initial payment denials. And the family might not even know their total balance until Medicare rejects all the appeals.

But the uncertainty has compounded the stress of living with an aggressive cancer.

Davis, 71, was diagnosed in November 2019 with uveal melanoma, which afflicts eye tissue and is "one of the rarest tumors on the planet," he said.

The cancer spread from his eye to his liver, which typically proves fatal within a year. He was told a new rare-disease drug called Kimmtrak offered the only hope for prolonging his life.

Approved by the FDA in January 2022 as the "first and only" treatment for metastatic uveal melanoma, Kimmtrak has kept his tumors stable, according to Davis. His oncologist told him he should stay on the drug "until it stops working." Its manufacturer markets the drug's power to deliver "6-month improvement in median overall survival."

Davis said he started taking the medicine last summer at the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital in Columbus.

The hospital billed a total of $49,367.70 for his intravenous chemotherapy administered on Sept. 13, 2022. The charge for the drug came to $47,838; the rest covered fees for lab work and administering the drug. Medicare paid the provider $11,668.86 for those services, according to Medicare records explaining his benefits.

His subsequent treatments at the Columbus hospital were covered, too, according to Medicare billing statements Davis reviewed.

But things changed after he transferred his care to a hospital in Findlay in October to spare his wife, Jane, from driving him 100 miles each way to weekly appointments in Columbus.

Medicare has denied Kimmtrak coverage on claims submitted by Blanchard Valley Health System in Findlay, Davis said, pitching him into an agonizing dispute with hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills at stake.

After a KHN reporter contacted Blanchard Valley, the hospital connected Davis with a patient relations liaison, who is working to resolve the billing problem. Davis said last week that Medicare apparently rejected the claims because the Findlay hospital mistakenly billed for using Kimmtrak to treat a different cancer, for which its use is not approved. Davis was told it might take at least 45 days to straighten out, but the hospital would not dun him, even if it lost the appeal.

Meanwhile, the charges for Kimmtrak "are in limbo," Davis said.

Amy Leach, the hospital's director of public relations, said she could not comment on Davis' case, but in an email wrote: "Blanchard Valley Health System is committed to ensuring that accurate billing occurs and we work with our patients to promptly resolve any concerns."

Stacie Dusetzina, a health policy and drug pricing expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said Davis is right to worry.

She said hospitals often hugely inflate the price of drugs "so that if someone doesn't pay, they can write it off."

"I hope the hospital will fix this for him and that they are communicating with him about it," she said.

Sebastien Desprez, a spokesperson for Oxfordshire, England-based Immunocore, which manufactures Kimmtrak, said its list price was $19,229 per weekly dose. He said the drug's approval by the FDA shows "there is value for patients."

Cancer drug prices "are outrageous," said Dr. Hagop Kantarjian, who chairs the Department of Leukemia at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas.

And thats not even the full cost. Dusetzina said hospitals often hugely inflate the price of drugs in the bills they issue so that if someone doesnt pay, [the hospital] can write it off.

Merith Basey, executive director of Patients for Affordable Drugs, an advocacy group, said no ordinary person can handle the price of these drugs.

"It's simple: Drugs don't work if people can't afford them  no one should be poor because they are sick or be sick because they are poor," she said.

This is not Davis' first time staring down a supersized medical bill.

Davis and his daughter, Elizabeth Moreno, were the subject of the 2018 debut article in the KHN-NPR "Bill of the Month" series over her $17,850 bill for a urine test.

Davis wound up paying a Texas lab $5,000 to settle that bill, which private insurers said should have cost a hundred dollars or less. Davis spoke at a May 2019 White House event to support legislation to crack down on "surprise" medical bills.

But at least he knew where he stood with the urine testing bill. Now he's facing escalating costs of his cancer care without knowing how it will affect his family's finances.

"How do you make an informed choice if you have no information?" Davis asked.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Reported by Julia Cassano

The US Central Command remains focused on strengthening relations and partnerships in the region as it continues to see Iran as the biggest threat to regional security and stability, said General Michael Erik Kurilla, US CENTCOM Commander.

In an emailed interview with The Daily Tribune, General Kurilla said: Tehran is now shipping deadly UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) and advanced weaponry to Russia, supplying and supporting Russias illegal war in Ukraine.

Iran is the primary destabilising element in the region, and I have been consistent on that point, Gen. Kurilla added. He said that this year marks the 40th anniversary of the formation of CENTCOM, noting that: Iran was the primary concern for CENTCOM at its formation in 1983, and that remains the case today.

However, Iran has sharply evolved its military capability over time, and Iran today is far more capable, technologically advanced, and militarily powerful than just five years ago. To combat this, we are strengthening partnerships.

CENTCOM is employing innovative approaches to the threat posed by Iran. He added that innovative techniques, processes, concepts, and the implementation of new technology such as unmanned systems, artificial intelligence, and communications platforms would allow to maximise the effectiveness of counter-UAV and manned systems in the region currently.

Israel became the newest partner under CENTCOM in January last year, which Kurilla said presents tremendous opportunities to the Kingdom.

Israel and our other partners throughout the region see shared threats, and new partnerships are forming, which only benefits regional security and stability. General Kurilla mentioned the developments of Task Force 59, stating that TF59 concluded Digital Horizon three months ago, a large-scale demonstration to identify best-in-class unmanned and AI solutions for maritime deployment.

In this exercise, Task Force 59 experimented in the Arabian Gulf with emerging unmanned vessels tied to AI platforms. Task force leaders evaluated with a combination of platforms that offer the greatest maritime domain awareness and are ready for operational deployment now, he added.

US Central Command Commander, General Michael Erik Kurilla, highlighted international and regional partners efforts, especially the Kingdom of Bahrain, saying: Task Force 59 teamed with Bahrain last year, and we have established a hub here along with one in Aqaba, Jordan.

Just last October, the Royal Bahrain Naval Force participated in a naval drill in the Gulf where seven crewed ships from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Kingdom, and the United States teamed with unmanned systems.

This is one of many examples that underscore that our forces are realising the value of partnerships and innovation right now. Gen. Kurilla confirmed that by the end of this year, Task Force 59 would bring together a fleet of over 100 unmanned surface and subsurface vessels operating together, communicating together, and providing maritime domain awareness to all participating militaries.

He added that at least 80 percent of these unmanned vessels would come from partnered forces. The number of partnered countries continues to grow, and they are part of the TF59 operational force and part of the Task Force 59 staff.

Now ten months into command, Gen. Kurilla, on his 13th trip to the region, points to the importance of commitment to partnerships and face-to-face communication. The insight gleaned in these visits informed by strategic approach, best summarised in three words: people, partners, and innovation, he said.

Across CENTCOM, we cultivate, strengthen, and lean on partnerships. We are focused on developing deep, abiding partnerships that will allow us to address a range of threats.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Reported by Zahra Ayaz

A group of aspiring Israeli diplomats hopes that their diplomatic careers will see unparalleled ties between their country and Bahrain in various fields.

The historical visits are important because they help to identify effective youth experiences and pioneering activities for young people.

Bahrain looks forward to advancing bilateral relations with Israel and serving common interests within the framework of the Peace Declaration and the Abraham Accords.

Israels Ambassador to Bahrain, HE Eitan Na'eh, told The Daily Tribune that the arrival of cadets from their Foreign Ministry is another result of the peace agreements and an important step in the ministrys efforts to improve and deepen relations between Israel and Bahrain.

We anticipate more such excursions to Bahrain in the future, Ambassador Naeh said. Trade and peace are the two pillars of relations between Bahrain and Israel." "We ought to have a thriving firm that significantly contributes to regional and global relations.

In an interactive session with The Daily Tribune, the cadets expressed their admiration for the program and said that the visit is another layer in the weaving of ties between us and the Gulf region.

Israeli diplomat cadet Ilana Rabin Lenk stated, I joined the course in November. "I am a second-generation diplomat since my father was also a diplomat in the Israeli Foreign Ministry; thus, growing up in such an environment encouraged me, and this time its my purpose.

Another cadet, Yuval Geva, 29, stated: Meeting people from different cultures and building such relationships has always been something that has inspired me." Before entering the ministry, I worked in the Israeli embassy in New York and studied political science.



I was willing to locate a place that united both my will to serve my people and my country and, at the same time, develop my knowledge and explore all kinds of culture, Hannah Goldshmit said.

According to Bat El Polyack, who worked in a student position in the ministry before applying for this course, From a very young age, my father was the first inspiration that brought me here and motivated me to work in the ministry and an international environment showcasing Israel and what it is about.

During the recruitment stages, we assure the cadets that the profession of diplomacy also allows them to be partners in making history." "The study visits of the cadets to countries covered by the Abraham Accords are exactly a part of this, said Dana Koresh, head of the training division at the Foreign Ministry.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Investing in human resources is key to further development and spurring economic growth, said Finance and National Economy Shaikh Salman bin Khalifa Al Khalifa.

He stressed the need to build productive economies and continue sustained development efforts towards achieving further development and growth in various fields.

The minister was addressing the Seventh Annual Forum of Public Finance in the Arab Countries, which is held in Dubai, the UAE. UAE Minister of State for Financial Affairs Mohamed bin Hadi Al Hussaini opened the forum, being held in cooperation with the Arab Monetary Fund and the International Monetary Fund.

Arab Monetary Fund Director General and Chairman of the Board of Directors Dr Abdulrahman bin Abdullah Al Hamidi, IMF Director General Christina Georgieva, Arab finance ministers and central bank governors attended.

He said that the forum provides an opportunity to discuss ways to enhance financial sustainability and economic stability, adopt appropriate policies to enhance management of public debt, including the development and rationalisation of government spending procedures to ensure efficient spending, strengthen public revenue policies, and bolster partnerships with the private sector, for the benefit and development of Arab countries.

Commitment

Shaikh Salman highlighted the Governments commitment, chaired by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, to enhance its performance in accordance with best international practices.

He stressed the importance of summits and forums that bring together elites, government leaders, officials and decision-makers from different countries of the world to exchange practices and models of effective government practices, which in turn will contribute to achieving goals set out.

The Minister stressed the importance of developing innovative solutions and providing adequate funding to build and invest in national capacities, adopting green technologies, and increasing energy efficiency to meet climate challenges.

He noted the IMFs pivotal role important role, along with financial institutions, in supporting efforts to confront climate change and achieve the desired economic growth, by adopting best practices and aligning them with sustainable financing goals that fall within the framework of policies followed by countries.
At least eight killed in road accident in Vietnam

At least eight killed in road accident in Vietnam

Agencies | Hanoi

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

At least eight people were killed after a van collided with a tractor-trailer at an intersection in Vietnam on Tuesday, a government official said.

"Six people were killed on the spot, two died in the hospital and twelve others were injured, including three in a critical condition," vice chairman of the National Traffic Safety Committee Khuat Viet Hung told dpa.

The two vehicles were traveling in opposite directions when they collided at an intersection in central Quang Nam Province, he said.

Most of the 20 passengers in the van were on the way to a hospital for health examinations. Police are investigating the cause of the accident.
A Chinese woman triggered a stir across social media after revealing her purchase of a deserted island in Japan's Okinawa prefecture.

While some netizens expressed envy, others dubbed the move "an expansion of Chinese territory," Japan Times reported.

According to the report, the anonymous woman in her 30s told Chinese media that a company run by her relative had bought Yanaha Island, located north of the Okinawa main island.

Public records indicate that parts of the island have been owned by a Tokyo-based consulting firm that specializes in Chinese businesses since February 2021. The office of Izena village in Okinawa, which oversees the island, said the company owns about 50% of the total land, with its beaches mostly held by the local government.

Furthermore, a social media clip shows a document addressed to the consulting firm, which claims on its website to have acquired Yanaha Island. ...continue reading
Trading Symbol: NWX (TSX-V)

VANCOUVER, BC, Feb. 14, 2023 /CNW/ - Newport Exploration Ltd ("Newport" or "the Company") is pleased to provide information provided by Beach Energy Ltd ("Beach") regarding assets on the Western Flank of the Cooper Basin, Australia, as reported on February 13th, 2023 in their FY23 Half Year Results.

In a News Release dated February 1st, 2023, the Company made reference to Beach's FY23 Second Quarter Activities Report for the period ended December 31st, 2022.

Production

Beach's First Half FY23 production from the Western Flank was 1.9MMbbl.

Beach report that in its First Half FY23, Western Flank oil production was 35% below the prior corresponding period. (Note: Western Flank includes the Company's GOR licences ex PEL's 91, 106,107 and PRL 26, as well as licenses ex PEL's 92, 104 and 111, over which the Company does not have a GOR). The decrease in production was primarily attributable to flooding in the Cooper Creek, weather related downtime and supply chain and procurement challenges arising from changes to the drilling schedule due to the rain delays. Consequently, a number of well connections planned for the period were delayed to Beach's Second Half of FY23.

A total of 10 wells were drilled and remain unconnected at the end of the period, including five horizontal development wells, four appraisal wells and one exploration well.

Based on the current outlook for drilling and connection activity during its Second Half of FY23, Beach is expecting full-year Western Flank oil production decline of ~10% from FY22 production of 3.4 MMbbl. The revised outlook reflects a deferral of production which is principally related to weather and operational delays, with reservoirs performing as expected.

Drilling

Two vertical oil exploration wells were drilled targeting the Birkhead reservoir. Knapmans 1 was plugged and abandoned due to sub-commercial oil pay. Rocky 1 discovered approximately three metres of net oil pay and was cased and suspended for future production. This result indicates oil migration west of existing commercial fields and will help inform the Birkhead exploration campaign planned for FY24.

A Birkhead reservoir fracture stimulation campaign was successfully delivered which comprised four vertical oil wells in the Bauer and Kangaroo fields and two horizontal oil wells in the Kangaroo and Stunsail fields. A second phase of Birkhead horizontal fracture stimulation wells is under consideration for FY24.

Beach report it is extending PSDM seismic reprocessing to the entire Western Flank following successful application of the technology in the south of the Western Flank acreage.

Future Activities

Beach report that in the First Half of FY24 they will return to exploration using new seismic survey data.

"With 10 wells, including four horizontal wells yet to be connected, four successful vertical wells in the Bauer and Kangaroo fields, and two successful horizontal wells in the Kangaroo and Stunsail fields, we remain very optimistic about the future production from our GOR licenses", stated Ian Rozier, President & CEO of Newport.

Australian Tax Issues

We advise shareholders and investors that the Company recently received an AUD$406,831 (CAD$376,095) rebate from the Australian Tax Office.

About Newport

The Company receives its GOR from Beach which is not a reporting issuer in Canada. Therefore, Newport is not able to confirm if disclosure satisfies the requirements of Canadian Securities legislation.

Newport has no control over operating decisions made by Beach and is not privy to exploration or production data derived by Beach during operations. Accordingly, this prevents the Company from commenting on operating plans going forward.

As always, the Company recommends that shareholders and potential investors access material information relevant to the Company as released independently by Beach and Santos Ltd in order to keep current during exploration, development and production of all the licenses subject to the Company's GOR.

The Company currently has 105,579,874 common shares issued and outstanding and approximately $3.6 million in the treasury (comprised of cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments) and no debt.

Details of the next GOR payment will be reported at the end of February or early March 2023.

[email protected]

www.newport-exploration.com

www.beachenergy.com.au

www.santos.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 accuracy or adequacy of this news release.

Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information

This news release is intended to provide readers with a reasonable basis for assessing the future performance of the Company. The words "believe", "should", "could", "expect", "anticipate", "contemplate", "target", "plan", "intends", "continue", "budget", "estimate", "may", "will", "schedule" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements may pertain to assumptions regarding Beach's drilling plans, future dividends, the price of oil and fluctuations in currency markets (specifically the Australian dollar). Forward-looking statements are based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, which are considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Factors include, but are not limited to, the risk of fluctuations in the assumed prices of oil, the risk of changes in government legislation including the risk of obtaining necessary licences and permits, taxation, controls, regulations and political or economic developments in Canada, Australia or other countries in which the Company carries or may carry on business in the future, risks associated with developmental activities, the speculative nature of exploration and development, and assumed quantities or grades of reserves. Readers are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those acknowledged in such statements.

The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by applicable laws.

 2023 Newport Exploration Ltd.

SOURCE Newport Exploration Ltd.

For further information: Ian Rozier, M.Sc., P. Eng (Non-Practising), Director and Chief Executive Officer, +1 604 685 6851
Chinese vice premier urges efforts to launch more high-quality digital education services, products

Xinhua) 10:33, February 14, 2023

BEIJING, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan on Monday urged efforts to introduce more high-quality digital education services and products.

Sun made the remarks while addressing the opening of the World Digital Education Conference, which opened in Beijing on Monday.

Noting that modern information technology has a revolutionary impact on the development of education, Sun said the Chinese government attaches great importance to the development of digital education, and that through continuous efforts, 290 million students in schools across China now have access to high-quality education.

China is willing to deepen international cooperation in digital education and strengthen the alignment of education policies and standards so as to make the fruits of digital education benefit more people of all countries, Sun said, adding that China is also ready to make a greater contribution to the progress of human civilization and the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

Based on the theme of digital transformation and future of education, the event is being attended by representatives from more than 130 countries and regions.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
TORONTO, Feb. 13, 2023 /CNW/ - Celebrate the province's natural and cultural heritage and learn about local history this Ontario Heritage Week, February 20-26.

Enjoy visits to three of the Ontario Heritage Trust's historical sites: Enoch Turner Schoolhouse (Toronto) and Fulford Place (Brockville) will be open for in-person visits on February 20 while the Josiah Henson Museum of African-Canadian History (Dresden) will host a live virtual tour on February 28. Starting February 20, tune in to watch the Josiah Henson Museum's videos celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Mary Ann Shadd Cary.

On Thursday, February 23, the Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, will join John Ecker, Chair, Board of Directors, Ontario Heritage Trust, to present the 2022 Lieutenant Governor's Ontario Heritage Awards. This annual awards program recognizes exceptional achievements in heritage conservation.

"We encourage Ontarians to explore their communities and experience the province's rich heritage this Heritage Week. From historical places and museums to the beautiful outdoors, there is so much to celebrate and learn about our province's history," said John Ecker, Chair, Board of Directors, Ontario Heritage Trust.

Communities across Ontario are also celebrating Heritage Week with special programs. Visit the Trust's Heritage Week community events and activities list for more information.

Ontario Heritage Trust's Heritage Week 2023 programs:

Open house at Enoch Turner Schoolhouse (106 Trinity Street, Toronto)

February 20 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Step back in time to 1858 and explore the history of Toronto's first free school. The schoolhouse will be open for self-guided tours and children's activities. Email [email protected] or visit heritagetrust.on.ca/etsh for more information.

Open house at Fulford Place (287 King Street East, Brockville)

February 20 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Get a glimpse of early 20th-century Brockville through the perspectives of the Fulford family. Visitors are invited to explore the museum at their own pace through self-guided tours and talk to volunteers, who will be stationed throughout the house to answer questions and share stories. To celebrate Heritage Week, admission will be by donation. The museum is also collecting non-perishable food donations for the Brockville Food Bank. Email [email protected] or visit heritagetrust.on.ca/fulfordplace for more information.

Live virtual tour at the Josiah Henson Museum of African-Canadian History

February 28 from 2 to 3:15 p.m.

Join this 75-minute live tour to learn the story of Reverend Josiah Henson, abolitionist and Underground Railroad conductor, and the history of the Underground Railroad in Ontario. Your livestream experience will incorporate a tour of the museum and the property. A brief question-and-answer session will follow the tour. Reserve your spot today on Eventbrite.

Beyond the Underground Railroad: The living legacy of Mary Ann Shadd Cary

Available starting February 20

Tune in for engaging pre-recorded conversations celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Mary Ann Shadd Cary, a 19th-century pioneer in publishing, education and law. Cary was the first Black woman publisher in Canada, established a racially integrated school in Windsor and, in 1883, became one of the first Black women to earn a law degree in North America. The videos will be available to watch starting February 20 on the Ontario Heritage Trust's YouTube channel.

Learn more

Download photos of Enoch Turner Schoolhouse, Fulford Place and Josiah Henson Museum of African-Canadian History on Dropbox.

Find out more about the Lieutenant Governor's Ontario Heritage Awards.

Explore the Trust's 2023 Black History Month programs.

Consider making a donation to the Trust to support new opportunities to learn and experience heritage and conservation projects.

Stay connected

Follow the Ontario Heritage Trust on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube. Subscribe to the Heritage Matters ... more! e-newsletter.

About the Ontario Heritage Trust

The Ontario Heritage Trust (the Trust) is an agency of the Government of Ontario. The Trust conserves, interprets and shares Ontario's heritage. We conserve provincially significant cultural and natural, tangible and intangible heritage, interpret Ontario's history, celebrate its diversity and educate Ontarians of its importance in our society. The Trust envisions an Ontario where we conserve, value and share the places and landscapes, histories, traditions and stories that embody our heritage, now and for future generations.

SOURCE Ontario Heritage Trust

For further information: For more information about the Ontario Heritage Trust, contact Patricia Njovu at 437-248-1439 or [email protected]
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has given a reason the campaign rally of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, was cancelled in his state.

Recall that the rally was scheduled for Tuesday.

Wike said that Atikus rally in Rivers was annulled because they lacked the numbers to fill the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium he approved for the event.

The governor also described the claim by the PDP Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) that the campaign was put off because of fear of bloodshed as untrue.

He spoke at Nyemoni Secondary School field in Abonnema town, the venue of the PDP campaign for Akuku-Toru Local Government Area, on Monday.

Wike said, I gave them the stadium, they know theyve no capacity to fill the stadium, theyre looking for excuses.

They went and forced themselves to use government land at Trans Amadi. I said no, that wasnt where I gave you. Where I gave you was Adokiye Amiesimaka, go and fill that place.

He added, They now said no, we wont go there again. We dont want people to die. Who is killing who? Is anybody killing anybody? I said dont pay money, Ill buy the diesel for you. Ill do everything for you. Mobilise, go, and fill that stadium. They ran away.
In spite of the Supreme Court order extending the deadline for the old naira notes till Wednesday this week, banks yesterday stopped accepting the notes even as Nigerians continue to spend long hours in queues to access the new naira notes.

The Supreme Court of Nigeria, last Wednesday entered an interim order against the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN banning the apex bank from going ahead with the February 10th deadline for the end of use of the old N200, N500, N1,000 notes.

Again, President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday met with the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, at the Presidential Villa Abuja.

The CBN governor, who was seeing the President privately for the third time since the cash crisis escalated across the country, did not speak to journalists as he left the villa

The reason for the visit was not known, as at the time of filing this report, it was however, believed to be in connection to finding solution to the cash crisis.

NE gathered that banks yesterday did not accept the old naira notes from customers. Further investigations showed that some of the banks sent messages to their customers, especially PoS agents, saying they should stop accepting the old naira notes.

A tier-1 bank official who spoke to NE on condition of anonymity said: We are not accepting the old notes in our branches. The only branches that can collect the old notes are the big branches designated as hubs.

A PoS operator revealed, My bank told us to stop accepting the old notes, adding that they will not collect it from us again.

Another PoS operator said: My bank sent SMS to us that it has stopped accepting old naira notes. What do we do now that the new notes are scarce?

Most of the banks however failed to confirm that the branches were officially directed to stop accepting the old notes.

But speaking on condition of anonymity, a bank official said: Im not aware that any bank is accepting the old notes as theres been no updating directive from the CBN further to the Feb 10 deadline. This is a personal opinion please, not representing the views of the bank(s).

Queues for new notes persist at ATMs

Meanwhile, the widespread queues to access new naira notes persisted at the few ATMs dispensing cash.

A lot of bank branches in Lagos did not open to customers and their ATMs also did not dispense cash.

For example, most of the banks in the Agbara area of Lagos were shut yesterday with customers stranded.

A bank customer lamented that they left their homes early to get money from the bank, but to their dismay, the banks shut down activities.

The bank customer, Mrs Ogho Ojegba, revealed that the only place you can get a bank from Ijanikin to Oko-Afo, along the Badagry axis is Agbara, even as she pointed out that all the connecting villages within Agbara also make use of the banks.

However, she revealed that the branches of two banks started giving numbers to customers on seeing that trouble had started brewing at the branch of another bank as customers were seen hitting the gate. She told newsmen that when she asked the security men in police uniform whether they would open, they told her to visit another branch of her bank because some branches have been shut down till further notice.

PoS operators have lamented the negative impact of the continued scarcity of the new naira notes on their business.

Bisiola, a PoS agent at Ikotun, said that she has not had access to cash to run her business for the day as some of her suppliers of cash had disappointed her as the fee for buying the cash has been increased.

There is no cash anywhere. I have tried sourcing for cash from most of my suppliers who give me cash in exchange for a low service fee, all to no avail. I am so tired as most of them have increased their exchange fee. The banks are not giving us cash.

I am preparing to lock up and go out to source for cash. I just pray I succeed. The way the situation of cash is in this country, people will end up begging for survival despite having money in the bank.

Also, a PoS operator who did not want her name mentioned stated that she was charged N10,000 to get N100,000. The operator added that she also now charges N1,400 for a N10,000 cash withdrawal.

Point of Sale operators lamented the scarcity of cash a few days after the old notes in denominations of N200, N500, and N1,000 ceased being legal tender.





Nigerians decry hours wasted on ATM queues

Residents of Benin have decried the man-hours spent queuing in banks and Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) in their bid to access both the new and old Naira notes.

They decried the poor functionality of the mobile and Internet banking services, lamenting that the cashless policy was frustrating and is the major cause of the long queues being witnessed in banks and ATM.

A petty trader, Mrs Obehi Ofure, said We now spend more time in banks and ATM queues than we spend in our different businesses.

Some people come to queue up at the ATM as early as 2:00 a.m. so they can be among the first people to access cash.

I came to this ATM before 6 a.m , yet, I picked 135 as my number on the queue. I was surprised; I met a lot of people both old and young already in the queue.





The time is now almost 12: 30 p.m. and it has not gotten to my turn, the number being attended to now be 75; this is so painful, she said.





Nigerians pay N3,000 to withdraw N10,000

Most banks were shut down yesterday in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital while the scarcity of naira notes worsened across the state.

Also, a section of the road leading to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) office along the Oxbow Lake axis of Swali suburb was closed to traffic by security operatives.

A visit around town showed the absence of the usual long queues at the Automated Teller Machines points of commercial banks in the state capital, ostensibly due to lack of cash.

Having survived the hardship of the weekend without money on me, I rushed to the bank this morning thinking I will withdraw some cash from my account only to learn that the banks are not operating,  lamented a resident who gave his name as Tony Olotu.

However, the few Point-of-Sale agents in the state capital having cash to dispense have been making brisk business charging customers N3,000 for withdrawing N10,000 claiming they also pay bank officials to get the new notes.




As the country prepares for the 2023 general elections, the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, has charged corps members to ensure full adherence to the guidelines contained in the Electoral Act and to remain neutral throughout the exercise.





This is as they were also reminded that their membership in the corps does not confer immunity from the legal consequences of any wrongdoing.





They were enjoined to continue to be law-abiding while also serving as role models for the younger ones.





This charge was given by Brigadier-General Yushau Dogara Ahmed during the closing ceremony of the 2023 Batch A Stream 1 orientation course at the NYSC permanent orientation camp, Ede, on Tuesday.





Represented by the Osun State NYSC Coordinator, Abdulwahab Olayinka, Ahmed noted that the participation of NYSC members in the elections was due to the performance of their predecessors since 2008.





My dear compatriots, as you are already aware, the 2023 General Elections are around the corner. As was the case with the previous elections conducted from 2008, Corps members will form the majority of ad hoc personnel that will be enlisted for the conduct of the exercise.





It will interest you to know that the performance of your predecessors contributed to the credibility of the previous elections and earned NYSC accolades from both local and foreign observers.





Therefore, I enjoin you to take a cue from them by performing the election duties with high sense of responsibility. You are to ensure adherence to the guidelines contained in the Electoral Act and, especially, remain neutral throughout the exercise, he said.





Ahmed so assured the corps members that adequate preparations had been made with the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and security agencies regarding their welfare and safety.





As you get set to partake in this important national assignment, I would like to assure you that we have secured the commitment of the Independent National Electoral Commission and security agencies regarding your welfare and safety before, during and after the elections.





Accordingly, we are in constant liaison with security agencies and other critical stakeholders with a view to ensuring your safety as well as addressing other essential needs for a fulfilling service year.





Ahmed also appealed to the corps members to avoid vices that would tarnish their images and endanger their lives.





I enjoin you to perform your duties with diligence and be guided by the provisions of the NYSC Act and Bye-Laws as well as workplace rules and regulations. In keeping with the objectives of the Scheme, you are expected to integrate into your host communities while also appreciating and respecting their cultures.





You must desist from meddling in their local politics.





While charging corps employers not to reject any NYSC members posted to them, he urged them to mentor them appropriately to enable them to develop their potential.





One thousand three hundred eighty corps members were deployed to Osun State, while 404 were dislodged from Lagos State.
President Muhammadu Buhari says he expects the police and other law enforcement agencies to ensure that the forthcoming general election is credible.

This isnt the first time the president is making such a request to the police.

In 2022, the president said the police should be firm, professional, and loyal to the democratic values of the country during the general election.

Speaking on Monday during the launch of operational assets procured by the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), in Abuja, Buhari said he has high expectations of the inspector-general of police (IGP).

He also said security agencies should be aware that they are being observed by the international community.

You should, however, be reminded of my high expectations of your leadership, particularly, in relation to the provision of requisite security that will engender not just stable security space ahead of the general elections, but guarantee the credibility of the exercise, he said.

In this task, I call on the inspector general of police and indeed, all law enforcement agencies that will be complementing the police in the election security process to note that the eyes of the nation and the global community will be on you all.

We are running a democratic system which is guided by the rule of law and the police worldwide is recognised as the most symbolic agency within the democratic governance and rule of law process.

Therefore, any nation that is desirous of deepening her democratic credentials and advancing the course of rule of law mustprioritizse the efficiency of her police institution.

Speaking further, as quoted in a statement by Femi Adesina, presidential spokesperson, Buhari said his administration remains committed to ensuring free and fair elections.

My pledge is to bequeath to the nation a democratic culture in which the police will not only be apolitical and impartial during the 2023 general elections, but also one in which the process will be peaceful and secure and the outcome truly reflective of the free will of the citizens, he said.

I renew the assurances of my firm trust in your leadership and unwavering support for police.

It is indeed, in demonstration of this that I recently approved the release of requisite funds to the Nigeria Police Force towards the continuation of the next phase in the annual recruitment exercise of 10,000 constables in line with extant Presidential approvals.




The Federal High Court sitting in Abakaliki has disbanded the South-East security outfit, Ebubeagu, in Ebonyi State.





The court gave the order on Tuesday.





The disbandment was attributed to human rights abuses, extortions, illegal arrests and use of firearms perpetuated by the security outfit.
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Femi Fani-Kayode will on Wednesday return to the Department of State Services, DSS, over his coup tweet.





The former Minister of Aviation disclosed he was on Monday questioned by the operatives for about five hours.





Fani-Kayode had alleged that the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar met with some military officers.





The Director of Special Projects and New Media in the APC Presidential Campaign Council, PCC, suggested they might be planning a coup ahead of the general elections.





Speaking with reporters at the APC national secretariat in Abuja, Fani-Kayode confirmed the grilling is continuing.





The former presidential aide has been asked to report to the security service once a week till the conclusion of investigation.





Fani-Kayode said the investigators were inquisitive, polite and professional in their approach, adding that he wasnt oppressed.





FFK admitted he regrets some of the things in the Twitter post that made the PDP and the former Vice President demand his probe.





I spent about five hours. I was subjected to thorough grilling and asked to come back on Wednesday. If I were to do it a second time, I wont tweet this same way, he added.
Rabiu Kwankwaso, the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), says he will block all leakages and wasteful spending if elected.

Kwankwaso spoke at the presidential debate organised by the Nigerian Elections Debate Group (NEDG) in collaboration with the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON) in Abuja, on Sunday.

The former governor of Kano said his government would create an enabling environment for affordable and reliable electricity, and transportation infrastructure for Nigerians to establish businesses.

He said Nigeria has the needed resources to grow its economy.

In 1999, when I was elected as governor of Kano and sworn in, we had piles of debts, within four years I was able to settle them, he said.

In those four years, we did not borrow any kobo. We did so much in terms of projects or programmes in the education, agriculture, and health sectors.

We electrified over 400 towns and villages. In fact, when we left government, even when I went back, eight years after, I could only do very little because most, if not all the towns and the villages in Kano have been electrified.

I can tell you that in our government, eight years that I was the governor, there was no security vote. I wasnt taking one naira for anything.

All areas of wastage from the family to friends, to this and that, we stopped it. Projects and programmes, as an engineer myself, I was going through every document to ensure value for money.

Kwakwanso, a former minister of defence, said he had spent 17 years as a civil servant and 30 years as a politician which makes him the best candidate for the job.

I thank almighty God that today I am standing and I believe Kwankwaso is the best candidate, I am the best person under our circumstances to be the president of Nigeria, he said.

I am a well-prepared person for the job. Kwankwaso is not the type who is in a hurry to be president. In 2007, I was in the civil service for 17 years.

I was the deputy speaker, House of Representatives; I was in the Constitutional Conference; I was Governor, and I was a Minister of Defence. But I went back to Kano because I had an uncompleted job.

So, I believe today, in terms of qualification, in terms of even health, in terms of capacity, in terms of experience, of course.

Kwankwaso said his government would create an enabling environment for affordable and reliable electricity, and transportation infrastructure for Nigerians to establish businesses.

On agriculture, Kwankwaso said his administration would support the farmers and tackle the insecurity that has prevented them from going to their farms.

He said his government would give the needed support to the military, the way it was done when he was the minister of defence.

I can tell you that when I was minister, we did all that we could for our military men and women in terms of their welfare, equipment, training, and retraining, he said.

We provided the military from second lieutenant to the highest four-star general, vehicles, at a subsidised price and other ranks, motorcycles.

EMPLOY MORE HEALTH PERSONNEL TO SOLVE BRAIN DRAIN

Kwankwaso said he believes health insurance is very important and the government must consider it as the way out.

We should be empowered to ensure that people, as many as possible in this country benefit from modern healthcare systems, he said.

Were going to do it and were going to encourage the private sector. Create a conducive atmosphere with all sorts of encouragement to ensure that they participate.

We need to see more teaching hospitals for the private sector, other bottlenecks created by our professional bodies have to be removed.

Kwankwaso said his administration has plans to address the challenge of brain drain by employing enough health experts to meet Nigerias needs if elected.




Hadi Sirika, minister of aviation, says he does not share the same vision as Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate.

Sirika in a tweet on Sunday said he is ideologically opposite of Obi while affirming that Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), is his candidate.

I am ideologically opposite of Peter Obi, I dont share his vision nor do I stand for what he stands. I have not endorsed him, he tweeted.

I am APC. He is labour. Asiwaju was my candidate long before the primaries and he still is. God willing we are coasting to victory. Jagaba all the way.

A Twitter user by the name Peter Ayuba Dogo, took a swipe at the minister, saying: If Tinubu wins, which is very slim, you will never continue in Aviation Sir. He have his agenda and am sure he have his own people. You have played your role.

But Sirika responded, saying: Even if it were possible for President Muhammadu Buhari to succeed himself, by whichever miracle, I never will be minister.

Public office is NOT a dynasty, it is transient. If it were permanent, I wouldnt have met it. From General Manager to House of Reps. to Senate, then to Minister. E do na.

Peter Obi of the Labour Party is one of the leading candidates in the upcoming presidential election scheduled for February 25.

Despite dissenting opinions on his chances of winning, Obis candidacy has gained massive support, especially from the youth who seize every opportunity to show their allegiance.
Femi Fani-Kayode, a former minister of aviation, says it was a challenging experience facing an investigation panel at the Department of State Services (DSS) headquarters.

Fani-Kayode, director of new media in the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign council, reported at the office of the secret police on Monday after he was summoned.

The former minister was invited by the DSS for tweeting that Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), met with some unnamed army generals.

Speaking with reporters at the national secretariat of the APC in Abuja after meeting with agents of the secret police, he said at the right time, the PDP presidential candidate would be invited for questioning.

We have no choice but to have confidence in the system, we have no other system and where to go. By and large, the system works. Sometimes, it may not get it right but most of the time, they get it right, Fani-Kayode said.

I appreciate the fact that when it comes to national security we have to be careful for all our sakes, especially at a time like this.

I wont criticise anybody at this time for doing their job. It was extremely challenging for me at 62 to be confronted by a panel like that of very strong young men. It was not an easy thing but we went through it.

I issued a statement about three or four days ago expressing my concern about some reports in the media that suggested that Atiku Abubakar had some meetings with some generals in the Nigerian military.

Based on that, I now asked questions about what he was doing and I suggest that it was possible, if true, that the most important thing is that there is a wider script, a hidden agenda.

The former minister is expected to report back at the DSS HQ on Wednesday.
The Spokesman of Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Council, Yunusa Tanko, has denied collapsing its South West structure in favour of the ruling All Progressives Congress.





This is even as Tankos counterpart in the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo, called the LP flag bearer, Peter Obi, a joker for nursing a belief that he can win the February 25 presidential poll.

Both parties spoke with newsmen on Monday evening.





Their reactions came on the heels of a report that an alleged LP South-West Chairman, Omotoso Banji, led some party members to collapse its structure because it lacked the clout to win the forthcoming general election.





But Tanko stated that the report was false.





He said, It is wrong information. There is nothing like LP collapsing structure for anybody in the South West. Is there a different South West we dont know about?





It is just a creation of some disgruntled elements and irrelevant persons who just want to cause disharmony in our party. Nobody is decamping from our camp to anywhere. Our structure in the South West is still very much intact.





Keyamo, on the other hand, believed that the Mama, Papa and Pikin party is living in denial.

The voting day is getting very closer and people are beginning to see the light. It is sad that the LP that prides itself on wanting to change Nigeria is referring to some members leaving the party as irrelevant.





We welcome those who just collapsed the structure into the APC. They have seen the light after discovering that they were on a journey to nowhere with the Labour Party. I repeat it for the umpteenth time that LP cannot and will not win, he said.





While stating that Obi stands no chance in the presidential election, the Minister of State for Labour likened his situation to the President Muhammadu Buhari, who failed on three occasions before winning the 2015 elections.





According to him, Obi would need more than luck to win the poll with his perceived One and a half regional votes.





He said, At the height of the election, Buhari cleared the North West, North East and North Central, yet could not win.





Not to talk of Peter Obi whose support base is numerically weak in terms of voting strength. How does he want to win? He has only one and a half regions where the people are passionate about him.





He only has the South-East support but the South-South would be shared equally with the PDP. I said it before and I am saying it again.





Peter Obi is a joker. Candidates are going to stadia to the campaign, they will rather choose a drive to a crowded small space, especially places where your ethnic people are. It is disgraceful, to say the least.
Femi Gbajabiamila, speaker of the house of representatives, says the guidance he receives from Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has helped him to be a better public servant.

Gbajabiamila spoke at the weekend in Abuja at an event organised by the Progressive Sisters Network (PSN) to honour Tinubu.

The speaker, who was elected into the House of Representatives in 2003, said he has benefited from Tinubus mentorship in the nearly 30 years he has spent in public service.

We are here to talk about a man whose entire life is a testament to the incredible impact that individuals can make on the lives of others when they devote themselves to building ladders of opportunity for others to reach the highest heights their talents can take them, he said.

Most importantly, we are here to hear from the people who at the critical moments of their ascent, benefitted from the support, guidance, and leadership of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. I am one of such person.

Gbajabiamila said nobody succeeds in life on their own and must thus rely on the guidance of a mentor.

We depend on relationship networks, our family, our friends, and even sometimes the kindness of strangers to achieve the best desires of our hearts. In those moments, nothing beats having a guiding hand from someone who has been down the same road and can provide you with a roadmap, he said.

For nearly three decades now, I have had the opportunity and privilege of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubus guiding hand to help me in my public service. I have learned lessons from him that have helped me be a better legislator and public servant. Today, we are seeing the devastating hardship that inevitably results when policymakers fail to consider the life and circumstances of the ordinary citizen, he stated.

Gbajabiamila said aside from him, several present and past public officials have benefited from Tunubus tutelage, including women.

The legislator said as governor of Lagos, Tinubu constituted a cabinet of people based on merits irrespective of their religion, tribe, and background.

That cabinet had men like senator Opeyemi Bamidele, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, Ben Akabueze, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, prof Yemi Osinbajo, senator Femi Lanlehin, Sunday Dare, and Arthur Worrey, amongst others, he said.

All these individuals who have gone on to have accomplished careers in the public and private sectors by virtue of their own abilities are Lagosians by their contributions to the growth and prosperity of the state. But none of them is from Lagos. I learned from Asiwaju that what matters is the quality of the person, not where they come from, their gender, or religion.

You will never succeed in building such a team if you focus on asking questions about which God a person prays to, which language one speaks, and which church they attend. These questions dont speak to the quality of a human being. More often than not, they reflect the prejudices and limited vision of the person asking the question.

Asiwaju taught us that the promise of democracy is not perfection. The promise of democracy is accommodation and dedication to service in the best interest of the collective. We learned from Asiwaju that the private ambitions of any one individual must never take preeminence over the shared interests of the community, the party, or the country.

WE ARE COMMITTED TO TINUBU

In her remarks, Rinsola Abiola, national coordinator of PSN, said the group would work for Tinubus victory at the polls because he is committed to the Nigerian project.

Rinsola, who is the daughter of the late MKO Abiola, said Tinubu has proved himself to be a patriot in every sense of the word, and a man who loves Nigeria as much as he does can be trusted to lead the country.

Many have asked us why are we so committed to actualising this goal of having him sworn in as president and commander-in-chief come May 29. The answer is simple. We are committed to Asiwaju because he has demonstrated commitment to us. From the bitter, drawn-out struggle against military dictatorship, to his relentless efforts to steady the ship of our nascent democracy, she said.

Many of those in this room today and scores of others not present, male and female, and in both the public and private sectors, have worked with Asiwaju at different points and benefitted from his guidance and mentorship.

Those who attended the event included Kashim Shettima, Tinubus running mate; Abike Dabiri-Erewa; chairperson of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission; Betta Edu, APC national women leader, among others.
Former Vice President of Nigeria and presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has assured that his government will allocate ten billion dollars towards youth empowerment and their education.

He stated this at UJ Esuene Stadium Calabar, when he addressed mass rally of PDP supporters and members ahead of the presidential election.

He said, if voted into power, security and the two items will be the priority of his government.

Atiku said, Well allocate $10billion for the education of our youths and empower them with skills thereby eliminating poverty and criminality. With this, jobs shall be created and insecurity in the country shall reduce drastically.

He said it was becoming a reality that the country would not move forward with the current political situations.

Atiku, therefore, promises his government will certainly restructure the country, adding that this would be treated as a major policy thrust of his administration.

We shall move to restructure the country as a major policy of the incoming PDP government by reducing the powers of the federal government and giving them to the states and local governments, so that we will hold all our leaders from all tiers of government responsible for development.

This will make the Federal Government less powerful and then a greater powers and resources will be deployed to the state for the good of our people, he stated.

Let me also assure you that with the PDP in charge, your agricultural produce shall have value with road network to ready markets will be a priority and Nigeria and people of Cross River State shall smile again.

He noted that Nigerians have suffered for eight years now owing to incompetence of the ruling party.

Speaking earlier, National Chairman of the party, Iyorchia Ayu, called on the people of the state to vote for PDP in order to reclaim their stolen mandate.
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has accused the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) of flouting the interim injunction of the Supreme Court suspending the implementation of the February 10 deadline on the use of the old banknotes.

Following the redesign of the N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes in November 2022, Nigerians trooped to various banks to deposit their old currencies in line with the initial January 31 deadline, which the apex bank later extended to February 10.

However, an interim injunction granted by the Supreme Court on February 8 restrained the CBN from carrying out the implementation.

But Falana, who made a live appearance on Channels Televisions The 2023 Verdict on Tuesday, said the government was not ready to comply with the order.

In a country where the rule of law operates, once the Supreme Court has determined a matter or given an order, it is expected that all and sundry  everybody  will comply with the order, he said.

[A] statement was credited to the Central Bank that since it was not a party to the case, its not going to comply with the order. I thought that could only happen in a banana republic.

I expected the Central Bank to have issued a statement following the order of the Supreme Court: all actions are stale until the 15th of February.'

According to him, the law will be invoked to deal with those who are deliberately flouting the orders of the court and sabotaging the rule of law in Nigeria.

For me, an example has to be made this time around, so that nobody will feel that hes above the law in our country, he added.
The Minister of Defence, Bashir Magashi, said the Nigeria Armed Forces is overburdened because of inadequate manpower and numerous security challenges confronting the nation.

The minister stated this on Monday in Abuja at the 25th edition of the President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) Scorecard Series organised to showcase the achievements of the government.

Presenting the scorecard of his ministry, Magashi said one of the challenges of his ministry was the excessive demands being made of the military in spite of its inadequate manpower.

Adequate manpower is paramount for any military force to perform effectively. As of 2022, Nigeria, with an estimated population of about 220 million people, has a total military strength of about 223,000 personnel. This gives a ratio of military personnel to population of approximately 11,000. This is lower than those of Nigerias neighbours except Niger (Republic), he said.

In addressing the challenge, the minister stressed the need to enhance the capacity of the police and other paramilitary agencies to enable them to discharge their primary responsibility of internal security.

According to him, Nigeria also needs consistent recruitment of about 12, 000 soldiers biannually to enhance the capabilities of the military to meet the security challenges of the country.




The Kogi government has accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of being a pawn in the hands of political opponents in a bid to satisfy certain political interests.

In a statement on Sunday, Kingsley Fanwo, Kogi commissioner for information and communications, said the inspector-general of police (IGP) should arrest Bawa and commit him to prison as mandated by a competent court of jurisdiction.

BACKGROUND

On February 6, a high court sitting in Kogi ordered that Bawa be remanded at the Kuje correctional centre over contempt of court.

R.O. Ayoola, the presiding judge, also ordered the IGP to ensure the committal order was executed, and awarded N10 million against the EFCC.

The committal order was issued over a case involving Ali Bello, identified as the nephew of Yahaya Bello, Kogi governor.

On December 12, 2022, the judge ruled in favour of Bello over his arrest and detention by the EFCC.

But days after the court order, the EFCC re-arrested and re-arraigned Bello over alleged money laundering.

On February 8, the EFCC arraigned Rashida, wife of the Kogi governor, and four others  including Ali Bello  over an 18-count charge bordering on alleged money laundering to the tune of N3 billion.

The defendants pleaded not guilty to the charge, while Rashida is said to be at large.

EFCC HAS INSTITUTIONAL AGENDA AGAINST KOGI

In a statement on Sunday, Fanwo accused the EFCC of media trial, adding that no amount of such would distract Yahaya Bello, Kogi governor.

Our attention has been drawn to series of press statements and terribly woven media campaign against the Kogi State Government and the Governor of Kogi State by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the statement reads.

It is sad that an agency charged with the responsibility of fighting graft in the country has turned itself into a pawn in the hands of political opponents with an untamed desperation to damage the integrity of the Governor and the Government of Kogi State.

The latest shenanigans of the EFCC is to accuse some members of the Governors family of corruption, arrest them without any prior invitation or warrant and against extant Court Orders restraining them from so doing and charging them to court.

This has further exposed the uncivilised, unconstitutional and unethical practices of the anti-graft agency.

Their latest approach has further confirmed to Nigerians that they have an institutional agenda against the Governor and Government of Kogi State. Nigerians are wiser now and they know when an operation is politically motivated.

According to him, no funds are missing from the coffers of the Kogi government.

We reiterate that funds belonging to the Kogi State Government are not missing and we retain our enviable status in the areas of transparency, accountability and probity, he said.

The shadow chasing by the EFCC and their known and unknown sponsors will not distract our administration from serving our people.

The seeming attack on Governors that are committed to the victory of the APC Presidential Candidate by the anti-graft agency is well understood by discerning Nigerians. No force can stop the voice of the people.

Our decision to drag the Federal Government to court over the hardship experienced by Nigerians as a result of the apex banks monetary policies remains a conviction that we are committed to. We will not succumb to intimidation by any agency of Government.

We have credible intelligence of plans by Kogites to protest against the EFCC for continually dragging the integrity of the state and its Governor in the mud.

We however beseech our people to remain calm but steadfast. Rasheed Bawa, the EFCC Chairman, is not bigger than the law no matter his degree of contempt for the Courts and constitutionalism. We will triumph.

We hereby call on the Inspector General of Police who has been served with the order of Court to immediately arrest Rasheed Bawa and commit him to prison as mandated by a competent court of jurisdiction.

Allowing convicts to roam about the society portends a great danger to our judicial system. Rasheed Bawa cannot be allowed to continue to disobey Court Orders at will while also evading justice. Let justice be done.
The presidential flagbearer of the Labour Party, Peter Obi has refuted a claim by a pastor alleging that he bribed some members of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, with N2bn to gain their support.

Recall that reports of the alleged bribed flooded the social media space on Sunday, with some stakeholders of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, mocking Obi.

Spokesperson of the Tinubu Shettima campaign council, Festus Keyamo and other APC stalwarts tweeted the allegation on Sunday.

The development followed an alleged petition reportedly written by one Pastor Frank Onwumere and addressed to the CAN President, questioning why the alleged N2bn was shared by some churches, while others were excluded.

Reacting, the CAN National President, Archbishop Daniel Okoh in a swift statement on Sunday said the organization did not receive any money from the presidential candidate.

He vowed to find the source of the petition and take proper action.

Speaking on the matter, the former Anambra governor, in an interview with Channels TV on Monday, said he does not even have N2bn to give anybody.

He challenged those peddling the allegations to come up with evidence, stressing that he is ready to quit the race if the allegation is proven to be true.

He said, I dont even have N2bn let alone giving anybody such money. What am I giving them N2bn for? They are clergymen, they should be praying for the country and they dont need money to do that.

I believe that the clergymen also have a problem. Their followers are suffering so they want good governance. Why should I give them money? They should give me money to be able to support me in terms of being able to run around for my campaigns.

I can comfortably tell you that I have never given one Naira to CAN and if anybody can prove that I gave one Naira to CAN, I will stop running.
The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, on Tuesday, promised to continue with the developmental programmes of the President, Muhammadu Buhari, should he emerge the next president of the country.

Speaking at the APC South-East grand finale rally in Owerri, Tinubu said that the Peoples Democratic Party refused to move the country forward when they held the chance.

He said that Buharis eight year reign was a retooling process, adding that he would invest in education, build infrastructure and be prudent, should he be elected as the next president.

He said, PDP stole Nigerias treasure. President Buharis eight years is a retooling process. PDP are liars. We will continue with developmental programmes of APC, it will not stop. Imo is the destination for tourism, we will add value to real estate in Imo state, invest in education, build and reconstruct your roads in Imo. No more issue of ASUU strike. We will be prudent and manage revenue generation capacity, we will bring peace, we will work with the state to ensure security.

Buhari, who handed over APCs flag to Tinubu, said that the partys presidential candidate would deliver should he succeed him.

The Governor of Imo state, Hope Uzodinma, assured the party that his state would deliver for APC in the February 25 presidential election.

Uzodinma said, Imo people are grateful to Mr President. We sought your support for building of roads and fighting insecurity in Imo State and you approved. It is time to reciprocate that support by voting for APC.

The Governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi, said that the Igbos would vote for APC because of the Second Niger Bridge constructed by the Buhari regime

Governor Babajide Sanwu-Olu of Lagos State, said Igbo people living in his state are supporting Tinubu.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), says it will send text messages to voters who have been moved to new polling units.

The commission said it allocated voters from overcrowded polling units to less congested ones for the forthcoming polls to ease the voting process.

Speaking on Monday during a meeting with leaders of political parties, Mahmood Yakubu, INEC chairman, said feedback from the nationwide mock accreditation exercise with the BVAS showed that some voters could not easily identify their polling units.

Consequently, the commission is advising voters to confirm the locations of their polling units through a dedicated portal on our website. In addition, all voters who have been assigned to new polling units will receive text messages from the commission indicating their polling units, Yakubu said.

We have also compiled the register of such voters and our state offices will give it wide publicity, especially for those who may not have provided their telephone numbers during voter registration or those whose numbers may have changed.

Nigerians can click here to confirm the locations of their poll unit.

Yakubu also said the commission is finalising the issuance of 1,642,386 identification tags for the polling and collation agents nominated by the 18 political parties.

I urge the chairmen and leaders of political parties to ensure that only agents accredited by the commission and wearing the correct identification tags appear at polling units and collation centres during elections, he said.

A situation where two or more agents claim to represent a political party, resulting in commotion at polling units or collation centres, is unacceptable. Only Identification tags issued by the commission will be recognised on election day and violators are liable to arrest and prosecution for impersonation.
Civil rights activist and former lawmaker, Senator Shehu Sani has given reasons President Muhammadu Buhari should expect more attacks from governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State.

He was reacting to the outburst of the governor against President Buhari over the presidential election issues.

In a statement by the former lawmaker in Abuja on Tuesday, he said, El-Rufai rose to stardom on the crest of the President and needed nothing from him any more.

He wrote: Buhari should expect more attacks and open and direct insults from Elrufai for three reasons.

El-Rufais loyalty to Buhari has expired. He has gotten everything he wanted from Buhari and Buhari is no more useful to him.

Buharis power and influence in politics has come to an end; El-Rufai has shifted camp to Tinubu.

El-Rufai is serving Buhari the venom of his real self.

Buhari abandoned all his good friends who served and sacrificed for him over the years in Kaduna because of his love for El-Rufai. We warned him against El-Rufai but he ignored; its time for Buhari to know that what he incubated and elevated is not a millipede or centipede but a serpent.

I have never ever believed that El-Rufai likes Buhari. I have never ever believed that El-Rufai has ever been loyal to Buhari. I knew it was a pretense all the while and I knew that this day would come. El-Rufai simply stooped to get all he wanted from Buhari and now Buhari is of no use to him.

El-Rrufai spent 8 years praising Buhari and Buhari spent 8 years praising El-Rufai each time he came to Kaduna; Buhari trusted keeping a scorpion close to his groin.

Tinubu should be careful with El-Rufai. El-Rufais preference was Amaechi and not Tinubu. Kaduna APC delegates voted for Amaechi and not Tinubu.

Tinubu should be careful so that El-Rufai should not drag him to start fighting with people whom he ordinarily should have no reason to fight. El-rufai will create more enemies for Tinubu than friends.

El-Rufai is a friend and beneficiary of the CBN Governor. His fight against cashless policies is not about the common people; its about the fear of losing power.

El-Rufai is never a man for the poor and he will never be, he concluded.
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Shoppers make their way along Santee Alley in Los Angeles on Dec. 6, 2022. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times/TNS)
"Pep Rally with a purpose is a school assembly in which we produce free concerts for students and in between the performances we do role play, motivational speaking, games and trivia to impose a positive agenda, whether that be drug abstinence, safe sex, nonviolence, career development, financial responsibility."
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley speaks during a news briefing at the White House, in Washington, Sept. 15, 2017. Haley, the former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador, announced her candidacy for president on Tuesday, becoming the first major challenger to former President Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican nomination. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
"If we do nothing and continue the current trend, then math dictates we will continue to lose officers," NOLA Coalition organizer Michael Hecht said. "At some point, the officer numbers will simply collapse because it won't be safe to serve."
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Northwest Indiana families covered by Medicaid likely will retain access to out-of-state children's hospitals for at least the next two years.

The House voted 99-0 Monday to maintain financial support for Medicaid recipients seeking hospital care for their children in neighboring states until June 30, 2025.

House Bill 1313 now goes to the Senate. If approved, as expected, it then will advance to Gov. Eric Holcomb to be signed into law.

Indiana Medicaid generally pays out-of-state hospitals sharply reduced amounts for care compared to what it pays Indiana hospitals.

As a result, some Chicago-area children's hospitals hinted a few years ago they might no longer treat Northwest Indiana children, forcing those families to travel to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis even though the Chicago hospitals are closer.

That spurred state lawmakers to agree in 2021 to temporarily bump up Indiana Medicaid payments to out-of-state children's hospitals.

Records show the state share of the extra cost totaled about $400,000 over the last two years.

State Rep. Hal Slager, R-Schererville, the sponsor of the legislation, said at that price the program clearly is worth continuing.

"Traveling to and from Indianapolis, especially when a child is sick, is stressful and costly. These kids need to focus on getting well, and they need to be close to home," Slager said.

State Rep. Carolyn Jackson, D-Hammond agreed. She said access to out-of-state hospital care is vital following the closure of Hammond's Franciscan hospital.

"Families need options to get sick children the help they need," Jackson said. "For those choosing the quickest option to get their kid help, we need to ensure they're able to retain Medicaid coverage in bordering states."

Meet the 2023 Northwest Indiana legislative delegation State Rep. Carolyn Jackson, D-Hammond State Rep. Earl Harris Jr., D-East Chicago State Rep. Ragen Hatcher, D-Gary State Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso State Rep. Pat Boy, D-Michigan City State Rep. Chuck Moseley, D-Portage State Rep. Mike Aylesworth, R-Hebron State Rep. Mike Andrade, D-Munster State Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary State Rep. Hal Slager, R-Schererville State Rep. Kendell Culp, R-Rensselaer State Rep. Julie Olthoff, R-Crown Point State Rep. Jim Pressel, R-Rolling Prairie State Sen. Dan Dernulc, R-Highland State Sen. Lonnie Randolph, D-East Chicago State Sen. Eddie Melton, D-Gary State Sen. Rodney Pol Jr., D-Chesterton State Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso State Sen. Rick Niemeyer, R-Lowell State Sen. Mike Bohacek, R-Michiana Shores
The Dean and Barbara White Family Foundation has announced a donation of $50 million to Purdue University's Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business in the name of Bruce White, who recently died after a yearlong battle with cancer.

Purdue will name its undergraduate business program the Bruce White Undergraduate Institute after the late hotel developer and longtime supporter of his beloved alma mater.

The White Foundation donation is the lead gift for the relaunched School of Business, which itself was recently named for former Purdue President and Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels. The White donation is the largest ever to Purdue University's business school.

The university's MBA and other graduate business programs will be called the Krannert Graduate Institute, retaining the name of the erstwhile Krannert School of Management.

The newly named Bruce White Undergraduate Institute honors the founder and chairman of Merrillville-based White Lodging. White was a former member of the Purdue University Board of Trustees, redeveloped the Union Club Hotel on the West Lafayette campus, funded scholarships and donated to the hospitality school, leading to its renaming as the White Lodging-J.W. Bill Marriott, Jr. School of Hospitality and Tourism Management.

The White Family Foundation has long been a truly dedicated partner in helping Purdue achieve excellence at scale. The naming after Bruce White, one of the most prominent Boilermakers our university has ever known, is particularly meaningful to us, Purdue University President Mung Chiang said. This gift ensures Purdue will educate exceptional undergraduate business students who will create and grow competitive businesses in a technology-driven, free market economy."

The White family gave to Purdue over the last three decades. Bruce White gave $30 million to the Union Club renovation that transformed the on-campus lodging into a learning laboratory for hospitality students.

My brother Bruce was a phenomenal human being, said Craig White, president of the Board of Trustees of the White Family Foundation. His success in business was tremendous, but his success as a person and as a leader is even more impressive  he put his heart and soul into every aspect of his life, and he has inspired countless other people to do the same. Naming the undergraduate program after him couldnt be more natural.

Two years ago, Purdue renamed its hospitality and tourism school the White Lodging-J.W. "Bill" Marriott, Jr. School of Hospitality and Tourism Management to reflect White's charitable giving. White long built Marriott hotels around the country and insisted it also bear the Marriott name.

Bruce was a wonderful husband, father and friend, his wife, Beth White, said. He was successful in his personal and business life because he was himself in all settings. Integrity was not just a word to Bruce; it was foundational. His values were matched by a tremendous drive to constantly improve in all aspects of life, to never accept the status quo and to have the courage to ask the tough questions  even of himself. When a leader like that shows up, things become dynamic. Everyone is inspired to give their best, and a journey toward excellence begins. Our family is very honored and pleased to know that the values and qualities Bruce lived by will be instilled and replicated in future generations of leaders who get their start at the Bruce White Undergraduate Institute.

The Bruce White Undergraduate Institute will serve as a flagship of the rebranded Daniels School of Business. The Board of Trustees is slated to approve the name changes.

Purdue is recognized as a dynamic national leader in higher education, where it has redefined the meaning of value. As such, Purdue is seen as a strategic partner of our foundation, said Bill Hanna, executive director of the White Family Foundation. Bruce was an instrumental part of Purdues progress over the last decade and more, working closely with senior university leadership as both a trustee and a dedicated alum. He represents a true north that students can look to as a model, and the White Family Foundation is proud to support the Bruce White Undergraduate Institute.

The school will offer new degree programs, including business analytics and integrated business and engineering, which it hopes will account for 40% of its undergraduates, or around 1,600 students.

White already funded a real estate finance minor program at Purdue with a $20.8 million donation he made in April.

The White Family Foundations commitment to an increasingly prominent Purdue inspired us to imagine a business school that addresses the need to reshape business education and produce technology-based graduates who build and lead successful companies, Daniels said. Their gifts provide tremendous momentum to realize our goals.

The School of Business aims to increase enrollment to 4,000 undergraduates and 2,000 graduate students by 2028 and also to grow faculty this decade. It plans to add additional square footage to allow for growth.

The transformation of our business school is a huge part of our future as a university, and this gift is a testament to the legacies of Bruce White, the White family and Purdue, said Mike Berghoff, chairman of the Purdue Board of Trustees. We have always taken pride in how much we invest in our undergraduate students. This commitment reinforces our mission.
EAST CHICAGO  An 11-year-old child was shot at an East Chicago home in what appears to be an accidental shooting Monday afternoon, the East Chicago Police Department said.

At approximately 1:30 p.m. Monday, officers responded to a home in the 3900 block of Butternut Street where they found an 11-year-old with a single gunshot wound in the abdomen, police said. Medics then arrived on scene and transported the child, who was in serious but stable condition, to a Chicago-area hospital, police said.

Officers identified a 14-year-old suspect based on conversations with people at the scene. Police said the suspect was transported to St. Catherine Hospital to be cleared by medical professionals before being taken to the East Chicago Police Department.

Police said a preliminary investigation indicates the shooting appears to be accidental. Further investigation is ongoing as the department's criminal investigation and crime scene division is at the home where the shooting took place.

The department is asking anyone with information to contact its criminal investigation division at 219-391-8318 or its anonymous tip line at 219-391-8500.
VALPARAISO  Valparaiso police investigating a weekend break-in at the downtown Porter County Administration Center said they found a purse and identification card left behind that led them to a 39-year-old local woman.

Michelle Johnson, who also left her lower dentures behind among the damage inside the building, was taken into custody and faces felony counts of burglary and criminal mischief, police said.

The break-in was discovered around 10:30 a.m. Sunday at the building at 155 W. Indiana Ave. by a county employee, according to police.

A surveillance video showed a woman entering the building around 11:59 p.m. Saturday through southwest doors off Napoleon Street that were known to have problems locking and were able to be pushed open, police said. She is seen leaving the building through the same doors around 12:35 a.m. Sunday.

Police said they found shredded paper scattered throughout most of the lower level of the government building and four candy dispensers dumped over leaving gumballs all over the floor. A television was ripped off a wall near the health department and tables were overturned.

Property damage was listed by police at $1,200.

After finding a purse, identification card and dentures, police located Johnson at a local apartment and said she was wearing the same clothing as in the surveillance video. She was taken into custody.

Porter County Commissioner Jim Biggs, R-North, lauded Valparaiso police for the quick arrest following the break-in.

He said this crime is a good example of why the county is assembling a public safety commission. The commission will take a look at needs of the county, as well as local municipalities, he said.

Porter County Commissioner Laura Blaney, D-South, had said following a break-in at the nearby county courthouse in July 2016 that the building lacked an alarm system.

"We are continually working to improve our facilities, and this incident clearly illustrates a need we need to look at," she said.

A 26-year-old Michigan man, who police said was mentally ill, broke in and vandalized the interior of the five-story courthouse at 16 Lincolnway.

Kristopher Newcomb, of Battle Creek, was found sleeping on the floor inside the courthouse by an employee of the adult probation department, who showed up early for work, police said at the time.

Newcomb had broken in through a ground-level boiler room window on the south side of the building sometime between the last person leaving at 10 p.m. and the employee arriving sometime before 5:45 a.m. the following day, an official said.

Valparaiso police estimated the damages at $12,000.

Newcomb later pleaded guilty to a felony count of burglary and misdemeanor criminal mischief and was sentenced in November 2017 to 628 days in jail, court records show.
HOBART  Firefighters are mourning the sudden death of Senior Battalion Chief Thomas Castle.

The Hobart Fire Department announced early Tuesday afternoon that Castle died the night before.

"Tom was a thirty-year Hobart Fire veteran, who also served as union president for over a decade, as well as a fire commissioner," the department said. "He was incredibly devoted to training our firefighters and maintaining a level of professionalism for all of us to follow."

Prior to joining the Hobart Fire Department, Castle had served in the Marine Corps, including during Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, the department said. He was also a member of the Army National Guard for several years and volunteered with the American Red Cross during his last few years.

"Needless to say, we are all in shock as we miss our friend dearly." the department said. "Please keep Tom and his family in your thoughts during this difficult time."

Gallery: The Times Photos of the Week NWI Comic-Con inspires cosplay fun NWI Comic-Con inspires cosplay fun NWI Comic-Con inspires cosplay fun NWI Comic-Con inspires cosplay fun NWI Comic-Con inspires cosplay fun NWI Comic-Con inspires cosplay fun NWI Comic-Con inspires cosplay fun NWI Comic-Con inspires cosplay fun Blowing hearts of glass in Valparaiso Blowing hearts of glass in Valparaiso Blowing hearts of glass in Valparaiso Blowing hearts of glass in Valparaiso 021123-spt-gbk-lc_1 021123-spt-gbk-lc_2 021123-spt-gbk-lc_5 021123-spt-gbk-lc_3 021123-spt-gbk-lc_9 021123-spt-gbk-val_7 021123-spt-gbk-val_8 021123-spt-gbk-val_5 021123-spt-gbk-val_1 Agday.JPG Portage at Chesterton boys basketball Portage at Chesterton boys basketball Portage at Chesterton boys basketball 021123-spt-bbk-lap-mer_1 021123-spt-bbk-lap-mer_2 021123-spt-bbk-lap-mer_3 021123-spt-bbk-lap-mer_9 Enchanted Backpack delivers school supplies to Franklin Elementary Disney trip a sweet reward for Girl Scout cookie sales Disney trip a sweet reward for Girl Scout cookie sales Girl Scouts sell cookies Deep River Park employees tap trees for syrup Deep River Park employees tap trees for syrup Deep River Park employees tap trees for syrup Gallery HTML code
Police officers across Indiana would be explicitly prohibited from lying to juveniles during interrogation under legislation being shaped by the Senate Committee on Corrections and Criminal Law.

State Sen. Rodney Pol Jr., D-Chesterton, is the sponsor of Senate Bill 415, along with state Sen. Aaron Freeman, R-Indianapolis, the chairman of the committee. Both men are attorneys.

Pol said he's confident police officers are not lying to children on a regular basis. But he wants to make sure it doesn't happen at all.

Under his plan, a statement made by a person under age 18 in police custody for an alleged delinquent act would be inadmissible in court if a police officer communicated to the child false information regarding evidence, or false or unauthorized statements relating to penalties or leniency.

Pol said children are easily manipulated compared to adults and usually eager to please authority figures, so allowing police officers to lie to children during an interrogation is far more likely to produce a false confession.

A series of experts on juvenile development and delinquency confirmed Pol's claims for the committee Tuesday. They said children in police custody often will say anything an officer wants to hear if the child believes they'll be able to go home afterward.

When that happens, it sometimes sets off a freight train of bad outcomes leading to the wrong person being locked up for years or decades, said Nicky Jackson, a Purdue University Northwest professor and executive director at the Center for Justice and Post-Exoneration Assistance.

"When officers are lying they undermine their credibility and undermine the public's trust," Jackson said. "One wrongful conviction is one too many. It could be your child."

The measure is opposed by the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council. It believes the state has sufficient protections for allegedly delinquent children in police custody, including a requirement the child's parent be present, both parent and child consent to waiving the child's right to remain silent, and parent and child have a meaningful opportunity to confer privately prior to speaking with police.

Freeman said he'd like to insert in the measure a good-faith exception for police who misspeak without necessarily intending to lie.

The panel next week is expected to consider additional revisions and then vote on advancing the proposal to the full Senate.

Meet the 2023 Northwest Indiana legislative delegation State Rep. Carolyn Jackson, D-Hammond State Rep. Earl Harris Jr., D-East Chicago State Rep. Ragen Hatcher, D-Gary State Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso State Rep. Pat Boy, D-Michigan City State Rep. Chuck Moseley, D-Portage State Rep. Mike Aylesworth, R-Hebron State Rep. Mike Andrade, D-Munster State Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary State Rep. Hal Slager, R-Schererville State Rep. Kendell Culp, R-Rensselaer State Rep. Julie Olthoff, R-Crown Point State Rep. Jim Pressel, R-Rolling Prairie State Sen. Dan Dernulc, R-Highland State Sen. Lonnie Randolph, D-East Chicago State Sen. Eddie Melton, D-Gary State Sen. Rodney Pol Jr., D-Chesterton State Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso State Sen. Rick Niemeyer, R-Lowell State Sen. Mike Bohacek, R-Michiana Shores
VALPARAISO  The woman found shot to death Monday morning at a Portage home has been identified by Portage police as 47-year-old Dana Cooley, of Portage.

Her husband, Richard Cooley, 63, also of Portage, is being held without bond at the Porter County Jail, said Portage police Lt. Rob Maynard.

Porter County Prosecutor Gary Germann said Tuesday morning his office is working on an initial charge against Richard Cooley of felony criminal recklessness.

"However, the investigation will continue and at some point we will evaluate whether additional charges may be filed once the investigation has been completed by the Portage Police Department," he said.

Maynard identified the charge facing Cooley as reckless homicide and said the count could be enhanced upon further review by the prosecutor's office.

Portage police said Monday that a woman, later publicly identified as Dana Cooley, was found dead inside a home in the 2100 block of Damon Street following a report of a shooting around 10:45 a.m. that same day. The address is the same listed by the jail as the home of Richard Cooley.

"This appears to be an incident between domestic partners and all persons involved are accounted for," Maynard had said. "There is no active threat to the community."

The investigation is ongoing, police said.
South Africa: Communities should work with police to curb crime, urges Cele

Police Minister Bheki Cele has called on communities to work with the South African Police Service (SAPS) to curb crime in the country.

The Minister on Tuesday made the call at the Cape Town City Hall during a Parliamentary debate of President Cyril Ramaphosas State of the Nation Address (SONA).

The Joint Sitting of the National Assembly (NA) and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) are on Tuesday and Wednesday debating the Presidents SONA, which he delivered last week. President Ramaphosa will respond to the debate on Thursday.

Communities joining forces with the South African Police Service (SAPS), he said, would eventually realise the vision of having violent crimes in the country resolved in the prescribed times.

We are also making a clarion call to other sections of society - be it the academia, business, the clergy, the media, and other organised groupings - dont be spectators, join the fight against crime.

Cele welcomed President Ramaphosas announcement that government would recruit more officers in the 2023/24 financial year.

We thank the President for responding to the call of strengthening the police service by allocating 10 000 trainee graduates in the past year.

We are also training another 10 000 this year. That will help with the visibility of police but also it will help us give a pool to train the special units and be able to respond to the different crimes that are happening in South Africa. It does not mean that we are not responding at the present moment, he said.

In his address last week, the President said the specialised police teams that were working on tackling crimes such as kidnapping, extortion and illegal mining had already made several breakthroughs, arresting dozens of suspects and achieving several convictions.

Despite challenges in the service, he said the police continue to make significant progress in the fight against crime.

There are people that have been arrested, especially in crimes [such as] the construction mafia, and [crime at Eskom]. Last year alone, we arrested 4 990 people that committed gender-based violence.

"Of these, 198 were handed life sentences for GBV," Cele said.

The debate coincided with the 10-year anniversary since the death of former model Reeva Steenkamp, who was on the day shot and killed by her boyfriend and celebrated Paralympian, Oscar Pistorius, at his Pretoria home.

Woman are still killed today, Cele said, stressing that efforts should intensified to curb the scourge.

He said while government agrees that there is a need to clamp down on illegal firearms, police had made progress in this regard.

At least 65 952 illegal firearms have been destroyed in the previous year. We will continue to hunt these guns. We will continue to strengthen the law [so] that people [are] safe, he said.

He called on the public to work with law enforcement agencies to curb crime, especially GBV.  SAnews.gov.za

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Event celebrating Chinese Lunar New Year held in New Zealand

Xinhua) 10:39, February 14, 2023

New Zealand's Minister for Diversity, Inclusion and Ethnic Communities Priyanca Radhakrishnan (1st R) and Chinese Ambassador to New Zealand Wang Xiaolong (L, Front) attend an event celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year in Wellington, New Zealand, on Feb. 13, 2023. An event celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year was held at the New Zealand parliament on Monday. (Photo by Meng Tao/Xinhua)

WELLINGTON, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- An event celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year was held at the New Zealand parliament on Monday.

"The Lunar New Year is an important celebration for many of our communities here in New Zealand and there are events being held throughout the country to recognize this important cultural occasion," said Minister for Diversity, Inclusion and Ethnic Communities Priyanca Radhakrishnan, who hosted the event.

Radhakrishnan said a 2018 census showed that the population for Chinese ethnic groups in New Zealand has reached nearly 250,000, about 5 percent of the country's total population, acknowledging "the significant contributions the Chinese communities have made -- and continue to make to the economic, social and cultural progress of New Zealand."

Chinese Ambassador to New Zealand Wang Xiaolong also lauded the contributions made by generations of Chinese immigrants to New Zealand's economic and social development, saying "the people-to-people links between China and New Zealand have a long history and have played a foundational role in the development of our bilateral relations."

The Chinese community has not only become an integral part of the country's multicultural landscape, but also served as a unique bridge and bond in enhancing mutual understanding and friendship between the two countries, which helps to underpin and drive the growth of the relationship over the years, he added.

With cross-border travels bouncing back, China has listed New Zealand as "one of the first 20 or so pilot countries to resume outbound group tours," said the ambassador.

"The symbolism of this measure speaks to the close bond between the two countries. The clear signal it sends will help to bring widely missed tourists from China back to New Zealand," he said.

Chinese community leaders across New Zealand and members of the diplomatic corps here participated in this event.

People watch a lion dance during an event celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year in Wellington, New Zealand, on Feb. 13, 2023. An event celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year was held at the New Zealand parliament on Monday. (Photo by Meng Tao/Xinhua)

People watch a performance during an event celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year in Wellington, New Zealand, on Feb. 13, 2023. An event celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year was held at the New Zealand parliament on Monday. (Photo by Meng Tao/Xinhua)

People perform during an event celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year in Wellington, New Zealand, on Feb. 13, 2023. An event celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year was held at the New Zealand parliament on Monday. (Photo by Meng Tao/Xinhua)

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
FOWLER  A 51-year-old Hammond man is accused of firing a gun at a police officer during a traffic stop in Fowler and then leading a pursuit that resulted in his arrest, according to the Benton County Sheriff's Office and Indiana State Police.

Sunday evening just after 5 p.m., an officer with the Fowler Police Department tried to stop Kevin Varner for a traffic violation, ISP said. Varner, driving a 1996 Chrysler Concorde allegedly failed to stop and fled east on U.S. 52, ISP said. While being pursued by the officer, Warner allegedly fired a semiautomatic firearm at the officer through his own rear window, but the sheriff's office said neither the officer nor his vehicle were struck. Eventually, ISP said, he drove off the side of the road near County Road 300 and fled on foot.

Varner was subsequently located about a quarter of a mile away from the crash and arrested, the two law enforcement agencies said. ISP also said they found a rifle in the area where the chase occurred. Varner sustained minor injuries in the crash and was transported to a Lafayette area hospital for treatment before being taken to the Benton County Jail, ISP said.

After further investigation, ISP said they determined Varner was a suspect in a murder that occurred in Gary earlier that day. A warrant was issued for his arrest Monday, and he is currently awaiting extradition to Lake County.

Varner is facing a litany of preliminary charges, including attempted murder, a Level 1 felony; unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon, a Level 4 felony; criminal recklessness with a firearm, a Level 6 felony; and resisting law enforcement, a Level 6 felony. Additionally, in Lake County, a warrant was issued for his arrest for murder and unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon.
The Indiana Senate overwhelmingly agreed Tuesday that the future leadership of the Gary Community School Corp. should begin with a state-appointed school board.

The Republican-controlled chamber voted along party lines, 40-9, to advance Senate Bill 327, sponsored by state Sens. Ryan Mishler, R-Mishawaka; and Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso, to the Republican-controlled House for a decision in the weeks ahead on sending it to the governor to be signed into law.

The proposal re-establishes a school board in Gary on July 1, 2023, whose seven members would be appointed entirely by Indiana Secretary of Education Katie Jenner, who was appointed to her post in 2020 by Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb.

The new board initially would be tasked with advising the district's emergency manager. It would take full control, including the power to appoint a superintendent, on July 1, 2024, or a subsequent date when the Indiana Distressed Unit Appeals Board certifies that Gary schools no longer are financially distressed.

Under the plan, five of the school board members would be directly appointed by the secretary of education. The other two also would be appointed by her but from a list of six candidates recommended by Gary's mayor.

At least two board members would have to live in Gary, two live in either Gary or Lake County and the other three could be from anywhere.

In addition to running Gary schools, the board would be obligated to report on the district's finances, operations, academics and the effectiveness of the governing structure to the State Budget Committee by the end of 2026 so that the 2027 General Assembly could decide whether the time is right to move toward a locally elected school board.

State Sen. Eddie Melton, D-Gary, a candidate for Gary mayor, said that the people of Gary are ready right now to run their school district and that he's disappointed his proposal in Senate Bill 436 to immediately elect a new Gary school board failed to advance.

At the same time, Melton said he recognizes this appointed school board merely is meant to transition the district from state control to local control, and he's just glad the end of the unprecedented state takeover is in sight.

"There is light at the end of the tunnel," Melton said. "We have a path forward. We have to remain vigilant. We have to put our petty differences aside."

Melton said he hopes the new school board prioritizes academics alongside finances. Though he also urged lawmakers to consider forgiving the district's estimated $35 million in Indiana Common School Fund loans to put Gary's school district on the strongest possible financial footing as it reemerges as an independent entity.

Gary schools were taken over by the state six years ago and its prior elected school board dissolved after it spent $21.5 million more than the district took in, racked up $103 million in debt, frequently struggled to make payroll, stiffed vendors, routinely failed to remit tax payments withheld from employee paychecks to the IRS and fell $3 million behind on paying employee health insurance premiums.

After relentless cost-cutting and right-sizing by a state-appointed emergency manager, along with the extra financial resources obtained through a successful voter referendum in 2020, Gary schools have a $1.3 million annual operating surplus and paid off all but $66 million in debt, and the district has a five-year financial plan in place to maintain solvency and stability.

Meet the 2023 Northwest Indiana legislative delegation State Rep. Carolyn Jackson, D-Hammond State Rep. Earl Harris Jr., D-East Chicago State Rep. Ragen Hatcher, D-Gary State Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso State Rep. Pat Boy, D-Michigan City State Rep. Chuck Moseley, D-Portage State Rep. Mike Aylesworth, R-Hebron State Rep. Mike Andrade, D-Munster State Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary State Rep. Hal Slager, R-Schererville State Rep. Kendell Culp, R-Rensselaer State Rep. Julie Olthoff, R-Crown Point State Rep. Jim Pressel, R-Rolling Prairie State Sen. Dan Dernulc, R-Highland State Sen. Lonnie Randolph, D-East Chicago State Sen. Eddie Melton, D-Gary State Sen. Rodney Pol Jr., D-Chesterton State Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso State Sen. Rick Niemeyer, R-Lowell State Sen. Mike Bohacek, R-Michiana Shores
MERRILLVILLE  Girard Jenkins wants to use his experience and influence to "help Gary rise back up."

"As a kid, I knew about Gary  Gary was very, very powerful," Jenkins said, adding that the decline of the city's steel industry "doesn't mean that there is no more talent here."

Jenkins, vice president of operations for the Chicago office of the McKissack McKissack Inc. architecture firm, served as the featured speaker during the Gary Chamber of Commerce's Black History Month luncheon, held Monday at Chateau Banquets in Merrillville. Jenkins shared McKissack's groundbreaking history as an outgrowth of the oldest minority-owned architecture/engineering firm in the U.S., and he discussed how the company hopes to help Gary.

McKissack McKissack Inc.'s impressive portfolio includes the new National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall and the Navy Pier Centennial Project. The organization's roots date back to the mid 1800s, when a young man was stolen from Ghana and sold to a slave owner named William McKissack. The man was given the name Moses McKissack and was taught the craft of brick-making.

Jenkins said Moses quickly became "a master of construction," a skill he passed down to his son. In the early 1900s, Moses' grandsons became the first licensed Black architects in the southeastern part of the U.S. The McKissack firm continued to expand, and in 1942, it was awarded a $5.7 million contract to design and build the 99th Pursuit Squadron Airbase in Tuskegee, Alabama. At the time, that was the largest federal contract ever given to an African American firm.

In the late 1960s, twin sisters Cheryl and Deryl McKissack, Moses' great-great-granddaughters, began learning the family business. Today, Cheryl is CEO of the original McKissack & McKissack firm, based in New York, and Deryl leads the offshoot, McKissack McKissack Inc., which has corporate offices in Washington, D.C., and Chicago.

"Both of them are a force of nature in this business," Jenkins said of the twins. "We're so close, we're neighbors. Why can't we do anything in Gary? ... Why can't we bridge that gap together?"

Jenkins said he and Deryl McKissak are interested in bringing financial and educational resources to Gary. He said McKissack McKissack Inc. could advise the city on redeveloping the downtown and could host Gary youth for summer internships.

"We need to bring something back that's going to revitalize what we're doing here in Gary," Jenkins said. "Use me, use the name, let us come over and offer any kind of help or assistance that we possibly can."

Gallery: 'Divine Nine' honored in Hammond for Black History Month Hammond Black History Month observation Hammond Black History Month observation Hammond Black History Month observation Hammond Black History Month observation Hammond Black History Month observation Hammond Black History Month observation Hammond Black History Month observation Hammond Black History Month observation Hammond Black History Month observation Hammond Black History Month observation Hammond Black History Month observation Gallery HTML code
VALPARAISO  Valparaiso University's Brauer Museum of Art is receiving backlash after announcing its decision to sell some of the most famous and valuable pieces in its collection, including one by legendary American painter Georgia O'Keeffe.

In a campus-wide email Wednesday, Valpo President Jose Padilla announced that the university plans to sell several pieces of art to pay for renovations to the freshman residence halls, a task specifically outlined as a priority in the university's strategic plan.

"The Board and I care deeply about this University," Padilla wrote in the email. "Our actions will be based on the best interests of our students, our mission, and the entire campus. Not just one small piece of it, especially when it is not part of our strategic plan and our core mission of educating students and giving them an optimal residential life experience. We recognize that not all will agree with our decisions in redirecting non-core resources to support the strategic plan. I fully stand behind this approach since it prioritizes our students, faculty and staff, and puts the University on a path to change, growth, and success."

He said that the university's Board of Directors gave him permission to sell the painting during its October meeting. He also called improving the first-year dorms a "priority initiative" and said doing so "is crucial for both attracting and retaining students, as well as increasing the tuition revenue."

Valpo spokesperson Michael Fenton said the three paintings are OKeeffe's "Rust Red Hills," Frederic E. Church's "Mountain Landscape" and Childe Hassams "The Silver Vale and the Golden Gate." He declined to provide any more details about the situation but said the university will be making an announcement of some kind in the coming days. No sale has been finalized.

In 2016, "Rest Red Hills" was valued at $15 million, according to Artnet. Additionally, "The Silver Vale and the Golden Gate" was valued at $3.5 million in 2009 and "Mountain Landscape" was valued at about $2 million in 2008.

"Red Rust Hills," created in 1930, is arguably the museum's most famous piece. The museum has lent it to exhibitions in Ireland, Spain, the U.K., Canada and throughout the American Southwest.

The Association of Art Museum Directors, American Alliance of Museums, the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries and the Association of Art Museum Curators released a joint statement Thursday condemning the move and asking the university to reconsider its decision.

"College and university art museums have a long and rich history of collecting, curating, and educating in a financially and ethically responsible manner on par with the worlds most prestigious institutions," the statement read. "That a campus museum exists within the larger ecosystem of its parent educational institution does not exempt a university from acting ethically, nor permit them to ignore issues of public trust and use the museums collections as disposable financial assets."

The organizations said it is "a fundamental ethical principle of the museum field" that institutions not use funds from the sale of a piece of artwork for anything other than the support of the museum's collection.

This comes as Valpo grapples with declining enrollment and the financial ramifications that come with that.

In fall 2022, the university reported a student population of 2,964. That number is down dramatically since fall 2015 when the campus boasted 4,544 students. This decline forced the university to discontinue a number of degree programs over past several years, including its secondary education major, theater major and minor, Chinese minor, French major, Greek and Roman studies major and minor, and its entire law school, according to previous reporting from The Times.

Close Albanese Candy Factory and Outlet Store Location: 5441 E. Lincoln Highway, Merrillville Contact: 219.947.3070; albaneseconfectionery.com Go for the sweet stuff at Albanese Candy Factory and Outlet Store, where it offers both guided (for groups of 12 and over) and unguided tours to learn how its candies, including its best-selling gummies, are made. Bailly Homestead and Chellberg Farm Location: 618 N. Mineral Springs Road, Porter Contact: 219-926-7561, ext. 225; nps.gov/indu/learn/historyculture/bailly_homestead.htm Explore how life was lived in the past at several local living history museums. The Bailly Homestead, which at one time composed 2,000 acres, is the oldest, built by Joseph Bailly, a French-Canadian voyager and fur trader, who set up his fur trading post in Northwest Indiana in 1822 on the Sauk Trail. The trail was a major route for travelers and one of only two places to stop between Detroit and Chicago. Now, a National Historic Landmark and part of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, the Bailly family was responsible for bringing a large influx of Swedish settlers to this area. The 80-acre working farm offers education and entertainment programs for families. Barker Mansion Location:31 Washington St., Michigan City Contact: 219-873-1520; barkermansion.com Get a glimpse of life as the rich lived at the 38-room Barker Mansion, built in 1857 and located in Michigan Citys Haskell and Barker Historic District in the downtown. Touring the English manor-style home opens up a world of opulent, late 19th century wealth with such sumptuous touches as hand-carved marble fireplaces; silver-plated bronze torches; molded baroque-style plaster ceilings; ornate walnut and mahogany woodwork; and furnishings and artifacts belonging to the Barker family. Brauer Museum of Art Location: 1709 Chapel Drive, Valparaiso Contact: 219-464-5365; valpo.edu/brauer-museum-of-art Like art? The largest known collection of works by Junius R. Sloan (1827-1900), a Hudson River School painter, is just part of the nationally recognized collection of more than 3,700 19th, 20th, and 21st century American paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints and photographs at Valparaiso Universitys Brauer Museum of Art. All exhibits and events are free and open to the public. Buckley Homestead Location: 3606 Belshaw Road, Lowell Contact: 219-696-0769; lakecountyparks.com/parks/buckley_homestead.html Dating back to the 1800s, the Buckley Homestead in Lowell was founded by Irish immigrants in 1849 who purchased 80 acres for 50-cents per acre. Passed down through four generations, the homestead is open for tours that include visiting the Carriage House, Main House Museum, Bank Barn, a one-room school house and the Pioneer Farm. Hesston Steam Museum Location: 1201 E. 1000 N., LaPorte Contact: 219-778-2783; hesston.org For old-fashioned travel, the Hesston Steam Museum offers three different railroad trips, as well as special event rides on Memorial Weekend, Fathers Day and its June Civil War Days. Enjoy breakfast with the railroad crew at Docs Soda Fountain with food crafted by Spire, a locavore favorite; lunch on burgers, pulled barbecued pork, hand-cut fries and salads; and enjoy old-fashioned sodas, sundaes and egg creams all day long. For true railroad aficionados, a variety of old steam engines and equipment are on display. And in keeping with what Hesston would have been like a century or so ago, theres a 1900 saw mill and a blacksmiths shop, as well as a vintage amusement steam train like those found in old-time fun parks back in the early 20th century. Porter County Old Jail Museum Location: 153 Franklin St., Valparaiso Contact: 219-465-3595; pocomuse.org When Harry Diamond shot his wealthy wife in Indiana Harbor in 1923, he ultimately was locked up at the Porter County Jail, where he tried at least two times to escape. The jail with its iron bars and solid metal doors are now part of the Porter County Old Jail Museum, located on the southeast corner of Valparaisos historic courthouse square. Other history on display here goes back before Diamonds time to prehistoric times when in 1909 Myron Benedict, a local farmer, discovered a super-sized tooth when plowing his field. Too busy harvesting, Benedict threw the tooth into a corn crib and it wasnt until 40 years later that he discovered more teeth, tusks and the partial skeleton (the rest still has yet to be found) of a mastodon, on display now at the museum. Visiting children are invited to do a little digging of their own and answer such questions as what would you do if this happened to you? Slideshow: 9 interesting places to visit in the Region Looking for a weekend adventure close to home? Consider exploring the many interesting museums, unique exhibitions and quirky places in Northwest Indiana. Albanese Candy Factory and Outlet Store Location: 5441 E. Lincoln Highway, Merrillville Contact: 219.947.3070; albaneseconfectionery.com Go for the sweet stuff at Albanese Candy Factory and Outlet Store, where it offers both guided (for groups of 12 and over) and unguided tours to learn how its candies, including its best-selling gummies, are made. Bailly Homestead and Chellberg Farm Location: 618 N. Mineral Springs Road, Porter Contact: 219-926-7561, ext. 225; nps.gov/indu/learn/historyculture/bailly_homestead.htm Explore how life was lived in the past at several local living history museums. The Bailly Homestead, which at one time composed 2,000 acres, is the oldest, built by Joseph Bailly, a French-Canadian voyager and fur trader, who set up his fur trading post in Northwest Indiana in 1822 on the Sauk Trail. The trail was a major route for travelers and one of only two places to stop between Detroit and Chicago. Now, a National Historic Landmark and part of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, the Bailly family was responsible for bringing a large influx of Swedish settlers to this area. The 80-acre working farm offers education and entertainment programs for families. Barker Mansion Location:31 Washington St., Michigan City Contact: 219-873-1520; barkermansion.com Get a glimpse of life as the rich lived at the 38-room Barker Mansion, built in 1857 and located in Michigan Citys Haskell and Barker Historic District in the downtown. Touring the English manor-style home opens up a world of opulent, late 19th century wealth with such sumptuous touches as hand-carved marble fireplaces; silver-plated bronze torches; molded baroque-style plaster ceilings; ornate walnut and mahogany woodwork; and furnishings and artifacts belonging to the Barker family. Brauer Museum of Art Location: 1709 Chapel Drive, Valparaiso Contact: 219-464-5365; valpo.edu/brauer-museum-of-art Like art? The largest known collection of works by Junius R. Sloan (1827-1900), a Hudson River School painter, is just part of the nationally recognized collection of more than 3,700 19th, 20th, and 21st century American paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints and photographs at Valparaiso Universitys Brauer Museum of Art. All exhibits and events are free and open to the public. Buckley Homestead Location: 3606 Belshaw Road, Lowell Contact: 219-696-0769; lakecountyparks.com/parks/buckley_homestead.html Dating back to the 1800s, the Buckley Homestead in Lowell was founded by Irish immigrants in 1849 who purchased 80 acres for 50-cents per acre. Passed down through four generations, the homestead is open for tours that include visiting the Carriage House, Main House Museum, Bank Barn, a one-room school house and the Pioneer Farm. Hesston Steam Museum Location: 1201 E. 1000 N., LaPorte Contact: 219-778-2783; hesston.org For old-fashioned travel, the Hesston Steam Museum offers three different railroad trips, as well as special event rides on Memorial Weekend, Fathers Day and its June Civil War Days. Enjoy breakfast with the railroad crew at Docs Soda Fountain with food crafted by Spire, a locavore favorite; lunch on burgers, pulled barbecued pork, hand-cut fries and salads; and enjoy old-fashioned sodas, sundaes and egg creams all day long. For true railroad aficionados, a variety of old steam engines and equipment are on display. And in keeping with what Hesston would have been like a century or so ago, theres a 1900 saw mill and a blacksmiths shop, as well as a vintage amusement steam train like those found in old-time fun parks back in the early 20th century. Porter County Old Jail Museum Location: 153 Franklin St., Valparaiso Contact: 219-465-3595; pocomuse.org When Harry Diamond shot his wealthy wife in Indiana Harbor in 1923, he ultimately was locked up at the Porter County Jail, where he tried at least two times to escape. The jail with its iron bars and solid metal doors are now part of the Porter County Old Jail Museum, located on the southeast corner of Valparaisos historic courthouse square. Other history on display here goes back before Diamonds time to prehistoric times when in 1909 Myron Benedict, a local farmer, discovered a super-sized tooth when plowing his field. Too busy harvesting, Benedict threw the tooth into a corn crib and it wasnt until 40 years later that he discovered more teeth, tusks and the partial skeleton (the rest still has yet to be found) of a mastodon, on display now at the museum. Visiting children are invited to do a little digging of their own and answer such questions as what would you do if this happened to you?
"This year, Moms Demand Action celebrates 10 years of life-saving action when it comes to protecting our families and communities from gun violence," the organization said. "Shannon Watts founded Moms Demand Action from her kitchen counter in Indiana in the wake of the Sandy Hook elementary school and quickly partnered with parents in Indiana and across the country to create a national movement, with chapters in every state, made up of thousands of volunteers, many of whom are now sitting in elected office."
Carlos Saura, a Spanish director who began making films during the regime of Francisco Franco and was still making them at his death, exploring Spanish identity through allegory-rich storytelling and, later, vividly capturing flamenco and other art forms, died on Friday. He was 91.

The Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain said he died at his home but did not say where. The next day, the Goya Awards, Spains annual film awards, had planned to present him with the Honorary Goya Award in recognition of his having shaped the history of modern Spanish cinema, as the organization put it when announcing the award last October.

Instead, he received the statuette a few days before his death, the organization said. It called him one of the fundamental filmmakers in the history of Spanish cinema.

Mr. Saura was a photographer who began making short films in 1956 and released his first feature, The Delinquents, about youths living on the edge in Madrids slums, in 1959.
Fourteen-year-old Adriana Kuch told her father that she could not bear the humiliation after she was attacked by another girl inside her New Jersey high school and a clip of the assault was posted to TikTok.

She said, I dont want to be that girl who gets beat up on video and made fun of, Adrianas father, Michael Kuch, recalled his daughter saying as they sat in the kitchen of their home in Bayville.

Can you imagine walking through the school with her face beat in? he asked.

The day after the Feb. 1 assault, Adriana retreated to her room at about 10 p.m. and took her own life during the night, he said.

The attack, which her father has accused the school district of mishandling, and Adrianas suicide have reverberated through Ocean County communities near the Jersey Shore and across the state. Public grieving and outrage have led officials to grapple anew with the prevalence of bullying in schools, how it affects children and the response  or lack of one  by administrators.
A federal prosecutor told a Manhattan jury on Monday that Sayfullo Saipov, who drove a truck down a crowded West Side bike path in 2017, mowing down eight people without mercy in a terrorist attack, had not abandoned his jihad, his fight.

The prosecutor, Amanda Houle, said Mr. Saipov had shown no remorse and was still committed to the Islamic State, a terrorist group whose violent martyrdom videos he had consumed on his phone. Even his arrest, she said, did not stop Mr. Saipovs threats, including one to slit the throat of corrections officers.

He is dangerous even in prison, Ms. Houle said. So the United States is seeking the most severe penalty that the law provides  a sentence of death.

Ms. Houles presentation opened an uncommon death penalty hearing in Manhattan as prosecutors are seeking to persuade the jury to impose capital punishment on Mr. Saipov. On Jan. 26, after a trial of nearly three weeks, the same jury found Mr. Saipov guilty of each of the 28 counts he faced.
Some readers might object to dwelling on one instance of misguided sensitivity at one small college when the country is in the midst of a nationwide frenzy of right-wing book bans, public school speech restrictions, and wild attempts to curtail drag performances. But I think this moment, when were facing down a wave of censorship inspired by religious fervor, is a good time to quash the notion that people have a right to be shielded from discomfiting art. If progressive ideas can be harnessed to censor feminist work because it offends religious sensibilities, perhaps those ideas bear rethinking.

In her excellent 2021 book On Freedom, the poet and critic Maggie Nelson described how, in the 20th century, the avant-garde imagined its audience as numb, repressed and in need of being shocked awake. The 21st-century model, by contrast, presumes the audience to be damaged, in need of healing, aid, and protection.

There is value in this approach. Mary Gaitskill recently published a captivating essay about two writing classes that she taught 25 years apart. Each included a menacing male student obsessed with sadistic violence against women. In 1997, the guy was named Don, and Gaitskill was struck by how enthusiastically his female classmates seemed to respond to his imagined scenes of torture and murder. It is only toward the end of the semester, after another students outburst, that the young women express their fear of Don. Until then, surrounded by a culture that valorized shock and darkness, they demonstrated a seemingly bizarre forbearance that blunted their authentic reactions.

But these days that breed of forbearance is looking like an indulgence that we cannot afford, Gaitskill writes. These days, niceness is looking pretty damn good; these days, the darkness is just too overwhelming. In her 2022 class, she writes, almost half the class had spent time in mental institutions. Relentless demands for safety can simply be a sign of how vulnerable people feel.

Still, to automatically give in to those demands is to suffocate the arts. This becomes especially clear when you see how easily the language of trauma and harm can serve reactionary ends. Just last week, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on a school district in New Jersey that removed Toni Morrisons The Bluest Eye, a frequent target of conservative censorship, from the freshman honors curriculum. A parent had complained that exposure to the books graphic images of sexual violence could be emotionally traumatizing. This, said Talepasand, is where the far left and the far right look very similar.
Politically, the most crucial moment in President Bidens State of the Union address was his declaration that some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset every five years. Why did he say that? Maybe because Senator Rick Scott, when he was the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, released a fiscal plan last year with the bullet point All federal legislation sunsets in five years.

Seems straightforward, doesnt it, despite cries of lies from the floor? But right-wing news media  well aware that Biden hit a nerve  has gone into overdrive insisting that his claim was false. Even some mainstream media figures have claimed that Biden was over the top.

The basis for these denunciations, as far as I can tell, is the idea that calling a plan to sunset legislation a plan to sunset legislation is somehow misleading, because voters dont know what sunset means. Indeed, just because the legislation authorizing a program comes to an end neednt mean that the program will die; Congress can always vote to reinstate it.

But, of course, many Republicans do want to eviscerate these programs. To believe otherwise requires both willful naivete and amnesia about 40 years of political history.
In October of 2020, Covid was raging and Judy Anderson had a job she didnt like. So, like a lot of pandemic-rattled workers, she quit.

She had been cooking in kitchens for nearly 20 years; she had already been a sous chef and an executive chef. It was time to open her own business.

I wanted to open a bakery and cafe, she said. A takeout approach that could do well during the pandemic. So, I put money down  all the money I had, actually  to reserve the space in Fordham, in the Bronx. And I started figuring out how to start my life over as an entrepreneur.

But at the last minute, a friend came to her with a different proposition.

My friend had moved out to Ocean City, Md., to open a restaurant with some millionaires who just had too much money, I guess, Ms. Anderson said, laughing.
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The question of cultural appropriation is a highly complicated, fraught issue with no simple answers. You may remember that a few years ago a white high school senior wore a cheongsam to her prom, and it set off a firestorm of criticism in the United States  though in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, many social media users saw it as a cultural victory. And remember when, in 2015, the Met Gala celebrated the exhibition China: Through the Looking Glass, and though some guests understood the theme, others got their traditions and countries mixed up in a pretty egregious way?

There is a difference between wearing a garment as a homage and sign of cultural appreciation and wearing it as a costume or because you think it looks cute. And when it comes to Asian sartorial tradition, the stakes have only increased since the pandemic began, with its wave of despicable anti-Asian violence.

This can be especially tricky when it comes to fashion, which has long loved to dabble in what used to be termed the exotic, often without any regard for point of origin or meaning. See, for example, Guccis use of turbans that evoked Sikh dress as a runway accessory in 2019, not to mention the continued widespread use of the generic and derogatory term Oriental in reference to style and prints.
WASHINGTON  Tensions between the United States and China escalated on Monday as the two nations traded fiery accusations over spying programs, in the aftermath of the U.S. downing of a Chinese spy balloon and three unidentified flying objects a week later over North America.

In a sign of how closely the United States had been monitoring the balloon surveillance program directed by the Chinese military recently, U.S. officials said in interviews that they began tracking the spy balloon as it lifted off from Hainan Island in southern China in late January.

As it drifted over the Aleutian Islands near Alaska and traversed Canada and then Montana, officials said, military leaders alerted President Biden that it was almost certainly the same kind of aerial craft that the U.S. had detected twice by Hawaii, and that it had spotted over Texas and Florida. The balloon was shot down off the coast of South Carolina by a U.S. fighter jet on Feb. 4, and military officials said on Monday that crews had recovered significant debris from the craft that included priority sensor and electronics pieces.

The diplomatic crisis over it has been intensifying. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin, said Monday in Beijing that the United States ran the largest spy network in the world, and that it had conducted extensive global surveillance, including capturing electronic communications, that had compromised the privacy of citizens across the world.
KYIV, Ukraine  Ukraines military on Monday barred aid workers and civilians from entering Bakhmut, saying it was too perilous as Russian forces tightened their grip, in what could be a prelude to a Ukrainian withdrawal and the biggest tactical gain for the deeply troubled Russian invasion since July.

But Ukraines military said it still held the besieged eastern city, though the one remaining major road it can use to deliver troops and supplies, or evacuate the wounded, was under Russian fire.

Bakhmut is the epicenter of the enemys attack and therefore the situation is critical, Col. Serhiy Cherevaty, the spokesman for Ukraines eastern military command, said in an interview on Monday.

He said that Ukrainian troops had repelled 19 assaults on Bakhmut over the previous 24 hours, but that no watershed moment had been reached. The city, he said, is under Ukrainian control.
AL-ATARIB, Syria  For years, northwestern Syria has been home to millions of people displaced by war, so many that neighbor no longer knew neighbor. And so when an earthquake struck last week and homes were reduced to rubble, many couldnt say with certainty who had been accounted for and who was still missing.

Now, with the painstaking search for survivors and victims mostly over and the death toll in Syria alone rising above 3,000, residents of one town, al-Atarib, are scouring the rubble for personal possessions. They speak bitterly of feeling abandoned by the world.

For days, they said, in the absence of international aid, they were sometimes forced to dig through rubble by hand, as survivors begged for help. Yazam Mousa, 17, said he had been returning to the collapsed four-story apartment building he used to live in every day since he and his family ran out after the quake hit on Monday.

At 5 a.m., after the earthquake, we pulled out everyone, people who were alive and people who were dead, he said. Those who died, may God rest their soul. And those who are injured, may God heal them.
The trauma of the people we spoke to was visible, and this is a trauma which the world needs to heal, Mr. Griffiths told reporters in Syria after his visit to Aleppo, according to a U.N. transcript.

SANA, the state-controlled media in Syria, also reported, President al-Assad affirmed the need for bringing in the urgent aid to all areas in Syria, including those that are subjected to occupation and the dominance of the armed terrorist groups.

At a news briefing in Washington, a State Department spokesman, Ned Price, said, If the regime is serious about this, and if the regime is willing to put those words into action, that would be a good thing.

The Security Council met on Monday behind closed doors, with the crisis in Syria on the agenda, but Mr. al-Assads decision apparently sets aside the need for the Council to authorize additional border crossings as thousands of Syrians were left homeless and shivering in the cold.

The aid to be allowed across the additional crossing points from Turkey  Bab al-Salam and Al Raee  would be limited to humanitarian convoys, the U.N. statement said.

More than four million Syrians in northwest Syria had relied on the United Nations for food, clean water and basic survival even before the earthquake, the agency has said.
He and his wife, the art dealer Amalia Dayan, in 2021 established South Etna, a nonprofit organization that brings contemporary artists to Montauk and presents exhibitions. The couple owns Eothen, Andy Warhols former Montauk estate.

At the same time, some dealers wont sell to Lindemann out of concern that hell turn around and flip, thus depreciating an artists value.

Nevertheless, Lindemann seems comfortable with being controversial. The art world that I grew up in was all about studying and believing in connoisseurship, he said. Since the economic crisis of 2008, he added, People want to buy the new thing. Everyone wants the new car, the new watch. But at the end of the day, when this story is written, these things are the ones that are part of art history. And the other things are just stuff.

Having the auction in March is unusual  New York evening sales usually take place in November and May. Lindemann said he wanted to find a moment in the crazy art market where I was all alone. (Well, nearly alone; Sothebys has a contemporary auction that morning.)

Auctions that tell a story are very, very rare, he added, citing as examples the estate sales of Yves Saint Laurent in 2009 or Paul G. Allen last year. So Ill make my auction tell a story, where the sum total of all the pieces actually gives you an idea of how the collector thinks, how these things were chosen, and that each thing has a personal relationship to me  that it means something, he said. I didnt just buy because its cheap. I didnt buy it because its expensive. I bought it because it was a discovery or a moment in my life.
Julian Wasser, the artful and rakish photojournalist who chronicled the celebrity culture of Los Angeles that began percolating in the 1960s  a heady, sexy and often combustible brew of new Hollywood, art and rock n roll  as well as the citys darker moments, creating some of the most indelible images of that era, died on Feb. 8 in Los Angeles. He was 89.

His daughter, Alexi Celine Wasser, said his death, in a hospice facility, followed a couple of strokes he suffered in September.

When the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at a civil rights rally in Los Angeles in 1963, Mr. Wasser was there. When the Watts neighborhood erupted in riots in 1965 after a Black man there was brutalized by the police, Mr. Wasser captured the agony of a city at war with itself.
If not exactly a Next Generation revival, the story could function as another, perhaps better, send-off for some of the most beloved characters in the Star Trek universe, who were last all together onscreen two decades ago in the movie Star Trek: Nemesis. Panned by critics, fans and even some of the actors, the film seemed like the end of the road for the cast.

But the universe where their ship had once boldly gone had more in store.

When the core cast got together for an interview last week, the gathering had the atmosphere of a family reunion. Stewart broke into song with Jonathan Frakes, who plays Picards longtime No. 1, William Riker, while Michael Dorn (who plays the honorable Klingon Worf) cackled nearby. In the conversation that followed, they, along with Burton, McFadden and Brent Spiner (the android Data), talked about what it was like to revisit their most famous characters and work with one another again. (Sirtis was unavailable; Spiner joined by video.)

These are edited excerpts from the interview.

I was fascinated to learn that Jean-Luc Picard was originally based loosely on Horatio Hornblower, the fictional Royal Navy officer protagonist of the C.S. Forester novels. Patrick, youve obviously made the character your own since. What did you draw on for the Admiral Picard we see in the current series?

PATRICK STEWART Well, a lot of it is based on disappointment, frustration. I was promoted, which meant a bit of farewell. A goodbye. But the admiral job turned out to be an office trip, basically. It was not what he had known all his life, which was being on a ship. Ive heard this from Navy people, that they have the same thing.
After three unidentified objects were shot down by the U.S. Air Force over the weekend, experts warned that there were an endless array of potential targets. Thousands of balloons are floating above the Earth at any given moment, one maker of high-altitude balloons said.

The U.S. has enhanced its radars and atmospheric trackers after the Chinese spy balloon. This could also explain the rash of sightings. One of the reasons that we think were seeing more is because were looking for more, a White House official said.

Investigators have not yet found evidence that the three objects shot down were connected to Chinas program of balloon surveillance. The debris from the objects has also not been found. The three unidentified objects might turn out to have been harmless, the official said.

Frequent use: In the U.S. alone, the National Weather Service sends up around 60,000 high-flying balloons each year and NASA runs a program from Texas that over the years has lofted more than 1,700 large balloons on scientific missions that can last for months.

Meanwhile in Beijing: China has sought to cast the controversy as a sign of American decline. The balloon incident has shown to the world how immature and irresponsible  indeed hysterical  the United States has been in dealing with the case, read an editorial in the Peoples Daily, the ruling Communist Partys mouthpiece.
A group of workers at a Tesla factory in Buffalo began a campaign on Tuesday to form a union, saying they want better pay and benefits. If successful, the effort could establish the first union at the fast-growing auto and energy company, which has fiercely resisted efforts to organize its employees.

The factory in Buffalo makes solar panels and components for charging equipment, according to Teslas website, and also has about 800 workers who help develop driver-assistance software for cars. The software workers initiated the union drive, and went public Tuesday in an effort to win broader support at the site.

Tesla pays workers in Buffalo less than national averages and they receive little sick time, workers involved in the drive said. We are only asking for a seat in the car that we helped build, Keenan Lasch, a member of a group calling itself Tesla Workers United, said in a statement.

The employees are working with Workers United, which is affiliated with the Service Employees International Union. The union campaign was reported earlier by Bloomberg News.
As officials investigate the recent derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals in eastern Ohio, concerns about the disasters effects on human health and the environment are growing, and experts warned that understanding the causes and consequences could require a more comprehensive investigation than what they have seen so far.

Theres just a lot of unknowns, said Donald S. Holmstrom, a former director of the Western Regional Office of the United States Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, the federal agency that investigates industrial chemical accidents.

The derailment and chemical spill in the town of East Palestine, Ohio, had all the appearances of a nightmare. After the train ran off the tracks on Feb. 3, starting a huge fire, the authorities decided to intentionally burn the chemical cargo in some of the cars rather than risk an explosion or other uncontrolled disaster.
It was surprising to me that this wasnt being talked about more, he told me.

Climate Jets is only one thing that Akash has going on, by the way. He also runs a website with math activities for students and teachers.

I spend much of my free time working on independent projects, he said.

Some caveats about Climate Jets: The findings have not been independently verified. And, its possible some of the jets were using sustainable aviation fuel. When I contacted representatives of Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos for comment, they said both used sustainable fuel and that both offset all the emissions from their flights.

Akash ranks Gates and Bezos near the top of the list, below Pitbull but well above Dr. Phil and Taylor Swift.

At Akashs home, climate change is one of the things his family talks about over dinner, which he sometimes cooks. His signature dish is chana masala, a spicy chickpea creation that works as a starter or as a main course. His father is a clean energy entrepreneur; his mother is a doctor in an emergency room and his younger sister wants to be a marine biologist. Akash says he wants to go into physics research.

Global warming is also something that people his age think a lot about, he told me. They try to lower their own emissions by doing small things like turning off the lights. But then, those have such minute impacts relative to just taking a flight in a commercial airline relative to a private jet, he said.
NEW ORLEANS  The first dish served at Dakar NOLA is called Last Meal. Its a soup of black-eyed peas, crispy rice and Louisiana blue crab, with robust spicing that recalls this citys famous gumbos.

Chances are youll still be thinking about it days later. Last Meal is that delicious  and even more unsettling.

It is inspired by ndambe, a dish that Dakar NOLAs chef, Serigne Mbaye, ate while growing up in Senegal. But a version of that dish was also fed to enslaved West Africans just before they boarded ships to the United States.

Last Meal, like the peas fed to those in bondage, contains palm oil, which is high in saturated fat. Kidnapped Africans needed to be fattened up before being loaded onto ships, so slaveholders could protect their investment, Mr. Mbaye explained to about 30 guests in January. He shares this story at the start of every meal at Dakar NOLA, which opened in November.
King isnt a perfect restaurant, but it is a perfect example of a type of restaurant that many New Yorkers dream about. Its that small, charming spot downtown where the details have all been thought about, though not so much that it becomes uncomfortable, and the menu is a likable quilt of flavors from Tuscany, Provence and other parts of Europe where humanities professors used to rent villas in the summer.

Even mediocre restaurants on this model can be appealing. King is far from mediocre; it embraces the archetype and draws fresh pleasures from it.

Late last year, the three women who own King opened a second restaurant, Jupiter. (There is a nice feminist joke in their swiping names from masculine power figures. Maybe they can call their next place Pope.) The focus this time is firmly on Italy, especially pasta.

Jupiter is one giant leap from Kings little downtown space. A member of the platoon of younger, more idiosyncratic restaurants taking over Rockefeller Center, it inhabits a sprawling dogleg inside glass walls on the concourse level. The bar and one dining room recede away from the skating rink. Another room faces the rink head-on. A third seating area along a walkway in the concourse will open in March, a sidewalk cafe that happens to be underground.
By the end of the 12-week study, those given naltrexone reported bingeing less frequently and consuming less alcohol than those who had been given a placebo, a change that lasted for up to six months. The most commonly reported side effect of naltrexone was nausea, although it was generally mild and resolved itself as people adjusted to taking the drug.

Glenn-Milo Santos, a professor at the University of California, San Francisco and the studys lead author, said patients could discuss the treatment option with their clinicians, even if it was not suitable for all. Increasing awareness that there are effective medicines that can help people with their alcohol use is important in and of itself, he said.

Taking naltrexone on an as-needed basis rather than as a daily dose may be more tolerable for some people because it allows their dopamine levels to recover in between uses. The approach could also let people feel more in control of their treatment. The practice is more widely embraced in Europe, where regulators in 2013 approved the medication nalmefene for similarly targeted dosing by people trying to drink less alcohol.

Dr. Lorenzo Leggio, a physician-scientist at the National Institutes of Health, said the latest study was very important because, while alcohol treatments had traditionally been designed for people with severe addictions, far more people, like the studys participants, had mild or moderate alcohol disorders.

Last year, N.I.H. officials proposed rebranding these stages as preaddiction to underscore the need for early intervention, much as the diabetes field improved care by identifying and treating prediabetes.
Jethica, a brazenly odd yet gently appealing horror-comedy, is difficult to describe without spoiling its swerving tone or smartly spaced reveals. Working with pandemic-influenced themes of loss and trauma and isolation, the director Pete Ohs (who collaborated on the script with his small cast) delivers an off-kilter take on the kind of haunting that all too many women have experienced.

After a shocking highway accident, Elena (a perfect Callie Hernandez) is hiding out in her grandmothers trailer in the desert outside Santa Fe, New Mexico. A chance meeting with an old school friend, Jessica (Ashley Denise Robinson), results in Elena offering to put her up for a few nights. Jessica has fled California to escape Kevin (Will Madden), the stalker whose lisp gives the film its title  and also, unfortunately, siphons the chill from Kevins frantic declarations of devotion when he suddenly shows up outside the trailer.
New Yorks housing shortage has been building for years, and for just as long, state officials have done relatively little to address it. But now, as rents and home prices reach crisis levels, Gov. Kathy Hochul is racing to come up with solutions.

She appears to have found one in California. And in Massachusetts. And in New Jersey and Connecticut. And maybe even in Utah.

Ms. Hochuls ambitious new housing plan, which proposes to loosen restrictions on development from coastal Long Island suburbs to the capital region to New York City, is less a homegrown innovation and more a combination of strategies collected and refined from across the United States.

New York is really, really late to the ball here, said Noah Kazis, a law professor at the University of Michigan who studies land use and housing. But they have the benefit of being able to learn and borrow.
This time, with some office buildings in Midtown Manhattan all but empty as employees continue remote-work patterns begun during the pandemic, Deco Tower wants to switch from office space to a mixed-use format, with market-rent apartments on the 12th to the 32nd floors and offices on the lower floors.

Deco Tower is also seeking approval for two separate entrances to the building from 42nd Street, one for the offices, the other for the apartments. A spokesman said this comes after a $40 million restoration of the exterior that included removing some nonhistorical windows as well as installing new doors on terraces and loading docks and upgrading the elevators.

The building was the work of Raymond Hood, who designed the Tribune Tower in Chicago and the Daily News Building in New York. For McGraw-Hill, he designed a green tower with bands of industrial-style windows. It was exuberant, even theatrical: The architect Vincent Scully called it proto-jukebox modern.

It was designated a New York City landmark in 1979, and the building and the lobby were added to the National Register of Historic Places and designated a national historic landmark in the 1980s.

Preservationists who tried but failed to block the 2021 plan seem satisfied with the new approach, except for a marquee over the main entrance. They say it is inconsistent with the look of the building, although the Deco Tower presentation submitted to the landmarks panel cited other buildings where marquees have been approved, including the Woolworth Building in Lower Manhattan and the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Midtown.
Two DxE activists, Alexandra Paul and Alicia Santurio, will go on trial next month on charges of misdemeanor theft for taking two chickens from a truck outside the Livingston slaughterhouse in September 2021. They argue that what they did was not steal but rescue  that after trying other ways to protect chickens at the Livingston facility, they took the only option left to them, no different from breaking a window to rescue a puppy locked in a hot car.

Over the past few years, DxE has conducted a string of such open rescues, in which activists record themselves, often in daylight, taking a small number of chickens, pigs, beagles and other animals from facilities where they have documented inhumane treatment. In addition to saving the lives of the animals, the rescues are an attempt to provoke law enforcement into pursuing criminal trials against the rescuers  trials in which the activists want to publicize the unseen brutality that pushed them to act.

Their larger goal is to establish a right to rescue animals that face inhumane treatment in agriculture. In any context other than factory farming, treating animals the way we see chickens treated in the Foster Farms slaughterhouse videos would be considered blatant cruelty. Many would also consider it cruel to stand by while someone else handled animals this way. If theres someone in my neighborhood watching me boil birds alive, wed say this is monstrous behavior, Wayne Hsiung, a founder of DxE, told me.

Shouldnt the same be true of animals were going to eat? Dont we have a moral obligation to do whatever we can to save animals from inhumane factory-farming facilities, or at the very least, to not punish people who try to help?

Im not a vegan or even a vegetarian, but as Ive written before, vegans and animal rights activists deserve societys immense respect rather than mockery because they are clearly right about the big issues: that industrial-scale animal farming is an incomprehensible cruelty many of us try our best not to think about, lest it ruin our lunch; that the animals we grow to eat are biologically no less complex and deserving of dignity and humane treatment than the animals we keep as pets; and that the production of cheap and plentiful meat has been an environmental and public health catastrophe whose obvious solution  eat less meat!  nevertheless remains culturally and politically verboten.
Sidney Weissman

Highland Park, Ill.

The writer is a clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

To the Editor:

The most powerful and resonant portion of David Brookss heartfelt and moving essay about bearing witness to a close friend in the throes of clinical depression was: He fought this malady with astonishing courage and steadfastness against a foe that would bring anybody to his knees. He fought it minute by minute, day by day  over a thousand days.

I have experienced several severe depressive episodes in my life, and I could not have put it any better. It may be hard to fathom, but simply getting out of bed to face another day during these periods took more sheer courage and strength of will than anything else I have done in my life. Getting up means having to face another endless day of fighting depression minute by minute. There is no respite, no relief from the pain.

While suicide may be inconceivable to many, to anyone who has suffered severe depression, it is not only conceivable, but always a possibility. I promised my loved ones I would never act on it, and I was fortunate to have so much love around me, but absent that, it is not at all hard to envision suicide when it is seen as the only way out.

William Rifkin

Cross River, N.Y.

To the Editor:

David Brooks deserves praise for his incisive and heartfelt commentary on depression and suicide. His column should be required reading for all students in health professions.
Federal policy in the United States allows butchers to sell virtually every part of an animals body as human food, with one notable exception: the lungs. In 1971 the Department of Agriculture declared animal lungs unfit for use as human food and banned them from the commercial food supply.

As a doctor who enjoys eating nose to tail, including an animals internal organs and entrails, I believe that the lung ban makes no medical sense and accomplishes little to keep the American public safe. The Department of Agriculture should discard the rule.

When people first hear about this rule, even scientists and food law experts Ive spoken to, they often presume that it is designed to protect us from dangerous infections that can harbor in animal lungs, like tuberculosis and anthrax. But the language of the bans stated rationale says little about lung infections. When the Department of Agriculture proposed the rule in 1969, it purported to protect people from eating things like dust, flower pollen and fungal spores that animals (including humans) inhale.

The rule was based on studies conducted around 1970 in which pathologists at the Department of Agriculture cut open the branching airways of animal lungs to study them much more deeply than in a typical post-mortem examination. The pathologists found those inhaled airborne particulates. They also found stomach contents, which may have refluxed up the animals esophagi and into their airways before or after death.
But now Merrick Garland, not Mr. Barr, is the attorney general, and the regulations give him the power to require Mr. Durham to explain himself  and to discipline and fire Mr. Durham if the explanation is not adequate. Right now, there are a plethora of investigations in Washington  in addition to Mr. Durhams, two special counsels are looking into presidential handling of classified documents, the new Republican House of Representatives has created a weaponization of government committee and the new House Oversight Committee is ramping up as well.

At this moment, it is critical for Mr. Garland to use the supervisory powers under the special counsel regulations that govern Mr. Durham to remind Americans of what actual justice, and independent investigations and decision making, look like.

The special counsel regulations say that a special counsel must have a reputation for integrity and impartial decision making and that, once appointed, the counsel shall not be subject to the day-to-day supervision of the attorney general or any other Justice Department official.

The point of the regulations was to create a strong degree of independence, especially in highly fraught political investigations where the attorney generals status as a presidential appointee might cause the public to question the appearance of partiality. The appointment of Robert Hur, a former Trump-appointed U.S. attorney, to examine President Bidens handling of classified documents is a perfect illustration. The special counsel is supposed to be someone who cannot be reasonably accused of laundering an attorney generals dirty work.

In light of the new reporting, it is hard to view Mr. Durham as anything else. Indeed, no one involved in developing these regulations thought that a prosecutor who has regular Scotch-sipping sessions with the attorney general would ever be remotely fit for the job. Yet that was the relationship reportedly developed by Mr. Durham and Mr. Barr, who jetted as a team off to Italy, where they learned of a lead about President Trump and potential criminal acts. Mr. Barr gave that investigation, too, to Mr. Durham, where it appears to have died.
Each year, around 60,000 high-flying balloons are launched just by the National Weather Service, the agency said. They rise into the stratosphere, a layer of the planets atmosphere that extends to a height of roughly 30 miles. The balloons used by the Weather Service are designed to rise 20 miles up  far higher than the altitude of any of the four objects detected in the past 10 days.

Mr. Fetkowitz noted that Alaska  where a U.S. fighter jet shot down the unidentified flying object on Friday  had more weather-balloon launching sites than any other state.

The Weather Services balloons gather data that keeps passenger jets out of harms way and lets experts predict the likely onset of violent storms, Mr. Fetkowitz said. Its all about life safety, he added.

Then there is NASA, which runs a program from Palestine, Texas, that over the years has lofted more than 1,700 large balloons on scientific missions that can last for months. The balloons fly up to 22 miles high, and the payloads weigh up to four tons, roughly that of three small cars. Some carry sensors that explore the health of the ozone layer, which protects living things from the suns ultraviolet rays.

Experts in the balloon industry said that DARPA, the secretive defense agency in charge of advanced technology development, was experimenting with a new class of long-duration balloons for battlefield use that would act as communication relays. But Randolph Atkins, an agency spokesman, said neither he nor his supervisor knew of any such project.

The United States is not alone in its frequent use of balloons. Many of the 193 member states and territories of the World Meteorological Organization, based in Geneva, regularly send up stratospheric balloons in large numbers, some designed for long-term missions that collect data from around the globe.
SAN FRANCISCO  YouTube, like other social media platforms, spent years expanding its efforts to tackle misinformation after the 2016 election. It hired policy experts and content moderators and invested in more technology to limit the reach of false narratives. Not anymore.

Last month, the company, owned by Google, quietly reduced its small team of policy experts in charge of handling misinformation, according to three people with knowledge of the decision. The cuts, part of the reduction of 12,000 employees by Googles parent company, Alphabet, left only one person in charge of misinformation policy worldwide, one of the people said.

The cuts reflect a trend across the industry that threatens to undo many of the safeguards that social media platforms put in place in recent years to ban or tamp down on disinformation  like false claims about the Covid-19 pandemic, the Russian war in Ukraine or the integrity of elections around the world. Twitter, under its new owner, Elon Musk, has slashed its staff, while Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has shifted its focus and resources to the immersive world of the metaverse.

Faced with economic headwinds and political and legal pressure, the social media giants have shown signs that fighting false information online is no longer as high a priority, raising fears among experts who track the issue that it will further erode trust online.
WASHINGTON  Christine Wilson, the sole Republican commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission, said on Tuesday that she would soon resign and criticized Lina Khan, the Democratic chair of the agency, accusing her of an abuse of power.

Ms. Wilson, who announced her decision in an opinion essay in The Wall Street Journal, has been a consistent critic of Ms. Khans leadership. Ms. Khan, who became chair of the F.T.C. in June 2021, immediately set out to aggressively transform the agency into a bulwark against tech mergers and monopolies and a more powerful regulator of online privacy.

Ms. Wilson and another former Republican member of the F.T.C., Noah Phillips, who resigned in October, have repeatedly expressed concerns that Ms. Khans ambitions exceeded the legal authority of the agency, which enforces consumer protection and competition laws.

In particular, Ms. Wilson criticized a lawsuit that the F.T.C. filed in July to block Metas merger with a virtual reality app maker, Within, as well as a decision last month to ban noncompete clauses in employment contracts that limit the options of employees while locking in the power of companies to retain workers.
These systems were once routinely monitored, with mistakes regularly addressed by staff. But a team that cleaned up spam and countered influence operations and that had about 50 people at its peak, with about a third in Asia, was cut to single digits in recent layoffs and departures, two of the people said. The division head for the Asia-Pacific region, whose responsibilities included the Chinese activist accounts, was laid off in January. Twitters resources dedicated to supervising content moderation for Chinese-language posts have been drastically reduced, the people said.

So when some Twitter systems recently failed to differentiate between a Chinese disinformation campaign and genuine accounts, that led to some accounts of Chinese activists and dissidents being difficult to find, the people said.

Its tough being a Twitter user nowadays, said Jenn Takahashi, who runs the Twitter account @bestofdyingtwit, which has logged the platforms shortcomings since Mr. Musk took the helm. She said she had also had difficulty seeing tweets from people she followed, with notifications either delayed or sent twice, and direct messages becoming cluttered with so much spam.

Twitter and Mr. Musk did not respond to requests for comment. In December, Mr. Musk acknowledged the visibility restrictions on some users and announced plans to improve Twitters transparency on the issue.

Non-English-language moderation has been a particular challenge for American social media companies, which often do not have enough staff in those areas and rely on imperfect machine translations, said Gabriel Nicholas, a research fellow at the Center for Democracy & Technology who studies content moderation and disinformation on social media.
At a time when theaters are struggling to reach prepandemic audience levels, the New Ohio Theater, a staple for artists and independent theater companies for 30 years, announced it would present its final Manhattan performance in August.

The shifting theater landscape and increased financial pressures led to the decision, said the founding artistic director, Robert Lyons, who is also a playwright and director. Its just a good time to step aside and pass the baton, he added, explaining that he envisioned a new generation taking on the space.

The closing will end programs like the Ice Factory, Now in Process, Theater for Young Minds, New Ohio Presents and New Ohio Hosts. The Archive Residency program will conclude in the spring of 2024.

The theater, originally known as the Ohio Theater and located off Wooster Street in SoHo, was founded as a nonprofit in 1993, and before that provided a shared space for independent companies and artists to brainstorm and perform. In 2011, the company moved to 154 Christopher Street in the West Village as the New Ohio Theater, and continued to operate as a hub for independent theater. Over time, New Ohio oversaw a renovation project at the theater that included the installation of a new sprung stage, new risers, an HVAC system and a bathroom in the dressing room.
Youve sent in letters about why you love Folsom, Agoura Hills, Aptos, St. Helena and many other places. Your tributes were heartfelt, evocative and largely unconcerned with our states faults. I adore them.

Here are some of the notes you sent in, lightly edited:

I live in Menifee in Riverside County and despite the staggering growth, theres always a hint of wilderness in the air. I love going out for a walk and being surrounded by hills, a bright and reassuring green right now, looking up to see the clear blue sky and feeling the towering presence of Double Butte in my peripheral vision. The beautiful wineries of Temecula Valley are a short drive away and the amenities of Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange County and Palm Springs are an easy weekend trip.

Ive lived in Southern California for over 15 years now and my heart still leaps to my throat with its beauty. It is somehow familiar, dear, and surprising all at the same time. I dont think I will ever tire of its beauty.  Amy Riley, Menifee

In the last 48 years, I have lived in the Bay Area, gone to college on the Central Coast and spent a few years in L.A. before coming back to my beloved Bay. I savor each moment of living in the Golden State. Its like being on vacation every day.  Bob Harris, Foster City

My husband and I moved to Palm Springs in April 2020 from Chicago. When we moved, we saw the sun a half a day a week in Illinois, gray clouds hanging over the region the rest of the time. Now we bask in brilliant sunshine every day and live an indoor-outdoor life which nourishes the body and soul. Our daughters live in the North Bay and we are able to enjoy the full scope of all this wonderful state offers.  Carlotta Rinke, Palm Springs
The man who the police say shot and killed three students and left five more critically wounded at Michigan State University on Monday lived with his father on a quiet dead-end street in Lansing, and had become increasingly angry and bitter since his mothers death in September 2020 after a long illness, the father said.

The gunman, Anthony Dwayne McRae, 43, rarely left his bedroom, said his father, Michael McRae, 67, in a telephone interview on Tuesday. I told him, Youre looking like kind of a wolfman.

Mr. McRae said his son had lived briefly in a homeless shelter in Cincinnati. He had never been diagnosed with a mental health problem and was not on medication, the father said, though neighbors in Michigan regarded him as an eccentric. He did not have a car and was often seen walking to and from his fathers house.

The authorities said the gunman, who took his own life after the campus shootings, had no apparent connection with Michigan State University, and his motive remained murky on Tuesday.
EAST LANSING, Mich.  Jane Nodland had just arrived at the Michigan State University Union, a four-story gathering space with meeting rooms, a restaurant and a small store, to do homework on Monday night with her boyfriend.

Then she heard three gunshots, dove into a corner with her boyfriend and hid in terror before they ran to the exit and dashed out of the building with the other students. No one was yelling or screaming, she said, and it sounded like a stampede.

I thought I was going to die, Ms. Nodland, 22, a senior nursing major, said. It sounded like he was right there.

Ms. Nodland was one of many students and East Lansing residents who waited anxiously in dorms, restaurants and other places in the hours before the university police said early Tuesday that the 43-year-old gunman had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. For much of the night, they had few details about where he was or what he was doing.
WASHINGTON  The Biden administration has agreed to brief top congressional leaders at the end of this month about the classified documents that were improperly in the custody of former President Donald J. Trump, President Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence, officials said on Tuesday.

The deal for a Justice Department briefing with the so-called Gang of Eight, a select group of House and Senate members with whom the most sensitive intelligence is shared, may ease long-simmering tensions over bipartisan demands by the Senate Intelligence Committee to see the files.

Still, the briefing would include only the top two members of the committee and not its rank-and-file members, according to people familiar with the negotiations. And while the Justice Department has agreed to reveal additional information about the nature of the records to the Gang of Eight, it is resisting providing access to the documents themselves, which it considers key evidence in continuing investigations.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, the panels chairman, Senator Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia, said the details of what would be shared remained a work in progress. The Biden administrations initial position, which he portrayed as reluctance to disclose anything until special counsel investigations into Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden were over, was kind of absurd, he added, given the oversight role of his committee.
The Feb. 21 primary, and the April 4 general election to follow, will serve as the latest test of how much appetite Republican voters have for the flavor of election denialism that fueled the partys grass roots after former President Donald J. Trumps 2020 election loss.

The twist in the Wisconsin race is that both leading Republican candidates took significant public steps to try to overturn Mr. Trumps defeat. One of them, however, Ms. Brandtjen, a state representative from Menomonee Falls, has so alienated members of her own party that she was kicked out of the State Assemblys Republican caucus, leaving Democrats giddy about the prospect of facing her in a special election for a battleground district.

If Janel Brandtjen makes it through the primary, its going to allow people in Wisconsin to have a clear choice of what it is that theyre voting for in the election in April, said Melissa Agard, the Democratic leader in the Republican-controlled Wisconsin Senate, who said the race would be more winnable for Democrats if Ms. Brandtjen, pronounced Bran-chen, triumphed in the primary.

Some Republicans agree.

The Republican State Leadership Committee, the leading national organization that backs G.O.P. state legislative candidates, is broadcasting digital ads promoting State Representative Dan Knodl before the primary. And Country First, a political action committee started by former Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois  who retired from Congress after voting to impeach Mr. Trump  has bought digital ads calling Ms. Brandtjen an embarrassment.
Former Vice President Mike Pence is planning to fight a federal grand jury subpoena compelling him to testify in the investigation into President Donald J. Trumps actions leading up to the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, according to a person familiar with Mr. Pences plans.

Mr. Pence is expected to argue that the vice presidents role as the president of the Senate means that he is protected from legal scrutiny of his official duties by the Constitutions speech or debate clause, intended to protect the separation of powers.

Such an approach would be novel and a departure from the more traditional argument that a vice presidents interactions with a president would be subject to executive privilege.

Mr. Pences plans were first reported by Politico.

The speech or debate clause shields members of Congress from law enforcement scrutiny over their statements and actions related to their legislative responsibilities. It specifically states that lawmakers shall not be questioned in any other place about their legislative duties.
Ms. Haleys campaign has drawn encouragement from many polls showing that in a hypothetical multicandidate field, Mr. Trump wins less than 50 percent of Republican voters. Her entry into the race underscores how the former president has failed to scare off rivals in his third presidential campaign, announced in November after a disappointing midterm election for Republicans.

Her announcement reversed a statement in 2021 that she would not run if Mr. Trump were a candidate. She was a rare figure to leave the Trump administration while earning praise from Mr. Trump rather than a parting insult. In a statement, Mr. Trump said Ms. Haley had in the past called him the best president in my lifetime, but added, I told her she should follow her heart and do what she wants to do.

That the former president has so far not coined an insulting nickname or otherwise attacked Ms. Haley is a sign, perhaps, that he does not perceive her as a major threat. Strategically, it is to Mr. Trumps advantage to have multiple candidates splitting the votes of Republicans opposed to him.

One of Mr. Trumps fund-raising groups, MAGA Inc., issued a harsher statement, saying Ms. Haley had left her post at the U.N. to go rake in money on corporate boards, adding: Now, she says she represents a new generation. Nikki is just more of the same, a career politician whose only commitment is to herself.

Since leaving the Trump administration in 2018, Ms. Haley has walked a fine line with the former president, praising his policies and accomplishments in office while offering criticism that appeals to Republican moderates. The day after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, she said his actions will be judged harshly by history.
WASHINGTON  The Bureau of Prisons is shuttering a troubled special detention unit in Illinois that has been plagued by inmate deaths, suicides and the reported sexual harassment of guards.

On Tuesday morning, staff members at the special management unit in the Thomson federal penitentiary in the rural northwest part of the state were told that the 350 prisoners under their supervision would be transferred to other prisons. They had been moved to the unit after committing disciplinary infractions in facilities around the country.

Bureau officials recently identified significant concerns with respect to institutional culture and compliance with B.O.P. policies at the high-security facility, which houses about 800 inmates, Randilee Giamusso, a bureau spokeswoman, wrote in an email.

We believe these issues are having a detrimental impact on facility operations, and the B.O.P. has determined that there is a need for immediate corrective measures, she added.
Federal prosecutors overseeing the investigation into former President Donald J. Trumps handling of classified documents are seeking to pierce assertions of attorney-client privilege and compel one of his lawyers to answer more questions before a grand jury, according to two people familiar with the matter, adding an aggressive new dimension to the inquiry and underscoring the legal peril facing Mr. Trump.

The prosecutors have sought approval from a federal judge to invoke what is known as the crime-fraud exception, which allows them to work around attorney-client privilege when they have reason to believe that legal advice or legal services have been used in furthering a crime. The fact that prosecutors invoked the exception in a sealed motion to compel the testimony of the lawyer, M. Evan Corcoran, suggests that they believe Mr. Trump or his allies might have used Mr. Corcorans services in that way.

Among the questions that the Justice Department has been examining since last year is whether Mr. Trump or his associates obstructed justice in failing to comply with demands to return a trove of government material he took with him from the White House upon leaving office, including hundreds of documents with classified markings.

Last May, the Justice Department issued a subpoena for any classified documents still in Mr. Trumps possession, after he had voluntarily turned over an initial batch of material to the National Archives that turned out to include almost 200 classified documents. In June, Mr. Corcoran met with investigators and handed over more than 30 documents in response to the subpoena.
The denizens of the quiet campus are feeling a pervasive sense of uncertainty. Should they stay, or flee? Will the type of student drawn to New College fundamentally change? Will junior faculty members get the tenure they are up for? Will the new board or president fire the staff en masse, as one of the new trustees suggested should happen?

Everything thats been happening has been very disruptive, said Elizabeth C. Leininger, an associate biology professor, noting that the spring semester began the day before the Jan. 31 board meeting. Its kind of like when we get a hurricane here in Florida, and everyones preoccupied.

That New College faces challenges is indisputable. Its enrollment had been dipping until last year. Its dorms are moldy, its labs dated. There are few activities outside the classroom. In reviews posted on niche.com, a college ranking site, current and former students have criticized decrepit facilities, lack of structure and, in some cases, what they described as an obsession among students with identity politics.

The college performs poorly in state metrics  such as the number of bachelors degrees awarded in high-demand fields and the percentage of graduates making at least $30,000 a year after graduation  designed for huge universities with economies of scale that the school just does not have.

Still, unsupported claims by Mr. DeSantis and his allies that New Colleges students are being indoctrinated by far-left professors have offended students, faculty, parents and alumni, who feel misrepresented. Many said that the school welcomed young people who might not fit elsewhere  intensely bookish kids, bullied kids, kids with disabilities, queer kids  and required them to be driven.
Every year on Feb. 16, Carly Crones father would wish her a happy birthday and  in the same breath  remind her it was also the birthday of Harry Cohn, his very best friend since kindergarten.

The two didnt meet until nine years ago, however, when Ms. Crones dad died and she called to tell Mr. Cohn. From the moment he picked up, she felt a connection to him she still struggles to describe.

I remember where I was standing when I made the phone call, recalled Ms. Crone, 46. There was something  it was like this knowing of him, like I felt this trust inside. I cant quite actually put it into words.

From there, the pair kept in touch. They texted and chatted on the phone several times a week, in conversations that sometimes lasted an hour or more. We would talk about everything. I would talk about my kids. I would talk about work. He would tell me stories about my dad, Ms. Crone said.
Scientists have also shown that loud, cacophonous words and sounds played in different ears at the same time can disturb the rhythms of our guts, as can  as shown in one of my own experiments  telling a lie, or discussing uncomfortable life events such as being rejected by a love interest.

It would be challenging to do similar studies during a romantic dinner date (imagine having a probe in your colon while trying to make small talk at a restaurant), but scientists have used decades of research on gut-brain communication to theorize about why dating can trigger butterflies in the gut.

Yvette Tache, a neurobiologist and professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at U.C.L.A., has been studying how stress affects the communication between the gut and the brain since the 1980s. When youre eager for your date to go well or are unsure of how your date feels about you, that stress can cause the brain to release a molecule called corticotropin-releasing hormone, which ramps up adrenaline in the fight-or-flight response. (This hormone is also responsible for a racing heart when the meal is over and your date twiddles with their keys by their door  will you be invited in or is the evening finished?) At the same time, this molecule boosts cortisol, a hormone that rises in the first few months of falling in love, but later drops as a relationship stabilizes.

The sensation of butterflies likely occurs because, on top of everything else, this molecule also delays our stomachs from emptying, while simultaneously speeding up our colons, Dr. Tache said. This might happen as a means of protection, she said: Our intestines become more permeable  or leaky  under stress, which could be harmful if it caused waste from inside our guts to enter our bloodstreams. In theory, she said, halting our stomachs and emptying out our colons might minimize the chances of that happening.

Quelling the butterfly effect

If butterflies catch you at an inopportune moment, there are a few ways to trick your gut into returning to normal, Dr. Keefer said.

One solution is to use deep breathing techniques such as box breathing  when you slowly breathe in through your nose for a count of four, then hold your breath for a count of four, then exhale for another count of four and then hold your breath for another count of four. With each four-count, imagine drawing the side of a square until you visualize a completely closed box.

People who have the most common disorders of the gut-brain connection, such as chronic indigestion or irritable bowel syndrome, know that butterflies can become a real problem, especially if they lead to belly pain or the urge to defecate. In such situations, prescription medications like tricyclic antidepressants can help prevent the gut from overreacting. Cognitive behavioral therapy and meditation have also been shown in studies to help in the long-term.
Federal agents arrested four men whom they accused of playing key roles in the assassination of Haitis former president, U.S. prosecutors said on Tuesday, the latest step in an investigation that has implicated several American citizens.

Federal court documents also stated that several conspirators in the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise of Haiti met with the F.B.I. a few months before the killing, and tried to draw agents into a discussion about regime change in Haiti.

In response, an agent told the men that the F.B.I. could not help them because Haiti had to solve its own political problems. The revelation raised troubling questions about how much the United States government knew in advance of the killing. In court records, the government denied that it had any advance notice of a criminal plot.

Mr. Moise, 53, died after being shot 12 times when a team of Spanish-speaking commandos stormed his home outside the Haitian capital in July 2021. Prosecutors say the plot to overthrow and ultimately kill him was hatched in South Florida by businessmen who hoped to reap lucrative contracts under a new administration.
Indian tax agents raided the offices of the BBC in New Delhi and Mumbai on Tuesday, weeks after the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi tried to stop the dissemination of a documentary by the broadcaster that criticized his treatment of the countrys Muslim minority.

The Indian authorities under Mr. Modi have often used such raids against independent media organizations, human rights groups and think tanks in what activists call an effort to harass critical voices into silence by targeting their funding sources. Rights groups have repeatedly expressed concern about the dwindling freedom of the press, with journalists and activists thrown in jail for long periods or mired in court cases that drag on in Indias labyrinthine judiciary.

A spokesman for Indias governing party confirmed the BBC raids at a news conference. About a dozen tax agents entered the British public broadcasters office in central New Delhi just before noon, blocking access to the buildings fifth floor, where the BBC offices are located, a police officer posted outside the building said. Agents were still in the office on Wednesday morning.

Gaurav Bhatia, the spokesman for Mr. Modis Bharatiya Janata Party, said the BBC had nothing to fear if it had done nothing wrong. He then unleashed verbal attacks on the broadcaster, including calling its reporting propaganda.
While many in the world see the Chinese spy balloon as a sign of Beijings growing aggressiveness, China has sought to cast the controversy as a symptom of the United States irrevocable decline.

Why else would a great power be spooked by a flimsy inflatable craft, China has argued, if not for a raft of internal problems like an intensely divided society and intractable partisan strife driving President Biden to act tough on Beijing?

The balloon incident has shown to the world how immature and irresponsible  indeed hysterical  the United States has been in dealing with the case, read a recent editorial in the Peoples Daily, the ruling Communist Partys mouthpiece.

Chinese propaganda has tried to score points against the Biden administration, mocking it as flailing, overreacting and trying to outflank its hard-right Republican opponents to demonstrate who can stand taller against Beijing. Nowhere in Chinas response has the government acknowledged the balloons cost to its own credibility and the mounting evidence that it was all too willing to spy on its neighbors and beyond.
New Zealand declared a national state of emergency for only the third time in its history on Tuesday after a potent cyclone flooded parts of the country, knocking out power to nearly a quarter million residents, stranding people on rooftops and sweeping at least one sailor out to sea.

The cyclone, Gabrielle, battered most of the North Island, the northern part of the country, which includes its most populous city, Auckland, according to the National Emergency Management Agency. Military officials said that at least 200 members of the Royal New Zealand Navy, the army and the Royal New Zealand Air Force were involved in the response.

Cyclone Gabrielle is the most significant weather event New Zealand has seen this century, Chris Hipkins, New Zealands prime minister, said at a news conference. The severity and the breadth of the damage that we are seeing has not been experienced in a generation.

Officials said that the cyclone had socked the North Island with heavy rain, severe winds and very large waves before moving out to sea. MetService, the national weather authority, said that wind gusts of more than 90 miles per hour had blasted many parts of the island and that a few exposed areas had reported gusts of more than 105 miles per hour.
LONDON  It is one of historys most celebrated diamonds  and one of its most fiercely contested. Taken from an 11-year-old Indian prince in the 1840s and presented to Queen Victoria, the Koh-i-Noor has long been a glittering jewel in British crowns  and, to many, a lingering symbol of British colonial larceny.

With Buckingham Palace dusting off its baubles for the coronation of King Charles III in May, the Koh-i-Noor seemed at risk of kicking off another dispute, this time over whether Camilla, the queen consort, would wear it in her crown.

On Tuesday, Buckingham Palace sidestepped a diplomatic clash with the Indian government by announcing that Camilla would not wear the 105.6-carat Koh-i-Noor, one of the worlds largest cut diamonds.

That diamond is set in a crown made for Queen Elizabeth, the queen mother, who used it for her coronation in 1937 as queen consort to King George VI, though it had previously been used in other settings. At King Charless coronation, the palace said, Camilla will wear a crown that belonged to Queen Mary, the queen consort from 1910 to 1936, which does not feature the Koh-i-Noor.
The human rights chief of the European Union border agency said last year that it should stop operating in Greece because of serial abuses by Greek border guards, including violently pushing asylum seekers back to Turkey and separating migrant children from their parents, according to confidential documents reviewed by The New York Times.

The E.U. agency, Frontex, deploys border guards from around Europe to help the Greek authorities with border operations, and provides equipment such as helicopters, boats and drones paid for by European taxpayers.

Instead of following the recommendation, taking legal action against Greece or investigating the findings, the E.U. set up an obscure working group. In a follow-up finding submitted last month, the rights chief said that there had been no change in the reported practice.

The reticence to act highlights a major tension in Europes migration policy: how to keep the number of migrants low while adhering to European laws.
ROME  In the weeks before Italy elected the hard-right leader Giorgia Meloni, the left sounded the alarm for Italian democracy. The European Union braced for Italy to join ranks with members like Hungary and Poland who have challenged the blocs core values. International investors worried about spooked markets.

But more than 100 days into her tenure, Ms. Meloni has proved to be less predictable. She has shown flashes of nationalist anger, prompting fears at home and abroad that an authoritarian turn remains just around the corner. But until now, she has also governed in a far less vitriolic and ideological and more practical way.

The unexpected ordinariness of her early days has vexed the European establishment and her Italian critics, prompting relief but also raising a quandary as to what extent the toned-down firebrand should be embraced or still cautiously held at arms length.

Ms. Meloni has made a case for herself. She has calmed international concerns over Italys ability to service its debts by passing a measured budget. She has had cordial meetings with European Union leaders and has muted her famously rapid-fire invective against the bloc, migrants and elites. She has followed in the footsteps of her predecessor, Mario Draghi, Mr. Europe himself, seeking to carry through on his blueprint to modernize the country with billions of euros in E.U. pandemic recovery funds.
Moldova briefly closed its airspace because of a presumed air balloon that entered its territory on Tuesday, further rattling the former Soviet Republic after a Russian missile recently flew over the country on the way to Ukraine.

Russias invasion of Ukraine and its economic fallout have reverberated in the Eastern European country, which sits between Romania and Ukraine and faces growing pressure on its Western-leaning leadership. In recent days, the countrys president has accused Russia of trying to topple her government through protests organized by pro-Russian forces.

The president, Maia Sandu, didnt offer evidence, and Russia denied the accusations.

The countrys government said it closed the airspace for more than three hours to ensure the security of passenger flights after an object similar to a weather balloon was detected near the Ukrainian border. The airspace was reopened once the object was found to be harmless, said Daniel Voda, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry. The government did not specify what happened to the balloon.

Moldova has been among the nations most affected by Russias invasion of Ukraine. Russian rockets aimed at Ukraine have unsettled the nation, with another missile fired from a Russian warship in the Black Sea flying over Moldova on Friday. Moldovas Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian ambassador to discuss the episode.
To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

The three young women, participants in an antiwar chat group, were falsely accused last fall by one of its members of plotting with him to firebomb a military enlistment office.

The trio quickly went underground, hiding in a friends house in their home city of Vladivostok, in Russias Far East, while seeking a way to escape the country and potentially lengthy prison sentences. That brought them to a group called In Transit, part of an extensive underground railroad that is rescuing hundreds of Russians who have been targeted for expressing opposition to the invasion of Ukraine or even sympathy for Ukrainian refugees.

Their flight to freedom would ultimately end in Kazakhstan, after a six-day odyssey in six different cars over more than 4,000 miles  the equivalent of driving from New York City to Alaska. They were not told the route they would take, the names of the drivers or the rendezvous points until they reached each new city.
For about 200 hours, two Turkish brothers entombed under the rubble of a collapsed building in the earthquake-devastated city of Kahramanmaras held on, rationing bodybuilding supplements, drinking their own urine, swallowing gulps of air.

Breathing was easy, one brother, Abdulbaki Yeninar, 21, told the local Ihlas news agency. We took protein powder.

On Tuesday, rescue workers pried Mr. Yeninar and his brother, Muhammed Enes Yeninar, 17, from the concrete and twisted metal, one of at least nine such improbable rescues over a week after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake leveled towns, killed tens of thousands of people and displaced many more in Turkey and Syria.

In the same city, teams dug a tunnel five meters, or 16 feet, long through tons of fallen walls, floors and piping to reach a woman, in a rescue that was broadcast on live TV. And to the south, a volunteer mining crew joined the efforts to save another, earning tribute from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said they will never fade away from our memories.
As well as the judicial overhaul, some coalition lawmakers want to cement the primacy of Orthodox Judaism in Israel, restrict the influence of non-Orthodox streams and take a harsher approach to Palestinians. The Religious Zionist Party leader, Bezalel Smotrich, has a history of inflammatory statements about Arabs, including support for segregation between Jews and Arabs in maternity wards.

None of that sits well with more liberal-minded religious Zionists, who support a more pluralist approach to Jewish life and a more tolerant approach to Palestinians, even while still opposing Palestinian sovereignty.

Mr. Smotrich stole our name, said Ms. Halevy Levin, one of the protesters in Tel Aviv. This is not religious Zionism. This is a bunch of crazy people who took over our society.

But many in her community still side with the government. In Efrat, a group of 20 young men and teenagers gathered on the pavement opposite the anti-government protest, trying to drown out the protesters with a counterdemonstration of their own.

The atmosphere was still relatively civil, and some of the governments supporters sought to play down the tensions. If there will be a civil war, and I hope that there wont, then I will not take part in it, said Eyal Rubinstein, 17.
In a small cemetery toward the end of a dirt road that winds between snowy mountains in rural southern Turkey, a dozen new graves slant partway up the mountainside. Pine fronds and olive branches have been laid on top. At the head of each grave stands a cinder block tied with a scarf, a small tribute: purple, red, flowered.

The villagers of Kayabasi buried their loved ones themselves, their town cut off, blocked by boulders that had crashed down during the earthquake that had shaken them recently. Until the road was cleared two days later, they were on their own.

Everyone took their dead out from the rubble however they could, with their hands, said Ozkan Durmaz, 36, who works for a telecommunications company. We didnt expect everything from the government. There was solidarity between citizens.

In the aftermath of last weeks earthquake, which killed more than 35,000 in Turkey, broken cities received wall-to-wall news media coverage and the bulk of emergency crews and aid.
She wanted to retrieve her medicine, and if memory serves all these years later, also a hairbrush and a photograph from her apartment.

It was in 2009, a couple of days after an earthquake flattened LAquila, the capital of Abruzzo, in central Italy. The authorities had closed the city to residents, but the woman and her sister had sneaked in. I found her leaning on a cane in a broken, empty plaza staring up at a midcentury building that the quake had somehow sheared horizontally so that it looked like a pot with its lid askew.

She asked for help.

From afar, we measure catastrophes like the calamity in Turkey and Syria by totaling the numbers of dead and buildings destroyed. Reports describe a spectacularly wide disaster zone, recovery efforts that are too slow, leaving untold hundreds and possibly thousands of victims still buried, alive and dead, under the rubble  and hundreds of thousands more in the cold without homes, food, drinking water or medical supplies.

It is too much to process, the loss of lives and history. The tiny Jewish community in Antakya, in central Turkey, dates back 2,500 years. The head of the community and his wife both died in the quake. The citys synagogue is now gone.
To its critics, the Supreme Court is seen as the last bastion of the secular, centrist elite descended from European Jewry who dominated the state during its earliest decades. Religious Jews, particularly the ultra-Orthodox, perceive the court as an obstacle to their way of life.

What to Know About Israels Judiciary Overhaul Card 1 of 6 A divisive proposal. Israel is in the throes of a grave political crisis over a contentious plan to overhaul the countrys judiciary. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus right-wing government contends the Supreme Court has unchecked power, but critics of the proposal say it goes too far. Here is what to know: What is the government trying to do? Netanyahus governing coalition is first trying to change the makeup of the committee that selects judges by giving representatives and appointees of the government an automatic majority on the committee. The government also wants to drastically restrict the Supreme Courts ability to strike down laws that it deems unconstitutional. What do opponents of the overhaul say? Critics say the plan would place unchecked power in the hands of the government of the day, remove protections afforded to individuals and minorities and deepen Israels divisions. They also fear that Netanyahu, who is standing trial on corruption charges, could use the changes to extricate himself from his legal troubles. Why is Israel divided? In broad terms, the schism has divided Israelis into two groups: those who want a more secular and pluralist state and those with a more religious and nationalist vision. To its critics, particularly ultra-Orthodox Jews, the Supreme Court is seen as the last bastion of the secular, centrist elite who dominated Israel during its earliest decades. Who is protesting? The opposition has mainly been driven by secular centrists who fear the overhaul will threaten their freedoms, but there is also resistance from parts of the religious right who say the government has pushed too far and too fast. The plan has also drawn opposition from crucial components of Israeli society: the military, universities and trade unions. What happens next? After a nationwide work stoppage and mass protests, Netanyahu announced a delay in the legislation to allow for negotiations and a possible compromise between his ruling coalition and the opposition parties. But many Israelis remained wary that the pause was merely a tactic to quell the civil unrest. It also failed to ease U.S.-Israeli tensions.











The court has often opposed certain privileges and financial subsidies for the ultra-Orthodox. In particular, the court rejected a special dispensation that allowed ultra-Orthodox Jews an exemption from military service in favor of religious study, infuriating religious leaders. Right-wing Israelis who want to entrench Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank also see the court as an antagonist.

Who is protesting?

The opposition has mainly been driven by secular centrists who fear the overhaul will threaten their freedoms and way of life. But there is also a growing resistance and desire for dialogue and compromise from parts of the religious right who say the government has pushed too far and too fast.

Israels largest trade union, which had previously tried to stay out of the fray, called a general strike on Monday.

The heads of Israels leading universities collectively agreed to suspend all teaching on their campuses.
WASHINGTON  The U.S. government and Canada have been busy intercepting unidentified flying objects in the skies, shooting down one on Friday over Alaska, another on Saturday over the Yukon Territory and a third over Michigan on Sunday.

White House officials said on Monday that the military had not yet identified the source of the objects or their purpose, adding that there was no indication that civilians on the ground were in danger and that the government would redouble efforts to understand the nature of the objects and where they came from.

The incidents over the weekend have transfixed the public  long fascinated by encounters with flying objects that defy explanation, as well as government efforts to study them  and spawned multiple theories as officials try to make sense of the devices.

The White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, confirmed that the administration does not believe aliens are involved. There is no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns, she said.
THE former convent in Kilcormac will be used to accommodate Ukrainian families, not single men from a number of different African countries as has been claimed, the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth has said.

Asked for an update on the plan for the use of the building, a department spokesperson said: The accommodation referred to will be used by Ukrainian families, primarily women and children. There will be a total capacity of 58.

Since Thursday there were claims that the former Convent of Mercy on the Main Street in the town was being prepared for occupation by between 50 and 150 men.

There was outrage at the language used in a video widely shared on social media on Thursday and Friday which referred to single males from one named country in Africa and other s...hole countries.

John McGhee, a former National Party member who first came to public attention in Offaly when he opposed the opening of a direct provision centre in Tullamore three years ago, recorded the video and called for people to attend a protest in Kilcormac on Friday evening.

An estimated 30 people stood outside the convent, some carrying Offaly flags, to register their opposition to the accommodation centre. As many as 50 people gathered on the other side of the street.

A video was later posted on YouTube where a woman, identified locally as Tess (Theresa) Dunican, addressed the other people at the protest and said she did not believe it was women and children who would be coming to the convent.

Earlier, Theresa Dunican said she would speak to the media, only to change her mind when a man who was present advised her not to do so.

In the video posted on YouTube and then distributed on social messaging platforms, she (pictured below) began by saying You all know me.

She then stated the convent would not be used for women and children: It's not happening. They're bringing in 150 men who have not been vetted. They're coming in with no papers, no passports and the Government and Micheal Martin says 'shure it's grand, in ye come'.

We'll put ye into all the small tiny villages so that ye can infiltrate the small villages, so there is going to be more of them than there is of us.

Ms Dunican also said Kilcormac had to be kept for the people of Kilcormac instead of people from African countries: I was born in this town. I don't want to give up my town to foreigners.

She said she wouldn't care if it was women and children who were coming to Kilcormac but she believed it will be nothing only men who will come.

Ms Dunican also said she would be calling to the office of Cllr John Leahy and pointed out that he had not attended the protest.

Speaking on Monday, Cllr Leahy condemned Ms Dunican's use of the word foreigners and praised the contribution made by people from other countries to Kilcormac.

A lot of people have taken offence at what she said. We have people who are providing employment in the town that are foreigners, said the local Independent councillor.

We have foreigners that are Polish and different nationalities that are working, living and actually part of our community. The people are annoyed over that statement,

He also hit out at claims made in the past week that he was an owner or part owner of the company which bought the former convent.

I do not have a shareholding and that can be easily checked out in the public records, he said.

Automatically these people want to associate me with it because I'm not supporting them. I couldn't support them in a million years.

The councillor added: If Tess wants to come to me and she wants to protest about women and children going into the convent I've no problem listening to her. But the one thing I will ask them to do is refrain from saying that I have a financial interest in the convent.

He said that if those who were making the ownership claims checked his directorships they would find that they mostly involved voluntary organisations.

Cllr Leahy recalled that the local group known as the Concerned Residents of Kilcormac had opposed the convent's previous proposed use as a residential addiction treatment centre.

He said he was not going to live in the past but continue to work to ensure that the future use of the convent best suits the town.

In relation to claims that local services will not be adequate to cater for any additional people, Cllr Leahy said: I will be fighting tooth and nail. If the services are depleted in any shape or form for the people of Kilcormac, on the back of anybody using the convent, I will be making political noise.
Tullamore undertake Tom Lawless of Lawless Funeral Directors has been appointed as President of The Irish Association of Funeral Directors for 2023.

The third generation of Funeral Directors at Lawless Funeral Directors, Tom joined the business in 1998 having had a varied career in hospitality, as a security guard and the owner of a taxi business.

Tom was involved with JCI Ireland, a young voluntary organisation of which he was Local President, Regional Director and Convention Director, for 10 years. He attributes these positions to assisting in building his confidence to take over the family business when his dad Tom was ill.

Speaking of his appointment as IAFD President, Tom said: It is a privilege for me to be appointed President of The Irish Association of Funeral Directors. I am excited to be taking on the role at a time when I firmly believe that being a member of a professional membership organisation is more important than ever. I will strive to continue to grow membership of the IAFD during my term by encouraging Funeral Directors to understand the benefits of such membership and I will continue to ensure that the families that IAFD members represent are treated with the utmost care and respect.

Tom, whose father Tom was a member of the IAFD from the associations beginning, has been a member of IAFD for 20 years since he took over the running of the family business which started in 1909.

For further information about the Irish Association of Funeral Directors, please visit: www.iafd.ie
DONATIONS are being sought to fund a memorial stone at the unmarked grave in Birr of a National Army soldier killed in the Civil War.

As the 100th anniversary of the death of Private John Gunning approaches, historian Stephen Callaghan has announced that on March 1, a century after he was killed, a ledger stone will be placed at the man's place of rest in Clonoghill cemetery,

John Gunning was a former member of the Leinster Regiment who was discharged in 1922 and joined the National Army in 1923.

He was born to a single mother in 1891 in Ballitore, Co Kildare and joined the Leinster Regiment in 1911, serving during World War I.

Despite any early setbacks in life he made something of himself and joined the army where he excelled at being a soldier, said Mr Callaghan.

He was trained in Birr barracks and his first posting was with the first battalion of the Leinster Regiment in Faizabad, India before they returned to Europe in 1914.

He fought his way through the Great War, serving in France, Belgium, Salonika and Egypt.

The Leinster Regiment of the British army was disbanded in 1922 after the Anglo-Irish Treaty and John Gunning was discharged. He had been living at Military Road, Crinkle and married in 1920.

After the war, he married Johanna Sullivan and in what was very likely an effort to support himself and his wife, as he did not get an army pension, he joined the newly formed National Army on 14 February 1923.

He was with second infantry battalion of the army, under the command of the barracks in Athlone.

Pretty much straight away he was thrown into the Civil War, said Mr Callaghan.

Only two weeks after joining, on February 28, he was patrolling on bicycle at Crumlin, Moneygall with 11 other National Army soldiers when they came across an anti-Treaty force of 25 men in a house.

A gun battle took place when the men tried to escape and John Gunning was fatally wounded, dying on March 1. National Army Sergeant Patrick Byrne also died in the battle.

While the National Army paid for Gunning's funeral, his grave was never marked, his widow too poor to afford a marker, said Mr Callaghan.

Stephen Callaghan, who has written and worked extensively on burial grounds in Offaly, has been fascinated by the military history of Birr for many years and in 2008 he located the unmarked grave of John Gunning.

Since finding John Gunning 15 years ago, his unmarked grave has been on my mind. Now coming to the centenary of his death, I think it is the most appropriate time to have it finally marked," he said.

It struck me that he had died while serving with the precursor of the current Defence Forces. He died in the discharge of his duty and there is nothing there to recognise his sacrifice. No picture of him has been found.

His widow remarried Hubert Mulhere in 1933. She had received a weekly pension of 17 shillings after John Gunning's death but Mr Callaghan says her pension application indicates she was of limited means and had been living with her parents and trying to earn some money through knitting.

He sourced stone (see picture below of Stephen Callaghan with the stone) for the memorial (which will be placed as a flat ledger on the grave) from the former site of Birr barracks, now owned by Grant Engineering.

The historian has engaged a Dublin stonemason to cut and engrave the stone and is hoping to raise 700 to cover the cost.

Donations can be made by logging on to -

https://www.gofundme.com/f/memorial-for-vol-john-gunning-national-army?qid=cada6fe734b77ad232cadb2ace5f3119

A retired army commandant, Paul Clarke, has said it is important that men like Private John Gunning are remembered appropriately.

I think that it is incumbent on the Irish State and as a mature democratic nation to acknowledge the 200,000 Irish citizens, from all traditions who joined the British Army and served in the Great War 'in the defence of small nations', he said.

And of course, the 60,000 Irish citizens who did not return home and died on the battlefields of France and Belgium. In many cases because of extreme poverty this was not a choice for a lot of young men and a matter of their own and their family's survival. They should not be written out of history for doing the right thing.

Private John Gunning was a proud Irishman who joined the Leinster Regiment to provide for his family in 1911.

The fact that Volunteer Gunning survived the horrors of the Western Front only to die in his own country fighting for and against his own countrymen in a vicious civil war is a poignant reminder of the futility or war. May he rest in peace.
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Students and nearby residents waited anxiously for hours as the police searched for the 43-year-old gunman. He later died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
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Digital transformation driving progress in education

Xinhua) 10:51, February 14, 2023

BEIJING, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Thanks to the internet, students from a middle school in Kangding, Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in southwest China's Sichuan Province, are able to attend classes conducted by teachers from Chengdu No. 7 High School, a prestigious high school elsewhere in the province.

It takes more than three hours to drive from Kangding to Chengdu, but with the help of information technology, students can answer their teachers' questions in less than a minute.

The interaction is just part of China's broader efforts to promote digital education in recent years, in a bid to develop more equitable and higher-quality education, while accelerating modernization in the sector.

The World Digital Education Conference, which opened in Beijing on Monday, is expected to further promote the digitalization of education in China and inject new momentum into the global development of digital education.

UPGRADED FACILITIES

China has released multiple plans to better apply information technology to education, with the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China calling for the digitalization of education and the building of a society and country of learning in which lifelong learning is pursued by all.

In recent years, China has upgraded the facilities for digital teaching in schools. All the elementary and middle schools across China have access to the internet, compared with 25 percent in 2012. Moreover, more than three quarters of Chinese schools have wireless networks, and about 99.5 percent of schools have multimedia classrooms.

In March 2022, a public online service platform named "Smart Education of China" was officially launched, focusing on such areas as learning, teaching, school governance and educational innovation.

So far, the platform has received more than 6.7 billion page views and more than 1 billion visitors from more than 200 countries and regions.

The platform provides access to higher-quality education resources for rural primary and secondary schools in the underdeveloped central and western parts of the country. It also allows universities in the west of China to share quality resources provided by universities in the east.

According to Ma Luting, vice president of the National Institute of Education Sciences, in the digital education era, multiple methods of resource development, presentation and communication have changed the conventional classroom teaching methods.

BOOMING MOOCS

With digital technologies, students from three universities in Jiangsu, Shaanxi and Guizhou provinces have been able to experience a simulated assembly process of China's first homegrown jetliner C919, witnessing the airfoils dock with the fuselage from their classrooms at the same time.

"Employing the digital simulation and virtual reality technologies, we can represent the assembly site at the classroom and have students from different places interact with each other through 5G," said Tian Wei, a professor at the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

The class is a good example of how massive open online courses (MOOCs) are developing in China.

Since 2013, this new form of education, providing instruction free of charge to all, has mushroomed in China. As of November 2022, there were more than 61,900 MOOCs accessible online, with 402 million registered users. China ranks first in the world in both the number of MOOCs and the number of learners online.

China has set up 168 integrated courses available across the globe, initiated mutual credit recognition with 13 world-famous universities, and developed eight open courses in English, attracting more than 7 million learners around the world.

At the World Digital Education Conference, Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan said China is willing to deepen cooperation with other countries in digital education standardization, introduce more quality services and products, and improve digital education governance and public services.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
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The University of Otagos School of Pharmacy Clinic will be hosting a free pop-up clinic this week for LGBTQIA+ people to receive advice on any medicines they are taking or considering.

The Thursday, 16 February event, organised in partnership with Dunedin Pride, aims to create a safe and welcoming space for members of the Rainbow community to engage with clinical pharmacists in hour-long individual consultations.

The clinic lead, Emma Smith, is looking forward to meeting members of the community and discovering how the team may be able to meet their individual health needs.

Pharmacists have a role to play in removing barriers to healthcare and as such we would like to provide a sensitive and responsive service. We hope this pilot will help us better understand the needs of the community and how we can best serve them going forward, Mrs Smith says.

The clinic is delighted to be working alongside Dunedin Pride to make this event a reality. We hope to work with people in a way that aligns with their world views, empowering them to make the best possible decisions for their healthcare.

Rainbow community members who might benefit from the clinic include those who take multiple medications, are considering new medications like anti-depressants, hormone therapy, and/or are unsure about what has been prescribed to them.

Dean of the School of Pharmacy Professor Carlo Marra shares Mrs Smiths sentiment, saying their hope is that this pop-up clinic meets the medication needs of local takatapui and LGBTQIA+ people in a helpful way.

At its core, pharmacy is about helping patients get the best they can from their medicines and improving their health and quality of life, Professor Marra says.

The event has been fully booked, but people can join a waitlist by calling:

Tel +64 3 479 8141

Further details are on the Dunedin Pride website:

Rainbow Pharmacy Clinic  Dunedin Pride

For more information, contact:

Emma Smith (she/her)

Pharmacy Clinic Lead

University of Otago

Email emma.smith@otago.ac.nz
Paducah, KY (42003)

Today

Mainly sunny to start, then a few afternoon clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 81F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Thunderstorms this evening followed by occasional showers overnight. A few storms may be severe. Low 49F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%.
New York, US (PANA) - Preventing violations against children affected by war has never been more pertinent or urgent, the UN expert advocating for these boys and girls said in a briefing to the Security Council on Monday
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Photo: (Photo : Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Numerous people are mourning the death of a transgender TikTok star, who was brutally murdered in a park.

A 16-year-old transgender TikToker named Brianna Ghey, who had amassed a large following on the social media platform, was found with multiple stab wounds at Linear Park in Warrington, Cheshire.

Ghey had posted her final video just hours before the attack. The tragedy shocked many, and the police investigation led to the arrest of two suspects, both 15 years old, who are now facing murder charges.

The Brianna Ghey death case

According to the New York Post, police have arrested a boy and a girl, both 15 years old, on suspicion of the murder of Brianna Ghey, a 16-year-old transgender girl from Warrington, UK. The suspects, who have not been identified, are in police custody and face murder charges.

Ghey was found lying on a path in Linear Park with multiple stab wounds. Detective Chief Superintendent Mike Evans believed her killing was a targeted attack, but the motive is still unknown.

The police are conducting several inquiries to determine the exact circumstances surrounding her death.

The police have appealed to the public for any information that may help the investigation, no matter how small.

They have also asked residents and businesses in the local community to check their CCTV or dashcam footage for possible leads.

Despite rumors that Ghey's killing may have been a hate crime related to her gender identity, police detectives have found no evidence to support this theory.

To reassure the community and address any concerns, police patrols have been increased in the local area, and additional officers are patrolling the park, which is a popular dog walking spot.

This tragic incident has deeply affected the transgender community, as Ghey was also a well-known TikTok influencer.

Many people have taken to social media to express their condolences and to call for justice for Ghey.

Read Also: Florida Rapper Accused of Brutally Killing Pregnant Girlfriend in Front of Her Young Son

Mourning Brianna Ghey

According to the BBC, the head teacher at Birchwood Community High School, where Brianna Ghey was a student, expressed shock and devastation upon hearing of Ghey's death.

The school will do everything possible to support Ghey's classmates and the wider school community during this difficult and distressing time.

Ghey's family described her as a larger-than-life character who left a lasting impression on everyone she met.

They said she was beautiful, witty, hilarious, strong, fearless, and one-of-a-kind.

Her family and loved ones have been deeply impacted by her death, and they know that her teachers and friends who were involved in her life will feel the same.

In the aftermath of her tragic death, a GoFundMe page was set up by friends of Ghey's family to help cover her funeral costs. Many people have expressed their condolences and support for Ghey's family on social media.

However, BuzzFeed reported that some British publications have come under fire for misgendering Ghey and using her dead name in their coverage of the incident.

Advocates have pointed out that because the UK government has not allowed trans people to self-identify their gender on official documents, Ghey may not have her chosen name and gender marker on her death certificate.

Many people have expressed their grief and outrage over the violence that led to Ghey's untimely death. They call for justice and a renewed commitment to ending violence against transgender people.

Related Article: New Jersey Student Commits Suicide After Video of Her Being Bullied Circulates Online
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It was announced in August 2022 that Apple TV+ was nearing a series order for a new drama series titled "Sinking Spring.' with Brian Tyree Henry starring. Ridley Scott will direct an episode in addition to executive producing.

The eight-episode series created by Top Gun: Maverick scribe Peter Craig, entering production this week in Philadelphia, adapts the 2009 book Dope Thief by Dennis Tafoya. Its protagonists are long-time Philly friends and delinquents, Ray (Henry) and Manny (Mando), who pose as DEA agents to rob an unknown house in the countryside, only to have their small-time grift become a life-and-death enterprise, as they unwittingly reveal and unravel the biggest hidden narcotics corridor on the Eastern seaboard.

The initial cast included Michael Mando, Marin Ireland and Kate Mulgrew. In January, Amir Arison was cast and Ving Rhamesd, Dustin Nguyen, Nesta Cooper, Idris Debrand, Liz Caribel and Will Pullen were added, according to Deadline.

Sinking Spring hails from Apple Studios and is being produced by Scott Free Productions, which has a first-look deal with Apple TV+. Craig wrote all eight episodes, and will helm one, in his directorial debut. Hell also exec produce alongside Ridley Scott for Scott Free, as well as David W. Zucker, Jordan Sheehan, Clayton Krueger and Henry, with Tafoya serving as consulting producer. For more details, review the full Deadline report.

Apple TV+ hosted the World Premiere for their new Thriller series "Liaison" at Publicis Cinemas in Paris



Apple TV+ hosted its first-ever red carpet event in France at the Publicis Cinemas in Paris, with the world premiere screening of new thriller Liaison, premiering on February 24, 2023.

Attendees at the red carpet premiere alongside stars Vincent Cassel and Eva Green, were Gerard Lanvin, Irene Jacob, Stanislas Merhar, Laetitia Eido, Eriq Ebouaney, Bukky Bakray, Aziz Dyab, Lyna Dubarry, Thierry Fremont, Daniel Francis, Marco Horanieh, Yan Tual, creator and writer Virginie Brac, director and executive producer Stephen Hopkins and executive producers Gub Neal, Jean-Benoit Gillig, Sarada McDermott, Edward Barlow and more.

Liaison" is a high-stakes, contemporary thriller exploring how the mistakes of our past have the potential to destroy our future, combining action with an unpredictable, multilayered plot where espionage and political intrigue play out against a story of passionate and enduring love. The first episode of Liaison debuts globally on Friday, February 24, 2023, followed by one new episode weekly every Friday through March 31, 2023, on Apple TV+. For more photos and credits, review Apple's full press release.

Archive: Apple TV News
There have been a couple of polls in the news over the past week or two that touch on Latter-day Saints, and theyve been followed by some very animated conversations about what they portend. (A substantial proportion of American Latter-day Saints are Christian nationalists? And were really unpopular? Aieee!) Here are a trio of links concerning the pair of polls, two of which suggest that theres more to the stories  or, perhaps better, less to the stories  than some have attempted to argue. I also offer a bonus link that isnt especially concerned with Latter-day Saints:

Salt Lake Tribune: 29% of Americans and 38% of Latter-day Saints are Christian nationalists: Among white evangelicals, poll shows, nearly two-thirds are Christian nationalists or sympathizers.

Religion News Service: Poll: A third of Americans are Christian nationalists and most are white evangelicals: A new PRRI survey finds that 10% of Americans are avowed Christian nationalists and an additional 19% are sympathetic to its ideals. Among white evangelicals, nearly two-thirds are Christian nationalists or sympathizers.

National Review: Confessions of a Christian Nationalist: Sociologists use a nebulous term to classify half the country as dangerous extremists

Do you consider yourself a Christian nationalist? Would you be a Christian nationalist by the standards given in Rachel Lus National Review article? I might be, despite my distinct lack of, umm, sympathy for the 6 January 2021 assault on the Capitol of the United States and my failure to vote for either of the major-party presidential nominees in either 2016 or 2020 and notwithstanding my deplorable lack of enthusiasm for our 45th president. Heck, I dont even want Christianity, let alone evangelical Protestant Christianity, enshrined as the official religion of the United States.

Dr. Stephen Cranney, for the Deseret News: Perspective: What happens when the religiously illiterate are asked about Latter-day Saints: Latter-day Saints are among faith groups that ranked negatively in a recent survey. But its likely that people are not distinguishing between major faith groups and their controversial offshoots

Obviously, with regard to the latter item, Latter-day Saints have a great deal of work to do in order to improve our image. I wouldnt care about our image too much, of course, if it didnt interfere with the ability of many in America and beyond even to accurately hear us, let alone to fully understand our message. But how many doors do our missionaries fail to get into because people imagine that they already know enough about us, and because what they know is so negative. It aint what you dont know that gets you into trouble, Mark Twain is supposed to have said, but what you know for sure that just aint so. (Years and years ago, I was in Australia for a national lecture tour that was sponsored by the area presidency of the Church there. It involved not only lectures, but dinners, luncheons, receptions, and a lot of mingling with local, regional, and national political figures, including a substantial one-on-one meeting with Kevin Rudd, who went on shortly thereafter  no doubt because of my sage and timely counsel  to become the prime minister of Australia. At least two of the folks whom I met at receptions, presumably hoping to be friendly and conversational, told me that they knew quite a bit about my church because they were regular viewers of Big Love. Kevin Rudd, by the way, was not among them.)

The major elements of the public image of the Latter-day Saints, I think, continue to be that were white, oppressive, secretive, patriarchal, cultish (in the popular sense of that ill-defined term), and reactionary. I think it imperative that we work to correct that image. We are, in fact, decreasingly white. (Ive recently posted accounts of my adventures in predominantly Polynesian wards in Kona and Lahaina, Hawaii, and the Church is certainly booming in Africa and growing in Latin America.) Portions of our temple worship are, in fact, secret (or, if you prefer, sacred), but the Church is trying very hard to be as open and transparent about the temple and things associated with the temple as it feels permitted to be. And, otherwise, were notoriously committed to sharing the basics of our faith with as many as will listen, via our missionaries and in other ways. The term cult and cultish are so vague as to be pretty much useless, but theyre essentially false if theyre intended to portray us as akin to Jonestown or even the FLDS. For one thing, we dont live in compounds, and we never have. As for oppression, well, what some find oppressive others find liberating. In terms of patriarchy, I would respond as a first step with such things as Sharon Eubanks wonderful 2014 address, This is a Womans Church.

Its high time now for some horrifying links from the Christopher Hitchens Memorial How Religion Poisons Everything File:

Relief Society in Action, February 2023.

Relief Society in Action highlights the volunteer service of Latter-day Saint women in their communities around the world. The Relief Society is an organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for women aged 18 and older. It has more than 7.1 million members and is one of the largest womens organizations in the world. Today we feature news spanning the last few months from Australia, Bolivia, Germany and Peru.

And heres something from our sister organization Scripture Central, formerly Book of Mormon Central  that might offend some of my readers and fill them with a gratifying sense of indignation: Theatrical Debut of New Inspirational Video Series Set to Premiere in St. George. Its too late, of course, for the video series premiere. But keep your eyes open for the videos.

There is also some chillingly Hitchens-File-relevant material in this story: Youth from the Middle East and Africa North Area Gather for Historic Conference: More than 200 Latter-day Saints participate in first area-wide FSY event

And, finally, I submit this infuriating story: How the Church of Jesus Christ Is Helping Earthquake Victims in Turkiye and Syria: The Church is committed to helping Turks and Syrians recover and rebuild
Theres nothing worse than a monitor that stutters and lags during a high-stakes game. If youre looking to upgrade your monitor, then youre in luck, as weve got an awesome deal on tap for you today. Samsungs currently selling the Samsung Odyssey G50A gaming monitor for $349.99, which is a savings of $100. This monitor is both fast and spacious. Lets get into it.

The 32-inch Odyssey G50A has a resolution of 25601440, a refresh rate of 165Hz, and a response time of 1ms. Expect buttery smooth visuals. It features HDR10, which, according to Digital Trends, allows for a maximum brightness of 1,000 nits and a color depth of 10 bits. Its also G-Sync Compatible, which resolves display stutter by syncing up the monitors refresh rate with your computers GPU.

This is an epic deal. If youre after the ultimate gaming experience, the Odyssey G50A is definitely worth considering.

Get the 32-inch Samsung Odyssey G50A gaming monitor for $349.99 at Samsung
If you think games like Halo and Grand Theft Auto are retro, youve probably never heard of 3DFX. It was a scrappy little company that competed with Nvidia in the early days of discrete graphics cards for home PCs. While the Voodoo series of GPUs can just about handle a modern version of Tetris (if you leave ray tracing off), they were beloved back in the 90sso much so that someone just spent a huge chunk of cash just to own one of the last 3DFX prototype cards.

The Voodoo 5 6000 was 3DFXs final GPU design before the company was sold to Nvidia. According to Wikipedia, there were a little over 100 of the experimental graphics cards created in 2000. The last few of these cards were intended to be the final retail version, but they never made it to store shelves.

A version of the card with the working number 3700, a near-final revision, popped up on eBay a couple of weeks ago. It was sold out of Washington state and spotted by KitGuru. The seller claims to be a collector who could personally verify that the card runs in compatible hardware and that it was personally revised by 3DFX engineer Hank Semenec. The winning bidder paid a nice, even $15,000 for a piece of personal computer history. Shipping was free.

The Voodoo 5 6000 connected to motherboards using the now-extinct Advanced Graphics Port, packing a whopping 128 megabytes of memory and a GPU clock of 166MHz. It would have been the first GPU to combine four processors and memory banks to hit those numbers. Its big selling point was to be the ability to run full-scene anti-aliasing at 8X to avoid jaggies. The auctioned-off unit included a custom adapter cable to power the card via a Molex plug.
The Ministry of Education has described as absurd, calls for the Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum to be indicted over the school placement scandal.



It follows reports that placement fraud has been traced to the office of the Minister of Education as some officials allegedly took GHC7,000 to place students at Wesely Girls and Achimota Senior High School.



Speaking to Starr News, the Spokesperson for the Ministry of Education, Kwasi Kwarteng said such reports are untrue.



If you look at the placement arrangement, 90% of vacancies go to students through the automatic system. The remaining 10% is shared between the schools and the general public respectively. When it comes to that which goes to the general public, it takes the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service, TVET, and other agencies to do the distribution. In the process of the distribution, there is the possibility that because you have a human interface people may compromise the system.



But at the end of the day, it is almost impossible or very difficult that any list presented to the Minister, he would be able to know that somebody took a or b amount of money. So if any person is to conclude that because theres a suspicion that some of the school placement was secured through monetary consideration and for that matter the Minister should be indicted, it is so absurd, so unreasonable and very untenable, he continued.







































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.

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One of the first things the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, did on Tuesday, February 7, 2023, when the House resumed sitting for the year, was to communicate a letter from President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to the members.



The letter, which was to announce some major changes the president had made to his government, detailed the nominations of a few people, such as Kobina Tahiru Hammond and Stephen Amoah as Minister of Trade and Industry and his deputy, respectively.



It had become necessary, as the presidents letter to the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, said, after the resignations of three of his ministers in the last month.



With the announcements, which also included the appointments of Osei Bonsu Amoah as Minister of Food and Agriculture and Stephen Asamoah Boateng as Minister for Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, the Speaker of Parliament expressed his congratulations to the members.



He did so due to the fact that all the new appointees were Members of Parliament.



But the Speaker had more to say than this when he wished them  the all-men appointees - the best of luck as they go through the vetting processes ahead of their confirmations or not by parliament.



Having been interrupted a few times during his reading of President Nana Akufo-Addo letter to the House, Alban Bagbin stated that, from observing how excited the National Democratic Congress (NDC) MPs  the Minority, were, it was indicative that they would easily approve the nods of these nominees.



Honourable members, I accordingly refer this communication to the Appointments Committee for consideration and report to the House. I want to, on behalf of members, congratulate the Members of Parliament who have met the high consideration of His Excellency and have been given the opportunity to go through the vetting by this House.



I hope all of you will pass. Its only a hope, but since the Minority were jubilating more than the Majority, its an indication that you may go through, he said.



It is common knowledge that members of the Minority in parliament are usually very tough on nominees of the president, who appear before the Appointments Committee of Parliament.



This situation, however, is one that the Speaker of Parliament feels could change, especially with this new crop of appointees.



It is also worth mentioning that in recent times, many Ghanaians, including MPs, have been appealing to Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to effect a major change in his government.



The calls for the president to announce a reshuffle of his appointees have stemmed from a number of issues, one of which is the fact that since he took over power, in January 2017, he had not announced any major changes to his government.



There have also been the assertions that keeping the appointees at the same post for so long has been a panacea to their engagements in corrupt practices, or the fuel for their non-performances.









































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.

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Head of Linguistics at the University of Ghana, Professor Kofi Agyekum has asked the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta to heed the calls by pensioners to exclude them from the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).



There have been agitations and requests for the exemption of some categories of bonds from the debt exchange programme.



The debt restructuring programme forms part of the requirements for the Government of Ghana to secure a $3 billion bailout package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).



Meanwhile, the government has secured a staff-level agreement awaiting the IMF Boards approval.



The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, in a statement, has revealed that there is an eighty percent participation in the domestic debt exchange programme.



We would like to stress that, all Individual bondholders, especially our Senior Citizens, should rest assured that their coupon payments and maturing principals, like all Government bonds, will be honoured in line with Governments Fiscal commitments.



The DDEP is being done to help protect the economy and enhance our capacity to service our public debts effectively. The alternative of not executing the DDEP would have brought grave disorder in the servicing of our national debt and exacerbated the current economic crisis. The Government is, therefore, grateful for the overwhelming participation of all bondholders. Your support and contributions have gotten your country much closer to securing the IMF programme, the Finance Ministry added.



Pensioners have been picketing the Finance Ministry for a week now in protest against their inclusion in the DDEP.



Reacting to the statement during Peace FM's panel discussion programme "Kokrokoo", Professor Kofi Agyekum, popularly called 'Opanyin Agyekum', cautioned the Finance Minister against his decision to touch the pensioners' bond yields.



According to him, the Ministry attaining 80 percent participation is enough, therefore admonishing the Finance Minister to exempt the pensioners.



"He should make it emphatic that we have got what we want, so we have excluded you (pensioners) to relieve them", he implored the Finance Minister.

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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Imagine living a routine, serene and orderly life as a Catholic priest for the most part of your life and subsequently flipping the coin to become a married Anglican clergyman.



Well, thats the story of Rev Canon Charles Amankwah, who was a catholic priest for 17 years.



Rev Canon Amankwah said he was mentored by the Metropolitan Archbishop of Cape Coast Charles Palmer- Buckle prior to his formative period as a catholic priest.

Education



He holds a Masters Degree in Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry from the Catholic University College of Ghana, Sunyani, Post Graduate Diploma in Education from the University of Cape Coast and Diploma in Theology from the University of Ghana, Legon.



Rev Canon Amankwah has so far written quite a number of books including God has not finished with you yet. His 15th book will be launched later this February.



Ministry



Prior to becoming an Anglican clergyman, he was an assistant parish priest at the Holy Trinity Parish at Agormanya in the Eastern Region. He was later appointed parish priest of the St Barbara Parish at Akosombo in the Eastern Region.



Rev Canon Amankwah is currently the diocesan evangelism director and also the director for the choir at St Mary Anglican church at Atechem, Dunkwa-On-Offin in the Central Region.



Report suggests he left the Catholic church because of his decision to establish a prayer ministry which resulted in some activities that went contrary to the rules of the Catholic Church.



He subsequently sought permission to take a leave and went to Kristo Buase Monastery in the Bono Region for 50 days to reflect on his live. Upon his return, Rev Canon Amankwah was counselled by Archbishop Palmer-Buckle before taking the decision to leave the Catholic church.



He will be celebrating 26 years in the ministry later this year.



Marriage



Rev. Canon Amankwah got married to Ruth Amankwah, a teacher who came into the union with three kids.



According to him, it was very difficult proposing to Ruth, so he had to let his father do it on his behalf.



Proposal was difficult, he said. I couldnt propose to my wife, it was my father who proposed to Ruth for me.

He said he had wanted to marry someone who knew his story as a catholic priest. Rev Canon Amankwah has been married for the past nine years.



Sexuality



My first night as a married man was not easy, the religious leader recalled. I just couldnt imagine going naked before my wife. I had to pray to muster courage to have canal knowledge of my wife. And since then, anytime were going to have an affair, I pray before the act.



He said there was no sexual intimacy between him and Ruth prior to their union.



Rev Canon Amankwah and Ruth recently appeared on The StandPoint show with Oheneyere Gifty Anti where he shared his story and some nuggets on marriage:



Source: Asaaseradio









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 Medical Association (GMA) has threatened it will abandon the hospitals if the government touches their pension funds for the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).



Speaking on Starr Today with Joshua Kodjo Mensah, the General Secretary of GMA, Dr. Titus Beyuo said that the government dares not touch their independent pension funds adding any move by the government on their fund will be a complete betrayal of trust and action in bad faith.



If you touch peoples pensions they are not going to sit down. Already you are underpaying us and what we are saving towards pension the same threat that existed before for which reason the government backed down on pension funds is the same that prevails.



We have told the government what will happen if they touch our pension funds and we will desert the hospitals. We will go on a total strike and that is what we have decided to do. We have given out a letter and everything that we will do is the same principle that will apply here, Mr. Beyuo stated.



He continued: It was the same thing the government sought to avoid that they will not touch pension funds. So if they are now going to touch some pension funds under the pretext that they are not regulated by the MPRA, when the government is aware that prior to the establishment of MPRA organizations like the GMA, the Universities and other organizations set up independent pension funds to help their members.



Meanwhile, Minority Leader, Cassiel Ato Forson has assured Pensioner Bondholders and others that parliament will move swiftly to address the burning issues related to the ongoing domestic debt exchange program.



Pensioner Bondholders meeting with Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta on Friday, February 10, 2023 ended inconclusively as the government insists the retirees should consider voluntary exemption.



In a tweet, the leader of the opposition frontbench said the Finance Minister is billed to appear before the House by next to deal with the concerns of investors in the debt restructuring programme.



It is disheartening to see our dear pensioners including a former Chief Justice picketing at the MOF over the domestic debt restructuring. I wish to assure her & the rest, parliament is dragging the Finance Minister before us next week and we will represent their interest fully! a tweet by Ato Forson said.





Source: starrfm









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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Personnel from the Abor Police Command in the Volta Region have gunned down three suspected armed robbers in a robbery operation at Tsive- Kpotame near Kpadzakope, a suburb of Abor.



The incident, which occurred on Sunday, February 12, 2023, at about 0125 hours, resulted in the killing of the three all-male robbery gang.



A source from the Abor Police told the Ghana News Agency that the Police received information about the suspected armed robbers, numbering seven, who had besieged the area ostensibly to attack a residence at Tsive- Kpotame.



The source said the Police, armed with this tip-off, laid an ambush in the targeted vicinity, where the suspects were in the process of invading the self-contained apartment.



The suspects, after sensing danger, opened fire on the Police but were overpowered by the officers, leading to the killing of three of them.



A Police officer, whose name has been withheld, however, sustained some gunshot wounds and was rushed to a hospital for treatment.



Police retrieved some weapons, including a pump action gun, a locally manufactured pistol, and 30 rounds of AA ammunition.



Mr Emmanuel Tsifoanya, the assembly member for the area, who confirmed the incident to the GNA, appealed to the Police to apprehend the other perpetrators, who are currently on the run.



However, Superintendent Daniel Carlos Atongnab, the Abor District Police commander, when contacted by the GNA, remained tight-lipped on the incident.



A team of Police officers, led by the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP), Mr Andrews Boadu-Ekumah, the Volta Regional Police Commander, had since visited the area for further action.





Source: GNA









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Henry Quartey, the Greater Accra Regional Minister, says some members of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) are sabotaging his work in the Region.



The Minister initiated the "Let's Make Accra Work Again" to keep the capital city clean and free from indiscipline.



As part of this initiative, the residents including traders and hawkers whose activities are dirtying the city have been stopped from continuing the practice while those situated at wrong locations being relocated.



This project is seen by many of the residents and largely the population as a good initiative with the Minister being called upon by some people to be transferred to other Regions to replicate his good works there.



But for months now, the project has delayed compelling people to question the Minister's commitment to the "Let's Make Accra Work Again".



They wonder if the Minister has given up in his quest to combat the improper practices or not.



In an interview on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" show Monday morning, the Minister has disclosed why the project is not progressing.



According to him, some members of his own political party are 'fighting' vigorously to ensure he fails.



"The President has never, on any day, told me that Henry, stop what you are doing. The Vice President has not, in fact, Office of the President has not but I will say that there is an internal sabotage from my own party. Yes! And that is what has led us to where we are," he revealed.



He added that the President and Vice President are "happy with what we are doing" but his main enemies are those of his own party, disclosing that these saboteurs have been going behind him to encourage the residents to continue their indiscipline, especially telling the traders who have been relocated to return to doing trade along the roadside or at the unauthorized locations.



"Internally, some people are sabotaging the work of Henry Quartey and I wonder whether it is for the good of the people of this country or for their own selfish interest", he reiterated.





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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There has been drama in parliament following the reshuffle in Minority leadership by the National Democratic Congress.



Following the resumption of parliament on February 7, 2023, the new minority leaders were supposed to take their new seat which is the front bench.



The previous leaders were also to be reallocated to their new seats to match their current status.



Haruna Iddrisu, former minority leader, was given a seat on the front bench with Cletus Avoka, who is one of the longest-serving MPs and Former Majority leader.



The seat was previously occupied by Member of Parliament for Asutifi South, Collins Dauda, who is also a longest-serving MP but was not a leader.



Haruna Iddrisu did not occupy that seat even though he showed up in the house on February 7.



He left the chamber before the house commenced sitting for the day, with his name tag attached to what used to be Collins Daudas seat.



Haruna gets another seat:



On Thursday, February 9, however, Haruna Iddrisu showed up again in parliament, while the Speaker, Alban Bagbin was leading proceedings.



When he walked in, he sat on a different seat, behind his successor; Dr Cassiel Ato Forson.



This time, his name had been repositioned on this seat behind the new minority leader; Dr. Ato Forson, from the previous one which was Collins Daudas.



This seat was also Dr. Ato Forsons former seat.



What happened



Just when the Speaker left the chamber for the deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei Owusu to take over the proceedings, Haruna Iddrisu moved from his original seat to Joseph Osei Owusus seat to make his contribution to the statement and added that he had rejected Collins Daudas seat.



In his concluding statement to a motion on the floor of the house, the Tamale South MP apologised to Joseph Osei Owusu for contributing to the statement from his (Joe Wise) seat, and detailed why he rejected Collins Daudas seat.



He said the Asutifi South MP is his senior in age and also in terms of his stay in parliament, therefore as a well-trained man, he will not accept the seat.



Mr Speaker, forgive me that I have to assume your chair, there was [sic] whether I should take over from Collins Dauda or yours and I have told them that honourable Collins Dauda is senior by age and a senior even to this house. So, I will not fit into his chair as somebody who is well-trained from home. So, any other chair Mr speaker, is acceptable to me, I am still the elected member of parliament for Tamale South, he said in the chamber on February 9 after he made a contribution.



Contradictions in Harunas posturing



The twist in events raises questions about Haruna Iddrisus position on a befitting seat for him following Harunas movement from his new seat (Ato Forsons previous seat) to that of the Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei Owusu, after the latter assumed the Speakers seat, makes it more confusing and raises questions about what exactly the concerns of Haruna Iddrisu are with regards to the issue of his sitting position.



Allocation of seats:



Commenting on this development, on February 10, the Minority Chief Leader, Governs Agbodza clarified that the new leaders had allocated seats to the former leaders.













































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.

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It was a "red carpet" affair for the campaign team of the immediate-past Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kyerematen, and his team when they arrived in Koforidua, the capital of the Eastern Region.



The New Patriotic Party stalwart, who is seeking to lead the party as its flagbearer, was in the region on a days tour when he got what can be described as a presidential welcome from the people of Koforidua.



Surrounded by traders, party supporters, and onlookers shouting praise in Alan Kyerematens name, the women laid their clothes on the streets for the politician to walk on, reports The Chronicle newspaper.



The report added that Alan Kyerematen, as part of his visit, paid a call on the Paramount Chief of the New Juaben Traditional Area, Nana Kwaku Boateng III, to officially inform him of his intentions to run as president of Ghana.



In a closed-door meeting, Mr. Alan Kyerematen discussed matters of interest with Nana Kwaku Boateng III and some of his sub-chiefs. They also discussed his ambition to become flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party, the report stated.



Alan also met with some executives of the NPP in the region, where he appealed to them to lend him their support as he aims to become their flagbearer.













































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.

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Former commissioner of the Electoral Commission of Ghana, Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan has advised political parties to ensure the recruitment of persons with knowledge in electoral processes as polling agents.



According to him, it is important for political parties to rely on competent persons as polling agents rather than those who can foment violence.



Fortunately, in some elections I have seen some big people serving as agents. Dont go and recruit nonentities to go and do the work at the polling stations, it is brainwork, Mr. Gyan is quoted in a report by Dailyguidenetwork.com.



The former EC boss who was speaking at a lecture organized by the Rotary Club of Accra West on Wednesday, February 8, further educated the gathering about the significance of pink sheets.



He noted that refusing to sign the pink sheet, as we call it in Ghana, does not automatically invalidate the election results.



Some candidates believe that if the agents dont sign it means the results are invalid. Sometimes we are told that the candidates even tell the party if I lose very badly dont sign it, thinking that it will be invalidated. No, refusing to sign the pink sheet does not automatically invalidate the election results.



What does the law say? The law says if you are refusing to sign you must give reasons in writing at the polling station why you do not sign it and then the electoral commission will later look into the reason that you have given. If you have not written any such thing then ignore it.



So it is important to remember that being an agent at the polling station is brainwork, it is not a brawl, it is not a fight, you are not going to fight at the polling station, it is brainwork, the person must understand what is going on so that he can raise these things.



I have said many times that given the importance of pink sheets, I think nobody is too big to serve his or her party as an agent on election day, he added.



Dr Afari-Gyan, up until his retirement in 20015 supervised all of Ghanas elections held under the 1992 Constitution and Fourth Republican dispensation.

























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.

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Henry Quartey has cautioned the youth against engaging in violent activities in the Greater Accra Region.



The Regional Minister advised them to maintain peace and unity, particularly now that both the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and National Democratic Congress (NDC) are gearing up to hold their primaries to elect Presidential and Parliamentary candidates into the 2024 general elections.



Mr. Quartey asked the youth not to "take the law into their hands", warning that "we don't want any violence in Accra. That we will see people wielding machetes and so forth because we will let the security intelligence agencies do their work without fear or favour".



"We need our peace and security in Greater Accra and as the Chairman of the Regional Security Council, I make a passionate appeal to the youth that we should calm down," he stressed while speaking in an interview on Peace FM's morning show "Kokrokoo".





The National Democratic Congress (NDC) will hold its presidential primaries on Saturday, May 6, 2023 to elect a flagbearer for the party to contest the 2024 general elections.The party will open nominations from Monday, February 22 to Wednesday, February 24, 2023.Deadline for the submission and filing of forms is Wednesday, March 22, 2023.A filing fee of GH 500000 has been proposed with a nomination fee of GH 30000 for the Presidential aspirants.Names of three personalities - the former President, John Dramani Mahama; a former Minister of Finance, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, and a former Metropolitan Chief Executive of Kumasi, Kojo Bonsu, have come up for the presidential contest.Names of candidates vying for the NPP Presidential slot that have cropped up include Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia; former Trade Minister, Alan Kyerematen; the Assin Central MP, Kennedy Osei; former Agriculture Minister, Dr. Afriyie Akoto; former Railways and Development Minister, Joe Ghartey among others.Date for the NPP primaries is inconclusive but the leadership of the party has assured the members and delegates of free, fair and transparent elections.

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 Alan Kyerematen campaign team has revealed to the media that the presidential candidate hopeful has been the target of several cyber attacks.



Yaw Buaben Asamoa, a campaign team spokesperson, said it is very unfortunate that the campaign team and former trade minister are constantly targeted by cyber attacks.



He stated that they do not wish to assign blame or share information about the sources of the attacks.



He noted that Alan has been attacked two or three times, including the notable false story that delegates in the Western North region told him things. That never happened, including the half-baked messaging. But worst of all is the grievous attack on me that a statement I have never made, will never make, will never contemplate was ascribed to me with my picture and circulated very widely on the internet. Viral attacks on my personality and my person, all because we are pushing a humble and courageous leader to freshen politics in Ghana.



He was speaking to journalists when the former trade minister and his campaign team toured the Volta Region last week.







































Source: rainbow radio









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 Youth Organizer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), George Opare Addo, says his party would win if elections were held today.



According to him, the NPP government is the worst in the countrys history, adding that former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffos picketing at the Finance Ministry says it all.



Explaining the readiness of the NDC for the 2024 general elections, Opare Addo said his party will increase its votes by a wide margin.



We will increase our votes in the next election... It is not only about victory, it is about the state of the Ghanaian economy. It is about you and I. if 70-year-olds, 90-year-olds today are picketing at the Finance Ministry, then you should know all is not well in this country.



To have a former Chief Justice, who is an Article 71 office older, and still a member of Governing Council of the University of Ghana, then you should know all is not well. So, it is not only about the NDC winning power, but it is about the soul of this country, Opare Addo said.



If we dont speak the truth to this government, it wont be a good thing for this country. Ghana is bankrupt as we speak, he explained on Atinka TVs Oman Mu Nsem, hosted by Nana Owoahene Acheampong.





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.

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Dr Gideon Boako has described as "mischievous" reports trying to link Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia to James Keck Osei, an Administrator.



Tuesday's edition of the Daily Guide newspaper had as its major headline: 'OSP Drags Bawumia's Administrator, 3 others To Court'.



According to the news article, "Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, has dragged James Keck Osei, the Administrator at the Office of the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, and three others to court for failing to comply with a notice to declare their properties and income".



However, Dr Gideon Boako, Spokesperson for the Vice President told Kwami Sefa Kayi in an interview on Peace FM's morning show 'Kokrokoo', that such reports are inaccurate; saying, "the fact that the person is in the Vice President's office doesn't mean he works for him directly; he works for government and so it would've been better to say government's Administrator instead of saying Bawumia's Administrator. It's quite mischievous but it's politics so..."



"He's not a political appointee and he's been in his current position for a long time even before the Akufo-Addo administration came to office. Such people don't take instruction from political heads, they use the Civil Service structure . . . the Vice President can't even punish him when he does anything wrong . . "







The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has arrested and charged four public servants for failing to declare their sources of income.In a series of tweets shared on Friday, February 10, 2023, the OSP said that the public servants charged included James Keck Osei, an administrator at the Office of the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia; Issah Seidu, a staff at the National Insurance Commission; John Abban and Peter Archibold, who are both senior Officers with the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority.Four persons, three public servants and one civil servant have been arrested and charged by OSP for failing to comply and declare sources of income in contravention of regulation 20 of LI2374.Mr. Siedu works with National Insurance Commission, James works with Office of the Vice President as an administrator and John and Peter are senior Officers with the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority, parts of the tweets read.The OSP indicated that public servants are being prosecuted as part of its lifestyle audit initiative.It added that the accused persons will be put before the Criminal Division of the High Court in Accra, on Monday, February 13, 2023.

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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In this handout photo taken from video released by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023, A Tu-95 strategic bomber of the Russian air force is seen from another one during their mission. Two Russian Tu-95 strategic bombers flew a patrol mission over the Bering Sea. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP
Pandemic benefits rolled out to cushion the blow of COVID-19 lockdowns had the unintended consequence of dramatically reducing poverty levels, and now, a group is calling on the federal government to build on that success. A silhouette against the sky of a man holding a child in Kansas City, Mo., Friday, June 26, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Charlie Riedel
Chunkayyy Captures PartyPoker Sunday Party Title and $17K

February 14, 2023 Matthew Pitt Editor

The champions of PartyPoker's new trio of major tournaments were the online poker site's biggest winners this weekend, with all three events proving popular. The Big Saturday, Sunday Party, and Sunday Carnival all saw solid turnouts this weekend. PartyPoker has decided to boost the guarantees Sunday Party and Sunday Carnival over the next couple of weeks; more on that shortly.

$150,000 Sunday Party Final Table Results

Place Player Bounties Prize Total prize 1 Chunkayyy $8,152 $8,864 $17,016 2 AreYaWideSham1 $2,891 $8,849 $11,740 3 zadymiator $683 $5,715 $6,398 4 IIIIIIII $968 $3,772 $4,740 5 The Zone $1,182 $2,565 $3,747 6 riicko-Corleone $275 $1,958 $2,233 7 loadrunner $1,807 $1,427 $3,234 8 SmudgeTh3Cat $703 $1,140 $1,843 9 Gregskaw $763 $897 $1,660

Some 1,450 players bought into the $150,000 Sunday Party for $109, and it was "Chunkayyy" that was the last player standing. According to the PartyPoker Blog, chunkayyy was the chip leader at the end of Day 1 with only 16 players remaining. They built on their impressive start to the tournament and clinched the title and a total prize weighing in at $17,016.

With bounties included, all nine finalists won at least $1,660 for their efforts. "Gregskaw" ($1,660), "SmudgeTh3Cat" ($1,843), and "loadrunner" ($3,234) were the first players to bow out, leaving only six players in the hunt to become only the second-ever Sunday Party champion.

The final six became five with the untimely demise of "riicko-Corleone" ($2,233), then four when "The Zone" crashed out ($3,747). Heads-up was set once "IIIIIIII" ($4,740) and "zadymiator" ($6,398) found themselves void of chips.

Chunkayyy and "AreYaWideSham2" fought one-on-one for the title and the final, chunky bounty. Both secured more than $8,800 from the main prize pool, but the last bounties were worth just as much. AreYaWideSham1 fell at the final hurdle and collected $11,740, leaving Chunkayyy to collect a total prize worth $17,016.

Do You Know The Fastest Way to Earn PartyPoker Cashback?

February 26 Edition of the Sunday Party Has $200,000 Guaranteed

There is a special edition of the Sunday Party running at 7:05 p.m. GMT on February 26. The buy-in remains at $109, but the prize pool will be at least $200,000, $50,000 more than usual. It is a brave move on PartyPoker's part, not least because the inaugural event drew in 1,608 players, while this latest tournament missed the guarantee by 50 entries.

"c0c0b0ng0" Becomes the Sunday Carnival Champion

"c0c0b0ng0" probably danced the night away after turning their $22 investment into $5,165 and the title of Sunday Carnival champion. This weekend's Sunday Carnival drew in 2,335, which, like the Sunday Party, resulted in a slight overlay.

All but three of the PartyPoker players that reached the nine-handed final table saw a four-figure prize land in their accounts. "Sherrell21" ($412) and "Vamo Baraio" ($744) were the first two sub-$1,000 winners. Sixth-place finisher "Kingsman41" ($769) was the other. Everyone else won at least $1,053 for their efforts.

The eliminations of "NarutoUzokraki" ($1,168), Kingman41, and "lovemiscou2" ($1,053) left the table short-handed, and the Sunday Carnival progressed into the heads-up stage when "tsuyoshi12" ($1,429) and "jrebel99" ($2,800) bowed out.

c0c0b0ng0 defeated "AAanddreams" one-on-one to add $2,289 worth of bounties to their $2,876 main prize pool payout, a total prize worth $5,165. The runner-up scooped $3,207 while no doubt enjoying a confidence boost, having almost become a poker champion at PartyPoker.

$50,000 Sunday Carnival Final Table Results

Place Player Bounties Prize Total prize 1 c0c0b0ng0 $2,289 $2,876 $5,165 2 AAanddreams $338 $2,869 $3,207 3 jrebel99 $953 $1,847 $2,800 4 tsuyoshi12 $214 $1,215 $1,429 5 lovemiscou2 $230 $823 $1,053 6 Kingsman41 $143 $626 $769 7 NarutoUzokraki $715 $453 $1,168 8 Vamo Baraio $384 $360 $744 9 Sherrell21 $131 $281 $412

Delving Into PartyPoker's Trio of New Weekend Majors

$75,000 Guaranteed in the Sunday Carnival For the Next Two Weeks

It is not only the Sunday Party that is seeing a guarantee boost because the February 19 and February 26 editions of the Sunday Carnival are having their prize pools boosted from $50,000 to $75,000. There are not many $75,000 prize pools awarded for a $22 buy-in, so the next fortnight of Sunday Carnivals are not to be missed.

"DeezNutzz4" Binks the Big Saturday

PartyPoker introduced The Big Saturday to bring some high-stakes action to the site on Saturday, where there was previously a gap in the schedule before the recent tournament schedule revamp. This week saw 148 players take to the virtual felt in the $215 buy-in $30,000 guaranteed Big Saturday, and it was "DeezNutzz4" that was the last player standing, and the recipient of $5,882 in cold, hard cash.

DeezNutz4 defeated "GoodKat" heads-up for the title and the lion's share of the pot. GoodKat licked their wounds with a $4,104 consolation prize after falling at the final hurdle.

Big Saturday Final Table Results

Place Player Prize 1 DeezNutzz4 $5,882 2 GoodKat $4,104 3 TheTourust92 $2,899 4 GTOUTOFMYSHOP $2,005 5 kot_sparac74 $1,497 6 Sigurd228822 $1,245 7 dinkapanna $1,044 8 Pourrap808 $894 9 SafakKac $771

PartyPoker Revamps MTT Schedule; Launches Two New Sunday Majors

Help Yourself to a PartyPoker Welcome Package

You're going to need a PartyPoker account if you want to get your teeth into The Big Saturday, Sunday Carnival, or the Sunday Party tournaments. If you don't have an account, download PartyPoker via PokerNews and deposit at least $10 to receive a 100% match up to $600 welcome bonus in addition to up to $30 worth of free play.

A $10 deposit yields $10 worth of tickets over the course of a week:

Day 1: 2x $1 SPINS tickets + 1x $5.50 MTT ticket

Day 2: 4x $0.25 SPINS tickets

Day 4: 1x $3.30 MTT ticket

Day 6: 4x $0.25 SPINS tickets

Increase your deposit to at least $20, and the following ticket package is yours:

Day 1: 1x $5.30 MTT ticket

Day 2: 2x $1 SPINS ticket

Day 3: 1x $5.50 MTT ticket

Day 4: 1x $5.50 MTT ticket

Day 5: 3x $2.20 MTT tickets

Day 6: 2x $3 SPINS tickets + 1x$3.30 MTT ticket

Residents of the United Kingdom enjoy a slightly different welcome from PartyPoker. Their deposit of at least 10 comes with a 100% match up to 400 first deposit bonus plus $10 worth of Party Dollars, which can be used in any of the site's games, every day for six days.

To release the full Deposit Bonus amount, you must accumulate four-times the Deposit Bonus amount in loyalty points. Each time the player accumulates 10% of the Total Loyalty Points required, they will receive a 10% increment of the Deposit Bonus
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Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) is reminding everyone that the House select committee on the weaponization of the federal government is a con to help Trump.

Rep. Raskin tweeted:

The misbegotten Weaponization subcommittee, born out of Kevin McCarthys drawn-out corrupt bargain with extreme MAGA forces, has one political objective that Jim Jordan identified in August at CPAC: returning Donald Trump to the White House in 2024. Check it out. pic.twitter.com/fi5a7qymPG  Jamie Raskin (@jamie_raskin) February 13, 2023

Jim Jordan said it himself at CPAC, All of those things need to be investigated, just so you have the truth. Plus, that will hope frame up the 2024 race, when hope, and I think President Trump is going to run, and we need to make sure that he wins.

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The select committee is a Trump hit job on Biden being run by Jim Jordan with the blessing of Kevin McCarthy. Luckily, Jim Jordan is terrible at running committees and the first hearing was a complete fiasco that backfired on Jordan and the committees Republican majority.

When the select committee is brought up in media, the first point that should be made is that Jim Jordan has admitted that is a propaganda effort to help Trump get back in the White House in 2024.

There is no weaponization of government against conservatives. The weaponization that the committee majority is so worried about is an investigation into Donald Trump.

The real weaponization was done by the former president who not only used the power of the federal government against his critics, but tried to weaponize the Department of Justice to help him overturn the 2020 election.

Rep. Raskin is making sure that the American people know that the true motive of Jordans select committee is to help Trump.
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Rachel Maddow said that the US judicial system will be attacked like it has never been before if Donald Trump is indicted.

Video:

Maddow said:



The first grand jury that well hear from is in Georgia and we will hear from them this week. If he thought it was our American version of one of these guys to be attacking in the press for challenging him and attacking the FBI and Justice Department for investigating him, then what is around the corner for our democracy is he is indicted? What is around the corner from us is if is indicted is an attack on the specific system, the specific system that holds the power to indict him and potentially arrest him and put him in court and put them on trial. It is one thing to (inaudible) with the people that investigate you but what you do with the courts, and do you attack that system with the same willingness to burn down one of the pillars of our democracy?

All around the world we know what it looks like when far-right leaders try to disassemble those kind of systems to assert and maintain total power for themselves. We have never had to contend with that here. We have a lot to learn quickly about how we will sure those things up, so they stay standing about what is very likely coming.

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Maddow was correct. American democracy has never faced an attack on the court system like Trump and his allies will launch if the former president is indicted. It is very likely that almost all of the Republican Party will defend Trump by attacking the rule of law, and the judicial branch of the government.

Trump has attacking the courts since they stopped him from overturning the 2020 election, but if he is indicted, something far more dangerous could be unleashed. Trump and Republicans could attack the pillar of our system that upholds the law. It will be a major test, that will only be passed by convicting Donald Trump and holding him accountable.
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Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) called out former vice president Mike Pence for trying to dodge the DOJ and avoid testifying about the 1/6 attack.

Schiff tweeted:

Pence is now claiming the Speech and Debate Clause  meant for senators and members  allows him to avoid testifying about Jan 6. Just shows the lengths Pence will go to avoid doing his duty and telling the truth. What a way to launch a presidential campaign.  Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) February 14, 2023

What Rep. Schiff was referring to is a report in The New York Times that Pence is going to try to argue that his role as president of the Senate gives him speech or debate clause protection:



Mr. Pence is expected to argue that the vice presidents role as the president of the Senate means that he is protected from legal scrutiny of his official duties by the Constitutions speech or debate clause, intended to protect the separation of powers.

Such an approach would be novel and a departure from the more traditional argument that a vice presidents interactions with a president would be subject to executive privilege.

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The argument from Pence is shaky at best because the speech or debate clause is intended to protect members of Congress while they carry out their official duties. Lindsey Graham tried to invoke the clause to avoid testifying in the Georgia election meddling investigation, and he lost in court. At least, Graham is a sitting senator.

It would be unusual, to say the least, if the courts found that a vice president has speech or debate clause protection.

Rep. Schiff nailed it. Mike Pence is showing the sort of leader that he isnt by trying to hide behind the speech or debate clause.

Mike Pence is so afraid of losing votes in the Republican presidential primary that he is willing to obstruct an investigation of the man who sent a mob of supporters to kill him at the Capitol.
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President Biden will get his 100th judge confirmed by the Senate, which is more judges than McConnell and Trump added to the bench at this point in Trumps term.

NBC News reported:



Gina Mendez-Miro a district court judge in Puerto Rico; the nomination passed a key test vote that indicates she has the necessary support to be confirmed and will become Bidens 100th confirmed judge.

.

Biden and Democrats are outpacing former President Donald Trump and the Republican-led Senate  at this juncture, Trump had secured 85 judges. He left office with a staggering 234 new judges.

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Schumer and Biden will have a chance to negate much of the damage that Trump and McConnell did to the judicial branch by appointing more judges to the bench. At their current pace, the Democrats will come close to catching Trumps term in office for the most judges put on the bench in four years.

The difference is that so far Trump has gotten to nominate two more Supreme Court justices than Biden, but the current president is in much better position to win a second term than Trump was.

Biden and Schumers record on judges deserves more attention, because judicial confirmations impact a country for longer than any president serves in office.

The Biden presidency is already loaded with accomplishments, but his diversification of the courts will help to reshape the country for decades to come.
The system that has been installed to reduce the erosion in Hitchcock Woods caused by stormwater runoff is working as it is supposed to, said Aiken City Manager Stuart Bedenbaugh on Monday.

And that has created a change in the flow of water in the Sand River that some visitors to the urban forest have observed.

It used to be when you had a rainstorm with a lot of rain in a short period of time, the water would rush into the woods and into the Sand River Bedenbaugh told the Rotary Club of Aiken on Monday. Then it would sort of soak up and cause erosion and such, but the evidence of the water would be gone fairly quickly. Now, with the slower release you see more water staying in the Sand River (longer).

In the future, according to Bedenbaugh, there will be a way to control the release of the water better and it will include the monitoring of National Weather Service forecasts.

If the forecast in the coming days, for example, calls for a tremendous amount of rain, he said, water can be electronically controlled and released into the woods at a rate maybe a little quicker to allow for the intense volume of the water that the forecast is calling for to be caught and collected inside the (underground) vaults.

Following his presentation, Bedenbaugh talked about the efforts to prevent the damage in the projects Gateway Park that has been caused by rainwater flowing aboveground from Laurens Street and from the Hitchcock Heights condominiums, which overlook the area.

Riprap (human-placed rock) has been put in to slow the water down that is running into the park from Laurens Street, Bedenbaugh said.

As for the water flowing down from Hitchcock Heights, it is coming from multiple locations in the complex, according to Bedenbaugh.

Steps are being taken to kind of direct it to where it can be mitigated, he said.

Trees and other vegetation planted on the hill below Hitchcock Heights also will help reduce the flow of the water as they mature, Bedenbaugh added.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held in December to celebrate the near completion of the Hitchcock Woods Stormwater Project.

Capital Project Sales Tax funds and money from other sources is being used to cover the approximately $15.8-million cost.

Right now, the contractor is finishing up the punch list items, Bedenbaugh said.

A punch list is a list of items that need to be addressed before a project can be deemed complete.

Joanna Samson, chair of the Hitchcock Woods Foundations board of trustees, also spoke to the Rotary Club on Monday.
A new exhibit at the Center for African American History, Art and Culture combines art and history.

The exhibit is titled Legacies in Fiber: The African American History Quilts of Dr. Marlene OBryant-Seabrook." Wayne O'Bryant, the son of O'Bryant-Seabrook, and his brothers loaned the 18 quilts to the center at the final request of their mother before she died in 2017.

Being an educator it's almost like she brought bulletin boards to life, but used an art form to create them, O'Bryant said. She was an educator for her entire life, first African American professor at The Citadel. She made about, starting from the 80s until she passed in 2017, about 40 something of these (quilts).

"So my brothers and I, we have them. One of her final wishes was that we don't sell them, we continue to exhibit them so that they'll teach because she created them to teach.

Juanita Campbell, executive director of the center, said they wanted to display the quilts because of what they represent.

It's Black History Month and something that we need to recognize as a culture and as a country is every day is Black history because Black history is American history, Campbell said. So to just say that it's for a month, OK, but we wanted to start educating our community about where we've been so we don't repeat that and we can begin to move forward.

Each quilt has a different theme, with a few of them part of a series, O'Bryant said. Some feature historical figures or a historical event, but no matter what the topic, O'Bryant said his mom did research before starting her work.

+5 Local schools celebrate Tarron Jackson ahead of Super Bowl The New Ellenton area will have a ton of Philadelphia Eagle fans this weekend in support of Tarron Jackson, a Silver Bluff High School graduate.

Every time she would make a quilt she made sure my brothers and I knew the narratives to go along with it, O'Bryant said. That's why we're able to tell her story even though she's passed. So our job is to teach our children and grandchildren.

The very first quilt O'Bryant-Seabrook made is part of the exhibit. This quilt is called Love, Love, Love: A Record of a Rich Heritage and features cross-stitching of African American men and women whose lives have added so richly to the cultural flavor of (Charleston), according to the description of the quilt.

Another quilt, titled Ironwork Genius, was made in honor of Philip Simmons, a well-known blacksmith who was friends with O'Bryant-Seabrook. When she visited him one day a bunch of his drawings fell out of a filing cabinet and she ended up including these drawings in the quilt .

She said she always approached the quilting with a dual focus of an educator and an artist, O'Bryant said. You may use your own creativity, that's why all of them look different.

+10 Parents give feedback at first Highland Springs Middle School rezoning meeting Parents made their opinions known about the rezoning options for the new Highland Springs Middle School at the first of two meetings.

When O'Bryant-Seabrook started making quilts she thought they had to be on a bed, so she made them that size , O'Bryant said. But she was approached by an exhibitor who told her they were good enough to be on exhibit and that they could be any size as long as they had the quilting technique, which is a front, a back and fabric in-between, he said.

O'Bryant-Seabrook used several techniques in her quilting, including cross-stitch, applique, fabric transfers and painting , O'Bryant said.

Campbell said the quilts are exceptionally stunning.

The amount of work that she put into the, the details, the stories that each one of them tells, this is truly how we keep our culture alive and pass on these stories to future generations, Campbell said.

The quilts will be on display until the Juneteenth celebration. The African American center is located at 120 York St. N.E. in Aiken. For more information, visit http://caahac.org/.
Air India Ltd. will split a massive commercial airplane order between Boeing Co. and Airbus as the carrier looks to modernize its fleet and ramp up domestic routes and those connecting its homeland with other countries in the region.

Firm orders for 470 planes and options for 70 more, with a combined value of roughly $100 billion at list prices, would make the Air India deal the largest-ever commercial plane pact for a single airline.

The purchase, first reported by Reuters in December, was largely expected but wasn't officially acknowledged until Feb. 14.

Boeing will notch firm orders for 220 planes. They include 20 787-9 Dreamliner jets built at the aerospace giant's North Charleston campus.

The bulk of the Boeing order is for 190 737 Max planes and Air India also will purchase 10 wide-body 777X jets.

The deal includes options for the New Delhi-based airline to buy another 70 planes, including 50 single-aisle 737 Max jets and 20 twin-aisle Dreamliners.

Stan Deal, CEO of Boeing's commercial aircraft business, said the Air India announcement "shows their confidence in our products and services in the world's fastest growing aviation market, and their decision will support engineering and manufacturing jobs at Boeing factories in Washington state, South Carolina and across our supply base."

President Joe Biden touted the deal in a statement focusing on the nation's economic partnership with India.

"The United States can and will lead the world in manufacturing," Biden said, adding the deal will support more than 1 million U.S. jobs in 44 states where Boeing has manufacturing sites or suppliers.

The announcement follows the May 2022 launch of a U.S.-India initiative that aims to expand technology and defense ventures between companies in the two countries.

The Airbus side of the deal includes the purchase of 40 wide-body A350 aircraft and 210 narrow-body A320neo planes from the Toulouse, France-based manufacturer.

India is going to be the worlds third-largest market in the aviation sector," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said during a video call with the airline's leadership and France President Emannuel Macron, according to a report by ABC News.

Modi said India's commercial carriers will need more than 2,000 aircraft over the next 15 years, and todays historic announcement will help in meeting this growing demand."

In 2012, Air India became the first airline to take delivery of 787s from Boeing South Carolina, including the first Dreamliner to roll off the North Charleston assembly line.

The company was founded in 1932 as Tata Air Services and India's government bought a majority stake in 1953. Financial problems tarnished the carrier's reputation in the 2000s, and the carrier was sold last year to a holding company that has vowed to rebrand the airline.

"This acquisition of nearly 300, highly advanced Boeing jets is a core element of ... the comprehensive transformation and growth strategy we are pursuing at Air India," CEO Campbell Wilson said in a written statement. "These new airplanes will enable us to dramatically expand our network, both domestically and internationally, and will come with a completely new, world-class onboard product enabling passengers to travel in the highest levels of comfort and safety."

News of the Air India order comes as Boeing released order and delivery numbers for January that trailed the previous month's figures.

The Arlington, Va.-based planemaker delivered 38 aircraft last month, including 35 of its 737 Max jets and three Dreamliners  one 787-9 apiece to Qatar Airways and Lufthansa and a 787-10 for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.

The delivery count was down from 69 in December but topped the year-ago total of 32 planes.

Boeing recorded 55 gross orders in January, netting orders for 16 jets after 39 cancellations or conversions. The orders include seven Dreamliners for unidentified customers.
CHAPIN  Which schools students attend on the path from kindergarten to graduation in Lexington-Richland School District Five could change, as the districts administration works to plan the future of its facilities amid growth in the area.

The plan, which administrators introduced to the board of trustees during a Feb. 13 workshop, would standardize how grade levels are organized across schools and adjust how students move up through the district, eliminating a step between elementary and middle schools.

Currently, the district has three clusters of schools, each feeding into its own high school. After elementary school, students are fed into Chapin or Crossroads intermediate schools, which then feed into either Chapin, Dutch Fork or Irmo middle schools, then into the corresponding high schools.

The proposed plan would remove the two intermediate schools from that path.

Students would attend one of 14 elementary schools from kindergarten to fifth grade, which would feed into one of five middle schools for sixth to eighth grade, and then either Irmo, Chapin or Dutch Fork high school for ninth to 12th grade. Spring Hill High School would remain a magnet school.

Those changes would require the district to build a new Dutch Fork Elementary School, repurpose several existing schools and redraw attendance zones, the lines that determine which schools families are slated to attend.

The restructuring plan is meant to "streamline" the district's organizational structure and address issues created by the rapid growth on the Chapin side of the roughly 17,500-student district, according to Ross, whose administration expects Chapin High School to reach its enrollment capacity by the fall of 2024 under the current structure.

Chapin is one of the fastest-growing areas of South Carolina.

The board will look at the plan again at its next board meeting on Feb. 27, and board members expressed cautious approval of the draft during the Feb. 13 meeting.
A foosball table is part of the greeting team at Pisco Mar, a Peruvian chef's table located on the second floor of Port of Call Food + Brew Hall in downtown Charleston.

Placed outside the entrance to a white-walled partitioned area guarded by a blue curtain, the oddly situated table game should not dissuade patrons from entering.

Along with an assortment of curated courses, inside the tight nautically themed enclave is a man with a story to tell. And youre going to want to hear it.

Pisco Mar, helmed by chef Esteban Diaz, opened Nov. 11, months after Diaz and his fiance Juliana moved to Charleston from Peru. Just three people were in charge of executing the chefs eight-course meal when I paid Pisco Mar a visit in late January: Diaz, an attentive bartender crafting cocktails made with Pisco Mars namesake South American brandy and Angelia Vasquez, a Peruvian chef who responded to Diaz job posting on Facebook.

Like his kitchen assistant, Diaz' arrival in Charleston happened by chance.

During the buildout of Port of Call, co-owner Ryan Kaufmanns subcontractor, Ron Buckhannon, kept asking if the food hall would have a stall serving Peruvian cuisine. That became a reality when Kaufmann learned that Buckhannons wife Patti, who is Peruvian, had a chef friend who was interesting in moving from Peru to the United States.

Kaufmann, his business partner Thomas Berry and the Buckhannons decided a trip to Lima, Peru, to meet Diaz was in order.

We decided to buy some plane tickets to meet Esteban and get his vision, Kaufmann said. We wined and dined for those five days. The food and the cocktails blew us away.

Kaufmann floated the idea of converting a portion of the food halls upstairs space into a chefs table setting where Diaz would be the star. This came at an important time for the chef, whose restaurant of 14 years had been struggling through pandemic-caused restrictions.

They gave me the idea of how to do this concept, Diaz said. It was a little difficult at the beginning because we didnt know anybody here.

After watching Diaz in action, it seems as though he is settling in just fine.

Embracing the unknown

I couldnt find a full menu before my meal at Pisco Mar. All diners might not share my interest in the unknown  many, in fact, want the stability of a pre-dinner perusal of the menu  but I appreciated the mystery heading into my 7 p.m. Thursday seating, one of three Diaz hosts each week.

The meal started with a bang of the beet variety. The bright purple star of Diaz deconstructed palta rellena (Peruvian stuffed avocado) was pureed and supplemented with sugar, giving the beets that formed a bed under a quarter of avocado and spoonful of chopped egg salad a creamy mouthfeel, despite the lack of dairy.

I should stop here and say that egg-averse diners, like celebrity chef Guy Fieri, might have a difficult time with some of Pisco Mars courses. Fortunately, it is easy to move your spoon past a halved soft-boiled egg serving as the visual star of the second course, chupe de camarones, or shrimp soup.

The balanced bowl was creamy and light at once, making it easy to slurp up spoonful after spoonful. Looking across the bar, I wasnt the only one with an empty bowl.

The third course was another hit among Pisco Mars seven guests. Listed as Peruvians national dish, Diaz ceviche peruano pairs red onion-laced marinated yellowtail with plantain chips and white Peruvian corn, served two ways.

The chef boils half of the large kernels he purchases at West Ashleys El Molino Supermarket and deep-fries the rest. Commonly called cancha in Peru, the heavily salted dried and fried kernels are the type of snack that could easily be eaten by the handful.

This course was the moment in which Diaz offered a small serving of red rocoto chili sauce to willing diners. A tiny dab introduces spice to the palate in a way I had yet to encounter  the heat hits the throat rather than the tongue. As your eyes begin to water ever so slightly, the citrusy, cooling ceviche takes over like a cool breeze on a humid Charleston day.

Peppers factor in throughout the meal, with aji amarillos giving the sauce anchoring the tiraditos  slivers of yellowtail with sweet potato cubes  and a cold Peruvian potato salad with crab (Causas Cangrejo) a distinct yellow hue. Like the red rocoto sauce, the Peruvian yellow chili peppers enhance rather than overpower both dishes.

During brief intermissions between courses, Diaz explains more about how the meal is inspired by his culinary background. Diaz was born in Chiclayo, Peru, but his family moved around a lot during his childhood, giving him the ability to cook food from Lima to Arequipa. Growing up in a traditional family meant helping out around the house, and Diaz contribution was cooking.

The youngest of three siblings, Diaz learned how to make Pisco Mars final savory course, a duck and rice dish called arroz con pato, when he was just 6 years old.

Cooking and music took over the chefs life in his 20s, when he was in a band and attended culinary school before eventually opening a restaurant where he explored both by cooking and performing for guests.

Those who dine at Pisco Mar get a taste of Diaz musical side when he serenades guests with two songs as the meal comes to a conclusion just after 9 p.m.

Its difficult to leave Pisco Mar without feeling inspired by what you just witnessed. Not only is Diaz' passion displayed on the plate, but it shines through in his interactions with guests. Hes a natural performer, and the space behind Pisco Mars long bar is his stage.

Im just being me, Diaz said. I want you people of Charleston to know about Peruvian cuisine.

Kaufmanns excitement about Diaz has the food hall owner considering opening a standalone Pisco Mar restaurant in the future. For now, he plans to add additional seating on Fridays and Saturdays, with the goal of eventually opening the chefs counter five to six nights per week.

Hes done a phenomenal job, Kaufmann said. I love the fact that it educates people as well. The sky is the limit with Pisco Mar.

With the exception of a few local outliers, the tasting menu format has not seen the same success in Charleston as other cities with the same culinary pedigree. I often find myself wondering if tasting menus will ever work in Charleston.

Given Diaz' eight well executed and substantially-sized courses that will change throughout the year, I have high hopes for Pisco Mar, though its success will depend on diners willingness to embrace the unknown in a setting that lacks traditional ambiance.

A seat at the Pisco Mar chef's table costs $95 per person. For more information on Pisco Mar, located at 99 South Market St., visit piscomar-chs.com.
GREENVILLE  The largest bank headquartered in South Carolina will grow yet again after it completes its purchase of a bank based in South Miami, Fla.

Greenville's United Community Bank announced on Feb. 13 that it entered into an agreement to acquire First Miami and its First National Bank of South Miami subsidiary in an all-stock transaction valued at about $115.9 million.

The more than 70-year-old bank runs three offices in the Miami region and offers traditional banking services, along with private banking and trust and wealth management. As of Dec. 31, 2022, it had $1 billion in assets.

The merger is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2023.

United Community Bank officially moved its headquarters from Blairsville, Ga. to Greenville in July 2021. The bank has had a presence in the Upstate since 2012 and opened its first branch in 2015. Early last year, it broke ground on its future downtown headquarters at 200 E. Camperdown Way, the former location of the Wyche Law Firm.

Construction is expected to be completed in early 2024.

As of Dec. 31, 2022, United Community Bank reported $24 billion in assets and 192 offices across the Carolinas, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama.

In January, United Community Bank completed the $271.5 million all-stock purchase merger of Alabama-born Progress Financial Corp. and its Progress Bank and Trust subsidiary. Other recent finalized acquisitions include Tennessee-based Reliant Bancorp Inc. and Reliant Bank in January 2022 and Aquesta Financial Holdings and its Cornelius, N.C.-based Aquesta Bank in October 2021.
GREENVILLE  In her TikTok video, Tracy Colcord holds a tub of fried pickle and ranch dip, she dips her chip, takes a bite and declares Oh my gosh, it does totally taste like fried pickles!

Colcords husband and daughter concur.

Guys, get it! the TikTok influencer, known as @officiallytracytime, tells her nearly 475,000 viewers.

People heeded Colcord and other social media reviewers advice. Sales of the Taste of the Souths fried pickle and ranch dip have increased month over month since the product launched in stores in July 2020.

The dip sold out within the first month of being on store shelves, said Matt Haskell, vice president of brand innovation for DiscoverFresh Foods, the Greenville-based company that makes the dip.

Since hitting Sams Club shelves in the summer of 2020, the fried pickle and ranch dip has expanded from 60 stores to over 6,500 from Puerto Rico to Washington state, and in an interesting and unexpected twist, Haskell said, one of the biggest markets for the Southern flavor-infused dip is Costco Northwest.

It kind of went viral, Haskell said. I think Mash picked it up for best products. Delish picked it up.

And it got a number of social media reviews like the one Colcord did.

It sold out of Sams Club in the first month it was there, and we were scrambling to keep up with it, Haskell said.

Food trends and more

Food trends are an interesting business, and they have only gotten more so thanks to new global flavors, changing American taste buds and social media.

American tastes have shifted over the past 30 years, now with more of a penchant for pungent and spicier flavors.

But social media has also allowed trends, particularly food trends, to take off at a faster rate than in times past, said Mike Kostyo, associate director and a trendologist for Datassential, a market research company that specializes in the food and beverage industry.

For most trends, it would take about a dozen years, Kostyo said. It would start in a first stage we call inception. If it did make it all the way through and end up in ubiquity, it would take about a dozen years. Now, were looking at six years for a new trends inception to six years later everybody knows it.

How a dip goes viral

The idea began with pickles, which have been having somewhat of a moment among consumers, Haskell said. But, the key to creating a popular food item lies in finding the balance of hitting on a taste trend while also offering something unexpected.

DiscoverFresh actually launched a pickle dip for a grocery store partner in 2019 that had some traction but never quite took off, Haskell said.

The solution turned out to be adding the element of fried pickles. For that, the company used dill pickles, panko and a sour cream and cream cheese base to create a creamy, tangy and dynamic dip that is thick enough to spread.

Fried pickles are a very Southern sounding item, but people outside the area have maybe heard of it and are like 'weve never had fried pickles, lets see what this is all about,' Haskell said. Its just weird enough that people really took to it and wanted to share it and wanted to talk about it and wanted to establish an emotional connection with it.

For Meg and Maddie Antonelli, the pickle part was the draw. The mother and daughter duo, which post product reviews on TikTok as @floridamomof3 and on Instagram at @floridacostcomomma, found the dip in their local Sams Club and reviewed it in December 2020.

The video has since gotten 6 million views.

The burger is the way to go, Maddie said of her favorite way to use the dip. I thought it would taste good because I love pickles, but I think a lot of people try it because they see it on social media.

The women chuckle at the idea of their influence but acknowledge that people now seem to want genuine communication. The Antonellis now have nearly 750,000 followers on TikTok and have turned their product reviews into a full-time gig.

Such success doesnt surprise Kostyo.

All a food trend is, is really the product of communication, Kostyo said. Its me talking to a friend, 'I tried this, its really good.' Now, a lot of that communication happens on social media, so of course thats how food trends are going to grow.

Novelty adds new appeal

Recent data by Datassential shows the power of novelty when it comes to a products popularity, particularly among Gen Z.

About 50 percent of that age group, which comprises people born in the mid-to-late 1990s to 2010, say theyll try a food just because it sounds interesting, and it doesnt even have to sound delicious to them, according to Datassential research.

Its kind of a crazy stat, saying youll try something even though you dont think its going to taste good, Kostyo said. Its the novelty, and especially in this day and age when you see people eating on social media and you see TikTok videos, and you love to see peoples reactions.

And while novelty will get you some initial buzz, it wont keep you on store shelves long-term. Some 85 percent of products dont last, Haskell estimates.

Innovation and creation is continuous, each product a coordinated dance of branding, packaging, wording, marketing, and, of course, recipe.

Recent Taste of the South ideas have included a barbecue brisket dip, a bloomin onion dip and a candy cane dip around the holidays. The company will launch a fried chicken dip later this year.

Developing products, you think everyone has a spinach artichoke dip or a buffalo chicken dip so we better have one, too, Haskell said. Whereas if everybody has it, what makes you stand out on the shelf?

Every now and then, you hit on something.

Changing American tastes

While the fried pickle dip might feel "out there" for some and not for others, whats certain is that American tastes are changing.

Where once food flavors were influenced by a more-neutral palate, today pungent and strong flavors lead the way.

We love spicy foods, we love bitter foods; weve become more adventurous when it comes to strong flavor profiles, Kostyo said. We are a global society, and we can learn about foods from all over the world in a way we couldnt necessarily 30 or 40 years ago. We always say global foods are really what drive innovation in the U.S.

Case in point: the popularity of Sriracha.

If we start to see this flavor combination on major fast-food menus, well say 'Yeah, its reached that ubiquity stage,' Kostyo said of fried pickle and ranch. Thats usually when you gotta introduce new iterations and make it exciting again.

Food Trends to watch in 2023:

Datassential has compiled a list of food trends we might see in the coming year. Here are three to look out for, according to Mike Kostyo, trendologist and associate director of Datassential.

The ranchwater cocktail. Its very specific, but it is actually the fastest-growing single item on menus right now. The margarita is Americas favorite cocktail, so this is an easier version Ube. The growth of Filipino cuisine and the desire for colorful foods on social media. Yuzu, which is becoming another go-to citrus flavor. It's in drinks and in other things, and well definitely see more of it in the coming year.
The new breakfast-lunch restaurant  fox/hound  is now open in Due South Coffee in Hampton Station west of downtown Greenville and is the product of couple Will and Katie LeaMond's wish to create a dining concept while having time to spend with their young daughter. Read moreWork-life balance: Why a Charleston chef chose Greenville for a new restaurant.
South Carolina native, medical historian and author Deirdre Cooper Owens kicked off the Medical University of South Carolina's annual Black history month lecture by touting Harriet Tubman's widely unknown contributions to the U.S. medical system.

Tubman, a disabled veteran, abolitionist and nurse, is well known for leading about 70 enslaved people to freedom through the Underground Railroad and hundreds more enslaved people through the work she did as a nurse and spy during the Civil War.

But many don't realize Tubman accomplished many of her most astonishing journeys while battling the neurological disorders epilepsy (a brain disorder categorized by unprovoked seizures) and narcolepsy (a brain disorder categorized by uncontrollable sleep-wake cycles), Owens said during her lecture.

Owens said Tubman had a way of caring for the whole person, citing her record of never losing a passenger and her ability to create lasting programs catered to the most vulnerable populations of her time.

Tubman also practiced herbal medicine, using herbs like cranesbill and lily roots  commonly used to treat malignant fever, smallpox and other infectious diseases  to treat the ailments of passengers and herself during her trips. As Owens tells it, Tubman once treated herself for an abscessed tooth, knocking the tooth loose with a harsh blow from the butt of her gun.

When Tubman wasn't traveling South, she was connecting with local abolitionists in areas with large populations of formerly enslaved people.

Through these relationships she eventually established a network of people to help provide aid for marginalized individuals, including the elderly, orphaned, impoverished and disabled.

She went so far as to establish a home for the aged, acquiring 25 acres of land in her 70s, "crystallizing how important the provision of radical care for the most vulnerable, the elderly, was for her," Owens wrote in a recent article published by Ms. Magazine.

"Tubman created sustainable communities where democracy was not only centered, but Black women, and the most dispossessed people, like Harriet Tubman, could execute power collectively," Owens said during her lecture titled Healing, Mobility, & Fugitive Logic.

And while laws like The Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 established formal precedent for eliminating discriminatory practices against those with disabilities, Owens argues that Tubman paved the way for this kind of work well in advance.

Epilepsy in SC today

Trailing Tubman's legacy of building inclusive institutions is S.C. Advocates for Seizure Safe Schools, a statewide parent-run organization dedicated to getting legislation passed to better support kids with epilepsy in public schools.

Over 7,000 children and teenagers in South Carolina have epilepsy.

Severity of the disorder and the type of seizures an epileptic person can have varies on a case-by-case basis. Seizures can be as simple as staring into space or periods of rapid blinking and as noticeable as flailing limbs and abrupt shaking.

But many teachers and school staff are not able to tell the difference, prompting numerous unnecessary 911 calls, potential harm to the student, and risks of falling behind in class.

The organization was gearing up to present live testimony to the House Committee on Education and Public Works on Feb. 14 to urge state legislators to enact the Seizure Safe Schools Act.

The bill, which would require public schools to establish seizure action plans with standard guidelines for both implementation and quality, passed through the House of Representatives in 2022 but later expired in the Senate.

"We had to start all the way back over, so we're hoping to get it through the House fairly quickly," said Amanda Campbell, a Rock Hill native and one of the founding members of S.C. Advocates for Seizure Safe Schools.

Campbell's daughter Raelyn was diagnosed with epilepsy in 2018 after having her first seizure in her 4-year-old kindergarten class.

"I took it upon myself to go in and teach her teachers seizure first aid," Campbell said.

Raelyn ended up having another seizure a month or so later, Campbell said. And from the training that she gave them, "they knew exactly what to do."

Campbell acknowledges that not every parent has the luxury of ensuring all of their children's teachers know what to do in case their child has a seizure.

"And neither should we have to," Campbell told The Post and Courier.

For many kids with epilepsy, school protocol is to call 911, even if the seizure wasn't severe or harmful to the child. Campbell said the constant 911 calls can be costly to both the parent and the child, equating to climbing medical costs and loss of valuable class time.

She added that some students, like Raelyn, already have a difficult time in school due to the effects of the disorder, and missing class time for mild seizures is a result of outdated and inefficient school protocols.

In Owens' lecture she described the pain Tubman endured while living with epilepsy in the 19th century. Owens said Tubman's headaches and migraines were so severe she underwent brain surgery as suggested from her physician, but opted out of anesthesia.

"She bites a bullet like other soldiers in the Civil War," Owens said to an awe-stricken crowd. "This woman was in her 70s."

Today, modern medicine can alleviate much of the symptoms Tubman described about the disorder as she aged.

Campbell said the best thing public schools in the state can do for their epileptic students is ensure all faculty and staff who work with students are trained on the most up to date seizure safety and rescue protocols.

The proposed bill would require training for school personnel in seizure recognition and first-aid response every year. Upon receipt of a parent or guardian's petition for a Seizure Action Plan, schools would be required to have the plan on file and available to all parties responsible for the student.

The bill would also require at least one other employee in each school to be trained to administer or assist with seizure medications and would include authorization of multiple rescue medications.

Ellen Nitz, director of nursing services for Charleston County School District, said children with a history of seizures do have an emergency action plan that gives teachers information about the different signs and symptoms they should be aware of to spot a seizure. She added that while 911 is not frequently called for students with a history of seizures, emergency response teams are called if a student has never had a seizure of if a seizure becomes a life threatening event.

"We stay in very close contact with our families, trying to make sure we're up to date on their last seizure activity and any triggers the child may have," Nitz told The Post and Courier.

For more information about S.C. Advocates for Seizure Safe Schools, visit www.facebook.com/groups/1211340115734195.

To learn more about Owen's work and her biographical work on Harriet Tubman, go to www.deirdrecooperowens.com/.
Last week, I wrote in my review of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves that I wasnt really familiar with the Dungeons & Dragons game, and that may have affected my enjoyment of the movie. There will be no such disclaimer for The Super Mario Bros. Movie. My brother and I we Read moreThe Super Mario Bros. Movie
WALTERBORO  COVID-19 is threatening to derail Alex Murdaugh's expensive, time-consuming and highly publicized double murder trial after two jurors were sent home Feb. 13 after testing positive for the virus.

Their dismissal by Judge Clifton Newman set off alarms that an outbreak in the jury room could require a suspension of the weekslong proceedings or, worse, a mistrial. A court employee also tested positive, Newman said.

As the trial entered its fourth week, just three of the original six alternates remain to replace any other jurors who cant go on. Another alternate was excused Feb. 7 after a separate health emergency.

The news seemed to catch defense attorney Dick Harpootlian and lead prosecutor Creighton Waters off guard. They suggested delaying the trial until Feb. 15, when Newman is scheduled to have the jury tested again.

The proceedings are playing out in a jam-packed courtroom, with followers flocking to Walterboro from across the state and country.

They have lined up outside the Colleton County Courthouse for hours each morning to secure a seat. They hope to watch as prosecutors try to prove that Murdaugh, a once-respected trial attorney, shot his wife and son to death in June 2021 at the family's hunting estate.

Harpootlian suggested requiring masks in the crowded room, where the sounds of coughing and sniffling frequently echo over a Court TV livestream. Both sides asked Newman to enforce social distancing in the room, a move that would have required many of the 200-plus spectators to clear out.

But the judge declined to issue any restrictions. He encouraged everyone to mask up and noted some members of the jury had already chosen to do so. A court official handed out masks to audience members. Most chose not to wear one.

Newman added he had consulted with a doctor before going forward with the trial.

Both Waters and Harpootlian stressed they didnt want a delay, even though they felt compelled to recommend one.

Harpootlian said suspending the trial would be an economic disaster for the defense. Murdaughs legal team has already lined up pricey expert witnesses to testify once the state rests its case this week.

Waters told Newman he expects to wrap up the states presentation on Feb. 15.

Harpootlian said he caught COVID-19 in December and that the virus wiped him out for three weeks even as he prepared for trial. He seemed in no rush to contract it again.

A battery of tests

After addressing the COVID-19 concerns, the state continued to present its case. Prosecutors have called 51 witnesses, including law enforcement officers, forensic analysts and Murdaughs former friends and colleagues, to establish how and why they believe the former Hampton attorney carried out the slayings.

Prosecutors have sought to portray Murdaugh, 54, as a con artist who stole nearly $9 million from those who trusted him and then slaughtered his wife and son in a desperate ploy to cover up those crimes.

On Feb. 13, the jury heard from State Law Enforcement Division forensics analysts about the battery of DNA and blood tests investigators ran on Murdaughs clothes and other evidence found at the crime scene.

Jurors learned that blood found on the steering wheel of Murdaughs 2021 Chevrolet Suburban contained DNA from both Alex and Maggie Murdaugh. The same was true for blood collected from a 12-gauge shotgun Murdaugh had when first responders arrived to the crime scene  the area around dog kennels of the familys spacious estate known as Moselle.

Alex Murdaughs shirt tested negative for human blood, but positive for DNA from 52-year-old Maggie, and others, the jury was told.

A blue rain jacket that prosecutors have tried to link to Murdaugh had no DNA on its interior, cuffs or hood that could be used to identify its owner. The coat, found bundled in an upstairs closet in Murdaughs parents home, was covered in gunshot residue, jurors previously learned.

Prosecutors have theorized Murdaugh wrapped the murder weapons  which havent been recovered  in the coat before stashing them somewhere and hiding the jacket.

In what has become a trend at Murdaughs trial, prosecutors with the S.C. Attorney Generals Office didnt spell out the relevance or significance of most of those test results for the jury.

Observers now expect prosecutors to connect those dots later, either while questioning SLED investigator David Owen this week or in closing arguments.

Murdaughs defense team was happy to fill the void of explanation. Attorney Phillip Barber said the blood and DNA found on the Suburbans steering wheel merely confirms what Murdaugh told investigators: that he checked Maggies bloody body for a pulse before driving the SUV back to the familys house to retrieve a 12-gauge shotgun.

Barber also seized on another piece of evidence the state left open-ended: Investigators found unidentified small amounts of male DNA under Maggies fingernails.

SLED analyst Sara Zapata said she couldnt say when or how that DNA wound up there, just that it didnt belong to Alex or Paul Murdaugh, 22.

Riemer on the stand

The day ended with Medical University of South Carolina forensic pathologist Dr. Ellen Riemer on the witness stand.

Riemer performed Maggie and Pauls autopsies. She testified in precise, gory detail about how the two were killed: Paul with a shotgun and Maggie with a .300 Blackout semiautomatic, military-style rifle.

Stippling wounds on the victims indicate each was shot from close range  just 3 feet, Riemer said. Neither had defensive wounds indicating a struggle, she said.

The jury seemed disturbed at the sight of graphic crime scene images, including photos of Pauls blown-apart skull. One juror put her arm around another, who was crying.

Murdaugh sat a few feet away, crying and wiping his face with a wadded tissue as Riemer described Maggie and Pauls wounds.

The defense will begin cross-examining Riemer when court resumes at 9:30 a.m. Feb. 14.
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Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador, officially entered the 2024 Republican presidential race on Valentine's Day, casting her candidacy as a campaign that represents a new generation of leadership.

Haley, 51, made the announcement in a 3-minute online video. The message acts as an opening pitch to voters ahead of her campaign kickoff Feb. 15 in Charleston.

It also makes her the first major Republican challenger to Donald Trump, her onetime former boss. The former president announced his candidacy in November and visited the Statehouse in Columbia on Jan. 28 to unveil his South Carolina campaign team.

"The Washington establishment has failed us over and over and over again. It's time for a new generation of leadership," Haley declared in the spot, her first confirmation in her own words that she is running.

Get excited! Time for a new generation. Lets do this!   pic.twitter.com/BD5k4WY1CP  Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) February 14, 2023

By entering the fray early, Haley can begin fundraising for her White House bid in what could be a contentious GOP primary battle.

After her Feb. 15 launch, Haley will immediately hit the campaign trail, spending two days in New Hampshire for a pair of town hall-style events. The following week, she plans to make a pair of stops in Iowa, which will be the leadoff state for the GOP 2024 presidential nominating contest.

The video weaves together Haley's personal story and conservative beliefs, and takes an optimistic view of America and its past.

"The railroad tracks divided the town by race," she begins, referring to her hometown of Bamberg. "I was the proud daughter of Indian immigrants. Not Black, not White, I was different."

As a montage of photos appear on screen, including an image of the 1619 project and a sign that reads "Racism is a pandemic," Haley urges Americans to set aside their critiques.

"Some look at our past as evidence that America's founding principles are bad. They say the promise of freedom is just made up. Some think our ideas are not just wrong, but racist and evil. Nothing could be further from the truth," Haley says.

Haley makes no mention of Trump in the video, but she stresses the need for a change in the GOP when she notes Republicans have lost the popular vote in seven out of the last eight presidential elections. (Trump lost the popular vote twice.)

Responding to Haleys announcement, Democrats sought to amplify those fractures within the Republican Party and link her to the MAGA base.

"Haleys entrance officially kicks off a messy 2024 primary race for the MAGA base that has long been brewing. Everyone get your popcorn," Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison said in a statement.

S.C. Democratic Party Chairman Trav Robertson added, "We here in South Carolina saw Nikki Haley create the model for the MAGA agenda that Donald Trump pushed as president, and Haley is sorely mistaken if she thinks South Carolinians havent forgotten that record."

Haley highlights her credentials in the video, both as governor and during her time in the Trump administration as U.N. Ambassador.

In both of those roles, Haley said she has "seen evil." One of those evils Haley described happened in Charleston.

She references the 2015 mass shooting at Emanuel AME Church, when a white supremacist killed nine Black parishioners during a Bible study. Afterward, she called for the removal of the Confederate battle flag from the Statehouse grounds in Columbia. That action, which drew national attention, is not highlighted in her video.

Instead, Haley highlights the aftermath of the shootings as a time when South Carolinians leaned on their faith and came together.

"When evil did come, we turned away from fear, toward God and the values that still make our country the freest and greatest in the world. We must turn in that direction again," Haley says.

Though Haley's video paints a largely hopeful vision for America, she does get in a few digs.

When she mentions President Joe Biden, she says his record is "abysmal."

"Some people look at America and see vulnerability. The socialist left sees an opportunity to rewrite history. China and Russia are on the march. They all think we can be bullied, kicked around," Haley said. "You should know this about me: I dont put up with bullies. And when you kick back, it hurts them more if youre wearing heels."
Downtown Charleston will become the center of Republican presidential politics for several hours when former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley launches her bid for the White House on Feb. 15 hoping this coastal city can be a springboard to GOP voters across the 2024 primary calendar.

Beneath an open-air venue that acts as the Charleston Visitor's Center bus shed, Haley will make her appeal to friends, family, the media and an audience of national onlookers.

While Haley lives nearby on Kiawah Island, the city of Charleston will also serve as home base for her campaign headquarters. But her in-state launch will be brief as she's already planned quick stops in Iowa and New Hampshire in the days ahead.

While morning rush-hour traffic is not expected to be disrupted by her 11 a.m. kick-off event, Haley's entrance into the race will shake up the GOP presidential contest.

+14 Nikki Haley, from outsider to insider on path from Bamberg to maybe the White House Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is running for president in 2024, challenging Donald Trump for the Republican nomination. We chronicled her rise from rural Bamberg to national prominence.

She becomes the first major Republican candidate to challenge former President Donald Trump for the GOP presidential nomination. And she's quickly traveling to meet with voters in other early states.

One day after her South Carolina launch, Haley will spend two days in New Hampshire before heading to Iowa next week for two days in the Hawkeye State.

Already testing her message, Haley has called for "generational change" in the party.

"I don't think you need to be 80 years old to go be a leader in D.C.," the 51-year-old Haley said in a recent Fox News interview. "I think we need a young generation to come in, step up, and really start fixing things."

Other could-be candidates may soon follow Haley in announcing presidential bids of their own, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu and possibly a fellow South Carolinian, Republican U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, whom Haley appointed to the Senate in 2012.

When Haley addresses the crowd at The Shed, she will already have the core of her campaign staff in place, according to a source familiar with Haley's operation. The senior staff joining her 2024 presidential campaign are longtime Haley aides, many of whom have worked with her for more than a decade.

Betsy Ankney, the executive director of Haley's Stand for America PAC, will be campaign manager while the PAC's development director, Mary Kate Johnson, works as finance director.

Longtime Haley spokeswoman Chaney Denton and Nachama Soloveichik will lead the campaign's communications team. Denton currently serves as the communications director of Haley's PAC. Soloveichik is a partner at ColdSpark, a Pittsburgh-based political consulting company.

Barney Keller, the president of Jamestown Associates, will serve as media consultant. John Hall, formerly the president of Targeted Victory, will serve as digital strategist.

Jon Lerner, Haley's longtime pollster and strategist, will be her senior adviser.

While the size of the crowd for Haley's announcement is unknown, the venue where she will speak is able to accommodate up to 1,500 people, according to publicly available information about the space.

That could provide a stark contrast to the smaller campaign event Trump held in the lobby of the S.C. Statehouse last month when he announced his leadership team in the Palmetto State.

The names of VIPs planning to attend have not been announced, but Candice Glover, the 2013 American Idol winner and Lowcountry native, will be performing the national anthem.

The influx of attendees and national media could also result in some fuller parking garages on the morning of the event and afterward.

According to Charleston Police, there will be some minor road closures, but motorists will still be able to access major thoroughfares like Meeting Street and King Street.

Beginning at 8:30 a.m. until about noon, Ann Street will be closed between the roundabout (off Meeting Street by Wragg Square) and the transit mall (the section of Ann Street between the Visitors Center and the parking garage only).

Cars may still use the transit mall and enter the parking garages, but parking meters will be restricted on Ann Street and John Street between Meeting and King.
The University of Guam serves as that steward of place to deliver equitable and inclusive public value through its academic programs, research Read moreSustaining UOGs accreditation is key to delivering a high-quality Guam workforce
7 U.S. big cities have lost half of their populations: 24/7 Wall St.

Xinhua) 10:55, February 14, 2023

WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Seven U.S. cities once among the country's biggest metropolises "have become shadows of their former selves," as they have lost more than half of their populations, U.S. news portal 24/7 Wall St. reported Sunday.

The seven "very well known" cities are Flint, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Youngstown, St. Louis, and Detroit, the news outlet said, after it compared historical editions of the U.S. Census Bureau's decennial census, starting with 1950, to the recent population figures.

"We listed all seven cities that were within the 100 most populous cities in the U.S. in 1950 and have lost more than half of their populations as of July 2021," it said.

Reasons for population decline in these cities are various, including job losses, housing discrimination, and racial economic inequality, the media said.

The remaining residents in these cities "are more likely to struggle to find work and live in poverty," the report said, adding that some cities are among the hardest-hit areas in the ongoing opioid epidemic.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
The worlds biggest Search engine  Google, says Nigerians are searching the most for love on its platform in 2023.

In line with the Valentines Day celebrations, Google, on Monday, released insightful data on the search trends of Nigerians related to love, dating, and the special day.

The data provided a unique window into the hearts and minds of the countrys residents as they sought answers and ideas related to the occasion.

According to Google trends, Nigerians are actively searching for information and inspiration related to Valentines Day, and the insights offer a fascinating glimpse into their thoughts and interests.

Speaking on the nature of the queries, Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, Communications and Public Relations Manager at Google, West Africa, said,

At Google, our goal is to provide the information people are looking for in the moments that matter to them.

These trends showcase the crucial role search plays in helping Nigerians find answers to their most pressing questions, especially during special occasions like Valentines Day. It underscores the importance of search in these exciting moments, he added.

Data Breakdown

The data also showed that Nigerians had searched the most for dating apps worldwide since 2004.

The search for the origin of valentine has also increased by 200 per cent in the past week.

The data also shows that searches for valentine messages for boyfriend have risen by 300 per cent in the past week, and valentine hair style has surged by 250 per cent over the same period.

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best dating app in the world also spiked by 250 per cent, while the origin of valentine rose by 200 per cent.

valentines gift ideas for him in Nigeria and best valentines gift for girlfriend spiked by 120 per cent in the past week.

More Queries

In addition to searching for Valentines Day ideas, Nigerians are searching for answers to questions related to the holiday, Google disclosed.

Nigerian search queries were broad from different demographics, ages and religions.

The most trending questions on Valentines Day over the past week included:

Is Valentines Day for Muslims?

When was Valentines Day created?

How to celebrate Valentines Day in school?

What to do on Valentines Day with your boyfriend?

How did Valentines come about?

Is Valentines Day worldwide?

Who discovered Valentines Day?

How to wish your boyfriend Happy Valentines Day?

What to get your boyfriend for Valentines Day in high school?

How to survive Valentines Day alone?

Adding to the list, Google also gave a list of the most searched questions on dates over the past year, which includes:

How to ask a girl out on a date?

What to do on a first date?

Where to go on a date in Lagos?

What to discuss on a first date?

What to wear on a first date?

What does it mean to go on a date?

How to date a girl on WhatsApp?

What to ask a guy on a first date?

How to go on a date with a girl?

Where to go on a date?

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Sharm el-Sheikh is a famous venue for agreements and is sometimes referred to as the City of Peace with its history of Palestine-Israel summits. Those peace deals were temporary, with only baby steps forward. Did the November 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) follow suit?

The build-up to the Africa COP promised better deals for the developing world. The vision of a moment of transformation in climate action was set by COP27 president Sameh Hassan Shoukry.

As the desert dust settles, a mixed bag of results is evident. An important outcome was the positive movement on loss and damage. But there was a lack of progress on mitigation targets, and despite the promises around climate adaptation, the reality remains unsure.

The highlight was the agreement on the Loss and Damage Fund, which covers droughts, damage from floods, storms, wildfires and heatwaves, and the negative impacts of sea level rise. It was an enormous struggle just getting this onto the COP27 agenda, but the developing country group, including the African Group of Negotiators, succeeded. Hopefully this achievement wont be watered down in negotiations on the funds modalities, and the high historical emitters will meet their commitments.

The conference was expected to move forward on vital mitigation targets  especially how to maintain the emissions goal of 1.5oC by 2100. This was to be achieved with a new global deal and stringent net-zero targets for all countries. But it ended badly, with the European Union delegation threatening to walk out due to the lack of progress.

According to analytical platforms such as the Climate Action Tracker, its a difficult course to a +2.7oC world. Some might even say we took a step backwards by endorsing low-emissions fuels in the Sharm el-Sheikh Implementation Plan.

Another lowlight was COP27s promise of more funding and resources for climate adaptation. The US$100 billion pledge remains unfulfilled, and the vision of that increasing to a much higher number is still a mirage.

Discussions with old hands at the climate negotiations yielded many perspectives. The dominant ones were the aspirational versus the pragmatic lenses. The high hopes of the former  that COP27 would mark a greater appreciation of the science and devastating impact of climate change  were dashed.

Before COP27, the first three instalments of the 6th Assessment Report outlined the basis of climate change, adaptation and vulnerability, and mitigation. The reports provided clear scientific consensus that global warming was due to greenhouse gas emissions generated by human activity. And that we are already 1.2oC above preindustrial levels, and the window for mitigation is rapidly closing.

It is also clear that Africa contributes little to greenhouse gas emissions, yet is most vulnerable. The World Banks Groundswell report estimates that intra-African migration will exceed 86 million by 2050. The United Nations International Organization for Migration noted that in 2021 alone, disasters saw the internal displacement of 23.7 million people.

Environmental damage caused by climate change leads to water insecurity, negatively affecting agriculture and food security. Higher temperatures push up vulnerability indices for infectious diseases. These factors restrict development options and increase competition for resources leading, in some cases, to conflicts like those between herders and crop farmers.

Such conflict escalation becomes attractive to violent extremists and armed groups, prompting a special session in 2021 of the African Union Peace and Security Council on the climate-development-security nexus. For Africa, climate change is both a development and security issue.

Those in the aspirational camp hoped for a much deeper appreciation of these factors by the COP27 negotiators. Antonio Guterres offered a stark choice at the conferences opening. We could make brave decisions and commitments in a global climate solidarity pact or continue the current lethargy and indifference into a collective suicide pact. Those coming into COP27 with high hopes leaned towards the latter, saying the conference did not deliver sufficiently.

The pragmatists had a more positive view. They argued that this was as good as it could get considering the global impact of Russias war in Ukraine. The net effect has been a rapid decline in European energy security and increased energy costs worldwide. Many advanced economies face financial crises, with a limited ability to honour pledges, let alone agreements to help the global south deal with climate change impacts.

Although the global green transition has had a few setbacks, Africa has shown emerging leadership in the movement to a low-carbon economy. The South African Just Energy Transition Partnership unlocking almost R150 billion in grants, concessional loans and other investment access is a major boost. The strides with green hydrogen in Namibia, Moroccos solar farms, and planned massive wind farms in Kenya are further examples of a continent on the move.

Better climate resilience could place the continent on a sustainable development pathway and a track to economic recovery on the back of global green competitiveness. Without this, Africa will sink further into the quicksand of lower energy security, decreased global market access for our goods, and the hardships of an increasingly hostile climate-changed world.

Dhesigen Naidoo, Senior Research Associate, Institute for Security Studies (ISS) Pretoria

This article is an extract of the longer version published in Leadership magazine. This version is published by ISS Today, a Premium Times syndication partner. We have their permission to republish).

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The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, on Tuesday said that the 10 February deadline stipulated for the phasing out of the old N200, N500, and N1000 notes stands.

The CBN governor spoke during a visit to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Mr Emefiele insisted that the banks position remains unchanged despite a Supreme Court order restraining the apex bank from phasing out the new notes as planned.

On 8 February, following the difficulties faced by Nigerians in accessing the redesigned notes, the Supreme Court gave an order restraining the CBN from enforcing the deadline for the phasing out of the N200, N500, and N1,000 notes, pending the hearing of a lawsuit brought by three northern states challenging the new currency redesign.

The order came as a relief for many Nigerians as parts of the country had been thrown into chaos while frustrated Nigerians besieged ATM points in a bid to access their money.

However, the CBN refused to act on or comment on the court order as the new development generated controversies among Nigerians.

On Monday, some businesses and shopping outlets rejected the old notes even though many Nigerians could not access the new notes.

But on Tuesday, Mr Emefiele announced that the apex would not revisit its old directive on the 10 February deadline.

The situation is substantially calming down since the commencement of over-the-counter payments to complement ATM disbursements and the use of super-agents, he was quoted to have said.

There is, therefore, no need to consider any shift from the deadline of February 10.

Responding to reports that Point of Sale (PoS) agents have been charging exorbitant amount since the policy took effect, he said those who charge above N200 for the CBN cash swap programme would be arrested and jailed when caught.

Mr Emefiele also accused some politicians of hoarding the new notes.

Some of our leaders are buying the new notes and storing them for whatever purposes. I will not be direct here, he said.

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A group, Fulani Political Forum, has endorsed Kola Abiola, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), ahead of the 25th February presidential election.

The group also promised to deliver more than seven million votes for the partys presidential candidate.

Patron of the forum, Ibrahim Abdullahi, made the endorsement at a rally held in Abuja, on Monday.

Describing Mr Abiola as a man with capacity, Mr Abdullahi said the Fulanis decided to vote for him for his patriotism.

He said: The Fulani pastoralists used to have about five million votes but this time when the opportunity was given for people to register online, we decided to generate a data of young Fulani graduates.

We provided them with devices to go to nomadic settlements to register those people so that we can be able to increase our voting capacity.

We are happy to inform Nigerians that we can be able to produce seven million votes now confidently.

He said the forum identified with PRP based on their people-centred manifesto.

We have not seen the difference between the two major political parties. We call on Nigerians to give PRP a chance.

What we are hoping for is a complete change and in Abiola, we see a gentleman that can be able to drive Nigeria forward.

It is only natural that if Nigerians have morality, I think we should go and beg Abiola to come run this country.

Other parties should support him because of the contribution of his Father, the late MKO Abiola, who had done a lot for this country in so many spheres of life.

Given what happened to his father, I think Nigeria should support his son to rule this country. That is called justice.

The patron also urged Nigerians not to vote based on religious or ethnic grounds.

We are going to vote on capacity, patriotism, justice. And in Abiola, we have seen a man that is able to provide that kind of leadership.

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In his speech, Mr Abiola said that with the support of the Fulanis, we will fix this nation.

While calling on party supporters to hold the different candidates of the party accountable, Mr Abiola said he would ensure that women and Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) were carried along if elected.

He also pledged to empower the youth if elected president, saying that the biggest legacy the party would bequeath them was to enthrone role models to enable them to take over and rule the country.

Mr Abiola also lamented over the unavailability of the new naira notes, saying that the policy coming at an election period was unfortunate.

Mr Abiola said: We have a situation where the policy is coming too late and it was not really thought out.

The banks cannot cope with the influx.

We do not have enough cash out there; many of our citizens are not even in the banking system; if you are in a village or in a local government that doesnt have a bank, how do you change money.

(NAN)

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Adewole Adebayo, the presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), says uniting Nigeria and eradicating poverty would be his topmost priorities if elected in the 25 February election.

Mr Adebayo made the disclosure on Monday when he paid homage at the palace of the Emir of Lafia, Sidi Bage-Muhammad I, in Lafia, Nasarawa State.

According to the SDP presidential candidate, Nigeria is blessed with so many resources that no citizen was supposed to be living in poverty.

He explained that 99 per cent of Nigerians do not have N100, 000 in their savings account, signifying that they are living in poverty in the midst of plenty.

The resources of this country are in the hands of just one per cent of the population and it should not be so.

It cannot be allowed to continue, as such if I am elected as the president of the country, we will redistribute the resources to ensure that the majority of our people live above the poverty line, he added.

Mr Adebayo also said the government, under his watch, would ensure total unity of the country by ensuring equitable distribution of projects and appointments.

The presidential candidate also promised to give constitutional roles to traditional rulers to give proper attention to the people.

Traditional rulers are closer to the people and they live with them daily, and the people can access them without any protocol to channel their problems for prompt action.

If the people are properly taken care of, it will go a long way to prevent most of the vices and crime we have in the country today, he added.

The presidential candidate, therefore, appealed to Nigerians to vote for SDP massively as they did for Moshood Abiola in the 1993 presidential election.

Also, Mohammed Alfa-Nyass, Nasarawa State Governorship Candidate of the SDP, promised to tackle insecurity if elected as the next governor of the state.

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He promised to establish a neighbourhood security outfit with over 500 personnel to improve intelligence gathering and collaborate with the conventional security agencies in the state.

The governorship candidate also promised to build two international markets in Lafia to deal in vehicle and motorcycle spare parts and fabrics.

We will also invest heavily in agriculture and establish government-owned farms and also support genuine farmers with inputs and loan facilities to boost their activities, he added.

He, therefore, called on the people to vote for all the candidates of SDP in all elections for restoration, transformation and repositioning of the country.

Responding, the emir commended the presidential candidate and his entourage for the peaceful conduct of their campaign and urged them to sustain it during and after the general elections.

(NAN)

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The Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, has inaugurated the legal compliance committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the general elections.

Mr Osinbajo inaugurated the committee on Monday at the State House in Abuja.

Those who attended the event include the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, the APC National Legal Adviser, Ahmed El-Marzuk and others.

In a statement issued via his Twitter account, Mr Osinbajo stated that the members of the committee, who are lawyers, will protect the interest of the party at the coming polls.

He noted that the committee has the mandate to ensure that all internal structures of the party and external engagements of the party are conducted in accordance with established operating procedures and the law.

The vice president disclosed that the committee played a similar role in the 2015 and 2019 general elections through the ear-on-the-ground strategy.

The APC Legal Compliance Committee is an assembly of very committed members of the party, who by their calling as lawyers, will offer tremendous value to the party through the protection of its interests at every step of this electoral process.

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Many who have worked with us in the build-up to the 2015 & 2019 general elections know that the proactive approach we adopted, especially through the ear-on-the-ground work of the Presidential Legal Team, provided us crucial head-start in tackling some of the challenges, he stated.

He added that the committee will insulate the campaign of the party at all levels against breaches of rules, regulations, guidelines, and laws by ensuring strict compliance thereof; and to develop compliance checklists and protocols, conduct pieces of training for campaign personnel, and prepare compliance reports.

Mr Osinbajo has not openly identified with the campaign of the APC since he lost the presidential primaries at the APC convention in June 2022.

The vice president lost the primary to his former boss and political ally, Bola Tinubu.

He is also not a member of the APC presidential campaign council, although the ruling party had explained that he was exempted at the behest of President Muhammadu Buhari, who asked that some should be allowed to focus on governance.

Two weeks ago, the legal team of the PCC held a meeting with Mr Osinbajo on the preparation for the election.

Those at the meeting included the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), Mr Keyamo, Mr El-Marzuk and his predecessor, Babatunde Ogala.

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Despite holding more than 8 per cent of the worlds proven natural gas reserves, Africa remains the most energy-poor continent In the world, a report has said.

Hawilti, a Pan-African investment research firm, disclosed this in its recent report titled Gas for Africa released on Tuesday.

The report said Africa has the lowest energy consumption per capita in the world, while the average electricity use of a sub-Saharan African resident is lower than that of a household fridge in the United States (US).

Where energy is available in African countries, the report said it is often expensive, inefficient, polluting, and unreliable.

The report added that domestic natural gas can help to alleviate Africas energy poverty, but despite producing over 6 per cent of the worlds natural gas supply and having close to one-tenth of proven global reserves, most of the African continent has no access to its natural gas.

Africas domestic gas markets remain under-developed or non-existent, especially south of the Sahara, and much of Africas abundant natural gas resource development has been for export to the rest of the world, it said.

According to the report, Africa needs gas to support the development of resilient grid infrastructure.

This, it said, is needed to integrate significant shares of variable renewable and distributed energy, without compromising energy security or economic development.

It added that African power grids, where they exist, remain largely weak and unstable, which is a bad combination for any significant renewable capacity integration.

The report said the grids need sufficient flexibility, and that means African power networks need to be expanded and reinforced with a reliable supply of dispatchable power-generation resources that are available in sufficient quantities and on demand.

It explained that while hydropower and geothermal energy are ideal options to generate frequency control and dispatchable power in East Africa, gas is an essential tool for most of the rest of the continent to build robust and flexible electricity grids.

In that regard, it said developing gas-to-power initiatives must be part of the process of building and expanding reliable power systems that can integrate intermittent energies and pave the way for a low-carbon energy mix.

Access to gas can provide stable electricity in countries with no lower-emission alternatives and strengthen power systems to add more renewable energy and begin decarbonising energy supply, displacing wood, biomass, charcoal, and diesel.

Developing domestic access to gas in Africa can provide the energy needed today while anchoring the continents future low-carbon and renewable energy.

By developing domestic gas markets and re-orienting gas towards its own energy needs Africa seeks to promote industrialisation, create jobs, diversify economies, produce fertilizer to grow food, petrochemicals to make consumer goods and advanced products, and steel and cement to develop modern infrastructure, it said.

Experts speak

Meanwhile, speaking on the report, Mickael Vogel, director and head of research at Hawilti, said We are delighted to provide stakeholders and policy-makers with an overview of natural gas dynamics in Africa, and hope it will be valuable to underpin dialogue and pragmatic actions to eliminate energy poverty.

As an Africa-based research and consultancy company, we will continue to highlight the diversity and complexity of African energy markets and we see gas as a critical contributor to the continents development and energy transition.

The Executive Director, Africa Energy Commission, Rashid Abdallah, said Natural gas is a resource that has a significant role to play in bringing about socio-economic development and mitigating climate change in Africa.

As part of a just transition, Africa requires gas to contribute to eradicating energy poverty, providing electricity to almost 50 per cent of Africans, playing as a catalyst in the provision of clean cooking technologies to nearly a billion Africans and creating jobs.

The calls for an immediate end to all fossil fuel utilisation, and request for global capital investors to stop funding gas projects will severely impact Africas socio-economic development,.

Also commenting on the report, the CEO of Africa Finance Corporation, Samaila Zubairu, said The global energy market is in an unprecedented state of flux, opening significant opportunities for exploration and development of gas in Africa.

At the same time, gas is key to helping Africa end its energy poverty quickly and affordably, by providing an alternative to wood fuel, which would lift hundreds of millions out of poverty while preserving Africas forests, a valuable carbon sink for the world.

Gas offers further solutions for Africas food security challenges as a key source of critical fertilizers, while also generating needed export revenue for re-investment in renewable solutions.

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Femi Fani-Kayode, one of the spokespersons of the Presidential Campaign Council of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has expressed regret over his comment on possible collusion between some elements in the military and the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar.

Mr Fani-Kayode expressed regret on Monday during a press briefing at the National Secretariat of the APC in Abuja after his release by the State Security Services (SSS).

He had been invited by the secret police for claiming in a tweet that Atiku met with some military generals and that the meeting could culminate in a coup detat.

The former aviation minister said he was interrogated for five hours by the SSS over the comment. While reiterating that he did nothing wrong, he, however, conceded that he could have handled the situation differently.

He stated that he should have verified the source of the news that reported the alleged clandestine meeting between Atiku and the military. He described the medium that reported the alleged meeting as faceless.

During the course of the discussion, I think it is fair for me to mention one or two things. It is self-evident that some of the things that were said were regrettable.

Why do I say so? When news comes out, perhaps one should not have not simply said it, believed it and accepted it, even if it is true. Perhaps another course could have been taken perhaps, let me ask the authority privately, let me find out before I say anything. I think I will concede that sometimes we have to be a little circumspect, especially given thatas they pointed out, the medium that issued out the statement is faceless.

We cant rely on that medium. When I say something on my Twitter, the whole world listens. What I said really sent shock waves, and some people were very hurt. I say it is regrettable and I must say that was a mistake, he said.

Mr Fani-Kayode added that his judgement was clouded by the fog of war which made him say things without putting much thought into it.

He described the SSS facility as the most challenging place to be, adding that it is a place that most people ordinarily should avoid going to.

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It was very difficultthe place that anybody does not really want to go, I will suggest is probably the DSS, it is a very challenging place, adding that I still have faith in the system.

Mr Fani-Kayode also disclosed that he has been asked to report to the SSS on Wednesday and also once a week to determine if they will charge him to court or not.

I will be going back on Wednesday, and possibly I will be going back once a week and I think it is left to them to decide whether to charge me to court, he said.

Also speaking at the briefing, another spokesperson of the PCC, Bayo Onanuga, said the campaign is monitoring that situation and will be ready to take necessary action if need be.

He disclosed that the legal team of the campaign accompanied Mr Fani-Kayode to the facility of the SSS to protect him.

If he was detained beyond today, we would have equally challenged it perhaps in the court. He would not have tolerated such behaviour from the DSS. But according to Chief Fani-Kayode, they were very professional in the way they handled him, he said.

He added that the party is still watching the development.

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Presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso, has said voters in the country would not vote for the All Progressives Congress (APC) or the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) because the two parties cant convince Nigerians to trust them with their vote again.

Mr Kwankwaso, who spoke in an interview session with BBC News, said the PDP has gone from bad to worse since 2011 while the APC has failed to live up to expectations.

He alongside Bola Tinubu of the APC, Atiku Abubakar of the PDP and Peter Obi of the Labour Party are the leading candidates in the presidential election slated for 25 February. 14 other candidates are vying for the top seat as President Muhammadu Buhari ends his second and final term in office.

The ordinary voter doesnt want to remember the PDP or APC. The voters in this country, especially in Northern Nigeria, they will not go for PDP or APC because they have nothing else to say, he said.

When asked why he exonerated himself since he was a member of the PDP and was also in the APC, Mr Kwankwaso said the parties have changed.

We realized right from the 2011 election, things have gone bad in the PDP. So we wanted a progressive party and we brought all our friends together. At the end of the day, we succeeded. We got the governments both at national and state and by extension, the local governments in this country. But everybody now is aware of the performance of the APC government, he said.

Im not a spoiler

During the interview, Mr Kwankwaso was asked if he was indeed a spoiler who is out to spoil the votes for the two main parties in the North.

Mr Kwankwaso responded that he was confident of winning the election.

Let me tell you something..you see, all my life I am one of those that are being underrated. The last one was when we picked the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP). In fact, the way I was treated in PDP was so bad that even the PDP members now at least those who are positively thinking are regretting it because they thought I was just nothing. Now, Ive taken a small party that was not very well known.

READ ALSO:

They have now realized that this NNPP is the party to beat not only in Northern Nigeria but in the whole country, he said.

Insisting that he is not a vote spoiler, Mr Kwankwaso said his popularity has gone beyond Northern Nigeria, saying many of them (opponents) will be shocked in 2023.

Mr Kwankwaso said if elected, he would look at the number of security agents in the country with the view to increasing it, ensuring adequate welfare of security personnel, maintaining training and retraining of personnel and ensuring that security personnel and agencies are disciplined.

The former Kano state governor also promised to uplift the countrys economic and education sectors.

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Dapo Olorunyomi is the CEO and publisher of Premium Times, a Nigerian newspaper. A veteran editor and media executive, Olorunyomi is the founder of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism and the leader of the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), the Premium Times nonprofit arm.

In 2020, Olorunyomi was awarded with one of the International Press Freedom Awards by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). During his decades-long career as a journalist, hes been a fierce defender of press freedom despite repeated threats and harassment from the military government. He was arrested twice and had to go into exile in 1995. In 2017, he was arrested by the police on allegations of defamation.

Today Olorunyomi sits on the board of different media and nonprofit organisations including the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). In this interview, he discusses how he founded his media organisation, which challenges he faced, and press freedom issues and election reporting in Nigeria. Our conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Q. Why did you launch Premium Times?

A. In 2010/2011, Nigerian media was faced with two key problems: the obvious problem of trust and professionalism and then the problem of revenue.

The first obvious response to these problems was launching an online newspaper. This would cut out the whole investment in newsprint and a printing press. For most newspapers, this represented almost 80% of cost outside labour. So by cutting that off we brought innovation into our market and saved a significant amount of money.

The question then was how to assemble the best team. The 234 NEXT Newspaper, an exciting experiment launched by Dele Olojede, had just come to a closure due to the pressure of a very hostile government, which ensured that the newspaper didnt get enough advertising revenue. This offered us the opportunity to hire many young talented journalists and experiment with what we were trying to do.

We got a small office and a partner investor, and the initial response was good. But this was a time in which Facebook and Google were already sweeping off advertising denying local newspapers of most revenue. How did we respond to this crisis? We set up a nonprofit to help seek nonprofit funding to support our journalism. It was important to separate the two entities because this nonprofit not only supported Premium Times journalism but other journalism across the country. Its not-for-profit nature and independence helped insulate our journalism from any kind of conflict.

In a very brief sense, this would be a history of the origin of Premium Times as a newspaper and certainly of CJID, which is the first nonprofit newsroom in the sub-region.

Q. What kinds of challenges did you face and how did you tackle them?

A. I faced many challenges, but I would stress three.

The first was winning the trust of the people. Looking at it now, with the benefit of hindsight, that was a lesser obstacle to overcome. Attracting advertisers was far more challenging. They were used to advertising in print, radio or television. But they havent responded yet to the digital age. Eventually, they did.

The second challenge was clarifying our business model. In the digital age the newspapers traditional business model was broken. Advertising was not coming initially and previous experiments with paywalls had failed. So we needed to think a bit more about this.

The last challenge was professional renewal. Nigerian journalism had come to a point where it needed a decent makeover from a professional perspective. If you picked up five newspapers at that time, you would have five different accounts of the same event, which was not just a question of slant and perspective. Many readers were simply disconsolate at what seemed like a sorry slide of a profession that had done so well in the past and simply floundering now.

If we wanted to establish a new relationship with our readers, we would need to deepen the factual elements in our reporting. We hoped that this would attract attention from our audience and build loyalty in the long term. This is why we put investigative reporting at the heart of our value proposition. We then added data journalism to reinforce the analytical thrust of our reporting and incorporated a regular fact-checking component into our storytelling. In all this, we were outliers and innovators.

Q. Back in 2020, you were one of the journalists awarded with the International Press Freedom Awards by the CPJ. What did the award mean to you and which would you say are the main challenges for press freedom in Nigeria today?

A. The award was a great honour. I never lose sight of the fact that when a team leader gets recognition, its an affirmation of the sacrifices and the vision of the whole team. Media freedoms have improved in some respects in Nigeria and its now better than during the military dictatorship, but there is still a lot of work to be done. We have many constraining laws that make journalism practically impossible. There is regulatory overreach and an emerging surveillance culture. Newsrooms are going through many challenges: economic headwinds, lack of diversity and disappointing ratings. According to the Press Attack Tracker, the safety of journalists has become a far greater issue today than at any time in recent history.

Q. Nigerias media landscape has some ongoing challenges including poor welfare and broken business models. How do you think that these challenges have affected the countrys media industry?

A. Mostly negatively. Poor welfare and weak business models have made it impossible to attract and retain talent in the way we would have loved to. They have also made it difficult to align our practice with our mission. For if we have to hold power accountable and do it independently and fearlessly, the resources to achieve this will be far more than what the industry currently generates.

Q.Whats the funding model of your nonprofit?

A. As a not-for-profit newsroom, CJID is largely funded by the generosity of various donors as well as grants and donations. Our responsibility to them is to deliver quality programmes, products and services to the industry, to be truly and transparently accountable, and to submit our operations to a governing board, which has integrity and the right instincts and confidence to exert oversight.

Q. Trust in news has fallen recently in many countries. How can this problem be addressed?

A. This is a problem that journalism inherited from politics because democracy cannot function effectively without legitimacy and trust. These two elements are what elections try to resolve periodically at the ballot box. What is distinct about trust is that its presence often leads to the expansion of legitimacy and vice versa. Additionally, it comes with a moral quotient: integrity.

The gifted American scholar Robert McChesney puts it eloquently when he says that democracy deteriorates insofar as journalism deteriorates. To rebuild trust in the media, we have to be able to realise those three principal goals that the media always sets out to achieve; promote accountability, set the agenda for democracy and development, and effective gatekeeping through which it becomes a substantive surrogate parliament.

Achieving this requires finding a sustainable business model and a new governance model that ensures accountability and gives a voice to the public, readers, producers and market actors.

Q. Premium Times has collaborated with both other outlets in projects such as the Panama Papers. How have these collaborations changed the organisation?

A. Quite frankly, one would have hoped for a more profound social impact. But however consequential your work is, if it is not accommodating a collection or group action, the impact will run off, which is why investigative journalism must continue to be promoted, and why journalists should be working collaboratively.

Take the case of the Panama Papers, where Premium Times had reported about three dozen public officials on tax avoidance. There was accountability across the globe on this expose of corrupt practices. For instance, the President of Iceland resigned; David Cameron gave a public apology; some were subjected to rigorous tax audits and investigations and others went to jail. Ironically, nothing happened to the indicted persons in Nigeria. But I have hopes for the future. As the saying goes, yesterday is a story gone, tomorrow can still be written in gold.

There is a collaborative effort of investigative journalists coming together, thats building on the foundation of leaks.ng, which brings together investigative journalists to work around common coverage and common distribution of content. Eventually, this kind of ground-breaking investigative reporting will lead to public acceptance and action.

Q. Your nonprofit runs Dubawa, which seeks to debunk and fight misinformation in West Africa. What potential risks do you think misinformation poses in the continent?

A. This is perhaps the greatest challenge to democracy today. Here is why. It can systematically feed the wrong information to voters, thereby compromising the integrity of the ballot. It can foment strife and conflict and even cause wide scale fatalities. Misinformation can trigger abuses, reputation damage, bullying, harassment and intimidation. These are the reasons why the work of fact-checkers and media literacy actors is far more important now than ever.

Q. How do you think the media should cover the upcoming Nigerian election as well as other elections in the continent?

A. It is important to ensure that media coverage is thoughtful, credible and accountable; that we are not merely parroting events as they happen, but offer context so that we can achieve accuracy and meaning in storytelling. It is important that we are guided by the central core of our ethics, which require that we are truthful, factual and accurate, that we are providing verification at all times and that the public interest is the dominant consideration in our reporting.

In addition, we must be knowledgeable of the instruments guiding and regulating the electoral process such as the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the recently amended Electoral Act.

Patrick Egwu is a Nigerian freelance investigative journalist based in Toronto, Canada where he is currently a William Southam Journalism Fellow at Massey College, University of Toronto. Formerly based in Johannesburg as an Open Society Foundation Fellow, his reporting is at the intersection of human rights, social justice, global health, migration, conflict and development in sub-Saharan Africa, and has been published by Foreign Policy, NPR, Daily Maverick, African Arguments, Rest of World, World Politics Review, Global Investigative Journalism Network and elsewhere. You can find his work here.

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MONROVIA  A witness has told Gibril Massaquous appeal hearings in Monrovia that he saw the former commander of Sierra Leones Revolutionary United Front ordering the beheading of a teenage girl at Waterside in Monrovia. The hearings are taking place at the RLJ Hotel along the Monrovia-Robertsfield highway because Finlands Turtu Appeal Court has come to Liberia to witnesses, some of whom are victims of Missisquois alleged crimes, including aggravated murder and aggravated rape during Liberias second civil war between 1999 and 2003. Finnish prosecutors are challenging Massaquois 2022 acquittal by the District Court in Tampere.

Now almost 35, the witness said he was 14 when he witnessed the alleged brutal killing in 2003. He said he and his friends had gone to the Waterside market to buy goods when they were captured by Massaquoi and his men. He said the girl, among the captives, was asked by Massaquoi to leave the crowd. He said afterwards, Massaquoi ordered his bodyguards, including one Bossman, to kill the girl.

He called for a stool that had blood stain all on it and made her lay on the stool and he ordered us to watch and see, said the witness. He cut the girls neck right in front of my eyes. I was scared because it was my first time to witness this.

The witness told the court after the girls beheading, Massaquoi used a remark hes been infamously associated with in the trial.

He said when you go to heaven tell God that I, Angel Gabriel sent you.

Just as its done throughout these proceedings, the defence again tried to impeach the witnesss credibility over apparent inconsistency. Paula Sallinen, a defense lawyer reminded him of his testimony to the district court in which he said the incident occurred between 2001 and 2002 and that Massaquoi had ordered the slaying of the throats of two men. But the witness said he was misunderstood by Finnish police who interviewed him about the case, as he only told the lower court that it was a man and a woman whose throats Massaquoi ordered slayed.

Mondays second witness also claimed she and other civilians, some of whom were her friends, were captured by Massaquoi and his men at Waterside when they had gone there to buy goods.

The witness, who said she was 16 at the time, said they were taken under the bridge and tortured. She alleged the unlucky girls and women were taken to a nearby house and raped.

Asked by prosecutors how she knew people were allegedly taken to the building and raped, the witness said she could tell from the cries.

People were shouting, crying, and saying we are dying. They are hurting us and raping us.

The witness said she and her friends, including one Mamie, were saved after a senior Liberian army officer arrived on the scene of the alleged incident and became furious with Massaquoi and ordered him to release all of them.

The defence again tried to raise questions about the witnesss credibility over a prior inconsistent statement. Kaarle Gummerus, a defence lawyer, reminded the witness about her testimony to the District Court in which she said she was accompanied to Waterside in 2002 by a friend only identified as Princess. But she told the appeal hearings that she went to Waterside with Johnson, not Princess.

READ ALSO: Finnish War Crimes Court returns to Liberia for Massaquoi appeal

The third witness, one of the oldest to testify in the ongoing proceedings, said he was also arrested and tortured by Massaquoi and his men when he and his wife had gone shopping at Waterside in 2002. He said he and his wife went separate ways when they heard gun sounds.

I suffered double pain, said the witness, 82. I lost my wife, and they wounded me with the gun on my eyes.

The witness said he was freed after one of the soldiers who knew him recognized him among the crowd and pleaded with Massaquoi to let him go. As he ended his testimony, the witness challenged the three-judge panel to be fair and transparent in their verdict to leave a lesson for the future.

I am not doing this for anything but for the sake of my grandchildrens future, he said. I am not only a father but a grandfather with 32 grandchildren. Be transparent in everything you do so it can be a great lesson for tomorrow.

The hearings continue on Tuesday.

This story was a collaboration with New Narratives as part of its West African Justice Reporting Project.

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The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Tuesday, restated its earlier order stopping the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from suspending or expelling Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, from the party.

The judge, James Omotosho, had on 2 February issued the restraining order against the party in a ruling on an ex parte application filed by Mr Wike.

At the resumption of the suit on Tuesday, the judge ordered parties in the suit not to take steps that would render the courts judgement worthless.

The order of this court made on 2 February, 2023, is hereby extended till the hearing and determination of the substantive suit, Mr Omotosho restated his order.

In the suit, Mr Wike urged the court to protect his fundamental human rights by restraining the PDP; its National Working Committee; National Executive Committee; National Chairman of the party, Iyorchia Ayu, and the PDP National Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu  from carrying out its threat to either suspend or expel him from the party.

At Tuesdays proceedings, Mr Wikes lawyer, Joshua Musa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), acknowledged receipt of court filings from the PDP

We were served (with court processes) on 10 February. So, we are within time to respond to them. We will respond to the processes filed, Mr Musa informed the court.

Responding to the judges order, PDPs lawyer, Johnson Usman, a SAN, promised, We will not tamper with the res (subject matter of the case pending its determination).

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was represented by M.A Bawa.

Subject to the agreement of lawyers in the case, the judge adjourned the suit till 6 March for the hearing of all pending applications and the substantive matter.

Background

Mr Wike has been at loggerheads with the leadership of the PDP, shortly after he lost out in the partys presidential primary election last May.

The Rivers governor leads the G5, a group of five PDP governors who are disconsolate with the party leadership.

The G-5 governors comprise  Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Samuel Ortom (Benue), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), Okezie Ikpaeazu (Abia) and Seyi Makinde (Oyo).

Following Atiku Abubakars emergence as PDPs presidential standard-bearer, the G5 governors have consistently demanded the resignation of the partys national chairman, Mr Ayu, who hails from northern Nigeria as Atiku.

They complain of northern domination of the party leadership.

But Mr Ayu remains adamant in relinquishing his post.

Due to a recent suspension of some members of the PDP sympathetic to the G-5 cause, Mr Wike filed the case against the backdrop of rumoured plans by the PDP to either suspend or expel him from the party.

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Nigerias former Minister of State for Health, Muhammad Pate, has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer of the vaccine alliance, GAVI.

Mr Pate will assume duties on 3 August when he will take over from Seth Berkley, who has led the alliance in the past 12 years, GAVI announced on Monday.

Mr Berkley will continue to serve as CEO until 2 August, while working with incoming CEO Pate to ensure a smooth transition.

Commenting on the appointment, the Chair of the Gavi Board, Jose Barroso, said: Dr Muhammad Ali Pate stood out in a field of world-class candidates. With his knowledge and experience of both national immunization programming and international emergency response and global finance, I am confident that Gavi will continue to build on its vision and mission, as well as navigate the many challenges and opportunities we will face.

Im deeply honoured to be joining Gavi as its incoming CEO. Gavi is one of the most impactful organisations in global health, a testament to the great work of the Alliance partners and Secretariat staff, Mr Pate said in his acceptance speech.

He added that it will be his privilege to lead and build on the work of Mr Berkley, and continue to support countries to scale up critical routine immunisation programmes, reach more zero-dose children, expand access to new vaccines, transform primary health care systems, and help fight outbreaks and future pandemics.

A medical doctor trained in both internal medicine and infectious diseases, with an MBA from Duke University in the United States, Mr Pate is currently the Julio Frenk Professor of Public Health Leadership at Harvard Chan School of Public Health and has served on several health-focused boards and expert panels in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors during his career.

He served as the Global Director for Health, Nutrition and Population of the World Bank and Director of the Global Financing Facility at the World Bank between 2019 and 2021. He led the Banks $18 billion COVID-19 global health response and represented the Bank on various boards, including those of Gavi, the Global Fund, CEPI and UNAIDS.

As Nigerias Minister of State for Health between 2011 and 2013, he led a flagship initiative to revive routine vaccinations and primary health care, chaired a presidential task force to eradicate polio and introduced new vaccines into the country.

Outgoing CEO Berkley said: Leading Gavi and helping the Alliance to continually surpass itself in terms of saving lives, protecting children and supporting countries during global health emergencies has been the greatest honour of my career. I am proud and humbled to have been part of what the Alliance has achieved, and I am confident in its future under Muhammads leadership: having worked with him during his time as Minister and at the World Bank, I know he understands intimately the landscape we work in and will be uncompromising in his drive for public health equity.

About GAVI

Gavi, the vaccine alliance, is a public-private partnership that helps vaccinate half the worlds children against some of the worlds deadliest diseases. Since its inception in 2000, Gavi has helped to immunise a whole generation  over 981 million children  and prevented more than 16.2 million future deaths, helping to halve child mortality in 73 lower-income countries.

Gavi also plays a key role in improving global health security by supporting health systems as well as funding global stockpiles for Ebola, cholera, meningococcal and yellow fever vaccines. After two decades of progress, Gavi is now focused on protecting the next generation, above all the zero-dose children who have not received even a single vaccine shot.

Gavi is a co-convener of COVAX, the vaccines pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, together with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF. In its role, Gavi is focused on procurement and delivery for COVAX: coordinating the design, implementation and administration of the COVAX Facility and the Gavi COVAX AMC and working with its Alliance partners  UNICEF and WHO  along with governments, on country readiness and delivery.

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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has attributed recent protests calling for the removal of its chairperson, Abdulrasheed Bawa, to individuals smarting from their investigations for corruption.

The commissions spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, addressed journalists on behalf of Mr Bawa at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday.

Mr Uwujaren described the protesters as rented crowds and said the commission would not be distracted by their demonstrations.

He said the information available to the commission, indicates that persons under investigation by the commission sponsor the group.

He also said the persons have been mobilised and mandated by their paymaster to embarrass the person of the chairman through choreographed street protests across the country until he is removed from office.

He said the commission needed to raise the alarm about the activities of an amorphous group of so-called Civil Society Organisations as such is a campaign to discredit the person of the Chairman of the EFCC, Abdulrasheed Bawa and incite the public against the commission.

Contrary to these claims, the EFCC wishes to alert the public that this group have no interest in the fight against corruption and their allusion to disobedience of court orders by the EFCC chairman is an alibi to manipulate facts around judicial pronouncements and processes to pit the public against the commission, Mr Uwujaren said.

Contempt

There have been reports of protests by a group styled as the Coalition of Anti-Corruption Organisations calling for the removal of the EFCC chairman and his arrest for contempt.

One of the protesters, Ayodeji Ologun of the Transparency and Accountability Group, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to also overhaul the anti-graft commission to recover its past glory and for a better Nigeria.

The protests were triggered by a recent judgement of Kogi State High Court, Lokoja, that jailed Mr Bawa for contempt.

His conviction, the second in four months, followed a request by a nephew of Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State, Ali Bello, who accused the EFCC chair of violating a court judgement that declared his arrest and detention last year illegal.

Mr Bello said EFCC arraigned him on 15 December 2022 in violation of the courts judgement.

Ruling, the judge, Rukayat Ayoola, ordered the Inspector-General of Police to arrest Mr Bawa and put him in prison until he purges himself of the contempt.

The police have yet to enforce the court order, while the EFCC has appealed against the court decision.

But undeterred, the commission went ahead to arraign Mr Bello on another set of N3 billion money laundering charges at the Federal High Court in Abuja.

Mr Bawa was earlier cited for contempt by the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Abuja on 28 October 2022.

The court jailed Mr Bawa but the police, ordered to enforce the imprisonment, did not take any action.

The earlier case was filed by a former Director of Operations at the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), Rufus Ojuawo, a retired air vice marshal (AVM), who was previously prosecuted by the EFCC on corruption charges but was acquitted,

In his application levelling a charge of contempt against EFCC and its chairperson, Mr Ojuawo accused the agency and its leadership of violating the courts order on 21 November 2018, ordering them to return his seized Range Rover and N40 million to him.

But the court on 10 November 2022 nullified its committal order following an application by the EFCC chair to reverse itself.

Ruling on the request, Ms Oji said she was satisfied that the EFCC Chairman did not disregard the courts orders, asking him to release seized assets belonging to Rufus Ojuawo, a retired air vice marshal.

EFCC urges public to disregard protests

The EFCC, on Tuesday, described the protesters call for Mr Bawas removal based on Mr Bawas conviction on contempt was aimed at inciting the public against the commission.

Mr Uwujaren said the group found its voice after the commission launched an investigation against a particular state for looting the treasury.

Their latest dance in the market square came a few hours after family members of a sitting state governor were arraigned at an Abuja court for allegedly stealing the states funds, he said.

EFCC appeals to the public to disregard the campaign by this group as they do not represent the genuine interest of millions of Nigerians who are desirous of seeing progress in the fight against corruption, the commission said.

Read EFCCs full speech

Sponsored Campaign Against EFCC Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa

1. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, wishes to raise the alarm about the activities of an amorphous group of so-called Civil Society Organizations who have recently embarked on a campaign to discredit the person of the Chairman of the EFCC, Abdulrasheed Bawa and incite the public against the Commission.

2. The group, through press conferences and staged street protests, have been calling for the sack of the EFCC Chairman for alleged disobedience of court orders. They claim they are motivated by the need to strengthen the fight against corruption.

3. Contrary to these claims, the EFCC wishes to alert the public that this group have no interest in the fight against Corruption and their allusion to disobedience of court orders by the EFCC chairman is an alibi to manipulate facts around judicial pronouncements and processes to pitch the public against the Commission.

4. Information available to the Commission, indicates that the group is sponsored by persons under investigation by the Commission and have been mobilized and mandated by their paymaster to embarrass the person of the chairman through choreographed street protests across the country, until he is removed from office

5. It is significant that this group found its voice after the EFCC launched an investigation into the mindless looting of the treasury of one of the states. This same group shouted that the Commission lacked the power to investigate the theft of the states resources. Their latest dance in the market square came a few hours after family members of a sitting state governor were arraigned at an Abuja court for allegedly stealing the states funds.

6. EFCC appeals to the public to disregard the campaign by this group as they do not represent the genuine interest of millions of Nigerians who are desirous of seeing progress in the fight against Corruption. The spectre of rented crowd, rented CSOs, etc are blights in our social fabric and manifest demonstration of how deep-seated corruption has permeated every sector of our society.

7. We want to assure Nigerians that the EFCC will not be distracted by this campaign of calumny as we believe that this agenda will fail.

8. It is also important to reassure Nigerians and all stakeholders that the Commission has never, and will not take any steps to undermine the judiciary. As a law abiding institution, EFCC has conducted all its activities within the ambit of the law. Where judicial decisions were made against it, it has never resorted to self-help but availed itself of remedies under the law as it did in the instant case of committal orders of court.

9. It is important to revisit the circumstances of the two orders of committal against the EFCC Chairman. The first order by an FCT High Court on November 8, 2022 was issued over the failure to comply with a November 21st, 2018 order of the court directing the Commission to return seized assets comprising a Range Rover SUV and the sum of N40, 000,000.00 (Forty Million Naira) to the applicant.

10. For the benefit of the public, the said order of the FCT High Court was given three years before Abdulrasheed Bawa became EFCC Chairman. Also, the contempt process is quasi criminal in nature and must be served on the person involved. In this case, Bawa as chairman of the EFCC, was neither served Form 48 nor Form 49.

11. Despite this fact, the Executive Chairman, upon being made aware of the said order of November 21st, 2018 had released the Range Rover in question to the Applicant on the 27th of June, 2022 and had approved the process of the release of the remaining N40m before the committal order was issued.

12. His action does not show contempt for the court or the judiciary which he holds in great esteem.

13. In the case of the last order by Justice R.O. Ayoola of the Kogi State High Court, the processes are still ongoing so I am constrained to make categorical statements. Suffice is to say that in invoking Form 49, the court failed to take cognizance of a pending appeal of its ruling of November 30, which directed the Commission to produce a fraud suspect, one Ali Bello. It also failed to transmit records of appeal to the Court of Appeal.

14. The Commission believes it was denied fair hearing as the alleged infringement of the rights of the applicant happened in Abuja which is outside the jurisdiction of the Kogi High court. As a law abiding institution, EFCC approached the appellate court, for a stay of execution. This is a valid and lawful remedy by law and does not evoke any aura of impunity or disregard for the judiciary.

15. It is therefore evident that those claiming that Bawa has a penchant for flouting court orders are simply up to mischief, which is clearly the central theme of the plot by the so- called civil society group.

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Gunmen have razed the Oguta High Court in Oguta Local Government Area of Imo State, South-east Nigeria.

The gunmen attacked the facility at about 11.30 p.m. on Sunday, according to a report by the Punch.

The court building is inside the council headquarters.

Apart from various offices in the court, several court records and files were said to have been burnt by the gunmen during the attack.

An unnamed source told the Punch newspaper that the Magistrates Court Registry, Appeal Court Record Office, File Room, Secretary to the High Court Judges office, Office of the High Court bailiff, and the chamber of the High Court judge were all burnt in the attack.

The whole of the block has cracked and no reasonable human being will ever go near the facility, the source stated.

The Sole Administrator of Oguta Local Government Area, Ijioma Ofili, said the incident had been reported to security agencies, the paper reported.

Mr Ofili assured that investigations would unravel the identities of the attackers.

When contacted, the police spokesperson in Imo State, Henry Okoye, confirmed the attack to PREMIUM TIMES.

We are currently conducting an investigation to ascertain the identity of the hoodlums who carried out the attack, said Mr Okoye, an assistant superintendent of police.

Worsening insecurity

Like other states in Nigerias South-east, security has deteriorated in Imo State with frequent attacks by armed persons.

The attacks often target security agencies, government officials and facilities.

The latest attack occurred hours after gunmen shot the chairperson of the Peoples Democratic Party in Ogbaku Ward, Mbaitolu Local Government Area of the state.

Ten days ago, gunmen killed a Nigerian judge in the state during a court session.

About three weeks ago, Gunmen beheaded the sole administrator of Ideato North Local Government Area of the state.

In late January, a police officer was killed by gunmen who attacked Oguta Divisional Police Headquarters in Oguta Local Government Area of the state.

Gunmen, suspected to be members of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), in mid-January, attacked Agwa Vigilante Group in Agwa Community in the same Oguta Council Area of the state.

Three suspected members of the IPOB were killed by police operatives who foiled the attack.

The Nigerian government has accused the IPOB of being responsible for the deadly attacks in the region. But the group has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attacks.

IPOB is a group leading the agitation for an independent state of Biafra which it wants to be carved out from the South-east and some parts of the South-south Nigeria.

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President Muhammadu Buhari Monday called for the lifting of the blanket visa ban on Nigerians by the government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The president made the request while condoling with the President of the United Arab Emirates, Mohamed bin Zayed, on the death of his mother-in-law.

The President requested his UAE counterpart to review the blanket visa ban imposed on Nigerians intending to travel to the UAE, recalling that mutually beneficial excellent relations have subsisted between the two nations over many years, symbolised by robust economic interactions and regular consultations on matters of common interest, including engagements at the highest political levels, Garba Shehu, a presidential spokesperson, said in a statement.

The UAE in October 2022 placed a ban on Nigeria which bars Nigerians from entering the country.

The Nigerian leader admitted that some Nigerians may be violating the laws of the UAE but said that was not enough to impose a blanket ban. He said no country including Nigeria will condone criminalities and illegal behaviours.

Mr Buhari expressed readiness to apply necessary sanctions through appropriate judicial processes against persons who commit criminal acts in the UAE. He urged that the issue be allowed to be handled by the relevant security/intelligence agencies of the two countries and to come up with lasting solutions to the problems associated with criminalities and illegalities.

READ ALSO: 542 stranded Nigerians return from UAE

He also requested a resumption of the suspended operations of Emirates Airline in Nigeria.

Emirates Airlines suspended its operations in Nigeria in October 2022 due to its inability to repatriate its funds trapped in Nigeria.

Mr Buhari assured that the issue of the Emirates funds was receiving appropriate attention alongside those of other foreign airlines operating in Nigeria.

The Central Bank of Nigeria, he added, had been directed to increase foreign exchange allocation to the airline.

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The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Tuesday, slated 20 February, for ruling on a bail application filed by Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bellos nephew, Ali Bello, in a N3 billion money laundering trial.

Obiora Egwuatu, the judge, adjourned the case for ruling after taking arguments from lawyers to parties in the suit.

With the ruling, Mr Bello and his co-defendants who have been in prison for six days since their arraignment on 8 February still have at least six more days to spend in detention should the court grant them bail on 20 February.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on 8 February, arraigned Mr Bello alongside Abba Adauda, Yakubu Siyaka Adabenege and Iyada Sadat on money laundering charges. The offences, according to the anti-graft agency, involved alleged misappropriation of over N3 billion.

Mr Bellos wife, Rashida Bello, who is allegedly involved in the alleged crimes, is said to be on the run.

They were subsequently remanded in prison after the defendants pleaded not guilty to the 18-count charge.

Arguments over bail

At Tuesdays sitting, the defendants lawyer, Ahmed Raji, urged the court to admit his clients to bail on liberal terms.

Mr Raji, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), argued that the Nigerian constitution presumes a defendant innocent until proven otherwise.

But he noted that the issue of bail is at the discretion of the court.

The defence lawyer contended that there is no evidence to support all the allegations in the counter-affidavit filed by the EFCC in opposition to the bail application.

Mr Raji recalled that the anti-graft agency had bail to his clients while it was investigating the matter.

For more than a year ago, they have been investigating them and the EFCC admitted the defendants to bail.

They (EFCC) released the 3rd defendants international passport to him and he travelled to Saudi Arabia and came back.

The defendants will not run away. The issues are mere allegations, he argued, urging the judge to grant the defendants bail.

Bello a flight risk

But in opposition to the defendants bail application, EFCCs lawyer, Kabiru Hussain, said Mr Bello is a flight risk.

In his contention, Mr Hussain drew the courts attention to the alleged enormous resources in possession of the Kogi governors nephew.

Given the enormous amount of resources at the disposal of the 1st defendant and his influence in the state (Kogi), we urge this Court to refuse him bail, Mr Hussain begged the court.

He argued that the defendants have the capacity to jump bail, comprise witnesses and destroy evidence.

Countering the defence lawyers argument that the defendants were on administrative bail, Mr Hussain said, Now that the defendants have been confronted with the proof of evidence and they now understand the gravity of the issues against them, they are most likely to jump bail.

He urged the court to either refuse the bail request and order an accelerated trial or impose excessive bail conditions that would compel the defendants to stand trial.

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The federal government on Tuesday in Abuja, inaugurated a 22-member Presidential Transition Council ahead of the 2023 handover to the incoming government.

The committee, chaired by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, has Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Solicitor-General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Justice as members.

Others are permanent secretaries from the ministries and offices responsible for defence, interior, budget and national planning, foreign affairs, information and culture, Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs.

The rest are the Permanent Secretaries, Cabinet Affairs, General Service Affairs, Economic and Political Affairs, office of the SGF, State House, National Security Adviser, Chief of Defence Staff, Inspector-General of Police, Director General, National Intelligence Agency, Director General, State Security Services, Clerk of the National Assembly, Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court of Nigeria and two representatives who are to be nominated by the president-elect after the general elections.

In his remark, Mr Mustapha said President Muhammadu Buhari, in furtherance of his commitment to allow a fair and credible electoral process and handover of power to the next president of Nigeria, signed Executive Order No. 14 of 2023.

According to him, the order is on the facilitation and management of Presidential Transitions, which provides the legal framework for a seamless transition of power from one administration to another.

Today marks another historic moment for our administration, as we yet again demonstrate our commitment to strengthening key governance institutions that support our democratic process.

It is with great delight and honour therefore, that I am carrying out the onerous task of inaugurating the Presidential Transition Council, on behalf of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

According to him, the council is charged with the responsibility of facilitating and managing the 2023 Presidential Transition Programme, and facilitating the handing over process by the current president to the president-elect.

Other responsibilities included to organise for the security of the president-elect and the vice president-elect, including coordinating security briefings on the nations security matters, post-elections among others.

The SGF said he would on his own capacity as the chairman of the council, do everything within his powers to ensure that the council meets the expectations of Mr President.

I enjoin each of us to put in more efforts in ensuring that the next administration receives every support needed to make an early and quick start.

Responding on behalf of the council members, Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Folasade Yemi-Esan, expressed gratitude to Mr Buhari for the confidence reposed in them.

Mrs Yemi-Esan said the steps taken by Buhari to establish the transition council before the presidential election is not only proactive but is also selfless and a noble decision in the interest of the country.

This will no doubt remain as one of his legacies after his administration.

It is also important for us as a committee to state that the importance of the work that we have been saddled with can never be overemphasized. It in view of the remarkable landmark achievement of the presidents administration.

Mr Buhari will exit power on 29 May when his second and final term will elapse.

(NAN)

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The State Security Services (SSS) has said that the invitation of Femi Fani-Kayode, a spokesperson of the APC Presidential Campaign Council on Monday, was in respect of an investigation.

The Public Relations Officer of SSS, Peter Afunanya, said this in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja.

Mr Afunanya said the investigation was in respect of some of the former ministers allegations and insinuations relating to issues relevant to national security.

He said Mr Fani-Kayode was made to face a panel which interviewed him on the subject matter before granting him administrative bail.

He said the former aviation minister had been directed to make routine returns to the SSS with effect from Wednesday till otherwise while his investigation continues.

Mr Afunanya called on political parties and their media managers to apply restraint in their utterances and public communication engagements before and after the general elections.

He said the call was to avoid heating the polity and evoking tendencies that could lead to violent reactions as well as undermine peace and order.

Mr Fani-Kayode, via a tweet last week, alleged that the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, met secretly with some serving military generals. He said the meeting could be part of a plan to destabilize the country and pave the way for a coup detat.

The APC campaign spokesperson appeared before the secret police on Monday during which he was interrogated for about five hours.

After the interrogation, Mr Fani-Kayode said he regretted what he said.

The Nigerian Army has since denied the alleged secret meeting with Atiku and described it as wicked and very malicious propaganda.

(NAN)

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Nigeria cannot afford to get it wrong in this election. We must accept that impunity has emboldened rascality in our electoral journey, thereby imperiling accountability and stability. Our local systems have been found wanting in ensuring individual accountability for bad behaviour This is the time to embrace the solidarity that the international community offers us  a partnership that can provide us an additional layer of accountability for a political class that has shown disregard for democracy and human lives.

Three recent events paint a sobering picture of the climate for the general elections happening in Nigeria from the 25th of February. The Supreme Court of Nigeria, in what is fast becoming a culture of notorious disregard for substantive justice, returned the incumbent Senate President, Ahmad Lawan as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for Yobe North Senatorial District in Yobe State, North-East Nigeria. Senator Ahmad Lawan ran and lost the presidential primaries of APC. He was not a candidate for the Senate primaries but somehow, the Supreme Court endorsed the substitution of a validly nominated candidate by the ruling party. This decision was premised on a dubious technicality at variance with the established judicial precedent by the same court, which places substantive justice above technicalities. What happened in the highest court of the land is an example of what the judiciary has become in Nigeria. In a 2020 poll on the public perception of government institutions, the judiciary in Nigeria came out with very poor ratings. More than 80% of Nigerians consider the institution to be very corrupt. The institution is hemorrhaging credibility and does not command the trust of Nigerians.

In another incident, a trending audio recording in Nigeria captured the Baale of Igbara and his cabinet openly threatening residents of Igbara in the Eti-Osa local government area of Lagos State to either vote their preferred candidate or leave town. This chilling audio, reminiscent of the threat of the Oba of Lagos against an ethnic group in 2019, conveys the level of impunity and weaponisation of ethnicity in the 2023 general elections. Similar utterances implicating senior public officials and influential Nigerians have been made public across the country, with little or no effort at accountability. There is always the standard response of the police that they will investigate the matter, but nothing ever comes out of the process, especially in instances where the threat favours the party in power.

The third incident is the growing complaint, especially in Lagos, that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials are systemically profiling voters on ethnic and religious basis and refusing to provide voters cards to individuals who they believe may have sympathy for opposition candidates. This was followed by the faux pas committed by the INEC Twitter handle where it liked a comment berating the presidential candidate of the Labour Party. INEC has been hard at work trying to distance itself from the Twitter incident, but has not yet offered any convincing official response to the accusations of willful denial of access of people to their voters cards, by some of its officials across the country. The perception of INECs credibility and impartiality is fundamental in ensuring the acceptance of election outcomes.

With the obvious weakness in our national accountability framework, individual accountability must be strengthened and supported by global solidarity. This layer of accountability that targets assets and the travel privileges of our political class has been one effective tool compelling restraint in Nigeria. In 2015, the combined pressure from the International Criminal Court, other influential countries in Africa, and the West helped in curtailing the worst instincts of politicians.

These incidents are interrelated and have a chilling consequence on the integrity and security of the 2023 elections in Nigeria. Impunity has been a major challenge confronting our elections in Nigeria. Individual accountability rarely happens. Politicians are willing and able to cross the line to illegality to emerge victorious in elections. Violence, bribery, and intimidation have been the tools of choice. They just want to win, no matter the costs. The Certificate of Return has become an ultimate price that politicians seek, regardless of how many laws are broken or lives endangered in the process. They know that the immunity the certificate confers shields them from both legal, judicial, and political consequences. They very well understand the inadequacies of our accountability regime in Nigeria and the fact that institutions in the country can easily be bent in the service of narrow political interests and the protection of contrived electoral victory. Individuals who go on record threatening Nigerians understand this too. The Nigeria state has no monopoly of coercive powers, has no solid record of punishing violence and is notorious for rewarding those who can wield violence. People like the Baale of Igbara Land or the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Lagos, who questioned why non-indigenes of Lagos should be voting in Lagos, enjoy the cloak of protection that weaponised ethnicity and a fractured legal system provide. But these inadequacies are the recipe for disaster and violence. With a compromised judiciary, legal redress becomes a mirage and the resort to self-help is the appealing option. The consequences of this in a volatile election year is scary to imagine.

With the obvious weakness in our national accountability framework, individual accountability must be strengthened and supported by global solidarity. This layer of accountability that targets assets and the travel privileges of our political class has been one effective tool compelling restraint in Nigeria. In 2015, the combined pressure from the International Criminal Court, other influential countries in Africa, and the West helped in curtailing the worst instincts of politicians. Like 2015, we need that global solidarity and common message of the international community to remind Nigeria of its obligations to its citizens and the numerous international commitments that it has subscribed to. In understanding the potency of international scrutiny, politicians have been on a campaign to resist it. Their argument is that Nigeria is a sovereign state, and no external partner should offer opinion about our elections. Sadly, some of the mediation initiatives being put together in the country are falling for this self-serving nationalistic argument that is only put forward when politicians want to avoid individual accountability. Questions are being raised on why Nigeria should allow international observers or why anybody should tell Nigeria how to conduct their elections. These questions are absurd. The demand of the international community from Nigeria is for the country to abide by its own constitution and protect the voices of its citizens, as expressed through the ballot. This is not evidence of colonial or Western arrogance but a celebrated norm of global solidarity. These same countries are putting in millions of dollars to support the electoral process in Nigeria. We only plead sovereignty when we are called out but not when we collect funds from our international friends.

Mediators in Nigeria and various election missions currently in the country must focus their efforts on ensuring individual accountability by those who by their actions or inactions undermine the democratic process and endanger lives. The focus is not about papering over the obvious but calling out dangerous practices as they see it. Neutrality in the face of evil only strengthens the hands of the perpetrators.

Mediators in Nigeria and various election missions currently in the country must focus their efforts on ensuring individual accountability by those who by their actions or inactions undermine the democratic process and endanger lives. The focus is not about papering over the obvious but calling out dangerous practices as they see it. Neutrality in the face of evil only strengthens the hands of the perpetrators. Any mediation effort that is neutral to justice and abuse of process is only validating the very same actions that can plunge Nigeria into crisis. Furthermore, the focus is not about getting Nigerians to behave after the elections but ensuring that Nigeria delivers a credible election that satisfies the yearnings of Nigerians. The burden of good behaviour should be more on INEC and politicians, rather than on hapless Nigerians who have been bearing the burden of electoral brigandage for too long.

Nigeria cannot afford to get it wrong in this election. We must accept that impunity has emboldened rascality in our electoral journey, thereby imperiling accountability and stability. Our local systems have been found wanting in ensuring individual accountability for bad behaviour This is the time to embrace the solidarity that the international community offers us  a partnership that can provide us an additional layer of accountability for a political class that has shown disregard for democracy and human lives.

Udo Jude Ilo tweets @udoilo and is the Founding Partner of Thoughts and Mace Advisory.

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The Military on Monday assured Nigerians that the 2023 elections would hold peacefully in the South-east states and all parts of the country despite threats by criminal elements.

The Chief of Defence Staff, Lucky Irabor, a general, gave the assurance in Abuja at the 25th edition of President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) Scorecard Series.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the edition featured the Minister of Defence, Bashir Magashi, who presented the scorecard of the ministry.

Responding to a question on the threat by the Simon Ekpa-led faction of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to stop the elections in the South-east zone, Mr Irabor said no person or group can stop the polls.

The armed forces are working in concert with the police and other security agencies to ensure that the menace of criminalities from IPOB and Eastern Security Network are eliminated, he said.

There has been an upsurge in security breaches in the South-east, comprising Anambra, Imo, Enugu, Ebonyi and Abia States, in the recent past.

READ ALSO:

Facilities belonging to the Nigeria Police and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have been variously attacked by suspected members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its military wing, Eastern Security Network.

Besides, some politicians and security operatives were also killed.

No territory under Boko Haram control

Mr Irabor also corroborated the position of the Defence Minister that no territory of Nigeria is under the control of the Boko Haram or any other terrorist group.

He said all communities in the North-east zones of the country had been liberated from the criminal elements.

Mr Irabor said the military was on a mission for the final cleansing of the North-east region from terrorists.

He reiterated that the fact that the military had not ceased operations in the region did not mean that the terrorists were still occupying any portion of the nations territory.

(NAN)

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The director-general of Obi-Datti presidential campaign council, Akin Osuntokun, has distanced himself from a press statement which claimed that the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akinolu, disallowed the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, from visiting him during his campaign rally in the state on Saturday.

In a statement on Monday, Mr Osuntokun said the said statement is deceptive and did not come from him.

My attention has been drawn to a fictitious Press Release purportedly released by me titled Oba of Lagos: LP courtesy Visit, the statement reads.

The said deceptive release claimed, among other things that We informed Oba of Lagos that Peter Obi wanted to come and pay homage to him before our rally in Lagos but Oba said that we should not come. The fictitious release further claimed that Obas reason for not wanting to meet with Peter Obi was that Oba is not interested in seeing another presidential candidate except Bola Tinubu.

I wish to clearly state that the fictitious release did not emanate from me, and I never had such a conversation with the revered Oba of Lagos or any of his representatives. Please disregard the release at whatever it represents.

Henceforth, please disregard any other release that does not originate from our campaigns official communication channels.

On Saturday, the LP candidate had his last campaign rally at the Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos after travelling across the country to canvass for votes.

His supporters were attacked by hoodlums and some vehicles were destroyed at the rally venue.

READ ALSO:

Speaking on Arise TVs morning show on Monday, the partys state chairman, Dayo Ekong, said the damage ran into millions of naira.

She also spoke about why Mr Obi did not pay homage to the states monarch before his campaign rally.

Ms Ekong said she was told that the traditional ruler was not available.

People say what they dont know. If you have been following the trend of Peter Obi rally. He goes to the royal fathers, and pays his respects, she said.

Obi made attempts to see the Oba of Lagos but we were not able to see the Oba of Lagos.

Normally if he is going to the palace, there should have been a pre-arrangement informing the Oba that he is on his way. In a situation where they said the Oba is not available, he is not going to go to an empty palace.

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Accruit Holdings, a 1031 exchange industry leader for Qualified Intermediary services and developer of the patented 1031 exchange technology, Exchange Manager ProSM, announces the addition of eight team members across their Business Development, Service Development, and Client Service departments.

DENVER, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Accruit Holdings, grew their team and expanded into three new states, Arizona, Michigan and Texas, with the addition of eight new team members in early 2023. The Business Development team welcomed Chassidy Goolsby, Aaron Shields, Dylan Johnson, Ronnie Sterling, and Dave Tornell. Jason Messmore and Brynn Hamilton joined the Service Development team. And Noah Doran will lead the Client Service team in a the newly created role of Client Service Manager.

Accruit's Business Development team has undergone extensive growth with the addition of these five team members. With Dylan and Ronnie's new, local presence in Michigan and Texas, respectively, Accruit will be able to provide in-market service and 1031 exchange education opportunities for exchangers and their advisors. Additional team members Aaron and Chassidy in Colorado and Dave in Arizona will focus on expanding the client base for offerings made possible by Accruit's patented software Exchange Manager ProSM. "We have more than doubled the number of sales roles in our organization to engage the 1031 exchange market with a comprehensive solution for all participants  Exchangers, Advisors and Qualified Intermediaries. We filled these new roles with Real Estate industry experts to deliver outstanding service to our industry partners and individual investors alike. We are poised for a record-breaking year built on a foundation of 1031 expertise and operational excellence.," stated Elliot Rutter, Director, Sales.

Accruit Holdings expanded into three new states, AZ, MI, and TX with the addition of eight new team members. Tweet this

Since January 2022, Accruit's Service Development team has doubled in size. Jason Messmore, Service Development Business Analyst, will serve in the key role of liaison between business stakeholders and the development team, collecting and writing requirements and performing critical user acceptance testing, while also serving as scrum master. Brynn Hamilton, joins Accruit as a Junior Software Developer. Her addition will provide the department much needed depth to Accruit's Development team, increasing their ability to release more functionality for Exchange Manager ProSM users, while also providing support in the Eastern Time Zone.

"We are thrilled to have both Brynn and Jason on board and look forward to them quickly making key contributions as we continue to improve and enhance Exchange Manager ProSM, the only 1031 exchange workflow technology. Their additions give us much needed depth as we work to seamlessly scale our infrastructure to support our 1031 exchange software offerings," said Mark Mayfield, Vice President, Service Development and Delivery.

Noah Doran joins the Client Service Department in the newly created position, Senior Manager, Client Service. Noah will be instrumental in continuing to organize and refine the structure and processes of our quickly growing Client Services team. "He will focus on maintaining our world class Customer Service scores, while ensuring that we can efficiently handle the exchanges being brought in by our expanded Business Development team," said Mark.

"Accruit is excited to continue investing in the right people nationwide that support our long-term vision of revolutionizing the 1031 industry through world-class service and innovative technologies," stated President and CEO Brent Abrahm.

Accruit Holdings

Accruit Holdings boasts over 20 years in the 1031 exchange industry. Through Accruit, their leading independent, national Qualified Intermediary, they provide 1031 exchange services across all 50 states and specialize in all types of exchanges from forward, reverse, built-to-suit/improvement to specialty "non-safe harbor" reverse exchanges. Accruit Technologies, a subsidiary focused on revolutionizing the industry through their patented 1031 exchange workflow software, offers both SaaS and back-office solutions to the real estate marketplace.

SOURCE Accruit Holdings LLC
AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- 1st Commercial Credit introduces Human Resource solutions for temporary staffing agencies nationwide. The most popular service is the Employment of Record (EOR) program for temp-staffing companies that accommodates any size of company including start-up staffing agencies. This is important because some EOR's do not accept businesses under 2 years in business.

Our clients will be able to outsource their HR needs at a cost-effective rate and retain more cash with WC insurance. Tweet this An Employer of Record is a company or organization that is legally responsible for paying employees, including dealing with employee taxes, benefits, insurance, and a great many other transactions and operations concerning human resources.

Raul Esqueda, President of 1st Commercial Credit says, "We can now provide EOR services to our clients and complete 100% of their needs. Our clients can select from our financial services that includes payroll funding, accounts receivable factoring, invoicing software and now a discounted EOR program. Our affiliate EOR company has a complete HR Solutions package that includes payroll, online time sheets, workers compensation insurance for all states and state compliance reporting."

The staffing industry spends many clerical hours in keeping up with all these services. Our clients will be able to outsource their HR needs at a cost-effective rate and retain more cash when entering into new states with their workers compensation requirements.

What is an Employer of Record?

An Employer of Record is a company or organization that is legally responsible for paying employees, including dealing with employee taxes, benefits, insurance, and a great many other transactions and operations concerning human resources.

Companies often hire EOR's to decrease all the complications related to human resources operations, market access, market understanding, and market.

When a company uses an EOR, it formally becomes the employer of the employees, therefore taking on "ALL LIABILITY" including Employment Liability, Medical Liability, Tax Liability, and Insurance Liability.

This invaluable outsourced service keeps a business in compliance with labor law and other fields of related regulations and significantly assists the company during its internationalization.

Learn more about this HR Solutions Program

SOURCE 1st Commercial Credit, LLC
Expands Leading Direct-To-Consumer Mattress Platform with Sleep Technology Brand

PHOENIX, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- 3Z Brands ("3Z"), a vertically-integrated manufacturer, wholesaler, retailer, and direct-to-consumer distributor of award-winning sleep products, today announced the acquisition of Nolah Sleep ("Nolah").

Founded in 2016, Nolah set forward to change the health and wellness of Americans through a focus on good sleep. The company leveraged the latest technology to improve legacy memory foam and create "tomorrow's mattress" that delivers a temperature-neutral and pressure-relieving sleep experience. With its proprietary polyfoam and quality construction, Nolah has become a premier sleep technology brand recognized for its better-for-you sleep offerings and best-in-class mattress shopping experience.

The addition of Nolah further expands 3Z's leading direct-to-consumer ("DTC") mattress platform that offers award-winning mattresses and sleep accessories manufactured in the United States. In 2021, Brooklyn Bedding and Helix Sleep combined in partnership with Cerberus Capital Management, and last year, the platform acquired Bear Mattress, a leader in the active lifestyle mattress segment. Nolah will continue to operate under its independent brand name, alongside Helix Sleep, Brooklyn Bedding, and Bear Mattress.

"We're thrilled to welcome Nolah to our 3Z family as we continue our mission of providing the best mattresses and sleep offerings," said John Merwin, Chief Executive Officer of 3Z Brands. "Nolah is widely recognized for its innovative materials, technological expertise, and superior customer experiences. The brand is a great fit for our industry-leading DTC platform and we look forward to supporting its continued growth with our world-class, vertically-integrated capabilities."

"This combination is a transformative opportunity to join forces with an exceptional group of brands," said Daniel Galle, Co-Founder of Nolah. "When Anna and I founded Nolah, we aimed to improve the wellness of Americans by delivering pain relief and better sleep. We're incredibly proud of the positive impact our mattresses and sleep technology have had on the lives of our customers. As part of the 3Z family, we'll be able to further amplify our mission and help more people achieve the most comfortable sleep possible."

Stephen Light, CEO of Nolah added: "I look forward to what Nolah will achieve as part of the 3Z Brands family. Combining our technology and expertise with 3Z's opens new doors for product development and further innovation. We plan to keep pushing the boundaries of mattress technology with affordable solutions to everyday sleep disruptions."

For more information on Nolah Mattress, please visit www.nolahmattress.com.

ABOUT 3Z BRANDS

3Z Brands ("3Z") is a vertically-integrated manufacturer, direct-to-consumer brand portfolio, wholesaler, and retailer of award-winning sleep products. Headquartered in Arizona and New York, 3Z operates a portfolio of best-in-class sleep brands including Helix Sleep, Brooklyn Bedding, Birch, and Bear Mattress. All of 3Z's brands celebrate the power of personal preferences, while focusing on outstanding product quality, having won countless independently reviewed awards. Additionally, 3Z provides mattress production solutions across the industry with world-class expertise in mattress engineering, achieved through meticulous attention to detail, cutting-edge equipment, and decades of industry experience. The company strives to deliver excellent sleep products to any and every door in America.

For more information, please visit any of our brands:

www.helixsleep.com

www.brooklynbedding.com

www.birchliving.com

www.bearmattress.com

www.nolahmattress.com

ABOUT NOLAH SLEEP

Nolah Sleep was founded by two award-winning sleep experts and serial entrepreneurs, Daniel Galle and Anna Hjoellund. With a background in sleep material science and product design, they set forward to change the health and wellness of Americans through a focus on good sleep.

Nolah believes that good sleep is the cornerstone of full-body health and wellness. To be your best self, you need quality rest. For more information on Nolah, please visit www.nolahmattress.com.

SOURCE Brooklyn Bedding








According to Article 166 of the Constitution, it is the primary duty of the National Police to guarantee, maintain, and restore internal order.





During this extension, the provisions of Subsection 1 of Article 137 of the Constitution regarding the restriction and suspension of the exercise of constitutional rights relating to the inviolability of homes (expect on the aforementioned roads in the National Road Network), freedom of transit across the national territory, freedom of assembly, as well as personal freedom and security included in subsections 9), 11), 12), and 24), paragraph f) of Article 2 contained in Peru's Political Constitution will be fulfilled.





The intervention of the National Police and the Armed Forces takes place is in accordance with the provisions of Legislative Decree No. 1186, which regulates police use of force, and Legislative Decree No. 1095, which establishes rules for the use of force by the Armed Forces in the national territory and its Regulations, approved by Supreme Decree No. 003-2020-DE.





In addition, the National Police is required to present a full report of the actions carried out during the state of emergency and the results obtained, within five days after the end of said period.





Moreover, the implementation of actions provided for in the supreme decree is financed from the institutional budget of the specifications involved and from additional resource allocations authorized by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF)









Through Supreme Decree No. 009-2023-PCM, the Government declared a state of emergency for 30 calendar days , starting January 15, 2023 in the regions of Cusco, Lima, and Puno, and the Constitutional Province of Callao, in the province of Andahuaylas in Apurimac region, in the provinces of Tambopata and Tahuamanu in Madre de Dios region, and in the district of Torata in Moquegua region.





(END) JOT/RMB

The Government has extended the duration of the state of emergency in the region of Lima, in the Constitutional Province of Callao, on Panamericana Sur, on Panamericana Norte, Central roads, as well as on Apurimac-Cusco-Arequipa and Interoceanica Sur corridors, for 30 calendar days, starting on February 14.Publicado: 14/2/2023
PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ABD Group, a Philadelphia-based company focused on infrastructure development in Africa, is celebrating $2.5 billion in infrastructure investments across the country since its founding 15 years ago. ABD Group's projects have ranged from health care, transportation, water, and wastewater to higher education, energy, and agriculture. Started by John Nevergole, based in the United States, and Mohamed Keita, based in Mali, ABD Group is on the ground developing projects in every major market in west, central, east, and southern Africa.

"When we founded ABD Group, our mission quickly became that of a trusted partner to investors, multinational firms, and governments in Africa," said ABD Group CEO John Nevergole. "After successfully completing several cross-border deals together, we realized we'd developed a unique understanding of what it takes to operate across cultures and borders to successfully finance and deliver critical infrastructure for African countries. As we take time to reflect on the last 15 years, we're proud of what we've accomplished together."

ABD Group partners with Fortune 500 companies, middle market companies, SMEs and the world's largest emerging market investors from the Americas, Europe, and the Middle East. Through that experience, ABD Group has developed an understanding of the cultural aspects involved in creating successful business partnerships while becoming a trusted partner for governments across Africa wishing to attract investment and complete projects vital to their countries' growth.

Last year, ABD Group announced a $320 million project in Cote d'Ivoire to finance and build more than 100 hospitals with a focus on maternal health. The project was announced as part of the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment launch at the G7. With its construction partner, GCC Services, construction has started on 30 locations and 11 have been completed in just one year.

In November 2021, ABD Group announced a new project in Senegal to finance and build the Ziguinchor and Tobor bridges, which will ensure the vitality of a key trade corridor between the country and its neighbors. Construction will start this year.

Nevergole currently serves on the President's Advisory Council for Doing Business in Africa, where he, along with other senior U.S. business executives, advise the President and U.S. government on strengthening commercial engagement with Africa to grow trade and investment.

ABD Group expects to continue growing the company's strong presence in West Africa. The company is also expanding into Angola, Rwanda, and Tanzania with plans for further expansion into Uganda, Kenya and Benin.

To learn more about ABD Group, visit africa-bd.com .

SOURCE ABD Group
HONG KONG, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Agroforestry Group following a review of its plantings, has announced that it will begin increasing its planting of Black Thorn durian as a result of increased demand across Malaysia and neighboring Singapore. Black Thorn durian is a relatively new Malaysian durian which has seen a spike in popularity as international travel has resumed following COVID restrictions.

Mr. Paul Martin, Agroforestry Group's MD stated "We have seen an influx of interest directly from consumers and wholesalers interested in purchasing Black Thorn recently. Much of this demand has come from Singapore, which due to our strategic location in Johor we are perfectly positioned to capture."

According to Malaysia's Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry, Singaporean's accounted for 56% of all tourist arrivals in Malaysia in the first seven months of 2022. Singapore is also the world's second largest consumer of durian per person, following Malaysia.

Mr. Martin added, that Agroforestry Group is constantly reviewing and monitoring market developments and believes Black Thorn durian supplements its existing Musang King durian operations and business model nicely. Although Black Thorn is very expensive in Malaysia and Singapore, it is not as well known as Musang King elsewhere but Agroforestry Group expects this to change in the coming years.

Black Thorn durian was officially registered as D200 by the Department of Agriculture in Malaysia (Jabatan Pertanian) in 2015. It is slowly coming to rival Musang King in terms of taste and price regionally. It is known for its dark yellow and orange color, sweet and custardy flavor. Due to limited supply, prices for Black Thorn reach up to 25 USD/KG (100 RM/KG) within Malaysia and Singapore.

Black Thorn durian goes by a variety of names across South East Asia but it is most commonly known as Duri Hitam in Malay and Ochee in Chinese. Duri Hitam translates into "Black Thorn" in English, while Ochee translates into "Black".

About Agroforestry Group

Established in 2015, Agroforestry Group have applied their thirty years of private forestry management into the establishment and commercial development of durian and agarwood plantations, product distribution and sales. As an asset class, agriculture and forestry has expanded rapidly over the last decade due to interest from risk-averse private investors attracted by the green credentials of the industry and the long-term high returns of agroforestry.

Related Websites

https://www.agroforestrygroup.com/

SOURCE Agroforestry Group
VANCOUVER, BC, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The allergy diagnostics market size reached USD 4.80 Billion in 2021 and is expected to register a CAGR of 11.1% during the forecast period, according to latest analysis by Emergen Research. One key factor driving market revenue growth is growing funding and investments for allergy diagnostics. For instance, on 20 December 2022, Nectar, a provider of allergy testing and treatment, increased its total equity capital to more than USD 24 million with a USD 16.5 million Series A fundraising round headed by Harmony Partners. Furthermore, on 7 December 2020, in order to provide quick and accurate allergy testing so doctors can test and treat more patients in a single clinic visit, Kenota Health Inc., an innovative Canadian medical technology startup, raised USD 11 million in investment.

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Drivers:

Demand for allergy diagnostics has significantly increased over the years owing to high prevalence of allergic diseases. For instance, according to recent studies, between 1.1 and 10.8% of the world's population is estimated to have a food allergy, and prevalence of these allergies continues to rise. Approximately 32 million Americans claim to have a food allergy, and every year, about 200,000 individuals require emergency medical attention owing to a food allergy. In the United States, one in every 13 children has a food allergy, making them particularly prevalent in younger generations.

Restraints:

There are numerous issues and difficulties facing the allergy diagnostics industry. Inadequate awareness and unreliable tests for allergy testing are one such factor. For instance, although oral immunotherapy (OIT) has shown promise in the treatment of food allergies, it is not currently a standard therapy. However, trials are being conducted to ascertain OIT's safety and efficacy. Many alternative therapists may give allergy as well as food intolerance tests that are not supported by scientific data. These tests are distinguished by a scarcity of supporting scientific data, a weak connection with tests that are grounded in evidence, and inconsistent results when performed on the same subject many times.

Growth Projections:

The allergy diagnostics market is expected to register a CAGR of 11.1% over the forecast period and revenue is projected to increase from USD 4.80 Billion in 2021 to USD 12.45 Billion in 2030. Currently, the application of mobile health technology has seen a rise, which is aiding in market revenue growth. Individuals with dermatological allergic illnesses such as contact dermatitis, atopic dermatitis, and chronic urticaria benefit greatly from the use of mobile health technology. Applications can be helpful to increase treatment regimen adherence, track symptoms, facilitate doctor-patient interactions, including patients in support groups, and carrying out clinical studies once a diagnosis has been made. Furthermore, on 22 August 2022, LifeMD, Inc., a fast expanding direct-to-patient telehealth business, announced that Allergenis, a provider of predictive data analytics with a focus on the identification and treatment of life-threatening food allergies, has joined forces with its allergy telemedicine subsidiary cleared. More collaborations as stated above, coming up in the market is expected to drive demand for allergy diagnostics.

Emergen Research is Offering Limited Time Discount (Grab a Copy at Discounted Price Now) @ https://www.emergenresearch.com/request-discount/1566

Current Trends and Innovations:

The allergy diagnostics industry is undergoing gradual change as a result of new technology and innovations. For instance, on 10 June 2022, the company Oncologica announced the availability of Allergyfocus, a novel antibody allergy test that swiftly and precisely identifies 99% of all known types of allergies. Users learn about the typical, worldwide allergens to which their bodies are sensitive via this new Allergyfocus test. In-depth, personalized antibody profiles of a patient's allergy triggers are provided for accurate diagnosis. Additionally, pre-registration testing is being done on systems that automatically interpret skin allergy test results. Making it accessible for widespread usage might demonstrate to be a significant value in a world where allergic disorders, such as asthma, afflict a growing portion of the populace.

Strategic Initiatives:

Major companies included in the market report are Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Danaher, Minaris Medical America, Inc., Siemens Healthcare GmbH, Eurofins Scientific, Euroimmun Medizinische Labordiagnostika AG, Biomerieux SA, Stallergenes Greer, Neogen Corporation, and Omega Diagnostics Group PLC.

On 16 July 2021 , Reacta, a company on track to revolutionize the market for food allergy diagnostics, raised USD 3.5 million in a fundraising round headed by Praetura Ventures with additional funding from the Development Bank of Wales .

, Reacta, a company on track to revolutionize the market for food allergy diagnostics, raised in a fundraising round headed by Praetura Ventures with additional funding from the Development Bank of . On 23 November 2020 , Bio-Me, a provider of microbiome diagnostics, and Siolta Therapeutics reported that they have signed a partnership and marketing agreement. According to the agreement, Siolta will help Bio-Me create a quick, in-depth, and thorough diagnostic test for newborns who are at risk of developing allergies and asthma by providing samples and insights on important criteria.

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Scope of Research

Report Details Outcome Market size in 2021 USD 4.80 Billion CAGR (20222030) 11.1 % Revenue forecast to 2030 USD 12.45 Billion Base year for estimation 2021 Historical data 20212030 Forecast period 20222030 Quantitative units Revenue in USD Million and CAGR in % from 2022 to 2030. Report coverage Revenue forecast, company ranking, competitive landscape, growth factors, and trends Segments covered Product & service, allergen, test type, end-use, and region Regional scope North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa Country scope U.S., Canada, Mexico, Germany, U.K., France, Spain, BENELUX, Rest of Europe, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Rest of APAC, Brazil, Rest of LATAM, Saudi Arabia, U.A.E., Israel, and Rest of MEA. Key companies profiled Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Danaher, Minaris Medical America, Inc., Siemens Healthcare GmbH, Eurofins Scientific, EUROIMMUN Medizinische Labordiagnostika AG, BIOMERIEUX SA, Stallergenes Greer, Neogen Corporation, and Omega Diagnostics Group PLC Customization scope 10 hours of free customization and expert consultation

Custom Requirements can be requested for this Report [Customization Available] @ https://www.emergenresearch.com/request-for-customization/1566

Emergen Research has segmented the allergy diagnostics market on the basis of product & service, allergen, test type, end-use, and region:

Product & Service Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion; 20192030)

Consumables



Instruments

Immunoassay Analyzers

ELISA Analyzers

Luminometers

Others

Services

Allergen Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion; 20192030)



Inhaled Allergens



Food Allergens



Drug Allergens



Others

Test Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion; 20192030)

In Vivo Tests



Skin Prick Tests





Patch Tests





Others



In Vitro Tests

End-Use Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion; 20192030)

Diagnostics Laboratories



Hospital-based Laboratories



Academic Research Institutes



Others

Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2019 - 2030)

North America



U.S.





Canada



Europe



Germany





U.K .





France





Italy





Spain





Rest of Europe



Asia Pacific



China





Japan





South Korea





India





Australia





Rest of APAC



Latin America



Brazil





Mexico





Rest of LATAM



Middle East & Africa

&

UAE





Saudi Arabia





Africa





Rest of Middle East

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New Senior Vice President brings experience from leading brands including MetLife and Avon applying learnings and expertise across Analytic Partners' global customers

MIAMI, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Analytic Partners, the leader in commercial analytics, has appointed Dave Rodrigues as a Senior Vice President for Customer Engagement, based in Miami. Dave will work with global brands to understand their objectives and provide strategic and tactical insights and recommendations based on Analytic Partners' multi-faceted approach to analytics incorporating marketing, company, and external data to achieve true commercial intelligence.

Dave Rodrigues, SVP of Customer Engagement at Analytic Partners

With over 20 years of international marketing and analytics experience, Dave has worked with leading brands to understand and apply data insights, research, product innovation and measurement tools and will bring this knowledge to further support Analytic Partners' customer base. He joins Analytic Partners from MetLife where he spent nearly four years as head of Global Marketing Sciences and previously led Marketing Insights and Analytics for Avon. Earlier in his career, he built and expanded analytic programs at large well known multi-national brands while working at Nielsen.

Commenting on the appointment, Fred Chasse, General Manager, Americas at Analytic Partners, said, "Dave's extensive experience in both marketing and analytics, and his understanding of the value of brands using data to build enhance their connections with their own customers will be a huge asset to Analytic Partners as we continue on our current growth path. We are offering deeper, more complex insights to our customers and working with an ever-expanding group of leading, global, exciting brands and Dave's leadership will be central to our own relationships with these customers."

Dave joins as the organization continues to expand following investment from Onex Partners and the addition of notable additions to the customer engagement team in 2022, including Jules Davies, Vice President, Customer Engagement in London and newly appointed Carlos Rey, Director in Miami.

Dave Rodrigues says, "The Analytic Partners' approach to commercial analytics is set to completely transform marketing measurement. By incorporating multiple data touchpoints, a truly flexible and responsive analytics program is created which is already benefiting some of the world's leading brands and which makes joining an exciting and challenging opportunity for me."

About Analytic Partners

Analytic Partners is the leading cloud-based, managed software platform which provides adaptive solutions for deeper business understanding and right-time planning and optimization for marketing and beyond. We turn data into expertise so that our clients can create powerful connections with their customers and achieve commercial success. For more information on Analytic Partners, visit its website at analyticpartners.com/

Media Contact

Gravitate PR for Analytic Partners

[email protected]

SOURCE Analytic Partners
ST LOUIS, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Aptitude Development is set to develop The Marshall St Louis, a 508 bed development across from St Louis University. The Marshall St Louis will be the 10th ground up development for Aptitude since its inception in 2014 and the 7th iteration of its Marshall brand. Construction will begin this spring and be completed for Fall 2025. Amenities at the property will include an expansive hot tub, best in market fitness facility, gaming lounge, collaborative and individual study lounges, cafe areas and fire pits. The Marshall will have two-story 5 bedroom townhouses on its top floors offering some of the most unique living opportunities in the market.

Rendering of The Marshall St Louis

"We are excited to expand our brand and bring this exciting project to the St. Louis University market. SLU has seen strong growth of its enrollment and the supply of quality off campus student housing has not kept pace," said Jared Hutter, Founder and Chief Snow Shoveler for Aptitude Development. "The proximity to campus and to the adjacent City Foundry development make this an incredible opportunity for both Aptitude and ultimately the students who will live there". The City Foundry, located right next door is a neighborhood transforming mixed use development with retail, restaurants, office space and residential units that locally brings much needed offerings to the SLU area as well as the adjacent Cortex Innovation District. "The Marshall St Louis is the next of a great lineup of projects we plan to build in the coming years," Hutter added.

St Louis University, founded in 1818, is a world class institution and one of the nations oldest and most prestigious Catholic Universities. With more than 13,000 students, SLU boasts more than 15 graduate and undergraduate programs ranked in the top 50 in the US.

Aptitude Development, based in New Jersey, has an expansive pipeline of more than 10,000 beds planned from coast to coast and is currently adding to its internal staffing to accelerate its development pipeline. Aptitude uniquely offers investors the opportunity to invest directly into its deal rather than having to go through a fund model or a feeder fund. For more information about its projects or investment opportunities, visit www.AptitudeRE.com

CONTACT: [email protected]

SOURCE Aptitude Development
BOSTON, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Asian American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts (AALAM) today announced grants to three nonprofits that advocate for policy changes and improve access to essential services for Asian/Asian American communities.

Coinciding with the Asian Outreach Center (AOC)'s 50th anniversary, AALAM has committed to a $25,000 grant in support of the center's programming and has promised to match any donation up to an additional $25,000. AOC provides guidance, referral services and free legal assistance to nearly 1,000 low-income Asian immigrants each year. The center's goal is to be a gateway to legal services and the legal system for all low-income Asians who rely on them.

Separately, AALAM has dedicated $25,000 to the Harry H. Dow Memorial Legal Assistance Fund (Dow Fund), which is in addition to the funding AALAM typically provides. What's more, AALAM is increasing its annual contribution to the Dow Fund from $10,000 to $15,000 for the next three years. The Dow Fund was founded in 1985 in memory of Harry Dow (1904-1985), a Suffolk University Law School graduate who in 1929, became the first Asian American admitted to practice law in Massachusetts. Over the past 35 years, the Dow Fund has launched numerous projects, including the Anti-Asian Violence Education Project, Asian Battered Women Project, Asian Immigrant Rights Initiative, Cambodian Outreach Project, Chinatown Stabilization Project, and the Dow Fund Community Internship.

"Harry Dow devoted his life to serving the underprivileged and grassroots organizations in many communities, including Boston's South End and Chinatown," said Emily K. Yu, a trustee of the Dow Fund. "Thanks to AALAM's generosity the Dow Fund will be able to continue to support legal services, advocacy and education in communities often deprived of justice due to barriers such as language, race, culture, poverty, or immigration status."

Finally, AALAM has pledged a $10,000 grant to the Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence (ATASK), which operates New England's only multilingual and culturally relevant shelter, 24-hour hotline, and advocacy programs for Asian/Asian American survivors. All programs and services have the goal of empowering vulnerable survivors to lead lives free of violence and to be self-sufficient.

"We are honored to recognize and support all of the great services these organizations provide," said Emily Sy, AALAM President. "The grants align with AALAM's strategy of partnering with nonprofits focused on supporting anti-racism and underrepresented or marginalized communities."

About AALAM

The Asian American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts (AALAM) is a non-partisan, non-profit organization devoted to serving the Asian American legal community and improving and facilitating the administration of law and justice. Founded in 1984 by a small group of Asian American lawyers, AALAM has now grown to a network of over 250 lawyers, judges, law professors and law students in Massachusetts and New England. AALAM is a Northeast Region affiliate of the National Asian-Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) and an affinity bar partner of the Boston Bar Association. For more information about AALAM, please visit www.aalam.wildapricot.org/.

SOURCE Asian American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts
NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The global automotive central gateway module market size is estimated to increase by USD 1,152.23 million between 2022 and 2027. The market's growth momentum will accelerate at a CAGR of 7.09%. The report includes historic market data from 2017 to 2021. In 2017, the automotive central gateway module market was valued at USD 2,366.06 million. COVID-19 had the most negative impact on the global automotive industry in recent years, resulting in a steep fall in demand and a large-scale disruption of the supply chain. It has exerted intense pressure on an already-stressed global automotive market. Yet, there are high predictions that few countries are bringing manufacturing facilities and production back on track, indicating that the supply side is on a restoration line. Discover more insights on the market - Request a sample report

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Automotive Central Gateway Module Market 2023-2027

Key trends - The development of integrated cybersecurity solutions is a key trend in the market. CGM is crucial for ensuring secure data communication in vehicles. OTA updates are required for cybersecurity solutions such as CGM. For instance, Infineon Technologies AG and Argus Cyber Security offer integrated cybersecurity solutions in the form of CGM. This CGM has an AURIX multicore microcontroller from Infineon Technologies and Intrusion Detection and Prevention System (IDPS), as well as a remote cloud platform from Argus Cyber Security. It has an in-built hardware security module (HSM) that protects in-vehicle software and data communication. Such factors will support the market growth during the forecast period. Know more  Buy the report!

Automotive central gateway module market  Vendor analysis

Vendor landscape 

The global automotive central gateway module market is fragmented, with the presence of well-established players that manufacture CGMs. A few prominent vendors that offer automotive central gateway modules in the market are Aptiv Plc, Beijing Jingwei Hirain Technologies Co. Inc., Continental AG, DENSO Corp., FEV Group GmbH, Flex Ltd., Hitachi Ltd., Infineon Technologies AG, Lear Corp., MarkLines, MRS Electronic GmbH and Co. KG, NXP Semiconductors NV, OMRON Corp., Panasonic Holdings Corp., Renesas Electronics Corp., Robert Bosch GmbH, STMicroelectronics NV, Tata Elxsi Ltd, TDK Corp., and Texas Instruments Inc. and others.

Automotive CGM manufacturers are focusing on developing CGMs that support high bandwidth networks for automotive OEMs. Prominent vendors are also expected to emphasize integrated cybersecurity solutions during the forecast period. Tier-2 and tier-3 suppliers provide components such as PCBs. With the rising number of ECUs in modern vehicles, the revenue of the market is expected to increase during the forecast period.

Vendor offerings -

Continental AG - The company offers an automotive central gateway module that helps ensure smooth, safe, and correct communication between all ECUs to coordinate the data transfer within the vehicle network system.

The company offers an automotive central gateway module that helps ensure smooth, safe, and correct communication between all ECUs to coordinate the data transfer within the vehicle network system. DENSO Corp. - The company offers an automotive central gateway module that helps detect the environment around the vehicle, such as pedestrians, other vehicles, and roads, thus contributing to advanced safety.

The company offers an automotive central gateway module that helps detect the environment around the vehicle, such as pedestrians, other vehicles, and roads, thus contributing to advanced safety. FEV Group GmbH - The company offers an automotive central gateway module that can be used to provide safe and accurate communication throughout, including offboard data science and cloud-based development.

The company offers an automotive central gateway module that can be used to provide safe and accurate communication throughout, including offboard data science and cloud-based development. Hitachi Ltd. - The company offers an automotive central gateway module that recognizes the surrounding environment.

Automotive central gateway module market - Customer landscape

To help companies evaluate and develop growth strategies, the report outlines 

Key purchase criteria

Adoption rates

Adoption lifecycle

Drivers of price sensitivity

Automotive central gateway module market - Segmentation assessment

Segment overview

Technavio has segmented the market based on application (passenger cars and commercial vehicles) and type (LIN central gateway module, CAN central gateway module, and Ethernet central gateway module).

The passenger cars segment will account for a significant share of the market's growth during the forecast period. Automakers are focusing on increasing the safety of passenger cars. Such advanced safety functions need secure communications. Hence, the demand for automotive CGM is expected to increase at a rapid rate during the forecast period.

Geography overview

Based on geography, the global automotive central gateway module market is segmented into APAC, North America, Europe, South America, and Middle East and Africa. The report provides actionable insights and estimates the contribution of all regions to the growth of the global automotive central gateway module market.

APAC is estimated to account for 43% of the growth of the global market during the forecast period. In India and China , the penetration of luxury vehicles has been increasing due to the rising disposable income. In addition, these countries have a cost advantage when compared to developed countries owing to their proximity to manufacturing plants. South Asia has become a manufacturing hub for automotive electronics and other components due to low labor costs, which has reduced the cost of vehicle manufacturing. Hence, the reduced cost of ownership will increase the demand for luxury vehicles. This, in turn, will fuel the adoption of CGM with high networking power. Such factors will drive the growth of the regional market during the forecast period.

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Automotive central gateway module market  Market dynamics

Leading drivers - Increasing government support to promote EVs is driving the market growth. Governments of various countries are offering benefits to consumers to increase the adoption of EVs, which is crucial for the growth of the automotive CGM market. This is because CGM is an important component in these vehicles to ensure real-time and secure communication of battery status. In addition, CGM should support various networking technologies. These factors will contribute to market growth during the forecast period.

Major challenges - Low consumer awareness about advanced safety technologies is challenging the market growth. The adoption of ADAS is limited to certain variants, as the technology is still being refined. Its high cost also limits it to the premium segment. Such technologies require high computing and flexible CGM that can support various networking technologies and secure external communication. Hence, there is a need to increase awareness about ADAS technologies. These factors will hinder the market growth during the forecast period.

Drivers and challenges have an impact on market dynamics, which can impact businesses. Find more insights in a sample report!

What are the key data covered in this automotive central gateway module market report?

CAGR of the market during the forecast period

Detailed information on factors that will drive the growth of the automotive central gateway module market between 2023 and 2027

Precise estimation of the size of the automotive central gateway module market and its contribution to the parent market

Accurate predictions about upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

Growth of the automotive central gateway module market across APAC, North America , Europe , South America , and Middle East and Africa

, , , and and A thorough analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information about vendors

Comprehensive analysis of factors that will challenge the growth of automotive central gateway module market vendors

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Automotive Central Gateway Module Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 174 Base year 2022 Historic period 2017-2021 Forecast period 2023-2027 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 7.09% Market growth 2023-2027 USD 1,152.23 million Market structure Fragmented YoY growth 2022-2023 (%) 6.45 Regional analysis APAC, North America, Europe, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution APAC at 43% Key countries US, China, Japan, India, and Germany Competitive landscape Leading vendors, market positioning of vendors, competitive strategies, and industry risks Key companies profiled Aptiv Plc, Beijing Jingwei Hirain Technologies Co. Inc., Continental AG, DENSO Corp., FEV Group GmbH, Flex Ltd., Hitachi Ltd., Infineon Technologies AG, Lear Corp., MarkLines, MRS Electronic GmbH and Co. KG, NXP Semiconductors NV, OMRON Corp., Panasonic Holdings Corp., Renesas Electronics Corp., Robert Bosch GmbH, STMicroelectronics NV, Tata Elxsi Ltd, TDK Corp., and Texas Instruments 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.

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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 Application



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 ($ 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 Historic Market Size

4.1 Global automotive central gateway module market 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 18: Historic Market Size  Data Table on Global automotive central gateway module market 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.2 Application Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 19: Historic Market Size  Application Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.3 Type Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 20: Historic Market Size  Type Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.4 Geography Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 21: Historic Market Size  Geography Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.5 Country Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 22: Historic Market Size  Country Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

5 Five Forces Analysis

5.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 23: Five forces analysis - Comparison between 2022 and 2027

5.2 Bargaining power of buyers

Exhibit 24: Chart on Bargaining power of buyers  Impact of key factors 2022 and 2027

5.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

Exhibit 25: Bargaining power of suppliers  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.4 Threat of new entrants

Exhibit 26: Threat of new entrants  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.5 Threat of substitutes

Exhibit 27: Threat of substitutes  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.6 Threat of rivalry

Exhibit 28: Threat of rivalry  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.7 Market condition

Exhibit 29: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2022 and 2027

6 Market Segmentation by Application

6.1 Market segments

Exhibit 30: Chart on Application - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Application - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

6.2 Comparison by Application

Exhibit 32: Chart on Comparison by Application



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Comparison by Application

6.3 Passenger cars - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 34: Chart on Passenger cars - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Passenger cars - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 36: Chart on Passenger cars - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 37: Data Table on Passenger cars - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.4 Commercial vehicles - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 38: Chart on Commercial vehicles - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Commercial vehicles - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 40: Chart on Commercial vehicles - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 41: Data Table on Commercial vehicles - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.5 Market opportunity by Application

Exhibit 42: Market opportunity by Application ($ million)

7 Market Segmentation by Type

7.1 Market segments

Exhibit 43: Chart on Type - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 44: Data Table on Type - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

7.2 Comparison by Type

Exhibit 45: Chart on Comparison by Type



Exhibit 46: Data Table on Comparison by Type

7.3 LIN central gateway module - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 47: Chart on LIN central gateway module - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 48: Data Table on LIN central gateway module - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 49: Chart on LIN central gateway module - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 50: Data Table on LIN central gateway module - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.4 CAN central gateway module - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 51: Chart on CAN central gateway module - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 52: Data Table on CAN central gateway module - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 53: Chart on CAN central gateway module - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 54: Data Table on CAN central gateway module - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.5 Ethernet central gateway module - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 55: Chart on Ethernet central gateway module - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 56: Data Table on Ethernet central gateway module - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 57: Chart on Ethernet central gateway module - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 58: Data Table on Ethernet central gateway module - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.6 Market opportunity by Type

Exhibit 59: Market opportunity by Type ($ million)

8 Customer Landscape

8.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 60: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

9 Geographic Landscape

9.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 61: Chart on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 62: Data Table on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)

9.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 63: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 64: Data Table on Geographic comparison

9.3 APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 65: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 66: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 67: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 68: Data Table on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.4 North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 69: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 70: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 71: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 72: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.5 Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 73: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 74: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 75: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 76: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.6 South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 77: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 78: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 79: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 80: Data Table on South America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.7 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 81: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 82: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 83: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 84: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.8 US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 85: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 86: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 87: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 88: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.9 China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 89: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 90: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 91: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 92: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.10 Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 93: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 94: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 95: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 96: Data Table on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.11 Japan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 97: Chart on Japan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 98: Data Table on Japan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 99: Chart on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 100: Data Table on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.12 India - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 101: Chart on India - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 102: Data Table on India - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 103: Chart on India - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 104: Data Table on India - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.13 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 105: Market opportunity by geography ($ million)

10 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

10.1 Market drivers

10.2 Market challenges

10.3 Impact of drivers and challenges

Exhibit 106: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2022 and 2027

10.4 Market trends

11 Vendor Landscape

11.1 Overview

11.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 107: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

11.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 108: Overview on factors of disruption

11.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 109: Impact of key risks on business

12 Vendor Analysis

12.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 110: Vendors covered

12.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 111: Matrix on vendor position and classification

12.3 Aptiv Plc

Exhibit 112: Aptiv Plc - Overview



Exhibit 113: Aptiv Plc - Business segments



Exhibit 114: Aptiv Plc - Key offerings



Exhibit 115: Aptiv Plc - Segment focus

12.4 Beijing Jingwei Hirain Technologies Co. Inc.

Exhibit 116: Beijing Jingwei Hirain Technologies Co. Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 117: Beijing Jingwei Hirain Technologies Co. Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 118: Beijing Jingwei Hirain Technologies Co. Inc. - Key offerings

12.5 Continental AG

Exhibit 119: Continental AG - Overview



Exhibit 120: Continental AG - Business segments



Exhibit 121: Continental AG - Key offerings



Exhibit 122: Continental AG - Segment focus

12.6 DENSO Corp.

Exhibit 123: DENSO Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 124: DENSO Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 125: DENSO Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 126: DENSO Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 127: DENSO Corp. - Segment focus

12.7 FEV Group GmbH

Exhibit 128: FEV Group GmbH - Overview



Exhibit 129: FEV Group GmbH - Product / Service



Exhibit 130: FEV Group GmbH - Key offerings

12.8 Hitachi Ltd.

Exhibit 131: Hitachi Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 132: Hitachi Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 133: Hitachi Ltd. - Key news



Exhibit 134: Hitachi Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 135: Hitachi Ltd. - Segment focus

12.9 Infineon Technologies AG

Exhibit 136: Infineon Technologies AG - Overview



Exhibit 137: Infineon Technologies AG - Business segments



Exhibit 138: Infineon Technologies AG - Key news



Exhibit 139: Infineon Technologies AG - Key offerings



Exhibit 140: Infineon Technologies AG - Segment focus

12.10 Lear Corp.

Exhibit 141: Lear Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 142: Lear Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 143: Lear Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 144: Lear Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 145: Lear Corp. - Segment focus

12.11 MarkLines

Exhibit 146: MarkLines - Overview



Exhibit 147: MarkLines - Product / Service



Exhibit 148: MarkLines - Key offerings

12.12 MRS Electronic GmbH and Co. KG

Exhibit 149: MRS Electronic GmbH and Co. KG - Overview



Exhibit 150: MRS Electronic GmbH and Co. KG - Product / Service



Exhibit 151: MRS Electronic GmbH and Co. KG - Key offerings

12.13 NXP Semiconductors NV

Exhibit 152: NXP Semiconductors NV - Overview



Exhibit 153: NXP Semiconductors NV - Product / Service



Exhibit 154: NXP Semiconductors NV - Key news



Exhibit 155: NXP Semiconductors NV - Key offerings

12.14 OMRON Corp.

Exhibit 156: OMRON Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 157: OMRON Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 158: OMRON Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 159: OMRON Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 160: OMRON Corp. - Segment focus

12.15 Panasonic Holdings Corp.

Exhibit 161: Panasonic Holdings Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 162: Panasonic Holdings Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 163: Panasonic Holdings Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 164: Panasonic Holdings Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 165: Panasonic Holdings Corp. - Segment focus

12.16 Renesas Electronics Corp.

Exhibit 166: Renesas Electronics Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 167: Renesas Electronics Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 168: Renesas Electronics Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 169: Renesas Electronics Corp. - Segment focus

12.17 Robert Bosch GmbH

Exhibit 170: Robert Bosch GmbH - Overview



Exhibit 171: Robert Bosch GmbH - Business segments



Exhibit 172: Robert Bosch GmbH - Key news



Exhibit 173: Robert Bosch GmbH - Key offerings



Exhibit 174: Robert Bosch GmbH - Segment focus

13 Appendix

13.1 Scope of the report

13.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 175: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 176: Exclusions checklist

13.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 177: Currency conversion rates for US$

13.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 178: Research methodology



Exhibit 179: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 180: Information sources

13.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 181: 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

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UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
Change in Board Leadership Underscores the Foundation's Continued Commitment to Compliance

GERMANTOWN, Md., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- After 19 years, Stephen M. Weiner, whose vision was essential to the creation of the HealthWell Foundation, an independent non-profit that provides a financial lifeline for inadequately insured Americans, is stepping down as Board Chair. Mr. Weiner's efforts to help patients afford life-changing and lifesaving medical treatments were the driving force in establishing the Foundation, and he became the first Board Chair.

David L. Knowlton, HealthWell Foundation Board Chair Stephen M. Weiner, HealthWell Foundation, Chief Compliance Officer

"Under Steve's leadership, the Foundation worked rigorously to become the highly rated, trustworthy, efficient, and transparent charitable patient assistance program that it is today," said David L. Knowlton, who will succeed Mr. Weiner as Board Chair. "Steve's tireless efforts to ensure that the Foundation operates in full compliance, transparency and with the highest ethical standards have positioned the HealthWell Foundation as an industry leader." Mr. Knowlton also thanked Mr. Weiner for agreeing to remain on the Board as Chief Compliance Officer.

Mr. Weiner called serving as the HealthWell Foundation's Board Chair for almost two decades an honor and privilege. He noted Mr. Knowlton's long-term service on the Board and his role as the Foundation's first Board-level Chief Compliance Officer and thanked him for working with senior management to establish important models for compliance oversight and training.

"My transition to Chief Compliance Officer is timely for me personally and a logical next step for the Foundation as we implement our multi-year strategic plan. It is an honor to welcome David to his new appointment as Chair. As we continue to grow, our commitment to support patients while ensuring that our programs are run in full compliance remains our top priority," Mr. Weiner said. "Since its inception, HealthWell has prioritized the importance of operating in compliance with all guidance and requirements of federal regulations that govern charitable patient assistance programs. If we fail to adhere rigorously to that guidance and those requirements, we will fail in our mission to support patients in need. Compliance is key to our ability to succeed in that mission."

In other changes to the board, Suzanne M. Miller, Ph.D., will now serve as Vice Chair and Secretary, and Jerri Scarzella will continue to serve as the Foundation's Vice Chair and Treasurer. Krista Zodet will serve as President and Chief Executive Officer for the Foundation.

Mr. Knowlton said he was privileged to serve as Chief Compliance Officer  and is honored to now accept the appointment of Board Chair. The Foundation will benefit from his far-reaching experience in compliance and his commitment to helping those facing the often-devasting financial implications of living with a chronic or life-altering illness.

"HealthWell has always strived to meet, and exceed, the requirements of all applicable laws and regulatory requirements in everything we do; it is the guiding principle under which we operate as an organization and under which our Board and staff operate as individuals. As the charitable patient assistance program industry continues to face increased scrutiny, we have and will remain steadfast in our commitment to compliance and transparency," said Mr. Knowlton. "I'm honored to work with the Foundation and senior staff to ensure that we continue to carry out our mission with the utmost integrity."

Visit the Compliance section of our website to learn more about HealthWell's commitment to compliance and transparency. To determine eligibility and apply for financial assistance through one of our funds, visit our Disease Funds page. Learn how you can support HealthWell programs by visiting: HealthWellFoundation.org.

About the HealthWell Foundation

A nationally recognized, independent non-profit organization founded in 2003, the HealthWell Foundation has served as a safety net across over 85 disease areas for more than 822,000 underinsured patients. Since its inception, HealthWell has provided over $3.3 billion in financial support through more than 1.3 million grants to access life-changing medical treatments patients otherwise would not be able to afford. HealthWell provides financial assistance to adults and children facing medical hardship resulting from gaps in their insurance that cause out-of-pocket medical expenses to escalate rapidly; HealthWell assists with the treatment-related cost-sharing obligations of these patients. HealthWell ranked 34th on the 2022 Forbes list of The 100 Largest U.S. Charities and was recognized for its 100 percent fundraising efficiency. For more information, visit HealthWellFoundation.org.

CONTACT:

Ginny Dunn

240-632-5309

[email protected]

SOURCE HealthWell Foundation
The Most Sustainable Option in the Water Aisle Expands its workforce and Continues to promote From Within

HOLLAND, Mich., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Boxed Water Is Better  the industry leader and most sustainably packaged water alternative to single-use plastic bottles and aluminum cans  announced today their concerted efforts of hiring over a dozen new additions to its Operations, Finance, Production and Sales and Marketing teams. This new influx of team members comes as a response to increased production and consumer demand for sustainable products.

"Last year we saw massive growth as we partnered with companies like Alaska Airlines, SoulCycle and CorePower," explains Boxed Water Chief Revenue Officer, Robert Koenen. He continues, "We have some exciting partnerships to announce as we look forward into 2023. And we enthusiastically welcome new team members as we fortify all levels in the Boxed Water family. We are proud to reward our current rock stars as well."

Prominent hires in several sectors signify a new chapter in the life and legacy of Boxed Water. These new additions include Kavita Shah as VP of Marketing, Rick Kulas as Director of Operations, Michelle DeBoer as the Production Planner and Julie Everett as ERP Analyst.

"I have always been passionate about supporting and growing sustainably-minded brands," stated the new VP of Marketing, Kavita Shah. "Boxed Water's mission to reduce consumer dependency on single-use plastic and aluminum makes me excited and proud to be part of the team. I look forward to contributing to the exciting initiatives slated for this year."

Alongside these latest appointments, Boxed Water is especially building out their Sales and Marketing teams. New hires in these divisions include:

Lloyd Volk - Regional Sales Manager

- Regional Sales Manager Tanner Assimos - Key Account Manager

- Key Account Manager Ryan LaBerge - Key Account Manager

- Key Account Manager John Pinto IV - Key Account Manager

- Key Account Manager Chris Grestel- Key Account Manager

Alan Garcia - Area Sales Coordinator

- Area Sales Coordinator Ty Evans - Area Sales Coordinator

Several internal promotions at Boxed Water are also worthy of a spotlight. Devin Brown was promoted to Regional Sales Director and Dillon Maag was promoted to District Sales Manager. In addition, Matthew Boccone was promoted to Area Sales Coordinator of Marketing while Mandy Cech was promoted to Director of E-commerce and Digital Marketing. "We strive to focus on career pathing and development so our teams continuously grow as leaders in the company," continued Koenen.

This new restructuring comes as no surprise, as this year promises to be filled with more partnerships like the latest Jurassic Park Themed Carton Launch with Universal Studios and the continuation of cause-worthy social media campaigns (#BetterPlanet).

Boxed Water Is Better has seen increased brand success and acclaim as it has continued to meet consumer demand for sustainable, high-quality products. Each 92% plant-based box is 100% recyclable, refillable and BPA free. Even more, Boxed Water  a proud member of 1% For The Planet  takes every step to reduce their carbon footprint, including sourcing water from local suppliers and pledging to plant two trees with the National Forest Foundation for every social media post with the hashtag #BetterPlanet. So far, 1.4 million trees have been planted.

All of Boxed Water's products are available online with quick and convenient shipping, as well as at select retailers across the United States.To purchase and learn more, visit their website at https://boxedwaterisbetter.com/ , and follow them on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter.

ABOUT BOXED WATER

Boxed Water was founded in the belief that sustainability matters with the purpose of changing the way packaged water is shipped, sold and enjoyed. This year, Boxed Water became the most sustainable brand on the market, at 92 percent plant based with their packaging and new plant-based cap. All of Boxed Water's cartons source paper from trees in well-managed forests  where new trees are continuously planted to replace the ones harvested  and are shipped flat to reduce the number of trucks required for transportation. Boxed Water also fills water close to the source and the consumer to reduce its carbon footprint, and all cartons are 100% recyclable, refillable, and BPA free. Boxed Water is a proud member of 1% For The Planet and partner of the National Forest Foundation and Ocean Blue Project. The simple act of choosing Boxed Water is a statement that sustainability matters. Boxed Water is headquartered in Holland, Michigan with filling locations in Michigan and Utah.

SOURCE Boxed Water Is Better
AMSTERDAM and LONDON, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Cboe Global Markets Inc. (Cboe: CBOE) today announces that Cboe Europe Derivatives (CEDX), its pan-European equity derivatives exchange, is planning to expand its product suite to include single stock options on leading European companies. These products are expected to be available for trading in November 2023 and cleared by Cboe Clear Europe, the leading pan-European clearing house, subject to the necessary regulatory approvals.

CEDX is initially planning to offer equity options on companies from 10 European countries (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden). Options on stocks from additional European countries are expected to be introduced starting from February 2024, subject to regulatory approvals. CEDX's expansion into equity options will make it one of Europe's most comprehensive equity derivatives exchanges, providing exposure to pan-European equities through single name and index derivatives via a single marketplace. In addition to offering market participants significant operational efficiencies through its pan-European approach, CEDX has also brought to Europe a transparent, on-screen market structure - similar to that utilised in the US - to help attract new participants of all types and grow the region's derivatives markets overall.

Iouri Saroukhanov, Head of European Derivatives, Cboe Europe, said: "The addition of single stock options is a key component of our ultimate vision for CEDX and we believe it will accelerate the momentum behind our aim of creating the most complete pan-European equity derivatives ecosystem. We have received strong interest from participants in bringing these products to market, from both the institutional and retail communities, who share Cboe's desire to expand access to derivatives more widely. We believe the combination of CEDX's equity derivatives marketplace and Cboe Europe's highly successful stock exchange - which is the region's largest by market share  creates a powerful and unique proposition for participants wishing to gain exposure to pan-European equities in a transparent and cost-effective way. As one of the leading US equity options marketplaces, this move also demonstrates Cboe's ambition to become the leading global securities and derivatives trading network, by replicating its successful products and market constructs in new regions."

Along with CEDX's existing index derivatives, these new products are expected to clear into Cboe Clear Europe, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cboe and the region's largest cash equity clearing house. This offers participants the ability to clear pan-European cash equities and equity derivatives at a single clearing house  allowing for greater operational efficiencies and the optimisation of collateral held against equity derivatives through portfolio margining, subject to regulatory approvals.

Arnoud Siegmann, Interim President and Chief Operating Officer of Cboe Clear Europe, said: "We are delighted to be supporting CEDX's continued expansion and extending our capabilities to clear single stock options. CEDX is already demonstrating its potential and Cboe Clear Europe is excited by the opportunity to provide meaningful cost savings to participants by offering the ability to clear pan-European cash equities and equity derivatives at a single provider."

CEDX launched in September 2021, initially offering trading in futures and options based on key Cboe Europe single country and pan-European indices. These indices, which are all calculated using Cboe market data, are transparently designed and managed under the same set of rules and perform closely in line with comparable benchmarks. The exchange has been designed to promote deep and liquid on-screen markets and is already bringing greater transparency and efficiencies to the region's derivatives markets. In January 2023, CEDX traded 3,824 contracts, a record monthly figure and beating the previous high of 3,647 contracts in December 2022.

Additional information about CEDX's single stock products is available here.

About Cboe Global Markets, Inc.

Cboe Global Markets (Cboe: CBOE), a leading provider of market infrastructure and tradable products, delivers cutting-edge trading, clearing and investment solutions to market participants around the world. The company is committed to operating a trusted, inclusive global marketplace, providing leading products, technology and data solutions that enable participants to define a sustainable financial future. Cboe provides trading solutions and products in multiple asset classes, including equities, derivatives, FX and digital assets, across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. To learn more, visit www.cboe.com.

Media Contacts

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Tim Cave Angela Tu

Kenneth Hill, CFA +44 (0) 7593 506 719 +1-646-856-8734

+1-312-786-7559 [email protected] [email protected]

[email protected]

CBOE-EE

CBOE-C

CBOE-OE

Cboe, Cboe Volatility Index, VIX and Cboe Global Markets are registered trademarks of Cboe Exchange, Inc. All other trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners.

Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward-Looking Information

Certain information contained in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements. We caution readers not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties.

SOURCE Cboe Global Markets, Inc.
Presidenta Boluarte se suma a campana Aliados por un sueno que promueve donacion de sangre y plaquetas a menores que luchan contra el cancer.

Lee la nota en:https://t.co/sQB308qcdA
Valmet Oyj's press release February 14, 2023 at 1:00 p.m. EET

ESPOO, Finland, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Vesa Simola, Area President, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) at Valmet, has decided to continue his career outside the company. Vesa Simola will continue to be an active member of Valmet's Executive Team and lead the company's EMEA Area until his successor is chosen.

"Vesa Simola has led the business of the EMEA Area creditably since 2015. The Area is our company's largest market, and under Vesa's leadership, our operations have developed well in many respects. I thank Vesa for his contribution during these years as a member of our Executive Team and for his commitment to continue in the position until his successor is found. At the same time, I wish Vesa all the best in the next phase of his career," says President and CEO Pasi Laine.



VALMET

Corporate Communications

For further information, please contact:

Anu Salonsaari-Posti, SVP, Communications, marketing and sustainability, tel. +358 10 672 0000

Valmet is a leading global developer and supplier of process technologies, automation and services for the pulp, paper and energy industries. With our automation systems and flow control solutions we serve an even wider base of process industries. Our 17,500 professionals around the world work close to our customers and are committed to moving our customers' performance forward - every day.



The company has over 220 years of industrial history and a strong track record in continuous improvement and renewal. In 2022, a major milestone was achieved when the flow control company Neles was merged into Valmet. Valmet's net sales in 2022 were approximately EUR 5.1 billion.

Valmet's shares are listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki and the head office is in Espoo, Finland.

Follow us on valmet.com | Twitter | Twitter (IR) | LinkedIn | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram |

Processing of personal data

SOURCE Valmet Oyj
-Fast casual concept celebrates Berkeley County grand opening Feb. 21 with free chicken salad for a year-

ATLANTA, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Chicken Salad Chick, the nation's only fast casual chicken salad restaurant concept, announced today its latest opening in Goose Creek, South Carolina. Located at 220 St. James Ave., this is the third Chicken Salad Chick for the Charleston area and the 13th to open in the state. The new restaurant will celebrate its grand opening on Tuesday, Feb. 21 by offering free chicken salad for a year to the first 100 guests.

During grand opening week, Goose Creek guests can expect to experience the Southern hospitality that Chicken Salad Chick is known for with specials and giveaways that include:

Tuesday, Feb. 21  Free Chicken Salad for a Year  The first 100 guests will receive one large Quick Chick of chicken salad per month for an entire year, with one of those lucky guests randomly selected to win one large Quick Chick of chicken salad per week.* Guests may arrive starting at 7 a.m. for grand opening day only.

  The first 100 guests will receive one large Quick Chick of chicken salad per month for an entire year, with one of those lucky guests randomly selected to win one large Quick Chick of chicken salad per week.* Guests may arrive starting at for grand opening day only. Wednesday, Feb. 22 - The first 100 guests to purchase a Chick Special will receive a FREE Chick Special on their next visit.**

- The first 100 guests to purchase a Chick Special will receive a FREE Chick Special on their next visit.** Thursday, Feb. 23  The first 100 guests to purchase a Chick Special will receive a FREE Chicken Salad Chick tote bag.**

 The first 100 guests to purchase a Chick Special will receive a FREE Chicken Salad Chick tote bag.** Friday, Feb. 24  All day long, Chick fans can enjoy buy two Quick Chicks and get one FREE!**

 All day long, Chick fans can enjoy buy two Quick Chicks and get one FREE!** Saturday, Feb. 25 - The first 100 guests to purchase a Chick Special will receive a FREE commemorative Chicken Salad Chick cup and FREE drink with their meal.**

Chicken Salad Chick's South Carolina expansion is being led by Julie Beville and Michelle Singleton of Sing Bev Hospitality. These multi-unit franchise owners opened their first Chick in Greenville, South Carolina, in 2013 and have steadily grown to own and operate a total of 15 locations throughout the Carolinas, including the two other Charleston-area locations in Summerville and Mount Pleasant. A decade with the chicken salad brand has shown them a lot about the value their restaurants bring to their communities.

"Michelle and I always say one of our favorite parts of bringing the Chick to new neighborhoods is the opportunity to positively impact the lives of our guests," said Julie Beville, co-owner of Chicken Salad Chick Goose Creek. "We've gotten to know our fans here in the Lowcountry over the past several years, and we know they rely on us for fresh, made-from-scratch meals they can enjoy with friends and family in our dining room or on the go. They also appreciate the warm hospitality of our restaurant teams and the way we support local organizations. We can't wait to be their new go-to spot in Goose Creek."

Chicken Salad Chick in Goose Creek will be open Monday  Saturday from 10:30 a.m.  8 p.m. For more information, visit www.chickensaladchick.com. Follow Chicken Salad Chick on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for the latest news and trends.

For more information on giveaways and specials, visit https://www.facebook.com/ChickenSaladChickGooseCreekSC/

*Guests should start arriving at 7 a.m. to get checked in. The first 100 guests will be assigned a number and a designated return time between 10:15 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. Upon return, guests will make a purchase of "The Chick" or anything of greater value and enter a code on the Chicken Salad Chick app to officially secure your spot. If you are late, or miss the return time, your spot will be awarded to the next in-line. Guests will receive their first free Large Quick Chick electronically to your App the Monday following Grand Opening Day.

**Must download the CSC App and be 16 years or older to purchase. Not valid with any other offers. Limit 1 reward per guest present.

About Chicken Salad Chick

Chicken Salad Chick serves full-flavored, Southern-style chicken salad made from scratch and served from the heart. With more than a dozen original chicken salad flavors as well as fresh side salads, gourmet soups, signature sandwiches and delicious desserts, Chicken Salad Chick's robust menu is a perfect fit for any guest. Founded in Auburn, Alabama, by Stacy and Kevin Brown, in 2008, Chicken Salad Chick has grown to more than 220 restaurants in 17 states. Today, under the leadership of Scott Deviney and the Chicken Salad Chick team, the brand is continuing its rapid expansion with both franchise and company locations. Chicken Salad Chick has received numerous accolades including rankings in the 2023 Entrepreneur Franchise 500, Franchise Times' Fast & Serious for the third consecutive year, Fast Casual.com's top Movers and Shakers from 2018 to 2022, QSR's Best Franchise Deals in 2019, 2020 and 2022, and Franchise Business Review's Top Food Franchises in 2020. See www.chickensaladchick.com for additional information.

Contact:

Nicole Hunnicutt

Fish Consulting

404-558-4108

[email protected]

SOURCE Chicken Salad Chick
This move will continue China Airlines journey as one of the leading digital carriers in the APAC region

TAOYUAN,Taiwan, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- IBS Software, a global leader of SaaS solutions to the travel and cargo industry, has signed an agreement with China Airlines (CI), the leading Taiwanese carrier, to deploy IBS Software's iCargo solution as its new cargo management system. The aim is to facilitate CI's cargo digitization through iCargo's single platform to maximize the synergies across different entities and transform its cargo business globally.

IBS Softwares iCargo to Modernize the Cargo Operations of China Airlines

With the new IBS Software platform, China Airlines will transition from their existing cargo system to a new single platform which includes sales, import and export operations, air mail handling and revenue accounting capabilities. It provides optimally automated digital technology for maximum efficiency and opportunities for sales management.

"China Airlines cargo has been endeavoring to modernize our digital capabilities for years. However, we see the evolutional change in digital sales and operations since COVID, and I believed SaaS is the right solution we are looking for," said Eddy Liu, Senior Vice President of Cargo, China Airlines. "We expect to build up a strong partnership with IBS Software and to realize faster time-to-market for our products and services without compromising compliance of data integrity."

"As a pioneer of APAC air cargo market and one of the heavyweight cargo players, China Airlines has extensive experience transporting special cargo and remains the carrier of choice for international transportation partners. We're honoured to be selected by China Airlines to support its growth journey." said Gautam Shekar, SVP and Region Head APAC and Middle East at IBS Software. "This agreement aligns with IBS Software's long-term strategy to further expand our presence in the exciting APAC market and help local customers modernise and add value to their cargo proposition."

About China Airlines http://www.china-airlines.com

China Airlines, the Taiwan-based carrier, was established in 1959 and has more than 10,000 employees worldwide. The China Airlines Group now operates a fleet of 112 aircraft, which includes 17 Boeing 747-400 and 5 Boeing 777 freighters. As a pioneer of APAC air cargo market, CI has extensive experience transporting special cargo such as precious relics, precision instruments, vehicles, large machinery, aerospace materials, artworks, and live animals. Well-known local and foreign companies have all made CI their preferred carrier for the transportation and transit of instruments and machinery. During the pandemic, CI quickly adopted a "prioritize cargo" business strategy to make the most use of freighter capacity and utilize the belly cargo holds of passenger aircraft utilized and assisted in delivering outstanding results. In recent years, China Airlines has received major awards, including: Air Cargo World's Air Cargo Excellence Award and Air Cargo Executive of the Year Award; being named the "Best Cargo Airline - Asia" by Air Cargo News magazine.

About IBS Software

IBS Software is a leading SaaS solutions provider to the travel industry globally, managing mission-critical operations for customers in the aviation, tour & cruise and hospitality industries. IBS Software's solutions for the aviation industry cover fleet & crew operations, aircraft maintenance, passenger services, loyalty programs, staff travel and air cargo management. It also runs a real-time B2B and B2C distribution platform providing hotel room inventory, rates and availability to a global network of hospitality companies and channels. For the tour and cruise industry, IBS provides a comprehensive customer-centric, digital platform that covers onshore online and on-board solutions, and IBS provides logistical solutions for the energy & resources industry. The Consulting and Digital Transformation (CDx) focuses on driving digital transformation initiatives of its customers, leveraging its domain knowledge, digital technologies, and engineering excellence. IBS Software is a Blackstone portfolio company and operates from 15 offices across the world. Further information is found at https://www.ibsplc.com/.

iCargo is an integrated solution that supports end-to-end business functions such as cargo reservations, rating, manifesting, import & export operations, warehouse management, revenue accounting, air mail handling and revenue management of cargo carrying airlines and ground handlers. This platform follows the air cargo industry's best practices and is fully compliant with global industry standards and initiatives, such as Cargo iQ, C-XML, OneRecord, e-AWB and e-Freight in general.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2001182/IBS_Software_iCargo.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1169353/IBS_Software_Logo.jpg

SOURCE IBS Software
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Consumer Watchdog called on the city's new leadership to address a bus shelter contract approved by the City Council that tracks people's location via digital ads on our public sidewalks.

Consumer Watchdog wrote Mayor Bass, City Attorney Feldstein Soto and the Board of Public Works to review this contract and others for compliance with the state's new privacy law. Such digital ads track geolocation and are illegal under California's newly effective California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) unless the public has an opportunity to opt out. The city's contract with tech start-up Tranzito-Vector fails to protect people's privacy rights under the CCPA.

"The public deserves to know what will be done with personal data, and how it will be told of its new rights regarding opting out of data collection," said Justin Kloczko, tech and privacy advocate at Consumer Watchdog.

Read the letter here.

Through recent contract approvals and changes to the city's municipal code, the city has auctioned off the public right of way to the tech-advertising industry, which is keen to profit off our personal data. A change to the city's municipal code last Fall broadened the definition of outdoor advertising, allowing for an avalanche of digital ads that follow us on our streets.

In addition to the 700 digital ads that will be branded on Tranzito-Vector bus shelters across the city, a motion by the city council to contract with IKE Smart City to install digital kiosks on streets will also contain digital display advertising. The digital ads are in addition to the nearly 100 digital billboards coming to LA trains and highways approved by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority last month.

These digital display ads latch onto mobile phone location data and give valuable insights, such as where a person goes or does after seeing an ad. Advertisers want to know if someone looked up that product or streamed a certain show.

"These digital ads raise not only serious privacy concerns, but also appear to violate state law, and not many are talking about it," said Kloczko. "Data mining tech companies pretending to be mobility operators can't have our public sidewalks, especially if they are tracking our movements. At the very least, the city or company must explain how it will allow people to opt out of tracking," said Kloczko.

The city's 20-year, $232-million contract with Tranzito-Vector says the data can be monetized.

"The contractor may propose opportunities to monetize the data collected from the Elements, technologies and programs developed for STAP," according to the contract, which the city council approved 12 to 1. One of the lobbyists hired by Tranzito-Vector to push for the city contract was Rick Taylor of Dakota Communications, according to lobbying registrations filed with the city. Taylor was an advisor to then-city council member Paul Koretz, who voted to approve the Tranzito-Vector contract. That, at the very least, appears to be a conflict of interest.

And according to the city's new Sidewalk Transportation Amenities Program (STAP), under which the contract for new bus stop shelters will be executed, the stated purposes for data collection include "allow advertising that utilizes location-based technologies that can activate or display mobile content to the public."

But under the CCPA, which took effect last month, geolocation falls under the category of "sensitive personal information" that a person has a right to stop from being collected or shared with third parties. The CCPA provides that such data shall not be collected unless notice is provided "at or before the point of collection." How the public will be noticed so it can opt out of such tracking is unclear at best.

The city's contract with Tranzito-Vector also says, "All data shall be rendered to the city at the city's discretion."

"There is also no discussion in the contract, at all, of what the city intends to do with the data for its own purposes," wrote Venskus & Associates, a law firm representing Citizens for a Better Los Angeles, in a letter to the city council.

"Who would agree to be tracked by a billboard if they were texted or noticed about it when the billboard identified their phone? Would advertisers really agree to tell people that they are being surreptitiously stalked by a billboard company?" said Kloczko.

The bus shelter contact was approved under the guise of helping protect the city's most vulnerable population from global warming.

"Why do we need ads to have shelter?" said Kloczko. "We can have our shelter and our privacy too."

"The CCPA empowers consumers to preserve privacy by exercising control over data that's become a personal extension of themselves," said Kloczko.

SOURCE Consumer Watchdog
Recently the Focus of a Story on NPR/Weekend Edition, the Album Features A Cornucopia Of New Orleans Finest Musicians

NEW ORLEANS, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Delicious, delightful, bodacious, brave, insightful, seductive and fun - just some of the many adjectives one might use to describe Judith Owen's fascinating and alluring new album, "Come On & Get It," releasing via London's Twanky Records. The release of "Come On & Get It" is being accompanied by select tour dates worldwide including stops in London (the Omeira), Paris (Duc des Lombards) & TSF's You & The Night & The Music at Salle Pleyel - Paris, New York City (APAP), the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and more.

Judith Owen Come On & Get It

Early May will also see the release of a deluxe vinyl version of "Come On & Get It" (with two bonus tracks) and a deluxe digital version featuring five bonus tracks. The release of the deluxe vinyl versions will coincide with Owen's highly-anticipated performance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on May 6th, as well as a comprehensive tour being planned for the US later this year.

The JazzFest performance follows a series of critically-acclaimed and packed shows in Judith's home town of New Orleans at Snug Harbor, Preservation Hall, The Toulouse Theater and a benefit evening at the Orpheum Theater for the Innocence Project New Orleans. This Spring/Summer sees Owen and her band of Gentlemen Callers at Jamie Cullum's BBC Radio 2 Cheltenham Jazz Fest, Nice Jazz Festival, the Perigeux Jazz Festival in France, a run at the Blue Note in Milan and the Ascona Jazz Cat Club in Switzerland.

Owen, who originally hails from Wales in the UK but now calls New Orleans home, conceived of the project as a result of her childhood fascination with the Jazz music of some of the so-called "pioneering but oft forgotten women" of the Jazz and Blues world including Julia Lee, Blossom Dearie and Nellie Lutcher - who she discovered hidden on the shelves of her father's record collection alongside the likes of Oscar Peterson and Jelly Roll Morton. Captivated and enchanted by these "unapologetic" chanteuses of the 40's/50's, who were singing about sex - and enjoying it at a time when women were meant to sing about romance - Owen made it her mission to dig deep and find out more from both a musical and historical perspective. The result is "Come On & Get It," the most joyful, uplifting, and empowering project to emerge out of Covid; a throw-back with a fresh feel complete with a look and style that speaks of all those delectable, hugely entertaining women who broke the glass ceiling with their stiletto heels and were ever so proud of it!

Recorded at Esplanade Studios in New Orleans (where else could you hear such greasy joy that speaks of Storyville and Burlesque?), "Come On & Get It" features a stellar cast of musicians including Jason Marsalis, Donald Harrison Jr., Charlie Gabriel, Nicholas Payton, David Torkanowsky, Kevin Louis, Evan Christopher, Ricardo Pascal and many more. The new album has already gained over 1 Million streams and more than 600,000 video views.

Official Music Videos

Album Assets

www.judithowen.net

SOURCE Twanky Records
Single Largest Philanthropic Investment in Organization's 45-Year History Will Establish a Fund to Help Schools Across the Country Reduce Inequities in Education

ARLINGTON, Va., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Communities In Schools (CIS) announced today that Ballmer Group is committing up to $165 million to help the organization scale its integrated student support model to 1,000 new majority low income (i.e "Title I-eligible") schools. CIS has a bold ambition to grow into every Title I-eligible school in America and to build a stronger system that better supports the 12 million students living in poverty. This new initiative will establish a fund designed to accelerate the adoption of its in-school student support services model to under resourced schools across the country.

School district leaders and educators interested in learning more about this opportunity should contact their local CIS affiliate or click here for more information.

"The initiative we are kicking off today, supported by the generous investment of Ballmer Group, marks an important milestone for students who are marginalized and left behind or in need of help to overcome obstacles on their path to achieving their dreams," said Rey Saldana, President and CEO of Communities In Schools.

Communities In Schools works by bringing community resources directly into schools through embedding a trained local coordinator whose sole focus is helping connect students with additional supports to help them learn, advance in grade level and graduate. In a single year, CIS serves more than 1.8 million kids through 3,270 school and community sites in 25 states and the District of Columbia. The new grant will enable CIS to get to almost 4,000 Title I schools nationally through their current affiliates and new licensed partnerships, serving another half million kids per year. Most importantly, the fund is designed to catalyze local public and private investment in the model through a 1:1 match requirement over the first three years and commitments to fully fund the work long-term.

"We are proud to support CIS and believe in the promise of bringing their approach to scale across the US. This investment is designed to show how school site coordinators using the CIS model can meet students' needs on an ongoing basis in order to improve high school graduation rates and, ultimately, economic mobility," said Steve Ballmer of the investment made by Ballmer Group. "With schools being asked to do more than ever, CIS has demonstrated how important it is to have dedicated staff who receive comprehensive supports to ensure K-12 students and families have access to high quality resources that meet pressing needs in real-time and help overcome barriers to learning in the classroom."

"This is a welcome boost of adrenaline in a movement for whole child supports" adds Saldana. "It is our hope to see the CIS model  in which site coordinators focused solely on the needs of kids who are systemically ignored  become standard practice in every school that needs it nationally."

###

About Communities In Schools

Communities In Schools  (CIS) is a national organization that ensures every student, regardless of race, zip code, or socioeconomic background, has what they need to realize their potential in school and beyond. Working directly inside over 3,000 schools across the country, we connect students to caring adults and community resources that help them see, confront, and overcome the barriers that stand between them and a brighter future. Together, we build a powerful change movement made up of peers, students, and alumni committed to building an equitable path to education for future generations. For more than four decades, Communities In Schools has demonstrated measurable success in creating equitable outcomes for schools and students of color and students that live in impoverished communities. During the 2021-2022 school year, 99.5 percent of students enrolled in CIS programs remained in school through the end of the school year, with 96.8 percent of K-11 students being promoted to the next grade and 95.5 percent of seniors graduating or receiving a GED. Learn more at www.communitiesinschools.org .

About Ballmer Group

Ballmer Group is committed to improving economic mobility for children and families in the United States, funding leaders and organizations that have demonstrated the ability to reshape opportunity and reduce systemic inequities. We focus on multiple impact areas and systems that can impact economic mobility - such as early learning, K-12 education, college and career pathways, housing, behavioral health, and criminal justice - and we support leaders and organizations that focus on undoing systemic racism and the barriers it has created. Ballmer Group is both a national and regional funder  we have a presence and invest deeply in southeast Michigan, Washington state, and Los Angeles County. Ballmer Group was co-founded by philanthropist Connie Ballmer and her husband Steve Ballmer, former CEO of Microsoft, founder of USAFacts, and chairman of the Los Angeles Clippers. Learn more at www.ballmergroup.org .

SOURCE Communities In Schools
DUBLIN, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Construction Accounting Software Market Forecast to 2028 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis By Offering, Deployment, and Application" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The construction accounting software market is expected to grow from US$ 943.91 million in 2022 to US$ 1,217.42 million by 2028; it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.3% from 2022 to 2028.

The construction accounting software market players use dedicated servers and data centers to store customer data and the company's crucial information and plan samples. Several companies across industries face a significant threat from cyber attackers, and in the recent past, numerous cyber-attacks have been recorded.

The data loss affects the reputation of accounting software providers, ultimately resulting in financial loss. To eliminate the risk of customer data loss and financial crisis, construction accounting software developing companies invest significant amounts in enhancing their security systems.

The players are also developing and integrating robust anti-cyberthreat solutions to prevent the loss of crucial information and data. Thus, by strengthening the security level with advanced encryption patches and using a robust anti-piracy or anti-cyberthreat solution, the companies are expected to attract increased clientele and propel financial growth. This factor is anticipated to boost the construction accounting software market growth in the coming years.



APAC is expected to register the highest CAGR in the construction accounting software market from 2022 to 2028. The growing population in India and China is raising the demand for commercial and residential infrastructure. Currently, China is witnessing various construction projects.

For instance, in Q1 of 2022, a project for constructing a 56 km metro railway line in Foshan, Guangdong, started, which is expected to be completed in 2026. Similarly, the construction project of a 28 km metro rail line between Chuansha Road Station to Dongjing Road Station in Shanghai commenced in Q1 2022 and is expected to be completed in 2027.

Thus, all such construction projects are expected to support the growth of the construction industry in the region, thereby fueling the construction accounting software market growth in the region. The economic growth within the MEA is attracting investors' attention to countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which is anticipated to create opportunities for construction projects.

In addition, the increase in construction projects, such as commercial and residential infrastructure, is raising the penetration of construction accounting software in the MEA. In SAM, Brazil holds a significant market share. In the context of the construction industry, the government invested US$ 167 million in 762 infrastructure projects to improve the conditions of Brazilian tourist cities in 2021.

Moreover, publicly funded infrastructure projects such as the "My House, My Life" program will further boost the construction industry's growth. Such government initiatives will help stimulate the development of the construction industry in the region.

The region promotes economic growth via increased public spending and a rise in infrastructural growth to assist private sector development; this is further expected to contribute to the construction industry's business growth. Thus, the more construction projects, the higher the penetration of construction accounting software will be.



The COVID-19 crisis drastically affected two huge markets in APAC - India and China. Lockdowns and temporary shutdowns of construction sites across major countries in Asia Pacific and huge disruption of the supply chain of various materials and goods greatly impacted the construction industry.

This caused serious delays in the construction of roads, schools, hospitals, ports, airports, and other critical pieces of infrastructure financed by public-private partnerships in Asia Pacific. All these factors negatively affected the adoption of construction accounting software in Asia Pacific.

A selection of companies mentioned in this report includes

Acclivity Group LLC

Chetu Inc.

Corecon Technologies Inc.

Deltek Inc.

Foundation Software, LLC

Freshbook

Intuit Inc.

Sage Group

Viewpoint Inc.

Xero Limited

Key Topics Covered:



1. Introduction

1.1 Scope of the Study

1.2 Research Report Guidance

1.3 Market Segmentation



2. Key Takeaways



3. Research Methodology

3.1 Coverage

3.2 Secondary Research

3.3 Primary Research



4. Construction Accounting Software Market Landscape

4.1 Market Overview

4.2 PEST Analysis

4.3 Ecosystem Analysis

4.4 Expert Opinion



5. Construction Accounting Software Market - Key Market Dynamics

5.1 Market Drivers

5.1.1 Growing Construction Industry

5.1.2 Rising Penetration of ERP Modules in Construction Industry

5.2 Market Restraints

5.2.1 High Reliance on Traditional Accounting Tools

5.3 Market Opportunities

5.3.1 Increasing Awareness of Implementing Technologies in Construction Industry

5.4 Future Trends

5.4.1 Enhancing Data Security to Prevent Data Loss

5.5 Impact Analysis of Drivers and Restraints



6. Construction Accounting Software Market - Global Market Analysis

6.1 Global Construction Accounting Software Market Overview

6.2 Global Construction Accounting Software Market Forecast and Analysis

6.3 Market Positioning- Top Five Players



7. Construction Accounting Software Market Analysis - By Offering

7.1 Overview

7.2 Construction Accounting Software, by Offering (2021 and 2028)

7.3 Solution

7.4 Services



8. Construction Accounting Software Market Analysis - By Deployment

8.1 Overview

8.2 Construction Accounting Software, by Deployment (2021 and 2028)

8.3 Cloud

8.4 On-Premise



9. Construction Accounting Software Market - By Application

9.1 Overview

9.2 Construction Accounting Software, by Application (2021 and 2028)

9.3 Small and Mid-sized Construction Companies

9.4 Large Construction Companies

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/auc9c3

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

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SOURCE Research and Markets
ORLANDO, Fla., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. based Brother's Brother Foundation (BBF) partners with National Airlines to ship humanitarian aid to different regions in Ukraine via Poland. The 17 tons of aid, which includes sleeping bags, quilts, clothing, generators, and other additional items were distributed among military hospitals and rehabilitation centers for injured soldiers in Kyiv, Lviv, and Vinnytsia areas.

"We are deeply grateful for the leading initiative by Brother's Brother Foundation in organizing the much-needed support in the region." Tweet this Transporting Aid Relief Materials on Designated Trucks to Ukrainian Crisis Hit Regions National Airlines B747-400F Aircraft Landing in Poland with Aid Material National Airlines B747-400F Aircraft Departing Orlando, U.S. with Humanitarian Aid Offloading Aid Relief Materials

"We are deeply grateful for the leading initiative by Brother's Brother Foundation in organizing the much-needed support in the region. National has been actively partnering with several organizations and governments to deliver timely humanitarian aid and relief to the crisis hit regions over the last three decades," remarked Christopher Alf, Chairman, National Air Cargo Holdings Inc.

In a well-orchestrated mission, teams from both organizations coordinated airlift of the aid and relief items from the U.S. to Poland on National Airlines B747-400F aircraft. Later, the National Air Cargo global teams took the needed initiative for the final mile coordinating customs requirements and shipment transportation to different crisis hit Ukrainian cities via specially designated trucks.

The safe and timely delivery of the aid further helped support military personnel deeply impacted by medical emergencies due to the sustained conflicts in the regions. "We could not be more appreciative of National Air Cargo Group's generosity in assisting those in dire need in Ukraine. The team's commitment and responsiveness to the humanitarian crisis is truly commendable," exclaimed Ozzy Samad, President, Brother's Brother Foundation.

National Airlines along with partner social organizations continues to offer humanitarian aid and relief assistance to support various groups affected by conflicts, especially the military and para-military groups requiring emergency support.

About National

National Airlines is a U.S. FAA-certificated Part 121 air carrier, with a fleet of B747-400F's, along with A330-200's and B757's which are used to provide global cargo and passenger solutions. National Air Cargo provides international freight forwarding, sea-to-air multi-modal transportation and logistics solutions worldwide. Established in 1990, the global reach of National is maintained via strategically located offices around the world; these locations include Germany, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates. Learn more at www.GoNational.com

SOURCE National Air Cargo
NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- CurePSP, a leading not-for-profit organization dedicated to advancing patient support and treatments of rare neurodegenerative diseases, is pleased to announce the addition of Rich Spain as its director of development and Jennifer Brummet, PhD as its associate director of scientific affairs and partnerships.

Spain, who has served as a volunteer for CurePSP for several years, will be the inaugural director of development. In this role, he will work to build relationships with individuals affected by rare neurological diseases and ensure the long-term sustainability and growth of CurePSP's mission and programs. Spain brings a wealth of experience to the role, having previously led successful fundraising efforts at the University of Virginia, Rice University and most recently, Virginia Commonwealth University. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from East Carolina University and a Master of Education in Sport Leadership from VCU.

Brummet, a seasoned professional with extensive experience in the nonprofit sector, advocacy and science policy, will manage CurePSP's grant programs, key partnerships and other initiatives relevant to CurePSP's "Cure" pillar. Before joining CurePSP, she served as research manager at the American Epilepsy Society, where she supported early-career grant programs and research initiatives. She has also held positions at the Society for Neuroscience and the National Science Foundation. Brummet holds a PhD in neuroscience from Michigan State University and a BA in psychology from Illinois Wesleyan University. She is an auxiliary board member with the Chicago Council on Science and Technology (C2ST) and volunteers with the Health Research Alliance. Dr. Lawrence I. Golbe, board member and chair of the Scientific Advisory Board since CurePSP's incorporation in 1990, looks forward to Brummet expediting scientific processes and in turn accelerating discovery.

"CurePSP is often approached by researchers, nonprofits and pharma companies with proposals for collaboration and support," Dr. Golbe said. "Jennifer's arrival will allow us to pursue additional opportunities more efficiently."

Dr. Kristophe Diaz, executive director and chief science officer at CurePSP, sees the new additions as seamless fits to advancing CurePSP's mission.

"The unwavering support of tens of thousands of donors, including those impacted by PSP, CBD and MSA, has fueled our recent growth," Dr. Diaz said. "Their generosity has allowed us to further our mission of offering support, education and hope to those affected by incurable neurological diseases. We're thrilled to welcome Rich and Jennifer to the team and anticipate their positive contributions in improving the lives of these families and advancing treatments and a cure."

About CurePSP

CurePSP is the leading nonprofit organization dedicated to the awareness, care and cure for three neurodegenerative diseases: progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), corticobasal degeneration (CBD) and multiple system atrophy (MSA). As a catalyst for new treatments and a cure, CurePSP establishes important partnerships and funds critical research internationally. Through its advocacy and support efforts, CurePSP enhances education, care delivery and quality of life for people living with PSP, CBD and MSA and their families. Science, community and hope are at the heart of CurePSP's mission and all its services. CurePSP is a registered 501(c)(3) charity within the United States (EIN: 52-1704978). For more information, please visit www.curepsp.org.

Contact:

Dr. Kristophe Diaz

Executive Director and Chief Science Officer

646-725-1453

[email protected]

SOURCE CurePSP, Inc.








"It is a great occasion to extend our congratulations for its important work in disseminating legal, official, and journalistic information, which contributes to strengthening national identity and democracy to the benefit of all Peruvians," President Boluarte remarked.









"Dina Ercila Boluarte Zegarra takes this opportunity to extend her best wishes to the team of Editora Peru and to call on it to continue fulfilling this important role as a Peruvian State-run media outlet," read the letter signed by the President of the Republic herself.





Editora Peru began operations on February 12, 1976, with the establishment of its first Board of Directors, in accordance with Decree Law No 21420, Organic Law of the Company.





Said regulation stated that Editora Peru had to take over the activities of Editora La Cronica y Variedades S.A., Empresa Editora del Diario Oficial El Peruano, and Editorial Viru S.A, with the aim of editing the newspapers La Cronica, La Tercera, and Diario Oficial El Peruano (the Official Gazette El Peruano).





In addition, Editora Peru was in charge of printing books, magazines, brochures, and every sort of publication so as to promote and disseminate culture at the national level.





(END) JCR/RMB

The President of the Republic Dina Boluarte on Monday congratulated Editora Peru on the 47th anniversary of the institution's establishment at the service of all Peruvians.Publicado: 13/2/2023
COLUMBUS, Ohio, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Daniel M. Prevedello, MD, MBA, FACS, is being recognized by Continental Who's Who as a Top Pinnacle Professional for his contributions to the medical field.

Dr. Prevedello's attended medical school and completed his residency in Brazil. He then completed a fellowship in neuroendocrine and pituitary surgery at the University of Virginia and second fellowship in skull, base, and cerebrovascular surgery at the University of Pittsburgh. In 2010, he joined Ohio State University and became a professor in 2017.

According to Dr. Prevedello, he is a well-known neurosurgeon specializing in skull base pathologies and brain tumors. He is the Vice Chair for Academic Affairs & Director of the Skull Base and Pituitary Surgery Programs at the OSUCCC  James, a university research hospital headquartered in Columbus, OH. He remains affiliated with The James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, Ohio State Same-Day Immediate Care Outpatient Care Worthington, and OSU Wexner Medical Center. He performs skull base surgery for all tumors and diseases of this body area.

The doctor explained that neurosurgery is the medical specialty concerned with the prevention, diagnosis, surgical treatment, and rehabilitation of disorders that affect any portion of the nervous system, including the brain, spinal cord, peripheral nerves, and extra-cranial cerebrovascular system. Neurosurgeons are doctors who diagnose and treat problems with the nervous system, often by performing surgery on the brain or spine. They treat strokes, tumors, certain types of congenital disabilities, infections, and head or spinal cord injuries.

Dr. Prevedello is considered a pioneer in the endoscopic endonasal approach (EEA) and other minimally invasive techniques for brain tumor removal and is one of only a few neurosurgeons worldwide who have performed more than 1,000 EEA cases. He noted that this technique allows surgeons to access the base of the skull, the intracranial cavity, and the top of the spine by operating through the nose and paranasal sinuses.

"Our individualized patient approach, combined with research opportunities, makes The James a very fulfilling place to work. There are few places that offer the types of highly specialized surgery that we do, and I'm proud to be a part of our patients' care," Dr. Prevedello said. His current research focuses on developing minimally invasive approaches to the brain and skull base that will result in the best surgical tumor resection possible with the least amount of disruption to normal tissue.

Dr. Prevedello is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons (FACS) and a member of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS). He is also board-certified by the Brazilian Society of Neurosurgery (Sociedade Brasileira de Neurocirurgia (SBN)), which is recognized by the World Federation of Neurological Surgeons.

The doctor serves as the Executive Director of the North American Skull Base Society, is on the Board of Directors for the Pituitary Network Association, and is active with the tumor sections of the CNS and the American Association of Neurological Surgeons. He has received the Compassionate Doctor Recognition (2016, 2015, 2014, and 2013), the Patients' Choice Award (2016, 2015, and 2013), and the Top 10 Doctor  Neighborhood (2014).

Despite his busy schedule, Dr. Prevedello always makes time for his family and to play in a rock and roll band. He enjoys listening to music, and his favorite place to vacation is the Virgin Islands. He speaks English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian.

Dr. Prevedello would like to thank his mentors Joao Candido Araugo, MD; Edward Laws, MD; and Amin Kassam, MD.

Contact: Katherine Green, 516-825-5634, [email protected]

SOURCE Continental Who's Who
Company recognized for empowering health and wellness organizations through exceptional customer service and support

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. and DENVER, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Daxko, the leading software and integrated payments provider in the health, fitness, and wellness industry, is proud to announce its recognition as a finalist for Customer Service Department of 2022 by The Stevie Awards, the world's premier business awards.

In 2022, Daxko employees across all functions took part in the company's "customer delight" initiative to ensure exceptional customer service and support to its diverse customer base, ranging from small fitness studios to nonprofit community organizations and health clubs. Daxko launched a series of training programs to close knowledge gaps for customers, including 1:1 sessions and the Project Thrive series, aimed at maximizing use of Daxko's tools and services. The company has hosted over 100 sessions, attracting over 1600 session attendees and reaching over 2000 customers, highlighting Daxko's commitment to serving its partners and their members. Daxko also empowers customers through its self-help portal featuring over 2000 articles and trainings, plus support via chat, online portal, email, and phone.

"We are incredibly proud of our customer service team and the entire Daxko family for their unwavering commitment to delivering outstanding customer service and support," said Ron Lamb, Daxko CEO. "Being recognized by The Stevie Awards is a testament to the dedication and hard work of our team."

"This year, like every year prior, we continue to raise the bar on customer service, continuously redefining how we can ensure our customer's success," said Brittany Richards, Senior Vice President of Customer Experience at Daxko. "It's incredible to see the team rewarded for consistently leveling up and redefining what exceptional service looks like."

Daxko remains committed to providing outstanding customer service and support to its partners in the club gym, boutique fitness, and nonprofit community as it continues to grow and expand its operations. In 2023, Daxko is committed to making significant strides to continue providing top-notch solutions to customers and aims its focus on training and product efficiency, prospecting and marketing, fundraising, data management, and safety. Whether it's through cutting-edge training programs, innovative product solutions, or data-driven insights, Daxko is poised to make a big impact in 2023 and beyond.

In 2022, Daxko facilitated noteworthy achievements for its customers, by:

Delivering over 100 live training sessions and reaching over 2000 customers.

Implementing effective solutions such as streamlining the childcare registration process, adding membership settings for Boys & Girls Clubs, integration between GroupEx PRO and Daxko Operations, and sweeping design improvements to support ease of use.

Hosting a two-day virtual learning event to share new product features with customers.

Generating $425,902,593 in donations for nonprofit partners from generous supporters.

About Daxko

Daxko delivers comprehensive technology solutions, integrated payment processing, experienced services and deep insights to all kinds of health and fitness centersenterprise health clubs, boutique fitness studios, affiliate gyms, campus recreation facilities, integrated wellness centers, YMCAs, and JCCs. Since 1998, the Daxko Nation of brands including Zen Planner, SugarWod, Club Automation, and more, serve customers spanning 55 countries, nearly 19,000 facilities, and over 25 million+ members. For more information, please visit www.daxko.com.

SOURCE Daxko
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The global digital health industry size was valued at USD 211.0 billion in 2022 and will grow at a CAGR of 18.6% CAGR during the forecast period 2022-2030, according to the "Digital Health Industry Data Book, 2022  2030," published by Grand View Research. The need to foster accuracy and efficiency with innovation has propelled the demand for digital technologies and innovations. Soaring demand for remote patient monitoring using sensors, apps, wearables and apps has spurred the penetration of tele-healthcare and mhealth. For instance, artificial intelligence has garnered traction to assess a trove of data, make predictions and identify patterns.

The demand for telehealth has become pronounced to screen and engage patients remotely, leverage interventional physicians to explore virtual collaboration platforms and offer advice for self-management of health care. Additionally, tele-ultrasounds have emerged as a viable portfolio to provide instant reassurance to the patient using a live collaboration platform that can support a sonographer at a remote site to perform the exam. Advanced economies, such as the U.S., have exhibited potential opportunities for virtual care stations, providing virtual care services in neighborhood locations. The telehealth market size logged USD 87.6 billion in 2022, registering a 23.5% CAGR between 2023 and 2030.

Access the Global Digital Health Industry Data Book, 2023 to 2030, compiled with details like market sizing information & forecasts, trade data, pricing intelligence, competitive benchmarking, macro-environmental analyses, and regulatory & technological framework studies

The emerging trend for wearables has spurred the footprint of mhealth across advanced and emerging economies. Limited access to fitness centers against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic furthered the demand for mobile health technologies, prompting industry leaders to emphasize machine learning and the use of sensors in wearables. Moreover, skyrocketing demand for smartphones has added a fillip to the mhealth market size which was valued at USD 56.8 billion in 2022 and could observe around 10.8% CAGR from 2023 through 2030. Besides, an exponential penetration of smartphones has encouraged stakeholders to prioritize innovation and advancements in mhealth. End-users envisage the technology as a viable platform for better patient engagement and to boost patient care in remote areas.

Order your copy of the Free Sample of "Digital Health Industry Data Book - Tele-Healthcare, mHealth, Healthcare Analytics and Digital Health System Market Size, Share, Trends Analysis, And Segment Forecasts, 2022 - 2030" Data Book, published by Grand View Research

Well-established and emerging players are poised to respond to the global dynamics that can reshape the digital health industry. Some drivers, opportunities and trends are highlighted below:

The advent of wearable biosensors has boded well for market growth. The havoc wrecked by the COVID-19 outbreak and the shortage of PPE kits compelled healthcare workers to seek wearable biosensors to foster patient monitoring. The trend is expected to continue post-pandemic to minimize the cost of care and facilitate patient care.

Industry leaders envisage opportunities and challenges in digital health technologies amidst the surging generation of data from electronic medical records, apps, wearables, sensors and laboratory tests. The application of AI and encryption for cybersecurity will likely gain steam to protect data and detect cyber threats.

Europe is poised to be a favorable destination for stakeholders in the light of rising footfall of mhealth, AI in healthcare and healthcare analytics across the U.K., France , Italy , Germany and Spain .

Go through the table of content of Digital Health Industry Data Book to get a better understanding of the Coverage & Scope of the study

North America digital health industry share will gain momentum on the heels of the trend for the internet of medical things (IoMT) and bullish demand for healthcare analytics. For instance, the demand for telemedicine and smart sensor technologies rose across the U.S. and Canada to minimize the potential exposure to contagious diseases and streamline communication between doctors and patients. Moreover, blockchain-based EMR could gain ground to reduce the time required to access patient information, and bolster data privacy and security. Industry players expect big data to further receive impetus to forecast admission rates, underpin preventive care and minimize medication errors.

The evolving competitive landscape suggests forward-looking companies could inject funds into technological advancements, innovations, product launches, collaborations and research & development activities. For instance, in January 2023, Philips joined forces with Masimo to enhance telehealth for patients and clinicians globally. Masimo W1 advanced health tracking watch will undergird enterprise patient monitoring ecosystem and provide continuous pulse oximetry measurements and accurate and other health data.

Check out more Industry Data Books, published by Grand View Research

About Grand View Research

Grand View Research, U.S.-based market research and consulting company, provides syndicated as well as customized research reports and consulting services. Registered in California and headquartered in San Francisco, the company comprises over 425 analysts and consultants, adding more than 1200 market research reports to its vast database each year. These reports offer in-depth analysis on 46 industries across 25 major countries worldwide. With the help of an interactive market intelligence platform, Grand View Research Helps Fortune 500 companies and renowned academic institutes understand the global and regional business environment and gauge the opportunities that lie ahead.

Contact:

Sherry James

Corporate Sales Specialist, USA

Grand View Research, Inc.

Phone: 1-415-349-0058

Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/sector-reports-list

Follow Us: LinkedIn | Twitter

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/661327/Grand_View_Research_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Grand View Research, Inc.
The 768Wh portable power station comes with fast charging capability and a 10-year lifespan.

DUSSELDORF, Germany, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- EcoFlow, a portable power and eco-friendly energy solutions company, today released the RIVER 2 Pro portable power station in European Markets. As the highest capacity model in the RIVER 2 Series of best-in-class entry-level power stations, RIVER 2 Pro delivers a guaranteed basic power supply enhanced by EcoFlow's X-Stream fast-charge technology.

EcoFlow RIVER 2 Pro Portable Power Station

Starting today, RIVER 2 Pro is available in Europe on EcoFlow's official webstores, the brand's Amazon store and local distributors for 799 (749). Users can also bundle RIVER 2 Pro with compatible EcoFlow solar panels for a sustainable way to meet their energy needs. Moreover, from Feb 14th to 20th, users who purchase RIVER 2 Pro or its bundle on the brand's official webstore will receive a doubled amount of EcoCredits, which can be redeemed as coupons.

"As energy insecurity continues to grow in Europe, RIVER 2 Pro ensures our European users have access to a reliable basic level of power wherever and whenever they should need it." said Bruce Wang, CEO of EcoFlow. "It offers grab-and-go power not only for unexpected emergencies, but also for spontaneous adventures, reinforcing EcoFlow's commitment to making life better through meaningful innovation."

Industry-leading Charging Speed and Flexible Charging Methods

With EcoFlow's X-Stream technology, RIVER 2 Pro can be fully recharged by wall sockets from 0 to 100% in just 70 minutes, five times faster than the industry average. As a result, during extended outages, users can quickly charge to sufficient power levels when the electricity supply temporarily restores, or power unplanned day trips even at the last minute.

In addition to wall outlet charging, RIVER 2 Pro also supports car charging, USB-C charging and solar charging. With a maximum 220W solar input, RIVER 2 Pro can be fully topped up via solar panel in as little as four hours, providing clean, sustainable energy when blackouts hit or during outdoor activities.

10 Years of Reliable Power

Equipped with advanced LiFePO4 (LFP) batteries that can operate under extreme temperatures, RIVER 2 Pro possesses a lifespan of 3,000 cycles, six times longer than the industry average of 500 cycles. As a result, RIVER 2 Pro can provide reliable energy for approximately 10 years if used one cycle per day.

Along with RIVER 2 and RIVER 2 Max, RIVER 2 Pro received TUV Rheinland's 'Reliable Charger' certification, becoming the industry's first portable power station to be certified by the global leader in independent testing, inspection, and certification services. Users can find peace of mind in the knowledge that RIVER 2 Pro has passed all of TUV Rheinland's rigorous safety testing procedures.

Power 80% of High-wattage Home Appliances

With a maximum AC output of 800W, RIVER 2 Pro can run devices of up to 1600W with EcoFlow's X-Boost mode on, sufficient for 80% of heavy-duty appliances like hair dryers, microwaves and electric kettles. Covering all essential appliances, RIVER 2 Pro provides an ideal portable energy source whether it's needed during a blackout or in the great outdoors.

For more information, please visit EcoFlow's websites:

United Kingdom: uk.ecoflow.com

France: fr.ecoflow.com

Germany: de.ecoflow.com

Italy: it.ecoflow.com

Spain: es.ecoflow.com

Other European countries: eu.ecoflow.com

About EcoFlow

EcoFlow is a leading eco-friendly energy solutions company with the vision to power a new world. Since its founding in 2017, EcoFlow's mission is to reinvent the way individuals and families access energy by providing reliable, accessible and renewable power solutions. Today, EcoFlow has operational headquarters in the United States, Germany and Japan, with more than 2 million users in over 100 markets worldwide. In Europe, EcoFlow's products are now available in all 44 countries and regions, supported by a network of over 800 local retailers.

Contact

Franko Fischer

EcoFlow Communications Director, Germany

[email protected]

Donna Ding

EcoFlow Communications Manager, Europe

[email protected]

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1999975/image_1.jpg

SOURCE EcoFlow Europe s.r.o.
BOGOTA, Colombia, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Ecopetrol S.A. ("Ecopetrol"), announced today the final tender results in connection with its previously announced tender offer for cash (the "Offer") to purchase up to U.S.$1,000,000,000 in aggregate principal amount (the "Maximum Tender Amount") of its outstanding 5.875% Senior Notes due 2023 (CUSIP: 279158 AC3 / ISIN: US279158AC30 (the "Notes"). The Offer was made pursuant to Ecopetrol's Offer to Purchase, dated January 17, 2023 (the "Offer to Purchase"), which set forth a comprehensive description of the terms of the Offer.

The Offer expired at 11:59 p.m., New York City time, on February 13, 2023 (the "Expiration Date"). Any Notes that have been validly tendered cannot be withdrawn, except as may be required by applicable law.

The following table summarizes the final results for the Offer as of the Expiration Date and the principal amount of Notes that Ecopetrol has accepted for cancellation:

Title of Notes CUSIP / ISIN Nos. Aggregate Principal Amount Outstanding(1) Maximum Tender Amount Aggregate Principal Amount Tendered & Accepted for Purchase on the Early Tender Date(2) Aggregate Principal Amount Tendered & Accepted for Purchase on the Expiration Date 5.875%

Senior Notes due 2023 CUSIP: 279158 AC3 ISIN: US279158AC30 U.S.$1,800,000,000 U.S.$1,000,000,000 U.S.$976,186,000 U.S.$2,338,000.00

(1) Principal amount outstanding immediately prior to the Early Settlement Date (as defined below).

(2) Early settlement with respect to Notes validly tendered on or prior to the early participation date of 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on January 30, 2023 (the "Early Tender Date") and accepted for purchase occurred on January 31, 2023 (the "Early Settlement Date").

Holders who validly tendered and did not validly withdraw their Notes on or prior to the Early Tender Date, and whose Notes were accepted for purchase by Ecopetrol pursuant to the Offer, received the Total Consideration of U.S.$1,003.41 per U.S.$1,000 principal amount of Notes (the "Total Consideration"), which included an early tender payment (the "Early Tender Premium") of U.S.$30.00 per U.S.$1,000 principal amount of Notes, subject to the Maximum Tender Amount.

Holders who tendered after the Early Tender Date but prior to the Expiration Date will receive the Tender Consideration only. The "Tender Consideration" means, for each U.S.$1,000 principal amount of Notes validly tendered and accepted by the Ecopetrol, the Total Consideration minus the Early Tender Premium. The applicable Consideration will be payable in U.S. dollars.

In addition to the Tender Consideration for the Notes validly tendered and accepted for purchase, Holders will also receive accrued and unpaid interest from, and including, the last interest payment date up to, but excluding, the Final Settlement Date, which will be paid in cash on the Final Settlement Date.

All the Notes tendered after the Early Tender Date but prior to the Expiration Date, and not validly withdrawn, were accepted for purchase. Since the principal amount of tenders does not exceed the Maximum Tender Amount, Ecopetrol will accept all Notes tendered after the Early Tender Date but prior to the Expiration Date.

For the Notes validly tendered after the Early Tender Date and on or prior to the Expiration Date, and accepted by Ecopetrol for purchase pursuant to the Offer, subject to the Maximum Tender Amount and proration, settlement will occur promptly after the Expiration Date (the "Final Settlement Date"). Ecopetrol expects the Final Settlement Date to be on February 15, 2023, which is the second Business Day following the Expiration Date.

Ecopetrol expressly reserves the absolute right, in its sole discretion, from time to time to purchase any Notes that remain outstanding after the Final Settlement Date through open-market or privately negotiated transactions, one or more additional tender or exchange offers or otherwise, on terms and at prices that may or may not be equal to the consideration offered in the Offer, or to exercise any of its rights, including redemption rights, under the Indenture governing the Notes.

The complete terms and conditions of the Offer are described in the Offer to Purchase, a copy of which may be obtained from Global Bondholder Services Corporation, the tender agent and information agent (the "Tender and Information Agent") for the Offer, at https://gbsc-usa.com/ecopetrol/ or by telephone at +1 855-654-2014 (Toll-Free) or +1 212-430 3774 (Banks and Brokers).

Ecopetrol engaged Citigroup Global Markets Group Inc. to act as the dealer manager (the "Dealer Manager") in connection with the Offer. Questions regarding the terms of the Offer may be directed to the Dealer Manager at +1 800-558-3745 (Toll-Free) or +1 212-723-6106 (Collect)

About Ecopetrol

Ecopetrol is a mixed economy company organized under the laws of the Republic of Colombia. Ecopetrol is the largest company in Colombia and one of the most relevant integrated energy companies in Latin America, with a presence primarily in Colombia and activities in the U.S. (U.S. Gulf of Mexico and Permian Basin), Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Chile and Bolivia. In Colombia, Ecopetrol is responsible for more than 60% of the hydrocarbon production, transportation, logistics, and hydrocarbon refining systems, and hold a leading position in the petrochemicals and gas distribution segment. Through its subsidiary, Interconexion Electrica S.A. E.S.P., Ecopetrol has a strong position in the electric power transmission business, toll roads and telecommunications sectors throughout Latin America. The Republic of Colombia currently owns 88.49% of Ecopetrol's voting capital stock.

No Recommendation

None of Ecopetrol, the Dealer Manager, the Tender and Information Agent or the trustee for the Notes, or any of their respective affiliates, is making any recommendation as to whether holders should or should not tender any Notes in response to the Offer or expressing any opinion as to whether the terms of the Offer are fair to any holder. Holders must make their own decision as to whether to tender any of their Notes and, if so, the purchase price of Notes to tender. Please refer to the Offer to Purchase for a description of the offer terms, conditions, disclaimers and other information applicable to the Offer.

Disclaimer and Other Important Notices

This press release and the Offer to Purchase do not constitute an offer to buy or the solicitation of an offer to sell Notes in any jurisdiction in which such offer or solicitation would be unlawful. In those jurisdictions where the securities, blue sky or other laws require the Offer to be made by a licensed broker or dealer, the Offer shall be deemed to be made on behalf of us by the Dealer Manager or one or more registered brokers or dealers licensed under the laws of such jurisdiction. If materials relating to the Offer come into a holder's possession, the holder is required by Ecopetrol to inform itself of and to observe all of these restrictions.

The Offer to Purchase has not been filed with or reviewed by the SEC, any state securities commission or any other regulatory authority, nor has any such commission or authority passed upon the accuracy or adequacy of the Offer to Purchase or any of the accompanying ancillary documents delivered herewith. Any representation to the contrary is unlawful and may be a criminal offense.

The Offer to Purchase will not be authorized by the Colombian Superintendency of Finance (Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia or the "SFC" by its acronym in Spanish) and will not be registered under the Colombian National Registry of Securities and Issuers (Registro Nacional de Valores y Emisores) or the Colombian Stock Exchange (Bolsa de Valores de Colombia or the "BVC" by its acronym in Spanish), and, accordingly, the Offer to Purchase may not constitute an offer to persons in Colombia except in circumstances which do not result in a public offering under Colombian law and must be carried out in compliance with Part 4 of Decree 2555 of 2010.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including those related to the Offer. Forward-looking information involves important risks and uncertainties that could significantly affect anticipated results in the future, and, accordingly, such results may differ from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. Ecopetrol is not under any obligation to (and expressly disclaims any such obligation to) update forward- looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

SOURCE Ecopetrol S.A.
NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The global electric vehicle motor market size is estimated to increase by USD 14,492.96 million between 2022 and 2027. The market's growth momentum will accelerate at a CAGR of 20.87%. The report also includes historic market data from 2017 to 2021. In 2017, the electric vehicle motor market was valued at USD 2,365.75 million. COVID-19 had the most negative impact on the global automotive industry in recent years, resulting in a steep fall in demand and a large-scale disruption of the supply chain. It has exerted intense pressure on an already-stressed global automotive market. Yet, there are high predictions that few countries are bringing manufacturing facilities and production back on track, indicating that the supply side is on a restoration line. Discover some insights on the market - request a sample report

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Electric Vehicle Motor Market 2023-2027

Key trends - Battery performance overview from logs is a key trend in the market. Charging cycles, duration, battery capacity, and range availed after each charge can be monitored and recorded by connecting a smartphone to the battery monitor. It can also create statistics based on the history available for easy interpretation of battery performance by users. Shared EV mobility is another upcoming trend, wherein taxi-sharing service providers and fleet operators are purchasing EVs in bulk to provide environment-friendly transport facilities. Such factors will fuel the growth of the EV motor market during the forecast period. Know more  Buy the Report!

Electric vehicle motor market - Customer landscape

To help companies evaluate and develop growth strategies, the report outlines 

Key purchase criteria

Adoption rates

Adoption lifecycle

Drivers of price sensitivity

Electric vehicle motor market  Vendor analysis

Vendor landscape 

The global electric vehicle motor market is fragmented, with the presence of several vendors. A few prominent vendors that offer electric vehicle motors in the market are ABB Ltd., Allied Motion Technologies Inc., AMETEK Inc., Continental AG, DENSO Corp., e Gle Co. Ltd., ECOmove GmbH, Ford Motor Co., GEM motors d.o.o, Hitachi Ltd., Magna International Inc., Metric Mind Engineering, Mitsubishi Electric Corp., Nidec Corp., Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., Robert Bosch GmbH, Siemens AG, Toshiba Corp., Valeo SA, Volkswagen AG, and others.

The global EV motors market is in the growth stage, and it is expected to witness significant growth during the forecast period. The competition in the market is expected to intensify with the entry of new vendors, technological innovations, expansions, acquisitions, and strategic partnerships. These vendors compete on factors such as product differentiation, product portfolio, quality, and reliability. Established vendors are investing in R&D for the development of EV motors to explore new application areas. Thus, to stay competitive in the market, vendors should focus on developing modern technologies.

Vendor offerings -

Allied Motion Technologies Inc. - The company offers electric vehicle (EV) motors, which include the DDA and GTx series offering load-carrying capacity up to 907 kg (2000 lb).

The company offers electric vehicle (EV) motors, which include the DDA and GTx series offering load-carrying capacity up to 907 kg (2000 lb). AMETEK Inc. - The company offers electric vehicle (EV) motors that range from fractional horsepower to 12 hp and power ratings for brushless motors range from fractional to 4 horsepower.

The company offers electric vehicle (EV) motors that range from fractional horsepower to 12 hp and power ratings for brushless motors range from fractional to 4 horsepower. Continental AG - The company offers electric vehicle (EV) motors to create traction for electric vehicles.

The company offers electric vehicle (EV) motors to create traction for electric vehicles. DENSO Corp. - The company offers electric vehicle (EV) motors that are used for driving hybrid vehicles and generating electricity.

Electric vehicle motor market - Segmentation assessment

Segment overview

Technavio has segmented the market based on type (AC motor and DC motor) and power rating (MPR, HPR, and IPR).

The MPR segment will account for a significant share of the market growth during the forecast period. MPR motors are used in full or plug-in hybrid powertrains and low-range pure EVs. For instance, The Nissan Leaf is equipped with an 80kW MPR motor for providing acceleration to the 3300 lb (approx 1500kg) vehicle. Other vehicles that use mid-power rating motors are Hyundai Sonata, Hyundai Ioniq Electric, Toyota Prius, and Chevrolet Volt.

Geography overview

Based on geography, the global electric vehicle motor market is segmented into APAC, Europe, North America, South America, and Middle East and Africa. The report provides actionable insights and estimates the contribution of all regions to the growth of the global electric vehicle motor market.

APAC is estimated to account for 50% of the growth of the global market during the forecast period. The growth of the market in the region is attributed to factors such as the increasing demand for EVs from countries such as China , Japan , India , Singapore , Thailand , and South Korea . This will increase the production and sales of EV-related parts, such as batteries, power inverters, and motors.

Download a sample report

Electric vehicle motor market  Market dynamics

Leading drivers - The increasing average miles driven by EVs on a single charge is driving the EV motor market growth. EV manufacturers are focusing on improving the battery pack size. OEMs are upgrading the battery packs of EVs to enhance the miles driven on a single charge. For instance, Tesla plans to improve the battery pack (100-kilowatt-hour) in its EVs. Similarly, the Nissan Leaf is improving its battery pack to enhance the miles driven on a single charge. Thus, the increasing average miles driven on a single charge will attract more customers, which will drive the demand for EV motors during the forecast period.

Major challenges - The lack of operational infrastructure in emerging markets is challenging market growth. There is a lack of efficient charging infrastructure for EVs, especially in emerging markets. In addition, road infrastructure is inadequate in these countries, which hinders the wide-scale expansion of EV charging infrastructure. Though governing bodies are developing charging stations, most of them are slow-charging stations and require a considerable amount of time to charge. Thus, the lack of operational infrastructure is expected to impede the overall growth of the market during the forecast period.

Drivers and challenges have an impact on market dynamics, which can impact businesses. Find more insights in a sample report!

What are the key data covered in this electric vehicle motor market report?

CAGR of the market during the forecast period

Detailed information on factors that will drive the growth of the electric vehicle motor market between 2023 and 2027

Precise estimation of the size of the electric vehicle motor market and its contribution to the parent market

Accurate predictions about upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

Growth of the electric vehicle motor market across APAC, Europe , North America , South America , and Middle East and Africa

, , , and and A thorough analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information about vendors

Comprehensive analysis of factors that will challenge the growth of electric vehicle motor market vendors

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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 Power Rating



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 ($ 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 Historic Market Size

4.1 Global electric vehicle (EV) motor market 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 18: Historic Market Size  Data Table on Global electric vehicle (EV) motor market 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.2 Power rating Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 19: Historic Market Size  Power rating Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.3 Type Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 20: Historic Market Size  Type Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.4 Geography Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 21: Historic Market Size  Geography Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.5 Country Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 22: Historic Market Size  Country Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

5 Five Forces Analysis

5.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 23: Five forces analysis - Comparison between 2022 and 2027

5.2 Bargaining power of buyers

Exhibit 24: Chart on Bargaining power of buyers  Impact of key factors 2022 and 2027

5.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

Exhibit 25: Bargaining power of suppliers  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.4 Threat of new entrants

Exhibit 26: Threat of new entrants  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.5 Threat of substitutes

Exhibit 27: Threat of substitutes  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.6 Threat of rivalry

Exhibit 28: Threat of rivalry  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.7 Market condition

Exhibit 29: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2022 and 2027

6 Market Segmentation by Power Rating

6.1 Market segments

Exhibit 30: Chart on Power Rating - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Power Rating - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

6.2 Comparison by Power Rating

Exhibit 32: Chart on Comparison by Power Rating



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Comparison by Power Rating

6.3 MPR - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 34: Chart on MPR - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on MPR - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 36: Chart on MPR - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 37: Data Table on MPR - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.4 HPR - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 38: Chart on HPR - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on HPR - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 40: Chart on HPR - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 41: Data Table on HPR - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.5 LPR - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 42: Chart on LPR - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 43: Data Table on LPR - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 44: Chart on LPR - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 45: Data Table on LPR - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.6 Market opportunity by Power Rating

Exhibit 46: Market opportunity by Power Rating ($ million)

7 Market Segmentation by Type

7.1 Market segments

Exhibit 47: Chart on Type - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 48: Data Table on Type - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

7.2 Comparison by Type

Exhibit 49: Chart on Comparison by Type



Exhibit 50: Data Table on Comparison by Type

7.3 AC motor - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 51: Chart on AC motor - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 52: Data Table on AC motor - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 53: Chart on AC motor - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 54: Data Table on AC motor - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.4 DC motor - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 55: Chart on DC motor - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 56: Data Table on DC motor - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 57: Chart on DC motor - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 58: Data Table on DC motor - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.5 Market opportunity by Type

Exhibit 59: Market opportunity by Type ($ million)

8 Customer Landscape

8.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 60: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

9 Geographic Landscape

9.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 61: Chart on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 62: Data Table on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)

9.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 63: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 64: Data Table on Geographic comparison

9.3 APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 65: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 66: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 67: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 68: Data Table on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.4 Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 69: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 70: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 71: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 72: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.5 North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 73: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 74: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 75: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 76: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.6 South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 77: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 78: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 79: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 80: Data Table on South America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.7 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 81: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 82: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 83: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 84: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.8 China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 85: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 86: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 87: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 88: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.9 US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 89: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 90: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 91: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 92: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.10 Norway - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 93: Chart on Norway - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 94: Data Table on Norway - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 95: Chart on Norway - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 96: Data Table on Norway - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.11 Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 97: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 98: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 99: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 100: Data Table on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.12 France - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 101: Chart on France - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 102: Data Table on France - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 103: Chart on France - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 104: Data Table on France - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.13 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 105: Market opportunity by geography ($ million)

10 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

10.1 Market drivers

10.2 Market challenges

10.3 Impact of drivers and challenges

Exhibit 106: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2022 and 2027

10.4 Market trends

11 Vendor Landscape

11.1 Overview

11.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 107: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

11.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 108: Overview on factors of disruption

11.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 109: Impact of key risks on business

12 Vendor Analysis

12.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 110: Vendors covered

12.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 111: Matrix on vendor position and classification

12.3 Allied Motion Technologies Inc.

Exhibit 112: Allied Motion Technologies Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 113: Allied Motion Technologies Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 114: Allied Motion Technologies Inc. - Key offerings

12.4 AMETEK Inc.

Exhibit 115: AMETEK Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 116: AMETEK Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 117: AMETEK Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 118: AMETEK Inc. - Segment focus

12.5 Continental AG

Exhibit 119: Continental AG - Overview



Exhibit 120: Continental AG - Business segments



Exhibit 121: Continental AG - Key offerings



Exhibit 122: Continental AG - Segment focus

12.6 DENSO Corp.

Exhibit 123: DENSO Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 124: DENSO Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 125: DENSO Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 126: DENSO Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 127: DENSO Corp. - Segment focus

12.7 Ford Motor Co.

Exhibit 128: Ford Motor Co. - Overview



Exhibit 129: Ford Motor Co. - Business segments



Exhibit 130: Ford Motor Co. - Key news



Exhibit 131: Ford Motor Co. - Key offerings



Exhibit 132: Ford Motor Co. - Segment focus

12.8 Hitachi Ltd.

Exhibit 133: Hitachi Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 134: Hitachi Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 135: Hitachi Ltd. - Key news



Exhibit 136: Hitachi Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 137: Hitachi Ltd. - Segment focus

12.9 Magna International Inc.

Exhibit 138: Magna International Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 139: Magna International Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 140: Magna International Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 141: Magna International Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 142: Magna International Inc. - Segment focus

12.10 Metric Mind Engineering

Exhibit 143: Metric Mind Engineering - Overview



Exhibit 144: Metric Mind Engineering - Product / Service



Exhibit 145: Metric Mind Engineering - Key offerings

12.11 Mitsubishi Electric Corp.

Exhibit 146: Mitsubishi Electric Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 147: Mitsubishi Electric Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 148: Mitsubishi Electric Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 149: Mitsubishi Electric Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 150: Mitsubishi Electric Corp. - Segment focus

12.12 Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.

Exhibit 151: Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 152: Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 153: Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. - Key news



Exhibit 154: Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 155: Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. - Segment focus

12.13 Robert Bosch GmbH

Exhibit 156: Robert Bosch GmbH - Overview



Exhibit 157: Robert Bosch GmbH - Business segments



Exhibit 158: Robert Bosch GmbH - Key news



Exhibit 159: Robert Bosch GmbH - Key offerings



Exhibit 160: Robert Bosch GmbH - Segment focus

12.14 Siemens AG

Exhibit 161: Siemens AG - Overview



Exhibit 162: Siemens AG - Business segments



Exhibit 163: Siemens AG - Key news



Exhibit 164: Siemens AG - Key offerings



Exhibit 165: Siemens AG - Segment focus

12.15 Toshiba Corp.

Exhibit 166: Toshiba Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 167: Toshiba Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 168: Toshiba Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 169: Toshiba Corp. - Segment focus

12.16 Valeo SA

Exhibit 170: Valeo SA - Overview



Exhibit 171: Valeo SA - Business segments



Exhibit 172: Valeo SA - Key news



Exhibit 173: Valeo SA - Key offerings



Exhibit 174: Valeo SA - Segment focus

12.17 Volkswagen AG

Exhibit 175: Volkswagen AG - Overview



Exhibit 176: Volkswagen AG - Business segments



Exhibit 177: Volkswagen AG - Key offerings



Exhibit 178: Volkswagen AG - Segment focus

13 Appendix

13.1 Scope of the report

13.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 179: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 180: Exclusions checklist

13.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 181: Currency conversion rates for US$

13.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 182: Research methodology



Exhibit 183: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 184: Information sources

13.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 185: List of abbreviations

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BANGALORE, India, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Employee Engagement and Feedback Software Market is segmented by type (Cloud-based,On-premises), By application ( Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Large Enterprises) : Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20222028. It is published in Valuates Reports under the Business Operations Category.

In 2020, the Global Employee Engagement and Feedback Software market size was valued at USD 813 Million, the market is forecasted to reach USD 3571 Million by 2028, growing at CAGR of 21.6% between 2022 and 2028.

Major Factors Driving The Growth Of The Employee Engagement and Feedback Software Market

Factors driving the growth of the Employee Engagement And Feedback Software Market include an increase in demand for bettering employee and management communication, a rise in the virtual workplace, and an expansion of outsourcing activities like contract employment.

Demand in the Employee Engagement and Feedback Software market will be further boosted by increasing the use of ML (Machine Learning) and AI (Artificial Intelligence) in the workplace to manage workers and their workflow.

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TRENDS INFLUENCING THE GROWTH EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT FEEDBACK SOFTWARE MARKET

Significant connections with top executives and coworkers are now essential, especially for distant workers. The lack of constant supervision and easy access to teams for leaders is one of the most important shifts following the pandemic. Feedback fosters trust and clarifies expectations, fostering a more motivated and engaged team. Constructive criticism improves managers' and employees' overall performance. It is no longer practical to manually fill out feedback forms or set up suggestion boxes to collect feedback from every employee as more and more workplaces become remote or hybrid. In order to gather and store input from team members, companies need sophisticated feedback tools. The most effective approach to using ploys is through great instructional communication. This factor is expected to drive the growth of the Employee Engagement and Feedback Software market.

When there is less social connection, working remotely might be stressful. Employee engagement can be improved by using techniques like these. Employees can play games together, test their knowledge of one another, get prizes for finishing tasks that they can exchange for corporate stuff, and more. It benefits us in several ways, including maintaining our goals and enhancing employee wellbeing. Whether managing a five-person team or 500, employee engagement tools can significantly improve productivity. This feature will further drive the growth of the Employee Engagement and Feedback Software market.

The nature of work is fundamentally changing as a result of the quick development of new digital technologies including smart technology, AI and automation, robotics, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things (IoT), which is also raising concerns about the future of companies and jobs. Companies need to adapt and transform their business models in order to stay competitive and keep up with the rapid disruption. The development of new technology is also altering the kinds of skills and abilities required in the workplace and has necessitated a change in perspective among individuals, teams, and organizations. In today's cutthroat corporate environment, employee engagement has emerged as a crucial success factor. High levels of engagement enhance shareholder value, build consumer loyalty, and help organizations retain their best employees. This in turn will drive the growth of the Employee Engagement and Feedback Software market.

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EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT FEEDBACK SOFTWARE MARKET SHARE ANALYSIS

Due to the increasing adoption of employee monitoring solutions by small and medium-sized businesses, Asia-Pacific is predicted to have considerable growth between 2022 and 2029. Additionally, the region's expanding IT infrastructure will help the industry in this area grow even more.

Due to employee preference for working from home and the expansion of activities to increasingly remote areas, which are driving the growth of the cloud-based segment, On-Cloud is the leading category. This market is dominated by on-cloud deployment because of the many benefits it provides to businesses, including improved process performance, cost savings, greater productivity, and many more.

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Key Companies:

15Five

Culture Amp

TinyPulse

Weekdone

Impraise

Achievers

Reflektive

Peakon

Glint

Saba Software

ReviewSnap

Lattice

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NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The total value of the energy as a service market was USD 68.41 billion in 2022, which will propel at a rate of 10.26%, reaching USD 149.45 billion by 2030, as per a report published by P&S Intelligence.

Commercial Sector Raises Highest Demand for Energy as a Service

The sector includes businesses such as educational institutions, hospitals, airports, information hubs, and others. In the years to come, this sector will have the faster growth, of 11.1%.

Furthermore, several factors, such as the population growth and changes in the climate, would be a main factor for the growth of the industry.

The requirement for electricity varies among buildings constructed for different commercial purposes, and the EaaS model supports people with gaining technical knowledge and limiting the expenditure for implementing initiatives regarding efficiency.

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Increasing Consumption of Electricity Is Key Factor for EAAS Demand Expansion

Since the industrial sector is also a major user of energy, it is augmenting its understanding of its electricity consumption through integrated sensors and smart meters.

Similarly, with the rising consumption of electricity by the commercial sector, numerous technologies are now being used for producing power from renewable sources.

The requirement for power and the expenses on this commodity are driven by an expanding economy and infrastructure. Moreover, the bulk of the power is produced by burning fossil fuels, such as natural gas and coal.

Therefore, as oil, coal, and gas reserves diminish, these resources will become dearer. Their higher prices will ultimately result in the need for substitutes, such as EaaS, which eliminates the initial investments in onsite transmission infrastructure.

EaaS Demand in North America To Grow Significantly

North America is rapidly digitizing its economy to comply with new rules, meet the expectations of customers, and achieve decarbonization.

Therefore, the EaaS model is evolving, as digital technologies are its key pillar. The capacity to include analytics, distributed energy resources, and personalized services is one of the main factors supporting the EaaS business model.

Browse detailed report on Energy as a Service Market Size, Share, Development and Demand Forecast Report 2030

The progressions in building management technology and the requirement of industrial and commercial consumers for lowering their electricity spending and emissions of carbon are the key drivers powering this trend.

Demand for Energy Supply Services Is Highest

Among all the types of services included in the EaaS model, energy supply is in the highest demand, generating 43% of the market revenue in 2022. This is attributed to the high rate of urbanization, which continues to propel both the demand for and prices of electricity.

Energy as a Service Market Report Coverage

By Type

Energy Supply Services

Operational & Maintenance Services

Energy Efficiency and Optimization Services

By End-User

Commercial

Industrial

Regional Analysis

North America

U.S.



Canada

Europe

Germany



U.K.



France



Italy



Spain

Asia-Pacific

Japan



China



India



South Korea



Australia

Latin America

Brazil



Mexico

Middle East and Africa

and Saudi Arabia



South Africa



U.A.E.

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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.

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SOURCE P&S Intelligence
Industry veteran assumes leadership role upon the retirement of former CEO Kevin Stadler.

DALLAS, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Evolon Technology, Inc., a developer of proprietary software technology that takes surveillance video and turns it into real-time actionable information, today announced that the Company's Board of Directors unanimously elected Tom Galvin, formerly the Company's Chief Technology Officer, to succeed Kevin Stadler as President and Chief Executive Officer upon the latter's retirement, effective February 4, 2023. Additionally, Mr. Stadler has resigned his seat on the company's Board, while Mr. Galvin has accepted an appointment to the Board in his stead.

Mr. Galvin commented: "On behalf of everyone at Evolon, I'd like to extend our sincere gratitude to Kevin Stadler for his three years of service to the Company. Kevin's high integrity, leadership, hard work, and career experience with AI have helped to establish Evolon as a trusted brand. Kevin earned the profound respect of our customers, partners, employees, and shareholders."

Galvin joined Evolon as CTO in March of 2022, leading the company's R&D, product development and product management efforts. Under Galvin's leadership, the company has made a significant investment in new product development resulting in new product releases of Evolon Edge and Evolon Enterprise. These upgrades support new technical partnerships with Milestone Systems and Hanwha Techwin and showcase improved user experiences that simplify video analytic installation and usability.

Prior to joining Evolon, Galvin founded and led Razberi Technologies as CEO before its acquisition by ACRE in 2020. Before founding Razberi, Galvin founded and led NetVideo Consulting, a concern that provided strategic product and M&A consulting to security manufacturers and software vendors. NetVideo Consulting was commissioned by the Open Network Video Interface Forum (ONVIF) to successfully build and launch the industry's first interoperability compliance tool for camera manufacturers. NetVideo also built and developed a video management platform that was acquired in an asset sale to GVI Samsung. Before founding NetVideo Consulting, Mr. Galvin was Vice President of Engineering at General Electric Fire and Security, where he drove the company's transition from CCTV products to networked video, prior to the company's sale to UTC. Galvin got his start in the security industry in 2001 when he joined Loronix as VP of Product Development and stayed through the company's successful IPO as Verint Systems, Inc..

Galvin earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Iowa State University and an MBA from the University of Iowa's Tippie College of Business.

About Evolon Technology, Inc.

Evolon provides advanced, highly accurate perimeter surveillance software technology for critical infrastructure protection and central station monitoring, and its patented software & analytics transform video security cameras and security systems into smart devices by eliminating nuisance alerts. Evolon's award-winning edge-based video analytics and AI/deep learning solutions are fully scalable for commercial and government organizations that require real-time situational intelligence to enhance security effectiveness and to reduce the potential for loss due to criminal activity or business downtime. Evolon was founded by a talented team of former engineers and scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory, with decades of national security experience in the design and deployment of advanced surveillance technologies. For more information, visit www.evolontech.com.

SOURCE Evolon Technology, Inc.
In partnership with the Wheaton Chamber of Commerce, a leading financial planning and investment firm continues its outside the box thinking with a new podcast "The Local: I Never Knew"

WHEATON, Ill., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Fresh off the heels of multi-million-dollar Super Bowl ads starring global celebrities helping big companies in their attempts at world domination, a small but mighty company is partnering with their local chamber of commerce to celebrate the power of local with a new podcast, "The Local: I Never Knew"

Fairhaven Wealth Management partners with the Wheaton Chamber of Commerce launching an innovative podcast celebrating the power of local.

We have all been there. At a retirement party. After a neighbor moves away. At a funeral. We hear a story about a person we may have known for years and are surprised. We walk away wishing we had more time with them thinking, "I never knew". The podcast seeks to uncover those perspectives through conversations with a wide range of Wheatonians. Businesspeople, teachers, accountants, musicians and government leaders being just some of the guests.

"Although my family and I have lived in Wheaton for nearly 20 years, it was just a few months ago I discovered there is an equestrian center here in Wheaton that was once the home of a Kentucky Derby winner," said Marc Horner, founder and CEO of Fairhaven Wealth Management and podcast creator and co-host. "There is so much to explore right in our own backyards. That is the idea. To go hyper-local and learn more about our own community through conversation."

Fairhaven Wealth Management is coming off a big 2022 receiving recognition from Inc. Magazine, The Daily Herald and Crain's Chicago Business. The Wheaton Chamber of Commerce even went so far as to create a new category to recognize Fairhaven's contributions to the community. Fairhaven was named the inaugural recipient of Wheaton Chamber of Commerce Innovation Award.

"Our mission at the Wheaton Chamber of Commerce is to promote local business, enhance general economic development and serve as a catalyst for enriching the quality of life here in our community," said Vickie Austin, president of the Wheaton Chamber of Commerce and podcast co-host with Mr. Horner. "The team at Fairhaven drew us to them because of their amazing creativity," Ms. Austin said adding that Marc's vision moved the scope of the project into new territory for the local chamber: podcasting.

"The Local" is produced by Flint Rock, a local podcast and audio production company. They have developed an international reputation for their portfolio of podcasts that create connections and build communities for their clients.

For more information on "The Local" podcast visit: https://www.fairhavenwealth.com/podcast

For more information about Fairhaven visit www.fairhavenwealth.com. For more information about the Wheaton Chamber of Commerce visit www.wheatonchamber.com. For more information about Flint Rock, LLC visit www.theflintrock.com

About Fairhaven Wealth Management

Fairhaven is an independent, privately-owned SEC-registered investment and wealth management firm. Our values are summed up in the Fairhaven Way /fairhaven/: 1. Listen more than we speak 2. Provide unbiased financial advice 3. Tailor strategies to client goals 4. Deliver prudent investment management 5. Focus on tax efficiency 6. Remain disciplined in a world of uncertainty 7. Communicate candidly & consistently. To learn more, visit www.fairhavenwealth.com. Follow the firm on LinkedIn or Instagram.

Media contact:

Marc Horner

[email protected]

+16309909000

SOURCE FAIRHAVEN WEALTH MGMT LLC
All 71 drill holes from the Phase 2 diamond drill program and Phase 3 reverse circulation drill program intersected shallow oxide gold mineralization within existing resource pit boundaries both along strike and at depth.

Highlights from new results (see Figure 1 and Tables 1 and 2):

North

Expansion drilling successfully extended known mineralization at Lemhi 250 metres ("m") north of previous drilling by Freeman

FG22-034C returned 1.23 g/t Au over 36m , including 5.16 g/t Au over 7m

FG22-030C returned 9.7 g/t Au over 3m

FG22-063R returned 1.7 g/t Au over 12.19m

Infill

0.47 g/t Au over 224m (infill hole to test depth of mineralization; FG22-017C)

East

0.28 g/t Au over 60m , including 0.92 g/t over 9m (eastern 65m step out; FG22-024C)

West

0.56 g/t Au over 50.29m (western expansion infill between 2020 drilling and FG21-004C; FG22-055R)

South

0.47 g/t Au over 7.62 m (southern infill hole; FG22-065R)





All drill results have now been received and a new mineral resource estimate (Q1 2023) and maiden Preliminary Feasibility Study ("PFS") (Q2 2023) are underway.

Highlights from previous results:

East

Eastern expansion drilling successfully extended known mineralization 80 metres

Expansion hole FG22-014C returned 0.94 g/t Au over 41m , including 1.67 g/t Au over 17m ; Expansion hole FG22-016C returned 2.1 g/t Au over 16m

West

Western expansion drilling successfully extended known mineralization 90 metres

Expansion hole FG22-011C - 0.61 g/t Au over 66m , including 3.1 g/t Au over 5m ; Expansion hole FG22-001C 0.55 g/t Au over 55m , including 1.1 g/t Au over 18.5m ; Expansion hole FG21-004C 0.24 g/t Au over 156.6m , including 2.1 g/t Au over 7.4m

South

Southern expansion drilling successfully extends known mineralization 350 metres

Expansion hole FG22-022C returned 5.95 g/t Au over 9.14m ;

Expansion hole FG22-061R returned 2.4 g/t Au over 13.72m ;

Expansion hole FG22-050C returned 1.22 g/t Au over 38.59m , including 2.73 g/t Au over 10m

Infill

Infill hole FG21-009C returned 0.61 g/t Au over 90m , including 0.92 g/t Au over 15.97m

Toronto Venture Stock Exchange: FMAN

VANCOUVER, BC, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Freeman Gold Corp. (TSXV: FMAN) (OTCQX: FMANF) (FSE: 3WU) ("Freeman" or the "Company") is pleased to report results for the final 19 drill holes from the Company's 12,000 metre Phase 2 and 3 resource expansion and infill drill program at its 100% owned Lemhi Gold Deposit, Idaho, USA. Of the 19 new drill holes, 10 were designed to test mineralization to the west, east and south of the known deposit to expand mineralization and eight holes north of the known deposit. Also, one infill hole (FG22-017C) was designed to test mineralization at depth (see Figure 1 and Tables 1 and 2).

Figure 1. Lemhi 2021-22 Drilling  Final Drill Results (CNW Group/Freeman Gold Corp.)

Previously results were announced from the 2021-2022 drill program at Lemhi and the newly discovered Beauty zone on March 22, 2022, October 12, 2022, November 9, 2022, January 17, 2023 and January 31, 2023. Highlights from these news releases are highlighted above and all holes from the Phase 2 diamond drill holes and Phase 3 reverse circulation ("RC") holes intersected shallow oxide gold mineralization both along strike and at depth from known mineralization.

Paul Matysek, Executive Chairman, commented, "The northern extent of Lemhi has had very little recent or historic drilling. Although we know little about this area, Lemhi continues to deliver encouraging results. The northern extents of the deposit are open and the area is an excellent target to quickly add more ounces." He continued, "It is exceptional that every drill hole from Lemhi within the 2021-2022 drill campaign intersected gold mineralization. After having received all our drill results, we are now turning our focus to our new mineral resource estimate and a maiden PFS."

All holes drilled to date have intersected shallow oxide gold. Selected highlighted results from the most recent 19 holes are: 1.23 g/t Au over 36m, including 5.16 g/t Au over 7m (FG22-034C; North); 9.7 g/t Au over 3m (FG22-030C; North); 1.7 g/t Au over 12.19m (FG22-063R; North); 0.47 g/t Au over 224m (infill hole to test depth of mineralization; FG22-017C); 0.28 g/t Au over 60m, including 0.92 g/t over 9m (Eastern 65m step out; FG22-024C); 0.56 g/t Au over 50.29m (Western expansion infill between 2020 drilling and FG21-004C; FG22-055R); 0.47 g/t Au over 7.62m (Southern infill hole; FG22-065R) (see Figure 1 and Tables 1 and 2).

Table 1  Significant Drill Results  All Remaining Drill Holes (East, West, South and Infill)*

DRILL

HOLE DEPTH (METRES) DIP AZIMUTH FROM TO HIGHLIGHT FG22-017C 409.19 -90 360 19 243 224m @0.47 g/t Au Infill Deep





Including











20.27 24 3.73m @ 10.24 g/t Au







122.95 124.97 2.02 m @ 10 g/t Au FG22-024C 297.03 -90 360 137 197 60m @ 0.28 g/t Au East





including











137 164 26m @ 0.44 g/t Au







149 158 9m @ 0.92 g/t Au FG22-046C 229.51 -90 360





West





170 201 31m @ 0.31 g/t Au FG22-054R 198.12 -90 360 3.05 6.1 3.05m @ 0.29 g/t Au West





112.78 117.35 4.57 @ 0.37 g/t Au







126.49 141.73 15.24m @ 0.87 g/t Au







170.69 173.74 3.05m @ 0.23 g/t Au







179.83 198.12 18.29m @ 0.18 g/t Au FG22-055R 204.22 -90 360 30.48 47.24 16.76m @ 0.44 g/t Au West





96.01 99.06 3.05m @ 3.72 g/t Au







114.3 120.4 6.1m @ 0.24 g/t Au







124.97 132.59 7.62m @ 0.24 g/t Au







153.92 204.21 50.29m @ 0.56 g/t Au FG22-059R 82.3 -90 360 4.57 15.24 10.69m @ 0.2 g/t Au West





64.008 65.532 1.52m @ 0.47 g/t Au FG22-060R 167.64 -80 270 3.05 7.62 4.57m @ 0.4 g/t Au West





57.91 62.48 4.57m @ 0.43 g/t Au







132.59 138.68 6.1m @ 0.62 g/t Au







155.49 164.59 9.14m @ 0.83 g/t Au FG22-062R 161.54 -90 360 27.43 28.96 1.52m @ 2.14 g/t Au West











FG22-064R 195.1 -90 360 48.77 52.34 4.57m @ 0.3 g/t Au West





164.59 195.07 30.48m @ 0.5 g/t Au







including











181.36 188.98 7.62m @ 1.05 g/t Au FG22-065R 176.8 -90 360 80.77 83.82 3.05m @ 0.64 g/t Au South





126.49 131.06 4.57m @ 0.65 g/t Au







137.16 140.21 3.05m @ 0.6 g/t Au







163.07 170.69 7.62m @ 0.47 g/t Au FG22-066R 121.92 -90 360 27.432 28.956 1.52m @ 0.83 g/t Au West





45.72 82.3 35.58m @ 0.3 g/t Au Lost Hole





including











73.15 79.25 6.1m @ 0.78 g/t Au

*Intervals are core-length. True width is estimated between 90-95 percent ("%") of core length. Using 0.15 g/t Au cut-off. 'C' denotes core hole; 'R' denotes RC (Reverse Circulation) hole.

Table 2 Significant Drill Results  Lemhi North*

DRILL HOLE DEPTH (METRES) DIP AZIMUTH FROM TO HIGHLIGHT FG22-027C 222.66 -90 360 18 29 11m @ 0.3 g/t Au







Including











18 20 2m @ 0.89 g/t Au







102 103 1m @ 0.82 g/t Au







111.2 112 0.8m @ 1.8 g/t Au FG22-030C 226.47 -90 360 22 23 1m @ 0.87 g/t Au







30 32 2m @ 0.36 g/t Au







35 43 8m @ 0.3 g/t Au







48 49 1m @ 0.63 g/t Au







54 59 5m @ 0.31 g/t Au







75.13 78 2.87m @ 0.55 g/t Au







95.67 104 8.33m @ 0.32 g/t Au







110 113 3m @ 0.3 g/t Au







134.35 136 1.65m @ 1.15 g/t Au







146.98 148 1.02m @ 5.21 g/t Au







161 164 3m @ 9.7 g/t Au







192.62 193.7 1.08m @ 1.49 g/t Au FG22-032C 221.89 -90 360 12 13 1m @ 4.34 g/t Au







30 31 1m @ 0.81 g/t Au







64.05 68 3.95m @ 0.53 g/t Au







84 88.5 4.5 m @ 0.28 g/t Au







101 102 1m @ 0.84 g/t Au







110 111 1m @ 0.91g/t Au







138 139 1m @ 1.32 g/t Au







146 149 3m @ 0.76 g/t Au







184 186 2m @ 0.52 g/t Au FG22-034C 221.89 -90 360 133 135 2m @ 3.6 g/t Au







159 195 36m @ 1.23 g/t Au







including











169 176 7m @ 5.16 g/t Au FG22-042C 192.63 -90 360 53 54 1m @ 0.54 g/t Au







72 81 9m @ 0.4 g/t Au







92 96 4m @ 0.32 g/t Au







117 121 4m @ 0.27 g/t Au







126 128 2m @ 0.38 g/t Au







137 143 6m @ 0.44 g/t Au







146 147 1m @ 0.48 g/t Au







162 164.74 2.74m @ 0.59 g/t Au FG22-044C 203.3 -90 360 124 126 2m @ 0.57 g/t Au







158 161 3m @ 3.26 g/t Au







178 185 7m @ 0.4 g/t Au FG22-051C 214.12 -90 360 28 33 5m @ 0.15 g/t Au







38 44 6m @ 0.22 g/t Au FG22-063R 152.4 -60 270 27.432 28.956 1.52m @ 0.71 g/t Au







123.44 135.63 12.19m @ 1.7 g/t Au

*Intervals are core-length. True width is estimated between 90-95 percent ("%") of core length. Using 0.15 g/t Au cut-off. 'C' denotes core hole; 'R' denotes RC (Reverse Circulation) hole.



Many of these areas are modelled as unmineralized due to lack of drilling in the initial maiden mineral resource estimate ("MRE"). The current MRE comprises an Indicated Mineral Resource of 22.94 million tonnes at 1.02 g/t Au for 749,800 oz of gold, and an Inferred Mineral Resource of 7.68 million tonnes at 1.01 g/t Au for 250,300 oz of gold (refer to press release dated July 8, 2021). The MRE covers a surface area of 400 by 500 metres and extends down to a depth of 180 metres below surface. The resource expansion holes that form the bulk of the Phase 2 and 3 drill program were designed to extend the current resource both along strike and at depth.

Lemhi Gold Deposit:

As of December 2022 a total of 50 new core drill holes for a total of 12,168 metres as well as 10 RC holes totalling 1,621.5 metres were completed at Lemhi. These holes have been primarily designed to test on strike extensions of the known resource as well as infill in certain parts of the gold deposit. In particular, the drill program has focused on areas currently modelled as pit waste because of no or sparse drill data. All ounces added in these areas, even if close to the cut-off grade, will add value to the project as they come from zones in the resource shell that now be upgraded to resources (see Figure 1 and Table 1). In addition, a total of 11 drill holes were completed at the Beauty Zone Target totaling 1,559 metres. This marks the completion of the Phase 3 RC drill program which was concluded in December due to inclement weather and drilling issues.

All drill holes from the project have been logged, sampled and sent to the laboratory. All analytical results have now been received.

All drill core samples are sent to ALS Global Laboratories (Geochemistry Division), an independent and fully accredited laboratory (ISO 9001:2008) ), in Vancouver, Canada, for analysis for gold by Fire Assay and multi-element Induction Coupled Plasma Spectroscopy (select drill holes). Freeman has a regimented Quality Assurance, Quality Control (QA/QC) program where at least 10% duplicates, blanks and standards are inserted into each sample shipment.

Freeman also announces that it has granted stock options to certain directors and officers of the Company to acquire an aggregate of 2,325,000 common shares in the capital of the Company (the "Shares") at an exercise price of $0.25 (the "Stock Options") per Share, in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Company's stock option plan. The Stock Options fully vest on the date of the grant and are exercisable for a five-year term expiring February 10, 2028.

About the Company and Project

Freeman Gold Corp. is a mineral exploration company focused on the development of its 100% owned Lemhi Gold property (the "Project"). The Project comprises 30 square kilometres of highly prospective land, hosting a near-surface oxide gold resource. The pit constrained National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43- 101") compliant mineral resource estimate is comprised of 749,800 oz gold ("Au") at 1.02 grams per tonne ("g/t") in 22.94 million tonnes (Indicated) and 250,300 oz Au at 1.01 g/t Au in 7.83 million tonnes (Inferred). See the NI 43-101 technical report titled "Maiden Resource Technical Report for the Lemhi Gold Project, Lemhi County, Idaho, USA" with an effective date of June 1, 2021, and signing date of July 30, 2021, as prepared by APEX Geoscience Ltd. and F. Wright Consulting Inc. available under the Company's profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com). The Company is focused on growing and advancing the Project towards a production decision. The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Dean Besserer, P.Geo., VP Exploration of the Company and a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101.

On Behalf of the Company

William Randall

President and Chief Executive Officer

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 press release contains "forwardlooking information or statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities laws, which may include, but are not limited to statements relating to exploration, results therefrom, and the Company's future business plans. All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts that address events or developments that the Company expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ from those in the forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking information reflects the Company's views with respect to future events and is subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. The reader is urged to refer to the Company's reports, publicly available through the Canadian Securities Administrators' System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects. The Company does not undertake to update forwardlooking statements or forwardlooking information, except as required by law.

SOURCE Freeman Gold Corp.
DENVER, Feb. 14, 2023 /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 following upcoming investor conferences:

The Citi Global Industrial Tech and Mobility Conference in Miami, FL , on Tuesday, February 21, 2023 . Ivo Jurek , Chief Executive Officer, will present at 3:30 p.m. Eastern time .

, on . , Chief Executive Officer, will present at . The Barclays Industrial Select Conference in Miami, FL , on Wednesday, February 22, 2023 . Ivo Jurek , Chief Executive Officer, will present at 3:00 p.m. Eastern time .

, on . , Chief Executive Officer, will present at . The Evercore ISI Industrial Conference in New York, NY , on Tuesday, March 7, 2023 . Brooks Mallard , Chief Financial Officer, will present at 2:20 p.m. Eastern time .

To listen to a live webcast of the announced presentations, 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 Industrial Corporation plc 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 to everyday consumer applications including 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
CHANDLER, Ariz., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Geneva Financial (Geneva) announced today the company has been named the #1 Mortgage Lender by Ranking Arizona for the third consecutive year.

The consumer driven award is based on a public vote from Arizona's largest and most comprehensive opinion-based business poll.

This ranking has brought consumers' voices to the forefront once again, giving them the power to determine who is truly the best in the state for one of the most important leaps in life, buying a home. Geneva Financial prides itself on breaking the norms of conventional thinking and introduced innovative processes for handling business across its 47-state licensure. For the third year in a row, borrowers across Arizona have applauded the value of the authentic human touch Geneva Financial is known for.

"No matter the market, the Geneva model is built on placing quality, personalized service first, and this award is a testament to the impact it has had in our headquartered home state." Geneva CEO Aaron VanTrojen commented. "We are honored to have the opportunity to build these relationships with Arizona homeowners, and we look forward to continuing to provide the exceptional human-focused service in our communities."

With more than 130 branches nationwide, Geneva Financial Home Loans offers countless homebuyer and homeowner-focused products including Conventional, FHA, VA, USDA, Refinance, Reverse, Jumbo Loans and Condo Financing as well as Down Payment Assistance Programs, First-Time Homebuyer Programs, Physician Loans and Hero Loans for First Responders, Police, Firefighters, Nurses, and Teachers. If you need help navigating the current market, connect with your local Geneva Financial location to start the conversation and read more about Geneva's full product lineup at https://www.genevafi.com/loan-products/.

About Geneva Financial

Founded in 2007 by Aaron VanTrojen, Geneva Financial (NMLS 42056) is a direct mortgage lender headquartered in Chandler, Arizona with more than 130 branch locations in 47 states. Our mission at Geneva Financial is to approach every aspect of our business from the "inside-out". With a culture-forward mindset, we focus on our loan originators and support staff first to ensure an unbeatable experience for our customers.

Our Core Values were created as a daily reminder to operate with the inside-out approach in mind. Core Value #1 is the backbone of all our Core Values, our mission, and our brand vision: Home Loans Powered by Humans. Learn more about Geneva Financial Mortgage Home Loans at www.GenevaFi.com

SOURCE Geneva Financial
Dramatic multi-media exhibition showcases the many faces of Black giving

CHICAGO, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Chicago African Americans in Philanthropy (CAAIP) hosted a ribbon cutting Feb. 2 for the outstanding multi-media photographic exhibition "Giving Back: The Soul of Philanthropy Reframed and Exhibited" at the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St.

Eric Hotchkiss, Exhibition Designer, Author Valaida Fullwood, Norman Clark, CAAIP Interim Director, Claudette Baker, Project Manager, The Soul of Philanthropy, Photographer Charles W. Thomas Jr., Jessyca Dudley, Chair The Soul of Philanthropy Chicago, Dr. Carol Adams, Local Curator Chicago, and Daniel Schulman, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events (DCASE).

The photos were compelling, and the specially curated Chicago section of the exhibit was particularly arresting with its black backdrop. Each local philanthropist celebrated had a shadow box of memorabilia that further engaged the viewer with historical data. The exhibition is free to the public and continues through April with a series of activities and talks planned across the city. A full schedule of activities can be found at https://tsopchicago.com/tsop-events/ .

Local Chicago icons and legends featured are Common, Academy Award-, Emmy- and Grammy-winning artist, actor, author and activist; Derrick Rose, New York Knicks; John H. Johnson, Johnson Publishing Company; Deborah Harrington, former President of the Woods Fund Chicago; and Wilbur Milhouse, Milhouse Engineering & Construction. Local honorees selected by the community are Dion Dawson, Dion's Chicago Dream, Emerging Philanthropist; Janell Nelson, JNJ Creative, Hidden Philanthropist; Leslie J. Anderson Rutland, BMO Financial Group, Legacy Philanthropist; Essence Smith, ELMS Productions, Young Adult Philanthropist; and Jahkil Jackson, Project I Am, Youth Philanthropist. Prolific Chicago photographer Tony Smith photographed Chicago honorees.

Funders and Partners of the National Exhibit

Giving Back: The Soul of Philanthropy Reframed and Exhibited was made possible through a grant in 2014 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Matching funds and resources were contributed by The James B. Duke Memorial Library at Johnson C. Smith University, in partnership with author Valaida Fullwood, photographer Charles W. Thomas Jr. and New Generation of African American Philanthropists.

Contact:

Wynona Redmond

708.769.1768

[email protected]

SOURCE Chicago African Americans in Philanthropy
DUBLIN, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Comfort Footwear Market (2022 Edition): Analysis by Footwear Type, Sales Channel, End-User (2023-2028)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Global Comfort Footwear Market is projected to display significant growth represented by a CAGR of 10.32% during 2023-2028.

The global Comfort Footwear Market is expected to be valued at USD 47.37 Billion in the year 2028 with Asia Pacific leading the regional market share.



According to many podiatrists, defining a comfortable shoe is totally based on individual preference. It depends on an individual foot structure, as well as the purpose for when or how someone is going to be using them. For example, shoes for plantar fasciitis should have ample arch support (likewise, people with flat feet have fallen arches and need flexible medial posts for stability).

People with bunions should look for shoes with a wide toe box and soft, flexible materials so their toes don't feel constricted. So, it all varies from person to person and therefore there are some shoe brands that promote comfort more than others.

These companies are focusing on using special comfort technologies and utilizing special materials so that a person's feet stays more comfortable inside their provided footwear product.



Companies around the world use key strategies such as Component launches, business expansions, mergers and acquisitions, patents and approvals, agreements and collaborations. The expansion of the overall footwear industry and a rising inclination of customers for comfort footwear are two major drivers boosting market expansion.

Changing population demographics across developed countries due to which the population of older adults has been increasing continuously is also one of the leading factors for increasing the demand for comfort footwear.



Asia Pacific is anticipated to be amongst the attractive regions in terms of opportunities. Asia Pacific is expected to grow by 26 basis points while the Americas is expected to decline by 16 basis points. China, India and Brazil are among the countries that are expected to present flourishing opportunities for manufacturers.

The report tracks competitive developments, strategies, mergers and acquisitions and new product development.

Competitive Positioning

ASICS

Skechers

New Balance

CROCS, INC.

Bata Corporation

Brooks Sports , Inc.

, Inc. Birkenstock

Caleres Inc.

Clarks

Wolverine Worldwide Inc.

Key Topics Covered:



1. Introduction

1.1 Comfort Footwear Overview

1.2 Scope of Research



2. Executive Summary

2.1 Market Dashboard

2.2 Regional Insights

2.3 Market Ecosystem Factors



3. Research Methodology

3.1 Data Collection Process

3.2 Market Trajectory Estimation

3.3 Market Size Calculation



4. Market Dynamics

4.1 Drivers

4.2 Restraints

4.3 Opportunities

4.4 Trends

4.5 Impact assessment of Market Dynamics



5. Value Chain Analysis

5.1 Raw material Suppliers

5.2 Manufacturers

5.3 Distributors

5.4 End Use Industry



6. Covid-19 Impact Assessment

6.1 Assessment of Degree of Impact of Covid-19 on Comfort Footwear Market

6.2 Region-Wise Quarterly Covid Impact Analysis



7. Porter Five Force Analysis



8. Macro-Economic Indicator Outlook

8.1 Global, Region wise GDP Growth

8.2 Global and Region wise Urban Population (% of total population)

8.3 Global FDI, Net Inflows by Region (% of GDP)

8.4 Total Population by Region (Billions)

8.5 Proportion of Population over 65 years across regions (%)



9. Average Selling Price Analysis

9.1 Average Selling Price, By Region

9.2 Average Selling Price, By Footwear Type



10. Competitive Positioning

10.1 Companies' Product Positioning

10.2 Market Position Matrix

10.3 Market Share Analysis



11. Global Comfort Footwear Market Trends and Forecast Analysis, 2018-2028, USD Million & CAGR

11.1 Macro Economic Factor Impact Index

11.2 Global Comfort Footwear Market: Dashboard

11.3 Global Comfort Footwear Market Size, By Value, 2018-2021(USD Billion)

11.4 Global Comfort Footwear Market Size, By Value, 2022-2028 (USD Billion)

11.5 Global Comfort Footwear Market: Summary



12. Global Comfort Footwear Market Trend And Forecast Analysis, 2018-2028, By Footwear Type

12.1 Global Comfort Footwear Market Trend And Forecast Analysis, By Footwear Type: Snapshot

12.2 Shoes

12.3 Sandals

12.4 Slip-ons

12.5 Slippers

12.6 Others Footwear



13. Global Comfort Footwear Market Trend And Forecast Analysis, 2018-2028, By Sales Channel

13.1 Global Comfort Footwear Market Trend And Forecast Analysis, By Sales Channel: Snapshot

13.2 Online

13.3 Offline



14. Global Comfort Footwear Market Trend And Forecast Analysis, 2018-2028, By End User

14.1 Global Comfort Footwear Market Trend and Forecast Analysis, By End User: Snapshot

14.2 Men

14.3 Women



15. Global Comfort Footwear Market Trend And Forecast Analysis, 2018-2028, By Region

15.1 Regional Coverage of the Study



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/8otg5f-comfort?w=5

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.



Media Contact:

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Laura Wood, Senior Manager

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SOURCE Research and Markets
DUBLIN, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Hospital/Medical Beds Market by Product (Bed, Accessories), Technology (Manual, Powered), Type of Care (Rehabilitative, Curative, Long Term), Healthcare Facility (Pediatric, Maternal, Bariatric, Critical, Homecare, Med Surg) - Global Forecast to 2030" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The hospital/medical beds market is projected to reach $6.66 billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 6.4% from 2023 to 2030.



Based on product, in 2023, the beds segment accounted for the largest share of the market. The key factors attributed to this segment's large market share are the expansion of medical facilities globally, the high demand for advanced beds for long-term home care, and the high prevalence of chronic diseases. Owing to the advancing healthcare infrastructure globally, the patient inflow to medical facilities has increased, generating the demand for hospital beds.



Based on technology, the market is segmented into powered beds, manual beds, and smart beds. In 2023, the powered beds segment is expected to account for the largest share of the market. High demand for quality healthcare, high preference for technologically advanced beds, and a rise in the number of private hospitals offering high-quality healthcare services are the key factors contributing to the large market share of this segment.



Based on type of care, the market is segmented into curative care, long-term care, and rehabilitative care. In 2022, the curative care segment accounted for the largest share of the market. Increased incidence of injuries, high adoption of medical beds for curative treatments, rise in road accidents, and the outbreak of COVID-19 are the factors generating the high demand for curative care.



Based on healthcare facility, the critical care unit segment is projected to register the highest CAGR over the forecast period. The large market share of this segment is attributed to the high rate of hospital admissions due to chronic illnesses, the rise in cardiovascular diseases, and the high risk of the aging population to diseases requiring care for an extended duration.



An in-depth analysis of the geographical scenario of the hospital/medical beds market provides detailed qualitative and quantitative insights into five major geographies (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa) along with the coverage of major countries in each region.



In 2023, Europe is expected to command the largest share of the hospital/medical beds market, followed by North America. The rise in maternity hospitals, government initiatives for promoting advanced infrastructure in the healthcare sector, and a strong healthcare system with well-qualified medical teams are the factors attributed to the large share of this regional market.

Market Dynamics

Drivers

Rising Elderly Population Coupled with the Growing Prevalence of Chronic Diseases

Growing Number of Hospitals

Technological Advancements in Hospital Beds

Increasing Number of Surgeries

Restraints

Growing Preference for Minimally Invasive and Outpatient Surgeries

Opportunities

Increasing Popularity of Smart Beds and Robotic Beds

Rising Demand for Home Care

Increasing Healthcare Expenditures in Developing Economies

Growing Medical Tourism

Scope of the Report:

Global Hospital/Medical Beds Market, by Product

Beds

Accessories

Global Hospital/Medical Beds Market, by Technology

Powered Beds

Electric Beds

Semi-electric Beds

Manual Beds

Smart Beds

Global Hospital/Medical Beds Market, by Type of Care

Curative Care

Long-term Care

Rehabilitative Care

Global Hospital/Medical Beds Market, by Healthcare Facility

Critical Care Unit

Bariatric Care Unit

Long-term Care Unit

Homecare Settings

Med-surg Care Unit

Pediatric Care Unit

Maternal Care Unit

Global Hospital/Medical Beds Market, by Geography

North America

U.S.

Canada

Europe

Germany

France

U.K.

Italy

Spain

Rest of Europe (RoE)

(RoE) Asia-Pacific

China

Japan

India

Rest of Asia Pacific (RoAPAC)

(RoAPAC) Latin America

Brazil

Mexico

Argentina

Rest of Latin America (RoLATM)

(RoLATM) Middle East & Africa

Key Topics Covered:



1. Introduction



2. Research Methodology



3. Executive Summary



4. Market Insights



5. Hospital/Medical Beds Market, by Product



6. Hospital/Medical Beds Market, by Technology



7. Hospital/Medical Beds Market, by Type of Care



8. Hospital/Medical Beds Market, by Healthcare Facility



9. Hospital/Medical Beds Market, by Geography



10. Competitive Landscape



11. Company Profiles (Business Overview, Financial Overview, Product Portfolio, and Strategic Developments)



12. Appendix



Companies Mentioned

Stryker Corporation

Hill-Rom Holding Inc.

Invacare Corporation

Getinge AB

Paramount Bed Holdings Co. Ltd.

Medline Industries LP

Stiegelmeyer GmbH & Co. KG

LINET Group SE

Joerns Healthcare LLC.

Drive DeVilbiss Healthcare

Savaria Corporation

Midmark Corporation

Amico Corporation

Famed Zywiec Sp. z o.o.Malvestio Spa .

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/4urd3c

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

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
PUNE, India, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a recent market study published by Growth Market Reports, titled, "Opacity Monitors Market by Type (Single Pass and Double Pass), Application (Power Plants, Cement Plants, Glass Production, Chemical Industry, and Others), and Region: Size, Share, Trends, and Opportunity Analysis, 2023-2031", the market was valued at USD 2.61 billion in 2022 and is expected to reach USD 3.77 billion, expanding at a CAGR of 4.6% by the end of 2031. The market growth is attributed to the increasing use of opacity monitors across public and private organizations as it is beneficial for environmental protection.

Key Market Players Profiled in the Report

Teledyne

AMETEK

Dynoptic Systems

Monitoring Solutions

TWIN-TEK

Emerson

MIP Electronics

Horiba

CODEL International

Environmental Monitor Service

Download PDF Sample here: https://growthmarketreports.com/request-sample/4876

The report covers comprehensive data on emerging trends, market drivers, growth opportunities, and restraints that can change the industry's market dynamics. It provides an in-depth analysis of the market segments, including type, application, and competitor analysis.

This report also includes a complete analysis of industry players and covers their latest developments, product portfolio, pricing, mergers, acquisitions, and collaborations. Moreover, it provides crucial strategies that are helping market players to expand their market share.

Highlights on the Segments of the Opacity Monitors Market

On the basis of type, the global market is bifurcated into a single pass and double pass. The double pass segment is anticipated to account for a key share of the market during the forecast period. Double-pass opacity monitors have better sensitivity at a smaller duct diameter.

For Any Questions on This Report: https://growthmarketreports.com/enquiry-before-buying/4876

Based on application, the global opacity monitors market is segmented into power plants, cement plants, glass production, the chemical industry, and others. The cement plant segment is expected to generate a major market revenue share in the coming years. This growth is attributed to the rising construction activities in developing regions.

In terms of region, the opacity monitors market is classified into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. The market in North America is projected to expand at a significant CAGR during the forecast period due to the presence of prominent players in the region.

To Buy the Complete Report: https://growthmarketreports.com/report/opacity-monitors-market-global-industry-analysis

Key Takeaways from the Study:

An opacity monitor is an advanced smoke and dust monitoring system that measures the fraction of light within the process. It is specially designed for industrial applications.

Opacity monitoring helps to reduce pollution by controlling smoke and dust.

The growing requirement for improved natural source management will drive the growth of the market.

It is expected that the single-pass opacity monitors will grow at a significant CAGR, during the forecast period as they are suitable for applications with long path length monitors.

Rapid urbanization and rising construction activities in emerging economies can boost market growth during the forecast period.

Rising demand for continuous monitoring from the glass and chemical industry creates an immense growth opportunity for the global market in the coming years.

North America held a major market share in 2022 and is anticipated to dominate the market in the coming years owing to the rising investments in the expansion of business.

Read 245 Pages Research Report with Detailed TOC on "Opacity Monitors Market by Type (Single Pass and Double Pass), Application (Power Plants, Cement Plants, Glass Production, Chemical Industry, and Others), and Region (North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa) - Global Industry Analysis, Growth, Share, Size, Trends, and Forecast, 2023  2031"

Get Full Access to this Report: https://growthmarketreports.com/checkout/4876

Key Segments Covered

Type

Single Pass

Double Pass

Application

Power Plants

Cement Plants

Glass Production

Chemical Industry

Others

Region

North America

Latin America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Middle East & Africa

Other Related Reports:

Europe Industrial Air Quality Control Systems Market by Applications (Power Generation Industry, Cement Industry, Iron & Steel Industry, Chemical Industry, and Others), Types (Electrostatic Precipitators (ESP), Scrubbers, Selective Catalytic Reduction, Flue Gas Desulfurization (FGD), and Fabric Filters), and Region - Industry Analysis, Growth, Share, Size, Trends, and Forecast 2021  2028

Global Smoke Meter Market by Type (Filter Type, Opacity Type), By Application (Automotive, Light and Heavy plant Machinery), and By Region ( North America , Latin America , Europe , Asia Pacific , and Middle East & Africa ), Forecast From 2022 To 2030

Global Combustion Controls Equipment and Systems Market by Type (Boilers, Systems, Monitoring, and Control Instruments), By Application (Process Industries, Metallurgy, Refining and Petrochemicals, Cement Industry, Energy and Power, Aerospace, and Marine), and Region ( North America , Latin America , Europe , Asia Pacific , and Middle East & Africa ), Forecast To 2028

Global High Purity Fused Silica Market by Type (Transparent Fused Silica, Opacity Fused Silica), By Application (Semiconductors, Production of Electric Light Source Devices, Other), and Region ( North America , Latin America , Europe , Asia Pacific , and Middle East & Africa ), Forecast From 2022 To 2030

About Growth Market Reports:

Growth Market Reports provides global enterprises as well as small & medium businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Industry Intelligence Solutions". Growth Market Reports has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients in making strategic business decisions and achieving sustainable growth in their respective market domains.

Our key analysis segments, though not restricted to the same, include market entry strategies, market size estimations, market trend analysis, market opportunity analysis, market threat analysis, market growth/fall forecasting, primary interviews, and secondary research & consumer surveys.

Alex Mathews

7th Floor, Siddh Icon,

Baner Road, Pune.

Maharashtra  411045. India.

Phone: +1 909 414 1393

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://growthmarketreports.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/growth_reports

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/growth-market-report/

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1980656/Growth_Market_Reports_Logo1.jpg

SOURCE Growth Market Reports




In a tweet on Monday afternoon, Minsa stated that cases were reported in Metropolitan Lima (2,864), Callao (261), La Libertad (165), Arequipa (148), Piura (51), Lima Provinces (48), Lambayeque (44), Ica (38), San Martin (25), Ucayali (24), Cusco (13), Loreto (13), Ancash (14), Tacna (11), Junin (10), Madre de Dios (6), Huanuco (5), Ayacucho (6), Cajamarca (3), Moquegua (1), Puno (1), and Tumbes (1).





Minsa reported 3,726 hospital discharges. Besides, all patients received medical care and are being monitored, as contacts are identified.





The ministry encouraged the population to call line 113, extension 6, or go to the nearest health facility in case they have symptoms like rashes or skin lesions.





What is monkeypox?





Monkeypox is a rare disease caused by a virus transmitted to humans from animals. Monkeypox symptoms are similar to smallpox symptoms, but milder.





Transmission





Animal-to-person transmission occurs through direct contact with the blood, bodily fluids, or cutaneous or mucosal lesions of infected wild animals such as rodents and primates from Africa.





Human-to-human transmission can result from close contact with respiratory secretions, skin lesions of an infected person or recently contaminated objects.





How to avoid infection





- Avoid contact.





- Wash your hands.





- Wear a facemask.





- Isolate yourself if you have symptoms.





(END) RMB

The Ministry of Health (Minsa) reported that the number of confirmed monkeypox cases in Peru has risen to 3,752.Published: 2/14/2023
PUNE, India, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a recent market study published by Growth Market Reports, titled, "Trawl Ropes and Nets Market by Type (Large Size, Medium Size, and Other), Application (Marine Aquaculture Industry and Freshwater Aquaculture Industry), Distribution Channel (Online and Offline), and Region: Size, Share, Trends, and Opportunity Analysis, 2023-2031." The market was valued at USD 341.3 Mn in 2022 and is expected to reach USD 538.7 Mn, expanding at a CAGR of 5.20% by the end of 2031. The market growth is attributed to the increasing volume of commercial fishing activities and investments in emerging economies such as Japan, China, India, and South Korea.

Key Market Players Profiled in the Report

Avient Corporation

Jaya Nets Sdn. Bhd.

Garware Technical Fibres Ltd.

AKVASERVIS

AS Fiskevegn

Dynamica Ropes

Bridon-Bekaert

Hampidjan Australia

Tufropes Pvt Ltd.

Coastal Nets Limited

Download PDF Sample here: https://growthmarketreports.com/request-sample/4887

The report covers comprehensive data on emerging trends, market drivers, growth opportunities, and restraints that can change the market dynamics of the industry. It provides an in-depth analysis of the market segments which include distribution channel, applications, and competitor analysis.

This report also includes a complete analysis of industry players and covers their latest developments, product portfolio, pricing, mergers, acquisitions, and collaborations. Moreover, it provides crucial strategies that are helping market players to expand their market share.

Highlights on the Segments of the Trawl Ropes and Nets Market

Based on type, the global trawl ropes and nets system market is segmented into large size, medium size, and others. The large size segment is anticipated to expand at a sustainable CAGR during the forecast period due to the growing demand for large-sized fishing nets among commercial fishing groups.

In terms of application, the global market is bifurcated into the marine aquaculture industry and freshwater aquaculture industry. The marine aquaculture industry segment is expected to grow at a significant pace during the forecast period owing to the increasing demand for trawl ropes and nets and the rising volume of marine-based commercial fishing activities.

For Any Questions on This Report: https://growthmarketreports.com/enquiry-before-buying/4887

On the basis of the distribution channel, the global trawl ropes and nets system market is divided into online and offline. The online segment is expected to expand at a significant rate during the forecast period due to the increasing preference for online purchases of trawl ropes and nets by fishers.

Based on region, the global market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. The market in Asia Pacific is anticipated to dominate the market in the coming years due to the increasing volume of commercial fishing in the region, with investments from major economies such as China, Japan, South Korea, and India.

To Buy the Complete Report: https://growthmarketreports.com/report/trawl-ropes-and-nets-market-global-industry-analysis

Key Takeaways from the Study:

Trawls are also known as towed gear deployed under deep water and towed behind the boat to catch different fish and these are usually used for commercial purposes.

Increasing preference for seafood and seafood products globally as the number of health-conscious consumers can drive the global market.

The rapid increase in commercial fishing and rising demand for aquaculture can boost market growth.

Rising preference for online purchase of trawl ropes and nets is likely to open new opportunities for the global market during the forecast period.

New technological advancements in fishing equipment such as the durability of high-strength fishing nets can open new pathways for the global market.

Read 180 Pages Research Report with Detailed ToC on "Trawl Ropes and Nets Market by Type (Large Size, Medium Size, Other), Application (Marine Aquaculture Industry and Freshwater Aquaculture Industry), Distribution Channel (Online and Offline), and Regions (North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa) - Global Industry Analysis, Growth, Share, Size, Trends, and Forecast, 2023  2031"

Get Full Access to this Report: https://growthmarketreports.com/checkout/4887

Key Segments Covered

Type

Large Size

Medium Size

Others

Application

Marine Aquaculture Industry

Freshwater Aquaculture Industry

Distribution Channel

Online

Offline

Region

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Latin America

Middle East & Africa

Other Related Reports:

Global Fishing Nets and Aquaculture Cage Market by Type (Fishing Nets and Aquaculture Cages), Application (Individual Applications and Commercial Applications), and Region ( North America , Europe , Asia Pacific , Latin America , Middle East , and Africa )

Aquaculture Market by Environment ( Marine Water , Fresh Water, and Brackish Water), Fish Types (Carps, Mollusks, Crustaceans, Mackerels, Sea bream, and Others), and Regions ( Asia Pacific , North America , Latin America , Europe , and Middle East & Africa )  Global Industry Analysis, Growth, Share, Size, Trends, and Forecast From 2022 To 2030

Global Professional Fishing Boat Propeller Market by Type (2-blade, 3-blade, and 4-blade), Application (OEMs and Aftermarket), and Region ( North America , Latin America , Europe , Asia Pacific , and Middle East & Africa ), Forecast To 2028

Global Fish Oil Market by Type (Salmon and Trout, Marine Fish , Carps, Tilapias, and Others (Eels, mackerels, and herrings)), Application (Aquaculture, Direct Human Consumption, and Others (Hydrogenation and Industrial)), and Region ( North America , Latin America , Europe , Asia Pacific , and Middle East & Africa ), Forecast From 2022 To 2030

About Growth Market Reports:

Growth Market Reports provides global enterprises as well as small & medium businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Industry Intelligence Solutions". Growth Market Reports has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients in making strategic business decisions and achieving sustainable growth in their respective market domains.

Our key analysis segments, though not restricted to the same, include market entry strategies, market size estimations, market trend analysis, market opportunity analysis, market threat analysis, market growth/fall forecasting, primary interviews, and secondary research & consumer surveys.

Alex Mathews

7th Floor, Siddh Icon,

Baner Road, Pune.

Maharashtra  411045. India.

Phone: +1 909 414 1393

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://growthmarketreports.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/growth_reports

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/growth-market-report/

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1980656/Growth_Market_Reports_Logo1.jpg

SOURCE Growth Market Reports
DUBLIN, Feb. 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global UV Toothbrush Sanitizer Market by Type, Applications, Price Range, Distribution Channel and Region: Competition Forecast and Opportunities to 2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global UV toothbrush sanitizer market is expected to grow at an impressive CAGR in the forecast period, 2023-2027. A toothbrush sterilizer, also referred as a toothbrush sanitizer, is an appliance that utilizes short-wavelength ultraviolet (UV-C) radiation to kill or inactivate germs on a toothbrush. UV sterilizers successfully destroy bacteria and microorganisms, as per the studies published in dentistry publications. Toothbrush sanitizers typically work in one of three ways to destroy dangerous bacteria: steam and dry heat, ultraviolet light, or UV and heat. The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic has resulted into an inclination towards heath consciousness and the usage of health-related products which are safe and avoids frequent visits to doctors. This further created an environment of awareness among consumers related to the usage of oral hygiene products. The COVID-19 pandemic is projected to stimulate to the increasing demand for health-conscious products, which fuels the growth for toothbrush sanitizers during the forecast period.



Rise in Risk of Harmful Oral Bacteria is Projected to Accelerate the Product Demand



The increasing awareness regarding the oral hygiene and harmful oral bacteria which causes numerous dental health hazards including gingivitis, periodontal disease, oral herpes, canker sores, and others are some of the primary factors propelling the growth of the market. Furthermore, toothbrush sanitizer prevents harmful bacteria from wreaking havoc in the oral cavity, resulting in an escalating demand for the product. Also, easy product availability and expanding e-commerce penetration are few other driving factors for the growth of the UV toothbrush sanitizer market.



Technological Advancements to Combat COVID-19 Pandemic Supports the Market Growth



The escalating demand for UV sterilization in toothbrush due to the sudden outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic is driving the growth of the market. Various manufacturers are promoting toothbrush sanitizers through several innovative marketing techniques. Recruitment of well-certified dentists for branding, extensive distribution network for enhanced product availability, partnership with sales staff and distributors, digital, print, and visual media through advertising campaigns in radio, television, channels, billboards, magazines, newspapers, hoardings, and competitive pricing strategies are significant innovative marketing methods followed by the key market players owing to the strong competition. This has further increased the product visibility and is expected to escalate he demand for the product in the forthcoming years.



Report Scope



In this report, global UV toothbrush sanitizer market has been segmented into following categories, in addition to the industry trends which have also been detailed below:



UV toothbrush sanitizer Market, by Type:

With Toothbrush

Without Toothbrush

UV toothbrush sanitizer Market, by Product Type:

Mountable

Portable

UV toothbrush sanitizer Market, by Price Range:

Low

Medium

High

UV toothbrush sanitizer Market, by Distribution Channel:

Offline

Online

UV toothbrush sanitizer Market, by Region:

North America

Asia-Pacific

Europe

South America

Middle East & Africa

A selection of companies mentioned in this report includes

Koninklijke Philips N.V.

Dastmalchi

Conair

Ningbo Seago Electric Co., Ltd

Wellness Oral Care

Tao Clean

Puretta

Wonderchef

UVNIA

Pursonic

Dazzlepro

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/qf0kd5-uv?w=5

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.



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

SOURCE Research and Markets
The organization's first two courses are tailored to students in grades K-5 and in middle school

BROOKFIELD, Wis., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Good Friend Inc. is pleased to announce the launch of two new online courses as part of their Online Academy. We All Fit and Choosing to be a Good Friend courses are now live. Teachers and other service providers can register through the Good Friend Inc. website .

"We're incredibly thrilled to start offering two student-focused online course bundles that can be facilitated at any time," said a rep from Good Friend. "These bundles are an amazing fit for classrooms of all sizes, and are a great resource for teachers, social workers, child service providers, and school counselors. They include both online and offline material, and are intended to be a robust way of promoting autism and neurodivergence awareness, acceptance, and empathy building."

We All Fit is a 20-minute, award-winning peer education documentary available in English and Spanish, designed for students ages five through 11. The film was created to help neuromajority elementary students better understand and relate to their peers who are on the autism spectrum. The We All Fit online course includes developmentally-specific film discussion guides, the interactive Kahoot! Game, activity printouts, and much more.

The Choosing to Be a Good Friend online course is tailored to middle school students ages 11-14. In the film, available in English and soon to be available in Spanish, students who are on the autism spectrum discuss their perspectives as middle schoolers. The online course includes the same type of resources that are included with We All Fit, but are tailored to be developmentally-appropriate for middle school students.

Good Friend Inc. is a non-profit organization located in Southeastern Wisconsin that utilizes social emotional tools to establish a culture of acceptance in schools and beyond.

Good Friend Academy was made possible by support from these organizations; Make it Better Foundation, Inc., Waukesha Service Club, Inc., Dorothy Inbusch Foundation, Inc., AptarGroup, Inc., NAILBA Foundation, Catholic Community Foundation, Waukesha Rotary Club, GMAR Youth Foundation, Harri Hoffman Family Foundation, Inc., The Gardner Foundation, Emory T Clark Foundation, and WeEnergies Foundation.

Allison Katula

Good Friend Inc.

262-444-7510

[email protected]goodfriendinc.com

SOURCE Good Friend, Inc.
Their Artistic Vision. Our Innovation. Styled by You.

NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Goody, America's iconic brand of innovative, on-trend hair accessories and tools, is reimagining the growing category with its first collaboration ever and largest collection to date. Innovation has always been at the core of the brand's 100+-year heritage, along with the belief that hair styling is a powerful form of self-expression. Goody is excited to announce its newest collection, Goody Tru, in partnership with three multicultural female artists, created exclusively for Walmart. This first-ever program is inspired by the artistic vision of women of all ages, hair types, and cultures to elevate your everyday hair routine and spark creativity in personal style.

Model wearing item from Goody Tru x Reyna Noriega Collection Model wearing item from Goody Tru x Hola Lou Collection

The collection features designs from artists including Reyna Noriega, sister dance trio Let It Happen (Norah, Yarah, and Rosa Mukanga), and Luisa Salas (also known as "Hola Lou"), combined with the premium quality consumers know and trust from Goody, in an expansive 60-piece collection of accessories and tools. Each artist brings a unique perspective to her collection with pieces reflective of her personal styleReyna's is drenched in vibrant Caribbean-inspired hues, Hola Lou's displays bold geometric shapes as seen in her designs, and Let it Happen has undeniable retro vibes reminiscent of their dances. Together, the entire collection empowers the inner artist in everyone to embrace a brighter, bolder you.

More on the artists:

Reyna Noriega is an Afro-Caribbean Latina visual artist, author, and educator based in Miami, Florida. In addition to her own journey, her art pieces also center around vibrant, joyful depictions of women of color, which also inspired the prints and patterns featured in her collection. "I love that when people experience my art it makes them feel happy. Creating bright, colorful, and affordable products that will spark joy and inspire others is a huge win for me."

Hola Lou is a visual artist, designer, and muralist based in Mexico City, Mexico. Her collection conveys the confidence and empowerment of being yourself and was inspired by the contrasts and bold simplicity of her work, as well as her Mexican-Caribbean surroundings. "This is the first time I've partnered with any brand in the beauty space. Seeing my designs transformed onto pieces like brushes and barrettes is incredible. It's wearable art!"

Let It Happen features sister trio Norah, Yarah, and Rosa from The Netherlands who seek to inspire young and old alike by bringing love and light through dance. That joyful feeling of movement is carried throughout this collection, which remixes earth tones and vibrant colors with fun patterns. "We know how important hair is to women and girls! Like dance, how we style our hair is another form of self-expression. We wanted to help create products that made others feel positive and confident and we hope that our collection is something that girls will be excited to buy and make their own."

Each collection includes a set of brushes, claw clips, headbands, barrettes, scrunchies, elastics and unique fashion pieces like hair charms and scarves, specially curated and designed by Reyna Noriega, Hola Lou, and Let It Happen for every hair type.

"We're thrilled to share Goody Tru with the world, together with this group of talented female artists. We're grateful to have collaborated with them and to be able to combine our expertise in haircare with their passion for art to create this one-of-a-kind collection. We hope that everyone feels empowered to celebrate their hair in all its glory," shares Francesca Raminella, CEO of Beauty by Imagination, Goody's parent company.

"Goody is a brand our customers have loved and been loyal to for years. We are excited to collaborate with Goody and three talented artists to curate first-of-its-kind wearable art hair pieces that are representative of all hair types and different cultures. We are proud to bring this bright and beautiful collection to Walmart that we believe will resonate with shoppers of all ages and style." Jennifer Aguirre, Associate Merchant, Hair Care at Walmart U.S.

Goody Tru x Reyna Noriega, Goody Tru x Hola Lou, and Goody Tru x Let It Happen collections retail for $3.98-$11.98 and are available exclusively at Walmart.com and in 3,000+ Walmart stores nationwide.

ABOUT GOODY:

Bringing style and innovation to your accessory game, Goody believes that fun and function are not mutually exclusive. Goody is with you for every moment of every day with bright prints, patterns, and fashion accessories to step up your game and never-fail essentials for styles that last. Because Goody knows, one little accessory can change everything.

ABOUT BEAUTY BY IMAGINATION:

Beauty by Imagination ("BBI") is one of the leading manufacturers of haircare products, hair tools and accessories. Based in New York, BBI develops some of the industry's most recognizable brands and high-performing products such as Goody, Wet Brush, Bio Ionic, Ouidad, TWIST, CURLS, and Ace. These brands promise quality and innovation to deliver beautiful results to professionals and consumers alike.

SOURCE Beauty by Imagination
Leading window treatment franchise provides premium consultation services to residents in the Northshore

CHICAGO, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Gotcha Covered, a leader in custom window treatment consultation in the U.S. and Canada, announced its second location in Chicago with the opening of Gotcha Covered of the Northshore. The home-based center is owned and operated by Jivesh Toor.

With an emphasis on end-to-end consultations, this business will provide the best in soft and hard window treatments to homeowners in the North Shore of Chicago and surrounding areas. The center will offer a variety of blinds, draperies, smart solutions and much more.

Gotcha Covered of the Northshore is owned and operated by Jivesh Toor.

"At Gotcha Covered, we are dedicated to providing our customers with premium window treatments and an excellent customer experience," said Paul Linenberg, president of Gotcha Covered. "Chicago is a terrific area and perfect for a second location. The residents of the Northshore are gaining a tremendous and valuable asset with the opening of this center. We are confident Jivesh (Toor) will present the Gotcha Covered flag with pride."

Holding a bachelor's in hospitality and tourism management, Toor brings a wealth of entrepreneurial and management experience to the Gotcha Covered franchise. A military veteran, he has worked at Fairmont Raffles Hotels International, and he has also owned and operated his own luxury menswear and lifestyle brand with retail stores in Chicago.

Once he started down the franchise path, Toor discovered Gotcha Covered with the help of a franchise broker. With hopes to remain in the retail and design space, Gotcha Covered was the perfect choice for him.

"I wanted to start up a home-based service business that would allow me to use my design and consultative selling skills while engaging in the local community," said Toor. "Gotcha Covered checked all those boxes. With the business structure, I can run my business from home while ensuring I have ample time to network in the community.

"My experience has been great as everyone at corporate has been helpful. Whenever I run into any operation issue that I need support with, they are always there to help."

Toor said he ultimately wants to grow the franchise into one of the premier custom window treatment vendors in the Northshore of Chicago by providing excellent end-to-end consultative services.

Adding 40 new franchise locations in 2022, Gotcha Covered currently has over 155 total franchises across the U.S. and Canada. The franchise has been operating under the Gotcha Covered name since 2009.

To schedule an appointment with Gotcha Covered of the Northshore, visit https://www.gotchacovered.com/the-northshore/.

About Gotcha Covered

Gotcha Covered is a leader in custom soft and hard window treatment consultation in the U.S. and Canada. Flying under their Gotcha Covered flag since 2009, they offer custom window treatments including blinds, draperies, shutters and much more. They offer end-to-end consultation with the customer's specific needs and goals in mind. The company currently has over 155 total franchises across the U.S. and Canada.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Heather Ripley

Ripley PR

865-977-1973

[email protected]

SOURCE Gotcha Covered
NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Klein Law Firm announces that a class action complaint has been filed on behalf of shareholders of Gaotu Techedu Inc. F/K/A Gsx Techedu Inc. (NYSE: GOTU) alleging that the Company violated federal securities laws.

This lawsuit is on behalf of persons or entities who purchased or otherwise acquired publicly traded Gaotu American depository shares between March 5, 2021 and July 23, 2021, inclusive.

Lead Plaintiff Deadline: February 28, 2023

No obligation or cost to you.

Learn more about your recoverable losses in GOTU:

https://www.kleinstocklaw.com/pslra-1/gaotu-class-action-submission-form?id=36482&from=4

Gaotu Techedu Inc. F/K/A Gsx Techedu Inc. NEWS - GOTU NEWS

CLASS ACTION CASE DETAILS: The filed complaint alleges that Gaotu Techedu Inc. F/K/A Gsx Techedu Inc. made materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) China was barring tutoring for profit in core school subjects, and this policy change would restrict foreign investment in a sector that had become essential to success in Chinese school exams; and (2) the impact such regulations would have on Gaotu's operations and profitability and the value of Company securities.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO YOU AS A SHAREHOLDER: If you have suffered a loss in Gaotu you have until February 28, 2023 to petition the court for lead plaintiff status. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.

NO COST TO YOU: If you purchased Gaotu securities during the relevant period, you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out-of-pocket fees.

HOW TO PROTECT YOUR FINANCIAL INTERESTS: For additional information about the GOTU lawsuit, please contact J. Klein, Esq. by telephone at 212-616-4899 or click this link: https://www.kleinstocklaw.com/pslra-1/gaotu-class-action-submission-form?id=36482&from=4.

ABOUT KLEIN LAW FIRM

J. Klein, Esq. represents investors and participates in securities litigations involving financial fraud throughout the nation. The Klein Law Firm is a boutique litigation firm with experience in a wide range of areas including securities law, corporate finance and commercial litigation. Since 2011, our experienced attorneys have achieved superior results for our clients with a personalized focus. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

CONTACT:

J. Klein, Esq.

535 Fifth Avenue

4th Floor

New York City, NY 10017

[email protected]

Telephone: (212) 616-4899

www.kleinstocklaw.com

SOURCE The Klein Law Firm
NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The team at Hach & Rose, LLP is proud to have been recognized by Top Verdict for securing one of the Top 20 Personal Injury Settlements in the United States in 2021, for the case Santamaria v. N7 Owner, LLC, et al.

On August 15, 2018, Carlos Santamaria was severely injured in a construction accident at 308 North 7th Street in Brooklyn while employed by Maga Contracting Corporation. The accident occurred at approximately 11:30 a.m. when Mr. Santamaria fell 10 to 12 feet from the top of a sidewalk bridge/shed while dismantling a scaffold. The shed's parapet wall collapsed under the weight of heavy stacks of scaffold planks, and Mr. Santamaria was struck by several planks as they fell.

The accident was caused by the failure of the defendants to provide adequate safety equipment, leading to the collapse of the parapet wall. The situation was further exacerbated by the lack of protection for Mr. Santamaria when the scaffold planks fell on him.

As a result of the accident, Mr. Santamaria suffered multiple fractures of the vertebrae of his spine and has been left with severe and permanent injuries requiring a walker and a catheter. He also has no motor or sensory function below the knees.

Attorney Mike Rose of Hach & Rose, LLP says of the settlement, "We hope that this situation serves as a wake-up call for all construction companies to prioritize the safety of their employees and make necessary changes to ensure that accidents like this do not happen in the future."

Ultimately, the defendants agreed to settle the case for $11,000,000, which tied for sixteenth place on Top Verdict's Top 20 personal injury settlements in the United States in 2021. The Hach & Rose, LLP team is honored to have helped secure a just outcome for Mr. Santamaria and his family. This settlement serves as a reminder that companies have a responsibility to provide a safe work environment for their employees.

With years of experience and a proven track record of success, the New York construction accident attorneys at Hach & Rose, LLP, have the knowledge and resources necessary to help their clients recover the compensation they deserve. Our firm is committed to advocating for the rights of workers who have been injured, and we have achieved significant successful settlements and verdicts for our deserving clients. The recognition for securing one of the Top 20 Personal Injury Settlements in the United States in 2021, further solidifies our commitment to protecting those hurt on construction sites in our community.

About Hach & Rose, LLP

Hach & Rose is one of New York's premier civil litigation law firms. Its main office is located in Manhattan. Visit their website at www.unionlawfirm.com to learn more about the firm.

Media Contact

Jenn Brown

[email protected]

SOURCE Hach & Rose, LLP
Full-service program reduces duplicate patient records and proactively works to ensure clean data comes into the organization from connected sources

HONOLULU, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- 4medica, a leader in healthcare data quality and matching technology, today announced that Hawai'i Health Information Exchange (HHIE) has selected 4medica to work both with the HIE and with contributing data sources such as hospitals, labs, and health centers to improve data quality. Uniquely under this program, 4medica and HHIE will offer 4medica's technology to each health organization under a shared service program.

4medica has completed a full health data quality assessment for HHIE and has identified data contributors with significant duplicate records. HHIE engaged 4medica and its cloud-based Health Data Quality Platform to uncover data duplication while also understanding the data challenges to their connected sources.

HIEs are plagued with data quality issues such as excessive duplicate patient records due to mistakes at registration and other points of data entry at hospitals, health centers, labs and private practices. When workers at these facilities struggle to locate information on a patient in their clinical systems, they often will create another file for the patient rather than spend more time searching. This results in multiple records for a single patient, none of which provide a full picture to clinicians. When clinicians lack full and accurate information at the point of care, patient safety is undermined.

Not only does 4medica uncover the depth of these data-quality problems, but the company also has a proven 4-layer data management process to clean-up all the data issues and provides insights on how to reduce data quality problems in the connected data sources to provide immediate increased continuity of care.

"4medica provides detailed insight into the challenges our data sources are experiencing with duplicate patient identifiers," said Francis Chan, CEO of HHIE. "We have received millions of records from hospitals, clinics and provider practices over the past eight years and the accurate matching of patient records within the community health record is essential to reduce cost and improve patient care. We look forward to our partnership with 4medica to ensure our data is of the highest quality, which is critical for Hawai'i."

HHIE was founded in 2006 to enhance care coordination, improve the health outcomes of Hawai'i's patients, and reduce the cost of care for both patients and healthcare providers. The non-profit organization was designated by the state since 2009 to develop a seamless, effective, and secure statewide health information exchange that ultimately links to the nationwide health information network.

"Low-quality data compromises patient safety, continuity of care, and is costly to all healthcare organizations, so it's incredibly important to address the problem at the source," said 4medica President Gregg Church. "At 4medica, we are taking a different approach to data quality, and are excited our tried-and-true full service model translates not only to HIEs, but universally to the entire healthcare industry. We know just how important data quality is and we are excited to be disruptive and dive in with HHIE to inform and educate its data partners about the clinical and operational value of high-quality data."

About 4medica

Since 1998, 4medica has been solving challenges around health data quality, enabling healthcare organizations to achieve real-time clinical interoperability. The company's Big Data Management and Clinical Data Exchange cloud solutions facilitate identity management and patient-centric data exchange to ensure the right data is captured at the right time, guaranteeing an unprecedented 1% patient record duplication rate. Perfect Order for Perfect Payment integrates end-to-end laboratory and radiology ordering through an online portal, EMR interoperability, and with superior quality of validated data to drive highly effective RCM performance. 4medica connects 40,000-plus medical professionals to hundreds of ACOs, HIEs, HINs, hospitals, health systems, laboratories, radiology imaging centers and payers nationwide.

About the Hawai'i Health Information Exchange

The Hawai'i HIE is a non-governmental 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization established in 2006 to enhance care coordination, to improve quality of life for Hawaii's people and lower health care costs for both patients and healthcare providers. It is the state's designated health information exchange, which ultimately will link to the nationwide health information network.

Media contact:

Katlyn Nesvold

Amendola Communications for 4medica

[email protected]

SOURCE 4medica
Funds will establish programs to prepare new street medicine workforces across the state.

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Health Net announced today it awarded a $1.5 million grant to Keck School of Medicine of USC's Street Medicine program (USC Street Medicine) to enable street medicine workforces across the state to better serve people who are unsheltered. Distributed over a three-year period, the funds will establish two programs that prepare street medicine workforces to bring care directly to unsheltered populations in the places where they live  on sidewalks, in parks, under bridges, in vehicles or anywhere they reside.

"Health Net understands that the best way to care for our members with complex medical issues is to meet them where they are and consider the full scope of their needs," said Dr. Pooja Mittal, Chief Health Equity Officer at Health Net. "That's why we work with organizations like USC Street Medicine to expand innovative programs that address physical, behavioral, social and long-term health needs."

Street Medicine programs in California have been expanding at a rapid rate with over 20 programs started within the last four years. Driven in response to the rising rates of homelessness, many of these programs are aimed at helping medical professionals gain experience, training and systems to help meet the demand.

To meet this need, USC Street Medicine will offer "Foundations in Street Medicine," an intensive course on best clinical practices, outreach and engagement strategies, and government policies and programs to facilitate customized program development. USC Street Medicine will provide expert knowledge and technical support for new and existing street medicine teams to help bridge the existing healthcare gap in caring for unsheltered populations.

"This grant from Health Net will help spearhead the effort to provide more access to quality healthcare to people experiencing homelessness in California while enabling more organizations to provide the personalized, loving, compassionate and comprehensive care these vulnerable populations need and deserve," said Brett Feldman, MSPAS, PA-C, director of street medicine at the Keck School of Medicine. "We are grateful for the opportunity to share what our team has learned about providing specialized, onsite medical care with other teams trying to care for the under-resourced, and oftentimes, forgotten people we serve."

The medical school's Street Medicine Foundations Program will be a three-day experience for existing teams or professionals who want to learn more about street medicine. Participants from across California can learn more about the foundations, logistics and clinical applications for delivering care.

USC Street Medicine will also provide technical support available for organizations who are ready to build or expand a street medicine program. Open to a smaller cohort of street medicine teams, it will provide expert knowledge of how to develop, launch and improve care for people who are unsheltered.

"The work that Health Net and USC Street Medicine are doing is critical to advancing health equity and reducing health disparities in California," said Senator Maria Elena Durazo, California Senate, 26th District. "People experiencing homelessness often don't have access to the medical attention they need. This collaboration will help provide necessary care to improve the lives of all Californians."

"It can be incredibly difficult for those without a roof over their heads to access quality healthcare," said Assembly Member Miguel Santiago, Los Angeles County, 54th District. "The collaboration between Health Net and USC Street Medicine will help ensure that individuals of all backgrounds, regardless of circumstances, can receive treatments to better their physical and mental wellbeing."

"One of the most important lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic is that if we want to improve the health and well-being of our most vulnerable residents, we need to make care as accessible as possible," said Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda L. Solis, First District. "This includes bringing services and resources directly to our residents, and I want to applaud Health Net for collaborating directly with trusted providers in our community to make this a reality. With this grant, our residents most in need, especially those experiencing homelessness, will have increased access to the care they need to stabilize their health  a critical step to beginning the journey towards permanent housing."

For decades, Health Net has served as one of California's most-experienced and longest serving Medi-Cal partners. To overcome the many negative social drivers of health their members face, Health Net has invested in innovative mobile and virtual solutions to ensure people can get the care they need, when, how and where they need it. Learn more about Health Net's work to expand access to care through mobile and virtual health initiatives.

About Health Net:

At Health Net, we believe every person deserves a safety net for their health, regardless of age, income, employment status or current state of health. Founded in California more than 40 years ago, we're dedicated to transforming the health of our community, one person at a time. Today, 90,000 network providers serve 3 million members. That's nearly 1 in 12 Californians. We provide health plans for individuals, families, businesses of every size and people who qualify for Medi-Cal or Medicare  Coverage for Every Stage of Life. Health Net also offers access to substance abuse programs, behavioral health services, employee assistance programs and managed health care products related to prescription drugs. We offer these health plans and services through Health Net, LLC and its subsidiaries: Health Net of California, Inc., Health Net Life Insurance Company and Health Net Community Solutions, Inc. These entities are wholly owned subsidiaries of Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC), a Fortune 25 company that offers affordable and high-quality products to nearly 1 in 15 individuals across the nation. For more information, visit www.HealthNet.com.

SOURCE Health Net
NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Klein Law Firm announces that a class action complaint has been filed on behalf of shareholders of Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (NYSE: HMC) alleging that the Company violated federal securities laws.

This lawsuit is on behalf of a class consisting of persons and entities that purchased or otherwise acquired Honda American Depository Shares between June 20, 2018 and September 28, 2022, both dates inclusive.

Lead Plaintiff Deadline: April 3, 2023

No obligation or cost to you.

Learn more about your recoverable losses in HMC:

https://www.kleinstocklaw.com/pslra-1/honda-loss-submission-form?id=36493&from=4

Honda Motor Co., Ltd. NEWS - HMC NEWS

CLASS ACTION CASE DETAILS: The filed complaint alleges that Honda Motor Co., Ltd. made materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Honda had overstated the safety and effectiveness of the Idle Stop engine feature; (ii) Honda maintained deficient disclosure controls and procedures with respect to product quality and safety; (iii) as a result of the foregoing deficiencies, Honda failed to prevent American Honda from marketing and selling thousands of vehicles that contained a defective Idle Stop feature; (iv) the foregoing conduct subjected the Company and/or its subsidiaries to a heightened risk of litigation, as well as financial and/or reputational harm; and (v) as a result, the Company's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO YOU AS A SHAREHOLDER: If you have suffered a loss in Honda you have until April 3, 2023 to petition the court for lead plaintiff status. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.

NO COST TO YOU: If you purchased Honda securities during the relevant period, you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out-of-pocket fees.

HOW TO PROTECT YOUR FINANCIAL INTERESTS: For additional information about the HMC lawsuit, please contact J. Klein, Esq. by telephone at 212-616-4899 or click this link: https://www.kleinstocklaw.com/pslra-1/honda-loss-submission-form?id=36493&from=4.

ABOUT KLEIN LAW FIRM

J. Klein, Esq. represents investors and participates in securities litigations involving financial fraud throughout the nation. The Klein Law Firm is a boutique litigation firm with experience in a wide range of areas including securities law, corporate finance and commercial litigation. Since 2011, our experienced attorneys have achieved superior results for our clients with a personalized focus. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

CONTACT:

J. Klein, Esq.

535 Fifth Avenue

4th Floor

New York City, NY 10017

[email protected]

Telephone: (212) 616-4899

www.kleinstocklaw.com

SOURCE The Klein Law Firm
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 14, ARMENPRESS. The State Revenue Committee introduced the preliminary customs declaration system in 2022 as part of customs reforms.

The system allows eligible business operators to file their customs declarations to the Armenian customs agency 24/7 before their goods cross the border into Armenia.

The system is designed to evaluate risks, accelerate the paperwork without additional payments. In case of having filed the preliminary declaration, customs clearance is carried out at the border customs checkpoints as a priority. Thus, importers will no longer have to store their goods in temporary warehouses, visit the customs departments and make any additional payments for storage.

The system has cut the border crossing  customs clearance time from 20-70 hours to 2-3 hours on an average.

In 2022, over 2,300 preliminary declarations were registered, most of which (1,509) were filed in the previous yearend.

Importers simply have to visit trade.gov.am to use the system, and file the declaration to the customs checkpoint through which they intend to import goods.
GREENWICH, Conn., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Hunt Scanlon Ventures  the M&A advisory firm serving the executive recruiting and human capital sectors  announced today that Erik Boender has been named Chief Operating Officer. He will be based in the firm's headquarters in Greenwich, CT. In this new role, Mr. Boender will oversee critical functions relating to the organization's ongoing operations and procedures.

"We are delighted to move Erik into this elevated capacity in our M&A business," said Cody Crook, Managing Director of Hunt Scanlon Ventures. "Erik will oversee a rapidly expanding business and he will serve as a key member of our senior management team."

In addition to assisting management with long-term, strategic direction, Mr. Boender will support the firm's M&A deal team in a variety of execution and deal-related responsibilities. These include sourcing and target screening M&A deals; leading business development efforts; assisting in the creation of pitch decks to potential clients; preparing engagement letters, NDAs, confidential information memorandums, and process letters; supervising industry reports and investor deck presentations; and managing write-ups for transactions ranging from $3m to $300m in revenue.

His responsibilities will cover M&A activity in the lower to middle markets, including a focus on deals with EBITDA between $1m to $60m+ across the human capital markets.

Mr. Boender will also serve in a dual capacity as Chief Operating Officer for Hunt Scanlon Media, where he has played an integral role in day-to-day operations as Vice President of Operations since 2018. In this new capacity, he will now oversee the organization's accounting and finance functions, as well as its expanding market intelligence, research, sales, marketing, industry conference, and social media teams. He will report directly to the firm's founding partners.

Hunt Scanlon Ventures is an M&A advisory firm focused on the human capital markets. The firm assists in global merger and acquisition advisory, sourcing and facilitating transactions, buyouts, and growth capital investments as it guides founders and management teams to successful exits. Hunt Scanlon maintains offices in Greenwich, Chicago, and San Francisco.

Contact: Cody Crook

Managing Director

(317) 417-6936

[email protected]

SOURCE Hunt Scanlon Media
Free Upgrade Secures Vehicle in Response to Popularized Theft Method

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In response to increasing thefts targeting its vehicles without push-button ignitions and immobilizing anti-theft devices in the United States, Hyundai is introducing a free anti-theft software upgrade to prevent the vehicles from starting during a method of theft popularized on TikTok and other social media channels.

The technology will be launched as a service campaign for a total of almost 4 million vehicles beginning on February 14, with the upgrade rolling out first to more than 1 million model year 2017-2020 Elantra, 2015-2019 Sonata and 2020-2021 Venue vehicles. The software upgrade is scheduled to be available for the remaining eligible affected vehicles by June 2023 (see chart below). The free upgrade will be performed by Hyundai dealers and will take less than one hour for installation. Following completion of the upgrade, each vehicle will be affixed with window decals to alert would-be thieves that the vehicle is equipped with enhanced anti-theft technology.

"Hyundai is committed to ensuring the quality and integrity of our products through continuous improvement and is pleased to provide affected customers with an additional theft deterrent through this software upgrade," said Randy Parker, CEO, Hyundai Motor America. "We have prioritized the upgrade's availability for owners and lessees of our highest selling vehicles and those most targeted by thieves in order for dealers to service them first."

All Hyundai vehicles produced since November 2021 are equipped with an engine immobilizer as standard equipment. Hyundai is also providing free steering wheel locks to law enforcement agencies for distribution to local residents who own or lease affected models.

Some 2011-2022 model year vehicles without engine immobilizers cannot accommodate the software upgrade. For these customers, Hyundai is finalizing a program to reimburse them for their purchase of steering wheel locks. Hyundai will provide these customers with more detail in the very near future.

Software Upgrade Details

The software upgrade modifies certain vehicle control modules on Hyundai vehicles equipped with standard "turn-key-to-start" ignition systems. As a result, locking the doors with the key fob will set the factory alarm and activate an "ignition kill" feature so the vehicles cannot be started when subjected to the popularized theft mode. Customers must use the key fob to unlock their vehicles to deactivate the "ignition kill" feature.

Hyundai is notifying customers about the anti-theft service campaign through multiple points of contact (e.g., mail, email, outbound phone contact and a dedicated website) with instructions to bring their vehicle to the nearest Hyundai dealership to have the free software installed. More information is available at www.hyundaiantitheft.com, where customers can input their vehicle's Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) to find out when it is eligible for the software upgrade.

Service Campaign Rollout Schedule

Phase Vehicle Software Availability 1 2017-2020 Elantra 2015-2019 Sonata 2020-2021 Venue February 14, 2023 2 2018-2022 Accent 2011-2016 Elantra 2021-2022 Elantra 2018-2020 Elantra GT 2011-2014 Genesis Coupe 2018-2022 Kona 2020-2021 Palisade 2013-2018 Santa Fe Sport 2013-2022 Santa Fe 2019 Santa Fe XL 2011-2014 Sonata 2011-2022 Tucson 2012-2017, 2019-2021 Veloster June 2023

Hyundai Motor America

Hyundai Motor America focuses on 'Progress for Humanity' and smart mobility solutions. Hyundai offers U.S. consumers a technology-rich lineup of cars, SUVs, and electrified vehicles. Our 830 dealers sold more than 724,000 vehicles in the U.S. in 2022, and nearly half were built at Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama. For more information, visit www.HyundaiNews.com.

Hyundai Motor America on Twitter | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | TikTok

SOURCE Hyundai Motor America
ATLANTA, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, IHG Hotels & Resorts celebrates the debut of Vignette Collection in the Americas with the opening of Yours Truly DC. Vignette Collection, the newest brand in IHG's fast-growing Luxury & Lifestyle portfolio, is a family of distinct luxury hotels connected by a shared vision that travel can benefit local people and places. Nestled within Washington, D.C.'s eclectic Dupont Circle, Yours Truly is a bohemian-inspired haven designed to feel like a warm, welcoming home.

Yours Truly DC joins IHG Hotels & Resorts Vignette Collection, marking the brands debut opening in the Americas. Photo Credit: Laura Metzler

Claire Bennett, Global Chief Customer Officer for IHG Hotels & Resorts, commented: "We committed to bring Vignette Collection to the American market and this first opening in the nation's capital sets the stage for growth of Vignette Collection across the Americas. The global success of the brand in just over a year since launch, with four hotels already welcoming guests in cities like Bangkok and Brisbane, speaks to our focus on delivering one-of-a-kind hotels and memorable experiences alongside a commitment to more responsible travel. Whether you travel for work or pleasure, Yours Truly DC welcomes guests not just with an invitation to stay and relax, but also to explore and discover Washington D.C. This is an exciting addition to the over 6,000 hotels available within the recently reimagined IHG One Rewards loyalty program, and we look forward to creating unique moments and unexpected connections at Yours Truly DC for our members and guests."

The 355-room Yours Truly, like all Vignette Collection hotels, is unique in its own right, with its own distinct outlook and story to tell. Designed by Simeone Deary Design Group, the hotel was inspired by a "bohemian-meets-brutalist" stylistic balance, embracing the building's architectural bones and evoking a curated home-away-from-home.

An open concept living room is punctuated by biophilic design, vivid earth tones and the occasional disco ball. Velvety armchairs and couches encourage conversation while nooks have been created for those seeking quiet. Design-forward rooms and suites blend modern comfort, intuitive amenities, and warm, colorful styling, while artwork by national and local artists, selected through the lens of a conscious worldly adventurer, adorns the walls.

Vignette Collection hotels infuse unexpected moments into the experience, known as 'Memorable Rituals,' which add a 'special something' to remember every stay. At El Donut Shoppe, an outpost of the in-the-know Orlando-based record store located off the hotel's lobby, guests can curate the soundtrack to their stay. Featuring rare jazz, funk, soul and hip-hop vinyls, records are available on loan from the music library to spin on the hotel's in-room turntables. Yours Truly also hosts a rotating line-up of on-site programming, including pop-ups and intimate house shows from local artists and DJs, setting the scene for discovery.

Set within the living room is Mercy Me, the hotel's 'Sorta South American'-inspired restaurant and bar created by local culinary trendsetters Andrew Dana and James Beard-nominated Chef Daniela Moreira. Visitors can indulge in South American staples alongside an imaginative cocktail menu. During the day, the hotel's Call Your Mother offers playful Jewish breakfast and lunch classics, including towering bagel sandwiches and coffee from area roasters. Guests can also stock their in-room mini fridge space with snacks and sips from Mercy Me, like craft beers, cold brew, and cookies served with a nightcap.

At Vignette Collection's core is the belief that travel should champion everyone, and each hotel's 'Means for Good' is thoughtfully chosen to uplift its local community. The Yours Truly Small Business Collective is a hotel initiative that supports neighboring small businesses. Comprised of hand-selected partners, many of which are women-owned, businesses in the collective include a florist, holistic spa, specialty map curator and crystal retailer, among others. Guests receive exclusive offers and perks from the businesses to encourage them to shop locally while in town. Yours Truly will also host 'Small Business Collective Marketplaces' on-site quarterly where guests can peruse and purchase products from these local retailers.

Additional hotel amenities include an outpost of Groom Guy, a modern barber shop offering haircuts and premium personal care products; a gym, which shares inspiring workouts daily on its chalkboard walls; and 15,000 square feet of meeting and event spaces, running the gamut from a studio and ping pong room to an outdoor patio and 3,400 square-foot ballroom.

Guests will also have access to a best-in-class loyalty program, IHG One Rewards, which is centered around its guests  giving them richer benefits and more ways to earn than ever before, all powered by leading technology on its new mobile app.

Yours Truly DC is Vignette Collection's fourth hotel to open, joining Hotel X Brisbane Fortitude Valley in Australia, Sindhorn Midtown Hotel Bangkok in Thailand and Casa da Companhia in Portugal. Future openings span from El Gran Encomendero in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and The Gwendolyn in Oregon's wine country to Carlton Al Moaibed Hotel in Saudi Arabia, House of Chinhara in Zimbabwe and RIHGA Royal Hotel Osaka in Japan. The brand has 14 hotels in the pipeline, and more than 100 properties globally are anticipated to join over the next 10 years.*

For more on Yours Truly DC, visit the hotel's website. Discover Vignette Collection's diverse hotels with distinctly enriching experiences and Yours Truly DC on Instagram at @vignettehotels and @yourstrulyhotel.

*Numbers as at 31 December 2022

Images to Download

About Vignette Collection

Vignette Collection, IHG Hotels & Resorts' first collection brand, is a family of one-of-a-kind properties in sought-after urban and resort locations where guests can indulge in a growing passion for stays that are authentic, experiential and considerate. Here for the next generation of luxury travellers seeking both discovery and purpose, Vignette Collection weaves responsibility, community and locality together for stays that are as distinct as our hotels. The first hotels committed to join the collection include Hotel X Brisbane Fortitude Valley in Brisbane, Australia and The Aquatique Pattaya in Pattaya, Thailand. More than 100 properties globally are anticipated to join over the next 10 years. For more information, visit vignettecollectionhotels.com .

About IHG Hotels & Resorts

IHG Hotels & Resorts [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is a global hospitality company, with a purpose to provide True Hospitality for Good.

With a family of 18 hotel brands and IHG One Rewards, one of the world's largest hotel loyalty programmes, IHG has over 6,000 open hotels in over 100 countries, and more than 1,800 in the development pipeline.

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group's holding company and is incorporated and registered in England and Wales. Approximately 325,000 people work across IHG's hotels and corporate offices globally.

Visit us online for more about our hotels and reservations and IHG One Rewards. To download the new IHG One Rewards app, visit the Apple App or Google Play stores.

For our latest news, visit our Newsroom and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

SOURCE IHG Hotels & Resorts
Yotta to combine synergies with the Shamsul Alamin Group, one of Bangladesh's largest business conglomerates, and leverage its regional leadership in real estate and Bangladesh's business ecosystem to support the expansion of Yotta's data center, cloud and digital transformation services in Bangladesh.

DHAKA, Bangladesh , Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Yotta Data Services  the Data Center and Cloud services arm of India's business conglomerate - Hiranandani Group  has announced its strategic partnership with Bangladesh's Shamsul Alamin Group (SAG) to support Yotta's foray and expansion of its business in the country. Under the partnership, the Shamsul Alamin Group will extend its rich expertise in real estate, along with its market leadership, to help Yotta identify the vast opportunities and jointly tap Bangladesh's emerging digital transformation market.

Yotta Dhaka Data Center Park (PRNewsfoto/Yotta Data Services)

Yotta's recently-announced Dhaka Hyperscale Data Center Park in Hi-Tech City, Gazipur combines Yotta's leadership in world-class data center infrastructure and the Shamsul Alamin Group's proven real estate domain expertise. The group's support has been instrumental in helping Yotta establish data center presence in Bangladesh  from identification of land, liaising with the government, obtaining regulatory approvals, to building design and core-and-shell construction. The Shamsul Alamin Group will also be instrumental in helping Yotta onboard local technology partners, customer acquisition and growing its footprint in the data center, cloud and digital transformation services marketplace.

Commenting on the partnership, Sunil Gupta, Co-founder & CEO, Yotta Data Services, said, "Transformation of lives and society is deep-rooted in Yotta's mission, and we do this by building a digital ecosystem that's inclusive, innovative and future-oriented. Our successful efforts in this direction have been pivotal in India's data center and digital transformation growth story. Built on a shared vision of elevating societies and placing Bangladesh on the global digital platform, our integrated partnership with the Shamsul Alamin Group is aligned precisely with the Digital Bangladesh vision of the Hon'ble Prime Minister H.E. Sheikh Hasina. We are grateful to the Government of Bangladesh for entrusting Yotta to be part of the country's economic growth. We also thank Mr. Sajeeb Wazed Joy, ICT Advisor to the Government of Bangladesh, for his progressive vision for Bangladesh's digital ecosystem. As we embark on our journey here, I thank the Shamsul Alamin Group for its extensive support and lending its proven capabilities to Yotta. Together, we are excited to foster growth that's mutual and instrumental in Bangladesh's digital and economic ambitions."

Sharing his thoughts, Alamgir Shamsul Alamin, Managing Director, Shamsul Alamin Group (SAG), said, "We are proud and elated to welcome Yotta and the Hiranandani Group to Bangladesh, a land abundant with opportunities. Learning about Yotta's successful efforts in India and its mission of bridging the digital divide, our partnership with them couldn't be more natural. Similar to India, our government has embarked on an ambitious journey of Digital Bangladesh, and we are proud to join forces with Yotta to set up its hyperscale data center park in Dhaka. This will play a transformative role in supporting the digitisation of businesses, and making technologies more accessible. As part of our strategic partnership with Yotta, we will share our regional leadership with them and provide continuous support through a joint go-to-market approach. We look forward to a successful and future-oriented partnership with Yotta."

Yotta has earmarked an investment over Tk2000 crore to develop its Hyperscale Data Center Park in Dhaka in the next 4-6 years. The park will house two hyperscale data center buildings, featuring 4800 racks and 28.8MW IT power capacity. Slated to go live with the first data center building in Q3 of FY2024, the park will bolster the country's digital transformation efforts, serving as the digital backbone of businesses and a catalyst for Digital Bangladesh  the government's flagship initiative.

About Yotta

Yotta Data Services is a new-age Digital Transformation service provider offering data center, cloud, and a wide range of managed IT, application modernisation, connectivity, and cybersecurity services. Backed by the design, construction, power generation and distribution capabilities of its parent and India's renowned real estate giant, Hiranandani Group, Yotta operates two hyperscale data center parks in Panvel (Navi Mumbai) and Greater Noida. Yotta's first data center - Yotta NM1 in Panvel - has been acknowledged as APAC's Best Data Center by Datacloud Global Awards in 2021. It is the world's 2nd largest Uptime Institute-certified Tier IV facility and the largest in Asia.

For more information, visit  www.yotta.com

For media queries, please contact:

Mohit Rathod

+91 76666 47084 [email protected]

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2001145/Yotta_Dhaka.jpg

SOURCE Yotta Data Services
ST. PAUL, Minn., Feb. 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Johnson // Becker, PLLC is a nationwide products liability law firm with extensive experience representing victims of pressure cooker explosions. The firm has represented over 500 clients who have been severely burned by exploding pressure cookers.

Johnson//Becker filed the Complaint against manufacturer Instant Brands, on behalf of Joshua Summers, alleging that a defective Instant Pot pressure cooker burned him when the lid opened with "built-up pressure, heat, and steam still inside the unit."

The pressure cooker explosion occurred despite Instant Pot's claims about the "safety" of its product, which should allegedly "automatically lock to prevent opening the cooker" while still pressurized. Mr. Summers, a resident of Richmond, Indiana, suffered his injuries in January 2021. The Complaint alleges the Instant Pot manufacturer knew or should have known of its product's dangerous defects, yet "continues to generate a substantial profit from the sale of its pressure cookers, demonstrating a callous, reckless, willful, and depraved indifference to the health, safety, and welfare" of its customers. Johnson//Becker has represented more than 100 people injured by an exploding Instant Pot pressure cooker.

This lawsuit is filed by Michael K. Johnson, Adam J. Kress, and Anna R. Rick of Johnson // Becker, PLLC. Michael K. Johnson is a founding member of Johnson//Becker, PLLC. Michael and Adam exclusively handle injury cases, with an emphasis on national products liability litigation, including cases involving burn injuries from defective products.

Questions about an Instant Pot pressure cooker Lawsuit? Contact a Johnson//Becker lawyer today for a free case review.

If you or a loved one has been injured by a defective Instant Pot, you may want to speak with the lawyers at Johnson//Becker. We are filing new pressure cooker lawsuits across the country, and you may be entitled to financial compensation for your defective pressure cooker injuries.

We offer a free case evaluation. To learn more about Johnson // Becker's product liability cases, or to arrange a free, no obligation case review, please visit Johnson // Becker at https://www.johnsonbecker.com/product-liability/pressure-cooker-lawsuit/, https://www.johnsonbecker.com/product-liability/instant-pot-pressure-cooker-lawsuit/ or contact Johnson // Becker directly at (800) 279-6386.

SOURCE Johnson // Becker, PLLC
NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Global Fashion Collective (GFC) wowed the crowd with its designers' fall 2023 collections at New York Fashion Week with their Global Fashion Collective III show. With designers from Japan, Indonesia, Mozambique, Mexico, China, France, and Korea, the audience saw abundant diversity and creativity throughout the show. The Global Collective III NYFW show took place on February 12th 2023 at 6:30 PM as a part of NYFW The Shows. Designers included:

Hengki Kawilarang

Lisa Ju Top Row: Lisa Ju, Bottom Left to Right: Hengki Kawilarang, TAUSSY DANIEL, Victorian Maiden

Hengki Kawilarang is a fashion designer who started his career in 2001 in Jakarta, Indonesia, with a line of feminine, glamorous designs that always make every woman feel like a "diva" in every detail of her design. Full of glamorous elements such as crystals, feathers, and something shiny makes, his design unique.

Instagram Link:https://www.instagram.com/hengkikawilarang_id

Lisa Ju

Lisa Ju's collection embraces and highlights female curves. Enter a world of fantasy featuring 12 couture art of this upcoming collection that will be shown and titled: "Renceum Rejouissances. "Renceum means sparkling in Sundanese, and Rejouissances means festivities in French. She is combining her background who live in Bandung and her immense passion for French couture designs. This time she infused her 'back to the root' Indonesian culture into her artistry when appealing to an international audience. "I'm blessed to be influenced by a lot of different points of view growing up in Indonesia, which has so many different cultures, so many diverse textiles, crafts, arts, and yet a combination of original indigenous tradition and multiple modern foreign influences  that shaped me as a designer," Lisa said.

Reinventing Indonesia's traditional fabric: "Batik Priangan" and inspired by its patterns - the design is enriched with complexities of handmade eye-catching fabric manipulations techniques, applications of beads and crystal detailing, structural line design and also incorporates hand-painted fabric and heritage accessories from Indonesia artists to make it more avant-garde and also to support local artists.

Each gown not only underscores her unique ability to tap into Indonesia's rich cultural heritage but also an array of influences - the interplay of female empowerment, strength, and vulnerability are all reflected in exquisitely rendered couture in astro dust, galactic cobalt, sage leaf, and apricot crush color and mood of each piece created to achieve a modern aesthetic and reflect the subtle sense of the theme without sacrificing the elegance and uniqueness as her signature style.

Taussy Daniel

Taussy Daniel's stunning collection of formal evening wear was a mix of wearable art, all statement pieces, and all dresses from shades of seafoam and chartreuse to more traditional colors.



Taussy Daniel was born October 8, 1991, in Maputo, the capital of Mocambique. Taussy Daniel is today a well-known high-fashion brand (Haute Couture).

With her unique design, Taussy Daniel focuses her energy on all women who identify with eclectic style where the silhouette plays a central role.

A brand that emphasizes the feminine body using only selected cutting techniques and the highest grade of materials, making every TAUSSY DANIEL woman a unique being that is envied, respected, and adored.

Instagram Link:https://www.instagram.com/taussydanielofficial

Victorian Maiden

Victorian Maiden was a hit with its throwback to the Victorian era. The brand started in Japan in1999 and is known for its beautiful silhouettes and has a reputation for being not only "Kawaii" but also adding elegant and coquettish elements to complete the fashion aesthetic for adults regardless of age. The brand will celebrate its 25th anniversary and bring the new "Victorian Maiden" to the fashion world. The collection is a more concentrated collection of the world fashion, from "Lolita fashion" to chic and ready-to-wear clothing that can be easily incorporated into daily style, to items with a motif of a person whom a girl adores.

The brand proudly presents the Japanese Victorian style-- the world of Victorian Maiden.

Instagram Link: https://www.instagram.com/victorian_maiden/

Website Link: victorianmaiden.com

Makeup by Claudia Trejo with New York Makeup Academy and Latina Glam using BULLY BLOCKER - full mineral-based products on all models.

Hair by Odete DaSilva using Goldwell and Varis @OdeteDailvahair @Goldwellus @VarisProHair

For media, designer interviews and full photo link access please contact Monique Tatum at [email protected].

About Global Fashion Collective

Launched in October 2017, Global Fashion Collective (GFC) is a platform led by a group of dynamic individuals who share the common goal of cultivating an inclusive and diverse fashion industry. Global Fashion Collective's mission is to accelerate designer development by producing innovative runway showcases globally in fashion capitals to increase international media visibility and expand new market opportunities for their show's participating designers. As the sister company to Vancouver Fashion Week, which has been producing shows since 2001, GFC works with a wide range of international designers at all runway shows. After showcasing in Paris, New York, and Tokyo, the Collective plans to expand its reach with upcoming shows in London and Milan for 2023.

Media Contact:

Monique Tatum

877-841-7244

[email protected]

SOURCE Global Fashion Collective
PITTSBURGH, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- "I wanted to create an advanced system with a dual battery bank to supplement the standard charge of an electric vehicle," said an inventor, from Cleves, Ohio, "so I invented the AUTO RECHARGE. My design enables you to travel additional miles without fear of becoming stranded."

The patent-pending invention provides an auxiliary power-generation feature for all-electric vehicles. In doing so, it increases travel range for a new electric car. As a result, it eliminates the need to rely completely upon charges from a household electrical source or a public charging station and it increases efficiency.

The invention features a reliable and automatic design that is easy to operate so it is ideal for the owners of electric vehicles. The original design was submitted to the Cincinnati sales office of InventHelp. It is currently available for licensing or sale to manufacturers or marketers. For more information, write Dept. 21-CCT-4744, InventHelp, 217 Ninth Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15222, or call (412) 288-1300 ext. 1368. Learn more about InventHelp's Invention Submission Services at http://www.InventHelp.com.

SOURCE InventHelp
Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Health System to Track Health Outcomes Using Medical Records, Interviews, and Data Modeling

BRONX, N.Y., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Neighborhood redevelopment, which transforms low-income neighborhoods through rezoning, new construction and renovation, can lead to health benefits, such as greater access to fresh produce, improved housing, and more green spaces. But these advantages may not extend to all area residents. More information is needed about the impact of redevelopment, also known as urban renewal, on health, particularly if it contributes to inequities among middle-aged and older adults.

Earle Chambers, Ph.D., M.P.H. Albert Einstein College of Medicine Logo

Researchers led by Earle Chambers, Ph.D., M.P.H., at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Health System, have received a four-year, $2.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study how neighborhood redevelopment affects cardiovascular disease (CVD) among older Black and Hispanic residents in the Bronx, home to the country's poorest urban congressional district and numerous redevelopment projects.

"Neighborhood redevelopment is a powerful tool to transform an area, but we need to learn how it affects human health, for good or ill," said Dr. Chambers, professor and director of research in the department of family and social medicine and professor of epidemiology & population health and of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. "Montefiore Einstein is uniquely positioned to track health outcomes associated with redevelopment because so many residents of the Bronxa focus of redevelopment activityreceive care here, allowing us to zero in on health changes to our population," he added.

The Heart of the Matter

The study will focus on CVD, which accounts for 1 in 4 deaths in the United States and is the country's leading cause of mortality. Well-known risk factors for CVD, such as hypertension and diabetes, typically emerge in middle agethe time of life when health inequities associated with the disease widen. CVD risk can be affected by nonmedical factors such as economic and housing stability, education level, neighborhood features, and social experiencesall of which can be influenced by redevelopment efforts.

The research team, which includes collaborators at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, and the City University of New York Graduate School of Public Health & Health Policy, will use several approaches to measure the impact of both medical and nonmedical risk factors on CVD health to better understand how redevelopment affects cardiovascular health over time. With access to de-identified electronic medical records of more than 15,000 Bronx residents, the researchers will compare the prevalence of CVD events (such as heart attacks and strokes) and CVD risk factors (such as hypertension) among cohorts of mid-life and older residents of two Bronx neighborhoods: the Jerome Avenue area, which is undergoing redevelopment, and the Southern Boulevard area, which is not. Plans for Jerome Avenue include adding more than 4,000 housing units, rezoning areas to increase retail businesses, establishing new schools, and upgrading public parks.

Walking Tours and Computer Modeling

The team will also conduct walking tours on which they will meet with and survey 300 Jerome Avenue residents to better understand how their neighborhood's ongoing redevelopment has personally affected them and their access to healthful resources. The survey will include questions about food intake and physical activity, as well as on social needs, such as residents' housing status and economic stability.

"The combination of resources and how people perceive access to them likely contribute to their overall health and how they prioritize heart-healthy behaviors," said Dr. Chambers.

The redevelopment study will also use computer simulation modeling to predict the long-term effects of redevelopment on CVD-related outcomes and inform future redevelopment strategies.

"Our study will help show whether or not redevelopment efforts are moving communities forward," said Dr. Chambers. "When neighborhoods undergo redevelopment, we must be sure to honor the people who are already living in those communities and ensure everyone benefits."

The grant, titled "Bronx Neighborhood Redevelopment and CVD in mid-life and older adults," is funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, part of the NIH (1R01HL166318).

About Montefiore Health System

Montefiore Health System is one of New York's premier academic health systems and is a recognized leader in providing exceptional quality and personalized, accountable care to approximately three million people in communities across the Bronx, Westchester, and the Hudson Valley. It is comprised of 10 hospitals, including the Children's Hospital at Montefiore , Burke Rehabilitation Hospital and more than 200 outpatient ambulatory care sites. The advanced clinical and translational research at its medical school, Albert Einstein College of Medicine , directly informs patient care and improves outcomes. From the Montefiore-Einstein Centers of Excellence in cancer, cardiology and vascular care, pediatrics, and transplantation, to its preeminent school-based health program, Montefiore is a fully integrated healthcare delivery system providing coordinated, comprehensive care to patients and their families. For more information, please visit www.montefiore.org . Follow us on Twitter and Instagram and LinkedIn , or view us on Facebook and YouTube .

About Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Albert Einstein College of Medicine is one of the nation's premier centers for research, medical education and clinical investigation. During the 2022-23 academic year, Einstein is home to 740 M.D. students, 194 Ph.D. students, 118 students in the combined M.D./Ph.D. program , and approximately 225 postdoctoral research fellows . The College of Medicine has more than 1,900 full-time faculty members located on the main campus and at its clinical affiliates . In 2022, Einstein received more than $202 million in awards from the National Institutes of Health. This includes the funding of major research centers at Einstein in cancer, aging, intellectual development disorders, diabetes, clinical and translational research, liver disease, and AIDS. Other areas where the College of Medicine is concentrating its efforts include developmental brain research, neuroscience, cardiac disease, and initiatives to reduce and eliminate ethnic and racial health disparities. Its partnership with Montefiore , the University Hospital and academic medical center for Einstein, advances clinical and translational research to accelerate the pace at which new discoveries become the treatments and therapies that benefit patients. For more information, please visit einsteinmed.edu , follow us on Twitter , Facebook , Instagram , LinkedIn , and view us on YouTube .

SOURCE Albert Einstein College of Medicine
TORONTO, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - The Board of Directors of Restaurant Brands International Inc. ("RBI") (TSX: QSR) (NYSE: QSR) (TSX: QSP) has appointed Joshua Kobza as the company's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) effective March 1, 2023, as part of its ongoing succession planning process.

Mr. Kobza has held increasingly senior roles with the company over the last 11 years, including Chief Financial Officer (2013-2018), Chief Technology Officer and Development Officer (2018-2019) and Chief Operating Officer (2019-2023), including accountability for strategy, technology, human resources, global procurement, supply chain and international development. Mr. Kobza was integral to the acquisitions of Tim Hortons in 2014, Popeyes in 2017 and Firehouse Subs in 2021.

Mr. Kobza will undertake his new role reporting to, and working together with, Patrick Doyle, a well-known industry veteran and Executive Chairman of RBI. Jose Cil will remain with the company for one year as an advisor and assist in the transition.

"Over the past several years, the Board of Directors has worked with management to build a thoughtful succession plan for key positions, so this is a natural transition for Josh to lead our next phase of growth. Personally, I'm motivated to work with and help such a talented person like Josh as he steps into this new leadership position," said Patrick Doyle.

"On behalf of the Board of Directors, I want to thank Jose for his unwavering dedication and passion for growing our restaurant brands and for the progress we have made, most recently evidenced by our latest quarterly results. Jose has been an exceptional partner and friend and he has all of our thanks and support as he becomes a valued strategic advisor to the company," concluded Mr. Doyle.

"We've made great progress over the past few years and I'm very proud of the team we have built at RBI. I've worked closely with Josh for many years and I am looking forward to supporting him through this transition as we work to accelerate our business further," added Jose Cil.

"I am excited to lead the company and work closely with our business Presidents to put our franchisees at the center of our success and accelerate the growth we know our brands are capable of," said Josh Kobza.

About Restaurant Brands International Inc.

Restaurant Brands International Inc. ("RBI") is one of the world's largest quick service restaurant companies with over $35 billion in annual system-wide sales and approximately 30,000 restaurants in more than 100 countries. RBI owns four of the world's most prominent and iconic quick service restaurant brands  TIM HORTONS, BURGER KING, POPEYES, and FIREHOUSE SUBS. These independently operated brands have been serving their respective guests, franchisees and communities for decades. Through its Restaurant Brands for Good framework, RBI is improving sustainable outcomes related to its food, the planet, and people and communities. To learn more about RBI, please visit the company's website at www.rbi.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes forward-looking statements, which are often identified by the words "may," "might," "believes," "thinks," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "intends" or similar expressions and reflect management's expectations regarding future events and operating performance and speak only as of the date hereof. These forward-looking statements include statements about RBI's expectations and belief regarding its ability to accelerate growth; and its expectations and belief regarding its ability to ensure a smooth transition in connection with the new leadership changes. Other than as required under U.S. federal securities laws or Canadian securities laws, RBI undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof.

The factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from RBI's expectations are detailed in filings of RBI with the Securities and Exchange Commission and applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities, such as its annual and quarterly reports and current reports on Form 8-K, and include the following: risks related to unforeseen events such as pandemics; risks related to supply chain; risks related to ownership and leasing of properties; risks related to our franchisees financial stability and their ability to access and maintain the liquidity necessary to operate their business; risks related to our fully franchised business model, including as a result of current and future legislation, regulations and interpretations relating to joint employer status and other labor matters; risks related to RBI's ability to successfully implement its domestic and international growth strategy and risks related to its international operations; risks related to RBI's ability to compete domestically and internationally in an intensely competitive industry; risks related to technology; risks related to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and changes in applicable tax and other laws and regulations or interpretations thereof. Other than as required under U.S. federal securities laws or Canadian securities laws, we do not assume a duty to update these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, subsequent events or circumstances, change in expectations or otherwise.

SOURCE Restaurant Brands International Inc.
ATHENS, Ga., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On Feb. 8, 2023, a jury in the State Court of Clarke County in Athens, Ga. returned an $4.36 million verdict against Athens Heart Center, P.C. and Dr. Subodh Agrawal after a six-day trial focusing on the wrongful death of popular Athens musician and restaurant owner Juan Molina following a routine, elective diagnostic cardiac procedure.

Molina died on August 25, 2017 after undergoing a diagnostic cardiac catheterization at St. Mary's Hospital in Athens, Ga. that resulted in a fatal ventricle perforation. During a left ventricular chamber angiogram, also known as a ventriculogram, Dr. Agrawal tore and perforated Molina's left ventricle wall by inserting a multipurpose catheter into the ventricle wall and injecting radiocontrast into the wall of the heart. Dr. Agrawal failed to recognize the severity and danger of the perforation to Molina's left ventricle wall and failed to take corrective action in light of the perforated ventricle.

The jury determined that Molina's death was due to medical malpractice on the part of Dr. Agrawal. After 16 hours of deliberation, the jury awarded $3.8 million for the value of Molina's life, plus $500,000 for pain and suffering and $60,000 in medical and funeral expenses.

Harris Lowry Manton LLP partner Steve Lowry  who served as the lead trial attorney and co-counsel with James Carter of James E. Carter, LLC  issued the following statement after the jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff:

"Juan Molina was a remarkably talented musician and local business owner who was loved by the Athens community and had a bright future. We were honored to represent Juan's family in this case and to hold Dr. Agrawal responsible for his negligent actions. We sincerely hope that this verdict sends a clear message about the important responsibility physicians have to provide the quality of care required by law to every patient."

A longtime Athens, Ga. resident, Molina was known for playing in popular local bands including Little Tigers, The Squalls, Time Toy and Go Van Go and was also the co-owner of local restaurants Broad Street Coffee and Echo. Molina was born on January 26, 1959 in Havana, Cuba and earned a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Georgia.

ABOUT HARRIS LOWRY MANTON LLP:

Honored by the Georgia Legal Awards as the 2019 Litigation Department of the Year - Small Firm, Harris Lowry Manton LLP is a full-service trial law firm with offices in Atlanta and Savannah. The firm unites three accomplished partners  Jeff Harris, Steve Lowry and Jed Manton  who are known for securing major verdicts and settlements for clients in complex personal injury, product liability and wrongful death cases. Harris Lowry Manton LLP has been recognized by the Daily Report Top Verdicts and Settlements for seven #1 verdicts across seven categories and features attorneys who have been recognized by leading rating associations, bar associations and other organizations as some of the top trial lawyers in the United States. For more information, visit hlmlawfirm.com.

NOTE TO MEDIA: Lead trial attorney Steve Lowry is available for media interviews about the Molina verdict. Please contact Allison Hersh at 912.441.1285 or [email protected] to schedule an interview.

Please click HERE to download photos, a complaint and verdict form.

Media Contact:

Allison Hersh

Capricorn Communications

912.441.1285 | [email protected]

SOURCE Harris Lowry Manton LLP
Feature: Chinese electric cars become new black in Israeli market as new energy vehicle industry thrives

Xinhua) 10:59, February 14, 2023

JERUSALEM, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese electric cars have taken Israel by storm in a short period of time, as according to the latest figures issued by the Israel Vehicle Importers Association, China jumped to Israel's largest supplier of imported passenger cars in January, with 7,753 units sold in the month, up from only 685 last year.

With almost 3,000 units sold in Israel in January, the electric model Atto 3 manufactured by China's BYD Auto, which only began sales in Israel in October 2022, is now the best-selling electric car in the country.

For the entire year of 2022, the Geometry C electric model, manufactured by China's automaker Geely Auto Group, was crowned the best-selling electric vehicle in Israel with 5,381 units sold, ahead of the U.S. Tesla's Model 3, which sold 2,959 units.

According to Israeli experts and importers, advanced technologies, higher availability and better configuration are the three main reasons for the success of Chinese electric vehicles in the Israeli market.

"China is far ahead of Europe and the United States in key core technologies such as pure electric vehicle platforms, fuel cell vehicles, power batteries, and third-generation semiconductors," Ronen Yablon, general manager of Geely Israel, told Xinhua.

Chinese electric vehicles are offered in Israel with almost immediate supply, while other models require a waiting time of at least several months, said Sharon Baider, an Israeli public relations specialist in the automotive field.

"Most Chinese vehicles are significantly more spacious than South Korean or Tesla cars" and have additional luxury equipment, Baider added.

"China is the pioneer in the field and therefore has the biggest experience in manufacturing electric vehicles," said Gilad Dagan, vice president of Strategy and Business Development at the Israeli dealership Samelet which imports the Chinese Wey and Hongqi electric cars.

"China's new energy auto industry is now at the forefront of the world in terms of growth rate, car ownership, and industrial support system. Its performance is remarkable for the whole world," Yablon agreed.

Despite their current leadership in the electric vehicle field, experts suggest Chinese companies further improve their brand recognition in comparison with those that entered the global market much earlier.

On the other hand, as the new energy vehicle industry develops and matures, China's auto industry will face more challenges, such as rising battery costs and electricity prices, as well as fiercer competition from other car brands, Yablon said.

Commenting on the potential trend of the industry, Yablon foresees a new era soon when all cars will be produced with zero emissions, while Dan Hermann, head of the Automotive Engineering Specialty Program at the Afeka Academic College of Engineering, predicts that "something with hydrogen will eventually push the batteries out."

"Batteries have a limited capacity, high-cost, high weight, and vehicles eventually will be limited in range, especially when looking at heavy vehicles that need to go long distances, like trucks," Hermann explained.

"In the future, Chinese auto brands will play a more important role on the global automotive stage and lead the development," Yablon concluded.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 14, ARMENPRESS. The Coordination Council of the Pan-Armenian Forum of Journalists held a session at the head office of the Noyan Tapan news agency.

Participants of the session included ARMENPRESS Director Narine Nazaryan and former Director Aram Ananyan, the President of the Union of Journalists of Armenia and Editor-in-chief of 168 Hours newspaper Satik Seyranyan, the Lebanon-based Aztag newspapers Editor-in-chief Shahan Kandaharian, Zartonk newspapers Editor-in-chief Sevak Hakobyan, President of the Pan-Armenian Media Association Mikayel Hatchean, Azg newspaper founder Hakob Asatryan and Noyan Tapan Director Tigran Harutyunyan.

The media executives and editors underscored the importance of daily coverage of the blockade of Artsakh, particularly foreign language coverage to inform the international community on the developments and to expose Azerbaijans policy of ethnic cleansing.

The participants of the meeting also attached importance to revaluing media cooperation in the present-day conditions and the targeted launch of the media network system. It was decided to restore the in-person meeting format of the council in the post-pandemic period and re-organize the working platforms.

The issue of organizing regional forums was discussed. The first regional forum will take place in Lebanon. The details on the forum covering the Middle East will be published soon. The council will continue holding both in-person and online meetings. The editors of media outlets are encouraged to contact the council to submit proposals.
BEIJING, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Kuke Music Holding Limited ("Kuke" or the "Company") (NYSE: KUKE), a leading classical music service platform in China with 3 million audio and video music tracks, announced that the Company's representing recording catalogue has won the coveted 2023 International Classical Music Awards ("ICMA") in two categories  of Solo Instrument and Video Opera. Kuke's long-term global strategic partner, Naxos, won Label of the Year. In addition, famed pianist Alessandro Marangoni, who has no fewer than 20 recordings on the Naxos label, received this year's Special Achievement Award for his monumental cycle of Gioachino Rossini's complete 14-volume Peches de vieillesse, recorded on 13 albums. These award-winning recordings, via Kuke Music, are currently available to over 800 universities, libraries, institutions and schools in China.

ICMA represents the benchmark for high quality recordings and the recognition of the value of the recording catalogue. Its jury consists of music professionals from the industry's most influential specialist publications and broadcasters, such as Andante, Crescendo, Pizzicato, Scherzo, Deutsche Welle (DW), MDR Klassik, among others. Winners for 2023 were chosen from a total of 391 nominations.

Separately, one of Kuke Music's distribution labels' recordings, won a 2023 Grammy Awards for Best Choral Performance. 7 other recordings from 4 labels in Kuke's extensive catalog have been nominated for 2023's BBC Music Magazine Awards in multiple categories. As award season for classical music gradually unveils, Kuke Music's distributing catalogue shows another promising year.

Mr. He Yu, Chief Executive Officer of Kuke Music Holding Limited, commented, "We congratulate our partners, labels and their artists on what is turning out to be a truly record awards season. We are proud of our team's achievements, as these prestigious awards serve as a further validation of the high quality catalog we have built. As success breeds more success, we will look to leverage the power and instant recognition of these honors for the artists we license as a springboard to further enhance our leadership position and the excellence of our high quality classical music catalog, which ultimately builds value for our company and all shareholders."

About Kuke Music Holding Limited (NYSE: KUKE)

Kuke is a leading classical music service platform in China encompassing the entire value chain from content provision to music learning services, with approximately 3 million audio and video music tracks. By collaborating with its strategic global business partner Naxos, the largest independent classical music content provider in the world, the foundation of Kuke's extensive classical music content library is its unparalleled access to more than 900 top-tier labels and record companies. Leveraging its market leadership in international copyrighted classical music content, Kuke provides highly scalable classical music licensing services to various online music platforms, and classical music subscription services to over 800 universities, libraries and other institutions across China. In addition, it has hosted Beijing Music Festival ("BMF"), the most renowned music festival in China, for 24 consecutive years. Through KUKEY, the Company's proprietary smart music learning solutions, Kuke aims to democratize music learning via technological innovation, bring fascinating music content and professional music techniques to more students, and continuously improve the efficiency and penetration of music learning in China. For more information about Kuke, please visit https://ir.kuke.com/

Forward-looking Statements

This announcement contains forward looking statements. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "aims," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "confident," "potential," "continue" or other similar expressions. Statements that are not historical facts, including but not limited to statements about Kuke's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including those in Kuke's registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in Kuke's filings with the SEC. All information provided in this press release is as of the date of this press release, and Kuke undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law.

SOURCE Kuke Music Holding Limited
The acquisition of Novonate's flagship product, LifeBubble, grows Laborie's Obstetrics, Gynecology and Neonatal portfolio.

PORTSMOUTH, N.H., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading diagnostic and therapeutic medical technology company, Laborie Medical Technologies Corp. (Laborie), announced that it has acquired Novonate, Inc. (Novonate) and its LifeBubble technology, a device that revolutionizes umbilical catheter protection and securement to improve safety for neonates in the intensive care setting.

Founded in 2017, Novonate is a medical device company based in South San Francisco, CA. The company developed LifeBubble after seeing an unserved need in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Each year in the U.S., more than 200,000 babies require umbilical cord catheters to receive nutrients and medicine1. Typically, umbilical catheters are held in place with tape and adhesive, a method that increases the risk of complications and infections. The LifeBubble umbilical catheter securement system offers a safe, innovative, and user-friendly method that allows for easy positioning and removal while protecting the insertion site.

LifeBubble is designed to more effectively secure & protect umbilical catheters, improving health outcomes for newborns. Tweet this

"At Laborie, we believe that great healthcare is an essential safeguard of human dignity and we are focused on improving the standard of care for patients. LifeBubble is the first product in the world designed to more effectively secure and protect umbilical catheters, improving health outcomes for newborns," said Nikki Bruce, Vice President and General Manager of Laborie's OB Business Unit. "We are pleased to add the technology to our Obstetrics, Gynecology and Neonatal portfolio."

"We designed this product to tackle an unmet need and benefit one of the most vulnerable patient populations. I'm incredibly proud of our team for their passion and dedication for pushing forward to bring LifeBubble from conception to market," said Novonate CEO Eric Chehab, "Laborie's mission is well aligned with our goals of advancing the standard of care for neonates in intensive care."

"We are excited to support Laborie's long-term growth and deliver on our shared commitment to provide innovative solutions that improve clinical outcomes for mothers and babies around the world with the acquisition of Novonate and the LifeBubble," said Yuriy Prilutskiy, Head of Patricia Industries North America.

About Laborie Medical Technologies

Headquartered in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Laborie is a global medical technology company focused on Urology, Urogynecology, Gastroenterology, Obstetrics, Gynecology & Neonatal Health. We manufacture and deliver high-quality, high-impact diagnostic and therapeutic products that help clinicians and hospitals preserve and restore patient dignity.

Clinicians and hospitals look to us as the market-leading experts in our business segments, and we support our products with a world-class Clinical Education & Information program. For more information visit www.laborie.com.

Laborie is owned by Patricia Industries, a part of Investor AB.

About Patricia Industries

Patricia Industries is a long-term owner that invests in companies and works to develop each company to its full potential. Patricia Industries is a part of the industrial holding company Investor AB, whose main owners are the Wallenberg foundations.

About Investor AB

Investor, founded by the Wallenberg family in 1916, is an engaged owner of high-quality, global companies. We have a long-term investment perspective. Through board participation, as well as industrial experience, our network and financial strength, we work continuously to support our companies to remain or become best-in-class.

1. https://engineering.stanford.edu/news/solving-big-problem-among-some-littlest-patients

SOURCE Laborie Medical Technologies
CHICAGO, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Lateral Flow Assays industry is expected to grow significantly in the near future due to the increasing demand for rapid, portable, and easy-to-use diagnostic tests. Lateral flow assays have already proven to be valuable in a variety of applications, including medical diagnostics, food safety testing, environmental monitoring, and drug testing, among others. Advances in technology and the development of new and more sensitive detection methods are likely to further improve the performance and accuracy of lateral flow assays, making them even more versatile and useful in the years to come.

Lateral Flow Assays Market in terms of revenue was estimated to be worth $20.5 billion in 2022 and is poised to reach $22.6 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 2.0% from 2022 to 2027 according to a new report by MarketsandMarkets. The increasing demand of lateral flow assays due to increase in prevalence of infectious disease, increasing number of geriatric populations in many countries, and rising use of home-based lateral flow assay devices are the major factors driving the growth of this market. On the other hand, reluctance among doctors and patients to change existing diagnostic procedures and the low accuracy of lateral flow assays are the key restraints.

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Browse in-depth TOC on "Lateral Flow Assays Market"

366 - Tables

58 - Figures

374 - Pages

Lateral Flow Assays Market Scope:

Report Coverage Details Market Revenue in 2022 $20.5 billion Estimated Value by 2027 $22.6 billion Growth Rate Poised to grow at a CAGR of 2.0% Market Size Available for 20202027 Forecast Period 20222027 Forecast Units Value (USD Billion) Report Coverage Revenue Forecast, Competitive Landscape, Growth Factors, and Trends Segments Covered By Product type, Application type, Technique type, Sample type, End User and Region Geographies Covered North America

US



Canada

Europe

Germany



France



UK



Italy



Spain



Rest of Europe

Asia Pacific

Japan



China



India



Australia



Rest of APAC

Latin America

Brazil



Mexico



Rest of LATAM



Middle East and Africa Report Highlights Updated financial information / product portfolio of players Key Market Opportunities Omicron, new variant of concern, offers growth opportunities for players in lateral flow assays market Key Market Drivers Growing demand for point-of care testing

In this report, the lateral flow assays market is segmented on the basis of product type, application type, technique type, sample type, end user, and region.

"Lateral Flow Readers segment is expected to witness the fastest growth during the forecast period"

Based on product type, the lateral flow assays market is segmented into kits & reagents and lateral flow readers. During the forecast period, this segment is expected to witness the fastest growth during the forecast period. The factors responsible for the growth of this segment are increasing demand of quantitative analysis of clinical sample.

"Veterinary Diagnostics segment accounted for the second largest share of lateral flow assays market in 2021"

Based on applications, the lateral flow assays market is segmented into clinical testing, veterinary diagnostics, food safety & environmental testing, and drug development & quality testing. The veterinary diagnostics segment accounted for the second largest share of the lateral flow assays market in 2021. The possibility of infectious disease outbreaks (particularly in large livestock animals) is driving the demand for lateral flow tests due to their simplicity and rapidity compared to conventional detection methods.

"Multiplex Detection Assays technique is expected to witness the fastest growth during the forecast period"

Based on technique, the lateral flow assay kits & reagents market is segmented into competitive assays, sandwich assays, and multiplex detection assays. The multiplex detection assays technique is expected to witness the fastest growth during the forecast period. The widening scope, applications, and research on multiplex detection assays are expected to boost the growth of this segment in the forecast period.

The lateral flow assays market is segmented into five regions namely North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. Asia-Pacific is the second largest region along with fastest growing region of lateral flow assays market owing to major investments in rapid testing in this region.

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Lateral Flow Assays Market Dynamics:

Drivers:

High prevalence of infectious diseases across the globe Rapidly increasing geriatric population Growing usage of home-based lateral flow assay devices Growing demand for point-of-care testing Need for rapid diagnostic testing for COVID-19

Restraints:

Inconsistent results of lateral flow assay tests

Opportunities:

Evolving applications of lateral flow assays Rising demand for lateral flow assays in the food & beverage industry

a. Omicron  The new variant of concern is an opportunity for the lateral flow assays market

b . Government initiatives for omicron

c . Initiatives of Medical diagnostic companies for omicron

Challenges:

Limited reimbursements for lateral flow assay products Difficulties in procuring quality raw materials for the development of lateral flow assay tests

Key Market Players:

The prominent players in the global lateral flow assays market include Abbott Laboratories (US), Quidel Corporation (US), F. Hoffman-La Roche AG (Switzerland), Danaher Corporation (US), Siemens AG (Germany), BD (US), bioMerieux SA (France), Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. (US), PerkinElmer Inc. (US), Hologic Inc. (US), QIAGEN N.V. (Netherlands), and Merck KGaA (Germany).

Recent Developments:

In October 2022 , F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. ( Switzerland ) a next-generation portfolio of SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen test 2.01, SARS-CoV-2 Rapid Antigen Test 2.0 Nasal2, and SARS-CoV-2 Rapid Antigen Test 2.0 Nasal3

, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. ( ) a next-generation portfolio of SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen test 2.01, SARS-CoV-2 Rapid Antigen Test 2.0 Nasal2, and SARS-CoV-2 Rapid Antigen Test 2.0 Nasal3 In June 2021 , Abbott Laboratories (US) received the CE approval for PanBio Rapid Antigen Self-test, opening access throughout Europe to fast, reliable COVID-19 testing

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Lateral Flow Assays Market - Report Highlights:

Refinements in the segments of the lateral flow assays market

The current edition of the report consists of an updated market overview. Additional points in the market overview have been added, keeping in mind the impact of COVID-19 on the overall lateral flow assays market and economic recession impact on lateral flow assays market. Also impact of economic recession on regional market size has been considered in this edition.

Coverage of new market players in the lateral flow assays market

The new edition of the report includes profiles for Oranoxis Inc. (US), AESKU. Diagnostics Gmbh (Germany), Bio Group Medical System (Italy), Pharmact Gmbh (Germany), DIESSE Diagnostica Senese S.P.A (Italy), and Xiamen Biotime Biotechnology Co., Ltd (China).

Updated financial information/product portfolio of players

The new edition of the report provides updated financial information until 2021 for each listed company in a graphical representation as a single diagram (instead of multiple tables). This will easily help analyze the present status of profiled companies in terms of their financial strength, profitability, key revenue-generating country/region, business segment focus in terms of the highest revenue-generating segment, and R&D investments.

Updated market developments of profiled players

Recent developments are important to understand market trends and the growth strategies adopted by players. The current edition of this report provides updated developments of profiled players from January 2019 to December 2022, indicating a continuation from the previous version. Product/services launches, approvals, and upgrades, expansions, acquisitions, agreements, partnerships, and collaborations were the principal growth strategies adopted by market players in this period.

Browse Adjacent Market: Medical Devices Market Research Reports & Consulting

Related Reports:

Veterinary Diagnostics Market - Global Forecasts to 2027

Companion Animal Diagnostics Market - Global Forecasts to 2027

Immunoassay Market - Global Forecasts to 2027

Veterinary Infectious Disease Diagnostics Market - Global Forecasts to 2026

Over The Counter Test Market - Global Forecasts to 2024

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Privately Owned Home Care Agency Hires Industry Veterans

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Local home care organization Legacy Homecare LA has added four seasoned professionals to its team of elder care experts: Kurt Davis, Director of Business Development; Kierra Landon, Registered Nurse Associate; Alyssa Silberman, Director of Community Outreach; and Sarah Brodbeck, Client Care Coordinator. With this expansion, the leadership of Legacy Homecare LA demonstrates the company's commitment to the acquisition of proven talent in the home care field.

"We are investing in seasoned professionals that understand concierge homecare delivery and the Southern California market," said Founder and CEO Jason J. Kidushim. "This will enable us to provide an even greater customer and employee experience fueled by our person-centered approach. By adding these key pillars to the existing team, we will have the time to give every family the attention they deserve."

Alyssa Silberman, Director of Community Outreach

After working alongside Jason Kidushim for seven years in various operational and business development roles at Alliance Homecare Inc., a leading private pay home care agency in New York City, Alyssa Silberman now joins Legacy Homecare LA as the Director of Community Outreach. Over the years, Silberman has spoken with hundreds of families, helping them to navigate the confusing and challenging process of establishing home care for a loved one.

In 2021, Silberman served as Alliance's leading business development representative, achieving a personal goal of generating close to $5 million in revenue for her team, and setting up care for over 50 families that year. With her business development and marketing background, Silberman has expressed her excitement about joining a team focused on culture and core values.

"It truly takes a village to provide the best care to clients and their families while also supporting and educating caregivers," said Silberman. "Alongside my team, I'm ready to make a difference in the lives of many families and caregivers in LA County and beyond."

Kurt Davis, Director of Business Development

In his new role as Director of Business Development, Kurt Davis brings eight years of home care operations and business development experience to Legacy Homecare LA. He started his home care journey as the fifth employee of 123 Homecare in 2015. Three years later, Davis's contributions drew a commendation from Inc. Magazine, which named 123 Homecare America's 294th fastest-growing company. This rapid expansion led to the company's 2021 acquisition.

After working with the new parent company for over a year, Davis met Jason Kidushim and decided to join the Legacy Homecare LA team. Kidushim and Davis align on their guiding principles, which center around providing high-quality care, excellent client communication, first-class treatment of caregivers, and a company culture of fun and caring individuals.

"I always wanted a profession where I got to help people every day. I found that in home care," said Davis. "After meeting Jason, it was easy to see that he thought about the industry and how to really contribute to the lives of seniors the same way I do. I am proud to be a part of this incredible team and look forward to helping our clients have better and more fulfilling lives, as well as helping our caregivers have better and more fulfilling careers."

Kierra Landon, Registered Nurse Associate

Kierra Landon has joined the Legacy Homecare LA team as a Registered Nurse Associate, bringing seven years of healthcare and customer service experience. Landon worked as an Emergency Medical Technician in Oregon before transitioning into the role of Patient Care Coordinator at a dual diagnosis rehabilitation center in Malibu. She then obtained her Registered Nurse certification and began working in home care. Landon traveled to patients' homes for Sameday Health and provided care within a hospital setting.

Her skill sets in direct patient care and customer service aligned with Legacy Homecare LA's mission. Like other members of the team, she seeks to foster a personal connection, empathetic care, and a quality work environment for caregivers.

"I have loved working with the wide variety of patients one has the privilege of meeting in the healthcare field. I have especially developed a fondness towards the geriatric community. I appreciate the opportunity to alleviate some of the stressors associated with aging," Landon stated. "I look forward to working directly with this population with Legacy Homecare LA and contributing towards our mission to provide exceptional home care."

Sarah Brodbeck, Client Care Coordinator

Sarah Brodbeck has joined the Legacy Homecare LA team as a Client Care Coordinator. With two years of experience, she started her home care career at 123 Homecare. Brodbeck quickly moved through the ranks, rising from Case Manager into a supervisory role. During this time, she collaborated closely with the agency's operations and business development teams. Her work facilitated 123 Homecare's transition after it was acquired. After working with the parent company for almost a year, she decided to become a part of the Legacy team.

Brodbeck's passion for older adults and home care comes from helping her grandfather source and maintain caregiving services. She loves being able to help seniors and their families do the same. Her core values align with Legacy's, and she prioritizes excellent treatment of caregivers, compassionate communication with clients, and working with an empathetic and passionate team.

"When I was a teenager, I watched my mother and her siblings navigate the process of finding homecare services for my grandfather. He was determined to stay in his home. I know the frustration and exhaustion that comes along with the struggle of caring for an aging loved one. My mission is to find caregivers to assist our clients  people I would trust to assist my own family. I am excited to serve as a go-to resource for both clients and caregivers."

About Legacy Homecare LA

Legacy Homecare LA is a fully licensed, bonded, and insured home care organization serving LA County. With an emphasis on person-centered care, the company helps clients to engage in meaningful activities, connect in the moment, feel supported, and develop strong relationships. By prioritizing industry-leading pay and training, Legacy Homecare LA delivers unparalleled care from the beach to the hills. To learn more, visit legacyhomecarela.com. To enroll a loved one, call 310-463-6641.

Media contact:

Alyssa Silberman

[email protected]

3104636641

SOURCE Legacy Homecare LA
Evidence Did Not Sway Loudoun's Board of Zoning Appeals from Upholding a "By-Right" Permit for the First of Three Private Equity Owned Rehab Facilities

LEESBURG, Va., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Loudoun County Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) voted 3 to 2 to uphold a "group home" permit for Newport Academy/Institute, a luxury rehab chain that recently acquired three adjacent homes near Leesburg after not being permitted to operate out of three adjacent homes in McLean, VA.

In 2019, Fairfax County Zoning deemed Newport's operation across three McLean homes to be a united, congregate facility, not State and Federally protected separate group homes. In Loudoun, Newport is pursuing group home permits for each house in a gated subdivision, in an AR-1 zone, where congregate use is prohibited. Meanwhile, area residents cited job listings, marketing, and statements from Newport's own executives as reflecting congregate campus use.

Residents say they established the non-profit, Protect Loudoun, to organize after officials seemed more concerned with not admitting mistakes than upholding laws that protect AR-1 zones. Twenty Protect Loudoun supporters spoke at the January 26, 2023, hearing, with several showing that two of Newport's homes share a single state license, against Loudoun's zoning's requirements for a group home permit.

"I'm shocked at the deception accepted by Loudoun officials", said neighbor Hilary Kozikowski, "Newport's COO, Jameson Norton, detailed how the homes would share staff and work together, a united campus that their job listings also describe."

Addie Palmer's focus was on her 2 and 4 year-old granddaughters living next door in light of Newport's change of clientele from adolescents to adults, saying, "We never imagined a $47 billion dollar company would try to take over our neighborhood to use as a rehab campus", and, "Newport's promises to not treat sexual addiction and substance abuse mean nothing to us."

Neighbors say county staff have been accommodating to Tennessee-based Newport, primarily owned by Canadian private equity firm ONEX, while treating residents differently. "When the County Attorney wouldn't confirm that we have standing, despite being there when a Circuit Court Judge said we did, I knew where the night was going", said Cheryl Wright.

"Loudoun seems indifferent that commercial use of residential septic systems could easily jeopardize our wells and the Goose Creek watershed", said Larry Thomas, adding, "There are 26 zones where Newport can safely operate the campus they want, they chose one where their intended use is completely prohibited."

The community will resume Circuit Court hearings on April 11, 2023, seeking an assessment of the issue. Court proceedings began after dismissal at an initial BZA hearing in April 2022, but were paused when Loudoun insisted a second BZA was required to exhaust administrative processes. As legal fees exceed $100k, residents continue to raise funds and bring awareness to a precedent being set across the county.

Protect Loudoun Media Contact is Lynne Wright, [email protected] and 561-325-9459. Click HERE to watch the BZA hearing. News coverage from Fairfax County in 2019 can be seen HERE.

SOURCE Protect Loudoun
NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Klein Law Firm announces that a class action complaint has been filed on behalf of shareholders of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) alleging that the Company violated federal securities laws.

Class Period: June 13, 2020 to December 31, 2022

Lead Plaintiff Deadline: March 13, 2023

No obligation or cost to you.

Learn more about your recoverable losses in LUV:

https://www.kleinstocklaw.com/pslra-1/southwest-airlines-class-action-submission-form?id=36485&from=4

Southwest Airlines Co. NEWS - LUV NEWS

CLASS ACTION CASE DETAILS: The filed complaint alleges that Southwest Airlines Co. made materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Southwest continuously downplayed or ignored the serious issues with the technology it used to schedule flights and crews and how the Company stood to be affected worse than other airlines in the event of inclement weather; and (2) the Company did not discuss how its unique point-to point service and aggressive flight schedule could leave it prone in the event of inclement weather; and (3) as a result, defendants' statements about Southwest's business, operations, and prospects were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO YOU AS A SHAREHOLDER: If you have suffered a loss in Southwest you have until March 13, 2023 to petition the court for lead plaintiff status. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.

NO COST TO YOU: If you purchased Southwest securities during the relevant period, you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out-of-pocket fees.

HOW TO PROTECT YOUR FINANCIAL INTERESTS: For additional information about the LUV lawsuit, please contact J. Klein, Esq. by telephone at 212-616-4899 or click this link: https://www.kleinstocklaw.com/pslra-1/southwest-airlines-class-action-submission-form?id=36485&from=4.

ABOUT KLEIN LAW FIRM

J. Klein, Esq. represents investors and participates in securities litigations involving financial fraud throughout the nation. The Klein Law Firm is a boutique litigation firm with experience in a wide range of areas including securities law, corporate finance and commercial litigation. Since 2011, our experienced attorneys have achieved superior results for our clients with a personalized focus. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

CONTACT:

J. Klein, Esq.

535 Fifth Avenue

4th Floor

New York City, NY 10017

[email protected]

Telephone: (212) 616-4899

www.kleinstocklaw.com

SOURCE The Klein Law Firm
MacDonald-Miller Facility Solutions commits to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2040 or sooner

SEATTLE, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, MacDonald-Miller Facility Solutions announced its commitment to The Climate Pledge. As a design-build mechanical contractor, MacDonald-Miller has been an environmental steward for decades, designing mechanical systems that are energy efficient for developers and building owners. Signing The Climate Pledge aligns the company's external business goals with its internal goals and values.

Co-founded by Amazon and Global Optimism in 2019, The Climate Pledge is a commitment by companies to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2040a decade ahead of The Paris Agreement's goal of 2050.

As signatory to The Climate Pledge, MacDonald-Miller agrees to:

Measure and report greenhouse gas emissions on a regular basis.

Implement decarbonization strategies in line with The Paris Agreement through real business changes and innovations, including efficiency improvements, renewable energy, materials reductions, and other carbon emission elimination strategies.

Neutralize any remaining emissions with additional, quantifiable, real, permanent, and socially-beneficial offsets to achieve net-zero annual carbon emissions by 2040.

MacDonald-Miller will continue to expand its existing sustainability programs and initiatives, in support of its commitment to achieving net-zero carbon emissions. Stormwater solutions have been successfully in place at MacDonald-Miller's prefabrication shop in Seattle for more than a decade. The company regularly monitors its own energy use and is planning to replace gas-powered vehicles in its fleet with electric vehicles wherever feasible, with an eye on other sources of energy for vehicle propulsion, such as hydrogen. The company uses LEAN principles throughout the organization, a methodology to remove waste by eliminating non-value-added process steps in everyday operations.

"We've been doing this work already and are encouraged that our partners and clients want to meet these goals too," said Marisa Zylkowski, MacDonald-Miller sustainable design manager.

Zylkowski, who is expecting her second child, takes the work personally. The effort doesn't just involve buildings, it impacts future generations. "We need to remember the human side of this work. A strong principle of MacDonald-Miller is getting people home safely to their families and building community. It's a collective effort throughout our company to band together to think about the places we're building now and in the future," she said. "2040 seems very far away, but it's when my child will graduate from high school. We have less than one generation to figure this out and get it right."

Reagan Perry, MacDonald-Miller's President of Construction, said the company is proud to join The Climate Pledge to reinforce its commitment to sustainability and to join a community that will share knowledge, ideas, and best practices. "Together, we can take collective action to achieve net-zero objectives by 2040 and save the planet for future generations," he said.

About MacDonald-Miller Facility Solutions

MacDonald-Miller's passion for making buildings work better has never wavered. As the Pacific Northwest's premier design-build mechanical contractor they approach sustainability as a holistic offering of services from design and install of geothermal central utility plants to retrofitting and servicing equipment like boilers and chillers. The firm recently signed the MEP 2040 Challenge in addition to The Climate Pledge. With state-led legislation like the Washington Clean Building Act, MacDonald-Miller is uniquely qualified to do what it's been doing all along - saving the planet one building at a time. www.macmiller.com/sustainability

About The Climate Pledge

In 2019, Amazon and Global Optimism co-founded The Climate Pledge, a commitment to reach The Paris Agreement goals 10 years early and be net-zero carbon by 2040. Already, 399 organizations have signed The Climate Pledge, sending an important signal that there will be rapid growth in demand for products and services that help reduce carbon emissions. For more information visit www.theclimatepledge.com .

CONTACT:

Cynthia Flash

MacDonald-Miller

425-603-9520

[email protected]

SOURCE MacDonald-Miller
Matterhorn Strategic Advisors chosen as the exclusive financial advisor for transaction by leading independent oncology practice in the San Francisco Bay area

SAN DIEGO, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Matterhorn Strategic Advisors, LLC ("Matterhorn"), a healthcare-focused strategic advisory and investment banking firm, served as the exclusive financial advisor to Epic Care ("Epic" or the "Company"), the leading independent oncology practice in the San Francisco Bay Area, on its strategic partnership with The U.S. Oncology Network, McKesson.

Epic Care is one of the largest community oncology practices in the U.S., offering evidence-based cancer care through more than 50 physicians and advanced practice providers in 21 clinic locations in Contra Costa and Alameda counties. The Company brings comprehensive, integrated cancer care into community settings, including transfusions and other care delivery models traditionally associated with the most advanced tertiary care settings.

In 2021, Epic sought a financial advisor to advise on market dynamics for physician practices and long-term sustainability and growth options. The Company selected Matterhorn due to its domain expertise in healthcare services and track record of maximizing valuation and optimizing transaction terms. Together, Epic Care and Matterhorn evaluated the Company's ability to continue providing high-quality care and services to the community, and Matterhorn was subsequently tasked with exploring the option of a strategic partnership to address the Company's challenges. In January 2023, Epic Care completed a strategic partnership with McKesson, with Matterhorn leading the assessment of strategic options, marketing, and sale process.

"Matterhorn provided critical guidance throughout the merger and acquisition process," said Bimal Patel, M.D., who formerly served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Epic Care. "Nate and Tom had our interests at heart and were instrumental in leading us through the M&A process and provided high-touch support and expertise during an instrumental period in our history. Today, our organization is well-positioned to continue meeting its goal of being the community oncology provider of choice.

"In the end, this was a great outcome for Epic Care, The U.S. Oncology Network, and the community," added Matterhorn's Tom Blankenship. "Epic Care secured a strategic and capital partner allowing the Company to enhance its service offerings, footprint, and financial profile."

About Matterhorn Strategic Advisors

Matterhorn Strategic Advisors (MSA), founded by Tom Blankenship and Nathan Kaufman, is a leading independent investment bank that provides innovative strategic advice and solutions to a diverse set of healthcare corporations, not-for-profits, and financial sponsors. Matterhorn's experienced professionals advise clients on their most critical decisions, including mergers and acquisitions, capital markets transactions, and other corporate finance matters.

About Epic Care

Founded in the 1990's, Epic Care started as a group of board-certified hematologists and oncologists based in Northern California's East Bay area. Since its founding, it has grown into a large multi-specialty group, that includes surgery, endocrinology, infectious disease, internal medicine and primary care.

About The US Oncology Network

Every day, The US Oncology Network (The Network) helps approximately 1,400 independent physicians deliver value-based, integrated care to patients  close to home. Through The Network, these independent doctors come together to form a community of shared expertise and resources dedicated to advancing local cancer care and to delivering better patient outcomes. The Network provides practices with access to coordinated resources, best business practices, and the experience, infrastructure, and support of McKesson Corporation. This collaboration allows the providers in The Network to focus on the health of their patients, while McKesson focuses on the health of their practices. The Network is committed to the success of independent practices, everywhere.

Contact: Tom Blankenship

Matterhorn Strategic Advisors

[email protected]

(310) 917-1039

SOURCE Matterhorn Strategic Advisors, LLC
Grant part of nonprofit's OutSmarting Osteosarcoma Program to Move Rare Bone Cancer Research Forward

DENVER, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- MIB Agents, a leading pediatric osteosarcoma nonprofit dedicated to Making It Better for its community of patients, caregivers, doctors, and researchers, recently presented $100,000 each to Michael Leibowitz, MD, PhD from the University of Colorado Cancer Center and Dr. Daniel Regan, DVM, PhD, DACVP from the Flint Animal Cancer Center at Colorado State University, totaling $200,000 in research funds to move rare bone cancer research forward. Christina Ip-Toma, MIB Agents' Director of Scientific Programs, presented the award to Dr. Leibowitz on February 8 and Dr. Regan on February 9.

MIB Agents Presenting Dr. Michael Leibowitz with a $100,000 OutSmarting Osteosarcoma Research Grant MIB Agents Presenting Dr. Dan Regan with a $100,000 OutSmarting Osteosarcoma Research Grant

The grant is part of MIB Agents' annual OutSmarting Osteosarcoma research grants program . Established in 2017, this grant is awarded to a project focused on moving research forward for osteosarcoma patients. Osteosarcoma is an aggressive, malignant primary bone cancer affecting between 800-900 people in the U.S. each year and is the most common bone cancer affecting children and young adults.

"We presented these grants to Dr. Leibowitz and Dr. Regan to support their great work in researching new treatments for osteosarcoma," said Ann Graham, Founder and Executive Director of MIB Agents. "Sadly, it has been 40 years since a new treatment has come to market, but, through programs like OutSmarting Osteosarcoma, we aim to give patients and their families hope for better treatment options."

MIB Agents OutSmarting Osteosarcoma grants are supported by MIB Agents Family Funds, a group comprised of osteosarcoma patients and families who raise funds in honor of an OsteoWarrior, a patient currently battling osteosarcoma or an OsteoAngel, a loved one who has passed.

Collaboration among the scientific and patient community is a key hallmark of MIB Agents that makes the OutSmarting Osteosarcoma grant process unique. Not only does the patient community partner to fund this grant every year, but they have an active voice in the grant review process.

To learn more, please visit www.mibagents.org .

About MIB Agents

Founded in 2012, MIB Agents is a leading pediatric osteosarcoma nonprofit dedicated to making it better for our community of patients, caregivers, doctors, and researchers through programs, education, and research.

Media Contact:

Kelly Maicon

[email protected]

919.741.9784

SOURCE MIB Agents
NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - REX Shares, LLC ("REX") today announced the launch of two new MicroSectors Exchange Traded Notes ("ETNs") issued by Bank of Montreal ("BMO"), linked to the Solactive MicroSectors Energy Index. MicroSectors Energy 3x Leveraged ETNs (ticker: WTIU ) and MicroSectors Energy -3x Inverse Leveraged ETNs (ticker: WTID ) will start trading tomorrow on NYSE Arca.

The Solactive MicroSectors Energy Index, launched in January 2023, tracks the performance of 12 highly liquid, U.S. stocks from the energy and oil sector. As of the date of this release, Chevron Corp (CVX), Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM), Occidental Petroleum Corp (OXY), ConocoPhillips (COP), and Devon Energy Corp (DVN) were the five largest common stocks in the Index.

REX, a provider of alternative investment products, continues to see strong demand for hedging and trading tools based on specific segments of the market, such as equity securities of companies in the energy and oil sector.

"We are excited to expand on our existing energy related offerings with a new pair of leveraged and inverse leveraged exchange-traded notes," said Scott Acheychek, CEO of REX.

"The energy ETNs will provide investors with exposure to 12 highly liquid companies that are at the forefront of global energy trends," Acheychek added. "Since founding MicroSectors in 2018, we have been dedicated to innovating the ETP landscape by offering unique exposures to popular investable market segments. We believe the addition of these ETNs to the product lineup furthers this objective."

About REX Shares

Founded in 2015, REX Shares ("REX") is an independent provider of ETPs based in Miami, Florida. As ETP architects, the REX team creates investment vehicles that solve for a range of specific challenges in investor portfolios. The firm is rooted in decades of structuring and building inventive exchange-traded product solutions.

For more information, please visit www.rexshares.com or www.microsectors.com .

Twitter: @REXShares and @MSectors

About BMO Financial Group

Serving customers for 200 years and counting, BMO is a highly diversified financial services provider - the 8th largest bank, by assets, in North America. With total assets of $1.14 trillion as of October 31, 2022, and a team of diverse and highly engaged employees, BMO provides a broad range of personal and commercial banking, wealth management and investment banking products and services to 12 million customers and conducts business through three operating groups: Personal and Commercial Banking, BMO Wealth Management and BMO Capital Markets.

The ETNs are senior, unsecured obligations of BMO.

Investment suitability must be determined individually for each investor, and the ETNs may not be suitable for all investors. This information is not intended to provide and should not be relied upon as providing accounting, legal, regulatory or tax advice. Investors should consult with their own financial advisors as to these matters.

The ETNs are intended to be daily trading tools for sophisticated investors to manage daily trading risks as part of an overall diversified portfolio. They are designed to achieve their stated investment objectives on a daily basis. The returns on the ETNs over longer periods of time can, and most likely will, differ significantly from the return on a direct long or short investment in the index.

BMO, the issuer of the ETNs, has filed a registration statement (including a pricing supplement, a product supplement, a prospectus supplement and a prospectus) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") about each of the offerings to which this press release relates. Please read those documents and the other documents relating to these offerings BMO has filed with the SEC for more complete information about BMO and these offerings. These documents may be obtained without cost by visiting EDGAR on the SEC website at www.sec.gov . Alternatively, Bank of Montreal, any agent or any dealer participating in these offerings will arrange to send the applicable pricing supplement, product supplement, prospectus supplement and prospectus if you so request by calling toll-free at 1-877-369-5412.

Solactive AG ("Solactive") is the licensor of the Index. The notes are not sponsored, endorsed, promoted or sold by Solactive in any way, and Solactive makes no express or implied representation, guarantee or assurance with regard to: (a) the advisability in investing in the notes; (b) the quality, accuracy and/or completeness of the Index; and/or (c) the results obtained or to be obtained by any person or entity from the use of the Index. Solactive does not guarantee the accuracy and/or the completeness of the Index and shall not have any liability for any errors or omissions with respect thereto. Notwithstanding Solactive's obligations to its licensees, Solactive reserves the right to change the methods of calculation or publication of the Index, and Solactive shall not be liable for any miscalculation of or any incorrect, delayed or interrupted publication with respect to the Index. Solactive shall not be liable for any damages, including, without limitation, any loss of profits or business, or any special, incidental, punitive, indirect or consequential damages suffered or incurred as a result of the use (or inability to use) of the Index.

MicroSectors and REX are registered trademarks of REX. The trademarks have been licensed for use for certain purposes by Bank of Montreal. The ETNs are not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by REX or any of its affiliates or third-party licensors (collectively, "REX Index Parties"). REX Index Parties make no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of the ETNs or any member of the public regarding the advisability of investing in securities generally or in the ETNs particularly or the ability of the Index to track general market performance. REX Index Parties' only relationship to Bank of Montreal with respect to the Index is the licensing of the Index and certain trademarks, service marks and/or trade names of REX Index Parties. REX Index Parties are not responsible for and have not participated in the determination of the prices, and amount of the ETNs or the timing of the issuance or sale of the ETNs or in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the ETNs are to be converted into cash. REX Index Parties have no obligation or liability in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the ETNs. Inclusion of a security within an index is not a recommendation by REX Index Parties to buy, sell, or hold such security, nor is it considered to be investment advice.

SOURCE BMO Financial Group
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. Foreign Minister of the Netherlands Wobke Hoekstra has said that the blockage of Lachin corridor will lead to a humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Dutch foreign minister made the statement in response to questions by MPs Agnes Mulder and Don Ceder, the Federation of Armenian Organizations in the Netherlands (FAON) reported.

He said that the government of Netherlands is also looking at what further options there are at a European level to persuade the Azerbaijani authorities to end the blockade.

The Federation of Armenian Organizations in the Netherlands (FAON) thanks the MPs Agnes Mulder and Don Ceder for their questions to Foreign Minister Wobke Hoekstra on Azerbaijani illegal blockade of Lachin corridor and informs that in response to the questions the Dutch Foreign Minister agrees that the blockage of Lachin corridor will lead to a humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh.

In his letter to the Parliament of 10 February 2023 Minister Hoekstra says that the Netherlands supplies humanitarian aid to Nagorno Karabakh through the EU with the support of ICRC, as only ICRC has access via Lachin Corridor to Nagorno Karabakh.

The Minister writes that The Netherlands has called on the Azerbaijani authorities in various talks and statements to comply with the provisions of the trilateral agreement.

On January 19, 2023, I spoke on the phone with the Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers. During the telephone conversation with my Azerbaijani counterpart, I conveyed my concerns about the humanitarian situation and asked the Azerbaijani side to ensure free movement. On the same day, the Prime Minister delivered the same message to Azerbaijani President Aliyev in the margins of the World Economic Forum, says the Minister.

The Minister adds that in accordance with the motion by Ceder and Mulder, the cabinet is also looking at what further options there are at a European level to persuade the Azerbaijani authorities to end the blockade," FAON said in a press release.
Programs Are Part Of A 2023 Virtual Catalog Expansion

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Miller-Motte College (MMC) has debuted online Bachelor of Science Degrees in IT Management and Healthcare Management to potential students across the country. According to a U.S. and World News report, Information Technology Managers rank #3 in Best Technology Jobs, have the lowest unemployment rates, and have above average upward mobility. And with cybersecurity threats on the rise, businesses are reexamining security measures, meaning IT management and services occupations will continue to thrive over the next several years with a predicted growth of 16% nationally.

The IT Management Bachelor of Science program helps prepare graduates for planning, coordinating, and directing computer-related activities in an organization. Students can learn about the role of IT managers, how to assist in determining the information technology goals of a business, and how to properly implement the appropriate computer systems to achieve those goals. Students who graduate from the program can apply for roles such as help desk analysts or managers, IT project managers, computer system analysts, network technicians, or network managers.

The Healthcare Management Bachelor of Science program helps prepare graduates to organize and oversee medical information and healthcare staff in medical practices, nursing homes, and hospitals. It also helps prepare graduates for entry-level employment as medical and health service managers who work with technology that integrates electronic health records across areas of the healthcare industry.

In a separate report by U.S. and World News for Top Best Business Jobs, Medical and Health Services Manager earned a #1 placement. The role was evaluated based on Salary, Job Market, Stress-level, Work-Life Balance, and Future Growth, which is currently projected to grow at 28% nationally. The need for healthcare managers stems from the birth of more group practices and a retiring workforce, according to the report .

"Earning a Bachelor of Science degree is a stepping stone for graduates who crave upward mobility," said Andrea Snow, SVP of Academics & Career Services at Ancora , parent company to Miller-Motte College. "Focusing on career pathways that help to meet employer demand at a national level, we've developed thoughtful and cohesive courses that support the needs of a growing student population. This is just the beginning."

Earning a Bachelor of Science Degree in IT or Healthcare Management from Miller-Motte College provides students with flexible online learning. Enrollment is on a rolling basis with classes beginning every 5 to 10 weeks and programs that can be completed within 33 months.

IT students will receive education and training on relevant skills, including:

Security Concepts, where students can learn how to secure systems and network infrastructure related to risk assessment, virtualization techniques, cryptography basics, policies, procedures, and management.





Legal and ethical issues to help students address controversial social issues involving information technology, including privacy, intellectual property, and social justice issues.





Data Analytics, which exposes students to the analytical process, including how data is created, stored, accessed, and how the organization works with data to support organizational needs.





Cloud Computing, which introduces students to cloud types, the steps to successfully adopting the cloud, and the risks and consequences of cloud computing.

Healthcare Management students will receive education and training on relevant skills, including:

Multicultural Healthcare, which helps students to examine the opportunities and challenges healthcare workers face in any cultural community, the differences in cultural beliefs about health and illness, cross-cultural health and communications models, and ways to implement health promotion programs and program evaluation across cultures.





Leadership coursework, which provides students with a better understanding of leadership theories and become effective leaders in various types of business, health care, and governmental environments.





Business research knowledge and skills, including research design, methodology, processes, sampling, data compilation, analysis, validity, reliability, presentation, and project responsibility/accountability.





Healthcare Management Capstone, which allows students to select and research a healthcare management issue/problem in an organization to look for real-world trends and issues to assess, create an action plan, and evaluate a proposed strategy.

*Miller-Motte College does not guarantee employment or salary. Students located in California cannot enroll in or attend Miller-Motte College.

About Miller-Motte College

Miller-Motte College has convenient locations in Georgia, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Tennessee offering training programs in Business, Healthcare, Technology, Education, and Skilled Trades (programs vary by location). Miller-Motte College also offers online learning, including Bachelor of Science degree programs in Accounting, Marketing, Human Resources Management, Business Management, Cybersecurity, IT Management, Computer Science, Data Management, Cloud Computing, Network Ops & Security, Software Development, Healthcare Management, and Allied Health Management. The online programs are delivered through the Chattanooga, TN campus. Graduates have access to career assistance including guidance from our Career Services team, resume updates, workshops, and more. Learn more at www.miller-motte.edu .

SOURCE Miller-Motte College
The former prime minister of Italy and president of the European Central Bank is being honored for his leadership of international financial policy

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The MIT Golub Center for Finance and Policy (GCFP) today announced that Mario Draghi has been named the winner of the Miriam Pozen Prize in recognition of his leadership in international financial policy. Draghi, a longtime academic economist and public servant, served as prime minister of Italy until October 2022, and previously served as president of the European Central Bank, the institution responsible for the management of the euro and European Union monetary policy. Draghi earned his PhD in economics from MIT.

An award ceremony will be held at the MIT Sloan School of Management in June 2023 during which time the former prime minister will deliver the Miriam Pozen address. In addition to the $200,000 prize, a fellowship named in Draghi's honor will be awarded to an incoming MIT Sloan MBA student.

The Miriam Pozen Prize is awarded biennially in honor of the late mother of Robert C. Pozen. Pozen, who funds the award, is a senior lecturer at MIT Sloan and the former president of Fidelity Investments and executive chairman of MFS Investment Management. The Miriam Pozen Prize advances the MIT GCFP's mission of catalyzing innovative, cross-disciplinary and nonpartisan research and educational initiatives that address the unique challenges facing governments in their role as financial institutions and as regulators of the financial system. The MIT GCFP hopes the award inspires further advances in the field and enhances the quality of financial decision-making in the public sector.

Draghi became president of the European Central Bank in 2011, leading it through significant international economic crises during his eight-year tenure. In 2021, following the collapse of the incumbent government, Italian President Sergio Mattarella asked Draghi to form a new national unity government. In his twenty months as prime minister, Draghi spearheaded a successful vaccination campaign to bring the COVID-19 pandemic under control, helped the Italian economy rebound after a steep recession, launched an ambitious program of reforms, including in the judicial system, led a more active foreign and energy policy. At the end of 2021, The Economist magazine named Italy as "Country of the Year" based on its progress, citing, in particular, Draghi's leadership.

Draghi said, "When I was a graduate student at MIT in the 1970s, I could not imagine the career which my education helped to launch. Today, I am proud to be honored as this year's recipient of the Miriam Pozen Prize. I am grateful to the Golub Center, the panel of judges, and to Robert Pozen for creating and funding the prize. I hope that this award inspires a new generation of economists to enter the public policy fray."

Sloan Distinguished Professor of Finance Deborah J. Lucas, who serves as director of the GCFP, said, "Few, if any, economists of his generation have had as profound an impact on international policy as Mario Draghi. From his pioneering work in the modernization of Italy's financial markets in the 1990s, to his role in solving sovereign debt crises as head of the European Central Bank, to his leadership of Italy during a time of global crisis during 2021-22, he has successfully applied theory to policy."

Robert C. Merton, co-director of the GCFP and the School of Management Distinguished Professor of Finance at the MIT Sloan School of Management, added, "I have known Mario Draghi for nearly a half-century and can say that few economists have been as engaged  'impegnato,' in Italian  in marrying theory with policymaking. He is the very model of a committed academic."

David C. Schmittlein, John C Head III Dean and Professor of Marketing at the MIT Sloan School of Management, said, "The Miriam Pozen Prize recognizes Mario Draghi's leadership role during the last decade's European financial crisis. His work was instrumental in creating stability in the markets in Europe and beyond."

Pozen concluded, "I am pleased that the judges of the Miriam Pozen Prize have selected Mario Draghi as this year's honoree. He combines the insights of an academic practitioner with the willingness to apply his beliefs to policymaking, and he is a model for the integration of financial theory and practice that the Miriam Pozen Prize is intended to encourage."

The panel of judges for the prize included Mohamed A. El-Erian, Kristin J. Forbes, Deborah J. Lucas, Robert C. Merton, Ronald P. O'Hanley, Raghuram R. Rajan and Robert Zoellick. The inaugural Miriam Pozen Prize was awarded to Dr. Stanley Fischer during a ceremony held in 2021.

About the MIT Golub Center for Finance and Policy

The mission of the Golub Center is to serve as a catalyst for innovative, cross-disciplinary and non-partisan research and educational initiatives that address the unique challenges facing governments in their role as financial institutions and as regulators of the financial system. The Center is building a foundation that will support transformative improvements in the development and execution of financial policy today and in the decades to come. It leverages the Institute's reputation of academic excellence and commitment to public service and the acumen of MIT Sloan. For more information on the GCFP, please visit gcfp.mit.edu .

For further information, contact: Casey Bayer Patricia Favreau Loretta A. Healy, Esq. MIT Sloan School of Management MIT Sloan School of Management The Hubbell Group, Inc. Director of Media Relations Associate Director of Media Relations 781-718-1117 617-253-0576 617-253-3492 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

SOURCE MIT Sloan School of Management
Mona the first to develop a solution that automates exploratory analysis of multivariate datasets

ATLANTA and TEL AVIV, Israel, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Mona, the leading intelligent monitoring platform, introduces today a new automated exploratory data analysis tool to identify the root-cause of anomalies in multivariate datasets. This new product is designed to streamline and simplify the process to draw deep insights, from large datasets, usually a time consuming, manual effort.

Mona's dashboard provides interactive and dynamic visualizations Mona's automated exploratory data analysis tool provides insights into specific data segments that behave anomalously

"As organizations increasingly rely on data to inform their decision making, they need more efficient and accurate data analysis tools," said Yotam Oren, CEO and Co-founder at Mona. "We're excited to make Mona's cutting-edge analytical capabilities more accessible to more data practitioners."

Multivariate data analysis has long been a challenge in today's data-driven world. Available solutions are inadequate, with limited scalability and inconsistent results. Mona is the first tool to provide data analysts with reliable insights, automatically identifying segments in multivariate datasets that exhibit anomalous behaviors while avoiding noise and false positives. By correlating key findings with other relevant metrics in the dataset, Mona is able to provide a comprehensive understanding of underlying patterns to determine the true cause of an anomaly.

"In many industries, a significant part of analysts' work is to find the specific segments in which metrics underperform, and then understand the reason behind it," said Itai Bar-Sinai, CPO & Co-founder at Mona. "We created the first-ever algorithm to automate this process on any multivariate dataset."

Using Mona, organizations can significantly eliminate the effort required for manual data cleaning, transformation and visualization in order to generate insights that will drive better decision-making. With just a simple configuration, Mona has the ability to take any tabular dataset and automatically surface outlier segments along any relevant dimension. Mona is completely free and easy to use, making it accessible for organizations of all sizes and in any vertical. Simply upload a CSV file and let Mona do the rest of the work. Get started using Mona's automated exploratory data analysis tool today!

About Mona

Mona is the developer of a leading intelligence and monitoring platform, taking a novel approach to anomaly detection in multivariate datasets. The company's automatic exploratory data analysis tool is enabling data analysts to draw granular insights faster and by that drive more efficient operations and more effective research. Founded in 2018 by product leaders and operators from Google and McKinsey & Co., the company is backed by top VCs, with offices in Tel Aviv and Atlanta.

Contact:

Diane Vo

4084293549

[email protected]

SOURCE Mona
"Energy Without Compromise" Vision to Guide Energy Transition Strategy

HAMILTON, Bermuda, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Nabors Industries Ltd. ("Nabors" or the "Company") (NYSE: NBR) issued the following statement today from Chairman, President and CEO Anthony G. Petrello regarding the entry into a business combination agreement between the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Nabors formed in 2021, Nabors Energy Transition Corporation (NYSE: NETC, NETC.U, NETC.WS), and Vast Pty Ltd ("Vast"):

"We welcome Vast as Nabors' ninth and largest energy transition investment to date. Vast's next-generation concentrated solar power platform complements and enhances our existing portfolio of companies similarly pursuing clean, renewable, dispatchable and scalable energy solutions.

"Nabors has consistently focused our energy transition investments on technologies with material tangencies to Nabors' technology platform. We are developing solutions to decarbonize and electrify our own operations. These technologies are totally transferrable to other industries and position us to lead in the new energy space. Our demonstrated strengths in innovation fully support our sustainability initiatives."

Nabors today also unveiled a new vision to guide its energy transition effortsEnergy Without Compromisethat unites the Company's sustainability efforts from its core business and its new clean energy initiatives. Petrello said:

"Building a sustainable economy requires affordable, reliable and responsible energy. Unfortunately, today there is no single source that can consistently deliver all three. So while we should embrace multiple sources of energy, the industry must focus on removing the existing trade-offs inherent in the existing energy alternatives. Oil and gas provide affordable and reliable energy, but we understand we must overcome the emissions burden associated with their production and consumption.

"Renewables offer cleaner power, but supporting the future economy requires eliminating intermittency while balancing cost, efficiency and supply chain trade-offs. Delivering on 'Energy Without Compromise' will take a relentless focus on innovation and best-in-class performance of our existing drilling business, as well as steady and consistent execution from our emerging clean energy initiatives.

"Our investment in Vast allows Nabors to participate in an exciting and relatively untapped source of renewable, clean and dispatchable energy, while at the same time helping our new partner scale its technology to deliver a meaningful contribution to the world's need for power. Vast's decision to join forces with Nabors validates the efforts we have made in developing our energy transition strategy."

Further details, materials and information about the transaction are available on the respective company websites, https://www.vastsolar.com/investors and https://www.nabors-etcorp.com.

About Nabors Industries

Nabors Industries (NYSE: NBR) is a leading provider of advanced technology for the energy industry. With presence in more than 20 countries, Nabors has established a global network of people, technology and equipment to deploy solutions that deliver safe, efficient and responsible energy production. By leveraging its core competencies, particularly in drilling, engineering, automation, data science and manufacturing, Nabors aims to innovate the future of energy and enable the transition to a lower-carbon world. Learn more about Nabors and its energy technology leadership: www.nabors.com.

Forward-looking Statements

The information included in this press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, as disclosed by Nabors from time to time in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These risks include, but are not limited to, general economic, financial, legal, political and business conditions and changes in domestic and foreign markets; the inability of the parties to successfully or timely consummate the proposed transactions or to satisfy the conditions to the closing of the proposed transactions, including satisfaction of the minimum proceeds condition and the risk that any required regulatory approvals are not obtained, are delayed or are subject to unanticipated conditions that could adversely affect the combined company; the risk that the approval of the stockholders of NETC for the proposed transactions is not obtained; the failure to realize the anticipated benefits of the proposed transactions, including as a result of a delay in consummating the proposed transaction or difficulty in, or costs associated with, integrating the businesses of NETC and Vast; the amount of redemption requests made by NETC's stockholders; the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against NETC or Vast following announcement of the transaction; the occurrence of events that may give rise to a right of one or both of NETC and Vast to terminate the definitive agreements related to the proposed business combination; difficulties or delays in the development of Vast's concentrated solar power facilities; the risks related to the rollout of Vast's business and the timing of expected business milestones; the risks that Vast's products will not be commercially attractive; the risks that Vast's marketing efforts and expansion strategies will be unsuccessful; the effects of competition from other forms of energy generation including both fossil-fuels and renewables on Vast's future business. As a result of these factors, Nabors' actual results may differ materially from those indicated or implied by such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release reflect management's estimates and beliefs as of the date of this press release. Nabors does not undertake to update these forward-looking statements.

Important Information for Stockholders

This communication does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or constitute a solicitation of any vote or approval.

In connection with the proposed business combination, Vast Solar Pty Ltd ("Vast") will file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") a registration statement on Form F-4 (the "Registration Statement"), which will include (i) a preliminary prospectus of Vast relating to the offer of securities to be issued in connection with the proposed business combination and (ii) a preliminary proxy statement of Nabors Energy Transition Corp ("NETC") to be distributed to holders of NETC's capital stock in connection with NETC's solicitation of proxies for vote by NETC's shareholders with respect to the proposed business combination and other matters described in the Registration Statement. NETC and Vast also plan to file other documents with the SEC regarding the proposed business combination. After the Registration Statement has been declared effective by the SEC, a definitive proxy statement/prospectus will be mailed to the stockholders of NETC. INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS OF NETC AND VAST ARE URGED TO READ THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT, THE PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS CONTAINED THEREIN (INCLUDING ALL AMENDMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTS THERETO) AND ALL OTHER DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE PROPOSED BUSINESS COMBINATION THAT WILL BE FILED WITH THE SEC CAREFULLY AND IN THEIR ENTIRETY WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED BUSINESS COMBINATION.

Investors and security holders will be able to obtain free copies of the proxy statement/prospectus and other documents containing important information about NETC and Vast once such documents are filed with the SEC, through the website maintained by the SEC at http://www.sec.gov. In addition, the documents filed by NETC may be obtained free of charge from NETC's website at www.nabors-etcorp.com or by written request to NETC at 515 West Greens Road, Suite 1200, Houston, TX 77067.

Participants in the Solicitation

NETC, Nabors, Vast and their respective directors and executive officers may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from the stockholders of NETC in connection with the proposed business combination. Information about the directors and executive officers of NETC is set forth in NETC's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, filed with the SEC on March 28, 2022. To the extent that holdings of NETC's securities have changed since the amounts printed in NETC's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, such changes have been or will be reflected on Statements of Change in Ownership on Form 4 filed with the SEC. Other information regarding the participants in the proxy solicitation and a description of their direct and indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, will be contained in the proxy statement/prospectus and other relevant materials to be filed with the SEC when they become available. You may obtain free copies of these documents as described in the preceding paragraph.

Investor Contacts:

William C. Conroy

+1 281-775-2423

[email protected]

Kara K. Peak

+1 281-775-4954

[email protected]

Media Contact:

Brian Brooks

+1 281-775-4370

[email protected]

SOURCE Nabors Industries Ltd.
SAN DIEGO, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- This Valentine's Day, and all month long, Camp Run-A-Mutt is celebrating its 15-year anniversary of providing cage free doggie daycare and overnight boarding to pups across the country. Camp locations are hosting a fundraiser for their local shelters, and customers can drop off donation items. Special promotional merchandise will also be given away in appreciation for customers and their Campers.

The idea behind Camp Run-A-Mutt was inspired by a dog named Andy, a sweet English Springer Spaniel. Dennis (Co-Founder and President) wanted to pay tribute to his beloved companion by building a place he knew Andy would love.

And so, Camp Run-A-Mutt was born.

Along with co-founders Mikel and Severn, they planned their vision for Camp Run-A-Mutt at a local dog park. In spite of a recession, they were determined to make their vision a reality, and on February 29th, 2008, they opened their first location in the Mission Hills neighborhood of San Diego. Their unique cage free concept struck a chord, leading them to franchise in 2010.

Fifteen years later, Camp Run-A-Mutt remains committed to providing a safe, fun, and loving environment for dogs of all breeds and sizes.

Camp Run-A-Mutt is truly grateful for the opportunity to meet and love on so many pups over the years, and is excited to meet and love many more in the future.

If you are interested in donating, please check out the website www.camprunamutt.com and contact a Camp location nearest you to learn more about their local fundraising efforts.

Related Links

https://www.camprunamutt.com

Media Contact:

CRAMER

[email protected]

SOURCE Camp Run-A-Mutt Entrepreneurial Resources
HPS|PayMedix Survey Finds State Residents Are Making Sacrifices in Medical Care due to Financial Concerns

MILWAUKEE, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Nearly three-quarters of Wisconsinites do not believe they can afford their healthcare out of pocket costs, according to a new survey of state residents by Health Payment Systems, Inc. (HPS)|PayMedix . The survey, conducted in early January, comes at a time when Wisconsin residents are grappling with how they manage their healthcare, medical bills, and preventative care.

Key Takeaways include:

46% of Wisconsin Residents Have Avoided Medical Care Due to Financial Concerns

Nearly two-thirds of Wisconsinites claim preventative healthcare is unaffordable. A full one-third of respondents report their medical bills are too difficult to understand. Nearly half of respondents in the last six months have had to sacrifice a medical need due to financial concerns. Most Wisconsinites would not be able to cover a $400 medical bill today without making a financial sacrifice.

"It is clear Wisconsinites are struggling with rising healthcare costs," said Tom Policelli, CEO of HPS|PayMedix. "The concerning trends are that patients are choosing to avoid care because of cost, and they are also increasingly confused about what they owe to a system that is too complex. Avoiding care only leads to more costly emergent care, and avoiding or delaying payments forces providers to rely on alternative strategies, like requiring upfront payments or offering high interest credit, which only exacerbates the problem."

Hurdles in the Affordability of Care

Wisconsin residents struggle with healthcare affordability, most notably in paying for out-of-pocket costs and deductibles. The PayMedix Survey found that 73% of respondents say their out-of-pocket costs are not affordable while 67% believe that their deductibles are not affordable. More than half (57%) of respondents said they would either have to make a financial sacrifice or delay payment if they received a $400 medical bill. These issues are particularly more difficult for women and those in Gen Z and Gen X.

Wisconsinites are Sacrificing Medical Care Due to Finances

Wisconsin residents are sacrificing by either delaying bill payments or avoiding medical care entirely to combat rising healthcare costs. As patients delay making necessary and preventative appointments, as well as not taking their medications, it will inevitably lead to more expensive, emergent needs for care.

The survey also found that in the past six months, 46% of respondents had to sacrifice a medical need due to financial concerns. Of those who have avoided medical care to cut down on costs, 54% have also delayed medical bill payments.

A Desire for Simplification

A third of respondents reported that their medical bills are either "very difficult" or "somewhat difficult" to understand. It's not surprising. The average American family can expect to receive approximately 125 pieces of mail each year related to healthcare billing. That's about 2.4 times each week that residents are getting a piece of the puzzle as it relates to what they owe and don't owe, what their insurance company paid and didn't pay, which provider charged for which procedure and when, and so on.

Wisconsinites are looking for a way out of this blizzard of confusing paperwork and medical billing.

Generational Divides

Affordability of care and healthcare payment decisions are further segmented by generational divides, showcasing a shift in how different generations engage with and approach the healthcare payment process in Wisconsin.

Gen Z struggles the most with healthcare affordability, with 54% reporting the highest level of overall medical care avoidance due to financial concerns. According to the survey, 73% of Gen Z Wisconsinites struggle with prescription costs and preventative care costs (79%).

Gen Z (39%) and Gen X (36%) also appear to have the most difficulties when deciphering their medical bills. This presents an opportunity for consumer education on the benefits of a simpler, easier-to-understand medical bill experience.

While delaying bill payments is a concern across the board, delay in payment is most prominent among Gen X (59%) and Boomers (61%). Meanwhile, Gen Z are the least likely to skip medical payments, however, 48% of this group have skipped medical appointments and 31% have changed providers due to financial concerns.

Surprise medical bills are also a large concern for all generations, with over half of respondents saying they would need to make a financial sacrifice or delay payment if they were to incur a $400 bill. Those most likely to make a financial sacrifice are females (61%), Gen Z (59%), and Gen X (61%).

Summary

"Avoiding care and delaying payments hurts both the patients and providers, said Brian Marsella, president of HPS|PayMedix. "Patients shouldn't have to choose whether to get care they need because of cost, and providers should be focused on delivering quality care and not chasing collections. To create more equity in our healthcare system, patients and providers need better options so they can focus on what is most importantgetting and delivering quality healthcare."

Methodology

The PayMedix Survey was conducted online from January 4-7, 2023, among n=1,000 Wisconsin residents who are employed and have commercial health insurance. Respondents for this survey were selected from an Ipsos survey panel of qualified participants who have volunteered to participate in online surveys and polls.

About PayMedix

PayMedix, which began as the financing arm of Wisconsin-based HPS over a decade ago, is the only company solving the problem of high out-of-pocket costs for everyone: providers, patients, employers and TPAs. By guaranteeing payments to providers and credit for all patients, PayMedix is changing the way people access, use, and pay for healthcare. PayMedix has processed more than $5 billion in medical payments for hospital systems and physician practices and can be implemented in conjunction with any PPO or HMO network.

About HPS

Health Payment Systems (HPS) is a privately held healthcare technology and services organization with solutions that reduce the cost and complexity of the healthcare payments process to benefit providers, employers, patients and TPAs. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, HPS has an independent network of 96 hospital facilities and 22,600 individual providers.

SOURCE HPS|PayMedix
Brand Presidents to Assume Group-Level Responsibilities for Strategic Capabilities

DALLAS, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Neiman Marcus Group (NMG) today announced strategic changes to its operating model that accelerate the company's growth roadmap to Revolutionize Luxury Experiences. The updates include an evolved Leadership Team structure that move additional group-level responsibilities for strategic capabilities to each of NMG's Brand Presidents. The realignment ensures fast decision-making with a relentless eye on the customer experience.

Darcy Penick, President, Bergdorf Goodman will assume group-level leadership of the NMG Product & Technology organization. Darcy brings deep leadership experience throughout her career in digital-led customer strategy and a proven history of execution excellence to lead group-level product & technology teams.

"Bergdorf Goodman is a key driver for the company's growth through BG.com," explained Geoffroy van Raemdonck, Chief Executive Officer of NMG. "Darcy's strategic leadership of NMG's product and technology roadmap will ensure the right suite of tools, platforms and resources are aligned to our most important investments in the customer experience and key capabilities across Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman."

Ryan Ross, President, Neiman Marcus, will lead Customer Insights for the group. Ryan has deep experience in these areas with previous leadership roles focused on integrated channel strategies and customer migration.

"The Neiman Marcus brand continues to experience outsized growth of high value customers, and Ryan's leadership of these key capabilities will continue fueling deeper relationships with top customers," continued van Raemdonck. "His role will accelerate customer-informed decisions across NMG."

Bob Kupbens, Chief Product & Technology Officer, will transition out of the organization after successfully building momentum across the Product, Technology & Analytics organization, enabling the transition of these core capabilities back into the business. His extensive experience in product and technology helped the organization build differentiated strategic capabilities, including the Neiman Marcus app, enabling selling associates to engage with customers in new ways using CONNECT, as well as the acquisition and implementation of Stylyze.

As part of the strategic realignment to accelerate high value luxury customer growth, the company announced certain positions representing less than 5% of the workforce will be eliminated across the organization. The company has also identified open roles to best support its operating model going forward, which will be filled based on strategic business needs.

The new operating model, with the luxury customer at the center of its design, will drive fast decision-making and agility to accelerate the company's competitive advantage through its differentiated business model.

"It is always our intent to minimize the impact to existing associate jobs, and we take these types of decisions very seriously. We will support those associates who will be leaving the company with severance and other benefits," concluded van Raemdonck.

About Neiman Marcus Group

Neiman Marcus Group is a relationship business that leads with love in everything we do for our customers, associates, brand partners, and communities. Our legacy of innovating and our culture of Belonging guide our roadmap for Revolutionizing Luxury Experiences. As one of the largest multi-brand luxury retailers in the U.S., with the world's most desirable brand partners, we are delivering exceptional products and intelligent services, enabled by our investments in data and technology. Through the expertise of our 10,000+ associates, we deliver and scale a personalized luxury experience across our three facets of integrated retail: in-store, online, and remote selling. Our NMG|Way culture, powered by our people, combines individual talents into a collective strength to make life extraordinary. Our flagship brands include Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman. For more information, visit neimanmarcusgroup.com.

SOURCE Neiman Marcus Group
Fast-casual eatery to offer grand opening specials and giveaways,

including FREE chicken salad for a year!

BLOOMINGTON, Ind., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Chicken Salad Chick, the nation's only fast-casual chicken salad restaurant, continues to expand its presence throughout Indiana. The company brings more of its famed, made-from-scratch chicken salad to the Midwest, with its latest restaurant in Bloomington. Located at 115 S. State Road 46, Chicken Salad Chick will celebrate its grand opening on Wednesday, Feb. 15 with a ribbon cutting at 9 a.m. and doors opening at 10 a.m. The first 100 guests will receive free chicken salad for a year.

"Indiana has proven to be an incredibly welcoming market, and we could not be more excited to open in such a wonderful area as Bloomington," said Chicken Salad Chick CEO Scott Deviney. "We look forward to sharing our made from scratch food and 'Hoosier' hospitality with the community, and we'll be just about two miles from Indiana University's campus in the area near the College Mall."

With eight locations around Indianapolis including Fishers, Greenwood, Whitestown and Carmel  Chicken Salad Chick continues to rapidly expand across the state. The Bloomington location will serve as the brand's ninth restaurant in the state.

Now through opening week, guests can enter to win free chicken salad for a year by liking the restaurant's page at Facebook.com/ChickenSaladChickBloomingtonIN. To celebrate the opening, the community is invited to experience Chicken Salad Chick's Southern hospitality through additional giveaways and specials:

Wednesday, Feb. 15 - Free Chicken Salad for a Year: The first guest to arrive to the new Bloomington location and purchase The Chick will receive one large Quick Chick every week for 52 weeks. The next 99 guests to arrive to the new Bloomington location and purchase The Chick will receive one free large Quick Chick every month for 12 months. *

The first guest to arrive to the new location and purchase The Chick will receive one large Quick Chick every week for 52 weeks. The next 99 guests to arrive to the new location and purchase The Chick will receive one free large Quick Chick every month for 12 months. * Thursday, Feb.16 - Free Chick Tote Bag: The first 50 guests at 10 a.m. or 6 p.m. will receive a FREE Chicken Salad Chick Tote Bag with the purchase of a Chick Trio! **

The first 50 guests at or will receive a FREE Chicken Salad Chick Tote Bag with the purchase of a Chick Trio! ** Friday, Feb. 17 - Free 24oz Chick Tumbler: The first 50 guests at 10 a.m. or 6 p.m. will receive a FREE Chicken Salad Chick Tumbler with the purchase of a Chick Trio! ***

The first 50 guests at or will receive a FREE Chicken Salad Chick Tumbler with the purchase of a Chick Trio! *** Saturday, Feb. 18 - Free Chick Wooden Cutting Board: The first 50 guests at 10 a.m. or 6 p.m. will receive a FREE Chicken Salad Chick Wooden Cutting Board with the purchase of a Chick Trio! ****

*The first 100 guests participating in the Free Chicken Salad for a Year on Grand Opening Day will line up in a 'first come, first counted' order at Chicken Salad Chick. It is required to remain on site until the store opens at 10 a.m. An early arrival is recommended for those seeking to be in the first 100 guests, and each guest will be assigned a number corresponding to their place in line by a member of the Chicken Salad Chick team, beginning at approximately 7 a.m. Then at 10 a.m., guests may make a purchase of "The Chick" (or greater value) and enter a code on the Chicken Salad Chick app to officially secure their reward. Guests who leave before the 10 a.m. start will lose their spot to the next guest in line. Guests will receive their first free Large Quick Chick electronically in their Chicken Salad Chick App the Monday following Grand Opening Day.

**Must be 16 Years or Older. Must purchase the Chick Trio. One Tote Bag per guest present.

***Must be 16 Years or Older. Must purchase the Chick Trio. One Tumbler Per Guest Present. Does not include drink or unlimited refills on initial or future visits.

****Must be 16 years or older. Must purchase the Chick Trio. One Cutting Board per Guest

Chicken Salad Chick offers over a dozen delicious specialty chicken salad recipes served from the heart. In addition to the restaurant's signature chicken salad flavors, other menu items include fresh salads, sides, soups and full-service catering, all available from 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

About Chicken Salad Chick

Chicken Salad Chick serves full-flavored, Southern-style chicken salad made from scratch and served from the heart. With more than a dozen original chicken salad flavors as well as fresh side salads, gourmet soups, signature sandwiches and delicious desserts, Chicken Salad Chick's robust menu offers something for everyone. Founded in Auburn, Alabama in 2008 by Stacy and Kevin Brown, Chicken Salad Chick has grown to more than 220 restaurants in 17 states. Today, under the leadership of Scott Deviney and the Chicken Salad Chick team, the brand continues its rapid expansion with both franchise and company locations. Chicken Salad Chick accolades include rankings in Franchise Times' Fast & Serious for four consecutive years and placing in the top 10 for 2021, #3 on Fast Casual's 2021 Top 100 Movers & Shakers, QSR's Best Franchise Deals, Nation's Restaurant News' Next 15 in 2019 and Franchise Business Review's Top Food Franchises in 2020.

SOURCE Chicken Salad Chick
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 14, ARMENPRESS. The 29-man Armenian search-and-rescue team is returning from Syria after completing its mission in assisting in the earthquake response efforts.

The rescue team that arrived to Aleppo returned home after completing its mission, the consulate-general of Armenia in Aleppo said in a statement on social media.
Predictive media monitoring firm announces funding from AshGrove Capital to help communications and media professionals predict stories and topics that will matter.

DUBLIN and NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- NewsWhip, the predictive media monitoring platform, today announced that it has secured $13 million in funding from London-based AshGrove Capital.

NewsWhip gives communications professionals and journalists clarity on the chaos of digital and social media. Its technology tracks which stories and narratives are gaining momentum in real time  and predicts which ones will matter in the hours ahead. Rather than artificial intelligence, NewsWhip's platform enables "extended intelligence" - allowing communications and media professionals to make better decisions and be more efficient with their time.

"We're excited to bring AshGrove Capital on board as investors," says NewsWhip CEO Paul Quigley. "Their team recognizes the transformation underway in the communication profession, and the unique position NewsWhip has in enabling that transformation. We share a vision where NewsWhip is the real-time eyes and ears of every sophisticated comms department in the world."

Ilkka Rantanen, Co-Founder and Partner at AshGrove Capital, said: "The challenges NewsWhip helps solve for their customers are becoming more topical for global organizations and critical for real-time responsiveness. Our investment perfectly aligns with the company's technology-led approach to offer a unique and innovative solution in a growing market, and we look forward to supporting the Company to further enable communication professionals to be more focused, prepared and reactive to global news events."

The funding will allow NewsWhip to accelerate its mission to identify and predict the news, narratives, and ideas that shape the world each day for users including Google, Meta, The New York Times, Samsung, and the BBC.

NewsWhip anticipates a 50 percent increase in headcount from 2022 to 2024. NewsWhip is becoming a must-have service in the fast-changing $5.5bn PR and media technology market.

NewsWhip was advised on the transaction by Pegasus Capital, a financial advisory firm based in Dublin, Ireland.

About AshGrove Capital

AshGrove Capital is an independently owned London based specialty lending fund with a sector-led approach focusing on software and services underpinned by the teams' deep sectoral experience. AshGrove Capital provides tailored credit solutions for a range of transactions from organic and inorganic growth financing to buyouts, supporting a variety of shareholders including private equity, growth equity, VCs and founder-entrepreneurs.

About NewsWhip

NewsWhip ( www.newswhip.com ) is the only real-time media monitoring platform that predicts the stories and topics that will matter in the hours ahead, giving communications professionals the clarity they need for quick and confident decisions. The NewsWhip platform helps clients to predict the news, unpack crises and issues, and better understand which stories are engaging audiences on a global and local scale. NewsWhip's clients come from 80 countries around the world, and include PepsiCo, Google, Tinder, ConAgra Samsung, McDonald's, Walmart, ABInBev, the Associated Press, Conde Nast and the Washington Post, along with NGOs such as Amnesty International, Medecins Sans Frontieres and the World Health Organization.

About Pegasus Capital

Pegasus Capital, a financial advisory firm based in Dublin, Ireland is an active adviser to Irish technology companies with other recent notable transactions including; the $64m sale of StitcherAds to Kargo Global Inc., the 45m sale of Adaptive Mobile Security to Enea AB, and the $56m investment in LearnUpon by Summit Partners.

SOURCE NewsWhip
Partnership enables Azure customers to take full advantage of Next Pathway's self-service, automatic code translation product

TORONTO, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Next Pathway Inc. , the Automated Cloud Migration company, is pleased to announce that its market-leading product, SHIFT Cloud, is now available as a SaaS offering on the Microsoft Azure Marketplace. The Azure Marketplace allows customers access to the most innovative products that help customers take full advantage of the benefits of the Azure cloud platform. By joining the Azure Marketplace, Next Pathway extends the reach of its automatic code translation product.

SHIFT Cloud puts the power of automatic code translation directly in the customer's hands. Azure customers now have access to a robust and performant code translation engine that allows them to translate legacy SQL code and ETL pipelines to Microsoft Azure in a self-service capacity.

Code translation has never been more straightforward and accessible while maintaining a high degree of coverage, performance and quality.

Migrating to Azure with ease

With SHIFT Cloud, Azure customers can move their legacy applications with ease. SHIFT Cloud eliminates the guesswork and headaches from the cloud migration process, giving Azure customers a reliable and streamlined end-to-end method to translate complex legacy workloads to the Azure cloud platform.

Moreover, every dollar of SHIFT Cloud spend will count toward a customer's cloud consumption commitment. This is increasingly important as the volatile economy impacts an enterprise's decision on what and when to migrate its workloads to the cloud.

The Azure Marketplace enables Next Pathway to offer the exact product that customers need when they need it. In addition to outfitting Azure customers with robust automatic code solutions, this partnership increases Next Pathway's brand visibility within the Azure Marketplace.

It also furthers Microsoft's commitment as a partner-focused organization.

This latest advancement comes on the heels of the public announcement last August of the collaboration between Microsoft and Next Pathway to accelerate the migration from legacy data warehouses and data lakes to Microsoft Azure. Next Pathway is already seeing tremendous adoption of SHIFT Cloud from Microsoft Azure customers.

"Our presence on the Azure Marketplace accelerates a customer's journey to Azure and makes it easier for them to spend their consumption commitments wisely and effectively," said Chetan Mathur, Chief Executive Officer at Next Pathway. "But it also demonstrates Next Pathway's commitment to Microsoft and Microsoft's tremendous support of the partner community."

About Next Pathway

Next Pathway is the Automated Cloud Migration company. Powered by Crawler360 and SHIFT Cloud, Next Pathway automates the end-to-end challenges companies experience when migrating applications to the cloud. For more information, please visit nextpathway.com .

Connect with Next Pathway

Blog | LinkedIn | Twitter

SOURCE Next Pathway
HOUSTON, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- NexTier Oilfield Solutions Inc. (NYSE: NEX) ("NexTier" or the "Company") today announced that the Board of Directors (the "Board") of the Company has increased the size of the Board from ten members to eleven members and appointed Leslie Beyer to serve as an independent director to fill the newly created vacant seat, such appointment to be effective February 10, 2023. In addition, Ms. Beyer will serve as a member on the Company's Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee.

Leslie Beyer, 47, is the Chief Executive Officer of the Energy Workforce & Technology Council, the largest global energy technology and services association. Serving in this role since 2014, she is a frequent speaker on issues facing the energy industry including the global energy market, regulatory environment and ESG best practices. Ms. Beyer has been an advocate for the energy services sector testifying before Congress and frequently appearing on national media outlets. Additionally, Ms. Beyer has been a member of Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. since 2020, serving as chair of the compensation committee and as a member of both its audit and ESG committees. Before joining EWTC, her career highlights include 15 years in Washington, D.C. serving in policy and public affairs roles in the U.S. Senate, multiple presidential campaigns, The White House  Executive Office of the President, U.S. State Department and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. After government service, Ms. Beyer began a career in advocacy as Director, Member and Board Relations with the National Association of Manufacturers. Ms. Beyer holds a bachelor's degree of arts in Latin American Studies from The University of Texas at Austin.

Patrick Murray, NexTier's Chairman of the Board of Directors, stated, "We are pleased to welcome Leslie to our Board. Her extensive experience supporting the energy services sector will be an invaluable asset to NexTier."

Robert Drummond, NexTier's President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "We are delighted to have Leslie on our Board. Her leadership and advocacy for responsible operations in energy services further demonstrates NexTier's commitment to having a well-rounded, high-performing Board."

About NexTier Oilfield Solutions

Headquartered in Houston, Texas, NexTier is an industry-leading U.S. land oilfield service company, with a diverse set of well completion and production services across active and demanding basins. Our integrated solutions approach delivers efficiency today, and our ongoing commitment to innovation helps our customers better address what is coming next. NexTier is differentiated through four points of distinction, including safety performance, efficiency, partnership and innovation. At NexTier, we believe in living our core values from the basin to the boardroom, and helping customers win by safely unlocking affordable, reliable and plentiful sources of energy.

Investor Contact:

Kenneth Pucheu

Executive Vice President - Chief Financial Officer

Michael Sabella

Vice President - Investor Relations and Business Development

[email protected]

SOURCE NexTier Oilfield Solutions
$10,000 Awarded to Each Winner by the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation

Submit Nominations Before March 17, 2023, at ChooseRestaurants.org/LeadershipAwards

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation (NRAEF) is now accepting nominations for the 2023 Restaurants Advance Leadership Awards honoring the industry's best-of-the-best in community service and diversity, equity and inclusion. New for 2023, the NRAEF will also celebrate an inspiring individual who has pursued their personal dream of building a future in the restaurant, foodservice and hospitality industry.

The NRAEF is now accepting nominations for the Restaurants Advance Leadership Awards. Tweet this The National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation (NRAEF) is now accepting nominations for the 2023 Restaurants Advance Leadership Awards honoring the industrys best-of-the-best in community service and diversity, equity and inclusion. Submit nominations before March 17, 2023, at ChooseRestaurants.org/LeadershipAwards.

Each award winner will receive $10,000 from the NRAEF. The Educational Foundation will also designate a special $2,500 scholarship to be awarded to a future restaurant leader in the winner's name. Award categories include:

Leadership in Community Service  presented by American Express

Recognizes a restaurant that has made a positive impact on their community through charitable efforts, support during a natural disaster/crisis, local job training and/or sustainable practices.





 presented by American Express Recognizes a restaurant that has made a positive impact on their community through charitable efforts, support during a natural disaster/crisis, local job training and/or sustainable practices. Leadership in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion  presented by PepsiCo

Recognizes a restaurant that has demonstrated exceptional leadership in championing diversity, equity and inclusion in their restaurant or foodservice operation, in the community and across the industry.





 presented by PepsiCo Recognizes a restaurant that has demonstrated exceptional leadership in championing diversity, equity and inclusion in their restaurant or foodservice operation, in the community and across the industry. My Journey Leadership Award

Recognizes an individual who has overcome personal challenges and excelled in the restaurant and foodservice industry. This individual's journey also illustrates the personal and professional opportunities offered across the industry, and the positive impact they have had on their co-workers and community.

Also honored at the Restaurants Advance Leadership Awards will be the 2023 Thad and Alice Eure Ambassador of Hospitality. Presented by Ecolab, the Ambassador of Hospitality Award recognizes an exceptional industry leader who has shown unmatched support for the NRAEF and its work to create opportunity in the industry for people from all backgrounds.

"The Restaurants Advance Leadership Award dinner is our night to celebrate the amazing people and restaurants that are making a real difference in their communities and opening doors of opportunity," said Rob Gifford, president of the NRAEF. "We thank American Express, Ecolab and PepsiCo for sharing our commitment to advance the heart and soul of our industry, its people."

Additional details and nomination forms can be found at: ChooseRestaurants.org/LeadershipAwards. Nominations for Leadership in Community Service, Leadership in DEI and the My Journey Leadership Award close on March 17, 2023.

All winners will be notified on or before April 15, 2023. Nominations may be submitted for multiple awards. Employees of the National Restaurant Association, the NRAEF and its affiliates are not eligible to participate.

About the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation (NRAEF): As the supporting philanthropic foundation of the National Restaurant Association, the NRAEF's charitable mission includes enhancing the industry's training and education, career development, and community engagement efforts. The NRAEF and its programs work to Attract, Empower, and Advance today's and tomorrow's restaurant and foodservice workforce. NRAEF programs include: ProStart  a high-school career and technical education program; Restaurant Ready/HOPES  Partnering with community based organizations to provide people with skills training and job opportunities; Military  helping military servicemen and women transition their skills to restaurant and foodservice careers; Scholarships  financial assistance for students pursuing restaurant, foodservice and hospitality degrees; and the Restaurant & Hospitality Leadership Center (RHLC)  accredited apprenticeship programs designed to build the careers of service professionals. For more information on the NRAEF, visit ChooseRestaurants.org. Click here for the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation's 2021 Annual Impact Report.

About American Express

American Express is a globally integrated payments company, providing customers with access to products, insights and experiences that enrich lives and build business success. Learn more at americanexpress.com and connect with us on americanexpress.com/merchant and connect with us on facebook.com/americanexpressbusiness, instagram.com/americanexpressbusiness, linkedin.com/company/american-express-business, and twitter.com/amexbusiness

About Ecolab

A trusted partner at nearly three million customer locations, Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) is a global sustainability leader offering water, hygiene and infection prevention solutions and services that protect people and the resources vital to life. Building on a century of innovation, Ecolab has annual sales of $13 billion, employs more than 47,000 associates and operates in more than 170 countries around the world. The company delivers comprehensive science-based solutions, data-driven insights and world-class service to advance food safety, maintain clean and safe environments, and optimize water and energy use. Ecolab's innovative solutions improve operational efficiencies and sustainability for customers in the food, healthcare, life sciences, hospitality and industrial markets. www.ecolab.com

About PepsiCo

PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers more than one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo generated more than $79 billion in net revenue in 2021, driven by a complementary beverage and convenient foods portfolio that includes Lay's, Doritos, Cheetos, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, Quaker, and SodaStream. PepsiCo's product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including many iconic brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.



Guiding PepsiCo is our vision to Be the Global Leader in Beverages and Convenient Foods by Winning with PepsiCo Positive (pep+). pep+ is our strategic end-to-end transformation that puts sustainability and human capital at the center of how we will create value and growth by operating within planetary boundaries and inspiring positive change for planet and people. For more information, visit www.pepsico.com, and follow on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn @PepsiCo.

SOURCE National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation
NEW YORK, Feb. 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Non-invasive Glucose Monitoring Devices Market by Product, End-user, and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2023-2027 report has been published by Technavio. Market size is forecast to grow by USD 22.49 million between 2022 and 2027 at a CAGR of 15.68%. The report includes historic market data from 2017 to 2021. In 2017, the market was valued at USD 13.48 million. The report provides a comprehensive analysis of growth opportunities at regional levels, new product launches, the latest trends, and the post-pandemic recovery of the global market. Download A PDF Sample Report

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Non-invasive Glucose Monitoring Devices Market 2023-2027

Regional Analysis

By region, the global non-invasive glucose monitoring devices market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of World (ROW). North America will account for 49% of market growth during the forecast period. Factors such as the increasing prevalence of diabetes, the rising number of product launches, and the growing presence of regional and global vendors are driving the growth of the non-invasive glucose monitoring devices market in North America. Buy the report

Company Profiles

The non-invasive glucose monitoring devices market report includes information on the key products and recent developments of leading vendors, including:

Abbott Laboratories - The company offers non invasive glucose monitoring devices such as FreeStyle Libre.

- The company offers non invasive glucose monitoring devices such as FreeStyle Libre. BoydSense SAS - The company offers non invasive glucose monitoring devices such as non invasive diabetes monitoring technology that uses breath based biomarkers to predict glucose levels.

- The company offers non invasive glucose monitoring devices such as non invasive diabetes monitoring technology that uses breath based biomarkers to predict glucose levels. Cnoga - The company offers non invasive glucose monitoring devices such as CoG Hybrid Glucometer.

- The company offers non invasive glucose monitoring devices such as CoG Hybrid Glucometer. Dexcom Inc. - The company offers non invasive glucose monitoring devices such as Dexcom G6.

Market Dynamics

The market is driven by factors such as the increasing prevalence of diabetes and the growing number of government programs, product launches, and increasing demand for non-invasive procedures. However, the high costs associated with non-invasive glucose monitoring devices are hindering market growth.

Competitive Analysis

The competitive scenario categorizes companies based on various performance indicators. Some of the factors considered include the financial performance of companies over the past few years, growth strategies, product innovations, new product launches, investments, and growth in market share among others. Request a Sample

Market Segmentation

By product, the market is segmented into wearable and non-wearable. The wearable accounted for the largest share of the market in 2022.

By geography, the market is segmented into North America , Europe , Asia , and Rest of World (ROW). North America held the largest share of the market in 2022.

Related Reports:

The anesthesia monitoring devices market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 10.67% between 2022 and 2027. The size of the market is forecast to increase by USD 1,108.53 million . The increasing number of surgeries requiring general anesthesia is notably driving the market growth, although factors such as the lack of trained anesthesiologists may impede the market growth.

is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 10.67% between 2022 and 2027. The size of the market is forecast to increase by . The increasing number of surgeries requiring general anesthesia is notably driving the market growth, although factors such as the lack of trained anesthesiologists may impede the market growth. The cardiopulmonary stress testing systems market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 6.92% between 2022 and 2027. The size of the market is forecast to increase by USD 2,103.24 million . The increasing number of heart specialty centers is notably driving the market growth, although factors such as the high cost of stress testing devices may impede the market growth.

Technavio's library includes over 17,000+ reports, covering more than 2,000 emerging technologies. Subscribe to our "Basic Plan" at just USD 5,000 and get lifetime access to Technavio Insights

What are the key data covered in this non-invasive glucose monitoring devices market report?

CAGR of the market during the forecast period.

Detailed information on factors that will drive the growth of the market between 2023 and 2027

Precise estimation of the size of the non-invasive glucose monitoring devices market and its contribution to the parent market.

Accurate predictions about upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior.

Growth of the market across North America , Europe , Asia , and Rest of World (ROW).

, , , and Rest of World (ROW). A thorough analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information about vendors.

Comprehensive analysis of factors that will challenge the growth of non-invasive glucose monitoring devices market vendors.

Non-invasive Glucose Monitoring Devices Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 157 Base year 2022 Historic period 2017-2021 Forecast period 2023-2027 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 15.68% Market growth 2023-2027 USD 22.49 million Market structure Fragmented YoY growth 2022-2023 (%) 14.06 Regional analysis North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of World (ROW) Performing market contribution North America at 49% Key countries US, Germany, UK, India, and China Competitive landscape Leading Vendors, Market Positioning of Vendors, Competitive Strategies, and Industry Risks Key companies profiled Abbott Laboratories, Ascensia Diabetes Care Holdings AG, BlueSemi, BoydSense SAS, Cnoga, Dexcom Inc., DiaMonTech AG, Eser Co., F. Hoffmann La Roche Ltd., Gluco Rx Ltd., GlucoTrack Inc., Informed Data Systems Inc. and One Drop., Medtronic Plc, Meta Materials Inc., Nemaura Medical Inc., Platinum Equity Advisors LLC, Rite Aid Corp., Taiwan Biophotonic Co., Tandem Diabetes Care Inc., and Walgreens Boots Alliance 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 Type



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Route of Administration



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 Historic Market Size

4.1 Global anesthesia drugs market 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 18: Historic Market Size  Data Table on Global anesthesia drugs market 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.2 Type Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 19: Historic Market Size  Type Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.3 Route of Administration Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 20: Historic Market Size  Route of Administration Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.4 Geography Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 21: Historic Market Size  Geography Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.5 Country Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 22: Historic Market Size  Country Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

5 Five Forces Analysis

5.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 23: Five forces analysis - Comparison between 2022 and 2027

5.2 Bargaining power of buyers

Exhibit 24: Chart on Bargaining power of buyers  Impact of key factors 2022 and 2027

5.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

Exhibit 25: Bargaining power of suppliers  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.4 Threat of new entrants

Exhibit 26: Threat of new entrants  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.5 Threat of substitutes

Exhibit 27: Threat of substitutes  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.6 Threat of rivalry

Exhibit 28: Threat of rivalry  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.7 Market condition

Exhibit 29: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2022 and 2027

6 Market Segmentation by Type

6.1 Market segments

Exhibit 30: Chart on Type - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Type - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

6.2 Comparison by Type

Exhibit 32: Chart on Comparison by Type



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Comparison by Type

6.3 General anesthesia - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 34: Chart on General anesthesia - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on General anesthesia - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 36: Chart on General anesthesia - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 37: Data Table on General anesthesia - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.4 Local and regional anesthesia - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 38: Chart on Local and regional anesthesia - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Local and regional anesthesia - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 40: Chart on Local and regional anesthesia - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 41: Data Table on Local and regional anesthesia - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.5 Market opportunity by Type

Exhibit 42: Market opportunity by Type ($ million)

7 Market Segmentation by Route of Administration

7.1 Market segments

Exhibit 43: Chart on Route of Administration - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 44: Data Table on Route of Administration - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

7.2 Comparison by Route of Administration

Exhibit 45: Chart on Comparison by Route of Administration



Exhibit 46: Data Table on Comparison by Route of Administration

7.3 Intravenous - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 47: Chart on Intravenous - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 48: Data Table on Intravenous - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 49: Chart on Intravenous - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 50: Data Table on Intravenous - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.4 Inhalational - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 51: Chart on Inhalational - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 52: Data Table on Inhalational - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 53: Chart on Inhalational - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 54: Data Table on Inhalational - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.5 Others - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 55: Chart on Others - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 56: Data Table on Others - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 57: Chart on Others - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 58: Data Table on Others - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.6 Market opportunity by Route of Administration

Exhibit 59: Market opportunity by Route of Administration ($ million)

8 Customer Landscape

8.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 60: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

9 Geographic Landscape

9.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 61: Chart on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 62: Data Table on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)

9.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 63: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 64: Data Table on Geographic comparison

9.3 North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 65: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 66: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 67: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 68: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.4 Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 69: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 70: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 71: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 72: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.5 Asia - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 73: Chart on Asia - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 74: Data Table on Asia - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 75: Chart on Asia - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 76: Data Table on Asia - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.6 Rest of World (ROW) - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 77: Chart on Rest of World (ROW) - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 78: Data Table on Rest of World (ROW) - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 79: Chart on Rest of World (ROW) - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 80: Data Table on Rest of World (ROW) - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.7 US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 81: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 82: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 83: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 84: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.8 Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 85: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 86: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 87: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 88: Data Table on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.9 UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 89: Chart on UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 90: Data Table on UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 91: Chart on UK - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 92: Data Table on UK - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.10 China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 93: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 94: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 95: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 96: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.11 India - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 97: Chart on India - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 98: Data Table on India - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 99: Chart on India - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 100: Data Table on India - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.12 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 101: Market opportunity by geography ($ million)

10 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

10.1 Market drivers

10.2 Market challenges

10.3 Impact of drivers and challenges

Exhibit 102: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2022 and 2027

10.4 Market trends

11 Vendor Landscape

11.1 Overview

11.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 103: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

11.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 104: Overview on factors of disruption

11.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 105: Impact of key risks on business

12 Vendor Analysis

12.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 106: Vendors covered

12.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 107: Matrix on vendor position and classification

12.3 AbbVie Inc.

Exhibit 108: AbbVie Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 109: AbbVie Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 110: AbbVie Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 111: AbbVie Inc. - Key offerings

12.4 AstraZeneca Plc

Exhibit 112: AstraZeneca Plc - Overview



Exhibit 113: AstraZeneca Plc - Product / Service



Exhibit 114: AstraZeneca Plc - Key news



Exhibit 115: AstraZeneca Plc - Key offerings

12.5 Avet Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Exhibit 116: Avet Pharmaceuticals Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 117: Avet Pharmaceuticals Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 118: Avet Pharmaceuticals Inc. - Key offerings

12.6 B Braun Melsungen AG

Braun Melsungen AG Exhibit 119: B Braun Melsungen AG - Overview



Exhibit 120: B Braun Melsungen AG - Business segments



Exhibit 121: B Braun Melsungen AG - Key news



Exhibit 122: B Braun Melsungen AG - Key offerings



Exhibit 123: B Braun Melsungen AG - Segment focus

12.7 Baxter International Inc.

Exhibit 124: Baxter International Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 125: Baxter International Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 126: Baxter International Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 127: Baxter International Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 128: Baxter International Inc. - Segment focus

12.8 Eisai Co. Ltd.

Exhibit 129: Eisai Co. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 130: Eisai Co. Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 131: Eisai Co. Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 132: Eisai Co. Ltd. - Segment focus

12.9 Fresenius SE and Co. KGaA

Exhibit 133: Fresenius SE and Co. KGaA - Overview



Exhibit 134: Fresenius SE and Co. KGaA - Business segments



Exhibit 135: Fresenius SE and Co. KGaA - Key news



Exhibit 136: Fresenius SE and Co. KGaA - Key offerings



Exhibit 137: Fresenius SE and Co. KGaA - Segment focus

12.10 Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

Exhibit 138: Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 139: Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 140: Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd. - Key offerings

12.11 Hikma Pharmaceuticals Plc

Exhibit 141: Hikma Pharmaceuticals Plc - Overview



Exhibit 142: Hikma Pharmaceuticals Plc - Business segments



Exhibit 143: Hikma Pharmaceuticals Plc - Key offerings



Exhibit 144: Hikma Pharmaceuticals Plc - Segment focus

12.12 Maruishi Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.

Exhibit 145: Maruishi Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 146: Maruishi Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 147: Maruishi Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. - Key offerings

12.13 Merck and Co. Inc.

Exhibit 148: Merck and Co. Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 149: Merck and Co. Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 150: Merck and Co. Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 151: Merck and Co. Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 152: Merck and Co. Inc. - Segment focus

12.14 Novartis AG

Exhibit 153: Novartis AG - Overview



Exhibit 154: Novartis AG - Business segments



Exhibit 155: Novartis AG - Key offerings



Exhibit 156: Novartis AG - Segment focus

12.15 Pfizer Inc.

Exhibit 157: Pfizer Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 158: Pfizer Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 159: Pfizer Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 160: Pfizer Inc. - Key offerings

12.16 Piramal Enterprises Ltd.

Exhibit 161: Piramal Enterprises Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 162: Piramal Enterprises Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 163: Piramal Enterprises Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 164: Piramal Enterprises Ltd. - Segment focus

12.17 Septodont Holding

Exhibit 165: Septodont Holding - Overview



Exhibit 166: Septodont Holding - Product / Service



Exhibit 167: Septodont Holding - Key offerings

13 Appendix

13.1 Scope of the report

13.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 168: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 169: Exclusions checklist

13.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 170: Currency conversion rates for US$

13.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 171: Research methodology



Exhibit 172: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 173: Information sources

13.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 174: 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
NONPF and Blueprint's Rosh Review have created a NONPF Inclusive Language Assessment to guide inclusive clinical language for nurse practitioners and educators.

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF) has partnered with Blueprint Prep, a premier test preparation and professional training company, through its subsidiary Rosh Review, to release the NONPF Inclusive Language Assessment for faculty of nurse practitioner (NP) programs. The assessment serves a vital purpose: helping healthcare educators eliminate stigmatizing and harmful language from their programs, and supporting the next generation of NPs to respectfully provide care for their patients.

"Language is powerful, and an inclusive approach contributes to more fully and equitably engaging our patients with their healthcare," notes Dr. Susan Buchholz, President of NONPF. "Using inclusive language with patients and their families, communicates to them that they are respected and welcomes them into the conversation."

Using terms with more or less favorable meanings, can alter patient perceptions and affect clinical decisions. Therefore, providing excellent healthcare across demographics requires that NPs be equipped to communicate with patients and their families, in a way that eliminates stigmatizing language. That is why NONPF and Rosh Review are promoting the NONPF Inclusive Language Assessment, and anticipates that this assessment will be instrumental in informing both NP faculty and their students.

"From the beginning, we've been committed to changing traditional continuing education into something more usefullifelong professional preparation," said Matt Riley, CEO and Co-Founder of Blueprint Prep, parent company of Rosh Review. "The NONPF Inclusive Language Assessment is another in the growing arsenal of resources we have built to help our healthcare workers excel from one end of their careers to the other."

NONPF and Blueprint Prep hope the 30-question assessment, developed together and available on the Rosh Review platform, will become a standard feature of NP programs across the country. Users who complete the assessment learn how to reframe traditionally biased language, and gain tools that allow them to be more effective communicators with patients and their families.

To participate in the NONPF Inclusive Language Assessment, click here.

About NONPF

The National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF) is the only organization specifically devoted to promoting high quality nurse practitioner (NP) education. NONPF is the leading organization for excellence in NP education. Today, the organization represents a global network of NP educators. NONPF recognizes that NPs provide a significant amount of care and that the education of NPs must be strong, relevant and innovative. To this end, NONPF has continually provided support to educators through establishing competencies, methods of evaluation and strategic partnerships. For more information, visit nonpf.org.

About Blueprint Prep

Founded in 2005, Blueprint Prep is the leading platform for high-stakes test prep in the U.S., offering live and self-paced online courses, private tutoring, self-study materials, and Qbanks for pre-law, pre-med, and medical school students, as well as for residents, practicing physicians, PAs and NPs via its acquisition of Rosh Review and Sarah Michelle NP Reviews. Blueprint Prep leverages a unique approach that combines unparalleled expertise in content creation, engaging video production techniques, the latest adaptive learning technology, and personalized study planning tools. Blueprint Prep has produced unrivaled outcomes for its learners, including industry-leading score increases and pass rates for learners taking standardized entrance exams and licensure certification exams. For more information, visit Blueprintprep.com.

About Rosh Review

Rosh Review, a Blueprint Prep company, is a leading medical education and technology company that has changed the way NPs learn medicine and prepare for their boards. As leaders in innovation for NP programs, Rosh Review and Sarah Michelle NP Reviews, also a Blueprint Prep company, have joined forces to ensure certification success. Bundling a powerful data dashboard that helps faculty identify student knowledge gaps, with the highest quality question bank on the market, a custom assessment builder for faculty, and video review courses for students, there are options to suit every program size. Learn more about our solutions here.

SOURCE Blueprint Test Preparation LLC
MIDDLETON, Wis., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- OneNeck IT Solutions, a leading provider of hybrid IT and multi-cloud solutions and services, announced today that it has been awarded the 2022 High Impact Award from Infinidat, a leading provider of enterprise storage solutions. This is awarded by Infinidat to the partner who achieved the highest percentage increase in partner-led account executives.

OneNeck - The 2022 Infinidat High Velocity Award Recipient

OneNeck specializes in multi-cloud solutions, combined with managed services, professional IT consulting services, hardware and local connectivity via top-tier data centers. We are committed to optimizing the performance of hybrid IT solutions, integrating cloud and delivering on-premises systems  within the context and framework of our customers' IT environment.

"OneNeck is honored to be the recipient of the High Impact Award from Infinidat," said Ted Wiessing, OneNeck Chief Operating Officer. "Our storage portfolio has continued to grow with Infinidat's enterprise-grade solution offering premium performance and availability at a multi-petabyte scale. Infinidat enables our enterprise customers to cost-effectively store and protect their data with a proven and reliable solution."

"OneNeck has demonstrated powerful high-velocity growth," said Eric Herzog, Chief Marketing Officer at Infinidat. "It is significant that OneNeck has achieved the highest percentage increase in partner-led accounts. They are a strong partner, and we're thrilled to work with OneNeck. They know how to deliver both business and technical value to their enterprise customers."

For more information about OneNeck, visit www.oneneck.com.

About OneNeck IT Solutions

OneNeck IT Solutions LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Telephone and Data Systems, Inc., employs 450 people throughout the U.S. The company offers multi-cloud solutions, combined with managed services, professional IT services, hardware and local connectivity via top-tier data centers in Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Oregon and Wisconsin. OneNeck's team of technology professionals deliver secure, modern platforms and applications for organizations embracing data-driven transformation and secure end-to-end solutions. Visit oneneck.com.

Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. [NYSE: TDS], a Fortune 1000 company, provides wireless; cable and wireline broadband, TV and voice; and hosted and managed services. TDS has approximately six million connections nationwide through its businesses U.S. Cellular, TDS Telecom, OneNeck IT Solutions LLC and TDS Broadband Service. Recently, TDS has been named to three Forbes lists: America's Best Employers for Diversity, Best Large Employers, and Best Employers for Women. Founded in 1969 and headquartered in Chicago, TDS employs 9,400 people. Visit tdsinc.com.

SOURCE OneNeck IT Solutions
Two years ago, PEPSI  x PEEPS  made its unforgettable debut, becoming one of the most talked about collaborations and pop-culture moments of the year. PEPSI  x PEEPS  trended everywhere, from Twitter to late night TV and was even sold for hundreds of dollars on the secondary market. The highly anticipated drop, only available for 3,000 fans at the time, intrigued cola drinkers everywhere and drove consumer demand, which is why PEPSI  x PEEPS  have decided to make their relationship status official and deliver the sweet treat to retail shelves nationwide.

PEPSI x PEEPS is a surprisingly delicious beverage combining the refreshing taste of Pepsi cola with the classic sweet PEEPS Marshmallow flavor consumers know and love. The pillowy-soft marshmallow cola flavor  paired with the instantly recognizable PEEPS- inspired design in vibrant yellow packaging  is a true celebration of the approaching spring season.

"We couldn't be more excited to reignite our partnership with PEEPS, bringing two iconic brands back together after the frenzy of consumer interest in 2021," said Katelyn Meola, Director  brand Pepsi. "The collaboration is truly unparalleled  a delicious and refreshing treat, celebrated by two loyal fanbases, that brings unapologetic enjoyment to Pepsi and PEEPS lovers all over the country. Since only a few fans were able to get their hands on the coveted cans last time, we're thrilled to give everyone across the country the chance to indulge in PEPSI x PEEPS this time around."

To celebrate the limited-time product launch and kick off the spring season, the iconic PEPSI x PEEPS duo is leveraging Snapchat's innovative augmented reality technology to send fans on a virtual egg hunt for a chance to unlock prizes, including a spring trip for two and exclusive PEPSI x PEEPS merchandise. To participate, fans must purchase PEPSI x PEEPS products and scan the can or bottle with the co-branded AR Lens to unlock a secret code to find out instantly if they have won a prize. To access the Snapchat lens experience, find a PEPSI x PEEPS product in stores and head to the brands' social channels.

"The PEEPS Brand is always looking for new and exciting ways to bring our delicious Marshmallow flavor to fans, and the partnership with Pepsi is truly a groundbreaking way for them to express their PEEPSONALITY! After the astonishingly positive response from our fans to the first PEPSI x PEEPS collaboration, we are thrilled to bring back the offering just in time for spring," said PEEPS Brand Manager Caitlin Servian.

PEPSI x PEEPS products are available for purchase nationwide in 7.5 oz Pepsi mini-can multipacks and 20 oz. bottles. To find out where to purchase PEPSI x PEEPS products, please visit HERE.

No Purchase Necessary. Open to 50 US/DC, 18+ (19+ in AL/NE). Ends 4/17/23. See pepsixpeeps.com for full details.

About PepsiCo

PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers more than one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo generated more than $79 billion in net revenue in 2021, driven by a complementary beverage and convenient foods portfolio that includes Lay's, Doritos, Cheetos, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, Quaker, and SodaStream. PepsiCo's product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including many iconic brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.



Guiding PepsiCo is our vision to Be the Global Leader in Beverages and Convenient Foods by Winning with PepsiCo Positive (pep+). pep+ is our strategic end-to-end transformation that puts sustainability and human capital at the center of how we will create value and growth by operating within planetary boundaries and inspiring positive change for planet and people. For more information, visit www.pepsico.com, and follow on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn @PepsiCo.

About Just Born Quality Confections

Just Born Quality Confections is a third-generation family-owned candy manufacturer with its purpose to bring sweetness to people's lives. Just Born is the maker of some of America's most beloved and iconic brands  PEEPS, MIKE AND IKE, HOT TAMALES and GOLDENBERG'S PEANUT CHEWS. As Just Born celebrates a century of sweetness, it has enjoyed being a part of family traditions and memories for 100 years. In 1923, the founder, Sam Born, opened a small candy shop in Brooklyn, New York, where he marketed the freshness of his daily-made candy with a sign that declared, "Just Born." Together with Born's brothers-in-law, Irv and Jack Shaffer, the company thrived and, in 1932, moved its operations to Bethlehem, PA where it has grown to become one of the largest candy companies in the US by giving back to the community, being good environmental stewards and creating a culture where people want to work.

For more information, please visit www.justborn.com

Follow us at facebook.com/JustBornInc, twitter.com/JustBornInc

SOURCE PepsiCo Beverages North America
HONG KONG and SHANGHAI, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Ping An Property & Casualty Insurance (Ping An P&C) has launched its first ocean carbon sink index insurance policy in the city of Dalian, announced Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. ("Ping An" or the "Group", HKEx:2318; SSE:601318). This follows Ping An P&C's pilot of the forest carbon sink remote sensing index insurance in 2021.

The ocean carbon sink index insurance provides carbon sink risk protection with RMB400,000 for 13.3 mu (8,866.67 square meters) of kelp, shellfish and algae, enriching Ping An P&C's carbon sink insurance coverage on terrestrial and marine ecosystems, including forests, mangroves and grasslands.

The ocean is the Earth's largest carbon sink. It can absorb approximately 2 billion tons carbon dioxide a year from the atmosphere, which is 50 times the capacity of the atmosphere and 20 times that of terrestrial ecosystem. The total volume of carbon dioxide absorbed by the ocean annually accounts for around one-third of annual global emissions. However, due to the ever-changing marine climate, marine disasters such as typhoons, abnormal sea temperatures and red tides (algae blooms) could compromise the carbon sequestration capacity of the ocean, releasing carbon dioxide into the air again and hindering progress towards carbon neutrality.

The ocean carbon sink index insurance in Dalian is Ping An P&C's first foray into the field of the ocean carbon sink. Ping An P&C will provide compensation when specific changes in the marine environment damages local species such as kelp, shellfish and algae and lead to the weakening of carbon sink. The loss compensation can be used for post-disaster marine species rescue to restore the carbon sink resource, as well as ecological protection and restoration. The index insurance enhances ocean carbon sequestration capacity by encouraging fishing to protect and repair marine ecosystems. It also enables carbon sink indicators of marine aquaculture to be listed and traded, thus increasing the income of fishermen, and turning the marine carbon sink from resources into assets.

Ping An fully supports the low-carbon transition of the economy to support China's goals of peaking carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality. Ping An is committed to incorporate environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) principles into its insurance business to create sustainable insurance products. In the first three quarters of 2022, Ping An's premium income of environmentally sustainable insurance products totaled approximately RMB110.5 billion (USD16.21 billion[1]). Under the Group's guidance, Ping An P&C offers diversified and innovative green insurance products, including catastrophe insurance, environmental liability insurance, old and valuable trees conservation and rescue insurance and grassland ecosystem insurance, providing increasingly comprehensive coverage to environmental protection and green industry development. As of November 2022, Ping An P&C provided over RMB174 trillion (USD25.53 trillion) in green insurance coverage to promote green development.

Jiang Hua, Director of Ping An P&C, said, "We will continue to develop more agricultural insurance products for ecological and environmental protection, as well as explore different pathways to achieve low-carbon transformation for insurance services. We will fully support the development of carbon sink forests and carbon sink fisheries, providing comprehensive risk protection for carbon sink resources to help China achieve its 'dual carbon' goals."

About Ping An Group

Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. ("Ping An") strives to become a world-leading retail financial services group. With nearly 228 million retail customers, Ping An is one of the largest financial services companies in the world. Ping An advances intelligent digital transformation, and employs technologies to improve the quality and efficiency of its financial businesses and enhance risk management. The Company believes "Expertise Creates Value" and "Expertise makes life simple". Ping An develops the "integrated finance + healthcare" service system and builds the "finance + elderlycare" and "finance + healthcare" industry ecosystems to provide professional "financial advisory, family doctor, and elderlycare concierge" services. As China's first joint stock insurance company, Ping An is committed to upholding the highest standards of corporate reporting and corporate governance. The Group is listed on the stock exchanges in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Ping An ranked 17th in the Forbes Global 2000 list in 2022 and ranked 25th in the Fortune Global 500 list in 2022.

For more information, please visit www.group.pingan.com and follow us on LinkedIn - PING AN .

[1] Calculated at the exchange rate prevailing on the day of distribution (RMB's spot exchange rate against USD at around 6.81)

SOURCE Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 14, ARMENPRESS. Legislators from the Civil Contract faction held a meeting with the Secretary of the Security Council Armen Grigoryan in parliament.

The faction said in a statement that they discussed the security situation around Armenia, the work in the direction of strengthening the security of Armenia and the legislative policy carried out in the security sector.
Requiring half the gadolinium dosage compared to other macrocyclic gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs) in approved indications in the U.S., gadopiclenol also has the highest relaxivity compared to approved GBCAs1-7

MONROE TOWNSHIP, N.J., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Bracco Imaging, an innovative world leader delivering end-to-end products and solutions through a comprehensive portfolio inclusive of precision diagnostic imaging modalities, announced today that Wellstar Health System is among the first establishments in the nation to trial VUEWAY (gadopiclenol) injection, a recently FDA-approved macrocyclic gadolinium-based contrast agent (GBCA) for use in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Gadopiclenol needs only half the dose compared to other GBCAs in approved indications in the U.S. to accomplish the same image clarity due to the fact that it has the highest relaxivity of all GBCAs compared to approved GBCAs.1-7

"We are honored to stand alongside these prestigious leaders of the medical community for the first VUEWAY injections, after FDA approval," said Fulvio Renoldi Bracco, Vice-Chairman & CEO of Bracco Imaging. "We're particularly excited about our innovations in contrast imaging because of the wide-reaching impact across disease categories with 30 million MRI scans conducted annually, globally.8 That these institutions have prioritized offering VUEWAY injection, a novel next-generation MRI contrast agent, reinforces the potential value VUEWAY injection will provide in patient care and diagnostics."

VUEWAY (gadopiclenol) injection received FDA approval on Sept. 21, 2022, for use with MRI in adults and pediatric patients aged two years and older to detect and visualize lesions in the central nervous system (brain, spine, and associated tissues) and the body (head and neck, thorax, abdomen, pelvis, and musculoskeletal system).7

Two recent Phase III trials sharing similar methodologies and endpoints demonstrate the efficacy and safety of gadopiclenol in MRI of the CNS (the PICTURE trial) and of the body (the PROMISE trial). Combining study populations, over 500 individuals had MRI scans compared when done with gadopiclenol at half the dose of a conventional agent, gadobutrol, at full dose. Even with the lower dosage, blinded readers rated gadopiclenol scans as having comparable image quality.9-11

VUEWAY injection is manufactured in the U.S. by Liebel-Flarsheim Company LLC in Raleigh, NC. VUEWAY injection is approved for use in adult and pediatric patients aged 2 years and older with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the CNS ((brain, spine, and surrounding tissues) and the body (head and neck, thorax, abdomen, pelvis and musculoskeletal system).7

VUEWAY injection is now available to order from Bracco Diagnostics, Inc. Visit VUEWAY.com for more information, including full Prescribing Information.

VUEWAY (gadopiclenol) solution for injection

Indications

VUEWAY injection is indicated in adults and children aged 2 years and older for use with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to detect and visualize lesions with abnormal vascularity in:

the central nervous system (brain, spine and surrounding tissues),

the body (head and neck, thorax, abdomen, pelvis, and musculoskeletal system).

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION

WARNING: NEPHROGENIC SYSTEMIC FIBROSIS (NSF)

Gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs) increase the risk for NSF among patients with impaired elimination of the drugs. Avoid use of GBCAs in these patients unless the diagnostic information is essential and not available with non-contrasted MRI or other modalities. NSF may result in fatal or debilitating fibrosis affecting the skin, muscle and internal organs.

The risk for NSF appears highest among patients with:

Chronic, severe kidney disease (GFR < 30 mL/min/ 1.73 m 2 ), or



Acute kidney injury.

Screen patients for acute kidney injury and other conditions that may reduce renal function. For patients at risk for chronically reduced renal function (e.g. age > 60 years, hypertension, diabetes), estimate the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) through laboratory testing.

For patients at highest risk for NSF, do not exceed the recommended VUEWAY dose and allow a sufficient period of time for elimination of the drug from the body prior to any re-administration.

Contraindications

VUEWAY injection is contraindicated in patients with history of hypersensitivity reactions to VUEWAY.

Warnings

Risk of nephrogenic systemic fibrosis is increased in patients using GBCA agents that have impaired elimination of the drugs, with the highest risk in patients chronic, severe kidney disease as well as patients with acute kidney injury. Avoid use of GBCAs among these patients unless the diagnostic information is essential and not available with non-contrast MRI or other modalities.

Hypersensitivity reactions, including serious hypersensitivity reactions, could occur during use or shortly following VUEWAY administration. Assess all patients for any history of a reaction to contrast media, bronchial asthma and/or allergic disorders, administer VUEWAY only in situations where trained personnel and therapies are promptly available for the treatment of hypersensitivity reactions, and observe patients for signs and symptoms of hypersensitivity reactions after administration.

Gadolinium retention can be for months or years in several organs after administration. The highest concentrations (nanomoles per gram of tissue) have been identified in the bone, followed by other organs (brain, skin, kidney, liver and spleen). Minimize repetitive GBCA imaging studies, particularly closely spaced studies, when possible.

Acute kidney injury requiring dialysis has occurred with the use of GBCAs in patients with chronically reduced renal function. The risk of acute kidney injury may increase with increasing dose of the contrast agent.

Ensure catheter and venous patency before injecting as extravasation may occur, and cause tissue irritation.

VUEWAY may impair the visualization of lesions seen on non-contrast MRI. Therefore, caution should be exercised when Vueway MRI scans are interpreted without a companion non-contrast MRI scan.

The most common adverse reactions (incidence  0.5%) are injection site pain (0.7%), and headache (0.7%).

You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch or call 1-800-FDA-1088.

Please click here for full Prescribing Information for VUEWAY, including BOXED WARNING on Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis.

Manufactured for Bracco Diagnostics Inc. by Liebel-Flarsheim Company LLC - Raleigh, NC, USA 27616.

VUEWAY is a trademark of Bracco Imaging S.p.A.

All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

About Bracco Imaging

Bracco Imaging S.p.A. ("Bracco Imaging"), part of the Bracco Group, is an innovative world leader delivering end-to-end products and solutions through its comprehensive portfolio across diagnostic imaging modalities. Headquartered in Milan, Italy, Bracco Imaging's purpose is to improve people's lives by shaping the future of prevention and precision diagnostic imaging. The Bracco Imaging portfolio includes products and solutions for all key diagnostic imaging modalities: X-ray imaging, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), Contrast Enhanced Ultrasound (CEUS), and Nuclear Medicine through radioactive tracers and novel PET imaging agents. Bracco Imaging has approximately 3,600 employees and operates in more than 100 markets globally. Bracco Imaging has a well-skilled and innovative Research and Development (R&D) organization with an efficient process-oriented approach and track record in the diagnostic imaging industry. R&D activities are located in four centers based in Italy, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. Bracco Group global revenues were 1.4 billion Euros in 2020. To learn more about Bracco Imaging, visit www.bracco.com.

Bracco Diagnostics Inc. Media Relations (USA)

Kimberly Gerweck

Senior Manager, Marketing Communications

[email protected]

D: +1 609-524-2777

1 Robic C, Port M, Rousseaux O, et al. Physicochemical and Pharmacokinetic Profiles of Gadopiclenol: A New Macrocyclic Gadolinium Chelate with High T1 Relaxivity. Invest Radiol 2019; 54: 475-484.

2 GADAVIST (gadobutrol) Injection. Full Prescribing Information. Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals Inc. Whippany, NJ; April 2022.

3 DOTAREM (gadoterate meglumine) Injection. Full Prescribing Information. Guerbet LLC. Princeton, NJ. April 2022.

4 CLARISCAN (gadoterate meglumine) injection for intravenous use. Full Prescribing Information. GE Healthcare. Chicago, IL; February 2020.

5 ProHance (Gadoteridol) Injection. Full Prescribing Information and Patient Medication Guide. Monroe Twp., NJ: Bracco Diagnostics Inc.; June 2022.

6 MultiHance (gadobenate dimeglumine) Injection. Full Prescribing Information and Patient Medication Guide. Monroe Twp., NJ: Bracco Diagnostics Inc.; August 2018.

7 Vueway (gadopiclenol) Injection Full Prescribing Information. Monroe Twp., NJ: Bracco Diagnostics Inc.; September 2022.

8 Lohrke J, et al. 25 Years of Contrast-Enhanced MRI: Developments, Current Challenges and Future Perspectives. Adv Ther. 2016 Jan;33(1):1-28.

9 Loevner L, Kolumban B, Hutoczki G, et al. Efficacy and Safety of Gadopiclenol for Contrast-Enhanced MRI of the Central Nervous System. The PICTURE Randomized Clinical Trial. Invest Radiol. 2022 Dec.

10 Clinical Study Report of Study GDX-44-010. Data on file.

11 Clinical Study Report of Study GDX-44-011. Data on file.

US-VW-2300006 02/23

SOURCE Bracco Diagnostics Inc.
The funding round led by Lobby Capital fast-tracks the growth of the next generation PAM helping enterprises improve and streamline their Identity and Access Operations

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Procyon , the industry's first Privilege Access Management platform built for multi-cloud environments, today announced a $6.5 million equity financing to help organizations harness the growing identity and access management sprawl in cloud environments. The new investment was led by Lobby Capital with participation from GTM Capital and First Rays Venture Partners. This funding comes as Procyon, which already counts Fortune 100 companies among its early adopters, releases the industry's first privilege access management solution built from the ground up for cloud native environments.

The adoption of cloud-based infrastructure has created a gold rush for cyber criminals to steal credentials, which has compounded in complexity with the use of modern cloud systems like AWS, Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and Azure. According to a recent study, there are 30,000 unique permissions across the three major public clouds, with 17 new permissions being added every day. With the increase of required credentials for developers, the attack surface in enterprises is rising exponentially.

"Procyon's cloud-based PAM solution manages privileges in modern enterprises that demand control and governance." Tweet this

To meet this challenge, Procyon is redefining the conventional approach to privilege access management for developers and DevOps teams with a new model that meets their need for quick access to systems and applications while working across distributed teams to manage thousands of cloud services.

The Procyon Multi-Cloud Privilege Access Management platform offers

Self-Service Access  With a self-service portal that can be customized to incorporate enterprise security processes, the Procyon platform allows DevOps and Identity Access Management (IAM) Operations teams to request on-demand access to resources

 With a self-service portal that can be customized to incorporate enterprise security processes, the Procyon platform allows DevOps and Identity Access Management (IAM) Operations teams to request on-demand access to resources Zero Standing & Just in time Privileges (ZSP & JIT) - By enforcing zero standing privileges (ZSP) along with Just in time (JIT) access, the Procyon platform also eliminates security exposures from over privileged access to resources and personnel

By enforcing zero standing privileges (ZSP) along with Just in time (JIT) access, the Procyon platform also eliminates security exposures from over privileged access to resources and personnel Strong Device Identity  Using a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip on the modern devices, Procyon enables passwordless sign-in to all resources

 Using a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip on the modern devices, Procyon enables passwordless sign-in to all resources Compliance & Governance - The Procyon architecture offers the highest standard of compliance with support for major standards like PCI/SOC2 and audit logging and analytics allowing enterprises with the necessary visibility into who has access to what and when.

"Conventional PAM solutions are currently caught between a proverbial rock and hard place," said Sukhesh Halemane, CEO and Co-Founder, Procyon. "Cloud computing has exponentially increased the complexity of IT resources requiring privileged management. At the same time, escalating security concerns are forcing many modern enterprises to incorporate the best practices. Procyon's frictionless experience allows DevOps teams to operate both efficiently and securely."

Customers Underscore the Value of a Cloud-Based PAM Solution

"With the growth in public cloud computing-based systems like AWS, Google Cloud Platform and Azure, enterprises are looking for ways to keep their guard up against the constant, evolving threats that arise," said Lucas Moody, former Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer, Palo Alto Networks. "Procyon's cloud-based PAM solution provides a robust way to manage privileges in today's modern enterprise that demands greater control and governance to reduce business risk, complexity, and costs."

Industry Experts Highlight the Critical Need for A Next Generation PAM

"Privileged accounts used to create, configure and administer IT resources are the 'crown jewels' of every company's IT estate. Conventional solutions for Privileged Access Management (PAM) have been undermined by the explosion of cloud-based services and the corresponding democratization of resource management roles across a company's entire workforce," said Mark Settle, former CIO Okta Inc. "Procyon provides a practical, low friction solution for shielding cloud resources from intrusion or misuse by malicious actors by leveraging state-of-the-art biometric technology and microprocessor architectures to verify employee identity throughout a privileged work session."

Learn more about Procyon's solutions at https://www.procyon.ai /.

About Procyon

Procyon's Privilege Access Management solution, built from the ground up for multi-cloud and API based infrastructure, makes it easy for enterprises to manage privileges and access to critical resources. The Procyon solution leverages next generation networking, passwordless, and self-service capabilities to provide a seamless and secure solution. The company is headquartered in Santa Clara, California. For more information, visit https://www.procyon.ai or connect with us at email address and LinkedIn .

For more information, contact: [email protected]

SOURCE Procyon.ai
NOVATO, Calif., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- To celebrate Random Acts of Kindness Day on February 17th, Jill Lublin, author of the best-selling book The Profit of Kindness, is issuing a series of Kindness Challenges for people around the world.

These Kindness Challenges demonstrate the power of what's possible with kindness in your daily personal and professional life.

The Profit of Kindness by Jill Lublin Jill Lublin

Challenge #1: Connect with someone new on a deeper level. When you're at a networking event, talking to a new contact, or getting on that first Zoom call with someone, it's easy to come focused on your own agenda. For this challenge, you'll need to flip the script. Spend this first time connecting as deeply as possible with this new relationship. What are their biggest needs right now? What connections or resources would make a big difference in their life or business?

Challenge #2: Connect two (or more) people within your network without being asked. A conversation makes it easy for you to directly recognize someone's wants or needs since they're right in front of you. But what about people who you already know? Perhaps there are some people that you have great or long-standing relationships with that need to know each other. Maybe they'd be great colleagues, partners, or even just friends.

Challenge #3: Make a call (phone or video) to express your gratitude for someone. Although it's easy to put together a warm and heartfelt email, there's nothing quite like the feeling of hearing someone express their gratitude with you via their voice and their personal warmth. Taking a few moments to recognize someone and express your heartfelt sentiments to them can and will change a relationship for the better.

Challenge #4: Take some time for yourself to meditate or reflect. Even if you have a busy day ahead, give yourself the gift of kindness by taking a few moments to focus on yourself. Self-reflection helps you develop patience, avoid stress and burnout, and results in increased optimism. When you slow down and focus solely on what's going on in your inner world, it becomes far easier to manage yourself toward kindness and positivity.

Challenge #5: Plan something for yourself or your business for the long-term. Each day has its own unique set of circumstances that easily distract you from devoting time to longer-term activities. Don't forget, as humans we're wired to focus on immediate reward rather than on gradual change or results. This act of kindness will allow you to spend time focused on something that may not pay off today or tomorrow, but will create something to look forward to in the future.

Challenge #6: Do something generous without being asked or prompted. This is the most common random act of kindness. Pick up a check for someone. Surprise someone with coffee or a gift. Do something unexpected that you know will bring joy to anyone you can regardless of how well you know them or not. Even if this means simply spending time talking to someone and giving the gift of your time, that's more than enough!

Challenge 7: Write some simple, positive affirmation statements that you will review each day. Once you've cut out the negative, you need something to replace the space that's left behind. This means that you need to have strong statements that ground you into your positivity. What are your strengths? What makes you the happiest? How do you know that you're staying on the right track to be kind to yourself and others? The more you integrate these statements into your being, the less effort it takes to stay kind and positive.

Each one of these challenges have the opportunity to show you the power of kindness and what a difference it will make in your life.

Jill Lublin is an international speaker on the topics of Publicity, Networking, Kindness and Referrals. She is the author of 4 Best Selling books including Get Noticed...Get Referrals (McGraw Hill) and co-author of Guerrilla Publicity and Networking Magic. Her latest book, Profit of Kindness went #1 in four categories. Jill is a master strategist on how to position your business for more profitability and more visibility in the marketplace. She is CEO of a strategic consulting firm and has over 25 years experience working with over 100,000 people plus national and international media. Jill teaches a virtual Publicity Crash Course, and consults and speaks all over the world. She has spoken on many stages with luminaries such as Tony Robbins. Jill also leads an intentional kindness community. Visit publicitycrashcourse.com/freegift for information.

Contact:

Lynn Fox

[email protected]

415-246-8795

SOURCE Jill Lublin
B-Corp Certified pet company dedicated to saving the bees launches dog toys with scents appealing to both humans and dogs

MINNEAPOLIS, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Project Hive Pet Company is launching a line of pet toys with scents designed to please both dogs and humans. The new dog-approved toys, spanning five beautiful colors and scents, will be available in February 2023.

Project Hive Pet Company launches The Hive Scent Collection of Dog Toys!

The fragrant dog toys offer a new level of enrichment and engagement for dogs. The Hive Scent Collection includes five scents that both humans and dogs appreciate, including Wild Berry, Tropical Coconut, Calming Lavender, Sweet Mango, and Soothing Vanilla. In alignment with Project Hive Pet Company's mission to save the bees, all aromas in the Hive Scent Collection are inspired by plants that feed and need bees for pollination.

Three toys will offer the scents: the popular Hive Chew Toy and Hive Fetch Stick (designed to serve as treat dispensers for Hive Chew Sticks or other treats) and the Hive Disc + Lick Mat. The new line of made-in-the-USA toys maintains all the benefits of the original unscented dog toys. They float, are dishwasher-safe (the scent will not dissipate), BPA-free, gentle on dogs' teeth and gums, and recyclable.

"Dogs engage with the world through their sense of smell," said Project Hive Pet Company Co-founder Jim Schifman. "These scented toys are intentionally designed to connect to our save-the-bees mission, appeal to humans, and most importantly, fulfill a key enrichment need for dogs."

The pet company recently became B-Corp Certified and is dedicated to using business as a force for good. As a member of 1% for the Planet, Project Hive Pet Company helps save bees by restoring vital habitat for the declining bee population through its nonprofit partners in the U.S. and Canada. Bees pollinate about a third of our food supply and increase crop value by more than $15 billion. Project Hive Pet Company's goal is to establish more than 50 million square feet of healthy wildflower habitat by 2025. The company has already helped plant over 5 million square feet of habitat in North America.

These environmentally friendly, woof-worthy dog toys and treats are available at select local pet stores across the USA and Canada and online at projecthivepetcompany.com.

About Project Hive Pet Company

Project Hive Pet Company was founded to use business as a force good and with a mission to save the bees. Project Hive Pet Company makes USA-made interactive dog toys and treats that work together to create a fun, engaging experience for dogs. Hive dog treats help clean dogs' teeth, are vegetarian and are Non-GMO Project Verified. Hive dog toys float, are dishwasher-safe, BPA-free, recyclable, and gentle on dogs' teeth and gums. Every purchase helps to save bees by planting wildflowersrestoring vital habitat for the declining bee population. Let's make our planet thriveone happy dog and countless bees at a time. For more information, visit www.projecthivepetcompany.com.

CONTACT:

Carol Schuler

[email protected]

SOURCE Project Hive Pet Company
Company Sees Over 250% Growth in Both Revenue and Workforce; Sights Set on Mobile, Broadband and SMB/Enterprise Market In 2023

BOSTON, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Despite the current economic climate, companies like Reach continue to demonstrate their growth across several key areas. Reach, a top-rated global Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform powering the next generation of network-based services, today announced the company saw over 250% increases in both revenue and workforce growth.

Reach also raised $16 Million in funding last year as the company previously announced, bringing the total fundraising to $35.6 Million in June.

Reach prides itself on fostering a people-driven autonomous work culture, allowing team members to work in the way that best fits them, maximizing productivity and emphasizing the importance of innovation.

Reach operates its Technology Center in Bangalore, a highly competitive tech market, where the company recruits top developers and has the industry's lowest attrition rate. The company has also adopted a pod structure model popularized by leading consumer tech brands where technology is developed with speed and reliability. Today Reach employs nearly 200 people, the majority of whom work in engineering or tech support roles.

"It has been fun to grow at an exceptional pace, like a true startup, while also working with large marquee customers," said Harjot Saluja, Founder and CEO of Reach. "Our model is working for both our partners and our team  it's about not letting process get in the way of innovation, and not letting speed get in the way of reliability, a delicate balance we've struck and continue to optimize daily."

Reach saw 250% revenue growth in 2022 for its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform, with significant growth stemming from the broadband industry. The platform offers a one-stop-shop for launching and operating use cases such as Broadband Internet, MVNO, Fixed Wireless Access, Failover Internet, and IOT with unprecedented simplicity and speed.

The Reach platform has a solution for every persona (End Users  consumers or enterprises, Agents  sales and support and Key Stakeholders  Finance, marketing, product, accounting etc.) and for every step of the persona journey (Learn, Buy, Get, Pay, Use, Support, Acquire). Virtually everything needed to operate a network-based service can be found in the cloud-native platform  so that in theory, all a company needs to do to get started is bring an idea.

About Reach

Reach is a technology company headquartered in Boston with a mission to simplify monetizing network assets across wireless, broadband and satellite infrastructures. Reachs cloud-based SaaS platform allows companies to launch innovative network-based services quickly  and simply. Our end-to-end solution combines network connectivity, powerful IT and Back Office tools, and sleek user interfaces into a flexible and scalable platform. Our partners save time and money as they launch high-quality, differentiated network-based services. At Reach, we abide by the principle If you dont love it, dont put it out. This commitment to innovation and quality embodies how we show up for our partners, our employees, and the communities in which we work.

Media Contacts:

Deidre Hart

732-407-1062

[email protected]

SOURCE Reach Mobile
More than 2,000 pieces of winter supplies were sent to Turkey for quake relief amid bleak winter

HONG KONG, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On 13 February, a handover ceremony was held at Fosun's Sanhe Emergency Supplies Depot to hand over the relief supplies jointly donated by Fosun Foundation, Tom Tailor, a member company of Yuyuan, and Fosun Trade to quake-hit areas in Turkey. It was attended by Huseyin Emre Engin, Consul General of Turkey in Shanghai and Li Haifeng, Chairman of Fosun Foundation.

The urgently gathered relief supplies, which include more than 2,000 pieces of down jackets, knitted pants, sweatshirts and sleeping bags in total value of RMB1 million, were aimed to keep the victims warm in the inclement winter and protect workers of disaster relief and reconstruction. Huseyin Emre Engin, Consul General of Turkey in Shanghai accepted the donation on behalf of Turkey. "Fosun Foundation was the first to contact us after the disaster, it is also the first charitable force which responded to the disaster relief in Turkey. We will promptly send these supplies to quake-hit areas in greatest need so as to help as many earthquake victims in Turkey as possible," he said at the ceremony.

The supplies will be sent to quake-hit areas within days by the Turkish relief airplanes for providing earthquake relief as soon as possible. Li Haifeng, Chairman of Fosun Foundation said humanitarian relief is an important responsibility of Fosun Foundation. "We contacted the Turkish Consulate General right after the disaster happened. We hope that the quick integration of our relief and supply chains will bring Turkish people the much-needed supplies together with a profound friendship from the Chinese people. We believe that through joint efforts of the Turkish government and its people, Turkey will certainly usher in a victory in the post-disaster reconstruction and shine bright again."

Fosun Foundation understands that weather in Turkey continues to be cold and humid recently with the relief and reconstruction work being undermined in such poor conditions. Besides, the victims buried under the relics and those managed to flee in pajamas in the small hours have nothing to keep them warm in sub-zero temperatures. In order to ease Turkey's predicament, Fosun Foundation contacted Tom Tailor promptly for arranging winter supplies for quake-hit areas. Tom Tailor responded positively and provided the greatest possible assistance for the victims by supplying down jackets, knitted pants and sweatshirts in all sizes and colours taking into consideration different ages and genders of the victims. "Yuyuan always stays true to the original aspiration of 'contribution to society' and has been paying attention to the latest news about the Turkish earthquake. We rapidly deployed this batch of winter clothes from the domestic depot in the last several days, hoping to help the victims with our greatest possible efforts. Besides, we hope that the relief work will be carried out smoothly and the victims will soon recover from the devastation, rebuild their homes and return to their daily lives!" said Hu Tingzhou, President of Yuyuan.

SOURCE Fosun
DUBLIN, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Research Report on Southeast Asia IC Design Industry 2023-2032" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Southeast Asia in this report includes 10 countries: Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Brunei, Laos and Cambodia. With a total population of over 600 million by the end of 2021, Southeast Asia has an overall economic growth rate higher than the global average and is one of the key drivers of future global economic growth.

The development of the IC design industry in Southeast Asian countries differs greatly. According to the publisher's analysis, Singapore is a major semiconductor manufacturing town with a mature semiconductor industry chain of IC design, manufacturing, packaging and testing, etc.

Chip design giants such as Broadcom, Ceres and MediaTek have set up R & D centers and operation facilities in Singapore, etc. Malaysia's IC design industry has also gained a certain scale. Malaysia is an important global semiconductor packaging and testing center. After years of development, Malaysia has a number of chip design companies, gradually moving closer to the front-end IC design segment from the semiconductor back-end process base. The IC design industry in Thailand, Vietnam and other countries has also started to develop gradually.

Overall, according to the publisher's forecast, the size of Southeast Asia's IC design industry will maintain growth from 2023-2032. On the one hand, Southeast Asian countries are rich in labor resources and low production costs, and global chip manufacturers have been transferring production capacity to Southeast Asia, which has to a certain extent cultivated local technical talents and improved local R & D level.

On the other hand, the global chip supply is tight and demand continues to rise, Southeast Asian countries try to seize the opportunity to promote the upgrading of the local chip industry.

Topics covered:

Southeast Asia IC Design Industry Status and Major Sources in 2018-2022

What is the Impact of COVID-19 on Southeast Asia IC Design Industry?

Which Companies are the Major Players in Southeast Asia IC Design Industry Market and What are their Competitive Benchmarks?

Key Drivers and Market Opportunities in Southeast Asia IC Design Industry

What are the Key Drivers, Challenges, and Opportunities for Southeast Asia IC Design Industry during 2023-2032?

What is the Expected Revenue of Southeast Asia IC Design Industry during 2023-2032?

What are the Strategies Adopted by the Key Players in the Market to Increase Their Market Share in the Industry?

What are the Competitive Advantages of the Major Players in Southeast Asia IC Design Industry Market?

Which Segment of Southeast Asia IC Design Industry is Expected to Dominate the Market in 2032?

What are the Major Adverse Factors Facing Southeast Asia IC Design Industry?

Key Topics Covered:

1 Analysis of the IC Design Industry in Singapore

1.1 Singapore IC Design Industry Development Environment

1.1.1 Geography

1.1.2 Population

1.1.3 Economy

1.1.4 Singapore Manufacturing Minimum Wage

1.2 Singapore IC Design Industry Operation 2018-2022

1.2.1 Singapore IC Design Industry Size

1.2.2 Singapore IC Design Industry Revenue Status

1.3 Analysis of Major IC Design Manufacturing Companies in Singapore

2 Analysis of Thailand IC Design Industry

2.1 Thailand IC Design Industry Development Environment

2.1.1 Geography

2.1.2 Population

2.1.3 Economy

2.1.4 Thailand Manufacturing Minimum Wage

2.2 Thailand IC Design Industry Operation Status 2018-2022

2.2.1 Thailand IC Design Industry Size

2.2.2 Thailand IC Design Industry Revenue Situation

2.3 Analysis of Major IC Design Manufacturing Companies in Thailand

3 Analysis of the IC Design Industry in the Philippines

3.1 Development Environment of IC Design Industry in the Philippines

3.1.1 Geography

3.1.2 Population

3.1.3 Economy

3.1.4 Philippines Manufacturing Minimum Wage

3.2 Operation of IC Design Industry in the Philippines 2018-2022

3.2.1 Philippines IC Design Industry Size

3.2.2 Revenue Status of IC Design Industry in the Philippines

3.3 Analysis of Major IC Design Manufacturing Companies in the Philippines

4 Malaysia IC Design Industry Analysis

4.1 Malaysia IC Design Industry Development Environment

4.1.1 Geography

4.1.2 Population

4.1.3 Economy

4.1.4 Malaysia Manufacturing Minimum Wage

4.2 Malaysia IC Design Industry Operation 2018-2022

4.2.1 Malaysia IC Design Industry Size

4.2.2 Malaysia IC Design Industry Revenue Status

4.3 Analysis of Major IC Design Manufacturing Companies in Malaysia

5 Indonesia IC Design Industry Analysis

5.1 Indonesia IC Design Industry Development Environment

5.1.1 Geography

5.1.2 Population

5.1.3 Economy

5.1.4 Indonesia Manufacturing Minimum Wage

5.2 Indonesia IC Design Industry Operation 2018-2022

5.2.1 Indonesia IC Design Industry Size

5.2.2 Indonesia IC Design Industry Revenue Status

5.3 Analysis of Major IC Design Manufacturing Companies in Indonesia

6 Vietnam IC Design Industry Analysis

6.1 Vietnam IC Design Industry Development Environment

6.1.1 Geography

6.1.2 Population

6.1.3 Economy

6.1.4 Vietnam Manufacturing Minimum Wage

6.2 Operation of IC Design Industry in Vietnam 2018-2022

6.2.1 Vietnam IC Design Industry Size

6.2.2 Vietnam IC Design Industry Revenue Situation

6.3 Major IC Design Manufacturing Companies in Vietnam

7 Myanmar IC Design Industry Analysis

7.1 Development Environment of Myanmar IC design industry

7.1.1 Geography

7.1.2 Population

7.1.3 Economy

7.1.4 Myanmar Manufacturing Minimum Wage

7.2 Myanmar IC Design Industry Operation 2018-2022

7.2.1 Myanmar IC Design Industry Size

7.2.2 Myanmar IC Design Industry Revenue Situation

7.3 Major IC Design Manufacturing Companies in Myanmar

8 Brunei IC Design Industry Analysis

8.1 Development Environment of Brunei IC Design Industry

8.1.1 Geography

8.1.2 Population

8.1.3 Economy

8.1.4 Brunei Manufacturing Minimum Wage

8.2 Brunei IC Design Industry Operation Status 2018-2022

8.2.1 Brunei IC Design Industry Size

8.2.2 Brunei IC Design Industry Revenue Situation

8.3 Brunei Major Manufacturing Companies

9 Laos IC Design Industry Analysis

9.1 Development Environment of IC Design Industry in Laos

9.1.1 Geography

9.1.2 Population

9.1.3 Economy

9.1.4 Minimum Wage of Manufacturing Industry in Laos

9.2 Laos IC Design Industry Operation 2018-2022

9.2.1 Laos IC Design Industry Size

9.2.2 Laos IC Design Industry Revenue Status

9.3 Major IC Design Manufacturing Companies in Laos

10 Cambodia IC Design Industry Analysis

10.1 Development Environment of Cambodia IC Design Industry

10.1.1 Geography

10.1.2 Population

10.1.3 Economy

10.1.4 Minimum Wage of Manufacturing Industry in Cambodia

10.2 Cambodia IC Design Industry Operation Status 2018-2022

10.2.1 Cambodia IC Design Industry Size

10.2.2 Cambodia IC Design Industry Revenue Status

10.3 Major IC Design Manufacturing Companies in Cambodia

11 Southeast Asia IC Design Industry Outlook, 2023-2032

11.1 Southeast Asia IC Design Industry Development Influencing Factors Analysis

11.1.1 Favorable Factors

11.1.2 Unfavorable Factors

11.2 Southeast Asia IC Design Industry Supply Forecast 2023-2032

11.3 Southeast Asia IC Design Manufacturing Market Demand Forecast 2023-2032

11.4 Impact of COVID -19 Epidemic on IC Design Industry

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/9t6aqd-report?w=5

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

Media Contact: Laura Wood | +353-1-481-1716 | [email protected]

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/539438/Research_and_Markets_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Research and Markets
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Resecurity, a Los Angeles-based cybersecurity provider protecting Fortune 500 globally, has cemented its place as one of the fastest-growing threat management service providers. The company has recently bagged several awards, announcing itself as the next big thing in the IT security world. Some of its accolades include "Gold Winner" in three of the most prestigious categories in the Cybersecurity Excellence Awards-Third Party Risk Management, Cyber Threat Intelligence, and Cyber Threat Management. The most significant addition to its trophy chest is featuring among the latest Frost and Sullivan "Global Threat Intelligence Platforms Market 2022" and "External Risk Mitigation & Management (ERMM)" categories. Moreover, GRC Outlook Magazine also listed Resecurity under the top 10 threat management solution providers of 2022 along with DarkTrace, Obsidian and Imperva (Formerly Prevoty). The justification for this latest recognition is Resecurity's innovative approach to cybersecurity and threat management supported by Human Intelligence (HUMINT) team for deep-dive investigation and threat intelligence research (Resecurity HUNTER).

Resecurity has developed an all-in-one integrated platform for cyber threat intelligence, risk management, identity and endpoint protection. The technology leveraging Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) model will accelerate an effective work of Security Operations Centers (SOC) and Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) teams to protect their enterprise ecosystem moving to Security by integrating essential components of Security Service Edge (SSE) and a scalable data lake containing a vast amount of actionable cyber threat intelligence data and related telemetry.

Resecurity also emphasizes the importance of actionable intelligence in combating cyber attacks. To this end, the Resecurity threat management offering provides businesses with valuable actor-centric intelligence from the Dark Web and the trends of the cybercrime underground economy. With the Resecurity, CISOs and their security teams will receive early-warning alerts about possible threats originating from cybercrime and espionage groups, data breach warning, exposed credentials, vulnerable services and other cyber risk indicators.

Businesses can receive enterprise cybersecurity posture information from two components of Resecurity's threat management tool  the Cyber Risk Quantification (CRQ) and the Cyber Risk Assessment (CRA) apparatus. These components are SaaS-powered solutions accessible through Microsoft Azure, Amazon AWS, and Oracle Cloud that will aid businesses in making the right decisions in protecting their data treasure chests.

"Effective threat management is about knowing what your attack surface comprises, understanding where security gaps exist and what assets are most appealing to threat actors, and honing the ability to detect while ensuring a quick and effective response. Threat management is a framework and related set of practices that enable organizations to identify, assess, classify, and respond to threats and associated vulnerabilities, using proven remediation and mitigation techniques and best practices to reduce dwell time and minimize cyber risks faster and with more accuracy." - said Christian Lees, Chief Technology Officer (Resecurity, Inc.). "On top of it, Resecurity applies cutting-edge Data Science, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Machine Learning (ML), making the data actionable and the delivery  unparalleled and scalable. Resecurity solutions are SaaS-based and delivered via major cloud marketplaces including Amazon AWS, MSFT Azure, and Oracle Cloud." - he added.

About Resecurity

Resecurity is a cybersecurity company that delivers a unified platform for endpoint protection, risk management, and cyber threat intelligence. Known for providing best-of-breed data-driven intelligence solutions, Resecurity's services and platforms focus on early-warning identification of data breaches and comprehensive protection against cybersecurity risks. Founded in 2016, it has been globally recognized as one of the world's most innovative cybersecurity companies with the sole mission of enabling organizations to combat cyber threats regardless of how sophisticated they are. Most recently, Resecurity was named as one of the Top 10 fastest-growing private cybersecurity companies in Los Angeles, California by Inc. Magazine. An Official Member and a Gold Sponsor of InfraGard National Members Alliance (INMA), AFCEA, NDIA, SIA, FS-ISAC and the American Chamber of Commerce in Saudi Arabia (AmChamKSA), Singapore (AmChamSG), Korea (AmChamKorea), Mexico (AmChamMX), and UAE (AmChamDubai). To learn more about Resecurity, visit https://resecurity.com.

SOURCE Resecurity
A Memorable Year for Jada Winery; Continued Investment in High-End DTC Winery

PASO ROBLES, Calif., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Riboli Family Wines, family-owned and operated since 1917, reflects on the acquisition of Jada Vineyard & Winery in the heart of Paso's "Grand Cru", the Willow Creek District of Paso Robles, California. Jada Vineyard is known for top quality Rhone and Bordeaux style red and white wines. Riboli Family Wines acquired Jada's 89-acre property last year, complete with a tasting room and estate vineyards that have organic practices with emphasis on soil and plant health. In the past year, the Riboli Family cemented organic practices with official organic certification via the CCOF (California Certified Organic Farmers). Jada Vineyard joined the growing Riboli Estates Group portfolio of estate grown wines, including San Simeon, Maddalena, Opaque, Riboli Family Vineyard and Highlands 41.

Jada Vineyard & Winery entrance on Vineyard Drive, Willow Creek

"At Jada, no two blocks, nor two vintages, are treated the same." says Josh Messina, General Manager, "and the Riboli family has allowed us to continue taking an innovative and cutting-edge approach to winemaking and grape growing. We are fortunate that Riboli Family Wines shares the philosophy of continuing a longstanding tradition of producing small lot, carefully crafted, premium wines."

Highlights since last year's acquisition include the CCOF organic certification - in addition to the CSWA certification for sustainability, robust renovations and additions to hospitality areas on the property, the launch of a new website and continued top scores for these unique and limited wines:

2019 WCS Cabernet Sauvignon  98+ Points by Jeb Dunnuck , 2 nd year "Top 100 Wine 2022", 96+pts by Wine Advocate

, 2 year "Top 100 Wine 2022", 96+pts by 2019 Jack of Hearts  98 Points by Jeb Dunnuck , 96 Points by Wine Advocate

, 96 Points by 2019 Passing By  97 Points by Jeb Dunnuck , 96+ Points by Wine Advocate

"We're proud this acquisition elevates our Paso Robles' portfolio, but more honored to continue Jada's state of the art winemaking process while providing superb experiences for customers," said Anthony Riboli, 4th Generation Winemaker.

Visitors can look forward to new hospitality experiences soon to be unveiled from the idyllic Westside on Vineyard Drive and other areas on the property like the Tree House, Bowery, Oak Lounge, and The Grove. Consumers will be treated to unique tasting experiences that feature a dedicated VIP host, exclusive wine flights, and food pairings.

ABOUT RIBOLI FAMILY WINES

Riboli Family Wines, family-owned since 1917, celebrates over a century crafting award-winning wines. Winner of Wine Enthusiasts' 2018 "American Winery of the Year", Riboli Family Wines includes Riboli Estates Group  a portfolio of estate-based brands sourced from the family's 1,800 acres of sustainably farmed vineyards in Paso Robles, Monterey, and Napa Valley  as well as Stella Rosa, the #1 Import Brand and the largest selling brand over $10 in the US[i]. With an affinity for business and innovation, the 3rd and 4th generations of the Riboli Family continue to lead the industry and push the boundaries of winemaking and the wine drinking experience. For more information, please visit www.riboliwines.com.

ABOUT JADA VINEYARD & WINERY

Jada Vineyard was founded in 1999. The goal was to establish a small, sustainable estate vineyard that would produce world-class Rhone and Bordeaux wines. Jada is now counted as one of the leading premium winegrowers and producers in Paso Robles. Today, the Riboli Family, continues this pioneering tradition and ambition to produce only the best organically farmed, estate wines. For more information, please visit www.jadavineyard.com.

i Source: Impact Databank 2022. Based on retail value

Press Contact:

Nadea Mina, Vice President, Benson Marketing Group

[email protected]

Contact: Marie-Christina Batich, Benson Marketing Group

[email protected]

SOURCE Riboli Family Wines
Member of Parliament, Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights and Public Affairs Taguhi Tovmasyan held a meeting with Artsakh Human Rights Defender Gegham Stepanyan and Artsakh State Ministers Adviser, ex-Human Rights Defender Artak Beglaryan.

February 14, 2023, 09:43 MP Taguhi Tovmasyan with Artsakh officials discuss possible measures to overcome humanitarian disaster

STEPANAKERT, FEBRUARY 14, ARTSAKHPRESS: I have received Gegham Stepanyan and Artak Beglaryan, current and previous Human Rights Defenders of the Republic of Artsakh.

We held a discussion about the possible means to overcome the humanitarian disaster arisen as a consequence of the blockade of Artsakh by Azerbaijan, a number of issues on human rights protection of Artsakh Armenians.

I always stand for Artsakh and our compatriots, Tovmasyan said in a statement.
SAN DIEGO, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Rivian R1T ranks above all electric and gas-powered pickups as the most Loved truck in America. The answer to why is detailed in Strategic Vision's annual Most Loved Vehicles (MLV), which examines 118 different vehicle attributes and features measured on a unique scale that captures the "top box" experiences owners Love. Strategic Vision's President and industry spokesman Alexander Edwards breaks down how this research explains the R1T's success; "The R1T generated more love with truck owners, including very competitive Ford models, often where it counts. For example, owners rated the R1T better than the F-150 and F-150 Lighting in Towing Capacity. The R1T also generated more love in all Ford truck models, including the F-250, in other important attributes such as Acceleration from Stop, Passing Capability, Off-Road Capability, Ground Clearance, Level of Standard Equipment, and Quality of Interior Materials."

Strategic Vision is the only research company in the world that provides large-scale, comprehensive research using detailed attribute study measurements from a seven-point super-ordinal scale that uses words and phrases from the natural language expressed by consumers as they describe how they feel about an experience. Christopher Chaney, Senior Vice President of Strategic Vision, explains the benefits of the deeper research conducted by Strategic Vision, "When people use words such as 'hate,' 'satisfied,' and 'love,' they express the emotional impact of a rational experience. Scales that only judge 'satisfaction' miss the full extent of the experience. 'Love' leads to loyalty and advocacy and that is what we measure," says Chaney. "Failing to measure Love misses the traits which create loyalty, missing future sales. If Love were properly measured and applied to the very first Apple iPhone experiences, Blackberry and others would probably not have lost many billions of dollars in market share to Apple," concludes Chaney.

Rivian R1T is more Loved than Ford Trucks, says Strategic Vision Tweet this

EV makers, government agencies and Wall Street can all learn lessons from studying the Most Loved Vehicles and take notes from the success of the customer experience like Rivian and the other leaders. "With current economic struggles, close attention should be paid to what vehicle younger buyers Love and can afford to purchase, such as the Hyundai Kona and how it provides owners with a small wealth of impactful features," remarks Strategic Vision analyst, Ryan Ruiz. "Understanding why the Mitsubishi Outlander Sport elicits the feelings it does will help automotive manufacturers communicate more effectively to potential future customers resulting in increased sales, market share, and stock value," concludes Ruiz.

Further findings from Strategic Vision's latest research bore the following results. Kia found success with the K5, Stinger, and Carnival as they are category leaders in 2023. The Kia Stinger was also the Most Loved mass-market vehicle among both African and Latin Americans. The BMW 4-Series Gran Coupe and BMW 2-Series Gran Coupe tied with the Infiniti QX50 as leaders among the same categories in their respective segments. Other highlights include the Mercedes-Benz GLE as the Most Loved luxury SUV/CUV. The Porsche 911 and Bentley Continental were statistically tied for the Most Loved Vehicle in their segment.

The 2023 Most Loved Vehicles in America, with their scores, are as follows:

Category Most Loved MLV Cars Under $35,000 Kia K5 588 Cars $35,000 and Over Porsche 911/Bentley Continental (TIE) 606/605 SUVs/CUVs Under $45,000 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport 568 SUVs/CUVs $46,000 and Over Mercedes-Benz GLE 615 Pickup Trucks Rivian R1T 571 Minivans Kia Carnival 500 Women Audi A5/RS5 Sportback 698 Mass Market by African American Kia Stinger 669 Luxury by African American BMW 4-Series Gran Coupe 693 Mass Market by Latin American Kia Stinger 712 Luxury by Latin American BMW 2-Series Gran Coupe/Infiniti QX50 (TIE) 671/669 Mass Market by Youth (29 and Under) Hyundai Kona 724 Luxury by Youth (29 and Under) BMW X5 726

Strategic Vision is an international consulting and advisory services organization that focuses on understanding and predicting advocacy, conquest, and loyalty according to personal values and decision-making structure. Strategic Vision's annual Most Loved Vehicles (MLV) report is based on annual results from 200,000 new vehicle owners in the New Vehicle Experience Study (NVES). NVES possesses large sample research, including unique brands like Bentley, Rolls Royce, Maserati, etc. and can examine most loved categories among all emerging markets, such as African and Latin Americans. For further information or interview requests, please contact Alexander Edwards or Christopher Chaney at 858.576.7141, or email [email protected] .

SOURCE Strategic Vision
Santa Clara University's online MBA lands in the Poets&Quants top 10 Best Online MBA Programs and U.S. News & World Report's top 50 Best Online MBA Programs.

CHICAGO, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Santa Clara University's Leavey School of Business has earned top spots among two national online MBA rankings lists. Poets&Quants ranks SCU's online MBA among the top 10 Best Online MBA Programs of 2023, including No. 1 rankings in the Academic Experience and Career Outcomes categories for the second consecutive year. U.S. News & World Report ranks the program No. 37 out of 344 programs in their Best Online MBA Programs and No. 2 in California. U.S. News & World Report also ranked Leavey's online graduate programs No. 38 among Online MS in Business Programs (excluding MBA), with top 15 rankings in several specialties. The programs are supported by Chicago-based education technology and service solutions provider, Everspring.

Poets&Quants focuses its annual rankings on three equally weighted categories: quality of incoming students, academic experiences offered by the MBA program and career outcomes of graduates. U.S. News & World Report evaluates online programs based on quality of engagement, student outcomes, student services, technology and other key factors to help students select the best program for their needs.

"These rankings reflect the incredible dedication of our faculty and staff who are committed to delivering the best educational experiences to our students," Ed Grier, dean of the Leavey School of Business said. "Their passion, along with our partners at Everspring, and our unwavering focus on supporting best-in-class learning design and high-touch student engagement strategies are key to our ongoing success."

Since launching the partnership in 2017, Everspring has provided a full suite of support services for the Leavey School's high-caliber online programs, including market research, portfolio planning, digital marketing, program development, instructional design and faculty support, as well as integrated admissions and student services.

In partnership with Everspring, SCU provides a distinctive online MBA program that capitalizes on its premier location, faculty expertise and a strong network of Silicon Valley-based executives and alumni to students across the nation in an accessible online space. The program features the "SVP Dashboard" (Silicon Valley Professional), an innovative and personalized virtual tool that enables students to envision how their coursework aligns with the mastery of crucial leadership skills sought by Silicon Valley employers.

"We are incredibly proud of our partnership with Santa Clara University," said Beth Hollenberg, CEO and co-founder of Everspring. "This program continues to demonstrate the power of how a strong partnership can deliver high-quality online programs that align with student needs and yield unparalleled learning experiences and outstanding results."

About Santa Clara University and the Leavey School of Business

Founded in 1851, Santa Clara University sits in the heart of Silicon Valleythe world's most innovative and entrepreneurial region. With undergraduate programs in arts and sciences, business, and engineering, and graduate programs in six disciplines, the curriculum blends high-tech innovation with social consciousness grounded in the 450-year tradition of Jesuit, Catholic education. The Leavey School of Business offers four online graduate programs designed to broaden students' business knowledge in Marketing, Business Analytics, and Finance and Analytics that develop entrepreneurial leaders of competence, conscience and compassion. For more information, visit www.scu.edu/business.

About Everspring

Everspring is a leading provider of education technology and service solutions for higher education. Our advanced technology, proven marketing approach, and robust faculty support and instructional design services deliver outstanding outcomes for our university partners, powering their success online. Everspring offers a range of full-service turnkey solutions, as well as standalone fee-for-service offerings, and innovative self-service products that enable universities to establish themselves as leaders in the digital delivery of higher education. Based in Chicago, Everspring serves a growing number of colleges and universities nationwide.

Visit www.everspringpartners.com for more information. Don't just go digital. BE DIGITAL.

SOURCE Everspring
MONTVALE, N.J., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America (SIICA), a division of Sharp Electronics Corporation (SEC), is thrilled to share that CRN, a brand of The Channel Company, has once again included John Sheehan, Senior Vice President of B2B Channel Sales and Bob Madaio, Vice President of Marketing, on its esteemed 2023 Channel Chiefs list. CRN's annual Channel Chiefs list identifies leading IT vendors who meet the rapidly changing needs of channel partners and customers to garner success.

Bob Madaio, Vice President of Marketing John Sheehan, Senior Vice President of B2B Channel Sales

For the sixth consecutive year, John was chosen as a CRN Channel Chief based on his strong leadership skills across Sharp's document channel and professional AV B2B teams. This year, he played a pivotal role in the communications and management of the Sharp and Sharp-NEC Display Solutions joint venture, driving the brand's long-term strategy and delivering on a consistent message and channel partner experience. With experience working with end-user clients, John has provided solutions for vertical markets and has developed channel management, branding and strategy. See John's profile here.

Bob  a three-peat CRN Channel Chief honoree  was again chosen for his exemplary leadership over the marketing team by providing channel partners with unique solutions that can help them enhance branding and improve channel sales enablement for Sharp solutions in the information technology industry. Bob has worked to further Sharp's channel business through events, visiting dealerships and partners, and presenting broad program ideas in virtual feedback settings. In addition, he crafted educational webinars and built a roadshow for Sharp executives to meet with the channel community for one-on-one collaboration and learning. See Bob's profile here.

"We are excited to see that both John and Bob have been named Channel Chiefs once again  recognizing their ongoing hard work and industry insight to make our resellers successful," said Mike Marusic, President and CEO, SIICA. "Both are critical leaders in key channel initiatives that helped our dealers navigate the pandemic recovery and supply chain challenges with new programs and support. We are proud of both John and Bob's outstanding commitment to our dealers and the efforts they have made to grow our partners' businesses."

A panel of CRN editors selected the 2023 Channel Chiefs for developing strategies and creating partner programs amidst industry disruptions and changes. Honorees were chosen for strategic solutions and resources to support channel partners' success.

CRN's 2023 Channel Chiefs list will be featured in the February 2023 issue of CRN Magazine and online at www.CRN.com/ChannelChiefs.

About Sharp Electronics Corporation

Sharp Electronics Corporation is the U.S. subsidiary of Japan's Sharp Corporation. Sharp is a worldwide developer of one-of-a-kind home appliances, networked multifunctional office solutions, professional displays, and smart office technologies. Sharp has been named to Fortune magazine's World's Most Admired Company Lists, ranking the world's most respected and reputable companies. Sharp's headquarters in Montvale, NJ has been named a "Best Places to Work in NJ" in 2021 and 2022 by NJBIZ, a leading New Jersey business publication.

About Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America

Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America (SIICA) is a division of Sharp Electronics Corporation. SIICA markets Sharp's Simply Smarter business products and solutions, such as Synappx applications, professional displays, laptops, desktop monitors and a full suite of copier and printer solutions, that can help companies manage workflow efficiently and increase productivity so they can work smarter. SIICA markets its products through a vast network of independent dealerships and its direct sales division Sharp Business Systems (SBS). By accelerating collaboration, improving efficiencies, digitizing workflows and increasing information security, Sharp strives to help businesses achieve Simply Smarter work through technology that is smart and easy to use.

For more information on Sharp's business products, visit our website at business.sharpusa.com. Become a fan of Sharp business products on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram and watch us on YouTube .

Peppercomm for Sharp

Paul Merchan

212.931.6172

[email protected]

SOURCE Sharp Electronics Corporation
STAMFORD, Conn., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The trial law firm Silver Golub & Teitell LLP has named Daniel S. Jo to the firm's partnership. Mr. Jo is a member of the firm's Medical Malpractice, Serious Personal Injury, and Commercial & Corporate Disputes practices.

Mr. Jo represents individuals and the families of individuals who have suffered catastrophic injuries as a result of the negligence or recklessness of others, including product liability and cases of wrongful death and serious personal injury as a result of medical malpractice.

Daniel "has helped recover millions of dollars for clients," said senior partner Angelo A. Ziotas. Tweet this Daniel S. Jo

"Daniel is a key member of the team representing clients in medical malpractice and catastrophic injury cases and has helped recover millions of dollars for clients," said Angelo A. Ziotas, a senior partner at Silver Golub & Teitell. "We are proud and delighted to welcome him to the partnership," Mr. Ziotas said.

Mr. Jo joined the firm in 2011, representing clients in complex civil litigation matters, including claims related to Bernard L. Madoff's Ponzi scheme, significant ERISA liability incurred in connection with a complex corporate reorganization, and wrongful death as a result of defects in aircraft engine components.

Mr. Jo began his legal career as a corporate litigator at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP in New York, where he represented institutional clients in matters related to the Enron class action, the SEC's investigation of the New York Stock Exchange, and complex disputes between industry leaders over long-term supply contracts.

He is a former president and board member of the Connecticut Asian Pacific American Bar Association and currently serves as the president of the association's Educational Foundation. He is also a member of the Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association; Fairfield County Bar Association; American Association for Justice; Asian American Bar Association of New York; and the Korean American Lawyers Association of Greater New York. He is a graduate of Cornell Law School and Dartmouth College.

About Silver Golub & Teitell

Silver Golub & Teitell is a firm of trial lawyers who thrive in high-stakes litigation. For nearly 50 years, we have represented individuals and plaintiffs in medical malpractice, personal injury, class action and complex civil litigation cases. We have returned billions of dollars in jury verdicts and settlements to our clients.

SOURCE Silver Golub & Teitell LLP
The iconic Chicago attraction celebrated three couples' love stories on The Ledge glass observation deck in honor of Valentine's Day



CHICAGO, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Skydeck Chicago , the breathtaking observation deck on the 103rd floor of the Willis Tower, held its 7th annual Valentine's Day contest, "Love on The Ledge" over the weekend. On Sunday, February 12, 2023, one lucky couple tied the knot, and two daring couples renewed their vows in romantic ceremonies on The Ledge, 1,353 feet above Chicago.

Pictured from left to right: David Flores and Kelly Dupre, Paul and Tiffany Jones, Christine and William Ramsey

Skydeck Chicago selected three winning couples in late January. The private, officiated 15-minute ceremonies on The Ledge were complimented by sunny skyline views, romantic florals and decor. Additionally, the winning couples each received a stay at Canopy by Hilton Chicago Central Loop, a professional photoshoot, and deluxe offerings onsite, including breakfast and a champagne toast. The couples' love stories included below:

Kelly Dupre & David Flores (Wedding) : Chicago holds a special place in Kelly and David's hearts as it's where they embarked on their first date, including an unforgettable trip to Skydeck Chicago. The couple planned to wed last year, but plans changed when they welcomed their beautiful daughter into the world. Ever since, they have dreamed of returning to the city where they fell in love, as a family of 3.

Chicago holds a special place in Kelly and David's hearts as it's where they embarked on their first date, including an unforgettable trip to Skydeck Chicago. The couple planned to wed last year, but plans changed when they welcomed their beautiful daughter into the world. Ever since, they have dreamed of returning to the city where they fell in love, as a family of 3. William & Christine Ramsey (Vow Renewal) : A small courthouse wedding has led to more than 25 loving years of marriage for William and Christine. They hoped their 25th anniversary would bring a vow renewal but were delayed by COVID-19. They took the chance to be chosen to have a vow renewal in a truly romantic way at Skydeck Chicago.

A small courthouse wedding has led to more than 25 loving years of marriage for William and Christine. They hoped their 25th anniversary would bring a vow renewal but were delayed by COVID-19. They took the chance to be chosen to have a vow renewal in a truly romantic way at Skydeck Chicago. Tiffany & Paul Jones (Vow Renewal): The couple met working together at a donut shop and have been together for over 18 years. They married in 2010 at City Hall, though they only have one photo from their big day. After their vow renewal, the couple is excited to have a chance to create a new wedding album full of photos from Skydeck.

"From first dates to proposals to family trips and much more, Skydeck Chicago has played a role in many long-lasting memories for our guests," says Skydeck Chicago's General Manager, Randy Stancik. "To be part of a couple's love story is very special and it's an honor for Skydeck to play a role in our guests' milestones big and small."

Skydeck and The Ledge at Willis Tower boasts breathtaking views spanning up to 50 miles and four states and has seen more than 1,168 proposals, 121 weddings, 26 vow renewals and tens of thousands of dates. After undergoing an extensive transformation in 2021, Skydeck offers a one-stop, Chicago-themed experience, highlighting the rich history, culture, cuisine, and architecture of the city. For more information, please visit Skydeck's Facebook , Instagram or website .

Media Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE Skydeck Chicago
LAS VEGAS, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: SWX) ("Company") has released its 2022 Sustainability Report, "Creating a Sustainable Energy Future for Everyone", highlighting the Company's achievements over the last year as a leader in the transition to lower-carbon energy sources through delivery of safe, reliable, and affordable natural gas, and its pursuit of innovative solutions. The report details the Company's priorities in environmental, social, and governance matters, recognizing investments in renewable projects and emissions reduction efforts, and reinforces Company commitments to achieving a sustainable energy future for everyone.

"For decades, our Company has been a proven leader in providing safe, reliable and affordable natural gas and energy services to our customers and communities. Building on our legacy, we continue to expand the application of our knowledge and experience to help further build the path to a better future for our employees, communities, and everyone we serve," said Karen Haller, President and Chief Executive Officer of Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. "Our efforts include advancing clean energy technologies, investments in making low- to zero-carbon energy solutions accessible to all and building more resilient communities to better manage the impacts of climate change."

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE REPORT:

Partnered on five renewable natural gas projects to help connect sources of RNG with end-users via the Company's natural gas distribution systems. These five projects are estimated to produce over 17.6 million therms of RNG per year  enough to fulfill the energy requirements of nearly 10,900 homes for one year.

Helped fleet customers reduce nearly 59,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by providing over 27 million therms of natural gas to be used as compressed natural gas (CNG) in place of diesel fuel. This is equivalent to removing 12,635 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles from the road for a year. The deployment of renewable natural gas (RNG) to fuel fleets will further drive down emissions and benefit customers and the communities we serve.

Reduced excavation damages by 18% since 2019, lowering the amount of gas released to the atmosphere.

Southwest Gas ranked highest in Customer Satisfaction with both Business and Large Residential Natural Gas Utilities in the West in the J.D. Power 2022 U.S. Gas Utility Residential and Business Customer Satisfaction Studies.

The utility also installed three CNG fueling stations to serve its growing fleet, with another CNG fueling station scheduled to come online in late 2022. This is in addition to the broad CNG network we have supported for customers.

Introduced the Move2Zero Offset Program, allowing eligible Nevada customers to offset their GHG emissions generated from natural gas usage with verified carbon offset credits starting at $5 per month.

customers to offset their GHG emissions generated from natural gas usage with verified carbon offset credits starting at per month. Collaboration with other utilities, universities and research organizations to evaluate the safety and performance of materials and appliances when delivering or using hydrogen blended with natural gas - a clean, low-carbon solution utilizing existing infrastructure.

Offered programs to help residential, business and government customers become more energy efficient and achieve emissions reduction goals saving participants over 78,000 MTCO2e over the past five years - demonstrate the importance of energy-efficiency programs.

Decreased Days Away, Restricted, or Transferred ("DART") rate by 24% at Centuri Group, demonstrating our commitment to employee safety.

Offered employees annual tuition reimbursement through the University of Arizona Global Campus. In 2021, 206 employees participated in the program, 37 bachelor's and master's degrees were awarded to full tuition grant participants.

Global Campus. In 2021, 206 employees participated in the program, 37 bachelor's and master's degrees were awarded to full tuition grant participants. Distributed over $4.24 million companywide to nonprofits and charitable organization through employee, foundation, and customers donations. Southwest Gas employees gave 1,412 hours, supporting organizations including food banks, rescue missions, teachers and students, first responders and veterans.

Included in the report are the updated 2021 disclosures using the American Gas Association (AGA) Template and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) framework for gas utilities and distributors and the engineering and construction services sectors. Additionally, for the first time, the Company is disclosing using the UN Sustainability Development Goals, GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) and Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) frameworks. The Company's environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives are overseen by the Board of Directors as well as leadership from Southwest Gas, Centuri and MountainWest senior management, ensuring ESG practices are embraced throughout the Company.

The complete report is available here: www.swgasholdings.com/sustainability

About Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc.

Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. ("Company"), through its subsidiaries, engages in the business of purchasing, distributing and transporting natural gas, and providing comprehensive utility infrastructure services across North America and currently has three business segments:

Southwest Gas Corporation ("Southwest Gas") is a dynamic energy company committed to exceeding the expectations of over 2 million customers throughout Arizona, Nevada, and California by providing safe and reliable service while innovating sustainable energy solutions to fuel the growth in its communities.

Centuri Group, Inc. ("Centuri") is a strategic infrastructure services company that partners with regulated utilities to build and maintain the energy network that powers millions of homes and businesses across the United States and Canada.

MountainWest Pipelines Holding Company ("MountainWest") operates over 2,000 miles of highly contracted, FERC-regulated interstate natural gas pipeline providing transportation and underground storage services in the Rocky Mountain region.

SOURCE Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc.
NEW BRITAIN, Conn., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Stanley Black & Decker (NYSE: SWK) invites investors and the general public to listen to a webcast of a presentation by Corbin Walburger, Vice President and Interim CFO, at the Barclays Industrial Select Conference in Miami, FL on Wednesday, February 22, 2023 at 1:15 PM 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 a worldwide leader in tools and outdoor operating manufacturing facilities worldwide. Guided by its purpose  for those who make the world  the company's more than 50,000 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
Collaboration Paves the Way for New, Combined Satellite and Cellular Network as stc Secures All Spectrum Rights in 2100MHz Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) Auction

TYSONS, Va. and RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- stc Group, the leading digital enabler in the Middle East and Africa region, and Omnispace, the company redefining mobile connectivity for the 21st century, announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop space-based 5G mobile communications voice and data services.

stc will leverage the Omnispace 3GPP-compliant non-terrestrial network (NTN), offering customers cost-effective global connectivity beyond its existing cellular land-based network.

stc and Omnispace Sign MoU to Bring Seamless Direct-to-Device Satellite Communications to Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The initiative would expand stc's coverage areas to include underserved regions, offering customers seamless, direct-to-device, 5G mobile communications connectivity across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

"We have an important opportunity to develop the network of the future, offering our customers connectivity through an industry-first combined cellular and satellite non-terrestrial network," said Eng. Khaled Ibrahim Aldharrab, Vice President of Technology Strategy and Architecture, stc. "We're pleased to announce this collaboration with Omnispace that will not only provide stc with a competitive edge, but also offer our subscribers the communications infrastructure of the future. We look forward to working together to extend our mobile roaming in even the remotest of regions."

"Omnispace is excited to collaborate with stc on the development of an industry-first seamless, best-in-class voice and mobile system that will combine our non-terrestrial system with stc's terrestrial network," said Jay Yass, Chief Corporate Development and Strategy Officer, Omnispace. "We look forward to working with stc to develop the infrastructure of the future, paving the way for greater connectivity, reach and 5G network availability for its subscriber base across the Kingdom."

stc customers across a variety of industry verticals, including automotive, agricultural, industrial, finance, government, oil and gas, IoT, along with consumer devices and applications, will benefit from ubiquitous voice and data mobile connectivity across the region.

About Omnispace, LLC

Headquartered in the Washington D.C. area, and founded by veteran telecommunications and satellite industry executives, Omnispace is redefining mobile connectivity for the 21st century. By leveraging 5G technologies, the company is combining the global footprint of a non-geostationary satellite constellation with the mobile networks of the world's leading telecom companies to bring an interoperable "one network" connectivity to users and IoT devices anywhere on the globe.

About stc

stc is a leading digital company, seeking development and innovation in providing digital solutions and services to enrich the experience of its customers and enhance their digital experience. The company constantly provides its services to keep pace with the changing market requirements, and keep pace with technical developments in the field of communications, and stc is one of the leading companies in the Middle East to lead digital transformation locally and regionally. stc seeks to work on initiatives to enhance sustainability, innovation and empower capabilities.

Media Contacts:

Omnispace

Marie Knowles

[email protected]

stc

Ms Ruqayyah Abdulaziz Alfahhad

[email protected]

SOURCE Omnispace
Foreign Minister of the Netherlands Wobke Hoekstra has said that the blockage of Lachin corridor will lead to a humanitarian crisis in Artsakh.

February 14, 2023, 10:45 Netherlands considers further European-level options to persuade Azerbaijan to end blockade of Lachin corridor

STEPANAKERT, FEBRUARY 14, ARTSAKHPRESS: The Dutch foreign minister made the statement in response to questions by MPs Agnes Mulder and Don Ceder, the Federation of Armenian Organizations in the Netherlands (FAON) reported.

He said that the government of Netherlands is also looking at what further options there are at a European level to persuade the Azerbaijani authorities to end the blockade.

The Federation of Armenian Organizations in the Netherlands (FAON) thanks the MPs Agnes Mulder and Don Ceder for their questions to Foreign Minister Wobke Hoekstra on Azerbaijani illegal blockade of Lachin corridor and informs that in response to the questions the Dutch Foreign Minister agrees that the blockage of Lachin corridor will lead to a humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh.

In his letter to the Parliament of 10 February 2023 Minister Hoekstra says that the Netherlands supplies humanitarian aid to Nagorno Karabakh through the EU with the support of ICRC, as only ICRC has access via Lachin Corridor to Nagorno Karabakh.

The Minister writes that The Netherlands has called on the Azerbaijani authorities in various talks and statements to comply with the provisions of the trilateral agreement.

On January 19, 2023, I spoke on the phone with the Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers. During the telephone conversation with my Azerbaijani counterpart, I conveyed my concerns about the humanitarian situation and asked the Azerbaijani side to ensure free movement. On the same day, the Prime Minister delivered the same message to Azerbaijani President Aliyev in the margins of the World Economic Forum, says the Minister.

The Minister adds that in accordance with the motion by Ceder and Mulder, the cabinet is also looking at what further options there are at a European level to persuade the Azerbaijani authorities to end the blockade," FAON said in a press release.
Leaders in international design lend their perspectives for exclusive collections

DALLAS, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Sutherland Furniture, the preeminent provider of luxury outdoor furniture, has announced the new collections for Spring 2023. Sutherland is thrilled to introduce new partnerships with renowned designer Brad Ascalon, design partners de Allegri & Fogale, and UK superyacht design studio Bannenberg & Rowell. Ascalon's Radia Tables, Bannenberg & Rowell's Oceana collection, and the Arlette Dining Table maintain Sutherland's pristine attention to detail and timeless elegance.

Designed by UK superyacht design firm, Bannenberg and Rowell, Oceana is an outdoor furniture range inspired by the evocative contemporary aesthetic of Jon Bannenberg. Featuring dining chairs, a lounge chair, tables, and a chaise, the collection implements Sutherland's premium teak and stainless steel accents. Both inspired by and built to withstand the high seas, Oceana is highlighted by striking angles and elegant curves, with frames informed by elite yacht design. The Oceana Dining Arm Chair and Dining Side Chair showcase a comfortable deep seat while retaining a sophisticated silhouette. With the collection's signature stainless steel inlays, the Oceana Lounge Chair sits lower and pairs beautifully with tables from the collection.

"Oceana is named after our founder Jon Bannenberg's characteristically progressive designs for a 1991 Oceanfast yacht, where his handwriting remains unmistakable and recognisable, always forward looking, confident and daring," says Simon Rowell, Creative Director, Bannenberg & Rowell. "Our first major production furniture range represents the same synthesis of movement, experience and pioneering spirit. And comfort. In parallel, the Sutherland team brings decades of experience, fine materials, craft and quality."

The Oceana Triangular Table is an occasional table with alternating stainless steel and teak legs that combine with an intriguing teak table top design. The Oceana Rectangular Coffee Table features a similar leg arrangement with a slatted table top design. The round Oceana Occasional Table has a contemporary edge with three contrasting legs and a height making it an ideal pairing with sun-deck chaises. Finally, the Oceana Adjustable Chaise showcases sharp clean design. With stainless steel details and knees that raise, the slatted teak base and back adjust to the guest's desired posture.

Representing the USA, New York-based designer Brad Ascalon lent his practical strategy-driven approach to a collection of tables, Radia. Three table options - Low Round Coffee Table, Round Occasional Table and Round Drink Table  nest perfectly together, though each piece stands beautifully on its own paired with alternative collections. Radia's dynamic aesthetic materializes through the combinations of stone tops and teak. Thick teak legs form the foundation of the table, with the designer able to choose various table tops, including Dekton Bone Stone, Grey Stone, or simple teak.

"David Sutherland's nautical passion influenced this collection," explains Brad Ascalon. "While Radia is loosely inspired by the rudder of ship, I approached the collection by assessing the needs of Sutherland and what pieces would complement existing lines."

Designed by Laetitia de Allegri & Matteo Fogale, the Arlette Dining Table takes inspiration from Japanese forms and textures. Solid teak legs contrast a blade-like thin edge marble top. A central beam unites the soft edges and smooth shapes, which are possible due to precise strong joinery. The striking top is available in a bright Carrara marble or ethereal Forest Black marble.

Sutherland Furniture is available to interior designers and architects through David Sutherland Showrooms and representatives throughout the US and abroad. To view the full collections, visit www.sutherlandfurniture.com. High-res images are available upon request

About Bannenberg & Rowell

Bannenberg & Rowell Ltd is a direct descendant of the legendary studio Jon Bannenberg Ltd. The convention-breaking studio was founded by Director Dickie Bannenberg's father in London in the early 1960s. Dickie Bannenberg and Simon Rowell continue the vision of the founder, and lead the design team in new directions: working with all the major shipyards, designing residences for private clients and real estate developers, collaborating with furniture makers and developing other creative partnerships.

About Brad Ascalon Studio NYC

Brad Ascalon's eponymous award-winning studio was founded in 2006. The multidisciplinary designer specializes in furniture for the contract, hospitality and residential markets, as well as lighting, packaging, and other consumer products. With a reductive approach to his craft, Ascalon believes in design that is uncomplicated, rational and manages to find the perfect balance of form, function and concept. Through this approach, coupled with a strong understanding of strategy-driven design opportunities for his clients, Ascalon is widely regarded as one of the leading American design voices of his generation.

About de Allegri & Fogale

Laetitia de Allegri is a Swiss-born London based designer, creative consultant and colour specialist. Her work encompasses a diversity of applications from industrial products and furniture to interior projects, both in private and public commissions. Laetitia's approach puts emphasis on the balance between beauty and functionality, sculptural and industrial, employing these aspects within her practice in the most simple and pure ways. For the London Design Festival in 2014, Laetitia joined forced with Matteo Fogale and created a new studio under the name of de Allegri & Fogale. Together they launched -ISH, a collection of furniture and products entirely made from recycled and post-industrial reclaim for which they won a Wallpaper Design Award in 2015. Since then they collaborated on various projects for the V&A Museum, Casone, Salviati, Bloomberg, COS, Wallpaper, Airbnb and more.

About Perennials and Sutherland, LLC

The Perennials and Sutherland, LLC companies are icons and acknowledged leaders in the international design industry. Founder David Sutherland and CEO Ann Sutherland share an ingenious talent for curating the finest interior and exterior collections of luxury furniture, fabrics, rugs and accessories. Based in Dallas, Texas, the company is comprised of Sutherland Furniture, Perennials Luxury Performance Fabrics and Rugs, and David Sutherland Showrooms.

Perennials Fabrics is recognized by interior designers and high-end retail customers as the leader in luxury performance fabrics. Perennials Fabrics and Perennials Luxury Performance Rugs combine the look and feel of high quality, natural materials with the superior performance properties of their genuine 100% solution-dyed acrylic fiber technology. View the full collections at perennialsfabrics.com.

Sutherland Furniture is a world leader in luxury outdoor furniture for modern lifestyles. The company has created the preeminent furniture brand through partnerships with the world's leading designers, along with utilizing the highest quality materials. View the full collections at sutherlandfurniture.com.

David Sutherland Showrooms are full-service, multi-line showrooms which serve the professional design market in showrooms and studios across the United States. For more information and locations, visit davidsutherlandshowroom.com.

SOURCE Sutherland Furniture
Introducing 'Cards to Nards'

NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- As we observe the first Valentine's Day since the overturn of Roe v. Wade in the United States, a true act of love looks different this year, with chocolates and flowers just not cutting it. Conversations around reproductive care and family planning have always been one-sided, with those who can get pregnant being held responsible for birth control, when 100% of unwanted pregnancies are caused by testicles. Enter: " Cards to Nards, " a campaign from global nonprofit World Vasectomy Day that allows you to send greeting cards directly to testicles so they can learn about vasectomies as an easy and effective form of contraception.

"I was glad to help WVD spread the message of considering a post-Roe vasectomy as a way to play a role in birth control," said Ilana Glazer, creator and comedian. The "Cards to Nards" campaign includes custom-made upside-down heart lollipops that say "Unwanted Pregnancy Sucks."

According to research from sex toy brand EdenFantasys, people not only have more sex on Valentine's Day, they also claim to have better sex on the holiday. So, how can we keep the sexiness of Valentine's Day alive, while leveling the contraceptive playing field? It's time to start talking directly to testes since they can't get pregnant, but they can help take some of the burden off those who can.

Creator and comedian Ilana Glazer, who is passionate about abortion rights and reproductive health equity, has teamed up with World Vasectomy Day for the initiative to help raise awareness about the importance of considering a post-Roe vasectomy. In a video PSA, Glazer incorporates her comedic energy and tongue-in-cheek tone while reading lines from the cards and sharing key campaign message points.

"I know several people who've gotten vasectomies, but I don't hear it being talked about very much! So, I was glad to help WVD spread the message of considering a post-Roe vasectomy as a way to play a role in birth control," said Glazer.

The Cards to Nards initiative, created by independent advertising agency Tombras, redefines what a true act of love means this Valentine's Dayand beyond.

The campaign includes:

A series of limited-edition physical cards

Custom-made upside-down heart lollipops (which bear a striking resemblance to testicles) that say "Unwanted Pregnancy Sucks"

Digital cards available via cardstonards.com

A series of wild out-of-home postings around New York City

A call-to-action to share the cards on social media using the hashtag #CardstoNards

Social channels include IG: @world.vasectomy.day and Twitter: @WorldVasDay

A select number of people who share #CardstoNards on Instagram or Twitter will be eligible to win physical Cards to Nards greetings, as well as our custom-made lollipops.

Jonathan Stack, co-founder of World Vasectomy Day, said, "At WVD, we are always seeking ways to link one's personal choice to get a vasectomy to the collective impact this profound act of love has for what matters most. Be it the well-being of our children, the health of our partner, the future of the planet, or access to a safe abortion everywhere, we believe that being kind and compassionate includes fighting for all of our reproductive rights. This brilliant campaign from Tombras creates awareness of vasectomies at a time when the options to avoid unwanted pregnancy in the U.S. are under attack. What better moment than Valentine's Day to remind the world of this beneficial choice."

Lindsay Stein, chief purpose officer of Tombras, said, "We want to make a meaningful impact in this post-Roe world, and partnering with World Vasectomy Day allows us to go directly to the source of unwanted pregnancies. By increasing awareness about and consideration for getting a vasectomy, we hope to help balance the longstanding inequitable scales of reproductive health. We're very proud of this purpose-driven work."

For those of you who are concerned about Cards to Nards disappearing after Valentine's Day, have no fear. The website will live on after February, with World Vasectomy Day planning to introduce new cards for relevant holidays and tentpole moments throughout the year, such as Earth Day, Mother's Day and Father's Day.

Note: "Nards" is slang for testicles or scrotums.

About World Vasectomy Day

World Vasectomy Day is a registered nonprofit organization. Founded in 2013, WVD is the largest male-focused sexual and reproductive health movement, committed to encouraging and educating the population on the positive inclusion of men in family planning and reproductive health. Working with ministries of health, family planning organizations, and individual medical providers, World Vasectomy Day has built or enhanced vasectomy programs in Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, Colombia, Haiti, Uganda, India, and many others, providing over 100,000 procedures to date, and creating hundreds of publicity campaigns, testimonial videos, and educational films to help build support for male engagement around the world. For more information, visit wvd.org.

About Tombras

Tombras is one of the top independent agencies in North America. We're impact-driven, creative storytellers with performance at the heart of everything we do. Connecting Data + Creativity for Business Results is our guiding mission. The foundation beneath it all is independence, which has been a force multiplier in the data + creativity equation, allowing us to invest and reinvest in our people and technology. From strategy, creative and media to digital design and development, a social media command center, ecommerce, in-house production, a trade desk and customer experience lab and much more, we do it all with nearly 500 strategists, creatives, designers, copywriters, media specialists, data scientists, researchers, tech and social media experts, producers, and directors. For more information, visit tombras.com.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Laura Mansfield, APR

[email protected]

865.599.9968

SOURCE World Vasectomy Day
Series B led by Credit Suisse includes participation from three other major financial institutions, Deutsche Bank, Pictet Group and Arab Bank Switzerland, as well as stock-listed real-estate group Investis.

Taurus will continue to invest in its platform to service the world's largest banks on any type of digital assets: crypto -currencies, tokenized securities and digital currencies.

-currencies, tokenized securities and digital currencies. Taurus will accelerate its technology sales expansion with new offices in Europe , UAE, and soon after in the Americas and South-East Asia to get closer to its clients.

GENEVA, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Taurus SA ("Taurus"), the leading digital asset infrastructure provider for financial institutions in Europe, is pleased to announce a USD 65 million Series B capital raise from strategic investors.

Taurus' Series B round is led by Credit Suisse and includes participation from new institutional investors such as Deutsche Bank , Pictet Group , Cedar Mundi Ventures, as well as from Series A investors, Arab Bank Switzerland and Investis , a stock-listed real-estate group. Taurus co-founders, Lamine Brahimi, Sebastien Dessimoz, Oren-Olivier Puder and Dr. Jean-Philippe Aumasson, remain the largest shareholders of Taurus and at the helm of the Company. The transaction was approved by the Swiss regulator, FINMA.

The funds will be used to support Taurus' growth strategy across three main priorities: (1) hire top engineering talent to further develop what is considered as the most complete platform in the industry; (2) get closer to clients and expand the sales and customer success organization of its infrastructure solutions with new offices Europe, UAE and soon after in the Americas and South-East Asia, and (3) maintain the most stringent security, risk and compliance requirements across product lines, processes and organizations.

The preferred platform for Tier 1 banks. Expanding client footprint with large consumer brands

Taurus already works with more than 25 financial institutions and corporate clients in eight countries and three continents, including systemically important financial institutions, retail and online banks, private banks, crypto-banks, investment banks, and broker-dealers. Amongst its clients are banks such as Arab Bank Switzerland, CACEIS, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Pictet, Swissquote, Vontobel. These achievements allowed Taurus to establish itself as the #1 digital asset infrastructure provider for Tier 1 banks in Europe.

Lamine Brahimi, co-founder and Managing Partner of Taurus, said: "Raising USD 65mn in the current market environment tells a lot about the quality of Taurus' people and products. We are proud to welcome such high-profile investors and benefit from their expertise to further develop one of the richest platforms in the industry, covering any type of digital assets, way beyond cryptocurrencies."

Andre Helfenstein, CEO, Credit Suisse (Switzerland) Ltd., commented: "The strategic partnership with Taurus is a cornerstone of the Swiss Bank division's digital assets strategy with the ambition to become the leading Swiss bank in that space. We continue to embrace new and innovative technologies and expect to soon launch several digital asset services for clients both on the issuing and the investment side."

Sabih Behzad, Head of Digital Assets and Currencies Transformation, Deutsche Bank, concluded: "We will integrate Taurus' technology in our own IT environment. This will form a key part of our digital asset custody platform and will make it easier for us to develop and roll out our digital asset custody offering. Through this investment, Deutsche Bank is delighted to partner on the development of the market for digital assets."

The most complete platform in the industry: custody, tokenization, regulated marketplace

Since its inception in 2018, Taurus has continuously invested in its proprietary technology to build the most complete platform in the industry, allowing clients to manage any digital assets. Concretely:

Custody: Taurus-PROTECT provides ultra-secure storage and transfer of hundreds of digital assets including support for staking, decentralized finance (DeFi), tokenized securities, and digital currencies; Tokenization: Taurus-CAPITAL provides issuance, deployment, and lifecycle management of any type of tokenized assets (equity, debt, structured products, physical assets, NFTs); Regulated marketplace: Trading of tokenized securities on Taurus' T-DX platform, one of the first regulated marketplaces in the world.

Looking forward: support issuers on the digitization of private asset

Taurus believes that the digitization of private assets represents the next trillion-dollar opportunity for the digital asset industry to grow to USD 10+ trillions. Taurus has been involved in tokenizing 15 deals with Swiss-based and EU-based issuers including banks and asset managers as well as SMEs and start-ups. Taurus was also recently selected by a stock-listed insurance company to tokenize real-assets. Clients that have entered or are exploring tokenization of assets benefit from:

Taurus' end-to-end infrastructure that goes way beyond basic custody of crypto -assets. Taurus' clients are able to create any type of tokenized products[1] in two clicks and service them with automated workflows and zero lines of code. These capabilities are unrivaled worldwide; Taurus' regulated infrastructure. In April 2021 , Taurus obtained a FINMA license as a securities firm and operator of an organized trading facility. In June 2021 , Taurus launched https://t-dx.com/ , the first regulated marketplace for tokenized assets. Clients can benefit from a flexible and compliant marketplace to provide secondary market solutions to their end-clients.

Media Relations

Barbara Mahe

French-speaking Switzerland, France

+41 78 683 89 38

[email protected]

Judith Huss

German-speaking Switzerland, Germany

+49 172 705 5282

[email protected]

Nazli Ekim

United States, United Kingdom and the Middle East

+44 07384 220 223

+1 917 355 9650

[email protected]

About Taurus

Taurus SA is a Swiss company, founded in April 2018, that provides enterprise-grade infrastructure to issue, custody and trade any digital assets: cryptocurrencies including staking, tokenized assets and digital currencies. With more than 60% market share in Switzerland, it is also the European leader in the banking segment, entrusted by the full spectrum of financial institutions: systemic banks, universal banks, online banks, crypto-banks, private banks, and broker-dealers. Taurus also operates a regulated marketplace for private assets and tokenized securities. For further information on Taurus: please visit www.taurushq.com

[1] Equity, debt, structured products, real-assets, NFTs, digital currencies, etc.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2006897/Taurus_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Taurus
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Tesorio, an accounts receivable solution , announced it has been named to G2's 2023 Best Software Awards . As the world's largest and most trusted software marketplace, G2 is visited by 80 million software buyers each year. Its annual Best Software Awards rank the world's best software companies and products based on authentic, timely reviews from real users.

This is Tesorio's second time receiving a G2's Best Software Award recognition, in addition to being the #1 rated A/R automation solution with the highest customer satisfaction. Tesorio has earned its place this year thanks to the support of their amazing community of customers, partners, and employees.

Tesorio is on a mission to solve the day-to-day issues encountered by finance and accounting teams. "Tesorio has enabled us to fully automate our AR collections process, improving our AR aging and reducing the amount of manual team hours", one customer said. Discover what more of their customers are saying on G2 .

"While G2 publishes the Best Software Awards each year, they're really awards from customers," said Sara Rossio, Chief Product Officer at G2. "Representing a vote of confidence from real software users, these awards also spotlight those that have risen to the top among thousands of companies. With 2 million+ verified software reviews, the most in a single destination, our marketplace features more than 145,000 products and services across 2,100 different categories. Congratulations to all those named, as buyers will continue to lean on these awards as a trusted source to inform their software decisions in the year ahead."

The top 100 companies are ranked based on a combination of Satisfaction and Market Presence scores for each vendor, and the top 100 products are ranked based on reviews across all categories they are a part of. To be recognized as a Best Software Award winner, a software company or product must receive at least 50 approved and published reviews during the 2022 calendar year. Scores reflect only data from reviews submitted during this evaluation period.

"Our team is proud to win G2's Best Software Award for Accounting and Finance. This recognition shows our dedication and customers' trust," said Carlos Vega, Tesorio's Co-Founder & CEO. "Pressure on finance and accounting professionals to drive growth and cash flow performance is increasing. We aim to improve their day-to-day work, driving material & immediate ROI. As a leading provider of Cash Flow Performance solutions, we are paving the way for the industry and optimistic about the future of A/R automation."

To learn more, view G2's 2023 Best Software Awards and read more about G2's methodology .

About G2

G2 is the world's largest and most trusted software marketplace. More than 80 million people annually  including employees at all Fortune 500 companies  use G2 to make smarter software decisions based on authentic peer reviews. Thousands of software and services companies of all sizes partner with G2 to build their reputation, manage their software spend, and grow their business  including Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoom, and Adobe. To learn more about where you go for software, visit www.g2.com and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn .

About Tesorio

Tesorio, a leading provider of Cash Flow Performance Solutions, is transforming the way businesses handle their Accounts Receivable. Its cutting-edge technology, powered by AI and machine learning, offers advanced A/R automation tools that include intelligent workflow, payment prediction, collections forecasting, self-service customer payments, invoice matching, and more. Trusted by global organizations such as Slack, Bank of America, Box, Veeva Systems, Twilio, Domo, and others, Tesorio helps businesses maximize cash flow performance, streamline credit and collections processes, and create better customer experiences.

If you are interested in learning more about Tesorio's AI-embedded accounts receivable solution, request your demo today.

Media Contacts

Jenny Gardynski at G2

[email protected] or [email protected]

Demi Hingeley for Tesorio

[email protected]rio.com

SOURCE Tesorio
Realtors and local associations honored at 2023 Winter Meeting

AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Texas Realtors honored outstanding members and local Realtors associations at this year's annual Texas Realtors Winter Meeting on Feb. 13 in Austin. The Texas Realtors Awards recognize hard work, dedication, and excellence from real estate professionals who have made a significant impact in the industry over the past year.

2022 Texas Realtors Award Winners.

"The Texas Realtors Awards celebrate the best and brightest in the real estate industry, and this year's winners are no exception," said Marcus Phipps, chairman of Texas Realtors. "These individuals and organizations have set a high bar for the industry, and we are honored to recognize their achievements and contributions to the growth and success of our communities."

Sherri Strickland of Victoria was honored with the 2022 Texas Realtors Good Neighbor Award for her outstanding contributions to creating affordable, permanent housing in the Austin community. Strickland played a crucial role in establishing Promise Pointe, a transformative residential community where in just five years, she has helped construct 14 tiny homes, laundry areas, a library, and bath buildings. Strickland's dedication to Promise Pointe is unmistakable in her efforts to secure grants, interview residents, perform bookkeeping, and lead public relations activities.

Socar Chatmon-Thomas of Austin was named Texas Realtors 2022 Educator of the Year for her exceptional work as a senior instructor. Chatmon-Thomas teaches both Graduate Realtor Institute and Texas Accredited Commercial Specialist courses, and has developed several additional courses covering commercial leasing, property management, and media training. A previous Texas Realtors Grassroots Advocate of the Year Award recipient, Chatmon-Thomas continues to share her commitment to and enthusiasm for helping real estate professionals reach new heights.

Imran Bhaidani was awarded the 2022 William C. Jennings Award for Commercial Transaction of the Year. This award celebrates a transaction that contributes to community, creativity, and application of commercial principles. Bhaidani acted as an advisor to building a financially viable development on seven acres to serve the needs of residents, creating opportunities for employment and supporting the local economy. This innovative project involved maximizing value for the buyer and minimizing risk, resulting in a mixed-use, modern concept that exemplifies the best of commercial real estate.

The Greater Texoma Association of Realtors received the 2022 Mark Lehman Governmental Affairs Achievement Award. The honor recognizes a local Realtor association that has demonstrated excellence in fundraising, grassroots involvement, and other local governmental affairs initiatives for the year.

The Texas Realtors Grassroots Advocate of the Year award was presented to Emaly Baehr of the Central Hill Country Board of Realtors. This award honors one individual from the year's full list of Texas Realtors Strike Force Award Winners who exhibits exceptional dedication to grassroots activities and programs.

The Tom D. Morton Association Executive of the Year award was presented to Ken Hogan of the Abilene Association of Realtors. Hogan was honored as an outstanding association executive who embodies excellence in service to members. Hogan is a dedicated volunteer leader in the community and a major contributor to the Texas Realtors Leadership Program and the TREPAC program, which has steadily increased in both dollars raised and overall participation. He has been instrumental in nurturing a culture of strong leadership at his association and helped to establish a 501(c)(3) charitable foundation for his organization.

Finally, Texas Realtors recognized three local associations for their cutting-edge programs and educational offerings that kept real estate agents current with legal, marketing, and industry developments. Below are this year's recipients of the Education Program of the Year awards:

Houston Association of Realtors in the legal category

Austin Board of Realtors in the series or short program category

of Realtors in the series or short program category San Antonio Board of Realtors in the marketing category

Board of Realtors in the marketing category San Antonio Board of Realtors in the innovation category

About Texas REALTORS

With more than 150,000 members, Texas REALTORS is a professional membership organization that represents all aspects of real estate in Texas. We are the advocate for REALTORS and private property rights in Texas.

Contact

David Gibbs

Hahn Agency

[email protected]

SOURCE Texas Realtors
Firm concludes fundraising for Voltaic Fund, to pursue investments in privately owned enterprises, and Diopter Fund, to focus on selected private credit investments

NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The D. E. Shaw group, a global investment and technology development firm, today announced that it has raised $1.1 billion in combined commitments for two new funds, D. E. Shaw Voltaic Fund and D. E. Shaw Diopter Fund, focused on private market investment opportunities. The firm's entities, principals, and employees contributed more than $150 million in total to the new funds. These fundraises represent the latest milestone in the long-term buildout of the firm's private investing strategies.

D. E. Shaw Voltaic Fund (Voltaic)

D. E. Shaw Voltaic Fund is a closed-end vehicle expected to primarily target investments in privately owned enterprises, particularly those in the post-seed or growth equity stages of their lifecycles. Voltaic, which received more than $450 million in capital commitments, is overseen by the D. E. Shaw group's Fundamental Equities team. Edwin Jager, a managing director who oversees Fundamental Equities, serves as the fund's portfolio manager.

The D. E. Shaw group has invested in private markets for much of its history, although Voltaic is the firm's first standalone fund dedicated to private equity investments.

"We are grateful for the support we received to raise a first-time fund in this challenging market environment," said Mr. Jager. "We believe Voltaic is well-positioned to take advantage of both the current and longer-term opportunity set and will benefit from our extensive experience investing in equity opportunities across private and public markets, in addition to our sourcing, data analysis, and risk management capabilities."

D. E. Shaw Diopter Fund (Diopter)

D. E. Shaw Diopter Fund is a private credit-focused fund primarily pursuing investments related to synthetic securitizations, which aim to help banks manage risks and enhance balance sheet and business model efficiency.

Diopter, which received more than $650 million in capital commitments, is overseen by the D. E. Shaw group's Regulatory Capital Optimization Strategy teama unit within the firm's Asset-Backed Securities teamand its Private Credit investment team; fund oversight is led by Rich McKinney, Marianna Fassinotti, and Syril Pathmanathan.

The D. E. Shaw group raised its first private credit fund in 2008, and since 2012 it has raisedinclusive of Dioptermore than $3.5 billion focused on the asset class.

"We're excited by the launch of Diopter and appreciate the commitments from our investors to this special opportunities fund," said Mr. McKinney, a managing director of the D. E. Shaw group who oversees the firm's Private Credit investment unit. "We see attractive opportunities in the synthetic securitization marketplace, and issuance appears poised to accelerate further as the regulatory landscape for financial institutions evolves and the banking sector seeks to better manage risks, optimize balance sheets, and improve profitability."

ABOUT THE D. E. SHAW GROUP

The D. E. Shaw group is a global investment and technology development firm with more than $60 billion in investment capital as of December 1, 2022, and offices in North America, Europe, and Asia. Since our founding in 1988, our firm has earned a reputation for successful investing based on innovation, careful risk management, and the quality and depth of our staff. We have a significant presence in the world's capital markets, investing in a wide range of companies and financial instruments in both developed and developing economies. For more information, visit deshaw.com.

This press release is provided for the reader's information only and does not constitute investment advice or convey an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities or other financial products.

Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE D. E. Shaw Group
Agreement provides Durst NYC office tenants membership access to on-demand workspace, meeting rooms and event space in all Serendipity Labs Tristate suburban locations

NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Serendipity Labs, the leading international flexible office space provider, today announced it has entered into a 10-year operating agreement with The Durst Organization ("Durst") to operate a 41,000 square foot flexible office facility within Durst's 205 East 42nd building, a 532,000 square foot office building located one block from Grand Central Terminal.

The Grand Central location provides an alternative to downsize NYC long term leases and support hybrid work policies. Tweet this The Durst Organization has selected Serendipity Labs to operate a 41,000 square foot flexible office and meeting and events facility on the 19th, 20th and 21st penthouse floors of 205 East 42nd Street. The opening of Serendipity Labs - Grand Central provides Durst office tenants with on-demand access to the operators tristate coworking network in Westchester County, Connecticut, New Jersey and the NYC Financial District. (Photo Credit: Durst Organization) Serendipity Labs has seven locations in the NY tristate area and more than 35 across the U.S. and U.K. Every member has membership privileges at every Serendipity Labs, now including all Durst office tenants. (Photo Credit: Serendipity Labs) Meeting enterprise-level confidentiality and privacy requirements is one of the reasons Serendipity Labs was chosen by Durst. Pictured here, privacy film on office fronts at eye level, protecting privacy while still allowing in light. Serendipity Labs Financial District workplace in New York City. (Photo Credit: Yale Gurney)

Serendipity Labs  Grand Central will serve as a central hub in the Serendipity Labs extensive Tristate network that includes facilities in Westchester County, Connecticut, New Jersey, and the NYC Financial District. It will be a marquis location in the wider Serendipity Labs network of coworking locations in more than 35 urban, suburban and secondary markets across the U.S. and U.K.

The new Serendipity Labs workplace will span the 19th, 20th and 21st penthouse floors of the building. It will offer private event space with access to a roof-top terrace, two work-lounge cafes, and a mix of 91 dedicated, private offices and team office suites that accommodate over 450 desks in total, including requirements for one to 100 people.

With easy access to both Metro North and LIRR trains and the Grand Central transportation hub, 205 East 42nd street features a masterfully restored Art Deco lobby, new windows and tenant terrace opportunities punctuated by sweeping Midtown East views.

Durst conducted a competitive process to select a coworking operator that could reimagine and reposition the facility. "We were convinced by Serendipity Labs' decades of management experience and reputation for delivering world-class service," says Jonathan (Jody) Durst, President of the Durst Organization.

"They also have the unique ability to provide office tenants across our portfolio with on-demand access to a tristate coworking network that can serve as an extension of their NYC offices and support efforts to attract and retain top talent."

Serendipity Labs Chairman and CEO, John Arenas says, "Serendipity Labs  Grand Central will serve as a flexible alternative to long term office leasing for companies that have decided to downsize their fixed real estate commitments and for those that need to support new, hybrid workplace policies offering employees better access to transportation to shorten commutes."

He adds, "We also expect strong demand from inbound commuting by suburban workers, business travelers, and New Yorkers throughout the city who need inspiring on-demand workplaces to collaborate with colleagues, connect with customers, or to drop-in and focus."

The refurbishment includes upscale interior design elements, ergonomic sit-stand workstations, plush furnishing, sound attenuation, privacy enhancements, and a secure technology infrastructure that satisfies FINRA, HIPAA and the data privacy security and compliance requirements of global multinational companies. Serendipity Labs was represented in the transaction by Michael Berman of JLL. Durst was represented in-house by Robert Becker, Senior Vice President of Business & Strategic Partnerships, and Managing Director Lauren Ferrentino.

Serendipity Labs  Grand Central opens March 1, 2023. Coworking, private office and team room pre-open memberships are available at serendipitylabs.com/nyc-grand-central.

About Serendipity Labs

Headquartered in Rye, NY, Serendipity Labs Inc., is a flexible office space company that develops and operates its upscale coworking brand as an outsourced workplace service in the U.S. and U.K. Its hub and spoke network of locations offers highly hosted workplaces that cater to the needs of the knowledge workforce with private offices, coworking, meeting and event facilities, and all-access Worktopia memberships. Companies of all sizes use Serendipity Labs, for compliant workplace solutions. Accenture, ADP, American Express, Amazon, Anthem Health, Compass, Electronic Arts, Ernst and Young, Fifth Third Bank, First Republic, HSBC, JP Morgan, M&T Bank, Netflix, Northern Trust, Oracle, PwC, Tesla, TIAA, Willis Towers Watson, Verizon and many more trust Serendipity Labs as their outsourced workplace provider. www.serendipitylabs.com.

About the Durst Organization

The Durst Organization, founded in 1915 by Joseph and Rose Durst, is the owner, manager and builder of 13 million square feet of premiere Manhattan office towers and over three million square feet of residential rental properties, with 3,400 rental apartments built and several thousand units in the pipeline. The Durst Organization is recognized as a world leader in the development of high-performance and environmentally advanced commercial and residential buildings where people live, work and thrive. www.durst.org.

SOURCE Serendipity Labs
CHICAGO, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Grossman Group, a Chicago-based leadership and internal communications consultancy, is pleased to announce the appointment of Jason Greenspan to Head of Client Service.

Jason Greenspan, The Grossman Group's new Head of Client Service

Greenspan is a communication industry leader with more than two decades of strategy expertise driving large-scale transformation in big organizations. In his tenure at The Grossman Group, he has contributed to significant growth and impact with the firm's clients. In his new role, Greenspan will lead the senior team of consultants to drive change and growth during their clients everyday and defining moments.

"I have always admired Jason's exemplary work and thought leadership from the early years when we worked together at McDonald's," said The Grossman Group's founder & CEO David Grossman. "He's been an invaluable member of our senior leadership team, mentor to our consultants and the impact his work has made for our clients has been impressive. I look forward to the many contributions he will continue to make as we counsel C-suite leaders and others on using effective communications to inspire their people, solve business issues, and drive results."

For 23 years, The Grossman Group has been a sought-after firm of senior experts focusing on change communications, strategic leadership development and internal communication. The Grossman Group believes strategic internal communication  at its finest  positively impacts business performance. The firm partners with clients to help leaders be their best and activate strategy, while effectively engaging employees at every level, driving productivity and performance.

Previously, Greenspan held the role of Senior Vice President at The Grossman Group. Prior to joining The Grossman Group, he was Senior Director of US Internal Communications with McDonald's, where he led the team responsible for advancing McDonald's core enterprise transformation across all facets of internal, executive, and franchisee / employee communications. His work impacted hundreds of thousands of employees in more than 14,000 restaurants.

During Greenspan's 20+ years at the McDonald's Corporation, he worked with top leaders  including three CEOs and seven Presidents  on business and cultural transformations, implementation of new growth strategies, and the articulation of those strategies in relatable and applicable ways both globally and domestically. Before his time at McDonald's, Greenspan worked at a strategy execution firm focused on turning corporate and operating strategies into reality by aligning an organization's leaders, culture, strategies, and communications.

"I am excited to take on the role of Head of Client Service at The Grossman Group and lead the senior team to accelerate business performance with clients across different industries and sectors through authentic communications, strategy, and engagement," said Greenspan. "I look forward to continuing to be part of The Grossman Group's leading-edge work in this space and enacting meaningful change as a part of this dedicated team."

Greenspan graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School with a Master of Science in Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) and holds a bachelor's degree in Journalism, Public Relations, and Advertising from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

About The Grossman Group

The Grossman Group is an award-winning Chicago-based communications consultancy focusing on organizational consulting, strategic leadership development, and internal communication. A certified diversity supplier, The Grossman Group works closely with Fortune 500 companies and other organizations including Abbott, Blue Cross Blue Shield, General Mills, Kaiser Permanente, SC Johnson, and Lockheed Martin, among others.

Contact: Kayla Ellsworth

The Grossman Group

312.927.4588 | [email protected]

SOURCE The Grossman Group
Kyrgyzstan will host the Indestructible Brotherhood military exercises of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) peacekeeping forces which were originally planned to be held in Armenia, the CSTO Chief of the Joint Staff Colonel General Anatoly Sidorov said at a press conference.

February 14, 2023, 13:27 Kyrgyzstan to hold CSTO military exercises which Armenia refused to host

STEPANAKERT, FEBRUARY 14, ARTSAKHPRESS-ARMENPRESS: Armenia decided not to host the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) joint peacekeeping exercises this year because holding the exercises in the current situation was deemed as inexpedient.

The Indestructible Brotherhood joint military exrcises are planned to be held on the territory of Kyrgyzstan, during which the post-conflict regulation issues, peacekeeping actions in crisis zone will be developed, Sidorov said.
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The short film Time Is Eternal starring, co-written and produced by Los Angeles-based model and actress Berite Labelle https://www.beritelabelle.com  will screen at the Golden State Film Festival at the iconic TCL Chinese Theatre Feb 25, 2023.

The festival will take place February 23rd (Opening Night) and closing night will be March 2nd with an awards evening March 3rd at The TCL Chinese Theaters and on the Shorts Daily Roku Channel.

"TIME IS ETERNAL" Starring Berite Labelle Los Angeles Time Is Eternal Mermaid

(For additional details, see https://www.goldenstatefilmfestival.com/)

Time Is Eternal is co-written by Daniel Lir, who co-directed with his wife and business partner, Bayou Bennett, of Dream Team Directors. https://www.dreamteamdirectors.com/filmc343928d

"Time is Eternal" took home four awards (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Set Design) in July at the 13th prestigious La Jolla International Fashion Film Festival, where it was honored with 10 nominations. https://ljfff.com/iffa-award-winners-2021-2/ The film also won Best Fashion Film at the UK Fashion Film Festival and has screened across the world in Berlin, Sarajevo, Croatia, Italy, Seattle, Los Angeles, India and more.

Set in present-day Los Angeles, Time Is Eternal goes inside the mind of a renowned female writer, penning her latest novel, which imagines the fictional meeting of two legendary women. Cleopatra VIII, queen of Egypt during the first century B.C., comes face to face with the English writer-women's rights activist Mary Wollstonecraft, mother of Frankenstein author Mary Shelley.

A powerful ode to female strength and equality, the film chronicles a soulful discussion between these two trailblazers. Both known as lovers and as warriors for a cause, the fighter and the writer contemplate their differing approaches to leadership, culminating in a shared passion that intertwines eternally.

"We wanted to highlight the power of women across history, in a previously male-dominated world," says Lir. "I strongly related to Berite's purpose to inform a younger generation about the impactful (and under-represented) contribution of these women to the creation of our culture."

Labelle deftly champions four roles in her debut film playing the writer, Cleopatra, Wollstonecraft, and a mermaid, who symbolizes swimming through another dimension in time.

"You can create anything with imagination and love," says Labelle. "I wish to create beautiful moments from my imaginary world. Gratitude, knowledge and patience are the other elements I needed to conceive Time Is Eternal. Follow me in my journey of discoveries through time in motion pictures."

Shot at The Paramour Estate in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, with opulent early twentieth century period decor, the surreal, dreamlike visuals have a fashion focus.

"I want audiences to be overwhelmed with beauty and brought into a world of magic and inspiration that helps them forget their troubles and all we have been through as a human race in the last few years," says Bennett.

Hollywood stylist and costume designer Lenov (who has worked with Saweetie, Bebe Rexha and Iggy Azalea) sourced mostly vintage pieces for the film.

"It was really cool to recreate historical moments through the fashion lens in the film," says Lenov. "Every character was about women's empowerment, and I wanted to the push the envelope and bring a fashion element to the characters and a sexier twist. I thought, 'What can we spin off in the feminine energy for Gen Z and beyond?' I really want to thank designer Michelle Hebert and Elie Madi for helping bring Mary and Cleopatra, respectively, to life as I envisioned them."

Since October 2021, Labelle has covered multiple international editions of Vogue, Glamour, Harper's Bazaar and Marie Claire. She has an Affiliate Fine Arts (AFA) degree in Acting on Camera from the New York Film Academy in Los Angeles.

Dream Team Directors has collaborated with the likes of Michelle Pfeiffer, Mark Ruffalo, Bella Hadid, Juliette Lewis, Norman Reedus, Coldplay, Paris Hilton, and Chrome Hearts. Their 2019 short film, Tombstone Pillow, has drawn widespread acclaim and won 33 awards.

Twitter: @DreamTeamFilm @berite_labelle #TimeIsEternal

Instagram : @berite_labelle @dreamteamdirectors

https://www.facebook.com/GoldenStateFilmFestival/

https://www.instagram.com/goldenstatefilmfestival/

https://twitter.com/GoldenStateFF

Viewing links and imagery are available by request. Berite Labelle, Daniel Lir, Bayou Bennett and other nominated team members are available for interviews. Please contact Dream Team Directors: [email protected], [email protected] 917-907-2169

SOURCE Berite Labelle
DUBLIN, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Tissue Engineering-based Regeneration Products Market, Distribution by Type of Graft Area of Application Type of Material of Scaffold Type of End User And Key Geographies: Industry Trends and Global Forecasts, 2022-2035" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The "Tissue Engineering-based Regeneration Products Market" report features an extensive study of the current market landscape and future potential of the tissue engineering-based regeneration products market. The study features an in-depth analysis, highlighting the capabilities of various stakeholders engaged in providing the tissue engineering-based regeneration products.

One of the key objectives of the report was to estimate the existing market size and identify potential growth opportunities for tissue engineering-based regeneration products market for the next 13 years. Additionally, it features market size projections for the tissue engineering-based regeneration products market, wherein both the current and upcoming opportunity is segmented.

At present, more than 160 tissue engineering products and regenerative medicine products have been / are being developed by several companies located across the globe. It is worth mentioning that these products have demonstrated the potential to enable regeneration of tissues (including the skin and bones), as well as the ability to cure some congenital abnormalities.

Given the various benefits offered with such products, including better biocompatibility, faster tissue regeneration, easy availability and high affordability, the tissue engineering market has garnered the attention of various venture capital firms and strategic investors. In fact, industry players have raised about USD 2 billion in the recent past in order to drive research efforts aimed at exploring different types of tissue engineering-based regeneration products (primarily focused on bone healing, wound healing and burn healing).

In addition, over 800 grants have been awarded by academic and government organizations in the tissue engineering industry. Driven by the continuous efforts of researchers and industry players, there has also been a considerable rise in the number of patents filed in this market.

In recent years, through the use of novel technologies, certain complex and more sophisticated tissue reconstructions have also been successfully completed, indicating that more complex tissue engineering procedures may be possible in the near future.

Considering the ongoing pace of innovation in this field, coupled to the recent shift in preference from traditional transplants procedure to tissue engineering-based regeneration products, we believe that the tissue engineering market is likely to witness significant growth in the foreseen future.

Scope of the Report

A detailed review of the current market landscape of tissue engineering based-bone regeneration products based on several relevant parameters, such as type of graft (allografts / xenograft), formulation of product (bone matrix / bone putty / cortical fibers / powder / putty / sheet / sponge block), type of material of scaffold (bone tissue / collagen tissue / others / stem cell) and launch year. In addition, the chapter lists the players providing tissue engineering-based bone regeneration products, along with information on their respective year of establishment, company size (very small / small / mid-sized / large / very large), location of headquarters.

An in-depth analysis, highlighting the market trends through six different schematic representations.

An insightful competitiveness analysis of players engaged in the development of tissue engineering-based regeneration products, based on several relevant parameters, such as years of experience, portfolio strength (in terms of area of applications, material of scaffold, type of graft, number of products offered), partnerships activity (in terms of number of partnerships, year of partnerships, and type of partnerships), and funding activity (in terms of number of funding instances, amount of funding, year of funding, type of funding, and number of lead investors).

Elaborate profiles of prominent players that are currently engaged in offering tissue engineering-based regeneration products. Each profile features a brief overview of the company (including information on year of establishment, number of employees, location of headquarters and key executives).

An analysis of the various partnerships that have been inked between several stakeholders in the domain of tissue engineering-based regeneration products, during the period 2017-2022, covering various type of partnership such as mergers and acquisitions, distribution agreements, product development and commercialization agreements, product utilization agreements, R&D agreements and others, along with analysis on recent investments during the period 2018 and 2022 (till the time of analysis) including grant, debt, seed funding, venture series, IPO, private equity, private placement, other equity and others.

An insightful analysis on filed / granted patents focused on tissue engineering-based regeneration products, during the period 2000-2022 (till the month when the research / analysis was conducted).

An analysis that provides information on more than 750 grants that were awarded to various research institutes engaged in studies related to tissue engineering-based regeneration products, during the period 2018 and 2022 (till the time of analysis). The analysis also highlights important parameters associated with grants,

Company Profiles

AlloSource

BioTissue

Integra LifeSciences

MiMedx

Organogenesis

Smith +Nephew

Tissue Regenix

VIVEX Biologics

Key Topics Covered:

1. PREFACE

2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

3. INTRODUCTION

3.1 Chapter Overview

3.2. Introduction to Tissue Engineering

3.2.1. Types of Cells Used in Tissue Engineering

3.2.2. Application of Tissue Engineering in Regenerative Medicine

3.2.3. Tissue Engineered Regenerative Products

3.3 Applications of Tissue Engineering-based Regenerative Products

3.4 Challenges Associated with Tissue Engineering-based Regenerative Products

3.5 Future Prospective

4. MARKET LANDSCAPE: TISSUE ENGINEERING-BASED SKIN REGENERATION PRODUCTS

4.1. Chapter Overview

4.2. Tissue Engineering-based Skin Regeneration Products: Market Landscape

4.3. Tissue Engineering-based Skin Regeneration Products: Developer Landscape

5. MARKET LANDSCAPE: TISSUE ENGINEERING- BASED BONE REGENERATION PRODUCTS

5.1. Chapter Overview

5.2. Tissue Engineering-based Bone Regeneration Products: Market Landscape

5.3. Tissue Engineering-based Skin Regeneration Products: Developer Landscape

6. KEY INSIGHTS

6.1. Chapter Overview

6.2. Analysis by Location of Headquarters (World Map Representation)

6.3. Analysis by Year of Establishment, Company Size, Number of Tissue engineering-based Regeneration Products Offered and Region (4D Bubble Chart)

6.4. Analysis by Type of Graft and Area of Application (Spider Web Representation)

6.5. Analysis by Area of Application and Type of Material of Scaffold (Horizontal Stacked Bar Chart)

6.6. Analysis by Product Formulation and Type of Graft (Vertical Stacked Bar Chart)

6.7. Analysis by Region and Target Market (Vertical Stacked Bar Chart)

7. COMPANY COMPETITIVENESS

7.1. Chapter Overview

7.2. Key Assumptions and Parameters

7.3. Methodology

8. COMPANY PROFILES

8.1. Company Overview

8.2. Tissue Engineering-based Regeneration Products Portfolio

8.3. Recent Developments and Future Outlook

9. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS AND INITIATIVES

9.1. Chapter Overview

9.2. Tissue Engineering-based Regeneration Products Market: Partnerships and Collaborations

9.3. Tissue Engineering-based Regeneration Products Market: Funding and Investments

9.4. Tissue Engineering-based Regeneration Products Market: Recent Initiatives

10. PATENT ANALYSIS

10.1. Chapter Overview

10.2. Scope and Methodology

10.3. Tissue Engineering-based Regeneration Products: Patent Analysis

10.4. Tissue Engineering-based Regeneration Products: Patent Benchmarking Analysis

10.5. Tissue Engineering-based Regeneration Products: Patent Valuation Analysis

11. GRANTS ANALYSIS

11.1. Chapter Overview

11.2. Scope and Methodology

11.3. Analysis of Academic Grants

12. MARKET FORECAST: TISSUE ENGINEERING-BASED SKIN REGENERATION PRODUCTS

12.1. Chapter Overview

12.2. Key Assumptions and Methodology

12.3. Tissue Engineering-based Skin Regeneration Products Market, 2022-2035

13. MARKET FORECAST: TISSUE ENGINEERING-BASED BONE REGENERATION PRODUCTS

13.1. Chapter Overview

13.2. Key Assumptions and Methodology

13.3. Tissue Engineering-based Bone Regeneration Products Market, 2022-2035

14. CONCLUSION

15. EXECUTIVE INSIGHTS FROM PRIMARY RESEARCH

16. APPENDIX I: TABULATED DATA

17. APPENDIX II: LIST OF COMPANIES AND ORGANIZATIONS

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/92m3hg

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Central TN post frame builder is positioning itself for continued growth in the pole barn industry.

MONTEREY, Tenn., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Troyer Post Buildings is helping many farmers obtain a high-quality post-frame building for an affordable price, or even half off with the company's compliance with the Tennessee Agriculture Enhancement Program! With their new website, they hope to help more people, as well as provide them with a better customer experience.

A custom pole barn designed by Troyer Post Buildings

Over recent years, the company has remained strong throughout the pandemic, maintaining its steady growth. When asked how, they attributed their consistent growth to their great communication, competitive pricing, and consistency. Not to mention, their resilience, keeping a positive attitude, even when things get difficult. To continue their growth, give their customers a better experience, and increase their reach, they decided a new website was what they needed.

"Here at Troyer Post Buildings, we wanted a new site that was aesthetically pleasing and very informative that we could send our customers to educate them and give them good value."  Tim Troyer, Founder/CEO

To attain these goals, they reached out to E-Impact Marketing, a Digital Marketing company recommended to them for their good work on website building. This began with the E-Impact team doing extensive research to understand the industry. Followed by a complete redesign of their old website, the new website was created in hopes of having a more user-friendly UI, clear and concise information, and to just provide a better user experience overall. Not to mention, improving their SEO as well.

"We are very happy with what E-Impact has created, they have worked hard, learned our industry, and really turned out a great product."

The result was a website with an appealing design and color scheme, optimized to bring in more organic traffic, and synced properly with their CRM. However, according to Enis Denizcier from E-Impact Marketing, this is just the beginning

About Troyer Post Buildings

Troyer Post Buildings is a post building kit designer and supplier located in Monterey, Tennessee. With a focus on communication, competitive pricing, and consistent, quality work, they have become one of the leaders in post building construction. For more information visit https://www.troyerpostbuildings.com.

Contact:

Gabriel Mitchell

(931)-839-6771

[email protected]

21745 Clarkrange Hwy Monterey, TN 38574

SOURCE Troyer Post Buildings
Increase in the prevalence of genetic disorders, increase in awareness among people about the early detection of the genetic diseases, and surge in technological advancements in the field of carrier screening drives the growth of the U.S. carrier screening market.

PORTLAND, Ore., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research published a report, titled, "U.S. carrier screening Market by Type (Expanded Carrier Screening and Targeted Disease Carrier Screening), by Technology (DNA Sequencing, Polymerase Chain Reaction, Microarrays and Others), by End User (Hospitals & Clinics, Reference Laboratories, Physician Offices and Others): Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2021-2031." According to the report, the U.S. carrier screening industry generated $585.46 million in 2021, and is estimated to reach $2.14 billion by 2031, witnessing a CAGR of 14.4% from 2022 to 2031. The report offers a detailed analysis of changing market trends, top segments, key investment pockets, value chains, regional landscapes, and competitive scenarios.

Download Free Sample Report- https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/47882

Drivers, Restraints, and Opportunities

Increase in the prevalence of genetic disorder, increase in awareness among people about the early detection of the genetic diseases, and surge in technological advancements in the field of carrier screening drive the growth of the U.S. carrier screening market. On the other hand, the lack of skilled professionals impedes the growth to some extent. However, significant investments by the government to improve healthcare infrastructure and emerging new cases of genetic diseases are expected to create lucrative opportunities in the industry.

Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Carrier Screening Market in United States-

The disrupted healthcare services including genetic counseling, resulted in a reduction in the patient influx to genetic counselors had a negative impact on the U.S. carrier screening market, especially during the lockdown period.

However, during the year 2021, the market started recovering at a full scale.

The expanded carrier screening segment to maintain its dominance during the forecast period

By type, the expanded carrier screening segment held the major share in 2021, accounting for more than two-fifths of the U.S. carrier screening market revenue. The same segment would also cite the fastest CAGR of 15.2% throughout the forecast period. Rise in the prevalence of chromosomal disease and genetic disorders, such as cystic fibrosis and sickle cell anemia drives the segment growth.

The DNA sequencing segment to rule the roost

By technology, the DNA sequencing segment accounted for the highest revenue in 2021, contributing to nearly two-fifths of the U.S. carrier screening market share. The DNA sequencing segment would portray the CAGR of 14.8% throughout the forecast period. This is due to the increasing need for personalized medicine and rise in technological advancement, that has led to the development of more effective treatments and therapies, which are helping to improve patient outcomes and reduce healthcare costs have boosted the demand for DNA sequencing, thus fueling the segment growth.

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The hospitals and clinics segment held the lion's share in 2021

By end-user, the hospitals and clinics segment garnered the major share in 2021, generating more than two-fifths of the U.S. carrier screening market revenue. The hospitals & clinics segment would also display the CAGR of 13.6% throughout the forecast period. The rise in the prevalence of chronic and genetic disorder, rise in the awareness among pregnant women and increase in the number of patients visit to the hospital for carrier screening owing to the importance of carrier screening for the early diagnosis of chromosomal and genetic disorders are the major factors expected to boost the growth of the market.

Leading Market Players-

Invitae Corporation

Illumina Inc.

PerkinElmer Inc.

Myriad Genetics, Inc.

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated

Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.

The report analyzes these key players in the U.S. carrier screening market. These players have adopted various strategies such as expansion, new product launches, partnerships, and others to increase their market penetration and strengthen their position in the industry. The report is helpful in determining the business performance, operating segments, developments, and product portfolios of every market player.

Similar Research Reports for Information, Communication and Technology:

Carrier Screening Market- Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2021-2031- The global carrier screening market size was valued at $1.9 billion in 2021 and is projected to reach $6.5 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 13.8% from 2022 to 2031.

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SOURCE Allied Market Research
TACOMA, Wash., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- USG Realty Capital ("USG"), a leading investment sponsor specializing in opportunity zones, announced today the details of its ground-up opportunity zone project, Market Square Apartments, as part of its Investors Choice OZ Fund, an investor-directed, multi-asset opportunity zone fund offering. The 176-unit fully entitled multifamily project, located in Tacoma, Washington, will also include ground-floor retail space. The property will be developed in partnership with Plus Capital Partners and is scheduled for completion in June 2024.

"When looking for our next qualified opportunity zone project to include in our portfolio, the Tacoma submarket stood out as an exceptional area that meets our strict standards," said Greg Genovese, founder of USG Realty Capital. "Tacoma has strong fundamentals, with an impressive occupancy rate, rent growth rate and apartment sales volume, all of which have exceeded recent averages. We are very pleased to partner with Plus Capital Partners, a leading development firm, and to add Market Square Apartments to our portfolio."

Located in the exceptional submarket of Tacoma, near Seattle, Market Square Apartments will be an eight-story multifamily building located directly adjacent to the Greater Tacoma Convention Center and the University of Washington's Tacoma Campus. The luxury apartment building will include several highly desirable amenities, such as a fitness center, storage for 184 bikes, a pet grooming area, a conference room, two rooftop amenity decks, two resident lounges with kitchen and dining and five laundry facilities.

Tacoma is a booming hub for tech startups and small businesses, due in part to its robust broadband infrastructure and convenient freeway and rail line access, which offers an easy commute to Seattle and its large regional employers. Major roadways Interstate 705 and State Route 509 are within 2,000 feet of the Market Square Apartments property. Several downtown Tacoma employers, including St. Joseph Medical Center and Columbia Bank, are just a short drive away. Additionally, the University of Washington's Tacoma campus, ranked as one of the top pubic universities in the West by U.S. News & World Report, is expected to grow to 10,000 students in the upcoming years, potentially increasing demand for nearby housing. As it is located in one of the area's six designated opportunity zones, the project also allows for potential tax benefits.

Investors Choice OZ Fund by USG Realty Capital launched in June 2021. Since that time, the qualified opportunity zone fund has added four more projects to its portfolio and continues to seek qualified ground-up multifamily, senior living, storage, and manufactured housing projects. The $50 million offering focuses on projects with investment equity targets ranging from $5 million to $10 million per project.

About USG Realty Capital

USG Realty Capital is headquartered in Silverdale, Washington, with divisional headquarters for asset management and capital markets in Santa Barbara, California. The USG Opportunity Zone Investment Platform was created by USG Realty Capital, an alternative investment company, and has successfully launched three opportunity zone investment funds.

This is not an offer to sell securities. An offer to sell securities may be made only pursuant to the applicable Private Placement Memorandum for the security ("The Memorandum"). All investments involve risk. An investment in securities is speculative, illiquid and involves a high degree of risk and there is no guarantee that investors will receive any returns. Risks may include real estate risks; opportunity zone regulatory risks; the volatility of multifamily, single family, medical office, general office, retail, industrial, self-storage, and senior living industries; the impact of COVID-19 outbreak; limited redemption rights; restrictions on transferability; no guarantee of cash distributions; distributions may be paid from any source; reliance on management; financing risks; the fees paid to the manager may not be determined by arm's-length negotiations; conflicts of interest; and tax risks.

Contact: Jill Swartz

Spotlight Marketing Communications

949-427-1389

[email protected]

SOURCE USG Realty Capital
Director-level position establishes a dedicated presence in the company's Midland office

FORT WORTH, Texas, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Valor , a Fort Worth-based specialty asset management company with expertise in mineral management and oil and gas accounting , has named Claire Ames Shaw as the company's new director of West Texas operations. Claire will work from Valor's satellite office in Midland, Texas, maintaining a dedicated presence for the company in this energy rich region. The addition of Claire to the team reinforces the company's commitment to having a strong, continuous presence in the West Texas region.

Claire Ames Shaw

"Over the past few years, we've noted a substantial increase in new mineral management clients and prospects in the West Texas region," said Joseph DeWoody, CEO of Valor. "Claire's experience and credentials made her a unanimous choice to head up Valor's office in Midland. Under her leadership and guidance, we look forward to having boots on the ground and the opportunity to strengthen relationships with the individual and institutional clients we serve."

In the past decade, Claire has lived and worked in Midland, allowing her to gain a familiarity with the people and culture that define this oil-rich region of Texas. Claire is also no stranger to the mineral management and banking industries, having spent eight years at J.P. Morgan Private Bank, three of which were in the Midland office, and another two years working as a land assistant for Statewide Minerals Company. While at J.P. Morgan she held both Series 7 and Series 63 licenses, qualifying her to work as an agent with all types of corporate securities offerings. In addition to representing Valor's local interests, she'll also be continuing her work with the nonprofit Young Professionals Organization (YPO) of West Texas. Claire is a graduate of Auburn University, where she earned a Bachelor of Science (BS) in finance.

With offices in Fort Worth and Midland, Texas, Valor has grown to become one of the Southwest's leading private asset managers, providing mineral management , oil and gas bookkeeping , and operator outsourcing for mineral owners and oil and gas investors. Thanks to the company's revolutionary mineral.tech  software platform and mineral management services , Valor now oversees a combined 10.2 million gross acres and 560,000 net royalty acres of mineral and property rights on behalf of more than 100,000 interests across 32 U.S. states.

For more information on Valor's role as a specialty asset management provider, please visit www.onevalor.com .

About Valor:

Valor is a specialty asset management and professional services provider that serves mineral owners and private wealth clients. We place the client first, providing flexible solutions and leveraging our team of experts to maintain the security, clarity and optimization of privately owned assets. Valor oversees 10.2 million gross acres and 560,000 net royalty acres of mineral and property rights in 32 states. The company manages more than 100,000 interests, which generates over $240 million in annual revenue for Valor's clients. Valor's professional services scope also extends beyond the energy sector with Valor Ignite - an on-demand outsourcing solution for accounting, business process outsourcing, contract C-suite engagements and back-office support . Explore the benefits of partnering with Valor to manage mineral rights and streamline business operations by visiting www.onevalor.com .

Media Contact:

Jeff Cheatham

Senior Strategist/Publicist

The Power Group

(972) 961-6171

[email protected]

SOURCE Valor
SHENZHEN, China, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- VAPORESSO, the world-leading vaping brand, is launching a Valentine's Day campaign via its website to recommend the best gifts for the traditional lovers' festival while encouraging users to create shared memories between themselves and the brand.

Since its inception in 2015, VAPORESSO has been dedicated to establishing a smoke-free world while raising the quality of life for its users. Based on its continuous innovation, strict quality control, and substantial commitment, VAPORESSO creates products that can fit all levels and styles of vapers.

In line with the BIG IDEA for the year 2023 - INNOVATE AT ONCE and its goal of creating the industry's number-one brand, VAPORESSO presents its unhesitating approach to innovation and fearlessness about the unknown future through the campaign.

"This Valentine's Day will be another perfect opportunity for VAPORESSO to connect with our millions of users. Adhering to the brand's DNA, cementing the company's commitment to innovation from product inception to design and device sales, we call on all its users to embrace the latest trends while remaining inclusive and adhering to their own style as a new era dawns in 2023," said Jimmy Hu, Vice President of VAPORESSO.

VAPORESSO's brand recommendations for Valentine's Day are the award-winning XROS 3 and 3 MINI products. Boasting a 1,000 mAh high-density battery, the XROS 3 has built up a reputation as one of the most reliable and robust vape products available on the market. The vaping solution can run for 48 hours off a single charge. The product comes equipped with a neon indicator to let the user know straight away how much battery power is left, doubling down on comfort and practicality.

The XROS 3 also employs a sleek rounded design to make sure that the mouthpiece suits users' lips perfectly, booting their MTL (mouth to lung) experience comprehensively. The device is equipped with the company's innovative COREX Heating Tech for rapid and even heating, delivering good flavor and providing the most accurate flavor reproduction.

The company has sold over 40 million pieces from the XROS series since it launched in 2020. The XROS 3, the latest version of the series, has also taken home multiple awards to date thanks to its innovative and trendy design. Recent plaudits include a prestigious Red Dot Award in 2022 as well as numerous Muse Design Awards.

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SOURCE VAPORESSO
Expanded mobile recording capabilities from Virgin Media O2's network now available to small to medium-sized business (SMB) and public service sector customers

Significantly extends the existing relationship where Dubber is the Mobile recording service for enterprise customers

Unified recording and intelligence ties in mobile, Microsoft Teams, Cisco, and Zoom with transcription and sentiment analysis using AI

Intelligent call recording and Dubber AI switch on immediately to deliver value across compliance, customer, people, and sales

MELBOURNE, Australia and LONDON, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Dubber Corporation Limited (ASX: DUB), the leading unified recording and intelligence platform for service providers and their customers globally, has significantly expanded its partnership capability with Virgin Media O2 Business giving customers an increased range of mobile recording services and access to connected systems via one platform, provided over Virgin Media O2's network.

Virgin Media O2 is one of the UK's largest telecommunications service providers with more than 47 million UK connections across broadband, mobile, TV and home phone, and passes 16 million premises with its own fixed network. This expanded partnership, which transitions Dubber from a vendor to a strategic partner for unified recording and intelligence, will provide Virgin Media O2 Business customers with access to the full Dubber product suite.

Customers will benefit from additional services ranging from AI-enabled transcription to sentiment analysis, with support for platforms including: Cisco Webex (CSCO), Microsoft Teams (MSFT) and Zoom (ZM) enabling customers to host and track recordings across a range of systems through a single, secure platform. Expanding on these benefits, the Dubber product suite provides intelligent features to support businesses in meeting client needs. This goes beyond traditional transcription services to provide sentiment analysis of secure and consensual recordings; features that can be used by businesses to support a range of purposes including customer service and dispute resolution to regulatory compliance, sales automation and intelligence, productivity, and employee training.

Dubber and Virgin Media O2 Business's partnership will enable customers to unlock the potential of every conversation across mobile and unified communications. Last year, Gartner predicted that 'in 2025, 75% of conversations at work will be recorded and analysed' enabling businesses across all industries to discover added organisational value. Dubber is ahead of the curve with tasks such as compliance, workplace engagement and training all being answered through a service-native solution that switches on with a click.

Andrew Halliwell, Product Director, Virgin Media O2 said:

"This expanded partnership creates new opportunities for our long-term relationship with Dubber and extends a wider range of services to our customers. The Dubber product suite coupled with Virgin Media O2's mobile and broadband network will provide our SMB and public sector customers with greater mobile recording insights in one place, enabling them to make more informed decisions to address their productivity, compliance and intelligence needs."

Steve McGovern, CEO, Dubber:

"Today's announcement is a testament to the strength of the partnership between Dubber and Virgin Media O2 and our shared vision for a fully automated and self-service cloud solution. Addressing unified recording and intelligence on both mobile and UC networks unlocks a significant addressable market for both Dubber and VMO2  enabling more conversations than ever before to be tapped for insights. We look forward to continuing to work closely with VMO2 to deliver greater value to their users as we develop the next generation of unified recording services together."

About Dubber:

Dubber enables Service Providers to unlock the potential of the network - turning every conversation into an exponential source of value for differentiated innovation, retention and revenue. Listed on the ASX, Dubber is the clear market leader in conversational intelligence and unified recording - embedded at the heart of over 175 service provider networks.

For more information, please visit Dubber at www.dubber.net

About Virgin Media O2

Virgin Media O2 launched on 1 June 2021, combining the UK's largest and most reliable mobile network with a broadband network offering the fastest widely-available broadband speeds. It is a customer-first organisation that brings a range of connectivity services together in one place with a clear mission: to upgrade the nation. Virgin Media O2 is the corporate brand of the 50:50 joint venture between Liberty Global and Telefonica SA, and one of the UK's largest businesses.

The company has 47 million UK connections across broadband, mobile, TV and home phone. Its own fixed network currently passes 16.0 million premises alongside a mobile network that covers 99% of the nation's population with 4G, and more than 800 towns and cities with 5G services targeting 50% population coverage in 2023.

For more information, contact:

Investors & Media VMO2 Leia Karam [email protected] +44 (0)7478 693 445 Dubber Terry Alberstein [email protected] +61 (0) 458 484 921 Dubber EMEA Stephanie Forrest [email protected] +44 7917 695 755







SOURCE Dubber
CITY OF INDUSTRY, Calif., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- As a globally known water purification brand recognized by over 10 million US families, Waterdrop is always dedicated to offering an intelligent and professional whole house water purification solution for millions and millions of families all over the world. They have partnered with a new pet brand, Pawaii, to launch a smart wireless pet fountain called the Caremi fountain. The goal is to combine Waterdrop's expertise in water purification with smart and fashionable pet products to provide safe and healthy water for pets. With this new product, pets can enjoy the benefits of purified water just like their owners.

Caremi Mobile Smart Pet Water Fountain

According to the lead of the development team of this pet water fountain, the goal of the product is to help owners care for their fur babies without missing out on any vital information that can help improve their pets' lives. In his words, "the development of science and technology has made it possible to design and manufacture smart eco-products that are dedicated to pets and their families. The Caremi Mobile Smart Pet Water Fountain is our first attempt at leveraging sci-tech to improve the experience of pets and their owners."

The Caremi Mobile Smart Pet Water Fountain boasts a wide range of excellent features and functionalities. Unlike other regular models out there, this model has a proprietary app that keeps track of the water intake data using the smart weighing module. It can help to monitor how much water their pets drink, how many times, and for how long daily. This also helps pet owners consistently monitor their pet's health situation whenever and wherever.

Waterdrop coincides with Pawaii's concept about water health. "Waterdrop's mission is to protect the health of every family member by providing them with safe drinking water. After noticing that many families were concerned about their pets' water quality, Waterdrop decided to help through our efforts. This Caremi fountain is provided with Waterdrop's NSF-certified multi-stage filtration elements to ensure the safety of pet's drinking water. Furthermore, thanks to the smart wireless design from Pawaii, it really achieves our goal of combining science and technology with user-friendly, modern designs in a single product", according to a head from the Waterdrop product line.

Waterdrop and Pawaii are introducing a crowdfunding project for the Caremi Mobile Smart Pet Water Fountain, set to run from the 14th of February to the 8th of April, 2023, on Indiegogo. The brand invites pet owners to participate in the exercise on the platform and take advantage of up to 55% discount available to super early bird participants.

If you are in the market for a pet water fountain, now is the best time to make a move. You can never go wrong with the world's first NSF-certified smart water fountain.

For more on the features of the Pawaii Caremi mobile drinking fountain, head to Indiegogo right away.

SOURCE Waterdrop
Valentina Matviyenko, Chairperson of the Russian Federation Council, met with Sahiba Gafarova, speaker of the parliament of Azerbaijan, who is on an official visit to Russia.

February 14, 2023, 17:25 Matviyenko, Gafarova address matters related to Karabakh issue settlement

STEPANAKERT, FEBRUARY 14, ARTSAKHPRESS: According to Matviyenko, Russian-Azerbaijani relations are on the rise.

"The opening of the Consulate General of Russia in Azerbaijan would serve as a vivid example of allied relations between Russia and Azerbaijan," she added, in particular, News.am informs.

The head of the Azerbaijani legislature, for her part, emphasized that the relations between the two countries are stable and dynamic.

During the talk, the matters related to the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue and the work being done with respect to the Lachin corridor were also touched upon.
Innovative Products

W&H has plenty to offer when it comes to innovative products. The Lexa Plus, a pre-vacuum Class B sterilizer, will be a focus this year as a new addition to their hygiene portfolio making a dental practice's workflow easier, faster and more efficient. The large chamber capacity, energy-saving fast cycles, automatic water filling, and excellent load drying offering full protection for doctors and their patients. The advanced, patented Eco Dry+ technology adapts the drying time to the mass of the load, increases efficiency by reducing cycle times, increases the life span of instruments and optimizes energy consumption.

Sustainable Solutions

W&H's top priority is superior quality, using only high-quality materials that provide a long lifespan of its products. Another focus this year is their new Assistina One with Quick Connect by W&H. This reprocessing device provides perfect processing and maintenance of straight and contra-angle handpieces, turbines and air motors. It performs the correct lubrication cycles crucial for the function and long service life of dental handpieces which means instruments can be sustainably maintained while also saving on both resources and costs. Up to 2,800 transmission instruments can be maintained with just one Care Set saving money, time and use of oil spray cans.

Additional core products that will be presented at their booth include their full line of handpieces and turbines, the Proxeo Twist Cordless rotary polisher, the Implantmed, the Assistina Twin and the Lexa sterilizer. Exclusive show promotions will be offered to visitors during the meeting, as well as a special flash sale only during the show's Brews & Bargains event held on Friday, Feb. 25th from 3:15  5:15 pm.

"As a global manufacturer of medical devices, we want to create genuine added value for our customers and their patients by providing innovative, sustainable products and service solutions," said Chris Stachl, CEO of W&H Impex. "We are excited once again to engage with the dental community personally at our booth and to provide them with the opportunity to experience firsthand the superior quality of our full range of products."

Schedule a Demonstration at Their Booth

Schedule an appointment in advance for a demonstration at their booth #4816 with a member of their sales team to learn more about their latest products in dental innovation and to take advantage of their special show promotions.

About W&H

W&H Impex, Inc. located in Ontario, Canada is a subsidiary of W&H Group . Headquartered in Burmoos, Austria, the international W&H Group is a global leader in the development and manufacture of medical technology products. Passion and innovation are the motor of the company. High-quality product and service solutions , a modern corporate structure, a strong focus on research and development as well as social responsibility make W&H a locally and globally successful family business. More than 1,200 employees contribute to the production of hardware and software products for use in the dental, medical and veterinary industries.

SOURCE W&H Impex Inc.
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Environmental, social and governance (ESG) has emerged as one of the core strategies in the wine industry to integrate sustainability into business goals and achieve sustainable growth. Environmentally friendly winegrowing practices have gained ground as sustainable vineyards continue to amass popularity. Wineries and vineyards have warranted social and environmentally responsible approaches to ensure soil, communities and industry health. An emphasis on water efficiency, pest management, energy efficiency, waste management and supply chain can foster sustainable viticulture.

Of late, organic wine that does not have added sulfites to increase shelf life has come on the horizon. Since various synthetic products are banned in several countries, producers and farmers may be forced to seek organic farming. Moreover, biodynamic farming has stood out among winegrowers as it aims to balance and revive soil, farm and plant's health. It can also enhance soil fertility and enable vines to flourish in a balanced ecosystem.

Discover more regarding the practices and strategies being implemented by industry participants in the Wine Industry ESG Thematic Report, 2023, published by Astra ESG Solutions

ESG performance will hold prominence to protect diversity, minimize waste, produce healthy wines, ensure traceability, enhance transparency and boost job creation. Similarly, stockholders, shareholders and other stakeholders are expected to bank on ESG pillars to gain steam in the global landscape.

Environmental Perspective

Winegrowers are counting on environmental performance to preserve ambiance and negate the impact of climate change on wine production. For instance, regenerative agriculture practices have received an impetus to minimize tilling, enhance soil health and help bind carbon in the soil. Moreover, an increased need for water at wineries has furthered the demand for state-of-the-art water tracking devices. Vintage Wine Estates is contemplating using NASA data and AI to forecast water availability. The U.S.-based company has been reusing wastewater from wineries and using city graywater for vineyard irrigation.

Furthermore, in 2022, the company claims to have completed its first scope 1&2 carbon emissions calculations. It also adopted strategies, such as installing alternative energy, efficiency upgrades and streamlining tracking of energy use in real-time across wineries. Brands are likely to further their sustainability quotient and stay committed to a culture of care toward the environment.

Is your business one of participants to the Wine Industry? Contact us for focused consultation around ESG Investing, and help you build sustainable business practices

Social Perspective

Wineries and vineyards with a focus on diversity, equity, inclusion and workplace safety can redefine the global landscape. Pioneering companies and other leaders have upped investments in human rights to eliminate discrimination and forced labor. By 2022, the Asahi Group spurred efforts to complete human rights due diligence at suppliers. The company formed a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) statement in the preceding year. It aims to propel the percentage of female representation of leadership positions to 40% by 2030, up from 22% in 2021.

The Tokyo-based company has put the spotlight on people-to-people connections globally. It contemplates launching the Environmental Think Tank to allow employees to implement proposed projects and help resolve regional environmental issues in Oceania. Besides, it could implement support projects for hops farmers, barley farmers and Campus Peroni. Promoting a culture full of opportunities and the well-being of employees can underscore social pillar, thereby strengthening brand position.

Governance Perspective

Companies that prioritize transparency, good corporate governance and board diversity may have the edge over their competitors. The strategy can optimize the company's performance, offer guidance for smooth management and recognize the organization's legal obligations. Specifically, women comprised 58.3% of the Board of Directors at Pernod Ricard as of 30th June 2022, while 58.3% were independent directors and 42.8% were non-French Directors.

Meanwhile, Treasury Wine Estates has eight non-executive directors and has augmented focus on risk management frameworks and controls. The company has furthered its emphasis on tax governance to muster up stakeholders' value, trust and confidence. It has adopted a low tax risk appetite, suggesting tax risks above the level mentioned in the risk management framework are managed by a robust mitigation plan.

Get more insights about how key industry participants like Asahi Group Holdings, Ltd., Beijing Yanjing Beer Group Corporation, The Wine Group, Castel Freres, Accolade Wines, Constellation Brands, Treasury Wine Estates (TWE), Pernod Ricard, E. & J. Gallo Winery, Vina Concha y Toro are identifying, analyzing and mitigating ESG risks and ensuring compliance

Incumbent players have emphasized minimizing carbon emissions and investing in renewable energy. For instance, the Asahi Group has set an audacious goal of transitioning all of its breweries to renewable energy-derived electricity by 2025 across Europe. On the other hand, Treasury Wine Estates opened a USD 165 million production facility in Barossa Valley, South Australia, to help manage climate change impacts on winemaking vintages. These trends indicate the global wine market could observe a healthy CAGR of 6.4% from 2021 to 2028.

Browse more ESG Thematic Reports from the Consumer Products Sector, published by Astra - ESG Solutions

About Astra  ESG Solutions by Grand View Research

Astra is the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) arm of Grand View Research Inc. - a global market research publishing & management consulting firm.

Astra offers comprehensive ESG thematic assessment & scores across diverse impact & socially responsible investment topics, including both public and private companies along with intuitive dashboards. Our ESG solutions are powered by robust fundamental & alternative information. Astra specializes in consulting services that equip corporates and the investment community with the in-depth ESG research and actionable insight they need to support their bottom lines and their values. We have supported our clients across diverse ESG consulting projects & advisory services, including climate strategies & assessment, ESG benchmarking, stakeholder engagement programs, active ownership, developing ESG investment strategies, ESG data services, build corporate sustainability reports. Astra team includes a pool of industry experts and ESG enthusiasts who possess extensive end-end ESG research and consulting experience at a global level.

For more ESG Thematic reports, please visit Astra ESG Solutions, powered by Grand View Research

Need expert consultation around identifying, analyzing and creating a plan to mitigate ESG risks related to your business? Share your concerns and queries, we can help!

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Astra ESG Solutions - Powered by Grand View Research, Inc.

Phone: 1-415-349-0058

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/astra-esg-solutions/

SOURCE Astra ESG Solutions
CONCORD, N.C., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Wolfe Inc., headquartered out of Concord, NC with offices across North Carolina, announced today that their multidisciplinary software, WolfeOne, has expanded to now include HRIS functionality for HR departments. Wolfe was recently awarded its PBSA accreditation in background screening, becoming one of only 10 percent of background screening companies in the United States to hold this distinction. Wolfe also provides drug testing and a suite of hiring and retention tools to businesses across the country.

WolfeOne is an intuitive platform that streamlines, organizes, and alerts our clients about their employee documents so that they never miss an expiration date. Included in WolfeOne is the scheduling of drug testing and background screening as well as integration with a company's ATS/HRIS system. With WolfeOne's expanded HRIS functionality, clients can now confidently document and store employee information.

""WolfeOne's HRIS features were deliberately designed for the HR person who bears the sole responsibility of employee documentation at their organization" said Jim Wolfe, CEO of Wolfe Inc. "We believe in providing our clients attentive and quality customer service. Wolfe serves many small and midsize employers across the U.S. and has listened to their feedback in adding an HRIS service so that WolfeOne can truly be an all-in-one software that assist the HR professional in saving valuable time."

With WolfeONE's newly added features, businesses can now record the employee's lifecycle through recording their salary information, start date, and end date while also uploading any supporting documentation for that employee.

An added benefit to utilizing WolfeOne for businesses is access to top-of-the-line customer service through our dedicated support team that is readily available to assist businesses with any questions they may have. WolfeOne also comes with attractive pricing to ensure your company is not breaking the bank on this service.

About Wolfe Inc.

Wolfe offers hiring and retention services to our clients that includes PBSA and FCRA-compliant background screening, DOT and non-DOT drug testing, online document storage and management, and integration opportunities. With our 37 years of experience, our attentive customer service and multidisciplinary software allows your business to hire and retain the best employees with confidence while taking guesswork and stress out of employee retention. For more information, visit www.wolfeinc.com .

Media Contact:

David Price

Sales and Marketing Manager

[email protected]

828-771-3107

SOURCE Wolfe Inc.
ATLANTA, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Wood Partners, a leading national multifamily real estate company, announces the hiring of Dana Caudell as Executive Vice President of Operations for its property management company. Caudell brings with her nearly 30 years of experience in the multifamily industry and has served on multiple boards, including IREM and local apartment associations.

"We are extremely excited that Dana has joined the Wood team. I strongly believe that Dana's passion, experience and expertise will be invaluable assets to our team as we continue to drive growth and success in our property management business," said Joseph Keough, Chairman and CEO of Wood Partners.

In her new role, Caudell will lead Wood Partners' award-winning, full-service, property management company proudly operating communities developed and owned both by Wood Partners and third-party clients. She will be responsible for overseeing day-to-day operations, including management, leasing, client services and accounting, for the company's portfolio from coast-to-coast.

"I am thrilled to officially be joining the Wood Partners team and look forward to leveraging my nearly three decades of experience in the multifamily space to help contribute to the company's continued success," said Dana Caudell, Executive Vice President of Operations for Wood Partners. "As one of the leading developers, owners and operators in the industry, I am excited to be working alongside such a tremendously talented team dedicated to providing luxury communities to residents across the country."

Prior to joining Wood Partners, Caudell spent six years serving as President of Property Management for The Bainbridge Companies. In addition, Caudell was a founding member and partner of Park Partners Residential, a boutique, vertically integrated real estate company based in South Florida.

Caudell attended the University of South Carolina's School of Journalism. She also earned her Certified Property Manager's certification through IREM and is a graduate of Florida International University's Women's Leadership program.

Wood Partners is committed to providing exceptional homes and communities to residents across the country. With the addition of Caudell to the team, the company is well-positioned to continue delivering on its mission and driving growth in the years to come.

About Wood Partners

Wood Partners is a national leader in the development, construction, and management of multifamily communities across the United States. The company has been involved in the acquisition and development of nearly 90,000 conventional multifamily homes with a combined capitalization of $17.3 billion. The company currently owns more than 70 properties across the United States representing over 20,000 homes. Headquartered in Atlanta, Wood Partners has offices in 22 major markets across 15 states nationwide. The company also operates Wood Residential , an award-winning, full-service property management group that proudly operates both properties developed by Wood Partners and communities owned by third parties. For three years running, Wood Residential has ranked No. 1 nationally for online reputation in the J Turner ORA Power Rankings (Division III). For more information, visit woodpartners.com .

Contact: Donya Mansoorian, [email protected]

SOURCE Wood Partners
Recognized for expertise in the SMB market

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Xantrion announced today that CRN , a brand of The Channel Company , has named them to its Managed Service Provider (MSP) 500 list in the Pioneer 250 category for 2023 for the eighth consecutive year. CRN's annual MSP 500 list identifies the industry-leading service providers in North America who are driving a new wave of growth and innovation for the channel through forward-thinking approaches to managed services, helping end users increase efficiency and simplify IT solutions, while maximizing their return on investment.

Demand For MSPs Is At An All-Time High: The 2023 MSP 500

MSPs have become a vital part of the success of businesses worldwide. MSPs not only empower organizations to leverage intricate technologies but also help them keep a strict focus on their core business goals without straining their budgets.

The annual MSP 500 list is divided into three sections: the MSP Pioneer 250, recognizing companies with business models weighted toward managed services and largely focused on the SMB market; the MSP Elite 150, recognizing large, data center-focused MSPs with a strong mix of on- and off-premises services; and the Managed Security 100, recognizing MSPs focused primarily on off-premises and cloud-based security services.

"Managed services offer a path for businesses of all sizes to remain efficient and flexible as they grow," said Blaine Raddon, CEO of The Channel Company. "The solution providers on our 2023 MSP 500 list are bringing innovative managed services portfolios to market, helping their customers win by doing more with the IT budgets they have and freeing up resources to focus on mission-critical activities to drive future success."

"We are honored to be a member of the Pioneer 250. We pride ourselves on helping SMBs focus on their core business goals without straining their budgets, so it's gratifying to be recognized for our capabilities in this area", said Anne Bisagno, President, Xantrion Inc.

About Xantrion

Experts in cybersecurity and technical support, Xantrion provides outsourced IT services for midsized companies in the San Francisco Bay Area. Its team of IT experts brings impeccable technical and business skills to every assignment. Featuring an award-winning strategic approach, SOC2 Type II certified security practices, 24/7 help desk, fixed fees, and a 99.9% uptime record, Xantrion is a proven partner for managed IT and security services .

Follow Xantrion Inc. Twitter , LinkedIn , and Facebook .

About The Channel Company

The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers and end users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequalled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. www.thechannelco.com

Xantrion Inc Contact:

Anne Bisagno

Xantrion Inc.

(510) 272-4701

[email protected]

SOURCE Xantrion Inc.
BEIJING, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- An exhibition featuring Dehua ceramics was held on Saturday at Sunway Pyramid Shopping Center in Selangor, Malaysia, which attracted many Malaysian people to explore the unique charm of Dehua porcelain products.

About 35 Dehua-based ceramic enterprises jointly exhibited high-quality white porcelain products including master art porcelain, household daily-use porcelain, and export craft porcelain at the exhibition, demonstrating the rich cultural heritage and exquisite skills of Dehua ceramics in an all-round way.

Fang Junqin (4th R), head of Dehua County, Quanzhou, southeast China's Fujian Province, poses for a group photo with guests at an exhibition featuring Dehua ceramics, which kicks off on Saturday at Sunway Pyramid Shopping Center in Selangor, Malaysia.

Dehua porcelain is a type of white Chinese porcelain made in Dehua County, Quanzhou City, southeast China's Fujian Province. The plain white porcelain crafted there has been dubbed "Blanc de Chine" (White from China) by the French and gained worldwide fame.

In 2022, the output value of Dehua ceramics exceeded 50 billion yuan, said Fang Junqin, the head of Dehua County.

Porcelain industry in Dehua County is not only a leading industry, but also a livelihood industry. There are more than 4,000 ceramic enterprises. Among the 356,000 people in the county, one out of three people is engaged in ceramic-related work, Fang introduced.

This year, Dehua will begin the implementation of a new five-year action plan for the high-quality development of the porcelain industry and strive to build Dehua porcelain into a hundred billion industry cluster by 2027, Fang noted.

Fang also pointed out that with RCEP agreement taking effect, the export of Dehua porcelain to Southeast Asian countries has grown rapidly. From January to September 2022, Dehua exported 5.77 million U.S. dollars of porcelain products to Malaysia, surging 324.29 percent year on year.

According to Fang, Malaysia is perceived as the "translator" and "catalyst" for Dehua porcelain to enter the international market.

See the original link: https://en.imsilkroad.com/p/332735.html

SOURCE Xinhua Silk Road
Due to the blocking by Azerbaijan of the only road connecting Artsakh with Armenia, 7 patients from the Republican Medical Center the Republic of Artsakh with serious diseases of the oncology and cardiovascular system as well as pathologies requiring emergency surgical interventions have been transported today, on February 14, to specialized medical institutions of the Republic of Armenia with the mediation and escort of the International Committee of the Red Cross. 3 patients, who had been transferred to Armenia for medical treatment, returned to Artsakh together with an accompanying persons, the Artsakh InfoCenter informs.

February 14, 2023, 15:09 ICRC facilitated transfer of seven people from Stepanakert to Yerevan for treatment

STEPANAKERT, FEBRUARY 14, ARTSAKHPRESS: Scheduled surgeries continue to be suspended in the medical centers of the Republic of Artsakh.

4 children remain in the neonatal and intensive care units of the Arevik medical centre.
NATO does not consider itself a party to the conflict with Russia but will keep supplying more advanced and heavier weaponry to Ukraine, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said upon his arrival at a meeting of the blocs defense ministers on Tuesday, Tass informs.

February 14, 2023, 16:04 NATO chief denies blocs involvement in conflict with Russia

STEPANAKERT, FEBRUARY 14, ARTSAKHPRESS: "Neither NATO nor NATO allies are party to the conflict. What we do as NATO allies and NATO, is to provide support to Ukraine. Ukraine is defending itself. Ukraine has the right to defend itself. And of course, we have the right to help Ukraine uphold the right for self-defense. So NATO and NATO allies are not party to the conflict, but we support Ukraine in the right of self-defense," the NATO chief said, replying to a corresponding question.

The type of weapons supplied to Ukraine "has evolved as the war has evolved," Stoltenberg said.

"In the beginning there was enormous focus on javelins, on anti-tank, light anti-tank weapons, and then we saw the urgent need for artillery and allies started to step up the delivery of advanced modern artillery. Then air defense has been a main focus and now heavy weaponry," he said.

As Stoltenberg said, "actually since 2014, NATO has implemented the biggest reinforcements of collective defense in a generation, because the war didn't start in February last year. It started in 2014."

Tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and munitions are now a NATO priority in weaponry deliveries to Ukraine, Stoltenberg said.

"So the issue of aircraft is not the most urgent issue now. But it is an ongoing discussion. We have ongoing consultations among allies on the type of systems allies should deliver to Ukraine," he said.

"The urgent need now is to deliver what has always been promised" and this "will be a top issue at the meetings today here at NATO," Stoltenberg said.
Ankara, Feb 14 : Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said that Turkey will not accept more refugees from Syria after the earthquakes, denying claims that Syrians were flooding into the country following the deadly quakes.

Claims that there is a new influx of refugees from Syria to Turkey "are not true". "We will not allow that. It is out of the question," Cavusoglu said at a joint news conference with his Libyan counterpart Nejla al-Mangush in the capital Ankara, Xinhua news agency reported.

Turkey has offered to the United Nations to open two more border gates into Syria through Turkey's southern province of Kilis, but the gates would serve one way into Syria for humanitarian aid, he noted.

Currently, the humanitarian aid to Syria's rebel-held areas is being delivered through the Bab al-Hawa Border Crossing across Turkey, according to Cavusoglu.

"We are facilitating humanitarian aid for Syrians, but we are not allowing a new Syrian refugee influx. These are two separate issues," the Turkish minister said.
Kiev, Feb 14 : A total of 105 Ukrainian soldiers undergo training in Poland to learn how to use the Leopard 2 tanks, the Ukrainian government-run Ukrinform news agency has reported, citing Polish military official.

Twenty-one tank crews together with technical personnel and tank maintenance teams began their training in Poland a week ago, said Krzysztof Sieradzki, head of the 10th Armored Brigade's training group.

The Ukrainian forces train between 10 hours and 12 hours a day using the Polish Leopard 2 tanks and the same model supplied by Canada, Sieradzki was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

According to him, the training will last for about a month.

Sieradzki did not rule out that a new group of Ukrainian military personnel would later arrive in Poland for training.

Last month, the German government decided to supply its Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and green-lighted requests by other countries to do so.

Poland is set to send a batch of 14 tanks to Ukraine.
Rescuers search for survivors among the rubble of a building destroyed in quake-hit Besni District of Adiyaman Province, Turkey, Feb. 8, 2023. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during his visit to the worst-hit region on Wednesday that a to Image Source: IANS News

This aerial photo taken on Feb. 8, 2023 shows rescuers searching for survivors among the rubble of buildings destroyed in quake-hit Besni District of Adiyaman Province, Turkey. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during his visit to the worst Image Source: IANS News

Ankara, Feb 14 : Rescue teams in Turkey have slowed down search efforts for quake victims, one week after the devastating earthquake that has so far killed at least 31,643 people in the country.

Some teams have started debris removal work, while emergency teams intensified efforts to provide necessities such as medical help, food and shelter for survivors, Xinhua news agency reported.

About 238,500 search and rescue personnel are working in the field, and more than 158,000 people have been evacuated from the quake-hit regions so far, Turkey's disaster agency said on Monday.

Among at least 574 children pulled from collapsed buildings who had no surviving parents, only 76 were handed to other family members, while 118 were settled in childcare institutions affiliated with the Family and Social Services Ministry, with hundreds of others still under medical treatment, according to Turkish Vice-President Fuat Oktay.

A total of 9,401 foreign personnel from 77 countries are involved in emergency efforts in the field, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Monday, adding seven more countries are expected to send rescue teams.

In Turkey, tens of thousands of earthquake survivors are now living in tent cities or moving to other provinces for temporary shelter.

Twin earthquakes measuring 7.7- and 7.6-magnitude hit southern Turkey and northern Syria on February 6.
Lucknow, Feb 14 : Uttar Pradesh deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak has ordered a probe into the case of a patient gone missing from Jhansi's Maharani Laxmibai Medical College.

Pathak has issued an order to investigate the matter and sought a report from the principal of the college in three days.

Pathak also issued a warning and added that instances such as the disappearance of the patient should be checked using CCTV cameras and they must be in a working condition.

"Along with this, statements from the nurses, paramedical staff and security personnel on duty ought to be taken soon," he said.

It may be recalled that a patient admitted to Jhansi's Maharani Laxmibai Medical College went missing two weeks back.

The relatives have been reaching the hospital daily in search of the patient, but no help is forthcoming from the hospital officials.

Paramlal, a class four employee in a school located in Narayan Bagh, was admitted to the medical college after he complained of shortness of breath. He was admitted to the TB ward and then discharged.

His mother-in-law Sunita said that Paramlal's condition deteriorated and he was readmitted to the hospital. Paramlal's wife Rakhi is physically challenged.

Meanwhile Rakhi fell ill and her mother stayed back to take care of her. When she went to the hospital after a gap of a few days, Paramlal was found missing. The mother-in-law went around looking for her son-in-law but could not find him.

Chief medical superintendent (CMS) Dr Sachin Mathur said that the matter would be investigated.

The hospital authorities have maintained a studied silence on the incident.
Lucknow, Feb 14 : A joint partnership committee (JPC) will ensure rollout of memorandums of understanding (MoUs) that the Uttar Pradesh government has signed with the Government of Singapore at the recently concluded investors' summit here.

The Uttar Pradesh government inked 20 MoUs with the Government of Singapore for investment of over Rs 29,000 crore in various sectors.

According to the state government spokesman, a JPC will be formed to plan, monitor, implement and review the cooperative activities of the MoUs.

The committee will be co-chaired by senior officials from Singapore and Uttar Pradesh. It will comprise officials who have relevant expertise and responsibilities.

The JPC may mutually decide on involving other agencies that are not JPC members in areas of cooperation.

It will also regularly report its progress to the permanent secretary (development), ministry of trade and industry, Singapore and the chief secretary of the Uttar Pradesh government.

Singapore, a partner country in the UPGIS-23, has invested in several sectors, including education, smart city, safe city, waste management and data centre.

Among several projects is a pilot project to be implemented in Kudha Keshavpur, Ayodhya.

It will demonstrate the efficacy of smart water technologies to cut cost of water supply, boost potable water supply and enhance the sustainability of water and asset management.
Bahraich : , Feb 14 (IANS) A three-year-old boy was mauled to death by a leopard in Bahraich, the police said.

The attack took place on the outskirts of Manoharpur village under the Motipur police circle of Katarniaghat Wildlife Division when the boy, identified as Shivam, was returning home from the field.

The police said that this is the sixth incident of a child being killed by a feline in the last three months.

Officials said that after investigations, prescribed compensation would be given to the family of the victim.
New York, Feb 14 : An Indian-American, who was accused of deliberately driving his Tesla off a California cliff with his wife and children inside, has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder.

Dharmesh A. Patel, 41, of Pasadena has been charged with "attempted first-degree murder and child abuse, as well as enhancements for great bodily injury and domestic abuse".

Appearing before a Redwood City courthouse last week, Patel, a radiologist at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Los Angeles, entered his not-guilty plea.

If convicted on the three counts of murder charges, Patel could get a life sentence in prison.

According to The New York Post, Patel has tapped a prominent California attorney, Joshua Bentley, to defend his case, and has a preliminary hearing scheduled for March 20.

San Mateo District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said that statement from Patel's wife as well as witness accounts from other motorists and video of the roadway gave enough evidence to frame charges against him.

A San Mateo judge had ordered to hold Patel without bail at the Maguire Correctional Facility, citing the danger he poses to his family.

Patel's car was travelling south on State Route 1 on January 2 when it went over a 250-foot cliff at Devil's Slide, south of the Tom Lantos Tunnels, and flipped and landed on its wheels near the water's edge.

Firefighters had to cut the vehicle to pull Patel's two children -- a seven-year-old girl and a four-year-old boy -- from the vehicle. The daughter suffered a serious injury, while the boy escaped with just bruises.

The couple was pulled out of the vehicle's windows.

Investigators are yet to establish Patel's motive behind the act.

"We're looking into what led up to this. Was there depression or anything else? It wasn't just that he was trying to kill them, he was trying to kill himself too," Wagstaffe had said in a late January press conference.

Patel has been ordered not to contact his wife or their children.
105 Ukrainian soldiers undergo Leopard 2 tank training in Poland

Xinhua) 13:08, February 14, 2023

KIEV, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- A total of 105 Ukrainian soldiers undergo training in Poland to learn how to use the Leopard 2 tanks, the Ukrainian government-run Ukrinform news agency reported Monday, citing Polish military official.

Twenty-one tank crews together with technical personnel and tank maintenance teams began their training in Poland a week ago, said Krzysztof Sieradzki, head of the 10th Armored Brigade's training group.

The Ukrainian forces train between 10 hours and 12 hours a day using the Polish Leopard 2 tanks and the same model supplied by Canada, Sieradzki said.

According to him, the training will last for about a month.

Sieradzki did not rule out that a new group of Ukrainian military personnel would later arrive in Poland for training.

Last month, the German government decided to supply its Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and green-lighted requests by other countries to do so.

Poland is set to send a batch of 14 tanks to Ukraine.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Gurugram, Feb 14 : A 27-year-old woman was allegedly drugged and raped by a man in his car parked in the basement of Sahara mall in Haryana's Gurugram, police said.

Police said on Tuesday the victim, who is an engineer told the police that the accused Tushar Sharma had called her for a job interview and then raped her after giving her sedated water.

The woman stated to the police that she resided in the DLF area and was searching for an online job and got the number of a man, who introduced himself as Tuhar Sharma.

The accused promised the victim a job and called her for an interview at the mall on Saturday.

"As per the telephonic talk I reached the mall around 1 p.m. on Saturday. He met me at the entrance and asked me to discuss the job and took me to the basement of the mall, where he offered me water. Soon, I lost consciousness after this, he committed the crime and fled from the spot," she said in the FIR.

Later the victim reported the matter to the police. The victim was taken to hospital by the police for medical examination and an FIR was registered against the accused under Sections 328, 376 and 506 of the IPC at the Women police station, Sector 51.

"We are verifying the allegations of the complaint. The accused is yet to be arrested," said a senior police officer.
Bengaluru, Feb 14 : Following the objections raised by Dalit organisations and student groups to a skit that allegedly defamed Dr B.R. Ambedkar, the Karnataka Police arrested nine people, including the Principal and seven students of Jain University's Centre for Management Studies (CMS) here.

Dr. Dinesh Nilkant, the Principal from Jain (Deemed-to-be) University and seven students pursuing fifth-semester in BBA course and the controversial event's programme co-ordinator have been arrested, according to police on Tuesday.

The Dalit organisations have given a bandh call for Tuesday in protest.

The controversial skit was played at the campus during the 'MadAds' competition of Jain University Youth Fest 8.

After the arrest, the accused were presented before the court and remanded to judicial custody for four days.

The accused were booked under IPC Section 153 A for creating enmity between different groups and SC, ST (Prevention of Atrocities Act). The university issued an unconditional apology for the development and stated that the university does not approve of certain words used against Ambedkar and Dalits.

Karnataka Congress had raised concern over the incident of casteist slur being used in a skit performed during the college fest in Bengaluru. The party on its social media handle stated that there is a video containing abusive and objectionable content on Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and Dalit communities being exhibited in a programme organised at Jain College in Bengaluru. The City Police Commissioner must act in this regard.

"The police should take cognizance of the incident and initiate legal action," the Congress demanded.

The skit was performed by group of students 'The Delroys Boys', who tendered an unconditional apology for the presentation. However, the debate over the issue is rising.

The incident had come to light after a group of students published an online petition on Jhatkaa.org. The petition stated the college contingent from Jain University's Centre for Management Studies (CMS) staged an incredibly casteist and insensitive skit at the event.

The anonymous petitioners objected to the normalization of caste discrimination in the pretext of humour. The skit was performed as part of 'MadAds', a segment at the fest where the participants had to advertise imaginary products along lines of humour.

The Delroys Boys, the theatre group from CMS, who are in the thick of controversy, in their skit, exhibited a man belonging to the lower caste attempting to date an upper caste woman.

Akshay Bansode, State Member of the Vanchit Bahujan Yuva Aghadi has filed a police complaint in Maharashtra under provisions of the Atrocity Act and IPC. The complainant had urged the police to treat the complaint as FIR and initiate action against the performers and University.

Sources said that the controversial skit was performed at other platforms. The Delroys Boys maintained that they apologize to everyone they have spoken badly about and genuinely they apologize for their mistake.
Lucknow, Feb 14 : A modern GITA guidance, one that uses artificial intelligence, can help in finding a solution to life problems.

The AI stall, set up as part of the exhibition under the first digital economy working group meeting of G20 nations in Lucknow, gives a glimpse into this.

GITA is an acronym that means guidance, inspiration, transformation and action.

"The software has included all verses from the Bhagavad Gita that are used when someone asks a question. The answers are given using AI to help find solutions to problems in life," said Akash Goel of Tagbin, who had installed the AI technology.

After the user submits a question, the software responds to the query by bringing out the verse from the Bhagavad Gita.

"During his visit the chief minister spent some time at the virtual reality (VR) games platform," said Goel.

A special section 'Lucknow VR Tour' allowed visitors to witness picturesque city locations in minutes with a virtual experience that makes the user get a real feel.

The VR tour is based upon the video shoot done during the past one week.

The AI avatar stall was much sought after by the students who appeared eager to know the avatar they resembled most or were closest to.

In another stall, Journey of Digital India and the developments of different software used by India were specially prepared for visitors to know what all came on their cell phones and laptops since 2014.

As part of India's Presidency of the G20, the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is hosting the first Digital Economy Working Group (DEWG) meeting in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh from February 13 to 15.
Bengaluru, Feb 14 : The Karnataka High Court has cancelled criminal proceedings against a man facing charges under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and rape charges under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) after the victim and the accused married.

The victim had married him after turning major and the couple even had a child while the case was pending.

The bench headed by Justice K. Natarajan, while looking into the petition by a resident of Mandya to quash the POCSO and rape charges under IPC sections against him, gave the verdict on Monday. The bench had opined that the decision in this regard was made considering the interest of the child and the mother.

The bench remarked that the victim has attained majority now and is capable of taking independent decisions and selecting a life partner. She had married the accused and had a son out of wedlock. She has also agreed to quash the case against the accused person, the bench said.

Considering the interests of the victim, child and their future, the quashing of the POCSO case against the accused is appropriate, the court stated.

The victim's father had lodged a complaint on January 27, 2021 with the Arekere police station that when the girl had gone to her grandmother's place she went missing. The girl was found later with the accused. The police had lodged a case under POCSO and IPC sections.

The case was under trial in Second Additional District and Sessions Court in Mandya. The accused had made an appeal in the High Court.

The counsel C.N. Raju representing the accused submitted to the court that the accused had gone to judicial custody and after coming out on bail, married the victim on May 31, 2021. The couple are leading a peaceful life and the wife, who is also the victim, does not have any objection to quash the case.

The public prosecutor submitted that the victim had voluntarily gone with the accused as she could not bear the torture from the father.
Washington, Feb 14 : Vice foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan held rare bilateral talks in Washington, seeking to mend ties soured by the prolonged issue of Japan's wartime forced labour.

South Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong said the sides will continue to hold discussions but that they have yet to reach any conclusion, Yonhap News Agency reported.

"We are still trying to find common ground," he told reporters when asked about his bilateral meeting with Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Takeo Mori on Monday.

The meeting comes after Seoul proposed establishing a public foundation through which Japanese companies can compensate Korean victims of Japan's wartime forced labour.

"I cannot comment on any specific issue at this point because it is a very sensitive issue not only to us but also to Japan," said Cho when asked if there has been any progress in the meeting with his Japanese counterpart, which lasted nearly two hours longer than it was originally scheduled.

"The fact the meeting lasted longer than scheduled is not a bad thing, but that our discussions lasted longer may also mean we were unable to reach a conclusion, so I believe we will need to continue our consultations," he added.

The South Korean diplomat earlier said the countries have narrowed their differences in some areas but not others.

The Cho-Mori talks followed a trilateral meeting, involving U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman.

In a joint press conference after the trilateral talks, the Japanese vice foreign minister said Japan "very much would like to cooperate with the ROK," referring to South Korea by its official name, the Republic of Korea.

He added Japan "would like to restore and further advance sound bilateral relations" based on what has been built since the normalisation of diplomatic ties.

Cho said he and his Japanese counterpart also discussed Seoul's concerns over the potential release of radiation-contaminated water from Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant in South Korean waters.

When asked if the countries have committed to future bilateral talks, Cho said no specific date has been set for a vice ministerial meeting but noted the possibility of a bilateral meeting between their foreign ministers at the Munich Security Conference, set to be held later in the week.

Cho and Mori also highlighted the importance of cooperation between the two countries, as well as trilateral cooperation with the US, according to Seoul's foreign ministry.

"The vice ministers reaffirmed their joint objective of completely denuclearising North Korea and the importance of close communication and cooperation between the two countries, as well as trilateral cooperation with the US," it said in a press release.

They also agreed on the need to continue strengthening the countries' bilateral and trilateral cooperation with the US in dealing with various regional and global issues, it added.

In addition, the vice ministers agreed to enhance their countries' cooperation with other like-minded countries, such as Australia and New Zealand that together with their countries form the so-called Asia-Pacific Partnership or AP4, according to the ministry.

"The vice ministers noted that the countries are continuing to accelerate close consultations between their diplomatic authorities for swift resolution of outstanding issues and normalization of relationship, and agreed to continue close consultations at various levels," it said.
Hyderabad, Feb 14 : The Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) will operate as many as 2,427 special buses from various districts in Telangana and neighboring Andhra Pradesh on the occasion of Maha Shivratri.

The state-owned transport operator announced that the special buses will be operated from February 17 to 19.

Maha Shivratri is scheduled to be celebrated on February 18.

TSRTC officials said the buses for the devotees will be operated to 40 Shaiva Kshetras located in various parts of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

As many as 578 services will be operated to Srisailam, 481 to Vemulawada, 239 to Keesaragutta, 497 to Edupayala, 108 to Velala, 51 to Kaleshwaram, 52 to Komuravelli, 37 to Kondagattu, 16 to Alampur, 15 to Ramappa and 14 to Uma Maheshwaram.

Special buses will be available for devotees from MGBS, JBS, Dilsukhnagar, IS Sadan, KPHB, BHEL in Hyderabad to Srisailam. Advance reservation facilities will be available for these bus services.

Officials said the corporation will run more services, if required, for the convenience of devotees.

TSRTC Chairman Bajireddy Govardhan stated that the management is taking all measures to ensure that devotees do not face any difficulties on the occasion of Maha Shivratri. "It has been decided to run special buses to the 40 famous Shiva temples across the state," he said TSRTC Vice-Chairman and Managing Director V.C. Sajjanar said that instructions have been given to the officials to arrange more special buses according to the traffic.

The TSRTC is also providing a 10 per cent discount on rented buses. Sajjanar advised devotees to use this rental bus facility.

The corporation had operated about 4,000 special buses during Sankranti last month. Over 2.8 crore people had earned the services. The TSRTC had earned more than Rs 165 crore by operating the special services in a span of 11 days.
Los Angeles, Feb 14 : Award-winning filmmaker Steven Spielberg doesn't regret turning down 'Harry Potter'.

The 76-year-old director was asked to direct 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone', the first movie in the wizardry franchise based on J.K. Rowling's novels, but explained that he snubbed the movie as he wanted to spend time with his family rather than on a film set.

"The personal meaning about (how the conflict between) art and family will tear you in half happened to me later, after I had already established myself as a filmmaker, as a working director," Spielberg, who shares seven children with ex-wife Amy Irving and his current spouse Kate Capshaw, told fellow filmmaker S.S. Rajamouli, reports showbiz.com.

"Kate and I started raising a family and we started having children. The choice I had to make in taking a job that would move me to another country for four of five months where I wouldn't see my family every day." Spielberg explained that 'Harry Potter' was just one of several projects that he turned down for family reasons.

The 'Indiana Jones' filmmaker said: "There were several films I chose not to make. I chose to turn down the first 'Harry Potter' to basically spend the next year and a half with my family, my young kids growing up. So I'd sacrificed a great franchise, which today looking back I'm very happy to have done, to be with my family." Spielberg previously explained that he didn't feel ready to make an "all-kids movie" with the project, which was ultimately directed by Chris Columbus.
New Delhi, Feb 14 : A nonagenarian woman was allegedly beaten to death by her 30-year-old grandson in Delhi's Rohini area, said an official on Tuesday.

The incident occurred on Sunday. The deceased has been identified as Raisa (90), a resident of Prem Nagar in Rohini, said the official, adding that her grandson, Shahrukh has been arrested by the police.

According to a senior police official, on Sunday a police control room (PCR) call was received at Prem Nagar police station regarding a murder following which a police team was dispatched for the spot.

"On spot, Raisa was found dead lying in a room. The crime team was called at the place of occurrence and exhibits were collected. On the prima-facie examination of the body, no external injury was seen on the body of the deceased," said the official.

"The dead body was preserved in the mortuary of SGM Hospital. On the basis of the statement given by Raisa's son and following the opinion of the doctors after autopsy a case under section 302 (murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code has been registered and Shahrukh has been arrested in the matter," said the official.

"Further investigation is underway," the official added.
New Delhi, Feb 14 : Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday paid tributes to the 40 CRPF personnel who died in a terror attack on this day four years ago.

Kharge said, "We bow in reverence to the supreme sacrifice of the Pulwama martyrs. We remember their indomitable valour and courage in the service of the nation. Lest We Forget." On February 14, 2019, Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) had orchestrated an attack on the convoy of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) at Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir, killing 40 personnel of the force.

Days after the dastardly terror attack, Indian warplanes struck the biggest terrorist training camp of JeM deep inside Pakistan's Balakot in retaliation.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is probing the terror case, has named JeM chief Masood Azhar, his brother Abdul Rauf Asghar, slain terrorist Mohammad Umar Farooq, suicide bomber Adil Ahmed Dar and other terrorist commanders operating from Pakistan as accused in the case.
Mumbai, Feb 14 : Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has said that the state will contribute a "lion's share" to India's ambition to become a 5 trillion dollar economy by 2027.

For achieving this goal, it was imperative for Maharashtra to become a USD 1-trillion economy with a holistic growth focussed on agriculture, industries and infrastructure development, he said.

"Maharashtra is the country's growth engine... Our effort is to increase its capacity, output and productivity, we have potential in all sectors. We shall work to upgrade the living standards of our farmers," said Shinde.

He was speaking late on Monday after the first meeting of the Maharashtra State Economy Advisory Council (EAC), which was set up in December 2022, billed as a revolutionary step for inclusive growth with the common man at the centre.

The EAC Chair and Tata Sons Chairman N. Chandrasekaran said that India is well-poised to achieve the highest growth among large nations globally for many years to come.

Maharashtra, being one of the largest economies in the country, with a GDP of over USD 4.50 billion, can accelerate growth and immensely contribute to India's goal of achieving a five-trillion dollar economy, he added.

For this, the EAC will focus on increasing the per capita income by tackling key sectors like agriculture, technology like AI, machine learning, new market trends, supply chains, green energy, improving quality of life, and the EAC members coming from diverse backgrounds would help formulate a blueprint for the state's economic growth, said Chandrasekaran.

Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis said the EAC gave a presentation of the state's current status, vision for the state's development, what needs to be done and has "set a timeline for achieving aggressive growth in Maharashtra".

"The EAC has discussed the agriculture sector, skill development, financial inclusion, eliminating regional imbalances and people with various backgrounds in the EAC expressed their views," said Fadnavis.

Formed on the lines of the planning commission, the EAC will advise the state on financial and policy matters, formulate growth strategies and submit a five-year-plan to the government, besides an interim report in the next three months.

The EAC comprises the cream of top corporate honchos like Chandrasekaran, Amit Chandra, Dilip Sanghavi, Sanjiv Mehta, Anish Shah, Ajit Ranade, Zia Mody, Vikram Limaye, S.N. Suramanian, Shrikant Badve, IAS officers Harshdeep Kamble, O.P. Gupta, and Rajgopal Devara.

However, two members -- Reliance Industries Ltd. Executive Director Anant Ambani and Adani Ports CEO Karan G. Adani -- remained absent in the first meeting of the EAC.
Its a story right out of your wildest nightmares: a bear eats a bag of cocaine (thats right, a bag) and goes on a drug-fuelled rampage, leaving behind a pile of bodies.

This is the premise of upcoming film Cocaine Bear  and remarkably, its not as far-fetched as it might sound. The film is based loosely (very loosely) on a series of true events, which have been given the Hollywood treatment. With the trailer going viral online, and the film due to hit cinemas soon, how much is fact and how much fiction?

We break it down...

The true story

The tale of Cocaine Bear stems back to the 1980s (September 1985, to be precise), when investigators in the US state of Georgia found a dead black bear in the forest, next to a duffel bag stuffed with 70 pounds of cocaine, worth around $20m.

Well, it had contained 70 pounds of cocaine. When law enforcement got there, forty of the packets had been ripped open and the 150-pound bear had consumed them all, then died from a massive overdose  the following autopsy confirmed cerebral haemorrhaging and heart failure as key factors in its death.

The bear got to it before we could, and he tore the duffel bag open, got him some cocaine and ODd, said Gary Garner, who headed the Georgia Bureau of Investigation at the time. Theres nothing left but bones and a big hide.

The bear  dubbed Pablo Eskobear  had been dead for around four weeks before investigators found it, so its anybodys guess what could have transpired in that time  as the film makes clear.

Equally intriguingly, it was later established that the bear didnt actually eat the entire amount of cocaine that was present in the duffel bag. There were a few bricks unaccounted for, that nobody has ever confessed to stealing; like so many things in this story, what happened is anybodys guess.

And where is the bear now? It was stuffed and, after changing hands a few times, was finally put on display at a mall which sells cocaine-themed merchandise. Because thats the kind of world we live in.

Story continues

Cocaine Bear official trailer (Universal Pictures)

The film version

Apart from Cocaine Bears death, everything else has been treated with lashings of dramatic licence, and then some. As the films synopsis puts it, it examines what might happen when a 500 pound apex predator has ingested a staggering amount of cocaine and gone on a coke-fueled rampage for more blow  and blood.

Directed by actor Elizabeth Banks, Cocaine Bear charts the bears drug-fuelled exploits after ingesting his mega-haul. In the trailer, this includes hunting down civilians, leaping onto ambulances and doing the worm dance move. And all the while, traffickers and police are trying to hunt down the missing drugs, unaware that the creature that has ingested most of them is actually headed their way.

The film will also touch on the fascinating story of wannabe cocaine baron Andrew C Thornton II (played by Matthew Rhys), who was responsible for the massive drug drop in question.

Thornton, the son of Kentucky horse breeders and a narcotics police officer gone bad, was flying a Cessna on a return trip from Colombia when he overheard federal agents talking about tailing his plane over Florida.

He tried to avoid them by kicking the duffel bags of cocaine out of the plane over Georgia and parachuting out shortly afterwards  the bags, and plane, were later discovered by officials, and the tenth bag was discovered with the bear.

Unfortunately, the parachute malfunctioned and Thornton plunged to his death. He was found with 77 pounds of cocaine, along with two pistols and a survival knife, as well as around $4,500 in cash.

Whos starring in the film?

Perhaps surprisingly, Cocaine Bear boasts its fair share of star power, including the late Goodfellas actor Ray Liotta in one of his last-ever screen performances before his death in May 2022.

Welshman Rhys and his wife and The Americans co-star Keri Russell top the bill, alongside Margo Martindale, OShea Jackson Jr, Kristofer Hivju (who played Tormund Giantsbane in Game of Thrones) and Alden Ehrenreich as Marty.

Cocaine Bear will be in cinema from February 24
Jaipur, Feb 14 : Travel time on the existing Delhi-Jaipur highway (NH-48) shall be reduced with the opening of the first phase of Delhi-Mumbai Expressway on Tuesday.

The route will ensure that the Delhi-Jaipur travel time gets reduced by two hours. Total one way toll for a private car on the New Delhi-Jaipur route will be Rs 585. Toll on the new-way will be based on total number of kilometres travelled.

The eight-lane expressway will have a 120kmph speed limit for cars with wayside facilities every 30km. It will allow a Jaipur commuter to reach Delhi in less than four hours via Sohna, Dausa, Lalsot stretch.

The entire stretch has CCTV surveillance and at every 20 km, speed detection boards have been installed to alert drivers about the speed of their vehicles.
Mumbai, Feb 14 : Switzerland pays tribute to late legendary filmmaker Yash Chopra, saluting his contribution of having showcased Switzerland's beauty to Indians through his films.

The much-awaited Netflix docu-series, 'The Romantics', is a celebration of the legacy of Yash Chopra and its cultural impact on Indians over the past 50 years. It is set to release this Tuesday.

Remo Kaser, Director of Sales Jungfrau Railways, Switzerland, said: "The legend, Yash Chopra, has presented the beauty of Switzerland and especially the Jungfrau Region to Indians across the world for generations, through his beautiful, soulful cinema." "Indians, who come to Jungfraujoch - Top of Europe year on year, have always spoken to us about how the romantic films of Yash Chopra have pushed them to visit the Jungfrau Region and Interlaken and make memories for a lifetime." The Swiss authorities will celebrate Yash Chopra's legacy across the country, especially in places where the filmmaker shot mega-hits like Darr and Chandni. His son Aditya Chopra also shot the all-time blockbuster, 'Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge' in Switzerland.

Every Indian has been enchanted by Switzerland's snow-capped mountains, lush valleys, and pristine lakes in large part because of Yash Chopra's films. It is said that he visited Switzerland for his honeymoon and was smitten by the country instantly. The Swiss government has continuously honoured the legendary filmmaker through the years.

In 2011, Switzerland's Jungfrau Railways inaugurated a train named after him - an honour shared only with the railway's founder, Adolf Guyer.

The train featured his signature and name on a signboard. In May 2016, a bronze statue of Yash Chopra was installed by the Switzerland government as a tribute, near the Congress Centre in Interlaken, a popular tourist spot.

At the prestigious Victoria-Jungfrau Grand Hotel & Spa, a special deluxe cinema-themed suite is named after Yash Chopra.

In 2011, the filmmaker inaugurated the suite. Lake Lauenen, in the Canton of Berne, is referred to as Lake Chopra! The Swiss government honoured Yash Chopra with the title of Ambassador of Interlaken, making him the first recipient of the award. He was also bestowed the Swiss Ambassador's Award.

Remo added: "Switzerland and India have a great bond of mutual respect and admiration and Yash Chopra has played a monumental role in solidifying the relationship between our great nations. Switzerland is only too proud to celebrate his legacy here." The Romantics has been directed by Oscar & Emmy-nominated film-maker Smriti Mundhra.

Netflix, in this four-part docu-series, will feature 35 leading personalities from the film industry, who have closely worked with YRF through its 50-year glorious existence. Interestingly, the reclusive head of the iconic Yash Raj Films, Aditya Chopra, has also recorded his first on-camera interview for 'The Romantics'.
Chennai, Feb 14 : In protest to the animals destroying their crops, farmers union of Tamil Nadu owing allegiance to Tamilaga Vivasayigal Sangam, has announced to boycott the elections to the East Erode Assembly constituency.

In a statement, Tamilaga Vivasayigal Sangam general secretary S. Udayakumar said that the farmers had announced the decision to boycott elections much before the East Erode by-election was announced.

The farmers had, sometime ago, protested in front of the forest office at Orgathur near Vellore and dumped the farm products that were partially eaten by animals, in front of the forest office at Odugathur.

According to farmers association leaders, even pythons and monkeys were let off near Ogathur in addition to the crops badly affected by the monkey menace.

The farmers association leaders also said that the request they had submitted before the forest officers to grant permission to shoot wild boars that stray into the farms was also not heeded.

There are complaints regarding the payment of meager compensation to the crops destroyed by the wild animals. When contacted, the forest department officials said that they were ensuring minimum man-animal conflict in areas close to forest settlements.

With the elections to the Erode East by-poll taking place on February 27, it has to be seen whether the farmers stick to their demands or budge under pressure from political parties who are fighting a do-or-die battle in Erode East leaving no stone unturned.
New York, Feb 14 : After Nikki Haley, who plans to announce her 2024 presidential bid by February 15, another Indian-American Republican looks set to throw his hat in the ring.

Millionaire businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, 37, who declared war on "woke" culture with his bestseller 'Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America's Social Justice Scam', said he is "strongly considering".

"Yes, I am strongly considering it," Ramaswamy confirmed to Fox New Digital.

For this, the Butler County native has been making the rounds in Iowa, delivering a message against the invasion of woke liberal ideology in the business world, according to a Politico report.

A regular commentator on Fox News, the right-winger has been talking about the influence of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) in business practices.

In a Twitter post, he said that he will be back in Iowa on February 23, in Scott County and in Des Moines, where he will talk about ideals and diversity.

"If you ask most people in my generation what it means to be an American, you get a blank stare in response," he told Fox News Digital.

He further said that he is on a mission to deliver an answer to that question, and wants to "revive the basic ideas that set this nation into motion nearly 250 years ago".

Ramaswamy's net worth is reportedly in excess of $500 million, enough to seed his campaign through the key early states, the Politico report said.

So far, former President Donald Trump is the only candidate who has announced his 2024 bid in the Republican primary.

Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley will formally declare her candidacy for the White House at an event in Charleston on February 15.

With high-profile candidates like Florida governor Ron DeSantis expected to join the race, Ramaswamy's chances are challenging, but he does seem confident.

"You know, maybe all of this is ill-advised and I'll fall flat on my face," he told Politico. "I don't think that's gonna happen." Born and raised in southwest Ohio, Cincinnati, to immigrant parents, Ramaswamy graduated from St Xavier High School and went on to Harvard and Yale.

At Yale, he was a recipient of the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans.

He founded Roivant Sciences in 2014 and led the largest biotech IPOs of 2015 and 2016, eventually culminating in successful clinical trials in multiple disease areas that led to FDA approved products, according to his website.

In 2020, he emerged as a prominent national commentator on stakeholder capitalism,free speech, and identity politics.

In 2022, he launched Strive Asset Management, a new firm focused on restoring the voices of everyday citizens in the American economy by leading companies to focus on excellence over politics.
Sydney, Feb 14 : Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan has said that he is proud of Indian diaspora in Sydney for their contributions in strengthening India-Australia ties.

He said that he had an engaging interaction with the Indian diaspora in Sydney.

Taking to Twitter, Muraleedharan posted, "An engaging interaction with the vibrant Indian Diaspora in Sydney.

Happy to see that the community reflects & espouses India's rich diversity, its cultural heritage & traditions in Australia. Proud of their contributions in strengthening India-Australia relationship." Muraleedharan had a stopover in Sydney on his way to Fiji, where he is scheduled to attend the World Hindi Conference, to be held from February 15-17.

"Received a warm welcome at Nadi, Fiji, which is hosting the 12th World Hindi Conference," he tweeted.

"Look forward to the deliberations at #VishwaHindiSammelan," his tweet read.
New Delhi, Feb 14 : A Delhi court has set aside an order passed by the Metropolitan Magistrate directing the registration of FIR against a paediatric surgeon in a case accusing him of removing a two-year-old boy's kidney during nephrectomy in 2005, alleging criminal medical negligence.

The complainant had alleged that Dr. Y.K. Sarin, who is the head of the department of Paediatric Surgery at Lok Nayak Hospital, with his team, removed the left kidney of the complainant's son while he was undergoing nephrectomy.

It was alleged that at the time the kidney was removed, it was functional which led to criminal medical negligence, the complaint read.

In 2021, Metropolitan Magistrate (MM) Rishabh Kapoor directed that an FIR be registered.

Appearing for the accused (Dr. Sarin) in the revision petition filed before Additional District Judge Dheeraj Mor of a Tiz Hazari court, advocate Namit Saxena argued that there were five enquiries conducted at various levels, including Delhi Medical Council, National Human Rights Commission and Director General of Health Sciences.

"In all enquiries, a clean chit was given to Dr. Sarin, who is an extremely reputed medical professional in the field," Saxena said.

He further argued that in view of the ratio laid down by the Supreme Court in Jacob Matthew's case, the MM ought not to have replaced his opinion on the opinion of all expert medical boards and in absence of any independent medical enquiry, FIR cannot be directed to be registered.

On November 25, 2021, the Additional District Court had stayed the direction to register FIR against the said doctor.

After hearing the parties at length, Judge Mor set aside the order passed by the MM and held that FIR cannot be directed to be registered.
Los Angeles, Feb 14 : The 'High School Musical: The Musical: The Series' actor Joshua Bassett has issued a statement about getting baptised by an anti-gay mega church despite him claiming he's part of the LGBT community.

The 22-year-old actor turned to his Twitter account to address fan concern.

"I visited this church and happened to get baptised here- I was unaware of some of their policies and beliefs, and do not endorse all of them," he declared, "My heart is for Christ and Christ alone!" The tweet garnered concern from fans, with many questioning why Joshua wouldn't have done more research before choosing to get baptised at the church, reports aceshowbiz.com.

"Drive by baptism? Lol. If you truly believe in the purpose of being baptised why would you not research the people doing it," wrote one user.

Another wondered: "Nahh wait. You didn't research the church before getting baptised by them?" Conversion therapy is the widely discredited practice of attempting to "cure" somebody's sexual orientation or gender identity through various means, including shock torture.

The United Nations and World Health Organisation have both condemned the use of conversion therapy.

The buzz arrived after Joshua uploaded a short video taken from a recent service at Bethel Church in Redding, California, in which he's seen on stage with a leader who asks about his decision to get baptised.

"Long story short, I grew up Christian and I ran the other way, as far as I could go in pursuit of truth and that only ended in addiction, depression, suicidal ideation, eating disorders, et cetera," he said in the clip.

"And no other teacher gave me anywhere near the peace that Jesus Christ did," he concluded as the congregation broke into cheers and applause.

Joshua recently publicised his belief in Christianity on Twitter in the last few weeks.

On January 5, he tweeted: "Jesus Christ is the only way. His death and resurrection are historically documented. Turn away from hate, seek forgiveness and come home to Him." Joshua also shared his spiritual journey during an interview with Rolling Stone. "A few months ago I asked God to 'send me a sign when I write the truth.' I typed 'Jesus is the way,' nothing happened, then I added, 'Jesus is the *only* way' and the light turned on in my living room," he said, adding "I have also first-hand encountered Jesus twice.""The experiences were richer and more vivid than anything in my entire life. I look forward to speaking about it soon," he shared, and concluded: "For those concerned about me be sure of this: I'm better than I have ever been. The peace I feel is far beyond what I thought possible."
Buxar: Wreckage of a car in the carcade of Jan Adhikar Party chief Pappu Yadav after an accident, at Ara Buxar road late night, in Buxar district, Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News

Buxar: Wreckage of a car in the carcade of Jan Adhikar Party chief Pappu Yadav after an accident, at Ara Buxar road late night, in Buxar district, Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News

Buxar: Wreckage of a car in the carcade of Jan Adhikar Party chief Pappu Yadav after an accident, at Ara Buxar road late night, in Buxar district, Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News

Patna, Feb 14 : Eleven persons, who were part of a convoy of former MP and Jan Adhikar Party (JAP) chief Pappu Yadav, met with an accident in Bhojpur district in the wee hours on Tuesday.

The accident took place at 12.30 a.m. when Pappu Yadav along with his supporters were returning to Patna after meeting with the victims of the Mubarakpur violence that happened in Saran district last week.

Pappu Yadav escaped unhurt as he was travelling in another SUV.

When they reached Brahampur village on Koilwar-Buxar four lane highway, a speeding truck crashed into the divider and overturned on the convoy of Pappu Yadav.

The impact of the accident was as such that the car mangled from the front side.

Vineet Kumar, a spokesperson of JAP, confirmed the accident.

"It was a non-fatal accident. The injured persons sustained fractures in hands and legs. They have been admitted in hospitals of Patna and are out of danger," he said.

Pappu Yadav, four-time MP, went to Saran on Monday and met with the victims of the Mubarakpur violence in which one Amitesh Singh was killed.

The incident in Mubarakpur village in Saran district was triggered on February 2 when some unidentified persons opened fire on Vijay Yadav, the husband of the village Mukhiya.

Suspecting that Amitesh Singh, Rahul Kumar and Alok Kumar were involed in the firing on February 2, Yadav and his aides called the three youths to a chicken farm house located in Sidharia Tola under Manjhi police station and brutally assaulted them.

Following the assault, they suffered severe injuries and were admitted in Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) for treatment where Amitesh Singh succumbed to the injuries.

After the incident, the supporters and relatives of Amitesh Singh set the houses and properties of Vijay Yadav and his supporters on fire. Vijay Yadav is on the run now.
New Delhi, Feb 14 : The Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought Arvind Kejriwal-led government to file a response on a plea seeking an "immediate" stop to putting up of job vacancies with salaries below the prescribed or fixed minimum wage on its official portal or otherwise.

A plea filed in a form of Public Interest Litigation (PIL), was dealt by a division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad.

The PIL seeking implementation of labour laws with termination of bonded labour in the city on the basis of an order issued by the city government regarding minimum wages to be paid to unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled workers, with effect from October 1, 2022, has been filed by a Jamia Millia Islamia University student of the law department.

Petitioner Imran Ahmad in the PIL said he has filed the case for the welfare of labourers working in the national capital.

The plea has sought court's direction to the city government to keep a tab on theA payment made to all such employees through online means and to ensure that they get the right amount.

Ahmad has contended that mentioning salaries below fixed minimum wages for job posts like office boy, cook, waiter, drlivery boy, cmputer operator, ambulance driver, kitchen helper, peon, etc., violates the order by adversely affecting the right to life (including the right to health and the right to dignity) as guaranteed under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.

Ahmad's plea stated: "It is because a person who does not have the minimum amount of money as decided by the government may not be in a position to buy and eat healthy food and avail other basic necessities such as cloths, accommodation and internet." The bench, however, asked the counsel representing government to obtain instructions.

The matter has been listed to continue on May 23.
Srinagar, Feb 14 : J&K Police said on the fourth anniversary of Pulwama terror attack on Tuesday that out of 19 terrorists involved in the attack, eight were killed and seven arrested while four, including three Pakistanis are still alive.

After paying floral tributes to the martyrs of Pulwama attack at the Lethpora memorial, Vijay Kumar, Additional DGP (Kashmir) said four, including three Pakistanis are still alive, and that the security forces are after Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM). Almost all their top commanders have been neutralized, Kumar said.

"At present JeM has only 7-8 locals and 5-6 active Pakistanis, including Mossa Solaimani. Police are after them and they will be neutralised soon," he said, adding that the security forces are focusing on narco-terrorism and terror funding.

"We have been able to recover Rs 41 lakh, and recently in Baramulla, Rs 26 lakh have been recovered," he said while replying to a query.

He said that the cases registered against the overground workers (OGWs) involved in such activities are being disposed of at a rapid pace.

"The number of such cases have reduced from 1,600 in October last year to 950 at present and 13 convictions have also been made so far," he said.

He further said that a total of 37 local militants are presently active and that only two among them, including Farooq Nalli and Riyaz Chatri are old while rest have joined recently.

Inspector General (IG) Operations Sector CRPF, M.S. Bhatia said the situation has improved on the ground since Pulwama attack and such attacks will never happen given the measures taken by the security forces.

Bhatia said that the attacks on members of minority communities is an act of cowardice, those behind such attacks have been killed while measures have been taken to prevent such attacks.

"We are determined to protect minorities and in this regard several modules involved have been neutralised. The CRPF and police and other security forces have been ensuring protection to the minority community and we will ensure proper security to them," he said.

He asserted that the terror modules are being busted before it carries out any major damage.
New Delhi, Feb 14 : Valentine's Day is often associated with sweet nothings between lovers, chocolate, and flowers. However, the only emotion worth honoring on Valentine's Day is Love.

Even in the most mundane aspects of our everyday life, love may be found in a number of shapes and forms. For example, we can feel love in friends' compassion as they console us when a coworker provides a helping hand when we feel we can't handle things on our own, or when we are playing and snuggling with our pets.

Why not take advantage of this opportunity to perform small acts of kindness for people dear to us at a time when we need to care for ourselves and others more than ever?

Here are some suggestions:

The first love is for you. It's not at all selfish to take some time off for yourself to do something you enjoy. Recharging your batteries ever so often is even necessary. Take some time this Valentine's Day to pamper yourself and care for yourself because you deserve it! Have you run out of ideas? Plan a soothing evening by placing a takeout order from your preferred restaurant, watching a calming film, and then unwinding in a sumptuous, ultra-calming bubble bath. Go shopping. Give yourself permission to splurge a little. Buy yourself something special that you always wanted for yourself. Make a list of 3 things that you love about yourself. Whether it's a part of your body, something about your personality, or a special talent you have - write it down and show yourself some love. Be selfish and do something that makes you happy without caring about what others might think of you. It could be a yoga class, Zumba session, or cooking. The point is, you, do you.

Happiness in our love nest. The pandemic might have strained your relationship because everyone was working from home. Valentine's Day is the ideal occasion to break from the norm and indulge in a little extravagance as you celebrate the miracle of your relationship. Why not have formal gatherings for yourself at your house? Put on some clothes, put a bottle of champagne in the refrigerator, and order a fine-dining meal suitable for a king or queen. Don't forget to catch this lovely occasion on camera with a few pictures.

Loving on our little ones. In your family, showing affection is something that happens frequently, even in the tiniest actions. Why not make Valentine's Day a huge celebration of love to please your young children and school-aged kids? To manufacture decorations for the house, such as garlands or greeting cards, assist the kids. For each member of the family, you can include heartfelt messages and praises. Prepare red foods for the day to make it even more joyful, and don't forget to give lots of hugs!

Asserting our friends with gratitude. They support us in both good and bad times, which makes our friends so priceless. Take the time to appreciate your friendships on Valentine's Day. This is the ideal time to send a heartfelt note of appreciation to each of your pals, praising them for their encouragement, openness to your ideas, or sense of humor. Mention how having them in your life has improved it. Your letter is complete once you've included hilarious stories and images you've shot together. It's a given that you'll make others happy.

Increasing our contact with those who loved us first. Parental and geriatric love is so wonderful and priceless because it is unconditional. Since the first day they took care of you, they have been able to watch you develop and flourish. Take this opportunity to let them know you care about them on Valentine's Day. By gathering the pictures you have of them, you may show them your thanks and affection. Then, you can send the photo album together with a heartfelt note. They'll be excited to share all those lovely experiences with you when you look back on them.

Thanking those who are a part of our daily life. Our ability to collaborate with our co-workers differently as a result of working from home has taught us to think of them as family. Express your gratitude for their support and thoughtfulness to them this Valentine's Day. Why not provide them with a coupon that they may use to purchase a homemade meal or a restaurant meal at a later date? It's always appreciated when people make little gestures like this! Offer your favorite workers a delicious baked treat or a lovely plant to spruce up their workplace, if your work environment permits.

Spoiling our fur children. Through the good times and the bad, our four-legged friends never judge us and always stand by our sides. They've had to adjust to our increased house presence in recent months as they've frequently joined us for our numerous video sessions. That's not always simple to do! Give them a special treat or a fun new toy on Valentine's Day. There will be kisses!

Rendering love to those who most deserve it. Why not show some love to people outside of your network that is in need if your circumstances permit it? There are a lot of people and important causes that could use some love and support, whether your heart goes out to homeless families, elderly people living alone, or animals in shelters. If you want to lend a hand, you can volunteer a few hours of your time, bring extra food to community kitchens, or donate to an organization that you care about. It's incredibly satisfying to give. What a wonderful method of sharing the love!

(Husain Minawala, Founder of Beyond Thoughts)

(IANSlife can be contacted at ianslife@ians.in)

Latest updates on Valentine's Day 2023

-- Syndicated from IANS
New Delhi, Feb 14: Pakistan's Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has promised to provide proper security to Chinese nationals as well as other foreigners in the country.

At a high-level meeting on anti-terror measures and the security of foreigners in port city Gwadar on Sunday, Sanaullah said: "All locals and foreign nationals would be provided fool-proof security." Talking about the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the flagship project between the two all-weather allies, Sanaulla said that one per cent of project money under CPEC has been reserved for security arrangements.

The Interior Minister's remarks are significant. Last week the Punjab government said it will not be able to provide security to Chinese nationals residing in Pakistan except for those working on government projects. The Punjab government even asked Chinese nationals to hire private security firms for their safety if they were not working on Pakistan-government projects.

The Punjab government issued the statement days after the deadly suicide bomb attack on the Peshawar mosque that killed 101 people, mostly policemen. The Islamic country is witnessing heightened violence by various groups across the nation including groups that it had once supported for carrying out jihad in Afghanistan.

Providing safety to Chinese nationals working on CPEC and other projects in Pakistan has become a headache for the Shehbaz Sharif government as local communities in many provinces like Balochistan, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa find Chinese projects exploitative with no social and economic benefits accruing to people. The result has been a wave of attacks on Chinese assets and people by Baloch and Sindhi nationalists.

Despite the matter being raised by Chinese President Xi Jinping with two successive Pakistani Prime Ministers-Imran Khan and Shehbaz Sharif-Pakistan has been unable to enhance the security of the Chinese. The targeted attacks on Chinese assets has led to visible diplomatic friction between the two nations with China completely stalling some projects over safety fears and going slow on others due to payment problems.

Safety of Chinese assets and nationals has become a recurring theme in almost all Pakistan-China discussions. After one such interaction between Sharif and Chinese Premier Li Kequang, the Chinese foreign ministry said: "Li Keqiang pointed out, the Chinese side is shocked and outraged by the recent attack on Chinese citizens in Karachi and strongly condemns this terrorist attack. China hopes that the Pakistani side will bring the perpetrators to justice as soon as possible, make every effort to deal with the follow-up matters of the casualties, comfort the bereaved families and the injured, and comprehensively strengthen security measures for Chinese institutions and personnel in Pakistan to ensure that similar tragedies will not recur." Pakistan might be staring at a bigger nightmare. It is not just Chinese nationals who are at risk but other foreigners too. In late 2021, Sri Lankan factory manager Pritantha Kumara, was brutally attacked by Islamist fanatics, beaten to death and burnt in broad daylight over false allegations of blasphemy.

In January, Canada-based mining giant Barrick Gold set up an office in Balochistan capital Quetta to begin operations for gold and copper extraction. The company has already received threats from the Baloch rebels who are opposed to any other foreign investment, which they consider a form of colonising Baloch mineral resources.

Besides the ongoing conflict with the Baloch, Pakistan also has been facing a grim security scenario for over one-and-a-half years, soon after the Taliban set up its government in Kabul. Since 2021, an increasingly assertive Pakistan Taliban, also called the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has been putting pressure on Pakistan to conform to Sharia law as well as open up the Pushtun areas on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border for free movement of people.

With Pakistan unwilling to bow down before the TTP, once its ally, the group has launched a series of attacks on Pakistani security forces, inflaming large parts of Pakistani territory.

How an economically-beleaguered Pakistan will convince the Chinese and other foreign investors about their safety is now a million dollar question.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative
New Delhi, Feb 14 : Minister of Coal and Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi on Tuesday urged coal companies to identify and remove production bottlenecks in order to further increase dry fuel production.

He said this while conducting a meeting to review dry fuel production from allocated blocks.

So far in this financial year, 92.3 million tonnes coal has been produced from 54 operational coal blocks.

The meeting was held with officials of Coal India Limited (CIL) at the company's headquarters in Kolkata, where officials of Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) were also present.

"Chaired a meeting with officials of @CoalMinistry, @CoalIndiaHQ & @PRO_SCCL to review the company's performance in the Q4 of FY 2022-23," Joshi tweeted.

"Happy to note that CIL has not only achieved 100 per cent of targeted coal production up to January 2023, but also registered 15.2 per cent growth over last year," he tweeted further after the meeting.

Coal offtake by CIL has also been achieved 100 per cent of the target, with a 5.5 per cent growth over last year.

"Directed officials of SCCL to adhere to annual targets and encouraged the coal companies to further scale up coal supplies to thermal power plants," the minister tweeted further.
New Delhi, Feb 14 : The fintech revolution is likely to spur digital lending in India, which is expected to surpass traditional avenues of lending by 2030, a report showed on Tuesday.

This will be driven by unsecured small-ticket size segment and the secured collateral-based high-ticket size market, according to the latest white paper by Experian India in collaboration with the Digital Lending Association of India (DLAI).

As co-lending becomes the predominant operating model in India, more traditional lenders will collaborate with fintechs to reach a higher degree of maturity and amalgamation of core competencies.

Open data will create level-playing field for fintech and traditional lenders, according to the white paper.

"Traditional lenders have always dominated asset-backed lending. With increased digitisation, this segment may become accessible to fintech lenders, allowing them to capture a sizeable portion of the lending pie," said Saikrishnan Srinivasan, Managing Director, Experian Credit Information Company of India.

The research highlighted that the next 100 million customers are likely to have a vastly different profile and expectations than those currently in place.

For MSME borrowers seeking business loans, those with credit scores higher than 700 are catered to more by fintechs than by other lenders, paving the way for the co-lending model to flourish.

"With the release of this whitepaper, we are excited to offer a comprehensive look into the impact of fintech-led digital lending in India," said Siddharth Mahanot, Chairperson-Knowledge Committee, DLAI.
New Delhi, Feb 14 : 'Basti ka Hasthi' rapper MC Stan has become a household name after winning the controversial reality show 'Bigg Boss 16'. But it was not just he who gained the spotlight but also his word 'Shemdi'.

Stan, whose whose real name is Altaf Shaikh, took home the Bigg Boss trophy along with a whopping over Rs 31 lakh, after he was feted as the winner of the Salman Khan-hosted show on Sunday.

The word 'Shemdi' created a tizzy and now Stan, himself as decoded what it means.

"I called Archana that (Shemdi). We were in the house for four months and she had a cold for all four months," he laughed.

While trying to control his laughter, Stan added: "So, shemdi means 'nosy'. We used to use the word in hour childhood. I used to speak in this lingo and slangs with my homies (friends). It just came out of my mouth and I don't know why it became viral." Of course, Stan is happy as the 'mandali' has brought home the trophy.

"Yes it was a dream. Anyone from the mandali winning is an honour. But I never expected this. From the starting in my life, I have seen unexpected things and I think this is a part of that. I can't express in words, it is a very crazy feeling." Talking about his parents, who come from a humble background, the rapper said: "My mother and father started crying. They were like, he's gone from where to where. My parents' reaction was priceless for me." Stan said that his motto was not to be in the spotlight but to bring rap and underground music in the mainstream with the Colors show.

"That was my motto. I want to bring rap, not myself. I also wanted to bring my town Pune, P-Town baby in the light." Coming out, Stan stays tight with his 'mandali' and would like meet them.

"I will only meet the mandali. It was not that we were friends for the show. I found Sajid Khan a very crazy (good) person, he is very practical. That's why spent time with him and found him relatable. Shiv and I are also very strong friends." "I don't know if I would meet other housemates..if we bump into each other at parties then okay."

Latest updates on Bigg Boss Season 16
Chennai, Feb 14 : Samantha Ruth Prabhu climbed 600 steps of the Palani Murugan temple in Tamil Nadu on February 13 draped in an all-white churidar-kurta and offered prayers at the temple.

She also lit a camphor diya and tweeted on the same. She was accompanied by her 'Jaanu' movie director C. Premkumar and other friends.

The actor, who suffers from Myositis, an autoimmune disease condition that causes acute muscular pain, has started shooting for the web series 'Citadel' in which she shares screen space with Bollywood actor Varun Dhawan.

'Citadel' is the Indian version of the international sci-fi action web series of the same name created by the Russo Brothers. In the international series, Priyanka Chopra plays the lead.

The Indian web series is directed by the director duo Raj and DK, who had helmed the popular web series, 'The Family Man', in which Samantha played the role of Raji, a Sri Lankan Tamil militant.

She had recently tweeted: "I am thrilled to be part of this brilliant universe conceptualised by the Russo Brothers AGBO. I am also looking forwar to working with Varun for the first time. He is someone who is full of life and cheer when you are around him." Samantha is awaiting the release of her Telugu mythological movie 'Shakunthalam' in which she shares the screen with Prakash Raj and Dev Mohan. The movie is to be released on April 14.

-- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed
Kanpur Dehat : , Feb 14 (IANS) The family of the two women who died in a fire during an anti-encroachment drive on Monday evening, have refused to cremate the bodies unless the accused officials are arrested.

The family also wants to talk to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on the issue.

More than 18 hours have passed since Pramila Dixit (45), and her daughter Neha (20), died in their hut that was set on fire, allegedly by policemen, during an anti-encroachment drive in Kanpur Dehat.

The charred bodies still lie in their hut, now reduced to ashes.

The district police had initially claimed that the women set themselves on fire. But in a swift U-turn, state police on Tuesday filed a murder case against 13 people, including the sub divisional magistrate, the in-charge of the local police station and the bulldozer operator. They have also been charged with attempted murder and voluntarily causing hurt.

The incident took place last evening in Madauli village when officials of police, district administration and the revenue department had gone to remove encroachments from a "gram samaj" or government land, a police officer said.

The villagers said the officials arrived with a bulldozer and that they were not given any prior notice.

"They started the fire while people were still inside. We were just about able to escape. They broke our temple. Nobody did anything, not even the district magistrate. Everybody ran, nobody could save my mother," said Pramila's son Shivam Dixit.

District police chief BBGTS Murthy had claimed that the woman and her daughter locked themselves inside the hut and set it on fire, which resulted in their death.

Divisional Commissioner Raj Shekhar later said an inquiry has been ordered. "It is a very unfortunate incident. We are with the family. We will not spare those responsible," he said.

The Opposition has slammed the Yogi Adityanath government over the tragic incident.

The Samajwadi Party alleged that under the BJP rule, Brahmins are being targetted. Upper caste Brahmins comprise an influential group in the state's political landscape.

"Under the Yogi (Adityanath) government, Brahmin families are targetted, and such incidents are taking place selectively. Like Dalits and backwards, Brahmins are also a target of atrocities of the Yogi government," the opposition party said in a tweet in Hindi.

A delegation of Samajwadi leaders was prevented from going to the Madauli village where the incident took place.

The Congress, too, slammed the state government, saying that 'dictatorship is at its pinnacle' in Uttar Pradesh.
New York, Feb 14 : A statue of Maratha ruler Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj that went missing from a park in San Jose, California, last month has been found.

The statue at the Guadalupe River Park, depicting the leader on horseback clutching a sword, was a gift from Pune, San Jose's sister city.

The 440-pound sculpture of the 17th century ruler was found last week next to a soda machine in the lobby of Tung Tai Group, a San Jose metal scrapyard north of downtown, the Mercury News reported.

After being notified of the statue's location, two police officers and two detectives went to the scrapyard and interviewed its workers.

Workers told the investigators that two men and a woman came to the site at 1726 Rogers Avenue on January 29 to drop off the sculpture, but did not provide a more detailed description of the trio.

An officer and one of the scrapyard workers then loaded the statue into the back of a patrol car.

"I am so glad that it is back... People wanted to know where it was," Sunil Ganu, a San Jose resident who helped get the statue installed over two decades ago, told Mercury News.

He said the statue had to be hoisted by a small crane when it was originally installed.

The statue, which was first brought to the city in 1999, is the only statue of Shivaji Maharaj in North America.

At 440 pounds, a bronze statue would fetch approximately $880, while an iron statue would be around $88 as scrap metal.

A spokesperson for Mayor Matt Mahan told Mercury News that the police will be investigating the incident and the statue will eventually be returned to the city.

"This statue holds incredible value to our Indian community, embracing our shared pride and respect for the warrior-ruler Shivaji and our relationship with our sister-city Pune," said Mayor Matt Mahan in a statement.
Mumbai, Feb 14 : Actor Bhuvan Arora, who plays Shahid Kapoor's best friend in the recently released streaming series 'Farzi', has been receiving a lot of positive response to his job in the show. He had initially refused the part, thinking about its length.

It was casting director Mukesh Chhabra's agency that insisted for a small audition clip.

The actor said: "So, I got a call from Mukesh Chhabra casting company saying they want to test me for a show. And the audition script was really small. So, I told them it seems like a small part and I don't really want to test for it. But they said, 'No, it's an important part, trust us.' And I very casually sent one take to them which they happily approved and sent it ahead to Raj & DK (the creators of the show)." He further mentioned: "So, they saw the take and liked it but they weren't still 100 per cent confident till then. So, Mukesh Chhabra, the casting director, showed one of my ads that I did for Flipkart in which I speak really fast. They saw the ad and they absolutely loved it and said that if he can do this, he is absolutely a Firoz. So that's how I landed the role." The actor, who dabbled in street theatre in Delhi, is naturally happy with the response to his work, which he "almost" let slip.

"I am overwhelmed and touched by the love coming my way. It was a heartwarming experience working on the show and I am beyond thrilled at the praises showered on us," he said.

'Farzi', which also stars Shahid Kapoor, Kay Kay Menon, and Vijay Sthupathi, is a black comedy series surrounding an artiste who counterfeit Indian currency. The show is available to stream on Prime Video.
New Delhi, Feb 14 : The Delhi High Court Tuesday issued notice on a plea seeking court's direction to the city government to put a stop to demolition drive by Delhi Development Authority (DDA) near Mehrauli Archaeological Park in Ladha Sarai village, till fresh demarcation.

A single-judge bench of Justice Mini Pushkarna was dealing with the plea seeking restrain from demolishing the area till a fresh demarcation is conducted. The plea was by a registered society of shopkeepers seeking direction to the Arvind Kejriwal-led government.

The counsel representing the petitioner said that without consulting the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB), DDA had suddenly started the demolition drive.

The counsel further submitted that even after the Minister of Revenue issued an order dated February 11 regarding a fresh demarcation of the whole area, the concerned SDM was not carrying it outA as per the order but on the basis of a previous demarcation conducted in the year 2021.

As per the above-mentioned facts, the counsel said that further demolition should not have taken place at all.

However, in its defence, DDA's counsel said that the demolition was conducted on the grounds of orders passed by a division bench of the High Court in a public interest litigation titled Delhi Waqf Board v. Delhi Development Authority & Anr.

Citing an order dated December 23, 2022, wherein the division bench took note of DDA's stand that the demolition will be done only as per the demarcation report of 2021 and refused to grant any interim stay, the DDA counsel informed that several directions have been passed by the division bench now and then to make the area in question free from encroachments.

The petitioner has said that the area consists of many mosques, dargahs etc. which are waqf properties and various slums.

Considering that a similar issue is already being dealt with by a division bench of the court, Justice Pushkarna listed the matter before the concerned division bench 1 for February 17, subject to orders of the Chief Justice.

She said: "Considering the submissions made and the fact that a similar issue is already being considered by a division bench of this court, it is deemed expedient to place the matter before the division bench."
A portion of $100 million awarded for road projects across New York will support state highway improvements in Cayuga and other central New York counties.

While much of the funding is for resurfacing projects, $5.3 million will be spent to replace pavement markings and audible roadway delineators  for example, the rumble strips on the center line or shoulder of a road  on state highways in Cayuga, Cortland, Onondaga, Oswego, Seneca and Tompkins counties.

That project is one of three in the central New York region. The state has awarded $3.4 million to resurface Route 31 from Cicero-North Syracuse High School to South Bay Road in Cicero, Onondaga County, and provided an additional $2.3 million to resurface Carrier and Military circles as part of an existing Route 635 repaving project in the towns of DeWitt and Salina.

The state's investment targets roadways that have been affected by extreme weather, according to Gov. Kathy Hochul. This round of funding will support 64 projects to repave or improve 520 lane miles of roads.

"We are making historic investments in transportation infrastructure to create safer roads and smooth, hassle-free commutes for all travelers," Hochul said. "New York is home to extreme weather year-round, and this $100 million in funding will be vital to helping ensure that our road conditions are safe for our hardest-hit communities."
Agartala, Feb 14 : The over a month long hectic poll campaign for the February 16 Tripura Assembly elections came to an end on Tuesday afternoon. Voting would be held in all the 60 assembly constituencies in 8 districts under a heavy security cover on February 16. Election Officials said that the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), Tripura State Rifles (TSR) and state police personnel have taken up positions in all the constituencies. Around 31,000 polling personnel have either reached or were on the way to their designated 3,327 polling stations in 2504 locations.

Tripura Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Gitte Kirankumar Dinkarrao said a total of 259 candidates, including 31 women, are contesting the February 16 Assembly elections. In the 2018 Assembly polls, 297 candidates, including 24 women, had fought the elections.

A senior police officer said the Ministry of Home Affairs has provided 400 companies (30,000 security personnel) of CAPF for fair and violence-free assembly elections. Besides the CAPF, comprising Assam Rifles, Border Security Force, Central Reserve Police Force, Central Industrial Security Force, around 9,000 TSR jawans and over 6,000 Tripura police personnel have also been deployed, the official told IANS.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed three election rallies in southern, northern and western Tripura while Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J.P. Nadda addressed many election rallies in different parts of BJP ruled Tripura. Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Sarbananda Sonowal, Smriti Irani, Arjun Munda, Chief Ministers Himanta Biswa Sarma (Assam), Yogi Adityanath (UP), and N. Biren Singh (Manipur), West Bengal's Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, MLA Agnimitra Paul, actors Mithun Chakraborty and Hema Malini and many BJP leaders and MPs from outside the state campaigned for the party.

CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury, politburo member Prakash Karat, Brinda Karat, former Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and several other Left leaders campaigned for the candidates of the four Left parties and the Congress. West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, and the party's national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee also addressed election rallies in Tripura. Congress' Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, former union minister and ex MP Deepa Dasmunshi, Congress leader Alka Lamba and a few other central leaders of the party campaigned for the party candidates.

The Congress and the CPI-M led Left Front for the first time in Tripura are contesting the elections jointly under a seat sharing arrangement and they also held joint rallies in different parts of the state. The Left Front put up candidates in 47 seats and allotted 13 seats to the Congress.

The CEO said that of the 259 candidates, the highest number of 55 candidates have been put up by the ruling BJP, followed by CPI-M (43), Tipra Motha Party (42), Trinamool Congress (28), and Congress (13).

Even as the BJP allotted five seats to its junior ally Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT), the latter has fielded six candidates. At Ampinagar in southern Tripura, the BJP has nominated Patal Kanya Jamatiya while the IPFT has fielded sitting MLA Sindhu Chandra Jamatia. A total of 58 Independent candidates and 14 nominees from various smaller parties are also contesting the elections.

Votes will be counted on March 2.
New Delhi, Feb 14 : Delhi Police have arrested four people for allegedly attacking and confining two on duty policemen and a woman in their house in north Delhi's Sadar Bazar area, an official said on Tuesday.

However, two more accused, who are also history-sheeters, are absconding, the official added.

According to police, on Monday at 1.30 a.m, one Sophia came to Sadar Bazar police station alleging that her husband Ashfaq had quarrelled with her and he had thrown her out of the house.

"Two police officials - head constable Pawan and constable Mahipal- along with complainant, reached her house where six people -- Ashfaq, Akhlaq, Afaque, Burhan, Haseen Bano and Ayesha -- were present. As police inquired about Sophia, they started misbehaving with the complainant," said Sagar Singh Kalsi, Deputy Commissioner of Police, (North).

"Burhan then suddenly closed the door of the house from inside and further all of them started talking rudely with police personnel. However, when the police personnel tied to pacify them, they started fighting," said the DCP.

"The accused had sticks in their hands and started hitting the police personnel. Pawan and Mahipal's phones were also snatched by Burhan when they tried to make a call to the police station," said the official .

After some time, someone informed the police station and more staff came to the spot. Pawan and Mahipal along with the complainant were freed from the house and sent to hospital for treatment. "Both got hurt in this attack and their uniform was also torn by the accused," said the DCP.

The accused Burhan, Akhlaq, Aiysha and 60-year-old Haseena Bano have been arrested, whereas Ashfaq and Afaque are absconding after the incident.

"Ashfaq is found previously involved in three cases while Afaque has previous involvement in four cases registered in the city and he is on parole," said the official, adding that further investigation in the matter is on.
Srinagar, Feb 14 : The entire module involved in 2019 Pulwama attack has been busted, said M.S. Bhatia, Inspector General Kashmir Ops on Tuesday.

A wreath-laying ceremony by CRPF was organised at the Martyrs Memorial at Lethpora in South Kashmir's Pulwama district in honour of the bravehearts who laid down their lives in the service of the nation on February 14, 2019.

M.S. Bhatia, Inspector General Kashmir Ops Sector, stated that the nation will always remain indebted to the soldiers who valiantly fought and laid down their lives to safeguard the sovereignty and integrity of the country.

"The entire module involved in the Pulwama attack has been busted in a very professional way," he said.

"There has been a sea change in Kashmir in the last four years. Forces are on the offensive, terror ecosystem has been demolished," he said.

He briefed the media about the remarkable improvement in the security scenario post abrogation of Article 370, challenges being faced in recent times and the numerous successes that have been achieved by the CRPF against terrorists, including the demolition of the terror ecosystem.

"Terrorist morale is busted, the new cadres are not coming, existing cadres are being demolished...

"There are no hartals, tourism is flourishing," he said.

Bhatia also briefed about the various steps that have been undertaken for strengthening the security grid, convoy management, operational synergy between the security forces, modernisation of CRPF, leveraging of technology and use of other force multipliers to prevent attacks on forces and carry out a relentless offensive against the terror ecosystem.
Bengaluru, Feb 14 : Leading fintech company PhonePe on Tuesday announced it has raised another $100 million in primary capital from Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global, and TVS Capital Funds, at a pre-money valuation of $12 billion.

The new investment follows the recent $350 million primary fundraise from General Atlantic, a leading global growth equity firm, that PhonePe closed in January.

"We are privileged to have a great set of leading global investors, both existing and new, who believe in our mission of building massive technology platforms to bring at-scale financial and digital inclusion in India," Sameer Nigam, CEO and Founder of PhonePe.

PhonePe started its latest fundraise with a target of raising up to $1 billion in capital, post its domicile shift to India.

With this second tranche, the company has already raised $450 million within six weeks from leading investors.

It expects further investments from leading global, as well as prominent high net worth Indian investors in due course.

"PhonePe lives by the same values as we do at Ribbit. We both believe that better money makes life better. PhonePe's relentless pursuit of this principle in serving consumers and businesses all across India is a mission to live for," said Micky Malka, Founder of Ribbit Capital.

Founded in December 2015, PhonePe has 44 crore registered users and one in four Indians are now on PhonePe.

The company has successfully digitised 3.5 crore offline merchants spread across the country, covering 99 per cent pin codes in the country.

PhonePe is also the leader in Bharat Bill Pay System (BBPS), processing over 45 per cent of the transactions on the BBPS platform.

"We are excited to continue our partnership with PhonePe as they lead the digital payments sector in India, a market we believe is still in the early stages with significant growth potential ahead," said Scott Shleifer, Partner, Tiger Global.
Amaravati, Feb 14 : In a move aimed at ensuring safety of tourists, the Andhra Pradesh government on Tuesday launched 20 tourist police stations.

Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy inaugurated the police stations at 20 important religious and tourist places in various districts.

Launching the police stations virtually from his official residence here, he said the security kiosks would work as additional police stations and attend to complaints from tourists.

The newly launched tourist police stations would now start functioning at the RK Beach at Visakhapatnam, Sri Kodanda Rama Swamy temple at Vontimitta in YSR district, Kukkuteswara Swamy temple at Pithapuram in Kakinada district, Pushkar Ghat at Rajahmundry, Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple at Dwaraka Tirumala in Eluru district, Manginapudi Beach and Mopidevi Temple in Krishna district, Indrakeeladri Temple and Bhavani Island in NTR district, Mypadu Beach and Sri Penusila Lakshmi Narasimha Swami temple at Penchalakona in SPSR Nellore district, Mahanandi and Ahobilam temples in Nandyal district, Raghavendra Swamy temple at Mantralayam in Kurnool district, Horsley Hills in Annamayya district and Lepakshi temple in Satya Sai district.

The chief minister revealed that the tourist police stations would be run by specially trained police personnel and headed by a Sub-Inspector or Assistant Sub-Inspector rank officer. Linked with local police stations, each tourist police station would have six police personnel including women constables.

Interacting with the police officials virtually on the occasion, he suggested that the contact phone number of the responsible police officials should be prominently displayed at all tourist police Stations. He hoped that the enhanced tourism security would help boost up the traffic of tourists in the state.

He said several reforms were introduced in the police department after YSRCP came to power and the downloading of Disha App by about 1.20 crore women indicates the extent of support being extended to womenfolk in the state by the police.

Unlike in the TDP rule, police services are now available to people through village and ward secretariats and the government has also introduced zero-FIR system in police stations where receptionists would talk to the complainants first.

Home Minister Taneti Vanita, DGP K.V. Rajendranath Reddy, Special CS (Tourism) Rajat Bhargava and senior police officials were present.
Kiev, Feb 14 : Russia has suffered some of the heaviest military losses in a single battle since the start of the war in Ukraine after elite units repeatedly tried to storm a fortified coal mining town in broad daylight, media reports said.

Ukraine officials said that one marine brigade of 5,000 men was almost entirely destroyed, for the third time since Kremlin launched the full-scale invasion nearly a year ago, Daily Mail reported.

The carnage - and loss of at least 130 armoured vehicles - led Russian hardliners to call for public show trials to punish incompetent generals responsible for the repeated battlefield massacres of their soldiers.

"Some of them are complete cretins - all the mistakes that were made before were repeated," said Igor Girkin, a former Russian intelligence officer who helped stage the pro-Moscow 2014 insurgencies in Donetsk and Crimea.

Girkin complained that Russian soldiers were killed 'like turkeys in a shooting range' as Ukrainians held higher positions, Daily Mail reported.

The latest attempt to seize Vuhledar began in late January with Spetsnaz special forces, armoured battalions and infantry troops attacking from several directions. But in an early setback for the Russians, the Spetsnaz commander was killed.

The mining town, home to 14,000 people before the war and sitting on high ground close to the only rail link between Crimea and Donetsk, was fortified with artillery after withstanding three months of attack. The heaviest waves of assault came last week, leading to the bloodbath of marines, Daily Mail reported.

Evgeny Nazarenko, spokesman for one of the defending Ukrainian units, said the Russian advances had been easily spotted from high-rise buildings as they crossed open fields towards the town.

"We are at the top and they are at the bottom. They are perfectly visible," Nazarenko said.

Tom Cooper, a military historian who has studied the battle, described Vuhledar as "a big, tall fortress in the middle of an empty, flat desert".

The defeat came days after Sergei Shoigu, the Kremlin defence minister, boasted about a "successful offensive near Vuhledar".

Kiev's Defence Ministry responded by posting a video showing the destruction of a Russian military column in the area, Daily Mail reported.
Los Angeles, Feb 14 : Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to make an appearance at the Berlinale, 'Variety' has learned.

A Berlin Film Festival spokesperson confirmed that Zelensky will be present "in some kind of form", although "which and when is not confirmed yet".

The Festival is opening on Thursday, February 16.

Zelensky is the subject of one of the festival's most high-profile projects: Sean Penn and Aaron Kaufman's top-secret documentary 'Superpower'.

The details of the film, according to 'Variety', have remained sparse for more than a year, when it was first revealed that Penn had been in Ukraine when the war with Russia broke out.

The Ukrainian leader has been making a number of virtual appearances at various awards ceremonies (the Golden Globes being the last and at Cannes). In recent weeks he's been venturing outside the country and making trips around Europe, notes 'Variety'.

Last week, in what was his second trip outside Ukraine (the first was to the US just before Christmas), he met UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and France's President Emmanuel Macron, and addressed the European Parliament.
Hyderabad, Feb 14 : Tata Boeing Aerospace Ltd (TBAL) on Tuesday announced that it has shipped the first vertical fin structure for the Boeing 737 aircraft from its state-of-the-art facility in Hyderabad.

The vertical fin will be delivered to the Boeing manufacturing facility in Renton in Washington, for integration into the final Boeing 737 aircraft.

TBAL added a new production line in 2021 to manufacture complex vertical fin structures for the 737 family of airplanes. The expansion marked a significant milestone for the joint venture. It also created additional employment opportunities while enabling skill development, TBAL said.

A vertical fin is a vertical stabilising surface mounted on the tail of an aircraft, providing stability and control in yaw, or the movement of the aircraft from side to side, preventing side-slip, and maintaining a straight and level flight. The new production line utilises cutting-edge robotics, automation, and advanced aerospace concepts like full scale determinant assembly in its manufacturing processes.

"Tata Boeing Aerospace Ltd is an example of Boeing's commitment towards co-development of integrated systems in aerospace and defence in India for the world, and a reflection of the country's Aatmanirbhar Bharat capabilities. The speed and quality with which the first vertical fin has been manufactured is a testament to TBAL's skilled workforce, engineering talent, and world-class manufacturing prowess," said Salil Gupte, President, Boeing India.

"Successful shipment of the first vertical fin structure for the Boeing 737 aircraft is a result of the hard work and seamless collaboration by the teams at TBAL. This positions TBAL and India as an important manufacturing base in overall Boeing operations. We stay committed towards progression of indigenous aerospace manufacturing with a strong focus on quality and timely delivery," said Sukaran Singh, Managing Director and CEO, Tata Advanced Systems Ltd (TASL).

Spread over 14,000 square metres, the joint venture between Boeing and TASL employs over 900 engineers and technicians. It has been producing aero-structures for Boeing's AH-64 Apache helicopter, including fuselages, secondary structures, and vertical spar boxes for customers worldwide.

Earlier this year, TBAL also delivered the first fuselage for the first of the six Indian Army AH-64 Apache attack helicopters on order.
Kochi, Feb 14 : Former president of the Kerala High Court Advocates' Association (KHCAA) Saiby Jose Kidangoor on Tuesday told the High Court that the allegations against him -- that he took money from clients under the pretext of bribing judges -- was cooked up by a person called Aby and some other lawyers who are against him.

Kidangoor who quit the president's post early this month after the police registered an FIR against him, informed the court that he was ready to co-operate with the investigation.

The court asked him to cooperate with the probe and said let the truth come out which would be beneficial to him also.

Trouble began for Kidangoor when a colleague of his put up a Facebook post in which he said that Kidangoor had been collecting large sums of money from some clients, including some celebrity clients, saying that he would use it to bribe judges.

Following this, one of the judges, Justice PV Kunhikrishnan, asked the High Court registrar general to look into the allegations.

The registrar general submitted an initial report to the Chief Justice who in turn directed the vigilance wing of the High Court to initiate an enquiry.

The vigilance wing's probe found prima facie evidence that Kidangoor had taken money from his clients by saying that he would use it to bribe some judges.

The vigilance report was sent to the Kerala Police which launched a probe.

After conducting a preliminary enquiry, the Ernakulam Central Police Station had registered a first information report (FIR) against Kidangoor on February 1.

Kidangoor has been charged under Section 420 (cheating and dishonesty) of the Indian Penal Code which is a cognisable and non-bailable offence.

He has also been charged under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act which deals with the offence of public servants taking gratification other than the legal remuneration in respect of an official act.

Kidangoor subsequently moved the High Court with the present petition seeking to quash the FIR.

The Court on Tuesday posted the case to be taken up after two weeks and asked Kidangoor to appear before the investigating officer as and when required and cooperate with the investigation.
Ranchi, Feb 14 : A love-struck girl in Jharkhand met a tragic end at the hands of her lover in an anti-climax to her expectations of making Valentine's Day a memorable one with her partner-turned-killer.

According to the police, the 17-year-old girl was first allegedly raped by her lover before killing her by inserting an iron rod in her private parts. The incident took place in Jharkhand's Garhwa district.

The girl's body was found in a field close to her partner's home on Monday by some local residents who then informed the police.

The incident took place in Ajni village on Sunday.

"On Sunday night, the girl had gone to meet the accused without informing her family. On Monday morning, her body was found," SHO Santosh Kumar Ravi said.

The police officer said that an FIR had been registered against the accused in connection with the incident.

The local residents also went to the accused's residence to look for him but he was not found there.

The police said that a search was underway to arrest the accused on the basis of his mobile phone location.

Latest updates on Valentine's Day 2023
President Joe Biden chose a western New York civic leader to fill a seat on a commission overseeing boundary water issues between the United States and Canada.

Biden on Monday nominated Robert Gioia to serve on the International Joint Commission. Gioia would succeed Rob Sisson, who is the acting U.S. chair of the six-member panel.

Gioia has a business background  his family owned the Gioia Macaroni Company and he was vice president of Red Wing Foods. He was also a principal with Strategic Investments and Holdings, an investment firm.

He has been active in the western New York community through his participation on various community boards. He chairs the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation overseeing the revitalization of Buffalo's waterfront and is a former chair of the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority, an organization that provides mass transit service in the Buffalo area and operates the Buffalo-Niagara International Airport.

In the nonprofit sector, he chairs Great Lakes Health and the Buffalo Center for Arts & Technology. He was president of the John R. Oishei Foundation, an organization that supports charities in the Buffalo area, and chair of the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo.

"Throughout his career, whether as president of the John R. Oishei Foundation or in his service on several public commissions, Robert Gioia has shown he is not only a trusted steward of his community's greatest assets, but a leader who can advance these assets to truly make a positive difference in our world now and for decades to come," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said.

If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Gioia would join a panel that has faced criticism for its handling of Lake Ontario water levels. The International Joint Commission, which includes three members from the U.S. and three from Canada, adopted Plan 2014 for the management of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. The plan took effect in 2017 has been blamed for flooding that occurred along the lake's southern shore.

The International Joint Commission is conducting a review of Plan 2014. On Thursday, the commission announced the next phase of that review with a focus on how to improve management of Lake Ontario's outflows.

Even with Gioia's nomination there is a vacant U.S. seat on the commission. Another western New Yorker, Jane Corwin, served as U.S. chair during the Trump administration. She resigned from the commission and Biden nominated Gerald Acker, of Michigan, to fill the vacant seat and serve as U.S. chair. But the Senate did not act on Acker's nomination in the last Congress. Biden re-nominated Acker in January.
Mumbai, Feb 14 : National Award winning actor Manoj Bajpayee, who is gearing up for his upcoming release 'Gulmohar' and plays actress Sharmila Tagore's son Arun Batra in the film, shared a fan moment which he had with the veteran actress. The actor is so fond of songs from the actress's films that he kept singing them on the sets of 'Gulmohar'.

Recollecting his first meeting with the senior actress, Manoj said, "When I met Sharmila ji for the first time, I was thrilled and excited and told her that I had watched many of her old films while growing up to which Sharmila ji told me, "Manoj just calm down." Sharing another nugget, Manoj said, "Somehow the songs from her films would stay in my head, and often I would hear myself humming the songs like 'Jab bhi ji chahe nayi duniya basa lete hai log' from the film 'Daag,' and every time it happened I realised she was either crossing me or standing behind me while I was singing the songs." He added, "After a couple of times it happened, Sharmila ji told me in mock anger, Manoj, I will beat you. I cherish these memories from the set. And the fact she responds to my messages after the film is over, I get the warm feeling that her affection for me is like that of a real family." 'Gulmohar', directed by Rahul Chittella, and also starring Amol Palekar, Simran, Suraj Sharma, Kaveri Seth and Utsavi Jha, is set to release on March 3, 2023, only on Disney+ Hotstar.

-- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed
Islamabad, Feb 14 : Four terrorists were killed in a terror attack on security forces in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of police said on Tuesday.

According to the CTD statement, the terrorists late Monday night attacked a security forces vehicle, which was transporting accused terrorists at Mir Ali bypass area of the district, Xinhua News Agency reported.

During an exchange of fire, four attackers were killed by the security forces while three other accused terrorists in the vehicle were killed by the terrorists' firing, the statement said.

Around five to six attackers managed to flee the site by taking advantage of the darkness, it added.

The killed attackers were identified as terrorists associated with the banned outfit Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the CTD said, adding that three of them were wanted by the CTD in allegedly several terrorist activities.

A heavy contingent of security forces reached the site and carried out a search and clearance operation in the area, according to the statement.
Kohima, Feb 14 : BJP President J.P. Nadda said on Tuesday that the Naga political issue is now in its final stages and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is very keen for an early solution to the matter.

Addressing a joint election rally of the BJP and the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) in Kohima, Nadda said that Home Minister Amit Shah is tirelessly working for a solution to the Naga issue and Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio and Deputy Chief Minister Y. Patton are witnessing this.

"A lot of efforts have been made to resolve the Naga issue. Armed Forces (Special Power) Act has been withdrawn from many police stations in Nagaland," the BJP chief said.

Referring to the demand for a separate 'Frontier Nagaland' state, Nadda said that whatever commitment is made by Amit Shah on this demand will be implemented in letter and spirit.

The influential Naga body, Eastern Nagaland People's Organisation (ENPO), after getting an assurance from the Home Minister on February 4, withdrew its call to boycott the February 27 Assembly polls in support of its demand for a separate 'Frontier Nagaland' state.

Claiming that six districts -- Mon, Tuensang, Kiphire, Longleng, Noklak and Shamator -- have been neglected for years, the ENPO has been demanding a separate state since 2010.

Nadda also said that BJP is a national party which understands regional aspirations.

"The Congress once ruled several northeastern and southern states, including Tamil Nadu, for many years. But they are nowhere to be seen now because the party failed to understand regional aspirations. Hence many regional parties came up in these states, including in West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh," he said.

Nadda said that the BJP understands the national commitments with regional aspirations better than any other political party.

The former Union minister claimed that between 2006 and 2014, over 8,700 violent incidents took place in the northeastern states which have now reduced by 74 per cent.

He also said that the BJP always supports the all-round development of tribals and with this aim, a woman from the tribal community has become the President of India while there are eight tribal ministers in the central cabinet along with three Governors from the tribal community.
Karnal : , Feb 14 (IANS) For every proud Haryanvi, especially the family members of those brave policemen who made the supreme sacrifice, February 14 will be remembered with profound memories as the state police received the President's Colour in recognition of its exceptional service, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Tuesday.

Attending a state-level function at the Haryana Police Academy in Karnal district's Madhuban, Shah presented the President's Colour, a replica of the flag, to the unit which all officers and ranks of the force can now proudly wear as an insignia on their uniform.

The Home Minister presented the award on behalf of President Droupadi Murmu. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar along with his Cabinet colleagues were present on this occasion.

Shah also paid tribute to the 40 CRPF personnel who lost their lives in one of the deadliest attacks on Indian security forces in Pulwama on this day in 2019.

"The supreme and indomitable sacrifice made by these brave soldiers will always be written in golden letters in the history of Indian security forces," he said.

He also paid tribute to former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on her birth anniversary.

Praising the working style of the state police, the Home Minister said the President's Colour is a certificate of the utmost level of professionalism and standards a state police can receive.

"I am feeling extremely happy and proud to present the President's Colour to the 'dhaakad' (daring) police of Haryana, which from the day of its establishment till today has selflessly served the nation and Haryana," said Shah.

He said the President's Award is given to the police after a review of 25 years of service with valour and dedication.

"Haryana Police has a history of being alert on every level. Whether it is about maintaining law and order situation, ensuring public safety, making citizens' lives secure or facing new challenges because of being next to the national capital, the 'dhaakad' jawans of Haryana Police have always shown courage, endurance and bravery.

"Not only this, when it comes to dealing with the agitations, the state police have always played a competent and sensible role," said the Home Minister.

Shah also praised the police for serving selflessly during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Haryana Police is now among one of the 10 states in the country to receive the President's insignia.

Earlier, this honour was received by the police of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Jammu-Kashmir, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Assam.

Highlighting the history of Haryana, Shah said on November 1, 1966, when Haryana came into existence as a separate state, the state police force had started its journey with only 12,000 police personnel, but today the strength of Haryana Police has reached more than 75,000, further expanding to five police ranges, four police commissionerates, 19 districts and Railway Police.

The Union Home Minister paid tribute to 83 police officers and employees who have been martyred since the inception of Haryana Police.

The Home Minister said 29 cyber police stations and 309 cyber desks have been set up in Haryana, which has proved instrumental in cracking the whip on cyber fraud.

He said under the dynamic leadership of the Chief Minister, concrete steps have been taken to make Haryana corruption-free by conducting 1,303 raids by the CM Flying Squad and the Anti-Corruption Wing.

Thanking the Home Minister for conferring the President's insignia on the Haryana Police, Chief Minister Khattar said being the Home Minister, Amit Shah, has taken several bold and historic decisions, like the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35-A and the building a grand temple of Lord Shri Ram in Ayodhya.

The Chief Minister said with the President's Colour Award, the responsibility of the police force has also increased. "I hope the state police will also discharge their responsibilities in a more effective manner." On the occasion, Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij said the state is known for its inimitable style. "For the past 56 years, the state police have achieved several milestones in serving the public." "I am feeling happy that, being the Home Minister, my police force has received the highest honour of the President's Colour Award. This will certainly give a major boost to the morale of police officers and personnel. Prime Minister Narendra Modi always shares his smart police vision and I am proud to say that my state police have become smarter," added Vij.
Jerusalem, Feb 14 : Israel will resume direct flights to Turkey on Thursday as part of the normalisation of bilateral relations, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said on Tuesday.

"Flights from Israel to Turkey will resume in two days. Three of our main carriers will start flights," Cohen said at a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in the Turkish capital of Ankara, Xinhua News Agency reported.

"We will definitely warm the important relations between your important and beautiful country and Israel," he added.

The two sides discussed steps to take bilateral ties to the next phase, Cohen said, adding "we will restore bilateral relations to its former level." Israel sent a 450-member rescue team on the first day of Turkey's devastating earthquakes last week, which was followed by other teams and the establishment of a field hospital in the quake-hit region, the minister said.

Cohen promised to continue humanitarian assistance to Turkey and conveyed deepest condolences to the victims.

Cavusoglu, for his part, said Israel was one of the first countries that sent support to Turkey and thanked Israel for the assistance.

Israeli rescue teams were one of the "largest" on the ground and they provided "very serious support" to the emergency response, he said.

The relations between Israel and Turkey became strained in 2010 when a Turkish-led flotilla attempting to break Israel's blockade on the Gaza Strip clashed with Israeli forces, leaving 10 Turks on board dead.

The two countries have been working to mend their ties since last year, when Israeli President Isaac Herzog made an ice-breaking visit to Ankara, the first of its kind by an Israeli leader since 2008.

They also reappointed ambassadors in 2022, who were expelled by each other after Israeli forces killed 60 Palestinians during the protests on the Gaza border against the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem in 2018.
Panaji, Feb 14 : Goa Advocate General Devidas Pangam on Tuesday said the Supreme Court's order in the Mhadei water dispute case against Karnataka is a positive sign for the coastal state.

According to him, as per the apex court's order on Monday, Karnataka cannot carry out diversion of the river water without obtaining the necessary permissions.

"Whatever the Supreme Court has said in its order is a positive sign for us," Pangam said.

Last month, Goa's Chief Wildlife Warden issued a notice to Karnataka, asking the neighbouring state to stop the diversion of water from the wildlife sanctuary.

"It is about how one cannot divert the water from a wildlife sanctuary. We have said that as per section 29 of the wildlife protection act, water cannot be diverted. If the Chief Wildlife Warden gives order in our favour, then Karnataka will not be in a position to divert the water. This is an important issue," he said.

"Secondly, the Supreme Court has reiterated its order given in 2020 that till Karnataka obtains all required permissions, it will not be able to go ahead with its works," he said.

"Karnataka has told the Supreme Court that they have not got permission and work has not been started. While hearing this, the court gave us liberty to re-apply if required," Pangam said.

According to him, the Supreme Court has fixed the matter for final hearing in July, but in case Karnataka goes ahead with construction activities, then Goa has the liberty to appeal before the apex court.

He said that henceforth, "it will not be possible for Karnataka to divert water as the state has become legally strong".

"We are taking actions... wherever we want to block Karnataka while taking permission from forest or wildlife, we will do it," he said.

"Now, we have to ensure that these proceedings which have started at different levels should be taken to a logical conclusion and positive direction," Pangam said.

The Goa government had sought an interim stay on the Central Water Commission's nod to the controversial Kalasa-Bhanduri project. However, the apex court had refused to grant an interim stay.
San Francisco, Feb 14 : Microsoft has started rolling out the new ChatGPT-powered Bing on desktops to early testers worldwide, and it will also be available on Android and iOS in the coming weeks, the media reported.

The tech giant is working on a "substantial optimised interface" for Bing.com's Chat UI for Android and iOS, which includes all-new OpenAI-powered content, reports Windows Latest, citing sources.

In an email sent out to testers, Microsoft confirmed that the mobile experience is not yet ready, according to the report.

"We don't have a mobile experience ready yet -- we are actively working on it and will have it ready soon. Until then, please continue to use the new Bing on desktop and download the Bing app from your favourite app store to ensure you are ready for the amazing experience when the mobile version is ready," the company said in the email.

Moreover, the report said that the company is still optimising Bing.com's AI UX for mobile form factors.

Meanwhile, Microsoft is also reportedly planning to demonstrate its new Prometheus model to its core productivity apps such as Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook.

In the coming weeks, Microsoft will detail its productivity plans for integrating OpenAI's language AI technology and its AI Model, reports The Verge, citing sources.
Ankara/Damascus, Feb 14 : The death toll from a massive earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria on February 6 mounted to over 37,000, the media reported.

The devastating 7.8 magnitude quake toppled thousands of buildings and killed more than 37,000, Turkish and Syrian officials were quoted as saying by ABC news.

Relief Aids continue to pour in the affected countries from various quarters.

According to Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD), 99 countries have offered assistance so far and seven more countries are expected to send rescue teams, Anadolu News Agency reported.

Nearly 238,500 search and rescue personnel are currently working in the field and over 158,000 have been evacuated, it added.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has agreed to open two border crossings so that aid can reach to the affected areas in the region.

Expressing gratefulness to the countries extending help, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a video message, said rescue teams have pulled out more than 8,000 people alive from the rubble since the strong quakes jolted Turkey, Anadolu reported.

Over 81,000 people injured in the quake in Turkey have been discharged from hospitals, Erdogan said.
Chennai, Feb 14 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin has said that Governor R.N. Ravi has insulted the state legislative assembly by delaying the assent to the bill passed by the House banning the Rummy online game.

Stalin said that it was a mystery why the Governor of Tamil Nadu was delaying his assent to the bill banning online gambling games like online Rummy for the past three months. The Chief Minister was speaking in the question and answer video titled, Ungalil Oruvan (One among you).

He said that it was on the directive of the Madras High Court that the state government had enacted a legislation to ban online Rummy. The Chief Minister also said that the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly had unanimously passed the bill for banning online gambling games including online Rummy.

He said that several suicides have taken place in Tamil Nadu in the past week by people who have lost heavily playing online Rummy games.

Stalin pointed out the suicide of a mother in Vyasarpadi in Chennai who took the extreme decision after coming to know that her son had misappropriated money from the company where he was working for making up the losses in online Rummy game. He said that the son has been absconding.

The Chief Minister also mentioned the suicide of a young man, Riaz Khan of Pallipalayam who died by jumping into river Cauvery in Namakkal district. Stalin said that a student Gnanaseelan had committed suicide in Madurai for losing money in online Rummy.

Stalin asked how many more suicides are required for the Governor to sign the bill to ban online Rummy.
New Delhi, Feb 14 : The Supreme Court has asked Rajasthan authorities to "sympathetically" consider a couple's parole request for undergoing medical treatment to conceive a child.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and J.K. Maheshwari said: "As regard to parole, liberty is granted to the petitioners to apply for the same. The concerned authorities are directed to consider such a request made by the petitioners sympathetically and as per their policy and grant parole to them if there is no legal impediment. Needful shall be done within two weeks from the date of submission of such an application." The couple is serving life term in an open jail in Rajasthan.

The bench noted that the issue that arises for consideration is whether the petitioners are entitled to be released on parole as the first petitioner is required to take medical treatment to conceive a child. She is stated to be 45 years old and her present husband - petitioner No.2 is around 40 years old, noted the bench.

"It is an open jail. Since petitioner No.1 is getting treatment from Geetanjali Medical College and Hospital, Udaipur, the authorities are ready and willing to shift the petitioners to open jail at Udaipur. It goes without saying that if the petitioners pray for such transfer, appropriate orders shall be passed within two weeks," noted the bench, in its order passed on February 10.

The couple had moved the apex court challenging the order passed in May last year by Rajasthan High Court, which dismissed their plea. The couple approached the high court seeking parole for having IVF (in virto fertilisation) treatment.

The high court, in its order, had noted that the woman already has two children from the previous marriage and petitioners entered into a wedlock while on parole.

Citing that the woman already has two children, the high court had observed that having a child through IVF cannot be considered as an emergent case for release on parole.
HOMER  Tuesday was a great day for Moravia.

The Cayuga County village is among the inaugural winners of a NY Forward grant, a program to support downtown revitalization projects in smaller communities.

Secretary of State Robert Rodriguez, whose agency oversees the NY Forward program, announced the awards at the Center for the Arts in Homer. The event was held there because the Cortland County village won the $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative award  the same grant the city of Auburn won in 2018.

The NY Forward program is similar to the Downtown Revitalization Initiative. Rodriguez explained that a separate grant was established after receiving feedback from towns, villages and other smaller municipalities that they "may need something a little bit smaller, maybe right-sized for the projects they have."

The 2022-23 state budget included $100 million for the NY Forward program. Each of the 10 regional economic development councils could select either two winners, with both receiving $4.5 million awards, or three recipients  one for a $4.5 million grant and two $2.25 million prizes.

In central New York, there were three winners: The village of Phoenix in Oswego County will get $4.5 million. The village of Hamilton in Madison County, along with Moravia, will each receive $2.25 million.

"It's all of these communities coming together that create a strong central New York," Rodriguez said.

Moravia was one of four Cayuga County villages to apply for the NY Forward grant  Aurora, Cayuga and Union Springs were the others. Mayor Gary Mulvaney told The Citizen that village staff worked on the application alongside the Cayuga County Department of Planning and Economic Development. A committee was formed to collect feedback and representatives from the county and village met with local business owners.

The product of that work was a $6.5 million plan and 18 proposed projects, half of which would either renovate or restore nine buildings on Main Street in the village. Other projects include improvements to Ethel Fuller Park, providing broadband service in public areas and the creation of a history trail.

When Mulvaney learned Moravia was one of the winners, he was pleasantly surprised.

"This is unbelievable," he said. "Who the hell thought you were going to get it? But boy, it's really great that we did. It's going to be great for the community, obviously."

In a statement, the Cayuga Economic Development Agency praised Moravia for winning the NY Forward grant and the Cayuga County Department of Planning and Economic Development for its work in support of the village's application. CEDA also encouraged other villages to apply for funding this year  if the program is included in the final state budget.

"The CEDA team looks forward to helping Moravia's vision come to fruition," the agency said.

Cayuga County Legislature Chairman David Gould, who also attended the ceremony in Homer, called the award "one of the best things that ever happened to southern Cayuga County." He lauded the county's Department of Planning and Economic Development for their work on the application and believes Mulvaney and village leaders will use the funding to improve Moravia.

Gould hopes it is not the last NY Forward grant for a village in the county. Gov. Kathy Hochul, who successfully advocated for the creation of the program in the 2022-23 budget, requested a second round of NY Forward awards in the upcoming 2023-24 fiscal year.

"I hope they all get it," Gould said, "but this is a start."

Gallery: Moravia wins NY Forward grant
Mumbai, Feb 14 : When a fan asked Shah Rukh Khan what his first Valentine's Day gift was to his wife, Gauri, he replied: "If I remember correctly -- it's been, what, 34 years now? -- a pair of pink plastic earrings I think." The love story of Shah Rukh and Gauri Khan is the stuff of Bollywood romantic films. They met as youngsters in Delhi, long before Shah Rukh Khan became a global superstar. Following a six-year engagement, they married in 1991.

Engaging with his fans on social media on the occasion of Valentine's Day, SRK shared that he is a big fan of Hollywood star Sharon Stone. He called her the "most gorgeous and intelligent woman".

A fan on Tuesday shared a video of Sharon coming up to SRK and doing namaste to him. The user asked him about the moment. SRK replied: "Sharon may not know but I am her biggest fan. She is the most gorgeous and intelligent woman!!!" When a user asked him about working with Rajkumar Hirani for 'Dunki', SRK replied: "Raju Sir is a dream come true to work with. Learnt so much from him and his film making. I am truly fortunate and he is too much fun." He went on to call Amitabh Bachchan "the only legend", when asked to describe him. He also shared that he is waiting to watch Hrithik Roshan's upcoming film 'Fighter'.

Latest updates on Valentine's Day 2023
Kochi, Feb 14 : Top experts in the fisheries sector, who are currently taking part in a global symposium here, pitched for the development of a regional marine fisheries platform for the Bay of Bengal region to deal with the issues in the sector, while India proposed the setting up of a virtual marine fisheries academy for the region.

While presenting India's views, G. Sugumar, Vice Chancellor of Tamil Nadu Fisheries University, proposed a virtual marine fisheries academy for the Bay of Bengal region.

"Through this funded doctoral and post-doctoral programmes, multi-country research project, and increased student exchange programmes can all be done for the betterment of the fisheries sector in the region," said Sugumar.

The meeting also pointed out that a series of issues, including climate change, are posing threat to the fisheries sector globally and to tackle this, the experts proposed stronger research collaboration among the rim countries of the Bay of Bengal region for the betterment of marine wealth and livelihood of small-scale fishers in the region.

This region contributes about 21 per cent of global seafood production and is home to the largest conglomeration of the small-scale fisheries sector.

But a range of issues such as climate change, marine pollution, overfishing, and oil spill are plaguing the fisheries sector in this area.

Rudrendra Tandon, Additional Secretary (BIMSTEC), Ministry of External Affairs, said the lack of adequate scientific knowledge in the region is a concern, and India's intention is to support networking of scientific institutions between the member countries.

"The trans boundary nature of the issues in the region requires all the countries to come together and plan collaborative programmes, including knowledge sharing and student exchange," said Tandon.

Jatindra Nath Swain, Secretary in the Department of Fisheries, said the country is committed to protect the interest of small-scale fishers.

"The Bay of Bengal region is rich with highly prospective marine wealth and offers livelihood to many small-scale fishermen. Collaboration among the littoral countries is vital for managing the resources and protecting the income of this community," said Swain.

The symposium was organised by the Bay of Bengal Programme-Inter Governmental Organisation (BOBP-IGO) and the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD), an international non-profit organisation.
New Delhi, Feb 14 : Investors, policy makers, bureaucrats and representatives on Tuesday discussed three key challenges to make the renewable energy (RE) sector ecologically safe, rights-respecting and socially just. They favoured that the RE sector must lead responsibly.

Delivering the keynote address, Rajnath Ram, Advisor, Energy, NITI Aayog, said, "In the budget, almost Rs 1 lakh crore was announced as allocations towards green growth initiatives, but the challenge for the renewable energy sector is to ensure the community participates and gets great benefit from it." Bharath Jairaj, Executive Director (Energy), WRI India, said, "The Responsible Energy Initiative (REI) was built on a set of principles that we and our partners agreed upon. These are based on lofty universal values but that's what we need right now to ensure the RE sector is socially just and environmentally sound.

"Over the past few months, we've attempted to translate these principles into actionable pilots on land use, circularity, and financing, because these principles must not be just goals but actions for the RE sector must take forward." As the Union government's recent budget allocations suggest projects like the 13GWh solar-wind hybrid in Ladakh getting primacy over other forms of RE, like distributed renewables and off-grid, concerns have been expressed by communities living in these regions over loss of livelihoods, and lands for grazing and allied activities.

Finding land that is increasingly scarce for installations of grid-scale wind and solar energy is beginning to become a challenge.

Moreover, concerns about permanently altering land use patterns in rural India, loss of livelihoods of communities that hitherto used these lands as village commons, farmlands, water catchment areas, or as sacred groves, is leading to a pushback by communities where these RE projects are sited.

Speaking at the panel on land use, Shirish S Garud, Senior Fellow and Director, TERI, said "The REI aims to set new norms and guidelines for land use and land ownerships. We are proposing pilots to evaluate the options and impacts of renewable energy projects on farmlands." "Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's recent budget announcements made clear the need to seek the RE sector to become more responsible. The RE sector must seize this opportunity to ensure it leads by not committing the mistakes that mark the fossil fuel industry, which is extraction and inequity," said Anna Biswas, Managing Director (India), Forum for the Future.

And as the RE sector grows, it will need significant natural resources, and it will generate waste at an unsustainable level, unless circularity is introduced into the production process.

The day-long event, called the Responsible Renewable Energy Summit, is led by REI's core partners World Resources Institute India (WRI India), The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and Forum for the Future (Forum) and supported by expert partners, including BHRRC, CEEW, Consensus Building Institute, Climate Group, Landesa, WWF India.
Mumbai, Feb 14 : The upcoming film 'Safed', the poster of which was unveiled on Tuesday, celebrates an unconventional love between a widow and a eunuch. The film stars Meera Chopra of 'Section 375' fame, Abhay Verma, Barkha Bisht, Chhaya Kadam, and Jameel Khan and has been directed by Sandeep Singh, marking his debut as a director.

Talking about the film, Abhay Verma shared: "Amidst the luxuries that one can offer to others, we often forget the most precious gift given to us as humans - the ability to love, which should not know any limits or parameters. 'Safed' is nothing but a reminder that love is a language older than humanity." Director Sandeep Singh, who has produced films like 'Ram Leela', 'Rowdy Rathore', 'Mary Kom', 'Aligarh', 'Sarbjit', said, "Safed portrays the emotions of that section of society that we know exists but rarely acknowledge. I feel honoured to begin my debut as a director with a story of a world that most of us know little about. Also, it being Valentine's Day today, love calls for a celebration, throwing light on a path that may be dark. 'Safed' is now ready and I am geared up for its release." He added: "The film has been shot in the world's oldest city Varanasi. The entire shoot was completed in just 11 days with the minimal crew members." Presented by Legend Studios and Anand Pandit, 'Safed' has been produced by Ajay Harinath Singh and Sandeep Singh.

Latest updates on Valentine's Day 2023
Kolkata, Feb 14 : Visva Bharati university authorities have issued a show-cause notice to one of its students after the latter supported Nobel laureate Amartya Sen on social media over the current row where the university Vice Chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty has accused the economist of unauthorised occupation of the university land in excess of his legal entitlement.

The student, Somanath Sou, is an active member of the CPI(M)'s student wing Students' Federation of India (SFI). Recently he made a post on social media condemning the attitude of the university authorities towards Sen in the current row.

He said in his post that this is nothing but unnecessarily harassing the globally acclaimed educationist and economist. According to him, certain elements are constantly advising the vice-chancellor that by harassing Sen he would get the support of the BJP.

According to Sou, from the land records it is clear that Sen is legally entitled to the entire land including the 13 decimals of land which the university authorities claim to be held by him beyond his legal entitlement. "The real truth must be revealed since in this process an aged and globally acclaimed educationist is being harassed unnecessarily. The university authorities should come out with papers in support of their baseless claims," he wrote in his social media post.

Soon after that he was slapped with the show-cause asking him why disciplinary action should not be taken against him for being vocal against the university despite being a student there. In the notice Sou has been warned of strong disciplinary action if he repeats a similar action in the future.

On February 11, Sen's advocate issued a legal notice to the university authorities asking the latter to tender a public apology for their derogatory comments in connection with the continuing row over 13 decimals of land occupied by him. "The university authorities should apologise for making such derogatory comments. Else appropriate legal action will be taken," said Sen's counsel Gorachand Chakroborty.
New Delhi, Feb 14 : A 26-year-old man who impersonated as a director and producer has been arrested for duping hundreds of youngsters on the pretext of providing them opportunities in web series, TV serials and brand shoots, said a Delhi Police official on Tuesday.

The accused has been identified as Anuj Kumar Ojha, a resident of Gopalganj district of Bihar.

According to the police, on October 21, 2022 a complaint was received through the NCRP in which the complainant stated that a person namely Anuj played a fraud on him.

In the complaint, the victim alleged that Anuj told him that he is a director and producer. After seeing the brand paid shoots story on Instagram page, the complainant contacted the accused, who lured him and later the victim also signed an agreement to work together and paid Rs 75,000 when asked by the accused.

"When I made that payment, Anuj said that your advance will be credited to your account in two days but after some time he called me back again and asked for more money for updating profile and income tax etc etc," the complainant stated.

"The victim paid a total amount of Rs 4,43,142 and after a preliminary enquiry into the matter, a case was registered and investigation taken up," said Ravi Kumar Singh, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer north).

During investigation, details were sought from Instagram, call details were analyzed and a money trail was conducted but to evade police arrest the accused kept on changing his location.

"On February 6, specific inputs were received that Anuj will board the Tulsi Express and go to Bhopal. Working on this information the team was sent to Bhopal, where he was apprehended while he was trying to escape to Indore. He was served notice under section 41.1 A of Cr.P.C. but he did not cooperate in the investigation and he was arrested thereafter as per due procedure of law," said the DCP.

"In the investigation done so far it has been noticed that Anuj portrayed himself as director and producer and used to cheat the youngsters in the name of providing them opportunity of acting in brand paid shoots, web series, TV serials etc. He used to cheat them in the name of paying for signing contract, contract fee, artist card, profile updating, GST, Income tax etc," said the DCP.

Earlier Anuj had been in Gorakhpur jail for three months in a cheating case of 2019. "Several cases and complaints were found registered against his name," said the official, adding that investigation of the case is in progress.
Karachi, Feb 14 : More than two years after his arrest, member of Pakistan's National Assembly (MNA) and leader of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), Ali Wazir, was released from the Central Jail in Karachi on Tuesday, media reports said.

Wazir was arrested in December 2020 for allegedly inciting hate against state institutions, delivering provocative speeches, and treason, The News reported.

He was arrested from Peshawar and shifted to Karachi, the report said.

Wazir, along with some other party leaders, was booked in four identical cases registered at Sohrab Goth, Shah Latif Town, and Boat Basin police stations under sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) pertaining to the said charges.

Four cases were registered against Wazir in different police stations in Karachi, according to the police. He was charged with different counts, including sedition and rioting, The News reported.

Out of the four cases, Wazir has been acquitted in one case and has secured bail in rest of the three cases, confirmed his counsel.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a total of 14 cases were registered against the PTM leader. The Peshawar High Court barred the police from arresting him in 11 cases, while he was granted bail in three cases, said his counsel.

Many Twitter users also lauded Wazir's unflinching refusal to apologise, and his steadfastness in his stance over the two years of his incarceration, The News reported.

One user tweeted: "Ali Wazir is finally released. 'They said that I should apologise but let me tell them that my body and flesh will melt and my bones will be buried but I will never apologise' - his words last year outside the parliament. He kept his word. He won. Ego lost. Here's to freedom!"
Chennai, Feb 14 : Tamil Nadu Congress President K.S. Alagiri has accused the AIADMK of enacting a drama by distancing itself from the BJP to garner votes in the Erode East Assembly bypoll scheduled on February 27.

Alagiri said the AIADMK knows that if it showcases its relationship with the BJP in the open, the party won't get votes and hence the drama.

Addressing mediapersons in Erode on Tuesday, Alagiri said that the AIADMK cannot carry pictures of state BJP President K. Annamalai and Prime Minister Narendra Modi as people will not vote for them.

He also said that the people of Tamil Nadu have lost confidence in AIADMK.

The state Congress chief said that immediately after the by-election was announced, DMK had allocated the seat to the Congress as it was the sitting seat of the party. He, however, charged that AIADMK leader Edappadi K. Palaniswami had seized the seat from the Tamil Manila Congress (TMC) which had contested it during the 2021 Assembly elections.

Alagiri also said that certain government schemes may bring hardships to the people but the revenue generated from such schemes would benefit them.

Alagiri was responding to a question as to whether the hike in property tax and power tariffs has adversely affected the prospects of the DMK front in the election.
Amaravati, Feb 14 : The police in Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday arrested a youth for allegedly killing a visually impaired minor girl, an official said.

Th victim identified as -- Rani, 17, was stabbed to death by one K. Raju, when she was alone at her house on Monday, a police officer said.

The incident occurred in Guntur district in Tadepalli, in a locality near the official residence of the Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.

District incharge, S.P. Vakul Jindal said: "The accused developed a grudge against the girl after she complained to her mother over his misbehavior. The victim's mother and aunt had pulled up Raju for misbehaving with her." Police said: The accused identified as -- Raju, 30, was not under the influence of ganja at the time of the attack. It also clarified that there was no rowdy sheet against him but now a rowdy sheet would be opened.

Jagan Mohan Reddy has announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the victim's family.

Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Home Minister Thaneti Vanitha condemned the murder of the minor girl. She reiterated the government's commitment to punish the culprit.

She said that police acted swiftly to arrest the accused within an hour after the incident. She made it clear that any wrongdoers, no matter who they are, would not be spared.

"It is unfortunate to witness a murder of a minor girl. The police department responded within no time and nabbed the accused. On behalf of the government, we will leave no stone unturned to punish the culprit so that such an incident is never repeated," she said.

Vanitha slammed the Opposition for trying to take political mileage from the incident. "It is not just inhumane but shameful how the TDP is trying to get political mileage out of this tragedy. Misinformation about the incident is being spread to paint the government in a bad light. Personal rivalries are being given a different twist. I urge Chandrababu Naidu not to stoop this low," she said.
Bhubaneswar, Feb 14 : The Odisha unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday staged demonstrations at different places here over the "deteriorating law and order situation" in the state.

Targeting Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik over the murder of minister Naba Das by police personnel last month, the BJP leaders and workers blocked major roads and points in the city, including AG Square, Jaydev Vihar, Palasuni, Khandagiri and Samantarapur.

Due to the protest by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), traffic movement was affected for nearly two hours.

If the Chief Minister has failed to protect his own Cabinet Minister, what more can a common man expect from the government? Naveen Babu does not have the moral right to continue in his office, said BJP leader Babu Singh.

Holding the Chief Minister responsible for the deteriorating law and order situation in the state, BJP chief whip in the Odisha assembly, Mohan Majhi said: "I will seek a statement from the Chief Minister on the prevailing law and order situation in the state during the upcoming budget session. Will not allow the House to run till the CM does not make the statement." To counter the BJP's 'hartal', the Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJD) staged dharna before Raj Bhawan (Governor's house) here against reducing the budgetary allocation on paddy procurement and closure of PMGKAY programme.

"A conspiracy has been made to finish the farmers. On one hand, the Centre is yet to release food subsidy dues of more than Rs 14,000 crore to Odisha. On the other hand, the budgetary provision for procurement of paddy has been reduced by Rs 20,000 crore for the year 2023-24," said BJD organisational secretary Pranab Prakash Das.

About Rs 80,000 crore was spent on procurement in 2021-22 while only about Rs 60,000 crore has been earmarked in the budget for 2023-24, a BJD leader said.

Similarly, the Centre has discontinued distribution of 5 kg free rice under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY).

Poor people, who have been largely affected by the Covid pandemic, are suffering because of this move, said senior BJD MLA Debi Prasad Mishra.

With closure of the scheme, paddy procurement will drastically go down and the farmers will be deprived of getting the MSP, he said.

Later, the BJD leaders submitted a memorandum to Governor Ganeshi Lal over their demands.

Both the parties have decided to continue their protests against each other across the state for another two days.
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Dongfeng Honda, the joint venture between Honda Motor and Dongfeng Motor Group, expected electrified vehicles to account for 50% of its annual vehicle sales by the year of 2025, the automaker revealed at a media briefing on Feb. 13.

The Sino-Japanese joint venture said it plans to deploy several electrified vehicle models powered by its i-MMD technology, including two e:HEV and two e:PHEV models.

Meanwhile, it will make efforts to cement the market presence of the e:NS all-electric brand and products.

UR-V; photo credit: Dongfeng Honda

Moreover, Dongfeng Honda will continue to upgrade its product lineup with several heavyweight models to be launched, including a new member of the R-V family, a high-end SUVs facelift, as well as a flagship sedan models next-generation version. According to a local media outlet, the latter two are likely to be the mid-cycle refresh for the UR-V and the new-generation Inspire.

Notably, Dongfeng Honda disclosed that it will launch a fire new self-owned brand.

As for sales network, Dongfeng Honda will create a brand new store format, including upgrading the existing stores visual identity, and building 35 shopping-mall-based shops in 2023.

Honda Motor will no longer roll out new oil-fueled vehicle models in China from 2030.
New Delhi, Feb 14 : The Press Club of India (PCI) has strongly condemned the income tax "surveys" at the office of the BBC in Delhi and Mumbai on Tuesday.

In a statement, PCI said, "The 'surveys' are part of a series of attacks on the media by government agencies in recent times, especially against those sections of the media that the government perceives is hostile to it and critical of the ruling establishment.

"It is deeply unfortunate as this latest instance appears to be a clear cut case of vendetta, coming within weeks of a documentary aired by the BBC on the Gujarat riots." The PCI said that the documentary, which appears to be the immediate provocation for the raids, has already been banned on YouTube and other social media platforms.

"We are deeply concerned and distressed that such an action on an international broadcasting network will damage the reputation and image of India as the largest democracy in the world. We appeal to the government to restrain its agencies from misusing their powers in order to intimidate the media and put curbs on the freedom of the press," the statement read.
Hyderabad, Feb 14 : Congress incharge for Telangana, Manikrao Thakare on Tuesday ruled out any alliance with the state's ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).

Hours after Congress MP Komatireddy Venkat Reddy's remarks created a storm in the party, the central leader made the clarification on his arrival in Hyderabad.

At the airport lounge, Venkat Reddy, AICC secretaries Nadeem Javeed, Bose Raju, Venugopal and others called on Thakare. Venkat Reddy is understood to have clarified his remarks.

Later talking to reporters, Thakare said that Congress will get majority on its own and it will not require alliance with anybody.

"I have not seen what Venkat Reddy said. I will react after going through what he said," the Congress incharge said. He made it clear that the Congress is committed to the statement made by party leader Rahul Gandhi during his visit to Telangana, ruling out an alliance with BRS.

Earlier in the day, Venkat Reddy, Congress MP from Bhuvanagiri constituency, triggered a storm in the party with his prediction that Telangana Assembly elections will throw a hung house. He made the forecast that no party will secure 60 seats in the 119-member Assembly.

The MP also stated that since Congress is a secular party, the BRS will have to enter into an alliance with it after the elections.

Venkat Reddy's remarks evoked strong reaction from several leaders in the party. They reiterated that Congress will not have any alliance with the BRS. Condemning the MP's remarks, Addanki Dayakar, Mahesh Kumar Goud and other leaders also exuded confidence that Congress will secure a majority on its own.

They criticised Venkat Reddy for creating confusion among party ranks with his comments about alliances.

However, Venkat Reddy denied that his remarks were against the party's stand. He alleged that some people were creating unnecessary controversy. He said on the basis of surveys in social media, he made a forecast that there will be a hung Assembly.

--IANS ms/vd

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Kolkata, Feb 14 : Three Bangladeshi nationals carrying a large amount of foreign currency have been detained at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata on Tuesday when they were trying to board a Dhaka-bound flight.

The first one to be detained was Shafiqul Island after the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel recovered $30,000 from his check-in luggage. On questioning, the CISF personnel came to know of two other men travelling to Bangladesh carrying large amount of foreign currency.

First the CISF personnel detained Mollah Mohammed Nasiruddin and recovered 19,000 Canadian dollars from a pocket of the jacket he was wearing. Next, they detained Mohammed Feroze Alam, from whom $35,000 was recovered.

The CISF personnel handed the trio over to the officials of the Customs department deputed at the airport. Customs officials are questioning the three about the source of this huge amoun of foreign currency and the purpose for which they were carrying them to Bangladesh.
Jaipur, Feb 14 : A bailable warrant was issued against former Olympian and Sadulpur (Churu) MLA Krishna Poonia on Tuesday. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court has issued an order for Poonia to appear on March 4. The MLA is accused of inciting Vishnudutt Bishnoi, the then SHO Rajgarh (Churu) police station in Bikaner division, to commit suicide.

On May 23, 2020, Vishnudutt Bishnoi, the then station officer of Rajgarh, had committed suicide. Vishnudutt's brother Sandeep Bishnoi had accused Krishna Poonia of harassing him. Sandeep lodged an FIR stating that Krishna Poonia was responsible for Vishnudutt's suicide.

The matter was earlier investigated by the CB CID. The local people demanded handing over the investigation to the CBI. After this, the state government handed over the case to the CBI which had imposed FR in its investigation. The FR report was submitted to the ACMM (CBI), Jodhpur. Here the court dismissed the FR while ordering re-investigation of the case. Also, it summoned Krishna Poonia, issuing a bailable warrant against her.

A screenshot of a WhatsApp chat between the SHO and his activist friend went viral where the police officer claimed that he was "being trapped in dirty politics at the local level".

However, the representative of Krishna Poonia, Virendra Poonia said: We are completely innocent in this case. We will appeal this in the High Court.

It has been accepted in the CBI report that Poonia used to call the police. He was also upset because of this.

After Vishnudutt's suicide, his minor son also hanged himself at home. He was a student of class XI and was quite upset over his father's death. After the death of both father and son, the whole family was broken.

Vishnudutt Bishnoi had written two suicide notes. One suicide note was written to his family members, the other to the then Churu SP Tejaswini Gautam. In this he wrote: Respected madam, sorry, please, so much pressure was created around me that I could not bear the stress. I tried to give my best to Rajasthan Police till my last breath. It is requested not to disturb anyone. I was not a coward. Just couldn't take the stress. I am my own culprit.

Meanwhile, Krishna Poonia speaking to the media said, "I haven't received the court warrant yet and have received information only from the media. I've been interrogated once but have not been called anywhere for further probe," she added.
Patna, Feb 14 : Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the national capital on Tuesday to discuss various matters, including opposition unity for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

An RJD spokesperson said that Tejashwi Yadav and Kejriwal discussed current social and political issues as well as state of the economy at the meeting at the latter's official residence.

"The two leaders also raised concerns over the BJP government which is putting the national assets in the hands of private players. Tejashwi Yadav appeared to all the people to work together to save the country," the spokeperson said.

The AAP has governments in two states - Delhi and Punjab - as well as some MLAs in Gujarat and Goa. Recently, Kejriwal was seen in Telangana with opposition leaders including state Chief Minister and BRS chief K. Chandrashekhar Rao, Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav, and those of the Left parties.
Bengaluru, Feb 14 : Thales and Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), a government of India enterprise, will sign an MoU for setting up manufacturing facilities in India for precision-strike 70mm laser-guided rockets (FZ275 LGR), an official release said on Tuesday.

Through the agreement, BDL will become a part of the FZ275 LGR global supply chain, providing the opportunity for export of Indian manufactured components to existing and future 70mm laser-guided rockets customers.

This agreement will also provide BDL the opportunity to offer a 'Make in India' 70mm laser-guided rocket solution for the existing helicopter fleet of Advanced Light Helicopters (WSI) and Light Combat Helicopters of the Indian government.

BDL was established in Hyderabad in 1970 as a manufacturing base for guided missiles and allied defence equipment. The company is uniquely positioned, with dedicated facilities and knowledge in the field of precision-guided ammunition to address such an industrial and technology transfer.

Thales is the original equipment manufacturer of FZ275 LGR, the lightest, shortest and most versatile 70mm laser-guided rocket with high level of accuracy. It can be deployed in day and night operations at ranges between 1.5m up to 7 km (on helicopter).

Speaking on the collaboration, Siddharth Mishra, Chairman and Managing Director, BDL, said, "We are pleased to partner once again with Thales, this time for precision-strike 70mm laser-guided rockets. Leveraging our long experience in building precision-guided ammunition and our diverse industrial expertise, we look forward to reaching new heights of excellence with this partnership and contribute to the prestigious 'Make in India' initiative." Ashish Saraf, VP and Country Director (India), Thales, said, "We are proud to strengthen our partnership with Bharat Dynamics Limited. In support of the 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' vision, this collaboration seeks to further develop in-country capability of producing advanced weapon systems such as 70mm laser-guided rockets to cater to export markets besides assisting the Indian armed forces in their mission to effectively safeguard the nation."
Washington, Feb 14 : Nikky Haley on Tuesday announced she is running for President, becoming the third Indian American to seek the highest political office in the US.

Haley, born Nimrata 'Nikki' Randhawa, announced her bid in a video message in which she touts her unique upbringing as an Indian American, which made her acutely conscious and representative of America's diversity. She speaks about her achievements as South Carolina Governor and foreign policy chops earned as Ambassador to the UN, where, she showed she cannot put up with bullies -- essentially China and Russia -- and that she can kick back, which can be painful because of her high heels.

Haley has been rising star in the Republican party and long expected to run for the White House. She is a former two-term Governor of South Carolina, one of America's most conservative states, and former Ambassador to the United Nations, a cabinet-rank position she held in the administration of then President Donald Trump.

Trump is also running and Haley is going up against her former boss. They will clash in the Republican primaries, which is expected to grow with more candidates, including the most highly anticipated of them all, Ron DeSantis, the two-term Florida Governor.

Haley is the third Indian American to seek the Week House, following Bobby Jindal in 2015-16 and Kamala Harris in 2019-20. Jindal, of course, did not survive the Republican primaries, which, were won by Trump. Harris also did last the Democratic primaries, but went on to become the first Indian American to become Vice President, a position that brings her just a breath from the presidency.

Some in the Indian American community have war-gamed a scenario in which Haley wins the Republican primary and Harris wins the Democratic primaries that could and will happen if President Joe Biden decides not to seek a second term.

"The railroad tracks divided the town by race," Haley starts in the video message with a reference to the town where she was born. "I was the proud daughter of Indian immigrants, not black, not white. I was different. But my mom would always say your job is not to focus on the differences, but the similarities. And my parents reminded me and my siblings every day how blessed we were to live in America." Haley calls for the Republican party to rediscover itself saying the party has lost the popular vote in the last seven of the eight presidential elections. "That has to change," she said, "It's time for a new generation of leadership to rediscover fiscal responsibility, secure our border and strengthen our country, our pride and our purpose." One of the seven party nominees who lost the popular vote was Trump, who Haley is up against. But she did not name Trump neither in a positive way for giving her the UN ambassadorship, which allowed her to add foreign policy to her resume; and nor in a negative way, because she tried that once and came to much grief for it because much of the Republican party base remains with the former President.

But Haley did seek to align herself with the so-called "anti-woke" faction of the party, that has been fighting waging a war against a fictional challenge from those who, according to these Republicans, seek to make American feel less proud of themselves because of the country's history of slavery by teaching "Critical Race Theory" in schools.

"Some look at our past as evidence that America's founding principles are bad. They say the promise of freedom is just made up, something our ideas are not just wrong, but racist and evil. Nothing could be further from the truth," she said.

There was then the traditional Republican call for a muscular American abroad. "Some people look at America and see vulnerability. The Socialist left sees an opportunity to rewrite history. China and Russia are on the march. They all think we can be bullied, kicked around," Haley said. "You should know this about me. I don't put up with bullies. And when you kick back, it hurts them more if you're wearing heels." "I'm Nikki Haley and I'm running for President," she said in conclusion.
Srinagar, Feb 14 : The Jammu and Kashmir Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) arrested a college principal on Tuesday for demanding and accepting bribe.

Official sources said Professor Tariq Ashai, the Principal of a government degree college Pattan in Baramulla district, was arrested while accepting a bribe of Rs 60,000 in Srinagar city.

"A case was registered based on the complaint by the complainant in ACB police station.

"A team of sleuths was organised and Tariq Ashai was arrested while accepting a bribe of Rs 60,000 in presence of witnesses," an official said, adding that he is lodged in a Srinagar police station while further investigations are on.
Ahmedabad, Feb 14 : A 23-year-old youth in Ahmedabad has allegedly kidnapped his friend, murdered him and later destroyed the evidence, the police said on Tuesday.

The accused, identified as -- Mukeshsinh Rajput -- was initially helping the family members in searching for Dipsinh a.k.a. Sahil, 22.

The victim's father, Bharatsinh Pawar, in his complaint to the police station on Monday, said: "My son has gone missing since January 29." During the investigation, it emerged that Dipsinh was last seen with Mukeshsinh on January 29. Both were moving on the accused's scooty.

In the CCTV footage, they were seen heading towards the Narmada canal and some time later, Rajput was seen returning alone on his scooty, the complainant said.

The complainant also said that he suspected Rajput of murdering his son and destroying evidence.

Police have invoked sections against the accused for murder, illegal confinement, and destroying evidence, and are searching for him.
Patna, Feb 14 : A minor girl was raped and murdered in Bihar's Gaya district, police said on Tuesday.

The incident was reported from Kenduadih village under Barachatti police station in the district.

The girl had gone to farm land for some work on Monday evening but then disappeared. Her half-naked body was found on Tuesday morning.

Local police suspect that she was sexually assaulted by someone and then killed.

"During investigation, it appeared that the victim was seen with a youth named Vikas Kumar in Giotama village. The family members went to his house in the village but he was not present. The father of the victim has given an application against Vikas Kumar for kidnapping, rape and murder. We have registered an FIR," said Ram Lakhan, SHO of Barachatti police station.

"The family members of the victim and other relatives searched her and they managed to find her half-naked dead body in an agricultural field, two km from her village," he said.

"We are making an effort to arrest the accused. The dead body was sent for a post-mortem examination," he added.
Beijing (Gasgoo)- Beijing-based automotive software developer Megatronix announced on February 13 the completion of Series D1 financing round.

Photo credit: Megatronix

The fresh round was led by M31 Capital, El Camino Capital, and Nanshan Capital, while also attracting investments from existing shareholders, THE Capital and Redpoint China Ventures. According to Megatronix, proceeds from the D1 round will be put towards the R&D, mass production, and applications of smart new-generation A1-driven automotive components.

Founded in 2018, Megatronix is committed to be a supplier of intelligent and connected automotive parts driven by the Internet mindset and artificial intelligence technology. By virtue of years of accumulations in the Internet and automotive industry, Megatronix has successfully launched auto-grade distributed intelligent operating system SmartMega OS+ and software development infrastructure component SmartMega Core.

Megatronixs main team members boast degrees from Tsinghua University, Fudan University, and other famous institutes and first-class computer science departments around the world. The team leader holds years of experience in technical management, product design, and R&D in Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, BlackBerry, Xiaomi, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, etc. The team members specialize in automotive electronics, IoT, artificial intelligence, large-scale data centers, distributed systems, etc.

Up to now, Megatronix has reached long-term and stable relationships with various major automakers, and won a total of nearly 10 billion yuan worth of contracts for the development and supply of mass-produced components.
New Delhi, Feb 14 : The Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Central government of threatening the fourth pillar of democracy by raiding the BBC.

Lashing out at the government over its actions, AAP leader Atishi said: "The BJP wants to suppress every word spoken or shown against the government. The Income Tax Raid on the BBC is an attack on the democracy of India. Media is the most important pillar of democracy, today the BJP Central government is trying to break the fourth pillar of democracy." Addressing the media, she said that this is a message to the entire media fraternity that if they show anything against the BJP and the PM, they will meet the same fate. Raising questions about the Centre's intentions behind the action, she said: "BJP banned the documentary made by BBC to prevent the country from seeing these allegations unfold. India is at number 150 out of 180 countries in the Global Index of Press Freedom, today the whole world is questioning India's democratic status." "Why has the BBC been raided? Because today, not only India but the entire world is discussing the BBC documentary. First of all, the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Central government got that documentary banned and removed from websites and social media so that no one in India is able to watch it. This was the first act of censorship by the BJP-ruled central government after the BBC's documentary on Narendra Modi." And with today's income tax raid, she alleged, that the BJP-led central government "is threatening all of us and asserting that no one, not even a globally famous organisation like the BBC can say, write, or show anything that is critical of their administration".

Atishi asked the BJP to explain what image of India does it want to present to the whole world.

"History is witness that you can suppress the voice of the people for some time but you cannot suppress the voice of every person forever," she said, appealing to the BJP to not intimidate the media like this, and stop tarnishing India's image in front of the world.
New Delhi, Feb 14 : Air fare to Leh from Delhi has skyrocketed in the last couple of days, and a ticket costs over Rs 30,000.

Officials said that the closure of the Srinagar-Leh road route is the main reason behind the spiralling of air fares to Leh.

A flight ticket from Delhi to Leh on February 18 was quoted at Rs 33,000. The airfare was found in the similar range for a ticket on February 19.

MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal raised the matter of exorbitant airfare in the Parliament on Monday, and sought the government's intervention to redress the grievances of the stranded passengers immediately.

Many people have reacted on social media platforms about the exorbitant price of the air ticket to Leh.

Education reformer Sonam Wangchuk tweeted: "Dilli Bahoot Door Hai! For a whole week Del-Leh airfares are above Rs 33000 when all roads are blocked for 6 months. Much cheaper to fly to London, than to Leh!!! Imagine students, patients returning home! Few additional flights shouldn't be hard!" "It's very inhumane to charge exorbitant amount each time for emergency matters, there should be limit on maximum an airline can charge," said Jitu on Twitter.

"Don't take too much advantage, there is only one way to travel across Ladakh by flight in winter season. Airfare from Jammu, Chandigarh Delhi to Leh is touching sky. Local residents of Ladakh must get some discounts," said Tsering Gaphel on Twitter.

According to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, airfare are market driven and is neither regulated nor established by the government. The airlines are free to fix reasonable tariffs under the provisions of sub-rule (1) of Rule 135 of the Aircraft Rules, 1937 having regard to all relevant factors, including the cost of operation, characteristics of services, reasonable profit and the generally prevailing tariff.
United Nations, Feb 14 : UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres made an international appeal on Tuesday for $397 million to help the people of earthquake-devasted Syria after the government of President Bashar al-Assad agreed to the UN request to open two more border crossings.

"This is a moment for unity, for common humanity and concerted action.

"The human suffering from this epic natural disaster should not be made even worse by manmade obstacles - access, funding, supplies," he said.

Guterres said that the UN is "in the final stages" of a similar appeal for Turkey.

India, as well as a few other countries, have been sending disaster relief to the Syrian government.

On Saturday, India sent 23 tonnes of relief supplies on a C-17 aircraft to Syria.

A lot of the quake havoc has taken place in the rebel-controlled areas in north-western Syria abutting Turkiye making it difficult to send aid there.

The Security Council had mandated one border crossing with Turkiye open at Baba al-Hawa and Damascus agreed to open the two other crossings after Marting Griffiths, who heads UN relief operations, met Assad on Monday.

"Aid must get through from all sides to all sides, through all routes without any restrictions," he said.

He said that a convoy of 11 UN trucks is on its way to the newly opened Bab al-Salam crossing.

Earlier, the UN has been sending aid through the one crossing at Baba al-Hawa.

More than 37,000 people are reported killed in the earthquake that struck both Syria and Turkiye last week.

Information about the toll and the damages are not readily available from the rebel-held areas of Syria.

Unlike Syria, which faces sanctions from the west, and parts of it are in rebel hands, Turkey is open to the world and to aid.

Assad's ally Russia has opposed opening border crossings from Turkey to the rebel-held areas in Syria and had reluctantly agreed at the Security Council to allow one.

The UN's direct agreement with Assad permitted the opening of the other two.

(Arul Louis can be contacted at arul.l@ians.in and followed at @arulouis)
Bengaluru, Feb 14 : Global biopharmaceuticals company Biocon Ltd on Tuesday announced its net revenue from operations for the quarter, ending December 31, 2022. increased by 36 per cent to Rs 3,020 crore from Rs 2,223 crore in the same period last year.

Executive Chairperson, Biocon and Biocon Biologics Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said: "Q3 FY23 has been an eventful quarter which saw the completion of the global acquisition of our partnered Biosimilars business from Viatris on Nov 29, 2022.

"We are now implementing country-wise integration of the business to maximise the value of the combined entity to propel growth." Biosimilars, as a business segment, offers differentiated growth to Biocon Biologics based on vertical integration and a unique portfolio of Insulins and antibody based immunotherapeutics, she added.

"This quarter captures a fraction of the acquired business, but from Q4FY23 onwards, the financials will recognise the entire Biosimilars business." "Biocon's consolidated revenues for the quarter grew 36 per cent to Rs 3,020 crore on the back of robust performance across all its three businesses. The biggest contribution came from the biosimilars business, which reported a 54 per cent increase in revenues to Rs 1,507 crore.

"Research services revenues at Rs 786 crore and Generics business revenues at Rs 718 crore, grew 23 per cent and 18 per cent, respectively.

"The advancement of our research pipeline led to Rs 337 crore Net R&D investments this quarter, which will drive Biocon's future growth," Mazumdar-Shaw said.

"We reported a strong EBITDA growth of 35 per cent to Rs 723 crore, representing a healthy EBITDA margin of 24 per cent. Core EBITDA grew 49 per cent to Rs 1,069 crore." She also said that a part of their strategy to reduce the acquisition debt, Biocon has raised funds through a partial divestment of its stake in Syngene. "We expect to end FY23 on a strong note with healthy growth across businesses. Biocon Biologics is tracking towards exiting the year at a $1 billion trajectory, excluding vaccines." Biocon said that the generics business' third-quarter results were in line with expectations, delivering healthy sequential and year-on-year revenue growth, with the performance was driven by immunosuppressant API sales and Generic Formulations, which saw an uptick in the sales of statins as well as recent product launches.

Margins, compared to the previous year, were muted by the product mix and continuing pricing pressure in the US market.

"Our geographical expansion continued to gain traction with the signing of a partnership agreement with Zentiva for commercialising Liraglutide in Europe, as well as a long-term strategic partnership with Farmanguinhos in Brazil for the supply and tech-transfer of a finished dose formulation immunosuppressant product.

"These partnerships will contribute towards attainingAmid-teens growth in the short to medium term. We also secured approvals for some of our key formulation products in Europe.

Our focus remains onAgeographical expansion, new product launches, strengthening our product pipeline and executing on key capex projects," Biocon Ltd CEO and Managing Director, Siddharth Mittal, said.
New Delhi, Feb 14 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday congratulated Air India and Airbus for entering into an agreement, wherein Tata Group will buy 250 aircraft from the French plane manufacturer.

Aiming to expand its fleet size and operation, the Tata group, which owns Air India, will buy 250 aircraft from Airbus in one of the largest aviation deals.

The deal includes 40 A350 wide-body long-range aircraft and 210 narrow-body aircraft.

"I congratulate Air India and Airbus for this landmark agreement. The deal is a testament to the deepening relationship between India and France as well as the successes and ambitions of India's civil aviation industry," Modi said.

Interacting with French President Emmanuel Macron virtually during the signing of the agreement, the Prime Minister said that the agreement between Air India and Airbus is also an important milestone for the Indo-French Strategic Partnership.

"Today, the India-France partnership is playing a direct role in ensuring the stability and balance in the international order and the multilateral system. Whether it is the issue of security and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, or global food security and health security, India and France together are making positive contributions," said Modi.

Recalling the foundation stone laying ceremony of the Defence Transport Aircraft Project in Vadodara in October last year, he said that Tata and Airbus also have a partnership in this project which is being built with an investment of 2.5 billion euros.

"I am also happy to know that French company Safran is setting up the largest MRO facility in India to service aircraft engines," he added.

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, Tata Trusts Chairman Ratan Tata, Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrashekharan, Air India CEO Campbell Wilson, and Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury were also present on the occasion.
New Delhi, Feb 14 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday held a telephonic conversation with US President Joe Biden, during the course of which both the leaders expressed satisfaction at the deepening of the India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership.

The two leaders welcomed the first meeting of the initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET) held recently in Washington DC and express a keen desire to strengthen bilateral cooperation in space, semiconductors, defence and other spheres.

They also agreed to bolster the vibrant and mutually beneficial people-to-people ties between the two countries.

Both Biden and Modi welcomed the landmark agreement between Air India and Boeing as a shining example of mutually beneficial cooperation.A Modi invited Boeing and other US companies to make use of the opportunities arising due to the expanding civil aviation sector in India.

The leaders agreed to remain in contact during India's ongoing G20 Presidency to ensure its success.

Air India and Boeing on Tuesday entered into a pact under which the former will purchase 250 aircraft from the American company.
New Delhi, Feb 14 : Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, said on Tuesday that the arrest of three persons in the Delhi Jal Board scam is not enough, and an FIR should be filed against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who, the BJP leader claimed, was fully aware of the irregularities in the board.

The Anti-Corruption Branch on Monday arrested two directors and the chief financial officer of two e-payment gateway firms in connection with the scam in Delhi Jal Board, in which several crores of rupees were allegedly siphoned during the collection of payments from the consumers.

Addressing a press conference here, Bidhuri said that in 2015, Delhi Jal Board had given authority to Corporation Bank to collect its bills, but the bank passed this work to another company which further handed it over to another company.

Instead of depositing the cash and cheques received from the consumers with the Jal Board, the company deposited them in fake accounts, Bidhuri said.

"This scam was going on in Delhi Jal Board since 2015. There was a nexus between board officials, fund collecting agents appointed by the Jal Board and the bank officials who embezzled hundreds of crores of rupees in this scam," the BJP leader said.

He also said that it is very surprising that at the end of 2018, this scam came to the notice of some senior officials of DJB, who found out that Rs 20 crore has been embezzled.

"When this scam came to light, these officials informed Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal as well, but instead of taking any action, he not only allowed the bank to continue with the contract, but also increased its per bill commission by Re 1. Earlier, they were given Rs 5 per bill as commission, which was increased to Rs 6 per bill," Bidhuri said.

The BJP leader added that Kejriwal must explain why the bank's contract was not terminated after the scam came to light.

"How did the bank's contract continue till 2020 even after the scam came to light in 2018? Why was the commission increased instead of taking any action? If he was honest and had no greed, why was the whole matter not immediately reported to the police," Bidhuri asked.

The BJP MLA also demanded that all the accounts of Delhi Jal Board should be sealed, and a CAG audit should be done.
New York, Feb 14 : Ahead of next year's election, US President Joe Biden on Tuesday termed Air India's $34 billion order for 220 Boeing planes as a "historic" deal that will support his agenda with one million US jobs and promote its lead in technology.

He linked the orders to his domestic plans to create good jobs for the working class, noting that many of the one million jobs "will not require a four-year college degree" and will be spread across 44 states.

Biden has been pushing for creating better-paying industrial jobs for the working class beaten down by such works going overseas, mainly to China, as well as boosting manufacturing in the US.

Biden said that Air India's Boeing purchase shows that "the United States can and will lead the world in manufacturing".

The reference to jobs in the US, which a White House official said will, directly and indirectly, amount to 1.47 million, can also offset criticism in the US of tech jobs going to India by showing that US workers also benefit.

The Air India order will have a total economic impact of $70 billion, the official said.

The Air India order is Boeing's third-biggest sale of all time in dollar value and second in quantity, according to the official.

The official said that the order for 220 planes from Air India is worth $34 billion and covers 190 Boeing 737 MAXs, 20 Boeing 787s, and 10 Boeing 777Xs.

The agreement includes an option to buy additional 50 Boeing 737 MAXs and 20 Boeing 787s and if they go through, the total purchases will be 290 planes raising the value to $45.9 billion, the official said.

Air India, which is now back with its original owner Tata Group after last year's privatisation, also announced a deal to buy 250 planes from Europe's Airbus - 210 A320neo narrowbody planes and 40 A350 widebody aircraft.

The "historic" Boeing deal, Biden said, "Reflects the strength of the US-India economic partnership." "Together with Prime Minister Modi, I look forward to deepening our partnership even further as we continue to confront shared global challenges - creating a more secure and prosperous future for all of our citizens," he added.

The White House official linked the announcement to the inaugural launch of the US-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) launched last month.

The initiative seeks to expand the strategic technology partnership and defence industrial cooperation between the two governments, businesses, and universities.

(Arul Louis can be contacted at arul.l@ians.in and followed at @arulouis)
Tumakuru : , Feb 14 (IANS) After receiving a complaint from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' (PETA) India chapter against Apollo Circus for using animals without a performing animals' registration certificate, the Karnataka Animal Welfare Board and Tumakuru police raided the circus on Tuesday and seized seven dogs and five fish, after lodging an FIR against the proprietor of the circus.

The animals have been taken to safe places by PETA India, an official release by PETA India stated.

The FIR was registered at the Jayanagar police station in Tumakuru under the relevant sections of The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, for inflicting cruelty on animals and forcing them to perform unregistered tricks.

"PETA India commends the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI), Karnataka Animal Welfare Board, and Tumakuru police for taking prompt action on our complaint," said PETA India.
Mumbai, Feb 14 : Two person's were killed when some stones fell from an under construction building in Worli, south Mumbai, late on Tuesday, the BMC Disaster Control said.

The tragedy occurred at around 9.40 p.m. when the stones crashed from the 42nd floor of the Four Residency Building at Gandhi Nagar.

Two persons standing below - whose details are not available yet - were seriously injured by the shooting stones. They were rushed to the Nair Hospital where they were declared dead on admission, said the BMC Disaster Control.
Beijing (Gasgoo)- JIDU, the automaker backed by Baidu and Geely, plans to integrate Baidus ERNIE Bot AI chatbot onto JIDU vehicles, Xia Yiping, CEO of JIDU disclosed at a event held on February 14.



Photo credit: JIDU

Leveraging the comprehensive capabilities of the ERNIE Bot, JIDU will create the first large model artificial intelligence interactive experience for intelligent vehicles. The automaker believes that the addition of the ERNIE Bot will help further advance its Robocar's natural communication capability. Notably, the integration of the ERNIE Bot marked a milestone in the automotive industry for the first-ever application of AI chatbot product.

ERNIE Bot (Wenxin Yiyan in Chinese) is a generative dialogue product launched by Baidu based on the ERNIE (Wenxin in Chinese) big model technology. The industrial-grade knowledge-enhanced ERNIE big model holds cross-modal and cross-language deep semantic understanding and generation capabilities, which is not unlike the popular ChatGPT. According to information from Baidu, the ERNIE Bot will be launched in March 2023.

Aside from the application of ERNIE Bot, adhering to the companys vision of robotics, JIDU also launched the user digital experience project, namely ROBOVERSE.

In December, JIDU put its first Robocar, the ROBO-01, on display at the Auto Guangzhou 2022. According to JIDU, delivery of the ROBO-01 will kick off in 2023, and the second production model, the ROBO-02, will also be introduced to the public soon.
Agartala, Feb 14 : Tripura Womens Commission chairperson Barnali Goswami was physically assaulted allegedly by BJP workers, including some elected councillors, at Dharmanagar in north Tripura on Tuesday.

Goswami, herself a senior BJP leader, filed an FIR against her attackers with the police and also informed Chief Minister Manik Saha, and the returning officer of the Dharmanagar Assembly constituency.

She said that around 200 women and a few men attacked her when she went to meet a neighbour adjacent to her home.

Goswami indicated that Tripura Assembly Deputy Speaker Biswa Bandhu Sen, who is the BJP candidate in the Dharmanagar Assembly constituency, backed the attackers to assault her.

"I was injured in the attack. The attackers tore my sari and other clothing. The police also did not help me despite several phone calls to the police station," she told the media.

Goswami said that one of her associates and a body guard were also injured in the attack.

The incident has sparked serious repercussions across the state.

Sen, however, declined to make any comments on the incident. Sen's supporters said that after Goswami was denied a BJP ticket for the Assembly elections, she started working against Sen.

Rejecting the accusation, Goswami said, "I have never worked against the party or any leader." No one was arrested in connection with the incident till late Tuesday night.

Opposition CPI-M and the Congress condemned the incident and demanded arrest of the attackers.
New Delhi, Feb 14 : The Uddhav Thackeray-led faction of the Shiv Sena on Tuesday said it is time to relook at the Nabam Rebia and the Tenth Schedule verdict as it has created havoc, while urging the apex court to refer it to a seven-judge bench of the apex court.

The judgment restricted the power of the Speaker to decide disqualification petitions if a resolution seeking his removal was pending.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the Thackeray-led faction, submitted before a five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud: "It's time for us to relook at Nabam Rebia and the 10th schedule because it has created havoc." He said the Tenth Schedule was supposed to serve the cause of political morality, however it is now subverting that.

He submitted before a bench - also comprising Justices M.R. Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli, and P.S. Narasimha - that today, Tenth Schedule is being misused by all governments and it is being used to further political immorality.

The Tenth Schedule provides for prevention of defection of the elected and nominated members from their political party and contains stringent provisions against defections.

Sibal further stressed that there is also a need to reconsider the law laid down in the Nabam Rebia case.

During the daylong hearing, he claimed that the Shinde faction unlawfully appointed an Assembly Speaker who is completely biased against the Thackeray faction. He said the observations in the Rebia case fail to consider the unconstitutional consequences that may flow from the position that a Speaker cannot proceed with disqualification proceedings if notice for his removal is pending.

Sibal emphasised that it gave an escape route to constitutional sinners who commit the sin of defection and added that Shinde faction sought removal of the Deputy Speaker, who was then exercising functions of the Speaker, through a notice in June last year, as soon as they committed the acts constituting disqualification.

He pointed out that after the Shinde faction appointed their Speaker, the motion for removal of the Deputy Speaker has not been taken up in the Assembly so far.

The top court will continue on Wednesday submissions from senior advocate Harish Salve, who is representing the Shinde group.

In December last year, the Thackeray faction had asked the Supreme Court to refer the judgment in the Nabam Rebia case to a seven-judge bench of the apex court.

In August this year, a three-judge bench of the apex court had said that a five-judge constitution bench will hear a batch of petitions filed by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray faction on queries related to defection, merger and disqualification.

A three-judge bench of the apex court, in its reference order, had framed first issue whether notice for removal of a Speaker restricts him from continuing with disqualification proceedings under Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, as held by the top court in Nebam Rabia (by a five-judge bench).

Thackeray suffered a major setback after Shinde and other MLAs rebelled against him and ousted him as Maharashtra CM. They also laid claims to the Shiv Sena party and its symbol as well.

--IANS ss/vd

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New Delhi, Feb 14 : The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) informed the Delhi Court on Tuesday that the process of hiring 80 additional public prosecutors (APP) for the government of the National Capital Territory will be complete by March.

A division bench headed by Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma was dealing with the plea and listed the matter for next hearing on March 15.

The UPSC in its affifdavit said that the proposal it received for recruitment was in October 2020 with a total of 3,155 candidates.

It was stated that out of the total candidates, 2,122 appeared for the recruitment test and only 261 were called to appear for the interview by the UPSC.

Turning down the city government's claim that a fresh proposal has been sent for recruitment of more prosecutors, the commission said: "It is humbly submitted that the statement made by the counsel of GNCT of Delhi as mentioned in order dated 11.01.2023 is incorrect and inappropriate in as much as no fresh proposal has been received from the government of NCT for filling up either the post of public prosecutors or assistant public prosecutors." Earlier, the bench while hearing a plea seeking direction to create 73 posts of APPs to be posted in fast-track special courts (FTSCs) functioning in Delhi for the trials of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act and rape matters, adjourned the matter for hearing on April 10, 2023.

The counsel for the petitioner submitted that they have only 37 prosecutors and what will only 37 prosecutors do in 73 courts? The plea filed by the Delhi Prosecutors' Welfare Association had alleged that a shortage of APPs is having adverse effects on the criminal justice system.

Filed through lawyers Aditya Kapoor, Manika Goswamy, Harsh Ahuja, Akash Deep Gupta and Kushal Kumar, the plea had also sought the court's direction to the government to create APP posts and make subsequent appointments.

"Such a shortage of additional public prosecutors is having adverse effects on the criminal justice system and the whole objective of establishing fast-track special courts for the trials of sensitive matters is being defeated by such shortage," the plea had stated.
Bengaluru, Feb 14 : Andhra Pradesh has showcased its rich natural resources, large investments in infrastructure, land bank, and intensive reforms in rules and regulations at the investors' meeting held on Tuesday in Bengaluru.

The event is one of many such meets being organised in the run-up to the Global Investors Summit on March 3-4 in Visakhapatnam, a statement noted.

Andhra Pradesh's Investors Meet in Bengaluru, held ahead of its "Global Investors Summit 2023," offers 48,352 acres of land bank for industrial development, as well as ready-built infrastructure to shorten the time required to set up new facilities, according to a release.

Speaking on the occasion, Gudivada Amarnath, Minister for Industries, Infrastructure, Investment and Commerce, IT, Handlooms and Textiles highlighted the export potential of Andhra Pradesh.

The Minister said: "According to the LEADS Report 2022, the state's exports increased by 15.31 per cent from the previous year in 2021-2022, classifying it as 'Achievers' in the coastal states. With the completion of new ports and also further development of infrastructure for last-mile connectivity, the state's share in exports can reach up to 10 per cent of India's total exports." Addressing the investors, Buggana Rajendranath, Minister for Finance, Planning, Commercial Taxes, Skill Development, Training and Legislative Affairs, assured the investors of the fast-paced implementation of projects in the state.

"We strongly believe reducing the time to start a business will have a significant impact on the manufacturer's profitability. The state is building numerous plug-and-play facilities which will have ready-built factory sheds with quality power and water supply and help speed up the setting up of manufacturing units," said the minister.

Amarnath added that in the last three-and-a-half years, the state has approved investments to the tune of Rs 1.9 lakh crore.

"That would go on to create employment for around 90,000 people in the state in the future," he said.

Key functionaries from various departments, ministries, and state government institutions had open interaction with the investing community in Bengaluru.

Manufacturing, food processing, ports, IT and Electronics, handlooms, and textiles sectors attracted significant interest at the event.
Bengaluru, Feb 14 : Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday stressed the need to open a US consulate in Bengaluru.

His statement came after meeting the US Charge d'Affaires Elizabeth Jones and Consul General in Chennai Zudith Revin here.

He said currently, the nearest US Consulate is in Chennai and it is causing problems for travellers from Bengaluru to the US, noting that on average, 5,000 people, including foreigners, travel from Bengaluru to the US.

Bommai said the government is extending cooperation to all the American companies working in Bengaluru. Since Karnataka is blessed with an industrial-friendly and investment-friendly atmosphere, there is more FDI.

Bengaluru has been the capital of startups and has the maximum number of unicorns in the entire country. Job opportunities are plentiful here. Karnataka has been at the forefront of the aerospace and defence sectors and plans are afoot to manufacture the spare parts of the aircraft.

"Bengaluru is the city of the future so there is a need to open the consulate office here," he reiterated, adding a lot of international events will be taking place in Bengaluru such as Global Investors Meet, Invest Karnataka, and symposiums, and international guests will come here to take part in them.

Jones said: "This is my first visit to the bustling city of Bengaluru, India's 'Silicon Valley'. Karnataka plays a significant role in advancing the US-India commercial partnership and alone hosts over 650 US companies, whose presence creates hundreds of thousands of jobs in India and the US.

"Our two economies are intertwined in countless ways. We are excited to further bolster the partnership between the US and Karnataka. Let me also take the opportunity to congratulate you and your cabinet colleagues on being ranked first yet again in the India Innovation Index."
Bhopal, Feb 14 : Two days after a church was vandalised in Madhya Pradesh's Narmadapuram, police on Tuesday said that they had arrested three accused, including two from neighbouring Uttar Pradesh.

During the interrogation, the trio claimed they were "hurt" over the incident of burning of copies of Ramcharitamanas by activists of an OBC outfit in Lucknow last month, and committed the vandalism as "revenge", a police official said.

According to police, the accused were also planing something big, and they could have targeted some more religious places, but were arrested soon after the incident.

The arrested persons have been identified as Akash Tiwari, 24, of Jhansi and his close friend Avanish Pandey, 28, a resident of Ayodhya, and the third as Shiva Rai, a resident of Narmadapuram.

"Trio have confessed that they were hurt with Lucknow's incident and they wanted to do something for their dharma. They were targetting to vandalise non-Hindu religious places. After torching a church and Christian prayer hall in Narmadapuram district, they had planned to commit similar acts at churches and mazars in Narmadapuram town followed by similar incidents at churches, mazars and mosques in Bhopal," a senior police official told IANS.

The police official further said that Tiwari masterminded the vandalisation of the church hall by sharing actual locations of the targets and also funded the crime, while his friend Pandey, with whom he had studied together and did initial private sector jobs in Lucknow, was living in Itarsi town of Narmadapuram and working as sales executive at a car showroom in Bhopal, executed the plan.

Pandey came to Narmadapuram (MP) in December 2021 for apprenticeship in Railways at Itarsi - a major junction of the West Central Railway). He completed the apprenticeship in December 2022, after which he joined a car showroom in Bhopal as sales executive. Since Bhopal is just 90 odd km from Itarsi, he continued to stay in in Itarsi only and daily shunted between Itarsi and Bhopal.

During the investigation, police found that Pandey had thrown a bottle of liquor inside a church earlier in January but it wasn't reported. On January 9, he burnt the gate of a church and also a copy of the holy Bible in Itarsi's Kheda area, after which the police lodged a case, the official added.

A month later, Pandey convinced Rai to burning furniture and writing 'Ram' on the wall inside a Christian prayer hall in Chauki Pura village under Kesla police station of the district. The incident came to light on Sunday, after the hall was opened for prayers.

"After lodging a case under Section 295 IPC, we formed three teams and following sustained investigation, our teams were able to track two of the accused, including prime accused Avanish and his helper Shiva Rai on Monday late night. Their grilling led to the arrest of Jhansi-based mastermind Tiwari. All three are now in police custody," Narmadapuram SP, Dr Gurkaran Singh said.

Initial questioning of the two arrested men hailing from UP, has revealed that Tiwari not only sent Pandey the Google locations of targets in Narmadapuram and Bhopal, but also transferred money to him for the crime.

While Pandey had received Rs 1,500-Rs 2,000 for throwing a liquor bottle into the church premises, he got Rs 5,000 for burning the gate and a Bible at Kheda church in the town on January 9. Also, while he got Rs 10,000 for burning property and writing 'Ram' inside the Christian prayer hall, Shiva Rai got Rs 5,000 for assisting him.

"We're now trying to ascertain, as to whether Tiwari was paying Pandey money for these acts out of his own pocket or the source of this funding was somewhere else," the SP said.
Dhaka, Feb 15 : A court in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka has set March 21 for submitting the probe report in a case filed against four people including pro-Pakistan propagandist Elias Hossain and former Superintendent of Police (SP) Babul Akhter, accused of killing his wife Mahmuda Khanam Mitu.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate (MM) Ashek Imam re-fixed the date as the Investigation Officer (IO) failed to submit the probe report in the case.

Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) Chief Banaj Kumar Majumder filed the case against the four people under Digital Security Act and Special Powers Act with the capital's Dhanmondi Police Station on September 27, 2022. The other two accused in the case are Babul's father Md Abdul Wadud Miah (72), and brother Md Habibur Rahman Labu (45).

Babul and other accused allegedly conspired to divert the investigation of the Mitu murder case.
Page Content

Increasingly, senior living organizations are seeking to provide a combination of uses for a continuum of ages and care that is specific to each residents needs. While these arent new concepts, were seeing them rise higher on priority lists than ever before.



Modern care communities are being created to blend care efficiency with more nuanced treatment levels. While care options are becoming more specialized, we need to foster meaningful connections between those levels of community.



Mixed-Use, Multi-Generational Lifestyle Developments

A prime example can be found with the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration (FSPA) in La Crosse, Wisconsin. This continuing care retirement community includes 45 skilled/memory care units along with 35 assisted living, 11 independent living/guest spaces, and 32 guest rooms for retreat center participants.



The facility addresses the Franciscan Sisters vision of bringing sisters, spread across a wide continuum of care spectrum, together on one campus. Following a comprehensive planning effort, they decided to renovate St. Rose Motherhouse to accommodate all care levels and move those living off-site into the Motherhouse. The existing configuration was not readily suited to incorporate each of the needed levels of care, which presented a great renovation challenge and required a strong commitment from the sisters to bring their vision to life.



Reflecting on why this renovation project was so important to FSPA, one of the sisters in leadership shared that it was part of how they enacted their assembly mandate to right-size their facilities, and it is vital to their future planning. She explained that they looked at their trends data knowing that they had two large buildings that were less than half full.



We knew that as we moved forward, we would have fewer members and would not need both spaces, she explained. We realized it was not the best use of the assets we are stewarding to not use the buildings to their capacity. We discerned, as a congregation, that we wanted all of our senior members going forwardas space would permitto be at our Motherhouse. That is where our adoration chapel is located, which is key to our charism of perpetual adoration.



Responding to Changes in Health Care and Life Safety

In recent years, there has been a paradigm shift in care models, including a significant move to assisted living communities. Considering this swing, the solutions are not the same as they have historically been. Innovative design solutions are necessary to best meet the various care community being served. At times, regulations have not kept up with those needs, nor the research, best practices, new products, and special exceptions that will best serve the community.



Architectural and construction consultants must explore new ways to meet the intent of the code, even when those solutions are not explicitly permitted in the code. Existing codes can sometimes be years behind the continuum of care needs and solutions, so a Petition for Variance is requested in those situations.



An example is the grab bar variance. Experience and research data is showing that swing-down grab bars can be more effective for residents and staff in assisted care environments. Unlike current code standards, swing-down grab bars are non-handed (correct for left or right-handed people), provide flexibility for residents with unbalanced upper body strength due to injuries or stroke, and permit additional flexibility for assistance.

Petitions are sometimes the best way to provide effective design solutions, especially when repurposing existing buildings. Although a useful tool, petitions should not be taken lightly and always pursued in collaboration with all involved parties (owner, operator, care staff, plan reviewers, inspectors, state officials, etc.) to ensure the intended outcome is achieved. 



Elevating the Staff Experience

Staff efficiency is at the top of the priority list for our senior living clients. Considering the staffing challenges that most organizations are facing, helping staff be more productive is a critical desired outcome.



Survey findings demonstrate that staff are one of the most important factors in environmental and care quality. Getting the most out of your staff is accomplished by improving their experience and creating a facility that allows them to work like they want tosmoother and easier.



This is accomplished by involving care givers, culinary staff, and other key stakeholders in early discussions to uncover the intricate details that will ultimately lead them to be fully successful in supporting patient care and independence.



Wellness Models for Active Older Adults

Never has wellness been as critical in senior living as it is today. Wellness encompasses many themes from physical fitness to social engagement. As providers navigate the wellness landscape in 2023, they are well served to take note of several trends and consider them as they are planning and making improvements to current wellness programs and paradigms.



We recommend the expansion of wellness programs to create deeper connections, higher levels of engagement, and more fulfilling experiences for residents and associates alike.



We have found that the expansion of wellness programs across the industry has enabled operators to offer more program customization without overwhelming their operations. One strategy for accomplishing this is to frontload the resident onboarding process with thorough evaluations that focus on lifestyle, preference, and resident history. It empowers operators and associates to create a more personalized experience for each resident. It also drives whole-person wellness by helping residents maintain physical activity, sense of purpose, and a feeling of connection.



We believe that every operators goal should be to create a greater sense of community. True communities are integrated and alive, providing residents with a greater sense of purpose, connection, and togetherness, and built around social engagement models. When the sense of community is the result of empowering residents, they become free to choose how they want to participate and contribute, instead of assuming the associates will do everything for them. 



Use of Technology to Maintain Independence and Support Care Operations

We have had many conversations with clients about the increased and proper use of technology to make their work easier. You are likely very familiar with such applications as smart vital monitoring, fall detection, and social connectivity tools. These are still very proprietary, and interconnectivity with higher level systems like nurse call and security systems is sometimes limited.



The next shift and latest technology are happening more on the vendor level, versus the industry or system level. With that in mind, operators and administrators wishing to be on the forefront of technology advancement should engage with vendors that are on the cutting edge of specific systems. Then, they should seek to participate in beta tests to be a part of creating the end solutions that will serve residents and staff most effectively.



A crucial decision that we strongly encourage every client to make in a building project is to create a robust wired and wireless infrastructure. This will allow easier plug and play for the latest technological advancements, for emerging technologies, and most importantly, for future technologies yet to be developed. 



Now and Then

Making decisions that allow for flexibility of care, staff efficiency, and wise use of technology will set you up for success. Your staff and residents will be the benefactors and the efficiency and productivity of your facilities will greatly benefit as well.



Julie Heiberger is a senior project architect and the Senior Living Market Leader for Hoffman Planning, Design & Construction, Inc. A member of the American Institute of Architects and the National Council of Architectural Review Boards, she received her Master of Architecture from the University of WisconsinMilwaukee. 
Analyze call recordings made from the Mixmax dialer with Gong We are very excited to announce this partnership with Gong, which will help our customers drive even more revenue by enhancing their sales workflows with revenue intelligence. - Olof Mathe, CEO & co-founder of Mixmax

Mixmax, a top-rated sales engagement platform, today announced a new integration with Gong. Through this partnership, Mixmax customers can leverage Gongs leading revenue intelligence platform to analyze prospect and customer calls.

This integration offers revenue teams a new way to prospect, close, and engage customers at all stages of their lifecycle. In addition to email sequences, one-click calendar scheduling, task management and time-saving Salesforce automations, Mixmax customers can now add revenue intelligence into their workflow without any additional time or effort. Using the Mixmax dialer, reps can call Salesforce leads or contacts with one click, without leaving their inbox. Calls are automatically logged to Salesforce, saving valuable time from updating Salesforce or context-switching between email and their CRM.

Recordings from Mixmax dialer can now automatically be synced to Gong. Teams can then review those calls to find data-backed insights that drive revenue.

At Mixmax, we are committed to building the best and easiest-to-use product for revenue teams, says Olof Mathe, CEO & co-founder of Mixmax. We are very excited to announce this partnership with Gong, which will help our customers drive even more revenue by enhancing their sales workflows with revenue intelligence.

"Gong is excited to expand our dialer offerings through outstanding partners like Mixmax. Gong is the most valuable platform for revenue teams and we're accelerating its expansion through integrations that help our customers increase efficiencies and close more deals." Eddie OBrien, VP Partnerships at Gong.

The Gong integration is now available on Mixmax Enterprise Plans. For more information, visit http://www.mixmax.com/integrations/gong

About Mixmax

Mixmax is the #1 sales engagement platform for G Suite that allows revenue teams to streamline and automate the entire sales process. Mixmax appeared on the 2022 Inc. 5000 list among Americas fastest growing private companies. As a globally distributed team, they are dedicated to diversity, equity and inclusion. Mixmax is committed to living as one team with one mission, which is to create a world without busywork by building the best and easiest-to-use product for revenue teams. To learn more, visit http://www.mixmax.com
Gorilla Couple in Volcanoes National Park Augustin Tours helped us plan our Rwanda adventure - taking care of all the details, handling all the logistics, and pairing us with a knowledgeable and flexible guide who introduced us to Rwanda.

Augustin Tours, a leading provider of cultural and wildlife tours in East Africa, is proud to announce its latest 11-day Trekking Gorilla Rwanda Discovery Tour. The tour offers travelers the opportunity to immerse themselves in the rich cultural heritage, diverse wildlife, and stunning nature of Rwanda, one of the most beautiful and unspoiled countries in Africa.

Rwanda is home to a vast array of wildlife, including gorillas, chimpanzees, monkeys, and a host of other exotic animals. With the guidance of Augustine Tours' experienced tour guides, travelers can experience the thrill of tracking gorillas and monkeys through the lush forests and enjoy game drives in Akagera National Park, home to over 500 species of animals. In addition to wildlife viewing, the tour also includes a visit to Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, for a city tour, and a chimpanzee trekking and canopy walk.

Under the leadership of CEO Augustin Ndikuriyo, Augustine Tours is dedicated to providing tours that promote cultural and educational exchange while preserving the country's cultural heritage, wildlife, and nature. The organization's tour guides are natives of East Africa and possess a wealth of local expertise, ensuring that travelers receive an unparalleled tour experience. With excellent communication and conversational skills, a sharp sense of direction, and in-depth knowledge of the safari, Augustine Tours' tour guides are equipped to exceed customer expectations and provide a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

In 13 years of operations, we have served travelers of all ages coming from every single corner of the world. One thing they all have in common is the fact that they all leave with a positive impression about the places they visit, thanks to our knowledgeable and flexible guides., says Augustin.

The Trekking Gorilla Rwanda Discovery Tour includes entrance fees and national park permits, accommodation on a twin or double room basis, roundtrip transportation from Kigali International Airport, all meals, and private tour guide services. Complementaries such as mineral water and airport transfers are also included in the price, making the tour an affordable and convenient option for travelers.

In addition to the thrilling wildlife experiences, the tour also offers a chance to explore the rich cultural heritage of Rwanda. The country is known for its warm and friendly people, traditional crafts, and beautiful landscapes. Travelers will have the opportunity to visit local communities and experience the vibrant culture firsthand.

For those looking for an African safari vacation package that goes beyond just wildlife, the Trekking Gorilla Rwanda Discovery Tour offers a unique blend of wildlife, traditions, and nature. With its stunning scenery, rich cultural heritage, and abundant wildlife, Rwanda is the perfect destination for travelers of all ages.

Notes to Editors

To find out more about Augustine Tours visit the website https://augustinetours.com/

For more information or images, please email: info@augustinetours.com

Augustine Tours is renowned for providing tours that promote cultural and educational exchange, preserving cultural heritage, wildlife, and nature.
AMSTERDAMInteractive sex toy company Kiiroo today welcomes AVN Hall of Famer Rachel Starr to its Feel Stars Collection. Fans can now experience what its like to be with the star herself, with the launch of her personalized FeelRachel Starr Stroker sleeve.

Designed to pair with Kiiroos Keon device, FeelRachel allows users to feel Starrs every move while watching interactive adult content available on FeelMe A.I. and a variety of premium adult sites. The stroker sleeve itself is designed to mimic Starrs anatomy with contrasting textures and tightness while providing intense pleasure.

I am extremely honored to be the next Kiiroo Feel Star model! Its an amazing feeling to have my own stroker and have it launch on Valentines day, Starr said. It turned out to be everything I hoped it would be. The Kiiroo staff worked with me every step of the way to create the toy Ive always wanted my fans to have! Im really happy that I partnered with Kiiroo to help me give my fans a way to truly 'feel' me!

As the newest Feel Star, Starr joins some of the industrys biggest personalities including Nicolette Shea, Britney Amber, Reagan Foxx, Alexis Fawx, Apolonia Lapiedra, Natalia Starr and Kenzie Taylor.

Rachel is such a natural beauty with a huge following of fans who love her solo toy play videos, said Helen Zeal, managing director of Kiiroo. We are very pleased to add Rachel to our Feel Star lineup, and offer her fans the ultimate fantasy experience of being with Rachel when they play with her stroker and the Keon.

Starr and Kiiroo launch the campaign today, Valentine's Day, with a special offer that will bring one fan closer than ever before to Starr herself. Every fan who purchases a FeelRachel stroker from Feb. 14 through Feb. 28 on Kiiroo.com will automatically be entered into a raffle to win a personalized thank you video from Starr.

Click here for additional details. Follow Kiiroo on Twitter and find all of the company's links here. Find Rachel Starr here.
Buell Super Cruiser The market is full of American manufacturers known mostly for big, heavy bikes  not fast, hot ones like the famous V-twins of the 30s. Our Buell Super Cruiser will be the hottest bike on the market. Period.

Buell Motorcycle announced this week that a new Super Cruiser designed by Roland Sands of Roland Sands Design, Long Beach, CA, is in development for 2025, bringing two iconic brands together to create a one-of-a-kind motorcycle with a West Coast attitude.

"Building a cruiser was something we always contemplated," said Bill Melvin, CEO of Buell Motorcycle Co. "The market is full of American manufacturers known mostly for big, heavy bikes  not fast, hot ones like the famous V-twins of the 30s. Our Buell Super Cruiser will be the hottest bike on the market. Period."

Roland Sands & Roland Sands Design will bring the heat. Champion motorcycle racer turned custom bike builder, Sands is considered the King of Cool in styling cruisers, cafe racers, and many top brands' iconic built bikes.

"When Bill first approached us about building a high-performance cruiser using the Buell motor, it was as if the bike designed itself, said Roland Sands. Considering the history of Buell and the markets need for a truly high-performance cruiser, and the build quality of the existing Buell chassis parts, motor, and rolling kit, the project was a natural fit."

The Super Cruiser will take advantage of Buell's unique high-performance V-twin engine and innovative perimeter braking system and structural swingarm, delivering a bike with exceptional handling in a non-sport bike format.

"The design lends itself to the West coast scene where customization is part of bike culture," said Melvin. And Roland was enthusiastic about incorporating Buell technology into that culture, creating the fastest, coolest cruiser on the market.

"I've been working on projects like this for 20-plus years, and this is the first time we've been able to build a performance cruiser without the typical V-twin performance compromises of weight and motor width and length," said Sands.

At 450 lbs. and 175 hp, Sands' chassis geometry delivers road-friendly handling that's ready for the track. Using much of the standard Buell rolling kit, Sands engineered his chassis design to work with the swingarm, forks, original 17" wheels, and brake system. "Ground clearance, bar position, and comfortable seating and foot positions are key to getting the cruiser look with sport bike handling," said Sands.

The Super Cruiser solidifies that Buell is Back and building more than sport bikes. Out of the gate, this cruiser will lead performance in the category. It's light, nimble, and high torque, incorporating all the main points that connect the rider to the ground, and its cracking open another part of the market  a younger crowd craving speed and performance in a cruiser.

Buell previewed the Super Cruiser's proof of concept at a Private VIP Reveal Party at Roland Sands Design shop in Long Beach, CA on February 10.

About its potential, Sands is confident. "With correct geometry and an attitude to match? Yeah, that's the business right there," he said.

Buell Motorcycles is an American manufacturer and marketer of high-performance V-Twin motorcycles. Known for their fuel-in-frame and perimeter brake designs, Buell delivers an incredible ride and excitement at every turn. For future updates, follow us on social or visit our website News.

http://www.BuellMotorcycle.com

info@buellmotorcycle.com
As we continue to build our firm and expand our investment capabilities, we are very pleased to have Aidan join North Square, said North Square CEO and co-founder Mark Goodwin.

North Square Investments today announced that Aidan Glynn had joined the firm as an internal sales consultant, supporting Northeast Regional Director Brendan Kinnarney and Southeast Regional Director John Fitzgibbons. The announcement was made by Senior Managing Director and Head of Distribution Phil Callahan, who said Aidan will report to North Square Vice President and Manager of Internal Sales Brent Troy.

We are delighted that Aidan has joined North Square as part of our efforts to provide the highest levels of advisor support, Callahan said. Aidan will be working very closely with Brendan and John to provide immediate and responsive internal assistance for all marketing and service inquiries going forward.

A Chicago-area native, Aidan received his undergraduate degree in Business Administration (Finance and Entrepreneurship) from the University of Dayton. Additionally, this December Aidan received his MSc in Finance from the University College of Dublin Smurfit Business School. Prior to his graduate studies, Aidan was a Wealth Management Intern with UBS.

As we continue to build our firm and expand our investment capabilities, we are very pleased to have Aidan join North Square, said North Square CEO and co-founder Mark Goodwin. With his energy, intellect and enthusiasm, we know Aidan will be an outstanding addition to our team.

North Square is committed to the sourcing, vetting and delivery of institutional quality, active investment managers to their financial intermediary partners which include broker dealers, wealth management advisors, RIAs, family offices, retirement plans and private banks. The firm delivers value to its investment partners by providing support services and access to distribution while assisting distribution partners as they search for high quality, alpha generating active investment strategies to build better risk-adjusted portfolios for their clients. As of December 31, 2022, North Square had $1.14 billion of assets under management in 12 mutual funds. With North Squares ownership interests (majority and minority, respectively) in the distinctly branded firms of CS McKee (over $7.96B AUM) and Oak Ridge Investments (over $1.13B AUA), collective assets under management and advisement totaled $10.2 billion.

About North Square

Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Chicago, IL, North Square Investments is an independent, multi-boutique investment firm dedicated to delivering differentiated active investment strategies to the market. With an experienced senior management team, a board composed of industry veterans including John Amboian, Neil Cummins and Brian Gaffney, and backed by Estancia Capital Partners, North Square is a leader in aggregating best-in-class active managers and delivering select, in-demand investment strategies to financial intermediary partners for the benefit of their clients. Learn more about North Square Investments at northsquareinvest.com.
Nathan Bullock, who was born in Goldsboro, North Carolina, has completed his new book My Memories of the Youngest American Hero, PFC: a gripping and potent biography that follows the story of Dan Bullock, who was born on December 21, 1953, in Goldsboro, North Carolina.

Being a member of the E. A. House Boys Club at the age of 10 years old, Dan got to go on a field trip to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, located on the outskirts of Goldsboro. While on this field trip, Dan was one of the few who got to sit inside the cockpit of a B-52 airplane. This sparked his obsession with the military more than ever in his young life, enhancing his dreams to enlist in the military. When Dan was little, he would play war games in the backyard on Griffin Street with his nephew.

Upon learning of the Buffalo Soldiers from his father and other adults, Dan became even more obsessed with becoming a soldier. His desire to fly an airplane was enhanced when he learned about the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of primarily African American military pilots, and airmen who fought in World War II for the United States Army.

Dans whole world was turned upside down on July 17, 1965, when his mother Alma passed away just 37 days shy of her 45th birthday when he was only 11 years old.

His father moved to Brooklyn, New York. He took the youngest sister with him. Dan would continue to live with an aunt, before staying with his sisters. Eventually, he went to Brooklyn, because he wanted to make sure his baby sister Gloria was safe and in school, doing well.

During the summer of 1968, at a time when grown men were fleeing to Canada and other places or enrolling in colleges and universities to avoid being drafted to fight in the Vietnam War, Dan decided to enlist and fight for his Country at the tender age of just 14 years old.

To Dans amazement, he was accepted into the United States Marine Corps at 14 years old. He didnt realize that it was the beginning of his legacy.

Published by Page Publishing, Nathan Bullocks moving work takes readers through Dans inspiring story.

Readers who wish to experience this compelling work can purchase My Memories of the Youngest American Hero, PFC at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes Store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708.

About Page Publishing:

Page Publishing is a traditional, full-service publishing house that handles all the intricacies involved in publishing its authors books, including distribution in the worlds largest retail outlets and royalty generation. Page Publishing knows that authors need to be free to create, not mired in logistics like eBook conversion, establishing wholesale accounts, insurance, shipping, taxes, and so on. Pages accomplished writers and publishing professionals allow authors to leave behind these complex and time-consuming issues and focus on their passion: writing and creating. Learn more at http://www.pagepublishing.com.
We are inspired by tradition and the master tequileros who paved the way. We wanted to present an offering that brings the best of both worlds, highlighting tequila and mezcal traditions and showcasing the best of Mexico creating an innovative, smoky reposed Tequila

Cenote Tequila releases Cenote Ahumado Tequila, an inspired small-batch tequila innovation that revives historic methods used by original tequileros of roasting agave pinas over a woodfire. The resulting Ahumado 100% Blue Weber Agave reposado combines the best tequila methods with a mezcal-inspired roasting method that presents a unique smokey flavor profile.

This one-of-a-kind 100% blue weber agave spirit is roasted under the supervision of Eleana Nunez, Board Director for Mujeres del Mezcal y Maguey de Mexico, before Master Distiller Arturo Fuentes, the inspired innovator at the state-of-the-art Finos Distillery, employs modern fermentation and distilling with exceptional quality control to yield a tequila worthy of the Cenote name. With blueprints from ancient mezcal pit ovens, we leveraged insight from generational mezcal producers to recreate this very special Cenote Ahumado pit oven. Once it was built, I continued to collaborate during the cooking and production process to bring you this unique variety, says Nunez

Cenote Ahumado is rested in oak barrels for more than 2 months to develop additional character, mellows in flavor, and blooms into a beautiful, golden color. Aromas of hickory, smoke, clover, honey, and ginger, this spirit is mysterious and complex and highlights dark caramel, fire-roasted peppers, cinnamon, and toasted coconut on the palate.

The black bottle design visually emphasizes the smoke-forward rich agave flavor inside the bottle. Atop the bottle is pina, an homage to the heart of the agave plant, complete with a copper clasp which makes opening the bottle a special experience.

Master Distiller Arturo Fuentes, the godfather of tequila, and Master Blender Alejandro Garcia Paez created the taste profile. We are inspired by tradition and the master tequileros who paved the way. We wanted to present an offering that brings the best of both worlds, highlighting tequila and mezcal traditions and showcasing the best of Mexico creating an innovative, smoky reposed Tequila, says Garcia.

Cenote Tequila Ahumado is available nationwide via select retailers at $75.99 for 750ml. Visit the Instagram page at @CenoteTequila.

About Cenote Tequila

Part of Stoli Group, one of the world's leading premium spirits businesses, Cenote Tequila is an ultra-premium 100% Blue Weber Agave Tequila inspired by the purity of the natural wonders of cenotes in the Yucatan Peninsula nourishing connection between people, earth and higher ideals. Cenote Tequila has a complex flavor profile that balances fragrant cooked agave with delicate wood notes and is a result of the diligent craftsmanship of Master Blender Alejandro Garcia. Cenote Tequila is a Green Leaf certified facility. Available in their core range, Blanco, Reposado, Anejo, and Cristalino, as well as innovations: Cenote Green Orange Tequila and Cenote Ahumado Tequila.
City of Ukiah Joins the California Purchasing Group The City of Ukiah invites all potential vendors to register online.

The City of Ukiah has joined the California Purchasing Group and will publish and distribute upcoming bid opportunities on the system. Bidnet Directs California Purchasing Group connects 24 participating agencies from across California. The purchasing group provides a transparent bid process available to all vendors simultaneously. The City of Ukiah invites all vendors to register online at http://www.bidnetdirect.com/california/cityofukiah.

The City of Ukiah joined the purchasing group in January 2023. The City of Ukiah will utilize the system to streamline its purchasing process, including bid distribution, bid management, and vendor relations. The California Purchasing Group is a single online location for managing sourcing information and activities. It provides 24 local government agencies with the tools needed to have a transparent bid process while minimizing costs and saving time.

We strive to be as transparent as possible and to give all the information we have about the bid opportunity and the procurement process to all our vendors. By becoming a part of the California Purchasing Group, we can provide all the important and necessary information instantly to our vendors, everything they need is in one spot, and they dont need to contact us to find out details; they can log in and view everything in real-time. This has allowed us to create a more seamless bid process and has provided more participation from vendors across the state, stated Mary Horger, Financial Services Manager of the City of Ukiah.

As a participating agency of the California Purchasing Group, it allows the City of Ukiah to expand its vendor pool and enhance vendor competition without increasing distribution costs. To be added to the existing list of vendors on the California Purchasing Group, any suppliers looking to do business with the City of Ukiah can register online: http://www.bidnetdirect.com/california/cityofukiah. The City of Ukiah encourages all interested bidders to register today.

Registered vendors can access open bids, related documents and files, additional addenda, and available award information from all participating agencies. In addition, the California Purchasing Group offers a value-added service to notify vendors of new bids targeted to their business, including all addenda and advance notification of expiring term contracts.

With one click, the City of Ukiah can now see how many vendors match a specific opportunity, how many have downloaded documents, responded, and more. The City of Ukiah also has its own branded page on the public side of the California Purchasing Group, in which taxpayers can view all closed bids and any awarded information.

Vendors may register with the California Purchasing Group: http://www.bidnetdirect.com/california/cityofukiah. In addition, Bidnet Directs vendor support team is available to answer any questions regarding the registration process or the bid system at 800-835-4603 option 2.

For additional information, please contact Mary Horger, City of Ukiah Financial Services Manager at mhorger@cityofukiah.com.

About Bidnet Direct:

Bidnet Direct, powered by mdf commerce, is a sourcing solution of regional purchasing groups available at no cost to local government agencies throughout the country. Bidnet Direct runs regional purchasing groups, including the California Purchasing Group, across all 50 states that are used by over 1,600 local governments. To learn more and have your government agency gain better transparency and efficiency in purchasing, please visit https://www.bidnetdirect.com/buyers
In its 2023 Digital Experience Benchmark Report, Contentsquare, the global leader in digital experience analytics, underscores the importance of engagement and dynamic experiences online, highlighting the areas brands must improve in order to bolster conversion and customer satisfaction. Consumer trend data shows that brands are losing customers when it matters most: when theyre trying to convert, particularly on mobile devices. On the contrary, brands that offer seamless cross-device customer experience (CX), particularly on the top three high-trafficked website areas  product detail pages, category pages, and the checkout page  are experiencing the most significant digital outcomes: lasting customer interaction, a boost in online conversions, a significant reduction in bounce rates, and better overall website performance across both desktop and mobile devices.

Key Benchmark Highlights



Poor website performance is a real problem, with 36% of users reportedly having frustrating experiences on most websitesmostly attributed to slow page loads leading to a sharp decline in engagement and retention.

Another leading cause of frustration, rage clicks (when users repeatedly click on the same area of a website), affect 6% of browsing sessions

However, high activity (1) sites are driving better outcomes for businesses  including major boosts in conversions (+19%) and session depth (+47%), and a decrease in bounce rates (-20%)

With activity tied to higher conversions, businesses should focus on improving engagement across the three most trafficked page types  product, category and checkout

Sustained engagement is key to digital success, as buyers consume on average more than 20 pages of content before conversion. But data shows a concerning trend that overall consumer patience and consumption is waning: session depth (2) per visit has dipped -2.3%, and overall time per session dropped -7.5% year-over-year.

Many brands are losing customers at the checkout page, especially on mobile devices: 19.7% of mobile visits include time spent on a checkout page, but mobile conversions overall have dropped more than -4% year-over-year. In contrast, 18% of desktop visits include a checkout page and overall conversions on the device have jumped nearly +3% year-over-year.

Data shows that engaging experiences have better outcomes: deeper journeys, higher conversions and fewer bounces. But our data also shows that today, one in three customers is still having a frustrating experience online  often because of poor site performance, said Jonathan Cherki, CEO & Founder of Contentsquare. People today expect more out of the interactions they have online. They want to be seen, heard, and responded to in meaningful ways. Optimizing digital content and creating seamless customer journeys is where you should focus to drive growth and retention.

Give Customers a Reason to Stay, Convert, and Return Best Practices

Digital experience success is defined by three areas: capturing attention, reducing friction, and ensuring page content is relevant and seamless across the entire website. Merging paid channels and organic search to increase visibility, all the while prioritizing content that encourages interaction and engagement boosts the overall performance of a website. The average visitor journey is not deep ~5 pages per session at a 50% scroll rate  companies need to identify high performing content and pull these assets, offers and CTAs higher up on the page. Additionally, knowing which content is never seen and which under versus over-performs, enables teams to invest in content more effectively, while improving conversion rates.

Providing clear information with speed, obvious prompts directing customers to the next stage of their journey by signaling pathways for search and discovery, and ensuring content is aligned with their intent gives brands a clear competitive edge.

Blend Experiences Across Devices

Seamless cross-device CX is a bigger priority than most brands realize and the importance of blended experiences is defining an emerging area of opportunity, according to the data. Consumers are exploring web pages through two primary devices - mobile and desktop  with conversion preferential to desktop. Browsing is typically relegated to mobile, where consumers graze before making buying decisions. Fifty-five percent of all mobile traffic are new visitors, meaning losing customers due to poor CX can have a detrimental effect on revenue. While Checkout pages are still highly important for both desktop and mobile, mobile conversion rates are down year-over-year by -4%, and any attention paid especially to these final moments before conversion could minimize abandoned carts and frustrated customers.

Across devices, brands must prioritize delivering seamless end-to-end, tailored experiences that focus on customer value. A May 2022 consumer survey revealed 88% of customers say the experience a company provides is just as important as its products and services (3), an +18% increase from the year prior, proving that getting a customer to your website is only the beginning.

Lasting Relationships Are Defined by Understanding Customer Intent and Desired Experiences

Positive experiences dont start and end with great products or prices, smart brands are uniquely tapping into emotions, too, focusing on bringing joy to the overall CX. Forrester Customer Experience index data from June 2022 cites Elite brandsprovide, on average, 15 percentage points more emotionally positive experiences compared to the rest of the field.

The most trusted way to determine customer expectation, happiness, and satisfaction can be found in digital experience data. As customers evolve, so do their online behaviors, which are the breadcrumbs they leave that tell a bigger storyevery click, scroll, search, mouse hover, page forward or backward, and time spent on a brands website are valuable insights for brands looking for meaningful ways to improve the digital experiences they deliver.

Contentsquare customers that have focused on leveraging digital experience analytics to improve CX throughout the customer journey have realized significant results: 602% ROI, an average of $6.6M in recovered income and additional income, and Contentsquares solution paying for itself in less than six months, according to a commissioned, in-depth Total Economic Impact (TEI) Study from Forrester Consulting.

The annual benchmark report aims to help brands benchmark their digital performance against industry averages, highlighting areas of opportunity and tips for tactical and strategic steps to take to achieve better business outcomes and customer success. The years report is based on analysis of 35 billion sessions, and 161 billion page views across 2,942 global websites. For more information and insights into how to optimize CX for better results, download Contentsquares full 2023 Digital Experience Benchmark report here.

(1) Calculated by time spent interacting divided by total session time

(2) Defined as page views per session

(3) May 2022 Consumer Survey By Salesforce

About Contentsquare

Contentsquare delivers the power to make the digital world more human. Its AI-powered platform provides rich and contextual insight into customer behaviors, feelings and intent  at every touchpoint in their journey  enabling businesses to build empathy and create lasting impact. The global leader in digital experience analytics, Contentsquare helps brands everywhere transform the way they do business, allowing them to take action at enterprise scale and build customer trust with security, privacy and accessibility. More than 1,000 leading brands use Contentsquare to grow their business, deliver more customer happiness and move with greater agility in a constantly changing world. Its insights power the customer experience on over 1 million websites worldwide. Founded in Paris and with offices around the world, Contentsquare has raised $810m in investment funding from leading investors, including Softbank, BlackRock and others. For more information, visit http://www.contentsquare.com.
A couple buying a new car As part of their Nu-Start program, Crabtree Toyota provides a new financial start and has a team specially trained with exclusive resources available.

People may need to depend on a loan to get a new or pre-owned vehicle and that can be a challenging process. Customers near Watertown, Connecticut, can now get Nu-Start auto-credit and financing at the Crabtree Toyota dealership. As part of their Nu-Start program, the dealership provides a new financial start and has a team specially trained with exclusive resources available.

The Crabtree Toyota dealership designed the Nu-Start financing program as a specially curated counselling platform to help buyers make the best decisions for their unique financial situation. The dealership has partnered with a diverse number of financial institutions to support the Nu-Start program customers. These are the benefits offered when applying for an auto-loan with Crabtree Toyota:

No down payment required

No social security number needed

No identification card needed

No tax ID number needed

Passports accepted

Rebuilding credit profile

Customers are advised to contact the dealerships Nu-Start representatives to get a plan together when a bad credit situation surfaces. Having no credit history of any kind is worser than finding affordable financial solutions with a low credit score. Purchasing a vehicle is a major monetary investment and being smart with the use of credit will ensure people begin their journey on a strong financial footing.

Drivers are recommended to drop down at Crabtree Toyota, located at 832 Straits Turnpike, Watertown, Connecticut, 06795. Interested parties can also schedule a test drive of the desired Toyota model online and contact the dealerships professional customer care team at 475-549-0865 for any further information requests.
Dallas Plastic Surgeon Dr. Rod J. Rohrich "These types of awards are valuable tools that can help patients find well qualified physicians within a given medical specialty"

Dallas plastic surgeon and rhinoplasty specialist, Dr. Rod J. Rohrich, has been honored by his peers as one of the best plastic surgeons in the United States by Castle Connolly's Top Doctor program.

For over 30 years, the program, which is designed to help patients find the best healthcare providers in established medical specialties such as plastic surgery, carefully screens and selects physicians through a rigorous peer review process.

During the nomination process, Castle Connolly contacts more than 50,000 licensed healthcare professionals nationwide to obtain nominations and feedback about the best doctors practicing in the United States today. They are asked to identify and nominate the most outstanding physicians in their medical specialty which they consider to be top doctors in their region, or nationwide. In this program, self-nominations are strictly forbidden.

A physician-led team of researchers reviews each nominee and checks the candidate's background, medical education, board certification status, hospital privileges, educational appointments, and professional recognitions and achievements. The group also reviews malpractice and disciplinary history to further screen the candidates. The final award recipients are selected by Castle Connolly editors together with the research team.

"This award is especially significant, in part, because it is primarily derived though peer nomination," says Dr. Rohrich. "The peer review process is an important component of reliable medical information."

A well-known advocate for patient safety, Dr. Rohrich lectures frequently around the world at surgical conferences and educational meetings promoting safe and effective as well as innovative plastic surgery practices. Dr. Rohrich serves as chairman for the Dallas Rhinoplasty Meeting and its partner conference, the Dallas Cosmetic Surgery and Medicine Meeting. He has been ranked as the best plastic surgeon in the United States for both rhinoplasty and facelifts by Newsweek magazine.

"I am honored to have been selected as a Top Doctor," says Dr. Rohrich. "These types of awards are valuable tools that can help patients find well qualified physicians within a given medical specialty all around the world. Patients should always do their research and choose their surgeon carefully. Make sure he or she is board certified by the American Board of Medical Specialties, and has the expertise and the experience to deliver a safe and satisfactory outcome."

About Rod J. Rohrich, M.D., F.A.C.S.

Dr. Rod J. Rohrich is a board certified plastic surgeon in Dallas, Texas. He is considered one of the most influential surgeons in this century. He was named the top plastic surgeon in America by Newsweek in both rhinoplasty and facelift surgery in 2021 Dr. Rohrich is a Clinical Professor of Plastic Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine. He was the first Chair of the Department of Plastic Surgery as well as the first plastic surgeon selected as a Distinguished Teaching Professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center. He graduated from Baylor College of Medicine with high honors, and completed his plastic surgery training at the University of Michigan Medical Center and fellowships at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard (hand/microsurgery) and Oxford University (pediatric plastic surgery). He is Chair of the Dallas Rhinoplasty Meeting, Founding Chair of the Dallas Cosmetic Surgery and Medicine Meeting, Founding Member of the Alliance in Reconstructive Surgery, and a Founding Partner of the Dallas Plastic Surgery Institute.

He is the immediate past (after serving for 18 years) Editor-in-Chief of the most respected global peer reviewed plastic surgery journal  the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Journal. He is Founding Editor-in-Chief/Editor Emeritus of the first open access peer reviewed plastic surgery journal, PRS Global Open. Dr. Rohrich has published over 1000 peer reviewed articles and seven textbooks in plastic surgery including a best-selling medical book entitled The Facial Danger Zones. Dr. Rohrich recently published an innovative cosmetic surgery video atlas, Cosmetic Surgery by the Masters

Dr. Rohrich also served as president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), the largest organization of board certified plastic surgeons in the world. He repeatedly has been selected by his peers as one of America's best doctors. He received the ASPS Special Achievement Award and on three occasions has received one of his profession's highest honors, the Plastic Surgery Foundation (PSF) Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes his contributions to education in plastic surgery. In addition, he has also been recognized by the PSF with the Plastic Surgery Foundation Distinguished Career Researcher Award for his contributions to plastic surgery research and innovations.
Hyundai of Moreno Valley has added the 2023 Hyundai Venue to its inventory, providing customers with a new option in the compact crossover SUV market. With its stylish design and versatile features, the 2023 Venue offers a unique driving experience.

The spacious interior of the 2023 Hyundai Venue is well-equipped, offering a range of advanced safety technologies and performance features. Customers can take the vehicle for a test drive and see its capabilities first-hand with the assistance of the dealership's knowledgeable sales team.

The vehicle is available in several trims and configurations, including the SE, SEL and Denim, providing customers with various options. Its combination of style, performance and value has made it a popular choice among compact crossover SUV buyers.

Additionally, Hyundai of Moreno Valley offers top-notch auto services at competitive prices, using only premium parts and staffed by skilled technicians for quick and efficient appointments. Customers can also contact the dealership's customer service team by calling 951-900-4248 for more information about their services or assistance.

Individuals interested in the 2023 Hyundai Venue are invited to visit Hyundai of Moreno Valley, located at 27500 Eucalyptus Avenue in Moreno Valley, California, or check out their website at http://www.hyundaiofmorenovalley.com. With its standout features and sleek design, the 2023 Hyundai Venue is bound to make a lasting impression.
Chinese envoy urges lifting of sanctions to return "hope of survival" to Syrian children

Xinhua) 13:12, February 14, 2023

Zhang Jun (C, front), China's permanent representative to the United Nations, speaks at a Security Council meeting on children and armed conflict at the UN headquarters in New York on Feb. 13, 2023. Zhang on Monday called for an immediate lifting of unilateral sanctions by the countries concerned to return the "hope of survival" to children in countries like Syria. (Xinhua/Xie E)

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Monday called for an immediate lifting of unilateral sanctions by the countries concerned to return the "hope of survival" to children in countries like Syria.

Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, pointed to the "harsh reality" that unilateral sanctions are decimating the economic foundations and development capacity of the countries affected, robbing many children of their right to development and right to survival, which are the most fundamental of all rights.

In the aftermath of the powerful earthquake in Syria, the unlawful unilateral sanctions have led to a severe shortage of heavy equipment and search and rescue tools, raising grave concerns that many children under the rubble may have perished as a result of untimely rescue or insufficient rescue capacity, Zhang told a Security Council meeting on children and armed conflict.

"We urge the countries concerned to lift all their unlawful unilateral sanctions immediately without conditions, not to become accomplices to the natural disaster, not to rob Syrian children of their hope of survival, and desist from their hypocritical political grandstanding," he said.

Zhang said children are the most innocent group and the most vulnerable victims in armed conflicts, and stressed that conflict prevention and resolution must be the primary and ultimate means of protection.

The envoy highlighted the needs to seek political solutions to resolve conflicts, to act in accordance with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter in good faith, and to uphold true multilateralism, strengthen dialogue and cooperation.

The rule of law must be the fundamental guidance for prevention, Zhang said, adding that "supporting children's development must be the overarching direction of our endeavors."

"To effectively prevent violations against children, we must enhance the spirit of rule of law, and put into practice the requirements of international law on the protection of children in armed conflicts," he said.

Zhang urged "the last country in the world" that has not ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child to act without delay, "so that this vital Convention can truly achieve universal coverage."

The United States is the only country unwilling to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
POMPANO BEACH, Fla.M.D. Science Lab, maker of the Swiss Navy brand, confirmed that its Anal Jelly Premium Personal Lubricant is now shipping.

Said ACS, M.D. Science Labs vice president of sales and marketing Briana Watkins, "Its exciting because this product blends attributes from two of our bestselling items. It combines the most popular elements of our silicone-based Swiss Navy Premium Anal Lubricant with its clove leaf oil and our water-based Slip N Slide Premium Jelly Lubricant. Now consumers can experience the best of both formulas in an extra-thick water-based anal jelly enhanced with clove."

Swiss Navys Anal Jelly Premium Personal Lubricant is a rich jelly that provides an intimate cushion and conveniently stays where applied. It is recommended for personal, partnered, and pleasure product use.

The addition of clove leaf oil is unique in that it contains the active ingredient Eugenol, which is a natural anesthetic and has antimicrobial properties to help kill bacteria that can be important since medical research has found this particularly beneficial for those who participate in anal sex.

Added Watkins, "As always, we pay attention to what our retail partners are asking for and what consumers are seeking. This has led to our new-release products being perpetual top sellers."

To place an order for Swiss Navys Anal Jelly Premium Personal Lubricant, contact a Swiss Navy sales representative.

To see the latest Swiss Navy product range, visit swissnavy.com.

For sales and marketing resources, visit the Swiss Navys B2B Resource Center at b2bswissnavy.com.

Retailers and their staff are encouraged to sign up for free online certification training to become a certified Swiss Navy expert at swissnavycertifiedexpert.com.

For more information about M.D. Science Lab, email [email protected] or visit swissnavy.com.
Law Office of Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik De Blouw LLP For more information about the lawsuit against Hospitality Team Members, Inc., call (800) 568-8020 to speak to an experienced California employment attorney today.

The Los Angeles employment law attorneys, at Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik De Blouw LLP, filed a lawsuit against Hospitality Team Members, Inc. alleging the company violated Labor Code  2699, et seq. seeking penalties for DEFENDANTs alleged violation of California Labor Code  201-203, 204 et seq., 210, 221, 226(a), 226.7, 227.3, 510, 512, 558(a)(1)(2), 1194, 1197, 1197.1, 1198, and 2802. The lawsuit against Hospitality Team Members, Inc. is currently pending in the Placer County Superior Court, Case No. S-CV-0049842. To read a copy of the Complaint, please click here.

According to the lawsuit filed, Hospitality Team Members, Inc. allegedly failed to pay employees for all the time they were under the employer's control. This, allegedly, includes the time Plaintiff and other Aggrieved Employees had to submit to mandatory COVID-19 screening prior to clocking in for the day. To the extent that the time worked off the clock did not qualify for overtime premium payment, Defendant allegedly failed to pay minimum and overtime wages for the time worked off-the-clock.

PAGA is a mechanism by which the State of California itself can enforce state labor laws through the employee suing under the PAGA who do so as the proxy or agent of the state's labor law enforcement agencies. An action to recover civil penalties under PAGA is fundamentally a law enforcement action designed to protect the public and not to benefit private parties. The purpose of PAGA is not to recover damages or restitution, but to create a means of "deputizing" citizens as private attorneys general to enforce the Labor Code.

For more information about the lawsuit against Hospitality Team Members, Inc., call (800) 568-8020 to speak to an experienced California employment attorney today.

Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik De Blouw LLP is a labor law firm with law offices located in San Diego County, Riverside County, Los Angeles County, Sacramento County, Santa Clara County, Orange County, and San Francisco County. The firm has a statewide practice of representing employees on a contingency basis for violations involving unpaid wages, overtime pay, discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination, and other types of illegal workplace conduct.

***THIS IS AN ATTORNEY ADVERTISEMENT***
ASI Mining has commercialized its autonomous haulage solution and is rolling out industry wide.

In conjunction with the recent announcement from Roy Hill about its planned expansion of autonomous haul trucks from the current 10 to 96 using ASI Minings Mobius based autonomous haulage system (AHS) combined with Epiroc support, ASI Mining is announcing full commercialization of its AHS program.

The Product Verification Phase at Roy Hill included the operation of a mixed fleet of CAT 793F and Hitachi EH-5000 haul trucks operating under ASI Minings Mobius traffic management system (TMS). Full integration with Wenco, the fleet management system (FMS) used by Roy Hill, is also underway as part of ASI Minings interoperability with fleet management systems.

The phase included KPI performance verification of efficiency, productivity, and AHS availability using a fleet of ten (10) haul trucks operating in both ore and waste hauls at multiple locations within the Roy Hill iron ore mine.

With the validation phase complete, Roy Hill will move into the expansion phase to convert and operate the different truck models under Mobius representing a total fleet size of 96 haul trucks, making it the largest AHS site in the world.

Successful completion of this verification phase has enabled ASI Mining to fully validate the overall performance capability and operational safety of its system and establish the full level of related field services for deployment and support of its AHS product. Support of ASI Minings AHS globally will be through Epirocs distribution network, such as the one based in Perth Australia, supporting the Roy Hill deployment.

While Mobius supports AHS operations, it is an autonomous mining platform which supports other applications such as Mobius for Blasting, Mobius for Drills, Mobius for Dozers, etc. The Roy Hill AHS Project will focus on safe and highly productive operations and will leverage ASIs Mobius to achieve an integration platform which can continue to scale for future applications. The commercialization of AHS will now also enable bringing these other autonomous applications to market.

For further information about ASI Minings AHS or Mobius capabilities, please refer to the ASI Minings website at http://www.asirobots.com/mining.

About ASI Mining / ASI:

ASI Mining is partially owned by Epiroc, which acquired 34% of the company in 2018. ASI Mining is recognized for its products and solutions in robotics and autonomous vehicle technology including autonomous haulage, semi-autonomous blasting, drilling, dozing, loading and other applications. In addition to providing solutions for some of the worlds largest mining corporations, ASI Mining is also an automation partner for several global mining vehicle manufacturers. ASI Minings majority parent (66% shareholder), Autonomous Solutions, Inc. (ASI) is a world leader in industrial vehicle automation. ASI serves clients across the world in the mining, agriculture, automotive, government, and manufacturing industries with remote control, teleoperation, and fully automated solutions from its headquarters and 100-acre proving ground in northern Utah. Learn more at http://www.asirobots.com/mining.

Media Contact:

Drew Larsen

Director  Business Development

ASI Mining

1-435-755-2980

drew.larsen@asirobots.com
Were excited to partner with Colangelo & Partners to promote our cheeses from the mountain and their unique flavors to consumers across the country, with a focus on attracting the attention of younger generations, stated Maria Vittoria Finco, Marketing Manager, Monti Trentini.

Monti Trentini, a family run business located in the Trentino region of Italy with a long cheesemaking tradition, has chosen Colangelo & Partners, a fine food & wine-focused integrated communications agency, to increase awareness of Monti Trentini and their cheeses, and execute a comprehensive communications strategy in 2023.

The campaign will focus on educating and engaging trade and HORECA audiences as well as new and current consumers through strategic media relations, social media, events and brand partnerships.

Were excited to partner with Colangelo & Partners to promote our cheeses from the mountain and their unique flavors to consumers across the country, with a focus on attracting the attention of younger generations, stated Maria Vittoria Finco, Marketing Manager, Monti Trentini. Were looking forward to bringing added visibility to our brand story and presenting our products to the most influential press and food trade in the country, which will support our continued growth in the United States, one of our main export markets.

Colangelo & Partners will work on a range of traditional and new media relations activities to support Monti Trentini. The program is designed to introduce Monti Trentini to American audiences as a strong and reliable brand for food lovers, trade and restaurants, increasing popularity with food service & grocery buyers and keeping Monti Trentini top-of-mind as a legacy cheese producer from the Dolomite Mountains in the Trentino region of Italy. Colangelo & Partners will also be supporting the companys presence at trade shows and creating brand partnerships.

Were looking forward to being strategic and collaborative partners with Monti Trentini, commented Colangelo & Partners president, Gino Colangelo. Our team is excited to present to key trade influencers and media these high-quality, diverse mountain cheeses, helping the brand tell its story and achieve its goals of reaching new audiences.

Founded in 1925, Monti Trentini has an especially long tradition in the production of mountain cheeses made from the milk of mountain-grazing cows.

The company has always worked towards helping the mountainous regions economy, supporting dairy farmers by encouraging grass feeding techniques and emphasizing the care of mountain pastures - all of which are necessary for the upkeep of the mountain environment. Monti Trentini signature products include Grana Padano DOP, several ASIAGO DOP versions (from the pleasant tasting younger style to the older, matured Asiago), Provolone, aged truffle Caciotta and many more cheeses.

To learn more about Monti Trentini, please visit montitrentini.com

About Monti Trentini

Monti Trentini is a family run business with a long history of cheesemaking. The company has been operating in Grigno in the Trentino Region of Italy since 1989 while in Enego, on the Asiago Plateau, the historic Finco Dairy where this family cheesemaking tradition started still operates today. Monti Trentini keeps alive this love of the local territory, environment and high-quality products. The company makes a wide range of cheeses with cows milk collected daily from 150 small farms located in northern Italy and has an especially long tradition in the production of mountain cheeses, representing the Italian Dolomite Mountains. Today, the third and fourth generations of the family are continuing the activity in the Grigno dairy within a spectrum of five different departments where experienced and skillful collaborators work.

About Colangelo & Partners

Colangelo & Partners specializes in premium food, wine and spirits brands, and has long-established relationships with the key press that drive these business categories and help determine the industry leaders. Agency principals have years of experience in retail and distribution as well as communications, a rare combination that gives Colangelo & Partners invaluable insights into consumer purchasing behavior. The agency focuses on closing the loop between creative communications programs, distribution, promotion, publicity and the consumer in order to maximize the efficiency of its communications programs and deliver measurable results.
Loffler recognized as HP 3-Star Partner. A focus on empowering people and enhancing business value through sustainability earns Loffler an HP Amplify Impact Catalyst 3-Star partner designation.

Loffler Companies, an independent professional services organization dedicated to providing superior managed IT solutions, office technologies and services, is proud to announce that it has earned the HP Amplify Impact Catalyst 3-Star Partner designation.

This recognition demonstrates Loffler Companies commitment to delivering exceptional solutions and services to clients and underscores its commitment to sustainable business practices in the office technology industry. HPs Amplify Impact Catalyst 3-Star Partner certification training, resource and assessment program provides the opportunity for select HP partners to join HP in its efforts to generate meaningful impact on Climate Action, Human Rights and Digital Equity.

We are honored to receive the HP Amplify Impact Catalyst 3-Star Partner status, said James Loffler, President of Loffler Companies. This recognition confirms our dedication to providing world-class print and IT solutions to our clients, as well as our commitment to sustainability.

The HP Amplify Impact Catalyst program is designed to recognize and reward HP partners for their effort to achieve a more sustainable and equitable future, and for driving customer success. Loffler Companies has a long-standing relationship with HP and has consistently demonstrated a commitment to delivering innovative solutions that help clients achieve their business goals.

Loffler Companies provides the most comprehensive business technology solutions in the country, with experts who bring it all together to build secure, optimized technology environments. Lofflers offerings include IT managed and security services, business security systems, disaster recovery/business continuity, multifunctional copiers and printers, print management services, software and workflow technology consulting, professional IT services/consulting, unified communications, and on-site management of print and mail centers.

As one of the top Canon and Konica Minolta dealers in the U.S., Loffler Companies also works with leading partners such as Nutanix, Arctic Wolf, Microsoft, Mitel, 8x8, Xerox, HP, Lexmark and FP Mailing Solutions. These wide-ranging products and services exist for one purpose: to help organizations succeed. Lofflers specialized trainers, flexible billing and financing options at all price levels and award-winning service and support benefits all clients.

Founded by Jim Loffler in 1986, and now led by James Loffler, Loffler Companies is nationally recognized as a leader in business technology and managed services. Loffler is among the top office solutions dealers in the US for service and support, with more than 500 employees working every day to exceed the expectations of their clients, partners and the community. For more information about Loffler Companies, call 952-925-6800 or email information@loffler.com or visit us online at Loffler.com.
Logz.ios use of generative AI within our existing Cognitive Insights capability is a game changer, because it immediately can reduce MTTR, while extracting more value from less data, all at a lower cost.

Logz.io, provider of the industrys most efficient, simple-to-use observability platform, based on open source, today announced expansion of its AI-driven insight into the optimization of cloud applications and infrastructure through integration of generative AI. By combining the power of a large language model with its existing AI capabilitiesincluding the patented Cognitive Insights systemLogz.io further positions its Open 360TM platform as a modern, full-stack observability solution. Users benefit from the platforms continued innovation, driven by crowdsourced insights from its global community of engineering and ITOps professionals to reduce mean time to remediation (MTTR).

Through integration of generative AI, the Open 360 platform gains more powerful capabilities to recommend improvement steps for engineering, DevOps and ITOps teams working to optimize their cloud applications and infrastructure. Building on Logz.ios existing analytics capabilities, the inclusion of generative AI enriches the Open 360 platforms Cognitive Insights features with a vast array of known solutions to emerging availability, performance, resilience and security issues.

Business agility drives development agility, which in turn creates operational complexity and significant troubleshooting challenges, said Logz.io CTO and co-founder Asaf Yigal. Most companies collect far more data than they can operationally use, and they spend more money on their observability solutions each and every year. Perversely, all this data and money leads to fewer and fewer targeted insights that positively inform decision-making. Logz.ios use of generative AI within our existing Cognitive Insights capability is a game changer, because it immediately can reduce MTTR, while extracting more value from less data, all at a lower cost.

Users tapping into the Open 360 automated recommendation engine will now benefit from the vast wealth of related information incorporated by the generative AI model. All of this supports Logz.ios continued work to accelerate and increase the efficiency of observability for its customers. Unlike proprietary solutions where innovation often yields to commercial interests, Logz.io is fundamentally dedicated to incorporating every available resource that can benefit its users, such as generative AI.

*A History of Innovation, Driven by Open Source*

Logz.io began using supervised machine learning models in 2016 and expanded this capability with its crowdsource-informed Cognitive Insights feature. Committed to building with and supporting open source software, Logz.io remains at the forefront of harnessing innovative new technologies to help its customers by providing targeted data to help optimize cloud environments.

*How Logz.io Improved Cognitive Insights With Generative AI*

Heres how Cognitive Insights with generative AI reduces MTTR for ITOps.



An engineering team pushes new code into production and soon gets an alert. The DevOps engineer tasked with the project engages the Open 360 platform, which surfaces the most relevant issues to focus on. This reduces the need to search through exceptions and wade through a huge volume of logs, tracing and metrics data.

To accelerate the process of looking through exceptions, Open 360 uses machine learning to identify common patterns in log data, which filters out the noise of, for example, millions of similar logs.

The platforms Cognitive Insights capability automatically cross-references log data with crowdsourced data from the Logz.io community to uncover potential issues and provide actionable references from the web. It pieces together human interactions with log data, combining it with related intelligence from available social threads, discussion forums and open source repositories. This automatesand greatly shortensthe formerly manual task of identifying relevant events, enriching them with information about context, severity and relevance, all while also providing known paths to remediation.

By combining popular open source observability (OpenSearch, Prometheus and Jaeger) with generative AI, Cognitive Insights now helps users cast the widest net in gaining the latest monitoring, analysis, visualization and intelligence. Integrating generative AI with Cognitive Insights enriches crowdsourced data by additional sources of related information, all indexed by the large language model, vastly deepening the systems intelligence and reducing MTTR from hours to minutes.

Open 360 with Cognitive Insights augmented by generative AI gives engineers the data they need quickly, including links to related information and best practices for resolving the most relevant issues, empowering them to quickly take actions toward resolution in the production environment.

"We moved quickly to launch the first observability platform leveraging the power of generative AI," said Tomer Levy, CEO and co-founder of Logz.io. "Sure to be imitated by others, what weve pioneered will greatly enhance our Cognitive Insights capabilities and help our customers troubleshoot issues even faster, and speed is power in the battle against downtime and vulnerabilities.

About Logz.io

Logz.io helps cloud-native businesses monitor and secure their environment. Our Open 360TM Platform turns observability from a high-cost, low-value burden to a high-value, cost-efficient enabler of better business outcomes by combining and extending familiar, powerful and relevant open source capabilities across logs, metrics and traces  complemented by security monitoring in the form of cloud-based SIEM.

Now developers and engineers can employ an end-to-end, cloud-native observability stack built on scalable and easy-to-use open source using a single UI and unified agent  at a cost that anyone can afford. Unlock proactive troubleshooting, faster product delivery and a fully supported SaaS observability platform, all while compounding efficiencies in time and cost. For more information, visit https://logz.io/.
Esch McCombie, LEAP co-chair at McNees shares, Through this program, weve been given the opportunity to experience first-hand the incredible wealth of innovative and creative business talent that exists across our communities.

McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC today announced the official launch of its newly expanded Legal Equity Advancement Program (LEAP), which is now open to qualifying Black-owned and Black-controlled businesses in three states.

Now in its third year, LEAP helps Black-owned and Black-controlled businesses overcome barriers to entry that are caused, in part, by institutional racism. Each business chosen for the program is awarded one year of free legal services.

The LEAP Request for Qualifications Portal is now open to interested businesses and will remain open through March 6. Qualifying businesses will then be asked to submit an application for the program.

McNees started LEAP in southcentral Pennsylvania and last year expanded it to include Columbus, Ohio. Starting this year, LEAP now extends to parts of western, central and eastern Pennsylvania, as well as Frederick, Md.

We are thrilled to again offer this service to our community, and even more excited that we are expanding LEAP so significantly, said Adeolu Bakare, LEAP co-chair at McNees. Black-owned and Black-controlled businesses too often face high hurdles to getting started and staying operational over time. Our goal is to help break down these barriers and provide tools for sustainable growth and long-term success.

LEAP applications are now being accepted from qualified businesses located in the following areas:



Central Pennsylvania: Adams, Centre, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Huntingdon, Juniata, Lancaster, Lebanon, Mifflin, Perry and York counties

Eastern Pennsylvania: Chester and Delaware counties

Western Pennsylvania: Allegheny County

Ohio: Delaware, Fairfield and Franklin counties

Maryland: Frederick County

LEAP awardees gain access to nearly every practice area at McNees to help them with a wide range of business needs, including business organization or reorganization, tax, employment, real estate, intellectual property, Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) certification, and contract review, among others. In addition, recipients are offered educational webinars/seminars and networking opportunities.

To date 14 Black-owned or Black-controlled businesses have received free legal services through the McNees LEAP program. LEAP clients from 2022 included a Columbus, Ohio-based technology and coding boot camp, an affordable housing development company in York, Pa., and a healthy food and juice bar in Annville, Pa., among others.

We have been privileged to work with some incredible clients through LEAP over the past few years, said Esch McCombie, LEAP co-chair at McNees. Through this program, weve been given the opportunity to experience first-hand the incredible wealth of innovative and creative business talent that exists across our communities.

To learn more about LEAP or to apply for the program, visit http://www.mcneesleap.com.

McNees is a full-service law firm with more than 140 attorneys representing corporations, associations, institutions and individuals. The firm serves clients worldwide from offices in Devon, Harrisburg, Lancaster, Pittsburgh, Scranton, State College and York, Pa.; Columbus, Ohio; Frederick, Md.; and Washington, D.C. McNees is also a member of the ALFA International Global Legal Network.
We look forward to expanding our partnership models and continuing to build programs that are lasting, impactful, and driven by community input, said Rachel C. Vreeman, MD, MS, Chair of Global Health and Health System Design at Icahn Mount Sinai and Director of the Arnhold Institute.

The Arnhold Institute for Global Health at Mount Sinai has received $8 million from the Arnhold Foundation, enabling doctors, researchers, and students to advance its already-strong base of clinical education programs, training, research, and care services to address the worlds leading health issues and improve global health systems.

I am thrilled that the Arnhold family has generously reinvested in our vision and mission to serve the worlds most vulnerable people through the development of equitable, long-lasting global health partnerships, said Rachel C. Vreeman, MD, MS, Chair of Global Health and Health System Design at Icahn Mount Sinai and Director of the Arnhold Institute. We look forward to expanding our partnership models and continuing to build programs that are lasting, impactful, and driven by community input.

John Arnhold, a Trustee for the Arnhold Foundation, said, The Arnhold Institute for Global Health was established to develop and scale important health solutions for the people who need them most. Those solutions are best designed and built amidst those who are to benefit from them. Dr. Vreeman and her team have developed collaborative partnerships with exemplary organizations on the ground to make that happen. This work has great promise. Were delighted and grateful to be able to support it.

The Institute will continue offering education and research in global health issues and further collaboration among physicians, scientists, and trainees from Mount Sinai with organizations from around the world including other academic medical institutions, health systems, government partners, and community-based organizations in developing nations.

The Arnhold Institute for Global Health is improving health and health outcomes for diverse communities in the United States and abroad through innovations in health care practice, delivery, and systems, and collaborations with community and governmental partners to improve global health. Our mission is to advance science, medicine, and health care delivery for the benefit of humanity, and the work of the Institute furthers this mission, said Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of Icahn Mount Sinai, and President for Academic Affairs of the Mount Sinai Health System. The global pandemic has revealed vast health inequities across nations and communities and we have unprecedented opportunity to bring scalable solutions that improve global health and make all lives better. We thank the Arnhold family for their commitment to this important effort.

The Institutes current work includes programs to assist more than 40 community health workers in supporting newborns and their parents in Nepal; lifelong, holistic HIV treatments for more than 15,000 children and adolescents in Kenya; and scaling a care model and approachesincluding nurse trainingto treat high blood pressure and depression in rural Ghana. Experts from the Arnhold Institute are also a part of a Mount Sinai team working with the Government of Guyana to advise it on public health strategy.

Stateside and locally, the Arnhold Institute is a part of the New York City Partnership, a collaboration with NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst and Queens to engage in health care improvements, education, training, and research to address and meet the needs of local communities. During the height of the pandemic in 2020, the two health systems formed COVID-19 Unit for Research at Elmhurst (CURE-19) to support and conduct collaborative, interdisciplinary COVID-19 research to address root causes of health disparities throughout New York City. Last year, Mount Sinai and NYC Health + Hospitals also launched the HoPE Program, or Helping Promote Birth Equity Through Community-Based Doula Care, which provides free, community-based doula support to any pregnant person seeking care at either Elmhurst or Queens hospitals.

The Arnhold Institute for Global Health was founded in 2014 with support from The Mulago Foundation and the Arnhold Foundation, which advocates for health care, the environment, education, and international affairs. Through partnerships, the Institute has supported more than 52,000 local health care providers. Collectively, these partnerships have supported health care for 12.5 million people across three continents.

About the Mount Sinai Health System

Mount Sinai Health System is one of the largest academic medical systems in the New York metro area, with more than 43,000 employees working across eight hospitals, more than 400 outpatient practices, more than 300 labs, a school of nursing, and a leading school of medicine and graduate education. Mount Sinai advances health for all people, everywhere, by taking on the most complex health care challenges of our time  discovering and applying new scientific learning and knowledge; developing safer, more effective treatments; educating the next generation of medical leaders and innovators; and supporting local communities by delivering high-quality care to all who need it.

Through the integration of its hospitals, labs, and schools, Mount Sinai offers comprehensive health care solutions from birth through geriatrics, leveraging innovative approaches such as artificial intelligence and informatics while keeping patients medical and emotional needs at the center of all treatment. The Health System includes approximately 7,400 primary and specialty care physicians; 13 joint-venture outpatient surgery centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and more than 30 affiliated community health centers. We are consistently ranked by U.S. News & World Reports Best Hospitals, receiving high Honor Roll status, and are highly ranked: No. 1 in Geriatrics and top 20 in Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Diabetes/Endocrinology, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Neurology/Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, Pulmonology/Lung Surgery, Rehabilitation, and Urology. New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked No. 12 in Ophthalmology. U.S. News & World Reports Best Childrens Hospitals ranks Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Hospital among the countrys best in several pediatric specialties. The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is ranked No. 14 nationwide in National Institutes of Health funding and in the 99th percentile in research dollars per investigator according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. Newsweeks The Worlds Best Smart Hospitals ranks The Mount Sinai Hospital as No. 1 in New York and in the top five globally, and Mount Sinai Morningside in the top 20 globally.

For more information, visit https://www.mountsinai.org or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.


Having a reputable, financially sound insurance company is essential for disabled insurance agents. No one wants to buy insurance only to find out later that the company cant cover its claims. NAPA selected MetLife as a partner because of its long history as a market leader. -Sara Stein

The National Association of Professional Agents (NAPA) has partnered with MetLife to offer disability insurance to its members. NAPA offers a portfolio of insurance products and professional services, including Errors & Omissions, Life, Health and other ancillary offerings to over 100,000 independent insurance agents nationwide.

Providing options for both Long-Term Disability (LTD) and Business Overhead Expense (BOE) coverage, the new products will help agents cover personal and business expenses if they become disabled. The new program enables NAPA members to purchase up to $6,000 per month in long-term disability income and $20,000 per month in business overhead expense protection via an online application located on the NAPA website.

Both of the new benefits help protect enrolled members cope with periods of disability. These include:

 Survivor Benefit / Lump Sum Survivor Benefit

 Waiver of Premium

 Own Occupation Disability coverage

 No offsets with ongoing renewal commissions

 Many additional benefits

To view all program eligibility requirements and benefits, visit the NAPA website and review the benefit summaries.

According to Sara Stein, Senior Vice President, Group Member Programs, NAPA has a strong history of providing valuable insurance and non-insurance benefits to members.

Disability insurance is especially valuable because, without it, personal and business expenses can quickly deplete an agents assets, which can cause severe financial stress.

Stein added, Having a reputable, financially sound insurance company is essential for disabled insurance agents. No one wants to buy insurance only to find out later that the company cant cover its claims. NAPA selected MetLife as a partner because of its long history as a market leader.

The programs underwriter is MetLife, Inc., a leading global provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs.

For more information on the benefits of NAPAs insurance agent disability program, please visit the associations website. NAPAs licensed customer advocates can assist members via phone, online chat or email. Members can also schedule a personal consultation with a NAPA team member from the companys website.

NAPAs Long-Term Disability insurance is available in all states except Alaska, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Utah, Vermont and Washington.

Business Overhead Expense insurance is available in all states except Alaska, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Utah, Vermont and Washington.

Founded in 1989, the National Association of Professional Agents (NAPA) provides direct access to a full line of benefits and professional services tailored to the unique needs of insurance professionals. NAPA is based in Lakewood Ranch, Florida.
Foundation waterproofed by Penetron: The 36-floor Ascent St. Petersburg is a residential and commercial tower that includes 357 apartments, a hotel, and shopping and dining on the ground floor. This crystalline network significantly increases the durability and service life of concrete and also gives the PENETRON ADMIX SB-treated concrete structures of the Ascent tower the ability to self-heal and seal any micro-cracks that may occur in the future.

The Ascent St. Petersburg in St. Petersburg, Florida, welcomed its first residents in January 2023, as final details of the tower are completed over the next four months. PENETRON ADMIX SB, a crystalline waterproofing admixture, was specified as the concrete waterproofing solution for the below-grade elevator pits of the multi-use complex.

Ascent St. Petersburg, a 36-story residential and commercial tower in downtown St. Petersburg on Floridas west coast, comprises 357 rental apartments, a 172-room AC Hotel by Marriott, and over 6,800 ft2 (620 m2) of ground floor shopping and dining space. It will also have a four-story garage with 497 parking spaces. The apartments  available as studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom plus penthouse units  feature amenities such as two outdoor pools (on the 6th floor and the top floor), sun decks & cabanas, fitness gym, wellness studio, coworking spaces, and an elevated rooftop lounge (including a Cane & Barrel restaurant) with a terrace.

At a height of 358 feet (110 m), the Ascent is one of the tallest buildings in the citys skyline, with 360 views of Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, adds Christopher Chen, Director of The Penetron Group. Virtually every unit has glass balconies and there is also a restaurant and bar with an outdoor terrace on the eighth floor.

Designed by R2L Architects, the $117 million project located just three blocks from Tampa Bay, initially faced high groundwater levels present at the construction site. RSI, the projects concrete subcontractor, required a reliable waterproofing solution for the below-grade elevator matts. Thanks to the success of PENETRON ADMIX SB with numerous, similar large developments across Florida and our collaboration with Argos USA, the projects ready-mix concrete supplier, Penetrons crystalline waterproofing technology was specified.

PENETRON ADMIX SB, a crystalline waterproofing admixture in soluble bags, was added to the concrete mix during the batching phase in premeasured soluble bags. Unaffected by climatic conditions, PENETRON ADMIX SB creates a non-soluble crystalline network, which forms throughout the pores and capillary tracts of the concrete.

Christopher Chen concludes: This crystalline network significantly increases the durability and service life of concrete and also gives the PENETRON ADMIX SB-treated concrete structures of the Ascent tower the ability to self-heal and seal any micro-cracks that may occur in the future, minimizing the need for future concrete repairs for the Ascent tower.

The Penetron Group is a leading manufacturer of specialty construction products for concrete waterproofing, concrete repairs, and floor preparation systems. The Group operates through a global network, offering support to the design and construction community through its regional offices, representatives, and distribution channels.

For more information on Penetron waterproofing solutions, please visit penetron(dot)com or Facebook(dot)com/ThePenetronGroup, email CRDept(at)penetron(dot)com, or contact the Corporate Relations Department at 631-941-9700.
OceanTomo.com By understanding the factors that impact the economics of IP, companies can manage risk and make more informed decisions around whether to develop in-house, in-license, or acquire via M&A technologies important to the commercial success of the enterprise.

Ocean Tomo, a part of J.S. Held, announces the Intellectual Property (IP) Economics resource center. With content curated and created by Ocean Tomo Chief Economist and Special Advisor Dr. Alan Marco, the IP Economics resource center is a platform to share insights and experience for an enhanced understanding of the economic issues surrounding intellectual property rights and the IP system.

The IP Economics resource center helps businesses make informed decisions focused on creating, managing, and monetizing company intangible assets. Overseen by Ocean Tomo Chief Economist Dr. Alan Marco, former Chief Economist of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the IP Economics resource center is uniquely focused on the economics of IP, including the processes of IP creation, management, and dissemination. Through the IP Economics resource center, I will report on a wide range of topics, such as the economic value of patents, copyrights, trademarks, and other forms of IP and intangible assets; the economic incentives for innovation and creativity; the administration of the IP system, and the role of IP in competition and market structure, notes Dr. Marco.

Ocean Tomo Managing Director overseeing Intellectual Property Strategy and Valuation, Greg Campanella, observes, understanding intellectual property economics can improve IP management decision-making. He continues, by understanding the factors that impact the economics of IP, companies can make more informed decisions on whether to develop in-house, license, or acquire via M&A technologies important to the commercial success of the enterprise.

Companies can use their understanding of IP economics to negotiate better terms in IP licensing agreements and to make informed decisions about licensing out their IP, observes Ocean Tomo Managing Director Ryan Zurek.

Companies that operate across multiple countries can benefit from understanding the differences in national IP systems, notes Senior Managing Director Michael K. Milani, who oversees the global intellectual property practice of Ocean Tomo, a part of J.S. Held. Through the IP Economics resource center, Dr. Marco provides useful insights to companies to manage their IP and IP litigation risk profile across markets.

Please visit to learn more about the Intellectual Property Economics Resource Center and how the Ocean Tomo Chief Economist insights can impact your business: https://www.oceantomo.com/white-papers/intellectual-property-economics/.

About Ocean Tomo, a part of J.S. Held

Established in 2003, Ocean Tomo provides Financial Expert, Management Consulting, and Advisory Services related to intellectual property (IP) and other intangible assets; corporate accounting investigations; regulatory and reporting obligations; solvency and restructuring; and contractual or competition disputes. Practice offerings address economic damage calculations and testimony; accounting investigations and financial forensics; technology and intangible asset valuation; strategy and risk management consulting; mergers and acquisitions; debt and equity private placement; and IP brokerage. Subsidiaries of Ocean Tomo include Ocean Tomo Investments Group, LLC, a registered broker-dealer.

As a part of J.S. Held, Ocean Tomo works alongside more than 1500 professionals globally and assists clients  corporations, insurers, law firms, governments, and institutional investors  on complex technical, scientific, and financial matters across all assets and value at risk.

J.S. Held is a global consulting firm providing technical, scientific, and financial expertise across all assets and value at risk. Our professionals serve as trusted advisors to organizations facing high-stakes events demanding urgent attention, staunch integrity, clear-cut analysis, and an understanding of both tangible and intangible assets. The firm provides a comprehensive suite of services, products, and data that enable clients to navigate complex, contentious, and often catastrophic situations.
Content warning: This story contains discussion of sexual abuse. If you or someone you know is a survivor of sexual abuse, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or at https://www.rainn.org.

There are many thorny issues in reporting on shootings. One is what kind of context is appropriate to provide, and how it should be provided. The New York Times took particular fire for this on Tuesday with their coverage of the Michigan State mass shooting Monday night (which saw three students killed and five in critical condition, as of Tuesday afternoon). One of their live updates, from reporter Tiffany May, carried the headline of The mass shooting places Michigan State back in an uncomfortable national spotlight, and dove immediately into the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal. That drew strong reaction:

Get fucked NYT you goddamn clowns pic.twitter.com/5JtZp0crNF  Isaac (@WorldofIsaac) February 14, 2023

Kyle Koster also blasted this in an article at The Big Lead:

Allow me to be blunt. This sucks. Its mind-blowing that, in some misguided effort to wrap some sort of tidy bow around two disparate and heartbreaking tragedies affecting the same community, theyve assessed the carnage and opted to place optics over humanity. More than that, it defies belief that a human being with functioning empathy and respect for others thinks this way. It is not normal. And it deserves to be called out as such. This is a stark example of a global news brain clouding judgement and resulting in a flagrant disregard for the victims in each instance. Two monsters terrorized the same extended community. In the first instance, that community banded together to hold those responsible for making it worse accountable. The Nassar scandal still haunts so many who are connecting to the victims and that healing takes place in uneven steps on a level the New York Times or other publication can never hope to understand without diving in and rolling up their emotional sleeves.

Many of the criticisms of the Times handling of this feel deserved. Thats especially true with this context being about wide-ranging sexual abuse, which, as Koster notes, still haunts so many. Bringing that up in an article entirely unrelated to Nassar, except for overlap in the school this happened at, feels gratuitous, unnecessary, and potentially harmful. And Nassars sentencing came in December 2017; his story is not particularly recent.

Beyond that, the Times deserves criticism for the decision to make this a specific live update. That model of story typically sees different reporters filing short stories on particular aspects of a topic, which then are given specific headlines of their own and placed into the overall story feed. Bite-sized news chunks focusing on extremely specific elements around breaking news are often seen on their own rather than as part of a whole story, especially on Twitter. And the added headlines with the live update model add to the problem.

It seems unlikely that The mass shooting places Michigan State back in an uncomfortable national spotlight would be a headline or a subhead for an overall story on this shooting. But in live updates, that gets slid in alongside other pieces of context-more-than-news, such as Michigans governor called for stricter gun laws in a January address and Michigan State was one of the first land grant universities. So that leads to it receiving far greater prominence than it should.

But, as mentioned above, theres a case that Nassar should not have been mentioned at all in any coverage of this shooting. Thats true even if he had been mentioned in a smaller sentence or two near the bottom of a traditional story. Sentences buried in a traditional story would have been less prominent and drawn less attention than the specific way the NYT chose to bring the Nassar scandal in. But they would still be subject to some of the same criticisms, especially as day-one coverage of a tragedy with no apparent connection to the Nassar saga beyond it happening at the same school, and as something seemingly providing little news value and more potential harm. It might make more sense for outlets to avoid unnecessary references like this altogether.

[The Big Lead; top photo of the NYT headquarters in 2011 from Ramin Talaie/Getty Images]
Im excited and honored to be joining this valuable community of thought leaders." - Rick Watkin, President and CEO, KUBRA

Rick Watkin, President and CEO of KUBRA, a leading provider of customer experience management solutions for some of the largest utility, insurance, and government entities, has been accepted into Forbes Technology Council, an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs, and technology executives.

Rick Watkin was vetted and selected by a review committee based on the depth and diversity of his experience. Criteria for acceptance include a track record of successfully impacting business growth metrics, as well as personal and professional achievements and honors.

We are honored to welcome Rick into the community, said Scott Gerber, founder of Forbes Councils, the collective that includes Forbes Technology Council. Our mission with Forbes Councils is to bring together proven leaders from every industry, creating a curated, social capital-driven network that helps every member grow professionally and make an even greater impact on the business world.

As an accepted member of the Council, Rick has access to a variety of exclusive opportunities designed to help him reach peak professional influence. He will connect and collaborate with other respected local leaders in a private forum. Rick will also be invited to work with a professional editorial team to share his expert insights in original business articles on Forbes.com, and to contribute to published Q&A panels alongside other experts.

Finally, Rick will benefit from exclusive access to vetted business service partners, membership-branded marketing collateral, and the high-touch support of the Forbes Councils' member concierge team.

Im excited and honored to be joining this valuable community of thought leaders, says Rick Watkin, President and CEO of KUBRA. The dynamic nature of the technology sector challenges us to constantly evolve and innovate to meet customer expectations. Being able to tap into the wealth of expertise of other forum members and share experiences and best practices will greatly contribute to KUBRAs ability to stay a leader in customer experience.

About Forbes Councils

Forbes Councils is a collective of invitation-only communities created in partnership with Forbes and the expert community builders who founded Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC). In Forbes Councils, exceptional business owners and leaders come together with the people and resources that can help them thrive.

For more information about Forbes Technology Council, visit forbestechcouncil.com. To learn more about Forbes Councils, visit forbescouncils.com.

About KUBRA

KUBRA provides customer experience management solutions to some of the largest utility and government entities across North America. Our portfolio includes billing and payments, mapping, mobile apps, proactive communications, and artificial intelligence solutions for customers. With more than 1.5 billion customer interactions annually, KUBRA services reach over 40% of households in the U.S. and Canada. KUBRA is an operating subsidiary of the Hearst Corporation. Visit https://www.kubra.com for more information.
"You have to check in with different people and come prepared to have some downtime in between when you meet with the specialized members of staff that all play a crucial role."

Triple board-certified in general surgery, pediatric surgery and wound care, and with over 20 years of experience across numerous health systems throughout the United States, leading pediatric surgeon and medical instructor Dr. Kathryn Bass is offering critical insights into the most common questions that parents ask when their child is scheduled to undergo a surgical procedure.

Currently serving as Section Chief of Pediatric Surgery at Carilion Clinic in Roanoke, Virginia, and overseeing the pediatric surgical care for more than 1000 patients annually, Dr. Kathryn Bass emphasizes that every patient and operation is unique, and parents should always work closely with their childs healthcare provider. Still, there are practical tips that can help parents feel more comfortable and better equipped as they support their child through the common stages of pre-surgery preparation and post-surgery recovery.

Pre-Surgery Preparation:

According to Dr. Bass, it is essential for parents to understand and follow pre-op guidelines.

For instance, it is commonly required that patients avoid consuming solid foods for at least 8 hours and fast from clear liquids for at least 2 hours prior to surgery. While some might be tempted to give in to a hungry childs request for food, parents are much less likely to deviate from the rules if they understand it is meant to help keep their child a safe candidate for receiving anesthesia. It can also save them frustrations that might come with forgetting this important step, such as having to postpone the surgery for a later date. Dr. Bass advises parents to thoroughly review the pre-operation guidelines several times prior to arriving.

Another vital aspect of pre-surgery prep is for parents to ready themselves, their child, and any attending family members for a potentially lengthy period of time spent interacting with medical staff and then waiting during the operation. On the day of surgery, parents and children will typically meet various members of the care team, including the receptionist, pre-op nurse, anesthesiologist, OR nurses, and finally, the pediatric surgeon.

I usually make the analogy of going to the airport to take a trip: you have to arrive two hours in advance to check in with the airline, confirm your information and check your bags, and then check into the gate, said Dr. Bass. Coming in for surgery is a similar processyou have to check in with different people and come prepared to have some downtime in between when you meet with the specialized members of staff that all play a crucial role in the operation. The surgeon and OR team will take as much time as necessary to guide your child to their intended surgical destination safely. Though it may test your nerves, take comfort in that fact as you wait.

Every member of the surgical team fully understands the anxieties parents often feel when waiting for their children to come out of surgery. Therefore, Dr. Bass often encourages parents to bring along books, crosswords, or anything else to pass the time during the operation. At Carilion, Child Life Specialists are available to help distract children during the wait with options for age-specific play, including interactive video games, tablets, arts and crafts, and building sets.

Dr. Bass also recommends that parents bring a comfort item for their child, such as a favorite stuffed animal or blanket, to help calm and soothe during the check-in process. While most operating rooms do not allow a family member to be present, childrens hospitals often permit a parent to stay in the operating room up until their child is sedated.

Post-Surgery Recovery:

Following a procedure, parents will typically meet their child as they rest in the recovery room. However, Dr. Bass points out that parents should not be alarmed if their little one is still sleepy, disoriented, upset, or if they do not immediately recognize or respond to them or other family members. It is also important to ease the child back into eating, as anesthesia can increase the risk of nausea in the recovery room or even on the way home.

Many parents may want to reward or perk up their child after surgery with some of their classic favorite foods, but I typically advise parents that the first post-surgery meal should steer clear of things like pizza, ice cream, or French fries, explained Dr. Bass. The child should first consume liquids and then advance to something simple. After they have been able to keep down liquids, I recommend simple carbs, such as pancakes and scrambled eggsit tends to go down easier, and kids can still get excited about breakfast for dinner.

The length of the recovery process will generally depend on the childs age and the type of surgery. Just like in adhering to pre-surgery guidelines, Dr. Bass strongly advises that parents follow the surgeons instructions for post-surgery care, including monitoring the childs pain levels and administering prescribed pain medication as directed.

It is also important to monitor for signs of infection, such as fever, redness, or swelling at the incision site. Parents should be mindful of any activity restrictions and specific restrictions related to any areas of incision. Additionally, Dr. Bass always instructs children and their parents to manage any dressing well by keeping it dry. Dressings can sometimes be taken off at home, but other times, an appointment is required.

Like any post-surgery patient, children may feel tired or have a decreased sense of appetite, but they should gradually return to their regular spirits and energy levels as they recover from their operation. Nevertheless, Dr. Bass always encourages parents and caregivers to reach out to their medical provider for any specific questions that might be unique to their child or just for reassurance as they help their child recover.

PARENTS seeking more expert insights and practical tips related to pediatric surgery are invited to visit Dr. Kathryn Bass official website: http://www.drkathrynbass.com, where they can also get the latest news and updates from her personal blog. Be sure to follow Dr. Bass on social media, including: Twitter at @KDBassMD_, Instagram at @dr_kathryn_bass, and Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/KathrynBassMD.

PRESS MEMBERS who might be interested in speaking with Dr. Bass as a source for potential medical stories are invited to reach out directly by emailing micaela@redbanyan.com.

About Dr. Bass:

Dr. Kathryn Bass is Section Chief of Pediatric Surgery at Carilion Clinic in Roanoke, Virginia, double board-certified in general and pediatric surgery, where she also instructs students of the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine. She has served in many leadership roles during her expansive career of over 20 years, including Professor of Surgery, Director of a Level 1 Pediatric Trauma Center, and Co-Director of a Pediatric Wound Care Center. Her peers have recognized Dr. Bass as one of the nations leading pediatric surgeons, and she was honored as a Top Doctor in Western New York from 2010 - 2019.
Writer, the only full-stack generative AI platform built for business, today launches three new proprietary large language models (LLMs) designed for enterprise-ready generative AI. Palmyra Small (128M), Palmyra Base (5B), and Palmyra Large (20B) are the only in-production LLMs that were trained on a set of data specifically curated to power AI use cases for the enterprise.

Palmyra Small and Base LLMs are accessible via free download on Hugging Face. Writers enterprise customers have their generations all powered by Palmyra Large through the Writer platform, and Writer enterprise customers are also now able to integrate generative AI capabilities directly into their products and to scale and improve their experience with Writer via Writers new API to Palmyra Large.

Writer was built from the ground up to take AI into the enterprise. It all starts with our proprietary model, where customers own their inputs, training data, and outputs, said May Habib, CEO of Writer. No enterprise leader wants their data to be fodder for someone elses foundation model, including ours. We give customers all the benefits of the AI application layer without any of the risks of other AI applications and commercial models. Enterprise leaders want to invest in solutions that will essentially give them their own LLM."

Companies using Writer to bring AI into their business processes see unparalleled benefits 



Security and Privacy: Writer is enterprise-ready generative AI with the highest levels of security and privacy features. Unlike other AI products, a companys proprietary data, from internal communications to marketing on a website, is used only for the companys own benefit. And when building generative AI features into a companys own application, their customers data is protected from data leaks into open-source or third-party models. The data used to fine-tune a model or train a template doesnt make it into Writers or anyone elses models or templates. Writer is the only LLM company that is both Soc-2 Type II and HIPAA certified.

Personalized Results: Not only is Palmyra the only LLM trained primarily on business writing and marketing data, but customers can further fine-tune the model with their own data, brand, and style guidelines. Writer is also the only generative AI platform that can ingest text, videos, PDFs, audio, and perform live Internet crawls to generate, repurpose, research, analyze, and transform data for new contexts. Writer also fact-checks outputs.

Embedded AI in Workflows: Writer helps train teams on AI best practices and helps customers embed AI directly into a teams workflows. It is the only platform with both an API and an ecosystem of extensions delivering AI directly into +100 third-party applications.

Time and Cost Savings: Palmyra Small and Base are provided to customers for free, and allow users to complete specific tasks with a good set of example data. They are inexpensive to run and host, which makes them a much better option than using OpenAI. The Palmyra Large LLM and API are affordable options for enterprise organizations and are effective at both zero-shot and few-shot use cases. The cost is $0.01/1K tokens (half the cost of DaVinci-003) with unlimited fine-tuning for enterprise customers. Enterprise organizations have chosen Palmyra Large over other commercial models for its higher quality, lower latency, and affordability for at-scale use cases.

Additionally, with Writers API, anyone can integrate enterprise-grade generative AI content directly into their own applications and workflows. The API provides access to the Palmyra LLMs and can be fine-tuned with company data, taking into account everything from brand voice and word and character length to fact verification. It also ensures the security of a companys user and employee data. Proprietary data, from internal comms to marketing on a website, is not used to train the foundation model.

Every organization needs to figure out their generative AI strategy, said Habib. By making our smaller LLMs accessible to everyone and opening up the API to our largest generative model, were giving businesses access to the best LLM purpose-built for their needs.

Weve been using Writers API to integrate the output of our AI apps from Writer, as well as build our own applications and workflows. Were trying to bring AI into everything we do. The benefits of making an early strategic shift to incorporate AI throughout our company is helping us solve real business problems and uplevel our creative energy, said Ranjan Roy, VP of Strategy at Adore Me.

Writer is at the forefront of Generative AI, training their own LLMs to create value for businesses. Its super inspiring to see Writer share their proprietary models with the community in fully open source releases, and were happy to welcome the Palmyra text generation models to the Hugging Face Hub!, said Jeff Boudier, product director at Hugging Face.

About Writer

Writer is the only generative AI platform built for business. Unlike other AI products, Writers training happens securely on a companys own provided data and their style and brand guidelines. The result is content thats consistent and on-brand, whether the initial text came from humans or from AI.

Writer is enterprise-grade with all of the security and data privacy features needed for organization-wide rollouts. Writer is deployed widely at leading companies like UnitedHealthcare, Accenture, Intuit, UiPath, HubSpot, Spotify, Hilton, and Uber. For more information, please visit https://writer.com.
As NASCAR negotiates with current partners Fox and NBC on a new media rights contract, they are also negotiating with teams about how that revenue will be split among teams, the tracks, and NASCAR itself.

Denny Hamlin has been vocal about what the teams need in order to survive. The 23XI Racing co-owner and Joe Gibbs Racing driver opened up on what NASCAR Cup Series teams are facing, and what theyre seeking from the sanctioning body.

Hamlin revealed on his podcast, Actions Detrimental with Denny Hamlin, that teams asked for roughly double the percentage of what theyre getting now. Currently, teams get 25 percent of TV revenue, tracks get 65 percent, and NASCAR gets 10 percent. The reason why teams want the increase is because they have already cut everything they could and the sponsorship model has changed so much over the past decade or so that the sport needs to evolve to better suit those changes.

The biggest part of what we spend is on labor, Hamlin said. I mentioned on Twitter the other day that we pay probably better over time than any of the other teams that are out there. So we do our employees right. We do whats fair, we feel like, for them. But ever since COVID, things have really changed in the, its tough for some of these people that really have been flocking to NASCAR for so many years to want to flock to NASCAR to be part of the sport because they can make probably just as much being home half the time. And when you look at the schedule in which we put these guys through, its very hard for, theyre gonna have to love racing to wanna be part of it. Given the pay and the time that it takes on someones family. So we cant pay our people any more, and weve been paying them about the same for a very long time, and then the schedule. I mean, we are not a manufacturing facility at 23XI. We have to get most of our parts and pieces through Joe Gibbs Racing, and for those you who dont know, we cant just buy everything off the shelf. Theres over 300 parts that JGR manufactures that is on that race car that is not off the shelf, which is why it costs. The car initially supposed to cost about $250,000. Add in all those parts that we have to get manufactured from JGR to put on our cars, over 300 parts, and over $300,000 easily. Easily. So cars cost what they cost. The travel is what it is. We cant negotiate our hotel rooms. The labor is what it is. The tires cost what they cost. Theres nowhere else for the teams to cut, okay? And so, what the difference is, and while we have said that the teams need more share of the revenue is because sponsorship over the last decade or so has gone down.

Hamlin pointed out that the late 2000s recession helped kickstart this shift. But when you include added sponsorship opportunities in other sports, and the ability for a company to target their audience via information gathered from various tech sources, it has allowed companies to spend more effectively. And their marketing strategy may or may not include NASCAR.

Its not that NASCAR isnt worth sponsoring. The access and experiences that NASCAR can provide a company when they sponsor a race car is unlike anything in sports. But even if these unique experiences provide a return on investment, it doesnt change the fact that sponsorship revenue is down across the board.

While things seem dire, Hamlin revealed he is optimistic that a deal will be made. It will likely take a compromise between both sides, but things have improved, even over the past two weeks.

Obviously, the teams went public at the end of last year about how displeased they were with kind of what NASCARs offer was to them, Hamlin said. I will say though, and the latest developments that Ive learned, I believe that we will get a deal done. I believe that NASCAR and the teams are in a better spot now than they were two weeks ago We know what it costs to go race a competitive car. We just need more revenue share to do that. And I believe, and Im very optimistic, that the teams in NASCAR well get a deal done. I think its going to have to take some compromise on both sides, I really do. But I think the teams and NASCAR were miles apart, and I think that they both have made legitimate arguments. I think that, again, Ive said it many times, the leadership of [NASCAR president] Steve Phelps is very valuable in our sport. And he has a story to tell to the France family of why investing in the teams is the right play. And I think hes doing a good job of sending the message that we have explained to him of why that investing in us is the right thing to do. And I think that we are in a better place now than weve been in a very long time.

One thing that might help facilitate a deal between NASCAR and the teams is Hamlins reasoning that a deal will need to be made first before working out a deal with any TV partners.

No, I think NASCAR has to make a deal with us first, Hamlin said. I dont see how you go out and get the most money from a TV partner if you dont have your house in order. Thats kind of a weird way to say it, but certainly thats going to play a factor. No TV partner wants any interruption in service whatsoever. Describe that for the definition however you will, but they dont want any interruption in service. And with the teams publicly saying that they werent happy with the deal, that could throw up red flags for TV. And so I think NASCAR is more inclined to get a deal done with the teams that way theyre happy, heres what assets they can bring to the table. How can we maximize this deal?

Hamlin does a great job explaining the situation in a way fans can understand, and even makes an argument why the tracks feel they should keep their 65 percent revenue figure. Hamlin even makes a case why the largely unpopular charter system is necessary. It remains to be seen what will happen, but I agree with Hamlin that a deal gets done and will happen before NASCAR has a new media rights deal.

[Dirty Mo Media; photo from Gary A. Vasquez/USA Today Sports]
With her new YA thriller, Warrior Girl Unearthed, award winning and bestselling author Angeline Boulley takes readers back to the world of Firekeeper's Daughter, her acclaimed debut YA novel.

PW sat down with Boulley to chat about Warrior Girl Unearthed, returning to the world of Sugar Island, the Netflix adaptation of Firekeeper's Daughter, and a whole lot more.

Firekeepers Daughter offers a rich focus on Ojibwe culture paired with a tense thriller storyline. What can readers expect from Warrior Girl Unearthed?

Readers can expect a layered mystery, exciting heists, more Sugar Island, and a feisty protagonist!

How much do you draw from your own background within the Ojibwe community as you write?

I draw a lot from my experiences. I spent time most summers with my grandparents and cousins on Sugar Island. As an adult, I've lived and worked in three different Native American communities. I'm grateful to have such rich experiences to shape the stories I want to share.

I imagine it must be very difficult to write about missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. What can you share about that experience?

It is difficult, yet it's vital to give voice to those who cannot tell their stories themselves. Through storytelling I can share the person instead of the statistic. Each missing person is someone who matters.

What can you share about protagonist Perry?

Perry Firekeeper-Bircha chill, laid-back teen whose summer plans change when she wrecks the Jeep she shares with her twin sister and must accept the last spot in her Tribe's paid internship program. As she begins her summer job in the tribal museum, Perry learns that a local college museum is refusing to return ancestral remains and sacred items that had been stolen from Sugar Island. Outraged, Perry is determined to get the ancestors back. She is someone who acts first and thinks about the consequences down the road.

Will readers recognize any characters they first encountered in Firekeepers Daughter?

Yes! There are familiar faces. Granny June fans will be pleased.

Cover art can be a readers first impression of a book. Can you talk about what Caldecott Medalist Michaela Goades cover art illustration brings to the story?

Michaela Goade uses vivid colors and layered images to convey the story. I find more to love each time I gaze at the beautiful cover! My favorite detail is the way Michaela used Perry's hair tumbling over her shoulder to become a river with fish. To Perry, fishing is life.

Between Daunis from Firekeepers Daughter and Perry from Warrior Girl Unearthed, which character do you feel the strongest connection to personally?

I am much more like Dauniswe overthink everything. Perry was refreshing to write because she says exactly what's on her mind. She is brave, funny, and clever.

Can you tell us anything about the Netflix adaptation of Firekeepers Daughter?

The showrunner and head writer are working on the script for the pilot. Then they'll assemble a writers room to work on the rest of the scripts for the first season. I cannot wait to hear about casting choices and filming locations. I'm ready to watch it now, but these things take a lot longer than I thought.




Ana Gasteyer says American Auto continues to balance "goofball workplace comedy" with social criticism in its second season.

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"It feels relevant. It doesn't feel like it's just ignoring everything that's going on in the world around us," the 55-year-old actress told UPI in a recent phone interview.

"It is trying to make light of it and trying to find the ways in which it is ironic and funny. The characters are so fallible."

Airing Tuesday nights on NBC, American Auto follows Gasteyer as Katherine -- who has a background in the pharmaceutical industry and little interest in cars -- as she takes over the fictional Detroit-based car company, Payne Motors, and upsets the status quo.

The cast also includes X Mayo as Katherine's assistant, Dori; Michael Benjamin Washington as Cyrus, the company's chief product designer; Jon Barinholtz as Wesley, the rich heir to the company who has no official job or title; Humphrey Ker as corporate lawyer Elliot; and Harriet Dyer as Payne marketing director Sadie.

Coming back for Season 2 was easy because the world and characters were already established, Gasteyer said.

"Just as actors, you know the territory, you know the set. It really feels like we work at Payne now," she said.

"We know one another. We know our rhythms. We know the jokes that land in other people's voices well. All of that is great.

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"This season is much more about the gang coming together to save the company vis a vis the employees being afraid of new leadership and losing their jobs, which put me at odds against them [in Season 1]."

Asked if Katherine's hilarious lack of affection for the cars she peddles will change in the new episodes, Gasteyer laughed and replied, "Ever so slightly."

"She is still pretty steadfastly stupid about cars," the comedian said.

Even if Katherine wanted to learn more about her trade, she would be distracted by the many public relations and human resources crises plaguing her company.

"She is putting out those fires -- literally and figuratively. The screws just keep getting tighter on her and she hasn't really had much of a shot to just sell cars," Gasteyer said.

Season 2 sees Katherine voted "Most Hated CEO" after the company is accused of covering up its use of faulty parts on its vehicles.

After many disastrous attempts to rehabilitate her image, Katherine finally makes a sincere public apology on Late Night with Seth Meyers

"It was interesting and challenging and human," Gasteyer said about the scene.

"On the one hand, I do think it is a chess move. I think she understands that, 'If I play this vulnerable now, I'll probably get away with it.' But also, look, she genuinely wants to be good at her job and everybody wants to be liked."

Gasteyer said she felt sorry for her character because "she was in over her head" on Meyers' talk show.

"He's sharp. He's funny. She was impressed by him and she keeps her cool in almost every situation," she said.

The situation was slightly surreal because Gasteyer previously worked with Meyers on Saturday Night Live and is a frequent guest on his show, which is taped in the studio in which she auditioned for SNL decades ago.

"I've spent a lot of time on that couch as a performer," she noted.

"So, it was odd playing Katherine, who I know would be really freaked out to be on that couch. Even the most rock-star CEO is not accustomed to performing in that capacity, so I was aware of how 'on the line' she felt and it was fun to play. It was fun to find that. It was also fun to make Seth be mean because he is the nicest guy."

Gasteyer said many SNL veterans feel connected for life and continue to collaborate long after they've left the iconic sketch-comedy show.

"It is truly a fraternity. It's a family system. You never escape," said the actress, who has also worked with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler on Mean Girls and Wine Country, with Rachel Dratch on A Clusterfunke Christmas and with Adam Sandler and Andy Samberg on That's My Boy.

"It is such a unique and anomalous situation," she said of being an SNL player. "Even in show business, which is full of unique and anomalous situations, it is a lifelong bond, for sure."

Gasteyer doesn't worry when numerous cast members leave the show at the same time every few years, sparking fan and media speculation that SNL will never recover, because she knows there always will be talented newcomers waiting in the wings.

"It's the nature of the beast. That's what they do. They ebb and they flow and then another political year comes around and everybody tunes in," she said.

"It's the last piece of live commentary in real time on television. We've got TikTok, but if you've seen my most recent interview with Seth [we talked about] how that is hardly about developing an idea.

"Sketches have a beginning, a middle and an end and people will tune in to see the latest and most relevant [commentary] on any current event."
Danielle Maltby / Instagram

By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 02/13/2023



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Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.

alum Danielle Maltby has revealed she's starting to get settled in her new Cleveland apartment, only days after she left Nashville with a bang!"Things are slowly coming together in my place," Danielle told her followers via Instagram Stories on Monday, adding how she's in the process of selecting a new mattress for her bed.And on Sunday night, Danielle watched the Super Bowl with boyfriend Michael Allio and his young son James. The trio looked cozy on a couch and were all smiles.Last week, Danielle took to Instagram to bid farewell to her friends in Nashville, TN, where she lived for 12 years prior to her move to Ohio to be closer to Michael.Danielle's friends apparently threw her an epic goodbye party, with a variety of good food and live musical performances."As I write this, my mom is taking the first shift driving up to Cleveland. This week I have been overwhelmed with love," Danielle captioned a video of the big bash."Nashville was my rebirth. I moved here a shell of myself after [my former fiance Nic Haag] had passed [from a drug overdose in 2011]. Craving a fresh start and to not be blasted with memories everywhere I went."The neonatal nurse and model continued, "Throughout the last 12 years -- the universe, God, what ever invisible thread that connects us has brought some of the most important people into my life. People who have loved me, taught me, shaped me and people who became family," Danielle shared."One of the most special things connecting all of us was music and family dinner nights... truly beautiful shared [experiences] of fulfilling food and music."Danielle thanked and gave shout-outs to specific friends, including "the most incredible hosts and smoker of meats," who always opened their home for "the deepest convos and warmest campfires.""It was the perfect send off," Danielle gushed. "I know I'm a snob when it comes to music, but I blame it on the insanely talented writers and musicians in my life. All of whom took the mic and shared their gifts for @michael_alliol4 and I. I love you, my chosen family."Michael commented on Danielle's post, "Beautiful. These people are honestly some of the most talented and inspiring people I've ever met. Listen to their music guys... you'll see what I mean."Michael also gushed about the goodbye party in an Instagram post of his own last week."I knew @dmmaltby was loved, but after this weekend in Nashville, it became all so clear. We spent last weekend not only packing and prepping for her move to Cleveland this week but also spending quality time with her amazing, talented friends," Michael wrote."It may sound like I'm surprised... but I'm not. Rather, I'm in awe of what she has built for herself over the last decade. The amount of authentic love that people have for her is indescribable and quite frankly beautiful. It's really the result of years of showing up for everyone that needed her."Michael pointed out how her friends threw her "a full blown concert" for a farewell party."If that's not love, I'm not sure what is. In the end, her love belongs to so many. I recognize that and I love that about her," Michael boasted about his girlfriend."I'm blessed to receive it... knowing full well... that her love is anything but just mine. We got a great one! Let's welcome this beauty to Cleveland in all the best possible ways! Here's to new beginnings."Danielle dubbed February 6 her official "moving day" in Nashville."I'm moving up to see Michael, moving on up to Cleveland. Things are really empty. This is crazy but I'm so grateful," she wrote on Instagram Stories at the time.Michael, originally from Akron, OH, welcomed James during his marriage to his late wife Laura Ritter-Allio, who passed away from breast cancer in 2019.In early December, Michael revealed on Instagram Stories that Danielle would be leaving Nashville and making the move to Ohio in two or three months.Danielle proceeded to let fans know at the time she was apartment hunting and looking for a job as a nurse near Michael's stomping grounds.During a late January Q&A session on Instagram, one of Michael's followers asked for an update on Danielle's move."It's been crazy busy!" Michael noted. "She's moving to Cleveland ! She found an awesome place and got an awesome job. It's all looking good. This is going to be an awesome year!"Michael said he was doing "really good" and was "excited about the future" with Danielle.Michael spent Christmas 2022 with Danielle and his family in Akron, before the couple traveled to Wisconsin to spend part of the holiday with his girlfriend's family.The couple then enjoyed a sexy evening out for New Year's Eve in Chicago, IL, with Danielle's friends.On last summer, Michael was romantically interested in Sierra Jackson , but he ultimately determined something was "missing" between them and he was unable to let his walls down due to grief.But when Danielle stepped foot on the Paradise beach in Mexico, Michael seemed ecstatic and affectionately called her "Dani."They had spoken via DMs on Instagram and become friends prior to filming the show but claimed they had never met in person.Michael and Danielle were able to connect quickly over their similar losses and traumas. The pair slowly got to know each other and never expressed interest in dating anyone else on the show.Michael and Danielle chose to leave together as a couple before overnight Fantasy Suites. They both determined they weren't ready to get engaged, especially because Danielle had yet to meet James.However, Michael revealed on the reunion show in November that James quickly came to adore Danielle and never wanted her to leave when she was visiting. Danielle also confirmed that she felt the same way about James and couldn't wait to be a bigger part of his life.Michael also announced on the reunion show that he's "in love" with Danielle and she had changed his life for the better. Danielle is only the second woman whom Michael has ever said, "I love you," to.While Danielle had no reservations about moving to Ohio in order to progress her relationship with Michael naturally, she explained how they don't want to live under the same roof -- at least not yet -- as to not rush things or disrupt James' comfortable routine."I'm just so excited," Michael said on social media in December of Danielle's decision to uproot her life for him."Long distance is difficult, but we've made the best of it and this next chapter and upcoming year is one I am so looking forward to. She's the best!"Interested in more The Bachelor news? Join our The Bachelor Facebook Group
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Ireland is currently the assistant news editor for The Red & Black and served as an events beat reporter in the Fall of 2022. She is a senior journalism major with a minor in music, and is passionate about storytelling and community news.
The Red & Black asked members of NPHC sororities and fraternities about their experiences in the organizations and what they wished other students understood about NPHC.
The outdoor Wi-Fi will be out on North Campus until Thursday at 5 p.m., according to an Instagram post from the University of Georgia Enterprise Information Technology Services on Tuesday.

The post said Wi-Fi access will be limited and advised students to plan accordingly.
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Many factories now have empty order books, says a Zhejiang-based businessman. An employee [shown] works on a production line manufacturing steel structures at a factory in Huzhou, Zhejiang province, China, in 2020.

A slump at Chinese manufacturers making everything from electronics to clothing is sparking a wave of strikes and labor disputes that will likely intensify in the coming year, a Hong Kong-based labor rights group said in a recent report.

"Based on our observations in 2022, the business closures and market reshuffling within various industries in China will likely become more intense in 2023," the China Labour Bulletin said in its annual report in January.

The group cited a recent decision by iPhone plant Zhengzhou Foxconn to dismantle at least five production lines, while factories in the southern city of Guangzhou's "garment village" have been producing intermittently or even shutting down altogether, slashing workers' income.

"At present, the average monthly salary is only one-third or one-half of their previous income," the report said.

Retailers, real estate companies and factories catering mainly to foreign markets will all face greater pressure, the group predicted.

"Whether China's official channels can effectively handle the labor conflicts between workers and enterprises under the increasing layoffs and wage arrears will be telling for the levels of unrest on the ground in the coming years."

Unrest bubbling

Already, unrest is erupting across the country. Workers at Foxconn's Zhengzhou plant clashed with police in November, as hundreds of laborers protested delayed bonus payments amid mounting anger at Chinas zero-COVID policy.

Police in the northeastern province of Liaoning detained solar energy tycoon Li Hejun, who was once listed by Forbes as the richest man in China, in December amid reports of wage arrears at several companies in the Hanergy group he founded.

Meanwhile, angry protests seen at a former COVID-19 test-kit factory in the southwestern city of Chongqing on Jan. 7 came after months of wage theft by labor recruitment agencies, a former Zybio worker said in an interview at the time.

Security personnel in protective clothing attack a man during a protest at the factory compound operated by Foxconn Technology Group in Zhengzhou in central China's Henan province, Nov 23, 2022. Credit: Associated Press





The China and Foreign Toys Network reported that five traditional toy companies showed a loss in net profits last year, according to the China Labour Bulletin annual report, while a housewares factory in Guangdong province was in arrears with its workers for three months amid an ongoing decline in the sector.

"The industry has been in decline for years, and many manufacturers face bankruptcy," it said.

Manufacturing has also been hit by three years of rolling lockdowns, transportation restrictions and mass quarantine under Chinese leader Xi Jinping's zero-COVID policy, which ended in early December following mass protests around the country.

Empty book orders

Zhejiang-based businessman Liu Xiaoyi many factories now have empty order books, and many major container ports are slowing down considerably.

"The throughput of Shanghai's ports may be overtaken by Singapore this year," Liu said. "The Americans have taken their orders elsewhere due partly to sanctions but also due to domestic factors which play a big role."

A Zhejiang resident who asked to remain anonymous said the clothing factories where she lives are laying off staff.

"There has been a big collapse, taking the textiles industry around where I live as an example," the woman said. "All the factories would usually be very busy at this time of year, but this year layoffs have become the norm."

"I don't think it's going to get any better over the next few years."

A Zhejiang-based businesswoman said she had lost millions of yuan after a factory she invested in shut down after just a few months.

"The main reason was that there were no orders," she said. "There were no new orders for more than six months. Now the factory I set up has gone bankrupt, and I'm going to have to sell off the machinery just to maintain the status quo."

A shoe factory owner from Zhejiang said nobody expects business to recover soon.

"Our family has been in business for more than 10 years, and we have never experienced business as bad as it is this year," the factory owner said.

Nobody expects business to recover soon, says a shoe factory owner from Zhejiang province, China. Employees [shown] work at a shoe factory in Zhejiang in 2013. Credit: Reuters





"In the past, we would get orders for more than 100,000 pairs of textile shoes from customers in Harbin and Shenyang [or] Zhengzhou," he said. "This year, customers are saying that business is non-existent, so our factory has no orders."

Economic shift

President Xi Jinping had also begun rolling out a number of policies aimed at shifting China's economy away from its traditional export-led manufacturing base once dubbed "the workshop of the world" to an economy driven by domestic demand and the policy aims of the ruling Communist Party.

"The countrys debt crisis, expansion of the real estate industry, and property market free fall have increased the incidence of protests for unpaid wages, especially in light of corporate bankruptcy," China Labour Bulletin said, adding that manufacturing is also in the process of transitioning to high-tech production.

Zhejiang-based company founder Lu Wannian said his home province was once a major exporter of clothing and other household goods.

"Nowadays, the bosses of many companies are unwilling to do it any more," Lu said. "Some were even saying they'd rather be migrant workers ... it's just not worthwhile for them to go into business."

"Foreign trade has declined, exports have declined, and the real estate sector is over."

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.
Over 6,000 U.S. troops are expected for the largest combined military exercise in the Indo-Pacific.

U.S. Marines rest on top of amphibious assault vehicles during the joint Cobra Gold exercise in the coastal Thai province of Rayong on February 28, 2020.

Updated at 2:00 p.m. ET on 2023-02-14

The United States will deploy its largest contingent in 10 years to the Cobra Gold Exercise 2023 in Thailand as the two long-standing allies celebrate the 190th anniversary of diplomatic ties, officials from both countries said Tuesday.

The 42nd iteration of the Indo-Pacific regions largest combined military exercise will include China as a partner in a humanitarian assistance mission, even though the Sino-U.S. relationship is shaky in the wake of the U.S. downing of an alleged Chinese spy balloon that intruded into its airspace. Myanmar was not invited to join as an observer.

This year, the United States will bring more than 6,000 personnel to participate in exercise Cobra Gold  the largest U.S. participation in Cobra Gold in a decade, said Col. Kurt Leffler, senior defense official and Defense Attache to the Kingdom of Thailand, and the Chief of Joint U.S. Military Advisory Group (JUSMAG).

Weve certainly returned to a Cobra Gold of Old in terms of scale, said Leffler, who also serves as chief of Joint U.S. Military Advisory Group.

The drills are set to take place between Feb. 27 and March. 10, in the Thai provinces of Lopburi, Chanthaburi, Sa Kaeo and Rayong.

The exercises were scaled down over the previous three years because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, the U.S. sent less than 1,300 troops to the exercises which drew a total of less than 3,500 participants.

In terms of scope  the quantity and complexity of exercise events, this Cobra Gold will surpass what has come before, Leffler told a news conference at the headquarters of the Thai Armed Forces, adding that this years exercise prioritizes cyber and space training.

We have brought cooperation in the cyber and space domains into the exercise, and are experimenting with new operating concepts to prepare for whatever novel threats the future holds, he said.

Limited seats

Co-organizer Thailand said 7,394 troops from 30 countries would participate as exercise partners or observers excluding Myanmar.

It was not immediately clear how many Thai troops would join the training exercises.

We have not invited Myanmar to participate in this exercise because we have a limited number of seats, Gen. Thitichai Tiantong, Thailands Armed Forces chief of staff, told the news conference, saying the country had been invited in the past.

The major partners will be Thailand, the U.S., Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, South Korea and Malaysia. China, India and Australia will join in the humanitarian aid mission.

Exercises range from field training with live fire to humanitarian civic assistance.

The new U.S. ambassador to Bangkok, Robert Godec said the security partnership and Cobra Gold are important because the Indo-Pacific region accounts for almost two-thirds of the world economy and economic growth over the past five years.

At least a third of global maritime trade goes through the Indo-Pacific region. Our shared security partnership ensures that the goods exported by Thai and American business owners can continue to flow freely, enhancing our shared prosperity, he said.

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news organization.
China plans to launch a visa program that will allow senior scientists, healthcare professionals and others to enter and leave Hong Kong and Macau more freely. Here, people line up at a Beijing government office that provides services that include getting or renewing passports or permits to go to Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, after China reopened its borders, Jan. 9, 2023.

China has unveiled a new visa scheme that could draw a large influx of highly qualified people to live and work in Hong Kong, which has seen a mass exodus of people since the ruling Chinese Communist Party launched a crackdown on dissent in the wake of 2019 protests.

China's Exit-Entry Administration will launch a pilot scheme from Feb. 20 that will allow senior scientists, healthcare professionals and investment arbitrators to enter and leave Hong Kong and Macau more freely, in a move commentators said could hamper social mobility for Hong Kongers who remain in the city.

The move comes after media backed by the ruling party called for schemes to balance out the exodus of highly-trained professionals, who have been leaving Hong Kong in droves in recent years, prompting concerns of a brain drain affecting major companies, education and healthcare.

Successful applicants to the scheme will be given a multiple entry visa for Hong Kong and Macau, the Exit-Entry Administration of China said in a Feb. 9 statement on its official website.

According to the notice, the scheme is being administered entirely by Chinese immigration officials, despite promises that Hong Kong would police its own borders following the 1997 handover to China.

The new visas were announced unilaterally by Beijing, with Hong Kong having no say in the matter, current affairs commentator Sang Pu said.

"The people of Hong Kong have no right to say no or to approve any of this," Sang said. "The Hong Kong government isn't representative of public opinion, and [Beijing] wouldn't trust it to do anything [any more] anyway."

"If the Chinese government issues a directive, Hong Kong will accept it," he said. "There used to be room for discussion before, back in the era of [former chief executives] Donald Tsang and Leung Chun-ying."

No longer the same

Hong Kong is no longer the place it used to be, Sang said, adding that China has been moving to erase the internal border between Hong Kong and neighboring Chinese cities of what Beijing terms the "Greater Bay Area" in the Pearl River Delta region.

"They want to tear down the walls [that once existed] under one country, two systems," he said, in a reference to promises from Beijing that the city would retain its traditional freedoms and govern its own affairs with the exception of foreign affairs and defense, and maintain its own immigration border following the handover.

"The loosening of requirements will intensify Hong Kong's integration into the Greater Bay Area and prepare it for full integration into communist China," Sang said.

Visitors attend the International Immigration and Property Expo in Hong Kong, in 2021. The expo offers information and resources for Hongkongers looking to leave the city. Hong Kong has seen a net outflow of people in recent years. Credit: Reuters





Officials at Hong Kong's immigration department confirmed on Monday night that all queries relating to the visa scheme should be addressed to the mainland Chinese authorities.

A person familiar with the matter said frontline immigration staff in Hong Kong only found out about the scheme via media reports.

Boost mutual cooperation

China already runs a "two-way permit" scheme governing which of its nationals are allowed to visit Hong Kong for tourism, family visits, business meetings, training, employment and study.

The directive announcing the new scheme gave scant details of any quotas or what exactly constitutes "talent" from the point of view of the authorities.

Hong Kong leader John Lee said on Monday that he plans to visit local leaders in neighboring Guangdong province "in the near term," and make a tour of Greater Bay Area cities "to boost mutual cooperation to a higher level."

According to Hong Kong media reports, the new visa scheme will likely spark a large influx of middle-class and relatively wealthy people, as well as highly qualified professionals, from mainland China to Hong Kong.

Former Cable News finance channel director Yim Po-kung told local media that the scheme seeks to replace the middle-class professionals who are emigrating with their families to avoid living under the draconian national security law, imposed by Beijing on Hong Kong from July 1, 2020.

"These so-called new Hong Kongers will mostly be taking over executive- and management-level jobs," Yim said. "Local Hong Kongers won't be paid such high salaries."

He said if Hong Kongers elected to stay, they could find a glass ceiling obstructing future promotions or raises.

"Will they be able to rise to the next level, and will the competition be fair in future?" he said. "Hong Kong used to be more about ability than background, but ... it could be that young people's chances of promotion will be affected under a new governing class."

Marginalized

Commentator Simon Lee agreed, saying Hong Kongers who had always lived in the city could be marginalized as mainland Chinese people replace those who leave.

"There may not appear to be much difference on the face of it, but eventually they will start to feel that [the incoming professionals] won't regard them as one of their own," Lee said.

"In any face-off between highly qualified Hong Kongers and people coming in from the north, the Hong Kongers will basically lose," he said.

Hong Kong officials have been traveling the region in recent months in a bid to attract fresh talent, particularly younger people, to settle in the city as a crackdown on dissent continues to drive middle-class families to flee the former British colony.

Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun made a trip to Singapore and the Philippines earlier this month to peddle the "advantages" offered by Hong Kong's proximity to mainland China and its growing integration with other cities in the Pearl River Delta under the "Greater Bay Area" plan.

Chief Executive John Lee announced a slew of measures last October including a scheme aimed at enticing graduates from the world's top 100 universities, including two in Singapore, to come and work in the city.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Matt Reed.
The comments come as the US says it has recovered key parts of a balloon downed in its airspace.

Taiwans Ministry of National Defense has dismissed concerns about China flying spy balloons over the island while the U.S. said it has recovered significant debris from the balloon that was taken down off the coast of South Carolina.

The U.S. Northern Command said in the latest statement that its crews have been able to recover all of the priority sensor and electronics pieces identified as well as large sections of the structure of the balloon.

These key sensors will now be analyzed by specialists to determine the devices surveillance capabilities.

On Monday, White House national security spokesman John Kirby told media that U.S. authorities were able to determine that China has a high-altitude balloon program for intelligence collection that's connected to the People's Liberation Army.

"We know that these surveillance balloons have crossed over dozens of countries on multiple continents around the world, including some of our closest allies and partners," he added.

Copies of the Chinese Daily News newspaper showcase pictures of the Chinese balloon, in the Chinatown district of Los Angeles, Feb. 5, 2023. Credit: AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes

Taiwans military on Tuesday said that so far all Chinese balloons detected in Taiwans airspace have been weather balloons and not threatening to national security.

Maj. Gen. Huang Wen-chi, Assistant Deputy Chief at the General Staff for Intelligence, told a press briefing that the number of detected balloons from China now "are in accordance with the number of weather balloons it sends each year."

These balloons are small in size and light in weight. They will burst automatically when flying to a certain altitude, Huang said.

Taiwans military has the same procedure of handling airborne security threats as the U.S. military, he said, and would shoot down any balloon that poses a serious threat but so far there has been no need.

Taiwanese officials said that four batches of Chinese balloons were detected flying over northern Taiwan in February 2022 but all four were likely to be meteorological or scientific.

Chinas balloon program

Taiwan has enough experience in dealing with threats from China, said Shen Ming-shih, acting deputy chief executive officer at Taiwans Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a government think-tank.

The Taiwanese Air Force has been monitoring its airspace closely and would react to any sign of security breach, Shen said.

The military expert added that the Chinese rocket force has a high-altitude balloon unit that conducts regular monthly training.

Those training missions do not necessarily target Taiwan but the balloons may traverse the islands vicinity, Shen told RFA.

The suspected Chinese spy balloon drifts to the ocean after being shot down off the coast in Surfside Beach, South Carolina, U.S. Feb. 4, 2023. Credit: Reuters/Randall Hill

The U.S. government on Friday added five companies and one research institute connected to Beijing's suspected surveillance balloon program to its export blacklist.

Beijing criticized the move on Monday, saying China strongly disapproves of and firmly opposes this.

Chinas Foreign Ministrys Spokesperson Wang Wenbin reiterated that the U.S. overreacted by abusing the use of force and escalating the situation.

He also said that since the beginning of last year, U.S. high-altitude balloons have flown into Chinas airspace more than ten times without Chinese authorization.

The Chinese spokesman called the U.S. the absolute number one country in terms of spying and surveillance, adding that U.S. military vessels and aircraft conducted 657 reconnaissance sorties last year and 64 sorties in January this year in the South China Sea alone.

Wangs accusation was swiftly denied by the White House national security spokesman John Kirby, who in an interview with MSNBC said: Not true We are not flying balloons over China.
Authorities arrest four smugglers and are looking for a drug kingpin.

Four men arrested by police for alleged drug trafficking stand behind packs of crystal methamphetamine they were transporting, in northern Laos' Bokeo province, Feb. 7, 2023.

Lao police are searching for the kingpin of an illegal drug smuggling operation in the Golden Triangle area, where authorities seized 500 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine and arrested four smugglers in one of the largest hauls of the narcotic in the notorious crime zone, Lao officials said Monday.

The area where northern Laos converges with Myanmar and Thailand at the confluence of the Mekong and Ruak rivers is a haven for crimes including prostitution, online scamming, and narcotics trafficking, by organized criminal networks.

The Lao government and a Chinese-owned company, Kings Romans Group, set up a special economic zone in the Lao section of the Golden Triangle in 2007, hoping to generate economic development in the relatively poor country. But the level of crime and the areas reputation as a hub in the synthetic drug trade have brought problems, such as local drug addicts.

The four alleged criminals nabbed on Feb. 7 told Bokeo province police that they were only drivers, and not smugglers, said the officer, who like others in this report requested anonymity so as to speak freely.

Meanwhile, police are still searching for a drug lord in charge of the operation, he said.

We couldnt catch the big fish who is behind this drug haul, the police officer told Radio Free Asia.

Police have charged the four detained men with allegedly smuggling the crystal methamphetamine from Myanmar to Bokeo province, he added.

Authorities have stored the bags of drugs in a police warehouse where they will be used as evidence during the trials, but once the court renders verdicts, the meth will be burned, the police officer said.

Illegal drug trafficking has been a long-standing problem in Bokeo and other provinces.

In October 2021, police intercepted a haul of 55 million methamphetamine tablets and over 1.5 tons of crystal meth in the Golden Triangle region, after stopping a beer delivery truck for inspection in Bokeo. At the time, the United Nations called it the largest single drug bust in Asia.

Lao authorities seized another significant haul of 259 kilos of crystal meth in Luang Prabang province in September 2022.

Authorities in Bokeos Tonpheung district, where the latest arrests occurred, were also part of the seizure operations and handed the bags over to provincial police, said a Tonpheung official.

The Bokeo Province Police Department has been assigned to the Investigation and Interrogation Unit to investigate and look for the drug lord of this drug-smuggling ring, he said.

Bokeo provinces mountains and jungles, which provide a nearly undetectable transit route for drug smugglers, pose a significant challenge for law enforcement officers, said a provincial official.

Our provincial police force has set up many police checkpoints and is working closely with our residents who often give us some good tips, he told RFA. We have arrested some smugglers thanks to the tips from our communities.

Laotians living in nearby districts say authorities must do more to curtail the areas drug trade.

A resident of Houayxay district said police should crack down on drugs harder at the village level after residents report to the police that their sons and daughters are involved in narcotics use or trafficking.

Village authorities dont arrest or try to reform them, because police are only going after the traffickers and smugglers, he said.

The illegal narcotics trade is not limited to Bokeo province. Bolikhamxay province in central Laos has also seen an increase in drug trafficking and local drug addicts.

The most vulnerable group is our youth, not only in our district but in others as well, said a resident of Kham Keut district. If our authorities were more serious in cracking down on drugs, then drug use and trafficking would be reduced.

Translated by Max Avary for RFA Lao. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Paul Eckert.
No group has claimed responsibility but the junta blamed a local Peoples Defense Force.

A bomb blast at a railway station in Myanmars Bago region killed three people and injured nine more.

The device exploded at around noon on Monday at the station in Nyaunglebin town.

A 40-year-old man and a woman died on the spot. Another woman died while being treated in a local hospital, according to a local who didnt want to be named for security reasons.

It happened on the side of the station where people were waiting for a train, the man told RFA.

The man and woman who died at the scene had come to work growing beans in the area. They were on their way home upcountry because they had finished their work.

The injured are being treated at a hospital in Nyaunglebin.

Soldiers and police officers blocked off the station and searched people, the man added.

The junta-controlled Myanma Alinn Daily newspaper claimed a local Peoples Defense Force carried out the attack. It said the junta was still trying to identify and arrest the individuals responsible.

RFA contacted the Bago region Peoples Defense Force but they did not respond and no group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Peoples Defense Forces loyal to the National Unity Government deposed in a Feb.1, 2021 coup have carried out many bombings over the past two years. They often used improvised devices which explode at the wrong time or in the wrong place.

Junta chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing said at a meeting of the juntas National Defense and Security Council on Jan. 31 there have been 8,527 attacks with improvised explosive devices and grenades across the country in the past two years.

For its part, the junta has killed nearly 3,000 civilians and pro-democracy activists since Feb. 2021, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma).

Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.




Uncle Sam's overreaction. Cartoon: Carlos Latuff

(Global Times) The US has illegally flown its high-altitude balloons over Chinese airspace more than 10 times without permission since the beginning of last year and China had acted professionally in handling these incursions, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Monday, calling the US the world's biggest "Spying Empire" by sending numerous spy airships worldwide and urging it to stop smearing others and instigating confrontation.

In response to a string of questions regarding the recent balloon incident, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a regular press briefing on Monday that the US has illegally flown its high-altitude balloons over Chinese airspace more than 10 times without Chinese authorities' permission since the beginning of 2022.

It is not rare for US balloons to enter the airspace of another country illegally, Wang said, noting that China's handling of the incursions is responsible and professional.

The remarks came after CNN reported that the US military shot down another airborne object over Lake Huron on Sunday on the orders of US President Joe Biden, citing the Pentagon. The operation marks the third day in a row that an unidentified object has been shot down over North American airspace after a Chinese civilian unmanned airship used mainly for meteorological research purposes was taken down on February 4.

The US' frequent use of its armed forces to shoot down so-called unidentified objects only exposed its paranoia and hysteria, which also reflected its vulnerability, Chinese experts said.
Monks and members of the Pyu Saw Htee militia train at a firing range in Myanmars Sagaing region, Feb. 11, 2022.

Myanmars junta has revived a 1977 law that allows civilians it deems loyal to the state to own firearms, a move experts worry will escalate violence by arming pro-junta groups fighting armed resistance groups opposed to military rule.

The juntas Ministry of the Interior issued the order to revive the law on Jan. 31, a day before the second anniversary of the Feb. 1, 2021 coup, according to a leaked junta document and media reports.

The law allows five types of firearms without permits: 9mm pistols and revolvers, 12-gauge or smaller shotguns, hunting rifles, and air guns. Handguns larger than 9mm, assault rifles, and submachine guns can also be owned with a permit.

This new amendment is designed for a wider range of weapons, a Yangon-based lawyer told Radio Free Asias Burmese Service. People who want to carry weapons now know what kinds of weapons they are allowed to carry.

The lawyer, who requested anonymity to speak freely, said that allowing civilians to carry weapons could pose a greater threat to the country's security.

Now, defense groups such as pro-junta militias  can legally take up arms issued to them by the military, he said. This could lead to many other problems related to the misuse of these weapons  and we cant say its enough to simply register the weapons you carry.

The law says those applying for the right to bear arms must demonstrate loyalty to the state, a good character, and a need to carry weapons, with no criminal record or history of mental instability.

Once their application is approved, the law mandates that licensed arms bearers must participate in the suppression of crime and vice if directed, and are responsible for protecting the life and properties of the people within the framework of the established rules.

The military wants its supporters armed to shore up its fighting forces, said Kaung Thu Win, a leader of the Civil Disobedience Movement, which led widespread protests and strikes in the months following the coup.

They think that they will get help once they allow their supporters to take up arms. For example, armed pro-junta militias may report the presence of the [resistance] members to the military or fight them on their own, he said. By this new policy, the junta has given the pro-junta groups more rights to carry out more forceful attacks on the resistance forces under the law.

Undated photo of troops from Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF). Credit: KNDF





The army has already been arming pro-junta militia groups, said political analyst Than Soe Naing. The law merely legalizes it.

This new attempt is to arm people  such as members of the [pro-military] Union Solidarity Development Party, low-level civilian administration officials like ward and township administrators and their staff, he said. This is because the military junta can no longer guarantee their security and they now have to protect themselves.

It also means that if ordered, these newly armed people must cooperate in military operations against the resistance.

RFA reached out to Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, the junta spokesman, by phone Monday to inquire about the newly enacted policy, but his phone rang unanswered.

But Zaw Min Tun confirmed to the local Popular News media outlet on Monday that the regime will allow those who adhere to discipline to own guns.

There are calls from the people demanding their security, he said. We are going to allow the ones who really need to defend themselves, those who are under threat and those who can handle them in a disciplined manner [to bear arms]."

Padoh Man Man, the spokesman of the Karen National Union armed ethnic groups fifth brigade, said the policy is worrisome because it may lead to unnecessary shootings and killings.

"About 3 years ago, the military adopted a policy for a mandatory military service for citizens 18 years and older, but they could not implement it successfully, he said. This new policy is their second attempt to do that. This is really a seriously worrisome situation for our country.

Organizations on both sides of the political spectrum said that resistance forces are shooting and killing people suspected of being junta informants, while the military is arresting and killing those it accuses of being resistance members.

The military reported that 5,443 government officials, chief administrators, monks, and children were killed across the country between Feb. 1, 2021 and Jan. 25, 2023, and another 4,577 injured.

Thailands Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said that, as of Monday, authorities in Myanmar had killed 2,988 civilians throughout the country since the military coup.

Civil war imminent?

Sunday was Union Day in Myanmar, a holiday commemorating the 1947 Panglong agreement which united the various parts of the country prior to its independence from Britain. However, escalating violence means that the country is headed toward a wider civil war, according to a statement by the Peace Process Steering Team, formed by representatives of armed ethnic organizations and tasked with negotiating with the junta for peace.

Junta leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing said in a Union Day speech that the country is a long way from peace due to interference by various local and foreign groups, without providing details.

Representatives of armed ethnic groups attend peace talks organized by Myanmars military junta on Jan. 5, 2023. Credit: Myanmar military

Saw Mya Raza Lin, the deputy chairman of the Arakan Liberation Party, one of the countrys ethnic armed groups, said that it is time for stakeholders to have an open discussion.

Its still necessary to negotiate. We need to have a serious discussion about the constitution, as well as for other sectors, he said. The revolution is a protracted feud that will take many years, and those in power may be concerned that the country will be separated into many smaller parts.

He said ethnic groups want their right to self-determination, so both parties must be transparent in negotiations.

The steering team statement said that the country must solve its current political problems through peaceful means, and suggested that the juntas power grab had led to a general crisis, including international sanctions.

Last year was supposed to have been the Year of Peace after the junta declared a nationwide ceasefire and invited many of the ethnic armed groups for talks. Instead, the junta expanded an offensive against armed resistance groups nationwide, including by ordering airstrikes and artillery strikes.

A meeting of the junta on Jan. 31 revealed that only 198 of Myanmars 330 townships are currently stable, and that 19,444 battles have been fought since the coup.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 1.5 million people across the country have been forced to flee their homes due to armed conflict and insecurity.

Translated by Myo Min Aung. Edited by Eugene Whong.
Residents say administrators take bribes to look the other way as their livelihoods are destroyed.

A gold mining site in Kachin state, Myanmar, Feb. 14, 2023. Mines are supposed to have a minimal environmental impact on the local population.

A rapid expansion in illegal gold mining since the military coup is poisoning the water supply in Myanmars Kachin state and destroying the livelihoods of residents who say the ethnic Kachin group that administers the region has failed to police the sector.

Illegal mining of gold, as well as jade and rare earth minerals, is rampant in Kachin state, where successive governments have failed to regulate the industry for generations. However, the number of unsanctioned operations has ballooned since the militarys Feb. 1, 2021, takeover amid conflict between junta troops and armed resistance forces in the region.

Residents of Sumprabum township told RFA Burmese that illegal gold mines had nearly doubled in Kachin state since the coup and are devastating the environment, despite local protests.

They used to dig in areas farther from our village but now they are digging quite close, said a resident of Hpon Ing Yang village who, like other sources in the area, declined to be named citing fear of reprisal.

The water in our stream is no longer suitable, even for washing, he said. The miners have already excavated all around our village ... [and] we might have to move to some other place where there is still good soil for us to farm.

Runoff from a gold mine flows into a river in Myanmars Kachin state, Feb. 14, 2023. Rules state that mining waste cannot be dumped into rivers, streams and lakes. Credit: Screenshot from citizen journalist video

The Hpon Ing Yang resident said that more than 20 companies using at least 40 machines are currently digging for gold near his village, which he described as basically destroyed.

Even if the political situation becomes more stable, I dont think there is any hope left for us here, he said.

Expanding unchecked

A similar situation can be found in nearby Puta-O townships villages of Tsum Pi Yang, In Loi Yang, Shi Kai Yang, Ah Lang Gar, In Hkar Gar and Hpon Kyan, sources told RFA.

According to laws governing small-scale and private mining, gold mines must be at least 300 feet away from water sources such as rivers, streams and lakes to prevent contamination from mining waste. Furthermore, gold mines are required to operate in a way that limits their environmental and socio-economic impact on local communities.

Nonetheless, illegal gold mining has expanded virtually unchecked in Puta-O since last year, destroying local livelihoods, said a resident of In Loi Yang village.

In the past, people used to run small home businesses [such as farming] based on the natural shifts in the land and water table, said the resident. These days, people are digging with big machinery  and impacting our village and plantations, regardless of how much we ask them not to.

He said there may be as many as 150 gold mining rigs in Puta-O alone and complained that mines are even operating in areas of cultural significance to the Kachin people.

Looking the other way

Residents and environmental activists told RFA that mining companies pay bribes to both the junta and the rebel Kachin Independence Organization to look the other way as they operate illegally.

Col. Norbu, spokesman for the KIO, said his group has established policies regarding gold mining and does not allow operations in populated areas or places of cultural significance.

We have provided written instructions regarding this matter at the state level, he said.

The activities are scrutinized and allowed only after discussions at the state level. Thats why I think they are working in accordance with the instructions.

A gold mining plot in Kachin state, Myanmar, Feb. 14, 2023. Credit: Citizen journalist

When asked by RFA about mining in areas where residents work for their livelihoods, Norbu said that there may be a weakness in oversight for the KIO's determination of permit areas, and noted that many companies do not ask for official permission to mine.

Win Ye Tun, the juntas social minister and spokesman for Kachin state, told RFA in October that there is no legal permit for mining in Kachin state and said the military has taken action against illegal gold mining in Mohnyin township.

However, an environmental activist in Kachin state said that the only thing stopping companies from mining is running out of sites to exploit.

From an environmental standpoint, the areas designated as nature reserves and their natural resources will all be destroyed, and only land that does not produce gold will be left untouched, the activist said.

All other areas will have been excavated, the activist said. If it goes on like this, Kachins natural resources will soon be gone.

Translated by Myo Min Aung. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.
Uzra Zeya, the U.S. State Department under secretary for civilian security, democracy, and human rights, speaks at the official opening of Myanmars National Unity Government (NUG) office in Washington, D.C., on Monday, Feb. 13, 2023.

Myanmar's opposition National Unity Government officially opened a shadow embassy in Washington on Monday, with a U.S. State Department official at the event using a speech to reject the legitimacy of elections planned by the military junta later this year.

The so-called NUG has set up a government-in-exile after the military took power from a democratically elected government in a February 2021 coup.

The foreign minister of this shadow government, Zin Mar Aung, said at the opening that the passage of the Burma Act as part of last years defense spending bill enabled her shadow government to officially open the office.

The NUG's office was able to be opened after the U.S. government enacted the Burma Act, which includes promises to encourage and support Myanmar's democracy, Zin Mar Aung said, noting the office would play an important role in the NUG's fight for democracy.

She said the presence of U.S. government officials at the office opening  signaled the state of official engagement between the United States and the NUG in the wake of the Burma Act.

Election legitimacy

Uzra Zeya, the U.S. undersecretary of state for civilian security, democracy, and human rights, told the ceremony the United States was committed to the restoration of democracy in Myanmar.

The U.S. government continues to encourage and support Myanmar's return to the path of inclusive democracy as contained in the Burma Act, Zeya said. The deputy foreign minister also said that it is important for the United States and the countries in the region not to accept the fake election that will be held by the military junta.

The comments reflect those previously made by U.S. State Department counselor Derek Chollet, who had dismissed the legitimacy of any elections held by Myanmars junta under current circumstances.

Any election that the regime might have  will have no chance of being free or fair, given that the regime has imprisoned or intimidated nearly all critical potential contenders, and indeed does not control nearly 50% of Burma's territory, Chollet told reporters Jan. 31.

Among other things, the Burma Act allows the U.S. State Department to engage directly with Myanmars opposition groups, including the NUG, and forces it to develop a coherent program of sanctions against the military junta.

New home base

Mondays event was also attended by NUG Deputy Foreign Minister Moe Zaw Oo and Myanmars U.N. ambassador, Kyaw Moe Tun, who has held onto the post to which he was appointed before the coup.

Moe Zaw Oo said the new office would prove an important home base.

This office represents the ministry of foreign affairs of the National Unity Government, Moe Zaw Oo said. We have opened this office here as we want to build stronger diplomatic relations with the United States. We also have plans to build relations with the Congress, the Senate and the House of Representatives that are all here.

He said the office would do anything and everything for the revolution, including leading relations with international institutions based in the United States that might be able to help the shadow government.

We are going to interact with them, too, he said. Similarly, we are going to engage with the people of Myanmar origin in the United States encouraging and supporting the Myanmar people and the revolution, for their support, financial contributions and donations.

Translated by Myo Min Aung. Edited by Alex Willemyns and Malcolm Foster.
Erkin Tuniyaz is widely seen by activists as a Uyghur puppet of Beijing

Uyghur activist and artist Rahima Mahmut attends a vigil outside the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in London on Monday, Feb. 13, 2023, protesting the planned visit to the United Kingdom of Erkin Tuniyaz, governor of Chinas Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

The chairman of Chinas far-western Xinjiang region, Erkin Tuniyaz, has canceled a trip to the United Kingdom and the European Union after an outcry from politicians and Uyghur activists who said welcoming him would tacitly condone Chinas human rights abuses of Uyghurs.

The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, a coalition of international legislators that seek to coordinate and reform how democratic countries approach Beijing, tweeted that sources in the UK government said that the meeting between Tuniyaz and UK officials was canceled.

Among Uyghur activist and exile groups, Tuniyaz  a Chinese Communist Party politician of Uyghur origin  is widely despised as a traitor and puppet of Beijing.

We are delighted to hear that Erkin Tuniyaz will no longer be meeting with the FCDO or officials across the EU, said Rahima Mahnut, the UK director for the World Uyghur Congress. We believe this decision was made thanks to the remarkable efforts of campaigners, lawyers and human rights organizations who've vehemently opposed this proposed meeting.

This is a huge victory for the Uyghur community and all those who are invested in the UKs commitment to human rights, Mahmut added.

Numerous Western nations, including the UK, have condemned China for grave human rights abuses involving Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities in Xinjiang under a government crackdown to prevent terrorism and religious extremism in the restive region.

The trips cancellation was also reported by Politico, which cited three people with knowledge of the plan.

Defending China

Tuniyaz has defended Chinas policies in Xinjiang in the past, including in a video address to the United Nations in February 2021, during which he said the vast network of "re-education" camps in the region where Uyghurs were interned educated and rehabilitated people influenced by religious extremism.

The Guardian newspaper reported earlier this month that Tuniyaz would visit London and meet with high-level officials to discuss the treatment of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, followed by a visit to Brussels.

But numerous politicians and activists expressed alarm and opposition to his planned visit, protesting that allowing him to meet with senior UK and EU officials would be seen as turning a blind eye to Chinas mistreatment of Uygurs in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, where Tuniyaz is governor.

Erkin Tuniyaz [left], governor of Chinas Xinjiang region, attends the Human Rights Council meeting at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, in 2019. Credit: Reuters

There is no legitimate reason to allow Erkin Tuniyaz into our country  the only meetings with him should be in a courtroom, British parliamentarian Alicia Kearns, who chairs the China Research Group set up by a group of Conservative MPs in the UK to promote new ideas on how Britain should respond to Chinas rise, said last week.

Chinas Foreign Ministry has not confirmed the trip cancellation. When asked about Tuniyazs plans, ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said she was not aware of any specifics.

Wang went on to say that the so-called violation or repression of human rights {in Xinjiang] is the lie of the century propagated by anti-China forces, and has long been debunked by facts. We once again urge parties concerned to look at Xinjiangs strong socioeconomic development in an objective light, stop using Xinjiang-related issues for political manipulation and stop meddling in Chinas internal affairs.
When the Taliban returned to power in 2021 in a lightning military insurrection that toppled Afghanistans internationally recognized government, the country immediately fell into diplomatic isolation.



Two of Kabuls neighbors to the north, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, chose a different route, putting the hard-line groups fractious history with the former Soviet Central Asian republics aside and prioritizing engagement over criticism and pressure.



But a giant canal project in Afghanistan now taking shape that the Taliban is pursuing at a rapid pace is giving the two water-stressed countries doubts about whether strategic patience with the Islamic fundamentalist group will yield rewards.



If you look at other projects that have involved Afghanistan and Central Asia somehow, there has often been a win-win element, Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili, founding director of the Center for Governance and Markets at the University of Pittsburgh, told RFE/RL.



But the Qosh Tepa Irrigation Canal, which will divert large volumes of water from the dwindling transboundary Amu Darya River, is a very different case.



This is very much zero sum, because water is a finite good and there dont seem to be any benefits for Afghanistans neighbors here, said Murtazashvili, adding that she expects the Central Asian countries to pursue a lot of quiet diplomacy on the project that will add to the pressures faced by outsized agricultural sectors already battling climate change and historical mismanagement.

But the Taliban will be probing to see how far it can go, Murtazashvili said, something she suggested its downstream neighbors will have to get used to.



If the first Taliban [regime that ruled most of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001] was weighed down by insurgency and in some ways never really behaved like a state, Taliban 2.0 seems to really like the idea of projecting state power, Murtazashvili said.



Old Project With New Momentum



The stated dimensions of the irrigation canal that workers started digging last spring are enough to understand why the downstream countries have concerns.



With a length of 285 kilometers and a width of some 100 meters, experts believe it could draw a significant portion of the Amu Daryas flow while irrigating 550,000 hectares of land.



An Afghan civil servant with knowledge of the project told RFE/RLs Uzbek Service that work on the second of three stages of the project that began in the spring of 2022 is expected to begin in the coming months, with more than 100 kilometers already dug and visible from space.



The plan to irrigate land in northern Afghanistan is not new.



Farid Azim, an official at the National Development Company overseeing its construction, pointed out last year that Afghanistans first president, Mohammad Daud Khan, had a similar vision in the 1970s.

The project was most recently pursued by the U.S.-backed administration of President Ashraf Ghani -- which the Taliban overthrew less than two years ago.



A press release issued by the United States Agency for International Development from 2018 marking the launch of a Washington-funded feasibility study for Qosh Tepa described a 200 kilometer-long canal serving a cultivated catchment area of 500,000 hectares.



Developing Afghanistans agriculture sector provides great potential for employment and economic growth, then-U.S. Ambassador John R. Bass said in the release.



But the project was not a pressing concern for neighbors, primarily because political infighting and chronic instability in northern Afghanistan had made it impractical.



Bismellah Alizada, a researcher at Londons School of Oriental and African Studies, told RFE/RL that Rashid Dostum, who was the Afghan first vice president from 2014 to 2020, was among the influential politicians with concerns about the project.



One of those concerns was that it would be used to benefit and resettle members of the politically dominant Pashtun group to which President Ashraf Ghani belonged, Alizada said.



Dostum -- an ethnic Uzbek warlord -- long enjoyed strong ties to the regime in Uzbekistan and was even reported to have fled there when the Taliban captured Mazar-e Sharif, overwhelming forces jointly under his command before the group advanced on Kabul.

Members of Dostums exiled Junbish-e Milli party have reiterated these concerns more recently, but the reality is that the Taliban has no opponents capable of preventing it from forging ahead with giant public works projects, Alizada said.



More obvious obstacles are technical capacity and cash, with billions of dollars in funds belonging to Afghanistans central bank frozen after the Taliban takeover. That would make it hard for the cash-strapped Taliban to finance a project whose first phase cost nearly $100 million, according to reports.



But Graeme Smith, a senior consultant for the International Crisis Groups Asia Program, said the Taliban has a strong political will to finish off projects begun by the former government with Qosh Tepa the biggest that the group has revived so far.



With their very limited resources, the Taliban have prioritized [Qosh Tepa], said Smith, expressing skepticism that the Islamic fundamentalist group would pay attention to its neighbors concerns.



The Taliban is a nationalist movement intensely focused on their domestic constituencies, Smith said.



I think its fair to assume they will continue governing with a strong focus on issues inside the country and less regard for concerns outside, he told RFE/RL.



Games Of Leverage



Taciturn Turkmenistan has so far said nothing about the canal project.



But a Turkmenistan-based hydrologist speaking in March to RFE/RLs Turkmen Service on condition of anonymity called the project not a problem, but a disaster.



RFE/RL correspondents in the closed authoritarian country reported this year about severe water shortages in Turkmenistans Soviet-built Karakum Canal, which is four times the length of the one the Taliban is seeking to complete.



The World Resources Institute in 2019 ranked Turkmenistan as one of 17 countries in the world with extremely high water stress. Uzbekistan and Afghanistan were placed in the next highest category. Central Asia as a whole depends on rivers that rise in mountains, where many glacier stocks are being depleted by climate change.



Tashkent, whose own Moscow-imposed, cotton-growing legacy is one of the chief causes of the Amu Daryas demise, has been more proactive on Qosh Tepa.

According to the Talibans deputy prime minister for economic affairs, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the topic was among those broached by Uzbek presidential envoy and former Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Komilov when he was in Kabul last month for talks on economic cooperation.



Komilov was cited by Baradars office as saying that Uzbekistan was ready to work with the Islamic emirate (the Taliban-ruled Afghanistan) through technical teams in order to maximize the benefits of the Qosh Tepa canal project.



Uzbekistan provided no comment to that effect in its release on the talks, but President Shavkat Mirziyoev -- in a national address in December -- flagged Qosh Tepa as a concern as he touched on the problem of desertification.

At the moment, we consider it necessary to conduct practical talks on the construction of a new canal in the Amu Darya basin with the interim government of neighboring Afghanistan and the international community based on international standards and taking into account the interests of all countries in the region, he said.



We believe that this approach will be supported by our neighbors.



Mirziyoevs preference for dialogue over threats on transboundary water use has been welcomed by the neighborhood since predecessor Islam Karimov passed away in 2016.



This appears to have worked with upstream Kyrgyzstan, where successful border negotiations saw Uzbekistan granted de facto control of a strategic reservoir located inside Kyrgyz territory, albeit not without a rash of political discontent in Kyrgyzstan.

And although authoritarian Karimov virulently opposed the construction of giant hydroelectric dams in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, Mirziyoev has given both his blessing, with Tashkent even attaching itself to Kyrgyzstans Kambar-Ata-1 project as a partner -- a move that will give it a hand in upstream management.



Qosh Tepa, however, is becoming a source of public anxiety in Uzbekistan.



With the volume of the Amu Darya water [already] decreasing, Afghans will take a quarter of its water through this canal, complained Uzbek academic and outspoken government critic Khidirnazar Allakulov in an interview with RFE/RLs Uzbek Service.



Instead of solving the problem, the Uzbek government takes the Taliban to Samarkand, dressing them and presenting them with gifts. The government bows to Afghanistan.. Not only the current generation, but also future [Uzbek] generations can be endangered by the water problem, Allakulov said.



Regular exchanges between the Turkmen and Uzbek governments and the Taliban predated the fall of the Ghani government, and Turkmenistan was among the first countries in the world to accept a Taliban-appointed ambassador.

But in line with the international community as a whole, neither has recognized the new regime in Kabul.



This only complicates what Alizada calls the legal lacuna between Afghanistan and its former communist neighbors, since Kabul had not previously signed treaties with them on transboundary management.



And while Afghanistan is keen for more trade opportunities and relies on its northern neighbors for supplies of electricity for several provinces, there are other areas of these bilateral relations where the Taliban feels it has real leverage, Alizada argued.



For the Central Asian countries, I think the number one concern is hard security, especially with the regions history with transnational extremist groups. The Taliban will continue to use assurances on security in negotiations with these countries going forward.
Ukrainian authorities said Russian shells blasted a residential building in the eastern city of Slovyansk, killing at least eight people and injuring more than 20, while British military intelligence said Ukrainian troops had been forced to pull back from some areas in and around Bakhmut as the Kremlins forces intensified their assault on the besieged and mostly ruined city.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensives, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.

"The Russians launched several strikes on residential areas of the city, destroyed high-rise buildings, and damaged a school, Pavlo Kyrylenko, the governor of the Donetsk region, said on April 14.

Kyrylenko later told Ukrainian television that "eight people died and 21 people were injured.

Kyrylenko initially put the death toll at five with 15 injured but said that "there is a possibility that seven people, including one child, are under the rubble."

Ukrainian police tweeted that among the dead was a 2-year-old child who died in an ambulance" after being pulled from the ruins.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that "the evil state once again demonstrates its essence. Just killing people in broad daylight. Ruining, destroying all life."

Moscow routinely denies that it has targeted civilian areas despite widespread evidence of such attacks.

Earlier, the Ukrainian military said its forces had repelled 49 attacks by invading Russian forces over the past day in the east as intense fighting continued in and around Bakhmut.

"The enemy isn't giving up on his plans to occupy our territory despite significant losses," the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in its daily update on April 14. "The fiercest battles continue for Bakhmut and Maryinka," it added.

"Russia has re-energized its assault" on Bakhmut, the British Defense Ministry said in its intelligence update on April 14, adding that Russian military forces and Wagner mercenaries "have improved cooperation."

The intelligence report said that Ukrainian troops had been forced to withdraw from some territory in Bakhmut, which Russian forces have struggled to capture over several months from determined Ukrainian defenders.

"The Ukrainian defense still holds the western districts of the town but has been subjected to particularly intense Russian artillery fire over the previous 48 hours," the British Defense Ministry said.

On April 13, Moscow claimed to have cut off Ukrainian troops in Bakhmut, but the head of the Kremlin-linked Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said it remains "too early" to say the city has been surrounded.

Serhiy Chervatiy, a spokesman for Ukraine's Eastern Group of Forces, told the AFP news agency that the Ukrainian military still had communication with troops in Bakhmut and were able to resupply them with ammunition.

"This does not correspond to reality," Chervatiy said in response to the Russian claims.

Battlefield reports could not immediately be verified.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, facing an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court, has ordered his military to gain complete control of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya, and Kherson, areas he claims Russia has illegally annexed. Ukraine has indicated it will soon launch a counteroffensive to take back more territory.

Ukraine will "test and use" any non-banned weapons to liberate its territory, including Russian-occupied Crimea, the head of its National Security and Defense Council said on April 14.

"Crimea is the territory of Ukraine, and we will test and use there any weapons not prohibited by international laws that will help liberate our territories," Oleksiy Danilov tweeted.

With reporting by AP and Reuters
TBILISI -- One Sunday evening in early February at the Klara bar in Tbilisi, Nata Talikishvili, a transgender woman, was performing comedy during a semi-regular weekend slot.

As usual, Talikishvili's performance attracted an audience of several dozen, many of whom are from the LGBT community. The room was so full that some couples were sitting on each other's laps, while others spilled into a side room.

Despite prevalent transphobia and homophobia in Georgia, sustained by the influence of the Georgian Orthodox Church, the evening had a relaxed atmosphere. There was no security on the door and the shutters of the ground-floor windows were open, with passersby often looking in. A rare public voice in a sea of conservatism, Talikishvili, 32, is becoming an emblem for how the stories of Georgia's trans community can be told in public and -- so far -- without backlash.

At one point during her performance in the Georgian capital, someone from the audience said: "Nata, you and trans people are so full of energy. You're always bringing fire." Talikishvili smiled and replied: "No, darling, the only one in our community who brings her own fire is Madonna."

A caustic joke that makes plain that no subject is off-limits for Talikishvili, the audience burst out laughing. Madonna was not a reference to the American pop star, but a transgender woman who set herself alight in front of Tbilisi City Hall to protest the state's lack of support for sex workers during the coronavirus lockdown. Madonna survived, with many individuals and organizations raising funds for her recovery.

"Nata is the first person in Georgia who's really guided us into the world of transgender people and brought life from the very inside," said 34-year-old Giorgi Kikonishvili, co-founder of the Creative Collective Spectrum, a multidisciplinary collective of artists and activists. "She's given us a perfect glimpse into the lives of transgender people. She looks at something that can be a sorrowful life in a very funny way, laughs at our own tragedies. She can laugh at anything."

Talikishvili's performances can last from two hours to five and are unscripted, which, she says, is more likely to get a better response from her audience, many of whom are her friends and people from the trans community. "When I've planned it in the past, it always goes wrong," she said, adding that it's precisely the shared stories reminisced over with friends in the audience that are the best. "With my performances, sometimes it's sarcastic and dirty, sorrowful, and sad. Emotionally, it's very up and down."

Talikishvili's sketches often touch upon her experiences as a sex worker. One story, which had the audience in stitches, described her encounter with a Georgian priest. After taking the money, which Talikishvili said was several times more than what she usually received from clients, she met a number of her transgender friends, many of whom were in financial difficulties. Offering to pay their taxes and debts, one of her friends asked how Talikishvili could possibly get that much money in one night. "Sisters, it was sent to me by God," she replied.

Born in a village in the Kvemo Kartli region of southeastern Georgia, Talikishvili came out as transgender to her grandparents who were raising her when she was 5 years old. At the age of 14, when her grandparents died, Talikishvili moved to Tbilisi and began sex work to survive.

"The big problem and stigma is that when you come out as trans, society automatically considers you a sex worker. Sex work becomes directly attributed to the trans community," Talikishvili said. "You get a lot of verbal and physical abuse. Both mental and physical health problems of trans people have gotten worse, often from stress. The most important thing is that our family should accept us. Families shouldn't reject children [who come out as trans] because when they do, often these kids have to go onto the streets and turn to sex work to survive."

Georgia still does not recognize same-sex relationships, with both marriage and civil unions reserved only for heterosexual couples. Although a 2019 poll from the U.S.-based National Democratic Institute showed that public attitudes towards LGBT people in Georgia had improved by 4 percentage points, the renewed 2023-2030 humans rights strategy recently adopted by the Georgian government reveals that the commitment to "combat discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity," which featured in an earlier iteration of the strategy, had been removed.

In July 2021, Georgia made international headlines when Tbilisi Pride was attacked by far-right groups, galvanized by priests from the Georgian Orthodox Church. Dozens of journalists were attacked, with one dying from his injuries a few days later. The attacks, which included the desecration of an EU flag in front of parliament, alarmed Georgian society and sparked consternation from the international community.

"Georgian society is very paradoxical," said Kikonishvili, emphasizing that the depiction of Georgia in the media and by the government as an ultraconservative, God-fearing society is not accurate. "I think in their hearts, most people are not very aggressive or homophobic or conservative." Across the road from the Klara bar is a queer arts gallery, which does not self-censor or hide some of its more outlandish or sexualized shows. "Since opening Klara, we have not had a single problem with the neighborhood," he said.

Kikonishvili put the success of Klara and the community's acceptance of what they do as a result of communication, of an openness that makes aggression or hostility difficult and unusual. "If you close the door or window and say, 'No, you can't come in,' then of course they'll be aggressive. In our case we opened the door. We have open windows. Everyone can look into Klara. At this small urban scale, it works."

For now, Talikishvili's performances will remain offline. She considered recording her performances and posting them online, but concerns about a societal backlash deterred her from doing so. "On the one hand, raising visibility is sometimes a good thing and helps our community, but on the other, sometimes it can become dangerous."

WATCH: Tbilisi's drag scene has gone from humble beginnings a few years ago to regular events attended by hundreds of people. But the performers and organizers are defying widespread homophobia in Georgia.

Although popular perceptions of trans people in Georgia are still largely hostile, there are a growing number of initiatives that aim to support the trans community. One called Temida, a queer-activist organization, is leading the way; last fall, it held a conference in Tbilisi in order to raise awareness and address the problems facing the trans community.

Despite its small size, Tbilisi has a vibrant alternative art and music scene, most of which is inclusive of the LGBT community. It is this community, including those who identify as heterosexual, that makes up much of the support for Talikishvili and similar artistic ventures.

"It's probably the 10th time I've listened to a Nata show," said 23-year-old Tako Khamitsashvili at one of her performances. "I wanted to learn about trans people in Georgia. Nata has taught many of us a lot."
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. www.rferl.org/a/31793259.html



I'm RFE/RL correspondent Golnaz Esfandiari. Here's what I've been following during the past week and what I'm watching for in the days ahead.

The Big Issue

Iran appears to be making headway toward renewing official ties with Saudi Arabia and Persian Gulf states that in some cases have been publicly avoiding Tehran for decades.

The foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia held talks in Beijing on April 6 in a significant step toward restoring diplomatic relations, which were cut in 2016 after protesters attacked Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran following Riyadhs execution of prominent Saudi Shi'ite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

Iran also accepted an invitation from Saudi King Salman for President Ebrahim Raisi to visit Riyadh, while Tehran said it will send a similar invitation to the Saudi king. Meanwhile, a Saudi delegation traveled to Iran on April 9 to discuss the reopening of the embassy in Tehran and a consulate in Mashhad. The trip came as Iranian media reported on April 8 that a street sign near the Saudi consulate in Mashhad provocatively named after Sheikh al-Nimr had been quietly removed. An Iranian delegation also arrived in Saudi Arabia on April 12 to pave the way for the reopening of Iranian diplomatic missions there.

Iran is meanwhile taking steps to improve ties with other countries in the region, naming an ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) and working to decrease tensions with Egypt and Bahrain.

Why It Matters: Iran and Saudi Arabia appear to be pursuing implementation of last months Chinese-brokered agreement, possibly clearing the way for Tehran to de-escalate tensions with other countries that followed Riyadhs lead on a rupture seven years ago.



What's Next: Tehran and Riyadh could move surprisingly swiftly toward normalization, but its no sure thing. Abdolrasool Divsallar, a visiting professor at the Catholic University of Milan (UCSC), told me that the political environment between the two regional rivals could encourage the start of military and security talks within months.

But Divsallar also warned that opponents at home and abroad could still undermine the agreement. Hard-liners in Iran may act as a spoiler rather than as a supporter of the deal, he said, adding that Israel could do the same.

The regional tensions between Israel and Iran, on one side, andbetween Iran, Saudi [Arabia] and the United States, on the other side, are two dynamics that make this process very fragile, he said.

Divsallar also suggested that any normalization between Iran and countries with less appetite for a quick restoration of ties, for instance Bahrain, could take longer.

They feel more secure under the current status quo rather than immediately normalizing their ties with the Islamic republic and losing their leverage, he said, adding, They may wait to see a major change of policies.

Stories You Might Have Missed

Irans civil aviation sector has for years been under Western sanctions that prevent it from purchasing new aircraft or spare parts for repairs. Now, Russia's oldest airline, Aeroflot, has sent one of its passenger planes to Iran for repairs for the first time ever. Aeroflot reportedly ran into obstacles at home stemming from Western sanctions over Russias ongoing, unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. The RBK media group cited an Aeroflot representative and sources close to the company on April 11 as saying that an Airbus A330-300 had been sent to Tehran on April 5 to be repaired by specialists from Iran's Mahan Air.

Iranian pensioners staged protests in more than a dozen cities across Iran, demanding higher pensions amid soaring prices. Protests were reported on April 9 in Tehran, Ahvaz, Mashhad, Isfahan, Arak, Qom, Shush, Tabriz, and several other cities where retirees complained of poor living conditions and chanted anti-government slogans. Labor protests in Iran have swelled as the economy deteriorates following years of mismanagement compounded by crippling U.S. sanctions.

What We're Watching

Prominent Iranian female religious scholar Sedigheh Vasmaghi has challenged Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over the Islamic republics mandatory hijab law.

In a letter published online, Vasmaghi asked about the reasoning behind Irans strict model for womens dress and said the Koran does not specify the need for women to cover their hair in public.

There is no evidence to show that during the time of the Prophet Muhammad women were harassed and punished for not covering their hair or even their bodies, Vasmaghi, who has published several books on Islamic jurisprudence, wrote.

Why It Matters: Vasmaghis letter is significant for its timing -- just days after Khamenei asserted that the removal of the hijab in public was religiously banned. But it is also important because it comes from a religious woman who wears the veil while opposing the mandatory hijab, which is seemingly being defied by a growing number of women.

That's all from me for now. Don't 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.
Tens of thousands of Iranian-Americans, including supporters of the exiled former crown prince of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, held rallies in the United States* recently to show their support for the ongoing anti-regime protests in the Islamic republic.

Among them was a man who has shunned the limelight for decades: Parviz Sabeti, the former deputy head of SAVAK, the feared security and intelligence service of the shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

The presence of Sabeti, whose photos were published on social media by his daughter Pardis Sabeti, at the pro-democracy demonstration triggered outrage. Some have called for him to be put on trial for alleged rights abuses committed during the monarchy.

Iranian-Americans held several rallies in the United States on February 12, including in Los Angeles and Miami. It was unclear which one Sabeti attended.

"44 years ago today, our native country fell into darkness. Hoping this year brings light and solidarity," Pardis Sabeti, a professor of biology at Harvard University, wrote on Twitter on February 12, the day after the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in 1979 that overthrew the monarchy and brought to power the current clerical regime.

In her tweet, Pardis Sabeti used the hashtag, "Woman, life, freedom," which has become the main slogan of Iran's antiestablishment protests, which were triggered by the September death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old who was arrested by the morality police.

The tweet prompted praise for Sabeti from Iranian monarchists, who hailed him as a "a living legend" and "a man of honor" who kept Iran safe from "terrorists" during the rule of the late shah.

But others said the 86-year-old Sabeti should be prosecuted for alleged rights abuses, including torture and the execution of political prisoners. They said Sabeti's legacy went against the demands of Iran's protest movement for greater social and political freedom.

"She has some nerves sharing a photo of Parviz Sabeti and talking about 'light and solidarity,'" London-based Iranian filmmaker Kaveh Abbasian said on Twitter. "In a free Iran, he would be put to trial."

Exiled Iranian artist Barbad Golshiri said it was "time for the victims, the families of the tortured, the executed to launch a [legal] case against Sabeti."

The rallies in the United States were held two days after a group of exiled opposition activists and celebrities, including Reza Pahlavi, met at Georgetown University to discuss the future of Iran's pro-democracy movement. The group pleaded for unity and an end to infighting to help replace Iran's theocratic system with a secular democracy.

"Who could have imagined that the torturer of SAVAK, whose hands are stained with the blood and suffering of many, would bring us freedom," veteran Tehran-based journalist Mohammad Aghazadeh said on Twitter.

Aghazadeh called on the exiled opposition to break with figures like Sabeti, otherwise they would be "accomplices to his crimes."

Pahlavi has not commented on the controversy surrounding Sabeti. But he has previously said that he opposes the use of torture.

Opposition activist Mahdieh Golrou, who was jailed in Iran, said some opposition activists have ignored alleged crimes committed under the shah, who died in Egypt in 1980. "It seems that the problem is not with crimes, but with criminals. If the criminal wears a tie it's not a problem, the issue is with turbans," Golrou said on Twitter. "Torture is a crime regardless of who committed it."

Germany-based political activist Mehdi Fatapour, who was jailed under the shah for his peaceful activism and subjected to torture, told RFE/RL that Sabeti had never expressed remorse. "Unfortunately, Sabeti has defended SAVAK's actions," Fatapour said, adding that the secret police's mission was to create "fear" and preserve a dictatorship.

Fatapour said he was arrested by SAVAK on two separate occasions -- in 1971 and 1973 -- for organizing student protests. He said he still suffered from the torture he endured in detention. "The second time, the torture was very severe because they wanted to know my contacts, their names, and addresses. My interrogator told me that I was lucky that I didn't die under torture," he recalled.

"SAVAK created fear, it arrested, jailed, and tortured all those opposing [the shah], including students, intellectuals, writers, and opposition activists," he said. "Not only did this policy not establish security, but it became a main factor for insecurity."

In a 1977 interview with The Washington Post, Sabeti said Iranians afraid of SAVAK were "being influenced by foreign journalists' accounts. Some of the foreign journalists come here.... They see SAVAK behind every tree."

In a 2012 interview with Voice of America, Sabeti said he "opposed torture." "Because I studied law, I have always opposed anything that leads to torture," he said.

*CORRECTION: A previous version of this story stated that Sabeti attended a rally in Los Angeles. It is unclear which rally he attended in the United States, where several were held on February 12.
A Lincoln crash involving a Beatrice ambulance sent two workers with Beatrice Fire and Rescue to an area hospital.

On Sunday, Beatrice Fire and Rescue workers were involved in a crash while transporting a patient to Lincoln.

The crash occurred when a vehicle failed to yield to Beatrices ambulance at an intersection in Lincoln. The ambulance was totaled in the crash, according to Beatrice Fire and Rescue. Two Fire and Rescue employees were taken to Bryan West Hospital in Lincoln to be evaluated.

The department did not share the status of the patient who was being transported at the time of the crash.

Both Beatrice Fire and Rescue workers were released from the hospital that afternoon.
8 Blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flags now fly in Kupyansk after being banned last year under Russian occupation. Locals said they were forced to paint bridges in the red, white, and blue colors of the Russian flag. They have since been painted over in blue and yellow.



Oleksandr Tymoshenko recalled the restrictions when the Russians were in charge. "There were Russian checkpoints everywhere. They did not let you go out, but civilians weren't hurt," he said.
Russia's military continued its intensive bombardment of areas of eastern Ukraine over the past 24 hours, the Ukrainian military said on April 15, including a strike in the city of Slovyansk on an apartment building, killing nine people, according to the latest death toll.

In a statement issued early on April 15, the Ukrainian General Staff said Russias military had fired 13 S-300 anti-aircraft missiles at Slovyansk and nearby Kramatorsk, both in the Donetsk region.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensives, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.

Both Slovyansk and Kramatorsk are facing intensified attacks by Russian invading forces currently bogged down in nearby Bakhmut, which they have tried to seize for months, taking heavy casualties but advancing slowly.

The Ukrainian General Staff said its forces had repelled 56 Russian attacks in the cities and towns of Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiyivka, and Maryinka in the Donetsk region.

In Slovyansk, rescuers searched for survivors into the night, pulling one woman in her seventies alive from the rubble. A child died on the way to a hospital after being rescued, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's office.

Earlier on April 14, Pavlo Kyrylenko, the governor of the Donetsk region, had said 21 people had been injured in the Russian military attack.

"The evil state once again demonstrates its essence," Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram in a post accompanied by footage of the damaged building. "Just killing people in broad daylight. Ruining, destroying all life."

Despite denials it does not target civilian sites, Russia has repeatedly hit civilian infrastructure in the war, now just over a year old.

The Institute for the Study of War think tank said geolocated footage indicated that Russian forces had advanced further west into central Bakhmut the previous day and made "marginal advances" in the south and southwest of the city.

"Russia has re-energized its assault" on Bakhmut, the British Defense Ministry said in its intelligence update on April 14, adding Russian military forces and Wagner mercenaries "have improved cooperation."

The intelligence report said that Ukrainian troops had been forced to withdraw from some territory in Bakhmut, which Russian forces have struggled to capture over several months from determined Ukrainian defenders.

"The Ukrainian defense still holds the western districts of the town but has been subjected to particularly intense Russian artillery fire over the previous 48 hours," the British Defense Ministry said.

In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy said he told commanders at a meeting that the main aim remained "the destruction of the occupiers (and) the depletion of their resources."

In Washington, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said "fruitful meetings this week" had secured promises of $5 billion in additional funding to support Kyiv's fight against Russia.

With reporting from Reuters
Russian forces bombarded Ukrainian towns along the front lines in the eastern Donetsk region on February 14 as Ukraine's Western allies met at NATO headquarters in Brussels to discuss sending more arms to Ukraine.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the countries that had sent arms to Ukraine will continue to do so to make sure Ukraine has "what it needs, when it needs it" to defend itself against the Russian invasion.

"Ukraine has urgent requirements to help it meet this crucial moment in the course of the war," Austin said at the meeting of Ukraine's allies.



Austin announced additional aid that countries backing Ukraine pledged to provide, including tanks, ammunition, and air-defense systems, along with plans to integrate systems and train Ukrainian troops.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensives, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.

But Austin said he had no announcement on fighter jets, which Ukraine has requested from its allies.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said in the debate over military aid for Ukraine that delivering fighter jets was not the focus at the moment but is sure to continue to be discussed in Brussels. Pistorius said securing Ukraine's airspace is the priority now.



"When the skies over Ukraine remain safe in the next three to four months, then you can talk about all other further steps," Pistorius said on German television.



Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that "strong decisions" were made during the meeting in Brussels, but not all of them can be made public.



"More air-defense systems have been confirmed by partners. More tanks confirmed. More artillery and shells confirmed. More training of our military has been confirmed," Zelenskiy said in his evening address.



"I can say with confidence that the basic trends remain unchanged. Together, Ukraine and its partners are doing everything to ensure that the terrorist state loses. And for it to happen faster," he said.



Austin said there were currently no signs Russia is massing aircraft for a potential larger air attack but noted that Russia has a substantial number of aircraft in its inventory and that is why Western allies have emphasized the need to send as much air-defense capability as possible.



Austin also said that Ukraine was expected to conduct an offensive sometime in the spring.



Both Austin and General Mark Milley, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, noted that the first anniversary of the launch of Russia's unprovoked invasion is next week.



Milley said Russia was sending conscripts and prisoners "to imminent death" on the battlefield while losing "strategically, operationally, and tactically." At the same time, he said, Russia had become a "global pariah," while the world remains "inspired by Ukrainian bravery and resilience."



He said the number of countries that have now pledged to send tanks to Ukraine has grown to 11, while 22 countries have pledged to send infantry fighting vehicles, 16 are sending artillery and ammunition, and nine are sending air-defense systems.



Milley said the worst fighting continues to be taking place near Bakhmut, and Ukrainian forces continue to repel attacks. "I would describe it as a war of attrition. The Russians are suffering huge losses," he said.



The Russians are using a lot of artillery, he said, and the battles may last several weeks or until the Russians are exhausted.



With the first anniversary of the invasion nearing, the Kremlin has intensified operations across southern and eastern Ukraine as it prepares for an anticipated big new offensive.



Ukrainian officials said earlier on February 14 that Russian artillery was hitting targets all along the front lines in Donetsk, including the contested city of Bakhmut, a key target for Russia's forces.

"There is not a single square meter in Bakhmut that is safe or that is not in range of enemy fire or drones," regional Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko told Ukrainian media.

British intelligence said in its daily report on February 14 that the Russian mercenary group Wagner had made further small gains around the northern outskirts of Bakhmut, including into the village of Krasna Hora, in the last three days.

Capturing Bakhmut would give Russian forces a new bridgehead in the Donetsk region.

"Russia likely aims to reverse some of the gains Ukrainian forces made over September-November 2022: there is a realistic possibility that their immediate goal is to advance west to the Zherberets River," Britain's Defense Ministry said in its daily bulletin.

The Ukrainian military earlier said it had repelled Russian attacks in a dozen settlements in the country's east and northeast over the past day, inflicting "significant loses" on Russian troops.

Ukrainian troops have been "taking additional measures to strengthen defense," Ukraine's General Staff said in a statement on February 14.

Russia launched 32 air strikes and two missile attacks over the past day, according to the statement.

WATCH: A flash drive left behind by fleeing Russian forces in Ukraine contains hundreds of documents, including citations for medals, which identify key officials involved in handling civilians who allegedly hold anti-Russian views in occupied areas.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his evening address on February 13 that he had met during the day with military commanders to discuss the defense of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions as well as the south of Ukraine, including Odesa.

"Constant attention is paid to the supply of weapons, ammunition, and everything that adds strength and stability to our soldiers," he said, but provided no further details.

With reporting by Reuters and AP
Penelope Hardings doctor helped her get through years of mental agony and two suicide attempts. But when Harding realized she was a transgender woman, that same doctor denied her care to make the transition.

Whats more, Harding told a panel of Nebraska lawmakers Friday, that doctor never followed through on a promise to help her find someone who would provide gender-affirming treatment.

Harding told her story as one of the opponents of LB810, which backers said would afford health care providers the right to follow their conscience about medical treatments. Opponents said the bill would enshrine discrimination in state law.

Sen. Dave Murman of Glenvil, who introduced the bill, said he did so out of concern that conservative and Christian medical students are hesitating to enter the medical field out of fear that they will have to participate in treatments that violate their religious beliefs.

He claimed that 23% of medical practitioners face discrimination based on their beliefs, and 20% dont pursue specific positions out of fear of discrimination.

Under LB810, named the Medical Ethics and Diversity Act, medical practitioners, such as doctors and nurses, and health care institutions such as hospitals could deny elective medical treatment that violated their right of conscience, meaning their religious, ethical or moral beliefs. The bill would also allow health insurance providers to deny coverage of non-emergency care under the same principles.

Murman said health care institutions and health insurance providers would have to disclose what treatment they would not cover ahead of time. Emergency and life-saving treatment would not be affected.

Although multiple doctors spoke in support of the bill at the hearing, the states major health care organizations, including the Nebraska Medical Association, Nebraska Hospital Association and Nebraska Nurses Association, testified in opposition. Other opponents included Nebraska Family Planning, the Nebraska AIDS Project and ACLU of Nebraska.

Leslie Spry with the NMA said the associations biggest issue with the bill is that is doesnt allow doctors to refer patients elsewhere if they deny treatment. Though the NMA agrees physicians should act with a conscience, he said patients also have the right to be informed of all their options.

Spry said Murman is currently working on an amendment that would alter LB810s language regarding referrals. If that amendment passes, he said the NMA could change its position on the bill.

Several physicians who testified in support of LB810 said theyve heard from multiple medical students who are concerned about facing discrimination for their beliefs, so much so that they feared testifying.

The reason these students are not here is the reason this bill needs to be passed, said Nebraska physician Carolyn Manhart.

Family medicine resident Francesca Ursua, who identified as a minority, said she faces more discrimination in her field for her beliefs than her gender or race. She is interested in entering obstetrics, and said she does not want to prescribe hormonal treatment or forms of contraception to patients.

Murman said the bill would not result in discrimination because it focuses on procedures, not on the patients characteristics. He said he had three procedures in mind while drafting the bill: abortions, gender-affirming treatment for transgender patients and euthanasia. Pharmacists would also have the ability to deny contraception to patients, he confirmed.

LB810 would change existing legal provisions on abortions, stating that medical practitioners would have to opt in to participate in an abortion by consenting in writing.

Supporters listed many of these treatments as services they or other physicians have objected to. Retired family medicine physician Dale Michels said hes refused to provide IUDs, a form of birth control, to patients after researching it.

Stephanie Nichols, legal counsel for the national legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom, said physicians across the U.S. have been coerced into performing assisted suicide and gender-affirming care for trans youth, which she referred to as procedures that would sterilize or remove body parts from minors.

In addition to allowing physicians to deny that care, Nichols said LB810 would also allow pharmacists to refuse to provide vaccinations based on their ethical or religious beliefs.

But opponents said the bill could jeopardize patients health and leave already marginalized groups without care. They said the bill would particularly affect people living outside of Lincoln and Omaha, where there may be few alternatives for treatment.

Echo Perlman Koehler, speaking for the nurses association, argued that the bill would return Nebraska to a paternalistic system in which providers are the ultimate deciders about care, instead of patients.

No patient should ever be denied care solely on a providers personal biases, she said.

Some opponents noted that the bill appears to allow any employee of a health care institution, not just medical doctors or nurses, to refuse to participate in care. Lacie Bolte, testifying for the Nebraska AIDS Project, raised concerns that it would allow employers or insurance companies to use the cover of conscience objections to deny coverage of expensive HIV medications.

Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha, a member of the Legislatures Health and Human Services Committee, noted that assisted suicide is currently illegal in Nebraska, so LB810 wouldnt apply to that. She also argued that the bill would not affect abortion, as state hospitals only allow abortions to be performed for life-saving emergencies or for medical necessity. The only place to access elective abortions is at abortion clinics, she said, which presumably would not hire physicians who object to the procedure.

Executive Director of Nebraska Right to Life Sandy Danek disputed that, claiming at least one Lincoln hospital with Bryan Health allows physicians to perform elective abortions.

John Trapp, a physician with Bryan Health, denied that, though he said it will allow abortions deemed medically necessary. That was later confirmed by a Bryan Health spokesperson.

Sen. Jen Day of Omaha, another committee member, questioned whether the bill was discriminatory against patients, as supporters generally seemed focused on two areas of medicine  gender-affirming care and reproductive health  which only applies to two specific demographics.

Day asked Nichols if there are any other industries where employees cant be fired for refusing to perform part of their job. Nichols did not directly answer, instead repeating a common argument among supporters that Nebraskas shortage of medical practitioners will worsen if LB810 doesnt pass. She later said that practitioners who object to certain procedures can still perform other services.

Day pushed the point again later while questioning another supporter, Tom Venzor with the Nebraska Catholic Conference. She suggested that if a practitioner was not willing to provide a medical service covered in their field, perhaps they should practice in a different area of medicine.

Venzor said Days perspective was a black and white view of the medical field. He and other supporters, including Murman, pointed out that LB810 wouldnt just apply to Christian and conservative beliefs, but would protect all viewpoints.

It is protecting the diversity of belief within the medical field, Murman said.

Photos: The business of governing in Nebraska in 2023
Chinese plane carrying humanitarian supplies leaves for quake-hit Syria

Xinhua) 13:32, February 14, 2023

BEIJING, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese charter plane carrying humanitarian supplies left for quake-hit Syria early Tuesday morning, according to the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA).

According to the CIDCA, the plane carrying relief supplies have departed Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province, and is expected to arrive in Damascus on Feb. 15 local time.

The supplies included about 30,000 first-aid kits, 10,000 cotton-padded coats, 300 cotton tents, 20,000 blankets and 70,000 adult pull-up diapers, as well as emergency medical equipment such as ventilators, anesthesia machines, oxygen generators and LED surgical lights, according to the CIDCA.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
OMAHA  A 29-year-old Omaha man was arrested early Saturday after police say he crashed a stolen pickup truck into a Nebraska State Patrol cruiser while fleeing from officers.

According to a news release from the State Patrol, troopers were notified that the Omaha police helicopter was tracking a suspected stolen vehicle that had crossed into Nebraska from Iowa at about 11:15 p.m. Friday. About 20 minutes later, the helicopter tracked the vehicle, a Chevrolet Silverado, to a residence near 99th Street and Park Drive in southwest Omaha.

Troopers arrived at the residence shortly after 11:35 p.m. and located the truck. According to the release, the driver accelerated, drove through a yard, hit a cruiser and fled from the area.

The state trooper inside the cruiser was not seriously injured, but the cruiser was disabled because of the impact. A different trooper began to pursue the Silverado as it fled.

Omaha police deployed stop sticks and the truck came to a stop near 96th and Nina streets. The driver fled but was eventually taken into custody at about midnight, according to the State Patrol.

The driver was arrested on suspicion of assaulting an officer, flight to avoid arrest, willful reckless driving, theft by receiving stolen property, leaving the scene of a crash, possession of drug paraphernalia and driving under a suspended license.

Top Journal Star photos for February 2023
(goarctic.ru) - Polar Lithium LLC, a joint venture between Norilsk Nickel and Atomredmetzoloto (the mining division of Rosatom), received in February 2023 a license to develop the Kolmozerskoye lithium deposit located in the Murmansk Province. And Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov said that "the development of the field will give impetus to the creation of a new industry for the production of domestic batteries, high-tech products for the nuclear industry, the space industry, transport, and activities in the Arctic zone of Russia." Vladimir Masloboev, Advisor to the General Director of the Kola Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Technical Sciences, comments:

Scientists from the Arctic have been waiting for news about the beginning of the development of the Kolmozerskoye field for more than 50 years. In the seventies, the Institute of Chemistry and Technology of Rare Elements and Mineral Raw Materials of the Kola Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences intensively studied the mineral raw materials of this region of the Murmansk Province, which was named Kolmozero-Voronya. A number of deposits were discovered here - along with the Kolmozerskoye spodumene deposit as a source of lithium, which is scarce today, deposits were studied for the production of cesium, tantalum, niobium, beryllium, molybdenum and even gold. The institute created technologies for processing spodumene to produce high-purity lithium, including sulfuric acid technology, which fits well into the technological schemes of the Kola Mining and Metallurgical Company, a division of Norilsk Nickel on the Kola Peninsula.

The planned production of lithium carbonate and hydroxide in the amount of 45,000 tons per year will open more than a thousand new jobs and will make it possible to replace the import of both lithium raw materials and battery components to Russia. The partnership between Norilsk Nickel and Rosatom will provide the project with the maximum set of competencies and joint integration into all areas of the battery industry - both in the production of vehicles and in the production of energy storage devices, because the cobalt, nickel, and copper necessary for the production of batteries are already produced by Norilsk Nickel.

I would like to note that the deposit of flake graphite on the Kola Peninsula is also waiting for its development.

Norilsk Nickel's intentions to conduct an ethnological examination and to apply the FPIC procedure, free prior informed consent to a field development project, once again testify to Nornickel's high social responsibility in the regions of its operation - in this case, to the representatives of the indigenous peoples of the Murmansk Province".
OMAHA -- Leevi Johnson didn't want to leave the hospital bed after one of his heart surgeries.

But when an Omaha police officer visited his bedside, Leevi sprung up, dragging tubes and cords along with him to dole out a hug.

The Omaha boy was enamored with law enforcement. At one point he was sworn in as an honorary officer by a local police department.

Leevi, 10, died Tuesday of heart failure.

The Omaha boy was born with three holes in his heart and a host of other health complications. He underwent multiple surgeries and visited doctors regularly.

Despite his medical challenges, Leevi never complained, his aunt Tonya O'Shea said.

Leevi's biggest passion, she said, was policing. He had always been interested in police and was an avid fan of "Cops." (His latest interest was "Spider-Man.")

After one of his heart surgeries, Leevi's uncle called the Omaha Police Department to ask if they could send an officer to visit the boy. More than 50 officers ended up making visits to Leevi's hospital room. A helicopter pilot even flew by Leevi's window, said Terry Johnson, Leevi's grandpa.

"That was special," Johnson said.

The Bellevue Police Department swore Leevi in as an honorary officer in 2019. Omaha police gave Leevi his own uniform.

Officers from around the country  and a few from around the world  sent in badges. He wound up with enough to make a full size quilt as well as a border along the wall in his bedroom.

Leevi liked playing "cops and robbers" with his cousins, O'Shea said. But he was always the cop. That was nonnegotiable.

He often said he would handcuff anyone for any wrongdoings. And he was prepared to call his police friends for backup.

The family is asking law enforcement officers who attend Leevi's funeral to dress in uniform.

Leevi, a third-grader, loved attending school at Cornerstone Christian in Bellevue. He also enjoyed attending church services at the Salvation Army Kroc Center.

He was particularly close with his mother, Amber Johnson. A single parent, she took Leevi to every doctor's appointment and was there for every hospital stay, O'Shea said.

"She shared him with everybody, with as little time as she got with him," O'Shea said.

In his free time, Leevi had a side gig "working" with his aunt.

O'Shea works at New Life Baptist Church in Bellevue. Leevi often accompanied her and got to work helping to clean the chapel.

He would tell O'Shea: "Auntie, you just sit down and I'll do all my work myself."

Leevi's family said they were touched to see how much the community cared for him.

"Everybody he met, he brought joy to them," Johnson said. "He always had a smile."

In addition to his mother, aunt and grandpa, survivors include grandma Sharon Johnson, uncle Curt Johnson and cousins.

A visitation is set for Sunday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at West Center Chapel, 7805 West Center Road. A funeral is Monday at 11 a.m. at Bellevue Christian Center, 1400 Harvell Dr.

Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of February 2023 020922-owh-new-bigelk-pic-cm02.jpg 020523-owh-spo-cubkw-pic-cm07.jpg 020423-owh-new-zooupdate-pic01.jpg 020223-owh-new-target-pic-cm02.jpg 020523-owh-spo-cubkw-pic-cm09.jpg 020922-owh-new-bigelk-pic-cm01.jpg 020922-owh-new-bigelk-pic-cm04.jpg Legacy Crossing move Mitchell, McDermott hug Flower shop 021123-owh-new-feature-pic-cm01.jpg 021923-owh-spo-statewrestlingsat-pic-cm06.jpg 021123-owh-spo-unoice-pic-cm01.jpg 021723-owh-new-snow-pic-cm02.jpg 021923-owh-spo-statewrestlingsat-pic-cm09.jpg 021523-owh-spo-rain-pic-cm02.jpg 021723-owh-new-palacio01.jpg
Weather Alert

...National Weather Service Cold Water Safety Message... ...Please check with state and local authorities regarding guidelines for allowed activities... * Very warm air temperatures in the mid 70s to low 80s are expected this weekend. This may cause people to underestimate the dangers of the cold water temperatures which are currently only in the upper 30s to mid 40s across Lake Champlain, and in the 30s and 40s in the regions' smaller lakes and rivers. * The cold water temperatures can quickly cause hypothermia to anyone immersed in the water. According to the US Coast Guard, when the water temperatures are below 50 degrees, the chance of immediate incapacitation due to cold shock is extremely high. Anyone on small boats, canoes or kayaks should plan accordingly if recreating this weekend and use extreme caution to avoid this threat. Paddle smart from the start and always wear your life jacket!
For over 21 years, Century 21 Hometown Brokers has been one of the most respected companies in Montana, and for the past nine years, Casey Miller has been right in the middle of it all.

Now, Miller, who has recently served as a supervising broker, is the newest partner in the company. During my time here I've worked closely with Mark Dawson (the firm's founder) and the rest of the staff. I'm excited to take the next step, Miller said.

Learned excellence

Miller began her real estate career as an assistant and earned several promotions along the way. One of her main responsibilities is training new agents entering the business. She serves as a resource for agents and staff  it's fairly common to see a line of people gathering outside her door.

Our business, like a lot of things in life, is all about learning, said Dawson, who started Hometown Brokers in 2001. Casey is curious. She listens well. She's great at answering questions and helping agents solve problems. She simply does an incredible job serving, supporting and leading our agents, and she does a great job for her clients.

When colleagues speak of Miller, adjectives that come up are cheerful, resourceful, approachable and accessible.

Real estate can be cutthroat and competitive, Miller said. That's not what it feels like around here  we are like a family. Its nice to work with people you can have fun with. It creates a culture that clients enjoy being around.

Dawson adds, The biggest factor in making Casey a partner is that she treats everyone with complete respect and kindness, which sadly, is more rare than it should be.

Looking forward

The company has consistently been one of the top real estate companies in the state but is most known for having a top-notch training program. Over 20 current broker/owners of Billings real estate companies have received their training at Century 21 and worked at the office for several years. Dawson says the training has consistently improved since Miller took on that role and that her elevation to partner helps solidify the company's standing for the foreseeable future.

Casey is about 15 years younger than me and does so well with that demographic," Dawson said. "I want to see this extended family continue to thrive well into the future, and Casey is key to that.

Both Miller and Dawson are lifelong Montanans, and they agree that love of the state and community are important.

Mark has been in real estate his whole adult life, and he's getting pretty old, Miller said with a laugh. He really understands every aspect  there is not a situation he has not run across, and that's good for all of us. We have so many highly experienced agents  it's so great to work with them and make sure we are all serving our clients well.

This content was produced by Brand Ave. Studios. The news and editorial departments had no role in its creation or display. Brand Ave. Studios connects advertisers with a targeted audience through compelling content programs, from concept to production and distribution. For more information contact sales@brandavestudios.com.
Montana's health systems were prepared for years for the departure of baby boomers from the workforce. But when that flood of retirees was met with an exodus of exhausted health care workers, the subsequent staffing shortages created a domino effect, toppling the financial stability in nearly every sector.

Nursing homes, playing a key role in the continuum of care, have been the hardest hit with staffing shortages. Historically insufficient Medicaid reimbursement rates have made it impossible for some facilities to offer competitive wages that could have helped with employee retention, leaving the facilities to rely heavily on expensive traveling workers until their budgets were drained.

Eleven skilled nursing facilities closed in 2022  16% of the states nursing homes.

The loss of more than 800 skilled nursing beds means the facilities that have survived are full, and dozens of patients that need to be discharged from the hospital have nowhere to go. Instead, they're being boarded in hospitals.

When comparing the first six months of 2019 to the same period in 2022, hospitals reported a 22% decrease in patient volume, but a 12% increase in length of stay, according to data from the Montana Hospital Association.

Health care leaders are worried lawmakers don't understand the massive impact the reduction in nursing home beds is having on hospital finances and Montanans' access to health care.

Some legislators believe that hospitals are flush with cash after the pandemic, said Bob Olson, interim president and CEO of the Montana Hospital Association. The reality is that lots of hospitals are losing money this year. Lots are struggling to make ends meet.

Concerned about how lawmakers will handle Medicaid during the 2023 state legislature, Olson said access to health care will get worse if hospitals can't regain financial stability.

Hospitals

With a full-time interventional stroke program, doctors at St. Vincent Healthcare treat a lot of patients for stroke. Depending on the case, doctors will discharge patients to skilled nursing facilities where therapists spend multiple hours a day working with patients on the fine motor skills needed for daily living.

Typically, patients cleared for a lower level of care are discharged to a rehab bed in a skilled nursing facility, a swing bed at a critical access hospital, or a long-term care bed at a nursing home.

Large hospital systems, meant to treat critically ill patients, arent designed to provide the extended type of care many patients need to fully recover, said Dr. Chris Spoja, chief medical officer at St. Vs.

About 20% of the patients at St.Vs will need rehabilitation or long-term care.

Thats a pretty significant number of patients to have delaysWe end up rehabbing them in the hospital, but thats not our usual wheelhouse. Our therapists usually are making assessments and plans. Now our therapists are spending hours with (the patient) and its costly for us to provide therapy like that, Spoja said.

The resources used for an overnight hospital stay are much greater than the resources used in a subacute care setting, making the care exponentially more expensive for both consumers and the hospital system.

Accessing care for incoming patients with immediate care needs is becoming more and more difficult as hospital beds fill with medically stable patients that have nowhere to go.

As a result, patients are seeing long wait times in the emergency department, said Spoja. In cases where no hospital beds are available, the incoming patient might be transferred to another hospital with bed space or could be flown out of state.

$1,500 a night

When a patient is admitted to a hospital, providers and insurers are already making a discharge plan. Medicaid, Medicare and most private insurances will pay a predetermined, fixed rate for a diagnosis, said Bonnie Stephens, chief medical officer at Community Medical Center in Missoula.

This rate remains the same no matter how many days the patient stays in the hospital, and hospitals cant discharge patients without a safe plan in place. When the patient stays beyond the predetermined time set by the insurer, the hospital is not reimbursed for the extra days.

When it is a patient using public insurance, the hospital eats the cost not covered by Medicaid.

Billings Clinic had 28 patients boarding in the hospital Friday, waiting for a nursing home to accept their referral. Of those patients, 11 had been there for more than 40 days and 17 had been there more than 10 days, according to Shannon Holland, chief nursing officer at the Clinic.

The average overnight stay at the Billings Clinic hospital comes to about $1,500, Holland said.

Typically, emergency department stays are even more expensive. With so many stable patients in hospital beds, patients at Billings Clinic are also being held in the ED for extended periods.

We cant move patients from the ED to hospital beds. Operating rooms are affected too. If we have limited beds, patients have to stay in the PACU. Were very concerned about patients in outlying communities too that need to come to the hospital, Holland said.

Holland said she'd like to see legislators raise Medicaid reimbursement rates for nursing homes, saying that the money could help them buy equipment, attract staff and ultimately ease the pressure building in the hospitals.

High demand for skilled nursing

Historically, hospitals have struggled to find skilled nursing facilities that can take patients with complex care needs.

Bozeman Health, for example, has sent patients to swing beds in Critical Access Hospitals several hours outside of town.

But over the last year, the challenges have gotten significantly worse in a short period of time, said Michelle Kirsch, System Manager of Case Management at Bozeman Health.

The remaining skilled nursing facilities are being bombarded with referrals on a daily basis, giving administrators the opportunity to be more selective with the patients they accept, according to Kirsch.

Patients with excellent insurance (and low care needs) get accepted and transported right awaybacked-up in the hospitals are patients that have unique needs and (Medicaid), Kirsch said.

Due to staffing shortages in nursing homes, accepting patients with complex conditions isnt always possible.

For example, a bariatric patient typically requires two people for things like bathing. During the staffing shortage, it might not be feasible to have two workers for one patient. And sometimes special equipment is needed that a facility might not have.

Kirsch said nursing home facilities are also looking more closely at the payer source, accepting patients based on their insurance and ability to pay in full.

As a result, the sickest and the most vulnerable people are facing longer stays at Bozeman Health  at great financial loss to the system.

Rural communities

CAHs are also seeing a blast of referrals from providers hoping for an open swing bed.

Swing beds are common in CAHs because they can be used for incoming, acute patients or be converted into a long-term stay bed where the patient can receive skilled nursing services.

In communities hit hard by nursing home closures, some CAHs have filled their swing beds with the countys displaced nursing home residents.

When Big Horn Senior Living (BHSL) closed in Hardin, 10 residents moved into the hospital's swing beds, according to Paula Small-Plenty, the HR director at Big Horn Hospital.

The remaining four or five beds are reserved strictly for incoming patients with immediate care needs.

Small-Plenty was the administrator at the Hardin nursing home before the closure, and like many of her colleagues, transitioned to work at the hospital.

Now she and Kristi Gatrell, CEO of Big Horn Hospital, field the onslaught of daily referrals, feeling that theres little hope to give to families.

Neither Gov. Greg Gianfortes proposed budget increases nor the recommended rate increase published in the provider rate study would have been enough to save Big Horn Senior Living, said Gatrell.

Weve created a great disparity for our rural communities. The message were sending is, dont grow old in Montana, Small-Plenty said.
A teenager is accused of shooting a man dead in the parking lot of a Billings nightclub over the weekend.

Xavier Buffalo, 18, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges of deliberate homicide and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence. Buffalo allegedly shot 21-year-old Beau Harlan Beaumont, a Billings man, before fleeing.

Yellowstone County District Judge Jessica Fehr set Buffalos bond at $250,000.

Officers with the Billings Police Department responded to a shooting in the parking lot of Americas Wild West on Southgate Drive early Sunday morning, court documents said. They found Beaumont, who was lying on the ground with a gunshot wound to his abdomen. A witness was applying pressure to the wound, according to charging documents.

Ambulance crews took Beaumont to a Billings hospital, Yellowstone County Deputy Coroner Valerie Juhl told the Gazette, where he was pronounced dead about 40 minutes after first responders arrived at the shooting.

A witness allegedly told officers a man named Xiae, later identified as Buffalo, shot Beaumont. The two were fighting earlier in the parking lot, according to witnesses. During the fight, court documents said, Buffalo pulled out a gun and fired a single round. Buffalo and others allegedly drove away from the parking lot in an orange Dodge Charger.

Surveillance footage captured the parking lot fight, court documents said, and showed Buffalo punching Beaumont, who eventually crumpled to the ground. While Beaumont was on the ground, Buffalo allegedly tried to stomp on his body. Footage then caught Buffalo tucking what appeared to be a handgun into his waistband, court documents said, before running away.

A deputy with the Yellowstone County Sheriffs Office stopped an orange Charger later that morning. Although Buffalo was not among the six people in the car, court documents said, they were all brought to BPD for questioning.

Investigators found the address on South 26th Street where Buffalo was living the same day. They allegedly watched Buffalo leave the home and get into a vehicle, which BPD officers stopped at Sixth Avenue South and South 26th Street. Police arrested Buffalo, and he has remained in custody at Yellowstone County Detention Facility since Sunday.

While speaking with police, Buffalo allegedly admitted to shooting Beaumont with a revolver. He then gave the handgun away, court documents said.

County prosecutors filed charges against Buffalo on Monday. Yellowstone County Deputy Attorney John Ryan, arguing for the $250,000 bond, said in court Tuesday that while Buffalo has a limited criminal history, the severity of the charges makes him a risk for fleeing. Michael Malone, speaking on behalf of Buffalo, asked Judge Fehr for a $100,000 bond, telling the judge that Buffalo is responsible for babysitting several family members.

Along with setting Buffalos bond at $250,000, Fehr is requiring him to be monitored by GPS should he make bond. Buffalo, Fehr said, allegedly thought it was a good idea to take a gun to a bar, and now someones dead.

Beaumonts death is the second homicide case investigated by BPD so far this year. Thomas John Slevira Jr. has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, attempted murder and multiple counts of assault with a weapon in connection to the death of a Billings man followed by a standoff at a Midtown home in January.

Sunday's shooting is also the second homicide outside of America's Wild West in less than a year. A 29-year-old Billings man was shot in club's parking lot last April, and died while being treated at a Billings hospital. Investigators identified the shooter, the Gazette previously reported, but no charges have been filed in connection to the shooting.

The friends and family of Beaumont have launched a GoFundMe to cover the cost of his funeral and memorial service. Donations can be made at https://gofund.me/2a57ba63.

Of the 47 homicides reported out of Yellowstone County since 2020, according to the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, about 40% were Indigenous men and women. American Indians and Alaska Natives make up about 5% of the population of Billings, per data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Aetosaurs are quadrupedal, heavily-armored reptiles in the extinct order Aetosauria. Their name means eagle lizard, and comes from the fact that their skulls somewhat resemble that of a bird. These creatures were up to 6 m long and widely distributed geographically during the Late Triassic epoch.

Aetosauria is a group of quadrupedal, armored reptiles whose terrestrial ecology is inferred as including both herbivory and omnivory, said Elzbieta Teschner, a paleontologist at the University of Opole and the University of Bonn, and her colleagues.

They achieved a nearly global geographic distribution, whereas they are stratigraphically restricted to the Upper Triassic.

Most species of aetosaurs reach a total body length between 2 and 6 m. The only exceptions are the relatively small Coahomasuchus from North America (1.5 m total body length) and Aetosaurus ferratus from Germany (between 20 cm and 1.5 m).

The latter is best known from an accumulation of 24 individuals (20-82 cm in length) excavated in Kaltental near Stuttgart, but is also reported by specimens from Pfaffenhofen and Eibensbach.

Also from the area of Stuttgart, a second, nearly complete specimen of the aetosaur Paratypothorax andressorum is approximately 2 m in length.

Dr. Oscar Fraas provided the first description of the skeletons of Aetosaurus ferratus from Kaltental in 1877 and suggested that they had washed up together, they said.

Sixteen years ago, Dr. Rainer Schoch of the State Natural History Museum in Stuttgart published a more detailed morphological study. Based on features visible to the naked eye, he determined that they must be juveniles.

In the new study, the authors studied the growth of the humerus bones of the smallest and one of the largest specimens from the Aetosaurus ferratus assemblage from Kaltental.

They found that the specimens are both early juveniles, not older than one year, based on their tissue type and the absence of growth marks and bone resorption.

Moreover, they preserve a tissue resembling hatchling bone.

This young age can be extrapolated for all members of this assemblage, Teschner said.

According to the team, the Kaltental assemblage likely contains a group of juveniles of Aetosaurus ferratus that formed biologically, i.e., through gregarious behavior.

The animals banded together for some reason, Teschner said.

Most likely to increase their chances of survival and deter predators.

The findings appear in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

_____

Elzbieta M. Teschner et al. Triassic Nursery? Evidence of gregarious behavior in juvenile pseudosuchian archosaurs as inferred by humeral histology of Aetosaurus ferratus (Norian; southern Germany). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, published online February 23, 2023; doi: 10.1080/02724634.2023.2168196
Spatula praeclypeata lived in the Northern Black Sea region between 1.9 and 1.5 million years ago.

The newly-described bird species belong to Spatula, a genus of ducks in the family Anatidae that includes living and extinct shovelers, garganey, and American teals.

Scientifically named Spatula praeclypeata, it lived during the Early Pleistocene epoch, between 1.9 and 1.5 million years ago.

Spatula praeclypeata is the oldest find of this lineage in the fossil record, explained Dr. Nikita Zelenkov, a researcher at the Borissiak Paleontological Institute.

The new species is a stem taxon of the living species Spatula smithii, Spatula rhynchotis, and Spatula clypeata.

The fossil of Spatula praeclypeata was found in Taurida Cave, near the village of Zuya, Crimea, Ukraine.

In the Northern Black Sea region, Early Pleistocene birds are known from several localities in the southern part of Ukraine (e.g., Nogaisk, Kairy, and Tikhonovka 2), dated mainly to the second half of the Calabrian age, 1.2 to 0.77 million years ago, Dr. Zelenkov said.

Older bird communities, which are of significant value for the reconstruction of the evolution of Late Cenozoic avifaunas of the region, are only represented by taxonomically poor and very poorly studied assemblages from the Kryzhanovka (environs of Odessa) and Tarkhankut (northwestern Crimea) localities.

Therefore, the discovery of a rich locality of Early Pleistocene vertebrates in Taurida Cave in the central Crimea in 2018 is of great importance.

The fauna of Taurida Cave includes a significant diversity of birds, which is currently actually the only source of information about the ecological and evolutionary appearance of the avifauna of the Northern Black Sea region in the Calabrian, he added.

Previously, a species of giant ostrich, Pachystruthio dmanisensis, was described from Taurida Cave; several other bird species were also recorded in this locality.

In addition to Spatula praeclypeata, Dr. Zelenkov found the fossilized partial skeleton of a previously known species of stone shelduck, Tadorna petrina, in Taurida Cave.

This is the oldest find of the ruddy shelduck lineage in Europe, which sheds light on the paleobiogeographical distribution and evolution of these shelducks in the Late Cenozoic, he said.

Tadorna petrina was originally described in 1985 from the Upper Pliocene of Transbaikalia and is morphologically close to the modern ruddy shelduck (Tadorna ferruginea).

The predominance of open savanna-like landscapes is characteristic of the environs of Taurida Cave, he added.

At the same time, whereas shoveler currently inhabits various habitats in the temperate zone of Eurasia, including steppes, shelducks in natural conditions are inhabitants of exclusively arid meadows and steppe sites.

The older appearance of the recorded avifaunal association in southeastern Europe suggests its eastern origin.

The study was published in December 2022 in the Paleontological Journal.

_____

N.V. Zelenkov. 2022. Fossil Stone Shelduck (Tadorna petrina) and Shoveler (Spatula praeclypeata sp. nov.)  the Oldest Early Pleistocene Ducks (Aves: Anatidae) from Crimea. Paleontol. J 56, 682-692; doi: 10.1134/S0031030122060132
After voting to revive the measure last week, lawmakers on Monday again voted down a bill to create and fund a mental health screening program in Montanas schools.

The bill would allow school districts to opt in to a mental health screening program for students, which included hiring vendors, notifying parents and to provide additional clinical follow up services as needed.

Supporters of the bill touted screenings as a tool to identify students mental health issues. Early intervention comes with additional benefits such as lower costs over the long term, and the bill comes as school districts say the demand is there, supporters said.

Opponents questioned whether a new screening program would duplicate other programs and the effectiveness of current efforts.
A joint partnership committee (JPC) will ensure the rollout of memorandums of understanding (MoUs) that the Uttar Pradesh government has signed with the Government of Singapore at the recently concluded investors' summit here.

The Uttar Pradesh government inked 20 MoUs with the Government of Singapore for the investment of over Rs 29,000 crore in various sectors.

According to the state government spokesman, a JPC will be formed to plan, monitor, implement, and review the cooperative activities of the MoUs.

The committee will be co-chaired by senior officials from Singapore and Uttar Pradesh. It will comprise officials who have relevant expertise and responsibilities.

The JPC may mutually decide on involving other agencies that are not JPC members in areas of cooperation.

It will also regularly report its progress to the permanent secretary (development), the ministry of trade and industry, Singapore, and the chief secretary of the Uttar Pradesh government.

Singapore, a partner country in the UPGIS-23, has invested in several sectors, including education, a smart city, a safe city, waste management, and data centers.

Among several projects is a pilot project to be implemented in Kudha Keshavpur, Ayodhya.

It will demonstrate the efficacy of smart water technologies to cut the cost of water supply, boost potable water supply, and enhance the sustainability of water and asset management.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday told Parliament that India has taken on board the G20 member nations to formulate a standard operating protocol to regulate crypto mining.

Replying to a question on crypto mining regulation in the Lok Sabha during Question Hour, she said that under its G20 presidency, India is "raising this issue and having a detailed discussion with the members so that a standard operating protocol emerges after the discussions in the G20 so that there is a coherent, and comprehensive approach in bringing some regulation into this whether it is mining or whether it is transacting".

Sitharaman also said that crypto is largely unregulated in India, whether it is mining or whether it is an asset, or whether it is a transaction.

"We recognize that this is almost driven by technology, and a standalone country's effort in controlling or regulating this is not going to be effective. There is now an evolving consensus. That is why in the G20 we are raising this issue and having detailed discussions with the members so that a standard operating protocol emerges after the discussions in the G20 so that there is a coherent, comprehensive, all countries working together, kind of approach in bringing some regulation into this whether it is mining or whether it is transacting," she said.

The Finance Minister said that all this is being looked at comprehensively because technology does not brook any borders.

She was responding to a question by DMK MP T Sumathy, who wanted to know how the government plans to regulate crypto mining in India, in order to cater to environmental and energy conception concerns.
A battle over how much power local governments have to dictate housing regulations is taking place in the halls of the Montana Legislature as an ever-deepening affordable housing crisis rages across the state.

Sen. Daniel Zolnikov, a Republican from Billings, has introduced a bill that would reform Montanas zoning laws and ensure that multifamily housing and mixed-use developments would be permitted in all commercially-zoned urban areas with existing water and sewer systems.

Senate Bill 245 would only apply to cities and towns with a population over 7,000. Many cities and towns have regulations such as parking requirements, height restrictions, setback rules and other ordinances that developers need to follow in order to build housing projects. The bill would cut the power of local governments to enforce those rules in many cases.

When advocating for the bill in front of the Montana Senates local government committee last week, Zolnikov said that zoning regulations tacked on by local governments have dis-incentivized builders from creating large multifamily housing projects in commercial districts, where the most people live. That means builders have more of an incentive to build high-end housing for wealthier people away from city centers, which causes congestion and doesnt help low-income residents.

We are in an unbelievably deep housing crisis, Zolnikov said. The median house on the market in Missoula costs about $560,000, higher than Seattle. The median household income in Missoula is just $51,000, which is half of Seattle, roughly speaking. We are a working class state with housing prices comparable to Americas most expensive cities.

Seattle's median house price is actually $794,000, according to Realtor.com 2023 reports.

Zolnikov believes that city governments have placed too much emphasis on creating the most ideal notion of cities. But for him, that means low-income people have become priced out and forced to move.

How many lower income people are on city councils? he asked. The cities are trying to help reach the American dream concept. You have your house, you have your garage, you have your front yard. It just builds costs and it isnt feasible in these times. So I dont think they're bad, I dont think theyre guilty. I think theyre trying. I think it is time to be a little disruptive 100%.

He thinks city governments have had decades to reform their zoning codes without concrete action and now is the time for the state government to step in.

Local control has become local out of control, I like to say, he said. I dont think its intentional but I think we need to get a little more creative.

However, the bill is opposed by the Montana League of Cities and Towns, the Montana Association of Planners and the Montana Environmental Information Center. The bill is also opposed by city officials in Missoula, including mayor Jordan Hess.

Representatives from all three organizations said that all cities in Montana have different needs and situations and that planning needs to happen at the local level with input from the people who live there rather than mandates at the state level.

Kelly Lynch, the executive director of the League of Cities and Towns, said that Zolnikov and groups like Americans for Prosperity that support the bill, havent asked local governments how they feel about it. If the same language of the bill were to be introduced at a city council meeting, she said, there might be a lot of questions.

There would be hours of public testimony into the night, Lynch said. Very few members of the public are here today.

Ann Schwend with the Montana Environmental Information Center said that comprehensive zoning reform across and entire jurisdiction gives her concern.

Neil Cardwell, the city planner for Belgrade, Montana, said his city has already approved 7,000 housing units, which is what the entire Gallatin Valley needs to address population growth. He said the bill isnt necessary, because local governments are already doing a lot to create housing stock.

Sen. Jeremy Trebas, a Republican from Great Falls, said he has a "Get Out" sticker on his coffee mug, which is a play on the "Get Lost in Montana" stickers meant to encourage tourism. He asked Zolnikov why the state should be encouraging growth with this bill when growth is causing a lot of problems.

Zolnikov said that if Montana stops building housing, it won't discourage wealthy out-of-staters from buying here, it will only stop low-income residents of Montana from attaining housing.

Jake Brown, with a nonprofit called Shelter Whitefish, is a supporter of the bill because it would make it easier to build housing in the most densely-populated areas of cities.

Specifically, its housing where jobs are located, he said. Having folks closer to jobs reduces congestion.

Brown pushed back on the notion that its better to leave the decision of where to build multifamily housing to local governments.

The truth of the matter is that some cities have just outright refused to allow these types of projects, Brown said. When one community stifles the development of affordable housing, it has a statewide impact. When theres no affordable housing in Whitefish, those folks move to Columbia Falls. When Columbia Falls doesnt allow affordable housing, folks move to Polson.

Adam Hertz, a former Missoula City Council member, former state lawmaker and a member of the Governor's Housing Task Force, agreed that local governments have failed to address the housing crisis.

Local governments have had many opportunities to address the housing crisis but havent done a good job of doing that, he said.

Hertz said that poison pills like setback rules, height restrictions and parking restrictions make it very difficult to build affordable housing.

In a press release advocating for the bill, Zolnikov said that in addition to opening commercial areas to housing, SB 245 contains provisions to guard against more creative ways of stifling housing in those zones.

The bill clarifies that a city cant make more stringent hurdles for housing in commercial zones than the city requires in other city zoning jurisdictions, the release stated. These provisions are poison pill prevention standards meant to make the reforms contained in SB 245 truly have an impact in Montana communities with a need for housing.

If an area of a city is zoned for commercial development and is already served by water and sewer, theres no reason to ban housing in that part of the city, Zolnikov said. We need more housing and allowing mixed use in traditionally commercial-only areas is common sense.

The committee is expected to take executive action on the bill this week.
Ride-hailing organization Uber Technologies Inc. today announced its multi-cloud strategy, announcing a new seven-year strategic cloud collaboration with Oracle Corp. that will see it move the majority of its most critical workloads to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

At the same time, Uber revealed its expanding its partnership with its existing cloud partner, Google Cloud. It said its working with Google to modernize its cloud infrastructure and reimagine the customer experience for Uber users, drivers, and merchants.

According to Uber, the new cloud deals will allow it to focus its resources on its core strengths and strategic initiatives at a time when it continues to grow and enter new markets. By working with Oracle and Google, it believes it will be able to accelerate its path to profitability.

Given Ubers brand recognition, the deals are a big win for both Oracle and Google, analysts said. However, Oracle is believed to have won the biggest slice of the pie, with its contract estimated to be worth more than a billion dollars.

Our sense is that Oracles portion of the contract likely includes a broader footprint than just Uber Freight, and Oracle may be handling 60-80% of the direct infrastructure/economics in this arrangement, JP Morgan analyst Mark Murphy said in a note to investors. We believe this is one of the 10-figure wins that Oracle had already booked and announced during its recent October quarter, and we are just learning of the logo today.

Its understood that Uber will close down its own on-premises data centers and move the entirety of its information technology workloads to Oracle and Google Cloud.

Uber is revolutionizing the way people, products, and services move across continents and through cities, said Uber Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi (pictured). To deliver on that promise for customers while building value for shareholders, we needed a cloud provider that will help us maximize innovation while reducing our overall infrastructure costs. Oracle provides an ideal combination of price, performance, flexibility, and security to help us deliver incredible customer service, build new products and increase profitability.

Oracle said in an announcement that its partnership with Uber will extend to other areas of collaboration. For instance, Oracle will become a global Uber for Business client, meaning it has selected Uber as its preferred ride-hailing partner for employees to travel and eat globally. It also plans to work with Uber on additional retail and delivery services.

This is a net new win for Oracle OCI and a notable competitive win over AWS, reinforcing the growing momentum and market share gains it has been driving over the last several quarters and giving us confidence that this momentum should continue, said Cowen Inc. analyst Derrick Wood.

The Uber contract is important for Oracle and Google Cloud because both companies trail rivals in the cloud infrastructure market, namely Amazon Web Services Inc. and Microsoft Corp., by some distance. The Informations Martin Peers says in his analysis that it would probably have made better sense for Uber to choose AWS, at least from a technical standpoint. Thats because AWS already knows the business, having served Uber rival Lyft Inc. for a number of years already. However, Ubers decision was likely motivated by cost, and its believed that Oracle and Google Cloud were both able to undercut AWS on price.

Although Google Cloud has reportedly gotten the smaller end of the deal, it insisted that it will play a key role in Ubers plan to modernize its customer experience. This includes technical investments across Google Cloud, Google Ads, and Google Maps that will aid Uber in its efforts to reduce its cost per trip, accelerate new revenue channels and improve in-house analytics. It will also help Uber to improve the performance of its mobile application, it said.

Our partnership with Google centers around a shared commitment to putting customer experience at the forefront of everything we do, Khosrowshahi said.
San Mateo, CA (94402)

Today

Some clouds in the morning will give way to mainly sunny skies for the afternoon. High around 60F. Winds WNW at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Mainly clear early, then a few clouds later on. Low 46F. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph.
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The head of the national healthcare regulator has outlined a plan to improve the complaints process for alleged victims of sexual harassment and racism and is calling on the government to change laws to enable widespread reform.

Martin Fletcher, chief executive of Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA), released a statement on Tuesday outlining his blueprint to improve operations after sustained media attention by this masthead and the ABCs Four Corners program.

AHPRA chief executive Martin Fletcher has been warned about poor investigations leading to death and injury among patients.

Fletcher acknowledged the need to raise the bar for patient safety and said the organisation would review the way AHPRA deals with the criminal history of health practitioners and expand support services for victims of sexual misconduct within the healthcare system.

Sexual exploitation of patients is a gross abuse of trust and can lead to long-lasting and profound damage. Health practitioners are in positions of power and responsibility and patients are vulnerable, he said.
At the last federal election, Labor paid a heavy price for parachuting Kristina Keneally of the northern beaches into the safe seat of Fowler in Western Sydney.

With the NSW election just weeks away, things are looking a little dicey in the corresponding state seat of Cabramatta, where Labor still hasnt preselected a candidate. Its not for lack of interest.

Tu Le, the Vietnamese-Australian lawyer snubbed by the party in favour of Keneally, is among a handful of candidates vying for preselection in Cabramatta. But Le, who doesnt live in the electorate, isnt too popular among local branch members. So unpopular they voted, entirely symbolically, to expel her from the branch at a recent meeting.

The other headache for Labor comes in the form of intensely popular independent Fairfield mayor Frank Carbone, who has his nomination forms ready and is seriously considering a run in either Cabramatta or Fairfield, where the opposition also hasnt finalised its preselection (although cop turned management consultant David Saliba is a clear frontrunner.)

Carbone was instrumental in helping independent Dai Les successful campaign to beat Keneally in Fowler, and told CBD he was sick of his community being overlooked for state government funding purely because it wasnt a marginal seat.
Federal Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt said it was a disgrace that bushfire funding was steered away from state Labor electorates, but all blame cannot be heaped on former deputy premier John Barilaro because, Watt says, it appeared to be a NSW cabinet decision.

A scathing NSW auditor-generals report this month found that Barilaros office intervened in a $100 million bushfire recovery program and altered the guidelines, resulting in Labor electorates missing out on funding.

The office of the then-NSW Nationals leader devised its own rules to fast-track money to areas hit by the Black Summer firestorm  a switch that meant 96 per cent of funding went to Coalition-held seats.

Emergency Service Minister Murray Watt says a NSW bushfire funding program was wrong to favor Coalition seats. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Watt said evidence at a Senate estimates hearing on Monday indicated that the decision to change the guidelines went through the NSW governments expenditure review committee of cabinet.
Quite unexpectedly the issue of church versus state has entered the NSW state election campaign, focusing attention on the Perrottet governments continuing hardline stance against addressing the atrocious practice of so-called gay conversion therapy. Australian states and territories, including Victoria, Queensland and the ACT, have moved to ban practices aimed at changing or suppressing the sexuality or gender identity of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, asexual or gender and sexually diverse (LGBTQ) people. Legislation is also under preparation in Western Australia. However, the practice remains legal in NSW. The NSW governments continuing prevarication is difficult to reconcile. The NSW Liberals have been feigning doing something about the therapy since early 2020 when then NSW health minister Brad Hazzard announced he would push for national reform as it affected communities right across Australia. However, the then prime minister Scott Morrison scotched that gambit, dismissing national reform as not an issue for me, adding it was ultimately a matter for the states. Three states and one territory took Morrison at his word and introduced their own laws. Tight-lipped: NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet. Credit: Dominic Lorrimer The Australian legislation reflects the global outcry and recognition of the harms caused by conversion practices. The Australian Medical Association has called for laws banning the therapy while both the Australian Psychological Society and the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists have issued statements warning that sexual or gender orientation change efforts of any kind are harmful.

Religion-based conversion therapy is most common, and includes counselling for sexual brokenness, prayer, scripture reading, fasting, retreats and spiritual healing. Larger mainstream churches have struck a balance between tradition and contemporary life, leaving the bulk of gay conversion therapy hidden in evangelical churches and ministries, often taking the form of prayer groups, counselling disguised as pastoral care or exorcisms. Little factual information about the prevalence of gay conversion therapy in Australia exists, but a 2018 report by the Human Rights Law Centre, in concert with La Trobe University and Gay and Lesbian Health Victoria, Preventing Harm, Promoting Justice, pointed to the United Kingdom as a possible comparison. The UKs 2018 national LGBTQ survey found 2 per cent of respondents admitting they had undergone conversion therapy, with a further 5 per cent saying it had been on offer. People from multicultural and multi-faith backgrounds were up to three times as likely to report being offered the therapy. Loading With Sydney WorldPride running in parallel with the NSW state election, the controversial therapy issue has surfaced as a possible political issue. The independent MP Alex Greenwich has promised to make gay conversion therapy his priority, warning the Coalition and Labor that his support for a possible minority parliament would be contingent on backing for his bill. His draft bill, the Conversion Practices Prohibition Bill 2023, provides jail terms for people convicted of changing or suppressing another persons sexuality and would bring NSW in line with Victorian, Queensland and ACT legislation. State Labor leader Chris Minns has also belatedly joined the bandwagon, promising to legislate against gay conversion therapy if elected. Labor, he says, will establish a joint working group of NSW Health and the NSW Department of Justice to draft its own laws, working with survivors and other stakeholders.
North Dakota regulators say an explosion and fire in the western oil patch that seriously injured a man also spilled nearly 14,000 gallons of produced water.

Meanwhile, a GoFundMe account has been set up for Travis Ashcraft, 40, of Idaho Falls, Idaho, who family says is recovering in a Twin Cities hospital.

The incident happened about 10:30 p.m. Friday at a saltwater disposal site just north of Alexander along U.S. Highway 85 in McKenzie County, according to Williston Fire Department Assistant Chief Corey Johnson. The Williston and Alexander fire departments responded. The cause of the incident was not immediately determined.

The site is operated by Houston-based Select Energy Services, according to Johnson. The company did not respond to a Tribune request for comment.

A spill report the company filed with the state Department of Mineral Resources cites "improper offloading." A GoFundMe page started by Ashcraft's sister, Brianna Rhodes, states Ashcraft "was unloading his truck when there was a huge explosion where a tank exploded, and he was severely burned."

Ashcraft has burns on his hands, face, and knees, and is likely to need several skin grafting surgeries, according to Rhodes. He was awake and talking on Monday.

The spill at the site was contained to a paved area, according to Mineral Resources. The company estimated 13,860 gallons of produced water spilled. Produced water is saltwater that can contain oil and drilling chemicals. State officials will continue to monitor the investigation and cleanup.
NSW public hospitals face a mass exodus of senior nurses suffering trauma and burnout from overwhelming workloads, leaving younger, less experienced nurses outnumbered and at greater risk of abuse from frustrated patients.

A survey of more than 2300 NSW nurses working in public hospitals  most with more than a decade of experience  found nurses had borne the brunt of the overwhelming pressure on the states healthcare system, with more than half planning to resign.

Kate Goodman. Credit: Louie Douvis

The report, commissioned by the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association (NSWNMA), found 15 in every 100 nurses and midwives report having high levels of post-traumatic stress symptoms that would meet the criteria of PTSD.

The report, released on Wednesday, comes as the healthcare workforce shapes up to be a key battleground across both the major parties health portfolios in the lead-up to the state election, with Labor promising to enforce safe nurse-to-patient ratios, and the Perrottet government committing to boost the number of nurses, doctors and allied healthcare workers across the state.
More than 20 homes and sheds have been destroyed as out-of-control bushfires rage in parts of country Queensland, fuelled by hot conditions.

Evacuation orders were in place for residents north of the town of Miles on Tuesday morning as fire crews battled blazes in rural areas west of Brisbane.

The Myall Creek fire had doubled in size, burning about 7400 hectares on Tuesday, and remained uncontained, with at least two sheds and farming equipment destroyed.

The leave-immediately alert remained for the area between Leichhardt Highway, Welshs Road, Gearys Road, Greens Road and Ryalls Road.
When Hiroshi Mizuno last saw his son, the teenagers eyes were filled with hope as he waved cheerfully before boarding a plane to Australia.

Days later, Mizuno would see his sons body, cold and motionless ... vacuum packed, as it was transported back to Japan.

The boys drowned at Lake McKenzie, on Kgari, in 2019.

Mizuno told a Brisbane court in his victim impact statement of his extreme difficulty at seeing his 16-year-old son, Taiki, not on a plane seat but in the cargo hold below.

Taiki drowned alongside another student, Shinnosuke Kimura, at Kgari, formerly Fraser Island, off Queenslands coast in March 2019.
The credibility of a witness at the disciplinary hearing into neurosurgeon Charlie Teo has been challenged after a tribunal heard he provided a fresh statement with a whole series of new recollections after consulting the controversial doctors lawyers.

Dr Amit Goyal, who was Teos surgical fellow for six months from July 2018, gave evidence via video from the United States where he practises on the second day of a Health Care Complaints Commissions Professional Standards Committee inquiry into allegations of unsatisfactory conduct by Teo.

Charlie Teo arrives for the Health Care Complaints Commission disciplinary hearing. Credit: Kate Geraghty

Kate Richardson SC, acting for HCCC, said Goyal provided a statement to a senior investigator at the commission in February 2020.

The inquiry has heard the outcome of an October 2018 operation performed by Teo was disastrous and that after the surgery the Perth woman didnt wake up.
A 141-year-old house on one of Hawthorns oldest streets is facing demolition to make way for nine townhouses, prompting the state opposition, Boroondara Council and residents to urgently push for it to be granted heritage protection.

Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny is being asked to reconsider a decision made by her predecessor, Lizzie Blandthorn, after the councils bid to protect 76 Wattle Road was rejected the day before the caretaker period began before the November state election.

Anna Prenc is among a group of Hawthorn residents fighting to stop the redevelopment of 76 Wattle Road, seen in the background. Credit: Joe Armao

The property, which was owned by the prominent Kroger family until 2015 and sits on a narrow, leafy street once inhabited by 19th century German winemakers, has been the subject of a lengthy heritage and development dispute that this week landed at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

The Italianate-style house in the wealthy suburb was sold for $6.25 million in June 2021 after being advertised as a thrilling development opportunity with 1700 square metres of land and no heritage overlay.
Victorian university campuses will roar back to life this year as growing numbers of students return for face-to-face learning, raising hopes Victorias No.1 services export will soon return to its former glory.

After a bruising COVID period, universities will restore their traditional Orientation Week events in coming weeks, and welcome thousands of international students back on their grounds.

Sienna Seychell is about to start at La Trobe University, where she will study media and communications. Credit: Chris Hopkins

I think universities are gradually returning to normal, and 2023 is looking like the first full academic year since the onset of the pandemic where COVID isnt a major disrupting force, said Peter Hurley, education policy expert at Victoria Universitys Mitchell Institute.

Victorias eight public universities slashed more than 10,000 jobs over the first two years of the pandemic.
Of the cohort who completed our survey, 73 per cent had children with a [disability] diagnosis and another 10 per cent thought their child might have a diagnosis, she said. Loading Leo was in primary school when Siobhan first noticed his reluctance to go to school. He complained of stomach aches and headaches. They did blood tests and a full-body scan. When she asked why he couldnt go to school, he didnt know. She tried desperately every day to get him there. He is now 17 and has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. He has just started at David Scott School, which offers a VCE vocational major and a tailored approach for students who became disengaged from mainstreaming. So far, its working. Principal Michael Scicluna said every student who enrolled at his school could be classified as a school refuser on a broad level. He said COVID-19 had exacerbated the issue.

Bayside School Refusal Clinic director John Chellew has also seen a new cohort of students post-lockdown. Many had lost contact with their friends, fell behind academically or lost daily routines. Chellew uses walk and talk therapy to get students out of the clinical setting. They walk with his therapy dog Max at the park, sometimes fly a drone at the beach and gradually, he gives the students the tools to reflect on whats troubling them, hopefully leading towards conversations about re-engaging in school. Ben started refusing school in year 3. Hes now going to an alternative school. Credit: Joe Armao Ben Welsh was in year 3 when he first showed signs of school refusal. After taking an extended break to travel with his family, he found it difficult to return. He liked school, but developed a fear of teachers yelling. Even if it was just yelling at other people Id get terrified, he said.

To avoid those concerns, he started skipping some classes, but soon found he was missing whole school days. The thought of going to school made his breathing gather speed, and caused him to shake and his sinuses to hurt. Bens mother, Adina, said it was important for parents to look beyond their childs surface behaviour, without judgment. It looks like them not wanting to go to school. (But) if we make the mistake of not digging deeper and not looking past those behaviours, we arent going to do them any service and wont get to what the underlying stuff is, she said. What to do if your child is showing signs of school reluctance or refusal Talk to them when they are calm, there is privacy and no distractions, and try to understand the reasons for their behaviour.

Use active listening and open questions (that dont require a yes or no answer) where possible.

If they do open up, acknowledge their feelings. Express empathy, even if you disagree with them, and dont dismiss or minimise their feelings.

Address underlying causes, work collaboratively with your child, their school or other professionals.

Let your child know that attending school regularly is expected of them and is important for their mental health and wellbeing. If needed, support your child to strengthen their relationships with friends and teachers at school.

Praise and reward your childs effort. Be careful not to make them feel guilty, as this can worsen anxiety or depression.

Seek professional support early. Source: Parenting Strategies Adina advised parents to listen to their child, have open honest conversations and ask difficult questions.

Ask without having preconceived ideas already in your mind. Also, be prepared to fight for your child; for whats in their best interest, she said. Take your focus off outcomes, off the grades, off the subjects. Kids need to feel safe. When I talk about safe I dont mean they are in danger at school, but its their nervous system that needs to feel safe. Chellew said the transition from one year to the next, particularly if a change of school was required, could be difficult for some children and result in school refusal. Children will usually either shut down or act out. This leads to oppositional behaviours which makes them difficult to talk to, difficult to reason with and difficult to understand, he said. Early intervention was critical, and parents should speak and seek support from their school as early as possible, Chellew advised.

He said parents should also go to their GP and get help from a mental health clinician, which due to waiting lists and lack of specialists, could be difficult. Loading Secondary school children can be more assertive, strong-willed, physically stronger and independent of their parents as they grow up, he said. But it depends on the child, the school culture and the parent-child relationship. Scicluna said punitive strategies can become less effective as teenagers begin to challenge authority, with parents or carers more likely to counter threats of verbal or physical violence. Both Scicluna and Chellew said it was vital to keep school refusers engaged in their education, and to find ways for them to return to their classroom.

Lisa McKay Brown, assistant dean of diversity and inclusion at Melbourne Graduate School of Education, said it was important to act upon early signs of school refusal, but conceded they were different for each child. In extreme cases where students disengaged from school completely, a six or 12-month program of daily support might be required, she said. She said mainstream educators needed to understand the complexity of refusal and should have clear protocols, with non-judgmental support services and referral pathways, so they could step in to support parents. The Department of Education and Trainings Navigator program supports disengaged students, aged 12 to 17. Other programs include Tuning into teens, the Royal Childrens Hospital runs In2School alongside Melbourne Graduate School of Education and Travancore School, and there are a number of flexible learning options available in every sector.

We need to listen to parents, we need to listen to what theyve tried and not convince them to do the same thing over and over again when its not worked, McKay Brown said. Loading She said families of children refusing to go to school were often exhausted and felt powerless, and it was important they werent blamed for what has become a growing societal issue. After six months at home, Ben has now been at Alia College in Hawthorn East for more than a year. The small independent school tried to alleviate pressure on students, and now that theres no pressure to go to class, Ben is finally going, and recently returned from a camp. Adina said the key for her family was finding a school where Ben felt seen, heard and respected.
The discovery of a secret underground gun bunker in a suburban Perth home is one of the incidents that has led the state government to outlaw long-range firearms from July 1.

WA Police uncovered the bunker in the Perth Hills suburb of High Wycombe in mid-2022 after a tip-off, finding the couch masking entry to an area with a shooting range and a haul of guns and ammunition.

The resident, David Letizia, is a former professional fighter and boxing promoter. He has already pleaded guilty to firearm related charges, and has been fined and lost his firearms licence.

He is also facing an allegation he built the bunker without council approval.
Key witnesses in a parliamentary inquiry probing alleged links between NSW Liberal councillors and colourful developer Jean Nassif will be hand-delivered summonses after failing to respond to requests by the committee to give evidence.

The witnesses include Premier Dominic Perrottets brother Jean-Claude, who is a member of the Liberal Party, as well as former Liberal Party state executive member Christian Ellis and Hills Shire councillor Virginia Ellis. Another Perrottet brother, Charles, also a Liberal Party member, was also issued with a summons; however, he does not live in NSW so is not required to attend.

Jean Nassif and his wife Nissy pictured on Instagram.

The upper house committee agreed on Tuesday to engage professional process servers after the parliaments Usher of the Black Rod and other staff could not issue summons to the witnesses, despite repeated attempts.

The inquiry was sparked after extraordinary claims by Castle Hill Liberal MP Ray Williams, who told parliament last year he had heard allegations that senior members of his party had been paid significant funds in order to arrange to put new councillors on The Hills Shire Council who would support future development applications for Nassifs company.
Premier Dominic Perrottet has refused to tell voters whether he will back a ban on so-called gay conversion therapy, insisting he cannot say if NSW should outlaw the harmful method until he has considered it with his cabinet.

Less than six weeks from the state election and days before the worlds biggest LGBTQI festival starts in Sydney, Perrottet is under pressure to denounce the practice and support legislation banning it.

Dominic Perrottet is under pressure to support legislation banning gay conversion therapy. Credit: Kate Geraghty

The issue will loom large for the victor of the March poll, with independent MP Alex Greenwich making support for his private members bill banning the practice a condition of his support in a minority government.

Senior church leaders, meanwhile, have warned against the unintended consequences of passing wide-ranging laws.
A Bismarck man has pleaded guilty to robbing a north Bismarck bank next to his place of employment and making off with $1,800.

Victor Velazquez, 30, on Monday pleaded guilty to robbery and terrorizing in connection with the incident last month, according to court records. South Central District Judge Daniel Borgen ordered a presentence investigation. No attorney is listed for Velazquez, who faces a possible 15-year sentence on the two charges.

Police alleged that Velazquez on Jan. 6 handed a Wells Fargo teller a note that read Stay calm this is a robbery. Empty till into bag I have a gun. He then told the teller to quit stalling and that he didnt want to hurt anybody, and made a motion as if to grab a gun from inside his jacket, according to an affidavit.

Police said surveillance video from the Quality Inn just south of the bank -- the hotel where Velazquez worked -- shows he was wearing multiple clothing items that matched those worn by the robbery suspect. He had left work about an hour before the robbery. He was arrested later that night near his North Ninth Street home, in a car also seen in surveillance video, the affidavit said. Police used parole documents to locate his home. The affidavit does not state that police found a weapon.

Velazquez was sentenced in January 2019 to four years in prison after pleading guilty to a 2018 Fargo jewelry story robbery. He is still on probation for that crime.
London: A new report has found global attitudes have shifted dramatically against China and Russia since the Ukraine war, and almost no one outside the two authoritarian countries believes they offer an appealing vision for world order.

The Munich Security Conferences annual index and report published on Monday found that while there is discontent with the West and the rules-based order the US and its allies are trying to uphold, this has not converted to a desire for an autocratic-led world instead.

Vladimir Putin speaks to President Xi in Shanghai in September. Credit: Pool Sputnik Kremlin

The report, titled Re:vision, found that while China and Russia had had some success in stopping major countries like India and Brazil from condemning the war in Ukraine, the desire in these countries was for a revived international order, with a greater voice for those currently not included.

Neither Russia nor China are seen as offering an appealing vision to the world, the report said. Almost no one outside of China or Russia wants to live in a world shaped mainly by the two autocracies.
Wellington: Princess Anne has offered her admiration for New Zealanders as Cyclone Gabrielle derailed her visit.

The Princess Royal, who is King Charles sister, is in the country this week for her first visit since 2010.

She was to attend a military centenary event in Palmerston North on Wednesday, but the defence force axed the celebration as personnel were needed on the ground in affected regions.

Princess Anne visits the National Crisis Management Centre in the basement bunker of the Beehive, the NZ parliament, as Cyclone Gabrielle causes chaos around the country on Wednesday. Credit: Getty Images

Instead, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins gave Anne a tour of the bunker in Wellington, where emergency management officials are coordinating their response to the crisis.
Victoria Gold: Notice of Expiry of Offer for ATAC Resources

Victoria Gold Corp. (TSX-VGCX) (aVictoriaa or the aCompanya  https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/victoria-gold-corp/ ) is providing notice that its proposed offer to ATAC Resources Ltd. (aATACa) will expire at the close of business on February 17, 2023.

On January 12, 2023, Victoria submitted a non-binding proposal to acquire 100% of the issued share capital of ATAC. Victoria proposed to offer C$0.12 per ATAC share, payable in Victoria shares.

On January 17, 2023, ATAC declined Victoriaa?s proposal. Following subsequent discussions between ATAC and Victoria and their respective advisors, ATAC formally confirmed its rejection of Victoriaa?s proposal on February 7, 2023.

Victoria believes its offer is fair and generous consideration for ATAC shareholders. Victoriaa?s offer implies a premium of 85 percent to ATACa?s closing share price on February 10, 2023.

aWith our demonstrated track record permitting, financing, constructing and operating the Eagle Gold Mine in Yukon, we believe that we can add value to ATACa?s portfolio which would benefit shareholders of both companies,a stated John McConnell, President and CEO of Victoria. aOur offer is more than reasonable given that, although we see opportunities at ATACa?s properties, we are also aware that risks lie ahead, including the uncertainty surrounding the advancement of permits at the Rackla Gold Property. We will not be increasing our offer consideration. We are disappointed our offer has not been taken to ATAC shareholders and we hope that ATACa?s Board of Directors will reconsider not allowing shareholders to decide the outcome for their company.a

To provide ATACa?s Board of Directors time to reconsider its prior rejection of Victoriaa?s offer, Victoria is extending its offer until 5:00pm (Vancouver time) on Friday, February 17, 2023. Following this, Victoriaa?s proposal to acquire ATAC will expire. Victoria has no intention of commencing a hostile take-over offer.

Qualified Person

The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Paul D. Gray, P.Geo., as the aQualified Persona as defined in National Instrument 43-101  Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

About the Dublin Gulch Property

Victoria Gold\-s 100%-owned Dublin Gulch gold property (the aPropertya) is situated in central Yukon Territory, Canada, approximately 375 kilometers north of the capital city of Whitehorse, and approximately 85 kilometers from the town of Mayo. The Property is accessible by road year round, and is located within Yukon Energy\-s electrical grid.

The Property covers an area of approximately 555 square kilometers, and is the site of the Company\-s Eagle and Olive Gold Deposits. The Company issued a National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report for the Eagle Gold Mine dated December 3, 2019 (the a2019 Eagle Technical Reporta). Since the date of the 2019 Eagle Technical Report, the Company has produced gold from its Eagle Mine. Based on the 2019 Eagle Technical Report and after adjusting for depletion through December 31, 2021, the Eagle and Olive deposits include Proven and Probable Reserves of 2.7 million ounces of gold from 133 million tonnes of ore with a grade of 0.64 grams of gold per tonne. Based on the 2019 Eagle Technical Report and after adjusting for depletion through December 31, 2021, the Mineral Resource for the Eagle and Olive deposits has been estimated to host 207 million tonnes averaging 0.63 grams of gold per tonne, containing 4.2 million ounces of gold in the \Measured and Indicated\ category, inclusive of Proven and Probable Reserves, and a further 28 million tonnes averaging 0.61 grams of gold per tonne, containing 0.6 million ounces of gold in the \Inferred\ category.

Cautionary Language and Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes certain statements that may be deemed \forward-looking statements\. Except for statements of historical fact relating to Victoria, information contained herein constitutes forward-looking information, including any information related to Victoria\-s strategy, plans or future financial or operating performance. Forward-looking information is characterized by words such as aplana, aexpecta, abudgeta, atargeta, aprojecta, aintenda, abelievea, aanticipatea, aestimatea and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions amaya, awilla, acoulda or ashoulda occur, and includes any guidance and forecasts set out herein (including, but not limited to, production and operational guidance of the Corporation). In order to give such forward-looking information, the Corporation has made certain assumptions about its business, operations, the economy and the mineral exploration industry in general, in particular in light of the impact of the novel coronavirus and the COVID-19 disease (aCOVID-19a) on each of the foregoing. In this respect, the Corporation has assumed that production levels will remain consistent with managementa?s expectations, contracted parties provide goods and services on agreed timeframes, equipment works as anticipated, required regulatory approvals are received, no unusual geological or technical problems occur, no material adverse change in the price of gold occurs and no significant events occur outside of the Corporation\-s normal course of business. Forward-looking information is based on the opinions, assumptions and estimates of management considered reasonable at the date the statements are made, and are inherently subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other known and unknown factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those described in, or implied by, the forward-looking information. These factors include the impact of general business and economic conditions, risks related to COVID-19 on the Company, global liquidity and credit availability on the timing of cash flows and the values of assets and liabilities based on projected future conditions, anticipated metal production, fluctuating metal prices, currency exchange rates, estimated ore grades, possible variations in ore grade or recovery rates, changes in accounting policies, changes in Victoria\-s corporate resources, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, changes in development and production time frames, the possibility of cost overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses, uncertainty of mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates, higher prices for fuel, steel, power, labour and other consumables contributing to higher costs and general risks of the mining industry, failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated, final pricing for metal sales, unanticipated results of future studies, seasonality and unanticipated weather changes, costs and timing of the development of new deposits, success of exploration activities, requirements for additional capital, permitting time lines, government regulation of mining operations, environmental risks, unanticipated reclamation expenses, title disputes or claims, limitations on insurance coverage and timing and possible outcomes of pending litigation and labour disputes, risks related to remote operations and the availability of adequate infrastructure, fluctuations in price and availability of energy and other inputs necessary for mining operations. Although Victoria has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in, or implied by, the forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The forward-looking information contained herein is presented for the purpose of assisting investors in understanding Victoria\-s expected financial and operational performance and Victoria\-s plans and objectives and may not be appropriate for other purposes. All forward-looking information contained herein is given as of the date hereof, as the case may be, and is based upon the opinions and estimates of management and information available to management of the Corporation as at the date hereof. The Corporation undertakes no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking information contained herein and the documents incorporated by reference herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable laws.

For Further Information Contact:

John McConnell

President & CEO

Victoria Gold Corp

Tel: 604-696-6605

ceo@vgcx.com

In Europe:

Swiss Resource Capital AG

Jochen Staiger & Marc Ollinger

info@resource-capital.ch

www.resource-capital.ch
Vizsla Silver Expands Copala With Bonanza-grade Silver Outside Of The 2023 Resource Boundary

Vizsla Silver Corp. (TSX-V: VZLA) (NYSE: VZLA) (Frankfurt: 0G3) (aVizslaa or the aCompanya  https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/vizsla-silver-corp/ ) is pleased to report drill results from 19 new holes targeting the Copala structure at its 100%-owned, flagshipA PanucoA silver-gold project (\Panuco\ or the \Project\) located in Mexico. The reported results represent both step-out and infill drilling, effectively expanding the Copala mineralized footprint beyond the 2023 updated resource boundary as well as further demonstrating high-grade precious metal continuity within the Copala resource wireframe.

Highlights

CS-22-225 returned 892 grams per tonne (g/t) silver equivalent (AgEq) over 6.00 metres true width (mTW) (648 g/t silver and 4.29 g/t gold)

Including 2,271 g/t AgEq over 1.21 mTW (1,680 g/t silver and 10.50 g/t gold)

And 1,000 g/t AgEq over 1.45 mTW (756 g/t silver and 4.40 g/t gold)

CS-22-220 returned 1,920 g/t AgEq over 2.50 mTW (1,673 g/t silver and 5.39 g/t gold)

Including 7,505 g/t AgEq over 0.44 mTW (6,400 g/t silver and 23.00 g/t gold)

CS-22-235 returned 1,039 g/t AgEq over 4.61 mTW (453 g/t silver and 9.16 g/t gold)

Including 1,611 g/t AgEq over 0.90 mTW (502 g/t silver and 16.95 g/t gold)

And 1,439 g/t AgEq over 0.90 mTW (353 g/t silver and 16.45 g/t gold)

CS-22-229 returned 1,338 g/t AgEq over 2.90 mTW (1,010 g/t silver and 5.91 g/t gold)

Including 1,540 g/t AgEq over 0.74 mTW (1,215 g/t silver and 6.07 g/t gold)

And 2,282 g/t AgEq over 0.87 mTW (1,655 g/t silver and 11.00 g/t gold)

aTodaya?s results continue to de-risk Copala with tightly spaced infill drilling, while incremental step-outs, beyond the recently announced updated mineral resource estimate, highlight the significant expansion/discovery potential remaining in the district,a commented Michael Konnert, President & CEO. aWe currently have three of our seven drill rigs targeting the Copala structure, which given its broad widths (avg 10 metres) and high silver and gold grades continues to be a primary focus for potential resource growth in the near-term. Additionally, wea?re very excited about the prospectivity of an uplifted block to the east of Copala, which based on new interpretations, could host Copala type mineralization at shallow elevations, close to surface. Moving forward, as part of our fully-funded, 90,000 metre 2023 drill program, we will continue to expand the mineralized footprint at Copala and test the possibility of an uplifted block, in the coming months.a

The Copala Structure is located in the western portion of the Panuco district ~800m to the east of the Napoleon structure. Copala hosts Indicated Resources of 51.1 Moz AgEq at 516 g/t AgEq and Inferred Resources of 55.4 Moz AgEq at 617 g/t AgEq within a broad envelope of vein-breccia interlayered with host rock, up to 82 metres thick. Interpretations by Vizsla geologists indicate Copala has an average dip of ~46A to the east (~35A in its northern sector and steepening to ~52A in the southern sector).

Drilling at Copala has now traced mineralization along approximately 1,100 metres of strike length and approximately 400 metres down dip. High-grade silver-gold mineralization remains open laterally to the north and southeast, as well as down dip to the east. The recently completed infill-drilling program consisted of 25 holes drilled at 25 metre centers designed to assess grade continuity and to provide sample material for future metallurgical tests. Infill-holes CS-22-221, CS-22-222, CS-22-224, CS-22-226, CS-22-229, CS-22-230 and CS-22-235, reported today, have confirmed strong continuity of structures and high-grades at tighter drill spacing. Additionally, step-out holes CS-22-220 and CS-22-225 have expanded the Copala structurea?s high-grade footprint to the southeast and east, respectively.

Previously reported drillholes CS-22-202, CS-22-207 and CS-22-219, indicate an uplifted block of basement metasediments in fault-contact with andesites and diorite (see figures 2 and 4) on the east side of Copala. New interpretations suggest between ~300 to 350m of vertical displacement by the fault. This information, in conjunction with ongoing data collection, is being used to define a target elevation for Copala type mineralization on the footwall side (east) of the fault. An uplifted block to the east of the current Copala resource has the potential to host Copala type mineralization at a shallower elevation, closer to surface. Vizsla plans to test this hypothesis with drillholes collared on the footwall side of the fault during Q1 2023.

About the Panuco project

The newly consolidated Panuco silver-gold project is an emerging high-grade discovery located in southern Sinaloa, Mexico, near the city of MazatlAn. The 6,761-hectare, past producing district benefits from over 86 kilometres of total vein extent, 35 kilometres of underground mines, roads, power, and permits.

The district contains intermediate to low sulfidation epithermal silver and gold deposits related to siliceous volcanism and crustal extension in the Oligocene and Miocene. Host rocks are mainly continental volcanic rocks correlated to the Tarahumara Formation.

The Panuco Project hosts an estimated in-situ indicated mineral resource of 104.8 Moz AgEq and an in-situ inferred resource of 114.1 Moz AgEq. An updated NI 43-101 technical report for the Panuco Project with the updated Mineral Resource Estimate is being prepared and expected to be filed on SEDAR within 45 days of our recent Mineral Resource Update published on January 24, 2023.

About Vizsla Silver

Vizsla Silver is a Canadian mineral exploration and development company headquartered in Vancouver, BC, focused on advancing its flagship, 100%-owned Panuco silver-gold project located in Sinaloa, Mexico. To date, Vizsla has completed over 250,000 metres of drilling at Panuco leading to the discovery of several new high-grade veins. For 2023, Vizsla has budgeted +90,000 metres of resource/discovery-based drilling designed to upgrade and expand the mineral resource, as well as test other high priority targets across the district.

Quality Assurance / Quality Control

Drill core and rock samples were shipped to ALS Limited in Zacatecas, Zacatecas, Mexico and in North Vancouver, Canada for sample preparation and for analysis at the ALS laboratory in North Vancouver.A The ALS Zacatecas and North Vancouver facilities are ISO 9001 and ISO/IEC 17025 certified. Silver and base metals were analyzed using a four-acid digestion with an ICP finish and gold was assayed by 30-gram fire assay with atomic absorption (aAAa) spectroscopy finish. Over limit analyses for silver, lead and zinc were re-assayed using an ore-grade four-acid digestion with AA finish.

Control samples comprising certified reference samples, duplicates and blank samples were systematically inserted into the sample stream and analyzed as part of the Companya?s quality assurance / quality control protocol.

Qualified Person

In accordance with NI 43-101, Martin Dupuis, P.Geo., COO, is the Qualified Person for the Company and has reviewed and approved the technical and scientific content of this news release.

Information Concerning Estimates of Mineral Resources

The scientific and technical information in this news release was prepared in accordance with NI 43-101 which differs significantly from the requirements of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the aSECa). The terms \measured mineral resource\, \indicated mineral resource\ and \inferred mineral resource\ used herein are in reference to the mining terms defined in the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum Standards (the aCIM Definition Standardsa), which definitions have been adopted by NI 43-101. Accordingly, information contained herein providing descriptions of our mineral deposits in accordance with NI 43-101 may not be comparable to similar information made public by other U.S. companies subject to the United States federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder.

You are cautioned not to assume that any part or all of mineral resources will ever be converted into reserves. Pursuant to CIM Definition Standards, ainferred mineral resourcesa are that part of a mineral resource for which quantity and grade or quality are estimated on the basis of limited geological evidence and sampling. Such geological evidence is sufficient to imply but not verify geological and grade or quality continuity. An inferred mineral resource has a lower level of confidence than that applying to an indicated mineral resource and must not be converted to a mineral reserve. However, it is reasonably expected that the majority of inferred mineral resources could be upgraded to indicated mineral resources with continued exploration. Under Canadian rules, estimates of inferred mineral resources may not form the basis of feasibility or pre-feasibility studies, except in rare cases. Investors are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of an inferred mineral resource is economically or legally mineable. Disclosure of acontained ouncesa in a resource is permitted disclosure under Canadian regulations; however, the SEC normally only permits issuers to report mineralization that does not constitute areservesa by SEC standards as in place tonnage and grade without reference to unit measures.

Canadian standards, including the CIM Definition Standards and NI 43-101, differ significantly from standards in the SEC Industry Guide 7. Effective February 25, 2019, the SEC adopted new mining disclosure rules under subpart 1300 of Regulation S-K of the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the aSEC Modernization Rulesa), with compliance required for the first fiscal year beginning on or after January 1, 2021. The SEC Modernization Rules replace the historical property disclosure requirements included in SEC Industry Guide 7. As a result of the adoption of the SEC Modernization Rules, the SEC now recognizes estimates of ameasured mineral resourcesa, aindicated mineral resourcesa and ainferred mineral resourcesa. Information regarding mineral resources contained or referenced herein may not be comparable to similar information made public by companies that report according to U.S. standards. While the SEC Modernization Rules are purported to be asubstantially similara to the CIM Definition Standards, readers are cautioned that there are differences between the SEC Modernization Rules and the CIM Definitions Standards. Accordingly, there is no assurance any mineral resources that the Company may report as ameasured mineral resourcesa, aindicated mineral resourcesa and ainferred mineral resourcesa under NI 43-101 would be the same had the Company prepared the resource estimates under the standards adopted under the SEC Modernization Rules.

Contact Information: For more information and to sign-up to the mailing list, please contact:

Michael Konnert, President and Chief Executive Officer

Tel: (604) 364-2215

Email: info@vizslasilver.caA

Website: www.vizslasilvercorp.caA A

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release includes certain aForward?Looking Statementsa within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and aforward?looking informationa under applicable Canadian securities laws. When used in this news release, the words aanticipatea, abelievea, aestimatea, aexpecta, atargeta, aplana, aforecasta, amaya, awoulda, acoulda, aschedulea and similar words or expressions, identify forward?looking statements or information. These forward?looking statements or information relate to, among other things: the exploration, development, and production at Panuco, including plans for resource/discovery-based drilling, designed to upgrade, and expand the maiden resource as well as test other high priority targets across the district.

Forward?looking statements and forward?looking information relating to any future mineral production, liquidity, enhanced value and capital markets profile of Vizsla Silver, future growth potential for Vizsla Silver and its business, and future exploration plans are based on managementa?s reasonable assumptions, estimates, expectations, analyses and opinions, which are based on managementa?s experience and perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, and other factors that management believes are relevant and reasonable in the circumstances, but which may prove to be incorrect. Assumptions have been made regarding, among other things, the price of silver, gold, and other metals; no escalation in the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic; costs of exploration and development; the estimated costs of development of exploration projects; Vizsla Silvera?s ability to operate in a safe and effective manner and its ability to obtain financing on reasonable terms.

These statements reflect Vizsla Silvera?s respective current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of other assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by management, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and contingencies. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forward?looking statements or forward-looking information and Vizsla Silver has made assumptions and estimates based on or related to many of these factors. Such factors include, without limitation: the Company\-s dependence on one mineral project; precious metals price volatility; risks associated with the conduct of the Company\-s mining activities in Mexico; regulatory, consent or permitting delays; risks relating to reliance on the Company\-s management team and outside contractors; risks regarding mineral resources and reserves; the Company\-s inability to obtain insurance to cover all risks, on a commercially reasonable basis or at all; currency fluctuations; risks regarding the failure to generate sufficient cash flow from operations; risks relating to project financing and equity issuances; risks and unknowns inherent in all mining projects, including the inaccuracy of reserves and resources, metallurgical recoveries and capital and operating costs of such projects; contests over title to properties, particularly title to undeveloped properties; laws and regulations governing the environment, health and safety; the ability of the communities in which the Company operates to manage and cope with the implications of COVID-19; the economic and financial implications of COVID-19 to the Company; operating or technical difficulties in connection with mining or development activities; employee relations, labour unrest or unavailability; the Company\-s interactions with surrounding communities and artisanal miners; the Company\-s ability to successfully integrate acquired assets; the speculative nature of exploration and development, including the risks of diminishing quantities or grades of reserves; stock market volatility; conflicts of interest among certain directors and officers; lack of liquidity for shareholders of the Company; litigation risk; and the factors identified under the caption aRisk Factorsa in Vizsla Silvera?s management discussion and analysis. Readers are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward?looking statements or forward-looking information. Although Vizsla Silver has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be anticipated, estimated or intended. Vizsla Silver does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward?looking statements or forward-looking information to reflect changes in assumptions or changes in circumstances or any other events affecting such statements or information, other than as required by applicable law.
Gold Royalty to expand existing secured revolving credit facility up to US$35 million and joins United Nations Global Compact

Gold Royalty Corp. (aGold Royaltya or the aCompanya  https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/gold-royalty-corp/ ) (NYSE American: GROY) is pleased to announce an amended and restated credit agreement with the Bank of Montreal and the National Bank of Canada to expand its existing secured revolving credit facility by US$10 million to US$35 million.A The expanded credit facility consists of a US$20 million secured revolving credit facility (the \Facility\), with an accordion feature providing for an additional US$15 million of availability (the \Accordion\) subject to certain additional conditions.A

Andrew Gubbels, the Companya?s Chief Financial Officer commented: aWe are pleased with the expansion of our existing revolving credit facility with the Bank of Montreal and the participation of a new lender, the National Bank of Canada. The attractive terms of the Facility provide additional flexibility and liquidity as we continue to grow our business through disciplined and accretive acquisitions.\

The Facility, secured against the assets of the Company, will be available for general corporate purposes, acquisitions and investments, and bears interest at a rate determined by reference to the Base Rate plus a margin of 3.00% or Adjusted Term SOFR plus a margin of 4.00%, as applicable. The Facility will have a maturity date of March 31, 2025. The Facility is subject to conditions to advances thereunder customary for transactions of this nature.

United Nations Global Compact

Gold Royalty is pleased to announce that it has joined the United Nations Global Compact (the \UN Global Compact\), the world\-s largest corporate sustainability initiative. Formed in 2000, the UN Global Compact comprises over 17,000 companies across 177 countries. As a participant, Gold Royalty has voluntarily committed to align its operations and strategy with the ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment, and anti-corruption, and to take action to support the broader UN Global Compact goals, including its Sustainable Development Goals.

The UN Global Compact provides members with a principle-based framework, best practices, resources and forum for discussion with a goal to strengthen corporate sustainability practices for the betterment of society.

Joining the UN Global Compact is an important part of Gold Royaltya?s focus on sustainability in its strategy and operations. Gold Royalty also intends to publish its inaugural ESG and Sustainability report later in 2023.

About Gold Royalty Corp.

Gold Royalty Corp. is a gold-focused royalty company offering creative financing solutions to the metals and mining industry. Its mission is to invest in high-quality, sustainable, and responsible mining operations to build a diversified portfolio of precious metals royalty and streaming interests that generate superior long-term returns for our shareholders. Gold Royalty\-s diversified portfolio currently consists primarily of net smelter return royalties on gold properties located in the Americas.

Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information:

Certain of the information contained in this news release constitutes \-forward-looking information\- and aforward-looking statementsa? within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws (\forward-looking statements\) which involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company\-s actual results, performance and achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements expressed or implied therein. Such statements can be generally identified by the use of terms such as \may\, \will\, \expect\, \intend\, \believe\, \plans\, \anticipate\ or similar terms, and include statements relating to the Facility\-s expected impact on the Company\-s business and prospects. Forward-looking statements are based upon certain assumptions and other important factors, including assumptions relating to the timing of any additional advances under the Facility and the ability of the Company to exercise of the Accordion. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements including, among others, risks related to the Company\-s ability to satisfy the conditions and covenants necessary to exercise the Accordion, and other factors set forth in the Company\-s Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended September 30, 2022 and its other publicly filed documents under its profiles at www.sedar.com and www.sec.gov. Although the Company 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. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.
North Dakota Securities Commissioner Karen Tyler has ordered two corporations and their top executives to stop selling unregistered securities.

Her order is against North Dakota-based Bio-Sunn Technologies Inc. and CEO Lewis Bauer; and Georgia-based Equity Fund International and CEO Christopher Williams. She has ordered them to stop selling unregistered securities, acting as unregistered broker-dealers and agents, and engaging in fraudulent or deceptive practices in the offer and sale of securities.

She also ordered the company and officials to repay investors the full amount they invested plus interest, and ordered civil penalties totaling nearly $1.1 million that might be used for investor restitution.

Tyler's order follows a January ruling by Administrative Law Judge Hope Hogan in favor of the Securities Department.

Bauer and Bio-Sunn were accused of "fee-for-funding fraud" that involved raising money from investors through the sale of unregistered securities. The money was then used to pay EFI and Williams more than $1 million to obtain a represented $250 million financing package to construct a hemp manufacturing facility in Wisconsin. The financing never materialized, and investor funds were never returned, according to the Securities Department.

Contact information for the two companies and their executives could not immediately be found.
Global Security Initiative is commendable

13:38, February 14, 2023 By Paul Tembe ( People's Daily Online

As the world teeters on the brink of nuclear Armageddon, in the third decade of the 21st century, it is worth remembering the prophetic warning by the pacifist physicist, Albert Einstein. He is on record cautioning future generations that "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones".

Based on the evidence of things seen and unfolding in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, quite clearly those countries and regional blocs stoking this war by shipping gargantuan armaments have ignored Einstein's warning.

The destruction and devastation unleashed by this war are evident.

It is also obvious that the countries and regional blocs inflaming this war have not learned the tragic lessons from Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.

In this global maelstrom of chaos and insecurity, what has informed the unequivocal policy stance of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in pursuit of peace and security?

At the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2022, President Xi Jinping elaborated on the PRC's policy and practice, in international affairs of a Global Security Initiative (GSI).

As the primary initiator and the implementor of GSI, the PRC's objectives are to advocate for a "common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security" architecture to "jointly safeguard world peace and security".

What does this mean and entail in actual practice? China has become the largest contributor to the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping missions among five permanent members of the Security Council.

The China-UN Peace and Development Fund, initiated by China, has provided a total of $100 million by the end of 2020, benefiting more than 100 countries and regions.

One wonders what happened between the description, in his electoral campaign, of President Joe Biden as a progressive and "transformative leader" and the current actual incumbent of the White House, who has continued the warmongering practices of his predecessors in for example Iran, Cuba, and Yemen.

Therefore, the PRC's role in seeking to secure world peace and security is commendable, as seen in China's peacekeepers, mainly deployed in Africa.

Most African countries are amenable to the GSI since it builds on the strategic largesse that China demonstrated in the battle against the Covid-19 pandemic and economic crisis where China provided at least 2.1 billion vaccines to 120 countries and organisations to close the global immunity gap.

This is a prime example of China "honouring its commitments with concrete action" because, quite simply, "uneven recovery is aggravating inequality across the world, further widening the North-South divide".

In essence, then, the GSI is premised on the following normative principles that should be of interest to those dedicated to the cause for, and of, pursuing at whatever cost global peace and security.

First, that peace is a prerequisite for human and societal development, more so in the context of trying to build back better after the Covid-19 new normal. Peace and development are interconnected in defending people's lives and livelihoods and promoting common goods.

Second, cooperation and solidarity are necessary to keep afloat and stable trade, industrial and supply chains acutely disrupted by both the Russia-Ukraine conflict and Covid-19. Such worldwide solidarity runs counter and is intrinsically opposed to unilateralism and a Cold War 2.0 mentality, where countries are divided between those who support the continuation of war in Russia-Ukraine (largely western liberal democracies) and those favouring dialogue and diplomacy (largely non-western countries).

Third, the GSI proposed by China is a sensible option since experience has taught us that each country must recognise the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other countries in deference to upholding the UN Charter. What will bring about peace and security are principles and practices of mutual respect, mutual benefit and mutual learning.

We do well to recall the human toll paid after World War I and World War II, which resulted in 20 million deaths in the former and 70 million in the latter. Of course, the earthly toll of a nuclear war would result in total devastation of the human species.

Why, then do the US and the European Union dedicate in toto to stoking up the Russia-Ukraine war in the foolhardy pursuit of "weakening" Russia and indirectly isolating China?

This is a reason why the Republic of South Africa has selected a policy of "non-alignment" in this war and, instead, is campaigning, like Brazil and India (BRICS members), in promoting and emphasizing multilateralism instead of unilateralism, cooperation instead of confrontation, and win-win outcomes rather than a zero-sum game.

This stance by the RSA and the PRC in their active endorsement of GSI echoes to some extent the Non-Aligned Movement representing 120 member countries from the Global South who were opposed to Cold War 1.0, imperialism and colonialism that is being echoed presently, by the Biden-led US and the EU, whose record of destabilization, warmongering, sanctions, subjective condemnation threatens the very survival of the human species.

The truism is relevant: "it is not in numbers, but in unity, that our great strength lies".

One hopes that the leaders in Washington, London and Brussels will heed this truism to avoid being bullies and hegemons battling, in Sisyphean fashion, the inescapable reality of a multipolar world where each country and region is recognized and recognized for what it contributes to the storehouse of collective human civilization.

About the author: Paul Tembe is a sinologist and founder of SELE Encounters.

(Web editor: Chang Sha, Wu Chengliang)
Several bills dealing with COVID-19 vaccinations passed the North Dakota House of Representatives on Tuesday and moved to the Senate.

House Bill 1200, introduced by Rep. Jeff Hoverson, R-Minot, passed in a 78-13 vote. The bill would ban colleges and universities from requiring or promoting COVID-19 shots for students, specifically exclude COVID-19 vaccines from the state's school immunization requirements, and extend the state's COVID-19 "vaccine passport" ban for another two years.

The "vaccine passport" ban prohibits state and local governments and businesses from requiring vaccination documents for access, funds or services. The ban passed in 2021 includes numerous exemptions for entities such as prisons, public health units and health care providers, among others.

House Bill 1207, brought by Rep. Dick Anderson, R-Willow City, passed 86-5. The bill would require Health and Human Services to publish online data of "vaccine adverse events." The department may use the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System data.

The system is for reporting possible side effects of vaccinations so federal health officials can detect possible problems with vaccines. Anyone can make reports to the system.

Hoverson's House Bill 1502 passed 87-4. The bill would prohibit hospitals from denying care to a patient based on his or her COVID-19 vaccination status.

Hoverson's House Bill 1406 failed 32-59. The bill would have required the state Department of Health and Human Services to cover the costs of a person's treatment and diagnostics if they suffered "any physical injury due to receiving" a messenger RNA or COVID-19 vaccine.

The Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 shots are mRNA vaccines. Supplies of other COVID-19 vaccines by Novavax and Janssen are expiring, and the federal government isn't purchasing additional doses, according to state Immunization Program Manager Molly Howell.

The CDC says mRNA vaccines use messenger RNA created in a lab to teach cells how to make a protein that triggers a body's immune system to produce antibodies protecting people from getting sick from a germ.

House Bill 1505, brought by Rep. Scott Louser, R-Minot, failed 31-60. The bill would have banned and criminalized all vaccination requirements with a misdemeanor charge.

The bill is similar to a 1919 law repealed in 1975 and replaced with school immunization requirements for several diseases.

At the end of 2022 nearly 70% of North Dakota adults were fully vaccinated against COVID-19, with the rate for all vaccine-eligible people -- age 5 and older -- at about 63%, according to federal data. That compared with 64% and 57%, respectively, at the end of 2021. North Dakota still lags behind the national rates.

More than 1 million doses of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines have been administered in North Dakota.

The House had little to no debate on the bills.
The second episode of The Ark's continues the pilot's theme of something always inevitably going wrong and the problems are really starting to pile up. Not only do we lose another crewmate in a spacewalk as they try to figure out what damaged the ship, we also have Brice and Lane discovering mysterious crystals in the ship that melt through pretty much anything when they're broken, a disposed murder weapon leading to a drastic loss in water and a controversial decision to shut down the coolant system for the engines, leaving them dead in space for the privilege of a few more days of water.

It's not a permanent solution by any means so the characters are going to have to scramble to find some way of replenishing their water and getting the engines back in order so they can continue their mission. I do appreciate the desperation of problem solving involved in this show. Solving one problem leads to another problem and something is bound to go wrong after they fix the water and engine problems.

It's more vital than ever that they at least make it to the planet they were travelling towards so that it isn't all for nothing. Though, what they're going to do on this planet when they get there is a mystery. They're already starting to use all the resources meant for the planet on the ship so they can survive and they're running out of all the supplies they would have had on arrival.

It makes the plight of the saboteur even more interesting. At first, it all seems a little odd that the saboteur would deliberately destroy a ship they're living on and ruin all chances of survival. Do they not want the mission to succeed? Is it some kind of corporate plot or rebellion against the man funding the mission? It's too early to tell but now that the Ark is in such dire straits, it's possible that the saboteur might think it's better to complete the mission because the likelihood of surviving anywhere now is pretty minimal.

I do wonder if it is sabotage though. It feels like an easy path to be led down, in the same way as the show wants us to believe this early on that Lane is implicated in some way in the murder. Obviously, sabotage is a fairly strong basis for a plot and a mystery but the destruction of the ship could also be an accident. Those crystals were only dangerous after being broken and with all the secrets and mysterious backstories being hinted at, I wouldn't be surprised if someone turned out to be a smuggler of some kind.

We also get another bit of information about Garnett's background. It turns out she wasn't trained with everyone else on the crew, instead being a last minute addition presumably by someone higher up. It gives Lane enough reason not to trust her but I'm hoping the three lieutenants sort their differences out soon as I think they could have a really supportive dynamic. We almost got there in this episode but with every step forward they take, there's another step back and it's only going to get worse as things get more dire.

What did you think of the episode? Got any theories about the saboteur? Sound off in the comments below!
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The film Women Talking opens with what amounts to a warning: This is an act of female imagination. Thats because its not actually a telling of the events on which it is based, the horrific story of rape and abuse of more than 130 people in a small Bolivian Mennonite community called Manitoba between 2005 and 2009. The abuse story remains the same, though: nine men, and almost certainly others who were never revealed, used cow tranquilizer to gas whole households, brutally raping girls as young as three, women as old as 65, as well as men and boys. These are sometimes referred to as the ghost rapes of Bolivia because the community decided that the women were visited by ghosts, or perhaps by the devil himself. A young woman discovered two men in the act, they named the others, and nine men went to prison. In the real story, the victims were commanded to forgive the men or be damned to hell, they received no counseling or help, and in fact rape and the general prevalence of incestuous sexual abuse has continued until the present day.

Novelist Miriam Teows, a former Plain Person herself, imagined a different outcome for the women of the colony. In her fictionalized version, the women have a few days to respond to the demand to forgive their abusers, since the other men of the colony have gone to post bail for the attackers. Having discovered the real, flesh-and-blood explanation for the assaults, the women are faced with the decision of how to respond. They engage in a debate over three options: leave, stay and fight, or stay and do nothing. In film director Sarah Polleys film version, practical details are eschewed to foreground the days-long conversation between eight women. We are not told why every man in the entire community needs to go to the city to post bail or why these eight women are responsible to decide for all the abused women in the community. Theres a purposeful vagueness to the film: the women are white, so its obviously not set in Bolivia, but the only hint of where these people are is that they are speaking English and a census truck drives by playing a Monkees song. While the women refer to particular religious beliefs and requirements, wear flowery dresses, kerchiefs on their hair, and cannot read, the word Mennonite is not used. Polley wanted to give the womens conversation a certain universality.

Does this universality make sense, though? On one hand, women and girls are sexually abused and raped at a higher rate than men and boys, so the conversations about how to get away, how to protect our children, whether to forgive, and what to think of Gods allowing such things to happen will certainly resonate with women across cultures. The film was deeply moving, and I am not the only woman reporting that elements brought up tears of grief and a sense of healing. On the other hand, most American women are simply not in the position of the characters depicted in the film. We are well educated, do not live under similar religious requirements, and have direct access to legal protections. I dont mean to overstate this; even some modern religious groups have been known to encourage women to endure abuse, to reconcile with abusers, and to avoid using the legal system against church members. Its a good thing that reports of such teaching are now considered scandals, but we have a long way to go for churches to put proper processes and protections in place to deal with sexual abuse cases responsibly. While it may seem ridiculous that such things are not already in place, recall that the true nature of the rapists and pedophiles compulsions and patterns have only been recently understood. As recently as the late 1970s, secular psychologists thought that pedophiles could be cured and reenter environments with access to children. Getting huge institutions to shift their thinking and practices can be a daunting task, but such a shift is finally underway, even if moving at a glacial pace in the eyes of some.

For those either in more mainstream religious communities or in nonreligious ones, however, sexual abuse may be just as prevalent as in isolated religious sects. After all, Hollywood is also the source of some of the most egregious sexual abuse scandals in recent memory, such as the Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby cases, not to mention the devastating child sexual abuse reported by people like Corey Feldman. Its possible that a rumination on the experiences of illiterate women in an obscure religious colony could serve as a kind of allegory for the plight of secular people living in big cities in a high-tech, modern world. Its certain that factors such as lack of sexual education, an exaggerated willingness to ascribe events to supernatural causes, and social isolation from the broader world directly harmed the victims in the Manitoba Colony in Bolivia by allowing these attacks to continue for years. But these are clearly not the issues at play in the lives of most viewers of this film. Instead, I might conjecture that the ethos contributing to the ubiquity of abuse in Hollywood has more to do with an anything goes culture of sexual envelope-pushing; a toleration for putting children in adult situations; and an attitude of success at any price, even the price of silence about disgusting and illegal behavior. Furthermore, those dealing with abuse in, for example, the public school system (where rates of abuse appear to be higherthan in religious communities) may have a different set of concerns to address altogether. The devil, as they say, is in the details.

In this regard, I am sympathetic to the complaint of Jean Freidman-Rudovsky, who both loved the film and regretted that it didnt present the particularities of the actual victims. Friedman-Rudovsky broke the original ghost rapes of Bolivia story, and also did the follow-up with the colony in which we discovered the lack of care for victims. When we disassociate from those who suffered and the specific circumstances of their case, something is lost. The cast is fantastic, however: Two matriarchs, played by Judith Ivey and Sheila McCarthy, play referee between the younger women. (Frances McDormand plays a harsh, scar-faced elder who has already decided that staying, forgiving, and thus getting to the kingdom of God is the only option; she exits the conversation early.) Jessie Buckleys Mariche represents the stay-and-do-nothing option, arguing that anything else is insane. Her rage over suffering and being forced to constantly forgive her abuser husband causes her to lash out at the other women. Mariche represents the classic case of battered-woman syndrome: desperate, frustrated, and oppressed, she can see no way out. Claire Foys strong-willed Salome argues that the women should stay and fight. Incensed at the abuse of her 4-year-old daughter, Salome makes Huck Finns move: it would be better to risk hell than to let terrible things happen to the people we care about. A radiant Rooney Mara plays the gentle, almost other-worldly Ona, who argues for leaving. In spite of Maras masterful acting, its some of her scripted language that seems unlikely and foreign to the cultural context. I couldnt quite picture this illiterate, deeply religious woman using words like process and liberation. Mostly, the dialogue was believable, but every once in a while the milieu of the womens studies classroom slipped in. My guess is that women like these would have used terms they knew from memorized scripture, like mourning, not process, and freedom, not liberation. The most unbelievable character in this regard was that of Nettie, who experienced the deep trauma of becoming pregnant from her rape at a very young age, and realizes that her attacker must have been her brother, since the child was born deformed and died. The film depicts her as deciding to dress as a boy, as only speaking to children, and as wanting to be called Melvin. Furthermore, one matriarch, near the end of the film, calls her Melvin, at which point she finally speaks (to adults) and says, Thank you for saying my name. This scene has the effect of taking the viewer entirely out of the conceit of the film. There is simply no strict Mennonite or Old Order Amish world in which a girl would have been allowed to dress as a boy, or children would have been allowed to call her by a boys name. I actually checked on this with a former Old Amish acquaintance, just to be 100% sure. While hating ones femininity is an understandable response for a young girl in such a terrible reality, the colony simply would not have allowed this. Its an intrusion of hyper-contemporary, secular-left ideas on a community with the exact opposite characteristics.

Another element of the film initially struck me as unrealistic, but after the conversation with my acquaintance, who left the Old Order Amish, I changed my mind. While the threat of losing the kingdom of God is mentioned early, there is no significant theological conversation until well past halfway through the film. When the conversation finally arrives, the ideas the women throw around are strangely basic for such deeply religious people. At one point, Ona suggests that they build a new religion on the old, one based on love. Given the centrality of love to the Christian religion, this sounded like a comment from a teenager or a silly New Ager, not a serious member of a sect born out a desire to detach itself from ancient hierarchical structures, both civil and religious, and to practice strict pacifism. Thats not to say that she has no legitimate point. After all, it seems clear from both the film and our knowledge of the strictest Plain communities that they live under a heavy burden of earning their place in heaven through strict obedience and righteous works. I just assumed that women steeped in this religious tradition would appeal to scripture, to something in the biblical narrative, or to a reinterpretation of a received teaching. A single-sentence suggestion to build a new religion based on love seemed too simplistic for these women.

Other discussions felt right, though, such as how to understand the problem of evil. Yet no one attempts to answer, even badly, as Jobs friends do, the question of why a good God allows terrible things to happen to innocents. Laudably, Polley does depict the women as comforting themselves with memorized Psalms and singing hymns. But there was very little real engagement with scripture, debate over its meaning or possible interpretation, or discussion of details of doctrine. My friend Ruth explained to me that the depiction may have been more believable than I imagined. When her own parents began to discuss the doctrine of salvation by grace, they had to hold Bible studies in secret. When found out, they were told that the Bible is for the bishops to explain to the people in preaching, not for them to study on their own. Furthermore, women in particular do not participate in theological debates, although they are present when Ruths relatives argue with her about doctrine on her occasional visits. I imported my own experience growing up in an evangelical pastors household and assumed that the writers didnt know religious people well enough, if at all, to understand how they argue, but these womens experiences were different from mine. Eventually, they do stumble upon the notion that perhaps some other religious leader, or even God himself, could forgive them, so that they could enter the kingdom of heaven even if they left their present order. Still, the theological implications of their actions, at least from their own perspective, did not seem as prominent as it ought to have been among such people. At the same time, the sweet moments of worship and prayer unite the women in their common, but oddly vague, commitment to God.

The film raises other fascinating questions, particularly around the nature of men. I was puzzled by the fact that the only significant male character in the story, August (in a stunning performance by Ben Whishaw), was a very sensitive, tender, and supportive man by personality. He is a lovely and moving character. But what about the more aggressive men? Were there no husbands infuriated to find that their wives and children were being raped? Was there no threat of violence against, or just reckoning with, the attackers by the other men of the colony? A question is asked early on as to whether the men who were arrested are the correct men. There is a looming sense that all the men are dangerous sexual predators. Even in Jean Friedman-Rudovskys articlethe only place that mentioned the rape of men and boys alsoI did not find any follow-up with men  either male victims or the husbands and fathers of female victims. Were they angry? Tormented? Did they refuse to speak to the journalist? Why did no one check on the men? Generally, male aggression does not express itself only in sexual violence but is often channeled into an impulse to protect and shield the weak. Even pacifists can stand up for their wives and children in church, in the courts, and in the community. They dont need to kill anyone to do that. But here, the options seem to be the rejection of all non-effeminate males or a life of oppression by them. If Polleys vague setting for the film was meant to evoke the universality of this female conversation, it fails here. There are no men here to defend them or support the women, except perhaps the almost effeminate character of August. But while men may often frustrate us women, so, so many of them have loved us, built us up, defended us, agonized over our suffering, threatened violence, and yes, even carried it out against those who hurt us.

Its a sign of a great film that it provokes so many interesting questions, moves to tears, disturbs, and even annoys. Ill be puzzling over it well beyond today, and its worth seeing to participate in the inevitable conversations it will evoke.
Mississippi Horse Park Facilities Director Bricklee Miller spoke regarding this past weekends Rotary Classic Rodeo at the Starkville Rotary Clubs weekly program on Monday, February 13.
The National Public Health Institute (INSP) informed on Tuesday that in the February 6-12 week, Romania reported 149 cases of of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron, including 46 variants of concern and 103 variants of interest, told Agerpres.

Among the 103 variants of interest, there were 25 BA.2.75 sub-variant instances confirmed, 68 BQ.1 and four XBB 1.5.

To date, 113 cases of BA.2.75 sub-variant have been confirmed, as well as 305 BQ.1 sub-variant cases, 11 XBB sub-variant and eight XBB 1.5 sub-variant cases.

As of January 29, 9,974 Omicron cases were confirmed in Romania, with the BA.2 sub-variant detected in 3,058 (31%) cases.

The BA.5 sub-variant was detected in 3,476 cases (35%).

INSP shows that, until February 12, a number of 18,746 sequencings were reported to CNSCBT.

The 149 sequencings last week were reported by the "Cantacuzino" Institute (64) and the "Matei Bals" Institute (45) and the INSP (40).
The Romanian Air Force aerial surveillance system detected on Tuesday, around 12:30 p.m., a small airborne target with a behavior similar to that of a weather balloon, flying at an altitude of about 11,000 meters in the national airspace, in south-eastern Romania, the National Defence Ministry reports.

Under these circumstances, the Romanian authorities applied all the standard procedures from the moment the object was detected, and two MiG-21 LanceR aircraft of the Romanian Air Force from the NATO-led Air Policing Service scrambled from the 86th Fetesti Air Base, around 12:40, and were directed to the area where the airborne target was reported.

The crews of the two aircraft did not confirm the presence of the said target, neither visually nor on the onboard radars. The planes remained in the area for approximately 30 minutes for the full clarification of the situation, after which they returned to the air base.

The Romanian Air Force in cooperation with the Allied forces permanently monitors the national airspace and the nearby area, the National Defence Ministry notes. AGERPRES
Three Palestinian citizens have been discovered hiding in the trailer of a truck, at the Negru Voda Border Crossing Point (PTF), attempting to illegally enter Romania, the Coast Guard informed on Tuesday.

The vehicle, registered in the Republic of Moldova, was driven by a Moldovan citizen, told Agerpres.

"The border policemen within the Negru Voda Border Crossing Point conducted a control upon the entrance to the country of a vehicle assembly made up of a tractor and a semi-trailer, registered in the Republic of Moldova, at the wheel of which there was a Moldovan citizen. Following the use of the equipment provided regarding the identification of possible persons hidden in the trailer, three persons aged between 27 and 32 were discovered inside it," according to a press release sent by the Coast Guard.

According to the quoted source, travel documents issued by Palestine were discovered on the three young men. They claimed that they intended to reach countries in western Europe.

"The three persons were taken in by the Bulgarian authorities in order to continue the investigations, in accordance with the agreement between Romania and the Republic of Bulgaria," the release also mentioned.
National Defence Minister Angel Tilvar will participate on Tuesday and Wednesday, in Brussels, in the meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (Ramstein format) and in the meeting of the ministers of Defence from NATO member states, the Ministry of National Defence (MApN) informs.

According to a MApN release sent to AGERPRES on Monday, at the meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which unfolds in the first part of Tuesday, the minister will be accompanied by the Chief of Defence Staff, General Daniel Petrescu.

The meeting of the allied ministers of Defence is part of the current calendar and will mainly focus on discussing the further support granted to Ukraine and the stage of implementation of the decisions adopted at the NATO summit in Madrid last June and in view of preparing the decision-making package for the summit in Vilnius, which takes place this summer.

The ministerial meeting will start on Tuesday evening with an informal working session dedicated to the security developments marked by the aggression war waged by Russia in Ukraine, one year after its commencement. The session will be attended by ministers of Defence from Sweden, Finland and Ukraine and the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

On Wednesday, the working session of the defence ministers will focus on the deterrence and defence agenda, in view of preparing the package of decisions of the NATO Summit in Vilnius, being presented the stage of development plans, the structure of forces and the command and control arrangement. Moreover, within this session, also discussed will be aspects regarding the fair share of burdens at allied level and the ways to strengthen the Defence Investment Pledge.
Border officers of the Nadlac II Border Crossing Point (PTF) have found 59 migrants trying to leave Romania illegally hidden in two lorries driven by Bulgarian drivers, who are now being investigated for migrant trafficking, the Arad Border Police informed on Tuesday.

Both lorries are registered in Romania, and according to the cargo manifests they were shipping cardboard boxes and various foodstuffs for commercial companies in France and Austria, told Agerpres.

"Based on a risk analysis, the border police carried out a thorough check of the two vehicles. Thus, a total of 59 foreign citizens were discovered hidden in the cargo compartment. The persons were picked up and transported to the main offices. They are nationals of Bangladesh, Iraq, Morocco, Somalia, Turkey and Egypt, having legally entered Romania but intending to arrive illegally in a Western European country," the Arad Border Police informed.

The migrants are now being investigated for attempting to cross the state border illegally.
The first shipment of humanitarian aid for the Syrian population, sent from Romania, was received in Beirut on Tuesday, the Romanian ambassador to Syria, Dan Sandovici, told AGERPRES, while present at the reception of the aid, together with head of the Consular Section Cosmin Hertanu, and Daniel Hye, representative of the Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Civil Aid Operations - the Emergency Management and rescEU Directorate (DG ECHO).

According to the Romanian diplomat, the transport contains mattresses, blankets, winter clothes and canned goods.

Dan Sandovici stated that two other transports are planned in the coming days. Also, three planes with the same materials are one their way to Gaziantep, in Turkey, to be sent to help the population of northwestern Syria.

On Tuesday morning, two C-27J Spartan transport aircraft left Romania for an air transport mission in support of the population of Syria affected by the February 6 earthquakes.

"We are talking about over 40 tons that are going to both parts of Syria, in the northwestern area and in the area under the authority of the Syrian Government, we are talking about humanitarian assistance, equipment - tents, mattresses, beds, everything needed in the situation that is unfolding in both areas of Syria," said the head of the Department of Emergency Situations, Raed Arafat, before the departure of the transport aircraft.

He stated that the mission is being conducted under the auspices of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism and several transports will be carried out that will distribute the 40 tons of equipment.
Foreign Affairs Minister Bogdan Aurescu will participate on Tuesday, as the keynote speaker in the open meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) called "Threats to International Peace and Security: Sea-Level Rise - Implications for International Peace and Security."

According to a release of the Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE) sent to AGERPRES on Monday, the head of the Romanian diplomacy will present the implications of the rise in sea and ocean levels over international peace and security, at the invitation extended by the Maltese Presidency of the UN Security Council (SC), both as minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania and as co-chair of the Study Group of the UN International Law Commission (ILC) regarding the sea-level rise in relation to international law.

The Foreign Affairs minister will participate in this event alongside UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the UN General Assembly President Csaba Korosi. The meeting will be chaired by Malta's Minister for Foreign and European Affairs and Trade Ian Borg, as the President of the UN SC.

Within the meeting there will be debated the risks for international peace and security generated by the rise in sea and ocean levels, a phenomenon which is a direct consequence of climate change and there will be explored the ways in which the Security Council can address these risks within the framework of the global security architecture.

Romania's presence at the UN Security Council meeting "strengthens our country's efforts to promote an efficient multilateralism and international order based on norms, such as Romania's role as an actor involved in managing the pressing global issues, including the consequences of climate change over peace and security which take an important place," the MAE release shows.

The rise in sea and ocean levels has direct physical consequences over the coasts of the affected states and, therefore, over the baselines from which, according to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982, maritime areas are measured - the territorial sea, the contiguous area, the exclusive economic area, as well as over the access to the resources located in these areas; the loss of these resources increases the risk of conflicts between states, the MAE shows. Moreover, as an effect of this phenomenon, because of the deterioration of living conditions, population movements and forced migration might occur. Last but not least, the rise in the level of seas and oceans leads to the loss of territory, either partially or totally (in the case of island states), which can lead to the loss of statehood. Therefore, the rise in the level of seas and oceans is a phenomenon that poses existential problems for many states, the quoted release mentioned.

As member of the International Law Commission of the UN, Bogdan Aurescu proposed, ever since 2018, together with other four members of the ILC, that the topic of sea and ocean level rise be included in relation to the international law on the working agenda of the ILC, as a result of the increased interest on behalf of the affected UN member states (approximately 140 states directly or indirectly affected by this phenomenon, both island states and with low coastal regions - especially developing states, but not only, thus, over two thirds of the UN member states) to find solutions based on international law to protect their rights.
The minister of Health, Alexandru Rafila, announced on Tuesday that approximately 1,000 medical staff have volunteered to go to Turkey to help the victims of the February 6 earthquakes, but, so far, they have not there haven't been any requests from the Turkish authorities, which is why the enlistment process will be stopped, told Agerpres.

"Approximately 1,000 medical personnel have signed up, (...) various specialties, both physicians and nurses. The Secretary of State responsible for medical assistance has constantly checked these lists so that we can be able to build medical teams that can move in the field and be operative from the point of view of specialties, namely teams that have surgeons, have anesthetists, etc. We are in contact with the Turkish Embassy in Romania and the agreement with them was that these teams be prepared, if it can be said that way, but only in the event of a request by the Turkish authorities, who must also ensure logistical support and what must not be excluded in any way - the safety of these teams," said Rafila, at the Palace of the Parliament.

He mentioned that, until now, the Turkish authorities have not sent such requests.

"I don't think that this enrollment process will continue to be necessary, we will stop it, but the possibility to travel exists, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, we have also made an inventory of the possibility of admitting patients with polytrauma in the hospitals in Romania. We received from our colleagues at the emergency hospitals in Bucharest - several dozen people who are polytraumatized can be treated in Romania. It depends on the request of the Turkish authorities. We have not had any requests," explained the Health minister.

Alexandru Rafila mentioned, at the same time, that sanitary materials are being collected at Unifarm, especially medicines, which are donated by various pharmaceutical companies. "We will organize a transport as soon as possible. We have contacted the Romanian ambassador in Damascus. We will organize a transport of these materials as soon as possible. There are significant quantities of medicines. Three manufacturers from Romania have agreed to donate medicines," explained the minister.
Elon Musk wasn't getting enough attention on his $42 billion toy social media platform, so he threw a fit and fired one of his top engineers. And now, it seems like his team of green card engineers are so terrified of him that they're manipulating Twitter to force everyone to see his tweets at the top of their feed, regardless of whether they actually want to follow him or not. Because, you know, nothing says "I'm super popular" like forcing people to read your tweets.

From The Verge:

As reported by Platformer's Zoe Schiffer and Casey Newton, internal Twitter data indicates that while Musk's account rose to peak popularity in search rankings in April 2022, engagement has since dropped significantly, and engineers found no issue with Twitter's algorithm. Over the weekend, Musk said Twitter rolled out some sort of change to fix this "visibility" issue, with the billionaire CEO stating that 95 percent of his tweets weren't "getting delivered." I'm not sure if this is at all related to this Musk-filled feed, but I'm hoping Twitter fixes this issue soon  unless the new mandate is to get the boss more views by any means necessary.

This morning, Musk tweeted, "Please stay tuned while we make adjustments to the uh . 'algorithm,'" which can only mean that he's still not satisfied with how many views he's receiving. His engineers are now trying to figure out how to hack Google to make his tweets the top search result. Next thing you know, they'll be manipulating the universe to spell out his tweets in the stars. But nothing will ever be enough for his insatiable thirst for attention. The only thing that makes him happy these days is attending sporting events with ideological peers like Rupert Murdoch and Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud.
The Liaison Office of the European Parliament in Romania and Cinema Victoria in Timisoara invite the public, during the opening weekend of the Timisoara 2023 - European Capital of Culture program, to discover the five finalist films of the LUX 2023 Audience Award, told Agerpres.

Triangle of Sadness, Close, Alcarras, Burning Days and Will-o'-the-Wisp are exceptional European titles, covering a diversity of themes, languages and co-producing countries: France, Germany, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Croatia and the United Kingdom, informs a press release of the organizers of the LUX2023 Film Days event.

After the screening, LUX films can be evaluated on the website www.luxaward.eu, until June 12, 2023, together with viewers from all European Union countries, and the film with the highest score will be the winner of the LUX Audience Award.

At the award ceremony, which will take place on June 14, 2023 in Strasbourg, 10 spectators chosen from among those who evaluated the films online will also participate.

The LUX Public Prize aims to draw attention to some social, political and cultural problems in Europe. It is awarded every year by the European Parliament and the European Film Academy, in partnership with the European Commission and Europa Cinemas.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, participated, on Tuesday, as the key speaker, in the open meeting of the United Nations Security Council, with the theme "Threats to International Peace and Security: Sea-level Rise - Implications for International Peace and Security"

The head of Romanian diplomacy participated in the event both as a minister and as co-president of the Study Group of the UN International Law Committee on the rise of sea and ocean levels in relation to international law, at the invitation of the Maltese Presidency of the Security Council, shows a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) release sent to AGERPRES.

Aurescu presented the serious implications that the global phenomenon of rising sea and ocean levels already has or could have on the entire international community, including in terms of peace and security at the global level, especially on small island states and states coastal

At the same time, he highlighted the need to prevent the risks generated by the rise in sea and ocean levels, both from the perspective of the need to adjust the existing policies in the matter, and through the application of international law in the field. In this context, the head of diplomacy emphasized the existence of a common responsibility of the international community in combating the negative effects of this phenomenon.

Let me assure you of my country's commitment to continue contributing to global efforts related to the risks of climate change in general and sea level rise in particular. I encourage the Security Council to be actively involved in this cause. Given its implications for international peace and security, the issue of sea level rise must remain in the Council's attention. I am sure that together, in solidarity, we will find the right solutions, the minister said in his speech.

Bogdan Aurescu participated in this event together with the Secretary General of the UN, Antonio Guterres, and the President of the UN General Assembly, Csaba Korosi. The meeting was chaired by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Malta, Ian Borg, as President of the UN Security Council. More than 70 representatives of states and international organizations participated in the event. AGERPRES
More than 4.5 million homes have come out of the guarantee period of their earthquake-resistant structure, in Romania, so that there is a need to renew the housing stock with almost 200,000 units, annually, either new units or a rehabilitation of those built before the 1977 earthquake, shows an analysis carried out by the representatives of an online real estate sales platform, told Agerpres.

According to Imobiliare.NET, the legislation in force shows that the warranty period of the earthquake-resistant structure is 50 years from the date of commissioning.

"Imobiliare.NET calculations show that, throughout the country, more than 4.5 million homes have come out of the warranty period of their earthquake-resistant structure, which, according to the legislation in force, is 50 years after being put into use. Thus, our country needs a renewal of the housing stock with almost 200,000 units annually, either new units or a consolidation of those built before the earthquake of 1977. However, Romania does not manage to keep up with the need to refresh the real estate stock. In 2022, for example, five times less new building permits (43,990) were issued than the annual requirement (200,000) to eliminate the problem of buildings out of the safety guarantee of their earthquake-resistant structure," notes the expert analysis.

In the same context, the data of the National Institute of Statistics (INS) showed that, at the end of 2021, there were 9.587 million housing units in Romania, to which are added the building permits issued throughout 2022, for 43,990 new units, decreasing by 14.9pct compared to the previous year.

According to real estate consultants, the recent earthquakes in Turkey and Syria will have a negative impact on the prices of old buildings in Romania, especially those in Bucharest, and the effects are beginning to be felt. Thus, the difference in sales prices for houses in Bucharest, built before 1977 and those built after 2010, is almost 20pct and continues to grow.

Regarding the apartments in Bucharest, from the detailed statistics of the immobiliare.NET platform, it is easy to see large price differences in all categories - studios, apartments with two, three or four rooms.

The Imobiliare.NET analysis considers data from more than 3,700 sales ads, from the first two months of this year, for real estate in the Capital built before the 1977 earthquake, these being compared with similar ads for new buildings, delivered after 2010.

Imobiliare.NET is a portal with real estate ads launched 13 years ago.
As many as 63,388 people, including 6,739 Ukrainian citizens, entered Romania on Monday, February 13, the General Border Police Inspectorate (IGPF) reported on Tuesday, told Agerpres.

According to IGPF, at the border points nationwide on Monday, nearly 134,400 people, Romanian and foreign citizens, were checked both on the way in and on the way out of Romania, as well as more than 37,600 means of transport.

Starting February 10, 2022 (pre-conflict time) 3,538,312 Ukrainian citizens entered Romania.

The border police detected 53 illegal acts (19 crimes and 34 misdemeanors) in the areas under their jurisdiction - the crossing points and the green border - committed by both Romanian and foreign citizens, levying more than RON 17,900 in fines in the process.

Assets of an estimated value of RON 108,600 were impounded.

Twenty-three foreign citizens who did not meet the conditions provided by the law were denied entry.

Also on Monday, 17 Romanian citizens were not allowed to leave for various legal reasons.
Prime minister Nicolae Ciuca gave assurances, on Tuesday, at the meeting with the representatives of the Concordia Employers' Confederation, that fiscal stability and predictability will remain within the parameters agreed with the dialogue partners, without sudden changes to the regulations in the field, the government informs in a press release, told Agerpres.

The Concordia Employers' Confederation brings together companies that generate over 30% of Romania's Gross Domestic Product.

"The data published today by the National Institute of Statistics (INS), which confirms one of the highest economic growth at the European level for our country, 4.8%, i.e. almost 50 billion euros more, shows us that we succeeded, together, through dialogue, not only to avoid the recession, but also to perform. It is a success for us, for all of us, and our plans for this year must use all the resources and opportunities at our disposal, together with decision-makers and the private environment. Romanian capital must be supported, your efforts must be encouraged, and the modernization of the economy must be consolidated through massive financing and the attraction of European money," stated the head of the Executive, quoted in the press release.

The flat tax, the statement added, continues its beneficial effects for the economy and "the introduction of a 1% turnover tax is not considered".

"It is important, however, that Romanian companies do not feel fiscally discriminated against the foreign ones. In order to manage the increasingly accentuated labor force deficit, the Government continues the process of streamlining the procedures for recruiting workers from other non-EU countries, without neglecting, however, the active programs to stimulate the insertion of Romanian citizens into the labor market," the press release explains.

At the request of the private sector, the Government will identify the resources necessary to continue the application of the Kurzarbeit (short-time working) program for sectors of economic activity affected in the context of the Russian military aggression in Ukraine.

From the perspective of government programs to protect citizens and the economy from the effects of the energy crisis, the prime minister gave assurances regarding the solidity of the financial packages to support these measures, emphasizing the importance of the funds allocated at the government level for the modernization and development of the electricity production, distribution and supply sectors.

"Fields such as energy, agri-food industry and the IT&C sector represent strong points for Romania. We have an important potential for economic development, which the business environment in our country cannot achieve without capital, tax facilities, medium and long-term financing provided by the banking environment, access to European funds," prime minister Ciuca pointed out.
President Klaus Iohannis received, on Tuesday, the new ambassadors of the United States of America, Kathleen Ann Kavalec, of Turkey, Ozgur Kivanc Altan, of the Republic of Slovakia, Peter Hatiar, and of the United Mexican States, Amparo Erendira Anguiano Rodriguez, on the occasion of which they had presented their letters of credence, told Agerpres.

The US ambassador in Bucharest spoke to the president in Romanian.

"Mr. president, please allow me to hand you the letters by which Mr. Joseph Biden, the president of the United States of America, accredits me as ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the United States of America to Romania and the letters of recall of my predecessor," said the diplomat.

For his part, Iohannis addressed Kavalec in English: "Welcome to Romania! You have a very good accent."

In the discussion with the ambassador of the United States of America in Romania, president Klaus Iohannis welcomed her return to our country, after her previous post at the US Embassy in Bucharest, in the period 2005-2008.

President Klaus Iohannis expressed his appreciation for the role assumed by US president Joe Biden and the Washington administration "for ensuring unity within the transatlantic community and achieving close coordination between transatlantic and global leaders in order to manage the security situation in our country's vicinity, with an impact on Euro-Atlantic security", the Presidential Administration says.

In this context, the Romanian president thanked for the consistent increase of the American military presence in Romania, after the start of the Russian war against Ukraine, which demonstrates the strong support of the USA for the security of Romania and its European NATO allies, especially those on the Eastern Flank of the Alliance.

During the discussions, president Klaus Iohannis reiterated the common interest in recording concrete progress regarding Romania's accession to the Visa Waiver program.

Ambassador Kathleen Ann Kavalec appreciated the solidity of the bilateral Strategic Partnership and confirmed the objective of working with the Romanian authorities for its consolidation. At the same time, the American official conveyed the appreciation of the USA regarding the efforts and support that Romania gives to Ukraine and the Ukrainian refugees.

In the discussion with the ambassador of the Republic of Turkey, Ozgur Kivanc Altan, president Iohannis reiterated, in the context of the catastrophic earthquake that hit Turkey on February 6 and caused tens of thousands of victims, the solidarity of Romania and the Romanian people and the willingness to continue to offer support. The president sent his condolence to the affected families and speedy recovery to the injured.

He appreciated the very good Romanian-Turkish relations, based on the Strategic Partnership, sustained political dialogue and dynamic cooperation in a large number of sectors. Also, Klaus Iohannis welcomed the joint decision of the two countries to establish this year the High Level Strategic Cooperation Council, a structure that will strengthen the strategic dimension of the bilateral dialogue, taking into account the effects of the conflict in Ukraine and the regional and global developments. At the same time, the dimension of economic cooperation was emphasized, especially trade, investments, energy security.

The Turkish ambassador in Bucharest conveyed the Turkish authorities' thanks for the compassion and help offered by Romania in these extremely difficult moments for his country. Also, the Turkish ambassador reiterated the goal to work on strengthening the Strategic Partnership bilaterally and on close coordination within NATO and at the European level.

In the meeting with the ambassador of the Slovak Republic, Peter Hatiar, the president of Romania mentioned the excellent state of the Romanian-Slovak bilateral relationship and appreciated the intense political-diplomatic dialogue of the last period. President Iohannis also highlighted the role played by the Slovak minority in Romania and the Romanian minority in the Slovak Republic in the development of human relations and ties between the two countries.

The president and the Slovak ambassador expressed their common interest in deepening bilateral and European coordination, as well as within regional formats such as the Three Seas Initiative (3SI) or the Bucharest 9 (B9) format, based on the similarities of views, approaches, behaviors and interests.

The Slovak ambassador conveyed his country's active support for Romania's accession to the Schengen area.

On the occasion of the meeting with the ambassador of the United Mexican States, Amparo Erendira Anguiano Rodriguez, the president of Romania expressed his appreciation for the positive dynamics of the relations between Romania and Mexico and emphasized the importance of the development of economic cooperation in the context in which Mexico is the second most important commercial partner of Romania in Latin America.

For her part, the ambassador of the United Mexican States highlighted the very good level of the bilateral relationship between the two countries, as well as the common desire to intensify cooperation in economy, trade, education, culture and tourism.
Two C-27J Spartan transport aircraft left Romania on Tuesday for an air transport mission in support of the population of Syria affected by the earthquakes of February 6, told Agerpres.

One aircraft is bound for the Turkish city of Gaziantep, and the other for the capital of Lebanon, Beirut.

"We are talking about over 40 tonnes that are dispatched to both sides of Syria, the northwestern area and the area under the authority of the Syrian Government. This is humanitarian assistance, equipment - tents, mattresses, beds, everything that is needed for the situation in both parts of Syria," head of the Emergency Management Department (DSU) Raed Arafat said on Tuesday at the 90th Otopeni Air Transport Base.

He added that the mission is carried out under the auspices of the European Civil Protection and several shipments will be carried out that will distribute the 40 tonnes of equipment.

"The European Civil Protection greenlighted us yesterday, because we are conducting the mission under their auspices, and it was established that for the part where the Syrian Government is in place, the aid will be handed over to Beirut, where there will be representatives of the United Nations and they will arrive in Syria at The Red Crescent, who will take care of its distribution, and the other will land in Turkey, from where it will be taken over by the United Nations - the International Organisation for Migration, which will be responsible for its equidistant distribution to the population in need in the northwestern parts on Syria," said Arafat.

According to him, the transport expenses are fully covered for the Beirut area by the European Civil Protection, and 75% for the Gaziantep area.

"I can say that we are doing a very normal thing - assisting the population that is affected in Syria. In Turkey, the first train already arrived yesterday and will probably be redirected to Adana; the second train left yesterday and will arrive in Turkey today," Arafat mentioned.

The military aircraft took off from the Otopeni base at around 09:00hrs, EET.

According to the Romanian Defence Ministry, dispatched are tents, mattresses, beds, as well as foodstuff and canned goods donated by Romania and made available by the National Administration of State Reserves and Special Matters.

The assistance is extended under a decision by the National Emergency Management Committee regarding the provision of international assistance to Syria under the European Civil Protection Mechanism.
President Joe Biden exhorted Congress on Tuesday night to work with him to "finish the job" of rebuilding the economy and uniting the nation as he delivered a State of the Union address aimed at reassuring a country beset by pessimism and fraught political divisions.

In his 73-minute speech, Biden sought to portray a nation dramatically improved from the one he took charge of two years ago: from a reeling economy to one prosperous with new jobs; from a pandemic-weary nation to one that has reopened, and a democracy that survived its biggest test since the Civil War.

"We're the only country that has emerged from every crisis we've ever entered stronger than when we got into it," Biden said.

TYRE NICHOLS: Documents released Tuesday provided a scathing account of what authorities called the "blatantly unprofessional" conduct of five officers in the fatal police beating of Tyre Nichols last month. The Memphis Police Department requested the five officers be prohibited from working in law enforcement again.

POWER GRID: A Maryland woman spent months conspiring with a neo-Nazi leader based in Florida to plan an attack on Baltimore's power grid, hoping to further their racist mission, federal law enforcement officials said Monday. The plan was thwarted when both suspects were arrested last week.

DERAILMENT: Residents were able to return Wednesday to the village of East Palestine, Ohio, where crews burned toxic chemicals after a train derailed five days earlier. Officials said monitors showed no dangerous levels in the air.
FERGUSON  Emerson elicited a collective sigh of relief from the St. Louis region last week, with word that the company will search locally for its new headquarters location. But on Monday Emersons CEO made clear that St. Louis must improve schools, reduce crime and create good jobs  or risk other businesses leaving.

CEO Lal Karsanbhai doubled down on his commitment to the region in an op-ed piece published in the Post-Dispatch. But he wrote that keeping his business in the St. Louis area was not a foregone conclusion.

We believe in St. Louis, and we are here for the long haul, ready to do our part to help the region thrive, Karsanbhai wrote. And, sometimes, that commitment includes tough love.

In the op-ed, Karsanbhai wrote that every resident should have access to quality education, regardless of ZIP code, and a decent job, he wrote. And addressing crime is critical for attracting new employers and keeping existing companies. Karsanbhai wrote that it can be tempting to think of crime as solely a city problem, but said that is an easy way to shrug off the need for widespread action.

Handwringing is getting us nowhere, Karsanbhai wrote. Business leaders must come together to build a stronger community that leaves no question of its viability as a great place to grow a company.

In written statements, St. Louis County Executive Sam Page and a spokesman for St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones said they are making progress on the issues Karsanbhai called out. Page noted that the countys crime commission will reconvene later this month. Karsanbhai wrote that Emerson did not consider or accept any economic incentives as part of its decision.

Jason Hall, CEO of Greater St. Louis, said he hopes the Emerson decision  along with Bunges 2019 decision to move its global headquarters from White Plains, New York, to Chesterfield  are signs that St. Louis can compete with other major metro areas and win. But, he added, when a company thats been here for 133 years launches a headquarters review, that means that there were some questions.

I just think we need to be sober-eyed to that, Hall said. Weve got a lot of work to do, and its going to take all of us going in the same direction to get it done.

Ferguson Mayor Ella Jones said her citys West Florissant corridor is growing as a place for business. The Urban League established an empowerment center that holds job fairs. Young people go to the Boys & Girls Club, which helps grow their self esteem and learn skills that will help them later on when theyre looking for work.

Thats a step in the right direction, Ella Jones said. When the news of the headquarters search broke in October, she and her staff started brainstorming ways to keep Emerson. The company has been a great corporate neighbor, she said, citing work Emerson has done with a local nonprofit that rehabs houses for senior citizens and veterans, and helping build a new park in Ferguson.

But she also acknowledged that there is more work to be done in the region.

Karsanbhais appeal on Monday was not the first time in recent years that St. Louis business leaders have publicly called for change.

In 2020, Michael Neidorff, the late, former CEO of Clayton-based Centene Corp. said hed chosen to add as many as 6,000 jobs in North Carolina rather than St. Louis because of shortcomings here. He called out issues from public safety to education, lack of workforce growth and poor airport connectivity.

Emerson was founded in 1890 as an electric motor and fan manufacturer. In 1940, it purchased the land along West Florissant Avenue in Ferguson, and built a $10.5 million plant there. In recent years, the company has been in transition, shifting away from its consumer and residential products and toward its automation solutions business.

The company disclosed the headquarters search in late October. As part of a deal to sell its Climate Technologies business, it would also sell the expansive, 200-acre Ferguson campus and search locally and elsewhere for a new home base. Last week, the company said that after a rigorous three-month review, it had decided to search within the St. Louis region.

Though the Ferguson campus will be owned and occupied by Climate Technologies, an exit of the larger company would have meant the loss of a legacy business for the region and one of the largest headquartered here.

I think everyone was, to a certain extent, holding their breath, said Pat Kelly, executive director of the Municipal League of Metro St. Louis. I think, from a psychological standpoint, to have another large company leave would be a real negative.
MAGA's New Jersey state Sen. Samuel Thompson decided to leave the Republican party because, in true Trump fashion, he felt "betrayed" by his own party.

And he's jumping ship not because Republicans want to cut Medicare and social security or ban books or force 10-year-old rape survivors to give birth or purge American Black history from classrooms or keep imposter George Santos in the House or spread anti-science conspiracy theories  and not even because anyone actually betrayed him  but the far-right snowflake wants out because some local GOP politicians were worried his age  87  made him too old to run again.

And, coming from the us-vs-them party, where actual policy positions and ideology no longer even pretend to exist, Thompson  who had hailed Donald Trump's presidency as a "success" in 2016 and 2020, according to HuffPost, thinks nothing of suddenly becoming a Democrat. Because again, positions don't matter when owning the libs  or in this case, MAGA  is the party's one and only order of business.

From HuffPost:

"The betrayal by so many of my friends  that was too much for me," Thompson told The Associated Press on Monday. "I am not leaving my party. My party leadership has left me." Thompson will run for reelection later this year as a Democrat. He would have faced a "tough" GOP primary, reported the New Jersey Globe. He served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 1998 to 2012 before four terms in the state Senate.

And, even more disheartening, Democrats are acting no different than Republicans, welcoming the Trump-loving state Senator with a giddy us-vs-them hard-on  in order to gain a senate seat in New Jersey's 40-member chamber.

"A former U.S. Army veteran and research chemist who served for over 20 years in the New Jersey Department of Health, Senator Thompson has built a reputation as a tireless public servant who prioritizes constituent services," New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) said in a statement. "The Democratic Party has always been a big tent party and I welcome Senator Thompson to our ranks."
SOUTH ST. LOUIS COUNTY  Dog dies after rescue from fire: A 10-year-old dog was euthanized Monday morning, just a few days after firefighters pulled the pit bull mix out of a house fire in the Lemay area of south St. Louis County.

The fire killed two adults, a man and woman, whose identities have not been released by authorities. Investigators are still working to locate family and identify the two people, said Lt. Jason Brice with the Lemay Fire Department.

The dog, Evie, was rushed to Affton Veterinary Clinic. Dr. Tara Brooks said she thought Evie might make it, but the dog took a turn for the worse this weekend.

The Affton fire department's community outreach program is covering Evie's medical bills with donations, which can be made through Venmo by searching @profireaffton. Additional donations will cover other emergency vet bills in the future, said Brice.

CAHOKIA HEIGHTS  Second fire this week kills one: Police were investigating on Monday the death of a man in a house fire here, the second in less than a week.

Cahokia Heights police Detective Jamal Jackson said Monday that the latest fire was reported just before 9 p.m. Sunday in the 100 block of St. Leo Drive, near Illinois Highway 157.

Jac ksonidentified the victim as 69-year-old Gary Limestall, a resident of the home on St. Leo.

Police officers who arrived first to the burning home forced open a door but were pushed back by heavy smoke, Jackson said. Firefighters soon found Limestall inside, but he was already dead, Jackson said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, as is a fire from Feb. 7 that killed two men and injured five others at a home in the 200 block of North 45th Street, off of Grand Street. The men who died in that blaze were Larry Wetzel, 82, and Bob Tierce, 78. Three firefighters suffered minor injuries, along with a bystander who tried to help.

A third man who lived at the home on 45th Street was critically injured; Jackson on Monday said the man was still hospitalized.

Investigators from the Cahokia Heights Police Department, the State Fire Marshal's Office and the Illinois State Police are working to find out what caused the fires, Jackson said.

"Every possible angle is being investigated," he said. "We will get to the bottom of it."

The two homes that burned are about 6 miles apart.

"We haven't noticed any connection between the two," Jackson said. "Just seems like more of a tragic event, and the community has to come together."

In May 2021, Alorton, Cahokia and Centreville merged to become Cahokia Heights.
Clinic whistleblowers allies make her motives suspect

As I read Report on St. Louis transgender center could propel measures limiting treatments (Feb. 11), I thought that accusations from a progressive queer woman married to a trans man should be taken seriously and investigated. But then my doubts about the truthfulness and motivations of the whistleblower were confirmed by the company she keeps. Her attorneys are a Republican St. Louis County council member and a general counsel of the Child & Parental Rights Campaign, which says it exists to respond to a radical new ideology leading children to believe they could be born in the wrong body.

These are the attorneys she chooses if she supports transgender rights? Attorneys who appear to want to take away transgender rights? It makes me believe there are other motivations for blowing the whistle.

John Carlson  Edwardsville

Instead of fixing trans care, Republicans want to end it

The Republican response to allegations of abuse and medical neglect at Childrens Hospitals Transgender Center (Report on St. Louis transgender center could propel measures limiting treatments, Feb. 11) reveals what I believe are the motives behind the probe. The fact that the Republican legislators response is to use the allegations to justify outlawing such therapy  instead of improving it  demonstrates that they consider any such therapy abusive. If they were truly interested in protecting this small and vulnerable population of children, they would be calling for oversight and other regulatory bodies to investigate and institute reforms.

They are not, I believe, interested in protecting children, because if they were, these legislators would be advocating action to improve school lunch programs, teacher resources and education, and to address rampant gun violence. Instead, they seem determined to outlaw help for a group of people who make up less than 0.6% of the population  and that is what makes the proposed legislation so despicable. By eliminating what little support there is for this population, such legislation would render them invisible and irrelevant.

Thomas Goss  St. Louis

It isnt only foster children who need additional help

Regarding Katie Plaxs excellent op-ed piece about the needs of the 13,000 children in the Missouri foster care system (Kids in foster care are still kids, and they need support, Feb.6): I think we should remember how many more of Missouris children are currently struggling not only with foster care and and related traumas but also with poverty in their homes, food insecurity, racism, violence in neighborhoods and underfunded school systems.

Children need and deserve every bit of support and love that we adults can give them. It is reasonable to bet parents who access pediatric care at the Transgender Center at Childrens Hospital are seeking to care for and support of their sons and daughters. Is it possible that this current hot topic has become a political power struggle used for ideological purposes? Instead, lets focus on using all of our resources to help children better cope with the many stresses in their lives and to provide them medical care, safety from violence, safe and effective schools, better nutrition and emotional support. This is what all children need to thrive.

Ann Mandelstamm  St. Louis

If no one fixes Social Security, benefit cuts are inevitable

Regarding the editorial Yes, Republicans have threatened Social Security. And theyre still doing it. (Feb. 11): This assumes that Florida Sen. Rick Scotts proposal to sunset all federal programs after five years unless they are renewed is a Republican plan to reduce federal spending by cutting Social Security benefits. The editorial states that the Republican approach always seems to come down to cutting benefits, rather than making the wealthy pay their fair share. Social Security and Medicare are both funded by a payroll tax paid by workers and employers, not by the federal income tax. How making the wealthy pay their fair share solves the problem makes no sense.

Current estimates predict that Social Security will be insolvent by 2034 and Medicare even sooner. When insolvency hits, both programs will be subject to mandatory benefit cuts. It is estimated that Social Security will be able to pay only 80% of promised benefits. The system must be reformed now, but neither party seems interested in doing so.

Kurt Caton  Waterloo

Songwriting legend Burt Bacharach will be missed

Regarding Legendary Songwriter Burt Bacharach Dead at 94 (Feb. 9): I became aware of Burt Bacharach in 1970 when I was 16. His name, I mean, not his music. His music I had already known for some time. I kept hearing songs on the radio, fresh and original, that stopped me in my tracks. Songs like Walk on By and Knowing When to Leave and Anyone Who Had a Heart. At its best, Bacharachs music combined a melodic lyricism with a rhythmic dynamism that thrillingly captured the pulse of life. I never stopped listening to his songs, which he continued to compose into his 90s, including the lovely Bells of St. Augustine. Theyve been a lifelong friend and, while that should be more than enough, Im sorry there wont be any more.

John Lynn  Edwardsville

Read letters online at STLToday.com
LGBTQ legislation dehumanizing to many Missourians

Among the 27 proposed state laws that would limit the freedoms of LGBTQ Missourians is Senate Bill 134, a version of the Florida legislation popularly known as dont-say-gay. I am a pastor of a vibrant and diverse Episcopal church in University City. My husband is just one of the LGBTQ educators who attend my church. If SB 134 passes, he could be restricted in where he mentions his spouse or displays a picture of his family. These proposals and their accompanying political debates are dangerously dehumanizing. I will also say, they are un-Christian.

Supporters of these bills claim LGBTQ people and allies are hostile to the Christian faith. As a gay priest and pastor, let me say: I am not hostile to anyones faith. My faith compels me to speak out when the vulnerable in my community are under attack. I try to do so with respect and love. That is hard to do when my humanity is being questioned, but I will continue to try.

In this work I have an unlikely ally: Pope Francis recently called laws criminalizing gay people unjust. My church performs marriages for same-gender couples and provides services for trans people to receive new names. The Roman Catholic Church has nowhere near this kind of inclusion, but the pope and I can stand together to say government shouldnt limit the civil rights of LGBTQ people.

Rev. Mike Angell  University City

Criticism of transgender center is false and damaging

Regarding Report on St. Louis transgender center could propel measures limiting treatments (Feb. 9): Jamie Reed, a former case worker, has made several assertions regarding the care provided at the transgender clinic at St. Louis Childrens Hospital. As a transgender activist, I have grounds to speak on this issue. I strongly disagree with Reeds statements.

During my time at the clinic, staffers were all given ample warning of the potential side effects and options for transitioning. This included multiple handouts and appointments where we were informed and educated about the different methods available to us. It is important to acknowledge that the experiences of transgender individuals vary, and the care provided at the clinic should accurately reflect that.

I believe Reed has misrepresented the services offered and the care provided. Her account is not only misleading, in my opinion, it also undermines the important work being done at the clinic to support the transgender community.

Chloe Clark  St. Louis

To ban the teaching of tough issues breeds ignorance

The attacks by our Republican officeholders in Jefferson City on public school teachers freedoms to discuss tough truths about the history of slavery and racism and contemporary issues about sexuality and gender identity are distressing. Such attacks, especially if enacted as legislation, would not go unnoticed by current residents and by people and businesses considering a visit or a move to Missouri. Instead of viewing Missouri as the venerable Show-Me State, it would be seen as the laughable and backwards Un-Know-Me State. Knowledge is power. Missourians should not be put at a disadvantage by their own government.

Jeffrey Miner  St. Louis

Maybe Chinese were just surveying their Missouri land

I dont see what the big deal is with the Chinese balloon. Im sure it was just on its way to take pictures of the farm land that the Chinese interests control in Missouri.

Martin Mengarelli  St. Jacob

Ameren rate hike would mean subsidizing pollution

Regarding Your Ameren bill could go up by $12 a month (Feb. 9): It is unconscionable that Ameren is requesting a rate hike as the company continues to pollute our air. In 2021, federal appellate judges unanimously upheld a 2017 court decision that Ameren violated the Clean Air Act when it modified the Rush Island coal plant without installing modern air pollution controls. In fact, the equipment Ameren installed raised sulfur dioxide emissions.

We should not be forced to subsidize Amerens continued use of coal via a rate hike. Not only are coal plants a major source of pollution, they are also inefficient and costly to operate. For example, Ameren spends approximately $500 million per year importing coal from other states. A state law passed in 2021 allows Ameren to retire its coal plants faster and invest in clean energy while saving money. If Ameren had taken this approach, it would not have to raise our rates. But instead, the company continues to deliberately delay conversion to clean energy. Ameren also wants to impose a fixed rate, regardless of energy use. This is a blatant abuse of Amerens monopoly control. We should only pay for energy used.

Ameren needs to focus on renewable energy projects and stop increasing our rates so it can keep burning coal and polluting our air.

Stephanie Todd  Olivette

Read letters online at STLToday.com
Dr Pepper Peeps marshmallows: Weve never seen those in an Easter basket before.

Peeps Brand partnered with the iconic Texas soda company to formulate a marshmallow meant to mimic the flavors of Dr Pepper. The secret soda recipe was not shared, a spokesperson for Dr Pepper confirms.

A Peeps partnership was natural for parent company Keurig Dr Pepper, because last year, they jointly released Original Donut Shop Coffee flavored Peeps marshmallows, modeled after a flavor of K-cup pods created by Keurig.

Plus, Peeps likes to deliver the unexpected, a spokesperson for the company says.

Other Peeps flavors in 2023 include Sparkly Wild Berry, cotton candy, Hot Tamales, Party Cake and sour watermelon. Peeps parent company Just Born Quality Confections also owns Hot Tamales, Mike & Ike and Goldenbergs Peanut Chews.

Another Peeps newcomer this year is kettle corn-flavored marshmallow chicks, available only at Kroger.

This years sweets are bursting with PEEPSONALITY, a press release says. We have to agree.

The new Dr Pepper Peeps will be sold exclusively at Walmart nationwide and are expected to go on sale after Valentines Day, a Walmart spokesperson confirms. (We looked at two Walmarts in Dallas this week, hoping to provide you with some tasting notes, but the Dr Pepper Peeps werent on shelves yet.)

Each Dr Pepper Chick is gluten-free, fat-free and fewer than 30 calories, according to a company statement. A 10-count package costs $1.36.
Yield: 6 cups

1 quart (4 cups) very thinly sliced peeled yellow onions

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

6 cups rich chicken stock

1 tablespoon sherry vinegar

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

12 slices toasted bread or crostini to fit in soup bowls

3 cups grated Comte, Gruyere or Swiss cheese

Fresh chives for garnish

1. Thinly slice the onions and place in a large bowl. Toss to separate the rings and set aside.

2. Melt the butter in a 5-quart pot over medium low heat. Add the onions and salt.

3. Caramelize the onions very slowly over medium-low heat. It will take 30 to 50 minutes or more, stirring occasionally as needed.

4. As the onions cook they will release water, but if you notice sticking to the pan, add small amounts of water to prevent burning and release any flavorful pieces that develop on the bottom of the pan.

5. You want the onions to reach a deep brown  almost the color of bourbon. At that point they are fully caramelized.

6. Sprinkle the flour evenly over the cooking onions, stirring it in completely to evenly distribute the flour. You dont want lumps in the flour before you add the stock next.

7. Pour 2 cups of stock over the onions, whisking as you go. Add the remaining 4 cups of stock in 2 cups at a time, whisking still to make sure no lumps are forming that need to be stirred down.

8. Bring the soup to a simmer and allow it to cook for 30 minutes longer, stirring occasionally, then stir in the sherry vinegar and ground pepper.

9. Turn the broiler on to medium high.

10. Portion the hot soup into 6 oven-proof bowls. Arrange 2 pieces of toasted bread on the surface. Top each bowl with  cup of grated cheese, taking care to cover the bread.

11. Place under the broiler to melt the cheese. Keep a good eye on this as it only takes a few minutes, 2 to 4 minutes depending on the broiler.

12. Garnish each bowl with chopped chives.

Per serving: 622 calories; 34g fat; 19g saturated fat; 97mg cholesterol; 29g protein; 50g carbohydrate; 11g sugar; 3g fiber; 1,225mg sodium; 660mg calcium

To print the recipe, click here, then click the printer icon.
MONDAY, Feb. 13, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Implementation of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (HHFKA), which strengthened nutritional standards of school-based meals, was associated with a significant decrease in annual body mass index (BMI) z-score (BMIz), according to a study published online Feb. 13 in JAMA Pediatrics.

Aruna Chandran, M.D., M.P.H., from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Medicine in Baltimore, and colleagues examined the association between the HHFKA and youth BMI using data from the nationwide consortium of child cohort studies, the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes program. Data were included for 14,121 school-aged youths contributing 26,205 BMI measurements.

The researchers identified a significant decrease in the annual BMIz following implementation of the HHFKA compared with prior to implementation (0.041). Similar trends were seen among youth aged 12 to 18 years and among youth living in households with a lower annual income in interaction models to assess subgroup associations (0.045 and 0.038, respectively).

"School meals and snacks represent a key opportunity for interventions to combat the childhood obesity epidemic given the high rates of participation in school meal programs and the significant proportion of caloric intake that youths receive at school," the authors write.

Several authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical and medical technology industries.
(HealthDay News) -- If you're one of the millions seeking The One this Valentines Day, heres a tip: Try swiping less.

This is the main message from a new study that found excessive swiping on dating apps can cause partner choice overload, among other issues.

Dating apps may give us the impression that there is always someone better just around the corner, so we keep on swiping, said study author Jorg Matthes, a professor of communication at the University of Vienna in Austria. That's not necessarily true: You may not need 99+ matches to find love.

(For the uninitiated, swiping right on a dating app means you're interested in someone; swiping left means you're not. Apps reward frequent swiping with more choices.)

In the study of 464 dating app users between 16 and 25 years of age, those who swiped excessively were more likely to feel like potential partners were out of their league, fear being single, and /or experience partner choice overload.

This was true if people listened to their gut and swiped quickly or gave potential dates more thought before swiping left or right. The more a person used dating apps, the more likely they were to be excessive swipers, the study showed.

Some people use dating apps excessively, similar to compulsive gambling, Matthes said.

Excessive use can have negative psychological effects on people, he said.

The research appears in the March issue of the journal Telematics and Informatics.

Relationship experts who weren't part of the study pointed out that apps aren't the only way to find love.

Dating is a game, love isnt, said Lori Zaslow, co-founder of the matchmaking service Project Soulmate. Online dating apps main goal is to get you to have a relationship with the app.

Don't be too dependent on online dating, she advised.

Instead, use it as a supplement to other forms of meeting people like through friends, parties and even at a local coffee shop, Zaslow said. Sign up to do something you love, like play pickleball, participate in group sports, crafts or travel, and youll likely meet someone who loves to do the same things you enjoy.

Relationship expert Terri Orbuch said devoting too much time to dating apps isn't healthy.

While the new study took place in Austria, the results likely apply to people looking for love in the United States and elsewhere, said Orbuch, a sociology professor at Oakland University in Rochester, Mich.

While there's no precise definition for excessive use, "if you swipe every night before bed and every morning when you first wake up, thats excessive, she said.

Instead, Orbuch suggested, focus on just one or two apps. Use the paid ones as you are invested and will take it more seriously," she said.

Then, go slow before you swipe.

Looks and attraction may be important for casual relationships, but if you are looking for long-term love, other things are more important, including compatibility and feelings about religion, spirituality and family, Orbuch said.

And, beware: Excessive swiping can lead to excessive matching, which, in turn, can leave you feeling overwhelmed by all the options, said Alexander Baxter, a doctoral student in psychology at the University of California, Davis.

There probably is not one perfect match out there for you, he noted. You could probably have satisfying and meaningful connections with a variety of different people, Baxter said.

If you're feeling burned out from online dating, take a break for a few days or even a few hours, he suggested.

Then, when you start up again, try to swipe more mindfully.

Take some time to reflect on why you are swiping and what types of experiences you are looking for from the dating app [as this] will probably help you feel more in control of your swiping and help you get the most out of the app, Baxter said.

More information

The American Sexual Health Association offers tips for fostering healthy romantic relationships.

SOURCES: Jorg Matthes, PhD, professor, communication, University of Vienna, Austria; Lori Zaslow, co-founder, Project Soulmate, New York City; Terri Orbuch, PhD, professor, sociology, Oakland University, Rochester, Mich.; Alexander Baxter, PhD candidate, psychology, University of California, Davis; Telematics and Informatics, March 2023
MONDAY, Feb. 13, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- More than one-quarter of children with an emergency department visit for mental health (MH) return to the emergency department or are hospitalized within six months, according to a study published online Feb. 13 in Pediatrics.

Jennifer A. Hoffmann, M.D., from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, and colleagues conducted a retrospective study involving 28,551 children aged 6 to 17 years with MH emergency department discharges from January 2018 to June 2019 to examine the odds of nonemergent patient follow-up. The association between timely follow-up and risk for return MH acute care encounters was examined.

The researchers found that 31.2 and 55.8 percent of children had an outpatient MH visit within seven and 30 days, respectively, following MH emergency department discharge. Within six months, the return rate was 26.5 percent. Children with 14 past-year MH visits had 9.53 higher adjusted odds of accessing follow-up care within 30 days compared with those with no past-year outpatient MH visits. Timely follow-up within 30 days was associated with a significantly reduced risk for return within five days of the index emergency department discharge (hazard ratio, 0.74); however, the risk for return increased thereafter.

"Interventions that promote connection to follow-up care after a MH emergency department discharge should target linkage to outpatient services within five days to maximize opportunities to reduce return visits," the authors write.
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

Welcome to Missouri politics, where two felons who are also registered lobbyists have teamed up to help people getting out of prison.

Last week, less than two years after being sentenced to federal prison on fraud charges, former state Rep. Courtney Curtis reentered the politics game by filing as a lobbyist with the Missouri Ethics Commission.

And then on Tuesday, Curtis himself became the client of Eapen Thampy, a Missouri lobbyist with a felony drug conviction.

Curtis pleaded guilty in November 2020 in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to three counts of wire fraud.

He admitted defrauding campaign donors by using approximately $47,000 for personal expenses in 2016 and 2017, and then filing false campaign finance reports to cover up his crimes. In March 2021, he was sentenced to 21 months in prison and ordered to pay more than $47,000 in restitution.

Prosecutors said Curtis took 14 trips over 18 months, often with companions, and also paid his rent and utilities, bought meals and made cash withdrawals with the campaign money.

Before sentencing Curtis, Judge Stephen R. Clark said that he had tallied up the 822 financial transactions representing misuse of campaign funds, including cash withdrawals in or near casinos.

After representing the Ferguson area in the state Legislature for six years, Curtis worked for former St. Louis County Council member Hazel Erby and current member Rita Days.

Thampys encounters with the law began in 2018, when he admittedly helped broker a deal to sell 100 pounds of marijuana.

His Missouri lobbyist registration was terminated in 2019 after he was indicted on felony charges of marijuana possession and conspiracy to distribute marijuana. He pleaded guilty in July 2020 to marijuana distribution charges.

Thampy then re-registered as a lobbyist in September 2021. Since then, Thampy has worked in opposition to the marijuana-legalization amendment that voters ultimately approved last year.

His client list now does not include marijuana companies, just several in the industrial hemp and CBD industries.

But the budding partnership between the two lobbyists has nothing to do with campaign money, marijuana or medicinal mushrooms, a new issue with which Thampy is involved.

Their pairing is related to work Curtis said he is doing for what now is listed as his sole lobbying client, 100 Black Men of Metropolitan St. Louis.

Curtis said the organization has long been involved in mentoring programs, but has recently expanded its efforts to help people recently released from prison.

Like me, there are people who have fallen off the path, Curtis said. And I know that when I was released (from prison in October), I faced some challenges.

But everyone deserves a second chance, and there have been people in the community whove been willing to give me one, Curtis said. So this is my attempt to pay that back.

Thampy said he is helping Curtis make connections with people and programs involved with prison reentry efforts, something Thampy works on as a lobbyist for The Help KC, a reentry program for women in the Kansas City area.

Updated at 1:07 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15.

_____
A Southern Tier brewery and distillery is planning a $17.4 million expansion over the next three years, creating a manufacturing campus while bringing a new hotel and conference center to Ellicottville.

Steelbound Brewery & Distillery, which opened five years ago and has grown to include two locations and one franchise, also will seek $600,000 in tax breaks from the County of Cattaraugus Industrial Development Agency for the first phases of the five-phase project.

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In the first phase, Steelbound is proposing to convert an 18,600-square-foot commercial complex on a 20-acre site next to its current facility into an automated production and bottling plant that will significantly boost its capacity.

The new line would be capable of bottling three times as much beer as the company currently generates, filling 60 bottles or 30 cans per minute. It also would be able to fill both the company's own products as well as other brands under contract.

According to a presentation the company made to the IDA, that portion of the project is estimated to cost $3.9 million, with Steelbound's owners investing $2.9 million, and the rest coming from unspecified grants. Work could get underway this year.

Steelbound also would expand an 1,890-square-foot building to 8,000 to 10,000 square feet, for barrel storage and aging of spirits. That would cost another $1 million  half from the owners and half from the unspecified grants.

Then there's a $2.5 million project that would add 5,000 square feet of space, with a 55,000-pound grain silo and an automated delivery system. That would enable the company to purchase and store grain in bulk for brewing and distilling, which in turn would cut its grain costs in half from 81 cents to 91 cents per pound to 31 cents to 40 cents.

And it would add 75-barrel brewing tanks to its current 15-barrel system, nearly tripling its annual production from 2,700 barrels to over 10,000 barrels. That equates to 310,000 gallons of beer a year, up from 83,700.

The owners would fund $1.5 million of that phase, with the rest again coming from grants.

CCIDA Executive Director Corey Wiktor said the grants would come from a hodgepodge of county, state and federal sources, as well as through economic development initiatives by National Fuel Gas Co. and National Grid.

In all, the manufacturing expansions would double Steelbound's local employment to about 160, Wiktor said. Steelbound is asking the CCIDA for about $200,000 in sales tax breaks and a property-tax break of $400,000, and Wiktor noted that the company "has had offers or opportunities to be out of New York."

The other two components in the project are not part of the tax break request. The company's owners are proposing to add a 75-room hotel with a 400-person conference center and banquet facility, which would be connected to the brewery and distillery through a 3,000-square-foot skybridge overlooking Ellicottville's ski slopes. It's expected to employ about 30, on top of the 100 workers Steelbound expects to have this year.

The skybridge would include an "open concept kitchen and dining room," which would offer "one-of-a-kind experiences" from celebrity chefs brought in from around the country. Meanwhile, the conference center would feature technology to allow for both local and remote attendance and training.

That $10 million project  comprising the bulk of the overall investment  would be mostly financed by the owners, who would put in $8 million, with the rest from grants. The target date for construction is next year.

Finally, the owners are talking with Buffalo developer Savarino Companies about creating workforce housing, using federal grants, with hopes to break ground in 2024 and finish in 2025. Costs for that phase have not been determined.
SOUTH ST. LOUIS COUNTY  A 10-year-old dog was euthanized Monday morning, just a few days after firefighters pulled the pit bull mix out of a house fire in the Lemay area of south St. Louis County.

The fire killed two adults, a man and woman, whose identities have not been released by authorities. Investigators are still working to locate family and identify the two people, said Lt. Jason Brice with the Lemay Fire Department.

The dog, Evie, was rushed to Affton Veterinary Clinic. Dr. Tara Brooks said she thought Evie might make it, but took a turn for the worse this weekend.

The Affton fire department's community outreach program is covering Evie's medical bills with donations, which can be made through Venmo by searching @profireaffton. Additional donations will cover other emergency vet bills in the future, said Brice.
ST. LOUIS  Lamar Johnson walked out of the downtown courthouse Tuesday afternoon, a free man for the first time in decades.

Just hours earlier, a St. Louis Circuit judge vacated Johnsons murder conviction, ruling he was wrongly imprisoned nearly 30 years ago and that there is clear and convincing evidence of his innocence.

The ruling by 22nd Circuit Court Judge David Mason comes roughly two months after a weeklong hearing in December during which another man confessed to the 1994 killing of Marcus Boyd  the crime that sent Johnson to prison with a life sentence.

Cheers erupted in the courtroom as Mason read his decision.

These cases are not easy, and they shouldnt be, said Mason.

After the ruling, Johnsons mother, Mae Johnson, sat inside the downtown courthouse lobby, waiting for her son to be released and saying she was patient and had never lost faith. Standing nearby was Erika Barrow, his former girlfriend and the mother of his daughter.

Ive been waiting  weve all been waiting for this day for so long, said Barrow. She ran over to greet Johnson as the elevator doors opened and he stepped out.

Johnson paused in the lobby, thanked his supporters and when asked if he thought this day would ever come, he smiled and shook his head.

Opposing Johnsons bid to overturn his conviction were prosecutors from the Missouri Attorney Generals Office, who claimed in their final arguments after the hearing in December that none of the new evidence was credible.

After the ruling Tuesday, the office released a statement: The court has spoken, and no further action will be taken in this case.

The ruling ends Johnsons decadeslong fight to prove his innocence. After years of being turned down on appeals and habeas corpus petitions, Johnsons case attracted national attention in 2019 when Circuit Attorney Kim Gardners Conviction Integrity Unit reported misconduct by the investigations lead detective and other constitutional errors in the 1995 trial.

The case inspired a state law that provides prosecutors with a legal avenue to appeal cases in which they believe defendants were wrongfully convicted.

I hope more innocent men and women who are wrongfully imprisoned will win back their freedom through this law, said bill co-sponsor State Sen. Brian Williams, D-University City, in a statement. We cannot change the past, but we have an obligation to fix what we can where we can.

Much of Masons decision centered on the main witness in Johnsons 1995 trial, Greg Elking, who said at the December hearing that police coerced his original identification of Johnson as the man who wore a ski mask and shot Boyd. Mason described that identification as suspect at best.

All Elking witnessed was the assailants eye, giving a new meaning to the phrase eye witness, Mason said, describing it as yet another serious weakness in the case against Johnson.

Without Elkings identification, there was no case, according to the December testimony of former assistant circuit attorney Dwight Warren and former detective Joe Nickerson.

Johnson was represented by attorneys from the Midwest Innocence Project along with attorneys from the Circuit Attorneys Office.

This case says that in the state of Missouri, a persons right to justice and liberty is valued more than the finality of an unjust conviction, said Gardner.

I would love for Mr. Lamar Johnson to spend time with his family and to live life.

Inside the courthouse lobby Tuesday afternoon Johnsons daughter, Kiera Barrow, 28, waited next to her mother. Her dad is coming home just in time for her wedding in a few months, she said, but theyve already started their to-do list.

"Skydiving. He really wants to go skydiving, Keira Barrow said. It wasnt on my list, but if thats what he wants to do, then were doing it.

Photos: Wrongfully convicted inmate Lamar Johnson set free after serving 28 years for murder he did not commit
ST. CHARLES COUNTY  Five municipalities in St. Charles County and the county government are asking their voters to approve a 3% sales tax on recreational marijuana at the April 4 election.

Cigarettes are taxed, liquor is taxed. ... We thought, why not? said Wentzvilles mayor, Nick Guccione. It might be minimal at best, it might bring a lot, we dont know.

Wentzvilles proposition asks voters whether the tax should be imposed to provide funding for police, infrastructure and other city needs.

Similar wording is included in the measure that will be on the ballot in Lake Saint Louis.

The three other city proposals  in OFallon, St. Peters and Cottleville  dont specify a use.

Nor does the county proposal for a 3% countywide tax placed on the countywide ballot by the St. Charles County Council.

As of Feb. 6, the state had approved 14 recreational marijuana dispensaries across the county.

The local sales taxes would be in addition to a 6% state sales tax on recreational marijuana set up in the constitutional amendment legalizing the drug that was approved by voters statewide last November.

Theres an ongoing legal dispute over whether the amendment allows a county tax on marijuana to be imposed in municipalities as well as unincorporated areas.

In St. Louis County, the county government and 35 municipalities are seeking passage of local taxes.

In Jefferson County, 3% tax propositions will be on the ballot in Festus, Herculaneum, Hillsboro and Pevely.

In Franklin County, the county government is seeking a countywide marijuana tax, while Washington, Union, Pacific, St. Clair and Gerald are asking voters to approve city taxes.
JEFFERSON CITY  A plan to give pay raises to an estimated 50,000 state workers is now in the hands of the Missouri Senate.

In action Monday, the House voted 151-2 to approve a $627 million midyear spending adjustment. It includes $180 million to give state employees 8.7% pay hikes and an extra $2 per hour for overnight shift workers at prisons and nursing facilities.

Gov. Mike Parson called for the raises last month, citing a severe recruitment and retention problem that has resulted in a reduction of state services, ranging from closed beds at nursing homes for veterans and fewer patients at state mental health facilities.

Administration officials say they cannot keep workers amid higher pay being offered in the private sector.

Democrats last week unsuccessfully sought to use funds sitting unused in various state programs to also boost pay rates for workers at nonprofit social service agencies that are contracted to care for vulnerable Missourians.

Rep. Deb Lavender, D-Kirkwood, called on Republicans who control the House to find a way to assure those workers dont leave their jobs in search of higher pay elsewhere.

I want to know what it will take, Lavender said. I dont know why its not more important.

Rep. Peter Merideth, D-St. Louis, said staffing shortages have created a crisis at the Department of Mental Health, which has decided to shutter part of a unit at the Fulton mental health treatment facility because they cannot find enough workers to staff it.

The plan also includes $629,000 for black vulture mitigation. Farmers and ranchers in parts of the Midwest have been grappling with the sometimes aggressive birds, which they say attack newborn calves and other small animals.

It also includes $20 million for safety improvement grants at the states public schools.

Merideth said that money was unlikely to stop school shootings like the one last year in his district in St. Louis.

Turning our schools into prisons or castles, frankly, its not going to do anything, Merideth said.

Rep. Cody Smith, R-Carthage, who chairs the House Budget Committee, argued that the state budget has grown to $50 billion, up from about $30 billion in 2017, largely due to robust, post-pandemic tax revenues and an infusion of federal emergency aid.

Unfortunately, we cant spend our way out of all of societys problems, Smith said.

The added money, which needs a final vote in the House before moving to the Senate, is the first of at least two other budget maneuvers, including an overall state spending plan for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

The legislation is House Bill 14.

Originally posted at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 13.
JEFFERSON CITY  The Missouri House gave first-round approval Tuesday to a plan that would block cities and counties from requiring developers to install electric vehicle charging stations in new construction projects.

The measure marked the latest attempt by the Republican-controlled Legislature to limit the ability of local governments to approve their own laws on issues ranging from cat declawing to tougher municipal gun regulations.

The sponsor of the legislation, Rep. Jim Murphy, a south St. Louis County Republican, also fought against local government health orders designed to control the spread of the coronavirus.

Murphy said he believes the charging technology could change as EV technology advances, resulting in the state mandating businesses to install soon-to-be outmoded charging stations.

This is a little cart before the horse  because they are going to change, Murphy said. A hydrogen car may be in the future. The battery technology is going to improve.

Under his plan, any city or county that requires the installation of charging stations in new construction projects must pay all of the costs.

It also prohibits local governments from mandating more than five charging stations on parking lots with more than 30 parking spaces.

The measure also prohibits cities from requiring any school or religious organization to install charging stations.

Rep. Dean Van Schoiack, an Andrew County Republican, said the local rules would give cities the power to tell businesses how to spend their money.

We dont even know if this technology is the technology of the future, Van Schoiack said.

Some Democrats agreed. Rep. Chantelle Nickson-Clark, D-Florissant, said requiring small business owners to install charging stations would hurt them financially.

She said a rule requiring a company to install charging stations would stop people from opening a business.

But some Democrats fought back, arguing that Republicans are stepping on the toes of local governments.

I dont view our role as a Legislature as being here to take power away from local municipalities, said Rep. Ashley Aune, D-Kansas City.

You are moving the state backwards. Youre taking away local control, said Rep. Michael Burton, a south St. Louis County Democrat. When it comes to the environment, I want Missouri to be the leader, not the follower.

Burton failed in an attempt to amend the measure to require the state to pay for the installation of charging stations.

The legislation came in response to a 2021 decision by the St. Louis County Council requiring developers to add electric car charging stations to parking lots. The requirement, which was later relaxed by the council, had been criticized by developers and small-business owners as too onerous and costly.

Republicans on the council said they did not want to support a government requirement for charging stations, saying the market would respond as demand for electric vehicles increased.

The legislation, which needs a final vote in the House, is similar to a proposal moving through the Senate. That measure is sponsored by Sen. Ben Brown, R-Washington.

The legislation is House Bill 184.

Originally posted at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 14.
JEFFERSON CITY  A controversial change to how public libraries operate in Missouri may go into effect without any public hearings, despite generating a record-setting amount of public comments.

Rep. Alex Riley, R-Springfield, said Tuesday he hasnt made a decision on whether to schedule a hearing where people can further weigh in on Secretary of State Jay Ashcrofts proposal to block public funding for libraries if they offer books that are pornographic for minors or labeled as obscene under state statutes.

Were taking a look at that. Well make a decision a little later once weve had a chance to review everything, Riley told the Post-Dispatch Tuesday.

Rileys decision is key to whether a 10-member panel of members of the House and Senate take testimony on an issue that drew an estimated 20,000 comments in support and in opposition to the rule Ashcroft proposed last year.

Riley serves as chairman of the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, which has the power to block the proposed rule and send it to the General Assembly and governor for final approval or rejection.

Under terms of that committee, the matter must be decided by March 10 whether a hearing is held.

Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo, a Democrat from Independence and a member of the committee, urged Riley to schedule a hearing.

The proposed rule filed by the Secretary of State would have broad and permanent ramifications for Missouris public libraries. This rule would greatly expand the governments power to force decisions onto local libraries, and it should not be taken lightly. I think a rule of this magnitude deserves an open and transparent discussion. This rule absolutely needs a public hearing before any action is taken, Rizzo said Tuesday.

Riley would not say when he may make a decision.

There is no timeline Im going to announce right now, Riley said.

Ashcroft, a Republican considering a 2024 run for governor, floated the change in October.

The proposed rule would require Missouris 160 local public libraries to adopt policies on the age-appropriateness of literature. The original rule allowed anyone to be able to challenge access to books. A revised version says only a parent of a minor can challenge access.

The comments also led to Ashcroft changing a provision in the rule that focused on books that would appeal to the prurient interests of any minor.

Now, the rule says no funds shall be used to purchase material that is child pornography or pornographic for minors.

Libraries that violate the rules would risk losing state funding, which is distributed by the Secretary of States Office through the state librarian. Budget documents put that amount at more than $3.5 million.

The proposal drew a sustained rebuke from libraries across the state. Among the more than 20,000 pages of emailed comments, library officials slammed the plan.

The St. Charles City-County Library District, for example, said of the more than 1.1 million people who walked in the doors last year, only six requests were made by three people questioning the content of a book.

This is a far cry from the picture being painted in the media and by politicians and in no way justifies this overreaching action, wrote library board president Stacia Alvarez.

Others support the idea, arguing that more controls are needed over content when it deals with questions of sexuality.

What is the rush to sexualize children and teens when they are yet so immature and incapable of handling situations that could ruin their lives going forward, wrote Kristina Klein, who did not provide an address.

Although a precise tally hasnt been made, the opposition outweighs the supporters, Ashcroft spokesman JoDonn Chaney said earlier.

Riley said hes not attempting to read all of the comments. He has asked legislative aides to compile a report on the information submitted by the public.

Its not possible for me in my role to lay eyes on all 16,000, Riley said.

The proposed change is similar to a new law that made it a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail for educators to give K-12 students books with photos, drawings or other visual depictions that are sexually explicit.

Originally posted at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 14.
ATLANTA  A Georgia judge on Monday ordered the partial release later this week of a report by a special grand jury that investigated efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn his 2020 election loss.

The report's introduction and conclusion, as well as a section in which the grand jurors expressed concerns that some witnesses may have lied under oath, will be released Thursday, said Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney.

Recommendations on who should or should not be prosecuted will remain secret for now to protect their due process rights, McBurney wrote.

McBurney's order came three weeks after hearing arguments from prosecutors, who urged the report be kept secret until they decide on charges, and a coalition of media organizations, which pressed for its release.

The release is a significant development in one of several cases that threaten legal jeopardy for the former president as he ramps up a 2024 White House campaign. The special grand jury spent about seven months hearing testimony from witnesses including high-profile Trump allies, such as attorney Rudy Giuliani and Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and high-ranking Georgia officials, such as Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Gov. Brian Kemp.

McBurney wrote that the report includes recommendations for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, including "a roster of who should (or should not) be indicted, and for what, in relation to the conduct (and aftermath) of the 2020 general election in Georgia."

The special grand jury did not have the power to issue indictments, and it will ultimately be up to Willis to decide whether to seek indictments from a regular grand jury.

The special grand jury's final report was requested by Willis and is meant to inform her investigative decision-making process, McBurney wrote, adding that the panel's investigation was largely controlled by the district attorney and her team, and it was "a one-sided exploration."

There was "very limited due process" for people for whom the grand jurors recommended charges, McBurney wrote.

For that reason, the judge concluded, it is not appropriate to release the full report at this time.

It is not clear if or when Willis will present the case to a regular grand jury with the purpose of getting one or more indictments. At a Jan. 24 hearing, she said decisions are "imminent" but did not elaborate.

Trump told The Associated Press last month that he did "absolutely nothing wrong." He said he felt "very confident" that he wouldn't be indicted.

At the January hearing, Willis had argued against the immediate release of the report, saying it could violate the rights of potential defendants and negatively affect the ability to prosecute those who may be charged with crimes.

"We want to make sure that everyone is treated fairly and we think for future defendants to be treated fairly, it is not appropriate at this time to have this report released," Willis said during the hearing.

A group of news organizations, including the AP, argued in favor of releasing the report immediately in full, saying that public interest in the report is "extraordinary."

"The discomfort of the prosecuting authority in disclosing court records isn't enough to make them sealed," said attorney Tom Clyde, representing the media. "It has to be significant, identifiable evidence that's going to cause a problem."

Willis said in an emailed statement Monday that she believes McBurney's order is "legally sound and consistent with my request" and that she has no plans to appeal. Clyde declined to comment.

Willis and her team began investigating two years ago, shortly after the release of a recording of a Jan. 2, 2021, phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

In that conversation, the then-president suggested that Raffensperger, a fellow Republican, could "find" the votes needed to overturn Trump's narrow election loss in the state to Joe Biden, a Democrat.

"All I want to do is this: I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have," Trump said on the call.

Since then, the investigation's scope broadened considerably. The special grand jury operated behind closed doors, as required by law, but public court filings and hearings related to its work provided a window into some of the topics Willis was exploring. Those included:

Phone calls by Trump and others to Georgia officials in the wake of the 2020 election.

A group of 16 Georgia Republicans who signed a certificate in December 2020 falsely stating that Trump won the state and that they were the state's "duly elected and qualified" electors.

False allegations of election fraud made during meetings of state legislators at the Georgia Capitol in December 2020.

The copying of data and software from election equipment in rural Coffee County by a computer forensics team hired by Trump allies.

Alleged attempts to pressure Fulton County elections worker Ruby Freeman into falsely confessing to election fraud.

The abrupt resignation of the U.S. attorney in Atlanta in January 2021.
When Missouri voters approved the ballot initiative legalizing marijuana last year, one part of the plan authorized cities and counties to enact a 3% tax on marijuana sales in their communities (once again upon voter approval). Not surprisingly, many local governments in the St. Louis region are attempting to do just that in April. The argument in favor of voters approving the tax is straightforward enough, but the debate over what to do with the new tax revenue is more complex.

Pigouvian taxes are taxes levied on certain goods to address their negative effects. They are common and include special taxes in Missouri on items like cigarettes, alcohol and pool tables.

Tobacco and alcohol consumption impose certain costs on society, and the extra tax revenue is used to fund services to address those negative effects, like lung cancer research and drunk-driving enforcement. In addition, the taxes simply make the item more expensive, thereby reducing consumption.

Elsewhere, for example, gas taxes may be quite high not only to fund roads but also to encourage public transit. Marijuana legalization will indisputably have some negative societal effects, and the 3% local sales tax on it can help fund services like county health departments and municipal police efforts to mitigate those negative impacts.

Also, life is not a Cheech and Chong movie  dare to dream that it were! and cheap pot really doesnt do anyone much good. I generally support neither new nor high taxes, but the argument in favor of these new local marijuana taxes is very strong.

What to do with the money is more difficult. There are two questions: Should the revenue be dedicated to certain uses or sent to the general fund? And should it serve as new revenue or be used to cut taxes elsewhere?

Economists have long debated the costs and benefits of earmarking taxes for specific uses. Directing taxes into the general fund gives local officials more flexibility to address local needs, but earmarking taxes improves both voter and elected-official decision-making and accountability.

In some cases, as with cigarettes, the harms to society are easy to determine. Accordingly, the choice to earmark tobacco taxes to health-related fields, as we generally do in Missouri, is defensible. Legal marijuana, however, will be more like alcohol, with costs and harms (also called externalities) to society spreading across a variety of sectors.

Should the tax revenues go to policing? Health care? Family services? Frankly, who knows? This is why alcohol taxes generally are not earmarked in our state, nor should local marijuana taxes be.

Politicians will try, as is their wont, to treat the new marijuana tax revenue as manna from heaven. Voters should demand more from them as we approach the elections. A new marijuana tax should not just be an opportunity to raise more revenue. It should also be an opportunity to replace other, more economically harmful taxes.

St. Louis County, with its high commercial property surtax, should use the marijuana revenue as a justification for a surtax reduction. Cities such as University City with the woeful economic development sales tax  a misnomer if there ever was one  should use the marijuana revenue to replace that useless tax.

It could be a small part of a larger package to help phase out the earnings and payroll taxes in St. Louis city. And, yes, at a minimum it should replace the anachronistic pool table taxes passed back in the days of gangster molls and bathtub hooch.

There is, unfortunately, one question mark hanging over the upcoming votes. The question of whether a county-level marijuana sales tax will apply countywide or only in the unincorporated areas is unclear and will likely be determined in court. The budgetary implications for counties are enormous, as the revenue difference between the two options is substantial. If county taxes are determined to be in addition to municipal taxes, that could make the total sales tax for marijuana purchases well above 20%. A sales tax that is too high is concerning because it might encourage the illegal market for marijuana to continue, as has happened in California. This would nullify one of the purported benefits of legalization.

Marijuana taxes are an opportunity to improve both the current budgets and the long-term tax environment for cities and counties. Voters should demand a plan that does both.

David Stokes is the director of municipal policy at the Show-Me Institute.
The increasing politicization of care for young people with gender dysphoria is making it much harder, if not impossible, for doctors to provide the kinds of help necessary to ease kids through a particularly difficult period of their already-difficult teen and pre-teen years. Lives could be at stake, given the high incidence of suicide among gender-dysphoric youths. So for Republican politicians in Jefferson City, egged on by Missouri U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, to intervene in gender-dysphoria medical care is to suggest that the only lives that matter are those of straight kids who have never questioned their sexuality.

The current controversy surrounds a Washington University youth transgender clinic at St. Louis Childrens Hospital, where a former staffer asserts that puberty blockers and hormone therapies have been prescribed by doctors without a thorough analysis of each childs actual needs. In some cases, minors have been referred for gender-transition surgery. The whistleblower in this case, former case manager Jamie Reed, is a member of the LGBTQ community married to a transgender man. So it doesnt appear that theres a political ax to grind here.

I left the clinic in November of last year because I could no longer participate in what was happening there, Reed wrote in The Free Press. Instead of practicing a do-no-harm priority of care for patients, she wrote,  we are permanently harming the vulnerable patients in our care.

Public attention to this issue has been muddled by both sides. People are being asked to alter their vocabularies and grammar to accommodate those who reject standard pronoun usage. There are mental gymnastics required of anyone trying to understand situations like Reeds: a gender queer person married to a person identified as one gender at birth but now identified as the opposite. Then theres the likelihood that the statistically sharp increase in young people questioning their gender identities may be explainable in part by youthful experimentation than actual gender dysphoria.

Politicians appear to be exploiting the public confusion to assign blame and suggest nefarious motives. Pre-pubescent teens who are genuinely trying to transition, and who might resort to suicide if denied puberty blockers and hormones, dont need politicians in Jefferson City telling them what they do or dont feel and dictating their next medical steps.

At the same time, politicians can play a constructive role by mandating that psychological counseling of gender-dysphoric children and their parents be a requisite interim stage before the introduction of life-altering drugs and hormones.

State lawmakers seem anxious to advance bills imposing restrictions as part of more than two dozen bills targeting the LGBTQ community. Given the lives at stake, the politicians would be wise to let an investigation by Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey run its course rather than dictating a solution to a problem whose dimensions are still far from clear.
The organizing drive under way at Tesla Inc.s plant in South Buffalo is putting a spotlight on one of the regions largest private employers, and drawing more attention to region for its union activity.

The campaign, launched by Tesla Workers United, also marks a new push by Workers United, which has supported organizing efforts by workers at area Starbucks stores. Those workers election victories have sparked organizing campaigns at stores across the country.

If the effort to organize the RiverBend facility succeeds, it would become Teslas first unionized workplace. On Tuesday, the campaign was generating national media attention, given the prominence of its CEO, Elon Musk, and the company itself as an electric vehicle maker.

We believe unionizing will give us a voice in our workplace that we feel has been ignored to this point, Tesla Workers United said in a statement. We hope to gain mutual respect and look forward to healthy communication and cooperation with our corporate management as we transition to this new phase of our time with Tesla.

Tesla says its Buffalo workforce is growing as operations shift from solar energy The company, in a report submitted to the state, said it had 1,734 full-time workers at its South Park Avenue factory at the end of 2022, along with another 107 part-time employees.

Musk has expressed opposition to unions in the past. He was rebuked for a 2018 tweet in which he said Tesla workers could lose their stock options if they chose to unionize. The National Labor Relations Board determined that violated federal labor law, and ordered him to delete the tweet.

In March 2022, Musk posted a tweet inviting the United Auto Workers to try to organize a Tesla facility in California. Id like hereby to invite UAW to hold a union vote at their convenience, he wrote. Tesla will do nothing to stop them.

This isnt the first organizing effort involving the Tesla plant in South Buffalo. In 2018, the United Steelworkers and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers unions launched a campaign to organize production and maintenance workers at the facility.

Those efforts have not resulted in an NLRB election. Steelworkers and IBEW representatives did not provide details Tuesday about the status of that campaign.

Nick Piazza, who has worked in data annotation at the Tesla plant since November 2021, said workers were handing out Valentines Day-themed leaflets on Tuesday to kick off their campaign.

Piazza said workers are concerned about issues including pay and job security. But they were also upset about the companys stance toward employees during the Christmas weekend blizzard. He said workers were told to use paid time off, sick time or vacation time when they were unable to come into the facility, and werent permitted to work from home.

Union supporters will try to collect enough workers signatures to bring about an election overseen by the NLRB. Based on the way people talked in the last several months, I dont think drumming up support will be all that difficult, honestly, Piazza said.

The Tesla Workers United campaign is drawing more attention to Buffalo as a starting point for organizing. Workers began trying to unionize Starbucks stores here in 2021, generating strong pushback from the Seattle-based corporation.

In Getzville, workers at a GEICO facility in have launched an independent organizing effort, under the name GEICO United. That campaign is aiming to establish the first unionized workforce at the insurance giant.

The Buffalo area has a long history of organized labor, including at manufacturing plants operated by Ford, General Motors and Sumitomo. According to the most recent figures available from unionstats.com, 20% of Buffalo-area workers were union members in 2021, compared to 10.3% nationwide.

Peter DeJesus, president of the Western New York Area Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, said the new campaign at Tesla reflects a changing mindset.

I think what the pandemic showed us in more and more workers across different sectors are reassessing what it means to have a seat the table, not just over the terms and conditions of their employment, but also the quality of their life, he said. Thats uplifting. I think were seeing a re-energized workforce thats saying, Hey, this country doesnt move without me providing the labor necessary to keep it moving. 

In a report submitted to the state earlier this month, Tesla said it had 1,948 workers at the RiverBend plant as of Jan. 23, with plans to add another 130 employees.

Tesla says its solar business is rebounding, but doesn't mention its solar roof Tesla's solar energy business had its second-best quarter in five years during the fall. But the company's fourth-quarter earnings report didn't say a word about Tesla's solar roof product, which is made in its Buffalo factory that was built with $950 million in taxpayer funds.

"This past year has been another excellent year for Tesla in Buffalo and throughout New York state," said Jeff Munson, the treasurer for the Tesla affiliate that operates the Buffalo plant.

The report did not provide details on what type of work the new Tesla employees are doing in Buffalo or provide any insight into the type of work now going on there.

But previous reports indicate that the mix of jobs at the Buffalo plant is far different from what was originally envisioned when the state paid more than $950 million to build and partially equip a factory that was expected to focus on solar energy.

The company is making electronic components for its electric vehicle Superchargers and inverters for some of its battery products in Buffalo. It also has hired hundreds of people to work on its autonomous driving programs for electric vehicles, although many of those positions are for data annotation work.

Tesla Workers United has asked the company to sign a list of fair election principles that call for protecting workers rights throughout the organizing process and, if the campaign leads to an election won by the union, to commit to negotiating a contract.

Teslas investor relations department did not respond to a request to comment on Tuesday.
About two hours from bustling Milan and touristy Venice is Verona  a welcome sip of pure, easygoing Italy. Made famous by Shakespeares star-crossed lovers, Verona is one of Italys most-visited cities  second in the Veneto region only to Venice in population and artistic importance. If you dont need world-class sights, this town is a joy.

Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet made Verona a household word. The House of Juliet, where the real-life Cappello family once lived, is a crass and throbbing mob scene. The tiny, admittedly romantic courtyard is a spectacle in itself, with visitors from all over the world posing on the almost believable balcony and taking snapshots of each other rubbing Juliets bronze breast, hoping to get lucky in love.

The city is so famous for love that it gets countless letters addressed simply to "Juliet, Verona, Italy." There are even volunteers to respond to these mostly lovesick people (see www.julietclub.com). And theyre getting even busier, thanks to the movie Letters to Juliet," about a girl (Amanda Seyfried) who finds a letter while visiting the House of Juliet and travels through Italy to help reunite the author with her lost love.

Despite the romantic fiction, the town is packed with genuine history. Because ancient Romans considered Verona an ideal resting spot before crossing the Alps, the city has a wealth of Roman ruins. The well-preserved amphitheater  the third largest in the Roman world  dates from the first century ad and still retains most of its original stone. Over the centuries, crowds of up to 25,000 spectators have cheered Roman gladiator battles, medieval executions, and modern plays  including Verona's popular summer opera festival, which takes advantage of the arenas famous acoustics.

Corso Porta Borsari was the main drag of Roman Verona. A stroll here makes for a fun, ancient scavenger hunt. Remnants of the towns illustrious past  chips of Roman columns, medieval reliefs, fine old facades, and fossils in marble  are scattered among modern-day fancy shop windows.

Youll end up at Piazza Erbe, Veronas market square, where vendors come to slice and sell whatever's in season. This bustling market square is a photographers delight. Its pastel buildings corral the fountains, pigeons, and people who have congregated here since Roman times, when this was a forum.

Notice the Venetian lion hovering above the square atop a column, reminding locals of Venices conquest of Verona in 1405. If you were standing here then, you would have been surrounded by proud noble-family towers. Medieval nobles showed off with towers. Renaissance nobles showed off with finely painted facades on their palaces. Remnants of those 16th-century Renaissance days, when Verona was nicknamed the painted city, survive.

Today Piazza Erbe is for the locals, who start their evening with an aperitivo here. Its a trendy scene, as young Veronans fill the bars to enjoy their refreshing spritz drinks, olives, and chips.

And Verona has its share of excellent eateries. One of my happiest memories from a trip is of eating with my friend Franklin at a popular local enoteca (wine bar). The carne cruda (raw beef), was, as Franklin put it, like seeing the smile of a beautiful woman after 10 years. You never forget her.  The mortadella (Italian-style baloney  not a high-end meat) was served with black truffle. It was exquisite. Imagine calling Spam exquisite  just add truffle. Then came the best polenta I'd ever tasted, with anchovies. As it turns out, anchovies and polenta are a good marriage. For dessert: a plate of voluptuous slices of cheese. Even if we do not talk, said Franklin, with these cheeses we have a good conversation.  As I held the warm and happy tire of my full tummy, I thought about how Italians live life with abandon  and how they enjoy their food.

Besides eating, for me the highlight of Verona is the evening passeggiata (stroll). Its a multigenerational affair. Like peacocks, the young and nubile spread their wings across the wide sidewalk promenade, made broad by the town's Venetian overloads in the 17th century so the town's beautiful people could see and be seen in all their finery.

Whenever I stroll here, I find myself surrounded by little love stories  romantic snapshots fluttering in and out of my world like a butterfly. A guy on a bike pedals gracefully by, his girlfriend sitting on the handlebars embracing him. A woman tells me that her husband is her mezza mela  half an apple. Apparently, when soul mates find each other in Italy, it makes the apple whole.

I dont know if all of this love is related to the Romeo and Juliet hype  or if its just the natural high that comes from living in such a joyful and highly cultured place.
For over a decade the U.S. Navy has been fighting a losing battle to obtain enough cargo and fuel ships to support a major military operation in the Pacific against China. During World War II the U.S. Pacific Fleet consisted of 250,000 personnel and 200 warships plus even more supply ships keeping the combat ships in action. Currently the entire U.S. fleet consists of 340,000 personnel and 300 warships with over half in the Pacific. The Chinese fleet has 240 warships and 200,000 personnel, all of them in the Pacific. Only the presence of the South Korean and Japanese fleets, and naval bases American ships have access to, even things up. What is still missing is sufficient American supply and support ships to support major military operations in the Pacific against the Chinese.

One reason for this disparity is the fact that China has become the largest shipbuilder in the world and the largest owner and operator of cargo and tanker ships. To support a major naval campaign in the Pacific the American fleet needs dozens of tankers and cargo ships available to operate near the fighting and even more to bring forward fuels and other supplies to the combat ships. Recent simulations of campaigns in the Western Pacific show that the U.S. Navy needs about twice as many supply ships as they have now. This is not a new problem.

Modern at-sea replenishment methods were developed out of necessity by the United States during World War II because of a lack of sufficient forward bases in the vast Pacific. The resulting service squadrons (Servrons) became a permanent fixture in the U.S. Navy after the war. Ships frequently stay at sea for up to six months at a time, being resupplied at sea by a Servron. New technologies were developed to support the effective use of the seagoing supply service. Few other navies have been able to match this capability, mainly because of the expense of the Servron ships and the training required to do at sea replenishment. China adopted this approach to enable their warships to remain at sea for longer periods, especially if engaged in combat operations.

China has some major advantages in seagoing logistics, while the advantages the United States enjoyed in the 1930s and 40s have faded. Over the last two decades China has become the largest builder and operator of merchant ships. By 2019 Chinas two major shipbuilders, CSSC and CSIC, merged to create the largest shipbuilder in the world with 310,000 employees. A decade earlier there were nearly half a million employees but recessions, continued competition from rivals South Korea and Japan forced the change. The new company, CSG (China Shipbuilding Group), as well as the two it merged from are all state owned. The merger was a return to the situation in 1999 when CSSC and CSIC were created from the then single state-owned shipbuilding operation. This was meant to encourage competition and it worked.

Chinese shipbuilders, mainly the two large firms, account for most of the shipbuilding in China and were striving to overtake their main rival South Korea as the largest shipbuilder in the world in all categories. There are several ways to measure shipbuilder output. South Korea was the champion in most of them. Japan was once in first place but now must settle for third place. South Korea and China have been close competitors for first place since 2012 and to that end the two largest South Korean ship builders also merged in 2019.

South Korea made a comeback in shipbuilding, an industry it led until 2012 when it was briefly overtaken by China. By 2018 South Korean firms surpassed China in new orders. This was mainly because South Korean shipbuilders are seen as leaders in the construction of more complex transports like LNG (Liquid Natural Gas) vessels, which transport refrigerated (enough to turn natural gas to a more compact liquid) natural gas. Another form of unique ship construction that South Korea has excelled at was off-shore oil exploration and drilling vessels and structures. The offshore platforms are built in shipyards and are mobile, via towing at slow speeds from one work site to another.

All major shipbuilders had to deal with a sharp decline in orders since a global economic recession began in 2008. One way China helped its shipyards cope was increasing orders for warships. This was going to happen anyway but the government gave the navy all it wanted and then some. This resulted in 2019 being a record year for warship construction with 28 surface warships launched, including a record ten destroyers plus 16 corvettes and two large amphibious ships. While warships are more complex ships to build, commercial ships still accounted for over 95 percent of the work at the new China Shipbuilding Group. From that point on China has been the largest producer of non-nuclear warships.

Since 2012 China and South Korea have been competing for overall first place. Eventually even the South Korean edge in quality and innovation was not enough and now China is firmly in first place with South Korea second and Japan third. China has been helping its shipyards since the late 1990s, and that has enabled Chinese shipbuilders to gradually catch up to South Korea and Japan. In 2009, sooner than anyone expected, China surpassed South Korea as the world's largest shipbuilder in terms of tonnage. In late 2009, Chinese yards had orders for 54.96 million CGT of ships, compared to 53.63 million CGT for South Korea. China had 34.7 percent of the world market. In 2000, South Korea took the lead from Japan by having the largest share of the world shipbuilding market.

At the same time the Chinese have been working hard on how to build new classes of navy supply ships. These are built to efficiently supply ships at sea. In addition to learning how to transfer these supplies at sea, the crews have also learned how to keep all the needed supplies in good shape and stocked in the required quantities. This requires the procurement officers learning how to arrange resupply at local ports in a timely basis.

As the major producers of commercial ships, China was able to design and build supply ships for the Chinese Navy quickly. This included designing and building two Sansha class supply ships by 2014 for use in supplying new naval bases in the South China Sea. The design was unique and to speed up the construction process China bought the rights to an existing European design that had not been built yet. This degree of ship building skill and innovation was something the United States no longer has. Since World War II, when the U.S. was the largest shipbuilder in the world, the American shipbuilding capability diminished. Currently the U.S. can build ships but slowly and in small quantities and most of those built are warships. American yards are not as efficient as the Chinese shipbuilders and take five to ten years to complete a warship China can complete in a year or two. This includes non-nuclear aircraft carriers.

The American warships are still, on average, more powerful than their Chinese counterparts. This is largely due to the American nuclear aircraft carriers and nuclear submarine forces. China has nothing like these, but does have more anti-ship missiles on their ships plus cruise and ballistic missiles launched from land to hit American ships far from the Chinese coast. American warships are generally well-protected from those but supply ships arent. At all. The primary American weakness is seaborne supply and the Chinese are well aware of that.
Russia has a problem with the growing number of Ukrainian spies and paramilitary partisan groups operating in Russian-occupied portions of Ukraine as well as pro-Ukraine or anti-Putin Russians inside Russia who provide Ukraine with targets and other information about Russian military activities. Ukraine abides by the American restrictions on using American supplied missiles on targets inside Russia. Instead, Ukraine uses improvised and Ukrainian-made long-range weapons to strike these targets. Ukrainian special operations forces have also operated inside Russia and carried out some spectacular attacks on Russian military bases and industrial sites. This damage, especially large explosions and fires, are hard to hide from commercial and military satellites overhead or curious Russians with cellphone cameras and access to the Internet outside Russia. Russian lack of adequate facility security or effective air defenses is embarrassing but no surprise to most Russians and Ukrainians.

Some information comes from Russians themselves as they complain about how their own government is treating them, especially government efforts to put more Russians into uniform and send them off to fight and die in Ukraine. This sort of thing is nothing new for Russians. They experienced it in 1994 when Russia sent untrained and poorly led troops to fight and die battling Chechens in the Caucasus. Nearly 3,000 Russian troops died and the rest withdrew and left the Chechens to run their own country. Before that there was the nine -year Afghanistan campaign that kept up to 115,000 Russian troops at a time in Afghanistan until 1989 and sent 14,500 of these soldiers home in coffins. No railroads and a few roads limited the number of troops Russia could support in Afghanistan. They also had some help from 55,000 pro-Russia Afghans. Russia used a lot of air force bombers stationed across the northern Afghan border in Russia to kill about a milli0n armed and mostly unarmed Afghans. Later, starting in 1999 another round of fighting in the Caucasus led to a victory but 0ver ten thousand Russians died in Chechnya this time in a victorious campaign that left Chechnya devastated by massive air strikes. Over 30,000 civilians died, along with 12,000 armed men.

So far in Ukraine over 150,000 Russians have died in less than a year. The Wagner Group recruitment of convicts with the promise of a pardon if they served six months backfired when it became known that only about 20 percent of the first convicts recruited survived their six months and received their pardons. Recent recruiting efforts show that far fewer convicts are willing to volunteer and, justifiably, feel safer serving out their sentences. Russia has now officially banned recruiting prison inmates. Efforts to recruit, conscript or otherwise mobilize a large new force of Russian troops is working on paper but not in reality. That is why so many of the newly formed Russian combat units are full of unwilling, unarmed, untrained and unsupported troops who can be coerced into starting an attack but any serious resistance causes the troops to flee, often abandoning undamaged armored vehicles as they head for safety. Some attacks do succeed, mainly because they advance in an area where there are few or no Ukrainian troops.

Russia still has a few real combat units that are composed of well trained and armed troops led by experienced officers. These units have to be used sparingly and carefully. Russia cannot afford to lose too many of these troops because they are difficult to replace. The presence of these reliable troops prevents the generally more professional Ukrainian forces from chasing the Russians forces out of Ukraine. Ukraine takes better care of their troops and will not get them killed on pointless frontal assaults that are exposed to Ukrainian artillery fire. While the Russian infantry is not very reliable, Russian artillery is dependable but the Ukrainians use their artillery more skillfully, especially against Russian artillery.

While Ukraine continues to catch, prosecute and punish corrupt officials, Russia is eliminating anti-corruption laws to enable corrupt officials to evade detection and continue to profit from corrupt practices. This encourages Ukrainians to keep fighting and Russians to resist getting mobilized into the military. It also encourages more Russians to sabotage the war effort via individual efforts. The Russian war effort is often disrupted by these individual actions against railroad signal systems. This is s=easy to do and difficult to prevent. Russian mothers organize effective protests against the war, as they have been doing in the 1980s. Russia is increasingly at war with itself as well as Ukraine.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin insists Russia will keep fighting no matter the casualties and setbacks his forces suffer in Ukraine. This will go on as long as he continues to have the support of provincial and municipal leaders and internal security forces. These local leaders are appointed by the central government and are expected to keep the peace in their areas and deliver quotas of new recruits when asked. That is increasingly a source of opposition to the local governments. Putin is also making it more difficult for military-age men to leave the country and is establishing a hopefully accurate database of men eligible for military service.

Russia has many other problems. Their latest military technology gets captured, scrutinized and countermeasures developed. This has been going on since the war began. Ukraine shares this captured gear with its NATO allies who receive a constant flow of Russian weapons sent to Poland and beyond for further examination and analysis. This has been particularly hard on Russian electronic systems, especially counter-measures that are supposed to reduce the effectiveness of Western weapons. Russia developed some interesting new tech which loses most of its effectiveness when the enemy knows how it works and how to remotely make it not work.

Russia has captured some Western systems but not to the extent that their systems have been captured and analyzed. These losses are common in any war and first became a major factor during World War II. This was especially true with the electronic warfare German and British engineers engaged in to keep their bombers operational over enemy territory. This established the model for tech warfare that persists to the present, especially in Ukraine and Russia. During World War II the Russians were allies of Britain and the United States and received a lot of impressive (to the Russians) Western tech. Russia found that even when they had this tech they had a hard time duplicating it. Throughout the Cold War Russia continued to fear the Western edge in tech and the Russian inability to manufacture it themselves. That changed after the Soviet Union disappeared in 1991 and a new democratic (for a decade or so) Russia had free access to Western manufacturing technology as well as the tech itself. During the last decade Russia has again gone to war with the West and no longer has all that access to Western tech and is feeling the widening gap between Russian and Western technical capabilities.

China has long learned from Soviet and Russian mistakes, is now nearly equal to the West in terms of tech, and a much more formidable foe for the West and, if need be, Russia. China is replacing Russia as the primary trade partner of the central Asian states that were more part of the Soviet Union and later post-Soviet Russia. The war in Ukraine has given China the opportunity to completely replace Russia in Central Asia, where Russia is facing growing Chinese activity. Russia long believed their eastern flank was secure but now there is a potential threat from China and a two-front war if Russia survives the current conflict with Ukraine and its NATO allies.

Russia also continues to commit a growing list of war crimes against Ukrainian civilians in Russian occupied areas. This means more Ukrainian partisans forming and operating against the Russian occupation officials and internal security forces. This is one reason why Ukraine is intent on driving all Russian forces out of Ukraine. Meanwhile they collect names and war-crimes activities by Russians in the occupied territories. That makes it more difficult for these killers to one day try to gain asylum in the West, as some known war criminals have done in the past and were eventually identified and prosecuted, and might make their hiding out in Russia more sporting. Russia considers these men, and some women, heroes for diligently carrying out crimes against Ukrainian civilians. This includes forcing Ukrainian civilians to behave by threatening to send their children to Russia where they are adopted by Russian families. The threats are often carried out and Ukrainian orphans are regularly shipped off to Russia for adoption and absorption into the Russian population. The Ukrainian government knows who many of these children are and will seek to get them back after Russian troops are driven out of Ukraine. This will produce some interesting post-war diplomacy and drama.

February 13, 2023: The Russians have been surprised and dismayed by the ability of Ukrainian aircraft, especially unmanned jet or propeller driven autonomous systems, to evade the elaborate and supposedly effective Russian air defense system. Effective it wasnt as the Ukrainians carried out several spectacular attacks in late 2022 and early 2023 that were deep inside Russia, some not far from the capital Moscow. Blowing up air bases or missile storage sites is one thing, but the targets could also be the senior military and political officials running the war against Ukraine. So far the Ukrainians appear to believe that missiles and military aircraft that carry them are more important and less easy to replace than the military and political officials in charge of wartime operations.

The successful Ukrainian attacks on air bases near Moscow called into question claims that the air defenses around Moscow were effective. In response the Russian air defense forces have added short-range SAM (surface to air missile) systems like Pantsir S-1 to tall buildings around key military headquarters or places where senior leaders (like Vladimir Putin) live or work. This may not work because thats been the experience with Pantsir.

Russia has long been unsure about how effective its new short-range anti-aircraft systems actually are. In 2020 the troubled Pantsir S1 (SA-22) anti-aircraft system was given more opportunities to be useful in combat. A new version, Pantsir S1M, was shown in public for the first time in a 2020 Moscow parade. S1M was first made public earlier at a 2019 trade show. S1M systems didnt reach users and new customers until 2021.

February 12, 2023: Examination of the wreckage of crashed Iranian Shahed-131, Shahed 136, and Mohajer-6 cruise missiles in November showed that 82 percent of them had some Western electronic components the Iranian sanctions are supposed to access to. Most of the banned components were manufactured in 2020 and 2021 and some of them improved the existing capabilities of the Iranian UAVs used as one-way cruise missiles. Iran is assisting Russia in setting up a UAV manufacturing plant in Russia and the two heavily sanctioned countries are combining their component smuggling efforts. This cooperation will allow improvements in current weapons and military equipment used by both countries as well enable the development of more capable systems. Iran has developed effective smuggling operations over the last few decades. These need cash to succeed and Russia is still exporting their oil more successfully than the Iranians. Russia is forced to sell its oil at a large (20 percent or more) discount to countries willing to aid, and profit from, this process. Some large countries, like India, tolerate, support and profit from these oil exports and efforts to smuggle tech into Russia. There are smaller countries in south and southeast Asia that are willing to get involved.

February 11, 2023: Russia appears to have lost nearly twice as many troops (dead and wounded) than the Ukrainians in a year of fighting. Over 7,000 Ukrainian civilians have died and over twenty percent of the population has been driven from third homes, with many fleeing the country. The massive military aid Ukraine received from NATO countries has led to Russia suffering unexpectedly large personnel and equipment losses. So many Russian combat units suffered such high personnel and equipment losses that they were no longer effective. This happened even when personnel and equipment losses were replaced. The new personnel were poorly trained and the new equipment was older and less effective than the equipment lost. Back in Russia questions are raised about the wisdom of continuing the war with less effective forces. It may not be wise, but its what leader Vladimir Putin wants and so far there is no one to stop him.

February 9, 2023: In Ukraine the modern Russian air defense systems like S300 and S400 are vulnerable to Ukrainian countermeasures, especially with the more effective radar destruction weapons supplied by NATO nations. This enables air defense systems like I Hawk (Improved Hawk) to keep Russian aircraft away and deny the Russians air superiority or even use of much Ukrainian airspace. For this reason, most of the successful Russian airstrikes are carried out by Russian warplanes still in Russia firing long-range air to surface missiles. I-Hawk can intercept many of these missiles. I Hawk may be officially obsolete in most parts of the world, but in Ukraine its a major problem. Russia considered the I Hawk a threat and blocked Israel from sending its I Hawk missiles to Ukraine. Russian can do this because Israel needs Russian support in blocking the Iranian anti-Israel efforts in Syria and Lebanon. Fortunately, there are many other American allies with I Hawk batteries and missiles in storage and available for use in Ukraine. Spain is currently training Ukrainian soldiers how to operate the I Hawk.

February 8, 2023: Russia has sent about half a dozen of their new Mi-28NM combat helicopters to Ukraine, where they expect to thrive and survive using new weapons and countermeasures. Not many Russian helicopters have been seen in Russian occupied Ukraine since so many were destroyed during the first months of fighting. At the time of the invasion the Russian air force had about 1,500 helicopters. Most (74 percent) were older transport helicopters. Some were more recent versions of the Cold War era Mi-8 transports and Mi-24 gunships. This helicopter force seemed formidable but the Russians had a shortage of pilots and maintainers. Most of the available pilots and maintainers were assigned to operate the 400 more recent models that had been introduced since 2006. These were the ones sent to Ukraine where they received their first real combat test against modern anti-aircraft weapons and aircraft. The new Russian helicopters did not do well. The KA-52 gunship (introduced in 2011) was thought to be well equipped to handle modern portable anti-aircraft missiles like the American Stinger. The Americans had updated the Stinger more than the anti-missile defenses of the Ka-52 could handle. Transport helicopters were even more vulnerable. After eight months of combat Russia had lost nearly a hundred helicopters, mainly to ground fire. There were also losses due to accidents and mechanical failures. It was obvious that the most modern Russian designs were not up to the demands of combat against well-equipped opponents. This was disappointing because a decade ago Russian began a program to upgrade its helicopter force with new models and upgrades to older models. Part of this upgrade program was putting all nine existing helicopter manufacturers into one firm; Russian Helicopters. As part of this effort, the Russian military ordered more helicopters, especially new designs produced to appeal to export customers Russian helicopters were back as a powerful international brand. For peacetime operations or use against poorly armed opponents, the Russians helicopters were adequate. Against better armed opponents the new Russian helicopters performed poorly and Russia is trying to remedy this with the new Mi-28NM and its new weapons.

February 2, 2023: In the last few weeks the Russians have been losing (dead, wounded, missing) about 800 troops a day in futile attacks in eastern Ukraine. The Russian soldiers were poorly trained and their commanders and planning staff inept. Attack plans that failed were tried again and again, failing the same way each time. Back in Russia there were calls for commanders to be punished. In some cases that is not possible because the Ukrainians also shelled a headquarters and killed most of the officers working there.

February 1, 2023: While North Korea has recruited workers to work in Russian occupied portions of Ukraine, there has been a delay as North Korea assembled a force of soldiers and police to accompany the works. This has been done and the North Korean personnel will arrive in Russian occupied Ukraine in about a month. The delays in the North Koreans going to Russia was apparently because Russia is losing the war and it was feared that the North Korean workers would be captured by Ukrainian forces and ask for asylum. Additional military and police personnel are being added to the North Korean workforce to reduce this risk. North Korea has long provided workers to Russia, where they are better fed and housed than in North Korea and paid well. The North Korean government keeps most of the wages but enough is passed on to workers families to make foreign work tolerable to families. The several thousand workers needed for service in Ukraine and Western Russia were to work on two-year contracts and be able to keep more of their pay for their families. Even with the better pay, the longer contracts and work in a combat zone discouraged a lot of North Koreans from applying for these jobs. Usually, the government can be selective in choosing men for work in Russia. With these new contracts the government had to accept men who normally would not be considered because they were single and seen as less politically reliable. Those rules have been waived and the first contingent, selected in early November, and two more groups were being processed but none were sent to Russia until the North Korean security personnel could be added. This is insurance against the deteriorating Russian situation in Ukraine getting a lot worse along with the growing unemployment in Russia because of sanctions.

January 31, 2023: The United States supplied most of the munitions Ukraine needed and now has to replace its war reserves stockpiled for a major war. While European NATO nations dont have to worry about their major threat, Russia, while they rebuild their war reserves, or dont, the Americans have to plan for potential conflicts elsewhere, like China, North Korea and Iran. The Americans can still do so because supporting Ukraine does not degrade American naval or air power. A war with China would not become more difficult because of American military aid to Ukraine. The same is true for potential conflicts with China, North Korea or Iran as both of them have plenty of powerful local near-peer opponents who would be American allies in such conflicts, i.e., South Korea, Japan, the Arab gulf states and Israel, who can deal with China, Iran or North Korea given American and naval support. American ground forces are also available for a Pacific campaign, but cannot use artillery munitions as heavily as they would prefer. The Americans confirmed that North Korea had shipped ammunition (mostly 152mm shells) and missiles (actually unguided rockets) to Russia by rail several times in late 2022. Satellite photos were provided showing trainloads of this material crossing into Russia and later showing up on the Trans-Siberian line headed for Russian forces in Ukraine. Officially, North Korea denies sending any weapons or munitions to Russia. North Korea received several large shipments of food and fuel from Russia to pay for the munitions.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / February 14, 2023 / Blue Lagoon Resources Inc. (the "Company") (CSE:BLLG)(FSE:7BL)(OTCQB: BLAGF) is pleased to announce final results from the 2022 Phase II drilling program on its year-round, road accessible, Dome Mountain Gold Project, located a short 50-minute drive from Smithers, British Columbia.

Significant intersections from drill holes drilled along the western strike extension of the Boulder Vein, include:

DM-22-280 - 8.68 g/t Au, 68.4 g/t Ag and 0.27% Cu over 3.55 meters including 24.40 g/t Au, 158.0 g.t Ag, 0.50% Cu over 0.60 metres, and,

DM-22-283 - 7.28 g/t Au, 60.0 g/t Ag and 0.94% Cu over 3.87 meters, including 14.98 g/t Au, 78.5 g/t Ag, 0.53% Cu over 1.40 metres

These drill holes were part of a series of holes to test the Boulder structure at depth (> 200 metres from surface) and along strike to the west beyond the current (2021) resource model.

DM-22-280 intersected typical quartz-carbonate vein material within altered tuffs, mineralized with mainly pyrite and lesser chalcopyrite, sphalerite and galena at a drill depth of 226.00 to 229.55 metres grading 8.68 g/t Au, 68.4 g/t Ag and 0.27% Cu over 3.55 meters including 24.40 g/t Au, 158.0 g.t Ag, 0.50% Cu over 0.60 metres. The vein orientation appears to be steeper in this area - greater than 70 to the south.

DM-22-283 intersected two wide mineralized quartz-carbonate veins and strong clay-sericite altered zones, with the upper zone from 307.00 to 316.00 metres returning 3.69 g/t Au, 28.2 g/t Ag, and 0.43% Cu over 9.00 metres, including a higher grade core of 7.28 g/t Au, 60.0 g/t Ag and 0.94% Cu over 3.87 meters. The lower zone was drilled from 349.30 to 364.45 metres, returning 1.97 g/t Au, 38.5 g/t Ag and 0.39% Cu over 15.15 metres, including 4.30 g/t Au, 80.0 g/t Ag, and 0.79% Cu over 4.27 metres. The lower zone also included a short interval (0.43m) of massive sulphides.

Table 1: Selected significant intersections (>1 g/t Au)

Hole Intersection (m) Grade From To Length True Width 1 Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Cu (%) Pb (%) Zn (%) DM-22-276 234.00 236.00 2.00 1.33 2.42 10.7 0.050 0.050 DM-22-276 242.00 244.00 2.00 1.33 1.04 5.2 0.070 0.150 DM-22-277 244.90 247.00 2.10 1.84 1.92 14.6 0.090 0.230 0.370 DM-22-277 371.61 371.85 0.24 0.21 5.19 73.7 0.060 0.430 0.160 DM-22-278 6.23 6.55 0.32 0.25 7.26 87.0 0.730 0.100 0.050 DM-22-278 38.45 38.75 0.30 0.23 5.10 21.5 0.170 0.010 0.110 DM-22-278 123.30 125.30 2.00 1.49 1.55 1.5 0.010 0.400 DM-22-278 321.56 322.00 0.44 0.32 1.73 96.0 0.340 0.360 0.630 DM-22-280 87.66 88.11 0.45 0.41 6.94 16.5 0.270 0.000 0.010 DM-22-280 226.00 229.55 3.55 3.14 8.68 68.4 0.270 0.410 2.310 incl 226.00 226.60 0.60 0.53 24.40 158.0 0.500 0.580 4.760 incl 227.09 228.37 1.28 1.13 6.31 42.1 0.170 0.160 3.010 incl 228.95 229.55 0.60 0.53 11.30 129.0 0.490 1.470 2.130 DM-22-280 332.00 334.00 2.00 1.76 1.02 0.9 0.010 0.020 DM-22-281 216.00 219.00 3.00 2.20 1.35 11.7 0.100 0.530 DM-22-281 237.30 238.00 0.70 0.51 1.25 1.2 0.010 0.020 DM-22-281 323.75 323.95 0.20 0.14 4.18 291.0 3.430 0.260 0.400 DM-22-282 198.25 198.84 0.59 0.51 1.11 0.4 0.000 0.010 DM-22-282 238.08 239.45 1.37 1.17 4.60 58.5 0.130 0.090 0.130 DM-22-283 307.00 310.00 3.00 2.14 1.66 6.3 0.050 0.010 0.200 incl 309.70 310.00 0.30 0.21 5.56 38.5 0.270 0.020 0.150 DM-22-283 312.13 316.00 3.87 2.75 7.28 60.0 0.940 0.270 0.550 incl 312.13 313.53 1.40 1.00 14.98 78.5 0.530 0.540 0.960 incl 313.99 315.00 1.01 0.72 5.42 87.0 2.020 0.190 0.580 DM-22-283 349.30 364.45 15.15 10.70 1.97 38.5 0.390 0.270 0.400 incl 360.18 364.45 4.27 3.01 4.30 80.0 0.790 0.500 0.730 DM-22-284 23.72 25.00 1.28 1.13 22.00 11.0 0.020 0.020 0.030 DM-22-284 240.00 241.00 1.00 0.88 3.86 0.8 0.000 0.020

1 True widths are estimates, vein dip is variable.

Figure 1: 2022 Phase 2 Boulder-Cabin area drilling plan map

The 2022 Phase 2 drill program totalled 41 drill holes totalling 12,327 meters (Figure 1).

Figure 2: Schematic long section, Boulder Vein, looking north

Previously released results (January 16, 2023) from shallow, up-dip drilling in this area included DM-22-263 (3.68 g/t Au and 37.4 g/t Ag over 6.44 meters and including 1.24 meters of 15.10 g/t Au and 103 g/t Ag) and DM-22-264 (7.76 g/t Au and 218.3 g/t Ag over 1.82 meters and including 0.89 meters of 13.80 g/t Au and 345 g/t Ag).

QUALITY ASSURANCE AND CONTROL

Core selected for sampling was cut in half with a core saw or split with a hydraulic splitter with one half bagged for shipping. Strict chain of custody storing, and shipping protocol was maintained. All core preparation and analyses were completed by Activation Laboratories Ltd. located in Kamloops, BC. Core was crushed, split, and pulverized with 250 grams passing 200 mesh. Each sample was analyzed for gold by fire assay with ICP-OES finish (Act Labs Code 1A2-ICP) and for multi-elements by 4-acid total digestion ICP with OES finish.(Act Labs Code 1F2) Any gold overlimits (>30 ppm Au) were analyzed by gravimetric fire assay. Standards and blanks were inserted by Company staff. The drilling and sampling program was undertaken by Company personnel and under the direction of Ted Vanderwart, P.Geo.

The scientific and technical disclosure in this news release was approved by William Cronk, P.Geo, a Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101 and a consultant to the Company.

For further information, please contact:

Rana Vig

President and Chief Executive Officer

Telephone: 604-218-4766

Email: [email protected]

The CSE has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information: This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that Blue Lagoon Resources Inc. (the "Company") expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include results of exploration activities may not show quality and quantity necessary for further exploration or future exploitation of minerals deposits, volatility of gold and silver prices, and continued availability of capital and financing, permitting and other approvals, and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.

SOURCE: Blue Lagoon Resources Inc.

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Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) announced today that Paula A. Johnson, MD, MPH, President of Wellesley College, has been appointed to its Board of Directors.

I am excited to welcome Dr. Paula Johnson to Johnson & Johnsons Board of Directors, said Joaquin Duato, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Johnson & Johnson. Paula is an impressive leader, physician-scientist, and educator, with expertise in improving health outcomes for patients around the globe. Her extensive knowledge of medical research, public health, and health policy, and her proven leadership across complex organizations will provide a unique skillset to the Johnson & Johnson Board of Directors. On behalf of the Board, we look forward to working with Paula as the Company continues to innovate to profoundly impact health for humanity.

Dr. Johnson said, I am honored to join Johnson & Johnsons Board of Directors and advance the Companys mission. I have always been passionate about health, science and helping people achieve positive health outcomes, and I look forward to serving with fellow directors who share a similar passion and commitment to improving the lives of people around the world.

About Paula A. Johnson, MD, MPH

Dr. Johnson is a pioneer who brings decades of experience in the fields of academic medicine, public health, and higher education. Currently, Dr. Johnson is the 14th President of Wellesley College. In this role, she has placed the College at the forefront of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education for women and has led the creation of the schools new strategic plan. Dr. Johnson has held several leadership roles in her career as a physician-scientist. She most recently served as the Grayce A. Young Family Professor of Medicine in Womens Health at Harvard Medical School and a professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Health. In addition, she founded the Connors Center for Womens Health and Gender Biology at Brigham and Womens Hospital.

Dr. Johnson has served on several national and international boards, and she currently serves on the board of directors for Rockefeller University and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Dr. Johnson attended Harvard University, where she earned her bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees. She also trained in internal medicine and cardiovascular medicine at Brigham and Womens Hospital.

The full Board of Directors list is available on the Johnson & Johnson website at https://www.jnj.com/leadership/our-leadership-team#board-of-directors.

About Johnson & Johnson

At Johnson & Johnson, we believe good health is the foundation of vibrant lives, thriving communities and forward progress. Thats why for more than 135 years, we have aimed to keep people well at every age and every stage of life. Today, as the worlds largest and most broadly-based health care company, we are committed to using our reach and size for good. We strive to improve access and affordability, create healthier communities, and put a healthy mind, body and environment within reach of everyone, everywhere. We are blending our heart, science and ingenuity to profoundly change the trajectory of health for humanity.

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Press



Tesia Williams



[email protected]

Investors



Jessica Moore



[email protected]

Source: Johnson & Johnson
The Cooperation Framework aims to boost climate business and food security through a co-investing program of up to AED5.5 billion (US$1.5 billion) for private sector-led projects.

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, signed a Memorandum of Cooperation during the World Government Summit to support investments in emerging markets related to the clean energy transition, climate mitigation and adaptation, the adoption of clean technologies, and food security amongst others.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230214005585/en/

H.E. Mohamed Saif Al Suwaidi, Director General of Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (right); with H.E. Makhtar Diop, Managing Director of IFC; after signing the agreement (Photo: AETOSWire).

The cooperation framework aims to strengthen the strategic collaboration between the two organizations in several key areas, including through co-investing of up to AED5.5 billion (US$1.5 billion) to private sector-led projects.

The new cooperation also paves the way for an enhanced exchange of knowledge that leverages best practices and global expertise of both parties. The agreement was signed by His Excellency Mohamed Saif Al Suwaidi, Director General of Abu Dhabi Fund for Development; and Mr. Makhtar Diop, Managing Director of IFC.

H.E. Al Suwaidi stated that the strategic partnership with the International Finance Corporation presented promising opportunities for attaining the sustainable development goals of developing countries. The cooperation framework will boost investment in climate and food security projects in crucial sectors such as renewable energy and food security. It will also help stimulate economic activity in both the national private sector and in developing countries, enabling countries to achieve their development goals and programs, he said.

Makhtar Diop, IFC's Managing Director said: To tackle climate change, ensure food security, and address unemployment, we need a strong private sector. We are joining forces with ADFD to co-finance private sector projects that address the most pressing challenges of our time.

Through the Memorandum of Cooperation ADFD and IFC will work to enhance cooperation and exchange of experiences, especially in supporting small and medium enterprises to promote economic development by encouraging the growth of private business enterprises in developing countries.

*Source: AETOSWire

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230214005585/en/

Ameera Alali

[email protected]

Source: Abu Dhabi Fund for Development
DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- AECOM (NYSE: ACM), the worlds trusted infrastructure consulting firm, announced today that Troy Rudd, AECOMs chief executive officer, will participate in a fireside chat at Citis 2023 Global Industrial Tech and Mobility Conference on February 21st at 9:40 a.m. Eastern Time. The discussion will focus on the Companys strategic and financial initiatives that are resulting in its widening competitive advantage and continued long-term value creation for shareholders.

A webcast of the fireside chat will be posted online at https://investors.aecom.com/.

About AECOM

AECOM (NYSE: ACM) is the worlds trusted infrastructure consulting firm, delivering professional services throughout the project lifecycle  from advisory, planning, design and engineering to program and construction management. On projects spanning transportation, buildings, water, new energy, and the environment, our public- and private-sector clients trust us to solve their most complex challenges. Our teams are driven by a common purpose to deliver a better world through our unrivaled technical and digital expertise, a culture of equity, diversity and inclusion, and a commitment to environmental, social and governance priorities. AECOM is a Fortune 500 firm and its Professional Services business had revenue of $13.1 billion in fiscal year 2022. See how we are delivering sustainable legacies for generations to come at aecom.com and @AECOM.

Forward-Looking Statements

All statements in this communication other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements for purposes of federal and state securities laws, including any statements of the plans, strategies and objectives for future operations, profitability, strategic value creation, risk profile and investment strategies, and any statements regarding future economic conditions or performance, and the expected financial and operational results of AECOM. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in our forward-looking statements are reasonable, actual results could differ materially from those projected or assumed in any of our forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause our actual results, performance and achievements, or industry results to differ materially from estimates or projections contained in our forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the following: our business is cyclical and vulnerable to economic downturns and client spending reductions; limited control over operations that run through our joint venture entities; liability for misconduct by our employees or consultants; failure to comply with laws or regulations applicable to our business; maintaining adequate surety and financial capacity; potential high leverage and inability to service our debt and guarantees; ability to continue payment of dividends; exposure to political and economic risks in different countries, including tariffs; currency exchange rate and interest fluctuations; retaining and recruiting key technical and management personnel; legal claims; inadequate insurance coverage; environmental law compliance and adequate nuclear indemnification; unexpected adjustments and cancellations related to our backlog; partners and third parties who may fail to satisfy their legal obligations; AECOM Capital real estate development projects; managing pension cost; cybersecurity issues, IT outages and data privacy; risks associated with the expected benefits and costs of the sale of our Management Services and self-perform at-risk civil infrastructure, power construction and oil and gas construction businesses, including the risk that any contingent purchase price adjustments from those transactions could be unfavorable and result in lower aggregate cash proceeds and any future proceeds owed to us under those transactions could be lower than we expect; as well as other additional risks and factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our forward-looking statements set forth in our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof. We do not intend, and undertake no obligation, to update any forward-looking statement.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230214005239/en/

Media Contact:

Brendan Ranson-Walsh

Senior Vice President, Global Communications

1.213.996.2367

[email protected]

Investor Contact:

Will Gabrielski

Senior Vice President, Finance, Treasurer

1.213.593.8208

[email protected]

Source: AECOM
Deal includes firm order for 40 GEnx engines, 20 GE9X engines, plus services

Largest LEAP* engine order ever with more than 800 LEAP engines chosen for entire firm order of 400 Airbus and Boeing single-aisle aircraft



MUMBAI, India--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Air India, part of Tata Sons, has signed a firm order for 40 GEnx-1B and 20 GE9X engines, plus a multi-year TrueChoice engine services agreement. The deal was signed in coordination with the airlines firm order for 20 Boeing 787 and 10 Boeing 777X aircraft.

All of us at Tata Group and Air India are delighted to have this partnership with GE Aerospace, where we will build Air India to be a world class airline and one of the most technology-advanced airlines, said Mr. N. Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons and Air India.

We are proud to continue our longstanding partnership with Tata Group and Air India, said H. Lawrence Culp, Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of GE and CEO of GE Aerospace. We look forward to working together to introduce these engines into Air Indias fleet and are committed to ensuring they deliver exceptional performance.

GE Aerospace has powered Air India since 1982, when the airline took delivery of its first CF6-powered Airbus A300. The airline currently operates a fleet of more than 150 aircraft, including GE90-powered Boeing 777s and GEnx-powered Boeing 787s.

Air India also announced a CFM order for more than 800 LEAP engines, the largest LEAP order ever, to power its entire narrowbody purchase of 210 Airbus A320/A321neo aircraft and 190 Boeing 737 MAX-family aircraft. The announcement includes a multi-year CFM services agreement. CFM is a 50/50 joint business between GE and Safran Aircraft Engines.

"This order for GE Aerospace engines supports our Vihaan.AI transformation plan, a key part of which is to dramatically expand our fleet and global network," said Campbell Wilson, CEO & Managing Director of Air India. "We are confident that these engines will deliver the reliability and efficiency we need, and we are delighted to continue our longstanding relationship with GE."

"Over the last decade, we have introduced a new portfolio of commercial engines that are significantly more fuel efficient, quieter, and emit less CO2," said Russell Stokes, President and CEO, Commercial Engines and Services for GE Aerospace. "This record order reflects our strong product renewal and our customers continued confidence in our engines.

Todays announcement includes GE and CFM's most technically advanced commercial engines:

The GE9X, the worlds most powerful and GE's most fuel-efficient turbofan, powers the Boeing 777X family of aircraft. The engine offers the lowest NOx emissions in its class, 55% below current regulatory requirements. It is also the quietest GE engine ever produced on a pounds of thrust per decibel basis.

the worlds most powerful and GE's most fuel-efficient turbofan, powers the Boeing 777X family of aircraft. The engine offers the lowest NOx emissions in its class, 55% below current regulatory requirements. It is also the quietest GE engine ever produced on a pounds of thrust per decibel basis. The GEnx, powers the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, has an innovative lean burning twin-annular pre-swirl (TAPS) combustor that dramatically reduces NOx and other regulated gases below today's regulatory limits, offering 15% better fuel burn than the CF6 engine.

powers the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, has an innovative lean burning twin-annular pre-swirl (TAPS) combustor that dramatically reduces NOx and other regulated gases below today's regulatory limits, offering 15% better fuel burn than the CF6 engine. The LEAP-1A and LEAP-1B, have accumulated more than 27 million flying hours. LEAP operators are reporting up to a 20 percent improvement in fuel efficiency and CO2 emissions compared to the latest production CFM56 engines, resulting in an average of more than 17 million tons of CO2 emissions reduction.

Like all GE and CFM engines, the GEnx, GE9X and LEAP are compatible with all approved Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) blends.

GE Aerospace also provides multiple systems for the Boeing 777X. This includes the Enhanced Airborne Flight Recorder (EAFR), the Electrical Load Management System (ELMS) and the Backup Generator, Backup Converter (BUG/BUC) and the Common Core System (CCS). The CCS is often referred to as the central nervous system and brain of the airplane and hosts the aircrafts avionics and utilities functions, eliminating several boxes and reducing hundreds of pounds of wire. GE Aerospace also supplies the CCS and EAFR for the Boeing 787.

GE Aerospace has been operating in India for over four decades with wide engagement in the industry including engines, avionics, services, engineering, manufacturing, and local sourcing.

Engineers at the John F. Welch Technology Centre (JFWTC) in Bangalore, India, GE's research and development center, have played a key role in the technology development of the GE9X, GEnx, and CFM LEAP engines by providing analysis and test validation support. The center has close to 1,000 engineers working to support next-gen technologies to reduce CO2 emissions.

*LEAP is a trademark of CFM International, a 50/50 joint company between Safran Aircraft Engines and GE

About Air India

Founded by the legendary JRD Tata, Air India pioneered Indias aviation sector. Since its first flight on October 15, 1932, Air India has an extensive domestic network and has spread its wings beyond to become a major international airline with a network across USA, Canada, UK, Europe, Far-East, SouthEast Asia, Australia and the Gulf. Air India is a member of Star Alliance, the largest global airline consortium. After 69 years as a government-owned enterprise, Air India and Air India Express were welcomed back into the Tata group in January 2022. The present management at Air India is driving the five-year transformation roadmap under the aegis of Vihaan.AI to establish itself as a world-class global airline with an Indian heart.

About GE Aerospace

GE Aerospace is a world-leading provider of jet engines, components and systems for commercial and military aircraft with a global service network to support these offerings. GE Aerospace and its joint ventures have an installed base of more than 40,000 commercial and 26,000 military aircraft engines, and the business is playing a vital role in shaping the future of flight.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230214005543/en/

Perry Bradley, (513) 375-2597

[email protected]

Nick Hurm, (513) 484-4450

[email protected]

Source: GE Aerospace
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Appili Therapeutics Inc. (TSX: APLI, OTCQB: APLIF) (the Company or Appili), a biopharmaceutical company focused on drug development for infectious diseases and biodefense, today announced its financial and operational results for the third quarter of its fiscal year 2023, which ended on December 31, 2022.

Over the past couple of months, it has been an immense honor to serve as the companys CEO and Im incredibly proud of all that we have accomplished to enhance and accelerate our diversified portfolio, said Don Cilla, Pharm.D., M.B.A., President and Chief Executive Officer of Appili Therapeutics. Recently we announced that the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has approved ~US$14 million in funding for ATI-1701 to develop this top-priority biothreat vaccine for tularemia through IND submission. Subject to contract finalization, this is expected to further position Appili as a leader in the infectious disease and biodefense market with two biodefense programs that we believe may be eligible for Priority Review Vouchers (PRV) upon U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval.

This next quarter will be an important one for Appili on multiple fronts; with ATI-1501, the FDA has accepted the New Drug Application (NDA) and assigned the NDA submission a PDUFA date of September 23, 2023. We are working diligently with our partner, Saptalis, and the FDA on receiving NDA approval and preparing for market launch. On our biodefense programs, we are in the process of finalizing definitive contracts with the DoD and preparing to initiate IND-enabling toxicology studies for ATI-1701, selecting a Contract Drug Manufacturing Organization (CDMO), and engaging regulatory authorities to align on development plans for ATI-1801, an urgently needed treatment for those suffering from cutaneous leishmaniasis.

Program highlights along with recent developments include:

ATI-1701, Biodefense Vaccine Candidate with ~US$14 Million in Funding from U.S. Department of Defense

ATI-1701 is a novel, live-attenuated vaccine for F. tularensis, which causes tularemia, is a Category A pathogen which can be aerosolized, and is over 1,000 times more infectious than anthrax. Since it is a highly infectious pathogen capable of causing severe illness, medical counter measures for F. tularensis are a top biodefense priority for the United States and governments around the world. There is currently no approved vaccine for the prevention of tularemia in the United States or other major global markets.

Drug manufacturing activities have been initiated and additional animal work commenced in 2019. Preliminary data from a recently completed non-human primate study showed a protective effect from ATI-1701 when animals were challenged with a lethal dose of F. tularensis 28 days after vaccination, and complete (100% survival) protection from lethal challenge 90 days after vaccination. At 365 days after vaccination, mice (100% survival) and non-human primates (29% survival) still showed evidence of protection.

In February 2022, the United States Defense Threat Reduction Agency selected the Companys proposal for additional funding to advance ATI-1701. The U.S. Airforce Academy will serve as the prime contractor for this program, while the Company is preparing to serve as a top tier contractor overseeing the comprehensive development activities for ATI-1701. The expected total funding amount of approximately US$14 million should fund this scope of work through IND submission. If approved by the FDA, Appili may be well placed to receive stockpiling contracts and the program may be eligible for a valuable PRV.

ATI-1801, Robust data and Potential PRV

ATI-1801 is a novel topical formulation of paromomycin (15% w/w) under advanced clinical development for the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis, a disfiguring infection of the skin that affects hundreds of thousands of people around the world annually. The disease is a serious impediment to socioeconomic development and a priority for governments and non-governmental organizations around the world.

Appili licensed the full clinical dossier for ATI-1801 from the US Army Medical Materiel Development Activity, including the results of a randomized, vehicle-controlled Phase 3 study which evaluated the safety and efficacy of ATI-1801 for the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Tunisia. The study met its primary endpoint, with ATI-1801 administered topically once daily for 20 days demonstrating a significant improvement in the rate of clinical cure.

Appili plans to select a Contract Drug Manufacturing Organization to produce the topical cream and then meet with the FDA later this year to discuss the previously generated Phase 3 data, the topical cream formulation, and agree on the necessary registration package to support an NDA submission.

ATI-1801 has received an orphan drug designation from the FDA for the treatment of certain forms of cutaneous leishmaniasis. This program may be eligible for a tropical disease PRV, if approved by the FDA.

ATI- 1501, Partnered, Moving Towards FDA Approval and Commercial Launch

ATI-1501 is a taste-masked liquid oral suspension formulation of an antibiotic, metronidazole. Metronidazole is a front-line antibiotic for the treatment of anaerobic bacterial and parasitic infections. Metronidazole has a strong bitter and metallic taste that is exacerbated by crushing and can reduce patient adherence to treatment. ATI-1501 is aimed at making it easier for patients with difficulties swallowing and sensitivity to taste to take metronidazole, improving compliance and supporting clinical outcomes.

In December 2019, Appili entered into a development and commercialization agreement with Saptalis for the manufacturing, development, and commercialization of ATI-1501. Appili is eligible to receive multiple milestone and royalty payments on the development and sale of ATI-1501 in the United States. It is expected that the FDA review will be complete in Q3 2024, and commercialization would commence shortly after approval. The Company expects to receive milestone payments in Q3 2024 and Q4 2024 based on Saptalis proposed NDA submission timeline and commercialization plans.

Financial Results

The Company prepares its financial statements in accordance with IFRS as issued by the International Accounting Standard Board and Part I of Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada HandbookAccounting. All figures are stated in Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated.

The net loss and comprehensive loss of $6.6 million or $0.06 loss per share for the nine months ended December 31, 2022 was $15.2 million lower than the net loss and comprehensive loss of $21.8 million or $0.33 loss per share during the nine months ended December 31, 2021. This relates mainly to a decrease in research and development costs by $17.3 million, a decrease in business development by $0.6 million and a decrease in general administrative expenses by $0.1 million. These decreases were offset by an increase in financing costs by $0.3 million, an increase in foreign exchange loss by $0.4 million, a decrease in government assistance by $0.7 million and a decrease in revenue and interest income by $1.4 million.

As of December 31, 2022, the Company had cash of $1.4 million, compared to $6.7 million on March 31, 2022. As of February 13, 2023, the Company had 121,226,120 issued and outstanding Common Shares, 8,081,772 stock options, and 51,317,879 warrants outstanding.

This press release should be read in conjunction with the Companys unaudited interim condensed financial statements for the three and nine month period ended December 31, 2022 and the related management discussion and analysis (MD&A), copies of which are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

+++

About Appili Therapeutics

Appili Therapeutics is an infectious disease biopharmaceutical company that is purposefully built, portfolio-driven, and people-focused to fulfill its mission of solving life-threatening infections. By systematically identifying urgent infections with unmet needs, Appilis goal is to strategically develop a pipeline of novel therapies to prevent deaths and improve lives. The Company is currently advancing a diverse range of anti-infectives, including a vaccine candidate to eliminate a serious biological weapon threat, a topical antiparasitic for the treatment of a disfiguring disease, and a novel easy to use, liquid oral formulation targeting parasitic and anaerobic infections. Led by a proven management team, Appili is at the epicenter of the global fight against infection. For more information, visit www.AppiliTherapeutics.com.

Forward looking statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements including with respect to partnering with the DoD, the anticipated funding amount under the partnership with the DoD, PRV eligibility for ATI-1701 and ATI-1801, the regulatory approval and commercialization timeline for ATI-1501 and other statements relating to the Companys ongoing development plans and timeline with respect to its various products. Wherever possible, words such as may, would, could, should, will, anticipate, believe, plan, expect, intend, estimate, potential for and similar expressions have been used to identify these forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements contained in this press release are provided in reliance on certain assumptions, including with respect to the satisfaction of all conditions precedent to the advancement of the full anticipated funding in a timely manner (including receipt by the DoD of any requisite U.S. federal budget approvals), general development plans with respect to the Companys products (including ATI-1701, ATI-1501 and ATI-1801), general access to data required to support regulatory submissions, expected PRV eligibility for ATI-1701 and ATI-1801, the nature and scope of the services to be provided by Appili to the DoD with respect to advancing the ATI-1701 program and expected commercialization approval for ATI-1501. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, the Company cannot give assurance that these expectations will prove to have been correct.

Forward looking statements involve significant known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including, without limitation, the risk that the final conditions governing the funding and the relationship of between Appili and the DoD may not be satisfactory to the Company, the final funding amount for ATI-1701 may be different than that communicated herein (including as a result of the failure to secure the requisite US government budget approvals), receipt of funding may be delayed in the event that any remaining conditions (including finalization of definitive agreements with the DoD) are not satisfied in a timely manner, either ATI-1701 or ATI-1801 may ultimately be determined not to be PRV eligible, other standard risks associated with governmental funding, ATI-1501 may not be approved for commercialization on the expected timeline or at all, and the other risk factors listed in the annual information form of the Company dated June 29, 2022 and the other filings made by the Company with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities (which may be viewed at www.sedar.com). Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements prove incorrect, actual results, performance or achievements may vary materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in this news release. These factors should be considered carefully, and prospective investors should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to revise forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by law.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230213005679/en/

Investor Relations:

Don Cilla, Pharm.D., M.B.A., President and CEO

Appili Therapeutics

E: [email protected]

Media:

Jenna McNeil, Communications Manager

Appili Therapeutics

E: [email protected]

Source: Appili Therapeutics Inc.
HARVEY, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Atkore Inc. (the Company) (NYSE: ATKR), a leading provider of electrical, safety and infrastructure solutions, today announced that Bill Waltz, President and Chief Executive Officer, and David Johnson, Chief Financial Officer, are scheduled to participate in a question and answer session at Citis 2023 Global Industrial Tech and Mobility Conference on Tuesday, February 21, 2023 at 1:00 pm Eastern Time.

A webcast link of the live event will be available on the Investor Relations site of atkore.com (https://investors.atkore.com/events-and-presentations). A replay of the webcast will be available on the same website until Wednesday, February 21, 2024.

To learn more about Atkore Inc. please visit the company's website at https://investors.atkore.com/.

About Atkore Inc.

Atkore is forging a future where our employees, customers, suppliers, shareholders and communities are building better together  a future focused on serving the customer and powering and protecting the world.

With a network of manufacturing and distribution facilities worldwide, Atkore is a leading provider of electrical, safety and infrastructure solutions.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230214005004/en/

Media Contact:

Lisa Winter

Vice President  Communications

708-225-2453

[email protected]



Investor Contact:

John Deitzer

Vice President  Treasury & Investor Relations

708 225-2124

[email protected]

Source: Atkore, Inc.
How exhilarating it was to explore Puerto Rican cuisine at the source.

Before flying to San Juan in early January, Id never been to Puerto Rico.

Truth be told, I had never partaken of this particular American ritual before. So like generations of snowbirds before me, I went to the airport in midwinter.

It deposited me into a reality where my main concern is how to figure out which rum drink you want to ask for next, while the waves erased the sand from between my toes.

Boricua describes people of Puerto Rican descent. My previous education in boricuan cuisine came at the hands of the hard-working Puerto Rican restaurateurs of Buffalo, from Senor Vargas peerless pernil sandwiches to Sazon Criollos fried-while-you-wait pastellitos. To tap into the source of their inspirations gave me a turbocharged appreciation of what the boricua brigade has brought to Buffalo eaters.

Here are the best places to find the Island of Enchantments flavors in Buffalo and nearby:

La Flor Bakery

544 Niagara St.; 716-812-0187; laflorbuffalo.com.

Puerto Rico has a type of restaurant called a panaderia. In the dictionary, that means bakery, but in Puerto Rico its a bakery operation that serves meals based on its work. Thats why people patiently wait for long minutes for the meals in the La Flor parlor. They wait for sandwiches on La Flor bread, sweets like flan and flaky sugar-dusted guava pastelillos, and stick-to-your-ribs steamtable meals like smothered pork chops and pernil, with rice and pigeon peas, and yuca.

Dont go here if youre in a hurry, because La Flor is not Tim Hortons. Wait your turn, and when you have the counterwomans attention, tell her what you want. Shes fluent in English and Spanish, and wants to feed you, so if youve never before been a room filled with people speaking not a lick of English, take courage, and approach with humility. Youll be happy you did.

Hours: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday; 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.

. . .

Montes Grocery Deli

413 Swan St.; 716-854-3228.

People line up through shelves of grocery staples for ready-to-go treats collectively called pinchos, including deep-fried beef or chicken and cheese pastellitos, stuffed deep-fried mashed potato balls called pappas rellenas, and carne frita, pork butt chunks rolled in dried sauzon spices and deep-fried, sold by the chunk. But its the steam-table meals that get the most laborers waiting in line in their battered boots, taking the meals to eat in their pickups. Dinners of pernil, long-roasted pork sweet and supple, roast chicken, or piles of that deep-fried pork carne frita are standards.

If you go Thursday, you can get the bistec encebollado, beef braised in sofrito and onions. This place is built for speed, so get in line and be ready to tell the counterwoman your desires.

Hours: 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday; 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday. Closed Sunday.

. . .

Niagara Cafe

525 Niagara St., 716-885-2233; facebook.com/NiagaraCafePR.

At the grande dame of Puerto Rican cuisine in the Queen City of the Great Lakes, the line hardly ever thins of Buffalonians hungry for rotisserie chicken, pernil, and steam-table classics. Maduros, plantains cooked into fruity caramel, are a personal must-have side.

An unbeatable $8 lunch deal with beans and rice would be a steal at $10. Built for speed, this is a cash-only place. If you turn around at the cashier station, the ATM is right there. There are tables to sit at here, but no service.

Hours: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Closed Sunday, Monday.

. . .

Kiosko Latino

142 French Road, Cheektowaga; 716-608-6793; kiosko-latino.square.site.

West Side Bazaar graduates opened their own place last year, bringing the flavors of Puerto Rico to the wilds of Cheektowaga. Plenty of room to sit, and enjoy food that you order from the counter. Try an estimable Cuban sandwich of ham, roast pork, Swiss cheese, dill pickles and mustard, pressed in a griddle to a satisfying golden brown crisp. Order yuca, the potato cousin with more personality, cooked with onions, vinegar and garlic.

Hours: 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday. Closed Sunday.

. . .

House of Sandwich

800 Tonawanda St.; 716-342-2684; facebook.com/HouseofSandwichBuffaloNY.

Spacious Puerto Rican family restaurant has plenty of space to settle in after you order, and a case of pinchos next to the door, if youre in a grab-and-go mood. Huge sandwiches on estimably crusty loaves are a signature here. Breakfasts include scrambles and omelets, but the eponymous sandwiches are the thing here. Beef papa ($13.52) includes steak, tomatoes, and potato sticks, Colby cheese, mayonnaise, ketchup, lettuce, pickles, garlic oil, and you better believe its worth the extra napkins. Or try the counterwomans nomination, which I heartily second: a tripleta ($15.60) of chicken, beef and pastrami.
SAN FRANCISCO & LOS ANGELES & SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Biocom California, the association representing the California life science industry, today announced that it has appointed Neil Bence, Ph.D., vice president and head of oncology discovery at Bristol Myers Squibb, and Connor Bates, vice president and general manager at BD, to its board of governors.

We carefully select our board members to ensure we consistently have the most dynamic, highly qualified and exceptional leaders in the life science industry on our team to aid us in meeting the evolving needs of Californias biotechnology community, said Joe Panetta, president and CEO of Biocom California. Im fully confident Dr. Bence and Mr. Bates talents and depths of experience will prove invaluable as we continue to drive Californias life science industry forward.

Neil Bence serves as the vice president and head of oncology discovery in Research & Early Development at Bristol Myers Squibb, where he oversees an oncology discovery team at the Oncogenesis Thematic Research Center and serves as site head for the companys San Diego location. Prior to joining Bristol Myers Squibb, Neil served as the head of biology at Nurix Therapeutics in San Francisco, where he oversaw research for multiple oncology and immuno-oncology programs now in clinical development. He also worked at Millennium and Takeda Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge, Massachusetts, helping to advance multiple programs for hematological and solid tumor oncology indications. Neil received his bachelors degree from the University of California, Davis, and his Ph.D. in biological sciences from Stanford University.

Connor Bates is currently the vice president and general manager at BD Medication Management Solutions, where he leads the development and execution of the companys global infusion strategy. Earlier in his career, Connor held multiple cross-functional roles including marketing, strategic planning, supply chain management, new product development, process engineering and manufacturing operations. Connor received his B.S. in mechanical engineering from Kettering University and his MBA from Harvard Business School.

Additionally, Joydeep Ganguly, senior vice president of corporate operations at Gilead Sciences, Julie Gilmore, Ph.D., associate vice president and global head of Lilly Gateway Labs, and Matthew Bresnahan, partner for patents and innovations at Wilson Sonsini have been appointed to Biocom Californias board of directors. All three formerly served on the board of governors.

The new appointees to our board of directors have demonstrated a consistent track record of excellence in our industry and have contributed greatly as members of our board of governors, said Panetta. I look forward to their participation on our board of directors and am certain they will continue to be vital counsel for Biocom California.

About Biocom California

Biocom California is the leader and advocate for Californias life science sector. We work on behalf of more than 1,700 members to drive public policy, build an enviable network of industry leaders, create access to capital, introduce cutting-edge STEM education programs and create robust value-driven purchasing programs.

Founded in 1995 in San Diego, Biocom California provides the strongest public voice to research institutions and companies that fuel the local and state-wide economy. Our goal is simple: to help our members produce novel solutions that improve the human condition. In addition to our San Diego headquarters, Biocom California operates core offices in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, with satellite offices in Sacramento, Washington, D.C. and Tokyo. Our broad membership benefits apply to biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical device, genomics and diagnostics companies of all sizes, as well as to research universities and institutes, clinical research organizations, investors and service providers.

For more information on Biocom California, please visit our website at www.biocom.org. Connect with us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter (@BIOCOMCA).

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Carolyn Hawley

Evoke Canale

(619) 849-5382

[email protected]

Source: Biocom California
DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- FINEOS Corporation (ASX:FCL) today announced the appointment of Ian Lynagh as Chief Financial Officer.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230213005023/en/

FINEOS CFO Ian Lynagh (Photo: Business Wire)

Lynagh had been working closely with the CFO in his role as the companys chief commercial officer. He has over twenty years of experience with FINEOS, and has previously held the positions EVP North America, based in Boston, and Sales Director Europe, while based in Dublin.

In his new role, Lynagh is responsible for overseeing all financial operations throughout the company, including investor relations, financial statutory and management reporting, audit, compliance, commercial management, and legal/contractual requirements.

Chairman of the Board Anne ODriscoll said, Ians appointment brings so much experience of FINEOS, its vision and commercial foundations to this critical role. It is a direct reflection of the FINEOS culture of developing our people and choosing them for leadership based on both potential and experience.

Lynagh said, I am keen to use my knowledge and understanding of FINEOS, our clients and our market in my new role as CFO to help drive our growth strategy. Its an honor to help frame our sophisticated internal operations while working closely with the Board and FINEOS leadership.

Prior to joining FINEOS, Lynagh worked in several senior roles at Northgate Information Solutions in the UK. A graduate of Dublin City University, he holds an honors BSc Degree in Computer Science.

About FINEOS Corporation

FINEOS is a leading provider of core systems for life, accident and health insurers globally with 7 of the 10 largest employee benefits insurers in the U.S. as well as a 70% market share of group insurance in Australia. With employees and offices throughout the world, FINEOS continues to work with innovative, progressive insurers in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific.

The FINEOS Platform is the only purpose-built, end-to-end SaaS insurance solution for the life, accident and health market. FINEOS AdminSuite delivers industry-leading capabilities across core administration, including absence management, billing, claims, payments, policy administration, provider management and new business and underwriting; all of which are configurable to operate independently or as one suite. The machine learning-enabled FINEOS Engage solution delivers people-first digital engagement pathways and the FINEOS Insight solution provides predictive analytics and reporting across the business.

For more information, visit www.FINEOS.com

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Audrey Honig Geragosian

FINEOS Media Relations Lead

860-538-6638

Source: FINEOS Corporation
Keysight Technologies (NYSE: KEYS):

What: With 5G-Advanced on the horizon, the next generation of cellular technology will make huge improvements in bandwidth utilization, data delivery, and application enablement. Enhancements to 5G are being deployed globally while Open RAN technology adoption is also growing. Networks to enable newer use cases around space/satellites are being designed and deployed. At Mobile World Congress 2023, Keysights technical experts will highlight the advanced solutions that are helping customers accelerate the wireless evolution. With an end-to-end portfolio of product development solutions that quickly solve design, emulation, and precision measurement test challenges, Keysight is empowering devices and chipsets, enhancing network intelligence, improving energy efficiency, and shaping future technologies. When: February 27-March 2, 2023 Where: Keysight Booth: Hall 5 Stand 5E12 Fira de Barcelona Gran Via Barcelona, Spain

Keysight will present the following demonstrations that are accelerating the wireless evolution:

Accelerate 5G

Boost IoT with 5G RedCap: RedCap (Reduced Capability) 5G is a new optimized design for mid-tier use cases. Keysights IoT security solution combined with our 5G network emulator optimized for RedCap testing will demonstrate advanced security testing on a realistic RedCap network.

RedCap (Reduced Capability) 5G is a new optimized design for mid-tier use cases. Keysights IoT security solution combined with our 5G network emulator optimized for RedCap testing will demonstrate advanced security testing on a realistic RedCap network. Emulate Non-Terrestrial 5G: As tens of thousands of low earth orbit (LEO) satellites, or mega constellations launch, companies require test solutions to characterize performance of their non-terrestrial networks (NTN). Keysights NTN testbed demonstration will apply timing and Doppler pre-compensation, use extended hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ), and measure device-under-test block error ratio (BLER) and throughput.

As tens of thousands of low earth orbit (LEO) satellites, or mega constellations launch, companies require test solutions to characterize performance of their non-terrestrial networks (NTN). Keysights NTN testbed demonstration will apply timing and Doppler pre-compensation, use extended hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ), and measure device-under-test block error ratio (BLER) and throughput. Test Metaverse Devices: Using Eggplant Intelligent Automation, Keysight will test a 5G-connected HoloLens augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR) device user interface (UI) and the user experience (UX). The device connects to a 5G Network Emulation Platform to validate application scenarios.

Using Eggplant Intelligent Automation, Keysight will test a 5G-connected HoloLens augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR) device user interface (UI) and the user experience (UX). The device connects to a 5G Network Emulation Platform to validate application scenarios. Evolve Vehicle to Everything (V2X) Communications: Keysight will demonstrate how to run radio frequency (RF) and protocol tests to on-board unit (OBU) and road-side unit (RSU) certification for dedicated short-range communications (DSRC). The 5G Network Emulation Platform and C-V2X toolchain will create a complex scenario with congestion testing.

Advance Open RAN

Develop 5G Green Networks: Energy efficiency is a top network operator priority as networks grow in capacity and reach. Optimizing energy consumption without impacting the end-user experience requires cross-domain energy and performance KPIs, coupled with energy-saving mechanisms and intelligent control from RAN to core. Keysight and Analog Devices partner to showcase automated radio unit (RU) energy efficiency benchmarks and highlight gains using advanced energy saving mechanisms. Keysight will also demonstrate its O-RAN energy saving solution, which can reduce power consumption in a multi-vendor, cloudified ORAN system using intelligent control, telemetry, and power management features.

Energy efficiency is a top network operator priority as networks grow in capacity and reach. Optimizing energy consumption without impacting the end-user experience requires cross-domain energy and performance KPIs, coupled with energy-saving mechanisms and intelligent control from RAN to core. Keysight and Analog Devices partner to showcase automated radio unit (RU) energy efficiency benchmarks and highlight gains using advanced energy saving mechanisms. Keysight will also demonstrate its O-RAN energy saving solution, which can reduce power consumption in a multi-vendor, cloudified ORAN system using intelligent control, telemetry, and power management features. Analyze O-RAN Massive MIMO: This demo showcases how to test downlink and uplink instantly, single-user and multi-user massive MIMO RF beam shape / weight measurements, or specific RF parametric measurements on multiple TR radios. Keysight will also demonstrate how to analyze the 5G New Radio (NR) air interface, including fronthaul signals and traffic in detail using WaveJudge.

Deploy Private Networks

Deploy & Optimize Private 5G: Keysight will demonstrate how to validate and diagnose 5G private networks, using a combination of Keysight solutions such as the new Nemo industry probe for active monitoring of Industry 4.0, FieldFox analyzer with its wide frequency and bandwidth coverage for field testing and site acceptance, and WaveJudge Wireless Analyzer for full-stack audit of the air interface.

Shape Future Technologies

Enabling early research in future technologies, including 6G:

Network modeling spotlights how real-world data and behavior models can be achieved using digital twins to evaluate power consumption and analyze energy efficiency. Keysight will demonstrate the full potential of our network modeling solutions.

Modeling future air interfaces demonstrates why the integration of machine learning (ML) technologies into the new air interface is essential for future wireless evolution. PathWave System Design Software simulates a model of a 5G physical layer and a 3GPP wireless channel, then estimates the channel. Using electronic design automation (EDA) software and real hardware connections, the demonstration will quantify the performance difference between traditional and new machine learning techniques.

spotlights how real-world data and behavior models can be achieved using digital twins to evaluate power consumption and analyze energy efficiency. Keysight will demonstrate the full potential of our network modeling solutions. demonstrates why the integration of machine learning (ML) technologies into the new air interface is essential for future wireless evolution. PathWave System Design Software simulates a model of a 5G physical layer and a 3GPP wireless channel, then estimates the channel. Using electronic design automation (EDA) software and real hardware connections, the demonstration will quantify the performance difference between traditional and new machine learning techniques. Sub-THz research: Frequency bands above 100GHz open new possibilities to deploy extreme data-rate communications and sensing. This demo showcases unprecedented bandwidth, data rate, and error vector magnitude (EVM) capability at 142GHz. Developed specifically for 6G, this proprietary technology and measurement science allows researchers to know exactly what is happening in their innovative designs.

Additional information about the event is available at: https://www.keysight.com/us/en/events/europe-middleeast-africa-india/tradeshows/mobile-world-congress.html

Media Activities

Contact Geri LaCombe to schedule media briefings and solution demonstrations.

About Keysight Technologies

Keysight delivers advanced design and validation solutions that help accelerate innovation to connect and secure the world. Keysights dedication to speed and precision extends to software-driven insights and analytics that bring tomorrows technology products to market faster across the development lifecycle, in design simulation, prototype validation, automated software testing, manufacturing analysis, and network performance optimization and visibility in enterprise, service provider and cloud environments. Our customers span the worldwide communications and industrial ecosystems, aerospace and defense, automotive, energy, semiconductor and general electronics markets. Keysight generated revenues of $5.4B in fiscal year 2022. For more information about Keysight Technologies (NYSE: KEYS), visit us at www.keysight.com.

Additional information about Keysight Technologies is available in the newsroom at https://www.keysight.com/go/news and on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube.

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Keysight Media Contacts

Geri Lynne LaCombe

Americas/Europe

+1 303 662 4748

[email protected]

Fusako Dohi

Asia

+81 42 660-2162

[email protected]

Source: Keysight Technologies
VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Lucidea, developer of the Argus Web CMS and leader in innovative museum collections management software, will participate in the SMA conference on February 20 through 22, 2023. Their powerful software is a perfect fit for attendees focused on caring for collections and cultivating cultural communities.

Visit Lucidea at their tabletop during the conference. When you do, they will demonstrate why they are a trusted technology partner in the museum community. Learn about capabilities that enable expanded curation to educate your visitors, as well as innovative options that go beyond traditional collections management as you share your collections online.

Lucideas Argus CMS offers comprehensive collections management capabilities, and takes museum professionals furtheroffering community curation/co-curation, a dynamic online presence, and full multimedia support for an engaging and immersive digital visitor experience. Argus is flexible, extensible, and always up-to-datesolving todays collections management challenges, and empowering museums of all sizes and budgets.

For further information about Argus, visit https://lucidea.com/argus , phone 604 278 6717, or email [email protected].

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230214005816/en/

Mark Maslowski

Marketing Manager

604-278-6717

[email protected]

Source: Lucidea
WESTMINSTER, Colo. & SANTA BARBARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Maxar Technologies (NYSE: MAXR) (TSX: MAXR), provider of comprehensive space solutions and secure, precise, geospatial intelligence, and Umbra, a technology company, today announced an agreement to provide Maxar with dedicated capacity from satellites in Umbras synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery constellation, making that data available in Maxars portfolio of Earth Intelligence products and services.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230214005274/en/

Singapore National Stadium is shown in an Umbra Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) image on the left and a Maxar WorldView-3 satellite image on the right. (Credit: Maxar Technologies and Umbra)

The combined offering, which is expected to be available starting in Q2 2023 and be fully integrated by 2024, will represent the most advanced multisource geospatial intelligence solution for a wide range of government and commercial missions. Maxar will provide customers with assured access to the highest resolution commercially available Earth observation data taken day and night and in all weather conditions. This capability will also augment the high-revisit capabilities of WorldView Legion, Maxars next generation satellite constellation, enabling customers to see change in near real-time.

Maxar and Umbra are breaking new ground for the geospatial intelligence industry with this multisource offeringthough optical and SAR imagery are highly complementary, collection management across these sources has historically been siloed, said Dan Jablonsky, Maxars President and Chief Executive Officer. By integrating dedicated capacity from Umbra satellites into our secure ground infrastructure, we can help our Access customers derive real-time insights from the highest resolution electro-optical and SAR data in the industry. Once combined with Maxars best-in-class geospatial analytics capabilities, this data will help customers more easily achieve mission success, particularly for defense missions.

Maxar and Umbra have complementary capabilities that enable the delivery of the most advanced commercially available SAR data. Umbras SAR satellites can see through clouds, smoke and total darkness with industry-leading resolution, licensed down to 13 cm. Maxar will leverage decades of SAR processing expertise, as well as its own high-resolution optical imagery and 3D datasets, to further enhance the original SAR data and deliver more actionable insights.

We are thrilled to partner with Maxar and integrate our industry-leading SAR data into their platform. Maxar is a world-renowned Earth Intelligence provider, so for Umbra to be chosen as their first ever SAR dedicated access partner is a huge vote of confidence both for Umbra and for the overall value that SAR data brings to customers, said David Langan, Umbras Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer.

This agreement will energize commercial SAR utilization world-wide and will support Umbras ambitions of building and growing a robust commercial business case, said Gabe Dominocielo, Umbras Co-Founder and President.

Umbras SAR data will first be integrated into Maxars Rapid Access Program (RAP) platform, which provides customers with a secure web interface to virtually task Maxars high-resolution satellites through on-demand access windows.

To learn more about the new combined SAR offering, visit https://www.maxar.com/products/radar-imagery.

About Maxar

Maxar Technologies (NYSE: MAXR) (TSX: MAXR) is a provider of comprehensive space solutions and secure, precise, geospatial intelligence. We deliver disruptive value to government and commercial customers to help them monitor, understand and navigate our changing planet; deliver global broadband communications; and explore and advance the use of space. Our unique approach combines decades of deep mission understanding and a proven commercial and defense foundation to deploy solutions and deliver insights with unrivaled speed, scale and cost-effectiveness. Maxars 4,400 team members in over 20 global locations are inspired to harness the potential of space to help our customers create a better world. Maxar trades on the New York Stock Exchange and Toronto Stock Exchange as MAXR. For more information, visit www.maxar.com.

About Umbra

Umbra is a technology company that offers Earth intelligence data as a service to both commercial and government customers. Our cutting-edge products help customers solve complex business and security challenges. Umbra is a U.S. owned and operated company headquartered in Santa Barbara, California, and has a presence in Austin, and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit https://umbra.space.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements that reflect management's current expectations, assumptions and estimates of future performance and economic conditions. Any such forward-looking statements are made in reliance upon the safe harbor provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results and future trends to differ materially from those matters expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements, including those included in the Companys filings with U.S. securities and Canadian regulatory authorities. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, other than as may be required under applicable securities law.

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Investor Relations Contact:

Jonny Bell

Maxar Investor Relations

1-303-684-5543

[email protected]

Media Contacts:

Tomi Maxted

Maxar Media Relations

1-303-684-4162

[email protected]

Jon Galpern

Umbra Media Relations

1-805-618-4407

[email protected]

Source: Maxar Technologies
PUTEAUX, France--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Regulatory News:

A further new important step in the financial restructuring of ORPEA S.A. (Paris: ORP) (the Company) has been achieved with the signing of an agreement that crystallizes the commitment of the parties to the agreement in principle announced on 1st February (the Agreement in Principle) to support and proceed with the actions required for the implementation of the financial restructuring of the Company.

Therefore, the Company announces that it has concluded such agreement, entitled lock-up agreement (the Lock-Up Agreement ) with, on one hand, a group of French long-term investors led by the Caisse des Depots et Consignations, accompanied by CNP Assurances, and also including MAIF, accompanied by MACSF (together the Groupement), and on the other hand, the five main institutions (the SteerCo) coordinating a larger group of unsecured financial creditors of ORPEA S.A.

On this occasion, the parties have reiterated their support to the management and the Refoundation Plan of the Group, as presented by the Company in its press release dated 15 November 2022.

The terms and conditions of the Lock-Up Agreement are common and include, in particular, the undertaking of the signatory creditors to support the financial restructuring of the Company in accordance with the principles agreed in the Agreement in Principle and accordingly, sign the required contractual documentation. These provisions authorize the signatories, until the completion date of the restructuring of the Company, to transfer the debt of the Company they hold provided that the assignee is bound in the same terms by the Lock-Up Agreement. Unsecured creditors who are not signatories to this agreement will be able to access it under the conditions set out in paragraph 2.

1. Details on the contemplated transactions  possibility of transferring unsecured debt unconverted to an ad hoc vehicle

Details on the contemplated transactions

In accordance with the provisions of the Lock-Up Agreement, the members of the Groupement and of the SteerCo have notably undertaken to subscribe, each as far as they are concerned, to three successive capital increases, as the case may be in the form of a backstop commitment, which will allow a significant reduction in the Groups net financial debt1.

By way of reminder, these transactions include (for more details, see the press release published on 1 February 2023):

The conversion in equity of the unsecured financial indebtedness of ORPEA S.A., corresponding to a decrease of the gross indebtedness of the Group of approximately 3.8 billion euros, through a first capital increase with maintenance of the preferential subscription rights of existing shareholders, of approximately EUR 3.8 billion, guaranteed by all the unsecured financial creditors of ORPEA S.A. who subscribe, as the case may be, by way of set-off with their existing claims; and The equity injection in cash (new money equity) of EUR 1.55 billion, via two capital increases that would be subscribed by the Groupement for around EUR 1,355 million in total, and a backstop for the balance up to 195 million euros, provided by the SteerCo.

As mentioned by the Company in its previous communications, the implementation of the contemplated capital increases, which should be completed in the course of the second semester of 2023, will result in a massive dilution for existing shareholders, which, on the basis of the financial parameters disclosed by the Company on 1st February 2023 and the valuation of the Companys equity retained by the parties for the purposes of these transactions, would reflect issue prices significantly lower than the current market price of ORPEAs shares and a theoretical value of the shares post-transactions below 0.20 per share.

In particular:

the first capital increase of the Company2, which would lead the existing shareholders to hold approximately 1% maximum3 of the Companys share capital (in the case where no existing shareholders would subscribe thereto), would result in the issuance of approximately 6.4 billion new shares for an issue amount of approximately 3.8 billion euros, reflecting a theoretical issue price for the new shares of approximately 0.59 euro per share, the second capital increase of the Company4, by allowing the Groupement to hold approximately 50.2% of the Companys share capital, would result in the issuance of approximately 6.5 billion new shares for an issue amount of approximately 1.16 billion euros, reflecting a theoretical issue price of approximately 0.18 euro per share, the third capital increase of the Company5, to which the members of the Groupement undertake to subscribe on an irreducible basis for 0.2 billion euros by exercising their preferential subscription rights, and backstopped for the balance by members of the SteerCo for the portion not subscribed by shareholders, as the case may be6, as a result of which the existing shareholders would hold approximately 0.4% maximum4 of the Companys share capital (in the case where no existing shareholders would subscribe to the capital increases), with the issuance of approximately 2.9 billion new shares for an issue amount of approximately 0.4 billion euros, reflecting a theoretical issue price of approximately 0.13 euro per share.

Thus, following the contemplated transactions, the existing shareholders, if they decide not to participate in the capital increases opened to them, would hold only about 0.4% maximum4 of the capital of Company, while the Groupement would hold about 50.2% of the capital of Company and the unsecured financial creditors would hold about 49.4% of the capital of the Company.

In addition, after completion of the transactions, and on the basis of the valuation of Companys equity retained by the parties for the purposes of these transactions, the unsecured financial creditors which are parties to, or would accede to, the Lock-Up Agreement, could recover about 30% of the nominal amount of their claims (including the Support Fee referred to in paragraph 2 below), converted into capital as part of the first capital increase described above.

Possibility of transferring unsecured debt unconverted to an ad hoc vehicle

To the extent that certain unsecured financial creditors approving the restructuring plan could not, or would decide not to hold new shares under this first capital increase, these unsecured financial creditors would be offered the possibility of transferring their unsecured debt at its nominal value to an ad hoc vehicle (special purpose vehicle - the "SPV"), in exchange for debt instruments issued by the SPV. The SPV would subscribe to the first capital increase, by way of conversion of the unsecured debt transferred to the SPV, and would then hold itself shares of the Company.

This possibility of transferring debt to the SPV will be limited to a maximum subscription corresponding to 25 % of all unsecured financial creditors (i.e. a principal amount of unsecured debt of approximately EUR 942 million), it being specified that this percentage could be increased if the members of the Groupement, the members of the SteerCo and the Company agree on a different percentage.

The main terms of the mandate of the SPV, which would be specifically responsible for selling its equity stake in the Company, would notably include provisions relating to the orderly sale of the securities on the market or the non-transferability of the shares for a certain period of time.

2. Accession to the Lock-Up Agreement

Creditors holding the unsecured debt of ORPEA S.A., described in Annex 1 to this press release, will have the opportunity to accede to the Lock-Up Agreement as of 14 February 2023 by contacting Kroll, acting as agent for the Lock-Up (the Agent) (Attn: Victor Parzyjagla and/or Thomas Choquet, [email protected]), subject to compliance with the terms and conditions of the Lock-Up Agreement.

In consideration for the undertakings made under the Lock Up Agreement, SteerCo members and unsecured financial creditors who have acceded to the Lock Up Agreement and accepted the terms and conditions thereof (the Participating Unsecured Creditors) will receive, under the conditions set out in the Lock-Up Agreement, a support fee of 75 basis points calculated on the nominal value of the relevant amounts of the unsecured debt they hold (the Support Fee). This fee will be paid in cash by the Company on or around the completion date of the financial restructuring of ORPEA S.A.

The last accession date to accede to the Lock-up Agreement is set at the earliest of: (i) the end of the second Business Day (closing of the Paris Stock Exchange) before the hearing to initiate the accelerated safeguard procedure before the Nanterre Commercial Court and (ii) 31 March 2023 (with a possible extension of this period subject to the prior approval of the SteerCo Members and the Company) (the "Last Accession Date").

It is however reminded that it is envisaged that the opening of the accelerated safeguard procedure could happen in the coming weeks, in which case the Last Accession Date would occur before 31 March 2023.

The procedures for accessing information relating to the transaction for unsecured financial creditors wishing to accede to the Lock-Up Agreement are described in Annex 2 to this press release.

3. Next steps

The Company intends to continue its discussions with the unsecured financial creditors who are not yet parties to the Lock-Up Agreement in order to obtain their adherence to it, and to present, within the deadline of the current conciliation procedure, a request for the initiation of an accelerated safeguard procedure in the course of March to enable the implementation of the Agreement in Principle. The Company will keep the market informed of the next steps of its financial restructuring7.

In parallel, the Company is continuing its discussions with its secured bank creditors under tranches A, B and C of the June 2022 Financing Agreement in order to, in particular, finance its Refoundation Plan and make the existing contractual documentation compatible with its financial structure.

In addition, the Group intends to initiate discussions with the other lenders of the Group which are parties to financing agreements not affected by the conversion of unsecured debt into equity, in particular in order to obtain the necessary approvals regarding the potential change of control and to make, when necessary, the provisions of the documentation of these existing financings (R1 and R2 financial ratios in particular), compatible with the new financial and shareholding structure of the Group as it will be established after the implementation of the financial restructuring plan.

* *

*

The Company confirms that information that could be qualified as inside information within the meaning of Regulation No. 596/2014 of 16 April 2014 on market abuse and that may have been given on a confidential basis to the various stakeholders in the context of the negotiations has indeed been published to the market, either in the past or in the context of this press release, with the aim of re-establishing equal access to information relating to the Group between the investors.

* *

*

About ORPEA

ORPEA is a leading global player, expert in the care of all types of frailty. The Group operates in 22 countries and covers three core businesses: care for the elderly (nursing homes, assisted living, home care), post-acute and rehabilitation care and mental health care (specialized clinics). It has more than 72,000 employees and welcomes more than 255,000 patients and residents each year.

https://www.orpea-group.com/

ORPEA is listed on Euronext Paris (ISIN: FR0000184798) and is a member of the SBF 120, STOXX 600 Europe, MSCI Small Cap Europe and CAC Mid 60 indices.

ANNEX 1

Unsecured debt of ORPEA S.A.

The unsecured debt of ORPEA S.A. whose holders are concerned by the procedures for acceding to the Lock-Up Agreement described in paragraph 2 of this press release includes the following debt:

Bonds

EUR 20 million 2.568% Bonds due 22 December 2022 (ISIN FR0013080173)

EUR 150 million 2.1300% Bonds due 3 July 2024 (ISIN FR0013262987)

EUR 63 million 2.200% Bonds due 15 December 2024 (ISIN FR0013301942)

EUR 50 million 2.300% Bonds due 6 March 2025 (ISIN FR0013240827)

EUR 400 million 2.6250% Bonds due 10 March 2025 (ISIN FR0013322187)

EUR 32 million 3.1440% Bonds due 22 December 2025 (ISIN FR0013080207)

EUR 77 million 2.5640% Bonds due 30 November 2027 (ISIN FR0014000T41)

EUR 500 million 2.0000% Bonds due 1 April 2028 (ISIN FR0014002O10)

EUR 60 million 2.71000% Bonds due 18 December 2028 (ISIN FR00140011S0)

EUR 48 million 2.0000% Bonds due 9 August 2029 (ISIN FR0014004Y16)

EUR 15 million 3.0100% Bonds due 18 December 2030 (ISIN FR00140011R2)

EUR 40 million 3.0000% Bonds due 11 August 2032 (ISIN FR0013481660)

EUR 60 million 2.7500% Bonds due 3 June 2033 (ISIN FR0014003P42)

EUR 32.5 million at 3.0000% Bonds due 25 November 2041 (ISIN FR0014006MC2)

Convertible bonds

EUR 500 million Bonds convertible into new shares and/or exchangeable for existing shares of the Company due 17 May 2027 (ISIN FR0013418795) (OCEANEs)

Unsecured bank loans

Bilateral unsecured bank loans, unionized unsecured bank loans and unsecured credit lines underwritten by ORPEA S.A.

Partial Secured Euro PP Bonds

EUR 90 million 5.250% Bonds due 4 December 2026 (ISIN FR0011365634), secured debt at 35% of its principal amount and unsecured debt for the balance

Schuldschein

Schuldschein loans under German law

NSV

Namensschuldverschreibung loans under German law

ANNEX 2

Procedures for unsecured financial creditors wishing to join the Lock-Up Agreement

Transaction website access

In order to access the documents made available on the transaction website: https://deals.is.kroll.com/orpea, creditors holding Bonds, Convertible Bonds and Partial Secured Euro PP Bonds (as these terms are defined in annex 1 of this press release) (together, the Debt Instruments, identified as such in annex 1 of this press release) will need to provide a satisfactory evidence of their holding of the Debt Instruments on the basis of a certificate or other statement delivered by their custodian or a prime broker acting as Direct Participant (as defined below), which is not older than 2 days at the time they request access to the transaction website to the Agent by email to [email protected]. The Agent shall have absolute discretion as to whether creditors holding Debt Instruments are permitted access to the transaction website.

For creditors who are lenders, and not creditors holding Debt Instruments, only lender of records, who appear as lender on the register maintained by the Company or the relevant agents on its behalf, will be given access to the transaction website.

Creditors holding Debt Instruments through Euroclear or Clearstream

For Debt Instruments held through Euroclear or Clearstream, in accordance with their usual procedures, Euroclear and Clearstream will initially distribute the information related to the Lock-Up Agreement to the direct participants of Euroclear or Clearstream (EC/CS Direct Participants and, together with indirect participants of Euroclear or Clearstream EC/CS Participants). Each relevant EC/CS Direct Participant, after receiving the information related to the Lock-Up Agreement, will contact each creditor holding Debt Instruments, directly or through other EC/CS Participants, with regards to such information. All creditors holding Debt Instruments should comply with the requirements of Euroclear or Clearstream, as applicable, and deliver electronic instructions by the Last Accession Date to receive the Support Fee due to them.

By submitting, or arranging for the submission of electronic instructions in respect of the Debt Instruments, the holder of these Debt Instruments hereby authorizes Euroclear or Clearstream to block such Debt Instruments and maintain such Debt Instruments blocked from the date of the relevant electronic instruction (inclusive) until the Last Accession Date (as defined in paragraph 2 of the press release) (inclusive).

Creditors holding Debt Instruments through Euroclear France outside Euroclear or Clearstream

For Debt Instruments held through Euroclear France, Euroclear France will distribute the information related to the Lock-Up Agreement to direct participants of Euroclear France (the Euroclear France Direct Participants and, together with indirect participants of Euroclear France, the Euroclear France Participants), who will then send, directly or through other Euroclear France Participants, such information to the relevant holders of Debt Instruments. Each holder of Debt Instruments held through Euroclear France outside Euroclear or Clearstream must provide (if the holder is a Euroclear France Direct Participant) or request a Euroclear France Direct Participant to provide, the Euroclear France Direct Participants evidence of the aggregate amount, in principal or units (as applicable), of the applicable Debt Instruments blocked by a Euroclear France Direct Participant on or before the Last Accession Date, in the form of a book entry certificate (book entry certificate available from the Agent) from the Euroclear France Direct Participant. Each Euroclear France Direct Participant acting on behalf of several holders of Debt Instruments must also provide, in the form of a spreadsheet attached to the submitted form (spreadsheet available from the Agent), a list of the amounts in principal amount or units of Debt Instruments, the names, addresses, email addresses and telephone numbers of the holders of Debt Instruments.

Lender creditors

Accessions of lenders creditors (including in particular bank lenders or Schuldschein lenders, or more generally creditors which are not holders of Debt Instruments) to the Lock-Up Agreement will be validated based on the registers of lenders of record produced by the Company or the relevant agents on its behalf as at the Last Accession Date. Only lenders of record will be authorised to accede to the Lock-Up Agreement.

1It is specified, with regard to unsecured financial creditors, that only the members of the SteerCo, which are the initial signatories of the Lock-Up Agreement, undertake to backstop the capital increases concerned. Unsecured financial creditors who adhere to the Lock-Up Agreement after its signature will not be concerned by this backstop commitment.

2Capital increase with preferential subscriptions rights of existing shareholders, for an amount of approximately 3.8 billion euros, backstopped by all unsecured financial creditors of ORPEA S.A., who subscribe, as the case may be, by way of set-off with their existing claims.

3 Assuming that the shareholders, meeting as a class of affected parties, vote in favor of the financial restructuring plan at a two-third majority.

4Capital increase in cash without preferential subscription rights to allow the Groupement to subscribe to it for approximately 1.16 billion. Depending on the definitive terms of the Plan, a priority right for initial shareholders and/or the new shareholders could be envisaged; the parameters described could be adjusted, as the case may be.

5 Capital increase in cash with preferential subscription rights of existing shareholders for an amount of approximately 0.4 billion.

6 In return for their commitment to backstop or subscribe to the third capital increase, a remuneration would be perceived by the SteerCo members and the Groupement members, via the issuance of share warrants to the sole benefit of the the SteerCo and the Groupement members (the Warrants). The Warrants will give the right, to the Groupement and the SteerCo members only, to subscribe in the aggregate to 1.45% of the capital of the Company (on a fully diluted basis) at the exercise price of 0.01 euro per share of the Company. In the absence of the attribution of Warrants pursuant to the conditions set out in the Agreement in Principle, such remuneration would be paid through an equivalent amount in cash of approximately 39 million.

7 In particular regarding the conditions (in terms of dilution of shareholders in particular) of a potential cross-class cram down against the shareholders, in the case where they would not approve the plan at a 2/3 majority.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230214005432/en/

Investor Relations

ORPEA

Jean-Baptiste Roussille

Head of Investor Relations

[email protected]

Benoit Lesieur

Investor Relations Director

[email protected]



Toll free nb. shareholders: +33 (0) 805 480 480

Investor Relations

NewCap

Dusan Oresansky

Tel.: +33 (0)1 44 71 94 94

[email protected]

Media Relations

ORPEA

Isabelle Herrier-Naufle

Media Relations Director

Tel.: +33 (0)7 70 29 53 74

[email protected]

Image 7

Charlotte Le Barbier

Tel.: +33 (0)6 78 37 27 60

[email protected]

Laurence Heilbronn

Tel.: +33 (0)6 89 87 61 37

[email protected]

Source: ORPEA
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The M&A Advisor announced the winners of the 17th Annual Turnaround Awards. SierraConstellation Partners (SCP) was named a winner for the Sale of the Year (over $100MM) for their work on the sale of The One in Bel Air. The awards will be presented at a black-tie awards gala on Wednesday, March 22, 2023 at The Colony Hotel in Palm Beach, Fla.

Since 2002, we have been honoring the leading turnaround transactions, companies and dealmakers. SCP was chosen from hundreds of participating companies to receive the award. It gives us a great pleasure to recognize SCP and bestow upon them our highest honor for distressed investing and restructuring firms and professionals, said Roger Aguinaldo, Founder and CEO of The M&A Advisor. SCP represents the best of the distressed investing and reorganization industry in 2022 and earned these honors by standing out in a group of very impressive candidates.

The property, which was once expected to become Americas most expensive home, went into bankruptcy in October 2021. After the property was placed into bankruptcy, Larry Perkins and SCP were brought in to manage the sale of the property for the owners. The One was sold for $141 million at auction.

Working on a project the size of The One is no easy task and the success of the sale speaks to the incredible work of SCP, as well as our partners in the sale process, said Larry Perkins, founder and CEO of SCP, who worked on The One. We are honored to be recognized by The M&A Advisor for our work on this very unique case and I am appreciative to the whole team for their steadfast commitment to this turnaround project.

The Awards Gala is a feature of the 2023 Distressed Investing Summit. The Summit will take place on March 21-22, 2023 and will host over 150 of the industrys leading professionals participating in exclusive interactive forums, sessions, roundtable discussions, and one-on-one meetings led by a faculty of restructuring industry stalwarts. For an event profile CLICK HERE.

For a complete list of winners CLICK HERE.

About SierraConstellation Partners LLC

SierraConstellation Partners LLC (SCP) is a national interim management and advisory firm headquartered in Los Angeles and has professionals in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Florida, Houston, New York, and Seattle. SCP serves middle-market companies and their partners and investors navigating their way through difficult business challenges. Our teams real-world experience, operational mindset, and hands-on approach enable us to deliver effective operational improvements and financial solutions to help companies restore value, regain creditor confidence, and capitalize on opportunities.

As former CEOs, COOs, CFOs, private equity investors, and investment bankers, our team of senior professionals has decades of experience operating and advising companies. For more information, please visit www.sierraconstellation.com.

THE M&A ADVISOR

Now in its 24th year, The M&A Advisor was founded to offer insights and intelligence on mergers and acquisitions, establishing the industrys leading media outlet in 1998. Today, the firm is recognized as the worlds premier leadership organization for mergers & acquisition, restructuring and corporate finance professionals, delivering a range of integrated services from offices in New York and London. www.maadvisor.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230214005644/en/

Media:

Steven Finney

The M&A Advisor

[email protected]

John Perilli / Tara Flanagan

Prosek Partners for SCP

(212) 279-3115

[email protected] / [email protected]

Source: SierraConstellation Partners LLC
Softchoice awards eight winners, with Partner of the Year, the Companys highest honor, awarded to Microsoft

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Softchoice Corporation (Softchoice or the Company) (TSX: SFTC) has announced the winners of its annual Partner of the Year awards, which celebrate the contributions of the Companys technology partners to the success of Softchoice and its customers.

This years winners were revealed at Softchoices Toronto office on February 14 at Partner Impact, the Companys annual partner event.

Our technology partners play an integral role in helping our shared customers compete and win in their markets, said Chris Woodin, Vice President, Solutions & Alliances, Softchoice. We are proud to have an exceptional partner community, strongly aligned with our go-to-market strategy and execution. These awards are a great opportunity to celebrate them and their incredible work.

Softchoice is widely respected within the technology partner ecosystem for our capabilities across our Cloud, Workplace, Software Asset Management and Security portfolios, said Cheryl Stookes, Vice President, Revenue Growth & Marketing, Softchoice. Our winners consistently deliver value across their respective portfolios, enabling our customers organizations and their IT professionals to succeed.

Award winners:

Partner of the Year: Microsoft

Microsoft Social Impact Partner of the Year: Cisco

Cisco Amplify Partner of the Year: Logitech

Logitech Security Partner of the Year: Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks Marketing Partner of the Year: Trend Micro

Trend Micro Workplace Partner of the Year: Lenovo

Lenovo Cloud Partner of the Year: AWS

AWS Services Partner of the Year: KMicro

To learn more about Softchoices technology partners, visit https://www.softchoice.com/technology-partners

About Softchoice

Softchoice (TSX: SFTC) is a software-focused IT solutions provider that equips organizations to be agile and innovative, and for their people to be engaged, connected and creative at work. That means moving them to the cloud, helping them build the workplace of tomorrow, and enabling them to make smarter decisions about their technology portfolio. For more information, please visit www.softchoice.com.

Forward-looking statements

This news release may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws, which reflects Softchoices current expectations regarding future events, including the Companys strategies and technology portfolios. Forward-looking information is based on a number of assumptions and is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Companys control. Actual results could differ materially from those projected herein. Unless otherwise noted or the context otherwise indicates, the forward-looking information contained in this news release is provided as of the date of this news release and Softchoice does not undertake any obligation to update such forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required under applicable securities laws.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230214005791/en/

Press

Adarsh Nalam

Senior Manager, Portfolio Marketing and External Communications

[email protected]



For all press inquiries

[email protected]

Source: Softchoice Corporation
Promotion of Kristin King as chief customer officer follows two years of customer-led growth and expansion of customer success and support teams

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- UJET, Inc., the worlds most advanced contact center platform, today announced Kristin King as the companys first chief customer officer (CCO). The addition of the CCO role to its c-suite emphasizes UJETs commitment to the success of its customers and validates customer relationships as a core growth driver for UJET.

I am extremely proud to announce Kristin King as UJETs first chief customer officer, said Anand Janefalkar, chief executive officer, UJET. Our customers are the fastest growing, most digitally disruptive brands in their respective industries, and they come to UJET not just for technology, but as a strategic partner who can help them create a competitive advantage through CX innovation, artificial intelligence, and more efficient operations. Over the last two years, Kristin has forged remarkably strong relationships and driven exceptional CX and business results with and for our customers. As CCO, she will continue to scale and expand UJETs professional services, customer success, and support organizations to maintain and strengthen these relationships and results as we grow.

King joined UJET in 2021 as Vice President of Customer Success and was promoted to Senior Vice President of Customer Success in September 2022. Kings passion for customer advocacy contributes to a common vision of company growth and progress through customer success. As CCO, King will focus on further aligning customer success with other departments across the company, including sales, marketing, and product development, to ensure this customer-centric culture is strengthened and maintained as UJET experiences continued rapid growth. Prior to UJET, King served in a variety of roles including sales, account management, and customer success leadership over a 21-year career at Windstream, a leading provider of telecommunications and software solutions.

I am honored to be UJETs first chief customer officer and by the companys commitment to the value of customer relationships and world class support, said Kristin King, chief customer officer, UJET. At a time when layoffs in the space are disproportionately impacting customer success teams and the brands they support, were more grateful than ever for the trust and advocacy our customers have demonstrated, and were equally dedicated to their success.

"Over the two years Outdoorsy has been with UJET, the responsiveness from their team has been outstanding. They are always available when we need them, quick to respond and happy to help. Our positive experience with UJET support was one of the primary reasons Outdoorsy chose to renew its contract with UJET," said Dana Golding, director of customer support and operations, Outdoorsy. "On behalf of the customer service team at Outdoorsy, I wish to congratulate Kristin King on her promotion to chief customer officer. We look forward to continuing our work with her and the UJET support organization."

The appointment of Kristin King to CCO comes during a period of significant momentum for UJET. The company led the vendor satisfaction ratings in a 2022-2023 contact center industry report from DMG Consulting with six perfect scores. UJET is a leader for the 11th consecutive quarter in the G2 Winter 2023 Report and earned the enterprise product Best Estimated Return on Investment award. And recently, CNBC named UJET to its first-ever Top Startups for the Enterprise list featuring 25 innovative private companies developing the latest technology and big ideas in business intelligence, IT, big data, cybersecurity, customer relationship management, artificial intelligence and cloud software solutions.

ABOUT UJET:

UJET is the cloud contact center platform for businesses that put trust at the heart of their customer experience. Our one-of-a-kind architecture and award-winning CX Intercloud deliver the most dependable foundation for security, reliability, and scale across cloud contact center operations. With UJET, organizations gain a full voice and digital engagement suite equipped with smart device capabilities, powerful AI, and advanced analytics  all intuitively designed to make life easier for everyone involved. From customers and agents to supervisors and executives, UJET delivers meaningful operational efficiency, higher interaction quality, and mission-critical stability. Innovative brands like Instacart, Turo, Wag!, and Atom Tickets all trust UJET to enable exceptional customer experiences. So can you.

Learn more at www.ujet.cx and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe to our blog!

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230214005629/en/

Media:

Victoria Stevenson

Corporate Ink for UJET Inc.

617-969-9192

[email protected]

Source: UJET, Inc.
Three-year commitment supports mental health and well-being of underserved youth in rural eastern North Carolina

GREENVILLE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The United Health Foundation, the philanthropic foundation of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), today announced a three-year, $3.2 million grant partnership with East Carolina University (ECU). The grant will expand the North Carolina Statewide Telepsychiatry Program (NC-STeP), in the ECU Center for Telepsychiatry, in six community-based pediatric and primary care clinics in rural and underserved parts of the state to support the mental health and well-being of young people in North Carolina.

Just like we take care of our physical health, its important that we take care of our mental health as well, said North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper. This partnership will help reach even more young people in our rural and historically underserved communities.

We are extremely grateful for the United Health Foundations continued support of East Carolina Universitys NC-STeP program, said ECU Chancellor Dr. Philip Rogers. The investment will increase the universitys outreach to the region and provide mental health services to underserved populations in North Carolina. ECU students across multiple disciplines will engage with this project, leading to increased learning opportunities preparing them to address the critical shortage of mental health professionals.

Youth mental health challenges are on the rise across the country, according to the Americas Health Rankings 2022 Health of Women and Children Report. The report revealed anxiety among children and adolescents increased 23% and depression increased 27% between 2017-2018 and 2020-2021. In North Carolina, children experience significant challenges accessing the care needed to address their mental health. More than 70% of children with a mental health disorder do not receive treatment and 92% of North Carolina counties are designated as mental health professional shortage areas. This partnership will help connect youth with mental health care services  particularly in areas with provider shortages.

Over three years, it aims to:

Embed behavioral health providers at six community-based pediatric care clinics and connect them  as well as the primary care providers  to a psychiatrist for case consultation and care planning via telepsychiatry.

Develop an artificial intelligence-driven portal to enhance collaboration between health care providers and encourage family members engagement in their childs mental health care.

Educate children and families about mental health and well-being through the development of a new virtual reality video game that provides anonymous peer-to-peer support.

Offer training opportunities for ECU psychiatry residents, child psychiatry fellows, social work students, medical students and psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners at the six community clinics.

Hold an Interdisciplinary Telehealth Summit to share lessons learned from the project.

Were honored and excited to partner with East Carolina University to address key health challenges our young people are facing, said Anita Bachmann, chief executive officer, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of North Carolina, part of UnitedHealth Group. By working together and creating an interconnected system of clinical and social services, we can continue to produce better health outcomes for North Carolinians.

The United Health Foundation and ECU also partnered in 2020 through a $1.25 million grant to expand telepsychiatry services to address the mental health needs of expectant and new mothers. Through the MOTHeRs (Maternal Outreach Using Telehealth for Rural Sites) project, ECU developed and deployed a new obstetric care model for high-risk patients and addressed food insecurity among pregnant women.

About East Carolina University

East Carolina University is a public institution located in Greenville, North Carolina that serves 29,000 students. The universitys school of medicine is recognized nationally for producing primary care physicians, cardiovascular research, advanced robotic surgery, as well as obesity and diabetes breakthroughs. To learn more, visit www.ecu.edu.

About the United Health Foundation

Through collaboration with community partners, grants and outreach efforts, the United Health Foundation works to improve the health system, build a diverse and dynamic health workforce and enhance the well-being of local communities. The United Health Foundation was established by UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) in 1999 as a not-for-profit, private foundation dedicated to improving health and health care. To date, the United Health Foundation has committed more than $700 million to programs and communities around the world. To learn more, visit www.UnitedHealthFoundation.org.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230214005152/en/

Media Contacts:

Angela Richmond

UnitedHealthcare

(952) 202-2777

[email protected]



Patricia Earnhardt Tyndall

East Carolina University

(252) 737-1505

[email protected]

Source: United Health Foundation
Center for Workplace Diversity and Inclusion Research Chair Dr. Kimberly Underwood serves as panelist in webinar discussion highlighting findings and practical strategies of collaborative market scan

PHOENIX--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- University of Phoenix co-hosted with Jobs for the Future (JFF)s Center for Racial Economic Equity a February 7 webinar, Building Professional Social Capital for Black Learners and Workers, with a discussion addressing professional social capital disparities and solutions for driving equitable economic advancement for all. Kimberly Underwood, Ph.D., MBA, chair, Center for Workplace Diversity and Inclusion Research (CWDIR) in the College of Doctoral Studies was featured as a panelist.

Professional social capital, which refers to the resources that arise from a persons network of relationships that can help mobilize and advance education and career goals, is a crucial element in establishing racial economic equity in the workforce.

Professional social capital sets individuals up with success in the workforce, states Underwood. Black learners and workers too often encounter discriminatory systems and practices in education and the workplace, but professional social capital can be a powerful tool to address these systemic barriers.

University of Phoenix and JFF Center for Racial Economic Equity are partnering on efforts to support Black learners and workers in building professional social capital to advance their careers. The findings of the University of Phoenix Career Institute 2022 Career Optimism Index study informed the collaboration and resulting in-depth market scan.

The webinar highlighted the market scans results, which analyzed existing strategies for the development of professional social capital that are being implemented by community-based organizations, postsecondary institutions, non-profits, and employers, and implications.

Intended for employers and postsecondary institutions that are interested in advancing economic advancement for Black learners and workers, the virtual event offered attendees the opportunity to learn about practical strategies for supporting Black learners and workers to build and utilize social capital and explored JFFs upcoming Social Capital Framework for postsecondary institutions and employers. The Framework, created with support from the University of Phoenix, will offer a model which organizations could adopt and apply as a sustainable method of social capital building for their workforce and students.

View the February 7, 2023, webinar recording here.

About University of Phoenix

University of Phoenix is continually innovating to help working adults enhance their careers in a rapidly changing world. Flexible schedules, relevant courses, interactive learning, and Career Services for Life help students more effectively pursue career and personal aspirations while balancing their busy lives. For more information, visit phoenix.edu.

About the JFF Center for Racial Economic Equity

The JFF Center for Racial Economic Equity accelerates Black economic advancement by identifying solutions and best practices to disrupt occupational segregation and eradicate the Black-white wealth gap. For more information, visit https://info.jff.org/racialequity.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230214005775/en/

Sharla Hooper

University of Phoenix

[email protected]

Source: University of Phoenix
AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- USA Compression Partners, LP (NYSE: USAC) (USA Compression) today announced that it filed its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022, with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). USA Compressions Annual Report on Form 10-K is available through its website at www.usacompression.com in the Investor Relations section under SEC Filings, as well as on the SECs website at sec.gov. Interested investors may obtain a hard copy of the Annual Report on Form 10-K, including USA Compression's financial statements, free of charge by writing Investor Relations, USA Compression Partners, LP, 111 Congress Avenue, Suite 2400, Austin, TX 78701.

About USA Compression Partners, LP

USA Compression Partners, LP is a growth-oriented Delaware limited partnership that is one of the nations largest independent providers of natural gas compression services in terms of total compression fleet horsepower. USA Compression partners with a broad customer base composed of producers, processors, gatherers, and transporters of natural gas and crude oil. USA Compression focuses on providing natural gas compression services to infrastructure applications primarily in high-volume gathering systems, processing facilities, and transportation applications. More information is available at usacompression.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230214005833/en/

USA Compression Partners, LP

Mike Pearl, Chief Financial Officer

(832) 823-7306

Julie McEwen, Controller

(512) 369-1389

[email protected]

Source: USA Compression Partners, LP
500+ new features and enhancements for Veeam Backup & Replication v12, the foundation of the Veeam Data Platform, including direct-to-object storage backup, trusted immutability, advanced cyber resiliency and unmatched hybrid cloud protection

NEW Veeam Ransomware Warranty now available with Premium Edition of the Veeam Data Platform

COLUMBUS, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Veeam Software, the leader in Modern Data Protection, today announced the NEW Veeam Data Platform, a single platform delivering more advanced data security, recovery and hybrid cloud capabilities than ever before. The Veeam Data Platform, which includes Veeam Backup & Replication (VBR) v12, provides best-in-class secure backup and fast reliable recovery that keeps business running. It brings together the latest features offered from Veeam into a single robust solution that is offered in three enterprise-grade editions for protecting Cloud, Virtual, Physical, SaaS and Kubernetes applications across complex and expanding IT environments and the increasing set of challenges facing every organization from outages to errors and ransomware.

Veeam Data Platform delivers the three key requirements to keep a business running: data security, data recovery and data freedom to backup and use data from anywhere without platform or cloud lock-in. There are three enterprise-grade editions: Foundation, Advanced and Premium. All editions contain Veeams award winning VBR and Instant Recovery; Advanced and Premium editions also deliver advanced resiliency features including monitoring, analytics and recovery.

Foundation Edition offers the industrys most complete data protection with VBR v12 which adds more than 500 new features and enhancements.

offers the industrys most complete data protection with VBR v12 which adds more than 500 new features and enhancements. Advanced Edition combines VBR with Veeam ONE (ONE) to give customers deep, intelligent monitoring and observability to identify and resolve any backup or recovery problems before they begin.

combines VBR with Veeam ONE (ONE) to give customers deep, intelligent monitoring and observability to identify and resolve any backup or recovery problems before they begin. Premium Edition offers ultimate enterprise Modern Data Protection and recovery capabilities as the premier offering with VBR, ONE and Veeam Recovery Orchestrator (VRO). Building on the other editions, Premium adds the full automation of complex data recovery process with near-zero Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs) while automating testing and providing complete data resiliency with the confidence of one click recovery. Premium edition customers are also eligible for the new Veeam Ransomware Warranty which covers the cost of data recovery, up to $5 million dollars, in the event of a ransomware or cyber-attack.

Organizations are more vulnerable than ever. Over the past twelve months, 85% of organizations were attacked at least once; up from 76% in last yeari, said Danny Allan, CTO and Senior Vice President of Product Strategy at Veeam. We understand IT leaders feel they arent sufficiently protected and as IT environments continue to grow more complex and demanding, its now obvious that Modern Data Protection must be integrated into the overall cyber preparedness plan. The Veeam Data Platform brings the best of Veeam solutions together to deliver a single platform with relentless security, reliable data recovery and trusted data freedom, and is designed to give our customers the choice to leverage the right solution that fits their needs and keeps their business running.

All editions of Veeam Data Platform leverage the very latest industry-leading backup and recovery technology of VBR v12 as its foundation. New functionality that advances enterprise-grade recovery capabilities ensures confidence in the face of disaster or cyber-attacks across the hybrid cloud, including:

NEW Direct-to-object storage backups: Take full advantage of the unlimited scalability of on-premises and cloud object storage without sacrificing performance. Send backups directly to Veeams broad ecosystem of object storage partners on-premises with the performance needed to meet goals or backup your edge locations directly to cloud object storage.

Trusted immutability for every workload: Ensure backups can always be restored after a cyberattack with comprehensive, enterprise-grade immutability options from trusted vendors, including on-premises object, block and file storage, hardened repositories and deduplicating storage appliances, cloud object storage and tape.

Ensure backups can always be restored after a cyberattack with comprehensive, enterprise-grade immutability options from trusted vendors, including on-premises object, block and file storage, hardened repositories and deduplicating storage appliances, cloud object storage and tape. Cyber resilient: Enable the fastest response to ransomware attacks by identifying, alerting and restoring only clean data, including automation and proven recovery orchestration for all workloads. Empower a zero-trust journey with multi-factor authentication (MFA), password-less service accounts (gMSA) for Windows and single-use credentials for Linux, and fortify defense against cyberattacks with Kerberos-only and IPv6-only environment support.

Enable the fastest response to ransomware attacks by identifying, alerting and restoring only clean data, including automation and proven recovery orchestration for all workloads. Empower a zero-trust journey with multi-factor authentication (MFA), password-less service accounts (gMSA) for Windows and single-use credentials for Linux, and fortify defense against cyberattacks with Kerberos-only and IPv6-only environment support. Hybrid-cloud optimized: Achieve even greater efficiency and security across the hybrid cloud with immutable backups for cloud-native AWS and Microsoft Azure workloads, new cloud-integrated agents for lift-and-shift workloads, and unified cloud monitoring and reporting.

Achieve even greater efficiency and security across the hybrid cloud with immutable backups for cloud-native AWS and Microsoft Azure workloads, new cloud-integrated agents for lift-and-shift workloads, and unified cloud monitoring and reporting. Ecosystem Excellence: Veeam Universal Storage API 2.0 and NEW Smart Object Storage API provide even more future-proofing for enterprise scalability and offsite resiliency. Ecosystem vendors include Pure Storage, Scality and Object First as the inaugural launch partners that integrate with these new APIs.

Veeams comprehensive monitoring and analytics solution delivers intelligent insights and visibility within the NEW Veeam Data Platform Advanced and Premium Editions to help identify and resolve issues before problems arise, ensuring the highest protection of critical data. The latest version expands on new capabilities and includes support for more Veeam backup solutions (including Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365). Additionally, new monitoring and visibility capabilities include immutability reporting and data protection statuses for multi-cloud. These new advances deliver more value and insight into businesses data protection strategy than ever before.

The NEW Veeam Data Platform Premium Edition also includes recovery orchestration, one of the most powerful tools to cut down time to recovery delivering confidence in business resiliency. By automating planning, testing and orchestrating the steps needed to recover from a disaster, businesses can simplify operations and prove backup compliance. The Veeam Data Platform now delivers automated, orchestrated recovery to Microsoft Azure, instant restore of Veeam Agents backups as virtual machines (VMs), and an automated recovery rollback for clean, ransomware-free data recoveries.

Platform extensions may be added to any of the Veeam Data Platform editions, or operated standalone, including backup for Kubernetes with Kasten K10 by Veeam, Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365, and Veeam Backup for Salesforce.

NEW Ransomware Warranty

As the go-to partner in ransomware recovery, Veeam takes a multi-layered approach to ransomware so that businesses are confident and prepared for worst-case scenarios. The NEW Veeam Ransomware Warranty, which complements the Veeam Data Platform, is a commitment to Veeam customers that in the event of a ransomware attack, Veeam will cover the cost of data recovery, up to $5 million dollars. For eligible usersii, the Veeam Ransomware Warranty includes a 30-minute support service level agreement (SLA), a dedicated support account manager, quarterly health checks for best-practice operations, and optional design and installation services through a Veeam Accredited Service Provider. In addition, Veeam will deploy the Veeam Ransomware SWAT team  a dedicated team of security support experts trained in ransomware recovery  to help fight for your business in the event of an attack.

Join Veeam experts on Tuesday, February 14 at 10 a.m. ET for the premier launch event as they discuss the NEW Veeam Data Platform and hear from key customers on how Veeam keeps their businesses running and ensures confidence in the face of disaster and cyberattacks. Register here for FREE. For more information, visit www.veeam.com.

Supporting Quotes

"As hybrid cloud becomes the deployment architecture of choice, and cyber security threats become pervasive, the need to robustly provide backup and replication is crucial to enterprises. Veeam has been a market leader in this space and the new Veeam Data Platform launch demonstrates the company's commitment to innovation.  Steven Dickens, Senior Analyst, Futurum Research

52% of businesses are now utilizing containers in production environmentsiii. Kasten K10 by Veeam has emerged as the leader in providing backup, disaster recovery, and application mobility solutions for containers operating in Kubernetes environments. The new Veeam Data Platform provides organizations with a centralized solution that offers seamless data protection operations and investment protection, while also addressing the unique requirements of Kubernetes environments, giving organizations ultimate data freedom.  Gaurav Rishi, vice president of Product Management, Kasten by Veeam

"As organizations increasingly invest in modernizing their technology infrastructures, flexibility is a key need for their applications and data to avoid risk. Together, with the expanded integration for USAPI and Veeam Direct to Object, Veeam and Pure Storage are enabling joint customers to benefit from unmatched disaster recovery performance, granularity and simplicity, and ultimately empowering these organizations to strengthen their cyber resilience in today's complex and dynamic business environment. We're excited to continue partnering with Veeam to deliver innovative, secure solutions across all industries.  David Harvey, Vice President of Solutions and Alliances, Pure Storage

Ranked as the number one object storage solution for the backup use case by Gartner, Scality is excited to be an early supporter of the new Veeam Data Platform. Veeam continues to set the standard for Modern Data Protection by strategically building object storage into its platform to provide customers with simpler, more cost-effective, and more resilient solutions. Scality's partnership with Veeam has deep roots, and we feel privileged to be one of the object storage vendors to support the Smart Object Storage API, which enables customers to take advantage of the unlimited scalability of object storage without sacrificing performance.  Wally MacDermid, Vice President, Strategic Alliances, Scality

Ransomware is a top concern for all organizations and backups are increasingly becoming the number one target. The newly released Smart Object Storage API in the new Veeam Data Platform enables Veeam users to send their backup data directly to Object First's immutable and reliable ransomware-proof storage. By combining Veeam with Object First, organizations can rest easy knowing their backups are ransomware-proofed with a simple, powerful, and affordable data protection solution. David Bennett, CEO, Object First

"With the new Veeam Data Platform we can orchestrate recovery directly to public cloud, reducing our costs and overall footprint by completely removing the need for additional equipment.  Robbie Hudec, CISO & Senior Vice President, Technology Operations, Ciox Health

About Veeam Software

Veeam provides organizations with resiliency through data security, data recovery and data freedom for their hybrid cloud. The Veeam Data Platform delivers a single solution for Cloud, Virtual, Physical, SaaS and Kubernetes environments that give businesses peace of mind their apps and data are protected and always available so that they can keep their businesses running. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, with offices in more than 30 countries, Veeam protects over 450,000 customers worldwide, including 82% of the Fortune 500 and 72% of the Global 2,000. Veeams global ecosystem includes 35,000+ technology partners, resellers, service providers, and alliance partners. To learn more, visit www.veeam.com or follow Veeam on LinkedIn @veeam-software and Twitter @veeam.

i Veeam Data Protection Trends Report 2023; January 17, 2023. https://vee.am/DPR23

ii Eligibility requirements for New Veeam Ransomware Warranty

iii Veeam Data Protection Trends Report 2023; January 17, 2023. https://vee.am/DPR23

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230214005250/en/

Veeam Software

Director, Global Public Relations

Heidi Monroe Kroft, 614-339-8200 x8309

Source: Veeam Software
Veterinary Visionaries seeks to humanize the retention and attrition data to drive systemic change during its storytelling-solving campaign

LAKEWOOD, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Veterinary Visionaries is launching its second solving event from February 14 - March 7, 2023, addressing the rising loss of employees in both veterinary practices and in the profession. Studies and statistics from leading veterinary organizations around the world, including the American Veterinary Medical Association and British Veterinary Association, reveal worker disengagement has never been higher. The acute shortage of qualified professionals shows no sign of easing any time soon.

This significant issue is being addressed head-on through an innovative video collection and gallery platform. All veterinary team members are encouraged to actively explore and submit approaches to answering this question:

How do we get people who fell out of love with the profession to fall back in love...and stay?

Veterinary leaders worldwide will have access to the output of this storytelling initiative, which will include a compilation of vivid insights and compelling ideas from professionals who face ongoing struggles. The goal is to elevate awareness and inspire a reversal of employee satisfaction and current attrition trends.

"One of the biggest problems we face is the loss of well-skilled people, said Garth Jordan, CEO of the American Animal Hospital Association. There are simply not enough veterinarians and technicians to fill vacancies. The statistics dont tell the story as to why people are leaving their jobs. We intend to humanize the data with impassioned stories that drive empathy and compel change.

"As we build our network of veterinary-owned practices, our primary goal is to make sure every person who works in those practices is happy and able to grow in their roles. Our hope is that through this event, we will learn what our people need to rekindle their passion and put plans into action to make sure they thrive and grow with us, said Jennifer Bruns, DVM, MPVM, VP of business development and quality, PetSmart Veterinary Services.

Veterinary Visionaries includes more than 65 organizations that support the profession, including the American Animal Hospital Association, American Veterinary Medical Association, American College of Veterinary Surgeons, VCA Animal Hospitals, and PetSmart.

Veterinary Visionaries and this event are generously supported by CareCredit.

About Veterinary Visionaries

Established in 2021, Veterinary Visionaries is a collaboration of veterinary associations, hospitals, large employers, and higher education organizations, bringing their collective groups together to share ideas, co-create solutions, and unify the professions' approach to solving shared challenges. Learn more at veterinaryvisionaries.org.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230213005009/en/

Garth Jordan

CEO, American Animal Hospital Association

303-748-8404

[email protected]

Source: Veterinary Visionaries
FILE PHOTO: The logo of U.S. car manufacturer Tesla is seen in Zurich, Switzerland July 14, 2016. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

(Reuters) -Tesla Inc workers in New York state said on Tuesday they are launching a campaign to form a union, setting the stage for the latest labor challenge for Chief Executive Elon Musk.

In a letter to the electric carmaker's management, the employees announced their plan to unionize with Workers United Upstate New York.

The union, if formed, would be a first for Tesla, which up until now has managed to avoid unionization at its U.S. facilities unlike other major automakers.

Musk has in the past been vocal about his opposition to unions and faced the ire of the U.S. National Labor Relations Board when they directed him to delete a 2018 tweet saying employees would lose their stock options if they formed a union.

"We believe unionizing will give us a voice in our workplace that we feel has been ignored to this point," the workers said in a press release on Tuesday. "We are only asking for a seat in the car that we helped build."

The letter, first reported by Bloomberg News earlier in the day, cited employees asking Tesla to respect their right to organize a union and called on the world's most valuable automaker to sign the Fair Election Principles.

Employees said the right to organize a union is a fundamental civil right and the principles would prevent Tesla from threatening or retaliating against workers for organizing a union.

"We, as workers, deserve to be able to negotiate fair labor with our employers, and there are many changes I'd love to see at Tesla for the benefit of the workers," Alexis Hy, an employee with Tesla, said in a statement.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

(Reporting by Samrhitha Arunasalam and Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
FILE PHOTO: The logo of U.S. software company Palantir Technologies is seen in Davos, Switzerland, May 22, 2022. Picture taken May 22, 2022. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

By Chavi Mehta

(Reuters) -Palantir Technologies on Monday forecast its first profitable year and said it had slowed hiring, cut stock-based payouts and reduced cloud computing investments in response to lower spending from recession-wary businesses.

The forecast, coming on the back of better-than-expected fourth-quarter results, sent the data analytics software maker's shares up 16% after hours and was set to add nearly $3 billion to the company's market capitalization of $15.6 billion.

"As we look ahead to 2023, we will continue to exercise spend discipline ... pace hiring while continuing to invest in high priority areas, including in our product offerings, building out our go-to-market strategy and technical roles," said finance chief David Glazer.

The comments on cost discipline echo those from tech giants including Meta Platforms and Alphabet Inc, which have shed thousands of jobs in the past months.

Palantir executives also enthused over AI on an interview, saying the rise of ChatGPT was proving to be a bright spot for the sector and would help its business in 2023.

"There are many different ways we can integrate with technologies like ChatGPT and apply those technologies to our customers data," Chief Revenue Officer Ryan Taylor told Reuters. He did not elaborate on how Palantir would do that.

Still, Palantir's stock was up too much considering fourth-quarter profitability was driven by "below the line" adjustments like interest income and the quarter itself was in-line with expectations, RBC analyst Rishi Jaluria said.

The company forecast 2023 revenue between $2.18 billion and $2.23 billion, below the $2.29 billion estimated by analysts, according to Refinitiv.

Revenue from newly public firms that use Palantir's services has taken a hit as economic uncertainty torpedoes the market for U.S. stock listings. That revenue is expected to nearly halve in the first quarter to $16 million from a year earlier.

Still, a jump in defense contracts following Russia's invasion of Ukraine helped fourth-quarter revenue beat estimates with a rise of 18% to $509 million. Palantir signed deals with defense contractor Lockheed Martin and the UK military in the period.

Excluding items, Palantir earned 4 cents per share, compared to estimates of 3 cents per share.

(Reporting by Chavi Mehta and Tiyashi Datta in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
FILE PHOTO: A handout picture from October 2019 shows a component of Google's Quantum Computer in the Santa Barbara lab, California, U.S. Picture taken in October 2019. Google/Handout via REUTERS

By Jane Lanhee Lee

OAKLAND, Calif. (Reuters) -Sandbox AQ, a startup spun off from Alphabet Inc last year, said on Tuesday it raised $500 million as it helps customers prepare for a quantum computing future.

Quantum computers, whose processors run based on quantum physics, could one day carry out certain calculations millions of times quicker than today's fastest super computers, yet they remain years away from making a big change, such as breaking encryption.

But as hackers can harvest data today and wait to decrypt them when the quantum computers are ready, the National Institute of Standards and Technology under the U.S. Commerce Department selected new cryptography standards last year that could better withstand quantum computers.

The U.S. government has set quantum computing as one of the key technologies important for national security.

Sandbox AQ's software scans companies' systems to identify which parts use the old cryptography, identifies which need to be replaced urgently, and sets out to fortify the encryption of the enterprise, said CEO Jack Hidary.

"Right now you have a lot of banks and pharma companies and governments still using these old protocols," said Hidary. "The average bank takes five to seven years to migrate over. ... Now, hopefully they'll do their important customer private information first."

Sandbox also has a business selling powerful simulation software to accelerate development of drugs and materials.

The simulation does not currently need quantum computers to work, said Hidary. He said in the last 18 months chips that do artificial intelligence work have become powerful enough to run some of the math for quantum physics. When quantum computers are ready, that work would speed up even further.

Sandbox AQ is also using existing types of sensors based on quantum physics. These have long been MRI machines, for instance, and Sandbox has created a prototype machine to monitor the heart. It can also be used to monitor slight local changes in the earth's magnetic field, making navigation systems much more precise, he said.

Last month Sandbox AQ said it won a contract with the U.S. Air Force to research these quantum navigation technologies

Former Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt is the startup's chairman as well as investor. Other investors include Breyer Capital, T. Rowe Price funds and Salesforce.com Inc founder Marc Benioff's TIME Ventures.

Schmidt in a statement said Sandbox AQ has already signed up more than 15 enterprise and government customers and is partnering with 30 universities to train PhDs and other talent needed.

Some of the team and inspiration for Sandbox originated at Alphabet in 2016. But the Google parent is not a shareholder as Hidary said he wanted the company to be independent to work with the other major cloud companies as well.

(Reporting By Jane Lanhee Lee; editing by Jonathan Oatis and David Gregorio)
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Apollo Silver Corp. (Apollo or the Company) (TSX.V:APGO, OTCQB:APGOF, Frankfurt: 6ZF0) is pleased to report gold (Au) assay results from the Calico Silver Project (Calico or the Project) located in San Bernardino County, California. Results reported herein are from the remaining five reverse circulation (RC) drill holes from Phase 2 of the 2022 Drill Program and new surface sample assay results.

All five drill holes intercepted Au above 0.100 g/t Au over significant thicknesses including 91.0 metres (m) of 0.390 g/t Au from surface (estimated 88 m true thickness) (W22-RC-080).

Surface sampling returned several high-grade results including 211 g/t Au (P715944) and 849 g/t silver (Ag) (P715962).

Gold mineralization occurs stratigraphically below silver mineralization at Waterloo and extends continuously across more than 1,000 m strike length and up to 400 m width. The gold mineralized horizon remains open along strike.

Initial cyanide solubility tests show recoveries ranging from 75% to 95% confirming gold mineralization is oxidized and amendable to simple leaching.

Gold mineralization represents a compelling prospect with the latest results providing further support for adding to the metal inventory for the upcoming mineral resource estimate update.

New significant gold intercepts include:

0.390 g/t Au over 91.0 m from surface (W22-RC-080), including; 1.715 g/t Au over 1.5 m from 8.5 m down hole; and 1.771 g/t Au over 3.0 m from 41.5 m down hole; and 1.373 g/t Au over 3.0 m from 79.0 m down hole .

0.613 g/t Au over 65.5 m from surface (W22-RC-081), including; 3.62 g/t Au over 1.5 m from 4.0 m down hole, and 1.239 g/t Au over 6.0 m from 47.5 m down hole, and 1.100 g/t Au over 1.5 m from 58.0 m down hole.

0.353 g/t Au over 52.0 m from surface (W22-RC-082), including; 1.204 g/t Au over 4.5 m from 4.0 m depth down hole; and 2.05 g/t Au over 1.5 m from 34.0 m depth down hole.

0.567 g/t Au over 51.0 m from 35.5 m down hole (W22-RC-083), including; 1.673 g/t Au over 10.5 m from 58.0 m depth down hole.



Gold intercepts are reported at a 0.100 g/t gold cut-off grade (COG) with significantly higher-grade intercepts reported at a 1.00 g/t COG with a maximum of 4.5 m internal dilution and are uncapped. Lengths are down hole lengths and may not represent true widths unless otherwise stated.

These latest gold results from the Burcham area of the Waterloo Property confirm that the Calico Project has a substantial oxide gold mineralized horizon, commented Apollos President and CEO Tom Peregoodoff. This horizon which typically forms part of the footwall to our silver mineralization is extensive and remains open. The spatial relationship between this defined gold horizon and the overlying silver resource is consistent with the simple geometry of the overall resource and opens up additional development optionality in the future. The successful delivery of the objectives of the 2022 program, and the pending mineral resource update should confirm Calico is one of the largest undeveloped silver deposits in the U.S. The potential addition of oxide gold to the mineral inventory will only increase the overall investment attractiveness of the Calico Project.

The 2022 Calico Drill Program, which is one component of the 2022 Calico Technical Program, comprised 9,840 m (32,283 feet) of drilling with 88 holes on the Waterloo property completed between April 5, 2022 and November 12, 2022. The 2022 Calico Technical Program aimed to upgrade and expand the previously announced maiden Inferred mineral resource estimate (MRE) at Waterloo of 116 million ounces of silver contained in 38.9 million tonnes at an average grade of 93 g/t, which forms part of the Calico maiden Inferred MRE of 166 million ounces of silver contained in 58.1 million tonnes at an average grade of 89 g/t (see news release dated February 9, 2022)1.

Results for five RC holes are reported below, which total 483.5 m (1,586 feet) and were completed between November 8, 2022, and November 12, 2022. These drill holes were completed in the Burcham area of the Waterloo property, approximately 225 m southeast of the southern extent of the current Waterloo silver MRE. These holes specifically targeted shallow oxide gold mineralization hosted in the lower Barstow and Pickhandle formations. The overlying Barstow stratigraphy, host to the silver mineralization, is interpreted to have been eroded off in this area.

Also reported are gold and silver assay results from a surface rock grab sampling program completed in the fall of 2022, in which 82 samples were collected across the Waterloo property to further understand the distribution of gold mineralization at surface (following up results from 46 surface samples reported September 14, 2022).

1The 2022 MRE was prepared by Derek Loveday, P. Geo. of Stantec Consulting Services Ltd., in conformance with Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgys Estimation of Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserves Best Practices guidelines and are reported in accordance with the Canadian Securities Administrators NI 43-101. It is effective January 28, 2022. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. There is no certainty that any mineral resource will be converted into a mineral reserve. Mr. Loveday is an independent Qualified Person for Apollos MRE. Please refer to the Companys news release dated February 9, 2022, for more information.

GOLD HORIZON

As previously reported (see news release January 11, 2022), a review by the Company of historic drilling data for the Waterloo property identified a 25 m thick, gold bearing horizon stratigraphically below silver mineralization and associated with the contact between the Barstow sediments and Pickhandle volcaniclastics. The Burcham mine was the only mine in the district to have produced gold as its primary commodity. The identification of these drill intercepts in the historic data suggested that gold mineralization extended further north from the Burcham area than previously known. Further, surface geological mapping completed by the Company in December 2021 identified evidence that the entire 2.2 km long Barstow/Pickhandle contact at Waterloo is prospective for gold (see news release January 11, 2022).

Based on this work, one goal of the 2022 Calico Drill Program was to better understand the distribution and styles of gold mineralization across the property. The drill program design included holes targeting the prospective Barstow-Pickhandle contact at depth below the Waterloo silver MRE and along strike from the Burcham area. It also aimed to verify historic drilling completed at Burcham and assess to what extent the Pickhandle volcaniclastics may be mineralized with gold. All five drill holes reported herein intersected gold mineralization across significant widths at or above a 0.100 g/t Au cut-off grade, the longest intercept being 91.0 m of 0.390 g/t Au from surface. More than 74 m of this intercept is hosted within Pickhandle volcaniclastics suggesting this lithostratigraphic unit may be more prospective for gold than previously understood. Refer to Table 1 and Figure 1 for drill hole information and locations and Table 2 for drilling gold assay results. Figure 2 shows the spatial relationship between the silver MRE and gold in drilling results.

Table 1: Drill hole information for results reported February 14, 2023, for the Calico Project 2022 Drill Program.

Hole Easting (m) Northing (m) Elevation (m) Total Depth (m) Total Depth (ft) Azimuth Dip W22-RC-080 511271 3867591 745 92.5 302 45 -80 W22-RC-081 511315 3867493 733 88.0 289 180 -55 W22-RC-082 511314 3867492 733 88.0 289 0 -55 W22-RC-083 511261 3867456 721 100.0 328 0 -60 W22-RC-084 511286 3867452 719 115.0 377 35 -55

Figure 1: Drill hole collar locations for results reported February 14, 2023, for Phase 2 of the Calico Project 2022 Drill Program and select surface sampling.

Table 2: Gold assay results reported February 14, 2023, for Phase 2 of the Calico Project 2022 Drill Program.

Hole From (m) To (m) Interval (m) Au (g/t) W22-RC-080 0.0 91.0 91.0 0.390 including 8.5 10.0 1.5 1.715 including 41.5 44.5 3.0 1.771 including 79.0 82.0 3.0 1.373 W22-RC-081 0.0 65.5 65.5 0.613 including 4.0 5.5 1.5 3.62 including 32.5 34.0 1.5 1.250 including 37.0 41.5 1.5 1.094 including 47.5 53.5 6.0 1.239 including 58.0 59.5 1.5 1.100 and 73.0 76.0 3.0 0.139 W22-RC-082 0.0 52.0 52.0 0.353 including 4.0 8.5 4.5 1.204 including 34.0 35.5 1.5 2.05 and 58.0 59.5 1.5 0.175 and 79.0 85.0 6.0 0.265 W22-RC-083 7.0 10.0 3.0 0.126 and 25.0 28.0 3.0 0.143 and 35.5 86.5 51.0 0.567 including 58.0 68.5 10.5 1.637 and 92.5 100.0 7.5 0.203 W22-RC-084 0.0 1.0 1.0 0.102 and 8.5 56.5 48.0 0.532 including 37.0 40.0 3.0 1.265 including 49.0 55.0 6.0 1.670 and 82.0 88.0 6.0 0.122 and 91.0 92.5 1.5 0.115

Gold intercepts calculated using 0.100 g/t cut-off grade (COG) with higher-grade intercepts calculated at 1.000 g/t COG. Intercepts are down hole lengths and may not represent true widths.

Definition of gold mineralization is further supported by 2022 surface rock grab sampling for which a total of 128 samples have now been reported. Surface sampling targeted historically and newly identified northwest and north-south oriented high-angle structures, structural intersections, surface mapped silicified rocks and bleached/brecciated fault gouge in the basal Barstow formation siltstones. Notable results reported from the latest samples include 211 g/t Au, 7.14 g/t Au, 6.31 g/t Au, and 4.97 g/t Au from the Burcham area. Refer to Figure 1 above and Table 3 below for locations and results for select surface samples. Full results are listed on the Apollo website at the link provided below Table 3. Results from drilling and surface sampling completed to date at Waterloo show that gold mineralization is spatially continuous along more than 1,000 m strike length (Figure 2) and remains open along strike. Gold was intercepted in several holes 625 m further north of the current northern extent; however, the continuity of the mineralized horizon in this gap and across the northern half of the Waterloo property has not been fully tested.

Table 3: Surface rock grab sample location and results for select samples above 1.000 g/t Au or above 100 g/t Ag as reported February 14, 2023 for the Calico Project.

Sample ID Easting (m) Northing (m) Elevation (m) Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) P715944 511,301 3,867,484 734 211 49 P715953 511,524 3,867,419 735 7.14 26 P715943 511,283 3,867,477 731 6.31 39 P715941 511,309 3,867,466 722 4.97 92 P715929 511,325 3,867,460 716 3.94 76 P715928 511,338 3,867,467 719 2.67 16 P715932 511,318 3,867,473 723 2.60 16 P715937 511,312 3,867,471 724 2.41 23 P715948 511,272 3,867,547 741 1.885 15 P715938 511,311 3,867,470 723 1.535 19 P715962 510,123 3,868,507 815 0.007 849 P715897 510,691 3,867,875 771 0.006 529 P715961 511,120 3,867,638 773 0.418 339 P715960 511,120 3,867,638 773 0.221 253 P715916 510,879 3,867,620 748 0.009 221 P715917 510,879 3,867,620 748 0.012 215 P715900 510,927 3,867,599 753 0.012 134

The reader is cautioned that grab samples are selective by nature and do not necessarily represent the true metal content of the mineralized zones. Complete rock sampling results are available on the Companys website

GOLD CYANIDE SOLUBILITY

To assess gold recovery in a preliminary fashion, 66 samples from gold mineralized intercepts (0.100 g/t Au cutoff grade) from three 2022 RC drill holes were selected for cyanide solubility testing, all of which had been previously assayed using fire assay (see news releases dated June 29, 2022 and July 26, 2022). Results of this preliminary testing show a range of average recoveries of 75-95% which confirms that gold mineralization is oxide in nature and is amenable to recovery by traditional cyanide leaching methods (Table 4). Additional metallurgical test work to better define gold recoveries is being planned as part of the 2023 Phase 2 Metallurgical program.

Table 4: Summary of preliminary gold cyanide solubility data for February 14, 2023 for the Calico Project.

Hole From (m) To (m) Intercept (m) Au (g/t) AuCN* Recovery % (Average) W22-RC-008 107.5 160.0 52.5 0.235 75 W22-RC-013 134.5 154.0 19.5 0.417 81 W22-RC-022 79.0 106.0 27.0 0.219 95

Gold recovery based on cyanide shakes (AuCN) run on all samples within the reported interval with Au assays (via fire assay) at a 0.100 g/t Au. Recovery% is defined as the ratio of gold grade measured by A) a cyanide shake flask test and B) conventional fire assay. A/B*100 = Recovery %. This is an arithmetic average and not weighted. See news releases data June 29, 2022 and July 26, 2022 for drill hole location and orientation information and gold intercept data.

Figure 2: 3D view across the southern half of the Waterloo property showing the relationship of the silver MRE with gold mineralization in drilling, as reported February 14, 2023 for the Calico Project.

SAMPLING AND QUALITY ASSURANCE/QUALITY CONTROL

Drilling was undertaken by Cooper Drilling LLC, of Monte Vista, Colorado. RC chip samples were collected in 1.5 m lifts with 15 lb representative samples sent for analysis. Representative chip samples were also collected for logging purposes (lithology, alteration, mineralization), detailed photography and analysis by portable X-Ray Fluorescence. RC samples are catalogued and securely stored in a warehouse facility in Barstow, California until they are ready for secure shipment to ALS Global-Geochemistry in Reno, Nevada (ALS Reno) for sample preparation and gold analysis. ALS Reno may selectively ship samples to other ALS laboratories for preparation. After preparation, splits of prepared pulps are securely shipped to ALS Vancouver, British Columbia for multi-element analysis.

Drilling and surface samples were prepared at ALS Reno (Prep-31 package) with each sample crushed to better than 70% passing a 2 mm (Tyler 9 mesh, U.S. Std. No.10) screen. A split of up to 250 g was taken and pulverized to better than 85% passing a 75-micron (Tyler 200 mesh, U.S. Std. No. 200) screen. All samples were analyzed for 48 elements via ICP-MS following a four-acid digestion with reportable ranges for silver of 0.01 to 100 ppm (method ME-MS61). Over-range samples analyzed for silver were re-submitted for analysis using a four-acid digestion and ICP-AES finish with a silver range of 1-1,500 ppm (method Ag-OG62). When results were over 400 ppm silver, they were re-submitted for analysis by fire assay with a gravimetric finish using a 30 g nominal sample weight with reportable silver range of 5-10,000 ppm (method Ag-GRA21). Over-range samples analyzed for copper, lead and zinc were re-submitted for analysis using a four-acid digestion and ICP-AES finish with range of 0.001-50% for copper, 0.001-20% for lead, and 0.001-30% for zinc. Gold was analyzed by fire assay with atomic absorption finish (method Au-AA26) with a reportable range of 0.01-100 ppm Au. All analyses were completed at ALS Vancouver except for gold by fire assay, which was completed at ALS Reno. For cyanide solubility testing, pulps representing individual drill samples from within gold intercepts (at a 0.100 g/t Au cut-off grade) for which fire assay gold results were previously reported were analyzed. Pulps were submitted to ALS Reno and analyzed using method Au-AA13 (reported range of 0.03 to 50 ppm) which measures Au by cyanide leach with follow up gold analysis via AAS.

The Company maintains its own comprehensive quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) program to ensure best practices in sample preparation and analysis. The QA/QC program includes the insertion and analysis of certified reference materials, commercial pulp blanks, preparation blanks, and field duplicates to the laboratories. Apollos QA/QC program includes ongoing auditing of all laboratory results. The Companys Qualified Person is of the opinion that the sample preparation, analytical, and security procedures followed are sufficient and reliable. The Company is not aware of any drilling, sampling, recovery, or other factors that could materially affect the accuracy or reliability of the data reported herein.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

Location

The Project is located in San Bernardino County, California and comprises the adjacent Waterloo and Langtry properties which total 2,950 acres. The Project is 15 km (9 miles) from the city of Barstow and has an extensive private gravel road network spanning the property. There is commercial electric power within 5 km (3 miles) of the Project.

Geology and Mineralization

The Calico Project is situated in the southern Calico Mountains of the Mojave Desert, in the south-western region of the Basin and Range tectonic province. This mountain range is a 15 km (9 mile) long northwest- southeast trending range dominantly composed of Tertiary (Miocene) volcanics, volcaniclastics, sedimentary rocks and dacitic intrusions. Mineralization at Calico comprises high-level low-sulfidation silver-dominant epithermal vein-type, stockwork-type and disseminated-style associated with northwest-trending faults and fracture zones and mid-Tertiary (~ 19-17 Ma) volcanic activity. Calico represents a district-scale mineral system endowment with approximately 6,000 m (19,685 ft) in mineralized strike length controlled by Apollo. Silver and gold mineralization are oxidized and hosted within the basal stratigraphic horizons of the sedimentary Barstow Formation and in contact and within the upper volcaniclastic units of the Pickhandle formation. The current mineral resource estimate at Calico comprises 166 million ounces of silver contained in 58.1 million tonnes at an average grade of 89 g/t, at a cut-off grade of 50 g/t Ag (see news release February 9, 2022).

QUALIFIED PERSONS

The scientific and technical data contained in this news release was reviewed, and approved by Isabelle Lepine, M.Sc., P.Geo., Apollos Director of Mineral Resources, a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Minerals Projects. Ms. Lepine is a registered Professional Geoscientist in British Columbia, Canada.

Please visit www.apollosilver.com for further information.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Tom Peregoodoff Chief Executive Officer

About Apollo Silver Corp.

Apollo Silver Corp. has assembled an experienced and technically strong leadership team who have joined to advance world class precious metals projects in tier-one jurisdictions. The Company is focused on advancing its portfolio of two significant silver exploration and resource development projects, the Calico Silver Project, in San Bernardino County, California and Silver District Project in La Paz County, Arizona.

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 Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release includes forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. All statements included in this news release, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements including, without limitation, statements with respect to the potential of the Calico Project and its overall investment attractiveness; the potential for identification of gold and barite resources at Calico; the potential recovery rates; the potential to expand the resource estimate and upgrade its confidence level, including prospective silver and gold mineralization on strike and at depth; timing and execution of future planned drilling and exploration activities; timing of completion of the updated mineral resource estimate and timing of commencement and completion of a preliminary economic assessment. Forward-looking statements include predictions, projections and forecasts and are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as anticipate, believe, plan, estimate, expect, potential, target, budget and intend and statements that an event or result may, will, should, could or might occur or be achieved and other similar expressions and includes the negatives thereof.

Forward-looking statements are based on the reasonable assumptions, estimates, analysis, and opinions of the management of the Company made in light of its experience and its perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors that management of the Company believes to be relevant and reasonable in the circumstances at the date that such statements are made. Forward-looking information is based on reasonable assumptions that have been made by the Company as at the date of such information and is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may have caused actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to: risks associated with mineral exploration and development; metal and mineral prices; availability of capital; accuracy of the Companys projections and estimates; realization of mineral resource estimates, interest and exchange rates; competition; stock price fluctuations; availability of drilling equipment and access; actual results of current exploration activities; government regulation; political or economic developments; environmental risks; insurance risks; capital expenditures; operating or technical difficulties in connection with development activities; personnel relations; contests over title to properties; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The estimate of mineral resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, sociopolitical, marketing, or other relevant issues. The quantity and grade of reported inferred mineral resources in this estimation are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define these inferred mineral resources as an indicated or measured mineral resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in upgrading them to an indicated or measured mineral resource category. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions management believes to be reasonable, including but not limited to the price of silver, gold and barite; the demand for silver, gold and barite; the ability to carry on exploration and development activities; the timely receipt of any required approvals; the ability to obtain qualified personnel, equipment and services in a timely and cost-efficient manner; the ability to operate in a safe, efficient and effective matter; and the regulatory framework regarding environmental matters, and such other assumptions and factors as set out herein. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking 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 statements will prove to be accurate and 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 contained herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. The forward-looking information contained herein is presented for the purpose of assisting investors in understanding the Companys expected financial and operational performance and the Companys plans and objectives and may not be appropriate for other purposes. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/5d225b00-2a0d-4b53-b06e-c7513d8e2970

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/67d91d6e-abfd-407f-8a57-802acc45f0f8

For further information, please contact: Tom Peregoodoff Chief Executive Officer Telephone: +1 (604) 428-6128 [email protected]

Figure 1 Drill hole collar locations for results reported February 14, 2023, for Phase 2 of the Calico Project 2022 Drill Program and select surface sampling. Figure 2 3D view across the southern half of the Waterloo property showing the relationship of the silver MRE with gold mineralization in drilling, as reported February 14, 2023 for the Calico Project.

Source: Apollo Silver Corp.
AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AutoScheduler.AI, an innovative Warehouse Management System (WMS) accelerator, announces that CEO Keith Moore is the recipient of Food Logistics 2023 Rock Stars of the Supply Chain Award. Food Logistics is the only publication dedicated to covering product movement through the global cold food supply chain. This award recognizes influential individuals in the industry whose achievements, hard work, and vision have shaped the global cold food supply chain. Keith wins because he understands the challenges of the food logistics market and knows how to drive operational excellence within distribution centers for customers.

As the brains of a distribution operation, AutoScheduler helps food and beverage companies decrease touches, increase capacity per headcount, overcome volatility, and improve customer satisfaction, says Keith Moore, CEO of AutoScheduler. AI Im thrilled to be named a Rock Star. Even at a mid-sized distribution center, the activities that AutoScheduler orchestrates can add up to millions of dollars in capacity growth and savings.

Not all rock stars are famous musicians. There are several rock stars right here in the cold chain, promoting workforce development, solving supply chain disruptions, mitigating risks, and helping to heal the supply chain, says Marina Mayer, Editor-in-Chief of Food Logistics and Supply & Demand Chain Executive.

AutoScheduler is a warehouse resource planning and optimization platform that dynamically orchestrates all activities within the warehouse in conjunction with a WMS. Using capacity-constrained schedules, AutoScheduler will solve problems such as poor on-time in full deliveries, dock schedule conflicts, inventory shortages, inefficient workforce allocation, and the struggle to meet carrier appointment times. AutoScheduler.ai helps businesses manage what they need today to succeed while predicting what they need in the future to meet the increased demand in labor, space, and time.

Many of the Rock Star award winners are actively involved in understanding customers needs, creating problem-solving solutions, ensuring the safe transport of cold food and beverages, and adopting sustainable measures. The words used to describe them range from strategic, motivated, and dedicated to passionate, educator, and transformative.

These rock stars rock. Period. Theyre shaping the future of our global cold chains. And theyre doing so in a way thats both humble and pragmatic. Every year, Im honored to celebrate these go-getters, and this year is no exception, Mayer says.

Recipients of this year's award are profiled in Food Logistics Jan/Feb 2023 print issue. Go to https://foodl.me/5rwho7 to view the complete list of winners. Go to https://www.foodlogistics.com/awards to learn more about other Food Logistics awards.

About Food LogisticsFood Logistics reaches more than 26,000 supply chain executives in the global food and beverage industries, including executives in the food sector (growers, producers, manufacturers, wholesalers, and grocers) and the logistics section (transportation, warehousing, distribution, software, and technology) who share a mutual interest in the operations and business aspects of the global cold food supply chain. Food Logistics and sister publication Supply & Demand Chain Executive are also home to LINK, LINK Educate podcast channels, LINK Live, SCN Summit, SupplyChainLearningCenter.com, and more. Go to www.FoodLogistics.com to learn more.

About AutoScheduler.AI AutoScheduler.AI creates dynamic warehouse plans directly injected into the WMS to optimize activities based on constraints, ensuring sites run optimally at peak performance. Our intuitive AI and Machine Learning platform, developed with P&G and implemented at P&G, Unilever, General Mills, and others, streamlines operations by seamlessly integrating with existing WMS & ERP. We provide dynamic dock scheduling, labor level-loading, inventory balancing, proactive cross-docking, redundant workforce elimination, and more. Clients benefit from prescriptive analytics to drive efficiencies and create value in the supply chain. For more information, email [email protected].

Contact: Becky BoydMediaFirst PR[email protected]Cell: (404) 421-8497

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3585c829-a5b1-4c19-ae26-0aec077d67f2

Food Logistics Rockstars Keith Moore Selected as Food Logistics Rockstar 2023

Source: AutoScheduler.AI
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 13, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada (APF Canada) and Universities Canada are excited to announce the inaugural Canada-in-Asia Conference 2023, being held in Singapore on February 21-23, 2023.

A signature event for Canada-connected individuals, businesses, and institutions across Asia, the Canada-in-Asia Conference (CIAC2023) will gather Asia-based alumni of Canadian universities, local Canadian business organisations, and key leaders from businesses, governments and universities in Canada and across Asia to catalyze a new phase of Canada-Asia engagement.

Over two days at the Fairmont Singapores Raffles City Convention Centre, the conference program combines keynote and interdisciplinary plenary sessions, high-level thematic panel discussions, strategic networking opportunities, and an evening gala. Featured speakers at CIAC2023 include federal and provincial ministers, heads of major corporations and organizations, Canadian Nobel Laureate Dr. Donna Strickland, global strategy advisor and bestselling author Parag Khanna, and the renowned international architect Moshe Safdie.

This event is a unique opportunity for us to build and strengthen individual and institutional linkages across Canada and Asia, and work together to find solutions to pressing challenges facing our world, said Jeff Nankivell, President and CEO, Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. Singapore sits at the centre of dynamic Asia, and we look forward to expanding and deepening networks of Canada-connected individuals, firms, and institutions in the region through high-level discussions among leaders in a variety of sectors from across Asia and Canada.

Canadas universities are global leaders in developing the talent and leading research that demonstrate Canadas unique capabilities and contributions, said Paul Davidson, President, Universities Canada. Our alumni in Asia act as ambassadors for that work, and for Canada. Engaging these individuals and building strong people-to-people connections across borders will deepen Canada-Asia relations in business, governments, academia, and civil society.

Accredited members of the media are invited to register to attend the inaugural Canada-in-Asia Conference as space allows. Please contact our media representative below for further information and registration.

The Canada-in-Asia Conference is presented with the assistance of the Government of Canada. APF Canada and Universities Canada are grateful for this support. We would also like to thank our Major Partners, Sun Life, Invest in Canada, Export Development Canada, and Royal Bank of Canada; our Supporting Partners, Gouvernement du Quebec & Investissement Quebec; and our Associate Partners, BMO, Bombardier, CIBC, Government of Saskatchewan, Invest Alberta, McMillan LLP, Fasken, Gowling WLG, McCarthy Tetrault; and our Official Airline Partner, Air Canada.

The Canada-in-Asia Conference would also not be possible without our Gold University Partners, University of Waterloo, McGill University, University of Toronto, York University, University of British Columbia, Western University, and the University of Alberta; our Silver University Partners, The Research Universities Council of British Columbia, University of Ottawa, University of Saskatchewan, and University of Calgary; and our Bronze University Partner, SFU Alumni.

APF Canada and Universities Canada would also like to thank our in-kind partners: the C100, Mila, the Toronto Centre, the Business Council of Canada, and the Canada-ASEAN Business Council.

Key Links:

Conference Website: www.canada-in-asia.ca APF Canada: www.asiapacific.ca Universities Canada: www.univcan.ca

Contacts:

MediaMichael RobertsCommunications DirectorAsia Pacific Foundation of Canada[email protected]Mobile: 604-649-4863

Universities CanadaGraham BarberAssistant Director, International Relations | Directeur adjoint des relations internationalsUniversities Canada | Universites Canada[email protected]Mobile: 819-328-6777

About the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada:

The Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada is dedicated to strengthening ties between Canada and Asia with a focus on expanding economic relations through trade, investment and innovation; promoting Canadas expertise in offering solutions to Asias climate change, energy, food security and natural resource management challenges; building Asia skills and competencies among Canadians, including young Canadians; and, improving Canadians general understanding of Asia and its growing global influence.

Visit APF Canada at www.asiapacific.ca

About Universities Canada:

Universities Canada is the voice of Canadian universities, at home and abroad. A membership organization providing university presidents with a unified voice for higher education, research, and innovation, Universities Canada advances the mission of its member institutions to transform lives, strengthen communities, and find solutions to the most pressing challenges facing our world. The organization advocates for Canadian universities at the federal level, provides a forum for university leaders to share ideas and address challenges in higher education, supports students by providing information on university study and offering scholarships on behalf of private sector companies, and fosters collaboration among universities and governments, the private sector, communities, and international partners.

Visit Universities Canada at www.univcan.ca

Source: Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada
The New Jersey rock act the Gaslight Anthem will open the summer concert season at the Outer Harbor with a concert at 7:30 p.m. May 20. Opening are Oso Oso and Emily Wolfe.

General admission tickets start at $20; VIP tickets will also be sold and will include two free drinks, access to the VIP tent, priority seating and front-of-stage access.

The band's presale starts at 10 a.m. Feb. 15; sign up for it on the Gaslight Anthem website at thegaslightanthem.com. A presale for Seneca Gaming Club members (with access code) starts at 10 a.m. Feb. 16. The general on sale begins at 10 a.m. Feb. 17.

Only tickets sold via tixr.com will be accepted at the door. For more information and to order tickets, visit buffalowaterfront.com/events/gaslight-anthem.

Gates open at 6:30 p.m. Parking is free in the lots adjacent to the venue and are first come, first served.

This marks the second season for the summer concert series that returns to the Lakeside Event Lawn at 825 Fuhrmann Blvd., the space near what will become a permanent amphitheater called Lakeside Pavilion. Future concerts for 2023 will be announced.
Wilmington, DE, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Global Developments Holdings, Inc. (OTC: GDVM) and VeeMost Technologies, LTD have entered into a merger agreement through the exchange of preferred shares. As a result of the merger, Global Developments Holdings, Inc. has been renamed to VeeMost Technologies Holdings, Inc., and an application has been submitted to FINRA to change the issuer's name, ticker symbol, and CUSIP.

Founded in 2002, VeeMost is a team of experienced industry leaders and professionals led by its chief executive officer, Mr. Melvin Ejiogu, who holds a bachelor's degree in Business Administration with a specialization in Corporate Finance from the University of Akron, Ohio. In addition to having over 25 years of experience in the technology industry, Melvin holds numerous top-level I.T certifications, including the Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) certification.

Melvin has achieved success at multiple IT organizations including his prior partnership with Fit Technologies in Cleveland, Ohio. In this role, he served as Director of Business Development and Director of Technology Engineering, contributing significantly to the company's growth and success. Melvin also served with AT&T Labs as a Lead Principal Architect & Designer. There, he led a highly specialized team of experts and was crucial in the design, implementation, and delivery of customized and secured network infrastructures, products, and solutions to large government agencies and enterprises.

In his first full year back at VeeMost as CEO and President, Melvin has built a strong foundation. He has set his sights on replicating his success at VeeMost and taking the company to new heights. As a result of this vision, VeeMost has made substantial additions to its engineering and sales teams and has been recognized as a Cisco premier partner and integrator. Furthermore, during the past eight months, VeeMost has achieved four Cisco advanced specializations: Advanced Enterprise Network Architecture, Advanced SP Architecture, Advanced Collaboration Architecture, and Advanced Security Architecture. VeeMost has become one of the few technology companies nationwide to achieve four or more Cisco advanced specializations, putting it on the path to becoming a Cisco Gold Integrator Partner.

VeeMost is committed to becoming a strategic partner for Cisco and other industry leaders by providing deep technical expertise in a variety of disciplines. VeeMost will also continue to achieve a high level of customer satisfaction by harnessing the power of the cloud and automation, helping organizations achieve enterprise growth and address cybersecurity concerns, virtual work requirements, application cloud modernization, infrastructure requirements, and more.

Worldwide spending on public cloud services in 2022 was $490.3 billion, and it is forecasted to increase by 21% in 2023. Aiming to capture a significant portion of the cloud market share, VeeMost will be launching its own innovative cloud services and solutions in the second quarter of 2023, making it publicly available to organizations and consumers. Furthermore, VeeMost will continue to provide full lifecycle management services for customers' digital transformation journeys to the cloud. This service includes initial consultation and assessment and ends with full migration and management of cloud services, utilizing an iterative continuous improvement approach to infrastructure modernization.

As a result of cyber security incidents increasing at an exponential rate, organizations spent a collective $188.3 billion on information security products and services in 2022. In comparison with last year, cyber security spending is expected to increase by 12.4%. VeeMost has strategic alliances with most industry-leading security vendors, including Palo Alto Networks, Cisco Systems, and many more. In addition to providing strategic consulting and planning services, VeeMost offers implementation services, managed services, and technical services to organizations seeking to mitigate cyber security threats, meet regulatory requirements, and keep their businesses running smoothly. Our 24x7x365 NOC/SOC operation monitors our customers' networks and security infrastructures, detects threats using AI and machine learning algorithms, and mitigates issues immediately to ensure seamless operations.

Due to VeeMost's strategy on multi-year and long-term revenue streams and a current client retention rate of over 98%, the company is well positioned for short-, medium-, and long-term market penetration success and explosive growth. Aside from organic growth, VeeMost intends to acquire technology companies and cyber security companies as wholly owned subsidiaries. We are currently in active discussions with two potential acquisition targets with whom we anticipate reaching an agreement in the near future.

In the words of VeeMost's CEO Melvin Ejiogu, "I am ecstatic with what we accomplished in 2022 and look forward to what lies ahead in 2023, which appears to be shaping up to be an extremely successful year for the company. Over the years, VeeMost has developed a high level of technical expertise across the entire Cisco Portfolio, as well as multiple advanced specializations. Additionally, we have expanded our relationship with other leading vendors, such as Palo Alto. These achievements demonstrate and validate our ability to collaborate and innovate technology solutions at scale for our customers and deliver a high level of customer support."

Safe Harbor Statement

This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can identify these statements by the use of the words "may," "will," "should," "plans," "expects," "anticipates," "continue," "estimates," "projects," "intends," and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause results to differ materially from those projected or anticipated. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the Company's ability to successfully execute its expanded business strategy, including by entering into definitive agreements with suppliers, commercial partners and customers; general economic and business conditions, effects of continued geopolitical unrest and regional conflicts, competition, changes in technology and methods of marketing, delays in completing various engineering and manufacturing programs, changes in customer order patterns, changes in product mix, continued success in technical advances and delivering technological innovations, shortages in components, production delays due to performance quality issues with outsourced components, regulatory requirements and the ability to meet them, government agency rules and changes, and various other factors beyond the Company's control.

CONTACT:VeeMost Technologies, LTD[email protected]

Source: Global Developments Holdings, Inc
PORTLAND, Maine, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Intersolar North America (ISNA) and Energy Storage North America (ESNA), the industrys flagship solar + storage event, today welcomes over 6,000 attendees to the Long Beach Convention Center for its annual solar + storage event occurring February 14-16. Dedicated to advancing the energy transition, the event features five keynote addresses, 350+ exhibiting companies, 24 conference sessions, the third annual Solar Games installer competition, and new learning and networking opportunities.

Excitement is high as we open this years Intersolar North America and Energy Storage North America event, said Wes Doane, Event Director, Intersolar North America and Energy Storage North America. "With our highly anticipated keynote speakers, carefully curated conference sessions, and new networking platforms and activities, we are confident that this years event will exceed expectations for attendees and exhibitors alike.

Forward-Looking Educational ProgrammingToday, the first keynote presentations will kick off three days of learning, with nearly 100 conference speakers sharing insights and expertise across 24 conference sessions focused on solar, energy storage, and EV charging infrastructure. For some attendees, the learning began yesterday during pre-conference workshops presented by experts from leading organizations (including the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners, California Energy Storage Alliance, Green Hydrogen Coalition, and more).

A Sold-Out Exhibition FloorOver 350 exhibiting companies are expected to connect with thousands of installers, innovators, and decision-makers in the #isnaesna23 exhibit hall (which features the Energy Storage North America Pavilion, EV Charging Infrastructure Pavilion, and Startup Pavilion) and new outdoor space. In addition to getting a close-up look at new products, services, and solutions, attendees will also have the opportunity to explore real-world applications and industry updates during show-floor presentations at The Huband connect with other professionals within the new Networking Lounge and during show-floor happy hours.

2023 Highlights#isnaesna23 attendees can look forward to the following events this week:

Engaging keynote sessions delivered by renowned industry leaders: Innovation on the Front Line: Solar and Storage Leadership on Community Engagement, by Honorable Shalanda Baker (U.S. Department of Energy) Digitals Role in Transforming Solar and Storage, by Krishna Vanka (Fluence) The Race to Zero: Leading the Charge on a Zero-Carbon Grid, by Marty Adams (Los Angeles Department of Water and Power) with Stephen Lacey (Post Script Media) Corporate Climate Leadership: Getting to Carbon-negative by 2030, by Audrey Lee (Microsoft) How Solar and Storage Lead the Way to Tackling Climate Change, by Paul Grana (Aurora Solar) and Janice Lin (Strategen)

Educational sessions that explore distributed and utility-scale solar and energy storage, including: EVs as Grid Storage Resource / v2x Interconnection Maximizing Tax Benefits A Utilitys Approach to Energy Storage Fire Safety Crafting a Community Solar Program: What Makes it Effective IRA Domestic Content Clean Energy Workforce Development

The third annual Solar Games: #isnaesna23s live tournament returns as eight teams from across North America compete for cash prizes and bragging rights, building residential solar + storage systems right within the exhibit hall. Equipment used during the competition will be donated to the nonprofit Twende Solar for use in projects that empower under-resourced communities with renewable energy systems.

New WRISE Networking Breakfast: On February 15, Women of Renewable Industries and Sustainable Energy (WRISE)s Anne Weisberg will join Melina Acevedo (D.E. Shaw Renewable Investments) and Stella Ursua (Grid Alternatives) for an inspiring conversation about how we can ensure a just transition to a clean energy future for all.



Quick Links

About Intersolar North America and Energy Storage North AmericaIntersolar North America and Energy Storage North America is the premier U.S.-based conference and trade show focused on solar, energy storage, and EV charging infrastructure. Dedicated to accelerating the energy transition, the combined event delivers actionable education, invaluable networking, and an immersive exhibit hall experience  which includes the popular Solar Games installer competition.

Join 6,000+ energy leaders and 350+ exhibitors on February 14-16, 2023, in Long Beach, CA, to help shape the next phase of our clean energy transformation.

Learn more online at intersolar.us and esnaexpo.com.

About Diversified CommunicationsDiversified Communications is a leading international media company with a portfolio of face-to-face exhibitions and conferences, online communities, and digital and print publications. As producers of these market-leading products, Diversified Communications connects, educates, and strengthens business communities in over 15 industries including: renewable energy, healthcare, natural and organic, food and beverage, and technology. Established in 1949 and headquartered in Portland, Maine, USA, with divisions and offices around the world, Diversified Communications remains a privately held, third-generation, family-owned business.

For more information, visit: https://www.divcom.com.

Media Contact:Gene HuntTrevi Communications, Inc.[email protected]978-750-0333 x101

Source: Diversified Communications
The study will expand to Rabin Medical Center (RMC), in parallel to Beit-Rivka, turning the study to a double center usability study.

Rosh Pinna, Israel, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- (IR-MED or the Company) (OTCQB: IRME), an innovative medical device company that is developing non-invasive, real-time detection devices utilizing Infra-Red light spectroscopy (IR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) for use by healthcare professionals, has announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary IR-Med Ltd. has signed an agreement with Rabin Medical Center (RMC) in Israel to perform a usability study, as an additional study center to the current study that the Company has been performing at Beit-Rivka, a large geriatrics hospital in Israel. The agreement is to conduct a usability study of our proprietary and patent protected PressureSafe device, which we plan to launch as a decision support system (DSS) tool for care givers in Hospitals, Nursing homes and Home-Care companies.

Rabin Medical Center (RMC) is one of the largest and more prominent medical facilities in Israel. In addition to first-rate medical care, RMC is renowned for its scientific research, technological development and medical achievements. Affiliated with Tel-Aviv University Sackler School of Medicine, RMC collaborates with some of the largest and most esteemed medical centres world-wide. RMC recently received international accreditation for safety and quality standards from JCI (Joint Commission International) a most prestigious organization for evaluation of health care organizations.

The PressureSafe device employs Infrared (IR), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other proprietary technologies for the early detection of pressure injuries (PI) forming under the skin and underlying tissue. The device offers caregivers the ability to quickly identify conditions which are latent or invisible to the naked eye regardless of skin tone. Dark skin tone population are prone to suffer more than double (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33626163/) rom pressure injuries, compared to white skin tone, due to the fact that redness on their skin is less detectable by the caregivers, which is the current method of detecting pressure injuries.

PI is a major challenge for care providers throughout the world. Failure to identify and treat is potentially fatal, with an estimated 60,000 mortalities from PI in the US each year. A study published in 2019 measured the total cost of acute care attributable to Hospital Acquired Pressure Injury (HAPI) for the entire United States at over $26.8 billion (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/iwj.13071). PIs remain a concern with regard to hospital quality in addition to being a major source of economic burden on the US health care system. It is expected that Hospitals would need to invest more in quality improvement of early detection and care for PI to avoid higher costs. In many countries, including the US, hospitals and nursing homes are penalized when failing to prevent PI while patients are in their care, including no reimbursement for the cost of treating PI.

Yoram Drucker, Vice President, Business Development and a Director, stated We are glad to have reached the stage of signing with Rabin Medical Center (RMC) for the expansion of the usability study of our PressureSafe device, which has the potential to provide accurate and real time information on the patients status and may prevent development of Pressure Injuries. The agreement should support the Company usability study in a major hospital mainly due to the variety patients we will be subjected to, with broader spectrum of possible treatments for different wounds and indications.

Clalit, Israel's largest HMO, which owns both RMC and Beit Rivka is at the forefront of adapting innovations to provide the best healthcare to its patients.

About IR-MED

IR-MED Inc., is developing a non-invasive spectrographic analysis technology platform, allowing healthcare professions to detect and measure different molecules in the blood and in human tissue in real-time without any invasive procedures. The first product under development is a handheld optical monitoring device that is being developed to support early detection of pressure injuries (PI) to the skin and underlying tissue, regardless of skin tone and which calibrated personally to each patients body. (Personalized Medical Device For Equal Treatment)

IR-MED technology allows high accuracy readings of biomarkers in a non-invasive method, that may provide caregiver the optimal decision support-system in cases where uncertainties disturb physicians in their decision processes.

IR-MED holds patents protecting its innovation in the noninvasive tissue analysis, and in the modeling and analysis of sub epidermis tissue.

Safe Harbor Statement / Forward-Looking Statements

Statements included in this press release, which are not historical in nature, are forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements relating to the future performance of IR-MED are subject to many factors including, but not limited to, the sufficiency or working capital and our ability to raise the capital needed to fund our development efforts, the device design and development efforts reported here, the success of and the results of clinical studies and trials, timing of product development, FDA approval/clearance of products in development, customer acceptance of our products in the market, the introduction of competitive products, the impact of any product liability or other adverse litigation, commercialization and technological difficulties, and the other risks identified in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K filed on March 31, 2022 with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Such statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date hereof, and we do not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of future events, new information, or otherwise.

Contacts

Moshe Gerber, Chief Executive Officer[email protected]

Source: IR-Med, Inc.
Improving Income-Driven Repayment for the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program

Washington, D.C., Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The U.S. Department of Educations proposed rule Improving Income-Driven Repayment for the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program represents the latest effort to achieve through administrative fiat a massive and untargeted cancellation of student-loan debt that elected members of Congress have repeatedly declined to legislate, authorize, or pay for. The New Civil Liberties Alliance, a nonpartisan, nonprofit civil rights group, filed a Comment objecting to the Department of Educations planned overhaul of income-driven repayment, on the grounds that the agency not only lacks the statutory authority to promulgate the proposed rule, but its statutory interpretation would also constitute an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power from Congress in violation of the Vesting and Appropriations Clauses of the Constitution.

The Department mistakenly claims authority to amend current law administratively based on 1993 amendments to the Higher Education Act (HEA). Invoking the 1993 HEA amendments, the Department seeks to create yet another loan-cancellation program that would lower the repayment cap further to a mere five percent of income above 225 percent of the poverty line; cancel a borrowers entire loan balance after 10 years if they borrowed $12,000 or less; and cancel the monthly accrual of interest where a borrowers monthly loan payment using the new payment cap is less than the interest accrued. Together, these provisions would transform most student loans into untargeted grants. The Department estimates that its proposed plan would cost the Treasury $138 billion in debt cancellation. The plan will likely cost far more: the Wharton School estimates that the cost to the Treasury over a ten-year span would range from $333 to $361 billion.

When Congress enacted the 1993 amendments, it did not empower the Department of Education to devise a repayment program in which most student-debt borrowers would have portions of their debt cancelled. On the contrary, those amendments were expected to be close to revenue-neutral in the long run. Congress did not specifically authorize any cancellation of debt in the 1993 legislation. Nor did it appropriate funds to pay for such cancellation. The proposed rule purports to find within the decades-old HEA amendments new authority to effectively transform federal student loans into grants. But the Major Questions doctrine forecloses rummaging through old statutes for such purposes. Specifically, it prohibits federal agencies from addressing issues of vast economic and political significance without explicit congressional authorization.

The Department essentially claims that the 1993 HEA amendments conferred unfettered unilateral discretion on the Secretary of Education. But if they had done so, that would be an unconstitutional delegation of Congress legislative power. Similarly, to the extent the 1993 HEA amendments conferred any discretion to cancel student loans, they unconstitutionally delegated Congress appropriations power. Thus, the proposed rule impermissibly seizes Congress exclusive power of the purse. If promulgated, a court would have to set aside this unlawful rule.

NCLA released the following statements:

Congress amended the HEA in 1993 primarily to authorize direct federal lending to student borrowers. Although it added vague instructions for the Department of Education to implement income-contingent repayment plans as an afterthought, no Member of Congress who voted for the HEA imagined he or she was authorizing a massive debt-relief program for well-to-do college graduates.

 Sheng Li, Litigation Counsel, NCLA

Congress has never appropriated funds for massive debt cancellation under the HEA, and the Department of Education cannot do this by administrative fiat. NCLA hopes that our comment will cause the Department to rethink the wisdom of promulgating this proposed rule. But if it insists on keeping up this utterly unconvincing attempt to ground its newest debt-cancellation scheme in the 1993 HEA amendments, NCLA will sue to stop it.

 Mark Chenoweth, President, NCLA

For more information visit the comments page here.

ABOUT NCLA

NCLA is a nonpartisan, nonprofit civil rights group founded by prominent legal scholar Philip Hamburger to protect constitutional freedoms from violations by the Administrative State. NCLAs public-interest litigation and other pro bono advocacy strive to tame the unlawful power of state and federal agencies and to foster a new civil liberties movement that will help restore Americans fundamental rights.

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MONTREAL, Feb. 13, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NioBay Metals Inc. (NioBay or the Company) (TSX-V: NBY) (OTCQB: NBYCF) would like to provide an update on the delay in the delivery of assay results following the drilling program on the extension of the Crevier project (the Crevier Extension), in addition to increase in the Companys land position in Quebec.

Delay in receiving analyses on the Crevier ExtensionThe Company wishes to inform that it is currently facing delays in the delivery of assay results from the 2022 drilling campaign. (PR December 2022). The Company will issue a press release when it has validated the results obtained, respecting the established standards.

Figure 1: Map of the 2022 drilling programhttps://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/56dca8e0-537d-468a-b123-3aa48b94f93d

Staking of claimsThe Company has staked a series of 257 mining claims northwest of its Crevier property in the Lac-St-Jean region of Quebec (see Figure 2). The Company will verify the Lithium (Li) potential in this area following completion of its compilation work. This newly staked area adds 14,116 ha to the portfolio of mining claims for NioBay.

Figure 2: Map of new claims for Lihttps://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/28c4ca11-c6b1-4c08-b984-014e4f00fa80

Message from the President of NioBay and Crevier Minerals Consistent with messages received from some of our shareholders, we are also disappointed with the delays surrounding the analysis results, said Jean-Sebastien David, president of the Company. Last week, due to quality control deficiencies, we have placed a request to re-test the majority of the analysis received. We still wish to have results to present at PDAC 2023, which will be held in March in Toronto. As for the claims staked since last January, it follows compilation and discussions with the users of the territory. In addition, the selected sectors are accessible by a network of forestry roads, concluded Mr. David.

About NioBay Metals Inc.NioBay is a company focused on exploration, development and use of critical green metals with an Environmentally, Sustainable, Governance, and Indigenous (ESGI) focus. The Company holds a 100% interest in the James Bay Niobium Project located 45 km south of Moosonee, in the Moose Cree Traditional Territory of the James Bay Lowlands in Ontario. NioBay also holds a 72.5% interest in the Crevier Niobium and Tantalum project located in Quebec and on the Nitassinan territory of the Pekuakamiulnatsh First Nation.

About NiobiumNiobium is a naturally occurring element. It is a readily available, reliable, soft metal that is ductile, malleable and highly resistant to corrosion. Because it enhances properties and functionalities, niobium is used in a wide range of materials and applications in the Mobility, Structural and Energy sectors. Niobium transforms materials. When added to materials like steel, glass and aluminum castings, niobium makes them smarter and lower environmental impacts, while also delivering other benefits like better performance, improved safety and increased value.

Cautionary StatementCertain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking information under the provisions of Canadian securities laws including statements about the Company's plans. Such statements are necessarily based upon a number of beliefs, assumptions, and opinions of management on the date the statements are made and are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and future events to differ materially from those anticipated or projected. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors should change, except as required by law.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:

NioBay Metals Inc.Jean-Sebastien David, P.Geo., MPMPresident & CEO[email protected] www.niobaymetals.com

Figure 1 Map of the 2022 drilling program Figure 2 Map of new claims for Li

Source: NioBay Metals Inc.
CENTREVILLE, Va., Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As the space environment becomes proliferated with government and commercial systems, the need to design, develop, and deploy operationally relevant capabilities requires agile innovation and a close partnership between government and commercial industries. With experience in both government and commercial space, Parsons Corporation (NYSE: PSN) established the Parsons Space Operations Center (PSOC) to address the demand for a commercial approach to spacecraft operations and ground control, that maximizes affordability while delivering high-quality and responsive solutions.

The PSOC serves as an integrated facility that unifies spacecraft operations for multiple government and commercial programs, creating efficiency and the sharing of knowledge, which translates to cost, schedule, and resource optimization. These integrated and automated capabilities include command and control, telemetry processing, testing, scheduling, mission planning, data delivery, and other functions needed to operate spacecraft in all orbits.

PSOC is providing operational support to government and commercial systems, with the ability to support classified and unclassified operations with a mixture of on-premises, cloud, and hybrid ground architectures, said Paul Decker, president, Defense and Intelligence sector for Parsons. We are accessing multiple partners global commercial antenna networks to support PSOC operations. Were also leveraging Parsons innovative technologies like OrbitXchange, our established solution that allows automated and resilient global access for government and commercial spacecraft. A fully trained spacecraft operations staff is already working as the sole-source provider for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Blackjack Ground Operations, and recently added the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Polar Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) Extended Life contracts for the NOAA POES-15, 18, and 19 spacecraft.

Both contracts are executed following a Ground Operations Center as a Service (GOCaaS) model, alleviating the need for government investment in costly architecture and operations.

We originally thought Blackjack would be the first to use the GOCaaS model, but NOAAs POES spacecraft are already on-orbit coupled with an aggressive schedule, which led them to being the first to use our service through this model, said Decker. We plan to add a third government customer using the GOCaaS model with launch currently planned for 2024 while continuing to support commercial customer efforts. We also invite potential customers whod like to explore our capabilities to visit our Colorado Springs-based PSOC.

Later this year, Navigation Technology Satellite -3 (NTS-3) will use a tailored version of the hybrid cloud architecture as its POES and Blackjack predecessors. With funding from the Air Force Research Laboratory, a similar hybrid ground architecture is being delivered to Kirtland Air Force Base to operate the NTS-3 spacecraft, with Parsons investigating the use of a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to provide back-up operations services from the PSOC.

Most importantly, Parsons has an affordable model and the technical experience to achieve short timelines to onboard new spacecraft into operations. The company has experience supporting nearly 200 different space programs over the past 20 years, including the satellites built by all major contractors, many of the new commercial space companies, and international companies.

To learn more about Parsons space access capabilities, please visit: parsons.com/markets/space/.

About Parsons:Parsons (NYSE: PSN) is a leading disruptive technology provider in the national security and global infrastructure markets, with capabilities across cyber, space and missile defense, transportation, environmental remediation, urban development, and critical infrastructure solutions. Please visit Parsons.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Facebook to learn how we're making an impact.

Media Contact:Angie Benfield +1 803.334.5277[email protected]

Investor Relations Contact:Dave Spille+ 1 703.775.6191[email protected]

Source: Parsons Services Company
Perth, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HALF YEAR REPORT INVESTOR WEBINAR / CALL

Perth, Western Australia/February 14, 2023/Perseus Mining Limited (ASX/TSX: PRU) is hosting an investor webinar and conference call to discuss its December 2022 Half Year Results, which are anticipated for release around 8:30am AEDT on Thursday February 23, 2023.

CALL DETAILS

Australia: Thursday February 23, 2023Perth  6:00amSydney/Melbourne  9:00am Canada: Wednesday February 22, 2023Vancouver  2:00pm Toronto  5:00pm UK: Wednesday February 22, 2023London  10:00pm

Register for the webinar at the link below:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_-okmphLRTeedze4IV3chDw

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

To join the webinar via telephone, please use one of the following numbers and enter the webinar ID: 836 2812 9646

For higher quality, dial a number based on your current location:

Location Australia Singapore Canada USA New Zealand United Kingdom Dial in Number +61 8 7150 1149 +61 3 7018 2005 +65 3165 1065 +1 778 907 2071 +1 669 900 9128 +64 9 884 6780 +44 203 901 7895

International numbers available: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kc4V0QEUDI

A recording of the conference call will be made available via Perseuss website at www.perseusmining.com.

This announcement was approval for release by Jeff Quartermaine, Managing Director and CEO.

ASX/TSXU CODE: PRUCAPITAL STRUCTURE:Ordinary shares: 1,367,463,113Performance rights: 12,001,072REGISTERED OFFICE:Level 2437 Roberts RoadSubiaco WA 6008Telephone: +61 8 6144 1700Email: [email protected] www.perseusmining.com CONTACTS:Jeff QuartermaineManaging Director & CEO [email protected] Nathan RyanCorporate Relations+61 4 20 582 887 [email protected]

Source: Perseus Mining Limited
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PharmAla Biotech Holdings Inc. (PharmAla)(CSE: MDMA) is pleased to announce that, in the wake of a landmark decision by the Therapeutic Goods Agency (TGA) of Australia on February 3rd, it has completed an agreement to sell a shipment of its GMP LaNeo MDMA to Emyria Ltd. Amidst growing interest in its products and technologies, PharmAla has submitted a trademark application for LaNeo in Australia. The TGA's regulatory change will make Australia the first country in the world to allow specially-licensed psychiatrists to prescribe MDMA and Psilocybin for certain conditions, beginning July 1st.

Forward-looking companies are already moving to supply their clinical operations following the TGAs regulatory change that will take effect on July 1st. While this is a nascent industry, we are committed to responsibly supplying our customers as they develop operational capacity, said Nick Kadysh, CEO of PharmAla Biotech. PharmAla has already been active in Australia - supporting no less than 3 different clinical trials with our LaNeo MDMA. Were very pleased that, just 10 days after the change was announced, were in advanced discussions with a number of interested parties, and have already closed a new purchase order.

PharmAla is the only publicly-traded company currently manufacturing and exporting clinical-grade MDMA, and the only entity in the world that offers its customers both EU-GMP MDMA and EU-GMP Psilocybin. PharmAlas current offerings include both API and EU-GMP encapsulated drug product. Its trademark filings in Australia also include the PharmAla brand name.

We currently have a historic opportunity before us: to not only supply customers with high-quality EU-GMP API and drug products, but also to build one of the preeminent psychedelics operations in Australia - the country leading the world with regulations to support treatment, said Dr. Shane Morris, COO, PharmAla Biotech. PharmAla has worked hard to develop world class excellence in manufacturing and regulatory compliance. We look forward to the opportunity to share our product data not only with our partners and clinicians but with the TGA in future meetings.

For more information, please visit www.PharmAla.ca, where you can sign up to receive regular new updates.About PharmAlaPharmAla Biotech Holdings Inc. (CSE: MDMA) is a biotechnology company focused on the research, development, and manufacturing of MDXX class molecules, including MDMA. PharmAla was founded with a dual focus: alleviating the global backlog of generic, clinical-grade MDMA to enable clinical trials, and to develop novel drugs in the same class. PharmAla is the first publicly-traded company to manufacture clinical-grade MDMA. PharmAlas research and development unit has completed proof-of-concept research into ALA-002, PharmAlas lead drug candidate. PharmAla is a regulatory first organization, formed under the principle that true success in the psychedelics industry will only be achieved through excellent relationships with regulators. For more information, please contact:Nicholas KadyshChief Executive OfficerPharmAla Biotech Holdings Inc.Email: [email protected] Phone: 1-855-444-6362Website: www.PharmAla.ca

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider have reviewed or accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statement

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. 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 PharmAlas current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Forward-looking information is based on reasonable assumptions that have been made by PharmAla at the date of the information and is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking information. The forward-looking information contained in this press release is made as of the date hereof, and PharmAla is not obligated to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements are described under the caption Risk Factors in PharmAlas managements discussion and analysis which is available on PharmAlas profile at www.sedar.com.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, and shall not constitute an offer, solicitation or sale in any state, province, territory or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state, province, territory or jurisdiction

Source: PharmAla Biotech
Palo Alto, California, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rayont Inc. (Rayont or the Company) (OTC PINK: RAYT), an international personalized natural healthcare company, today reported financial results for the six-month ended December 31, 2022.

Business Highlights Within the Six-Month ended December 31, 2022:

Ms. Marshini Moodley, CEO and CFO, said, We recorded an increase in both the revenue and gross profit for the period ended December 31, 2022 compared to same period last year, mainly due to acquisition of the business of No More Knots Pty Ltd, No More Knots (Newmarket) Pty Ltd, No More Knots (Taringa) Pty Ltd, Ipswich Massage and Tugun Compounding Pharmacy under Health Script Pty Ltd.

Six-month Ending December 31, 2022, Financial Results:

Six Months Ended December 31, 2022 2021 Revenues $ 2,788,102 $ 1,361,887 Gross Profit $ 1,686,183 $ 671,421

Improved Balance Sheet Results

December 31, 2022 June 30,2022 Cash $ 10,652 $ 185,782 Total Assets $ 10,257,537 $ 14,193,235 Total Liabilities $ 4,018,703 $ 9,099,623 Total Stockholders Equity $ 6,238,834 $ 5,093,612

Marshini Moodley added, Our quarterly performance reflecting decreased total asset portfolio and total liabilities mainly as result of the sale of three subsidiaries of the group that included mostly the land, properties and loans related with those properties. Due to that, the working capital is improved as there was a working capital deficit of $83,884 on June 30, 2022 and working capital of $1,237,993 on December 31, 2022. Our cash reserves have decreased due to capital investments and servicing loan interest received to cover different investments done from the Company during the quarter.

Strategies for Growth

During this financial year we continue to undertake several key activities aimed to improve the overall performance of Rayont Inc namely:

Continue to consolidate the operations of Prema Life with that of Tugun Compounding Pharmacy to drive cost reduction and efficiencies across both operations.

Launch Health Script telehealth platform for naturopaths globally with key markets focus Australia and the USA.

Continue with smaller acquisitions that can contribute to revenue growth and synergies across the group. We expect that the acquisitions made to date will contribute to significant revenue and profit growth this financial year.

These activities are being worked on and we will communicate their completions as we achieve them.

Disclosure Regarding the Financial Reports Provided in the Form 10-Q

The auditors review for current version of the Form 10Q has not been completed due to the fact that the valuation report for the acquisition of the business of Ipswich Massage, Prema Life and Tugun Compounding Pharmacy by an independent expert that not been completed. The company is in process of procuring these reports.

Once the auditors review is ready, the Company will file an amendment to its Form 10-Q.

About Rayont Inc.

Rayont, Inc. (RAYT) is a public traded company incorporated in Nevada, USA since its inception in 2011. In 2018, the Company repositioned itself to focus on personalized natural healthcare industry.

Rayont uses scientific tools such as DNA, microbiome, iridology and other tests to personalize diagnoses, prescription and treatments of natural complementary and alternative medicine products, services and treatments to our patients in the markets we operate.

For further information, please visit www.rayont.com

SAFE HARBOR

Certain statements in this news release may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of Rule 175 under the Securities Act of 1933, are subject to Rule 3b-6 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and are subject to the safe harbors created by those rules. All statements, other than statements of fact, included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding potential future plans and objectives of the company, are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and other results and further events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Future events and actual results could differ materially from those set forth in, contemplated by, or underlying the forward-looking statements.

Company Contact:Investor Relations[email protected]

Source: Rayont Inc
DALLAS, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Voz Media announced today the acquisition of MegaTV business from Spanish Broadcasting System, Inc. (the "Company" or "SBS") (OTC Pink: SBSAA) for a total acquisition price of $64 million USD.

"I am very proud of the nearly two decades of award-winning programming, community dedication, and industry accomplishments achieved by Mega TV, a network operation that succeeded in forging its own unique position among Hispanic viewers in the U.S. and Puerto Rico," commented Raul Alarcon, Chairman and CEO of SBS. "I am especially pleased to leave this unique asset in the hands of a dedicated Hispanic owner, Orlando Salazar, the founder of Voz Media, who will continue the expansion of MegaTV and the overriding commitment to faithfully serve our nation's burgeoning Latino population."

"It is an honor for Voz Media to be selected to continue the work and tradition started by Raul Alarcon and MegaTV in the Spanish-language television media market. We take seriously the challenge of moving MegaTV forward in both reach and content as we continue to serve Spanish speakers across the United States," said Orlando Salazar, CEO of Voz Media.

"We couldn't be prouder of the fact that the legacy of MegaTV will continue under the leadership of another Hispanic-Owned media company," said Albert Rodriguez, COO/President of Spanish Broadcasting System. "Orlando Salazar and the Voz Media team have our undivided support, and we look forward to working with them throughout this transition and beyond."

About Voz Media, Inc.

Voz Media is a Spanish-language news channel located in Dallas, Texas, with offices in Madrid, Spain, and Miami, Florida. It was founded in January 2022 by businessman Orlando Salazar, a native Texan of Mexican descent. The channel programming is aimed at the Hispanic public and provides a fresh, new, alternative point of view for news. In the following months, Voz Media will launch its streaming platform, which will include series, documentaries, movies, and sitcoms. You can find their content on www.voz.us, their mobile app, and social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and YouTube).

About Spanish Broadcasting System, Inc.

Spanish Broadcasting System, Inc. (SBS) owns and operates radio stations located in the top U.S. Hispanic markets, airing the Tropical, Regional Mexican, Spanish Adult Contemporary, Top 40, and Urbano format genres. SBS also operates AIRE Radio Networks, a national radio platform of over 290 affiliated stations reaching 95% of the U.S. Hispanic audience. SBS also owns MegaTV, a network television operation with over-the-air, cable, and satellite distribution and affiliates throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico, produces a nationwide roster of live concerts and events, and owns a stable of digital properties, including LaMusica, a mobile app providing Latino-focused audio and video streaming content and HitzMaker, a new-talent destination for aspiring artists. For more information, visit us online at www.spanishbroadcasting.com.

Contact Information: Jose I Molina Chief Financial Oficer (305) 441 6901 Brad Edwards The Plunkett Group (914) 582 4187 Pablo Kleinman Chief Operating Officer [email protected]

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Source: VOZ MEDIA INC.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 14, 2023) - Cordoba Minerals Corp. (TSXV: CDB) (OTCQB: CDBMF) (otherwise "Cordoba" or the "Company"), today announces that it has temporarily suspended its Feasibility Study in-fill drilling program and other on-site work at the Company's San Matias Copper-Gold-Silver Project. The Company has been closely monitoring the impact of the ongoing public demonstrations on social reformation taking place across Colombia. Cordoba's primary focus remains the health and safety of all its employees and contractors as well as its host communities. As such, we have taken action to immediately suspend operations at San Matias.

The Company is now liaising with the local authorities to determine when it may re-commence its camp activities and Feasibility Study in-fill drilling program. All desk-top work on the Feasibility Study technical programs for the Alacran Project will continue as usual. The Company expects to resume all work within the next 7-10 days but in any case will continue monitoring the situation in Colombia and provide updates accordingly.

About Cordoba

Cordoba Minerals Corp. is a mineral exploration company focused on the exploration, development and acquisition of copper and gold projects. Cordoba is developing the San Matias Copper-Gold-Silver Project, which includes the Alacran deposit and satellite deposits at Montiel East, Montiel West and Costa Azul, located in the Department of Cordoba, Colombia. The Company has entered into a strategic arrangement with JCHX Mining Management Co., Ltd., pursuant to which JCHX will acquire 50% of the Alacran Project and the parties will jointly develop the Project. The Company anticipates the strategic arrangement will close around the end of the second quarter of 2023, on satisfaction or waiver of all conditions to completion. Cordoba also holds a 51% interest in the Perseverance Copper Project in Arizona, USA, which it is exploring through a Joint Venture and Earn-In Agreement. For further information, please visit www.cordobaminerals.com.

ON BEHALF OF THE COMPANY

Sarah Armstrong-Montoya, President and Chief Executive Officer

Information Contact

Ran Li +1-604-689-8765

[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) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release includes "forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. All statements included in this news release, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements including, without limitation, but not limited to, statements with respect to operations at San Matias including, but not limited to, the resumption of operations and provision of updates; the preparation of an updated mineral resource statement; JCHX transaction; geological interpretations; Feasibility Study; results of the current exploration and interpretations thereof; mineralization potential; and contemplated drilling and development programs. Forwardlooking statements include predictions, projections and forecasts and are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect", "potential", "target", "budget" and "intend" and statements that an event or result "may", "will", "should", "could" or "might" occur or be achieved and other similar expressions and includes the negatives thereof.

Forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by management based on the business and markets in which Cordoba operates, are inherently subject to significant operational, economic, and competitive uncertainties, risks and contingencies. Such assumptions and estimates include, but are not limited to, assumptions with respect to the status of community relations and the security situation on site and in Colombia; general business and economic conditions; continuity of drilling programs; the availability of additional exploration and mineral project; the supply and demand for, inventories of, and the level and volatility of the prices of metals; relationships with strategic partners and significant shareholders; the timing and receipt of governmental permits and approvals; the timing and receipt of community and landowner approvals; timing and receipt of applicable approvals for the JCHX transaction; changes in regulations; political factors; the accuracy of the Company's interpretation of drill results; the geology, grade and continuity of the Company's mineral deposits; the availability of equipment, skilled labour and services needed for the exploration and development of mineral properties; currency fluctuations; and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate and actual results, and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations include actual exploration results, continuity of drilling programs, interpretation of metallurgical characteristics of the mineralization, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, future metal prices, availability of capital and financing on acceptable terms, general economic, market or business conditions, uninsured risks, regulatory changes, delays or inability to receive required approvals, uncertainties relating to epidemics, pandemics and other public health crises, including COVID-19 or similar such viruses, and other exploration or other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulators, including those described under the heading "Risks and Uncertainties" in the Company's most recently filed MD&A. The Company does not undertake to update or revise any forward-looking statements, except in accordance with applicable law. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154698
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 14, 2023) - Lahontan Gold Corp. (TSXV: LG) (OTCQB: LGCXF) (the "Company" or "Lahontan") is pleased to announce that, further to its press release of February 8, 2023, it has increased the size of the offering of units of the Company. Under the amended terms of the Offering (as defined below), Beacon Securities Limited (the "Agent") has agreed to sell, on a best efforts private placement basis, up to 20,910,000 units (the "Units") at a price of $0.11 per Unit (the "Issue Price") for aggregate gross proceeds of up to $2,300,100 (the "Offering").

Each Unit shall consist of one common share in the capital of the Company (each, a "Unit Share") and one-half of one common share purchase warrant (each whole warrant, a "Warrant"). Each Warrant will be exercisable to acquire one common share (a "Warrant Share") for a period of 36 months following the closing of the Offering at a price of $0.18 per Warrant Share.

The Company has granted Beacon an option, exercisable in whole or in part at any time up to 48 hours prior to the closing of the Offering, to sell up to an additional 9,090,000 Units (the "Additional Units") at a price per Additional Unit equal to the Issue Price.

The securities to be issued under the Offering will be offered by way of private placement in each of the Provinces of Canada and such other jurisdictions as may be determined by the Company, in each case, pursuant to applicable exemptions from the prospectus requirements under applicable securities laws. The securities issued in connection with this Offering will be subject to a four-month hold period from the date of closing of the Offering in addition to any other restrictions under applicable law.

The net proceeds from the Offering will be used for: (i) exploration expenditures on the Company's Santa Fe, Nevada property; and (ii) working capital and general corporate purposes. The Offering is expected to close on or about February 28, 2023 (the "Closing Date"), and is subject to certain conditions including, but not limited to, the receipt of all necessary approvals, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

The Offering will be conducted pursuant to the terms of an agency agreement to be entered into between the Company and the Agent on or prior to the Closing Date. In connection with the Offering, subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval, the Agent will receive: (i) a 7.0% cash fee; and (ii) that number of compensation options equal to 7.0% of the aggregate number of Units sold under the Offering, each exercisable to acquire one common share at the Issue Price for 36 months following the Closing Date.

The securities offered have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any State in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

About Lahontan Gold Corp:

Lahontan Gold Corp. is a Canadian mineral exploration company that holds, through its US subsidiaries, three top-tier gold and silver exploration properties in the Walker Lane of mining friendly Nevada. Lahontan's flagship property, the 19 km2 Santa Fe Mine, is a past producing gold and silver mine that utilized heap-leach processing (past production of 345,000 ounces of gold and 711,000 ounces of silver between 1988 and 1995; Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, 1995). The Santa Fe Mine has an Indicated Mineral Resource of 1,112,000 oz Au Eq (grading 1.14 g/t Au Eq) and an Inferred Mineral Resource of 544,000 oz Au Eq (grading 1.00 g/t Au Eq), all pit constrained (please see Lahontan press release dated January 17, 2023). The Company plans to continue to aggressively explore the entire property during 2023 and begin the process of evaluating development scenarios to bring the Santa Fe Mine back into production. Quinten J. Browne, P.Geo., Consulting Geologist to Lahontan Gold Corp., is the Qualified Person for the Company and approved the technical content of this news release. For more information, please visit our website: www.lahontangoldcorp.com.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Kimberly Ann

Founder, CEO, President, and Director

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Lahontan Gold Corp.

Kimberly Ann

Founder, Chief Executive Officer, President, Director

Phone: 1-530-414-4400

Email:[email protected]

Website: www.lahontangoldcorp.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:

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.

Except for statements of historic fact, this news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates at the date the statements are made and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements including, but not limited to delays or uncertainties with regulatory approvals, including that of the TSXV. There are uncertainties inherent in forward-looking information, including factors beyond the Company's control. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change except as required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties that could affect financial results is contained in the Company's filings with Canadian securities regulators, which filings are available at www.sedar.com.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES ORFOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154831
Moovly offers a video creation tool to help fast-growing businesses create on-brand videos in minutes, based on video templates connected to their shop's product assets

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 14, 2023) - Moovly Media Inc. (TSXV: MVY) (OTCQB: MVVYF) (FSE: OPV2) ("Moovly" or the "Company") today announced it has been named a BigCommerce Certified Technology Partner, providing tens of thousands of BigCommerce customers access to Moovly's E-Commerce Video Maker. Beginning today, BigCommerce customers can integrate Moovly's Video Maker app through the BigCommerce App Marketplace.

Brendon Grunewald, CEO & Co-Founder, at Moovly, said: "There is plenty of evidence that products with videos sell better than those without. Our E-Commerce Video Maker is a game changer for online sellers seeking to increase sales with the use of product videos and video adverts. This integration can give BigCommerce sellers the tools to possibly help increase their sales using video with a simple pay per video business model."

Integrating the Moovly E-Commerce Video Maker into BigCommerce's marketplace enables BigCommerce sellers, product marketers and agencies to easily create product videos and video adverts with a few clicks using the product information, assets and data already in the BigCommerce platform and templates already available in Moovly, without an upfront fee or subscription. Paying subscribers of Moovly will get access to the full Moovly feature set (including advanced features like AI translations, text-to-speech, subtitling, etc.) and be able to make their own templates.

BigCommerce sellers and agencies will also be able to use Moovly's video review system, a fast feedback review feature, seamlessly integrated in the BigCommerce interface providing near instant collaboration between different users (e.g. BigCommerce sellers and advertising agencies).

BigCommerce Certified Technology Partners are selected for offering best-in-class technologies, value and superior customer service. For more information, visit: https://www.moovly.com/ecommerce-video-maker/bigcommerce.

About BigCommerce:

BigCommerce (BIGC) is a leading open software-as-a-service (SaaS) ecommerce platform that empowers merchants of all sizes to build, innovate and grow their businesses online. BigCommerce provides merchants with sophisticated enterprise-grade functionality, customization and performance with simplicity and ease-of-use. Tens of thousands of B2C and B2B companies across 150 countries and numerous industries use BigCommerce to create beautiful, engaging online stores, including Ben & Jerry's, Molton Brown, S.C. Johnson, Skullcandy, Solo Stove, Ted Baker and Vodafone. Headquartered in Austin, BigCommerce has offices in London, Kyiv, San Francisco, and Sydney. For more information, please visit www.bigcommerce.com or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

BigCommerce is a registered trademark of BigCommerce Pty. Ltd. Third-party trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners.

About Moovly:

Moovly is the leading provider of creative cloud-based tools to create compelling marketing, communications and training videos and video presentations. Moovly's advanced Studio Editor with over 100 million stock digital assets seamlessly integrated (via partnerships with Getty) is all you need to create engaging video content to promote, communicate or explain your product, service or message. Moovly's API and Automator technologies allow third parties to automate parts or all of the content creation process, including mass video customization, personalized videos (video version of mail merge), automatic content creation or updating by connecting data sources. With clients including users from over 300 of the Fortune 500, small businesses, freelancers and Ivy league universities, Moovly is an intuitive, cost-effective choice for DIY creation of engaging video-based content.

"Your story begins with Moovly"

Files are available for download in our press room at www.moovly.com/pressroom.

For additional information about Moovly, please visit www.moovly.com.

Brendon Grunewald

President, CEO and Director

Email: [email protected]

Reader Advisory

This press release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. The use of any of the words "expect", "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "objective", "ongoing", "may", "will", "project", "should", "believe", "plans", "intends" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking information or statements. More particularly and without limitation, this news release contains forward looking statements and information with respect to Moovly's future business plans and the expected benefits of its products. The forward-looking statements and information are based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the Company. Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking statements and information are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward looking statements and information because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct.

By its nature, such forward-looking information is subject to various risks and uncertainties, which could cause the actual results and expectations to differ materially from the anticipated results or expectations expressed. These risks and uncertainties, include, but are not limited to, Moovly's inability to continue to commercialize its products or demand for its products decreases or disappears. Other risk factors are set forth in detail in the Company's Management Discussion and Analysis dated September 30, 2022 which is available for review under the Company's corporate profile at www.sedar.com. Some other risks and factors that could cause the results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking information also include, but are not limited to: general economic conditions in Canada, the United States and globally; industry conditions, unanticipated operating events; failure to obtain any necessary third party consents and approvals, if and when required; the availability of capital on acceptable terms; the need to obtain required approvals from regulatory authorities; stock market volatility; competition for, among other things, capital and skilled personnel; changes in tax laws; and the other factors. Readers are cautioned that this list of risk factors should not be construed as exhaustive.

The forward-looking information contained in this news release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on this forward-looking information, which is given as of the date hereof, and to not use such forward-looking information for anything other than its intended purpose. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154633
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - February 14, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today proposed a rule that would revise the Commissions regulations under the Privacy Act. The Privacy Act is the principal law governing the handling of personal information in the federal government. The current rules provide procedures for making Privacy Act requests, including requests for access to and amendment of records pertaining to the individual making the request. The revisions will clarify, update, and streamline the language of several procedural provisions.

I am pleased to support this proposal because, if adopted, it would broadly update our Privacy Act rules to account for modern technology, as well as provide the public with greater transparency into the Commissions use of this data, said SEC Chair Gary Gensler. These amendments would provide more clarity on how the public can access their records maintained by the Commission and request amendments. I look forward to public comment on the proposal.

The Commission last updated its Privacy Act rules in 2011. The proposed revisions would codify current practices for processing requests made by the public under the Privacy Act. This would provide greater clarity regarding the Commissions process for how individuals can access information pertaining to themselves. Due to the scope of the revisions, the proposed rule would replace the Commissions current Privacy Act regulations in their entirety.

If adopted, the proposed rule would revise procedural and fee provisions, as well as eliminate unnecessary provisions. The proposed rule would also allow for electronic methods to verify ones identity and to submit Privacy Act requests.

The proposing releaseis published on SEC.govand will be published in the Federal Register. The public comment period will remain open until Apr. 17, 2023, or until 30 days following publication of the proposing release in the Federal Register, whichever is later.
FILE PHOTO: Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during an event at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. November 15, 2022. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

By Jason Lange and Joseph Ax

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Former U.S. President Donald Trump leads a potentially wide field seeking the Republican nomination to run for president in 2024, with newly announced candidate Nikki Haley a distant fourth, according to a Reuters/Ipsos public opinion poll.

Trump received support from 43% of registered Republicans in the new Feb. 6-13 poll, while 31% said they supported Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and just 4% picked former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who announced her White House run on Tuesday.

DeSantis is widely expected to run for president but has not announced his intention to do so. Former Vice President Mike Pence, who also is weighing a White House bid, got 7% of Republican support in the poll, essentially tied with Haley.

Haley served in Trump's administration as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll surveyed 1,465 registered Republicans, part of a larger sample of more than 4,000 adults nationwide. The poll's credibility interval, a measure of precision, was about 3% for registered Republicans.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax and Jason LangeEditing by Colleen Jenkins, Tomasz Janowski and Chizu Nomiyama)
NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- American Skin Association (ASA) announced the renewal of its support for the SPOTS (Sun Protection Outreach Teaching by Students) program. SPOTS is a community outreach program designed to teach students from preschool through high school about the importance of early detection and prevention of skin cancer.

The comprehensive program, taught by medical school students, teaches early detection and prevention measures for skin cancer in an effort to increase knowledge and positively affect young people's attitudes and behaviors towards sun protection. SPOTS, run by a stellar team including Dr. Sofia Chaudhry of Saint Louis University and Drs. Laurin Council and Lynn Cornelius of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, aims to educate medical/allied health students in sun protection methods, teaching strategies, and the basics of cutaneous malignancies. These methods are used to better prepare future dermatologists for educating and treating current and future patients.

"ASA is excited to continue its fifth year of support for the SPOTS program. This worthwhile partnership is part of our mission to educate young people on the importance of sun safety and caring for their skin," said ASA Chairman Howard P. Milstein. With ASA's support, the SPOTS program expanded its teaching platforms by developing a virtual curriculum to allow these critical efforts to continue during the global pandemic. This new platform has effectively allowed the program to expand its reach into new communities.

Since July 2021, through a very active recruitment by member medical schools, approximately 8,000 students have received education on skin cancer and protection through SPOTS. Two programs were developed to target students in differing age groups: the 12+ program for adolescent students and the early childhood program for elementary students. The 12+ program is taught in class and via Zoom, along with the Skin of Color teaching points and modules, videos and pamphlets. The early childhood program uses more age-appropriate content with animated videos, posters, bookmarks, and pamphlets that target parents. Educational materials have been translated into Spanish to reach a wider population of students and their families. The Skin of Color modules and Spanish translation of materials have succeeded in making SPOTS more inclusive and able to reach a wider, more diverse community.

In 2022, SPOTS announced two exciting initiatives. The first is a production of a new PSA video filmed with Drs. Chaudhry and Council and four patients, who share their personal stories to encourage better skin protection. In addition to this PSA, the SPOTS team reported that the Multi-Institution Research Study to evaluate the effect of this program in the clinical setting has been approved at Saint Louis University School of Medicine. This study is underway and utilizes pre- and post-program surveys to assess students' knowledge, attitudes and behaviors towards sun protection. In addition, a separate study was conducted this past year employing SPOTS educational materials in a clinical setting. The impact of skin cancer education, using the SPOTS educational pamphlet, for patients with skin of color was evaluated. The intervention led to an 80% increase in correctly identifying melanoma's warning signs.

"We are grateful to ASA and its Education Council for their fifth year of support of SPOTS. We look forward continued growth of this critical program to more communities and its students," said Dr. Cornelius. Over the past 26 years, there has been a notable increase in the incidence of melanoma in children, particularly in adolescents. ASA's mission includes championing skin health among children by educating youth and parents on the importance of skin health and sun safety. "We are excited to continue our partnership with Dr. Cornelius and the SPOTS program and look forward to the program's continued growth," said ASA President, Dr. David Norris.

"Sun protection is the easiest and most effective way to diminish the risk of skin cancer and to avoid an acceleration of the skin aging process. Increasing awareness of behaviors and education of the consequences of sun exposure is at the heart of the mission of the American Skin Association," adds Humberto C. Antunes, Co-Chair of the ASA's Education Council.

ABOUT AMERICAN SKIN ASSOCIATION

A unique collaboration of patients, families, advocates, physicians and scientists, ASA has evolved over three decades as a leading force in efforts to defeat melanoma, skin cancer and other skin diseases. Established to serve the now more than 100 million Americans  one-third of the U.S. population  afflicted with skin disorders, the organization's mission remains to: advance research, champion skin health - particularly among children - and drive public awareness about skin disease. For more information, visit americanskin.org.

ABOUT SPOTS

SPOTS started as a collaboration between Saint Louis University and Washington University Medical Schools in Saint Louis, Missouri, but has expanded to programs across the country, and with your help, will continue to do so. Download teaching materials to start your own SPOTS chapter today. For more information, visit spotseducation.org/.

American Skin Association has earned Candid's 2023 Seal of Platinum Transparency.

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SOURCE American Skin Association
BOSTON, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Asian American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts (AALAM) today announced grants to three nonprofits that advocate for policy changes and improve access to essential services for Asian/Asian American communities.

Coinciding with the Asian Outreach Center (AOC)'s 50th anniversary, AALAM has committed to a $25,000 grant in support of the center's programming and has promised to match any donation up to an additional $25,000. AOC provides guidance, referral services and free legal assistance to nearly 1,000 low-income Asian immigrants each year. The center's goal is to be a gateway to legal services and the legal system for all low-income Asians who rely on them.

Separately, AALAM has dedicated $25,000 to the Harry H. Dow Memorial Legal Assistance Fund (Dow Fund), which is in addition to the funding AALAM typically provides. What's more, AALAM is increasing its annual contribution to the Dow Fund from $10,000 to $15,000 for the next three years. The Dow Fund was founded in 1985 in memory of Harry Dow (1904-1985), a Suffolk University Law School graduate who in 1929, became the first Asian American admitted to practice law in Massachusetts. Over the past 35 years, the Dow Fund has launched numerous projects, including the Anti-Asian Violence Education Project, Asian Battered Women Project, Asian Immigrant Rights Initiative, Cambodian Outreach Project, Chinatown Stabilization Project, and the Dow Fund Community Internship.

"Harry Dow devoted his life to serving the underprivileged and grassroots organizations in many communities, including Boston's South End and Chinatown," said Emily K. Yu, a trustee of the Dow Fund. "Thanks to AALAM's generosity the Dow Fund will be able to continue to support legal services, advocacy and education in communities often deprived of justice due to barriers such as language, race, culture, poverty, or immigration status."

Finally, AALAM has pledged a $10,000 grant to the Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence (ATASK), which operates New England's only multilingual and culturally relevant shelter, 24-hour hotline, and advocacy programs for Asian/Asian American survivors. All programs and services have the goal of empowering vulnerable survivors to lead lives free of violence and to be self-sufficient.

"We are honored to recognize and support all of the great services these organizations provide," said Emily Sy, AALAM President. "The grants align with AALAM's strategy of partnering with nonprofits focused on supporting anti-racism and underrepresented or marginalized communities."

About AALAM

The Asian American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts (AALAM) is a non-partisan, non-profit organization devoted to serving the Asian American legal community and improving and facilitating the administration of law and justice. Founded in 1984 by a small group of Asian American lawyers, AALAM has now grown to a network of over 250 lawyers, judges, law professors and law students in Massachusetts and New England. AALAM is a Northeast Region affiliate of the National Asian-Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) and an affinity bar partner of the Boston Bar Association. For more information about AALAM, please visit www.aalam.wildapricot.org/.

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SOURCE Asian American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts
Bright Pattern Contact Center, capable of easily integrating with Microsoft business solutions, is now available on the Microsoft AppSource.

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Bright Pattern, the highest-rated cloud contact center software provider, today announced the availability of Bright Pattern Contact Center on Microsoft AppSource, an online cloud marketplace providing tailored line-of-business solutions.

Bright Pattern is officially listed on Microsoft AppSource, with integrations with all major Microsoft solutions.

Bright Pattern's AI-powered, omnichannel contact center solution integrates with Microsoft Dynamics, Microsoft Teams, and Microsoft Azure Cloud to create a Microsoft contact center solution that is perfect for anyone looking to deliver seamless customer experiences while integrating their Microsoft solutions. Bright Pattern's omnichannel contact center solution offers enterprise class functionality and enables organizations to easily connect and communicate with clients through the entire customer journey. By utilizing the actionable intelligence of your Microsoft Dynamics 365 environment, you can provide your agents with real-time access to customer information, improving agent productivity and efficiency. This, in turn, improves your overall customer experience.

Michael McCloskey, CEO of Bright Pattern, added: "We are excited to be part of the Microsoft marketplace. With our omnichannel contact center solution and its tight integrations with Microsoft Dynamics, Microsoft Teams, and the Azure Cloud, we aim to help companies grow their customer relationships and sell at scale. Today, we are working together with customers, including the world's largest YMCA, and our inclusion in the marketplace will allow us to extend our Bright Pattern Cloud Contact Center to more customers globally."

Toby Bowers, General Manager of the Business Applications Group with Microsoft Corporation, said, "We're happy to welcome Bright Pattern to Microsoft AppSource, which gives our customers access to the best solutions available from our extensive partner ecosystem. Microsoft AppSource offers partner solutions such as Bright Pattern Contact Center from Bright Pattern to help customers meet their needs faster."

Learn more about Bright Pattern through its page on Microsoft AppSource.

About Bright PatternWith over 500 customers in 26 countries, Bright Pattern is the highest-rated omnichannel contact center solution based on analysts and customer reviews.Bright Pattern provides simple yet powerful omnichannel conversations across channels like voice, text, chat, email, video, messengers, AI and bots. Bright Pattern provides native omnichannel quality management allowing companies to measure every interaction on every channel. Bright Pattern also offers a mobile app allowing any employee in your company to communicate with your customers on any channel.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bright-pattern-contact-center-now-available-on-microsoft-appsource-301746165.html

SOURCE Bright Pattern
Fast Forward Zero, founded by Business and Climate Leader Jerome Lucaes

Company will provide tactical and deliverable options for net zero carbon transformation

Sector expertise includes mining and metals, energy, automotive, packaging, cable, building, and consumer electronics

ZURICH and LONDON, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- FAST FORWARD ZERO, a climate and sustainability company has launched its services and website to help businesses to transform to NET ZERO, circular and inclusive operating models. FAST FORWARD ZERO will also help investors and other business leaders to build collaborative coalitions to shape better systems and solve complex problems.

Leveraging over 25 years of experience, Chief Executive Officer, Jerome Lucaes, works with a network of well-established experts and institutions to develop relevant and applicable solutions that inspire sustainable transformations to leverage unique competitive advantages.

Jerome is one of the very few business leaders with real experience and premium sustainability achievements which have been transformative for the metals markets and their supply chains.

Jerome has worked for and with leading organisations like Rio Tinto, EN+-RUSAL, World Economic Forum, World Business Council for Sustainable Development, International Aluminium Institute, European Aluminium, and Mission Possible Partnership. He Co-founded the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative when he worked for Rio Tinto. Jerome was at the forefront of shaping Rio Tinto and EN+/RUSAL's strategies to progress toward zero carbon. He also created ALLOW (low carbon aluminium by RUSAL) to stimulate demand at scale for low/zero-carbon materials across the value chains for automotive, beverage, packaging, building, cables and consumer products.

FAST FORWARD ZERO's business expertise includes decarbonisation and sustainability transformation in metals & mining, energy automotive, beverage, packaging, cable, building, and consumer electronics industries.

CEO Jerome Lucaes said: "I am thrilled to announce the launch of FAST FORWARD ZERO to help accelerate the transformation of businesses toward a net zero carbon reality. Building on decades of expertise and innovation in the mining and metals industry, and supply-chains, my partners and I are well-positioned to provide critical insights for quality net zero inclusive transformation for businesses"

About FAST FORWARD ZERO

FAST FORWARD ZERO is led by Jerome Lucaes, a senior experienced business leader with a strong sustainability track record. +20 years of world-leading roles in climate and sustainability in the metals & mining industry. The company's main areas of action and experience are net zero carbon transformation, sustainability-driven business strategy, marketing plans, risk-based assessments, brand creation and development, innovation, metals and mining, raw materials, supply chains, and multistakeholder collaborative coalitions. The company advises business leaders, boards of directors, investors and funds - Co-invest in start-ups - Create and manage collaborative coalitions.

For more information about the company and its work, go to https://fast-forward-zero.com/

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2001389/FAST_FORWARD_ZERO_Ceo.jpgLogo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2001390/FAST_FORWARD_ZERO_Logo.jpg

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SOURCE FAST FORWARD ZERO
VANCOUVER, BC, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Deep-South Resources Inc. ("Deep-South" or the Company) (TSXV: DSM) announces that it has closed the second and final tranche of its previously announced non-brokered private placement (the "Private Placement"). In the first tranche 4,200,000 units (each a "Unit") and in the second tranche 9,700,000 Units for a total of 13,900,000 at a price of $0.05 were issued for aggregate gross proceeds of $695,000. Each Unit was priced at $0.05 and consists of one common share and one-half (1/2) of one common share purchase warrant (a "Warrant"). Each whole warrant entitles the holder to purchase one common share of the Company at a price of $0.10 per share for a period of thirty six (36) months from the date of closing.

In aggregate, the two tranches of the Private Placement consisted of 13,900,000 Units for gross proceeds of $695,000. In connection with the closing of the two tranches of the Private Placement, the Company paid aggregate cash finder's fee of $20,220 and issued 404,400 non-transferable finder warrants of which entitle the holder to purchase one common share of the Company at a price of $0.10 per share for a period of thirty six (36) months from the date of closing the Private Placement.

Existing insiders participated in the private placement for an aggregate amount of $10,000 being 1.44% of the private placement.

All securities issued pursuant to the Private Placement are subject to a four-month hold period from the closing date in accordance with applicable securities laws.

A portion of the Private Placement constitutes a "related party transaction" within the meaning of TSXV Policy 5.9 and Multilateral Instrument 61-101 Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101") adopted in the Policy. The Company intends to rely on exemptions from the formal valuation and minority approval requirements in sections 5.5(b) and 5.7(e) of MI 61-101 on the basis that the Company is not listed on any specified senior stock exchanges and that the Company is facing financial hardship and the transactions are designed to improve the Company's financial position.

The proceeds of the private placement will be used for further exploration on the projects in Zambia and for general working capital.

About Deep-South Resources Inc.

Deep-South Resources is a mineral exploration and development company. Deep-South's growth strategy is to focus on the exploration and development of quality assets in significant mineralized trends and in proximity to infrastructure in stable countries. In using and assessing environmentally friendly technologies in the development of its copper projects, Deep-South embraces the green revolution.

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.

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Information

Information contained in this news release which are not statements of historical facts may be "forward-looking information" for the purposes of Canadian securities laws. Such forward-looking information involves risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward looking information. The words "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "contemplate", "plan", "intends", "continue", "budget", "estimate", "may", "will", "schedule", "understand" and similar expressions identify forward-looking information. These forward-looking statements relate to, among other things: the Minister's refusal to renew the Company's Licence, the Company's intention to contest the Minister's decision before the Courts of Namibia and the outcome of such proceedings.

Forward-looking information is necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by Deep-South, are inherently subject to significant technical, political, business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Known and unknown factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. Factors and assumptions that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things: political risks associated with the Company's operations in Namibia; the failure of the Namibian Government to comply with its continuing obligations under the Act to allow for the renewal of the Licence; the impact of changes in, or to the more aggressive enforcement of, laws, regulations and government practices; the inability of the Company and its subsidiaries to enforce their legal rights in certain circumstances. For additional risk factors, please see the Company's most recently filed Management Discussions & Analysis available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

There can be no assurances that forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, as many factors and future events, both known and unknown could cause actual results, performance or achievements to vary or differ materially from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements contained herein or incorporated by reference. Accordingly, all such factors should be considered carefully when making decisions with respect to Deep-South, and prospective investors should not place undue reliance on forward looking information. Forward-looking information in this news release is made as at the date hereof. The Company assumes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking information to reflect changes in assumptions, changes in circumstances or any other events affecting such forward-looking information, except as required by applicable legislation.

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SOURCE Deep-South Resources Inc.
Drug-sniffing squirrels join police force in SW China's Chongqing

People's Daily Online) 13:41, February 14, 2023

Six squirrels have been trained to sniff drugs by the police in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. As the first drug-sniffing squirrels in China, the squirrels have been approved by relevant research institutions.

Photo shows a drug-sniffing squirrel during training. (Photo/cqcb.com)

"The squirrels have a rather keen sense of smell," said Yin Jin, a police dog trainer from the Hechuan Branch of Chongqing Public Security Bureau. Yin introduced that a dog training technology independently developed by the police dog unit can be applied to training other animals for the same purpose.

Unlike dogs, squirrels are smaller and agile and can search for drugs in complex environments, including logistics warehouses and package distribution centers, or search at heights.

After the training, the squirrels can indicate whether they have detected drugs through scratching.

Other animals, including pigs, butterflies and mongooses, have also been used to help police officers fight crime.

Photo shows a drug-sniffing squirrel during training. (Photo/cqcb.com)

Photo shows a drug-sniffing squirrel during training. (Photo/cqcb.com)

(Web editor: Hongyu, Du Mingming)
A 5-year-old was rescued Monday after he and his mother jumped into the Niagara Gorge in Niagara Falls State Park.

Authorities have recovered the mother's body, according to Angela P. Berti, a Niagara Region parks spokeswoman.

"Unfortunately, the female did not make it," State Parks Police Capt. Chris Rola said. He added that a state police helicopter was flying her body from the state park to the coroner's office.

"The investigation is ongoing, but we don't believe it is an accident," Rola said.

Rola said the woman and child had been with her husband at the park before they fell into the gorge. He said that police do not yet know what prior event might have sparked the incident. Police were interviewing the husband, along with other witnesses who were in the park. Rola declined to provide the identities of the woman and child or say where they were from.

He did, however, describe the daring rescue of the boy.

Rola said the victims fell about 90 feet, which was not quite to the bottom of the gorge.

He said Niagara Falls firefighters walked across the ice on the bottom of the gorge to reach the boy and his mother.

Our rescuers, along with Niagara Falls Fire Department, were able to reach pretty quickly both of the victims," Rola said.

"Although today its nice out, its very icy down there. Its real tough terrain that our guy and our girls were able to get through and get to them and provide that life-saving care and do everything they could but, as far as putting other people at risk, we were going to make every effort for that child that was still alive at the time, he added.

The boy was loaded on a stretcher and brought up the Cave of the Winds elevator to a waiting Mercy Flight helicopter shortly after 2 p.m. He was flown to Oishei Children's Hospital in Buffalo.

Rola said the child suffered a head injury.

The area around the Cave of the Winds attraction was roped off by police while the rescue was ongoing.

Niagara Falls is a tough place to perform rescues," Rola said.

"The State Parks Police, we have a swift water rescue team. We have high angle rope rescue guys that train all the time. Niagara Falls Fire is great. Theyre excellent with rope rescue, too. As you can see, the State Police are a great partner with us and their aviation is top notch, he added.
Company's Vice President of Marketing and Public Policy Honored by Parks & Associates in Advance of Smart Energy Summit

SAN JOSE, Calif. and GEORGETOWN, Texas, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- GAF Energy's Vice President of Marketing and Public Policy Keally DeWitt has been honored as a Top Leader in Technology in the Energy Management Category by Parks & Associates. The honor comes in advance of the Parks & Associates Smart Energy Summit in Austin, Texas where both DeWitt, and GAF Energy President Martin DeBono, will speak about the future of energy. GAF Energy, a Standard Industries company, is the leading provider of solar roofing in North America with their award winning Timberline Solar roof.

"It's a thrill to be honored for doing the important work of bringing solar to the mass market. I'm proud to be recognized as a leader in a STEM field who is part of a fantastic and diverse team that is making a tremendous impact for our planet. It's a privilege to tell clean energy stories, ones that are fascinating from a science and engineering perspective, that engage people to take climate action," said DeWitt.

DeWitt is an important part of the team that has made the Timberline Solar Energy Shingle the most-awarded solar shingle in the world. Since its launch in early 2022, Timberline Solar has received more than 30 design and innovation awards, including from CES, TIME, Fast Company, Popular Science, Green Builder, Good Housekeeping, and the National Association of Home Builders. To meet its growing demand, GAF Energy is significantly increasing its Timberline Solar manufacturing capacity with the construction of a new 450,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Georgetown, Texas.

Homeowners interested in solar roofing and roofers interested in installing GAF Energy products can find out more at: www.gaf.energy.

For more information about the Smart Energy Summit, visit: https://www.parksassociates.com/events/smart-energy-summit

About GAF Energy's Timberline Solar

GAF Energy, a Standard Industries company and a leading provider of solar roofing in North America. Timberline Solar is in a class of its own: reliable, durable, cost-effective, easy to install, and aesthetically superior. The Timberline Solar Energy Shingle (ES) boasts an industry-defying depth of less than a quarter inch and integrates with traditional shingles to create a sleek and attractive look. Timberline Solar is produced at the company's San Jose, California facility and GAF Energy is building a second manufacturing facility outside of Austin in Georgetown, Texas.

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SOURCE GAF Energy
Southeastern Region's Natural Gas Leader More Than Doubles Prior Year Giving

ATLANTA, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- It takes a village to ensure children from all walks of life are thriving and successful. Gas South, a leading provider of natural gas in the Southeast, believes in doing its part for the communities it serves. The company is proud to announce they have given more than $3.2 million in 2022 to nonprofits aimed at assisting youth in need in Georgia and Florida.

"Nothing has been more satisfying than watching the young lives positively impacted by our mission to Be A Fuel For Good," said Kevin Greiner, president and CEO of Gas South. "This is Gas South's way of ensuring families build strong foundations, and it's also setting us apart from others in our industry in terms of the size and scope of our commitment to the community."

This annual donation goes beyond dollars. It's supporting mental health services at Ser Familia for Latino children. It's heightening educational experiences at the Andrew & Walter Young Family YMCA through a new STEAM lab and solar flower. It's giving students in Florida an opportunity at higher education through a $500,000 investment in Step Up for Students. It's also providing the Atlanta Ronald McDonald house with a new kitchen that nurtures the health and well-being of children and families receiving medical care.

The commitment to transforming communities isn't slowing down in the new year. Gas South is projected to donate more than $4 million in 2023.

The efforts listed above are just the tip of the iceberg. Gas South extensively gave in 2022 to various organizations, and the details of that giving can be viewed in our annual giving report: Gas South 2022 Annual Impact Report

About Gas South:

Gas South is the largest retail natural gas provider in the Southwest to over 450,000 residential, business and government customers across 14 states. Gas South is an Atlanta-based subsidiary of Cobb EMC, providing simple natural gas plans and excellent customer service. Gas South upholds its mission to Be A Fuel For Good by giving back 5% of their annual profits to help children in need, prioritizing basic needs, education and health. The company has donated more than $12 million to charities since 2006, including $3.2 million in 2022, its largest year ever for corporate giving. To learn more about Gas South and its mission to Be A Fuel For Good, visit www.GasSouth.com.

Media contact: [email protected]

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SOURCE Gas South
NOVI, Mich., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Hino Motors Manufacturing U.S.A., Inc. announces a new management structure that places emphasis on North American expertise and a refined focus on responsibilities. The new management team, including President, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President, represents decades of experience in the USA and brings together a formidable knowledge of manufacturing, compliance and strategy from Hino globally.

Appointed to President and CEO, Mr. Masamichi Mizukoshi. Mr. Mizukoshi, a veteran of the automotive industry, has held a number of domestic and international leadership positions over his 35-year career at Toyota Motor Corporation. Most recently and since 2019, Mr. Mizukoshi served as Chief Operating Officer of Hino Motors Manufacturing U.S.A. Previously, Mr. Mizukoshi served as Managing Officer for Hino Motors Ltd. Mr. Mizukoshi succeeds Mr. Takashi Ono, who served as President for Hino Motors Manufacturing U.S.A. since 2017, is appointed to Chief Toyota Business Officer. The company is thankful to Mr. Ono for his service and leadership of Hino Motors Manufacturing U.S.A.

Appointed to Chief Operating Officer, and Executive Vice President for Toyota Business, Mr. Davey Jung. Mr. Jung has held numerous roles at Hino Motors Manufacturing Michigan offices throughout the last decademost recently as Executive Vice President, SVP for Purchasing, Sales, R&D and Corporate Strategy. Previously, during a 13-year period at Dana Incorporated in Ohio, Mr. Jung held positions including Chief Engineer and Director of Sales.

Appointed to Executive Vice President, Mr. Masaki Hanayama. Mr. Hanayama will oversee Hino Motors Manufacturing Truck Business, Production Planning Control and R&D. Most recently, Mr. Hanayama served as Product Strategy Department Officer for Hino Motors Ltd. Previously and over the course of his career since 1994 with Hino Motors Ltd., Mr. Hanayama served Hino Motors Ltd in leadership capacities of Commercial Japan Partnership Technologies (CJPT) Promotion Department General Manager and Corporate Strategy Department Officer.

About HMM and Hino Trucks. Hino Motors Manufacturing U.S.A., Inc. (HMM) Headquartered in Novi, Michigan, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hino Motors, Ltd., and sister company to Hino Motors Sales, Inc., (Hino Trucks). Together, HMM and Hino Trucks manufacture and distribute America's fastest growing premier truck brand. With a combined ten facilities spanning five states supporting manufacturing, R&D, Sales and Parts Distribution, the two companies employ over 1,500 people. HMM assembles medium duty trucks in Mineral Wells, West Virginia, manufactures automotive parts in Marion, Arkansas, and operates parts centers in Mira Loma, California. HMM is also a Tier-1 supplier of high-quality automotive parts throughout North America.

Learn more about HMM at http://hmmusa.com

Learn more about Hino Trucks at http://www.hino.com

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SOURCE Hino Motors Manufacturing U.S.A.
NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- LoveAid.com, a new social media site, has officially launched with a mission to bring communities, local nonprofits, music and people together to make a positive impact on society.

The world needs love now more than ever, and Loveaid.com is dedicated to bringing this about through the power of connection.

LoveAid is more than just a social media platform - it's a movement.

Loveaid.com is filled with positive content channels to inspire, motivate and share upbeat love-based messages.

Members can be assured that the loveaid.com community will be an inspiring, hopeful and love-filled place to socialize. No politics, no hate; just positivity and love.

Loveaid.com is social media alternative that also provides a platform for non-profit organizations to create projects in their respective communities that brings a loving measurable impact on society. In addition, each non-profit organization can receive donations for their projects on the site.

The LoveAid Concert Series is a key part of this movement; bringing artists, fans, and donors together to raise funds for local nonprofits across the country, who take love into action.

The Loveaid.com concert series will be held at major venues in the United States and raise funds for the local and national non profit organizations that participate on the site.The goal is to create a concert event similar to Liveaid with a focus on love, hope and unity.

"We are thrilled to launch LoveAid and bring communities together for a greater cause," said John DeTitta Founder of LoveAid.com.

"Our goal is to have a social media platform based on love, and raise monies for non profit organizations through a series of music concerts.

People can learn about Loveaid.com's mission and connect with other like-minded individuals at the concerts and through the site.

With LoveAid.com, we hope to inspire a new generation of givers and create a world filled with love and kindness."

Join the LoveAid.com movement and make a difference in your community today. To learn more about LoveAid, please visit the website at https://www.loveaid.com

About LoveAid:

LoveAid is a social media platform of love. Loveaid.com provides channels for individuals to socialize and get motivated and share love. Loveaid.com provides a platform for non profits of all sizes to raise funds and have donations go directly to them. Loveaid.com is connecting communities with local nonprofits.

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SOURCE LoveAid.com
*TCFD: Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures

The company announces open support for accurate and timely disclosure of climate-related financial information

LGES to strengthen its ESG activities by closely managing the factors related to climate change throughout the entire battery lifecycle

SEOUL, South Korea, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- LG Energy Solution (LGES; KRX: 373220) today officially declared support for the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), joining a global movement toward transparent ESG initiatives.

The TCFD, one of the world's major climate finance-related international organizations, was established by the Financial Stability Board (FSB) following the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting in 2015, to establish consistent climate-related financial risk disclosures for use by companies, banks and investors in providing reliable information to their stakeholders.

More companies are enhancing their corporate values through supporting the TCFD, as North American and European governments continue to enforce stringent environmental policies, and accordingly, clients and investors are increasingly demanding companies to substantiate their ESG performances and activities.

Major global asset management companies, including BlackRock, are requiring their investees to support the TCFD, and approximately 4,200 global companies have already declared their supports by the end of 2022. LGES is the first Korean battery manufacturer to declare support for the TCFD.

"We will closely manage and transparently disclose the information on the business factors related to climate change, which can take place throughout the entire battery lifecycle, from manufacturing and use to disposal, thereby further strengthening our ESG activities," said LG Energy Solution.

LGES became the first Korean battery manufacturer to join RE100 (Renewable Electricity 100%) in April 2021, and has been expanding the use of renewable energy at its global production sites. The company also continues to enhance its ESG activities by joining the Responsible Business Alliance (RBA) and Responsible Labor Initiative (RLI).

About LG Energy Solution

LG Energy Solution (KRX: 373220), a split-off from LG Chem, is a leading global manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, mobility, IT, and energy storage systems. With 30 years of experience in revolutionary battery technology and extensive research and development (R&D), the company is the top battery-related patent holder in the world with over 25,000 patents. Its robust global network, which spans North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, includes battery manufacturing facilities established through joint ventures with major automakers such as General Motors, Stellantis N.V., Hyundai Motor Group, and Honda Motor Co., Ltd. At the forefront of green business and sustainability, LG Energy Solution aims to achieve carbon neutral operations by 2050, while embodying the value of shared growth and promoting diverse and inclusive corporate culture. To learn more about LG Energy Solution's ideas and innovations, visit https://news.lgensol.com.

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SOURCE LG Energy Solution
Highlights:

 Hole AS02 drilled to 410 meters

 Brine from 0 to 400 meters

 High-grade lithium results confirmed from first four of six samples

VANCOUVER, BC, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Lithium South Development Corporation (the "Company") (TSX-V: LIS) (OTCQB: LISMF) (Frankfurt: OGPQ) is pleased to provide results from the ongoing drill campaign at the Hombre Muerto North Lithium Project (HMN Li Project) in Salta Province, Argentina.

The Company is reporting partial results from hole AS02, which has been completed to a depth of 410 meters. Six packer samples have been collected and four results received. Assay work was completed by Alex Stewart Laboratories (an ISO Certified Laboratory) of Mendoza, Argentina.

1. Sample AS02-143 was taken at 48 meters and returned 569 mg/L Lithium.

2. Sample AS02-142 was taken at 61 meters and returned 605 mg/L Lithium.

3. Sample AS02-146 was acquired at 85 meters and returned 637 mg/L Lithium.

4. Sample AS02-156 was acquired at 216 meters and returned 708 mg/L Lithium.

5. Samples acquired at 343 meters and 367 meters are pending results.

Upon receipt of the entire sample string, a final average lithium value will be calculated.

The hole has established a deep portion of the brine basin, much deeper than previous drilling. The geology is comprised of medium to fine sand from 0 to 131 meters, medium sand from 131 to 308 meters, and brecciated and fractured orthoquartzite from 308 to 405 meters. The entire zone from 0 to 405 meters contains brine. After 405 meters, fresh orthoquartzite, or hydrogeological basement, was encountered down to 410 where the hole was terminated.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2001697/Lithium_South_Drill_Map.jpg

Company President and CEO Adrian F. C. Hobkirk is quoted as saying, "Hole AS02 is the deepest hole completed to date at the HMN Li Project and demonstrates the potential to significantly expand the total resource for the project. We are very pleased with the high lithium and low magnesium values."

The last hole to be drilled at the Alba Sabrina Claim Block is currently underway at location AS07. Results from other holes completed to date are pending. Once drilling is completed on the Alba Sabrina Claim Block, the rig will move to the Natalia Maria Claim Block located to the east of Alba Sabrina and south-west of the Tramo claim block which was drilled in 2018.

About Lithium South

The HMN Li Project is at an advanced stage of evaluation, with a Preliminary Economic Assessment completed in April 2019. Lithium South is the 100% owner of the HMN Li Project and expects to expand the known resource with its current drill program. Preliminary results support this expectation. Additional project work including permitting, environmental studies and process test work is ongoing.

The Hombre Muerto North Lithium Project is adjacent to a US$4 billion lithium mine under development by the Korean multinational corporation POSCO, which acquired their holdings from Galaxy Resources Ltd. for US$280 million. Livent Corporation is producing lithium to the south of the Hombre Muerto North Lithium Project and has actively operated there for over twenty-five years.

The technical and scientific information in this press release was reviewed and approved by Dr. Mark King, a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101. Dr. King participated in the preparation of this news release.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Adrian F. C. HobkirkPresident and Chief Executive OfficerInvestors / Shareholders call 855-415-8100 / website: www.lithiumsouth.com

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. The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed the content of this news release and therefore does not accept responsibility or liability for the adequacy or accuracy of the contents of this news release.

This news release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of the United States Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Except for statements of historical fact relating to the Company, certain information contained herein constitutes forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based upon opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward- looking statements. We seek safe harbor.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Adrian F. C. HobkirkPresident and Chief Executive OfficerInvestors / Shareholders call 855-415-8100 / [email protected] / website: www.lithiumsouth.com

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SOURCE Lithium South Development Corporation
Funds will be used to develop the Monad Labs ecosystem

CHICAGO, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Monad Labs, the team supporting the high-performance Monad blockchain, today announced the closing of a $19 million seed funding round led by Dragonfly Capital. The round saw additional participation from 70 investors, including Placeholder Capital, Lemniscap, Shima Capital, Finality Capital, as well as notable angel investors in the space such as Naval Ravikant, Cobie, and Hasu  amongst others.

Founded in 2022, Monad Labs is an early-stage, venture-backed tech startup, whose team brings with them over seven years of experience in building low-latency, high-frequency-trading systems at Jump Trading. Currently, the growth of decentralized finance (DeFi) on Ethereum-compatible platforms is hampered by the inefficiency of existing Layer1 protocols, which offer limited throughput at a high cost. These factors limit the functionality of decentralized applications (Dapps) and make it difficult for them to scale for mass adoption. Monad Labs addresses all these issues through its Monad blockchain, an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible Layer1 smart contract platform designed to provide many multiples of the throughput offered by Ethereum.

"Monad Labs is building the smart contract platform with the performance needed to truly unlock the transformative power of decentralized computation," said Keone Hon, Co-Founder & CEO of Monad Labs. "The Monad blockchain will set the industry standards for the speed, transparency, security and scalability that all Layer1 protocols should have, and its true impact will be felt across both the Web2 and Web3 ecosystems. This successful seed round demonstrates the need for Monad in the marketplace and the shared commitment from all to advance the industry. We are excited to work alongside our investors to bring Monad to market, build out its capabilities and show the world exactly what blockchains can do."

Through this investment, Monad Labs will be able to further its commitment to building the next level of Layer1 smart contract platforms with Monad. The Monad blockchain operates on a Proof of Stake consensus protocol and, by design, is set to process a total of 10,000 transactions per second. Monad achieves this by making several key improvements to the EVM standard including parallel and asynchronous execution of transactions.

James Hunsaker, Co-Founder & CTO of Monad Labs, added, "The capabilities of any Dapp are in part determined by the power of the blockchain on which it is built. The high cost of computation on existing blockchains significantly limits what can be built on-chain, and forces developers to choose between security and computation efficiency, ultimately leading to security issues. At Monad Labs we are creating a blockchain that addresses these issues, creating the potential for rapid innovation in the decentralized landscape."

Monad offers a high-performance environment that empowers developers to build the next level of highly complex and scalable Dapps. Monad is compatible with all other EVM-based smart contracts and will be going live on a testnet in the coming months with the mainnet launch occurring later this year.

Investor Quotes:

Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly Capital, commented on the raise: "We're excited to lead Monad's seed round. Monad is a truly unique and exciting project that will have the level of throughput needed for wide-scale adoption of decentralized finance. Keone and James have the subject matter expertise and technical skills needed to deliver on a high-throughput Layer1 blockchain that will set new standards for how blockchains will operate moving forward."

Chris Burniske, Partner at Placeholder Capital, commented on the raise: "With a founding team that originated from Jump, Monad Labs understands the need for speed. The team is in the midst of parallelizing the EVM, creating a blockchain network and EVM-environment that rivals the performance of traditional tech & finance. In conversations with their leadership, it's also clear Monad is working to anticipate developer tooling and harness technological convergences that will be needed when crypto is no longer niche, but at scale within society. Though there are already a few established leaders in Layer1 smart contract protocols, Monad has a differentiated, innovative, and ethical approach that will be worth keeping an eye on."

About Monad LabsMonad Labs is an early-stage, venture-backed tech startup founded in 2022. The co-founders of Monad Labs have roots in Jump Trading, where they worked together for seven years building low-latency high-frequency-trading (HFT) systems, and later contributing to R&D at Jump Crypto in 2021. This was the genesis of Monad  synthesizing learnings from HFT, as well as some new ideas, to build the most performant and robust smart-contract blockchain possible. Monad applies expertise in low-latency programming, compiler optimization, systems engineering, cryptography, and graph theory to substantially advance the performance and scalability of decentralized computation.

Media ContactM Group Strategic Communications (on behalf of Monad Labs)[email protected]

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SOURCE Monad Labs
Commercial Quality Bakeware Delivers Professional Results for Home Bakers

VALLEJO, Calif., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- For home bakers seeking the very best quality equipment, Meyer Corporation introduces Anolon Pro Bakeware, a new collection of commercial-grade baking pans designed to deliver superior results on par with the finest bakeries.

Constructed of uncoated aluminized steel, Anolon Pro Bakeware offers unparalleled heat conductivity and durability. As with most commercial bakeware, Anolon Pro Bakeware features continuous wire-rolled rims, which contribute the collection's extraordinary strength and its ability to withstand warping at high temperatures. Additionally, cake pans are purposely shaped with straight sides to ensure perfectly stacked and uniform cake layers. Ideal for use in a myriad of sweet and savory recipes, from cakes, quick breads, and cookies, to pizza, meat loaf, sheet pan chicken dinners, and steaks, Anolon Pro Bakeware is oven safe to 550 F. and broiler safe.

Available now at Anolon.com and retail nationwide, Anolon Pro Bakeware includes the following sets and open stock items:

2-Piece Set: Two 13x18-inch Half Sheet Pans ($22.00)

4-Piece Set: 9x5-inch Loaf Pan, 14-inch Perforated Pizza Pan, and two 13x18-inch Half Sheet Pans ($38.50)

6-Piece Set: Two 9-inch Round Cake Pans, 9-inch Square Cake Pan, 9x5 Loaf Pan, and Two 13x18-inch Half Sheet Pans ($55.00)

9-inch Square Cake Pan ($17.99)

9-inch Round Cake Pan ($19.99)

9x5-inch Loaf Pan ($17.99)

14-inch Perforated Pizza Pan ($19.99)

* All pricing is suggested retail (please contact us to verify pricing prior to publishing).

For further information on Anolon Pro Bakeware and other Anolon kitchen products, consumers are welcomed to visit Anolon.com, or call Anolon's toll-free number 1-800-388-3872, Monday through Friday, 7:00 a.m.  5:00 p.m. Pacific Time. Consumers can also follow Anolon Facebook.com/Anolon, Twitter.com/Anolon, Pinterest.com/Anolon, Instagram.com/Anolon, and YouTube.com/Anolon.

Anolon offers an exciting affiliate program for media members and influencers. For more information and to partner, please visit Anolon.com/Affiliates or email [email protected].

Anolon is a premier brand offered by California-based Meyer Corporation, one of the largest cookware companies in America. In addition to Anolon, brands sold by Meyer include Circulon, Farberware, KitchenAid, Meyer, Rachael Ray, Ayesha Curry, Hestan, Ruffoni, BonJour, and LocknLock.

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SOURCE Meyer Corporation, U.S.
ATLANTA, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE: NSC) today announced it is creating a $1 million charitable fund to be available immediately as one component of its planned support for the community of East Palestine, Ohio. The company will work with state and local leaders to identify where the donations can do the most good.

"We are committed to East Palestine today and in the future," said Norfolk Southern President and CEO Alan Shaw. "We will be judged by our actions. We are cleaning up the site in an environmentally responsible way, reimbursing residents affected by the derailment, and working with members of the community to identify what is needed to help East Palestine recover and thrive."

Shaw continued, "This fund allows Norfolk Southern to move quickly to meet their immediate needs. We anticipate making further charitable contributions in East Palestine as conversations continue with local leaders and members of the community."

The contribution will supplement other efforts to support residents, businesses, and first responders, which include:

Distributing more than $1.2 million in financial assistance to nearly 900 families and a number of businesses to cover costs related to the evacuation. Those include reimbursements and cash advancements for lodging, travel, food, clothes, and other related items.

Reimbursed the East Palestine Fire Department $220,000 to replace Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) air packs, which allow firefighters to breathe compressed air when responding to fires.

Providing more than 100 air purifiers for residents to use in their homes. Air purifiers are also being purchased for the East Palestine municipal building in coordination with the City Manager.

Coordinating and funded cleaning and air monitoring services for the East Palestine Elementary and High Schools.

Completing more than 400 in-home air tests in conjunction with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In-home air monitoring has not detected substances related to the incident and does not indicate a health risk.

About Norfolk SouthernSince 1827, Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE: NSC) and its predecessor companies have moved the goods and materials that drive the U.S. economy. Today, it operates a customer-centric and operations-driven freight transportation network. Committed to furthering sustainability, Norfolk Southern helps its customers avoid 15 million tons of yearly carbon emissions by shipping via rail. Its dedicated team members deliver more than 7 million carloads annually, from agriculture to consumer goods, and is the largest rail shipper of auto products and metals in North America. Norfolk Southern also has the most extensive intermodal network in the eastern U.S., serving a majority of the country's population and manufacturing base, with connections to every major container port on the Atlantic coast as well as the Gulf of Mexico and Great Lakes. Learn more by visiting www.NorfolkSouthern.com.

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SOURCE Norfolk Southern Corporation
Relativity6 will equip Amwins with best-in-class, highly accurate 6-digit NAICS code predictions based on Relativity6's live web search platform.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Relativity6, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered live search platform that detects business' 6-digit NAICS codes and flags hazardous business activities, announced today that Amwins has selected Relativity6's API to provide predictions related to industry classifications.

Tom Parsons, Head of Digital at Amwins said, "Relativity6 has earned our confidence as the most reliable, accurate, and technically impressive classification vendor we've seen on the market. We couldn't be more excited to be working with such a great piece of technology and the qualified team behind it."

Alan Ringvald, president and chief executive officer at Relativity6 commented, "We are honored to be working with an organization with such large scale and sophistication as Amwins. Tom and everyone on the digital team have been incredible partners, and we're excited to create an immediate impact with our classification platform."

About Relativity6

Relativity6's AI platform retrieves up-to-the-second information about a business in order to automatically detect its 6-digit NAICS code and verify its existence. Relativity6 is the fastest and most accurate NAICS detector on the market, improving commercial underwriting workflow and overall business classification and segmentation. Relativity6 is backed by Fin VC, State Auto Labs Fund, and Vectr Ventures. For more information visit: www.relativity6.com

About Amwins Group, Inc.

Amwins is the largest independent wholesale distributor of specialty insurance products in the U.S., dedicated to serving retail insurance agents by providing property and casualty products, specialty group benefit products, and administrative services. Based in Charlotte, N.C., Amwins operates through more than 155 offices globally and handles premium placements in excess of $29 billion annually. To learn more, visit www.amwins.com.

Media Contact

Relativity6 Media:Josh LurieChief Operations Officer[email protected]

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SOURCE Relativity6
New calculator enables seniors to evaluate their financial needs better and plan for the future

ATLANTA, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- WeBuy75.com, a life settlement consulting firm, recently launched a new version of its life expectancy calculator, explicitly tailored to the life insurance industry. The new calculator uses proprietary algorithms and mortality tables that reflect the death rates of U.S. residents with life insurance policies. It provides valuable data for a wide variety of financial planning needs, such as overall retirement savings, the purchase of financial products, or the sale of a life insurance policy on the secondary market.

According to Wm. Scott Page, president of WeBuy75.com and one of the founders of the life settlement industry, says most life expectancy calculations available online rely almost exclusively on Social Security Administration data, which fails to recognize the better education, financial positions, and lifestyle habits of individuals with life insurance. He believes that many seniors are making financial projections based on antiquated data.

"Many seniors use calculations which inherently underestimate the longevity of individuals with life insurance," said Page. "We built a calculator that more accurately estimates life expectancy for most Americans actively planning for the future."

The calculator, available for free at WeBuy75.com, was designed based on 30 years of experience and thousands of representative mortality outcomes. It asks users to answer a small battery of questions and enter general health data. The questions were designed to measure the key conditions that impact individuals with life insurance. A typical survey takes less than five minutes to develop a customized life expectancy based on proprietary tables.

"Every long-term financial decision is based on life expectancy," said Page, the author of the retirement planning book It's Never Too Late. "If an individual begins their financial plan with an inaccurate life expectancy projection, they may end up outliving their savings or the financial coverage provided by an annuity or life insurance policy."

During a long career assisting individuals with end-of-life issues, Page has learned that many people don't like to discuss longevity and life expectancy, but it represents a conversation and a calculation that should be made early.

"We know that most people avoid talking about mortality, but we have also learned that most seniors have a great fear of outliving their savings," said Page. "It's impossible to plan for end-of-life issues without good data."

About WeBuy75

WeBuy75.com, a life settlement consulting firm, helps seniors make the most of their golden years by helping them sell an existing life insurance policy. WeBuy75.com uses custom algorithms that enable seniors, financial advisors, and life insurance agents to determine the value of life insurance policies on the secondary market.

Press Contact

Stephen Terrell440-529-1952https://www.webuy75.com

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SOURCE WeBuy75
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20549 SCHEDULE 13G Under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Amendment No. )* Concord Acquisition Corp II (Name of Issuer) Class A Common Stock, par value $0.0001 per share (Title of Class of Securities) 206071102 (CUSIP Number) December 31, 2022 (Date of Event Which Requires Filing of this Statement) Check the appropriate box to designate the rule pursuant to which this Schedule is filed: x Rule 13d-1(b)  Rule 13d-1(c)  Rule 13d-1(d) (Page 1 of 6 Pages)

______________________________

*The remainder of this cover page shall be filled out for a reporting person's initial filing on this form with respect to the subject class of securities, and for any subsequent amendment containing information which would alter the disclosures provided in a prior cover page.

The information required in the remainder of this cover page shall not be deemed to be "filed" for the purpose of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ("Act") or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section of the Act but shall be subject to all other provisions of the Act (however, see the Notes).

CUSIP No. 206071102 13G Page 2 of 6 Pages

1 NAME OF REPORTING PERSON Marshall Wace LLP 2 CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP (a)  (b) x 3 SEC USE ONLY 4 CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION England NUMBER OF

SHARES

BENEFICIALLY

OWNED BY

EACH

REPORTING

PERSON WITH: 5 SOLE VOTING POWER 0 6 SHARED VOTING POWER 1,640,548 7 SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER 0 8 SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER 1,640,548 9 AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON 1,640,548 10 CHECK BOX IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (9) EXCLUDES CERTAIN SHARES  11 PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW (9) 5.86% 12 TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON IA, PN

CUSIP No. 206071102 13G Page 3 of 6 Pages

Item 1(a). NAME OF ISSUER: The name of the issuer is Concord Acquisition Corp II, a Delaware corporation (the " Company ").

Item 1(b). ADDRESS OF ISSUER'S PRINCIPAL EXECUTIVE OFFICES: The Company's principal executive offices are located at 477 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10022. Item 2(a). NAME OF PERSON FILING:

This statement is filed by: Marshall Wace LLP, a limited liability partnership formed in England (the " Investment Manager " or, the " Reporting Person "), with respect to the shares of Class A Common Stock (defined in Item 2(d) below) directly held by certain funds and accounts (the " MW Funds ") to which it acts as investment manager. The Investment Manager acts as investment manager to the MW Funds. The Investment Manager has delegated certain authority for US operations and trading to Marshall Wace North America L.P., an investment adviser registered under Section 203 of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. The filing of this statement should not be construed as an admission that any of the foregoing persons is, for the purposes of Section 13 of the Act, the beneficial owner of the shares of Class A Common Stock reported herein.

Item 2(b). ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL BUSINESS OFFICE OR, IF NONE, RESIDENCE: The address of the business office of the Investment Manager is George House, 131 Sloane Street, London, SW1X 9AT, UK.

Item 2(c). CITIZENSHIP: The Investment Manager is a limited liability partnership formed in England.

Item 2(d). TITLE OF CLASS OF SECURITIES: Class A common stock, par value $0.0001 per share (the " Class A Common Stock ").

Item 2(e). CUSIP NUMBER: 206071102

CUSIP No. 206071102 13G Page 4 of 6 Pages

Item 3. IF THIS STATEMENT IS FILED PURSUANT TO RULES 13d-1(b) OR 13d-2(b) OR (c), CHECK WHETHER THE PERSON FILING IS A:

(a)  Broker or dealer registered under Section 15 of the Act (15 U.S.C. 78o); (b)  Bank as defined in Section 3(a)(6) of the Act (15 U.S.C. 78c); (c)  Insurance company as defined in Section 3(a)(19) of the Act (15 U.S.C. 78c); (d)  Investment company registered under Section 8 of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a-8); (e)  Investment adviser in accordance with Rule 13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(E); (f)  Employee benefit plan or endowment fund in accordance with Rule 13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(F); (g)  Parent holding company or control person in accordance with Rule 13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(G); (h)  Savings association as defined in Section 3(b) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1813); (i)  Church plan that is excluded from the definition of an investment company under Section 3(c)(14) of the Investment Company Act (15 U.S.C. 80a-3); (j) x Non-U.S. institution in accordance with Rule 13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(J); (k)  Group, in accordance with Rule 13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(K).

If filing as a non-U.S. institution in accordance with Rule 13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(J), please specify the type of institution: The Investment Manager is an investment manager, authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the United Kingdom which is comparable to the regulatory scheme applicable to the investment advisers covered by Item 3(e) above.

Item 4. OWNERSHIP: The percentages set forth herein are calculated based upon 28,009,750 shares of Class A Common Stock outstanding, as of November 4, 2022, as reported in the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ending September 30, 2022 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 4, 2022. The information required by Items 4(a)  (c) is set forth in Rows (5)  (11) of the cover page hereto and is incorporated herein by reference for the Reporting Person.

CUSIP No. 206071102 13G Page 5 of 6 Pages

Item 5. OWNERSHIP OF FIVE PERCENT OR LESS OF A CLASS: If this statement is being filed to report the fact that as of the date hereof the reporting person has ceased to be the beneficial owner of more than five percent of the class of securities, check the following: o

Item 6. OWNERSHIP OF MORE THAN FIVE PERCENT ON BEHALF OF ANOTHER PERSON: See Item 2(a).

Item 7. IDENTIFICATION AND CLASSIFICATION OF THE SUBSIDIARY WHICH ACQUIRED THE SECURITY BEING REPORTED ON BY THE PARENT HOLDING COMPANY: Not applicable.

Item 8. IDENTIFICATION AND CLASSIFICATION OF MEMBERS OF THE GROUP: Not applicable.

Item 9. NOTICE OF DISSOLUTION OF GROUP: Not applicable.

Item 10. CERTIFICATION:

The Reporting Person hereby makes the following certification: By signing below the Reporting Person certifies that, to the best of its knowledge and belief, (i) the securities referred to above were acquired and are held in the ordinary course of business and were not acquired and are not held for the purpose of or with the effect of changing or influencing the control of the issuer of the securities and were not acquired and are not held in connection with or as a participant in any transaction having that purpose or effect and (ii) the foreign regulatory scheme applicable to the Reporting Person is substantially comparable to the regulatory scheme applicable to the functionally equivalent U.S. institutions. The Reporting Person also undertakes to furnish to the Commission staff, upon request, information that would otherwise be disclosed in a Schedule 13D.

CUSIP No. 206071102 13G Page 6 of 6 Pages

SIGNATURES
UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

SCHEDULE 13G/A

Under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

(Amendment No. 1)*

Ault Disruptive Technologies Corp

(Name of Issuer)

Common Stock, $0.0001 par value

(Title of Class of Securities)

05150A104

(CUSIP Number)

December 31, 2022

(Date of Event which Requires Filing of this Statement)

Check the appropriate box to designate the rule pursuant to which this Schedule is filed:

[_] Rule 13d-1(b)

[X] Rule 13d-1(c)

[_] Rule 13d-1(d)

*The remainder of this cover page shall be filled out for a reporting person's initial filing on this form with respect to the subject class of securities, and for any subsequent amendment containing information which would alter the disclosures provided in a prior cover page.

The information required in the remainder of this cover page shall not be deemed to be "filed" for the purpose of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ("Act") or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section of the Act but shall be subject to all other provisions of the Act (however, see the Notes).

SCHEDULE 13G/A

CUSIP No. 05150A104

1 Names of Reporting Persons



Saba Capital Management, L.P. 2 Check the appropriate box if a member of a Group (see instructions)



(a) [ ]

(b) [ ] 3 Sec Use Only



4 Citizenship or Place of Organization



Delaware Number of

Shares

Beneficially

Owned by Each

Reporting Person

With: 5 Sole Voting Power



-0- 6 Shared Voting Power



725,506 7 Sole Dispositive Power



-0- 8 Shared Dispositive Power



725,506 9 Aggregate Amount Beneficially Owned by Each Reporting Person



725,506 10 Check box if the aggregate amount in row (9) excludes certain shares (See Instructions)



[ ] 11 Percent of class represented by amount in row (9)



6.3% 12 Type of Reporting Person (See Instructions)



PN; IA

The percentages used herein are calculated based upon 11,500,000 shares of common stock outstanding as of January 18, 2023, as disclosed in the company's 8-K filed January 19, 2023

SCHEDULE 13G/A

CUSIP No. 05150A104

1 Names of Reporting Persons



Boaz R. Weinstein 2 Check the appropriate box if a member of a Group (see instructions)



(a) [ ]

(b) [ ] 3 Sec Use Only



4 Citizenship or Place of Organization



United States Number of

Shares

Beneficially

Owned by Each

Reporting Person

With: 5 Sole Voting Power



-0- 6 Shared Voting Power



725,506 7 Sole Dispositive Power



-0- 8 Shared Dispositive Power



725,506 9 Aggregate Amount Beneficially Owned by Each Reporting Person



725,506 10 Check box if the aggregate amount in row (9) excludes certain shares (See Instructions)



[ ] 11 Percent of class represented by amount in row (9)



6.3% 12 Type of Reporting Person (See Instructions)



IN

The percentages used herein are calculated based upon 11,500,000 shares of common stock outstanding as of January 18, 2023, as disclosed in the company's 8-K filed January 19, 2023.

SCHEDULE 13G/A

CUSIP No. 05150A104

1 Names of Reporting Persons



Saba Capital Management GP, LLC 2 Check the appropriate box if a member of a Group (see instructions)



(a) [ ]

(b) [ ] 3 Sec Use Only



4 Citizenship or Place of Organization



Delaware Number of

Shares

Beneficially

Owned by Each

Reporting Person

With: 5 Sole Voting Power



-0- 6 Shared Voting Power



725,506 7 Sole Dispositive Power



-0- 8 Shared Dispositive Power



725,506 9 Aggregate Amount Beneficially Owned by Each Reporting Person



725,506 10 Check box if the aggregate amount in row (9) excludes certain shares (See Instructions)



[ ] 11 Percent of class represented by amount in row (9)



6.3% 12 Type of Reporting Person (See Instructions)



OO

The percentages used herein are calculated based upon 11,500,000 shares of common stock outstanding as of January 18, 2023, as disclosed in the company's 8-K filed January 19, 2023

Item 1.

(a) Name of Issuer: Ault Disruptive Technologies Corp

(b) Address of Issuer's Principal Executive Offices: 11411 SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS PKWY 240, LAS VEGAS, NV, 89141

Item 2.

(a) Name of Person Filing: Saba Capital Management, L.P., a Delaware limited partnership ("Saba Capital"), Saba Capital Management GP, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company ("Saba GP"), and Mr. Boaz R. Weinstein (together, the "Reporting Persons"). The Reporting Persons have entered into a Joint Filing Agreement, dated June 10, 2022, pursuant to which the Reporting Persons have agreed to file this statement and any subsequent amendments hereto jointly in accordance with the provisions of Rule 13d-1(k)(1) under the Act. Any disclosures herein with respect to persons other than the Reporting Persons are made on information and belief after making inquiry to the appropriate party. The filing of this statement should not be construed as an admission that any of the forgoing persons or the Reporting Persons is, for the purposes of Section 13 of the Act, the beneficial owner of the Common Stock reported herein.

(b) Address of Principal Business Office or, if None, Residence: The address of the business office of each of the Reporting Persons is 405 Lexington Avenue, 58th Floor, New York, New York 10174.

(c) Citizenship: Saba Capital is organized as a limited partnership under the laws of the State of Delaware. Saba GP is organized as a limited liability company under the laws of the State of Delaware. Mr. Weinstein is a citizen of the United States.

(d) Title and Class of Securities: Common stock, $0.0001 Par Value (the "Common Stock").

(e) CUSIP No.: 05150A104

Item 3. If this statement is filed pursuant to  240.13d-1(b) or 240.13d-2(b) or (c), check whether the person filing is a:

(a) [_] Broker or dealer registered under Section 15 of the Act;

(b) [_] Bank as defined in Section 3(a)(6) of the Act;

(c) [_] Insurance company as defined in Section 3(a)(19) of the Act;

(d) [_] Investment company registered under Section 8 of the Investment Company Act of 1940;

(e) [_] An investment adviser in accordance with Rule 13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(E);

(f) [_] An employee benefit plan or endowment fund in accordance with Rule 13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(F);

(g) [_] A parent holding company or control person in accordance with Rule 13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(G);

(h) [_] A savings associations as defined in Section 3(b) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1813);

(i) [_] A church plan that is excluded from the definition of an investment company under section 3(c)(14) of the Investment Company Act of 1940;

(j) [_] A non-U.S. institution in accordance with Rule 240.13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(J);

(k) [_] Group, in accordance with Rule 240.13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(K). If filing as a non-U.S. institution in accordance with Rule 240.13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(J), please specify the type of institution: ____

Item 4. Ownership

(a) Amount Beneficially Owned: The information required by Items 4(a) - (c) is set forth in Rows (5) - (11) of the cover page for each Reporting Person hereto and is incorporated herein by reference for each such Reporting Person.

Item 5. Ownership of Five Percent or Less of a Class. N/A

Item 6. Ownership of more than Five Percent on Behalf of Another Person. The funds and accounts advised by Saba Capital have the right to receive the dividends from and proceeds of sales from the Common Stock.

Item 7. Identification and classification of the subsidiary which acquired the security being reported on by the parent holding company or control person. N/A

Item 8. Identification and classification of members of the group. N/A

Item 9. Notice of Dissolution of Group. N/A

Item 10. Certifications.

By signing below each Reporting Person certifies that, to the best of his or its knowledge and belief, the securities referred to above were not acquired and are not held for the purpose of or with the effect of changing or influencing the control of the issuer of the securities and were not acquired and are not held in connection with or as a participant in any transaction having that purpose or effect.

SIGNATURE

After reasonable inquiry and to the best of my knowledge and belief, I certify that the information set forth in this statement is true, complete and correct.

Dated: February 14, 2023

/s/ Signature Michael D'Angelo

Name: Michael D'Angelo

Title: Chief Compliance Officer

Boaz R. Weinstein

By: Michael D'Angelo

Title: Attorney-in-fact***

*** Pursuant to a Power of Attorney dated as of November 16, 2015
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

SCHEDULE 13G

Under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

(Amendment No. 1 )*

Citizens Community Bancorp Inc.

(Name of Issuer)

Common Stock

(Title of Class of Securities)

174903104

(CUSIP Number)

December 30, 2022

(Date of Event which Requires Filing of this Statement)

Check the appropriate box to designate the rule pursuant to which this Schedule is filed:

x Rule 13d-1(b) o Rule 13d-1(c) o Rule 13d-1(d)

*The remainder of this cover page shall be filled out for a reporting persons initial filing on this form with respect to the subject class of securities, and for any subsequent amendment containing information which would alter the disclosures provided in a prior cover page.

The information required in the remainder of this cover page shall not be deemed to be filed for the purpose of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Act) or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section of the Act but shall be subject to all other provisions of the Act (however, see the Notes).

Page 1 of 5

INTERNAL

CUSIP No. 174903104

1. Names of Reporting Persons. Manulife Financial Corporation 2. Check the Appropriate Box if a Member of a Group (See Instructions) (a) o N/A (b) o

3. SEC Use Only 4. Citizenship or Place of Organization Canada

Number of Shares Beneficially Owned by Each Reporting Person With 5. Sole Voting Power 0 6. Shared Voting Power 0 7. Sole Dispositive Power 0 8. Shared Dispositive Power 0

9. Aggregate Amount Beneficially Owned by Each Reporting Person None, except through its indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary,

Manulife Investment Management (US) LLC.

10. Check if the Aggregate Amount in Row (9) Excludes Certain Shares (See Instructions) N/A o 11. Percent of Class Represented by Amount in Row (9) See line 9 above 12. Type of Reporting Person (See Instructions) HC

CUSIP No. 174903104

1. Names of Reporting Persons. Manulife Investment Management (US) LLC 2. Check the Appropriate Box if a Member of a Group (See Instructions) (a) o N/A (b) o

3. SEC Use Only 4. Citizenship or Place of Organization Delaware

Number of Shares Beneficially Owned by Each Reporting Person With 5. Sole Voting Power 645,923 6. Shared Voting Power 0 7. Sole Dispositive Power 645,923 8. Shared Dispositive Power 0

9. Aggregate Amount Beneficially Owned by Each Reporting Person 645,923

10. Check if the Aggregate Amount in Row (9) Excludes Certain Shares (See Instructions) N/A o 11. Percent of Class Represented by Amount in Row (9) 6.16% 12. Type of Reporting Person (See Instructions) IA

Page 2 of 5

INTERNAL

STATEMENT ON SCHEDULE 13G

Item 1. (a) Name of Issuer Citizens Community Bancorp Inc. (b) Address of Issuers Principal Executive Offices 2174 Eastridge Center, Eau Claire, WI 54701 Item 2. (a) Name of Person Filing This filing is made on behalf of Manulife Financial Corporation (MFC) and MFCs indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary, Manulife Investment Management (US) LLC (MIM (US)). (b) Address of Principal Business Office or, if none, Residence The principal business office of MFC is located at 200 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M4W 1E5. The principal business office of MIM (US) is located at 197 Clarendon Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02116. (c) Citizenship MFC is organized and exist under the laws of Canada. MIM (US) is organized and exists under the laws of the State of Delaware. (d) Title of Class of Securities Common Stock (e) CUSIP Number 174903104

Item 3. If this statement is filed pursuant to 240.13d-1(b) or 240.13d-2(b) or (c), check whether the person filing is a:

(a) o Broker or dealer registered under section 15 of the Act (15 U.S.C. 78o). (b) o Bank as defined in section 3(a)(6) of the Act (15 U.S.C. 78c). (c) o Insurance company as defined in section 3(a)(19) of the Act (15 U.S.C. 78c). (d) o Investment company registered under section 8 of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C 80a-8). MIM (US) (e) x An investment adviser in accordance with 240.13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(E); (f) o An employee benefit plan or endowment fund in accordance with 240.13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(F); MFC (g) x A parent holding company or control person in accordance with  240.13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(G); (h) o A savings associations as defined in Section 3(b) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1813); (i) o A church plan that is excluded from the definition of an investment company under section 3(c)(14) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a-3); (j) o A non-U.S. institution in accordance with 240.13d1(b)(1)(ii)(J); (k) o Group, in accordance with 240.13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(J).

If filing as a non-U.S. institution in accordance with 240.13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(J), please specify the type of institution:

Item 4. Ownership.

Provide the following information regarding the aggregate number and percentage of the class of securities of the issuer identified in Item 1.

(a) Amount beneficially owned: MIM (US) has beneficial ownership of 645,923 shares of Common Stock. Through its parent-subsidiary relationship to MIM (US), MFC may be deemed to have beneficial ownership of these same shares. (b) Percent of class: Of the 10,483,610 shares of Common Stock outstanding as of November 7, 2022, according to the Form 10-Q filed by the issuer with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 7, 2022, MIM (US) held 6.16%. (c) Number of shares as to which the person has:

(i) Sole power to vote or to direct the vote Incorporated by reference to Item 5 of the cover page pertaining to each reporting person. . (ii) Shared power to vote or to direct the vote Incorporated by reference to Item 6 of the cover page pertaining to each reporting person. . (iii) Sole power to dispose or to direct the disposition of Incorporated by reference to Item 7 of the cover page pertaining to each reporting person. . (iv) Shared power to dispose or to direct the disposition of Incorporated by reference to Item 8 of the cover page pertaining to each reporting person. .

Instruction.

240.13d-3(d)(1). For computations regarding securities which represent a right to acquire an underlying security see

Item 5. Ownership of Five Percent or Less of a Class If this statement is being filed to report the fact that as of the date hereof the reporting person has ceased to be the beneficial owner of more than five percent of the class of securities, check the following o . Item 6. Ownership of More than Five Percent on Behalf of Another Person. N/A Item 7. Identification and Classification of the Subsidiary Which Acquired the Security Being Reported on By the Parent Holding Company or Control Person See Items 3 and 4 above Item 8. Identification and Classification of Members of the Group N/A Item 9. Notice of Dissolution of Group N/A Item 10. Certification By signing below the undersigned certifies that, to the best of its knowledge and belief, the securities referred to above were acquired and are held in the ordinary course of business and were not acquired and are not held for the purpose of or with the effect of changing or influencing the control of the issuer of the securities and were not acquired and are not held in connection with or as a participant in any transaction having that purpose or effect.

Page 3 of 5

INTERNAL

SIGNATURE

After reasonable inquiry and to the best of my knowledge and belief, I certify that the information set forth in this statement is true, complete and correct.

Manulife Financial Corporation February 9, 2023 Date Signature Susie Rafael Name Agent* Title Manulife Investment Management (US) LLC February 3, 2023 Date Signature Paul Donahue Name Chief Compliance Officer Title

*Signed pursuant to a Power of Attorney dated January 17, 2018 included as Exhibit A to Schedule 13F- NT filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Manulife Financial Corporation on January 29, 2018.

The original statement shall be signed by each person on whose behalf the statement is filed or his authorized representative.

If the statement is signed on behalf of a person by his authorized representative other than an executive officer or general partner of the filing person, evidence of the representatives authority to sign on behalf of such person shall be filed with the statement, provided, however, that a power of attorney for this purpose which is already on file with the Commission may be incorporated by reference. The name and any title of each person who signs the statement shall be typed or printed beneath his signature.

NOTE : Schedules filed in paper format shall include a signed original and five copies of the schedule, including all exhibits. See 240.13d-7 for other parties for whom copies are to be sent.

Attention: Intentional misstatements or omissions of fact constitute Federal criminal violations (See 18 U.S.C. 1001)

Page 4 of 5

INTERNAL

EXHIBIT A

JOINT FILING AGREEMENT

Manulife Financial Corporation and Manulife Investment Management (US) LLC agree that the Schedule 13G (Amendment No.1) to which this Agreement is attached, relating to the Common Stock of Citizens Community Bancorp Inc., is filed on behalf of each of them.

Manulife Financial Corporation February 9, 2023 Date Signature Susie Rafael Name Agent* Title Manulife Investment Management (US) LLC February 3, 2023 Date Signature Paul Donahue Name Chief Compliance Officer Title

*Signed pursuant to a Power of Attorney dated January 17, 2018 included as Exhibit A to Schedule 13F- NT filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Manulife Financial Corporation on January 29, 2018.

Page 5 of 5

INTERNAL
CUSIP No.: G9456A100

ITEM 1(a). NAME OF ISSUER: Golar LNG Ltd

ITEM 1(b). ADDRESS OF ISSUER'S PRINCIPAL EXECUTIVE OFFICES: 2nd Floor, S.E. Pearman Buliding

9 Par-La-Ville Road

Hamilton, HM11 Bermuda

ITEM 2(a). NAME OF PERSON FILING: Orbis Investment Management Limited ("OIML"); Allan Gray Australia Pty Limited ("AGAPL")

ITEM 2(b). ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL BUSINESS OFFICE OR, IF NONE, RESIDENCE: AGAPL: Level 2, Challis House, 4 Martin Place, Sydney NSW2000, Australia

OIML: Orbis House, 25 Front Street, Hamilton Bermuda HM11

ITEM 2(c). CITIZENSHIP: OIML is a company organized under the laws of Bermuda. AGAPL is a company organized under the laws of Australia.

ITEM 2(d). TITLE OF CLASS OF SECURITIES: Common Stock

ITEM 2(e). CUSIP NUMBER: G9456A100

ITEM 3. IF THIS STATEMENT IS FILED PURSUANT TO SECTION 240.13d-1(b), or 13d-2(b) or (c) CHECK WHETHER THE PERSON FILING IS A:

(a) [ ] Broker or dealer registered under Section 15 of the Act (15 U.S.C. 78c);

(b) [ ] Bank as defined in Section 3(a)(6) of the Act (15 U.S.C. 78c);

(c) [ ] Insurance company as defined in Section 3(a)(19) of the Act (15 U.S.C. 78c);

(d) [ ] Investment company registered under Section 8 of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C 80a-8);

(e) [ ] An investment adviser in accordance with 240.13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(E);

(f) [ ] An employee benefit plan or endowment fund in accordance with 240.13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(F);

(g) [ ] A parent holding company or control person in accordance with 240.13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(G);

(h) [ ] A savings associations as defined in Section 3(b) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1813);

(i) [ ] A church plan that is excluded from the definition of an investment company under Section 3(c)(14) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a-3);

(j) [X] A non-U.S. institution in accordance with 240.13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(J);

(k) [X] Group, in accordance with 240.13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(K). If filing as a non-U.S. institution in accordance with 240.13d1(b)(1)(ii)(J), please specify the type of institution:

Non-U.S.institution equivalent to IA.

ITEM 4. OWNERSHIP

(a) Amount beneficially owned:

OIML - 8,047,095

AGAPL - 8,548

(b) Percent of class:

7.4%

(c) Number of shares as to which the person has:

(i) sole power to vote or to direct the vote:

8,055,643

(ii) shared power to vote or to direct the vote:

0

(iii) sole power to dispose or direct the disposition of:

8,055,643

(iv) shared power to dispose or to direct the disposition of:

0

ITEM 5. OWNERSHIP OF FIVE PERCENT OR LESS OF A CLASS: If this statement is being filed to report the fact that as of the date hereof the reporting person has ceased to be the beneficial owner of more than five percent of the class of securities, check the following [ ].

ITEM 6. OWNERSHIP OF MORE THAN FIVE PERCENT ON BEHALF OF ANOTHER PERSON: Other persons have the right to receive dividends from, the power to direct the receipt of dividends from, or the right to receive the proceeds from the sale of, the securities of the issuer identified in Item 4(a) that are beneficially owned by OIML.



Another person has the right to receive dividends from, the power to direct the receipt of dividends from, or the right to receive the proceeds from the sale of, the securities of the issuer identified in Item 4(a) that are beneficially owned by AGAPL.

ITEM 7. IDENTIFICATION AND CLASSIFICATION OF THE SUBSIDIARY WHICH ACQUIRED THE SECURITY BEING REPORTED ON BY THE PARENT HOLDING COMPANY:

ITEM 8. IDENTIFICATION AND CLASSIFICATION OF MEMBERS OF THE GROUP: OIML and AGAPL (collectively, the "Reporting Persons") are together making this filing because they may be deemed to constitute, but do not represent that they necessarily are, a "group" for the purposes of Section 13(d)(3) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Information with respect to each Reporting Person is given solely by each such Reporting Person and no Reporting Person has responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of information supplied by the other Reporting Person. OIML and AGAPL are each classified as a Non-U.S. Institution (FI) that is equivalent to an Investment Adviser (IA). Each Reporting Person disclaims beneficial ownership of any shares beneficially owned by any other Reporting Person as specified in Item 4(a).

ITEM 9. NOTICE OF DISSOLUTION OF GROUP:
Item 10. CERTIFICATION.

Each of the LMR Investment Managers and Messrs. Levine and Renold hereby certifies as follows:

By signing below each Reporting Person certifies that, to the best of his or its knowledge and belief, the securities referred to above were acquired and are held in the ordinary course of business and were not acquired and are not held for the purpose of or with the effect of changing or influencing the control of the issuer of the securities and were not acquired and are not held in connection with or as a participant in any transaction having that purpose or effect.

Each of the LMR Investment Managers other than LMR Partners LLC hereby certifies as follows:

By signing below, I certify that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, the foreign regulatory scheme applicable to an investment adviser is substantially comparable to the regulatory scheme applicable to the functionally equivalent U.S. institution(s). I also undertake to furnish to the Securities and Exchange Commission staff, upon request, information that would otherwise be disclosed in a Schedule 13D.

LMR Master Fund hereby certifies as follows:

By signing below each Reporting Person certifies that, to the best of his or its knowledge and belief, the securities referred to above were not acquired and are not held for the purpose of or with the effect of changing or influencing the control of the issuer of the securities and were not acquired and are not held in connection with or as a participant in any transaction having that purpose or effect.
UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, DC 20549

SCHEDULE 13G

Under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

(Amendment No. 6)*

The New York Times Company (Name of Issuer)

Class A Common Stock (Title of Class of Securities)

650111107 (CUSIP Number)

December 31, 2022 (Date of Event Which Requires Filing of this Statement)

Check the appropriate box to designate the rule pursuant to which this Schedule is filed:

[_] Rule 13d-1(b)

[X] Rule 13d-1(c)

[_] Rule 13d-1(d)

__________

*The remainder of this cover page shall be filled out for a reporting person's initial filing on this form with respect to the subject class of securities, and for any subsequent amendment containing information which would alter the disclosures provided in a prior cover page.

The information required in the remainder of this cover page shall not be deemed to be "filed" for the purpose of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ("Act") or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section of the Act but shall be subject to all other provisions of the Act (however, see the Notes).



CUSIP No 650111107

1. NAME OF REPORTING PERSONS I.R.S. IDENTIFICATION NOS. OF ABOVE PERSONS (ENTITIES ONLY) Darsana Capital Partners LP 2. CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP (SEE INSTRUCTIONS) (a) [_] (b) [X] 3. SEC USE ONLY 4. CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION Delaware NUMBER OF SHARES BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON WITH 5. SOLE VOTING POWER 0 6. SHARED VOTING POWER 5,224,765 7. SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER 0 8. SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER 5,224,765 9. AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON 5,224,765 10. CHECK BOX IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (9) EXCLUDES CERTAIN SHARES (SEE INSTRUCTIONS) [_] 11. PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW (9) 3.2% 12. TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON (SEE INSTRUCTIONS) IA, PN



CUSIP No 650111107

1. NAME OF REPORTING PERSONS I.R.S. IDENTIFICATION NOS. OF ABOVE PERSONS (ENTITIES ONLY) Darsana Capital Partners GP LLC 2. CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP (SEE INSTRUCTIONS) (a) [_] (b) [X] 3. SEC USE ONLY 4. CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION Delaware NUMBER OF SHARES BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON WITH 5. SOLE VOTING POWER 0 6. SHARED VOTING POWER 5,224,765 7. SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER 0 8. SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER 5,224,765 9. AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON 5,224,765 10. CHECK BOX IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (9) EXCLUDES CERTAIN SHARES (SEE INSTRUCTIONS) [_] 11. PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW (9) 3.2% 12. TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON (SEE INSTRUCTIONS) HC, OO



CUSIP No 650111107

1. NAME OF REPORTING PERSONS I.R.S. IDENTIFICATION NOS. OF ABOVE PERSONS (ENTITIES ONLY) Darsana Master Fund LP 2. CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP (SEE INSTRUCTIONS) (a) [_] (b) [X] 3. SEC USE ONLY 4. CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION Cayman Islands NUMBER OF SHARES BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON WITH 5. SOLE VOTING POWER 0 6. SHARED VOTING POWER 5,224,765 7. SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER 0 8. SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER 5,224,765 9. AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON 5,224,765 10. CHECK BOX IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (9) EXCLUDES CERTAIN SHARES (SEE INSTRUCTIONS) [_] 11. PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW (9) 3.2% 12. TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON (SEE INSTRUCTIONS) PN



CUSIP No 650111107

1. NAME OF REPORTING PERSONS I.R.S. IDENTIFICATION NOS. OF ABOVE PERSONS (ENTITIES ONLY) Darsana Capital GP LLC 2. CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP (SEE INSTRUCTIONS) (a) [_] (b) [X] 3. SEC USE ONLY 4. CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION Delaware NUMBER OF SHARES BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON WITH 5. SOLE VOTING POWER 0 6. SHARED VOTING POWER 5,224,765 7. SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER 0 8. SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER 5,224,765 9. AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON 5,224,765 10. CHECK BOX IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (9) EXCLUDES CERTAIN SHARES (SEE INSTRUCTIONS) [_] 11. PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW (9) 3.2% 12. TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON (SEE INSTRUCTIONS) HC, OO



CUSIP No 650111107

1. NAME OF REPORTING PERSONS I.R.S. IDENTIFICATION NOS. OF ABOVE PERSONS (ENTITIES ONLY) Anand Desai 2. CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP (SEE INSTRUCTIONS) (a) [_] (b) [X] 3. SEC USE ONLY 4. CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION United States of America NUMBER OF SHARES BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON WITH 5. SOLE VOTING POWER 0 6. SHARED VOTING POWER 5,224,765 7. SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER 0 8. SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER 5,224,765 9. AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON 5,224,765 10. CHECK BOX IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (9) EXCLUDES CERTAIN SHARES (SEE INSTRUCTIONS) [_] 11. PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW (9) 3.2%

12. TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON (SEE INSTRUCTIONS) HC, IN



CUSIP No 650111107

Item 1. (a). Name of Issuer: The New York Times Company (b). Address of Issuer's Principal Executive Offices: 620 Eighth Avenue New York, New York 10018 Item 2. (a). Name of Person Filing: Darsana Capital Partners LP Darsana Capital Partners GP LLC Darsana Master Fund LP Darsana Capital GP LLC Anand Desai (b). Address of Principal Business Office, or if None, Residence: 40 West 57th Street, 22nd Floor New York, New York 10019 (c). Citizenship: Darsana Capital Partners LP - Delaware Darsana Capital Partners GP LLC -Delaware Darsana Master Fund LP - Cayman Islands Darsana Capital GP LLC - Delaware Anand Desai  United States of America (d). Title of Class of Securities: Class A Common Stock (e). CUSIP Number: 650111107 Item 3. If This Statement is filed pursuant to ss.240.13d-1(b) or 240.13d-2(b), or (c), check whether the person filing is a

(a) [_] Broker or dealer registered under Section 15 of the Exchange Act (15 U.S.C. 78c).

(b) [_] Bank as defined in Section 3(a)(6) of the Exchange Act (15 U.S.C. 78c).

(c) [_] Insurance company as defined in Section 3(a)(19) of the Exchange Act (15 U.S.C. 78c).

(d) [_] Investment company registered under Section 8 of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a-8).

(e) [_] An investment adviser in accordance with  240.13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(E);

(f) [_] An employee benefit plan or endowment fund in accordance with  240.13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(F);

(g) [_] A parent holding company or control person in accordance with Rule 13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(G);

(h) [_] A savings association as defined in Section 3(b) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C.1813);

(i) [_] A church plan that is excluded from the definition of an investment company under Section 3(c)(14) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a-3);

(j) [_] Group, in accordance with s.240.13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(J).

Item 4. Ownership.

Provide the following information regarding the aggregate number and percentage of the class of securities of the issuer identified in Item 1.

(a) Amount beneficially owned:

5,224,765 shares deemed beneficially owned by Darsana Capital Partners LP 5,224,765 shares deemed beneficially owned by Darsana Capital Partners GP LLC 5,224,765 shares deemed beneficially owned by Darsana Master Fund LP 5,224,765 shares deemed beneficially owned by Darsana Capital GP LLC 5,224,765 shares deemed beneficially owned by Anand Desai

(b) Percent of class:

3.2% deemed beneficially owned by Darsana Capital Partners LP 3.2% deemed beneficially owned by Darsana Capital Partners GP LLC 3.2% deemed beneficially owned by Darsana Master Fund LP 3.2% deemed beneficially owned by Darsana Capital GP LLC 3.2% deemed beneficially owned by Anand Desai

(c) Number of shares as to which Darsana Capital Partners LP has:

(i) Sole power to vote or to direct the vote 0 (ii) Shared power to vote or to direct the vote 5,224,765 (iii) Sole power to dispose or to direct the disposition of 0 (iv) Shared power to dispose or to direct the disposition of 5,224,765

Number of shares as to which Darsana Capital Partners GP LLC has: (i) Sole power to vote or to direct the vote 0 (ii) Shared power to vote or to direct the vote 5,224,765 (iii) Sole power to dispose or to direct the disposition of 0 (iv) Shared power to dispose or to direct the disposition of 5,224,765

Number of shares as to which Darsana Master Fund LP has: (i) Sole power to vote or to direct the vote 0 (ii) Shared power to vote or to direct the vote 5,224,765 (iii) Sole power to dispose or to direct the disposition of 0 (iv) Shared power to dispose or to direct the disposition of 5,224,765

Number of shares as to which Darsana Capital GP LLC has:

(i) Sole power to vote or to direct the vote 0 (ii) Shared power to vote or to direct the vote 5,224,765 (iii) Sole power to dispose or to direct the disposition of 0 (iv) Shared power to dispose or to direct the disposition of 5,224,765

Number of shares as to which Anand Desai has:

(i) Sole power to vote or to direct the vote 0 (ii) Shared power to vote or to direct the vote 5,224,765 (iii) Sole power to dispose or to direct the disposition of 0

(iv) Shared power to dispose or to direct the disposition of 5,224,765 Item 5. Ownership of Five Percent or Less of a Class.

If this statement is being filed to report the fact that as of the date hereof the reporting person has ceased to be the beneficial owner of more than five percent of the class of securities, check the following [X].

Item 6. Ownership of More Than Five Percent on Behalf of Another Person. If any other person is known to have the right to receive or the power to direct the receipt of dividends from, or the proceeds from the sale of, such securities, a statement to that effect should be included in response to this item and, if such interest relates to more than five percent of the class, such person should be identified. A listing of the shareholders of an investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 or the beneficiaries of employee benefit plan, pension fund or endowment fund is not required. N/A Item 7. Identification and Classification of the Subsidiary Which Acquired the Security Being Reported on by the Parent Holding Company. If a parent holding company or control person has filed this schedule, pursuant to Rule 13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(G), so indicate under Item 3(g) and attach an exhibit stating the identity and the Item 3 classification of the relevant subsidiary. If a parent holding company or control person has filed this schedule pursuant to Rule 13d-1(c) or Rule 13d-1(d), attach an exhibit stating the identification of the relevant subsidiary. Please see Exhibit B Attached hereto. Item 8. Identification and Classification of Members of the Group. If a group has filed this schedule pursuant to  240.13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(J), so indicate under Item 3(j) and attach an exhibit stating the identity and Item 3 classification of each member of the group. If a group has filed this schedule pursuant to 240.13d-1(c) or 240.13d-1(d), attach an exhibit stating the identity of each member of the group. N/A Item 9. Notice of Dissolution of Group. Notice of dissolution of a group may be furnished as an exhibit stating the date of the dissolution and that all further filings with respect to transactions in the security reported on will be filed, if required, by members of the group, in their individual capacity. See Item 5. N/A Item 10. Certification. By signing below I certify that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, the securities referred to above were not acquired and are not held for the purpose of or with the effect of changing or influencing the control of the issuer of the securities and were not acquired and are not held in connection with or as a participant in any transaction having that purpose or effect, other than activities solely in connection with a nomination under  240.14a-11.

SIGNATURE

After reasonable inquiry and to the best of my knowledge and belief, I certify that the information set forth in this statement is true, complete and correct.

February 14, 2023 (Date) Darsana Capital Partners LP* By Darsana Capital Partners GP LLC, Its General Partner /s/ Anand Desai

Signature



Anand Desai

Chief Executive Officer Darsana Capital Partners GP LLC* /s/ Anand Desai

Signature



Anand Desai

Chief Executive Officer Darsana Master Fund LP By Darsana Capital GP LLC, Its General Partner /s/ Anand Desai

Signature



Anand Desai

Chief Executive Officer Darsana Capital GP LLC* /s/ Anand Desai

Signature



Anand Desai

Chief Executive Officer Anand Desai* /s/ Anand Desai

Signature





*The Reporting Person specifically disclaims beneficial ownership of the securities reported herein except to the extent of its pecuniary interest therein.



Exhibit A

AGREEMENT

The undersigned agree that this amendment number 6 to Schedule 13G dated February 14, 2023 relating to the Class A Common Stock of The New York Times Company shall be filed on behalf of the undersigned.

Darsana Capital Partners LP By Darsana Capital Partners GP LLC, Its General Partner /s/ Anand Desai

Signature



Anand Desai

Chief Executive Officer Darsana Capital Partners GP LLC /s/ Anand Desai

Signature



Anand Desai

Chief Executive Officer Darsana Master Fund LP By Darsana Capital GP LLC, Its General Partner /s/ Anand Desai

Signature



Anand Desai

Chief Executive Officer Darsana Capital GP LLC /s/ Anand Desai

Signature



Anand Desai

Chief Executive Officer Anand Desai /s/ Anand Desai

Signature





Exhibit B

Darsana Capital Partners LP is the relevant entity for which each of Darsana Capital Partners GP LLC and Anand Desai may be considered a control person.
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

SCHEDULE 13G

(RULE 13d - 102)

INFORMATION TO BE INCLUDED IN STATEMENTS FILED PURSUANT TO 13d-1(b), (c) AND (d) AND AMENDMENTS THERETO FILED PURSUANT TO 13d-2(b)

(Amendment No. 2)*

Theravance Biopharma, Inc.

(Name of Issuer)

Ordinary Shares, par value $0.00001 per share

(Title of Class of Securities)

G8807B106

(CUSIP Number)

December 31, 2022

(Date of Event which Requires Filing of this Statement)

Check the appropriate box to designate the rule pursuant to which this Schedule is filed:

[ ] Rule 13d-1(b)

[x] Rule 13d-1(c)

[ ] Rule 13d-1(d)

*The remainder of this cover page shall be filled out for a reporting persons initial filing on this form with respect to the subject class of securities, and for any subsequent amendment containing information which would alter disclosures provided in a prior cover page.

The information required on the remainder of this cover page shall not be deemed to be filed for the purpose of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section of the Act but shall be subject to all other provisions of the Act (however, see the Notes ).





1. NAMES OF REPORTING PERSONS

I.R.S. IDENTIFICATION NOS. OF ABOVE PERSONS (ENTITIES ONLY) Madison Avenue International LP 2. CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP (a) [ ] (b) [ ] 3. SEC USE ONLY 4. CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION Cayman Islands NUMBER OF SHARES BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON WITH: 5. SOLE VOTING POWER 0 6. SHARED VOTING POWER 7,012,226 7. SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER 0 8. SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER 7,012,226 9. AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON 7,012,226 10. CHECK BOX IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (9)

EXCLUDES CERTAIN SHARES [ ] 11. PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW (9) 10.4% 12. TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON OO













1. NAMES OF REPORTING PERSONS

I.R.S. IDENTIFICATION NOS. OF ABOVE PERSONS (ENTITIES ONLY) Madison Avenue Partners, LP 2. CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP (a) [ ] (b) [ ] 3. SEC USE ONLY 4. CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION Delaware NUMBER OF SHARES BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON WITH: 5. SOLE VOTING POWER 0 6. SHARED VOTING POWER 7,012,226 7. SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER 0 8. SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER 7,012,226 9. AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON 7,012,226 10. CHECK BOX IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (9)

EXCLUDES CERTAIN SHARES [ ] 11. PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW (9) 10.4% 12. TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON OO













1. NAMES OF REPORTING PERSONS

I.R.S. IDENTIFICATION NOS. OF ABOVE PERSONS (ENTITIES ONLY) EMAI Management, LLC 2. CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP (a) [ ] (b) [ ] 3. SEC USE ONLY 4. CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION Delaware NUMBER OF SHARES BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON WITH: 5. SOLE VOTING POWER 0 6. SHARED VOTING POWER 7,012,226 7. SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER 0 8. SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER 7,012,226 9. AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON 7,012,226 10. CHECK BOX IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (9)

EXCLUDES CERTAIN SHARES [ ] 11. PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW (9) 10.4% 12. TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON OO









1. NAMES OF REPORTING PERSONS

I.R.S. IDENTIFICATION NOS. OF ABOVE PERSONS (ENTITIES ONLY) Madison Avenue GP, LLC 2. CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP (a) [ ] (b) [ ] 3. SEC USE ONLY 4. CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION Delaware NUMBER OF SHARES BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON WITH: 5. SOLE VOTING POWER 0 6. SHARED VOTING POWER 7,012,226 7. SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER 0 8. SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER 7,012,226 9. AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON 7,012,226 10. CHECK BOX IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (9)

EXCLUDES CERTAIN SHARES [ ] 11. PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW (9) 10.4% 12. TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON OO













1. NAMES OF REPORTING PERSONS

I.R.S. IDENTIFICATION NOS. OF ABOVE PERSONS (ENTITIES ONLY) Caraway Jackson Investments LLC 2. CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP (a) [ ] (b) [ ] 3. SEC USE ONLY 4. CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION Delaware NUMBER OF SHARES BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON WITH: 5. SOLE VOTING POWER 0 6. SHARED VOTING POWER 7,012,226 7. SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER 0 8. SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER 7,012,226 9. AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON 7,012,226 10. CHECK BOX IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (9)

EXCLUDES CERTAIN SHARES [ ] 11. PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW (9) 10.4% 12. TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON OO













1. NAMES OF REPORTING PERSONS

I.R.S. IDENTIFICATION NOS. OF ABOVE PERSONS (ENTITIES ONLY) Eli Samaha 2. CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP (a) [ ] (b) [ ] 3. SEC USE ONLY 4. CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION United States of America NUMBER OF SHARES BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON WITH: 5. SOLE VOTING POWER 0 6. SHARED VOTING POWER 7,012,226 7. SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER 0 8. SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER 7,012,226 9. AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON 7,012,226 10. CHECK BOX IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (9)

EXCLUDES CERTAIN SHARES [ ] 11. PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW (9) 10.4% 12. TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON IN









Item 1(a). Name of Issuer:

Theravance Biopharma, Inc. ( Issuer )

Item 1(b). Address of Issuers Principal Executive Offices:

PO Box 309, Ugland House, South Church Street, George Town, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands KY11104

Item 2(a). Name of Persons Filing:

The names of the persons filing this statement on Schedule 13G (collectively, the  Reporting Persons ) are:

 Madison Avenue International LP,





 Madison Avenue Partners, LP,





 EMAI Management, LLC,





 Madison Avenue GP, LLC,





 Caraway Jackson Investments LLC, and





 Eli Samaha.





Item 2(b). Address of Principal Business Office or, if None, Residence:

The principal business address for each of the Reporting Persons is 150 East 58th St, 14th Fl, New York, NY 10155 .

Item 2(c). Citizenship:

Madison Avenue International LP is a Cayman Islands exempted limited partnership. Madison Avenue Partners, LP is a Delaware limited partnership. Each of EMAI Management, LLC, Madison Avenue GP, LLC and Caraway Jackson Investments LLC is a Delaware limited liability company. Mr. Samaha is a citizen of the United States of America .

Item 2(d). Title of Class of Securities:

Ordinary Shares, $0.00001 par value per share (the  Ordinary Shares )

Item 2(e). CUSIP Number:

G8807B106

Item 3. If This Statement is Filed Pursuant to Rule 13d-1(b), or 13d-2(b) or (c), Check Whether the Person Filing is a:

(a) [ ] Broker or dealer registered under Section 15 of the Exchange Act. (b) [ ] Bank as defined in Section 3(a)(6) of the Exchange Act. (c) [ ] Insurance company defined in Section 3(a)(19) of the Exchange Act. (d) [ ] Investment company registered under Section 8 of the Investment Company Act. (e) [x] Investment adviser in accordance with Rule 13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(E). (f) [ ] Employee benefit plan or endowment fund in accordance with Rule 13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(F). (g) [ ] Parent holding company or control person in accordance with Rule 13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(G). (h) [ ] Savings association as defined in Section 3(b) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act. (i) [ ] Church plan that is excluded from the definition of an investment company under Section 3(c)(14) of the Investment Company Act; (j) [ ] Non-U.S. institution in accordance with Section 240.13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(J). (k) [ ] Group, in accordance with Rule 240.13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(K). If filing as a non-U.S. institution in accordance with  240.13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(J), please specify the type of institution: ____





Item 4. Ownership.

(a) Amount beneficially owned:

As of December 31, 2022, Madison Avenue International LP beneficially owned 7,012,226 Ordinary Shares.

Madison Avenue Partners, LP and Madison Avenue GP, LLC, as the investment manager and general partner of Madison Avenue International LP, respectively, may be deemed to be the beneficial owner of the Ordinary Shares owned directly by Madison Avenue International LP.

EMAI Management, LLC, as the general partner of Madison Avenue Partners, LP, may be deemed to be the beneficial owner of the Ordinary Shares owned directly by Madison Avenue International LP.

Caraway Jackson Investments LLC, as the owner of Madison Avenue GP, LLC, may be deemed to be the beneficial owner of the Ordinary Shares owned directly by Madison Avenue International LP.

Mr. Samaha, as the non-member manager of Madison Avenue GP, LLC, the managing member of EMAI Management, LLC, and the majority owner of Caraway Jackson Investments LLC, may be deemed to be the beneficial owner of the Ordinary Shares owned by Madison Avenue International LP.

(b) Percent of Class:

The following percentage is based on 67,365,912 Ordinary Shares outstanding as of October 31, 2022, as disclosed in the Issuers Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 9, 2022.

As of December 31, 2022, the Reporting Persons may be deemed to have beneficially owned approximately 10.4% of the outstanding Ordinary Shares.

(c) Number of shares as to which such person has:



(i) Sole power to vote or to direct the vote of Ordinary Shares:

See Cover Pages Items 5-9.



(ii) Shared power to vote or to direct the vote of Ordinary Shares:

See Cover Pages Items 5-9.



(iii) Sole power to dispose or to direct the disposition of Ordinary Shares:

See Cover Pages Items 5-9.



(iv) Shared power to dispose or to direct the disposition of Ordinary Shares:

See Cover Pages Items 5-9.

Item 5. Ownership of Five Percent or Less of a Class.

If this statement is being filed to report the fact that as of the date hereof the Reporting Persons have ceased to be the beneficial owner of more than five percent of the class of securities, check the following [ ].

Item 6. Ownership of More than Five Percent on Behalf of Another Person.

Not applicable.

Item 7. Identification and Classification of the Subsidiary Which Acquired the Security Being Reported on by the Parent Holding Company.

Not applicable.

Item 8. Identification and Classification of Members of the Group.

See Exhibit A to the Schedule 13G filed by the Reporting Persons with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 27, 2021.

Item 9. Notice of Dissolution of Group.

Not applicable.

Item 10. Certification.

By signing below the undersigned certifies that, to the best of its or his knowledge and belief, the securities referred to above were not acquired and are not held for the purpose of or with the effect of changing or influencing the control of the issuer of the securities and were not acquired and are not held in connection with or as a participant in any transaction having that purpose or effect.





SIGNATURES

After reasonable inquiry and to the best of its knowledge and belief, each of the undersigned certifies that the information with respect to it set forth in this statement is true, complete, and correct.

Dated: February 14, 2023

MADISON AVENUE INTERNATIONAL LP By: Madison Avenue GP, LLC, its general partner



By: /s/ Eli Samaha Eli Samaha, as Manager



MADISON AVENUE PARTNERS, LP By: EMAI Management, LLC, its general partner



By: /s/ Eli Samaha Eli Samaha, as Managing Member



EMAI MANAGEMENT, LLC



By: /s/ Eli Samaha Eli Samaha, as Managing Member



MADISON AVENUE GP, LLC



By: /s/ Eli Samaha Eli Samaha, as Manager



CARAWAY JACKSON INVESTMENTS, LLC



By: /s/ Eli Samaha Eli Samaha, as Member



/s/ Eli Samaha ELI SAMAHA





*The Reporting Persons disclaim beneficial ownership in the Ordinary Shares reported herein except to the extent of their pecuniary interest therein.

The original statement shall be signed by each person on whose behalf the statement is filed or his authorized representative. If the statement is signed on behalf of a person by his authorized representative other than an executive officer or general partner of the filing person, evidence of the representative's authority to sign on behalf of such person shall be filed with the statement, provided, however, that a power of attorney for this purpose which is already on file with the Commission may be incorporated by reference. The name and any title of each person who signs the statement shall be typed or printed beneath his signature.

Note. Schedules filed in paper format shall include a signed original and five copies of the schedule, including all exhibits. See s.240.13d-7 for other parties for whom copies are to be sent.

Attention. Intentional misstatements or omissions of fact constitute Federal criminal violations (see 18 U.S.C. 1001).




CUSIP No. 89422G107 SCHEDULE 13G/A Page 4 of 9 Pages

1 NAME OF REPORTING PERSONS David Kroin 2 CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP (a) o (b) x 3 SEC USE ONLY 4 CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION United States NUMBER OF SHARES BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON WITH 5 SOLE VOTING POWER 0 6 SHARED VOTING POWER 4,582,000 7 SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER 0 8 SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER 4,582,000 9 AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON 4,582,000 10 CHECK IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (9) EXCLUDES CERTAIN SHARES o 11 PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW (9) 7.14% 12 TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON IN, HC CUSIP No. 89422G107 SCHEDULE 13G/A Page 5 of 9 Pages Item 1. (a) Name of Issuer Travere Therapeutics, Inc. Item 1. (b) Address of Issuers Principal Executive Offices 3611 Valley Centre Drive, Suite 300 San Diego, CA 92130 Item 2. (a) Names of Persons Filing: (i) Deep Track Capital, LP (ii) Deep Track Biotechnology Master Fund, Ltd. (iii) David Kroin Item 2. ( b) Address of Principal Business Office: (i) 200 Greenwich Ave, 3rd Floor, Greenwich, CT 06830 (ii) c/o Walkers Corporate Limited, 190 Elgin Ave, George Town, KY1-9001, Cayman Islands (iii) c/o Deep Track Capital, LP, 200 Greenwich Ave, 3rd Floor, Greenwich, CT 06830 Item 2. (c) Citizenship: (i) Delaware (ii) Cayman Islands (iii) United States Item 2. (d) Title of Class of Securities Common Stock, par value $0.0001 per share (the Common Stock) Item 2. (e) CUSIP No.: 89422G107 CUSIP No. 89422G107 SCHEDULE 13G/A Page 6 of 9 Pages Item 3. If this statement is filed pursuant to 240.13d-1(b) or 240.13d-2(b) or (c), check whether the person filing is a: (a)  Broker or dealer registered under section 15 of the Act (15 U.S.C. 78o); (b)  Bank as defined in section 3(a)(6) of the Act (15 U.S.C. 78c); (c)  Insurance company as defined in section 3(a)(19) of the Act (15 U.S.C. 78c); (d)  Investment company registered under section 8 of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a-8); (e) o An investment adviser in accordance with 240.13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(E); (f)  An employee benefit plan or endowment fund in accordance with 240.13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(F); (g)  A parent holding company or control person in accordance with 240.13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(G); (h)  A savings associations as defined in Section 3(b) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1813); (i)  A church plan that is excluded from the definition of an investment company under section 3(c)(14) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a-3); (j)  A non-U.S. institution in accordance with 240.13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(J); (k)  A group, in accordance with 240.13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(K). If filing as a non-U.S. institution in accordance with 240.13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(J), please specify the type of institution: CUSIP No. 89422G107 SCHEDULE 13G/A Page 7 of 9 Pages Item 4. Ownership

Information with respect to the Reporting Persons' ownership of the Common Stock as of December 31, 2022, is incorporated by reference to items (5) - (9) and (11) of the cover page of the respective Reporting Person.

The amount beneficially owned by each Reporting Person is determined based on 64,173,570 Common Stock outstanding.

Item 5. Ownership of Five Percent or Less of a Class If this statement is being filed to report the fact that as of the date hereof the reporting person has ceased to be the beneficial owner of more than five percent of the class of securities, check the following [ ]. Item 6. Ownership of More Than Five Percent on Behalf of Another Person Not Applicable. Item 7. Identification and Classification of the Subsidiary which Acquired the Security Being Reported on by the Parent Holding Company or Control Person Deep Track Capital, LP is the relevant entity for which David Kroin may be considered a control person. Item 8. Identification and Classification of Members of the Group Not Applicable. Item 9. Notice of Dissolution of Group Not Applicable. Item 10. Certification

By signing below I certify that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, the securities referred to above were not acquired and are not held for the purpose of or with the effect of changing or influencing the control of the issuer of the securities and were not acquired and are not held in connection with or as a participant in any transaction having that purpose or effect.

CUSIP No. 89422G107 SCHEDULE 13G/A Page 8 of 9 Pages SIGNATURE After reasonable inquiry and to the best of my knowledge and belief, I certify that the information set forth in this statement is true, complete and correct. Dated: February 14, 2023

Deep Track Capital, LP By: /s/ David Kroin David Kroin, Managing Member of the General Partner of the Investment Adviser

Deep Track Biotechnology Master Fund, Ltd. By: /s/ David Kroin David Kroin, Director

David Kroin By: /s/ David Kroin David Kroin

CUSIP No. 89422G107 SCHEDULE 13G/A Page 9 of 9 Pages

Exhibit I

JOINT FILING STATEMENT

PURSUANT TO RULE 13d-1(k)

The undersigned acknowledge and agree that the foregoing statement on SCHEDULE 13G/A, is filed on behalf of each of the undersigned and that all subsequent amendments to this statement on SCHEDULE 13G/A, shall be filed on behalf of each of the undersigned without the necessity of filing additional joint acquisition statements. The undersigned acknowledge that each shall be responsible for the timely filing of such amendments, and for the completeness and accuracy of the information concerning him or it contained therein, but shall not be responsible for the completeness and accuracy of the information concerning the others, except to the extent that he or it knows or has reason to believe that such information is inaccurate.

Dated: February 14, 2023

Deep Track Capital, LP By: /s/ David Kroin David Kroin, Managing Member of the General Partner of the Investment Adviser
WASHINGTON  The top Air Force commander in the Middle East said Monday that the service will have to lean more on innovation to secure the region now that U.S. forces are out of Afghanistan and the Pentagon is focused on Russia and China.

Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, the commander of Air Forces Central, or AFCENT, said the Ninth Air Force is having to make do now with fewer resources in the region with more pressing threats in Eastern Europe and the Indo-Pacific region.

We want to make sure we are keeping enough pressure on violent extremist organizations so they cant carry out an attack on our homeland, Grynkewich said during an interview with the Center for a New American Security, a Washington-based think tank funded by several defense contractors including Northrop Grumman. That would have the potential to derail our focus on China.

The Pentagons National Defense Strategy and President Joe Bidens National Security Strategy were issued in the fall and identified China as the top U.S. competitor and pacing challenge  with Russia and North Korea not far behind. The strategies still place importance in the Middle East, but the region now garners less attention after the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan in 2021.

Iran is the other one we have to keep an eye on, Grynkewich said.

He said all U.S. commands are having to adjust their strategies, and for the Air Force in the Middle East that means relying more on brain power than traditional firepower.

Where we are trying to shift our focus is thinking about how we reshape the region over the longer term, Grynkewich said. That means a lot of partnering  that means a lot of collaboration, that means a lot of longer-term thinking about what is it that were doing on a daily basis.

Several months ago, the Air Force established Task Force 99, a unit dedicated to developing a culture of innovation to do more with less. Known as the Desert Catalysts, the unit is based in Qatar and since its formation, TF99 has tested drones, rockets and other technology experiments that it hopes will streamline capabilities.

Putting new emphasis on experimenting and inventing is a direction other military branches are also exploring. A few weeks after TF99 was created, the Army established its version of the unit  Task Force 39, which has also been charged with creating innovations that give the Pentagon more bang for its buck.

Getting these new capabilities tested in [the Middle East] is what we bring to the table, Col. Adontis Atkins, commander of Task Force 39, said recently. Actually getting it in the hands of soldiers and getting that feedback.

For example, Atkins said the Army will soon be testing semiautonomous cargo trucks on Middle East terrain. In 2021, the Navy formed a similar tech unit, Task Force 59, and the Air Force wants to copy its success.

[Task Force 99] is a shameless attempt to replicate the success of Task Force 59, Grynkewich said. It is a command that I have given some very hard tactical problems to  that they are empowered to go out and find solutions for.

Even in the Middle East, U.S. forces are seeing influence from China and Russia, the AFCENT commander said. Moscow has been a supporter of the government in Syria for many years and Grynkewich said Beijing wields serious economic influence across the region.

Already strained U.S.-China relations have been tested further in the last two weeks in the wake of the Chinese spy balloon incident, which was shot down over the Atlantic Ocean on Feb. 4 after it traveled across the United States. U.S. fighter jets also shot down three different objects in the skies over North America last Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The origins of the objects shot down over the weekend have not been identified yet, U.S. officials have said.

Grynkewich said Monday that he knows of other high-altitude objects that crossed over the Middle East in the recent past. He declined, however, to identify them as balloons and didnt say from where they might have emanated.

Even though we have seen high-altitude [objects] in the region before, they have not been a threat, he said. The level of concern that I have about them is extremely low.  Its not something that I would lose sleep [over] at night.
"It's a situation that could have turned very tragic," Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph A. Gramaglia declared in a press conference Monday, a day after officers rescued a woman who fell through ice along the shore at Broderick Park.

The woman, who was taken to Erie County Medical Center for treatment of possible hypothermia, was pulled to safety about 11 a.m. by three officers and her husband, who had held her arm to keep her from slipping further into the frigid water until help arrived.

Police Officer Anthony Banas, a member of the department's Underwater Recovery and Rescue Team, handed a life sling carried in a patrol car to the husband and instructed him how to place it on the woman. Gramaglia said the rescue took less than 10 minutes.

"We all pulled from a safe distance," Banas said at the press conference, "so we wouldn't slip and fall along the ice."

Gramaglia noted that there isn't much ice on the lake or other bodies of water this winter and warned, "All ice should be considered not safe."
Undersecretary of the Air Force Gina Ortiz Jones, a champion of broader diversity efforts and the first openly gay undersecretary, is stepping down as the services second-highest ranking civilian effective March 6.

Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall praised Jones leadership in a brief statement Monday about her departure.

Kendall called her a tireless advocate and said she had enabled airmen, guardians and their families to serve to their full potential.

The Senate confirmed Jones in July 2021, making her the sixth woman to hold the post since 1947.

Jones was forced to hide her sexual orientation as a young ROTC college cadet and, from 2003 to 2006, while serving as an Air Force intelligence officer during Dont Ask, Dont Tell.

I had to sign a piece of paper saying that I would not engage in homosexual behavior because DADT applied to me even as a cadet, Jones told a panel of LGBTQ+ community members, veterans and government leaders in 2021. It became clear to me that an opportunity to get an education and serve our country all goes away just because we didnt have leaders with the courage to say anybody ready and willing to serve their country should have the opportunity to do so.

The since-repealed Defense Department policy prevented lesbian, gay and bisexual military personnel from disclosing their sexuality while serving their country. Violating the policy carried the threat of discharge.

During her tenure as undersecretary, the Air Force and the Space Force began allowing pregnant women to apply for Air Force Officer Training School.

Previously, pregnant enlisted airmen, guardians and civilians had to wait until 12 months postpartum to begin the commissioning process.

And in August 2022, the Air Force and Space Force announced new recruiting demographic targets to increase the number of minority airmen and guardians in jobs traditionally held by white men.

When the Air Force announced in January that it was hiring more special agents to investigate allegations of domestic violence, Jones said the goal was to support survivors and prevent such crimes from happening.

This is a warfighting issue, a readiness issue and a leadership issue, Jones said in an Air Force statement.

Kristyn Jones, the Air Forces comptroller and chief financial officer, will become acting undersecretary, according to the service statement.

Kristyn Jones has served as the principal financial adviser to the Air Force secretary, Air Force chief of staff and chief of space operations since May 2022. Shell be the fourth acting undersecretary since 2019.
FORT SHAFTER, Hawaii  A day-old pair of wildfires continued to rage through a military training range Monday on Hawaiis Big Island as three Army helicopters joined the firefighting effort.

The fires, caused by lightning strikes, had burned about 1,500 acres at the Pohakuloa Training Area, the Army said in a news release Monday.

The 132,000-acre training area is operated by the Army but used by all the services for live-fire training. No troops are currently training on the site, the Army said.

The fires were roughly 5% contained as of Monday morning, the Army said.

Firefighters must contend with strong trade winds that have swept the state during the past week but are expected to weaken after Tuesday.

Two UH-60 Black Hawks and one CH-47 Chinook from 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, at Schofield Barracks, Oahu, were dispatched to the training area Monday morning, the Army said.

They will join several helicopters operated by local firefighters in dropping water on the blaze.

The fires are east of Highway 190 and pose no threat to communities at this point, the Army said.

Highway 190 traverses the northwest portion of the island, and to its west lies a more populated area near the coastline.

Wildfires are not unusual on the Big Island nor for the training area.

In August, high winds drove a wildfire that burned almost 20,000 acres that included portions of the Pohakuloa Training Area.

A fire at the training area last spring burned 600 acres.
This story has been corrected

A soldier who was seriously injured when two U.S. military trucks carrying weapons collided on a German autobahn last week is recovering at an Army hospital, service officials said Tuesday.

The soldier was one of four injured Thursday afternoon in an accident involving a five-vehicle convoy of M915A5 tractor-trailers on the A6 highway near Kirchberg an der Jagst, which is about 45 minutes west of the Armys post in Ansbach.

The driver of the third truck misjudged the distance while changing lanes and struck the truck in front of it, Aalen city police said at the time.

The cab of the merging truck was torn off by the impact and the vehicle caught fire, according to a police statement Friday. Firefighters were able to quickly extinguish the fire, police said.

The passenger in the third truck was airlifted to University Hospital Wuerzberg. That soldier has been transferred to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center for further treatment and is recovering well, 21st Theater Sustainment Command spokesman Maj. Vonnie Wright said Tuesday.

The other three injured soldiers were released from the Landstuhl hospital over the weekend, Wright said.

The accident remains under investigation and damage assessments were not yet available, the command said.

The trucks were carrying large amounts of missiles and munitions, but the danger was limited because no detonators were attached, according to police.

The weapons were transferred to other trucks and werent damaged, the Army said.
Schloss Hotel, Heidelberg, Germany, Jan. 8, 1949: No doubt several proposals are happening across U.S. bases this Valentines Day, leading many military couples down the aisle. Were not sure who proposed to whom, or when, but Stars and Stripes was there when Barbara Donze Kiechel, daughter of Lt. Col. D.F. Kiechel, said yes to Lt. Col. Edward McKaba, executive officer, Rhein-Main Air Base in 1949. The bride wore white satin, carried a bouquet of white carnations, and there was this amazing cake.

Looking for Stars and Stripes historic coverage? 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/
Patrick Kaufmann made 30 valentines cards along with some friends as a youth volunteer at a Washington, D.C., food nonprofit several years ago.

His handmade cards were tucked inside home-delivery meal packages and sent to sick children and adults. Afterward, Patrick, then 10, said he couldn't stop wondering if there might be other people who would appreciate a valentine but wouldn't be receiving one.

"I kept thinking, 'Wouldn't it be great if I could find a way to give everyone a valentine who might not get one?'" he said. "I decided it wouldn't be much trouble to make a few more."

As it turned out, many more.

In the fall of 2020, Patrick asked students at his school to make 300 valentines to deliver on Valentine's Day 2021 with meal packages provided by Food & Friends, a Washington charity that helps people with cancer, HIV, AIDS and other serious illnesses.

Then in 2022, he upped his game, enlisting the help of students at several Washington-area schools to craft more than 3,000 cards.

This year he supersized it: He organized making and delivering 16,000 valentines for people who otherwise likely wouldn't get one. They were created by students at 62 schools in Washington, Maryland and Virginia, said Patrick, now 14, who personally recruits the classrooms that volunteer.

He recently developed a website for his project, Valentines by Kids, where he encourages everyone to cut out colorful hearts, write messages of kindness and help spread some love.

In the days leading up to Valentine's Day, the boxes of cards are picked up at his home in Potomac, Md., by delivery drivers and are taken to about 60 organizations Patrick has coordinated with, including hospitals, hospices, nursing homes and Food & Friends, where Patrick has volunteered with his father for several years.

"With more than 16,000 cards to distribute, our house looks like a FedEx distribution center," said his father, Roy Kaufmann, a lawyer who works in Washington.

"We didn't quite anticipate just how successful Patrick's efforts would be," Kaufmann said. "But he has it all under control and we are very proud of him."

Patrick, with help from his father, got funding from two local nonprofits to pay for a driver to pick up the valentines and deliver them to the various groups that will distribute them.

"They mean a lot to people who don't have much family and are living alone," said Patrick, a ninth grader at Washington International School. "A valentine will also really cheer people up if they've been sick or are working a lot."

"I hope it makes them realize that somebody is thinking about them and cares," he added.

Carrie Stoltzfus, executive director of Food & Friends, said she is grateful for the boxes filled with valentines to hand out with the agency's home-delivered meals.

"It's wonderful that Patrick thought to bring so many young people together to send messages of kindness to those we serve who are living with serious illnesses," Stoltzfus said.

Patrick doesn't know any of the people who receive the cards, but he hopes his efforts will brighten their days.

"I love getting valentines, and I also like to make them," he said.

His mother, Rosario Allauca Castillo, is a teacher at the Easy Spanish 123 language program in Washington, and she asks her classes to help make valentines, Patrick said.

Students of all ages are excited to help, he added, and they go to great efforts to make their valentines stand out.

"Some cards are covered with glitter, and some have stickers or are full of tiny hearts inside," he said. "No two are the same."

Students at Washington International School say they look forward every year to spending an hour or two crafting valentines for strangers and putting them in envelopes addressed to "My Friend."

"It makes me happy to know somebody gets a card if they don't have anyone else to spend the holiday with," said Max Rapaport, 10, who is in fifth grade at the school.

"The least we could do is give them a card showing that we care for them," he said.

Max said he put large purple hearts on the front and back of his valentine this year, and he included a light pink heart in the middle with a poem: "Roses are red, violets are blue; We think you are amazing  you just have to know it too."

"The biggest part is having empathy toward others and imagining what it would be like in their view," he said.

One of his fifth grade classmates, Liliana Fadakar, covered her card in pink and red hearts, saying she wanted to "brighten the day of somebody who is sick and might be suffering in the hospital."

"The best part of making the cards was imagining how the people would feel when they receive a Valentine's Day card they weren't expecting," said Liliana, 10.

Patrick said that's what keeps him motivated to continue the project, which he wants to expand if can find enough volunteers.

He says he's felt a sense of accomplishment looking at the stacks of heart-covered boxes that have taken over his family's living room and dining room.

"My parents, my uncle and grandmother help me bundle the cards and put them in the boxes, but sometimes, it's hard to keep up," he said. "After Valentine's Day, we'll all be taking a little break."
TOKYO  Japan wants to accelerate a plan to purchase Tomahawk missiles from the United States to the coming fiscal year rather than wait another three years, Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said Tuesday.

Hamada declined to say how many Tomahawk cruise missiles the government plans to buy and said doing so would disclose Japans defense capabilities. But an earlier report Tuesday by the Kyodo News agency, citing an unnamed government source, said the government wants as many as 500 of the missiles.

Japan has moved to strengthen its military in recent years amid a rapid Chinese military buildup and North Korean missile tests.

The country could buy a package of Tomahawks in fiscal 2023, which starts in April, instead of acquiring them over the next several years as initially planned, Hamada said at a news conference.

The missiles would be the same type used by the U.S. Navy and can be launched from Aegis destroyers of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, the Kyodo source said.

A Tomahawk can strike targets at a range of 1,000 miles, according to its maker, Raytheon Technologies.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's administration is also considering talks with the U.S. over deploying the missiles sooner than fiscal 2026, the original schedule, the source told Kyodo.

Tokyo approved a national security strategy in December that includes acquiring counterstrike capabilities to attack enemy bases with missiles.

A defense budget for the coming fiscal year totaling $51.4 billion, the nations largest ever, was approved Dec. 23 by Japans Cabinet. It includes $1.59 billion to acquire Tomahawks and $963 million to develop and manufacture improved surface-to-ship guided missiles.

Beijing has more than 1,900 ballistic missiles that can reach Japan, according to a 2022 Pentagon report on Chinas military capabilities.

In a Jan. 13 joint statement following talks in Washington, Kishida and President Joe Biden said they had instructed their ministers to reinforce cooperation on the development and effective employment of Japans counterstrike capability.

Japans government may be attempting to strike while the iron is hot, Ralph Cossa, president emeritus of the Pacific Forum think tank in Hawaii, said in an email Friday.

There has been surprisingly little resistance or opposition to Japan acquiring or developing what others would categorize as offensive missile capabilities, despite their counterstrike connotation, he said.

The move is acceptable, if not preferable, to Washington as it looks for allies to step up as part of integrated deterrence, Cossa added.
Air India announced a 470-plane order with Airbus and Boeing in what stands to be the largest purchase in commercial aviation history, underscoring the industrys recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and the airlines ambition to become a global force after years of contraction.

The carrier will purchase 250 Airbus jets including 210 A320neo family aircraft as well as 40 A350s, as well as 220 Boeing models comprising 190 737 Max, 20 787s and 10 of its largest 777X, according to separate announcements on Tuesday. The previous single largest jet order was a 460-plane deal by American Airlines in 2011.

The Airbus part of the deal was announced in an online briefing that was also attended by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron, while U.S. President Joe Biden announced the Boeing commitment a few hours later. Air India has significant options to increase its Airbus order as the carrier grows, Chairman N. Chandrasekaran said, while Boeing said the carrier may eventually add 50 more 737 Maxes and 20 787s.

The long-awaited transaction, the final contours of which were reported by Bloomberg News last week, will help Air India reinvent itself by stocking its ranks with a fuel-efficient fleet that can take on domestic low-cost rivals and powerful Gulf airlines. Airbus no longer publishes list prices, while Boeing claimed the order was valued at $34 billion at list price.

The time is right for India to turn into an international hub, Guillaume Faury, the Airbus chief executive officer said in the briefing with Modi. India is well on its way.

Air India will begin receiving the A350s before the end of 2023, Christian Scherer, Airbuss sales chief, said in an interview on Tuesday. The initial batch of six planes were being built for Russias Aeroflot PJSC which is no longer able to take aircraft due to sanctions following the invasion of Ukraine. It is also ordering 34 of the larger A350-1000 model that Scherer says will give it the ability to offer nonstop services deep into all the continents of the world.

According to Biden, the Air India order is Boeings third biggest sale of all time in dollar value and second of all time in quantity.

The U.S. manufacturer projects that India will need 2,210 new planes over the next two decades, a number thats broadly in line with Airbuss forecast for the country. By comparison, China remains a far bigger market for Boeing  it expects the country will need 8,485 new aircraft through 2041.

Boeings win in India contrasts with its performance in China, where the company has essentially been frozen out of new orders amid recent geopolitical turmoil and the grounding of the 737 after two deadly accidents in rapid succession. China used to take a quarter of Boeings 737 output, and its been more 3 1/2 years since a mainland Chinese airline took delivery of a new jet from the companys best-selling line.

Founded under Tata in the 1930s, Air India is attempting to win back traffic from Emirates and Qatar Airways, which have built a business model ferrying Indians to the U.S. and Europe via their huge hubs in Dubai and Doha.

Air Indias mega deal is part of a push to expand Indias aviation industry, Modi said at the briefing. The country wants to be a hub for maintenance and repair operations for the region as well.

Commenting on the deal, U.K.s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Air Indias order bolstered Airbuss decision last year to invest over 100 million at its wing assembly plant in Wales as well as add 450 jobs. It will also boost employment at Rolls-Royce, which makes engines for the A350 model that Air India will order.

The order also comes as airlines globally upgrade and refresh their fleets to cash in on the rapid rebound in travel after Covid. Locking in fresh aircraft commitments is key for Air Indias expansion plan as the supply of newly built aircraft becomes increasingly constrained.

Bloombergs Sudhi Ranjan Sen, Julie Johnsson and Anurag Kotoky contributed to this report.
CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea  The history of the Korean War will again become a required course at the Korea Military Academy and part of a more future-oriented curriculum for future South Korean army officers, the school announced Monday.

The academy  a public, undergraduate institution in Seoul  produces many of the nations army officers. It is revising its curriculum next year for individuals who have proper views of state and history and will lead a scientifically and technologically powerful army, according to a news release.

Fourth-year cadets already nearing graduation will receive 30-hour intensive supplementary courses on the 1950-53 Korean War, war and strategy and North Korean studies, according to the release. The courses will include lectures from Korean War veterans and field trips during winter training.

Roughly 280 cadets are expected to graduate in 2024, an academy spokesperson told Stars and Stripes by phone Tuesday. South Korean officials customarily speak to the media on the condition of anonymity.

The decision comes after an internal review, according to the official. Several South Korean lawmakers during a parliamentary inspection last year voiced concern over the lack of such courses.

Former South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn in a Facebook post on Oct. 21 criticized the academys decision to remove the Korean War history course from its curriculum in 2019 and said, a nation that forgets its past and history has no future.

What is clear is that we have to rectify curriculum even now, Hwang wrote. War history of ones own country should be obligatory to cadets. Not teaching Korean War history correctly at the [Korea Military Academy] is the same as forgetting our roots.

The Korea Military Academy was founded in 1946.

Stars and Stripes reporter Yoo Kyong Chang contributed to this report.
KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany  Roses and chocolates were far from the minds of German employees at multiple U.S. installations who participated in walkouts Tuesday to demand better wages and working conditions.

Nearly 500 employees spent part of Valentines Day on downtown Grafenwoehrs streets, where they were gathered for picketing and speeches by union leaders at the historic market square, Ver.di workers union representative Kathrin Birner told Stars and Stripes by phone Tuesday.

Some services at Tower Barracks and Rose Barracks were affected by the strike, but gates remained open throughout and there was no security disruption, a spokesman for U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria said Tuesday.

Meanwhile, firefighters who work for the Army and Air Force in the southwestern state of Rheinland-Pfalz have been on strike since Monday.

The Kaiserslautern Military Community, which is spread over numerous installations in the state, is the largest overseas U.S. military community.

We are not only fighting for our urgently needed wage increase in this tariff round, we are fighting for our profession and for the appreciation of our work, Georg Fanous, a firefighter for the U.S. Army in Germersheim, said Friday in a statement by Ver.di.

Firefighters spend an average of 256 hours per month at work, which translates to German entry-level hires earning 12 euros per hour during their 24-hour shifts, the union said in a statement.

German firefighters say they are also concerned about a lack of age-appropriate jobs in military fire departments.

It is expected that you can still climb ladders with heavy breathing equipment up until the retirement age of 67, Wicko Forler, an employee of the Sembach fire station, said in the Friday statement.

Also on Monday, Ramstein Air Base firefighters displayed banners near the front gate showing the differences between their backbreaking jobs and those of aging peers in other professional groups.

The protest did not affect emergency preparedness at the base, a spokeswoman for the 86th Airlift Wing said Tuesday.

Last week, German workers in Wiesbaden, Ansbach, Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Hohenfels held walkouts.

The strikes are occurring because the association representing American, British, French and NATO employers of approximately 11,500 German workers rejected union demands for higher raises during two previous rounds of negotiations last month.

Employees were demanding a 9.5% pay increase, and the association offered a 4.1% figure, Ver.di said in a statement Friday.

U.S. troops and federal civilian workers received a 4.6% raise this year.

The emergency responders also called on German officials to recognize their qualifications and training at U.S. firefighting schools, which currently do not certify firefighters to work in German communities should they decide to seek jobs elsewhere.

It is unacceptable that after 30 years of firefighting service, you are still considered unskilled in the German job market, the Ver.di statement quoted a union official as saying.

Union officials said there could be further strikes depending on the outcome of the new round of negotiations Thursday in Berlin.

Germanys finance ministry, which conducts collective bargaining on behalf of foreign armed forces, was not immediately available for comment late Tuesday.
The big question for NATO of whether to send F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine went unanswered Tuesday in Brussels, where Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and other allied officials convened for high-level talks.

The latest two-day NATO gathering is centered on getting more weaponry to the front lines of the Russia-Ukraine war, which started a year ago this month.

The idea of delivering fighter jets into Ukraine has divided allies, even as Kyiv says such air power could be a game changer in the war.

During a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a collection of some 50 countries, most of the focus was on ensuring that weapons already sent or on their way to Ukraine have the munitions and support to keep firing.

Austin, when asked about discussions on fighter aircraft, said he didnt have any new announcements. Instead, he said allies were trying to address Ukraines most pressing needs as the force contemplates a spring offensive in the coming weeks. Those needs include ensuring new tanks, armored fighting vehicles and other equipment arrive in time for the fight.

Its a monumental task to bring all those systems together, get the troops trained on those platforms and make sure we have sustainment for that, Austin said.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also downplayed the question of fighter jets.

The issue of aircraft is not the most urgent issue now, but it is an ongoing discussion, Stoltenberg said as allies began arriving Tuesday at NATO headquarters.

Austin, flanked by Ukraine Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov during discussions, said a focus will be getting sufficient amounts of ammunition into Ukraine.

Munition supplies have become a concern for NATO as Ukraine burns through allied stockpiles at a faster rate than industry can produce replacements. The alliance is evaluating multiple ways to ramp up production.

We still have much more to do together, and we must intensify our focus, Austin said.

Meanwhile, Austin said that the more advanced training on maneuver warfare now being provided to Ukrainian troops could allow them to better shape the battlefield.

That could mean ground units will require less artillery as their tactics improve, he said.

But thats left to be seen, Austin said.

The meeting of the Ukraine defense group, also known as the Ramstein Group, took place in tandem with a two-day meeting of NATO defense ministers.

Stoltenberg echoed Austins comments, saying the top priority was ensuring that sufficient ammunition, spare parts, fuel and other supplies are flowing into Ukraine fast enough to help it contend with another anticipated Russian offensive.

It is not all about discussing new systems  the urgent need now is to deliver the weapons that have already been promised, said Stoltenberg, who described the upcoming phase of the war as a battle of logistics.

The U.S. and other NATO countries have steadily expanded the range of weaponry they are willing to deliver to Ukraine.

Todays meeting comes at a critical time. The Kremlin is still betting it can wait us out, Austin said.

At the outset of the conflict, modern battle tanks were generally regarded as a no-go among allies, but now the U.S. and Germany are in the process of getting Abrams and Leopard tanks to Ukrainian troops.

Allies also have moved from simpler systems, such as Javelins and Stingers, to longer-range artillery and Patriot air defense missiles. That raises the question of whether fighter jets should be next.

Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren said Ukraine has formally requested the F-16 from the Netherlands.

We have to debate this with our partners and also the United States, she said. This is something that will take time, and it is best done behind closed doors.

Ukraine is very aware that a decision will take time, Ollongren said.

Two big obstacles to a collective allied decision on whether to send fighters are the U.S. and Germany.

President Joe Biden thus far has said he is unwilling to send fighter aircraft to Ukraine. Berlin has made similar statements because it regards the provision of fighters as potentially escalatory.

But alliance members including Poland, the Baltic states and the United Kingdom have been more bullish about the idea. Britain has committed to training Ukrainian pilots in the eventuality that NATO-standard aircraft are delivered down the road.

We know that Ukraine needs support and that also means jet fighters, Estonia Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said on arrival at NATO headquarters Tuesday.

Allies on Wednesday also are expected to set long-term guidelines for defense plans and discuss a new investment pledge to ensure that members are dedicating enough resources to their respective militaries.
A Buffalo man has been arrested on several drug and gun charges after a search warrant was executed Friday on Geneva Street in the Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood, Buffalo police reported.

Bobby Purdue, 37, has been charged with two counts of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a Class B felony; two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, a Class C felony; and two counts of second-degree criminal use of drug paraphernalia, a Class A misdemeanor. He is held in the Erie County Holding Center.

The search was conducted jointly by the Buffalo Police Intelligence Unit, the Buffalo Police SWAT team, Erie County sheriff's deputies and agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the FBI Safe Streets Task Force.

According to the report, a loaded shotgun, a semi-automatic rifle, a loaded drum magazine, large amounts of ammunition, about 60 grams of crack cocaine and scales were seized.
Zoox, the self-driving start-up owned by Amazon.com, carried passengers in its fully autonomous vehicle on public roads for the first time.

Last week, the electric vehicle, which doesn't have a steering wheel, ran a mile-long route carrying staff between Zoox's two main buildings in Foster City, Calif., the company said in a statement. The firm will now operate a shuttle for employees on the same trip while it seeks additional clearances to expand its service to the public.

The company said the robotaxi trip marks the first time that a vehicle designed without human controls has carried passengers on a public road.

Zoox's driverless testing permit, which it has held since September of 2020, was extended by California to include the purpose-built robotaxi. To date, Zoox's public-road testing has been limited to a fleet of retrofitted gas-powered cars that carry sensors powering the self-driving technology.

Zoox, which Amazon acquired in 2020 for an undisclosed sum, is racing a collection of start-ups, including General Motors' Cruise, to deploy robotaxis. Meanwhile, scrutiny of the technology over safety concerns is increasing.

On Feb. 3, Cruise said it had received permission from California's Department of Motor Vehicles to test its own Origin shuttle on the state's public roads. They have not yet done so.

The Zoox robotaxi doesn't have traditional controls or pedals and can carry four passengers split across two inward facing rows of seats. On the Foster City route, it will travel at a top speed of 35 miles per hour.

Zoox unveiled its robotaxi at the end of 2020 and has been conducting testing at its own facility.
Ford announced it will build a $3.5 billion battery factory in Michigan based on Chinese technology, underscoring Chinas prominent position in the electric-vehicle industry even as political tensions rise.

Ford said it will fully own the factory in Marshall, Mich., which will use technology and services provided by Chinas CATL, the worlds largest battery manufacturer. Until the plant is up and running in 2026, Ford said it will import batteries from CATL for use in some vehicles for U.S. sale.

The Detroit automaker said the Chinese technology would allow for faster charging times in some EVs and would help make the vehicles more affordable. The factory will create 2,500 jobs.

The deal comes as already poor U.S.-China relations reached a new low in recent weeks over a Chinese spy balloon discovered in U.S. airspace and shot down by the U.S. military. The incident followed several years of tension over trade and technology, during which the United States has increasingly restricted tech exports to China that it said might otherwise aid Beijings military and human rights violations.

Despite growing tensions, however, China has become a major player in the electric-vehicle business, with its factories churning out more EVs and batteries than those in the West. The nations rise in an industry previously dominated by Western companies will foist tough decisions on global automakers attempting to stay on top of the latest technology while navigating the East-West tensions.

Asked about the political risks of relying on Chinese technology at a time of worsening U.S.-China relations - particularly as the United States is increasingly blocking technology exports to China  Lisa Drake, vice president of EV industrialization at Ford, said the company had planned carefully.

We certainly thought through that and those are provisions and things weve agreed with CATL in the course of our contract work, Drake told reporters. Of course we thought about it and weve taken care of the optionality with that in the contract.

Its really important to understand that Ford controls the plant, Drake added. CATL personnel will help set up the factory and some will be staying on afterwards to help with the facility, she said. But we will operate the facility. It will be a Ford plant manager.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) said last month that he had taken Virginia out of the running for the plant in December, citing concerns about doing business with the Chinese Communist Party.

We felt that the right thing to do was to not recruit Ford as a front for China to America, Youngkin told reporters in January after his annual State of the Commonwealth speech.

Ford had been eyeing a site in Southside Virginia near Danville and Martinsville, a part of the state has lost thousands of manufacturing jobs in recent years as textile and furniture factories relocated overseas. Local lawmakers said they had mixed feelings about Youngkins decision  sorry to see the region miss out on badly needed jobs but uncomfortable with the national security implications of the Chinese involvement. Ford on Monday didnt respond to a request for comment on Virginias decision.

In a statement Monday, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) focused on the domestic jobs the Ford plant would create.

Lets continue bringing the supply chain of electric vehicles, chips, and batteries home while creating thousands of good paying jobs and revitalizing every region of our state, she said.

Like much of Chinas EV industry, CATL grew with the help of big government investments in the industry. China has spent tens of billions of dollars to support electric vehicles, including research-and-development funding, tax exemptions, consumer incentives and financing for battery-charging stations.

Beijing cranked up that aid before other nations fully embraced EVs, helping its factories scale up earlier.

They recognized early on the strategic nature of the energy transition and recognized, this is how we are going to build a position in the global auto market, said Willy Shih, a Harvard Business School professor who specializes in technology and manufacturing.

The Ford deal shows that China has now become a technology source, not always an importer, Shih said. And its because CATL has built scale. A lot of manufactured goods benefit from the learning curve. As you make more, your costs go down.

The batteries that Ford will initially import from CATL, and then start making in Michigan, are lithium ion phosphate (LFP) batteries. Ford said they are exceptionally durable and use fewer high-cost materials. They also tolerate more frequent and faster charging, Ford said.

The company will start using them later this year in base models of the Mustang Mach E, and next year in the F150 Lightning pickup truck.

Marin Gjaja, chief customer officer for EVs, declined to comment on any specific price cuts that could result from using the CATL batteries.

We cant give you specific pricing information now because that will depend on what happens in the market. but the intent is to make these more affordable and more accessible to customers, he told journalists.

The Michigan plant is part of a string of U.S. factories automakers are building for the EV transition. Ford and South Koreas SK Innovation plan to invest $11 billion in new manufacturing campuses in Tennessee and Kentucky that will employ 11,000 people to make vehicles and batteries.

General Motors has pledged to spend $7 billion  its largest investment ever  on four Michigan manufacturing sites for battery cells and electric vehicles. Its also making big investments in EV and battery factories in Ohio, Tennessee, Canada and Mexico.

The Washington Posts Gregory S. Schneider contributed to this report.
(Tribune News Service)  The U.S. government has shot down multiple unidentified flying objects out of North American airspace in recent days. This is not a drill.

The things downed over Alaska, Michigan and Canadas Yukon Territory are textbook UFOs. Theyre objects, theyre flying and theyre most definitely unidentified  so far, no one has been able to conclusively discern what they are or rule out any explanation for their presence.

That includes the possibility that theyre not from this world.

I havent ruled out anything, Gen. Glen VanHerck, the head of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command, said when asked specifically about the possibility that the objects are extraterrestrial in origin. At this point we continue to assess every threat or potential threat, unknown, that approaches North America with an attempt to identify it.

VanHerck may be keeping an open mind, but those most familiar with the reaches of outer space are more certain that these objects did not come from there.

Yes, the universe is a rich tapestry of mysteries. But it also abides by some fundamental laws of physics that make it extremely difficult for any object to travel across interstellar space and into our lower atmosphere undetected.

Unidentified doesnt mean its aliens  it simply means that no one yet knows what it is. The number of unusual sightings that fit this criteria has increased in recent years, to the point where both the U.S. Department of Defense and NASA have embraced and legitimized the study of UFOs. They even gave the objects a new, more scientific-sounding name: unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAPs.

U.S. military personnel have reported dozens of sightings of aerial objects that defy explanation, according to a report made public in 2021. Last year, NASA launched a study to determine which of its vast resources should be deployed toward further exploration of UAPs.

The goal is to remove the stigma of reporting a UAP sighting so that legitimate threats can be investigated. The Pentagon is at least as worried about the possibility of a new aerial weapon deployed by a foreign adversary as it is about aliens.

As for scientists, even those who accept the possibility that life may exist elsewhere in the universe are highly skeptical that the enigmatic objects are extraterrestrial. The bar for proving alien life is high, and these flying things  whatever they are  dont clear it.

If youre claiming aliens came, thats kind of a big ol hairy deal. Weve never seen anything like that. That should never be the first place your brain goes, said Bruce Betts, chief scientist for the Planetary Society. Odds are thats not the answer.

Here are a few of the reasons why aliens arent likely to be the source of these unidentified objects.

Distance

Even astronomers who specialize in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence dismissed the possibility that these UAPs were sent by aliens.

The impracticalities of interstellar travel are substantial, said Jean-Luc Margot, a planetary astronomer who leads UCLAs SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Group.

Despite extensive efforts, the only life scientists have been able to identify in this solar system is right here on our planet. After our sun, the next closest star is Proxima Centauri, which is 4.3 light-years  25.3 trillion miles  away.

Lets use Proxima Centauri as an example. Any object dispatched from its surrounding exoplanets would have to cross that staggering distance to get to us.

An object traveling 365,000 mph  just under the top speed of NASAs Parker Solar Probe, currently the fastest human-made object in the universe  would take 7,912 years to get from Proxima Centauri to us. If it could somehow travel at the speed of light  which would require so much energy that the slightest ding from an errant space rock would cause the craft to explode  it would still take more than four years to get here.

More significantly, any signals sent between the spacecraft and a base on its home planet would take those four-plus years to travel. That communication delay would complicate a mission involving an unmanned  unaliened?  robotic craft, Betts said.

A crewed mission would be even tougher.

When you have size and mass and life support, spacecraft get big in a real hurry. That makes it even harder to make them go fast, Betts said.

This is just our closest star. There are 100 billion stars in our galaxy alone. The rest are even farther away.

Observation

Lets say our hypothetical alien spacecraft somehow manages to cross some significant part of the Milky Way and make it to our solar system. The closer the craft gets to Earth, the harder it will be for it to evade detection by the multitude of tools observing the cosmos around us.

The Solar Systems Dynamics Group at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory alone is currently tracking the orbits of some 1.2 million small objects in Earths immediate vicinity. Telescopes on the ground can spot objects the size of a duffel bag from tens of thousands of miles away, often years in advance of any approach to Earth.

When one of the smaller of these objects crashed through Earths atmosphere on Monday  a 1-meter-wide asteroid named Sar2667  the European Space Agency and NASAs Center for Near-Earth Object Studies knew well in advance how big it was, where it would enter the atmosphere (over northern France) and what time it would get there (around 4 a.m. Central European Time).

If these downed objects came from space, how did they manage to slip past all observation systems?

Besides, theres a more plausible explanation for the sudden increase in UAP detection. After the discovery of a Chinese surveillance balloon in U.S. airspace last week, the Pentagon has stepped up its scrutiny of objects in the sky. Things that would have been ignored in the past are now getting a closer look. That includes slower-moving objects that were detected after the U.S. adjusted its radar systems.

Weve been able to get a better categorization of radar tracks now, VanHerck said. Thats why I think youre seeing these, plus theres a heightened alert to look for this information.

Practical problems

Then there are a whole host of other questions.

Sar2667 had been speeding through the vacuum of space when it encountered the atmosphere, and the resulting friction caused it to burn up over the English Channel. If these UAPs came from outer space, how would they have survived the fiery entry into our atmosphere without similar destruction?

What kind of alien technology could survive a trip across space and safely enter the atmosphere, only to get downed by a missile above Lake Huron or Deadhorse, Alaska?

If there is an intelligent civilization out there, why would these easily destructible things be the way they signal their presence?

Medical students are told to picture horses and not zebras when they hear the sound of hoofbeats  a metaphor that cautions aspiring doctors not to be so distracted by the prospect of an exotic diagnosis that they overlook common explanations for a patients symptoms.

The study of UAPs follows similar principles.

Betts invoked the phrase Carl Sagan popularized in regard to the search for extraterrestrial life: Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. What weve seen so far from the UAPs above North America doesnt come close, he said.

Theres no reason to believe that it is from somewhere else. There are a range of explanations that are much easier to stomach, he said. We have no solid evidence of aliens ever coming to our planet.

2023 Los Angeles Times.

Visit at latimes.com.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
F-16 fighter jets intercepted Russian bomber and fighter aircraft in international airspace off Alaskas coast Monday in an incident defense officials said was unrelated to a series of objects shot down over North America in recent days.

North American Aerospace Defense Command scrambled two F-16s to intercept the four Russian aircraft  two TU-95 BEAR-H bombers and two SU-35 fighters  after they entered the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone, or ADIZ, according to a NORAD statement issued Tuesday. Officials described the intercept as routine and professional.

This Russian activity in the North American ADIZ occurs regularly and is not seen as a threat, nor is the activity seen as provocative, according to the statement from NORAD, the joint U.S.-Canadian military organization charged with protecting airspace over the two nations. NORAD had anticipated this Russian activity and, as a result of our planning, was prepared to intercept it.

The intercept was the first reported of Russian aircraft near Alaska in 2023, but such incidents have occurred as often as 15 times per year in the recent past, according to NORAD.

The Russian aircraft never came close to entering U.S. airspace, which extends 12 nautical miles from American shores. However, U.S. officials expect aircraft entering the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone  a stretch of mostly international airspace some 200 nautical miles off the Alaskan coast  to identify themselves in the interest of national security.

The two F-16s scrambled Monday were supported by other American aircraft, including two F-35A advanced stealth fighters, one E-3 Sentry airborne warning and control system aircraft and two KC-135 Stratotankers, NORAD said.

NORAD officials said the Russian flights were in no way related to recent incidents in which F-22 and F-16 fighters have shot down unidentified objects over U.S. and Canadian airspace. The Air Force shot down aerial objects on Friday off Alaskas coast, over Canadas Yukon territory on Saturday, and over Lake Huron near Michigans coast on Sunday.

White House and Pentagon officials have released few details about those incidents. However, they have said the objects had not posed a physical threat to American or Canadians, but they were shot down because they could impact commercial air travel.

The sudden uptick in such aerial incidents is likely the result of retooled radar efforts over North America that NORAD has instituted since a Chinese spy balloon crossed over the mainland United States two weeks ago before it was shot down off South Carolinas coast, according to Air Force Gen. Glen VanHerck, the commander of NORAD.
(Tribune News Service)  A Senate panel approved legislation that aims to ban Georgia employees from using social media such as TikTok or WeChat on state equipment.

Senate Bill 93 was filed by Senate Republican Caucus Chairman Jason Anavitarte of Dallas to put into law a December directive from Gov. Brian Kemp that prohibits executive branch state employees from using TikTok, WeChat and Telegram on state devices.

SB 93 would prohibit all state employees in all branches of government and all K-12 public schools from using any social media that is owned by governments deemed to be foreign adversaries on state-owned equipment. Legislators in Florida have filed similar legislation. The bill passed the Senate Committee on Veterans, Military, and Homeland Security unanimously on Monday.

The impetus of doing all this was just going back to national security concerns and (China) having access to state government data and the security threat that that poses to the state of Georgia, Anavitarte said.

The legislation directs the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency to use the federal list of foreign adversaries, which includes China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Russia, to decide on prohibited social media sites.

Anavitarte first announced his intent to file legislation targeting TikTok in December, saying that since TikToks parent company is based in Beijing and Chinese law requires businesses to share data with the countrys government, the social media app is unsecure.

In December, Kemp sent out a memo that prohibits executive branch employees from using TikTok, WeChat and Telegram on laptops, mobile phones and other devices issued, owned, leased or otherwise controlled by the state or used for state business.

Executive branch offices include those such as the departments of Defense, Economic Development, Public Health, Revenue and the University System of Georgias Board of Regents.

Anavitarte said it is not his intent to ban the use at the states colleges.

SB 93 would allow the social media platforms to be used in instances such as law enforcement investigations, cybersecurity research or judicial proceedings.

The bill does not list specific social media apps, but it would apply the ban to those run by any company that is directly or indirectly owned or operated by one of the banned countries, is headquartered in a banned country or is formed in a banned country.

2023 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Visit at ajc.com.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Her early challenges in life shaped Eve Shippens' passion to give back to the community  first as a school teacher, and now in her bid to become a Common Council member.

She grew up on welfare, became pregnant at 16 and had an incarcerated stepfather.

I struggled a lot as a kid. I had a lot of obstacles, and Ive overcome a lot," Shippens said. "Then I became a teacher, and thought I can give back in this way. But Ive been a teacher 22 years, and I see so many things that impact my students in the classroom have nothing to do with what we do in the building.

So, she wants to use her life experiences and lessons to benefit those in the North District, where she plans to challenge incumbent Joseph Golombek Jr., whose 24 years on the Council make him the longest currently serving council member.

Ive experienced so many of the struggles, firsthand, that a lot of our families face, and I have, for years, figured out how to bring in resources into my own personal life to get through challenges and to make a better situation for my own kids, Shippens said.

Shippens, 51, becomes the third woman to announce a run for the Council, including 2021 mayoral candidate India Walton in the Masten District seat, and Kathryn Franco, who's seeking a rematch in the University District against Council Member Rasheed Wyatt, to whom she lost four years ago.

I think its past time for women to be on the Council, Shippens said of the all-male Common Council. I think representation absolutely matters. It matters racially. It matters gender. It matters with LGBTQ folks."

After graduating from City Honors School, she earned a bachelors degree in biology from the University at Buffalo and a masters degree in secondary education from D'Youville College. She has been a teacher in Buffalo Public Schools for 22 years, currently as a science teacher at East Community High School.

The North District is roughly bounded by Kenmore Avenue to the north, Forest Avenue in the south, Delaware Avenue on the east and the Niagara River in the west. Its home to the Black Rock and Riverside neighborhoods, and includes one of the city's poorest ZIP codes, 14207, where the median household income is about $27,000.

Shippens said her priorities would include stabilizing neighborhoods by helping low-income families stay in their homes and investing in green infrastructure.

Candidate for University Council seat: 'This is the year for women and  for the win' Kathryn Franco, a social worker who ran unsuccessfully for the University District Common Council seat in 2019, is throwing her hat in the ring again.

Just walking around the community, you can see the housing neglect and deterioration, she said. Theres a public education that goes into healthy neighborhoods, like what programs can you qualify for, where can you get assistance and what can you do, even if you dont have assistance just on a personal level to make to make your home healthier and safer for your families.

Ensuring the North District gets its fair share of city services and resources would be another priority.

She said she would hold district-wide stakeholder meetings if elected.

We have definite issues in the city with connecting different parts together and getting information to the people who need it the most, said Shippens, a homeowner in the Grant-Amherst neighborhood. All of those things go into building safe communities."

Shippens also wants to revitalize the business community while supporting workers rights.

India Walton enters Common Council campaign for 'everyday people looking for help' Since her run for Buffalo mayor a couple of years ago, India Walton says she has been "thrus

Shippens is no stranger to political campaigns. She was an India Walton campaign staffer during Waltons bid for Buffalo mayor in 2021. She was Jennifer Mecozzis campaign manager for all three of her successful runs for the Buffalo School Board. And she knocked on doors for the campaigns of state Assembly members Monica Wallace and Patrick Burke, Shippens said.

Shes also co-chairperson of the Buffalo Parent Teacher Organization and serves on the Executive Committee and the Political Action Committee of the Buffalo Teachers Federation. She also sits on the unions Community Engagement Committee. She is a delegate for New York State United Teachers and serves on its Human and Civil and Human Rights Committee. She is a member of Citizen Action of New York and just stepped down from the leadership team of Our City Action Buffalo. A Democrat, Shippens also has been active with the Working Families Party for a decade, she said.

I really feel I can build on those relationships and on the collaborations Ive already been a part of to really look at the resources we have here, get that information out to the people and then lobby at the correct levels of government to get more, she said. Wherever there is still a need, lets fill that need.

Shippens, a mother of 20- and 35-year-old sons and a 25-year-old daughter, faces a primary challenge against Golombek that few others have chosen to make.

Golombek hasnt had a challenger in a primary election since 2011.

I take every day like I am campaigning, like I am running, so whether there is a person running against me or not, I always follow up on my constituents services and community involvement," Golombek said. "Its not going to be any different as a council member than any other day of the week or any other day of the year. The only difference will be I will be doing more door-to-door this year.

Shippens has every right to run, he added. Im not afraid to put out my message and my accomplishments and what were working on this year.
A man who was caught through a sting operation by an online vigilante group who posed as a 13-year-old in WhatsApp conversations has been jailed for 16 months.

Robert Ashmore (54) later told gardai that he believed he was communicating with scammers but Garda Nicola Duffy told Judge Martin Nolan that she didnt accept this.

She explained that Child Protection Awareness and Justice Reborn were two groups that had communicated with Ashmore, via WhatsApp, while posing as a young teenager.

The groups provided gardai with copies of over 2,000 WhatsApp exchanges between Ashmore and themselves, many of which were explicit in nature and she believed that Ashmore felt he was engaging in conversations with a 13-year-old.

The groups never provided witness statements to gardai.

Ashmore, of The Gouldings, Ballymun, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to attempting to communicate with another person in order to facilitate the sexual exploitation of a child on dates between March 3, 2018 and April 23, 2018. He has no previous convictions.

He also admitted being in possession of 71 images of child abuse material, which were cartoon images that depicted children between the ages of eight and 10 years old engaged in sexual acts or with their genitals exposed.

Gda Duffy told Fiona McGowan BL, prosecuting, that the offences came to light after representatives from the two groups came to his place of work in the IT department of Beaumont Hospital. Ashmore had gone home at the time but his work called him to let him know.

He then went to Ballymun Garda Station himself and handed over a mobile phone and his work laptop. His former wife later provided gardai with other devices.

Gda Duffy confirmed that the images were found on the laptop Ashmore used for his work.

He later gave a voluntary interview to gardai during which he claimed he believed he was engaging in WhatsApp conversations with scammers and said he had no notion of engaging with 13-year-old children.

He told gardai he was deeply regretful and that he had been mentally unwell. He said his life was a mess and he had no interest in having sex with children.

Gda Duffy agreed with Fiona Murphy SC, defending, that the groups publicly identified Ashmore on social media and his marriage later ended.

She accepted that as she had no witness statements from the groups, Ashmores plea was of great assistance to the prosecution of his case.

Ms Murphy said her clients father had died around that time and his elderly mother is now completely reliant on him.

He attends regularly for counselling and psychotherapy and Ms Murphy said he lives a solitary and isolated lifestyle, his only contact being with his mother and counsellor.

She asked the court to accept that as the images were cartoons, they were at the lower range of this type of offending. She said Ashmore is now on the sex offenders register and has lost his job.

Judge Nolan said Ashmore had engaged in extensive and explicit conversations with parties who he thought were aged in the region of 12 or 13 years old.

He acknowledged his guilty pleas and cooperation with the garda investigation and he accepted he is unlikely to re-offend.

Judge Nolan accepted that Ashmores absence will cause great difficulty for his mother but that he was deserving of a custodial sentence before he jailed him for 16 months.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that the taxi driver picked up Keane and his partner at 4am from the Camden Street area on the night in question

A member of the Irish Defence Forces who carried out a shameful attack on a taxi driver has been handed a suspended prison sentence.

Daniel Keane (36) of Seagrave Park, Rathoath, Co. Meath pleaded guilty to assault causing harm, production of an article and making off without paying for a taxi at St Anthony's Crescent, Crumlin on December 7, 2019.

Keane has no previous convictions and is a serving officer in the Irish Army.

Imposing sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court today, Judge Orla Crowe said this was a shameful attack on a man doing his job.

She handed Keane an 18-month sentence, suspended in full for two years on strict conditions.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that the taxi driver picked up Keane and his partner at 4am from the Camden Street area on the night in question. The couple appeared intoxicated and were engaged in a verbal disagreement during the journey.

When the taxi stopped at St Anthony's Crescent, Keane got out of the taxi and told the driver that his partner would pay the 20.80 fare due. Keane's partner said she didn't know if she had the money.

The taxi doors were locked and Keane's partner said she had 5. She rang Keane to ask him to pay, but he screamed at her on the call before hanging up.

Keane's partner asked the victim to open the taxi door and said she would get cash to pay him from the house. She went into the house and the taxi driver waited five minutes.

The taxi driver then left the car and knocked on the door. Keane opened the door, grabbed the victim's jacket and said: How dare you knock on the door as grandfather is sleeping.

Keane then went into the house and came back with a 2ft black fire poker in his right hand. The victim ran away from the door, but Keane followed him.

The defendant swung the poker, hitting the victim on the hip, causing him to fall to the ground. Keane took the victim's wallet and removed 100. The taxi driver's phone also fell and the screen smashed.

The taxi driver ran away but Keane followed and gave him back the 100 he had taken. The defendant then struck the injured party's face with the poker. The taxi driver managed to call gardai and was taken to hospital where he was treated for injuries to his face and hip.

Keane told gardai that he hadn't assaulted anyone and the poker was in his hand to point at the driver. He said he offered the taxi driver an IOU, but the driver became irate, and there was a small scuffle at the door of the house.

Keane apologised for ruining the driver's night and accepted that an IOU was not appropriate. A victim impact statement was handed to the court. The injured party said he had lost income and is afraid to drive at night.

Maurice Coffey SC, defending, suggested his client had misconstrued the situation after having a lot to drink. Keane is a social drinker and the couple hadn't realised they had no money to pay for the taxi.

Mr Coffey said a probation report puts his client at low risk of re-offending. Keane is a father of two children. His client is taking medication for anxiety and attending counselling.

A letter of apology from Keane was handed into court as well as other testimonials. A letter from the Irish Army confirmed that Keane lost the chance of promotion due to this incident.

At a previous sentence hearing, Judge Crowe said the court didn't agree with the narrative put forward by the defence. She said the victim was also a father who had been doing an honest night's work.

Mr Coffey said his client had brought a 5,000 to court as a gesture of remorse, in addition to the 1,000 offered as a gesture of remorse last July. He said his client is of limited means and covered his mother's mortgage repayments while she was ill.

Mr Coffey asked Judge Crowe to consider giving his client probation to avoid his dismissal from the defence forces and the loss of his career.

Defence counsel said there were a unique set of circumstances and argued that the consequences of a conviction for his client could be very high.

Judge Crowe noted that Keane has 16 years of service in the Irish Defence Forces and served his country at home and abroad.

She said the aggravating factors in the case included Keane striking the victim several times. Keane had entered a guilty plea on a trial date and the normal discount on a sentence for an early plea was not available.

Judge Crowe said the victim had been seeking what was lawfully owed to him and people taking taxis at night should know that they can't offer an IOU.

She said mitigating factors included Keane's guilty plea, his lack of previous convictions, his status as a family man and the token of remorse offered.

Judge Crowe said it would not be appropriate to apply probation in this case as Keane had entered a guilty plea on a trial date and there were three offences relating to this incident.
It was alleged that on the priest stopped the woman from entering the Church due to what she was wearing.

An outspoken north Clare parish priest has made an undisclosed payout arising from a court action taken by a traveller woman concerning a First Holy Communion flashpoint eight years ago.

At Ennis Circuit Court, Judge Francis Comerford noted the out-of-court settlement between parish priest of Ennistymon, Fr Willie Cummins and Caroline Sherlock.

Ms Sherlock took a separate action against the late Martin Drennan, former Bishop of the Diocese Of Galway and Kilmacduagh concerning her discrimination case.

The joint discrimination action by Ms Sherlock arose from the alleged refusal by Fr Cummins to allow her attend the Church of Our Lady and St Michael, Ennistymon for her niece and nephews First Communion on May 23 2015.

Judge Comerford made the out of court settlement between the late Martin Drennan - who died last November - and Caroline Sherlock a rule of court.

After being handed in the settlement terms, Judge Comerford queried was the amount in the settlement the amount to be paid by Fr Cummins and the late Martin Drennan the one sum or separate sums.

In response, counsel for the late Martin Drennan said separate and asked that on that basis the case can be struck out.

He said that both matters were resolved and both matters were settled on the same terms.

The amounts paid out were not disclosed. Ms Sherlock or her Free Legal Advice Centre (FLAC) legal team were not in court and Fr Cummins and his own solicitor were not present.

The cases were before the court on appeal from a failed 2020 discrimination case action at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) brought by Ms Sherlock against Fr Cummins arising from her niece, Stacey and nephew, Martins Holy Communion at Ennistymon Church in May 2015.

At the WRC, Adjudicator, Louise Boyle dismissed Ms Sherlocks claim on a legal point.

At the WRC Fr Cummins denied the substantive discrimination allegations and it was successfully argued on his behalf that the type of religious service, Holy Communion, is not covered by the Equal Status Act.

In the published WRC ruling, Ms Boyle said that if she was to find otherwise, it would be unlawful for Churches to refuse the Sacrament of Matrimony to persons who were divorced, or to provide that facility to persons of the same gender.

"Likewise, it would be unlawful to provide access to Holy Orders to exclusively men to the exclusion of women.

Caroline Sherlock alleges that on the day Fr. Cummins stopped her from entering the Church due to what she was wearing.

Caroline Sherlock

Gardai were called to the Church at 11am on the day but confirmed at the time that there was no public order incident of a breach of the peace detected and no one was arrested.

Caroline Sherlock could not be reached for comment on the settlement however, her sister, Kathleen and mother of the two children celebrating their communion welcomed the payout.

Speaking outside her home at the Deerpark Halting site overlooking Ennistymon in north Clare, Kathleen Sherlock recalled the events of May 23rd 2015 and said it was humiliating - I wanted to be in the Church for my babies communion and I missed it.

She said: It ruined our day. Completely destroyed it altogether. Everyone was upset..

Ms Sherlock said that her faith is very important to her. However she said that she has not returned to Ennistymon Church since her childrens Holy Communion in May 2015 and now goes to Lahinch Church instead.

Ms Sherlock - who said that Fr Cummins has been in her home before - has not made amends.

She said: Im very disappointed about that."

When contacted by phone to comment on the out of court settlement, Fr Cummins declined to comment.

In 2021, Fr Cummins was in the spotlight after it emerged he was staging regular Sunday morning masses at Ennistymon Church during a Covid-19 lock-down period saying at the time that no person has got Covid-19 from attending his masses.

During the same year, Fr Cummins denounced the planned Puca of Ennistymon sculpture as sinister from the altar at Sunday mass.

A spokesman for the Diocese of Galway stated that it noted the court action was concluded without liability being determined and in terms which both parties have agreed should remain confidential.

The spokesman stated: In light of this, no further commentary is available on this matter. The spokesman stated that the Diocese of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora was not a party to these proceedings.

The spokesman declined to comment when asked if the diocese had covered the legal costs of Fr Cummins or the late Bishop Drennan or made the payments referred to in court.

A spokeswoman for FLAC stated that it not cannot make a comment on the case at this time given the terms of the settlement. FLAC highlighted the case in its 2021 annual report.
Sean Hulgrain (32) is charged with possession of the property and cash, knowing or believing it to be the proceeds of crime,

A man has been accused of having a Rolex watch worth up to 13,000 along with more than 2,000 cash and designer runners in crime proceeds.

Sean Hulgrain (32) is charged with a money-laundering offence following the seizure of the luxury goods and cash at his home in west Dublin.

Judge Ciaran Liddy adjourned the case at Blanchardstown District Court for the accused to decide how he intends to plead to the charge.

Mr Hulgrain, of Woodford Meadows in Clondalkin, is charged with possession of the property and cash, knowing or believing it to be the proceeds of crime, at his home on July 5, 2019.

Garda Sergeant Maria Callaghan told the court the DPP consented to the case being dealt with summarily in the district court, subject to the judge considering the issue of jurisdiction.

Outlining the prosecutions case, she said it was alleged that in the course of a search a number of items were seized, including a Rolex watch valued at between 12,000 and 13,000; cash totalling 2,335, and Dolce and Gabbana runners worth 645.

Sean Hulgrain is charged with a money-laundering offence

According to the prosecution, these were the proceeds of crime, she said.

Judge Liddy accepted jurisdiction, allowing the case to remain in the district court. He ordered disclosure of prosecution statements to the defence and remanded Mr Hulgrain on continuing bail to appear in court again on May 4.

The accused has not yet entered pleas to the charges.
The judge said the one-month sentences would run from the date of conviction.

Two prison inmates have been given one-month sentences each after being found with mobile phones in jail.

Aaron Duff (26) and Patrick Timmons (32) were both sentenced to a month in jail for having phones without permission at Wheatfield Prison.

Judge Ciaran Liddy made the sentences concurrent to prison terms they are already serving.

Duff of Woodstock Court, Ranelagh, and Timmons, with an address at the prison, pleaded guilty to the charges.

A prosecuting garda told Blanchardstown District Court when she charged the accused they made no reply.

She gave similar evidence in each case, that the accused had phones in their possession without permission from the governor.

Duffs offence happened on August 24 and Timmons on October 5 last year.

Duff had 76 previous convictions, including one for the same offence. Timmons had 46 previous convictions.

They pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity, their solicitor John ODoherty said, asking the judge to run the sentences into their current jail term.

The judge said the one-month sentences would run from the date of conviction.
It had to be an exciting announcement for the people living in Buffalos Marine Drive Apartments: The complex wont merely be renovated, as once anticipated, but in a $400 million project, the waterfront complex will be demolished and rebuilt. It is not just the right decision, but the only practical one.

Moreover, the project seems to be squarely in line with Gov. Kathy Hochuls recent announcements about revitalizing and building more affordable housing all over the state. Hochul wants to push municipalities to increase their affordable housing stock and to improve what they already have. Here is the chance to revitalize an entire section of the City of Buffalo.

The staged redevelopment will include the demolition of the seven 10-story structures. The Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority has joined in the project with private-sector developer partners from the Habitat Co. of Chicago and Duvernay + Brooks LLC of New York.

Plans for redevelopment have not been finalized. Officials will meet with tenants later this month, beginning with a resident advisory committee during the week of Feb. 19, and then over a three-day workshop from Feb. 28 to March 2. The engagement will occur through Urban Design Associates.

Communication will be key. Some tenants have been living with the effects of deterioration for decades. This resident-driven design process, if followed, promises to deliver a broadly acceptable outcome.

The public housing complex adjacent to Canalside is 72 years old and it has seen better days. The drab structures with small apartments, bathrooms and bedrooms have been an eyesore next to what has become a revitalized waterfront. Not that long ago, Marine Drive might have been considered a better-than-nothing option next to a deserted, empty waterfront. Now local, state and federal infusion has activated a new tourist destination.

Tenants have been residing in an outdated structure whose conditions were described as spartan by Jeffrey D. Head, vice president for community development at The Habitat Co. Kitchens and bathrooms are cramped, the ceilings are low and windows in the thin walls are tiny. Problems with heating and water pipes are chronic. And no air conditioning.

Gillian D. Brown, executive director of BMHA, talked about the development as a mess. He added: There isnt a single system at Marine Drive that is working well. The buildings and systems are functionally obsolete and cannot be upgraded or rehabbed in a cost-effective way. The time to abandon this decades-old project is nearing.

Heres whats especially welcome: No current residents will be displaced. They will move once, from their apartment to their new home. Everyone there will have the opportunity to live in the revitalized Marine Drive. There may be more than 616 affordable apartments but there will not be less.

This is only part of a start of one of the most ambitious redevelopment undertakings in the citys history. Last September, the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority unveiled preliminary plans to remake the decaying Commodore Perry apartments. In addition, plans are in the works to address the Shaffer Village apartments, located in a strong neighborhood in Riverside. All three are in line for major transformational rehabilitation. This is an approximate $1 billion investment.

The city has worked with BMHA on the concept for at least six years, and a request for proposals was distributed to three master developers for each development. Marine Drive is the first one moving forward but they will proceed simultaneously.

Mayor Byron W. Brown says he feels Marine Drive will be a model for equitable development because it will be mixed income, maintaining affordable housing but also creating workforce housing opportunities. And it will be in an area where that includes upper income housing and significant amenities.

Its an exciting prospect, the mayor said, to be able to demolish these exhausted towers and replace them with new, state-of-the-art housing without displacing any of the existing residents.

We agree.

  

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.
The Dundon gang have links to a number of organised crime gangs across the UK

Robbie Lawlor was lured to Belfast where he was shot dead in April 2020

Police launch a murder inquiry into the Belfast killing of Robbie Lawlor in April 2020

Members of the Dundon-McCarthy gang are alleged to have brought Yardie gangsters to their native Limerick amid fears they may be attempting to flex their muscle in the underworld.

Yardies are UK criminal gangs with Jamaican roots who are mostly, but not exclusively, based in London.

The Dundons have been linked in the past to brothel operations in London and have worked with other crime gangs when it suits them.

The top leaders of the gang are in prison or facing serious criminal charges, but it is not the first time the mob has imported criminals from outside Ireland to carry out their dirty work.

The Dundon-McCarthys were key players in the decade-long gangland feud in Limerick that claimed at least 17 lives, including those of innocent people.

While their power has waned, the clan-based gang still has strong contacts all over Ireland and the UK, which they havent been afraid to use in the past.

Robbie Lawlor was lured to Belfast where he was shot dead in April 2020

In April 2020, the gang were linked in court to an alleged plot to lure gangster Robbie Lawlor to his death in Belfast.

The Dundons had previously protected Lawlor in prison from his arch rival Cornelius Price and had continued to offer him security after his release.

At a bail hearing last December, a defence barrister named Levi Killeen, his uncle Ger Dundon and Quincy Bramble as being part of the Lawlor hit team.

They were released without charge and the prosecution, in that case, say that the PSNI has no evidence to link them to the killing

It has since emerged that while protecting Lawlor, the gang was also allegedly working with Price in a criminal conspiracy in the UK to extort money in July 2020.

Two brothers were blindfolded and warned they would have their brains splattered all over the road while held at a caravan site at Smithy Fen, Cambridgeshire.

UK criminals appear to have been used as muscle during the kidnap.

The victims were robbed of cash and jewellery, bound with tape and held at different locations against their will.

One of the victims believed they were meeting someone to pay a debt of Stg7,500 owed to Warren Crossan, who was shot dead in Belfast in June 2020.

Ger Dundon, who changed his name to Darren McClean, was convicted last month over the 343,000 kidnap plot, while Drogheda criminal Mark Kavanagh was cleared along with Quincy Bramble.

Nearly 20 years ago the Dundons used a Birmingham criminal for their murder of innocent nightclub bouncer Brian Fitzgerald.

James Martin Cahill had been hired to carry out the 10,000 murder contract and later confessed to the killing after being convicted in Ireland of possessing an Uzi machine gun and 15 9mm bullets.

Police launch a murder inquiry into the Belfast killing of Robbie Lawlor in April 2020

Fearing that he would then be a target of the gang, he decided to become a State witness and gave evidence in the trial of Gary Campion, who was convicted of Mr Fitzgeralds killing.

Cahill was right to be worried and while being held in an Irish prison, the UKs Serious Organised Crime Agency discovered that the gang tried to get a cache of rocket launchers and Kalashnikovs into Ireland. They had intended to kill Cahill by firing a rocket at his prison cell.

He was subsequently sent back to the UK to serve out his sentence for murder.

During the investigation into Cahill a criminal operation converting replica guns was discovered, resulting in two men being convicted in the UK.
The smuggled cigarettes, branded Lambert & Butler, were discovered n a shipment marked as food stuff that had arrived in an unaccompanied trailer.

Detector dog Milo played his part in the search operation

Revenue officers seized approximately eight million cigarettes worth more than 6 million at Dublin Port on Monday.

They made the seizure with the help of detector dog Milo and Revenues mobile x-ray scanner.

The smuggled cigarettes, branded Lambert & Butler, were discovered in a shipment marked as food stuff that had arrived in an unaccompanied trailer.

The consignment originated in Poland and travelled to Ireland via Rotterdam.

The cigarettes have an estimated retail value of 6.32 million, representing a potential loss to the Exchequer of almost 4.95 million.

A spokesperson for Revenue confirmed that investigations into the seizure are ongoing.

This seizure is part of Revenues ongoing operations targeting the shadow economy and the supply of illegal tobacco products.

If businesses or members of the public have any information regarding smuggling, they can contact Revenue in confidence on the free phone number 1800 295 295.
The messages show how drug bosses openly referred to drugs deals, budgets and agreed on how to split the cargo

Daniel Kinahan is believed to be a member of the 'super cartel'

The Kinahan Cartel were part of a plan to ship 350 million worth of cocaine to Europe in early 2020 through Spanish ports where workers had been bribed to collect the drugs, leaked phone messages have revealed.

Five separate shipments were set in motion to bring the drugs from South America through Panama and to the port at Barcelona.

Details of how the complex criminal super-cartel operation worked have been revealed in copies of encrypted phone chats between the gangsters, according to Spanish news outlet NIUS.

The drug bosses openly referred to drugs deals, budgets and agreed on how to split the cargo believing their messages were completely secure.

They also show how they recruited IT workers, dockers, crane drivers and even the security guards at ports in Algeciras and Barcelona to get the shipments into Europe.

A 698-kilo shipment seized in routine search at Velancia in 2020 led to the break-up of the operation and to dozens of arrests in Spain and Dubai.

One of those arrested in Dubai as Part of Operation Desert Light was Ryan James Hale who was identified as Robo by police in the intercepted messages.

The 32-year-old is suspected member of the Kinahan Cartel and set up a group chat with six other suspected drug traffickers to organise shipments of cocaine.

Hales quick rise to the senior ranks of the Kinahan Cartel left him worried about police attention and a plot by rival gangsters to kidnap, according to the intercepted messages.

Daniel Kinahan is believed to be a member of the 'super cartel'

We are going to load 700 kilos today for Barca. Your part is 30% of the charge, he wrote in on 28 February 2020.

A Bulgarian suspect agreed and said that his men would be in charge of getting the drugs out of the shipping container with arousing suspicion.

The intercepted messages included the gangs own records they had spent 440,000 in bribes to ensure smooth passage for the shipments.

But the messages also show that things did not always go to plan for the drug traffickers.

At one point they wanted one of the shipments from South America to be delayed because they wouldnt have anyone working in the port on the day it was due to arrive.

One worker in their pocket was on sick leave and it would be seen as suspicious if he turned up.

Police believe at the same time the criminal gang had five separate shipments on the move including 630 kilos due from Costa Rico, 1,200 kilos ready to go Rotterdam, another 2,000 kilos destined for Algeciras, and a smaller 90 kilos already shipped.

Officers during the raids targeting the super cartel

Also on the messaging group was Panamanian citizen, Anthony Alfredo Martinez Meza, who used the encrypted code "Letra" and the nickname Hassan in Encrochat.

His share of the consignment headed for Valencia was to be 130 kilos.

He sent a photo of a container taken at the Port of Manzanillo in Panama in which the 698 kilo shipment would be found writing: The box has been sent to the scanner. The job will be finished in an hour."

The shipping container with a cargo of coffee had originated in Nicaragua and had been loaded with cocaine when it reached Panama.

Martinez Meza was one of those arrested in Dubai as part of an international police operation targeting Europes super-cartel.

He wrote "I shit on my fucking life" when it was discovered by the cartel their 698 kilo shipment had been found by Customs in Valencia.

He knew there were problems, according to the messages revealed by NIUS this week, telling the head of the Irish group he had been alerted by "the police" that the container was considered suspicious.

Martinez Meza operated under the radar in Panama for many years and was the registered owner of a number of legitimate companies in the seaport of Colon.

Ricardo El Rico Riquelme was arrested in his native Chile

It is claimed Martinez struck a deal with Daniel Kinahan in 2017 after the arrest of Peruvian drugs lord Ricardo El Rico Riquelme.

The pair are believed to have invested in mega-shipments, including the one containing almost 18 tons of cocaine seized in Philadelphia en route to Antwerp and Rotterdam in 2019.
Equivocation, it seems, is not an option when it comes to The Bert.

PERSPECTIVE  crushed in the stampede to deliver unbending, often spiteful, half-baked verdicts  tends to be an early casualty in any debate on the life of Bertie Ahern.

The former Taoiseach is among Irelands most polarising figures, few among the public willing to even consider that the balance sheet of his political career might be two-sided.

In a society that retreats ever more frequently to angry echo chambers, Ahern is reduced to villain-or-hero caricature.

Nuance was not an option as Berties return to Fianna Fail was confirmed last week.

For his abundant band of vocal and pitiless critics, there is only the damning debit side, the one where the Mahon Tribunal findings shout down all other opinions, render them irrelevant.

To those who continue to fly the Ahern flag  a group less visible on social media, but which remains substantial and steadfast  his role in bringing peace to an island tormented by ruinous tribal violence elevates him to lifes upper rungs.

Equivocation, it seems, is not an option when it comes to The Bert.

Either he was the brilliant author of the most prosperous period in Irish history, or the clueless pilot whose steering of the ship of state into the territory of greedy Celtic Tiger excess ultimately plummeted the country into a dizzying, devastating tailspin.

Tiny is the constituency willing to look at his life in the round, to concede an inch in a frequently toxic debate.

To admit that if he was flawed, he was perhaps also the custodian of an outstanding political mind and the sharpest instincts.

In the same way that, say, Manchester United and Liverpool fans trigger each others fear and loathing gene, so there is naked hostility between pro and anti-Ahern camps.

Few are willing to even consider the merits of the rival argument.

Anybody hoping this column might add to the fire and brimstone canon will, I fear, feel short-changed.

My inclination to deliver something other than a black and white viewpoint.

Ahern is no candidate for beatification. He made some grievous errors, his finances were a mess, and he must forever walk through the years beneath Mahons cloud.

Yet, there was a humanity and ability to bend at his core, qualities that enabled him to assist in brokering a transformative new dawn in Northern Ireland.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern with Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness. PA Photo: Chris Bacon   PA

One that made this island an infinitely better place, the guns at last falling silent.

On a human level, I felt uncomfortable in recent days as some commentators sought to out smart-aleck each other with snide, one-dimensional Ahern tweets.

The absence of a single atom of empathy in such loudhailer proclamations is emblematic of these unforgiving times.

Many of the Twitterati are too young to recall those dread days when Northern Ireland was a crucible of barbarity, when the stench of death assailed our nostrils.

Ahern's role in authoring change is undeniable, a towering legacy acknowledged by all sides.

One story merits retelling, shining, as it does, a light on a tumultuous week in the Taoiseachs life and maybe revealing something of his character.

Easter week in 1998 and the hands of history and tragedy coming to simultaneously rest on Aherns opposing shoulders.

The Taoiseach was in the middle of a vital meeting with an SDLP delegation when he received word that his beloved mother, Julia, had suffered a life-threatening heart attack.

Every human urge told him to rush to his mothers bedside. He stayed.

Recognising the sensitivity of the talks, Ahern not only continued the meeting, he remained at Government Buildings for further discussions with the DUP.

Think about that. Is it not the very definition of service?

His mother would die that week. He hardly had time to grieve.

After spending the entire night alone in the morgue with the woman who made him, Ahern  emotionally exhausted yet relentless - took all parties by surprise by racing to Belfast the next morning to ease the talks to their historic Good Friday endpoint.

Where many of us would have fallen, stepped away, surrendered to private torment, he endured.

The story is not remotely designed to shout down the sincere, passionate, legitimate misgivings of many. Nor is it an attempt to illuminate some saintly halo above his head.

It is merely intended as a gentle reminder in an ungentle age that a balance sheet must, by definition, contain two opposing sides.
Alison Moore (25) of Killycoonagh, Newbliss, Co Monaghan died on June 10, 2017, five days after she was injured in a collision involving a motorcycle

The family of a former Rose of Tralee contestant who suffered fatal injuries in a motorcycle crash six years ago have a burning worry about gaps in the information of her whereabouts in the hours before her death, an inquest has heard.

Alison Moore (25) of Killycoonagh, Newbliss, Co Monaghan died on June 10, 2017, five days after she was injured in a collision involving a motorcycle in the early hours of a bank holiday Monday on the R183 Clones-Newbliss road.

Ms Moore, who competed in the selection process to represent Monaghan in the Rose of Tralee contest in 2011, was a pillion passenger on a motorcycle driven by her boyfriend, Ciaran Murphy.

Post-mortem results showed she died of catastrophic injuries resulting from the crash.

A preliminary hearing of the inquest into Ms Moores death at Dublin District Coroners Court on Tuesday heard gardai were still analysing CCTV footage and phone records in relation to the circumstances of the fatal accident.

Counsel for the victims family, Paul McMorrow BL, said Ms Moores death and related inquest was an extremely tragic situation that needs to be concluded as soon as reasonably possible.

Mr McMorrow said the victims mother, Frances and her three sisters, Joanna Eleanor and Teresa had a burning worry about gaps in the information about events including her whereabouts for about four and a half hours before a passer-by came on the scene of the collision.

The barrister said they were not able to account where she was between 2.20am and 6.42am when a milkman, Chris McBride, had been flagged down by Mr Murphy at the scene of the crash to call the emergency services.

The inquest heard criminal and civil proceedings in the case had already been concluded including a legal action against Mr Murphy and his motor insurers.

Murphy (29) of Croghan, Annyalla, Castleblayney, Co Monaghan was also convicted by Monaghan Circuit Criminal Court of two offences relating to the collision.

He pleaded guilty to a charge of failing to keep a vehicle at or near the incident contrary to Section 106 of the Road Traffic Act 1961 as well as a separate charge of knowingly providing false information to gardai contrary to Section 12 of the Criminal Law Act 1976.

Murphy was given a suspended two-year sentence for the Section 106 offence and ordered to carry out 240 hours of community service in lieu of a 12-month prison sentence for providing false information to gardai.

Mr McMorrow stressed that in raising the familys concerns they were not seeking vengeance or revenge.

He pointed out that his clients had a nagging doubt and worry about the time and circumstances in which Ms Moore suffered her injuries.

The barrister highlighted to the coroner, Aisling Gannon, that Mr McBride had observed that Ms Moore had dry and caked blood on the right side of her face at the time he came on the scene and made a 999 call.

Mr McMorrow also noted that Ms Moore had been sitting with her back against the wall of an adjoining house at the time but there had been no indication that any earlier attempt had been made to seek help from its occupants.

He told the hearing that the victims sister, Teresa Moore, through her own efforts had established that the deceased had phoned a Chinese takeaway in Clones at 2.25am.

The inquest also heard that Mr Murphy had not been able to explain to gardai how the collision had happened on a straight stretch of road.

Ms Gannon acknowledged that concerns raised by Ms Moores family had not been addressed in earlier civil and criminal proceedings but expressed hope that the hearing of the full inquest could provide answers.

The coroner adjourned the hearing until March 27 when she will hear if there is a need to subpoena witnesses for the full hearing which is scheduled to take place in early May.
"Since my initial election I have fought tirelessly for the improvement and delivery of our health services at both local and national level

Former Cabinet Minister and Independent TD for Roscommon-Galway Denis Naughten has decided not to run in the next general election.

Mr Naughten said he decide to end a 26-year career in national politics for both personal and professional reasons.

He won a Fine Gael seat in the 1997 general election following the sudden death of his father Liam Naughten in a car crash.

However, he left the party in 2011 after losing the whip when he voted against the controversial downgrade of Roscommon University Hospital which resulted in the loss of its A&E.

He was re-elected as an Independent TD and regularly topped the poll in his constituency. Mr Naughten has been a fierce advocate for improved healthcare services in rural areas.

Recently, he highlighted the A&E crisis at Portiuncula Hospital during Leaders Questions in the Dail as he described the ordeal a local OAP, Mary Hughes (76), suffered prior to her death.

Mrs Hughes was forced to move from a bed in Roscommon Hospital to a trolley in Portiuncula after suffering a seizure and died after waiting more than seven hours for a bed before being admitted to a ward.

Deputy Naughten urged the expedition of plans for a new emergency department and additional bed capacity at Portiuncula and has also campaigned for restoration of services at Roscommon Hospital.

Mr Naughten thanked the people of counties Longford, Leitrim, Galway and Roscommon who he served throughout his Dail career.

Denis Naughten

"I want to particularly thank the many people who canvassed for me over the years, some of whom had previously canvassed for my later father Liam," he said.

"I want to sincerely thank all the staff who have worked with me over the years, and I want to particularly mention Deirdre Concannon and Jill Mellor and also my family for their support over those years, which at times were very difficult and challenging," he added.

Mr Naughten said he entered politics at a young age in "difficult circumstances" and it was always his "intention to turn my hand to something outside politics".

"The time has now come for that to happen and to provide an opportunity for others to represent the people of this area in Dail Eireann," he said.

"I provided support to the Government as an Independent TD at a time when political stability was required, representing my country at international level as minister, furthering our collective national ambition towards a lower carbon society by imaginative and progressive policies on behalf of all our people.

"Since my initial election I have fought tirelessly for the improvement and delivery of our health services at both local and national level.

"Whilst protecting our local services was a condition of my support for the Government, the establishment of an all-party Committee on Health - which produced the first Slaintecare report, and which was the genesis of our current pathway - I believe will ultimately prove to be a key turning point in the delivery of a proper and responsive healthcare system in Ireland.

"My achievement in ensuring the delivery of fibre optic broadband to every home in Ireland, something that I had worked on for over 15 years, is something that I regard as a significant step in improving access to the people of all local communities in Ireland that I was honoured to represent and serve," he added.

Mr Naughten will continue to serve as a TD until the next election/

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar las night paid tribute to Mr Naughten for the enormous contribution he has made to politics nationally, and to his native county.

Politics is full of ups and downs, triumphs and disappointments. Its what you achieve along the way that matters most, he said.

I am absolutely convinced that the National Broadband Plan would not be a reality today were it not for Naughtens work on it as minister.

He also played a crucial role in ensuring that Athlone was designated a growth centre in Project Ireland 2040, helping to secure more jobs and investment for the town as well as the development of TU Shannon.
It means grieving families have been ordered to pay up thousands of pounds in unpaid drug bills which have nothing to do with them.

Det Chief Insp Richard Thornton with some of the drugs and weapons seized this week

Notorious Ulster drugs cartel The Firm has told those in debt to them that even if they die, their debt doesnt.

The chilling warning was issued by the murderous gang following a spate of deaths in Lurgan, which were linked locally to unpaid drug debts.

It means grieving families have been ordered to pay up thousands of pounds in unpaid drug bills which have nothing to do with them.

Meanwhile, we can reveal hardline republican paramilitary groups have teamed up to take on The Firm.

Dissidents from the Continuity IRA have held secret meetings with republicans from the so-called New IRA with a view to combining their strength to tackle the infamous drugs gang.

But sources close to the gang, which is believed murdered druglord Malcolm McKeown as well as Lurgan father-of-four Shane Whitla, a court heard this week, say they arent for backing down. Its understood they have secured backing from their gang bosses and suppliers, who are believed to be based in Dublin.

Mr Whitla was gunned down in an alleyway in Lurgan three weeks ago and this week a court was told he was allegedly murdered over a drug debt by members of The Firm.

A number of people have died tragically in mid-Ulster, with some of those believed to have been deeply in debt to The Firm, which has been blamed for number of murders in the last few years.

The cross-community drugs gang is led by the son of a former senior IRA boss and one of his lieutenants is the son of a former UVF leader from Portadown.

This week a terrifying warning was issued to the many people in the Co. Armagh town who still owe The Firm drug debt cash.

Drugs has a tight grip on a lot of people in this town, said one source from the Kilwilkie estate.

People are dying from overdoses and there are those who are under so much pressure to pay of their drug debts that they have seen no way other than taking their own lives.

But scumbag drug dealers in The Firm are telling people thinking of taking that way out that all theyll be doing is leaving the debt to their family.

The Firm let it be known the debt doesnt die even if you do. They still want paid what they are owed and they will be asking your loved ones to pay up, or else...

The Firm are putting it about that they have the backing of gangsters from Dublin and if the dissidents try to hurt any of their members, there will be bloody war.

Theres a bit of an uneasy calm at the minute as both sides seem to be sizing each other up, checking out what backing they have and if they have the stomach for an all-out war.

Two weeks ago we revealed how republicans in Lurgan are getting tooled up to take on The Firm, following pressure from the community who feel they have been left to fend for themselves against the murderous criminal gang.

Malcolm McKeown

So heightened were concerns in the community, armed patrols by vigilante-style terror groups took place in the republican stronghold of Kilwilkie.

This week during a bail application by Joshua Cotter, one of three men charged with the murder of Shane Whitla, it was claimed by a police officer: The history of this incident is a feud between an organised crime gang known as The Firm.

Threats were issued by a member of this gang to the victim the night before he was murdered.

This is a feud involving drug debts, he told Omagh Magistrates Court.

The detective said police believed Mr Cotter was an active member of this gang.

However, that claim was challenged by the defence solicitor, who said there was no evidence to support that theory.

The head of the crime gang is the son of a former leader of the IRA in north Armagh who comes originally from Lurgan but moved to Co. Antrim in the last couple of years.

The Firm has increased significantly in size in the last five years, but two armed republican gangs have now teamed up to take them on.

The Continuity boys have joined forces with the New IRA, says a source. The New IRA has undergone a change of leadership locally  their new OC is a man in his twenties.

The New IRA has the gear, and the CIRA have the numbers, their respective OCs have had meetings and moves will be made in the coming weeks.

There have been several secret meetings in fact. They have agreed to support each other.

The New IRA accept they have made a mistake not backing them up the last time, they lost a lot of support and have plenty of gear but no support unlike the contos.

Drugs are very bad in Lurgan, it seems like everyone is taking them, kids killing themselves, people are afraid and feeling like theyve been left defenceless.

And the Lurgan source says he believes the republican force are hell-bent on getting rid of The Firm through violence if necessary.

I have no doubt they mean to kill them, he explains. The New IRA have a new OC, hes known locally as [name removed], his behaviour is a bit erratic, and I think he suffers from mental health issues.

Det Chief Insp Richard Thornton with some of the drugs and weapons seized this week

His mood switches a lot, he knows hes finished if he doesnt back the contos up.

Years ago they used to sneer at the credibility of the contos so it goes to show how bad it is for the New IRA they would now consider teaming up with them.

TheSunday Worldrevealed in 2019 how two weeks before McKeown was shot dead at a petrol station, two armed members of The Firm turned up at his home wearing chilling pig masks with the intention of shooting him dead, only to flee as McKeown wasnt at home.
Saoirse Ronan is famously private about her relationship with fellow actor, Jack Lowden

Saoirse Ronan stars in 'The Outrun' which is co-produced by boyfriend Jack Lowden and due out later this year.

Jack Lowden attends a preview screening of new BBC Drama Series "The Gold" at BFI Southbank on January 17, 2023 in London, England. Photo by David M. Benett/Alan Chapman/Dave Benett/WireImage   Alan Chapman/Dave Benett/WireIma

Saoirse Ronan is famously private about her relationship with fellow actor, Jack Lowden, but the Scotsman gushed over her in a recent interview following this weeks release of BBC drama, The Gold.

Speaking with i News, Lowden spoke about collaborating with Ronan on their upcoming project, The Outrun.

The film, due out later this year, is an adaptation of the book of the same name by Amy Liptrott. Starring Ronan and with Lowden at the production helm, it will be the first time the couple have worked together since they met on the set of 2018s Mary Queen of Scots.

Saoirse Ronan stars in 'The Outrun' which is co-produced by boyfriend Jack Lowden and due out later this year.

The film is produced by Arcade Pictures; a company set up by Lowden, Ronan and producer Dominic Norris.

Ronan is a four-time Oscar nominee, so it comes as little surprise that Lowden is awe-struck by watching her work on the film.

My first love is actors, he told the website, and when youre given a Ferrari like her, its all about how you make everything good for the Ferrari to show off.

"Dont make a Ferrari do what a Renault Clio does. Its a dreadful analogy but theyre like gold dust, good actors.

He goes one further, opening the door on what its like living with one of the best actors in the world.

Having someone on call to run lines is no doubt every actors dream, one that is his reality  even if it means upstaging one another.

Sometimes she gives a better performance than me off-camera and youre a bit like, Can you, erm, not?, Lowden said.

Jack Lowden attends a preview screening of new BBC Drama Series "The Gold" at BFI Southbank on January 17, 2023 in London, England. Photo by David M. Benett/Alan Chapman/Dave Benett/WireImage   Alan Chapman/Dave Benett/WireIma

Unlike most famous couples in the industry, the pair maintain a low profile, and there is rarely much of an insight given to the public. According to Lowden, that is not something they take for granted.

Were hugely appreciative of the level of scrutiny we have, he told i News.

Were treated well but we dont seek it either. People have got it far worse. Its also obviously of our own making.

And despite the occasionally prying eyes, it seems Lowden is happy with his lot.

Whatever  as long as weve got each other, were alright with any of that, he said.
Fresh from completing tasks in the Kermadec Islands 1000km north of New Zealand, where it supported conservation and science work and helped mana whenua strengthen their connection with the whenua (land) of their tipuna (ancestors), the Royal New Zealand Navys HMNZS Canterbury is now heading to the Sub-Antarctic for a similar role.

The military sealift vessel left Aucklands Devonport Naval Base on Tuesday and will call into Bluff before making the 465km journey south to Campbell Island (Moutere Ihupuku) and Auckland Islands (Maungahuka).

Commanding officer of Canterbury, Commander Bronwyn Heslop, says crew have worked hard to ready the ship for the journey south after returning to Auckland late last week.

The 12-day operation to Rangitahua/Raoul Island in the Kermadecs involved resupply, conservation and maintenance tasks.

A Navy Seasprite helicopter from RNZAF No. 6 Squadron was used to transport Department of Conservation, MetService and GNS Science personnel and equipment, and the New Zealand Conservation Dog Programme, between ship and shore, including winching personnel down to difficult-to-reach locations.

Northland iwi, Ngati Kuri mana whenua, were also involved, undertaking research on the island's tracks and native wildlife.

Its hugely significant to undertake this trip, with maintaining our connection to our island and oceanscapes and with our relationship with Navy, its been huge to reconnect and deliver us to Rangitahua, says Sheridan Waitai, Executive Director and Trustee, Ngati Kuri Trust Board.

MetService personnel upgraded the islands automatic weather station and undertook maintenance on the facilities at the meteorological station.

Observations from the automatic weather station at Raoul provide early warning of tropical weather systems including tropical cyclones that may have an adverse impact on New Zealand, says Steve Knowles, MetService Network Operations Manager.

Commander Heslop said for the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel involved, the time at sea had also been about building core skills.

Soldiers, sailors and aircrew are involved in Op Havre, which supports Government agencies and science work in the Kermadec Islands.

We've been undertaking training in aviation and boat drills. Every day people have learned more about their life as a sailor, soldier and aviator, so we've really built NZDF capability while we've been here on this operation," she says.

Canterburys crew is now preparing for the challenging and chillier seas around the Sub-Antarctic Islands.

The Sub-Antarctic Islands are a UNESCO World Heritage Site and for many years the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) has played a crucial role in supporting agencies that protect the natural heritage, important biodiversity, and pest-free status of both sets of islands.

For the first time there will be three Kai Tahu Ka Runaka ki Murihiku representatives aboard.

Kai Tahu know the Southern Ocean as Te Moana Tapokopoko a Tawhaki, the engulfing ocean of Tawhaki. As kaitiaki, they have long held a connection with the Sub-Antarctic Islands, and the stories of their tipuna who travelled to the islands are carved into Te Rau Aroha Marae in Bluff.

This trip offers a timely opportunity to improve Crown-Iwi relationships through the Navy, says Chief of Navy, Rear Admiral David Proctor.

The Defence Force and Royal New Zealand Navy draw heavily on te ao Maori. If we can support Kai Tahu whanau to strengthen their relationship with Moutere Ihupuku and Maungahuka, it strengthens us.

Te Runaka o Awarua whanau member Bob Bowen says the upcoming visit is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit Te Moana Tapokopoko a Tawhaki, Moutere Ihupuku, and Maungahuka.

Its incredible to imagine back to the days of our tipuna when they travelled south to the Sub-Antarctic in waka through ferocious storms. It amazes me how they navigated without the modern luxuries we have today.

The New Zealand Conservation Dog Programme returning to HMNZS Canterbury after undertaking rodent detection on Rangitahua /Raoul Island.

This voyage is our chance to support the mahi to protect our taoka (taonga) species like toroa (albatross), hoiho (yellow-eyed penguin), tohara (southern right whale), and rapoka (New Zealand sea lion), and to maintain our ahi ka  our continuous connection with these special islands as mana whenua and mana moana.

Department of Conservation operations manager for Murihiku John McCarroll says the operation enabled the agency to carry out important conservation work at some of New Zealands most remote sites.

The focus of this trip is maintenance and repairs to key infrastructure which helps us undertake important conservation work. Sea lion, albatross and penguin monitoring will also take place.

Canterburys contingent includes members of the Sir Peter Blake Trust. An environmental leadership expedition includes 11 students and five teachers taking part in research with scientists from the University of Otago, GNS Science and the Cawthron Institute.

They will be peat sampling, plankton tows, marine intertidal sampling, and marine sediment and water column sampling, says Blake Head of Programmes, Jacob Anderson.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins says it has been "a very big night for New Zealanders", particularly in the upper North Island.

Hipkins gave an update hours after the government declared a national state of emergency over Cyclone Gabrielle.

It is only the third time in New Zealand's history an event has met the national state of emergency criteria, following the Christchurch earthquake in 2011 and Covid-19.

Limited communications

"A lot of families displaced, a lot of homes without power, extensive damage done across the country.

"Overnight it's difficult in the dark to find out exactly what's happening. At first light this morning as soon as the extent of the disruption and the damage became clear, advice was provided to the minister and therefore through the minister to me that a state of national emergency should be declared and we acted on that immediately."

He says government will be working as quickly as possible with agencies and telecommunications companies to restore communication.

Hipkins also thanks first responders and says the volunteer response across the country has been phenomenal.

"I had the opportunity to speak just before with some of the families from Muriwai who were evacuated in the middle of the night, they were indicating they had felt incredibly well supported.

"We'll continue to work with those community groups to make sure that we're providing them with as much support as we can so that they can provide support to the communities that have been affected."

Hipkins says one of the challenges with Gisborne at the moment is limited communications.

"That has proven to be very difficult in the last few hours."

There will be an opportunity for the government to have a good look at the situation with the slash, he says.

Hipkins says he hopes to get back to Wellington today, and has had a briefing from the team at National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

The defence force is on the ground, providing logistical support, helping with evacuations, and moving supplies. They will help with the clean-up as appropriate "when we get to that point", he says.

"This extreme weather event ... probably the biggest we have seen in recent times comes hot on the heels of other extreme weather events that we have seen.

"It is a particularly tiring time, a particularly stressful time, so I want to again on behalf of all New Zealanders reiterate out thanks to all those who are working around the clock for those who need that extra support."

Natural and Built Environments bill

Hipkins says the Natural and Built Environments bill before Parliament - the main replacement legislation for the RMA - will have an effect on where houses are built.

"That will place a much greater emphasis on natural hazards when it comes to things like deciding where we build. That is something where I think we've got a long history of perhaps poor past decisions in New Zealand that we're confronting right now. It's not that helpful for people who are up to their waists in water to be having that debate right now but it is one we need to have as a country."

"All of the other things as a country we've dealt with over the last few years ... the last decade and a half or so we've had everything from earthquakes, natural disasters, volcanic eruptions, weather events. It is a lot, and for some people those things accumulate and the mental health impact could be a significant one.

"We're very aware of that as a government and we'll be making sure we provide as much mental health support as we can."

Families in financial distress

Hipkins says a lot of families are already in financial distress.

"It'll take us a few days to really get a handle on how many families have been affected by these extra events over the last few days when it comes to the extreme weather. That will include working with insurance companies and relevant community agencies to support the most vulnerable," he says.

"We'll make sure we're getting energy to where it's most needed, most urgently."

Hipkins says he had a pre-arranged call with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak this morning and the first thing they spoke of was the cyclone, and the UK's support to the people of New Zealand.

Hipkins says the recovery effort will be front and centre for the government's programme over the next weeks and months.

"We know that this won't be an overnight recovery, it's going to take a while, some people will be displaced from their homes for an extended period ... businesses will continue to feel the tail of this for some time and we'll need to support them through that as well."

He says having spoken to some of the evacuees at the Trusts Stadium where the briefing is being held, many were feeling supported but did not get much sleep last night.

"They're feeling very well cared for but of course they're displaced... I think people generally accept that this is an extreme weather event."

"Like it or not you can have the best technology in the world but until the sun comes up and you can actually see what's going on, there's a limited amount that you can actually do and know overnight."

He says the winds are very strong and that will probably be limiting the amount of support that can be provided by air.

The defence force is providing support by land and by sea, he says.

Parliament's business committee will be deciding in a meeting about lunchtime how the event affects Parliament's sitting schedule.

On Princess Anne's visit to New Zealand, Hipkins says he welcomes her despite the extreme weather. He had been planning to meet with her but those plans may be affected, he says.

'I would ask all businesses to be responsible'

Hipkins asks all employers to be responsible in what they are asking of staff.

"There are some essential businesses that will be asking their staff to come back to work including so that they can keep essential supply lines open, food for example - people need to continue to be able to buy food - so those decisions are best made by businesses but I would ask all businesses to be responsible."

Follow the latest with live updates here.

- RNZ.
By Yew Lun Tian and Eduardo Baptista

BEIJING (Reuters) -China condemned on Tuesday a phone call between Czech President-elect Petr Pavel and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-Wen, saying he ignored Beijing's repeated attempts at dissuasion.

Monday's call was a diplomatic breakthrough for the China-claimed island, which has no formal relations with Prague.

The Czech government, though, said as a sovereign country, it made its own decisions on who it talked to, while the call did not mark a change in its policy toward China which remained aligned with western allies.

Most countries avoid high-level public interactions with Taiwan and its president, not wishing to provoke China, the world's second largest economy.

"Czech President-elect Pavel ignored China's repeated attempts to dissuade him and our repeated representations," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning Mao told reporters.

"He has persisted in stepping on China's red line, seriously interfering in China's domestic affairs and hurting the feelings of the Chinese people."

In 2016, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump also spoke by phone with Tsai, setting off a storm of protest from Beijing.

Taiwan's democratically-elected government strongly objects to Beijing's claims that it is part of "one China", saying the People's Republic of China has never governed the island and has no right to speak on its behalf globally or decide its future.

'NEGATIVE IMPACT'

Beijing regularly criticises visits by foreign lawmakers to the island, but a call between a head of state and Tsai is rare and likely seen as a graver affront by Beijing.

"Before his election, Pavel publicly stated that the 'one China' principle should be respected, yet now he has gone back on his words," Mao added.

"China once again urges the Czech Republic to...take immediate and effective measures to eliminate the negative impact of this incident and avoid irreparable damage to China-Czech relations."

Story continues

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Tuesday the Czech Republic maintained the policy of "one China" despite having good relations with Taiwan.

"Czechia respects and holds its own one-China policy," Fiala said in a statement. "As a sovereign country we decide ourselves who we have calls with and who we will meet."

Pavel angered China just days after his election victory. He takes office in March, replacing President Milos Zeman, who has sought to foster the country's ties to China in the past decade.

The centre-right government, has also sought developing relations with Taiwan, which is a growing business partner, since taking office in 2021.

In 2020, the Czech Senate leader visited Taiwan in a move that also angered Beijing.

Mao said on Tuesday China had lodged "stern representations" with the Czech side. Warning of "irreparable damage" to China-Czech ties could be a sign Beijing is planning retaliatory measures.

Since last year, China has downgraded diplomatic ties with Lithuania, sanctioned a Lithuanian deputy minister and pressured multinationals to sever links with the Baltic nation of 2.8 million people after it allowed Taiwan to open a de facto embassy in Vilnius.

(Reporting by Yew Lun Tian, Joe Cash and Eduardo Baptista in Beijing; Additional reporting by Jason Hovet, Robert Muller and Jan Lopatka in Prague; Writing by Eduardo Baptista; Editing by Tom Hogue, Andrew Cawthorne and Alex Richardson)
A man on a catamaran in distress has been rescued and is now safe on board Royal New Zealand Navy frigate HMNZS Te Mana.

The man was rescued by personnel on a small boat (RHIB) launched from Te Mana, while crew on a Northland Rescue Helicopter provided overwatch for the safety of all involved.

Maritime Component Commander Commodore Garin Golding says sea conditions had been challenging and everyone involved was pleased the person was now safe on board the ship.

The plan is to disembark him to shore at Devonport Naval Base this evening.

Photo: Royal New Zealand Navy/Supplied.

HMNZS Te Mana deployed into the Hauraki Gulf on Monday evening as part of the search and rescue mission for the vessel believed to be in distress. The vessels anchor cable had snapped, and the yacht had grounded in Port Fitzroy, Great Barrier Island with strong winds then causing it to drift out to sea.

No air assets were able to reach the vessel at the time due to the severe weather. Te Mana was the best equipped ship to respond to the rescue effort in such testing conditions.

The crew completed a search north of Hen and Chicken Island group overnight.

Earlier this morning, Te Mana received details about the location of the vessel from an emergency locator beacon and sailed to this area, and the man was able to be rescued.

Photo: Royal New Zealand Navy/Supplied.

Te Mana circled the vessel several times, waiting for the weather conditions to allow its small boat with four personnel on board to be launched from Te Mana and attempt the rescue. The man, wearing a life jacket, left his vessel and was plucked from the sea by the two Navy divers on board the RHIB.

Were very pleased this joint search and rescue has been successful and the person is now safe on board Te Mana, says Commodore Golding.
A measles case has been confirmed in New Zealand for the first time since the 2019 outbreak.

The person is an adult living in Auckland.

They were infected overseas, but did not become infectious until after their arrival in New Zealand.

The confirmed case is now isolating at home and contact tracing is underway.

There are several public exposure events between Sunday, February 5, and Saturday, February 11, where measles could have been passed on to others.

These include a festival in the Waikato; chartered bus transport, meals and a hotel in Tauranga; a pharmacy and supermarket in Aucklands CBD.

"Measles is a very serious illness that spreads very quickly. It is much more contagious than Covid-19, particularly amongst people who arent immune," says Te Whatu Ora spokesperson Dr Nick Chamberlain, Director, National Public Health Service.

"We ask anyone present at these exposure events to stay alert to symptoms of measles and check if they are immune. You should ring Healthline on 0800 611 116 if you arent immune and may have been exposed.

"Symptoms can include a fever, cough, runny nose and sore and watery pink eyes. These are followed by a blotchy rash. If you catch measles you're infectious four days before and until four days after the rash appears.

"If you have symptoms and need to visit your GP or an after-hours clinic phone ahead first to limit the risk of the virus being spread to other people.

"Please ensure that children and babies receive their normal vaccinations to protect them from measles.

"It was inevitable that we would have further cases of measles in New Zealand and have been preparing for this for some time.

"We are all aware of how infectious measles is from the last outbreak in Auckland and Northland. The most important thing that people can do to protect themselves is to ensure they and their Tamariki are immunised. Vaccination is safe and effective."

Te Whatu Ora is currently tracing all contacts of the case to check immunity and offer vaccination where appropriate.

People are considered immune if they have received two doses of measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine, have had a measles illness previously, or were born before 1969.

If you are unsure if you are immune and may have been exposed, you should talk to your doctor or phone Healthline.

Symptoms normally take 714 days to develop after being exposed to someone with measles. If you are immunocompromised and have concerns that you may be a contact or were at any of the below exposure events, please contact Healthline or your doctor/GP.

See Measles exposure events for a list of places where members of the public were at risk of catching measles.

The individual has also been to other places, but Public Health has either been able to identify those who may be contacts and inform them directly, or the risk has been assessed as very low.

These places are therefore not being publicised in the media to protect individual privacy. Additional public exposure events may still be identified and will be publicised if necessary.

Because measles is so infectious, its important that infected people isolate, staying at home from school or work.

People who are infectious will need to isolate from the time that they may have become infected until four days after the rash first appears.

The best protection against measles is to be vaccinated with two doses of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine.

It is safe to have an extra MMR vaccination if you cant prove you have had two doses.

The MMR vaccine is free. If you or anyone in your whanau born after 1969 has not had an MMR vaccine, or aren't sure, ask your GP, parent or caregiver.

Measles exposure events
Equitable Courseware

Lumen Learning Partners with Digital Promise to Measure Effectiveness in Statistics Course Pilot

New equity-centered courseware from open education company Lumen Learning is now in the pilot stage at several colleges and universities. The initiative, announced early last year, set out to design course materials for Introduction to Statistics that would eliminate race and income as predictors of student success; Lumen has partnered with ed tech research organization Digital Promise to track its progress.

Lumen received a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant (part of the foundation's Postsecondary Success strategy) in April 2022 to revamp "gateway" courses and help improve student outcomes, especially for Black, Indigenous, Latino/a, and low income students. Introduction to Statistics was chosen for its typical high failure and dropout rates by minority and underserved students. Lumen's digital course design will be evaluated by Digital Promise on teaching practices, student experiences, and student outcomes. Analysis methods will employ "classroom observations, instructor questionnaires, student interviews and surveys, a statistics concepts assessment, and course grade data," according to a release.

While Digital Promise began its statistics course data collection earlier in the academic year, evaluation of Lumen's own offering has begun spring semester 2023, starting with SUNY Empire State College, Tompkins Cortland Community College, SUNY Old Westbury, and SUNY Onondaga Community College, and will continue with more institutions in the fall of 2023. Lumen has said it will also conduct its own internal research.

Lumen has established on-campus user student testing centers to work with its target student demographic at SUNY's Rockland Community College and Santa Ana College in California. Other Lumen partnerships include Howard University's Center for Excellence in Teaching, Learning & Assessment (CETLA) and the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU). Lumen also partnered with AI-driven online education community company InScribe to integrate a digital community platform into its courseware to help students connect with peers and faculty for learning support.

Digital Promise will launch a large-scale, randomized, controlled trial in the fall 2024 semester to evaluate the impact of those teaching practices that maximize the courseware's effectiveness. David Wiley, Lumen's co-founder and chief teaching and learning officer, praised Digital Promise's "unparalleled expertise in delivering insightful research results."

"Collaborating with Digital Promise will allow us to assess student experience and outcomes in our Introduction to Statistics courseware with incredible rigor," he said.

Specifically, Digital Promise's statistics course evaluation will look at strategies teachers can and do use outside of the courseware itself to help students succeed within it. Sophia Georgiakaki, mathematics professor at Tompkins Cortland Community College and lead of the college's introductory statistics course redesign, said her faculty is totally on board with the project.

"Mathematics has been a challenge for our students, and our faculty is very interested in new technology and pedagogy that will help us increase success in our courses," she said. "Our mathematics department in its entirety is committed to investigating ways that we can make a difference in students' experience with mathematics at the college level."

To read an in-depth interview on their thinking and approach to teaching and courseware strategies to improve equity and student success, see "7 Questions with Lumen Learning Founders Kim Thanos and David Wiley."

Listen to the Campus Technology Insider podcast interview with Thanos and Dr. Morris Thomas, assistant provost for digital and online learning and director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching, Learning & Assessment at Howard University: "Reimagining Courseware from an Equity-First Perspective."

For more information about Lumen Learning's digital courses and online faculty professional development community, visit its Courseware page.

To learn more about what Digital Promise does, visit its Our Work page.
The big picture: iOS devices are often targeted by both cyber-criminals and "commercial" spyware makers for surveillance operations, data theft and other malicious activities. A hacker simply needs to find a security bug in WebKit like the one Apple fixed with its latest updates for iPhone and iPad operating systems to get going.

Apple has released an updated version of iOS and iPadOS, both of which were affected by a couple of dangerous security flaws. One of the flaws is already being exploited by unknown cyber-criminals "in the wild," we're told. Considering the people Apple is thanking for the release, the aforementioned flaw could also be part of some well-known spyware systems being sold to the most dangerous organizations (and foreign states) in the world.

Information about the two fixed bugs is included in the notes about the "security content" of iOS 16.3.1 and iPadOS 16.3.1. Known as CVE-2023-23514, the first vulnerability is described as a "use after free issue" which was addressed with improved memory management. A malicious app designed to exploit the bug could execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges, Apple warned.

The second vulnerability is known as CVE-2023-23529, and it is by far the most dangerous one. It is described as a "type confusion issue" in the WebKit browser engine that could be used to craft a malicious web page for executing arbitrary code. Apple said it is aware that the issue "may have been actively exploited already," which actually means that security researchers likely told the company the zero-day security vulnerability is already part of some malicious campaign against iPhone and iPad users.

Apple thanked Xinru Chi (Pangu Lab) and Ned Williamson (Google Project Zero) for discovering CVE-2023-23514, and an anonymous researcher for pointing them to CVE-2023-23529. Furthermore, Cupertino acknowledged the help they got from The Citizen Lab at The University of Toronto's Munk School with the flaws.

The Citizen Lab group is well known for their research work against dangerous "hacking tools" made by NSO Group and sold to government agencies and police forces worldwide. The Israeli company is infamous for creating Pegasus, a multi-platform spyware software designed to exploit zero-day flaws like CVE-2023-23529 for smartphone-based surveillance operations.

According to several reports, Pegasus has been used to target human rights activists and journalists, for state espionage in Pakistan, and for domestic surveillance against Israeli citizens. It also played a role in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi by agents of the Saudi government.

Considering the involvement of Pegasus hunters at Citizen Lab, and the fact that Apple is tight-lipped on the issue for the time being, CVE-2023-23529 could very much be yet another weapon discovered in the powerful arsenal of commercial spyware and surveillance tools routinely abused to target dissidents in every part of the world.
Researchers from the Sandia National Laboratories want to join the global effort of reducing greenhouse gas emissions through 3D printing. They have demonstrated that a novel 3D-printed superalloy could boost power plants into producing more electricity with less carbon.

(Photo : MARIA GIULIA TROMBINI/AFP via Getty Images)

A student works with a 3d printer at the Innovation Lab at the University of Johannesburg (UJ), in Johannesburg on February 10, 2023.

High-performance Metal Alloy

Sandia scientists worked with researchers from Iowa State University, Bruker Corp., and Ames National Laboratory to 3D print a high-performance metal alloy or superalloy.

According to the research team, this superalloy has a unique composition making it lighter and stronger than current cutting-edge materials used in gas turbine machinery.

The findings suggest a new class of undiscovered alloys that could have extensive applications for the energy sector and the aerospace and automobile industries.

Sandia scientist Andrew Kustas claims that this novel material can access unprecedented combinations of high-temperature resiliency, high strength, and low weight with the help of the additive manufacturing approach.

The new superalloy is 42% aluminum, 25% titanium, 13% niobium, 8% zirconium, 8% molybdenum, and 4% tantalum. The team's experiments demonstrated that it was stronger at 800 degrees Celsius (1,472 degrees Fahrenheit) compared to other superalloys, and it remained stronger even after being cooled down to room temperature.

"This is therefore a win-win for more economical energy and for the environment," Sal said in a press release statement.

The discoveries may be useful for more than just the energy sector since lightweight materials that maintain strength under extreme heat is also sought after by aerospace experts.

Ames and Sandia are also collaborating with businesses to investigate how alloys like these could be employed in the automobile sector, according to Nic Argibay, an Ames Lab scientist.

Read Also: Lockheed Martin Partners With 3D Printing Company for Research Expansion of Metal Additive Parts

Additive Manufacturing

The manufacturing process known as additive manufacturing or 3D printing is renowned for being adaptable and low-energy. A high-powered laser is frequently used in printing to quickly melt a substance, typically plastic or metal. Once the molten material rapidly cools and hardens, the printer deposits the material in layers, creating an item.



This new study shows how 3D printing may also be used to create new materials quickly and effectively. Members of the Sandia team used a 3D printer to swiftly fuse metal powders and create a sample out of it.

Sandia's invention also signifies a fundamental shift in the way alloys have been created because no single metal comprises more than half of the material. Steel, on the other hand, consists primarily of iron-nearly 98% of it-mixed with carbon and other materials.



The team is now interested in investigating if cutting-edge computer modeling approaches could aid in the discovery of more members of what may turn out to be a new class of superalloys that are suited for additive manufacturing.



The study was supported by the Department of Energy and Sandia's Laboratory Directed Research and Development program.



The research team's findings were published in the journal Applied Materials Today.

Related Article: 'Chameleon Robots:' These Robots Can Change Colors and Mimic Their Surroundings Through 3D Printing

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TikTok, which has been banned in India, has laid off its entire team in the country, letting go of its remote sale support hub employees in New Delhi.The Chinese-based video-sharing service has been unavailable in the Indian nation since 2020.

However, it kept a few employees to offer services to other markets. But this time, TikTok has decided to let go of these remaining workers.

(Photo : DENIS CHARLET/AFP via Getty Images)

This photograph taken on March 23, 2022, shows logo of the networking application TikToK displayed on a tablet in Lille, northern France.

TikTok Layoffs Indian Employees This 2023

It is worth noting that the Chinese tech giant previously hoped to "reconnect" with its community in India in June 2022. However, as per the South China Morning Post, TikTok dismissed plans to come back in the highly populous nation.

A couple of months after those remarks, the video-sharing platform sack its remaining workforce in the country.

The South China Morning Post notes that the remaining employees in India support other markets where TikTok is available, such as Brazil and Dubai.

The Economic Times India reports that the tech behemoth will be bidding farewell to all its employees in India on February 28.

The anonymous source of the news outlet claims that "the entire team was informed."

Even before the layoffs had been official, the source disclosed that they were told about the possibility of shutting down the operations in the country.

(Photo : Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

In this photo illustration, the download page for the TikTok app is displayed on an Apple iPhone on August 7, 2020 in Washington, DC. On Thursday evening, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that bans any transactions between the parent company of TikTok, ByteDance, and U.S. citizens due to national security reasons.

Meanwhile, the spokesperson of TikTok confirmed the looming layoff in their India remote sales support hub.

The TikTok spokesperson says they "have taken the decision to close our India remote sales support hub."

The remaining employees of the video app in the country are reportedly getting up to nine months of severance pay.

Read Also: Top TikTok Alternatives 2023: Check These Android Apps for Newbie Content Creators!

India Ban

Before TikTok got banned in India, it was huge in the country.

The Hong Kong-based outfit, the South China Morning Post, notes that India was the largest market for downloads of the Chinese video-sharing platform.

To put it in perspective, the United States only took 8.7 percent of the total downloads of TikTok. On the other hand, India takes 18 percent of the overall app downloads.

However, the popularity of the video-sharing app in the country ended in June 2022 when it was banned.

The government decided to ban the country's ByteDance-owned app over national security concerns.

TikTok is not the only Chinese app affected by it. Roughly 200 apps based in China have been blacklisted, such as lending and betting apps.

And more than two years since, the ByteDance-owned service went on to dismantle its team in India.

Related Article: TikTok Unveils New Direct Messaging Feature for All Users Amid Legal Challenges

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China's Silicon Valley Shenzhen revealed its expansion plans to boost internet connectivity and digital economy activity. As part of the plan, the wealthiest city in southern Guangdong province aims to add 10,000 5G base stations this year.

(Photo : PETER PARKS/AFP via Getty Images)

An aerial view shows buildings in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen from Hong Kong on January 4, 2023, ahead of the opening of the border on January 8.

Infrastructure Expansion Plan

Shenzhen Municipal Government's Industry and Information Technology Bureau published a digital infrastructure plan. According to South China Morning Post, the plan involves upgrading 5G mobile services and aims for broader adoption of the Gigabit Ethernet fiber optic network. This will enable the southern tech hub to become China's top city in terms of internet speed.

This will also include formulating 5G service industry standards to help companies upgrade their content delivery network (CDNs), which consists of servers distributed to different locations to reduce latency and load times.

Companies are encouraged to use CDNs to improve the speed and experience of the customers. The municipal government noted that the city plans to give away free cloud storage and internet data to citizens in some areas or key digital economy districts.

Around 40% of the residential household in Shengzhen is targeted by the authorities to adopt 5G connectivity with speeds of 1 gigabit per second or higher. This move is a significant upgrade, especially since only 15.6% of all broadband users in China had a connection higher speed than 1Gbps, as per the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Prioritizing Development

Chinese President Xi Jinping revealed his vision for the digital economy last year, with 5G connectivity as its primary purpose. The country aims to claim to become the world's biggest market for the most prominent internet, smartphone, and e-commerce.

As of now, Shenzhen is focusing on the primary tasks of high-quality development and seizing every minute in making every effort to become the largest tech market in the world. Sierra Leone Times reported that these plans draw a multi-dimensional picture of the city's high-quality development.

Also Read: China Protests Cause Beijing, Shenzhen To Loosen Zero COVID Restrictions Amidst Censorship Breach

Just last month, Shenzhen increased its effort for China's high technology self-sufficiency drive as the city built an international procurement network for semiconductors and electronic products.

As China plans to turn Shenzhen to become a semiconductor and electronics powerhouse, a new Electronics Components and Integrated Circuits International Tradio Center were built in the city's Qinahai economic zone.

The company registered last January 3 with the local market authorities and has already received its business license since December 30, 2022. The trading center's initial capitalization is 2.1 billion yuan or $304 million.

The National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce last January of last year first announced this. It was anticipated to attract many international manufacturers and distributors in the industry of chips and electronics.

Related Article: Shenzhen Wants to Become China's AI Hub With New Regulations to Boost the Industry

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The famous integration of ChatGPT to Microsoft Bing is now fully integrated into the desktop experience for users, experiencing the power of AI on the software company's browser. However, the only catch here is that users would have to be on a waitlist to get Bing with ChatGPT on their Microsoft Edge browsers to experience its integration.

This is also the same story for mobile users, mainly Android and iOS, as they would have to wait for its upcoming integration on the mobile apps.

Microsoft Bing with ChatGPT Now Available on the Desktop

(Photo : LIONEL BONAVENTURE/AFP via Getty Images)

9to5 Mac reported that Microsoft is already sending out an e-mail to current Bing and early users of the already available Bing with ChatGPT experience. Here, they are celebrating the experience with the e-mail recipient and hints of new things to expect in the future, focusing on better integration with AI.

Desktop users that are part of early adopters of Bing with ChatGPT may be able to fully access the features and functions that Microsoft aimed to deliver when they first launched this experience.

The e-mail indicates that Bing with ChatGPT is already available for the user to explore, focusing on its AI features to do their web browsing for them.

Read Also: ChatGPT's Alter-ego: Here's How DAN Works and Why It Was Created

Mobile Apps, iOS to Wait for Microsoft's Release

Windows Latest also reported that this e-mail contains hints about Microsoft's Bing app to get the same integration as its web features via Microsoft Edge.

Microsoft acknowledged that while there is already an app for Bing on different platforms, its mobile experience and integration are yet to come.

The company said to stay tuned for more updates regarding their mobile app's release for Bing with ChatGPT features to arrive.

The Bing app is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play.

Bing with ChatGPT Integration

The past weeks were massive for the AI industry, as people worldwide enjoyed the massive announcements from Microsoft and Google, who brought the new experience for its browser. Microsoft delivered one of the greatest impacts in AI integration for Bing with ChatGPT, particularly as the company already delivered a working one available worldwide.

Microsoft's only downside is that it has yet to be at its full blast, and there is a need to put up a waitlist to accommodate those who want to try.

All eyes are on Big Tech now, as these two leading computer and internet companies are already looking to dominate the internet with their AI developments, centering on Google's Bard and Microsoft's Bing.

Artificial intelligence is the hottest thing now, and Microsoft has fully used it to its advantage, particularly with its strategic partnership with OpenAI to deliver this new version of Bing. There is a waitlist for desktop experience and mobile app development, but the Redmond giant promises to make it worth everyone's time once it arrives.

Related Article: ChatGPT is Slowly Penerating the Browser Market; Chinese Firms Are Catching Up

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T-Mobile is down for thousands of customers in the United States as a network outage spread, affecting some areas in the country.

Customers reported that their Apple iPhones started going into SOS mode amid the widespread outage.

(Photo : Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NY - JULY 26: Pedestrians cross an intersection near a T-Mobile store on Sixth Avenue in Manhattan on July 26, 2019 in New York City.

T-Mobile Down? Outage Affects Thousands of Customers

As per a recent report by Reuters, the outage prevents some users from making phone calls. On top of that, other cellular services are also unavailable to others.

T-Mobile users in the US have started complaining of what seems to be a widespread network outage affecting cellular services. Some say that they could not make any phone calls or send text messages. Not to mention that 5G internet services have become unavailable.

Complaining users stormed social networks like Twitter to report the network outage. T-Mobile responded to some tweets, saying that they would review these reports.

However, the giant carrier has yet to explain the reason behind the problems that the users were grappling with.

(Photo : Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

ARLINGTON, VA - AUGUST 18: A T-Mobile retail store on August 18, 2021 in Arlington, Virginia. T-Mobile announced Wednesday that a data breach exposed the personal information of 7.8 million current customers and 40 million people who had applied for credit.

Instead, T-Mobile assures its customers that they are "rapidly working to resolve an issue that has created intermittent impacts to voice, messaging, and data service."

It is also unclear how widespread the network outage is. But the reports at the outage tracking platform, Downdetector.com, suggest that thousands of users are affected by it.

Read Also: T-Mobile to Pay Off Up to $1,000/Smartphone for Users Switching--Limited to Five Devices

Apple iPhones Are Going into SOS Mode

Meanwhile, iPhone users pointed out that their Apple mobile devices started showing an SOS notification since the outage began.

According to 9to5 Mac, the SOS icon appears on the status bar of some iPhone users affected by the T-Mobile service outage.

It is worth noting that the "SOS" status on iPhones shows up when the device cannot connect to a network. Yet, its users could still proceed with emergency calls.

Apple notes that when iPhones enter into Emergency SOS mode, its users could reach out to emergency services in case they need some help and cellular services are unavailable.

Given that the services of T-Mobile are unavailable in some areas, iPhones have automatically entered into SOS mode.

But once the network outage is over, the icon should vanish into thin air on the status bar.

However, some iPhone owners say that even though the services have been restored, their device still shows "SOS" status.

It is still unclear why it remains this way. It might suggest that the outage persists and the service has not yet been fully restored.

As of writing, T-Mobile has yet to provide any timeline for when the seemingly widespread network outage will end.

Related Article: T-Mobile Security Breach: Over 37 Million User Data Compromised! Here's What Hackers Accessed

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Xiaomi has been shaking up the Android smartphone industry for many years with its competitively fined phones and latest technology advancements. Now, the tech giant is set to further push the boundaries with its upcoming Xiaomi 13 Lite 5G handset, which will be the first handset to offer a built-in Dynamic Island feature.

Dynamic Island Feature on Android: A Welcome Advancement

According to the story by Giz China, Dynamic Island has been a game changer for touchscreens ever since its debut on the iPhone 14 Pro series. It has allowed the user to focus on their work better by utilizing features like bigger buttons and virtual gesture zones. The addition of such a feature on an Android handset is no doubt a welcome advancement.

Exact details surrounding the implementation of the Dynamic Island feature on Android remain to be seen. The exact feature set possible with the 13 Lite 5G has not been revealed yet. However, with the precedent set on the iPhone 14 Pro series, it is safe to assume that the includes will contain an expansive set of features.

The Arrival of Xiaomi 13 Lite 5G: A Board-Opening Move in the Android Market

Besides the Dynamic Island technology, as explained in an article by WCCF Tech, the Xiaomi 13 Lite 5G will reportedly offer a Snapdragon 888 SoC, 5G capability, and a 6.4-inch OLED display. The addition of Dynamic Island to the Android world is something consumers had expected to arrive at ever since its debut on the iPhone.

With Realme previously reported to be working on a device with the feature, the fact that Xiaomi beat them to the punch with the 13 Lite 5G is kind of stunning. It looks like the race to the top of the Android market just got tighter with the arrival of the Xiaomi 13 Lite 5G.

Read Also: Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Battery Charging is Slightly Faster than the S22 Ultra

The Arrival of Xiaomi 13 Lite 5G: A Board-Opening Move in the Android Market

Xiaomi, the leading Chinese phone maker, is making strides in the Android market with the launch of its new 13 Lite 5G. This latest device promises to deliver an unprecedented level of mobile experience with its Dynamic Island feature, as also noted in an article by Realme, as well as be an absolute game-changer when it comes to next-level hardware performance.

The 13 Lite 5G utilizes a revolutionary AMOLED display that, when combined with its Dynamic Island technology, enables the device to make full use of its display potential. Unlike other platforms that provide dynamic island capabilities, such as Apple, Xiaomi has not yet implemented a software solution to fully utilize all of the 13 Lite 5G's dynamic island features.

Nevertheless, this hasn't stopped Xiaomi from striving to deliver a cutting-edge experience. In what is an absolute first, the 13 Lite 5G will be launching at the upcoming MWC in 2023. Though much remains to be seen of what the device has in store, it's likely that we'll see the true potential of this mobile device take shape at the world's biggest tech event.

Related Article: Google Pixel 7 Pro's Volume Button Keeps Coming Loose, Says Users

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Valentine's Day is the time of expressing your love to your partner, family, and friends.

(Photo : Photo by ARMEND NIMANI/AFP via Getty Images)

A worker holds a freshly made chocolate at the "Amel" handcrafted chocolate factory near Pristina on February 12, 2022, ahead of Valentine's Day - with chocolate one of the most popular gifts each February 14. (Photo by Armend NIMANI / AFP)

However, other people see this special occasion as an opportunity to fool those who are looking for love. The romance scam, a fraudulent activity that relies on the trust of victims, is becoming more rampant.

This detail was shared by the U.K.'s biggest independent charity for crime victims, Victim Support. The agency explained how the romance scam worsened.

Valentine's Day: Romance Scam Victims Increase by 38%!

According to The Guardian's latest report, Victim Support announced that victims of romance scams increased by 38% in 2022.

(Photo : Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

A man carries a bunch of ballons as he walks down Union Street on Valentine's Day on February 14, 2011 in San Francisco, California. Valentine's Day is actually a Catholic church sanctioned holiday, as Pope Gelasius deemed February 14, St. Valentine's Day, near 498 A.D.

Also Read: Super Bowl LVII: Illegal Streaming Could Lead to Data Theft; Here's Your Best Option

The charity said that in 2021, it supported over 230 romance scam victims. In 2022, this number increased to 322.

Because there's a sudden jump in the number of victims, Victim Support wanted to help people to avoid getting fooled by romance scammers.

The independent organization provided red flags that you need to check before getting into a relationship with total strangers.

Among the signs you need to be aware of include the following:

The stranger asks you to keep your relationship in secret.

The stranger suddenly declares his/her feelings towards you.

The stranger always makes excuses to avoid having a video call or in-person meet-up with you.

How to Approach Romance Scam Victims

ABC News reported that most of the victims of romance scams are old people.

This means that your grandmother, grandfather, auntie, and uncle could be among them.

If this is the case, it is important to understand them before telling them what to do.

Riverina Relationship Australia Canberra Operations Director Althea Brunskill explained that since victims are manipulated, they will likely become defensive if confronted.

To avoid creating a conflict between you and your old family members, here's what you can do:

Conduct research first. Observe their behavior and try to get any information from their secret partners.

Instead of lecturing them, try initiating a wholesome conversation so that they will open up to you.

Never blame them. Providing facts is among the best thing you can do.

Other stories we recently wrote about cybersecurity threats:

Feds officials confirmed that a cyberattack caused the U.S. 988 mental health helpline outage.

FCA blocked misleading Facebook ads as scammy fin-fluencers increase.

For more news updates about romance scams and other malicious campaigns, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: Tinder, Other Dating Apps to Prevent Romance Scams - Thanks to Match Group's New In-App Messages

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In collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a new study by the University of Maryland has revealed a new way to approach the treatment of deadly drug-resistant infections, Phys.org reports.

The researchers claim that rather than trying to kill bacteria outright, reducing virulence in drug-resistant infections could be an effective alternative approach. The study examined the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacterium and revealed how two proteins enable the bacterium to secrete toxins that make people sick.

By therapies targeting these two proteins, MRSA could be rendered less lethal, if not harmless. This strategy may lower the chance of antibiotic resistance. The study also implies that similar mechanisms may exist in other bacteria, indicating the possibility of a new method for treating various bacterial infections.

Problem with Antibiotic Resistance

The World Health Organization says that antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats to the health of people all over the world. Because of this, the organization suggests that making newer and more effective antibiotics should be a top priority.

Why is this considered such a significant problem? When first-line antibiotics are ineffective in treating infections, doctors may require more costly drugs. Because of this, more people become severely ill and need extended treatment periods in hospitals, which drives up the cost of healthcare and places further financial strain on families.

As a result of this selective breeding, superbugs like MRSA and multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis have also emerged. The potential for such mutations could be eliminated by a method that renders an infection less deadly without killing it.

More About the UMD Study

The study's findings suggest that future therapeutics targeting one transporter protein could reduce virulence, and those targeting the second transporter protein could reduce virulence while also having an antibiotic effect.

Read Also: Researchers Develop Pill-Shaped Ingestible Robotics, Can Help Better Detect Gastro Issues Early On

The researchers found that many other bacteria have genes for producing a dual transport protein system similar to the one found in MRSA. This points to the potential for a new approach to treating other bacterial infections.

According to Seth Dickey, lead author of the study and assistant professor in the UMD Department of Veterinary Medicine, "We were looking for an alternative way of approaching MRSA."

"We were interested in understanding how the bacterium causes disease to see if we could interfere directly with the virulence factors that the bug produces. If we can disarm it, then we may not have to worry about it evading antimicrobial agents," the lead author added.

Previous Work

A previous study by Dickey and other teams looked at how two proteins in MRSA bacteria work to transport toxins outside of the bacterial cell. Scientists did not understand why there were two of these transporter proteins or how they worked, which made it difficult to develop treatments to prevent the secretion of toxins.

The said study found that one transporter protein moves hydrophilic toxins while the other moves hydrophobic toxins. Without the second transporter protein, MRSA cells are damaged by their hydrophobic toxins. The study suggested that targeting these two proteins could potentially disable MRSA and treat other bacterial infections.

Stay posted here at Tech Times.

Related Article: CDC Issues Alert: Stop Using Artificial Tears Eye Drops Due to Drug-Resistant Bacteria Outbreaks

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OpenAI's ChatGPT continues to grow in popularity with its promises in advancing several industries. The tool was only introduced in November 2022, but even if it is relatively new, it is already gaining so much steam that many are claiming it to be the next big thing in tech.



However, the education sector is not so keen on welcoming this AI tool as it may potentially encourage students to cheat on their paperwork.



The same can be said for the research world as two of the most prestigious journals Science and Springer Nature, have recently introduced new editorial standards to exclude or severely limit ChatGPT and other AI tools in writing research papers.



However, some are also very welcoming of this tool. In fact, a teacher from Kentucky literally welcomed ChatGPT in his fifth-grade classroom and challenged his students to outwit the AI robot.

"Find the Bot"

According to a report by AP, teacher Donnie Piercy believes that ChatGPT is the future. He believes that educators have not figured out how to maximize artificial intelligence tools but notes that it will eventually be integrated into the education system whether some may like it or not.

In one of his class's exercises, students competed against the software in a fun, interactive writing game. Each student described a piece on Muhammad Ali, a Kentucky legend, and then tried to identify which text was produced by the chatbot as part of Piercey's "Find the Bot" assignment.

Piercey is less concerned about plagiarism and cheating in elementary school than in high school. His school district has allowed teachers access to ChatGPT except for students.



AP reports that many teachers around the nation agree that districts need time to assess the chatbot but also recognize the pointlessness of a ban because tech-savvy students may still easily access it.

Piercey questioned his class about the abilities they were able to perfect after playing a few rounds of "Find the Bot."

Read also: Microsoft Bing with ChatGPT Now Available for Desktop Integration, Coming to Mobile, iOS Soon

Playwriting

The class then moved on to playwriting, where the kids split up into groups and wrote down the characters of a brief play with three scenes and a narrative that contained a problem that needed to be solved.



Piercey entered information from worksheets into the ChatGPT website along with directions to create the atmosphere of a fifth-grade classroom and included a surprise resolution. It produced complete scripts line by line, which the students altered, quickly practiced, and then performed.

One involved a student embarking on a search for a class computer that had escaped. The chatbot's unanticipated narrative twists, which included taking the children on a time-traveling excursion, made the classroom chuckle, as per AP's report.

ChatGPT is still relatively new and with all its pros and cons, it will only be a matter of time whether it will change the way similar to when the Internet was introduced.

Related Article: Replika Barred by Italy Regulators From Collecting Data Following Complaints of Explicit Texts and Images

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COVID-19 face masks are inefficient, as claimed by a new study.

(Photo : Photo by Jeenah Moon/Getty Images)

A woman wearing a protective mask is seen in Union Square on March 9, 2020 in New York City. There are now 20 confirmed coronavirus cases in the city including a 7-year-old girl in the Bronx.

The latest research about these face covering seems to question the claims of the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).

Ever since the global pandemic began, many health experts backed the statements of the CDC regarding the efficiency of face masks.

Because of this, many countries followed the advice of the CDC; requiring residents to wear face covers when going out to the public. But, a new study revealed that these face masks did little to nothing to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

COVID-19 Face Masks are Inefficient, Claims New Study

According to Fox News' latest report, a new scientific review published by Cochrane Library showed why face masks are ineffective.

(Photo : Photo by MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP via Getty Images)

Protective masks bearing the names of medical staffers and nurses are pictured pinned to a wall on April 2, 2020 at the operative field hospital for coronavirus patients, financed by US evangelical Christian disaster relief NGO Samaritans Purse, outside the Cremona hospital, Lombardy.

Also Read: COVID: New Omicron Subvariant Surge 40.5% in the US this 2023-Cases Rise this New Year

The new study was led by 12 researchers from different universities across the globe.

Based on their findings, medical and surgical masks makes little or no difference when it comes to preventing the spread of flu-like viruses, such as COVID-19.

However, involved researchers explained that their findings are based on randomized trials.

"The researchers focus primarily on randomized trials, but most of the studies that have been done on masks are population studies," explained Dr. Marc Siegel.

CDC's COVID-19 Face Mask Claims

Dr. Siegel explained that, although their study negates the claims of CDC, the health organization should not be blamed for everything.

If you will visit the official website of CDC, the agency said that masking is a critical tool for preventing COVID-19. CDC added that wearing a face mask is always better than wearing none at all.

"Some masks and respirators offer higher levels of protection than others, and some may be harder to tolerate or wear consistently than others," said CDC.

If you regretted wearing face masks during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, you still need to remember that the virus was a new one during that period.

This is why health experts were still trying to understand how the novel coronavirus work back then.

In other news, the U.S. FDA authorized the use of COVID-19 bivalent boosters for children.

We also reported that WHO urged real-time COVID data as the cases surged in China.

For more news updates about COVID-19 and other health topics, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: COVID-19 Mutations Found in NYC Rats; Can These Rodents Infect Humans? Officials Share Concerns

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Elon Musk and ex-NASA astronaut Scott Kelly are not really on good terms as of this writing because Kelly called out the billionaire on Twitter.

(Photo : Photo by Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)

Elon Musk, CEO of Space Exploration Technologies Corp, speaks during a news conference at the National Press Club April 5, 2011 in Washington, DC. Elon Musk, CEO of Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) and Tesla Motors.

In his viral tweet, the retired naval aviator said that Ukraine desperately needs Starlink satellites to be fully functional.

"Defense from a genocidal invasion is not an offensive capability. It's survival. Innocent lives will be lost. You can help. Thank you," said Kelly via his Twitter post.

.@elonmusk Ukraine desperately needs your continued support. Please restore the full functionality of your Starlink satellites. Defense from a genocidal invasion is not an offensive capability. Its survival. Innocent lives will be lost. You can help. Thank you.  Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) February 11, 2023

However, Elon Musk explained why he will not restore the Starlink service in Ukraine.

Elon Musk Replies to Ex-NASA Astronaut

On Monday, Feb. 13, the billionaire decided to respond to Kelly's callout.

(Photo : Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

Elon Musk gestures as he speaks during a press conference at SpaceX's Starbase facility near Boca Chica Village in South Texas on February 10, 2022. - Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk delivered an eagerly-awaited update on SpaceX's Starship, a prototype rocket the company is developing for crewed interplanetary exploration.

Also Read: Elon Musk, Steve Jobs are 'Very Similar,' Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak Says

Elon Musk said that he knows that Starlink is the communication backbone of Ukraine, especially since another internet connectivity has been cut off.

However, Musk added that he will not do an act (restoring Starlink) that could lead to the start of WW3 (World War III).

Youre smart enough not to swallow media & other propaganda bs.



Starlink is the communication backbone of Ukraine, especially at the front lines, where almost all other Internet connectivity has been destroyed.



But we will not enable escalation of conflict that may lead to WW3.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 12, 2023

Aside from this, the billionaire also said that SpaceX's Starlink is a private internet service. This means that the broadband network should not be used for military purposes.

He further stated that they are trying to do the right thing, even if the "'right thing' is an extremely difficult moral question."

In the comment section, many Twitter users agreed with Elon's decision. One of the said that Starlink hasn't been completely pulled out of Ukraine.

This is true. But, SpaceX recently limited Starlink access to Ukraine's military, especially when it comes to using the internet service to control drones.

The Feud Continues

As of press time, the issue between Elon Musk and Scott Kelly still continues.

According to Futurism, Elon Musk posted another tweet a few hours after responding to the ex-NASA astronaut.

He said that he knows some of the most intelligent people that still believe the media.

Although Musk didn't tag Scott, the statement is clearly for him. You can click this link to see other people's responses.

Aside from responding to Kelly's tweets, Elon Musk is also busy with other stuff.

Recently, Elon Musk's Galaxy S23 Ultra camera zoom reaction went viral on Twitter.

He also tried locking his Twitter account to see if the viral hack, which allegedly makes your profile more visible, really works.

For more news updates about Elon Musk and his viral Twitter posts, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: EU Official Urges Elon Musk to Make Progress on Twitter Amid New Law Against Hate Speech, Misinformation

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St. Croix Hospice continues its growth in the Midwest with a new branch in Chippewa Falls. This marks the 14th St. Croix Hospice branch in Wisconsin and will help local hospice caregivers better reach the large number of patients within the Chippewa Valley community.

We have been serving the state of Wisconsin for many years, continuing our long tradition of exceptional patient care, says St. Croix Hospice CEO Heath Bartness. That reputation of excellence leads more patients, families and facilities to seek our services.

Hospice care continues to be underutilized throughout the country, and St. Croix Hospice is committed to expanding access to the hospice benefit throughout the Midwest. According to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services statistics for July 2021 through September 2022, the most recent period for which data is available, over 1,100 eligible patients in the Chippewa Falls market did not take advantage of the hospice benefit. St. Croix Hospice raises awareness of the benefits hospice can bring to patients and family members while providing appropriate local access to caregivers.

There is tremendous demand for hospice care in the Chippewa Valley, and our new Chippewa Falls branch is in the heart of this high-need region says statewide executive director Rick Risler. Consistent with our unique care delivery model, this new branch ensures that clinical staff are close to the communities they serve, helping us provide more patients and their families with responsive, high-quality care at a critical time in their lives.

St. Croix Hospice has been steadily increasing its presence within the Wisconsin service area. With the addition of the Chippewa Falls location, St. Croix Hospice now has more than 200 Wisconsin caregivers serving 65 counties.

St. Croix Hospice serves nearly 4,000 patients daily within the Midwest. Taking an integrated approach to hospice care, the expert team at St. Croix Hospice provides physical, emotional and spiritual support that meets the unique needs of each patient and their families. St. Croix Hospice teams are stationed in more than 60 branches throughout 10 states, ensuring responsive, proximate service to wherever patients call home.

IN PHOTOS: Cars on show at the 2022 Great Race in Chippewa Falls Across the finish line Number 56 Number 126 Number 19 Number 97 Kaitlyn Stahl Peerless The Great Race 2022 stops in Chippewa Falls A41-B HQ 210 Number 18 Down on Main Street Number 48 Number 13 Number 51
Ford, a global automaker, will lay off 3,800 European workers (or 11% of the workforce) over the course of three years to save $3 billion a year.

According to Forbes, the company plans to lay off 2,300 employees in Germany at its Cologne and Aachen engineering and manufacturing plants and another 200 workers throughout Europe. In the UK, Ford intends to fire 1,300 individuals, or 20% of its total workforce.

Over 70% of the layoffs will occur in product development, which has already taken a blow due to Ford's decision to stop producing several of its more specialized vehicles.

In Preparation for EV Portfolio

Ford CEO Jim Farley has confessed the company would not turn a profit from its switch to electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing until at least 2025. Thus, the layoffs are in preparation for an all-electric portfolio in Europe by 2030.

Ford wants to transform its highly lucrative van range to electric cars by 2035. By 2030, the company's whole electric portfolio of passenger vehicles and commercial vans will be available in Europe. The Mustang Mach-E is the company's sole current production EV in the said continent.

Ford will be converting US-developed autonomous cars and plug-in hybrid powertrains to European needs, resulting in the loss of almost all of the jobs at its Dunton's research and development site in Britain.

As the head of Ford Germany and Ford Europe's passenger electric car division, Martin Sanders has said that EVs have rendered the engineering department irrelevant. It is estimated that roughly 13,000 people are employed alone in the Cologne branch.

Also Read: Ford Confirms Formula 1 Return in 2026 - In Partnership with Red Bull?

EV Development Status

Ford's collaboration with Volkswagen to produce EVs based on the German automaker's modular electric drive matrix (MEB) platform has complicated matters in the development field, with the first jointly built EV set for production later this year.

While Ford is preparing for the future and aiming for a 6% operating margin in Europe, its dip to a 2.2% margin for the first three quarters of 2022 cannot be blamed solely on the Russian invasion or the Covid outbreak. Especially when the declared purpose of discontinuing the B-Max, C-Max, S-Max, and Galaxy was to diversify the product line, save costs, and boost profits.

Also, in 2021, it discontinued the Mondeo sedan and wagon, and in 2025, it expects to abandon the Focus mid-sized hatchback venture.

There seems to have been a loss in profitability and market share for Ford in Europe. Twenty years after it was one of Europe's major five automakers, Ford has seen its market share decline from 11% at the turn of the century to 8% in 2011, to 6.9% in 2015, and to 4.6% in 2022.

Ford appears pleased with the fact that 60% of its worldwide sales now originate from the US, despite pulling so many alternatives from its European showrooms.

Also Read: Ford Plans to Build $3.5 Billion Battery Plant in Michigan

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In what is being called the UK's first crackdown on illegally operating crypto ATMs, police raided five places in Leeds, a district in West Yorkshire. These places were thought to have machines that let people buy or convert traditional banknotes into cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.

The Guardian reports that the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and West Yorkshire police force's digital intelligence and investigation unit conducted a joint investigation, collecting evidence from the sites in question.

UK's Crackdown on Crypto ATMs

Although the FCA does not regulate crypto assets, it requires all crypto enterprises to register and establish effective anti-money laundering and terrorism financing measures. However, since no crypto ATMs are registered with the FCA, any crypto ATM operating in the UK is doing so illegally.

The financial watchdog also warns consumers frequently that crypto assets are unregulated and high-risk, which means users are unlikely to have any protection if something goes wrong.

West Yorkshire police cyber team's Detective Seargent Lindsey Brants said the force issued a warning letter asking operators to cease using the ATMs or risk being probed under the UK's money laundering laws. The police then informed the FCA of its findings.

'We are pleased to be able to work in partnership with the FCA in what we believe is a national first here in West Yorkshire,' DS Brants said in a statement.

The FCA's latest move is likely to send a strong message to unregistered crypto firms that they must follow the rules or risk facing penalties.

Read Also: T-Mobile Down: Outage Forces Apple iPhones To Go into SOS Mode - Thousands Affected?

"The FCA will review evidence gathered during these visits and consider further potential enforcement action," the regulator said in a statement.

Mark Steward, who is in charge of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, has said that the regulator is working with "multiple law enforcement partners," such as other local police departments, to look into other sites that may be hosting illegal crypto ATMs.

The Risk of Using Crypto ATMs

Crypto ATMs are becoming increasingly popular worldwide, with the number of machines in operation rising from around 500 in 2016 to over 34,000 as of early 2022, according to data from Statista.

While many of these ATMs are legal and comply with relevant regulations, unregistered crypto businesses may pose a significant risk by enabling criminal activities such as money laundering and terrorist financing.

Due to the lack of regulation in the crypto market, policymakers around the world are debating how to regulate the industry best while ensuring that it is not utilized for illegal reasons.

The FCA's crackdown on unauthorized crypto ATMs in the United Kingdom is just one example of the efforts being made to solve this issue.

More Warnings from the UK FCA

The FCA tells us that it is crucial to ensure that any financial services firm you deal with is authorized. However, unauthorized firms operate fraudulently, and it can be challenging to spot them. Therefore, it is essential to know how to protect yourself. Check out FCA's Warning list here.

Stay posted here at Tech Times.

Related Article: Cash Cloud Files for Bankruptcy; Bitcoin ATMs Now in Deep Mess

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(Photo : Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

The Tesla electric car logo is shown during a display of alternative energy vehicles on Capitol Hill June 12, 2008 in Washington, DC. As part of the event, Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and other members of Congress spoke out on the need to develop new technologies that can help reduce U.S. dependence on oil.

The first Tesla employee union could be launched soon. This plan was revealed by a Twitter post, showing that the automaker's workers want to organize a union campaign with Workers United Upstate New York.

The Tesla Workers United's Twitter account was created this February. It posted a letter asking Tesla employees in New York to join their plan so that all their "voices can be heard."

First Tesla Employee Union To Be Launched!

According to CNBC's latest report, if Tesla Workers United becomes official, it would be the first union campaign for Tesla.

(Photo : Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

This file photo shows the Tesla logo is seen outside of their showroom in Washington, DC, on August 8, 2018. - Tesla shares surged on Tuesday October 23, 2018, after a high-profile stock short-seller shifted gears to say the electric car maker is "destroying the competition." (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)

Also Read: Tesla Master Plan Part 3: Here's What Could be Announced at Investor Day 2023

In their letter, the Tesla Workers United Organizing Committee explained that the union campaign will allow the automaker to further its sustainability mission.

Aside from this, members said that the union could help Tesla create a better progressive environment that will benefit it, as well as its employees.

"Unionizing will further accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy because it will give us a voice in our workplace and in the goals we set for ourselves to accomplish," said the Tesla Workers United organizers.

In the comment section, the new organization is asking Tesla employees in New York to sign the Fair Elections Principles so that they can be heard by the automaker.

Will Tesla Workers United lead to issues?

As of press time, Tesla hasn't made any comments regarding the planned union campaign.

This is why it is hard to tell if the Tesla Workers United could lead to problems, especially since most tech firms are against this kind of activity from their employees.

But, there's one thing that Tesla Workers United can affect. This is the stock options.

Elon Musk said in 2018 that he would remove the stock options of his employees if ever they form a union. If you want to learn more details about this statement of Musk, you can click this link.

While Tesla employees in New York are organizing a union campaign, the giant automaker is busy improving its factories.

Recently, the Tesla Giga Shanghai production ramp-up has been confirmed after the price cuts in China have been proven effective.

We also reported that the EV maker plans to funnel $3.6 billion to expand its Tesla Giga Nevada.

For more news updates about Tesla and other EV makers, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: Tesla Beats BMW as the Top Luxury Car Brand in the US for 2022, Musk Congratulates Team

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Vint Cerf, the "father of the internet" says that businessmen should not rush investing in ChatGPT and other AI-powered apps.

The Google chief evangelist also issues this warning amid the popularity of these chatbots.

Currently, the topics around the use of artificial intelligence are taking over the internet and it's only becoming more controversial as more people get used to it.

Google Internet Evangelist Warns Entrepreneurs About AI

Vint Cerf has a warning for those entrepreneurs who will engage in AI-related business. He said that they should not rush into such deals given the controversy surrounding this subject.

According to a report by CNBC, Cerf told the attendees at the Mountain View conference that going into hasty decisions with AI investments should not be an option.

Clearly, ChatGPT and even Google Bard have lured people into thinking that an AI can do almost all things. However, Cerf clarified that there's a need to consider an ethical issue with this type of investment.

"Everybody's talking about ChatGPT or Google's version of that and we know it doesn't always work the way we would like it to," Cerf said on Monday, Feb. 13.

The warning from the "Father of the Internet" appeared right after Meta, Microsoft, and Google shared their plans to launch their own version of ChatGPT.

With the ever-evolving phase of artificial intelligence, people might assume that AI will produce only flawless results. However, it still fails to deliver desirable outcomes because of common mistakes.

Related Article: ChatGPT is Slowly Penerating the Browser Market; Chinese Firms Are Catching Up

Google Was Hesitant to Release Bard

Last week, Google confirmed that it has plans to release an AI-powered app that can compete with ChatGPT. With Bard, the company believes that it can be dominant in the competition.

Alphabet Chairman John Hennessy admitted that the search engine giant is not yet ready to launch Bard to the public.

Hennessy added that Google remains "hesitant" if it will push through the release of the ChatGPT rival chatbot, according to Business Today.

He continued that it might take one to two years before Bard became extremely polished as a "useful" AI tool for users.

Google thought that rushing into Bard is a good solution to rival Microsoft's own GPT tool. After the announcement, the stock of Alphabet surprisingly plunged to 9%.

Tech Times reported that the botched launch of Bard has triggered a lot of Google employees who think that Sundar Pichai downplayed the decision.

Some workers called this "rushed" and "un-Googley," a term for an unfurnished product that's not yet ready for broad public use.

Speaking of Bard, there's an advertisement for this experimental AI service that spits out misleading information.

According to the tweet, the James Webb Space Telescope snapped the first picture of an extraterrestrial planet. However, a simple Google search will tell you that it's not true.

Read Also: Google Workers Slam CEO Sundar Pichai Over 'Rushed' Bard AI Launch

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
As part of a massive deal for 470 planes, Air India has agreed to buy 250 jets from Airbus. This is a long-awaited change under its new owners, the Tata Group.

The contract includes 210 narrow-body planes and 40 wide-body jets, which Air India would use to fly "ultra-long routes across the globe," according to Tata Chairman N Chandrasekaran.

The agreement is also expected to include a Boeing order for 220 planes, which will compete with Airbus, according to Nikkei Asia.

Samchui.com tells us that the purchase includes 34 A350-1000 and six A350-900 wide-body aircraft in addition to 140 A320neo and 70 A321neo single-aisle aircraft.

A Turning Point for Air India

"We are committed to building a world-class airline... one of the most critical elements is a modern fleet that is efficient and can perform for all routes," Chandrasekaran said at a virtual press conference attended by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron.

In a report, Reuters cites that Air India, which has a mascot of a maharajah, was once known for its luxurious jets and excellent service. Still, its reputation worsened in the middle of the 2000s as its financial issues deepened.

The record order is meant to put Air India in the same league as the world's biggest airlines and make it a key customer for aircraft manufacturers and suppliers at a time when Air India's market is seeing a big travel surge after COVID-19.

Industry sources say India has been lobbying Airbus to build a final assembly line in the country to rival a plant in northern China, but the planemaker has declined on financial and industrial considerations.

Sources say the contract is worth approximately $37 billion based on the available market value for the most popular variant of the planes, even though airlines typically obtain huge discounts on such mega deals.

The Future of Air India

The aviation deal is anticipated to have additional economic spin-offs, as Macron has pledged that France will partner with India on other projects besides aircraft.

During the video presentation, Macron was quoted as saying, "This accomplishment shows that Airbus and all its French partners are fully dedicated to developing new areas of dedication with India."

Meanwhile, Chandrasekaran stated that Airbus and Tata were working on broader relationships, including the aspiration "to bring in commercial aircraft manufacturing at some point in the future."

A Strong Political Message

"It is essential for the industry because, given the recent turbulence in the China market, the alternative growth market is India," said independent aviation adviser Bertrand Grabowski, as quoted by Nikkei Asia.

Read Also: Lockheed Martin's New Tactical Aircraft Flown by AI for 17 Hours in World's First

Grabowski pointed out that India is also sending a strong political message that it wants to stay close to the West at a time when Russian sanctions are not clear.

The purchase is expected to outnumber American Airlines' combined contract for 460 Airbus and Boeing jets more than a decade ago, making it the single largest deal ever made by an airline. This deal is a huge step forward for the Tata Group's Air India, Indian aviation, and India's industrial industry.

Stay posted here at Tech Times.

Related Article: Boeing Marks the End of an Era with Delivery of Final 747 Jumbo Jet to Atlas Air

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California COVID-19 cases top 12 million: report

Xinhua) 13:56, February 14, 2023

A health worker administers a COVID-19 vaccine shot to a local resident in Los Angeles, the United States, on Dec. 17, 2022. (Xinhua)

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- The total number of COVID-19 cases reported in California, the most populous state in the United States, has topped 12 million, the Los Angeles Times reported on Monday.

That milestone was hit last week in the state, home to around 40 million residents, according to data compiled by the biggest newspaper on U.S. West Coast.

The statewide tally -- just under 12.02 million cases as of Friday, according to The Times' tracker -- is undoubtedly an undercount, because of both limited access to testing in the pandemic's early days and the fact that many people now self-diagnose using at-home tests, the report noted, adding that "even so, the figure constitutes a population larger than that of all but six states."

The report pointed out that California is seeing increased circulation of the Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5, which has been described as perhaps the most infectious strain of the coronavirus.

XBB.1.5 accounts for an estimated 56.9 percent of new cases in the Western region of the country. Despite its infectiousness, XBB.1.5 has not spawned a major spike in hospitalizations, according to the report.

Health workers administer COVID-19 vaccine shots to local residents in Los Angeles, the United States, on Dec. 17, 2022. (Xinhua)

This is the first year that California did not experience a devastating surge coinciding with winter, a development many officials attribute to the widespread administration of vaccines, the report added.

California Governor Gavin Newsom announced in October last year that California's COVID-19 State of Emergency will come to an end on Feb. 28, 2023, after being in effect for almost three years since March 4, 2020. U.S. President Joe Biden's administration also announced last month that it will end COVID-19 emergency declarations on May 11.

California, once an epicenter of the pandemic in the country, became the first state to surpass 5 million COVID-19 infections in December 2021 and hit the grim milestone of 10 million confirmed COVID-19 cases last August.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
BRUSSELS  The first U.S. missile fired at an unidentified aerial object over Lake Huron missed the target and "landed harmlessly" in the water before a second one successfully hit, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Tuesday.

The acknowledgment of the errant missile by Gen. Mark Milley came amid questions about whether the government was creating unnecessary risk by shooting down aerial objects that military officials say didn't pose a security threat.

Civilian aviation photographers in Madison were among the first to raise questions about the number of missiles fired Sunday after observing that both of the F-16 fighter jets that took off from Truax Field each returned with one missile missing from its underwing docking station.

The jets were piloted by airmen with the 148th Fighter Wing based in Duluth, Minnesota.

In Washington, Pentagon officials met with senators for a classified briefing on the shootdowns. Lawmakers conveyed concerns from their constituents about a need to keep them informed and came away assured the objects were not extraterrestrial in nature. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said the recent spate of interceptions was likely to have a "calming influence" and make future shootdowns less likely.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told reporters after exiting the briefing that he didn't think the objects posed a threat.

"They're trying to figure out  you know there's a bunch of junk up there. So you got to figure out what's the threat, what's not. You see something, you shouldn't always have to shoot it down," Graham said.

Milley said the military went to "great lengths" to make sure the strikes did not put civilians at risk, including identifying what the debris field size was likely to be and the maximum effective range of the missiles used. He also said in each case the Pentagon works to make sure that the air space is clear, and to evaluate the potential debris field, before embarking on such a strike.

"We're very, very careful to make sure that those shots are in fact safe," Milley said. "And that's the guidance from the president. Shoot it down, but make sure we minimize collateral damage and we preserve the safety of the American people."

The object taken down Sunday was the third in as many days to be shot from the skies. The White House has said the objects differed in size and maneuverability from a Chinese surveillance balloon that U.S. fighter jets shot down earlier this month, but that their altitude was low enough to pose a risk to civilian air traffic.

Weather challenges and the remote locations of where the three objects were shot down over Alaska, Canada and Lake Huron have impeded recovery efforts so far, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters Monday.

Milley was in Brussels with Austin to meet with members of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group on additional weapons and defense needs for Kyiv in advance of Russia's anticipated spring offensive.

Fox News was the first to report the missed missile strike.

AP reporters Lisa Mascaro and Stephen Groves and the Wisconsin State Journal contributed reporting.
"Thousands of corpses discovered": FSB published documents about Nazi atrocities in the prisoner of war camp near Stalingrad

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Faster than expected: the head of the Ministry of Economic Development Reshetnikov predicted Russia's GDP growth of 1.2% in 2023

New home prices in 3 cities in China in March: more than ninety percent of cities rose month-on-month, hitting a new high in nearly four years

The latest house price data of 70 cities is here, and the overall is now showing obvious signs of stabilization and recovery

Libe is 50 years old: two bosses tell it from both ends

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Pensions: Marylise Leon of the CFDT wants to "alert on the dangers of this hasty promulgation"

The bargains of the week on Amazon: a smokeless barbecue for the terrace, Nike t-shirts, an inflatable kayak...

The Prime Minister of Moldova called the inhabitants of the country a nation with disabilities

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Former Pentagon adviser McGregor: Ukraine may disappear as a state by the end of the year

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Political scientist Dudchak on Hersh's statement about Zelensky: there are probably a lot of such stories

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People who sue to obtain public records could seek to have their attorneys fees reimbursed even if the documents are later turned over voluntarily, under a Republican proposal released Tuesday.

The plan is in response to a Wisconsin Supreme Court case last July that drew the ire of open records advocates. In that case, the court ruled 4-3 that a community group was not entitled to attorneys fees after suing the city of Waukesha for public records that the city later released before being ordered to do so by a court. The courts four conservative justices approved the ruling, with its three liberal justices dissenting.

Previously, records custodians who voluntarily provided requested records after being sued could still have been required to pay attorneys fees if the lawsuit led to the release of the records. The Supreme Courts decision, however, made it so those requesting public records could only recover attorneys fees if a court rules on the merits of a case. Voluntarily turning over records typically renders a case moot, meaning plaintiffs in such cases might not be able to recover attorneys fees from the government.

In a policy brief issued soon after the ruling, the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty called on the Republican-led state Legislature to address gaps in Wisconsins open records law to ensure that government entities are held accountable if they withhold requested public records.

Now, a draft proposal from Rep. Todd Novak, R-Dodgeville, and Sen. Duey Stroebel, R-Saukville, would allow courts to return to the methodology used before last years high court decision.

Under the proposal, judges would be able to award attorneys fees to somebody filing a lawsuit if the court determines that filing the case was a substantial factor leading to the records release, even if their release came without a court order.

This legislation is critical to ensuring our public records law functions as intended when a government actor gets taken to court for failing to comply with the law, Stroebel said about the draft bill, which was written with WILL.

A spokesperson for Assembly Speaker Greta Neubauer, D-Racine, did not respond to a request for comment about the proposal.

The bill is supported by WILL, the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, Wisconsin Newspaper Association, Wisconsin Broadcasters Association, Wisconsin Transparency Project and Americans for Prosperity, according to a WILL statement.
Any outstanding question about the Wisconsin Supreme Court elections national importance has just been answered: Of liberal candidate Janet Protasiewiczs $195,000 fundraising haul in large donations last week, only $7,500 came from in-state donors.

The Milwaukee County judges influx of out-of-state funds highlights national liberals atypical financial and political investments in the race. A liberal winning in the April 4 election could lead to the realization of numerous Democratic priorities, from redrawing the states legislative maps to legalizing abortion and having a court majority in case of any 2024 presidential election challenges.

Conservatives consider the race to be just as important as liberals, as they seek to protect the same policies Democrats want to reverse, but no conservative candidate reported any big donations from non-Wisconsinites last week.

All four Wisconsin Supreme Court candidates must report their fundraising hauls between Jan. 1 and Feb. 6 on Monday. From Feb. 6 on, candidates must also report any donation over $1,000 from a single source. Protasiewiczs $195,000 comes from the latter category.

Protasiewicz also raised $725,000 from Jan. 1 to Feb. 6, leaving her with $276,000 cash on hand, campaign finance filings show. Thats more cash raised in the years first reporting period than the rest of the candidates combined.

Liberal billionaires are setting up a pipeline of money to Milwaukee Judge Janet Protasiewicz because she ... has promised to be a rubber stamp for the Democrats agenda, Republican Party of Wisconsin Mark Jefferson said.

Between Feb. 8 and Feb. 12, conservative candidate and Waukesha County Circuit Judge Jennifer Dorow reported raising just over $50,000 in large donations, entirely from in-state donors. From Jan. 1 to Feb. 6, she raised $365,000, with just under $270,000 left on hand at the end of the reporting period.

Conservative candidate and former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Dan Kelly reported $1,000 in large donations last week from one in-state donor. He raised just over $100,000 between Jan. 1 and Feb. 6, according to his finance report. He has just over $200,000 cash on hand.

Liberal candidate and Dane County Circuit Judge Everett Mitchell reported $3,500 in large monetary donations last week from two out-of-state donors. He raised $70,000 from Jan. 1 to Feb. 6, ending the period with just under $121,000 cash on hand.

Outside groups have added millions to the mix. The liberal A Better Wisconsin Together Political Fund is spending over $1.5 million attacking Dorow pre-primary. The pro-Kelly group Fair Courts America, funded by the Illinois-based Republican donor Richard Uihlein, is spending around $1.8 million on his behalf, according to the liberal Brennan Center for Justice.

The Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce Issues Mobilization Council is spending just over $250,000 and Wisconsin Alliance for Reform is spending just under $500,000 attacking Protasiewicz, according to the Brennan Center. The pro-Dorow group Justice for Wisconsin is spending $55,000 supporting Dorow pre-primary.
Known for his dozens of books and role as Americas pastor, Max Lucado has spent decades engaging in Christian movements. He sees something special in the He Gets Us campaign.

I cannot remember in my lifetime when I have been more excited, more encouraged, and more willing to participate in some type of movement that is so pure, Lucado said during the fourth episode of the He Gets Us Engaging Culture series.

Lucado joined David Kinnaman, author and CEO of Barna Group, and Ed Stetzer, executive director of the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center to talk about the unprecedented possibilities open to Christians today.

This cultural moment that were in is one that is challenging but also has great opportunity, said Stetzer.

So then, he, Kinnaman, and Lucado discussed, how might Christians understand those challenges and opportunities and approach them with the simple yet transformative message of Jesus Christ?

Diving into the Data

News headlines about people not returning to church after the pandemic and well-publicized statistics showing that many people feel Christians are judgmental may lead us to think of Americans as resistant to spirituality. But research conducted by Barna and He Gets Us indicates otherwise. While many people are skeptical of Christians and organized religion, there is great spiritual openness in our present culture.

For example, Barna recently found that 91 percent of Americans either believe in or are open to the idea of a spiritual or supernatural dimension. 77 percent of Americans believe in God or a higher power, and an astonishing 74 percent say they would like to grow spiritually. Perhaps most insightful of all when it comes to understanding this precise moment in our culture, Barna found that 44 percent of people are more open to God today than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Theres a lot of real hopeful data here, said Kinnaman. One area that especially stands out, he noted, is the openness of two generations who are often thought of as resistant to Christianity: Millennials and Gen Z.

Prioritizing the Personal

Research shows that members of the Millennial and Generation Z generations are more open to the idea of Gods involvement in their lives than many expected.

Consider the potential impact of reaching those generations with the person of Jesus. Millennials, the oldest of whom turn 39 this year, and Generation Z, the youngest of whom turn 12 this year, represent many of todays workers, leaders, parents, and students. Engaging their imaginations and lives with the real Jesus is exactly what He Gets Us has set out to do. The campaigns videos and billboards hone in on specific aspects of human lifeeverything from anxiety and loneliness to having a great time with friendsmaking plain that Jesus understands it all. And not only does he understand it, he lived it. He can relate to humanity fully because he himself became human. In other words, he gets us.

The campaign mirrors the approach that Kinnaman and Lucado have found to be effective in their own work and ministry, one that takes seriously the stories of the people in front of them. Rather than repeating a generalized version of the gospel, Christian leaders are findingboth in data and through experiencethat listening and empathizing are critical components of evangelism.

I think to the person who says, Im interested in Jesus but I get tired of the church, my response has often been: Im the same way, said Lucado. Im really fascinated by Jesus but I dont like his people sometimes  I get it.

Kinnaman said that such an approach bears out in the research. When engaging people who are spiritually open, curious, and even frustrated, the data is clear that people want to be talked to like a human being. They want to be listened to without judgment. They want not to be forced to make a conclusion. They want to be respected for their spiritual story and their backstory.

Lucado and Kinnaman were quick to the point to the work of the Holy Spirit in such conversations. Christians are not responsible for driving the message of Jesus home in such a way that people feel no choice but to convert. Instead, we are called to share the story and message of Jesus, trusting that the Holy Spirit is faithful to change hearts, cause growth, and bring glory to God.

Marking the Moment

Now is the time to join thousands of churches in meeting people where they are with the story of Jesus. Understanding the obstacles and opportunities of our culture moment can help Christians engage the curious with empathy, hope, and a posture of listening.

The first four episodes of the Engaging Culture Series are a great place to start. Create an account to catch up on the great discussions thus far, and gain access to new monthly episodes, discussion guides, sermon ideas, and many more resources related to the Engaging Culture Series and He Gets Us campaign.
Caleb Breaux and Donald Dumas are among tens of thousands of Gulf Coast residents who took jobs cleaning up BPs oil spill in 2010, trying to blunt the effects of the worst offshore environmental disaster in U.S. history.
On the very last episode of connection, Jason talks with World food-systems expert, Monique Amar, who currently works for the United Nations out of rome, Italy

Better Now

Proxima Parada - Big Seven
The countrys smallest domestic carrier, Regional Express, has secured two more Boeing 737-800s and is readying to unlock extra capacity after a string of profitable months.

The airline confirmed it had signed a letter of intent to lease the Boeing 737-800NGs, bringing Rexs fleet to nine. The aircraft are sourced from Singapore Airlines and are due to arrive in Australia in June and July.

Regional Express will boost its fleet of Boeing 737-800s by two, bringing its domestic fleet to nine by July. Credit: Brook Mitchell

Rexs deputy chairman, John Sharp, said the carriers domestic jet services had been profitable for the past four months and the airline was well positioned to capitalise on the insatiable demand.

The travelling public has been crying out for our reliable and affordable services in the light of the shameless price gouging by Qantas and these new additions will help to alleviate the situation, Sharp said.
Sally Rugg is not happy. The former marriage equality campaigner turned anti-News Corp crusader turned chief of staff to teal independent MP Monique Ryan is battling not only her employers  Ryan and the Commonwealth  in court, but is also having to combat leaks in her own camp.

Rugg posted on her private Instagram account last Wednesday of her mixed emotions as parliamentarians  including Ryan  signed up to a new code of conduct, recommended in outgoing Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins Set the Standard report after complaints of systemic harassment and abusive behaviour in parliament.

Sally Rugg believes a royal commission into the Murdoch empire would be a good idea. Credit: John Shakespeare

The Insta post leaked, was written up by The Age and churned by US-owned broadsheet The Australian, part of the Rupert Murdoch empire into which a royal commission would be a fine idea, according to Rugg.

The following day, the campaigner put the 360-odd members of the Instagram group on notice that the leaking had made her feel betrayed and paranoid and was not cool. The second post leaked, of course.
The French artist Louise Bourgeois was at the height of her artistic powers when she died in New York in 2010, having produced arguably her greatest run of artwork when she was in her 70s, 80s and 90s, including one of her most famous works  a crouching steel and bronze spider created seven years before her death at age 99.

These sinuous spiders brought Bourgeois the nickname Spider Woman and belatedly roused the wider art world to her great talents.

A spider sculpture titled "Maman" by French-American confessional artist Louise Bourgeois stands in front of the Kunsthalle museum in Hamburg in northern Germany. Credit: AFP/Angelika Warmuth

Australias largest survey of Bourgeois inventive seven-decade career will open in Sydney in November, one of three exhibitions by internationally renowned figures of modern and contemporary art destined for the Art Gallery of NSW and the Museum of Contemporary Art. For the first time, two of those blockbusters are by women.

Bourgeois more than 150 works will be presented in two contrasting spaces  Sydney Moderns major exhibition gallery and the darkened Tank gallery, where the creatures of South American artist Adrian Villar Rojas roam.
If youve enjoyed swimming in some nice warm waters off the East Coast this week, youre not alone. Around Sydney, water temperatures have hit 26 degrees in the past week, 0.6 degrees above the monthly average.

University of NSW professor of oceanography Moninya Roughan said some parts of the ocean along south-east Australia are about three degrees warmer than average.

Swimmers have enjoyed warmer ocean temperatures for the past few summers as the East Australian Current moves further south. Credit: Brook Mitchell

Back-to-back La Nina events over the past three years have caused marine heat waves to affect much of the Tasman Sea, with warm ocean currents sweeping as far as Jervis Bay.

Ocean temperatures around Sydney in the past week have not dropped below the monthly average of 24.8 degrees. On Tuesday, the city recorded temperatures of 25.4 degrees. Meanwhile, sea temperatures in Byron were 26.7 degrees on Tuesday, 0.4 degrees higher than the monthly average. Huskisson was 0.3 degrees warmer than the monthly average of 22.6 degrees.
In the spirit of the day, Id say one of the things I really loved about serving as a member of the Nebraska Community Foundation Board of Directors was the opportunity to travel to Board meetings in different places where NCF has an affiliated fund. From Fort Robinson to Nebraska City, Thayer County to Pender, and numerous points in between, we got to see the best of Nebraskas small towns and their accomplishments.

The current NCF Board has that opportunity next week, as we host them in Leigh and Columbus! The Board will kick off their visit in Leigh on Thursday. The team in Leigh is going to share some of the secrets to their success, and they have plenty of success to talk about! While Im looking forward to learning more, I can already tell you there is extraordinary energy today in Leigh. That is translating into a rapidly growing school system and a town that grew almost 10% in the past decade.

The NCF affiliated fund, the Leigh Legacy Fund (LLF), formed three years ago in the middle of a pandemic and yet they are both rocking and rolling. Theyve put almost $200,000 in their unrestricted endowment and are now climbing a steep growth curve I predict will get them close to $1 million in the next three years!

During the visit to Leigh, NCF Board and staff will hear from community leaders and LLF leaders about the secret sauce to make all this happen. Ill bet theyll have something to say about an attitude of abundance, pride in their hometown and some folks who arent afraid to work hard. But I guess well find out next week!

Thursday night and Friday the NCF team will transition to Columbus. We are excited to lead them on a community tour that highlights the Quality of Life Centers projects. These four projects (library, YMCA, STEM Academy and East-Central District Health Department) are among the NCF networks best examples of charitable dollars leveraging other investment to do something significant.

The Columbus Area Future Fund (CAFF) is hosting a reception Thursday evening with community leaders and the NCF leadership. Fund advisory committee members are going to share their past successes and their current goal to grow their unrestricted endowment to $5 million of assets and expectancies. Im excited to have these local and statewide leaders simply spend time together talking because that interaction inevitably leads to information and inspiration that benefits everyone.

The NCF Board will handle the business of the quarterly Board meeting next Friday but will again have time to learn from CAFF in a lunch discussion about the Funds projects and goals. All-in-all, this visit will be a rich learning opportunity for local leaders and NCFs statewide Board as well.

NCF is truly a network and these chances to connect are a significant part of how learning happens. We look forward to hosting the Board and staff next week for an experience well all love.
Thousands of residents in inner Sydney suburbs will bear the brunt of more missed rubbish bin pick-ups after the City of Sydneys garbage collectors went on strike for the second week in a row on Tuesday.

Days away from the city hosting WorldPride with an estimated 78,000 visitors, Sydneys woes with overflowing bins and bulky waste continue to fester, intensifying frustration felt among residents.

Residents in Waterloo are reporting maggot-infested garbage rooms in their apartment complexes, where rubbish has been piling up for at least two weeks, while people in Paddington say putrid bins have triggered a worsening rat infestation.

Garbage collectors from contractor Cleanaway are refusing to collect as many as 24,000 bins, taking industrial action for the fourth time this year as part of negotiations over better pay and conditions.
Emergency services treated three people for smoke inhalation as more than 30 firefighting units, including three helicopters, battled an out-of-control grass fire in Melbournes north-west on Tuesday afternoon.

Crews responded to the five-hectare blaze, which damaged at least one structure at Loemans Road, Bulla, about 2.30pm.

Emergency Management Victoria issued an update just after 5pm saying firefighters had brought the blaze under control and the threat had been reduced. This replaced a leave now alert issued about 3pm.

Three people were being assessed by paramedics for smoke inhalation.
A Perth driver who ploughed his Range Rover into a crowd of people outside a CBD bar, killing one man and injuring several others, has admitted to the crime on the second day of his Supreme Court trial.

Jamie Glasfurd told the court he just wanted to get on with his life as he entered guilty pleas to six offences on Tuesday morning.

Emergency crews assist an injured person at the scene of a crash in Pier Street, in the Perth CBD where a vehicle ploughed through an alfresco killing one and injuring several on August 20, 2021. Credit: Nine News

The 62-year-old finally accepted responsibility for the alcohol and meth-fuelled crash, which took place on Pier Street in August 2021 while people were enjoying Friday afterwork drinks.

Glasfurd was due to outline his defence on Tuesday before accepting a plea deal to have his manslaughter charge downgraded to dangerous driving causing death.
The Greens will demand a sweeping change to Labors flagship policy to cut greenhouse gas emissions by pushing for an amendment to stop all new coal and gas projects, setting up a third clash on big election promises after disputes on housing and industry.

Greens leader Adam Bandt will call for the single but far-reaching variation to the safeguard mechanism in a move that focuses the political debate on coal and gas while accepting every other part of the new scheme to cut emissions from 215 big polluters.

Greens leader Adam Bandt says the party is prepared to put aside other concerns about Labors emissions reduction scheme if it agrees to stop opening new coal and gas projects. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The latest call comes after the Greens attacked the governments $10 billion housing fund as a gamble that would not build enough new homes, and sought changes to a $15 billion industry investment fund to stop it supporting fossil fuel projects.

With the Coalition vowing to vote against the safeguard mechanism and the two funds, the government must secure support from the Greens and at least two others in the Senate to deliver on the election promises, even at the cost of agreeing to amendments.
Delhi: Indias tax officials have searched BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai, weeks after it aired a documentary critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the UK, the broadcaster said.

Rights groups and opposition politicians denounced the move by Indias Income Tax Department on Tuesday as an attempt to intimidate the media.

A student resists being escorted out of the campus at Delhi University, after a student group said it planned to screen a banned documentary that examines Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modis role during the 2002 anti-Muslim riots. Credit: AP

Britains publicly funded national broadcaster said it was cooperating fully with authorities and hoped to have this situation resolved as soon as possible. Late in the evening, the BBC said officials were still at the two offices.

Many staff have now left the building, but some have been asked to remain and are continuing to cooperate with the ongoing inquiries, it said, adding: Our output and journalism continues as normal.
Jakarta: Separatist rebels in Indonesias restive Papua province released photos and videos of a man they said was the New Zealand pilot they took hostage last week.

Phillip Mark Mehrtens of Christchurch, of Indonesian aviation company Susi Air, was abducted by independence fighters from the West Papua Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement, who stormed his single-engine plane shortly after it landed on a small runway in Paro in remote Nduga district.

Papuan separatist rebels pose with New Zealander pilot Phillip Mark Mehrtens who they took hostage last week, at an undisclosed location in Papua province, Indonesia. Credit: AP

The plane, carrying five passengers, was scheduled to pick up 15 construction workers who had been building a health centre in Paro after a group of separatist rebels led by Egianus Kogoya threatened to kill them, said Nduga district chief Namia Gwijangge.

Our plan to evacuate the workers angered the rebels, who responded by setting fire to the plane and seizing the pilot, said Gwijangge, who was one of the passengers. We deeply regret this incident.
Nathan Lane, Harvey Fierstein, and Laura Benanti will join the Broadway legend for conversations about her new memoir.

Chita Rivera's book, Chita: A Memoir, will be released April 25.

( HarperOne)

Broadway icon Chita Rivera has announced a series of special events to celebrate the publication of Chita: A Memoir. The book will be published by HarperOne and is set for an April 25 release.

"I've long considered writing my memoirs, but I've never been one to look backuntil now," said Rivera in a statement. "Now it feels right and with Patrick Pacheco, I couldn't be more pleased to pass on my experience to a new generation. I hope my words and thoughts about my life and career resonate and readers just might discover some things about me they never knew."

Rivera will travel throughout the tri-state area to engage in conversation about her new memoir with friends and fellow Broadway performers Nathan Lane, Harvey Fierstein, and Laura Benanti. Her co- writer Patrick Pacheco will also join her for two conversations in Connecticut and New York City's Drama Book Shop. For tickets and more information, click the links above.

Rivera originated numerous classic Broadway roles including Anita in West Side Story, Rose Grant in Bye Bye Birdie, and Velma Kelly in Chicago. She is a two-time Tony winner for her performances in The Rink and Kiss of the Spiderwoman, and earned a Special Tony Award For Lifetime Achievement in 2018.
Katie Finneran and Chris Sullivan

( Tricia Baron)

D'Arcy Carden (The Good Place) will make her Broadway debut, and Scott Foley (Scandal), Chris Sullivan (This Is Us), and Tony winner Katie Finneran (Promises, Promises) will make their Broadway returns, in Larissa FastHorse's The Thanksgiving Play at the Helen Hayes Theatre.

The production, scheduled to begin performances on March 25 and open on April 20, will be directed by Rachel Chavkin. It will mark the Broadway debut of playwright FastHorse and her comedy, which premiered in a different production at Playwrights Horizons in 2018.

The Thanksgiving Play, which opens April 20, is a satire that follows a troupe of woke theater artists trying to put on a culturally sensitive school Thanksgiving pageant. In our review of the original production, TheaterMania chief critic Zachary Stewart said, "The Thanksgiving Play delightfully skewers fashionable correctness, a religion whose adherents rarely contribute anything productive to the conversation out of a fear of being incorrect. FastHorse is clearly unrestrained by such fear, making her voice a refreshing addition to the New York theater." Read the full review here.

This Thanksgiving Play will have scenic design by Riccardo Hernandez, costume design by Lux Haac, lighting design by Jeanette Oui-Suk Yew, sound design by Mikaal Sulaiman, and video/projection design by David Bengali.
Local students recently graduated from Missouri University of Science and Technology, based in Rolla. The public university also announced many local students made the fall honors lists.

More than 700 students received degrees from Missouri S&T during commencement ceremonies held Dec. 16-17.

Justin Perez earned a bachelor of science degree in engineering management, while Jordan Stevens earned a bachelor of science degree in physics, graduating cum laude and making the honor list. Both men are from Bonne Terre.

Missouri S&T has traditionally recognized graduates earning a bachelor's degree with honors by placing the designation "summa cum laude," "magna cum laude" or "cum laude" on their diplomas. The highest honor, summa cum laude, is awarded to students who have earned a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.8 or above on a 4.0 scale for all courses counting toward the degree. Magna cum laude is the designation for a GPA of 3.5 to 3.79, and cum laude indicates a GPA of 3.2-3.49.

The university also announced the additional names of students who made the honor list for the fall 2022 semester. To be included on the honor list, students must have carried a minimum of 12 hours and had GPAs of 3.2 or above out of a possible 4.0.

Those who made the honor list include, from Bonne Terre:

Adriana Bosch, electrical engineering, first-year student;

Parker Bowman, information science and technology, junior;

Julianna Farr, psychology, junior;

Nathan Hambrick, computer science, senior;

Jaden Johnson, chemical engineering, senior;

Justin Penn, chemical engineering, senior;

Jordan Stevens, physics, senior;

Braden Swift, applied mathematics, junior.

It also includes, from Desloge:

Les Copeland, aerospace engineering, senior

Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) is a STEM-focused research university of over 7,000 students. Part of the four-campus University of Missouri System and located in Rolla, Missouri, Missouri S&T offers 101 degrees in 40 areas of study and is among the nation's top 10 universities for return on investment, according to Business Insider. S&T also is home to the Kummer Institute, made possible by a $300 million gift from Fred and June Kummer. For more information about Missouri S&T, visit www.mst.edu.
Nine West County High School students competed at the Future Business Leaders of America District 12 contest Feb. 4 at Mineral Area College. All nine students each earned at least one medal in the competition.

Students who earned first place and now advance to the state contest include Ava Clifton in Introduction to Public Speaking; Madison Elder in Word Processing; and Madison Perry, Mylei Province and Amy Wells in Introduction to Social Media Strategies.

In addition, Ava Clifton advances to state for Introduction to Business Concepts, Paige Monroe for Introduction to Financial Math and Carina Christopher for Introduction to FBLA.

Students also earned additional places at the contest include Ava Clifton, third place in Graphic Design; Paige Monroe, Mylei Province and Amy Wells in Broadcast Journalism; Cate White in Hospitality and Event Management; Carina Christopher, Madison Elder, Cate White, Alivia LaMarr and Madison Peery in Parliamentary Procedure.

Students who finished in the top five of each category earned medals.

Those students who qualified to compete at the next level will do so at the FBLA State Leadership Conference in Springfield on April 16-18.
Cheyenne, WY (82001)

Today

Partly cloudy. Gusty winds during the afternoon. High 43F. Winds NW at 20 to 30 mph. Higher wind gusts possible..

Tonight

Clear skies. Low 26F. WNW winds at 15 to 25 mph, decreasing to 5 to 10 mph.
Members of Operation Sand traveled to Jefferson City Monday to show support on House Bill 982 in front of the Rural Community Development Committee Hearing.

The bill, sponsored by State Rep. Rick Francis, R-Perryville, would prohibit the Missouri Department of Natural Resources from issuing permits for silica frack sand mines located within 2.5 miles of a state park, conservation area, or natural area in a third-class county, like Ste. Genevieve, or fourth-class county.

The proposed bill comes after the proposed NexGen silica sand mine was thwarted, along Highway 32 about two miles from Hawn State Park in Ste. Genevieve County. NexGen originally received in June its permit to engage in surface mining sandstone, but the permit was revoked in January after members of the Missouri Mining Commission agreed with members of the Missouri Administrative Hearing Commission that there were errors with the permit application.

Operation Sand President Jillian Ditch Anslow said the group was asking for those interested in supporting the bill to meet 11 a.m. Monday at the Missouri Veterans Memorial, located behind the Missouri State Capital Building.

We will gather here to brief on any important updates before we walk into the capital building together for the meeting at noon, explained Anslow last week. We will have green Operation Sand T-shirts available for anyone who wants one so we can walk in showing a united front.

There were carpool options for those interested in attending the show of support in Jefferson City, and for those unable to make it to the capital, they could watch the proceedings live by going to the Missouri House of Representatives website and selecting committees. There was also a way to submit testimony regarding HB982 if they were unable to attend in person.

Anslow said Monday, she believes the day went as well as it could have for Operation Sand, as there was a large turnout of supporters for HB 982 and the committee listening to the house bill seemed receptive to the residents' testimony.

"All of our supporters couldn't even fit into the room because everybody has to be seated in order for them to be in there, and there wasn't even enough room for everybody," said Anslow. "We had an overwhelming amount of supporters drive all the way to Jeff City today."
Batavia, NY (14020)

Today

Clouds and some sun this morning with more clouds for this afternoon. Slight chance of a rain shower. High near 80F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. Low 53F. Winds light and variable.
Texas Man Pleads Guilty to 90 Federal Hate Crimes and Firearms Violations for August 2019 Mass Shooting at Walmart in El Paso, Texas

A Texas man who carried out the mass shooting at the Cielo Vista Walmart in El Paso, Texas, on Aug. 3, 2019, killing 23 people and injuring 22 more, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court to a 90-count indictment, including 45 counts of violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act and 45 counts of using a firearm during and in relation to crimes of violence.

Pursuant to the plea agreement, the defendant, Patrick Wood Crusius, 24, has agreed to accept 90 consecutive life sentences, one for each count in the indictment. The guilty plea included 23 counts for hate crime acts that resulted in the deaths of Andre Anchondo, Jordan Anchondo, Arturo Benavides, Jorge Calvillo Garcia, Guillermo Garcia, Leonardo Campos, Angelina Englisbee, Maria Flores, Raul Flores, Adolfo Cerros Hernandez, Alexander Hoffmann, David Johnson, Luis Alfonso Juarez, Maria Legarreta Rothe, Maribel Loya Hernandez, Ivan Filiberto Manzano, Gloria Irma Marquez, Elsa Mendoza Marquez, Margie Reckard, Sara Regalado Monreal, Javier Amir Rodriguez, Teresa Sanchez, and Juan Velasquez.

The plea also included 22 hate crime acts that caused bodily injury and involved attempts to kill 22 people injured in the shooting. In addition to the hate crimes, the defendant pleaded guilty to 45 firearms violations, 23 counts of using a firearm in a federal crime of violence resulting in death, and 22 counts of using a firearm in a federal crime of violence.

Today, the Justice Department secured the guilty plea of Patrick Wood Crusius, a self-described white nationalist, for federal hate crime and firearms offenses in connection with the deadly mass shooting targeting people perceived to be Hispanic immigrants at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, in 2019, said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. Nothing can undo the immeasurable loss suffered by the loved ones of the victims of that attack or the terror inflicted on the El Paso community in its wake. Todays action makes clear that the Justice Department will not tolerate hate-fueled violence that endangers the safety of our communities.

Todays guilty plea marks one more step towards justice for the El Paso community; however, we must remember that the survivors and victims families will be on a lifelong journey of healing because of this defendants actions, said FBI Director Christopher Wray. We extend our heartfelt sympathy to the Hispanic community who had their sense of security shattered by this heinous attack. The FBI will continue to seek justice for all those whose civil rights and safety are threatened by hate.

White nationalist-fueled violence has no place in our society today, said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. This senseless massacre violates the law, runs contrary to our values as Americans and defies the principles of tolerance and inclusion that define us as a nation. By pleading guilty, the defendant has admitted that he murdered innocent people based on their national origin and targeted Hispanics. The Justice Department will continue to use every tool at its disposal to combat hate crimes, hold perpetrators accountable, and seek justice for the victims and survivors. This guilty plea cannot bring back those whose lives were lost, or heal those still suffering, but it does put us firmly on the path to justice. Our hearts are with the victims of this horrendous crime, their families, and the entire community.

It has always been our intent to obtain proper justice for all the victims of the senseless El Paso shooting, their ever-resilient families, and the courageous community that continues to feel the pain of that day, said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Margaret Leachman for the Western District of Texas. We continue to stand in support of all whose lives have been impacted, and my hope is that this plea leads to a sentence that can serve as an example of how the United States justice system does not tolerate anyone who chooses to harm our loved ones and our neighbors, especially when motivated by hatred.

According to the statement of facts agreed to and signed by Crusius and entered into the court record at his guilty plea hearing, Crusius admitted that he killed and wounded people at the Walmart because of the actual and perceived Hispanic national origin of the people he expected to be at the Walmart. He further admitted that he intended to kill everyone he shot.

Crusius also admitted he wrote a manifesto, titled An Inconvenient Truth, and uploaded it to the internet minutes before he commenced his attack. In it, he characterized himself as a white nationalist, motivated to kill Hispanics because they were immigrating to the United States. Crusius admitted to selecting El Paso, a border city, as his target to dissuade Mexican and other Hispanic immigrants from coming to the United States.

The FBI investigated the case, in partnership with the El Paso Police Department; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF); the Texas Department of Public Safety; the El Paso County Sheriffs Office; the El Paso County Office of the Medical Examiner; the Allen Police Department; and the Dallas Police Department.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ian Hanna, Gregory McDonald, and Patricia Acosta for the Western District of Texas El Paso Division and Trial Attorneys Kyle Boynton of the Civil Rights Divisions Criminal Section and Michael Warbel of the Criminal Divisions Capital Case Section are prosecuting the case.

The U.S. District Court has not yet set a sentencing date.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Western District of Texas at http://www.txwd.uscourts.gov/ or on http://ecf.txwd.uscourts.gov/

For more information about DOJs work to combat and prevent hate crimes, visit www.justice.gov/hatecrimes: a one-stop portal with links to DOJ hate crimes resources for law enforcement, media, researchers, victims, advocacy groups, and other organizations and individuals.

This story has been published on: 2023-02-14. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
More humanitarian aid from China's Red Cross arrives in quake-hit Syria

Xinhua) 14:40, February 14, 2023

BEIJING, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- The second shipment of humanitarian aid provided by the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) for the earthquake-stricken areas in Syria arrived at the capital Damascus on Monday local time.

The supplies, including cotton tents, relief packages for families, thermal jackets and medicine, will meet the needs of over 10,000 victims, according to the RCSC.

The RCSC has so far dispatched two batches of relief materials to Syria, which will help more than 15,000 victims.

The first batch of medical supplies has been delivered to the Syrian Red Crescent for rescue operations.

Strong earthquakes and aftershocks hit Turkiye and neighboring Syria on Feb. 6, with the death toll climbing to over 35,000 people, as of Monday.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
12 Peking University Professors Died after New Year, All Were Chinese Communist Party Members

Workers in protective gear handle a coffin and coffin case at Dongjiao Funeral Parlor, reportedly designated to handle COVID-19 fatalities, in Beijing on Dec. 19, 2022. (Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Peking University has been hit hard amidst the latest COVID-19 outbreak, which began at the end of 2022.

Between Jan. 1 and Feb. 10, 2023, at least 12 professors at Peking University have died, including Zhai Zhonghe, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Chen Zhanan, former dean of the School of Marxism at Peking University. All 12 current and former professors were members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Zhai, a cell biologist and academician, died from an unnamed illness in Beijing on Feb. 10 at the age of 93. The obituary praised him for being an outstanding member of the Chinese Communist Party.

Zhai was admitted to the Department of Biology at Tsinghua University in 1950 and was sent to the former Soviet Union to study in 1951.

After graduating from Leningrad University in 1956, he returned to China and taught in the Department of Biology at Peking University. During his career, he served as vice-chairman of the Asian-Pacific Organization for Cell Biology, vice-chairman of the Chinese Society for Cell Biology, vice-chairman of the Chinese Electron Microscopy Society, and the organizing committee and consultant of the Asian-Pacific Organization for Cell Biology Congress.

Zhais eulogy stated that he was one of the founders of cell biology and bioelectron microscopy in China and one of the founders of the State Key Program of Cell Biology at Peking University and the Key Laboratory of Cell Proliferation and Differentiation under the Ministry of Education. He had won numerous science and technology national awards.

Chen, a professor at the School of Marxism of Peking University, died on Jan. 24, 2023 in Beijing at the age of 76, after a long illness. The obituary also described him as an outstanding member of the CCP.

Chen was admitted to the Philosophy Department of Peking University in 1964 and became a teacher at the university after graduation. He had served as deputy director of the Philosophy Department, director of the Propaganda Department of the CCP Committee, and dean of the School of Marxism during his lifetime career at Peking University.

Chen had also served as the convenor of the State Councils Evaluation Group on Marxist Theory as a Teaching Subject, the chairman of the Guiding Committee of the course Introduction to Mao Zedong Thought and the Socialist Theory System with Chinese Characteristics, the chief expert convenor for the compilation of the textbook Introduction to Mao Zedong Thought and the Socialist Theory System with Chinese Characteristics, and the vice president of the National Association for the Study of Mao Zedongs Philosophical Thought.

He has been awarded national prizes by the Ministry of Propaganda, the First Prize of the National Outstanding Achievement Award in Social Science, and many other honorary titles.

On Jan. 1, Bao Zhixing, a professor of German language, died at the age of 88. From 1952 to 1956, Bao worked at the Headquarters of the Communications Forces of the PLAs General Staff Department.

On Jan. 3, Zheng Zhongguo, a professor of statistics, died at the age of 85. Zheng had won the second prize in the Science and Technology Progress Award from the Ministry of State Security, the third prize in the Science and Technology Progress Award of the Army, and the third prize in the Science and Technology Progress Award of the Ministry of Aerospace Industry.

At the end of 2022, a new outbreak of COVID-19 swept through mainland China, resulting in numerous deaths of professors from Peking University, Tsinghua University, and other Chinese universities.

Publicly available information showed that during the 36 days from Oct. 31 to Dec. 5, 2022, 15 retired professors of Peking University had died.

Based on the obituary information posted on the official websites of Peking University and Tsinghua University, a Chinese netizen made a comparison chart of the number of obituaries for the three years from 2020 to 2022. It can be seen that before December 2022, the average number of obituaries per month at Peking University was less than 9, but in December 2022, it skyrocketed to 30 plus deaths.

Birthplace of CCP

The CCP claims that Peking University is the base for the dissemination of Marxism in China, as the earliest group of communists and Marxists in China came from Peking University.

When the CCP held its first congress, there were 53 CCP members in China, among whom 21 were working or had studied at Peking University.

Among the 13 participants of the CCPs First National Congress, six had studied or worked at Peking University, including Mao Zedong, Zhang Guotao, Liu Renjing, Chen Gongbo, Wang Jinmei, and Bao Huiseng.

In March 2020, during the initial stage of the COVID-19 pandemic, Falun Gong founder Li Hongzhi warned in an article entitled Stay Rational, Truth be told, pandemics only come when peoples morals and values have turned bad and they have come to have a massive amount of karma.

In his article, Li advised, What people should do, instead, is to repent to the divine with all due sincerity, admit to their faults, and pray for a chance to change their ways.

A pandemic like the current Chinese communist virus (or Wuhan virus) comes with a purpose behind it, and it has targets. It is here to weed out members of the party and those who have sided with it, Li said.
1st US Missile Fired at UFO Over Lake Huron Missed: Gen. Milley

The missile, he said, 'landed harmlessly' in Lake Huron

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley testifies before the Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Defense on Capitol Hill in Washington on May 3, 2022. (Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staffs said Tuesday that the first U.S. F-16 missile that was fired at an unknown object near Lake Huron on Sunday missed its target, prompting the jet to fire a second one that successfully hit.

In a news conference, Joint Chiefs of Staffs Chairman Mark Milley confirmed anonymously sourced reports that emerged on Monday that the first missile did not make it to its intended target.

The missile landed harmlessly in the waters of Lake Huron, he said. But, Yes, the first shot missed, he stated.

Were very very careful to make sure that these shots are in fact safe, Milley told a news conference while in Brussels, to make sure we minimize collateral damage, reported The Associated Press. The top general said the U.S. military also went to great lengths to ensure that the missile strikes over American territory did not put civilians or property at risk.

Milley also said the Department of Defense also works to make sure that the airspace is clear and evaluate whether the missile strike and taking down of the object would leave a sizable debris field.

Officials previously said the F-16 jet that shot the object, described by officials as octagonal in shape, used AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles.

The object that was shot down Sunday was the third in as many days. U.S. and Canadian officials have confirmed that objects were shot down in Alaska and the Yukon Territory on Friday and Saturday, coming days after a U.S. fighter jet shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon near the South Carolina coast, coming after it had traveled over much of the continental United States.

While U.S. military teams have recovered portions of the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon, details about the three other objects have not been provided. Its not clear if the military is making progress regarding the recovery efforts in Lake Huron, the Yukon, or Alaska.

Milley was speaking in Brussels along with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who had went there to meet with members of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group regarding more weapons for Kyivs government ahead of anticipated Russian offensives in the spring, according to the AP.

A U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter taking part in the U.S.-led Saber Strike exercise flies over Estonia on June 6, 2018. (Ints Kalnins/Reuters)

The unidentified object shot down over Lake Huron on Sunday afternoon is located in what is probably very deep water, White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters Monday. Officials are still trying to locate the debris.

When the takedown occurred, all of the debris fell into Lake Huron, so there was no damage to property or human life, Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.) said in a statement this week. Previously, Bergman told Fox News that the object was octagonal in shape.

After the shootdown, Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) told local media that were still are not sure exactly what it was, who owned it, or what its operation was  this will be determined once the debris field has been accessed. He confirmed the U.S. Coast Guard is attempting to recover it.

Meanwhile, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refuted claims that the object shot down over Lake Huron that it was extraterrestrial in origin.

And one last thing before I turn it over to the Admiral. I just wanted to make sure we address this from the White House. I know there have been questions and concerns about this, but there is noagain, no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activitywith these recent takedowns, she told reporters.

Recovery

On Monday, Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand confirmed that Canadas Royal Air Force deployed multiple aircraft to search for debris from the Yukon object.

Additional support is being provided from units forward deployed to Whitehorse, and Dawson City, Yukon Territory, she wrote on Twitter. The debris is located in a remote location northeast of Dawson City, in complex alpine terrain that is prone to challenging northern weather conditions.

Earlier this week, Anand told CNN that the object taken down in the Yukon by a U.S. F-22 jet was cylindrical and smaller than the object shot down over the United States East Coast.

But it would be imprudent for me to speculate at this time until we gather the debris and until we do the analysis. The FBI is involved in that analysis as is the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) here in Canada, the minister added.

As for the object that shot down near Deadhorse, Alaska, the U.S. militarys recovery of its debris faces Arctic weather conditions. As of Tuesda, temperatures were around -30 degrees Fahrenheit.
ABCs Coverage of Alice Springs Meeting Inaccurate, Partial: ABC Ombudsmans Office

The logo for Australia's public broadcaster ABC is seen at its head office building in Sydney, Australia, on Sept. 27, 2018. (Saeed Khan/AFP via Getty Images)

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has violated impartiality and accuracy standards in its radio report on the Alice Springs community meeting, the newly created ABC Ombudsmans office found.

The ABCs flagship radio program AM on Jan. 31 aired a report in which it accused locals worried about the alcohol-fulled crime wave in the remote community of being racist.

It also featured interviews of people criticising the meeting as a white supremacist fest and describing the vibe as scary.

The report comes as Alice Springs, a remote community in Australias Northern Territory, grapples with escalating crime rates and increasing youth violence. Residents blamed the issue on the state governments decision to lift an alcohol ban in the community in 2022.

Members of the Mutitjulu Aboriginal community walk through the grounds in Mutitjulu, near Alice Springs, Australia, on July 6, 2007. (Ian Waldie/Getty Images)

Breach Of Impartiality

In a report published on Feb. 13, the Ombudsmans Office said the broadcast breached impartiality standards by unduly favouring one perspective over another.

The taxpayer-funded broadcaster has received 19 complaints about the AM report, most of which were concerned that the report presented only the views that the meeting had been racist, despite a range of different perspectives being expressed at the event, the Ombudsmans report stated.

It is the Ombudsmans view that because the newsworthy focus of the broadcast was the concerns and divisions within the community about recent outbreaks of lawlessness and violence that were presented in the town meeting, there was an editorial requirement for the story to present a range of those relevant perspectives.

On review of the perspectives included in the report, it is considered that the report presented one critical perspective on the event, that it was racist, without identifying the range of other concerns and issues expressed by attendees.

Breach Of Accuracy

The Ombudsmans Office added the taxpayer-funded broadcaster also breached accuracy standards by not making responsible effort to ensure that material facts were accurately presented in context.

In particular, the introduction to the AM report incorrectly stated that hundreds of people attended the meeting, while in fact, more than 3,000 had been present.

Considering the meeting was organised by local business owners to discuss action the community could take in response to the considered failings of the Northern Territory government, it is important for the audience to be informed of how many people were sufficiently concerned that they chose to attend the meeting, the report said.

Attendance in the thousands represents a materially different proportion of the population than attendance in the hundreds.

The ABC Ombudsmans Office is independent of the Corporations content-making divisions. The Ombudsmans Office is led by the ABC Ombudsman, Fiona Cameron, who reports through the Chair of the ABC to the Board.

The ABC has apologised for providing an incomplete picture of the meeting, re-edited the report and published an editors note on the online version of the AM report.

ABC News apologises to audiences for providing an incomplete picture of the event in this instance. ABC news management takes responsibility, the statement read.

However, the broadcaster didnt retract the report despite calls from Alice Springs Mayor Matt Paterson, who called ABCs coverage of the community meeting a kick in the teeth to residents who have put up with this for far too long.

ABC Boss Acknowledges Mistakes

In a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday, ABC managing director David Anderson admitted there were mistakes in the AM report and that it should not have gone to air.

I do think that the systems and processes we have in place did not pick up the issue with that story before it was included in the AM package, he said.

Certainly, when I heard it, I knew that we had a problem with that particular story, and I think its now been corrected and reposted. So the story has now been reproduced by that reporter and then put back online.

He said the broadcaster does not have an Indigenous reporter based in either Darwin or Alice Springs, despite the large population of Indigenous Australians in the regions.
Afghanistan Knocked Me DownFaith Picked Me Up

Commentary

On April 25, 2012, I experienced a rare, but significant tactical defeat in Afghanistan. Since then, my career and outlook stem from the events of that day. I was the Battle Company commander in the 1-508 Parachute Infantry Regiment, leading my Soldiers through a seven-month deployment in a highly contested area of Kandahar Province in the southern part of the country.

Our company conducted a two-day, out-of-sector air assault to clear Salim Aka, a small village and known Taliban stronghold. Historical data indicated we would be walking into an improvised explosive device (IED)-laden area and expected enemy contact. We partnered with an Afghan National Army (ANA) company living with us in our combat outpost. Training, partnering, and patrolling with Afghans was harder and more tedious than just leading our own men, requiring increased levels of risk with a heavy dose of patience.

At this point in my career, I had been on hundreds of missions, but this one felt different. On any other mission I executed, I felt we held the comparative advantage, whether that be air support, element of surprise, technology, or overwhelming firepower. On this operation, the odds were even; we walked into a fair fight, in fact, one could argue, because we were playing in their backyard, we went into the fight disadvantaged. I knew what this meant as far as a threat; I did not expect us to come out on the other end unscathed. I prayed hard for strength and safety, for myself and for my men.

One Tough Fight

On the morning of April 25, we infiltrated via helicopter at 3 a.m. I was with 1st Platoon, the assault element, while our 3rd Platoon moved into their overwatch position for the clearance of the first village cluster of compounds. Prior to their establishment, an Afghan soldier stepped on a pressure plate IED, or roadside bomb. The blast instantly killed one of my team leaders, Corporal Ben Neal, and two Afghan soldiers. Additionally, Specialist Sam Watts received a fatal brain injury and would succumb to his wounds about a month later at Walter Reed. Other Americans and ANA lay injured. After conducting multiple medical evacuations, including some with Afghans quitting the mission and hopping on the helicopters meant for our wounded, we continued our clearance operation.

Once our assault element reached its initial objective, the ANA soldiers got scared and refused to clear the compound. 1st Platoon assumed responsibility for the clearance to establish a foothold. Within the first few compounds, we found a house-borne IED rigged to explode and IED-making materials in an alleyway. After walking the pathway with my platoon leader numerous times, I went back to the first compound to conduct a radio call and heard an explosion. First Lieutenant Albano stepped on a pressure plate, amputating his right leg. Other paratroopers were severely wounded from debris abrasions, vision, and concussion, and we conducted additional medical evacuations due to the second mass casualty event.

That evening, after we finished clearing our initial objectives and established our patrol base, I made a staggering radio update to my battalion commander. Of our initial 100-man element, I had 27 fewer people on the ground than I had that morning. There was a swell of emotions that came over me as I finished the report. Lying on a rooftop underneath my poncho, despite the preparation, I felt I had failed my men and my unit. I also thought about my roommates from my first unit, Jason Holbrook and Paul Pena, who both died in Kandahar in 2010. Ranger Team Leader Rob Sanchez, who ironically, died from a roadside bomb less than three miles from our infil site almost three years prior in 2009; I was also the ground force commander for that operation. The next day may have held a similar fate for me, but I knew quitting was not an option. I knew in a few hours I needed to lead my men again, and refused to let down Ben and Sam by not completing our mission. I resolved to be the stability my unit would require before, during, and after that operation, but I needed help. I couldnt carry this mantle alone. Life had knocked me down, and it was my faith that lifted me up.

Getting Kicked While Youre Down

In that moment, to seek both wisdom and strength, I called on God. Under that poncho, next to the radio, on a rooftop of a mud hut in southern Afghanistan, I bowed my head and prayed for God to intercede on my behalf and guide my company through the next day. I felt a sense of peace wash over me. I knew the following day wouldnt be easy, but at least I had the confidence and faith to know I wasnt alone. Soon after my time in prayer, I laid down on the dirt floor of the hut for a few hours to get some rest and woke up early the next morning trusting God would guide my steps and the path of my men through the days events. I realized then and every day since I was right where I needed to be. There were many times during that rotation where every step along a path was a literal leap of faith. I trusted God in the outcome, knowing he was with me. Psalm 23 took on a whole new meaning.

We diligently prepared for the operation, including proper planning, an understanding of the enemy situation, and conducted rehearsals. In the midst of suffering significant losses, I grew from the experience and led my men through a complex deployment. The Army trains us to operate in a high-risk profession, demanding us to be sharp, decisive thinkers. Had I shut down that day, the ones who would have suffered most were the men still on the ground.

Looking to the Greatest Leader

I try to carry this lesson with me every day. By giving my best effort in all I do and continuing my service in the Army, I believe I am honoring the men who paid the ultimate sacrifice. I also strive to be a living example and show others the significance and power of who God is, and why the word sacrifice is so meaningful to me. John 15:13 says, Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. That verse of Scripture carries heavy meaning for me. Many Soldiers copy that verse and attribute it to the loss of our fallen comrades. But it is not just because of the sacrifice Ive observed on the battlefield that the verse carries significance, it is because of the true meaning of the verse and sacrifice that happened on the Cross and the blood Jesus Christ shed for all of us.

At some point, life knocks all of us down. We fall prey to the enemy in many different ways, including sin, failure, depression, and even combat. But realizing God is with us, not only in our moments of happiness, but also in times of sorrow, stress, and what seems like overwhelming odds is what makes the difference. Trusting in Him is the comparative advantage I sought before stepping off on the mission and continued to seek even in times of horrible tragedy. An often-cited quote for prayer is, When life gives you more than you can stand, kneel. I can attest to that truth and hope we, as Christians, understand the necessity, power, and calm that faithful prayer can bring as a weapon we carry to face lifes greatest challenges. Rangers may lead the way, but God lights the path.

The views expressed on this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Army or DoD.

This article first appeared in The Havok Journal.

The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Airborne Incursions Offer Clear Evidence That Norad Needs an Upgrade: US Expert

The remnants of a large balloon drift above the Atlantic Ocean, just off the coast of South Carolina, with a fighter jet and its contrail seen below it on Feb. 4, 2023. (The Canadian Press/AP-Chad Fish)

Canada and the United States are eyeing the sky with suspicion these daysas well as the shared continental defence system thats supposed to be watching it for them.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command, or Norad, appeared to lose track of the mysterious object that was eventually shot down Sunday over Lake Huron.

Jamil Jaffer, executive director of the National Security Institute at George Mason University in Virginia, says thats just one example of why Norad needs an overhaul.

Jaffer says its unclear if the challenges posed by the recent flurry of overhead encounters represent a lack of capability, a lack of attention or a combination of both.

Three separate objects were blown out of the sky in as many days after what U.S. officials say was a Chinese surveillance balloon floated across the continent two weeks ago.

U.S. and Canadian recovery teams are battling difficult conditions to retrieve the debris from three locations: the frozen Arctic Ocean, a remote stretch of Yukon and the depths of the Great Lakes.

Military officials believe that the object downed over Lake Huron was first detected Saturday above southern Alberta before radar operators lost contact somewhere over Montana.

That alone, I think, bespeaks something of a collection, ingestion or analytic gapor all three, Jaffer said in an interview.

As a result, Norad modernization has to be in play, as do the overall collection and identification capabilities of the collective U.S. and Canadian defences.

Canada and the U.S. have been talking publicly aboutand working privately onupgrading Norad, which military commanders and lawmakers on both sides of the border have long acknowledged is a badly outdated system.

It was top of mind Friday in D.C., when Defence Minister Anita Anand and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met in person at the Pentagonthe same day U.S. fighter jets engaged a flying object off the north Alaska coast.

But neither Austin nor Anand have said much publicly about how those efforts are going, when they might be complete or whether a more modern Norad would be better equipped to detect unmanned, slow-moving, high-altitude interlopers.

The object shot down over Yukon appeared to be a small, metallic balloon with a tethered payload that ventured near sensitive sites in the U.S., CNN reported Monday based on a Pentagon memo sent to members of Congress.

That same memo said the Lake Huron object slowly descended into the water after it was shot down, the report said.

All of the evidence points to a new challenge that neither the U.S. nor Canada is adequately equipped to confront, Jaffer said.

Theres almost no question in my mind that were going to need to develop new capabilitiesand whether those capabilities are to deal with an old threat or a less modern threat or a more modern threat, its hard to know, he said.

Theres no doubt that we need to really do a retrospective and figure out whats going on here. But our systems arent orientedat least it appearstowards balloons, and potentially drones or whatever these other vehicles are.

A Canadian Coast Guard vessel was dispatched Monday to assist in the Lake Huron search, along with a drone team and RCMP investigators. Canadian Armed Forces personnel are also engaged in the search in Yukon, where weather conditions and difficult terrain are posing challenges.

The Royal Canadian Air Force has deployed a CC-130H Hercules, two CC-138 Twin Otters, a CH-148 Cyclone, and a CH-149 Cormorant aircraft to support efforts to recover the debris over what officials described as a 3,000-square-kilometre area.

It is unfortunately very rugged and mountainous terrain, said Sean McGillis, executive director of federal policing strategic management at the RCMP, which is leading the two searches.

The weather conditions are not great. Theres a very high level of snowpack in the region. So, our efforts are going to be difficult, they will be challenging, they will take us some time.

Norad commander U.S. Gen. Glen VanHerck confirmed late Sunday that part of the escalation for all of the sudden sightings is that Norada system originally designed to spot foreign aircraft and missileshas recalibrated to better detect smaller, slower-moving objects.

If you have radars on all the time that were looking at anything from zero speed up to, say, (160 kilometres per hour), you would see a lot more information, VanHerck said.

So, with some adjustments weve been able to get a better a categorization of radar tracks now. And thats why I think youre seeing these overall.
Alcon to Pay Johnson & Johnson $199 Million to Settle Eye-Laser Cases

The Johnson & Johnson logo on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York on May 29, 2019. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)

Alcon Vision LLC will pay Johnson & Johnsons J&J Surgical Vision Inc. $199 million to settle legal battles over intellectual property related to the companies laser eye-surgery devices, Alcon said in a press release on Sunday.

Alcon said the one-time payment would resolve various worldwide intellectual property disputes and that the companies had reached a cross-licensing agreement.

Representatives for Johnson & Johnson did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday on the settlement.

A copyright trial was set to begin this week in Delaware federal court over claims that Alcon stole software from J&Js iFS Laser system, used for LASIK vision correction and other surgeries, and utilized it in Alcons LenSx system to treat cataracts. A J&J expert had argued that the company was entitled to at least $3.1 billion in damages.

Both companies also accused each other of patent infringement in claims that had been put on hold by the Delaware court.

New Brunswick, New Jersey-based J&Js Catalys laser cataract surgery system competes with LenSx.

AMO Development LLC, which J&J acquired in 2017, sued Alcon in 2020 for allegedly stealing thousands of lines of its source code. It accused Alcon in a 2021 court filing of committing theft and deception on a grand and shocking scaleof the type usually found in paperback novels and Hollywood movies, not real-life disputes between publicly traded companies.

J&J said Alcon left smoking guns in its code that showed its theft, like typographical errors identical to those in J&Js code and comments dating from before LenSx development started.

U.S. District Judge Colm Connolly said during a 2021 hearing that there was overwhelming evidence that Alcon intentionally copied J&Js code.

Fort Worth, Texas-headquartered Alcon had denied the allegations.

The case is AMO Development LLC v. Alcon Vision LLC, U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, No. 1:20-cv-00842

By Blake Brittain
Nothing defines a society like the individuals we elevate, praise, and emulate. The pinnacle of a societys heritage consists of its pantheon of heroes, passed from parents to children for centuries, perhaps millennia, because it embodies the values of the culture. It lights a fire in the hearts of each successive generation to be something more, to stand for something, to be worthy of their ancestors achievements.

The Romans called it pietaspietya respectful and faithful attachment to gods, country, and relatives, especially parents.

A Roman Hero

Aeneas flees burning Troy, A.D. 1598, Federico Barocci. Galleria Borghese, Rome, Italy. (Public Domain)

The paragon of piety in the Roman tradition is the character of Aeneas from Virgils epic poem The Aeneid. Aeneas flees the blistering, burning city of Troy when its overrun by the Greeks and brings with him his father (literally carried on his shoulders) along with the lares and penates, the household gods, which in Roman religion included the hero-spirits of ones ancestors.

Part of this Roman piety showcased by Aeneas, then, is the preserving and honoring of those who have gone before. Aeneas, according to the legend, becomes the founder of Rome, but its unthinkable that he would leave the household gods, his heritage, behind him. He brings them with him all the way to Latium, where Rome will eventually be established.

Aeneas both preserves the heroes of the past and becomes a hero himself in that he lives out the Roman ideal of piety.

An American Hero

Heroes embody our principles and our vision for the future. This is one reason why literature and history are so important to a nations culture: They preserve and maintain a consensus of what a society values and aspires to.

Who today would the vast majority of Americans agree were true heroes? World War II American medic Cpl. Desmond Doss may be one. The Oscar-nominated 2016 film Hacksaw Ridge was based on the life of Doss and received 91 percent positive reviews from audiences, according to film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

A recipient of the Medal of Honor, Doss consistently shows up on lists of the greatest American World War II heroes. Clearly, many Americans regard him very highly. For those who dont already know his story, Ill briefly recap it here.

Desmond T. Doss, Medal of Honor recipient for his actions as a U.S. Army medic during World War II. (Public Domain)

Doss was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, in 1919. His parents were William Doss, a carpenter, and Bertha Doss, a homemaker and shoe factory worker. Doss was raised as a Seventh-day Adventist, and he firmly embraced this religion. He married Dorothy Schutte in 1942 and in the same year joined the U.S. Army, despite being offered a deferment.

He registered as a conscientious objector, however, since he didnt believe in using a gun or killing. He emphasized that he was really a conscientious cooperator, since he was willing to go on the battlefield, wear the uniform, and so on but not carry or use a weapon. He also requested a weekly pass to attend church every Saturday.

Dosss peculiar beliefs and his small frame made him an object of mockery and derision among his fellow soldiers. One even threatened, Doss, as soon as we get into combat, Ill make sure you wont come back alive.

The officers also persecuted him and tried to get rid of him. They eventually attempted to court-martial him for refusing the direct order to carry a gun. These efforts were unsuccessful, however, and Doss declined to leaveand declined to hold a grudge.

Hacksaw Ridge

The full extent of Dosss true mettle was revealed when he took part in the American attack on Okinawa in 1945. The Germans were surrendering at this time, but the Japanese fought on, trying to hold the island and its Maeda Escarpment in order to prevent an invasion of Japan itself. The soldiers referred to the Maeda Escarpment, a sheer rock face, as Hacksaw Ridge.

Dosss company secured the top of the ridge, but the Japanese launched a devastating counterattack. Officers ordered a retreat, and the Americans rushed back down the cliff. But not Doss.

Once again, Doss disobeyed an order for the sake of what he saw as a greater good. He remained behind, answering the calls for a medic from the many wounded men still on the battlefield (less than a third had made it back down the cliff).

Medic Desmond Doss on top of the Maeda Escarpment, May 4, 1945. U.S. Army. (Courtesy of the Desmond Doss Council)

Completely disregarding his own safety, amid the choking dust and smoke, shock waves of explosions, and the hiss of bullets, Doss ran from one comrade to the next, treating their wounds, dragging them to safety and lowering them down the cliff face. He even attempted to save some Japanese soldiers. In all, he rescued at least 75 men on that day, May 5, 1945.

The American troops captured the ridge and eventually all of Okinawa. Several days after his great act of heroism, Doss was wounded by a grenade and a snipers bullet. Still, he thought of others over himself: He insisted that his litter-bearers rescue a wounded comrade before they rescued him.

Doss survived the war, although he suffered from tuberculosis (likely as a result of the terrible conditions on the Pacific islands) for six years afterward and lived most of his life with only one lung. He died on March 23, 2006, aged 87.

American Values

So what universally admired aspects of the American character does Doss reveal to us? In the first place, courage. At our best, were a bold and brave people, who know what our goal is and aim straight for it, regardless of contradictions or obstacles (even sheer cliff faces).

This trait grows, in part, out of our individualism. Individualism is a double-edged sword, but we see in Doss something of its best form: a quiet independence and rock-solid adherence to his principles and conscience. He knew when to disobey a lower law or expectation for the sake of something higher.

Finally, Doss demonstrated the remarkable compassion and self-sacrifice valued by Americans. Care for the downtrodden, the sick, and the wounded, when rightly directed, is among the best of traits of our culture. Doss gave an example of this kind of care, a care that doesnt hesitate to suffer on a personal levelpain or even deathfor ones fellow citizens.
Arkansas Empowering Minors to File Malpractice Lawsuits Against Gender Transition Practitioners

The bill can hold health professionals promoting such practices accountable in the state

A law proposed in Arkansas seeks to allow minors or their representatives to file a civil action lawsuit against healthcare professionals who performed gender transition procedures on them.

Senate Bill 199, sponsored by Republican Senator Gary Stubblefield, received endorsement from a Senate panel on Monday. A healthcare professional who performs a gender transition procedure on a minor is liable to the minor if the minor is injured, including without limitation any physical, psychological, emotional, or physiological injury, by the gender transition procedure, related treatment, or the after effects of the gender transition procedure or related treatment, SB199 (pdf) states.

A minor injured as a result of the gender transition procedure or a parent or legal guardian of the injured minor can bring a civil action against the healthcare professional who performed the procedure for compensatory damages, punitive damages, declaratory or injunctive relief, and attorneys fees and costs.

The civil action has to be filed within 30 years after the minor turns 18 years old. In case the individual dies before the age of 18, the civil action has to be filed within 30 years of when the minor would have turned 18. At present, most medical malpractice cases in the state only have a two-year statute of limitations.

Gender Altering Drugs, Safe Harbor Laws

SB199 defined gender transition procedure as including any medical or surgical device, physician services, or prescribed drugs that seeks to alter or remove physical or anatomical characteristics or features that are typical for the individuals biological sex.

The definition also applies to instilling or creating physiological or anatomical characteristics on an individuals body that resemble a different biological sex. The bill specifically mentions puberty-blocking drugs and cross-sex hormones.

Medical authorities in Sweden, Finland, and the United Kingdom have since recommended psychotherapy as the first line of treatment for youth gender dysphoria, with drugs and surgeries reserved as a measure of last resort. Medical authorities in France have advised great caution when prescribing hormones for gender dysphoria, the bill states.

SB199 cites cross-sex hormone use in males as being associated with numerous health risks, like thromboembolic disease that can lead to blood clots, coronary artery disease that can trigger heart attacks, blood cancer, and irreversible infertility. In females, the use of cross-sex hormones can cause severe liver dysfunction, coronary artery disease, and increased risk of breast cancer, it said.

SB199 includes safe harbor provisions that protect healthcare professionals who conduct gender transition procedure for valid reasons.

For this, healthcare professionals have to document a minors perceived gender or sex for two continuous years.

If the minor suffered from mental health concerns, at least two healthcare professionals, including a mental health professional, must certify in writing that a gender transition procedure was the only way to treat the issue.

There have been several cases of minors who have experienced medical complications as a result of gender transitioning.

At the age of 12, Chloe Cole, a biological female, told her parents that she wanted to transition to a boy. She started with puberty blockers, then moved on to cross-sex hormones, and eventually had a double mastectomy.

Six years later, Cole now regrets her decision. She began detransitioning and has seen her menstrual cycle return. But things are still tough.

I had gotten some urinary tract issues from taking testosterone after about a year, Cole said in an interview with The Epoch Times. And by going off of it, and it got worse about tenfold, and I very quickly dropped weight, I lost my appetite and in a matter of only about two months, I dropped about 25 pounds give or take.

Im not quite sure about you know, my fertility status, whether Ill be able to conceive a child or even safely carry. Theres just theres a lot of unknowns and Im still experiencing complications.

Protecting Minors From Gender Agenda

Arkansas has pushed multiple laws to protect minors from gender ideologies. The Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act of 2021 sought to ban physicians from offering gender transition treatments like puberty blockers, hormones, and surgeries to individuals below the age of 18 years.

SAFE Act became law in Arkansas in May 2021. However, a U.S. District judge blocked the law from getting enforced in July 2021. The matter is awaiting a ruling following a trial last year.

In January, the Arkansas Senate voted to approve legislation that would classify drag performances as adult-oriented business, effectively banning its exposure to minors. However, legislators had to later amend the bill to enable it to hold up in court, removing the word drag.

In a Jan. 31 video, former President Donald Trump vowed to sign a string of executive orders if he is elected in 2024 to target gender-affirming health care to prevent the chemical, physical, and emotional mutilation of our youth.
Australias Ambitious Foreign Policy Agenda Looks to Push Engagement With Africa

Amid East Africa's worst drought in 40 years, which has put millions of people and wildlife on the brink of starvation, an orphaned elephant calf receives care at the Reteti Elephant Sanctuary in Samburu, Kenya, on Oct. 12, 2022. (LUIS TATO/AFP via Getty Images)

Australia is seeking to engage more with Africa, with the Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Tim Watts telling African-Australian community leaders that the current Labor government has set an agenda to develop more ties with African countries.

Speaking at the Dr Apollo Nsubuga-Kyobe Memorial Lecture at La Trobe University in Melbourne on Feb. 11, Watts said that while the Indo-Pacific is a vital part of Australias foreign policy remit, Labor is also seeking to expand Australias global engagement and is looking towards Africa.

We live in an uncertain world. One that we cant take for granted, Watts said. We dont want to just watch events pass us bywe want to shape, and we want to influence.

Watts noted that while Australia is not a global superpower, it does have global interests and that the Albanese government will be pursuing that global agenda with new resources and new energy.

Australia and Africa have a lot in commonnot least our shared interest in a peaceful and prosperous world, Watts said. Economically, culturally, and politically, Africas influence is only growing.

African voices are increasingly resonating through forums like the Commonwealth, the G20, and the UN on issues from UN Security Council reform to counter-terrorism to sustainable development. There are huge opportunities for Australia to work with African countries on these consequential matters.

Addressing Climatic Changes and Humanitarian Aid Key to African Engagement

Part of the federal governments push to increase African-Australian ties will be providing increasing climate assistance and humanitarian aid.

Young Africanslike young Australiansare deeply concerned about climate change, more so than any other generation, Watts said. Theyve grown up with the devastating impacts of climate change: fires, floods, extreme temperatures.

A strong national record on taking climate change seriously is the price of admission for being taken seriously by this generation in Africa and around the world.

Watts said that the Australian government also takes climate change seriously and highlighted Australias development of an earth observation platform, Digital Earth Africa, which will allow decision-makers in Africafrom farmers to government officialsto use the platform to monitor the impacts of climate change for crop mapping, urban planning, water conservation and disaster management.

He noted that the Australian government is concerned about how climatic changes are exacerbating global food insecurity.

Wheat grain on the MV Brave Commander vessel from Yuzhny Port in Ukraine to the drought-stricken Horn of Africa as it docks at port of Djibouti in Djibouti on Aug. 30, 2022. (Hugh Rutherford/World Food Programme/Handout via Reuters)

To assist in this regard, Watts said the Albanese government would be providing a further $15 million (US$10.3 million) to help provide food, water, and other essential support in the Horn of Africa, which will be delivered through Australian and local NGOs, the International Committee of the Red Cross and UN partners.

The extra funds are part of a $25 million package of emergency assistance announced on Feb. 11 that provides $5 million to Yemen and another $5 million to Pakistan.

Australia has provided $232 million to the World Food Programme since 202122. This is in addition to the federal government providing financial and technical assistance to countries in the Pacific to help make their food and agricultural systems more resilient.

Labor Seeks to Expand Australias Global Power and Influence

Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong has previously signalled that under her watch, Australia would expand its regional and global power and influence to become a reliable regional partner for allies like the U.S.

Now, and for the foreseeable future, we face the theme of great power competition in different variations, Wong said in November 2022.

If Australia can be effective in our diplomacy, especially in multilateral and mini-lateral groupings, we will have more chance of upholding the international order, maintaining our independence, exercising our agency, and achieving the equilibrium that is the basis of sustainable peace and prosperity.

She also noted that Australia could leverage its unique national power, which included our multicultural society, which meant Australia was able to look out to the world and see ourselves reflected in it.

This is an assetan element of our national powerthat few countries can match, she said.
Backlash Grows Against 15-Minute Cities Amid Fears of Curtailed Movement

The concept of 15-minute cities is advancing in Canada, as is a backlash from those who regard it as a threat to freedom.

The framework, pioneered in 2015 at the Paris COP21 climate summit by the French-Colombian professor Carlos Moreno, calls for areas where a 15-minute bike ride or walk would connect residents to everything they would need. Urbanist Dan Luscher promotes the idea on 15minutecity.com but acknowledges its inherent curtailment of free travel and free markets.

We must define and quantify who has access to what and where. It is a big data exercise, Luscher wrote in his initial blog post on June 16, 2020.

Its important to work with market forces where possible, rather than fighting against them, while always recognizing that market forces will provide too little of many of the things that make cities great.

A pilot project in Oxford, England, has become the poster child for the idea. Oxford introduced three low-traffic districts in 2022 and will implement another six in 2024 to blanket the city, with the goal of targeting unnecessary journeys by cars. The use of traffic filters will also begin in 2024, which involve cameras that monitor vehicles driving through roads with time restrictions and facilitate the charging of fines for violations.

If a vehicle passes through the filter at certain times of the day, the camera will read the number plate and (if you do not have an exemption or a residents permit) you will receive a fine in the post, said an Oxford city and county council joint statement last December.

The 35 fine (C$57) doubles after two weeks if left unpaid. Exemptions will be granted to public transit, police, businesses, and emergency services.

Edmonton: Small Towns in Our Big City

The City of Edmonton is in Phase 4 of implementing the 15-minute city approach for 15 districts, covering the entire city, and expects to finalize its plans during Phase 5, from July 2023 to January 2024.

The plans will describe how the City is supporting more housing, businesses, amenities and transportation options in each district so that more of a persons everyday needs are a 15-minute walk, roll, transit trip or bike ride from their front door, the citys communications coordinator Kali Broda told The Epoch Times by email.

The City of Edmontons District Planning project will not restrict movement of people in any way, Broda added.

Edmonton resident Alexa Posa, founder of citizens group YEG United, organized a protest against the scheme. On Feb. 10, more than 100 people gathered on Whyte Avenue to voice concerns and raise awareness.

Alexa Posa of YEG United speaks at a protest against 15-minute cities on Whyte Avenue in Edmonton on Feb. 10, 2023. (Courtesy of Alexa Posa)

If its just about efficiency and they want to bring amenities closer, by all means, Im for that, but thats not what I think the city is going to do, Posa said in an interview.

When I saw what was happening in Oxford, I knew that that was probably going to end up happening in Edmonton.

Posa says she believes that if Oxford succeeds in implementing its mechanism for 100 annual passes, they could later reduce them.

Its going to be easy for them to start it at 100, and it will be pretty simple for them to turn it down to 50 and 20, and then 10. And then who knows, they might not even have any at all, she said.

Its easier to control us when were split up into these little districts, kind of similar to the COVID lockdowns.

Posa started YEG United after vaccine mandates were introduced. She says the precedent of broken promises during the pandemic give her reason to doubt the citys assurances that Oxford-style traffic curtailments wont come to her city.

Its really hard for me right now to believe what the City of Edmonton is going to tell us and what our politicians are telling us.

Douglas Farrow, an ethics professor at Montreals McGill University, believes scenarios of regulation and control are entirely possible as a result of creating 15-minute cities.

I dont know that the talk about dystopia is just fringe now. Perhaps a good many people realize that the ceding of controls over their movements is a move of submission to totalitarianism. Im not quite sure how else one would read it, he told The Epoch Times.

Farrow suggested the urban concept doesnt make sense for minimizing an environmental impact because the stores and amenities would have to be made present in every district.

Youre going to have to reduplicate everything for each community or deprive some communities of those things, he said.

Its not viable from an economic standpoint. Its not viable from an environmental standpoint, in spite of that being the justification given. What it is viable for is political tyranny, and thats why people are objecting to it. We are not children, and we are not dogs, and we will not be penned in our own communities.

Widespread Adoption, Growing Backlash

For better or worse, the 15-minute city has become the north star for many Canadian urban centres.

In the summer of 2020, Montreal added about 300 more kilometres of temporary bike and walking paths to increase accessibility for non-motorists. Ottawa adopted the 15-minute city concept in 2019 as part of its 25-year plan. A team of Toronto designers recently won a World Architecture Festival award for its 15-minute concept for the Downsview neighbourhood. And Vancouvers Climate Emergency Action Plan 2020-2025 aims to have 90 percent of residents living within an easy walk or roll of their daily needs by 2030.

The widespread adoption of the concept juxtaposed with the specifics of the Oxford experiment have also drawn a fast-burgeoning backlash. Three Canadians lead the Rejecting the 15 Minute City Facebook group, which has grown to around 11,000 members since its recent Feb. 2 launch.

In a post to the group, The Epoch Times asked members what they believe the 15-minute city entails and why they were opposed. Over 260 comments followed, including from admin Branden Witteveen.

Thats a hard question to answer. Lets begin with the end in mind, Witteveen wrote.

Picture a world where you literally own nothing, cameras are everywhere, and youre forced to be happy or you lose social credit points. A world where there is no more [independence], privacy, or free will without consequences. A world where  cars are banned, personal belongings dont exist, freedom of speech, expression, and travel is almost not allowed and everything is service based, he noted.

The jobs you once had no longer exist due to high carbon use and buildings will be deemed ungreen and shut down. Replaced with green jobs  with rewards, incentives, leaderboards, levels and badges to captivate the people so they enjoy being a slave to the system.  5 years? 10 years? 30 years? What a brutal world that would be.

Dystopian characterizations of the 15-minute city have prompted a reaction from its proponents. In a Feb. 9 tweet, Luscher said multiplying conspiracy theories  have mischaracterized the #15minutecity as an instrument of totalitarianism. The tweet cited a Feb. 8 Forbes article where Moreno, a professor at Pantheon-Sorbonne in France, called some opponents insane.

As the UN-Habitat, the World Economic Forum, the C40 Global Cities Climate Network, and the Federation of United Local Governments, among others, have supported the [15-minute-city] concept, it feeds their fantasies that I am involved in the invisible leadership of the world, Moreno told Forbes.

On Feb. 7, the city council of Southend, UK, bucked the trend and rejected the restrictions Oxford implemented.

Farrow believes the concept calls for people to take sides.

If you want to be penned in a 15-minute city and totally dependent on those who will decide what you can and cant do, where you can and cant go, and what they will and wont bring to you and to your community, get behind this, he said.

But if you dont like that sort of thing and you believe in human freedom, get out in front of it and stop it.
The Charlottesville Economic Development Authority is scheduled to hold a meeting on Tuesday.

The authority plans to discuss an economic impact study on the Ting Pavilion performance venue, the lease at the S&P Global building and updates on the citys Economic Development Strategic Plan.

Tuesdays meeting is slated to begin at 4 p.m. in City Council chambers at City Hall in downtown Charlottesville.

The Charlottesville Economic Development Authority is a seven-member body that meets monthly to promote business development in the city.

The group has the authority to raise bonds in order to support projects approved by City Council.
Banks Calls on Buttigieg to Correct Merchant Marine Academys Coverup of Jesus Painting

A sign at the entrance to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, N.Y., welcomes visitors, on Sept. 13, 2016. (Frank Eltman/AP Photo)

Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) is calling on Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to act after a historic painting of Jesus on the U.S. Merchant Marine Academys (USMMA) campus was covered up.

The 1944 painting, entitled Christ on the Water, depicts Jesus standing on the ocean with his arms outstretched as merchant mariners drift in a lifeboat nearby, presumably after being torpedoed during World War II.

Created by U.S. Maritime Services Lt. Hunter Wood, the piece had hung uncovered at the academys Wiley Hall since 1947 until a curtain was draped over it last month in response to a complaint from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), a nonprofit advocacy group.

Banks, in a Feb. 13 letter obtained by Fox News, expressed great concern over the academys decision and urged Buttigieg to immediately correct the situation.

In 2019, the Supreme Court ruled that historic displays with religious symbolism are not a violation of the Constitution, Banks wrote.

In this case, the justices defended the preservation of a large cross monument because it was erected nearly a century ago as a memorial to soldiers lost in World War Ivery similar to Woods painting.

The congressman, who recently announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate, further noted that more than 4,000 midshipmen, academy alumni, and local community members had signed a petition to remove the curtain covering the painting and place a plaque alongside it detailing its historic significance.

I support their request and believe there is ample evidence that previously established legal precedent negates the constitutional concerns of an anti-Christian activist who is so extreme that he has described the Wreaths Across America program as the annual government-sanctioned desecration of non-Christian veterans, Banks added, referring to MRFF Founder and president Mikey Weinstein.

Prior to the paintings coverup, Weinstein had argued that the artworks presence in Wiley Hall, the USMMA chief administrative building, was in direct violation of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and suggested that it be moved to the Mariners Memorial Chapel instead.

Do you all understand how wrong this is? Weinstein said in a statement. To have this in that position, in that time, place, and manner, showing the supremacy, the domination, the exclusivity, the exceptionalism, the triumphalism of Jesus in the face of our 17 clients there  its a total affront to the Constitution.

Notably, Wiley Hall served as the academys interfaith chapel from 1942 until 1961. Prior to its 1947 transfer to the building, Christ on the Water hung in the chapel at the USMMA Basic School in San Mateo, California.

The Epoch Times has reached out to the USMMA for comment.
Beijings Online Study Ban Has Not Brought Expected Chinese Students Visas Boom to Australia

Australias Home Affairs Department has confirmed there has been no significant increase in the number of visas issued to Chinese students despite the Chinese regimes recent ban on online learning, forcing students to return to foreign universities around the world.

During a Senate hearing on Feb. 13, the Home Affairs Department confirmed that it had issued visas to over 40,000 Chinese students to allow them to return to Australian universities to study.

The department said there was a slight rise in daily visa application rates since the Chinese regime announced the ban in late January. Still, it noted the situation was not of concern nor required priority.

Were continuing to look closely for a surge, but one isnt apparent at this time, senior immigration official Michael Willard told the Senate estimate committee on the night of Feb. 13.

At the same time, Willard said the education department was discussing the original online learning ban order and subsequent announcements with the Chinese authorities.

The Home Affairs Departments remark comes as Australia has seen a substantial drop in overseas Chinese students coming to the country compared to the pre-COVID-19 period.

According to government data, there were 78,234 Chinese student visa holders in Australia in September 2022, down 53 percent from 165,149 visa holders in September 2019.

Chinese Regimes Online Learning Ban

On Jan. 28, the Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchange, a national institution affiliated with Chinas Education Ministry, announced that from the first semester of 2023, the centre would no longer recognise overseas diploma certificates obtained through remote study.

The announcement effectively reverses the centres previous policy, which allowed Chinese students enrolling at foreign universities to study online during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The centre said the new policy was made to protect the interests of students who receive overseas education and maintain the fairness of education.

A general view of the University of Technology Sydney campus in Sydney, Australia, on April 6, 2016. (Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

However, the abrupt decision has put tens of thousands of Chinese students and their families off guard, forcing them to scramble back to Australia as the first semester of 2023 would start in a few weeks.

While the Australian education sector believed the change would bring about significant economic benefits for local education providers, it expressed concerns that the new policy would put overseas Chinese students in a difficult situation.

We are concerned at the bluntness of this decision, and we will seek urgent advice and clarification from the Chinese Embassy on what special circumstance provisions are available, said Vicki Thomson, chief executive of The Group of Eight universities.

Final year students who stuck with us throughout the COVID years may now need to return urgently, secure accommodation, and obtain a visa within a few weeksan almost impossible task.

Meanwhile, Chinese students have taken to the internet to vent their frustration as they have to deal with many issues in the aftermath of the regulation, from visa applications to skyrocketing flight tickets and severe housing shortages in major Australian cities.

Chinese Students Return Exacerbates Rental Crisis in Australia

As more and more Chinese return to Australia, rental markets across the country are under increasing pressure to meet their demand for housing, deepening the crisis facing many Australians.

According to the property marketplace website Domain, the national rental vacancy rate fell to a record low of 0.8 percent in January, with the level in Sydney and Melbourne, the two major destinations for international students, dropping to one percent.

In terms of prices, real estate data provider CoreLogic reported that rent jumped by 10.2 percent on average across the country in the 12 months to Dec. 31, 2022, with Sydney and Melbourne recording a growth of 11.4 percent and 9.6 percent, respectively.

People study at the University of Technology Sydney campus in Sydney, Australia, on April 6, 2016. (Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

Property experts have warned that the return of 40,000 Chinese students will worsen the national rental situation, which is already stretched.

Unfortunately, specialist student accommodation is already tightthere are zero vacancies in some cities such as Brisbane, while other centres are filling up fast, said Torie Brown, an executive director in charge of student accommodation at the Property Council of Australia.

We are talking about 40,000 students coming back into the market. And that is just students from China. We also have students returning from all over the world, Brown said, reported The Herald Sun.

Building more student accommodation is one way to alleviate pressure from overseas students housing demand.

However, the executive said there was not much development due to a lack of local investment in student housing and a stand-off among investors in the residential rental market.

We cant get local investors into student accommodation. The big super funds do not go near it though they are willing to enter this area in other markets such as the UK and Canada, Brown said.

In our market, the money is almost entirely from offshore investors.

Cindy Zhan contributed to this article.
Biden Admin to Brief Former Trump Adviser on Prior Spy Balloons This Week

Former National Security Adviser John Bolton speaks at a panel hosted by the National Council of Resistance of Iran  U.S. Representative Office (NCRI-US) at the Willard InterContinental Hotel in Washington on Aug. 17, 2022. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

John Bolton, who served as national security adviser during the Trump administration, said on Monday that he will be briefed by Biden administration officials during a scheduled meeting on Feb. 15 about Chinese spy balloon incursions that happened during the Trump administration.

During an appearance on Meet the Press NOW on Feb. 13, Bolton said hes looking forward to the briefing, noting that he has even more questions now than when senior officials revealed last week that new intelligence found China had been conducting surveillance across the United States for several years.

Bolton also said that he was not informed who will lead the meeting and if he would be the only former Trump official who has been invited to the briefing.

It will be exciting to find out, the longtime diplomat who previously worked in the Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush administrations said.

Bolton is the first official who worked under former President Donald Trump to confirm publicly that hes receiving a briefing on three Chinese spy balloons that reportedly entered U.S. airspace during Trumps tenure. Bolton was asked on the show to issue an update on the matter after attending the Feb. 15 briefing.

At a press briefing on Feb. 6, John Kirby, coordinator of the National Security Council, confirmed that similar balloons like the one shot down on Feb. 4 near the South Carolina coast have transited U.S. airspace at least three times during the Trump administration and once at the beginning of the Biden administration.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said improved surveillance capabilities allowed the United States to identify the Chinese spy balloon that traversed the country in early February and officials then detected similar balloon incidents that occurred during the Trump years.

Bolton, meanwhile, denounced the Biden administrations response during the Feb. 13 interview, explaining that he senses confusion, disarray, and disorder coming from the current administration.

It was as big as three buses. It was 200 feet tall. Could we say with certainty it didnt carry a nuclear device, could we say with certainty it didnt have biological pathogens and toxins? We didnt really know, but it sailed all the way across the country. I think that was a huge mistake, Bolton said.

Responding to President Joe Bidens order to allow the balloon to remain in the air for days, which was at the recommendation of top military officials who suggested that downing the high-altitude balloon could cause potential harm to civilians on the ground, Bolton said the safety of innocent civilians certainly has to be considered, but he believes a lot of things could have been done to bring the balloon down safely.

There are large spaces in the United Statesparticularly in Alaska and Montanathat are sparsely populated. With aggressive efforts using the national guard, local law enforcement, a lot of things couldve been done to bring it down on land, Bolton said.

Not necessarily by firing a side-lined missile, he continued. There could have been other ways to bring it down more slowly, I cant believe we dont have the technology to do that, and if we dont, now is the time to develop that.

Recovery Efforts

On Monday, the U.S. Northern Command confirmed that key electronics have been recovered from the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon, including sensors that are believed to have been used for intelligence gathering.

Crews have been able to recover significant debris from the site, including all of the priority sensor and electronics pieces identified as well as large sections of the structure, the U.S. Northern Command said in a statement.

In addition to the Feb. 4 shootdown of the Chinese spy balloon, the United States shot down three more objects, which have not been clearly identified, in Canadian and U.S. airspace.

Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand said on Monday that the countrys Royal Air Force deployed multiple aircraft to search for debris from the object that was shot down on Feb. 11 over the Yukon Territory.

A CC-130H Hercules, two CC-138 Twin Otters, a CH-148 Cyclone, and a CH-149 Cormorant aircraft were deployed by the Royal Canadian Air Force to help recover the debris, Anand said on Twitter.

Additional support is being provided from units forward deployed to Whitehorse, and Dawson City, Yukon Territory, she said. The debris is located in a remote location northeast of Dawson City, in complex alpine terrain that is prone to challenging northern weather conditions.

From NTD News
Buttigieg Breaks Silence on Ohio Train Derailment After Backlash

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg gives a live interview to the news media outside of the White House in Washington, on Oct. 13, 2021. (Leah Millis/Reuters)

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has broken his silence on the disastrous derailment of a train in Ohio that released a toxic chemical, sparking health concerns.

The fiery crash in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 3 involved about 50 cars, with some carrying hazardous materials, including the highly flammable chemical vinyl chloride.

The dangerous toxin was released into the air from five of the derailed cars before crews ignited it to get rid of the highly flammable chemical in a controlled fashion.

Area residents were evacuated because of the health risks from the fumes, though they have since been allowed back to their homes.

So far, there have been reports from local residents of animals dying off, including fish, chickens, and livestock.

Few federal officials have made public statements regarding the derailment and the toxic fire, and Buttigieg did not reference the incident during a Feb. 13 appearance at the National Association of Counties Legislative Conference in Washington.

Actively Engaged

During the on-stage discussion, Buttigieg touched on topics like racial disparity and mentioned the safety risks of balloons, drawing laughs from the audience. But his avoidance of the topic of the derailment and the toxic chemical release didnt go over well on social media, where critics complained that he seemed to be dodging the subject.

Buttigieg broke his silence following the criticism, posting on Twitter a series of statements.

I continue to be concerned about the impacts of the Feb 3 train derailment near East Palestine, OH, and the effects on families in the ten days since their lives were upended through no fault of their own, he said in a post on Twitter.

The continuing cleanup of portions of a Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed Friday night in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 9, 2023. (Gene J. Puskar/AP Photo)

He made reference to an investigation into the accident being conducted by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), noting that the Department of Transportation (DOT) was assisting with the probe.

Our Federal Rail Administration and Pipelines and Hazardous Materials teams were onsite within hours of the initial incident and continue to be actively engaged, he said.

We will look to these investigation results & based on them, use all relevant authorities to ensure accountability and continue to support safety, Buttigieg continued.

He said that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had screened 291 homes for both indoor and outdoor air quality and that there were no detections of dangerous chemicals. Another 181 homes remain to be checked, he added.

In a Feb. 13 update, EPA said that community air monitoring in East Palestine was running 24 hours a day and that, so far, the network of monitoring stations did not detect anything above the action level.

A day prior, EPA said that the duration of community air monitoring would eventually be phased out in consultation with local authorities.

Air monitoring since the fire went out has not detected any levels of concern in the community that can be attributed to the incident at this time, the EPAs Feb. 12 statement reads.

Residents may still smell odors from the site. If you experience symptoms, Columbiana County Health Department recommends calling your medical provider.

The incident marked the third train derailment in Ohio since October 2022.

The cleanup of portions of a Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed on Feb. 3, in East Palestine, Ohio, continues on Feb. 9, 2023. (Gene J. Puskar/AP Photo)

Grave Danger of Death

On Feb. 6, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro ordered the evacuation of a 2-mile by 1-mile zone spanning the state line due to the presence of vinyl chloride.

A statement from DeWine cited the presence of the toxic chemical in five boxcars, announcing that the possibility of a devastating explosion would be mitigated through a controlled release later that day.

The statement said that residents who stayed near the controlled release risked grave danger of death.

After the vinyl chloride release, DeWine and other officials said on Feb. 8 that residents near the incident could return to their homes.

Residents of nearby communities have reported that animals on their properties have been sickened or even died, raising concerns about the risk to livestock and humans.

Get The Hell Out Of There

Erin Brockovich, the consumer advocate made famous by the eponymous movie, took to Twitter to say that shes trying to gather more information about the incident, while urging area residents to trust their senses and act accordingly if they experience anything worrying.

Im trying to gather information on this very serious situation in Ohio involving a train derailment with hazardous chemicals, Brockovich wrote on Twitter over the weekend. What I will say is this. Trust your eyes, ears and nose and get the hell out of there if your senses are telling you too [sic].

On Monday afternoon, Brockovichwho was the subject of the 2000 Academy Award-winning film Erin Brockovichcalled on the federal government to be more transparent.

The Biden administration needs to get more involved in this #PalestineOhio train derailment now. We are counting on you to break the chain of administration after administration to turn a blind eye. STEP UP NOW, she wrote.

Consumer advocate Erin Brockovich addresses a rally against the federal governments support for what they say is a known polluter on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on April 23, 2014. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, a West Virginia water utility has enhanced its water treatment process as a precaution following the derailment.

West Virginia American Water said Sunday that there hasnt been any change in raw water at its Ohio River intake.

The health and safety of our customers is a priority, and there are currently no drinking water advisories in place for customers, the company said in a statement.

It added that it is planning to install a secondary intake on the Guyandotte River in case theres a need to switch to an alternate water source.

Jack Phillips and Nathan Worcester contributed to this report.
Canada Deploys Air Force to Search for Downed Objects Debris in Complex Alpine Terrain

Canadas Royal Air Force has deployed multiple aircraft to search for debris from an object that was shot down over the Yukon Territory on Feb. 11, Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand has said.

A CC-130H Hercules, two CC-138 Twin Otters, a CH-148 Cyclone, and a CH-149 Cormorant aircraft were deployed by the Royal Canadian Air Force to help recover the debris, Anand said on Twitter on Monday.

Additional support is being provided from units forward deployed to Whitehorse, and Dawson City, Yukon Territory, she said. The debris is located in a remote location northeast of Dawson City, in complex alpine terrain that is prone to challenging northern weather conditions.

Dawson city is a small town about 40 miles east of Canadas border with Alaska.

Anand told CNN earlier in the day that the object was cylindrical and smaller than the object shot down over the United States East Coast the day before, citing visuals she and other officials have seen.

But it would be imprudent for me to speculate at this time until we gather the debris and until we do the analysis. The FBI is involved in that analysis as is the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) here in Canada, the minister added.

The Defense Minister also told the publication that debris from the object is in a very remote part of Canada with rugged terrain.

Anand declined to say if the object was connected to China, citing the need for further analysis.

Search for Remaining Objects

The downed object over the Yukon, one of three territories in Canadas north, marked the third such incident in which U.S. fighter jets shot an object out of the sky in recent weeks, after initially downing a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4.

On Feb. 10, another unidentified object was shot down over northeastern Alaska, then on Feb. 12, an octagonal object was shot down over Lake Huron.

Officials have not yet stated whether the four incidents are all related, citing the need to conduct further analysis. Meanwhile, efforts are underway for the three objects that have get to recovered.

U.S. Gen. Glen VanHerck, Commander of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command, told reporters on Feb. 12 that the military was still actively searching for the object shot down over Alaska.

Ive got an Navy P-8, which is surveilling there and with helicopters as well. Once we locate that object, well put an arctic security package in there and begin the analysis to recovery. But we dont have it right now.

The third object over the Yukon was shot down by a U.S. F-22 Raptor using an AIM 9X missile on Feb. 11 following communication between U.S. President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Following a call between the Prime Minister of Canada and the President of the United States, President Biden authorized U.S. fighter aircraft assigned to North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) to work with Canada to take down a high-altitude airborne object over northern Canada today, Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said.

The object was first detected by NORAD over Alaska late Feb. 10, according to Ryder, and two F-22 aircraft from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska monitored the object as it flew over U.S. airspace, assisted by the Alaska Air National Guard refueling aircraft.

The two teams tracked the object closely and took time to characterize the nature of the object, according to the statement. Monitoring continued through Feb. 11 as the unidentified object crossed into Canadian airspace, with Canadian CF-18 and CP-140 aircraft joining in the operation to further assess the object.

Sensors Recovered from Spy Balloon

On Monday, the U.S. Northern Command said that key electronics have been recovered from the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon, including sensors that are believed to have been used for intelligence gathering.

Crews have been able to recover significant debris from the site, including all of the priority sensor and electronics pieces identified as well as large sections of the structure, the U.S. Northern Command said in a statement.

No further details were provided.
Canada Is Vulnerable, Tory MP Says After Chinese Balloon Incursion and Interference Attempts

Conservative MP Michael Chong rises during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on March 26, 2021. (The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick)

Conservative MP and foreign affairs critic Michael Chong is calling for immediate action from the federal government to counter both attempts of foreign political interference and physical incursions into Canadas air space.

Canada is vulnerable [because] this government has failed to: counter foreign interference, stop funding Beijings military research, upgrade NORADs early warning system, and acquire modern fighter aircraft, Chong wrote in a Twitter post on Feb. 14.

Does the government understand how vulnerable we are?

Chong also said in the House of Commons on Feb. 13 that recent violations of Canadian air space should serve as a wake-up call to the federal government.

Over the last eight years, the government has had ample warning from our intelligence agencies and our military, and despite these warnings, Canada is vulnerable, Chong said.

A high-altitude Chinese surveillance balloon was shot down by the U.S. military off the coast of the Carolinas on Feb. 4 after floating over North America from west to east, including through Canada, for a number of days.

The incident was followed by three more unidentified flying objects being shot down in Canadian and American air space between Feb. 10 and Feb. 12, with one coming down over northeastern Alaska, another in the Yukon, and the third in Lake Huron.

Officials are yet to state whether or not the three incidents are related to the initial Chinese spy balloon.

NORAD

Chong reiterated in the House on Feb. 13 that the Liberal government should upgrade NORADs early warning system and acquire modern fighter jets, both of which have been targeted in federal spending announcements over the past year.

Defence Minister Anita Anand said in June 2020 that the federal government would be investing nearly $5 billion over the next six years to bring North Americas aging defence systems up to date.

Anand also said the funding would be part of a larger investment plan in which Ottawa plans to commit up to $40 billion over the next 20 years to upgrade NORAD.

Anand also announced in early January of this year that the federal government will be spending $19 billion over the next nine years to replace its fleet of outdated CF-18 Hornets with 88 F-35 fighter jets.

The first 16 jets will arrive by 2028, but Canada will not receive the full fleet until 2032.

Noe Chartier, Katabella Roberts, and Isaac Teo contributed to this report.
Canadas Heritage Ministry Testifies on Anti-Racism Funds Given to Racist Contractor

Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez rises during question period in the House of Commons in Ottawa on Feb. 4, 2022. (The Canadian Press/ Patrick Doyle)

The Canadian Heritage Ministry will change its contractor vetting process, it said at an inquiry Monday, after it had to cancel a contract with an organization accused of antisemitism. The contract was under the purview of the ministrys anti-racism initiatives.

The inquiry found that other government departments had awarded multiple contracts to the same organization and that the heritage ministry has had to call in a third-party collection agency to try to get back funds already paid out for the contract.

Stronger Vetting

The strengthened vetting approach will involve not only a Google search of an organization applying for a contract, as before, but also of its members.

The cancelled contract being investigated was with the Community Media Advocacy Centre (CMAC). A senior consultant for CMAC named Laith Marouf made a number of comments Liberal MP Anthony Housefather described during the inquiry as racist.

Housefather said that the top theme on Maroufs Twitter feed was, Have motto: Life is too short for shoes with laces or for entertaining Jewish white supremacists with anything but a bullet to the head.

Another of Maroufs tweets called Jewish people bags of human feces.

Associate deputy minister of Canadian Heritage, Mala Khanna, represented the ministry at the inquiry. She said The hateful comments made by Mr. Marouf were shocking and profoundly disturbing to us.

She said the broader scope of researching contract applicants will include looking at the social media accounts of the staff of the applying organizations. Applicants will also be required to put in writing that they will not espouse hate or discriminate.

Immediate Termination

The ministry will now also be able to immediately terminate contracts. Khanna agreed with many MPs who said it took too long to terminate the contract with CMAC after Maroufs comments came to light.

Khanna testified that the department became aware of a possible problem on July 26, 2022. It investigated and suspended the project on Aug. 19. She said the ministry had to provide CMAC with at least 30 days notice before terminating the project, so it was finally terminated on Sept. 23.

Conservative MP Melissa Lantsman said, So a long list of clearly anti-Semitic, anti-French, anti-black tweets, and youd still respect the 30 days. I find that shocking.

CMAC did not reply to The Epoch Times inquiry as of publication. Its website describes it as a non-profit organization interested in the future of community and Indigenous media. It says its values are decolonization, anti-oppression, and empowerment.

The ministry had already paid CMAC $133,000 before terminating the contract. Some of that money had already been spent, and so the ministry only told CMAC to pay back $122,000. It hasnt.

The ministry had to engage a third-party collection agency in December to try to get the funds back, to no avail. Khanna said the ministry is considering legal action.

Better Vetting by Other Departments

Conservative MP Marilyn Gladu asked Khanna, Were you aware that Laith Maroufs company, CMAC, has been awarded multiple contracts since 2015, more than half a million dollars worth?

Gladu said Minister of CrownIndigenous Relations Canada Marc Miller has also awarded grants to CMAC, even though [Marouf] had made vile comments about indigenous people, Gladu said. So it appears to me that across all departments, whatever we were doing, it certainly was not preventing the behaviors, because its not like Mr. Marouf woke up last summer and began tweeting violent and offensive things. This is a pattern of behavior  We can see he was barred from reentering Canada in 2009.

Khanna said the various departments have shared best practices on vetting and awarding contracts and the heritage ministrys improved process will likely result in better vetting across other departments.
Canadian Womans Body Found in Building That Collapsed During Earthquake in Turkey

The body of a Canadian woman who was visiting Turkey has been found in the rubble of a building that collapsed on Feb. 6. during the devastating earthquake that has killed thousands.

Saad Zora says his twin sister Samar was found earlier today by searchers as an excavator dug through pieces of a five-storey building in the city of Antakya.

He said, Samar was found, and added, she didnt make it.

Zora says he and his brother, Muthana, who flew to Turkey last week to search for their sister, had remained near the scene of the excavation of the building.

He says he is grateful to the local people and the search and rescue teams who assisted in finding the 33-year-old woman.

Samar Zora had travelled to the city for her doctoral research in anthropology.
The White House is addressing the spy balloon and the other objects shot down. What are we learning about the new flying objects, and whats missing from the latest briefing?

Do Republicans want to cut Medicare and Social Security? Facing accusations, lawmakers are trying to make their stances clear with bills and resolutions.

The latest immigration data shows a decline in unlawful crossings in January. The Biden administration says its policies are working, but a new poll shows Americans feel otherwise.

As the search for classified documents continues across multiple former and current high-ranking U.S. officials, former President Donald Trumps attorneys say he is now clear of any classified material.

Deepfake news anchors are being generated by artificial intelligence. Pro-Beijing bots have been pushing them on social media, where they repeat the Communist Partys narratives.

In a travel warning for Americans in Russia, the State Department is urging U.S. citizens to leave the country immediately.
Chinese Balloon Spotted Last Fall Over Middle East, Top Air Commander Says

A Chinese balloon was spotted floating over the Middle East by the U.S. forces stationed there last fall, but didnt prompt any attempt to get a closer look at it, the top air commander for the region said Monday.

In the latest revelation of what appears to be a part of Chinese communist regimes global airborne surveillance project, Lt. Gen. Alex Grynkewich told reporters that the balloon was deemed not a threat because it did not go anywhere near any of our sensitive sites.

The last incident that I can recall off the top of my head, [the balloon] primarily stayed out over the water, and just transited through the region, Grynkewich, who heads the U.S. Air Forces Central (AFCENT), said at a roundtable discussion hosted by Washington-based defense think tank Center for a New American Security.

We were not sure, was it a weather balloon? Was it some sort of a surveillance balloon? We never got up close to it because it was never a threat. We never had to go inspect it and get a visual identification of it. We never had to go inspect it and get a visual identification of it.

The three-star general officer didnt say when or where exactly the balloon was spotted. In 2022, an estimated 40,000 to 60,000 American troops were operating in a 21-country region spanning from Egypt in the west to Kazakhstan in the northeast, under the direction of United States Central Command (CENTCOM).

The Chinese balloons, despite having been seen flown through a few times since Grynkewich was put in charge of the regions air operations, are actually not among CENTCOMs top concerns.

The level of concern I have about them is extremely low, he told the audience. I understand they people are asking the question in the current context, but its not something that I lose sleep at night over.

With that said, Grynkewich did agree that there are a lot of applications for high-altitude stratospheric level platforms, including balloons and winged aircraft capable of long-endurance operation.

Its really about persistence. Its about being able to maintain your eye on a particular area of the plan for a while, he explained. So that is obviously something [that] will be [an] interest for us in the U.S. Air Force and AFCENT.

Citing classified information, Grynkewich didnt provide additional details of other sightings of balloons in the years prior.

Mondays discussion comes as NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg raised alarms over the recent balloon incidents, which he said do show a pattern of Chinese surveillance and should serve as a tangible reminder of the threat the Chinese regime poses to the United States and allies.

The Chinese balloon over United States confirms a pattern of Chinese behavior, where we see that China over the last years has invested heavily in new military capabilities, including different types of surveillance and intelligence platforms, Stoltenberg said last week at a press conference with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Weve also seen increased Chinese intelligence activities in Europeagain, different platforms, he added. They use satellites, they use cyber, and as weve seen over the United States, also balloons.

Earlier this month, a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon traveled across the continental United States before it was shot down off the coast of South Carolina. On Feb. 10, 11, and 12, U.S. fighter jets shot downed three unidentified objects: one in northern Alaska, one in Canadas Yukon Territory, and one described to have an octagonal shape near Lake Huron, Michigan.
A police officer trying to find stolen property found himself face-to-face in a University of Virginia cafeteria with one of this areas most-arrested people, the woman whose allegation of a violent abduction put a man to jail for over two years.

This time, however, the stakes were lower, as the officer was tracking 30-year-old Chelsea Eileen Steiniger to find a scooter that didnt belong to her. Inside a UVa cafeteria, he said he saw her steal a sweet tea. The tea charge was dropped last week, as Steiniger pleaded guilty to petty larceny for taking a scooter that a University of Virginia nurse had been using for his commute.

Youre pleading guilty because you are in fact guilty? asked Judge Andrew Sneathern.

Yes, Steiniger said quietly.

Sneathern assigned punishment as 60 days in jail with all of the time suspended plus restitution to the nurse for the unrecovered electric scooter. But Steinigers attorney, L. Dayton Haugh, requested a year to pay the restitution.

She has other restitution due in the county, Haugh explained during the February 9 hearing Charlottesville General District Court.

Few people have kept local courts as busy as Steiniger. At the time of her arrest, Steiniger was on bail for four counts of drug possession, three counts of forging checks, two counts of bail violation, and one count of failure to appear. Her fugitive status initially caused her to be held without bail on the scooter and sweet tea theft charges.

She eventually won a deferred disposition on the drug charges, which were reduced to drug paraphernalia charges. And while she would plead guilty to the other charges, she received suspended sentences and was charged $394 in court costs.

Then, while the scooter case was moving through the courts, Steiniger was arrested in mid-October for grand larceny in Albemarle. It was a delayed arrest for a prior scooter theft, and she pleaded guilty to petty larceny, received a 30-day active sentence, and was charged $111 in costs.

The most extensive criminal case involving Steiniger positioned her as the victim, her 2012 claim that she was abducted by a grocery store manager who had given Steiniger a ride in his car. Mark Lawrence Weiner served over two years in jail before winning release in 2015 amid defense evidence portraying Steiniger as a fabulist who concocted the tale to anger a boyfriend.

While the court heard sworn defense allegations that Steiniger lied, no jury ever got to evaluate that evidence that included cellphone data, tape recordings, and witnesses disputing her claims. She was not prosecuted for making her claims, and Weiners release came on an unusual non-written motion provided orally to the Albemarle Circuit Court by then prosecutor Denise Lunsford. Lunsfords only sanction for carrying the questionable case was seeing it become an issue in her reelection campaign as Albemarles Commonwealth Attorney. She was narrowly voted out of office that fall.

In 2018, federal judge Norman K. Moon branded Steinigers testimony in the Weiner case false, but he dismissed Weiners civil suit on the basis that government employees cannot be sued.

The Weiner case was a sad demonstration of how easily the criminal justice system can convict the innocent while depriving them of the means to correct the injustice, Contacted this week, the Richmond attorney for Mark Lawrence Weiner, told The Daily Progress this week in an email.

As for the scooter theft from the hospital, the nurse tells the Progress that he left his foldable electric scooter chained in a corral outside of the emergency room during his shift. A surveillance image he shared shows the scooter stowed on footboard of a black mo-ped as Steiniger rides away.
Climate Change Now a Credible Threat Alongside Terrorism, Cyberattacks: Home Affairs Department

Solar panels in this drone photo at the Impact solar facility in Deport, Texas, on July 15, 2021. (Drone Base/Reuters)

Climate change risks rank alongside counterterrorism and cyber security as a key priority for Australias home affairs department, according to a recent estimate hearing.

On Feb. 13, the secretary for home affairs, Mike Pezzullo, faced questioning from Senator Alex Antic, who asked whether the departments focus on climate change risks was comedy [or] parody?

Pezzullo would eventually respond, saying the department was responsible for providing policy and legislative advice to the Minister for Emergency Management Murray Watts.

I genuinely dont know how to respond to a rather oddly put question. You asked me whether its comedy. Its my job. I dont; I dont really understand what youre asking me?

Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs Mike Pezzullo speaks during a Senate inquiry at Parliament House in Canberra on September 24, 2020. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch)

Antic pressed further, asking where climate change sat alongside other threats such as counterterrorism, cybersecurity, migration visas, [or] refugee humanitarian statements?

The secretary responded by saying, I mean, I balance my work, the resources that government affords me across all of the national risks that we assist the government in managing.

Pezzullo further explained that the department now ran the national resilience task force, which was set up after the Labor Party won government in May 2022.

The task force has a wide purview that looks at security, as well as climate-induced national resilience challengesranging from the impact of natural disasters to supply chain blockages.

Antic responded by asking: So, you say that human-induced climate change is, is somehow, a credible threat to Australias home affairs? It is the contention?

Pezzullo said: I think its a credible threat to Australia and where the Home Affairs Department is.

Labor Senator and minister for emergency management Murray Watts interjected to say the federal governments decision to set up the National Emergency Management Agency within home affairs was based on what the overwhelming majority of scientists were saying about climate change being a threat to Australia.

Just as the home affairs department is the correct agency to be considering the potential impact of cyberattacks on our country or terrorism attacks on our country. This is a threat to our country that is appropriately dealt with by home affairs.

Labor Makes Its Mark on Home Affairs

Climate change is a major part of the Labor Partys policy agenda. The federal government has pledged to invest billions into encouraging the development of renewable energy.

At the same time, the home affairs department has also undergone major restructuring by Labor ministers.

Under its Administrative Arrangements Order, key functions were shifted away from home affairs and placed under the attorney generals department, including the Australian Federal Police, criminal justice, and protective services.

Meanwhile, home affairs will retain control over the domestic spy agency, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.

Liberal Senator James Paterson has criticised the changes to the department and recently warned that the time taken by the government to relist terror organisations had blown out.

According to documents obtained by Sky News Australia, it took 22 days for several terrorist groups, including Islamic State and Al-Qaida, to be relisted because approvals needed to go through Home Affairs Minister Clare ONeill, the attorney generals department, then-Attorney General Mark Dreyfus himself, and then final notice to the prime minister and opposition leader.

The process began on Oct. 4 before being finalised on Oct. 26. While a similar process under the previous Liberal-National Coalition started on June 25 and ended on July 1.

The government assured us their illogical and ideological demolition of the Home Affairs portfolio wouldnt have adverse consequences for national security, but its now obvious it has, Senator Paterson told Sky News.

The time taken to list a terrorist organisation has massively blown outhardly surprising because the decision is now double-handled by two ministers instead of one.
College Board Says It Made Mistakes in AP African American Course Rollout

The College Board, which develops college-level Advanced Placement (AP) courses for high school students, has admitted to making some mistakes in its rollout of a new high school course on African American Studies that has invited controversy.

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis opposed an early iteration of the course after the states Department of Education determined parts of the course violated Floridas new Stop Woke Act. The Stop Woke Act prohibits schools from teaching that people are inherently sexist or racist by virtue of their race or sex or that members of certain races or sexes bear responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of their race or sex.

An early iteration of the AP African American Studies course included segments on Black Lives Matter and debates over the topic of race-based reparations. The course also included secondary discussions of critical race theory and queer social movements. On Feb. 1, the College Board released an updated version of the course that dropped several of the same controversial portions with which the DeSantis administration raised issues.

On Saturday, the College Board issued a statement saying it made mistakes both in how it rolled out the new course and in how it responded to criticisms of the course by the DeSantis administration. The board said these mistakes allowed DeSantis to advance a political agenda.

There is always debate about the content of a new AP course. That is good and healthy; these courses matter. But the dialogue surrounding AP African American Studies has moved from healthy debate to misinformation, the College Board said. We are proud of this course. But we have made mistakes in the rollout that are being exploited.

Not Enough Pushback

The College Board said its first mistake was in not immediately denouncing the Florida Department of Educations slander, magnified by the DeSantis administrations subsequent comments.

The organization also said it should have been more clear that controversial topics like the Black Lives Matter movement, and discussions of reparations and mass incarceration were optional topics in a pilot version of the course. The organization that by not making clear that these portions of the course were optional, the decision to remove them from the course allowed the narrative to arise that political forces had downgraded the role of these contemporary movements and debates in the AP class.

The organization said that rather than watering down topics like Black Lives Matter and reparations, the course now has students devote three weeks to a topic of their choosing, which counts as 20 percent of the students AP Exam score for college credit. The organization said students would be encouraged to focus their projects on contemporary issues and debates.

The College Board also denied conversations with the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) had a significant impact on the changes they made to the course.

While it has been claimed that the College Board was in frequent dialogue with Florida about the content of AP African American Studies, this is a false and politically motivated charge, the College Board said.

The board said its communications with the FDOE consisted of the state requesting a pilot course code and then the boards response to recent claims by the FDOE that the AP African American Studies course lacks educational value. The board said it had no real negotiations with the DeSantis administration over the course materials.

The board said when it asked the DeSantis administration for feedback on the course, the FDOE asked questions like What does the word intersectionality mean? and Does the course promote Black Panther thinking? The board said it asked the FDOE to explain its specific concerns in detail, but said they never actually did and instead repeated the same rejection but now with inflated rhetoric and posturing.

DeSantis Responds

Several political commentators have accused DeSantis of erasing black history over his administrations opposition to the AP African American Studies course.

During a Monday press conference, DeSantis responded to the College Boards claims about the AP course.

The College Board was the one thatin a black studies courseput queer theory in. Not usthey did that, DeSantis said. They were the ones that put in intersectionality. They put in other types of neo-Marxism into the proposed syllabus. This is the proposed course. So, our Department of Education looked at that and said, in Florida, we do education, not indoctrination.

In an emailed statement to NTD, DeSantis spokesman Bryan Griffin noted the College Board dropped 19 topics from its AP African American Studies course, many of which FDOE cited as conflicting with Florida law, including discriminatory and historically fictional topics.

Among the topics dropped from the AP course were:

Reframing Early African History in African American Studies

The Fire Next Time: Evaluating the Civil Rights Movement and the Nation of Islam

The Fire Next Time: Achieving Our Country

The Social Construct of Race

Intersectionality

Afrocentricity

Tools of Black Studies Scholars

Incarceration, Abolition, and the New Jim Crow

Reparations

The Movement for Black Lives

Black Study and Black Struggle in the 21st Century

At the end of the day, we highlighted things that were very problematic. It wasnt just people like me saying that. Across the political spectrum, people were saying thatthis really is junk, DeSantis said. Why dont we just do and teach the things that matter? Why is it always that someone has to try to jam their agenda down our throats?

DeSantis also suggested the Florida education system could reevaluate its relationship with the College Board.

Nobody elected [the College Board] to anything. Theyre just kind of there and theyre providing a service, DeSantis said. And so, you can either utilize those services or not, and theyve provided these AP courses for a long time. But you know, there are probably some other vendors who may be able to do that job as good or maybe even a lot better.

From NTD News
Cruz Says Hes Using Twitter Files as Road Map to Investigate Other Big Tech Platforms

Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) speaks during the confirmation hearing for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson before the Senate Judiciary Committee on her nomination to be an Associate Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, in Washington on March 22, 2022. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said hes using the recent Twitter Files expose series as a road map for investigating instances of political bias and manipulation in other big tech platforms.

Cruz, who is the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, announced he is starting an oversight investigation into major social media and search engine companies and has sent a letter to TikTok, Twitter, Google, and Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.

Appearing for an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity hours later, Cruz said, We are going to take the Twitter files, were going to take what Elon Musk has made public and use that as a road map to go after Facebook, to go after Google, to go after YouTube, to go after TikTok, to go after all a Big Tech that is trying to silence conservatives.

The Twitter Files, which were released in a series of tweet threads, provided details about how Twitter handled a variety of controversial content moderation decisions for the platform.

The file releases detailed how Twitter officials deviated from the platforms stated policies to justify removing then-President Donald Trump, a Republican, from the platform. The files also detailed the role the FBI played in discrediting articles about Hunter Bidens alleged abandoned laptop and its contents, as well as how Twitter officials struggled to justify removing such reporting from the platform under its hacked materials policy.

Another portion of the files revealed Twitter uses tools to lower the visibility of certain Twitter users, tweets, and topics of discussion. The files showed Twitter had blacklisting labels attached to various conservative political figures and accounts.

Another part of the Twitter Files series, released on Jan. 29, detailed how Twitter officials knew a social media dashboard tool called Hamilton 68 consisted of a list of more than 600 Twitter accounts it claimed belonged to Russian bots. Those Twitter files revealed Twitter employees knew the list contained inaccurate entries that negatively implicated conservative Twitter users and pro-Trump accounts. Twitter officials who knew the list was making inaccurate claims about platform users did not speak up to denounce Hamilton 68.

Cruz said he recently spent more than half an hour on the phone with Musk to discuss what the new Twitter owner has found in the companys records.

An In-Kind Political Donation

During the Fox News interview, Cruz indicated the politically slanted censorship actions like the ones Twitter took might be treated like a political donation.

In the 2020 election, Big Tech went all in trying to defeat Donald Trump, trying to give what was in effect billions of dollars of an in-kind donation to Joe Biden, suppressing the Hunter Biden story even though it was true, because it would hurt the candidate they were supporting, Cruz said.

Cruz said Musks decision to buy out Twitter and release the internal documents from that platform exposes the other social media sites to the same scrutiny.

A member of the club wasnt supposed to admit it, they were supposed to stand lockstep, arm-in-arm, and deny it, deny it, deny it, Cruz said. And now we have the evidence, we have the emails and its clear that when Democrats said to move, Big Tech said how high? They jump on command.

Cruz said he believes political censorship decisions by various tech companies represent the single greatest threat to free and fair elections.

Democrats Defend Private Companies

Similar investigative efforts are already underway in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. Last week, the House Oversight Committee questioned former Twitter officials Vijaya Gadde, James Baker, and Yoel Roth on their roles in some of the content moderation decisions described in the Twitter Files.

During that hearing, ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said Twitter is a private media company. In America, private media companies can decide what to publish or how to curate content however they want.

Raskin also noted that Twitter officials had already admitted fault for their decision to suppress the articles about Hunter Bidens laptop.

The professional conspiracy theorists who are heckling and haranguing this private company have already gotten exactly what they wantan apology, Raskin said. What more do they want and why does the U.S Congress have to be involved in this nonsense when we have serious work to do for the American people?

Raskin said that while private media companies can generally decide to allow or remove whatever they want, they do have a responsibility to remove content when the speech is deliberately calculated to produce imminent violence and chaos against the government. Raskin said Twitters real mistake was not deciding to censor Trump and other conservatives, but rather its deliberate indifference to Trumps big lies and incitement.

Democrats have insisted Trumps challenges of the 2020 election results and calls for Congress not to certify those results amounted to an incitement to violence that culminated in the disruptions and violence seen at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump has defended against such claims, with his lawyers arguing he had sincere concerns about the credibility of the 2020 elections and pursued valid legal challenges and that he did not encourage violence on Jan. 6.

From NTD News
Jury Urged to Sentence to Death Man Who Killed 8 on New York Bike Path

NEW YORKA federal prosecutor urged a New York jury to sentence Sayfullo Saipov to death as the penalty phase of his trial began on Monday, saying his execution would be the only just punishment after he killed eight people in his 2017 attack on a Manhattan bike path.

It marked the first time jurors have been asked to vote for the federal death penalty since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021 after promising voters he would abolish the punishment.

Defense lawyers for the Uzbek immigrant called the death penalty barbaric, and urged the jurors to vote instead for life in prison for Saipov, who mowed down people with a rental truck on Oct. 31, 2017.

The death penalty is something New Yorkers are rarely asked to consider; the states death penalty was found unconstitutional in 2004, and federal capital cases are infrequent.

Prosecutors said Saipov deserved to be executed because he killed eight people and attempted to kill 18 more in a carefully planned attack inspired by ISIS, which the United States has designated a terrorist organization.

They also say killing Saipov is warranted because he has shown no remorse, and because he still posed a threat even in prison.

Hes proud of what hes done, Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Houle said to jurors in the governments opening statement in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan. The trials penalty phase is due to last several weeks, with the government calling multiple survivors and victims relatives to testify about the harm Saipov has caused them.

Saipovs victims included tourists from Argentina and Belgium, both countries that have abolished the death penalty.

The same jurors found Saipov guilty last month of all 28 charges he faced, including murder and attempted murder in order to become a member of the ISIS terrorist group. Saipov, who admitted to the attack without remorse, had offered as his defense only that he had intended to die a martyr that day, not to join ISIS as charged.

Saipovs public defenders emphasized that the jurys vote for death must be unanimous, and that if even one juror disagrees then Saipov will instead be sent to a maximum-security prison in Colorado for a life sentence without the possibility of release.

His defense team showed the jurors pictures of Saipov as a child with his family in his native Uzbekistan, telling them some of his relatives were traveling to New York to say they condemned his crimes but still loved him.

The jurors will also hear from an employee of the Colorado prison where Saipov would spend a life sentence. The official will describe how Saipov would be confined 23 hours a day to a small cell with a concrete bed, concrete stool, a metal wash basin, and a window that looks out on nothing.

Prosecutors said Saipov had threatened to slit the throats of the guards at the New York prison where he is currently held.

Its true, hes not a model prisoner, David Stern, a lawyer for Saipov, conceded to jurors, saying Saipov had blabbered about chopping off guards heads when he was annoyed at them. Its talk and nothing more.
Defence Force Review Completed, Next Steps to Be Determined in Weeks

Sir Angus Houston delivers the Defence Strategic Review 2023 to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Deputy PM and Minister of Defence Richard Marles at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia on Feb. 14, 2023. (Martin Ollman/Getty Images)

The federal government is now considering the results of a six-month review of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) to determine whether it is fit for purpose to deal with a militarily aggressive Chinese Communist Party.

The report was ordered last August by the newly elected Labor government and came just two years after the 2020 Defence Strategic Update was publicisedthis document already called for a major overhaul of how the ADF should be structured and what weapons to acquire.

On Feb. 14, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Defence Minister Richard Marles received the report from former ADF Chief Angus Houston and ex-Labor Defence Minister Stephen Smith.

This is about preparing Australia for the challenging strategic circumstances that we face, the prime minister told reporters. We want to make sure that our [defence] assets are fit for purpose and that they deliver the greatest return on investment.

Houston said the report was completed in six months instead of the usual 12 to 18, which highlighted the speed of change in the strategic environment.

Its a great example of the urgency that was required to deal with the circumstances, he told the prime minister as he handed over the review.

I hope it does everything you need it to do. I think its on the money. Were pretty happy with it.

The review received 360 public submissions and heard from 150 experts across academia, think tanks, the ADF, and the defence industry.

Big Projects Likely to Be Tinkered With

Upon receiving the report, the government said it had inherited 18 major projects running over budget by $6.5 billion.

The ADFs acquisition projects have been mired with long delays and cost overruns into the billions, including the Hunter-class Frigate program and the now-cancelled French Attack-class submarine.

Both projects were tied down due to their unique custom designs, as well as being tools to spur job growth rather than focused purely on the defence of the nation.

Delivery times were slated into the 2030s, an untenable situation given the geopolitical climate in the Indo-Pacific region.

While the 2020 Defence Strategic Update kicked off change in the ADFfor example, bolstering the militarys long-range threat profilethe Morrison government was still laden with a decade of ongoing legacy projects under previous Liberal Party prime ministers.

Fiery Parliamentary Debate Over the Review

In Parliament, former Assistant Defence Minister Andrew Hastie criticised the review saying the former Labor Minister Stephen Smith had contributed to the partys dangerous record on defence spending.

We hope theyve learned from their past failures and neglect under their watch, Hastie told Parliament.

We will remain vigilant, watching carefully and reserving our judgment as the defence strategic review and AUKUS announcements are made over the coming weeks and months.

During Question Time, current defence minister Marles said the review would take some weeks to consider before action was taken, noting that a public version would be made available.

[This is] the single most important re-evaluation of Australias strategic posture in the last 35 years against a backdrop of the most complex strategic landscape that we have faced since the end of the Second World War, he said.

Marles blamed the Coalition for losing a decade of time to build up the ADF.

Time and again, those opposite was making decisions based on politics rather than policy, such as their decision to down-select the Attack-class submarine program to one tenderer before they completed the design just so they could do a single press conference in the lead-up to the 2016 election, he added.
Dianne Feinstein to Retire After More Than 30 Years in Senate

After more than 30 years in the U.S. Senate and a half-century in public office, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) announced on Tuesday that she will not seek reelection in 2024.

Feinstein was first elected to the Senate in 1992.

I am announcing today I will not run for reelection in 2024 but intend to accomplish as much for California as I can through the end of next year when my term ends, the senator said in a statement.

I campaigned in 2018 on several priorities for California and the nation: preventing and combating wildfires, mitigating the effects of record-setting drought, responding to the homelessness crisis, and ensuring all Americans have access to affordable, high-quality health care, she added. Congress has enacted legislation on all of these topics over the past several years, but more needs to be doneand I will continue these efforts.

In recent years, Feinsteins continued role in public service has been the subject of speculation and scrutiny, given her advanced age. At 89, she is the oldest sitting member of the Senate.

In December, the veteran senator assured reporters that she intended to finish out her term. At the time, she did not rule out a reelection bid.

A month later, Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) announced that she would challenge Feinstein for her seat in the 2024 Democrat primary. Feinstein responded with a vow to announce her own plans for 2024 at the appropriate time.

In her Tuesday statement, Feinstein pledged to devote her final two years in office to passing legislation on gun violence, preserving U.S. lands, and promoting economic growth, all while leveraging her position on the Senate Appropriations Committee to secure funding for her state.

Even with a divided Congress, we can still pass bills that will improve lives, she said. Each of us was sent here to solve problems. Thats what Ive done for the last 30 years, and thats what I plan to do for the next two years. My thanks to the people of California for allowing me to serve them.

In addition to her role on the Appropriations Committee, Feinstein currently sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Select Committee on Intelligence, and the Committee on Rules and Administration.

First elected to the Senate in 1992, she is the longest-serving senator in the history of her state and the longest-serving female senator in U.S. history.
Vinyl Chloride Not the Only Chemical Found in Fiery Ohio Derailment

ONG 52nd Civil Support Team members prepare to enter an incident area to assess remaining hazards with a lightweight inflatable decontamination system (LIDS) in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 7, 2023. (Ohio National Guard via AP)

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has written the Norfolk Southern Railway describing the chemicals found at the site of a Feb. 3 train derailment and controlled burn in East Palestine, Ohio, that some local residents have linked to sickness or death among animals.

The Feb. 10 letter from the EPA to Norfolk Southern notes multiple rail cars and tankers were observed derailed, breached, and/or on fire.

Coverage of the incident has mainly stressed the presence of vinyl chloride, a chemical used to make PVC pipes and other products. The National Cancer Institute notes that vinyl chloride has been linked to cancers of the brain, lungs, blood, lymphatic system, and, in particular, the liver.

Yet, the EPAs letter mentions other potentially hazardous chemicals in those derailed tankers.

Specifically, it notes the presence of ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate, isobutylene, and butyl acrylate.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations online chemical database notes that the chemical solvent ethylene glycol monobutyl ether can cause serious or permanent injury.

Ingestion or skin contact causes headache, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, the website states regarding the chemical, which is found in many household products.

The same chemical database notes that 2-ethylhexyl acrylate, which is used to make paints and plastics for things like contact lenses, can cause significant irritation and may be explosive at high temperatures.

It states that isobutylene, a liquified gas used to make aviation fuel, can incapacitate and, in some circumstances, asphyxiate those exposed to it.

Butyl acrylate, meanwhile, is described in that database as potentially a source of serious or permanent injury and a relatively unstable substance. It is used in making things like paints, sealants, and adhesives.

The Epoch Times has asked the EPA for more detail on the potential environmental and human health risks posed by the chemicals involved in the derailment.

Norfolk Southern Responds

Norfolk Southern received the EPAs letter and we have confirmed to them that we have and will continue to perform or finance environmental monitoring and remediation. Our hazmat team was in East Palestine within an hour of the incident, and the response continues today in close coordination with the Ohio and U.S. EPA, NTSB [National Transportation and Safety Board], and other federal, state, and local agencies, a spokesperson for Norfolk Southern told The Epoch Times in a Feb. 13 email.

The spokesperson directed The Epoch Times to the NTSB for any comments on the causes of the crash.

The latest details from that agency came Feb. 6, through an announcement that it had launched an investigation into the derailment.

Additional information will be issued when available, the NTSB told The Epoch Times in a Feb. 13 email.

While some online influencers have said Norfolk Southern paid only $25,000 to the town of East Palestine, the companys spokesperson said that sum was just an initial donation to the Red Cross to establish a shelter at East Palestine High School.

In total, more than $1 million has been distributed directly to families to cover costs related to the evacuation, a Feb. 13 press release from the company states.

EPAs letter describes Norfolk Southern as potentially liable under the federal governments Superfund law.

It wouldnt be the first Norfolk Southern derailment site to end up under that regime.

One derailment in Decatur, Alabama, involved the contaminant hydrofluoric acid, a chemical that can be deadly if inhaled in large quantities.

Local Waterways

The EPAs letter states that materials related to the incident were seen flowing into storm drains.

Chemicals released during the event have also been detected in various local waterways, including the Ohio River, according to the letter.

The Ohio River watershed is home to 25 million people and spans parts of 14 states. The river ultimately empties into the Mississippi River.

West Virginia American Water has not detected any changes to water in portions of the Ohio River that it monitors, as reported by WCHS.

Buttigieg Under Fire

The derailment has provoked strong rhetoric from lawmakers, some of whom have blamed Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, formerly a McKinsey consultant and mayor of a college town in Indiana.

This is another transportation failure under Mayor Petes leadership. Where is he? asked Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) in a Feb. 13 post on Twitter.

Buttigeg did not mention the incident while delivering remarks on Feb. 13 while speaking at the National Association of Counties Legislative Conference.

He did, however, mention the threat from balloons, drawing laughter from his audience.

The Epoch Times has reached out to the EPA for additional comment.
Ernst Gives Latest Squeal Award to HHS for Failing to Bar Federal Funding of Wuhan Lab, as Recommended by Watchdog

Security personnel stand guard outside the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan as members of the World Health Organization (WHO) team investigating the origins of the COVID-19 coronavirus make a visit to the institute in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province on Feb. 3, 2021. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images)

Feb. 14 may be a day for romantic gifts, but thats not what Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) presented to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra and the department he leads for failing to bar Chinas Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) from receiving any more federal funds.

The Iowa Republican gave Becerra and HHS her latest Squeal Awarda monthly recognition that singles out a Washington expense, program, or concept that has proven to be wasteful and must be cutafter they failed to act on the recommendation of the departments Office of Inspector General (OIG) that the Chinese lab where the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is thought to have originated be permanently removed from eligibility for federal funds.

According to official figures, more than 6 million people worldwide have died from COVID-19 since it first began spreading from Wuhan, China, in 2019 and in the United States beginning in January 2020. The WIV lab has received at least $1.7 million in taxpayer funding from the National Institutes for Health (NIH) and U.S. Agency for International Development via the New York-based health nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance.

While NIH ultimately bears the blame for being unable to provide answers to questions about what was going on in the Wuhan Institute with U.S. taxpayers dollars, EcoHealth and especially WIV have blatantly refused to cooperate with the search for the truth, Ernst told Becerra in a Feb. 13 letter made available to The Epoch Times. Yet, to this day, the Wuhan Institute of Virology is still on the NIHs list of approved institutions eligible to receive taxpayer dollars to conduct experiments on animals.

Ernst urged the department to immediately and permanently debar WIV from receiving U.S. funding to ensure that not another penny from taxpayers is ever sent to Chinas state-run Wuhan Institute of Virology by NIH or any other component or grantee of HHS.

This opinion is widely shared by my colleagues as the U.S. Senate approved a total prohibition on all U.S. federal funding to the Wuhan Institute of Virology in May 2021, she wrote.

I would also urge you to act on the OIGs recommendations that EcoHealth repay the tax dollars misspent on unallowable costs and provide a complete accounting of all of the federal funding it has received and for NIH to implement enhanced monitoring, documentation, and reporting requirements for all grant recipients with foreign sub-recipients.

On the same day that she announced the Squeal Award to HHS, Ernst made public a draft of a proposal she will introduce in the Senate that stipulates that no funds authorized or appropriated by Federal law may be made available to the Wuhan Institute of Virology for any purpose.

The Ernst bill also will mandate a study and report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) regarding the amount of Federal funds that were awarded or indirectly provided (whether purposely or inadvertently) during the 15-year period immediately preceding such date of enactment.

The GAO report would cover funds going to the WIV, the Peoples Republic of China, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), or any agency or entity affiliated with any of the three.

A spokesman for HHS and a spokesman for EcoHealth Alliance had not responded by press time to requests from The Epoch Times for comment.

In a Feb. 14 statement released by Ernst, an official with an advocacy group that was instrumental in exposing the role of the WIV in the COVID-19 crisis expressed support for the Iowa Republicans legislative proposal.

As the group that first exposed and ended the NIHs reckless funding of the rogue Wuhan animal lab, we applaud Sen. Ernst for introducing commonsense legislation to defund this CCP-run animal lab whose dangerous coronavirus experiments on animals likely caused the pandemic, Tristan Daedalus, government affairs director for the White Coat Waste Project, said.

Our investigations since early 2020 have uncovered how the Wuhan lab wasted U.S. tax dollars on risky gain-of-function animal experiments in violation of a federal funding ban.

The Wuhan lab has also refused to turn over records related to the animal experiments funded by U.S. tax dollars, deleted its public virus database, and otherwise obstructed investigations into COVIDs origins.

Yet, weve discovered that the NIH has inexplicably allowed the Wuhan lab to remain eligible for even more tax money, specifically for animal experiments. Congress should swiftly pass Sen. Ernsts bill and defund the Wuhan animal lab once and for all.

Taxpayers should not be forced to bankroll white coats in Wuhan who waste money, break the law, abuse animals, and place public health in peril. Stop the money. Stop the madness!
Farmers Fight for Right to Repair Own Equipment Builds as More States Advance Supporting Legislation

U.S. farmers Right to Repair movement is gaining steam as more and more states allow the practice of allowing them to fix their own equipment.

The movement has faced opposition over the past several years, from manufacturers of products like medical devices, motor vehicles, and equipment, which contain software and telematics used for remote diagnosis and repair.

Advocates are seeking access to the products diagnostic software and telematics data, but manufacturers claim that such access may endanger their intellectual property rights, warranties, and violate product safety standards.

However, financial pressures on the agricultural community have pushed lawmakers in 11 states, including Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, Texas and Vermont, to introduce bills allowing farmers to legally repair farm equipment.

The pending bills would require manufacturers to give farmers access to the tools, software, parts, and manuals so they can repair their own farm equipment and avoid the steep labor costs and delays that cut into their profits.

At least 27 states in total have considered or are considering related legislation.

The right to repair movement has expanded over the past few years to include the right to fix items such as smartphones and even hospital ventilators during the pandemic.

Last June, New York was the first state to pass a right to repair law, which ordered electronics makers to provide the tools needed by consumers and independent repair providers to fix their devices.

Colorado Becomes a Right to Repair Battleground

Meanwhile, in Colorado, Democrat legislators have taken the lead in promoting the right to repair, while their Republican counterparts remain split between supporters of their populist-leaning constituents who want the right to repair their own machines and lobbyists from the big manufacturers who oppose the idea.

The states House committee on agriculture voted mostly along party lines, with nine in favor and four opposed.

Most Colorado Republicans on the committee voted against the measure, despite support from the bills seconder, State Rep. Ron Weinberg, a Republican.

Manufacturers argued that allowing farmers to access their software would force them to expose trade secrets, or make it easier to dangerously tinker with the software without company oversight.

They also said the bill could allow users to illegally crank up a tractors horsepower by bypassing the emissions controller, thereby violating environmental safety standards.

The supporters of the bill admit that it could make it easier for operators to modify horsepower and emissions controls, but that farmers are already able to tinker with their equipment and have not so because it still remains illegal.

Opponents of the bill also believe it would financially impact local dealerships in rural areas, like Russ Ball, a sales manager at 21st Century Equipment, a John Deere dealership in the region.

I know growersif they can change horsepower and they can change emissions, they are going to do it, Ball told the Associated Press.

State Rep. Brianna Titone (D), one of the bills sponsors, said that the manufacturers and the dealers have a monopoly on that repair market because its lucrative.

State Rep. Richard Holtorf (R), who opposed the measure and is himself in agriculture, told the Associated Press that he sympathizes with his fellow farmers, but I dont think its the role of government to be forcing the sale of their intellectual property.

John Deere and Farmers Trade Organization Sign Compromise

Last month, farm manufacturing giant John Deere signed a right to repair memorandum of understanding (MOU), on Jan. 8, with the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), a Washington D.C.-based farmer lobbyist group.

The agreement stipulates that John Deere will voluntarily share some parts, diagnostic and repair software, tools, and manuals through subscription or sale to farmers and allow them to conduct their own repairs.

Consumers and independent repair centers will still be forbidden from divulging certain trade secrets and are not allowed to tamper with or override emission control settings.

The price tags for diagnostic tools vary, according to the companys website, with a one-year license for a technical manual costing as much as $3,160.

Farmers will also be allowed to hire independent technicians to assist repairs, while tractor manufacturers will ensure the timely availability of certain repair tools, without compromising safety controls and emission control requirements.

In exchange the AFBF agreed to encourage state Farm Bureau organizations to recognize the commitments made in this MOU and refrain from introducing, promoting, or supporting federal or state Right to Repair legislation that imposes obligations beyond the commitments in the MOU.

If a government legislation or regulation on the state or federal level is passed in violation of the MOU, either party would reserve the right, upon 15 days written notice, to withdraw from the agreement.

The agreement is aimed at continu[ing] to enhance the ability of farmers to timely control the lawful operation and upkeep of agricultural equipment and assur[ing] that the intellectual property of [the] manufacturer, including copyrighted software, is fully protected.

AFBF and John Deere also agreed to a semiannual meeting to regularly assess the status of the MOU agreement.

This is an issue that has been a priority for us for several years and has taken a lot of work to get to this point, said AFBF president Vincent Duvall in a press release.

The joint terms of the MOU is being promoted as a potential blueprint for future agreements with manufacturers in the farm equipment industry and other sectors.

However, many state and local farm associations still took issue with the deal, saying that this is a voluntary private agreement that lacks enforcement.

White House Authorizes FTC to Pass Rules in Favor of Independent Repairs

President Joe Biden signed an executive order in 2021, pressuring the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to craft new rules to protect right to repair rights.

The FTC has since voted to enforce the right to repair as policy and will look to take action against any company that limits the type of repair work done at independent repair shops.

Overseas, the right-to-repair law was enacted in the United Kingdom in July 2021, while France adopted a repairability index for consumers in January 2021.

The Canadian House of Commons currently deliberating a right-to-repair bill that would amend Canadas Copyright Act to ease product software repair limitations.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) changed the end date of a study it is requiring Pfizer to conduct because Pfizer requested a delay, the agency says.

The company requested an extension from FDA for completion, which the agency granted, an FDA spokesperson told The Epoch Times via email.

When the FDA approved Pfizers vaccine in August 2021, it said Pfizer was required to conduct postmarketing studies to evaluate the safety of the vaccine.

One of the studies was meant to assess post-vaccination subclinical myocarditis, or heart inflammation, following a third dose of the vaccine in people aged 16 to 30.

That study was going to be completed on June 30, 2022, with Pfizer submitting a final report on the results to the FDA by Dec. 31, 2022.

After the deadline passed, the FDA quietly changed the end date to June 30, 2023.

The FDA declined to say whether it knows why Pfizer wanted an extension and, if so, what the rationale was.

You may request any communications between FDA and the company by submitting a Freedom of Information Act request. You may also wish to contact the company directly, the agency spokesperson said.

Pfizer has not responded to inquiries.

The Epoch Times has submitted Freedom of Information Act requests for emails and other materials relating to the change.

Jessica Adams, a former FDA officer who has been critical of how the issue has been handled, first disclosed that the FDA delayed the end date at Pfizers request.

Adams on Twitter described the situation as disturbing. I cant think of any possible justification for this, she wrote.

Public Deserves to Know

Kim Witczak, a drug safety advocate who helped uncover that antidepressants can increase the risk of suicide, said that the reason for delaying the crucial Pfizer study needs to be released.

The public deserves to know why Pfizer was NOT able to meet their post-marketing deadline. The completion dates for post-marketing studies were established in good faith at the time of authorization. There is no excuse for this delay especially given the concerns with myocarditis, Witczak told The Epoch Times via email.

If safety was a top priority, the FDA would have denied the request and demanded this study instead of quietly allowing the extension. Wheres the transparency the public was promised? It makes me wonder if the company doesnt like the data they are seeing and need to figure out a way to report on the findings, she added. Hopefully, the documents obtained by FOIA will shine a light on the reason.

With regards to Zoloft, an antidepressent made by Pfizer, she noted that internal company correspondence revealed in her legal case against the company over her husbands suicide after starting to use Zoloft showed the company discussing whether to give the FDA a simple straight-forward report or a complicated and confusing one on adverse events after Zoloft.

Pfizer was concerned about how the FDA would interpret the data, and discussed do[ing] some sort of review and put[ting] our interpretation into it, and not provide them with a straight listing that they might then interpret in a manner that we believe to be not appropriate, according to one message.

The case was ultimately settled for an undisclosed amount of money.

Myocarditis

Myocarditis has been occurring at higher-than-expected rates in the United States in many age groups, especially young males, following COVID-19 vaccination. The condition is serious and has led to deaths.

A connection between the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and myocarditis wasnt detected until after the FDA authorized them in late 2020. The vaccines, both of which utilize messenger RNA technology, cause the heart inflammation, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other experts.

At the time of the vaccine approval, the FDA said it was not able to assess known serious risks of myocarditis and pericarditis and identify an unexpected serious risk of subclinical myocarditis.

Therefore, based on appropriate scientific data, we have determined that you are required to conduct the following studies, the FDA said, listing six studies on heart inflammation and three for broader vaccine safety.

The one with the earliest completion date was the one that has been delayed. One study has already been completed, but results have not been released and the final report is not due until Oct. 31, 2023. The next earliest end date is May 31, 2024. Others are due in 2024, 2025, or even 2026.

Error

On its portal outlining the state of studies required for vaccines after authorization or approval, the FDA listed the subclinical myocarditis study as having an Original Projected Completion Date of June 30, 2023. Thats false.

The FDA is acknowledging that it is false, but is leaving the false information up on its website for now.

The data field, Original Projected Completion Date was updated in error; it should reflect the date that is in the approval letter, the agency spokesperson said.

The date will be corrected during the next routine update to the website, the spokesperson said.

As of Feb. 14, the wrong date is still listed.

Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly listed the new completion date. Its June 30, 2023. The Epoch Times regrets the error.
Officials: Thousands of Dead Fish Reported Around Ohio Derailment Site

ONG 52nd Civil Support Team members prepare to enter an incident area to assess remaining hazards with a lightweight inflatable decontamination system (LIDS) in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 7, 2023. (Ohio National Guard via AP)

The train derailment and release of toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 3 has resulted in at least 3,500 fish dead, according to an estimate from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

Wildlife officers with the Ohio environmental agency found dead fish in Leslie Run, Bull Creek, and a portion of the North Fork of Beaver Creek, the agency told News5 on Monday.

As of Feb. 8, some 3,500 minnow, sculpin, darter, and small sucker fish have been killed by the chemical release, the Department of Natural Resources told the outlet.

Due to the spill, a water utility company in West Virginia announced Sunday that it will install a secondary intake on the Guyandotte River in case theres a need to use an alternate water source, reported The Associated Press. It said that there have been no changes in its raw water levels where it monitors the Ohio River.

It came after a woman who lives in the area said she saw dead fish in Leslie Run, saying that her family uses the same water.

Thats what we bathe in, thats what we drink, thats what we cook with and thats what I also give to my animals, so its a major concern and they could not reassure me the water was safe to drink. They didnt say it wasnt and absolutely refrained from saying that it was, Linda Murphy, who lives three miles from the train derailment, told the outlet.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) confirmed that chemicals released from the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, earlier this month have been found in the Ohio River, one of the largest rivers in the United States.

In a letter sent on Feb. 10, the EPA said (pdf) that there were substances from the train that were now observed and detected in samples from Sulphur Run, Leslie Run, Bull Creek, North Fork Little Beaver Creek, Little Beaver Creek, and the Ohio River. Meanwhile, materials related to the incident were observed entering storm drains, the letter stated.

A train operated by Norfolk Southern derailed near East Palestine on Feb. 3. Authorities have confirmed a range of toxic and highly flammable chemicals were being carried, including vinyl chloride, phosgene, and hydrogen chloride. During a controlled release and burn of materials on the train, officials had to issue a temporary evacuation order of East Palestine.

On Monday, a municipal water company serving Louisville, Kentucky, said that the chemical butyl acrylateconfirmed to be carried on the derailed trainwas observed in the Ohio River. Louisville sits on the Ohio River, one of the largest rivers in the United States and one that contributes significantly to the Mississippi River.

What we are seeing is really low levels of a compound called butyl acrylate, Chris Bobay, a water quality manager with Louisville Water Company, told local media. Butyl acrylate is an ester and esters are known for imparting very strong odors to the water at higher concentrations. The levels were seeing, we dont expect there to be any odor issues. But we have developed a treatment strategy to make sure that we remove the odors if theyre there.

But Bobay stated that officials are not seeing elevated levels of the chemical in the Ohio River in Louisville, located about 300 miles from the East Palestine derailment site. We can detect butyl acrylate as low as .5 parts per billion, but were not getting detections currently, Bobay told Spectrum News.

According to health authorities (pdf), butyl acrylate is a clear, colorless liquid with a fruity, strong odor that is used in the manufacture of polymers and resins, and in paint formulations.

Butyl acrylate can affect a person when passing through the skin or when it is inhaled, officials say. The chemical can headache, dizziness, nausea, and vomiting, and repeated exposure can cause permanent damage to the lungs, according to officials. Its also highly flammable and rated as an explosion hazard.

Meanwhile, the National Center for Biotechnology Informations website says the chemical is somewhat less dense than water and can form a slick on water. Its primarily used in the manufacturing of sealants, paints, and coatings.

Ohio Department of Natural Resources officials told local outlet WEWS-TV that as of Feb. 8, the derailment and fire resulted in the deaths of about 3,500 fish across about 7.5 miles of streams south of East Palestine.

The EPA, in an update over the weekend, wrote that air quality samples in the area of the wreckage and in nearby residential neighborhoods have consistently showed readings at points below safety screening levels for contaminants of concern, referring to East Palestine. Air testing has been carried out 24 hours per day from several instruments, it said.

The Epoch Times has contacted both the EPA and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources for comment.
Feds Spent Over $50 Million on Hotels for Illegal Immigrants, Refugees Since 2015, Govt Figures Show

An RCMP officer informs a migrant couple of the location of a legal border station, shortly before they illegally crossed from Champlain, N.Y., to Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, Quebec, via Roxham Road. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

Two federal departments have spent over $50 million since 2015 on hotel bookings for migrants illegally crossing the Canadian border and also for lawful refugee applicants, new government figures show.

In an Inquiry of Ministry recently tabled in the House of Commons, the Department of Immigration and Department of Public Works said they have paid a combined $50.6 million since 2015 on the hotel room bookings, according to Blacklocks Reporter.

The inquiry showed that over 63,700 foreigners is known to have stayed in the hotels, with over 26,300 of them being illegal immigrants.

The information was requested by Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner.

Since November 4, 2015, how many hotels has the government contracted for housing asylum seekers or refugees? she asked in the inquiry, while also requesting a breakdown of the hotel bookings by city or municipality and details of the contracts pertaining to each.

The two departments said they signed contracts with a total of 35 hotel operators in cities across Canada, with most located in Ontario and Quebec.

The Dev Hotel and Conference Centre in Cornwall, Ont., received the largest contract, at $30 million, with the next biggest going to the Quality Hotel & Suites Toronto Airport East for $2.9 million.

The Montreal Airport Travelodge received a contract worth $1.9 million and the Marigold Hotel in Brampton, Ont., received a $1.2 million contract.

Rempel Garner also wanted to know how many of the migrants staying in the hotels had claimed asylum after entering Canada irregularly through the unofficial border crossing at Roxham Road in Quebec, but the inquiry did not specify.

Irregular Migration

The total cost to government of illegal immigration into Canada has still not been estimated by any federal office or agency.

However, the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) estimated in 2018 that the figures were likely to be around $1 billion over the three fiscal years from 201718 to 201920equalling an average cost for each irregular migrant of over $14,300 in 201718 for the entire claim process, rising to over $16,600 in 201920.

There has been a recent increase in the number of asylum claimants entering

Canada via its southern border, said the 2018 report, titled Costing Irregular Migration across Canadas Southern Border.

For an irregular migrant that entered Canada in 201718, the PBO estimates that the cost to the federal government can vary between $9,915 and $33,738.

The PBO added in the report that it undertook a sensitivity analysis of future variable costs relating to irregular migration to project how costs could change in the near future.

Assuming the number of irregular migrants to be higher or lower by 10,000 relative to the number in fiscal year 201718, the PBO projected that the costs would rise steadily year over year and reach over $600 million for the fiscal year 201920.
Fighter Jets Scramble to Intercept 3 Military Aircraft Near NATO Airspace

Two U.S. Air Force B-1B bombers, top center, four F-35 fighter jets and four Air Force F-16 fighter jets fly in a file photo. (South Korean Defense Ministry via AP)

Dutch F-35 fighter jets were scrambled and intercepted a formation of Russian military planes flying near Polish airspace, said Dutch defense officials on Tuesday.

The Netherlands Ministry of Defense said that the three Russian jets were escorted out by two F-35 fighters.

The-then unknown aircraft approached the Polish NATO area of responsibility from Kaliningrad, the statement said. It was referring to the Russian enclave located between NATO members Poland and Lithuania along the Baltic Sea. The Netherlands, meanwhile, is a founding member of NATO.

After identification, it turned out to be three aircraft: a Russian IL-20M Coot-A that was escorted by two Su-27 Flankers, the Dutch ministrys statement continued. The Dutch F-35s escorted the formation from a distance and handed over the escort to NATO partners.

The Il-20M Coot-A is another name for the Russian Ilyushin Il-20M reconnaissance aircraft. Su-27 Flankers are the same as the Russian Sukhoi Su-28 fighter aircraft.

A spokesperson for the Polish Defense Ministry told Politico Europe on Tuesday the planes were traveling over international waters. None of [Polands] airspace has been interrupted, the ministry spokesperson said.

Dutch F-35 stationed at the 22nd Tactical Air Base in Malbork were scrambled on Monday in order to identify and intercept three Russian aircraft that were operating near Polish airspace, Polish officials said.

Russias Ministry of Defense has not issued any public statements in response to the interception. No statements were published Tuesday on prominent state-run Russian media outlets.

Three Russian fighter jets escort a NATO military aircraft over the Black Sea on Dec. 9, 2021. (Courtesy of Russian Defense Ministry)

The Netherlands defense ministry said that eight Dutch F-35s will be stationed in Poland between February and March. The Polish defense ministry added that the operation was routine.

The fly-by comes as tensions remain relatively escalated between the Kremlin and NATO amid the RussiaUkraine war. And the interception comes as the United States, a NATO member, shot down several unknown objects over North American territory in recent days, an incident that occurred days after an F-22 Raptor shot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon near the South Carolina coast.

Other Incidents

Its not uncommon for Russian warplanes to fly near NATO or U.S. territory. In October, the U.S. military confirmed two Air Force F-16 fighter planes intercepted Russian nuclear-capable bombers off the Alaskan coast after they were spotted within the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone.

The recent Russian activity in the North American ADIZ is not seen as a threat nor is the activity seen as provocative. NORAD tracks and positively identifies foreign military aircraft that enter the ADIZ. NORAD routinely monitors foreign aircraft movements and as necessary, escorts them from the ADIZ, a statement from North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, said at the time.

Several weeks before that, NORAD said that it had tracked and identified two Russian patrol aircraft inside the Canadian and Alaskan ADIZ, although the Russian planes didnt enter either U.S. or Canadian airspace.

Also in Europe, NATO said last August it had scrambled fighter jets over the Baltic and Black seas after Russian aircraft were detected flying near the blocs airspace.

NATO radars tracked a number of unidentified aircraft over the Baltic and Black Seas since April 26, NATO said, adding that jets in their respective regions were called to intercept and identify the approaching aircraft. Poland, Romania, Denmark, France, Spain, and the United Kingdom launched fighter planes to probe the affected airspace, it said.

In Asia, South Korean officials said that a group of eight fighter jets and four bombers operated by North Korea flew in formation near the inter-Korean air boundary in October. They are believed to have carried out air-to-surface military drills, officials with South Koreas military said.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley were in Belgium to discuss providing more military assistance and funding to Ukraine amid the nearly year-long war with Russia.

During a news conference in Brussels, Milley elaborated more on the object that was shot down near Lake Huron, Michigan, over the past weekend. He disclosed that a missile fired by a U.S. F-16 missed the object but that the second missile hit and that the first missile did no damage to life or property.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Ford Halts Production and Shipment of Electric F-150 Lightning Pickup Due to Battery Failure

The Lightning logo on the side of an all-new Ford F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck outside the Ford Motor World Headquarters in Dearborn, Mich., on April 26, 2022. (Rebecca Cook/Reuters)

Ford Motor Co. halted the production and shipment of its F-150 Lightning electric pickup after it discovered a potential battery failure during pre-delivery check up inspections.

The news of the suspension in deliveries of the automakers electric vehicle (EV) version of its classic pickup truck was first announced on Feb. 14 by Motor Authority.

During a standard Lightning pre-delivery quality inspection, one vehicle displayed a battery issue, Ford spokesperson Emma Bergg told The Epoch Times in an email. We believe we have identified the root cause of this issue.

We are not aware of any incidents of this issue in the field and do not believe F-150 Lightnings already in customers hands are affected by this issue, she added.

Bergg said that suspension of production at Fords Rouge Electric Vehicle Center will last through at least to the end of next week when we expect to conclude our investigation and apply what we learn to the trucks battery production process; this could take a few weeks.

We will continue holding already-produced vehicles while we work through engineering and process updates.

Ford has yet to provide a timeline for a production restart and when it will lift the in-transit stop-ship order.

Demand Rises for Fords Electric Pickup Truck

The Lightning is the electric version of its popular F-150 pickup, which is one of Fords top-selling models in the United States. Production of the EV truck is a major part of its goal to go full electric over the next decade.

Demand for the EV truck has been strong from the beginning, with Ford receiving more than 200,000 reservations for the F-150 Lightning after bookings opened in mid-2021.

The Detroit-based automaker has delivered 15,680 Lightnings so far, after deliveries commenced in May 2022, according to Barrons.

Fords goal is to be have enough capacity in place to build two million EVs a year by 2026but the battery issues would need to be addressed.

Cause of F-150 Lightning Battery Failure Remains Unknown

The team is diligently working on the root cause analysis, Bergg told CNBC, adding they are doing the right thing by our customers and will resolve any potential issues before resuming production and shipments.

It is unknown if the pause had to do with batteries purchased from suppliers, battery pack defects, or a software issue regarding battery management, which is common on all EVs.

Bergg said that Ford is unaware of any incidents or issues associated with the potential battery issue.

A no stop-sale order for the Lightnings already on dealer lots have not been issued, which means dealers can continue to sell the EV trucks they have on hand. It is also unclear if the recent stop build and stop ship order would affect the delivery timelines for consumers awaiting their existing orders of the F-150 Lightnings.

However, since Ford is already struggling to scale up production of the truck to keep up with consumer demand, the probability of even more extended wait times are likely.

Ford Hit With Disappointing Fourth-Quarter Results

Earlier this month, Ford posted poor fourth-quarter results and a loss of $2 billion for 2022 due to uncertainty over its semiconductor chip supply.

Ford CEO Jim Farley blamed systemic shortcomings around costs and systems that put the brakes on his plan to transform the company. We have deeply entrenched issues in our industrial system that have proven tough to root out, Farley to investors on the February conference call.

Farley had plans to expand its EV business and set up lines for its legacy conventionally powered vehicles, vans, and other commercial vehicles, but persistent supply-chain turmoil has delayed his vision.

The company will need to focus more supply-chain improvements and higher industry volumes, as well as on lower costs for commodities and logistics.

The Detroit automaker added a third work crew last December in order to boost production of Lightning and capitalize on strong demand for the EV.

Meanwhile, Fords stock price extended its losses after news of the production halt, and was down 1.6 percent by the afternoon.

Shares of Ford have declined 26 percent in the past 12 months, compared with losses of around 6 percent for the benchmark S&P 500 Index. The Epoch Times has reached out to Ford Motor Co. for comment.

Reuters contributed to this report.

This article has been updated to include comment from Ford.
U | 1 h 33 min | Drama | 1939

Walter Langs family drama, bordering on a fairy tale, is set in 1899 England, when senior military officers were considered part of the aristocracy, just shy of royalty.

When widower Capt. Crewe (Ian Hunter) is called to duty in the Second Boer War, hes forced to leave his child, Sara (11-year-old Shirley Temple), and her pony in Miss Minchins School for Girls. For the first time living entire months on her own, Sara joyfully, if mischievously, copes with the ups and downs of life.

Schoolmistress Minchin (Mary Nash), is as steeped in pointless propriety as she is in snobbishness, unmoved by aristocrats unless they can make her even more affluent than she is. Her kind brother Bertie (Arthur Treacher), and teacher, Rose (Anita Louise), help in running the boarding school.

Sara Crewe (Shirley Temple) and riding instructor Geoffrey (Richard Greene), in The Little Princess. (20th Century Fox Film Corporation)

Pampered by her father since birth, Sara smarts at Minchins needlessly regimented establishment. As Capt. Crewe brings her to the gate, Sara furrows her brow and says, Its not a very cheerful-looking school, is it Daddy?

Shes right. Minchin takes Sara in only when Capt. Crewe, reluctantly, brandishes his formidable financial credentials. Things look up at first, as Minchin pampers Sara, expecting a flow of payments from Saras doting father.

Sara shows up at school dressed as a princess, with a pony in tow. So some of her less-than-aristocratic classmates are raring to teach her a lesson in modesty. Soon, they and Minchin get their chance.

As war bulletins flow in from the siege of Mafeking in South Africa and Capt. Crewe is reported killed in battle, the tables turn on Sara. With no sympathy for a now-penniless Sara, Minchin swiftly strips her of prior indulgences, shunts her from her luxurious room to a garret, and foists kitchen and household chores on her.

To Minchins dismay, Sara turns out to be quite a character: resilient, steely, and proud of her soldierly upbringing. Typical of children who are brought up by single parents and who have no siblings to keep them company at play, Sara is used to playing pretend and chatting up her doll or her pony.

Far from being a materialistic spoiled brat, Sara values people and relationships. She sings and dances not just when happy, but even when unhappy, as long as it helps brighten up those less fortunate. Shes unbowed by Minchins bullying and doesnt shy from befriending the underdog, especially the lowly, but charming Becky (Sybil Jason), who routinely does the chores.

Becky (Sybil Jason, L) and Sara (Shirley Temple) become friends, in The Little Princess. (20th Century Fox Film Corporation)

One touching image is of Sara, tutored by Capt. Crewe, either bidding him goodbye or weathering his separation when on duty, recites a little rhyme:

My Daddy has to go away,

But hell return most any day.

Any moment I may see,

My Daddy, coming back to me.

Pomp and Grandeur

Producer Darryl F. Zanuck spares no expense or effort in delivering gorgeous costumes and elaborate set design and decoration. Because its so posh, the school also benefits from the services of horse-riding instructor Geoffrey (Richard Greene). Wealthy families at the time considered a pony for a child as something of a status symbol. Remember Rhett Butler, fussing over his little Bonnie and her pony in Gone With the Wind, released the same year?

Sara (Shirley Temple) and Bertie (Arthur Treacher) in a dream sequence, in The Little Princess. (20th Century Fox Film Corporation)

Lang, better known for directing The King and I (1956) and Can-Can (1960), brings his flair for music, dance, pomp, and grandeur even to the relatively simple settings here. Two brief song sequences see Sara tap-dancing alongside Bertie. One extended seven-minute, fairy-tale-like dream sequence, including a bit of ballet, depicts almost all the principal characters, including Minchin as a witch!

Conscious of his child-centered audience, Lang softens Minchins harshness in some places for comic effect, and allows it fuller flow in others, but never darkens it to the level of deprivation seen in other childrens movies such as Great Expectations or Oliver Twist.

Besides, kindness surrounds Sara anyway, in the form of Bertie, Rose, and Becky. Even Minchins aristocratic neighbor Lord Wickham (Miles Mander) and his attendant, Ram Dass (Cesar Romero), present a sympathetic contrast to Minchins transactional style. Children will delight at the hint of magic that this intriguing duo brings to a scene.

Its a pity screenwriters Ethel Hill and Walter Ferris pivot their narrative almost entirely around Sara, rarely stopping to flesh out the characters of other girls, let alone other adult characters. Even Becky features too fleetingly. Typical of that eras films, American actors jostle with British performers, never worrying too much about inauthentic accents.

The film capped nearly a decade of Temples 1930s roles as a child actress, her first in Technicolor and her last major hit as a still-chubby child.

The Little Princess was Shirley Temples last film as a child actress. (20th Century Film Corporation)

The Little Princess

Director: Walter Lang

Starring: Shirley Temple, Anita Louise, Ian Hunter, Mary Nash, Arthur Treacher, Sybil Jason

Not Rated

Running Time: 1 hour, 33 minutes

Release Date: March 10, 1939

Rated: 3 stars out of 5
Good and Bad Ideas on Reparations in California

Commentary

Secretary of State Shirley Weber recently spoke at California State UniversitySacramento on reparations for black Californians for slavery and other harms. While in the Assembly, she authored Assembly Bill 3121, which authorized the state reparations task force. She said its moving toward issuing a report in July:

Since California is now moving toward being the fourth largest economy in the world, and we can do everything else, we can talk about reparations. Apologies without action means very little.

And she told KCRA 3:

There have been reparations given to all kinds of other individuals, but theres been no serious effort to repair the damage done to African Americans in this country. Whether its been financial, legislative, educational, all those kinds of things, and its unquestionable that the damage has been done and that we must do something, otherwise we cant really move forward because that legacy is there.

KCRA 3 also summarized some of her comments: She said those who are descendants of people who were enslaved, or descendants of Black people who lived during the time of slavery but were free, would be the focus of the reparations program.

The question is: What to do? As I have written in The Epoch Times here and here and here, its impossible to figure out how to compensate for somethingslaverythat ended in America in 1865 and never existed in the state of California; all groups and many people today have claims about abuses by the government or other Americans; and task forces like this one are almost guaranteed to cause even more divisions in our heavily conflicted country.

A Great Idea

However, when the task force last met, on Jan. 27 at San Diego State University, a decent idea actually was presented. Wealth Insider reported:

The California reparations task force listened to testimony from experts who suggested possible sources for compensation, after previous meetings had touched on the potential for hundreds of thousands in monetary reparations for specific harms. The experts suggestions included taxing the rich, such as through a state estate tax or a mansion tax; incentivizing the wealthy to help fund reparations by providing tax breaks, akin to how charitable giving minimizes ones tax burden; or helping all taxpayers with below-median wealth by means of a tax credit, which would in turn help Black households.

That last one is the key: Tax credits for those with poverty-level incomes. Then you dont have to worry about DNA tests to prove ones ancestry, combing through housing records for unjust uses of eminent domain against ancestors, and any other complicated way to figure things out.

The Franchise Tax Boardor the IRS at the federal levelcould be tasked, by law, to implement such a benefit to the poor.

More Reforms

But here are some more ideas along those lines:

1. Increase the state renters credit, currently $60 for a single person and $120 for those married. But income has to be below $49,220 for a single person and $98,440 for those married. Thats so low its almost not worth applying.

How about making it $500 and $1,000, and double the thresholds? (Full disclosure: Im a renter.)

2. Cut the state sales tax by 1 percentage point, to an average of 7 percent from 8 percent. The sales tax is regressive, meaning the less you make, the higher percentage of your income you pay. According to Accurate Tax:

[P]eople in the lowest bracket pay more than DOUBLE what the top 1% pay. Because everyone in a given area pays the same percentage of tax, it works out to be a larger portion of the overall income for people who earn less.

According to Gov. Gavin Newsoms Jan. 10 budget proposal (pdf) for fiscal year 2023-24, which begins in July 1, sales tax revenues in that period are expected to be $33.6 billion. If the sales tax were cut by 1 percentage point (of 8 points), those revenues would decline by one-eighth, or $4.2 billion. Certainly, in a budget pegged to spend $208.9 billion for the general fund, cuts of that amount could be made. (Its too bad this change wasnt made last year when the state surplus was $100 billion.)

Alas, the temptation would be to make up for the lost sales tax revenues by raising other taxes, in particular income taxes. That ought to be avoided because Californias taxes are so high overall they need to come down.

3. Cut regulations on everything: for example, the California Environmental Quality Act, which especially hampers low-income housing construction; and Project Labor Agreements, which mandate high union wages for private-sector building projects, such as on housing.

4. End occupational licensing requirements for most jobs. A November 2022 report by the Institute for Justice described how these unneeded requirements kill jobs, especially for the poor. In its California section, the report scored the state third-worst in requiring unneeded licenses for the poor, with 75 licenses required for 102 lower-income occupations. Average fees are $517 per license, compared to the national average of $284. What a burden on someone just starting out.

Conclusion

Its a hopeful sign Californias reparations task force is considering at least one sensible remedy to the lingering effects of slavery and segregation. But the risk remains that the project as a whole will be counter-productive and just create more divisions, instead of bringing us together.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
South Dakota Governor Signs Law Banning Puberty Blockers, Surgery for Youth

Gov. Kristi Noem (R-S.D.) signed the Help Not Harm bill into law on Monday, effectively banning certain medical and surgical interventions, such as puberty blockers and genital surgery, for trans youth.

The new law, which takes effect July 1, prohibits health care providers from violating the ban or they risk having their medical license revoked, and possible legal action. The state Senate approved the bill on Feb. 9.

South Dakotas kids are our future. With this legislation, we are protecting kids from harmful, permanent medical procedures, Noem said in a statement. I will always stand up for the next generation of South Dakotans.

According to the text of the bill, HB 1080 prohibits health care professionals from prescribing or administering certain medical and surgical interventions for minors to attempt to alter their appearance or perception of their sex.

These interventions include prescribing drugs to delay puberty and administering hormones in amounts greater than what is typically produced endogenously in a healthy individual of the same age and sex, such as testosterone, estrogen, or progesterone.

The law also blocks doctors from performing sterilization surgeries or surgeries that artificially construct genitalia differing from the minors sex, and procedures that remove healthy or non-diseased body parts or tissue.

Minors with medically-verifiable disorders of sex development are exempt from the ban, including those diagnosed with a disorder of sexual development or needing treatment for infections, injuries, diseases, or disorders by the prohibited interventions.

The law also establishes penalties for health care professionals who violate the prohibitions and provides a window for minors who had already started a prohibited course of treatment to have the treatment gradually reduced.

The bill defines sex as the biological indicators of male and female as determined by chromosomes, hormones, gonads, and genitalia present at birth.

One of the four Democratic senators in the state proposed an amendment to allow minors to access puberty blockers for counseling purposes, but it was defeated in the Republican-dominated Senate. Another amendment, which would have required the South Dakota Department of Social Services to provide mental health counseling to minors with gender dysphoria, was also rejected.

Similar legislation has been introduced in over 20 states to limit or prohibit gender-affirming care for minors. Although bans have been passed in Utah, Alabama, and Arkansas, they are currently blocked by courts as lawsuits continue.

Tennessee Senate Passes Similar Bill

The Tennessee Senate approved a similar bill banning health care professionals from prescribing puberty blockers, hormone treatments, and related surgeries to trans youth in the state.

The legislation passed along party lines with Republicans voting in favor, 26-6.

Supporters claim that the bill is intended to safeguard children, while opponents argue that such decisions are made in conjunction with parents and physicians.

Chloe Cole, 18, who told the Tennessee state Senate that she fell victim to so-called gender-affirming care when she was 15, welcomed the bills progress.

Chloe Cole takes part in a demonstration in Anaheim, Calif., on Oct. 8, 2022. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

HB1 in Tennessee will protect children from the gender cult, Cole said. Im confident we will see a day when children are no longer sterilized and surgically harmed in the name of a perverse and sexual ideology in Tennessee.

Cole was 15 when a doctor allowed her to undergo a double mastectomy procedure as part of what Cole believed at the time to be the only treatment for her gender dysphoria.

In numerous testimonies and interviews around the country, Cole has asserted that doctors and other health care professionals lied to her parents to convince them that she would kill herself if she doesnt medically transition to a male.

In testimony to the Tennessee state legislature, Coles said only started to feel suicidal after she commenced treatment for gender dysphoria.

Cole said doctors were negligent with her, treating her as an adult and not a child. Years later, she says she suffers physically as a result of the medications she was given as a child and the surgeries designed to permanently change the sex of her body.

The bills sponsor in Tennessee, Sen. Jack Johnson, said the legislation will help minor children who otherwise might be subjected to surgical procedures that remove body parts or being prescribed medications that make permanent changes to a childs body, Fox 17 reported.

The bill will now be considered by the Tennessee House.
This time of year you cant walk into a drug store or a supermarket in America without seeing government-sponsored messaging urging you to get a flu vaccine.

Thats because the CDC blanketly recommends vaccination against influenza for everyone six months of age and older every year.

Government health officials have actually been making this recommendation since the 20102011 flu season.

Why God Gave Us Two Arms

The governments belief in the importance of a yearly flu vaccine is so strong that it has reached the pitch of religious fervor.

I really believe this is why God gave us two arms, White House COVID response coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha said at a September 2022 news briefing, right at the beginning of the flu season: one for the flu shot and the other for the COVID shot.

Jha is recognized globally as an expert on pandemic preparedness and response as well as on health policy research and practice, according to Brown University, where he has served as Dean of the School of Public Health.

Only 45.9 Percent of American Adults Vaccinated Against the Flu

But the thinking public appears to be a little less enthusiastic about this vaccine.

According to CDC data that was last updated on Feb. 3, 2023, flu vaccination rates currently range from 36.3 percent to 76.9 percent among children, for a national average of 51.1 percent.

At the same time, only 28.3 percent of African-American women who are pregnant have said yes to the flu shot (less than a third), and only 45.9 percent of American adults have decided to get vaccinated against the flu.

Its an open question and one that many people are unsure about: Is the flu vaccine actually a shot you should get every year or one that it makes more sense to skip?

What Is the Flu Vaccine?

Influenza vaccines are vaccines that change every year but are designed to protect people from getting four influenza viruses.

Most are given via injectionin the armbut consumers can also opt to get the flu vaccine via a nasal spray.

The composition of these flu vaccines changes every year. This is because new strains of influenza are constantly evolving, so the vaccine must be reformulated annually in the hopes that it will target the correct strains.

Influenza viruses evolve into new strains every year. New strains of the virus then travel the globe following certain patterns. For example, according to this report in the journal Science, during 20022007, strains of influenza A (H3N2) first reached Oceania, then North America, Europe, and later South America.

Each year, vaccine manufacturers, along with public health authorities in North America, monitor what happens in Oceania to try to select vaccine candidates to target the correct flu lineages. The hope is that the strains that will subsequently infect people in Canada and the United States in a few months time will follow the path exactly, and that they will not change much before they reach North America.

In other words, the influenza vaccines are made prior to the flu season based on an educated guess, informed by the best data available, which is collected from flu virus surveillance information from 144 influenza centers in over 114 different countries, according to the CDC.

A Hit or Miss Injection

The idea is that the four vaccine viruses chosen are actually the viruses that will infect people once the flu season hits. However, like meteorologists predicting the weather, there is no guarantee that the correct lineages will be chosen. And, also like meteorologists, influenza vaccines can be very hit or miss.

Sometimes the vaccine is a bad match, and offers very littleif anyprotection against the circulating flu viruses. Other years, when the match is good, the vaccine can be highly efficacious.

Unfortunately, flu vaccine effectiveness for the 20212022 flu season was reportedly only 14 percent. Other CDC data found it to be slightly higher16 percentbut still too low to be statistically significant. According to the CDCs weekly updates, based on data from over 3,500 children and adults enrolled in the Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness Network during Oct. 4, 2021Feb. 12, 2022: Overall, vaccine effectiveness (VE) against medically attended outpatient ARI associated with influenza A(H3N2) virus was 16% (95% CI = 16% to 39%), which is considered not statistically significant.

During years where the vaccine is a good match, the flu vaccine hovers around 60 percent effective. Some years it has been as low as 10 percent.

While many argue that some coverage is better than none, others choose not to get a flu vaccine because the real risk of the vaccination appears to outweigh any theoretical benefit it might confer.

While we only have preliminary data at this point, government officials announced in December that there was a very good match to currently circulating flu strains, which means it will likely be between 40 and 60 percent effective.

So Why Not Get the Shot?

We dont get flu vaccines, is a phrase youve likely heard before. Even people who unquestioningly give their children other vaccines choose not to get vaccinated against influenza. Some say no, thank you, to this vaccine because of its low efficacy. But others do not want to get a flu vaccine because of safety concerns.

The National Vaccine Injury Compensation program has paid out about $4.8 billion to compensate people who have been injured or died as a result of severe adverse reactions to vaccines. From Jan. 1, 2006, to Dec. 31, 2019, the majority of people compensated (1,309) have had injuries directly following the influenza vaccine.

One of the most common, and devastating, side effects of the influenza vaccine is Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS). This is an immune system dysfunction. Because the immune system begins attacking the nervous system, people who have severe GBS can experience muscle weakness, lose their reflexes, become paralyzed, and even die.

GBS is also a known side effect of the HPV vaccine.

A 2-year-old New Hampshire girl who was given both the COVID-19 injection and a quadrivalent flu vaccine on Dec. 15, 2022, died the next day, according to a Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) report.

At the same time, fewer than 1 percent of adverse vaccine events are reported, according to a 2010 study (pdf) done by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Concerning Ingredients

Multi-dose flu vaccines, which are the majority given in the United States, still contain thimerosal. This is a mercury-based preservative that is a powerful antibacterial and anti-fungal agent.

Mercury in any form is toxic, even in trace amounts. It is known to harm the nervous system and the kidneys. Despite being established as neurotoxic and nephrotoxic in the scientific literature, thimerosal was used in vaccines for several decades until manufacturers, concerned that the cumulative exposure to mercury via vaccines may have been responsible for the rising incidents of brain damage in children, began voluntarily phasing it out at the end of the 1990s. Yet thimerosal was never banned from vaccines and it is still in multi-dose flu vaccines.

Other concerning ingredients found in the influenza vaccines (depending on the brand) include:

Polysorbate 80, a known endocrine disruptor.

Formaldehyde, a known carcinogen.

Madin Darby Canine kidney cell protein, which is grown from cell lines from the kidney tissue of two female cocker spaniels and may not be acceptable to strict vegans.

Porcine gelatin (in the nasal spray), a product made from pigs, which is known to be contaminated with glyphosate (a highly toxic herbicide) and which is objectionable to many practicing Jews and Muslims.

Egg protein, which can be an allergen for some. Some 1.3 percent of children under five are allergic to eggs.

A Serial Mistake?

Another concern that has been raised in the scientific literature is that there is a growing body of evidence that suggests that repeated flu vaccines may actually blunt vaccine efficacy in subsequent years.

Indeed, scientists have found that people who were vaccinated against influenza for three years in a row actually had a higher risk of succumbing to an influenza infection than people who had received fewer or no vaccines.

This research has led even the most established government officials to call for a revision of the universal flu vaccine policy.

In 2015, Dr. Richard Schabas, who was the chief medical officer in Ontario, Canada, was quoted in the Canadian Medical Association Journal asking for a careful rethink of where we are, and insisting that we should be taking a long and sober look at our policies. There are more and more unanswered questions about how effective a universal program really is.

What to Do If You Get the Flu?

Every winter people get sick from the flu and flu-like illnesses.

You can greatly reduce your risk of infection by supporting your immune system with the right lifestyle practices: plenty of high-quality sleep, optimizing your vitamin D, especially in the form of sunlight on your skin, eating fresh healthy whole foods, and reducing your exposure to toxins as well as to stress. Washing your hands with soap and water, especially if youve been exposed to someone with the sniffles, also greatly reduces the spread of the virus, according to a 2016 case-controlled study published in the journal Medicine.

If you do get the flu, make sure to rest; stop eating sugar (sugar feeds bad bacteria) but start eating nutrient-dense easy-to-digest foods like organic bone broth and homemade apple sauce. Try not to take fever reducers, and be sure to stay as hydrated as possible. Most importantly, listen to your body. With just a little rest and relaxation, you should be back on your feet in no time.

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.
You may be familiar with the advertising phrase whiter and brighter. Its used to help sell a variety of products, ranging from laundry detergent to toothpaste and teeth whiteners.

An ingredient used to achieve that effect is called titanium dioxide, and its also used in some foods, such as cottage cheese and cake frostings to make them appear whiter and more visually appealing. What is not so appealing about titanium dioxide, however, are the findings of recent research linking its use with colon cancer.

What Is Titanium Dioxide?

Titanium dioxide is a powder that is used as a white pigment that has the ability to enhance and brighten white opacity because it scatters light well. Food and personal care and cosmetic manufacturers like to use it to boost and better define colors in their products.

Food-grade titanium dioxide (E171) is a common food additive that contains nanoparticles. You cant see nanoparticles without a microscope, as they are one to 100 nanometers in size. By comparison, an average piece of paper is 100,000 nanometers thick. The extremely small size of nanoparticles in titanium dioxide makes it easy for them to damage cells.

When titanium dioxide is used as a pigment in sunscreen, paints, makeup, and plastics, it is called titanium white, pigment white 6, or CI77891. Food-grade titanium dioxide is used in baked goods, frosting, sandwich spreads, toothpaste, white sauces, coffee creamer, chocolate, milk, candy, some dairy products, salad dressing, and chewing gum. It is also used as an anti-caking agent in instant food mixes, and beverages, and as an excipient in vitamin supplements and medications.

Titanium Dioxide and Colon Cancer: Research

In a recent study appearing in Toxicology, a group of scientists set out to determine how human colon cancer cells respond to exposure to titanium dioxide (E171). Earlier research in mice had indicated that introducing titanium dioxide to colon cancer in mouse models exacerbates the formation of colon tumors. For this study scientists wanted to not only use a human model [colon cancer cell line] but also see if the toxic effects continued after exposure to the titanium dioxide was removed.

They discovered that the toxic effects of titanium dioxide continued even after the human cells were no longer exposed to the additive. The cells showed DNA damage and other damaging changes, even 48 hours after the E171 was removed from the colon cells.

Exposure to titanium dioxide may come from another source as well. Because it contains nanoparticles and large amounts of these particles are found in the water supply, some research shows the toxin is accumulating in seafood as well.

Titanium Dioxide: Banned or Not?

France banned the use of E171 in food in 2020, and the European Food Safety Authority named the food additive unsafe in 2021. The use of titanium dioxide continues in the United States, however, as well as in Canada and the UK. In 2022, the Titanium Dioxide Manufacturers Association announced that Health Canada and the UKs Food Standard Agency had concluded that titanium dioxide didnt pose any health concerns when used as a food additive.

In the United States, a class action lawsuit was launched against Mars Corporation in July 2022 because of its use of titanium dioxide in Skittles [candies]. The company pledged to eliminate the additive within five years in 2016 but failed to do so. The individual suing Mars Corporation, Jenile Thames, noted that some other candy makers have removed the toxin from their products. As of October 2022, titanium dioxide is still found in Skittles, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration maintains that the additive is safe for human consumption. Thames dismissed the case in November 2022 without prejudice, which means he can sue again.

Bottom line

Recent research indicates that titanium dioxide in foods and personal care products may pose a risk of colon cancer in humans. Titanium dioxide is another food additive, among many others, that consumers need to be aware of and avoid when possible.

 References:

Republished from NaturallySavvy.com
Corvallis leaders are considering alternatives before they commit to remodeling the downtown facility the Corvallis Police Department currently shares with the Benton County Sheriffs Office.

City staff are looking into other places to house Corvallis police officers. The plan has been to remodel the shared Law Enforcement Building  assuming the Sheriffs Office is relocated to the new justice complex Benton County wants to build  as well as constructing new elements to meet future needs.

But that might not make financial sense.

At a work session Thursday, Feb. 9, staff asked City Council members if police facilities should be added to a list of desired facilities projects, already crammed with plans for a new parks maintenance yard, a City Hall remodel, a new administration building and remodeling part of Fire Station No. 1.

Council approved the addition, leading staff to the question of whether they should also explore alternative locations to house the Police Department.

The police facility was put on the back burner because of the county bond measure, City Manager Mark Shepard said of the May $110 million ballot proposal that will decide the fate of the Sheriff's Office's plans to move to North Corvallis.

Councilors got right to the root of the issue: What it would cost for a new location versus staying put at the concrete brutalist, 39,920-square-foot building on Northwest Fifth Street, they wanted to know.

Where are we on cost? Councilor Paul Shaffer asked. I feel like theres a whole lot of uncertainties with the existing building, and if we spend $40 million, were still going to have a 50-year-old building and limitations about what we can do with it.

Cost notwithstanding, Shepard highlighted political and relationship issues to navigate as well as some technical concerns regarding the shared fiber network hub in the building. Questions were also raised about the seismic resistance of the current building.

A 2021 city facilities assessment targeting 17 sites indicates space is distressingly inadequate at each location and the facilities dont support modern or efficient operations. A citywide facilities strategy details $255 million in recommended projects.

The city of Corvallis and Benton County appeared to have conflicting ideas on the future of the Law Enforcement Building in December, when a public record request revealed Corvallis would happily assume control of the building  for free.

The two agencies split construction of the joint operating space for $1.04 million in 1974. Now, the county wants to include a new Sheriff's Office with the plans for a new county courthouse, District Attorneys Office and Emergency Operations Center on a campus a mile north of downtown.

The $110 million bond proposal also includes money to address the area's unhoused population. A crisis center planned for downtown is funded through state and federal grants.

City and county leaders began discussing what they'll do with the Law Enforcement Building in mid-2021, outgoing County Administrator Joe Kerby previously said. The county anticipated selling its holdings in the building, which was last valued at around $8.5 million.

In correspondence to Kerby about the Law Enforcement Building, Shepard alluded to the citys leverage at the ballot box, and appealing Corvallis voters is key to the county passing its bond, for which public support remains in question.

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.

Corvallis is home to two-thirds of taxpayers and voters in the county, Shepard noted.

It would not be equitable for city taxpayers to be asked to pay for a new sheriffs facility and pay for assuming the existing (Law Enforcement Building), Shepard wrote. It will be a difficult sell to city taxpayers to ask them to pay twice for the sheriffs facility.

If the bond passes and the city takes over the Law Enforcement Building, it would still require significant renovation and upgrades, according to Shepard.

The county would rather wait to negotiate with Corvallis until after the May 2023 primary election, according to a response from Kerby obtained through a public records request.

The commissioners decision to defer further discussion on the transfer of the (Law Enforcement Building) until after the May 2023 bond measure is as much about the dynamic nature of (Justice System Improvement Program) as it is practical, Kerby wrote.

City consultants put a $43 million price tag on renovating and adding storage as well as staff support areas for long-term needs, with a $52 million alternative option if the sheriff stays put. Those improvement costs are not part of the countys planned justice improvement bond.

Related stories:

Editor's note: This article should have reported the county's crisis center is funded through state and federal grants.
The U.S. government has been secretly tracking those who didnt get the COVID jab, as well as those who arent up to date on their shots. Worse, it is recording the reason why. Now that the program has been widely adopted, know why its being done and how you can outsmart it.

The government is also tracking noncompliance with all other recommended vaccines using new ICD-10 codes, and has implemented codes to describe WHY you didnt get a recommended vaccine. Its also added a billable ICD code for vaccine safety counseling.

These new ICD-10 codes are part of the governments plan to implement medical tyranny using vaccine passports and digital IDs.

Under this program, doctors at clinics and hospitals have been instructed to ask patients about their vaccination status, which is then added to their electronic medical records as a diagnostic code, known as ICD-10 code, so that they can be tracked inside and outside of the medical system.

The program was implemented on April 1, 2022, and adopted by most medical clinics and hospitals across the United States starting January 2023.

The U.S. government has secretly been tracking those who didnt get the COVID jab, or are only partially jabbed, through a previously unknown surveillance program designed by the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

As recently discovered and reported by Dr. Robert Malone,1 the U.S. government has secretly been tracking those who didnt get the COVID jab, or are only partially jabbed, through a previously unknown surveillance program designed by the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The program was implemented on April 1, 2022,2 but didnt become universally adopted by most medical clinics and hospitals across the United States until January 2023.

Under this program, doctors at clinics and hospitals have been instructed to ask patients about their vaccination status, which is then added to their electronic medical records as a diagnostic code, known as ICD-10 code, without their knowledge or consent so that they can be trackednot just within the health care system but outside of it as well.

Secret Tracking Program Revealed

The new International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes were introduced during the Sept. 1415, 2021, ICD-10 Coordination and Maintenance Committee meeting. The ICD committee includes representatives from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the NCHS.3

Below is a screenshot of page 194 of the agenda4 distributed during that meeting. According to the NCHS, there is interest in being able to track people who are not immunized or only partially immunized, and they figured out a way to do just that, by adding new ICD-10 codes.

As you can see below, ICD-10 code Z28.310 identifies those who have not received a COVID jab and Z28.311 identifies those who are not up to date on their shots.

Tracking Unjabbed Is Part of the Biosecurity Agenda

Why do they want to track the unvaccinated? For what purpose? The short answer: to facilitate the implementation of vaccine passports. As noted by Malone:5

Code Number Z28.310 listed above is not a code for an illness or diagnosis, but rather for noncompliance of a medical procedure  Once a persons vaccination status is coded and uploaded into [a] large data base, it can be accessed by government and private health insurers alike.

The administrative state officers at the CDC have not made immunization status a reportable disease (yet) but immunization status is listed as one of the reasons for mandatory reporting.6 They are just one step away from being able to collect this information without your permission. Ergo: Vaccine passports made easy. In this country, not having your vaccine records up to date might mean:

 The government will not restrict your travel, airlines will.  The government will not restrict your travel, other nations will.  The government will not restrict your travel, auto rental companies will.  The government will not restrict your travel, public transport will.  The government will not restrict your travel, private companies will.

World Health Organization Signed Off on Tracking Codes

The ICD codes were created by the World Health Organization (WHO), and doctorsexcept those in private practice who dont accept insuranceare required to use these codes to describe a patients condition and the care they received during their visit.

As noted by Malone,7 the fact that the ICD system is run by the WHO is an important detail, as this means the WHO had to authorize the CDC to add these new codes. The implication is that these codes may be in use internationally and we just dont know it yet.

The codes are entered into your electronic health record and used by insurance companies for billing purposes. Theyre also used by statisticians who track and analyze national and global disease trends such as cancer and heart disease rates over time.

Over the past decade, these statistical analyses have gotten easier to do, thanks to the transition into electronic record keeping. In the United States, the ICD coding system has been fully integrated into the electronic health record system since 2012.

Within the ICD-10 codes, theres a category called ICD-10-CM,8,9 and this is the category the CDC is now using to track the unvaccinated with specific codes for Unvaccinated for COVID-1910 and Partially Vaccinated for COVID-19.11

Gross Violation of Medical Privacy Rights

Since theres no billing or payment involved with being unvaccinated, and since being unvaccinated is extremely unlikely to be part of your disease profile, theres no valid reason to record anyones vaccine refusal. Its also a violation of medical privacy, as the records can be accessed by a variety of individuals and not just your personal doctors.

As noted by Malone, a persons decision to get a vaccine or not is a private matter, and your privacy rights are enshrined in the Privacy Act of 1974. However, during the COVID pandemic, medical privacy rights have been repeatedly violated and broken.

Childrens vaccination statuses were shared with schools, and employers were granted the right to know the jab status of their employees. Private venues were even permitted to demand proof of vaccination statusall this without a single word of the law having been revoked or amended.

Theyre Tracking Reasons for Jab Refusal, Too

If you need proof that these codes will be used for reasons unrelated to your health, consider this: These institutions also using codes to describe WHY you didnt get the primary series or stopped getting boosters. Those codes are listed in the screenshot below, under Z28.3 Underimmunization Status.12

The use of delinquent immunization status under code Z28.39 also tells us something about where this is all headed. Delinquent means being neglectful of a duty or being guilty of an offense. Is refusing boosters a criminal offense? Perhaps not today, but someday, it probably will be.

All Missed Vaccinations Will Be Tracked

Another tip-off that these codes are part and parcel of the biosecurity control grid is the fact that code Z28.39Other underimmunization status13is to be used when a patient is not current on other, non-COVID vaccines. As detailed on the American Academy of Family Physicians website:14

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have announced three new diagnosis codes, including two for COVID-19 immunization status 

According to ICD-10-CM guidelines,15 clinicians may assign code Z28.310, Unvaccinated for COVID-19, when the patient has not received a dose of any COVID-19 vaccine.

Clinicians may assign code Z28.311, Partially vaccinated for COVID-19, when the patient has received at least one dose of a multidose COVID-19 vaccine regimen, but has not received the doses necessary to meet the CDC definition of fully vaccinated at the time of the encounter  New code Z28.39 is for reporting when a patient is not current on other, non-COVID vaccines.

In other words, they have already begun tracking ALL of your vaccinations, not just the COVID shot, and they can use the Z28.3 sub-codes to identify why you refused a given vaccine.

Vaccine Passports Are a Fait AccompliUnless We Act Now

As noted by Malone:16

The administrative state is busy building a vaccine passport system that will be active before most Americans are aware of what is being done to them. No one is going to knock on your door asking for your vaccine status because they already know 

They dont need approval from Congress or the courts because we have given them the information through our health care providers. The CDC is the governmental organization tasked with tracking vaccine status on individuals.

They already have the records, as well as updated booster information. They just need to tweak a definition here and there, or get President Biden to keep the COVID-19 public health emergency in place indefinitely and the vaccine passports will be a fait accompli.

You Can Now Be Billed for Immunization Safety Counseling

As if all of that werent tyrannical enough, theyve also added a billable ICD-10 code for immunization safety counseling. Thats right. If youve decided youre not willing to partake in the mRNA experiment, or you just dont think you need some other vaccine thats recommended, your doctor can bill your insurance for regurgitating the WHOs vaccine propaganda.

They have codes identifying whether you declined the COVID jab and/or any other vaccine, and for each vaccine refusal, theres a code detailing why you declined it. Belief or group pressure is one of those, and you can bet that code will automatically qualify you for immunization safety counseling, whether you want it or not.

This may become more or less automatic because, again, they have codes identifying whether you declined the COVID jab and/or any other vaccine, and for each vaccine refusal, theres a code detailing why you declined it. Belief or group pressure is one of those, and you can bet that code, Z.28.1, will automatically qualify you for immunization safety counseling, whether you want it or not.

They also intend to indoctrinate your children and make you pay for it. The immunization safety counseling code, Z71.85, was described in the September 2021 issue of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Pediatric Coding Newsletter. You have to be a member to read the entire article, but heres the publicly available preview:17

Reporting Encounters for Immunization Safety Counseling.

As physicians and other qualified health care professionals field increasing numbers of concerns about immunization safety, International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) offers a new code, Z71.85, for identifying immunization safety counseling as a reason for an encounter provided on or after Oct. 1, 2021.

Use this code when reporting counseling provided to patients and caregivers who are vaccine hesitant, wish to follow an alternative immunization schedule, or otherwise require time spent in counseling at lengths beyond that typical of routine immunization counseling.

Code Z71.85 may be reported to indicate the principal or first-listed reason for an encounter or as a secondary reason.

Documentation of time spent in preventive medicine counseling and separate time spent in immunization administration counseling should be explicit in the encounter note to support that the preventive medicine counseling was significant and separately identifiable.

Unjabbed Teachers Flagged

In related news, in early February 2023, it was revealed that New York City teachers who did not get the jab were flagged with a problem code in their personnel files, triggering their fingerprints to be sent to the FBI and the New York Criminal Justice Services.18

The purpose of this is unclear, but former public school teacher Michael Kane, founder of Teachers for Choice, believes that unvaccinated NYC educators were being set up to be viewed as right-wing extremists or even terrorists.'

Kane was among those who got fired for refusing the COVID jab. The revelation that teachers fingerprints were illegally entered into not just one, but two, criminal databases is certain to open up a new round of lawsuits, Kane writes.

Call to Action

Knowing all of this, what can you do about it? How do we stop this madness? Here are a few suggestions:

Demand Congress finish what the Senate started by declaring the public health emergency over and done with. Jan. 17, 2023, HR 382, a bill to terminate the public health emergency declared with respect to COVID-19 was referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. This bill must be passed. Contact your Congressional representative and let them know you: Support the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Governments investigation.

Want Congress to reject all attempts by the administrative state, the United Nations, the WHO, Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Biden Administration to require a vaccine passport or a digital ID.

Expect them to work to ensure the freedom of travel for all citizens.

Expect them to protect Constitutional rights.

Expect them to protect all rights to privacy, including and especially medical privacy, and since these new ICD-10 codes violate your right to privacy, you want them to take immediate action to ensure the codes are revoked.

Concerning what you can do to protect your medical privacy on a personal level, keep in mind that independent doctors are not required to use ICD codes unless they accept insurance. So by choosing a doctor who is in private practice, you can avoid getting tagged and trapped in the system.

Originally published February 14, 2023, on Mercola.com.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Shows Interest in Saudi Arabias NEOM Project

The NEOM project has been accused of being a surveillance city

John Lee Ka-chiu (Second L), Hong Kong Chief Executive, visiting THE LINE Experience Exhibition of NEOM Future City in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on on Feb. 5, 2023. (Hong Kong Information Services Department)

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said that Hong Kong can play a crucial role in providing funds for the NEOM project, a smart city being built in the northwest of Saudi Arabia. The NEOM project has been accused of human rights violations and being a city of surveillance. In 2022, three former indigenous residents, who opposed forced evictions, were sentenced to death.

Lee visited THE LINE Experience Exhibition of NEOM Future City in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Feb. 5. The project for future smart cities is funded by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.

According to the Hong Kong government news release, NEOM promotes future innovation in business, livability, and sustainable development.

Death Penalty for Opposing NEOM

The Epoch Times reporters investigated and unraveled that NEOM has been criticized for violating human rights, disregarding environmental protection, and conducting city surveillance.

ALQST, a Saudi Arabian human rights organization, announced on Oct. 2, 2022, that three former Indigenous residents of the Huwaiti desert tribe were sentenced to death after opposing the project and refusing to move out of NEOMs construction area.

The Court of Appeal upheld the death sentence of the three men, Shadli, Ibrahim, and Ataullah, on Jan. 23, 2023.

ALQST pointed out that dozens of former residents of the Huwaiti tribe have already been arrested, detained, and sentenced to long-term imprisonment for peaceful protests after being forced to move out of their homes.

The human rights organization condemned the local court for sending people to prison for up to 50 years for exercised their right to freedom of expression. ALQST also mentioned the sharp deterioration of the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia since mid-2022.

The Saudi Arabian government has also significantly increased the use of the death penalty. In 2022, 148 people were executed; the number of death penalties also doubled compared to 2021.

Architectural Companies Involved

Peter Frankental, economic affairs program director at Amnesty International, told architectural magazine, Dezeen, in December 2022 that the construction companies that designed NEOM must realize the human rights violations related to the NEOM project. They also expressed regret that those companies were not concerned at all about the dire situation.

Companies involved in the NEOM construction include Morphosis and Aedas from America, British company Zaha Hadid Architects, UNStudio from the Netherlands, LAVA from Germany, and Bureau Proberts from Down Under Australia.

Dezeen mentioned one of the cities, THE LINE, a 170-kilometer-long city (approximately 105 miles), is designed by Morphosis. The large-scale town project, however, had been criticized for its sustainability and livability.

Surveillance Everywhere

In July 2019, the Wall Street Journal revealed that NEOM is a ubiquitous, automated city based on a 2,300-page confidential document.

The Saudi Arabian government can monitor everything in THE LINE; the citys computers can automatically report crimes and track all citizens.

In July 2020, the online game League of Legends European Champions League signed a partnership deal with NEOM. Gamers worldwide immediately voiced their opposition, criticizing the Saudi Arabian government for being hostile toward womens rights and interests and other communities. In less than 24 hours, the mother company of the online game, Riot Games, urgently announced its termination of the contract with NEOM.

In addition, according to the 2022 Global Freedom Index ranking by Freedom House, a non-profit organization in the United States, Saudi Arabia ranks bottom 10 out of 210 countries and regions worldwide.

The report criticized Saudi Arabias absolute monarchy for limiting almost all political rights and civil liberties; and that the people do not elect its government officials.

The 2022 Global Freedom Index also stated that the Saudi Arabian dictatorship relied on ubiquitous surveillance of its people and treated dissents as criminals. The index also revealed women and religious minorities were widely discriminated against by the law and in their daily life. Additionally, a large number of foreign workers were exploited.

Project Cost over $500 Billion

According to NEOMs official website, NEOM, which means new future, is located northwest of Saudi Arabia.

The Crown Prince and Chairman of the Board of Directors of NEOM, Mohammed bin Salman conceptualized the NEOM project. NEOM construction began in October 2017, and some tourist areas will be opened in 2024.

One million people are expected to live in NEOM in 2030, and its population will increase to nine million by 2045.

Saudi Arabias Public Investment Fund promised to pump $500 billion into the project. The project is open to global investment.

Diluting European and American Investment in Hong Kong

Andrew To Kwan-hang, former chairman of the League of Social Democrats and current affairs commentator, shared his view on an online program on Feb. 10, 2023.

He said, since the relationship between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Western countries has been deteriorating in recent years, the regime wants to invite the Middle East and countries in Southeast Asia to raise funds and invest in Hong Kong. The middle eastern strategy is to dilute the influence and investment of the United States and European countries in Hong Kong.

The political commentator stated that many American and European companies in the past invested in Hong Kong. Therefore, Europe and the United States have the right to comment on the matters of human rights, democracy, and freedoms in Hong Kong.

To speculated that Middle Eastern countries had already agreed or decided to invest in Hong Kong before Lees visit. Otherwise, Lee would not have gone to Saudi Arabia. The Hong Kong government may set up an economy and trade office in the Middle East in the near future.

To added that the memorandum of cooperation and letter of intent signed by Lee with Saudi Arabian enterprises or institutions are not contracts. He suspected Lees foreign visit was just a publicity stunt to attract foreign investment and meet the key performance indicators (KPI).

Senior journalist Li Wei-ling said on her YouTube channel on Feb. 10, 2023 that the Hong Kong government hoped to utilize the Saudi Arabian trip to show the CCP that Hong Kong could play an active role in the regimes Belt and Road Initiative plan.

Li added that Lees current office is especially worried that if the trip to the Middle East was fruitless, the CCP might be less than impressed with the Hong Kong government.
House Panels Seek Testimony From Fauci, Biden Officials on COVID-19 Origins

Two influential congressional committees are seeking testimony from Dr. Anthony Fauci and key figures in the Biden administration regarding the origins of COVID-19 and the allocation of U.S. taxpayer funds to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).

Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), chairman of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, and Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, are leading the investigation.

They are also seeking testimony and information from Peter Daszak, president of EcoHealth Alliance; Avril Haines, director of National Intelligence; Dr. Francis Collins, acting science adviser to President Joe Biden; and Xavier Becerra, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

The investigation marks a renewed effort by Republican representatives to uncover the truth about the COVID-19 pandemic and its origins. The committees hope to shed light on the funding and research activities of the Wuhan institute and its potential impact on the spread of the virus.

Doctor and Congressman Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) in an interview with NTDs Capitol Report program on April 2, 2022. (NTD/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

Cant Accept Stonewalling

On Feb. 13, Wenstrup and Comer sent a letter to Fauci to renew a request made on Dec. 13, 2022, for his testimony (pdf).

The letter noted that the subcommittee is authorized to investigate the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, including the Federal Governments funding of gain-of-function research.

The committee also has the power to probe executive branch policies, deliberations, decisions, activities, and internal and external communications related to the pandemic under H. Res. 5, the lawmakers reminded Fauci.

The American people deserve real answers after years of suffering through the Coronavirus pandemic and related government policies, Wenstrup said in a statement. This investigation must begin with where and how this virus came about so that we can attempt to predict, prepare, or prevent it from happening again.

Government scientists and government-funded researchers have so far been less-than-forthcoming in their knowledge and actions, including work with the Wuhan Institute of Virology and potential pandemic pathogens, he continued. We cant accept more years of stonewalling; the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic is committed to conducting a proper investigation that the American people have demanded.

They informed Fauci that he will be contacted to schedule a transcribed interview, with the possibility of follow-up interviews.

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, delivers remarks during a hearing in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington on Feb. 1, 2023. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Requests for Documents, Phone Records

In a letter to Daszak (pdf), Wenstrup and Comer renewed their previous requests for the production of certain documents and records, to be provided no later than Feb. 20.

They requested several documents and communications related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and calendars and phone records from November 2019 to the present of specific individuals, namely Daszak, Dr. Aleksei Chmura, Dr. Kevin Olival, Dr. Armine Arustamyan, and Dr. Hume Field.

The subcommittee also requested all documents and communications between EcoHealth Alliance and its subsidiaries and the Wuhan Institute of Virology, as well as between federal agencies and EcoHealth Alliance.

The letter also requested documents and communications related to the PREEMPT project, the Potential Pandemic Pathogen Care and Oversight Framework, the gain-of-function pause, and the letter in support of Chinese professionals combating COVID-19 published in The Lancet.

Understanding the origins of COVID-19 is essential to providing accountability and protecting Americans in the future, Comer said in a statement. Evidence continues to mount pointing to the virus leaking from an unsecure lab in Wuhan.

We know EcoHealth Alliance acted as a middleman, improperly funneling thousands of taxpayer dollars to the Wuhan lab to conduct risky gain-of-function research on bat coronaviruses which could have started the pandemic, he continued. Dr. Fauci was alerted early on that COVID-19 had markings of a manipulated virus, yet may have chosen to cover it up instead of blowing the whistle.

Comer added that the committees would keep following the facts to determine what could have been done differently to better protect Americans from this virus and hold U.S. government officials that took part in any sort of cover-up accountable.

An aerial view shows the P4 laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan in Chinas central Hubei Province on April 17, 2020. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images)

Other Requests

Similar requests were made of Haines, Collins, and Becerra for the production of information and several documents.

The lawmakers requested from Haines a list of experts and research used in the preparation of the COVID-19 origins assessment (pdf), as well as all documents and communications related to the assessment and intelligence gathered by specific government agencies.

Collins received a letter requesting his testimony, official calendars, and phone records, as well as documents and communications related to grants and affiliations with various federal organizations and individuals regarding the Wuhan institute and the origins of COVID-19.

Becerra was asked for various documents and communications related to the grant at the center of questions around gain-of-function research, the Wuhan institute, and COVID-19 origins.

The request included the official calendars and phone records of six specific individuals from November 2019 to the present, including those of Collins, Fauci, Dr. Lawrence Tabak, Dr. Hugh Auchincloss, Dr. Michael Lauer, and Dr. David Christian Hassell.

Further information requests related to the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the Department of Health and Human Services, EcoHealth employees, and WIV employees.

The subcommittee also requested any and all documents and information resulting from a previous request made by the Committee on Energy and Commerce to Tabak.
Hyundai, Kia to Thwart Car Thefts by Targeting Crime Method Popularized on TikTok

Hyundai and Kia are rolling out theft deterrent software for millions of car owners in the United States amid reports that a viral social media trend has led to an increase in thefts of its vehicles that lack push-button ignitions and immobilizing anti-theft devices.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said in a statement on Tuesday that the effort is in response to a TikTok challenge that has spread nationwide and has resulted in at least 14 reported crashes and eight fatalities.

These viral videos, which have been circulating on the Chinese-owned social media platform since May, show viewers how to hot-wire into Hyundai and Kia vehicles made between 2010 and 2021 with a USB cord and a screwdriver.

Nearly four million Hyundais and four and a half million Kias are eligible for the software update, according to auto safety regulators. The new anti-theft system upgrades the theft alarm software logic to extend the length of the alarm sound from 30 seconds to 60 seconds and requires the key to be in the ignition switch to turn the vehicle on.

Starting on Feb. 14, Hyundai dealers in the United States will begin to install the free software for a total of almost four million vehicles, the company said in a news release, noting that the installation will take less than one hour.

The initial upgrade will cover more than one million model-years 201720 Elantra, 201519 Sonata, and 202021 Venue vehicles. The software upgrade is scheduled to be available for the remaining eligible vehicles by June.

In addition, Hyundai will also provide customers with window stickers to alert would-be thieves that the vehicle is equipped with enhanced anti-theft technology.

Hyundai is committed to ensuring the quality and integrity of our products through continuous improvement, and is pleased to provide affected customers with an additional theft deterrent through this software upgrade, Randy Parker, CEO of Hyundai Motor America, said in the release. We have prioritized the upgrades availability for owners and lessees of our highest-selling vehicles and those most targeted by thieves in order for dealers to service them first.

The South Korean manufacturer is also offering free steering wheel locks to law enforcement agencies for distribution to Americans who own or lease any of the affected models.

For those who own vehicles model-years 201122 and arent eligible for the software upgrade, Hyundai said it is finalizing a program to reimburse them for their purchase of steering wheel locks, noting that the company will provide these customers with more information in the very near future.

Kia, meanwhile, will begin to roll out free software updates in a phased approach, according to the NHTSA. The agency, which is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, said the vehicle manufacturer will begin to update vehicles later this month, with ensuing phases throughout the next several months.

The NHTSA urges vehicle owners to contact Hyundai at 800-633-5151 and Kia at 800-333-4542 if they have any questions related to the software update.

Hyundai, Kia Theft

According to an analysis of 2021 insurance claims by the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI), a few models of Hyundai and Kia were found to be the top targets. Among vehicles model-years 201519, the chances of theft claims were twice as common when compared to other manufacturers, HLDI found.

A Kia damaged after being stolen is seen at an auto repair shop in Milwaukee, Wis., on Jan. 27, 2021. (Angela Peterson/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP)

Car theft spiked during the pandemic, said HLDI senior vice president Matt Moore, according to a Sept. 22nd post by the nonprofit Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). These numbers tell us that some vehicles may be targeted because theyre fast or worth a lot of money and others because theyre easy to steal.

Our earlier studies show that vehicle theft losses plunged after immobilizers were introduced  Unfortunately, Hyundai and Kia have lagged behind other automakers in making them standard equipment.

Electronic immobilizing anti-theft devices prevent criminals from easily breaking in and bypassing a cars ignition. In 2015, immobilizers were found to be a standard feature among 96 percent of car manufacturers, except for Hyundai and Kia. Among the two brands, only 26 percent of the models were found to have immobilizers.

Naveen Athrappully contributed to this report.

From NTD News.
Iranian President Raisi to Visit China to Shore Up Ties

FILE - In this file photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi, right, and Chinese President Xi Jinping pose for a photo on the sidelines of a meeting at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on Sept. 16, 2022. Ebrahim Raisi will visit China for a three-day trip on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023, at the invitation of Chinese President Xi. (Shen Hong/Xinhua via AP, File)

BEIJINGIranian President Ebrahim Raisi will meet with his counterpart Xi Jinping during his three-day trip in China starting Tuesday, as the two U.S. rivals seek further cooperation.

Chinas Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying made the announcement Sunday, saying Raisis visit was at Xis invitation.

Raisi will meet with Xi and their delegations will sign cooperation documents, according to Irans state news agency IRNA. Meeting with Iranian and Chinese business leaders and Iranian expatriates in China is also part of his itinerary, the report added.

Raisis visit is expected to deepen ties between the two political and economic partners that are opposed to the U.S.-led liberal democratic domination of international affairs.

The two leaders met last September in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, when Xi underscored Chinas support for the Iranian leadership, which is facing mass protests at home.

In December, Raisi pledged to remain committed to deepening the strategic partnership during a meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua in Tehran.

China is a major buyer of Iranian oil and an important source of investment in the Mideast country. In 2021, Iran and China signed a 25-year strategic cooperation agreement that covered major economic activities from oil and mining to industry, transportation, and agriculture.

Both countries have had tense relations with the United States, and have sought to project themselves as a counterweight to American power alongside Russia.

Washington has accused authoritarian Iran of selling hundreds of attack drones to Russia for its war in Ukraine and has sanctioned executives of an Iranian drone manufacturer. At that same time, ties between Moscow and Beijing have grown stronger.

The Iranian regime on Saturday celebrated the 44th anniversary of its 1979 Islamic Revolution amid nationwide anti-government protests and heightened tensions with U.S. allies.
Its a Bird, Its a Plane, Its a Harmless Chinese Spy Ship!

Commentary

When did journalists stop asking hard questions and become nothing more than a tool for the U.S. government to spread the official story?

Oh wait, I remember. Its when Donald Trump was booted out of office and Democrats took the helm. In every major story, you can ask yourself how journalists would handle it differently if Trump were still president instead of Joe Biden. The answers are self-evident.

Imagine it was Trump in the White House and  the presidents son had a laptop filled with information about secret deals with foreign adversaries.  Or that the administration identified parents at school board meetings as domestic terrorists.  Or that 600,000 migrants who streamed across the border were issued U.S. visas without so much as a citation or a court date. These are just a few of the current stories that so-called professional journalists have no interest in pursuing because a Democrat is in the White House.

But nothing better illustrates the incompetence of the Biden administration and the complete lack of professionalism of the American media than the spy balloon story. The more you learn about the Chinese Communist Partys balloon excursion across the United States, it is inevitable that you ask, Who is more incompetent? The U.S. military or the U.S. media?

We are led to believe that the balloon first crossed U.S. airspace above the Aleutian Islands in Alaska on Saturday, Jan. 28, and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, sent up fighter jets to check it out. Instead of shooting it down, the generals decided it was just a harmless balloon that would float above Alaska and  what? Disappear? Explode? Cross the Arctic ice cap and invade our mortal enemy, Russia?

Did the generals forget that there are nine military bases in Alaska, including a Coast Guard Base on Kodiak Island, the key defense facility at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, and the strategically invaluable Clear Air Force Station Base near Fairbanks? Apparently so, and they may have even forgotten that Alaska has been a U.S. territory since 1867 and a state since 1959. Otherwise, how do you explain that our Joint Chiefs of Uselessness had not notified the president, the nominal commander in chief, about the incursion into our airspace?

But even the see-no-evil generals must have been a little apprehensive when the balloon took a sharp right turn and headed toward Canada and then re-entered U.S. airspace over Idaho. That was on Tuesday, Jan. 31, when someone who had perhaps read the Constitution decided it was probably time to notify the White House.

From here it gets a little fuzzy. We are told that President Biden immediately ordered the Air Force to shoot down the balloon, but nothing happened. We dont know if Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, decided to pull rank on Biden and call China with a heads up the way he had done with Trump when he reassured the Chinese he would let them know if President Trump sent an attack their way. OK, theres no evidence that Milley committed treason this time around, but somehow the Chinese balloon avoided a reckoning with the American military anyway.

The official version is that the generals decided not to shoot down the airship, according to Politico, because we could track the exact path of the balloon and ensure no activities or sensitive unencrypted comms would be conducted in its vicinity.

Cool. Could they also ensure that there was not an electromagnetic pulse device on board that had the capacity to wipe out electricity across a third of the continent? It would only take three such EMP-equipped balloons working in tandem across the nation to cripple our entire infrastructure and leave us vulnerable to a military attack. Oh well, even if the generals thought of that (unlikely), there is scant evidence that any U.S. journalists broached the topic.

By the next day, Feb. 1, when the Chinese had a birds-eye view of Malmstrom Air Force Base and its 150 intercontinental ballistic missile silos spread out across 13,800 square miles, someone apparently realized it was probably not just a harmless off-course weather balloon, as the Chinese would soon claim. But although air traffic was grounded out of Billings Logan International Airport for two hours and the military scrambled F-22 jets in case they were needed to shoot down the worst national security breach since 9/11, ultimately nothing happened. We were told that the top brass informed the commander-in-chief that it would not be prudent to shoot down the balloon over Montana because of the possibility of land-based casualties.

This is where everybody like me who lives in Montana gets a little chuckle. Were not called Big Sky Country for nothing. There are thousands of square miles of Montana where you would have a hard time hitting a tree, let alone a human being, if you fell out of the sky. It should also be asked whether the Air Force could have fired a small caliber weapon at the balloon rather than a missile, so that it would leak air slowly as it descended to the ground. When it floated over an opportune empty patch, a thousand feet or less above ground, you could pound it with the big ammo and watch it drop like a lead balloon, which by then it practically would be.

But no, the Joint Chiefs like to do things by the book, and the book apparently says to let the Chinese go on a self-guided tour of some of our best military bases before ending up over the Atlantic Ocean. Now, Im just speculating, but maybe the Chinese werent trying to steal secrets from our military bases; maybe they were just looking for more farmland to purchase in the vicinity of missile and air bases. According to the USDA (via Fox News) the Chinese control approximately 383,000 acres of U.S. farmland, lots of it surprisingly close to military installations. So as absurd as it is, theres still a possibility the Chinese were just doing the equivalent of a real estate drive-by.

Or you could believe the official story that the spy balloon was no danger and that the Chinese were prevented from gaining any intelligence by the quick-thinking generals sitting on their brass. Under that scenario, the United States outsmarted the Chinese by letting them send their balloon across the entire continent and then shooting it down with a Sidewinder air-to-air missile off the coast of South Carolina, so massive amounts of material were lost in the ocean. Thats the story that the mainstream media agreed to tell. As if the technology doesnt exist to transmit such data back to the balloons home base.

Then, a day later, on Feb. 5, the lackey media were breathlessly reporting that the Chinese had, unbeknownst to anyone, sent three spy balloons into U.S. airspace during the Trump administration. This made about as much sense as the official Democratic Party line that the Russians blew up their own Nord Stream pipelines. If the Chinese had sent balloons over the U.S. border while Donald Trump was in office, isnt it obvious to everyoneespecially Democrats and journaliststhat Trump would have enjoyed shooting it out of the sky and then bragging about it?

Since no one believed the new claim, which was categorically denied by every major Trump security official, the story shifted the very next day. Turns out that no one actually knew the three phantom balloons had infiltrated the United States until some months (or was it years?) later, when the Biden administration did a forensic analysis and uncovered the evidence, which conveniently suggested that whatever Biden had done wrong, Trump did it firstand worse.

And in a twist that could only be imagined by a third-rate Hollywood screenwriter, the Pentagon announced last Friday that it had shot down an unidentified flying object that was approaching Alaska at about 40,000 feet. Not sure if this was a sequel worthy of Top Gun Maverick, but Im certainly anxious to hear how the Pentagon spins it to explain why the completely different approach to a very similar scenario was not entirely a PR-based decision.

So, to summarize, here are some of the questions that the mainstream media should have asked, and didnt: If we really failed to notice three balloons entering U.S. air space in the Trump administration, who is to blame? Isnt this a threat to our security since three EMPs could cripple our national infrastructure? Regarding the most recent incursion, why was it considered acceptable to let the balloon traverse above military installations in Alaska? Why was it OK to not tell the commander in chief immediately about a violation of U.S. air space? Did you consider the possibility of an EMP attack? Did we inform our ally Canada when it infiltrated Canadian air space? Why was the U.S. military unable to shoot down the balloon safely in remote parts of Canada or Montana? Why shoot the balloon down over the ocean so that much of the payload disappeared forever into Davy Jones locker?

And most importantly, Why should we believe anything you say?

From RealClearWire

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
John Robson: Lack of Details From Canada and US on Spy Balloon, UFOs Doesnt Evoke Trust

Commentary

My goodness. There seem to be more balloons over North America than at a birthday party, although they keep popping as if made in China. But citizens of self-governing democracies might be given some idea whats going on.

Unfortunately Justin Trudeau said, we will continue to keep people informed. And as Ive noted, continue is what poker players call a tell for our prime minister and his colleagues that theyve been caught not doing something they obviously should but have no idea how.

Worse, his full sentence was You can know that this is something that NORAD and Canada and the United States are taking extremely seriously, and we will continue to keep people informed as we know more. So currently, as merely effective head of our executive branch, he doesnt know more. And we can know theyre taking it seriously. But do we?

Did they tell us a week ago these things even existed? Before the White House watched that Chinese balloon cross North America west to east for a week or so gathering intelligence before downing it off the east coast in response to an outcry, had the State Department told anyone there was this massive communist Chinese espionage effort involving more than 40 countries across five continents?

Of course, citizens and the press must be vigilant, because governments are so prone to hide potentially embarrassing information that they risk stamping the menu Top Secret on the Yes, Minister principle, If no one knows what youre doing, then no one knows what youre doing wrong. Like having no effective air force and having to beg your neighbour to shoot down that thing over Yukon. Or being so cozy with a tyrannical regime you dont investigate its election meddling.

The Chinese Politburo is so used to imposing intimidating lies they were genuinely indignant at being confronted with the spy antennae on their supposed weather balloon, and accused the Americans of indiscriminate use of force for blasting it. And the kinder, gentler Canadian officials who say any effort to combat Chinese espionage must be inclusive, diverse and culturally sensitive would presumably agree, though all Ive come up with is using a missile painted like a chopstick. But by now the secret is out and tact is history.

On Feb. 8 The New York Times, not keen to expose, say, Hunter Bidens Chinese dealings, did cough up, American intelligence agencies have assessed that Chinas spy balloon program is part of a global surveillance effort that is designed to collect information on the military capabilities of countries around the world. And the U.S. military has known for several years and told dozens of other countries. Just not us.

To be fair, The Washington Post said a day earlier, U.S. officials have begun to brief allies and partners who have been similarly targeted. So they only told them, and sanctioned six Chinese entities making spy-balloon parts, following the embarrassment of having this domain awareness gap exposed. Despite Kiplings giving a thing a long name doesnt make it any better, bureaucrats worry that if they say we flubbed our job of watching for threats, someone will ask why.

The Pentagon also pre-emptively insisted they were on it all along, hiding everything important then spying on the balloons. But Id be more easily persuaded if theyd hinted about the fleet of Made in China blimps cruising around watching us while they did nothing before we found out independently and said, Whats with the Zeppelins?

Or whatever they are. After the U.S. toasted a second over Alaska, a National Security Council official confirmed that Were calling this an object because thats the best description we have right now. And whats the worst? Why, We do not know who owns it, whether its state-owned or corporate-owned or privately owned. (As the Wall Street Journal groused, not much to show for US$850 billion on defence.) And Trudeau tweeted about being briefed, so it was news to him too.

When the third in a week was shot down, over Yukon by an American F-22, it was news as far as Australia. And Trudeau tweeted Patton-like, I ordered the take down of an unidentified object that violated Canadian airspace. Though the Pentagon press secretary gently corrected him, saying after chatting with Trudeau, President Biden authorized U.S. fighter aircraft to Top Gun the thing.

On Feb. 12 another was destroyed on the Michigan side of Lake Huron. What was it? Duh. Were calling them objects for a reason said the general running NORAD. Namely that dratted domain awareness gap right in the heartland.

Had they come clean earlier about these UFOs, they might have had to determine what they were, or tell us frankly why they didnt know. Instead, it just burst suddenly around them, and us. Its no way to stay safe.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
LA Program to Provide Training for Unarmed Alternative to Policing

LOS ANGELESCity officials launched a public safety initiative Feb. 13 aiming to provide trauma training and services to community intervention workers who implement an unarmed response alternative to policing.

Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez, who chairs the city councils public safety committee, announced the Project TURN initiativewhich stands for Therapeutic Unarmed Response for Neighborhoodsat a briefing Monday at the New Testament Church of Christ in South Los Angeles.

The program, launched with $2.2 million in city funding, seeks to help the over 100 community intervention workers in the city with training provided by the Community Based Public Safety Collective, The Reverence Project, and the BUILD Program. They will provide therapy and other activities such as yoga, meditation, and healing circles.

Community intervention workers aim to create an alternative to police response with an unarmed model of community engagement and gang prevention strategies.

These crisis intervention workers are exposed to trauma with regularity, Rodriguez said to City News Service. And theyve never been provided those tools to help manage that.

Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez attends Womens March Action: March 4 Reproductive Rights at Pershing Square in Los Angeles, on Oct. 2, 2021. (Amy Sussman/Getty Images)

Rodriguez said that the community intervention workers help prevent retaliatory violence, reducing the need for officers to engage in the neighborhoods. Ideally, the workers find out information from community members, and handle the situation long before the police need to arrive.

Thats the whole point, is that we want to avoid the crisis before were in one, Rodriguez said.

The effectiveness of Project TURN will in part be determined by how successful the workers continue to be in de-escalating situations, according to Rodriguez. The program kicked off immediately on Monday, beginning with a three-day trauma-informed training with an initial cohort of community intervention workers.

Bobby Arias, president of San Fernando Valley-based Champions in Service, said that the police department is aware of and supports the community intervention strategy. But he said that the workers cant be perceived by the community as snitches, since they have to work with those in the neighborhood.

These folks are born and bred in their respective neighborhoods, said Aqeela Sherrills, co-founder of the Community Based Public Safety Collective. They know the terrain. They know the families  Theyll have more intelligence in terms of whats happening in the street than law enforcement will ever have.

Sherrills said that, at $40,000 a year, the workers are underpaid for a job that involves a lot of risks, and that mediation requires maintenance.

This is why its so important that the practitioners in the neighborhoods are incentivized, he said. Its very dangerous work.
Why Give Priority to Those Who Gate-Crash Australia?

Tharnicaa Nadesalingam (C) with her parents Priya and Nades, her sister Kopika in Biloela, Australia, on June 12, 2022. (Dan Peled/Getty Images)

Commentary

There used to be an advertisement for a particular brand of oil, Castrol GTX2, which told consumers, oils aint oils.

Similarly, people claiming refugee status aint necessarily refugees.

In dealing with the vexed issue of refugee intake, the government of the day needs genuine wisdom and discernment.

To date, the new federal government has not done well in this regard allowing the much-publicised Biloela family to remain in Australia despite every single review of their status determining they were not refugees. From departmental officials to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, to the Federal Court, to the High Court, they all determined there was no claimable refugee status.

Yet in the name of some contorted humanitarianism, they were allowed to stay.

In doing so, another family languishing in a refugee camp somewhere else in the world that had been determined to be of refugee status was necessarily denied entry to Australia. Hardly humanitarian.

Yet that was the determination made and its unfeeling practical outcome.

The family on the TV screen was prioritised over an anonymous family languishing in a barren refugee camp for years, if not decades. Neither fair nor humane. Nor clever from a public policy perspective where integrity and consistency in policy is vitally important to keep the opportunists and their criminal people smuggling accomplices out of the equation.

This photo taken on Feb. 14, 2022, shows Burmese refugee children, who fled a surge in violence as the military cracks down on rebel groups, looking on at a camp in Nawphewlawl near the Burma-Thailand border in Kayin state. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

What Happened to the Fair Go?

Despite the information and history readily available for anyone considering these issues, we have a government willing to provide a legal pathway for people currently on Temporary Protection Visas to stay even in the face of those people being deemed to be illegal entrants into Australiahaving entered Australia without a visa.

Issues of equity must immediately spring to the fore in the mind of any person concerned with fairness.

What do those who legally entered Australia but were not allowed to stay have going through their minds? Or those who accepted the situation and went back to their home country or settled in a country that was not their first choice?

How about those who have waited patiently applying through the correct channels?

Why is priority being given to those who gate-crashed Australia?

And above all, what about those who have waited in unsanitary refugee camps hewn from the jungles of Western Thailand? Some of whom have been waiting 20 years for resettlement.

They will all be asking what has happened to Australias reputation as being the country of a fair go.

The international community will also be scratching their heads trying to figure out the justice, fairness, and equity in this move by the government, which gives priority to the gate crashers over those who politely ask for admission.

Sri Lankan asylum seekers engage in a hunger strike after their boat broke down on the way to Australias Christmas Island, in Java, Indonesia, on Oct. 16, 2009. (Oscar Siagian/Getty Images)

One sector that this retrograde policy move will energise will be the criminal syndicates engaged in people smuggling. The promotional/advertising value of this policy change to the nefarious people smugglers will be literally gold.

At a time of real housing and infrastructure issues, allowing an extra 19,000 people to remain in Australia will exacerbate these very real pressures. As will, their entitlement to family reunions and welfare assistance add to the already over-stretched budget.

There is no doubting that those on Temporary Protection Visas were living in legal limbo, but opportunities had afforded them to settle elsewhere or return from where they came, which quite a number did.

But just as much as these people lived in uncertainty in Australia, keep in mind those who have lived for decades in the uncertainty and absolute squalor of refugee camps, not knowing if they will ever be able to make a life of their own.

How Do We Decide Who Should Stay?

The out of sight, out of mind mentality which has motivated this unprincipled approach to border protection is worrisome.

One trusts it is not motivated by opportunistic politicking hoping for electoral support from those allowed to stay and their families who will join them while showing a callous disregard for those who, through lack of means or good conscience, refuse to engage criminal people smugglers to advance their cause.

In this public policy upheaval, it is reassuring to learn that some realists in the new government have expressed their disquiet, if not outright opposition, to the new policy. Regrettably, these realists are a minority.

At the beginning and end of refugee intakes, the policy framework must have integrity, consistency, and fairness.

Otherwise, it is the simple reality that with all the goodwill in the world, Australia cannot take in all the people deemed refugees, let alone all those claiming refugee status.

A view of the Immigration Detention Centre, on Christmas Island, Australia, on Feb. 29, 2012. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

Therefore, a policy of prioritisation needs to be developed and followed.

The previous government determined a policy based on considering those most in need and deemed to be refugees by the United Nations as an appropriate commencement point.

Fair, objective, and humanitarian. That unassailable trifecta of considerations of necessity disqualifies those who have never set foot in a refugee camp, bypassed safe haven after safe haven, and paid criminals to advance their cause with a particular destination in mind.

No sensible or sustainable refugee intake policy would countenance such an outcome.

Whether the new Resolution of Status Visa (RSV) will lead to a resurgence in illegal arrivals remains to be seen.

In the meantime, the new government, with its Biloela family and RSV policy, has signalled to the world that if you arrive in Australia illegally and stay long enough using every avenue available, you will ultimately be allowed to stayalbeit at the expense of other would-be entrants with perhaps, a more pressing and genuine need for asylum.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Leave Use of Notwithstanding Clause up to Provinces, Say Conservative and Bloc MPs

Bloc leader Yves-Francois Blanchet speaks during a press conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Feb. 13, 2023. (The Canadian Press/ Patrick Doyle)

The federal Conservatives joined the Bloc Quebecois Monday to try and send a message to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that it is up to the provinces to decide how to use the notwithstanding clause.

Bloc Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet brought forward a motion in the House of Commons calling on MPs to recognize that provinces have a legitimate right to use the clause, including pre-emptively.

While Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and his MPs supported the Blocs call, the governing Liberals and federal New Democrats defeated Blanchets motion in a vote of 174 to 142.

Following the vote, Blanchet issued a statement panning its defeat, saying the pre-emptive use of the provision is necessary for Quebec to assert its positions around language and identity.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has criticized decisions by the premiers of Quebec and Ontario to pre-emptively invoke the clause, which gives federal and provincial legislatures the ability to pass laws that override certain parts of the Charter for a period of up to five years.

It has been used by premiers when introducing controversial legislation. In Quebec, Premier Francois Legault used it to usher in Bill 21, which bars public servants in positions of authority from wearing religious symbols like hijabs on the job.

Legault also used it to enact language reforms under Bill 96.

In Ontario, Premier Doug Ford turned to the override provision pre-emptively last fall in the midst of labour negotiations with education workers, but changed his mind after backlash from unions and the public.

At the time, Trudeau criticized Fords initial decision as wrong and inappropriate, and pressed Poilievre inside the House of Commons to say whether he shared the same view.

The Opposition leader said nothing on the matter at the time, but while running for the partys leadership last year, he said he would invoke the notwithstanding clause if he became prime minister.

Poilievre said he would override a decision by the Supreme Court of Canada last year, which said that the man responsible for the Quebec City mosque shooting in 2017 would not have to wait more than 25 years before becoming eligible for parole. Prosecutors had asked the top court to extend Alexandre Bissonnettes parole ineligibility to 50 years.

Since Trudeaus Liberals were elected to power in 2015, the notwithstanding clause has been invoked seven times.

He has said he shares the same dislike for the clause as his late father, Pierre Trudeau. The former prime minister reluctantly agreed to include the measure during negotiations with premiers to establish the Constitution in 1982.
Man Fatally Shot in Sherman Oaks Over Possible Noise Dispute

SHERMAN OAKS, Calif.A man was fatally shot Feb. 13 in Sherman Oaks over what may have been a noise dispute between neighbors, and the alleged gunman was taken into custody.

The shooting was reported about 3:15 a.m. in the 14600 block of Moorpark Street, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

Raymond Howard, 78, died at the scene, according to police and the coroners office.

The suspect was identified by police as 42-year-old Hadif Haile. He was arrested on suspicion of murder.

Witnesses told reporters at the scene that a dispute over a noise complaint escalated into the shooting.

KTLA5 reported that the alleged gunman contacted authorities himself following the shooting.
Man Identified as Shooter Who Killed Three at Michigan State University

Anthony McRae in a file image. (Michigan Department of Corrections via The Epoch Times)

A 43-year-old man was identified as the person who killed three at Michigan State University (MSU) on Feb. 13.

Anthony McRae, 43, carried out the shootings at the school, law enforcement officials said Tuesday.

Some students were shot inside Berkey Hall. McRae then went to the MSU Union building nearby and kept shooting, officials told a briefing.

The first call to police about shots being fired came in shortly before 8:30 p.m.

The suspect was located in Lansing, off campus, based on a tip. McRae killed himself, according to law enforcement.

Three students were killed and five others were left injured.

The injured students were all in critical condition on Tuesday morning.

Law enforcement officials said they have not pinpointed a motive. They said McRae has no affiliation with the university.

I know everybody wants to know what the motive is. We dont have an answer, Chris Rozman, interim deputy police chief for the school, told reporters.

Police investigate the scene of a shooting on the campus of Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich., on Feb. 13, 2023. (Al Goldis/AP Photo)

Pleaded Guilty to Gun Charge

McRae was charged after admitting to having a gun on him without a permit during an encounter with a police officer at approximately 1:30 a.m. on June 7, 2019, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections.

McRae said he took the gun with him as he went to the store to buy cigarettes because he feared for his safety. According to court documents, McRae said he was attempting to get a concealed carry permit.

McRae was charged with a felony. But prosecutors in Ingham County later added a misdemeanor, possession of a loaded firearm in or upon a vehicle. McRae ended up pleading guilty to the latter, and the felony was dismissed. McRae relinquished the gun as part of the plea deal.

John DeWane, the Ingham County prosecutor, in a statement defended how the situation unfolded.

The case went through a pre-sentence investigation that included a sentence guideline score, DeWane said. The score provides a sentence recommendation.

Even if he were convicted by a jury of the original charge, Anthony McRae would not have been recommended for a jail or prison sentence. The sentencing guideline score would have been the same if he had been convicted of either the original charge (Carrying a Concealed Weapon) or the offense for which he was convicted (carrying a firearm in a vehicle), DeWane said, calling for improved laws to address gun violence in this state.

McRae was placed on probation on Oct. 24, 2019, and discharged on May 14, 2021.

He did not have any issues while on probation and never had a positive drug test, a Department of Corrections spokesperson told The Epoch Times via email.

Melinda McRae, McRaes sister, told CNN she was shocked and did not know why her brother carried out the shooting.

The sister said her brother was sorrowful following their mothers death and lived in shelters in various cities.

She had not seen him since their mothers funeral in 2020.

Im just so sorry about the innocent people that got killed, she said.

Exterior scene of the residence of Anthony McRae, in Lansing, Mich., on Feb. 14, 2023. . (Carlos Osorio/AP Photo)

Update on Victims

Dr. Denny Martin, interim president and chief medical officer at the Edward W. Sparrow Hospital, told reporters that four of the five victims who were transported to the hospital required surgery. All five are in critical condition.

Three other students were found dead at the scene, law enforcement said.

Two of the dead were graduates of separate high schools in the Grosse Pointe district in suburban Detroit, the superintendent said. Their names were not immediately released. The third was identified as Alexandria Verner, a graduate of Clawson High School, also in the Detroit area.

If you knew her, you loved her and we will forever remember the lasting impact she has had on all of us, Clawson Superintendent Billy Shellenbarger said in an email to families.

Michigan State has about 50,000 students, including 19,000 who live on campus. As hundreds of officers scoured the campus, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) northwest of Detroit, students hid where they could Monday night.

A large police presence was in McRaes Lansing neighborhood overnight. Suzanne Shook said she has lived a block away from McRae for about a year.

We never spoke to him, Shook said. When he would be walking or riding his bike, he was always straightforward and wouldnt look at anybody.

Ted Zimbo said he was walking to his dorm when he encountered a woman with a ton of blood on her.

She told me, Someone came in our classroom and started shooting, Zimbo said. Her hands were completely covered in blood. It was on her pants and her shoes. She said, Its my friends blood.

Zimbo said the woman left to find a friends car while he returned to his SUV and threw a blanket over himself to hide for three hours.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Mans Leap Saves Him During Brooklyn U-Haul Rampage

A man jumps out of the way as a U-Haul truck drives onto the sidewalk in the Brooklyn borough of New York on Feb. 13, 2023. (Jorge Aldaz via AP)

NEW YORKA 66-year-old man who saved himself from a rampaging U-Haul truck driver with a frantic leap on a Brooklyn sidewalk said he doesnt know how he managed to escape.

Mohamed Abdelmagid, a car service driver, was strolling to his dispatch office Monday morning when he looked up from his phone just in time to see the truck barrel onto the sidewalk.

His reaction was caught on surveillance videoan attempt to sidestep the rushing truck and then a desperate dive to the concrete that sent him to the hospital with cracked ribs and a fractured ankle. The truck passed so close, Abdelmagid said it clipped his foot as he dove.

Then, the prone Abdelmagid was nearly run over by a police car flying up the sidewalk in pursuit of the U-Haul.

I dont know what happened, Abdelmagid told The Associated Press by phone Tuesday as he was waiting to be discharged from the hospital. I go to (the) right. After that, I go to (the) left, and I jumped.

He joked that it was his physical education training from growing up in Egypt that served him well.

Thats why Im still young, he said. Im 66, but I look like 46.

Abdelmagid was lucky to survive. The truck, driven by a man with a history of violence and mental illness, hit at least nine people as it wove through the streets of Brooklyns Bay Ridge section.

Erafin Yaz, 25, looks out from his roof at the caution tape covering the corner of Bay Ridge Avenue and 5th Avenue where pedestrians were struck in Bay Ridge in the Brooklyn borough of New York on Feb. 13, 2023. (Brittainy Newman/AP Photo)

One man, age 44, died from a head injury as the truck veered into scooters and cyclists and drove onto sidewalks.

The man driving the U-Haul, identified by his son as Weng Sor, 62, was arrested after police were able to corner the truck near the entrance to a highway tunnel leading from Brooklyn to Manhattan. Authorities were still considering what charges to file.

Sors son told The Associated Press his father has a history of mental illness and had been living in Las Vegas until recently. According to records, he served time for multiple acts of violence, including stabbing his brother.

Mayor Eric Adams said the man who died was a single father raising those children on his own.

Just a terrible tragedy, and I just want to thank the New York City Police Department for taking appropriate actions to apprehend the driver, the Democrat said Tuesday.

Abdelmagid is grateful to be alive. He has seen the video of him jumping for his life.

I dont believe it, he said. This is me.

By Deepti Hajela
Moldovan President Warns of Russian Plot to Topple Leadership

Moldovan President Maia Sandu speaks during the third ministerial conference of the Moldova Support Platform at the Ministerial Conference Centre in Paris, France, on Nov. 21, 2022. (YOAN VALAT/Pool via Reuters)

CHISINAUMoldovas president accused Russia on Monday of planning to use foreign saboteurs to bring down her tiny countrys leadership, stop it joining the European Union, and use it in the war against Ukraine.

President Maia Sandu made her comments after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said last week his country had uncovered a Russian intelligence plan for the destruction of Moldova, and days later the countrys government resigned.

Sandu, whose country borders Ukraine, has repeatedly expressed concern about Moscows intentions towards the former Soviet republic and about the presence of Russian troops in the breakaway Transdniestria region.

She said the plan involved citizens of Russia, Montenegro, Belarus, and Serbia entering Moldova to try to spark protests in an attempt to change the legitimate government to an illegal government controlled by the Russian Federation.

The Kremlins attempts to bring violence to Moldova will not work. Our main goal is the security of citizens and the state. Our goal is peace and public order in the country, Sandu told a news briefing.

Russia denied last year wanting to intervene in Moldova after authorities in Transdniestria (also Transnistria) said they had been targeted by a series of attacks. While no one claimed responsibility for the attacks, Ukraine and Latvia blamed Russia for false flag operations.

With a population of about 470,000, Transdniestria has been under the control of pro-Russian separatist authorities since the collapse of the Soviet Union and its 1992 civil war.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby on Monday said reports of the plot had not been independently confirmed but were deeply concerning and certainly not outside the bounds of Russian behaviour.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Majority of Canadians Are Against Assisted Suicide for Mentally Ill: Poll

A bed in need of cleaning is moved in the COVID-19 intensive care unit at St. Pauls hospital in downtown Vancouver, Canada, on April 21, 2020. (Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press)

The majority of Canadians are not in favour of expanding medically assisted suicide, and rather have deep concerns and discomfort with the idea, according to a new poll conducted by the nonprofit Angus Reid Institute, in partnership with Cardus, a think tank.

Less than one-third of Canadians are comfortable with offering medically assisted suicide to those suffering only from a mental illnessand 51% of Canadians oppose it, stated Cardus in a Feb. 13 news release.

In every province except Quebec, Canadians surveyed opposed offering assisted suicide to people whose only condition is a mental illness. Politically across the board, notes Cardus, substantial portions of Liberal, Conservative, NDP, and Bloc Quebecois voters are opposed to euthanasia in circumstances of mental illness.

Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed stated people should have to exhaust all treatment alternatives before being able to obtain a medically assisted death.

More than half of Canadians, 55 percent, feared that assisted suicide would replace providing adequate social services, and one-third of Canadians worried increasing access to euthanasia would mean less commitment to palliative care.

MAID Expansion

The federal government intended to allow people with a mental illness as the sole criterion to obtain medically assisted death (MAID), otherwise known as euthanasia, by March 17, 2023.

The minister needs to back off from expanding medically assisted suicide to people suffering from mental illness, said Rebecca Vachon, health program director at Cardus. Then the government should work to ensure Canadians can access all mental health and social services they need before even considering the possibility of expansion.

On Feb. 2, Justice Minister David Lametti announced on Twitter that Bill C-39 would be tabled in the House of Commons to delay expanding eligibility criteria for assisted suicide to the mentally ill for one year.

Lametti said a Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying is still completing a final report on offering euthanasia to the mentally ill.

On March 13, the House of Commons began debating Bill C-39. The main objective of this bill is to ensure the safe assessment and provision of MAiD in all circumstances where a mental illness forms the basis for the request, Lametti said in the House on Feb. 13.

When polled, 61 percent of Canadians say they support allowing a patient to request assisted death under certain circumstances but without facing foreseeable death.

However, since 2016 when assisted suicide first became offered as a treatment in Canada, the number of Canadians using the treatment increased tenfold, noted Angus Reid, to more than 10,000 in 2021.

Two-thirds, or 64 percent, said that someone dealing with debilitating chronic pain should be able to request assisted suicide. Two in five individuals (40 percent) responded that they would support euthanasia for someone with several serious health problems. However, in scenarios where a person is dealing with mental health challenges, the percentage of people in favour drops dramatically, with only 23 percent in favour of euthanasia for post-traumatic stress disorder and 22 percent in favour of MAID for severe depression.

Of the individuals polled, all of those who had committed religious beliefs opposed euthanasia with mental illness as the sole criterion.

The survey conducted an online poll of 1,816 Canadians at the end of January.

Peter Wilson contributed to this report.
MPs Host Screening of Canadas Oscar Contender for Best International Film on Parliament Hill

A poster for the documentary "Eternal Spring" on display at Film Forum in New York on Oct. 14, 2022. (Chung I Ho/The Epoch Times)

On Parliament Hill on Feb. 13, MPs hosted a special screening of Eternal Spring, an award-winning film depicting Beijings persecution of religious rights. The animated documentary is Canadas selection in the category of Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards next month.

Directed by Torontonian Jason Loftus and animated by acclaimed Chinese artist Daxiong, Eternal Spring pieces together events that occurred in China nearly 20 years ago. It tells the story of 18 Chinese citizens who managed to tap into state cable television and broadcast uncensored news about the Beijing regimes persecution campaign against Falun Gong adherents.

Liberal MP Judy Sgro and Conservative MP Garnett Genuis hosted the Feb. 13 screening, ahead of the 21st anniversary of the TV station hijacking effort that took place on March 5, 2002, in Changchun, the capital of Jilin Province. In English, Changchun means eternal spring.

In remarks before the screening, Sgro applauded the film for garnering numerous awards at festivals around the world, including the top audience prize at Canadas Hot Docs, as well as the Hellenic Parliaments Human Values Award in Greece. It has also received nominations among the worlds leading awards for documentary film (IDA Documentary Awards) and animation (the 50th Annie Awards), along with being named a 2023 finalist in the Social Impact Media Awards for Best Documentary Feature.

Eternal Spring is the first-ever Mandarin-language film to represent Canada in the Oscars best international feature film category and the only film in 2023 to qualify in both the Best Animated Feature and Best Documentary Feature categories.

Liberal MP Judy Sgro speaks before the screening of award-winning documentary film Eternal Spring on Parliament Hill on Feb. 13, 2023. (Donna He/The Epoch Times)

Ive never seen anything like it. To use animation to tell a story about peoples struggles  it was fascinating, Sgro told The Epoch Times at the screening.

The stages that [the film] goes in are easy to absorb, easy to understand, and its easy to see the suffering and peoples desire to be able to be free to practice what they want.

No wonder Eternal Spring is going to win all of these awards, because thats very remarkable, absolutely remarkable, she added.

Genuis said the film is an inspiration to those who continue the fight for freedom.

It really brings to light the struggle for freedom and justice, he told The Epoch Times at the event. Its really a pleasure to be able to bring beautiful art that also has an important and powerful message [to Parliament].

(L-R) Award-winning filmmaker Jason Loftus poses with Conservative MP Garnett Genuis and animation artist Daxiong at a screening of Eternal Spring on Parliament Hill on Feb. 13, 2023. (The Epoch Times)

Its a very powerful and moving presentation of that history [of the Falun Gong persecution]. And it should be inspiring for us today to do what we can to continue the work of trying to bring truth and information to people and help people to access information about whats really going on in China and around the world, he added.

Conservative MP Cathay Wagantall, who also attended the screening, said its of very deep concern for her to hear about so many incidents of Beijings religious persecution of Falun Gong, as well as campaigns targeting people of other faiths in China.

We need to unite and stand against a world where freedom of faith and religion is seen as dangerous to those who want to control, she told The Epoch Times.

Persecution

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, consists of meditative exercises and moral teachings based on the tenets of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. After it was introduced in China in 1992, it quickly gained widespread popularity due to its reported benefits to peoples physical and mental health. By 1999, the practice had attracted 70 million to 100 million adherents, according to official Chinese estimates.

However, then-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Jiang Zemin perceived that popularity as a threat to the regimes totalitarian rule, and launched a violent suppression of Falun Gong adherents on July 20, 1999, in an attempt to eradicate the practice.

On Jan. 23, 2001, CCP mouthpiece Xinhua News Agency broadcast a video clip of five people setting themselves on fire in Tiananmen Square. Xinhua subsequently claimed the five were Falun Gong practitioners who burned themselves in a religious suicide attempt, even though suicide is counter to the practices teachings.

Filmmaker Jason Loftus and animation artist Daxiong attend a screening for the award-winning animated documentary film Eternal Spring on Parliament Hill on Feb. 13, 2023. (Donna He/The Epoch Times)

Despite various obvious discrepancies in the video, and despite its validity being challenged by international researchers and media outlets, Xinhuas reporting of the so-called self-immolation was used by the CCP to demonize Falun Gong. It struck a major propaganda victory for the CCP, prompting many Chinese citizens to proactively turn in their coworkers, neighbours, and even family members who practiced Falun Gong, believing the practice was truly dangerous.

In an effort to get the other side of the story out to the Chinese people, 18 Falun Gong practitioners in Changchun tapped into a state-run television network on March 5, 2002, and broadcast the videos Self-immolation or Hoax? and Falun Dafa Spreads Worldwide on eight channels simultaneously to 300,000 cable subscribers in the city.

The highly complicated and risky endeavour was successful, but the authorities immediately launched a massive sweep and arrested more than 5,000 Falun Gong practitioners. At least seven were beaten to death within days.

Daxiong, who was forced to flee his hometown because of the police raids, recalls the event in Eternal Spring resulting from his interviews with the sole survivor who participated in the daring television station hijacking.

This film is not necessarily just about Falun Gong, but about the truth, he said at the screening.

The Chinese regime relies on lies and violence in its reign over the Chinese people, and [the film] talks about how to uncover those lies and bring the truth to the people.

Over the years, MPs and numerous other government officials across the country have voiced support for Falun Gong and denounced the CCPs violation of religious rights. However, the persecution campaign in China continues, despite Canadian and international condemnation.

Limin Zhou, Donna Ho, and NTDs Annie Wu contributed to this report.
New York Sen. James Skoufis Talks State Budget Priorities

As the state budget talks entered their second week on Feb. 13, New York Democratic Sen. James Skoufis told The Epoch Times that his priorities included further fixes to bail reform, income tax cuts for the middle and working class, and fighting against the proposed payroll mobility tax raise.

Skoufis represents the 42nd Senate district, which encompasses almost all of Orange County except for Montgomery and Newburgh.

He supports Gov. Kathy Hochuls proposal to further roll back bail reform by removing the least restrictive conditions standard, which requires that judges set the least restrictive conditions at bail hearings to reasonably ensure that a defendant returns to court.

That oftentimes prevents judges from issuing bail when the circumstances demand it, quite frankly, Skoufis said. Thats something Im pushing very hard on to give them that discretion.

The proposed removal is the third rollback to a sweeping 2019 bail reform that was passed as part of the state budget in 2019. The reform eliminated cash bail for most misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies while setting further restrictions on release conditions.

When it comes to income taxes, Skoufis said he would push for lower tax rates for those making less than $300,000 a year while making up for the loss with the increased revenue from the recent tax hikes on millionaires.

In 2021, the state raised taxes on those earning $1 million (or $2 million as a couple) and created new tax brackets for those making more than $5 million and $25 million.

Orange County residents pay way too much in taxes, Skoufis said. My priorities are trying to provide relief and get them tax cuts while making sure that for the taxes they send to Albany, we get our fair share back.

He supports Hochuls plan to invest an additional $125 million in pre-K institutions across the state, adding that previous funding has added thousands of pre-K slots in Orange County.

He said he would push back on Hochuls proposal to stop passing enhanced federal Medicaid dollars under the Affordable Care Act to county governments, with Orange County likely to lose $9.8 million in revenue as a result.

Regional and Local Issues

Aside from statewide issues, Skoufis is also concerned with a regional issue that will impact Orange County: Hochuls proposed payroll mobility tax hike.

The tax is imposed on certain employers and self-employed people within the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) service area, including Orange, Rockland, Westchester, Putnam, and Dutchess counties in the Hudson Valley region.

The proposed rate hike from 0.34 to 0.5 percent is estimated to bring in $800 million; it is part of Hochuls multi-faceted plan to save the financially troubled MTA.

I dont believe there should be any increase outside of New York City, Skoufis said. Orange County doesnt have subways, Orange County doesnt have MTA busesthere is very little service, and no business should have to be paying this taxnever mind an increased rate.

He said he is working with several lawmakers outside New York City to push back on the proposed rate hike as a united voice.

At the local level, Skoufis plans to propose a pay raise to Stewart International Airport workers, who had been left out in a previous bill that had raised the pay for other port authority airports workers, he said.

In terms of infrastructure, Skoufis said he would try to get as many Orange County roads and bridges into the state capital plan as possible.

The state is due to pass a budget by Apr. 1.

A third-term state senator, Skoufis was reelected in November to represent the newly drawn 42nd district, which almost has the same boundary line as Orange County. The new district is a major break from his past territory that spanned parts of three counties.

[Having my district] consolidated into Orange County, it does lend itself for me to be more focused and honed in on Orange Countys specific issues, Skoufis said. Now I can take all that energy that was a bit more spread out in previous negotiations and really put it on issues that are specifically impactful to Orange County.
New Zealand Declares National Emergency as Cyclone Gabrielle Wreaks Havoc

High tides are rising due to Cyclone Gabrielle in Arkles Bay, Auckland, New Zealand, on Feb. 13, 2023. (John Longson/Twitter @JohnLongson/via Reuters)

New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins declared that Cyclone Gabrielle was the most significant weather event seen this century as hundreds of thousands of people remain without power in the country.

The severity and the breadth of the damage that we are seeing have not been experienced in a generation, he said in a cyclone update from Wellington on Feb. 14.

We are still building a picture of the effects of the cyclone as it continues to unfold. But what we do know is the impact is significant, and it is widespread.

It comes after the New Zealand government formally declared a national state of emergency, which currently covers the regions of Northland, Auckland, Tairawhiti, Bay of Plenty, Waikato, Hawkes Bay, and the Tararua District. A local state of emergency had already been declared in these areas.

The declaration was signed by the Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty on the morning of Feb. 14, and is only the third in the countrys history.

An aerial photo taken on Feb. 14, 2023 shows the Waiohiki bridge and surrounds inundated by the Tutaekuri River after Cyclone Gabrielle made landfall near the city of Napier. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

The rains and winds have battered the north of the country, with many towns cut off, particularly along the east coast of North Island.

Around 225,000 people are currently without power across the North Island, a jump from 75,000 the night before.

Hipkins said the level of damage to the power grid has not been seen since Cyclone Bola in the 1980s.

The situation is changing rapidly, and the lines companies are expecting that there could be more customers to be affected, he said. Theyre working hard to restore power as quickly as possible.

Transpower, the state-owned company responsible for electricity infrastructure and market systems, has declared a grid emergency.

Due to the current situation, we are not able to obtain communications from our substation, but it is likely the Redclyffe substation is underwater, Transpower said.

Until we are able to gain access to the substation, we will not have a clear picture of how long the region will be without power, but we are advising that the community should be prepared to be without power for days to weeks, rather than hours.

The prime minister said the government and telecommunications companies were working together to get communication lines back up and running.

One of the challenges is the number of those cell phone towers will be operating on batteries at the moment, he said. Some of the batteries will be getting pretty low, so I think the priority is going to be to try and store power as quickly as possible to those or to get alternative power sources to them.

Due to the damage to communication lines causing a number of blind spots, the exact scale of the damage is still unclear.

A house sits destroyed at the bottom of a large landslide on Moututara Road in Muriwai in Auckland, New Zealand, on Feb. 14, 2023. (Phil Walter/Getty Images)

Much focus of the next 24 hours is on restoring contact with areas that have been isolated and restoring power to as many households as possible.

But McAnulty said the current priority was on the safety of the public, lifesaving missions, and evacuations.

Two active rescue operations are currently underway in Hawkes Bay. However, not much progress has been made due to the intense weather.

Theyre not missing in the sense that we know where they are, but they have been stranded for quite some time, McAnulty told reporters. Theres been a real delay because of the weather that even an NH90 [helicopter] couldnt get to them.

Conditions Clearing

National forecaster MetService recorded wind gusts of over 140 kilometres per hour along many coastal locations and wave heights of over 11 metres off the coast of the Bay of Islands.

Cape Reinga, right at the north of Northland, has reported 30 consecutive hours of gale-force winds, MetService said on Twitter.

However, urban areas have also been affected by high wind speeds, causing Auckland Airport to suspend all operations.

Ground handlers and airlines at Auckland Airport have suspended operations for the rest of the day due to high winds and for safety reasons. This means no international or domestic flights will be taking place for the rest of the day, they said.

Air New Zealand reported that almost 600 flights have been impacted by Cyclone Gabrielle, affecting around 35,000 customers.

A flooded road crossing near Warkworth in Auckland, New Zealand, on Feb. 14, 2023. (Fiona Goodall/Getty Images)

MetService meteorologist Andrew James said rain will begin easing in the upper North Island, while it will continue along the east and south of the island into the evening.

The weather system is tracking southeast and should begin moving away from New Zealand from the early morning of Feb. 15, when the rain is expected to move down to the capital, Wellington.

There is some light at the end of the tunnelMetService is forecasting a ridge over the North Island, bringing a spell of settled weather from this weekend onwards, James said. There are still a couple of bands of wet weather to cross before then, so stay up to date with your MetService forecast.
Newsmax Versus DirecTV and Americas Censorship Regime

Signage for the Newsmax conservative television broadcasting network is displayed at a broadcast TV booth at the National Rifle Association (NRA) annual meeting at the George R. Brown Convention Center, in Houston, Texas on May 28, 2022. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

Commentary

Almost daily now, Americans see new evidence of a mass, public-private censorship regimepart and parcel of something resembling an American social credit system in which those who submit to ruling class orthodoxy are rewarded, and those who run afoul of it are railroaded.

So when news broke recently that DirecTV was booting center-right network Newsmax, the fourth highest-rated cable news channel, from its lineup, the question naturally arose: Was this about politics, or was it strictly business? A deeper question also beckons: To what extent has politics so pervaded every facet of American life that a distinction can even be drawn between the two?

DirecTV claims it parted ways with Newsmax upon expiration of their prior contract because the outlet made unreasonable demands that would have cost the TV provider millions of dollars in fees, which it would have had to pass on to viewers. It maintains it wishes to bring Newsmax back, albeit on more favorable terms.

Newsmax is adamant that its a victim of censorshipthat the economic argument is a ruse. It claims that the fees it was seeking under a new contract were well below those of most of two dozen largely left-leaning news and information channels DirecTV carriesand that DirecTV has dishonestly characterized Newsmaxs negotiating position to the press to boot, calling into question its candor over the impasse.

Outrage over DirecTVs ouster of Newsmax two years out from the next presidential election was swift and widespread, with condemnations flying from right-leaning politicians and pundits alike. Within two days, in a seeming bid to counter claims of ideological discrimination against Newsmax, DirecTV announced it was adding conservative network The First to its lineup, touting its support of news programming options that reflect all voices. Newsmax responded that while its glad AT&T DirecTV is adding a conservative commentary channel, it viewed the move as a pathetic attempt to deal with millions of angry [Newsmax] viewers.

For full disclosure, Im no disinterested observer of these developments. I have regularly appeared on and/or worked with both networks and count former colleagues at each of them. Im as thrilled for my friends at The First as Im saddened for my friends at Newsmax.

But the reality is that both are operating in a hostile corporate ecosystem that leaves no network that hosts dissenting voices from ruling class orthodoxy safe. And notwithstanding DirecTVs efforts to blunt claims of discrimination against Newsmax, given the ways in which the deck is stacked against any right-of-center voice, it would only be surprising if Newsmax wasnt a victim of the ruling classs broader War on Wrongthink.

The NewsmaxDirecTV saga may well be a microcosm of this broader war.

Consider that as some observers have noted, DirecTVs majority owner, AT&T, and minority owner, private equity giant TPG, share overwhelmingly left-leaning bents, reflected in the formers board composition, and the latters emphasis on ESG and its executives overwhelming campaign contributions to Democrats.

Too, virtually every influential business across virtually every influential industry from Big Tech to Wall Street has submitted in one way or another to Wokeism. This can be seen for example in the fact that every Fortune 100 company has now adopted a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion program.

There are myriad reasons why corporations have succumbed to the anti-cultural revolution of Wokeism that has swept across virtually every aspect of American life. Some corporate executives are true believers that businesses are to be paragons of progressivism. Others may merely don progressive garb to be on the right side of History, or for other cynical reasons. To those who might resist, as I have detailed in reporting at RealClearInvestigations, the pressure to conform is immense, and comes from virtually every direction, including, investors, board members, employees, competitors, lawyers, consultants, progressive activist groups, the media, and perhaps most importantly, the state.

Wokeism is the animating, or at least operating, ideology of our ruling regimeincluding our administrative state, and wide swaths of the legislative and judicial branches of government toocodified perhaps most directly in President Joe Bidens first-day executive order on affirmatively advancing equity. In an America in which the state, which has a monopoly on force, is involved to ever-greater degrees in every aspect of American life, including our commerce, it would only make sense that businesses would take on its character. Facing carrots including special privileges and government contracts, and sticks including oversight and detrimental regulations, businesses naturally see it as in their self-interest to be on the right side of the state, which includes adopting its Woke anti-religion.

As businesses have submitted one by one to said anti-religion, theres a compelling argument to be made thatincreasingly invested in political and social issues totally unmoored from their bottom lines, and arguably seeking to effectuate related changes outside the political processbusinesses have become an extension of the state.

That is, one might think of Corporate America increasingly not just as a reflection of the administrative state, but as part of the administrative state.

And if the administrative state brooks no dissentcasting challenges to its privilege and prerogatives as dangerous, and demanding conformity to its ideology of Wokeism as an existential imperativethen businesses too would be obligated to root out such dissent.

Certainly, this can be seen in the information sphere, and perhaps most clearly in the censorship regime reflected in the Twitter Files, in which the national security apparatus conspired with a social media platform to suppress dissenting speech in violation of the First Amendment.

That censorship regime, which has touched not only social media platforms, but all manner of Big Tech companies and financial firms, has sprung into action broadly so our ruling class can maintain a monopoly on the narrativeideological control in service of political powerunder the guise of national security and public safety. Wokeism cloaks this power play in a veneer of piety.

Jan. 6 was the key accelerant to the development of this regime, providing a pretext to silence, deplatform, and chill dissenting views on a whole slew of contentious topics from election integrity and the Chinese coronavirus, to radical gender ideologya censorship regime the U.S. government managed in the private sector to complement its domestic counterterror policies.

This brings us back to Newsmax, a named target of this censorship regime dating back to at least February 2021. Then, weeks after the Capitol breach, California Democrat Reps. Anna Eshoo and Jerry McNerney, members of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, wrote to a dozen TV providers, including DirecTV, urging the companies to combat the spread of misinformation and requesting more information about their actions to address misinformation, disinformation, conspiracy theories, and lies spread through channels they host.

In their letter to DirecTV, the members asked it to disclose whether it would continue carrying Fox News, Newsmax, and One America News Network (OANN), given the networks airing of purported dangerous misinformation that enabled the insurrection of January 6th and hinders our public health response to the current pandemic.

This letter could be seen as a thinly veiled assault on the First Amendmenta way for government officials to indirectly compel TV providers to ban speech politicians dont like by dropping select networks. We have seen this tactic play out repeatedly as Americas sprawling censorship regime has come into clear view over the last two years.

DirecTV would drop OANN in the spring of 2022. Now it has dropped Newsmax.

The pull for TV providers to drop networks that propagate unfashionable political views would exist irrespective of government compulsionsimply considering the political views prevailing across corporate America, and the uncontested campaigns from left-wing activists for decades to purge the public square of center-right voices. But direct pressure from politicians with jurisdiction over major tech companiescompanies in some cases that, like DirecTV majority owner AT&T, do substantial business with the governmentmay well prove irresistible.

With Senate and House Republicans now demanding answers from DirecTV and its owners aimed at discerning whether the trio engaged in what constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley has termed censorship by surrogate, soon we may get a clear answer as to what really drove its decision.

We have a right to know whether and to what extent they bent to pressure from federal lawmakers and other officials.

In fact, we ought to be able to see not just the DirecTV Files, but the files of every single corporation reasonably suspected of being co-opted by, or wittingly partnering with the federal government to violate our rights.

The sunlight of congressional oversight is an important disinfectant.

Legislative action, lawfare, and public pressure are important tools to begin to restore free speech in this country too.

That such measures are neededthat our culture doesnt demand the protection of speech as the only moral positionillustrates how far we have fallen.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Nikki Haley Announces 2024 Presidential Bid

Nikki Haley greets supporters after an event with Republican Pennsylvania Senate nominee Dr. Mehmet Oz in Harrisburg, Pa., on Oct. 26, 2022. (Mark Makela/Getty Images)

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley on Tuesday issued a video statement in which she officially threw her hat in the ring for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, becoming the first major challenger to former President Donald Trump.

Im Nikki Haley and Im running for president, Haley said in the video, which she shared on social media and on her newly launched campaign page.

Haley, who served as Trumps U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, plans to lay out her campaign plans in a speech in Charleston, South Carolina, on Wednesday.

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley speaks to guests at the Republican Jewish Coalition Annual Leadership Meeting in Las Vegas, Nev., on Nov. 19, 2022. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Tough on China

She highlighted her foreign policy experience in the video, warning of threats to Americas pre-eminent status in the international domain.

China and Russia are on the march. They all think we can be bullied, kicked. You should know this about me: I dont put up with bullies. And when you kick back, it hurts them more if youre wearing heels, she said.

In China, they commit genocide, she said, while in Iran they murder their own people for challenging the government.

It puts things into perspective, she continued. Even on our worst day, we are blessed to live in America.

Haley in May 2022 said that the controversial U.N. Human Rights Council must investigate the Chinese genocide of minorities, otherwise a planned visit by the U.N. Human Rights commissioner to the country would be just one more Chinese publicity stunt.

The Chinese regime has been accused of committing atrocities in Xinjiang.

After U.N. high commissioner for human rights Michelle Bachelet visited Xinjiang, Haley called the visit a total communist propaganda victory lap and an insult to every victim of genocide.

Pushback Against Leftist Revisionism

Domestically, Haley said shed push back against efforts by the socialist left to rewrite Americas history, presumably referring to the progressive campaign to portray the founding of the United States as steeped in racism rather than in opposition to slavery and the protection of individual liberties.

Haley noted that Republicans lost the popular vote in seven out of the last eight presidential elections and that this has to change.

Its time for a new generation of leadershipto rediscover fiscal responsibility, secure our border, and strengthen our country, our pride, and our purpose, Haley said, outlining her policy priorities.

With the announcement, Haley has become the first direct challenger to Trump in a Republican field that is expected to grow going forward.

Other high-profile Republicans said to be considering a 2024 run include Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

Trump Cant Trust Her

Her announcement was met with a critical response by Sebastian Gorka, a Trump ally and former Deputy Assistant to the president.

In April 2021 @NikkiHaley told reporters she would never run against President Trump, but would support her former boss in his campaign for re-election. 5 minutes ago she announced her campaign for the Presidency. President Trump cant trust her. Can you? he said in a post on Twitter.

In November, Haley said she was mulling the launch of a 2024 presidential bid.

A lot of people have asked if Im going to run for president now that the midterms are over, Ill look at it in a serious way and Ill have more to say soon, Haley said during an appearance at a Republican Jewish Coalition meeting.

Back in 2021, she pledged not to run against Trump.

I would not run if President Trump ran, Haley said at the time.

Trump launched his 2024 bid for reelection on Nov. 15, 2022.

In order to make America great and glorious again I am tonight announcing my candidacy for President of the United States, Trump said in a speech at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

The former president stressed that this wont be his campaign but our campaign, saying that the only force strong enough to defeat the massive corruption we are up against is youthe American people.

Together we will be taking on the most corrupt forces and entrenched interests imaginable. Our country is in a horrible state. Were in great trouble.

As rumors mounted that Haley was going to enter the presidential race, she said in January that: If I run, Im running against Joe Biden. Thats what Im focused on, because we cant have a second term of Joe Biden.

In her video on Tuesday, Haley took aim at Bidens policies.

Joe Bidens record is abysmal. But that shouldnt come as a surprise. The Washington establishment has failed us over and over and over again. Its time for a new generation of leadership, she said.
North Americans Are Divided by Ideology, Not Race

A woman attends a protest outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, after marching to decry immigration and refugee policies, in Los Angeles on June 30, 2018. (David McNew/Getty Images)

Commentary

People would be wise to think more critically about alleged racial conflicts in the United States and Canada.

In the summer of 2019, New York Times journalists led by Nikole Hannah-Jones launched The 1619 Project. Its purpose was to revise history by placing the arrival of African slaves in the British Virginia colony at the center of Americas historical narrative.

First published by The New York Times Magazine, the project was intended to play a formative role in American education. Some have said that its introduction in schools is part of a bold neo-Marxist intellectual plan to maximize racial discord.

Epoch Times contributor Clifford Humphrey, a Hillsdale College postdoctoral fellow, wrote: We should see the 1619 Project for what it is: part of a comprehensive attempt at political revolution.

Contending With Historical Imperfections

In the fall of 2020, led by civil rights leader Robert L. Woodson Sr. and American Enterprise Institute scholar Ian Rowe, a distinguished group of black American scholars organized 1776 Unites and developed a black history curriculum to counter The New York Times project.

In 2021, several members of that group published a collection of essays that challenged the anti-American claims put forward by the 1619 authors. They sought to tell a more complete and inspiring story of the history of African-Americans in the United States.

Edited by Woodson, their book was titled Red, White, and Black: Rescuing American History from Revisionists and Race Hustlers. It was presented as an indispensable corrective to the version of black history presented by The New York Times.

Needless to say, this book has received scant attention from progressive academics, educators, and media pundits. For the left, teaching anything but the 1619 curriculum amounts to ignoring the stain of slavery on the founding of America.

Woodsons team of scholars presents a different view. Red, White, and Black is dedicated to the idea that Americans from every imaginable condition or background can come together in pursuit of their dreams.

The lead essay in Woodsons collection is by Wilfred Reilly, a professor of political science teaching at Kentucky State University. Reilly has a different take on Americas historical imperfections. He argues that the United States began in 1776, not 1619. He says the notion that the Revolutionary War was fought to preserve slavery, that American capitalism is a legacy of human bondage, and that racism is a systemic part of American life is demonstrably false.

Scholars from 1776 Unites point out that the principles expressed in the American Declaration of Independence challenged the fundamental legitimacy of slave ownership. In the following century, during the course of a costly civil war, Abraham Lincolns Emancipation Proclamation finally ended the odious practice.

Mid-1960s civil rights legislation corrected the abuses of postbellum Jim Crow laws, and years of affirmative action mitigated the legacy of the American Souths peculiar institution.

Of course, singling out adversarial human relationships to disrupt free societies has long been a preoccupation for neo-Marxist ideologues. Racially charged historiography is constantly advanced by an ideologically uniform cohort of progressive academics and journalists who are rewriting the past to promote resentment, wealth redistribution, and reparations.

In Quebec, where I grew up and worked for most of my life, a famous pre-Confederation, British governors portrayal of two nations warring in the bosom of a single state was kept alive by self-serving progressive intellectuals for more than 150 years.

From the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s, Marxist-liberationists, empowered by the provinces Parti Quebecois (PQ), did their best to stoke feelings of resentment between French and English citizens and convince us that we couldnt possibly coexist in a single nation. Two Quebec independence referendums were conducted by PQ governments, but a majority of ordinary citizens rejected the proposed schism.

Undaunted by their failure to break up the nation over a FrenchEnglish conflict, cultural Marxists have now turned their attention to stoking animosity and resentment among Canadas indigenous peoples.

In sync with the racially charged intellectual atmosphere in the United States, Canadas Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) produced an unqualified condemnation of the way indigenous peoples have been treated throughout Canadian history.

Writing in The Epoch Times, Rod Clifton, a University of Manitoba professor emeritus, pointed out that the TRC report was only slightly less damning than that applied to the heinous treatment of European Jews by Nazi Germany. Social justice activists frequently use the conclusions of the commission to claim that indigenous peoples have been the victims of ruthless and deliberate forms of genocide at the hands of fellow Canadians.

The Real Conflict

In the United States and Canada, citizens should reject the negative influence of neo-Marxist ideology.

The left opposes traditional virtues, well-ordered liberty, and national sovereignty. They favor permanent socialist majorities, woke normativity, and the surrender of economic freedom to Davos globalists and the Chinese Communist Party.

Cultural Marxists are becoming more extreme and less credible. They deliberately focus on the absolute worst in the history of any people they oppose.

Common men and women in North America have already repudiated the destructive social prejudices that fractured nations over the past two centuries.

For nearly 60 years, hard-working citizens have been able to live happy and productive lives in desegregated communities. People of diverse racial, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds fall in love, marry, and raise families. They work together, play together, serve their country together, and seldom avoid engaging one another in almost any form of collective endeavor.

The real conflict isnt between people of one skin color or another. The division is deliberately generated and kept alive by political elites in the political arena.

As Reilly wrote, The U.S. is a flawed, but very good country, where it is simply not terribly hard to succeed, given hard work and personal responsibility.

At the grassroots level, the same can be said for Canada.

North Americans are divided by ideology, not race.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
North Koreas Penultimate Threat: Mobile Solid-Fuel Rockets

A news broadcast shows file footage of a North Korean missile test, in Seoul, on Oct. 28, 2022. South Korea's military claimed North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles. (Jung Yeon-je/AFP via Getty Images)

Commentary

After nearly two decades of striving, North Korea, with plenty of Chinese help, has finally reached the stage of world-class nuclear terror in service of the hegemonic ambitions of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Eleven years after North Koreas April 15, 2012, revelation of a mockup of a liquid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) traveling on a large 16-wheel Chinese-made truck, in its latest Feb. 8 military display, Pyongyang paraded four solid-fuel ICBMs, all traveling on a larger 18-wheel truck either made in China or co-produced in North Korea.

North Koreas missile truck, capable of launching its liquid-fueled or solid rocket ICBMs, called a transporter-erector-launcher (TEL), is a product of the Sanjiang Special Vehicle Company of the larger China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC), one of two main Chinese state-owned missile conglomerates.

This analyst has long held that in order for CASIC to make these 16- and 18-wheel TELs for North Korea, it first required intimate knowledge of the missiles they carry.

Furthermore, as CASIC is a major designer and producer of solid-fuel regional missiles like the Dong Feng DF-16 and DF-21, and ICBM size solid-fuel space launch vehicles like the Kuaizhou KZ-11, it is likely responsible for helping North Korea build ever larger solid-fuel missiles. Just dont expect a CASIC press release claiming credit.

North Korean state media on Dec. 15, 2022, revealed that North Korea had tested a large solid-fuel rocket motor. Based on North Korean images, it may have a diameter of about 2 meters or 6.5 feet.

The 80-ton DF-41 ICBM of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) has a diameter of about 7.3 feet, and a range of about 8,000 miles.

In comparison, the 78-ton CASIC KZ-11 has a 7.2-foot diameter and, if launched ballistically, could transport multiple nuclear warheads over 7,000 milesenough to reach most targets in the continental United States from North Korea.

Radio Free Asia on Feb. 1 cited a report by Shin Seung-ki, a research fellow at Seoul-based Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, who assessed that North Koreas goal is to build a 6,200-mile range solid-fuel ICBM that can carry up to 10 warheads.

North Korea likely gained insights into developing multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) warheads from Pakistans January 2017 test of its multiple warhead-carrying Ababeel intermediate-range ballistic missile, which Indian sources note was Chinese technology shared with Pakistan.

Given the close missile technology relationships between Pakistan, North Korea, and Iran, it is very likely that North Korea will sell its solid fuel ICBM technology to its two main allies.

Furthermore, the KZ-11s ability to put 1.5 tons into orbit also means that North Korea can more efficiently launch satellites or even begin building anti-satellite interceptors capable of taking out U.S. surveillance, navigation, or even some early warning satellites.

The KZ-11 could also accommodate a small Chinese-designed fractional orbital bombardment system (FOBS) bus, to allow for bombing U.S. targets from low Earth orbit.

In the Feb. 8 parade, North Korea also displayed a record 12 of its 9,000-mile range, liquid-fueled Hwasong-17 ICBM, which could also carry multiple warheads, in addition to four of its new solid-fueled ICBMs.

A screenshot from Rodong Sinmum of North Koreas solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on its Chinese-made or designed transporter erector launcher (TEL), revealed at a military parade in Pyongyang on Feb. 8, 2023. (Courtesy of Rick Fisher)

Should North Korea be able to achieve strategic surprise, it could soon be capable of overwhelming the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system that may have up to 64 missile interceptors capable of countering North Korean ICBMs at Fort Greely in Alaska, and Vandenburg Air Force Base in California.

North Koreas ability to achieve surprise will be greatly advanced by its new solid-fueled ICBMs.

Instead of wheeling its current liquid-fueled Hwasong-17 ICBM out of its cave, and spending perhaps 30 minutes to 60 minutes fueling and preparing for launch and thus vulnerable to attack, the new solid-fuel ICBM can be made ready to launch almost as soon as it emerges from its lair.

That China could produce massive TELs for successive generations of North Korean ICBMs, starting in 2011, without Washington issuing any sanctions against Chinas CASIC, is a testament to U.S. government dysfunction.

Washingtons bipartisan failure to mount a sufficient campaign of economic and political pressure to stop Chinas assistance to North Koreas nuclear weapons program has given both the time they required to field their greatest threat: easily concealable and mobile solid-fuel ICBMs that can initiate in minutes a surprise nuclear attack against the United States.

There should be no illusion: China has so armed North Korea not just to preserve its Communist Party-Kim-family dictatorship, but to build this terror-trafficking regime into a deniable source of nuclear coercion or even an initiator of nuclear crises.

It should be expected that at Beijings prompting, North Korea will initiate a nuclear crisis in order to divert and tie down U.S. and allied military forces at a point that the CCP chooses to start its invasion of democratic Taiwan.

It is simply unacceptable that Americans now face this penultimate threat from one of the most impoverished and politically tortured nations on Earth. And that for over a decade, the massive military and intelligence capabilities of the United States were not marshaled to fully expose the CCPs perfidy, which should have justified sanctions amounting to U.S. decoupling from the Chinese economy a decade ago.

North Koreas new solid-fueled ICBMs represent a more threatening phase in the China-North Korean alliance of terror, which could soon extend to North Korean weapons for space warfare, and the proliferation of ICBM and space warfare technologies to Pakistan and Iran.

Inasmuch as Washington has deliberately limited its national missile defense capabilities so as not to scare Beijing into a much larger nuclear force breakout, as started anyway in 2021, the United States has lost on two levels: its unilateral forbearance was brutally exploited by China, which is on its way to 3,000 or 4,000 warheads.

Perhaps many of these will be carried by a new North Korean-enabled CASIC KZ-11-based ICBM that will complement Chinas DF-41.

Also, China has now enabled a North Korean nuclear missile threat able to overwhelm early limited U.S. missile defenses tailored to a much smaller North Korean threat.

There are now two imperatives for the United States: it must now field a much larger nuclear deterrent, perhaps up to 6,000 warheads, to deter China, Russia, and North Korea; and it must finally fulfill Ronald Reagans vision and build a robust national missile defense system.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Norway Official Who Spied for the Soviets Has Died in Moscow

COPENHAGEN, DenmarkArne Treholt, the former Norwegian Foreign Ministry official who was convicted of spying for the Soviet Union in what became Norways biggest Cold War espionage scandal, has died, authorities said Monday. He was 80.

In 1985, Treholt was sentenced to 20 years for giving Norwegian and NATO defense plans along with sensitive political information to his Soviet handlers over a nine-year period. He was also convicted of carrying out less serious intelligence breaches for Iraq.

Treholt, who claimed he worked as a business consultant, confessed to meeting and taking money from people working for the KGB. However, he denied being a spy in several books he later wrote and made several unsuccessful bids to have a retrial in Norway.

He was pardoned in 1992 on health reasons and left Norway to live in Cyprus and in Moscow.

The Norwegian Foreign Ministry confirmed it was aware of his death but provided no further details. Aftenposten, one of Norways largest dailies, wrote Sunday that Treholt had died after a brief disease in Moscow. Aftenposten also said he was survived by a son and two grandchildren.
At least three people were dead after a gunman opened fire at Michigan State University on Feb. 13. Another five people were injured in the shooting.

The U.S. Military says that it has recovered priority sensors and other high-tech equipment from the downed Chinese spy balloon. Find out what they believe its specific use was, as it crossed the nation.

Texas does everything bigger, even love stories. Meet a couple whose love is in eternal blossom, even after seven decades.

Topics in this episode include:

1. 3 Dead, 5 Injured in Michigan State University Shooting

2. New York U-Haul Truck Hits 9 People, 1 Dead

3. US Recovers Priority Sensors From Chinese Spy Balloon

4. US, Japan, S. Korea Hold Security Talks

5. Arkansas Bill on Gender Reassignment for Minors

6. Farmers Hurting as Egg Prices Drop

7. Shen Yun Brings Message of Hope From God: AZ Audience

8. Extraordinary Mother Mountaineer: Be Present, Accepting

9. NZ Declares National Emergency as Cyclone Wreaks Havoc

10. Hubble Captures Mysterious Spokes on Saturns Rings

11. Valentines Day Insights

12. Couple in Their 90s Still in Love After 72 Years
Plume of Chemicals in Ohio River Moving Downstream After Train Derailment: Officials

ONG 52nd Civil Support Team members prepare to enter an incident area to assess remaining hazards with a lightweight inflatable decontamination system (LIDS) in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 7, 2023. (Ohio National Guard via AP)

A top Ohio environmental official on Tuesday confirmed a plume of chemicals in the Ohio River is currently moving downstream after a train derailed in East Palestine that was carrying toxic chemicals.

We know there is a plume (of chemicals) moving down the Ohio River, Tiffani Kavalec, the head of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agencys water management subdivision, said in a news conference. We think its on its way towards Huntington, West Virginia, now, she added.

When pressed further, Kavalec said that the plume is comprised mainly of fire combustion chemicals. There could also be multiple volatile organic compounds that were being carried on the train in the Ohio River but are very diluted, she said.

Ultimately, she said that the plume is moving around 1 mph down the Ohio River, saying it is diluting as it travels downstream. The Ohio EPA doesnt believe the plume is threatening the quality of drinking water, she added.

But chemicals associated with the train derailment did flow to the Ohio River during the initial incident, Kavalec said. The Ohio River is able to dilute the pollutants pretty quickly, Kavalec added, saying that we are seeing very low levels of contaminants in the river.

Meanwhile, train operator Norfolk Southern is actively aerating the area around the Sulfur Run waterway in East Palestine, which remains contaminated, Kavalec added.

Clean-up continues in the aftermath of the Norfolk Southern Railroad train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. (Jeff Louderback/The Epoch Times)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said in a letter released over the past weekend that substances from the train that were now observed and detected in samples from Sulphur Run, Leslie Run, Bull Creek, North Fork Little Beaver Creek, Little Beaver Creek, and the Ohio River. The agency did not provide further details about the chemicals detected in the waterways.

As of Feb. 10, or about a week after the train derailed, butyl acrylate and ethyl hexyl acrylate were discovered in Leslie Run, located below Sulfur Levels. Both butyl acrylate and ethyl hexyl acrylate dissipated to non-detectable levels after a short trip downstream, she said

No vinyl chloride was found in either of the waterways or the Ohio River, Kavalec added.

There are very very low levels of volatile organic compounds in the Ohio River itself, she said. It appears its been very diluted.

On Monday, a municipal water company serving Louisville, Kentucky, told local media outlets that the chemical butyl acrylateconfirmed to be carried on the derailed trainwas observed in the Ohio River.

A clean-up crew member works on Feb. 14 at the site of the Norfolk Southern Railroad derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. (Jeff Louderback/The Epoch Times)

What we are seeing is really low levels of a compound called butyl acrylate, Chris Bobay, a water quality manager with Louisville Water Company, told local media. Butyl acrylate is an ester and esters are known for imparting very strong odors to the water at higher concentrations. The levels were seeing, we dont expect there to be any odor issues. But we have developed a treatment strategy to make sure that we remove the odors if theyre there.

But Bobay said officials are not seeing elevated levels of the chemical in the Ohio River in Louisville, located about 300 miles from the East Palestine derailment site. We can detect butyl acrylate as low as .5 parts per billion, but were not getting detections currently, Bobay told Spectrum News.

And earlier this week, Ohio officials reported that thousands of dead fish were found in several waterways around East Palestine. Some residents of East Palestine also claimed to local media that some of their animals died, while residents have said theyve suffered from health problems after returning home.

Responding to those reports, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine told reporters that if he lived in East Palestine, Id be drinking the bottled water  Id be alert and aware but I think Id be back in my home.

Bruce Vanderhoff, the head of the Ohio Department of Health, said East Palestine residents should get their private wells tested. Women who are pregnant, breastfeeding, or preparing baby formula with that water should take caution, too, he added.

Later, DeWine said that the controlled burn of materials on the train was deemed the best decision after he was told that chemicals on the train could trigger a catastrophic explosion.
Experts Focus on Wheel Bearing as Possible Cause of Ohio Train Derailment

White House says it is working closely with state government officials

As White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre addressed the derailment of 50 freight cars in Ohio, during a Feb. 14 press conference, an update from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has identified a wheel bearing as a potential culprit in the disastrous incident.

NTSB investigators have identified and examined the rail car that initiated the derailment. Surveillance video from a residence showed what appears to be a wheel bearing in the final stage of overheat failure moments before the derailment, the update states.

The wheelset from the suspected railcar has been collected as evidence for metallurgical examination. The suspected overheated wheel bearing has been collected and will be examined by engineers from the NTSB Materials Laboratory in Washington.

The update notes that the investigation is ongoing.

Jean-Pierres statement during the press conference, meanwhile, detailed the local and federal responses, including the NTSB, without mentioning Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

The EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] is working hand-in-glove with the State of Ohio, Jean-Pierre told reporters.

She said the Biden administration has been in close touch with local officials to ensure they have what they need and that their needs are being met.

Buttigieg has come under fire from Republicans over the Feb. 3 derailment and other incidents in recent months, ranging from airline delays to supply chain crises.

The cabinet-level official, formerly a McKinsey consultant and mayor of a college town in Indiana, did not address the incident in remarks at an event on the morning of Feb. 13.

I continue to be concerned about the impacts of the Feb. 3 train derailment near East Palestine, Ohio, and the effects on families in the 10 days since their lives were upended through no fault of their own, Buttigieg wrote in a Twitter post later that evening.

During Jean-Pierres Feb. 14 press conference, she noted that both the NTSB and the EPA have had a presence at the site since Feb. 4, the day after the derailment.

An EPA spokesperson who has communicated with The Epoch Times directed many specific questions about the reported harm to people and animals to local and state-level agencies in Ohio.

Since the fire went out on Feb. 8, EPA air monitoring has not detected any levels of health concern in the community that are attributed to the train derailment. Air monitoring data was provided to state health agencies on Feb. 8 for review prior to the states decision to lift the evacuation, said EPAs Debra Shore in a Feb. 14 statement.

EPA has assisted with the screening of 396 homes under a voluntary screening program offered to residents, and no detections of vinyl chloride or hydrogen chloride were identified.

Sixty-five additional homes are scheduled for today [Feb. 14]. We are continuing to conduct 24/7 air monitoring to ensure the health and safety of residents, she added.

Local Concern Over Impact Remains

Ohio lawmakers and East Palestine locals have expressed concerns over the incidents effect on the health and well-being of people, livestock, and wildlife.

Marilyn Figley, a farmer living near the derailment site, told The Epoch Times she isnt certain if she can eat eggs produced by her chickens.

I called the Health Department. They dont know anything. The EPA hasnt told me anything, she said.

Jonathan Shofstahl, co-founder of a welding company across the road from the derailment site, told The Epoch Times he was mainly worried about the potential long-term environmental impact.

In a Feb. 13 statement, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) said he had heard alarming anecdotes about contaminated waterways and effects on wildlife.

Many questions remain unanswered about the quality of the braking system used, the durability of the repair parts in the trains, and the Transportation Departments regulatory approach to our nations rail system, he added.

Aside from this incident, there is a troubling trend of catastrophic infrastructure problems in our country, and more than a few reports of sabotage. My office will be investigating these concerns in the weeks to come.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine holds a press conference at 3 p.m. ET on Feb. 14. Hes expected to give an update on the aftermath of the derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals.

The Epoch Times will livestream the event.
Only 2 in 10 US Employees Have a Best Friend at Work: Gallup

Employees work together in an office in New York, in an undated photo. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

A recent survey found that only two out of ten employees in the U.S. say they definitely have a best friend at work.

The quarterly survey was conducted by Gallup in June 2022.

Were seeing in the data that younger people in general are feeling more disconnected from their workplaces, said Gallup workplace and well-being researcher Jim Harter.

You can attribute some of that potentially to remote work. If theyre less connected to their workplace, they have fewer opportunities to connect with other colleagues and to develop those kinds of friendships that they might have had in the past.

Having a good friend at work might be even more important, given the rise in remote work in the last three years.

A good friendship at work can give social and emotional support in the employees side, especially to parents, educators, and frontline workers, Gallup said.

Workers at an office in a stock photo. (Monkey Business Images via Shutterstock)

It can also translate to higher profitability, safety, inventory control, and retention for employers.

Employees who have a bestie at work are significantly more likely to engage customers and internal partners, get more done in less time, support a safe workplace with fewer accidents, and innovate and share ideas, according to the survey.

Working Remotely

Karen Piatt started a new job with a medical relief nonprofit just a few weeks into the government lockdowns of 2020. She did all of her interviewing for the post online and works remotely full-time.

Its the first time in my 25-year career that I was hired for a job without meeting the hiring manager in person, said the 52-year-old Piatt, who lives just outside Seattle. It was nearly two years until I met my colleagues face-to-face.

When she finally did, at a retreat last year, it was really special, she said. We hugged and talked as if we had known each other for years. In fact, we had.

Best friends on the job are just one piece of the puzzle when it comes to workers well-being and added value to employers, Harter said. Without strong positive feelings for an employer, You can have friendships at work that are likely to be dysfunctional and probably turn into gripe sessions.

Employment Engagement Falls

In other findings, employee engagement is critical to productivity, morale, development and retention, according to Gallup.

Gallup measures employee engagement by asking random samples of the working population about specific workplace elements that link to many organizational outcomes, including profitability, productivity, customer service, retention, safety and overall wellbeing.

These workplace elements include the employees level of agreement about clarity of expectations, opportunities for development, and their opinions counting at work.

Engaged employees can give more effort and do extra work, and they consistently outperform.

The survey found that engagement began to decline in mid-2021.

By early 2022, U.S. employee engagement slumped to a seven-year low with 32% of employees engaged and 17% actively disengaged at work. The slump continued throughout 2022 as engagement levels remained relatively unchanged.

Among the elements of engagement that decreased the most was the clarity on expectations and a connection to the mission or purpose of the company.

A woman using a laptop on a dining room table set up as a remote office to work from home. (Joe Giddens/PA)

Another finding was that hybrid work is a trend that will become permanent.

Approximately 25 percent of U.S. employees work in a hybrid manner, which means part remotely and part on-site. Of the remote-capable workers, only 6 percent want to be fully on-site. Only two out of ten are fully on-site.

Work Burnout

The survey also found that three in 10 employees in the U.S. reported being burned out very often or always at work.

Four in 10 employees revealed that their job had a negative impact on their mental health in the past six months, it found.

And individuals with poor or fair mental health missed nearly five times as many days of work as those with good mental health in 2022, Gallup said.

This trend lead to quiet quitting, which is employees withdrawing from their jobs for the purpose of preserving their mental health.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Papuan Rebels Demand Negotiations With New Zealand Govt After Abducting Pilot

The rebel group says the pilot is safe

A Susi Air Cessna C208B Grand Caravan aircraft prepares for take off at Halim airport in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Sept. 10, 2011. (Bay Ismoyo/AFP via Getty Images)

An armed separatist group in Indonesias Papua province has demanded negotiations with New Zealands government for the release of their pilot who they abducted on Feb. 7, according to multiple reports.

The pilot was identified as Philip Mehrtens, a citizen of New Zealand. He was kidnapped by the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), who stormed his commercial plane after it landed at Paro village in the Nduga.

The plane, operated by Indonesian aviation company Susi Air, was carrying five passengers. The rebel group reportedly released the five indigenous Papuan passengers and set fire to the plane.

TPNPB has said that Mehrtens would not be released until the Indonesian government recognizes Papuan sovereignty. The group was classified as a terrorist group by the Indonesian government in 2021.

The rebel groups spokesperson, Sebby Sambom, said on Tuesday that Mehrtens is safe.

Hes staying with our friends and family at the  headquarters. He has good skills, and we will look after him, and he will train our soldiers for how to fly an aircraft, Sambom was quoted as saying by RNZ.

He said the group targeted New Zealand because it supplies Indonesia with weaponry and trains Indonesias military. TPNPB urged face-to-face negotiations with New Zealands government for the pilots release.

Sambom did not specify the demands that the group made of New Zealand in exchange for Mehrtens release.

ABC News reported that TPNPB wanted New Zealand to facilitate peaceful negotiations between the West Papuan separatists and Indonesias authorities, while also involving the United Nations Security Council.

Akouboo Amatus Douw, chairman of TPNPBs diplomatic council, said the separatist group would formally send its demand to New Zealand and urged New Zealand to cease its assistance to Indonesia.

Douw said that Mehrtens will not be freed until their demands were fulfilled.

Countries who are supporting and training the military and police to Indonesia must stop. More specifically, [that means] New Zealand and Australia, Douw told the news outlet.

New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said last week that his countrys embassy in Indonesia was leading its response to the hostage taking.

Consular support is being provided to the family, Hipkins said. Youll be familiar with the fact that in these kinds of cases, we keep our public comments to a bare minimum.

Hipkins was referring to a policy of avoiding any discussion that could further endanger hostages or detainees during diplomatic efforts to secure their release.

Decades of Conflict

West Papuan separatist forces have clashed with Indonesian authorities after the Dutch, and the United Nations handed over governance of the region to the Indonesians in 1963 under the New York agreement.

According to the agreement, the United Nations would oversee a referendum in 1969 where the people would choose whether to remain a part of Indonesia or become independent.

The resultto be integrated into Indonesiawas rejected by the Free Papua Movement due to its allegations that there was strong evidence showing the vote was rigged.

The separatist movement, however, has gained momentum following the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States, causing the escalation of violent conflict in 2018.

Civilians have fallen victim to the armed conflict between separatist forces and the Indonesian authorities, with the United Nations estimating that since December 2018, between 60,000 and 100,000 people have been displaced as a result of violence.

The U.N. has raised concerns with the Indonesian government of allegations of security forces carrying out extrajudicial killings, inhuman treatment, and human rights abuses towards the native Papuans.

Meanwhile, the TPNPB have executed civilians who they claim were Indonesian military dressed in plain clothing. The targeting of civilians, primarily workers in government projects and non-Papuan citizens and migrants, has increased since 2020.

Rebecca Zhu and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Parents of Girl Killed in Quebec Bus Crash Remember Her as a Ray of Sunshine

A woman lights a candle at a memorial outside a church close to the site of a daycare centre in Laval, Que, Feb. 9, 2023, where a bus crashed into the building killing two children. (The Canadian Press/Graham Hughes)

The parents of one of the two children killed when a bus smashed into a Laval, Que., daycare last week are paying tribute to their four-year-old daughter in a letter sent to Quebec media.

In the letter signed Jessica and Nicolas, the parents remember their daughter Maeva as a ray of sunshine who was full of energy. La Presse reports the parents are Jessica Therrien and Nicolas David and that their daughter was Maeva David.

The parents say she adored going to daycare to play with her friends.

The letter says Maeva, who was killed Feb. 8 just days before her fifth birthday, is survived by an older brother and an older sister.

The parents express their sympathy with the other victims and thank those who have given their support.

Four-year-old Jacob Gauthier was also killed in the crash and six other children were hospitalized. A Laval bus driver faces two charges of first-degree murder, as well as charges of attempted murder and assault.

She had everything to become an engaged and well-rounded citizen, the parents wrote. She will continue to shine in her own way by what she taught us, day after day, by the unforgettable memories she left us as well as by the lessons learned from the unspeakable event that stopped her little heart.
Denver's crime rates remain worse than before the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic, making Colorado's biggest city among the most crime-ridden metro areas in America, notably when it comes to car theft, a new report shows.

Denvers average monthly crime rate in 2022 stood at 43% higher than in 2019 and 75% more compared to 2008.

And the nearly 15,000 cars that were stolen in the city last year made Denver No. 3 in car theft among America's cities, according to the report from the Common Sense Institute.

And those stolen cars could fill all the parking lots surrounding Empower Field during three Broncos home games, the report notes.

Unsurprisingly, Denver's crime is also worse off compared to the rest of Colorado.

In 2021, CSI produced the first analysis of the Colorado crime wave," Common Sense Institute Executive Director Kelly Caufield told The Denver Gazette. "The bad news  Denver is still in the midst of a dangerous wave that is harming victims, ravaging the economy and preventing the city from flourishing."

The report used crime data from publicly available sources both at the local and federal levels, notably the FBIs Uniform Crime Reporting Program.

The Common Sense Institute report says the city's crime rate stood at 58% higher than the Colorado average last year. Historically, the report adds, it's only been about 28% higher than the state average.

"Denvers average monthly crime for crimes against a person has consistently been higher than Colorado and is continuing to diverge away from Colorado at a higher rate in each year since 2012," the report says.

The report also says Denver is No. 6 when it comes to property crime.

Colorado's crime landscape, notably the spike in car theft in the last few years, compelled Gov. Jared Polis in January to ask lawmakers to enact tougher penalties on car theft, noting the crime has directly affected both policymakers and members of the public alike.

Polis made the plea less than two years after signing legislation that lowered the penalty for some car theft offenses. Polis in 2021 approved legislation that overhauled Colorados misdemeanor laws, whose provisions included making it a Class 1 misdemeanor to steal a car if its value is less than $2,000, although the law dictating penalties tied to the value of a motor vehicle go back to at least 2004.

The vast majority of vehicles stolen in Colorado are valued at the lower end of the scale, according to a 2022 report also from the Common Sense Institute, which said 85.6% of stolen vehicles are valued at less than $25,000, and 63.%% are valued at less than $15,000.

Current law, which weighs the penalty depending on the value of the vehicle, is unfair, according to Sen. Rachel Zenzinger, D-Arvada, who cosponsored legislation  with Sen. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs  to instead tie the penalty to behavior. The proposed legislation, for examples, seeks to impose tougher penalties on repeat offenders.

Supporters said basing penalties on vehicle value creates a hardship for car owners for whom an inexpensive car is their only mode of transportation for work, school, daycare or other common tasks, burdening particularly low-income residents.

The Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association reported last year that Colorado had a rate of 68.56 auto thefts per 100,000 people in the first half of 2022.

Common Sense Institute released its report at a crucial stage of the race for Denver mayor, where 17 candidates vie to replace Michael Hancock.

Our goal is to provide the data and facts so policy makers and elected officials can better understand the impact crime is having on the city and develop solutions to combat the challenge, Caufield said. Ahead of the April elections, we also want to make sure Denver voters have the facts about the depth and breadth of the crime plaguing our city.
People Wont Care Until They Feel the Burn: Australian Speaks Out about CCP Spy Cams

An Australian's story of fighting CCP spy cameras

An Australian supply chain worker based in Melbourne would have forgotten about an email he wrote two years ago if not for the news about the Australian federal government being riddled with CCP spyware.

The email was sent to the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV), one of Australias largest motoring clubs, which offers a range of services, including insurance and roadside assistance.

It was about RACV selling the security cameras of Honeywell, which are essentially products of Dahua, a Chinese company banned by the U.S. government due to national security and human rights concerns.

Accused of posing national security threats and being involved in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)s human rights atrocities against Uyghurs in the western region of Xinjiang, Zhejiang Dahua Technology has been banned by the United Kingdom and the United States in November 2022.

Brad installed the camera in 2018 and was not aware of its connection with Dahua until two years later when the equipment stopped working, and he reached out to the RACV for help.

The Epoch Times has agreed to use only Brads first name in the article due to concerns over his security.

The Honeywell app used by Brad. (Supplied)

The company told him that the original Honeywell app he used on his phone was no longer supported and asked him to download a new app.

They sent me an app link with something thats very Chinese to it, something related to that one, so that was when I started to look online, Brad said.

I sussed it out online. Honeywell buys Dahua, put on their logo, and sells it to the unsuspecting wider Australian public.

I stopped using the app and disconnected the cameras from my modem when I found out.

The Dahua app RACV asked Brad to download (supplied).

Security Concerns Over CCP

Brad, who studies Falun Gong, a spiritual practice that is currently being persecuted in mainland China since 1999, has a strong awareness of the CCPs surveillance measures.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a practice of five meditative exercises along with teachings based on the core values of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. Since 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has sought to eradicate the practice in a nationwide campaign involving arbitrary arrests, imprisonment, torture, organ harvesting, and other violent tactics.

Millions have been held in the CCPs vast detention facility apparatus across China.

He said after his research, he sent a long email to RACV, clarifying his concerns and asking them to confirm the safety of his camera from being used as a surveillance tool by the CCP.

As uncomfortable and taboo as it is to speak up against communist China, I wont shy away when things go in a direction as serious as intelligence, privacy, and security threats, he wrote in an email seen by The Epoch Times.

The CCP is not known to be a friend when it comes to harvesting information (or human organs, for that matter). CCP is authoritarian, cult-like, and manifests a draconian political system that the state controls individuals, including their thoughts and beliefs.

In short, CCP and anything related to it are very real threats, not just to Australia, but to the world.

Falun Gong practitioners in Vienna, Austria, stage a mock demonstration of organ harvesting of imprisoned practitioners in China during a protest against the importing of human organs from China to Austria, on Oct. 1, 2018. (Joe Klamar/AFP via Getty Images)

Brad mentioned in his email the federal governments ban on Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE from supplying equipment for Australias planned 5G Networks due to national security concerns.

In communist China, the commercial entities might seem independent, but they all must answer to the CCP, e.g. being asked to release private and confidential information, and that directive coming from the draconian CCP that persecutes all forms of different dissenting voices at home and abroad, he wrote.

And some seemingly-commercial organisations are actually fronts for the CCP, e.g. Huawei is related to the PLA, i.e. the military arm of the CCP.

Therefore, I am indeed disappointed when I heard that RACV is now using apps and equipment from Dahua, a Zhejiang (communist China) based company.

He suspected profit was the motive behind RACVs decision.

I find it hard to believe that the above information that I wrote about isnt known to your management and the department responsible for purchasing equipment and software from communist China. These are all available on all search engines, he wrote.

The situation seems to just be an issue of willing blindness, profit before privacy and security, and complacency.

He ended the email by noting that if he had known the information two years ago, he would not have installed the security equipment.

A Dahua Technology thermal imaging camera is seen during a demonstration of the camera at an office in San Francisco, Calif., on April 24, 2020. (Nathan Frandino/ Reuters)

RACV replied to Brad with a concise email confirming that his CCTV system is completely independent of any RACV backend systems but avoided addressing any of his other concerns.

The Epoch Times reached out to RACV and asked if the company is still using Honeywell products but did not receive a reply by the time of publication.

While there is a report about Honeywell quietly dropping the Dahua products in 2022, the company also did not reply to The Epoch Times inquiry seeking confirmation of this report.

Australian Defence Department to Remove China-Made Cameras

The news of the Australian Defence Department removing China-made cameras reminded Brad of his correspondence two years ago.

Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles ordered on Feb. 9 to remove all cameras made by Hikvision and Dahua, both partly owned by the CCP in his department.

The move comes after Shadow Minister for Cyber Security & Countering Foreign Interference James Paterson released the findings of a six-month audit of all commonwealth departments.

The Australian Senate chamber at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia on Sept. 8, 2022. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas)

Its revealed that almost 1000 Chinese-made surveillance cameras were installed across over 250 sites of Commonwealth departments and agencies, including foreign affairs and defence sites.

In response to Marles order, Beijing has accused Australia of abusing state power.

We oppose erroneous practices of over-stretching the concept of national security and abusing state power to discriminate against and suppress Chinese companies, Chinas Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said in a press conference on Feb. 10.

People Wont Care Until They Feel the Burn

While not surprised by the prevalence of China-made cameras in Australias commonwealth, Brad said he thought the government would have already made this move a long time ago.

I remember theres news around [former prime minister] Turnbulls time that they have done so?

He added that not a lot of people shared his security concerns over China-made products, citing his own experience of talking to everyday Australians.

I didnt feel that from anybody. Nobody had any concerns, he said.

I think people have this general not-my-business-I-dont-care attitude until they feel the burn. Usually, its like that.

The Defence Department has been contacted for comment.
Philippines Says Chinese Ship Briefly Blinded Its Coast Guard in Spratly Islands With Military-Grade Laser

A Chinese coast guard ship at the Second Thomas Shoal, 105 nautical miles off the Palawan Province, Philippines, on Feb. 6, 2023. (Philippine Coast Guard/Handout via Reuters)

The Philippines said on Monday that a Chinese coast guard vessel used a military-grade laser against its ship in the disputed South China Sea last week to impede a resupply mission, temporarily blinding its crew.

The incident occurred on Feb. 6 in Ayungin Shoal, also known as the Second Thomas Shoal or Renai Reef by China, of the Spratly Islands about 105 nautical miles (195 kilometers) off the Philippine province of Palawan.

Although the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) classifies maritime areas within 200 nautical miles of coastal nations borders part of their exclusive economic zones, Chinas ruling communist party (CCP) disputes Filipino sovereignty over the islandwhich is part of the Spratly archipelago of 100 small islands and reefs claimed in full or part by the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam, and Taiwan, and according to its nine-dash line in 1952, China.

The Philippine coast guard (PCG) said its vessel was assisting a navy resupply mission in Ayungin Shoal in the South China Seawhich Manila calls the West Philippine Seawhen the Chinese ship beamed a green laser light at it.

The Chinese ship illuminated the green laser light twice toward the BRP Malapascua, causing temporary blindness to [the] crew at the bridge, the PCG said in a statement.

The Chinese ship also made dangerous maneuvers by approaching within 150 yards (137 meters) of the Philippine vessels starboard quarter.

The deliberate blocking of the Philippine government ships to deliver food and supplies to our military personnel on board the BRP Sierra Madre is a blatant disregard for, and a clear violation of, Philippine sovereign rights in this part of the West Philippine Sea, it stated.

Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesperson Colonel Medel Aguilar told reporters of the offensive and unsafe incident, I think it is time for the Chinese government to restrain its forces so that it does not commit any provocative act that will endanger [the] lives of people.

The PCG said Chinese vessels had also disrupted a Philippine resupply mission in the Ayungin Shoal last August.

A Chinese coast guard ship allegedly removed the cover of a 70-millimeter naval armament when a Philippine ship approached the Ayungin shoal.

Despite the dangerous maneuver of the much larger [Chinese coast guard] ships and their aggressive actions at sea, the PCG ships will always be in the West Philippine Sea to sustain our presence and assert our sovereign rights, the Philippines side noted.

Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr summoned Chinas ambassador on Tuesday to express his serious concern over Chinas actions in the South China Sea.

Marcos relayed his concern over the increasing frequency and intensity of actions by China against the Philippine Coast Guard and our Filipino fishermen, including its use of military grade laser against one of Manilas vessels, his office said in a statement.

Chinas Foreign Ministry responded by claiming that a Philippine coast guard vessel intruded into the waters of the Renai Reef without Chinese permission.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters that the Chinese coast guard ship acted in a professional and restrained way that is in accordance with domestic and international laws to uphold Chinas sovereignty and maritime order in the South China Sea.

China and the Philippines are in communication on this through diplomatic channels, Wang said.

Provocative and Unsafe

The United States has criticized the Chinese ships use of laser devices against the Philippine coast guard vessel as provocative and unsafe, calling on Beijing to abide by the UNCLOS to which China is a signatory.

As reflected in an international tribunals legally binding decision issued in July 2016, the Peoples Republic of China has no lawful maritime claims to Second Thomas Shoal, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement.

Price said that Beijings operational behavior directly threatens regional peace and stability, infringes upon freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, and undermines the rules-based international order.

He reaffirmed that any armed attack on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft would invoke U.S. mutual defense commitments with the Philippines.

The Philippines and the United States are allies under the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty, which dictates that the two nations will defend each other if either is attacked.

Beijing claims much of the South China Sea as its own territory under its so-called nine-dash line. The Hague Tribunal ruled in favor of legal action taken by the Philippines in 2016 but the ruling did not see the Chinese regime change its behavior, with Chinese vessels repeatedly intruding into the Philippines maritime zones.

Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Brunei have also clashed with the CCP over its claims in the Sea.

As of September 2022, the Philippines has filed over 48 protests against Chinas sea incursions under President Ferdinand Marcos Jrs administration. He took office less than three months earlier in June 2022.

His predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, filed 388 protests over his six-year term as president.

Marcos visited Beijing last month when Chinese leader Xi Jinping said China was ready to manage maritime issues cordially.

In February last year, the Australian government claimed that a Chinese warship aimed a military-grade laser at an Australian aircraft, an action the Australian Defence Force (ADF) said could have put the lives of ADF personnel in danger.

The confrontation took place on Feb. 17, 2022, as the Australian P-8A Poseidon aircraft was monitoring a Chinese Navy vessel sailing through the Arafura Seainternational waters that are inside Australias exclusive economic zone.

Reuters and Nina Nguyen contributed to this report.

This article has been updated to include further details of the incident and comments from the United States.
Polish Officials Observe Training of Ukrainians on New Tanks

A Polish soldier walks next to the Leopard 2 tanks during a training at a military base and test range in Swietoszow, Poland, on Feb. 13, 2023. (Michal Dyjuk/AP Photo)

SWIETOSZOW, PolandPolands president and defense minister met Monday with Polish and foreign instructors intensively training Ukrainian troops to operate the German-made Leopard 2 tanks that some European countries and Canada have offered Kyiv to help fight the Russian invasion.

President Andrzej Duda and minister Mariusz Blaszczak also watched Leopard 2 training at a military base and test range in Swietoszow, in southwestern Poland. The training is part of the European Unions military assistance to Ukraine, but Canadian instructors also have a role, as do Norwegians.

Taking part are Ukrainian tank crews from units fighting in the east of the country. The intensive training lasts up to 10 hours a day, including weekends, the Polish military said. Instruction is also being held in Germany.

Duda voiced hope the tanks would help Ukrainian forces in a much more efficient way to defeat the enemy.

He said the Ukrainian trainees have come straight from the front line. You can see in their faces that these people have gone through terrible things, but they are determined to defend their homeland.

A Polish instructor, Senior Staff Warrant Officer Krzysztof Sieradzki, said the Ukrainians are so motivated to learn everything fast that the instructors have to hold them back and transfer knowledge to them in small batches.

The trainees commander, Major Vadym Khodak, said they all have combat experience.

They didnt come from the street, theyve been fighting on our tanks for a long time, so I think learning how to operate these tanks will be a lot easier, said Khodak, whos from Dnipro in eastern Ukraine.

Khodak said the modern tanks would be a great help.

A Polish soldier navigates the Leopard 2 tank during a training at a military base and test range in Swietoszow, Poland, on Feb. 13, 2023. (Michal Dyjuk/AP Photo)

If we learn how to use them, we will put them to test in combat conditions and it will give a great effect, he said.

Stationed in Swietoszow are Polands 10th Armored Cavalry Brigade and a U.S. armored cavalry combat group.

Warsaw is among the most active supporters of neighboring Ukraine, and has pushed European nations to provide the Leopard 1 and 2 tanks. Germany has pledged at least 178 Leopard 1 tanks and 14 Leopard 2s. Poland has pledged 14 Leopard 2s. Other contributing countries include Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands, while Britain has pledged Challenger tanks and the U.S. its M1 Abrams main battle tanks.

Duda especially thanked Germany for allowing the German-made tanks to be made available to Kyiv and for its own contribution.

Poland has also provided or pledged more than 300 of its Soviet-era T-72 tanks and modernized PT-91 tanks.

Ukrainian officials say they expect Russian forces to make a new drive in eastern and southern Ukraine, as the Kremlin strives to secure territory it illegally annexed in late September and where it claims its rule is welcomed.

Germanys Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said last week that the first battalion of 31 Leopard 1 tanks in Ukraine should be ready in April. The first Ukrainian soldiers to be trained on the tanks departed for Germany last week.

By Rafal Niedzielski
Prosecutors Deny DOJ Planted Evidence on Enrique Tarrio to Frame Him, Other Proud Boys Defendants

Then-chairman of the Proud Boys Enrique Tarrio (L), looks on while counter-protesting near the Torch of Friendship, where people gathered to remember George Floyd on the one-year anniversary of his death, on May 25, 2021. (Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)

Federal prosecutors have denied planting manufactured evidence on Enrique Tarrio to frame him and other Proud Boys defendants for alleged Jan. 6 crimes, saying that assertions made by the defense counsel are simply incorrect.

The government robustly agrees with defendant [Dominic] Pezzola that it would have been egregiously improper for a member of the U.S. intelligence community to have conducted a domestic intelligence operation targeting Enrique Tarrio, a U.S. person, and providing him with a plan to storm (or occupy or sit in) House and Senate office buildings on January 6, the U.S. Department of Justice wrote in a court filing late on Feb. 13.

Defendant Pezzolas allegation that new information reveals that the 1776 Returns document were (sic) authored by the government itself is simply incorrect.

Charged in the case are Tarrio, Pezzola, Zachary Rehl, Ethan Nordean, and Joseph Biggs. The Proud Boys defendants, on trial in the U.S. District Court in Washington, are accused of seditious conspiracy, conspiracy to obstruct official proceedings, obstruction of official proceedings, and conspiracy to prevent certain federal officers from performing their duties at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Tarrio, Rehl, Nordean, and Biggs face nine criminal counts, and Pezzola is charged with 10.

Did Girlfriend Set Up Tarrio?

Defense attorney Roger Roots wrote that a damning document titled 1776 Returns was authored by a member of the U.S. intelligence community and passed on to former Proud Boys chairman Tarrio by Erika Flores, an erstwhile romantic interest of Tarrios.

The documentwhich prosecutors contend is a blueprint for the Proud Boys to attack the Capitolwas written in part or in whole by Samuel Armes, a man who, while in college, was groomed to work at the FBI and CIA, Roots asserted in his motion.

Armes told the now-defunct House Jan. 6 Select Committee that he has done work for the U.S. State Department and the Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa, Florida.

Roots asked U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly to hold an evidentiary hearing on the 1776 Returns document and, if his allegations were substantiated, declare a mistrial with prejudice.

Department of Justice attorney Jocelyn Ballantine said Armes is not part of the intelligence community but runs a blockchain association based in Florida.

Counter-protesters wearing the yellow and black colors and insignia of the Proud Boys gather outside the National Rifle Association (NRA) Annual Meeting at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas, on May 28, 2022. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

Armes denied drafting the 1776 Returns document, Ballantine wrote. He testified in both instances that he recognized certain aspects of the document from a wargaming exercise he had done to consider what would happen if a president refused to leave the White House and there was just mad chaos in the streets because no one knows whose [sic] in charge.

Armes testified before the House Jan. 6 Committee in July 2022 and before a federal grand jury in October 2022.

Kelly ruled the document admissible in December 2022. He has not yet ruled on Rootss motion for an evidentiary hearing.

Indeed, Armes specifically testified that he was horrified by the document because someone had taken his ideas and turned them into a tactical plan with form and structure that advocated storming the Capitol, Ballantine wrote.

Flores told the Jan. 6 Committee that Armes wrote 1776 Returns, but Armes denied the allegation, claiming Flores was blame-shifting.

Ballantine wrote that when subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury in October 2022, Flores invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in response to more than 50 transcript pages worth of questions by the government about the 1776 Returns document.
Russia Delays Launch of Relief Ship to Keep Investigating Space Station Leak

External damage believed to have caused a loss of pressure in the cooling system of the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft docked to the International Space Station (ISS), in an image released on Feb. 13, 2023. (Roscosmos/Handout via Reuters)

Russia is delaying the launch of a ship to bring two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut back from the International Space Station (ISS) while it investigates a pressure loss in another module, its space agency said on Monday.

Roscosmos and the U.S. space agency NASA had said that a Soyuz MS-23 ship would be launched on Feb. 20 to bring back Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitry Petelin and Frank Rubio.

But in a video statement, Roscosmos head Yury Borisov said a decision had been taken to push back the launch until no later than March 10 while a team investigates the cause of a pressure loss in the cooling system of the Progress MS-21 cargo ship, which is due to undock from the ISS on Feb. 18.

Borisov also showed pictures that American colleagues had taken with a robot arm of the external damage believed to have caused a loss of pressure on Dec. 15 in the cooling system of another module docked to the ISS, Soyuz MS-22.

External damage believed to have caused a loss of pressure in the cooling system of the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft docked to the International Space Station (ISS), in an image released on Feb. 13, 2023. (Roscosmos/Handout via Reuters)

This craft was originally due to return the three men to Earth but, owing to the leak, will now be sent back unmanned.

The pictures showed a small hole surrounded by brown stains. Borisov said it could have been caused by a meteoroid or manmade space debris.

Roscosmos said the damaged modules were sealed off from the rest of the station and there continued to be no threat to the safety of the seven crew on boardthree Americans, three Russians and one Japanese.

Despite tense relations due to the Ukraine war, Russia and the United States still collaborate closely on the ISS.

The Soyuz craft are used to ferry crew to and from the station, while the Progress vessels deliver equipment and supplies.
Russian Spacecraft Leaks Coolant, ISS Crew Safe

An uncrewed Russian cargo spacecraft docked at the International Space Station on Saturday has leaked coolant, but the incident does not pose any danger to the stations crew, according to Russias space agency and NASA.

Engineers at the Russian Mission Control Center outside Moscow first detected depressurization inside the Progress MS-21 cargo ships coolant loop, Roscosmos said.

The hatches between the station and the Progress MS-21 were temporarily locked so the incident didnt affect the orbiting outpost.

The temperature regime and pressure on board the ISS are normal, nothing threatens the life and health of the crew and they feel fine, Roscosmos said.

Sergei Krikalev, head of Roscosmoss crewed programs, clarified that there was depressurization of the crafts coolant loop.

NASA said its specialists are working with their Russian counterparts in the troubleshooting of the coolant leak. Roscosmos added that the incident will have no impact on the future station program.

According to NASA, the hatches were reopened on the same day and the temperatures and pressures aboard the station are all normal. The U.S. space agency added that the stations crew is continuing its normal operations and no other issues were found.

The uncrewed cargo spacecraft, which is filled with trash, was scheduled to undock from the space station and deorbit over the Pacific Ocean on Feb. 17, NASA said.

The announcement came shortly after another Progress craft, MS-22, docked successfully with the ISS earlier on Saturday. The Progress MS-22 delivered almost three tons of food, water and fuel along with scientific equipment for the crew.

The depressurization of the cargo crafts coolant loop follows a similar incident in December with the Soyuz crew capsule, which was hit by a tiny meteoroid that left a small hole in the exterior radiator and sent coolant spewing into space.

The Soyuz craft are used to ferry crew to and from the station, while the Progress vessels deliver equipment and supplies.

The problem with the Soyuz has forced three of the current crew on the stationRussians Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubioto extend their mission. They will now return to Earth on a replacement Soyuz that Russia is due to launch on Feb. 20.

Russia and the United States still collaborate closely on the ISS despite the grave damage to their relations from Russias invasion of Ukraine. At the moment there are seven crewmembers on boardthree Americans, three Russians, and one Japanese.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Scientists Looking to Scatter Moon Dust Around Earth to Combat Climate Change

The "Super Blood Moon" total eclipse seen over Santa Monica, Calif., on May 26, 2021. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)

A group of scientists has proposed creating a shield made of moon dust positioned between the Earth and the sun as a way to lower the planets temperature in a bid to combat climate change, a plan that could have devastating consequences.

In a Feb. 8 study published in the journal PLOS, three researchers from the University of Utah proposed their moon dust shield idea while calling climate change an existential threat. Large quantities of moon dust between the Earth and the sun can reduce the amount of sunlight received on our planet, they claimed while estimating that billions of kilograms of moon dust will be needed annually to maintain the shield. Because dust grains between Earth and the Sun tend to drift out of alignment, they must be replenished, the study said.

The most promising scenario for creating the shield involves mining lunar dust and ballistically blasting it from the moon on a trajectory toward the Earth-sun L1 Lagrange point, a gravitationally stable point located 900,000 miles from Earth.

The plan is estimated to potentially lower sunlight by 1.8 percent or around six days of sunlight per year, thereby lowering the Earths temperature.

Advantages of this concept include a ready supply of lunar dust, as well as a low kinetic energy cost as compared to an Earth launch, the study states.

Individual dust grains on these trajectories rapidly drift out of alignment, clearing the Earth-Moon system with no impact on Earths atmosphere. There is no need to actively manipulate orbits to remove dust when sun shielding is no longer beneficial.

Disastrous Consequences

Proposals to reduce sunlight coming into the Earth, called solar geoengineering, have attracted severe criticism. In an interview with The Hill, Dr. Michael Mann, a climate scientist from the University of Pennsylvania, said that such interventions can end up doing more harm than good.

Though reducing sunlight can result in the cooling down of the Earth, it acts on a very different part of the climate system than on carbon dioxide, he pointed out.

And efforts to offset carbon dioxide-caused warming with sunlight reduction would yield a very different climate, perhaps one unlike any seen before in Earths history, with massive shifts in atmospheric circulation and rainfall patterns and possible worsening of droughts, Mann said.

He also warned that as the Earth continues to heat up, the demand for stronger solar dimming would arise. This could lead to a catastrophic termination shock wherein a century of pent-up global heating emerges within a decade.

Open Letter Against Solar Geoengineering

There are several ongoing solar geoengineering attempts. In December, it was reported that California-based startup Make Sunsets launched weather balloons from Mexico capable of releasing reflective sulfur particles into the Earths atmosphere.

Last year, a group of 380 scientists wrote an open letter asking for global governments to pledge not to engage in solar geoengineering attempts.

The letter warned that the risks of such projects are poorly understood and can never be fully known as there are uncertainties about their effect on agriculture and weather patterns, among other things.

It pointed out that the current global governance system is unfit to develop and implement far-reaching agreements that are necessary to maintain fair and effective political control over these projects.

Without effective global and democratic controls, the geopolitics of possible unilateral deployment of solar geoengineering would be frightening and inequitable, the letter said.

Given the anticipated low monetary costs of some of these technologies, there is a risk that a few powerful countries would engage in solar geoengineering unilaterally or in small coalitions even when a majority of countries oppose such deployment.
Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), joined by other Republican Senators, holds a press conference at 4:30 p.m. ET on Feb. 14 on H.J. Res. 26, a bill to address rampant crime in Washington, D.C.

The D.C. Council recently passed a soft-on-crime law to lessen penalties for criminals amid rising homicides, sexual abuse, motor vehicle thefts, and property crimes in Washington. H.J. Res. 26 would block that bill from going into effect.

The House passed H.J. Res. 26 with a bipartisan vote last week, and Republican Senators are calling on Senate Majority Leader Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to bring it up for a vote on the Senate floor.

The Epoch Times will livestream the event.
Senate Approves Judicial Nominee Who Refused to Disavow Racial Quotas

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and President Joe Biden arrive at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on July 14, 2021. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

The U.S. Senate on Feb. 13 advanced two of President Joe Bidens judicial nominees, including one who refused to disavow racial quotas.

In another 5044 vote, the Senate approved Cindy Chungs nomination to the Philadelphia-based 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. That includes Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and Susan Collins (R-Maine).

In a 5244 vote, the Senate voted to invoke cloture on the nomination of Gina Mendez-Miro for the District Court of Puerto Rico.

Her confirmation is all but guaranteed with cloture invoked; the final vote to confirm Mendez-Miro will take place at a later time.

Democrats in the Senate have now confirmed 99 of Bidens judicial nominees and are preparing to confirm the 100th.

Republican Changes to Filibuster

The Democrats have benefited from changes Republicans made to the filibuster near the end of 2020.

Then, Republicans modified the filibuster for judicial nominees, reducing the number of senators needed to limit debate on judicial nominees from 60 to 51.

The move helped Republicans advance Amy Coney Barretts nomination to the Supreme Court, giving conservatives a solid hold on the nations highest court.

However, with a Democrat now in the White House, Senate Democrats have been able to take advantage of this rule change to push through dozens of judicial nominations without 60 votes.

Chung, who gained attention after an exchange during her hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, currently serves as the Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

In an October 2021 press release announcing Chungs nomination among three others, Biden said, These individuals were chosen for their devotion to enforcing the law, their professionalism, their experience and credentials in this field, their dedication to pursuing equal justice for all, and their commitment to the independence of the Department of Justice.

Chung, who has held numerous legal positions since 2002, received her Juris Doctorate from Columbia Law School in 2002. She received her B.A. degree in 1997 from Yale University.

The posts current holder, Judge Joseph Greenaway, plans to retire in June.

Chung will be the first Asian-American to sit on the 3rd Circuit Court, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) noted during remarks on the floor urging Chungs confirmation.

That should make us all proud, Schumer said.

Cindy Chung is precisely the kind of person we want on the federal bench, Schumer continued. Shes dedicated her life to civil rights, having prosecuted white supremacists and others charged with hate crimes.

JUST NOW: The Senate invoked cloture on Cindy K. Chung to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Third Circuit. As a U.S. Attorney and career prosecutor for two decades, shes committed to impartiality and advancing the cause of justice  earning her bipartisan support. pic.twitter.com/UG8roPnlav  Senate Judiciary Committee (@JudiciaryDems) February 9, 2023

Chungs nomination advanced in an earlier procedural 5246 vote on Feb. 9. Chungs nomination was advanced with the support of Collins, Graham, and Murkowski.

In a Feb. 9 tweet, the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is currently headed by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), said of Chung: As a U.S. Attorney and career prosecutor for two decades, shes committed to impartiality and advancing the cause of justiceearning her bipartisan support.

Republicans, however, have concerns about Chung due to her past comments on racial quotas and abortion.

Do You Believe In Racial Quotas?

During a heated exchange with Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) over racial quotas, Chung refused to disavow them.

Racial quotas, best known in the United States through Affirmative Action programs, seek to benefit people of one racial group over those of another racial group in issues like hiring and college admissions.

Do you believe in racial quotas? Kennedy asked Chung.

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) speaks in Washington on March 21, 2022. (J. Scott Applewhite/Pool/Getty Images)

Senator, if I were faced with a question regarding racial quotas, I would carefully consider the binding Supreme Court precedent and 3rd Circuit precedent, Chung began.

Here, Kennedy interrupted.

What Im asking is, do you believe in racial quotas? Kennedy asked, saying that he was working from the base assumption that nominees would respect precedent.

Sir, if I were faced with that question, I believe the Supreme Court has ruled that in the context, for instance of Chung began before again being interrupted by Kennedy.

I know what the courts [ruled], we both do. Im just asking your personal beliefs, Kennedy said. Do you believe in racial quotas?

Uh, sir I want to be very careful since I am a judicial nominee, Chung replied. I certainly wouldnt want to say anything that could forecast for any future litigant how they thought I would rule.

I dont see the problem in you telling us your beliefs, Kennedy replied. Im gonna ask you one more time: do you believe in racial quotas?

Uh, Im sorry senator, again, because Im a judicial nominee I 

Youre not gonna answer, Kennedy cut in.

It would not be prudent for me to offer an opinion, Chung said.

Questioned Over Abortion

Kennedy also grilled Chung on abortion.

Previously, the standard set out by the Supreme Court in 1973s Roe v. Wade had held that there is a Constitutional right to an abortion. That standard placed limitations on state regulation of abortion, particularly in the first trimester.

In its most recent ruling on the subject, Dobbs v. Jackson, the Supreme Court ruled that the right to regulate abortion lies with the legislatures of the states, not with the federal government.

Abortion opponents hailed the move as a return to federalism as the American Founders envisioned. Abortion advocates argued that the move threatened to undercut an existing right and characterized it as an attack on women.

Do you believe abortion is an issue that should be decided by the states? Kennedy asked.

In the recent ruling in Dobbs, the Supreme Court did say that the question of abortion has been returned to the people and their elected representatives, Chung said noncommittally.

I knowthat youll follow Dobbs, Kennedy replied. But do you believe abortion is an issue that should be decided by the states? Im trying to understand what you believe.

Well certainly under Dobbs, returning that issue to the people and their elected representatives does put it within the realm of the states, Chung said, again replying to the normative question with a descriptive statement.

Do you believe that thats the right decision?

Senator, I would not hesitate to apply Dobbs if I were faced with that 

Kennedy cut in, Once again, maybe Im not being clear, Im sorry. Im asking what you believe. Do you believe that abortion should be decided by the states as opposed to the federal government?

I dont believe it would be prudent to offer an opinion, Chung replied.

Mendez-Miros nomination will be taken up by the Senate later. With cloture invoked on a debate of the nomination, her confirmation is all but guaranteed.

When the Senate confirms Mendez-Miro, she will be the 100th federal judge appointed by Biden and confirmed by the Senate.
Shake Shack Expected to Debut at Irvine Spectrum Center This Summer

Shake Shack is coming to Orange County, with a new restaurant expected to open this summer at the Irvine Spectrum Center.

The debut of the popular eatery is just a start, with more plans for expansion into Costa Mesa and Huntington Beach, according to a company press release.

The new location at the Spectrum Center will be near the Regal movie theater.

We are so excited to bring Shake Shack to Orange County, said Andrew McCaughan, Chief Development Officer at Shake Shack. We see Orange County as a huge opportunity for the company and we cant wait to serve our delicious burgers and shakes to the community.

(Courtesy of Shake Shack)

The first Shake Shack opened in 2004 in New York City.

Since then, the company has expanded to over 430 locations with 285 in 32 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, and over 145 international outlets including Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai, Mexico City, Dubai, Istanbul, Seoul, Tokyo, London, and more.
Ivory artifacts intercepted by customs officials in central China

Xinhua) 14:43, February 14, 2023

CHANGSHA, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Customs officials have seized three ivory items weighing about 1 kg in total from an imported package in Changsha, the capital of central China's Hunan Province.

Changsha Customs said they found the three artifacts hidden in a package declared as glass cups and cigarette holders and later identified them as modern-day ivory products.

The seizure made on Feb. 9 was the largest of its kind reported by Changsha Customs since 2020, according to customs officials.

The Chinese government suspended imports of ivory and ivory products in 2015 and ended related commercial processing and sales at the end of 2017 as part of its commitment to protecting wild animals.

The country has also seen a significant decline in ivory smuggling cases amid intensified crackdown on such crimes. The total volume of seized ivory products plunged to 68 kg in 2021 from 9.2 tonnes in 2019, according to the General Administration of Customs.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
A veteran Jefferson County Sheriff's K-9 named Graffit received a heros funeral Monday, hours after he was allegedly shot and killed by a fleeing suspect.

The 9-year-old German shepherd had tracked a fugitive from town into the woods near Golden just after midnight Monday when his handler unleashed him to apprehend the suspect, according to the Jefferson County Sheriffs.

It all happened very fast, Jefferson County Sheriff spokesperson Jenny Fulton said. He died doing exactly what he supposed to do.

Golden police suggested 13 charges for the suspect, Eduardo Armando Romero, 30, including aggravated animal cruelty, felony menacing, motor vehicle theft and DUI.

At about 12:15 a.m. Monday, Golden Police officers responded to assist the Colorado School of Mines' Police Department near 19th Street and Elm Street in Golden, according to police.

After waking a sleeping driver slumped over his steering wheel twice, the suspect began ramming officers' patrol cars while trying to get away, according to police.

Officers broke the driver's window and put the vehicle in park, police said. While removing the suspect from the car, he was able to get away from police, ran eastbound on 19th Street and pointed a handgun at officers.

Romero allegedly fired shots from a handgun, striking and killing Graffit, according to Golden Police. The School of Mines campus was on lockdown for a time and morning classes cancelled, but the suspect was arrested and operations returned to normal by noon.

In law enforcement, the death of a K-9 is often approached with the same weight as the death of a human partner. Graffit was "considered to have been shot in the line of duty," said Jeffco spokesperson Karlyn Tilley.

Officers stood in salute to the working dog as he was carried from the crime scene on a stretcher to a waiting Jefferson County Sheriff vehicle.

Graffit was then taken by a thirty-vehicle police procession to Colorado State University, where a forensic necropsy will be performed.

In the meantime, a Critical Incident Response Team from the Jefferson County District Attorneys office is gathering evidence.

The suspect surrendered just before dawn Monday after a five-hour ordeal.

According to Colorado School of Mines spokesperson Emilie Rusch, Romero drove away from police slowly and then started ramming their vehicles. As officers were removing him from his car, Romero fled on foot into a wooded area with Graffit and his handler in close pursuit. Graffit was killed just before 1 a.m., Fulton said.

Graffit (pronounced gra-FEET) was one of six K-9s in service for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, and one of the only service dogs who has died in the line of duty for the department.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Jefferson County Sheriffs who were kind enough to bring their K-9 to help us, said Golden Police Sgt. Ben Salentine, who said that Graffit mostly likely saved an officers life.

A post on the Sheriff's Facebook page announcing Graffit's death with a large photo of him garnered 1,500 comments and was shared more than 3,000 times at the time of this writing.
3 Dead, 5 Injured in Michigan State University Shooting, Suspect Found Dead

Police and emergency vehicles are on the scene of an active shooter situation on the campus of Michigan State University in Lansing, Mich., on Feb. 13, 2023. (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

Three are dead and five injured, some with life-threatening conditions, after two separate shootings by the same suspect on campus at Michigan State University (MSU) Monday night.

MSU Police and Public Safety Deputy Chief Chris Rozman said in an update shortly after midnight that the suspect was found dead off-campus from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

This truly has been a nightmare that we are living tonight, but we have remained laser-focused on the safety of our campus, our students, and our surrounding community, Rozman said. We are relieved to no longer have an active threat on campus, while we realize that there is so much healing that will need to take place after this.

The shelter-in-place alert that was issued earlier in the evening was lifted after the suspects death. There is no longer a threat on campus, Rozman added.

MSU police earlier confirmed that three people were dead and five others were taken to Sparrow Hospital, some with life-threatening injuries. Two of the fatal shootings occurred in Berkey Hall and the third fatal shooting occurred nearby in the MSU Union building, according to Rozman.

Calls to 911 began around 8:18 p.m. with reports of a shooting inside Berkey Hall, according to MSU police.

Rozman told reporters around 11 p.m. that responding officers arrived on the scene within minutes, finding five injured people. The suspect had moved to the nearby MSU Union hall and continued shooting.

The suspect was described as a short male with a mask, possibly Black, and was last seen leaving on foot on the north side of the MSU Union building. Police confirmed after midnight that the person identified in the surveillance image released earlier was the suspect.

Image of Michigan State University shooting suspect released by MSU Police. (Courtesy of MSU Police)

Alerts

Following the shootings, students were encouraged to remain sheltered in place, and concerned families asked not to come to the campus, while police hunted for the suspect.

University officials issued alerts saying that shots had been fired near Berkey Hall and another at IM East. Students were advised to secure in place and follow the Run, Hide, Fight protocol.

Run means evacuating away from danger if it can be done safely, hide means to secure in place, and fight means protecting yourself if no other option, according to school officials.

MSU ALERT: There have been shots fired near Berkey Hall on the East Lansing campus. Please secure-in-place immediately. Police are active on scene. More information to follow. pic.twitter.com/xa4KlwXJWN  MSU Police and Public Safety (@msupolice) February 14, 2023

MSU Police report shots fired incident occurring on or near the East Lansing campus. Secure-in-Place immediately, MSU officials said in an alert at around 8:30 p.m. local time.

The MSU police indicated that the suspect is believed to be on foot, and residents are asked to avoid the area.

We are still receiving multiple calls of an active shooter on campus, MSU officials said at the time.

Several campus buildings were cleared and secured just after 10 p.m., according to police, including Brody Hall, Snyder/Phillips Hall, Mason Hall, Abbot Hall, Landon Hall, the MSU Union, and Berkey Hall.

The East Lansing Police Department urged residents of the broader community to immediately shelter in place while the shooter was at large.
Silicon Valley Layoffs Are a Boon for Tech-Hungry Farm Equipment Makers

Big agricultural and construction equipment manufacturers in the American Midwest are on a mission to lure Silicon Valley tech workers who have been caught up in a wave of hiring freezes and layoffs, executives told Reuters.

Mass layoffs at major tech firms have opened the talent pipeline for Illinois-based Deere & Co.the worlds largest tractor makerand rivals who are eager to add tech workers to their payrolls as they expand into autonomous tractors, mining trucks, and other smart farming technology.

With an abundance of job openings, the companies are offering remote work arrangements and opening new offices in major cities like Austin and Chicago, a potentially attractive draw for workers who dont want to move to smaller Midwestern cities, where many of the companies are based.

The executives said the newly available tech talent could inject much-needed expertise into farm equipment manufacturing, helping to transform the industry through the use of more artificial intelligence and automation.

Detroit automakers are also hiring tech workers to meet the growing software needs of vehicles, auto executives have said.

Historically, it has been difficult for construction and agriculture equipment manufacturers to compete with Silicon Valley compensation packages, Scott Wine, chief executive of CNH Industrial, an American-Italian machinery maker, said in an interview.

They were sucking so much oxygen out of the air because of their significant budgets, Wine said. Now, theyre not hiring and theyre firingso it just means were getting a much larger pool of potential candidates that we can call upon.

CNH hired more than 350 engineers last year, some of whom came from Amazon.com and Microsoft Corp., Wine said. CNH expects to spend more than $1.4 billion in research and development as the company scales precision agriculture offerings in 2023, he added.

The combine harvester producer has increased its focus on agriculture in recent years to meet farmers equipment demand, stacking its tech workforce with highly skilled workers in automation and artificial intelligence.

Building more cutting-edge machinery, such as a driverless tillage tractor, appealed to 54-year-old Mukesh Agarwal who was recruited by CNH from Microsoft in July 2021, before the latest layoffs.

He now works mostly from his home office in Minnesota and leads a team of software engineers as vice president of precision software and cloud applications development.

I didnt know much about the ag industry or what CNH did, Agarwal said, admitting that the cultural change was an adjustment during his transition to CNH. But, I saw a tremendous opportunity to bring science and innovation together.

Employees at Deere & Co. new tech hub in Chicagos West Loop neighborhood in the fall last year in Chicago on Oct. 2022. (Dave Burk/SOM/Handout via Reuters)

Remote-Controlled

Deeres main rival, Irving, Texas-based Caterpillar Inc., is also making a big push to recruit tech talent. New hires in machine learning, computer science, and software engineering were up 30 percent in 2022 from the previous year, Karl Weiss, chief technology officer at Caterpillar, said in an interview.

The manufacturer has invested in digital products to improve construction safety using artificial intelligence. It had roughly 500 open tech jobs in December 2022 and it is looking to fill roles with the outflow of laid-off tech workers, Weiss said.

The layoffs in the tech community have not been lost on us. Were actively talking to those employees, he said.

To boost recruiting efforts, Caterpillar exhibited at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES)an annual technology trade show in Las Vegasin-person for the first time last month. Deere was also there, trying to recruit new talent.

Attendees got to see first-hand how machinery giants are merging heavy metal with technology. In one demonstration, an excavator 1,600 miles away at one of Caterpillars Illinois plants was operated by someone using a remote operator station and joysticks.

Tech Talent Purge

Thousands of workers have left or been laid off from tech giants Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta Platforms Inc. during the biggest purge of tech talent since the dot-com crash of the late 1990s.

Large tech companies shed more than 150,000 workers in 2022, according to tracking site Layoffs.fyi. During the COVID-19 pandemic, big tech firms hired aggressively to capitalize on advertising dollars as lockdowns prompted a surge in social media use and online purchases.

Layoffs at West Coast-based technology companies have coincided with Deere and CNH boosting investment in artificial intelligence and precision agriculture products, such as automated fertilizer applicators, that they hope to sell to farmers who are trying to boost food production at a time of global shortages.

While the availability of tech workers is plentiful now, industry experts say the hiring window is short for companies to reel in tech workers who also have opportunities at startups.

Companies really need to jump into action, said Michael Solomon, co-founder at 10x Management, a compensation negotiation agency for senior tech talent. Its a really great opportunity, but I dont think its going to last long.

Working from home was once a rare phenomenon at more traditional companies like Deere, but is now more common. And, in some cases, the companies are willing to let workers stay in their current cities rather than relocating.

The goal is to offer prospective employees the best of both worlds: work from home or come to a city office that more closely resembles a Silicon Valley tech campus.

Deere has its global headquarters in the small city of Moline, about 165 miles west of Chicago, but opening a tech hub in Chicagos trendy West Loop neighborhood last year has helped it be more visible to prospective job candidates who want to live in metro areas.

The new office, which neighbors the corporate location of Alphabet Inc.s Google in the Windy City, mimics the atmosphere of many startups with unlimited snacks and beer, standing desks, and a gameroom. The amenities aim to attract tech workers.

In an acknowledgement that not all tech workers want to relocate to the Midwest, Deere is also hiring employees in Austin, Texas, where it opened an Innovation Hub in 2022 and in San Francisco, where it has had an office since 2017, said Johane Domersant, global director of talent at Deere.

Previously, Deere would have required new employees to relocate to the Midwest, likely to Iowa or Moline.

We are going to go where the talent is and that is a different strategic bent that we wouldnt have done in the past, Domersant said.

By Bianca Flowers
Subdued One-Year Anniversary of the Invocation of Emergencies Act in Ottawa

Hundreds gather at Parliament Hill to celebrate the first anniversary of the Freedom Convoy movement in Ottawa on Jan. 28, 2023. (Lucy Zhou/The Epoch Times)

The one-year anniversary of the Trudeau governments invocation of the Emergencies Act to clear the Freedom Convoy protest saw a return of protesters to the nations capital, but in much smaller numbers than the thousands in Ottawa in 2022.

Only about one dozen protesters came to Parliament Hill on Feb. 14, outnumbered by police and bylaw officers whose numbers were increased in case of a possible convoy reunion.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) held a press conference to mark the anniversary, announcing that their legal challenge against the government was ongoing and would include evidence that was put before the Public Order Emergency Commission (POEC).

Paul Rouleau, the commissioner of the POEC, is expected to release on Feb. 20 his report on the decision made by the government to use the extraordinary powers of the Emergencies Act for the first time in history. The commission reviewed thousands of documents and heard from dozens of witnesses during weeks of hearings that began on Oct. 13, 2022, and continued until Dec. 2.

CCLA director Cara Zwibel said, We anxiously await the release of the POEC report, adding that it is the CCLAs position that the legal threshold for using the act was not met.

She said while most people would probably prefer to forget the anniversary of the use of the Emergencies Act, it was a significant event in Canada.

At the time that the emergency was invoked, we had not seen acts or threats of serious acts of violence against persons, said Zwibel.

She said that to qualify legally as a public order emergency, there has to be a threat to the security of Canada, that rises to the level of a national emergency, which would be based on definitions under the CSIS Actthings like sabotage, or espionage, or threats of serious violence to persons or property, she said.

The government put forward its reasons for invoking the Act, said Zwibel, but those reasons didnt really specify any threat of violence or acts of violence that had been committed or were expected to be committed. It talked in sort of vague and speculative terms about what might happen.

She added that the governments use of the Act created severe restrictions on the freedom to peacefully assemble and the possibility of having your personal assets frozen with no notice and no due process on Canadians across the country.

Calling these extraordinary powers, Zwibel said, there is a good reason why we set a high threshold in the act for the government to be able to use them.

The CCLAs judicial review hearing over the governments use of the Emergencies Act is scheduled for early April.

Federal Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said he was also looking forward to receiving the POEC report.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
Tennessee Democrats Debate Conservative Podcaster About Childrens Sex-Changes

Conservative podcast host Matt Walsh speaks at War Memorial Plaza during the Rally to End Child Mutilation Oct. 21, 2022, in Nashville, Tenn. (Bobby Sanchez for The Epoch Times)

Conservative political commentator Matt Walsh has escalated his efforts to call attention to child sex-change surgery, sparring with Tennessee lawmakers about a proposed bill.

Walshs appearance before the Tennessee Legislature marks the latest advance in a crusade that began when he discovered that Vanderbilt University was performing sex-change operations on minors.

On Feb. 7, he spoke in favor of the proposed House Bill 0001, which would ban gender-transition surgery for anyone under 18.

If it becomes law, it would forbid use of drugs and surgeries to help boys take on characteristics of girls, and help girls take on the appearance of boys.

Protestors yell at supporters of Matt Walsh at The Daily Wires Rally to End Child Mutilation on Oct. 21, 2022 in Nashville, Tenn. (Bobby Sanchez for The Epoch Times)

We should be able to agree that children do not have the physical, emotional, or mental capacity to protect themselves or to make life-altering decisions, the Daily Wire podcast host said as he testified before legislators.

We should be able to agree that its never okay to chemically castrate, sterilize, butcher, or mutilate a child.

Walsh, a father of six, got into the Tennessee fight when he used his podcast, The Matt Walsh Show, to call attention to Vanderbilts practice of performing mastectomies on young girls.

He was prompted to act after seeing a video showing a hospital official praising the profitability of the procedure.

In October 2022, Walsh led a Rally to End Child Mutilation in Nashville.

Walsh also wrote Johnny the Walrus, a book in which a boy pretending to be a walrus gets pressured by his liberal mom, doctor, and internet people to eat worms and surgically replace his limbs with fins.

The book became Amazons best-selling transgender childrens book before the corporation recategorized it.

Leveling Attacks

During his testimony before the legislature, Democratic lawmakers questioned Walshs credentials and quoted his old posts on Twitter.

Though he has no medical expertise and didnt attend college, anyone can see that the permanent surgical mutilation of a child is wrong, Walsh told lawmakers.

Im a human being with a brain and common sense, and I have a soul, Walsh said, when they belittled his lack of credentials. And so, therefore, I think its a really bad idea to chemically castrate children.

Studies by groups such as the World Professional Association of Transgender Health, which supports transgenderism, show sex-change medications dont stop suicides, he noted.

They commissioned a study to try to prove that hormones and puberty blockers decreased suicide rates among trans-identified youth, Walsh said. And even in their own study, they found that they couldnt prove it.

State Rep. John Ray Clemmons, a Democrat, asked Walsh if he was testifying about child sex-change surgery to get clicks to boost his livelihood in media.

Walsh retorted by asking Clemmons if he was asking questions to get clicks from his supporters.

I really like the idea of drawing attention to the fact that this is happening to children, Walsh said to the representative. I know you seem to find it very amusing. I dont.

Clemmons accused Walsh of making misrepresentations, but didnt name anything specific.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., is pictured on July 16, 2013. (Mark Humphrey/AP Photo)

In response to Walshs assertions that child sex-change surgeries should end, Democrat Rep. Caleb Hemmer grilled him about statements hed made years earlier. Walsh had spoken about the historical trend of married teens starting families.

Left-wing fact-checking site Media Matters published a story about Walshs statements and linking to recordings of a 2011 radio show recorded before he joined The Daily Wire.

At about 16, youre an adult who is mature and can make decisionsyou are that at 16, Walsh said in the 12-year-old broadcast. I dont care what anybody says. And if youre going to tell me its different, well, then how come for the first 10,000 years of human civilization, thats the way it was?

Walsh said the 2011 statement had been taken out of context.

Do you think that a 16-year-old can meaningfully consent to having their body parts removed? Walsh asked Hemmer.

A period of silence followed.

We ask the questions, Hemmer finally responded.

Rep. Bo Mitchell, another Democrat, said he dismissed Walshs opinions because hed praised Singapores justice system in a post on Twitter.

Singapore is able to have nice things, in part because they execute drug dealers by hanging, and arrest even petty vandals and thieves and beat them with a cane until they bleed, Walsh wrote.

We dont have nice things here because we arent willing to do what is required to maintain them.

Singapore is the worlds 11th-safest country, according to the 2021 Global Peace Index. The United States ranks as the worlds 122nd-safest country.

With statements like that, I kind of have to question your public policy beliefs, Mitchell said.

Surgery and Suicide Risk

Transgender activists often say children who arent allowed to have sex-change surgery are more likely to kill themselves.

Walsh disagreed with that assertion. And Mitchell objected, saying a University of Pittsburgh study showed transgender-identifying children commit suicide more often than non-transgender children.

But the study doesnt mention sex-change surgery.

I think, you know, before you state things, you may need to know all the facts, Mitchell told Walsh.

Walsh didnt get a chance to respond.

Prisha Mosley, who had both of her breasts removed when she believed she was trying to live as a man, now hopes to receive reconstructive surgery. (Courtesy of Independent Womens Forum)

Mitchell said he didnt think child sex-change surgeries were happening in Tennessee.

Walsh cited materials hed found on Vanderbilt Universitys website.

The health care providers own words outline Vanderbilt Health and their transgender care program, and the people that work for that program, Walsh testified.

Double mastectomies do happen. And the way that I know that they happen is that after I called attention to this program at Vanderbilt, they said that they were going to stop performing, they were gonna put a pause on the program that performs these surgeries on minors.

Possible Penalties for Performing Procedures

If the ban on childrens sex-change surgeries passes, medical institutions could face fines of $25,000 per procedure. And profits from those procedures could be confiscated.

It also lets affected minors sue the doctors and parents responsible for their sex-change procedures.

Minors would receive no penalty for getting a sex change.

A person holds a transgender flag at Washington Square Park in New York on Oct. 21, 2018. (Yana Paskova/Getty Images)

Its likely the bill will pass Tennessees Republican-controlled government.

Across America, the movement to ban sex-change surgeries for children is accelerating. Oklahoma has a bill that proposes ending the practice. Utah already has outlawed child sex-change surgeries.

In Florida, the state Board of Medicine and Board of Osteopathic Medicine barred doctors from prescribing hormones to children identifying as transgender hormones or performing surgeries on them to treat gender dysphoria.
Texas Panel Hearing: Biden Lease Policy Puts Oil Patch Workers, Communities at Risk

Drilling rigs sit unused on a companies lot located in the Permian Basin area in Odessa, Texas, on March 13, 2022. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

The Biden administration is only putting about 20 percent of eligible federal land up for new oil leases in many areas of the country, Congressional lawmakers have been told during a Feb. 13 field hearing in Odessa, Texas.

And industry, community, and government leaders say it is slow-walking applications through a broken permitting process without addressing a backlog of more than 4,500 drill applications.

They say these actions by the Biden administration have driven up energy prices while restricting new oil and gas development, imperiling jobs, and threatening local governments and school districts across the nation with a looming fiscal cliff.

In 2022, the federal government approved 233 drilling permits a month across the United States, down from more than 400 monthly during the Trump administration, a decline profoundly impacting the 950,000 Americans who work in the industry, and the nearly 20 million jobs that rely on them, officials said.

Vice President Kamala Harris (2L) and special presidential envoy for climate John Kerry (L) watch as President Joe Biden signs several executive orders related to climate change, including one directing a pause on new oil and natural gas leases on public land, on Jan. 27, 2021. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

But with Republicans assuming control of the United States House of Representatives following Novembers midterm elections, the newly installed GOP leadership is vowing to unleash the nations domestic energy production in a concerted campaign that began with 10 hours of hearings on 17 bills before the House Energy and Commerce and Natural Resources committees, on Feb.79.

With the House in recess until Feb. 27 for district work, that messaging continues with field hearings on the 17 bills.

The first of these road productions was the Feb. 13 Natural Resources Committees Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittees hearing, Federal Energy Production Supports Local Communities, at the University of Texas campus in Odessa.

Theres no secret why the panel chose a city in West Texass Permian Basin to tout Republicans 17-bill package. A report by the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO) released this week, confirms that the Lone Star State leads the nation in oil and natural gas production and jobs.

According to TIPRO, nationwide, 45,700 oil and gas businesses employ 950,000 Americans in direct industry jobs with a combined $48 billion annual payroll that pays an average yearly wage of $120,665 and supports more than 19 million jobs.

In 2022, the report documents, Texas 12,306 oil and gas businesses employed more than 347,000 in direct industry jobs37 percent of the nations total oil patch workforceearning an average salary wage of nearly $140,000 and supporting 2.6 million jobs.

Lease Loss Hits Locals Hard

None of this seems to matter to the Biden administration and Democrats who ruled the House for the past four years, emphasizing climate change, environmental protection, and green energy development over protecting a key industry and safeguarding the security of the nations energy supply, panel members said.

Welcome to a new day in the House of Representatives, Rep. Pete Stauber (R-Minn.) said. For the last four years, under Democratic control, this subcommittee preached a keep-it-in-the-ground mantra, regardless of its world impact, banning lands from mineral development, arbitrarily raising royalty rates, sidelining American workers at the behest of the wealthy, and restricting energy and minerals development whenever possiblebut no longer.

New Mexico Sen. David Gallegos (R-Eunice), Permian Strategic Partnership President/CEO Tracee Bentley, and New Mexico and Gas Association president and CEO Doug Ackerman testified about how communities in West Texas and Southeast Mexico benefit from federal oil leasing revenues.

Those revenues fund education, health care, workforce development, and numerous other initiatives are at risk because of the Biden administrations oil leasing slowdown, they said.

Conservationists say linking public lands leasing to the nations Strategic Petroleum Reserve wont produce more oil or gas, but will lock up lands in drilling leaseswhile locking out public accessfor decades. (Charlie Riedel/AP Photo)

After assuming office in January 2021, the Biden administration did not hold a lease sale until June of 2022. Only 20 percent of the parcels originally included for lease were offeredin New Mexico, only 110 square miles of the 200 square miles received bidsand the sale included a 50-percent royalty hike.

The Biden administration is averaging only 9.6 parcels offered for lease per year. For comparison, the Trump administration offered an average of 153 parcels per year and the Obama administration offered an average of 103 parcels per year, committee members said.

This is a violation of the federal Mineral Leasing Act, Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas) said, which requires lease sales shall be held for each state where eligible lands are available at least quarterly and more frequently if the [U.S.] Secretary of the Interior determines such sales are necessary.

Pfluger asked Ackerman if the 400 members of the New Mexico and Gas Association want to see more leases opened. He said most members would be happy just to get to do the permits we already have, and start from there.

The industry faces legal challenges in New Mexico and Wyoming that could shut down production, regulatory uncertainties, and an exacting, lengthy permitting process that is discouraging investors, he said.

You pay $50,000 a day to keep a well open, every day it is not producingnot a good ROI, Ackerman said, adding at best its six-to-12 months [to open a well] and legal challenges can get you frozen at any time.

Let States Regulate

Natural Resources Committee Chair Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) said you cant go out and look at a project under a state permit or a federal permit and tell any difference in the environmental quality of the project yet states process permits so much faster.

He said maybe it is time to ask, Are American taxpayers best being served by these bureaucracies that arent producing results, more of a hindrance than assistance? and pass regulatory authority to the states.

The state has been much easier to work with despite New Mexico having the highest regulatory content there is, including strict methane-capture requirements, Ackerman said.

So the state can permit more quickly and efficiently? Westerman asked.

Ackerman didnt directly respond but said states assuming regulatory control of federal public lands was one of the alternatives approved by the association.

The industry seeks to just have a seat at the table, he said. Why not bring experts and innovators to the table when it comes to [conforming] permitting and regulatory issues to some form of reality.

There is no reason to go to Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, or God forbid, Russia, to ask them to make up for the supply of energy that we should be producing here at home if not for Bidens energy policies, Westerman said.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Roberts (R-Wash.) will lead another hearing in Odessa on Feb. 16.

Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-Wisc.) told those in attendance that their presence was sending a message to Washington.

For those championing the green fantasy, he said, the Permian is a problem. You are stopping people who want to impoverish Americans with higher energy prices. You are standing up for the United States of America.

Westerman said the 17-bill package could be ready for floor votes by the end of March.
The Mystery of Americas Secrets Gone AWOL

If Americas greatest secrets are so crucial to national security, why do classified documents keep showing up where they shouldnt?

Since last August, when federal agents raided former President Trumps Palm Beach home seeking classified documents he had removed from the White House, national secrets have also been discovered at various properties connected to President Biden, including his Delaware home, and at former Vice President Mike Pences Indiana home.

Although each of these cases were slightly different, they had at least one thing in common: The repository of White House secrets, the National Archives, did not appear to have a firm list of which documents were missing. While Trump claims he had the authority as president to declassify and retain any material from his time in office, Biden and Pence, who had no such authority (either as vice president or while they served in Congress), have said they had inadvertently taken the material with them when they left the veeps office in 2017 and 2021 respectively. This raises another question: If even underfunded public libraries will flag the failure to return a borrowed book and send out reminder notices, why isnt a similar process in place to safeguard Americas top secrets? Why werent Biden and Pence directed years ago to search their papers for the missing secrets?

The system is not nearly as robust as it should be, said Bradley P. Moss, an attorney who specializes in national security matters. Most of the classified documents that are used on a regular basis [in the White House] are not tracked, logged, and documented nearly as stringently as they should be. Is there documentation identifying the originals of the classified documents? Yes, almost certainly. Is that documentation constantly updated to reflect where every copy of every document is currently located and how it was transmitted at every step? Not really. Its just too much.

Former Republican congressman Devin Nunes, who is now CEO of the Trump Media and Technology Group, said that handling of classified documents is a scandal. Its not like since 9/11 theres been a lack of money or federal laws specifically for all this, Nunes said. The process isnt broken; people just arent following the law. None of this makes any sense unless someone did something illegal.

National security experts said that given the systems in place to limit access to classified documents it is not surprising that almost all of the recently discovered documents can be traced back to the White House. Heres how it works.

Only elected officials with the proper clearance can view classified documents, and only in what the government calls a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF). (Famous spies or thieves, such as Edward Snowden or Reality Winner, got their hands on classified material at the agencies that produced it.)

For members of Congress the SCIF is a specific area in the Capitol basement that is governed by tight rules. Before entering the SCIF, people must surrender their phones and other personal devices. You walk into the SCIF with nothing, you walk out of the SCIF with nothing, said Javed Ali, an associate professor of public policy at the University of Michigan who served stints with the Defense Intelligence Agency and the FBI before joining Trumps National Security Council. Whatever 3 or 4 letter agency youre in, youre supposed to leave that stuff in the office, because you dont want any unauthorized or unintentional leaks.

Nunes said those exiting the congressional SCIF must pass through more than one door and a guard, making it difficult for someone to depart with classified paperwork. No one could recall a case where documents went missing from the Capitol SCIF.

Because of this, Nunes and Ali said, probably the most remarkable recent revelation was that Biden possessed documents from his years in the Senate, 19732009. When you see batches of classified documents, Ali said, its clear these werent one-off mistakes.

None of the documents in Bidens possession have been identified and the White House has refused to comment.

Things are different in the White House. The Oval Office, for example, where the president regularly discusses classified matters with his team, is considered a SCIF, and there are other secure locations in the building.

At the White House, copies of documents marked classified or the even more secret compartmentalized or codeword can circulate among officials there with proper clearance. This was underscored by the recent resurfaced White House photo from 2013 showing then-Vice President Biden clutching a classified document folder stamped CODEWORD in a public White House setting. Those documents are not, however, supposed to leave one of the White House SCIFs, and they are supposed to be collected at the end of any meeting at which they were reviewed, according to several people familiar with such operations. Eventually, those documents are sent to the National Archives, where they are stored and made available to government officials and others with proper clearance.

The problem is magnified by just how many copies there may be of sensitive paperwork.

Whats getting lost in all this is its very rare that there is only one copy of some of these things, said a former government official who dealt with the storage of classified docs. And the system in place is only as good as the people who follow it. Whether that collection is rigidly observed at the White House, however, seems unclear.

Lanny Davis, who served in the Clinton administration, said it isnt only Hollywood that stamps TOP SECRET and the like atop documents. The color, the font, the folder a document comes in, all of these send clear signals to participants that papers are classified.

There is no doubt; when you see red lettering atop a document, it isnt a close call, Davis said.

The experience of more than a half-dozen people familiar with the process and rules surrounding classified documents thus suggests the White House can be a leaky ship, a finding buttressed by the fact Biden, Trump, and Pence all spent years in the executive branch. In the most famous modern case of pilferage, President Bill Clintons former national security adviser, Sandy Berger, was convicted in 2005 of stealing and destroying documents from the National Archives. In 201516, an investigation of Hillary Clintons nonsecure private server found 113 emails containing classified information, three of which had classified markings, sent while she served as secretary of state.

When a president leaves office, his administration is required to send all presidential and vice-presidential documents, including classified ones, to the National Archives. Its not unusual for former presidents to bicker over which records should be turned over to government depositories. In addition, active presidents have the authority to classify or declassify documents, an argument made by some of Trumps team over the papers found in the raid of Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach home.

The National Archives refused two requests from RealClearInvestigations (RCI) to discuss their protocols or to offer comment on the mushrooming scandals.

Although much of the discussion surrounding the recent discovery of classified documents has been colored by partisan politics, experts say the crucial issue is not the specific motivation of Trump, Biden, and Pence but systemic failures inside the White House and at the National Archives to catalog and collect the nations secrets.

So far, the mistakes that led to the current scandals have yet to be identified by either the parties that possessed classified documents or the agencies who produced them. Biden has offered no explanation for how classified papers, some reportedly going back to his days as a senator, have been found in offices in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., as well as the garage and at least one other location in his Wilmington, Delaware, home.

And neither the extent nor nature of the documents has been revealed. Pence has said he takes full responsibility for roughly a dozen pages of classified briefings reportedly from foreign trips turning up in his Carmel, Ind., home, but it remains unclear how they got there.

While there have long been complaints about the overclassification of government documentsan estimated 50 million documents each yearthere is a general belief that they must be protected. When classified documents were discovered at Trumps home, President Joe Biden said he couldnt understand how anyone could be that irresponsible.  I thought, what data was in there that may compromise sources and methods, regarding national intelligence.

The partisan furor has been heightened by the Justice Departments unprecedented step of raiding a former presidents house, while concealing information about Bidens classified documents for months and now slow-walking searches of the various places they could be. The latter includes the University of Delaware, which has fought Freedom of Information Act requests to review the mountains of documents Biden dedicated to it after his terms as senator.

White House officials have rebuffed all queries into how Biden has handled sensitive material or if any changes have been made to their procedures in light of the embarrassing revelations. Administration officials have dismissed the controversy as simple human error.

It was probably mishandled carelessly, Davis said. Davis also believes some of what press accounts have labeled classified information is likely sensitive but not necessarily classified formally, meaning what has transpired are examples of bad judgment more than criminal.

Yet the mystery of how documents the government considers sensitive enough to raid houses and appoint independent counsels wound up in multiple, insecure locations lies at the heart of what is going on now, according to Nunes.

We know how documents got to Mar-a-Lago, and its a little odd that they seem to know something was missing, he said. We dont know how the documents got to all of Bidens places but something doesnt add up, unless someone took it.
This Is New to Me: Former Australian PM Says He Never Heard of Chinese Spy Balloon Program

Australian former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull gestures during a joint news conference with U.S. President Donald Trump (not pictured) at the White House in Washington on Feb. 23, 2018. (Jonathan Ernst/File Photo via Reuters)

Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he wasnt aware of the Chinese spy balloon programme until now.

I dont recall a balloon discussion, he told ABCs RN Breakfast on Tuesday, This is new to me as it is to most people.

He added this revelation is concerning and that its puzzling that the balloons have gone undetected despite their enormous size.

So these are big things, and it is bizarre that if they had been, in fact, flying around the world, they havent been picked up and noticed and brought down before.

The comment comes days after the United States shot down the Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4. Another three more unidentified flying objects, two in U.S. airspace and one in Canadian airspace. were also shot down.

U.S. officials said the balloon is capable of monitoring communications signals and was clearly for intelligence surveillance.

Meanwhile, the White House on Tuesday confirmed that the spy balloon program is linked to Chinas military targeting of the United States and its allies for espionage.

China has a high-altitude balloon program for intelligence collection thats connected to the Peoples Liberation Army, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said at a Feb. 13 press conference.

There is no question in our minds that that system was designed to surveil, that it was an intelligence asset.

Australia Removed Chinese Cameras In Government Sites

Following the revelation about the spy balloon, Australia has ordered the removal of all Chinese-made surveillance cameras from the countrys government sites as soon as possible, in the latest Western move to combat the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)s overseas technology.

Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles announced the order on Feb. 9, following an audit that revealed that almost 1000 Chinese-made surveillance cameras were installed across over 250 sites of Commonwealth departments and agencies, including foreign affairs and defence sites.

Its a significant thing thats been brought to our attention, and were going to fix it. Its obviously been there  for some time and predates us coming into office, Marles said.

The move comes after an audit released by Shadow Minister for Cyber Security & Countering Foreign Interference James Paterson found that the Chinese-made cameras and security equipment were found in almost every department except Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Agriculture Department.

The cameras were provided by Chinese companies Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co. and Zhejiang Dahua Technology, both accused of being involved in the CCPs human rights atrocities against Uyghurs in the western region of Xinjiang and have been banned by the United Kingdom and the United States in November 2022.

Australia Accelerates Submarines Acquisition

Meanwhile, as the US-China security competition intensifies, Australia is continuing to strengthen its relationship with the U.S. through the AUKUS pact and its acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines.

We already do have a close relationship, a very close relationship, intensely close, in fact, intimate with the UK and the US, Turnbull said. I mean, we have no closer allied than the United States.

Our relationship with the UK is close and intimate. Theyre not really a presence in the Asia Pacific, which havent been for many decades. But nonetheless, the technological and signals intelligence relationship is close. So thats all good.

However, he noted there is more work to be done on the submarines as there remain barriers in terms of importing American technology as well as exporting Australian technology to the US

The real question is not whether theres an Australian commander [of the submarines], but whether they could be operated by Australia, he said.

If United States support and supervision were withdrawn, would we be able to operate them autonomously in the sense that if the American said, We dont want you to do go on that mission, we could nonetheless go.

Andrew Thornebrooke and Cindy Zhan contributed to this report.
When Chris Licht became the new CEO of CNN, he claimed he wants CNN to go back to its supposed roots of being fair and non-partisan. But has there really been any change?

Tim Graham, the director of media analysis at the Media Research Center and executive editor of the blog NewsBusters.org sits down with Larry Elder to discuss how that quest for non-partisanship at CNN is coming along.

Have you heard of Bass Reeves? He was born into slavery in Arkansas in 1838, but after the Civil War, he became the first African-American U.S. deputy marshal west of the Mississippi and among the most relentless lawmen of his or any day.

If you have not heard his story, there is a movie about him called Corsicana. How accurate is it? Historian Roger McGrath who specializes in the old west takes a look and shares his views with Elder this Black History Month.
Threat of COVID-Linked Extremism on the Decline in Australia After the Lifting of Restrictions

A protester performs a Nazi salute at the Shrine of Remembrance during an anti-lockdown rally in Melbourne on Sept. 5, 2020. (William West/AFP via Getty Images)

Threat levels of violent extremism linked to COVID lockdowns have decreased markedly over the past year, according to Australias domestic spy chief.

It is true; there are less people in this country who want to conduct active violence in the name of their cause, said Mike Burgess, head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO).

The volatility has reduced. In particular, around COVID. So, there is less angst these days as were not subject to mandates, he told a Senate Estimates hearing.

He also noted that while the department had seen a significant reduction in the number of cases they were investigating, there was still a small amount of volatility from individuals maintaining grievances around the pandemic response.

According to ASIO, right-wing extremism accounted for 50 percent of the agencys caseload but dropped to 30 percent since lockdowns and mandates eased.

The domestic spy boss shot down theories that anti-mandate protestors were tied to extremists.

We did not see nationalist and racist, violent extremists, or neo-Nazis egging that on or running to that cause other than, of course, they were using the dissatisfaction and angst towards a potential recruitment mechanism, Burgess said.

His comments come after thousands of Australians took to the streets in Canberra on Feb. 12, 2022, during the pandemic years against vaccine mandates, while there were extremist elements in some quarters, many participants were frontline workers who had lost their jobs over the jab.

Protesters against vaccine mandates gather on the lawn of Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on Feb. 12, 2022. (Tracey Nearmy/Getty Images)

The actual number of protesters at the rally is disputed, with some claims on social media saying figures up to 300,000, while police say the numbers were closer to 10,000.

Other protests also took place in capital cities including Sydney, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Perth and Melbourne.

Protesters march through the streets during a rally against government COVID-19 restrictions in Melbourne on Sept. 18, 2021. (William West/AFP via Getty Images)

The Biggest Threats That ASIO Now Faces

He said the biggest threat now was radicalised individuals who would resort to violence with little to no warning.

Theyre acting on their own because something has set them off, including maybe the group theyre in isnt satisfying their need to do what they believe it is they should do, he said.

The ASIO chief said religiously motivated extremists now comprised most of the agencys workload, with Sunni Islam the principal concern in the terrorism space.

Australian Security Intelligence Organisation ASIO Director General Mike Burgess preparing for his annual speech at ASIO headquarters in Canberra, Wednesday, March 17, 2021. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas)

Burgess was also asked by presiding senators why right-wing nationalist groups, like the Proud Boys, Combat 18, and Blood and Honor were not identified as terrorist organisations despite being banned in countries like New Zealand, Canada, and France.

He said ASIO did not handle terrorist listings and noted that Australia set a very high bar for listing organisations.

That group must be a number of things, including advocating and conducting acts of terrorism, he said.

So if you have a group that is of any ideology, including nationalist and racist foreign extremism, if theyre not advocating acts of terrorism as defined under law, then they cannot be listed, he added.
Tide May Be Turning in Battle to Halt Gender-Transition Procedures on Minors, Crusaders Say

Focus shifts to proposed law in Missouri amid investigations of whistleblower's claims

Scott Newgent, who regrets transitioning from feminine to masculine, prepares to testify in support of a bill that would outlaw the procedures, at the Nebraska Statehouse in Lincoln on Feb. 8, 2023. (Scott Newgent/TreVoices.org)

Scott Newgent is finally sensing a shift in the war against medical gender-transitioning of children in America.

About 4 1/2 years ago, Newgent became one of the nations first transsexuals to voice strong opposition to gender-changing surgeries and drugs for minors.

Newgent, a 50-year-old mother of three, nearly died after a 2017 gender-reassignment surgery.

I was sold a lie, that medically transitioning would help me finally fit in and solve all my problems, Newgent, formerly known as Kellie King, told The Epoch Times.

They promise you Candyland, but instead you get Vietnam. Every day, I was fighting just to survive because of the damage done to my body.

Chloe Cole (L) and Scott Newgent (R), who both regret undergoing masculinizing gender-transition procedures, are pictured with another protester at the First Do No Harm Rally against medical transition in Anaheim, Calif., on Oct. 7, 2022. (Courtesy of TreVoices.org/Scott Newgent)

Since discovering that minors were being courted for such procedures, Newgent has worked tirelessly to prevent kids and their parents from being waltzed down the same tragic path.

The movement seems to have picked up steam lately, Newgent said, thanks partly to a whistleblowers allegations of shocking practices at a Missouri pediatric gender clinic.

Newgent is slated to testify about a proposed transgender procedure ban in the state on Feb. 14, following two recent victories of transgender-treatment bans in other states.

Newgent has worked with a core group of parents and organizations such as Genspect, 4th Wave Now, Moms for Liberty, Gays Against Groomers, and Transgender Trend.

And dozens more have sacrificed for over four years fighting this mess, Newgent said.

Coalition Was Built

Newgent is probably best known for declaring I will never be a man despite having a masculine appearance, in the Daily Wires 2022 documentary What Is a Woman? Newgent also drew widespread notice for writing a 2021 guest editorial in Newsweek, a personal account of the horrors of gender-transitioning procedures.

But before then, Newgent was helping lawmakers and giving speeches to anyone who would listen to a stop transitioning kids message.

Newgents advocacy has drawn ridicule from some in the LGBT community. Now, people who laughed at me are backing me, said Newgent, founder of TreVoices (Trans Rational Educational Voices).

A coalition of gays, lesbians, trans people, parents, Christians, and atheists have joined Newgent in advocating for these procedures to be banned because they can cause lifelong harm.

It doesnt matter what backgrounds these people come from. Were all coming together to save these kids, Newgent said.

The legislative advocates efforts are bearing fruit even though they face well-funded, aggressive opponentsand a partisan divide.

Most states proposing the bans are Republican-dominated; states trying to ensure access to the procedures tend to be Democrat-controlled. But a proposed ban on the procedures has been floated in progressive Hawaii; Gays Against Groomers sent a representative there to testify.

Its hilarious to us that were constantly slandered as anti-trans by woke outlets and radicals that dont know how to handle us, the group said in a recent tweet, when time and time again we come to the defense of trans people that align with our mission and want to end the medicalization of children too.

Protesters opposing a proposed ban on gender transition of minors, the Let Them Grow Act, mill around the Nebraska Statehouse in Lincoln on Feb. 8, 2023. (Scott Newgent/TreVoices.org)

Last week, Newgent was gratified to see lawmakers approve a youth transgender-treatment ban in South Dakota, the first state Newgent tried to assist with legislation. The original bill was defeated in 2019; Republican Gov. Kristi Noem signed it into law on Feb. 13, 2023.

Chloe Cole, now 18, testified in favor of the South Dakota bill. She told her story to The Epoch Times last year, describing how a surgeon removed her breasts when she was 15.

Although she insisted she wanted to be a boy for several years, Cole now has become a prominent spokesperson as a de-transitioner, one who regrets being misled into having the surgery.

Weeks before the South Dakota laws passage, Utah approved a ban, too. Many other states have similar proposals in the pipeline. Newgent is working to shore up legislation in more than a dozen states.

Notably, Newgent will be testifying in Missouri, where state and federal authorities are investigating allegations from the nations first whistleblower alleging a gender clinic has been harming children with unethical and immoral practices.

On Feb. 14, clinic officials are expected to say whether they will comply with the state attorney generals request to stop the procedures as the probe continues.

The dominoes are starting to fall; it could be game, set, match, Newgent said while preparing to speak in support of bills in Missouri and Kansas.

Still, Newgent said the fight is fierce, with many more battles on the horizon.

Beneficial or Harmful?

Opponents of restrictions say these gender-affirming procedures alleviate gender dysphoria, which can make youths miserable, even suicidal. But research supporting that view is recent and short-term; some attack the findings as flawed.

People, including Newgent, insist that these procedures cause permanent harm and health problems that havent been well-studied. They point to the only long-term published research on adult transsexuals, a 30-year Swedish study showing that people who undergo sex-reassignment surgery had higher mortality rates from all causes and committed suicide at a rate 19 times greater than the general population.

As the nation has debated those viewpoints and the number of gender-dysphoric youths has exploded, a pattern has emerged.

Whenever a ban or other restriction is proposed, lawmakers and their supporters, such as Newgent, prepare for the onslaught.

Almost invariably, busloads of protesters, wearing T-shirts proclaiming their stance and carrying professionally printed placards, flood statehouses.

Often, lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) will hold a news conference. Impassioned testimony follows from both sides while social media light up with commentary.

The scene was similar in Arkansas in 2021, when that state approved the nations first such ban. It was repeated in Nebraska when Newgent testified in early February 2022. And it likely will reoccur when Newgent and others appear before the Missouri Senate this week.

Tide Is Starting to Turn

Newgents voice is a strong and important one, said Arkansas state Rep. Robin Lundstrum, sponsor of the bill that became the nations first law to ban transgender procedures for minors. Newgent wasnt involved with that legislation but has publicly supported it.

That law remains on hold while a judge decides whether its constitutional.

The ACLU fought the law on behalf of several transgender-identifying youths and their parents, who attested to their belief that the treatments improve quality of life for suffering young people.

So far, court rulings havent been favorable to the Arkansas Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act.

But now Lundstrum thinks the tide is starting to turn against transgender treatments of minors, mainly because of advocacy from people like Newgent.

Scott Newgent of TreVoices.org (L) and Mario Presents of Gays Against Groomers observe protesters as they prepare to testify at the Nebraska Statehouse on Feb. 8, 2023. (Scott Newgent/TreVoices.org)

She acknowledged Newgents courage while confronting hostility. An activist pushed Newgent at a California protest last year; last week, a protester spat on Newgents face despite heavy security at the Nebraska Statehouse.

Lundstrum told The Epoch Times: Its very hard for grassroots individuals that are compassionate and caring to stand up, but it does catch on. It just takes longer.

She predicts more people are going to stand up as they witness more children being harmed. She said it saddens her to think thats what must occur to get more people motivated.

Many people on the other side of the debate, favoring transitions of minors, have great intentions, but theyre just not seeing the harm thats being done, Lundstrum said.

Lawmakers Tackle Issues

Although Lundstrums SAFE Act remains in jeopardy of being overturned, it has been a model for bills in other states, including Missouri.

As of Feb. 13, the ACLU was tracking nearly 300 pieces of legislation involving transgender issues; 93 proposals centered on health care in at least 21 states.

In the last few years, states have advanced a record number of bills that attack LGBT rights, especially transgender youth. The ACLU is tracking these attacks and working with our national network of affiliates to support LGBT people everywhere, its website says.

Arkansas Rep. Robin Lundstrum, a Republican who sponsored the nations first law to ban medical gender-transition procedures for minors, speaks at a legislative session on Feb. 15, 2022. (Courtesy of Robin Lundstrum)

In addition to Missouri and Kansas, Newgent backs pending legislation in Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Montana, North Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.

The ACLU says its wrong that these bills target access to medically-necessary health care, like Medicaid, for transgender people while exempting identical treatments offered to non-transgender youths. The proposed bans carve out exceptions for minors with genetic disorders affecting genitalia.

Many of the proposed bans on transgender procedures for minors call for disciplinary action against practitioners who would violate those laws.

Some of the bills would allow medical malpractice suits for years after patients reach the legal age of adulthood. Others would make it a crime for anyone to perform the procedures on minors.

Whistleblowers in Europe, Missouri

In the mid-1990s, after Dutch researchers released a study showing that puberty blockers helped young transgender people, Europe forged ahead with the procedures while the United States lagged behind. Now, the United States and Europe have reversed roles.

In Europe, concerns about harmful effects have surfaced in recent years, causing several countries to put on the brakes as more de-transitioners go public with their stories of regret and as others raise concerns.

Recently, a whistleblowers allegations led to the downfall of the United Kingdoms sole pediatric gender clinic.

Last year, British authorities ordered the Tavistock Centres gender identity clinic to close by spring 2023 after an investigation showed that the procedures performed there were causing more harm than good.

The Daily Mail recently reported that former clinicians are now expressing regret that they handed out life-altering medications after a single assessment with incredibly complex children.

That description tracks with the account given by Jamie Reed, a former Missouri clinic intake manager. She ignited a firestorm with a first-person account published in The Free Press, an independent publication. Millions of people viewed her story on Twitter alone.

Reed worked as an intake case manager for four years at The Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Childrens Hospital.

She alleges that mental-health assessments were inadequate and that treatments continued even after children showed clear signs of suffering ill effects. Prescriptions were sometimes given against parents wishes, she said.

Reed is calling for a national moratorium on the procedures.

The university said it was alarmed by Reeds allegations and was conducting an internal review.

Many people, including Newgent, think Reed is paving the way for others to blow the whistle on such clinics across the United States.

Remember it took one whistleblower in the UK, Dr. David Bell, to spur an investigation into Tavistock, resulting in its closure, Daily Wire writer Christina Buttons wrote on Twitter.

Jamie Reed is the U.S.s trailblazermore whistleblowers will come forward because of her bravery. The gender industrys house of cards will fall.

Children Are Apolitical

On Jan. 26, Reed filed a formal complaint about the St. Louis Transgender Center with Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey. He and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) have launched investigations.

Reed appears particularly situated to share her revelations because of her personal characteristics. Reed is married to a woman who identifies as a man. She describes herself as queer.

That makes it difficult for anyone to dismiss Reed as a bigot or a transphobelabels often lobbed at conservatives who are against gender-transition procedures for minors.

But online critics questioned the timing of Reeds revelations on Feb. 9, less than a week before the Missouri Senate hearing where Newgent and others will testify.

Attorney Vernadette Broyles, president of the Child and Parental Rights Campaign. (Courtesy: Vernadette Broyles)

Some parents commented on social media that their children received detailed assessments at the St. Louis clinic; they were stunned to hear Reeds allegations that prescriptions were handed out willy-nilly to children with severe mental issues.

Reed, 42, is a parent of two biological children from a previous marriage and three foster children.

Yet, despite describing herself as politically to the left of Bernie Sanders, Reed seems to have drawn little or no support from fellow progressives for her whistleblowing.

An attorney representing and advising Reed, Vernadette Broyles of The Child & Parent Rights Campaign, said on Feb. 9, We have simply got to get past the partisanship, because our kids are not Democrats or Republicans.

Broyles said the politics of the people tasked with protecting children frankly should not matter to us. The facts are what should matter, she said. Reed agreed.

Not About Human Rights

On Feb. 8, Nebraska heard from dozens of people on both sides of the issue during a hearing on the Let Them Grow Act, a proposed ban on medical gender procedures for anyone under age 19.

Parents and people who identified as transgender described seeing benefits from the treatments. They said some youths know from a young age that they want to live as the opposite gender, and its cruel to allow them to suffer without access to puberty blockers that can stop them from going through unwanted bodily changes.

Supporters of the legislation say any perceived benefits would likely be fleeting, replaced with lifelong regret, after transition-related health problems cropped up or mental issues went unresolved. They say youths need counseling and time to work through gender confusion, not surgeries and hormone treatment.

Several people who testified against the legislation called it a right to seek this treatment.

A young girl, who appeared to be a preteen, declared that lawmakers need to trust kids to know whats best for themselves and that gender-related medical treatment should be allowed when children feel comfortable to proceed.

But Newgent, the first witness to speak in favor of the legislation, stated: Im a mother and a woman who has given birth and carried life. Im here today to put an end to the idea that medically transitioning children is about human rights. It is not. Its about money.

Skin was cut from Scott Newgents arm as part of gender-transition surgery. (Courtesy of Scott Newgent)

Newgent said market researchers predict that gender-affirming care will generate more than $5 billion by the decades end.

Medical bills for Newgents hormone treatments, breast removal, and genital alterations exceeded $1 million. Newgent is convinced this will lead to an early grave because of recurrent infections and other medical issues.

You cannot transition your pain away. You only add to it, Newgent said. This is a concept that young people cannot comprehend because their brains typically arent completely developed until around age 25; Newgent proved vulnerable to transgender marketing ploys well into adulthood, beginning the transition hormones at age 42 before progressing to surgeries.

Newgent urged legislators to approve the legislation: You will be considered a bigot. But tomorrow, you will be a hero. This is wrong on every level. Dont do this to kids.
No, Blucifer won't be getting a little brother but travelers at Denver International Airport will be able to enjoy several new works of art soon.

That's after Denver City Council Monday approved three contracts worth more than $7.5 million that will bring three new sculptures to the airport's B and C concourses.

Artist Kipp Kobayashi will create a suspended sculpture near the newly constructed B West expansion. Titled the "Cosmology of Flight," the 140 foot sculpture will be a life-sized Boeing 767 aircraft, inspired by scale, perception and size, according to city documents.

Artist Danielle Roney will create two suspended sculptures in the atriums of the Concourse C East expansion. Titled "The Constellations," the sculptures will capture the geometry of constellations as seen in Denver during the winter and summer solstices.

The third contract approves the installation of a sculpture in the concourse A West terminal. It is valued at just under $2.5 million. The sculpture will be installed by Ball-Nogues Design Studio, LLC.

These new sculptures also come after Denver artist Thomas "Detour" Evans was tapped to add a sculpture in the concourse B East expansion. His piece, called "It's not what you take, it's what you bring back," is inspired by the idea that life is in perpetual motion with luggage carrying the things we hold dear, according to an Oct. 25 release.

"By using Colorado luggage, the work is an open invitation to learn about each other. I wanted the work to strike a common chord amongst all travelers regardless of background," Evans said in a news release. "I hope that once installed, the work gives travelers an opportunity to feel more connected with each other as we are all figuring out this thing called life."

DIA is well known for its artwork. Some pieces have sparked conspiracy theories, while others stand to inspire.

The contracts are funded by a city ordinance that requires any capital improvement project with a budget of $1 million or more set aside 1% of the budget for public art.

Council also approved granting a building a historical designation, penning it for preservation. The small structure at 1618 E. 38th Avenue started life as a Swedish Lutheran Church, evolved into a Spanish Seventh State Adventist Church in 1950, before becoming the Rising Star Baptist Church. The changes came as the demographics of the Cole neighborhood also changed, according to city staff.

"It's a simple and relatively unadorned building," Kara Hahn, Denver's principal city planner, said. "But there are important details that denote it as a church."

Hahn pointed to flared eaves, cosmetic buttresses, arched windows and other details that she said are reminiscent of Gothic Revival churches. The building is also significant for its rarity, she said, since many working class buildings have been significantly altered.

Preservation of the church, which is located in District 9, had the full support of Councilwoman Candi CdeBaca, who praised current owner Nathan Beal starting the process. The Cole neighborhood doesn't have many landmark designations, and CdeBaca recently lamented the loss of history in her district and throughout the city.

"My only comment is thank you to Nathan for making it a landmark preservation opportunity," she said. "I support this and I support the idea of preserving while we're also creating more opportunities in the area."
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, joined by chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Mark Milley holds a press conference at 9:45 a.m. ET on Feb. 14 after a NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg chaired the meeting, and Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov also attended the meeting. Austin delivered a statement after the meeting.

The Epoch Times will livestream the press conference.
UN Says Syria Agrees to Open 2 New Crossings for Quake Aid

Trucks loaded with UN humanitarian aid for Syria following a devastating earthquake reach the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey, Idlib province, Syria, on Feb. 10, 2023. (Ghaith Alsayed/AP Photo)

UNITED NATIONSSyrias president agreed to open two new crossing points from Turkey to the countrys rebel-held northwest to deliver desperately needed aid and equipment to help millions of earthquake victims, the United Nations announced Monday.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the agreement by Syrian leader Bashar Assad to open crossing points at Bab Al-Salam and Al Raee for an initial period of three months. Currently, the U.N. has only been allowed to deliver aid to the northwest Idlib area through a single crossing at Bab Al-Hawa, at Syrian ally Russias insistence.

The announcement followed a meeting in Damascus earlier Monday between Assad and U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths, who spent the weekend viewing the devastation caused by the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that ravaged southern Turkey and northwestern Syria.

Guterres official announcement came during a closed meeting of the U.N. Security Council where diplomats said Griffiths announced Assads agreement to open the two new crossings during a virtual briefing.

Syrias U.N. ambassador, Bassam Sabbagh, told reporters while the meeting was taking place that Assad held a positive and constructive meeting with Griffiths and confirmed the need for urgent aid to enter all regions in Syria, including those under occupation and under control of the armed terrorist groups.

Based on that, Syria supports the entry of humanitarian aid into the region through all possible cross points whatever  from inside Syria, or across the bordersfor the period of three months to ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid to our people in  northwestern Syria, Sabbagh said.

Brazil and Switzerland, which oversee Syria cross-border issues in the council, asked for quick implementation of the agreement to open the two new crossings.

The United Nations has been under intense pressure to get more aid and heavy equipment into Syrias rebel-held northwest since the earthquake struck a week ago, with survivors lacking the means to dig for other survivors and the death toll mounting.

The toll in the northwestern rebel-held region has reached 2,166, according to the rescue group the White Helmets, while 1,414 people have died in government-held areas, according to the Syrian Health Ministry in Damascus. The overall death toll in Syria stands at 3,580.

Iraqi security forces prepare humanitarian aid from Red Crescent that will be shipped on a plane of emergency relief to the earthquake affected people of Syria at a military airbase near Baghdad International Airport in Baghdad on Feb. 12, 2023. (Hadi Mizban/AP Photo)

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric cited difficulties of operating during Syrias 12-year war.

To criticism that the U.N. hadnt responded quickly enough to the quake, he said some aid is getting into the northwest, pointing to 58 trucks that arrived with aid through the Bab Al-Hawa crossing.

But he stressed that the United Nations doesnt have heavy equipment or search and rescue teams, so the international community as a whole needs to step up to get that aid where it is needed.

Guterres said in a statement that with the rising death toll delivering food, health, nutrition, protection, shelter, winter supplies, and other life-saving supplies to all the millions of people affected is of the utmost urgency.

Opening these crossing pointsalong with facilitating humanitarian access, accelerating visa approval,s and easing travel between hubswill allow more aid to go in, faster, the U.N. chief said.

In 2014, the Security Council authorized four border crossings to deliver aid to northwest Syriatwo from Turkey, one from Jorda,n and one from Iraq. In January 2020, Syrias close ally Russia used its veto threat to reduce the number of crossing to the two from Turkey. The following July, Chin, and Russia used their veto power to reduce the number to just a single crossing.

Frances U.N. ambassador, Nicolas De Riviere, told reporters before Mondays council meeting that the earthquake is a humanitarian tragedy that should not be politicized.

He said there were two optionseither the Syrian government grant additional access to the northwest or the Security Council would try to adopt a resolution authorizing additional crossing points to the region.

Syrias Sabbagh said no council resolution was needed, telling reporters that its a decision made by our leadership, and its an agreement between Syria and the United Nations.

De Riviere told reporters after the meeting that U.N. humanitarian officials said they were ready to send convoys through the three crossings.

If the two new crossings work it will be fine, he said, but if it doesnt work I think the Security Council should get back to work and look into a resolution under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter that would be enforceable militarily to ensure aid gets through to the northwest.

Asked why it took a week to get this agreement, when time to get to victims is critical, Sabbagh retorted: Why are you asking me? We are not the ones controlling these borders.

He reiterated that Syria said from day one that it was ready to assist humanitarian workers to reach all Syrians without any discrimination.

Dujarric, the U.N. spokesman, told reporters Monday that the U.N. has been trying to send a convoy to the northwest across conflict lines within Syria, but is still trying to get a green light from all parties. The convoy reportedly was blocked by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a terrorist group with ties to al-Qaida that controls part of the northwest.
Unidentified Object Shot Down Over Lake Huron First Detected in Alberta, Says Canadian General

The facade of the headquarters of the Department of National Defence is pictured in Ottawa, in a file photo. (The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld)

The unidentified object that was shot down over Lake Huron on Feb. 12 by the U.S. Air Force was first detected over southern Alberta, Canadian Military Major General Paul Prevost said on Feb. 13.

Prevost, the director of Strategic Joint Staff at National Defence, was providing a technical briefing alongside officials from the RCMP, Public Safety, and the Canadian Coast Guard.

Prevost clarified that the object did not originate in Alberta, but that authorities first became aware of it at that time, noting there is a gap in sensor coverage to detect these types of objects.

Theyre smaller in size, harder to find through radar, through ground radar, air surveillance radar. So were turning our minds to how can we address those gaps in the future, he said.

The briefing did not shed much light on the nature of the three most recent unidentified and unauthorized objects that were shot down over North America, after a known Chinese spy balloon was shot down on Feb. 4 off the coast of South Carolina.

The three events where objects were shot down took place in Alaska on Feb. 10, in Yukon on Feb. 11, and over Lake Huron on Feb. 12.

The objects have been described as lighter than air by Prevost and moving along the air currents with no evidence of propulsion mechanisms.

Some have been described as cylindrical in shape and another as octagonal.

The commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), General Glen VanHerck, said on Feb. 12 he wouldnt categorize the latest objects as balloons.

Were calling them objects for a reason, he said. I am not able to categorize how they stay aloft. It could be a gaseous type of balloon inside a structure or it could be some type of a propulsion system. But clearly, theyre able to stay aloft.

VanHerck said the Chinese balloon was assessed to be up to 200 feet tall (60 metres) and carrying the size of a jetliner in terms of equipment.

Prevost said there is no evidence linking the Chinese balloon to the other objects.

No Hypotheses

Briefing participants did not offer any explanation as to what the new objects could be, if the technology being used is known, or what is their purpose.

We have no information on the payload they could have carried or the capabilities they have, Prevost said.

Asked to comment on a report the object shot down over Yukon appeared to be a small metallic balloon carrying a small payload, an RCMP official said it was too early to say.

I think it would be premature at this point to speculate as to what the device looked like, what it contained, and what some of the concerns could be until we have a chance to actually locate it and exploit some of the information that could be contained there, said Sean McGillis, acting deputy commissioner of federal policing at the RCMP.

The RCMP is helping in the search to find the wreckage in Yukon and on Lake Huron.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said earlier on Feb. 13 that he was concerned about there being a pattern, an issue Prevost commented on.

Were obviously paying more attention to our airspace, but theres no evidence that any of that activity appeared in the past, he said.

He added authorities are looking back in recent history in order to see if there have been other similar contacts previously.

Canadian Jets Within Minutes

Trudeau also defended the fact that it was a U.S. fighter jet that shot down the object over the Yukon, noting the collaborative approach of NORAD continental defence.

It was a very much based on the context and the situations of who was there, who had the capacity to do it before we lost the object into darkness or into situations, he said on Feb. 13.

The U.S. jets stationed at the U.S. Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska were closer to the area.

Prevost said the CF-188 Canadian fighter jets had been scrambled from Cold Lake, Alberta, and were minutes away when the U.S. F-22 fighter engaged the target.

On the shoot-down over Lake Huron, Prevost said there was no evidence at this point that the wreckage was in Canadian waters, after VanHerck said on Feb. 12 it was likely.

Marc-Andre Meunier, assistant commissioner for the Canadian Coast Guards (CCG) central region, said his outfit is participating in the search in coordination with the RCMP and the U.S. Coast Guard.

CCG assets deployed include the ship CCGS Griffon, a drone, and two helicopters.
United Flight from Maui Plunged to Within 800 Feet of Pacific Ocean Soon After Takeoff

A United Airlines flight suddenly took a steep dive shortly after take off from a Hawaiian airport, plunging 1,400 feet to within 775 feet of the Pacific Ocean.

The incident happened on Dec. 18, just 71 seconds after United Flight UA1722 took off from Kahului Airport at 2:49 p.m. local time from the island of Maui en route to San Fransisco, according to data from flight tracking service flightradar24.

The Boeing 777-200 reached roughly 2,200 feet in altitude before abruptly descending to 775 feet at a rate of nearly 8,600 feet per minute before quickly recovering and resuming its climb to a normal cruising altitude of 33,000 feet, aviation industry blog The Air Current reported.

According to the report, the incident was not previously reported on social media or by any news source until Feb. 12, when The Air Current first published its story.

The entire fall and rise of the aircraft lasted about 45 terrifying seconds.

The plane landed safely in San Fransisco 27 minutes early after the four-hour and 15-minute flight, according to the New York Post.

The Air Current also reported that two people familiar with the incident said the climb produced forces of nearly 2.7 times the force of gravity on the aircraft and its occupants.

That means passengers certainly felt it, Hawaii News Now reported.

According to The Air Current, a safety official reportedly said when asked if the incident should have been reported earlier, such an extreme dive would normally prompt a call to the aircraft to ensure there was no threat of a hijacking or continuing issues maintaining control of the aircraft.

However, in its analysis, The Air Current said it is unclear whether or not air traffic control (ATC) noticed the incident as recordings did not include any exchanges about one.

Once the flight had landed, the United crew reported the incident to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as part of its voluntary safety reporting program.

After landing at SFO, the pilots filed the appropriate safety report, United spokesperson Josh Freed told The New York Post. United then closely coordinated with the FAA and ALPA (Air Line Pilots Association) on an investigation that ultimately resulted in the pilots receiving additional training.

Safety remains our highest priority, he added.

Freed also said that the two pilots have fully cooperated with the investigation and, between them, had about 25,000 hours of combined flying time, but did not elaborate on how much of that time was spent on the Boeing 777 and which of the pilots was at the controls at the time of the incident.

According to The Air Current, United did not notify the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) since no damage or injuries occurred to the aircraft or peoplepassengers, crew, or anyone on the ground, which is the usual criteria necessitating an incident report.

No one was injured during the Dec. 18 incident and, to date, its still unclear what caused it.

The plunge toward the ocean happened on the same day that 25 people were hurtsix seriouslyon a Hawaiian Airlines flight from Phoenix to Honolulu that experienced severe turbulence in the Maui area, Hawaii News Now reported.

Maui, at the time that the United Flight departed, was experiencing numerous showers and thunderstorms  capable of producing strong winds and hail, according a National Weather Service Honolulu post on Twitter. Additionally, The Air Current reported that a flash flood warning had been issued for Maui County on the afternoon of Dec. 18.

That same Pacific storm, The Air Current reported, spawned a massive ice storm that stretched across the western and central U.S., which, just days later, caused numerous flight delays and cancelations during the Christmas holiday season.

From NTD News
US Condemns China Over Laser Attack on Philippine Coast Guard Ship

A Philippine flag flutters from BRP Sierra Madre, a dilapidated Philippine Navy ship that has been aground since 1999 and became a Philippine military base on the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, part of the Spratly Islands, in the South China Sea March 29, 2014. (Erik De Castro/Reuters)

The U.S. Department of State, on Feb. 13, officially condemned Chinas reported use of a military-grade laser on a Philippine Coast Guard ship during a resupply mission in the South China Sea.

The event took place on Feb. 6 during an attempt to deliver food and supplies to a military outpost on the remote Second Thomas Shoal within the politically disputed waters of the Spratly Islands.

Manila officials reported a Chinese Coast Guard ship used a laser against the Philippine vessel, temporarily blinding members of its crew on the bridge.

The State Department responded to Beijings actions on Feb. 13, calling them provocative and unsafe.

The United States stands with our Philippine allies in the face of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) Coast Guards reported use of laser devices against the crew of a Philippine Coast Guard ship, department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement.

In the brief, Price reminded China of the outcome of the international tribunal in July 2016. The resolution concluded Beiing has no lawful maritime claims on the Second Thomas Shoal.

The United States reiterates, pursuant to the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention, the 2016 arbitral decision is final and legally binding on the PRC and the Philippines, and we call upon the PRC to abide by the ruling.

Price confirmed the United States will uphold the international maritime order of the region, adding that any violations would invoke U.S. mutual defense commitments.

A Chinese coast guard ship at the Second Thomas Shoal, 105 nautical miles off the Palawan Province, Philippines, on Feb. 6, 2023. (Philippine Coast Guard/Handout via Reuters)

The Armed Forces of the Philippines issued a terse response to the event.

The deliberate blocking of the Philippine government ships to deliver food and supplies to our military personnel  is a blatant disregard for, and a clear violation of, Philippine sovereign rights, a Coast Guard spokesperson said in an official statement.

In response to the increasing frequency and intensity of actions of China against the PCG, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. summoned Beijings Ambassador Huang Xilian to discuss the incident on Feb. 14.

Marcos expressed serious concern over the laser event, according to spokeswoman Cheloy Velicaria-Garafil.

Chinas embassy in the Philippines said the officials talked about how to properly manage maritime differences between China and the Philippines.

Before the Feb. 14 meeting between the Philippine head of state and Xilian, Chinas foreign ministry said that the actions of its coast guard were in accordance with the law. Beijing has neither specifically confirmed nor denied using lasers against the PCG vessel.

However, images captured during the event show a green and red light emanating from a Chinese ship with the number 5205 on its bow.

This isnt the first time in recent years China has reportedly used lasers against sovereign nations in the Indo-Pacific region. In February 2022, Australian officials reported an act of intimidation after a Chinese naval ship shot a laser beam at a military surveillance aircraft.
US Intends to Sell 26 Million Barrels of Oil From Strategic Petroleum Reserve, to Lowest Level in 40 Years

The Biden administration plans to withdraw 26 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) this fiscal year, after a sale of 180 million last year, effectively pushing the reserves to its lowest level in four decades.

The sale from SPR is set to be delivered to the market between April 1 and June 30. The release is mandated as per laws enacted by Congress during the Obama administration in 2015. The U.S. Department of Energy considered canceling the sale for this fiscal year. However, such a move would have required action from Congress. Following the sale, the SPR will move to its lowest level since August 1983.

According to Phil Flynn, analyst for the Price Futures Group, the Biden administration is front-loading SPR barrels in a bid to prevent a spike in gas prices during summer.

There are growing concerns among the Biden administration that gas prices are headed back to $4.00 a gallon and the president is fearful of the political heat he will have to take, he said in an interview with Fox. The national average gas price as of Feb. 14 was $3.41 per gallon.

By pushing barrels forward from previously announced sales, he is robbing Peter to pay Paul, but is discouraging future U.S. oil and gas investment. There should be some backlash from Republicans who are getting tired of using the SPR for political purposes and creating short-term price relief in exchange for much higher prices down the road.

SPR Sales and Refill

When Joe Biden became president in January 2021, the SPR reserves were at 638 million barrels. As of Jan. 23, the SPR stood at just 371.6 million barrels, a decline of over 41 percent.

The administration last year sold a record 180 million barrels from the SPR in a bid to rein in rising gasoline prices.

The Energy Department is looking to refill the reserves. But last month, the department rejected bids from oil companies willing to sell up to three million barrels, insisting that it would only accept a good deal.

The administration had earlier stated that it is looking to refill the SPR if oil can be purchased at around $70 per barrel. However, some experts have questioned such targets given persistently high oil prices.

It increasingly looks like the Biden administration missed the window to buy oil for the SPR. U.S. officials said they wanted to see prices in the $6772 range. WTI is not trading at $72 until January 2025. And the benchmark is not trading below $67 until March 2026, Javier Blas, an energy and commodities columnist at Bloomberg, stated in a tweet on Feb. 13.

Blocking SPR Sales

On Feb. 1, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, introduced legislation to block the Biden administration from selling crude from the SPR to China or any company controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The bipartisan effort was supported by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.).

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is a vital piece of our nations infrastructure that bolsters our energy and national security, Manchin said in a news release.

The reserve is, above all, meant to help the United States and our allies through difficult times, not to help the CCP power Chinas economy.

Earlier, on Jan. 27, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed the Strategic Production Response Act, mandating a plan that would require additional oil and gas leasing on federal lands and waters to offset drawdowns of SPR. The bill will not apply in circumstances of severe energy supply disruption.
US Intercepts 4 Russian Military Planes That Entered Alaskas Air Defense Zone

F-16 fighter jets takes part in the NATO Air Shielding exercise near the air base in Lask, Poland, on Oct. 12, 2022. (Radoslaw Jozwiak/AFP via Getty Images)

U.S. fighter jets intercepted four Russian military aircraft that entered Alaskas air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on Feb. 13.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), which oversees North American airspace and its defense, responded to the incursion with two F-16 fighters and five other supporting aircraft including two F-35s, according to a press statement.

The NORAD forces successfully intercepted a group of Russian bombers and fighters that entered Alaskas ADIZ.

Alaskas ADIZ is not part of U.S. airspace, but the zone immediately surrounding it in which NORAD tracks and identifies foreign aircraft.

The NORAD statement said that the incursion was in no way related to several high-profile efforts by NORAD to shoot down unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) over the last two weeks.

Further, it said, the action was more routine than escalatory, as Russian forces attempt to penetrate the countrys ADIZ several times a year in an effort to test U.S. responses.

Since Russia resumed out of area Long Range Aviation activity in 2007, NORAD has seen a yearly average of approximately six to seven intercepts of Russian military aircraft in the ADIZ, the statement said.

These numbers have varied each year from as high as 15 to as low as zero.

The incident follows on the heels of a separate interception of Russian military aircraft by Dutch fighters.

That incident also occurred on Tuesday and resulted from an apparent effort by Russian fighters to approach Polish airspace following an announcement that U.S. President Joe Biden will visit Poland to mark the one-year anniversary of Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Biden will travel to Poland from Feb. 20 to Feb. 22 and meet with President Andrzej Duda, where the two will discuss bilateral cooperation and the NATO effort to bolster Ukraines defenses against the Russian onslaught.

Wouldnt it be great if the president didnt have to make a trip around a one-year anniversary of a war that never should have started? Sadly, thats where we are, said National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby during a Feb. 10 press conference.

He wants to make sure that hes sending that strong message not only of the United States resolve, but the international communitys resolve, and to make clear to the Ukrainian people that the United States is going to continue to stand by them going forward.
US Military Readiness Under Scrutiny After Aerial Incursions

US F-22 stealth jets intercepted four Russian bombers and two Russian Su-35 fighter jets off the coast of Alaska, according to a statement from North American Aerospace Defense Command,on May 20, 2019. (Sr Master Sgt ThomasMenegiun/DOD)

News Analysis

Over eight days and using five missiles, U.S. forces shot down four objects flying above U.S. and Canadian airspace.

Those objects include a Chinese spy balloon and three unidentified objects, one roughly the size of a Volkswagen Beetle and another an octagonal black-metallic object.

Its a historic time for the North American Aerospace Defense Command, the joint AmericanCanadian organization responsible for overseeing North American airspace and its defense, which in its 65-year history had never before shot down an aerial object over North America.

The United States encounters with unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) over the past two weeks, as well as pilots hardships in identifying and engaging with them, highlight glaring weaknesses in U.S. military readiness, according to several defense and security experts.

Such shortcomings included an apparent inability to detect one of the objects until it had already entered U.S. airspace, as well as a failure to track and engage another object that lingered near sensitive U.S. nuclear silos in Montana before evading further detection by fighter jets.

Paul Crespo, a former Marine officer at the Defense Intelligence Agency and now president of the Center for American Defense Studies, believes that the problem is largely due to the size, heat, and speed of the UAPs encountered in recent weeks, all of which factor into the ease with which they could be seen on radar.

The recent flurry of unidentifiable aerial phenomena over the United States and Canada underscores our weakness in detecting and identifying nontraditional aerial threats, Crespo told The Epoch Times in an email.

If it isnt made of metal, super hot, and traveling hundreds if not thousands of miles an hour, our air surveillance and defense systems appear stymied.

Crespos comments highlight a problem addressed by the White House, which has acknowledged that the three UAPs had very small radar cross sections and were difficult to spot. Its a small problem with big consequences.

US in New Strategic Era

The problem has been years in the making, according to Sam Kessler, a national security and geopolitical analyst with risk management firm North Star Support Group.

Because U.S. forces are trained to use radar primarily to detect other fighter craft, much-related technology and intelligence gathering hasnt been honed to find objects that otherwise look either benign on radar or dont appear at all.

The detection issues are complicated since the sensing and radar technologies typically used for surveillance and detection purposes are usually set up under a different system of threats, such as the use of objects and vehicles that are typically fast-moving and carry a significant heat signature, Kessler said.

The objects that evaded detection last week were slow-moving and carried little to no heat or energy signature that could have been detected more easily.

Kessler said balloons, drones, and other small air vehicles were increasingly being used in both peace and war to gain an asymmetrical advantage. This leads to unpredictable results at times, he said.

We are in a new strategic era where aerial threats that are commonly used in theaters of war can also be utilized on the home front as well, Kessler said.

In many ways, the objects that have been detected last week are also a great opportunity to assess what has happened, whats needed going forward, and what solutions can be necessary and helpful.

It should be noted that the United States doesnt know what the three UAPs are, whether theyre commercial or military in nature, or where they came from. To that end, officials have said that while the objects posed a risk to civil aviation, they didnt present a kinetic security risk to Americans on the ground.

Official depictions of the objects dont necessarily mesh with the governments response to them, however, or with fighter pilots firsthand observations.

While the Pentagon has acknowledged, for example, that the object shot down over Alaska was able to penetrate U.S. airspace before being detected, some of the pilots who approached the object said that it appeared to interfere with their onboard sensors.

Likewise, the UAP that appeared over Montana near fields of U.S. nuclear silos was apparently lost after fighters scrambled to intercept it. The object was later rediscovered the following day over Lake Huron, where it was shot down.

The objects have been described by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley as balloons that appeared to be carrying small payloads of an indeterminate nature.

In audio recordings from the pilots cockpits taken during the interception over Lake Huron, one pilot observes that the object appears to have strings attached, but no payload.

In the targeting pod, I cant tell if its metallic or what, but I can see, like, lines coming down below it, but I cant see anything below it, the pilot says.

You can definitely see strings below but dont see anything hanging below.

Perhaps relatedly, Milley has acknowledged that the first missile fired over Lake Huron missed its intended target.

The first shot missed, the second shot hit, Milley said during a Feb. 14 press briefing.

In this case, the missile landed harmlessly in the water of Lake Huron. We tracked it all the way down.

Milley didnt indicate if the miss was in any way caused by interference with the aircrafts sensors.

A Failure of Imagination

Nic Chaillan, former chief software officer of the U.S. Air Force, said that the United States would need to do better to defend its airspace and that the United States apparent struggles to track and engage with these UAPs presented an operation shortcoming.

Clearly this demonstrates we need to do better when it comes to protecting our airspace, Chaillan told The Epoch Times in an email.

Chaillan said that while the United States own stealth technology was advanced, the military seemed to be struggling with keeping up with new types of threats that are apparently now penetrating U.S. airspace. To that end, he said that the United States ought to attempt to capture future unidentified aerial objects to study them.

Were doing very well with our own stealth technology, but we seem ill-prepared when it comes to our own defensive capabilities, Chaillan wrote. Particularly when it comes to balloons and higher altitude objects, and particularly when they fly over large cities.

It seems we need capture options that would allow us to take them away without destroying them. Im also concerned that it is taking so long to recover the objects.

For Crespo, the failure to more adequately prepare for such an eventuality, when the White House claims to have known about a spy balloon program for some time, is a failure of imagination.

Yes, the Pentagon appears to have tweaked its techniques, processes, and algorithms to better detect slow-moving, high-altitude balloons, but what is the next threat we wont see coming? Crespo asked.

Our 9/11 intelligence failure was a lack of imagination. Seems we havent learned much since then.
US Military Recovers Priority Sensors, Electronics From Downed Chinese Spy Balloon

Sailors prepare material recovered in the Atlantic Ocean from a China-claimed high-altitude balloon for transport to federal agents at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek on Feb. 10, 2023. (Ryan Seelbach/U.S. Navy via Getty Images)

Key electronics have been recovered from Chinas surveillance balloon that was shot down off the east coast by the U.S. military on Feb. 4, including sensors that are believed to have been used to gather intelligence, U.S. officials said on Monday.

Crews have been able to recover significant debris from the site, including all of the priority sensor and electronics pieces identified as well as large sections of the structure, the U.S. Northern Command said in a statement.

The manoeuvrable balloon was shot down by U.S. jets earlier this month after entering U.S. airspace unannounced and being allowed to make its way across the United States to the Atlantic coast, according to defense officials.

The U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard personnel then spent days recovering parts of the balloon and other debris from the sea for further analysis.

Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 recover a suspected Chinese high-altitude surveillance balloon that was downed by the United States over the weekend over U.S. territorial waters off the coast of Myrtle Beach, S.C., on Feb. 5, 2023. (U.S. Fleet Forces/U.S. Navy photo/Handout via Reuters)

Beijing insists that the balloon, which flew over sensitive military sights, was merely a civilian meteorological balloon that had been blown off course due to weather-related issues.

Balloon Used to Spy, Washington Says

Washington, however, says it was likely a sophisticated high-altitude spying vehicle conducting surveillance over sensitive U.S. military sights, including nuclear bases in Montana, the U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM), and a base that hosts nuclear bombers in Missouri.

Spying is surveillance without due authorization.

U.S. officials have since shared intelligence with other allied liberal democratic countries about Chinas aerial surveillance program, which they say has targeted at least 40 nations across five continents.

Chinas ruling communist party has been developing balloons for various military purposes in recent years and U.S. officials, citing an official procurement portal for Chinas military, have said that they are confident that the downed balloon has a direct relationship with Chinas military and is an approved vendor of the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA).

According to a statement from a senior State Department official, the balloon was furnished with high-tech equipment and multiple antennas as well as other equipment that was clearly for intelligence surveillance and was likely capable of collecting and geo-locating communications.

A high altitude balloon floats over Billings, Mont., on Feb. 1, 2023. (Larry Mayer/The Billings Gazette via AP)

Since the balloon was shot down six miles off the coast of South Carolina, U.S. forces have taken down three more smaller flying objectsone over Alaska, one over Canadas Yukon territory, and another over Lake Huron, Michigan, on the U.S.-Canada borderin recent days.

However, authorities have not yet identified the origin of those objects or their function. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Hemispheric Affairs Melissa Dalton told reporters on Feb. 12 that a number of high-altitude objects are often used by various countries or companies for legitimate research.

Beijing Responds Claiming US Sent Balloons Into China

The rise in the number of high-altitude objects recently detected in U.S. airspace is due, in part, to the government enhancing its radar systems, Dalton said.

In light of the Peoples Republic of China balloon that we took down last Saturday, we have been more closely scrutinizing our airspace at these altitudes, including enhancing our radar, which may at least partly explain the increase in objects that we detected over the past week.

Following the downing of the balloon, the U.S. placed economic restrictions on six Chinese entities it said have aided Beijings aerospace programs including airships and balloons and related materials and components.

Under those restrictions, U.S. companies will be unable to sell products and technologies to the firms without first getting government approval.

The blacklisted companies are: Beijing Nanjiang Aerospace Technology; China Electronics Technology Group Corp. 48th Research Institute; Dongguan Lingkong Remote Sensing Technology; Eagles Men Aviation Science and Technology Group and its Shanxi branch; Shanxi Eagles Men Aviation Science and Technology Group; and Guangzhou Tian-Hai-Xiang Aviation Technology.

Elsewhere, amid increasingly strained tensions between Beijings comrades and the U.S.s allies, China on Monday claimed that 10 U.S. high-altitude balloons have flown into its territory throughout the past year without its permission.

That claim has been called false by U.S. officials.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Four high-altitude objects were shot down in just eight days by the U.S. military. One was the Chinese spy balloon and the other three unidentifiedover the United States and Canada. At the same time, Beijing says the United States has sent balloons into Chinese airspace dozens of times, something the White House promptly denied. Is the Chinese Communist Party retaliating against the United States? And are the three new objects also from China?

Topics in this episode:
A winter storm approaching Colorado is expected to bring measurable snowfall to northern Colorado, including some southern metro-Denver suburbs.

The National Weather Service in Denver has issued a winter storm warning for western Douglas County, Jefferson, Gilpin, Clear Creek and northeast Park counties, calling for 5-10 inches of snow for the southern Front Range foothills and Castle Rock regions.

Snowfall will intensify late-afternoon Tuesday with heavier snowfall falling overnight.

Travel impacts are rated at "medium" with blowing snow and snow-covered roads expected, according to the National Weather Service. There is high confidence travel will be impacted southeast of Denver/Interstate 70 and the Interstate 25 corridor south of Denver, the agency reports.

High winds and blowing snow could create poor visibility for drivers, CDOT said.

CDOT plans to have crews initially focused on clearing interstates and the most heavily traveled routes. Once the storm tapers off, they'll plow secondary routes maintained by the state.

Denver Office of Transportation and Infrastructure plans to deploy big plows onto main streets once snow begins to accumulate.

Residential plows are scheduled to work a 3 a.m. to 3 p.m. shift in Denver on Wednesday, DOTI said.

The residential plows make a single pass down the center of each side street, officials said.

"The small plows do not bring streets to bare pavement but can be helpful in creating a path to the main streets and preventing deep ice ruts from forming," DOTI said in a news release. "The residential plows do not carry deicer."

Denver residents are advised to plan ahead and give themselves extra time to travel across Denver on Wednesday.

Denver International Airport has measured 36.9 inches of snow for winter 2022-23. For contrast, Golden Gate Canyon State Park west of Denver, has recorded 87.5 inches of snow.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox Says GOP Should Nominate a Governor for President

President Joe Biden reacts as National Governors Association Vice Chair, Governor Spencer Cox of Utah delivers a toast during a black-tie dinner in the State Dining Room at the White House on Feb. 11, 2023. (Nathan Howard/Getty Images)

Republican Utah Governor Spencer Cox said he would prefer one of the partys governors to be the presidential nominee in the 2024 election cycle.

In an interview with NBCs Meet the Press, Cox said I prefer governors. Thats the easy call for me. Cox appeared for the interview alongside Democrat New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy.

Cox then spoke to a list of Republican governors that he believes would be viable options for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Cox said New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu is fantastic, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has a great record. Cox also said former Republican Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson is a good friend.

I like Republican governors, Cox said.

As NBC host Chuck Todd threw out names like South Dakota Republican Gov. Kristi Noem and former Republican South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Cox said theyre all fantastic.

So what youre saying is youll take a governor? Todd asked.

I would love a governor, Cox replied. The Utah Republican added that he would take a Republican governor over a lawmaker in Congress every day of the week.

Some influential donors have suggested DeSantis as a potential Republican presidential candidate in 2024, even over former President Donald Trump. In July, tech billionaire Elon Musk said Trump would be too old to run in 2024, but that DeSantis would easily win in a race against President Joe Biden.

In November, Haley said she was also considering a 2024 presidential run, about a week after Trump announced his 2024 candidacy, despite making a commitment in 2021 not to run if Trump does.

Governors Have To Get Stuff Done

Cox repeatedly endorsed the idea of a governor running for president after the National Governors Association met in Washington for the weekend. Murphy is the chair of the association, while Cox is the vice chair.

We passionately disagree and were best friends, Cox said of his working relationship with Murphy.

During the interview, Cox provided some hints as to his reasoning for preferring governors over other political officeholders, suggesting governors are more focused on finding solutions that eschew the extremes of the respective political parties.

I think there is a choice between the extremes and the exhausted majority, and thats the conversation weve been having this week with Republican governors and Democrat governors coming together, Cox said. Were the people who have to get stuff done.

During the interview, Todd asked Cox to explain his decision to sign a bill into law that prohibits gender transition surgeries and puberty blockers for minors. The NBC host raised concerns that such legislation makes transgender individuals feel like targets. Cox said he believes there are some on the political right who arent actually concerned about the well-being of children when they oppose such procedures, just as there are some on the political left who are promoting these things without showing due concern for the well-being of children.

Murphy said he wished the American people could have had a camera inside the recent governors association meetings. The New Jersey Democrat said there was civility, respect and a thirst for common ground.

Were not going to agree on a whole long list of things, Murphy said of Democratic and Republican governors. But lets find where we can agree. You know, were the ones who wake up with the responsibility for our residents. We balance the budget. We run our states.

Cox Not Endorsing Himself

Though he repeatedly promoted governors as the best option for the 2024 Republican presidential candidate, Cox indicated he wasnt talking about himself.

During the interview, as Todd asked Cox to name three Republican candidates he hopes will run, Murphy appeared to jokingly suggest Cox would submit his own name as the first answer.

I know [Murphy] wants you to run, Todd said.

Thats definitely not going to happen, Cox replied.

Cox, who won office in the 2020 election, said he would run again in 2024.

I am running for re-election, Cox said. In the state of Utah, yes.

From NTD News
Virginia Democrats Oust Board of Education Member for Pro-American Views

Democrats in Virginia blocked Gov. Glenn Youngkins nominee for the Virginia Board of Education, claiming that she is both unqualified and aligned with white supremacist groups.

In the vote to confirm the governors nominees to various state boards and councils on Feb. 7, state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi offered a floor amendment blocking Suparna Duttas nomination to the Virginia Board of Education after Dutta spoke in support of parental rights, a rigorous merit-based education, and the U.S. Constitution.

I did not conform to groupthink and I dont conform to the orthodoxies that the fringe left holds so dear. I completely reject it, Dutta told The Epoch Times in a recent interview. More and more parents are standing up for a rigorous wholesome education for their children, she continued.

Despite Duttas work for parental rights and rigor in education, Hashmi made a case for blocking Duttas confirmation.

Virginia state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi speaking on the floor of the Virginia Senate on Feb. 7. (Senate of Virginia/Screenshot)

This particular board member has not been a part of education, or any kind of educational entities, has not worked in the space of public education and therefore is not qualified to serve on the board of education, said Hashmi.

When Republican state Sen. Steve Newman challenged Hashmis claim about Duttas lack of experience in the education field and questioned whether other board members who do not come from the education sector should also be taken off the board, Hashmi then claimed that Dutta does not acknowledge racism in American history or the Constitution.

The Epoch Times reached out to Hashmis office for comment.

Words Are Distorted

Making reference to Duttas comments at a recent state Board of Education meeting, Hashmi said Dutta does not have a correct understanding of slavery and racism in America.

Most recently in the discussions on Standards of Learning, this particular board member indicated that racism was not a factor in American history and that the Constitution of the United States did not have any indications of racism or slavery within the document. We know that that is not correct, added Hashmi.

Dutta denies these claims and said her words have been distorted. She said she believes the U.S. Constitution is remarkable because it enshrines basic rights for all, not slavery and racism as the left sees it.

Thats why so many immigrants come to this country, for all for the liberty that you dont find in any other country in the world. It also provided for a set of checks and balances to form a set of government that protects the individuals rights, Dutta told The Epoch Times.

Hashmi claimed Duttas views are aligned with white supremacy.

One area that I would just speak to briefly is the alignment that weve seen, with the very extreme and right-wing, white supremacist groups, this agenda of forcing a perspective on our history and on this nations standards that denies the role that slavery played in this country, that denies the existence of anti-black racism in this country, said Hashmi.

Dutta said Hashmi assassinated her character on the floor of the Senate.

A copy of the U.S. Constitution is seen in Washington on Dec. 17, 2019. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Youngkin Fires Back

The Virginia Board of Education has nine members, four of whom were appointed by Youngkin and four by former Democrat governors. Dutta would have tipped the majority in favor of Youngkin.

Dutta is an immigrant from India, a successful software developer, and a parental rights leader who helped launch Coalition for TJ, a community group advocating for merit-based admissions instead of equity-based admissions at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, a magnet school in Fairfax County, Virginia.

One of the turning points for Dutta was when the school principal sent an email to parents to tell them to check their privilege. Dutta said the school used race-blind, merit-based admissions and that the majority of the studentswho worked hard to be admitted to the schoolwere Asian American.

Youngkin appointed Dutta to the Virginia Board of Education in July. She was on track to be confirmed by the Virginia Senate on Tuesday night along with various other Youngkin appointees.

She is a mother and advocate for parents rights, she is an immigrant and an advocate for Asian American rights, she is an engineer and advocate for STEM in education, Youngkin said in a statement after the vote.

She is not only qualified, but she also epitomizes parental involvement in our schools and we need her voice on our Board of Education, the governor continued.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin speaks in a file photograph. (Steve Helber/AP Photo)

Remarkable Documents

Hashmis accusations come in the wake of Duttas opposing socialism and praising the U.S. founding documents during a meeting of the Virginia Board of Education on Feb. 1. The panel was reviewing proposed changes to history and social science standards in Virginia public schools.

Two of the guiding principles outlined in those learning standards in pages 79 of the document (pdf) say that the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are remarkable documents and that socialism and communism are incompatible with democracy and individual freedoms.

Anne Holton, a board member appointed by the former governor and the wife of Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), said she was uncomfortable with those parts of the documents and suggested taking them out completely, saying the section was political.

You cannot reference the Declaration of Independence and Constitution as remarkable documents without also acknowledging that they contain fundamental flaws of enshrining slavery and limiting the protections that they provided for only to white, propertied men, Holton said during the board meeting.

Democrat presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (L) is joined by Anne Holton, wife of Democrat vice presidential candidate Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), during the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on July 28, 2016. (Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo)

Holton proposed completely taking out pages 79, but Dutta pushed back on Holtons assertions.

As far as the Declaration and the Constitution, I think theyre remarkable documents. I dont believe the Declaration and Constitution enshrined slavery, nor did they limit protections to white propertied men, said Dutta at the board meeting.

I think socialism is just about as bad as communism, Dutta said at the board meeting. It co-opts the important decisions belonging to families and individuals.

Holton recognized that communism is not compatible with democracy, but said plenty of governments call themselves socialist democratic governments.

Merit Over Equity

During the Senate vote on Youngkins nominations, Hashmi insisted that the correct nominee would promote equity, and Dutta does not do that.

Its very critically important that we appoint individuals to this particular board who are determined and focused on the opportunity to bring equity, to bring resources, and to uphold the promise of public education for every child in the Commonwealth, said Hashmi.

Dutta said she believes that the broader issue is that teachers unions and special interests groups have taken over public education and are making money by pushing these Diversity Equity and Inclusion ideologies and completely disregarding parents and their rights.
Virginia Donors Demand $3.6 Billion From University for Removing Ancestors Name

The University of Richmond benefactor purportedly owned slaves in his time

A statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee is removed from its pedestal on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Va. on Sept. 8, 2021. (Bob Brown/Getty Images)

The University of Richmond has removed the name of donor T.C. Williams from its law school, citing student complaints that he allegedly owned slaves more than 175 years ago.

The Williams family now wants the Virginia university to give back donations theyve made throughout the years, with interest, in the amount of $3.6 billion.

Robert Smith, who graduated from the law school that formerly bore his great-great-grandfathers name, told The Epoch Times that if the family name is no longer good enough for the university, neither are the familys financial contributions.

T.C. Williams Sr. was instrumental in establishing what came to be known as the T.C. Williams School of Law at The University of Richmond. (Courtesy of Stuart Smith)

Smith wrote in a Jan. 30 letter to university President Kevin Hallock that he arrived at the $3.6 billion figure by adding together the contributions from Williams, his sons, and other relatives, then calculating 150-plus years of compounded returns.

It might be worthwhile for you to require every woke activist to take a course in finance to appreciate [the numbers] for whom they want to cancel, Smith wrote in his January letter to Hallock.

Smithfounder of the legal and financial firm Chartwell Capital Advisors in Richmond, Virginiasaid the university has yet to respond to his demand for a refund.

Erasing Slave Owners

The fight began during the 202122 school year. The university formed a commission of students, staff, faculty, alumni, and trustees that recommended naming guidelines for buildings, programs, and professorships, according to a Sept. 23, 2022, notice on the universitys website.

Many universities either renamed or removed statues of historical figures after the death of George Floyd in 2020. Left-wing groups across the country demanded racial justice and called for the removal of historical statues of priests, Christopher Columbus, and even Abraham Lincoln.

Critics contend that removing statues is part of a neo-Marxist cultural revolution that seeks to portray the United States as a systemically racist country founded on slavery. The movements ideology sometimes goes by other names, including critical race theory (CRT); diversity, equity, and inclusion; and progressivism.

These ideologies promote portraying history with a focus on racial justice, as in The 1619 Project, an initiative by The New York Times and The New York Times Magazine that states that its aim is to reframe the countrys history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the very center of the United States national narrative.

New York Times Magazine reporter and creator of The 1619 Project Nikole Hannah-Jones speaks at a rally outside the New York Times headquarters as company workers participate in a strike on Dec. 8, 2022. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

A man stands where a statue of Christopher Columbus was toppled by vandals on the grounds of the state Capitol in St. Paul, Minn., on June 10, 2020. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

Proponents of CRT say America shouldnt whitewash history and that white Americans should repent by giving minorities preference in areas such as hiring and college admittance to make up for acts of racism committed throughout the countrys history.

Building a Case

According to the universitys notice, the rules on how to rename buildings were adopted after an extensive and inclusive process with input from 7,500 university and community members.

The notice details the history of T.C. Williams Sr., born in 1831, who operated tobacco businesses in Richmond and elsewhere in Virginia, including Patterson & Williams and Thomas C. Williams & Co.

The university cited records from the 1860 U.S. Federal Census Slave Schedule, which shows 35 enslaved men and boys under the name of Patterson & Williams in the Richmond area.

The notice went on to say that personal property tax records show that Williamss businesses were taxed on 25 to 40 slaves. A newspaper account placed by Thomas C. Williams & Co. advertised a reward for the return of two company slaves, Todd and Alex, who escaped a Danville-area farm.

Williams attended the university, then named Richmond College, from 1846 to 1849. He served as a college trustee from 1881 until his death in 1889 and became a benefactor of the university, according to the notice.

In 1890, the Williams family made a memorial gift of $25,000 to the university, creating an endowment that established a strong foundation for the law programs development, the university statement reads.

Several of Williamss childrenone of whom succeeded him on the schools board of trustees and remained on the board until 1929also provided generous support to the university and the law school. And in 1920, when Richmond College was rechartered as the University of Richmond, the law school began consistently using the name T.C. Williams School of Law, according to the notice.

Smith originally calculated that the T.C. Williams Sr. contribution alone would amount to $51 million with interest, which he outlined in an October 2022 letter to Hallock.

Because these woke people, they hate people like my family. They hate people who are upright, religious, and who are wealthy, Smith said, comparing the case built against his ancestor to a mob-style assassination. I mean, theyre jealous.

Activists now are calling for the removal of the Emancipation Memorial in Washingtons Lincoln Park, shown here on June 25, 2020, which depicts a freed slave kneeling at the feet of President Abraham Lincoln. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)

Smith, who maintains a Rob is Right Facebook page catering to conservatives, has asked the university to provide documentation about the research.

Officials havent responded, he said.

One of the most basic tenets of our Judeo-Christian heritage is gratitude, a concept that is apparently unknown to you and the Board of the University of Richmond, he wrote in his January missive to university officials.

Robert Smith, an attorney who graduated from the University of Richmond, says the university needs to repay donations because it canceled his family name. (Photo courtesy of Robert Smith)

People should be able to have civil conversations about the history of the United States, and that includes discussions on slavery, according to Smith. But the perspective of that era has been ignored, he noted.

He said his family has given extensively to causes in Richmond and the university for almost 200 years. The good his family has done is ignored by those who want to virtue signal, he said.

Give It All Back

Jesse Williams, father of T.C. Williams, donated building materials to the First Baptist Church, Smith said. The family patriarch also donated masonry and other materials for the neighboring First African Baptist Church, he wrote in his January letter.

Jesse Williams also contributed to the building needs of the University of Richmond when its campus was started, he said.

Its only right for the university to turn over its $3.3 billion endowment to Williamss descendants, Smith said. The remaining $300 million owed should be secured with a note using the campus buildings as collateral, he wrote.

All your woke faculty should pledge their assets to secure the loan, Smith wrote.

Since you and your activists went out of your way to discredit the Williams name, and since presumably the Williams familys money is tainted, demonstrate your virtue and give it all back, he wrote.

Smith said the family hadnt yet filed a lawsuit.

A Problematic History

The university takes issue with slave ownership but owned slaves in the 1840s, according to Smith.

And the college was founded by a Baptist preacher but now embraces LGBT culture, he said.

The University of Richmond didnt respond to requests from The Epoch Times for comment.

However, the universitys website noted that it recognized the role the Williams family has played and respected the full and complete history of the institution.

A guest looks at a census and a muster of Virginia, which mentions the first documented African woman to arrive in the colony, at a historical display in Williamsburg, Va., on Aug. 19, 2019. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

The university could have changed the law schools name without negatively portraying his familys legacy, according to Stuart Smith, the nephew of Robert Smith.

Its easy to take a plaque off a building and issue a press report, Stuart Smith said. Its easy to just nod your head and agree to do whatever your student population, paying $77,000 a year, wants you to do.
White House Says Mystery Objects Likely Private Craft Not Tied to Spying

John Kirby, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications, speaks during a press briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House on June 21, 2022. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images)

The White House provided more details about the objects that were shot down in North American airspace in recent days, saying that a leading theory is that they were commercial balloons.

The intelligence communitys considering as a leading explanation that these could just be balloons tied to some commercial or benign purpose, John Kirby, a spokesperson for the White Houses National Security Council, told multiple news outlets on Tuesday. Kirby further asserted that unidentified objects that were downed in Alaska, the Yukon, and over Lake Huron were not tied to spying efforts, unlike the high-altitude balloon that was shot down earlier this month over the Atlantic Ocean.

He added, I want to caveat that we havent found the debris. Were still doing the best we can with the observations that were made by the pilots, with the flight profile data that weve tried to collect.

Efforts to retrieve debris from the objects have been hampered due to pretty tough conditions, including Arctic weather conditions in Alaska, the wilderness in the Yukon Territory, and geographic challenges around Lake Huron.

Pretty tough weather conditions, let alone just geographically, just tough time of year, Kirby said. For example, temperatures in Deadhorse, Alaska, where one object was shot down last week, temperatures hit minus 30 degrees F on Tuesday.

Kirby warned reporters that it could be some time before we locate the recovered debris and said that Lake Huron is deep. Weather conditions near where that balloon was shot down there are also poor, he noted.

Were taking this day by day and doing the best we can to try to locate the debris and then develop a plan to recover it, he said.

So far, President Joe Biden and other top federal officials have said little about the multiple shootdowns, which began with a suspected Chinese spy balloon earlier this month. Three more unidentified objects have been shot down, with the latest over Lake Huron on Sunday. Pentagon officials said they posed no security threats but have not disclosed their origins or purpose.

On Monday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded to one viral claim to have emerged from the balloon saga.

I know there have been questions and concerns about this, but there is noagain no indicationof aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns, Jean-Pierre told reporters. I wanted to make sure that the American people knew that, all of you knew that and it was important for us to say that from here because weve been hearing a lot about it.

Earlier Tuesday, Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a news conference Tuesday that the first F-16-fired missile that was shot at the object over Lake Huron missed. The second one hit, he said.

The first Sidewinder missile landed harmlessly in the water of Lake Huron, Milley told reporters in Brussels. Were very very careful to make sure that these shots are in fact safe, he added.

The top general noted that the U.S. military also went to great lengths to ensure that the missile strikes over American territory did not put civilians or property at risk.

An F-16 Fighting Falcon flies a mission in a file photo. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Cherie A. Thurlby)

When the takedown occurred, all of the debris fell into Lake Huron, so there was no damage to property or human life, Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.) said in a statement this week. On Sunday, Bergman told Fox News that the object was octagonal in shape.

In the meantime, off the coast of South Carolina where the Chinese balloon was shot down, crews have been able to recover significant debris from the site, according to a statement Tuesday from NORAD and U.S. Northern Command. The statement said crews have recovered all of the priority sensor and electronics pieces identified as well as large sections of the structure.

On Friday, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, the combined U.S.-Canada organization known as NORAD that provides shared defense of airspace over the two nations, detected and shot down an object near the sparsely populated Deadhorse, Alaska.

Later that evening, NORAD detected a second object flying at a high altitude over Alaska, U.S. officials said. It crossed into Canadian airspace Saturday and was over the Yukon, a remote territory, when it was ordered shot down by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Around the same time, NORAD and the Federal Aviation Administration shut down airspace over a section of Montana before reopening it. A day later, areas of Lake Michigan were shut down, the agency confirmed.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
WHO Convenes Urgent Meeting Over Marburg, One of Worlds Deadliest Viruses

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday convened an urgent meeting amid an outbreak of the Marburg virus, which causes one of the worlds deadliest diseases, in Africa.

Health officials say Marburg, first seen in the late 1960s, is related to Ebola. However, WHO officials say its far more deadly, killing upwards of 88 percent of people who contract it.

The virus has been detected in several African countries over the past several months, including recently in Equatorial Guinea. A small number of Marburg cases were found in Ghana late last year.

WHO on Tuesday convened an urgent meeting of the Marburg virus vaccine consortium (MARVAC) to discuss the outbreak, a news release from the United Nations-backed health agency said on Tuesday, adding that Equatorial Guinea has confirmed its first-ever case of the virus. WHO officials say the virus is responsible for nine deaths in the tiny African nation.

The Marburg outbreak was centered around Kie Ntem Province, located in western Equatorial Guinea. The deaths occurred between Jan. 7 and Feb. 7, WHO said, citing reports.

Surveillance in the field has been intensified, George Ameh, WHOs country representative in Equatorial Guinea, was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail during Tuesdays meeting. Contact tracing, as you know, is a cornerstone of the response. We have  redeployed the COVID-19 teams that were there for contact tracing and quickly retrofitted them to really help us out.

In its release, WHO said it sent advance teams to impacted districts in the West African country to provide medical care and perform contract tracing. Health authorities sent samples to the Institut Pasteur reference laboratory in Senegal, with support from WHO, to determine the cause, Tuesdays release added. Eight samples were tested, one of which turned out positive.

Cases of the virus, however, are considered rare. Annual global figures released by WHO indicate that cases tend to be in the single digits worldwide.

And although it remains a very rare disease in people, says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, when it occurs, it has the potential to spread, and can be highly deadly. Health care staff and family members who care for the patient infected with the hemorrhagic fever are most at risk, the CDC says (pdf) in a fact sheet.

Doctor Mark Katz, a member of the World Health Organisation (WHO), takes an oral sample from patient Feliciana suspected of having Marburg hemorrhagic fever in Kinguangua, near Uige, on May 6, 2005. (Christopher Black/WHO/AFP via Getty Images)

Currently, there is no specific treatment for Marburg hemorrhagic fever, health agencies say. Theres also no vaccine.

The WHO says that the virus was first discovered in 1967 after it caused simultaneous disease outbreaks in Marburg, Germany, and Belgrade, Serbia.

The outbreak was associated with laboratory work using African green monkeys imported from Uganda, WHO says on its website about the disease. Subsequently, outbreaks and sporadic cases have been reported in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, South Africa (in a person with recent travel history to Zimbabwe) and Uganda. In 2008, two independent cases were reported in travellers who had visited a cave inhabited by Rousettus bat colonies in Uganda.

Signs and Symptoms

The CDC says that symptoms of the virus occur after about five to 10 days. They include a sudden onset of fever, chills, headache, and myalgia (weakness).

Around the fifth day after the onset of symptoms, a maculopapular rash, most prominent on the trunk (chest, back, stomach), may occur, the agency fact sheet says. Nausea, vomiting, chest pain, a sore throat, abdominal pain, and diarrhea may then appear.

But symptoms become increasingly severe and can include jaundice, inflammation of the pancreas, severe weight loss, delirium, shock, liver failure, massive hemorrhaging, and multi-organ dysfunction, it says. Some isolated reports say that Marburglike Ebolacan cause bleeding from the eyes, gums, nose, and other areas.
The bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, was a day that will live in infamy, as proclaimed by President Franklin Roosevelt. It marked the entry of America into the Second World War, and every American citizen was affected in some way. Even Americas most isolated minority, the Native Americans, was thrust into the new era. By the spring of 1942, 547 Native Americans had volunteered for duty. By the end of World War II, approximately 25,000 Native Americans had served in the military. Among the earliest volunteers was a small group of Comanche Native Americans from the Lawton, Oklahoma, area, who were selected for special duty by the U.S. Army. They came to be known as Code Talkers, and they made crucial contributions to the Allied victory in Europe.

As a boy attending a boarding school, Charles Chibitty was punished for speaking the Comanche language. They would run us through a belt line or make us wax floors, Chibitty recalled. Ironically, it was his native tongue that was responsible for Chibitty and other tribal members being recruited into an elite World War II Army unit.

2008 Code Talkers Comanche Nation Bronze medal. The reverse side features the Comanche Nation logo with the 90th Infantry Division insignia on the left and the 4th Infantry Division insignia on the right. According to the Comanche Nation, the inscription Puhihwitekwa Ekasahpana loosely translates to soldiers talking on phones made of metal. Designed and engraved by Don Everhart. United States Mint. (Public domain)

Signing Up for Service

William Karty was a 30-year-old Comanche who worked as the director of the Fort Cobb Indian Conservation Corps when the United States entered the war. He realized that the Comanche language could provide an unbreakable code for the U.S. Army. As Karty recalled, I knew Comanches could talk on telephones and I knew the Army had radios, so I figured we could talk Comanche on them.

Karty recruited 20 young Comanche males to his project. When an Army officer learned about Kartys initiative, he went nuts over the concept, according to Karty. Seventeen of Kartys original 20 were enlisted into the U.S. Signal Corps. Over one third of all able-bodied Indian males ages 18 to 50 served in World War II. U.S. Senator Charles L. McNary remarked in the Saturday Evening Post, We would not need the Selective Service if all volunteered like Indians. It is a good show of loyalty.

One of the 17 young Comanches was Charles Chibitty, who was still at Haskell Indian School in Lawrence, Kansas, in 1940. Chibitty was descended from the famous Chief Ten Bears, one of the signers of the Medicine Lodge Treaty of 1867. Chibitty recalled:

Mama had a little money and sent for me to come home for Christmas. Thats when I heard they were recruiting Comanches to be Code Talkers. My mother didnt want me to go. But I told her I would finish school later. That was December 1940. Two Comanches were assigned to each of the 4th Divisions three regiments and often found themselves on the front lines equipped with only a .45 pistol, a helmet, and a radio. (Public domain)

The volunteers had no idea what the project involved, but they were soon assigned to the Armys Fourth Signal Company in the Fourth Infantry Division. They began training at Fort Benning, Georgia, in January 1941. They initially compiled a 100-word vocabulary of medical terms during their training. Lt. Hugh Foster took charge of the Comanche unit. Foster recalled that the Comanches enjoyed a good laugh at his efforts to pronounce their language.

This was not the first time that a Native American language had been used as a code during wartime. During World War I, an Army Capt. Lawrence heard two Choctaw soldiers talking and got the idea to use their native tongue as a code. Similarly, Navajo tribal members were utilized in greater numbers in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Since a much greater territory needed coverage in the Pacific, approximately 400 Navajo were recruited as Code Talkers. The Navajo and Comanche codes were the only codes that remained undecipherable throughout the war.

An Ideal Code

Rapid, secret communication was crucial to successful military operations. The front lines required a constant flow of information in order to coordinate their movements. If vital information fell into enemy hands, the enemy had a tremendous advantage. However, there was nothing new about using codemilitary leaders had been doing so for over 2,000 years, dating back to the Greek and Persian wars.

The Code Talkers of the 4th Signal Company were among the soldiers who landed at Utah Beach in Normandy, France, on D-Day, June 6, 1944. (Public domain)

In the 19th century, a German officer developed codes he called cryptograms. He determined which letters were used the most in a language and worked out ways to break codes. The Japanese were convinced that their Purple Code was indecipherable in World War II; however, American intelligence cracked the code early in the war, giving the Allies a great advantage. Many Native American languages had no written form, making it impossible for the enemy to decipher them.

The Comanches had some initial problems with English words that had no equivalent in their language. They quickly learned to combine familiar words to give new meanings. For example, tugawee means gun in Comanche, but it could mean any type of gun. The solution the Code Talkers devised was to put numbers after the word tugawee to designate the caliber of the gun. The rat-a-tat-tat of a machine gun reminded the Comanches of a sewing machine. So, they combined the words for gun and sewing machine to signify a machine gun. The hard shell of a tank reminded them of turtles, so the Comanche word for turtle meant tank. The heavy bombers dropping bombs resembled a fishs belly being cut open and eggs falling out. Perhaps the most descriptive Comanche word was posah-tai-vo, their name for Adolph Hitler. Its translation is crazy white man.

During Combat

Charles Chibittys unit was among those that assaulted the beaches at Normandy on D-Day during the largest amphibious landing in history. His regiment came under heavy fire from Germans who were strategically placed on the cliffs overlooking the beaches. Someone asked me what I was afraid of most, Chibitty said. Was I afraid of dying? No. That was something we had already accepted. But we landed in water that was deeper than anticipated. A lot of boys drowned. Thats what I was afraid of.

Charles Chibitty, one of the 17 young Comanche Code Talkers, served in the U.S. Armys 4th Infantry Division. (Public domain)

Roderick Red Elk, a fellow Code Talker, had the unenviable duty of climbing a 20-foot pole to string telephone wire while attempting to dodge a hail of bullets. Miraculously, Red Elk was not hit, but Code Talker Forrest Kassanavoid was not as lucky, taking shrapnel wounds to his back. The first coded message Chibitty transmitted back to headquarters was, 5 miles to the right of designated area and 5 miles inland; the fighting is fierce and we need help.

After the Normandy landing, the Code Talkers saw some of the heaviest action of the war. They were among the first troops to liberate Paris and the first infantry division to enter Germany. They participated in the breakthrough at St. Lo in July 1944, and in September of that year they drove through the Siegfried Line. The Code Talkers fought in the Battle of Hurtgen Forest and the Battle of the Bulge, and they rescued the Lost Battalion.

Fresh troops would often ask Chibitty if he was scared in combat. He always replied, If you werent scared you were either crazy or lying. Chibitty and his colleagues often found themselves on the front lines equipped only with a .45 pistol, a helmet, and a radio. Two Comanches were assigned to each of the Fourth Divisions three regiments. They sent regular coded messages to headquarters, where other Comanches decoded their messages. Chibitty recalled the day that a soldier next to him was ripped apart with shrapnel. His name was Private Mullins. I cant remember his first name. I remember looking back and seeing him slumped over. He had been hit. I carried him 50 yards to a nearby basement. But he took two breaths and died.

The French Consul for Oklahoma and Texas awarded the Chevalier de LOrdre du Merit, a French badge of merit for distinguished military achievements, to the three surviving Code Talkers in 1989. Nicholas Jackson (CC BY-SA 3.0, CreativeCommons.org/licenses/ by-sa/3.0)

After the war, Chibitty moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma. He performed as a champion Indian dancer at pow-wows for the rest of his life and gave numerous presentations to schools and other groups about the Code Talkers. However, it wasnt until over 40 years later that a series of belated honors was bestowed upon Chibitty and his fellow surviving Code Talker brothers. In 1989, the French Consul for Oklahoma and Texas honored the three surviving Code Talkers, Chibitty, Roderick Red Elk, and Forrest Kassanovoid with the Chevalier de LOrdre du Merit. In 1992, Governor David Walters of Oklahoma also honored the Code Talkers for their extraordinary service. And in 1999, the U.S. Army presented a special award to Chibitty, then the last surviving Code Talker. In a ceremony at the Pentagons Hall of Heroes, Chibitty received the Knowlton Award, which recognized individuals for outstanding intelligence work.

Just before his death on July 20, 2005, at the age of 83, Chibitty reminisced about the war: We could never do it again. Its all electronic and video in war now. Even so, Chibitty and his Code Talker brothers played a vital role in the Allied victory in Europe.

Comanche Code Talkers of the 4th Signal Company at Fort Gordon, Ga. (Public domain)

Portions of this article were published by the author in Oklahoma Today magazine, Vol. 50, no. 3, May/June, 2000.

This article was originally published in American Essence magazine.
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A colonoscopy is not a pleasant procedure. But the mainstream medical consensus is that it saves lives from colorectal cancer.

And yet, a major European study that involved 84,585 people has left doctors surprised and disappointed.

It turns out that a colonoscopy may not be as effective as everyone thought.

When we looked into it, the really shocking part was the number of injuries that occur during colonoscopy screenings.

So is this procedure worth it?

Lets look at those numbers together so that you can make an informed decision. Well also talk about other great options that you can do instead of going for a colonoscopy procedure.

 Watch our Cured Series:

Episode 2: UNVAXXED Patient: How I Was Rescued From Hospital Death

Episode 1: Band of Doctors Defy CDCs Protocols to Save Americans



FULL TRANSCRIPT:

Dan Skorbach:

For those who dont know what a colonoscopy is, it goes something like this. You have your large intestine. Its about five feet long. And I think we all know what it does.

During a colonoscopy, a technician puts a fiber optic tube into the anus and gently continues to push it further into the large intestine. The technician also uses a remote control to turn the head of the tube. And that makes it possible for this thing to go up, across, and down the entire large intestine. That takes about 15 minutes one way.

The head of the tube has a camera, a light. It can blow air to expand the column to give better room for movement. It can spray water. And its got an entire channel that is used to pass up different surgical instruments.

This procedure is done for a number of reasons. To investigate bleeding, ulcers, constipation, or persistent diarrhea. Its used for therapy to straighten out a twisted colon and help remove obstructions. It can also cut off questionable lumps.

Which brings us to cancer screening. In 2002, the nations top healthcare experts in the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force began recommending colonoscopies to people who turn 50 as the golden standard for screening colorectal cancer. Its the third most common cancer that is diagnosed in the U.S., And its the third leading cause of cancer death.

Last year, the Task Force lowered their screening recommendation. So now the American Cancer Society says its important for people to get a colonoscopy once they turn 45. And every ten years after that. Why?

Well, what they want to check for is polyps. These are abnormal cell growths in the large intestine. Mainstream science doesnt really know why they form. Some of the polyps are benign. And some can go on to become cancerous within ten to 15 years. So the goal of a colonoscopy is to check if you have polyps, to remove them, and to test if any could become cancerous.

In 2023 the American Cancer Society predicts that about 153,020 people will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer. And some 52,550 people are predicted to die from this disease.

So it makes sense to save these peoples lives with a procedure. But how effective is colonoscopy? And is it the right procedure for everyone?

This past October, a landmark study came out of Europe. A total of 84,585 patients over 55 years old were involved in a randomized trial across three countries. And what they found has definitely shocked some doctors.

Some of the people were invited to colonoscopies. The rest were not. The ones that were not invited had a 0.31 percent risk of dying from colorectal cancer. The ones who were invited had a 0.28 percent risk of dying from colorectal cancer.

Of course, not everybody who was invited to a colonoscopy decided to go. Less than half of the people did. But the ones who did go to take a colonoscopy, after about 10 years, still had a 0.24 percent risk of dying from colorectal cancer.

Now the shocking part of this study is that this number didnt go anywhere close to zero. Of course, it reduced your risk from 0.31 to 0.24 percent. Thats a good thing. But a colonoscopy doesnt seem like the holy grail of solving colorectal cancer.

After this European study came out, the American College of Gastroenterology offered some criticism.

They looked deeper in the numbers and pointed out that if the person went to get a colonoscopy and the cancer was discovered, their risk of dying from that cancer went down by 50 percent from 0.30 to 0.15 percent.

They also wanted everyone to know that this study has limitations and may not entirely represent the effectiveness of colonoscopies in America. The College is now concerned that regular folks may shy away from their colonoscopy screenings.

And they also said this after some media reports: characterizing a sophisticated diagnostic medical intervention that can visualize and remove cancers and pre-cancers when performed by trained experts as awkward and invasive  is fear-based reporting that is potentially harmful.

Dan Skorbach:

Now, we are not trying to scare you, but not every colonoscopy procedure goes perfectly well.

In fact, the U.S. government funded a meta-study, a study that looks at many studies that tried to determine how many people are seriously injured after a screening colonoscopy.

In the U.S., 6.3 million screening colonoscopies are done per year. Thats the colonoscopy the doctor invites you to when you turn 45 or 50 and roughly every decade after that.

When it comes to serious injury, 9,198 patients will have major bleeding, and just 1,953 will have their colon punctured. So thats a total of 11,151 that could be injured this year from a screening colonoscopy. And these rates increase when theres a biopsy or a polyp is removed.

But how many colorectal cancers are prevented? The European study suggests that for every 10,000 people that go to a screening colonoscopy, about 52 cancers are prevented. But according to the U.S. meta-study we cited earlier, for every 10,000 patients, 17 are seriously injured. And this is just major bleeding and punctures. Were not even talking about infections from the tube itself or pneumonia that could develop from the sedation or the potential harm thats done to your gut flora after drinking a laxative before the procedure.

So is a colonoscopy even worth getting? And even a better question, are there other options?

For all the dads in their 50s who are saved by this procedure, yes, 100 percent its worth it. But what about the 70-year-old grandmother who died after the procedure. Or a healthy middle-aged man who developed sepsis from a puncture?

Do we really need to subject our middle-aged folks to an unpleasant colon flush, sedation, and potential injury?

For one, The Lown Institute, a healthcare think tank, has pointed to a study that found a colonoscopy is actually overused by about 17 to 25.7 percent.

Nursing homes, for example, seem to invite very old people to get a colonoscopy, even though they are outside of the recommended age. The procedure itself is more taxing for seniors because they have frail intestines, and theyre easier to puncture.

If you look at the other side of the age range, healthcare providers say that for women who are young and slim, the procedure can be harder to perform because their intestines are more angular. Its also complicated if the patient had certain surgeries.

And overall, based on the 6.3 million screening colonoscopies done throughout the year, the Lown Institute says that at least a million of them could be unnecessary because either the patient is too young, too old, or has had them too frequently.

So, when is colonoscopy actually worth doing? Our contributing doctor recommends a balanced approach.

First, determine with your doctor what your risk is of developing colorectal cancer.

If youre healthy and have no family history of it, there are less invasive tests available. Theres sigmoidoscopy, which only travels up to the bottom end of the colon. There are fecal tests that monitor changes in gut chemistry. These can be done at home. The Cologuard test, for example, claims that it can detect 92 percent of colon cancers. And you only need to do it every three years. And if it comes up positive, then you should definitely schedule a colonoscopy.

But when it comes down to this procedure, just get familiar with who is doing it. Nationally acclaimed integrative doctors have delved much into this topic. Dr. Sherri Tenpenny says that based on research, technicians with good outcomes should be doing over 591 colonoscopies per year.

The risks of injury also seem to increase significantly when a trainee is involved.

So ask how many procedures the technician does per year, and try to opt out of tests done by doctors in training. And if you have elderly parents, make sure you all understand the risks that come with age.

We can talk a lot more on this topic. But we have the best crowd here on the Epoch Times. Lots of people talk about their experiences in the comments. And we invite you to join the conversation.

So please share this video. Especially with people over 45, because informed decisions save lives and avoid unnecessary harm.

This is Frontline Health, Im Dan Skorbach, stay healthy America.

This transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity by Anna Varavva.



Medical Disclaimer:

Frontline Health (the Show), its guests, and contributors provide the latest news on health and medical discoveries and it is meant for informational purposes only. The Show does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, cures, mitigation, or prevention for any type of disease or medical condition. Similarly, it is not intended for self-diagnosis or self-treating of any health-related condition.

The information on the Show is gathered from reputable sources; however, neither Frontline Health nor The Epoch Times Association Inc. are responsible for errors or omissions in reporting or explanation and will not be liable for any direct, indirect, consequential, special, exemplary, or other damages arising therefrom.

Patients should always consult with a doctor or other health care professional for medical advice or information about diagnosis and treatment.
Woke Policies Backfire on Wall Street

Commentary

The rapid rise and near dominance of the ESG (environmental, social, and governance) agenda in corporate boardrooms and executive suites is one of the more remarkable business transformations of the 21st century.

ESG requires that directors and managers look beyond their traditional and singular focus on shareholder value creation, usually but not always found through profit maximization, to consider other nonfinancial stakeholder concerns, such as the global environment; creating more equitable, inclusive, or diverse organizations; and the greater good, for both local communities and society at large, whatever that may mean.

To be sure, no business operates successfully over the long run without considering its impact on its employees, community, and environment. This form of corporate social responsibility is beneficial and necessary. No one wants to return to the polluted rivers, lakes, and air that characterized the 1960s and 1970s before environmental impact became a sustained focus of corporate America. However, in its stronger modern form, ESG has distorted investment decision-making and brought untold harm to Americas corporations and economy.

As a practical matter, ESG has devolved into a radicalized ideology thats particularly focused on the fictional but widely accepted narrative of a looming climate change apocalypse. This ideology requires Western nations (but not emerging economies such as China and India, which also happen to be among the worlds worst carbon and methane polluters) to eliminate carbon-fueled energy sources such as oil or coal from their economies.

In order to achieve this utopia, businesses and financial firms have been under enormous pressure from well-organized and well-funded climate activists to divest themselves of any activity related to traditional sources of energy. Many financial firms, including the worlds largest asset managers and investment banks, under pressure from ESG advisory firms and activists alike, now have policies in place that prohibit or at least strongly discourage investment or other business activity in areas such as oil, natural gas, coal, or related areas.

These policies often disregard the remarkable progress that American and Western European firms have made in recent years to make their production and manufacturing activities substantially cleaner, safer, and more efficient. They also disregard the practical reality that our economies will continue to rely on carbon-based fuels for the foreseeable future. Wall Street has adopted the ESG mantra, while the Biden administration continues to march headlong toward a catastrophic failure through misguided and dangerous energy policies targeted at the destruction of our greatest natural resource and source of economic strength.

Gun manufacturers and ammunition producers have fallen under similar bans, disregarding the fundamental protections of the Second Amendment to the Constitution.

However, over the course of the past two years, a remarkable shift has begun to occur. Powerful countervailing forces are beginning to resist the radicalized ESG agendawhether in energy, firearms, or sexualityadopted by both the federal government and Wall Street financiers. With more than $5.6 trillion in assets belonging to 26 million American workers and retirees, state and local pension funds are among the largest customers of Wall Street. These states are beginning to fight back against the tyranny of ESG.

Take the case of Texas. Texas is the second-largest state economy in the United States after California. Texas also happens to be the second-fastest-growing economy at more than 8 percent in the third quarter of 2022. The state is the countrys largest oil and gas producer and has the sixth-largest state pension fund.

Just recently, a financing arm of the state of Texas excluded Citigroup, one of Wall Streets largest firms, from the banking syndicate underwriting a $3.4 billion offering in what will be Texass largest municipal bond offering ever. The decision by the board of directors of the Texas Natural Gas Securitization Finance Corp. followed the state attorney generals recent determination that Citigroup, incidentally one of the largest recipients of American taxpayer largess during its near collapse and bailout during the global financial crisis, discriminates against the firearms industry. This is in violation of a 2021 Texas law barring state entities from contracting with companies that discriminate against the firearm or ammunition industries.

The move comes just months after Texas banned BlackRock, one of the worlds largest asset managers, along with investment bank UBS and eight other European financial firms, from state business over these firms ESG-driven anti-fossil fuel hostility.

The result of this action was that by end-of-year 2022, Texass Teacher Retirement System, holding roughly $173 billion of retiree assets, confirmed that it had divested all investments with these 10 firms. Other public pension funds in Texas, with an estimated additional $125 billion in assets under management, have followed suit.

Florida, no slouch itself as the nations fourth-largest state economy, which is also growing faster than the national average, is similarly pushing back on the madness of ESG. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced in August 2022 that the states pension and other investment fund managers must invest state funds in a manner that prioritizes the highest return on investment for Floridas taxpayers and retirees without considering the ideological agenda of the environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) movement. Floridas state pension fund is even larger than Texass at $186 billion. By year-end 2022, Florida had divested itself of $2 billion from BlackRock alone.

While less impacted by Wall Streets denunciation of fossil fuels, Florida has particularly challenged the S, the social component, which seems less concerned about, for example, lessening poverty, crime, opioid addiction, or the mass illegal immigration worsening all the above social ills, to focus nearly solely on promoting a radicalized LGBT agenda. In one notable case, DeSantis moved to eliminate Disneys special tax status within the state as a result of Disneys public opposition to Floridas policies against childhood indoctrination regarding sexual orientation and transgenderism, as well as inappropriately explicit and gender-bending content at the companys parks and in its media.

Texas and Florida are the largest and most notable examples. Many states, including Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia, and others are pushing back (pdf) on ESG in one form or another.

The Biden administration has sought to impose regulations requiring public employee retirement funds to make investment decisions based on ESG considerations rather than on maximizing investment returns for the workers and retirees who have contributed to 401(K) or similar retirement plans. In January, 25 states sued the Biden administration, alleging that the Department of Labors new rule allowing for the consideration of ESG factors in Employee Retirement Income Security Act-governed retirement investments increased portfolio risk and violated the law, according to Ballotpedia. This litigation will play itself out, but its clear that the states have woken up to the woke madness and are mounting a coordinated resistance.

We should cheer these states efforts to protect their economies and their citizens from the dangers of the radicalized ESG agenda now insinuated in our public companies and asset managers. Our nations future depends on it.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Wreckless Spending: Crash Claims Involving NYC Municipal Vehicles Cost Taxpayers Over $500 Million

An NYPD police car in New York in a file photo. (Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images)

New York City taxpayers have paid more than $500 million dollars in civil settlements related to crashes involving city vehicles over the past decade.

The majority of crash claims were made against the New York City Police Department, according to a Feb. 12 report from the office of New York City Comptroller Brad Lander.

Payments to people injured in incidents involving municipal vehicles jumped between fiscal years 2012 and 2021, despite the shrinking number of claims against the city.

The statistics suggest that auto crashes were more severe and many resulted in death or life-altering injuries to the victims.

Fatalities and serious injuries resulting from traffic crashes are persistently high in New York City, said the report.

Deadly crashes surged in 2020 and remain at elevated levels relative to pre-pandemic years.

The rise in settlements with the city coincided with an increase in traffic fatalities nationwide during the pandemic.

Car Crashes Increase Nationwide Since Pandemic

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported in 2020 that American drivers had been engaged in riskier behavior, with an 18.4 percent jump in traffic fatalities to more than 20,000.

Meanwhile, the first half of 2021 saw the largest six-month increase in crashes in the United States on record.

NYC recorded a spike in traffic fatalities over the past two years, with a 20 percent increase from 2019, the year before the pandemic.

In 2022, 253 people were killed in vehicle crashes after reaching a peak of 273 in 2021.

The nationwide trend of increasing traffic fatalities has seen deaths among pedestrians and cyclists reach new highs over the past three years, said the city report.

The epidemic of vehicle crashes is a serious public safety concern to New Yorkers, Lander said.

When a New Yorker is hit and harmed by a squad car or a garbage truck, its New York City taxpayers who have to settle the bill.

NYC Employees Costing Millions

New York City has the nations largest municipal fleet of vehicles, with nearly 30,000 in inventory and 85,000 operators.

Claims stemming from over 4,000 crashes involving the municipal fleet have cost the city $653.8 million over the past decade.

The NYPD, which accounts for about one-third of the citys fleet, is responsible for $246.8 million in settlements, or about 38 percent of the total claims.

The amount to settle road accident claims adds another cost outside the NYPDs regular budget, for which taxpayers continue to foot the bill.

The city also paid $121.4 million to settle police misconduct claims in 2022the most in at least five years, which is separate from the payments sent out to civilian crash victims.

The NYPD is also on track to exceed its overtime budget by $369 million this year, according to the Independent Budget Office.

Improvements for Road Safety

New York City mayor and the city comptroller have said that improvements to road safety are in the pipeline.

By accelerating adoption of fleet safety technologies, reducing the size and number of vehicles in the city fleet, and holding city drivers and agencies accountable, we can save livesand many of millions of dollars too, Lander said.

The city comptrollers report recommended that the size of the municipal fleet be reduced and called for the use of smaller vehicles to reduce the severity of the incidents.

City agencies are also being called to do more to hold their drivers accountable for their driving to prevent wreckless crashes.

Agencies are being called to hold drivers within their departments accountable via penalties escalating from remedial driver education to temporary or permanent suspension of city vehicle driving privileges.

NYC is currently testing a pilot program that outfits 50 government vehicles with speed limiters using geolocation, to adjust the allowable speed, based on posted limits, Bloomberg reported.

The technology prevents a driver using these vehicles from accelerating past the speed cap.

However, NYPD and other emergency vehicles are excluded from the program.

NYC Mayor Eric Adams has called the pilot program a success so far, with the test vehicles traveling more than 130,000 miles and staying within the speed limit parameters more than 99 percent of the time.

The results of the intelligent speed assistance pilot show that we can leverage technology to reduce unsafe driving behaviors, Adams said last month.

Challenge to NYC Initiative for Eliminating Road Fatalities By 2024

Unfortunately for the mayor, Lauders report said that the deadly trend in city vehicle accidents could reverse the gains in safety under the citys Vision Zero initiativea program aimed at eliminating all traffic deaths and serious injuries on NYC streets by 2024.

The program increased criminal charges against traffic violators, lowered the city speed limit from 30 to 25 miles per hour, created slow zones, increased enforcement, increased use of speed cameras, invested more in vehicle and pedestrian traffic signals, and stricter enforcement of taxi drivers.

Government officials, while on duty, are still exempt from city traffic laws and cannot be charged with a crime.
Nearly three in four Colorado smokers want to kick the habit, a new survey of 500 adults has found.

Despite consistently ranking among the healthiest states in the nation, going cold turkey for the roughly 12% of Coloradans who smoke continues to be a challenge, according to a news release.

About 5,100 Coloradans die each year from smoking, according to the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids.

Thats more than the number of Coloradans combined who died in motor vehicle crashes (747), by suicide (1,370) and homicide (397) in 2021, state vital statistics show.

Motivations for quitting includes:

 Saving money (74%)

 Health (71%)

 Family and friends wanting them to stop (42%).

The most common method is going cold turkey followed by a gradual cutting back.

Nearly nine in 10 Colorado smokers see cutting back as critical to quitting.

The survey was conducted online by Wakefield Research between Jan. 4 and 16, 2023 among 500 Colorado smokers for 22nd Century Group, Inc. The plant biotech company sells, among other things, genetic engineered cigarettes that reduces the harm caused by smoking.

Our study found that the vast majority of survey participants said even just cutting back is considered a win and thats exactly what our VLN cigarettes are clinically proven to do, John Miller, president of 22nd Century Groups Tobacco Business, said in the news release.

Obstacles to quitting include, among others, the inability to handle stress without smoking and constant cravings.

Click here, to read the full report.

Editors note: Healthy Bites is a recurring update on health care related topics by health reporter Nicole C. Brambila.
That release could not be found.
The hits just keep coming for Sandy Quiller.

The first "punch" landed Dec. 30, 2021, when the Marshall fire fueled by 100 mph wind gusts tore through dry open space grasses adjacent to her Superior townhome and destroyed it. Quiller's was one of three unlucky buildings, out of 72 in her housing complex, which were totally gutted by Colorado's most destructive wildfire.

Round two hit in the form of a steady $362 drain on her bank account, syphoned as monthly dues by her Ridge at Superior home-owners association. Its a battle she lost early on even though her lot is a hole in the ground which has no lawn to mow nor trash to haul.

Quiller is now preparing for a third punch, this one financial too, as the clock ticks on her Safeco homeowners insurance benefits.

In May, her 12 months of Additional Living Expenses (ALE) will stop. Even though many other insurance companies are extending ALE benefits for Marshall Fire victims who signed up only for 12-months of benefits policies, Safeco is digging in its heels.

No amount of phone calls or emails to claims adjustors convinced them to help her. They were very "cut and dry," she said.

After a final "unhelpful" call to a supervisor, Quiller received an email from her adjustor, Tara Goldman, stating that "we have not agreed to go beyond time limits but that shed let Quiller know if anything changes. And have a good day.

Quiller was stunned.

I didnt just leave a burner on my stove. This was a natural disaster! Quiller said. The humane thing would be to give me more time.

The only piece of furniture she owns is a couch. The rest is rented, also through her homeowner's insurance.

Neal Shah, Superior Mayor Pro-Tem, agrees. He was surprised and disappointed that Quillers insurance company refused to budge.

Weve all been working really hard to help people rebuild, he told The Denver Gazette in a text. But one year of ALE is just not enough time in this economy.

ALE refers to coverage under a homeowners policy that pays the additional costs of living should a policyholder be temporarily displaced from their residence.

Bryce Babcock, owner of Farmers Insurance in Louisville, said that ALE is the most important coverage for his 100 Marshall Fire clients in regards to moving forward.

"It's like "salt in the wound," having to pay rent out-of-pocket for a temporary home after the first one has been destroyed, Babcock said.

He understands when other companies stick by a policy the way it's written, but "this situation came out of left field and it's really not something we've seen before in regards to a wildfire burning through a suburban neighborhood. When making decisions on coverage extensions and such we should all really look specifically at the people affected and not make blanket statements," Babcock said.

Farmers Insurance is discussing going a bit further. Babcock explained that because Boulder County is slower than other counties when it comes to coding and permitting, his company may extend the 24-month term to even longer depending on the circumstances.

But Quiller is not insured by Farmers or any of the other nine insurance companies who agreed to extend their policies when Colorado Insurance Commisioner Michael Conway foresaw the problem two months ago.

In December, Conway wrote a letter to insurance companies begging them to help Marshall fire survivors rest easier. He asked companies to grant an extra 12-month extension to victims who had signed up for only a year.

For policyholders in the Marshall Fire area with a total loss of an owner-occupied home and only 12 months of ALE, the Division is asking all insurers to grant an extension of ALE benefits for rebuilding, up to 24 months, he wrote.

Soon after that, Conway published a list of companies that complied.

Colorado Division of Insurance media contact Vincent Plymell said that because natural disasters like the Marshall Fire are happening more frequently, legislation was passed in the 2022 session to accommodate homeowners in the case of a catastrophic disaster.

Its the new world going forward. What Commissioner Conway said to companies was to do the right thing and make Marshal fire victims lives easier, Plymell said. These people are completely overwhelmed. The consumer services team is going to dig into Sandys issue in particular.

They may dig, but theres no enforcement capability to compel companies to lift the rules.

The Denver Gazette contacted Tara Goldman, who would not budge on Quillers limited ALE policy.

Her policy states 12 months, said Goldman. Every policy is based off of the policy provision. Every claim is different and every policy is different.

Plymell said that the Colorado Insurance Commission provides consumers a resource in a very confusing world. Without this navigation, people might give up simply because they feel helpless.

When somethings stuck and theres a broken record aspect to it, things can start to move when our folks make some calls, Plymell said.

Because of slow permitting issues related to other victims who live in The Ridge at Superior, not a shovel-full of dirt has been tossed at the hole in the lot which used to be Sandy Quiller's condominium.

Unless Safeco has a change of heart, time is ticking until May 15 when the company will stop paying for her $2,100-per-month two-bedroom apartment. The 71 year-old figures that she will move to a place with less expensive rent and eat the cost, or live with a friend or move in with her sons on the East Coast or even sleep on her couch in a field until her townhome is finally rebuilt.

What else can I do? Quiller asked. I want to stay in Colorado.

Marshall Fire victims with questions about their insurance are encouraged to call The Division of InsuranceConsumer Services Team, 303-894-7490 or email [email protected]
How Wealthy Investors in Thailand Can Become Global Citizens with Turkish Citizenship by Investment

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Why international investors choose Turkiye Citizenship by Investment

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Secure your familys future: Full citizenship is granted to applicants and included family members.

Expand your global options: After three years of residence in Turkiye, citizens are eligible to apply for an E-2 Investor Visa in the USA.

Enjoy a quick turnaround: The efficient application process means you can become a Turkish citizen in as little as four months.

Keep jet-setting: There are no minimum physical requirements to maintain your citizenship, so you can travel at your leisure, and visit on your own schedule.

Multiple investment pathways available

There are several options available to those looking to obtain Turkish citizenship by investment. One of the most popular routes is a minimum USD 400,000 investment in real estate that must be held for at least three years. Turkiye has a highly attractive property market that has been rapidly enhanced over the past 20 years by policies that prioritize the construction sector and infrastructure investments, making it a potentially lucrative investment opportunity.

Some of the other investment options include:

Depositing a minimum of USD 500,000 in a Turkish bank account, or as a fixed capital investment contribution.

Committing USD 500,000 into government bonds, a real estate investment fund share, a venture capital investment fund share, or into a private pension system, all of which have a minimum holding period of just three years.

For entrepreneurs looking to expand their business opportunities, there is also an option that involves creating employment for at least 50 Turkish citizens.

For those seeking an additional citizenship in a short timeframe, Turkiye is a popular choice with a number of unique benefits. If you are looking to increase your global mobility, enhance your financial stability, and see a good return on your investment, with its efficient process and relatively low investment threshold, look no further than the Turkiye Citizenship by Investment Program .
Missing fishing crew home safe

PHUKET: The Thai captain and his three Myanmar crewmen rescued from their fishing boat that had been out of contact for more than three weeks are healthy and recovering from fatigue well at Vachira Phuket Hospital in Phuket Town.

marineSafety

By The Phuket News

Tuesday 14 February 2023, 12:03PM

The Royal Thai Navy Third Area Command, based at Cape Panwa, confirmed sighting of the boat, the Sor Sakulphet, some 40 nautical miles west of Phuket yesterday (Feb 13).

A helicopter was dispatched, followed by two Navy boats to render assistance. Private boats were asked to render assistance until the Navy vessels arrived, explained Rear Admiral Puchong Rodnikorn, of the Third Area Command.

The captain and crew were brought back to Phuket for medical care, while the Sor Sakulphet was towed back to the fishing port area on Phukets east coast, he added.

All the people on the boat are safe. The physical condition of those rescued is still healthy and strong, R/Adm Puchong said.

The Sor Sakulphet, measuring only three meters wide and 10 meters long, departed Phuket Fishing Pier on Jan 19.

The boat was reported to be heading out to fish some 120 nautical miles southwest of Phuket. However, the boat had been out of contact since it left port.

Rung Khamluewong, the 44-year-old captain of the Sor Sakulphet, yesterday explained that a gear cable broke, damaging the engine, on Jan 26, leaving the boat adrift.

The engine oil was completely drained, he said.

The radio was also not functioning, he added

For the next 10 days the crew ate what food they still had on board, and when that ran out they started eating raw fish they had caught as their cooking gas had also run out.

As for drinking water, we had to share a little bit among each person because we are afraid that the water would run out, Mr Rung said.

While adrift, a sailboat with three foreigners on board came alongside. They gave us 15 liters of fuel in case we could get the engine working again, Mr Rung said.

After many days, we saw an Indonesian fishing boat, but we did not want them coming on board in case they were thieves, he added.

However, the Indonesian crew gave their fellow sailors rice, water, oil and battery chargers for the boat engine, and fixed the gear cables to support the boat enough to get underway again, Mr Rung explained.

The repairs lasted eight days, then the gear cable broke again, leaving the hapless Sor Sakulphet and its crew adrift again.

We started thinking of our wives and children, Mr Rung said yesterday.

That period adrift lasted a further five days, until the Sor Sakulphet was spotted yesterday, he added.

Thank you for coming to help, Mr Rung said.
Police respond to violent mugging of Canadian in Patong

PHUKET: Maj Gen Sermphan Sirikong, Commander of the Phuket Provincial Police, has come forward to explain that police are now investigating the report by a Canadian tourist that he was violently mugged by five men.

patongviolencecrimepolicetourismSafety

By The Phuket News

Tuesday 14 February 2023, 02:01PM

According to a report by the Phuket Info Center posted yesterday (Feb 13), the tourist attacked was William Lamarche-Saint-Louis, a 28-year-old French-speaking Canadian.

The report reiterated Mr Lamarche-Saint-Louiss report that he was attacked by five men late at night on Feb 10. Mr Lamarche had already gone public to say that the attack happened at 2am the next day (Feb 11).

The tourist suffered a broken nose in the attack, which saw the five men reportedly flee with a Rolex watch and B50,000 cash, the report noted.

According to the report, apparently the attack was not a mugging. Instead, it was five men violently beating the tourist after an argument at a local restaurant where the Canadian allegedly refused to pay the bill.

How five men became involved in such an argument was not explained.

According to the report posted by the Phuket Info Center, the mother of one of the men involved in the incident explained the argument over the restaurant bill.

The report made no mention whether police had actually questioned any of the suspects.

According to the report, Maj Gen Sermphan has said that police must now wait for Mr Lamarche-Saint-Louis to return to Phuket from his trip to Phi Phi Island before they can proceed with their investigation.

Mr Lamarche-Saint-Louis left for Phi Phi Island only yesterday (Feb 13).

The report posted yesterday made no mention of any investigation into the claim by the tourist that he reported the mugging to a Patong Police officer on patrol nearby immediately after the attack, but that the officer refused to help.

It was also not explained why the Commander of the Phuket Provincial Police was required to explain the actions of a Patong Police officer, instead of Patong Police Chief Col Sujin Nilabadee.

The public response to the reported mugging has come only after local Thais posted online calls for police to help the tourist, with the comments starting to go viral on popular local social media pages.
Prayut: Corrupt officers must go

BANGKOK: Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha admitted yesterday (Feb 13) that police corruption has been going on for years, and stakeholders must make a concerted effort to clean up the police force.

corruptionpolice

By Bangkok Post

Tuesday 14 February 2023, 09:11AM

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha presides over the first Police Commission meeting of the year at the Royal Thai Police on Rama I Road last month. Photo: Government House

He was responding to questions regarding two senior police officers who are accused of being behind an online multi-billion baht gambling network. The issue is the latest in a series of misconduct allegations that have rocked the Royal Thai Police (RTP), reports the Bangkok Post.

Last week, media firebrand Chuvit Kamolvisit said the macau888 online gambling network had about B5.5 billion in circulation, which was relatively small compared with another gambling network run by Inspector Sua and General Jor. The pair allegedly used their connections to run the network with B10bn in circulation.

Prayut said yesterday the authorities are investigating the activities of the two officers. He said he has made it clear that those who are found in the wrong must face legal and disciplinary action.

The government takes the matter seriously and a regulation was issued recently to require state officials accused of corruption to be temporarily dismissed pending investigation, he said.

He said the problem requires collaboration, noting police corruption has been around for a long time. The government is determined to address the issue, but it needs people to come forward and obtain evidence to back up accusations, he said.

He said he appreciates people who step forward to expose police misdeeds, adding accusations will be looked into and wrongdoers will not be let off the hook.

Asked if the government will press ahead with police reforms before its term ends, the prime minister said a national policing act began to take effect recently. It introduced new rules governing the police force, in line with the national reform plan, he said.

The police force has good and bad officers and the latter must be dealt with while stressing that work ethics and personal integrity must be taught and instilled, he said.

Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry lodged a complaint yesterday with Nang Loeng police against the Pentor Group Foundation for allegedly operating without being registered.

Pentor Group Foundation is allegedly linked to Pol Lt Col Wasawat Mukarasakul, also known as Inspector Sua, one of the officers accused by Mr Chuvit of running an illegal online gambling network.

Suttipong Juljarern, the ministrys permanent secretary, said the foundation faces three charges - setting up an unregistered foundation, soliciting without permission and uploading false information into the computer system.

Mr Chuvit last week posted a list of 10 companies allegedly linked to Pol Lt Col Wasawat under the Pentor Group umbrella as he pressed the RTP to take action.

Pol Lt Gen Jirabhop Bhuridej, head of the police panel set up to look into Pol Lt Col Wasawats alleged misconduct, said his team is tasked with finding out if Pol Lt Col Wasawat is involved in a gambling network and also examining his assets.

The panel is gathering information and will build a case when it has evidence or information about illegal activities, said Pol Lt Gen Jirabhop, Central Investigation Bureau commissioner.

Mr Chuvit will be invited to provide information, he said, noting that the committee, which is made up of officers from various units, is up to do the task in hand.
Russias Wagner militia formidable adversary: top French general

PARIS: The controversial Russia mercenary outfit Wagner, which is active in the invasion of Ukraine but also in Africa, is a formidable adversary because of the price it is prepared to pay to achieve its goals, a French general said yesterday (Feb 14).

RussianUkraineviolence

By AFP

Tuesday 14 February 2023, 09:26AM

Wagner is run by the businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is seen as close to President Vladimir Putin. Photo: AFP

Wagner, run by the businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin seen as close to President Vladimir Putin, is playing an increasingly important role in Moscows war on Ukraine as Russia seeks to reverse recent battlefield setbacks.

It has employed unorthodox tactics including a campaign to find new recruits in Russias prison system, but is also accused of committing serial abuses on the battlefield.

They (Wagner) are sending us a message that when we have to face these militias elsewhere, they are able to pay a very high price in blood to achieve their objectives and will be a formidable opponent, said General Pierre Schill, chief of staff of the French army.

He said mercenary groups like Wagner would develop in importance in the future.

But he said not all were as effective as Wagner, which enjoyed a degree of state support behind it due to Prigozhins ties with Putin.

Analysts also see Prigozhin and Wagner playing a key role in Kremlin politics, underpinning a hawkish faction pressing for the war to continue.

Wagner, because it is fighting to get its place in the Kremlin one way or another, and paying a huge price in doing so, is asking us questions and telling us that it is a formidable adversary, Schill told reporters in Paris.

French President Emmanuel Macron has long insisted France is not a cobelligerent in the war sparked by Russias invasion of Ukraine in February last year, although Paris is supplying arms to Kyiv.

But Wagner is also increasingly present in francophone Africa, where Western countries say it has deployed in Burkina Faso, Central African Republic and Mali.

Its presence has been one factor behind French military pullouts from all three countries and a resulting weakening for France of its strategic influence in the region.

Prigozhin said Sunday his troops had taken the eastern Ukrainian village of Krasna Hora, a few kilometres from the key city of Bakhmut which Moscow has been trying to capture for months.

The Ukrainian presidency said the situation was difficult in the area.

Looking at the world as a whole, with China and Iran increasingly cracking down on dissent, Schill said: We are probably at a change of era of the same magnitude as that of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Searchers find tourists lost in Phuket forest overnight

PHUKET: Searchers found two French tourists who phoned for help late Sunday night (Feb 12) after becoming lost while walking on a forested mountain on this southern island province.

Tuesday 14 February 2023, 09:13AM

A search party finds the French tourists lost on Nai Thon mountain in Phuket about 12.30am on Monday (Feb 13). Photo: Sakhu Police

The tourists called for help about 10pm on Sunday, saying they were lost in a forest on Nai Thon mountain in tambon Sakhu of Thalang district, reports the Bangkok Post.

A team was formed comprising local officials, police, rangers and villagers and began their search right away.

A two-hour walk and nearly three kilometres away, about 12.30am, they found a Frenchman identified only as Victor and his girlfriend waiting in the dark on the mountain. They were well, apart from some scratches, and were guided safely back to their hotel.

Sakhu Police Chief Col Salan Santisananakul said the couple arrived in Phuket on Sunday and checked into a hotel near Phuket airport. Then they went for a walk on a local beach and followed a trail up the mountain, and were unable to find their way back.

"Luckily they still had a phone signal and were able to call the tourist police number 1155 using WhatsApp. They then sent their location and photos of their surroundings to police," the station chief said.
Intra-African cross-border remittances and digital wallet company EziPay has partnered with digital payments gateway MFS Africa to bring last-mile connectivity for remittances and collections to and from mobile money wallets and bank accounts in Africa.

As the companies point out, the partnership comes at a time when mobile money is burgeoning at increasing rates on the continent, with businesses and individuals alike requiring solutions that allow them to transact across regions.

EziPay, which has a presence in 14 African countries, currently has a global user base of over 300,000, including Africans in the diaspora as well as those in the local expat community who utilise EziPays digital wallets for inward and outward remittances. Ezipays USD Global wallet enables inward and outward remittances with payouts in more than 90 countries.

MFS Africas full-service digital payments network connects over 400 million mobile money wallets, over 200 million bank accounts, and over 120,000 agents in Nigeria.

Amit Gaur, Co-Founder and CEO at EziPay, says, "With EziPay and MFS Africa joining hands to solve cross-continent remittances to Africa from Asia, Europe, the UK and the USA, remittances for goods, services, school fees, medical transfers, business transfers, family maintenance allowances, and P2P transfers will be enabled."

Dare Okoudjou, Founder and CEO at MFS Africa, adds: Partnering with EziPay, an organisation that is known for providing digital wallets for inward and outward remittance to MSMEs, SMEs and individuals across continents, made complete sense to further enable the interoperability we aim to achieve through our acquisitions and partnerships.

The African remittance market has attracted a lot of attention in recent years, not too surprisingly, given the vast amounts of money involved. Recent examples reported in these pages include an initiative targeting monthly remittance flows from South Africa to Zimbabwe, a new app targeting Ugandan remittances, and a partnership between NALA, a Tanzania-based fintech company and pan-African payments company Cellulant.
Child Advocates of Nevada County exists to protect children, at every age, from neglect and abuse. They operate three programs: Child Safety Puppeteers for school-aged children, Court Appointed Special Advocates for children who have open cases in dependency court, and the Healthy Babies program for pregnant and new parents. They strive to empower and protect children from abuse and neglect by lifting lives and building futures. To learn more, visit their website at caofnc.org.
SEAN BERGEL, Wheeler, Baseball, Junior; Bergel struck out eight and allowed only five hits as Wheeler defeated Griswold in its season opener. Bergel walked just one batter and allowed two earned runs.

CAMI BROWN, Stonington, Softball, Junior; Brown finished 11 for 16 in four games for the Bears. Brown doubled four times, tripled twice and drove in nine runs.

CASEY MACERA, Westerly, Girls Lacrosse, Freshman, Macera scored five goals in a Division III win against Rocky Hill. Westerly ended a 15-game losing streak with the victory.

ADAM CARPENTER, Chariho, Baseball, Sophomore; Carpenter pitched a two-hitter in his varsity debut as the Chargers beat East Providence. Carpenter carried a no-hitter into the sixth. He struck out 10 and did not walk a batter.

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Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai is being accused of inciting violence after implicitly endorsing murder as the government moves forward with its planned judicial reforms.

This is the history of the world. Countries become dictatorships through the use of democratic tools. Countries do not become democratic again, except with bloodshed, Huldai commented about the plan.

Huldai lamented the Knesset Judiciary Committees passage of one component of the planned overhaul on Monday, declaring that it is a black day in which the decision was made to turn Israel into a dictatorship and a state of halachah.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called for an immediate investigation into Huldais incitement.

The attorney general must immediately order an investigation against Ron Huldai. The mayor of Tel Aviv has no immunity and no privilege to incite murder. His call is serious and he must be questioned about it and stand trial, Ben-Gvir said.

Information Minister Galit Distel-Atbaryan of the Likud Party tweeted in part, A mayor who calls for fratricide and bloodshed in the streets must end his life in prison. Enough already with this leniency towards the privileged elites who are working to destroy the state.

The Likud party filed a police complaint against Huldai, and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called for him to be investigated by Police. The mayor of Tel Aviv has no immunity, and no privilege to incite murder, he said. His call [for bloodshed] is serious, and he must be questioned and prosecuted.

Even opposition member Benny Gantz  who is also opposed to the judicial reforms  condemned Huldai.

We are in an emergency situation and we are in a fight. But our struggle is for Israeli democracy, not a struggle between us. The pain and fear have their place, but we must immediately stop the violent discourse and rampage on both sides that could send us into the abyss, Gantz said.

Huldais call is dangerous, out of place and more than thatit harms the righteous struggle, he said.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)




When Zafer Mahmut Boncuks apartment building collapsed in Turkeys devastating earthquake, he discovered his 75-year-old mother was still alive  but pinned under the wreckage.

For hours, Boncuk frantically searched for someone in the ancient, devastated city of Antakya to help him free her. He was able to talk to her, hold her hand and give her water. Despite his pleas, however, no one came, and she died on Tuesday, the day after the quake.

Like many others in Turkey, his sorrow and disbelief have turned to rage over the sense there has been an unfair and ineffective response to the historic disaster that has killed tens of thousands of people there and in Syria.

Boncuk directed his anger at President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, especially because she seemed so close to rescue but no one came. Her remains were finally removed Sunday, nearly a week after the building collapsed. His fathers body is still in the rubble.

What would happen if it was your own mother, dear Recep Tayyip Erdogan? What happened to being a world leader? Where are you? Where? he screamed.

I gave her water to drink, I cleared her face of rubble. I told her that I would save her. But I failed, said Boncuk, 60. The last time we spoke, I asked if I should help her drink some water. She said no, so I rubbed some water on her lips. Ten minutes later, she died.

He blamed ignorance and lack of information and care  thats why my mother died in front of my eyes.

Many in Turkey express similar frustration that rescue operations have been painfully slow since the Feb. 6 quakes and that valuable time was lost during the narrow window for finding people alive.

Others, particularly in southern Hatay province near the Syrian border, say Erdogans government was late in delivering assistance to the hardest-hit region for what they suspect are both political and religious reasons.

In the southeastern town of Adiyaman, Elif Busra Ozturk waited outside the wreckage of a building on Saturday where her uncle and aunt were trapped and believed dead, and where the bodies of two of her cousins already had been found.

For three days, I waited outside for help. No one came. There were so few rescue teams that they could only intervene in places they were sure there were people alive, she said.

At the same complex, Abdullah Tas, 66, said he had been sleeping in a car near the building where his son, daughter-in-law and four grandchildren were buried. He said that rescuers had first arrived four days after the earthquake struck. The Associated Press could not independently verify his claim.

What good is that for the people under the debris? he asked.

Onlookers stood behind police tape Saturday in Antakya as bulldozers clawed at a high-rise luxury apartment building that had toppled onto its side.

Over 1,000 residents had been in the 12-story building when the quake struck, according to relatives watching the recovery effort. They said hundreds were still inside but complained the effort to free them had been slow and not serious.

This is an atrocity, I dont know what to say, said Bediha Kanmaz, 60. The bodies of her son and 7-month-old grandson had been pulled from the building  still locked in an embrace  but her daughter-in-law was still inside.

We open body bags to see if theyre ours, were checking if theyre our children. Were even checking the ones that are torn to pieces, she said of herself and other grief-stricken relatives.

Kanmaz also blamed Turkeys government for the slow response, and accused the national rescue service of failing to do enough to recover people alive.

She and others in Antakya expressed the belief that the presence of a large minority of Alevis  an Anatolian Islamic community that differs from Sunni and Shia Islam and Alawites in Syria  had made them a low priority for the government. Traditionally, few Alevis vote for Erdogans ruling party. There was no evidence, however, that the region was overlooked for sectarian reasons.

Erdogan said Wednesday that disaster efforts were continuing in all 10 affected provinces and dismissed allegations of no help from state institutions like the military as lies, fake slander.

But he has acknowledged shortcomings. Officials said rescue efforts in Hatay were initially complicated by the destruction of the local airports runway and bad road conditions.

Anger over the extent of the destruction, however, is not limited to individuals. Turkish authorities have been detaining or issuing detention warrants for dozens of people allegedly involved in the construction of buildings that collapsed, and the justice minister has vowed to punish those responsible.

Kanmaz blamed negligence on the part of the developer of the apartment building where her family had been killed.

If I could wrap my hands around the contractors neck, I would tear him to shreds, she said.

That contractor, who oversaw the construction of the 250-unit building, was detained at Istanbul Airport on Friday before boarding a flight out of the country, Turkeys official Anadolu news agency reported. On Saturday, he was formally arrested. His lawyer suggested the public was looking for a scapegoat.

In multiethnic southern Turkey, other tensions are rising. Some expressed frustration that Syrian refugees who fled to the region from their devastating civil war are burdening the sparse welfare system and competing for resources with Turkish people.

There are many poor people in Hatay, but they dont offer us any welfare; they give it to the Syrians. They give so much to the Syrians, Kanmaz said. There are more Syrians than Turks here.

There were signs Saturday the tensions could be boiling over.

Two German aid groups and the Austrian Armed Forces temporarily interrupted their rescue work in the Hatay region citing fears for the safety of their staff. They resumed work after the Turkish army secured the area, the Austrian Defense Ministry spokesman tweeted.

There is increasing tension between different groups in Turkey, Lt. Col. Pierre Kugelweis of the Austrian Armed Forces told the APA news agency. Shots have reportedly been fired.

German news agency dpa reported that Steven Berger, chief of operations of the aid group I.S.A.R. Germany, said that it can be seen that grief is slowly giving way to anger in Turkeys affected regions.

For Kanmaz, it was a mixture of grief and anger.

Im angry. Life is over, she said. We live for our children; what matters most to us is our children. We exist if they exist. Now we are over. Everything you see here is over.

(AP)




Thousands left homeless by a massive earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria a week ago packed into crowded tents or lined up in the streets Monday for hot meals as the desperate search for survivors entered its last hours.

Rescue teams that included Turkish coal miners and experts using sniffer dogs and thermal cameras searched pulverized apartment blocks for signs of life.

In southern Hatay province, rescuers cheered and clapped as a 13-year-old boy identified only by his first name, Kaan, was pulled from the rubble.

Stories of near-miraculous rescues have flooded the airwaves in recent days, including many that were broadcast live on Turkish television and beamed around the world. But tens of thousands of dead have been found during the same period. Experts say the window for such rescues has nearly closed, given the length of time that has passed, the fact that temperatures have fallen to minus 6 degrees Celsius (21 degrees Fahrenheit) and the severity of the building collapses.

The 7.8 magnitude earthquake and its aftershocks struck southeastern Turkey and northern Syria on Feb. 6, reducing huge swaths of towns and cities to mountains of broken concrete and twisted metal. The death toll has surpassed 35,000.

In some areas, search teams placed signs that read ses yok or no sound in front of buildings they had inspected for signs of life, HaberTurk television reported.

Associated Press journalists in Adiyaman saw a sign painted on a concrete slab in front of wreckage indicating that an expert had inspected it. In Antakya, people left signs near rubble with their phone numbers on them, asking crews to contact them if they find bodies.

The quakes financial damage in Turkey alone was estimated at $84.1 billion, according to the Turkish Enterprise and Business Confederation, a non-governmental business organization. Calculated using a statistical comparison with a similarly devastating 1999 quake, the figure was considerably higher than any official estimates so far.

Elsewhere, Turkey offered to open a second border crossing to assist the international aid effort to Syria, and the United Nations said a lot of delicate discussions were taking place to open more border-crossings from Turkey to Syria.

Some 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the epicenter, almost no houses were left standing in the village of Polat, where residents salvaged refrigerators, washing machines and other goods from wrecked homes.

Not enough tents have arrived for the homeless, forcing families to share the tents that are available, survivor Zehra Kurukafa said.

We sleep in the mud, all together with two, three, even four families, Kurukafa said.

Turkish authorities said Monday that more than 150,000 survivors have been moved to shelters outside the affected provinces. In the city of Adiyaman, Musa Bozkurt waited for a vehicle to bring him and others to western Turkey.

Were going away, but we have no idea what will happen when we get there, said the 25-year-old. We have no goal. Even if there was (a plan), what good will it be after this hour? I no longer have my father or my uncle. What do I have left?

But Fuat Ekinci, a 55-year-old farmer, was reluctant to leave his home for western Turkey despite the destruction, saying he didnt have the means to live elsewhere and had fields that need to be tended.

Those who have the means are leaving, but were poor, he said. The government says, go and live there a month or two. How do I leave my home? My fields are here, this is my home, how do I leave it behind?

Volunteers from across Turkey have mobilized to help millions of survivors, including a group of chefs and restaurant owners who served traditional food such as beans and rice and lentil soup to survivors who lined up in the streets of downtown Adiyaman.

Damage included heritage sites in places such as Antakya, on the southern coast of Turkey, an important ancient port and early center of Christianity historically known as Antioch. Greek Orthodox churches in the region have started charity drives to assist the relief effort and raise funds to rebuild or repair churches.

Meanwhile, rescue workers, including coal miners who secured salvage tunnels with wooden supports, found a woman alive Monday in the wreckage of a five-story building in Turkeys Gaziantep province.

Syrian authorities said a newborn whose mother gave birth while trapped under the rubble of their home was doing well. The baby, Aya, was found hours after the quake, still connected by the umbilical cord to her mother, who was dead. She is being breastfed by the wife of the director of the hospital where she is being treated.

Such tales have given many hope, but Eduardo Reinoso Angulo, a professor at the Institute of Engineering at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, said the likelihood of finding people alive was very, very small now.

David Alexander, a professor of emergency planning and management at University College London, agreed. But he added that the odds were not very good to begin with.

Many of the buildings were so poorly constructed that they collapsed into very small pieces, leaving very few spaces large enough for people to survive in, Alexander said.

If a frame building of some kind goes over, generally speaking we do find open spaces in a heap of rubble where we can tunnel in, Alexander said. Looking at some of these photographs from Turkey and from Syria, there just arent the spaces.

Wintery conditions further reduce the window for survival. In the cold, the body shivers to keep warm, but that burns a lot of calories, meaning that people also deprived of food will die more quickly, said Dr. Stephanie Lareau, a professor of emergency medicine at Virginia Tech.

Many in Turkey blame faulty construction for the vast devastation, and authorities have begun targeting contractors allegedly linked with buildings that collapsed. Turkey has introduced construction codes that meet earthquake-engineering standards, but experts say the codes are rarely enforced.

As the scale of the disaster has come into view, sorrow and disbelief have turned to rage over the sense that the emergency response was ineffective. That anger could be a political problem for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who faces a tough reelection battle in May.

Turkeys death toll has exceeded 31,000, and the health minister said more than 19,000 survivors were being treated in hospitals. Deaths in Syria, split between rebel-held areas and government-held areas, have risen beyond 3,500, although those reported by the government havent been updated in days.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths met Monday with Syrias President Bashar Assad and foreign minister after visiting Aleppo and seeing the devastating damage there. Griffiths has called for more access points to be opened to get aid to all Syrians in need as soon as possible, the spokesman said.

He stressed that the United Nations doesnt have heavy equipment for excavations or search-and-rescue efforts so the international community as a whole needs to step up to get that aid where its needed.

In addition, the U.N.s humanitarian partners need ambulances, medicine, shelters, heaters and emergency food, water and sanitation and hygiene items, Dujarric said.

(AP)




NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned Monday that Ukraine is using up ammunition far faster than its allies can provide it and putting pressure on Western defense industries, just as Russia ramps up its military offensive.

The war in Ukraine is consuming an enormous amount of munitions and depleting allied stockpiles, Stoltenberg said. The current rate of Ukraines ammunition expenditure is many times higher than our current rate of production. This puts our defense industries under strain.

According to some estimates, Ukraine is firing up to 6,000-7,000 artillery shells each day, around a third of the daily amount that Russia is using almost one year into the war.

Speaking on the eve of a two-day meeting of NATO defense ministers, Stoltenberg said the waiting time for the supply of large-caliber ammunition has increased from 12 to 28 months, and that orders placed today would only be delivered two-and-a-half years later.

The former Norwegian prime minister said that President Vladimir Putin has already begun Russias long-anticipated spring military offensive in Ukraine, so we must continue to provide Ukraine with what it needs to win and to achieve a just and sustainable peace.

It is clear that we are in a race of logistics. Key capabilities like ammunition, fuel, and spare parts must reach Ukraine before Russia can seize the initiative on the battlefield. Speed will save lives, he told reporters in Brussels.

NATO members and Ukraines other allies are meeting at the alliances headquarters on Tuesday under U.S. supervision to drum up more weapons and ammunition for the war-torn country. Many NATO allies are bilaterally supplying weapons to Ukraine, but NATO as an organization only provides non-lethal aid.

On Tuesday evening, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his counterparts will separately hold talks with Ukraines defense minister. On Wednesday, they will discuss NATOs defenses on its eastern flank, close to Russia. Moves to beef up military budgets are also on the agenda.

(AP)




A well-known Saudi blogger who is unapologetically pro-Israel sent a touching letter to the Paley family, whose sons aged 6 and 8 years old were murdered in a ramming attacking in Ramot last Friday.

The blogger, Mahmud Saud, announced on his Twitter account that he sent something sweet to the Paley family, and included a picture of a card he had sent to them.

The letter reads:

Dear Paley Family, I want to extend my condolences and self-participation in the terrible sorrow of the passing of your beloved and pure children in such a terrible way. May G-d give you strength and comfort, and heal your dear father, and may you never know more sorrow.

The letter was attached to a box of luxury chocolates, providing some sweetness  and a touch of humanity  in the midst of the familys darkness.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)




Ukraine on Tuesday renewed its appeal to Western countries for fighter jets to help frustrate Moscows invasion, but the United States and its NATO allies and partners are more concerned about Kyivs needs for large amounts of ammunition as the war with Russia is set to enter its second year.

Ahead of the meeting of the Ukraine contact group at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Ukraine made its requirements clear. Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, when asked what military aid his country is seeking now, showed reporters an image of a fighter jet.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pushed hard for combat planes last week when he visited London, Paris and Brussels on just his second foreign trip since Russia invaded on Feb. 24, 2022. His plea came days after Western allies pledged to provide Kyiv with tanks.

The United States has said no to fighter jets for Ukraine. The United Kingdom is assessing the possibility. On Tuesday, Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren said providing jets has to be part of the consideration.

What NATO allies have on their mind, though, is how to keep up a steady supply of ammunition to Ukraine without depleting their own stockpiles.

According to some estimates, Ukraine is firing up to 6,000-7,000 artillery shells each day, around a third of the daily amount that Russia is using.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned Monday that Ukraine is using up ammunition much faster than its allies can supply it.

Moscows forces have been pressing in the east of Ukraine while bolstering their defensive lines in the south. The war has been largely static during the winter months, though both sides are expected to launch offensives when the weather improves.

Putin was hoping Western support for Kyiv would fizzle out, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told the meeting.

But he said the contact group would help Ukraine hold an advance during the spring counteroffensive and would keep planning for Kyivs long-term needs.

Todays meeting comes at a critical time, Austin said. The Kremlin is still betting that it can wait us out.

The Russians appear short on resources for any major offensive at the moment, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said Tuesday. Overall, the current operational picture suggests that Russian forces are being given orders to advance in most sectors, but that they have not massed sufficient offensive combat power on any one axis to achieve a decisive effect, it tweeted.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that finding ammunition and air defenses is much more important at the moment than the discussion about fighter jets.

Pistorius told reporters that getting pilots up to speed on new aircraft and training just to fly them takes several months, never mind teaching the abilities needed to deploy the weapons systems.

He said Ukraines partners should focus on what is now at center stage, particularly in view of a Russian offensive that is apparently taking place.

He said Germany has signed a deal to produce ammunition for self-propelled, anti-aircraft guns it provided to Ukraine, after Kyiv ran into problems finding munitions elsewhere.

That ammunition is crucial for Kyiv to counter Russian attacks, especially on Ukraines power infrastructure aimed at disrupting heating and drinking water supply.

Stoltenberg on Monday urged Ukraines Western allies to step up their military support.

Asked when he expects Russias so-called spring offensive to begin, Stoltenberg said that the reality is that we have seen the start already.

For me, this just highlights the importance of timing. Its urgent to provide Ukraine with more weapons, he told reporters in Brussels.

Stoltenberg said that NATO sees no sign whatsoever that President Putin is preparing for peace and that arming Ukraine more quickly could save lives by bringing a quicker end to the conflict.

In Ukraine, the countrys presidential office said Tuesday Russian shelling killed at least three civilians and wounded another eight over the previous 24 hours as fighting continued in the south and east.

Russian forces shelled 17 towns and villages in the Donetsk region. Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said. The Russians are destroying everything in their path, he said.

Ukraine officials also reported intense shelling and air strikes in Luhansk province, while in the south Russian forces shelled the city of Kherson 13 times over 24 hours, destroying a railway and residential buildings.

(AP)




Russia on Tuesday angrily rejected the Moldovan presidents claims about an alleged plot by Moscow to overthrow her government and accused Moldovan authorities of trying to distract public attention away from the countrys own domestic problems.

Moldovas President Maia Sandu said Monday that the purported Russian plot envisioned attacks on government buildings, hostage-takings and other violent actions by groups of saboteurs in order to put the nation at the disposal of Russia and derail its hopes to join the European Union.

Responding Tuesday, Russias Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova dismissed Sandus claims as absolutely unfounded and unsubstantiated.

They are built in the spirit of classical techniques that are often used by the United States, other Western countries and Ukraine, Zakharova said. First, accusations are made with reference to purportedly classified intelligence information that cannot be verified, and then they are used to justify their own illegal actions.

Sandus claim came a week after neighboring Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country had intercepted plans by Russian secret services to destroy Moldova. Moldovan intelligence officials later said that they confirmed the allegations.

Zakharova charged that Ukrainian authorities made up the claim about a purported Russian plan to destabilize Moldova in order to draw it into a confrontation with Russia. She argued that Moldovan authorities used the myth about a Russian threat to distract Moldovan citizens attention from internal problems resulting from a disastrous social-economic course of the current administration and to step up the fight against dissent and political opponents.

Zakharova insisted that Russia poses no threat to Moldova and hopes to develop mutually beneficial cooperation.

Since Russian troops rolled into Ukraine nearly a year ago, Moldova, a former Soviet republic of about 2.6 million people, has sought to forge closer ties with its Western partners. Last June, it was granted EU membership candidate status, the same day as Ukraine.

In December, Moldovas national intelligence agency warned that Russia could launch a new offensive with the aim of creating a land corridor through southern Ukraine to Moldovas Moscow-backed breakaway region of Transnistria.

Transnistria broke away after a 1992 civil war but is not recognized by most countries. It extends roughly 400 kilometers (250 miles) from the eastern bank of the Dniester River to the countrys border with Ukraine. Russia has about 1,500 troops nominally as peacekeepers in the breakaway region.

(AP)




While President Joe Biden and his predecessor, Donald Trump, are preparing for a possible rematch in 2024, a new poll finds a notable lack of enthusiasm within the parties for either man as his partys leader and a clear opening for new standard-bearers.

About a third of both Democrats and Republicans are unsure of who they want leading their party, according to the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

No single Democrat captures significant support when asked who should be their partys leader; instead, Democrats sprinkle their attention across more than a dozen politicians. Yet they also feel more hopeful than dejected about their party. Some Republicans, meanwhile, coalesce around a couple of individuals  Trump included. But a majority remain uncommitted to him despite his grip on the party, and Republicans have grown somewhat more pessimistic about the GOPs future.

The findings reflect a deep sense of uncertainty about the future of the nations political parties and the challenges both face in tethering their frayed  and perhaps disenchanted  coalitions.

For Democrats, its anotherwarning sign about the depth of Bidens support amid concerns about nominating someone who would be 86 at the end of a second term.

Hes certainly at an age where hes not going to run for office, hes gonna walk, said David Townsend, a 58-year-old veteran services manager in Indianapolis who leans toward the Democratic Party.

Townsend said he would support Biden if he were the nominee, but he wants a new voice to lead with vigor and energy. He suggests Biden could have a role in shaping the future.

He needs to be on the lookout for a standard-bearer, someone that could carry his message forward, Townsend said.

Despite his status as an incumbent president who has accomplished many of the partys long-sought priorities, fewer than half of Democrats  41%  identify Biden as the current leader of the party in an open-ended question. Just 12% said they want Biden in the role.

But Democrats are far from rallying behind someone else. They lack consensus on one individual  or even two or three  to lead them. Instead, in the open-ended question, 15 people are each mentioned by between 1% and 5% of Democrats. Thirty-seven percent say they dont know or dont answer the question.

By contrast, among Republicans, 22% name Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and 20% name Trump as the individual they want to lead the party.

Republican Daniel Alvarez, 30, of Lakeland, Florida, likes both his governor, DeSantis, and Trump.

I would preferably take either one of those guys, said Alvarez, a lineman for a telephone company. But if it came down to it, hed choose Trump in a primary.

The country was better when Trump was president, he said.

Still, there appears to be openness to a new face among Republicans, as there is among Democrats, even if there isnt someone specific in mind.

A majority of Republicans dont choose Trump or DeSantis, though no other individual comes close to their level of support. Eleven others  including former Vice President Mike Pence and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who launched her 2024 bid Tuesday  are each named by just 1% of Republicans.

Angela Foster became emotional talking about how she feels the country is going in the wrong direction under Bidens leadership. The 66-year-old Republican-leaning independent voted for Trump in 2020.

I would love to see Trump back in the Oval Office to straighten things up. Followed by DeSantis. Thats what I want. I want an eight-year plan, she said with a laugh.

But Foster, who lives in Gallipolis, Ohio, and works part-time as a cashier, said she wants to see the Republican Party get back to its traditional values and quit the infighting.

Only 38% of Republicans say they are optimistic about the future of the Republican Party, while 36% are pessimistic and 24% say they feel neither. Pessimism has grown since October, when 27% said they were.

By comparison, more Democrats look ahead with hope. Forty-four percent of Democrats say they are optimistic about the future of the Democratic Party, while 26% are pessimistic. An additional 30% say they are neither.

Republicans who are pessimistic are less likely than optimistic ones to name a chosen leader. Overall, 34% of Republicans  more than either Trump or DeSantis get individually  say they dont know or didnt respond to the question.

Hugh Lawing considers himself an independent who leans toward the Republican Party. He doesnt want Trump to run and isnt sure about DeSantis, who he said wants to be Trump Jr. The 59-year-old retiree in Marietta, Georgia, hopes that more options will come forward.

Its a long way away and its up in the air, Lawing said.

For Democrats, theres no shortage of options, including lawmakers and others unlikely to seek the nomination. Trailing Biden at 12% as the preferred leader, new House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez each earn 5%.

Greg Davis, 34, voted for Biden in the 2020 general election. But as a self-identified social Democrat, he was not impressed with Biden during the primary campaign and would prefer a progressive candidate.

I would rather he not, the Hilliard, Ohio resident said of Biden running for reelection. But I dont really have a specific candidate in mind.

Vice President Kamala Harris, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and even former President Barack Obama are each named as the preferred party leader by 3% of Democrats.

I cant admire that man enough, Darlene Zwolinski said of Obama.

Zwolinski, a 63-year-old acupuncturist in Lakewood, Colorado, said shes happy with what Biden has done, but he was mainly the one to get the win against Trump and, for that reason, might have to be the one again.

If there was somebody in the wings that was like (Obama) that could step in, I would love to see Biden bless that person and maybe graciously bow out, she said. However, I dont see anybody right now.

(AP)
Any household with a smart meter can now take part in the National Grid energy-saving scheme through a mobile app  regardless of their supplier.

Households get paid for reducing their energy use at peak times through the Demand Flexibility Service, operated by the Electricity System Operator (ESO)  a branch of National Grid.

Previously, customers have had to sign up with their supplier, with major firms such as British Gas, Eon, EDF and Octopus Energy launching their own schemes.

Credits: Households get paid for reducing energy use at peak times through the Demand Flexibility Service, operated by the Electricity System Operator - a branch of National Grid

But now anyone with a smart meter can be rewarded with Utrack Money Back, a free mobile app run by comparison site Uswitch.

The app promises to pay users the full payment awarded by National Grid  about 3 for every kWh saved.

Households can use Utrack to monitor how much they cut down compared with their typical usage during the sessions.

Alongside test events, National Grid triggered two live events last month where customers delayed using items such as their oven, dishwasher or washing machine.

Up to a million households participated in the first event, and received credits towards their bills totalling more than 2 million.

The Demand Flexibility Service aims to save energy across Britain without resorting to blackouts.

t.armstrong@dailymail.co.uk
Holiday car hire fees are rising at a worrying pace, with many fees doubling in just a few years - so what is the best way to get a good deal on motor rentals?

Analysis by experts at Which? found that average weekly car rental costs have risen by more than 100 in seven of nine popular holiday destinations.

The average increase in vehicle rental prices was 72 per cent, while charges have even doubled in some regions  just as the February half term starts.

Car hire costs have been rising as rental firms struggle with a shortage of new vehicles and rising repair costs.

Here are seven tips to help drive down the cost of car hire.

Car costs: pay attention to car hire firm sneaky tricks and think about the best time to book to bring down the cost of vehicle rental

1) Book at the right time

It might seem smart to sort out a hire car long before your trip - and in many ways it is. But you can actually save money by booking, or rebooking, a hire car just before you need it.

In a test run by This Is Money, booking a small three-door car at Geneva airport the next working day cost 366 for a week, despite it being February half-term, a time of high demand.

Being diligent and giving car hire firms more notice can sometimes lead to paying more. The price of the same sized car booked a week out from a trip rose by 57 to 423.

However, with two months' notice the price for this size of car dropped to 287.69, showing how variable car hire prices can be.

If you want to have the best of both worlds, book a hire car long before your trip using a website or car hire firm offering free cancellations. Then shop around nearer the date of your trip and see if you can save some money by rebooking.

Also remember that if you turn up and book a hire car on the day, in person, this can mean paying significantly higher prices.

2) Look beyond the airport

If you are travelling by plane to your holiday destination it might be tempting to use a rental company that is inside the terminal building.

However, rental companies outside of the terminal can, in many cases, be less expensive.

For example, booking a five-door saloon at Geneva Airport costs around 100 a day from most major car hire firms - but the same companies rent out equivalent cars for around 80 from the Geneva Centre, three miles away.

Getting to these locations should not be a problem as providers often run free shuttle services to get you to and from the airport to make the process as easy as possible.

If you are picking up in a town or city, it is also worth looking into rental companies that are based in the suburbs. These are often cheaper than the ones in the city centre.

3) Don't get stung by one-way fees

If you are dropping your car off in a different place to where you picked it up, it is worth comparing car hire companies before you book. Many rental firms charge a one-way fee you might not spot in the terms and conditions.

Some do not charge any extra if you do not return the car to the same location you collected it, and some are upfront about the additional cost associated.

However, others will hide one-way fees in the small print.

4) Be mindful about brimming

Most hire firms will provide the car with a full tank of fuel and request that it is returned with the tank brimmed.

Knowing this, many airports have on-site or local fuel stations.

However, fuel prices can be at a premium with retailers knowing that rental-car drivers will be looking for the nearest pump to avoid any penalty fees for handing a vehicle back without a full quota of petrol or diesel.

Do your research before you travel and locate a fuel station within five miles of the airport. This might be off the direct route to the drop-off.

If you have let the fuel level drop fairly low at this point, you will save a fair chunk of cash by paying less per litre away from the airport.

5) Be thorough when checking your car for damage

If you have paid for a zero excess waiver, damage is not going to be an issue. But if you have not then you will need to put in the time to protect yourself from additional charges.

At pick-up, always check the car for bumps, dents and scratches, both inside and out.

The rental company staff will give you a form showing all the damage to the car but you should always check it yourself and report anything that is not listed on the diagram.

Take pictures of any damage you see as evidence, too.

And if you arrive at the rental desk at night, request for the car to be moved to a well-lit area so you can inspect any damage before you even step inside it.

6) Don't get a bigger car than you need

Car hire firms' tariffs are based on the size of the vehicle you book. Make sure you only book a car that is reasonable for your needs.

7) Shop around

Smaller car hire firms are likely to be cheaper than big brands, according to consumer champions Which?.

When Which? looked at car hire prices for a week in Tenerife, global brands Avis, Europcar, Hertz and Sixt averaged 247 for the cheapest car.

But AutoReisen, which only operates in the Canary Islands, was just 154 - a saving of 93.
I have been awaiting the correct legs for a sofa I purchased from Furniture Village for more than a year.

It was delivered in January 2022, but the company keeps sending the wrong ones, making it unusable.

Part of my frustration is the total lack of communication plus the company's inability to acknowledge this is unacceptable customer service.

I must have spent days in total waiting on the phone to talk to them.

G. G-K., New Malden, Surrey.

Communication breakdown: Furniture Village kept sending out the wrong replacement sofa legs to a customer who reports a customer services nightmare on the phone

Sally Hamilton replies: Your sofa saga has dragged on. You first ordered two sofas and an electric recliner armchair from Furniture Village, New Malden, in August 2021  and paid 4,752 up front.

There was a promise the items would be delivered in early December that year.

But when all went quiet, in mid-January 2022, you rang the branch and were told delivery would be on January 27.

When the furniture finally arrived, the order was incomplete, with no back rests and only one seat for one of the sofas, plus a set of sofa legs was missing.

Two days later some more items arrived, but you were still lacking a set of all-important legs. The head recliner on the chair also did not work. Other items were missing, including a leather care kit.

You complained, and a week later someone came to sort the chair's electrics.

But the missing sofa legs were causing you increased irritation as their absence meant you couldn't sit on the settee.

This annoyance was compounded by the fact that your many emails of complaint seemed to disappear into a black hole.

In early April, you contacted customer services again, once more demanding the legs be delivered. You were told they would appear at the end of the month.

Some legs finally arrived on May 19, three and a half months after your sofa had been delivered. Only there were just four corner legs and no central supporting legs  meaning your couch was still unusable.

On May 31, the two middle legs arrived  but they did not fit.

Meanwhile, I was saddened to learn that tragedy had struck. Your husband died in early June, and you were not in the right place mentally or physically to deal with the relatively trivial matter of chasing Furniture Village.

Your niece took up the cudgels and contacted the retailer on your behalf. Despite her best attempts, she hit a brick wall.

By this time, more than a year had passed since you placed your order and, unbelievably, you still were not in possession of a fully functioning set of furniture.

The legs finally arrived on September 5, but with no indication given of when, and how, they would be fitted.

This time, your sister headed to the store to battle it out with staff because you were recovering from a knee replacement operation.

This knee procedure went more smoothly than the sofa leg replacement, I'm pleased to say.

Frustration: Our reader says she has spent 'days in total' on the phone to Furniture Village (stock image, posed by model)

A date was set for a month later for the sofa legs to be fitted. Only, it emerged the pieces ordered were the wrong ones, yet again.

By late November, you had had enough of your Groundhog Day relationship with Furniture Village and so contacted me.

I was dumbfounded by the treatment you had received and the threadbare customer service that you endured. I demanded that the company stop dragging its feet over your problem and sort out your nightmare once and for all.

I also insisted on a generous discount on the cost of your purchase  along with a suitable apology.

The company investigated your case, agreed its service had fallen short and offered a reimbursement of 10 pc of your original bill. I thought this paltry and asked it to think again.

It reconsidered and came back with a more acceptable 20 per cent refund  950. This, it said, would be paid once the appropriate legs had finally been delivered.

At the end of January, you contacted me to say, 'miracles do happen'. The correct legs were delivered and fitted, and compensation paid.

If buyers reach an impasse with a retailer, they can take a complaint to the Furniture & Home Improvement Ombudsman

I do hope the latter has cushioned the blow you have suffered with these unacceptable delays.

A spokesman says: 'We would like to apologise profusely to G. G-K. The frustration and ongoing disappointment she has been through is the last thing we would ever want for any of our customers.

'This is not the Furniture Village way, and we want her to feel assured that her experience has been listened to, learnt from and is something we can only apologise for and try to put right.'

Anyone who has a poor experience with a furniture company has protection under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

If an item is damaged or not fit for purpose, you can arrange to send it back within 30 days of delivery.

If buyers reach an impasse with a retailer, they can take a complaint to the Furniture & Home Improvement Ombudsman.

This is only possible if the company is registered with the ombudsman  and the consumer has reached deadlock with the retailer.

Straight to the point My husband and I visited Earlswood Lakes Craft Centre in Solihull, West Midlands, with our grandchildren and stayed 23 minutes. As blue badge holders, we thought the parking was free, but Local Parking Security has fined us 100. M. P., Birmingham. Visitors have ten minutes before they are charged for parking at this venue. Local Parking Security Ltd agrees your mobility issues meant it took you longer than others to return to your car and has cancelled the charge. *** I ordered a cooker from Argos but on the delivery day no one turned up. I have rescheduled my order four times but I am still waiting. My son and I are both diabetic and have had to resort to eating microwave meals. Please help. P. A., Harlow. Argos apologises for the experience you had, which it says does not meet its usually high standards of customer service. You have since received your cooker and a gesture of goodwill. *** My brother received a 200 John Lewis gift card before the pandemic. When he eventually tried to use it in store he was told it was out of date, despite there being no end date on the card. M. W., Worcestershire. A John Lewis spokesman says: 'We're sorry to hear you are unhappy. 'However, as the gift card is well past its 24-month expiry date, we're unable to refund it. Information on expiry dates can be found on the receipt and online.'

Where's our Warm Home Discount?

My wife and I moved to a new home in December 2015. From 2016 we received a letter each year from the Government regarding the Warm Home Discount, which this year is 150.

I can't see this amount mentioned on our British Gas statements and have phoned and written to the company to find out more but to no avail.

F. P., Mansfield, Nottinghamshire.

The Warm Home Discount is a one-off reduction  150 for this year  on a household electricity bill that is given to those who receive the guarantee element of pension credit or are on a low income and have high energy costs.

The discount is applied automatically and those eligible do not need to apply for it.

It's available in England, Wales and Scotland but not in Northern Ireland.

I asked British Gas to look back at your account and it confirmed that from 2016 you received the discount.

It was itemised on your statement under the 'adjustments before VAT' section.

Last year's discount was applied on November 21.

However, it was a good job you contacted me, as British Gas discovered when checking over your old statements that 2018's discount  at that time set at 140  was missed.

A British Gas spokesperson says: 'We have since applied this as a credit to his account and are attempting to contact him to apologise.'

It's a pity British Gas couldn't have answered your queries directly when you got in touch as your concerns could have been sorted out weeks ago.

Your experience is also a lesson to us all to be switched on when checking any statements to ensure payments or discounts due are actually applied.
The disgraced founder of an artificial intelligence firm has been accused by the company of stealing its technology and setting up a rival in China.

Zia Chishti allegedly pilfered technology secrets when he left Afiniti.

The 52-year-old entrepreneur left the software firm after accusations of grooming and sexual assault in 2021 by a former employee.

Lawsuit: Afiniti founder Zia Chishti allegedly pilfered technology secrets, including its source code, when he left the firm following accusations of grooming and sexual assault

The assault scandal saw former UK prime minister David Cameron quit after a stint as chair on the Bermuda firms board.

In claims in a Washington DC lawsuit, Chishti has been accused of refusing to return his computer.

After leaving Afiniti, which continues to employ Princess Beatrice as its vice-president of partnerships and strategy, he set up firms in Pakistan and China.

Afinitis lawyers claim Chishti has offered software to companies such as China Mobile which is held up by the Chinese government.

Afiniti says Chishti conspired with his wife, Sarah Pobereskin and others, to set up an array of companies in China, Pakistan, and elsewhere to improperly convert and commercially exploit Afiniti trade secrets.

These allegedly targeted and hired Afiniti employees with specific knowledge of Afiniti trade secrets and operations.

They put down roots in the same office as Afinitis previous Chinese operation and imitated its branding, with its Chinese entity Qinhe meaning affinity in English, the lawsuit stated.

Chishti has disputed theft claims, dubbing allegations as detached from reality, and has said he offered Afiniti the chance to promptly resolve the matter.

The sex assault claim emerged when Tatiana Spottiswoode testified to Congress that she had been left with injuries after a work trip with Chishti. He denies the allegations and has launched defamation proceedings against her.
The savings battle took another twist yesterday as NS&I upped rates on its popular Premium Bonds, Income Bonds and Direct Saver easy-access account.

From next month, there will be an extra 15 million in Premium Bond prizes up for grabs as the Government-backed bank raises the prize fund rate from 3.15 per cent to 3.3 per cent.

That is 0.05 percentage points higher than the best-buy easy-access rate of 3.25 per cent from Swansea BS.

- Check out the best easy-access savings rates here.

Better returns: NS&I has upped the rates on its popular Premium Bonds, Income Bonds and Direct Saver easy-access account

It is the fifth rise in the Premium Bonds prize fund since it started to climb last June. But the odds of winning a prize stay the same  at 24,000 to 1.

Thats because NS&I has once again cut the number of 25 smaller prizes, but raised the number of 50 to 100,000 ones.

NS&I expects to pay out 248 prizes of 25,000 (up 12 on this months draw) and 123 (up six) at 50,000. The number of 100,000 prizes is up three to 62, while two 1 million jackpots remain.

NS&I has also boosted the rate on its Income Bonds and Direct Saver to 2.85 per cent.

Kevin Mountford, co-founder of savings platform Raisin UK, says: The big question is now how much does the Government need to borrow?

This latest move is either because NS&I needs to build up its coffers as a result of money flowing out, or is it a new campaign to bring in extra?

When NS&I offers top rates, it causes a dent in money going to banks and building societies. They will need to become more competitive if they want to attract money.

Premium Bonds are the jewel in NS&Is crown. The move means it is now beating the majority of the best-buy easy-access accounts. Other savings organisations with their own prize draws dont compete.

Pick of the bunch is Halifax. It gives away 1,603 prizes a month to savers who have at least 5,000 with the bank  three of 100,000, 100 of 10,000 and 1,500 of 100 prizes.

It has given away 75 million since the start in 2011, against the near five million prizes paid out just this month by Premium Bonds, worth nearly 314 million.

As NS&I increasingly pays top rates, we take a look at how they match up with those offered by banks and building societies.

Favourite: Premium Bonds are NS&I's top account with 119.5bn of savers' money tied up hoping to win a monthly prize between 25 and 1m

Easy-access

Direct Saver, NS&Is easy-access account, has also been boosted this week and now pays 2.85 per cent  the highest since it launched in March 2010. You can open and run this account online or on the phone.

You can do slightly better with other internet-based accounts, such as Shawbrook Bank, which increased its rate to 3.01 per cent last week.

Skipton BS Base Rate Tracker Issue 4, on offer through the post, online and branches, pays 2.9 per cent.

It comes with a guarantee to pay 1.1 points less than the base rate for 24 months. If the base rate does rise again, you know you will benefit in full.

Sylvias Verdict: Highly competitive rate  worth your time.

Income Bonds

Income Bonds from NS&I were also boosted and pay 2.85 per cent. They are popular with pensioners, because your interest is paid each month directly into your bank account and you can open an account by post, phone or online.

Newbury Building Society pays a higher 2.9 per cent on its Senior Saver. You can open an account online, by post or in its branches, if you are aged 55 or over and live in England and Wales.

Others which pay slightly better rates on online accounts include Shawbrook Bank at 2.97 per cent, while the Skipton Base Rate Tracker pays 2.86 per cent monthly.

Sylvias Verdict: Again, this is a good rate from NS&I, which I predict will be popular.

One-year fix

This new one-year Guaranteed Growth Bond from NS&I pays 4 per cent fixed for one year  up there with the best accounts. The top rates come from Close Brothers, Secure Trust and Atom (through its app), all at 4.15 per cent.

Competitive: The new one-year Guaranteed Growth Bond from NS&I pays 4% fixed for one year  up with the best accounts

Coventry BS pays 4.1 per cent for a slightly longer term with the rate fixed to April 30 next year  this is available online, through its branches or by post.

Sylvias Verdict: The Guaranteed Growth Bond is offering a competitive rate  and I think it could sell out quite quickly.

Monthly income

NS&Is monthly income version, named the Guaranteed Income Bond, pays 3.9 per cent for a year.

Top payers include Atom at 4.07 per cent and Coventry at 4.02 per cent.

That gives you around 32 a month on each 10,000 with NS&I, only around 2 less than the 33.90 you would see from Atom.

Sylvias Verdict: NS&I has launched a very competitive rate.

Cash Isa

The NS&I Direct Isa is also an easy-access account, but pays less than its Direct Saver. In this tax-free Direct Isa, you earn 2.1 per cent.

This rate difference makes the Isa a non-starter if you dont pay tax.

You also lose almost all your tax advantage as a basic-rate payer. Youll earn 2.1 per cent in the Isa and a better 2.28 per cent in the Direct Saver after basic rate tax.

There are plenty of better deals elsewhere. Shawbrook Banks online account pays 2.91 per cent, Cynergy Bank 2.85 per cent and Yorkshire BS Internet Isa Plus 2.75 per cent.

Sylvias Verdict: Go elsewhere for better rates.

Junior Isa

NS&Is Junior Isa pays 3.4 per cent for those saving for their children until they reach 18  online only.

This rate is much better than some of the big banks such as Lloyds 2 per cent and Halifaxs 2.5 per cent.

But you can do better with your local building society. For example, Bath pays 4.8 per cent, rising to 5 per cent next month, while Skipton and Swansea both pay 4 per cent.

Sylvias Verdict: Not a bad rate.

Tax advantage: The NS&I Direct Isa is also an easy access account, but pays less than its Direct Saver. In this tax-free Direct Isa, you earn 2.1%

Three-year fix

NS&I has boosted the rate on its Green Savings Bonds to 4.2 per cent for three years  up from 3 per cent. You can earn a whisker more at Secure Trust and Close Brothers  both have a top rate of 4.25 per cent.

But there could be a tax sting in the tail when saving over 36 months with NS&I. All interest earned over the three years is added when the bond matures and all taxed in that year.

On 10,000, your total interest will amount to 1,313.60, meaning you bust your personal allowance of 1,000 as a basic-rate taxpayer or 500 as a higher-rate payer.

On most fixed-rate bonds, your interest is paid each year and you pay tax in the same year.

Sylvias Verdict: Look to see what other green providers, such as Triodos Bank UK and Ecology BS, have to offer.

sy.morris@dailymail.co.uk
US sanctions hindered rescue window for Syria: foreign ministry

(People's Daily App) 15:06, February 14, 2023

China on Monday urged the US government to put aside geopolitical scheming, lift its unilateral sanctions against Syria and stop creating artificial humanitarian disasters.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the remarks at a regular press briefing when asked to comment on the 180-day relaxation of US sanctions on transactions limited to the relief needs of the Syrian earthquake.

The US should immediately lift all the sanctions "instead of making a political show of temporary easing," Wang said.

"After the earthquake, the unilateral sanctions of the US directly hindered the golden 72-hour rescue period in Syria, which made the local disaster worse," he said.

For years the US has imposed military intervention and illegal unilateral sanctions on Syria, severely aggravating the economic crisis and weakening the government's ability to cope with disasters, the ministry spokesperson said.

"We urge the US government to put aside its geopolitical calculations, immediately lift all illegal unilateral sanctions against Syria and stop creating artificial humanitarian disasters," Wang said.

"As Syrian sources have said, the US is all about politics, not humanity," he said.

(Compiled by Yu Dian)

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Rescuers were working to reach people under the rubble in three provinces hit hard by the devastating quakes that hit Turkey and Syria last week.

The death toll from the magnitude 7.8 and 7.5 quakes that struck nine hours apart on February 6 in southeastern Turkey and northern Syria passed 35,000, and was certain to increase as search teams find more bodies.

Turkish television continued broadcasting rescues on Tuesday, as experts said the window to find survivors is closing.

In Adiyaman province, rescuers reached 18-year-old Muhammed Cafer Cetin, and medics gave him an IV with fluids before attempting a dangerous extraction from a building that crumbled further as rescuers were working.

Medics surrounded him to place a neck brace and he was on a stretcher with an oxygen mask, making it out to daylight on the 199th hour.

We are so happy, his uncle said.

Two others were rescued from one building that has been destroyed in central Kahramanmaras, near the epicentre, Tuesday some 198 hours after the quake.

Broadcaster Haberturk said one was 17-year-old Muhammed Enes, who was seen wrapped in a thermal blanket and carried on a stretcher to an ambulance.

Dozens of rescuers were working at the site and Turkish soldiers hugged and clapped after their rescue.

Rescuers then asked for quiet to continue looking for others and shouted can anyone hear me?

The health conditions of the rescued were unclear.

In extremely hard-hit Hatay, Sengul Abalioglu lost her old sister and four nephews.

It doesnt matter if dead or alive, we just want our corpses so that they at least have a grave and we bury them, she said as she waited in front of the rubble where her family could be.

They said last time they heard voices from the building was yesterday and complained that they started to search recently.

Also they said they wanted to have international press as she worries that if we leave, the pressure will vanish and the search will disappear

In Syria, President Bashar Assad agreed to open two new crossing points from Turkey to the countrys rebel-held northwest to deliver desperately needed aid and equipment to millions of earthquake victims, the United Nations announced Monday.

The crossings at Bab Al-Salam and Al Raee will be opened for an initial period of three months.

Until now, the UN has only been allowed to deliver aid to the Idlib area through a single crossing at Bab Al-Hawa.

The United Nations has been under intense pressure to get more aid and heavy equipment into Syrias rebel-held northwest since the earthquake struck a week ago, with survivors lacking the means to dig for other survivors and the death toll mounting.

The first Saudi aid plane, carrying 35 tons of food, landed in government-held Aleppo airport Tuesday morning, according to Syrian state media.

Saudi Arabia has raised some 50 million US dollars in a public campaign to aid Turkey and Syria.

Prior to Tuesday, Saudi planes landed in Turkey, with some of the aid also making its way into impoverished rebel-held northwestern Syria.

Several other Arab countries have sent planes loaded with aid to government-held Syria, including Jordan and Egypt, the United Arab Emirates.

Algeria, Iraq, Oman, Tunisia, Sudan and Libya have also delivered aid to Damascus.

Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said late Monday rescue work continued in Hatay province, along with Kahramanmaras, the epicentre, and Adiyaman.

Rescue work appears to have ended in the remaining seven provinces.

The quake affected 10 provinces in Turkey that are home to some 13.5 million people, as well as a large area in northwest Syria that is home to millions.

Quake survivors also face difficult conditions amid wrecked cities, with many sleeping outdoors in freezing weather.

Much of the regions water system is not working, and damage to the system raises risks of contamination.

Turkeys health minister said samples taken from dozens of points of the water system were microbiologically unfit, which highlights how precarious basic needs continue to be.

More than 41,500 buildings were destroyed or so damaged that they would have to be demolished, the Minister of Environment and Urbanisation.

There are bodies under those buildings and the number of missing remain unclear.

Many in Turkey blame faulty construction for the vast devastation, and authorities continued targeting contractors allegedly linked with buildings that collapsed.

Turkey has introduced construction codes that meet earthquake-engineering standards, but experts say the codes are rarely enforced.

The death toll in Turkey stood at 31,643 as of Monday.

Officials have decreased the frequency of death toll updates since the first week of the response, now releasing larger updates once or twice a day.

The toll in the northwestern rebel-held region has reached 2,166, according to the rescue group the White Helmets, while 1,414 people have died in government-held areas, according to the Syrian Health Ministry in Damascus.

The overall death toll in Syria stands at 3,580.
With just weeks to go until Tire Technology Expo, the tire industrys premier event, Tire Technology International editor Matt Ross selects his top 10 speaker highlights at the upcoming Tire Technology Expo Conference. The conference takes place alongside the exhibition, which will once again be staged in Hannover, Germany, on March 21, 22, 23, 2023. Click here to view the full program and book your conference pass here.

Lifecycle analysis, a holistic approach for tire design (Pierre Fraisse, vice president technical operations, Passenger Car and Light Truck Tires, Michelin, France)

MR: Its always worth hearing what the major tire makers are thinking when it comes to the trends affecting development of new technologies and designs, and Michelins recent unveiling of sustainable tire designs shows they are thinking long term about solutions. Pierre is a very knowledgeable speaker, having first joined Michelin in 1992, building his career mainly in research and development, working in various fields such as Tire FEA modeling, performance analysis and research and development for bicycle, motorcycle and passenger car tires.

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The state of scientific knowledge on tire and road wear particles (Domenico La Camera, research director, WBCSD Tire Industry Project, Switzerland)

MR: The scope of discussion of tire and road wear particles (TRWP) is beginning to catch up with the potential severity of the issue, so it will be good to hear the latest state of play regarding current and future investigations. The Tire Industry Project (TIP) has been supporting research into TRWP since 2005, examining the potential human health and environmental impacts of the particles generated as tires move over road surfaces.

Future tires for Mars exploration (Anke Blume, professor, University of Twente, Netherlands)

MR: I have been following Twentes research into tire development for extraterrestrial applications for several years, so Im looking forward to hearing the latest updates on Prof. Blumes work. Anke is an expert in her field, having assumed the role of chair of elastomer technology and engineering at the University of Twente in 2013.

How AI can enhance tire manufacturing (Dubravko Dolic, head of applied analytics and AI, Continental Tires, Germany)

MR: Artificial intelligence will have a profound impact not only on vehicles and their tire requirements, but on how the manufacturing industry will evolve too. Im looking forward to hearing the latest from Conti on how they see this trend developing. Dubravko will present examples of how AI is being used to enhance mixing, extrusion and final finishing.

Tire rolling resistance: lab versus real world (Stefan Koeppen, principal engineer, Goodyear, Luxembourg)

MR: A great opportunity to hear from a representative of one of the worlds largest tire makers about the delicate balance between controlled and real-world testing, particularly given the relevance of rolling resistance to modern tire design. Stefan was chairman of the ETRTO working group on rolling resistance from 2008 to 2018, contributing to tire labeling, RR implementation R117, EC Network of Reference Laboratories, VECTO, WLTP and others.

Latest developments in tires and simulation at Jaguar Land Rover (Jan Prins, technical specialist, Jaguar Land Rover; and Dr Martin Shaw (pictured), subject matter expert, Wheels & Tyres CAE, Jaguar Land Rover, UK)

MR: Its also nice to listen to the latest thoughts from the vehicle OEM side, which will offer a unique insight into the importance of tire development and the role of simulation. This presentation will include details on how tire data and simulation is used to ensure tires are sized to meet company targets and customer expectations.

Progress on the Bridgestone & Michelin initiative to increase use of rCB (Marco Musaio (pictured), director, end of life tire and circular economy, Bridgestone Europe, Italy; and Pierre Laurent, material research leader, Michelin, France)

MR: Ill be catching this update presentation on the combined work of these two tire makers to increase the use of rCB from end-of-life tires. This work looks set to be key to achieving sustainability targets across the tire industry.

Redefining the magic triangle for the EV era with case studies (Sandeep Moses Rabinder (pictured), divisional head  OEM product development engineer  R&D PV, Apollo Tyres, India; and Hitesh Joshi, head  PV R&D (Asia, Pacific, Middle East and Africa), Apollo Tyres, India)

MR: We all know how electric vehicle technology is shaking up the automotive landscape, and the tire industry is no different. This presentation promises to offer a tire makers insight into product development for EV applications.

How to protect your tire plant  cybersecurity solution examples (Christian Goldmann, head of horizontal management cybersecurity for digital industries/RC-DE, Siemens AG, Germany)

MR: We talk a lot about facilities of the future, but with increasing levels of connectivity comes increasing risk of compromise. Next-generation tire production plants need to protect themselves against security threats. Using lively and practical examples, Christian will explain the consequences when protection targets are not sufficiently considered, while also sharing some solutions.

Bicycle tires: A new test rig for indoor tests (Gabriele DellOrto, PhD candidate, Politecnico di Milano, Italy)

MR: One of the things we try to do in TTI is explore how technology is developing outside of passenger car applications, so Ill be catching Gabriele DellOrtos presentation on the latest testing techniques for bicycle tires. Gabriele started his PhD path in November 2020. His research activities focus on advanced testing devices for micromobility, developing a test rig specific for bicycle tires, for measuring mechanical characteristics, and deriving parameters for studying bicycle dynamics.

With more than 130 speakers, the tire manufacturing sectors leading conference (rates apply) draws together experts from across the globe. The conference is divided into 17 specialist streams across a full three days, with specific sessions dedicated to advanced tire analysis using the latest modeling, testing and simulation methods; improvements in the science of rubber compounding; machine learning and AI, connected tires, sensors and RFID; and IoT, digitalization, automation and Industry 4.0, as well as a global outlook highlighting key trends. Reserve your place, now.

The conference is held in conjunction with a series of highly focused short courses, including the University of Akron 52nd Tire Mechanics (which takes place over four days, beginning on Monday, March 20, the day before the expo opens); Tire Reinforcing Materials and Validation Methods; Tire Modeling and Simulation; and a course on RFID implementation, in collaboration with the RAIN Alliance. (Short course attendees can receive a discount if they first register for a conference pass.)
Arcadia Cold Selects Blue Yonder to Digitally Transform U.S. Cold Chain

With disruptions impacting every part of the supply chain, third-party logistics (3PL) providers must modernize to be prepared to meet evolving needs of their customers. That's why Arcadia Cold has chosen to partner with Blue Yonder, a leader in digital supply chain transformations and omni-channel commerce fulfillment. Arcadia Cold will implement Blue Yonder's warehouse management system (WMS), labor management, and warehouse tasking, all part of Luminate Logistics, to futureproof its warehouse and transportation operations. The project will be implemented by Netlogistik, a Blue Yonder technology partner.

Arcadia Cold specializes in providing third-party handling, storage, distribution, and value-added services to the food industry. In 2022, Arcadia Cold announced the launch of its platform to rapidly develop a national cold storage network of high-quality facilities across the U.S. with the aim to add approximately 200,000 pallet positions of refrigerated and frozen capacity to the existing third-party cold storage market as part of its initial launch. The company will open its first three new cold storage facilities in Fort Worth, Texas; Atlanta, Georgia; and Hazleton, Pennsylvania; during the summer of 2023, bringing the first 120,000 pallet positions to the U.S. market.









Arcadia Cold was pursuing a top-of-the-line technology solution for its newly launched national cold warehouse platform. Blue Yonder proved to be right supply chain solutions provider to help the company scale its business, based on Blue Yonder's leading-edge suite of solutions, award-winning experience, and the success of its innovative, AI-driven supply chain platform.

With Blue Yonder, Arcadia Cold will be able to deliver a superior customer experience with its ability to:

Scale operations as needed

Drive exceptional employee engagement, performance, and retention

Optimize task management with advanced algorithm and artificial intelligence (AI)

Leverage a vast API library to continue to gain competitive edges and drive unique business processes

"As a fast-emerging logistics company, we were seeking a supply chain solutions provider that could help us scale our operations and be a trusted advisor as our business grows. We felt Blue Yonder was the best fit as their logistics solutions are always ranked as a leader by industry analysts and, after a thorough review, determined they best met our business needs," said Chris Lafaire, CIO, Arcadia Cold.

Arcadia Cold will first deploy Blue Yonder's WMS, labor management, and warehouse tasking to fully digitize its warehouses and gain market-leading inbound and outbound visibility into shipments, as well as optimize operations and resource planning to ensure accuracy, timeliness, efficiency, and compliance. The company will also deploy Blue Yonder's transportation management system (TMS) functionalities including appointment scheduling and planning & execution capabilities into and out of its facilities.

"We are honored to have been chosen as the strategic partner for Arcadia Cold, our experience in strategy advisement and delivery services of the Blue Yonder Luminate Logistics suite allowed us to demonstrate to Arcadia Cold the value in capabilities, platform, and innovation provided by Blue Yonder," said Scott Zickert, managing partner, Netlogistik.

"Arcadia Cold is revolutionizing the 3PL space and looking to meet the U.S. food supply chain needs over the next few years, which is why we are excited to be working with them to help them realize their objective of providing a superior customer experience. Our logistics suite will also allow them to truly control the fulfillment process and dynamically scale based on customer needs to meet the future demands of their rapidly growing cold storage network," said Mark Nordick, senior vice president, Logistics, Blue Yonder.

Additional Resources:

About Arcadia Cold

Established in 2021, Arcadia specializes in providing third-party handling, storage, distribution, and value-added services to the food industry. Arcadia Cold bridges the innovation and supply gaps within the cold industrial industry in the United States through modern cold storage warehouse development expertise and proven operational "know-how." Its strategic development partnership with Saxum Real Estate offers a collaborative approach to the design-build and operation model that provides for efficient construction of fully temperature convertible buildings, coupled with modern supply chain technology innovations for its valued customers in the "New Age of Cold Chain." Learn more: www.arcadiacold.com

About Netlogistik

Netlogistik is a company that since 2000 has created a network of strategic alliances with leading suppliers in technological innovation for the supply chain, forming the most complete portfolio of logistics solutions in the market. It has offices in the United States, Colombia, Mexico, and Spain and has worked on supply chain solutions implementation projects in more than 30 countries. Its purpose is to help companies digitize their supply chains, from those that still perform manual processes, to those that have high levels of automation and always seek to be at the forefront.

Website: Netlogistik | Tecnologia para la cadena de suministro

About Blue Yonder

Blue Yonder is the world leader in digital supply chain transformations and omni-channel commerce fulfillment. Our end-to-end, cognitive business platform enables retailers, manufacturers, and logistics providers to best fulfill customer demand from planning through delivery. With Blue Yonder, you'll unify your data, supply chain, and retail commerce operations to unlock new business opportunities and drive automation, control, and orchestration to enable more profitable, sustainable business decisions. Blue Yonder - Fulfill your Potential blueyonder.com

"Blue Yonder" is a trademark or registered trademark of Blue Yonder Group, Inc. Any trade, product, or service name referenced in this document using the name "Blue Yonder" is a trademark and/or property of Blue Yonder Group, Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of the companies with which they are associated.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230214005407/en/
February 14, 2023





As healthcare providers shift from paper-based to electronic health records (EHRs), individuals need to understand the difference between security and privacy when protecting their sensitive health information. Expert Frances Abeton in Dublin, Ireland, will discuss what you need to know about security and privacy regarding your EHRs. First, lets define each term. After defining each term, we will go into more detail about how companies protect their patients confidentiality and information. So read on to learn more.







Security

Industry expert Frances Abeton says the security goal is to protect information from unauthorized access or use. Only authorized personnelsuch as physicians and other medical professionalshave access to patient data stored in EHRs. This requires a security system that includes firewalls, antivirus software, encryption technology, and regular backups of data.

Privacy

The goal of privacy is to protect personal information from being seen or shared without an individuals consent. Any sharing of protected health information (PHI) is also essential to comply with laws such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). This involves ensuring that only individuals who need access to PHI have it to provide care or services required by the patient. It also means giving patients control over their data by allowing them to view or change their records as needed.

Implications of Security and Privacy

Frances Abeton says security and privacy are essential in protecting individuals sensitive health information stored in EHRs. Without secure systems, hackers could potentially gain access to PHI stored electronically, putting patients privacy at risk. On the other hand, if there are not strong privacy measures in place, such as HIPAA compliance, then PHI could be shared without an individuals permission or knowledge, leading to severe consequences for the patient and provider involved.

For example, without proper security measures, a hacker might be able to steal someone's identity by obtaining the credit card numbers stored in their EHR. In contrast, without appropriate privacy measures, someone's confidential medical information could be shared without their knowledge, leading them vulnerable in various ways, such as identity theft or insurance fraud, or, worse still, a breach of confidentiality by someone they trust, like a medical provider! Thus, ensuring appropriate levels of security and privacy are maintained is essential for protecting individuals' sensitive health information stored electronically!

What Is Being Done to Protect Your EHRs?

Fortunately, expert healthcare providers are taking measures to ensure the security and privacy of patient records stored in EHRs. These measures include training medical staff on handling PHI appropriately, implementing access control systems that limit who can view or edit a patients data, and regularly monitoring systems for possible threats or breaches. Additionally, encryption technology helps protect data from being accessed or altered by unauthorized individuals.

By understanding the difference between security and privacy in EHRs, you can be sure that your sensitive health information is protected and secure. By working with healthcare providers to ensure appropriate measures are taken to safeguard your information, you can rest assured that your data is safe.

By increasing everyones knowledge and understanding of the importance of security and privacy in healthcare, we can all do our part to ensure that sensitive health information remains secure and private. Additionally, we as individuals must be aware of our rights regarding our health information and speak up if we have any concerns. These steps will help ensure that everyones sensitive health data stays safe and secure.

Frances Abeton says the more secure an EHR system is, the better it can protect patient privacy and prevent unauthorized access. By implementing strong security measures, healthcare providers can ensure that their patients data is secure and that their privacy is respected. With the proper security measures in place, healthcare providers can be confident that they are taking all necessary steps to protect patient data and provide quality care to those who need it.

At the same time, individuals should also understand their rights regarding their health information and ensure they are taking steps to protect it. By being aware of the potential risks, individuals can take proactive measures to safeguard their data and ensure that only authorized people have access to their information.

In summary, understanding the differences between security and privacy regarding your electronic health records is critical for protecting your sensitive health data from unauthorized access or use. Healthcare providers should ensure they have robust security and privacy systems so patients personal information remains safe. Additionally, patients should take steps such as familiarizing themselves with HIPAA regulations. Hence, they know what rights they have regarding their data and how it may be used by healthcare providers treating them. By taking these steps now, you can help keep your electronic health records secure and private now and into the future!
February 14, 2023





Harassment is a serious issue that has been around for centuries, and unfortunately, it still remains a problem in the modern world. Thankfully, today we have access to various technologies that can be used to prevent harassment and protect those who are at risk of being targeted by it. From services that allow you to lookup phone number for free to software that can detect inappropriate messages and alert authorities, technology has revolutionized the way we address harassment.









Using technology to prevent harassment can help reduce the number of cases by allowing people to stay informed and take action if they feel vulnerable. By utilizing services such as online resources and reporting tools, victims of harassment can quickly get help and support from a variety of sources.Technology also provides an extra layer of safety for those who are at risk of being targeted by predators or stalkers. For example, services like GPS tracking allow people to be monitored in real time so that their location is always known and they can be located quickly if necessary. Similarly, apps like SaferMe provide users with access to emergency contacts as well as alerts in case of potential danger.Technology allows us to stay informed about potential threats while providing us with tools for taking action when necessary. It also gives us the power to monitor our own behavior and keep ourselves safe from harms way.

How to Use Technology to Prevent Harassment

Technology can be used to prevent harassment in a variety of ways. One way is by using artificial intelligence (AI) to detect and flag inappropriate language or behavior. AI can be programmed to recognize certain words, phrases, or behaviors that are considered offensive or inappropriate and alert the appropriate authorities when they are detected. Technology can also be used to create anonymous reporting systems for victims of harassment. These systems allow victims to report incidents without fear of retribution from their harassers.



Technology can also be used to monitor online activity and identify potential threats before they become serious issues. By monitoring social media posts, emails, and other forms of communication, companies can quickly identify any potential problems before they escalate into something more serious. Technology can also be used to secure confidential data and prevent it from being accessed by unauthorized individuals. This helps to ensure that sensitive information is kept safe and secure, reducing the chances of it being used for malicious purposes.



It can be used to educate people about harassment prevention. Companies can use online resources such as videos, webinars, and tutorials to teach employees about acceptable behavior in the workplace. They can also use automated messages or emails to remind employees of their obligations under company policies regarding harassment. By educating employees on proper conduct in the workplace, companies can help create a more positive work environment where everyone feels respected and safe.

How artificial intelligence can help companies combat harassment

Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be used to help companies combat harassment in a variety of ways. AI-powered chatbots can be used to monitor conversations and detect any language that could be considered offensive or inappropriate. AI algorithms can also be used to analyze employee emails, text messages, and other forms of communication for signs of harassment.



AI-based facial recognition technology can be used to identify individuals who may have been involved in harassing behavior. This technology can also help companies track the frequency and severity of incidents over time. Similarly, AI-based sentiment analysis tools can help companies better understand how employees feel about their work environment by analyzing their conversations for signs of distress or dissatisfaction.



AI-based machine learning algorithms can also be used to automatically detect patterns in employee data that may indicate harassment. By analyzing employee activity logs, time off requests, and other sources of data, these algorithms can help companies identify potential issues before they become bigger problems.



Moreover, AI-powered virtual assistants can be used to provide employees with access to a range of resources and support services that can help them deal with any instances of harassment or bullying. These virtual assistants can also provide employees with advice on how to handle difficult situations and offer guidance on how to report incidents of harassment.

How can technology be used to identify and report instances of harassment?

Technology can be used to identify and report instances of harassment in a variety of ways. For example, companies can use artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor employee conversations for signs of inappropriate behavior or language. AI-powered chatbots can also be used to provide employees with an anonymous way to report incidents of harassment.



Companies can use facial recognition technology to detect instances of physical harassment or violence in the workplace. Companies can also leverage data analytics tools to analyze employee feedback surveys and other sources of data for patterns that may indicate potential issues with harassment in the workplace.



By using these technologies, employers can quickly identify and address any instances of harassment before they become more serious problems.

In conclusion, using technology to prevent harassment is a great way to help protect workers and ensure that everyone in the workplace feels safe and respected.
[February 14, 2023] AMTD IDEA Group's L'OFFICIEL Inc. SAS completed the recruitment of a full team of experienced professionals and local experts in Singapore and Malaysia, ready for a new and powerful launch in March 2023 under direct owner's model

After over a decade with a presence in Singapore and Malaysia through franchise licensees, L'OFFICIEL Inc. SAS, a subsidiary of AMTD IDEA Group (NYSE: AMTD; SGX: HKB), is relaunching the Singapore and Malaysia editions under the direct owner's model, with a wholistic global approach and more local contents and highlights emphasised. Following the acquisition of L'OFFICIEL by AMTD IDEA Group in April 2022, AMTD has since announced its ambitions to adopt a direct owner's model in major countries of the world. The new operations in Singapore and Malaysia are the start of AMTD-L'OFFICIEL's venture in the APAC region under the subsidiaries L'Officiel Singapore Pte. Ltd and L'Officiel Malaysia Sdn Bhd respectively and will reinforce our direct position as a regional hub, while continuing to foster our relationships with local franchisees for the rest of the Asia region, promoting greater values for the overall ecosystem under our one world's global approach and brand consistency. For both countries, L'OFFICIEL and L'OFFICIEL HOMMES will each follow a 10-issues-per-year structure, with the reach and influence of L'OFFICIEL in the ASEAN markets being further expanded through various supplementary titles and events focusing on areas including beauty and grooming, travel, gastronomy, accessories, and watches and jewellery. L'OFFICIEL's digital platforms will continue to play an integral part in the Brand's ecosystem, with L'OFFICIEL and L'OFFICIEL HOMMES having their own respective websites and social media channels widely opened to our fans and the public. On the expansion of L'OFFICIEL in the APAC region, the Global Chairman of L'OFFICIEL Inc. SAS - Dr. Calvin Choi, says: "The inclusion of L'OFFICIEL Singapore and Malaysia under the direct owner's model in AMTD's ecosystem means that we will be able to strengthen the position of both editions as a global fashion and luxury lifestyle media leader in the APAC region. I am delighted with the exciting new operating model alongside with the new hires of experienced local team, I am confident to realise many strategic synergies and generate added values in the increasingly interconnected and digitally-linked wold."



"Since the launches in Singapore and Malaysia more than a decade ago, L'OFFICIEL and L'OFFICIEL Hommes have proven to be a force to be reckoned with. Now, under AMTD, the growth momentum and expansion strategies have moved into an even higher gear for print, digital and events, while maintaining an engaging story-telling style that has served as the backbone for L'OFFICIEL from the very beginning." Dr. Feridun Hamdullahpur, Chairman of AMTD IDEA Group and board director of L'Officiel Inc. SAS. The Singapore and Malaysia offices will be helmed by Aileen Soh, who has taken on the role of the Managing Director of Southeast Asia for L'Officiel Singapore Pte. Ltd and L'Officiel Malaysia Sdn Bhd.

L'OFFICIEL and L'OFFICIEL HOMMES will officially relaunch in March 2023 in Singapore and Malaysia with English-language print magazines, and their respective digital platforms and social media channels. The core team members of L'Officiel Singapore and L'Officiel Malaysia are listed below: AILEEN SOH YEW MENG CHOO KELVIN TAN IAN LEE JOHN NG CALVIN CHONG About L'OFFICIEL L'OFFICIEL is a global leading media company built on a centennial brand legacy, based in Paris since 1921. Present in 80 countries, with 33 in-language international media, L'OFFICIEL is visible today by fashion enthusiasts worldwide through its extensive, omni-platform digital presence. Recognised as a leading luxury and fashion brand, L'OFFICIEL is an international reference for French style and pioneer in fashion, beauty, lifestyle, and contemporary society. L'OFFICIEL, led by AMTD IDEA Group, is part of the "AMTD Spider-Net," an interconnected network of key players in media, culture, education, and investment banking. About AMTD IDEA Group AMTD IDEA Group, formerly known as AMTD International Inc. (NYSE: AMTD; SGX: HKB) represents a premier Asia financial institution and digital solutions group connecting companies and investors from Asia, including China and Hong Kong as well as the ASEAN markets with global capital markets. Its comprehensive one-stop financial services plus digital solutions platform addresses different clients' diverse and inter-connected financial needs and digital requirements across all phases of their life cycles. Leveraging its deep roots in Asia and its unique eco-system - the "AMTD SpiderNet" - the Company is uniquely positioned as an active superconnector between clients, business partners, investee companies, and investors, connecting the East and the West. For more information, please visit www.amtdinc.com or follow us on Twitter at @AMTDGroup. Safe Harbor Statement This press release contains statements that may constitute "forward-looking" statements pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "aims," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "likely to," and similar statements. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the Company's beliefs, plans, and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in the Company's filings with the SEC. All information provided in this press release is as of the date of this press release, and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230214005639/en/

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[February 14, 2023] Delta Dental of Tennessee's Smile180 Foundation and Tennessee PBS KIDS Stations Launch "Have a Healthy Smile" Campaign

Delta Dental of Tennessee's charitable arm, the Smile180 Foundation, today announced the launch of a statewide oral health education campaign in partnership with PBS KIDS stations across Tennessee. The year-long "Have a Healthy Smile" campaign features a series of public service announcements (PSAs), local community events, and the release of a classroom curriculum, Healthy Smile Learning, designed to engage students across grades K-8 through a series of tailored lesson plans and videos. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230213005630/en/ "Oral health is essential to overall health, and teaching kids good habits at a young age sets them up for a lifetime of healthy smiles," said Dr. Phil Wenk, CEO of Delta Dental of Tennessee. "PBS is the leader in engaging, educational kids programming and a natural partner to help make oral health more approachable to children and families across Tennessee." The campaign kicked off with a reading of You Can Become a Doctor Too by Dr. Christina Rosenthal hosted by West TN PBS at Hollis Powell Elementary School in Jackson, Tennessee on January 25. You Can Become a Doctor Too tells the story of a young boy, Art, and his classmates who believe that becoming a doctor is impossible until they meet one at Career Day. Photos from the West TN PBS event at Hollis Powell Elementary School are available here. Dr. Rosenthal, a graduate of the University of Memphis and the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) College of Dentistry, founded a mentoring program, Determined to be a Doctor Someday (DDS), to encourage underrepresented students to pursue careers in healthcare. Inspired by her own journey, the DDS program exposes kids to career possibilities in healthcare in an engaging and age-appropriate format, with programs for kids ages 2-5 and ages 14-18. She is also a board member for the Smile180 Foundation. "It's a real honor to have You Can Become a Doctor Too featured in this campaign," said Dr. Rosenthal. "I founded Determined to be a Doctor Someday - and wrote this book - so that all kids, regardless of their background, see that a career in healthcare is possible," said Dr. Rosenthal. "With the support of Delta Dental, the Smile180 Foundation, and PBS, that message will now reach so many more kids across Tennessee." The "Have a Healthy Smile" campaign features three PSAs that will air on PBS stations across Tennessee throughout th year: Three Tips To A Healthy Smile, Are You Brushing Your Teeth Properly?, and How Food and Drinks Can Impact Your Smile. Each local Tennessee PBS KIDS station will also host a series of community events throughout the year. Highlights of each station's plans include:



East Tennessee PBS (WETP) will deliver the Healthy Smiles curriculum and resources to 500 children in local Title I elementary schools as well as 12 parent educators serving 100 families alongside the Knox Ed Foundation's Community Schools program and Knox County Parents as Teachers. "For over fifty years, East Tennessee PBS has been a trusted resource for educational material for kids by parents, teachers, and caregivers. We're thrilled to work with Delta Dental's Smile180 Foundation to provide this important health information in a fun and memorable way. It's a perfect partnership to ensure we focus on the whole child," said Vickie Lawson, President/CEO, East Tennessee PBS. PBS in Cookeville (WCTE) will host two open-to-the-public events over the summertime, inviting almost 5,000 teachers from more than 15 area schools to participate.

"Our summer reading events are going to be a great way to reach children in our community, get them excited about taking care of their teeth, and maybe even get them interested in a career as a dentist," said Sarah Savage, Education Coordinator, WCTE Cookeville. PBS in Chattanooga (WTCI) will host family and community learning events at local family centers and libraries in downtown Chattanooga throughout April and May 2023. These events will be structured around fun family activities focused on health and wellness, as well as early literacy and learning goals. "I enjoy seeing children smile especially when watching PBS Kids and WTCI Educational programs. Good oral hygiene and dental health are important to children and families. The messages created through the support of Delta Dental's Smile180 Foundation share wonderful practices for families," said Bob Culkeen, President/CEO, WTCI-PBS Chattanooga. PBS in Nashville (WNPT), through its LEARN TO READ program, will be hosting a series of workshops featuring Dr. Rosenthal's You Can Become a Doctor Too. Nashville Public Television (NPT) reaches out to 30+ schools in the Nashville area to bring these workshops to the city's youngest students. "Oral hygiene, just like reading, is essential to life. NPT's workshops can help our littles understand the importance of self-care as they grow," said Rosemary Brunton, Community Engagement Manager, Nashville Public Television. PBS in Memphis (WKNO) will host a series of meet and greets with "Teacher Teacher," a whimsical character who aims to let all children know that no matter who they are or where they come from, they are loved. "WKNO Channel 10 is intentional in creating opportunities to share the importance of positive oral health habits for families. Parents are encouraged to read books to their children concerning good dental hygiene even before a child has received the first tooth. It is never too early to teach children to appreciate and take care of their winning smile," said Teacher Teacher, a character created from the heart and soul of WKNO's Education & Outreach Manager, Felicia Peat. West TN PBS (WLJT) will continue to host readings of You Can Become a Doctor Too by Dr. Rosenthal, seeking to inspire more than 1,000 kids in rural West Tennessee to pursue careers in medicine - and encourage reading. West TN PBS is also attending local health fairs encouraging children to have healthy oral hygiene. "I am very excited to bring the importance of dental care to our area schools. The activity books and toothbrushes are an essential part of teaching children how to smile. We value our children and strive to continue to educate them through our PBS resources as well as others like The Smile 180 Foundation. The book, You Can Be a Doctor Too, is perfectly aligned with grade level students and spurred many questions about how long you would have to go to school to be a doctor or a dentist," said Jennifer Medford, Manager of Education and Community Engagement, West TN PBS. To access the "Have a Healthy Smile" PSAs, educational materials, and other resources in one place, visit the Delta Dental of Tennessee Kids Corner. For more information about the community events happening across the state, contact your local PBS KIDS station. To learn more about Delta Dental of Tennessee's charitable work, visit the Smile180 Foundation website. Delta Dental of Tennessee Delta Dental of Tennessee is the state's largest independent dental benefits carrier with 1.4 million lives covered. As part of the Delta Dental Plans Association, Delta Dental of Tennessee members have access to the largest dental network in the nation with more than 154,000 providers serving more than 443,000 locations. With the simple mission of ensuring healthy smiles, Delta Dental of Tennessee works hard to help members of the communities it serves. Along with its corporate foundation, Smile180, Delta Dental of Tennessee donated more than $5.4 million in funding and in-kind services to over 110 organizations in 2022. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230213005630/en/

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[February 13, 2023] FIBER NETWORK COUNCIL APAC signs MoU with MSCA - Malaysia

FIBERTalk 2023 sees a houseful attendance by the industry India's fiber penetration is only 3.3% and needs a lot of fiber to be deployed MUMBAI, India, Feb. 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- FIBER NETWORK COUNCIL APAC (earlier FTTH Council Asia-Pacific) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Malaysia Smart Cities Alliance at Malaysia (MSCA) today. The MoU entails collaborations in capacity building for sustainable and Smart Cities project performance evaluation, as well as exploring potential large market reach in IR 4.0 technologies-based education and training segments. The Council convened the country's leading telecommunication (telco) industry players at Malaysia FIBERTalk 2023 conference to discuss industry updates and address Fiber to Home challenges and opportunities in enabling 5G and Internet of Things (IoT) for Smart Cities. Along with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), responsible for regulating the industry, the event was attended by top executives from Telekom Malaysia, Celcom Digi and local governmentfrom Penang, Melaka and Selangor to discuss updates, trends, challenges and opportunities in the industry.



"Keeping the future global prospects and inclusiveness of the industry in mind, we have re-branded the council to FIBER NETWORK COUNCIL APAC to crystalize our message further and keep pace with the industry and forge a new growth path that will create a seamlessly connected future," said Mr. Venkatesan Babu, President FIBER NETWORK COUNCIL APAC on the MoU. Adding to it, Dr. Raslan Ahmad, Chairman of MSCA also said, "Next generation technology like 5G and IoT are a key part of developing Smart Cities that require a lot of sensors communicating with each behind the scenes. For this to be in real time with low latency internet, a fiber solution integrated within the city's infrastructure is essential. We are committed towards creating the best in quality and delighted that FIBER NETWORK COUNCIL APAC has taken the lead in championing an essential change for a truly smart global world of the future."

The MoU between FIBER NETWORK COUNCIL APAC and MSCA, will enable the former to leverage on the latter's network of members to collectively drive collaborations in the development of Smart Cities. This will involve frequent exchange of knowledge, expertise, technologies and know-how to provide sustainable long-term telecommunication solutions to develop Smart Cities. All the above announcements were part of the Malaysia FIBERTalk 2023. About FIBER NETWORK COUNCIL APAC This is a non-profit organization established in 2005 in Singapore. The organization is building on the success of its sister organizations in the US and Europe to educate the industry and the general public on the opportunities and benefits of Fiber Network solutions. The council members represent all areas of broadband industries, including telecommunications, computing, networking, system integration, engineering and content-provider companies, as well as traditional telecommunications service providers, utilities and municipalities. Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2000320/FIBERTalk_2023.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/in/news-releases/fiber-network-council-apac-signs-mou-with-msca---malaysia-301745706.html

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[February 14, 2023] Wafra Inc. Joins Novata General Partner Advisory Committee to Advance ESG in Private Markets

Novata, a leading ESG data management platform built for private markets, today announced that Wafra Inc. ("Wafra") is joining Novata's General Partner Advisory Committee (GPAC). Wafra is a global alternative investment manager that invests across a range of alternative assets, including private equity, real estate and real assets. Novata, a public benefit corporation backed by the Ford Foundation, Hamilton Lane, S&P Global and Omidyar Network, provides customers with a clear pathway for selecting ESG metrics, data collection into a secure database, and data insights and analytics tools to inform investment decisions. The Novata GPAC, a group of leading private investment firms committed to ESG, provides critical guidance and recommendations to the Novata ecosystem on a range of issues, including effective ESG measurement and benchmarking tools. Wafra is aligned with Novata in their mission to advance effective ESG data collection and monitoring in private markets. "At Wafra, we believe integrating material ESG considerations in our investment process helps to holistically manage financial risk and identify opportunities to create additional value for our clients," said Avantika Saisekar, Head of Sustainable Investing at Wafra. "We are pleased to join the Novata GPAC to support the development of consistent ESG monitoring practices and empower alternative investors to build long-term sustainable businesses." With mounting pressure from regulators, investors, customers, and employees to increae data transparency, Novata's platform, specifically tailored for private markets, is the simple first step for firms looking to tackle ESG data collection.



"We are pleased to welcome Wafra, an industry leader in ESG, to the Novata GPAC," said Alex Friedman, CEO and Co-Founder at Novata. "Operating with a long-term view is core to Wafra's business and aligns with Novata's mission to enable a more sustainable and inclusive form of capitalism." Learn more about Novata's GPAC here.

About Wafra Wafra is a global alternative investment manager with over $31 billion of assets under management. Wafra invests across a range of alternative assets, including private equity, real estate and real assets. By providing flexible and accretive capital solutions and focusing on the long-term partnerships, Wafra aligns and partners with global asset owners, companies and management teams. Headquartered in New York, Wafra has additional offices in London, Kuwait and Bermuda. For more information, please visit www.wafra.com. About Novata Novata is a public benefit corporation created to enable the private markets to achieve a more sustainable and inclusive form of capitalism. Novata helps private equity firms and private companies to navigate the complex ESG landscape more easily by providing a technology platform that simplifies the process of selecting reporting metrics, provides clear and simple guidance for painless data collection, hosts a cutting-edge secure contributory database to store data, and offers unique tools for analysis and seamless reporting to key stakeholders, including limited partners and regulators. Novata was formed as a partnership of the Ford Foundation, S&P Global, Hamilton Lane and Omidyar Network and is majority-controlled by mission-driven organizations and its employees. For more information, please visit https://www.novata.com/. Follow Novata on LinkedIn. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230214005386/en/

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[February 13, 2023] Cogeco Communications Announces Private Offering of $300 Million 5.299% Senior Secured Notes

/NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE U.S./ MONTREAL, Feb. 13, 2023 /CNW/ - Cogeco Communications Inc. (TSX: CCA) ("Cogeco Communications" or the "Corporation") announced today that it has priced an offering of $300 million aggregate principal amount of 5.299% senior secured notes due February 16, 2033 (the "Notes"). The Notes are being offered through an agency syndicate consisting of BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. and CIBC World Markets Inc., as joint bookrunners and co-lead managers, and including National Bank Financial Inc., as co-lead manager, and Scotia Capital Inc., Merrill Lynch Canada Inc., Desjardins Securities Inc., RBC Dominion Securities Inc., MUFG Securities (Canada), Ltd., TD Securities Inc. and Casgrain & Company Limited, as co-managers. The offering is expected to close on or about February 16, 2023, subject to customary closing conditions. Cogeco Communications intends to use the net proceeds of the offering to repay existing indebtedness and for other general corporate purposes. The Notes will be direct and unsubordinated secured debt obligations of Cogeco Communications and will rank equally and pari passu, with all other secured senior indebtedness of Cogeco Communications. The Notes have been assigned a provisional rating of "BBB (low)" from DBRS Limited (DBRS Morningstar) with a "Stable" trend and Cogeco Communications expects that the Notes will receive a rating of "BBB-" from Standard & Poor's Ratings Services. The Notes are being offered in Canada on a private placement basis in reliance upon exemptions from the prospectus requirements under applicable securities legislation. The Notes have not been and will not be qualified for sale to the public under applicable securities laws in Canada and, accordingly, any offer and sale of the Notes in Canada will be made on a basis which is exempt from the prospectus requirements of such securities laws. The Notes have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or the securities laws of any other jurisdiction, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration under, or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of, the U.S. Securities Act. Thispress release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities in any jurisdiction where it is unlawful to do so.



ABOUT COGECO COMMUNICATIONS INC. Rooted in the communities it serves, Cogeco Communications Inc. is a growing competitive force in the North American telecommunications sector with a legacy of more than 65 years. Through its business units Cogeco Connexion and Breezeline, Cogeco Communications provides Internet, video and phone services to 1.6 million residential and business customers in Quebec and Ontario in Canada as well as in thirteen states in the United States. Cogeco Communications Inc.'s subordinate voting shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: CCA)

Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements in this press release may constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of securities laws. Forward-looking information may relate to Cogeco Communications, future outlook and anticipated events, business, operations, financial performance, financial condition or results and, in some cases, can be identified by terminology such as "may"; "will"; "should"; "expect"; "plan"; "anticipate"; "believe"; "intend"; "estimate"; "predict"; "potential"; "continue"; "foresee", "ensure" or other similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. In particular, statements with respect to the Offering and the intended timing and completion thereof, and the expected use of the net proceeds of the Offering, and statements regarding Cogeco Communications' objectives and strategies are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on certain factors and assumptions including expected growth, results of operations, performance and business prospects and opportunities, which Cogeco Communications believes are reasonable as of the current date. While management considers these assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available to Cogeco Communications, they may prove to be incorrect. Forward-looking information is also subject to certain factors, including risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from what Cogeco Communications currently expects. These factors include risks such as competitive risks (changing competitive ecosystem, disruptive competitive strategies adopted by our competitors), business risks (including potential disruption to our supply chain caused by economic geopolitical instability resulting from the war in Ukraine and other contributing factors, increasing transportation lead times, scarcity and shortage of input materials and key telecommunication equipment and competition for limited resources), regulatory risks, technology risks (including cybersecurity), financial risks (including variations in currency and interest rates), economic conditions (including elevated inflation reaching historical highs pressuring revenue, due to reduced consumer spending, and increasing costs), human-caused and natural threats to our network (including increased frequency of extreme weather events with the potential to disrupt operations), infrastructure and systems, community acceptance risks, ethical behavior risks, ownership risks, litigation risks and public health and safety, many of which are beyond Cogeco Communications' control. Therefore, future events and results may vary significantly from what management currently foresees. For more exhaustive information on these risks and uncertainties, the reader should refer to the "Uncertainties and Main Risk Factors" sections of Cogeco Communications' 2022 annual MD&A and of the first quarter of fiscal 2023 MD&A. The closing of the Offering is subject to general market and other conditions and there can be no assurance that the Offering will be completed or that the terms of the Offering will not be modified. The reader should not place undue importance on forward-looking information and should not rely upon this information as of any other date. While management may elect to, Cogeco Communications is under no obligation and does not undertake to update or alter this information at any particular time, except as may be required by law. SOURCE Cogeco Communications Inc.

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[February 13, 2023] Resecurity: The Top Threat Management Solution Provider

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Resecurity, a Los Angeles-based cybersecurity provider protecting Fortune 500 globally, has cemented its place as one of the fastest-growing threat management service providers. The company has recently bagged several awards, announcing itself as the next big thing in the IT security world. Some of its accolades include "Gold Winner" in three of the most prestigious categories in the Cybersecurity Excellence Awards-Third Party Risk Management, Cyber Threat Intelligence, and Cyber Threat Management. The most significant addition to its trophy chest is featuring among the latest Frost and Sullivan "Global Threat Intelligence Platforms Market 2022" and "External Risk Mitigation & Management (ERMM)" categories. Moreover, GRC Outlook Magazine also listed Resecurity under the top 10 threat management solution providers of 2022 along with DarkTrace, Obsidian and Imperva (Formerly Prevoty). The justification for this latest recognition is Resecurity's innovative approach to cybersecurity and threat management supported by Human Intelligence (HUMINT) team for deep-dive investigation and threat intelligence research (Resecurity HUNTER). Resecurity has developed an all-in-one integrated platform for cyber threat intelligence, risk management, identity and endpoint protection. The technology leveraging Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) model wll accelerate an effective work of Security Operations Centers (SOC) and Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) teams to protect their enterprise ecosystem moving to Security by integrating essential components of Security Service Edge (SSE) and a scalable data lake containing a vast amount of actionable cyber threat intelligence data and related telemetry.



Resecurity also emphasizes the importance of actionable intelligence in combating cyber attacks. To this end, the Resecurity threat management offering provides businesses with valuable actor-centric intelligence from the Dark Web and the trends of the cybercrime underground economy. With the Resecurity, CISOs and their security teams will receive early-warning alerts about possible threats originating from cybercrime and espionage groups, data breach warning, exposed credentials, vulnerable services and other cyber risk indicators. Businesses can receive enterprise cybersecurity posture information from two components of Resecurity's threat management tool  the Cyber Risk Quantification (CRQ) and the Cyber Risk Assessment (CRA) apparatus. These components are SaaS-powered solutions accessible through Microsoft Azure, Amazon AWS, and Oracle Cloud that will aid businesses in making the right decisions in protecting their data treasure chests.

"Effective threat management is about knowing what your attack surface comprises, understanding where security gaps exist and what assets are most appealing to threat actors, and honing the ability to detect while ensuring a quick and effective response. Threat management is a framework and related set of practices that enable organizations to identify, assess, classify, and respond to threats and associated vulnerabilities, using proven remediation and mitigation techniques and best practices to reduce dwell time and minimize cyber risks faster and with more accuracy." - said Christian Lees, Chief Technology Officer (Resecurity, Inc.). "On top of it, Resecurity applies cutting-edge Data Science, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Machine Learning (ML), making the data actionable and the delivery  unparalleled and scalable. Resecurity solutions are SaaS-based and delivered via major cloud marketplaces including Amazon AWS, MSFT Azure, and Oracle Cloud." - he added. About Resecurity Resecurity is a cybersecurity company that delivers a unified platform for endpoint protection, risk management, and cyber threat intelligence. Known for providing best-of-breed data-driven intelligence solutions, Resecurity's services and platforms focus on early-warning identification of data breaches and comprehensive protection against cybersecurity risks. Founded in 2016, it has been globally recognized as one of the world's most innovative cybersecurity companies with the sole mission of enabling organizations to combat cyber threats regardless of how sophisticated they are. Most recently, Resecurity was named as one of the Top 10 fastest-growing private cybersecurity companies in Los Angeles, California by Inc. Magazine. An Official Member and a Gold Sponsor of InfraGard National Members Alliance (INMA), AFCEA, NDIA, SIA, FS-ISAC and the American Chamber of Commerce in Saudi Arabia (AmChamKSA), Singapore (AmChamSG), Korea (AmChamKorea), Mexico (AmChamMX), and UAE (AmChamDubai). To learn more about Resecurity, visit https://resecurity.com. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/resecurity-the-top-threat-management-solution-provider-301745838.html SOURCE Resecurity

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[February 14, 2023] Kyndryl and Nokia Expand Global Network and Edge Computing Alliance

Kyndryl (NYSE: KD), the world's largest IT infrastructure services provider, and Nokia (NYSE: NOK) the leader in state-of-the-art networking technology, today announced a three-year extension and expansion of their global network and edge computing partnership, with a focus on developing and delivering industry-leading LTE and 5G private wireless services and Industry 4.0 solutions to customers worldwide. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230213005684/en/ (Photo: Business Wire) Kyndryl and Nokia established their global network and edge computing alliance in February 2022. The partnership has since grown exponentially, with more than 100 active engagements with global enterprises, from advisory or testing, to piloting, to full implementation, across 24 countries. With a shared vision and commitment to help enterprise and mission critical infrastructure customers accelerate their digital transformations with leading-edge LTE and 5G private wireless networking, 90% of the current engagements are enterprises in the industrial manufacturing sector - including multinational petrochemical, mining and timber and utilities/energy companies. "As enterprises seek to accelerate and deliver on their journeys towards Industry 4.0 and digitalization, the effective integration and deployment of advanced LTE and 5G private wireless networking technologies becomes instrumental to integrate all enterprise operations in a seamless, reliable, efficient and built in a secure manner," says Alejandro Cadenas, Associate Vice President of Telco and Mobility Research at IDC. "This expanding, powerful relationship between Nokia and Kyndryl is a unique combination of vertical and horizontal capabilities, and offers IT, OT and business leaders access to the innovation, tools, and expert resources they need to digitally transform their operations. The partnership offers a compelling shared vision and execution that will enable customers across all industries and geographies to access the ingredients they need to deliver against the promise of digital acceleration, powered by network and edge computing." The expanded effort will be enhanced with Kyndryl's achievement of Nokia Digital Automation Cloud (DAC) Advanced accreditation status, which helps ensure that enterprise customers benefit from an expanded lineup of expert resources and skilled practitioners who have extensive training and deep understanding of Nokia products and solutions. In addition, customers will gain access to Kyndryl's accelerated network deployment capabilities and support of Nokia cellular radio expertise in selected markets. To meet the growing convergence and demands of IT and OT for enterprises, Kyndryl, Nokia, and Palo Alto Networks, a global cybersecurity leader, will launch a joint lab in Raleigh, North Carolina to bring reliable, and auditable wireless connectivity with advanced security capabilities to industrial networks. Through the collaboration, a multi-factor zero trust model for industrial networking is enabled at both the IT and OT sides of the network using the best tools and resources fro each of the companies. Kyndryl's network experts are developing an integrated system starting from the foundations of a typical Modbus process control network and extending access and security beyond the typical shop floor. Using the Nokia Digital Automation Cloud, private cellular connectivity will enable high mobility and extended reach of the network.



"Our partnership with Nokia has been focused on co-innovating and co-creating for customers to digitally transform their workspaces and operations," said Paul Savill, global practice leader of Network and Edge computing for Kyndryl. "The success we have seen in deploying private wireless for customers like Dow Chemical over the past 12-months, along with the global expansion of our collaboration, is a testament to our belief that we can jointly help companies drive Industry 4.0 transformation across all industries, with speed and scale." "Kyndryl and Nokia have a shared vision for digital transformation, and as leaders in our respective industries we are driven to grow this market together. We are excited to build upon our existing success and strengthen our alliance targeting more enterprise customers across multiple industries," said Chris Johnson, head of Nokia's Global Enterprise Business. "The two companies are currently exploring and developing new, integrated solutions and services for Edge, Cloud, IP networking, Optics, Fixed Access, 4G and 5G Core and Network Operations software technologies, which can address the growing demand for mission-critical, industrial-grade wireless networking."

To date, Kyndryl and Nokia have successfully implemented a private wireless network with edge computing for Dow Chemical, at their petrochemical processing plant in Freeport, TX. The modernization of the Dow Chemical plant with advanced connectivity has increased worker safety, enabled remote audio and video collaboration, and real time smart procedures. At Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2023, Kyndryl and Nokia will unveil new device management services at the Nokia partner arena (Booth #3A20/2A2), showcasing Kyndryl's auto-provisioning software leveraging Nokia's customizable enterprise mobile capabilities on Nokia's XR20 line of industrial-grade, ruggedized devices. The jointly-developed offerings will further enhance workplace mobility, and improve productivity, employee communication, and in industrial scenarios enhance overall worker safety. Together, Kyndryl and Nokia are addressing the collaboration and operational needs that contractors and operators face in the field today. Additionally, Gretchen Tinnerman, Vice President, US Network and Edge Practice Leader at Kyndryl will join Nokia CEO, Pekka Lundmark, onstage during his MWC keynote address taking place Tuesday, February 28, 12:00-13:00 CET at the Keynote Stage, Hall 4. Nokia has deployed mission-critical networks to more than 2,600 leading enterprise customers in the transport, energy, large enterprise, manufacturing, webscale, and public sector segments around the globe. It has also extended its footprint to more than 560 private wireless customers worldwide across an array of industrial sectors and has been cited by numerous industry analysts as the leading provider of private wireless networking worldwide. For more information on Kyndryl's Network and Edge Computing services, visit: https://www.kyndryl.com/us/en/services/network For more information on Kyndryl's Digital Workplace services, visit: https://www.kyndryl.com/us/en/services/digital-workplace About Kyndryl Kyndryl (NYSE: KD) is the world's largest IT infrastructure services provider serving thousands of enterprise customers in more than 60 countries. The Company designs, builds, manages and modernizes the complex, mission-critical information systems that the world depends on every day. For more information, visit www.kyndryl.com About Nokia At Nokia, we create technology that helps the world act together. As a trusted partner for critical networks, we are committed to innovation and technology leadership across mobile, fixed, and cloud networks. We create value with intellectual property and long-term research, led by the award-winning Nokia Bell Labs. Adhering to high standards of integrity and security, we help build the capabilities needed for a more productive, sustainable and inclusive world. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this press release, including statements concerning Kyndryl's plans, objectives, goals, future events, and other non-historical statements, including without limitation statements relating to the expected outcomes of Kyndryl's partnership with Nokia and collaboration with Nokia and Palo Alto Networks, are forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements often contain words such as "will," "plan," "expect," "intend," "target," "commit," "may," "should," "would," "could," "seek" and other similar words or expressions or the negative thereof or other variations thereon. Forward-looking statements are based on Kyndryl's current assumptions and beliefs regarding future performance. Actual results may differ materially from those suggested by forward-looking statements as a result of risks and uncertainties which include, among others: technological developments and Kyndryl's response to such developments; failure to meet growth and productivity objectives; competition; inability to attract and retain key personnel and other skilled employees; service delivery issues; and Kyndryl's ability to successfully manage acquisitions, alliances and dispositions, including integration challenges, failure to achieve objectives, the assumption of liabilities, and higher debt levels. Additional risks and uncertainties include, among others, those risks and uncertainties described in the "Risk Factors" section of Kyndryl's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, and may be further updated from time to time in Kyndryl's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any forward-looking statement in this press release speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Except as required by law, Kyndryl assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230213005684/en/

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[February 14, 2023] BNP Paribas Cardif and Lemonade Join Forces to Offer 100% Online Renters Insurance

Home insurance is an essential pillar among the personal protection solutions used by French consumers. To meet the expectations of customers, in particular younger generations, BNP Paribas Cardif is partnering with Lemonade to offer renters insurance. This B2C offer allows a simple and fluid client experience thanks to a 100% online policy subscription and claims submission process - all within seconds - on any device. Renters can buy an insurance policy online at cardif.fr or lemonade.com/fr and through the Lemonade app. The insurance policy includes standard coverage such as damage to personal belongings within the insured home (fire, break and enter theft, windstorms, water damage, etc.) and personal liability coverage (damage to the property rented, as well as injury or damage caused to others). The insurance also includes special coverages adapted to the French market and locals' needs: Coverage limits can be adjusted according to policyholders' needs, with a single deductible amount chosen by them to ensure maximum transparency and simplicity.

Coverage of personal items that have standalone value under 5,000, and the possibility to select extra coverage for high valuable items.

24/7 emergency assistance included.

Worldwide coverage of property taken outside the home (for travels lasting less than 3 months).

Add-on coverage against theft or glass breakage available for those who want extra protection.



"We are delighted to announce this collaboration with Lemonade, which is emblematic of our desire to continually innovate in forward-facing partnerships. We share a real commitment to combining the expertise of the two partners in order to facilitate access to insurance via digital channels while delivering top quality services for policyholders throughout the term of their insurance cover," says Fabrice Bagne, BNP Paribas Cardif Deputy Chief Executive Officer, France and Luxembourg.

"As a well-developed insurance market with millions of digitally-savvy renters, France continues to be an exciting opportunity and focus for us since launching in 2020. A renowned brand like BNP Paribas Cardif combined with Lemonade's instant and transparent approach to insurance brings the best of both worlds to French residents looking for a seamless way to protect their things," says Daniel Schreiber, co-CEO and co-founder of Lemonade. Risks are covered by both BNP Paribas Cardif and Lemonade, who act as co-insurers for this offer. About BNP Paribas Cardif

The world leader in bancassurance partnerships1 and creditor insurance2, BNP Paribas Cardif plays an essential role in the lives of its customers, providing them with savings and protection solutions that let them realize their goals while protecting themselves from unforeseen events. As a committed insurer, BNP Paribas Cardif works to have a positive impact on society and to make insurance more accessible. In a world that has been deeply transformed by the emergence of new uses and lifestyles, the company, a subsidiary of BNP Paribas, has a unique business model anchored in partnerships. It co-creates solutions with more than 500 partner distributors in a variety of sectors (including banks and financial institutions, automotive sector companies, retailers, telecommunications companies, energy companies among others), as well as financial advisors and brokers who market the products to their customers. With a presence in 33 countries and strong positions in three regions - Europe, Asia and Latin America - BNP Paribas Cardif is a global specialist in personal insurance and a major contributor to financing for the real economy. With nearly 8,000 employees worldwide, BNP Paribas Cardif had gross written premiums of 32.6 billion in 2021.

Follow the latest news about BNP Paribas Cardif on Twitter @bnpp_cardif.

1Source : Finaccord - 2018

2Source : Finaccord - 2021 About Lemonade

Lemonade offers renters, homeowners, car, pet, and life insurance. Powered by artificial intelligence and social impact, Lemonade's full stack insurance carriers in the US and the EU replace bureaucracy with bots and machine learning, aiming for zero paperwork and instant everything. A Certified B Corp, Lemonade gives unused premiums to nonprofits selected by its community, during its annual Giveback. Lemonade is currently available in the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, France, and the UK, and continues to expand globally. Follow @lemonade_inc on Twitter for updates. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230214005356/en/

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[February 14, 2023] EcoFlow Launches RIVER 2 Pro in Europe, Bringing Big Power in a Small Package

The 768Wh portable power station comes with fast charging capability and a 10-year lifespan. DUSSELDORF, Germany, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- EcoFlow, a portable power and eco-friendly energy solutions company, today released the RIVER 2 Pro portable power station in European Markets. As the highest capacity model in the RIVER 2 Series of best-in-class entry-level power stations, RIVER 2 Pro delivers a guaranteed basic power supply enhanced by EcoFlow's X-Stream fast-charge technology. Starting today, RIVER 2 Pro is available in Europe on EcoFlow's official webstores, the brand's Amazon store and local distributors for 799 (749). Users can also bundle RIVER 2 Pro with compatible EcoFlow solar panels for a sustainable way to meet their energy needs. Moreover, from Feb 14th to 20th, users who purchase RIVER 2 Pro or its bundle on the brand's official webstore will receive a doubled amount of EcoCredits, which can be redeemed as coupons. "As energy insecurity continues to grow in Europe, RIVER 2 Pro ensures our European users have access to a reliable basic level of power wherever and whenever they should need it." said Bruce Wang, CEO of EcoFlow. "It offers grab-and-go power not only for unexpected emergencies, but also for spontaneous adventures, reinforcing EcoFlow's commitment to making life better through meaningful innovation." Industry-leading Charging Speed and Flexible Charging Methods With EcoFlow's X-Stream technology, RIVER 2 Pro can be fully recharged by wall sockets from 0 to 100% in just 70 minutes, fiv times faster than the industry average. As a result, during extended outages, users can quickly charge to sufficient power levels when the electricity supply temporarily restores, or power unplanned day trips even at the last minute.



In addition to wall outlet charging, RIVER 2 Pro also supports car charging, USB-C charging and solar charging. With a maximum 220W solar input, RIVER 2 Pro can be fully topped up via solar panel in as little as four hours, providing clean, sustainable energy when blackouts hit or during outdoor activities. 10 Years of Reliable Power

Equipped with advanced LiFePO4 (LFP) batteries that can operate under extreme temperatures, RIVER 2 Pro possesses a lifespan of 3,000 cycles, six times longer than the industry average of 500 cycles. As a result, RIVER 2 Pro can provide reliable energy for approximately 10 years if used one cycle per day. Along with RIVER 2 and RIVER 2 Max, RIVER 2 Pro received TUV Rheinland's 'Reliable Charger' certification, becoming the industry's first portable power station to be certified by the global leader in independent testing, inspection, and certification services. Users can find peace of mind in the knowledge that RIVER 2 Pro has passed all of TUV Rheinland's rigorous safety testing procedures. Power 80% of High-wattage Home Appliances With a maximum AC output of 800W, RIVER 2 Pro can run devices of up to 1600W with EcoFlow's X-Boost mode on, sufficient for 80% of heavy-duty appliances like hair dryers, microwaves and electric kettles. Covering all essential appliances, RIVER 2 Pro provides an ideal portable energy source whether it's needed during a blackout or in the great outdoors. For more information, please visit EcoFlow's websites: United Kingdom: uk.ecoflow.com

France: fr.ecoflow.com

Germany: de.ecoflow.com

Italy: it.ecoflow.com

Spain: es.ecoflow.com

Other European countries: eu.ecoflow.com About EcoFlow EcoFlow is a leading eco-friendly energy solutions company with the vision to power a new world. Since its founding in 2017, EcoFlow's mission is to reinvent the way individuals and families access energy by providing reliable, accessible and renewable power solutions. Today, EcoFlow has operational headquarters in the United States, Germany and Japan, with more than 2 million users in over 100 markets worldwide. In Europe, EcoFlow's products are now available in all 44 countries and regions, supported by a network of over 800 local retailers. Contact Franko Fischer

EcoFlow Communications Director, Germany

[email protected] Donna Ding

EcoFlow Communications Manager, Europe

[email protected] Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1999975/image_1.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/ecoflow-launches-river-2-pro-in-europe-bringing-big-power-in-a-small-package-301745999.html

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[February 14, 2023] Leading finance juggernaut, Kelly Mathieson, to join AI-disruptor Jaid as Board member

NEW YORK and LONDON, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Jaid is thrilled to announce that Kelly Mathieson has joined its Board as a Director of the London-based AI-technology disruptor. Mathieson's unique combination of entrepreneurial and corporate experience, and strategic mindset, will help usher in a new era for Jaid as the company expands its AI-capabilities. This appointment follows Jaid's recent 3 million raise in December. Throughout her career in trading, clearing, collateral management, custody and securities lending, Mathieson has been a champion of women in traditionally male-dominated spaces. She is a well-known technology trailblazer, leading the dialogue at events all over the world. More recently, Mathieson was named as Global Custodian's North America Industry Person of the Year and has previously written for expert-publications such as The American Banker. This appointment re-unites Mathieson and Dan Kramer, Jaid CEO. They have a history of building highly regarded, groundbreaking solutions that are uniquely servicing clients within the financial and technology industries across global markets. Mathieson joins a board chaired by Ken Tregidgo and fellow directors, Gareth Burchell, Paul James, and Dan Kramer.



Kelly Mathieson commented: "In 2023's challenging economic conditions, it is critical that technology businesses align to missions and initiatives that deliver real results - to not only talk the talk but walk the walk. At Jaid, the team are doing both - elevating understanding of the power of AI and applying its technology to solving day-to-day challenges across businesses, reducing operational costs and enabling more timely and informed decisions. Jaid's leadership, directed by Dan, is an exceptional, diverse team of top talent from around the world, and I am eager to support and build on their many accomplishments. I am proud to be joining Jaid's Board and am excited to see what the next twelve months bring". Dan Kramer, Jaid CEO commented: "Kelly has been a great advisor of mine for many years, and we are beyond thrilled that Kelly is joining us on our mission to give businesses the best possible chance of succeeding through AI-powered intelligent business communication services. The insight Kelly has from her own time as an entrepreneur and extensive experience and expertise running both the Collateral and Custody businesses at JP Morgan push Jaid into the next stage of its evolution".

About Jaid Jaid is a modern Al-powered automation platform that extracts critical data from all company and customer communications across all channels. It analyzes and organizes the data into meaningful, actionable insights and seamlessly integrates with existing systems and workflows. By freeing employees from repetitive tasks, Jaid increases productivity and operational efficiency, while enhancing customer experience and improving employee engagement. The company has offices in London and New York, supporting a rapidly expanding roster of financial services clients, including ClearBank, Syndio, Calastone, and Legal & General, and has established a strong partner network. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/leading-finance-juggernaut-kelly-mathieson-to-join-ai-disruptor-jaid-as-board-member-301745644.html

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[February 14, 2023] Cboe Europe Derivatives to Expand into pan-European Single Stock Options

AMSTERDAM and LONDON, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Cboe Global Markets Inc. (Cboe: CBOE) today announces that Cboe Europe Derivatives (CEDX), its pan-European equity derivatives exchange, is planning to expand its product suite to include single stock options on leading European companies. These products are expected to be available for trading in November 2023 and cleared by Cboe Clear Europe, the leading pan-European clearing house, subject to the necessary regulatory approvals. CEDX is initially planning to offer equity options on companies from 10 European countries (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden). Options on stocks from additional European countries are expected to be introduced starting from February 2024, subject to regulatory approvals. CEDX's expansion into equity options will make it one of Europe's most comprehensive equity derivatives exchanges, providing exposure to pan-European equities through single name and index derivatives via a single marketplace. In addition to offering market participants significant operational efficiencies through its pan-European approach, CEDX has also brought to Europe a transparent, on-screen market structure - similar to that utilised in the US - to help attract new participants of all types and grow the region's derivatives markets overall. Iouri Saroukhanov, Head of European Derivatives, Cboe Europe, said: "The addition of single stock options is a key component of our ultimate vision for CEDX and we believe it will accelerate the momentum behind our aim of creating the most complete pan-European equity derivatives ecosystem. We have received strong interest from participants in bringing these products to market, from both the institutional and retail communities, who share Cboe's desire to expand access to derivatives more widely. We believe the combination of CEDX's equity derivatives marketplace and Cboe Europe's highly successful stock exchange - which is the region's largest by market share  creates a powerful and unique proposition for participants wishing to gain exposure to pan-European equities in a transparent and cost-effective way. As one of the leading US equity options marketplaces, this move also demonstrates Cboe's ambition to become the leading global securities and derivatives trading network, by replicating its successful products and market constructs in new regions." Along with CEDX's existing index derivatives, these new products are expected to clear into Cboe Clear Europe, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cboe and the region's largest cash equity clearing house. This offers participants the ability to clear pan-European cash equities and equity derivatives at a single clearing house  allowing for greater operational efficiencies and the optimisation of collateral held against equity derivatives through portfolio margining, subject to regulatory approvals. Arnoud Siegmann, Interim President and Chief Operating Officer of Cboe Clear Europe, said: "We are delighted to be supporting CEDX's continued expansion and extending our capabilities to clear single stock options. CEDX is already demonstrating its potential and Cboe Clear Europe is excited by the opportunity to provide meaningful cost savings to participants by offering the ability to clear pan-European cash equities and equity derivatives at a single provider." CEDX launched in September 2021, initially offering trading in futures and options based on key Cboe Europe single country and pan-European indices. These indices, which are all calculated using Cboe market data, are transparently designed and managed under the same set of rules and perform closely in line with comparable benchmarks. The exchange has been designed to promote deep and liquid on-screen markets and is already bringing greater transparency and efficiencies to the region's derivatives markets. In January 2023, CEDX traded 3,824 contracts, a record monthly figure and beating the previous high of 3,647 contracts in December 2022. Additional information about CEDX's single stock products is available here. About Cboe Global Markets, Inc. Cboe Global Markets (Cboe: CBOE), a leading provider of market infrastructure and tradable products, delivers cutting-edge trading, clearing and investment solutions to market participants around the world. The company is committed to operating a trusted, inclusive global marketplace, providing leading products, technology and data solutions that enable participants to define a sustainable financial future. Cboe provides trading solutions and products in multiple asset classes, including equities, derivatives, FX and digital assets, across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. To learn more, visit www.cboe.com.







Media Contacts

Analyst Contact







Tim Cave Angela Tu

Kenneth Hill, CFA +44 (0) 7593 506 719 +1-646-856-8734

+1-312-786-7559 [email protected] [email protected]

[email protected]

CBOE-EE

CBOE-C

CBOE-OE Cboe, Cboe Volatility Index, VIX and Cboe Global Markets are registered trademarks of Cboe Exchange, Inc. All other trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners. Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward-Looking Information Certain information contained in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements. We caution readers not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cboe-europe-derivatives-to-expand-into-pan-european-single-stock-options-301746108.html SOURCE Cboe Global Markets, Inc.

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[February 14, 2023] International Share Trading Platform Moomoo Reveals Investors Were More Cautious in Approach to Investing in 2022

SYDNEY, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- A new product report by international share trading platform moomoo reveals its 10 most used features in 2022, among which include the app's Earnings Calendar and Paper Trading tools. The product report is conducted annually to evaluate changing global investor behaviours and uses data from moomoo's Australia, US and Singapore users. The latest report suggests that moomoo users were more cautious when selecting which shares to buy than they were in previous years. Moomoo Global Product Manager Shine Deng says the 2022 report shows a significant shift in investors' risk tolerance. "In 2021, fast growing companies and emerging industries were highly sought after, however in 2022 investors were more interested in seeking out companies with ample cash flow and stable operational performances," Deng said. "We also saw investors use tools to assist with decision making more frequently in 2022, suggesting they were more cautious in their approach to investing in 2022's bear market than previous years." Top 10 Platform Features  moomoo users (Australia, US and Singapore) Earnings calendar

Industrial chain

Paper Trading

Heat Map

Study guides

Line Drawings

Institutional Tracking

Stock Screener

Stock profile and financials

Options trading (currently not available in Australia )



Sera McKenna , a moomoo Australia user and full-time mum of four, recommends novice investors use the tools available on the app to help them map out their investment strategy. Using moomoo's Industrial Chain and Earnings Calendar features, Sera discovered a connection between rising EV companies and the Australian mining industry.

"Don't forget the big guys behind the finished products," McKenna said. "When everyone is driving electric vehicles, hopefully I have learned and invested enough in the right companies, as we all know the industry is going to explode. I want to build something up for my children." Being a customer-focused online trading platform, moomoo is devoted to empowering investors of all kinds to trade like a pro. The report summarizes 20 cases studies that demonstrates how various users leverage the key moomoo features, as well as what they have learned from their past investing experience. You can see the full user report and find more Mooer stories:

https://ussnsfile.moomoo.com/777770041676359560/mooer%20stories%20behind%2010%20star%20product%20features.pdf About moomoo AU Based in Sydney, NSW, Australia, Futu Securities (Australia) Ltd is an indirect and wholly-owned subsidiary of Futu Holdings Ltd, an advanced technology company transforming the investing experience by offering a fully digitized brokerage and wealth management platform. Moomoo's mission is to provide all investors with an intuitive and powerful investing platform, built with proprietary technology. We leverage our deep technological R&D capabilities and future-focused operating model to constantly improve our clients' experience and drive industry-wide innovation. Securities services available on the moomoo App are offered by but not limited to the following brokerage firms: Futu Securities (Australia) Ltd regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC); Moomoo Financial Inc. regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Moomoo Financial Singapore Pte. Ltd. regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), and Futu Securities International (Hong Kong) Ltd. regulated by the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong (SFC). Moomoo Financial Inc. is a member of the U.S. Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC). The SIPC provides limited protection over an investor's U.S. securities and cash when a member brokerage firm is to be liquidated. SIPC does not protect against losses due to market volatility. Contact: [email protected] SOURCE Futu Securities (Australia) Ltd.

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[February 14, 2023] OnePlus APAC expansion continues with the introduction of the new flagship OnePlus 11 5G and OnePlus Buds Pro 2 in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The global technology brand, OnePlus, continues its brand expansion in the APAC region by launching the new flagships, OnePlus 11 5G and OnePlus Buds Pro 2, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia today. The launch is part of the extensive brand expansion put into gear by OnePlus to have greater product offerings to consumers and shape the landscape for the smartphone and technology industry across the APAC region. The new flagship, the OnePlus 11 5G, embodies the tagline Shape of Power, with its elegant design paired with an impressive specs sheet. Along with the OnePlus Buds Pro 2, the two are the perfect combo for anyone looking for elegance and performance. Emily Dai, Head of OnePlus APAC shared, "The OnePlus spirit of Never Settle is at the core of our business plan to expand the brand around the APAC region. From our flagship journey that started in 2013, we have made strides and leaps in cementing ourselves in the region  we always push beyond our limits and never stop improving. With this latest launch in Malaysia, we are reaffirming our presence and brand promise in APAC for our fans and customers." "OnePlus remains dedicated to creating a seamless digital lifestyle for everyone. We are already heading in that direction by providing smartphones and other products with flagship performance, premium quality, OnePlus signature fast and smooth experience, expanded customer service, and competitive pricing. This is part of our belief that we should make technology accessible to everyone and anyone, regardless of where they are and where they come from. We are confident that this new flagship range will continue to impress consumers in the region," Emily added. Te OnePlus 11 5G perfectly exemplifies the brand's ethos. The premium design and finish, combined with a high-performance specs sheet, give customers a choice to stand out in the crowd without losing the affordability that OnePlus is famous for. The OnePlus Buds Pro 2, designed in a similar vein as the OnePlus 11 5G, also combines high performance  via the collaboration with Dynaudio  as well as a premium feel and build, ensuring that it is the perfect companion for the OnePlus 11 5G and sound aficionados.



When considering how to create and elevate high-quality products continuously, OnePlus strives to join forces with the industry's leading partners, such as Hasselblad, Hans Zimmer, Google and Dynaudio, to name a few, to provide consumers with the products and technologies they deserve. The announcement of Jackson Wang as the first OnePlus APAC Smartphone Ambassador was also made last week, and with the joining of these leading brand partners and an ambassador, OnePlus believe that the premium and high-quality products can promote their business in the market and benefit people's lives. "Since the last generation's flagship OnePlus 10T's launch, we have had great achievements. In Malaysia, the OnePlus 10T 5G was ranked No.1 on both Shopee and Lazada after two days of first sale among android smartphones by gross merchandise volume (GMV) and units sold above the RM3000 category. With similar achievements in the other APAC markets, OnePlus will continue to build our business in the APAC region, starting with customer service centres with the launch of the OnePlus 11 5G in Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru. We are confident that OnePlus will be the brand to be reckoned with!" Emily shared further.

Pricing and Availability The OnePlus 11 5G retails at: Titan Black (8GB/256GB): RM3,299

Eternal Green (16GB/512GB): RM3,599 Enjoy these special promotions when you pre-order from 16 February (10:00 am) until 24 February: Free Buds Pro 2

Free OnePlus 11 5G Bumper Case Sandstone

Free 1-year Extended Warranty

Free 1-year Screen Protection

Chance to participate in the lucky draw

Jackson Wang postcard For the first sale which will start from 25 February until 3 March, Malaysians will also enjoy: Buds Pro 2 PWP RM200 discount

Free OnePlus 11 5G Bumper Case Sandstone

Free 1-year Extended Warranty

Free 1-year Screen Protection

Chance to participate in the lucky draw

Jackson Wang postcard Please log on to www.oneplus.com/my/oneplus-11 , Shopee - http://bit.ly/3jYgFa7 , Lazada - http://bit.ly/3Klg9Oz and go to OnePlus Official Retail Stores to check out the new OnePlus 11 5G. For more information, visit OnePlus' official website, OnePlus Community, or check out @ oneplus.msia and @oneplusmys . SOURCE OnePlus APAC

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[February 14, 2023] Solar Ship To Launch Arctic-Africa Scholarship Fund

Today, Solar Ship announced it will create a scholarship for Arctic partners to travel to Africa and learn how to operate electric airships. Solar Ship Inc., a world leader in solar electric airships, sponsors a training program with a focus on adjusting to climate change. Solar Ship's Vice President of Africa Markets, Godbless Jonathan Lema: "When I was forced to leave Tanzania under threat of violence and political persecution, I had the privilege of moving to Canada. Upon arrival, I approached Solar Ship as a partner. Solar Ship embraced my ideas for a Canada-Africa collaboration, working with Indigenous cultures to overcome the challenges of climate change. The shocking thing, as a Tanzanian coming to Canada, was to see the situation with Indigenous people. Growing up in Tanzania, we held Canada up as the greatest country in the world for quality of life. t broke my heart to see the challenges faced by Indigenous people. In response, I am announcing the creation of a scholarship fund inviting Northern communities to work with African communities to save lives, protect ecosystems and shift to the sustainable electric economy.



I want to say thanks to Canada for inviting me and my family to come to this beautiful country. It took me some time to learn what Canada does well and where I, as an entrepreneur and philanthropist, can contribute to Canada. We are so advanced in aerospace and electric technologies in Canada. But many Canadians are in pain. I say to my Indigenous brothers and sisters - brainpower is your greatest natural resource. We Africans will learn to master the technologies of the future with you and together we will become the brokers of hope for the next generation." Solar Ship's CEO, Jay Godsall: "I would like to thank Mr. Lema for leading this initiative. Solar Ship has been working with Indigenous communities since our inception and this represents a great step in advancing our goals for investing in Indigenous brainpower."

ABOUT SOLAR SHIP

Solar Ship Inc. is a Canadian company with its head office in Toronto and affiliate companies throughout Africa. Solar Ship develops electric airships to provide transport for remote regions. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230214005157/en/

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[February 14, 2023] Maxar Secures Dedicated Access to Umbra's SAR Constellation, Creating the Geospatial Industry's Most Advanced Multisource Intelligence Solution

Maxar Technologies (NYSE:MAXR) (TSX:MAXR), provider of comprehensive space solutions and secure, precise, geospatial intelligence, and Umbra, a technology company, today announced an agreement to provide Maxar with dedicated capacity from satellites in Umbra's synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery constellation, making that data available in Maxar's portfolio of Earth Intelligence products and services. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230214005274/en/ Singapore National Stadium is shown in an Umbra Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) image on the left and a Maxar WorldView-3 satellite image on the right. (Credit: Maxar Technologies and Umbra) The combined offering, which is expected to be available starting in Q2 2023 and be fully integrated by 2024, will represent the most advanced multisource geospatial intelligence solution for a wide range of government and commercial missions. Maxar will provide customers with assured access to the highest resolution commercially available Earth observation data taken day and night and in all weather conditions. This capability will also augment the high-revisit capabilities of WorldView Legion, Maxar's next generation satellite constellation, enabling customers to see change in near real-time. "Maxar and Umbra are breaking new ground for the geospatial intelligence industry with this multisource offering-though optical and SAR imagery are highly complementary, collection management across these sources has historically been siloed," said Dan Jablonsky, Maxar's President and Chief Executive Officer. "By integrating dedicated capacity from Umbra satellites into our secure ground infrastructure, we can help our Access customers derive real-time insights from the highest resolution electro-optical and SAR data in the industry. Once combined with Maxar's best-in-class geospatial analytics capabilities, this data will help customers more easily acheve mission success, particularly for defense missions."



Maxar and Umbra have complementary capabilities that enable the delivery of the most advanced commercially available SAR data. Umbra's SAR satellites can see through clouds, smoke and total darkness with industry-leading resolution, licensed down to 13 cm. Maxar will leverage decades of SAR processing expertise, as well as its own high-resolution optical imagery and 3D datasets, to further enhance the original SAR data and deliver more actionable insights. "We are thrilled to partner with Maxar and integrate our industry-leading SAR data into their platform. Maxar is a world-renowned Earth Intelligence provider, so for Umbra to be chosen as their first ever SAR dedicated access partner is a huge vote of confidence both for Umbra and for the overall value that SAR data brings to customers," said David Langan, Umbra's Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer.

"This agreement will energize commercial SAR utilization world-wide and will support Umbra's ambitions of building and growing a robust commercial business case," said Gabe Dominocielo, Umbra's Co-Founder and President. Umbra's SAR data will first be integrated into Maxar's Rapid Access Program (RAP) platform, which provides customers with a secure web interface to virtually task Maxar's high-resolution satellites through on-demand access windows. To learn more about the new combined SAR offering, visit https://www.maxar.com/products/radar-imagery. About Maxar Maxar Technologies (NYSE:MAXR) (TSX:MAXR) is a provider of comprehensive space solutions and secure, precise, geospatial intelligence. We deliver disruptive value to government and commercial customers to help them monitor, understand and navigate our changing planet; deliver global broadband communications; and explore and advance the use of space. Our unique approach combines decades of deep mission understanding and a proven commercial and defense foundation to deploy solutions and deliver insights with unrivaled speed, scale and cost-effectiveness. Maxar's 4,400 team members in over 20 global locations are inspired to harness the potential of space to help our customers create a better world. Maxar trades on the New York Stock Exchange and Toronto Stock Exchange as MAXR. For more information, visit www.maxar.com. About Umbra Umbra is a technology company that offers Earth intelligence data as a service to both commercial and government customers. Our cutting-edge products help customers solve complex business and security challenges. Umbra is a U.S. owned and operated company headquartered in Santa Barbara, California, and has a presence in Austin, and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit https://umbra.space. Forward-Looking Statements This press release may contain forward-looking statements that reflect management's current expectations, assumptions and estimates of future performance and economic conditions. Any such forward-looking statements are made in reliance upon the safe harbor provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results and future trends to differ materially from those matters expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements, including those included in the Company's filings with U.S. securities and Canadian regulatory authorities. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, other than as may be required under applicable securities law. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230214005274/en/

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[February 14, 2023] Derivita Announces New Partnership with the Utah STEM Action Center

SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Derivita (www.derivita.com) is proud to announce a new partnership with the Utah STEM Action Center as an approved vendor for their K-12 Personalized Math Software Grant. The five-year grant program is open to public educational institutions and their school and district-level administrators. The grant application for the 2023-2024 school year opened on February 1, 2023, and will close on March 31, 2023. The K-12 Personalized Math Software Grant program provides Utah schools and districts with access to a selection of math software designed to improve student outcomes in mathematics. The programs selected by the STEM Action Center were carefully evaluated to deliver a high-quality, cost-effective solution focused on improving student achievement. Derivita received the highest rating of all providers based on mandatory requirements, technical criteria, and cost. The STEM Action Center and Derivita's shared goal is to ensure that teachers and students in Utah have equal access to high-quality instructional materials and tools to better the overall math learning experience. The STEM Action Center intends to meet as many grant requests as possible by thoroughly reviewing each submitted application and considering the needs of each school or district. The STEM Action Center ensures that all software licenses provided by the grant program meet "effective usage" standards. Teachers and students use Derivita daily for in-class practice activities, homework assignments, quizzes, exams, and assessments. Teachers utilize the rich data from Derivita to inform their instructional decisions ad tailor their teaching to meet the needs of each student.



"As a father of five kids and someone who calls Utah home, I am proud of Derivita and of the work we have done to partner with teachers, students, parents, and district leaders across the state. The Utah STEM Action Center's K-12 Personalized Math Software grant program will allow us to greatly scale those efforts and reach even more students in the years to come," comments Devlin Daley, CEO and co-founder of Derivita. In support of the K-12 Personalized Math Software Grant program, Derivita is providing office hours throughout February and March where applicants can complete their applications and ask Derivita representatives questions about the platform. Derivita's virtual office hours will be held every Thursday at noon MST through March 31, 2023. Learn more about Derivita in Utah here.

Visit the Utah STEM Action Center K-12 Personalized Math Software Grant website here to learn more about the program and submit an application. About The STEM Action Center The STEM Action Cennter's mission is to promote Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math education through the identification and support of best practices and leveraging of resources across education, industry, government, and community partners to support economic prosperity throughout the state of Utah. They accomplish this goal by creating funding and professional learning opportunities, hosting events and competitions, and providing a space for educators to share lessons and instructional ideas. Learn more about The STEM Action Center here. About Derivita Created by the co-founder of Instructure and the Canvas LMS, Derivita is an affordable, all-in-one math powerhouse that allows educators to easily create, curate, and deliver math activities, assignments, and assessments. Derivita provides educators with a digital toolbox complete with a question library of 75,000+ randomized, auto-graded math questions and pre-built assessments. Educators can easily customize their activities and assessments, author their own questions, and engage their students in real time with SpotCheck. Derivita seamlessly integrates with any learning management system and is accessible from any device. Learn more about Derivita here . View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/derivita-announces-new-partnership-with-the-utah-stem-action-center-301745882.html SOURCE Derivita

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[February 14, 2023] Switchcom Distribution and Tarana Announce Partnership to Expand Next-Generation Fixed Wireless in South Africa

Switchcom Distribution, a leading South African information and communications technology distributor, and Tarana, manufacturer of the carrier-grade Gigabit 1 (G1) next-generation fixed wireless access (ngFWA) platform, are partnering to bridge the digital divide in Southern Africa. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230214005193/en/ Switchcom Distribution and Tarana are partnering to bridge the digital divide in Southern Africa. (Graphic: Business Wire) Switchcom is proud to add the Tarana G1 platform to their product portfolio. The industry-leading technology allows operators to deliver reliable, high-speed internet, in either 3 GHz licensed or 5 GHz license-exempt spectrum, resulting in an unparalleled user experience. The G1 platform is known for its exceptional interference cancellation and non-line-of-sight performance, delivering up to 9.6 Gbps per site and 800 Mbps per link, even in challenging conditions. With world-class sales, support, and service teams, Switchcom Distribution is well-equipped to meet the growing demand for G1 in South African markets.



Tarana's Vice President of Worldwide Sales, Mike Calabrese, stated, "We look forward to leveraging Switchcom's robust experience to benefit our joint customers and their end-users in South Africa. Enabling operators to provide fibre-class speeds at a fraction of the cost and time to deploy will bring quality broadband to African communities on significantly shorter timelines and with far superior network economics."

About Switchcom Distribution Switchcom Distribution is a dynamic and innovative ICT distributor founded in 2015 with the aim to bring South Africa the highest quality brands available in the wireless, networking, VoIP, surveillance and fibre sectors. Our comprehensive product range supports our vision of providing our clients with an end-to-end solution. Our services comprise of sales, distribution, technical support and financing for resellers, installers, ISPs, WISPs and end-users. Our product portfolio consists of top international brands, and we aim to continually expand our product offering, ensuring up-to-date technology. Switchcom Distribution can be found online at www.switchcom.co.za, or by phone at 010 007 2555. About Tarana Tarana's mission is to accelerate the deployment of fast, affordable internet access around the world. Through a decade of R&D and more than $400M of investment, the Tarana team has created a unique next-generation fixed wireless access (ngFWA) technology instantiated in its first commercial platform, Gigabit 1 (G1). It delivers a game-changing advance in broadband economics in both mainstream and underserved markets, using either licensed or unlicensed spectrum. G1 started production in mid-2021 and has been embraced by more than 200 service providers globally. Tarana is headquartered in Milpitas, California, with additional research and development in Pune, India. Visit www.taranawireless.com for more on G1. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230214005193/en/

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[February 14, 2023] The 2nd Smart Madinah Forum SMF2023

Sustainability Is Smart MADINAH, Saudi Arabia, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Under the patronage of HRH Prince Faisal bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Governor of Madinah Region, Al Madinah Region Development Authority (MDA) is organizing the "Smart Madinah Forum" (SMF2023). In its second edition and in partnership with the United Nations Habitat Program (UN-Habitat), the forum will be held at King Salman International Conference Center in Madinah from 19 to 21 February 2023. The Smart Madinah Forum will again attract the participation of over 40 speakers, from more than 20 countries around the world. The forum aims to provide free, open discussion spaces for outstanding minds from around the world. Attendees will share their expertise and experiences in Global Smart Cities and discuss challenges facing urban residents and visitors; ways of applying Smart City concepts to address such challenges; and earn about the Al-Madinah pioneering experience while transforming into a smart city, and without compromising either its identity and/or culture.



The main themes of the forum include Sustainability and Smart Cities; Smart City Platforms; and, workshops on "Sustainable Development Goals: A Participating Society," discussed by experts and specialists from prestigious international organizations. Additionally, experts from Saudi national agencies; specialized consulting companies; transcontinental technology companies; representatives of governmental authorities; and private companies, from Saudi Arabia, as well as abroad, will also attend the forum to listen and learn from speakers, attendees, and each other. It is worth noting that the "Madinah RHYTHMS" exhibition is opening on the sidelines of SMF2023 forum and will continue for a month afterwards. It is the first contemporary art exhibition of a Saudi city photos with NFT twins, using Blockchain technology.

For registration and more information, download the app now:

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/sa/app/smart-madinah-forum/id1661775745

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.swapcard.apps.android.smf Media Contact:

Ransel Potter

917.742.9941 View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-2nd-smart-madinah-forum-smf2023-301746312.html SOURCE Madinah Smart City

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With his wife Mallorie, holding the family Bible, at his side James Tarbox was sworn into office as the Twelfth Judicial Circuit District Attorney by his twin brother, Army Maj. Travis Tarbox, at the Enterprise Courthouse Friday.

Ill leave it to you to figure out which one is which, Twelfth Judicial Circuit Presiding Judge Jeff Kelley said to the family, coworkers, supporters and friends who filled the standing room only courtroom about the identical twins.

Tarbox was appointed to the post Jan. 20 by Gov. Kay Ivey to serve the remainder of the term vacated upon the retirement of Tom Anderson, who was appointed to supernumerary status by the governor earlier.

Dedicated and hardworking, is what Coffee County Bar Association President Ashley Marshall called Tarbox. James exemplifies the characteristics of a servant leader, said Carmen Howell, Twelfth Judicial Circuit Bar Commissioner on the Alabama State Bar Board of Bar Commissioners.

On behalf of the judiciary, we support you and your family as you take this next step into public service, Kelley told Tarbox.

I have no doubt that with his work ethic, his intelligence, his integrity and great character that he will make an outstanding district attorney and will serve you as the citizens of this circuit and the state of Alabama, Kelley said.

I wanted to have this ceremony and one like it in Pike County to thank the people who made this opportunity possible for me, Tarbox said. No one gets a position like this alone.

The son of George and Debbie Tarbox thanked his parents for their support. My belief in God was instilled in me from a young age by my parents, he said. As I look back at my life so far, I see that God has a plan for me  and each of you  and as I see how things have lined up in my life I realize just how truly blessed I am. I have seen Gods plan in action.

My parents instilled in us the values of hard work, honesty, integrity, service to others, and, most importantly, to love God, Tarbox said. My twin brother is my hero.

I am not the easiest person to be married to, Tarbox said as he thanked his wife for her support. Shes been a trooper and she keeps everything in line for our family, he said.

Tarbox joined the firm Marsh & Cotter, LLP in Enterprise upon his graduation from law school in 2013 and was a partner in the firm at the time of his appointment to the district attorney post. With the law firm, Tarbox also represented multiple local boards of education  Coffee County, Dale County, and the city of Daleville  and actively assists his law firm in representing several other governmental entities.

You taught me so much about people and about being an advocate, he told Marsh and Cotter.

Tarbox said that Anderson had asked only one thing from him as he took the reins as district attorney. That was to take care of the team he had assembled because it was full of good people, Tarbox said. With only three weeks at the helm, I fully agree.

Our circuit is served by 26 full and part-time people who are truly public servants, Tarbox said. To our law enforcement partners, I hope you have always found me to be honest, hardworking and respectful of the badge.

I am happy to say that I am now fighting with the good guys and Im on the right team, Tarbox said. I want to say that Ive always got your backs and always will.

I will work hard, I will be transparent, and I will seek to secure justice in every case, he said. We must do what it takes to insure that those intent on doing harm to others are put behind bars. We must also ensure that every victim receives justice.

This is my pledge to you: I will work every day to earn all of your trust and confidence in this position, Tarbox said. This is a heavy burden to bear, but I am up for this challenge. I am prepared to take this journey and I am prepared to serve my community.
[February 14, 2023] BioStem Technologies Enters Into a Share Exchange Agreement

The Company will Acquire Back 10% of Issued and Outstanding Shares of its Non-Wholly Owned Subsidiary and Manufacturing Division POMPANO BEACH, FLORIDA., Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BioStem Technologies Inc. (BioStem or the Company) (OTCQB: BSEM), announced today that it has entered into a Share Exchange Agreement (the Agreement) with M.W. Jens Realty Investments, LLC ("M.W. Jens"), a shareholder of Blue Tech Industries, Inc. (Blue Tech), a Delaware corporation which is a non-wholly owned subsidiary of Biostem Technologies, and manufacturing division for the Companys tissue allografts. We are happy to come to an agreement after four years of our partners investment to get our Tissue allograft division up and running. The completion of this share exchange shows the level of commitment in where we are going with the company, said Jason Matuszewski, Chief Executive Officer of BioStem. Pursuant to the Agreement, the Company agrees to acquire the shares of Blue Tech Common Stock held by M.W. Jens in exchange for the issuance to M.W. Jens of 500,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.001, of BioStem Common Stock. About BioStem Technologies, Inc. (OTCQB: BSEM): BioStem Technologies is a leading innovator focused on harnessing the natural properties of perinatal tissue in the development, manufacture, and commercialization of allografts for regenerative therapies. The Company is focused on manufacturing products that change lives, leveraging its proprietary BioRetain processing method. BioRetain has been developed by applying the latest research in regenerative medicine, focused on maintaining growth factors and preserving tissue structure. BioStem Technologies' quality management system and standard operating procedures have been reviewed and accredited by the American Association of Tissue Banks ("AATB"). These systems and procedures are established per current Good Tissue Practices ("cGTP") and current Good Manufacturing Processes ("cGMP"). Our portfolio of quality brands includes VENDAJEsup>TM, VENDAJETM AC, and VENDAJETM OPTIC. Each BioStem Technologies placental allograft is processed at the Company's FDA registered and AATB accredited site in Pompano Beach, Florida.



Forward-Looking Statements: Except for statements of historical fact, this release also contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements relate to expectations or forecasts of future events. Forward-looking statements may be identified using words such as forecast, intend, seek, target, anticipate, believe, expect, estimate, plan, outlook, and project and other similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. Forward-looking statements with respect to the operations of the Company, strategies, prospects and other aspects of the business of the Company are based on current expectations that are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from expectations expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to: (1) the impact of any changes to the reimbursement levels for the Companys products; (2) the Company faces significant and continuing competition, which could adversely affect its business, results of operations and financial condition; (3) rapid technological change could cause the Companys products to become obsolete and if the Company does not enhance its product offerings through its research and development efforts, it may be unable to effectively compete;(4) to be commercially successful, the Company must convince physicians that its products are safe and effective alternatives to existing treatments and that its products should be used in their procedures; (5) the Companys ability to raise funds to expand its business; (6) the Company has incurred significant losses since inception and may incur losses in the future; (7) changes in applicable laws or regulations; (8) the possibility that the Company may be adversely affected by other economic, business, and/or competitive factors; (9) the Companys ability to maintain production of its products in sufficient quantities to meet demand; and (10) the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact, if any, on the Companys fiscal condition and results of operations; You are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. Although it may voluntarily do so from time to time, the Company undertakes no commitment to update or revise the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. BioStem Technologies, Inc.

Phone: 954-380-8342

Website: http://www.biostemtechnologies.com

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @BSEM_Tech

Facebook: BioStemTechnologies

Media and Investor Relations:

Russo Partners, LLC

Nic Johnson

12 West 27th Street, 4th Floor

New York, NY 10001

T: 303-482-6405

[email protected]



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[February 14, 2023] McGraw Hill Reports Fiscal Third Quarter and Year-to-Date Fiscal 2023 Financial Results

Digital billings reached nearly $1 billion year-to-date, a 22% increase year-over-year as margin expansion continued COLUMBUS, Ohio, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- McGraw Hill, a leading global education company, reported year-to-date (YTD) financial results ending December 2022 that demonstrate sustained momentum in digital billings growth, market share gains, and adjusted EBITDA margin expansion. The company reported total YTD billings growth of 19% to $1.8 billion and 23% growth in adjusted EBITDA to $756 million. "Our year-to-date results reflect the strength of our execution and consistency of our delivery," said Simon Allen, CEO of McGraw Hill. "During the quarter, we continued to strategically invest in those parts of the business that we believe will strengthen our leadership position, sustain our strong margins and expand our digital transformation." In the third quarter, the company completed the acquisition of Boards & Beyond, a provider of on-demand video libraries and comprehensive online resources that help medical students efficiently learn fundamentals of basic medical sciences and clinical medicine. The acquisition adds to McGraw Hill's offerings in the growing digital medical education market. Billings in the company's K-12 group reached $1 billion for the YTD period, up 43% compared to the same period of th previous year. Growth was supported by a robust market opportunity from continued federal stimulus education funding with market share gains across both adoption and open territory markets due to increased sales of core curriculum, supplemental and intervention solutions.



In the Higher Education group, billings were down 5% YTD, driven by a modest enrollment decline and as billings continue to shift from fiscal Q3 to Q4. Digital billings were 83% of total higher education billings vs. 82% in the prior year. Inclusive Access sales reached $155 million YTD, an increase of 19% over prior year. Inclusive Access provides course materials to students by the first day of class at a cost that is as much as 70% lower than traditional print. YTD billings for the company's Global Professional group were down 3% driven by ongoing print declines while digital Access Medicine subscriptions continued to grow. The company's International group experienced constant currency billings growth in the YTD period driven by digital sales of Achieve3000 and ALEKS.

McGraw Hill

McGraw Hill is a leading global education company that partners with millions of educators, learners and professionals around the world. Recognizing their diverse needs, we build trusted content, flexible tools and powerful digital platforms to help them achieve success on their own terms. Through our commitment to equity, accessibility and inclusion, we foster a culture of belonging that respects and reflects the diversity of the communities, learners and educators we serve. McGraw Hill has over 40 offices across North America, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East and South America, and makes its learning solutions for PreK-12, higher education, professionals and others available in more than 80 languages. Visit us at mheducation.com or find us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter. Contact:

Tyler Reed

McGraw Hill

(914) 512-4853

[email protected] View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mcgraw-hill-reports-fiscal-third-quarter-and-year-to-date-fiscal-2023-financial-results-301745858.html SOURCE McGraw Hill

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[February 14, 2023] ARC Group Acquires US Private Equity and Advisory Firm Luminous Capital to Strengthen Leadership in Investment Opportunities Between Asian and Western Markets

ARC Group is an international investment bank and financial services firm headquartered in Shanghai. Established in 2015, ARC Group is a global leader in SPAC and IPO advisory. In 2022, the firm was ranked no.1 in De-SPAC in the U.S. by SPACInsider.

NEW YORK, NY, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire -- ARC Group, a global leader in M&A and Capital Markets Advisory, has entered into an agreement to acquire a controlling profit-sharing interest in US-based private equity and advisory firm Luminous Capital Inc. (Luminous). This strategic acquisition aims to further solidify ARC Groups position as a leader in global financial advisory and management consulting services through giving them a New York City presence as well as offering additional exposure for their clients and investors to US markets. The transaction enhances the global reach and service width for both ARC and Luminous. ARC Groups full-service financial platform is complemented by Luminouss private equity and advisory expertise through its deep-rooted knowledge of US capital markets with a focus on the rapidly growing legal cannabis industry. ARC Group and Luminous Capital both expect to see synergies across various practice lines including M&A, Capital Markets Advisory, Financing, Operational Restructuring and Private Equity. With Luminous launching its high yield private credit fund, this partnership will provide a unique opportunity for ARCs capital network to gain exposure to the fast growing, legal US cannabis industry. The deal shall ultimately help bolster deeper client relationships for both entites investors as well as clients. Luminous Capital Partners John Darwin, Joshua Mann and Mac McDonald will be integrated at a corporate level with John and Josh joining ARC Group as Managing Directos and Mac as Senior Vice President.



ARC Group President Sergio Camarero commented: This is another key milestone in our growth strategy. Luminous Capital gives us a US presence in the financial hub of the world  New York City. We have worked with the Luminous team on their SPAC and observed the excellence and integrity their team brings to their advisory and investing practice. Luminous Capital is a step further in building out the ARC platform as we look to become an international financial institution strengthening the opportunities between Asia and the rest of the world. Managing Partner John Darwin commented: Luminous Capital and ARC Group are a natural complement to each others expertise and resources. We are excited to join ARC Group and offer a unique investment strategy through our high yield credit fund to ARCs capital network in addition to assisting with a U.S. presence for their leading advisory practice.

About ARC Group Established in 2015, ARC Group is a full-service financial institution deeply rooted in Asia with global reach. They are global leaders in M&A and Capital Markets advisory. According to spacinsider.com league tables, ARC ranks 1st as M&A financial advisor by transactional value, market share and by number of transactions in 2022. ARC Group works with companies to help them develop a comprehensive Capital Markets strategy, raise their visibility on the financial arena and position them for long-term success, regardless of whether they choose to pursue a strategic transaction, a round of financing, an IPO or SPAC. They provide a full spectrum of Investment Banking and Advisory services. ARC Group acts as a bridge to connect Asia with Europe and America. With offices in mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, UAE, Mexico and New York, they are well-positioned to provide on-the-ground cross-border financial advisory services. For more information, visit: https://arc-group.com/. About Luminous Capital Established in 2019, Luminous Capital Inc. is a private equity firm with offices in New York, Toronto, and Denver. Our focus is on the regulated US cannabis industry and other high growth, emerging-market industries. The team represents a valuable combination of careers in banking, investing and first-hand experience of building, operating and monetizing successful private and public ventures. We work with our partners to expand their business and vision by providing the necessary access to the capital markets paired with informed financial advice and business strategies from a wealth of experience. Utilizing our global reach, access to synergistic capital partners and operational expertise, we offer a range of services to investors and operators around the world. For more information, visit: https://www.luminouscapitalinc.com/. Contacts ARC Group

Sergio Camarero

President

[email protected] Luminous Capital

John Darwin

Managing Partner

[email protected]



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[February 14, 2023] EnterpriseDB Raises the Bar for Postgres Security and Compliance with Transparent Data Encryption

BEDFORD, Mass., Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- EnterpriseDB (EDB), the leader in accelerating Postgres in the enterprise, today announced the immediate global availability of Transparent Data Encryption (TDE), which extends Postgres with robust security and performance capabilities for enterprises. TDE significantly hardens data security and mitigates risks for large enterprises.

According to Gartner's 2023 CIO and Technology Executive Agenda , information security remains a top concern for IT decision-makers. EDB addresses these concerns by adding TDE to EDB Standard and Enterprise plans, while continuing to deliver best-in-class Oracle compatibility and migration solutions. EDB is the first company to deliver TDE for Postgres and Oracle compatibility, with flexible deployment and unmatched management and support for enterprises. Maintaining the securityand integrity of data can be a complicated task for large enterprises, said Jozef de Vries, Chief Product Engineering Officer, EDB. EDBs latest innovations further demonstrate a commitment to product design with a security-first approach. By adding transparent data encryption, were making it even more attractive for organizations to move to Postgres as their enterprise database standard.



With this milestone, EDB addresses the top challenges for enterprises to maintain security and meet compliance requirements. EDBs delivery of TDE includes the following benefits: Block level encryption to prevent unauthorized data access. Postgres data, the write-ahead logging (WAL), and temporary files are encrypted on disk and are not readable by system users.

Data encryption and decryption is managed by the database and does not require application changes or updated client drivers.

Key management that is external to Postgres with initial support for Amazon AWS Key Management Service, Google Cloud Key Management Service, Microsoft Azure Key Vault, and Thales CipherTrust Manager.

In addition to TDE, EDB Enterprise Plan includes additional new enhancements, including improvements in Oracle compatibility to enable greater application code reuse. Enterprise Plan includes the latest PostgreSQL 15 release with all of EDBs contributions , such as the MERGE SQL command and advanced replication capabilities.

To learn more about Transparent Data Encryption and additional EDB Postgres 15 enhancements, visit the EDB Blog . About EDB

EDB provides enterprise-class software and services that enable organizations to harness the full power of Postgres, the worlds leading open source database. With offices worldwide, EDB serves more than 1,500 customers, including leading financial services, government, media and communications and information technology organizations. As the leading contributor to the vibrant and fast-growing Postgres community, EDB is committed to driving technology innovation. With deep database expertise, EDB ensures high availability, reliability, security, 24x7 global support and advanced professional services, both on-premises and in the cloud. This empowers enterprises to control risk, manage costs and scale efficiently. For more information, visit www.enterprisedb.com . EnterpriseDB and EDB are registered trademarks and BigAnimal is a trademark of EnterpriseDB Corporation; Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation. Postgres and PostgreSQL are registered trademarks of the PostgreSQL Community Association of Canada, and used with their permission. All other trademarks are owned by their respective owners. Media Contact

Shane Smith

Offleash PR for EDB

[email protected]



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[February 14, 2023] EAGLE POINT SOFTWARE PARTNERS WITH GRAITEC

DUBUQUE, Iowa, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Eagle Point Software, creator of the Pinnacle Series e-learning solution, has announced a partnership with GRAITEC, a global BIM (Building Information Modeling) provider and developer of software for architects and structural engineers. "We are very excited to partner with GRAITEC, a leading Autodesk partner and a company with enormous global reach," shared John Biver, President and CEO of Eagle Point Software. "GRAITEC's track record of success with companies that concentrate on construction, manufacturing, fabrication, and other industrial applications is impressive and matches well with new areas of focus for Eagle Point. Our team is excited for this partnership to commence, as together our two companies will enable clients to increase their productivity and efficiency across a wide variety of industries." Pinnacle Series is an AEC & manufacturing e-learning solution that features a comprehensive library of videos, documents, and other manufacturing development resources that enable long-term employee training, on-demand problem-solving, and digital transformation. Laurent Laforest, CMO of Graitec, shared, "We are delighted to associate our brand with Eagle Point and are excited for this partnership. We look forward to a strong collaboration in the uture and are excited to embark on this learning journey and to offer a unique training experience.''



About Eagle Point Software Eagle Point Software has helped AEC & manufacturing companies work more efficiently since 1983. Based in Dubuque, Iowa, the Eagle Point team is comprised of industry experts who deliver the leading development and productivity platform to 436,000+ global AEC & manufacturing professionals. Eagle Point's Pinnacle Series offers a robust library of on-demand software training content , plus knowledge capture and sharing capabilities that ultimately increase efficiency. www.eaglepoint.com ; +1 563.556.8392. Follow Eagle Point on LinkedIn ; Twitter ; Facebook ; YouTube .

About GRAITEC Founded in 1986, GRAITEC is an international group and leading software developer with 48 offices in 13 countries worldwide helping construction and manufacturing professionals to successfully achieve their digital transformation by providing BIM and Industry 4.0 software and consultancy. GRAITEC is a developer of high-performance BIM applications as well as an Autodesk Platinum Partner in Europe and Gold Autodesk Partner in North America. With more than 650 employees, including 200 BIM consultants, GRAITEC is an innovation-focused company whose products are used by more than 100,000 construction professionals worldwide. Visit www.graitec.com. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/eagle-point-software-partners-with-graitec-301745880.html SOURCE Eagle Point Software

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[February 14, 2023] RBC announces 2023 Future Launch Black Youth Scholarship recipients

Twenty young people from across Canada will receive financial support and mentorship from RBC and community partners to further their postsecondary education and prepare for the future of work TORONTO, Feb. 14, 2023 /CNW/ - Today, RBC Foundation announced the 2023 cohort of RBC Future Launch Black Youth Scholarship recipients. This scholarship, awarded to Black students aged 15-29, provides up to $10,000 annually for up to four years, as well as access to mentorship and support services to serve the unique needs of young Black Canadians navigating their education and preparing for the future of work. According to Statistics Canada data, 94 per cent of young Black students wanted to obtain postsecondary education, but only 60 per cent thought it was a possibility for them. The Future Launch Black Youth Scholarships, part of RBC's Action Plan Against Systemic Racism, will provide $50 million in focused funding to create meaningful and transformative pathways to prosperity for up to 25,000 BIPOC youth by 2025, with investments in areas such as skills development and mentoring. "There is a dire need for early and ongoing resources that are thoughtfully designe to support the unique needs of young Black scholars," said Mark Beckles, Vice-President, Social Impact & Innovation at RBC. "Our investment in Black youth through the RBC Future Launch Scholarships demonstrates our commitment to their future prosperity while recognizing the unique experiences they have and will continue to experience throughout their education journey."



The scholarship is available to Black youth (15-29) who are Canadian citizens, permanent residents or refugees entering grade 11 or 12, or who are enrolled in postsecondary education for the 2023-2024 academic year. Eligible students are nominated by one of 15 participating community partners and evaluated by a selection committee comprised of Black leaders from academic, business, and non-profit backgrounds. Community partner organizations will also provide mentorship, academic and career planning, tutoring, internship opportunities and networking resources tailored to the needs of each recipient. The scholarship will support Arshi Chadha, who plans to study film at the School for the Contemporary Arts, Simon Fraser University, to pay for things that many young people take for granted, like tuition and living expenses. "A university education will connect me with other writers and filmmakers; mentorship to help me develop and navigate my career path. Through my film practice, I create a universe where Black people and communities are given agency. My goal is to make the world better through my art and that of others."

Launched in 2022, the Future Launch Black Youth scholarship was informed by an advisory committee of Black academics, business and youth-serving leaders who provided their insights and drew upon their lived experiences to build a powerful scholarship experience that goes beyond funding. It is administered by Universities Canada, a national leader in scholarship management. "The RBC Future Launch Scholarship for Black Youth is an incredible opportunity for some of the most deserving and underserved learners in our country," says Markiel Simpson, spokesperson for the BC Community Alliance. "Not only will this scholarship provide opportunities for young people who otherwise may never be able to attend postsecondary, the legacies recipients are motivated to create will generate long lasting effects on their communities, and have far-reaching impacts beyond anything we might imagine today." To view the complete list of scholarship recipients, and to learn more visit: https://www.rbc.com/dms/enterprise/futurelaunch/black-scholarship.html. To read more about the resiliency required for Black Canadians to attend postsecondary education on RBC Stories. About RBC Royal Bank of Canada is a global financial institution with a purpose-driven, principles-led approach to delivering leading performance. Our success comes from the 95,000+ employees who leverage their imaginations and insights to bring our vision, values and strategy to life so we can help our clients thrive and communities prosper. As Canada's biggest bank and one of the largest in the world, based on market capitalization, we have a diversified business model with a focus on innovation and providing exceptional experiences to our 17 million clients in Canada, the U.S. and 27 other countries. Learn more at rbc.com. We are proud to support a broad range of community initiatives through donations, community investments and employee volunteer activities. See how at rbc.com/community-social-impact. SOURCE RBC

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[February 14, 2023] Tokens.com Reports Financial Results for Q1 2023

Tokens.com Corp. (NEO Exchange Canada: COIN)(Frankfurt Stock Exchange: 76M) (OTCQB US: SMURF) ("Tokens.com" or the "Company"), a publicly-traded company that invests in web3 assets and builds businesses linked to crypto staking, the metaverse, and play-to-earn gaming, is pleased to report its financial results for three months ended December 31, 2022 ("Q1-2023"). All dollar figures are in United States dollars ("USD"), unless otherwise stated. Q1-2023 Operation Highlights: ? Tokens.com's subsidiary, Metaverse Group Ltd, fully leased its digital real estate in two popular Decentraland neighborhoods. The land was occupied by a diverse collection of esteemed brands and businesses. ? Metaverse Group hosted its first metaverse music festival in Decentraland on its Music Hub property. ? Metaverse Group successfully acquired CocoNFT, an NFT platform for non crypto-native creators. ? Tokens.com and Metaverse Group have partnered with the AIR MILES Reward Program to become the first brand-agnostic loyalty program of the metaverse. ? Hulk Labs signed a partnership agreement with Aftermath Islands Limited, a controlled subsidiary of Liquid Avatar Technologies. ? Hulk Labs has successfully integrated over a thousand player wallets into its network, with a primary focus on Africa. ? Hulk Labs acquired a validator node license for Splinterlands, one of the longest running and most active play-to-earn games, and entered into a broad partnership with the Splinterlands team. ? Tokens.com liquidated some of its tokens in inventory in favour of holding cash, in consideration of volatile crypto prices and the ongoing turmoil caused by the bankruptcy of FTX and BlockFi. Management is focused on building its web3 businesses, Metaverse Group and Hulk Labs. Those businesses are focused on innovation in the web3 sector in ways that are not tied to the performance of cryptocurrencies. Both businesses have made great strides in providing corporate and brand partners with new ways to engage their customers. Metaverse Group and Hulk Labs both became revenue positive in 2022 through focus on innovative services and through building proprietary intellectual property. The Company's strategy is to limit its crypto exposure to Layer 1 cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum and Polkadot, while also building sustainable and profitable businesses that leverage web3 and blockchain technology. This strategy provides investors with the potential upside in crypto prices and the growing use cases for blockchain technology. "In 2022, Tokens.com was successful in laying down the foundation for two new operating segments being Metaverse Group and Hulk Labs in the metaverse and gaming sectors, respectively. These subsidiaries are now revenue positive, but still in the very early stages of their growth. For 2023, management is focused on scaling growth within those operations to generate more significant levels of revenue," said Andrew Kiguel, CEO. Q1-2023 Financial Highlights ? The Company achieved revenue of $152k for the three months ended December 31, 2022, compared to $326k for the three months ended December 31, 2021 ("Q1-2022"). ? Total cash and cryptocurrency holdings of $10.4 million, or CAD$13.5 million as of December 31, 2022. ? Staking revenue was $40k for the three months ended December 31, 2022, compared to $216k for the three months ended December 31, 2021. ? Increased Ethereum holdings to 3,273, as of the date of this press release. ? Average gross staking yields of 6.9% for Q1-2023, compared to 4.6% for Q1-2022, due to a change in token mix. ? Metaverse Group continued to gain traction in its metaverse consulting business, with consulting revenue of $85k and lease revenue of $23k during Q1-2023. ? Operating expenses were $718 for the three months ended December 31, 2022, compared to $3.3 million for the three months ended December 31, 2021.



? A non-cash loss on revaluation of its cryptocurrency assets of $1.3 million for Q1-2023, compared to a loss of $829k for Q1-2022. Loss on disposal of digital assets was $102k for the three months ended December 31, 2022, compared to a gain of $1.5 million during the three months ended December 31, 2021. ? A net loss and comprehensive loss for the three months ended December 31, 2022, attributable to Tokens.com, of $1.6 million, compared to net loss of $3.7 million and comprehensive loss of $1.6 million, attributable to Tokens.com, for the three months ended December 31, 2022.

Continuous Disclosure Further to a review by the staff of the Ontario Securities Commission (the "OSC") of the Company's continuous disclosure, the Q1-2023 MD&A includes enhanced disclosures with respect to the Company's staking operations and custody of its assets. As a result of having to make such enhanced disclosure after the OSC review, the Company has been placed on the public list of Refilings and Errors in accordance with OSC Staff Notice 51-711 (Revised) - Refilings and Corrections of Errors for a period of three years, effective today. A complete financial reporting package, including the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Interim Financial Statements and Management's Discussion & Analysis, is available on our corporate website (www.tokens.com), and the SEDAR website (www.sedar.com). An investor call has been scheduled to discuss the Company's Q1-2023 financial results, hosted by CEO Andrew Kiguel, starting at 10:00 am ET on February 15, 2023. Conference Call Details:

Date: February 15, 2023

Time: 10:00 a.m. ET

Zoom Webinar Registration:

https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_hmo4N8q2RIawvs51C1-nRg To join the webinar, register using the link provided above. Upon registration a Zoom link will be emailed to the registered email address. The webinar will be available via computer, tablet, and smartphone devices. In addition, a dial-in phone number will be provided in the email upon registration. Callers dialing in using a telephone will automatically be placed in a listen only mode. The question period will not be available to dial-in callers. About Tokens.com Tokens.com Corp is a publicly traded technology company that invests in web3 assets and builds web3 businesses. The Company focuses on three operating segments: i) crypto staking, ii) the metaverse and, iii) play-to-earn crypto gaming. Tokens.com owns digital assets and operating businesses within each of these three segments. Staking operations occur within Tokens.com. Metaverse real estate and ecomm3 solutions operations occur within a subsidiary called Metaverse Group. Crypto gaming operations occur within a subsidiary called Hulk Labs. All three businesses are tied together by the utilization of blockchain technology and are linked to high-growth macro trends within web3. Through sharing resources and infrastructure across these business segments, Tokens.com is able to efficiently incubate these businesses from inception to revenue generation. As a result of each of the three business segments owning digital assets, Tokens.com is required to mark-to-market these digital assets at the end of every reporting quarter. As a result, the Company's financial statements will have non-cash related gains or losses based on the market performance of the digital assets owned from quarter-to-quarter. These non-cash revaluations of owned digital assets do not impact the operations or growth within our business segments. The digital assets are owned for the purpose of generating revenue within each business segment. In some instances, the Company may choose to dispose of certain assets if they no longer meet our ownership criteria. Visit Tokens.com to learn more. Keep up-to-date on Tokens.com developments and join our online communities on Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Forward-Looking Statements This news release includes certain forward-looking statements as well as management's objectives, strategies, beliefs and intentions. Forward looking statements are frequently identified by such words as "may", "will", "plan", "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "intend" and similar words referring to future events and results. Forward-looking statements are based on the current opinions and expectations of management. All forward-looking information is inherently uncertain and subject to a variety of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, including the speculative nature of cryptocurrencies, as described in more detail in our securities filings available at www.sedar.com. Actual events or results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements and we caution against placing undue reliance thereon. We assume no obligation to revise or update these forward-looking statements except as required by applicable law. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230214005854/en/

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A demand to end a controversial practice seems to have stalled . . . This week here's a glimpse at the hope to put the controversial issue back on the legislative track.



Interestingly . . . Legislator Manny Abarca offers some explanation of the process here . . .

Meanwhile, here's a glimpse at the statement along with the note sent to the courthouse . . .



Kansas City LGBTQ Commission demands the Jackson County, Missouri Government ban conversion therapy



Since our initial request, the county has gone 36 days without outlawing this harm.



KANSAS CITY, Mo. (February 13th, 2023)  The City of Kansas Citys LGBTQ Commission sent a letter urging the Jackson County Government to ban conversion therapy in Jackson County, Missouri on Monday, January 9th, 2023. After 36 days of the legislature failing to vote on the measure, were now demanding the Jackson County, Missouri Government ban conversion therapy for the safety of our community.



County ordinance 5711 currently has 5 legislators agreeing to co-sponsor and thats a simple majority out of the 9 member Jackson County Legislature. As this legislation continues to be held and stalled, we have been pushed by our community to demand the passage of this ordinance so that no more harm comes to our community. This is an urgent matter that must be taken seriously by our county officials in Jackson County.



Quote from the letter: There are people in our community, in our county, and in our state who are a part of these numbers. These are not numbers, but these are members of our community who may go through, are currently going through, and/or have been through this abuse and harm. There will be more pain brought onto our community the longer we wait. We demand that you act so that we can finally see this outlawed in our community once and for all.



Full memorandum will be attached to the initial email for your reference.



FYI: The Kansas City LGBTQ Commission is a commission that was created December 17th of 2020 by the Kansas City Council. The thirteen member commission has six in-district commissioners from the six city council districts and seven speciality commissioners in the areas of housing, health, public safety, education, etc. etc. This is the city and states first and only Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Queer Commission.



###

Developing . . .
Tax season is upon us and with it comes the ever-present threat of fraud. Canadians should be wary of scammers posing as Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) employees who will trick their victims into sending them money or providing personal information that can be used to take over a bank account.
An Alabama lawmaker is renewing his efforts to bring scrutiny to the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles, which rejected parole for 90 percent of eligible inmates last fiscal year, the fifth straight year for paroles to decline and the highest rejection rate during that time.

Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, is sponsoring a bill to create guidelines for the three-member board to follow in deciding whether to grant parole. The guidelines would not be mandatory. But the board would have to give a detailed explanation when it deviated from the guidelines to deny parole.

England said the legislation would create oversight of the board without taking away its independent decision making process. He said the goal is for inmates to get a meaningful review of whether they are good candidates to be released under supervision, which he said is not happening.

As a result, were seeing an aging, more expensive, inefficient and ineffective prison system where resources are being used to take care of people who are no longer a threat to public safety at the expense of those resources being used to rehabilitate or to create space for those who really need to be incarcerated, those who are a threat to public safety, England said.

As an example, England mentioned the boards denial of parole in January for a 71-year-old-woman who had served 19 years of a 35-year sentence for murder and who uses a wheelchair, is on dialysis three times a week and in end-stage renal failure. Her lawyer argued for her parole so she could spend her final days in a nursing home.

Instead of releasing that person to their home where they could get somebody else to care for them and get better care, where we dont have to pay for it, we kept them in, England said. Which means that now weve got a spot for a person who is not a threat taking a spot away from a person who could be a threat.

Alabamas prisons are overcrowded and severely understaffed. The Department of Justice alleged in a lawsuit filed in December 2020 that conditions in the states prisons violate the constitution because of the violence, weapons, drugs, and mismanagement. The case is ongoing.

England filed his bill in advance of the legislative session, which starts in three weeks. It would create the Criminal Justice Policy Development Council, an eight-member board that would develop parole guidelines. In cases when the parole board deviated from the guidelines to deny parole, inmates could appeal to the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals, which would have the final say.

England sponsored a similar bill last year. It won committee approval but did not pass the House.

Im hoping that well move it further this year and hopefully inspire some real conversations about having a meaningful parole system is just as much of a key component to maintaining public safety as incarcerating citizens is, England said.

In addition to developing the parole guidelines, the council would update the inmate classification system for the Alabama Department of Corrections and adopt a validated risk and needs assessment felony offenders in prison.

The Board of Pardons and Paroles already has parole guidelines adopted in 2020 but followed those only 30 percent of the time last fiscal year, according to the agencys statistical report.

Victims of Crime and Leniency (VOCAL), an advocacy group started in 1982, and the attorney generals office often oppose parole. VOCAL has noted the increased proportion of the prison population classified as violent offenders as a factor in the decline in paroles. According to the Alabama Sentencing Commissions 2022 Annual Report, 83 percent of the Alabama inmates were convicted of violent offenses.

We dont have a parole board thats there to just make easy decisions, England said. The reason that we have that parole board is so they can assess whether or not that person is the same person they were 10, 15, or 20 years ago, and if theyre a threat to public safety. If theyre not, then it makes sense for us to release that person into a more appropriate setting so we can find ways to effectively spend the resources we have.

Englands bill says the Criminal Justice Policy Development Council would create new guidelines based on:

The risk to reoffend based on a validated risk and needs assessment.

Progress by the prisoner in complying with the Alabama Department of Corrections plan for reentry.

Input from victims, the family of victims, prosecutors, and law enforcement entities.

Participation in risk-reduction programs while incarcerated.

Institutional behavior of the prisoner while incarcerated.

Severity of the underlying offense for which the prisoner was sentenced to incarceration.

Any interview or statement from the prisoner.

Alabama inmates dont appear at parole hearings, held at the boards headquarters in Montgomery. Lawyers, relatives, and other advocates for inmates can speak to the board. Those opposed to parole, including prosecutors, victims and relatives, and victims advocates, can also speak.

If Englands bill became law, members of the Criminal Justice Policy Development Council would be the executive director of the Alabama Sentencing Commission, the commissioner of the Alabama Department of Corrections, the director of the Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles, the director of the Legislative Services Agency, the chairs of the House and Senate judiciary committees, and two members of the minority party picked by the House and Senate minority leaders. The Democratic Party is the minority party.

England is also sponsoring a bill to require a unanimous vote by a jury to impose the death penalty during the sentencing phase in capital cases. Current Alabama law requires a 10-2 vote by the jury to impose the death penalty.
For the past several decades, Alabamas power has been centered around the U.S. Senate  primarily because of Sen. Richard Shelbys immense power and influence. During Shelbys 36-year tenure, he chaired the Intelligence, Banking, and Rules Committees. However, he became immensely powerful his last six years as chairman of the Appropriations Committee.

Shelby practically moved Washington to Alabama when it came to bringing home procured earmarked funds to the Heart of Dixie. We received more federal funding than any state in America. National publications labeled Shelby the Greatest Pork King in federal history, surpassing the late Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia. Less we forget, Shelby also had a very respected and tenured wingman in Sen. Jeff Sessions, who served with distinction for 20 years in the Senate. They were a great team.

In the halls of congress, and especially in the U.S. Senate, seniority equates to power and we had it. However, we who follow Alabama politics have been cautioning you that our day of reckoning would arrive in January 2023, when Richard Shelby retired from the Senate and that day has arrived. Alabama will never be able to raid the federal vault like Shelby has done. Fortunately, as he was walking out the door, he brought so much largesse home with him that it will take other states 10 years to catchup.

Under the U.S. Senate seniority system, it will take young Katie Britt about 10 years before she will have any impact and influence in the Senate. Katie Britt took office with zero years seniority and that places her 99th in seniority status in the U.S. Senate. Our senior U.S. Senator, Tommy Tuberville, has two years seniority. That places him 89th in seniority in the 100-member senate.

However, we have several members of our U.S. House delegation who are garnering some seniority and are emerging as powerful members of the lower body. Therefore, for at least the next decade, our power in Washington will be in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Jefferson/Shelby 6th District Congressman Gary Palmer (R-Hoover) has been instrumental in helping to garner extremely good committee assignments for our six Republican members of Congress. Palmer, who is a quiet, policy issues congressman, was the founder and leader of the Alabama Policy Institute prior to going to Congress. Therefore, it was apropos that he would gravitate to the 30-member Republican Party Steering Committee. This committee has emerged as a powerful entity in the past decade. It essentially chose the House Committee Assignments along with Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Palmer will serve as chairman of the House GOP Policy Committee. He will also retain his position on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. This committee has jurisdiction over healthcare, which is vital to UAB  the heart and soul of the 6th District.

U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Haleyville) is our senior Congressman. He got to Washington at a very young age. He is now only 57 years old and has 28 years seniority. He is one of the cardinals on the House Appropriations Committee and is now chairman of the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Resources. This committee will be very important to Alabama because of the biomedical research going on in Birmingham and Huntsville. If the Republicans maintain their majority into 2025, Aderholt is in line to become chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.

U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Saks/Anniston) has emerged as chairman of the House Armed Service Committee. This is a very important coup for Alabama and an impressive appointment for Mike Rogers. The U.S. military has a very large footprint and importance in the Heart of Dixie. Defense dollars dominate Alabamas economy.

In addition to Rogers, two of our newest members of Congress have scored seats on the Armed Services Committee  Rep. Jerry Carl (R-Mobile) and Rep. Dale Strong (R-Huntsville). Both Carl and Strong are bright, stalwart stars for our congressional delegation. They have also become close friends and allies.

In addition to garnering a seat on the Armed Services Committee, Carl has been placed on the Appropriations Committee. He will be a workhorse for his coastal Alabama district.

Freshman Congressman Strongs appointment to the Armed Services Committee is a great feather for Strong given the importance of the Redstone Arsenal and the immense amount of defense dollars in Huntsville.

U.S. Rep. Barry Moore (R-Enterprise) landed an appointment to the prestigious Judiciary Committee.

Alabamas lone congressional Democrat, U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, will retain her position as Chief Deputy Whip within the Democratic caucus. Sewell will also continue to serve on the powerful and prestigious House Ways and Means Committee.

The paradigm of our power in Washington has moved to the U.S. House of Representatives.

See you next week.
The national security minister says there's an emerging view that parents are the best crime
Travel agency Booking.com has voted Phong Nha in central Vietnam one of the seven ideal destinations for singles to meet new friends.

For this Valentine's Day, the Dutch online travel agency has published a list of ideal places for solo travelers to make friends. Phong Nha is the only location in Vietnam and Asia on the list.

The town in Bo Trach District, Quang Binh Province, is considered by foreign tourists a place with charming scenery surrounded by green rivers, rice fields and mountain peaks, and tropical forests. Phong Nha is well-known for appealing tourist destinations including Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, a UNESCO-recognized global heritage site that is home to world's largest cave Son Doong.

The survey was conducted by the booking application over a period of one year, through the keywords that customers search for about the destination, as well as their desire to experience those places the most.

Phong Nha was named the friendliest destination in Vietnam earlier this month, based on an analysis of more than 240 million verified customer reviews on Booking.com.

A part of Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park from above. Photo by VnExpress/ Hoang Tao

Visitors also voted Phong Nha the world's top place to travel by motorbike, with paved roads and trails suitable for adventurous travelers to discover wild features, and friendly locals eager to teach visitors about their history and culture.

Other places on the list of destinations for singles to meet new friends are Montevideo (Uruguay), Corralejo (Spain), Pompei (Italy), Starigrad (Croatia), Foz do Iguacu (Brazil), and Jasper (Canada).
Austrian Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner denied the possibility of the Ukrainian military being trained in Austria to operate Leopard 2 main battle tanks.

This is reported by Ukrinform citing Austrian Radio O1.

"The Minister of Defense (with the Austrian People's Party) Klaudia Tanner categorically rejects the possibility of training the Ukrainian military," said the Morgenjournal radio show host with reference to the statement by the top defense official.

According to Tanner, this is a sovereign decision of each state "to support Ukraine within the framework of its national laws." At the same time, the minister added that "Austria is neutral militarily, but not politically, and even more so, not morally."

At the same time, as per international law expert Ralph Janik, Austria's neutrality does not stand in the way of training Ukrainian tankers, as this is a decision of the EU, of which the country is a member. Moreover, foreign soldiers from NATO member states - Hungary and the Czech Republic - are currently being trained on Austrias Leopard 2 tanks.

According to the expert, the decision not to train the Ukrainian military in Austria was made "for political reasons." "We prefer to live with this residual neutrality instead of testing the limits that the law sees not so narrowly," Janik says, pointing to the delicate domestic political debate on neutrality.

Austrias armed forces ("Bundesger") have a single tank battalion armed with 48 Leopard-2 main battle tanks.

As reported by Ukrinform, next week Germany will begin training Ukrainian servicemen on the use and maintenance of the Leopard 2 main battle tanks.

Photo: R1234 Ralph Zwilling/Tank-Masters.de/picture alliance
Russian forces are being given orders to advance in most sectors, but they have not massed sufficient offensive combat power on any one axis to achieve a decisive effect.

The UK Ministry of Defence said this in its latest defence intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine, Ukrinform reports.

It is noted that in the last three days, Wagner Group forces have almost certainly made further small gains around the northern outskirts of the contested Donbas town of Bakhmut, including into the village of Krasna Hora.

However, organised Ukrainian defence continues in the area. The tactical Russian advance to the south of the town has likely made little progress, the report says.

According to the UK Ministry of Defence, in the north, in Kremina-Svatove sector of Luhansk Oblast, Russian forces are making continuous offensive efforts, though each local attack remains on too small a scale to achieve a significant breakthrough.

Russia likely aims to reverse some of the gains Ukrainian forces made over September-November 2022: there is a realistic possibility that their immediate goal is to advance west to the Zherberets River. Overall, the current operational picture suggests that Russian forces are being given orders to advance in most sectors, but that they have not massed sufficient offensive combat power on any one axis to achieve a decisive effect, the report says.

The UK Ministry of Defence in its previous intelligence update said that the breakthrough of Ukraines Armed Forces in Zaporizhzhia and Luhansk would seriously challenge the viability of Russias land bridge with Crimea and further undermine Russias professed war aim of liberating Donbas.

Photo: Illustrative
Germany, Poland, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands are working together to provide Leopard battle tanks to Ukraine.

The relevant statement was made by U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin at the opening of the ninth meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in the Ramstein format in Brussels, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

A consortium of countries, including Germany, Poland, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands, are working together to provide Leopard battle tanks to Ukraine, Austin said.

In his words, for more armored power, the United States, the Czech Republic, and the Netherlands are jointly providing more than 90 T-72 tanks in addition to Polands latest donation of T-72s.

Moreover, the United Kingdom has provided a company of Challenger main battle tanks and has worked with several countries to source more ammunition for Ukraines defenders.

Austin also mentioned that the United States, Germany, and the Netherlands are working together to provide Patriot air-defense systems to Ukraine. In addition, France and Italy are working to provide a SAMP/T air-defense system.

A reminder that the ninth meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in the Ramstein format is taking place in Brussels on February 14, 2023.
The Leopard 2 tanks that Canada is handing over to Ukraine as part of defense assistance have already been delivered to Poland, where Canadian instructors have begun training Ukrainian tank crews.

Canadas Defense Minister Anita Anand made the statement while speaking with journalists at the doorstep of the NATO defense ministerial in Brussels, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"We have already announced four tanks to be sent to Poland. And this has already occurred. Those tanks are in Poland," she said.

According to her, 25 Canadian instructors have also arrived in the country where they have started training the Ukrainian military in the use of Leopard 2A4 tanks.

As reported by Ukrinform, Canada announced last week that it would transfer four Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. Ottawa also agreed to buy for Ukraine the NASAMS air defense system and 200 armored vehicles.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov and his Belgian counterpart Ludivine Dedonder have discussed the strengthening of cooperation between the two countries in the field of demining.

We held a meeting with the Minister of Defense of Belgium, Ms. Ludivine Dedonder. We discussed the prospects of further cooperation between Ukraine and Belgium, including strengthening our mining capabilities. Including the marine one, Reznikov said in a Facebook post.

The Ukrainian minister stressed that Belgium has significant experience in this direction. He also thanked the Belgian Government and all the people for their support, including for the military.

As reported by Ukrinform, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov discussed with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg the systemic interaction between Ukraine and the Alliance.
Greece allocated another military aid package to Ukraine, which included 20 BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicles and ammunition.

The Greek Ministry of National Defense said this in a statement following the participation of Minister Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos in the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) in Brussels, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"Minister Panagiotopoulos reminded about the humanitarian and defense aid provided by Greece to Ukraine, which included ammunition and recently sent 20 BMP-1," the statement says.

It is noted that the minister stressed that Greece will continue to support the Ukrainian peoples fair struggle to protect the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

As reported by Ukrinform, the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in the Ramstein format met in Brussels on February 14.
In 2022, Ukraine exported $13.1 billion worth of agri-food products to the European Union, which is 56% of total agricultural exports ($23.4 billion).

"In 2022, Ukraine received the main part of revenues from the export of agri-food products to the European Union countries. The total worth of supplies to the EU totaled $13.1 billion, i.e. 56% of all agricultural exports. To a large extent, this is due to forced circumstances as a result of the war because our seaports were actually blocked from the end of February to August last year," the Ukrainian Agriculture Export Association informs.

Dairy product exports saw especially noticeable changes in geographical structure. In 2022, the sale of dairy products to the European Union totaled $102 million. In particular, Poland, Israel, and the Netherlands bought dry and condensed milk (the share of total exports was 38%), Poland, Moldova, Azerbaijan  butter and milk pastes (69%), Kazakhstan, Poland, Moldova  cheeses (85%).

Last year, the major importers of Ukrainian-produced poultry meat were the Netherlands ($252 million), Saudi Arabia ($220 million), and Slovakia ($65 million), whose combined share in the export of this item reached 63%. Eggs were supplied mainly to the markets of Singapore, Latvia, and the Netherlands, which accounted for 69% of the total volume of sales.

Honey was traditionally sold mainly to the European Union markets, namely: Germany ($38 million), Poland ($24 million), France ($11 million).

Poland ($108 million), Germany ($29 million), France ($20 million), Italy ($19 million), the Netherlands ($16 million), Austria ($14 million), the Czech Republic ($11 million), and Azerbaijan ($10 million) were the major buyers of horticultural products. Frozen berries and fruits were primarily exported to Poland, Germany, and Italy (combined share  71%).

Walnuts were exported mainly to France, Azerbaijan, and Greece (36% in total). Apples and pears were exported to Belarus, UAE, and Saudi Arabia.
Russia will seek to gather more intelligence about Norway's energy infrastructure as part of efforts to exert pressure on European energy supplies.

Thats according to an annual threat assessment report by Norways police security agency (PST), Ukrinform reports citing Reuters.

Russia is "unlikely" to carry out acts of sabotage on Norwegian soil this year but this could change if the Kremlins willingness to escalate the conflict with NATO and the West were to increase as per the report.

Since Russias invasion of Ukraine, Norway has become Europe's largest gas supplier, following a drop in Russian gas flows.

"Norway's role as an energy supplier to Europe has assumed even greater security policy importance as a result of the war in Ukraine," the report reads.

Moscow would likely prioritize actions such as illegal gathering of intelligence, theft of information, cyber operations, or cultivating sources.

"We have seen the emergence of Russian ambitions to exert pressure on European energy security. PST therefore expects that in 2023, Russia will try to gather intelligence about most aspects of Norway's oil, gas and power sector," the assessment said.

PST also expects Russia to be interested in gathering information in Norway about NATO expansion plans to Sweden and Finland, which are neighbors to Norway, and to gather more information about the Arctic Svalbard archipelago, where Russia has its own settlements in line with a treaty signed in 1920.

As reported, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate announced on January 27 that they had discovered a significant amount of metals and minerals, including rare earths, on the seabed of the country's extended continental shelf.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov has met with U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Minister of Defence of the Netherlands Kajsa Ollongren.

The relevant statement was made by Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov on Facebook, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

I held a bilateral meeting with my friend and friend of Ukraine, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III. Thanked for the leadership that made it possible to unite 50 member countries of the Contact Group in the Ramstein format and attract unprecedented help from the entire free world, Reznikov wrote.

Reznikov expressed hope for productive work with partners in order to consistently increase the capabilities of Ukraines Defense Forces.

According to Reznikov, the goal remains the same: the liberation of Ukraines all territories within internationally recognized borders and the guarantee of sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.

Additionally, Reznikov thanked Minister of Defence of the Netherlands Kajsa Ollongren and the people of the Netherlands for their support.

The total value of the military aid provided by the Netherlands to Ukraine is about EUR 1 billion, Reznikov noted.

A reminder that the ninth meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in the Ramstein format is taking place in Brussels on February 14, 2023.
President Volodymyr Zelensky discussed Ukraines defense needs with Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada Melanie Joly who is visiting Kyiv.

At a meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, Melanie Joly we talked about the priority needs of the Defense Forces of Ukraine. Further cooperation in the field of security and defense was discussed in detail. Canada's support of the Ukrainian army is invaluable in these turbulent times for us, the President posted on Telegram.

Zelensky also thanked the Government of Canada and all the Canadian people for their warm attitude towards Ukrainians and powerful assistance to Ukraine.

As the Presidents Office informs, the Head of State also pointed out the importance of achieving peace which should be facilitated by the implementation of the ten points of the Peace Formula proposed by Ukraine.

The President informed the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada about the steps taken to implement the Peace Formula and expressed hope that the Canadian side would support relevant initiatives, in particular, the holding of a global peace summit.

Zelensky also expressed confidence that the vast majority of the countries will support the resolution of the UN General Assembly, proposed to be adopted to mark the anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The parties exchanged views on the steps to be taken to speed up the reconstruction of the regions liberated from the aggressor, as well as on the issue of demining the territories where hostilities took place.

Particular attention was paid to the need to prosecute those guilty of the crime of aggression, as well as the work being done in this direction.

The parties also discussed the Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine.

As reported, Canada announced last week that it would send four Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. Ottawa also agreed to buy NASAMS air defense system and 200 armored vehicles for Ukraine.

Photo: Presidents Office
Philippines urges China to prevent any 'provocative act' after complaint over laser

By Reuters February 13, 2023 | 06:01 pm PT

A Chinese coast guard ship is seen at the Second Thomas Shoal, 105 nautical miles off the Palawan Province, Philippines, February 6, 2023 in this handout image. Photo courtesy of Philippine Coast Guard via Reuters

China should restrain its forces to prevent them committing any "provocative act", the Philippine military said on Monday, after Manila accused China's coast guard of using a laser to try to disrupt a resupply mission to troops in the South China Sea.
The Romanian Orthodox Church has never made proposals for the transfer of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate (UOC MP) parishes in Chernivtsi region

"Chernivtsi region is getting ready to take another step towards unification with Romania"  such headlines hit the Kremlin media outlets and z-Telegram channels. The propagandists claim that the "Bucharest authorities" suggested that the UOC MP parishes should come under the protectorate of the Romanian Orthodox Church. So, it looks like Romania is beginning to "softly occupy" part of Ukraines territory.

As evidence, they refer to the "Address to the Romanian priests in Ukraine and Metropolitan Lonhin (Mykhailo Zhar), who are under the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church originating from the Russian Patriarchate, about the transition to the traditional canonical jurisdiction of the Romanian Orthodox Church", signed by six Romanian non-governmental organizations, including "Rost Association", and published on the latters online media outlet "ROSTonline". As noted on the association's website, it is engaged in cultural projects through which it seeks to promote "national values, creative appreciation of Romanian traditions, preservation of national identity and awakening of civic spirit."

The address states that 121 parishes in Ukraine, where religious services are held in the Romanian language and which are under the patronage of the Moscow Patriarchate, should be transferred to the Romanian Patriarchate, and Metropolitan Lonhin of the UOC MP should lead this whole process.

This statement came a day after Lonhin gave an interview to the Romanian channel Antena3 CNN, during which he accused the Ukrainian state of "persecuting the church" and talked about "armed people" entering a monastery, "breaking windows" and "brought clerics to their knees."

Therefore, the fake about the "unification of Chernivtsi region with Romania" is based on the address of several Romanian NGOs, not the position of the Romanian authorities or the Romanian Orthodox Church. Neither this letter, messages about the address, nor information about the intention to accept the UOC MP parishes in Ukraine are published on the website of the Romanian government or the official resource of the Romanian Orthodox Church.

Mykola-Myroslav Petretskyi, head of the Union of the Ukrainians of Romania confirmed this in a comment to Ukrinform.

The Romanian Orthodox Church has never made any statements about its desire to take the UOC MP parishes in Chernivtsi region under its control. On the contrary, reacting to the recent statement by Bishop Lonhin (Mykhailo Zhar) of the Banchen monastery, who said on Romanian television that armed soldiers allegedly entered the houses of clergymen in Chernivtsi and that the Ukrainian authorities are allegedly persecuting local Romanian priests, spokesman of the Romanian Orthodox Church Vasile Banescu clearly stated that priests of ethnic Romanian communities in Ukraine do not canonically belong to the Romanian Patriarchate but are mostly under the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church which maintains an ecclesiastical-canonical relationship with the Russian Orthodox Church," Petretskyi said.

He also emphasized that the Romanian Orthodox Church fully supports Ukraine and calls on representatives of Romanian national minorities not to listen to Russian propaganda.

"Vasile Banescu also stated that the highest reason for adequacy is objective truth confirmed by brutal direct reality, not ideologized and not manipulated by the propaganda of those who try to justify, including religiously, war and mass murders. I think that the Romanian Orthodox Church clearly formulated its stance by saying this", Mykola-Myroslav Petretskyi stressed.

There are also questions about the sincerity of the words of Lonhin himself. Although he was one of the few UOC MP representatives who condemned Moscow Patriarch Kirill (Gundiayev) for blessing the war in Ukraine, he did so only in June, four months after Russian missiles and bombs slammed into peaceful Ukrainian cities. He also "distinguished himself" with a sermon in which he declared that Ukraine "started a war against God and the Ukrainian people", which was spread by boxer Vasyl Lomachenko.

Before the war, Lonhin was disseminating fakes. In March 2021, in Hertsa district of Chernivtsi region, where the Banchen monastery led by Lonhin conducts awareness-raising activities, the majority of doctors of a district hospital refused coronavirus vaccination citing religious beliefs. Longin's statement about the "holy communion" as the "powerful coronavirus vaccine" that "kills any infection" was posted on the UOC MP social media accounts.

During Yanukovych's rule, in 2011, Longin hosted Kirill, who consecrated the newly created temple in the Banchen Monastery headed by him.

Longin is a long-time associate of Metropolitan of Chernivtsi and Bukovyna Meletiy, whom the Security Service of Ukraine searched. During the search, Russian passports of the "leadership of diocesan structures", in particular, Meletiys Russian passport, were found.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky suspended the citizenship of Meletiy and 13 more UOC MP priests.

The Romanian Orthodox Church does not have its religious parishes in Ukraine. The only Ukrainian church connected with Romania is the Ukrainian Orthodox Vicariate as a structural unit of the Romanian Orthodox Church, created in 1990 for Ukrainians living in Romania. Services are held there in Ukrainian and partly in Romanian.

Earlier, the Russian mass media spread a fake story saying that Russian-speaking Ukrainians would not be allowed to enter the churches of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine on Christmas.

Andriy Olenin
The situation is tragic. Right now, UNHCR is providing, with other UN agencies, what the Turkish authorities are requesting, so basically kitchen sets, mattresses, tents, so that we can complement the leading efforts of the Turkish authorities to rescue Turkish citizens and refugees in the same manner. Philippe Leclerc, UNHCR Representative in Turkiye

What is happening in Turkiye and Syria?

On 6 February 2023, two powerful earthquakes of 7.7 and 7.5 magnitudes struck in south-eastern Turkiye in the province of Kahramanmaras. The earthquakes have claimed thousands of lives and caused untold destruction to homes and infrastructure across the region.

In Turkiye, the earthquakes impacted a region of 15 million people living in 10 provinces, of whom 1.7 million are Syrian refugees under Temporary Protection. Those caught up in the disaster include many thousands of refugees from Syria and the communities that have generously hosted them for nearly 12 years.

Among those affected in north-western Syria are families that were already displaced from their homes by the countrys long-running crisis, living in tents, flimsy shelters and partially destroyed buildings. The earthquakes come amid harsh winter weather, which is also impacting those affected.

Across the whole region, homes and public infrastructure have been severely damaged, and roads and telecommunications networks are affected. The needs are immense. Those affected require urgent support.

What is UNHCR doing to help people affected by the earthquakes in Turkiye and Syria?

UNHCR already has a strong presence on the ground in Turkiye and Syria, providing support with our partners to people forced to flee their homes and their host communities. Having worked in the region to help displaced people throughout the long Syrian crisis, UNHCR has the local knowledge and supply chains in place to reach the most vulnerable quickly and effectively.

In Turkiye, the provinces heavily affected by the earthquakes are also ones in which refugees live in large numbers. UNHCR is working under the leadership of the Turkish authorities and with other UN agencies and is responding with urgently requested support to both refugees and host communities, including blankets, food packs, kitchen sets, mattresses and tents. Airlifts are bringing in more desperately needed supplies.

In Syria, families displaced inside the country were already struggling to protect their families in one of the worst winter storms to hit the region in recent years. Many families were living in flimsy shelters and damaged buildingsmany of which have now been destroyed or weakened by the earthquake and are not safe anymore.

UNHCR is coordinating the response with other UN agencies and humanitarian partners in Syria (including northwest Syria) and is delivering assistance to those in need wherever possible. We have made core relief items in affected regions immediately available to partners for delivery. We have deployed tens of thousands more core relief items, including high-thermal blankets, mattresses, kitchen sets, plastic sheeting, jerry cans and sleeping mats. We are taking part in cross-border convoys bringing more desperately needed aid into NW Syria.

Where can I find more information on people forced to flee in Turkiye and Syria?

UNHCR has been working in close cooperation with Turkiye on asylum and refugee issues since 1960. Turkiye and UNHCR signed a Host Country Agreement in 2016, which formalises and strengthens this existing collaboration. In Turkiye, UNHCR leads and coordinates the efforts of UN agencies in support of Turkiyes response to the Syria refugee crisis and support for host communities. More information about UNHCRs work in Turkiye can be found here.

UNHCR has been working in Syria since 1991 and has since expanded its work to support refugees and internally displaced people across the country. More than 6.7 million people are internally displaced within the country, and more than 5.4 million Syrian refugees are registered in neighbouring countries. More information about UNHCRs work in Syria can be found here.

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Each year the United States honors a select group of people who stand out for their efforts to protect and support human rights with the Global Human Rights Defender Awards.

The first award recipient, Mohammad Nur Khan, led two of Bangladeshs best-known domestic rights organizations and partnered with international organizations to document human rights abuses and promote accountability in Bangladesh.

From Brazil, Elaize de Souza Farias is a cutting edge indigenous investigative journalist who reports on issues of the environment, agriculture, and Indigenous and traditional peoples, among other topics.

Chhim Sithar, leader of the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees at the NagaWorld Resort and Casino in Cambodia, led a strike demanding higher wages. Amid harassment and her arrest in 2022, Ms. Sithar continues to speak out about labor rights.

Throughout Nino Lomjarias tenure as Public Defender of Georgia from 2017 through 2022, she and her team advocated for human rights protections for all.

Rosa Melania Reyes Velasquez is being recognized for fighting violence against women in Honduras.

Nasrin Sotoudeh is an Iranian human rights lawyer and activist. In March 2019 she was sentenced to a cumulative 38 years in prison and 148 lashes for providing legal defense services to women charged with crimes for not wearing a hijab.

Bashdar Hassan, an Iraqi human rights lawyer, headed up a group of lawyers who served as defense counsel for numerous journalists, activists, and protesters. According to Amnesty International, these attorneys were arbitrarily arrested and forcibly disappeared in Badinan in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region.

Mohamed Ely El Her of Mauritania has made monumental progress in securing land rights for former victims of slavery.

Ding Jiax, who lives in the Peoples Republic of China, is being honored for helping to start the New Citizens Movement. This organization supported independent candidates in local elections, launched calls for government officials to disclose their personal finances, and supported property rights. According to reports, Mr. Ding was tried in secret in 2022 with no verdict announced.

And finally, Ekoue David Joseph Dosseh of Togo is be honored for supporting Togolese civil society, fighting against injustice and impunity, and promoting democratic advancement across the region for over 15 years.

Protecting and supporting these and other human rights defenders remains a key U.S. foreign policy priority as they are integral to democracy, access to justice, a vibrant civil society, economic prosperity, and environmental sustainability.
In numbers: Tibet to complete the building of 4,000 km of railway lines by 2025

Ecns.cn) 15:11, February 14, 2023

Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region plans to complete the building of a total of 4,000 kilometers of railway lines as of 2025, according to the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) and the medium- and long-term railway network plans .

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Michael Walls has taken a liking to the small town of Jackpot, Nevada.

We fell in love with this little community, Walls said, after moving there two years ago with his wife.

The small, unincorporated community of mostly casino and hotel workers sits on U.S. Highway 93 just south of the Idaho-Nevada border.

Walls provides security for Bartons Club 93, and he said the employees at the casino and motel have bonded like family.

But now, with changes coming to the mobile home park hes living in and limited housing options available, he said we might be on our way out.

Walls and many other Jackpot residents became concerned after the new owner of the park more than quadrupled the monthly lot rent  from $75 to $401. Plus, the owner wants the tenants to purchase the mobile homes, instead of renting, for what many residents say are inflated prices.

If they decline to purchase the homes, they will likely be given a notice that they have six months to move.

Brett Spence of Idaho Falls purchased the park from Bartons Club 93 in November and plans to raise lot rents when tenants leases with Bartons expire in April, bringing them up to what he said is market value.

Spence, who owns four other mobile home parks in the region, says he is offering residents an attractive way to own their own homes, and that residents will end up saving money in the long run as they build equity in the home, instead of being perpetual renters.

This has gotten blown way out of proportion, Spence told the Times-News on Thursday. Instead of being the scumbag some people have made him out to be, he said wants to help Jackpot grow and clean up the mobile home parks, making them a better place to live.

Homes for sale

Spence is selling about 35 mobile homes, built in 2002 and later, for prices ranging from $28,000 to $80,000. Hes setting up a program where even people with low credit scores can qualify for mortgages  as long as they have been making payments, he said.

His plan has not gone over well with many residents who have flooded social media with negative comments, saying the trailers are rundown and overpriced. They say Spences plan seems more likely to cause people, including longtime residents, to leave Jackpot rather than stay.

Park residents complain that Spence has not communicated with them and that working with Spences Twin Falls-based property management company has been equally frustrating.

And no one is making needed repairs to the homes, residents say.

Earlier this month Spence posted on Facebook about his intentions to sell the mobile homes, and is lining up people who say they are interested in purchasing them  30 were on the list in just three days, he said. He expects to have his real estate license soon and the sales will begin.

As far as the people currently living in the homes are concerned, if unable to purchase they will come up for sale to another family, Spence wrote on his Facebook post, which he has since deleted, citing the number of negative posts.

People can be cruel, he said, adding that many of the people who made negative comments dont live in Jackpot.

He promised to give six months notice to people now living in the park who dont want to purchase the homes, but said hes making an attractive offer, selling units for well below market value.

Its a sweet deal, he said, adding that the homes include a small, fenced yard.

He said the homes he plans to sell for $28,000 offer about 560 square feet of space. An $80,000 home is about 1,000 square feet and includes a detached garage.

Not for what he wants

Residents disagree with Spences opinion that he is selling the homes cheap.

A look on Realtor.com shows no mobile homes for sale in Jackpot, but in Twin Falls a 924-square-foot home built in 1982 is selling for $90,000, but has been on the market 170 days.

The sale is pending on a 1990 three-bedroom, two-bath home with 1,560 square feet of space, with an asking price of $45,000.

In Jerome, a 1,088-square-foot home built in 2020 has an asking price of $115,000.

Erica Matteson-Newman wants to see Spence put the purchase plans in writing. She and other residents say they havent seen anything specific and dont know how much Spence is asking for their particular mobile homes. Spence told the Times-News that the mortgages would be for a 20-year period at approximately 8% interest.

Matteson-Newman said she had gotten comfortable in her mobile home, moving there in October just before the park was sold.

We actually had a place of our own, where we werent couch-surfing or living in shelters, she said.

Matteton-Newman expects her rent to double. That is a difficult prospect, she said, with her $11.75-per-hour wage she said she is making at Bartons.

Im not even making McDonalds burger-flipping wages, she said.

She is interested in purchasing the one-bedroom home, but not for what he wants. She worries that because there are few housing options in Jackpot she might end up living in her vehicle, a Dodge Durango.

The homes need maintenance, Matteton-Newman and other residents say. In her home, skirting needs repaired, there is a hole in the floor where the dryer vent is supposed to be, and a flange on the toilet needs to be repaired, she said.

Other residents, on social media posts, have complained of mold.

Some houses need a lot of work, said Maria Avila, who has lived at the park for 20 years. Floors, bathrooms, furnaces, mold  you name it.

Arturo Sanchez said he has several maintenance issues that havent been addressed on his home, including windows, door and back porch steps.

Spence maintained that the mobile homes are in good condition, but that people need to properly care for them. For example, to prevent mold, people need to turn on the bathroom fan.

Response from the Twin Falls-based property management company Spence has been using has been almost nonexistent, Avila said.

Residents said they have called the phone number provided and are met with an automated greeting to leave a message. But after leaving a message, there has been little response.

Some mobile home furnaces cease operating, and renters have gone days without heating.

An acquaintance went four days without a furnace, Avila said, and the only way they got it repaired was that her son got the part and fixed it himself.

Spence said he has made improvements at the park, cutting down overgrown trees and getting broken-down cars removed.

He also doesnt want residents to own dog breeds that some people regard as dangerous.

He pledged to have a responsive property management team.

So far that hasnt happened, Avila said.

Residents are struggling to get rent payments to the proper recipient. Avila said she went to the Twin Falls office and employees said she couldnt pay it there.

She kept her receipts and said she was served an eviction notice.

They said I owed $780, but I have my receipts that show I paid, she said.

She said there arent a lot of other housing options in Jackpot, and the situation has worried residents.

A lot of people have moved out or talked about moving, she said.

Jeff Young, general manager of Bartons Club 93, declined to comment on the housing situation and how it might affect staffing at the business.

Avila and others showed up at a Jackpot advisory board meeting Thursday. The room was full of people hoping some type of action could be taken to alleviate concerns, she said.

Instead, Shawn Burt, Jackpot public works superintendent, said it is a civil matter and the board had no power over it, although members are aware of the situation.

I know its been tough, Burt told people in attendance, and said affordable housing has been a problem in Jackpot for years.

He did offer a glimpse of hope, however.

Government grants might be available for Jackpot to help with affordable housing, and a developer recently expressed interest in placing homes in the area, he said.

The homes, sometimes called pop-up homes, are made by a Las Vegas company and have concrete walls and concrete roofs, he said, but can be constructed quickly, in about six weeks.

Prices could range from about $80,000 for a smaller home, and homes might also be rented.

Its all preliminary, Burt cautioned. It still takes time; we are working with the government.

Information will be distributed through the community, and as things progress, people who are serious in buying might be requested to put down a deposit, he said.
(@FahadShabbir)

For promoting females at leadership positions in corporate world, the Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) on Tuesday announced the 5th Women Empowerment Awards while Diversity and Inclusion Handbook 2022 was also launched

KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Feb, 2023 ):For promoting females at leadership positions in corporate world, the Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) on Tuesday announced the 5th Women Empowerment Awards while Diversity and Inclusion Handbook 2022 was also launched.

The Handbook covers policies aimed at building inclusive workplaces including workplace flexibility, hybrid working models, and policies enabling working mothers and parents effectively.

Former Governor State Bank of Pakistan, Dr. Ishrat Hussain was the chief guest of the ceremony.

President OICCI, Ghias Khan, stressed on the need of gender inclusive measures to ensure expedited socio-economic growth and said that female labour participation in Pakistan was at a lower level of 21 percent.

Bridging the female employment gap could increase employment by up to 19 million and boost Pakistan's GDP by up to 23 percent, he said while quoting estimates by World Bank.

Procter and Gamble Pakistan won the top position and was declared Champions of "OICCI Women Empowerment Awards 2022" whereas Nestle Pakistan and Unilever Pakistan were declared the first and second runners-up respectively.

An independent jury vetted the performance of the companies from different aspects and awarded the Overall Best Performer and awards for all other categories.

Expanding the scope of the awards beyond OICCI members, Ms. Sima Kamil was declared the first winner of Iconic Corporate Women Leaders Award, based on nominations received from OICCI members.

This award was introduced in current year to recognize corporate female leaders who can serve as an inspiration to the younger female generation.

Special category awards were given in seven categories. Standard Chartered Pakistan won the Leadership & Strategy award, Pakistan Tobacco Company won the award for an Organization's Vision and Mission, Telenor Pakistan won the Conducive Workplace Environment for Women award, Engro Corporation won the Women Leaders' Development award and Pakistan Mobile Communications Limited (Jazz) won the Work-Life Balance and Integration award.

Special Recognition Awards were awarded to GSK Pakistan for Notable Growth in Women Empowerment while L'Oreal was declared to be the SME Champion.

Explaining the purpose of Diversity and Inclusion Handbook 2022, Secretary General OICCI, M. Abdul Aleem stated that it was one of the latest initiatives taken under the banner of OICCI Women with the aim to publish information regarding initiatives and best practices that member companies have adopted within their workplaces.

It was now available for use by interested corporations to begin or further their journey towards equality in their workplaces, he added.

The ceremony was attended by CEOs, HR Executives, and corporate professionals from various OICCI member companies and distinguished guests.
Independent United Nations experts called on the international community to take action against Israel's systematic destruction of Palestinian buildings in the West Bank, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said Monday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th February, 2023) Independent United Nations experts called on the international community to take action against Israel's systematic destruction of Palestinian buildings in the West Bank, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said Monday.

"The international community must take action to stop systematic and deliberate housing demolition and sealing, arbitrary displacement and forced evictions of Palestinian people in the occupied West Bank," the statement said.

Israel demolished 132 Palestinian structures, including 34 residential and 15 donor-funded, across 38 communities in the West Bank in January alone, up 135% compared to the same period last year, according to the OHCHR.

"The systematic demolition of Palestinian homes, erection of illegal Israeli settlements and systematic denial of building permits for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank amounts to 'domicide'," the statement read.

UN experts have repeatedly raised concerns with the Israeli government on these issues, but never received any response, it added.

"We regret that impunity prevails, in particular for human rights violations and potential war crimes committed by the occupying power.

It is high time for international adjudication bodies to determine the nature of the Israeli occupation and seek justice and accountability for all crimes committed in the occupied Palestinian territory," the experts said in a statement.

At the end of December 2022, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on "Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem." Under the resolution, the UN General Assembly requested the International Court of Justice to render an advisory opinion on the legal consequences of Israel's violations of Palestinians rights, in particular, the annexation and occupation of their territories.

Relations between Israel and Palestine have been adversarial since the founding of Israel in 1948. Palestinians seek diplomatic recognition of their independent state on the territories of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, which is partially occupied by Israel, and the Gaza Strip. The Israeli government has refused to recognize Palestine as an independent political and diplomatic entity, and has been constructing settlements in the occupied areas despite objections from the United Nations.
(UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 14th Feb, 2023) ABU DHABI, 14th February, 2023 (WAM)  Mohamed Saif Al Suwaidi, Director-General of the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) and Chairman of the Exports Executive Committee of the Abu Dhabi Exports Office (ADEX), met Arnoldo Andre Tinoco, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Costa Rica, to discuss ways to strengthen relations between the UAE and Costa Rica in various fields.

During the meeting which was held as part of the World Government Summit, the two sides emphasised the importance of collaboration on climate issues in light of the UAE playing the host of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) in November.

Al Suwaidi stressed ADFDs keenness to expand cooperation with Costa Rica in the development and economic sectors as he underscored the Funds role in supporting the developing countries in their effort to achieve their economic ambitions.

He also highlighted the contributions of the Abu Dhabi Exports Office towards promoting the national economy and supporting the UAEs export sector.

Tinoco thanked the UAE and ADFD for their efforts in supporting economic and development programmes globally, which have contributed to improving the quality of life and economic growth in various countries. He expressed Costa Rica's interest in strengthening its relations with the UAE and exploring development and investment opportunities through ADFD's competitive financing solutions offered by ADEX, which would support the national economy and achieve the mutual interests of both nations.
DUBAI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 15th Feb, 2023) His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, today met with Jassim Muhammad Al Budaiwi, Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

The meeting, which took place on the sidelines of the World Government Summit 2023, was attended by H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Executive Council.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid congratulated Al Budaiwi on his recent appointment as the Secretary General of the GCC. His Highness wished him success in his duties to strengthen joint activities of the GCC countries and meet peoples aspirations for development and prosperity.

His Highness emphasised the significance of advancing GCC coordination to greater heights, especially in terms of sharing knowledge and expertise in areas related to investment in future-focused sectors. He also highlighted the importance of unlocking the potential of GCC youth and investing in human capital for the regions further development.

The Secretary-General of the GCC praised the UAE for its leading and influential role in regional and global affairs. He also commended the UAEs inspiring contribution in various areas, including the development of government work.

The World Government Summit, in particular, reflects the progress the UAE has made in this domain and qualifies it to lead a global dialogue that involves governments from around the world to find solutions to the challenges facing humanity.

The meeting was also attended by H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Chairman of Dubai Airports and Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline and Group; H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Media Council; H.H. Sheikh Mansoor bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai sports Council; and Mohammad bin Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and Chairman of the World Government Summit Organisation.
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Sarmada, Syria, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Feb, 2023 ) :The first UN delegation to visit rebel-held northwestern Syria since last week's earthquake crossed over from Turkiye Tuesday, an AFP correspondent reported, as anger simmers at the world body's slow response.

More than 35,000 people were killed when the quake devastated swathes of Syria and neighbouring Turkiye on February 6, at least 3,600 of them in Syria, according to government officials and emergency services in rebel areas.

"A multi-agency mission has gone this morning from the Turkiye side across the border crossing... It's largely an assessment mission," the World food Programme's Syria director, Kenn Crossley, told AFP in Geneva.

The delegation comprised deputy regional humanitarian coordinator David Carden and Sanjana Quazi, who heads the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Turkiye.

They visited a WFP centre in Sarmada, near the Turkish border, and held a 40-minute meeting with officials at the Bab al-Hawa crossing -- the only transit point on the Turkish border for UN aid deliveries to rebel-held areas.

Activists and emergency teams in the northwest have decried the UN's slow response to the quake in rebel-held areas, contrasting it with the planeloads of humanitarian aid that have been delivered to government-controlled airports.

On a visit to the Turkish side of the Bab al-Hawa crossing on Sunday, during which he met Syrian rescue teams, UN relief chief Martin Griffiths admitted that the world body had "so far failed the people in northwest Syria".

Griffiths also visited government-controlled areas devastated by the earthquake.

Before the quake struck, almost all of the humanitarian aid for the more than four million people living in rebel-controlled areas was delivered from Turkey through the Bab al-Hawa crossing.
Rome, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Feb, 2023 ) :Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's right-wing coalition on Monday secured victory in regional elections, cementing her position almost four months after taking office.

In the northern region of Lombardy, Italy's economic powerhouse that includes Milan, Attilio Fontana was easily re-elected president with the coalition's support.

With the vast majority of ballots counted after voting on Sunday and Monday, Fontana was on 55 percent, his centre-left rival on almost 34 percent, official figures showed.

In Lazio, the region that includes the capital Rome, coalition candidate Francesco Rocca, the former head of Italy's Red Cross, was on 53 percent with his main opponent trailing on around 34 percent.

Despite low turnout of around 40 percent, Meloni hailed a "clear victory".

"A result that consolidates the centre-right's coherence, and strengthens the work of the government," she wrote on Twitter.

Meloni's post-fascist Brothers of Italy party made history in September by winning 26 percent of the vote in national elections.

She formed a government with Matteo Salvini's far-right League and former premier Silvio Berlusconi's right-wing Forza Italia.

Salvini was quick to congratulate Fontana, a member of the League, writing on Instagram: "Victory.

Thank you Lombardy. Thank you Lazio." The League has lost support in recent years, much of it to Brothers of Italy, an insurgent force focused on nationalism and a promise to limit mass immigration.

The regional results suggest Meloni's party is still enjoying an electoral honeymoon.

Brothers of Italy came out top in both Lombardy and Lazio, securing around 25 and 34 percent of the vote respectively, according to the almost complete results.

The League followed on almost 17 percent in Lombardy and around eight percent in Lazio, which had been run by the centre-left Democratic Party for the past 10 years.

"Prime Minister Meloni strengthened her grip on the coalition while not pushing her allies too much off-balance," noted political commentator Lorenzo Codogno.

A YouTrend nationwide poll published earlier this month had put Meloni's party on 29 percent, compared to 8.7 percent for the League and seven percent for Forza Italia.

Italy's opposition includes the populist Five Star Movement, which is polling at almost 18 percent nationwide, and the leaderless Democratic Party at 15.8 percent.

Italy's 20 regions enjoy a great deal of autonomy from the central government, charged with everything from health to transport and education.
Kinshasa, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Feb, 2023 ) :M23 rebels have sown chaos in the eastern edge of the Democratic Republic of Congo for over a year, but what they hope to achieve remains unclear.

Since late 2021, the group has seized swathes of territory in North Kivu province and neared the regional hub of Goma, prompting hundreds of thousands to flee their homes.

"We want a direct dialogue with the government to address the root causes of the conflict," Lawrence Kanyuka, the M23's political spokesman, told AFP while declining to name any specific demands.

"We can't put the cart before the horse," Kanyuka said.

The M23, a Tutsi-led group whose name stands for the "March 23 Movement," re-emerged from dormancy in November 2021, accusing the DRC of ignoring a promise to integrate its fighters into the army.

It subsequently won a string of victories over state forces.

The DRC accuses its smaller neighbour Rwanda of backing the group, a charge supported by independent UN experts as well as the United States and other western countries. Rwanda denies the accusation.

General Sylvain Ekenge, spokesman for the Congolese military, called the M23 a "Rwandan pawn".

He accused the government of Rwanda, a tiny landlocked state, of seeking access to eastern Congo's rich mineral resources such as gold, coltan and tin -- "It's a problem of economic survival" for Kigali, Ekenge said.

Despite international efforts to defuse the conflict, M23 forces have continued advancing, last month capturing the town of Kitshanga, northwest of Goma.

It now threatens to encircle Goma, a city of over a million people on the Rwandan border.

Analysts point to heightened tensions between regional powers as an underlying cause of the flare-up.

Uganda and the DRC launched a joint military operation in the region in November 2021. Kampali had also agreed to upgrade road infrastructure in eastern Congo, potentially enouraging alternative supply routes that would bypass Rwandan border crossings.

According to Ekenge, the military spokesman, Rwandan President Paul Kagame saw the danger for his country's economy, prompting his support of the M23 offensives.

"Kagame said, 'These roads will not function'," Ekenge said.

But Uganda later appeared to have turned a blind eye to the M23, according to a report in December by independent United Nations experts -- notably when the rebels captured the town of Bunagana on the Ugandan border.

M23 fighters have also moved back and forth between the DRC and Uganda, the report said.

Jason Stearns, director of New York University's Congo Research Group, said that geopolitical tensions likely motivated the initial M23 offensive, but suggested that Uganda and Rwanda had switched "from rivalry to complicity".

- 'Unnatural alliances' - The tenor of M23's public statements also appears to have changed over time.

When the conflict first erupted, the group denied clashes with Congolese forces and said it was negotiating with Kinshasa. It later admitted to responding to alleged attacks by government troops.

By May 2022, however, the M23 was denouncing alleged "dreadful and unnatural alliances" between the Congolese military and armed groups including the FDLR -- a descendant of the Rwandan Hutu extremist groups that carried out the 1994 Tutsi genocide in Rwanda.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported in October that Congolese army officers had provided support to various militias, including the FDLR, in its fight against M23.

Later M23 statements increasingly emphasised the FDLR, and the danger posed to Congolese Tutsis.

Ekenge rejected the accusations of army support for the FDLR as a "red herring," saying Congolese forces had carried out operations against the group in the past.

Rwanda has also repeatedly denounced the DRC's alleged cooperation with the FDLR.

- 'Extremely convenient' - Stearns, of the Congo Research Group, suggested that some M23 members are sincere in their concerns over the FDLR and Congolese Tutsis, while others in the rebel group may be manipulating the fears with a political goal in mind.

Rwanda's leadership -- which stems from the Rwandan Patriotic Front rebellion that ended the 1994 genocide -- also draws legitimacy from protecting the Tutsi community, according to Stearns.

He suggested that Rwanda's stance on the FLDR was in part both sincere and "extremely convenient" -- noting the country's interests in eastern Congo.

For Onesphore Sematumba, a DRC analyst for the International Crisis Group, the M23 rebellion has its roots in Rwandan economic fears.

But he said the situation on the ground had changed, allowing the rebellion to take on a momentum of its own.

"It's no longer a secret that Rwanda and Uganda are allies," Sematumba said, and the M23 may now feel emboldened in its ambitions given the feeble response by the Congolese military so far.

"As they move forward and don't find an effective opposition, they will push their own limits," Sematumba said.
COLOMBO, Feb. 14 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Feb, 2023 ) :-- Sri Lanka will ban several plastic products from June, a spokesman said here on Tuesday.

Cabinet spokesman Bandura Gunawardena told a press conference that proposed by the minister of environment, the production, importation, selling and use of single-use plastic straws, drink stirrers, plates, cups (excluding yoghurt cups), knives, spoons (including yoghurt spoons), forks, plastic flower garlands, and string hopper trays will not be allowed in Sri Lanka from June.

He said banning these items was recommended by a panel of experts appointed in August 2021, in order to study the effects of plastic waste on the environment and wildlife.

Sri Lanka banned non-biodegradable plastic bags in 2017.

Gunawardena said there have been reports of elephant and deer deaths due to the injection of plastic waste.
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Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Tuesday launched global "Automation of Power of Attorney" to facilitate overseas Pakistanis with the provision of automated attestation services at their doorsteps

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Feb, 2023 ) :Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Tuesday launched global "Automation of Power of Attorney" to facilitate overseas Pakistanis with the provision of automated attestation services at their doorsteps.

In a ceremony held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the foreign minister said that the future belonged to technology and its utilization would ensure enhanced performance, better service delivery and transparency.

He expressed confidence that the launch of the initiative would help the country's foreign missions in enhancing the consular services.

The automation of power of attorney was initially launched in November 2021 as a pilot project in ten Pakistan Missions'/Sub-Missions' in the United States and the United Kingdom. Now this service will be available to all the Pakistani Diaspora living abroad globally.

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar, Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs Syed Hussain Tariq, Secretary Foreign Affairs Dr.

Asad Majeed Khan and Chairman National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) Dr. Muhammad Tariq Malik, also attended the ceremony.

The foreign minister described the launch as the realization of a major initiative to facilitate overseas Pakistanis and congratulated all those who worked hard to help make the project a reality.

He also lauded National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) for its latest tech initiatives in the past.

Automation for attestation/legalization of Power of Attorney had been a longstanding demand of the Overseas Pakistanis and will facilitate those who have to travel long distances from different cities and far-off places to the Missions. This automated system will reduce costs and minimize hassle by providing attestation services at the doorstep.
ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Feb, 2023 ) :Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Tuesday called upon the country's young diplomats to explore new tools in foreign policy including communication technology to effectively highlight the country's narrative across the globe.

Addressing the graduation ceremony of 42nd Specialized Diplomatic Course held at Foreign Service academy, he said the rapid advancement of technological mediums defined new contours of diplomacy that necessitated an agile foreign service.

The foreign minister emphasized that new trends of diplomacy required a better capacity to cope with geo-political and geo-economic realities.

He mentioned other emerging challenges such as climate change, food security, public health, and water issues, and stressed that Pakistani diplomats must remain cognizant of these subjects.

He expressed confidence that young Pakistani diplomats would continue to strengthen relations with the international community.

Bilawal said Pakistan's foreign policy was guided by national interests, pragmatism, constructed engagement, and amicable management of diversities and maximizing commonalities of interests.

He mentioned the Resilient Pakistan conference held in Geneva last month was a proud achievement of the country that encouraged support from the world. He termed it a testament to Pakistan's effective foreign policy.

Regarding the polarization of geopolitics, he pointed out that the international landscape continued to undergo profound changes underpinned by power dynamics and increasing complex interplay.

The foreign minister mentioned that a process of foreign policy reforms was initiated aimed at better management and better skills.

He highlighted the need for effective liaison with overseas Pakistanis besides extending them maximum facilitation.

Bilawal commended the Director General FSA for conducting an excellent training that focused on advancing foreign policy amid contemporary challenges.

He hoped that FSA as a premier institution would continue to exhibit a strong commitment to producing outstanding diplomats.
National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf on Tuesday said the establishment of Pak-Ivory Coast Parliamentary Friendship Group would help parliamentarians of the two countries to benefit each other's experiences

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Feb, 2023 ):National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf on Tuesday said the establishment of Pak-Ivory Coast Parliamentary Friendship Group would help parliamentarians of the two countries to benefit each other's experiences.

Talking to a Parliamentary delegation of Ivory Coast head by National Assembly President Adama Bictogo, he said the promotion of parliamentary relations between the two countries was indispensable and the visit would help bringing Pakistan and the people of Ivory Coast closer.

Raja Pervaiz suggested establishing Pak-Ivory Coast Parliamentary Friendship Group and head of visiting delegation agreed on it. Both the countries signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) for the establishment of Parliamentary Friendship Group between Pakistan and Ivory Coast.

The speaker discussed matters of mutual interest with the visiting delegation, saying that Ivory Coast was an important country and Pakistan was keen to promote bilateral relations with it. Pakistan was also an agriculture country like Ivory Coast and the visit would help deepen bilateral relations between the two countries and deepen cooperation on trade and investment, he added.

The speaker said Pakistan had opened its Resident Diplomatic Mission in Ivory Coast under its engage Africa policy.

First Pakistani ambassador presented his credentials to President of Ivory Coast. The speaker lauded the role of Ivory Coast in activating Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

The President of the National Assembly of Ivory Coast appreciated the comments of Raja Pervaiz Ashraf regarding Ivory Coast, adding they were delighted to visit Pakistan as the delegation had received immense love and sincerity from hardworking Pakistani people.

He said fostering parliamentary relations was of utmost importance and the establishment of friendship group between Pakistan and Ivory Coast would be an important development.

He said they would never forget the warm welcome and love upon arrival in Pakistan. The impression against Pakistan in the world of communication was fabricated and baseless. Ivory Coast wanted to further expand bilateral relations with Pakistan.

The President of Ivory Coast's National Assembly invited National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to visit Ivory Coast with a parliamentary delegation.

He also penned down his comments in the book kept for guests in the National Assembly of Pakistan.
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With the support of Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA) Pak Pharma & Healthcare Expo (PPE) will be inaugurated at the Expo Centre, here on Wednesday

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Feb, 2023 ) :With the support of Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA) Pak Pharma & Healthcare Expo (PPE) will be inaugurated at the Expo Centre, here on Wednesday.

H.E Jemal Baker, Ambassador of Ethiopia and Ibrahim Tawab, Honorary Consul General Ethiopia and Arshad Mahmood, Chairman PPMA North will inaugurate the exhibition along with other dignitaries from government, industry and other departments, said a press release issued here on Tuesday.

The two-day exhibition is organized by Prime Event Management which will conclude on Thursday, February 15th.

Expo organizer Kamran Abbasi, Director Prime Event told that this expo is exclusively focused on pharmaceutical equipment manufacturers, laboratory equipment, research and testing laboratories, raw and packaging suppliers, pharma printing, pharma chemicals, lab chemicals, pharma instruments, hospital & health equipment manufacturers, ultra sound, x-ray, MRI machines, cardiac monitors, medicine manufacturers, surgical equipment, hospital consumables and accessories.

Kamran Abbasi told that over 100 exhibitors are displaying their products, technology through their 250 stalls in two halls of the Expo Centre.

This expo will provide an excellent opportunity for the promotion of the local pharmaceutical industry in the international markets and to local manufacturers about new technologies and developments in this field adopted by the developed world, he added.
SPRING CREEK  Spring Creek water customers will receive multiple bills temporarily in an effort by Great Basin Water Co. to adjust billing cycles.

GBWC announced the corrective action to customers is meant to align the dates of meter reads with our billing schedule, mailing bills about two weeks apart.

Great Basin Water Co. bills currently reflect meter reads from a period of up to several months prior and the extra mailings will generate bills closer to the date of actual meter readings, explained Sean Twomey, GBWC president, in a letter to customers.

This is a temporary action to shorten the interval between meter reads and bill cycles, he said.

Customers will not be overbilled and GBWC will temporarily cease all overdue payment fees during this incremental billing period.

Bills should arrive about two weeks apart but the meter read dates will not overlap, Twomey said.

The additional mailings should stabilize GBWCs billing cycle and have the bill dates reflect the meter readings from the previous month.

With this new process in effect, water use data will better serve customers, supplying more prompt access to spikes in usage which could show a water leak, Twomey added.

We apologize for the inconvenience and wish to avoid further confusion on our customers behalf, he continued. If you need help with paying your utility bill, please contact Customer Service or visit My Utility Account to set up a payment arrangement.

Billing issues have been ongoing for GBWC customers. In November, customers posted complaints on the Spring Creek Associations social media ranging from excessive amounts, increased water usage, and inability to view bills within their online account.

In 2020, a few months after Twomey took the helm of GBWC from former president Wendy Barnett, he told the Spring Creek Association there would be a renewed effort to resolve complaints.

We will specifically be focused on working with individual customers to answer and correct any of the billing questions I heard at the SCA board meeting, Twomey stated in a press release dated Dec. 13, 2020.

Three years previous, the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada denied a petition from GBWC that stated they had resolved meter reading and billing issues with its customers consistent with its tariff and ordered the company to refund customers for a water meter reading issue in 2016.

In November, GBWC filed a proposed transaction with the PUCN as the company seeks to merge with SW Merger Acquisition Corp, a water utility based out of Delaware that owns 18 water and wastewater utility companies in seven states.

Next week, Great Basin Water Co. will host an in-person open house to discuss rates, rate design, billing realignment and address any customer concerns

The open house is 4 to 7 p.m. Feb. 21 at the Spring Creek Association office at 401 Fairway Blvd.
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The Prime Minister will witness the international joint naval exercises organized by the Pakistan Navy in which naval forces of more than fifty countries are participating.

Karachi: (UrduPoint/UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News-Feb 14th, 2023) Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has arrived in Karachi on a day-long visit.

The Prime Minister will witness the international joint naval exercises organized by the Pakistan Navy in which naval forces of more than fifty countries are participating.

The main objective of these biennial exercises is to develop an effective joint strategy against pirates, terrorists, drug and arms smugglers. The Prime Minister will be briefed in this regard.
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The Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) on Tuesday directed all the national and foreign airlines operating in the country, including private aviation, to allow Umrah passengers to arrive and depart on scheduled flights through any international airport in the kingdom.

RIYADH: (UrduPoint/UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News-Feb 14th, 2023) The Saudi government on Tuesday opened all international airports for religious tourists to arrive and depart on scheduled flights.

Umrah pilgrims now could use any airport in Saudi Arabia. The decision will benefit all the Umrah pilgrims from around the world including Pakistan.

The Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) issued a circular and directed all the national and foreign airlines operating in the country, including private aviation, to allow Umrah passengers to arrive and depart on scheduled flights through any international airport in the kingdom.

Earlier, the Umrah pilgrims were allowed to come and go through only two airports including Holy city of Mahina and Jeddah.

According to the latest circular, it would violation of the governments order if the relevant airlines did not comply with it.

The GACA also made it clear that the legal procedures would be taken against violators.
Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan will pay a visit to Turkey on Wednesday to express condolences in connection with the devastating earthquakes in the southeast of the country, Turkish Foreign Ministry told Sputnik

ANKARA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th February, 2023) Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan will pay a visit to Turkey on Wednesday to express condolences in connection with the devastating earthquakes in the southeast of the country, Turkish Foreign Ministry told Sputnik.

This is Mirzoyan's second visit to Turkey, earlier he participated in the Diplomatic Forum in Antalya and held closed talks with his Turkish counterpart.

"On February 15, 2023, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan will visit our country to show solidarity with Turkey and express condolences over the earthquakes that occurred in Kahramanmaras. After meeting with Minister (Mevlut) Cavusoglu in Ankara, Minister Mirzoyan will visit Adiyaman, where a search and rescue group from Armenia is also working," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th February, 2023) A meeting of the North Atlantic Council at the defense ministerial level will be held from February 14-15 at the NATO headquarters in Brussels and will be chaired by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

The meeting is set to discuss the bloc's deterrence and defense issues, ways to increase defense industrial capacity and restocking, as well as enhancing the security of underwater infrastructure. The ministers will also touch upon further support to Ukraine and the possibility of boosting it.

The defense ministers are expected to agree on a new virtual satellite network to improve the bloc's intelligence, surveillance and threat warning capabilities.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Tuesday jointly spoke against foreign interference in the domestic affairs of other states and vowed to support efforts to protect the state sovereignty and territorial integrity of the two countries

BEIJING (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th February, 2023) Chinese President Xi Jinping and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Tuesday jointly spoke against foreign interference in the domestic affairs of other states and vowed to support efforts to protect the state sovereignty and territorial integrity of the two countries.

Raisi arrived in Beijing earlier in the day at the official invitation of the Chinese leader. This is the first top-level Iran-China meeting in 20 years. One of the goals of Raisi's visit was to discuss the implementation of a comprehensive strategic partnership between Tehran and Beijing.

"Both Iran and China are strongly against the policy of unilateral actions, hegemony and bullying as well as foreign interference in domestic affairs," Raisi said, following the meeting, as quoted by the state-run China Central Television.

Xi, in turn, said that Beijing was ready to develop its cooperation with Tehran on a number of issues of mutual interest.

"China supports Iran in its effort to protect state sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and national dignity. It supports Iran in confronting the policy of unilateral actions and intimidation. China is also against interference of foreign powers in Iran's domestic affairs," Xi stated.

During the meeting, the Iranian leader thanked China for its help to Tehran during the COVID-19 pandemic and support in the international arena on issues such as the negotiations on the renewal of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the Iranian nuclear program.
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WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th February, 2023) Russian businessman Vladislav Klyushin intends to appeal his conviction on hacking and trade charges in the United States, and his sentencing is set for May 4, his attorney Maksim Nemtsev told Sputnik on Tuesday.

"We are disappointed but respect the jury's verdict," Nemtsev said.

"We intend to appeal various issues including the admissibility of prejudicial statistical evidence, as well as the novel theories of stock fraud and venue that have never before been reviewed or adopted by the First Circuit or the Supreme Court."

US media reported earlier that Klyushin, the owner of the Russian information technology firm M-13, was found guilty by a jury in Boston, Massachusetts, on charges of conspiracy, wire fraud and securities fraud in connection to a $90 million scheme.
Leopard tanks will be delivered to Ukraine this March, Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said on Tuesday

WARSAW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th February, 2023) Leopard tanks will be delivered to Ukraine this March, Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said on Tuesday.

In January, the Polish leadership announced that it was ready to transfer up to 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine as part of the international coalition.

Ukrainian soldiers are being trained in Poland, while the Leopard tanks will be delivered already in mid-March, Blaszczak said, following the NATO defense ministers' meeting in Brussels.
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WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th February, 2023) No links have been made between the alleged Chinese spy balloon downed over the Atlantic, and the latest three unidentified objects shot over Alaska, Yukon and Lake Huron, Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) Major General Marc-Andre Prevost said on Monday.

"These three last objects didn't look like anything like the first one that we dealt with, which I think everybody saw ... The other ones were smaller in size, all different, but followed the same pattern," Prevost said during a briefing on Unknown Aerial Objects.

Nonetheless, Prevost continued saying that all those unidentified objects are of concern for both Canada and the US, adding they are "unwanted and unauthorized".

The Major General said the CAF, other agencies and their US partners would continue their efforts to find them or their debris, to better understand what is happening.

Furthermore, Prevost stressed that Canada and the US would put greater attention to both countries air safety, as well as that of their citizens.

Earlier this month, NORAD detected and downed an alleged Chinese Spy Balloon over the Atlantic Ocean. On Friday, another object was detected and destroyed while flying over Alaska.

Saturday and Sunday, unidentified objects, believed to be balloons were detected by NORAD flying over Canada's Yukon Territory, and the US side of Lake Huron. Both were downed. A search for debris is ongoing.
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, discussed the development of trade and economic cooperation, including projects in energy and transport, the Kremlin said on Tuesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th February, 2023) Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, discussed the development of trade and economic cooperation, including projects in energy and transport, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.

"Russian President Vladimir Putin had a phone conversation with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. Prospects for further development of trade and economic cooperation, including the implementation of joint projects in the fields of energy and transport, were discussed in detail," the statement says.

In addition, the presidents reviewed the current situation in the South Caucasus.

Putin and Aliyev noted the importance of consistent steps to ensure stability and security on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border. In addition, in this context, the mood for the unconditional implementation of the entire range of relevant agreements between Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia at the highest level was confirmed.

The heads of state agreed to continue contacts in various formats.
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Unidentified flying objects leaving bright lights in the sky were spotted in the city of Qiqihar in China's northern province of Heilongjiang on Monday evening, Chinese media reported

BEIJING (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th February, 2023) Unidentified flying objects leaving bright lights in the sky were spotted in the city of Qiqihar in China's northern province of Heilongjiang on Monday evening, Chinese media reported.

The Global Times reported that at around 5:23 p.m. local time (09:23 GMT) on Monday, Qiqihar's residents witnessed a bunch of flying objects in the sky, leaving bright lights and then fading away, as seen on videos.

Local meteorologists stated that they had no information regarding the objects spotted and could not provide any details on what they were.

Qiqihar's air defense officials said, in turn, that there was nothing to worry about in connection with the flying objects.

On Sunday, another unidentified object was spotted flying over the waters of the coastal province of Shandong in eastern China, according to a local maritime bureau. The bureau did not specify what the flying object was, and whether it was eventually taken down.

Over the past few days, the United States and Canada have shot down a total of three high-altitude unidentified airborne objects, including one that was taken down on Saturday over Canada's Yukon territory.
The United States arrested three American men in connection with the assassination of former Haitian president Jovenel Moise in July 2021, The New York Times reported on Tuesday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th February, 2023) The United States arrested three American men in connection with the assassination of former Haitian president Jovenel Moise in July 2021, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.

US Federal agents arrested Antonio Intriago, Arcangel Pretel Ortiz and Walter Veintemilla over alleged ties to Moise's assassination through a Florida-based security company, the report said, citing Intriago's lawyer.

Intriago was arrested Tuesday morning in Miami and intends to enter a not guilty plea at a bond hearing this afternoon, attorney Joseph Tesmond reportedly said.

Tesmond also confirmed the arrests of Pretel and Veintemilla, the report said.

Moise was shot and killed in his home by assailants on July 7, 2021.

The attack also wounded his wife. Although approximately two dozen arrests have been made in the case across Haiti and the US, investigators are struggling to identify the assassination's masterminds, the report said.

The three men are tied to Florida-based company CTU Security, which recruited former Colombian soldiers to aid in the assault on Moise's residence, the report said.

Shortly after Moise's assassination, Intriago released a statement claiming he was unaware of plans to kill the former president. The initial plan was to arrest and replace Moise, Intriago said in the statement.

Veintemilla lent $172,000 to CTU Security to fund their operations in Haiti, the report said.

The charges against the three men remain unclear, the report added.
USM, Hinds Community College Sign MOU Benefitting Honors Student Transfers

Mon, 02/13/2023 - 04:40pm | By: David Tisdale

University of Southern Mississippi (USM) and Hinds Community College (HCC) officials signed an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) Feb. 10 allowing for a seamless transfer of students enrolled in the HCC Honors Institute who transfer to the USM Honors College to complete their degree. On hand for the signing were, from left, USM Provost Dr. Gordon Cannon; USM Honors College Dean Dr. Sabine Heinhorst; USM President Dr. Joe Paul; HCC President Dr. Stephen Vacik; Honors Institute Dean Tim Krason, and Joy Rhoades, director of the HCC Honors Program at its Rankin campus (USM photo by David Tisdale).

Officials from The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) and Hinds Community College (HCC) signed a joint Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) during a recent meeting at the HCC Raymond Campus that allows for a seamless transfer of students enrolled in the schools Honors Institute who choose USM and its prestigious Honors College to complete their degree.

Per the agreement, students who will graduate or have graduated in good standing from the HCC Honors Institute  carrying at least a 3.4 GPA (grade point average)  will be granted automatic admission to the USM Honors Colleges two-year Keystone program. Those admitted then must maintain good standing by keeping a cumulative GPA of 3.25 or higher; pursuing an independent research project that cumulates in an Honors thesis; and making satisfactory progress toward degree completion.

USM President Dr. Joe Paul, a graduate of USMs Honors College, joined USM Provost Dr. Gordon Cannon and Dr. Sabine Heinhorst, dean of the USM Honors College, in lauding the agreement and building on the universitys longtime relationship with HCC. Joining the USM contingent at the event was HCC President Dr. Stephen Vacik, Honors Institute Dean Tim Krason, and Joy Rhoades, director of the HCC Honors Program at its Rankin campus.

Were excited to be formalizing this relationship, Dr. Vacik said. We do a fantastic job with our Honors Institute, not only academically, but socially and culturally, offering travel opportunities for our students to interact with people from other places, and therefore giving them the full experience. I believe you will find the students from our Honors Institute who come to USM will be fantastic students.

Dr. Paul concurred with Dr. Vacik, thanking him and his colleagues at HCC for the opportunity to expand the relationship between the two schools, further noting that We have a rich tradition of Hinds students transferring to USM, where they continue to be successful students and then graduate and go on to do great things in the world, so to now solidify this agreement makes it a joyful day for us.

Dr. Heinhorst echoed Dr. Pauls comments in also praising the agreement, noting the success of past Hinds alums who enrolled in and graduated from the USM Honors College as among some of the colleges success stories. We are excited about forging this new partnership because its a winwin situation for both of us, she said.

USM first offered Honors classes in 1965; in 1976, its Honors program evolved into a formalized Honors College, the sixth oldest public honors college in the nation and oldest Honors College in Mississippi. Its goal is to foster communal engagement with ideas and an atmosphere of personal connection and achievement, providing its students with small classes, opportunities for active learning, leadership, and research experiences in a supportive and challenging intellectual community. Its more than 500 students also benefit from attentive mentoring and exposure to cutting-edge scholars and artists.

Learn more about the USM Honors College at https://www.usm.edu/honors/ or call 601.266.4533; learn more about the HCC Honors Institute at https://www.hindscc.edu/honors.
A series of shootings late Monday at Michigan State University left at least three students dead and five other people injured.

Chris Rozman, interim deputy chief of the campus police department, told reporters early Tuesday the injured were all hospitalized in critical condition.

Rozman said the suspected shooter was a 43-year-old male who was later found dead outside of the campus with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and that he had been confronted by law enforcement.

Rozman said the suspect was not affiliated in any way with the university.

We have no idea why he came to campus to do this tonight. That is part of our ongoing investigation, he said.

The shootings began at an academic building and continued a short time later with more shots fired at the nearby student union, prompting authorities to order those on campus to shelter in place.

Our campus grieves, Teresa Woodruff, the universitys interim president, told reporters. We will all grieve, and we will change over time. We cannot allow this to continue to happen again.

The university canceled all campus activities for 48 hours.

Michigan State has about 50,000 students at its campus in East Lansing, located 145 kilometers northwest of Detroit.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
More than six months after the United States killed al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in an airstrike in Kabul, Afghanistan, leadership of the terror group appears to have quietly passed to his heir apparent in Iran.

A new report from the United Nations, based on member state intelligence, concludes Saif al-Adel "is now the de facto leader of al-Qaida, representing continuity for now."

Al-Qaida itself has been quiet about the status of its leadership following the July 31, 2022, strike that killed al-Zawahiri, but the report points to two reasons for the silence.

Al-Adel's leadership "cannot be declared because of al-Qaida's sensitivity to Afghan Taliban concerns not to acknowledge the death of al-Zawahiri in Kabul and [al-Adel's] presence in the Islamic Republic of Iran," the report states.

"His location raises questions that have a bearing on al-Qaida's ambitions to assert leadership of a global movement in the face of challenges," including from its rival, the Islamic State (IS) terror group, the report adds.

Western intelligence agencies, including those in the United States, have long viewed al-Adel as a likely successor to al-Zawahiri, describing the former Egyptian special forces officer as a capable commander with vast operational experience in multiple locations.

Starting in the early 1990s, al-Adel was part of a team that provided military and intelligence training to fighters in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Sudan.

He also helped train members of al-Qaida's Egyptian affiliate, Egyptian Islamic Jihad, and Somalis who battled U.S. forces in Mogadishu from 1992 to 1994.

The U.S. indicted al-Adel in 1998 for his role in planning the deadly bombings of the U.S. embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya, which killed 224 people and wounded thousands more.

Al-Adel is also a longtime member of al-Qaida's senior leadership council, the Majlis al-Shura, as well as a senior member of the group's Hittin Committee, charged with governing al-Qaida's global operations.

Initial information shared by U.N. member states seems to indicate al-Adel's tenure at the helm of al-Qaida has been somewhat smooth.

The report notes that al-Qaida's propaganda efforts have become "more sophisticated and prolific" in recent months.

And some member states indicate al-Adel has been able to solidify or increase control over some al-Qaida affiliates.

In particular, at least one member state intelligence agency said al-Adel is giving "direct instructions" to Hurras al-Din, one of al-Qaida's Syria affiliates, which is run by his son-in-law.

But current and former Western counterterrorism officials have long questioned the extent to which any al-Qaida leader could run the group from Iran, with some describing it as a "gilded cage."

"The presence of al-Qaida in Iran is a sort of a chip that the Iranians have," said Edmund Fitton-Brown, a former senior United Nations counterterrorism official who is now an adviser to the nonprofit Counter Extremism Project.

"They're not entirely sure how or when they might play it but  it was something that they considered to have potential value," Fitton-Brown told VOA, adding that al-Adel running the terror group from Tehran is "not that big a change from what the situation was before Zawahiri was killed."

"Al-Qaida has always been a consultative organization," he said. "They have a Shura, a leadership, and Saif was already part of it. He was already a very important voice in that leadership. He's now a more important voice in that leadership."

Some U.S. officials, however, argue Iran is likely more than willing to help al-Qaida's Iran-based leadership, despite significant religious differences between Iran's Shia regime and the terror group's origins as a Sunni group.

"Al-Qaida has a new home base. It is the Islamic Republic of Iran," then-U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned in early 2021.

"Tehran has allowed al-Qaida to fundraise, to freely communicate with al-Qaida members around the world, and to perform many other functions that were previously directed from Afghanistan or Pakistan," Pompeo said at the time, labeling Iran as al-Qaida's new "operational headquarters."

Other U.S. officials contend that Iran's relationship with al-Qaida is and has been transactional in nature, that Tehran will help al-Qaida when it suits the leadership's purposes and crack down on the terror group at other times.

A request for comment by VOA to the Iranian Mission to the U.N. about the presence of al-Qaida leaders in Iran and the Iranian government's relationship with the terror group was not immediately answered.

Still, some experts contend that al-Adel's decision to continue to operate from within Iran may be telling.

Al-Adel "certainly could move back to Afghanistan. He could move to other locations," counterterrorism analyst Thomas Joscelyn told VOA. "It does suggest that he has such a cozy environment inside Iran and is safe enough inside Iran and doesn't have to worry about drone strikes, for example, inside Iran."

It may also speak to al-Adel's comfort level with the Iranian regime itself.

"Saif al-Adel is a guy who has worked with the Iranians for 30 years," Joscelyn said, noting the new al-Qaida leader trained with Iran and its proxy terror group, Hezbollah, in the early 1990s.

"The question is, what are the terms of the deal, and what is it Iran is helping them with besides giving them safe haven?" he said. "Those are open questions."

Yet as the U.N. reports suggests, there is also a potential downside to the relationship that is likely to play into the hands of IS, also known as ISIS or ISIL.

"The optics of the actual leader of al-Qaida being effectively at the mercy of Iran  it makes it easier for ISIL to attack al-Qaida, as you know, being a cat's paw [dupe] of the Shia," said Fitton-Brown.

For now, the latest public assessments from the United States suggest al-Adel, regardless of his location. may be intent on recreating al-Qaida as a fighting force to be feared, though getting there will not be without challenges.

Al-Adel "is probably interested in improving al-Qaida's battlefield capabilities, though the decentralized organizational structure is likely to impede his ability to make rapid changes," the Defense Department inspector general said in a report in November, citing information from the Defense Intelligence Agency.

The U.S. has been offering a $10 million reward for information leading to al-Adels capture or conviction.
The African Union Commission announced Tuesday that it will be sending a 90-strong observer mission to Nigeria for this month's elections.

Africa's most populous country goes to the polls on February 25, but has been plunged into crisis in the runup to the vote with dire shortages of cash and fuel.

The African Union Election Observation Mission (AUEOM) is being headed by former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta, who helped broker a deal to end two years of war in northern Ethiopia and is mediating in the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

The AU said the objectives of the mission were to provide an "accurate and impartial assessment" of the electoral process, offer recommendations for any improvement in future polls and to demonstrate AU support "towards consolidation of democracy, peace, stability and development in Nigeria."

Nearly 100 million people will vote to chose the successor to President Muhammadu Buhari, who steps down after two terms as Nigeria struggles with widespread insecurity and economic malaise.
Australian security agencies say they have shut down a foreign interference plot by Iran. The conspiracy allegedly included individuals conducting surveillance of the home of an Iranian-Australian, who was linked to Australian protests about the death of Mahsa Amini in Iran last year.

Australia Home Affairs Minister Clare ONeil revealed the alleged conspiracy in a speech Tuesday at the Australian National University.

She said an Iranian-Australian was targeted by perpetrators taking orders from Iran and that the plot had been uncovered by ASIO, the Australian Security Intelligence Organization.

ONeil said her government would not tolerate hostile acts in the form of surveillance, harassment or intimidation against individuals or family membersin Australia.

We have here someone living in our country who is being followed, watched, photographed, their home invaded by people at the direction of a foreign power," she said. "This is happening in Australia and it is something that ASIO was onto it like a shot. So, I want people to understand to those states who operate in the shadows, we have a simple message  we are watching you.

Since last September, Irans theocratic regime has been under pressure by domestic protests in response to the death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.

Australia has condemned what it calls Irans brutal response to the demonstrations.

The outrage in Iran has spread around the world. There were large anti-government rallies in Australia last December.

The Canberra government has put in place financial sanctions on several Iranian law enforcement officials and imposed a travel ban on them.

ONeil said other diaspora communities in Australia have faced pressure when they peacefully protest about the actions of their governments back at home.

She warned that foreign interference does not just come from one country  it is being conducted and directed by many countries across the globe.
Botswana's president, Mokgweetsi Masisi, is threatening to walk away from a diamond mining deal with industry giant De Beers unless the firm offers better terms. Under the current deal, which expires in June, Botswana - Africa's largest diamond producer  is entitled to purchase up to 25% of the stones mined in a joint venture. Analysts say Botswana is in a strong position to push for a 50-50 arrangement.



Addressing ruling party supporters in his home village of Moshupa, just outside Gaborone, President Mokgweetsi Masisi said his country is well positioned to push for a better deal with De Beers.

We now know how the diamond industry operates. We used to receive 10% of the stake, but now, under my leadership, we are receiving 25%," he said.

Botswana currently earns about $4.5 billion per year in sales, taxes and royalties from its contract with De Beers.

Masisi says if negotiations with the South African diamond company break down, then Botswana is prepared to pull out of the long-standing arrangement.

We are dealing with a giant. It is the first time it has been shaken like this. We want what is ours. This is our company, we want a majority stake, and we are doing so through negotiations. If the talks become difficult, we will say, no, let everyone pack and go separate ways, he said.

It is unclear what other options Botswana might have, but a Belgian-based researcher on diamond mining, Hans Merket, says there could be an alternative.

Merket notes President Masisis praise for another supply arrangement between private diamond miner Lucara, which operates a mine in Botswana, and Belgian-based buyer, HB Antwerp.

The two entered into an agreement, which sees HB Antwerp purchase all of Lucaras large high value diamonds.

Botswanas President Masisi has regularly praised the business arrangement between HB Antwerp and Lucara. In the current arrangement with De Beers, Botswana fears it is missing out on the profits from its diamonds, because it has no idea of or control over how much value the country's rough production generates further down the supply chain after it is cut and polished, he said.

Merket therefore suggests Botswana could be looking for a much more beneficial arrangement similar to Lucara and HB Antwerps.

The business model between HB Antwerp and Lucara closes this gap through a vertically integrated supply chain that generates that allows all parties, including the government, to share in the profit from the final polished products, he said.

The leader of Botswanas main opposition party, Dithapelo Keorapetse, recently told parliament that the government needs to be more transparent with its mining deals.

Mining agreements are not even available to the auditor general as theyre considered to be confidential, especially for Debswana or companies with partnership with the Botswana Government. Who then guards the guardians? Who scrutinizes these agreements? What is the role of parliament?asked Keorapetse.

A 10-year sales agreement between Botswana and De Beers expired in 2021 but was extended to June 2023, pending negotiations.
Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold talks with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi during his visit to China over the next three days, state media reported on Tuesday, amid rising tensions with the United States.

Ahead of his visit, Raisi wrote an editorial in China's state-controlled People's Daily in which he said both countries believe that unilateralism and "violent" measures such as the imposition of "unjust" sanctions are the main causes of crises and insecurity in the world.

In the editorial, Raisi described China as an "old friend," and said Iran's efforts to strengthen bilateral relations would be unaffected by regional and international situations.

The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on Iranian companies it accused of playing a critical role in the production, sale and shipment of Iranian petrochemicals and petroleum to buyers in Asia.

The move came as efforts to revive Iran's 2015 nuclear deal have stalled and ties between the Islamic Republic and the West are increasingly strained as Iranians keep up anti-government protests.

The U.S. relationship with China has soured over several issues, including trade, Xinjiang, Taiwan, the South China Sea and Hong Kong. The United States said Monday it still did not know the origin or purpose of three aerial objects that its military shot down over the weekend, as Washington and Beijing traded accusations about high-altitude balloons.

China and Iran signed 20 cooperation documents, including in the fields of tourism, international trade, exports, information communication and technology, environment, agriculture, health, cultural heritage and sports, Iranian state TV reported on Tuesday.

Xi and Raisi pledged to forge a stronger alliance when they last met in person on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in the Uzbek city of Samarkand in September.
The United States said Monday it does not know the origin of the three high-altitude objects it shot down over the past few days as they drifted in the winds over North America.

The government said it does not believe the objects were surveillance aircraft, though it is leaving open the possibility that they may be.

"They didn't have propulsion," National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters at the White House. "They were not being maneuvered. They didn't have surveillance [capability], but we couldn't rule it out."

"We're sort of in uncharted territory here," Kirby said.

He said parts of all three objects fell "in remote, difficult places to reach"  ice off the coast of the far northwestern U.S. state of Alaska, the Yukon territory of northwestern Canada and the depths of Lake Huron on the U.S.-Canada border.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said U.S. personnel have not yet recovered any debris from the three objects.

Austin told reporters Monday in Brussels, where he is scheduled to meet with NATO defense ministers this week, that weather is hampering recovery efforts in Alaska while the remote terrain in Canada is affecting the search there.

He said the priority for the Pentagon is "debris recovery so that we can get a better sense of what these objects are."

Kirby declined to refer to any of the three airborne objects as balloons.

"We don't know who owns them," he said, in contrast to the Chinese spy balloon the U.S. shot down February 4 over the Atlantic Ocean just off the coast of the southern state of South Carolina after it traversed the U.S. mainland for eight days.

China is continuing to claim the balloon was an errant weather-monitoring aircraft that drifted off course. But U.S. officials say the parts they have recovered from the ocean floor show the balloon was on a surveillance mission.

The U.S. military's Northern Command said in a statement Monday that crews had recovered "significant debris from the site, including all of the priority sensor and electronics pieces identified as well as large sections of the structure."

Kirby said President Joe Biden "has made this a very top priority," to determine the ownership and origin of the three objects downed by U.S. fighter pilots, either on his orders, or in the case of the one that landed in the Yukon, in consultation with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The spokesperson said the three objects were shot down because they posed a "very real" threat to civilian aviation, with the objects near Alaska and over the Yukon territory drifting about 12,000 meters above the Earth and the one over Lake Huron at half that height.

After the Chinese balloon was discovered, Kirby said U.S. radar has been recalibrated to look for more objects.

"One of the reasons we're seeing more is we're looking for more," he said.

Earlier, Kirby vehemently rejected Beijing's accusation Monday that the U.S. had flown more than 10 high-altitude balloons over China.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin, at a daily briefing, said, "It is also common for U.S. balloons to illegally enter the airspace of other countries. Since last year, U.S. high-altitude balloons have illegally flown over China's airspace more than 10 times without the approval of Chinese authorities."

He said the United States should "first reflect on itself and change course rather than smear and instigate a confrontation."

"Not true. Not doing it. Just absolutely not true," Kirby told the U.S.-based cable news network MSNBC. "We're not flying balloons over China."

Both countries deploy spy satellites, but after Wang accused the United States of flying balloons over China, he offered no details about how they had been dealt with or whether they had alleged links to the U.S. government.

The United States said Monday it has also spotted Chinese balloons flying through the Middle East. But Lieutenant General Alexus Grynkewich, commander of the U.S. Air Forces Central Command, said, "They've not been a threat. They've flown through a few times since I've been in command but nothing that I would be concerned about in any way."

Following the balloon incident, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled a visit to Beijing that potentially could have eased relations between the two countries and disagreements over Taiwan, trade, human rights and Chinese actions in the disputed South China Sea.

VOA national security correspondent Jeff Seldin and Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb contributed to this report.
Liko and Roy, the new protagonists of the Pokemon anime already have a date to begin their adventures in the Paldea region. Although it had previously been announced that this series would arrive in April 2023, The Pokemon Company has been more specific, giving the Japanese premiere date as April 14.

Through social media, The Pokemon Company released a short animated video with information about Liko, the new protagonist who will continue the legacy of exploring the Pokemon world. The video reveals that Liko is originally from the Paldea region and possesses a strange pendant. We don't know much about Roy yet, but expect more information to be revealed in the coming days. You can check out the video below:

The main characters will be joined by Paldea's Starter Pokemon, Sprigatito, Fuecoco and Quaxly, protagonists of the Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet video games, as well as the legendary Pokemon Rayquaza in its Shiny form. For now, there are no further details on what to expect in this new series.

Farewell to the champion

For now, we are in the final stretch of Ash Ketchum and Pikcahu's adventures after more than 20 years together in the Pokemon world. Currently in Japan, the series Pokemon: Aim to Be a Pokemon Master, an 11-episode special arc that reunites the Pallet Town champion with characters from his past, including their first travel companions, Misty and Brock. Most recently, Ash was reunited with his Squirtle and the famous Squirtle Squad.

The closing of Ash and Pikachu's journey after more than 1300 episodes is also the point at which the Pokemon franchise hits 9 regions and reaches an astounding 1008 Pokemon in the Pokedex. Don't miss the special video released earlier this year by the Pokemon Company to celebrate all the Pokemon.

Source | The Pokemon Company
Tax officials in India searched the British Broadcasting Corporations offices Tuesday in New Delhi and Mumbai, weeks after the Indian government called a BBC documentary about Prime Minister Narendra Modi propaganda.

The documentary, India: The Modi Question, focuses on communal riots that swept through the western state of Gujarat in 2002, killing at least a 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, when Modi was its head.

In a statement on Twitter, the BBC said it was fully cooperating with income tax authorities, who are currently in the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai.

We hope to have the situation resolved as quickly as possible, the BBC said.

Domestic media reports said authorities seized the phones of BBC employees.

Gaurav Bhatia, a spokesman for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), called the action a tax survey.

"If you have been following the law of the country, if you have nothing to hide, why be afraid of an action that is according to the law?" he told reporters.

Accusing the BBC of having a "tainted and black history of working with malice against India," Bhatia told reporters at a press conference, It would not be wrong to say that it is the most corrupt and ridiculous corporation in the world.

He said media outlets that have a hidden agenda and spew venom cannot be tolerated in the country.

The documentary angered the BJP and Modis supporters, who questioned why the broadcaster chose a subject that dates back two decades.

The documentary highlights an unpublished report the BBC obtained from the British Foreign Office which according to the broadcaster raised issues over Modis actions during the riots, and claims he was "directly responsible" for the "climate of impunity" that enabled the violence.

In 2012, an inquiry by Indias Supreme Court exonerated Modi of any complicity in the riots, including charges that he had told police officers not to restrain the rioters.

The BBC documentary was not aired in India, but using emergency powers under its information technology laws, the government blocked videos and tweets sharing links to it. Police scrambled to halt screenings arranged by some student groups on university campuses and detained several students in connection with the screenings.

India's Foreign Ministry said the film "lacked objectivity" and called it a "propaganda piece designed to push a particularly discredited narrative." The BBC had said the documentary was rigorously researched and that it had featured a range of opinions, including responses from people in the BBC.

Organizations representing media groups in India expressed concern at Tuesdays search of the BBC offices.

The Editors Guild of India said the move mirrored similar actions against other news organizations such as NewsClick, Newslaundry and Dainik Bhaskar, whose coverage was perceived to be critical of the government.

In a statement, the guild said the raids were a continuation of a trend of using government agencies to intimidate and harass press organizations that are critical of government policies or the ruling establishment and that the trend undermines constitutional democracy.

Opposition parties also criticized the action.

"First came the BBC documentary, it was banned. Now, I-T has raided BBC." "Undeclared Emergency," the opposition Congress Party tweeted.

As hosts of G-20 what we are telling the world that rather than an emerging great power we are an insecure power, Manish Tewari, a member of the Congress Party and former information minister, tweeted.

Media watchdogs and critics have raised concerns about press freedom in India. Last month, the Committee to Protect Journalists said that ordering social media platforms to block the BBC documentary constitutes an attack on the free press that flagrantly contradicts the countrys stated commitment to democratic ideals.

India's press freedom ranking fell from 142 in 2021 to 150 last year in the 2022 World Freedom Index by global media watchdog Reporters Without Borders.
An Iranian police officer has been reprimanded after he did not enforce the country's dress code requiring women to cover their hair, local media reported Monday.

A video was widely shared on social media in recent days, showing a police officer in the western province of Kermanshah telling a woman that he did not consider the hijab, or headscarf, to be compulsory for women.

"This lady wants to go out in this outfit... it's none of my business," the officer is heard saying in response to a woman asking him to confront another woman for not wearing the hijab.

"After a thorough investigation... the officer was summoned... and received the necessary warnings and training," the Tasnim news agency said Monday, citing a statement from the police of Kermanshah province.

The incident comes against the backdrop of a nationwide protest movement triggered by the September 16 death while in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old ethnic Kurd who had been arrested for an alleged breach of the same dress code for women.

Hundreds of people, including security personnel, have been killed and thousands arrested during the protests, which the authorities often describe as "riots.

Since the start of the protests, women have increasingly been seen without the hijab in public places, in many cases without eliciting a reaction from the police.

But in January, local media reported that the police had resumed enforcement of hijab-wearing in cars, with violators receiving a text message warning from the police.
Health rights campaigners in Malawi are welcoming a national campaign against a record cholera outbreak, which has affected all 29 districts in the country and killed nearly 1,400 people.

President Lazarus Chakwera launched the campaign Monday, pledging to reduce the transmission and mortality rate of the water-borne illness. Chakwera said the spread is largely because people in the country are not following good hygiene practices.

"And because the behavior is not changing, the situation has become dire," he said. "So far, over 1,300 funerals have happened around the country because of cholera. And the disease is still spreading at an alarming rate. We are getting between 500 to 600 cholera cases every day in our health facilities throughout the country."

The campaign, known as "Tithetse Kolera" or "Let's end cholera," focuses on repairing water kiosks across the country and helping people construct toilets in their homes.

Chakwera said statistics show that about 40 percent of Malawians do not have toilets and instead use the bush to relieve themselves.

Several organizations in Malawi have long been running campaigns against the practice of open defecation, but with little result.

"We are human beings with dignity, not animals that can just use any place as a toilet. If any place is not a toilet, don't treat it as a toilet," Chakwera said. "And a toilet is not something that is given to you by the government or something that is donated from abroad or something that comes down from heaven. It is something you give yourself as a human being because you respect yourself better than an animal."

Health authorities say they hope the campaign will help reduce the cholera fatality rate from the current 3.6% to 1%.

Health rights campaigner George Jobe welcomed the campaign, but said the government should go further by ending myths and misinformation associated with the outbreak.

Jobe, who is also executive director for the Malawi Health Equity Network, cited two recent incidents in Lilongwe and Balaka districts, where angry members of the community assaulted medical workers and vandalized two public health facilities, forcing them to close. The community members accused the medical workers of deliberately infecting patients with cholera-infested vaccines.

"The current cholera seems to be different from previous outbreaks of cholera just because the current one was preceded by COVID-19. So, we shall continue to provide some piece of advice to the government that when we are doing awareness raising, we must be mindful that we are also fighting with reductions of COVID-19," Jobe said.

Chakwera ordered the reopening of the closed health facilities and assured the health workers that they would receive maximum security.

In the meantime, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and United Nations have pledged their support toward the success of the cholera campaign.

"The United Nations is currently in the process of preparing a multisector cholera appeal to increase the capacity of the U.N. and NGOs to support the government of Malawi. It will be launched next week," said Rebecca Donto, the United Nations' resident coordinator in Malawi.

Local media have reported that Malawi needs an additional $40 million for an effective cholera response.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Tuesday he expects Ukraine to conduct a new military offensive this spring to counter Russian attacks, while assuring the Kyiv government that the United States and its Western allies remain resolute in their support of its war effort.

"The Kremlin is still betting that it can wait us out," Austin said in Brussels at a meeting of NATO defense ministers to discuss coordination of new military assistance for Ukraine. More armaments are being sent by the day, but Kyiv is asking Western governments to send it advanced fighter jets, something the West has under consideration.

"I don't have any announcement to make today," Austin said.

Ahead of the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Austin said, "We stand united in our support for Ukraine's fight for freedom. And we will stand together, united and resolute for as long as it takes."

He added, "What Ukraine wants to do in the first possible moment is to establish or create momentum and establish conditions on the battlefield that continue to be in its favor."

General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Pentagon's Joint Chiefs of Staff, cautioned that a Ukraine victory is not assured, and that Russia is continuing its assault on the industrialized eastern Donbas region.

He described Russia's progress as "slow," saying, "It's a war of attrition, they're taking heavy casualties. Their leadership and morale is not great. And they're struggling mightily."

"However, they do have numbers," he said. "And as you know, President [Vladimir] Putin did a call up of several hundred thousand [military conscripts] and those folks have been arriving on the battlefield. So, they do have numbers, and whether or not they're successful in pressing the fight, that remains to be seen."

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stressed the need for providing Ukraine with more ammunition and completing pledged deliveries of tanks and other heavy equipment.

"Next week, we mark the first year of the terrible war in Ukraine, the full-fledged invasion by Russia against Ukraine," Stoltenberg said. "And we see no signs that President Putin is preparing for peace. What we see is the opposite  he is preparing for more war, for new offensives and new attacks."

Stoltenberg said the prospect of allies providing fighter aircraft to Ukraine "is not the most urgent issue now, but it is an ongoing discussion."

He also said discussions about military aid are not only about providing Ukraine with systems it does not have yet, but also about ensuring the ones it does have are working as they should.

"This has become a grinding war of attrition, and therefore it's also a battle of logistics and this is a huge effort by allies to actually be able to get in the ammunition, the fuel, the spare parts which are needed," Stoltenberg said.

At the start of Tuesdays meeting of the U.S.-led Ukraine Defense Contact Group, Austin said Ukraine has "urgent requirements to help it meet this crucial moment in the course of the war" and called on the group to intensify its focus.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov was in Brussels to take part in both sets of talks in order to communicate his militarys needs.

He tweeted ahead of the meetings that his agenda included seeking more stocks of ammunition, protecting the skies over Ukraine, training for Ukrainian forces and the stability of logistics and maintenance.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley said Tuesday she is running for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination against her one-time boss, former President Donald Trump, who appointed her as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Haley, 51, made the announcement in a social media video, saying, Joe Bidens record is abysmal. Its time for a new generation of leaders.

The 3-minute video never mentioned Trump who, in November, announced he also is seeking the Republican nomination to try to reclaim the presidency he lost to Biden in the 2020 election. The video highlights her early years in South Carolina as the daughter of immigrant Indian Punjabi Sikhs, how she became governor from 2011 to 2017 and then resigned to become Trumps U.N. ambassador in 2017 and 2018.

The Washington establishment has failed us over and over again, she declared.

Haley at one time said she would not run for president if Trump were also in the field. But rather than taking aim at him in the video, she showed the faces of the usual Republican targets: Democrats Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.

She noted that Republicans had lost the popular vote in seven of the last eight national presidential elections, even though former president George W. Bush, in 2000, and Trump in 2016, both won the White House in the countrys Electoral College. It is the U.S. system of electing leaders in state-by-state voting in which the biggest states hold the most electoral votes.

When VOA queried the former president for reaction Tuesday, Trump, through a campaign spokesperson, replied in an email: Even though Nikki Haley said, I would never run against my President, he was a great President, the best President in my lifetime, I told her she should follow her heart and do what she wants to do. I wish her luck!"

Haley is the first of what could be a lengthy list of former Trump officials or one-time political allies challenging him for the Republican nomination next year, with former Vice President Mike Pence and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo among those weighing a run for the White House. A current South Carolina lawmaker, Senator Tim Scott, is also considering joining the nomination contest.

Another possible challenger, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, has not announced his candidacy but has led Trump among Republican voters in some early nomination polls. Haley typically has trailed them, as have Pence and Pompeo.

In the newest poll, conducted in the last week by Reuters/Ipsos, Trump received support from 43% of registered Republicans, while DeSantis got 31%, Pence 7% and Haley 4%.
The annual report of the Munich Security Conference has found that global attitudes toward Russia and China have shifted since the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine, including in Africa. The report says African countries' discontent with the West has not translated into a desire for Beijing or Moscow to wield greater influence over the international order.

A 176-page report released by the Munich conference, an independent annual forum focused on international security, found that Africa is not interested in supporting a global order led by China and Russia.

According to the report, African countries' attitudes toward Russia and China are changing as a result of Moscow's invasion of its neighbor Ukraine.

Critics have accused African governments of failing to speak out against Russia's aggression and of refusing to economically and diplomatically isolate the nation.

In a United Nations General Assembly vote in March 2022, 38 African countries condemned Russia's war on Ukraine, while 16 countries abstained.

David Otto is head of security and defense analysis for the Center for Africa Security and Security Studies. He said African countries' behavior in the international system confuses many people.

"There is confusion between internal interest and support. African countries are now focusing more on their own interest rather than supporting China or Russia's geopolitical strategy. Every country has to focus on interest. I think the difference here is that more African countries are becoming independent in the choices they make," said Otto.

While China and Russia may have garnered some support for their desired dominance in the global security and economic fields, most countries do not want a world led by autocrats, according to the researchers.

The authors say Africa is dissatisfied with the global system led by Western countries and is also opposed to Russia and China gaining greater influence in the international system.

Paul Nantulya is a specialist in China-Africa relations. He said China and the continent are collaborating to change some of the international institutions they feel are unfavorable to their survival.

"The Chinese government has been able to leverage African grievances with the current international system in order to build diplomatic and political affinity with the African countries. I think what China wants to do is selectively shape the current international system. China does not necessarily want to overthrow the international order. China wants to selectively shape different parts of the international system and in that endeavor, China has found the support of African countries."

Experts say China has created institutions like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and Global Security Initiative, which Africa is part of, to push for its influence and representation in the international systems.

David Monyae is the head of the Center for Africa-China Studies at the University of Johannesburg. He said Africa prefers a world order that is fair to all continents and countries.

"We want an order in which resources are distributed fairly within multilateral structures in the WTO with fairness in terms of trade. You cannot have countries that are talking about the government must not subsidize but they are subsidizing their own agricultural products. So whether Africa gets that, it may not have the power to get what it wants. However, it will continue to raise these issues," said Monyae.

The report said Africa wants its voice heard and to be given a role to play in shaping international laws and rules.
Rescuers in Turkey pulled several more people alive from the rubble Tuesday, nearly 200 hours after a series of powerful earthquakes struck the region.

The latest rescues included one from a crumbled building in Adiyaman province and two others from a destroyed building in central Kahramanmaras, near the epicenter.

Turkish television broadcast scenes of the rescues, but experts warned the window is closing for finding more people alive in what remains of collapsed buildings after so much time.

Turkish residents in Samandag in Hatay province, complained the government has not done enough in the search for survivors.

One earthquake survivor told VOAs Turkish service that everything is being done through volunteers and community efforts, not by the government.

We rescued a lady and her baby from under the rubble. Alive. With our own efforts. With our own sledgehammers, with our hammers. I had many friends with me. This is not acceptable, the survivor said.

Another said, Volunteers are working here, day and night, nonstop. They dont even eat. They dont even come down to drink water. AFAD (Turkeys Disaster Management Authority) came to save us supposedly. The team came here to work on detecting. They just came and left. They said, There was nothing here, and turned back and left.

Turkish authorities have reported at least 31,643 deaths from the massive earthquake centered in the Gaziantep region.

Across the border in northern Syria, the United Nations humanitarian office said Monday the death toll there had topped 4,300, with another 7,600 injured.

The VOA Turkish Service contributed to this report, which includes some information from The Associated Press and Reuters.
A Somali journalist said he had been freed from jail Monday just hours after a court handed down a two-month sentence on security charges, a case widely criticized by rights campaigners and media advocacy groups.

Abdalle Ahmed Mumin was arrested in October last year after the government announced a crackdown on media outlets that publish what it deems propaganda for the Islamist militant group al-Shabab.

The court sentenced Mumin to two months in prison but in a surprise move he was released shortly after the ruling, having already spent around five months in jail.

"When I was taken to Mogadishu central prison, officers refused to jail me granting my immediate freedom," he said on Twitter.

"I went straight to my office to conduct my daily routine. I will continue to be on the forefront of defending press freedom and human rights in Somalia," he added.

Mumin is the secretary-general of the Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS), which had vowed to appeal the ruling, calling it "a pure travesty of justice."

In a text message sent to AFP, SJS president Mohamed Ibrahim said: "This afternoon Abdalle has been released by the prison chief, saying that he has already served this sentence despite the verdict."

Ahead of the sentencing, rights groups including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Press Institute had called for the charges to be dropped, saying Mumin faced ongoing threats and persecution by Somali authorities for advocating the right to freedom of expression.

"Continuing his prosecution not only casts a chilling effect on media freedom and journalism, but it also significantly contributes to the closing civic space in the country," they said in a joint letter to Somalia's attorney general in December.

The SJS and four other media advocacy groups had protested the government's security directive, warning it clamped down on free speech.

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, known by its French acronym RSF, ranks Somalia 140th out of 180 countries on its global list of press freedom, with more than 50 journalists killed in the country since 2010.

The nation of 17 million people is the most dangerous country for journalists in Africa, according to RSF.

The main threat is from al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab fighters who are trying to overthrow the internationally backed government in Mogadishu, though Somali authorities are also accused of numerous violations.
The head of the Somali Journalists Syndicate has vowed to work without self-censorship after a court found him guilty of flouting government orders. Abdalle Ahmed Mumin was arrested in October for rejecting the government's demand to refer to al-Shabab militants only as Khawarij, which is Arabic for dissenters of Islam. He was sentenced to two months in prison Monday but immediately released.

Abdalle Ahmed Mumin said prison officials freed him after informing him that previous arrests and court appearances had compensated for the two months handed down by the judge.

He told VOA that the court verdict has emboldened his resolve to fight for media rights and freedoms in Somalia.

He said, I vow that what happened yesterday will not instill fear in me; it will not disappoint me at any cost but instead will encourage me. He said, It has given me the strength and attitude to know how important my work is.

Mumin said the prison sentence he received was a warning from the government to journalists in Somalia.

He said, The ruling of the court is intimidation and a message to Somali journalists reporting issues that the government does not like. It is a message that says not to report human rights abuses and problems in the country.

Deputy Information Minister Abdirahman al-Adalla told VOA that the court acted without influence from the government.

He added that the government was in no way in conflict with the media.

He said, No mindset, responsibility or law allows us to conflict with the journalists. We are there to defend them, he said. We are also here to defend them against Khawarij and other enemies that harm them.

Following Mumins sentencing, media organizations in Somalia expressed concerns that government decrees will now receive judicial backing at the expense of their freedoms and independence.

Mohamed Osman Makaran is the general secretary of the Somali Media Association, an umbrella of media houses.

Makaran says, The verdict will have an impact on the media. We expected that if a journalist is accused, he will get justice, but today's sentence (of Mumin) is one being criticized by the independent media and media watchdogs.

Makaran said the recent decrees by the government, including a ban on the term al-Shabab and restricting coverage of the groups activities, have adversely impacted the work of journalists in Somalia.

He said, "Due to the decisions by the government, some of the independent media houses have expressed fear and concern in recent days. This has caused some of them, forced them not to report some incidents related to violations, including some committed by government forces.

The Somali government has been at odds with the media since the passage of a 2018 media law that journalists say is oppressive.

Many journalists have also decried decrees by the government concerning the ongoing campaign against al-Shabab. They warn that abiding by government directives further exposes them to attacks by the militant group, which has killed many journalists over the years.
Taliban security forces in Afghanistan have raided an Islamic State hideout in the capital, Kabul, and killed several members of the militant group, according to officials.

The Monday night counterterrorism action came a week after Saudi Arabia evacuated all its diplomats and embassy staff in the country reportedly citing security concerns.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid announced a few details of the raid in the Kart-e-Now residential area shortly after it was carried out. But he has since not shared new information.

Mujahid claimed the operation had swiftly killed some key Daesh members, including foreigners." He used a local name for the Afghan branch of the terrorist group, known as Islamic State-Khorasan or IS-K.

This was an important Daesh group hideout, which was involved in the recent attacks and crimes in Kabul, the Taliban spokesman said. It was not possible to verify the claims independently.

IS-K has staged several high-profile deadly bomb attacks and other raids in Afghanistan in recent months, targeting embassies of both Russia and Pakistan and a Chinese-run hotel in downtown Kabul.

Earlier this month, some 19 Saudi diplomats and other embassy staff were airlifted from the country amid reports IS-K was planning a possible truck bombing against foreign missions in Kabul, according to diplomatic sources familiar with the matter.

Taliban spokesman Mujahid insisted at the time the Saudi departure was a temporary move and not related to security concerns. He told Afghan media some employees of Saudi Arabias embassy have departed for training and will return soon.

It is not immediately known whether Saudi diplomats have since returned to Kabul nor has Riyadh commented on the status of its Afghan diplomatic mission or the supposed threat facing it.

An IS-K suicide bomber blew himself up outside the Russian embassy last September, killing two staff and four Afghan visa-seekers. Later in December, the chief Pakistani diplomat narrowly survived an assassination attempt by a gunman allegedly from the terror group. That attack came just days before two alleged IS-K gunmen raided and injured five Chinese guests at the hotel in Kabul.

The Taliban have lately enhanced the security of embassies and repeatedly dismissed the threat posed by IS-K, saying their forces have significantly degraded the group's presence in the country.

The United States continues to question Taliban claims, however. Washington sees IS-K as a dangerous Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan.

We've seen the lethality of ISIS-K, State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters in Washington on Monday, using an acronym for the Afghan branch of the terror group.

President Biden has made a solemn commitment to remain focused on ISIS-K and, if necessary, to take action against it if we see plots emanate that are targeting the United States and our partners, Price said.

Most countries, including the United States, closed their embassies in Afghanistan in August 2021 when the Taliban seized power from the internationally backed government after a 20-year insurgency as American and NATO troops withdrew from the war-torn South Asian nation.

Foreign governments have not formally recognized the Taliban government, citing human rights and terrorism-related concerns.

While Western nations and many others relocated their embassies to Qatars capital, Doha, after the Taliban takeover, several regional countries retained their diplomatic missions in Kabul. They include China, Russia, Pakistan, India, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi's China visit will highlight the two countries' strong mutual support as well as Beijing's lasting commitment and actions to promoting peace and prosperity in the Middle East as well as the world, officials and experts said.

They made the observation as Raisi is scheduled to arrive in Beijing on Tuesday for a state visit through Thursday, his first trip to China since taking office in 2021.

According to the Foreign Ministry, President Xi Jinping will hold talks with Raisi to "jointly chart the course for and navigate the future development of bilateral relations", and the two leaders will have an "in-depth exchange of views on regional and international issues of common concern".

During his visit, the Iranian president will also meet with Premier Li Keqiang and Li Zhanshu, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

China-Iran relations are based on a traditional friendship, and "cementing and developing the ties is the joint strategic choice of both sides", Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Monday.

Beijing looks forward to working with Teheran to "take the visit as an opportunity to strive for greater progress of the China-Iran comprehensive strategic partnership", Wang said at a news conference in Beijing.

The two nations will also seek to further "play constructive roles in boosting unity and collaboration among Middle East countries and facilitating the region's security and stability", he added.

China's trade with Iran reached $12.32 billion in the first nine months of last year, up 18 percent year-on-year, according to the General Administration of Customs.

Mohammad Jamshidi, deputy director of political affairs at the Iranian president's office, said on Sunday that the visit will be of "economic, political and strategic importance", Iran's Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

Raisi said in an article published in Monday's edition of People's Daily that "Iran will, as always, uphold policies to strengthen Iran-China bilateral ties, and this will not be affected by any changes in the regional and international situation".

"China's economic growth and its outbound investment benefit the people of China and other countries, and we welcome initiatives proposed by China for promoting world peace, security and development," he added.

He said his country appreciates China's important role in the fight against COVID-19 and its support for Iran's efforts to become a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

Raisi also envisioned greater bilateral cooperation under the plan for China-Iran comprehensive cooperation, a blueprint that the two countries signed in 2021.

Li Shaoxian, director of Ningxia University's China-Arab Research Institute, said that "China and Iran have a long history of friendly relations and are natural partners" who support each other's core interests.

Iran is an ideal country in the Middle East for advancing the Belt and Road Initiative, and "cooperation with China is key for Iran's economic development", he added.

Observers noted that also high on the agenda for the Iranian president's visit is advancing negotiations on resuming compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, a landmark Iran nuclear deal enacted in 2016.

Ma Xiaolin, a veteran researcher on Middle East and Mediterranean studies at Zhejiang University, said that current prospects for the Iran nuclear deal have been dampened by sanctions and verbal attacks by the United States.

China's consistent position on this issue is to reject attempts to politicize the deal and stay focused on negotiations, and "the upcoming meeting between Xi and Raisi may bring more hope" in terms of the resumption of negotiations on the deal, Ma told Chinese media ahead of the visit.

Speaking to reporters, Wang Wenbin, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, noted that the two countries "have kept good communication and coordination over international and regional affairs".

The two countries firmly safeguard the principle of noninterference in internal affairs and the common interests of developing countries, he added.
Senior leaders of Afghanistans ruling Islamist Taliban have recently resorted to rare public criticism of each other, reigniting internal rift speculations over whether girls should be allowed to receive an education.

The war of words began last Saturday when the influential Taliban interior minister, Sirajuddin Haqqani, lashed out at his leadership for monopolizing power, though he did not name anyone.

Our views and thoughts have dominated us to such an extent that power monopolization and defamation of the entire [ruling] system have become common, Haqqani told a religious gathering in his native southeastern Khost region. This situation can no more be tolerated.

The minister added that the Taliban administration should desist from adopting policies that would drive a wedge between the [ruling] system and the people, allowing others to exploit it to defame Islam.

Haqqanis remarks seemingly were directed at the Taliban supreme leader or emir, Hibatullah Akhundzada. The reclusive leader ordered the banning of Afghan women from most workplaces and all education since his hardline group seized power in August 2021. Akhundzada's edicts are supported by a handful of his close associates.

On Sunday, chief Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid pushed back on Haqqanis criticism without naming him.

Our Islamic ethics bind us to not publicly criticize or vilify the emir, minister or a government official, Mujahid told a gathering in Kabul in a speech aired by Taliban-run official television. You must approach him and convey your criticism privately and safely, so no one else will hear it.

Separately, the deputy Taliban minister of justice, Abdul Ghani Faiq, also cautioned officials against undermining the ruling dispensation. He spoke at a graduation ceremony of defense attorneys in Kabul.

If he is an employer, or employee, or anyone else, or if he is in a ministerial position in the Islamic Emirate, and then he moves against the Islamic Emirate, this is not tolerable, Faiq was reported as saying by the Afghan media. He used the official title for the Taliban government.

Haqqani is among Taliban leaders who support lifting the ban on girls education, according to foreign diplomats who have interacted with the interior minister.

Now that we are in power, it is our responsibility to heal the wounds of our people and bring them relief, Haqqani said in his speech.

The interior minister is on the U.S. list of most wanted men for plotting terrorism against American nationals. His so-called Haqqani network of militants staged high-profile deadly attacks in support of the Taliban insurgence against the United States and NATO troops in Afghanistan for almost 20 years until the Taliban retook control of the country 18 months ago.

The international community has refused to grant legitimacy to the Taliban administration, citing bans on women and other human rights concerns.

What is clear is that a reform movement must gather force from within the Taliban to get Afghanistan to open girls' schools and let women back at work; all Islamic rights, Torek Farhadi, a former Afghan official, and political analyst, told VOA in written comments while responding to questions on the public exchange of criticism between Taliban leaders.

No one else can spearhead this but the Taliban themselves, and time is of the essence, because teenage girls have lost more than a year, and a general mood of hopelessness encourages the educated youth to migrate out of the country, Farhadi added.

Taliban leaders have long dismissed reports of any internal rifts as Western media propaganda.

Akhundzada has refused to meet foreign delegates and rarely leaves the southern Kandahar city, regarded as the spiritual headquarters and birthplace of the Taliban.
Opposition leaders welcomed the release on bail Monday night of two legislators allied with the National Unity Platform, led by Bobi Wine.

Despite several bail applications by lawyers in recent months, the prosecutor had blocked the requests on the grounds the legislators would interfere with the investigations.

The legislators, Allan Ssewanyana and Muhammed Segirinya, were incarcerated for 17 months on charges including murder, attempted murder, and aiding and abetting terrorism. They were held despite a law requiring that suspects in criminal cases be automatically granted bail after being held for six months on remand.

Early this month, Supreme Court Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo condemned the delayed prosecution of the two legislators and demanded that the state begin their trial whether prepared or not. The chief justice warned the public prosecution office not to be an accomplice in denying anyone justice.

The leader of the opposition in parliament, Mathias Mpuuga, said the matter of the two legislators was not an issue of prosecution, but instead of persecution for their political views.

"They are out, they have temporary freedom, we can speak about ... the future. And how we shall be able to deal with the charges when they are out," Mpuuga said. "The regime that I know, if they had coherent evidence, they would have loved to have a piece of these members. But the fact that for more than one and a half years, they've not been able to piece together evidence to have them tried, for me speaks to the fact that the charges were probably politically motivated."

The charges stemmed from the men's alleged involvement in 26 killings that took place in Uganda's Central districts of Lwengo and Masaka between March and June 2021. Most of the victims were elderly members of society who were killed with machetes.

The bail applications for the two legislators were based on what their lawyers said were medical conditions that needed care, which prison facilities were not providing.

Lawyer Samuel Muyizzi said both of the just-released legislators were rushed to hospitals for urgent medical attention.

"The honorable Allan Ssewanyana was ill. And the honorable Segirinya has been on and off. And there was no sufficient medical attention as was required. So, that is why, the right thing to do immediately was to take them to a health facility and a bit of psychological care before they come out to the public," Muyizzi said.

But Frank Baine, the Uganda prisons spokesperson, told VOA that claims of ill treatment are being made simply to undermine the government's image.

"Those are their beautiful lies. They started crying over the same since these guys came to prison. They have spent a year and gone back. If the system was bad as they are, people wouldn't have made it through. But they can speculate and do political gimmicks of theirs," Baine said.

The legislators were granted bail on condition that they pay $5,460 and deposit their passports with the court. No trial date has been set.
Britain says it has for the first time presented evidence that Iran is supplying advanced weapons to the Houthi rebels in Yemen, after finding images of tests conducted at the headquarters of the Revolutionary Guards in Tehran on the hard drive of an unmanned aircraft seized by the Royal Navy.

Personnel from the British ship HMS Montrose seized the unmanned quadcopter along with a shipment of missiles and missile parts in February last year when they stopped and searched a number of fast-moving skiffs in the Gulf of Oman. The weapons and other evidence were presented to the United Nations as linking Iran to violations of Security Council resolutions barring weapons shipments to the Houthis, Britain's Ministry of Defense said Monday in London.

"This is the first time we have been able to present evidence to the U.N. that indicates a direct link between the Iranian state and the supply of these weapons," a ministry official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with departmental policy.

The U.N. has prohibited weapons transfers to the Houthis since 2014, when the rebels descended from their northern stronghold, toppled the internationally recognized government of Yemen and seized the capital, Sanaa. Iran has long denied arming the rebels.

The commercial quadcopter seized by the Royal Navy is designed for reconnaissance flights, the ministry said.

Investigators were able to decrypt the data on the aircraft's internal memory, which hadn't been wiped. That's where they discovered the records of 22 test flights conducted at the Revolutionary Guards' aerospace headquarters in western Tehran, the ministry said.

The drone was in the same shipment as a number of surface-to-air missiles and components for Iranian Project 351 land attack cruise missiles.

The discovery adds to a growing body of evidence of Iranian interference in the conflict in Yemen, which has spawned one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

Western nations, U.N. experts and others have traced Houthi weaponry ranging from night-vision scopes, rifles and missiles back to Tehran.

Most recently, French naval forces in the Gulf of Oman in January seized thousands of assault rifles, machine guns and anti-tank missiles coming from Iran and heading to the Houthis.

In November, the U.S. Navy announced that it had found 70 tons worth of a missile fuel component hidden among bags of fertilizer aboard a ship sailing to Yemen from Iran.

"Once again the Iranian regime has been exposed for its reckless proliferation of weapons and destabilizing activity in the region,'' said Tariq Ahmad, Britain's minister of state for the Middle East. "Iran's sustained military support to the Houthis and continued violation of the arms embargo has stoked further conflict and undermined U.N.-led peace efforts."
U.S. federal agents arrested four Florida men on Tuesday in connection with the July 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise, bringing to 11 the number of defendants in the United States facing charges over the plot.

Following the early morning arrests, a federal grand jury in Florida returned a superseding indictment charging all 11 with a variety of crimes related to the brazen killing of Moise in his residence in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince on July 7, 2021.

The assassination, which was carried out by Colombian mercenaries allegedly recruited by a group of Haitians and Haitian Americans seeking to depose Moise, plunged Haiti into deep political turmoil.

Haitian authorities have made dozens of arrests in the case, but their prosecution has reportedly stalled in Haiti amid death threats to local judges.

U.S. authorities, concerned that the assassination plot was hatched on U.S. soil, have taken a more aggressive stance to arrest the perpetrators. Last month, Haitian authorities transferred four key suspects to the U.S. for prosecution. Among them: a Haitian American dual citizen who aspired to replace Moise.

The four men arrested Tuesday were identified as Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, a Colombian national and U.S. permanent resident of Miami; Antonio Intriago, a Venezuelan businessman and U.S. permanent resident of Miami; Walter Veintemilla, a U.S. citizen originally from Ecuador living in Weston, Florida; and Frederick Bergmann, a U.S. citizen living in Tampa.

In a criminal complaint, prosecutors said that Ortiz, who served as an FBI informant on unrelated matters, arranged a meeting between the FBI and other conspirators in April 2021 during which the conspirators attempted to draw FBI agents into a discussion about regime change in Haiti.

In response, the complaint said, an FBI agent told the men, in substance, that the FBI could not help them because Haiti had to solve its own political problems.

Prosecutors declined to elaborate on the FBI's relationship with Ortiz.

Lawyers for the four defendants, who were expected to make their initial court appearances on Tuesday, could not be immediately reached for comment.

Of the 11 alleged conspirators now in U.S. custody, nine are charged with conspiracy to provide material support and resources to a conspiracy to kidnap or kill outside the United States, resulting in death, as well as other related crimes. If convicted, they could face life in prison.

Bergmann and Christian Sanon, a Haitian American dual citizen at the heart of the conspiracy, face charges of conspiracy to commit export violations; submitting false and misleading export information; and smuggling ballistic vests from the United States to Haiti. If convicted, they could face up to 20 years in prison.

The federal investigation into the plot is ongoing, and prosecutors would not rule out further arrests in connection with the assassination.

The plot to depose Moise was hatched in early 2021 in South Florida, home to a large Haitian American community and a central location for planning and financing the conspiracy.

The four men arrested on Tuesday served as the South Florida-based planners and financiers of the plot, working in conjunction with operators and hired assassins in Haiti, said Markenzy Lapointe, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida.

Ortiz and Intriago are the owners of a South Florida security company called the Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU). Veintemilla, a resident of Tampa, owns Worldwide Capital Lending Group, also based in South Florida.

According to court documents, the conspirators met in south Florida in April 2021 to discuss regime change in Haiti, with Ortiz and Intriago agreeing to depose Moise and replacing him with Sanon. The plan was that once Sanon became president, he would award lucrative contracts to CTU for infrastructure projects in Haiti, the provision of surety forces, and the provision of military-type equipment to a Sanon-led Haitian government, Lapointe said.

For his part, Veintemilla and his company agreed to help finance what prosecutors called the coup detat, extending a $175,000 line of credit to CTU and sending money to other plotters in Haiti to purchase ammunition. Veintemila expected to reap significant financial benefits through Worldwide should in fact President Moise be replaced as president, as did Ortiz and Intriago through CTU, Lapointe said.

In the months that followed, the plan was set in motion. Ortiz and Intriago recruited a group of about 20 former Colombian soldiers to provide security to Sanon. Bregmann became an investor in the operation, Lapointe said, paying for the Colombians lodging in Haiti and shipping 20 CTU-branded ballistic vests to Haiti by falsifying the required export documentation.

By June, there was a change of plans. Realizing that Sanon had neither the constitutional qualifications nor the popular support of the Haitian people to become President, the conspirators shifted their support to a former Haitian Supreme Court judge. The judge, whom Lapointe declined to name, allegedly contracted with the two South Florida companies to serve their financial interests upon becoming president.

Around this time, the plot hit a wall. Plans to spirit Moise out of the country fell through when the men failed to obtain a plane and enough weapons for the operation. That prompted the conspirators to change plans from ousting Moise to assassinating him.

On July 6, the boots on the ground, as Lapointe called them, including a Haitian American named James Solages, met at a house near Moises residence in Port-au-Prince. Firearms and equipment, obtained by a Haitian national, were handed out, and an announcement was made by Solages. That announcement was, unambiguously, that the mission was to kill President Moise, Lapointe said.

In the early morning the next day, the Colombian mercenaries stormed the presidents home and killed him. He was shot 12 times. Moises wife was shot multiple times during the attack but survived.

Lapointe said the latest arrests represent a critical mass in terms of the people that were responsible in terms of the organizers and planners of this.

Without the thought process of saying were going to go out to Haiti and depose this president, at the end of the day, wed not be here today, Lapointe said.

Matt Olsen, assistant attorney general for national security, said the impact of the assassination continues to reverberate in Haiti. Noting that the men were arrested under U.S. laws prohibiting plots to kidnap and kill individuals abroad, Olsen said, Let me be very clear: The United States will not tolerate those who would plot from our soil to carry out acts of violence abroad, just as we will not tolerate those outside the U.S. who would plot to conduct violence in this country, Olsen said at the press conference.
House Republicans kicked off an investigation Monday into the origins of COVID-19 by issuing a series of letters to current and former Biden administration officials for documents and testimony.

The Republican chairmen of the House Oversight Committee and the subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic requested information from several people, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, surrounding the hypothesis that the coronavirus leaked accidentally from a Chinese lab.

"This investigation must begin with where and how this virus came about so that we can attempt to predict, prepare or prevent it from happening again," Representative Brad Wenstrup, chair of the virus subcommittee, said in a statement.

Representative James Comer, chairman of the oversight committee, added that Republicans will "follow the facts" and "hold U.S. government officials that took part in any sort of cover-up accountable."

The letters to Fauci, National Intelligence Director Avril Haines, Health Secretary Xavier Beccera and others are the latest effort by the new Republican majority to make good on promises made during the 2022 midterms campaign.

Wenstrup, who is also a longtime member of the House Intelligence Committee, has accused U.S. intelligence of withholding key facts about its investigation into the coronavirus. Republicans on the committee last year issued a staff report arguing that there are "indications" that the virus may have been developed as a bioweapon inside China's Wuhan Institute of Virology.

That would contradict a U.S. intelligence community assessment released in unclassified form in August 2021 that said analysts do not believe the virus was a bioweapon, though it may have leaked in a lab accident.

The letters sent Monday do not require the cooperation of recipients. But in announcing the Republican staff report in December, Wenstrup said that lawmakers would issue subpoenas if potential witnesses didn't cooperate.

It is extremely difficult for scientists to establish definitively how diseases emerge, but studies by experts around the world have determined that COVID-19 most likely emerged from a live animal market in Wuhan, China.

Initially dismissed by most public health experts and government officials, the hypothesis that COVID-19 originated from an accidental lab leak began to receive scrutiny after President Joe Biden ordered an investigation into the matter in May 2021.

The 90-day review was meant to push American intelligence agencies to collect more information and review what they already had. Former State Department officials under President Donald Trump had publicly pushed for further investigation into virus origins, as had scientists and the World Health Organization. But the review proved to be inconclusive, with intelligence agencies saying that barring an unforeseen breakthrough, they wouldn't be able to conclude the origin either way.

Many scientists, including Fauci, who until December served as Biden's chief medical adviser, say they still believe the virus most likely emerged in nature and jumped from animals to humans, a well-documented phenomenon known as a spillover event. Virus researchers have not publicly identified any new key scientific evidence that might make the lab-leak hypothesis more likely.

But Republicans have accused Fauci of lying to Congress when he denied in May that the National Institutes of Health funded "gain of function" research  the practice of enhancing a virus in a lab to study its potential impact in the real world  at a virology lab in Wuhan. Republican Senator Ted Cruz even urged Attorney General Merrick Garland to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Fauci's statements.

Fauci, who served as the country's top infectious disease expert under both Republican and Democratic presidents, has called the GOP criticism nonsense.

Cruz and Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky have previously said that an October 2021 letter from NIH to Congress contradicts Fauci. But no clear evidence or scientific consensus exists that "gain of function" research was funded by NIH, and there is no link between U.S.-funded research to the emergence of COVID-19. NIH has repeatedly maintained that its funding did not go to such research involving boosting the infectivity and lethality of a pathogen.

Nonetheless, Fauci indicated in November that he would "cooperate fully and testify" if Republicans followed through with their plans to investigate COVID's origin.

"I have no trouble testifying  we can defend and explain everything that we've said," he told reporters during a White House briefing last year.
Venezuela will contract with an Iranian shipyard to build two oil tankers under an existing construction agreement bedeviled by payment delays and difficulties with needed certifications, according to people familiar with the matter and documents.

Venezuela's state-run energy firm PDVSA since last year has redoubled efforts to buy and lease oil tankers to rebuild its own fleet. Its maritime operations have suffered from a long-standing lack of capital and U.S. sanctions that have made it difficult to obtain insurance and receive classifications essential to navigate in international waters.

The two new Aframax tankers, to be named India Urquia and India Mara, will cost $33.77 million each, an internal PDVSA document detailing the proposed agreement showed.

The vessels will be built by Iran Marine Industrial Company (SADRA) at its Bushehr shipyard, which built two previous vessels for PDVSA, the Aframaxes Arita and Anita, that can each carry 500,000-800,000 barrels of oil.

"(Construction of) the India Urquia must start soon," one of the sources said.

The agreement will come after Venezuela settled an outstanding debt to Iran with fuel, according to the document, one of the reasons why the contract has not worked as originally planned.

PDVSA in late 2021 delivered a 644,000-barrel fuel oil cargo to Iran valued at $36.4 million.

"The shipyard received 30.34 million euros [$32.5 million] to settle the outstanding debt for tanker Arita," and another $2.1 million went in August to pay accumulated demurrage fees, the document said.

Both the Arita and the second tanker, recently renamed Anita, faced long delays to begin navigating amid the unpaid debts and PDVSA maritime arm's struggles to secure insurance and seaworthy classifications.

The Arita  now renamed Colon  first set sail in 2017 but was later arrested by a vessel operator for unpaid bills. It was returned to PDVSA in 2019 and has mostly remained in Venezuelan waters since.

The Anita departed Iran in late December carrying an Iranian condensate cargo for PDVSA, one of the sources said. It has not yet arrived in Venezuela, according to tanker tracking services.

Two separate vessels chartered by Iran's Naftiran Intertrade Company (NICO), the supertankers Wen Yao and Sea Cliff, also are expected to deliver Iranian condensate to Venezuela this month as part of an oil swap with PDVSA, according to monitoring firm TankerTrackers.com. The Sea Cliff was seen near PDVSA's Jose port on Monday, TankerTrackers.com said.

By the end of the contract, PDVSA will have paid Iran about $168.6 million for the four vessels, according to the proposal. The deal was first announced in 2006 with much fanfare by Tehran and the government of then-President Hugo Chavez.

Some of the vessels to be handed over by Iran could be operated by third parties, according to one person.

The document did not detail delivery dates for the two tankers to come. PDVSA and SADRA did not reply to requests for comment.

Iran's and Venezuela's oil sectors are under U.S. sanctions that make it difficult to obtain services for vessels built or sailing under those countries' flags and expose the ships' cargoes to the risk of seizures and retentions.

Washington has in recent years expanded the list of blacklisted tankers linked to Iran and Venezuela and imposed sanctions on their state oil companies and their maritime arms.
World leaders will this week attend the Munich Security Conference ahead of the anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and with tensions between China and the United States rising over espionage claims.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and the NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg will be among those at the three-day annual gathering.

The event, beginning Friday, comes just days ahead of the February 24 anniversary of Moscow sending its forces into Ukraine, bringing war back to Europe for the first time in decades.

With Ukraine bracing for a fresh offensive from Moscow, leaders are likely to renew their commitment to support Kyiv for as long as it takes to beat back Russian aggression.

A year after President Vladimir Putin committed a "breach of civilization," the conference is faced with the question of how the "rules-based international order" can be respected, said the event's chairman, Christoph Heusgen.

"In [the] future, will there be an order where the strength of law dominates? Or will there be an order in which the law of the strongest prevails?" he asked at a news conference.

The question of "how to deal with people, political leaders, who do not respect the rule of law" will be on the agenda, he said.

U.S.-China tensions are likely to feature prominently at the gathering in the German city in the state of Bavaria, with ties having nosedived since Washington shot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon in early February.

Beijing has insisted it was for civilian purposes and Monday hit back, accusing the United States of flying balloons over its territory  a claim swiftly denied by Washington.

Heusgen said he did not think that Wang would use remarks at the event to say "sorry, that was our spy balloon that flew over."

But he added that "I do hope that there will be talks... on the sidelines. I have already pointed out that we have a high-ranking American delegation" attending.

Relations between the world's two biggest economies have deteriorated in recent years over issues ranging from human rights in Hong Kong to economic policy and the treatment of the Muslim Uyghur minority in Xinjiang.
Less than a week after the U.S. downed what officials say was a Chinese surveillance balloon, the U.S. military shot down three more flying objects of unknown origin. Chinese officials say they cant say whether the newly downed objects are theirs but say the U.S. is overreacting. As Washington searches for answers, one thing is clear: China-U.S. relations have taken a hit. VOAs Anita Powell reports from the White House.
Rescuers in Turkey pulled several more people alive from the rubble Tuesday, nearly 200 hours after a series of powerful earthquakes struck the region but experts warned the window is closing for finding more people alive.

In neighboring Syria, more aid is starting to flow to war- and now earthquake-scared civilians in the countrys northwest, following President Bashar al-Assads agreement with the United Nations on Monday to allow humanitarian workers to use two additional crossing points from Turkey into opposition-held areas to speed deliveries.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters Tuesday that an 11-truck convoy is on the move to cross through the newly reopened Bab al-Salam border crossing from Turkey, with many more [convoys] to come.

Guterres humanitarian chief negotiated the use of two border crossings from Turkey into northwest Syria, meeting with President Assad on Monday in Damascus, bringing to three the number the U.N. has to work with. It is the first time since the conflict began in 2011 that Assad has agreed to allow aid to cross from Turkey to rebel-held areas.

The U.N. chief also announced an appeal for $397 million in the next three months for the earthquake response in Syria, adding that a similar appeal is being drawn up for Turkey.

We all know that lifesaving aid has not been getting in at the speed and scale needed, Guterres said of opposition-held areas of Syria. The scale of this disaster is one of the worst in recent memory.

He emphasized that aid must get through from all sides, to all sides, through all routes  without any restrictions.

The U.N. humanitarian office said Monday the death toll in Syria has surpassed 4,300, with another 7,600 injured.

In Turkey, authorities have reported at least 31,643 deaths from the earthquake centered in the Gaziantep region.

The latest rescues included one from a crumbled building in Adiyaman province and two others from a destroyed building in central Kahramanmaras, near the epicenter.

Turkish residents in Samandag in Hatay province, complained the government has not done enough in the search for survivors.

One earthquake survivor told VOAs Turkish service that everything is being done through volunteers and community efforts, not by the government.

We rescued a lady and her baby from under the rubble. Alive. With our own efforts. With our own sledgehammers, with our hammers. I had many friends with me. This is not acceptable, the survivor said.

Another said, Volunteers are working here, day and night, nonstop. They dont even eat. They dont even come down to drink water. AFAD [Turkeys Disaster Management Authority] came to save us supposedly. The team came here to work on detecting. They just came and left. They said, There was nothing here, and turned back and left.

Turkish television broadcast scenes of the rescues, but experts warned the window is closing for finding more people alive in what remains of collapsed buildings after so much time.

The VOA Turkish Service contributed to this report, which includes some information from The Associated Press and Reuters.
China looks forward to working with Iran to take the upcoming China visit by the Iranian president as an opportunity to promote greater development of the China-Iran comprehensive strategic partnership, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Monday.

At the invitation of President Xi Jinping, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ebrahim Raisi will pay a state visit to China from Feb. 14 to 16, according to the foreign ministry.

Noting that this will be President Raisi's first visit to China, Wang said at a regular press briefing that the two presidents will hold talks, jointly plan and lead the future development of bilateral relations, and exchange views on regional and international issues of common concern during the visit.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Li Zhanshu, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, will meet with President Raisi respectively, Wang said.

"China and Iran enjoy a traditional friendship, and it is the strategic choice of both sides to consolidate and develop China-Iran relations," he said.

Under the leadership of the two presidents, China-Iran relations have maintained sound development momentum in recent years. The two sides have consistently consolidated mutual political trust, steadily advanced practical cooperation in various fields, maintained effective communication and coordination in international and regional affairs, and firmly safeguarded the principle of non-interference in internal affairs and the common interests of developing countries, the spokesperson said.

"China looks forward to working with the Iranian side to use this visit as an opportunity to promote greater development of the China-Iran comprehensive strategic partnership, and play a constructive role in enhancing the unity and cooperation of countries in the Middle East and promoting regional security and stability," Wang said.
Ukraine said Monday that Russian forces were hitting the area north of Bakhmut with intense shelling and storming actions.

Bakhmut, located in Ukraines Donetsk region, has been the site of months of heavy fighting with Russia pushing to capture the area.

Ukraines presidential office said in its daily report that the situation in the village of Paraskoviivka, just north of Bakhmut, was difficult.

The Ukrainian military reported Russian artillery and tank attacks against 16 settlements in the Bakhmut area.

SEE ALSO:

The head of the Russian Wagner paramilitary group claimed Sunday to have taken control of one such village, Krasna Hora.

Power cuts

During his nightly video address Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised workers efforts to restore power systems damaged by drone and missile attacks by Russia on Friday.

Zelenskyy said most people had not had to face too many outages on Saturday and Sunday.

"The very fact that... after a massive missile strike this week, we can have such peaceful energy days proves the professionalism of our energy workers," he said. "We have to realize: this is not yet a decisive victory on the energy front. Unfortunately, there may be new terrorist attacks from Russia. There may be new restrictions if there is further destruction or growth in consumption."

Zelenskyy said scheduled energy outages would once again be in place when the working week started on Monday.

Some information came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
WASHINGTON  The U.S. vehemently rejected a Beijing accusation Monday that it had flown more than 10 high-altitude balloons over China in the last year as the two superpowers continued to spar over the American shootdown of a Chinese balloon off the eastern U.S. coastline more than a week ago.

"Not true. Not doing it. Just absolutely not true, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told MSNBC. Were not flying balloons over China.

Both countries deploy spy satellites, but a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin accused the U.S. of flying the balloons over China although he gave no details about how they had been dealt with or whether they had alleged links to the U.S. government.

China has acknowledged that one of its balloons flew for eight days over the U.S. before a U.S. fighter pilot shot it down February 4 just off the coast of the southern state of South Carolina. Beijing continues to claim it was a weather balloon that drifted off course, although the U.S. said that recovered parts of the aircraft revealed that it was a sophisticated spy balloon the size of two or three buses.

Since then, the U.S. has shot down three more objects from Friday to Sunday, over Alaska in the countrys far northwestern region, over Canadas Yukon territory and over Lake Huron that borders the U.S. and Canada. The U.S. has not determined the origin of the latest three airborne objects.

The U.S. said Monday it has also spotted Chinese balloons flying through the Middle East. But Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, commander of the U.S. Air Forces Central, said, Theyve not been a threat. They've flown through a few times since I've been in command but nothing that I would be concerned about in any way."

Wang, at a daily briefing, contended, "It is also common for U.S. balloons to illegally enter the airspace of other countries. Since last year, U.S. high-altitude balloons have illegally flown over China's airspace more than 10 times without the approval of Chinese authorities."

He said the U.S. should "first reflect on itself and change course, rather than smear and instigate a confrontation."

China has accused the U.S. of overreacting by shooting down the balloon that traversed the U.S. mainland before crossing over open waters.

National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said, "It is China that has a high-altitude surveillance balloon program for intelligence collection, connected to the People's Liberation Army, that it has used to violate the sovereignty of the United States and over 40 countries across five continents."

"This is the latest example of China scrambling to do damage control, she said. It has repeatedly and wrongly claimed the surveillance balloon it sent over the United States was a weather balloon and to this day has failed to offer any credible explanations for its intrusion into our airspace and the airspace of others."

Following the balloon incident, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled a visit to Beijing that potentially could have eased relations between the two countries and disputes over Taiwan, trade, human rights and threatening Chinese actions in the disputed South China Sea.

On Sunday, the Pentagon said President Joe Biden ordered the shootdown of an unidentified object" over Lake Huron in the countrys northern territory along the Canadian border.

The object was believed to be the same one that had been detected Saturday over the western state of Montana, the Pentagon said. It was the fourth object shot down this month.

The object was described as octagonal in shape with strings hanging off but no identifiable payload, according to a U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity.

Pentagon spokesperson Brig. General Patrick Ryder said in an official statement that the object posed no military threat, but as it was traveling at 6,100 meters (20,000 feet) altitude, it posed a potential threat to commercial airplanes.

U.S. Air Force General Glen VanHerck, who is responsible for safeguarding U.S. airspace, told reporters in a briefing that the military has not been able to identify what the three most recent objects are, how they stay aloft, or where they are coming from.

"We're calling them objects, not balloons, for a reason," said VanHerck, head of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and Northern Command.

Pentagon officials also said they dont know when the last shootdown of an unknown or unauthorized object over U.S. territory occurred before this spate of incidents.

Meanwhile, U.S. national security officials said they believe two other high-altitude objects shot down over the northern reaches of the United States and Canada were balloons, but much smaller than the Chinese spy balloon shot down over the Atlantic Ocean in early February, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Sunday.

Schumer told ABCs This Week show that he had been briefed Saturday night by White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan about the initial findings about the objects, the one shot down over frozen waters near the state of Alaska on Friday and the second one Saturday over Canadas Yukon region.

Schumer did not say where the balloons originated. But he said both were shot down by U.S. fighter jets, the second on authorization from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, after both were spotted on radar at about 12,000 meters (40,000 feet) above the Earth and were considered a threat to commercial aircraft that fly at a similar altitude.

VOA National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin and Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb contributed to this report.
The eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut on Monday endured heavy artillery fire. The Ukrainian military reported Russian shelling all along the front line and said 16 settlements had been bombarded near Bakhmut.

Ukrainian fighters, who have already held out there for months, are bracing for new ground attacks, Ukrainian military officials said.

Bakhmut is a prime objective for Russian President Vladimir Putin, and its capture would give Russia a new foothold in the Donetsk region and a rare victory after several months of setbacks. The Donetsk and Luhansk regions make up the Donbas, Ukraines industrial heartland now partially occupied by Russia, which wants full control.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said a new major Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine has already begun as the anniversary of Russias February 24 invasion approaches.

"It is clear that we are in a race of logistics, Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels. Key capabilities like ammunition, fuel and spare parts must reach Ukraine before Russia can seize the initiative on the battlefield. Speed will save lives," he stressed.

Stoltenberg said Ukraines use of ammunition in the war against Russia is outstripping supply and that the alliance needs to increase production to meet Ukraines needs.

The NATO chief made these comments one day before the ninth meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, known informally as the Ramstein summit, set to take place in the Belgian capital.

NATOs call for an increase in ammunition production is expected to dominate the discussions on Tuesday. Stoltenberg said the contentious issue of providing modern combat aircraft to Ukraine would be discussed, as well.

The Russian assault on Bakhmut has been headed by mercenaries of the Wagner paramilitary group. The renewed Russian shelling has made the situation even more tense.

"The city, the city's suburbs, the entire perimeter and essentially the entire Bakhmut direction and Kostyantynivka, are under crazy, chaotic shelling," said Volodymyr Nazarenko, deputy commander of Ukraines Svoboda battalion.

The head of the Wagner Group claimed Sunday to have taken control of Krasna Hora, a village a few kilometers north of Bakhmut.

Serhii Cherevatyi, a spokesperson for the Eastern Grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, denied Russian claims that Krasna Hora had been captured.

"There are ongoing battles there," Cherevatyi said. "We are keeping it under our control, he told CNN. "We have the ability to supply weapons, food, equipment, medicines, and to evacuate the wounded from there," he added.

A report by Britains Ministry of Defense says that as of February 7, Russia had likely further strengthened defense fortifications in the central part of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, in particular near the town of Tarasivka.

Russian forces have also established defensive fortifications between the towns of Vasylivka and Orihiv in the same region as of January 8.

Russia has "highly likely" restarted major offensive operations in Ukraine aiming to capture the remaining Ukrainian-controlled parts of Donetsk Oblast.

Russia's front line in Ukraine is approximately 1,288 kilometers, with the partially occupied Zaporizhzhia Oblast front line amounting to 192 kilometers, the report adds.

A significant breakthrough by Ukrainian troops in Zaporizhzhia Oblast would "seriously challenge" the viability of the Russian "land bridge" connecting its Rostov region and occupied Crimea, the ministry wrote in its latest intelligence update.

Wagners private army is pushing hard to give Russia battlefield wins in Ukraine, but mounting evidence suggests the Kremlin has moved to curb what it sees as the excessive political clout of Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner Group.

Recently, Prigozhin, a 61-year-old ex-convict, grabbed headlines over his bloody role in Ukraine. Wagner has openly criticized Russia's top military brass and tried to win the Kremlins favor through his groups battlefield success.

Prigozhins public prominence has created speculation among analysts that he is eyeing an official role in politics.

There is growing evidence though, that the Kremlin has moved to nip such speculation in the bud, ordering Prigozhin to halt public criticism of the Defense Ministry while advising state media to stop mentioning him or Wagner by name.

"The position of the [Kremlin] political bloc is not to let him into politics. They are a little afraid of him and find him an inconvenient person," Sergei Markov, a former Kremlin adviser who remains close to the authorities, told the Reuters news agency.

Prigozhin confirmed last week he had also been stripped of the right to recruit convicts from prisons  a key element of his growing political influence and one which had bolstered his forces to make small but steady gains in eastern Ukraine.

Moldova coup attempt

The president of Moldova accused Russia on Monday of planning to use foreign saboteurs to bring down her leadership and break Moldovas path to Europe. Moldova has been granted candidate status in the European Union. Moldova's breakaway region, Transnistria, has survived for three decades with support from Moscow.

President Maia Sandu made her comments after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last week that his country had uncovered a Russian intelligence plan "for the destruction of Moldova." Days later, the government of the country, which borders Ukraine and Romania, resigned.

Responding to reporters during the White House briefing on Monday, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said the U.S government is concerned over reports of Russias attempts to influence the pro-European government of Moldova.

We absolutely stand with the modern Moldovan government and the Moldovan people, he said.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
Margaret Besheer

NEW YORK  U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Monday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has agreed to allow the United Nations to temporarily use two additional border crossings from Turkey to get aid to earthquake victims inside Syria.

"I welcome the decision today by President Bashar al-Assad of Syria to open the two crossing points of Bab Al-Salam and Al Ra'ee from Turkiye to northwest Syria for an initial period of three months to allow for the timely delivery of humanitarian aid," Guterres said in a statement while the Security Council met on the issue.

"As the toll of the 6 February earthquake continues to mount, delivering food, health, nutrition, protection, shelter, winter supplies and other lifesaving supplies to all the millions of people affected is of the utmost urgency," the U.N. chief added.

In this photo released on the official Facebook page of the Syrian Presidency, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, right, meets with Martin Griffiths, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, in Damascus, Syria, Feb. 13, 2023.

The announcement came hours after his humanitarian chief, Martin Griffiths, met with Assad and senior Syrian officials in Damascus. Griffiths has called in recent days for the regime to open more access for humanitarians.

"President al-Assad affirmed the need for bringing in the urgent aid to all areas in Syria, including those that are subjected to occupation and the dominance of the armed terrorist groups," the official Syrian news agency SANA said about the meeting.

Griffiths was in a private meeting briefing the council remotely when the secretary-general made the announcement. If Assad had failed to agree to the access, it could have led to a contentious effort in the 15-nation council to have the request approved in a resolution.

Since 2019, Russia has narrowed four crossing points to just one that helps the U.N. reach 2.4 million Syrians each month in the country's northwest.

After 12 years of civil war, the region is the last opposition stronghold. The 4 million residents, already exhausted from war, a crippling economic crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, were also hit hard by last Monday's earthquake.

Men stand next to trucks, part of a convoy carrying earthquake aid provided by Qatar, at Syria's Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey in the rebel-held northwestern province of Idlib, on Feb. 13, 2023.

The U.N. has come under criticism from many quarters for the slow response to people inside Syria, particularly in that area.

The first aid convoy crossed into northwest Syria on February 9, after the road from the U.N.'s transshipment hub at Gaziantep in Turkey was cleared of rubble. Since the quake, the U.N. says a total of 58 trucks have crossed into northwest Syria from the hub in Turkey, through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing, carrying mainly shelter and non-food items. That included six trucks on Monday.

"Opening these crossing points  along with facilitating humanitarian access, accelerating visa approvals and easing travel between hubs  will allow more aid to go in, faster," Guterres said.

The U.N. plans to launch flash appeals this week to fund quake-related humanitarian operations in both countries for the next three months.
UN experts have urged President Emmerson Mnangagwa to reject enacting a bill that would severely restrict civic space and the right to freedom of association in the country.

In a statement posted on the UN website, the experts expressed deep concern that the oversight regime in the Private Voluntary Organisations (PVO) Amendment Bill for civil society organisations provides for disproportionate and discretionary powers to the newly established Office of the Registrar of PVOs, without independence from the executive branch.

The Senate passed the bill early this month, and the legislation is currently before the President of Zimbabwe for his decision on its enactment.

The Registrars Office powers will include the ability to consider, grant or reject the registration of PVOs, with little to no judicial recourse against such decisions.

The experts said, The bills requirements would also immediately render existing organisations, operating lawfully as trusts and associations, illegal. The Office of the Registrar will also have extensive powers to intervene in and monitor the activities of PVOs."

They raised additional concerns about the prohibition of any political affiliation and unjustified restrictions on PVOs ability to obtain funding, including foreign funds. The vagueness or non-definition of many provisions in the bill also raises concerns that the proposed law will be misapplied.

They warned that actions considered to be in breach of certain provisions in the Bill could lead to criminal prosecution, with penalties ranging from heavy fines to imprisonment.

While one of the stated aims of the Bill is to counter terrorism and money laundering in Zimbabwe, the restrictions contained therein will have a chilling effect on civil society organisations  particularly dissenting voices. By enacting this legislation, authorities would effectively be closing an already shrinking civic space, the UN experts said.

They noted that the PVO Amendment Bill has faced strong opposition, especially from civil society organisations and the international community. The UN experts submitted an analysis of the bill to the Government in 2021, concluding that the Amendment was incompatible with international human rights obligations, in particular the right to freedom of association. Despite consultations with authorities and legislators, the current version of the PVO Bill does not address these concerns.

It is not too late for the President to change course, the experts said, urging him to reject the PVO Amendment Bill in its current form.

We stand ready to assist the Government to revise the Amendment Bill to ensure compliance with international human rights norms and standards, the experts said.

Government and Zanu PF officials were unreachable for comment as they were not responding to calls on their mobile phones.
U.S. fighter jets shot downed two more objects flying over the United States and Canadian territories over the weekend. Although a comprehensive analysis of the debris will be needed, a top Democratic senator said they are now believed to be balloons similar to a Chinese one downed a week ago.
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Romanian senator Diana Ivanovici Sosoaca, speaking on 8 February before the Romanian Parliament, observed that:

 One minute before seismographers detected the earthquake, Turkish gas and oil pipelines were shut down (NB. This is the only allegation we were unable to verify).

 24 hours before the earthquake, 10 Western countries recalled their ambassadors from Ankara.

 5 days before the earthquake, several Western countries, including Romania, issued a travel warning to Turkey without providing a motivation.

The earthquake that rocked Turkey and Syria was followed by more than 150 aftershocks, the most violent being not the first but the second one. Atypically, it had no epicenter, but erupted along a fault line over several hundred kilometers. Further tremors are likely to occur, including in Istanbul.

Moreover :

Some 15 Turkish companies, which import $18.5 million worth of equipment from the United States, have been re-exporting it to a dozen Russian firms, targeted by the coercive measures unilaterally imposed by Washington [1].

Turkey dismissed the U.S. Treasury Under Secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, Brian Nelson, when he arrived in to Ankara to demand an end to Turkish military exports to Russia and to Turkeys opposition to Swedens accession to NATO [2].

The sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines, on 26 September 2022, was publicly announced by U.S. President Joe Biden, at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, as an operation that he would contemplate in the event of a Russian intervention in Ukraine. Shortly thereafter, Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland made a similar statement during a hearing before the United States Congress [3].

 During World War II, the United States had successfully experimented with ways of provoking tsunamis, as New Zealand declassified documents have revealed [4].

 At the end of the Vietnam War, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to refrain from any act of war related to the use of the environment and signed the Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques (1976) [5]. This treaty (not signed by France) prohibits "Any technique for changing  through the deliberate manipulation of natural processes  the dynamics, composition or structure of the earth (article II)", which clearly includes earthquakes.

 With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the United States recruited those scientists associated with the Pamir program which had been successful in generating earthquakes [6].

Voltaire Network had already entertained that possibility, in 2010, when the earthquake that devastated Haiti coincided precisely with the launching of a Pentagon exercise supposedly aimed at coordinating and deploying private aid in disaster areas [7]. In this case, Senator Diana Ivanovici Sosoaca goes further, interpreting these elements to indicate that the earthquake in Turquie and Syria was deliberately caused by the United States.

What is abundantly clear is that the Biden administration feels no compassion for the victims since it has prohibited any deployment of Western aid in Syria, with the exception of the Idlib region still controlled by Western-sponsored jihadists. Admittedly, State Secretary Antony Blinken boasted that the United States is providing Turkey with the lions share of the aid. However, it is not the impression shared by the people that we contacted on the spot.
Vietnam Peoples Army soldiers arrive in Hatay (Photo: VNA)

At the airport, the delegation talked to representatives from the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Authority to learn about the needs of the host country.

Vietnam Peoples Army soldiers arrive in Hatay (Photo: VNA)

Earlier, a 24-member team of the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security engaged in search and rescue efforts in the Turkish southeastern city of Adiyaman, which is among the localities bearing the brunt of the earthquake, after they arrived in Istanbul International Airport on February 10.

As of 9pm on February 13 (Vietnam time), the deadly disaster had killed more than 37,000 people in not only Turkey but also Syria.

According to the Vietnamese embassies in Turkey and Syria, so far, there was no information on Vietnamese citizens dead or injured in the disaster.

Vietnam Airlines resumes Hanoi-Kuala Lumpur route

Vietnam Airlines has officially resumed the Hanoi  Kuala Lumpur route with four flights a week on Monday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday.

The restoration of the route from Hanoi to Kuala Lumpur will complete the aviation links between Vietnam and Malaysia.(Photo: VNA)

On this occasion, the national flag carrier has launched a promotion with tickets costing only from 4,644,000 VND (nearly 197 USD) for a round trip (taxes and fees included) on this route, reported VNA.

Preferential tickets are being offered from now to March 26, 2023. Passengers can buy tickets on the airline's website, mobile application, official ticket offices, and agents of Vietnam Airlines nationwide.

Vietnam Airilines (Source: vnexpress.net)

The airline is currently operating 11 flights per week on the Ho Chi Minh City - Kuala Lumpur route. The restoration of the route from Hanoi to Kuala Lumpur will complete the aviation links between Vietnam and Malaysia.

Passengers arriving in Malaysia now no longer need to present vaccination status certification or COVID-19 test certificate.

In 2019 before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Vietnam Airlines served more than 220,000 passengers between Vietnam and Malaysia.

Since Vietnam reopened its border, Vietnam Airlines has resumed most of its international routes with more than 600 flights per week, equivalent to 70% of the pre-pandemic level.

Ha Long Bay proves ideal wedding venue for Indian billionaire couple

According to VOV, an Indian billionaire couple enjoyed a one-week luxurious wedding in Ha Long Bay, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and popular travel destination in the northern province of Quang Ninh, inviting as many as 412 guests to attend the event.

An Indian billionaire couple enjoy a one-week luxurious wedding in Ha Long Bay. (Photo: Nguyen Hung/ Laodong.vn)

The identities of the Indian billionaires have not been revealed.

The couple tied the knot onboard the five-star cruise ship Ambassador Day Cruise II in a seven-day wedding ceremony which lasted from February 5.

Around 100 Indian event staff and chefs, along with two tonnes of materials, costumes, and props, were moved from India to Quang Ninh province to prepare for the lavish wedding ceremony.

This marks the first large-scale wedding that Indian billionaires have chosen to hold in Ha Long Bay. This comes after a five-day wedding ceremony was held on January 24 for one Indian billionaire family, featuring the participation of 350 guests, in the central city of Da Nang.

In late November, 2019, an Indian billionaire family hosted a wedding party lasting four days for their daughter in Da Nang with more than 600 guests.

In March, 2019, an Indian billionaire couple got married on Phu Quoc island amid the presence of about 700 guests./.
The future of Ukraine is becoming clearer. The fighting is between the government in Kyiv, which refuses to honor its signature on the Minsk Agreements, and Russia, which intends to enforce Security Council Resolution 2202, which endorses the Agreements. On the one hand, a state that refuses international law and is supported by the West, on the other hand, another state that refuses Western rules and is supported by China and Turkey.

How could President Volodymyr Zelensky, elected to implement the Minsk Agreements, turn into an "integral nationalist" [1], siding with fanatics, heirs to the worst criminals of the 20th century? This is a mystery. The most likely hypothesis is financial, as Mr. Zelensky has been known since the publication of the Paradise Papers for his off-shore accounts and his properties in England and Italy. Incidentally, Volodymyr Zelensky does not have much to do with his "integral nationalists". He is a coward. At the beginning of the war, he stayed several weeks, hidden in a bunker, probably outside Kiyv. He came out only after Israeli Prime Minister Nafatali Bennett assured him that President Vladimir Putin had promised him that he would not kill the Ukrainian president [2]. Since then, he has been playing the matamore by video in all the political summits and artistic festivals in the West.

How did Turkey, a Western ally in NATO, get involved on the Russian side? This is easier to understand for those who followed the CIAs assassination attempts on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. At first Erdogan was a street thug. Then he became involved in an Islamic militia that led him to become close to both Afghan insurgents and Russian jihadists in Itchkeria, only after this journey did he enter politics, in the classical sense. During his period of support for anti-Russian Muslim groups, he was a CIA agent. Like many, when he came to power, he saw things differently. He gradually detached himself from Langley and wanted to serve his people. However, his personal evolution took place while his own country changed its strategy several times. Turkicia still has not come to terms with the fall of the Ottoman Empire. It has tried several strategies in succession. Since 1987, it is a candidate for the European Union. In 2009, with Ahmet Davutoglu, it thought of restoring its Ottoman influence. One thing leading to another, it imagined combining this national goal with the personal background of its president to become the homeland of the Muslim Brotherhood and restore the Caliphate, abrogated by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1924. But the fall of the Islamic Emirate, forces him to abandon this project. Turkiye then turns to the Turkish-speaking peoples, it hesitates to include the Uyghurs and finally chooses the ethnically Turkish peoples. In any case, in this quest, it no longer needed the Europeans or the United States, but Russia and China. After its victory over Armenia, it created the "Organization of Turkic States" (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey and Uzbekistan). In addition, Hungary and Turkmenistan have observer status).

Today, according to the Wall Street Journal, 15 Turkish companies export $18.5 million worth of equipment purchased in the United States every month to a dozen Russian companies that are subject to illegal US unilateral coercive measures (presented as "sanctions" by the Atlanticist propaganda) [3]. The US Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Brian Nelson, went to Ankara in vain to force Turkey to comply with Western rules. Ankara continues to secretly support the Russian army.

When the US envoy pointed out that Turkey was on the wrong track by siding with the defeated Russia, his interlocutors presented him with the real figures of the war in Ukraine, established by Mossad and published by Hurseda Haber [4]. On the ground, the balance of power is 1 to 8 in favor of Russia. There are 18,480 dead on the Russian side, against 157,000 on the Ukrainian side. As in Andersens fairy tale, the king was naked.

Turkiye is now blocking Swedens membership of NATO. In doing so, it is also blocking Finlands membership, which was presented in the same file. If we accept the information of the Wall Street Journal, it is not a matter of chance. It is true that Ankara had obtained a commitment from these two countries to extradite the leaders of the PKK and Fethullah Gulens movement, a commitment they did not keep. But it could not have been otherwise, since the imprisonment of its leader, Abdullah Ocallan, the PKK has become a tool of the CIA and is now fighting under the orders of NATO, which was once an ally of the Soviets. [5]. As for Fethullah Gulen, he lives in the United States under the protection of the CIA.

So today, Turkey supports Russia in the same way as China: it supplies it with spare parts for its defence industry and does not hesitate to send it back American-made equipment. But while Croatia and Hungary, other Nato members, do not hesitate to say publicly that the Alliances support for Ukraine is stupid, without leaving it, Ankara pretends to be fully Atlanticist.

The earthquake that has just shaken Turkey and Syria does not have the characteristics of earthquakes observed so far, anywhere in the world. The fact that a dozen Western ambassadors left Ankara in the five days preceding the earthquake and that, in the same period, their countries issued advice not to travel to Turkey seems to indicate that the West knew in advance what was going to happen. The United States has the technical means to cause earthquakes. In 1976, they promised never to use them. Romanian Senator Diana Ivanovici Sosoaca claims that they violated their signature of the "Convention on the Prohibition of the Use of Environmental Modification Techniques for Military or any other Hostile Purposes" and caused this earthquake [6]. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has asked his intelligence services (MIT) to investigate what is now only a hypothesis. In the case of a positive response, it would have to be admitted that Washington, aware that it is no longer the worlds leading economic power, nor the worlds leading military power, destroys its allies before it dies.

Contrary to the messages the West is fed, not only is Ukraine losing on the ground, but NATO is being questioned from within by at least three of its members.

Under these conditions, how can we explain that the United States continues to send weapons to the battlefield and to demand that its allies send them en masse? It must be noted that a majority of these weapons are not modern, but date from the Cold War and are generally Soviet. There is no point in wasting weapons from the 2000s knowing that they will be destroyed because Russia has more modern weapons than the West. On the other hand, it may be interesting for various armies to test the latest generation of weapons in a high-intensity battle. In this case, the West sends only a few specimens of these weapons and certainly not more.

Moreover, while Ukrainian "full nationalist" units receive Western weapons, conscripts do not. The difference, probably two-thirds, is kept in Albania and Kosovo or sent to the Sahel. Three months ago, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, at the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) summit, denounced the arrival of these weapons in the hands of the Islamic State [6]. In the face of the exclamations of surprise and indignation from US parliamentarians, the Pentagon created a commission to monitor the deliveries. At no time did the commission report on its activities or on the detour that it had observed.

Two weeks ago, the Pentagons inspector general went to Ukraine, officially to shed light on these detours. In a previous article, I showed that he came there mainly to successfully erase the traces of Hunter Bidens affairs [7]. The Ukrainian Defense Minister, Oleksiy Reznikov, had announced that he and several members of his administration would resign urgently. This is still not the case.

The last question is why Germany, France and the Netherlands, co-owners of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, do not protest after the sabotage of which they were victims on September 26, 2022? And why dont they react to the revelations of Seymour Hersch on the responsibility of the United States and Norway? [8] ? It is true that the spokesman of the Alternative for Germany nationalists has called for the creation of a commission of inquiry in the Bundestag on this sabotage, but the vast majority of politicians in these three countries are keeping a low profile: their worst enemy is their ally!

On the contrary, they flattered themselves by receiving President Volodymyr Zelensky in Brussels. But he had previously visited Washington and London, the two capitals that count, before coming to address those who pay.
Ho Chi Minh City is well known for its historic French colonial architecture (Photo: VNA)

According to the official website of ASEAN, asean.org, voters valued the locations of countries for natural beauty, cultural and historical landmarks, adventure activities, and phenomenal cuisines.

The website noted that UNESCO-recognised World Heritage Site of Hoi An is a historic city that was once a popular trading port from the 15th to 19th centuries in central Vietnam.

On every 14th day of the month Hoi An city turns off its electric lights and illuminates the night with lit paper lanterns. (Photo: VNA)

Located in central Quang Nam province, Hoi An is a bustling city with a population of approximately 120,000 and is a popular tourist destination for backpackers and adventurers seeking to explore the city and the nearby array of attractions.

The city is notable for its many man-made marvels. On every 14th day of the month the city turns off its electric lights and illuminates the night with lit paper lanterns.

With so many things to do and try in Hoi An, it is no wonder that this quaint seaside town earned the number two spot on the TripAdvisor Travelers Choice Best of the Best 2023, it shared.

Located in southeast Vietnam along the Saigon River, Ho Chi Minh City is well known for its historic French colonial architecture. The southern metropolis is also famous for its many attractions, including the Jade Emperor Pagoda, the Notre Dame Cathedral, Binh Tay Market, and the Mariamman Hindu Temple.

Voted by actual travelers, the awards were bestowed on 25 worldwide destinations, with three ASEAN destinations in the top five and six overall in the list of 25.

Other destinations to make the list were Siem Reap of Cambodia, Chiang Mai of Thailand, Panay Island of the Philippines, and Lombok of Indonesia.

Earlier, Hoi An and HCM City had been also ranked among the world's 25 trending destinations by the TripAdvisor Travelers Choice.

Vietnam Airlines resumes Hanoi-Kuala Lumpur route

Vietnam Airlines has officially resumed the Hanoi  Kuala Lumpur route with four flights a week on Monday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday, reported Vietnam News Agency.

The restoration of the route from Hanoi to Kuala Lumpur will complete the aviation links between Vietnam and Malaysia.(Photo: VNA)

On this occasion, the national flag carrier has launched a promotion with tickets costing only from 4,644,000 VND (nearly 197 USD) for a round trip (taxes and fees included) on this route.

Preferential tickets are being offered from now to March 26, 2023. Passengers can buy tickets on the airline's website, mobile application, official ticket offices, and agents of Vietnam Airlines nationwide.

The airline is currently operating 11 flights per week on the Ho Chi Minh City - Kuala Lumpur route. The restoration of the route from Hanoi to Kuala Lumpur will complete the aviation links between Vietnam and Malaysia.

Passengers arriving in Malaysia now no longer need to present vaccination status certification or COVID-19 test certificate.

In 2019 before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Vietnam Airlines served more than 220,000 passengers between Vietnam and Malaysia.

Since Vietnam reopened its border, Vietnam Airlines has resumed most of its international routes with more than 600 flights per week, equivalent to 70% of the pre-pandemic level.

First Da Nang Asian Film Festival to showcase strength of Vietnamese cinema

The inaugural Da Nang Asian Film Festival (DANAFF) will take place in the coastal city from May 9-13, showcasing a selection of outstanding Asian and Vietnamese cinematographic works that exhibit humanistic values, new discoveries, and unique artistic expression, reported Vietnam News Agency.

The announcement ceremony of the Da Nang Asian Film Festival (DANAFF). The event aims to encourage new Vietnamese and Asian cinema talents and introduce new, high-value works to the public. (Photo courtesy of DANAFF organisers)

The festival, organised by the Vietnam Film Development Association (VFDA) in collaboration with the Da Nang City People's Committee and other foreign partners, promises to be a celebration of the finest in Asian and Vietnamese cinema.

Among the foreign partners participating in the organization of DANAFF is the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC), a renowned organisation dedicated to promoting and supporting Asian cinema globally.

According to the organisers, the event aims to encourage the new Vietnamese and Asian cinema talents and introduce to the public the new, high-value works in content and art of Asian and Vietnamese films and selected films of world cinema. It is expected to be held annually in the following years.

DANAFF will be attended by Asian and international movie stars, famous Vietnamese filmmakers and artists, international and domestic VIP guests and young filmmakers whose works are featured.

The five-day event will include various major events, including the opening and closing ceremonies, the screenings of in-competition films, the screenings of the films by famous partners and guests of world cinema and the Talent Incubator workshop.

Particularly, the Talent Incubator workshop includes the basic acting class instructed by lecturer Lydia Park from South Korea and the advanced acting class instructed by lecturer Tsuyoshi Sugiyama from Japan.

Director Phan Dang Di, an independent filmmaker who has won many awards at the International Film Festivals and the founder of Autumn Meeting, will lead the workshop. The castings to select students to participate in the workshop will be conducted in March 2023 in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang.

The in-competition section is divided into two categories; Asian Film Awards, including feature-length films from cinemas in the Asia-Pacific region produced from January 2021 to January 2023, and Vietnam Film Awards, seeing the competition among eight to ten Vietnamese feature films produced from January 2021 to January 2023.

The Asian Film Award category is decided by the Asian Film Jury, while the Vietnamese Film Jury selects the winners of the Vietnamese Film Awards. The awards of both categories consist of the grand prize for best film, special jury prize, director award, actor award, actress and screenplay award.

Two additional awards without prize money are the NETPAC Award for Best Vietnamese Film, decided by the NETPAC Jury, selected in the Vietnamese Film Competition and the audiences choice award for the favourite Vietnamese film.

DANAFF is calling for submissions until February 20th, 2023. Further information can be found at www.danaff.vn or www.vfda.vn/danaff.

Ha Long Bay an idyllic seaside places to watch sunrise, sunset: Travel+Leisure

US magazine Travel+Leisure has named Vietnams Ha Long Bay among the four idyllic seaside places across Asia to watch sunrise and sunset, reported Vietnam News Agency.

Sunrise in Ha Long Bay (Photo: halongbay.com.vn)

According to the magazine, UNESCO World Heritage site Ha Long Bay, with more than 2,000 limestone islands, is a tourism mecca in Asia.

It recommends that the best way to avoid the bustle is to dodge the day trips and do a two-night cruise. This will allow visitors to take in clusters of islands too far for day-trippers or overnighters to get to, and allow them to surrender to the rhythms of the sea and the sun.

Once afloat you can watch both sunrise and sunset from the deckits ascent over the Gulf of Tonkin and denouement behind the slew of islands, bays and iconic limestone outcrops. Then wait a while longer because its the blue hour, that twilight time between dusk and darkness, when the locals believe Ha Long Bay is at its most beautiful, the magazine said.

Other three places Travel Leisure recommends for sunset and sunrise watching in Asia are Romblon Island in Philippines, Kuakata Beach in Bangladesh, and Kenting National Park in Taiwan (China)./.
Agricultural machinery helps farmers plant sugarcane efficiently in S China's Guangxi

People's Daily Online) 16:32, February 14, 2023

Agricultural machines work simultaneously in a sugarcane field in Shangsi county, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

With spring gradually bringing warmer weather, farmers in the sugarcane producing areas of Shangsi county, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, are racing against the clock to start their "sweet business" in the new year.

"I'm going to plant 80 mu (about 5.33 hectares) of sugarcane this year. I've booked mechanized farming services from an agricultural machinery cooperative for the ploughing and sowing. It saves both time and energy for me," Wei Zhuxi, a sugarcane grower in Yihe village, Shangsi county, told People's Daily Online.

Four large agricultural machines helped Wei finish ploughing and sowing 20 mu of farmland with sugarcane in about half a day, while machines spread fertilizers in the fields.

Guangxi accounts for two-thirds of the sugar produced in China, and Shangsi county is one of the major sugarcane producing areas in Guangxi.

With its 450,000 mu of sugarcane, Shangsi county supplies about 2 million tonnes of sugarcane to sugar companies every year.

In recent years, the county has intensified efforts to promote the application of agricultural machinery and relevant technologies, greatly reducing agricultural production costs and boosting sugarcane farmers' confidence in the industry.

(Photos by Peng Yuanhe, Wei Shixian, Huang Haizhu)

(Web editor: Hongyu, Du Mingming)
The equipment brought by the Vietnamese Engineers to Turkey to participate in rescue efforts are light vehicles, suitable for searching and rescuing people in collapsed buildings. (Illustrative photo: VNA)

Accordingly, all logistic materials, including 10 tons of dry food; 13.5 tons of food; 1.3 tons of nursing tools; 2.2 tons of medical equipment and medicines; and 3 tons of barracks supplies were gathered at Noi Bai Airport to be transported to Turkey by private flight.

To ensure the safe transportation of this logistics material, dozens of officers, soldiers and many specialized trucks were mobilized.

The transportation, loading and unloading was carried out from many locations, including Military Hospital 105, Military Medical Hospital 354 and two warehouses of the Department of Military Supplies to the cargo warehouse of Noi Bai Airport.

On February 12, Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Tan Cuong, member of the Party Central Committee, Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army, and Deputy Minister of National Defense, went to Noi Bai Airport to encourage and see off the delegation that included 76 soldiers of the Vietnam People's Army to Turkey to participate in rescue work.

Forces of the Vietnam People's Army participating in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief in Turkey include the 30-officer medical team; the 30-officer rescue team; the search and rescue dog team including 9 trainers, commanders and 6 sniffer dogs; and the command department and agency including 7 people.

The Ministry of National Defense assigned Major General Pham Van Ty, Deputy Director of the Search and Rescue Department, Deputy Chief of the Office of the National Committee for Incident and Disaster Response, Search and Rescue, to assume the position of General Commander of the Vietnamese People's Army forces participating in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief in Turkey./.
Rocca was backed by Italy's right-wing coalition.

Francesco Rocca has been elected the new president of Italy's central Lazio region, which is centred around Rome, after winning in the regional elections by a large margin.

Rocca, 57, was backed by the right-wing coalition of Italian premier Giorgia Meloni and his win will see the Lazio region governed by the right after a decade under the centre-left.

Despite being a late contender in the race, Rocca won almost 54 per cent of the vote, far ahead of his main challenger Alessio D'Amato of the centre-left Partito Democratico (PD), who secured 33.5 per cent.

A lawyer, Rocca succeeds the outgoing Lazio governor and senior PD figure Nicola Zingaretti who was first elected as the region's president in 2013 and went on to serve two terms in office.

E una grande emozione e una grande responsabilita. Organizzeremo una squadra allaltezza del compito. I cittadini del Lazio meritano di ritrovare dignita e anima!

Grazie a tutti voi.#DirezioneFuturo pic.twitter.com/pSZWppne3E  Francesco Rocca (@roccapresidente) February 13, 2023

In an interview with Rome newspaper Il Messaggero on Tuesday, Rocca said that "listening and dignity" would be the keywords of his mandate and that in addition to upgrading emergency healthcare services his priorities would include improving the region's road and rail infrastructure ahead of the Jubilee Year 2025.

"Our aim is for us to govern the region for 10 years", he told Radio RAI 1 on Tuesday.

Rocca has extensive experience as a manager in the health sector, formerly serving as president of the Italian Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

He also has a long association with right-wing circles in Rome. During his short election campaign he focused on key issues facing the Lazio region such as healthcare and waste management.

When he was 19, Rocca was convicted of heroin trafficking and was sentenced to three years, an episode that he has never hidden, claiming it served as a valuable lesson to change his life for the better.

Rocca's win in Lazio coincides with the victory of Attilio Fontana, of the right-wing Lega party, who returns as governor of the northern Lombardia region around Milan.
Valentine became the patron saint of lovers, but first he was a martyr.

He was from Terni, Italy, but is recognised around the world through gifts and kisses. Also, February 14th isnt the only date for love in the world.

There is hardly a corner of the world, not just in the West, where love is not celebrated today. But who was St. Valentine and why is his name linked to lovers? The explanations are varied.

Certainly it is hard for poor Valentine, a martyr and for that matter a saint, to have imagined in his lifetime that the day dedicated to him would become the loudest of holidays for lovers.

Who was Valentine?

The best known version of the facts says that he was a Christian bishop who died a martyr in the third century AD. In 270 Emperor Claudius II strongly urged him to convert to paganism; he refused, was imprisoned, stoned, and beheaded.

The Church, during the papacy of Gelasius, chose him in 496 to replace the pagan festival of the Lupercalia which was still in use. On the days between February 13th and 15th in Rome, celebrations were held in honor of Luperco, a deity who protected livestock from wolves.

However, according to other legends, the suckling of Romulus and Remus from the She-wolf was remembered on these days. The rite was linked to fertility.

Since the pope's decision, Saint Valentine has been the patron saint of lovers. He has been the patron saint of his hometown, Terni, since 1644.

He is celebrated with the Valentinian Events, official events throughout the month of February that range from religion to culture including promise festivals for engaged couples, who pledge eternal love in front of the saint's urn, and blessings for golden weddings.

Lovers

There are several stories that link Valentine's Day with lovers. The first says that during his imprisonment, Valentine fell in love with the daughter of a prison warden.

Thanks to Valentine's prayers, the young woman regained her sight and that the last message to her beloved was signed "from your Valentine."

Another legend says that he was the first to celebrate the union between a pagan legionary and a young Christian girl.

Yet another story tells of his ability to reconcile two lovers by bringing them a rose.

The Middle Ages

The romantic side of Valentine's Day probably dates back to the Middle Ages. The first reference to the festival of lovers can be found in the poem the Parliament of Fowls by Geoffrey Chaucer.

In Paris in the 1400s, February 14th commemorates the founding of the High Court of Love, which was to decide on betrayal, violence and love.

Valentines are the little cards that lovers exchange. The tradition is mainly Anglo-Saxon so much so that there is a valentine card association in the United States. The oldest valentine in memory is said to be one written by Charles of Orleans to his wife while he was locked in the tower of London after being defeated in 1415.

Some say no

Although short-lived, the tradition of vinegar valentines, anti-Valentine's Day cards with rhyming insults, also existed. They were as sour as the vinegar of the name they bore. For maximum effect, they were sent with the wrong stamp or without a stamp so that it would be charged to the recipient. They came into fashion between the late 19th and early 20th centuries and often struck a chord with suffragettes who, in turn, made pro-rights valentines.

Other dates

It is not February 14th but June 12th that is the Day of Lovers in Brazil. It is the day before the feast day of St. Anthony, the patron saint of marriage. Unmarried women always keep a statuette of the saint, wishing to marry soon.

Portugal's San Gonzalo is prayed to in Amarante by aging women seeking husbands. His statue is to be touched at certain points for love and fertility.

In Japan, it is women who give chocolates, preferably personally prepared, to men on this day. These will be reciprocated exactly one month later, on March 14th, on White Day by offering only white chocolate.

In China, the holiday that corresponds to Western Valentine's Day is called Qixi. It is celebrated in early August, on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. It recalls the sad story of two lovers, the fairy Zhinu and the peasant Niulang, who were divided and turned into stars by the fairy's mother.

The Milky Way was created to separate them and they can be seen on only one night a year. Fruit is offered in honor of the fairy to find love.

In Russia, in areas where Orthodox beliefs are strongest, there is no Valentine's Day. Some have even proposed banning it.

In Argentina, they also celebrate the first week of July, with the Semana de la Dulzura, or the Week of Sweetness: a time when kisses are given in exchange for sweets. It is an initiative started in 1989 by Asociacion de Distribuidores de Golosinas, Galletitas y Afines to increase the number of sales in the sweets sector. Today, una golosina por un beso, a treat for a kiss, has become a must- do in Argentine society.

Although Valentine's Day has become increasingly popular in recent decades, May 1st is actually the day on which love in all its forms is traditionally celebrated in the Czech Republic.

It has a curious origin actually. It seems, in fact, that the beginning of May was chosen in honor of one of the masterpieces of the Czech Romantic period, Maj, May, written by one of Prague's most important poets, Karel Hynek Macha.

On the evening of May 1st, it is common custom to make a pilgrimage to Petrin Park, where there is a statue honoring the Czech poet of love par excellence.

How many roses?

The language of flowers is international. They are given in traditional numbers: 108 roses for a marriage proposal, 99 to say eternal love.

One rose is enough for love at first sight; 9 are needed for a romance to go on. 10 are for perfection and 11 say oneness. 13 are for mad passion and 20 for sincere love.

15% of American women send them to themselves on Valentine's Day.

Image credit: marcovarro / Shutterstock.com
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The land tax, an idea that dates to Henry George and the classical economists of the late 19th century, is having another one of its moments. Martin Wolf of the Financial Times views the case for it as overwhelming, as do many others. I am less certain. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight The levy, also called the land-value tax, is more radical than higher property taxes; it is an attempt to capture the entire value of land and redistribute it to the government and, in turn, the citizenry. As such, it requires separating the value of property improvements (such as buildings) and the value of the land itself.

The theory is that land has nowhere else to go, so if you can tax the land value only, you can raise revenue without distorting the allocation of resources. Its an especially appealing argument now, with land prices and rents rising in many of the worlds major cities. Why not capture some of that value and give it back to the citizenry?

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Yet I hesitate. Theories, even compelling ones, can take you only so far. Practically speaking, a hardcore land-value tax feels too simplistic.

A land tax is only being talked about because urban planning is so broken, serving too many interests other than those of ordinary middle-class residents. Those biases are structural, often resulting from electoral systems that favor incumbent landowners and homeowners. The administration of a land tax would be ruled, in large part, by those very same political interests. Therein lies the root of my worries.

As I mentioned, any land-tax system would need to distinguish between the value of the land and the value of the improvements on the land. Everyone agrees that the improvements should not be taxed at more than normal rates. How would a proposal for a pure land tax play out?

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Say you have a house in Palo Alto, California, a notoriously NIMBY city. Your land is probably worth a lot more than your house. For a pure land tax to become reality, it would have to go through the meat grinder of local politics.

I can predict what will come out of that meat grinder: a policy to compensate current landholders, one way or another, for the land tax. So if Palo Alto introduces a land tax, it likely that the revenue will go back to those very same NIMBY interest groups. Alaskas oil wealth results in residents receiving a windfall each year from the state; Palo Altos land wealth would result in a similar sort of rebate to its residents.

Keep in mind that a lot of people rely on rent and land revenue to stay solvent, so it is quite likely that they will argue on fairness grounds that they should be grandfathered in and exempt from the land tax. What if you bought your home in Los Angeles in 1991 and now live there on a modest income? Or collect rent as a small-scale landlord? If the land tax zaps away your major source of wealth, you will either rebel politically or move. Local politics will become even less friendly to the middle class.

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Politics will also intervene in the debate over defining what is the pure land tax and what is the tax on improvements. These decisions will not be handed down by God, but rather argued among local officials, real-estate interests, homeowners, renters and voters. If you want to build something in a land-tax jurisdiction, you will have to wade into this political battle. And sometimes you will lose. If you are not one of the favored interest groups (and in NIMBY jurisdictions, new builders typically are not), you will end up being taxed on improvements and not just on the pure land value.

And so look where all this has ended up. One of the arguments for the pure land-value tax is to encourage new construction, thereby making housing more affordable. But it is likely to encourage interventions that increase both the taxes and the political difficulty of new construction. If you think local real estate-related political squabbles are intense today, just think how crazy they will be when all that land-tax revenue is at stake.

Its not the tax system that drives high rents and NIMBYism; its the power of interest groups. Even with a pure land-value tax, that power wont just go away. The more likely outcome is an intensification of conflict  and a higher cost of building.

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More From Bloomberg Opinion:

 Why Economists Love Property Taxes, and You Dont: Justin Fox

 Inequality Is Even Worse Than We Thought: Michael Kinsley

 To Fight Inequality, Tax Land: Peter Orszag

Want more Bloomberg Opinion? Subscribe to our daily newsletter.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Tyler Cowen is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is a professor of economics at George Mason University and writes for the blog Marginal Revolution. He is coauthor of Talent: How to Identify Energizers, Creatives, and Winners Around the World.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

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As the worlds largest automaker transitions to the electric-vehicle era, it has a warning for the industry: Its time to fundamentally rethink traditional manufacturing. Toyota Motor Corp. this week unveiled its new game plan under incoming Chief Executive Officer Koji Sato, laying out several changes across the enormous business as it pushes harder toward electrification. The company will reshuffle senior executives, rejig its management structure (notably, all-male) and focus on electrification and intelligent cars.

Sato introduced the plan with a bold statement: We must drastically change the way we do business, from manufacturing to sales and service. To deliver EVs people want to drive, the company must streamline the structure of the car, he said, adding that Lexus  the luxury brand that he led  will spearhead the transformation. As part of this, the firm will restructure its vehicle production system at Kyushu and have a next-generation Lexus EV by 2026. All components in these models, from the battery and platform to how a car is built, will be geared for EVs.

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Unlike its long history of troubled communication around electric cars, Toyotas message was clear: This is a technology transition, not just another vehicle-making exercise. That means the changes to manufacturing wont just be incremental shifts away from the internal combustion engine; rather, it will be a complete overhaul. Sato acknowledged that the fundamental differences  how energy is converted and used, and the aerodynamics  mean each part and process will have to be adapted for EVs.

That realization and its public acknowledgement is crucial. EVs arent just another vehicle with a different fuel or power source that can rely on existing factories. As automakers across the world race to keep up with production promises, committing billions of dollars to their electrification journeys, this is a much-needed reality check.

Manufacturing new-age cars isnt a cakewalk  and its part of the reason scaling up has proven difficult. While it may seem like making EVs is an extension of ICE vehicles, it isnt. In theory, EVs have far fewer components, so they should be simpler to produce. The reality is, the body architecture is unlike that of traditional ones, as is its assembly. EVs need a whole new set of electronics and wiring, while the parts require different modes of handling and storage, and are made using other machines. In some cases, it makes more sense for automakers to mothball a plant instead of converting it. In addition, much of the manufacturing process revolves around the battery, which accounts for almost 40% to 50% of the cost and presents a big technology hurdle.

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Complex EV manufacturing is why, at one point, it took traditional automaker Volkswagen AG 30 hours to make one of their new ID.3 EVs and it took Tesla Inc.  a company focused entirely on EVs that has had horrendous production issues  a third of that.

For a firm that has been lauded for its production system prowess, known as the Toyota Way, this will be a big change. The group has constantly tweaked and streamlined its manufacturing processes to boost efficiency. It introduced the flexible body line in 1985 and went global with it a decade later; tested the set parts supply system that cut in-house costs and eventually became the fastest-ever production line, churning out a vehicle every 50 seconds.

Theres another side of manufacturing EVs. The new Toyota plan is also focused on intelligent cars and technology for them. As Simon Humphries, the new chief branding officer put it, people want control over their own experiences, and that means the firm will have to speed up integrating hardware and software so that drivers can adapt EVs to their diverse needs. These cars will have to replicate what a small pickup truck in Thailand or gas guzzlers in America do for drivers, or replace the small, sturdy vehicles meant for Indian roads. Getting customers to adopt EVs  and buy into the technology transition  means the company will need to keep up with this behavioral shift. To do so, Toyota will boost its efforts around Woven Planet Holdings Inc.(1), its mobility, software and intelligent-vehicle subsidiary.

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Toyotas EV charm offensive that began with the first CEO change in over a decade isnt just an attempt to redeem itself from the EV laggard image anymore. For a company that has mastered the art of carmaking and managed to make millions of vehicles through severe crises, this is a serious shift that will likely pave the way for how EVs are manufactured en masse.

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(1) Name will change to Woven by Toyota Inc.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Anjani Trivedi is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. She covers industrials including policies and firms in the machinery, automobile, electric vehicle and battery sectors across Asia Pacific. Previously, she was a columnist for the Wall Street Journals Heard on the Street and a finance & markets reporter for the paper. Prior to that, she was an investment banker in New York and London

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It's a red flag when exercise or food choices lead to obsessions with appearance, body size, weight or exercise in a way that worsens quality of life.
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Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine have devised a drug that temporarily renders sperm immobile, thereby preventing pregnancy. The catch? So far, theyve only done it in mice. But if they can translate the finding into a treatment for humans  and thats still a distant goal  it could mean men could pop a pill and enjoy a few carefree hours, maybe even a weekend, during which they are safeguarded from creating unwanted pregnancies.

Think of it as Viagra, but for birth control.

That would be an important step forward in a field that has received too little innovation. Men have long had only two options: condoms or a vasectomy. Thats left women to carry too much of the burden when it comes to preventing pregnancy. And that burden has become heavier as more states ban abortion care and make it harder to access some forms of contraceptives.

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For decades, male contraceptive research was all about keeping sperm from being made. Thats a tall order. Every day, men make tens of millions of sperm; to prevent a pregnancy, a drug needs to get that number down to less than 1 million.

Hormones like testosterone can do that, but they come with a lot of downsides. Because sperm take around 60 days to fully develop, a hormonal drug given today wont prevent a pregnancy today, or even tomorrow  itll prevent a pregnancy two months from now. And reversing the drugs effects also is a two-month process. Hormonal therapies also carry side effects like mood changes, acne, or weight gain that might be a turn-off for long-term use. (The female contraceptive pill can have similar downsides, as well as a risk of blood clots, which is one reason to invest in other approaches.)

More recent approaches, including the one taken by the Weill Cornell team, take a different tack: prevent sperm from swimming. But to reach sperm where its made (in the testes), a drug needs to be delivered throughout the whole body. That creates plenty of opportunities for unpleasant or even dangerous side effects.

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The findings announced today suggest its possible. The drug blocks a protein called soluble adenylyl cyclase (or, as the researchers are calling it, sAC) that is critical for sperm motility. Under a microscope, the drugged swimmers look like theyre floating along, the tail of each sperm no longer furiously wagging. The effect kicked in within 30 minutes after taking the drug and lasted for over two hours. In the study, none of the mice given the drug got their mates pregnant in that 2-hour window, whereas the mice who didnt receive it impregnated 30% of their mates.

There are, of course, the usual cautions for preliminary data. For example, researchers still need to tinker with the drug to turn it into something suitable for human testing, finessing properties like how long it can last in the body.

Even with the caveats, researchers who have spent their careers working on male contraceptives are excited about the data. This is great! John Amory, a researcher at the University of Washington School of Medicine, who is leading a study of one of the most advanced male contraceptives, a hormonal gel, told me after reviewing the Weill Cornell paper. When do we test it in men?

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Not soon. But the Weill Cornell researchers do have enough confidence to have started a company, Sacyl Pharmaceuticals. Their next steps are to test their compounds in rabbits, which apparently are a good proxy for human reproduction, and to work on finding a drug with better properties  for example, one that takes effect just as fast, but works for a day or two rather than just a few hours.

The problem is that even if the science comes through, men might not be popping birth control pills any time soon.

One barrier is a lack of funding. Big pharma companies had always given the field little attention, and in the mid-aughts abandoned it altogether. Currently, the National Institutes of Health and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation pick up the tab for almost all the early-stage studies of male contraceptives. But government and philanthropic funding can only carry a project so far. While there have been small signs of life from industry in the broader field of reproductive health, much more momentum is needed if theres hope of male contraceptives ever making it to market.

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Another challenge, one that surely is keeping industry on the sidelines, is the still-murky regulatory path for these drugs. Researchers arent sure what the Food and Drug Administration will need to see to be convinced their treatments are effective. When considering approving new contraceptives for women, the agency has typically required companies to collect data across 20,000 menstrual cycles. But whether that same metric makes sense for a male contraceptive, which tends to be tested by recruiting people in committed relationships and following whether or not a partner becomes pregnant, is uncertain, says Daniel S. Johnston, chief of the NIHs Contraception Research Branch.

A male contraceptive will also need to be proven safe, something that will be tricky for male contraceptives because of the way regulators balance risks and benefits of new drugs. For womens birth control methods, regulators compare the risks of a contraceptive to those of a pregnancy. Compared to birthing a child, the side effects of hormonal pills or an IUD are relatively small.

But men arent the ones getting pregnant. So if regulators see creating an unwanted pregnancy as no risk for men, even minor side effects might be seen as too risky. Mens health researchers say that threshold needs to be reconsidered. There is a degree of a double standard that limits the acceptance of a male contraceptive, says Bobby Najari, director of male infertility at New York Universitys School of Medicine.

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An on-demand pill might ease some of those worries, since any side effects would be fleeting. We give a lot of men Viagra and Cialis so they can have sex, and those medicines have side effects, but they wear off  and the user gets to decide if theyre worth it, says Amory, the scientist working on the male contraceptive gel.

But perhaps the most fundamental concern for the field: If male contraceptives finally make it to market, will men actually take them? Theres at least some good news on that front. The limited available data suggest that yes, they will.

In a study conducted on behalf of the Gates Foundation and the Male Contraceptive Initiative and presented last year to the World Health Organization, about 39% of the 3,000 men surveyed said theyd try a male contraceptive within the first year it was available, and 78% would give it a shot within the first five years it was on the market. (The survey also gauged the attitudes of women and found high levels of trust in their partners to be responsible for family planning.) The results also suggest men would appreciate having a range of options  the way that women can choose between, say, a daily pill, a monthly vaginal ring, or a years-long intrauterine device.

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Getting to a point where men and their female partners both have a range of options would be a welcome change. Now we just need pharma companies to get off the sidelines.

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This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Lisa Jarvis is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering biotech, health care and the pharmaceutical industry. Previously, she was executive editor of Chemical & Engineering News.

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The European Union is set to ban imports of raw materials produced on newly deforested land anywhere in the world, in an effort to protect the rainforests that are a buffer against catastrophic climate change. The new rules require sophisticated tracking systems and will be enforced using the threat of fines. Critics say the measures will penalize millions of small farmers across Asia, Latin America and Africa who lack the means to comply.

1. Whats going to happen?

The plan is to stop the felling of forests to grow products sold in Europe. Those include palm oil (which is found in thousands of everyday items including ice cream, shampoo and fuel), soy, beef, wood, rubber, cocoa and coffee and some manufactured products such as chocolate, leather and furniture. To send them into the EU or export them from the bloc, companies must show they werent made on land that was deforested or degraded since Dec. 31, 2020. They will also need to prove they were produced in compliance with local human rights laws and laws protecting the rights of indigenous peoples. The measures are expected to take effect in May or June. Companies will then have 18 months to comply, with a further six-month grace period for small businesses.

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2. How will it work?

Importers must collect precise data identifying the plots of land where the goods were grown. The location coordinates would be checked off against historical land-use information gathered via satellite imaging and other sources. A traffic light system will assign a score for each country based upon the perceived risk of deforestation there. High-risk countries will face a stricter level of checks  9% of traders and commodities  compared with 1% for those deemed to be low-risk.

3. How significant are the new rules?

Up to this point, efforts to stop the destruction of the worlds forests focused largely on persuasion and positive incentives. Now one of the most important players in the global economy is resorting to force. Companies that fail to meet the rules could face fines of at least 4% of their annual turnover in the EU. Its not the only area where the bloc is using trade in pursuit of climate goals beyond its borders. Its also agreed to a carbon levy on imports of goods like steel and aluminum from countries with less strict environmental rules.

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4. Whats the EUs motivation?

Burning or cutting down rainforests releases greenhouse gases and deprives the ecosystem of carbon-absorbing trees. Much of the cleared land is used to grow export crops and raise livestock, generating even more climate-warming emissions. The EU was responsible for 16% of deforestation associated with international trade in 2017, surpassed only by China, at 24%, according to a 2021 report by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Efforts to re-grow Europes own forests have little impact on the regions overall carbon footprint as so much of what its population and industries consume comes from elsewhere. Europes demand for rubber alone has been linked to the deforestation of 520 square kilometers (201 square miles) of West Africa since the end of the last century.

5. Whats been the reaction to the EUs plan?

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The measures will have a disproportionate impact on the relatively small number of countries that are home to the worlds rainforests, such as Indonesia and Malaysia  the biggest suppliers of palm oil to the EU. Their governments say much of what they produce is already sustainable and traceable. The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, an industry group that promotes standards for certified sustainable products, said the EU measures could have unintended consequences for vulnerable farmers worldwide, and disproportionately impact growers that can afford it the least. Producer nations are looking to retaliate, with Malaysia weighing potential trade curbs that would slow the flow of commodities to Europe and reviewing imports from the bloc. Environmentalists have lauded the EU plan, with the WWF calling it goundbreaking. and Greenpeace saying it would mean some chainsaws fall silent. They hope the rules will be expanded to other ecosystems such as savannas.

6. What does it mean for Europeans?

If the system holds up and importers comply, consumers will be able to enjoy their morning coffee in the knowledge that no trees were cut down to grow the beans. Economists will pay close attention to the potential impact on shopping bills. One study published in 2022 found the new measures would create compliance costs equivalent to as much as 3.5% of palm producers revenue. Advocates of the new rules say the companies will recoup those costs as consumers will be ready to pay more if they know the goods are environmentally sustainable.

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Air Macau aircraft. (Source: Skytraxratings)

The move aims to serve the increasing number of visitors to the Macau Special Administrative Region (China).

The government of the special zone is actively implementing tourism promotion activities abroad, and at the same time, its tourism and shipping industries also have close exchanges to jointly deploy incentive programs and reduce tourism prices.

Air Macau expected the tourism industry in this special zone would recover quickly. The carrier has taken the lead in resuming flights to five destinations: Tokyo, Hanoi, Seoul, Bangkok and Taipei (China). Passenger load from January 7 to February 8 ranges from 31% to 83%, with the destination attracting the most visitors being Bangkok (Thailand).

It also plans to increase the frequency of flights to these five destinations in March, to resume destinations such as Osaka, Kaohsiung and Da Nang, and to add Singapore and more international destinations in 2023.

During the last Lunar New Year (from January 22-29, the total number of passengers arriving at Macau International Airport reached over 76,000, recovering 31%, of which the number of visitors from mainland China was 68,000, reaching 71% of that before the outbreak./.
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A visit to the BBCs offices in New Delhi and Mumbai by income tax officials is drawing international attention to the precarious state of press freedoms in India. The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has described it euphemistically as a survey, which is an unsubtle way to characterize a tax raid.

Theres no subtlety to the timing, either: Three weeks ago, the British broadcaster aired a documentary drawing attention to Modis alleged role in deadly sectarian riots that wracked his home state of Gujarat in 2002. Modi is notoriously thin-skinned on this front: His government banned the documentary, and tried to block clips on social media platforms as well as screenings in universities.

Government spokespersons and leaders of Modis ruling Bharatiya Janata Party have been building a head of steam against the BBC, accusing it of retaining a colonial mindset. (The broadcaster has defended the documentary as rigorously researched according to the highest editorial standards. The documentary cites a British Foreign Office report, which raises questions about Modis actions during the riots, which claimed more than 1,000 victims, mostly Muslims.)

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The tax raid, inevitably, was cheered on by the BJPs vast troll army, which amplifies attacks on Modis critics and political rivals. The New York Times editorial board had warned just a day earlier that the governments attempts to suppress the film were another sign that Indias proud tradition of a free press was at risk, undermining its democracy. The raid will doubtless inspire more such alarms from abroad.

But that train has long since left the station. Press freedoms in India have been under attack from the start of the Modi era in 2014. Until recently, the main targets for the intolerance of the government and the wrath of the ruling party were domestic media outlets  especially the local-language press.

I got some glimpses of how this works in an ill-starred stint as editor of Hindustan Times, New Delhis leading English-language newspaper. Just two years in power, the Modi government was already demonstrating an intolerance of criticism that was familiar to me from my previous experiences as a foreign correspondent in the dictatorships of the Middle East. Stories deemed embarrassing to the government or the ruling party led routinely to minatory phone calls from ministers and bureaucrats: The threats ranged from the withholding of ads and the pursuit of punitive lawsuits to investigations into my personal finances and those of my family.

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And yes, there were dire warnings about income-tax raids.

As an American citizen, I enjoyed a degree of protection not available to other editors. And the pressures against metropolitan, English-language papers were as nothing compared with what my counterparts in the small-town and vernacular press had to endure.

In the years since my departure from Delhi, things have only gotten worse. Cowed into compliance with official diktat, much of Indias media merely cheers on Modis abuses of power. Only a few weeks ago, the most prominent of a dwindling category of independent TV networks was acquired by Gautam Adani, the controversial billionaire and longstanding Modi admirer.

More than any action against prominent foreign media, this campaign of coercion and subversion has imperiled what Indians are proud to call the worlds largest democracy. It is no accident that Freedom House has for the past two years rated India as only partially free; I would be very surprised if its newest report, expected next month, doesnt extend the streak.

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But Modi has paid no price for the democratic retrenchment that has come to characterize his rule. Neither Indias economy nor its standing in the free world has suffered.

Indias trajectory resembles that of Turkey, where the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has used the same combination of economic pressure and intimidation to achieve near-total domination of the media landscape. Media outlets in both countries are vulnerable in similar ways. Their administrations are able to use the leverage that comes from government being a major advertiser to silence criticism. Since media entities are often part of large family-owned conglomerates, the owners are especially susceptible to bullying and blackmail. Independent outlets are bought and muzzled by businessmen keen to curry official favor.

In both countries, governments use tax raids and frivolous lawsuits for harassment. Intimidation of journalists by troll armies is routine. And supporters of the ruling party are not above physical violence against the most stubborn critics.

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India and Turkey have one other thing in common: The indulgence of the West has inculcated a sense of impunity in their leaders. Having received little criticism over his bullying of the Turkish media, Erdogan has been emboldened to target foreign outlets. The raid on the BBC suggests Modi is making the same leap  and with the same confidence that he need not expect any pushback from abroad.

The British government, keen to strengthen trade ties with India, offered only a pro forma defense of the BBCs independence, and even this has been undermined by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who told parliament he did not agree with the characterization of Modi in the Foreign Office report.

The Biden administration seems to have taken much the same see-no-evil, hear-no-evil stance. State Department spokesman Ned Price responded to a question about the controversy with the blandest of bromides: We support the importance of a free press around the world. He softened even this most indirect of criticisms with a homily about the shared values that enact the United States and India as two thriving, vibrant democracies.

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Thriving and vibrant India may be. Its democracy, however, is neither of those things.

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This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Bobby Ghosh is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering foreign affairs. Previously, he was editor in chief at Hindustan Times, managing editor at Quartz and international editor at Time.

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Keep going until youre killed. Thats what Andrei Medvedev recalls being told by his commanders at the Wagner Group, a private Russian mercenary army that recruits people like him out of prison to wage the Kremlins war of aggression against Ukraine. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Medvedev is unusual in that he not only lived to tell the tale but somehow escaped to Norway. Most others in his situation arent so lucky. As the war approaches its first anniversary, increasing numbers of Russians in Ukraine  both regular soldiers and Wagner mercenaries  are being treated by their superiors as cannon fodder. Barely trained and often badly armed, theyre ordered to throw themselves at the more hardened Ukrainian defenders, in a cynical tactic based on overwhelming the enemy with sheer numbers.

Another name for this approach is human-wave attacks. Theyve been a tragically recurring feature of modern warcraft  from the trenches of World War I to the Soviet onslaught against the Finns and Germans in World War II, from the Chinese assaults on South Korean and American troops in the Korean War to the Iranian charges against the Iraqis in the 1980s.

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For attackers and defenders alike, these waves represent unfathomable horror. Survivors invariably clutch at non-human  and therefore dehumanizing  metaphors in describing the experience, so that its easy to forget that the waves, surges and tides consist not of water molecules, but of frightened or delirious young men or boys.

They were like a tide, ceaselessly crashing on the shore, one after another, a South Korean veteran later said about a Chinese human-wave attack in 1951. They had no guns, only grenades, so they needed to get within 25 meters of us. We were firing all the time, yet they kept coming and coming. Their faces were expressionless. The barrels of our machine guns were turning red and warping from the overheating.

To get young men to hurl themselves into the hail of enemy bullets and near-certain death appears to require either or both of two conditions. One is fanaticism. The Chinese in the Korean War were fired by Maoist revolutionary fervor. The Iranian youths running into Iraqi artillery and gas were sure they had passports to paradise and were becoming martyrs.

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The alternative prerequisite is terror  of somebody and something even worse than the enemy soldiers in front: the commanders in the rear who gave the order. One consistent element in human-wave attacks is that the superiors who seal the boys fates make clear that turning around during the assault will lead to an even more certain, and even more gruesome, death.

Do human-wave attacks ever make military sense? Its hard to say, and therefore unlikely. The Soviets eventually prevailed against the Germans  with millions of casualties  but not against the Finns. The Chinese and North Koreans reversed the American-led advance northward on the Korean peninsula, but only won a stalemate that continues to this day. The Iranians achieved nothing at all, only dragging the war into an eight-year horror which ended in a ceasefire.

What, then, are the Russians hoping to achieve? Their cannon-fodder strategy on the Ukrainian front, in places like Bakhmut and elsewhere, appears aimed at wearing out the more determined but less numerous Ukrainians, while keeping the Kremlins crack units in reserve for a breakthrough, should that opportunity arise.

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Obviously, this tactic implies a mind-boggling callousness and cynicism on the part of the Russian command. That includes everybody from the armys top brass to Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Putin confidante who founded and runs the Wagner Group, and of course their common warlord, Russian President Vladimir Putin.

These men have not only been waging a genocidal war against Ukrainian civilians. Theyve also been sacrificing the youth of their own country  many drafted from ethnic minorities in remote regions or plucked by Prigozhin right out of prisons. There are no reliable numbers. But American officials estimate that the Russians have already lost about 200,000 dead or wounded in the war, with the rate accelerating to several hundreds every day.

The Ukrainians are losing fewer fighters, but also have a smaller population of new soldiers to draw on. In the Kremlins diabolical arithmetic, that apparently validates the strategy of human-wave attacks.

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The Chinese treated their soldiers as bullets, not as humans, that South Korean veteran recalled. We could say the same today about Putin. As the massive offensives of spring draw nigh, let the whole world  even and especially including Russians  be clear about whom the Ukrainians are fighting and the Russians are serving: a man to whom human life means nothing.

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This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Andreas Kluth is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering European politics. A former editor in chief of Handelsblatt Global and a writer for the Economist, he is author of Hannibal and Me.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met with leaders of the European Union last week, and pressed his case not just for more arms but also for rapid admission to the EU. Maintaining supplies of arms and equipment is urgent and vital  but accelerating talks over EU membership is neither. In truth, its a dangerous distraction.

Ukraine is fighting heroically to defeat Vladimir Putins aggression, and Europe understands that rendering help is a moral and geopolitical imperative. The blocs military support so far has been effective, though hardly unstinting or delivered as promptly as it should have been. Ukraine needs more generous economic aid as well, to mitigate the vast material damage that Russia has inflicted. Europes governments acknowledge that maintaining and expanding their support serves their own security interests.

Given whats at stake, the desire to go beyond this and accelerate Ukraines accession to the EU is understandable. Nonetheless, it risks escalating the conflict to no real purpose.

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The idea of bringing Ukraine into the union isnt new. Starting in 2014, a new trade and association agreement had already begun strengthening its economic ties to the West. After Russias invasion, it was granted candidate status on easier conditions than usual. Even so, starting from here, the track to accession couldnt deliver full membership quickly.

The EU is a deep economic and political union. It entails expansive rights and obligations, and an elaborate system of shared sovereignty. Membership is a far more intimate and demanding collaboration than participation in a free trade area or membership of NATO. The pre-admission requirements are comprehensive and stringent  and need to be. Supposing Ukraine prevails in defending its homeland, it will be a big, poor country with a shattered economy, broken institutions, and a long history of corruption. Even if it wasnt still fighting for its very survival, aligning with the conditions for accession wouldnt be easy or quick.

For these reasons, many of the EUs existing members dont wish to speed the process, and some would prefer to see the idea shelved. The issue could therefore divide the union at a time when unity is crucial. The eagerness of the European Commissions president, Ursula von der Leyen, to promote Ukraines bid adds to this danger. Von der Leyen is a civil servant, and her forthright advocacy on so grave a matter risks putting her at odds with many of the unions elected politicians.

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Most important, advancing Ukraines accession would be tactically unwise. The move would be a kind of escalation, giving Putin more to lose and making it harder for Russia to concede defeat  yet it would do nothing in the short term to help Ukraines people or strengthen their ability to fight back. For as long as this war goes on, Europe should focus on sustaining and increasing its material aid. This is not the time to be talking about expansion plans.

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The Editors are members of the Bloomberg Opinion editorial board.

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In US politics, domestic issues tend to fall into one of two categories: economic or cultural. But its getting harder these days to decide where education belongs. Thats because Democrats and Republicans are talking about the issue differently  and their rhetorical dissimilarity shows how each party has adopted its own view of class conflict.

For most Democrats, education has always been largely about dollars and cents. The partys current policy proposals emphasize increased government funding to improve public schools facilities and resources, expand pre-K programs and increase college affordability. President Joe Bidens plan to forgive certain federal student loan debts, announced shortly before the 2022 midterms but now facing multiple legal challenges, represents a benefit directed toward a specific population  current students and younger graduates  that Democratic leaders view as an important constituency motivated by material self-interest.

Republicans, in contrast, have become more likely to regard education as part of a larger cultural conflict. They describe public schools and universities as liberal-dominated environments that need to be prevented from forcing their ideological vision on US society. Former President Donald Trump introduced an education reform proposal last month that includes cuts in federal funding for schools that teach critical race theory, gender ideology, or other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content; a certification program for teachers who embrace patriotic values; and a plan to allow parents the right to elect the principal of their childrens school.

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Our public schools have been taken over by the radical left maniacs, Trump says in a campaign video announcing his plan. If we have pink-haired communists teaching our kids, we have a major problem.

Trumps recent focus on this issue seems like a response to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a potential rival for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, who has made the state educational system a primary target in his well-publicized war on wokeness. DeSantis has enacted a series of laws in Florida premised on his belief that the states public schools and universities have become focused on the imposition of trendy [left-wing] ideologies, especially on topics like race and gender. He recently appointed six conservative trustees to oversee the New College of Florida, the states honors college, with the goal of reforming its curriculum and policies to be less objectionable to the cultural right.

The parties ways of discussing education reflect a larger difference in how they perceive social relations in America. For Democrats, the class system is defined by inequality of wealth, and government-funded education programs are a way for the economically disadvantaged to climb the ladder of success. In his State of the Union address last week, Biden vowed to make the educational system an affordable ticket to the middle class and proposed two years of tuition-free community college as a way to expand access to the best career training in America. Like many Democrats before him, Biden seeks the support of working-class voters by claiming that his partys education platform will provide them with the opportunity for upward economic mobility.

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For Republicans, the important class distinction is not between the economic haves and have-nots, but between those with more cultural power and those with less. Republican leaders make their own populist appeals to blue-collar voters by targeting institutions led by well-educated, socially progressive professionals  increasingly including the educational system itself.

In the radical lefts America  our children are taught to hate one another on account of their race, but not to love one another or our great country, argued Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders in her State of the Union response. We are under attack in a left-wing culture war we didnt start and never wanted to fight.

Neither partys vision consistently prevails over the other. The growing salience of cultural concerns has led White Americans without a college degree to support Republican candidates by a two-to-one margin in recent elections. Republican voters also hold increasingly negative opinions of US higher education.

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Yet rates of educational attainment continue to rise as Americans perceive that staying in school will provide them with a greater economic return after they graduate, and politicians who propose cuts to education spending risk facing a popular backlash even in conservative constituencies. In fact, despite their sharp criticisms of public educators, both DeSantis and Huckabee Sanders have recently proposed increasing teacher salaries and other education funding in their home states.

The struggle over how to frame education policy will continue as long as voters see some truth in how both parties view the class divide in America.

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David A. Hopkins is an associate professor of political science at Boston College and the author of Red Fighting Blue: How Geography and Electoral Rules Polarize American Politics.

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US President Joe Bidens administration says Russia is failing to comply with the only remaining arms control agreement between the worlds largest nuclear powers  the New START treaty. The US claims Russia refuses to allow inspectors into its territory and isnt willing to discuss the issue with Washington. Russias posture threatens the viability of US-Russian nuclear arms control, the State Department said in January. Russia argues it would be inappropriate to allow inspections while the countries are in a tense standoff over Russias war in Ukraine.

1. What is New START?

Under the accord, the US and Russia committed to reducing deployed nuclear warheads (capped at 1,550 each) and limiting the number of delivery platforms, such as intercontinental ballistic missiles, to 700 or fewer. The agreement also allows each country to conduct on-site inspections of each others weaponry and requires the exchange of data and notification concerning covered arms and facilities. The US and Russia signed New START  formally the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty  in 2010, to replace the 1991 START treaty. It took effect on Feb. 5, 2011 and received its most recent five-year extension in 2021, after Bidens predecessor, Donald Trump, pushed unsuccessfully to renegotiate it.

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2. Has the treaty worked?

Yes. The US and Russia reduced their nuclear arsenals to the agreed-upon limits by the 2018 deadline set forth in the treaty. The US had 1,420 deployed warheads and 659 deployed strategic delivery systems as of Sept. 1, 2022, according to the State Department. Russia had 1,549 deployed warheads attributed to 540 deployed strategic launchers. Combined, the two countries account for about 90% of the worlds nuclear weapons.

3. Why did inspections come to a halt?

On-site nuclear inspections in Russia were initially suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The US says Russia refused to restart them in August 2022 because of mounting tensions over the war in Ukraine. An attempt to restart talks in Cairo in November failed after Russia decided to postpone them. Russias ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, says his country remains committed to the goals of the New START treaty but considers it unjustified, untimely and inappropriate to invite the US military to our strategic facilities while the two nations are on opposite sides of the conflict in Ukraine.

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4. Why did Trump want to renegotiate New START?

His administration called the treaty deeply flawed in part because it addresses only strategic nuclear weapons  long-range ones that can be used to threaten each others territory  and not shorter-range, so-called tactical weapons. Russias tactical arsenal is much greater than that of the US. The Trump administration had hoped to force Russia to agree to a freeze in its overall number of nuclear warheads. Even some Biden aides are on record sharing concern that New START doesnt apply to short- and medium-range nuclear weapons.

5. Whats the status of other arms control agreements?

Trump withdrew the US from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, signed in 1987 by US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, and the Open Skies Treaty, under which more than 30 nations grant each other access to airspace for the purpose of collecting information on military activities. The Biden administration decided not to reenter the Open Skies Treaty over concerns Moscow wasnt taking steps to comply with the agreement.

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Soldiers of the Ministry of Public Security's mission search for victims in the rubble. (Photo provided by members of delegation)

When meeting members of the delegation, local people always put their right hand on their left chest to show their gratitude and appreciation for the rescue forces of Vietnam.

Colonel Nguyen Minh Khuong, Deputy Director of the Fire Prevention and Rescue Police Department under the Ministry of Public Security, and Head of the mission, said that the work of Vietnam's rescue team in Turkey is using specialized equipment brought from Vietnam. These are concrete drilling and cutting equipment, radar victim detectors, as well as camera and audio victim detectors. The delegation is also working with local providers of equipment such as excavators, scrapers and cranes to move and break up concrete slabs in areas where people are in distress.

According to Colonel Nguyen Minh Khuong, the Turkish side as well as international delegations participating in the rescue work with the Vietnamese delegation highly appreciated the enthusiasm and professionalism of the Vietnamese rescue forces. It is all reflected in the effective use of modern and specialized equipment by the Vietnamese delegation to perform search and rescue missions.

This is the first time Vietnam has deployed forces to participate in search and rescue activities for natural disasters in collaboration with many other countries, and has rescued many victims on the first working day. The Vietnamese rescue team is currently continuing to dig and search under rubble and collapsed buildings to find and rescue people trapped in the earthquake disaster on February 6./.
He had little to add in a new interview with GQ published after the Happy Valley finale. However, Norton did speak about the challenge of fleshing out a character such as Royce, who could potentially have been just a two-dimensional monster. I recognise that there are absolutely despicable acts which he has committed along the way, he said. But along that journey, I have been with him for 10 years, I feel deeply sorry for him. I feel immense pity and empathy and I sort of really love him. From left: Norton as Alex Goodman in McMafia, as Prince Andrei in War and Peace and as Reverend Sidney Chambers in Grantchester. Credit: Nikola Predovic, Mitch Jenkins, BBC It takes a particular talent to see the humanity in a villain such as Royce. And its easy to imagine Norton slipping under the skin of Britains favourite secret agent and bringing out something new. Just imagine  a conflicted womaniser, a steely killer with a soft side. How invaluable that could be as the Bond franchise tries to update its starchy action hero for the 21st century. Happy Valley also demolishes the idea that Norton lacks the dark magnetism essential for an actor portraying Bond. That was the charge against him when he was the star of Grantchester, in which he played a bland, hunky vicar. And in McMafia, in which he was the bland, hunky son of an oligarch who also happened to look good in a tuxedo.

He was born in 1985 in Lambeth, to teachers Lavinia Norman and Hugh Norton. He boarded at Ampleforth, a Catholic school run by monks. I had a complicated time at school, he recently told Virgin Atlantics Vera magazine. It wasnt helped by the fact I was bullied. But I owe that school a lot. I loved theatre, I made some good friends. He went from there to Cambridge, where he gained a first-class honours degree in theology and joined the Marlowe Society theatre group. In 2007, he portrayed Posthumus in a production of Cymbeline directed by Trevor Nunn in celebration of the societys 100th birthday. Norton gained admission to RADA, leaving six months before his graduation as he picked up theatre work, starting with Posh at the Royal Court Theatre. Small TV parts, including one in Doctor Who, led to Happy Valley in 2014. I owe Happy Valley everything: Norton as Tommy Lee Royce in season one of the BBC crime drama. Norton has credited the Sally Wainwright thriller with taking his career to the next level (I owe Happy Valley everything, he recently said). It has certainly been the perfect showcase. Superficially matey, just under the surface Tommy is a relentless antagonist to Sarah Lancashires Sgt Cawood. Hes a predator and a deviant, but one fuelled by a combination of psychosis and twinkling charm. Season by season Norton has built up Tommy into a fascinating contradiction rather than simply an icky bad boy. Thats quite an achievement given the characters penchant for torture and murder (and his manipulation this year of his naive son, Ryan).

Nortons chances of becoming Bond hinge on what its custodians, the Broccoli dynasty, are looking for. If its another Daniel Craig, Norton can go back to working on that man bun he cultivated when Tommy was in prison. He has none of Craigs chill or grumpiness. Loading But if the Broccolis are eager to go in another direction, especially now that the death of Bond, in the last film, has given them a clean slate, Norton might be just what they need. The most recent 007 grouched his way through his career as Bond, only to then demonstrate hidden comic talents as Benoit Blanc in Knives Out. Nortons Tommy is the opposite: outwardly likeable but, underneath, as cold as a knife in the back. In that way, he perhaps harks back to Sean Connerys original Bond  a brutal charmer who killed without conscience. The real question is whether Norton is actually too famous for Bond. All the way back to Connery, the franchise has chosen actors on their way to the big time. Norton is already all over the front pages, and is just about to star in a West-End production of Hanya Yanagiharas gruelling novel A Little Life (One of the most terrifying things Ive taken on) and as Chris Blackwell, Island Records founder, in a biopic of Bob Marley. The Broccolis would have to forgo the brownie points that come with plucking an actor from obscurity and remaking them in the image of Bond  as they did with Craig. The case could even be made that they need Norton more than he needs Bond.
Members of a Palestinian victim's family mourn their relative's death in the earthquake of Turkiye, in Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, on Feb. 8, 2023. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

GAZA, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- With tears running down his face, Magdy Darabih, an old man in Gaza, received his young son's homecoming, in white coffin, from quake-hit Turkiye.

His son Yousuf, who had travelled to Turkiye eight years ago to study medicine, died in the devastating earthquakes a week ago.

"I dreamed a lot to welcome you with your white medical uniform, but life decided to force me to bury you with your white coffin," Darabih mourned his son.

"I was so happy when you escaped from the intolerable situation in Gaza, but I did not know that you will not survive the earthquake," he said in tears.

"All our hopes are buried with you," he said.

Members of a Palestinian victim's family mourn their relative's death in the earthquake of Turkiye, in Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza Strip, on Feb. 8, 2023. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

Yousuf's dream is to become a doctor someday to benefit impoverished people in Gaza, his motherland.

"The death was faster than my son, who did not achieve any one of his dreams," he grieved to Xinhua of his son's unfulfilled life.

Abdul Rahman Darabih, Yousuf's brother, said the family had lived a hard life since his brother left Gaza. "We thought that he was in a safe place far away from wars and conflicts."

The family will bury Yousuf in a cemetery in Gaza, so that his parents can visit him from time to time to find a comfort.

Abdul Karim, another quake victim, is also among thousands of Gazans who left the besieged Palestinian territory at a young age to find a better life for themselves and to support their families.

This aerial photo taken on Feb. 12, 2023 shows a scene after the earthquake in Antakya, Hatay Province, Turkiye. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)

His family had to grasp an even more brutal reality as they noticed that the bodies of his son's six-member family, who all killed in the quake in Antalya Province, could not be brought home.

"I have not seen my son and his kids for more than 12 years," his mother Om Raed Abu Jalhoum told Xinhua in a black dress and scarf.

"I cannot imagine the scene under the rubbles. I do not know if they died directly or they had suffered a lot before passing away," she said.

Without a better choice, the family opened a funeral house to console his heart-broken mother and brothers, and for relatives and friends to extend condolences.

A man displays the photos of his brother who died in the earthquake of Turkiy on his mobile phone in Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, on Feb. 8, 2023. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

About 21,000 Gazans live in Turkiye, according to statistics issued by the Immigration Department of the Hamas-run interior ministry in 2021.

So far, at least 95 Palestinians have been killed in the Turkiye-Syria earthquakes, according to the Palestinian Foreign Ministry.

Editor: WXL
Before West Australian parliamentarians in 1961 debated allowing Alcoa to mine much of the states jarrah forests for 84 years, they had other matters to deal with.

The transport minister lamented that crosswalks could not be made safer at night as luminous paint suitable for marking roads did not exist.

The WA government is concerned Alcoas mining near Serpentine Dam risks contaminating the source of 18 per cent of Perths water supply. Credit: Composite

Cabinet had recommendations before it to assist the tobacco industry.

The accounts of a state-owned abattoir in Wyndham had not been tabled.
But can you tell us what the concerns were? Were talking about this as a public health issue, essentially. Can you tell us what the concerns were? Again, there are a number of issues that are raised as part of the routine process of going back and forth. Weve done an extensive amount of work to provide additional monitoring. Why wont you tell us what those concerns were? Well, again, it is a typical process of evaluating what were mining and where were mining. Get the picture?

Weasel words form part of an attempt by someone in authority to create an impression they are saying something specific and useful when all theyre doing is being vague and obscure. Loading If doing so is part of a considered media and communications strategy, then another piece of advice would be dont bother. By the time Bear was finished the response from listeners was to suggest Alcoa had something to hide. Text messages to the station applauded the decision to keep pressing the vice president of a company that enjoys $12 billion in annual revenue because of its extraordinary access and clearing rights to thousands of hectares of forest. Back to the interview:

There was a general concern that the plans you had did not address those concerns. Is that right? Well, again, its a back and forth process and when we received the information, as we always do, we go out and try to figure out how to provide that additional information and took those steps, Bear said. Rob, if its been an exhaustive response then the concerns were quite serious, were they? Again, its a typical process of going back and forth. Alcoa has undoubtedly brought prosperity to the towns located near its mine sites. It has kept people employed and given families a future.

As one caller said after Bears interview, the world is still consuming aluminium products so expect Alcoa to keep stripping forests of trees to dig up bauxite under decades-old state agreements. The product that we make, aluminium, is an incredibly important component of our everyday lives whether it be the car you drive, the mobile phone you use, or the plane you fly in, and it will play an even bigger role into the future, Bear said. But the bigger picture, according to public and secret government reports, is the environment. On one hand, the McGowan government is championing an end to logging in native forests by phasing the industry it out by 2024.

On the other hand, deals done before climate change was ever contemplated still permit mining companies to carry on bulldozing and burning jarrah trees like they simply dont matter to the landscape. Loading They matter to black cockatoos with two species now listed as endangered and one species vulnerable. On 6PR, we asked: Do you think your company has contributed to that? We constantly pursue best practice in our rehabilitation work, Bear said. Im extremely proud of that.
Cognitive wellbeing is a deeper measure of life satisfaction. A meaningful and purposeful life. A deeper sense of really being content, says Associate Professor Peggy Kern, from the University of Melbournes Centre for Wellbeing Science. Now, about half of our wellbeing does not come from life circumstances or choices  it is evolutionarily hardwired in our genes, studies suggest. How? Take the gene that is critical for the metabolism of serotonin (a neurotransmitter that influences feelings of happiness) in the brain. Some people simply have a version that makes more than other people. Winning the lottery can trigger a spike in emotional happiness. Credit: So genes account for half our wellbeing, but this still leaves room for our choices to play a role. We should simply be able to do things that make us happy  like buy a new house  and see a long-term rise in happiness. Heres where hedonic adaptation gets in the way.

Return to baseline Evidence suggests that over time, our emotional wellbeing  that sense of feeling great  returns to the same point. Consider this 2020 study using data from a survey tracking about 14,000 Australians since 2001; each year, every volunteer was surveyed about what had happened in their life and how they were feeling. The researchers could see how a life event directly affected a persons emotional wellbeing, but also what happened over time. Life events have major short-term effects on emotional wellbeing. A new job can make us happy. A job loss makes us unhappy. But eventually, emotional happiness returns to baseline.

Loading Virtually everything settles back down to where it came from by two to three years later, says Nick Glozier, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Sydney and one of the authors of the study. This is hedonic adaptation. We possess a hard-wired wellbeing set-point. Over time, we return to it. Does this mean theres not much we can do to improve our happiness? Should my friend cancel his house hunt? Maybe. Certainly, the evidence seems to suggest that small wins  buying material possessions, getting a promotion  dont matter much in the medium term. Our happiness levels go back to baseline. Until we get that next thing, that next pay rise, says Andrea Downie, an honorary fellow of the Centre for Wellbeing Science.

Were in this constant vicious cycle. Its a really dangerous way of living, and its not sustainable. A second type of happiness But heres where the second type of wellbeing comes in. Cognitive wellbeing measures deeper life satisfaction. It tends to be more long-lasting than emotional happiness and less prone to hedonic adaptation. We see this in the study. Falling pregnant produces a short-term shot of emotional happiness and a long-term boost to cognitive happiness, presumably as people take joy in their offspring. The same thing happens when people marry.

And you can see the reverse in negative events, such as separation from your partner. Your emotional wellbeing recovers over time, but your life satisfaction can remain depressed for years. The question about buying a house then becomes: will this lead to deeper life satisfaction? Maybe it enables you to have the type of life you want, or expand your family, or spend more time with a loved one? I asked the scientists I spoke to what they made of the data and how they might use it for their own lives. Two strategies emerged. The first, from Dr Nathan Kettlewell, a University of Technology Sydney economist and another of the 2020 studys authors, is to be defensive about your happiness.
An attack on a woman who was on her regular run in a forest in Victorias Central Highlands has triggered calls from anti-violence advocacy groups for Australia to shift its attitude towards women.

Indigenous rights campaigner and Djab Wurrung woman Sissy Austin was jogging in the Lal Lal State Forest  about 20 minutes south-east of Ballarat  late on Saturday afternoon when she was attacked by an unknown man.

Speaking outside the Ballarat police station on Tuesday, Detective Senior Sergeant Tony Coxall said Austin  who was wearing headphones at the time  was about halfway through her eight-kilometre run when the stranger appeared on her right side holding what appeared to be a rock tied to a branch.

It was like a flash from her right-hand side, and then she saw the weapon, and next thing she knows shes unconscious, Coxall said of the series of events.
Washington: Donald Trumps former UN ambassador, Nikki Haley, has become the first Republican to officially take on the twice-impeached president, calling for generational change as she embarked on a campaign to seek the partys nomination for a run to the White House.

The 51-year-old daughter of Indian immigrants made the widely expected announcement on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT) in a video posted online, setting the scene for a newly combative phase of the 2024 presidential primary race against her old boss, who has already branded her as just another career politician.

Donald Trump and Nikki Haley in the Oval Office in 2018. Credit: AP

You should know this about me: I dont put up with bullies, Haley declared in her video, calling out China, Russia and the socialist left.

And when you kick back, it hurts them more if youre wearing heels.
Relief aid from China is unloaded at Damascus international airport in Damascus, Syria, on Feb. 13, 2023. A second batch of relief aid from the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) arrived in Syria by plane on Monday to provide emergency supplies for people affected by the earthquakes in the country. (Photo by Ammar Safarjalani/Xinhua)

DAMASCUS, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- A second batch of relief aid from the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) arrived in Syria by plane on Monday to provide emergency supplies for people affected by the earthquakes in the country.

"The humanitarian aid includes winter clothes, equipment, medication, and other stuff the Syrians need," Chinese Ambassador to Syria Shi Hongwei told reporters at the Damascus international airport, adding more aid will be sent in the future.

The Chinese ambassador also called on the United States and the West to lift the sanctions imposed on Syria to facilitate the flow of relief aid to the quake-hit country.

"A major earthquake hit Syria and led to a major humanitarian catastrophe. We call on the international community, particularly the U.S. and the West, to lift unilateral sanctions imposed on Syria to facilitate humanitarian assistance to Syria," he said.

On Thursday, the RCSC sent the first batch of emergency medical supplies to Syria.

On Sunday, the Chinese community in Syria donated relief supplies to the Syrian people via the Syrian Arab Red Crescent.

The earthquakes that rocked Syria on Feb. 6 have so far killed about 5,300 people in the government and rebel-held areas, according to the latest figures released by the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The United Nations said on Friday that the earthquakes had displaced 5.3 million people in Syria.

People transfer relief aid from China at Damascus international airport in Damascus, Syria, on Feb. 13, 2023. A second batch of relief aid from the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) arrived in Syria by plane on Monday to provide emergency supplies for people affected by the earthquakes in the country. (Photo by Ammar Safarjalani/Xinhua)

Relief aid from China is unloaded at Damascus international airport in Damascus, Syria, on Feb. 13, 2023. A second batch of relief aid from the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) arrived in Syria by plane on Monday to provide emergency supplies for people affected by the earthquakes in the country. (Photo by Ammar Safarjalani/Xinhua)

People transfer relief aid from China at Damascus international airport in Damascus, Syria, on Feb. 13, 2023. A second batch of relief aid from the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) arrived in Syria by plane on Monday to provide emergency supplies for people affected by the earthquakes in the country. (Photo by Ammar Safarjalani/Xinhua)

Editor: WXL
A C919 jet takes flight at the 14th Airshow China in Zhuhai, Guangdong province on Nov 9, 2022. [Photo by Wang Zhuangfei/China Daily]

YINCHUAN  Ma Zhijun will never forget the day he watched the C919, China's first large domestically developed jetliner, arrive in his home city of Guyuan, Ningxia Hui autonomous region.

A 10-year-old primary school student in a mountain village, Ma dreams of being a pilot. In December, he and his classmates were brought to Guyuan's Liupanshan Airport to witness the conclusion of the successful test flight from Shanghai of the first C919 aircraft to be delivered to China Eastern Airlines.

According to the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai, China Eastern is expected to put the C919 into commercial operation in the spring. By the end of last year, 32 buyers had placed 1,035 orders for the aircraft.

"It was amazing to watch my country's first large passenger aircraft land in my hometown," said Ma, whose parents had painted a large plane on the walls of their house.

With a maximum flight range of around 5,000 kilometers, the C919 not only excited Ma and his peers, but also fueled a craze for aviation in the Liupanshan Mountains, which was a revolutionary base for the Communist Party of China and once an extremely impoverished part of Ningxia.

In Xiji county, about 60 km west of Guyuan, an aviation museum receives hundreds of visitors every day. It displays the history of the C919 and offers the public access to flight simulators.

"My 14-year-old daughter has been there three times to enjoy the simulator, and she's learned something new each time," said Liu Defei, a local government employee.

At his daughter's middle school, an aviation lab has also been set up for students to learn more about airplanes and aviation.

In addition, the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, which developed the C919, chose the Liupanshan Mountains as a training center for pilots due to its incidence of adverse weather conditions, including fog, strong winds and heavy snow, that make flying more difficult.

For the past few years, the company has stationed a team in Xiji to help the local government with rural vitalization and poverty alleviation efforts.

Products made by local women, such as embroidered shoes and pillows and paper cuttings, have been promoted by the company, increasing village incomes.

"We promote these products because local people make them with their hearts. That makes them more valuable," said Li Lin, a company official who works in Xiji.

Thanks to China's poverty alleviation campaign, Xiji emerged from poverty in 2020.

Xinhua

Editor: JYZ
Students entered Beijing No.2 Middle School for the new semester on the morning of Feb. 13, 2023. Millions of primary and middle school students in Beijing welcomed the first day of school on Monday. At the opening ceremony of Beijing No.2 Middle School, the school put forward expectations for the new semester, inspiring students to work hard and meet the new semester with a full mental outlook. (Zhou Liang/Guangming Phicture)

Students at Beijing No.2 Middle School attend the national flag raising ceremony on Feb. 13, 2023. Millions of primary and middle school students in Beijing welcomed the first day of school on Monday. At the opening ceremony of Beijing No.2 Middle School, the school put forward expectations for the new semester, inspiring students to work hard and meet the new semester with a full mental outlook. (Zhou Liang/Guangming Phicture)

Students give a dancing performance on the opening ceremony of Beijing No.2 Middle School on Feb. 13, 2023. Millions of primary and middle school students in Beijing welcomed the first day of school on Monday. At the opening ceremony of Beijing No.2 Middle School, the school put forward expectations for the new semester, inspiring students to work hard and meet the new semester with a full mental outlook. (Zhou Liang/Guangming Phicture)

Students of Beijing No.2 Middle Schoold attend the first class of the semester themed "Share your winter vacation" on Feb. 13, 2023. Millions of primary and middle school students in Beijing welcomed the first day of school on Monday. At the opening ceremony of Beijing No. 2 Middle School, the school put forward expectations for the new semester, inspiring students to work hard and meet the new semester with a full mental outlook. (Zhou Liang/Guangming Phicture)

Editor: ZAD
EXETER TOWNSHIP, Pa.  The war of words between the Exeter Township supervisors continued at their meeting Monday night.

Most agenda items turned into verbal battles between supervisor David Hughes and supervisors George Bell, Ted Gardella, Michelle Kercher and David Vollmer Jr.

Township manager Betsy McBride also occasionally jumped into the fray.

It was ugly and lengthy. The meeting was streamed on the townships YouTube channel.

Police department purchases

Between the arguments, some township business was conducted.

The supervisors reviewed several large purchases for the police department.

After discussing the need for getting three bids for these items, the supervisors approved the purchase of Leica, an imaging process that can be used at accident sites. The vote was 3-2, with supervisors Hughes and Ted Gardella opposed.

Police Chief Matthew Hawley explained, This system reduces the need to close a road for hours to less than thirty minutes. The purchase price is $107,200, which includes $102,000 for the product and $5,200 for training. The amount is included in the 2023 budget using ARPA funds. In addition, Hawley noted AAA donated two thermal imaging drones which are compatible with the Leica system.

By a 4-1 vote, the supervisors approved the purchase from B&M Scale Inc. of an in-ground Weigh In Motion scale. This axle scale system is a platform of 13 feet and has a 45,000-pound capacity. The purchase price including installation is $38,000. The amount is included in the 2023 budget using ARPA funds.

The purchase of WatchGuard Body Cameras was also approved by a 4-1 vote. The police force has no body cameras at this time, and Chief Hawley said he believes that recent events involving police violence around the country make the body cameras imperative. There will be 20 cameras and a 5-year warranty. The purchase price is $79,057. The amount is included in the 2023 budget using ARPA funds.

Also, the supervisors approved the purchase of a license plate reader system from PlateLogiq. The total cost is $123,000. Exeter has received a grant for 50% from the Berks County District Attorneys office. This will be of benefit to Muhlenberg Township, Birdsboro Borough, Robeson Township, Amity Township, and Central Berks Regional. The cost to Exeter Township will be $61,500. The amount is included in the 2023 budget using ARPA funds.

Whistleblower Policy

In addition, the supervisors approved the Whistleblower Policy that was reviewed at the last meeting. The Whistleblower Law provides that an employee may not be terminated, threatened or otherwise discriminated or retaliated against because the employee or a person acting on behalf of the employee makes a good faith report or is about to report to the employer or appropriate authority, an instance of wrongdoing or waste or that the employee is requested by an appropriate authority to participate in any investigation, hearing or inquiry held by an appropriate authority in a court of action.

Letter of support

The supervisors approved providing a letter of support for the current National Fish & Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) federal grant which is due March 16. In addition, in the near future, the Authority will seek a grant from the PA DEP Growing Greener Grant. The grants will be used for the restoration of Crystal Lake on the grounds of the Antietam Community Park.

Perkiomen Avenue Streetscape Project

Larry Piersol, director of public works, delivered an update on the Perkiomen Avenue Streetscape Project. He reported that sidewalk installation has continued up to 37th Street and will move across 38th Street next week. Subgrade installation for the new access drive into the Promenade site is nearing completion. Also, Piersol said the infiltration basin next to the access road is near complete as well.

Other business

A 90-day time extension for Lincolnwood Community Expansion Land Development was approved in order to address additional comments and the latest review letter. The proposed plan will go before the Township Planning Commission in February.

Erika Gustus was appointed as Open Records Officer and Jennifer Kauffman as Alternate Open Records Officer.

The supervisors approved a motion to advertise proposed changes to the burning ordinance and proposed changes to ordinances related to agricultural operations.

Also, the hiring of a new position, which will be junior accountant, was approved.
SPRING TWP., Pa. - Senator Judy Schwank (D-Berks) announced Tuesday that her office is opening a satellite location in Spring Township.

The constituent services office is located inside the Spring Township administration building at 2850 Windmill Road.

The office will be open on the second and fourth Fridays of each month from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and on other days by appointment.

Appointments can be made by calling 610-929-2151 or by sending an email to senatorschwank@pasenate.com

Spring Township, Sinking Spring Borough and the Berks County portion of Adamstown Borough became a part of the 11th senatorial district during last years reapportionment process. The senator said the satellite location will help her stay connected with her new constituents.

Its very important to me that the folks who have been added to the 11th District have convenient access to the services they need, Schwank said. I believe this satellite office will provide my staff and I with a great opportunity to connect with our newest constituents and get a better feel for the community and its needs.
PALMER TWP., Pa. - Police say a Northampton County man took fentanyl before hitting a pedestrian with his car, fleeing and crashing into another vehicle.

It all happened Friday afternoon on William Penn Highway in Palmer Township.

Justin Ostrander, 38, is facing aggravated assault while driving under the influence and several other charges in the two crashes.

Police say he sped through a red light at Milford Street and hit a pedestrian crossing the street.

He kept going, passing a car on the right and hitting several street signs before crossing the middle line and hitting another car head on, according to court paperwork.

The crashes left a path of debris.

The pedestrian was seriously hurt, and the driver of the other vehicle was also hurt, police say.

When Ostrander was taken to the hospital after the crashes, he told police, "I gave some girl and her boyfriend a ride. She asked me if I wanted any fentanyl or something and I actually did a little bit and I think that's what happened," according to court paperwork.

He's in Northampton County Prison on $250,000 bail, court records show.
Fitch Ratings has downgraded JSC Ukrainian Railways (Ukrzaliznytsia, UR) Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to 'Restricted Default' (RD) from 'C' following the execution of the consent solicitation to defer its debt servicing of its US dollar loan participation notes (LPN) maturing in 2024 and 2026. Fitch views the consent solicitation as a distressed debt exchange (DDE).

However, upon its completion, Fitch has upgraded its long-term rating to 'CC' and the credit profile to 'cc,' reflecting UR's post-restructuring profile, "which still has a high level of credit risk" on the back of expected operating losses and a negative cash flow, the agency said on Monday.

It is noted that UR's outstanding debt at end-2022 was UAH 39.5 billion (2021: UAH 33.5 billion). The LPNs constituted 82.8% of the debt, and 94.3% was foreign currency (2021: 90.6%). After the extension of the notes' maturity, the maximum annual repayment of the debt in 2023-2025 accounts for around 4% of total debt. Major repayments are in 2026 - 58% of current total debt (mainly of the $595 million 2026-LPN) and after 2027 - 32% (mainly of the $300 million 2028-LPN).

"Deferral of the coupon payment on the LPNs gave the company some space for undisturbed operations. However, increasing opex and capex needs will pressure the company's cash levels in 2023," Fitch said.

"UR expects negative cash flow throughout most of 2023. The company is prioritising expenditure that is vital for the continuity of its operations and critical infrastructure. Expected net losses will further pressure liquidity, with the company relying on support from the state and availability of funds from IFIs. Almost EUR 400 million should be available to the company, with EUR 199 million under existing financing facilities with EBRD and EIB, and EUR 200 million under the process of acceptance," Fitch said.

The Ukrzaliznytsia financial condition Z is affected by the ability of the budget to compensate the company for the cost of transporting passengers, which are subsidized by profits from freight traffic. In 2022, some UAH 10 billion was allocated for these purposes. In 2023, Ukrzaliznytsia expects to receive about UAH 27 billion to finance 54% of the total planned investment, Fitch said in the statement.

"The sovereign is supportive of UR, but its ability to provide extraordinary support to the company is limited by the ongoing invasion from Russia," the agency said.

Fitch classifies Ukrzaliznytsia as a sovereign related entity and links its ratings to the sovereign's.

Among the factors that will also have a serious impact on the Ukrzaliznytsia financial condition, Fitch includes the cost of fuel and electricity in 2023, natural gas prices, repair and maintenance of rolling stock, and foreign exchange losses. At the same time, the company's cost structure, according to Fitch, remains stable (excluding, in particular, foreign exchange risks). The prevailing expense items are personnel (on average, about 65% of operating expenses in the first half of 2022 versus 61% in 2017-2021) and maintenance and goods and services.
HELLERTOWN, Pa. - Investigators are working to determine what caused a fire that forced nearly 175 senior citizens out of Saucon Valley Manor. Crews from throughout the Lehigh Valley were called to Hellertown around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Firefighters say they saw flames and smoke billowing out of a third-story window as they drove up Route 412.

"The alarms went off," said Robert Murray, who lives at Saucon Valley Manor. "They got us all outside. The fire companies all showed up."

Murray was one of 173 senior citizens evacuated.

About a dozen fire agencies, plus EMS and police departments responded to the senior living community in Hellertown.

"There's PPL over there," said Donna Middlebrook, whose mom lives at Saucon Valley Manor. "There's the police all over. There's the fire trucks."

"Something like this, we try to bring a lot of people in the very beginning to help get the situation under control and then do what we have to do," said Dewey Fire Chief Matthew Simkovic.

Saucon Valley Manor has other buildings on site, so residents were moved to those as firefighters got the blaze under control.

Simkovic says the fire was contained to one bedroom.

Amid the massive response, family members came to check on their loved ones.

"I just want to know she's okay," said Middlebrook.

Within a few hours, "we're bringing people back into the building," said Simkovic.

People are not going back to the third floor, though, because there's smoke damage there.

The facility says that's a personal care floor, meaning residents get some help from staff members. Those residents are being moved into the extra, model rooms for now.

"I feel like there's really great responses," said Middlebrook.

"They got here really quick, did a good job at evacuation," said Murray.

Murray says given the circumstances, the nice weather was a plus; but even more so, he's thankful previous fire drills prepared his community to have a calm and controlled response.

"That's why it went so smoothly," said Murray.

The facility said by the afternoon, residents were celebrating Valentine's Day with a pizza party.
EASTON, Pa. - Kaplan Awnings is celebrating 100 years of manufacturing in Easton.

Monday, Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure presented a proclamation to honor a century of special crafting and service.

"Congratulations," said McClure. "On behalf of the citizens of the county, to hereby recognize and congratulate Kaplan's Awnings for celebrating their 100th anniversary."

"When you think 100 years ago, they didn't have air conditioning," said Randi Kaplan, who runs Kaplan Awnings with her brother David Kaplan. "Every building had an awning on it."

Randi and David are the third generation of Kaplans running the family business.

"Same business as it was handed down from our grandfather to our father to us," said David Kaplan.

Inside their location in Easton's West Ward, they keep meticulous records. They still have books with details of the first awnings their grandfather created.

While the Kaplans are no longer transporting awnings via horse and buggy, they take pride in continuing to work the old-fashioned way. There are no automated machines.

Instead, "some of the machines are 90 to 100 years old, and there's something to be said for the old industrial machines that are all steel and all metal, that are not plastic because they are work horses," said Randi Kaplan.

"This table goes back to the late 1920s, early 1930s," said David Kaplan. "It's one of our grandfather's original tables."

In the Kaplan's showroom, customers learn about the various types of awnings and can pick from hundreds of different kinds of fabrics.

"It's a lot of the crafting that people just don't do anymore and the companies are closing and we're just very proud that we continue the legacy," said Randi Kaplan.

"It's neat," said David Kaplan.

As for the next 100 years, "we've been talking to some of our cousins, who do have children, and looking to see if any of them would be interested in getting involved in the business," said Randi Kaplan.

Kaplan Awnings has had various locations in Easton over the years and is now located on Spruce Street. The company also offers interior window treatments, flags and decorative banners.

"The backbone of business in Northampton County is small business and we want entrepreneurs and start-up small businesses to realize that they can be around for 100 years too if they provide a good product and excellent service," said McClure.

"It's a type of business that you don't go to school for. You learn it by being involved in it. It's very labor intensive," said Randi Kaplan. "I don't think our grandfather ever envisioned that the business would be thriving 100 years after he started it, and my father, rest in peace, is probably looking down and beaming."
It was a busy weekend for U.S. fighter jets that had to shoot down yet another high-flying object floating across North America Sunday afternoon. That's three in total since Friday, four in the past two weeks. The White House is defending its decision to shoot down the four unidentified objects.

The first was a giant, white orb cruising American airspace in late January. It was said to be a possible Chinese spy balloon. It was shot down Feb. 4 off the coast of the Carolinas. The three most recent objects were shot down over Alaska, Canada, and Lake Huron near Michigan.

The unsettling sightings are causing concern for the public and politicians alike.

"I've heard from a lot of my constituents; they want to know what exactly is going on here," Democratic Congressman from New Jersey Josh Gottheimer said. "What threats are out here?"

Lehigh Valley Congresswoman Susan Wild issued a statement to 69 News about the balloon from China that read, in part: "The entire situation is an unacceptable violation of American sovereignty and a clear provocation by China."

Other lawmakers from our area say we need to get to the bottom of this.

Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania released a statement to 69 News Monday, saying "It's imperative that the U.S. intelligence communityand those of us on the Senate Intelligence Committeeunderstand what information the balloon and subsequent flying objects may have collected and the national security risks posed. I am monitoring these developments."

Pentagon officials said the three most recent objects shot down pose no security threat, but little is known about them. The Pentagon says it's ruling nothing out.

However, as to the theory of possible extraterrestrial activity, the White House says "There is no  again, no  indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
PHILADELPHIA  The Department of Justice says a Monroe County man posed as his dead father in order to steal his Social Security Administration retirement benefits and New York State pension benefits.

Timothy Gritman, 52, of Brodheadsville, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court Tuesday to wire fraud and Social Security fraud, according to a news release from the DOJ.

The DOJ says he stole more than $204,985.

His father, Ralph, was 79 years old and in poor health in 2016 when he was last seen alive by relatives at Gritman's Pennsylvania residence, the DOJ said. In the summer of 2017, Gritman relocated to Wyoming with his father. After that, he posed as his dead father numerous times to continue receiving the SSA retirement benefits and the New York State pension, including appearing to use make-up to whiten his hair and eyebrows, according to the news release.

Gritman posed as his father and obtained a Pennsylvania State identification card in his fathers name from the Department of Transportation Driver License Center, the DOJ said. Gritman, to disguise himself, appeared with whitened hair and eyebrows, the DOJ said. He was then photographed as his father, Ralph Gritman. A photo of Gritman, where he apparently tried to disguise himself as an older man holding the bogus Pennsylvania State identification card, was sent to verify the father was alive.

According to Medicare records, Ralph Gritman's health insurance was last used in September 2017 for an emergency visit to a Wyoming hospital. After that, his Medicare health benefits were never used again, but he was not reported deceased, the DOJ said. Thus, his SSA and pension benefits continued to be paid to a joint account with Timothy.

From approximately October 2017 to October 2022, Timothy Gritman took Social Security and pension benefits intended for his father for his own personal use, the DOJ said. While law enforcement has determined that Ralph Gritman is now deceased, his remains have not been found.

Timothy Gritman faces a maximum possible sentence of 285 years' imprisonment, a three-year period of supervised release, a $3.75 million fine, and a $1,500 special assessment.

The case was investigated by the FBI, Social Security Administration-Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the New York State Office of the Comptroller and is being prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Megan Curran.
HACKETTSTOWN, N.J. - Police in part of Warren County, New Jersey have located the driver of a vehicle that they say hit a pedestrian early Tuesday morning.

The vehicle, possibly an orange pickup, hit the pedestrian shortly before 8 a.m. at the intersection of Route 46 and Warren Street, according to a news release from the Hackettstown Police Department.

The vehicle, driven by an older man, then fled the scene and traveled Route 46 westbound, police said.

The pedestrian suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was transported to Hackettstown Medical Center.
ALLENTOWN, Pa.  A U.S. Army veteran is on a cross-country trip, and he's walking the entire way.

69 News caught up with Matt Dyer in Allentown on Monday. He's from Maine, and he began his journey there, pulling a cart with all his supplies, on Dec. 30.

Dyer said he typically averages about 12 miles a day. Monday was Day 43, and he's walking to Reading.

He said he plans to hit all four corners of the nation because he wants to push his physical and mental limits.

He said he enjoys meeting new people every day and posting pictures with them on his Facebook page.

"This is John, a guy I just met at the grocery store who almost hit me with his car because I was texting in the parking lot," Dyer said, "and then we ended up becoming good friends inside the store."

Dyer is headed south to Miami. Then, he'll head west to San Diego. His goal is to get to Olympia, Washington, by July of next year.
Ministry of Energy hands over generators from intl partners to Donbasenergo

The Ministry of Energy of Ukraine handed over 292 kW and 24 kW generators to PJSC Donbasenergo provided by partners from France and Switzerland.

"Thank you to Switzerland and France and all our partners for their support and assistance," Energy Minister Herman Haluschenko said in a press release from the ministry on Tuesday.

He said that the power engineers of Donetsk region are working in conditions of constant destruction of the energy infrastructure, however, as far as possible, they provide the residents of the region with electricity and heat.

The Ministry of Energy added that earlier three generators of high and medium power were transferred for the needs of Donbasenergo.

As reported, as of February 1, the Ukraine Energy Support Fund, established by the Energy Community Secretariat in April 2022, received EUR 144.366 million.
Ms. Cheap: Wildflower Week at Beaman Park offers chance to learn about Middle Tennessee wildflowers

I think we all know that wildflowers are a welcome sign of spring. But did you know that according to Petal Republic, wildflowers can also symbolize happiness, joy, and remembrance....
A Facebook page that Wilson County Schools board member Joseph Padilla created was the primary target of at least 10 complaints filed since September but the boards three-person Ethics Committee unanimously dismissed nine of the complaints at a hearing last Thursday.

Padilla, who was elected in August 2022, faced those accusing him in a nearly four-hour meeting. The boardroom in the school districts central office was packed with nearly 75 community members, most of them Padilla supporters.

These people are my family, not supporters, he said. We have a common goal of providing the best education in the safest environment to all students.

Padilla created the page, called WCS District 4 Joseph Padilla, last year and it remained on Facebook until January, when he said he deactivated the page.

Among the Facebook comments Padilla made were congratulations to Republican election winners across the country last November, including Tennessee Congressman Andy Ogles, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Sanders and Texas governor Greg Abbott. All of them are Republicans.

Many of the ethics complaints came about because the title of the page made it seem like it was a page created by or endorsed by WCS.

The school district does not provide official Facebook pages for any of the seven board members. Board chair Jamie Farough and board member Carrie Pfeiffer each have a Facebook page with Wilson County Schools in the title. The content on those pages is typically a recap of board meetings and district and school announcements.

Padilla has two accounts, one under Joseph A. Padilla and the other under Joseph Padilla. On the page under Joseph A. Padilla, he wrote, These are my personal thoughts and opinions, I only represent myself on this account. There is nothing available to see when this was added.

However, the profile picture has his WCS badge, with his photo and the words Wilson County Schools.

My wife likes my smile in that picture, and I try my best to make her happy, he said about the badge.

Ethics committee chair Melissa Lynn said that it was considered an official page by board members.

At the hearing the person who made the complaint would read it and provide additional comments to or answer questions from Lynn and the two other members of the committee, Larry Tomlinson and Kimberly McGee. Padilla gave a response to each complaint, also answering questions from the committee. Supporters of both sides clapped after some of the comments.

The only complaint that was not dismissed said Padilla provided a photo of a teachers classroom door without her permission to a Nashville TV station. The committee (which could have ruled on any of the complaints with a 2-1 vote) decided to present that complaint to the full board for consideration of a public censure of Padilla.

I have never taken any pictures of any doors at Green Hill High School, Padilla said. It seems that particular picture is from the Green Hill High School Official Facebook Page that is accessible by anyone including media outlets. If you review the actual (Channel 4) news story the complainant is referencing, you will see that her name is illegible, her name is never mentioned, Green Hill High School is never mentioned, and pictures of Elzie Patton are shown throughout the news story.

The TV station interviewed Padilla who proposed a new policy during a meeting to prohibit teachers from putting LGBTQ Pride Flag stickers on the classroom door to represent a safe space for those students. Padilla recommended putting stickers and signs in the school lobby.

I have no problem with the LGBTQ community or any group that tries to make America a More Perfect Union,  he said in an interview three days after the meeting. The problem lies when groups try to tear down the very foundation that America was built on. If you dont like it, leave.

Erin Moore, who filed one of the dismissed complaints, said, I am incredibly frustrated. The (committee) said he violated their ethics policy and dismissed them anyway. I think the board was under a lot of pressure because there were a lot of people in the room.

McGee said it was difficult for the committee members to separate fact from opinion in Padillas online posts and the complaints. Tomlinson repeatedly said Padilla made mistakes in comments soon after being elected when he didnt know what he could and couldnt say and how it would reflect on him as a school board member. He received assurance a couple of times from Padilla that he has met with WCS Director of Schools Jeff Luttrell to review and understand how board members need to follow district guidelines.

Im glad the hearing is over, but I am concerned that the complainants will not accept the results, Padilla said last Sunday. This hearing had absolutely nothing to do with ethics. This was about leftover emotions from the election.

I dont think the complaints were appropriate or justified. I think the ethics committee did the best they could do with the information they had. I was really disappointed with the lack of evidence. It was also troubling that the proof that was submitted only told half the story. It seemed like I was on trial for hurt feelings and thought crimes.
Metinvest mining and metallurgical group produces mobile shelters for the military based on Soviet-era drawings, modernizing them in accordance with the conditions of today's war, Yuriy Ryzhenkov, CEO of the group, said in an interview with LIGA.net.

"It's an interesting story. Since the Soviet times, we have had drawings on how to produce these shelters. In the Soviet times, each enterprise had to produce something for the army. When the full-scale invasion [of Russia into Ukraine] began, we dived into the archives and found drawings of armored steel shelters, several types. For example, there are shelters for rest where you can sleep. There are shelters where you can wash and eat. There are shelters for storing documentation. The army is satisfied with these capsules," Ryzhenkov said.

According to him, in March-April, the company developed armored steel technology, certified it, and started production.

"All the armor plates that we have made are fired and checked. We order plate carriers, and then we send the finished body armor to the troops," the CEO said.

According to him, the number of equipment sent to the front is growing. "These figures change almost every day, but over the 11 months of last year, we have already donated more than 100 capsules, 25,000 helmets, and 150,000 bulletproof vests for the needs of the army. Now, every tenth representative of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Police and the State Emergency Service wears bulletproof vests from Metinvest," the head of the company said, specifying: "We either made them with our own hands or bought them and handed them over."
A person wanted in a domestic incident was found dead in a vehicle in Beaver Dam after a police pursuit on Sunday afternoon, authorities reported.

At about 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Beaver Dam police were notified that a person wanted in a domestic disturbance in another jurisdiction was driving a vehicle that a Beaver Dam officer located and attempted to stop, leading to a brief pursuit, the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation said in a statement.

The person pulled over in the 500 block of Louise Lane in Beaver Dam and remained in their vehicle. Police knew of a firearm in the persons possession and stayed at a distance while attempting verbal commands, which the person ignored, DCI said.

Ultimately, police approached and found the person dead, and a gun was recovered in the persons vehicle, DCI said.

No law enforcement personnel were injured during the incident, DCI said.

DCI is leading the investigation and is assisted by the Dodge County Sheriffs Office and Wisconsin State Crime Lab. DCI will turn over its reports to the Dodge County District Attorney when it finishes the investigation.
The Russian invaders are draining water from Kakhovka Reservoir and thus trying to deprive Ukrainians who receive water from the Dnieper River of access to water supply, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal has said.

"Today, Russia intends to make living conditions in Ukraine unbearable. Fourteen missile attacks on the Ukrainian energy system. The latest attack on the energy system, on February 10, lasted more than 24 hours. Missiles and drones fired at six energy facilities and seven high-voltage substations of backbone networks," he said at a government meeting on Tuesday.

The prime minister said that power engineers have already managed to quickly connect consumers to backup power supply systems, and today minor network restrictions operate only in Odesa and nearby areas, as well as parts of Kherson and Kharkiv regions.

"But the enemy does not stop. Now the Russians are trying to deprive Ukrainians of access to water supply. After the partial destruction and deliberate opening by the Russians of the locks of Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant, we lose thousands of cubic meters of water every day. Because of this, 70% of the settlements that receive water from the Dnieper River may be left without access to drinking water," he said.

In addition, Shmyhal said that the nuclear threat is even greater, since a decrease in the water level in the storage facility could lead to improper functioning of the cooling systems of Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant.

"I think no one needs to explain how this threatens Ukraine, Europe and the world as a whole. Therefore, the civilized world should not be silent. Ukraine calls on all available means to put pressure on Russia so that it closes the floodgates and restores the hydraulic structures at Kakhovka HPP or allows Ukrainian specialists to do this. I appeal to international partners and emphasize: otherwise, we will face an environmental catastrophe that will have countless destructive consequences for the entire continent," Shmyhal said.
Defense of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, southern Ukraine, Odesa and the region was considered at the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief on Monday, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address on Monday.

"Held Headquarters. We heard reports from the commanders of the directions, the commander-in-chief, intelligence leaders. Protecting Donbas and Luhansk region, the south of our country, Odesa and the region. Constant attention is paid to the supply of weapons, shells and everything that adds strength and resilience to our soldiers," he said.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky noted the energy, political and other support from Norway.

"I spoke today with the Prime Minister of Norway. This country is one of our biggest partners. I thanked for the new defense package and the new unprecedented support program from Norway, which is being prepared for approval and is designed for five years  stable support for Ukraine," he said in a video address on Monday.

According to him, "Norway really helps us to strengthen both on earth and in the sky and at sea. Thousands of Ukrainian lives were saved thanks to the timely and powerful Norwegian assistance. But the energy, political and other support from our Norwegian friends is also significant. Once again thanks for all this help!"
(CNN)  Senators from both parties blasted Big Tech on Tuesday and called for the passage of federal legislation to regulate tech platforms in the midst of a mental health crisis among young Americans.

Opening a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen Dick Durbin, the panel's chair, accused tech companies including Facebook and Snapchat of "doing everything they can to keep our kids eyes glued to the screens."

Teens, especially girls, are experiencing more violence, suicidal thoughts and mental health challenges, CDC survey finds "America's teen girls are engulfed in a growing wave of sadness, violence and trauma," CDC's chief medical officer and deputy director for program and science said.

Tuesday's hearing, which featured testimony from civil society groups and mental health advocates, did not involve witnesses from the tech industry. But Durbin hinted at a possible future hearing involving Big Tech representatives, saying "don't worry, they'll have their chance" as the committee invites them to weigh in on legislative proposals.

The hearing comes amid renewed attention on the impact social networks are having on their youngest users. In his State of the Union address last week, President Joe Biden called for Congress to pass legislation to protect kids' privacy and safety online. Also this month, a New Jersey community was roiled when a 14-year-old student took her own life after a TikTok video showed she was attacked by several other teenagers.

Related: New Jersey school superintendent resigns after 14-year-old student's suicide

On Tuesday, senators promoted several new and existing pieces of legislation in the works to address different potential online harms.

Durbin announced he is circulating a discussion draft of a bill he has worked on "for months" that targets the spread of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) online, known as the Stop CSAM Act.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, the panel's top Republican, announced he is working with Sen. Elizabeth Warren on a bill that would create a "digital regulatory commission" that would be empowered to shut down social media sites if they fail to adopt "best business practices" to limit CSAM.

And Sen. Richard Blumenthal called for passing the Kids' Online Safety Act and the EARN IT Act, two controversial bills that were heavily debated in the last Congress that would respectively create new regulations for social media and restrict their ability to invoke Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, the industry's key liability shield.

Congress' failure to pass those bills, Blumenthal said, is "inexcusable" amid what he described as tech companies "pillaging the public interest with its armies of lobbyists and lawyers despite promises of collaboration."

"I am haunted by what one parent told me," Blumenthal added. "She asked, 'How many more children have to die before we make them a priority?'"

At the hearing, Kristin Bride, whose teenage son Carson committed suicide in 2020 after receiving a barrage of anonymous cyberbullying messages, said she had sued Snap for facilitating the harassment. But the class-action suit was dismissed after the company invoked Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, she said.

Bride described the evening before Carson's death as a "wonderful night" in which he had just begun a summer job making pizzas.

"The next morning, I woke to the complete shock and horror that Carson had hung himself in our garage while we slept," Bride said. A subsequent investigation found dozens of harassing and sexually explicit messages on his cell phone.

"It should not take grieving parents filing a lawsuit to hold this industry accountable for their dangerous and addictive product designs," Bride said. "We need lawmakers to step up, put politics aside and finally protect all children online."
Turkey rescuers say voices are still being heard under the rubble
Magistrates in England and Wales have been ordered to stop issuing warrants that allow energy firms to force entry into a persons home to fit a pre-payment meter.

Generally targeting the poorest, this has been a mechanism for energy companies to retrieve outstanding debt while still taking payment for ongoing use of gas and electricity.

Customers have to go to a local shop to top up their meter and rates are generally more expensive than a regular monthly payment. British Gas then takes, on average, another 6.50 a week for debt repayments. On top of the charge for customers current use and debt recovery, they are liable for up to hundreds of pounds more to cover debt collectors costs.

Demonstrators hold up placards as they protest outside the British energy regulator Ofgem, which put up the price cap for gas and electricity by around 80 per cent for most households, in London, Friday, Aug. 26, 2022. [AP Photo/Alastair Grant]

After a surge of popular outrage over the brutal treatment of vulnerable households, Lord Justice Edis, one of UKs most senior judges, told the courts on February 7 to stop issuing warrants. He said magistrates must act proportionately and with regard to the human rights of people affected, [in] particular any people with vulnerability.

Warrant applications can still be made by energy companies, however, if they provide details of their procedures relating to vulnerable occupants. The moratorium will be lifted following investigations by energy regulator Ofgem and the government. Moreover, the ruling did not cover the many households who have a smart meter who get into debt, and who can be switched remotely to pre-payment without the need for a warrant.

On February 10, the Conservative government noted that after concerns were raised about the sharp rise in companies seeking warrants to enter peoples homes to forcibly install prepayment meters all energy suppliers have now committed to ending the forced installation of prepayment meters in vulnerable customers homes.

Ediss intervention followed reports in The Times that thousands of people were being forced to have a pre-payment meter fitted, gathered by an undercover reporter working for debt collection agency Arvato.

On one occasion, debt agents went to the home of a single father of three young children to forcibly fit a prepayment meter in below-freezing weather. One of them is heard saying to the Times reporter as a locksmith is about to force entry into the single father home, This is the exciting bit. I love this bit.

On another occasion, British Gas sent agents with a court warrant to the home of a young mother with a four-week-old baby. The mothers bills had shot up sevenfold in recent months.

While being interviewed for the job, the Times reporter said the Arvato debt collection manager was dismissive about those customers who claimed to be too vulnerable to top up meters. People say all sorts of shitYoull hear every excuse youve ever heard in life about why they havent paid this bill.

Job notes seen by the Times showed that other British Gas customers, who had pre-payment meters forcibly fitted included: a woman in her fifties described as having severe mental health bipolar; a mother whose daughter is disabled and has a hoist and [an] electric wheelchair; a woman who suffers with mobility problems and is partially sighted.

Arvato debt collectors were incentivised with bonuses. One, reported the Times, claimed that single mothers were their most common targets, adding: If every single mum thats starts getting a bit teary you're going to walk away from, you wont be earning any bonus.

The Times added, A manager overseeing debt collectors for British Gas told of manipulating customers by saying the police would kick in their doors and search their homes if they did not comply.

Citizens Advice, which assists people with legal, debt, consumer, housing and other problems, estimates that 600,000 people were forced onto pre-payment meters for debt in 2022, a huge increase on the 380,000 people in 2021. They estimate that a further 160,000 people could be moved onto pre-payment meters by the end of this winter.

Front-line advisers providing debt advice have consistently seen evidence of people considered to be vulnerable being moved onto prepayment meters, in breach of energy suppliers own regulations. These harmful practices continued even after the energy regulator wrote to the suppliers, in mid-November 2022, reminding them of their obligations.

This system of company-authored, state-sponsored violence and intimidation has been used to enforce conditions of appalling social crisis.

Use of forced entry and fitting of prepayment meters has soared as millions of people have been left unable to afford to pay for gas and electricity amid surging energy prices, with increasing numbers getting into arrears. Households are having to spend on average an extra 1,200 a year for gas and electricity since the war in Ukraine began and a further hike in the price cap this April will see the average bill rise from 2,500 to 3,000.

Charities and the energy industry estimate that up to 40 percent of households are spending more than 10 percent of their income on energy, as Ofgems figures show that nearly one million people are in arrears for gas, with no agreed plan in place to manage their debt. Industry sources have said that the collective debt book stands at 2.5 billion of which 2 billion is considered bad debt.

Being forced onto pre-payment meters has led to many people being cut off. Citizens Advice estimates that 3.2 million peoplethe equivalent of one person every 10 secondswere left in the cold and dark last year after their credit ran out on a pre-payment meter.

According to the BBC based on a leak from a senior magistrate, warrants were freely handed to energy companies, waved through by the courts. Roughly 1,000 a day were issued in 2022, almost all of them authorised electronically or over the phone, via specific magistrates courts that are allocated to each energy company. Agents for energy companies apply by phone and send in large spreadsheets that include between 100 and 1,000 cases.

Evidence from pilots shows that the warrant hearings will sign off, issue and send all the electronic warrants in a maximum of 15 minutes.

Robin Cantrill-Fenwick, a former justice of the peace and magistrate, stepped down after being left in a position where he was unable to check if vulnerable people were being protected. He told the BBCs Newsnight that changes to the court system meant magistrates were doing nothing more than rubber stamping warrants.

British Gas parent company Centrica is the largest domestic provider of gas and electricity in the UK. Its profits for the year 2022 rose sevenfold to more than 1 billion. Combined operating profit for the Big 6 energy corporations operating in Britain topped more than 7.6 billion in the five years to the beginning of 2022, ahead of the 54 percent rise in the price cap for household energy bills last April.

Meanwhile, workers and their families are freezing to death in their homes. Last month, an inquest at Rochdale Coroners Court heard that 87-year-old Barbara Bolton died on January 5 after she developed hypothermia. In an article on the case, the Manchester Evening News reported, hospital notes indicate her illness was linked to the fact she could not afford to put her heating on.

This month, Yorks Director of Public Health Sharon Stoltz reported that there were at least two examples of small infants in the city being taken to hospital with hypothermia.
Ukraine has support from European institutions for the goal this year to start negotiations on EU membership, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address on Monday.

"We have clear support from European institutions and European leaders for our goal to prepare and start negotiations on Ukraine's membership in the EU this year," he said.

According to him, "now more than ever, it is felt that Ukraine's European goals are becoming a reality. When, finally, there are tangibly more real achievements than political declarations. For decades, Ukraine and the European Union have been moving towards this."

Zelensky said for the first time during his visit to Brussels last week "such attention to Ukraine, for the first time, a meeting with all the leaders of Europe at once, and plus a series of conversations with European leaders, the most dynamic, meaningful and devoid of excessive politicization."

"With each leader, we spoke purely of those things that are important for our relations and for the European community as a whole. There was not a single empty conversation. I thank all our partners for this," he said.
Yesterday, as they did five years ago, politicians and indigenous representatives gathered for a breakfast event in Australias parliamentary great hall to celebrate the anniversary of the Rudd Labor governments parliamentary national apology to the stolen generationsthe many thousands of Aboriginal children forcibly removed from their families between 1910 and 1970.

The following is an article published on the World Socialist Web Site exposing the hypocrisy and reactionary political agenda involved on the occasion of the similar event marking the 10th anniversary. Five years on, the record is even more damning.

As even the Albanese Labor governments latest annual Closing the Gap report admitted, critical targets regarding indigenous living and social conditions are worsening, including adults in prison, suicides and the number of children in out-of-home care, separated from their families.

Despite the political and media establishments rhetoric that Prime Minister Kevin Rudds apology constituted a historic turning pointjust like the claims being made today for the Albanese governments proposed Voice constitutional referendumthe horrendous conditions endured by the vast majority of Aboriginal people have only deteriorated.

According to a 2020 report from the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Childcare, over 20,000 indigenous children were living in out-of-home care, more than double the number of about 9,000 a decade earlier. Five years ago, that figure was 17,000. Another stolen generation is being created, as a result of the oppressive social conditions and ongoing trauma.

As the WSWS has warned, the Voice would only perpetuate this social crisis, just as the Closing the Gap program itself has done since it was launched in 2008 following Rudds apology. The purpose of the Voice is to further integrate a privileged and increasingly wealthy indigenous layer of agency CEOs, business entrepreneurs and academics, who have been groomed and prospered alongside this social misery, into the ruling capitalist class.

The Voicean elite indigenous advisory body to be inserted into the 1901 Australian Constitutionwould become part of the same capitalist state apparatus, now headed by the parliament and government, that was responsible for the destruction of traditional Aboriginal society by British and Australian capitalism, through massacres, dispossession and assimilation, and for the ongoing impoverishment of the indigenous population, who are among the most vulnerable members of the entire working class as a whole.

***

Ten years on: The fraud of Australian parliaments stolen generations apology

Mike Head

17 February, 2018

Hypocrisy abounded inside Australias parliamentary great hall this week when about 300 politicians and indigenous representatives gathered for a breakfast event to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the former Labor governments national apology to the stolen generations of Aboriginal children who were forcibly removed from their families.

Television broadcast in Federation Square, Melbourne of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's parliamentary apology to the Stolen Generations, 8 February, 2008. [Photo by Virginia Murdoch / CC BY 2.0

Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who delivered the nationally-televised apology on the floor of the parliament in February 2008, was feted as a visionary who had offered an historic statement acknowledging the crimes committed against the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population since the British conquest of the continent in 1788.

One shocking statistic points to the monumental political fraud involved in the apology and its ongoing acclamation as a landmark event. Today, more than 17,000 indigenous children are living in out-of-home care, compared with about 9,000 a decade ago. In other words, a new stolen generation is being created, with the numbers of children taken from their parents almost doubling in 10 years.

As the World Socialist Web Site warned on the day of the apology, it was a cynical ploy. Rudds flowery rhetoric served a definite agenda for the then still-new Labor governmentone of deepening the crimes committed by the Australian capitalist class and its political servants against the indigenous people, as part of an intensifying assault on the conditions of the working class as a whole.

All those hailing the Rudd governments apology as a major advance are carrying out a monstrous deception, the Socialist Equality Partys statement explained. There is an old maxim that when the ruling class apologises for past crimes, it is only in order to better commit those of the present. The record of the past 200 years demonstrates that the entire Australian ruling establishment is organically incapable of addressing the terrible conditions facing Aboriginal people.

The real aim of parliaments sorry resolution, the statement declared, was to facilitate Labors plan to draw in a layer of privileged indigenous leaders and utilise them to continue and deepen the policies of the former Howard government. The Labor government continued the Liberal-National Coalitions military-police intervention against Aboriginal communities across the Northern Territory, along with the arbitrary suspension of welfare payments to Aboriginal families.

The SEP warned that, in the name of maintaining Australias economic competitiveness, Rudd was poised to launch a no less ruthless attack on the social position of the entire working class. Labors economic agenda will inevitably hit the most vulnerable layers of the working class, including Aborigines, the hardest.

That warning has been vindicated. The past decade has seen a relentless assault on the jobs and conditions of the working class, producing a further massive transfer of wealth into the hands of the corporate elite and unprecedented levels of social inequality. Since the 2008 global financial crisis, while profits and billionaires fortunes have soared, working class wages and living standards have been driven down in Australia and internationally.

The appalling social situation confronting Australias indigenous peoplewhether in working class suburbs, regional towns or remote townshipsis one of the sharpest features of a broader impoverishment. In the past, children were separated as part of a drive to assimilate them, with the expectation that the indigenous population would disappear. Todays stolen generation is part of a wider social blight, bound up with the impact of grinding poverty on families living under immense stress. According to the Australian Institute of Family Studies, 46,448 children overall were placed in state care nationally in 2016, up by 17 percent from 39,621 in 2012.

A similar stark pattern can be seen in the soaring numbers of prisoners, indigenous and non-indigenous, in Australias jails. Aboriginal people have been the worst-affected victims of escalating police harassment, law and order campaigns, harsher bail and sentencing laws and the imprisonment of people with mental health and drug problems who cannot obtain decent treatment because of woefully inadequate services.

Last year, adult indigenous incarceration rates reached an all-time high of 2,346 people per 100,000. This was more than 10 times the national average, which also rose dramatically, from 187.2 in 2014 to 216.2 in the third quarter of 2017. The overall incarceration rate has more than trebled since the 1980s, the same period in which the earlier Labor governments of Hawke and Keating, in partnership with the trade unions, began the wholesale pro-market restructuring of the economy.

Another shocking indicator is the rising suicide rate. Between 2007 and 2011, the rate of suicide for indigenous children 14 years old and younger was 1.2 per 100,000six times the rate for non-indigenous children. For Aboriginal youth aged 15 to 24 years, the suicide rate was a horrifying 42 per 100,000, compared to 8 per 100,000 for non-Aboriginal youth.

This is also part of a wider trend. Nationally, there were 2,864 deaths from intentional self-harm in 2014up from about 2,100 in 2005, with steep increases among children and young women. Suicides occurred at a rate of 12 per 100,000 people in 2014up by 20 percent from about 10 per 100,000 in 2005.

None of these revealing indicators of social polarisation has ever been included in the narrow targets in the annual closing the gap reports that the Rudd government and the state and territory governments launched with much fanfare after the 2008 apology. To do so would further expose the phoney character of closing the gap, which supposedly aimed to achieve equality in social indicators for indigenous and non-indigenous people by 2030.

According to this weeks ten-year anniversary closing the gap report, only three of the seven official targets are on track (child mortality, Year 12 attainment and a watered-down measure for early childhood education). The remaining targetsfor life expectancy, employment, school attendance, and reading and numeracyare so off track that the federal and state governments, Liberal-National and Labor alike, are proposing to refresh the program, that is, drop such targets.

Employment levels among indigenous workers have fallen since 2008, especially in remote areas. By 2016, the indigenous employment rate fell to just 46.6 percent. Likewise, the life expectancy gapestimated at almost 11 years in 2009has widened by about seven months.

While these gaps reflect terrible impoverishment among many indigenous people, they also form part of the growing class divide between the poorest half of society and the wealthiest 10 percent, which now includes a cultivated layer of indigenous business owners, academics and bureaucrats.

This social polarisation will only intensify. In releasing the damning 10-year closing the gap results, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced a renewed approachan Indigenous Business Sector Strategy. This is a suite of initiatives to ensure sustainable economic success for Indigenous owned-and-run businesses. He boasted of already awarding contracts worth $1 billion to indigenous businesses in two-and-a-half years.

The new strategy would include an Indigenous Grants Policy, which involves handing over basic services to indigenous owned and controlled organisations, in line with the increasing privatisation of all health, disability, employment and other public services.

As part of our commitment to do things with, not to, we engaged some 200 Indigenous businessmen and women from across the country to develop the Indigenous Business Sector Strategy, Turnbull declared in a speech.

The enrichment of a small, select band of indigenous capitalists will be at the direct expense of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workers, youth and poor, with all the profits being extracted by exploiting their labour power, decimating their basic services and enforcing their social misery.

Such is the rapacious class logic of capitalism. The capitalist-settler society established in 1788 was grounded on the private ownership of land, for the generation of profit. The Aboriginal people who had inhabited the continent for tens of thousands of years were cleared from the land by any means possibleshooting and poisoning as well as the ravages of disease.

As the WSWS stated 10 years ago, responsibility for the oppression of the Aboriginal people lies not with whites but with the capitalist profit system, and it is impossible to overcome this centuries-old oppression within the framework of the present social order. To genuinely redress the historic injustices perpetrated against the indigenous people of Australia requires nothing less than the abolition of the system of property relations that gave rise to, and continues to perpetuate, these injustices. Society must be reorganised from top to bottom on socialist and genuinely democratic lines, ensuring that the basic needs of all are met.

The statement called for the development of a unified mass political movement of the working classAboriginal and non-Aboriginal alikebased on a socialist and internationalist perspective. Today that task has never been more necessary.

Contact the SEP:

Phone: (02) 8218 3222

Email: sep@sep.org.au

Facebook: SocialistEqualityPartyAustralia

Twitter: @SEP_Australia

Instagram: socialistequalityparty_au

TikTok: @sep_australia

Authorised by Cheryl Crisp for the Socialist Equality Party, Suite 906, 185 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, NSW, 2000.
Yesterday evening, the official death toll from the Kahramanmaras earthquakes had reached 31,643 in Turkey and 4,614 in Syria. Nine days after the quake, search and rescue operations continue in a small number of places, and it is unknown how many thousands of people are still under the rubble.

International search and rescue teams have warned that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan governments decision to use construction equipment to directly enter the rubble will lead to deaths, not rescues. We will not be part of this, a member of the Spanish team told RTVE on his way home.

The bodies of 1,302 Syrian refugees, who died on the Turkish side of the border due to the earthquake, were brought back to Syria, according to Al Jazeera. In Syria, ravaged by NATOs war for regime change and imperialist sanctions, the risk of outbreaks like cholera is rising. There was a perfect storm brewing before the earthquakeof increasing food insecurity, collapsing health care systems, the lack of access to safe water and poor sanitation, Eva Hines, chief of communications for UNICEF in the Syrian capital, Damascus, told Al Jazeera.

In Turkey, Erdogans government has launched investigations into several contractors of buildings that collapsed in the earthquake. A few have been arrested. The scapegoating of a number of contractors is intended to cover up the responsibility of the government, which did almost nothing to prepare for the earthquake before and after, paving the way for massive destruction and loss of life.

The Progressive Lawyers Association (CHD) filed a criminal complaint yesterday against those responsible for this cover-up. Its statement declared: We filed a criminal complaint against ministers, governors and AFAD officials who are responsible for the loss of hundreds of lives due to their negligence and inadequacies in preparation before and response after the earthquake.

The statement continued: We have previously filed a criminal complaint against all those responsible for the destruction. [State] Institutions that clearly failed to prepare for the earthquake in terms of search, rescue, debris removal and post-rescue assistance are also responsible for the damage they deepened after the disaster!

As the Chamber of Architects conducted inspections in the earthquake-hit provinces of Adana, Osmaniye and Hatay, Chamber of Architects Ankara Chair Tezcan Karakus Candan said, We observed that the destruction in the affected region was massive. In the provinces where the aftershocks continue, many heavily and medium-damaged buildings endanger human life. People under serious threat are struggling to survive on the streets under very difficult conditions.

Candan added, We are very worried about how those who have not been able to reach out to earthquake victims under the rubble for six days will be able to raise these cities to their feet. Especially in Hatay, there is a serious destruction in the new buildings stock. She added:

From the massive destruction in the new building stock, we have observed that the earthquake regulations issued after the 1999 [Marmara] quake were not implemented, and that no lessons were learned from the earthquakes. In our investigations, we found that our warnings on urbanization and construction in earthquake zones were ignored, and that geological and ground survey studies were incomplete during the preparation of zoning plans.

A Masters thesis on Antakya, the central district of Hatay, published in 2019 found that 80 percent of the buildings in the urban area consist of risky structures. Although these facts have been put forward in reports, and it is known that this city is in urgent need of transformation, no significant work has been done on this issue to date.

In his article yesterday, daily Cumhuriyet columnist Bars Terkoglu quoted an earthquake warning letter and a scientific report sent by Huseyin Alan, chair of the Chamber of Geological Engineers, to several state institutions, including the Presidency and AFAD, in March 2021. The letter and report were about Maras, which would be the epicenter of the 2023 earthquake.

Maras sits directly on live fault lines or zones. It is necessary to urgently initiate a series of studies to prevent our province of Kahramanmaras from being affected by earthquake damage, he wrote in his letter, before adding: Many settlements in Kahramanmaras sit on ground units with poor engineering properties.

According to Terkoglu, Alan suggested in his letter, The city should be re-planned according to the map of the live fault lines. Existing buildings must be reviewed and urban transformation work must be carried out. An earthquake plan must be prepared in Maras.

The attached scientific report also stated:

Kahramanmaras is expected to be damaged in an earthquake larger than 6.5-magnitude due to both the severe shaking and the danger of surface faulting. In this case, the wisest approach would be to bring the buildings up to code to withstand earthquake shaking.

But the vital warnings of Alan and many other scientists have gone unheeded. As the World Socialist Web Site explained in yesterdays Perspective , it was not because the Erdogan government lacked economic resources or any other material shortcoming. Rather, it was entirely due to the financial considerations of Turkish and global capitalism, which reject spending on long-term infrastructure, such as ensuring buildings in major fault zones are able to withstand earthquakes, in favor of short-term maximization of profits.

The fact that disregarding the lives and safety of the people is a ruling class policy can be seen in the latest construction amnesty vote in 2018. Eight deputies of the so-called opposition Republican Peoples Party (CHP) voted yes to the regulation brought to parliament by Erdogans Justice and Development Party (AKP) before the June 2018 elections to legalize buildings without the required safety certificates.

Although only five no votes came from the Kurdish nationalist Peoples Democratic Party (HDP), 43 HDP deputies did not participate in the vote. While no one from the CHP voted no, 123 deputies did not participate in the vote. In short, the opposition MPs who did not participate in the vote and the bourgeois opposition parties as a whole allowed the law to pass and became accomplices to the governments crime.

The first words of a survivor in Hatay were a striking example of how the lives and health of people are devalued by the entire political establishment in the service of the capitalist system. According to news reports, Emine Dogu, 51 years old, was rescued from under the rubble at the 138th hour. She told emergency health workers who examined her immediately after the rescue: I have no money. Please dont take me to a private hospital.

Meanwhile, aid volunteer Ali Nusret Berkers interview with the Independent Turkce yesterday confirmed claims that tens of thousands of people were abandoned to their fate under the rubble in the quake-affected area, where 13 million people live in Turkey.

Berker said that after the earthquake, he and his friends came to the region on their own and tried to participate in rescue and relief efforts in Hatays Samandag district. The AFAD team they contacted in the district told them, We scanned all the buildings here. Most of them [under the rubble] are already dead. Dont go in vain. Better you go back.

According to the interview, they refused to accept this advice: Berker and his fellow volunteers claim that at least 350 people were subsequently pulled alive from under the rubble of the buildings.

If we had been provided with equipment support, maybe half of the people we lost would have come out alive, he said, adding that there was only a team of 13 people with them in Samandag, which has a population of 120,000. We really began to rescue people with our own efforts. But during this time, we started not to hear the voices of the people we heard. We started to lose them. And every government agency we called refused us. We really cant comprehend what kind of logic there is in leaving people to die.
On Thursday, February 9, the US House of Representatives, in a unanimous 419-0 bipartisan vote, approved a warmongering resolution condemning the Chinese Communist Party for its alleged violation of United States sovereignty via a supposed high-altitude surveillance balloon.

US Representative Ilhan Omar (Democrat-Minnesota) speaks as US Representatives (from left) Rashida Tlaib (Democrat-Michigan), Ayanna Presley (Democrat-Massachusetts) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Democrat-New York) listen during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington D.C. on July 15, 2019. [AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File]

House Resolution 104, Condemning the Chinese Communist Partys use of a high-altitude surveillance balloon over United States territory as a brazen violation of United States sovereignty, was supported by 215 Republicans and 204 Democrats, including all five Democrats who are currently members of the Democratic Socialists of America: Rashida Tlaib (Michigan), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (New York), Jamaal Bowman (New York), Cori Bush (Missouri) and Greg Casar (Texas).



Seven Republicans and eight Democrats were absent and did not vote on the bill, not out of any objection to the resolution, but because under the new Republican House rules, casting a vote remotely by proxy has been eliminated.



The Republican-drafted resolution is aimed at demonizing the Chinese government and people while creating the conditions for war against China. This campaign is being prepared behind the backs of the American population, and, as the vote for the resolution expresses, with the full endorsement of all of the so-called democratic socialists and progressives in Congress.



Representatives from both big business parties unanimously voted for the bill just five days after President Joe Biden ordered the shoot-down of the alleged spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina on February 4.



Following passage of the bill last Thursday, US F-22 fighter jets, armed with AIM-9X Sidewinder missiles, shot down unmanned objects over northern Alaska on Friday; Yukon, Canada on Saturday; and Lake Huron on Sunday. This was the first time in history the US military had taken such actions in North America.



Following passage of the resolution, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters, China is strongly dissatisfied with this and firmly opposes it.



The resolution by the US Congress was purely political manipulation and hyping up, Mao added.



Despite the fact that the US government has yet to provide photographic or physical evidence that the balloon shot down on February 4 was equipped with a camera designed to collect military intelligence, the resolution passed by Congress states unequivocally that what was shot down was a surveillance balloon aimed at intelligence collection.



The imperialist and war-mongering character of the measure was made explicit by the bills sponsor, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Michael McCaul (RepublicanTexas).



In a speech prior to the vote, McCaul urged all members of Congress to vote for the bill in order to send a clear, bipartisan message to the CCP and to our adversaries around the world that this kind of aggression will not be tolerated.



After condemning President Joe Biden for failing to shoot down the balloon before crossing into US airspace McCaul, ramping up the war hysteria, said the balloon showed that the CCP threat is now within sight for Americans across the heartland.



The balloon, according to McCaul, was part of pattern of the CCP challenging US interests from threatening Taiwan to supporting Russias war of aggression in Ukraine and now violating US sovereignty.



Using the alleged spy balloon as justification to further increase US military spending for Taiwan, McCaul added, If there is any question if the administration should request funds supporting Taiwans foreign military financing grantsthis incident alone should make it clear that now is the time to harden ourselves and our partners against Chinese military aggression.



Braying for war with nuclear-armed China, McCaul said, An event like this cannot happen again, and it cannot go unanswered... [T]hey only understand one thing, and that is force, and that is projecting power. And we need to project power and force and strength.



After McCaul finished his belligerent speech, every single member of the DSA in Congress voted in favor of the bill. While not a member of the DSA, even so-called progressive Minnesota Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar, who was recently removed from the Foreign Affairs Committee in a party-line vote earlier this month, joined with the very same Republicans that removed her from the committee in condemning China.



The votes by the Democrats and their DSA members, while politically revealing, are not unexpected. Within the last two years, DSA members, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman, have voted for bills that have provided billions in military funding for the Israeli military as part of Israels war against the Palestinians, as well as billions in funding for the Ukrainian military as part of the US-NATO war against Russia.



The fact that not a single member of the DSA voted against the bill again exposes the lie that the DSA, which represents sections of the upper-middle class aligned with US imperialism and its enforcers in the trade union bureaucracy, has anything to do with socialism, internationalism or Marxism.



The passage of the resolution shows again that the DSA is a faction of the Democratic Party, which exists to promote the illusion that the Democratic Party can be pushed to the left and entrap socialist-minded workers, students and youth in the political graveyard of the Democratic Party, seeking to disorient them into supporting the fraud of human rights imperialism.



The development of a genuine antiwar movement will not take place within the Democratic Party, a party of Wall Street and the CIA. The struggle against war must be developed as a mass independent movement of the working class, aimed at putting an end to the capitalist system, the source of war and fascism.
Last week, human rights organizations in El Salvador issued a joint report that includes over 4,500 human rights complaints against the security forces during the ongoing state of exception launched 10 months ago by the government of President Nayib Bukele, ostensibly in a war against gangs.

The complaints are mostly of arbitrary detentions, as Bukele openly boasts of having detained almost 63,000 terrorists, or 1 percent of the population, without a fair trial. The report also cites harassment, threats and battery. One of the organizations, Cristosal, has recorded at least 102 deaths of inmates during the regime of exception.

The Salvadoran ombudsman, moreover, has gathered evidence of hundreds of cases of torture, while Human Rights Watch accessed an official database of 1,082 children detained, as of August 2022.

Military police patrol the Tutunichapa market in San Salvador, February 12 [Photo: @FUERZARMADASV]

The state of exception authorizes troops and police to make warrantless searches and arrests, including of minors as young as 12. It also allows mass trials and trials in absentia, includes 45-year prison sentences for suspected gang members and suspends democratic freedoms, including freedom of speech and the press. As the country approaches a total of 100,000 inmates, Bukele inaugurated this month the largest prison in the world with a capacity of 40,000.

In a country smaller in size than the US state of New Jersey, the massive scale of the roundups is comparable to those carried out by the military dictatorships in Central and South America during the 1970s and 1980s.

Moreover, these policies have been accompanied by an avalanche of fascistic propaganda by officials and most of the media glorifying the security forces and portraying impoverished youth as rats and terrorists.

In this context, polls show that the state of exception is supported by almost eight in every 10 Salvadorans, with similar numbers feeling safer, and the measures have reportedly reduced the number of homicides and other crimes. Recent investigative reports have found that the largest gangs, Barrio 18 and MS13, have been dismantled as functioning organizations in the communities surveyed.

The popular support for these policies is partly explained by the fact that workers and small shop owners in El Salvador have faced decades of daily terror and killings by gangs, which have connived with state authorities to profit from taxes, drug trafficking, and robberies.

At the same time, only one or two generations ago, a series of brutal military dictatorships backed, armed and trained by the United States, and a subsequent civilian-led regime plagued by death squads, massacred tens of thousands of left-wing youth, workers and peasants. The lack of mass opposition from below against what is clearly the establishment of another dictatorship can only be explained by the political bankruptcy of the organizations that claim to be left.

When elected to power, the official left composed of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) quickly abandoned its reform promises to oversee IMF austerity measures, while maintaining El Salvador as a cheap labor platform for transnational corporations. Ultimately, the ex-guerrilla FMLN dropped any opposition to US imperialism, whose brutal domination over the course of a century engendered the economic conditions that have proven to be so fertile for gangs and criminal activity.

While Bukele was expelled from the FMLN, and has since exploited the widespread hatred for all the political forces involved in the civil war (1980-1992), and heading the governments since to refashion himself as an anti-establishment figure, he offers no real alternative. This is demonstrated by three facts.

First, his key campaign promise of ending impunity for the crimes committed during the civil war, like the Mozote massacre by the military, has largely been abandoned.

Second, several media reports have found that part of the leadership of the gangs has remained unscathed and moved temporarily to rural areas and neighboring countries. Amid worsening poverty under the boot of a police state, and countless youth unrelated to the gangs now locked away with actual gang members and far from their studies and work, conditions could again be ripe for a violent resurgence of the same gang structures.

Third, and most importantly, as demonstrated by his let it rip policies during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Bukele has little concern for the actual safety and lives of the Salvadoran people. The regime of exception responds to the pressing demands by the American ruling elite to establish a safe corridor to connect the North American supply chains with the cheap labor and natural resources in Central and the South America.

But this safety doesnt refer to protecting workers and their families, but rather protects the foreign capital investments, factories, products and profits from the workers, even if initially this takes the form of crushing the extortion-seeking gangs.

These corridors are urgently needed by US imperialism as it tries to near-shore production and consolidate a North American economic platform to compete against its rivals, including China, Russia and the major European powers.

Any challenge from below that may disrupt these plans will be met by deadly repression. There are indications that the Bukele regime is already using the state of exception to crack down on social opposition. The Development Association of the rural community Santa Marta on Monday denounced the arbitrary detention for over a month of five of its leaders under the regime of exception. Those arrested had led protests against mining corporations.

The official poverty rate has jumped to one-third of the population, while 21.4 percent of Salvadorans would like to emigrate, according to a recent IUDOP poll. Such desperate economic conditions will eventually lead to an eruption of the class struggle.

The influential US think-tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) published last December a report titled Advancing U.S. Nearshoring Priorities in Central America with Special Economic Zones. The report indicates that providing investors inviting macroeconomic environments is the first challenge for these nearshoring plans.

Investors and governments must therefore seek out geographically defined areas, where rule of law, anti-corruption measures, and regulatory stability and predictability characterize the landscape, the report indicates. Moreover, it proposes a network of US-dominated special economic zones (SEZ) with tax and regulatory incentives where management can rule unimpeded.

The CSIS report focuses in on El Salvador, where Washington has successfully pressured the government to halt plans for a Chinese-dominated special economic zone. The report says this project is troubling because it would mainly benefit China-based investors while sidelining many U.S. and European companies.

With geopolitical considerations front and center, supply chains and the global investment landscape are likely to become less global and more regional, the report concludes.

While the report describes China as a nondemocratic competitor, the corporate incentives and suppression of the class struggle that the CSIS proposes are incompatible with democratic forms of rule. At the same time, this competition will inevitably drag Central America into the maelstrom of a third world war.

Any hypocritical criticism by the Biden administration against Bukele is part of its pressure campaign to pull the country away from China. But even as Bukele attempts to balance ties with US imperialism and China, Washington has become more openly supportive of Bukeles state of exception.

Human Rights Watch analyst Juan Pappier noted to CNN that, while there was initial criticism of Bukeles measures by the White House, more recently we have observed ambiguous positions. This was confirmed by the response of Bidens State Department to CNN.

El Salvador and the United States have a personal interest in making sure these violent criminals remain off the streets, a spokesperson said, while unconvincingly claiming grave concerns about human rights violations, arbitrary detentions and deaths.

Just as in El Salvador, ruling elites across Latin America are prepared to subordinate every social policy to creating inviting macroeconomic environments to compete for foreign capital, especially as the crisis of global capitalism worsens.

Governments identified as part of the misnamed Pink Tide and openly right-wing regimes alike are emulating Bukeles repression and implementing their own militarization strategies.

On November 24, only hours after Bukele launched a new phase of his war, the supposedly left President Xiomara Castro in neighboring Honduras announced an ongoing national state of emergency and military deployment to suspend constitutional rights where needed. These are the same security forces that have repeatedly killed protesters and local leaders like Berta Caceres who opposed the regime installed by the US-backed 2009 coup.

Throughout 2022, the right-wing administration of Guillermo Lasso in Ecuador declared four states of exception in different regions, including one against a national strike in June.

Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has enshrined into the Constitution the permanent presence of the military on the streets and created a new National Guard that has already been deployed against migrant workers and strikers.

Colombias pseudo-left President Gustavo Petro announced last week a US$1.1 billion purchase of military equipment. Colombias forces will be better prepared, more modern, interoperable and adapted to the new realities in the national and regional context, his defense minister boasted. These are the same security forces that killed thousands of civilians in the 2000s and used live ammunition against mass demonstrations in 2021. In December 2022, Petro renewed troop deployments to Putumayo, where only a few months earlier the military massacred 11 civilians and tried to cover it up by moving the bodies.

Chiles pseudo-left President Gabriel Boric has kept the military deployed under a state of exception to repress the indigenous population in the south, while Brazil's Workers Party President Lula da Silva has promised massive investments in the military and protected leading military officials who were behind the January 8 fascist coup attempt.

Finally, the US-backed coup regime of Dina Boluarte in Peru has employed a state of emergency, the military and live ammunition to crush mass demonstrations ultimately driven by opposition to the policies subordinated to the mining transnationals and Wall Street.
Do you work at Norfolk Southern or another Class I railway? Do you live in East Palestine or a neighboring community? Tell us what you think about the February 3 accident and release of toxic chemicals by filling out the form at the bottom of this article. All submissions will be kept anonymous.

A man takes photos as a black plume rises over East Palestine, Ohio, as a result of a controlled detonation of a portion of the derailed Norfolk Southern train, Feb. 6, 2023. [AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar]

Residents of East Palestine, Ohio, have many questions but few answers regarding the February 3 derailment of a Norfolk Southern freight train and the release of more than 500 tons of toxic chemicals into the ground, water and air.

Over the weekend, residents of the town with a population of 4,700 took to social media and spoke with the press about the death of pets and livestock, the further impact on their health and that of their children, the chlorine-like smell in the air and the lack of accurate information from both Norfolk Southern and state and federal officials.

Ive watched every news conference, and I havent heard anything that makes me think that this is a data-driven decision, Maura Todd, 44, told the Washington Post. We dont feel like we have a whole lot of information.

The air smells like an over-chlorinated swimming pool, causing his eyes to burn, Eric Whitining told the Post. He said he had no choice but to return home with his family of five. Many people in this small community on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border are struggling to pay their bills and cannot afford to move away.

Jackie Moore, known as jakajam11 on TikTok, is a mother of four who lives in Ohio. In her post, East Palestine Walking Trail along Leslie Run, February 12, 2023, she pointed out dead fish in the waters of the Leslie Run Creek as heavy machinery filtered the water.

On Friday, residents learned for the first time of three additional toxic chemicalsethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate and isobutylenethat were on the train and had been released into the environment.

In a letter sent by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to Norfolk Southern, the three chemicals were listed along with the others that had been previously identified. To date, Norfolk Southern has not provided the public with a full accounting of all the contents of the 140-car freight train that derailed.

Underscoring the potential for a catastrophe involved in hauling millions of tons of toxic chemicals by rail, a truck driver died in a crash Monday with a train carrying toxic chemicals outside Houston, Texas. The Union Pacific railroad was said to be monitoring air quality at the scene. The same day there was another train derailment in Enoree, South Carolina.

On February 6, Norfolk Southern and government officials conducted what they called a controlled release of five tanker cars filled with vinyl chloride, a highly flammable and toxic chemical, known even in low amounts to cause cancer of the liver and other organs. The EPA and Norfolk Southern officials have not released the quantity of vinyl chloride carried on the train, but estimates based on the size of the tankers put the amount at over 1 million pounds.

In preparation of the controlled release, residents within one mile of the site were ordered to evacuate their homes.

The so-called controlled release amounted to using explosives to puncture the tankers, allowing the vinyl chloride to flow into a ditch that had been dug alongside the cars where the carcinogenic chemical was set on fire.

Flames from the explosion shot up hundreds of feet into the air and could be seen from over 20 miles away. Smoke from the fire rose into the atmosphere, where it spread toxic waste for hundreds of miles.

Toxins that did not burn or spilled from the original derailment into the nearby stream have been detected more than 30 miles away in the Ohio River.

Materials released during the incident were observed and detected in samples from Sulphur Run, Leslie Run, Bull Creek, North Fork Little Beaver Creek, Little Beaver Creek, and the Ohio River, wrote the EPA.

There are 25 million people who live along and depend upon the Ohio River as their water supply.

We basically nuked a town with chemicals so we could get a railroad open, Sil Caggiano, a hazardous materials specialist, told CBS-affiliate WKBN.

Last Wednesday, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, in complete disregard for the people living in East Palestine, announced that it was safe for residents to return to their homes. Reflecting rising social tensions, as the governor started his press briefing, police arrested a NewsNation reporter covering the event after a provocation by the head of the Ohio National Guard.

Caggiano, who is also a former battalion chief with the Youngstown Fire Department, felt that more testing should be done before sending residents back.

I was surprised when they quickly told the people they can go back home, but then said if they feel like they want their homes tested they can have them tested. I wouldve far rather they did all the testing, Caggiano told WKBN.

Theres a lot of what-ifs, and were going to be looking at this thing 5, 10, 15, 20 years down the line and wondering, Gee, cancer clusters could pop up, you know, well water could go bad, Caggiano said.

Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding, an epidemiologist and an outspoken proponent of greater safety measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, said on Twitter he would evacuate everyone within a 50-mile radius. The government only evacuated people within a one-mile radius. Feigl-Ding advised that people should be kept away until the area can be fully tested and cleared of toxic chemicals.

Noting the likelihood of long-term health effects, Pennsylvania residents filed a federal lawsuit demanding that the railroad pay for medical screenings and related care for anyone living within a 30-mile radius of the derailment.

The EPA letter to Norfolk Southern also pointed out that in the race to rebuild the damaged tracks and get trains running again, the ground where the vinyl chloride was poured was not removed but simply covered over.

On Saturday, the East Palestine Police Department notified residents in a tweet that Norfolk Southern would be sending contractors to conduct tests of peoples drinking water.

Many like Nicole Stevenson asked the obvious question of why they should trust the company that poisoned their water to now do the testing. She tweeted, Can we get testers not affiliated with the responsible party??? It would put us residents at ease with the findings. Others wanted to know why they were told it was safe to return when their water was not safe.

Another area of concern for experts has been the tools being used by the EPA to monitor the air and the fact that not enough information was collected before sending people back to their homes.

In any of these situations, EPA is going to monitor with what tools they have available to them, but that doesnt necessarily mean thats the best way to monitor, said Peter DeCarlo, an environmental health professor at Johns Hopkins University, to the Washington Post. The handheld monitors that were being used are convenient to use, but they often do not have the necessary sensitivity or the chemical specificity to really assess whether theres a risk.

The danger of catastrophic accidents is increasing as all the major railroads have slashed thousands of jobs and reduced the size of train crews to cut costs.

Each day millions of dollars worth of freight pass through East Palestine. Just as during the pandemic, when politicians pushed to reopen workplaces and schools so companies could make profits, disregarding or covering up the potentially dire health consequences, there was a push to quickly reopen the rail line without any concern for the well-being and safety of the residents of the town.
The crisis gripping the health care system in the US is intensifying, with unprecedented numbers of hospital closures on the horizon and new mass layoffs among health care workers. As the world enters the fourth year of the pandemic, and the mass infection policies of the Biden administration and governments around the world continue to ensure the pummeling of health systems, hospitals are also being flooded with children and adults suffering from respiratory illnesses such as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza.

In the US alone, by official counts 1.14 million Americans have died from COVID-19, with 20,000 deaths occurring since the start of the new year. A staggering 450 people are dying each day, according to the current seven-day average. Despite President Biden declaring the pandemic over, those infected with the coronavirus are still presenting in hospitals.

The US health care system is reaching its breaking point, exacerbated by hospital understaffing, particularly among nurses. When one hospital closes, the impact on an entire region is immense. The current rate of hospital closures and layoffs exposes a system organized on the basis of profit, and which lacks any significant planning to provide high quality medical care.

ProMedica headquarters in Toledo, Ohio [Photo by Ohio Redevelopment Projects / CC BY-SA 4.0

A recent report in Beckers Hospital Review noted a vast array of workforce reduction efforts or job eliminations that were announced within the past three months and/or take effect over the next month, within health systems. The list includes:

Oklahoma University (OU) Health, a teaching hospital in Oklahoma City, which is eliminating about 100 positions as part of an organizational redesign.

Integris Health, another Oklahoma City-based health system, is eliminating 200 jobs to curb expenses.

ProMedica in Toledo, Ohio, plans to lay off 262 employees, to take effect between March 10 and April 1.

On November 11, St. Vincent Charity Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio, closed its emergency room and inpatient care services, laying off nearly a thousand workers.

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center is laying off 337 employees across 14 sites in New York City, or about 1.8 percent of the cancer centers 22,500 workforce.

Pikeville Medical Center in Kentucky laid off 112 employees at the end 2022.

Desert Springs Hospital Medical Center in Las Vegas is notifying its workers of upcoming layoffs with its transition to a freestanding emergency department, which will affect 970 employees.

Kaweah Health in Visalia, California, aims to eliminate 94 positions after lowering its workforce by 106.

In addition to mass layoffs across the industry, high-level hospital closures are on the horizon with hundreds of jobs at risk.

A staggering 631 rural hospitals are at risk of closure, with more than 200 hospitals at immediate risk, according to the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform. Six states are facing the shutdown of at least half of their rural hospitals.

In rural Alabama, 48 percent of hospitals are at risk of closing, with 16 percent in immediate danger. Urban hospitals have been overwhelmed consistently throughout the pandemic due to chronic understaffing. Frank Thomas, CEO at Citizens Baptist Medical Center in Talladega, told the Birmingham Business Journal, Another problem that has really been difficult through COVID and even as were coming out of COVID is the rural hospitals ability to transfer patients to a higher level of care in urban markets  When a rural hospital gets a sick patient who maybe needs a higher level of care that the hospital cant provide, they need to transfer to that higher level of care. And it has just been very difficult for rural hospitals to transfer patients because the urban hospitals are full or either theyre suffering from staffing shortages.

While rural hospitals are closing at faster rates, urban hospitals are not immune to the closures. Last November, Atlanta Medical Center (AMC), in Atlanta, Georgia, closed, leaving tens of thousands of patients deprived of health care and laying off hundreds of employees. These events, which result in a decline in available health care despite very high demand, illustrate the eroding health care infrastructure in the US.

A registered medical worker dons protective gear before entering a room at a hospital in Royal Oak, Mich. In 2021. [AP Photo/Carlos Osorio]

The impact on surrounding hospitals in Atlanta has been devastating, with the closure of AMC leaving a city with half a million people with access to only one level one trauma center, at Grady Memorial Hospital. Since the closure, there has been a 20 percent increase in trauma patients at Grady, and a 40 percent rise in obstetrics and NICU care, according to Chief Health Policy Officer Ryan Loke. Just three days after the AMC closure, the impact on surrounding hospitals was so immense that the emergency room at Wellstar Atlanta Medical Center was forced to close due to rerouted patients. Severe overcrowding was also reported in the emergency room at Piedmont Atlanta Hospital.

In Washington D.C. in 2019, one year before the pandemic, the city council voted in favor of plans to close United Medical Center in January 2023. Arnel Jean-Pierre, a nurse who was working at the hospital told the Talk Poverty web site, The end result is a lot of people are going to suffer. UMC is the last hospital in nations capital not located in the northwest quadrant, the citys wealthiest section. Jean-Pierre said, Theyre paying taxes just like the folks in Georgetown, [wealthy DC neighborhood]. Why should they have the delay in health care when they face a stroke? While UMC remains open for the time being, it is unclear when it will shutter its doors.

Although these trends increased under the pandemic, they are nothing new. According to Fierce Healthcare, the nonprofit Chartis Group, health consultants in Boston, found that over the past 13 years, 143 facilities have closed and another 453 are vulnerable to shutting their doors.

These mass layoffs and closures could not come at a worse time, with potentially deadly long wait times at ERs across North America. Health Services Research journal examined 5 million discharge records from California between October 2015 and the end of 2017 and found a 5.4 percent increase in the chance of death from any cause when a hospitals emergency room is overcrowded.

These conditions are connected to the nationwide nursing shortage, with a report from McKinsey & Company last year predicting a shortfall of up to 450,000 registered nurses in the US by 2025.

While health systems in the US and Europe struggle with closures and layoffs, governments are pouring billions of dollars into the NATO proxy war in Ukraine. This past week in the UK, tens of thousands of nurses, EMTs and first responders struck against attacks on the National Health Service (NHS) and for safe staffing.

In the US, the assault on health care workers conditions and patient care takes place as for-profit and non-profit hospitals alike continue to rake in astronomical profits and pay their CEOs exorbitant salaries. The transformational change necessary requires that health care workers unite internationally to put an end to the for-profit delivery of health as part of the broader fight for socialism.

Are you a health care worker? Fill out the form below to describe conditions at your hospital or health care facility. We will protect your identity.
This article was initially posted as a thread on Twitter.

Financial Times columnist Gideon Rachman has long enjoyed a reputation as one of the more thoughtful journalists employed by the capitalist press. That has been badly damaged by his response to the Ukraine War, which consists of total acceptance of NATOs propaganda narrative.

Rachmans latest self-inflicted wound to his reputation is a column attacking US academic John Mearsheimers well-grounded claim that the Biden administrations plan to bring Ukraine into NATO created an existential threat to Russia that triggered its invasion last February.

Titled It makes no sense to blame the west for the Ukraine war, Rachmans column declares that Mearsheimers position on the war stands reality on its head.

Rachman argues: The argument that the US bears responsibility for the war in Ukraine ignores a principle fundamental to both morality and law  that the responsibility for a murder, or a murderous invasion, lies with the person who pulls the trigger or gives the command.

This is, as any serious historically-grounded study of war demonstrates, an utterly banal and false analogy. Individual homicides and wars between nations involve profoundly different levels of causality.

War is an event that arises from the complex interaction of social, economic and geopolitical processes and interests, operating on a global scale. The real cause of a war is rarely answered by determining who fired the first shot.

In tracing the origin of a war, historians grapple with the interaction of domestic and international pressures operating on the major state actors and decision makers.

Moreover, in the run-up to the outbreak of war, the contending parties  to obtain the political and propaganda advantage of being able to claim the moral high ground  often attempt to maneuver their potential enemy into initiating hostilities.

But as the war unfolds and the underlying issues and aims come into focus, the significance of the first shot as an explanatory factor recedes in importance. The attack on Fort Sumter in 1861 began the conflict but did not cause the Civil War.

The assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914 provided the pretext for a war that had long been in preparation. But the murder was not the essential cause of World War I.

In the case of the present Ukraine War, the Russian invasion of February 24, 2022 was preceded by a long chain of events. Rachman seems to have forgotten that war had been raging in eastern Ukraine since 2014, resulting in more than 14,000 deaths.

Moreover, the fighting in the Donbass region had been precipitated by the overthrow of the pro-Russian elected government in Kiev in a coup supported and largely financed by the United States.

The origin of the war can be traced still further back, at least to the dissolution of the USSR in December 1991, which triggered a chain reaction of national and ethnic conflicts. A similar process had unfolded in Yugoslavia after its breakup in 1990-91.

There is another problem in Rachmans argument. He claims that Russia acts differently than other nations because it is led by a very bad man, Vladimir Putin. Rachman writes that the character of a state, and of its leaders, do matter.

Putins badness explains why Russia launched a war for which there was no justification.

Preventive wars are sometimes regarded as acceptable  but only if a rival nation is poised to strike.

Ukraine was obviously not in that position last year. By blurring this point, Mearsheimer does become an unwitting apologist for Putins war of aggression.

But with this indictment of Mearsheimer, Rachman hoists himself on his own petard.

Even if one accepts that Putins decision to invade Ukraine was illegal because Russia did not face an imminent threat of attack, Rachman bypasses the fact that the US had behaved in a no less illegal manner when it invaded Afghanistan and Iraq.

This evasion exposes the most glaring weakness in Rachmans argument: His analysis of the wars origins completely ignores any examination of the policies of the United States and NATO over the previous 30 years.

Rachman does not acknowledge the existence of any connection between the forever wars waged by the United States  which have resulted in regime changes, the murder of leaders and massive civilian deaths  and the planned integration of Ukraine into NATO.

In his avoidance of any critical evaluation of the origin of the war, he becomes, to borrow the words he used against Mearsheimer, an unwitting apologist for NATO.
Reznikov confirms he invites Pavliuk, Deineha, Shevchenko to positions as his deputies, announces new staff changes in Defense Ministry

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov confirmed he had invited Lieutenant General Oleksandr Pavliuk, former MP and former Ambassador of Ukraine to Canada Andriy Shevchenko, and volunteer and journalist Vitaliy Deineha to deputy ministry positions.

"I invited new people to the team. According to the procedure, I submitted candidates for positions to the president of Ukraine for approval, after which the government should approve them. All of them are known, so just a few words. First. The candidacy of the Hero of Ukraine, General Lieutenant Alexander Pavlyuk," he said on Facebook.

Reznikov said Pavliuk is perfectly aware of the issues of war and the needs of the Ukrainian army, and also has the necessary leadership and managerial qualities.

The minister also confirmed he had invited volunteer and journalist Deineha to the post of Deputy Minister for Digital Development, Digital Transformations and Digitalization.

In addition, Reznikov said he invited Shevchenko, a journalist, former MP and former Ambassador of Ukraine to Canada, to the post of Deputy Minister for European Integration.

"As for those who held the positions of deputies  First Deputy Defense Minister Colonel General Ivan Rusnak and Deputy Defense Minister for Digital Development Oleh Haida  they remain in the Ministry's team and will be involved in the work as advisors to the minister," the minister said.

According to the head of the defense department, these are not the last steps to restart the Defense Ministry.

"The next changes to strengthen the team will be presented in a few days," he said.
A two-day meeting of the defense ministers of the member countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization starts in Brussels. On the agenda is a further increase in support for Ukraine in the war that Russia is waging against it, an increase in the pace of ammunition production.

Secretary General of the organization Jens Stoltenberg said before the meeting that NATO defense ministers will meet at a critical time for security. Next week will be a year since the beginning of the terrible war in Ukraine, since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and NATO sees no signs that President Putin is preparing to negotiate, according to him. Stoltenberg said NATO sees the opposite and is preparing for an even greater war, for new offensives and new attacks. He said it is even more important that NATO allies and partners provide even more support to Ukraine.

According to him, Ukraine also needs to provide more ammunition, as well as increase their production, so that it would be possible to provide the necessary ammunition to Ukraine, as well as replenish storage facilities.

In addition, during the meeting, the ministers will approve long-term guidelines for defense planning to further strengthen deterrence and defense. The Allies will discuss investing in defense, as well as how to protect critical infrastructure, the alliance's secretary general said.

Asked by journalists why, in light of arms supplies to Ukraine, the public should believe that NATO is not a party to the conflict, Stoltenberg said that neither NATO nor the allies are a party to the conflict. He said Ukraine is protecting itself, NATO must understand that it is a war of aggression. President Putin, Russia attacked a sovereign, democratic, free state in Europe, Ukraine, and Ukraine has the right to defend itself. The right of self-defence is spelled out in the UN Charter, it is part of international law, and NATO has the right to help Ukraine use its right to self-defense, Stoltenberg said.

On the same day, a meeting of the U.S.-led Contact Group for Ukraine will be held at the headquarters to discuss urgent needs for increasing support for Ukraine, in which Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov will take part. Also, the head of the defense department will take part in a special session of the meeting of NATO defense ministers.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Ukraine has urgent needs for additional military assistance and assured that NATO allies are ready to support Ukraine in the long term.

I am proud to be here with representatives from across the world. We are here to reaffirm our support for a free and sovereign Ukraine. Nearly one year ago, Putin began his unprovoked and indefensible Invasion of Ukraine. Putin thought that in the mere of days his forces would seize Kyiv and overthrow Ukraine's democratically elected government. He thought that the international community would just leave it, Austin said at the opening of the meeting of the Contact Group on the Defense of Ukraine in Brussels.

The head of the Pentagon cited the words of US President Joe Biden that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is a test for the whole world.

He noted that the Ukrainian army pushed Russian troops away from Kyiv, Kharkov and drove them out of Kherson "with Javelin, Stinger and other systems donated by the countries in this room."

"This Contact Group has made it clear that we will support Ukraine's fight for freedom over the long term," Austin said.

"And we will help Ukraine hold in advance during the spring counter-offensive. With unity and urgency, we will again deliver the support that we have promised to Ukraine," he said.

The head of the Pentagon also noted the coordination and efforts of countries to provide Ukraine with Patriot, SAMP-T systems and tanks.

"Germany, Poland, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands are working together to provide Leopard battle tanks to Ukraine," he said.

"But we still have much more to do together. We must intensify our focus. Ukraine has urgent requirements to help it meet this critical moment in the course of the war, Austin said.

He said the purpose of the Contact Group is not only to provide weapons, but also to provide long-term capabilities. According to Austin, countries today will continue to talk about the synchronization of assistance to Ukraine, and will also discuss the topic of industrial initiatives for the continuity of support.

"The Kremlin is still betting that it can wait us out. But one year on, we are as united, as before," Austin said.

The Chief of the Pentagon expressed confidence that the unity of the countries will only grow. He said the war concerns not only the right of Ukraine to live in peace and security, but also determines what kind of world "our children" will live in.
The Norwegian authorities have decided to allocate 12 tanks of various types to Ukraine, said Norwegian Defense Minister Bjorn Arild Gram.

"Norway will donate eight tanks and up to four special purpose tanks to Ukraine. The authorities will also allocate funds for the purchase of ammunition and spare parts," the defense minister said.

The statement did not specify which tanks Oslo would hand over to Kyiv. However, according to the document, Norway will send about $24.7 million to the European Peace Facility for the purchase of ammunition and spare parts for Leopard 2 tanks.

In early February, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stre proposed to allocate NOK 15 billion (about $1.5 billion) annually for five years to provide humanitarian and military assistance to Ukraine.

Earlier, the German authorities announced a decision to transfer to Ukraine the first batch of 14 Leopard 2 tanks and 178 Leopard 1 tanks. At the same time, the German authorities give permission to the allies to supply Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.

Leopard 2 is the main battle tank of the German armed forces. It is also in service in Austria, Hungary, Poland, Turkey, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, Denmark, Greece, Finland, and the Netherlands. It has been in operation since 1979, has many modifications, more than 3,600 units have been produced in total.
The Permanent Representatives Committee (Coreper) of the EU countries will establish an ad hoc working party on the use of assets frozen in the EU for the reconstruction of Ukraine.

A new item appeared in the published draft agenda for the February 15 Coreper meeting: "Ad hoc Working Party on the use of frozen and immobilised assets to support Ukraine's reconstruction: establishment and mandate. Approval."

As follows from the agenda, this approval will take place without discussion.

At the same time, the document does not specify the ownership of the assets in question. Nevertheless, recently the heads of EU institutions have repeatedly made statements that they are talking about Russian assets frozen in the European Union. At the same time, on the eve of an extraordinary EU summit on February 9, a high-ranking European official told reporters that EU leaders, as part of the discussion of assistance to Ukraine, planned to move forward on the use of frozen Russian assets. But this, he explained, is not about their confiscation.

This is a sanctions regime, not a confiscation regime. The sanctions regime means that you can use the money, but you have to pay it back when the policy changes, the EU official said.

He said that these funds, in an amount estimated at about EUR 300 billion, are distributed in various financial structures.

Answering a question, he confirmed that this money cannot be spent irretrievably. What can be done is to use them: profit from EUR 300 billion and use these funds for recovery. That is the theory. But it must be done concretely. First one needs to identify these funds, access them, determine the mechanism (for their use), the representative of the EU said.
As a result of the earthquake that occurred in Turkey last week, five Ukrainian citizens have been killed, including a family from Zaporizhia, seven people are considered missing, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Oleh Nikolenko said.

Unfortunately, as a result of the earthquake, five citizens of Ukraine have been killed, including a family from Zaporizhia. The Embassy is taking measures to prepare for the repatriation of the bodies of the victims, he wrote on Facebook.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a total of 136 citizens were found and 37 evacuated. Ten Ukrainians were rescued from the rubble.

At the same time, seven people are considered missing, their search continues (two may remain under the rubble, units of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine are involved in the search). One person was hospitalized, his condition is stable.

A second group of consuls is being sent to the disaster zone to coordinate the search for missing citizens on the spot, assist the victims and ensure the evacuation of Ukrainians to other Turkish regions and Ukraine, the spokesperson said.

In the near future, diplomats plan to evacuate 22 Ukrainian citizens from the affected southern region.
Maserati

After a four-year hiatus, Maserati is back to making what it has been historically known forGrand Touring carsand the results are promising.

Powered by the MC20-derived Nettuno engine, Maserati's newest GranTurismo Trofeo exhibits the loud-mouthed flair that an Italian performance car should, while showing signs of influence by its Stellantis-overhead.

Priced at $205,000, Maserati's flagship four-seat coupe isn't exactly a bang for your buck, but it has more charisma than its peculiar set of competitors from Porsche, BMW, and Aston Martin.

Over the course of automotive history, the region of a car's origins has traditionally brought nationalistic attributes along with it. German cars are known for their precision builds and complex mechanical components, Japanese cars for their legacy of quality and affordability, for example. Italian cars, however, are supposed to be passionate, flamboyant, and at times unreliableat least that's how decades of anecdotal ownership experience have shaped the stereotype.

So, as Maserati launches its first blank-slate GranTurismo model since 2008, it begs an existential question for the recently revived brand: Can the fiery spirit of a Maserati remain intact while also demonstrating Stellantis-bred cost-effective quality? Winding through the unmarked, narrow roads of Central Italy's grassland in a Giallo Corse (yellow) Trofeo-trim GranTurismo, most signs pointed to yes, though a few doubts remained.

Maserati

Starting at $205,000, the Trofeo model is Maserati's highest-performance internal-combustion grand tourer, powered by an electronically de-tuned version of the 3.0-liter V6 Twin Turbo Nettuno engine. With 550 hp and 479 lb-ft of torque, the Trofeo strikes the middle ground in price and performance between the even further tempered (490-hp) GranTurismo Modena and the 750-hp battery electric GranTurismo Folgore. Notably, pricing for the Modena starts at $174,000, while Folgore pricing is claimed to start slightly above the Trofeo, though the company has yet to release official figures. All of these cars, battery electric or not, will come off the same production line, a line that can even be shifted to meet variable ICE or BEV demand, Maserati says.



Thankfully, one doubt was easily put to rest with a touch of the accelerator. This car is quick! Massively quick, even, and it pulls in a compelling, dramatic way with a softened wail and some seamlessly integrated turbocharged boost pressure from the Twin Turbo Nettuno engine. It's a real immediate kick in the pants off the line, rapidly pushing you forward. With peak torque at 3000 rpm, the pull itself actually continues up until it peaks just before redline, which is just above 6500 rpm. Launch from a stop and it fires to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds, though the Nettuno engine is just as willing and charismatic when you lug it to 75% of its 198 mph top speed in 7th gear.

Maserati

Just as the digitally instrumented needle approaches the top of the engine's revolution range, a snap of the oversized column-mounted paddles starts this rollercoaster ride of power all over again, replete with a transmission kick reminiscent of single-clutch transmissions. The difference between those drama-filled shift lags found on early 2000s Lamborghinis or even the SMG-equipped BMW E46 M3 and the new GranTurismo Trofeo is that here it's an engineered feature of the ZF eight-speed automatic transmission, not a bug.

The four drive modes are very distinct in relation to the transmission, especially going from corsa or sport to GT or comfort, and Maserati's engineers correctly decided that a sense of bravado was required in the performance-oriented settings. Yet, the shifts become invisible in comfort mode, just like they should be. Working the ZF8 transmission in manual mode or letting the computer row its own will never be as fast or precise as Porsche's dual-clutch system, but at least it's just as fun.

Maserati

True to its passion-filled roots, the most human interactive part of drivingthe steering systemis frankly wonderful. Given that it's electric power steering, you don't get road feel through the steering wheel, but it makes up for it by being immediate and direct. Paired with a quick steering ratio, a one- or two-finger grab is all that's needed to aim the car turn after turn. Additionally, the artificial steering weight doesn't suffer the over-boosted feeling plaguing many modern electric racks; rather, it matches the driving speed and situation without any perceivable adaption. Part of this feel, Maserati's Head of Design Klaus Busse explained, also comes down to the three-spoke shape and relative thinness of the wheel, allowing for more delicate hand inputs to yield greater mechanical outputs.

To best enjoy the handling of the GranTurismo, however, I had to switch off the sport suspension. As oxymoronic as that may seem, sport mode combined with the bumpy surfaces of the village roads northwest of Rome wasn't conducive for a true grand touring experience. In normal mode, the suspension glided over road imperfections but managed to absorb the forces of roll and yaw as we tipped it into a series of fast sweepers, all thanks to its adjustable air springs and electronically controlled dampers. Maserati itself admits that the GranTurismo is a touring car by all accounts, made for covering the distance in comfort and at speed, and a bit of extra give in the massive air springs isn't going to really slow you down. We promise.



Maserati

In fact, Maserati's new suspension and drivetrain system were designed to make you a better backroad driver without any extra seat time. At least that's how it feels behind the wheel, as Maserati's proprietary Vehicle Domain Control Module (VDCM) takes action, blending a series of traction and stability control systems with the suspension and electric self-locking rear differential to essentially fix the imprecision with which human drivers operate. Additionally, because previous generations of the GranTurismo were historically rear-wheel drive, the model-wide shift to all-wheel drive necessitated some additional electronics to keep it light on its feet at 4000 pounds.

You don't exactly feel the system working from behind the wheel, but its functions allow for acceleration-, cornering-, and braking-dependent power splits between the front and rear axle, with up to 100% of the power sent to rear wheels under hard acceleration. Compared to previous generations of the GranTurismo, the combination of AWD, a 52% front and 48% rear weight distribution, as well as the active VDCM co-driver make for an especially stable character that's unlikely to penalize you for mistakes at corner entry and exit.

Maserati

It's a raucous car from the driver's seat, but that spirit is tempered by its traditionalist exterior. It takes on a classic Maserati shape and style, though the designers would be quick to point out its 'Cofango' style, blended bonnet and fenders, as well as its all-new 65% aluminum chassis construction. And while it bears some slight resemblance to its predecessor, the design of the new generation was truly hinged in large part on modularity between the ICE and BEV versions.

"The batteries are occupying the same space as the combustion component, so we are using the engine and we are using the [transmission] tunnel to protect the batteries, and that allows us to keep this car incredibly low," Maserati's Head of Design Klaus Busse explains. "That's why we have to talk so much about package actually...Our job as designers is to do a respectful job dressing the car, so it looks appropriately beautiful."

Maserati

Once you get inside the car, however, it's clear that this vehicle is of modern times, for better and for worse. A typical suite of audio connectivity including Apple CarPlay paired with an easily usable, proprietary navigation system is ergonomically laid out on a 12.3-inch central display. It's not too big or too small and is mounted a short reach from the steering wheel. However, the 8.8-inch comfort display touchscreen mounted directly below it is almost immediately confusing, with the climate controls mixed in with a series of drive controls, including traction control. Even worse, Maserati decided to use a horizontally mounted, piano-key material push button shifter, which felt cheap and required a firm push or two to engage. That said, the interior's redeeming qualities include its aggressively bolstered but plush leather seats, spacious cabin and trunk, as well as its 12.2-inch digital instrument cluster, which was designed with enough attention to detail to remain unobstructed by steering wheel adjustment. Overall, its interior receives a passing grade, but its host of infotainment and the accompanying screens don't feel like anything fresh.

Maserati

Maserati mentioned the only two-door, four-seat segment competitor is BMW's 8-series, particularly the M8 version. Priced at $136,095 and with 617 horsepower, on paper it doesn't even look like a fair fight between the two, but it's undeniable that the BMW lacks a degree of panache and flair that is oozing from the GranTurismo. If you were to truly compare the GranTurismo on performance, it seems like a more apt comparison would be with the BMW M4, while pitting it against vehicles of a similar price and luxury yields competition from the likes of Porsche's Panamera or even Aston Martin's Vantage.

Is it better than any of these cars? Is the Grand Touring class even relevant anymore? Ultimately, is it really worth $205,000?

If it were our money, the temptation of Nettuno-powered pulls on the daily would be strong. From a dynamic perspective, it's more than a captivating exhaust noteit's truly intoxicating, from the power to the electronic drivetrain adjustments, and even the biting Brembo brakes. You feel attractive driving around in it, getting thumbs up from Moto Guzzis and families in Ford Mondeos alike, thanks to its attractive design, but that special feeling doesn't carry over to the interior, the place where you'll spend your time. Despite this, and perhaps most important of all, Maserati's GranTurismo Trofeo has undeniable character, a quality that can't be measured but can and will easily sway already affluent buyers to pay just a little more for Italian character.

Share your thoughts on the tradition of Italian grand tourers in generaland of Alfa Romeo's GranTurismo specificallyin the comments below.
Maryjo Mundey is the human resource business partner for the Marion, Mansfield, and Newark campuses of The Ohio State University. She began working and taking classes at Ohio State Marion in 1998.

For Maryjo Mundey, success has come from a passion for her job  and hard work.

I grew up in a blue collar family, recalled Mundey. I always wanted to be a teacher or a lawyer. I had two sisters who were quite a bit older so basically grew up as an only child. My father worked at the local steel factory. He retired after 45 years of service. I loved to play softball and tether ball with my dad. My mother was a stay at home mom until I was old enough to stay home by myself and then she went to work at the local dime store. One of my favorite memories is sitting on the back porch playing jacks with my mom. I think I get my work ethic and my compassion for others from my parents.

I always wanted to go to college, she continued, but it was never really a topic of discussion at home. I came from a family with the mindset, get married, have kids, and work hard. Which I did! In 1987 I started working for MedCenter Hospital in Marion. I worked for the director of nursing and later became the executive assistant to the CEO. I loved this job because I interacted with people from all paths of life.

Then in 1998, Mundey started working at OSU Marion.

I knew I found my place, she noted. I had a wonderful mentor who encouraged me to go back to school. I enrolled in my first college courses in the fall semester of 1998. Returning to school and working full time required a balance act on my part. I was a single parent raising two teenagers. There were days when I wasnt sure I would pull it all off but with a great support system, good work ethics, and the grace of God, I accomplished my goal of receiving my B.S. Later, in 2011, I decided I wanted to pursue my MBA. It wasnt a requirement of my job but a personal goal I set for myself. Im proud to say I graduated with my MBA in 2013. I was promoted to the HR director at OSUM in 2011.

Today, Mundey is the human resource business partner for the Marion, Mansfield and Newark campuses of The Ohio State University.

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I have a passion for helping people be successful, she said. I had so many people in my life who pushed and encouraged me along the way, its only fitting that I pay it forward. Human resources has given me that opportunity.

Mundey grew up in Shelby, graduated from Shelby Senior High in 1976, from Ohio State in 2005 with a BS in business administration and again in 2013 with an MBA from OSUs Fisher College of Business.

Maryjo provides exceptional leadership for the campus community, assessed Bishun Pandey, associate dean at Ohio State Marion. She is a people person. She listens compassionately and carefully to employees questions and provides reasonable solutions within no time. Ive never witnessed Maryjo talking negative about anyone. Instead, she always appreciates and encourages people for their strengths. She has a learner mindset and encourages that with her staff and employees. Shes very passionate about her work, and her loyalty to OSU is evident when you walk into her office. She is clearly an asset of the Ohio State Marion, and Im very proud of her accomplishments.

Im a champion for lifelong learning, Mundey responded. Im very happy with the path my life has taken me. I feel like Ive become the best version of myself.

I love working with people and love seeing people succeed, she added. My hard work and determination paid off!

The Ohio State University at Marion is located at 1465 Mt Vernon Ave. in Marion. For more information, call 740-389-6786 or log on osumarion.osu.edu.

Aces of Trades is a weekly series focusing on people and their jobs  whether theyre unusual jobs, fun jobs or people who take ordinary jobs and make them extraordinary. If you have a suggestion for a future profile, let us know at news@marionstar.com.

This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Maryjo Mundey finds her place at Ohio State University at Marion
The post Alec Baldwins Rust to Resume Shooting in Spring Alongside Documentary About Halyna Hutchins appeared first on Consequence.

Rust, the Western starring Alec Baldwin struck by tragedy when cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot on set, will resume production this spring. A documentary about Hutchins will be made alongside the film.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, several members of the original Rust crew will return to complete the production, including director Joel Souza, who was also injured during the shooting. There will be some new faces joining the production: Bianca Cline (Marcel the Shell with Shoes On) will be the films new cinematographer, and she plans to donate her salary to charity.

The production resumes after the crew reached a settlement with Hutchins widower, Matthew Hutchins, who now serves as executive producer. The agreement also offers Hutchins and the couples son an insurance payout, as well as a portion of Rusts profits.

When production began in 2021, Rust employed several non-union crew members. Now, the film will be completed under union agreements. Stunt coordinator Allan Graf is among the names returning to the project, while safety officers Gary Jensen and Paul Jordan and production designer Christine Brandt are joining the effort for the first time. All working weapons and ammunition are now banned from the project, meaning there will no longer be blanks on set.

Baldwin will return to Rust, where some of his scenes still need to be filmed, despite being charged with involuntary manslaughter in Hutchins death after a gun he was practicing drawing fired and hit her in the stomach. Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was also charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter, while assistant director Dave Halls signed a plea agreement to settle a charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon. A new armorer, props master, and assistant director have not been named.

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In addition to Rust, director Rachel Mason and producer Julee Metz will spearhead a documentary on the life of Hutchins, from her upbringing on a Soviet naval base and in Kyiv, Ukraine to her career as a cinematographer. Her time on Rust will also be included in the project. Matthew Hutchins will executive produce the documentary as well.

Alec Baldwins Rust to Resume Shooting in Spring Alongside Documentary About Halyna Hutchins

Carys Anderson

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Murdaugh Killings (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Alex Murdaugh is expected to testify in his trial for the alleged double murders of his son and wife.

Murdaugh is accused of murdering Maggie and Paul, who were both shot dead at the familys sprawling 1,700-acre property in Islandton, South Carolina, on the night of 7 June 2021. The prosecution has argued in court that the disgraced legal scion committed the murders to distract from his mounting financial and legal scandals.

Murdaugh has denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty last June. The murder trial is now in its fourth week at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina.

A source close to the defence has since told News 3 that Murdaugh will be taking the stand in his own defence, possibly next week.

It would be the first time Murdaugh publicly speaks about the murders.

This is a developing story ... check again for updates.
Secretary of Defense of the United States Lloyd J. Austin III has said that he does not have any news on the issue of aircraft supplies to Ukraine, however, he noted that a lot has been done to supply Ukraine with necessary counteroffensive equipment.

"About aircraft. I don't have any announcements to make on aircraft today. We are going to continue to work with Ukraine to address Ukraine's most pressing needs. Again, they are planning a counteroffensive in the spring. And that is weeks away. So, we have a lot do get done," he said at a press conference following a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels on Tuesday.
Desperation and loss were growing Tuesday as frantic rescue workers continue their increasingly futile efforts to recover survivors trapped by the devastating earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the death toll in Turkey from last weeks earthquake increased to 35,418; Syrian officials have said at least 5,800 have died there.

Rescue worker Salam Aldeen spent a week digging through the rubble in Antakya, Turkey, about 40 miles south of the coastal city of Iskenderun in a region of about 500,000 people.

Speaking with USA TODAY from a car leaving the city after a week of rescues, Aldeen said international aid groups are helping desperate Turkish rescue teams working around the clock.

"I have never seen so much death and so many dead bodies in my entire life," he said, crying as he spoke. "The conditions are like in an Armageddon movie; its unbelievable. The whole city smells of dead people."

He said he helped free four people, including a boy found alive Monday, and recovered 35 bodies.

In a video he shared, red-helmeted fire department workers carefully clear rubble from around the boy, one worker cradling his hand between the metal reinforcing bars embedded in the concrete surrounding him.

Aldeen, the founder of Team Humanity, is a veteran aid and rescue worker who has operated in Greece, Syria, Ukraine and Afghanistan. The magnitude 7.8 and 7.5 quakes struck nine hours apart in southeastern Turkey and northern Syria on Feb. 6.

Rescue workers in Antakya, Turkey, recover a body from beneath the rubble in this undated photo.

HOW TO HELP:Relief efforts ongoing after deadliest earthquake in years

New developments:

The impact area of the earthquakes that hit southern Turkey and Syria on Monday was equivalent to about twice the entire area of neighboring Lebanon  which covers about 4,000 square miles, according to Lebanese geologist Tony Nemer.

King Charles met with members of the Syrian and Turkish communities in London, a show of support as they packed aid boxes bound for the earthquake region.

Turkish authorities said more than 150,000 survivors have been moved to shelters outside the affected provinces.

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100 YEARS OF EARTHQUAKES: Turkey, Syria disaster could be among this century's worst

Remains of infants, children add to rescue workers' pain

Aldeen recounted finding a dead man trapped beneath rubble, his body cradling a blanket-swaddled infant who also died. In another instance, he said, a woman escaped out a door when a collapse began but lost her husband and two children.

"Her husband, he was holding each child in a hand. When I found them, when I saw the first body, I was begging that it was not them, that I would find them alive," Aldeen said, describing how he clambered through the rubble. "He died while he was still holding his children, a child in each hand."

Aldeen said he and his friends worked nearly 24 hours straight to extricate the bodies, and then he built a fire to keep warm. He and his team lived on crackers and bread for a week, he said, taking occasional naps in their rental car.

"I was watching the bodies in front of me by the fire and I just started crying," he said. "There are bodies everywhere you walk. And they're just on the street, bodies."

Rescue worker Salam Aldeen, left, rides in excavator bucket with a body recovered from the rubble of the earthquakes in Turkey in Antakya in this undated photo.

TURKEY ISSUES ARREST WARRANTS:Building contractors probed after thousands of buildings toppled

UN: Nearly 9 million Syrians affected by deadly earthquake

Nearly nine million people in Syria have been affected by last week's deadly earthquake, according to the United Nations.

As the organization launched a funding appeal on Tuesday, it said humanitarian agencies will need almost $400 million to respond to "the most pressing humanitarian needs" over the next three months.

"This is a crisis of colossal proportions, one which will be a true litmus test for global generosity, solidarity and diplomacy," said Martin Griffiths, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, after visiting Syria and Turkey.

The funding will be needed to provide shelter, health care, food, water, sanitation, education, nutrition and protection services, the UN said. It also added that funds will be used to repair basic services such as lighting, water and sanitation, agriculture and education as well as create new supply chains.

The UN also hopes the funds will create jobs for residents who want to help move debris.

Over a week has passed since the earthquakes hit, leaving behind shattered lives and homes.



This is a crisis of colossal proportions, one which will be a true litmus test for global generosity, solidarity and diplomacy.



Here is our appeal:  Martin Griffiths (@UNReliefChief) February 14, 2023

Griffiths also tweeted Tuesday that 11 UN trucks have just gone through the newly opened Syria-Turkey border crossing of Bab al-Salam. The organization said the vehicles are carrying blankets, gas cans and mattresses.

The UN also said 58 trucks crossed from Turkey to northwest Syria through the Bab al Hawa crossing point in the last five days carrying aid ranging from food and tents to cholera testing kits.

Rescuers still hear voices underneath the rubble

More than a week later, search teams say they are still hearing voices from under the rubble, offering some hope that more earthquake victims may be alive.

Several people were pulled from the debris in Southern Turkey Tuesday, CNN reported.

Among those rescued was a 35-year-old woman who was believed to have been buried for more than 200 hours in the Kahramanmaras region, citing state broadcaster TRT Haber. It is also believed that the woman's husband was also pulled from the rubble, the networks reported.

Also two brothers, a 21-year-old and a 17-year-old, were pulled from collapsed buildings on Tuesday, the Turkish state broadcaster said.

And in the city of Adyaman, workers pulled an 18-year-old boy and a man alive from the rubble, while Ukraines rescue team rescued pulled a woman in the southern province of Hatay, according to CNN's Turkish affiliate.

More than 8,000 people have been rescued alive from rubble in Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said, Al Jazeera reported.

Geologist warns that Turkey could see another quake soon

Tony Nemer, a geologist at Beirut American University in the Lebanese capital, told Anadolu news agency that the fault line that broke in Turkey is more than 200 miles long. But Nemer said that only part of the East Anatolian fault line was broken in the recent earthquake. Almost half the fault line saw no activity, he said.

"Now authorities in Turkey need to pay attention to the ... the eastern part of the fault line," Nemers said. "Its unpredictable when there will be activity in this part. It may be right now, in a short time, or in a few years."

MIRACLE RESCUES: Some survived a week under rubble; Assad to allow more aid into rebel land; death toll surpasses 36,000: Updates

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Turkey earthquake updates: Desperation as rescue efforts continue
Milwaukee Bucks executive Alex Lasry, left, talks with Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes after a news conference at Deer District Plaza in Milwaukee on Wednesday, July 27, 2022. With less than two weeks before the primary, Lasry announced on Wednesday he was dropping out of the Democratic U.S. Senate race and endorsing the front-runner, Barnes.

Milwaukee Bucks executive Alex Lasry, who unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination in Wisconsin last year, is making a new political move.

Lasry announced this week the formation of Next Wisconsin, a political action committee to invest in races for mayor and county executive across the state.

Lasry said the group will initially be involved in supporting three mayors facing re-election, Racine's Cory Mason, Green Bay's Eric Genrich and Stevens Point's Mike Wiza.

Lasry said it's in the cities and counties where the issues Democratic Gov. Tony Evers "is fighting for will be turned into results and action."

"I think it's time we started investing in these races," Lasry said, adding that an initial run of digital ads will be "policy focused."

Lasry joins a growing list of former candidates in starting up political groups, including former Lt. Gov. and Democratic U.S. Sen. candidate Mandela Barnes, who has established a PAC to help diverse candidates.

Former state Treasurer Sarah Godlewski launched an abortion rights PAC to support Democrats after she withdrew from the U.S. Senate race.

After losing in the Republican primary for governor, former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch returned to the 1848 Project to recruit conservative candidates. Former GOP governor candidate Kevin Nicholson still oversees No Better Friend Inc., a nonprofit conservative advocacy group.

Asked if he might run for political office in the future, Lasry said, "I'm interested in being able to help make a difference and have an impact in any way I can. And if that's in elected office, then I will most certainly look at that."

He also made it clear that he's sticking with Milwaukee, even as his father, Marc Lasry, is in discussions to selling his stake in the Bucks to Cleveland Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam.

"This is my home," the younger Lasry said. "This is where my wife and I are starting our family. This is where we live and we're not going anywhere."

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Alex Lasry unveils new political group focused local Wisconsin races
Netflix logo

The streaming media landscape is continually changing as various streaming services evolve their business models. Prices are changing all the time. Disney+ recently added advertising. Netflix, the company that basically started this whole thing has made no secret of its desire to crack down on password sharing, and now it has taken a big move in Canada that is designed to get people who arent paying for accounts to start doing so, but instead, it seems to be causing a rash of people canceling their Netflix subscriptions.

Netflix users in Canada are being informed via both email and messages on their screens when they open their Netflix app, that changes are being made to their accounts. Users are now expected to set a primary location for their account, and logins from other locations have the possibility of being shut down. Users are not happy and several TikToks are going viral of people canceling their Netflix subscriptions in protest.

Password sharing is one of those things that we know the streaming services dont like but a lot of people do. Parents share their accounts with children away at college. Adult children give access to their parents who may not have the income to afford such things. Netflix has implemented password-sharing restrictions in other places. A recent indication that these sorts of rules were coming to the U.S. was walked back by Netflix, but it is all definitely happening in Canada.

The goal of all this, of course, is to get people who arent paying for Netflix currently to start doing so. Netflix, which has seen its membership and revue consistently grow has seen that growth stumble for the first time recently. The belief is that those who can no longer use an existing account will start to pay for their own in order to keep access to the content. That may ultimately prove successful, but those new accounts will also be covering the revenue of the ones that are lost as frustrated people cancel their accounts.

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Exactly how all these new rules will work remains to be seen, but one user actually called Netflix to try and get clarification. It seems that devices that are not your primary location and that are not used for a period of time will be locked out of the account. The issue for some is that many of those devices might still be perfectly acceptable under the current rules, making the Netflix account potentially a headache to use.

While Netflix has yet to implement significant new rules regarding password sharing in the U.S., it seems like only a matter of time before that happens. The only way it doesnt is if the revolt against the new rules in places like Canada actually turns out to be significant enough that it harms the bottom line for Netflix. Well certainly have to wait and see. On the plus side, as a couple of the TikToks point out, canceling your Netflix subscription is apparently quite easy.
MUNCIE, Ind.  The candidacies of four Republicans aiming to be elected to Muncie City Council were challenged Friday as the paperwork of all four have come under scrutiny.

Delaware County Clerk Rick Spangler said the County Election Board will hear the challenges this coming Friday and determine if any of the candidates should be removed from the ballot for the May 2 election. Reasoning for each challenge was not initially available this weekend.

Isaac Miller, who was recently chosen to represent Muncie City Council District 4 by a GOP caucus, failed to file a document called a CAN 42, which is a basic declaration for candidacy for municipal primary nomination in 2023.

Ana Quirk Hunter, Democrat County Chairman, filed the challenge and said Miller had filed a required form declaring any financial conflicts of interest involving the office but did not file the paperwork to run for the office itself.

Troy A. Ingram, an incumbent running for an at-large seat on the council, was challenged by DeWayne Richmond. Richmond's challenge says the form Ingram used to file had placed the political office in Porter County, Indiana, rather than Delaware County.

Richmond, who has been a Republican candidate for office in recent elections, also claimed Ingram failed to answer several lines on the form and wasn't properly notarized, among other issues with the paperwork.

Richmond also filed a challenge to the candidacy of Brandy Webb, another Republican aiming to run in District 4. The challenge alleged an issue with what the notary used in filing the candidacy paperwork.

Webb is the wife of Ryan Webb, Delaware County Council member who has been at odds with fellow Republicans during his time on council. Ingram has also voted with Democrats on numerous occasions while on city council.

David Hall filed a challenge to the candidacy of Chuck Leonard who filed to run for Muncie City Council District 3. He is being opposed by Nicholas (Nick) Taulbee in the Republican Primary. Again the objection to the candidacy appeared to center on issue with the notary who witnessed the paperwork filing.

Spangler, a Republican who serves on the three-member Election Board by virtue of being the county clerk, said he will be out of town in the coming week and he will will not be available for the meeting to consider the challenges. He said there would be someone appointed to serve in his stead at the meeting. The other two Election Board members are Republican Pete Drumm and Democrat Ashley Nichols.

This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Challenges to GOP candidates in primary center on paperwork snafus
Valley of the Sun United Way's first Latina CEO, Carla Vargas Jasa, poses for a portrait at the VSUW offices on Jan. 20, 2023, in Phoenix, Ariz.

Valley of the Sun United Way has been serving Maricopa County since 1927, tackling systemic inequities that lead to issues in health, housing, education and employment.

Maricopa County is home to many communities of color, but none larger than the Latino community, which represents 32% of the countys population, per recent Census data.

So when Carla Vargas Jasa was named the organizations first Latina president and CEO in 2019, it dawned on her how impactful that feat was  for her and her community.

I didn't even know that until I read the press release that the group had drafted and asked me to approve before it was sent out announcing me coming onboard, Vargas Jasa told The Arizona Republic. I was like, really? So yeah, it did surprise me and certainly was an honor.

Since being appointed as the president of the organization, Vargas Jasa has implemented goals and strategies that aim to address the needs of all Maricopa County residents, especially when so many identify as Latinos and immigrants. She sees them, she said, in a way that only a child of immigrants can.

Settling down in the United States

Vargas Jasas parents migrated to the United States from Paraguay when her mother was pregnant with her. She was born while her parents were living in student housing at Penn State University, where her father was working on his doctorate degree.

Her parents had been blacklisted from their home country of Paraguay. Vargas Jasas father was a leader of the student movement against the dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner in Paraguay, the longest-standing dictatorship of the 20th century in the Global South.

After being jailed and tortured for leading protests against the dictatorship, Vargas Jasas parents left the country as soon as they married.

Once Vargas Jasa was born, her parents began their careers. Her father alternated between being a professor of business administration and working in that industry; her mother became an English teacher. Despite her mother not being as fluent in English when she first arrived in the U.S., Vargas Jasa said it became a priority for her to learn and instill that in her daughter.

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She didn't speak much English when we came here, Vargas Jasa said. She had studied it, but she made a point of teaching English first, knowing that they likely wouldn't be able to return to Paraguay and wanting me to be able to function in the society.

Vargas Jasa didnt learn to speak Spanish fluently until her family moved to Mexico for a couple of years while her father was working in Guadalajara.

Vargas Jasas father relocated for jobs a few times during her childhood. Vargas Jasa moved to Tucson twice, where she lived while her father worked at University of Arizona. She permanently moved to metro Phoenix in 2019.

Finding her calling

After graduating from El Dorado High School in Orange County, California, Vargas Jasa went on to earn her bachelors degree in political science from UC Berkeley. Her goal was to become a human rights lawyer, but after working at a law firm during college, she decided to pursue a career in the nonprofit sector.

I shifted my thinking about wanting to work in the nonprofit sector to really influence issues that I cared about that I realized were human rights issues, Vargas Jasa said. Like people being able to have a safe home to live in and having access to education no matter where it was that they grew up, and being able to be healthy and having a good job. And I realized that the nonprofit sector was the best place to do that work and ultimately made that transition.

Vargas Jasa remained in California for a few years and used the legal skills she learned during college to work as a legal advocate at a domestic violence shelter organization, assisting women in filing restraining orders and guiding them in other legal procedures.

Valley of the Sun United Way's first Latina CEO, Carla Vargas Jasa, poses for a portrait at the VSUW offices on Jan. 20, 2023, in Phoenix, Ariz.

In 1998, Vargas Jasa joined Orange County United Way as vice president of investor relations. She later became senior vice president of community impact and chief operating officer in 2017. In September 2019, the organization named her president of the Arizona chapter.

According to Vargas Jasa, her move to Arizona and to Valley of the Sun United Way was inspired by her time spent in Tucson, as well as a long-distance relationship-turned-marriage that she maintained for five years. Vargas Jasa was able to learn more about Arizonas different communities and the issues they faced because her now-husband held a job in Scottsdale and shed visit him every weekend.

Establishing leadership during the pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic started less than a year after Vargas Jasa began her leadership role in Phoenix. Vargas Jasa said that despite the hardships of the pandemic, Valley of the Sun United Way was able to continue working smoothly because they already had a hybrid work environment set up.

With that system already in place, Vargas Jasa and her team were able to launch a COVID-19 response fund within a week and partnered with Arizona Community Foundation to distribute more than $400,000 to nonprofits across the Valley. The response fund ultimately raised $3 million.

It felt like every day we would wake up and not know what was going to be going on that day, Vargas Jasa said. And so, you know, that was hard. It's hard for anybody, right? It was hard for me too but you know, you need to roll with it. And I feel like I really stepped into my authentic leadership style during that time frame.

Vargas Jasa and her team launched MC2026 in March 2021, a five-year plan for Mighty Change in Maricopa County. Some of those goals include:

Decreasing food insecurity by 50% by 2026.

Increasing the number of individuals with access to affordable health care by 100,000 by 2026.

Reducing homelessness by 50% by 2026.

Valley of the Sun United Way received a $25 million gift from Amazon co-founder and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott in December 2020, the largest single donation ever received by the organization. Vargas Jasa told the Republic that receiving the gift from Scott was one of her proudest moments as a leader.

Being the first Latina President and CEO of Valley of the Sun United Way, Vargas Jasa said that she feels the community has been very receptive to her and that her background as a Latina woman helps provide insight into the community that she serves.

I have seen firsthand a lot of the challenges that people deal with in their home countries and coming here, and yeah, I do think that that's been helpful. Vargas Jasa said. I'm also an only child of two immigrants who again have their own trauma and issues that they dealt with both in their childhoods and coming here and I hope that people understand that and see that and know that I see them.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Becoming the 1st Latina leader of Valley of the Sun United Way
(Getty Images)

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has said that a ban on TikTok in the United States should be looked at as tensions with China escalate.

The Beijing-based company Bytedance owns the popular social media app. Former president Donald Trump explored the idea of banning TikTok and Republicans like Senator Josh Hawley have supported doing so.

It's something that should be looked at, Mr Schumer said in an interview with ABC News. We do know there's Chinese ownership of the company that owns TikTok.

Mr Schumer said some members of the Senate Commerce Committee were exploring the idea.

We'll see - we'll see where they come out, he said.

The majority leaders words come after the United States shot down a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of the Carolinas. Mr Schumer noted how Senator Jon Tester of Montana was looking into why it took so long to shoot down the device when it was spotted over Montana.

I think our military, our intelligence are doing a great job, present and future, he said. I feel a lot of confidence in what they're doing. But why -- why as far back as the Trump administration did no one know about this?

Mr Schumer noted that he has long been a critic of China but added that China is the second biggest economic and geopolitical superpower in the world.

We can't just have a cold war with them. We have to have a relationship with them. But China has taken advantage of us over and over and over again. And this administration has been just about tougher than any other.

Last year, Congress passed and President Joe Biden signed legislation to manufacture more semiconductors in the United States to compete with China and added that the companies that manufacture the balloons are sanctioned.

So I think this administration is strong and tough on China, but mindful of the fact that we just -- you know, we can't stop talking to them. We have to try to have some kind of relationship, he said.
Dry Cleaning - Credit: Max Miechowski*

U.K. group Dry Cleaning have announced a new EP, Swampy, which will arrive on March 1 via 4AD. The set features two previously unreleased bonus tracks, remixes, and a demo that were recorded while making their sophomore album Stumpwork.

Alongside the announcement, the band has shared the two bonus tracks.

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These two songs (Swampy and Sombre Two) were recorded in the Stumpwork sessions, and they feel like good companions to us, the band said in a statement. They share a dusty, desolate, and spacey atmosphere. On the eve of this release, we have been touring through the southwest U.S., where these songs feel at home in the arid, Mars-like landscape of the Arizona desert.

Charlotte Adigery and Bolis Pupuls remix of Hot Penny Day, Nourished by Times remix of Gary Ashby, and a demo of Peanuts round out the five-song EP.

Dry Cleaning embark on their U.K. and European leg of their tour in support of Stumpwork tonight, Feb. 14, in Dublin, Ireland, at Vicar Street, with dates throughout the spring. On Aug. 26, they will perform at Rock En Seine festival in France.

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Screenshot of a video showing a fireball falling over France Feb. 13, 2023.

A dramatic fireball lit up European skies just hours after its discovery in space.

Krisztian Sarneczky spotted the small asteroid at Konkoly Observatory's Piszkesteto Station, located some 60 miles (100 kilometers) northeast from Budapest, with a 2-foot (0.6-meter) telescope. The information was passed along to the European Space Agency, hours before it fell into the atmosphere around 10 p.m. EST Feb. 12 (0300 GMT Feb. 13).

"I discovered this small body during a routine NEO [near Earth object] hunt," Sarneczky told Space.com senior writer Tereza Pultarova in an e-mail. "It was immediately obvious that it was an NEO, but it wasn't particularly fast across the sky, as it was heading right towards us, and it was faint," Sarneczky added.

It's not the first time Sarneczky has given a heads-up for a dramatic fireball event, as the professional asteroid hunter did the same thing in March 2022. "At the time I thought it was a once-in-a-lifetime event," he said. "I was wrong."

Related: What are asteroids?

Screenshot of a video showing a fireball falling over France Feb. 13, 2023.

The discovery image of #2023 CX1 (aka #Sar2667) taken at #Konkoly Observatory's Piszkesteto Station with the 0.60-m Schmidt telescope. Three 4x25 sec stacked images. Nothing special at first. A normal 19.5 mag NEO. pic.twitter.com/1PaYtsv9tzFebruary 13, 2023

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@esaoperations reported a 1 m meteoroid before it entered Earth's atmosphere over northern France early this morning: only the 7th time an #asteroidimpact has been predicted - but a sign of the rapid advances in global detection capabilities! #Fireball #Sar2667 https://t.co/MzYoIkRaF2February 13, 2023

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You can clearly see in these shots how the viewing geometry of #Sar2667's meteor track changes from place to place: https://t.co/StkNPyf3AnFebruary 13, 2023

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Asteroid Sar2667, about a meter in diameter, was expected to fall near the French city of Le Havre at 02:59h UTC. I drove to a photogenic spot close to home in the south of the Netherlands to capture it, just as the sky cleared.#asteroid #meteor @IMOmeteors @apod pic.twitter.com/MNZofhkrd7February 13, 2023

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By coincidence, the fireball fell almost exactly 10 years after a six-story space rock unexpectedly exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia on Feb. 15, 2013, causing minor injuries and damage. Space agencies around the world reaffirmed their commitment to tracking such objects at the time, with NASA opening a Planetary Defense Coordination Office in the wake of the event.

Most fireballs are completely harmless, however, and it is rare for any fragments to make it to the ground. NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and numerous other entities nevertheless keep a 24/7 watch on the sky for any asteroids coming near the Earth's orbit. Nothing critically threatening to our planet has been found in decades of searching, but the watch continues, just in case.

The detection of the 3.2-foot (one-meter) meteoroid, called SAR 2667, is only the seventh time astronomers have been able to do so, according to ESA. "It's a sign of the rapid advances in global detection capabilities," the agency wrote on Twitter.

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The event generated 40 reports early in the morning local time (roughly 0300 GMT) in the United Kingdom and on the European continent, according to the American Meteor Society. Reports came from locations like England, France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Editor's Note: If you snapped a photo or video of the fireball and would like to share it with Space.com's readers, send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Elizabeth Howell is the co-author of "Why Am I Taller?" (ECW Press, 2022; with Canadian astronaut Dave Williams), a book about space medicine. Follow her on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.
The Russian occupiers have put seven ships on combat duty in the Black Sea, including one carrier of Kalibr cruise missiles with a total salvo of eight missiles, the Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said on its Facebook page on Tuesday.

There is one enemy ship in the Sea of Azov, 10 in the Mediterranean, of which there arew five carriers of Kalibr cruise missiles with a total salvo of 72 missiles.

During the day, 39 vessels passed through the occupied Kerch-Yenikal Strait towards the Sea of Azov (13 of them were moving from the Bosporus) and 11 vessels towards the Black Sea (six of them continued to move towards the Bosporus).
Foodies love them, most chefs use them and builders consider them upgrades.

Yet, cities tackling the global climate crisis are veering away from gas stoves, catching consumers in the middle of a longstanding debate over the health and environmental risks associated with burning natural gas.

A new study from Harvard and comments from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reignited the discussion over gas cooktops and ovens. The study contends the stoves release chemicals that pollute indoor air and contribute to greenhouse gases that play a major role in climate change.

Natural gas is methane. When burned, it produces small but detectable amounts of nitrogen dioxide and other pollutants. Exposure indoors  when there isnt enough ventilation  is associated with the risk of asthma, especially among children whose lungs are still forming.

Richard Trumpka Jr., head of the CPSC, called gas stoves "a hidden hazard" and suggested unsafe products might be banned in a statement he later walked back.

Trumpka's statements came at the same time roughly 100 cities or counties, and three states, were putting new building codes in place that either ban the installation of natural gas hookups in new homes and buildings or offer incentives for building all-electric structures.

Fort Collins' Our Climate Future Plan, adopted by City Council in 2021, aims to have all new construction use carbon-free energy sources by 2030, according to Marcus Coldiron, the city's chief building official.

Currently, natural gas use in homes and businesses accounts for about 24% of the city's overall community emissions, according to the Fort Collins building department. And, about 25% of Xcel Energy's Colorado customers use natural gas for cooking, according to the company. Xcel is the Front Range's largest natural gas provider.

Study: Gas stoves linked to illness, environmental damage, but venting can minimize risk

A kettle warms over a burner on a gas cooktop on Feb. 13, 2023.

John Volckens, director of Colorado State University's Center for Energy Development and Health, said gas stoves are a safety hazard on several fronts. First, they produce open fire in the kitchen. "Anyone who's had a gas stove has at some time had an 'Oh, gosh' moment," he said. They also produce nitrogen dioxide that "we know without doubt are a slow acting-respiratory irritant. Also, there's air pollution and quite a bit of it."

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The greatest danger comes if stoves are improperly vented, or if consumers don't use their vents. "Air pollution that you can't see or smell fills up your kitchen and your home," said Volckens, who equated using a gas stove without turning on the vent to driving a car without a seatbelt.

Rob Jackson, a professor of energy and the environment at Stanford University who has been studying the topic for several years, said 66% to 75% of Americans seldom, if ever, turn on their stove vents, and many homes and apartments lack adequate stove ventilation or have fans that recirculate the air through a filter, which doesn't remove the nitrogen dioxide.

Xcel Energy officials said in a statement: "We believe the use of natural gas for cooking is safe, but always recommend the use of ventilation, and encourage qualified installation and maintenance by a certified technician. We continue participating in the policy developments around this topic to ensure our customers have access to affordable, clean, safe and reliable energy sources.

Builders say Fort Collins' climate goals push up the cost of housing

A burner on a gas cooktop on Monday.

The city's climate directives mean a switch for local homebuilders who must now transition to supplying all-electric homes, said Jeff Schneider, owner of Armstead Construction and former member of the Fort Collins Planning and Zoning Commission.

Builders are making the change, but they and consumers are not necessarily happy about it.

Under new city codes adopted in March 2022, builders who install natural gas appliances including water heaters and furnaces until 2030 will also have to provide electrical connections, adding about $700 to the cost of construction, Schneider said.

The Northern Colorado Home Builders' Association polled seven local builders after being contacted by the Coloradoan for this story. Out of 1,700 homes they sold last year, 57% had gas installed, said Mike Welty, president of homebuilding for Hartford Homes.

Some high-end builders are currently installing 100% gas; Hartford Homes is closer to 75%, said Welty, who estimated it costs $2,000 to $2,500 per home to run gas rather than electric. "In most homes we include it," Welty said. "It adds to the price, but we know buyers want it. We know if we put in electric the buyer will ask us to change it if the house isn't completed yet."

Hartford Homes, which built much of the Mosaic neighborhood at the southeast corner of Timberline Road and Vine Drive, installed almost all gas appliances in the development. The multifamily homes in its Bloom subdivision just east of Mosaic will be all electric to comply with the city's future goals. Its single-family homes will have gas and electric for consumer choice, Welty said.

"We are working through the current dynamics of how long builders will be able to offer gas in Fort Collins," he said.

All of Hartford's homes are vented to the exterior, as required by the city of Fort Collins, he said.

In a statement, Kelly Schramm, executive officer of NoCo HBA, said it and its builders council "will be disappointed if gas stoves are eliminated from future new home construction starts in the city and Northern Colorado. In our opinion, and the data shows, that over 50% of new home construction buyers in Northern Colorado prefer gas ranges over electric and many buyers are willing to pay for it as an upgrade."

Retrofitting is even more expensive, said Schneider, who builds custom homes and retrofits existing homes. Running 50-amp service to a new appliance in a home he's retrofitting is costing between $1,800 and $2,000, he said. He'll leave the gas shut-off valve in place and cap it in case a future homeowner wants to revert to natural gas.

"Having the choice is the best option rather than mandating one or the other," Schneider said. "We all live our lives differently and use appliances differently."

Induction cooktops, which use electromagnetism to heat the cookware, are gaining in popularity because they heat food more evenly and provide a cooler cooktop.

Volckens said he switched to an induction stove two years ago and will never go back. It's faster than gas, gives the cook more control than gas and has a safer and big, flat surface, he said.

"I would never want to sacrifice the art of cooking ... I will never go back," he said. "It's way better than a gas stove."

Health implications aren't the only reason gas stoves are facing new scrutiny.

Jackson, the Stanford professor, found that the 40 million gas stoves in the U.S. annually produce pollution equivalent to the tailpipe emissions of 500,000 cars.

Even when the stove is turned off, the pilot light is leaking methane, a potent greenhouse gas, Volckens said.

"Really we're just trying to talk about the planets health and our own health in the long run," he said. "Changing all gas stoves in Fort Collins will have some impact on climate, but not a major one."

While getting energy from renewable sources and converting to electric vehicles would have a greater impact, "it doesn't mean (eliminating) gas stoves would be insignificant," he said.

Fighting climate change is not a battle we're winning, "but we need to make steady improvements," Volckens said.

The health side of the equation is just as important, he added. Gas stoves spew nitrogen dioxide into our homes thats causing slow, steady damage to our lungs, he said. "No one should put up with that."

A burner on a gas cooktop on Monday.

Tips for safely cooking with a gas stove or oven

Turn on your fan or open a window every time you use your stove.

Make sure the fan vents to the outside, not just a filter that blows back into the kitchen.

If the vent is in your microwave above the stove it may pull air through a metal filter, typically a grease filter. Swap that out for an external vent if possible.

If you can afford it, consider switching to electric or induction stove, but know it will be pricey.

If you smell gas, exit the building and then immediately call your gas company to assess whether there is a leak in or nearby your home.

Policy recommendations concerning gas stoves and ovens

The Rocky Mountain Institute, which recently released its own report, provided a series of recommendations tailored to regulators, researchers and the public, including:

The Consumer Product Safety Commission should open a docket to develop a strategy for protecting residents who currently have gas stoves.

Manufacturers be required to certify that their appliances will not expose residents to harmful levels of nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide pollution.

At the state and local level, air regulators should adopt a health-based indoor air quality standard that protects the most sensitive populations, including children, the elderly and those with existing respiratory ailments.

State funds, including for schools and low-income housing, should not be used to purchase or install indoor appliances that expose occupants to harmful levels of gas stove pollution.

USA Today contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Gas stoves ignite new concern; Fort Collins wants zero carbon by 2030
26 April 2019, Lower Saxony, Hanover: Marco Goecke, designated ballet director of the Staatsoper Hannover, stands in the foyer of the Staatsoper. At a press conference, two new directors informed about the new season of the Staatstheater. Photo: Christophe Gateau/dpa (Photo by Christophe Gateau/picture alliance via Getty Images)

Christophe Gateau/picture alliance/Getty

A German ballet director has been suspended after he allegedly smeared dog feces on the face of a critic whose review he disagreed with.

Marco Goecke was suspended immediately by the Hanover state opera house in Lower Saxony, Germany, according to the Associated Press.

The daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported that Goecke, 50, approached its dance critic, Wieble Huster, during a premiere over the weekend and asked what she was doing there, the news agency said.

Goecke was apparently upset over a review written by Huster of a production he staged at The Hague, the AP reported. Huster's review was critical of Goecke's production, In the Dutch Mountains, which the critic wrote was "boring" and "disjointed," according to The Guardian.

Goecke did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment on Monday.

RELATED: 'La La Land' Musical Film Will Be Adapted for Broadway: 'The Next Exciting Chapter'

Huster had written the production makes one alternate "between a state of feeling insane and being killed by boredom."

During the altercation, Goecke allegedly threatened to ban her from the ballet and accused her of being the reason people were canceling season tickets at the Hanover.

He then allegedly pulled out a paper bag with animal feces and smeared it on her face before fleeing through the theater foyer, the AP said.

Huster later recounted the incident, saying that Goecke had "suddenly pulled the bag from his pocket. With the open side of the bag, he rubbed the dog excrement in my face. When I felt what he had done, I screamed," according to The Guardian.

"I can assure you that it was not an impulsive act - he had planned this. I consider it an act against the freedom of [the] press," Huster told the BBC.

Huster did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment on Monday.

A member of the Hanover opera house helped Huster clean up in a nearby bathroom before she drove to a police station in central Hanover to report the attack, per the outlet.

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RELATED: 'Death of a Salesman' Broadway Performance Interrupted by Person Who Approached Stage

Laura Berman, the opera house's artistic director, told The Guardian she apologized to Huster and said they would investigate the incident before deciding what next steps to take.

Berman said management would "explore the relevant steps relating to labor law with respect to" Goecke and "then act in this internal staff matter".

The Hanover opera house and Berman did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment on Monday.

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.

Goecke was given a few days to apologize but was suspended on Monday, according to the AP.

Goecke spoke about the incident during an interview with public broadcaster NDR. According to the AP, he acknowledged that his "choice of means wasn't super, absolutely," adding that he was "a bit shocked" by what he allegedly did.

But, he added: "Once a certain point has been reached, I disagree."
The Florida Department of Health in Polk County issued an alert about toxic blue-green algae in Scott Lake. The alert specifically mentioned the Fitzgerald Road boat ramp.

Blue-green algae has been detected in Scott Lake, prompting a warning from health officials to avoid contact with the lakes water in areas where a bloom is visible.

The Florida Department of Health in Polk County issued a health alert late Friday afternoon, based on a sample taken in the lake on Feb. 7. The warning said the public should be cautious about exposure to the water near the Fitzgerald Road boat ramp on the west end of the lake.

Blue-green algae are bacteria common in Florida's freshwater environments, the release said. Blooms occur when a rapid growth of algae causes an accumulation of individual cells, which turn the water green and often produce floating mats that emit unpleasant odors. Many types of the algae produce toxins, the Health Department said in the news release.

Water flows from a culvert into Scott Lake in Lakeland on Monday. The Department of Health issued a warning about toxic blue-green algae in Scott Lake.

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Sunny days, warm water temperatures, still conditions and excess nutrients  such as runoff from fertilizer  can contribute to blooms. While blooms can appear year-round, they are more frequent in summer and fall the release said.

Scott Lake covers 285 across just south of the Lakeland city limits. It is surrounded by some of the highest-priced houses in Polk County and has no public access.

The Health Department warned residents not to drink, swim, wade, use personal watercraft, water ski or boat in waters with visible blooms. Pets should be kept away from the areas, the release said.

If you have contact with algae or with discolored or foul-smelling water, you should wash your skin and clothing with soap and water, the release said.

Do not cook or clean dishes with water contaminated by algae blooms, the warning said. Boiling the water will not eliminate the toxins.

The dominant toxin in the sample taken from Scott Lake on Feb. 7 was Microcystis aeruginosa, the most common toxic bloom in fresh water, according to information posted by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

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The agency obtained samples from Scott Lake after satellite imagery indicated a possible algal bloom, DEP spokesperson Brian Humphreys said in an email. The sample detected a trace level of 0.56 parts per billion of microcystins.

DEP will monitor Scott Lake and retest water samples in the coming weeks, Humphreys said. The results will be posted on the agency's dashboard (http://floridadep.gov/AlgalBloom).

The Fitzgerald Road boat ramp on the west side of Scott Lake was specifically mentioned in a health department alert late last week about toxic blue-green algae blooms.

The dashboard shows that lower levels of algae also have been detected recently in other lakes in Polk County, including Lake Hollingsworth. The department invites reports of potential algal blooms by calling its hotline at 855-305-3903 or at ReportAlgalBloom.com.

The Department of Health issued a caution in January for Tiger Lake in eastern Polk County, based on the presence of algae.

Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on Twitter @garywhite13.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Health department warns about algae blooms in Lakeland's Scott Lake
Its presentation day in a fifth grade classroom at Vang Pao Elementary School in Fresno, and some students are more shy than others. But 11-year-old Irene Her stands in front of the classroom, confidently weaving Hmong words together to talk about the lub vab, a basket tool used in the Southeast Asian culture.

Irene is among the inaugural class of students who began kindergarten in Fresno Unifieds Hmong Dual Language Immersion Program in 2018. Billed as the most extensive of its kind in the nation, the program is building up each year, welcoming new students into TK and kindergarten, while the other classes move up.

About a quarter of the schools 850 students are in the dual immersion program. Next year the school will have Hmong classes in all grades through sixth for the first time.

Its important for the Hmong community in California to study their language here and keep it alive since they dont have their own country to return to, says Kao-Ly Yang, a lecturer and coordinator of the Hmong studies program at Fresno State. Hmong people have lived in areas of Laos, Vietnam and China.

The countries where they came from do not have schools that teach Hmong language. Our Hmong American children cannot forget their roots, she says. Plus studying in a dual immersion program also will enhance their English skills, and give them the potential to have better jobs and better lives.

The Fresno region is home to the second-largest population of Hmong in the United States, at 35,000, according to the Pew Research Center. Its second only to Minneapolis-St. Paul. During the Vietnam War, the CIA recruited Hmong to fight the Secret War in Laos. But after the U.S. withdrew, many were forced to flee or be killed as they faced persecution. Many settled in the U.S., including the revered General Vang Pao, who led the Secret Army, and later the Hmong American community. Pao died in the Fresno area in 2011.

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At Vang Pao Elementary, students learn not only the Hmong language, which shares similarities with Chinese, but the groups history too.

Irene, who is Hmong and the granddaughter of immigrants, wasnt always so confident speaking the language. Like 90% of students entering the program, English was her first language.

But after beginning the program in kindergarten, I started speaking Hmong to my mom, and after school, she would speak Hmong to me, she says. Now she feels fluent.

She said the program has helped her understand what her grandfather overcame to get to the United States.

When I was little, I did not know how I came (to be) here, she says, but as I was learning, I understand now how we came here and how long it took, going through wars and stuff like that.

The program is now running at a second elementary school in Fresno Unified, along with several other Spanish immersion programs that have opened in recent years in the district, according to officials.

The Hmong program was started after community leaders asked the district to help preserve the language and culture, officials say. It also aligns with the state Department of Educations Global California 2030 initiative, which aims to have half of all K-12 students participate in programs leading to proficiency in two or more languages by 2030.

Fresno Unifieds program is aimed at creating a dual immersion pathway from TK to higher education. Students at Vang Pao and Balderas Elementary will go onto nearby Sequoia Middle School and Roosevelt High School in the coming years, where the classes will continue. Then Fresno State offers a Hmong minor, completing the pathway.

Fourth grade teacher David Thao works with students in the Hmong Dual Language Immersion program.

Limited to almost non-existent vocabulary

At Vang Pao, teacher Sharon Vangs fourth grade class is learning about branches of government. The worksheets are in both English and Hmong, but since there is no direct translation for some of the terms, such as legislative, instead a definition in Hmong is listed below the English word.

Its a dying language, says Vang, who grew up in Fresno in what she described as a traditional Hmong household. She says the language and culture has continually become more Americanized and many of her Hmong students dont speak the language at home.

She says her students have recently learned the word extinct, and thats what comes to mind thinking about her own ancestry.

We dont have a country, you know. We just reside in the mountains of other countries, she says about Hmong people. Because of that, I feel like its very significant for us to continue (passing the language) on, because if we dont, were gonna be extinct.

Hmongs current written language is fairly new, invented in the early 1950s by missionaries to convert Hmong to Christianity. It uses the Roman alphabet, like English.

Hmong is traditionally taught orally, and there is no traditional schooling in Hmong language, Yang says.

As a result, there just arent many existing educational materials and resources, according to Zer Lee, a Fresno Unified teacher on special assignment who creates curriculum for the program. Lee says 95% of their resources are created from scratch, either by her or other teachers who research and translate texts from English to Hmong.

Social studies and science texts are the most challenging because the Hmong language has limited to almost non-existent vocabulary when it comes to certain concepts, Lee says.

For example, when translating or developing text about a thematic unit on Planets, the Hmong language doesnt have vocabulary for words such as solar system, inner-planets, outer-planets, asteroids, orbit, she says.

There hasnt been a committee where diverse scholars come together to standardize the Hmong academic language, she continued. Were having to negotiate languages as we develop curriculums.

Yang says Fresno Unifieds dual language pathway is creating a need to modernize the language and create more advanced curriculum. She hopes to see a Hmong major at Fresno State so scholars and teachers have research and linguistics skills to translate and create curriculum more accurately.

Hmong dual immersion 50-50 model

The 50-50 language model at Vang Pao leaves principal Yua Lee worried at times. Students have to be prepared for statewide testing in English language arts and math while also learning Hmong. So that is a challenge, she says.

She points to her dynamic teachers, who balance science and social studies instruction in Hmong, while delivering language arts and math in English. Hmong culture is integrated into all subjects to the extent possible, maintaining Common Core standards, program directors say.

According to statewide test scores, Vang Pao students fare better in math on the statewide tests when compared to the district as a whole. About 32% of students met or exceeded statewide standards in 2021-2022, compared to the 33% average in California and 20% at Fresno Unified.

Students meeting or exceeding English standards were above Fresno Unified as a whole, but still below state averages.

Although research has shown Hmong students are typically academically competitive when applying to colleges, they graduate at disproportionately lower rates than other students, due to challenges such as family duties and limited written English skills. Studies show that their struggles and need for support can be overlooked because people of Hmong ethnicity are sometimes grouped in with other Asian groups with generally higher college-going and success rates, such as Chinese and Japanese Americans.

Lee hopes Vang Pao will eventually become a full dual immersion school, where all students are enrolled in the dual language program. However, she thinks finding enough teachers proficient in Hmong would be difficult.

But they are growing a few of their own from Fresno, she says, and right now, were OK, thank goodness.

And the school can count on at least one more homegrown future teacher.

Irene wants to return to Vang Pao to teach Hmong as a 6th grade, or even high school teacher, one day.

She remembers bullying from non dual immersion students last year, and thinks educating others could change that.

These other fourth graders made fun of us and our language and how we looked and stuff like that. And we didnt like that, she says.

When I do grow up, I wanna encourage people to know the Hmong culture.

This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Hmong is a dying language; its being preserved at this Fresno school
FALL RIVER  A threatening phone call that turned out to be a hoax prompted a heavy police presence at Bishop Connolly High School and a lockdown of all Fall River public and Catholic schools Tuesday morning.

According to Fall River Police spokesman Sgt. Moses Pereira, on Tuesday morning the Police Department received a telephone call from an unknown individual communicating a threat directed at Bishop Connolly.

This incident happened just hours before the inauguration of Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn was set to take place at the Elsbree Street school.

It also came on the heels of other similar reports of threats at schools in Massachusetts, and across the country, over the past two days. So far, all of the threats have been unfounded.

Police responded to Bishop Connolly High School in Fall River on Tuesday morning after an unknown individual called in a threat to the school. The threat was unfounded, but prompted the brief lockdown of all Fall River public and Catholic schools.

Hoax threats in Massachusetts schools

Threats were called in Tuesday to schools Clinton, Concord, Dedham, Duxbury and Fitchburg. On Monday, police in Massachusetts investigated a number of hoax calls, known as "swatting," that forced lockdowns at high schools in Amesbury, Braintree, Westfield, Chelmsford, Charlestown, East Boston and North Attleborough.

Police say no evidence of any shooters was found upon a search of the schools.

South Shore schools receive threats:Duxbury, Cohasset, Braintree, Hingham hit with hoax school shooter claims: What we know

Fall River police response to school threats

"In order to ensure the safety of the students and staff at the school, we deployed our resources to secure the facility, and investigate the threat," a release from the FRPD states. "The command staff was in communication with the administration at the school through this process. A shelter in place was also initiated for the Fall River Public Schools. Our Officers conducted a search of the property to ensure that there was no threat to the building or its occupants. We have confirmed that there is no threat to the school."

"The Fall River Police Department regards the safety of our community as our highest priority. False reports such as these, will not be tolerated. We will be conducting a detailed and thorough investigation of this incident," Pereira added.

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Shortly after noon on Tuesday, the Fall River Public Schools posted on its Facebook page notifying parents that "the situation in the community is resolved. Schools will resume with their normal day-to-day schedules."

Police said they will maintain increased visibility in the area of the citys schools throughout the remainder of the day.

Swatting and school shooting hoaxes play out nationwide

Schools across Vermont were hit by series of hoax calls last week reporting active shooters in K-12 schools from Alburgh to Bennington, according to Vermont State Police. A total of 21 schools were targeted by the calls from 8:40 a.m. to 10:50 a.m. at the main line of a dispatch center, police department or town office, state police said. Every threat was determined to be unfounded.

Reports of school shootings that proved to be false occurred at schools across Ohio in September 2022, according to reporting by the Cincinnati Enquirer, and in Maine in November, according to reporting by Seacostonline.com. The practice of making the false reports is commonly called swatting.

The false reports in Ohio were similiar and specific, the Enquirer reported. In multiple 911 calls, a man identifying himself as James Park falsely reported a gunman had opened fire and 10 students are wounded. The same calls came in for multiple schools. Other false reports have occurred in Florida, among other states.

On Nov. 15, dispatch centers in 10 communities throughout Maine received what authorities are calling hoax-style phone calls that morning alerting them, falsely, to active shooters inside local schools, according to Michael Sauschuck, the commissioner of the states Department of Public Safety.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Fall River schools in brief lockdown due to hoax threat for Connolly
House Republicans are officially relaunching their investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic by calling for testimony and information from Anthony Fauci and other current and former Biden administration officials.

Reps. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), the chairman of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, and James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, are pressing for information from senior Biden administration officials and the president of EcoHealth Alliance.

The 12-member coronavirus response subcommittee is charged with examining the origins of the pandemic, including federal funding of whats known as gain-of-function research, or research that enhances a viruss ability to cause an infection in order to predict pandemics and develop cures.

The examination of gain-of-function research is central to the claim the virus originated from a lab in Wuhan, China, that was potentially backed by funding from the U.S. government. Last year, Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee released a report concluding the pandemic began with a virus that escaped from the Wuhan lab.

This investigation must begin with where and how this virus came about so that we can attempt to predict, prepare or prevent it from happening again, Wenstrup said in a statement.

Government scientists and government funded researchers have so far been less than forthcoming in their knowledge and actions, including work with the Wuhan Institute of Virology and potential pandemic pathogens, he added.

Aside from Faucis testimony, the lawmakers are seeking phone records, official calendars and other communications from the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) regarding the Wuhan Institute of Virology and any federal grants to EcoHealth Alliance.

Fauci was director of NIAID for nearly 40 years before retiring from government at the end of last year. He has said on numerous occasions he would gladly testify for a GOP-led panel. The letter asks for a transcribed interview, where he would be under oath.

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The lawmakers also want a classified briefing from intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

The origins of the coronavirus have become intensely politicized, and Biden officials and outside scientists have been bracing for a new wave of investigations.

While in the minority, Comer and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) sent letters demanding the same information but said they were rebuffed. Now in the majority, the GOP has the authority to lob subpoenas at the administration if necessary.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
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Israel launched its first-ever export of crude oil, sending a shipment to Europe.

The oil originated from an offshore field in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

This comes after a deal with Lebanon to settle the maritime borders between the countries.

A vessel is headed to Europe stocked with never-before-seen cargo: Israeli oil.

Israel's oil export was sold to commodities giant Vitol through a multi-cargo agreement. Referred to as the Karish Blend, it is expected to be valued close to the globe's average price for crude.

Israel has been extracting oil through a partnership with Energean, a London-based company leading the development of the Karish field in the eastern Mediterranean.

"The first ever lifting of an Israeli crude oil cargo has taken place at the company's Karish field," Energean said.

Karish primarily produces natural gas and Energean started production at Karish late last year. That came after an unlikely deal was brokered last October between Israel and Lebanon  longtime adversaries that are officially at war  to take advantage of gas and oil deposits discovered off their Mediterranean coasts.

Though the maritime borders encompassing the area were disputed between the two countries, the agreement split the territory into two, leaving Israel in control of the Karish gasfield.

While the country is still expected to import most of its oil, Israel has become self-sufficient on natural gas and has been exporting it for years.

Gas production has grown significantly, creating export deals with its Middle Eastern partners and helping it move away from a dependence on coal.

Israel's largest gasfield, Leviathan, also produces some crude oil, but those supplies go to domestic refineries.

Read the original article on Business Insider
The Biden administration on Wednesday will brief John Bolton about the Chinese spy balloons that flew into U.S. airspace during the Trump administration, and the former national security adviser said he plans to ask for all the details, top to bottom.

Bolton told POLITICO the session will take place at 4:30 p.m. at the Liberty Crossing Intelligence Campus in Virginia, and as of now, its unclear when the session will end. He didnt disclose who specifically would conduct the briefing or whether hell be joined by Trump administration colleagues for the session.

After a Chinese spy balloon traversed the United States two weeks ago, the Biden administration claimed similar intrusions occurred three times while Donald Trump was in office and once previously with Joe Biden in charge. Bolton and his Trump administration colleagues initially rejected that premise, noting they had never been briefed when they were in the administration.

Now Bolton, who is weighing a 2024 presidential run, promised to ask for all the details, top to bottom, on what the record indicates about Chinese or other aerial incursions during the Trump administration.

I want to know whether overflights during the Trump administration were detected or not detected. If they were detected, what were they assessed to be, and who made that assessment? How far up the chain of command did the information and assessments go? he continued.



Bolton first discussed his upcoming briefing with NBC News.

The former U.N. ambassador blasted Bidens team, specifically National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby, for continually bringing up the Trump-era balloon flights. If the White House thinks this is a way to build confidence in their response to the recent incursions, it is sadly mistaken, he said.

Kirby responded to Boltons comments during a session with reporters Tuesday. All were doing is speaking the truth. This is a well-funded, deliberate program to collect intelligence on other nations, including us, he said. The reason we know that is because of the work weve done since we came into office to understand this program and decipher how these balloons operate

Kirby further told reporters that the three objects hovering above the U.S. and Canada and shot down by the military last weekend could be "balloons tied to some commercial work."

Biden administration officials briefed senators Tuesday morning on the latest information regarding the Chinese spy balloon and the downed objects.
A California man is under arrest after DNA allegedly linked him to the unsolved murders of two young women.

Tony Garcia, 68, was taken into custody on Tuesday and charged with two counts of murder and related charges for the 1981 homicides of Rachel Zendejas, 20, and Lisa Gondek, 21, as announced in a press conference by multiple officials. Both women were strangled to death and sexually assaulted before their respective cases went cold.

RELATED: Police Say Ohio Mother Missing Since December 'Didnt Go Missing By Accident,' Large-Scale Search Underway

After more than four decades, justice is finally coming to the families of Rachel Zendejas and Lisa Gondek, said Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko. As this case demonstrates, murder charges can be brought at any time, and there is no statute of limitations for homicides.

The case began on Jan. 18, 1981, when two newspaper delivery boys  ages 9 and 14  came upon the body of single mother-of-two and community college student Rachel Zendejas in Camarillo  about 50 miles west of Los Angeles. The victim was killed in a carport just across the street from her apartment, which she shared with her brother and two young daughters, ages 1 and 2.

Sheriffs investigators learned that she had gone out for the evening and hired a couple of babysitters to sit with her daughters, said Ventura County Sheriff Jim Fryhoff. After returning from an evening out, Rachel drove the babysitters home.

Police handouts of Lisa Gondek and Rachel Zendejas

Lisa Gondek and Rachel Zendejas Photo: Ventura County Sheriffs Office

Officials say they believe Zendejas killer accosted her after she returned and attempted to exit her vehicle.

Detectives from the sheriffs office investigated the case for several years until all leads were exhausted and the case became cold, according to county officials.

Before years end, on the night of Dec. 11, 1981, police say Lisa Gondek, a retail worker living in Oxnard  about 10 miles west of Camarillo  attended a club at the Port Hueneme naval base, according to Chief Benites of the Oxnard Police Department.

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After going to a disco together, the friends dropped Gondek off at her home at around 1:30 a.m. the following day, one and a half hours before a neighbor called in reports of a fire coming from Gondek's apartment.

After members of the Oxnard Fire Department extinguished the smoldering fires, Gondeks body was discovered in the bathtub, according to Benites.

Pedro Bravo featured in Floribama Murders

The cases were investigated separately from one another until 2002, when a new look at the suspects DNA from Zendejas crime scene was submitted to the FBIs Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). The search yielded no results, but in 2004, investigators looking into Gondeks case notified the Ventura County Sheriffs Office, announcing theyd linked both homicides to a single suspect using DNA testing.

But once again, the DNA returned no results for a suspect, and the case went cold.

In December 2019, Ventura Countys Cold Case Unit stepped in and opened a line of inquiry using genetic genealogy  the now-common practice of identifying possible biological relatives using advanced DNA testing.

The investigation provided new leads, and further DNA testing confirmed Tony Garcia, of Oxnard, was the suspect in both homicides, leading to his Feb. 7 arrest, according to the Oxnard Police Department.

Police handouts of Tony Garcia

Tony Garcia Photo: Ventura County Sheriffs Office

Sheriff Fryhoff stated the suspect was born in Roswell, New Mexico, but was enlisted in the U.S. Navy and stationed at Point Mugu near Oxnard. He was discharged in 1980 but remained in the area, where he became a karate student and instructor for many years.

The fact is, this suspect has been hiding in plain sight for over 40 years, said Sheriff Fryhoff.

Chief Benites said they identified a number of common denominators between the suspect and the victims, but declined to say what they were.

Earlier in the press conference, Benites stated Gondek came to visit Oxnard from Connecticut for a planned two-week trip to visit a friend in the U.S. Navy and ultimately decided to move to Oxnard months before the murder.

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However, it remains unclear if Gondek and Garcia knew one another.

Garcia is charged with two counts of murder, plus special allegations of committing murder while engaged in a rape and committing murder while engaged in a kidnapping, according to the district attorneys office. He made his first courtroom appearance in Ventura County on Thursday, where he was ordered held without bail.

Investigators are looking into the possibility that Garcia might be involved in other crimes and are appealing to the public for help. Anyone with information can contact the Ventura County Sheriffs Office Major Crimes Bureau at 1-805-383-8704 or email their cold case unit at coldcase@ventura.org.
Cars drive on a snow covered street on December 8, 2022 in Riga, Latvia. GINTS IVUSKANS/AFP via Getty Images

Latvia is planning to donate cars confiscated from drunk drivers to Ukraine's army.

Latvia's finance ministry confirmed that the coalition government agreed on the proposal on Monday.

Volunteers in Ukraine have been retrofitting civilian cars to turn into military-grade vehicles.

Latvia's government is looking to hand over cars confiscated from drunk drivers to the Ukrainian army after the country's new coalition government approved the measure on Monday.

Latvian Prime Krisjanis Karin announced the proposal, which was put forward by the finance ministry, at a press briefing on Monday, according to national public broadcaster LSM News.

The finance ministry is currently revising the proposal to prepare it for implementation, a spokesperson confirmed to Insider in an email.

The idea originally came from a Latvian social movement known as Twitter konvojs/NGO Agendum, the finance ministry noted, which has already delivered more than 1,000 cars to the Ukrainian army.

"Now they're seeing a lack of cars to continue their good deed at the same speed," the spokesperson said. "Therefore, we believe that confiscated cars from drunk drivers in Latvia would complement this great initiative."

The proposal follows a change in Latvia's criminal code late last year, which increased the severity of penalties for drunk driving, LSM News reported.

According to the law, cars can be confiscated by the state if the driver's recorded intoxication level is over 1.5 per mille, which is equivalent to a blood alcohol concentration of 0.15%.

The cars are then passed to the State Revenue Service, which currently puts them up for auction. But under the new proposal they would be available to be sent to Ukraine free of charge.

Insider previously reported that a team of volunteers had been transforming donated civilian vehicles into military-grade fighting vehicles for Ukraine's army.

Battered farm trucks and other vehicles from the UK and elsewhere in Europe have been retrofitted to provide them protection from mortar and shell fire, making them useful for the Ukrainian military effort, Insider's Bethany Dawson reported in December.

Read the original article on Business Insider
EU Working Group to look at using frozen Russian assets for reconstruction of Ukraine  Swedish PM

Under the leadership of the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, an EU Working Group will be set up to look at using frozen Russian assets for the reconstruction of Ukraine, Prime Minister of Sweden Ulf Kristersson has said.

"Russia must pay for the reconstruction of Ukraine. At the same time, this poses difficult questions. This must be done in accordance with EU and international law, and there is currently no direct model for this," the press service of the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the European Union quoted Kristersson as saying.

The Working Group will carry out a legal, financial, economic and political analysis of the possibilities of using frozen Russian assets.

The decision regarding the Working Group's remit will be taken by Coreper II (the Committee of the Permanent Representatives of the Governments of the Member States to the European Union) on Wednesday, February 15. The Working Group will be chaired by Ambassador Anders Ahnlid, Director-General of the National Board of Trade.

The work will be carried out in close cooperation with the Freeze and Seize Task Force, led by the European Commission.
Feb. 10A bipartisan legislative committee voted unanimously Friday to launch a preliminary investigation into the financial management and accounting practices at the Maine Veterans' Homes.

The director of the state's watchdog agency told lawmakers that a whistleblower in a position to know about the issues came forward with allegations of financial problems, although no details were made public Friday. An attorney representing the Maine Veterans' Homes board of trustees has indicated that it would conduct its own investigation.

Peter Schleck, the director of the nonpartisan Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability, said the former employee, who was dismissed by the organization, was part of "the overall financial operations and control structure" of the homes. It was not clear if the allegations made by the whistleblower involved mismanagement or misconduct.

"She is expressing a range of concerns about their financial or accounting practices. She is willing to go on the record in that sense," Schleck said. "This is the type of issue where we want to make sure we do our due diligence."

The bipartisan Government Oversight Committee directed Schleck to investigate the allegations.

Maine Veterans' Homes provides skilled nursing care and rehabilitative services to Maine military veterans and their families. Its six homes are located in Augusta, Bangor, Caribou, Machias, Scarborough and South Paris.

Committee Chairman Sen. Craig Hickman, who also leads the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee, said the investigation was warranted given the financial struggles of the homes, two of which were slated to close last year until the Legislature intervened and allocated additional funding.

"We know this Legislature has done all that it can to keep the Maine Veterans' Homes open because we know how important they are," said Hickman, D-Winthrop. "But we do have a concerning issue that has come before us."

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Assistant House Minority Leader Amy Arata, R-New Gloucester, said after the meeting that she was "very concerned that this vital service for our veterans is well run. I look forward to obtaining more information."

The oversight committee was given a letter that an attorney representing the board of trustees sent to the former employee's attorney, saying they were launching an investigation.

"I am in receipt of your client's 11/10 documents titled 'MVH disclosures' and exhibits," Richard Moon wrote. "The documentation has been shared with Board Chair Adria Horn and an investigation will occur."

Moon did not respond Friday to questions about the allegations and the internal investigation

Last year, the board voted to close homes in Caribou and Machias. Lawmakers scrambled to come up with funding to keep the homes open. The Legislature approved a bill sponsored by Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, providing $3.5 million in funding to keep the homes open. Gov. Janet Mills signed the bill into law.

The law also laid out a public process for potential closures, including legislative approval, and set in statute where each of the state's six homes should be located, the governor's office said.

In December, members of the state's congressional delegation  Sens. Susan Collins, a Republican, and Angus King, an independent, and Rep. Jared Golden, D-2nd District  announced another $3 million in funding for the Maine Veterans' Homes in the federal omnibus spending bill. The money was going to pay for renovations and life-safety upgrades.

"Maine Veterans' Homes provides compassionate, quality long-term care to the brave men and women who served our country," they said in a joint statement. "At a time when there is already a severe shortage of nursing home beds, MVH's facilities in rural parts of our state fill a critical need and allow Maine veterans to remain close to their loved ones. These investments will help MVH perform necessary maintenance and upgrades to ensure that these homes remain safe for residents."

The Maine Veterans' Homes were established by the Legislature in 1977 as a state-chartered nonprofit to provide long-term care to veterans and eligible military spouses.
When she was in the fifth grade, Leslie McCurdy discovered Harriet Tubman.

Growing up in a primarily white neighborhood, attending schools bereft of the inclusion of Black people in the curriculum, it was wonderful to have the example of Harriet Tubman as a Black woman who was fighting against racism in a way that most men around her wouldnt dare to do. She represented what I wanted to become, a powerful woman, McCurdy of Canada said.

For the last 26 years, McCurdy has traversed two countries, introducing her hero to other generations in the one-woman show The Spirit of Harriet Tubman. Shell present the show at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 18 at the River Raisin Centre for the Arts, 114 S. Monroe St.

Tickets range from $15 to $39. For tickets, stop by the box office, call 734-242-7722 or visit www.riverraisincentre.org.

Leslie McCurdy is shown in a scene from "The Spirit of Harriet Tubman."

The Spirit of Harriet Tubman is one of 11 programs planned this month in Monroes Discover the Underground Railroad series. Local organizers received a Main Street microgrant from the Michigan Municipal League Foundation to put on the series.

McCurdy has performed her award-winning show throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Harriet is my personal hero, and I consider it a privilege and honor to share her story, McCurdy said.

The one-hour performance is set on a barren stage with only a trunk of costumes, which McCurdy uses to show the progression of Tubmans life. She portrays a young Tubman in the 1820s, her Underground Railroad conductor days and her senior years spent running a home for the aged and infirmed.

McCurdy becomes Tubman at each stage of life, running through fields as a child and waving a shaky hand as an elderly woman. At times, she dances on stage and sings Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.

In one scene, McCurdy, in the words of Tubman, tells the audience about the Underground Railroad and the 300 slaves Tubman freed.

I work up to the north to get the money for my trip south to help other slaves to escape. Once someone come with me, there aint no going back. With me, it was live free or die. But nobody getting a chance to get back and tell everything they knew. I wasnt risking the lives of all the good people on the Underground Railroad. More than 300 people come with me out of slavery, and I never run my train off the track, and I never lost a passenger, she said.

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McCurdy wrote the screenplay herself and included both familiar and lesser-known stories of Tubman.

Through it all, we learn of the faith and conviction that drove Harriet Tubman to follow her dreams, the spirit of the past connecting with the present, inspiring her charges to have the courage to do the same in envisioning their future, McCurdy said.

Audiences tell her its a show for everyone.

People find the performance beautiful, inspiring and informative. Some say that I humanize Harriet Tubman, and that it was powerful to see their hero brought to life, McCurdy said. I tell the story of Harriet Tubman in such a way that everyone finds something to relate to in it. People will get from it what that are meant to receive.

Shes performed the show for nearly three decades and once even took it to London.

I am shocked that I have done it this long. Time flies when youre having fun, and I have a great time performing the show, McCurdy said. I have not changed the script, though there are updates to the facts of the actual real life of Harriet Tubman of late. My performance has grown, as I have come to understand how what I wrote and the events around me have impact upon me personally, and thus my interpretation of what I wrote.

Shes planning to end The Spirit of Harriet Tubman in 2027.

That will be 30 years, and it is a very physical show. My agent and I are talking of hiring other actors to continue performing this play whenever I do decide to retire it. I also have other material, including a play about Billie Holiday that I call, Lady Aint Singin No Blues, and Ill be working to get that show back on its feet soon, she said.

McCurdy has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in dancing with a teaching certificate from the University of Michigan. She also had been a choreographer and teaching assistant at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre.

Shes appeared in other theater productions, including American Dream, The Wiz and Cabaret, and was on ABCs Detroit 187. Shes had roles in movies, including The Ides of March, directed by George Clooney.

Also a playwriter, she wrote four one-woman plays. The Spirit of Harriet Tubman is the best-known.

McCurdy also offers a school program on Tubman.

On the Net: www.lesliemccurdy.ca

Other upcoming programs in Monroes Underground Railroad series

 The Dorsch Memorial Library: Lighting the Way to Liberty has been set for 10 to 11 a.m. Feb. 18 at the Dorsch Memorial Branch Library, 18 E. First St. Join us as we honor Harriet Tubmans legacy, the library said. Families will be able to make their own liberty lanterns, hear a story about Harriet Tubman and enjoy a video showcasing the rich history of the Dorsch Memorial Branch Library.

Registration is required by visiting bit.ly/libertydo or calling 734-241-7878.

 Point the Way: Codes of the Freedom Quilts will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Feb. 18 at The Book Nook, 42 S. Monroe St.

 "Painting the Way: A Celebration of Black History Month will be offered from 3 to 5 p.m. Feb. 18 at the Monroe County Museum, 126 S. Monroe St.

 An art display by Robert S. Duncanson Society Master Artist Stacy Hall will be open from 5 to 9 p.m. Feb. 18 at the RRCA.

 Human Zoos: How We Judge Each Other and Why, presented by Robin West-Smith, will take place at 3 p.m. Feb. 22 on Zoom. West-Smith is CEO of the WADE Center for Self-Development and an adjunct faculty member at MCCC. For the Zoom link, visit www.monroeccc.edu.

 A Journey to Joy, a presentation by the College/Community Symphony Band, 7:30 p.m. March 6 in the La-Z-Boy Center, Meyer Theater, at MCCC.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Leslie McCurdy as Harriet Tubman at River Raisin Centre for the Arts
MANITOWOC - Here's your look at things to do in Manitowoc this week.

1. Sample beers at Brewfest

Logo for Manitowoc Noon Rotary Winter Brewfest

Manitowoc Noon Rotary is hosting its annual Winter Brewfest from 1 to 5 p.m. Feb. 18 at the Manitowoc County Expo Center, 4921 Expo Drive.

Attendees can discover great brews from more than 25 breweries  125 beers in total!

Refreshments will be available, as well as a raffle to support a local nonprofit InCourage.

Tickets are available now at PetSkull Brewing, Sabbatical Brewing, Craft Creek Brewing, and Superior Discount Liquors, as well as at the door.

More information is at https://fb.me/e/2x7An55jX.

2. Check out 'The Haunting of Hill House' at the Mikadow Theatre

Poster promoting 'The Haunting of Hill House' at Mikadow Theatre.

If you havent been to the Mikadow Theatre since it reopened under new management in January, now is your chance!

This weekend, you can catch a live production of The Haunting of Hill House, a novel by Shirley Jackson.

Showings are this weekend, Feb. 17-19, and also next weekend, Feb. 24-26.

For more about the theater and to purchase tickets, go to mikadow.com. The theater is at 1118 Washington St.

3. Attend Miss Harbor Cities & Teen competition

Feb. 19, young women will compete for scholarships and the titles of Miss Harbor Cities and Miss Harbor Cities Teen 2023 at the Capitol Civic Centre, 913 S. Eighth St., Manitowoc.

This years competition will feature a special guest and performer  Miss America 2023 Grace Stanke!

Miss Wisconsin 2022 Kylene Spanbauer will also be a featured guest performer and co-host of the competition with former Miss Wisconsin 2016 and Visit Manitowoc Director of Tourism Courtney Hansen.

The show kicks off at 5 p.m. and tickets can be purchased at cccshows.org.

A special meet-and-greet will take place with Miss Wisconsin in the Capitol's Mertens Lounge from 3 to p.m. and a coronation reception will follow the competition in the lounge at 7:30 p.m.

Visit https://missharborcities.org for more details.

4. Jam out to live music

Theres no shortage of live music this week!

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Feb. 15, PetSkull Brewing, 1015 Buffalo St., will feature the Bottom Shelf during its weekly Metal Night.

Feb. 16, Dave Steffen and Craig Neuser will play at The Fat Seagull, 807 Quay St.

Feb. 17, the Buck Stops will perform at Salute to Everyone, 1107 S. 10th St.

And Feb. 18, Eight Second Ride will take the stage at The Wharf Manitowoc, 606 Quay St.

5. Watch Let Me Be Franks 'Willy Wonka' parody

Let Me Be Frank Productions is returning to the Capitol Civic Centre, 913 S. Eighth St., at 7 p.m. Feb. 15 for Seroogys, Green Bays Willy Wonka, a comedic play about Green Bays chocolate store, Seroogys.

The performance will follow a similar storyline to the classic Willy Wonka tale.

To get tickets to this hilarious show, visit cccshows.org.

More: Manitowoc youth theater group continues dominance at national festival

More: Grammy winner behind 'God Bless the USA,' Brewfest and Porta Potty Races top busy February

The City of Manitowocs Department of Tourism, branded as Visit Manitowoc, is responsible for facilitating an active relationship with hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions in the city to promote Manitowoc as a tourist destination on the state and national level. To contact the Department of Tourism, email tourism@manitowoc.org or call 920-686-3508. For more about upcoming events, follow @VisitManitowoc on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok or visit manitowoc.org/tourism.

This article originally appeared on Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter: Manitowoc Brewfest, Miss America at Miss Harbor Cities top events list
The post Megadeth to Perform with Guitarist Marty Friedman for First Time in 23 Years appeared first on Consequence.

Megadeth will welcome back their former guitarist Marty Friedman for a special February 27th show at the famous Budokan Arena in Tokyo that will be live-streamed worldwide. It will mark the legendary thrash metal bands first performance with Friedman in 23 years.

After exiting Megadeth in 2000, Friedman moved to Japan a couple years later, where he has continued to record music and has become a television personality. During his decade-long stint in Megadeth, the guitar virtuoso played on classic albums Rust in Peace and Countdown to Extinction, among others.

Marty and I have remained friends over 23 years, since we last played together, stated Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine. However, I hear his music every night, and he still is among the top guitar players Ive ever heard. This is an amazing treat for the fans, as well as myself. I am going to enjoy this as much as the fans are, and Im sure many of you will catch me sneaking a peek during Martys appearance. Domo arigato, Marty-San!

Friedman added, It has been a long time. 23 years to be exact since Ive been on the same stage with Dave Mustaine making music. Weve both taken drastically different paths since then. That doesnt change the fact that Im extremely proud of the part that I played in Megadeths history and legacy. Im also very, very proud of the bands many great achievements and continued success in my absence. For right now, I just feel immense joy and some serious adrenaline. I am looking forward to playing with Megadeth at this very cool place, The Budokan.

The show will feature a triple-guitar attack, as Friedman plays alongside Mustaine and current Megadeth guitarist Kiko Loureiro. The concert is also historic in that it is Megadeths first show at the Budokan Arena.

The livestream will begin at 4:00 a.m. ET / 1:00 a.m PT on February 27th, with advance tickets available for $15 here. Fans can also catch Megadeth in person at the Tokyo show, as well as the next night in Osaka, followed by an Australian tour in March, a few US festival dates, and a UK/European run this summer. Pick up tickets to Megadeths upcoming shows here.

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Megadeth Albums Ranked

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Friedman, meanwhile, will hit North America in early March for an extensive tour in which hell support Queensryche and play a number headlining shows. Tickets for most of those dates are available here.

In other news, Friedman just shared a music video for his official Japan Heritage theme song (watch below). Many people outside of Japan relegate their image of Japan to anime/cosplay conventions, Harajuku fashion, futuristic neon signs and Samurai warriors. This is an incredible shame because as uniquely Japanese as all those things are, that isnt even the tip of the tip of the iceberg, he said in a statement announcing the videos release.

Megadeth to Perform with Guitarist Marty Friedman for First Time in 23 Years

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Dissident Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof was released from prison over the weekend, according to Iranian news outlets.

Rasoulof, who won the Berlinale Golden Bear in 2020 for There Is No Evil, was arrested last July with fellow filmmaker Mostafa Al-Ahmad.

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He was detained after signing a petition titled Lay Down Your Arms calling on security forces to exercise restraint in relation to popular protests over a deadly building collapse.

Rasoulof was already on medical leave when news he was to be officially released on a temporary basis came through.

The directors lawyer Maryam Kianersi who announced a two-week suspension of his sentence on January 11 for health reasons, told the French news agency AFP his release had been extended on a temporary basis.

There was no indication of how long Rasoulof would remain out of jail. There is no news on Al-Ahmad who was arrested at the same time as Rasoulof.

In a Tweet posted on Monday, the director said his thoughts were with inmates he had left behind in Evin.

I was still on medical leave when I was notified of my release an hour ago, he wrote. Those who come out of prison know that they leave a part of themselves with their companions and associates who remain in prison. I wish for their release.

The lifting of Rasoulofs detention comes just days after Jafar Panahi was released from Evin on bail. Panahi had been arrested a few days after Rasoulof and Al-Ahmad after going to enquire about their whereabouts.

The arrests of the filmmakers took place under a crackdown against dissent by Irans authoritarian Islamic Republic regime over the summer and preceded the Women, Life, Freedom uprising sparked by the killing of Mahsa Amini.

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Since then thousands of protestors have been arrested while the government has attempted to quell the protests with force and has recently begun executing protestors.

Like Panahi, Rasoulof has long been in the crosshairs of Irans hardline Islamic Republic government.

He has been arrested and had his passport confiscated a number of times over the past 15 years for his films exposing the reality of living under its strict governance, including Manuscripts Dont Burn (2013) and A Man Of Integrity (2017).

Both films world premiered in Cannes Un Certain Regard where they won the Fipresci prize and best film prize respectively.

Rasoulof made it to Cannes in 2017 with A Man Of Integrity and travelled the festival circuit with the film until his passport was confiscated on his return from Telluride in September of that year.

He has not left Iran since and the world premiere and Golden Bear win for his last film There Is No Evil took place in his absence.

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John Scippa (left), director of the New Hampshire Police Standards and Training Council, and Capt. Adam Hawkins, who oversees fitness testing for the council, answer lawmakers questions about a bill that would eliminate the test for law enforcement officers.

Enough law enforcement officers are failing to pass the required fitness test for sit-ups, push-ups, and a 1.5-mile run that some police chiefs in New Hampshire are backing a bill that would do away with the fitness requirement.

That includes Hinsdale Police Chief Charles Rataj, who told the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee this week that the test is making it hard to hire and retain officers.

I would rather have a large, strong officer who just cant do 20 sit-ups with me as opposed to no officer at all, he said. Or I would rather have a detective lieutenant whos outstanding at investigating sex offenses and who is in her mid- to late 40s and just cant run a mile and a half without hurting her hips.

What are the standards for NH police fitness test?

The fitness test required by the New Hampshire Police Standards and Training Council gives officers limited time to complete sit-ups, push-ups, and the run. Those limits vary by gender and age.

For example, males age 18 to 29 must do 37 sit-ups in a minute, 27 push-ups and run 1.5 miles in just under 13 minutes. Women in that age group have just over 15 minutes to complete the run and must do 31 sit-ups and 14 full body push-ups or 22 modified push-ups from their knees. The standards are higher for state troopers.

More local news:Dover chef Evan Hennessey, a 'Chopped' champ, is now competing on 'Guy's Grocery Games'

The time limits for the run become more generous as officers age, and they must do fewer sit-ups and push-ups. Officers must take the test to become certified and then every three years to remain certified. If they cannot pass the test due to injury, recent surgery, or fitness ability, they can get waivers.

No one testified against House Bill 113 at Thursdays hearing, though 16 of the 31 people who submitted testimony online opposed it. Charles Mccullough of Concord urged the committee to increase the standards.

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The bill is also dividing the states police chiefs. Glen Drolet, the chief in Northwood, said about half the states approximate 200 police chiefs responded. He told the committee that 62% supported eliminating the fitness test; 29% opposed the idea; and 9% were unsure.

The New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of Police did not take a position on the bill, nor did the New Hampshire Police Standards and Training Council.

Could NH move to a different kind of test for police?

New Hampshire Police Standards and Training Council Director John Scippa said New Hampshire is the only state in the country that requires ongoing fitness testing.

The police academys position is that we really want to encourage and build out a program thats going to help officers stay well and be resilient across their entire career, he told the committee. Part of that resiliency is based on their level of fitness. Its been demonstrated time and time again how important it is for those officers to have a level of fitness that will help them get through their challenging careers.

More local news:UNH students fail assignments, classes for using AI to do their work. What is ChatGPT?

But Scippa said the council also supports moving to a different type of test that would more accurately measure officers ability to do their job.

The committee did not appear ready to make a decision without more study. Among members questions was whether dropping fitness requirements would lead to more job-related worker compensation claims.

Chairman Terry Roy appointed several members to a subcommittee to gather more information and consult with Scippa on amendments or alternatives to the bill. If the committee recommends the bill go to the full House, it would need to pass there to make it to the Senate.

This story was originally published by New Hampshire Bulletin.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Some NH police chiefs want to nix officers' physical fitness test
three glasses of bubbly cava on table background

Courtesy of D.O.Cava

TABLE OF CONTENTS

On This Page What Is Cava?

How Cava Has Improved

What to Pair With Cava

Sparkling wine can make any day feel like a celebrationpop a bottle of bubbly and it's a party. You have plenty of options. Champagne is the best-known, but carries a hefty price tag. Prosecco and Cremant d'Alsace have their fans, too, but one we think is worth exploring is cava. This Spanish sparkler is food-friendly and easy to drinkand sommeliers say it's a great value.

"If you like sparkling wine and would prefer to spend $20 instead of $50, try a bottle of cava," says Catherine Fallis, master sommelier at wine club Bright Cellars. The approachable price tag, however, is not the only reason to consider cava. It was once dismissed as a budget wine not on par with Champagnebut cava makers are placing a premium on quality and making a play for consumers who love bubbly and want to drink it more often. They're also producing aged cava that might be set to compete with Champagne.

Related: What Is the Best Glass for Sparkling Wine?

What Is Cava?

Dubbed the Champagne of Spain, cava is a sparkling wine with small, fine bubbles from the Cava Denominacion de Origen (D.O.) area. It can be white or rose (rosado). Most cava is non-vintage, meaning it is a blend of wines from different years. The name cava comes from the Spanish word for "cave," referring to the cellars where the wines age.

How Cava Is Made

Like Champagnebut not like proseccocava is produced using the metodo tradicional, which is what the French call methode champenoise, or bottle fermentation.

"Metodo tradicional is a multi-step process including a second fermentation in bottle, as opposed to tank, followed by extended aging before release. It is therefore considered a high-quality sparkling wine," says Fallis. This production method is one of the reasons why Champagne is so expensiveit requires time, space, and human hands, and eyes to ensure a quality finished product.

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Prosecco, on the other hand, is made using the charmat or tank method; the wine becomes sparkling in the tank, before it is bottled.

Grapes

Cava is primarily made up of three different types of native grapes: xarel.lo, macabeo, and parellada. There are a few other varietals that can be included, such as chardonnay and pinot noir.

Rosado styles of Cava are made from the red grapes garnacha, monastrell, pinot noir, and the Catalan variety trepat.

Regions

Cava is made in four main regions which span different regions of Spain: Comtats de Barcelona (over 95 percent of all cava is made here), Ebro Valley, Vinedos de Almendralejo, and the Levante zone.

Aging

By law, all cava must be aged for a minimum of nine months in the bottle. Wine aged for this time is called Cava de Guardaand this budget-friendly, bright sparkling wine is the biggest category of cava, the one you're most likely to find at your local wine store. "These cavas are known for their zesty, citrus, and uplifting notes on the palate. It is one of my favorite bubbles to pair at a seafood bar," says Jessica Green, owner of Down The Rabbit Hole Wine Boutique and Wine Vie, a personal wine consulting and concierge service.

The rules for cava get tighter as the age time and quality increase. Reserva cava requires 18-months of aging, Gran Reserva is aged for 30 months, and Paraje Calificado has a minimum age time of 30 months. In addition, these wines are required to be 100 percent certified organic by 2025 and must have a vintage showcased on the bottle.

The D.O. is also promoting longer-aged cava, with grapes that spend three to five years on lees. The result? Wines with extravagant, delicate flavor and a creamy finish on the palate that can rival the best Champagnes. "Very similar to Champagne, the older cava wines that I have tried display nutty notes with a strong brioche-y quality. Often, there is a bit of toffee and dates, too," says Liz Martinez, general manager and sommelier of Apparatus Room at the Detroit Foundation Hotel.

Why Now Is the Time to Start Drinking Cava

Put simply, cava is the best it has ever been. "Cava was seen as a wine of poor or cheap quality for many years. [Now], producers are hand picking organic grapes and allowing for extended autolysis [a winemaking process that imparts richness and creaminess]," says Martinez. "This is creating a unique wine that is extremely fragrant and textural. The reality is that these are wines that rival Champagne."

Over the last few years, the Regulatory Board of the Denominacion de Origin Cava has shifted and tightened the rules for making the wine, to encourage quality wine that is produced sustainably. The wines have improvedbut the prices remain competitive.

What to Drink

Cava can be bone dry or sweet, similar to the span of styles of Champagne. Also similar to Champagne, cava's level of sweetness is a result of the amount of sugar added to the wine at bottling. The most common style of cava is brut, with the driest style, extra brut, coming second.

Cava Food Pairings

If you're looking for a food-friendly, effervescent sipper, go for cava. "It is amazingly food friendly. Because of its high acidity, it pairs beautifully with seafood, cheese, and charcuterie and because of its complexity, it can pair with heartier fare such as grilled meats and mushroom risotto," says Jeff Jenssen, a wine educator and co-author of five books, including White Wine.

Because cava has a range from dry to sweet, there is truly something for every palate and every dish. Pros say starting with cava as an aperitif can open the palate up and will enhance the flavors of the bites you are about to take.

Better yet, cava can be paired with every course of a meal, says Martinezit even works with fried foods. According to Green, seafood is a perfect match for cava, as well as native Spanish meats (think Iberico ham) and cheeses. And remember: This sparkling sipper is versatile enough to stand up to heavier dishes and dessert.
Flowers are seen placed at the base of the Spartan statue on the campus of Michigan State University on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023, in East Lansing.

Michigan state lawmakers won't convene in Lansing Tuesday following a deadly shooting on Michigan State University's campus that left three dead and five injured, according to the latest police update. But Democratic lawmakers vowed that when they return, they plan to immediately pursue measures aimed at curbing gun violence.

In an email shortly after 11 p.m. Monday, the Michigan House updated its agenda to cancel its session Tuesday. The Michigan Senate followed.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has already called on lawmakers to send a trio of proposals her way to enact universal background checks, allow extreme risk protection orders to keep guns away from those deemed a danger to themselves or others and institute safe storage requirements.

"We cannot keep living like this," Whitmer said during a news briefing Tuesday morning. "As parents, we tell our kids it's going to be ok. We say that all the time. But the truth is words are not good enough. We must act and we will."

Her declaration echoed one she made just last month.

"The time for only thoughts and prayers is over," Whitmer said during her annual State of the State address, prompting raucous applause from Democratic lawmakers whose previous efforts to change Michigan's gun laws languished under GOP control of the Legislature. Now, Whitmer's party has a trifecta in Lansing for the first time in 40 years.

More:Suspect identified in Michigan State University shooting: 3 dead, 5 in critical condition

More:Police: Suspect in Michigan State shooting had no clear ties to university

Before the MSU shooting, the Firearm Safety and Violence Prevention Caucus working to shepherd gun safety bills through the Legislature already planned to introduce legislation on the three proposals backed by Whitmer.

Some Democratic lawmakers have expressed hope that those measures will mark the starting point. For instance, in the wake of the MSU shooting, some Democratic lawmakers indicated their support for additional changes such as restricting assault weapons, limiting magazine capacity and regulating open carry.

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Democratic legislative leaders, meanwhile, mourned the MSU shooting and issued a call for action.

"As the mom of an MSU student, I'm watching with dread as the events on and around campus are unfolding, so grateful and relieved my daughter is answering my texts and calls," said Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, in a tweet. "My heart is breaking for the parents whose children have been injured or killed."

House Majority Leader Joe Tate, D-Detroit, said in a statement that the time has come for a different approach to curb gun violence.

"I graduated from Michigan State University 20 years ago, and I am once and forever a Spartan," Tate said. "I am angry that the safety and security of Michigan State University has been shattered by the uniquely American scourge of gun violence."

"This is not a new phenomenon, and the people who elected us to help lead the state have no patience for inaction," Tate continued. "We have a choice. We can continue to debate the reasons for gun violence in America, or we can act."

While Republican state lawmakers have previously blocked Democratic efforts to take up gun safety legislation, state Sen. Darrin Camilleri, D-Trenton, expressed hope in a statement that they "will gain the courage to join us and do something about the damn guns."

He called the three proposals backed by Whitmer "the basics" that "will make a difference."

"Of course we need more, but let's start with this," he said. "Tomorrow, we go back to the Capitol and get to work to create change."

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: After MSU shooting, Michigan lawmakers vow swift action on gun safety
The University Hospital

University of Missouri Health Care  long the financial engine of the University of Missouri system  faces some financial headwinds, Ryan Rapp, UM System executive vice president for finance, told the Board of Curators last week.

But it remains healthy and will withstand the challenges to turn around, Rapp told the board.

"MU Health Care faces financial constraints as expenditure growth has outpaced operating revenue growth while significant capital investment exhausts the health care system's debt capacity," reads the board document . "MU Health Care's financial plan represents management's commitment to restore financial performance to target over the five-year horizon. If MU Health Care's reserves fall below 150 days in FY 2023 or FY 2024, MU Health Care will submit a turnaround plan to the president and provide a detailed update to the finance committee."

The documents state that in fiscal year 2022, MU Health Care was the only unit below its financial target and performance for fiscal year 2023 through the second quarter is below its financial target.

That's nothing to worry about, Rapp said in a Monday phone interview.

"Just because we're off target in a given year is really no cause for alarm," Rapp said.

Curator Greg Hoberock on Thursday questioned Rapp if the five-year target was too ambitious, but Rapp said the turnaround plan can be pursued if the hospital doesn't hit its target.

"Management has committed to hitting both the operating margin and days cash on hand numbers reflected in the plan through FY 2023 and FY 2024," the board document reads.

The "acute financial impact of the pandemic" is affecting MU Health Care as it is all hospitals, Rapp said Monday.

"The primary driver has been increased labor costs," Rapp said. "There's nothing specific to MU Health Care about this."

The hospitals have record patient volumes, he said.

Current building projects include the MU Children's Hospital, on the MU Hospital campus. It's on time and on budget, said Richard Barohn, MU executive vice chancellor for health affairs, at Thursday's meeting. A grand opening is planned for summer 2024.

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All current building projects were planned expenses, said Christian Basi, MU and UM System spokesman.

The financial health of MU Health Care is stable, said Mun Choi, system president and MU chancellor, in a Friday statement. He noted that the credit rating systems have given the system very good ratings. It's the second-highest credit rating, Rapp said.

"I am very optimistic about the future of MU Health Care," Choi said in the statement. "MU Health Care is in a strong financial position and has significant resources to meet operations and to thrive as an organization."

The financial plan approved Thursday demonstrates that MU Health Care is on track to grow to serve Missourians, Choi said.

"Some of the key investments that have been made include the new Roy Blunt Precision Health Building, Childrens Hospital, Medical Science Building, the Thompson Center for Autism and many others," Choi wrote.

Those building investments may slow in the short term, according to the financial plan.

"MU Health Care's financial plan also includes a reduction of planned capital investments until reserve levels begin to replenish," the document reads.

Despite that, Rapp on Monday said he had no concerns.

"Every year we have to adjust our capital plans," Rapp said. "Every project currently in progress is on target."

Roger McKinney is the Tribune's education reporter. You can reach him at rmckinney@columbiatribune.com or 573-815-1719. He's on Twitter at @rmckinney9.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: MU has a plan to turn around MU Health Care financial downturn
Former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley announced Tuesday she is running for president in 2024.

Haley, a former South Carolina governor, enters the race as former President Donald Trumps first challenger in the Republican presidential primary. She announced her run in a three-and-a-half minute video posted to Twitter, touting her accomplishments as governor and declares its time for a new generation of leadership in Washington.

Republicans have lost the popular vote in seven out of the last eight presidential elections. That has to change, Haley said in the video. Joe Bidens record is abysmal, but that shouldn't come as a surprise. The Washington establishment has failed us over and over and over again.

While shes the first Republican after Trump to enter the race, several other GOP candidates are still expected to run, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former Vice President Mike Pence and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.

Even with Haley's head start launching her campaign ahead of others in the GOP, a potentially crowded Republican field could splinter support and fundraising resources. Already in her home state of South Carolina, Trump has earned a handful of prominent endorsements. And if Scott chooses to run, the two will likely enter a battle for endorsements from their many shared advisers, donors and allies in the Palmetto State and beyond.

Haley had previously said in 2021 she wouldnt run for president in 2024 if Trump decided to run  and that she would support the former president  but last month, she indicated that she had shifted her tone. The 51-year-old forecasted her change of plans to Fox News in January, saying Its bigger than one person. And when youre looking at the future of America, I think its time for new generational change. I dont think you need to be 80 years old to go be a leader in D.C.

Taylor Budowich, a former Trump spokesperson and head of MAGA Inc., a Trump super PAC, took a shot at Haley in a statement Tuesday, calling her "just another career politician."



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"She started out as a Never Trumper before resigning to serve in the Trump admin. She then resigned early to go rake in money on corporate boards," Budowich said in the statement. "Now, shes telling us she represents a 'new generation.' Sure just looks like more of the same, a career politician whose only fulfilled commitment is to herself."

Early polls show her trailing behind Trump and DeSantis, but should Haley win the GOP primary, she would make history as the first woman and first Asian American to lead the Republican ticket. She was previously the first female Asian American governor in the country, as well as the first Indian American to serve in a presidential Cabinet.

Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, opened her announcement video talking about the town she grew up in, Bamberg, S.C., where the railroad tracks divided the town by race. She goes on to say that even on our worst day, were blessed to live in America, giving examples of atrocities that have happened in other countries such as genocide in China and the Iran government murdering its own people.

Her pro-America message is joined by a call for new Republican leadership in Washington  to rediscover fiscal responsibility, secure our border and strengthen our country, our pride and our purpose.

Some people look at America and see vulnerability. The socialist left sees an opportunity to rewrite history, Haley said. China and Russia are on the march. They all think we can be bullied, kicked around. You should know this about me: I dont put up with bullies. And when you kick back, it hurts them more if youre wearing heels.

Haley is set to deliver remarks at a campaign event in Charleston, S.C., on Wednesday at 11 a.m. Shes also traveling to Iowa and New Hampshire later in the week, where shell host town halls.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has discussed with Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly during her visit to Kyiv further cooperation between the states in the field of security and defense.

"At a meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, Melanie Joly we talked about the priority needs of the Defense Forces of Ukraine. Further cooperation in the field of security and defense was discussed in detail. Canada's support of the Ukrainian army is invaluable in these turbulent times for us, " Zelensky said on Telegram.

He also expressed gratitude to the Government of Canada and the entire Canadian people for the warm attitude towards Ukrainians and the assistance provided.

According to the press service of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Zelensky emphasized the importance of the implementation of the Peace Formula proposed by Ukraine. He informed the Canadian minister about the steps taken to implement the Peace Formula, and expressed hope that the Canadian side would support relevant initiatives, in particular, the holding of a global peace summit.

The Ukrainian president also expressed confidence that the vast majority of the countries will support the resolution of the UN General Assembly, proposed to be adopted before the anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The president and the minister exchanged views on the steps to be taken to speed up the reconstruction of the regions liberated from the aggressor, as well as on the issue of demining the territories where hostilities took place.

Particular attention was paid to the need to prosecute those guilty of the crime of aggression, as well as the work being done in this direction.

At the meeting, the parties discussed the Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley launched the presidential bid she has been teasing for weeks, tweeting out a video Tuesday saying that, yes, she is indeed seeking the White House.

"I'm Nikki Haley and I'm running for president," the former South Carolina governor said in the video her campaign put out a day before her scheduled announcement speech in Charleston, S.C.

Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and U.N. ambassador, sketches out her biography and attacks President Joe Biden and the Democrats - but says nothing about Donald Trump, at least not directly.

At the end of the video, Haley sends a potential message to the volatile Trump by asserting she will fight back against "bullies;" she also references the fact she may be the only woman in the Republican presidential field.

You should know this about me, I dont put up with bullies," Haley said. "And when you kick back, it hurts them more if youre wearing heels.

More: Nikki Haley announces 2024 presidential bid in first major GOP challenge to Donald Trump

In the weeks since Haley's plans became public, Trump and his allies have stressed that she once said she would not seek the presidency if Trump did.

Haley's declaration makes her the first major Republican to challenge former President Trump for the 2024 Republican nomination, as well as the first member of his cabinet  Haley was previously Trump's U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

The Charleston event also comes as fellow South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott mulls a possible presidential announcement.

Haley though, has repeatedly bragged that she has "never lost a race."

2024 race: Nikki Haley to launch 2024 presidential bid in Charleston on Feb. 15, taking on Trump

The daughter of Indian immigrants, Haley was originally born Nimrata Randhawa in Bamberg, South Carolina.

Here's what to know about Haley:

Stay in the conversation on politics: Sign up for the OnPolitics newsletter

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What did Haley do as governor of South Carolina?

Haley became South Carolina's first female and Asian American governor when she was elected in 2010; she won reelection in 2014. Before that she spent six years in the South Carolina legislature.

One of her most notable acts as governor came in 2015 when Haley signed a bill ordering the removal of the Confederate flag from statehouse grounds following the killing of nine Black worshipers at the Emanuel AME Church by a white supremacist.

The Confederate flag has long been considered a sign of slavery.

"It's time to move the flag from the Capitol grounds," Haley said during a June 22 news conference.

Another act that Haley made with long term implications: She appointed Tim Scott to replace retiring Senator Jim DeMint in 2012.

The race to 2024: Current and former governors offer glimpse into what could be contentious presidential election

In 2016, she gave the Republican response to former President Barack Obama's State of the Union. One topic she made sure to discuss: immigration.

We must fix our broken immigration system. That means stopping illegal immigration," said Haley. "And it means welcoming properly vetted legal immigrants, regardless of their race or religion. Just like we have for centuries."

That same year, Time named her one of the 100 most influential people. Fellow S.C. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham wrote a description on Haley for the magazine.

Former South Carolina Republican Governor Nikki Haley will formally launch her presidential bid on Feb. 15 in Charleston.

What did she accomplish as UN ambassador?

In 2017, Haley served as Trump's U.N. ambassador. In 2018 she unexpectedly stepped down.

During her tenure, Haley announced sanctions against Russiaa move that rankled White House aides. National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow suggested Haley had "momentary confusion" over the Trump administration's actions.

"With all due respect, I don't get confused," Haley replied.

In June 2018 Haley announced the U.S. was pulling out of the UN Human Rights Council. "I want to make it crystal clear that this step is not a retreat from our human rights commitments," Haley said.

What does Nikki Haley stand for?

Haley is a pro-life Republican and a supporter of Israel. She supports cracking down on illegal immigration. Haley did not support legislation in South Carolina that would have required transgender people to use bathrooms that correspond to their gender assigned at birth.

While Haley has supported Trump in the past, she has also criticized Trump, including after the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection. Haley once said she would not support Trump's ban on Muslim immigration. Yet she supported Trump when he blocked people from six Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S. Its not a Muslim ban, Haley said at the time.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Nikki Haley 2024: What to know about former S.C. governor
Olive CEO Sean Lane, shown in 2020 in the company's Downtown headquarters, says it will lay off 209 workers, 44 of them in Ohio, after cutting 450 jobs last July.

Olive is doing its second round of layoffs in seven months, telling the state that it will lay off 209 this time with 44 of them in Ohio.

Last July, Olive cut 450 jobs.

The company told the state that Olive workers are spread throughout the country with 44 of them in Ohio.

The local workers are based at the company's corporate offices at 99 E. Main St.

The layoffs are expected to go into effect on April 10.

The company, whose technology links health care providers and insurance companies with customer information, attributed last summer's layoffs to an overly aggressive expansion.

The new layoffs by Olive are the latest in what has been a string of layoffs by local companies in recent months.

Dog-treat-and-subscription service Bark said last week it is cutting 12% of its jobs, including some in Columbus.

Auto insurer Root and lender Upstart have gone through two rounds of layoffs as well.

mawilliams@dispatch.com

@BizMarkWilliams

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Olive cuts 209 workers, 44 of them in Columbus
The cutest twins we ever did see!

SPCA of Wake County

A North Carolina rescue dog and his favorite stuffed animal have captured the hearts of the nation.

When a staff member at SPCA of Wake County went to check on a one-eared pit bull named Bruno recently, she was shocked to find that he had torn off the left ear of his plush dog"the same ear hes missing himself."

The staff member who found this couldnt believe it, so she took these photos to show the rest of our team, the Raleigh shelter wrote in a now-viral social media post earlier this month.

Bruno used to live chained up outside, and his ear was torn off when another dog attacked him and he couldnt run away, the post continued. But Bruno knows theres nothing wrong with him, and now he has a best friend just like him to prove it.

"You would never know he had such a tough start to lifedespite his pouty eyes, he's a very happy and loving guy, and his tail absolutely never stops wagging! Hes well-behaved, cuddly, and very smart," SPCA workers told FOX TV Stations. "Despite being attacked, he still likes other dogs, and he loves every person he meets. He's got a big heart and a forgiving soul."

The social media post made Bruno so popular, he reportedly "maxed out" on pending adoptions. Then, just a few days after he went viral, Bruno and his mini-me found their forever home.

He is just the sweetest boy, and we are so happy for him! a spokesperson for SPCA of Wake County told Southern Living.



Bruno's adopter loves him just the way he is and promised to show Bruno nothing but unconditional love for the rest of his life, the shelter wrote in a follow-up post on Facebook.

Of course, his matching stuffie HAS to go with him so they can be buds forever, they added.

Congratulations, sweet Bruno!



For more Southern Living news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on Southern Living.
Stock image of United Airlines Boeing 777-200. Louis Nastro/Reuters

A United Airlines flight plummeted to 800 feet above the Pacific Ocean in December.

A passenger on the flight, Rod Williams, told CNN it felt like a "roller coaster."

Williams said he thought it was his family's last moments.

A passenger on board a United Airlines flight that plunged within 800 feet of the Pacific Ocean told CNN that people were "screaming" and "praying" on board.

Rod Williams said he and his family were flying home from a family vacation in Maui, Hawaii, on December 18, when the incident happened.

Williams told CNN in an interview on Monday that shortly after take-off, the Boeing 777-200 started climbing at "a concerning rate" for a few seconds.

"It felt like you were climbing to the top of a roller coaster," Williams told CNN. "It was at that point, there were a number of screams on the plane. Everybody knew that something was out of the ordinary, or at least that this was not normal."

The plane climbed 2,200 feet before it suddenly took a plunge, falling around 1,425 feet in 18 seconds, according to data from FlightRadar24.

"When the plane started to nosedive, multiple screams are being let out at that point," Williams told CNN.

"You're trying your best to maintain your composure  there are obviously kids on the flight  nobody really knows what's going on, but at the same time, you're concerned. You don't know if this is an issue, but it was certainly out of the ordinary."

Williams said that during the descent, he looked at his wife who was sitting on the other side of their two children.

"It's tense, you don't really have a chance to speak or to conjure up words, you're just kind of gripping the seat and praying under your breath," he said. "I asked her later and sure enough  we were praying for a miracle because we felt like this could be it."

The plane came within 775 feet of hitting the ocean before it abruptly leveled out.

The crew reported the incident after landing safely in San Francisco, CNN reported, citing the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA).

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The pilots, who had a combined 25,000 hours of flight time, received additional training, CNN reported.

The FAA and United did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Williams said he did not know just how close it came to crashing until this week.

"Now that I know, statistically what had happened, and that we were about 5 to 5.2 seconds from hitting the water, you know, I'm definitely counting my blessings," he said.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Police Search For Woman Who Went Missing While Walking Dog And Fielding Work Conference Call

Police in North West England are looking to the public for help finding a mortgage advisor who went missing while walking her dog in Lancashire two weeks ago.

Nicola Bulley, 45, was last seen in the county just north of Manchester on Jan. 27, according to a press release from the Lancashire Constabulary.

She was reportedly walking her spaniel, Willow, along the River Wyre in the village of Saint Michael's on Wyre in Lancashire, close to her home in Inskip, according to The Daily Mail.

RELATED: Police Say Ohio Mother Missing Since December 'Didnt Go Missing By Accident,' Large-Scale Search Underway

Bulley logged into a Teams meeting at 9:01 a.m., according to police, and another person who knows Bulley personally spotted her walking in the area at 9:10 a.m. While the Teams call ended at 9:30 a.m., Bulley stay logged in, according to the Lancashire Constabulary release.

Another dog walker found Willow alone at a bench with Bulley's phone at approximately 9:33 a.m., but the woman was nowhere to be found. The phone was reportedly still connected to a work call.

A police handout of Nicola Bulley

Nicola Bulley Photo: Lancashire Constabulary

Charlotte Drake, a neighbor and close friend of Bulley's, told Metro UK that the missing woman "would never have left Willow. Ever."

"Even in our small road Willow wouldn't go to the end of the drive without Nikki. There is no way Willow would ever leave her side, and vice versa."

Bulley was captured leaving her home with her two daughters on her Ring doorbell camera at 8:26 a.m., police said. A parent at the children's school told police they had a brief conversation with Bulley as they dropped off their children around 8:40 a.m. Bulley reportedly left her vehicle in the school's parking lot.

Willow and another dog interacted on a "lower field" area near the river at approximately 8:47 a.m., according to a police timeline. She sent an email to her boss at 8:53 a.m.

Since her disappearance, police have used sonar, search dogs, drones helicopters and surveillance cameras to search for the missing woman.

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Press Conference for David Carrick

Bulley's partner, Paul Ansell, urged the public to help police in a Feb. 6 statement:

Its been ten days now since Nicola went missing and I have two little girls who miss their mummy desperately and who need her back. This has been such a tough time for the girls especially but also for me and all of Nicolas family and friends, as well as the wider community and I want to thank them for their love and support," he said.

"If anyone has any information which could help find Nicola, I urge them to get in touch with the police and help us provide the answers we all so badly need.

Ansell revealed that the keys to Bulley's Mercedes are still missing.

"They were definitely on Nikki at the time, a huge bunch of keys, a Mercedes keyring with paw prints which she would have put in her coat pocket," he told Metro UK.

Oxy App

On Feb. 12, a witness told police that they saw two men "acting suspiciously" outside a church near the area where Bulley went missing a day before her disappearance, The Sun reported.

Police suspect that Bulley "sadly fell into the river for some reason," but added that they "remain open minded, and we are continuing to carry out a huge number of enquiries." However, police divers have found no trace of the woman.

On Facebook, the department has discouraged the public from speculation in the mysterious case.

We would like to remind people that much of the speculation and comments on social media are both unhelpful to the investigation and, more importantly, hurtful for the family, who are going through agony as they wait for answers," the Constabulary wrote.
Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump being interviewed during TheGrio honoring icons, leaders and legends who have made a major impact in the Black community.

Esteemed civil rights attorney and Florida State University alumnus Ben Crump of Tallahassee will be paying his alma mater a visit as a speaker during FSUs Martin Luther King Jr. Week of Celebration.

While the week will be in honor of Kings life and achievements from Monday, Jan. 16 to Friday, Jan. 20, Crump is scheduled to make his appearance during the universitys Golden Torch Lecture Series event 8 p.m. Tuesday in the Ruby Diamond Concert Hall on campus, following MLK Day.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. dedicated his life to improving the lives of others, and we celebrate his legacy each year with a week of activities designed to encourage future generations to not only learn more about Dr. King, but also about his ideals and goals, Sierra Turner, a program director in the Center for Leadership & Social Change, said in a prepared statement. Turner is also one of the MLK Weeks organizers.

Attorney Ben Crump puts his first in the air as he marches with hundreds from Bethel Missionary Baptist Church to Donald L. Tucker Civic Center for Souls to the Polls Sunday, Nov. 1, 2020.

As an FSU graduate who earned a bachelors degree in criminal justice as well as a juris doctor degree at the university, Crump went on to become the founder and president of Tallahassee-based national law firm Ben Crump Law in 2017. The new establishment came several years after his role as partner in the co-founded personal injury firm Parks & Crump with attorney Daryl Parks.

Crump is also known for representing families in nationally recognized civil rights cases of Black victims that include Trayvon Martin, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd as he continued to advocate for social justice.

Ben Crump in the headlines:'A journey to justice': Ben Crump stirs celebrity crowd while being honored at Grio Awards

More:After Trayvon Martin, Tallahassee's Ben Crump became civil rights go-to lawyer

More:Attorney Ben Crump named in TIME Magazine's 2021 list of world's most influential people

Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump stands outside a memorial for the late George Floyd, who died on May 25 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, while under arrest for allegedly passing counterfeit money.

Aside from the legal world that Crump takes up a significant amount of space in, a Netflix documentary called Civil: Ben Crump followed a year in the life of Black America's attorney general." The film debuted on Juneteenth of last year.

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As FSU celebrates King throughout the week, the festivities had an early beginning Friday with a screening of the documentary at the Askew Student Life Cinema on campus.

More on Netflix documentary:'Awed and humbled': Netflix debuts Ben Crump documentary 'Civil' on Juneteenth

Ben Crump in "Civil."

A look at Crumps civil rights efforts throughout his career along with the accomplishments of King throughout his life reveal Crump's relevance to FSU's MLK Week as the chosen speaker for the Tuesday event.

The Golden Torch Lecture Series  sponsored by FSU's Student Government Association and Club Downunder Union Productions  provides the universitys students with speakers who are working at the forefront of todays political or social issues. Part of the series' mission is to engage students in dialogue that will positively benefit their overall academic, scholastic or humanitarian experience.

The overarching theme of the MLK Week of Celebration for this year, is It Starts with Us: Advocating for Access in Higher Education and Society.

Other events during the week include Monday's National Day of Service with EngageTLH, Thursday's panel that will discuss first generation and imposter syndrome in the university setting and Friday's mixture among Black faculty, staff and graduate students.

While Tuesday's lecture with Crump begins at 8 p.m., doors open at 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public, but tickets are still required and can be reserved through the universitys Fine Arts Ticket Office website.

Contact Tarah Jean at tjean@tallahassee.com or follow her on twitter @tarahjean_.

Never miss a story: Subscribe to the Tallahassee Democrat using the link at the top of the page.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Civil rights lawyer Ben Crump to speak at FSU MLK Week of Celebration
Romantic crime drama Till the End of the Night, which plays in competition at the Berlin Film Festival, has debuted its first clip (below) with Variety, and its poster, designed by the U.S. graphic designer Midnight Marauder.

The film, directed by Christoph Hochhausler (The City Below), is a complex love story intertwined with crime and deception, starring Timocin Ziegler as gay cop Robert, and introducing newcomer Thea Ehre as trans woman Leni. The script is by Florian Plumeyer, and the producer is Bettina Brokemper at Heimatfilm. The Match Factory is handling international sales.

More from Variety

In order to gain the trust of a drugs dealer, undercover cop Robert has to pretend to be Lenis lover. The police hope her ties with the felon will help him to infiltrate the organization. But while this part of the plan works relatively smoothly, their fake relationship is rocky from the start. Robert was once in love with Leni, when she was a he. Ironically it is Victor, the drugs dealer, who will make Robert confront his conflicting feelings.

Hochhausler commented: What drew me to Till the End of the Night is the mote in the protagonists eye: Robert is blind to himself and to others, trapped in contradictions. His relationships have failed; theres no way back. Hes a man on the run from his feelings but  even in his false life as an undercover agent  they soon catch up with him.

Even at the start of the film hes a man who is at war with himself and this is reflected in his physical self. When he and transgender woman Leni are instructed to act as a couple in order to initiate contact with someone in the criminal underworld he is confronted with a mistake from his past and has to come to terms with his own long-hidden desires.

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He added: I wanted to make a film thats fierce, painful, raw  a melodrama with German pop music, long focal shots and very narrow depth of field. A film in which the crisis of masculinity is presented as an opera.

The right life in the wrong context and vice versa: Florian Plumeyers screenplay is a dark hall of mirrors in which the hero is always bumping his head on something. This striking individual only finds relief through a breathless crime story that doesnt hold back from escalation.

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PIERRE  Senate Bill 185, a piece of legislation proposed by Gov. Kristi Noem that would restrict foreign ag purchases, saw almost unilateral disproval from South Dakota's major agricultural groups.

Representatives of the state's corn, soybean, pork, stock growers, cattlemen, dairy, farming and conservation groups and local farmers all testified in opposition of the bill Tuesday. Other groups, including banking institutions and economic groups also urged legislators to vote "no" on the bill.

After more than an hour of proponent and opponent testimony, the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee passed an amended version of the bill on a 7-0 vote.

State ag groups present united front against foreign ag legislation

Scott VanderWal, president of South Dakota Farm Bureau and a Volga farmer, told the committee he doesn't "disagree with the intent" of the bill. However, he expressed concerns with certain mechanics of the bill, including giving ultimate authority on transactions to the governor.

"This grants unilateral authority to one person, something that Farm Bureau, regardless of the issue, is deeply concerned about," VanderWal said. "We don't know who future governors will be nor what their philosophies will be."

The bill also increases the state's three-year timeframe to review farmland transactions for violations up to 20 years. Violating parties would be forced to forfeit their land, which VanderWal said could "lead to major and messy lawsuits."

South Dakota Farmers Union, represented by lobbyist Mitch Richter, also joined their Farm Bureau counterpart to oppose the legislation.

Richter said foreign entities could easily circumvent the legislation if so desired by purchasing any other developmental property not considered ag land. He also contended a farmer should be able to sell or rent out his ag lands no matter who is buying or where it's located.

"My family has about 300 acres of ground, and every other month, we get an offer for that ground from land investment companies that from all over the country, and we don't know who they're financed by. We don't know who they are," Richter said. "We rent it to local producers for hay ground, but  I don't think I should be impeded from selling that if I want to just because it's close to Ellsworth."

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The Farmers Union lobbyist also said the issue is best left in the hands of federal government. He pointed to the PASS Act, a piece of federal legislation introduced by Sen. Mike Rounds and sponsored by Rep. Dusty Johnson, as legislation that would be more effective than what a state-run board might achieve.

More:Sen. Mike Rounds introduces Senate version of PASS Act

Jim Ketelhut, a farmer from Pukwana, represented South Dakota Corn Growers Association as a party concerned the proposed legislation would hamstring the industry, whether that's by creating a "patchwork" of state laws or turning away countries that farmers normally engage in business.

He also suggested the bill would limit healthy competition in the industry.

"Given the chance, U.S. farmers, including South Dakotans, can and will compete with our counterparts around the world," Ketelhut said.

South Dakota Wheat vice president Doug Simons joined the forum to say the bill leaves too many questions unanswered, including what the long-term implications of the bill would be and how it could affect the research and development sector.

"We're in a world market... I just don't know how we can get around some of this stuff," Simons said. "I do agree with the standpoint of needing to have some oversight on foreign ownership of farmland, but this particular bill I don't feel is the proper tool to do that."

This concern was echoed by Kathy Zander, executive director and lobbyist for the South Dakota Agri-Business Association. She said the organization would be forced to acquire exemptions for foreign-owned member companies who lease land for R&D, but the current bill does not specifically make this allowance.

A farmer sprays his corn crop on the outskirts of Lennox, just southwest of Sioux Falls, on June 20. Ag groups across South Dakota have opposed a new bill aimed against foreign ag land purchases in the state.

Proponents relate the gravity of the times

Republican Sen. Erin Tobin, prime sponsor of the bill, as well as Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources Secretary Hunter Roberts and other state government representatives spoke in support of the bill.

Tobin said agriculture is the backbone of the state, and added the bill "proactively protects" future generations of South Dakota farmers from losing ag land to China and other countries.

"Throughout history, wars have been fought and lives lost over the control of land and resources. Each year our land becomes more valuable," Tobin said. "This is a national security issue and food security issue."

More: Access to gender-affirming care has now been limited under law for South Dakota youth

Alan Vester, Deputy General Counsel and a member of Noem's staff, also appeared before the committee to speak in support of the bill. He pointed to the national security concern posed by the purchase of ag land near Grand Forks Air Force Base by Fufeng Group, a Chinese business, as a failing of the federal Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. CFIUS-SD, the board created by SB 185, would function independently.

Noem's staff member related his argument to South Dakota's own major military installation, Ellsworth Air Force Base in Box Elder, which was named as the home of the new B-21 Raider, a next generation long-range bomber.

"The [Chinese Communist Party] wants intelligence on the B-21 bomber. The easiest way to do this would be to purchase land near Ellsworth Air Force Base and conduct surveillance activities and operations there," Vester told the committee. "CFIUS-SD would provide South Dakota with the ability to protect Ellsworth and ensure the safety and security of future generations of South Dakotans."

Major General Jeff Marlette, South Dakota's general, also addressed the committee to relate the issue from an international standpoint. He said foreign influence in the state's agriculture industry creates another "lever" for other "adversarial" countries, specifically China, to leverage against the nation as a whole.

According to U.S. Department of Agriculture's latest Foreign Holdings of U.S. Agricultural Land report, China owns 383,935 acres of farmland, which is slightly less than 1% of all foreign-held acres.

The general, speaking in his own personal capacity, suggested China is playing a "very long, long game" to garner this influence.

"They don't have to fire a shot to create the influence that they're creating around the world," Marlette said.

Why did the Senate committee pass SB 185?

The Senate committee members who spoke Tuesday measured the importance of continuing the foreign ag policy discussion in their statements.

Tobin related the message that, at the end of the day, the legislation is intended to serve the state's agricultural organizations and the consumers at the end of the industry's supply chain.

"We owe it to them to dig through this and figure it out. We owe it to our future," Tobin said in closing remarks. "I think we can move this bill forward, continue to have the discussion, and I feel like we can come to a place where we can all agree, because this issue is too important to ignore."

Other committee members, like Democrat Sen. Liz Larson, found themselves on the fence. She told her fellow chairs the current review process for ag land transactions under CFIUS currently functions in a more neutral manner.

"I like the language that is used on the CFIUS website  which does not target any country or political party or entity specifically. It's just a review process," Larson said. "But I do think this is a really important issue that we need to not shove under the rug."

It's the fallout of enacting such large legislation that concerns Republican Sen. Randy Deibert, who serves district 31. He expressed worry the complicated nature of land transactions and the potential influx of canceled leases or documents would overwhelm Register of Deeds offices.

That same issue, Deibert said, could also extend to the CFIUS-SD board members, who he doubted "would work for free if this becomes overwhelming to their time."

Deibert remained hesistant to support the legislation, saying "maybe 35 people should be weighing in rather than seven."

"I don't have a problem moving this to the floor. It just needs a lot of work before I'll support it," Deibert said.

The meeting was not devoid of optimism by the board, however.

Republican Sen. Joshua Klumb was one member who supported the legislation, though he noted he felt odd to take a stance against some groups of which he holds membership. He maintained his colleagues and the ag groups that spoke must "come to the table," even if it means meeting over "a case of beer," he mused.

The positive streak continued with Republican Sen. Al Novstrup, who said the bill may be flawed but advocated for keeping the bill alive to refine it at a later date, which was a sentiment Larson also expressed.

House Bill 1189, a similar piece of legislation that would require entities to disclose whether they have any foreign beneficial ownership to the Secretary of State, passed the South Dakota House on a unanimous 67-0 vote on Monday.

Dominik Dausch is the agriculture and environment reporter for the Argus Leader and editor of Farm Forum. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook @DomDNP and send news tips to ddausch@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Noem's foreign ag bill moves forward without support from most SD ag groups
In a case that gained widespread attention on social media, a Southaven couple says their 17-year-old son, who is autistic, was improperly arrested Feb. 6 by Southaven Police and held in juvenile detention for three days.

"Detective Patricia Taylor told me my son called a suicide hotline, threatening to cause violence at his school and they take school threats seriously," Pamela McKelvy Hamner said in a Twitter thread. "For 2 hours in front of my home 4 unmarked suvs and one police car converged, blocking traffic, demanding my husband & I give them my son's phone. They had no warrants, no evidence, and no jurisdiction. My son attends school in Tennessee. Our 17 year old repeatedly denied the accusation said: 'Mom, someone Swatted me.'"

Swatting is the practice of making a call to emergency services with the intention of sending a large number of armed police officers to a specific address.

Hamner said that things escalated when one of the Southaven officers told she and and her husband that their son was being arrested because he "committed a crime, terrorism" and that after an hour, officers threatened to get a warrant to search their home for their son's phone. Hamner also said her husband was told he was obstructing justice for not providing his son's phone and that he was arrested as well.

In the Twitter thread, Hamner also included a few videos. One of them appears to show officers threatening to tow her car at her expense because it was part of the crime scene.

On Monday afternoon, Southaven Police Department responded, also in a Twitter thread, calling Hamner's twitter thread a "misleading version of events."

"On February 6, 2023, the Southaven Police Department received a call from a suicide prevention hotline stating that an individual who resided in Southaven had made threats to either shoot up a school or commit suicide on February 15th," the department said in the twitter thread. "For obvious reasons, the Southaven Police Department takes any threat to commit acts of violence against themselves or other children at school very seriously."

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The department alleges that they verified the identity of the person who made the threats and contacted his mother, Hamner, who agreed to meet at the residence.

"Upon further investigation, a youth court custody order was granted for the juvenile suspect, who was then taken into custody," the department said in the Twitter thread. "During this investigation, based on the actions of the father of the juvenile suspect, the father was subsequently arrested for hindering prosecution, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest."

The father, Dabney Hamner, has been charged with resisting arrest, disorderly conduct/failure to comply with officers and hindering prosecution in the second degree, according to the online Southaven court dockets. His initial appearance is set for Feb. 15.

"So who made the call to the suicide hotline and how did you vet the caller?" Hamner said on Twitter in response to the police department thread. She went on to say the threat was made by an individual who doesn't live in Southaven.

Also on Twitter, Hamner said, "Will you investigate the caller with as much veracity as you did my son?"

The Southaven Police Department said the entire event was captured on body-worn cameras and that the department is not able to release the footage until the investigation is complete. The department said the case is "now in the hands of the DeSoto County Youth Court and the Southaven Municipal Court."

Pamela McKelvy Hamner is a former broadcast reporter, working in the late '90s and early 2000s as a reporter and anchor at WREG-Channel 3 in Memphis. In 2021, she ran unsuccessfully to be the Southaven Ward 6 alderman.

"When I tell y'all we will liquidate all of our assets in filing a civil lawsuit, we are NOT bluffing. They busted upon our home without proof, harassed and bullied us, embarrassed us, charged my husband with resisting arrest, obstructing justice & disorderly conduct...," Hamner said in the twitter thread. "Bullied us, abused their authority, maliciously arrested my son and husband, booked my husband, who now has to go before the medical board..has TRAUMATIZED all of us. I'm in tears bc I havent slept since this happened and didn't eat until my son was in our arms."

This story will be updated.

Gina Butkovich covers DeSoto County, storytelling and general news. She can be reached at 901-232-6714 or on Twitter @gigibutko.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Southaven couple says son was improperly arrested, held for 3 days
The Cabinet of Ministers has appointed Lieutenant General Oleksandr Pavliuk as the First Deputy Minister of Defense.

According to representative of the Cabinet of Ministers in the Verkhovna Rada Taras Melnychuk on Telegram, the corresponding decision was made at a government meeting on Tuesday.

In particular, the Hero of Ukraine, Lieutenant General Oleksandr Pavliuk was appointed to the post of First Deputy Minister.

In connection with the new appointments, the Cabinet of Ministers dismissed Colonel-General Ivan Rusnak from the post of First Deputy Minister of Defense and Oleh Haiduk from the post of Deputy Minister of Defense for Digital Development.

At the same time, according to Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, Rusnak and Haiduk remain in the ministry's team and will be involved in the work as advisers to the minister.

As reported, on January 4, the Cabinet of Ministers dismissed Deputy Defense Minister Vyacheslav Shapovalov.
Beautiful Ice Lake sits at 7,800 feet the Wallowa Mountains' Eagle Cap Wilderness in northeastern Oregon.

The Statesman Journal and Register-Guard are hiring three outdoors journalism interns this year.The positions allow for exploring and writing about Oregon's wildest places.

The internships require working 40 hours per week for 10 weeks, for periods roughly in the spring (mid-April to early June), summer and late summer into autumn of 2023. Pay is $15 per hour. There is room for flexibility within those timeframes and we anticipate some overlap.

The interns will work with longtime Statesman Journal outdoors reporter Zach Urness to craft stories, podcasts and videos that center on issues such as wildfires, outdoor recreation and the environment. In addition, the intern will get the chance to travel to unique outdoor destinations and write about what makes those places special.

A key piece of the internship is producing and editing episodes of the Explore Oregon Podcast.

Applications are being accepted now for the spring internship and should be submitted by March 31 for the summer and fall internships. Email zurness@statesmanjournal.com with questions.

Were looking for candidates with some journalism experience and strong writing and reporting chops, but who also love the outdoors and telling important stories, Urness said. Hard work and hustle are the most important attributes.

The first year of the internships was 2021. Interns Wesley LaPointe, a student at the University of Oregon, and Eddy Binford-Ross, a South Salem High graduate and Georgetown University student, produced work that spanned an array of topics.

Binford-Ross traveled to an abandoned fire lookout, wrote about efforts to restore a disappearing trail in the Mount Jefferson Wilderness and took a deep dive into the growing threat of urban wildfires faced in the Willamette Valley. LaPointe earned an internship at the LA Times a summer after his experience at the Statesman Journal.

In 2022, intern Skyla Patton led podcasts about hunting chanterelle mushrooms, reported on wildfires in on the border of southern Oregon and wrote about spending the night in a fire lookout. Intern Makenzie Elliott wrote about violence at campsites, podcasted about the best adventures near Sisters and is now the Eugene Register-Guards breaking news reporter.

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Statesman Journal, Register-Guard seek outdoors journalism interns
Protestors demand to know about the crash at Roswell in 1947, which they believe was a UFO (AFP)

In 1947, scraps of rubber and metal found in Roswell, New Mexico arguably began the hunt for UFOs and alien life on our planet. That collection of debris was officially from a downed weather balloon  but that official explanation has not satisfied the many who claim that it was the remains of something not of this world.

Nearly 80 years later, a balloon has kicked off another round of fears and excitement about alien invasion. In recent days, the US military has shot down a run of unidentified objects  which followed the downing of what was said to be a Chinese weather balloon  and has given little explanation of what they are or what they might have been doing.

In the decades since those events in Roswell, the world has seen a growing interest in UFOs, and where they might have come from. And sceptics have long argued that rather than being any new technology  either of this Earth or another planet entirely  many of those sightings might indeed be weather balloons.

It is fitting, therefore, that the latest excitement has been prompted by what appear to be observation balloons of some kind, though that is still unconfirmed. And that official secrecy, too, is in keeping with the mystery that has surrounded those objects ever since that material fell to Earth in the New Mexico desert.

Humans have speculated for centuries about the possibility that the skies might be alive with something alien. Indeed, a whole conspiracy theory of its own  known as ancient astronauts  has pointed to what it claims are references in historic texts that describe unusual events in the sky.

But the modern excitement about UFOs really began in the middle of the 20th century. During the war, some pilots described seeing lights in the sky that became known as foo fighters and have still not been definitively explained.

Then followed Roswell, which helped kick off an excitement about UFOs that started soon after the debris was found in 1947 and continued throughout the 1950s and on to this day. Those sightings came at a time of tensions between the US and the Soviet Union, and many have speculated that the interest in the sightings could be at least a result of that anxiety.

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In 2023, the world is in much the same state: for years, pilots have been reporting unusual flying objects in the sky, and  amid increasing global tensions  downed objects have led to theories about UFOs.

In recent years, officials have looked to avoid using the word UFO and instead refer to the objects as UAPs, or unidentified anomolous phenomenon. That is in part an attempt at making the word more accurate and neutral, but it has also come at a time of increased, serious interest in the objects.

In recent years, new reports have made clear that the US has been taking at least some reports of objects seriously. In 2017, videos were published that showed fighter jets encountering objects that appeared to be moving in ways that looked to be impossible with existing hardware.

Since then, more videos have been released and new reports have shown that the US had been conducting its own  largely secret  work to examine what those unidentified aerial phenomena might be. Reports also made public the existence of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, a programme undertaken by the US government to investigate such events.

Amid those disclosures, US military and government officials have become increasingly open about the fact that there appears to be unknown things in the sky. Few have given any indication at all about what they might believe them to be, but possible explanations have included everything from aliens to secret military hardware.

Late last year, Nasa announced that it would be launching an independent study into UAPs. Over the course of nine months  ending this summer  a team will be analysing information from a range of sources in an aim to explain what they are.

Exploring the unknown in space and the atmosphere is at the heart of who we are at NASA, said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Understanding the data we have surrounding unidentified anomalous phenomena is critical to helping us draw scientific conclusions about what is happening in our skies. Data is the language of scientists and makes the unexplainable, explainable.

The space agency noted that the work was important in part because it is tasked with ensuring that spacecraft remain safe. The data gathered through the study will be important in helping inform that work, it said.

Nasas announcement followed the publication, in 2021, of a report from the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence that summarised the public information about UAPs. It was launched in recognition of that new interest in the objects  as well as fears that they could be the result of some leap forward by a foreign military power.

That report looked at 144 observations of unidentified aerial phenomena, mostly collected from the US Navy between 2004 and 2021. It could only explain one of those sightings  which it said was a deflating balloon.

Weather and other observation balloons have long been mooted as an explanation for sightings of UAPs. They have a number of characteristics that make them good suspects: they can appear to move oddly, their shape and lack of details means that it can be hard to tell how large or far away they are, and there are a lot of them.

Each day, around 1800 of such balloons are launched across the world. And so officials and experts have suggested that the new surge in reports of weather balloons  and the new tensions between China and the US that have arisen from them  is not so much the result of there being more balloons but more people looking for them.

It might simply be that the sky has been filled with such UAPs, for years or even decades, without people taking much of an interest. As such, the new focus might mean that we become more aware of those objects  and that we will only learn more about what we do not know about them.

For now, officials have been coy about confirming anything about the unidentified objects: including whether they are alien or anything else. Historically, it has been that lack of information that has usually been filled with speculation about flying saucers and alien visits.
All images via Kick Game

London-based streetwear retailer Kick Game is set to expand internationally with the opening of its first European store in the heart of Milan.

Located just five minutes away from the citys iconic Duomo di Milano, the 2,600 sq. ft space will mark a new era for the company as it prepares to bring the very best UK street style and sneakers to Italy. With stores in London, Newcastle and Birmingham, Kick Game has rapidly bolstered its presence within Britains streetwear and sneaker scene thanks to its renowned video content and collaborations with brands such as BAPE and Broken Planet.

Milan is home to some of the worlds most iconic fashion houses and we are thrilled to be a part of that fabric, says Kick Games CEO, Alicia Thompson. The arrival of Kick Game in Milan sets us up to open more fresh stores as we expand our horizons further into Europe this year. Luxury streetwear continues to gain momentum across the globe and we are eager to increase visibility.

Robert Franks, founder of Kick Game, said that they waited for the perfect moment to launch our brand in Europe and now its time. Weve lined up incredible talent to mark the occasion, which of course includes Fredo to light up our store and the city. This is our eighth and largest store, and we will continue to ramp up as we approach our 10th anniversary later this year.

Part-owned by the UK rap star Fredo, Kick Game has become inseparable from streetwear culture in the UK since its launch in 2015. And having linked up with the likes of Central Cee, Meekz, Burna Boy, iShowSpeed and more for their sneaker-focused video series, the brands YouTube channel boasts over 9 million views.

You can take a look inside the store via the shots below and visit the space this Saturday, Feb. 19, at Corso Giacomo Matteotti, 10, Milano, 20121, Italy.

kick-game-milan-store
Sailors from patrol coastal ship USS Chinook (PC 9) transfer weapons seized from a fishing vessel in international waters of the Gulf of Oman, Jan. 6. U.S. naval forces seized 2,116 AK-47 assault rifles from a fishing vessel transiting along a maritime route from Iran to Yemen. US Navy photo

US and partner forces have been seizing weapons from ships smuggling weapons from Iran to Yemen.

These weapons  intercepted during raids at sea  may eventually be sent to Ukrainian forces.

Iran has so far provided Russia with military support, outfitting Moscow with suicide drones.

The US military is considering giving Ukraine a massive amount of weaponry seized by Western forces in a recent string of raids at sea, according to a new report.

US and partner forces have regularly intercepted small boats attempting to illegally smuggle guns, ammunition, and explosives from Iran to Yemen. Over 5,000 guns, 1.6 million rounds of ammunition, and more than 20 anti-tank guided missiles have been seized in four raids alone over the last few months, US Central Command has said.

This haul  along with thousands of proximity fuses that are used to detonate explosives  may eventually be sent to Ukraine to help the country fight Russian forces, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing US and European officials. The US military began to actually consider this scenario in late 2022, the report said.

Neither the Pentagon nor CENTCOM immediately responded to Insider's requests for comment on the possible transfer.

Middle East and Iran experts previously told Insider that these raids  which target boats sailing along routes historically used to traffic weapons from Iran to Houthi rebels  are a coordinated effort to apply pressure on Iran and curb its regional influence.

The Iran-backed Houthis have been fighting a brutal civil war against Yemen's internationally recognized government, which is supported by a Saudi-led coalition. Experts have described the conflict as a proxy war between regional foes Iran and Saudi Arabia, and the United Nations has an arms embargo on weapons going to the Houthis.

Thousands of AK-47 assault rifles sit on the flight deck of guided-missile destroyer USS The Sullivans (DDG 68) during an inventory process, Jan. 7. U.S. naval forces seized 2,116 AK-47 assault rifles from a fishing vessel transiting along a maritime route from Iran to Yemen. US Navy photo

If the US military does send these seized weapons to Ukraine, it would not be the first time weapons from Iran have made their way to the eastern European country. Tehran has outfitted Russia with explosive suicide drones, which Moscow then uses to target Ukraine's civil infrastructure and energy grid  wreaking havoc and causing destruction in cities far from the war's front lines.

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Cooperation between Russia and Iran has not stopped at the shipment of drones, either. Russian officials have traveled to Iran to learn how to use the deadly drones, while Iranian military personnel visited the occupied Crimean peninsula to help Russian forces operate the systems. The two countries have even moved forward on plans to build a drone factory in Russia to increase production.

Meanwhile, a top UK envoy said in December that Russia was looking to secure a massive amount of ballistic missiles from Iran and was willing to offer the country "unprecedented" military support in return.

But despite these increasing ties between Russia and Iran  both of which are regarded as pariah states by Western countries  the former still engages in some contradictory behavior. Russia doesn't want Iran to have too much influence in Syria, so it allows Israel to conduct operations targeting Iranian proxy groups it perceives to be a threat.

Considerations on whether or not to send the intercepted weapons to Ukraine comes shortly before the one-year-anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in late-February 2022. Since then, NATO members and partner countries have sent billions of dollars in security assistance  including small arms and ammunition  to Kyiv.

Military aid has ramped up in recent weeks ahead of an anticipated Russian offensive, which may actually already be underway, as Western countries have moved to send heavy armor and other advanced weaponry to Kyiv.

Read the original article on Business Insider
On Friday 14 February, people around the world who observe Valentines Day will shower each other with affection, whether in the form of cards, gifts or token gestures.

While it is widely customary on Valentines to buy a present such as a box of chocolates or a card with a heartfelt message, traditions vary across the globe.

From Brazil to Japan, here are some of the conventional practises that take place in commemoration of Valentines Day.

Brazil

In Brazil, Valentines day is not celebrated on 14 February.

Instead Brazilians celebrate a different holiday in June called Dia dos Namorados.

Dia dos Namorados, which translates to mean Lovers Day, is celebrated on 12 June, with the date purposely chosen to coincide with the eve of Saint Anthonys Day, tourism company Brazilian Experience explains.

According to the organisation, in Brazil it is believed that Saint Anthony blessed young couples with prosperous marriage.

The reason why the traditional Valentines Day is not celebrated in Brazil is because it commonly falls during Carnival Week, which is one of the biggest events in the country, the firm adds.

France

While it has become customary for people around the world to write Valentines cards, according to online travel resource Lost in France, the tradition may stem back to 15th century France.

The company says the first recorded Valentines Day card was sent by the French Duke of Orleans, who sent letters and poems to his wife in France while being kept prisoner in the Tower of London in 1415.

There also used to a Valentines tradition in France called une loterie damour, which is now banned by the countrys government.

The custom, which translates to mean drawing for love, would involve single people of all ages entering houses that faced opposite each other and calling through the windows till eventually they paired off with each other, Lost in France outlines.

The male suitor if not particularly attracted to his partner would leave her and the women left single would build a large bonfire and ceremoniously burn images of the men that had deserted them whilst hurling abuse and curses at the ungrateful men.

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The Philippines

In recent years, it has become increasingly popular for mass weddings to be held in the Philippines on Valentines Day.

This annual tradition is carried out in order to help betrothed who would otherwise be unable to afford to pay for their own wedding ceremonies.

In February 2016, 350 couples were married in a mass civil wedding held at a basketball gymnasium in Manila, the capital of the Philippines.

According to Agencia EFE, the citys civil registrars office paid approximately 14,482 for the couples to tie the knot.

Many of these people are here because they want to formalize their relationship, but have no money to even pay a church to marry, said Joey Cabresa, director of Manilas registrars office.

China

In China, Qixi Festival, otherwise known as the Double Seventh Festival, is regarded as the countrys version of the Western celebration of Valentines day, according to tour company China Highlights.

This year, the festival is taking place on Tuesday 25 August, on the seventh day of the seventh month on the Chinese lunisolar calendar.

Couples around the world on Valentines Day

Kazuhiko Kobayashi, 80, and his wife Mieko Kobayashi, 73, pose for a photograph at their music shop named Ameyoko Rhythm, specialised for Enka, traditional Japanese popular ballad, in Tokyo's Ameyoko shopping district, Japan, February 8, 2018.

Bride Amornrat Ruamsin (L), 27, who is a transgender, holds up her five-month-old daughter with her groom Pitchaya Kachainrum (R), 16, during their wedding ceremony organised by a local TV show, in Bangkok, Thailand, February 9, 2018. The ceremony is not legally-binding as Pitchaya in under 17, the legal age for marriage in Thailand. The couple plan to officially wed after her birthday.

Dmitry Shamovich and his wife Anastasia Kuzmenkova play with the dog Amur at their homestead Zaimka Leshego in the village of Sosnovy Bor, Belarus, February 7, 2018.

Jenny Ostrom, 37, a director of photography and her husband Chad Ostrom, 37, a director, stand in McCarren Park, near their home in the Brooklyn borough of New York, U.S., February 8, 2018.

Rute Magalhaes, 33, and Filipe Alves, 38, are seen through a large format camera while they pose for a portrait at their studio in Lisbon, Portugal, February 8, 2018.

Asha Ahuja, 71, a housewife poses for a portrait with her husband Chandrabhan Ahuja, 73, a businessman inside their house in Mumbai, India, February 7, 2018. Asha said:

Hayes Mehana (R), 78, and Om Hany, 60, pose for a photograph at a vegetable market in Cairo, Egypt, February 12, 2018. The couple have been married for 42 years and have 12 children. Their love started at a vegetable market and now they dedicate their time to their 50-year-old vegetable shop business which they both worked to expand.

Aviva Ephrati (L), 84, retired kindergarten teacher, and Israel Ephrati, 87, retired supervisor at a higher educational institution, sit in the living room at the protective housing in Kfar Saba, north of Tel Aviv, Israel, February 8, 2018. The couple managed an art gallery in Haifa for some years. They've been married for 64 years.

Nhuchhe Bahadur Amatya, 76, a retired accountant at Nepal Electricity Authority along with his wife Raywoti Devi Amatya, 74, a housewife, pose for a picture as they sit inside their shop in Lalitpur, Nepal, February 4, 2018. Nhuchhe was 17 and Raywoti was 15 when they had their arranged marriage 59 years ago.

Daniela, 37, a Berlin-born social educator, and her partner Arda, 39, a German architect with Turkish roots, pose in front of Altes Museum in Berlin, Germany, February 4, 2018.

Alejandra, 44, an education policy consultant and Razhy, 48, a journalist and a human rights activist, walk on a street in the Coyoacan neighbourhood, in Mexico City, Mexico, February 9, 2018. The couple met in Mexico City in 1998, after Razhy was kidnapped and quit his job as a director of a weekly magazine in Oaxaca, a state south of the country. Months later, Alejandra traveled to Europe to study.

Double Seven Festival is the most romantic of traditional Chinese festivals, and since Chinas globalization its become known as Chinese Valentines Day, the company states.

Now people usually celebrate Chinese Valentines Day by giving flowers, chocolates, and other presents to their sweethearts, instead of doing the traditional customs.

China Highlights adds that the Western Valentines Day is now regarded as more popular than Qixi among the younger generation.

Finland

While Valentines Day is generally perceived as a celebration of romantic love, this isnt the case in Finland.

On 14 February, people in Finland mark the platonic celebration of Friends Day.

On Valentines Day, Finland is the place to be for those who appreciate their relationships with friends, states ThisisFinland.

In Finnish, Valentines Day is called ystavanpaiva (literally Friends Day) and, like the name says, the idea is to celebrate friendship. Ystavanpaiva in Finland is a public declaration of friendship.

According to the site, the day has been officially included in Finnish calendars since the mid-1990s, having been observed unofficially since the 1980s.

Japan

In Japan, it is customary on Valentines Day for women to have the sole responsibility of buying gifts for men, traditionally opting for chocolate.

The roles are then reversed exactly one month later on 14 March, when men are expected to buy gifts for women on a day known as White Day.

"Another thing to note about Valentines Day in Japan is that women not only give chocolate to men for whom they have romantic feelings, but also male family members, and even coworkers, states Live Japan.

"However, not all chocolate is considered equal, and the type of chocolate given depends on the relationship.

Colombia

Similarly to other nations around the world, Colombia celebrates love on a day separate to 14 February.

Dia de Amor y Amistad (Day of Love and Friendship) is observed on the third Saturday of September in the country, outlines travel blog Medellin Guru.

In other Latin American countries, including Mexico, Puerto Rico and Costa Rica, Dia del Amor y Amistad is celebrated on the same day as Valentines Day.

According to The Bogota Post, in Colombia Dia de Amor y Amistad is seen as a hybrid between Valentines Day and World Friendship Day.

The nation decided in 1969 to move Valentines Day from February to September and avoid the school season. It also came as a bonus that chocolates and flowers tended to sell better at that time of the year, the publication explains.

South Korea

Similarly to Japan, in South Korea it is tradition on Valentines Day for women to gift chocolate to men, with men doing the same a month later.

There is also another Valentines-associated tradition that is upheld in South Korea  that of Black Day.

Educational organisation Asia Society explains that Black Day, which is held on 14 April exactly two months after Valentines Day, is observed in commemoration of people who are single.

Supposedly, singles that did not receive a gift on either Valentines Day or White Day congregate on April 14th, otherwise known as Black Day to eat Jjajyangmyeon (black noodles) with other single friends, the organisation states.

Perhaps the most telling difference between the two major relationship holidays and Black Day is that the advertising around Black Day is nearly non-existent, in stark contrast to both Valentines Day and White Day.

This article was originally published in 2020.
Valentines Day Party at Children's Museum

DOVER  On Monday, Feb. 13, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Childrens Museum of New Hampshire members of all levels are invited to a special Member-Only Valentines Day Party. The museum will be decorated, and members can play in all their favorite exhibits, and also take part in some special games and activities. As always Members play for free, but please reserve your spots online. Be sure to sign in before adding anything to your cart. Any issues getting your member discounts, please email questions@childrens-museum.org. Reserve online at www.childrens-museum.org.

Mixtape A Cappela performs on Valentine's Day

Mixtape A Cappella

SOUTH BERWICK, Maine  Looking for a Valentines Day treat? Mixtape A Cappela will perform on Valentines Day, Feb.14, at South Berwick Public Library, 27 Young St. The concert will begin at 7 p.m. and is free to the public, courtesy of the Friends of the South Berwick Library. Mixtape A Cappella is a Seacoast-based group of young professionals who come together to share their love of voice and song.

Valentines Day Drop-In: Make a Mini Flower Arrangement

DOVER  On Tuesday, Feb. 14 at 10 a.m. come play at the Childrens Museum of NH and enjoy a special Valentine's Day activity, and make a mini flower arrangement to take home. We will be using real flowers to design small arrangements, and decorating the containers with stickers. This activity is part of the museums Learning Garden program sponsored by Whole Foods. Want to join in? Simply reserve spots in the museums morning play session on Valentines Day - its included with museum admission, and as always, free for Members! Reserve online at, www.childrens-museum.org.

Junior Science Class: Valentines Day Fun

DOVER  On Tuesday, Feb. 14 from 1:30 to 2:15 p.m. try out our popular Junior Science classes at the Childrens Museum of New Hampshire with this special one-class sampler. Interested families and returning scientists can try out Junior Science and see if it is a good fit Junior scientists (ages 3  to 5 years old) will join this 45 minute Valentines Day-themed class and enjoy a story or felt board activity, a fun experiment, and a related art project to take home. This class will be held in our STEAM Lab, and families with siblings may opt to play on the second floor during the class time; please note that the museum is closed to the public on Tuesday afternoons. Grownups are welcome to stay in the building during class time. Cost for members is $10 per child; non-members $12 per child. Pre-registration is required. Visit www.childrens-museum.org to learn more.

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A Tea Tasting

BERWICK, Maine  On Wednesday, Feb. 15 at 6 p.m. at the Berwick Public Library, we will be tasting four teas at this event: a coconut oolong blend, a chocolate puerh blend, a strawberry elderberry blend, and a traditional flowering tea. Space is limited. Please contact the library to sign up.

Family Game Night

DOVER  On Wednesday, Feb. 15 at 6 p.m. join us the third Wednesday of every month to play a fun selection of card and board games, and meet other board game enthusiasts in the community. Youre also welcome to bring your own games. All ages welcome.

Caregiver Cafe

DOVER  On Wednesday, Feb. 15 at 10:30 a.m. join Cornerstone VNA at our monthly Caregiver Cafe to support Dover area family caregivers. Come for a morning of support, education and conversation. No RSVP required. Februarys meeting will feature special speaker Katherine Michaud, a Behavioral Health Coordinator at Cornerstone VNA. Learn positive reinforcement strategies to minimize the impact of common cognitive changes seen in individuals with Dementia or Alzeheimers.

Hand Quilting Class

DOVER  On Thursday, Feb. 16 at 2 p.m. Have you ever wanted to learn how to quilt but felt intimidated? This is the class for you. In this class you'll learn the basics of English Paper Piecing, a hand quilting technique that requires nothing more than fabric, paper, and thread. All supplies will be provided and no experience whatsoever is needed. Beginners are encouraged to attend. You'll leave class with a completed pin cushion and all the knowledge you need to start a larger quilting project if you enjoyed yourself. Sign up is needed.

STEM Saturday Event: Buildwave Workshop

DOVER  Want to foster your child's interest in STEM, while igniting their creative spark at the same time? Join us for a free workshop with Buildwave on Saturday, Feb. 18 at 2 p.m. in the Dover Public Library Lecture Hall. Buildwave is a creative building program that feels like a video game.

This event is for children in grades K-6. Registration is required. For more information, visit the librarys website at library.dover.nh.gov or call 603-516-6050.

Engineer a fairytale

MILTON  On Saturday, Feb. 18, from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. the Childrens Museum of New Hampshire invites children 5 to 11 years old to come to the Milton Free Public Library at 13 Main St., Milton Mills, for a fun filled journey where kids wont just imagine a story, theyll engineer it! Story explorers will visit four hands-on interactive stations where they can collaborate in groups to craft a boat for the Gingerbread Man, design a bridge for the Three Billy Goats, and test houses for the Three Little Pigs.

The hour-long program will wrap up with each participant creating a project to take home; their own parachute for Jack to jump down from the beanstalk. Younger children are welcome but will need a caregivers assistance. We are grateful to the Childrens Museum for bringing this fun program to us.

An Evening of Art & Chocolate

KITTERY, Maine  Its a feast for the senses at An Evening of Art & Chocolate to be held Saturday, Feb. 18, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Star Theatre/Kittery Community Center at 120 Rogers Road in Kittery, Maine. The event, which benefits Friends of the Earth, Sea & Space Center, will feature a silent auction with a wide range of art up for bid as well as delectable creations from local bakers, chocolatiers and dessert makers, and the upbeat sounds of popular local a capella group The Stairwells.

More than 50 art items will be showcased, including paintings, photographs, pottery, jewelry, pen and ink, metalwork and more with topics from nature to space. Guests will also enjoy chocolate temptations from Jacquelines Cake Shop, Gourmet Gift Baskets, William Poole Chocolatier and others. La Cascade du Chocolat has created a chocolate sculpture saluting earth, sea and space! There will be a cash bar and raffles for a Spicy Shark gift pack, two Irish-themed gift baskets, a gift basket from Gourmet Gift Baskets and and a Wicked Tuna TV show gift pack.

Tickets are $25 in advance or $30 at the door and can be purchased online at www.earthseaspacemuseum.org.

Yoga in Actions 15th Annual Yoga Mala

DOVER  The Yoga Mala is an annual fundraising event which will be held on Sunday, Feb. 19, at Rivermill Landing, Dover, N.H. to support Yoga in Action. There will also be virtual access available via Zoom. The three-hour yoga session includes 108 Sun Salutations, meditation and restoration. The event will be followed by food and time to gather and connect. Yoga Mala is open to all levels of yoga students.

To donate to or participate in the Yoga Mala, please visit: Yoga Mala 2023. For more information, please contact Rochelle Jewell, Executive Director. rochelle.jewell@yogainaction.org.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Valentine's Day fun, tea tasting, Yoga Mala: Seacoast community events
Arizona Puppy Rescued From Undercarriage of Car

arizona puppy rescued

Photo Credit: D Wulfers / Getty Images

Puppies are notorious for getting into trouble. Whether that means eating things they shouldnt or sneaking their way into the most unexpected places, puppies are predictably unpredictable! But one Arizona puppy recently got into a real bind and had to be rescued.

Arizona Puppy Rescued From Undercarriage of Car

Gracie is a 14-week-old Parson Russell Terrier mix who recently ended up in a sticky situation  in the undercarriage of a car!

According to a Facebook post by the Arizona Humane Society (AHS), the 12-pound canine was being chased by two large dogs, and in search of a safe escape, she wedged her way onto the top of the rear axle of the undercarriage of a car. Once in place, she didnt want to come out for fear of attack.

The AHS called upon emergency tech Dan McGrath to help free the pup from her hiding place, according to 12 News in Mesa, Arizona. McGrath enticed the fur baby out from the car with a little wet food and a lot of patience. In return, he was met immediately with snuggles by Gracie.

Puppy Eligible for Adoption

Gracie was examined by a veterinarian following her seamless rescue and was deemed to be in good health and without a scratch. She was given vaccines, a microchip, and spay surgery. She is now eligible for adoption at AHSs South Mountain location.

Though Gracies situation is unique, she is not the only pup in of need of rescuing. The AHS shared that over 7,400 sick and injured animals have been saved by their Emergency Animal Medical Technician program over the past year, and Gracie is just one of the almost 18,000 pets that AHS cares for annually.

To find out more about the Arizona Humane Society and to contribute to its efforts, visit its website.

The post Arizona Puppy Rescued From Undercarriage of Car appeared first on DogTime.
A bill that could make it harder for people to observe law enforcement interactions is raising concerns with the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana over police accountability.

House Bill 1186, which breezed through its first legislative test, would consider a person who knowingly or intentionally approaches within 25 feet of a law enforcement officer after being ordered to stop as encroaching on an investigation. The crime would become a Class C misdemeanor.

Indiana General Assembly 2023:Social issues take center stage with flurry of anti-LGBTQ bills moving

The bill on Wednesday passed unanimously out of the House Courts and Criminal Code Committee with little debate among all 13 committee members, and support from law enforcement.

What did the ACLU say about House Bill 1186?

Policy officials with the ACLU, however, worry the proposal may instead be used to prevent civilians from observing police officers, possibly tamping efforts to hold them accountable.

In recent years, there have been numerous tragic deaths at the hands of police that were observed and recorded by civilian bystanders and that has been critical to pushing back on unchecked police brutality, Katie Blair, director of advocacy and public policy at the ACLU of Indiana, told IndyStar. Just as long as you do not interfere with what officers are doing and do not stand close enough to obstruct their movements, you have the right to observe and record events that are plainly visible in public spaces.

Indiana General Assembly 2023:Protesting outside someone's home may become a crime in Indiana

Perhaps the most high-profile example of police brutality captured by bystanders in the past few years occurred during the murder of George Floyd, who was seen pinned under the knee of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. The video, taken with a teen on her cellphone, depicted an opposite account of what Minneapolis police said occurred in the moments leading up to Floyd taking his last breath.

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Arguments for and against House Bill 1186

Rep. Mitch Gore, D-Indianapolis and a captain with the Marion County Sheriffs Office, during the committee hearing acknowledged the video of George Floyds death gave him pause while considering the bill, but said he believes technology is advanced enough to capture anything from 25 feet away.

(The people recorded) right on the officer that murdered George Floyd, and that contributed to how visceral the video was and the public outcry and I think thats important, Gore said. I think technology is in a place where I dont think well miss much of whats happening in some of these scenes from your average cellphone, so I kind of got over that part.

He noted that if the law is used to thwart a persons ability to record or document law enforcement interactions, hell bring the issue back to lawmakers.

Zach Stock, of the Indiana Public Defender Council, argued the state already has laws to create a buffer between police and citizens, such as laws about interfering with law enforcement.

He further argued if the bill must pass, make the penalty a ticket, versus an arrestable offense.

Police officials countered that the proposed law would give officers legal precedent to create room between investigators and civilians.

Its easy to get lost kind of lost in the weeds, like what is 25 feet? Or how does this make your job better? said Ed Merchant, of Indianas Fraternal Order of Police. It makes the job better because now we have legal authority to tell a person to get back 25 feet.

Rep. Wendy McNamara, R-Evansville, said her goal is to avoid more chaos at crime scenes by giving officers a law that creates a buffer.

If theres something that we can do from preventing that escalation, preventing the officer from being touched by someone whos not even involved in the situation, I hope that this bill is the one to do it.

Rep. Robin Shackleford, D-Indianapolis, concurred with the committee the bill creates safety for police and civilians, and quipped about a new slogan.

25 to stay alive, she joked.

House Bill 1186 is up for a vote in the Indiana House after passing the Committee on Courts and Criminal Code unanimously.

Contact Sarah Nelson at 317-503-7514 or sarah.nelson@indystar.com

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: ACLU criticizes Indiana bill creating 25-foot zone around police
BTS Suga announced the dates for his first-ever solo world tour on Tuesday morning (Feb. 14). According to a posting on Weverse, the unnamed tour is slated to kick off on April 26 at UBS Arena in Belmont Park, New York before dates at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. (April 29), Allstate Arena in Rosemont, IL (May 3, 5 & 6), the Kia Forum in Los Angeles (May 10, 11, & 14) and Oakland Arena in Oakland, CA (May 16, 17).

Related

Suga, BTS

Hes Got Game: BTS Suga Sits Courtside at Lakers Match & Shows Off 02/14/2023 02/14/2023

The outing will then head overseas for dates in Jakarta, Bangkok and Singapore, as well as a two-night stand in BTS home country of South Korea at Jamsil Indoor Stadium in Seioul on June 24 and 25 and as-yet-unannounced gigs in Japan.

More from Billboard

A release announcing the tour noted that the Weverse post mentioned Agust D, Sugas other stage name, which caused a lot of ARMY chatter about what fans might expect from the dates; click here for ticketing and Verified Fan information. The rapper and dancer posted a video in December in which he showed off his smooth moves in a hip-hop dance 101 class with the help of a private instructor.

Hello everyone. At age 30, Ive come to take dance lessons. Basic hip-hop moves. Its been about 12 years since I last did this in high school. Ill give it a try, he said in the video, telling fans that he felt like hed taken a trip back in time to his pre-BTS trainee days. Im a mess. This is so hard. Its so hard to do this [basic moves] after a long time. I feel kind of dumb doing this. When I first joined as a trainee Id never danced before.

He also updated ARMY on what hes been up to since the group announced their hiatus in June. Ive learned some basic hip-hop moves. Ive suddenly got an interest in learning at the age of 30, he said. Im taking all kinds of lessons now. Ive started playing the keyboard again. Im also taking guitar and dance and Japanese and English.

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While J-Hope headlined Lollapalooza in Chicago last July and Jin performed his single The Astronaut with Coldplay in Argentina in October, Sugas outing is the first full-fledged solo tour by a member of BTS. The rapper previously released two mixtapes under his solo alter ego, Agust D (2016) and D-2 (2020).

Check out Sugas tour poster and 2023 solo tour dates:

suga, tour

April 26  Belmont Park, NY @ UBS Arena

April 27  Belmont Park, NY @ UBS Arena

April 29  Newark, N.J. @ Prudential Center

May 3  Rosemont, IL @ Allstate Arena

May 5  Rosemont, IL @ Allstate Arena

May 6  Rosemont, IL @ Allstate Arena

May 10  Los Angeles, CA @ Kia Forum

May 11  Los Angeles, CA @ Kia Forum

May 14  Los Angeles, CA @ Kia Forum

May 16  Oakland, CA @ Oakland Arena

May 17  Oakland, CA @ Oakland Arena

May 26  Jakarta, ID @ Indonesia Convention Exhibition Hall 5-6

May 27  Jakarta, Indonesia @ Indonesia Convention Exhibition Hall 5-6

May 28  Jakarta, Indonesia @ Indonesia Convention Exhibition Hall 5-6

June 10  Bangkok, Thailand @ Impact Arena

June 11  Bangkok, Thailand @ Impact Arena

June 17  Singapore, SG @ Singapore Indoor Stadium

June 18  Singapore, SG @ Singapore Indoor Stadium

June 24 Seoul, KR @ Jamsil Indoor Stadium

June 25  Seoul, KR @ Jamsil Indoor Stadium

Japan dates TBA

Best of Billboard

Click here to read the full article.
A budding GOP impeachment case against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is relying on a 2006 law that says operational control of the border means the prevention of all unlawful entries to the United States  a standard seen as impossible to meet.

The Secure Fence Act of 2006 was passed during a failed Bush-era effort to move a comprehensive immigration reform bill. In the fallout, House Republicans rushed to show they were taking action on border security, requiring the installation of intermittent fencing along the southern border.

Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (Gregory Payan/AP Images for NFL)

But a provision of the law defining operational control is now at the center of the new House GOP majoritys effort to impeach Mayorkas, who is accused of lying to Congress when hes said the border is secure.

Secretary Mayorkas does not think that the border is open. He thinks that he has operational control, although the Secure Fence Act of 2006 clearly defines what operational control of a border is, and that means that no contraband or individual can come into the country illegally, said Rep. Andy Biggs, a conservative Republican from Arizona and one of two members who have formally introduced articles of impeachment against Mayorkas.

Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

And yet, under his watch, Secretary Mayorkas has allowed in approximately 5 million illegal aliens coming through, and that doesnt include got-aways, added Biggs.

Republicans argue that Mayorkas has been ineffective in managing what they see as a crisis, as record numbers of migrants attempt to cross the southern border. Its a failure they contend is a violation of his oath of office.

He has taken an oath, a constitutional oath, to obey the laws of the United States and protect us, said Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas), who this year filed the first articles of impeachment against Mayorkas.

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Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas (AP Photo/Jess Rapfogel)

In 2006, the Secure Fence Act was passed which requires the Department of Homeland Security Secretary to maintain the operational control of the southern border. He has clearly not done that, Fallon said.

Democrats and other critics of the GOP case argue that the differences between Republicans and Mayorkas are largely policy issues that dont rise to the level of impeachment.

Impeachment covers treason, bribery and other high crimes and misdemeanors. Its not typically envisioned as covering policy disputes, or disagreements on policy, which seems like what these are, said Dave Rapallo, a Georgetown Law professor who also worked with Democrats on the impeachment of former President Trump.

He and others argue that the 2006 law lays out an impossible standard  but includes clear language that gives the secretary the discretion to determine how to meet it.

Congress has delegated to the secretary of Homeland Security the decision to determine what is necessary and appropriate. And thats what the department is doing. There may be a difference of opinion about whether that happens with walls or other mechanisms to prevent unlawful entry, Rapallo said. But if the standard is that not one migrant can get into the United States, thats a standard no secretary of Homeland Security would ever meet.

Doris Meissner, who ran the Immigration and Naturalization Service under former President Clinton and how heads the U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the Migration Policy Institute, said the standard isnt something that we ask of any other law enforcement regime.

Previous Homeland Security secretaries, Democrats and Republicans, have not been removed over the standard highlighted by Biggs and Fallon.

The assumption with having law enforcement at all, is that there are laws and there will be a degree to which laws are broken, and law enforcement, and law enforcement systems, and structures are in place to keep them to a minimum and to create accountability if they do happen, said Meissner.

Biggs himself acknowledged the standard that no one or thing can enter the country illegally for the DHS secretary to not be impeached is a high one. But he argues Mayorkas still deserves to be impeached because of how he has handled border security.

While that particular statute requires perfection, which we all recognize is an impossible task, the American public still trusts him to do his very best to secure operational control of the border. He necessarily has the public trust, and as a Cabinet secretary, he is a public man, he wrote in an op-ed shortly after introducing his resolution.

The case against Alejandro Mayorkas  does not necessarily turn on whether Mayorkas has actually committed a statutorily defined black-letter crime. It is whether he has committed a high crime as that term is understood under the U.S. Constitution.

The fencing bill was passed after two competing comprehensive immigration reform bills moved through the House and Senate in 2005.

The House version, led by former Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), was a security-focused immigration crackdown; the Senate version led by former Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) paired border security and guest worker provisions with a broad legalization program for undocumented immigrants.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Jan. 29, 2008 (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

To no ones surprise, the House and Senate were unable to find a middle ground in conference, and the two bills failed in the lead-up to the 2006 midterm elections.

There really was a strong feeling, in the Senate in particular, that people had to go home with something to show for immigration, in order to be running their campaigns, and having some kind of a message to take back to their constituents, said Meissner.

So they passed this act quite hurriedly in October of 2006, right on the cusp of the elections. It just had this sort of sweeping mandate, which really hadnt been tested or vetted with the executive branch, she added.

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), one of the co-sponsors of the 2006 border bill, described the legislation as tasking the Homeland Security secretary to determine where to put fencing.

Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

It was our intention to put a fence not everywhere but where it made sense to put the fence on the border, you know, [in] more populated areas to have the infrastructure in place to stop illegal crossings, he said, noting along with specific mileage of fencing, we gave discretion to the secretary to use his or her judgment as to where to put it.

McCaul, a stern Mayorkas critic who has directly admonished the secretary in hearings, has likewise criticized members of his party for rushing a process he said should be handled by committees of jurisdiction who can investigate and build a strong case for impeachment.

You can make the case to the American people without having to do it overnight. We criticized the Democrats for impeaching Trump in one day.  We shouldnt make that same mistake, he told The Hill.

Mayorkas and his department are now gearing up for a fight.

The department initially declined to assign specific staff to deal with impeachment, but on Friday confirmed it had hired an outside law firm to aid in any eventual impeachment hearings.

Its also shifted tone in its public statements on impeachment developments, attacking the credibility of the resolutions directly.

Instead of pointing fingers and trying to score political points, the Members of Congress recklessly and baselessly pursuing impeachment should work on legislative solutions for our broken immigration system, DHS said last week when Biggss resolution was introduced.

Republicans have rolled out other arguments for impeachment, including one that mirrors a recent lawsuit from a number of GOP-led states challenging a program that allows 30,000 migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and Venezuela to be paroled into the country each month, while quickly expelling to Mexico an equal number of migrants from those countries who show up at the border.

The resolution deems the current use of parole an abuse, calling it a way to legally admit aliens.

Biggs and other Republicans are also basing their impeachment case on a broader claim  dismissed as a conspiracy theory by Democrats  that the Biden administration is intentionally loosening border controls.

First of all, when we look at that intentionality, this is done intentionally, Biggs told reporters last week. This is not negligence, it is not by accident. It is not incompetence, and how do we know that? Well, just like we look at a culpable mental state, like intentionality or knowledge, we look at a totality of circumstances.

Biggs said the evidence of intention is in Mayorkas ending a series of Trump-era border policies, a move that many Republicans believe is the direct cause of increased migration in the Western Hemisphere, presumably knowing his policies would result in increased border crossings.

But whether Republican leadership decides to forward any impeachment resolution, the process could face a substantial roadblock in the Democratic-controlled upper chamber.

A majority of the House could just decide to impeach the secretary based on whatever it puts in its resolution, Rapallo said. But thats highly unlikely to go anywhere in the Senate.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov claims that during the meeting of the U.S.-led Contact Group on Ukraine, its participants said that Ukraine must win and prevent the "victory of evil" - this is the only risk to the global security system.

At the end of the meeting, which took place in Brussels on Tuesday on the sidelines of a meeting of NATO defense ministers, telling reporters about the results, Reznikov quoted U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. "For example, Lloyd Austin's quote: Ukraine must win. Moreover, in English it sounded must - not can, but must. You understand the power of this word. And then there was a very important message that I heard from Jens Stoltenberg, and it is shared by all the speakers: "When someone says that there are some risks in terms of providing the next tranche or assistance for Ukraine, then there is only one risk - this is exactly what evil can win. And there is a risk for everyone if evil wins, as it will be a good example for all other totalitarian regimes. Therefore, for the sake of future peace and the global security structure, we must help Ukraine win this war."

Further, the Ukrainian minister noted that the "key word" that sounded during the meeting was "unity of all around Ukraine for the sake of Ukraine's victory" and Jens Stoltenberg's quote "speed saves lives." "It also sounded in different versions from other partners," Reznikov said.

He also said that a separate report was submitted on the results of inspections of the use of weapons supplied to Ukraine by partner countries. "We always want transparency and openness of our relations so that the public has no doubt that weapons are being used on the battlefield against the enemy. And today there was a report, including regarding inspections on those modern NATO systems that we use, and everyone was satisfied," the minister outlined the content of the document.

In addition, according to him, partner countries were also invited to Ukraine so that they would have the opportunity, if necessary, "to come and check, up to the battalion and the unit, where the weapons from their country are located." "Monitoring is always, every day, every night. The only limitation is whether they are ready to come to the battlefield. If not, we are ready to provide any documents," Reznikov added.

According to him, a total of 54 delegations took part in the meeting. "The anti-Kremlin coalition is growing. I clearly heard the messages from all the representatives  full support for Ukraine until victory, and victory, as everyone believes, on the battlefield, as well as speed, timeliness and stability  these theses sounded exactly like that," the Minister of Defense of Ukraine said.
Canary Medias Down to the Wire column tackles the more complicated challenges of decarbonizing our energy systems.

McGee Young, CEO of WattCarbon, believes he has a solution to two tricky climate challenges. Challenge No. 1: Carbon-offset markets are filled with dubious or allegedly fraudulent projects that dont really reduce carbon emissions. Challenge No. 2: More investment is needed in distributed clean energy projects.

The answer? Create a new class of carbon offsets that fund investments to cut carbon emissions across hundreds or thousands of sites  and make this new offset market a model of transparency.

After all, why shouldnt corporations be able to earn carbon-cutting credit for investments that help replace hundreds of residential fossil-gas furnaces with electric heat pumps? What about investments in helping homes and businesses avoid using electricity when fossil-fueled power makes up most of the grid mix, or building community solar projects in places with the heaviest reliance on fossil-fueled generation?

These kinds of distributed-energy investments are not part of todays multibillion-dollar voluntary carbon-offset markets. But Young thinks theyre a much better option than, say, putting money into forest-conservation projects that dont actually conserve forests, or into utility-scale wind and solar projects that have already been built or likely would have been built without the extra cash  two of the more common, and more problematic, types of offsets that corporate giants buy today in order to claim theyre making progress toward net-zero goals.

Residential and commercial buildings account for roughly 40 percent of U.S. carbon emissions, both from the fossil fuels they burn for heating, cooking and other purposes, and from the carbon emissions associated with the electricity they use. That means they should be a massive target for carbon-cutting investments, Young said. How do we do that? I think we do it by turning buildings into decarbonization assets.

Story continues

In January, WattCarbon raised $4.5 million from venture investors to bring this new concept for a carbon-credit market to the next stage of development. Over the coming months, the company hopes to sign up the first corporate buyers for what its calling clean energy credits, Young said.

Initial partner companies planning to offer investment opportunities in the market include community-solar and renewable-energy developer Pivot Energy, demand-response aggregator Leap, home-electrification startup Elephant Energy and energy retailer Branch Energy. These companies are putting portfolios of projects into our marketplace, Young said. You can buy 15 hours of demand response from Leap, or the RECs [renewable energy certificates] from a community solar project in the Midwest, or for heat-pump projects in Colorado.

None of the projects that will appear on the marketplace have been built yet, and only those that need additional investment to move forward will be listed, he said. That assures that the investments provide additionality  a key term in the world of carbon offsets and renewable energy that means projects wouldnt have happened without the investment. In other words, theyre adding new carbon-cutting value.

In return, investors will receive credits for future carbon-emission reductions from these projects, Young said. Replacing a gas furnace with an electric heat pump eliminates emissions from burning gas and replaces them with a smaller amount of emissions from the electricity used by the heat pump, for example. A community solar project replaces grid power of varying carbon intensities with carbon-free solar power, and a demand-response companys dispatch signal for customers to reduce electricity use also reduces their share of the emissions of the generation fleet thats providing electricity to the grid during the hours of reduction.

WattCarbons marketplace is a novel concept that pushes the boundaries of how carbon offsets are accounted for today. Its clean-energy credits could potentially be converted into carbon-offset equivalents for voluntary carbon accounting or adapted to future iterations of accounting for renewable energy certificates.

Its unclear whether the entities that operate the worlds existing carbon-offset markets, both the compliance-based markets and the voluntary ones, will embrace WattCarbons credits. In the compliance markets, the methodologies for measuring just how clean or dirty a kilowatt-hour of electricity consumption is at a particular place and time on the power grid are still being developed by government and private-sector consortiums.

But unlike in the opaque and increasingly suspect universe of voluntary carbon offsets traded today, anyone who wants to know how WattCarbon and its partners are calculating their carbon-cutting impact can delve into the data and methodology behind the marketplace, he said.

We call this the worlds first open-source decarbonization program, Young said. In a world of sketchy carbon offsets, we want to provide the good-faith path.

The data science behind calculating carbon impacts at the building level

Young has spent much of the past decade working on technology to bring clarity and transparency to the tricky data and methodological challenges associated with measuring the real-world impacts of changing energy use.

As CTO at Recurve (formerly OpenEE) from 2019 to 2021, Young helped lead the development of the first open-source software to use smart-meter data to calculate avoided energy use, or energy saved through efficiency and electrification investments, specific to a place and time. That measurement-and-verification methodology has become the basis of pay-for-performance efficiency programs such as Californias Market Access program and similar ones in Massachusetts, New York and Oregon.

Young founded WattCarbon in August 2021 to put this experience to work measuring the hourly carbon-emissions footprint of buildings  data it now makes available for individual addresses across the country.



Buildings emissions can be reduced by investing in energy efficiency, shifting the time of power use, replacing fossil-fueled heating with electric heat pumps, putting solar panels on roofs or nearby properties, and buying clean power from another source, to name some key options.

Today, companies that have made carbon-cutting pledges can make progress toward them by reducing carbon emissions at the buildings they own, but they have no such opportunities at buildings they dont own. Young sees this as an artificial barrier to companies making investments in some of the most effective technologies for cutting emissions.

Shifting buildings from fossil fuels to (cleaner) electricity

Building-electrification projects will be one type of carbon offset available on WattCarbons market, with the aim of eliminating fossil fuels from buildings, especially for heating. These are the kinds of projects that Colorado-based home-electrification startup Elephant Energy is planning to offer up to offset buyers.

WattCarbon is the first one whos approached us about how could we collectively monetize the decarbonization benefits of the assets Elephant Energy is deploying in homes, said D.R. Richardson, Elephants CEO. Its an attractive concept, but it comes with a lot of complications.

Its really hard to measure the additionality of something like a heat-pump carbon credit, he said, mainly because of the uncertainty of the variables involved. How much gas would a homes furnace have burned over the next decade if it hadnt been replaced with a heat pump? How should the carbon-intensity of the electricity powering the heat pump that replaces it be measured?

But at the end of the day, I am a believer in Dont let the perfect be the enemy of the good, Richardson said. Corporate investments in the carbon-cutting potential of Elephant Energys portfolio of future home-electrification projects could allow the company to reduce the cost of switching out furnaces for heat pumps and make it more affordable for a wider group of homeowners, he noted. Well use every tool we have to drive that price down, to grow our business, and more importantly, to enable a clean energy transition.

Similar opportunities and complications apply to another of WattCarbons offset categories: demand response. Today, the value of reducing energy use during certain hours of the day is based on shifting demand away from times when grid power is scarce and costly. In some parts of the country, those correspond to times when more fossil-fueled power plants are running than usual  but thats not always the case.

No U.S. grid operator or utility has yet put a price on the carbon-intensity of the power exchanged over the wires they manage, said Doug Middleton, head of business development at demand-response aggregator Leap. But theres a growing body of analysis that indicates that the demand flexibility provided by companies like Leap can shift a significant amount of load away from the grids most carbon-intensive hours of operation. Those are the kinds of offset opportunities that Leap will be offering on WattCarbons marketplace.

WattCarbon is taking the initiative to create its own methodology to calculate these values rather than waiting for some mandate from the government, he said. McGee, with his experience with OpenEE and Recurve, can provide that reliability and quality.

Capturing the carbon value of clean energy on dirtier grids

A third WattCarbon offset category will give companies a way to maximize the carbon impact of their renewable-energy investments by targeting projects in parts of the country where the grid is dirtier than in others.

Adding more solar and wind to places where fossil fuels provide most of the power can have a greater carbon-reduction impact than adding it to places where clean energy is already plentiful. A new solar farm in California or a new wind farm in West Texas is adding more carbon-free energy to grids already awash in it during hours when they produce the most energy. In fact, these renewables are increasingly being forced to curtail their output when theres too much of it for the grid to use.

Todays structures for valuing renewable energy certificates dont differentiate between temporal and locational differences in a clean energy projects carbon impacts, however. WattCarbon will incorporate these values into the credits that investors purchase to enable the projects to be built.

A handful of other clean energy developers are offering similar carbon credits. Clearloop, a subsidiary of Tennessee-based rural-solar developer Silicon Ranch, is planning solar projects that will take investments from companies and individuals in exchange for the carbon-emissions reductions tied to siting its projects in Southeastern U.S. markets that have relatively high carbon emissions.

Corporate purchases of clean energy in the U.S. now account for a greater share of clean-energy investment than purchases made by utilities to meet state renewable-energy mandates. Rick Hunter, chief strategist of solar developer Pivot Energy, thinks that accounting for the carbon-reduction impact of where a project is built could direct a lot more of that corporate investment into community solar projects of the type his company develops.

If you care about carbon offsets, lets go build a project on your behalf in West Virginia, where coal generates the majority of grid power, he said. Who thought you could make a project pencil [out economically] in West Virginia? Well, carbon makes it possible.

Lining up the buyers

Who might buy the carbon-offset values of these kinds of distributed clean energy projects? Young declined to disclose any prospective customers but said that WattCarbon and its partners will be selective in which companies theyll be working with  no coal companies, for example.

Likely buyers include companies with 24/7 clean-energy goals and impact-oriented companies suspicious of the carbon offsets now available, he said. Smaller companies that cant afford to invest in large-scale clean energy projects are also possible customers.

Each seller in WattCarbons market will set its own price for a ton of carbon offsets in a particular project. They know better than we do how much they need to get the project done, Young said.

Its hard to guess what those prices might be. Theyre likely to be higher than the going rate for the renewable-energy and forest-protection credits that make up most of the voluntary carbon market, which are selling for under $15 per metric ton. But theyll almost certainly be lower than the price of nascent atmospheric carbon-removal technologies, which now cost hundreds of dollars per ton, he said.

It turns out that doing this the right way means that it's a bit more expensive than the typical offset purchase, he said. So companies looking for greenwashing opportunities kind of hate us.

WattCarbon hasnt yet worked with any of the registries that oversee the worlds voluntary carbon-offset markets, Young noted. Prospective buyers of WattCarbons offsets may or may not choose to work with these registries, he said, given that theyre very opaque about their data collection and verification processes  a reason for much of the criticism of voluntary carbon markets.

Young insisted that WattCarbons approach is much more transparent than these existing processes. As the buyer, youre getting the performance data from your dashboard in real time from the projects you purchased offsets from, he said. Theres no question about the claim  you literally have the data there supporting it.

The confusion over offsets, renewable energy certificates and corporate carbon accounting

WattCarbons approach to number-crunching isnt unique. WattTime, REsurety, Cleartrace, FlexiDAO, Singularity and others are collecting and analyzing data to gain more insight into the temporal and locational value of different carbon-reduction investments.

Even so, its unclear how corporate buyers of carbon offsets might interact with the opportunities that WattCarbon will be making available. This uncertainty underscores a broader debate among government agencies and private-sector investors and financial institutions about how to structure carbon-offset and renewable-energy crediting structures in a way that both guards against fraud and abuse and allows companies to invest in reducing their carbon impacts.

There are customers who increasingly want to procure clean energy at the most carbon-intensive places and times, said Doug Miller, deputy director of market and policy innovation for the Clean Energy Buyers Association, which represents companies with clean energy goals including Amazon, Disney, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Target and Walmart.

At the same time, we have to make some underlying changes in the market system that make it easier for WattCarbon to sell its services, he said.

One big change underway involves the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, an international consensus standard for carbon-emissions accounting. The GHG Protocol is in the midst of considering revisions to how it accounts for the carbon impacts of clean energy generation, energy storage, green-hydrogen production and other decarbonization technologies. These revisions could include a major shift from annual to hourly accounting of the impacts of investments in these technologies.

What do we mean by decarbonization impact? How do you verify? Miller asked. People too often talk about this in the clouds. Were talking about where the rubber meets the road  something that a customer can sign and purchase.

Young knows theres still work to do before WattCarbons data and methodology can be aligned with the approaches being developed for use in global offset markets. The company is working with startups such as Singularity and nonprofit groups like EnergyTag to incorporate the latest developments in carbon measurement. Young is a founding member of the Carbon Data Specification Consortium, a project of the Linux Foundations LF Energy initiative thats working on open and transparent methods to calculate carbon-emission data points.

All of this work is necessary to win the confidence of companies, project developers, regulators and other stakeholders and assure them that investments in WattCarbons distributed carbon-reduction opportunities are a viable alternative to the problematic carbon-offset structures that exist today. WattCarbons clean-energy-credit mechanism is also designed to evolve alongside the rules and standards for how corporate investments into clean energy are accounted for, Young said.

But the need for investment to combat climate change is too pressing to wait for the perfect carbon-accounting system to emerge before moving ahead, he argues. WattCarbon and its partners want to provide a compelling pathway to meaningful action, he said. "Thats why were doing all this.


Kurt M. Barnhart grew up in York, lives in California and keeps track of his hometown on Facebook.

Often, with the difference in time zones and all, hell share usually playful posts in late evening or early morning on the Retro York Facebook group.

But it seemed that he couldnt wait to post this one  he shared it one afternoon  about Open AIs controversial artificial intelligence platform, ChatGPT. This computer system allows you to ask anything and youll receive an answer in a conversational, often compelling way.

Acting as a kind of digital almanac, this chatbot scraped or ingested millions, if not billions, of stories. That includes, as it turns out, stuff that I have written and the work of other York County historians and journalists.

Kurt asked this chatbot about the most significant event in York County history.

He also asked: Who is Jim McClure of York, Pa.?

It appears that ChatGPT is not all that smart, he wrote to me on Retro York. I guess this is your Mark Twain moment!

He meant that rumors of my death have been exaggerated. ChatGPT said I had died on Nov. 7, 2021. Kurt wanted me to know this  or else ensure that I was still above ground.

That detail aside  Im actually the one writing this  the chatbots accuracy on the significant event question was a mixed bag. Artificial intelligence, the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, chose four legitimate moments as significant. Its selection was incomplete, and when it came to accuracy, it fell far short.

ChatGPT has been criticized across many fronts, with fears that students will use it to do their homework and papers, particularly because the AI responses are written so well and convincingly that students might be tempted to cut from ChatGPT and paste into assignments.

Here are ChatGPTs answers about significant county events, followed by my commentary:

Aihistory1  Open AIs ChatGPT, generative pre-trained transformer, gave these results to two questions about York County. Kurt Barnhart, a York Suburban graduate living in California, posed the questions to this artificial intelligence platform and share the results on Facebook.

Continental Congress

ChatGPT: In 1777, the Continental Congress met in York, Pennsylvania, making it the capital of the United States for one month during the American Revolution.

Story continues

My response: First, the good news. The chatbot did not buy into the First Capital myth, a marketing ploy developed in the 1960s that is not recognized by local or national researchers. Meanwhile, Yorks status as the place that the Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, Americas first constitution, is widely acknowledged.

The bad news: Congress met in York for 271 days  in 1777-78, the Valley Forge winter. The chatbot might have conflated the one day Congress met in Lancaster with the nine months Americas founders deliberated in York.

What is ChatGPT? Everything to know about OpenAI's free AI essay writer and how it works

More:How artificial intelligence  AI  will change the future of health care | Opinion

ChatGPTs answer to the question: Who is Jim McClure of York, Pennsylvania? Kurt Barnhart posted the answer on Facebook.

American Civil War

ChatGPT:  York served as a major center for Confederate activity and was the site of several significant battles and skirmishes.

My response: That offers an incomplete story. To be sure, more than 11,000 Confederates invaded York County in the days before the Battle of Gettysburg.

But in a big way, it also was a site for Union activity. A major training camp for green Union troops operated at the York Fairgrounds, at King and Queen streets early in the war. And from 1862 to 1865, a large Civil War hospital treated thousands of wounded Union soldiers at Yorks Penn Park.

Further, thousands of Union cavalry and infantry troops marched through here on their way to battle in Gettysburg.

There was one major battle, the Battle of Hanover, that delayed the main Confederate cavalry column commanded by Gen. Jeb Stuart from joining Gen. Robert E. Lees infantry until the second day of fighting in Gettysburg.

In Wrightsville, the Union Armys supervised burning of the milelong covered bridge over the Susquehanna stopped the Confederate advance toward the backside of Harrisburg after a battle at the bridgehead. Other encounters on York County soil were skirmishes, and its hard to understand how a skirmish can be significant, almost by definition.

Aihistory2a  ChatGPTs answer to the question: What is the most significant event in the history of York, Pennsylvania? Kurt Barnhart posted the answer on Facebook.

Great Depression

ChatGPT:  York became a center of social and political activism, with many residents participating in rallies, strikes and other forms of protest.

My response: AI is trained by humans, and some critics point out that the trainers are in San Francisco and the Silicon Valley, which means that their politics likely would be liberal. That bias might be apparent here because there was much more to the Great Depression in York County than activism.

Clearly, there was social turmoil. Some of the Black newcomers to York in the Great Migration considered returning, or actually traveled back, to their former homes in the South. Jobs, scarce everywhere, were particularly so for Black people.

But the chatbots response ignores the fact that Martin Library, Belmont Theatre and the York Symphony were among the iconic organizations that started as diversions amid the depression.

Also, theres an exaggerated claim in York County that the Depression only pinched local banks and did not punch the countys economy. The fact is that while many York city banks weathered the Depression, there were bank closures throughout the county.

And the Great Depression was bracketed by the Hex Murder  a horrible case involving superstition and witchcraft  and the county reaching its then-high-tech best in defense work in World War II. Something happened in this complex place we call York County in the Great Depression that we could make that transition.

This York paper mill, perhaps best known as Schmidt & Ault, operated before, during and after the Industrial Revolution. It flourished in this period between the Civil Wars end and World War IIs beginning and today is taking on a new use: The Kings Mill complex is being transformed into Knowledge Park, a York College research facility. An answer to a query on ChatGPT flagged the Industrial Revolution as a significant moment in county history.

Industrial Revolution

ChatGPT: York was an important center of industry during the Industrial Revolution, with many factories and businesses  .

My response: It is true that the entire county contributed to and benefited from the Industrial Revolution, an era that generally extended from the end of the Civil War to the start of World War II.

But that could be said of many cities across America. York County was very important, but not unique in this period.

Maybe the chatbot extended the Industrial Revolution through World War II. As weve seen, the countys reputation gained a spike in its support for the World War IIs York Plan, the sharing of inventories of manpower and machinery among companies so that major defense work flowed to local factories. If the companies had acted alone, they would not have captured such huge defense contracts.

The Great Depressions Civilian Conservation Corps camp rests on a hillside in Glen Rock. This government-funded program provided work to jobless people in the Great Depression. When the program expired, some of the men stayed in Glen Rock, married and their families live there today. An answer to a query on ChatGPT indicated that the Great Depression was a key moment in York County history.

Predictable findings

ChatGPTs selection of significant events was predictable and could be applied to many American cities or counties.

Its all-too-common to focus on wars and depressions as shaping events when York County  as any community  has a multitude of other significant events.

I have developed such a list of pivotal York County moments with 40 entries. For example, the Great Migration mentioned earlier led to development of Crispus Attucks Community Center and the building of two segregated elementary schools. Many families influential in the county today came here in those days.

A community is defined by many events  wars and those moments that are nuanced and understated. A lot has been written on the Great Migration in York County, so ChatGPT has work to do not only in accuracy but in the completeness of its stories.

P.S. Weaver, a Hanover photographer, captured this scene of the exhumation of the bodies of Union soldiers who died in the Civil Wars Battle of Hanover. This scene comes from Hanovers German Reformed Church's cemetery. ChatGPT indicated that the Civil War was among the significant events in county history.

Matrix weighs in

Kurt Barnhart must have felt bad about delivering me mournful news about my death, so he checked with another AI source for a second opinion.

He got a much better result that time.

According to Microsoft Bing, you are, apparently, STILL alive! he wrote on Facebook.

When Google releases its new Bard AI, Barnhart wrote, well ask it to monitor you weekly.

At some point in this Facebook conversation, Retro York member Gil Tunney chimed in: Be careful my friend  The Matrix says your dead  . 

This is all good fun, but it does point to shortcomings in this newest of technologies.

I feel very much alive, I wrote in this Facebook conversation. Keep me apprised if anything else changes about that date (of my death).

Sources: Good Faith podcast, The Dispatch; James McClures Never to be Forgotten; YDR.com.

Upcoming presentations

Im presenting on these topics in OLLI @ Penn State Yorks spring term: A Walk through the Park: York City Parks, That Is, Major Crimes and Misdemeanors in York County's Past and The York Daily Record and Gathering York County News Since 1796.

Details: Details: https://olli.psu.edu/york/

Jim McClure is a retired editor of the York Daily Record and has authored or co-authored nine books on York County history. Reach him at jimmcclure21@outlook.com.

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: ChatGPT is handy AI tool, but it cant grasp York Countys story
This drone photo shows the continuing cleanup of portions of a Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. Feb. 9, 2023.

Is Columbus' drinking water safe from contamination?

That question has been on the minds of some central Ohio residents ever since crews last week released toxic chemicals from derailed tanker cars near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border. Officials said the cars, part of a convoy that derailed in a fiery crash in East Palestine around 9 p.m. Feb. 3 as the 141-car Norfolk-Southern train was heading from Madison, Illinois, to Conway, Pennsylvania, had been in danger of exploding.

An evacuation order has since been lifted for the area.

Is Columbus' drinking water safe?

Of the roughly 150 cars on the train, approximately 20 were carrying hazardous materials, according to a letter the Environmental Protection Agency sent Norfolk Southern on Friday. "Cars containing vinyl chloride, butyl acrylate, ethylhexyl acrylate, and ethylene glycol monobutyl ether are known to have been and continue to be released to the air, surface soils, and surface waters," the letter reads.

Ohio train derailment:What are vinyl chloride and isobutylene? More about the chemicals released in Ohio train derailment

The derailment site is far from nearby watersheds and pose no risk to local water supplies, a spokesperson for the city's department of public utilities said Monday via email.

Dwayne Stokes, a water research analyst at the city of Columbus' Water Quality Assurance Lab, said in an interview that city employees regularly monitor the three watersheds that the city draws from  Big Walnut Creek, the Upper Scioto River and Alum Creek  and notify his lab if they detect anything out of the ordinary.

Additional testing on local water sources is done when Columbus' Division of Water is notified by the Ohio EPA that a spill has occurred in a watershed, Stokes said. Say a gasoline truck overturns on I-270. That might run into our watershed, and we would do testing around that area, along with the Ohio EPA," he added.

A black plume rises over East Palestine, Ohio, as a result of a controlled detonation of a portion of the derailed Norfolk Southern trains Monday, Feb. 6, 2023.

Five of the derailed tanker cars were carrying vinyl chloride, a precursor to the production of PVC plastic. A large plume of smoke appeared over East Palestine when the flammable, carcinogenic substance was released from the cars and ignited.

Story continues

If vinyl chloride or a chemical similar to it were to infiltrate the local water supply, Stokes said, Columbus' three water plants would remove it using powder-activated carbon. In addition, booms could be used to soak up any vinyl chloride sitting on top of a body of water. "It's partially soluble, kind of like an oil sheen," Stokes said.

Columbus' Division of Water operates three water treatment plants: Dublin Road, Hap Cremean and Parsons Avenue.

The plants also have the ability to limit their intake if the concentration of something in a water supply is high enough to warrant concern, Stokes said.

What is vinyl chloride?

Vinyl chloride is a colorless gas that's primarily used to make polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and is associated with an increased risk of a rare form of liver cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute. Vinyl chloride is also found in tobacco smoke.

The Akron Beacon Journal, a sister paper to The Columbus Dispatch, reported Wednesday that multiple agencies are monitoring air and water quality in streams around the derailment area, including the Ohio River.

Officials said at the time that none of the air or water contamination detected outside the derailment site was within limits considered hazardous to humans.

What's Columbus' air quality after East Palestine controlled release?

The Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) forecasts and issues alerts in central Ohio based on Ohio EPA air monitoring information for ozone and particulate pollution, according to the city of Columbus.

Results are on the MORPC website and air quality is rated between 0 and 300. The higher the number, the more unhealthy the air is considered to be. As of Monday, the quality was at or below 50, which is considered good.

Monroe Trombly covers the workplace and environmental issues for The Dispatch.

mtrombly@dispatch.com

@monroetrombly

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Is Columbus' water safe from contamination after train derailment?
Cayo Espanto is one of the world's most exclusive private island resorts  and a new Belize-born executive chef has revamped the menu with more local flavors.

Courtesy of Cayo Espanto

After a connecting flight through Belize City and a long, toasty line at customs, itd be understandable to feel bedraggled, weary, hungry, and parched as youre whisked to your awaiting helicopter, which flies over the worlds second-largest barrier reef on its way to Cayo Espanto. Yet those feelings transform into pure amazement (and just the right touch of healthy fear) as you fly to the tiny private island resort, perched in the center of the gin-clear water off the coast of Belize.

Since 1997, the serene four-acre island has offered just seven luxurious villas and has grown a reputation for its food and beverage, an exceptional feat when you consider the property is only accessible by helicopter and motorboat. And now, local (and Belize-born) chef Richard Gillett is taking the reins as executive chef, after more than four decades of cooking in some of the country's best kitchens. His new menu showcases seafood and fish caught every morning in the surrounding sea, with daily-rotating dishes like bright conch ceviches, Belikin-battered fish tacos, lime-soaked salads, and succulent grilled Caribbean lobster.

Courtesy of Cayo Espanto

What makes the menu even more remarkable is that all the food comes to you  there is no on-site restaurant or bar. You order everything you want, at any hour, via walkie-talkie or through your designated staff, who check on you throughout the day. Depending on guests preferences, attendants can set up meals on a villas private dock or beach, or somewhere secluded on the island.

Related:This Under-the-Radar Italian Island Is Heaven for Food Lovers

Its entirely possible, on just four acres of land, that you dont see another guest during the extent of your stay. The villas are rustic yet luxuriously designed, with wooden decks extending out onto the water, providing private platforms for lounging and gazing at wildlife. Most villas come with infinity plunge pools for peaceful, oceanside soaking, and each villa opens up its brightly painted shuttered walls during the day for a feeling of blissful immersion in the natural surroundings. Tropical birds flock to the beachside, unperturbed by guests.

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Courtesy of Cayo Espanto

Mornings start with coffee, fresh in-season fruit, and a menu of deeply comforting classics like fluffy banana pancakes (easily the best Ive ever had) and huevos rancheros with a dash of fresh pepper, made-in-house hot sauce. Lunch and dinner menus change daily, and a tailored experience is part of the package. If you say you love guacamole, it might appear unprompted at your table.

Here, there is no tedium in daily dining. There are no buffet lines or waiting for a bartender to catch your eye, or rotating through the same stale menu options. Every meal is a series of dishes, not overly fussy or daunting, a compilation of local ingredients executed beautifully. Wine pairings are keen and well-orchestrated, a well-curated selection for any connoisseur.

Courtesy of Cayo Espanto

Not only are the offerings in constant flux, but the location of a meal is as well. One night you might dine on the sand, overlooking the water. Another, youre led down a path in the islands interior to a small clearing marked by tiki torches for an intimate meal. The next night is dinner and a movie, an experience that marks Cayo Espanto as a place from a different time and dimension. On a recent visit, I chose Jurassic Park from the resorts selection of DVDs, which somehow matched the setting quite perfectly. The multi-course dinner of rich lime bisque and expertly grilled shellfish over creamy polenta unfolded while I watched bloodthirsty dinosaurs lunge after Laura Dern.

Related:A Small British Island Is Looking for Someone to Run Its Pub  and Serve as 'King'

In its capacity to surprise, Cayo Espanto offers custom experiences, days with itineraries meant for utter relaxation and to show off the ecological treasures of Belize.

Courtesy of Cayo Espanto

On the most adventurous day of my visit, two spear fishermen took me out to sea on a motorboat; Youre going to catch lunch! they said. While I wasnt so successful, my lack of prowess didnt leave me hungry; as I bobbed alongside black stingrays and teeming (friendly) sharks, my experienced companions took the liberty of hauling in a gorgeous net of seafood. On the boat ride to a private beach location, they prepped the conch for ceviche, nonchalantly slicing on a cutting board atop a cooler.

Once settled on the beach, I dove into the bowls of fresh raw conch, bright and acidic with peppers and onions, served alongside perfect tortilla chips and a cold Billiken lager, the beer of Belize. The boat captain cooked the rest of the fish over a grill atop burning coconut husks. The best mosquito repellent is coconut husks, he noted. The lobster and snapper he served to us, with just a hint of seasoning, was easily the freshest Id ever tasted. Secret recipe."
A Fayetteville man was charged Monday with more than a dozen child sexual assault charges, the Cumberland County Sheriffs Office said Tuesday.

Quintin Rene Freeman, 32, is charged with two counts of statutory rape of a child less than 15, four counts of statutory sex offense with a child less than 15, six counts of indecent liberties with a child and two counts of crimes against nature, according to a news release. He was served with the new charges while already in custody at the Cumberland County jail, the release said. Jail records show Freeman was first booked Feb. 7 on charges of trafficking meth, trafficking opium and probation violation.

More:Fayetteville man arrested in December slaying

A Fayetteville man faces 14 charges of sexual crimes against children after being arrested Feb. 13, 2023, the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office said.

According to the North Carolina Department of Correction, the probation violation stems from a February 2021 conviction for drug trafficking and possession of a firearm by a felon for which he was sentenced to 24 months' probation. The firearm charge is the result of a 2018 conviction for drug trafficking and manufacturing controlled substances, the NCDOC record shows.

Freemans bail was set at $2.025 million secured, according to the release.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Youth Services Detective J. Jones at 910-677-5457 or Crimestoppers at 910-483-8477.

Public safety reporter Lexi Solomon can be reached at ABSolomon@gannett.com.

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This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Fayetteville man charged with 14 counts of child sexual assault
Founder of Poodle Rescue Arrested on Charges of Animal Cruelty

poodle

Photo courtesy of Fulton County Animal Services Facebook

The founder of Georgia Poodle Rescue faces 56 charges of felony animal cruelty after a search of her Milton, Georgia property uncovered abuse. Fulton County Animal Services (FCAS) confiscated more than 60 neglected animals  most Poodle mixes  from Deborah Blatchleys residence.

Founder Charged with Animal Cruelty

Fulton County Police and its SWAT team helped FCAS serve a search warrant for Blatchleys home. Officials confiscated two horses, two cats, five chickens, and 56 dogs during the search. The animals were all said to have serious medical issues due to neglect. Blatchley also faces warrants for fleeing and eluding officers.

A neighbor told reporters about a time when five dogs escaped from the residence, recalling that the animals were in terrible shape. They smelled like feces and urine. The neighbor, who asked to remain unidentified, also described the horses as skinny and emaciated.

Another neighbor told reporters that the owner of the property had been taking in dogs for years.

They were thin, some of them were matted, Cindy Berglund described.I guess she must have done something because people would come in there and adopt dogs.

According to Blatchleys LinkedIn, she is president of several animal-centric LLCs, including Georgia Poodle Rescue. She also claims that she worked under a prestigious veterinarian at Emory University. Thankfully, the website that she used to conduct operations is now suspended. However, the companys Facebook remains available for public viewing.

The Facebook chronicles Blatchleys attempts to procure fosters and adopters for her many Poodles and Poodle mixes. Eerily, no signs of mistreatment or abuse are evident on the page. This serves as a reminder to dog adopters to only adopt from reputable agencies.

An Investigation Continues, Animal Services Intervene



Staff from Fulton County Animal Services brought the rescued animals to Fulton and Gwinnett county shelters. Because of the nature of the investigation, the animals will not be available for fostering or adoption until Feb. 15.

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Tiki Artist, spokesperson for FCAS, addressed plans for the neglected animals recoveries.

Whenever we get animals like this, theyre always going to need veterinarian care, and theyre going to need to be checked out and they could be with us for some time, Artist said.

While the investigation continues, Fulton County Animal Services encourages assistance with resources for the animals, including food, medicine, and donations. Those who are able to help can visit the Fulton County Animal Services website.

The post Founder of Poodle Rescue Arrested on Charges of Animal Cruelty appeared first on DogTime.
If you are interested in helping survivors of the earthquakes that devastated Turkey and Syria, Charity Navigator recommends donating to reputable and registered charities.

The series of earthquakes crumbled thousands of buildings and killed over 30,000 people as of Sunday. Millions have been left homeless in what are now labeled the deadliest earthquakes in more than a decade, according to USA TODAY.

Charity Navigator, a website that rates charities, has compiled a list of organizations sending aid to Syria and Turkey. Charity Navigator also recommends sending monthly donations for long-term recovery efforts since many disaster relief groups see donations wane after a few weeks.

Some organizations named are Turkish Red Crescent (a Red Cross affiliate), Syrian Red Crescent (Red Cross affiliate), The White Helmets, Syrian Medical Society and Doctors without Borders. Further information about those organizations and other organizations involved in relief efforts has been compiled by USA TODAY.

Noelle Alviz-Gransee is a breaking news reporter at the Des Moines Register. Follow her on Twitter @NoelleHannika or email her at NAlvizGransee@registermedia.com.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: How you can help earthquake survivors in Turkey and Syria
"Sadly, Kaya was recently diagnosed with an untreatable cancer, so we have the solemn honor of taking her on what will be her last flight.

The military service dog who inspired a federal law was honored by Southwest Airlines during her final flight earlier this month.

Kaya, an eight-year-old German shepherd, flew on Southwest more than 250 times while lobbying for the PAWS Act alongside her owner, Marine Corps veteran Cole Lyle. Short for "Puppies Assisting Wounded Servicemembers Act," the PAWS Act, which was enacted in 2021, expands coverage of service dogs for the treatment of PTSD through Veterans Affairs.

On February 2, a few weeks after receiving a terminal cancer diagnosis from veterinarians, Lyle flew with Kaya from Washington, D.C., to Dallas, Texas, to say goodbye to his best friend.

Southwest

After boarding, the captain of Southwest Air Flight #1154 got on the intercom to introduce the rest of their passengers to the esteemed canine. A video of the moment quickly went viral on social media.

Kaya has flown on Southwest over 250 times out of her 320 flights she's been on," he said. "Sadly, Kaya was recently diagnosed with an untreatable cancer, so we have the solemn honor of taking her on what will be her last flight, as she goes home to rest where she was born and where she first met Cole."

The captain encouraged people to look up Kaya's story and, if so inclined, "pay her a visit when we arrive in Dallas to show her some love."

"On behalf of Southwest Airlines, your two veterans upfront  we thank both Kaya and Cole, a Marine Corps veteran, for their service," the captain concluded.

Cheers erupted from the aircraft and Kaya can be seen lifting her head up from her bed to acknowledge it.

Our Team was on the ground to welcome her home and we are so grateful to honor and be part of her legacy, Southwest said in a statement to Southern Living. Throughout her career, Kaya flew with us over 250 times to help establish the PAWS Act which united Veterans with service dogs. We thank her and owner, Cole, for their many years of service.

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Kaya died two days later, on February 4, in College Station, Texas.

Speaking with Fox News, Lyle said that "Kaya's life was characterized by service."

"From helping me overcome my own service-related issues during difficult times to being a catalyst for nationwide service dog legislationand serving as a de facto ambassador for all veteran service dogs in Americashe was truly one of a kind," he said.

"Of course, her greatest legacy isand always will bethe other veterans who were inspired to get their own service dogs and confessed they wouldve taken their lives had they not done so," he added.

Rest in peace, Kaya.



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Read the original article on Southern Living.
Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, speaks at a media event at the National Press Club on Jan. 30, 2023 in Washington, D.C.

WASHINGTON Republicans on a House Oversight subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic are launching an investigation into the origins of COVID-19 and whether U.S. funds were sent to a lab in Wuhan, China.

The select committee on the COVID-19 pandemic is requesting information on the origins of the virus from current and former Biden administration officials including Dr. Anthony Fauci, formerly the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and the president of EcoHealth Alliance, a non-profit pandemic prevention research organization.

The American people deserve real answers after years of suffering through the coronavirus pandemic and related government policies," Select Subcommittee Chair Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, said in a statement. "This investigation must begin with where and how this virus came about so that we can attempt to predict, prepare or prevent it from happening again."

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Investigating the investigators: GOP creates panels to probe DOJ, China

House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chair James Comer, R-Ky., and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, demanded documents and information on COVID origins from the Biden administration last year. Republicans in the last Congress also sent letters to the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Understanding the origins of COVID-19 is essential to providing accountability and protecting Americans in the future, Comer said in a statement.

Republicans vowed to investigate Biden and his administration when they won control of the House in last year's midterm elections.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: House Oversight Republicans launch investigation into COVID-19 origins
White House spokesperson John Kirby said Tuesday the intelligence community is "considering as a leading explanation" that the three objects shot down over the weekend "could just be balloons tied to some commercial or benign purpose."

But Kirby told reporters the U.S. is still not able to call them anything other than "objects" at this point, adding that officials are "pretty comfortable" ruling out the objects belonged to the U.S. government.

Objects flying over Alaska, Canada and the waters off Michigan were taken down by U.S. fighter jets on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The shootdowns came less than a week after a Chinese spy balloon flew over the continental U.S. for several days before being taken down over the Atlantic Ocean.

The U.S. has still not recovered the three "objects" shot down by the military over the weekend, officials said Tuesday, as details remain scarce on what the objects are or where they came from.

"We're calling them objects because that's the best description we have right now," Kirby told ABC's George Stephanopoulos Tuesday on ABC's "Good Morning America."

MORE: Military shoots down another high-altitude object, over Lake Huron, officials say

Kirby said the objects fell in "pretty remote locations" and "it could take us a while to reach the debris, yet alone collect it and analyze it."

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also confirmed the U.S. had not been able to retrieve the objects as they are in "difficult terrain."

"We'll get them eventually. It will take some time to recover those," Austin said during a news conference in Brussels, Belgium, where Austin met with NATO allies ahead of the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

PHOTO: Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin participates in a news conference on the day of the NATO defense ministers' meeting at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Feb. 14, 2023. (Johanna Geron/Reuters)

The defense secretary said the first missile strike to down the object over Lake Huron on Sunday missed.

"First shot missed, second shot hit," Austin said, adding the first missile "landed harmlessly in the water."

"We're very careful to make sure those shots are safe," he said as he detailed some of the decision-making behind the takedowns. "That's the guidance from the president: shoot it down, make sure we minimize collateral damage and we preserve the safety of the American people."

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As for where the objects came from, or what they are, Kirby had few new details as he appeared on GMA, though he reiterated that they didn't have any maneuvering capabilities and were "much smaller" than the Chinese spy balloon.

PHOTO: John Kirby, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications, answers questions during the daily press briefing at the White House, Feb. 13, 2023. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)

All senators received a classified briefing Tuesday on the China spy balloon and the three other shoot-down incidents. Senators said briefers were short on details about what the three objects were, and many said much of what they learned behind closed doors is already in the public domain.

Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., emerged from the briefing calling on President Joe Biden to tell the public what he knows.

"We walked out of a meeting like this, and so much of what we've been told is classified ... but the president can get in front of America and tell them firsthand that we're safe, that everybody's going to be okay, that we've got this under control, but America needs a strong leader to step forward," Marshall said.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., also said "the American people need and deserve to know more" and that "a lot of the information" shared with lawmakers could be told to the American people without harming national security.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., told reporters after the briefing that it was clear the objects posed no immediate harm to Americans on the ground.

"No one has to worry about that," Schumer said.

But, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said what he called contradictory statements from the administration pose a problem: "On the one hand, the administration is saying we don't yet know what these last three objects are, and we don't want to characterize them until we recover them. But on the other hand, it wasn't a threat. Both of those things can't be true."

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and other GOP senators said the issue of unidentified aerial objects flying in U.S. airspace "is not new."

"The most important question we have to answer now is, what are these things? Who sent them here? And what are they doing here? The only way you're gonna get answers to that is not just to retrieve whatever is left of them, but to understand how it compares to the hundreds of other similar cases," Rubio said.

PHOTO: Republican Sen. Marco Rubio speaks to the media following a classified briefing for senators about the latest unknown objects shot down by the U.S. military, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Feb. 14, 2023. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)

Kirby said Tuesday the U.S. is catching all these objects now because adjustments were made to radar parameters following the Chinese spy balloon incursion, and that Beijing has boosted its use of balloons in recent years.

"They have ramped up their abilities," he said. "And then because of this spy balloon, we changed some of the radar parameters, particularly over the northern part of our northern hemisphere, and it is possible that in part because of tweaking the radar sensitivities, we are simply seeing more objects right now."

China has accused the U.S. of sending at least 10 balloons into their airspace since the start of 2022. Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a press briefing on Monday that it wasn't "uncommon for U.S. balloons to frequently take the opportunity to carry out close-up reconnaissance against China."

Kirby denied that on GMA, stating: "We do not deploy surveillance balloons over China."

But when asked by Stephanopoulos if we spy over China, Kirby wouldn't answer and only repeated that the U.S. doesn't deploy balloons over China.

A 'leading explanation' is 3 downed objects were commercial, benign balloons, White House says originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Pentagon Chief: Well do everything possible to provide Ukraine with ammunition as soon as possible

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has assured that the United States and international partners would do everything possible to provide Ukraine with sufficient ammunition as soon as possible.

He said at a press conference following a meeting of the Contact Group on the Defense of Ukraine in Brussels that the war had been going on for a year, and a large number of artillery shells are being used. He added that they would do everything possible, cooperate with international partners to provide Ukraine with sufficient ammunition as soon as possible, and ensure the sustainability of their efforts.

Also, the head of the Pentagon noted that the Ukrainian military are now being trained in different European regions, where, in particular, the emphasis is on maneuvers, which may affect less use of ammunition.

Austin assured that they are doing everything they can to ensure that we have everything that is needed to succeed.
Tuesday marks the first Valentines Day Carol Bohlin, 76, will spend with her parents long-lost World War II-era love letters, thanks to the work of a dedicated heirloom investigator.

Chelsey Brown, a New York-based genealogist who returns priceless treasures to families, used her knowledge of tracing family histories to track down a descendant of Claude Marsten Smythe and Marie Borgal Smythe, a couple married in the 1940s. The letters were written from 1943 to 1944.

I recognize my dad's handwriting, said Bohlin, who now lives in Tinmouth, Vermont. It's been so long since I saw it, and so long since I heard his voice.

Carol Bohlin, the daughter of Claude Marsten Smythe and Marie Borgal Smythe, was reunited with love letters sent between her parents during World War II. Genealogist and heirloom investigator Chelsey Brown facilitated the return of the letters found in Bohlin's childhood home by the homeowner, Dottie Kearney.

The 18 letters Bohlin never knew existed, sent by her father to her mother as he served in the U.S. Navy during the war, had been tucked away for over 50 years in the attic of Bohlins childhood Staten Island home before a homeowner found them in the walls while renovating in 1995.

AN ACT OF KINDNESS: A stranded elderly couple in Hawaii had no spare tire nor cell service. 'A guardian angel' saved the day.

The homeowner saw Browns appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show and reached out for help getting the letters to the family. Months later, Brown connected with Bohlins son, who thanked her for returning the letters to his mother, via social media.

I actually looked like the crying emoji when I first got that message, Brown said in a TikTok video Wednesday.

Discovering lost heirlooms

Bohlins family lived in the Staten Island home from about 1947 through 1974, when Claude Smythe died, according to Bohlin. Her mother died in 1961.

My father was a policeman so he would keep things in his special place, out of reach of (me and my brother) by storing things up in the attic, Bohlin said.

Dottie Kearney, who purchased the former home of Claude Marsten Smythe and Marie Borgal Smythe in 1995, found several of the couple's love letters hidden within the walls during a renovation. Kearney kept them nearly 30 years before getting a chance to return them to the family.

Dottie Kearney, who bought Bohlins former childhood home in the winter of 1995, believed the letters had fallen through the attics floorboards when she found them inside the walls.

Kearney held onto the documented precious love story for nearly 30 years in hopes of locating the rightful owners, but not being computer savvy, she said she had no luck finding relatives.

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GOOD NEWS: An Arkansas man returned a lost wallet to a grandmother. His kind act sparked an unexpected friendship.

Kearney saw Chelsey Browns appearance last May on The Kelly Clarkson Show as she discussed returning family heirlooms, so she contacted her for help.

Returning a piece of family history

"During World War II, when you're apart for so long, this is all they had," Brown told USA TODAY. "(The letters) were really special."

Of the artifacts she's helped return, Brown said the information included with letters  addresses, dates and full names  make them easiest to work with.

That's the type of information you need to trace these families," she said.

With information from Kearneys photos of the letters and envelopes, Brown searched the genealogy site MyHeritage.com for details on the Smythes living relatives. What she was looking for appeared among the top results.

Pictured is one of the 18 letters exchanged between Claude Marsten Smythe and Marie Borgal Smythe in the 1940s.

I knew instantly this was the person, Brown said. It didn't take me very long to trace the family."

It took her longer to get in touch with Bohlin, she said. She found Bohlins son, Tim Bohlin, via Facebook, and he responded a couple of months later last August.

Once he was convinced it wasnt a scam, he shared his mothers contact details. Brown then shared that information with Kearney.

'What a treasure'

Kearney said the family was thrilled to receive the letters she sent them.

It fills my heart with joy to know they have a piece of their (familys) history, Kearney said. Im so grateful I saved them (and) theyre now where they belong.

HE SURPRISES HIMSELF: Toddler's excitement over first steps is contagious

Reading the letters, which Bohlin plans to keep safe, brought alive the sweet memories she held of her father, she said.

What a treasure, the mother of three sons and grandmother of two said of the discovery. I thought, what a beautiful thing to do, for someone to find and hold onto these letters for so long, and for someone to spend the time trying to find me so that I could receive these, it's just so lovely.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: WWII-era love letters returned to family 80 years later: Good news
A few years ago, I attended a festival in Brooklyn dedicated to curls, coils and everything in between. After eight years as a natural gal, I didnt know what to expect from an event centered around hair. But Curlfest became a safe haven for me that day. In addition to talks about haircare routines and Black-owned beauty brands, it was one of the first times I saw women of color being celebrated for expressing themselves exactly as they were.

At that moment, I realized that natural hair represented culture, identity and community. But was itpolitical? To the thousands of women in attendance, it didnt seem like a big deal. At the same time, I couldnt ignore the complicated history our hair has played in the rights were denied and granted. What might seem like a style choice for some people is inevitably a statement for others.

And so, I embarked on a journey to learn more about the way our hair does or doesnt reflect our rights and if weve finally entered an era when its just, well, hair.

First, A Quick History Lesson

Although you may not have learned about it in your high school history class, alongside the Civil Rights crusade, the Black Is Beautiful movement was not-so-quietly underway. Activists like Angela Davis and Elaine Brown sported signature afros, Marcus Garvey called upon women to embrace every kink and curl and Black models in Harlem, known as the Grandassa Models, showed off their natural hair on the runway. In short, the 60s and 70s were a time for pushing away from white beauty standards and embracing afro-centric ones.

But not everyone agreed. As Davis wrote in Afro Images: Politics, Fashion and Nostalgia, her fro was often labeled as a marker of Black militancy (that is, anti-whiteness). As a result of her distinct style, she was targeted and harassed specifically for wearing such a rebellious look.

As we moved into the 80s and 90s, our crowns became more complicated. A wave of Black sitcoms and iconic celebrities brought home the beauty of different natural hairstyles. In the 80s, it was all about big hair and defined locks (your parents will remember Jheri curls). By the 90s, it was loose curls, sculpted afros and more, from A Different World and Sister, Sister to Girlfriends and Living Single. But natural hair in pop culture didnt always reflect real life. Strict job policies, daily microaggressions and incessant advertising pushed women to straighten and perm their hair. As a 90s baby, I knew more about chemical relaxers and blowouts than anything to do with the Black is Beautiful history that proceeded me.

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Paula Boudes/Getty Images

By the 2000s, we saw a resurgence of the natural hair movement, thanks to the internet. With the birth of YouTube in 2005, there was more access to beauty tutorials, new brands catering to Black hair and an all-around modernized community. By the 2010s, we had sites like Naturally Curly, 4C Hair Chicks and Afrobella, films like Good Hair and My Nappy Roots: A Journey Through Black Hair-itage and events like CurlFest.

But as recently as 2022, it was still fraught. In South Dakota, a teenager faced expulsion for sporting long locs. In the United Kingdom, a young Black girl was banned from her Catholic secondary schools playground for wearing a braided heart design. The mindset that in order to learn you have to leave a part of yourself at the door is still a problem. Im grateful that weve made progress and its amazing to see the renaissance of embracing Black hair, but we have a long way to go before we can be unapologetically who we are and show up as our full selves, says Kim Janey, former mayor of Boston and president of Economic Mobility Pathways.

Bottom line: Natural hair has so many layers (metaphorically, of course), and the racism Black and Brown women face is rampant. But I have to wonder if were still fighting the same fight we were 50 years ago. Cant we just embrace natural hair as a style choice, or is it still a thing?

For Many Women, It Comes Down to How Often It "Comes Up"

Paula Boudes/Getty Images

In the beginning of her career as a TV anchor in the early 2000s, Sia Nyorkor wasnt allowed to wear her hair naturally on air. I cared about what people thought [at work], she admits.

And she was right to. A 2019 study conducted by Dove found that Black women are 1.5 times more likely to be sent home from the workplace because of their hair and 3.4 times more likely to be perceived as unprofessional. The study also revealed that 80 percent of Black women felt they needed to switch hairstyles to align with more conservative standards in order to fit in at work.

Co-founder of Coils to Locs and professional actor Pamela Shaddock (Mad Men, NCIS: Los Angeles) understands this all too well, having been told, on multiple occasions, that her locs might be too trendy or date the film in question. I had to bring headshots with me in different wig styles so that casting directors and producers could see I could change my hairstyle if needed. I had to play show-and-tell because they just wouldnt get it or didnt want to otherwise, she explains.

This concept of representation can, in fact, be statement-making. Think about every lawyer show from the past few decades. From Olivia Pope in Scandal to Jessica Pearson in Suits to Clair Huxtable in The Cosby Show, a silk perm meant you were taken seriously in the courtroom. As Lori Tharps and Amanda D. Byrd said in Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America, Black women had to look a certain way in order to make it comfortable for white viewers. But when Viola Davis ceremoniously took off her wig in How to Get Away with Murder, it quickly became one the greatest moment in television history.

And it gets downright political when real peoples livelihoods are on the linethe Alabama woman who lost a job offer in 2018 for refusing to cut her locs; the wrestler who, a year later, was forced to cut his hair publicly in order to participate in a match. There are still children, women and men who are chastised or embarrassed at school, or work and other spaces because they are supposedly not groomed or their hair is messy. Until we move away from the expectation that the look of straight hair equates to professionalism, neatness or beauty, we will still be fighting bias in society, says Dianne Austin, co-founder of Coils to Locs.

Nyorkor, who now wears her hair naturally on television, concurs. Its always viewed as 'political' when you go against the norm.

Small Steps, Not Giant Strides

Paula Boudes/Getty Images/Kim Janey

All this said, if natural hair is still political, the good news is that it can feel political in an inclusive way. I think about the pride I felt seeing Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman on the Supreme Court, arrive at her swearing-in with a beautiful head of sisterlocks. Or former first lady Michelle Obama finally embracing protective styles and natural curls after feeling like America wasnt ready for it during her husbands time in office. On her book tour last year, she stated she didnt want her hair to be a distraction, or worse, picked apart by the public.

For Janey, the former mayor of Boston, its about opening doors to leadership positions. I was someone who is Black, who lives in Roxbury [a historically Black community] and someone who wears her hair natural. That really was a seismic shift of what was the norm in Boston, she says. I see the power in that for generations. Children are growing up in a world where its normal [to wear your hair natural].

The biggest win for the women I spoke with was the creation of the Crown Act, a law introduced in 2019 to Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair and end hair discrimination based on hairstyle or texture. It also requires professional spaces to enact policies that protect individuals and prevent biases based on appearance. So far, 20 states have passed the law with 28 others creating their own version of the act. (We see you, Wyoming and North Dakota.) It has even influenced the militaryin 2019, the U.S. Navy completely changed its policy involving braids and locs, resulting in rules that are much more inclusive and celebratory.

On Social Media, Everything's Political...Until It's Not

Paula Boudes/Getty Images

Ultimately, of course, what you see on TikTok or TV is probably more influential than what the U.S. military posts in its handbook. And these days, pop culture is all about celebrating natural hair. Books like Hair Love, films like Nappily Ever After and shows like Insecure and This Is Us have received overwhelmingly positive responses to the way they depict their characters hair. As hairstylist Felicia Leatherwood told The New York Times about styling Issa Rae on the show, People were writing me, I just watch the show for the hair. I said, Wow, I didnt even know the hair had that impact on people.

Social platforms are equally influential, having birthed YouTube stars like Jasmine Brown and Whitney White and viral stories like that of Kheris Rogers, the CEO of Flexin In My Complexion, who went viral on Twitter in 2017 for a photo her sister posted of her after she was bullied at school for her hair. When I was younger, I didnt appreciate my hair, she told me. I couldnt understand why people always wanted to touch it. I was embarrassed by it, but when my picture went viral on Twitter people were telling me how much they loved my hair! I was shocked! In short, the natural hair community online gave her the love and affirmation she needed to see the beauty in who she was (and psst, it even got noticed by Beyonce herself).

For me, social media was a big part of the reason I went natural in the first place. On TikTok and Instagram, I saw women who looked like me, embracing the hair they were born with. When I was with this online community, I never had to overthink, Is my hair up for debate? Do I need to minimize myself in order to fit in? Will I be more accepted if my hair is straightened?

The bittersweet part is that, much like anything on social media, once the natural hair movement became oversaturated, it lost some of its bite. Natural hair had aspects of being a political statement at one time, but its definitely not a political statement anymore, says Austin of Coils to Locs. We are not trying to prove anything to anyone by wearing our hair naturally. It represents a standard of beauty that we see for ourselves and want to embrace. Its about what makes us feel good.

So, Where Do We Go from Here?

Paula Boudes/Getty Images

Last summer, I embarked on my first girls trip with eight of my friends. While it was nothing like the Tiffany Haddish-lead film of the same name, I had similar sentiments in terms of feeling like I belonged. I was surrounded by women of color in all shades, shapes and natural hair types. I was traveling through the Caribbean on my own terms, taking up space without apologizing for it. And I was reminded that weve come a long way towards letting our curls, coils and braids exist without having to go through hoops to be accepted.

I know my hair is part of a bigger conversation. I know that, unfortunately, it can still be divisive and political. But knowing that were taking a step forward and not backward is what keeps me keeping that conversation going.

Lets Talk About Hair Discrimination & Why Its Still Happening Today
A Monroe County man has been sentenced to to 20 years prison time for distributing fentanyl which led to the death of a New Jersey man.

The United States Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced Tuesday Matthew Luce, also known as "Luck," 36, was sentenced to 240 months imprisonment by United States District Court Judge Malachy E. Mannion for the distribution of fentanyl resulting in death.

Luce was also sentenced to 188 months prison time on a separate drug trafficking conspiracy case, with the sentences to run concurrently.

According to United States District Attorney Gerard M. Karam, Luce knowingly and intentionally distributed an unspecified quantity of fentanyl to a 36-year-old Clinton, New Jersey man within the Middle District of Pennsylvania, resulting in his death on Feb. 6, 2021.

Related:Poconos man pleads guilty to fentanyl delivery resulting in death of NJ resident

Recent case:Monroe County man and NJ co-conspirator sentenced in drug delivery death

Luce was also responsible for conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute over 50 grams of methamphetamine and 100 grams of heroin. Luce had previously pleaded guilty to both charges.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Monroe County District Attorney's Office, the Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office, the Clinton Police Department, the Stroud Area Regional Police Department, and the Pennsylvania State Police. Assistant U.S. Attorney James M. Buchanan prosecuted the case

According to the DOJ, the case was brought forth as a part of a district-wide initiative to combat the nationwide epidemic of the distribution and use of heroin and fentanyl. Led by the U.S. District Attorney's Office, the Heroin Initiative targets heroin traffickers operating in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, utilizing federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to locate, apprehend and prosecute those who commit heroin-related offenses.

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The case was also part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a program which brings together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence.

Statistics from the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania show Monroe County hit a peak of drug delivery resulting in death in 2020 with 31 offenses filed that year. Between 2017 and 2021, Monroe County saw 82 such charges, exceeded only by Lancaster and York counties, which saw 132 and 117 charges respectively within the same time frame.

Fentanyl rapidly replaces heroin in PA

In a report released by former attorney general-turned Governor Josh Shapiro in May 2022, fentanyl has become an even greater problem than heroin in the Keystone State, with the Office of Attorney General Bureau of Narcotics Investigation regions seizing more than double the amount of fentanyl than heroin in 2021. Within the first quarter of 2022, the BNI seized approximately 40 times the amount of fentanyl as compared to heroin  even more than was seized in the entirety of the previous year.

According to the report, overdose deaths rose by 16.4% in 2020, and continued rising to 5,438 reported overdose deaths in 2021  a 6% increase from the prior year.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, which are increasingly found in counterfeit pills, were "some of the primary drivers of the increase in overdose deaths in the last several years."

The DEA notes that as little as two milligrams of fentanyl can be lethal, while analysis of counterfeit pills found a range of 0.02 to 5.1 milligrams of the synthetic opioid in the pills.

Fentanyl has rapidly replaced heroin as the dominant opioid in Pennsylvania. Last year, our Bureau of Narcotics Investigation seized more fentanyl than they had in the last four years combined. The rise in fentanyl has also contributed to a rise in overdose deaths. Last year, we lost 15 Pennsylvanians each and every day to a drug overdose. Law enforcement and policymakers alike must continue to do more to combat this crisis and devote additional resources to stopping fentanyl at the Southern border, Shapiro said.

This article originally appeared on Pocono Record: Pocono man faces 20 years for fentanyl delivery resulting in death
Photo Illustration by Erin OFlynn/The Daily Beast/Reuters

For Donald Trump, the first step is always to label his victim. Indeed, assigning a good bad nickname appears to be a sine qua non in the Trump playbook. Once he gets that part right, the job is half-done.

For example, Crazy Joe (which gave way to the superior Sleepy Joe) never resonated the way Crooked Hillary (or Lyin Ted, Low Energy Jeb, and Lil Marco) did. And now that Meatball Ron has become his leading moniker for Ron DeSantis, Trump might have landed on another keeper.

Back in 2016, when Trump first started gaining traction, a few outlets dug into why his nicknames were working. Some people saw it primarily as a symptom of the coarsening of discourse and dirty political fighting he reveled in; but others spotted an evil genius at work.

Heres How Ron DeSantis Can Dodge Trumps Garbage Attacks

One theory argued that our attention spans are getting shorter and shorter, and Trump understood how to succinctly capture the most negative framing of a persons fundamental nature.

Trump realizes campaigns, especially for president, arent about issuestheyre all about personalities, especially for independent voters, Brad Bannon, a Democratic strategist, told Roll Call. Evan Siegfried, a Republican strategist, concurred, saying, The bottom line is: Trumps nicknames stick.

There are linguistic reasons why some of his name-calling packs an especially powerful emotional punch. Crooked Hillary, is exponentially more powerful than the statement Hillary is crooked, wrote Jon Allsop in Columbia Journalism Review back in 2017, just as the Big, Bad Wolf resonates more deeply than the claim that the wolf is big and bad. The academics Jason Stanley and David Beaver argue that this is because Crooked Hillary slips into the mind as a presupposed truth.

The good news for DeSantis is that this specific technique is not currently being used on him (stay tuned for Groomin Ron). But what does meatball even mean? The New York Times calls it an apparent dig at [DeSantiss] appearance, which I take to suggest a shorter, pudgier framewhile hinting at a lock of social grace. But meatball is also a slur against Italian-Americans (all eight of DeSantis great-grandparents came here from Italy).

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Somewhere, Don Rickles must be thinking that if he were born 30 years later, he might have been president.

Its not like DeSantis can complain or cry foul about this. Its hard to imagine the current governor of Florida trying to curry sympathy from a Republican electorate that couldnt get enough of it when Trump called Elizabeth Warren Pocohontas.

To test the waters, I reached out to the non-partisan National Italian American Foundation for a comment. I received a generic quote back from the groups president, telling me that they do not countenance any ethnic stereotyping used to denigrate an individual or a group. Not exactly a stinging rebuke of Trumps slur. This is to say that in 2023, nobody is going to be morally outraged about Donald Trump calling an Italian-American politician a meatball.

But lets be honest, Trump is an equal opportunity offender. His goal is to come up with some way any way to define, diminish, and humiliate his opponents. He works diligently at this effort, testing and revising his slurs. And while DeSanctimonious was a good first effort, it also had too many syllables. Likewise, Shutdown Ron, the other name he is reportedly toying with, doesnt have the same ring as Meatball Ron.

Trump, of course, isnt the first person to grasp the power of name-calling. Although nicknames can be terms of affection or a badge of honor, they can also be a way to demean, dominate, or humiliate. Just ask any schoolyard bully.

Nicknames are powerful for the same reason that words are powerful and names are powerful. In the Bible, God changes Arams name to Abraham, which means father of many nations. Cults, likewise, engage in thought control by changing a members name and identity. If you can change someones name, you have a good chance to change our perception of themto change their narrative.

Trump understands this Orwellian technique more than most, precisely because hes an expert on branding. His business success, to the degree he has had success, is more contingent on image and bluster than on reality.

As a fan of Norman Vincent Peale, Trump adheres to a sort of name-it-and-claim-it power of positive thinking philosophy. Just as framing himself as a success has been more important to Trump than actually being a success (he won the 2020 election, after all!), Trump likewise understands that making someone appear to be a loser can also manifest that destiny.

Trump is a master of introducing ideas into the public bloodstream, and then repeating them over and over to make them sink in. Remember how Trump responded when the acting attorney general told him he couldnt just overturn the election? In case you forgot, Trump responded: [W]hat Im asking you to do is just say it was corrupt and leave the rest up to me Thats right, he didnt ask the DoJ to actually do anything; he just wanted him to open the door for Trump to work his magic.

Of course, having emerged in a post-Trump world, Ron DeSantis will not be blindsided by Trumps unorthodox style like previous adversaries.

What is more, DeSantis actually has a strong record that should resonate with Republican primary voters. He has been more effective when it comes to fighting culture war battles than Trump. But Donald Trump has a way of destroying people, and minimizing their accomplishments. I can almost hear him now, I oversaw the greatest economy in 50 years; Meatball Ron fought against Mickey Mouse.

We are still at the beginning of this incipient battle. DeSantis hasnt even declared yet. Still, the floating of nicknames suggests to me that the gloves are coming off and things are going to get darker and more extreme.

In the cinematic classic Rocky III, a professional wrestler dubbed Thunder Lips (played by Hulk Hogan) battles the Italian Stallion Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) in what is ostensibly an exhibition match pitting wrestler against boxer.

Before the fight, Hogans character, who later goes berserk and throws Rocky out of the ring, describes the billing as The ultimate male versus the ultimate meatball.

I thought about that this week when I heard that Donald Trump, who also postures himself as the ultimate male, described Ron DeSantis as Meatball Ron. Just as Stallone circled the ring, throwing perfunctory jabs before Hogan slammed him to the ground, we are now in the circling the ring stages of a heavyweight throwdown between Trump and DeSantis.

Its about to get ugly.

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Members of the Florida Senate, seen here in this photograph, and Florida House have filed legislation of consumer interest for the 2023 legislative session.

State lawmakers have filed dozens of bills across a spectrum of issues ahead of the 2023 legislative session.

A handful of these prospective laws would impact consumer pocketbooks, from establishing rules for an unregulated herb to permanently halting the sales tax for baby and adult diapers.

More bills could be filed leading up to and during the session, which starts March 7, and those bills could be tweaked before facing defeat, approval or a gubernatorial veto. Here are some proposed consumer-related pieces of legislation as they stand today.

More:Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signs home insurance fix  certain to raise costs for many

More:State Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book braced for a 'tough' legislative session

More:Will GOP legislative bosses end resign-to-run law to help DeSantis 2024 presidential bid?

Campsite reservations at state parks

Ahh, the Great Outdoors. What better way to pass the time in a Florida state park than to stay overnight?

Currently, any prospective or seasoned outdoorsman can reserve a spot to take their tent, RV or camper to any of the states roughly 50 campgrounds just 11 months in advance.

A bill filed by Palm Harbor Republican state Sen. Ed Hooper aims to give Florida residents one extra month to reserve a spot on campgrounds ahead of the nonresident public. Residents would be required to prove their status with a Florida driver license or ID card.

If passed, the bill, which already has a Florida House companion bill filed by Lakeland Republican state Rep. Jennifer Canady, would take effect July 1.

Sales tax-free diapers forever?

Lawmakers have tried, and failed, and tried, and failed, for years to pass a permanent sales tax exemption for baby and adult diapers. Will this be the year this tax break passes?

Orlando Democrat Rep. Anna Eskamani filed such a bill in December, with a companion bill filed by Sen. Lauren Book, D-Davie.

Last year, Eskamani successfully sponsored a bill that suspended the tax on baby diapers during the current fiscal year. That runs through the end of June.

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Over the years, Florida parents of newborns and toddlers have occasionally benefited from a brief tax relief when diapers were included in the weeklong, back-to-school sales tax break. If babies only did their business just during that time frame 

Need a tax-free private eye?

A bill filed in the state Senate is looking to give a sales tax break to those seeking services from certain private investigative agencies.

That would be a small agency, which is defined as one that employs three or fewer full- or part-time employees and has reported less than $150,000 in taxable sales in the last calendar year.

The tax break on these investigative services wouldnt be permanent, though. The bill, if passed as filed by Doral Republican state Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez, would last through the end of 2026 calendar year.

Continued push to regulate kratom

Regulating kratom is back in the mix this legislative session.

Kratom is a type of tree native to southeast Asia. Its leaves are smoked or brewed as a tea to access its psychoactive properties that, depending on the dosage, can lead to stimulative or sedative effects.

It also can be addictive and is not approved for any medical use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Kratom is not listed as a controlled substance by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; its regarded as a Drug and Chemical of Concern.

State lawmakers have tried in the past to control the ingredients of kratom, and at times sought to limit the age at which a person can purchase it, but nothing has stuck. Sarasota County and some states have banned the substance.

Sarasota Republican state Sen. Joe Gruters is trying again to push a bill that would limit the sale of kratom to people 21 and older, as well as establishing rules about labeling and the contents of kratom products. Pensacola Republican state Rep. Robert Alexander Andrade has filed a companion bill.

Debt collectors beware

An unpaid debt, whether the result of a bad decision, a business deal or circumstances out of ones control, can come back to haunt Floridians through constant calls and notices from debt collectors.

A set of bills filed in both chambers of the Florida Legislature, by state Sen. Rodriguez and Rep. Andrade, seek to protect some people from the barrage.

Creditors would be barred for certain periods of time from contacting people who faced debts as a result of elder abuse, human trafficking, identity theft or through their time in foster care. The length of time could be two years after the debtor notifies the creditor of their status, or potentially indefinitely.

Solace for owners of dearly departed pets

Sevillas Law hopes to bring transparency to the animal cremation process. It stems from a Treasure Coast family that decided to cremate their cat, named Sevilla, after it died of lymphoma.

The family had asked to have a final visit with the cat and be present for the cremation, according to a website describing the proposed law, but the business went ahead with the process instead.

A subsequent analysis of the remains found human DNA, metal and glass, and couldnt certainly say that the ashes belonged to a cat. With no legal recourse established, the family decided to write the rules.

The bill, filed again this year by Stuart Republican state Sen. Gayle Harrell, would require providers of pet cremations to give the pet owners detailed written descriptions of the service. The bill also creates penalties for false or misleading statements.

Hannah Morse covers consumer issues for The Palm Beach Post. Drop a line at hmorse@pbpost.com, call 561-820-4833 or follow her on Twitter @mannahhorse.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Florida consumer bills in 2023: tax-free diapers, debt collectors
The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Monday said it would not take up a case filed by a Wisconsin health care system seeking clarity on whether it could voluntarily recognize its nurses' unions.

The court's decision halts an attempt by the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics Authority to bypass lower state courts in deciding whether voluntary union recognition is allowed under state law.

We applaud the Wisconsin Supreme Courts recent decision to deny UW Healths petition to review whether our union can be voluntarily recognized," UW Health Nurses United, SEIU Wisconsin, said in a statement. "UW Health attempted to circumvent the regular legal process by filing directly at the Supreme Court to try to take advantage of a conservative majority."

The court's decision has no impact on a ruling issued by the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission in late November that found that UWHCA, which includes UW Health hospital, is not legally required to recognize its nurses union and collectively bargain for a contract under Wisconsin law.

The nurses union, SEIU Wisconsin, has appealed that decision in Dane County Circuit Court.

The health care system, on the other hand, petitioned the State Supreme Court on Dec. 9, for "an expedited decision on whether the health system is able to voluntarily recognize a union for the purpose of collective bargaining," following the commission's ruling, said Emily Greendonner, a UW Health spokesperson.

"While the high court declined to take that issue directly through an expedited process this month, both SEIU and UW Health continue to pursuelegal, definitive and expeditious answers to these questions," Greendonner said.

The commission's ruling reaffirmed a position that the hospital system has maintained since Act 10 was passed in 2011, which drastically reduced union power and collective bargaining rights for public employees in Wisconsin; it is not legally required to recognize its nurses union and collectively bargain for a contract under Wisconsin law.

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The hospital still is seeking a ruling on whether union recognition can be voluntary.

However, due to an agreement brokered by Gov. Tony Evers in September that averted a three-day strike by the nurses union, the hospital will "recognize" the nurses union by allowing them to actively recruit members at the hospital and openly talk about union activities.

The agreement also included regular "meet and discuss" meetings between the union members and top hospital administrators, a key win for the nurses who want to improve staffing ratios and address nursing shortages.

Those activities can continue despite the court's decision announced Monday.

The agreement that averted the strike is legally binding until Sept. 1, 2025, or six months after all legal avenues have been exhausted to determine if UW Health is required to recognize and collectively bargain with employee unions and, if it is not required to, if the hospital can do so voluntarily.

This is the first time any of these types of activities have occurred at the hospital since the passage of Act 10 and the nurses' union contract expiring in 2014.

Following the commission's November decision, UW Nurses United said it would appeal the commission's decision through the courts and petition for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board, meaning all legal routes have not been exhausted.

Nurses seeking a union argued that despite Act 10, the hospital still had the ability to voluntarily recognize its union. Justices Patience Roggensack and Rebecca Bradley dissented, opposing the court's decision to not take up the case but did not file written opinions.

Madison-based University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics Authority includes UW Health, several clinics in the greater Madison area, East Madison Hospital and the American Family Children's Hospital. It employs 3,400 nurses, with the union estimated to include up to 2,600 nurses.

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 Supreme Court declines to hear UW Health nurse union case
TAUNTON  I knew deep down inside I was more, and worthy.

Thats how Kimberly Plante, author of Worthy: The true story of an abused childs struggle for survival and acceptance, was able to find the strength to survive and overcome a childhood full of abuse, neglect and cruelty.

Plante, a Taunton resident, is a director of respiratory therapy at a children's hospital in Boston. She also works part-time as a respiratory therapist in Fall River.

Worthy is a deeply personal chronicle of the abuse and neglect that Plante suffered at the hands of her mother.

It is also the story of how she found a way to not only live but thrive, finding the love of a parent and a side of her family that had been missing for her whole life.

Kimberly Plante, author of "Worthy," with her father, Phil Plante.

Plantes early memories are of living with her grandparents, in a loving and safe home in Connecticut.

Her grandfather died when Plante was quite young, and she was only 3 years old when her mother came and took her to live with her.

Ridiculed, beaten, locked up in her room and neglected, Plante was denied food, bathroom privileges, and other basic necessities by her mother while her stepfather was out of the house or at work, Plante said.

Although she was just a little girl, Plante also had to take care of her infant brother, David.

No one even brushed her hair for her.

Over the years, Plantes mother also beat her with a belt and burnt her with cigarettes, she said.

She never said a kind word to her daughter over the years that they were living together in Kansas.

I drew my strength believing that I was not like my mother and that, unlike her, I knew what love was. I knew how to love and have compassion. I also knew the face of hate, which scared me, and I never wanted anyone to have to live the way I did, with no security, belonging, or peace, Plante writes.

Plante did know something of a loving home, also living off and on with her grandmother over the years. She knew that she ought to feel safe and wanted at home, and that life shouldnt be the way it was at her mothers.

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'900 customers a day':Will Taunton Dunkin' relocation solve traffic problems or create them?

When it became clear to her that the other adults in her life could not protect her (not even a counselor that she spoke to at her school) she realized that this was my life. I started trying to figure out how to survive it.

Music and reading Nancy Drew books helped her find some escape from her situation.

Her first major relationship provided another. She married her first husband when she was 18. Plante chronicles how that relationship sours and ends, as well as her second marriage.

Throughout it all, her mother is still a presence in her life, continuing to verbally and emotionally abuse her.

Finding love, finding strength

Plante writes about having her own children, and how her love for them helped her change the trajectory of her life.

As a child, I was in survival mode, especially after moving to Kansas and without my gram. But the minute I had my first child, love was the strength that kept me going; and my faith in God, Plante told the Taunton Daily Gazette. Every time I felt like I couldnt go on, I prayed for strength and somehow I would pick myself up and keep going. I didnt want to be like everyone thought I would be, because of how I grew up, and who my mother was. I knew deep down inside I was more, and worthy.

Right on track:Meet the 2022 Taunton Daily Gazette Boys Cross Country All-Scholastics

During her first marriage, Plante also struggled with her weight, which in turn affected her health. Food was a way to self-soothe during what were turbulent years for her mental health and well-being.

Everything started to change when one night she heard Gloria Gaynors power anthem, I Will Survive, on the radio.

Plante swore to herself that she was no longer just going to survive, but to live.

Her story is really of how she has thrived.

Plante's physical health improved, and she also lost hundreds of pounds of weight.

When her kids were in high school, she went to school to become a respiratory therapist.

She then got her bachelors degree in health care administration, and went on to earn her masters in the same, while working full time. She bought sparkly gold high heels to wear while she received her diploma.

Kimberly Plante, author of "Worthy: The true story of an abused childs struggle for survival and acceptance." She will be donating 15% of net sales to ChildUSA, a non-profit that advocates for children's civil rights.

Worthy is also a way for her to reflect on what she has been able to accomplish, overcoming great personal hardship.

Plante confronts her mother. She meets Tim, who she is married to today. Shes built many happy memories over the years, including becoming a grandmother.

When I think of these wonderful blessings and these gifts of love, I feel sorry for my mother, Plante writes.

Plante's mother died in 2008 and Plante took care of the funeral arrangements despite everything her mother had put her through, Plante says in "Worthy."

A DNA test leads to 'gift of love'

Them in 2019, Plante took a DNA test, which would lead to another gift of love:

She would at long last find her father, and a whole other side of her family that she hadnt been able to enjoy growing up.

Her father, Phil Plante, was still living in Connecticut, and she learned that she had six other siblings as well.

Since then, there have been huge changes, all for the good, in Plantes life.

She and Tim moved to Taunton in September 2020, from Arizona, since its a lot closer to her dad and siblings.

Because of the pandemic and my line of work, I decided I needed to be closer to my dad and new family. I wanted to spend as much time with him as I possibly could, and so I accepted a position as a quality manager here in Massachusetts, and my husband transferred with his job as well. It has been so wonderful being able to drive down on weekends and spend holidays with them, Plante told the Gazette.

The idea to write down her story happened over a conversation in an airport with a stranger named Naomi, on the way home from a trip to Connecticut.

Copies of "Worthy: The true story of an abused childs struggle for survival and acceptance," by Kimberly Plante.

Naomi has since become Plantes friend, and encouraged her throughout writing "Worthy."

At first, the writing process was very difficult for me, but taking the leap and letting others read my story was challenging in a different way, Plante said. I had many conversations with my friend Naomi about my fears of being laughed at or ridiculed. Our conversations helped me overcome these fears. I had survived and persevered through much worse! Naomi's understanding of my fears, and being my friend and sounding board helped me refocus any time self-doubt tried to creep back in.

Her family have also read Worthy, and have been supportive.

My dad said it took him a lot of time to read because it was so hard seeing what I went through as a child and adult, Plante said. My children were so very loving and supporting. They had heard some of my stories of how I grew up, but until they read the book, didnt have any idea of how bad my life was.

A copy of "Worthy: The true story of an abused childs struggle for survival and acceptance," by Kimberly Plante.

Worthy, published by Rebel Books Press, is now available at your local bookshop, and wherever books are sold, as both a physical copy and an e-book. Rebel Books Press is a small, independent, woman-owned, "boutique" publishing company that charges authors to help cover the expense of formatting books but is selective about which manuscripts it accepts and publishes just a small fraction of those submitted, the owner told the Gazette.

Plante said that local book signing events and meet-and-greets are in the works, with updates posted on worthymemoir.com.

Plante said having Worthy be accepted and published was the first step of my journey.

Now, shes aligned with ChildUSA, a non-profit organization based in Philadelphia that fights for the civil rights of children.

According to the CDC, at least 1 in 7 children have experienced child abuse or neglect in the past year in the United States. The CDC also says that in 2020, 1,750 children in the United States died of abuse and neglect.

I plan to offer tips from child abuse experts for everyone to notice the red flags that a child is being abused, Plante said, when discussing events for her book.

Shes also donating to the cause: ChildUSA will receive 15% from net sales of Plantes book.

For more information on Worthy, as well as upcoming events and news from Plante, visit worthymemoir.com.

Taunton Daily Gazette/Herald News copy editor and digital producer Kristina Fontes can be reached at kfontes@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Herald News and Taunton Daily Gazette today.

This article originally appeared on The Taunton Daily Gazette: Taunton: 'Worthy' by Kimberly Plante tells story of overcoming abuse
Invaders trying to attack in five directions, intensify use of aviation  AFU General Staff

The Russian occupiers, despite heavy losses, have not yet abandoned their intentions to enter the administrative borders of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, according to the operational information on the Russian invasion as of 18:00 on Tuesday, published on the page of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook.

As noted in the report, the enemy "continues to focus its main efforts on conducting offensive operations in Kupyansk, Lymany, Bakhmut, Avdiyivka and Shakhtar directions." The enemy aircraft are actively operating.

At the same time, according to the General Staff, there were no signs of the formation of enemy offensive groups in Volyn, Polissia, Siversk and Slobozhanske directions.
Ford Motor Co. plans to create 2,500 battery plant jobs in Marshall as part of a multibillion-dollar factory investment, the Detroit Free Press has confirmed.

While the project will be a partnership between two companies, Ford will own the physical structures, run the operations and employ the workers; its partner is a global expert on battery design and technology, the Free Press confirmed Friday.

A number of media outlets have reported tidbits about the project but nothing is official yet. Details will be revealed Monday by the Dearborn automaker and state officials who negotiated the deal. Neither Ford, nor Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, has discussed the project publicly. It is protocol for these announcements to be made by state and local economic development officials.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer greets guests before delivering her State of the State address on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023, at the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing.

The city of Marshall, which lists on its website a 2021 population of 6,870 residents, sits 36 miles east of Kalamazoo and 108 miles west of Detroit.

What we know so far

Ford has said it wanted to build a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery plant.

The company has been scouting sites throughout North America.

The estimated budget for the project is $3.5 billion.

The states of Virginia and Michigan have been among the finalists.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, criticized the project because it would include a Chinese technical partner and withdrew Virginia from consideration late in the process.

Ford is planning to partner with Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd (CATL), the world's largest battery company. While it is based in China, it is not a government-owned enterprise. The company has plants all over the world and supplies batteries to companies including Tesla and Honda.

This would not be a joint venture but, rather, a factory owned by Ford with CATL design and technology support.

The Chinese battery company holds IP (intellectual property) that's valuable to Ford.

More:Ford to build new plants in Tennessee, Kentucky in $11 billion investment in electric vehicles

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"Virginia's loss is Michigan's gain," according to the source who has watched the process with Marshall come together. "This is a big get."

Details about potential government incentives were not available Saturday. Also, it is unknown whether the UAW will organize the site. Ford has said it will not impede labor union efforts at any of its battery plants.

Batteries technology shapes the future

"There's going to be future LFT battery plants in America and that's an important technology," the source close to the project told the Free Press, noting that everyone will benefit from domestic battery supplies including Ford's primary competitor Tesla.

Shipping batteries is a costly logistical challenge for all automakers. Being an early mover on battery plant production positions Ford to compete in a race to scale up electric vehicle production, which dramatically cuts costs.

A small city with big ambition

This Ford news comes just weeks after the governor of Virginia dragged the iconic automaker through harsh headlines, criticizing the project as a potential front for the Chinese Communist Party.

Rick Snyder, a Republican who served as Michigan's governor from 2011 through 2018, aggressively reached out to China and Chinese companies to bring jobs to the state during his eight economic development trips to China.

More:2 electric vehicle battery plants to be built in Michigan, promising nearly 4,500 jobs

More:GM to invest $650 million in lithium mining company in US

Meanwhile, Marshall is no stranger to the automotive industry.

Its top employers, according to the Marshall Area Economic Alliance, include:

Tenneco Inc., a global designer, manufacturer and distributor of clean air and ride performance products.

Eaton Corporation, a global technology leader in electrical systems for power quality, distribution and control.

Tribal Manufacturing, a machining and manufacturing company.

The community, developed by fur traders in the 1800s, is filled with hundreds of historic Greek Revival, Gothic Revival and Italiante homes and buildings, according to choosemarshall.com, operated by the Marshall Area Economic Development Alliance. Its 19th-century architecture has been recognized by the National Park Service.

Contact Phoebe Wall Howard: 313-618-1034 or phoward@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @phoebesaid

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Whitmer to close deal with Ford, bring 2,500 battery jobs to Marshall
Get all the details on Anastasia and Kylee's backstabbing, Brooklyn's heart-wrenching reveal and who went home in the rose ceremony.

We're four weeks into The Bachelor season 27, and Zach Shallcross is holding strong to his promise of a low-drama season. Last week, he evicted villain and trouble-maker Christine Mandrell before she could stir up more drama.

On tonight's episode, Zach and his remaining 14 women headed to the Bahamas for a week relaxing and getting to know each other more (eh, scratch that) crying, backstabbing and dropping bombshells by the crystal blue waters.

What has been a rather low-key season intensified slightly as Anastasia spread misinformation about Kylee trying to fight her. Kylee returned the favor by telling Zach that Anastasia was on The Bachelor for Instagram followers, not true love.

We dig into who got the boot in week 4? Find out who Zach Shallcross sent home last night on the fourth night of The Bachelor Season 27and who got his roses.

Who got Zach Shallcross' first one-on-one date card on The Bachelor Season 27 tonight?

Katherine (Kat) Izzo

Katherine "Kat" Izzo gets the all-important first one-on-one date card which read, How deep is our love? The two take a catamaran out onto the deep blue waters. The date really gets started when they slather each other with sunscreen. The date is at-times fun and at other-times awkward. Zach is more than aware that Kat is out of his league.

She literally looks like a model, and Ive never dated a model," he say. "Shes so fun and great to be around, but a little of me asks why is she here? Like youre really dating me? he tells the camera in a clip.

"What really stood out to me was how comfortable Kat was sharing who she is and what she wants," he added.

"Kissing Kat is like two meteors perfectly colliding and creating a star, it's fireworks," he added as real-life fireworks erupted in the background.

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Of course she got a rose!

Related: Everything We Know About Kaity Biggins Fantasy Suites Overnight With Zach

Who got Zach Shallcross' group date rose on The Bachelor Season 27 tonight?

Ariel Frenkel

Zach invited Aly, Kaity, Ariel, Davia, Genevie, Anastasia, Kylee, Mercedes, Charity, Gabi, Jess, and Greer on a group date with a card that read, Its time to turn up the heat. The ladies agreed in advance to share Zach so they could all spend time the hunky bach. That agreement lasted maybe five minutes.

At the end of the date, Zach offered the rose to "someone who reminds me why Im doing it and makes me feel good and excited. Zach extended the group date rose to Ariel Frenkel.

Who got Zach Shallcross' second one-on-one date rose on The Bachelor Season 27 tonight?

Brooklyn Willie

The second one-on-one date of the night went to rodeo queen Brooklyn Willie. They started their date with an adventurous ATV tour of island and then cozied up by the water before taking a quick swim. Over dinner, Brooklyn opened up to Zach, who seemed visibly uncomfortable at the heart-wrenching revelations. She recounted an abusive six-year relationship.

"She has gone through battles that i couldn't imagine," Zach said. "She really is a badass. No human should ever be treated that way. How brave she is. and now compassionate and the kindness."

After their heartfelt, action-packed date, it was no surprise that Brooklyn Willie ended the evening with rose.

Who did Zach Shallcross send home tonight on Episode 4 of The Bachelor Season 27?

The evening started with 14 women and ended with 11. Three women went home last night, including Here are the three women who went home last night on The Bachelor week 4.

Anastasia Keramidas

Age: 30

Hometown: Baltimore, Maryland

Job: Content Marketing Manager

Genevie Mayo

Age: 26

Hometown: Baltimore, Maryland

Job: Neonatal Nurse

Davia Bunch

Job: 25

Hometown: Roebuck, South Carolina

Job: Marketing Manager

Related: Here's Who 'Bachelor' Fans Believe Producers Have Already Picked as the Next Bachelorette

Whos left on Zach Shallcross' Season 27 of The Bachelor?

Gabi Elnicki

Age: 25

Job: Account Executive

Hometown: Pittsford, Vermont

Aly Jacobs

Age: 26

Hometown: Smyrna, Georgia

Job: Healthcare Strategist

Kylee Russell

Age: 25

Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina

Job: Postpartum Nurse

Mercedes Northup

Age: 24

Hometown: Bloomfield, Iowa

Job: Nonprofit Owner

Jess Girod

Age: 23

Hometown: Winter Springs, Florida

Job: E-Commerce Coordinator

Brooklyn Willie

Age: 25

Hometown: Mineola, Texas

Job: Rodeo Racer

Katherine (Kat) Izzo

Age: 26

Hometown: Tampa, Florida

Job: Registered Nurse

Greer Blitzer

Age: 24

Hometown: Bellaire, Texas

Job: Medical Sales Representative

Charity Lawson

Age: 26

Hometown: Columbus, Georgia

Job: Child and Family Therapis

Ariel Frenkel

Age: 28

Hometown: New York City, New York

Job: Marketing Executive

Kaity Biggar

Age: 27

Hometown: Kingston, Ontario

Job: ER Travel Nurse
Senators left a classified briefing Tuesday with at least one question answered about the three unidentified flying objects that the military shot down over the weekend: They weren't aliens.

Thats about where the certainty ends.

Members of both parties entered the briefing room with Biden administration officials wanting more information about the origin of the unidentified objects. They left the room reiterating calls for more transparency from the White House.

This is what I took away: This has been going on for years, said Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.). Number two, except for the China spy balloon, we don't really know what they are. Number three, we don't even know if we've caught all of them. Number four, what's different right now is that we've shot some down. Thats the good news, I suppose.

Capitol Hill is swirling with intrigue about the military's downing of four objects that hovered over U.S. and Canadian airspace in recent days. In the absence of complete information, Senate Republicans nudged President Joe Biden to address the nation directly on the matter. While Democrats arent going that far, some indicated that the administration could be doing more.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin summed up the briefing this way: It answered a lot of questions and raised a lot of questions.

Even before the public knew about the three newest unidentified objects, Department of Defense officials were in contact over the weekend with senators from states over which they flew.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) recalled in a brief interview the alarming call she got Sunday afternoon from the Department of Defense, which gave her the mysterious play-by-play as the object hovered over the Mitten. She wasn't alone in being kept informed, every step  both Sens. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) heard from the administration before it publicly disclosed the object.

Yet even as the unidentified craft became the third shot down by the U.S. military in the span of a weekend, senators still have critical questions about what the heck is happening.

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The most troublesome aspect is: Whats going on? Where are they coming from? Who is behind them? Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) asked on Monday. We get weather balloons, we understand weather balloons. But if its not weather balloons, what are they? Who is sending them? That bothers me.



Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), meanwhile, said after the briefing that the Biden administration is becoming more transparent, and thats a good thing, but theres a need for even more.

The Tuesday briefing on the unidentified objects comes days after another classified briefing about the Chinese spy balloon. And thats on top of another previously classified briefing scheduled for Wednesday that will touch broadly on China.

None of the three objects shot down over the weekend have been recovered. Murkowski said brutally cold conditions in Alaska were hindering the search, while Peters said the lake is deep enough to make finding anything extremely complex. Even as the Biden administration ruled out aliens, thats not slowing down the pace of lawmakers' questions.

Senate Republicans, who previously castigated the Biden administration for waiting too long to respond to the Chinese spy balloon, had low expectations for the briefing. And Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) suggested after that it was of little use. Instead, he called for Biden to address the public immediately.



We learned nothing that I didnt already know as a member of the Intelligence Committee and Armed Services Committee or, for that matter, that one could learn from reading your newspapers, Cotton said. Thats why I want to stress again: President Biden owes the American people an explanation.

Over the past four days, the U.S. military shot down three unidentified objects: the first on Friday near Deadhorse, Alaska, the second over Yukon, Canada, on Saturday and the latest on Sunday over Lake Huron, Mich. That came just days after the military brought down a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina.

I dont think anybody really understands, said Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.). We all knew what the first one was  [The Biden administration] took so much heat after the first one, they werent going to make the same mistake, he added, and let the objects fly untouched.

While its not clear whether the unidentified objects are all from China, the latest developments will almost certainly spur calls for the U.S. to get tougher on Beijing. Following Thursdays briefing on the spy balloon, GOP and Democratic lawmakers emerged requesting additional information.

The speakers for Tuesdays briefing included Melissa G. Dalton, an assistant secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Hemispheric Affairs, Lt. Gen. Douglas A. Sims II, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Gen. Glen D. VanHerck, commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, according to a list obtained by POLITICO.

Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), who held a defense spending subpanel hearing Thursday on the Chinese spy balloon, described the latest unidentified objects as concerning. But he added that his level of concern will depend "on where they came from. His subcommittee is expected to hold follow up hearings as the Senate kicks off its annual spending process.

John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, told reporters Monday that enhanced radar capabilities may at least partly explain the increase in the objects that have been detected.



And Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) defended the White Houses approach: I know everybody wants the president to speak on every issue immediately and sometimes its smart for presidents to get enough information in order to make a definitive statement.

In the absence of more information, though, Republicans are having a field day with the incidents.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the floor Monday that the administration has still not been able to divulge any meaningful information about what was shot down and asked: are they benign science projects or something more nefarious that we have been missing all this time? Meanwhile, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said the administration is creating a bigger problem for themselves by the lack of transparency.

Yet despite bipartisan concern about China's role in the incursions, some senators suggested that the response to Bidens handling of the unidentified objects may fall along party lines.

I came to the conclusion the administration handled the first one properly, said Sen. Angus King (I-Maine.), a member of the Intelligence Committee. There are some people that if Biden walked out, woke up in the morning and walked across the Potomac River, they'd say, Biden can't swim.

Connor O'Brien contributed to this report.
It was 47 years ago when President Gerald Ford officially recognized Black History Month in 1976, calling upon the nation to seize the opportunity to honor the too often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.

Black History Month celebrates the achievements of African Americans and recognizes their prominent role in U.S. history. During this month, the United States honors the contributions and sacrifices of African Americans who have helped shape our nation, in conjunction with celebrating their rich cultural, heritage, triumphs and adversities that are an important part of our history.

Hear more Tennessee Voices:Get the weekly opinion newsletter for insightful and thought provoking columns.

A nation grounded in liberty and justice, not for some, but for all.

We represent the greatest diversity of any nation in the world, and that has challenged us in seeking the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We honor people for many reasons in this country with special times of remembrance. These annual events by themselves do not begin to tell the stories of our history and the people who helped write those stories.

However, these events remind us to transmit the narrative of the United States from the best of who we are to when we have been at our worst as a nation. Our historical narrative defines us and helps us remember important markers and milestones in our American journey.

Today, Black History Month, which is also a segment of American history, is a time to honor the contributions and legacy of African Americans within our history and society from activists and civil rights pioneers such as Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Rosa Parks, along with leaders in industry, politics, science and culture.

Sign up for Latino Tennessee Voices newsletter:Read compelling stories for and with the Latino community in Tennessee.

Sign up for Black Tennessee Voices newsletter:Read compelling columns by Black writers from across Tennessee.

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A history that includes accomplishments and also resistance

The challenges that have confronted the history of Black American in order to make a way out of no way has often been tested. The struggle for freedom and fair treatment, which includes the right to vote, along with equality in the areas of education, housing, economics and workplace opportunities. The Voting Rights Act of 1965, signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote as guaranteed under the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

It is important to understand, since its passage, the Voting Rights Act has also been walked back in certain areas. In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 vote that constraints placed on certain states and that federal review of some states voting procedures were outdated. Because of that ruling, several states began enacting laws limiting voter access, including ID requirements, limits on early voting and mail-in voting procedures.

While attending a 2010 leadership conference in Washington, D.C., I had the opportunity to meet with the late United States Congressman, John Lewis. He stated to me that although we have Barack Obama, a Black man serving as the 44th President of the United States, residing in the White House, the official residence of the President, which was built by slaves, we must continue to keep our eyes on the equal opportunity prize.

Lewis further added, this is a great nation, however there are still challenges that must be addressed that will make us a better country while enhancing liberty and justice for all. Remembering that conversation, it is important that Black History Month serves as a marker of a time to pause and reflect about the contributions of African Americans to our nation that has shaped who we are as a culture today and what the future holds.

Spencer Wiggins is Community Relations Consultant and the former Chairman of the Tennessee Human Rights Commission.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: This Black History Month, celebrate the achievements, and honor contributions
A martyred priest's remains made a final journey to a new Roman Catholic shrine early Monday in Oklahoma City.

A casket bearing the body of Blessed Stanley Rother, an Okarche native on the path to sainthood, was moved to the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine shortly after 5 a.m. Monday.

The Rev. William Novak, vicar general of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, sprinkled holy water on the casket and said a blessing before it was lowered into the altar in the new shrine's chapel. Novak said a mural above the altar depicts Rother being welcomed into heaven by Christ, other martyrs and the "holy innocents," the children of Israel killed by King Herod as he sought baby Jesus. The Catholic Church considers these children the first martyrs.

More:Oklahoma's largest Catholic Church ready to honor priest on path to sainthood

The Rev. William Novak, vicar general of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, leads a blessing during the internment of the casket bearing the body of Blessed Stanley Rother on Monday in the chapel at the new Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine.

Blessed Stanley Rother was an Oklahoma priest serving as a missionary in Guatemala when he was shot and killed by unknown assailants in the rectory of his parish church in July 1981. He was 46. Pope Francis proclaimed him a martyr for the faith in 2016. He is the first recognized martyr from the United States and the first U.S.-born priest to be beatified by the Catholic Church. Rother has been given the distinction of being called "blessed" to signify that he has been beatified and is one step away from sainthood.

The interment of Rother's body on Monday was a sign that the much-anticipated dedication of the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine is at hand. The shrine, 700 SE 89, with an estimated cost of more than $40 million, will be dedicated at 11 a.m. Friday, and the general public will be allowed into the shrine church, chapel and museum for the first time. The event is expected to draw thousands of people, including more than 35 Catholic bishops from across the country; Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the papal nuncio to the U.S.  the Vatican's ambassador to America; and a contingent of clergy and lay people from Guatemala.

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Avery Holt, the Oklahoma City archdiocese's interim communications director, said Oklahoma priests attended a private Mass on Monday to dedicate the shrine chapel where Rother is entombed. He said a private Mass for the Rother family also will be held in the chapel.

More: How Stanley Rother's heart has remained with his beloved Guatemalan parishioners

Blessed Stanley Rother vigil draws large crowds

On Sunday, hundreds of people flocked to Our Lady's Cathedral, 3214 N Lake Ave., for an all-night prayer vigil that began at 5 p.m. Sunday and lasted until 5 a.m. Monday. The come-and-go vigil gave the faithful an opportunity to venerate Rother's remains before they were entombed at the shrine.

The priest's remains, minus his heart, which is still in Guatemala, initially had been buried at the cemetery of Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Okarche after his death in 1981. His body was exhumed from the Okarche cemetery in 2017 to allow for an examination required as part of the canonization process. Rother's remains were temporarily buried at Resurrection Memorial Cemetery at that time before being exhumed on Sunday to be taken to Our Lady's Cathedral, and later, the shrine.

A person prays at the casket bearing the body of Blessed Stanley Rother during a prayer vigil on Sunday at Our Lady's Cathedral in Oklahoma City.

Guest column: Can anything good come from Okarche, Oklahoma? Stanley Rother did.

People began lining up to get inside Our Lady's Cathedral well before the doors of the church opened at 4 p.m. Sunday. A brief vespers service led by the Most Rev. Paul S. Coakley, archbishop of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, was standing-room-only, with the church's pews full and people standing along both sides and the back of the house of worship.

The all-night vigil represented an opportunity for the faithful to honor the priest while standing near his casket, which was surrounded by several large bouquets of flowers of a deep shade of red, a color symbolizing Rother's martyrdom. At times, people stopped briefly before the casket to pray, touch the casket, genuflect or make the sign of the cross. Several people kissed the casket.

Many people came from across the state and the U.S. to pray and honor Rother.

Micheldy Pierre, 31, said she drove from her home in San Antonio to participate in the prayer vigil and to attend Friday's shrine dedication.

Timeline:The life of Stanley Rother

People pray near the casket of Blessed Stanley Rother during a prayer vigil on Sunday at Our Lady's Cathedral, 3214 N Lake Drive.

"I also came to his beatification Mass in 2017," she said. "He's one of my favorite 'blesseds' on the way to sainthood."

Lauren Monteiro, 35, of Oklahoma City, said she is life enrichment director at St. Ann Retirement Center, and she brought a group of center residents to the vigil. The independent living and assisted living center is an affiliate of the Oklahoma City archdiocese.

"We try to have a really robust Catholic culture at St. Ann, and they were all very excited about the dedication of the shrine," she said.

Monteiro said she converted to Catholicism in 2016 and attends St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Warr Acres. She said she also had been anticipating the vigil, vespers service and shrine dedication.

"It's just so special for Oklahoma that we have a 'blessed'  very exciting," she said.

The Rev. William Novak, vicar general of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, sprinkles holy water on the casket bearing the body of Blessed Stanley Rother on Monday, Feb. 13, 2023, at the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine.

Ron Miller, of Yukon, attended the vigil with his sister Lynda Solder, who traveled from Pennsylvania to attend the shrine dedication and related events. The pair said they both grew up Baptist and converted to Catholicism as young adults.

Miller, 74, said he had been following Rother's story for many years, and he knew he wanted to attend the vigil and the coming shrine dedication.

"I just think it's marvelous to have something like this in Oklahoma City," he said of the shrine.

Solder said the momentous occasion warranted a trip.

"Me being from Oklahoma, I decided I wanted to come back for this," she said. "It's exciting."

People wait in line on Sunday to enter Our Lady's Cathedral for a prayer vigil and an opportunity to pray near the casket bearing the body of Blessed Stanley Rother.

Cyndi "Hyacinth" Kane, 60, rode to the Oklahoma City vigil from Pawhuska with her husband, John.

"Our world needs saints, and his story is so inspiring," she said. "That quote that he had, where he said, 'The shepherd does not run,'  I honestly want to cry every time I think about it  to have that level of commitment to your God and your flock."

Kane said she was aware that Rother is on the path to canonization and not yet formally recognized as a saint. However, she said many Catholics already view him that way.

"I know he's a 'blessed' and he's on the path (to sainthood)," Cane said. "You already feel like he's a saint already. To think that he was in our midst, a man so holy  it's just inspiring."

The casket of Stanley Rother is exhumed Sunday and driven to The Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Oklahoma City.

How to watch the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine dedication

The dedication will be livestreamed online at http://archokc.org/live, on Archdiocese of OKC Facebook Page and YouTube Channel. For more Information, go online to https://rothershrine.org/dedication.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC vigil honors Blessed Stanley Rother, now interred at new shrine
Emily Wright is a resident of Columbiana and is the development director at River Valley Organizing.

No matter what we look like, where we live, or how much money we earn, we all deserve to live full, healthy lives free of environmental hazards.

But here we are again. The Appalachian Ohio River Valley is experiencing an environmental nightmare that corporations and elected officials are sweeping under the rug.

From Illinois to Pennsylvania, fast moving trains are hurling through residential neighborhoods of lower socioeconomic status multiple times a day. Trains with harmful, highly flammable substances and radioactive fracking waste are carried on a daily basis through these communities.

Ohio train derailment:What are vinyl chloride and isobutylene? More about the chemicals released in Ohio train derailment

We predicted this.

A black plume rises over East Palestine, Ohio, as a result of a controlled detonation of a portion of the derailed Norfolk Southern trains Monday, Feb. 6, 2023.

Nearly a decade ago, many collaborative grassroots organizations appealed to the EPA about these trains. We have seen many derailments and close calls throughout the years. In fact, these groups warned the federal government that a disaster was waiting to happen.

More:Train derailment, fire cause evacuation in East Palestine, about an hour from Akron

Now, as we predicted would inevitably happen, a Norfolk Southern bomb train carrying vinyl chloride and other hazardous materials derailed on Feb. 3 in East Palestine.

Ohioans are suffering up to 30 miles away.

I live a few short miles from the derailment site. I also work with a non-profit, grassroots community organizing group, River Valley Organizing. We have been on the frontline around environmental community hazards in the Appalachian Ohio River Valley for several years.

I can tell you, in this instance, people as far as 30 miles away have experienced symptoms of nausea, headache, teeth pain, vomiting, diarrhea, sinus congestion, and shortness of breath. People well outside the evacuation zone have left their homes because the waterways are polluted with chemical smells and dead fish.

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Some people have had to seek medical attention for their breathing. I myself am still wheezing as I write this.

Heroic first responders have been pictured without any hazmat PPE. There are dead foxes, livestock, chickens, dogs, fish, and other wildlife all over Columbiana, Mahoning, and Trumbull counties in Ohio, and Beaver County in Pennsylvania.

The poorly named controlled burn of cancer-causing vinyl chloride swept four counties and two states as high winds came through the area. Media and elected officials demanded we shelter in place while also telling us we had nothing to worry about."

Emily Wright is a resident of Columbiana and is the development Director at River Valley Organizing.

People are debating whether they can afford another night in a hotel or if they and their children have to go back to their contaminated houses. People are being let back in their homes with zero soil or surface testing completed. Those same people must now clean their homes or dispose of contaminated items with no assistance offered.

The National Guard came and went. Kids are expected to go back to school this week. Reporters are being silenced and even arrested for being too loud at press conferences.

Every news report and conference has indicated the same thing: there are zero toxins in the air and water, not the normal lingo of acceptable levels for human consumption. This has been proven 100% false through photographic and testing evidence.

More:Ohio AG Dave Yost's office to handle case of reporter arrested at DeWine news conference

The governor must ask president for help.

Now, we have a governor that will not ask our president to declare this a federal emergency. He pretends to have it handled while I receive reports of 3 year olds in respiratory distress from asthmatic flares. He is playing politics with our lives from his comfy governors mansion a hundred miles away as residents of East Palestine and neighboring communities look on in horror.

It is the time for our leaders to do the right thing.

Quit lying, Gov. Mike DeWine, and call President Joe Biden.

Tell him the short- and long-term health implications for our region. Tell him that vinyl chloride exposure leads to several types of cancer. Tell him people are sick and animals are dying. Tell him to declare a federal emergency so we can get the help that we need.

It is time to put people over politics. Our lives and future depend on it.

Emily Wright is a resident of Columbiana and is the development director at River Valley Organizing.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: East Palestine train derailment: People 30 miles away feel impact of Ohio chemical spill
Maxwell Air Force Base is preparing to celebrate its local Vietnam Era Veterans and the pivotal role Maxwell AFB played in hosting 43 returning Prisoners of War and their families on Feb. 14, 1973.

The base will be hosting several events, starting with a virtual Operation Welcome Home Kickoff on Tuesday, Feb. 14, at 2 p.m., and continuing in March with a POW/MIA 24-Hour Relay and culminating in the arrival of the Vietnam American Veterans Traveling Tribute Wall.

"It's going to be a fantastic week to just honor and celebrate the service of so many veterans who didn't have that celebration when they served," said CMSgt. Lee Hoover, command chief, 42 Air Base Wing.

In 1973, Maxwell Air Force Base was one of 10 Air Force Bases to welcome American prisoners of war held by North Vietnam.

In 1973, Operation Homecoming became a massive effort to return 591 American prisoners of war held by North Vietnam following the Paris Peace Accords that ended U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Maxwell Air Force Base played a pivotal role in this historic event by reuniting POWs home with their families and love between Feb. 14, through April 1.

"Maxwell Gunter was one of 10 air bases, and we welcomes 43 prisoners of war here then," said Col. Ryan Richardson, commander of 42 Air Base Wing,

Join Air University Library and the 42nd ABW online Tuesday to recognize the 50th anniversary of Operation Homecoming. Guest speakers include Col. (ret) Carlyle "Smitty" S. Harris, Col. (ret) Leon Lee F. Ellis, and Captain (ret) Guy Gruters, three former POWs who landed at Maxwell 50 years ago.

Families and loved ones held signs for returning prisoners of war at Maxwell Air Force Base in 1973.

Join the ZoomGov meeting at:https://www.zoomgov.com/j/1611851900?pwd=SzEvaXY2OEc4MHhCNzA0OUpZaFNYdz09Passcode: 281855Webinar ID: 161 185 1900International numbers available: https://www.zoomgov.com/u/ac1damgGiA

24-hour torch relay

"Just a couple of weeks later on March 12, the traveling Vietnam War Memorial will enter the River Region, escorted by patriots on motorcycles and first responder vehicles," Richardson said.

After the memorial wall is set up, join Maxwell AFB on March 13 and 14 for the Maj. Samuel Diechelmann POW/MIA 24-Hour Eternal Torch Relay. It's a 24-hour relay to run for and and to remember prisoners of war and those missing in action.

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"Some 81,000 plus," Richardson said.

A 24-hour relay will be held at Maxwell AFB.

Invited: Maxwell, Gunter, and surrounding communityDate: March 13-14, 2023, 8:30 am to 8:30 am (24 hours)Location: Officer Training School Track on Maxwell AFBSign up: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0d4cadab29a6f8c52-powmia#/

See the memorial wall in person

The Vietnam American Veterans Traveling Tribute Wall is coming in March to Maxwell AFB.

"Following the run, we have invites out to all the River Region public schools to provide the opportunity for children to come view the wall," Richardson said.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is the most visited memorial on the National Mall in Washington D.C.

On March 15, 8 a.m., the installation at Maxwell AFB will be open to the community.

"My personal welcome and invite to all Vietnam veterans to be recognized, and for all veterans in the community ro rally around them as we recognize them and celebrate their sacrifice so many years ago," Richardson said.

Maxwell AFB is especially inviting Vietnam veterans to visit during Operation Welcome Home.

Invited: Maxwell, Gunter, and surrounding communityDate: March 16, 2023, 10 a.m.Open to the PublicSign-up: https://m.signupgenius.com/#!/showRSVPSignUp/10c094baaa62da7fec25-operationLocation: Officer Training School Track, Maxwell AFB

Learn more

For more about this event, visit https://www.maxwell.af.mil/Operation-Welcome-Home/

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Celebrate Operation Welcome Home at Maxwell AFB, starting Tuesday
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin cited the flight pattern of the three objects that were shot down over the U.S. and Canada in the last few days as one reason the Biden administration decided to down them.

We dont know if they were actually collecting intelligence, but because of the route that they took, out of an abundance of caution, we want to make sure that we have the ability to examine what these things are and potentially what they were doing, Austin told reporters after landing in Brussels on Monday.

Austins comments did little to answer many of the other questions from lawmakers and the public, such as where the objects came from, what they were doing in U.S. airspace and what they had on board.

The U.S. and Canada shot down three unidentified objects over Alaska, Lake Huron and Canadian territory in the last few days. The action comes after the U.S. shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina earlier this month.

But Austin reiterated the U.S. is not sure what the latest objects were, saying only they are different from the suspected spy balloon that was grounded earlier this month. He said they could have nefarious purposes and said the U.S. and Canada were engaging in recovery efforts to try to determine what the objects were.

The three objects taken down this weekend are very different from what we were talking about last week, Austin said. We knew exactly what that was  a PRC [Peoples Republic of China] surveillance balloon.

Austin added that no debris from the latest three objects that were shot down have been recovered yet. The object in Alaska landed on sea ice, and weather has delayed the recovery time. The object downed over Canada landed in a very remote part of Yukon territory.

Austin also said that the objects did not pose a military threat to the U.S.

Austins comments come as Republicans have been critical of the Biden administration for its communication of the incidents, calling on the president to reveal more about the objects to the public.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A portion of a Norfolk Southern Railroad freight train derailed and caught on fire Feb. 3 in East Palestine, Ohio.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is continuing to monitor the air, water and soil impacts from a train derailment that happened in East Palestine, Ohio, earlier this month.

About 50 rail cars, including 11 carrying hazardous materials, derailed in the village on Feb. 3, causing toxic chemicals to be released. No one was injured in the wreck.

Here's a timeline of what happened.

What we know:East Palestine train derailment

Ohio train derailment: East Palestine residents file lawsuit seeking medical testing

Feb. 3

A Norfolk Southern Railroad freight train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, at approximately 8:55 p.m., the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said. Norfolk Southern reported the incident to the National Response Center at 10:53 p.m.

The train was comprised of about 150 cars and 50 were affected. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, 20 cars contained hazardous materials and 11 of those were impacted by the wreck.

Smoke from the Feb. 3 train derailment could be seen in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 5.

Feb. 4

Responders discovered contaminated runoff from the derailment impacting the nearby Sulphur Run and Leslie Run streams, the EPA said. Norfolk Southern contractors installed booms and underflow dams to restrict the flow of contaminated water.

Residents near the derailment were asked to leave the area.

Feb. 5

During a Feb. 14 press conference, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said he was made aware that one car containing vinyl chloride was at risk of exploding Feb. 5. DeWine said officials were faced with "two bad options," allow the car to explode, which could launch deadly shrapnel with a near-one-mile trajectory, or vent and burn the chemical.

The controlled release and burn of vinyl chloride caused a dark plume to rise over East Palestine, Ohio.

Feb. 6

DeWine said Ohio and Pennsylvania authorities communicated with Norfolk Southern and decided to prevent the explosion. Remaining East Palestine residents within a 1-mile by 2-mile area surrounding the village were ordered to leave, and Norfolk Southern executed the controlled release and burn of vinyl chloride in five cars around 4:15 p.m., creating a large plume above the village.

A federal lawsuit filed Feb. 16 estimates 1.1 million pounds of vinyl chloride were spilled during the fire and derailment.

In a letter written to Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw on Feb. 14, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said Norfolk Southern did not indicate to state and local responders that it was going to vent and burn all five cars with vinyl chloride, rather than just the one that was at risk of exploding.

Story continues

Norfolk Southern Railroad is planning a controlled release of the vinyl chloride at approx. 3:30 pm today. An immediate evacuation in a one-mile by two-mile area surrounding East Palestine which includes parts of Ohio & Pennsylvania has been ordered. More: https://t.co/8JSvDjtmXB pic.twitter.com/LjoYJmjjOO  Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) February 6, 2023

Feb. 7

Both railroad mainlines were restored to service one day after the controlled chemical release, Norfolk Southern said.

Feb. 8

DeWine, Shapiro, East Palestine fire chief and incident commander Keith Drabick and other officials from both states said East Palestine residents could safely return home.

The evacuation order has been lifted, if you were asked to evacuate your residence due to the incident in East Palestine, you are permitted to return home. Please return in a safe and orderly manner.  Beaver Co. Emerg Svc (@BeaverCounty911) February 8, 2023

NewsNation correspondent Evan Lambert was arrested for trespassing while attending DeWine's press conference about the derailment. In a statement, East Palestine police said they asked Lambert to stop his live report because he was being "loud," which resulted in an argument. Police said they arrested the broadcast journalist after he refused to leave the area.

Lambert was held in custody for about five hours before he was released, NewsNation reported. DeWine said at the end of the press conference that he did not authorize the arrest.

Feb. 10

Contractors with Norfolk Southern installed a dam and water bypass at Sulphur Run to prevent further contamination of downstream waters.

The EPA sent a general notice of potential liability letter to Norfolk Southern, listing the areas the company may be liable for damages and cleanup pertaining to the wreck. According to the letter, some of the derailed rail cars contained vinyl chloride, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate, isobutylene and butyl acrylate.

Feb. 13

Norfolk Southern submitted its remedial action plan to the EPA, detailing how it has responded to the derailment so far and what further actions it proposes.

Feb. 14

At a press conference, DeWine said Norfolk Southern agreed to pay for the cost of damages and cleanup in East Palestine, and will stay in the village until the situation is remedied.

In an open letter, Shapiro said Norfolk Southern's conduct is currently under investigation by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.

National Transportation Safety Board said investigators identified the rail car that initiated the derailment. Residence surveillance video showed "what appears to be a wheel bearing in the final stage of overheat failure moments before the derailment," it said. The wheelset is being examined, and a preliminary report about the cause of the derailment is expected within two weeks.

Feb. 15

The Ohio Attorney General's Office dropped all charges against NewsNation reporter Evan Lambert.

The Ohio EPA said East Palestine residents could safely drink village water, according to a release issued by Gov. DeWine.

East Palestine residents gathered for a town hall to voice their concerns about the derailment. Mayor Trent Conaway attended the meeting, as well as Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, director of the Ohio Department of Health, and U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Marietta. Norfolk Southern officials did not attend.

Feb. 16

A Norfolk Southern train derailed in Van Buren Township, Michigan. None of the damaged cars were carrying hazardous materials and no injuries were reported.

Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw sent a letter to East Palestine residents pledging not to abandon the community.

Feb. 17

The Biden administration said it would send more federal assistance to East Palestine following requests by DeWine and Ohio's congressional delegation. The Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will deploy medical personnel and toxicologists to conduct public health testing and assessments.

The traveling plume of butyl acrylate  a compound used in paints, plastics and other products that leaked into the Ohio River  completely dissipated according to the latest testing, DeWine said.

Feb. 18

Ohio Sens. Sherrod Brown and J.D. Vance sent a letter to state and federal EPA officials urging them to test for dioxins, which are pollutants that are created when chemicals burn.

Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw visited East Palestine.

This story will be updated.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: East Palestine train derailment: A timeline of what happened
On Wednesday, February 15, at 12.00, the press centre of the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency will host a press conference on the results of the study "Legal protection of victims of Russia's war crimes." Participants include Director of the Sociological Group "Rating" Oleksiy Antypovych; Director of the Ukrainian Legal Advisory Group, Ukraine 5 AM Coalition Nadia Volkova; Member of the Board of the NGO "Institute for Peace and Mutual Understanding," Ukraine 5 AM Coalition Maksym Yeligulashvili; director of projects "Expansion of Opportunities" Oksana Koliada (8/5a Reitarska Street). The event will be streamed on the YouTube channel of Interfax-Ukraine. Admission of journalists requires registration on the spot.
Courtesy Wiebke Huester

The art critic who accused prominent ballet director Marco Geocke of smearing dog feces on her face was petrified by the alleged attack that left her screaming and crying in the middle of a show at the Hannover Opera House on Saturday.

He didnt just throw it at me. He pulled out the bag with the open side of the bag and rubbed it in my face brutally, so the dog poop would stick in my face, Wiebke Huester, a writer for Germanys Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, told The Daily Beast in an interview on Tuesday. One moment we were still talking and the next moment his fist was in my face. When I realized what he had done, I screamed. I was so shocked, so panicked. You cant imagine.

The alleged attack came after Huester wrote an unfavorable review of In the Dutch Mountain, a production staged by Goecke with the Nederlands Dans Theater, which was performed in The Hague. In her review of the play, published the same day of the alleged attack, Huester said the production was disjointed, and could make people go insane and be killed by boredom while watching.

The 57-year-old art critic told The Daily Beast that she had been more than willing to speak to Geocke when she allegedly saw him come up to her at the Hannover Opera House, where she was watching the premiere of his ballet performance, Faith - Love - Hope.

He seemed to want to talk after I had given him a bad review. And I thought, Of course Ill talk to you. And then he starts talking and he said, No one should have let you in! Why are you here? No one should have let you in. You are always writing these bad personal reviews of me, she told The Daily Beast. I was telling him no, my words are not personal. Its not about you as a person. I see a big talent in you I didnt get to explain it to him because at that moment he pulled out the open poop bag out of his jacket and stuffed it in my face, brutally.

After the alleged attack, Huester said she called her husbandher boss at Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitungwho detailed the incident in a report headlined Attack on our dance critic Sunday.

Story continues

Marco Goecke attacked our dance critic Wiebke Huster first verbally, and then physically, the report said. Apparently provoked by her review he initially threatened her with being banned from the house. Getting more and more upset, Goecke finally got physical: He pulled out a paper bag with animal feces and smacked the face of our dance critic with the contents. After that, he was able to go his own way unhindered through the crowded foyer.

According to German media outlets, the feces was taken from Goeckes pet dachshund, Gustav, who is frequently spotted alongside the award-winning director.

Ms. Husters personal integrity was violated in an unspeakable way. We are appalled by what has happened and very much regret that the escalation has occurred, the opera house said in a statement on their website. With his impulsive reaction to the journalist, Marco Goecke violated all the rules of conduct of the Hanover State Opera and caused massive damage to the State Opera and the State Ballet in Hanover.

The opera house added that they have asked Goecke to apologize comprehensively to the art critic.

A police investigation has since been launched against Goecke, who was suspended from the Hanover state opera house on Monday.

This newspaper considered the humiliating act beyond the fact of physical harm as an attempt to intimidate our free, critical art appreciation, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said in their report about the attack. Goeckes crossing of borders reveals the disturbed relationship between an artist and criticism.

Huester, meanwhile, says shes been overwhelmed by the outpouring of supportive messages she has received in response to the alleged incident.

I feel supported and protected, she said. Ever since I have received many texts and emails saying Please keep going. We always read your things. We love what you do. Please dont give up. Go back to work.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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An environmental publication in Canada is suing the police over the arrest of a photojournalist who was covering a protest in November 2021.

The Narwhal, a nonprofit news organization, announced on Monday that it filed a lawsuit against the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in the British Columbias Supreme Court, alleging wrongful arrest, wrongful detention and violation of their Charter rights. The report said that photojournalist Amber Bracken was arrested at an energy protest in the Wetsuweten territory in northwestern British Columbia and spent three nights in jail before being released.

As a small, non-profit news organization, we didnt want to have to bring a lengthy, expensive litigation against one of the most powerful organizations in our country. But ultimately we realized we had no other choice, the Narwhal said.

To not move forward with this case would be to turn our backs on whats right  and to turn our backs on all the stories that happen in remote places without the watchful eyes of journalists, due to the chilling effect of arrests like these, the statement continued.

According to The Guardian, Bracken told reporters that she kept waiting for the police to realize their mistake.

I felt kidnapped. I have never been arrested before, she said. And its the best word I can think of to describe being taken so abruptly from my life and from my work and in violation of my Charter rights.

Carol Linnitt, co-founder of the Narwhal, told reporters that Canadian police have not had to face real consequences for infringing on press freedom.

Ambers arrest is seared into my memory. The text informing me that she had been arrested. The late-night phone calls with lawyers, the sense of helplessness as Amber was inexplicably held in jail for three days, Linnitt said.

In a statement to The Guardian, the RCMP said it is aware of the claim, but, as we are subject to it and the court process, it would be inappropriate for us to comment. Once served, the Department of Justice will review and a statement of defence for the RCMP will be issued through the appropriate court process.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has become an early favorite to secure the Republican Partys 2024 presidential nomination.

But as his name is bandied about as a leading contender, strategists, donors and political observers have thrown out the cautionary tale of another Florida governor who tried to take on former President Trump: Jeb Bush, who despite a famous surname and donor support won little traction in the 2016 GOP primary.

Here are some reasons why DeSantis might be different.

Hes starting from a stronger position

Ron DeSantis

Many Republicans have said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is in a stronger position to challenge former President Donald Trump than Jeb Bush was in 2016, pointing to, among other things, his 19-point reelection win in November. (AP)

It may be months before DeSantis makes any formal announcement on his 2024 plans, but Republicans say that hes arguably in a more promising spot than Bush was when he kicked off his presidential bid.

Not only is DeSantis coming off a staggering 19-point reelection win, but early polling of the potential Republican presidential primary field shows him notching nearly a third of the vote. Then theres the fact that he raised more than $200 million for his 2022 reelection bid, making him one of the countrys most prolific fundraisers.

DeSantis has a resounding victory in a battleground state on his resume, to go along with a well-funded war chest, said Kevin Madden, a Republican strategist who served as a senior aide to Mitt Romney during his 2012 presidential run. All of that helps. Hes got high levels of curiosity from activist Republican voters in early states.

Still, Madden said, getting these voters to go from curious to converted is a big challenge. Until a candidate puts a campaign together and demonstrates their plan to harness the momentum and manage the day-to-day grind of a campaign, the risk of not meeting expectations is real.

Hes owning the news cycle  in some ways more than Trump

Ron DeSantis

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has found himself in the headlines almost daily, including dominating the news cycles during the pandemic. (AP)

Story continues

DeSantis has a well-known aversion to engaging with the mainstream media.

His press conferences often end without him taking questions from the press, he lacks the kind of extended network of surrogates that candidates like Bush relied on and what interviews he does grant almost exclusively go to politically friendly outlets, like Fox News.

But the Florida governor has found himself in the headlines almost daily.

He dominated news cycles throughout the pandemic as a foil to public health officials like Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; picked a highly publicized fight with Disney, one of his states largest employers; and raised eyebrows last year by paying to fly migrants from Texas to Marthas Vineyard, the elite Massachusetts resort town.

Some Republicans compared DeSantiss ability stay in the news to Trumps made-for-TV persona that drew round-the-clock coverage for years.

Because Ron DeSantis is currently in office, hes able to make news. I mean, hes better at making news than all other 49 governors combined, Ford OConnell, a Republican strategist and former congressional candidate, said.

Hes more in tune with the GOP base

Republicans said that Jeb Bush struggled to connect with the GOPs base voters in 2016, but DeSantis political brand has been focused on appealing to the partys loyal voters. (Greg Nash)

Despite once holding the reputation as a popular two-term governor of the countrys largest swing state, Bush found himself struggling to resonate with the GOPs base voters not long after launching his 2016 presidential bid.

By that time, OConnell said, the Republican Party had changed exponentially from when Jeb was in his prime.

Jeb had trouble connecting with the base, OConnell said. He was high in the polls but nowhere close to where DeSantis is. Its just a very, very different field this time.

Indeed, DeSantis has largely tailored his political brand around the idea of appealing to his party most loyal voters. Doug Heye, a Republican strategist, said that DeSantis has a penchant for picking and choosing battles that get conservatives excited nationally.

But Susan Del Percio, another Republican strategist, said there may be some risks associated with that strategy, arguing that DeSantiss intense focus on red-meat issues isnt the answer to the partys problems.

DeSantis has no policy. Hes all about the culture wars, she said, adding that DeSantis is making the wrong bet that it should all be on culture wars. People should want more.

He has a track record of winning in a tough environment

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) speaks on at the Doral Academy Preparatory School

Despite a disappointing year for the party as a whole, last years midterms were a resounding success for DeSantis. (AP)

By most measures, 2022 was a rough year for Republicans. They failed to recapture control of the Senate and only narrowly won the House majority, despite having the political winds at their backs.

For DeSantis, last years midterms were nothing short of a resounding victory. Not only did he win reelection by the largest margin in a Florida gubernatorial race in four decades, but Republicans also scored supermajorities in both chambers of the state legislature.

Republicans say thats particularly notable, given the outcome for GOP candidates elsewhere in the country.

He can do two things, Heye said. Not only can he say that he won in a year that was somewhat disappointing for Republicans but that he won big. He can also demonstrate to his base that hes a culture war warrior and that hes an adult who can govern.

By comparison, Republicans largely outperformed expectations in 2002 when Bush won reelection to the Florida governors mansion by nearly 13 points. The country was little more than a year removed from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and voters rallied around Bushs brother, former President George W. Bush, and his party.

Hes still actively governing

Ron DeSantis is the current governor of Florida where was Jeb Bush had been out of public office for almost a decade when he ran for President in 2016. (AP/Getty)

Unlike Bush, who had been out of public office for nearly a decade by the time he announced his 2016 presidential run, DeSantis still has the bully pulpit of the Florida governors mansion behind him  and hes taking full advantage of it.

A special legislative session came together last week to address some of the Florida governors highest-profile priorities, including expanding a controversial program to fly migrants between different states.

DeSantis is also expected to use the legislatures regular session, which begins next month, to advance some of his other top agenda items.

Hes got resources, hes got the ability to create buzz, hes also got the ability as a sitting governor to shape policy, OConnell said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
PARIS (AP)  Frances defense minister has denounced the way he says French soldiers deployed in Africa appear to be depicted in the Marvel Studios superhero film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever as false and misleading.

Minister Sebastien Lecornu strongly condemned the similarity of a fictional group of villainous mercenaries with French armed forces members, in a tweet published Sunday about the film that came out in November in France and the U.S.

The plot of the film involves a fictional African country, Wakanda, faced with Western nations seeking to control fictional metal resources across the continent.

A scene from the film retweeted by the minister shows a group of soldiers with their hands tied behind their backs, wearing uniforms very similar to those of French troops deployed in Africas Sahel region, being brought before the United Nations in Geneva.

FILE - French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu waits at the Elysee Palace on Jan. 26 in Paris. Lecornu denounced the way French soldiers deployed in Africa are represented in a Marvel's film as

FILE - French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu waits at the Elysee Palace on Jan. 26 in Paris. Lecornu denounced the way French soldiers deployed in Africa are represented in a Marvel's film as "false and misleading."

The movie scene depicts mercenaries captured by Wakandans after they attacked an outpost in Mali.

I am thinking of and honoring the 58 French soldiers who died defending Mali, at its request, in the face of Islamist terrorist groups, Lecornu added.

The issue is sensitive in France, which completed its withdrawal from Mali last year after nine years fighting Islamic extremists alongside regional troops. Tensions have also grown over the past year between Mali, its African neighbors and Western nations after Malis transitional government allowed Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group to deploy on its territory.

France has recently announced it is withdrawing troops from Burkina Faso this month following a demand by the West African countrys military rulers.

About 3,000 French soldiers remain deployed in the Sahel region, many of those based in Niger and Chad.

Related...
ATLANTA  The state Senate on Tuesday approved a proposal to place a statue of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on the grounds of the state Capitol.

The bill was sponsored by Sen. Ben Watson, R-Savannah. Watson represents the part of the Savannah area, Pin Point, where Thomas is from.

Georgia state Senator Ben Watson

Clarence Thomas  has lived a life marked by tremendous achievement, Watson said. [He] deserves a place of honor and recognition on Capitol grounds, a place where future generations of Georgians can  gain inspiration and belief that their lofty dreams are attainable, too, in America, regardless of the circumstances in which they are born.

The statue would be funded by private donations, Watson noted.

The bill drew criticism from Democrats, who pointed out that Thomas is a controversial figure.

Thomas confirmation hearings for the U.S. Supreme Court in 1991 were marred by sexual harassment allegations leveled by Anita Hill, a lawyer who had formerly worked under Thomas. His conservative approach to many policy issues, including against affirmative action, has also drawn the ire of many Black Americans.

I dont expect people of non-color to get the sensitivity that we feel about a person of color whose policies and practices and decisions and votes  weve rallied [to] fight against, said Sen. Emanuel Jones, D-Decatur.

Georgia state Senator Emanuel Jones

Justice Thomas decisions have certainly sparked outrage [among] women and not just women of color, but all women, Jones added. And certainly, when we look at the LGBTQ+ community, his votes and positions hes taken have raised outrage in that community as well.

Democrats also said Thomas wife, Ginni, has been accused of encouraging the stop-the-steal movement to overturn former President Donald Trumps 2020 election defeat.

At minimum, this bill should be tabled until such time that Justice Thomas and his wife are cleared of collaboration in this dark chapter in our history, said Sen. Nikki Merritt, D-Grayson. This is not the type of shame we want to enshrine on Capitol grounds.

Story continues

Despite the opposition, the bill passed easily by a 32-20 party-line vote. It will now move to the Georgia House of Representatives for consideration.

The state Senate passed a similar bill last year, but it failed to reach the floor of the House.

This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Georgia Senate approves proposal to install Clarence Thomas statue at state Capitol
Hes one of the hottest stars in Hollywoodstarring in the Best Picture-nominated Top Gun: Maverick as the video clip for Taylor Swifts I Bet You Think About Me. He also appeared opposite his significant other in a commercial for Bud Light, so who is Miles Tellers wife, Keleigh Sperry, with whom he shares a relatively private life?

The couple met in 2013 at an afterparty for the Grammys, hosted by The Black Keys, with whom they share a mutual friend. In an interview with Vogue in September 2019, they both gushed about their first meeting. Keleigh had caught my eye early in the night, and we talked. I didnt think it went well, but after a few more attempts, I got her to dance with me, and a week later, we went on a date. After we met, I knew she was the one, he said. She recalled: He was so charming and charismatic. I adored him from the first moment we met. Could they get any cuter? Heres everything we know about Miles Tellers wife, Keleigh Sperry.

More from StyleCaster

Who is Miles Tellers wife, Keleigh Sperry?

Miles Tellers wife Keleigh Sperry is a model who dabbles in actingand if youre wondering how to pronounce her name, its said just like Kelly and shes one of six siblings. Teller and Sperry work together within his own production company, Lime Tree Productions. She also appeared in Taylor Swifts I Bet You Think About Me music video with her beau.

Miles Teller, Keleigh Sperry. Photo by Dave J Hogan/Getty Images

Click here to read the full article.

As mentioned, they met at a Grammys after-party in 2013. They had been dating for four years before taking a big trip to South Africa on vacation and thats where he proposed. We stopped for our usual coffee break, and Miles and I were taking in the view when I spotted a rose on a tree. I was surprised to see a rose in the middle of winter in Africa, so I walked over and found a note attached to the rose that said the day we started dating and the day it was. I turned around, and he read it and said, that was the first day you became my girlfriend and today is the last, and he got down on one knee. It was so thoughtful and romantic, Sperry told Vogue. Surprising Keleigh is really hard, and I knew she would think Id travel to Africa with the ring, Miles admitted. We started our trip in the Seychelles. I think she thought I would do it by a beach, so I waited to do it on safari and take her by surprise.

Story continues

They quickly decided on Maui for the location for their wedding as Sperrys family spends every summer there. Miles started joining us on vacations, and we fell in love with it together, she said. We both felt happiest there and wanted it to be a big part of our lives forever.

On February 12, 2023, Teller and Sperry appeared in a commercial for Bud Light as part of the beer brands Super Bowl LVII campaign. It was a small snapshot into their home life as well as natural chemistry. They said it was really important for them to show a real relationship, and Keleigh and I are very happily married, Teller told The Hollywood Reporter. Keleigh and I are pretty private people, but this is kind of a bucket-list thing. It was a no-brainer. Their French Bulldog, Bugsy, also made an appearance and Teller added to AP of the brief: They said, Look, we really just want this to feel like a slice-of-life moment. We both felt like this would be something that wed be proud to show our kids.

Hold music historically doesnt get a great rap. If youre Teller and Sperry though, Opus No. 1 by Tim Carlton and Dereck Deel, which was hold music for Cisco in the 90s, is a dance-worthy tune. The ad depicts Sperry, who is on hold while lying on the sofa, her iPhone on speaker on her forehead. He starts dancing to the music and she soon joins in while they both sip Bud Lights. Whats more, we get a cameo from their super cute French Bulldog, Bugsy.

Teller is obviously a great dancer, having scored the role in the 2011 remake of Footloose. It was pretty collaborative and we came up with the dances together so that was really fun. I get to dance around him and cheerlead him on, Keleigh said, adding that Im not in my comfort zone being on screen. But watching him is like experiencing a master class. Hes able to shut off when he hears action and suddenly get completely in character. Hes already thought out every step hes going to take in the next 30 seconds. Its crazy.

In a 2015 interview with People while promoting his film Insurgent in Los Angeles, Teller praised Sperrys support of his career. Before her, I would never invite a girl into that world [Hollywood] because I didnt think I could have both, he said. Shes allowed me to be able to really focus on acting and do what I want to do. She can come to set and visit me and hang out and doesnt really distract me from it.

He also said his life has gotten drastically more relaxed since their wedding. In a 2020 interview with Mens Health, Teller spoke of how positive an influence she is on his mental health and how time in isolation together during the COVID-19 pandemic made their relationship stronger. We just hang out. She keeps me calm. Its pretty great, he said of their time in social distancing at home. Im with her now from when I wake up to the moment I go to bed. We have a lot of friends whose relationships got put under a magnifying glass during these times, but we are really great. Once you get married and you make that ultimate commitment, life is just a lot less stressful. You just know that person is always going to be there.

Top Gun: Maverick is available to stream on Paramount Plus. Heres how to watch it for free.

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The filter gallery at the Newark Water Treatment Plant.

NEWARK  Hazardous material from the Feb. 3 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, will not affect the water quality in Licking County, according to Newark Utilities superintendent Roger Loomis.

Newark gets its water from the North Fork of the Licking River and is part of a 75-square mile watershed which flows south from the Centerburg area, north of Hartford, Loomis said.

"That would not affect us at all," Loomis said of the derailment. "That would be going around us. One thing we're always concerned about is that we are a surface water system and anything in the Utica area could impact us."

A mechanical issue with a rail car axle caused the fiery derailment of about 50 freight cars, 10 of which contained hazardous materials, in East Palestine on Feb. 3, federal investigators said.

Five of the cars contained vinyl chloride, a colorless gas used to make hard plastic resin in products like credit cards and PVC pipes. The company conducted a "controlled release" of the vinyl chloride to prevent an explosion, prompting an evacuation of the area. Residents were told last week they could return home.

East Palestine is located near the Ohio-Pennsylvania line, northwest of Pittsburgh and south of Youngstown.

More:Thousands of fish found dead days after Ohio train derailment, toxic spill in East Palestine

In the event toxic chemicals were heading toward Newark, Loomis said the flow of chemicals should be stopped and then the Newark water plant would shut off the raw water coming into the plant until the chemicals flow past, then reopen the connection.

The Newark Water Treatment Plant is located in north Newark at 164 Waterworks Road.

kmallett@newarkadvocate.com

740-973-4539

Twitter: @kmallett1958

This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Newark water unaffected by East Palestine train toxins
Norfolk Southern Railroad will install wells to monitor groundwater in East Palestine as the company continues to manage the fallout of a fiery train derailment earlier this month.

A mechanical issue with a rail car axle caused the derailment on Feb. 3 of about 50 freight cars, 10 of which contained hazardous materials. Five of the cars contained vinyl chloride, a colorless gas used to make hard plastic resin in products like credit cards and PVC pipes.

Norfolk Southern Railroad executed a controlled release of the vinyl chloride around 3:30 p.m. Feb. 6, prompting the governors of Ohio and Pennsylvania to order an evacuation of the area. Residents were told Wednesday they could return home.

Ohio train derailment: What we know about East Palestine situation

East Palestine train derailment: A timeline of what happened when

Five chemicals, including vinyl chloride, were released into the air, soil and water as a result of the incident, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

This drone photo shows the continuing cleanup of portions of a Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. Feb. 9, 2023.

The company issued a remediation plan to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency on Monday detailing its recovery efforts. So far, the company has:

Pulled about 180,000 gallons of oil and water from the area.

Sampled surface water and water from storm sewers.

Completed over 300 in-home air tests with the EPA, which have so far not detected any substances related to the derailment, according to a news release.

Sampled the village's drinking water system and private wells that may be at risk. Those results are expected next week.

Ohio train derailment: Water works monitors for hazardous chemical in Ohio River after East Palestine derailment

From here, the company plans to install an undetermined number of wells to test groundwater and will treat it if necessary. Officials will also sample soil in key areas, including near where the cars filled with vinyl chloride burned.

Soil sampling is expected to begin within days, followed closely by groundwater monitoring. It's unclear how long the work will take to complete.

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Read the full report from Norfolk Southern following Ohio train derailment in East Palestine

East Palestine Remedial Action Work Plan by CincinnatiEnquirer on Scribd

Haley BeMiller is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: East Palestine train derailment: Norfolk Southern details cleanup plan
Egypt has taken bold actions in monetary policies in recent years to deal with ongoing economic challenges, and will not hesitate to do more, stressed the Governor of the Central bank of Egypt (CBE) Hassan Abdallah.
Playboi Carti performs on the main stage during Day 2 of Wireless Festival 2022 at Crystal Palace Park on July 02, 2022 in London, England.

Joseph Okpako/WireImage Playboi Carti

A lawyer for rapper Playboi Carti, the hip-hop star known for songs like "Magnolia" and "Woke Up Like This," says the case against him will be dismissed after his client was arrested in December for allegedly choking his pregnant girlfriend.

"Mr. Carter was falsely accused," attorney Brian Steel said in a statement obtained by EW, referring to the rapper's legal name, Jordan Carter. "Pursuant to my communications with the Fulton County District Attorney's Office, this case will be dismissed without any prosecution or litigation."

EW reached out to representatives for the Fulton County District Attorney's Office in Georgia.

The Fulton County Police Department confirmed to EW that Carter was taken into custody on Dec. 29. According to TMZ, his pregnant girlfriend told officers Carter had choked her over an argument concerning a paternity test.

The outlet also reported that the woman, who was 14 weeks pregnant at the time, was pulled out of her car by Carter as she attempted to contact police. He was booked for felony aggravated assault.

Related content:
A 23-year-old Pueblo mother was charged Monday with first-degree murder in the death of her 2-year-old son.

Tenth Judicial District Attorney Jeff Chostner reported his office filed the single criminal count against Mythia Latka in connection with the death of her son, Ezekiel Irwin. Irwin died Jan. 31 at a Colorado Springs hospital after being found unresponsive in his Pueblo home earlier the same day, according to a statement on Twitter by Pueblo County Coroner Brian Cotter.

According to a Pueblo Police Department arrest affidavit, a doctor at Children's Hospital Colorado in Colorado Springs indicated to police that the child, whose medical needs necessitated he use a tracheostomy tube in order to breathe, had likely suffered from oxygen deprivation due to the tracheostomy tube not being cleaned, leading to his death. The doctor reported an alarm would have sounded on the child's ventilator to warn the caregiver, and he told police the child's death was "definitely preventable."

The doctor also expressed concern over physical injuries to the child's face, but stated there was no brain bleed, according to a CT scan. The arrest affidavit for Latka indicated the boy had an abrasion and blood on his lip, as well as several scratches on his face.

A witness who lived with Latka and her child stated to police she had seen Latka push the boy's face into a wall several times while his hands were tied behind his back, causing the child's lip to bleed, according to the affidavit.

Latka remains held at the Pueblo County jail on a $100,000 bond.

All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in court. Arrests and charges are merely accusations by law enforcement until, and unless, a suspect is convicted of a crime.

More on the case:Pueblo arrest affidavit claims 2-year-old's neglect death was 'definitely preventable'

Justin Reutter contributed to this report. Contact Justin at jreutterma@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter@jayreutter1. Chieftain reporter Tracy Harmon covers business news. She can be reached by email at tharmon@chieftain.com or via Twitter at twitter.com/tracywumps.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo mother charged with homicide in 2-year-old son's death
Over the course of the next two months, you will see hundreds of mock drafts that cover the first round exclusively. There are very few multi-round mocks that dive into the players that may go in Rounds 2 and 3.

Luckily, there are a few mock drafters out there that like to go beyond picks 1-32. In the latest mock draft by Chad Reuter of NFL.com, he posted a three-round mock draft and had some interesting selections for Las Vegas.

Up first, he had the Raiders selecting Ohio State offensive tackle Paris Johnson Jr. at pick No. 7. That has been a pretty common selection by mock drafters over the last few weeks and this is Reuters reasoning behind the pick:

If the Raiders sign Jimmy Garappolo or trade for Aaron Rodgers, theyll spend this pick on an offensive lineman to make their new signal-callers life easier. Johnson is as tough as they come, excelling at left tackle and right guard during his career at Ohio State.

However, the more fascinating selection came in Round 2 as the Raiders selected another Alabama running back in Jahmyr Gibbs at pick No. 38. With Josh Jacobs expected to be tagged or leave in free agency, this would give the Raiders another explosive running back who is deadly as a receiver.

If the Raiders decide not to bring back Jacobs in free agency, Gibbs could be a very real option for the Raiders at No. 38. If the front office wants to save around $10 million in cap space this offseason, this wouldnt be a bad plan for a rebuilding team.

Look for Gibbs to be the second running back to come off the board after Bijan Robinson (Texas).

Related

Raiders are a 40-1 longshot to win Super Bowl 58

Story originally appeared on Raiders Wire
Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) called out the Washington, D.C., government for its handling of the alleged assailant who attacked her inside the elevator of her Capitol Hill apartment building.

In a CBS Mornings interview that aired Tuesday, the Minnesota congresswoman recounted the moments that led to her assault. She also claimed that the suspect, identified as Kendrick Khalil Hamlin, has 12 arrests and convictions, all prior to her incident, on his record.

According to court documents, Hamlin, 27, was convicted in December on charges stemming from assaulting a police officer and committing lewd, indecent or obscene acts.

I got attacked by someone who the District of Columbia has not prosecuted fully over the course of almost a decade, over the course of 12 assaults before mine that morning, Craig told CBS. And so I think we have to think about how in the world can we make sure that were not just letting criminals out.

I mean, it wasnt even in every instance that he got 10 days or 30 days. Many times, the charges were completely dropped before any justice was achieved at all, she added.

Craig, who is entering her fifth year in Congress, further noted that lawmakers need to figure out ways to get repeat offenders off the streets and address available resources for them.

We have to get these repeat offenders off the streets. We also have got to figure out how we get people the mental health and addiction help that they need because these people are getting back out and just recommitting the same crimes over and over and over again, Craig added.

Craigs remarks come after she was assaulted last week. According to the initial police report, Hamlin punched Craig in the chin and grabbed her neck inside the elevator of her apartment building after she refused to let him enter her apartment.

The Minnesota Democrat then threw a hot cup of coffee at the suspect, resulting in him fleeing the scene. Hamlin was then arrested and charged by authorities a couple of hours later.

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Craig, who was bruised but physically okay following the assault, said in a statement that she was very, very lucky to escape the attack with only minor injuries.

My morning coffee really saved the day yesterday, but not exactly how I expected it to, Craig said in her statement. On a serious note, I will say that I was very, very lucky that I was not more injured  and Ill have more to say about that soon.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Lesbian, bisexual and queer (LBQ) women and non-binary people assigned female at birth face discrimination and violence across the globe stemming from long-standing patriarchal norms and systems that prevent them from building relationships, homes and families, the advocacy group Human Rights Watch said Tuesday in a new report.

Tuesdays report is the culmination of interviews with 66 LBQ women and gender non-conforming people assigned female at birth in 26 countries and is the organizations first to focus exclusively on LBQ women.

A majority of respondents are human rights advocates at the local or national level, according to Human Rights Watch.

Lesbian, bisexual and queer women are renowned for leading human rights struggles around the world, Erin Kilbride, an LGBTQ and womens rights researcher with Human Rights Watch and the author of Tuesdays report, said in a news release. But the scale of brutal violence, legal discrimination, and sexualized harassment these communities face is rarely documented.

The LBQ research gap matters, Kilbride writes in the report, because it drives  and is driven by  a system of mutually reinforcing gaps: the lack of research into violations and abuses of LBQ+ peoples rights; the lack of laws and policies that explicitly protect the rights of LBQ+ people; barriers to accessing justice for LBQ+ victims of human rights abuses; and the lack of funding for LBQ+-led movements.

A 2020 World Bank report found that women in 40 percent of countries worldwide do not have equal access to own, rent, administer or inherit property, presenting an often insurmountable economic and legal barrier to LBQ couples.

According to Tuesdays report, in places where authoritative legal regimes require women to obtain a male guardians permission to rent or purchase a home, partners in an LBQ relationship are often forced into marriages with men.

There is no path to freedom if you dont get married [to a man], Liliya, an LBQ rights activist in Kyrgyzstan, said in Tuesdays report. Usually, its not as obvious as the family forcing you to marry someone. But you will be under pressure from the family and have to run away with no money and no place to go.

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Another respondent, from Lebanon, said one lesbian in her community was attempting to gain her independence by marrying a gay man.

He doesnt need it. As a man, he has freedom without her; this will just be a step up on the social ladder for him, they said. But she literally needs it.

Many respondents also highlighted the prevalence of discrimination based on gender expression and its long-term harms on particular groups of people, specifically masculine-presenting LBQ people assigned female at birth.

LBQ advocates in Argentina, El Salvador and Kyrgyzstan said masculine-presenting  or butch  LBQ people in their communities often face employment discrimination that forces them into dangerous careers with poor working conditions, like farming or sex work, or into male-dominated fields, where they are more likely to face physical and sexual violence.

Unless they present hyperfeminine, butches dont have access to the job market. You will not be considered if you dont wear nice womens clothes, Rosa, a lesbian and sex worker rights defender in El Salvador, said in Tuesdays report, adding that a lack of employment opportunities has led many of us to become sex workers.

Police are also far more brutal to masculine-presenting queer women during arrests or raids of places like brothels, Rosa said. The masculine lesbians get treated like men. This means more forceful handcuffing, kneeling, and stripping their shirts off.

If you are butch-presenting, theres an attitude from men of you think youre a man, were going to treat you like one, but we know you cant handle it, Nadia, a human rights activist in Lebanon, similarly said. If your girlfriend is being harassed in a bar and you try to protect her; if youre femme, youll be sexually harassed along with her. But butches get punched.

Other respondents from countries including the U.S. said they were taught from an early age that dressing in a manner deemed masculine, gender-nonconforming or androgynous would make them vulnerable to physical or verbal attacks  including calls from parents for LBQ youth to be removed from school.

Kilbride in her report on Tuesday called for government authorities to conduct thorough and transparent investigations into reports of violence and discrimination against LBQ individuals and couples and establish new laws, policies and protocols that explicitly protect queer women and gender-nonconforming people.

That includes rolling back discriminatory property and inheritance laws and male guardianship laws, Kilbride said, as well as enacting new measures to protect marriage equality and decriminalize same-sex conduct.

International donors and non-governmental organizations should also lend financial support to movements led by LBQ activists for land and human rights, Kilbride said, as well as groups that are advocating for LBQ rights worldwide. Research into LBQ economic marginalization and violence should also be better funded and prioritized.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
MADISON - Wisconsin drivers would be automatically registered to vote under a proposal from Gov. Tony Evers that has been rejected before by Republicans writing the state budget.

The measure would be part of a package of policy changes for election administration and voting that includes some he has unsuccessfully proposed in previous budget plans, including expanding early voting and allowing clerks to count absentee ballots before election day  a measure that has bipartisan support and would provide faster election results in communities like Milwaukee that use a single location to count absentee ballots.

The new proposals come after Evers won reelection on a platform that included preserving the state's system of elections, a contrast with his opponent Tim Michels who called for abolishing the state's elections commission and left the door open to decertifying the 2020 presidential election result  a symbolic move that would appease former President Donald Trump and have no effect.

Even as some politicians continue their efforts to undermine our safe, secure elections, restrict access to the ballot box, and control the outcomes of our elections, I have and will continue to defend and support the right to vote, our clerks, poll workers, and election administrators, and the opportunity to participate in our democracy," Evers said in a statement.

Evers is releasing details of his 2023-25 state budget proposal ahead of a primetime speech he will make from the Wisconsin State Capitol on Wednesday sharing his ideas for the two-year spending plan.

The governor's budget would allocate $172,700 for the Wisconsin Elections Commission and the Department of Transportation to implement automatic voter registration. The state DOT would receive another $349,000 in fiscal year 2023-24 to address one-time costs. His spending plan also would include an idea from the Wisconsin Elections Commission that would use $2 million to create a 10-person Office of Election Transparency and Compliance to handle "inquiries and complaints regarding potential election law violations."

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The office would focus on auditing voting equipment, databases and "potentially hire an outside contractor to review certain information, such as voter lists, to ensure continued confidence in Wisconsin elections," according to the governor's office.

The timeframe a Wisconsin resident must live at an address in order to vote in its assigned precinct would be shortened under Evers' proposal, from 28 days to 10 days  also an idea Evers proposed in his last budget that was deleted by Republican lawmakers.

The spending plan also would:

Create a $400,000 grant program to help clerks pay for electronic poll books.

Require state technical colleges and University of Wisconsin System schools to ensure they issue IDs that are valid for voting purposes.

Allow more time between primaries and special elections to ensure military and overseas voters had more time to return absentee ballots, as the federal law requires.

Molly Beck can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com.

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: Gov. Tony Evers proposes automatic voter registration for drivers
(Bloomberg) -- Russias military is still struggling in Ukraine, as President Vladimir Putin continues to change generals the way I swap socks, John Kirby, spokesman for the US National Security Council, told reporters.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Ukraine is going through ammunition many times higher than allies current rate of production, straining industries, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said ahead of a defense ministers meeting Tuesday. The waiting time for large-caliber ammunition has increased from 12 to 28 months, which means that orders placed now wont be delivered until two-and-a-half years later, he said.

An International Monetary Fund mission started talks Monday with Ukrainian officials as the fund weighs a multiyear aid package worth as much as $16 billion to provide a catalyst for more financial assistance. The government in Kyiv is seeking a full loan package after securing a deal in December for a provisional four-month monitoring program.

(See RSAN on the Bloomberg Terminal for the Russian Sanctions Dashboard.)

Key Developments

EU Is Set to Propose New Sanctions on Russian Tech and Vehicles

British Embassy Guard Spied for Russia for Cash, Court Told

EU Says Russia Was Forced Into Oil Production Cuts

Moldovan Leader Accuses Russia of Ouster Plot in Security Push

JPMorgan to Help Ukraine on Debt Capital Markets, Reconstruction

On The Ground

Russian troops continued to mount attacks mostly in eastern areas around Kupyansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiyivka and Novopavlivka, according to Ukraines General Staff. Ukrainian troops repelled attacks near 11 settlements in the Kharkiv, Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions, it said in a statement on Facebook. Russia remains concerned about guarding the extremities of its extended front line, despite the current operational focus on central Donbas, according to the latest intelligence update from the UKs defense ministry.

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(All times CET)

Russias Military Is Still Struggling, US Spokesman Says (8:15 p.m.)

Russias war in Ukraine is hobbled by Putins unsound decisions, logistics and sustainment problems, difficulty coordinating attacks and weaknesses in unit cohesion, spokesman Kirby told reporters at the White House.

The Russian military is still struggling, Kirby said. They have not surmounted these problems. And its borne out by the fact that, you know, he continues to change generals the way I change socks.

JPMorgan to Help Ukraine on Debt Capital Markets (5 p.m.)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. will provide consulting services to Ukraine on areas including its sovereign credit rating and managing the governments liquidity. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and members of JPMorgans asset management division and investment bank signed a memorandum of understanding that will see the Wall Street bank advise Ukraine on reconstruction.

NATOs Stoltenberg Says Spy Balloons Show Need for Vigilance (1:30 p.m.)

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that incidents of spy balloons in NATO airspace is an indication that allies need to step up cooperation.

Its part of a pattern where China, but also Russia, are increasing their intelligence and surveillance of NATO allies, Stoltenberg said. That highlights the importance of our vigilance, increased presence and also that we ramp up, and step up how we share intelligence and how we monitor and protect our airspace.

US Shoots Down Fourth Object as China Flings New Accusation

Russias New Offensive Has Already Started, NATO Chief Says (1:20 p.m.)

Stoltenberg said that Russias expected increased offensive has already started and that Putin has shown no willingness to de-escalate the war.

Weve seen the start already, Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels. What Russia does now is to send in thousands and thousands of more troops, taking big losses but putting pressure on Ukrainians. He added that its imperative for allies to supply Ukraine with more weapons.

Deputy Ukrainian PM Warns on Foot-Dragging (12:45 p.m.)

Any delay by western nations in taking decisions about helping Ukraine will lead to additional and unnecessary deaths of the countrys citizens and destruction of its infrastructure, according to Olha Stefanishyna, a deputy prime minister in the government in Kyiv.

The basic headline of the message that we Ukrainians are bringing to Europe and around the globe is that whatever action could be taken it should be taken now and its urgent, Stefanishyna said at an event in Berlin previewing this weeks Munich Security Conference.

Ukraine Bonds at Three-Month Low (11:45 a.m.)

Ukraines foreign-currency bonds and GDP warrants fell to the lowest since November after Moodys cut the countrys credit rating to the second-lowest score, Ca, on a par with Argentina.

The agency cited long-lasting challenges to Ukraines economy and public finances in its announcement published Friday.

Chinas Wang to Attend Munich Conference (11:30 a.m.)

Chinas top foreign policy official, Wang Yi, will attend this weeks Munich Security Conference with a large delegation, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov hasnt been invited this time, according to organizers.

We wont offer Lavrov, whos really only the loudspeaker of President Vladimir Putin, a forum for his propaganda, MSC Chairman Christoph Heusgen told reporters in Berlin. Heusgen left it open whether Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy might attend as a last-minute surprise guest.

(A previous version corrected an erroneous timestamp on the map)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
Chinese oil giant Sinopec on Wednesday became the first Asian firm to get a stake in Qatar's expansion of North Field East, the Gulf country's energy company announced.
A Virginia angler caught and released an extremely rare golden largemouth bass recently while fishing on the James River.

Jacob Moore was practicing for a tournament when he reeled in a bass that was so pale-yellow, at first, that he thought it was albino.

I thought I had a saltwater fish on at first, but lo and behold, it was a largemouth  a very different largemouth, though, he told the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources. I havent seen anything like that before. Ive seen bass with black spots, but Id never seen an albino one.

ALSO: Angler lands massive barramundi as bull shark goes after catch

Largemouth bass are typically mottled green with pale bellies.

Alex McCrickard, DWR Aquatic Education Coordinator, explained in a news release that the bass Moore caught is a product of a genetic mutation that alters the skin pigments called xanthism. Yellow pigmentation dominates in xanthism, as you can see in Moores golden largemouth.

Photo of Jacob Moore with his golden largemouth bass is via the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources

McCrickard added: Golden largemouth bass are extremely rare and most anglers have never seen them, let alone heard of them.

A golden largemouth bass was caught by at Beaver Lake in Arkansas in 2021, prompting Jon Stein, a state biologist, to comment: Josh needs to buy a lottery ticket, because he just caught one fish in a million.

Stein was referring to the angler, Josh Rogers.

The bass caught by Moore measured 16.5 inches before it was released back into the James River.

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The 50 best movies streaming on Netflix (February 2023)

Story originally appeared on For The Win
Greater Cincinnati Water Works is collecting samples from the Ohio River after a hazardous chemical was detected in river water downstream of where about 50 train cars derailed near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border.

The utility is working with the Ohio EPA, the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission and other water utilities along the river to gather samples and perform analysis "to assess any potential threat to our drinking water," Cincinnati City Manager Sheryl Long said in a memo to city council Friday.

UPDATE: What we know about East Palestine train derailment

The derailment happened in East Palestine, Ohio at about 9 p.m. on Feb. 3 as a train was carrying a variety of products from Madison, Illinois, to Conway, Pennsylvania, the Associated Press reported.

This photo taken with a drone shows portions of a Norfolk and Southern freight train that derailed Friday night in East Palestine, Ohio.

What chemicals were released during the East Palestine train derailment?

Several train cars ruptured, the memo states, leaking vinyl chloride and butyl acrylate chemicals, which are used to manufacture plastics and resins.

Was the Ohio River contaminated following the Ohio train derailment?

Low levels of butyl acrylate were detected in samples of the Ohio River, though the areas where the chemical has been identified are currently far upstream of Cincinnati, according to the memo.

"Greater Cincinnati Water Works (GCWW) is actively monitoring the situation, and stands continuously ready to protect our drinking water quality," the city manager's memo reads.

Exposure to butyl acrylate  a clear, colorless liquid with a strong, fruity odor  can cause irritation to the eyes, skin and upper respiratory system, along with sensitization dermatitis and difficulty breathing.

Ohio train derailment: Water works monitors for hazardous chemical in Ohio River after East Palestine derailment

"If this compound is detected near Cincinnati, GCWW can shut the river intakes for a period of time to avoid the compound altogether," the memo reads.

City officials expect zero impact to Cincinnati's drinking water as the utility's water treatment process will be able to remove the compound.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Water works monitors for hazardous chemical after train derailment
UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski would like to postpone a return to the featherweight division.

Volkanovski wants an immediate rematch with Islam Makhachev following their close championship bout at Saturdays UFC 284 in Perth, Australia. It was a bout where Volkanovski (25-2 MMA, 12-1 UFC) looked to gain a second title by challenging 155-champion Makhachev (24-1 MMA, 13-1 UFC).

In the end, Makhachev won a unanimous decision, but the verdict left many fans split. Volkanovski believes there needs to be an immediate rematch to settle any doubts.

Yeah, 100 percent, Volkanovski said on The MMA Hour on Monday. Hes already talked to the press that he wants to do the rematch. He went back to his corner (after the fight) before they announced who the winner was, obviously it was a close fight, but I think he thought he mightve lost. He was even saying he needs a rematch to his corner when he went back to his corner. He thought he lost.  He knows. Im not taking anything away. It was a close fight, but yeah.

That same night at UFC 284, Mexicos Yair Rodriguez won the interim featherweight title by submitting Josh Emmett. Many expected the featherweight title unification to be next between Volkanovski and Rodriguez.

When asked what would be of the featherweight division if he were to compete at 155 pounds, Volkanovski pointed to the belt won that night by Rodriguez.

Whats the point of the interim anyway?, Volkanovski said. Thats why were doing the interim. I dont want to be holding up the division, so hes going to be the guy looking out after that while Im gone. He can hold that until Im there.

Related

Daniel Cormier: 'Alexander Volkanovski was the first person to make Islam Makhachev look human' Islam Makhachev: I tried to knock out Alexander Volkanovski, 'but this guy is so strong'

Makhachev claimed to be the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter on the planet following his win at UFC 284, as Volkanovski was at the top of the pound-for-pound UFC official rankings.

Story continues

Volkanovski believes thats still up for debate. If anything, he proved why he was ranked No. 1.

A lot of people thought I won that fight, Volkanovski said. I thought I won that fight. I moved up. Were talking about pound for pound.

Imagine if we were the same size. Imagine if we were the same weight class. Imagine if he was a featherweight. Yeah, I dont want to be that guy, but if he was just a featherweight in my division, Id squash him. Id squash him. Its a walk in the park.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkies event hub for UFC 284.

Story originally appeared on MMA Junkie
Breakup travel is the new breakup haircut  here's what I mean.

Eliza Dumais

For years, I stole teaspoons from restaurants. They were, for me, souvenirs of perfect meals  proof that Id tasted things, that Id loved them. Sometimes, Id pocket them before dessert had even arrived, as if the storing of the memory were more critical than the real-time event as it unspooled. Technically, its a form of petty theft  but nobody says as much if you call it collecting.

On the whole, it would seem that were most enamored of collecting on two precise occasions: when in transit and when in love. In foreign cities, we amass train tickets, matchbooks, beaded things, paper maps, proof that we ate there, swam there, breathed that air. Falling in love, then, we play at tourism of a different kind, new thresholds of sensation, new modes of translation. We save handwritten notes, birthday gifts, wine corks, photographs. Artifacts that, like souvenirs, grow heavier when they refer to something in the past tense.

Eliza Dumais

The Museum of Broken Relationships was founded in 2010, home to countless souvenirs of  you guessed it  broken relationships. While the original concept still stands in Croatia, outpost exhibitions have cropped up across the globe, lending limited-time shelter to assorted relics of local heartbreak: well-worn T-shirts, cracked ceramics, hand-written Post-it notes, pregnancy tests  each submitted with a testimonial outlining its significance. Each insisting that, yes, we were here, we were real, we happened, look at this thing, see for yourself.

I visited the exhibition  a satellite installation in Mexico City  three weeks into the first long-term trip Id ever undertaken without a partner. Or, at least, without a partner awaiting me at home, phoning me at the airport to ensure Id landed safely. My most recent breakup was still fresh, raw enough that it lingered in the space between pop song lyrics; haunted the edges of the novels Id packed before departing.

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Id purchased my museum ticket with a wry eagerness, knowing the whole process would operate as some brand of wound-salting masochism. That it would magnify all the dismal, post-romance malaise Id been lugging from continent to continent. Inside, I watched couples as they navigated the space  walking gingerly, reading hesitantly, clutching closer to one another with a proper air of couldnt-be-us remove. I spent nearly three hours  long enough for daylight to lapse away into early evening  reading testaments to the ways heartbreak can rupture a whole life. The indelible quality to having loved transiently. Would you believe me if I told you that it didnt hurt?

Not too long before Id left for Mexico City, Id spent a handful of weeks in France, performing labor intensive volunteer work on a vineyard in Chablis  harvesting, pressing, and sorting grapes, and measuring sugar densities. Participating meant leaving my partner at home for a month in total. This wasnt an anomaly, per se  working as a journalist had long provided me many a (comped) opportunity to travel for research, attend press trips, write from cafes on foreign soil. Lately, however, Id found myself looking for excuses to stay gone. I liked watching myself operate out of context.

In Chablis, more than most places Id been, I felt something shift in my brain. Every day, I clipped bunched grapes from limbed vines for hours on end, telling secrets in broken French, drinking wine, pressing barrels of pinot noir with my feet, and sleeping better, harder, deeper than I had in years  in spite of my incessant claims that yes, of course I slept better with a partner, its always been that way. Every now and then, Id take stock: Picture myself from above, bone-tired, bleeding, muddy, stinging with grape juice, stumbling through a language that was not my own, enjoying my own company. Feeling emphatically, dizzyingly grateful to be a solitary whole, not a half of something else.

After some weeks at home in New York, I bought a one-way ticket to Mexico City. I had a close friend with a spare room  mine for free if I wanted it  and a handful of location-specific writing assignments to tackle. When my partner  lets call him S  asked if Id purchased a return flight, I could see the distaste leaking across his face: What kind of partner prefers, eternally, to be elsewhere? Why hadnt I invited him? Why hadnt securing a return trip felt worthwhile?

We broke up less than 24 hours later (Ill spare you the gory details  it was neither succinct, nor tidy, nor void of sloppy, liquid emotion). Wed been on-again, off-again for years  the off periods feeling more like emotional experiments than full-on breakups. Lately, however, Id been feeling stuck, hungry for new momentum. I was ready to leave in the permanent sense  or, as ready as anyone ever is.

Eliza Dumais

And yet, the fact remains: Love a person, sleep next to them for years, and no matter how ready you are, youll still feel the sour lack of them, calcifying somewhere inside of you like an ulcer. Its not the sort of thing you can choose to leave at home  even when your departure itinerary includes a one-way flight to Mexico.

In the Museum of Broken Relationships, I lingered by a lighter, left behind so its keeper could light her gas stove. An origami dinosaur folded from green paper; a single, lonely stiletto; a list of reasons to stay in the U.K. scrawled in ballpoint pen.

The admissions were funny, bitter, angry, forlorn. They were clever and hopelessly cliche. They were raw, tiny, and devastatingly human. I loved them  all of these people and their wretched knickknacks. How tragic that theyd never know how much I loved them.

Its only natural, in a space like that, to contemplate what you yourself might submit if the opportunity arose. For me, it was obvious: a script S and I had been writing together with just two roles, each of us penning speech for our respective characters. For nearly two years, wed passed the pages back and forth between us, silently adding mouthfuls of dialogue, conversing on paper. Often, wed both be working, cooking, doing other things with our hands, speaking to one another only in prose, at what seemed to be a different frequency from the usual modes of human rapport. Id fall asleep before him and hed add to the draft, leaving the pages beside me so that, when I inevitably woke up first, I could add my own lines, too. It was our way of committing to constant back-and-forth, of ensuring that whatever buzzed between us lived somewhere tangible.

Eliza Dumais

Eliza Dumais

When I left the museum, I sat outside at a cafe in Roma Norte. Id been here, at this specific table, most days since Id arrived, writing in the mornings, sometimes returning for glasses of wine when the sun turned mellow and hazy. I ordered a Negroni, delighting in the ways Spanish small talk was growing more familiar in my mouth  no longer a game of linguistic acrobatics. Someones dog crawled into my lap  the owner of whom merely giggled from the table beside me, without moving to retrieve his animal. The bartender came out and kissed me on the cheek  wed sat together, gossiping in broken Spanish (mine, at least  hers was perfectly intact) earlier that week. Id been reading a novel by Lidia Yuknavitch  and Id thought it was so good, I couldnt help but grin, sometimes audibly gasp, at certain perfect lines.

Eliza Dumais

Id spent the month ingratiating myself with the parts of the city I was most enamored by. Id discussed playlists ad nauseam with the owner of a natural wine bar I often visited at the start of my evenings. Id begun translating a book of surrealist prose poems as a favor for the author, a bartender Id met at the mezcaleria next door. A Dutch man Id befriended at a bar in Juarez gave me a haircut in his Airbnb kitchen. One evening, at a restaurant near Chapultepec that Id come to adore, the chef and owner scooted into the booth beside me to chat after the kitchen had closed. Its all very romantic here at first, she told me. Promise youll let me know if you need anything?

I was still raw  but in that, Id been pried open; rinsed of whatever barrier had been shielding me from the loud, stubborn fact of the rest of the world.

Eliza Dumais

Post-exhibit, Id already imagined the ways I would sit, wallowing in the sour taste that comes with the word single while its still new, mentally rifling through countless, violently true tales of heartbreak. But the fact remained: It didnt hurt. At least not with the apocalyptic, heat-of-a-thousand-suns intensity I am aware a breakup can unleash. Instead, the sentiment seemed to be located in an altogether different part of my body.

I missed something that was gone  felt the palpable cavity where S once stood. But I didnt want it filled in  by him or anyone else of a similar shape. I missed him in the way Ive missed countries; being certain ages. The ways I missed grape skin lodged under my fingernails; the bitter residue of espresso in Sicily; bicycle lanes at midnight in Copenhagen; the vicious sting of February air in upstate New York. A present tense nostalgia, if you will.

We dont often use the word souvenir for things we acquire close to home. But this script, an artifact of S and me, was neither eulogy nor tombstone. Like the absurd salad of teaspoons Id amassed in my silverware drawer, it was an homage to a certain context wed built together, and lived in for quite some time. What else was it, if not a souvenir of us? Soon, it would live amongst museum passes, 35mm film prints, bar coasters Id collected while salivating over the frenzied high of being elsewhere, untethered, on my own. All of it: the debris of real life, well worth holding onto  so long as it would fit in a carry-on.



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AMSTERDAM and LONDON, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Cboe Global Markets Inc. (Cboe: CBOE) today announces that Cboe Europe Derivatives (CEDX), its pan-European equity derivatives exchange, is planning to expand its product suite to include single stock options on leading European companies. These products are expected to be available for trading in November 2023 and cleared by Cboe Clear Europe, the leading pan-European clearing house, subject to the necessary regulatory approvals.

(PRNewsfoto/Cboe Global Markets, Inc.)

CEDX is initially planning to offer equity options on companies from 10 European countries (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden). Options on stocks from additional European countries are expected to be introduced starting from February 2024, subject to regulatory approvals. CEDX's expansion into equity options will make it one of Europe's most comprehensive equity derivatives exchanges, providing exposure to pan-European equities through single name and index derivatives via a single marketplace. In addition to offering market participants significant operational efficiencies through its pan-European approach, CEDX has also brought to Europe a transparent, on-screen market structure - similar to that utilised in the US - to help attract new participants of all types and grow the region's derivatives markets overall.

Iouri Saroukhanov, Head of European Derivatives, Cboe Europe, said: "The addition of single stock options is a key component of our ultimate vision for CEDX and we believe it will accelerate the momentum behind our aim of creating the most complete pan-European equity derivatives ecosystem. We have received strong interest from participants in bringing these products to market, from both the institutional and retail communities, who share Cboe's desire to expand access to derivatives more widely. We believe the combination of CEDX's equity derivatives marketplace and Cboe Europe's highly successful stock exchange - which is the region's largest by market share  creates a powerful and unique proposition for participants wishing to gain exposure to pan-European equities in a transparent and cost-effective way. As one of the leading US equity options marketplaces, this move also demonstrates Cboe's ambition to become the leading global securities and derivatives trading network, by replicating its successful products and market constructs in new regions."

Along with CEDX's existing index derivatives, these new products are expected to clear into Cboe Clear Europe, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cboe and the region's largest cash equity clearing house. This offers participants the ability to clear pan-European cash equities and equity derivatives at a single clearing house  allowing for greater operational efficiencies and the optimisation of collateral held against equity derivatives through portfolio margining, subject to regulatory approvals.

Arnoud Siegmann, Interim President and Chief Operating Officer of Cboe Clear Europe, said: "We are delighted to be supporting CEDX's continued expansion and extending our capabilities to clear single stock options. CEDX is already demonstrating its potential and Cboe Clear Europe is excited by the opportunity to provide meaningful cost savings to participants by offering the ability to clear pan-European cash equities and equity derivatives at a single provider."

CEDX launched in September 2021, initially offering trading in futures and options based on key Cboe Europe single country and pan-European indices. These indices, which are all calculated using Cboe market data, are transparently designed and managed under the same set of rules and perform closely in line with comparable benchmarks. The exchange has been designed to promote deep and liquid on-screen markets and is already bringing greater transparency and efficiencies to the region's derivatives markets. In January 2023, CEDX traded 3,824 contracts, a record monthly figure and beating the previous high of 3,647 contracts in December 2022.

Additional information about CEDX's single stock products is available here.

About Cboe Global Markets, Inc.

Cboe Global Markets (Cboe: CBOE), a leading provider of market infrastructure and tradable products, delivers cutting-edge trading, clearing and investment solutions to market participants around the world. The company is committed to operating a trusted, inclusive global marketplace, providing leading products, technology and data solutions that enable participants to define a sustainable financial future. Cboe provides trading solutions and products in multiple asset classes, including equities, derivatives, FX and digital assets, across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. To learn more, visit www.cboe.com.

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Cboe, Cboe Volatility Index, VIX and Cboe Global Markets are registered trademarks of Cboe Exchange, Inc. All other trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners.

Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward-Looking Information

Certain information contained in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements. We caution readers not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties.

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VANCOUVER, BC, Feb. 14, 2023 /CNW/ - Defense Metals Corp. ("Defense Metals" or the "Company") (TSXV: DEFN) (OTCQB: DFMTF) (FSE:35D) announces the completion of flotation tests on variability samples and a master composite ("Master Composite" or "MC") prepared from drill core obtained from its 100% owned Wicheeda Rare Earth Element (REE) deposit located in British Columbia, Canada.

John Goode, Defense Metals' metallurgical advisor, stated:

"Flotation tests on variability samples from the dominant lithological unit of the Wicheeda REE deposit gave an average of 81% recovery to a concentrate assaying 45% rare earth oxide. Wicheeda is one of the few rare earth deposits under development from which a high-grade mineral flotation concentrate can be produced at recovery rates similar to those obtained by current rare earth producers. High-grade concentrates at high recoveries are a critical requirement for positive production economics. These successful flotation results help to position Defense Metals' Wicheeda deposit as one of the best in North America."

Defense Metals completed flotation tests on variability samples that are representative of the three key REE-bearing lithologies in the Wicheeda deposit: 1) the higher-grade dolomite carbonatite ("DC") which makes up 73% of the deposit, 2) the xenolithic carbonatite ("XE") that represents 24%; and 3) the syenite ("SYN"). The primary rare earths minerals are monazite, bastnasite and synchysite/parisite. Figure 1 shows the mine plan as presented in the Independent Preliminary Economic Assessment issued in 20221.

Figure 1. Wicheeda REE Deposit Lithologies During Mine Life

Figure 1. Wicheeda REE Deposit Lithologies During Mine Life (CNW Group/Defense Metals Corp.)

Key Highlights:

Table 1 results show that if the flotation plant is fed DC material at an average grade of 3.3% Total Rare Earth Oxide ("TREO") and is operated to produce a flotation concentrate containing 45% TREO, an average 81% recovery will be observed. If 50% TREO were targeted, recovery would be expected to be 77%. The DC mineralized material will be essentially the only lithology fed to the flotation plant in the first eight years as shown in Figure 1.

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Table 1: Recovery rates at concentrates of specified grades - DC samples

Table 1: Recovery rates at concentrates of specified grades - DC samples (CNW Group/Defense Metals Corp.)

Note to Table 1: DC Comp is a blend of all DC variability samples.



If the flotation plant is fed DC material mixed with other lithological types, as planned for later in the mine life, recoveries at different target concentrate grades will be as shown in Table 2. Of the four blends tested, when producing a 40% TREO flotation concentrate the recovery rate averaged 80% with higher recoveries when the DC content was higher.

Table 2: Recovery rates at concentrates of specified grades - DC blends

Table 2: Recovery rates at concentrates of specified grades - DC blends (CNW Group/Defense Metals Corp.)

Notes to Table 2: DC-XE2 and DC-XE3 are 1:2 and 2:1 blends of DC and XE Comp, respectively. DC-SYN2 is 2:1 blend of DC Comp and SYN2. MC is a blend of DC (73.4%), XE (22.5%), and SYN (3.8%).



Table 3 shows the testwork results for the variability samples comprising pure XE and SYN lithologies. The flotation plant is expected to only see such lithologies when they are blended with DC. However, the data show that if the lower grade XE and SYN material are processed alone, at a target flotation concentrate grade of 40% TREO, the average recovery rate will be 59%.

Table 3: Recovery rates at concentrates of specified grades - SYN and XE samples

Table 3: Recovery rates at concentrates of specified grades - SYN and XE samples (CNW Group/Defense Metals Corp.)

Notes to Table 3: SYN Comp and XE Comp are composites of respective variability samples. DC01 was mis-identified as being DC, but assays and mineralogy showed it to be XE and it was treated as such. N/A indicates insufficient data for meaningful average.



As noted above, in the first 8 years of the mine life, over 90% of the flotation plant feed will be DC material, with higher rare earth grade, with the later years being mostly DC and XE material at relatively lower grades (see Figure 1).

The grade-recovery-concentrate data provided above will support the upcoming preliminary feasibility study (PFS) and allow the development of an updated and enhanced mine plan incorporating drilling completed following the PEA that identifies lithology and feed grades to arrive at estimates of the concentrate and REO production rates in each year.

Methodology and QA/QC

Defense Metals prepared 17 variability samples covering different lithologies, areas of the deposit, and head grades using drill core material. The average mass of each sample was 31 kg, with the Total Rare Earth Oxide ("TREO") assays ranging from 1.07% to 4.52% with an average of 2.34% TREO. Drill core material was also used to make a 260 kg Master Composite sample containing each of the three lithologies in their respective life-of-mine proportions. The MC sample had a head grade assay of 2.49% TREO.

All variability samples and the MC sample were shipped to SGS, Lakefield, Ontario where they were checked, crushed, and composited. A total of 87 flotation tests were completed to investigate the impact of collector type and dosage, depressant type and dosage, pulp temperature, pulp density, pulp pH, and flotation feed size.

Bulk flotation and other operations continue at SGS in order to prepare concentrate samples for continuing hydrometallurgical test work and planned hydrometallurgical pilot plant testing.

Feed samples were analyzed by Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and flotation products were analyzed by SGS using wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence (WD-XRF) following lithium borate fusion of the sample. The SGS analyses included a quality assurance / quality control (QA/QC) program including the insertion of rare earth element standard and blank samples.

Defense Metals detected no significant QA/QC issues during review of the data. Defense Metals is not aware of any sampling, recovery or other factors that could materially affect the accuracy or reliability of the data referred to herein. SGS Lakefield is an ISO/IEC 17025 and ISO9001:2015 accredited laboratory. SGS is independent of Defense Metals Corp.

Qualified Person

The scientific and technical information contained in this news release, as it relates to the Wicheeda Rare Earth Element Project, has been reviewed and approved by John Goode, P. Eng., who is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has provided the technical information relating to metallurgy in this news release. Kristopher J. Raffle, P.Geo. (BC), a director of the Company, is the Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101 for the information relating to resources in this news release.

About the Wicheeda REE Project

Defense Metals 100% owned, 4,262-hectare (~10,532-acre) Wicheeda REE property is located approximately 80 km northeast of the city of Prince George, British Columbia; population 77,000. The Wicheeda REE Project is readily accessible by all-weather gravel roads and is near infrastructure, including hydro power transmission lines and gas pipelines. The nearby Canadian National Railway and major highways allow easy access to the port facilities at Prince Rupert, the closest major North American port to Asia.

The 2021 Wicheeda REE Project Preliminary Economic Assessment technical report ("PEA") outlined a robust after-tax net present value (NPV@8%) of $517 million and an 18% IRR1. This PEA contemplated an open pit mining operation with a 1.75:1 (waste:mill feed) strip ratio providing a 1.8 Mtpa ("million tonnes per year") mill throughput producing an average of 25,423 tonnes REO annually over a 16 year mine life. A Phase 1 initial pit strip ratio of 0.63:1 (waste:mill feed) would yield rapid access to higher grade surface mineralization in year 1 and payback of $440 million initial capital within 5 years.

About Defense Metals Corp.

Defense Metals Corp. is a company focused on the development of its 100% owned Wicheeda Rare Earth Element mineral deposit, located near Prince George, British Columbia, Canada, that contains metals and elements commonly used in in green energy, aerospace, automotive and defense technologies. Rare earth elements are especially important in the production of magnets used in wind turbines and in permanent magnet motors for electric vehicles. Defense Metals Corp. trades in Canada under the symbol "DEFN" on the TSX Venture Exchange, in the United States, under "DFMTF" on the OTCQB and in Germany on the Frankfurt Exchange under "35D".

For further information, please contact:

Todd Hanas, Bluesky Corporate Communications Ltd.

Vice President, Investor Relations

Tel: (778) 994 8072

Email: todd@blueskycorp.ca

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 news release.

Cautionary Statement Regarding "Forward-Looking" Information

This news release contains "forwardlooking information or statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, which may include, without limitation, statements relating to advancing the Wicheeda REE Project, the continuing hydrometallurgical test work and planned hydrometallurgical pilot plant testing, completing the planned PFS, the Company's plans for its Wicheeda REE Project, the expected results and outcomes, the technical, financial and business prospects of the Company, its project and other matters. All statements in this news release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that the Company expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Such statements and information are based on numerous assumptions regarding present and future business strategies and the environment in which the Company will operate in the future, including the price of rare earth elements, the anticipated costs and expenditures, the ability to achieve its goals, 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. Such forward-looking information reflects the Company's views with respect to future events and is subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including the risks and uncertainties relating to the interpretation of exploration and metallurgy results, risks related to the inherent uncertainty of exploration and cost estimates, the potential for unexpected costs and expenses and those other risks filed under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. While such estimates and assumptions are considered reasonable by the management of the Company, they are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive and regulatory uncertainties and risks. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward looking statements include, but are not limited to, continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions, adverse weather and climate conditions, failure to maintain or obtain all necessary government permits, approvals and authorizations, failure to maintain community acceptance (including First Nations), risks relating to unanticipated operational difficulties (including failure of equipment or processes to operate in accordance with specifications or expectations, cost escalation, unavailability of personnel, materials and equipment, government action or delays in the receipt of government approvals, industrial disturbances or other job action, and unanticipated events related to health, safety and environmental matters), risks relating to inaccurate geological, metallurgical and engineering assumptions, decrease in the price of rare earth elements, the impact of Covid-19 or other viruses and diseases on the Company's ability to operate, an inability to predict and counteract the effects of COVID-19 on the business of the Company, including but not limited to, the effects of COVID-19 on the price of commodities, capital market conditions, restriction on labour and international travel and supply chains, loss of key employees, consultants, or directors, increase in costs, delayed drilling results, litigation, and failure of counterparties to perform their contractual obligations. The Company does not undertake to update forwardlooking statements or forwardlooking information, except as required by law.

Defense Metals Corp Logo (CNW Group/Defense Metals Corp.)

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Democrats are seeking to go on the offense against Republicans over past calls to slash Medicare and Social Security cuts, with President Biden leading the charge ahead of announcing his reelection campaign.

Biden drew the ire of Republicans in the House chamber at his State of the Union address on Tuesday when he accused them of working to target the entitlement programs in potential spending cuts. Biden, who is preparing to launch his 2024 campaign, continued the line of attack during visits to Wisconsin and Florida this week.

The choice of states is significant, given they are represented by Sens. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who are both at the center of the debate. But it also reflects how Biden hopes to make the message, which was used by Democrats in 2022, a key part of his reelection plan.

The very idea the senator from Florida wants to put Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block every five years, I find to be somewhat outrageous. So outrageous that you might not even believe it, Biden told an audience at the University of Tampa on Thursday.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee echoed Bidens message in a tweet during the State of the Union on Tuesday, accusing Senate Republicans of being dead set on putting Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block.

On the House side, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) slammed the GOPs radical agenda.

No matter how much they try to lie about their plans, Republicans are going to be held accountable for their dangerous and harmful threats to cut Social Security and Medicare from millions of Americans, said Nebeyatt Betre, a spokesperson for the DCCC.

And its not just congressional Republicans who are being hit with the line of attack. On Friday, the Florida Democratic Party highlighted coverage of potential 2024 Republican presidential candidates, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and their past stances on reforming social security.

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Every election comes down to a choice, said Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright. And this presidential election, whenever it officially kicks off, will certainly be a choice between us and them.

Theyre differentiating us versus the Republicans and why Republicans are trying to run full-steam backward from a policy position that a lot of them flirted with and embraced at some point during the midterm election, he added.

The line of attack is similar to one used by Democrats in 2022, who tied Republicans up and down the ballot to Scotts plan to sunset all federal programs after five years.

But Republicans, including Scott, hit back at the attack from Biden and Democrats this week.

On Thursday, Scott, who is running for reelection in 2024, challenged Biden to a debate on the matter. And earlier this week, Scott rolled out an ad calling on Biden to resign in the wake of the attacks.

Its telling that Joe Biden used his State of the Union speech to lie about my plan. If Biden had a single accomplishment to speak of, he wouldnt have to lie about me, Scott said in a statement this week. These lies arent going to work in the Sunshine State. Im excited for the opportunity to remind Floridians that Joe Biden is a liar and tax cheat.

Scott also pointed to a 1975 bill from then-Sen. Biden that would have sunset federal programs between four and six years after passage. Other Republicans have accused the president of lying and using the issue to campaign ahead of his reelection bid.

These are desperate lies from the President. House Republicans will continue pursuing reasonable limitations to rein in Democrats reckless spending  just like every family in America would do to manage their budget, said Will Reinert, press secretary at the National Republican Congressional Committee.

However, the issue is causing divisions among Republicans, many of whom have distanced themselves from Scotts plan.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told Kentucky radio host Terry Meiners on Thursday that the idea of sunsetting Medicare and Social Security is not the GOP plan.

Speaker [Kevin] McCarthy said Social Security and Medicare are not to be touched and Ive said the same, McConnell said. And I think were in a more authoritative position to state what the position of the party is than any single senator.

The use of possible cuts to Medicare and Social Security could prove to be a political tool to appeal to voters outside of the Democratic Party. A YouGov poll released this week found that 89 percent of Americans who receive Social Security benefits have a favorable view of the program while 84 percent of respondents said the same about Medicare. Additionally, the poll found that 57 percent of respondents said that Social Security should be given more funding.

Republicans and Democrats agree that its likely too early to tell whether Social Security and Medicare will be the main issue in 2024, and its still debatable how much of an impact it had in 2022.

I think it was a buffet of things that gave us the outcome of the last election, Seawright said. But I think the common denominator in all of that was people voted against what they believe the Republican Party stood for from both a political and policy perspective.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Florida's Republican governor condemned the College Board in recent weeks over a new AP African American Studies course, calling it indoctrination and lacking in educational value.

This week Ron DeSantis went even further, suggesting the state could find an alternative to the College Board, the nonprofit entity that administers the AP program as well as other crucial components in the college admissions process, including the SAT and PSAT exams.

Nobody elected (the College Board) to anything, DeSantis said during an appearance to talk about "woke" banking practices. Theyre just  providing services, and so you can either utilize those services or not. They have provided these AP courses for a long time, but  there are probably some other vendors who may be able to do that job as good or maybe even a lot better.

The skepticism of College Board products is something of an about-face for DeSantis, who is widely expected to run for president in 2024 and has launched himself into several feuds with corporate behemoths. In his 2021 State of the State address, he touted Florida's status as second in the country for the percentage of graduating seniors who have passed Advanced Placement exams.

In fact, Florida has one of the highest AP participation rates in the U.S.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at Duval Charter School in Jacksonville in January.

'Black history is not inferior': Black leaders object to Florida's 'culture war against African Americans'

What's the significance of Advanced Placement courses?

No one entity offers an alternative to the powerful combination of the College Board's coursework, testing and scholarships.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of high schoolers across the U.S. take AP courses to get college credit as well as a boost on their college applications.

High school students can earn college credit in other ways, such as taking classes at a community college. Some alternatives aren't considered as prestigious as AP, however, and others  such as International Baccalaureate  aren't as widely available.

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More: Pandemic reduces number of high school students taking dual enrollment courses

Some research shows participation in AP courses, even if it results in a low score that doesn't translate into college credit, correlates with better outcomes in higher education.

"There are some real problems with the Advanced Placement program and some real benefits as well," said Denise Pope, a lecturer at Stanford's Graduate School of Education who has studied the value of AP courses for high school students.

If a state removes financial support for AP, students from wealthier families are likely to continue to be able to access the courses and take the exams, she said.

"That's going to create a bigger rift between the haves and have-nots," Pope said.

"There are other options besides AP. I just don't think DeSantis is (challenging the College Board) for the right reasons," Pope said. "And I don't think he has maybe enough really thought out what those alternatives would be and what it would take to put that into place in a way that wouldn't exacerbate inequality."

Whats going on with Florida and AP African American Studies?

The College Board and DeSantis are at war over the formers Advanced Placement African American Studies pilot course. DeSantis had said he would prohibit it from being piloted in Florida classrooms unless the College Board removed concepts the governor and others have derided as attempts at woke indoctrination, such as intersectionality, Black Lives Matter and queer theory.

The exclusion of these concepts in the recently published framework outraged many on the left, who said the company was caving to political pressure. Some groups are calling for College Board CEO David Coleman to step down.

Coleman, in interviews with USA TODAY and other outlets, has insisted Floridas concerns had little influence over the revisions to the framework. But correspondence made public late last week suggested College Board and Florida officials had been in discussions for months.

The College Board said in a statement Saturday that many of the concepts considered controversial have been left on as optional topics.

Contemporary events like the Black Lives Matter movement, reparations, and mass incarceration were optional topics in the pilot course, the statement said. "Our lack of clarity allowed the narrative to arise that political forces had 'downgraded' the role of these contemporary movements and debates in the AP class."

DeSantis' office did not respond to a request for comment.

But in answer to a question at an appearance Tuesday in Jacksonville, he pointed to the promise of other programs such as dual-enrollment and IB.

"I don't think anyone should be concerned about somehow our high school students not having opportunity for that," he said.

AP African American Studies: College Board CEO asked to resign over curriculum changes

How many students take AP courses?

Nationwide, more than 1 in 3 (35%) of high school graduates in the class of 2021 took at least one AP exam, up from roughly 29% of the graduating class a decade earlier.

In Florida, more than half of graduating seniors take at least one AP exam. It's typical for students at the state's largest and most prestigious universities to have taken advanced coursework in high school, whether through AP or something else like IB or dual-enrollment.

At Florida State University, for example, students who were admitted took an average of nine college-level courses while in high school, according to a spokesperson.

Yet Black students are underrepresented among AP test-takers, nationally and in Florida. In the Sunshine State, Black students accounted for 21% of Class of 2021 high school graduates but just 12% of AP test-takers and 7% of the exam population scoring a 3 or higher (usually the minimum score for a student to receive college credit). White students, meanwhile, made up 40% of those who took AP exams.

SAT to go digital, online-only and shorter as colleges ditch standardized tests

Florida is one of 31 states and Washington, D.C., that provide funding in an effort to address inequities, subsidizing students' participation in AP coursework and exams. This year, each AP exam costs $97.

Severing ties with the College Board could have significant implications for students  particularly those who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford to participate in or seek out these programs.

Last year, according to Slate, the College Board sold Florida 366,150 exams, with revenue totaling $35 million.

In addition, Florida has paid for all 10th grade students to take the PSAT at no cost for roughly 20 years and given schools, teachers and districts financial bonuses when their students pass AP exams.

AP African American Studies: Here's what's being taught in the course

What does this mean for the SAT?

Many colleges across the country have gone test-optional in recent years. But Florida policy stipulates that public universities must require SAT or ACT scores as a condition of admission.

In Florida, the College Board's SAT is more common. In 2020-21, roughly 3 in 4 of the state's high school graduates took the SAT, compared with 30% who took the ACT.

Contact Alia Wong at (202) 507-2256 or awong@usatoday.com. Follow her on Twitter at @aliaemily.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: DeSantis hints at doing away with AP courses, College Board altogether
The focus of the GEES is Preparing Children for an Unknown Future

Dr. Maureen Dunne

Dr. Maureen Dunne

CHICAGO, Feb. 13, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Autism Community Ventures is proud to report that Dr. Maureen Dunne will appear as a keynote speaker at the upcoming Global Early Education Summit ("GEES"), which will take place April 14-15, 2023, in Panama City, Panama.

The Summit theme is "Preparing Children for an Unknown Future." Click here for more details and to register for the Summit: Event | Global Early Education Summit | Panama (geesummit.com).

The GEES is the very first global education summit based in Latin America to bring together the world's top minds to discuss how leaders must adapt to a rapidly changing world to best prepare children, teachers, students, and professionals for an uncertain future.

GEES aims to provide an atmosphere for provoking thoughtful discourse and a global conversation as the world prepares for a future marked by rapid economic, technological, and social change. The Summit will also serve as an incubator for professional training, networking, and other opportunities.

Dr. Dunne will speak about educational leadership in navigating an uncertain and evolving context. A key focus will be on the important role neurodivergent children and non-linear problem solvers may play in our collective future.

"We live in a world increasingly defined by accelerating change," remarked Dunne. "This has enormous implications for how we approach education. The corner is getting closer, sharper, and more difficult to see around. How we handle cognitive diversity and universal design in early education stands to become one of our most pressing questions in shaping the world we live in decades from now."

Other renowned educators who will appear as key speakers at the Summit include Dr. Flossie Chua, Principal Investigator of Project Zero, Harvard University; Professor Nissim Ben-Arie at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; and Dr. Americo Amorim, a New York University scholar, among other leading scholars and professionals.

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In March, Dr. Dunne will also appear as an invited Plenary Speaker on broader topics related to the Evolving Role of Community Colleges and Higher Education at the National Council for Continuing Education and Training (NCCET) Annual Conference, held this year in Nashville, Tennessee. A panel discussion, moderated by NCCET board member Dr. Joseph Cassidy, will take place on March 2 with Dr. Dunne, Dr. Corbin (NACCE), and Joel Vargas (Jobs for the Future).

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Nara Communications

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Russian forces are keeping Ukrainian troops tied down with attacks in the eastern Donbas region as Moscow assembles additional combat power there for an expected offensive in the coming weeks, Ukrainian officials said Monday.

Intense fighting that has been raging for weeks continued around the city of Bakhmut and the nearby towns of Soledar and Vuhledar, Ukraine's presidential office said.

They are located in the Donetsk region, which with neighboring Luhansk region makes up the Donbas, an industrial area bordering Russia.

``The battles for the region are heating up,'' Donetsk Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said in televised remarks, adding that ``the Russians are throwing new units into the battle and eradicating our towns and villages.''

In Luhansk, Gov. Serhii Haidai said shelling there had subsided because ``the Russians have been saving ammunition for a large-scale offensive.''

Military analysts say the Kremlin's forces may be probing Ukrainian defenses for weak points or could be making a feint while preparing for a main thrust through southern Ukraine.

Ukraine envisages possible Russian offensives in the east and the south, Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman Vadym Skibitsky said. He predicted that Russia will likely press its offensive in the Donbas and could also launch an attack in the Zaporizhzhia region.

He didn't say when the offensive might start but noted that the Russian military would need another couple of months to complete the training of new units.

Skibitsky added that Russia plans to mobilize another 300,000-500,000 in addition to the 300,000 mobilized in the fall.

David Arakhamia, who leads Zelenskyy's Servant of the People party in parliament, said Sunday that Ukraine is preparing for a Russian offensive while planning to counterattack and reclaim its occupied territory.

Arakhamia, noting that ``time and circumstances call for strengthening and regrouping,'' also announced that Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov would be moved to another government post and replaced by the head of military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov. But Arakhamia abruptly changed course Monday and said that no shakeup will happen this week.

Mariana Bezuhla, a Servant of the People party lawmaker, said officials decided to postpone the reshuffle following the analysis of ``risks for the system as a whole'' ahead of next week's meeting with NATO allies.

One of Reznikov's deputies recently lost his job amid Zelenskyy's crackdown on corruption. Reznikov said over the weekend that he was ready to step down if Zelenskyy decides it is best.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is hungry for some battlefield success, especially securing illegally annexed territory in eastern Ukraine, to mark the anniversary of his invasion on Feb. 24.

Russian forces made gains in the first few months of the war, though they failed to clinch key objectives and were then driven back from large areas by a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Western military help has been essential for Kyiv to fend off a far larger military force.

The government of Norway aims to donate 75 billion kroner ($7.3 billion) in a multi-year support package to Ukraine, making the oil-rich Scandinavian country one of the world's top donors.

Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said Monday the money would be used for a military and civilian aid package over a five-year period once parliament gives its approval.

Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand tweeted late Sunday that the first German-made Leopard tank Canada is donating to Ukraine had arrived in Poland. It is part of a broad tank commitmen t by Ukraine's Western allies to help it defeat Russia.

Training for Ukrainian military on how to use the tank was due to begin ``soon,'' Anand said, as the allies race to get Ukraine's forces ready before the looming offensive.

Ukraine's presidential office said Monday that at least one civilian had been killed and 10 others wounded by Russian shelling over the past 24 hours.

Five of those were injured during the shelling of Kharkiv city, where Russian shells struck residential buildings and a university, the presidential office said.

The Russians again fired at targets across the Dnieper River from the Russia-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, damaging residential buildings and power lines in Nikopol and Marhanets, Ukrainian authorities reported.

Russian forces occupied Zaporizhzhia, Europe's biggest nuclear power plant, early in the war, and regular shelling of the area stoked major safety concerns.

The U.N. nuclear chief is due to visit Moscow this week to discuss safety at Zaporizhzhia.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi aims to ``continue his consultations aimed at agreeing and implementing a nuclear safety and security protection zone'' around the plant, IAEA spokesman Fredrik Dahl said.

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This photo, provided by the Wildlife Conservation Society, shows a Eurasion eagle-owl named Flaco that escaped from New York's Central Park Zoo after someone vandalized its exhibit by cutting through stainless steel mesh, zoo officials said . It was spotted on Fifth Avenue, then flew back into the park Friday morning and remained high up in a tree there for much of the day Escaped Owl Central Park, New York, United States - 03 Feb 2023

Julie Larsen Maher/AP/Shutterstock

Flaco the owl is proving the naysayers wrong!

The rare Eurasian eagle owl, who escaped from his vandalized enclosure at the Central Park Zoo in New York City earlier this month, is adapting to life in the "wild," despite initial concerns that the bird wouldn't have the street sense  or rather, hunting skills  to survive outside the zoo.

Since Feb. 2, the bird has taken up residency in Central Park, most recently in the trees along "Billionaires' Row" on Central Park South, according to ABC News.

In an update on Sunday, the zoo shared that staff members are keeping a watchful eye on the bird and have taken comfort in the fact that he has been able to find food on his own.

RELATED: Flaco the Owl Escapes New York City Zoo and Flies to Nearby Sanctuary

"Several days ago, we observed him successfully hunting, catching, and consuming prey," the zoo said in a statement. "We have seen a rapid improvement in his flight skills and ability to confidently maneuver around the park. A major concern for everyone at the beginning was whether Flaco would be able to hunt and eat; that is no longer a concern."

Zoo officials aren't the only ones watching the bird like a hawk.

Eurasian eagle-owl named Flaco sits in a tree in Central Park in New York, . The owl, who resided at the Central Park Zoo, flew the coop after someone vandalized its exhibit by cutting through stainless steel mesh. Zoo officials say Flaco was discovered missing at 8:30 p.m. Thursday and remained on the loose Monday Escaped Owl Central Park, New York, United States - 06 Feb 2023

Seth Wenig/AP/Shutterstock

Onlookers crowd the park daily to observe New York City's latest celebrity bird as his adventure outside the zoo nears the two-week mark.

"I just wanted to see him. I just think it's really fun," Jen Roff, an economics professor at The City University of New York, told ABC News. "I think he's beautiful. He's gorgeous."

After trying to recover the owl to no avail, the zoo is now taking on a more patient strategy.

RELATED: Texas Police Officers Arrest 24-Year-Old Suspect in Tamarin Monkey Theft Case at Dallas Zoo

"Since our recovery strategies, thus far, have all been based on luring him to familiar food items, we need to rethink our approach," zoo officials said. "Our main concern has always been for the well-being of the eagle owl. Our observations indicate that he seems to be comfortable in the area of the park where he has been hunting, and we don't want to do anything to encourage him to leave this site."

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The zoo added: "We will continue to monitor him, though not as intensely, and look to opportunistically recover him when the situation is right."

Flaco's saga comes on the heels of other zoo vandalism incidents across the country.

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 Dallas Zoo has reported several missing animals since the start of 2023, beginning with a 4-year-old clouded leopard named Nova, who first went missing on Jan. 13  and is now safely back at the zoo. An investigation by the Dallas Police Department on Jan. 16 showed that a cutting tool was used to make an opening in the fencing surrounding the animal's habitat.

Last week, Houston Zoo officials found a four-inch gap in the mesh of a pelican habitat at its Children's Zoo, but all animals were found secure.
Ford Motor Co. announced plans on Monday to invest $3.5 billion in an effort to build the countrys first automaker-backed lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery plant in Michigan.

In their news release, Ford said the BlueOval Battery Park Michigan plant will initially employ 2,500 people when production begins in 2026. The company further explained that the manufacturer will also have the option to grow its battery capacity at its other plant located in Marshall, Michigan.

The new battery plant will add approximately 35-gigawatt hours per year of new battery capacity for the manufacturer in the U.S.  which is capable of powering approximately 400,000 of Fords future electric vehicles, the news release said.

Ford and its battery tech collaborators have already invested $17.6 billion in electric vehicle and battery production in the U.S. since 2019 as part of the companys commitment to invest over $50 billion in electric vehicles globally through 2026, according to the announcement.

The company further noted that in the next three years, these investments will create more than 18,000 jobs in five U.S. states and create more than 100,000 indirect jobs, according to the methodology from a 2020 independent study.

We are committed to leading the electric vehicle revolution in America, and that means investing in the technology and jobs that will keep us on the cutting edge of this global transformation in our industry, Ford executive chair Bill Ford said in a statement. I am also proud that we chose our home state of Michigan for this critical battery production hub.

The announcement comes after Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) removed his state from the selection process for the new battery plant earlier this month, citing his concerns with Ford partnering with Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. (CATL), a Chinese battery manufacturer, for the new plant initiative.

This is an easy one where Virginia taxpayer money along with federal taxpayer money wasnt going to go to the benefit of a [Chinese Communist Party]-influenced company and a workaround arrangement for what federal law is, the governor told Fox News Neil Cavuto in an interview at the time.

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Ford also announced a round of layoffs earlier this month, saying it will cut 3,800 jobs in Europe  primarily in its United Kingdom and German sectors  in the next three years, as the company focuses on streamlining its operations as it faces economic challenges to new competition in the electric vehicle department.

The company also announced that it plans to introduce LFP batteries in its Mustang and F-150 models in the next few years to increase production capacity, with a goal of reducing wait times for customers.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Prosecutors say a romantic acquaintance of Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio  who provided him with a tactical plan to occupy government buildings just days before Jan. 6, 2021  pleaded the Fifth when subpoenaed in May.

Erika Flores, a Florida-based cryptocurrency advocate, answered only brief biographical questions and then invoked her fifth amendment right not to testify repeatedly in response to more than 50 transcript pages worth of questions by the government about the document titled 1776 Returns, prosecutors revealed in a Monday night court filing.

That document is now at the heart of the governments seditious conspiracy charge against Tarrio and four other members of the Proud Boys, accused of masterminding the riot and breach of the Capitol that day.

Notably, prosecutors unsuccessful effort to glean information from Flores stands in contrast to the Jan. 6 select committee. Two investigators familiar with her interview  an informal, untranscribed appearance in early 2022  say that while she was a reluctant witness and initially planned to plead the Fifth, she ultimately agreed to answer some questions about the document.

Instead of pleading the Fifth, we did an interview with her, one of the investigators said, speaking on condition of anonymity to describe information the committee had not publicly released. She gave us the name of Samuel Armes as the name of the individual who wrote the document.

Armes, who knew Flores through their shared cryptocurrency advocacy, would interview with select committee investigators in July. He accused Flores of blame-shifting by pinning the authorship of the 1776 Returns document on him. Rather, Armes said that in the summer of 2020, he did some informal war-gaming about what might happen if a sitting president refused to leave office after the election. Flores, he told the panel, expressed interest in his thoughts, which he says he shared with her via a Google drive.

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Armes said Flores or someone else she shared the document with must have taken his rough ideas and morphed them into a tactical plan with overt references to 1776, a reference to the Capitol as the Winter Palace and a plan to storm government buildings.

Prosecutors indicated they interviewed Armes too  in October 2022, three months after the select committee spoke to him.

The select committee investigators said they found Armes to be more forthcoming than Flores, who they said exhibited a general apprehension. Flores didnt respond to messages and emails seeking comment.

She acted like she didnt know what it was at all, said one of the investigators.

The two investigators said Flores indicated she had shared the document with Tarrio to impress him during a sensitive phase in their relationship and disclaimed specific knowledge about its contents.

During the trial of Tarrio and his allies, prosecutors displayed text messages in which Flores boasts to Tarrio about the brilliance of her 1776 Returns document and suggests she would pitch it elsewhere if Tarrio wouldnt use it.

If you dont like my plan, let me know. I will pitch elsewhere. But I want you to be the executor and benefactor of my brilliance, she wrote, asking him not to play games with her.

Im not playing games, Tarrio responded.

Tarrio notably used the phrase The Winter Palace in conversations about the Capitol with at least two other people in the days before and on Jan. 6.

The select committee, like prosecutors, ultimately couldnt pinpoint the precise authorship of the 1776 Returns document, a detail that remains a mystery to this day.

Prosecutors revealed new information about their interactions with Armes and Flores in response to an effort by one of Tarrios co-defendants, Dominic Pezzola, to seek a mistrial. Pezzolas attorney Roger Roots suggested that Armes training to be in the intelligence community  even though he ultimately pursued a career in crypto  suggested that the government itself authored the incriminating 1776 Return document.

The government strongly disagrees with Pezzolas characterization of both the facts and the record with respect to these assertions, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jason McCullough and Conor Mulroe wrote. The government robustly agrees with defendant Pezzola that it would have been egregiously improper for a member of the U.S. Intelligence Community to have conducted a domestic intelligence operation targeting Enrique Tarrio, a U.S. Person, and providing him with a plan to storm (or occupy or sit in) House and Senate Office Buildings on January 6.

It would have been even more improper, they continued, for a member of the U.S. Intelligence Community to send this plan to the leader of the Proud Boys when, just months before, then-President Trump had exhorted the Proud Boys to stand back and stand by during a nationally televised debate.
Google Fiber is launching the 5Gbps internet plan it began testing in October. The service will initially cover four cities, but Google says the $125-per-month service will expand to other areas later this year.

The new plan is available today in Kansas City, West Des Moines and Fibers Utah cities. It has symmetrical upload and download rates, an upgraded 10 Gig Fiber Jack (the small box housing the fiber cables entrance into your home), professional installation, a WiFi 6 router and up to two mesh network extenders.

Although 5Gbps speeds could be overkill for most households, they could come in handy for creative professionals, gamers or others who need minimal latency or transfer large files frequently. For example, a 150GB Microsoft Flight Simulator download that takes 11 minutes at 2Gbps would only take about three minutes at 6Gbps (under ideal conditions, anyway).

The upgraded speeds are part of Googles rejuvenated focus on Fiber. The company also recently announced its first network expansion in years. But, perhaps more crucially, it reestablishes Fiber as an industry disrupter pushing competitors to upgrade speeds and lower prices (maybe) on existing plans. Comcast already offers 6Gbps service in some areas, but it costs a whopping $300 and doesnt include symmetrical uploads.

Google also reiterated that Fibers 8Gbps option, also announced late last year, is still coming soon. That service will also include symmetrical uploads and downloads.
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STORY: Florian Zimmermann's vast collection of classic cars is more than a hobby. It's an investment.Location: Lindau, GermanyHe started buying vintage cars when he worked at Mercedes-Benz and has since built a collection of 300 vehicles."My last assignment within Mercedes was head of a classic center. And within this function of quarter head, I had to work a lot with classic cars and I had started at that time to collect my own cars."Across the globe, billions of dollars are being spent annually on classic cars... in a wave of investment in this alternative asset. In 2022, a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe from 1955 was sold for a whopping 135 million euros, about $149 million, making it the world's most expensive car ever sold.Vintage cars have risen 185% in value over the past decade,outstripping luxury rivals such as wine, watches and art, ranking second only to rare whiskies. That's according to Knight Frank's 2023 wealth report.And the market is responding ...expanding beyond a comparatively small community of collectors to include investors drawn by the prospect of high returns."So, besides the fun and the fun with the cars, it became also a serious investment for us and as you see behind me, quite a number of cars now within our collection, which we keep for the future."But it's not a sector for the financially faint-hearted. Zimmermann says running costs for car collections, including hefty storage and insurance fees, could easily amount annually to 6% of the portfolio's value."So it's getting harder and harder to find the proper mechanics to keep these cars alive. And you have to spend quite an amount of money to keep all these cars in running condition."Nonetheless, the classic car market is expanding as the number of wealthy people also rises.Classic vehicle insurer Hagerty estimates there are about $80 billion collector vehicle transactions a year globally, including all auctions and private sales.And while North America remains the largest market for auctions,Zimmermann says a growing number of buyers have emerged in the Middle East, India and China in recent years.And the global race to renounce combustion engine cars will only serve to heighten interest in these relics of a vanishing era.
An independent Tennessee Senate candidate alleges ballot manipulation skewed election results in the Senate District 21 race last fall in a complaint under a review by an ad hoc Senate committee.

Rueben Dockery, who lost to District 21 Democratic incumbent Sen. Jeff Yarbro, alleges voting machines were tampered with by a "bug" that led to issues with the voting machines, including ballot switching. Dockery on Monday offered limited anecdotal evidence to support his allegations, which the Senate ad hoc committee found did not meet the legal standard for review.

The committee gave Dockery another 30 days to bring additional evidence.

"I don't see the allegations measuring up to the standard that we have," said Sen. Ken Yager, R-Kingston. "It's mostly the complainant's assertions on his unsupported information."

Sen. Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville, is seen here in 2020. An independent candidate in last year's election filed a complaint and an ad hoc Senate committee is reviewing.

Dockery has called for an audit of paper ballots in the race. He first filed his complaint with Davidson County Chancery Court, before Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti's office argued the constitutional jurisdiction lies with the Senate.

Dockery alleged voting machine flipped his vote during early voting, and he also spoke to a voter with the same experience.

But Dockery did not identify or include an affidavit from that alleged voter in his documents provided to the ad hoc committee.

Reach Melissa Brown at mabrown@tennessean.com.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville candidate files complaint alleging Senate election fraud
(Corrects name of Ananthakrishnan throughout story. Clarifies his job title in paragraph 2)

BENGALURU, Feb 14 (Reuters) - India's state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited is in talks with at least four countries to sell its light-combat aircraft, the company's top executive said on Tuesday, as New Delhi looks to triple defence exports over the next two years.

Malaysia has shortlisted the Tejas light fighter jet for an order of around 10 to 20 planes and Argentina, Egypt and Botswana have also expressed interest, HAL Chairman and Managing Director C B Ananthakrishnan told reporters at a conference during Aero India, the country's biggest aviation event.

HAL is also in talks with the Philippines to sell its light-combat helicopters, he added.

"There is a lot of interest generated in the global aerospace market. Sooner or later we will have a breakthrough order," he said.

India has been one of the world's biggest importers of defence equipment for decades, but it has punched below its weight in the global arms export market.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday set out ambitions to more than triple the value of annual defence exports to $5 billion over the next two years and his government has been making diplomatic efforts to export the Tejas.

The Indian government in 2021 gave a $6 billion contract to HAL for 83 of the locally-produced Tejas jets for delivery starting around 2023 - four decades after the design began in 1983.

The Tejas has been beset by design and other challenges, and was once rejected by the Indian Navy as too heavy.

HAL plans to use the General Electric manufactured 414 engine on a second generation of light-combat aircraft, Ananthakrishnan said, adding it was in talks to produce those engines in India. ($1 = 82.7500 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Krishn Kaushik, writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by Jamie Freed)
The presidents of Iowa's three regents universities defended their diversity, equity and inclusion programs against House Republicans who questioned whether the initiatives were worth the cost.

The presidents of the University of Iowa, Iowa State and the University of Northern Iowa spoke to a House Education Appropriations subcommittee Monday to present their initiatives for the next year and request a budget increase.

Rep. Taylor Collins, R-Mediapolis, asked the visiting presidents how much their lead diversity-related administrators were paid. Across the three universities, Collins estimated about $750,000 went to paying top diversity, equity and inclusion professionals.

I just have a hard time when I see a $32 million request and I find $750,000 for four people," Collins said.

The presidents responded that well-qualified diversity, equity and inclusion departments are essential for running a competitive college, preparing students for the business world, and supporting underrepresented groups in higher education.

We see an increasingly diverse population at each of our institutions," said Wendy Wintersteen, president of Iowa State University.

University of Iowa President Barbara Wilson noted that diversity programs encompass more than just race. The university presidents spoke about initiatives to support first-generation college students, including those from low-income families and from rural Iowa.

"To bring people in, we have the vision and ability to think about diversity, equity and inclusion in a really expansive way  not just about race, not just about gender, but about things like learning disabilities," Wilson told lawmakers. "Just imagine a young student coming to us from a rural community with dyslexia or autism.

Rep. Skyler Wheeler, R-Hull, asked why diversity programs have "become such a big phenomenon recently. University of Northern Iowa President Mark Nook responded that the Center for Urban Education began in 1968, with a focus on extending education to underrepresented groups.

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Monday's meeting comes less than two weeks after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced his intent to ban state universities from spending money on diversity, equity and inclusion programs. He said the service functions as "an ideological filter, a political filter" and a bureaucracy that is "not representative of what the people of this state and the taxpayers of this state want."

Republicans on the House Education Appropriations Committee didn't promise legislation on the issue, but they said everything was on the table when it comes to keeping Iowa's public universities affordable.

"We are interested in looking at every aspect of taxpayer dollars being spent at our regent universities. Everything," said Rep. Carter Nordman, R-Adel. "What they spend on programs, DEI, other administrative costs. We are interested not only in how much we appropriate, but how those appropriated dollars are being spent at our regents.

Katie Akin is a politics reporter for the Register. Reach her at kakin@registermedia.com or at 410-340-3440. Follow her on Twitter at @katie_akin.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa universities defend diversity, equity and inclusion programs to GOP
First lady Jill Biden was in Mesa to highlight a city scholarship program that offers some local high school students two tuition-free years at Mesa Community College.

Biden was joined by U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, U.S. Rep. Greg Stanton, Gov. Katie Hobbs and Mesa Mayor John Giles to make remarks alongside students on the importance of higher education.

Visiting Mesa Community College is one of Biden's first steps in relaunching her husband's campaign promise to provide students with two years of tuition-free community college education. President Biden reiterated that pledge last week during his State of the Union speech.

Were not giving up despite challenges," Jill Biden said in Mesa.

Biden, the event's final speaker, remarked on the growing number of jobs that will require an educated workforce. She said its necessary to build a pipeline for students to access education and employment.

Historic race:Arizona's possible 3-way 2024 Senate race could make history

She praised Giles and the city for starting to build that pipeline on their own. We need more communities to follow Mesas lead, she said.

Biden said a program like Mesa's isn't a Republican or Democratic idea but an American idea. She pointed to Giles as an example of Republican support for broader access to higher education.

Arizona has been in the limelight for its job growth in advanced manufacturing, including the construction of the TSMC semiconductor plant in Phoenix and electric car company ElectraMeccanicas move to Mesa.

Education has been a top priority for the first lady. She has been a teacher for more than 30 years and continues to teach English and writing at Northern Virginia Community College.

Mesa student introduces Biden

First-generation student Lilly Hernandez introduces first lady Jill Biden as she visits Mesa Community College to highlight how affordable community college programs are on Feb. 13, 2023, in Mesa.

The success of the Mesa College Promise was exemplified on Monday by Lilly Hernandez, who was tasked to introduce Biden.

Hernandez is a Mesa resident and beneficiary of the city's tuition-free community college offer. Following high school graduation, she didnt pursue college, fearing higher education would put her and her parents in debt.

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The fact that I dont have to pay for tuition is the only reason I am able to stand here today, she said.

The Mesa College Promise assures Mesa residents who graduate from high school with a 2.0 GPA or higher and have demonstrated financial need that they won't have to pay tuition or fees at Mesa Community College for two years. The promise program makes up the difference after other financial aid and scholarships are applied. Similar programs exist at the state level and in Phoenix.

First-generation student Lilly Hernandez is hugged by first lady Jill Biden as she visits Mesa Community College to highlight how affordable community college programs are on Feb. 13, 2023, in Mesa.

After trying out different programs, Hernandez landed on construction management. She was inspired by her dad, who works in construction. She said her father saw her succeeding in the program and then started to follow in her steps. He advanced his education by taking the same classes. Now were both learning together as first-generation students, she said.

Mesa makes higher education a priority

Mesa trails behind its neighboring cities in terms of higher education attainment among residents.

The city has made strides in expanding educational opportunities close to home by welcoming a new Arizona State University campus downtown and embracing the expansion of the university's polytechnic campus in southeast Mesa. A $200 million investment by ASU at the polytechnic campus will focus on advanced manufacturing research.

The Mesa City Council began addressing their higher education concerns by approving the Mesa College Promise in 2020. Giles told The Arizona Republic fundraising for the program has been the easiest part of his job.

Donors include Apple, AT&T and Meta. The city invests $100,000 yearly in the program and has a goal of raising at least $100,000 annually from other sources.

What has been difficult is making people aware of the program and changing their hearts, Giles said. Making higher education a priority for students has been a challenge for Mesa.

Mesa Community College has seen a dip in enrollment of full-time students by 26% from 2018, according to the school's data.

Mesa Community College President Tammy Robinson said the institution is working to normalize going to community college as the next step for students. Community college is cost-effective, she said.

In addition to tuition, the Mesa College Promise provides students with the support they need to succeed after two years at Mesa Community College. That support includes mentorship and access to workshops, tutoring and counseling. For the fall 2023 semester, Mesa high school graduates can start applying for the program on March 1.

Our goal is to remove the barriers, and the obstacles students face, Robinson said.

Reporter Maritza Dominguez covers Mesa/Gilbert and can be reached at maritza.dominguez@arizonarepublic.com or 480-271-0646. Follow her on Twitter @maritzacdom.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 'Follow Mesa's lead': Jill Biden talks education with Arizona leaders
The British government on Wednesday announced a fresh round of sanctions targeting Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said the new sanctions on organizations that Russian President Vladimir Putin's military relied on would "accelerate the economic pressure on Putin -- undermining his war machine to help Ukraine prevail".

The sanctions package, announced as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the UK, would hit six organizations providing military equipment such as drones.

It would also target eight individuals and one organisation connected to "nefarious financial networks that help maintain wealth and power amongst Kremlin elites", the government said in a statement.

"I am determined, consistent with our laws, that Russia will have no access to the assets we have frozen until it ends, once and for all, its threats to Ukraine's territorial sovereignty and integrity," Cleverly added.

The UK has sanctioned over 1,300 individuals and entities since Putin unleashed his invasion nearly a year ago.

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Georgia Election Investigation Lawmakers (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

A Georgia judge has ordered the partial release of a Fulton County, Georgia grand jury report on efforts by former president Donald Trump and his allies to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden in the Peach State.

The members of the special purpose grand jury had asked the Fulton County Superior Court to allow the release of their full work product, which was commissioned at the request of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

But Judge Robert McBurney on Monday ordered that parts of the report remain sealed, including a list of individuals against whom the special purpose grand jury recommended indictments.

Having reviewed the final report, the undersigned concludes that the special purpose grand jury did not exceed the scope of its prescribed mission. Indeed, it provided the District Attorney with exactly what she requested: a roster of who should (or should not) be indicted, and for what, in relation to the conduct (and aftermath) of the 2020 general election in Georgia, he wrote, adding that on the surface, the law would require the report be published in its complete form.

Yet the judge said there are compelling reasons to keep parts of the report from the public at this time, writing: But, as with many things in the law, it is not that simple.

He added that due process requires that parts of the report detailing the names of potential targets for indictment remain secret for the time being, as well as portions identifying people named in the report who didnt get to appear before the grand jury. But he stressed that those sections of the report wont be kept secret forever.

The consequence of these due process deficiencies is not that the special purpose grand jury's final report is forever suppressed or that its recommendations for or against indictment are in any way flawed or suspect. Rather, the consequence is that those recommendations are for the District Attorney's eyes only - for now, he said.

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Judge McBurney also noted that three parts of the report are ripe for publication, including the introduction and conclusion to the final report and a section in which the special purpose grand jury discusses its concern that some witnesses may have lied under oath during their testimony to the grand jury.

Because the grand jury does not identify those witnesses, that conclusion may be publicly disclosed at this time, he said.

Those parts of the report will be made public on 16 February.
Fire burns beneath a landfill in St. Clair County, Alabama, in a photo released by Moody Fire Department on Dec. 19, 2022.

Editor's note: This story was updated on Feb. 15 to include that some environmental attorneys refute ADEM's claim that they don't have the existing authority to regulate vegetative waste landfills.

An underground fire at Environmental Landfill, Inc. in St. Clair County keeps burning, as it has for over two months now.

Though various government officials, ranging from the local to federal levels, have been engaged for nearly three months, the cause of the fire remains undetermined.

Residents report an overwhelming smell and complain of the smoke. Some have temporarily relocated to avoid its impact, and residents who remain in their homes near the fire have been advised to limit outdoor activities and install high-efficiency filters in heating and air conditioning systems.

Newest updates

On Feb. 10, Alabama Department of Environmental Management Director Lance LeFleur addressed the Environmental Management Commission about the fire near Moody.

Since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency took over efforts to stop the fire on Jan. 19, LeFleur said smoke in the area has been greatly reduced.

EPA expects the fire to be out in a matter of weeks if not sooner, he said. As we have stated before, ADEM will investigate and take appropriate enforcement action against the site operator after the fire is out.

Alabama Department of Environmental Management Director Lance LeFleur made a statement about the Moody landfill fire on Feb. 10, 2023.

The landfill is privately owned, but because the owner was either unable or unwilling to extinguish the fire, the responsibility has been pushed to local, state and federal agencies.

This fire is an extraordinary event. It exposed shortcomings in the ability and authority of state and local governments to respond to situations that are outside the scope of regulated activities but nonetheless pose risks to the public, LeFleur said. We are in talks with representatives of county governments and other agencies about ways to close these gaps.

Was the landfill unregulated?

Environmental Landfill, the location of the fire, is designated as a vegetative waste disposal site, meaning that the only materials meant to be disposed there are natural ones, like leaves, limbs, trees and shrubs.

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ADEM says these types of materials are not regulated by state or federal agencies, so neither the state environmental management agency nor the EPA regularly monitored the landfill.

However, some environmental attorneys, like David Ludder, say ADEM's claims are false, and the department actually does have the existing authority to regulate vegetative waste landfills.

"No provision in the Solid Wastes and Recyclable Materials Management Act exempts stumps, logs, tree limbs, brush, yard trimmings, leaves and other vegetative debris from the requirement that 'solid waste' be disposed of in 'a permitted landfill or permitted incineration,'" Ludder wrote in a letter to the Environmental Management Commission. "To the extent that ADEM has interpreted the Solid Wastes and Recyclable Materials Management Act to provide such an exemption, the interpretation is erroneous, inconsistent with the Act, and an usurpation of legislative power."

Multiple times since 2013, residents have complained to ADEM about the presence of unauthorized materials in the landfill  like tires, shingles, rubbish, construction and demolition wastes.

ADEM says that upon receiving these complaints, multiple investigations and inspections occurred where incidental regulated waste was discovered and addressed.

Discoveries from past inspections of the landfill

Fire burns beneath a landfill in St. Clair County, Alabama, in a photo released by Moody Fire Department on Dec. 19, 2022.

Eighteen documents related to inspections of the Environmental Landfill are available through ADEMs eFile system.

In an August 2022 inspection report, which was the last documented inspection prior to the start of the fire, the inspector noted that an undetermined amount of construction demolition waste had previously been buried on-site.

The report also noted that creosote-soaked power poles and palettes had once been located in a specific area of the landfill. Creosote is a wood preservative that is highly combustible. The EPA advises that creosote-soaked wood not be burned in a residential setting to avoid possible inhalation of toxic chemicals in the smoke and ash.

At the time of the August 2022 inspection, facility staff indicated to the ADEM inspector that the poles and palettes previously found in that area had been taken to appropriate landfills.

Further back, an ADEM inspector found a fuel supply tank used for on-site equipment. Because it was sitting on the ground, not on a catch-basin like a concrete or rock pad, the inspector forwarded that information to ADEMs Industrial Hazardous Waste Section.

The inspector also noted that the lack of availability of adequate water at the landfill was a fire hazard.

The cause of the underground fire has not been released, and ADEM had said it will begin investigating the cause once the fire is under control.

What water and air quality looks like for residents

Fire burns beneath a landfill in St. Clair County, Alabama, in a photo released by Moody Fire Department on Dec. 19, 2022.

The reason the EPA was able to take over as the lead in extinguishing the fire was because its air monitoring units determined that the smoke from the fire posed a certain level of risk to public health.

Tests found four chemicals above the accepted minimal risk level in the air at the landfill and two of chemicals above the accepted minimal risk level in the air offsite. The EPA continues to operate mobile air monitors in the area.

As for the water quality, LeFleur reported on Feb. 10 that the fire does not seem to be having any discernible effect on water quality.

The information on the water quality testing was initially released Feb. 3.

Some residents have expressed concern that runoff from the site could be having an adverse effect on the water in nearby streams, head of ADEMs Water Division Jeff Kitchens said in a statement. We started testing the water to see what effect, if any, the fire was having, and to make that information available to the public. Fortunately, what we have seen so far tells us the fire is having little impact on water quality.

Officials advice for residents near Environmental Landfill

In addition to limiting time spent outside and installing high-efficiency air filters, ADEM suggests residents who live in Moody, Trussville or anywhere near the fire seal areas where outside air may enter the home with caulking or other material.

ADEM also says residents can consider obtaining a personal air quality monitor and adjusting activities to limit exposure to poor air quality.

Additionally, ADEMs website for Moody fire updates says, Because the smoke may continue for an extended period, those with breathing-related health conditions may consider temporarily relocating.

Hadley Hitson covers the rural South for the Montgomery Advertiser and Report for America. She can be reached at hhitson@gannett.com. To support her work, subscribe to the Advertiser or donate to Report for America.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: What we know about St. Clair County's months-long underground fire
WALKER COUNTY, Ala. (WIAT)  The mother of Anthony Tony Mitchell, a Walker County, Alabama man who died in police custody in January, has filed a federal lawsuit against multiple jail officials, including Sheriff Nick Smith, alleging that authorities deprived the man of his constitutional rights by leaving him in the jails walk-in freezer or similar frigid environment for hours.

This is one of the most appalling cases of jail abuse the country has seen, the 37-page federal lawsuit, seen at the bottom of this story, begins. On the night of January 25 to January 26, 2023, Anthony Don Mitchell (Tony) froze to death while incarcerated at the Walker County Jail.

The case, lawyers for the family wrote in the complaint, raises an appalling question: how does a man literally freeze to death while incarcerated in a modern, climate-controlled jail, in the custody and care of corrections officers?

Norovirus outbreaks are increasing across the US: Which regions have it the worst?

The suit alleges that Mitchell was likely placed in a restraint chair in the jail kitchens walk-in freezer or similar frigid environment and left there for hours.

Only with the release of an internal surveillance video recorded by a correctional officer did what happened to Mitchell begin to come to light, according to Jon Goldfarb, a lawyer representing Mitchells family. That correctional officer was later fired by the sheriffs department, according to Goldfarb.

A surveillance video obtained and first reported by Nexstars WIAT shows what the family says appears to be their loved one being carried into the loading area of the Walker County Jail. In it, Mitchell is limp, his head and feet dangling as uniformed personnel  Sheriff emblazoned on one of their vests  lay his body just outside a marked police SUV. In total, four uniformed officials then work to put him into the police vehicle.

The video contradicts an earlier statement from the Walker County Sheriffs Office claiming Mitchell was alert and conscious when he left the jail for transport to a local hospital.

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The newly filed lawsuit also includes quotes from notes included in Mitchells medical records written by an ER doctor after the Walker County man was transported to a local hospital the day of his death.

I am not sure what circumstances the patient was held in incarceration but it is difficult to understand a rectal temperature of 72 F 22 centigrade while someone is incarcerated in jail, the doctors notes read, according the federal lawsuit. The cause of his hypothermia is not clear. It is possible he had an underlying medical condition resulting in hypothermia. I do not know if he could have been exposed to a cold environment. I do believe that hypothermia was the ultimate cause of his death.

At least five hours passed from the time Mitchell was removed from the frigid environment until he was transported to the hospital, according to the complaint.

Screenshots from additional surveillance video included in the lawsuit show that Mitchell was naked during his detention. He was placed in a concrete isolation cell for the duration of his two-week stint in the jail, the suit alleged.

The cell lacked a bed or other furnishing, the suit said. There was only a drain in the floor that could be used as a toilet. The cell was bare cement, the equivalent of a dog kennel. But unlike a dog, Tony was not even given a mat to sleep on.

T.J. Armstrong, the public information officer for the sheriffs office, refused to comment on the video published by WIAT last week, instead referring all inquiries to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA), which is investigating the death. ALEA has not responded to questions about the video as of publication time.

Goldfarb said last week that the family believes that all video of their loved one captured by the Walker County Sheriffs Office should be released to the public.

If the Sheriff does not have anything to hide, then all the videos of Mr. Anthony Mitchell should be preserved and released to the public, the lawyer said, in part. He was obviously not alert and conscious when he left the Walker County Jail.

Mitchell, 33, died in police custody on Jan. 27, state and local officials later confirmed.

Tony Mitchells recent interactions with Walker County law enforcement began on Jan. 13, when family members asked police to conduct a welfare check on Mitchell, a statement from the Walker County Sheriffs Office released following the incident explained.

Law enforcement claimed that when they arrived on scene, Mitchell immediately brandished a handgun, and fire at least one shot at Deputies (sic) before retreating into a wooded area behind his home.

After a search for Mitchell that included both air and K9 units, Mitchell was arrested and charged with attempted murder, according to police and court records.

Thankfully, the sheriffs office post said, the day ended with everyone safe.

In addition to their initial written statement, the Jan. 13 post by the Walker County Sheriffs Office included an unedited, full-body photo of Mitchell, whose face appeared to be spray-painted black.

One of Mitchells family members said that the photo shocked her.

I hadnt seen him in two years, and that was the first time Id seen him  and the last, she said.

The photo, which was shared hundreds of times across social media and in multiple news outlets, garnered significant public pushback by those criticizing the sensationalism of the post. According to Facebook records, the sheriffs office edited the post later that day, cropping the photo to exclude Mitchells face.

Court records show that Mitchell was brought before a judge the day of his arrest but was listed as being unable to sign paperwork by court officials.

We knew he was in jail, and we thought that was the safest place for him at the time, his family member said. But it turned out to be the worst place for him.

Officials with the Walker County Sheriffs Office did not initially respond to questions about Mitchells death, but after WIAT reported on his death in police custody, the sheriffs office released a statement about the situation. As in most Alabama counties, the local jail is operated by the sheriffs office.

On Thursday, January 27th, an inmate in the Walker County Jail was provided a routine medical check by jail medical staff. Medical staff determined the inmate needed to be transported to the hospital for further evaluation, the statement said. The inmate was alert and conscious when he left the facility and arrived at the hospital. Shortly after arrival at the hospital, the inmate suffered a medical emergency and became unresponsive. Life saving efforts were performed by hospital staff and the inmate was ultimately revived. Unfortunately, a short time later, the inmate passed away.

You can read the Mitchell familys full suit below.

Mitchell family lawsuit by Lee Hedgepeth on Scribd

The statement went on to say that because Mitchells death occurred in police custody, the situation is being investigated by state police.

It is unknown at this time what contributed to his death, the statement concluded. Even though the inmates death did not occur in the jail, he was still in police custody, so standard protocol was followed and ALEA was contacted. SBI agents began an immediate investigation into the incident.

In a phone conversation, a representative of the sheriffs office emphasized that the death did not occur in the Walker County Jail.

In a statement sent after WIATs initial report, officials with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said they are conducting an in-custody death investigation in Walker County. Once the investigation is completed, its findings will be handed over to the Walker County District Attorneys Office, the agency said.

The Walker County Sheriffs Office has not responded to a request for comment on the familys lawsuit as of publication time.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Noah Misiak was presented with the Amy Ignatowski Memorial Award at Lake Superior State University on Jan. 9. Pictured (from left) are United States Coast Guard Education Services Officer Adam Uhrig, LSSU President Rodney Hanley, Tammy and Kevin Misiak, Noah Misiak, Robin and Paul Ignatowski, USCG Deputy Commander Michael Courtney and USCG Senior Chief Officer Edmund Foster.

SAULT STE. MARIE  Coast Guard reservist and college student Noah Misiak is the 2023 recipient of the Amy Ignatowski Memorial Award.

Amy Ignatowski was a member of the United State Coast Guard who died in 2008 in Corpus Christi, Texas. Before joining the Coast Guard, she was a student at Lake Superior State University. After graduation, she continued her education in a more specialized field.

"Amy was known as a young woman with a very outgoing personality and positive attitude always making lifelong friends," said Sharon Dorrity, director of donor relations. "The Coast Guard seemed to fit what she wanted to do in real life."

Ignatowski was a pilot, and was actively working toward earning her wings to fly a helicopter for the Coast Guard. She served briefly at USCG Air Station Humboldt Bay before attending aviation school at Elizabeth City, North Carolina for aircraft maintenance technician training.

After training, Ignatowski moved to Corpus Christi where she worked as an aviation maintenance technician while working her way up to pilot. After her death in May 2008, Air Station Corpus Christi Command awarded Ignatowski her wings posthumously, giving her the title of Petty Officer Amy Lynn Ignatowski, AMT3.

"She was working to get her helicopter wings," said Dorrity. "Unfortunately, she tragically passed away while serving in Corpus Christi."

As a way to honor the memory of their daughter, Ignatowski's parents, Paul and Robin Ignatowski, worked with LSSU to create a memorial fund in her name. Every year since 2010, an LSSU student who works with the United States Coast Guard is awarded the Amy Ignatowski Memorial Award.

"As a sort of memorial, the parents wanted to find a way to help the students at the place where she went to school, and in some way also help the Coast Guard," said Dorrity. "Working together with the school, they were able to create the scholarship fund."

Along with the award, recipients also receive $500.

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Noah Misiak is a junior at LSSU. He is studying criminal justice and is currently a member of the Coast Guard reserves. Misiak, who is seeking a career in conservation law enforcement, was drawn to the Coast Guard due to his desire to help people.

At a ceremony on Jan. 9, Misiak became the 13th recipient of the award, which was presented by Paul and Robin Ignatowski, U.S. Coast Guard Deputy Commander Michael Courtney and Senior Chief Officer Edmund Foster.

"I am very honored to receive this award, said Misiak. Amy's love of service and for her Coast Guard and family are characteristics that I strive to emulate. Like Amy, the Coast Guard has given me the opportunity to serve people in a way I could not have done on my own. I hope to continue my service in a way that would make Amy proud."

In order to be chosen, applicants must be a student of LSSU and have served or will serve in the Coast Guard, as well as meet a GPA requirement and complete a written response to a question. All applicants must answer the question, "What does it mean to live life?"

Misiak answered: "Living life means that you approach everyday as a blessing and challenge. Take time to be grateful for what you have, but never settle for mediocrity. Fear exists, but it is how you overcome it that makes you who you are. I want to live a life Im proud of."

 Contact Brendan Wiesner: BWiesner@Sooeveningnews.com

This article originally appeared on The Sault News: LSSU presents memorial award to Coast Guard student
TOMS RIVER  Last month, right after her mother died, Judi Cosentino was the recipient of a surprise delivery at Royal Beauty Supply in Toms River, where she works as a manager.

It was a bag full of handmade blankets, crocheted by 94-year-old Toms River resident Rosa Jakimjuk.

Theyre made beautifully, Cosentino said. It was so sweet, very comforting.

Cosentino gave one to her 83-year-old father and one to her sister, who lives with her and has Down syndrome. Her colleague Alison Cundiff gave one to her own mother, who lives in assisted living. Rosa and her daughter Rose Jakimjuk, a longtime Toms River resident, are regular customers of the shop. Late last year, theyd gifted a blanket to another employee whod just given birth to a girl.

Rosa Jakimjuk crochets a blanket in Toms River

You know its made from love, Cosentino said. And it just makes you feel warm and fuzzy.

Despite the onset of Parkinsons disease that causes her right hand to shake and the creeping in of some memory loss, Rosa produces two to three blankets a week. Her handiwork gets donated to senior-citizens centers, hospitals and neighbors throughout the area.

Sitting in her favorite easy chair, her fingers working a crochet hook with impressive speed and precision on her latest blanket, Rosa expressed deep satisfaction with her vocation.

All day, this is what I do, she said. Im happy someone can use it.

After immigrating to the United States from Germany following World War II, Rosa Jakimjuk worked as an emergency room nurse at Passaic Beth Israel Hospital (now St. Marys General Hospital, Passaic). She noticed other nurses crocheting in their spare moments  and donating their work to patients. Thats where she picked it up.

Since moving in with her daughter Rose five years ago, Rosa mostly makes blankets but mixes in a few scarves. A fall and a broken wrist a couple of years back hardly slowed her down.

With a cast and a sling, she still was crocheting, Rose Jakimjuk said.It was insane.

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Rose firmly believes the hobby is adding quality years to her mothers life.

Alison Cundiff (left) and Judi Cosentino hold one of the blankets given to them by Rosa Jakimjuk

It helps tremendously, she said. The counting keeps her sharp. Shes not a TV watcher. This keeps her going.

Karen Lamb, a close family friend, said every time she visits  every single time  Rosa is crocheting away.

Rosa Jakimjuk crochets a blanket in Toms River

When Im your age, I want to be right where you are, Lamb told Rosa when she dropped in last week. Sitting in a chair, doing (good) for others.

Rosa Jakimjuk has spent a lifetime serving others. Upon retiring from nursing, she worked as a school crossing guard until the age of 83. This is her final favor to society, one shell keep doing for as long as she can.

What else should I do? she said. This makes me happy. Somebody is happy and Im happy.

Jerry Carino is community columnist for the Asbury Park Press, focusing on the Jersey Shores interesting people, inspiring stories and pressing issues. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Toms River NJ woman crochets for seniors, hospitals, and neighbors
Major snowstorm shuts schools, halts travel across parts of Atlantic Canada

Snowfall, winter storm and blowing snow warnings remain in effect across parts of Atlantic Canada as a major winter storm delivers a potent blow for Valentine's Day. Through Wednesday morning, some areas could see between 20-40 cm of snow.

Drivers are being urged to consider postponing non-essential travel in the hardest hit areas of southern Nova Scotia and eastern Newfoundland.

DONT MISS: It may be mild, but the snowiest months are just ahead for these parts of Canada

By the early morning hours on Tuesday, between 10-25 cm of snow had already been reported in the Halifax area. That prompted most schools to either delay their openings or just completely shut their doors first thing.

"Heavy snow from the overnight has tapered to light flurries as of Tuesday morning for most of Nova Scotia, but lingering flurries and some blustery winds at times may still impact travel conditions," warns Kelly Sonnenburg, a meteorologist at The Weather Network.

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Blizzard-like conditions threaten St. John's, NL

Across the Gulf, the nor'easter continues to move northeast across Newfoundland with some of the heaviest snow and blizzard-like conditions hitting Tuesday.

Widespread snowfall amounts of 20-40 cm are expected for the Avalon, Burin and Connaigre Peninsulas. Between 30-40 cm is expected in St. John's and 15-25 cm is forecast for Gander.

Baron - ATL snow - Feb14

Most schools in the region opted to close their doors as well, with Metrobus pulling its drivers off the roads in St. John's. At St. John's International Airport, all flights were cancelled for Tuesday, with some early morning flights on Wednesday already cancelled as well.

The Avalon Peninsula has the highest chance to see a change to ice pellets or a mixture of freezing rain and rain by Tuesday afternoon, and that's increasingly likely for southern areas. The rain is most likely to occur along extreme southern coastal areas, with freezing rain and ice pellets farther inland.

Precipitation will change back to snow later Tuesday evening and will once again combine with strong, northerly winds to cause poor visibility in blowing snow.

Baron - ATL wind - Feb14

Gusts may peak near 90 km/h Tuesday night into early Wednesday morning, and while snowfall rates will be winding down, the freshly fallen snow in combination with the light snow left falling will lead to whiteout conditions.

"Consider postponing non-essential travel until conditions improve," says Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) in the winter storm warning for the region. "Visibility will be suddenly reduced to near zero at times in heavy snow and blowing snow."

Conditions on the island will improve on Wednesday morning as snow tapers off and winds begin to diminish.

Be sure to continue to check back for the latest forecasts for Atlantic Canada.
Travel advice for couples that's both practical and super sentimental.

It was love at first flight for Delta pilots Brent and Kelly Knoblauch. The couple met as Delta interns in 2010, got married in 2013 and have taken plenty of trips together throughout their relationship of over ten years. Now, they're sharing some of their top travel tips for couples.

From local trips to destinations like Costa Rica, Dublin and the British Virgin Islands, the Knoblauch duo have learned many travel hacks that are both practical and super sentimental. From keeping an open mindset to packing specific travel essentials to copying their cute Kodak photo challenge recommendation (our new favorite travel idea!) and so much more, you'll find the best tips for the next vacation you have with your boo.

Whether it's your first getaway together or you've been jet-setting for years as a tight-knit team, you'll be sure to get something out of this long-time couple's helpful list before you switch over to "vacation time" again.

Related: Heres the One Thing You Should Do Before a Vacation That Will Make Your Trip Easier (And Safer!)

Top 10 Tips for Traveling as a Couple

1. Be spontaneous

Dont plan out your entire trip and see where it can take you. Being spontaneous has been a fun way to bond and figure it out together. Always understanding that the journey is just as important as the destination.

Related: Itching To Hit the Road? These 100 Quotes About Travel Will Speak to Your Sense of Wanderlust

2. Always pack snacks!

Staying fueled helps you avoid any added travel tension.

3. Learn each others travel style and play to each others strengths

Every couple travels in different ways. Brent is very much the planner and does all the research for the trip, whereas Kelly adds spontaneity and fun by showing up just ready to go at the airport.

4. Your time on vacation is just as valuable as your money

Whether it is obsessing over finding the "right" souvenir for everyone at home or queuing for that perfect Instagram photoyou planned, waited and saved for this tripspend your moments wisely.

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Related: Before You Set That Alarm, Heres How Early You Should Get to the Airport

5. Get off the beaten path

...when it comes to where you stay, what you do, and how you eat. Although it is always worthwhile to see the major attractions of a given destination, our most lasting travel memories are usually the more authentic, local, cultural experiences.

6. Remember everything you pack, you must carry

Nobody wants to be the person getting off the airplane with an unmanageable load of stuffdont overpack!

7. Pack a portable sound machine

That can help mask the thinnest walls and the inevitable late-night emergency vehicle/junior high cheerleading competition in your hotel.

Related: Should You Travel With a Portable Carbon Monoxide Detector?

8. Create a fun Kodak Photo Challenge

On most vacations, we have our own Kodak photo challenge. We buy a single-use camera for a given trip. Sometimes the limited number of shots helps you to slow down and really appreciate each moment. Plus, the printouts are usually epic.

9. Brents top hack: Create a note that lists everything you may have in your wallet

Just in case it gets misplaced! We also carry a photocopy of each others passports and leave non-essentials at home.

10. Kellys top hack: Night-stand kit

Streamline your night-time routine by creating a kit with your chapstick, phone charger, hand cream, etc. to make your time away feel a little more like home.

Next, We Could All Use More Tips To Make Travel Easier, so What Is TSA PreCheck and Is It Worth It?
ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. (WHTM)  The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) has fined Mars Wrigley Confectionary after two contractors fell into a chocolate tank at their Pennsylvania facility last year.

The workers had to be rescued after they fell into a partially filled chocolate tank on June 9, 2022. Authorities had to cut a hole in the tank to rescue the two workers. Both were taken to the hospital, one of them by helicopter.

According to OSHA, the fine has been labeled as a serious citation. The citation states that Mars Wrigley did not make sure that the employees had the proper knowledge of how to clean the chocolate tank located in the facility.

OSHA fined Mars Wrigley more than $14,500 for the incident.

The safety of our Associates and outside contractors is a top priority for our business. As always, we appreciate OSHAs collaborative approach to working with us to conduct the after-action review, a Mars Wrigley spokesperson said.

The workers who were contracted to clean the tank were from an outside agency and did not work for Mars Wrigley directly.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
With Shaw Hall in the background, Michigan State University plans to construct a multicultural center at north Shaw and Farm lanes. Photo: Sunday, Feb. 12, 2023.

EAST LANSING  The construction of a standalone Michigan State University multicultural center will begin in April after years of demands from students and staff for a facility that meets the needs of underrepresented students.

The MSU Board of Trustees unanimously authorized the construction of a dedicated multicultural center. It will be located at the northeast corner of North Shaw Lane and Farm Lane and west of Shaw Hall in what the university calls the central academic district on the East Lansing campus.

Construction on the $38 million project is expected to begin in April with substantial completion expected in October 2024. Once complete, the new building will be the new home of the universitys multicultural center, MOSAIC: The Multicultural Unity Center, which is now housed on the second floor of the MSU Union.

This project is a culmination of our community coming together, said Vennie Gore, senior vice president for Student Life & Engagement. This truly is a university building.

Renderings for the project show the future multicultural center will feature multipurpose space, a living room, offices, an amphitheater, porch, backyard and fire circle. It will be constructed in what is now protected green space, which required trustees to also grant a variance to the University Zoning Ordinance.

A 50-point plan to fight racism that MSU released in 1989 in the wake of protests by Black students included opening a multicultural center. It wasnt until 1999 that the university finally brought a multicultural center to campus. But, it was located in the basement of the MSU Union and students argued that the location didnt make it a visible part of campus.

In the early 2010s, members of the Council of Racial and Ethnic Students and Black Students Alliance President Mario Lemons organized rallies and marches across campus to bring awareness to the basement space that students said failed to meet the needs of underrepresented communities of students, according to the MSU Multicultural Center website.

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Former MSU President Lou Anna Simon authorized the multicultural center to move out of the MSU Unions basement and to a new location. Vice President for Student Affairs and Services Denise Maybank and Multicultural Center Director Chen Hernandez worked with students to design a new space, culminating in the multicultural center moving to the second floor of the MSU Union in 2003. It was renamed MOSAIC: The Multicultural Unity Center.

Students continued petitioning and advocating for the construction of a standalone multicultural center in the following years.

Gore and other speakers mentioned students like Miracle Chatman, an MSU alumnus and a former student representative on the planning committee, and Sharron Reed-Davis, former president of the MSU Black Students Alliance, as being instrumental in bringing the multicultural center project to campus.

The view of the site of the newly-approved Michigan State University multicultural center at the corner of Farm and Shaw lanes. Photo: Sunday, Feb, 12, 2023

Associated Students of MSU first passed a bill calling on MSU to build a standalone multicultural center on Feb. 2, 2017, said ASMSU President Jo Kovach, and she applauded the trustees for approving the project.

Today marks a history of MSU standing with students from marginalized communities and providing them a space on campus that is solely theirs, Kovach said. ASMSU is extremely excited for this project to break ground.

Contact Mark Johnson at majohnson2@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ByMarkJohnson.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Michigan State trustees OK construction of long-sought multicultural center
EAST LANSING, Mich.  A gunman killed three people and wounded five others on the campus of Michigan State University before being confronted by police and dying of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said.

The suspect was found off of the East Lansing university's campus, Michigan State University Interim Deputy Police Chief Chris Rozman said, four hours after shootings were reported at Berkey Hall and the MSU Union, a popular hub to eat or study.

The 43-year-old man was confronted by police off campus before killing himself with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Rozman said. His name was not immediately released, but Rozman said he was not a student or employee and had no affiliation with Michigan State.

"This truly has been a nightmare that we are living tonight, but we have remained laser-focused on the safety of our campus, our students, and the surrounding community," Rozman said.

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Motive in Michigan State shooting under investigation

Rozman, the interim deputy police chief, said authorities are investigating why the suspect opened fire at the school.

We have no idea why he came to campus to do this tonight," he said.

5 injured shooting victims hospitalized

Michigan State University police said the five victims injured in the shootings were transported to the E.W. Sparrow Hospital in Lansing.

In an update early Tuesday, Rozman said the five victims remained in critical condition.

Calls rang in from Berkey Hall, then MSU Union

Rozman said authorities received multiple calls of a shooting around 8:18 p.m. at Berkey Hall on the East Lansing campus. Police then immediately responded to a second shooting in "close proximity" to the Michigan State University Union.

"We tended to the victims at both of those scenes, and there was an overwhelming law enforcement response to campus," Rozman said.

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Multiple locations on the campus were cleared and secured as of 10:18 p.m., according to university police. The areas included Brody Hall, Snyder/Phillips Hall, Mason Hall, Abbot Hall, Landon Hall, the MSU Union, and Berkey Hall.

Hundreds of law enforcement officers from local, state, and federal agencies responded to the shooting "in a coordinated effort," Rozman said.

First responders on scene at Michigan State University in East Lansing Monday, Feb. 13, 2023.

Parents say their daughter escaped through a window

Outside Snyder Hall after 9 p.m., Mike and Natalie Papoulias said they sped in their vehicle to the Michigan State University campus from Jackson, Michigan, after receiving a call from their daughter. She reported being in class in Berkey Hall and hearing gunshots.

She told them some students busted out a window and she jumped out, they believe, from the first-floor room.

Their daughter, who they said is a sophomore studying psychology, made it back to her residence hall and was in lockdown Monday night. They hadn't seen her, but they were texting each other.

Her text: "I heard somebody get shot, mom. It's terrifying. I could smell the gunpowder."

 Paul Egan and Darcie Moran, Detroit Free Press

Climbing over each other to escape

Kayal Ghassan, a 19-year-old fisheries and wildlife student, also was eating at Akers when word of the shooting spread, he said. He noticed other students began crowding at the doors.

Students were worried, and panicking, he said. Many were calling their families. Everyone was running in fear," he said. "I saw people climbing over other people,

Ghassan and others ran to a nearby parking lot, where police immediately asked if they saw the suspect and knew what he looked like.

I was fearing for my life, honestly. Ive never experienced something like this, he said.

 Paul Egan and Andrea Sahouri, Detroit Free Press

Students react to shooting: 'I don't think I've ever been this scared'

Ben Finkelstein, a senior, said he was sheltering in place in his room.

"I don't think I've ever been this scared," he said. "I've been listening to the police scanner for an hour."

Finkelstein said he was hiding under a pile of dirty laundry in his first-floor room. He closed all of his blinds and turned off his lights.

"It's far too late for this to be called a wake-up call," he said. "The sad truth is I doubt we're going to be the last. Other than that, I'm praying for everybody."

Aedan Kelley, a junior who lives a half-mile east of campus, said he locked his doors and covered his windows just in case. Sirens were constant, he said, and a helicopter hovered overhead.

Its all very frightening, Kelley said. And then I have all these people texting me wondering if Im OK, which is overwhelming.

Gov. Whitmer calls shooting 'uniquely American problem'

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said she was briefed on the situation on Monday and asked that arms be wrapped around the Spartan community.

After news of the lives lost and the suspect's death was shared, Whitmer released a statement calling her alma mater a special place turned into a site of senseless gun violence.

"Parents across Michigan were on pins and needles calling their kids to check in on them and tell them they love them," Whitmer said. "Certain places are supposed to be about community, learning, or joyelementary schools and college campuses, movie theaters and dance halls, grocery stores and workplaces. They should not be the sites of bloodshed."

She added: This is a uniquely American problem. Too many of us scan rooms for exits when we enter them. We plan who that last text or call would go to. We should not, we cannot, accept living like this. "

Of the Spartans, she added that they'd cry, hold each other a little closer, mourn "the loss of beautiful souls" and pray for those injured.

The East Lansing High School auditorium, where a school board meeting was being held Monday night, was locked down and people were prevented by school officials from leaving for a time. East Lansing Public Schools later canceled classes Tuesday.

The shooting at Michigan State is the latest in what has become a deadly new year in the U.S. Dozens of people have died in mass shootings so far in 2023, most notably in Monterey Park, California, where 11 people were killed as they welcomed the Lunar New Year at a popular dance hall.

First responders prepare to sweep Snyder Hall on the campus of Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich., Monday, Feb. 13, 2023.

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY NETWORK: MSU campus shooting: 3 dead and 5 injured; suspect dead
Ukraine's urgent request for western warplanes to boost its war capabilities against Russia poses a host of challenges that make an early delivery of such aircraft unlikely, experts said Thursday.

President Volodymyr Zelensky called on allies Wednesday to provide his country with air power to combat the Russian invasion, in an historic address to the British parliament.

He made the same demand in Paris where he met President Emmanuel Macron later in the day.

"The sooner Ukraine gets long-range heavy weaponry, the sooner our pilots get planes, the sooner this Russian aggression will end and we can return to peace in Europe," he said in Paris.

Modern fighter jets would, experts say, give Ukraine an unprecedented ability to strike behind Russian lines, and to make it harder for Russian bombers to target Ukrainian territory with the current degree of impunity.

Kyiv's request is all the more urgent because Russian forces appear to have begun a major offensive in the eastern region of Lugansk.

"Russian forces have regained the initiative in Ukraine," said researchers at the Institute for the Study of War, a US-based think tank.

Since the start of the war, Western governments have stalled on Zelensky's appeals for aircraft, mostly because they fear that deliveries of ultra-sophisticated warplanes would stoke tensions with nuclear-armed Russia and escalate the conflict.

'Long-term solution'

Experts note that red lines in other areas have already shifted, including the Western opposition to delivering heavy tanks which was dropped in January.

However, for now, Washington will not give Ukraine Lockheed Martin-made F-16s, among the world's most-produced fighter planes.

But the Netherlands, among the United States' European allies to own F-16s and currently in the process of upgrading to the more modern F-35s, said it could send some F-16s to Ukraine.

Others are also softening their stance.

Britain has offered to train Ukrainian fighter pilots, and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's office said Wednesday he had tasked the defence secretary with "investigating what jets we might be able to give".

"But, to be clear, this is a long-term solution rather than a short-term capability," a spokesman said.

French President Emmanuel Macron has said that "nothing is ruled out".

One option would be to send 13 French fighters of the Mirage 2000-C type, built by Dassault, which were recently decommissioned "but still have a bit of potential", said one official close to the air force command who declined to be identified.

But the air force would first need to re-condition the planes, and train Ukrainian pilots who only know how to fly the Soviet-made aircraft that make up their entire air force.

Modern fighter aircraft require about six months of training for experienced pilots, which can be condensed to three months, but not less.

'Complex to maintain'

While a new fleet of Western aircraft would significantly boost Ukraine's capabilities, it alone would not necessarily be a game changer, experts caution.

Planes like the British air force's Typhoon multi-role combat aircraft and the F-16 are designed for operations from relatively smooth runways and not optimised for short-field landings on rough surfaces such as those prevalent in Ukraine, said Justin Bronk at the British Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a defence and security think tank.

To operate either aircraft sustainably, "the Ukrainian air force would have to resurface and possibly extend its runways at key bases," he said.

"But this would then be easily observed by Russian satellites and the bases would be struck by cruise and ballistic missiles."

In addition, the Typhoon is "fairly complex to maintain", Bronk said, requiring a significant number of specialised UK contractors and support equipment in Ukraine itself, which would then also become targets for Russia.

Deliveries would therefore make "little military sense", but they could unlock access to Swedish Gripen planes or F-18s owned by other allies, which are able to operate from makeshift bases requiring minimal logistics, Bronk said.

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South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) on Monday signed into law a bill banning gender-affirming health care for transgender minors, including hormonal treatments and some surgeries.

The bill, which will go into effect on July 1, says that any health care provider in the state who violates the ban risks having their medical license revoked and could face civil action.

South Dakotas kids are our future. With this legislation, we are protecting kids from harmful, permanent medical procedures, Noem said in a statement on Monday. I will always stand up for the next generation of South Dakotans.

The bill reads, A healthcare professional may not, for the purpose of attempting to alter the appearance of, or to validate a minors perception of, the minors sex, if that appearance or perception is inconsistent with the minors sex, knowingly.

H.B. 1080 bans health care providers from prescribing and administering drugs that can delay puberty and bans them from prescribing sex hormones, such as estrogen and testosterone, to those under 18 years old. The ban also includes the prohibition of gender transition surgeries.

Leading medical organizations and child advocacy groups have denounced such measures, saying whats healthiest for transgender children is to raise them in accordance with their gender identity. Conservatives, however, have increasingly seized on anti-transgender policies in recent years as a way to motivate their base.

The move by Noem, who is considered a possible 2024 presidential candidate, was swiftly condemned by LGBTQ advocacy groups.

This ban denies transgender and nonbinary youth crucial support and care. Even in the face of professional guidance from every major medical and mental health association in the country that supports this type of care, politicians are intruding into the private medical decisions best left to transgender young people and their families, said Casey Pick, director of law and policy for The Trevor Project.

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South Dakota is the second state in recent weeks to restrict gender-affirming health care. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) signed a bill last month banning gender-affirming care for minors in the state and defended his decision on Sunday, saying that the bill is about whether we might potentially be harming young people.

Other states have passed similar bills banning gender-affirming care, but some states bans, including Alabama and Arkansas, have been blocked by court orders.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
China Balloon

FBI special agents assigned to the evidence response team process material recovered from the high altitude balloon recovered off the coast of South Carolina, Feb. 9, 2023, at the FBI laboratory in Quantico, Va. Credit - FBI/AP

Ever since Feb. 4, when the U.S. shot down a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina, the military has been in something like skeet-shooting mode, blasting three more unidentified aerial objects out of the sky on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (Feb. 10, 11, and 12). The first of the three, spotted by North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) radar over the northern coast of Alaska was described by fighter pilots as a metallic, cylindrical airship; it was flying at about 40,000 ft.low enough to menace civilian aircraft. How it stayed aloft was not clear.

It could be a gaseous type of balloon inside a structure or it could be some kind of propulsion system, said NORAD commander Gen. Glen VanHerck in a Sunday night news conference, reported by CNN.

The object shot down Saturday, also flying at 40,000 ft. over Canadas Yukon territory, was a more traditional balloon with a metal payload hanging from it. Sundays object, flying at 20,000 ft. and shot down over Lake Huron, was the most mysterious of all, described as octagonal in shape with strings or cables hanging from it. Its means of staying aloft was unclear.

Either way, the shootdowns were both preemptive and unprecedented. I believe this is the first time within the United States or American airspace that NORAD or United States Northern Command has taken kinetic action against an airborne object, said VanHerck.

They also raised troubling questions about just how much hardware is flying around up there, what its origins are, and what its intenthostile and military or scientific and benignmight be. Just how do we distinguish aerial friend from aerial foe, and have we entered a new phase of shooting first at whatever casts a radar shadow and asking questions later about what exactly we destroyed?

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One concern that can be dispelled is that the recent flock of flying objects indicates that the U.S. is under a sudden assault from unknown sources. The fact is, objects like the three shot down over the weekend have been there all along. As the Airforce Technology website explains and as National Security Council spokesman John Kirby explained at a Monday, Feb. 13 briefing, in the wake of the Chinese balloon incursion, NORAD expanded the aperture of its radar coverage, looking not just for high-altitude, high-speed ordnance like missiles or fighter jets, but lower, slower moving objects like balloons and other less hostile aircraft. It was this sensitizing of the systemnot the arrival of new invasive objectsthat resulted in the recent detections.

In light of the Chinese balloon program and this recent incursion into our airspace, Kirby said, the United States and Canada, through NORAD, have been more closely scrutinizing [North American] airspace, including enhancing our radar capabilities, which . . . may at least partly explain the increase in the objects that have been detected.

The most common objects likely to set off NORADs new, lower-threshold tripwire are weather balloonsand there are a lot of them out there. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) operates 92 weather balloon sites across North America and the Pacific Islands69 of which are in the mainland U.S. and 13 of which are in Alaska. Each site launches an average of two balloons a day, one in the morning and one in the early evening.

Sometimes theyll launch them even more frequently if there is dynamic or severe weather, says Marshall Shepherd, director of the atmospheric sciences program at the University of Georgia and past president of the American Meteorological Society. Weather agencies around the globe do this as well because we need that information to feed our weather models.

Weather balloons, unlike the Chinese spy balloons, do not have the ability to maneuver. While they can drift as far as 180 miles, they typically travel only 30 to 35 miles downwind from their launch site, said NOAA spokesperson Susan Buchanan in an email to TIME. They do not hover over a location for an extended time.

Weather balloons typically operate in the troposphere, which extends from 4 to 12 miles up; NASA operates its own balloons to study higher regions of the atmosphere and to test payloads in a near-space environment. Those objects ascend into the stratosphere, which reaches roughly 30 miles above the surface of the Earth.

NASA often refers to these as suborbital platforms, says Shepherd. There are a host of suborbital platforms used in atmospheric research these days.

NASAs suborbital assets are not limited to balloons. The space agency also operates a fleet of drone-type aircraft that reach altitudes of 18 miles and are used for a range of purposes, including agricultural monitoring, telecommunications relays, Earth science studies, and tracking of severe storms.

All of NASAs atmospheric assets could easily be detected by NORADs radar system, though none were among the recently sighted objects.

The private sector too might be contributing to the atmospheric traffic, though at Kirbys Feb. 13 briefing he admitted that the government is only now beginning to look into that possibilityparticularly whether commercial providers may be flying tests of broadband or Wi-Fi platforms. I dont know of any conversations right now, he said, but added: We know that a range of entitiesincluding countries, companies, research, and academic organizationsoperate objects at these altitudes for purposes that are not nefarious at all, including scientific research.

Then too there is always the possibility that some of the shootdowns areor could be in the futurefriendly fire incidents, with the U.S. military blasting its own assets out of the sky, according to Mark Baldwin, professor of climate sciences at the University of Exeter. The U.S. likely has a spy balloon program similar to China, he said in an email to TIME. If so, the balloons will circle the globe many timesso that an individual U.S. balloon could be over the U.S. So if they shoot it down, they have to cover up the fact that it is a U.S. spy balloon.

Nothing in the current circumstances indicates anything quite so cynical, though nothing in the current circumstances has any precedent either, so all explanations for what is causing all the air traffic are at least being consideredexcept for one: extraterrestrials.

I just wanted to make sure we address this, said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre at Mondays briefing. I know there have been questions and concerns about this, but there is noagain, noindication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns.

Added Kirby straightforwardly: I dont think the American people need to worry about aliens, with respect to these craft. Period. I dont think theres any more that needs to be said there.

Plenty more, however, will indeed be said concerning what the craft areif not what they arent. For now, the origin of all but the Chinese spy balloon remains unknown. Questions will continue to be raised until the government, at last, provides some answers.
Ben Ratner

Courtesy Ben Ratner Ben Ratner on the set of "White Noise" in October 2021.

Ohio resident Ben Ratner was excited when he landed a gig as an extra in a Netflix movie about a toxic disaster in October 2021.

But now the 37-year-old father of four  who lives in East Palestine, Ohio, less than a mile from the site of a train derailment that led to a massive toxic chemical spill and forced residents to evacuate  is living out a real-life version of the movie's plot that's continuing to unfold.

"Talk about art imitating life," Ratner  who plays an evacuee in the film adaptation of Don DeLillo's novel White Noise about a freight train explosion that releases deadly toxins into the air  tells PEOPLE.

"This is such a scary situation. And you can just about drive yourself crazy thinking about how uncanny the similarities are between what's happening now and in that movie."

RELATED: 'Catastrophic' Explosion Possible After 150-Car Train Carrying Chemicals Derails in Ohio

With a drone shows portions of a Norfolk and Southern freight train that derailed Friday night in East Palestine, Ohio are still on fire at mid-day Train Derailment Ohio, East Palestine, United States - 04 Feb 2023

Gene J Puskar/AP/Shutterstock

Like nearly half of the residents in the Ohio village of East Palestine (population over 4,700), located about 50 miles from Pittsburgh, the Ratner family's life was upended around 9 p.m. on Feb. 3 when 50 rail cars filled with chemicals and combustible materials ran off the track.

One of those chemicals was vinyl chloride, a toxic flammable gas. And shortly after the derailment, a massive fire erupted, sending enormous clouds of pitch-black smoke into the air, forcing evacuations on both sides of the Ohio-Pennsylvania border.

Two days later officials were so fearful that the rail cars filled with vinyl chloride would explode, potentially sending shrapnel over a mile-wide radius, that they vented the chemical into a trench and burned it.

Ratner  who owns a coffee shop in nearby Salem  along with his wife and kids, spent eight days living with friends, relatives and in an Airbnb property before finally returning home three days after the evacuation order was finally lifted.

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"Once we got back, we did a lot of cleaning and let the house air out, but all those chemicals that burned create byproducts, like hydrochloric acid, in the form of a film that's been left on the surfaces of our homes," says Ratner, who is not only worried about the long-term health impacts of the disaster but fears how it will affect the economy of his community.

RELATED: Missing Radioactive Capsule Found Near Remote Australian Highway: 'Needle in a Haystack'

With a drone shows the continuing cleanup of portions of a Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed Friday night in East Palestine, Ohio Train Derailment Ohio, East Palestine, United States - 09 Feb 2023

Gene J Puskar/AP/Shutterstock

"We still need answers about how to keep our families safe while also maintaining some sort of a regular existence for our kids."

The environmental fallout from the derailment is clearly still unfolding. On Feb. 10  seven days after the disaster  the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sent a letter notifying the Norfolk Southern, the rail line's owner, that three additional hazardous chemicals were in the train cars.

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.

"Approximately 20 rail cars were listed as carrying hazardous materials.butyl acrylate, ethylhexyl acrylate, and ethylene glycol monobutyl ether are known to have been and continue to be released to the air, surface soils, and surface waters," the letter stated.

Not surprisingly, Ratner can no longer stomach watching White Noise. "I went and tried to watch the film a few days ago and couldn't," he admits. "It wasn't something I wanted to be entertained by because for us, it's a real-life situation."
The medium security unit of the Pontiac Correctional Center. It has been a year since approximately 170 inmates were transferred out of MSU to Centralia in the dead of night.

It has now been slightly more than one year since 170 medium security inmates at Pontiac Correctional Center were transferred in the dead of night to Centralia Correctional Center.

There were others who made a move that cold winter night as the Illinois Department of Corrections also ordered inmates at Vandalia Correctional Center to be moved.

Now, one year later, most of the inmates taken on that Feb. 9, 2022, night have yet to return.

The center of the North-South Cellhouse divides medium security from maximum security at Pontiac Correctional Center.

The reasons they left vary depending on what one wants to believe. Steam pipe issues was one that popular at the time. However, there seems to be much more to it, since inmates from Vandalia Correctional Center were also moved.

Initially, there wasn't a reason provided by the Department of Corrections. There were nine legislators  Sen. Jason Barickman (R-51), Sen. Terri Bryant (R-58), Sen. Jason Plummer (R-54), Rep. Tom Bennett (R-106), Rep. Dan Brady (R-105), Rep.Paul Jacobs (R-115), Rep. Charlie Meier (R-108), Rep. Blaine Wilhour (R-107) and Rep. Patrick Windhorst (R-118)  who presented questions for the governor and director to answer.

I don't think anybody knew, State Sen. Tom Bennett said recently. Bennett was the state representative at the time of the initial transfers. There was no COVID protocol used. And then you wondered what the heck was going on. There were all kinds of rumors going around.

The East-West Cellhouse still houses maximum security inmates at Pontiac Correctional Center. There have been concerns about how long the building will be usable.

Buying the theory heating issues was part of the problem, maintenance would have been a stronger reason for making changes. It was also noted that there were issues at the East-West Cellhouse, where a lot of maintenance was needed.

One year later, maintenance still seems to be an issue. AFSCME Local President William Lee pointed out in a recent interview that the building at the medium security unit (MSU) have had minimal maintenance. Lee noted a year ago that DOC (he often refers to DOC as state) tends to let things rot and then say it's too late to fix them.

I haven't seen much effort put into maintaining anything at MSU, Lee said recently. State says they've done winterization but to what extreme is up to debate, in my opinion.

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Lee pointed out that there are still buildings at the farm (another term used locally for the medium security portion of the prison). He said it takes more than minimal maintenance for dealing with the plumbing, buildings and towers. He feels DOC is letting these things go

The facility gets its marching orders from higher up, it's not a failure on the facility's maintenance, Lee said. They're told what to do, when to do it and how much to spend. That all has to be approved. So, it's not like anybody working there is failing anything. It's what they're told not to do. There's a higher level controlling what is maintained and to what level.

My guess is it's going to be the worst condition and eventually be unusable. If you try to move inmates back in there, the state will say, 'it's inoperable.' But they let that happen. It's what we said in the beginning. They let things go, they don't maintain and then they go, 'hey, we can't do that' and they have to close something.

In the past year, inmates were moved out of MSU because of poor conditions, which include the steam pipe issue and staffing issues, according to various people who have spoken to the Daily Leader.

Not all the inmates at the farm were moved south. Some were moved inside the walls of the maximum-security portion of PCC. This created some issues. The inmates were moved into the North portion of the North-South Cellhouse, which runs parallel with Division Street.

In interviews over the last year, Lee said that this created problems because you had MSU correctional officers dealing with their inmates under medium-security rules in a maximum-security facility. MSU inmates received different rights and privileges than those in maximum security.

It doesn't need to be a problem, but the state wasn't worried about that, they just said move them inside, Lee said. He added that anything that happens in the max portion affects the MSU inmates, such as MSU inmates getting locked down in same manner as max when lockdowns take place.

As for maximum security inmates, they are being housed in the South Cellhouse, as well as the East-West Cellhouse. However, not all of the maximum inmates remained at PCC. There were a number of max inmates who were sent to Lawrence Correctional Center, near Lawrenceville.

The Lawrence facility was a medium-security facility that has been changed into a maximum-security facility.

Also over the past year, there have been many incidents that have put staff in the way of trouble. Among these was a stabbing of two correctional officers (one a sergeant) in November.

Lee said that staffing is still getting worse because of retirement, transferring and simply quitting.

Staffing is getting worse, we're still losing people, Lee said. They aren't retaining people. They can claim that they're trying to hire people but they aren't retaining anybody.

One of the theories of moving inmates from MSU to inside the walls was to help offset the stress put on correctional officers and to cut overtime. However, staff is still working overtime and there are still issues between staff and inmates.

It's been a year since the initial and unannounced move under the cover of darkness and there are still issues that are floating around.

This article originally appeared on Pontiac Daily Leader: One year later, inmates still gone, PCC situation unknown
A Point Pleasant nail salon accused of discriminating against a woman who uses a wheelchair has reached a settlement with the U.S. Attorneys Office to resolve the case.

The salon at 3242 Bridge Avenue in the borough was accused of denying services to the woman on May 26, 2021, because she could not transfer on her own into a pedicure chair, according to the settlement. The woman told authorities that she has received service at other salons while remaining in her wheelchair.

USA Nails agreed to adopt and post in a noticeable place a non-discrimination policy, to provide ADA training to current and future staff and to pay $1,000 in damages to the unnamed woman.

This agreement ensures that customers will not be turned away from receiving nail services simply because they happen to have a disability. U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said in a statement.

A man who identified himself as the manager of the business, Vu Nugent, declined comment and directed the call to USA Nails attorneys, which did not immediately respond to a message.

More:Eunice Dwumfour was killed in Sayreville a week ago. Why have authorities remained quiet?

The allegations fall under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, which prohibits discrimination in public places like nail salons.

The settlement effectively ends the risk of a civil complaint being filed against USA Nails, as long as the company remains within compliance, which the U.S. Attorneys Office may review.

This is the third settlement that the U.S. Department of Justice has reached with salons around the country accused of ADA violations.

In June 2021, the DOJ settled with a nail salon in Durham, North Carolina, that refused to serve a person with HIV, the U.S. Attorneys Office said. In June 2022, it did the same with a nail salon in Harahan, Louisiana, that refused to serve someone who couldnt transfer out of a wheelchair, the office said.

Last year, Sellinger created the Civil Rights Division within the U.S. Attorneys Office in Newark's, which focuses solely on enforcing federal civil rights laws, including the ADA.

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Sellinger is urging anyone who believes they may have been a victim of discrimination to file a complaint with the U.S Attorneys Office. Additional information can be found at www.ada.gov/ or by calling the Department of Justice at (800) 514-0301 and (800) 514-0383 (TDD).

Ken Serrano covers crime, breaking news and investigations. Reach him at kserrano@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Point Pleasant nail salon accused of ADA discrimination settles suit
Heres how to prepare before an earthquake hits your home

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The same day as the massive February 2023 earthquake that rocked Turkey and Syria, there was also some rare seismic activity around Buffalo, New York.

Although this might seem connected, Margaret Vinci, the manager of the office of Earthquake Programs at the Caltech Seismological Laboratory in Southern California and USGS lab, which is the home of the Southern portion of the California Integrated Seismic Network, is confident that these same-day quakes on opposite sides of the world are not.

However, Vinci makes it clear that California and the West Coast do have significant seismic risk. When we ask Vinci if any other parts of the U.S. are in danger of earthquakes, she mentions the central U.S. and the New Madrid fault.

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The New Madrid fault touches a few states, like Missouri, Tennessee, and Arkansas with the most territory. This [region] had a rupture in the 1800s, where the Mississippi River ran backwards.

Vinci emphasizes that its good practice to familiarize yourself with earthquake safety no matter where you live. Dont think its not going to happen to you, she says. History shows us it just might.

So, do you know how to prepare for an earthquake? Consider this.

Best practices for earthquake safety

Immediate action

When you get an early warning alert or you feel shaking, you want to drop, cover, and hold on. Make sure that you are protecting your head.

Drop to the ground immediately, before the shaking starts and throws you off your feet, says Vinci. Crawl and get underneath something to protect you from falling objects, hold on to whatever youre under, because if its a table or its a chair its going to walk away from you.

If this isnt possible, then try to get next to an interior wall, not an exterior one.

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In an earthquake, the roof goes up and the walls fall out, she explains. Get down on the ground, and make yourself as small as possible. Put your hand over your head and neck to protect those places. Find an area where youre not near glass and youre not near doors.

Then stay there until the shaking stops.

Contrary to what you may think you know, Vince cautions, Do not go into a door frame.

She explains that in older times, when buildings collapsed, often the door frame was the last part standing. However, buildings are no longer constructed this way. Taking shelter in a door frame could expose you to rolling debris like fire extinguishers.

When leaving your home, look around and up to ensure that you arent near a chimney that could fall down. Falling debris and heavy objects from rooftops is a common danger in quakes and aftershocks, even after the shaking stops.

Lastly, do not flick on and off your light fixtures, says Vinci. Gas leaks are a real concern after earthquakes. Visit Earthquake Country to familiarize yourself with what to do in the hours and days after a disaster.

How to prepare before an earthquake

Practicing drop cover and running earthquake drills from time to time is essential. If you live in an area thats prone to earthquakes, its important to prep your home, too.

Anything thats over six feet tall needs to be secured to the wall, so that it doesnt injure people or block an exit, she says. Small objects should be secured with putty.

Vinci says that if a 7.8-magnitude earthquake, like the one in Turkey, were to happen in Southern California, emergency plans would be important.

Be self-sufficient, but be ready to help a neighbor in need.

There is a program called Map Your Neighborhood that teaches people how to work together to be self-sufficient. After a large earthquake, emergency responders may not be able to reach them quickly, from days to a week.

Vinci also recommends considering CERT training or Community Emergency Response Teams, which is FEMA sponsored emergency training thats usually provided through local fire departments.

Emergency supplies to have if you live in an earthquake-prone area

Emergency whistle

A whistle can be a great substitute for a yell or scream if needed.

Vinci says, Always have a whistle. You can blow a whistle a lot longer than you can yell for help.

She recommends keeping one whistle with you everywhere you go. Then spread more emergency whistles around your home, in drawers, or wherever is handy.

A whistle is a straightforward method for letting emergency responders know where you are during a search and rescue effort. Make sure you buy one that can be tucked away in a convenient spot thats easy to access quickly.

$10.89 at Amazon

Water

A back-up water supply is a no-brainer when it comes to emergency necessities.

Not keeping enough water is one of the fastest ways to die in the days after a disaster. Vinci recommends stocking your home with one gallon per person per day for seven to 10 days. Also keep three days worth of water in your emergency grab-and-go pack.

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Large five-gallon jugs are a good pick for your home supply as they can also be refilled. A water filter such as a LifeStraw Family portable filter could also come in handy.

$33.98 at Amazon

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Stocked emergency backpack

A sturdy, heavy-duty backpack will be a handy addition if you need to leave in a hurry.

Vinci recommends keeping one or more fully stocked grab-and-go bags. Leave these grab-and-go bags at home, at work, and in your car. One bag should remain under your bed where its easily accessible for situations that might come up overnight.

For the under-the-bed bag, Vinci recommends that you tie it to the underside of the bed so you can easily grab it without worrying if it has shot across the room.

A school backpack could work, while a more rugged hiking pack will give you more space for your supply kit.

The grab-and-go emergency preparedness kit should be filled with necessities and disaster supplies youll need for a few days. Include eyeglasses, medicines, escape tools, cash, contact information, car keys, extra batteries, matches, food and water, and a change of clothes.

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Hard-soled shoes

If you're trek to safety is a lengthy one, invest in some quality hard-soled shoes, like these from Merrell.

Having hard-soled shoes that you can put on during an earthquake is essential, says Vinci. Keep these sturdy shoes in or tied onto your under-the-bed bag. You dont want to jump out of bed and walk on broken glass.

Choose a rugged pair of hard-soled shoes that will protect your feet as you move around a dangerous environment.

From $74.94 at Amazon

Flashlight

When earthquakes occur, there's also the possibility of a blackout. Just in case, keep headlights or a flashlight on hand.

A flashlight ensures that you wont trip over objects. Vinci recommends keeping your flashlight or a headlamp with your hard-soled shoes in your survival pack under your bed.

Headlamps are the choice when you want more dexterity, as they provide a light and keep your hands free.

$64.95 at B&H Photo

$29.99 at Amazon

Crowbar

Be sure to keep your crowbar compact enough to fit in your go-bag.

A good crowbar can help you navigate out of compromised spaces. Vinci says, I keep a crowbar, so that I can open doors that are jammed shut.

A small crowbar could make all the difference if you get trapped in a disaster. Choose one that fits comfortably in your grab-and-go bag.

$11.99 at Amazon

First aid kit

In the event that you're injured as a result of the earthquake and you need to shelter in place, a first aid kid can stop bleeding or wrap minor sprains.

A first aid kit is a critical item to keep in your grab-and-go bag. This could mean the difference between life and death for you or family members.

Your first aid kit should include gauze and wrap-around bandages, as well as small stick on bandages. Antiseptics, antibiotic ointment, and burn supplies are also great to have.

$26.28 at Amazon

A hard hat

Falling debris is inevitable if the earthquake is severe enough.

Since covering your head is essential during and after an earthquake, Vinci recommends that you keep some type of hard hat with your grab-and-go disaster bag. A bike helmet will work well if you dont want to spring for a classic OSHA hard hat.

Hard hats are important to wear in earthquake zones because aftershocks are common. Heavy objects and rubble can remain loose even after the shaking has stopped.

From $34.99 at Amazon

$47.95 at Amazon

A bivvy bag or emergency blanket

The SOL Emergency Blanket is compact enough to fit in the zipper compartment of any backpack.

To protect from hypothermia, a bivvy bag like the SOL Emergency Bivvy is a great thing to have. The SOL Emergency Blanket is another good option. Either could make the difference on a cold night.

The SOL bivvy is both wind-proof and waterproof. It features a reflective interior coating that's designed to reflect up to 90% of your body heat back to you.

$18.95 at REI

$14.39 at Amazon

Emergency food supply

Be sure to pack foods that are simple, don't require much heat or preparation.

Peanut butter is a cheap, non-perishable food. You can leave it in your grab-and-go pack or your stash of emergency food supplies.

Amys Chili or other non-bpa-lined canned soups also make great picks; they can safely be heated over a campfire right in their can. Portion canned food that is high-calorie and high-protein split between your grab-and-go bags. This offers nutritious warm meals in a disaster situation, wherever you end up.

$36.99 for six at Amazon

$47.76 for 12 at Amazon

A map

Don't rely solely on your phone for traveluse a traditional map like in the old pioneer days.

A good road atlas is important. In a major disaster theres the possibility that cell phone service and the internet will go down.

Keep a road atlas like the National Geographic atlas in your bags, as well as a local map. Familiarize yourself with your city's map before a disaster happens so that youll be prepared.

$22.46 at Amazon

A multi-tool

Leatherman offers you a multi-use tool that does it all.

The Red Cross suggests that you invest in a multi-tool. One like the Leatherman comes with lots of useful blades and tools, including a fire starter.

A multi-tool prepares you for all sorts of situations, from cooking to handling small wounds, to fixing technology. You can even use it to start a campfire to heat your food or keep warm.

$139.95 at Amazon

Hand crank radio

The Midland ER310 is an absolute must if you need to call for emergency rescue services, charge vital medical equipment, or need listen to important information on the radio.

Another Red Cross suggestion is a NOAA hand crank radio like the Midland ER310. These can keep you up to date and charged up in any conditions.

When your power goes down, a hand crank radio can still update you on conditions in your area. Most come with a flashlight built right in.

$59.99 at Amazon

More resources for earthquake safety preparedness

Many people have other specific needs that arent covered on this list. Continue to research natural disaster risks in your area and figure out just what you need.

Vinci recommends Earthquake Country Alliance as a tool for earthquake preparedness. Earthquake Country Alliance was created to bring the Red Cross, FEMA, Los Angeles County, and the cities together to have common and consistent messaging.

The Red Cross also has a good guide on earthquake preparedness.

The product experts at Reviewed have all your shopping needs covered. Follow Reviewed on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok or Flipboard for the latest deals, product reviews, and more.

Prices were accurate at the time this article was published but may change over time.

This article originally appeared on Reviewed: What to do and how to prepare in an earthquake
BRISTOL  Bristol Police Chief Kevin M. Lynch has taken the helm as the incoming president of the Rhode Island Police Chiefs Association

The association installed a new leadership team at a ceremony Jan. 13 at Roger Williams University, where Lynch is an alumnus.

Chief of the Bristol Police Department since 2019, Lynch has a 35-year career in public service, including serving as a commander of the Cranston Police Department and as deputy administrator of the states Public Utilities Commission, according to a news release.

Others inducted into the association's 2023 executive board team are Warwick Police Chief Bradford Connor, as vice president; Woonsocket Chief Thomas F. Oates III, as sergeant-at-arms; Cranston Chief Michael J. Winquist, as secretary; and South Kingstown Police Chief Matthew Moynihan, as treasurer. Former Little Compton Police Chief Sid Wordell will continue to serve as executive director.

Narragansett Chief Sean Corrigan was recognized as the outgoing president during the ceremony.

I was extremely proud to be sworn-in as the president of the Rhode Island Police Chiefs Association, to begin facilitating a fresh platform of goals to meet modern-day policing concepts, Lynch said in a news release from his alma mater. It was truly a spectacular evening for all attendees and the event raised a noteworthy amount of money for Rhode Island Special Olympics. As a dual degree Hawk and member of the faculty at Roger Williams University College, it was truly an honor for my family and the university that I hold in this highest regard.

Lynch earned a bachelors and masters degrees from Roger Williams Universitys Criminal Justice program and teaches in the Criminal Justice program and Policing, Public Safety and Security program at RWUs University College.

University President Ioannis Miaoulis praised Lynch for his work in the field and classroom.

Chief Lynch exemplifies excellence in public-service leadership for Rhode Island and as a role model for our criminal justice students to aspire to, both professionally and in his continued engagement with the university as an alumnus and faculty member, Miaoulis said in a statement.

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Miaoulis expressed gratitude from the Bristol Police Departments close collaboration with the school through its Justice System Training & Research Institute and credited Lynch for his work maintaining safety in the Bristol community.

Established in 1950, the Rhode Island Police Chiefs Association members include more than active and retired police chiefs and associate members from nearly 50 municipal, state and campus agencies in Rhode Island. The organizations stated mission is to promote harmony and trust between law enforcement and the public, to enhance the effectiveness of law enforcement, strengthen public confidence in police, and improve the quality of life in communities its members serve.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Rhode Island Police Chiefs' Association taps Chief Lynch to lead
Missouri scientists will start tagging eagles in the coming months as they study the impact of wind turbines on the United States' national bird.

Missouri Department of Conservation is partnering with Conservation Science Global, Inc. and the Renewable Energy Wildlife Institute on the study, which aims to investigate the potential threat turbines pose to wildlife.

As wind energy becomes more common and wind turbines more prevalent, eagles, other birds and animals have been hurt and killed after crashing into the blades  on average 418 feet long  and hitting air currents around wind turbines, MDC said in an announcement about the study.

The project will focus on eagles in northwest Missouri, near Atchison Renewable Energy Center in Atchison County. The energy center is owned by Ameren Missouri and the project is funded by MDC as a result of a settlement with Ameren on the Atchison Renewable Energy wind facility.

As part of efforts to slow the rate of climate change and transition to a net-zero carbon economy, we expect to see an expansion of wind energy facilities across the country, said Dr. Shilo Felton, Senior Scientist at Renewable Energy Wildlife Institute. Important research like this, tracking eagles in Missouri, helps developers and agencies plan ahead and better manage renewable energy facilities to protect birds and other wildlife.

The research will give scientists and others a better understanding of the collision risks of bald eagles with wind turbines.

We need more species-specific information on how, when, where, and why bald eagles move across the landscape during each stage of their lives, and when, where, and why they may be at risk of negative interactions with wind energy facilities, said Dr. Trish Miller, Executive Director at Conservation Science Global, Inc. Miller is coordinating CSGs involvement in the project.

Two bald eagles sit perched in a tree over a pond near Stella, Mo. in Newton County on Friday, Jan. 28, 2021.

Researchers will capture four adult eagles that nest in the area along with four immature eaglets from other nests to fit them with a GPS tag. Those tags will collect data every five seconds while providing information on location, flight speed, altitude and direction of movement, MDC stated.

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The adult eagles are captured by a team of CSG biologists using bait on the ground and a remote-controlled hoop net. The GPS transmitters are then attached to the birds backs like a backpack and the eagles are released where captured. The biologists also perform a quick health assessment of the birds, take wing and other measurements, and fit the birds with numbered leg bands.

Marking adult bald eagles in NW Missouri with GPS transmitters will not only help us understand their movements in relation to wind energy, but will also help us understand territory size, foraging behavior, and other pertinent life history traits of the expanding Midwest population of bald eagles, said Wildlife Biologist and Lead Trapper Dr. Vince Slabe of CSG.

Tagging of the eaglets will occur in May 2023. CSG biologists will tag the immature eaglets by safely removing them from the nest and immediately returning them after tagging.

For more information on the ongoing project, contact MDC Resource Scientist Janet Haslerig at 573-751-4115 ext. 3198 or email Janet.Haslerig@mdc.mo.gov.

Sara Karnes is an Outdoors Reporter with the Springfield News-Leader. Follow along with her adventures on Twitter and Instagram @Sara_Karnes. Got a story to tell? Email her at skarnes@springfi.gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Scientists will study impact of wind turbines on eagles, birds
One agent. One policy. One deductible. One claims adjuster.

BOSTON, February 14, 2023--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ShoreOne Insurance Managers, Inc. is launching its admitted, residential homeowners policy with full flood insurance protection in Massachusetts. This first-of-its-kind product is already live in New Jersey, New York, and South Carolina. Previously, homeowners with coastal properties had to purchase separate policies and pay separate deductibles. The flood policies were generically priced and did not cover the real cost of replacing the home or temporary living expenses if the homeowner was displaced.

Eastern Massachusetts homeowners became acutely aware of the dangers of flood in the wake of Hurricane Bob as well as increasingly common Noreasters. These events found many without adequate insurance.

ShoreOnes proprietary technology delivers a highly customized policy designed to close this protection gap. Policies are sold exclusively through ShoreOne agency partners. Homeowners will find significantly broader coverage, and in many cases, premium savings compared to their existing insurance.

Nick Steffey, ShoreOne Chief Executive Officer said, "Weve been very pleased by the support from the Division of Insurance in Massachusetts. They, like their counterparts in New Jersey, New York, and South Carolina, have recognized the need for more comprehensive flood solutions for their coastal constituents."

David Robinson, Chief Executive Officer of RogersGray, says, "There is a large coverage gap for coastal homeowners who frequently get inadequate flood coverage. We are pleased to see ShoreOne enter Massachusetts and as a leading coastal agency in this area, we support continued growth in the private flood market."

About ShoreOne Insurance

ShoreOne Insurance Managers, Inc. was founded in 2019 to address the significant coverage gap that flood-exposed coastal homeowners face. Rather than placing the burden on homeowners to piece together coverage for their properties, ShoreOne provides one policy that covers both traditional homeowners perils and flood. ShoreOne policies are distributed through independent insurance agents with strong technical expertise and experience in solving coastal insurance problems. ShoreOne is backed by some of the largest reinsurers in the world who have combined assets in excess of $90 billion. Bringing together experienced leadership, proprietary technology, and a family-friendly way of doing business, ShoreOne is taking better care of coastal homeowners.

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www.shoreoneinsurance.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230214005053/en/

Contacts

Satvinder Dhami  Press@shoreoneinsurance.com

ShoreOne Insurance Managers, Inc.
Stanford University and VinBrain signed a Data Use Agreement to improve the precision of Radiology interpretation using a multi-modal RadGraph Method.

HANOI, VIETNAM --News Direct-- Vingroup

HANOI, VIETNAM  Media OutReach  14 February 2023 - On Jan 12 (PST Time), Mr. Steven Truong, CEO of VinBrain, attended the Data Use Agreement Signing Ceremony at the Stanford campus (Palo Alto, USA) organized by Stanford Center for Artificial Intelligence for Medical and Imaging (AIMI). This ceremony occurred with AIMIs Director, Professor Curtis Langlotz along with other distinguished AIMI leaders, and the VinBrain leadership team.

Signing Ceremony of Data Use Agreement with Stanford University (photo: VinBrain)

To design a state-of-the-art AI-enabled platform for more accurate diagnosis and treatments, a tremendous amount of geographically distributed data, medical images, and patient medical records are required for system training.

Stanford University will share data with VinBrain for model training and testing models to boost efficiency in Radiology reports

The DUA grants Stanford University and VinBrain the collaborative power to improve efficiency in radiology reports and advance AI in healthcare by sharing relevant de-identified data for model training and testing, while tackling complexity, ambiguity, and limitations in medical image interpretation.

Starting with 240,000 anonymized medical images and report pairs provided by Stanford through this DUA,VinBrain will work to improve the accuracy of the RadGraph method through a research collaboration with Stanford to extract clinical entities and relation annotations from a large dataset of full-text radiology reports.

With this strong support from Stanford, VinBrain aims to raise the bar for research on AI solutions by collaborating beyond Vietnam to improve product quality, meanwhile, continuing to add and develop the most massive data source in Vietnam to date, with more than 2.3 million images being analyzed through the DrAid platform so far.

Mr. Steven Truong affirmed: "VinBrain always strictly adheres to data security regulations according to USA standards." He also emphasized that Stanford sharing data with VinBrain demonstrates Stanford's absolute trust in VinBrain's commitment to data privacy and security. The DUA signed with Stanford University is not an overnight result but a long journey of 3+ years of collaboration. This collaboration has produced many research projects together that have achieved desirable clinical outcomes.

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Professor Curtis Langlotz, Director of the Center for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine and Stanford University also expressed his enthusiasms, I remember the first time I met Steven at RSNA Spotlight organized by Stanford near San Francisco Airport. It was the beginning of this wonderful relationship that developed over time. We appreciate VinBrains leadership in research and the capabilities that they have. The speed of work is incredible, and I also appreciate the collaborative spirit of VinBrain. He added, I know that we've done a lot, but there's still a lot more to do. I look forward to continued collaborations. I'm glad we sat down together to sign this Agreement."

This Agreement promises to comprehensively expand cooperation in the next areas of development, strengthen the relationship between VinBrain and the worlds leading University, and take VinBrain further in the research of AI-developed solutions for worldwide patients.

About RadGraph: a novel method introduced by Prof. Pranav Rajpurkar (Harvard University) and Prof. Curtis Langlotz at Stanford. This collaboration works between Stanford University and VinBrain to address complexity, ambiguity, and limitations for interpreting medical images.

About DrAid: a platform of comprehensive artificial intelligence (AI) doctor assistant software developed by VinBrain to assist medical teams and doctors in diagnosing heart, lung, liver, and bone diseases based on digital medical images. The platform is evaluated to have superior efficiency compared to traditional methods in observing and analyzing medical images, helping in reducing overload and improving early detection in diagnosis.

DrAid Radiology V1: An AI-enabled triage and notification software designed to aid the clinical assessment of adult Chest X-ray cases with features suggestive of pneumothorax. This software is FDA 510(K) cleared and apt for the US market.

DrAid Appliance: an AI-enabled system to classify an adult Chest X-ray between normal and nearly 60 abnormal findings with higher-than-average quality standards of primary care physicians

About VinBrain: VinBrain is a leading AI healthcare products company, funded by Vingroup, the largest conglomerate by market capitalization in Vietnam. Its mission is to infuse AI and IoT to improve peoples lives and productivity.

Contact Details

Media Contact

v.chidqd1@vingroup.net

Company Website

https://vinbrain.net

View source version on newsdirect.com: https://newsdirect.com/news/stanford-university-and-vinbrain-to-design-a-state-of-the-art-ai-enabled-platform-to-advance-medical-diagnosis-and-treatments-722293237
The UN denounced Sunday a failure to get desperately needed aid to war-torn regions of Syria, while warning that the death toll of nearly 30,000 from an earthquake that also devastated Turkey could at least double.

A UN convoy with supplies for northwest Syria arrived via Turkey, but the agency's relief chief Martin Griffiths said much more was needed for millions whose homes were destroyed.

"We have so far failed the people in northwest Syria. They rightly feel abandoned. Looking for international help that hasn't arrived," Griffiths said on Twitter.

"My duty and our obligation is to correct this failure as fast as we can."

Aid has been slow to arrive in Syria, where years of conflict have ravaged the healthcare system, and parts of the country remain under the control of rebels battling the government of President Bashar al-Assad, which is under Western sanctions.

The UN convoy of ten trucks crossed into northwest Syria via the Bab al-Hawa border crossing, according to an AFP correspondent, carrying shelter kits including plastic sheeting, ropes and screws and nails, as well as blankets, mattresses and carpets.

Tens of thousands of rescue workers continued to scour flattened neighbourhoods in freezing weather that has deepened the misery of millions now in desperate need of aid.

But security concerns prompted the suspension of some operations, and dozens of people have been arrested for looting or trying to defraud victims in the aftermath of the quake in Turkey, according to state media.

26 million people affected

Miraculous tales of survival still emerged, though experts caution that hopes for finding people alive in the devastation dim with each passing day.

A seven-month-old baby named Hamza was rescued in southern Hatay province more than 140 hours after the quake, while Esma Sultan, 13, was also saved in Gaziantep, state media reported.

At the Vatican, Pope Francis called for "concrete support" for the quake victims, urging people to "think what we can do to help them."

The United Nations has warned that at least 870,000 people urgently need hot meals across Turkey and Syria. In Syria alone, up to 5.3 million people may have been made homeless.

Almost 26 million people have been affected by the earthquake, the World Health Organization (WHO) said as it appealed Saturday for $42.8 million to cope with immediate health needs after dozens of hospitals were damaged.

Turkey's disaster agency said more than 32,000 people from Turkish organisations are working on search-and-rescue efforts, along with 8,294 international rescuers.

But, in many areas, rescue teams said they lacked sensors and other advanced search equipment, meaning they were often reduced to carefully digging through destroyed buildings with shovels or only their hands.

"If we had this kind of equipment, we would have saved hundreds of lives, if not more," said Alaa Moubarak, head of civil defence in Jableh, northwest Syria.

Anger grows

Damascus said it had approved the delivery of humanitarian assistance to quake-hit areas outside its control in Idlib province and a convoy was expected to leave on Sunday, though the delivery was later postponed without explanation.

The transport ministry said 62 aid planes had landed in Syria this week with more on the way in coming days, in particular from Saudi Arabia.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged the Security Council to authorise the opening of new cross-border aid points between Turkey and Syria, with a meeting to discuss Syria possible in the coming days.

Greece's Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias pledged further support as he met with his Turkish counterpart in quake-hit Antakya, putting aside the longstanding rivalry between the two NATO members.

"We do not need to wait for natural disasters to improve our relations," Dendias said.

But after days of grief and anguish, anger in Turkey has been growing over the poor quality of buildings as well as the government's response to the country's worst disaster in nearly a century.

Officials say 12,141 buildings were either destroyed or seriously damaged in the earthquake.

Turkish police reportedly detained 12 people on Saturday, including contractors, over collapsed buildings in the southeastern provinces of Gaziantep and Sanliurfa.

Officials and medics said 24,617 people had died in Turkey and 3,574 in Syria. The confirmed total now stands at 28,191.

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The model and the marsupial met up in Kangaroo Island, Australia, for the 2019 SI Swimsuit Issue.

Hailey Clauson. Josie Clough/Sports Illustrated

SI Swimsuit has a history of transporting its models to far-off destinations where they often cross paths with some of the most exotic animals in the world. Remember when Olivia Culpo posed with a 12-foot-long snake? Or when Anne de Paula was photographed with a wild lion? Well, in 2019, Hailey Clauson lucked out, getting to pose with a precious koala from the Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park in Duncan, Australia. (It's worth noting that she also had to deal with some water buffalo on another SI Swimsuit photo shoot, but we'll save that story for a different time.)

Camille Kostek, Myla Dalbesio and Olivia Culpo also visited the reserve, but Clauson was the only one who was photographed for the issue with a marsupial. Dalbesio posed with a dingo and Culpo with the aforementioned snake. Take a look at more special moments from that photo shoot here.

Hailey Clauson. Josie Clough/Sports Illustrated

The Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park is home to more than 150 species of Australian animals, including koalas, kangaroos, birds and wombats. According to Sam Mitchell, a ranger at the park, it was established in 1992 to care for injured and orphaned animals. The park is open to the public every day of the year and is home to about 700 Australian natives. Mitchell shared that many of the animals at the park were rescued and view the staff as their "mom."

Josie Clough/Sports Illustrated

Josie Clough/Sports Illustrated
Companies Covered in Surveillance Radars Market are BAE Systems Plc (U.K.), Hensoldt AG (Germany), Leonardo S.P.A. (Italy), Honeywell International (U.S.), Lockheed Martin Corporation (U.S.), L3 Harris Technologies Inc. (U.S.), Northrop Grumman Corporation (U.S.), Raytheon Technologies Corporation (U.S.), SAAB AB (Sweden), Thales Group (France) and Other key companies

Pune, India, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global surveillance radars market size was valued at USD 9.13 billion in 2021. The market is projected to grow from USD 10.16 billion in 2022 to USD 20.46 billion by 2029, exhibiting a 10.5% CAGR during the forecast period.

This information is provided by Fortune Business Insights, in its report titled, Surveillance Radars Market, 2022-2029.

Russia-Ukraine War Impact

Russia-Ukraine War Proliferated Procurement of Surveillance Radars Globally

A new approach to defense funding and acquisition has been impacted by the Russian-Ukrainian war. In the wake of events such as the Russia-Ukraine War, numerous nations throughout the world have reviewed their defense expenditure & acquisition plans and made appropriate adjustments. Countries, including Canada, China, Estonia, India, Iraq, Taiwan, and others have prioritized building the necessary infrastructure for the radar business as a result of mounting risks. The confrontation between Russia and Ukraine has therefore sparked a global demand for monitoring radars.

Get a Free Sample Research Report:

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List of Key Players Mentioned in the Report:

BAE Systems Plc (U.K.)

Hensoldt AG (Germany)

Leonardo S.P.A. (Italy)

Honeywell International (U.S.)

Lockheed Martin Corporation (U.S.)

L3 Harris Technologies Inc. (U.S.)

Northrop Grumman Corporation (U.S.)

Raytheon Technologies Corporation (U.S.)

SAAB AB (Sweden)

Thales Group (France)

Report Scope & Segmentation:

Report Coverage Details Forecast Period 2022-2029 Forecast CAGR 10.5% 2029 Value Projection USD 20.46 Billion Base Year 2021 Surveillance Radars Market Size in 2021 USD 9.13 Billion Historical Data 2018-2020 No. of Pages 212 Segments Covered By Platform Analysis, By Radar Type Analysis, By Application Analysis Surveillance Radars Market Growth Drivers Increasing Fleet of Commercial Aircraft and Airports and Demand for Advanced Air Traffic Control (ATC) to Surge the Product Demand

Segments

Space Surveillance Radar Segment to be Fastest Growing due to Technological Advantages

The market is segmented by platform into airborne, ground, space, and naval. In 2021, the ground segment dominated the market by having the largest share.

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Increasing Defense Applications Will Boost Growth of Long Range Surveillance Radar

Based on radar type, the market is divided into short-range surveillance radar, medium range surveillance radar, and long range surveillance radar. The long range surveillance radar segment is expected to be the fastest growing in the forecast period.

Browse Detailed Summary of Research Report with TOC:

https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/surveillance-radars-market-104290

Defense Segment to Hold Dominance in Forecast Years due to Increased Defense Budget

Based on application, the market is divided into commercial, defense, homeland security, and others. The defense segment is projected to grow at the highest CAGR over the period of 2022-2029.

By region, the market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East & Africa, and South America.

Report Coverage:

The report offers valuable insights obtained by a thorough study done by our researchers. Extensive research was conducted to provide the estimated size of the market for surveillance radars. The data used to project the shares for multiple segments at the country, regional, and global levels is obtained from in-depth interviews with numerous stakeholders. Furthermore, we have gained access to several global and regional paid databases to deliver precise information to make business investment decisions easy for you.

Drivers:

Increasing Fleet of Commercial Aircraft and Airports and Demand for Advanced Air Traffic Control (ATC) to Surge the Product Demand

Growing commercial airports and aircraft fleets, together with concerns about reducing carbon emissions through effective traffic management, will drive market expansion. The Indian government has constructed about 18 new airports in the last two years. Additionally, the government of India's Civil Aviation Minister declared that 220 new airports would be built by 2025. As a result, there is a rapidly growing need for airport surveillance radars for aircraft traffic management, command, and control.

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Regional Insights:

Asia Pacific to Lead Backed by Rise in Defense Budget

Due to massive defense budgets of nations such as China, India, and Japan, the Asia Pacific region dominates and is predicted to have the highest surveillance radars market growth. In addition to the defense budget, other issues include border disputes between South and North Korea, China, and Taiwan, India, and China, and India and Pakistan

According to estimates, North America held the second-largest surveillance radars market share. The space segment is expected to grow at the fastest rate in North America.

The third-placed market is Europe, which is anticipated to expand significantly as a result of increased investments from the commercial and defense industries. Increased investment from nations such as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Israel fueled the market expansion for radars in the Middle East & Africa.

Competitive Landscape:

Key Players Sign Significant Contracts to Make Remarkable Changes in the Market

The players operating in the market often employ numerous tactics that will aid the market growth and product demand. Among the pool of strategies, one such notable strategy to expand the business prospect is signing multimillion contracts with government bodies and securing profitable revenue for their own company.

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Detailed Table of Content:

Introduction Research Scope Market Segmentation Research Methodology Definitions and Assumptions

Executive Summary

Market Dynamics Market Drivers Market Restraints Market Opportunities

Key Insights Key Industry Developments  Key Contracts & Agreements, Mergers, Acquisitions and Partnerships Latest Trends Porters Five Forces Analysis Supply Chain Analysis

Quantitative Insights-Impact of Russia-Ukraine War on Surveillance Radar Market Impact of Russia Ukraine War on Surveillance Radar Market Potential Opportunities due to Russia Ukraine War Impact



TOC Continued!

Key Industry Development:

July 2022: On the NAM Atlantico multipurpose aircraft carrier operated by the Brazilian Navy, BAE was given a five-year contract for the ARTISAN radar. The DNA2 Combat Management System (CMS) and ARTISAN radar on NAM Atlantico received lifetime support as part of the contract.

Read Related Insights:

Military Radar Market to Rise USD 22.06 Billion by 2028; Demand for Advanced Radar Technologies to Aid Growth | Fortune Business Insights

Weather Radar Market to Reach USD 261.4 Million by 2027; Increasing Need of Comfortable & Safe Flights to Aid Growth, Says Fortune Business Insights

Military Antenna Market Size to Hit USD 6.61 Billion by 2029 | With 8.76% CAGR

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A group of Tesla workers in New York has sent company chief Elon Musk a letter stating their intention to unionize, according to Bloomberg. It could end up being the first Tesla union if successful, seeing as previous attempts fizzled out before organizers could petition for a vote. The employees involved in the campaign are in charge of labeling data for Tesla's Autopilot technology at the company's Buffalo, New York facility. Bloomberg says the group is asking for better pay, job security and a better work environment that eases the production pressures placed on them.

Workers told the news organization that they've been skipping bathroom breaks, since Tesla keeps a close eye on their every move. Apparently, the company monitors their keystrokes to see how long they spend on each particular task and how much time they spend working per day. They also said that the company shut down an internal chatroom where they can air their grievances, such as the how Tesla handles snow days. It was after that happened that the group started talking about unionizing. They're now planning to distribute Valentine-themed materials at the facility with links to a website where employees can sign union cards.

"We believe unionizing will give us a voice in our workplace that we feel has been ignored to this point," the workers said in a press release on Tuesday that was reported by Reuters. "We are only asking for a seat in the car that we helped build."

The employees are working with Service Employees International Union affiliate Workers United, which unionized Starbucks cafes across the US. While Workers United has a good track record, the group still faces a tough road ahead, considering Elon Musk is known to be a staunch critic of unions. In 2017, he fired back against allegations of poor working conditions at Tesla's Fremont factory and criticized the United Auto Workers (UAW) for inciting the company's workers to unionize. He said UAW's allegiance is in "giant car companies, where the money they take from employees in dues is vastly more than they could ever make from Tesla."

Last year, he also challenged UAW to hold a union vote, claiming that Tesla's (non-unionized) factory workers have the highest compensation in the auto industry. And let's not forget one of his perhaps most infamous tweets regarding unionization. In 2018, he tweeted that there's nothing stopping Tesla's workers from unionizing, but then he added: "why pay union dues [and] give up stock options for nothing?" The NLRB asked Musk to delete his post, deeming it as a threat that employees would be giving up company-paid stock options if they join a union. The tweet in question is still live, and Tesla is still appealing the labor board's ruling.
US Army Pacific Soldiers launch a Thunderhead High- Altitude Balloon System during Balikatan 22 on Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija, Philippines, April 1, 2022. US Army photo by Spc. Darbi Colson/28th Public Affairs Detachment.

A top US general said the US military could use balloons for surveillance in the Middle East.

His comments come after the US downed a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina.

The Pentagon revealed a few days later that China operates a global balloon network.

The US military is considering the use balloons to collect intelligence and track targets in the Middle East, a top US Air Force general said on Monday following revelations that China has built a global network of surveillance balloons, some of which appear to have been spotted previously in the Middle East.

Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, the commander of US Air Forces Central Command (AFCENT), detailed how the US and its partners are able to use sensors to detect and track adversarial aircraft and drones during an event hosted by the Center for New American Security. AFCENT is the air wing of US Central Command (CENTCOM), the area of responsibility for which covers 21 countries in the Middle East and Central and South Asia.

Grynkewich said that although there are gaps in regional coverage, the military is exploring innovative ways to cover any shortcomings  like deploying early warning radars, as well as "non-traditional" approaches.

"Ways that we might do that are long-endurance airborne platforms  could be balloons that we own, that we would like to put sensors on. We're looking at experimenting in that space  we haven't done any of that yet," Grynkewich said.

He said the military is also considering other "high-altitude airborne platforms" that can stay in the sky for a longer period of time than the formidable MQ-9 Reaper drone, which played a significant role for the US in Afghanistan. This system, which is equipped with combat and surveillance capabilities, has an operational ceiling of 50,000 feet and a 27-hour endurance. It can be armed with Hellfire missiles, and has the capability to execute strike missions and gather information.

"We're looking at that as well, and there could be ground systems and a whole list of other things," Grynkewich said.

Story continues

A Thunderhead High-Altitude Balloon System, launched by US Army Pacific Soldiers takes flight during Balikatan 22 on Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija, Philippines, April 1, 2022. US Army photo by Spc. Darbi Colson/28th Public Affairs Detachment.

The general's comments come a little over a week after the US shot down a high-altitude Chinese surveillance balloon that had crossed over the continental US, fueling tensions between Washington and Beijing. A US Air Force F-22 Raptor fired a single AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missile into the balloon on February 4 as it was operating at an altitude of above 60,000 feet, sending the system crashing into waters off the coast of South Carolina.

The Pentagon later revealed that the Chinese balloon is part of a broader global network that Beijing operates. US officials said that the program, which has been active for years, is aimed at collecting intelligence on other militaries and extends across five continents and dozens of countries.

When asked on Monday about the extent to which Chinese balloon are an issue in CENTCOM's area of responsibility, Grynkewich said the military has seen high-altitude balloons in the region before, but that they have "not been a threat." He said "they have not been something of concern for us."

Read the original article on Business Insider
CUMBERLAND  A driver left the scene of one crash on Monday in a car that soon hit another vehicle, killing two people, according to Cumberland police.

A 25-year-old who was at the wheel of the other vehicle in the second crash, Sara J. Laboissonniere, was killed, Cumberland Police Chief Matthew J. Benson said Tuesday in a news release.

Also dying in the second crash was a woman who was in the vehicle that fled the first crash, Benson said, adding that police hadn't yet confirmed her identity.

It was unclear if she was driving the fleeing vehicle or riding in it as a passenger. Benson couldn't be reached immediately for clarification.

The initial hit-and-run crash took place near Pine Swamp Road and West Wrentham Road, the news release said.

Moments later, it said, the fleeing vehicle was involved in a collision about a half-mile away, near 210 Pine Swamp Rd.

"This case is tragic on so many levels," Benson said.

An investigation continues with the help of state police, Benson said. Investigators are waiting from the Office of the Medical Examiner to confirm the identity of the second person killed in the crash.

On Monday, Benson thanked the people who stopped and tried to help the victims of the crash. He also offered "our deepest sympathies to the friends and family of those affected by this tragedy."

He repeated that Tuesday, adding, "Our hearts go out to Sara's loved ones at such a difficult time."

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Police: Crash with two fatalities in Cumberland preceded by hit-and-run.
Space is important to us and that's why we're working to bring you top coverage of the industry and Florida launches. Journalism like this takes time and resources. Please support it with a subscription here.

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NASA and Axiom Space jointly announced Monday the final two crew members of Axiom Space's second private astronaut mission to the International Space Station with SpaceX will be the second and third Saudi citizens to fly to space and the first to visit the ISS, Ali Alqarni and Rayyanah Barnawi.

Barnawi, the first female Saudi astronaut, is a cancer research laboratory technician. Alqarni is a captain and fighter pilot with 12 years of experience in the Saudi air force.

Crew members for the second private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2), left to right: Commander Peggy Whitson, Pilot John Shoffner, and Mission Specialists Ali Alqarni and Rayyanah Barnawi.

Unlike the first Saudi citizen to fly to space, Sultan bin Salman Al Saud, a payload specialist who flew aboard NASA's space shuttle Discovery in 1985, Alqarni and Barnawi are members of the Saudi Space Commission's first-of-its-kind national astronaut program. This makes them government astronauts of Saudi Arabia rather than private citizen spaceflight participants.

According to a release by Axiom Space, it's the "first national astronaut program dedicated to sending Saudi astronauts into space as a contribution to humanitys progress, and in line with the progressive goals of the Kingdoms Vision 2030."

Rocket launch schedule: Upcoming Florida launches and landings

Major milestone:SpaceX test fires massive Super Heavy booster in Texas

Latest launch:SpaceX launches more Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral, skirts Florida coast

A partnership between the Commission and Axiom Space for future flight opportunities was announced in September 2022.

Michael Suffredini, Axiom Space's president & CEO, said in a release, "This partnership highlights Axiom Space's profound commitment to expand human spaceflight opportunities to a larger share of the international community, as well as to multiply scientific and technological development on Earth and in orbit."

Story continues

Who else is part of Ax-2?

The pair join former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, who will lead the mission as commander, and John Shoffner, Ax-2's pilot, and a private spaceflight participant. After gaining approval from NASA, their selection was announced by Axiom Space last month.

Peggy Whitson, Ph.D., Americas most experienced former NASA astronaut and Director of Human Spaceflight at Axiom Space, serves as commander on the Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2), the second all-private astronaut mission to the International Space Station (ISS). During her record-breaking NASA career, she flew on three long-duration space flights and accumulated 665 days in space, more than any other American astronaut or woman astronaut in the world.

Whitson will become the first female commander of a private astronaut mission and add to her standing record of 665 total days in space, the most held by any U.S. astronaut.

After retiring from NASA in 2018, she joined Axiom Space as the company's director of human spaceflight.

Im honored to be heading back to the station for the fourth time, leading this talented Ax-2 crew on their first mission, Whitson said in a NASA release. This is a strong and cohesive team determined to conduct meaningful scientific research in space and inspire a new generation about the benefits of microgravity. Its a testament to the power of science and discovery to unify and build international collaboration.

STEM advocate, business pioneer, and life-long space enthusiast, John Shoffner will serve as pilot for Axiom Spaces Ax-2 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on the SpaceX Dragon. Shoffner currently lives inKnoxville, Tennessee.

Shoffner is a businessman, aviator, and STEM advocate who was born in Alaska and currently resides in Knoxville, Tennessee. He is a veteran pilot with 25 years of airshow experience. According to Axiom Space, he hopes to use the Ax-2 mission "to ignite a passion for STEM education in teachers and students worldwide."

More about the Ax-2 mission

The Ax-2 mission is a joint effort between NASA, Axiom Space, and SpaceX. Later this spring, the crew will launch aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rocket. The short-duration mission to the orbiting outpost is expected to last about ten days. During their time on station, the Ax-2 crew members will spend their time implementing science, outreach, and commercial activities.

According to Axiom Space, training for private missions is conducted in tandem with NASA and SpaceX, which includes a "rigorous training curriculum over many months in preparation to live and conduct meaningful work in space."

The SpaceX Dragon Endeavour crew ship is pictured docked to the Harmony module's space-facing international docking adapter. Endeavour carried four Axiom Mission 1 astronauts, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria, Pilot Larry Connor, and Mission Specialists, Eytan Stibbe and Mark Pathy, to the International Space Station for several days of research, education, and commercial activities.

Ax-2 will take place a little more than a year after Ax-1, the first private astronaut mission to the ISS, which flew three private citizens and former NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria. That mission lasted about 17 days due to unfavorable weather in splashdown zones that delayed the crew's departure. That subsequently caused a delay in the launch date of NASA's SpaceX Crew-4 mission to the ISS.

Axiom Space's Ax-2 mission order with NASA accommodates the crew to stay aboard the space station for up to one additional contingency week. In accordance with NASA's private astronaut mission pricing policy, it also grants Axiom Space rights to NASA services such as "crew supplies, cargo delivery to space, storage, and other in-orbit resources for daily use," according to a NASA statement. In exchange, NASA will receive space aboard Ax-2's Dragon capsule to return science and equipment back to Earth.

In August 2022, following Ax-1, NASA announced that all private astronaut mission providers must select a previously flown NASA astronaut as the spacecraft commander for all future private missions to the ISS. This helps to ensure familiarity with systems and procedures and, according to NASA, the added benefit of "up to 10 hours of the private astronaut mission commanders time during the docked mission to complete NASA science or perform tasks for NASA."

If all stays on track during a very busy crew and cargo traffic schedule to and from the ISS in the first half of the year, the Ax-2 mission is expected to launch from Pad 39-A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida sometime in May.

For the latest, visit floridatoday.com/launchschedule.

Jamie Groh is a space reporter for Florida Today. You can contact her at JGroh@floridatoday.com. Follow her on Twitter at @AlteredJamie.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: First Saudi astronauts to fly on Axiom 2 mission with SpaceX
The F-16 fighter jet sent to shoot down the aerial object over Lake Huron this weekend missed with its first missile, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley confirmed Tuesday.

The first shot missed, second shot hit, Milley told reporters following a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels.

Asked whether the missile miss changes how the U.S. may go about downing the next aerial object over its territory, Milley said officials go to great lengths to make sure that the airspace is clear and the backdrop is clear out to the max effective range of the missile.

He added that the missile landed harmlessly in the water of Lake Huron and was later tracked down.

We made sure that airspace was clear of any commercial civilian or recreational traffic. We do the same thing for the maritime space, so were very, very deliberate in our planning.  Were very, very careful to make sure that those shots are in fact safe, he said.

The U.S. and Canada shot down three unidentified objects over Alaska, Lake Huron and Canadian territory in the last few days, incidents that follow the U.S. downing of a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina earlier this month.

The first of the three newer objects, which was shot down from 40,000 feet over Alaska on Friday, was hit after President Biden gave the order.

The second object was brought down on Saturday in northern Canada after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau green-lit the mission and Biden authorized fighter jets to fly into Canada.

The third object, initially labeled an unidentified aircraft, was downed Sunday over Lake Huron after initially being spotted Saturday in Montana.

The White House on Monday said the uncertainty of the surveillance capabilities of the three objects led to Bidens orders for the military to shoot them all down, and that the administration will establish an interagency team to look into unidentified objects in U.S. airspace.

Story continues

While the U.S. government is currently pulling parts of the Chinese spy balloon from the Atlantic Ocean, Milley said it will be difficult to recover the three recently downed objects as they have all fallen into very difficult terrain.

The second one off the coast of Alaska is something in some really, really difficult terrain in the Arctic Circle with very, very low temperatures in the minus 40s. The second one is in the Canadian Rockies in the Yukon  very difficult to get that one. And third one is in in Lake Huron at probably a couple hundred-feet depth, he explained. Well get them eventually, but its going to take some time to recover those.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
RICHMOND  The Virginia Community College System insists that its suggestion to be considered as a governing body for Richard Bland College was not a pitch to recruit the junior college into its system.

A VCCS spokesperson said Wednesday that comments made by a system official in a subcommittee meeting were intended only to suggest that the state "consider all options" before deciding to grant the two-year college its independence from the College of William & Mary. Susan Pollard, the system's assistant vice chancellor for strategic communications, said VCCS was not opposed to RBC getting its own governing body, but the system's board asked for the study because it considers the community-college system to be the "primary workforce training provider" in Virginia.

"When the bills came up regarding RBC governance and since VCCS is Virginias primary workforce training provider, the board thought it prudent to raise the question about studying the options before a decision impacting Virginians was made," Pollard said.

When asked directly by The Progress-Index if the system was interested in adding Richard Bland to its roster of 23 community colleges, Pollard said the position taken was not a recruitment pitch

"VCCS was only asking for it to be studied," she said. "That is it."

The VCCS position was made known during a House Education subcommittee meeting hearing legislation that would create a 12-member board of visitors for Richard Bland College, severing the last tie it has to William & Mary.

Dr. Ellen Davenport, the associate vice chancellor for public affairs and governmental relations, told the subcommittee that VCCS was not against RBC's independence. However, at its Jan. 18 meeting, the VCCS Board asked that the bill be amended to replace the creation of a new RBC board of visitors with a study of governance options for the junior college, to seek to replace the creation of new board with a study of governance options for Richard Bland "to include the viability and benefits of the State Board for Community Colleges serving as the governing body" for RBC.

Story continues

"There are a number of efficiencies and economies in scale that could be identified and considered if a study is conducted," Davenport said at the meeting.

"Ellen Davenport was only conveying the position of the state board for options of governance to be explored," Pollard said.

Petersburg and the rest of the Tri-City area already are served by Brightpoint Community College in Chesterfield County.

The bill, sponsored by Del. Emily Brewer, R-Isle of Wight County, went through the subcommittee without the requested study, and later was approved by the entire House Education Committee. It still has to be reviewed and approved by the House Appropriations Committee before moving to the House floor.

The House bill's Senate companion, sponsored by GOP Sen. Frank Ruff of Mecklenburg County, was rolled into legislation from Senate Minority Leader Tommy Norment of James City County, whose district includes William & Mary. Ruff's and Brewer's legislative districts include Prince George County where Richard Bland is based.

A Senate Education & Health subcommittee is expected to hear the Ruff-Norment bill early next week.

Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on Twitter at @BAtkinson_PI.

This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: State community colleges say efficiency behind Richard Bland interest
Market Research Future

Vehicle Intelligence System Market Information Report by Vehicle Type (Passenger Cars, Commercial Vehicles), by Road Scene Understanding (RTS, RSD, NVS and others), by Advanced Driver Assistance & Monitoring (ACC, BSP, PA TJA, DMS and others) and Region - Forecast to 2030

New York, US, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to a Comprehensive Research Report by Market Research Future (MRFR),  Vehicle Intelligence System Market Research Report: Information by Advanced Driver Assistance & Monitoring, Region, Road Scene Understanding, and Vehicle Type- Forecast till 2030, the global vehicle intelligence system market is anticipated to show considerable development during the assessment era from 2022 to 2030 at a healthy growth rate of approximately 12.25%. The reports further anticipate the market to attain a substantially larger size of around USD 20110 million by the end of 2030.

Vehicle Intelligence System Market Overview:

Vehicle Intelligence Systems (VIS) is deployed to make sure the safety of the driver, pedestrians, and passengers. VIS examines the vehicle's functioning, avoiding possible danger from other vehicles. Upon the installation of VIS, vehicles exchange information utilizing a two-way communication system. The lanes of the automated highways have a computer-controlled system that informs the drivers of the traffic jam, offers parking assistance, and avoids collisions. Vehicle intelligence systems refer to a wide range of electrical and mechanical components incorporated with a controlling device and receivers so that all information can be collected through the components and observed. It also assists in offering precision functioning of the complete vehicle and improves performance. The global vehicle intelligence system market has demonstrated immense development in recent years. The primary parameter supporting the development of the market is the growing awareness regarding stringent safety regulations.

Competitive Analysis

The catalog for the leading participants across the global vehicle intelligence system market includes companies such as:

Denso Corporation (Japan)

Mobileye NV (Israel)

Delphi Automotive PLC (U.K.)

Infineon Technologies AG (Germany)

Autoliv Inc. (Sweden)

Continental AG (Germany)

Magna International Inc. (Canada)

Wabco Holdings Inc. (Belgium)

Robert Bosch GmbH (Germany)

Valeo S.A. (France)

Among others.





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Furthermore, the escalating demand for luxury cars in developing countries will likely catalyze the market's growth over the review era. Moreover, the growing need for higher safety of passengers and drivers in vehicles and the stringent automobile standards set by governments are also likely to boost the market's development over the review era. In addition, factors such as the rising vehicle production, increasing rate of road accidents, and efficient functioning of the vehicle are also likely to enhance the market performance over the coming years. On the other hand, the absence of knowledge in the aftermarket automotive market and the high cost of integration are anticipated to challenge the market's growth.

Report Scope:

Report Metrics Details Market Size by 2030 20,110 Million USD CAGR during 2022-2030 12.25% CAGR Base Year 2021 Forecast 2022-2030 Report Coverage Revenue Forecast, Competitive Landscape, Growth Factors, and Trends y Market Opportunities Rising vehicle production and increase in the road accidents



Increase in demand for luxury vehicles and rise in automotive manufacturers Key Market Drivers Rise in demand for safety features



Browse In-depth Market Research Report (111 Pages) on Vehicle intelligence System Market:

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Market USP Covered

Market Drivers

The global vehicle intelligence system market has demonstrated immense development in recent years. The primary parameter supporting the development of the market is the growing awareness regarding stringent safety regulations. Furthermore, the escalating demand for luxury cars in developing countries will likely catalyze the market's growth over the review era. Moreover, the growing need for higher safety of passengers and drivers in vehicles and the stringent automobile standards set by governments are also likely to boost the market's development over the review era. In addition, factors such as the rising vehicle production, increasing rate of road accidents, and efficient functioning of the vehicle are also likely to enhance the market performance over the coming years.

Market Restraints

On the other hand, the absence of knowledge in the aftermarket automotive market and the high cost of integration are anticipated to challenge the market's growth.

COVID-19 Impact

The global health hazard in the shape of COVID-19 has had a massive impact on most industry sectors. Considering the rapid spread of the infectious disease, several governments across the globe announced partial or complete lockdowns for quite a long time. Consequently, the industry operations were halted, and some businesses shut down.



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Given the sudden fall in demand for vehicles and travel restrictions imposed, the vehicle intelligence system market faced several unexpected challenges during the pandemic. On the other hand, with the rapid vaccination rates and all the global industrial operations returning to normal, the market is anticipated to experience substantial development over the forecasted timeframe.

Segment Analysis

Among all the types, the anti-lock braking system (ABS) segment is anticipated to hold the top position across the global vehicle intelligence system market over the review era.

Among all the road scene understanding, the road sign detection system segment is predicted to ensure the top spot across the global vehicle intelligence system market over the review era.

Among all the components, the sensors segment is anticipated to secure the top position across the global vehicle intelligence system market over the review era.

Regional Analysis

The global vehicle intelligence system market is analyzed across five major geographies: Latin America, Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East & Africa, and North America.

The MRFR analysis reports suggest that the European region is anticipated to secure the top position across the global vehicle intelligence system market over the coming years. the primary aspect supporting the development of the regional market is the presence of major automotive players across the region. There is a rise in demand for vehicle intelligence systems across nations such as France, Germany, and the U.K. because of the presence of premium and luxury vehicles here.



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The Asia-Pacific regional market for vehicle intelligence systems is anticipated to showcase the maximum growth rate over the review era. China, South Korea, Japan, and India are considered to be the viral market for the growth of these regions, given the rise in demand for luxury vehicles along with the rise in automotive manufacturers are considered to be the crucial aspects causing an upsurge in the market's development.



Related Reports:

Automotive Intelligence Park Assist System Market Research Report: Information by Technology, Component, Vehicle Type, and Region - Global Forecast till 2027

Automotive Artificial Intelligence Market Research Report Information by Technology, by Process, by Application And By Region  Market Forecast Till 2030

Automotive Intelligence Battery Sensor Market Research Report, by Technology, Voltages, Vehicle Type, and Electric Vehicles - Forecast Till 2030

About Market Research Future:

Market Research Future (MRFR) is a global market research company that takes pride in its services, offering a complete and accurate analysis regarding diverse markets and consumers worldwide. Market Research Future has the distinguished objective of providing the optimal quality research and granular research to clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help answer your most important questions.

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Rescue crews on Monday pulled a 40-year-old woman from the wreckage of a building a week after two powerful earthquakes struck, but reports of rescues are coming less often as the time since the quake reaches the limits of the human body's ability to survive without water, especially in sub-freezing temperatures.

The magnitude 7.8 and 7.5 quakes struck nine hours apart in southeastern Turkey and northern Syria on Feb. 6. They killed at least 33,185, with the toll expected to rise considerably as search teams find more bodies, and reduced much of towns and cities inhabited by millions to fragments of concrete and twisted metal.

On Monday rescuers pulled a 40-year-old woman from the wreckage of a 5-story building in the town of Islahiye, in Gaziantep province. The woman, Sibel Kaya, was rescued after spending 170 hours beneath the rubble by a mixed crew that included members of Turkey's coalmine rescue team.

Earlier, a 60-year-woman, Erengul Onder, was also pulled out from the rubble in the town of Besni, in Adiyaman province, by teams from the western city of Manisa.

"We received the news of a miracle from Besni which helped put the fire raging in our hearts a little,'' wrote Manisa's mayor Cengiz Ergun on Twitter.

David Alexander, a professor of emergency planning and management at University College London, agreed, saying the window for pulling people alive from the rubble is "almost at an end.''

But, he said, the odds were not very good to begin with. Many of the buildings were so poorly constructed that they collapsed into very small pieces, leaving very few spaces large enough for people to survive in, Alexander said.

"If a frame building of some kind goes over, generally speaking we do find open spaces in a heap of rubble where we can tunnel in," Alexander said. "Looking at some of these photographs from Turkey and from Syria, there just aren't the spaces.''

Wintery conditions further reduce the window for survival. Temperatures in the region have fallen to minus 6 degrees Celsius (21 degrees Fahrenheit) overnight.

"The typical way the body compensates for hypothermia is shivering _ and shivering requires a lot of calories,'' said Dr. Stephanie Lareau, a professor of emergency medicine at Virginia Tech. "So if somebody's deprived of food for a number of days and exposed to cold temperatures, they're probably going to succumb to hypothermia more rapidly.''

A week after the quakes hit, many people were still without shelter in the streets. Some survivors were still waiting in front of collapsed buildings waiting for the bodies of their loved ones to be retrieved.

Many in Turkey blame faulty construction for the vast devastation, and authorities have begun targeting contractors allegedly linked with buildings that collapsed.

At least 131 people were under investigation for their alleged responsibility in the construction of buildings that failed to withstand the quakes, officials said.

Turkey has introduced construction codes that meet earthquake-engineering standards, but experts say the codes are rarely enforced.

In Syria, U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths said that the international community has failed to provide aid.

Visiting the Turkish-Syrian border Sunday, Griffiths said Syrians are "looking for international help that hasn't arrived.''

"We have so far failed the people in northwest Syria. They rightly feel abandoned,'' he said, adding, "My duty and our obligation is to correct this failure as fast as we can.''

The earthquake death toll in Syria's northwestern rebel-held region has reached 2,166, according to the rescue group the White Helmets. The overall death toll in Syria stood at 3,553 on Saturday, although the 1,387 deaths reported for government-held parts of the country hadn't been updated in days. Turkey's death toll was 29,605 as of Sunday.

In the Syrian capital of Damascus, the head of the World Health Organization warned that the pain will ripple forward, calling the disaster an "unfolding tragedy that's affecting millions.''

"The compounding crises of conflict, COVID, cholera, economic decline, and now the earthquake have taken an unbearable toll,'' Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

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ROMULUS  Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer celebrated Monday Ford Motor Co.'s decision to create a new electric vehicle battery plant in Marshall expected to create 2,500 jobs after Michigan economic development officials approved an investment with an estimated value over $1 billion to land the facility.

"It's thrilling, it's thrilling," Whitmer told reporters following a Ford event at the Ford Ion Park. "I can't imagine if this announcement was happening in another state how wed all be feeling right now."

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, left, and Ford Motor Company CEO Jim Farley, right, take questions from the media following the announcement of the BlueOval Battery Park Michigan to be built in Marshall during a press announcement at Ford Ion Park in Romulus on Monday, February 13, 2023.

While Ford considered locations around the world for the plant, one potential competitor for the deal took itself out of the running. Virginia GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin rejected the potential deal, suggesting that it could pose a security threat because of the involvement of a Chinese company, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd (CATL).

Ford president and CEO Jim Farley said the company was teaming up with CATL  the world's largest battery maker  to quickly scale up its electric vehicle production. Ford executive chairman Bill Ford said that the company will "help us get up to speed so that we can build these batteries ourselves."

State investments in the project include a $210 million grant from the state's Strategic Outreach and Attractive Reserve fund to Ford. The SOAR fund has its origins in a major blow to Michigan's efforts to lead the transition to electric vehicles two years ago when Ford passed over Michigan to build new electric vehicle and battery plants in Kentucky and Tennessee. The fund has since doled out hundreds of millions in taxpayer-funded economic incentives to lure companies that vow to create jobs in Michigan.

More:Ford reveals key details of 950-acre battery plant deal in Marshall

More:GM tops the winners of the Super Bowl ads among automakers

Economic development officials also approved a 15-year tax abatement for Ford with an estimated value of $772 million along with a $36 million loan for the Marshall Area Economic Development Alliance to be repaid using SOAR funds.

Story continues

CATL is not a government-owned enterprise, but some GOP lawmakers have expressed concerns about the use of taxpayer-funded incentives for the Marshall battery plant because of Ford's collaboration with a Chinese-owned company.

Ford Motor Company CEO Jim Farley speaks about the BlueOval Battery Park Michigan to be built in Marshall during a press announcement at Ford Ion Park in Romulus on Monday, February 13, 2023.

State Rep. Andrew Fink, R-Hillsdale, raised such concerns, questioning the company's independence from the Chinese government. "The Chinese government is not an entity that Americans can trust," he said. "It's categorically different than other types of potential partnerships."

Quentin Messer Jr., who heads the state's economic development agency, rejected the criticism.

"Any incentive dollar will be going to a 100% wholly-owned Ford subsidiary. Not a dime will go to a Chinese entity," he said. "By this licensing of technology that Ford is doing, we are bringing this capability to the U.S."

In addition to her efforts to land investments in Michigan's electric vehicle industry, Whitmer also wants to incentivize Michigan drivers to go electric.

In her state budget recommendations she recently unveiled for the next fiscal year, Whitmer proposed a temporary sales tax cut for electric vehicle purchases. Under the proposal, those buying electric vehicles would see a tax cut on the first $40,000 of the purchase, saving up to $2,400 in taxes, according to the governors budget presentation.

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: Whitmer celebrates Ford battery plant in Michigan
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi visits China

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is welcomed by Chinese President Xi Jinping with an official ceremony in Beijing, China on Feb. 14, 2023. Credit - Iranian Presidency / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Irans President Ebrahim Raisi met Chinas leader Xi Jinping Tuesday as part of a three-day visit to help implement a 25-year cooperation alliance between the two nations, at a time when both countries are facing pressure from Western countries over a range of issues.

The high profile visitmade at the invitation of Xiis Raisis first state visit to the East Asian nation, and the first of any Iranian President in 20 years.

The two leaders have only met once before in September at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Uzbekistan. In 2021, the year Raisi took office, the two countries signed a 25-year strategic cooperation pact, and they signed a number of bilateral cooperation documents Tuesday, according to Chinese state media.

Raisi arrived alongside the new central bank governor, as well as six members of his cabinet including ministers who focus on the economy, petroleum, foreign affairs, trade, transport and urban development, and agriculture.

Iran has faced sanctions over its nuclear program and criticism for providing drones to Russia. Meanwhile, U.S.-China ties deteriorated earlier this month after Washington spotted an alleged Chinese spy balloon within U.S. airspace and later shot it down.

Below, what to know about the growing relationship between Iran and China.

What does Ebrahim Raisis rare state visit represent?

We are in the middle of a momentous reordering of world politics. As such, new alliance patterns are emerging and strengthening, says Arshin Adib-Moghaddam, a professor of politics and international studies at Londons School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and author of What is Iran?

The Iran-China link must be seen as a part of this new constellation, adds Adib-Moghaddam.

Story continues

More from TIME

Read More: Why a New Iranian Nuclear Deal Still Seems Unlikely

Both countries have faced scrutiny over their stance on Russias invasion of Ukraine almost a year ago. Russia and China are both members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a Eurasian political, economic, and security organization. The body, which formed in 2001 as the Shanghai Five, brought together Russia, China, and ex-Soviet states in Central Asia. It expanded in 2017 to include India and Pakistan. In September last year, Iran signed a memorandum to join the organization. The group aims to operate as a counterweight to Western influence and is the worlds largest regional organization.

What agreements will likely be reached between Iran and China?

Implementing the 25-year strategic cooperation pact is expected to feature prominently. The pact is aimed at seeing China invest billions of dollars in Irans oil and gas sectors, in exchange for supplies.

China is already Irans largest trading partner but invested just $162 million in the first year of Raisis presidency. Still, China remains Irans largest trading partner. According to data recorded by Iranian customs for the first 10 months of the current Iranian calendar yearwhich ends in MarchTehrans exports to Beijing are worth $12.6 billion, while it imported $12.7 billion worth of goods from China.

Additionally, regional issues such as Russias war in Ukraine and the 2015 Iran nuclear deal with world powers, of which China is a signatory, are expected to be discussed. The nuclear talks remain deadlocked but Irans chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Bagheri Kani, is among the Iranian delegation visiting China. The sanctions are a major impediment to developing new contracts and projects as part of the 25-year cooperation pact.

Also on the agenda is Irans relations with Arab governments. At the end of last year, Tehran summoned Chinas ambassador in Iran after Beijing joined the Gulf Cooperation Council in issuing a statement that questioned Irans territorial claims in the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran expressed strong dissatisfaction during the visit. While some may expect the issue to be discussed in Beijing, Arshin Adib-Moghaddam thinks it will be strategically avoided.

He said that the nations will likely keep the GCC factor out of their bilateral relationship, as they are aware that their interests do not have to align on every geopolitical theater.
Crime and Courts Reporter

Donald W. Meyers is a multimedia journalist at the Yakima Herald-Republic covering crime and courts. He is also the writer behind It Happened Here, a weekly history column. Before coming to Yakima, Meyers covered a wide variety of beats at The Salt Lake Tribune, Daily Herald, and daily and weekly newspapers across New Jersey. He is also a member of the Society of Professional Journalists, serving as a regional officer in the organization as well as on the national Freedom of Information Committee.
A Saudi Arabian plane carrying aid to quake-hit Syria landed in second city Aleppo Tuesday -- the first in more than a decade of war, a transport ministry official told AFP.

Planeloads of foreign aid have landed in Syria since a 7.8-magnitude quake struck the war-torn country and neighbouring Turkey killing more than 35,000 people.

"This is the first plane from Saudi Arabia to land on Syrian territory in more than 10 years," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not allowed to speak to the press.

The Saudi plane landed at Aleppo International Airport carrying 35 tonnes of food aid, state news agency SANA reported.

Two more Saudi planes are scheduled to land Wednesday and Thursday, another transport ministry official, Suleiman Khalil, told AFP.

The last such flight landed in Syria in February 2012.

After more than a decade of war, President Bashar al-Assad's government remains a pariah in the West, complicating international efforts to assist those affected by the quake.

The Arab League suspended Syria in 2011 and some Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, have severed ties.

Saudi Arabia broke off relations with President Bashar al-Assad's government in 2012 and backed rebels in earlier stages of the war.

Riyadh has pledged aid to both rebel-held and government-controlled areas of the country.

On Saturday, it sent a first aid convoy of 11 trucks to rebel-held northwestern Syria, loaded with 104 tonnes of food and tarpaulins, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said.

There was no direct contact with the Assad government, an official at King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre told AFP earlier.

More than 3,600 people have been killed by the quake in Syria alone, according to the government and emergency services in the rebel-held northwest.

The mostly government-controlled province of Aleppo was badly hit, with more than 200,000 people left homeless, according to the World Health Organization.

Since 2011, the conflict in Syria has killed nearly half a million people and forced around half of the country's pre-war population from their homes, with many taking refuge in Turkey.

Even before Monday's earthquake, the majority of the population was in need of humanitarian assistance. The latest disaster has only piled on more misery.

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Budapest police have taken into custody two German citizens, an Italian and a Hungarian, who they suspect of carrying out attacks in the capital in the past few days using telescopic stun batons and knuckle dusters.

Police suspect that 10-15 people have carried out violent attacks in public spaces in Budapest lately, possibly as part of a gang. In four attacks carried out by eight people, eight were injured, three seriously, Bela Nyerges, the head of BRFKs investigations unit, told a press conference on Monday.



In an attack on Thursday, Polish tourists were beaten, two of whom suffered serious injuries.A German couple were also attacked, while a single male was also beaten in a separate attack and suffered serious injuries.



The police are investigating whether the attacks were linked, he added.



The investigations revealed that the victims were all wearing camouflage or black clothes and some of them boots, Nyerges said, adding that the perpetrators, half of them women, had kept tabs on them.



Nyerges said the German and Italian suspects were refusing to cooperate or communicate with detectives, while a Hungarian woman denied any involvement in the attacks.



Nyerges did not confirm press reports that the perpetrators were members or sympathisers of radical left-wing international movements who had arrived in Budapest to confront participants of a far-right commemoration marking the anniversary of the Nazi breakout of the Castle District during the siege of Budapest on Feb. 11, 1945.



A court decision regarding whether to place the four suspects in pre-trial detention is expected on Tuesday, he said.



Photo courtesy: police.hu
Gas production has started at a hydrocarbon field in south-east Hungary, and the drilling of a second well will start in the coming days, the energy ministry said.

Research, development and production at the field near Sarkad was conducted by a consortium led by state-owned MVM, the statement said.



The project is part of the governments efforts to strengthen Hungarys energy sovereignty and supply security, the ministry said.



The ministry is planning to increase domestic production to 2 billion cubic meters from 1.5 billion, it said.



The ministry noted that gas consumption dropped by 17% during last years energy crisis.



The role of sustainable resources is growing in Hungary, but gas will remain an important complementary resource to weather-dependent energy production, it said.
Far-left and far-right gangs were reported to have attacked random individuals in Budapest after an 11 February anniversary rally to commemorate the 1945 attempt of encircled German and Hungarian soldiers to break out of Budapest.

On Saturday, far-right activists gathered to mark the anniversary of the attempt to break out of the Soviet siege of Budapest encircled by Russian troops.



The event was also attended by left-wing antifascist protesters. After the rally, a group of antifa activists including foreign individuals brutally attacked a person in Budapest.



Four of the perpetrators have already been arrested by the police. According to media reports, far-right gangs also attacked random Hungarians.



In Magyar Nemzet, Laszlo Szentesi Zold is confident that the Hungarian authorities will do their job and defend Hungarians and maintain public order from left-wing extremism.



He contrasts Hungarian police to police in Germany where he claims far-left violence is tolerated by the police.



The pro-government commentator suspects that the antifa attacks were intended as a provocation.



Szentesi Zold concludes by suggesting that while the Left constantly fears neo-Nazi violence, it was the international and Hungarian left-wing who actually attacked Hungarians in Budapest.



This opinion does not necessarily represent the views of XpatLoop.com or the publisher.

Your opinions are welcome too - for editorial review before possible publication online.

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From Marriott Hotels: Our hearts are with all those impacted by the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.

Marriott International encourages Marriott Bonvoy members to consider joining the company in supporting humanitarian organizations responding on the ground.



Through the Marriott Disaster Relief Fund, Marriott International is providing financial resources to four organizations working on the ground in Turkey and Syria: World Central Kitchen, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the International Rescue Committee, and UNICEF.



There is a huge commitment from the Marriott branded properties in Hungary also, as part of the well-known "You Eat We Give" relief campaign, DNB Budapest, (Budapest Marriott Hotel), Oleo Pazzo Mediterranean Bistro, (Courtyard by Marriott Budapest City Center), Bistorant Kecskemet, (Four Points by Sheraton Kecskemet) Ottimo, (The Ritz-Carlton, Budapest) and Spago by Wolfgang Puck restaurant, (Matild Palace, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Budapest) are also participating in the fundraising.



Between 10 February and 10 March 2023, a donation of 1 for every meal consumed will be made to the international World Central Kitchen, whose relief team works with local Turkish organizations to assist with food distribution and delivery on the ground.



The other half will be donated to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, whose volunteers are risking their lives to help in the relief effort. Their teams are helping with food and basic relief supplies, tents, blankets, and psychological support in the affected regions.



We are counting on your kind support- lets help together.
This is part of a series of in-depth interviews with some surprising members of the community, written by Marion Merrick.

Foreigners the world over may find they feel happier in their adoptive countries than they did in their homelands. The explanations are various: from climate to culture, and from work opportunities to a personal rapport with the locals.



Pianist Hiroko Ishimoto would certainly subscribe to such an explanation to account for the fact of having made her home in Budapest over the past twenty years.



Originally from Sapporo, Japan, Hiroko began piano lessons with a family acquaintance before she was five. I can say now that my teacher was abusing her students, recalls Hiroko, with words, with hitting  I had to accept that. It was horrible. Her moods would swingthat was typical of Japanese education at that time. And I didnt fit into the traditional girls role. Most piano students were girls, the daughters of professional parents, and you had to be obedient. I studied with that teacher until I was 18 and then I went to Tokyo.



Hiroko cites her unusually open-minded doctor father, to whom she was very close, as a primary influence on her unconventional attitudes and outlook on life.



Yet lessons with a new teacher at Tokyos Toho School of Music were no improvement. She was even worse! I hated the piano  no, I hated her, not the piano. I loved concerts, symphonies, just nothing related to my piano playing.



It was around this time that Hiroko first came across a Hungarian musician. My first contact with Hungary was the pianist Andre Watts, an African-American pianist with a Hungarian mother, she recalls, and his playing was just FAN-TAS-TIC!



Hirokos family had Japanese friends in New York and before long they began to encourage her to audition for the Julliard school. Yet, Japanese etiquette precluded the insult of leaving ones teacher. You hide, you tell lies, its too disrespectful to leave, she explains. So, my mother pretended I had run off to New York!  which is exactly what she did.



Hiroko still remembers the warnings of fellow Japanese musicians in New York, telling her it would take time to acclimatise to the levels of violence: Every day there was some gun shooting  you heard it; after 8pm I stayed at home. But her abiding memory of her arrival in America is the Easter parade on 5th Avenue, It was such fun, so open, so free!



Following her successful audition to the Juilliard school, Hiroko was fortunate enough to be accepted to study with Gyorgy Sandor, a giant of the piano world and a close friend of Bartok. It was he who gave the first performance of Bartoks third concerto at Carnegie Hall in 1946.



I was very much influenced by Gyorgy Sandor, remembers Hiroko. He was fantastic; he had temperament, like many Hungarians. Through him I came to like Bartok and Kodaly and Hungarian music. And later, after Id left America, I went back to New York for a month every summer  I needed that to be myself  so I met him every year.



When I finished at the Julliard, I stayed in New York as a freelance musician; I was in New York for nine years, until 1989. Then my old school, Toho in Tokyo, asked me to teach back there. I was tired of New York at that time  but I was stupid, I should have stayed there, she sighs.



Hirokos return to Japan, following almost a decade in America, came as a profound culture shock. If she had failed to fit the mould as a child and student, the intervening years in New York had further exacerbated the friction.



In the first year I had recurring bouts of fever. Society in Japan panicked me  I think a womans life in Japan is quite bad, like an Arab womans, she explains.



I met a lot of international musicians in Tokyo, and I felt more comfortable talking to them than to Japanese musicians. I was sort of broken, you know; things came to a head, I had both professional and personal difficulties.



It was at this juncture that Hiroko came into contact with the Womens Action Network (WAN)  a feminist organisation, mainly supported by professional women like Hiroko herself. I try not to be loud or pushy, but I have strong feelings about this, she says.



Hiroko attended meetings which deeply affected her. Listening to the other women talking I thought: I should do something based on women and music. Then I thought: what about if I play women composers? This music is universal  I started with Fanny Mendelssohn, Clara Schumann, Amy Beach from America, Tatyana Nikolayeva. This became my main job, because theyre fantastic pieces and theyre forgotten, neglected.



Hiroko was awarded a grant by the Womens Action Network enabling her to give a series of six concerts in various Japanese cities, which was repeated another year. I suddenly got recognition for this music, she says.



In 2002, however, Hiroko decided to move to Europe and continue to develop her playing by taking lessons with Jeno Jando, Ferenc Rados and Gabor Eckhardt at Budapests Liszt Academy. I knew what I had to develop in myself, she explains.



Hirokos exploration of the works of women composers led to her recording a

CD Pioneers with Naxos records, in 2020  sadly, just as Covid was emerging,

meaning that the associated concert performances of the works had to be abandoned.

However, the concert initially planned for 2020 featuring pieces from the CD, took

place in April 2022, following which it was also played in Tokyo and other cities in

Japan.





Hiroko is now following up this first concert with a second  fittingly to take place on International Womens day, March 8th at 7pm, at the Marczibanyi ter Cultural Centre, and will showcase pieces from her CD.



Hirokos recordings form a part of Three Centuries of Women Composers featured on Youtube. She has been championing works by composers Margaret Bonds, Cecile Chaminade and Alicia Terzian  initiating a Youtube series that she will be adding to on a regular basis.



Japanese expats in Hungary number under two thousand, and Hiroko finds few she can relate to easily. Assessing her life in Budapest as she approaches her twenty-year anniversary, she says, I wouldnt say I love everything in Hungary but I feel comfortable here, I feel I can be myself in a way I couldnt in Tokyo; there its very rigid, you mustnt speak up, you have to be the same as everyone else. Here, I feel a freedom to be myself.



Tickets for Hiroko Ishimotos concert on March 8th at 7pm, at Marczibanyi Cultural centre may be purchased online here or at the concert venue.



Marion Merrick is author of Now You See It, Now You Dont and House of Cards and the website Budapest Retro.
All eyes are on the 109 km long Ahmedabad-Dholera Expressway following the opening of phase one of the eagerly anticipated Delhi-Mumbai Expressway. By January 2024, India's first high-speed multimodal corridor that connects the country's road and rail networks should be finished.

Dholera, which was a sleepy town in Gujarat till not long ago, is now being developed as India`s first greenfield smart city. It has been planned in a manner that the new smart city will be connected through all modes of transport-roads, metro, port, and airport.

Also read: New-gen Hyundai Verna Teaser is Out, Pre-bookings Open in India: Top 5 Things to Expect

Dholera, now part of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), has already caught the attention of investors. A new state-of-the-art airport which is 80 km away from Ahmedabad is also coming up. This will ease traffic at the already congested Ahmedabad airport.

Apart from the Ahmedabad Dholera Expressway, the over 1220 km long Amritsar- Jamnagar Expressway will be another highlight point. Once completed, it will be the country`s second longest expressway connecting four states: Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Gujarat along with key economic towns as well as refineries which include Amritsar, Bhatinda, Bikaner, Sangaria, Sanchore, Samakhiyali and Jamnagar along the stretch. `Construction work for this is going on as per plan. A stretch will be ready for use as well` a person familiar with the project told India Narrative.

But Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his team have taken it on war footing to upgrade and improve the country`s infrastructure. A host of expressways crisscrossing the states across the country are coming up, changing the contours of India while boosting connectivity.

The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is the biggest project undertaken by the National Highway Authority of India, connecting the national capital with the country`s financial capital will be vital as the country presses the pedal on economic growth rate.

Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari under whose aegis the expressway has come said that said `drone ports` much like heliports could also be developed on the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway.

Multimodal connectivity under the mega plan PM Gati Shakti is one of the key focus areas for the Modi government. The aim is to provide last-mile connectivity, which in turn will ease the movement of people as well as goods.

The multi-trillion PM Gati Shakti infrastructure programme launched has caught the attention of several global investors, especially after Apple decided to start manufacturing iPhone 14 in India. A host of multinational companies are monitoring the progress of the Gati Shakti as the government resets its focus on reviving economic growth.

With IANS Inputs
The United Arab Emirates pick to lead the upcoming COP28 climate talks in Dubai called on the world Tuesday to "fight climate change, not each other,'' directly addressing the anger activists have felt over his selection.

Sultan al-Jaber, the CEO of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., also described the upcoming United Nations negotiations as an ``unprecedented opportunity to engage the energy industry in a technological revolution.''

His speech at the World Government Summit in Dubai sought to present his nominated presidency as a bridge between oil companies and climate activists long suspicious of the industry's influence on efforts to limit carbon emissions. Whether it will, however, remains in question.

"We need a major course correction,'' al-Jaber said.

However, he added: "The strategies we pursue must leave no one behind. The policies we adopt must be pro-growth and pro-climate at the same time.''

The speech renewed criticism among activists of al-Jaber's nomination to shepherd the climate talks.

African youth climate activist Eric Njuguna from Kenya termed the remarks `'dismissive of valid and merited concerns brought forth by climate activists.``

He called on the U.N. body overseeing the talks to install a conflict of interest policy that checks the influence that oil and gas firms have on the climate talks owing to their ``long history of skewing and watering down important climate decisions.

Al-Jaber, a 49-year-old longtime climate envoy, is a trusted confidant of UAE leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

He's been behind tens of billions of dollars spent or pledged toward renewable energy - and also leads an oil company that pumps some 4 million barrels of crude a day and hopes to expand to 5 million daily.

That oil money fuels the ambitions of this federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula - as well as the production of more of the heat-trapping carbon dioxide that the U.N. negotiations hope to limit.

Activists have equated his nomination to asking ``arms dealers to lead peace talks'' when authorities announced his nomination in January. However, U.S. climate envoy John Kerry and France's finance minister both have backed his selection by the UAE, a key Mideast ally.

The UAE also wants to be carbon neutral by 2050 - a target that remains difficult to assess and one that authorities haven't fully explained how they'll reach.

"There are moments in history when humanity comes together to fight a common threat. Let's prove to ourselves that we can do it once again,1" al-Jaber said. "Let's put our differences aside. Fight climate change, not each other.''

Al-Jaber's speech, which included portions he previously delivered in January, also acknowledged that "capital is critical to make the loss-and-damage fund real and operational.''

That fund agreed to at the COP27 talks in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, did not include a means by which to fund them. Al-Jaber's speech also didn't offer a suggestion on how to raise the money.

However, he did call for ``real reform of international financial institutions and multilateral banks'' to lower the lending risk and provide more private financing for ``vulnerable communities.''

Al-Jaber called on the world to triple its renewable energy capacity, as well as expand nuclear power, improve battery storage, and provide carbon-capture technology. He also drew applause from the largely Emirati audience by defending the OPEC-member nation hosting the climate talks.

``We in the UAE are not shying away from the energy transition,'' al-Jaber said. ``We are running towards it.''

Each year, the country hosting the U.N. negotiations known as the Conference of the Parties - where COP gets its name - nominates a person to chair the talks. Hosts typically pick a veteran diplomat as the talks can be difficult to steer between competing nations and their interests.

The nominee's position as ``COP president'' is confirmed by delegates at the start of the talks, usually without objections. However, activists' ire over al-Jaber's selection could see a turbulent start to the negotiations.

Amnesty International on Monday reiterated a call for al-Jaber to resign as president-designate and criticized plans by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.'s drilling arm to pump more oil as it saw record profits last quarter.

"Sultan al-Jaber cannot be an honest broker for climate talks when the company he leads is planning to cause more climate damage," Amnesty's Marta Schaaf said in a statement.

"It is obvious, despite Sultan al-Jaber's denials, that his dual role is a glaring conflict of interest which will contribute to further climate disaster and unfolding human rights violations.''

COP28 will be held at Dubai's Expo City from Nov. 30 through Dec. 12.

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Aero India 2023's "India Pavilion" will be anchored by a full-scale Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas in final operating clearance (FOC) configuration. On Monday, the fighter jets executed a number of manoeuvres, including the show-off, take-off, hesitation roll, and vertical pinchback. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who on Monday opened the international airshow, praised the manoeuvres.

According to sources, Argentina and Malaysia have evinced interest in importing the LCA Tejas MK 1A, a product of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). LCA Tejas is a single-engine, lightweight, highly agile, multi-role supersonic fighter aircraft. It has a quadruplex digital fly-by-wire Flight Control System (FCS) with associated advanced flight control laws.

Also read: United Airlines Flight Averts Massive Plane Crash After Terrifying Take Off From Maui, Probe Initiated

The aircraft with a delta wing is designed for `air combat` and `offensive air support` with `reconnaissance` and `anti-ship` as its secondary roles. Extensive use of advanced composites in the airframe gives a high strength to its weight ratio, long fatigue life, and low radar signatures.

Tejas is equipped with state-of-the-art features like a glass cockpit, zero-zero ejection seat, inflight refueling probe, jam-proof AESA radar, UEWS with SPJ, CMDS, HMDS DashV, BVR missile capability, and many more which make the aircraft more lethal.

The LCA has come a long way in terms of development and is presently available in Air Force fighter and twin-seater and LCA Navy fighter and twin-seater variants. Other variants like LCA LIFT (Lead in fighter trainer) and MK-2 are being developed for LCA Tejas.

LCA Tejas Unique Qualities:

One of the smallest and lightest aircraft in its class; excellent flight safety record; available in all four variants to meet customers` needs.

Composite constitute 90 percent by area and 45 percent by weight; supersonic at all altitudes with minimalistic RCS; quad-redundant fly-by-wire aircraft.

Payload carrying capacity up to 30 percent of AUW (all up weight); open architecture enables customised weapon integration; maintenance-friendly with low operating cost.

The 14th edition of Aero India will have a separate `India Pavilion`, which is based on the `fixed wing platform` theme to showcase India`s growth in the area, including the future prospects for the same.

The India Pavilion will also showcase the growth of India in developing an eco-system for fixed-wing platforms which includes the demonstration of various structural modules, simulators, systems (LRUs), etc. of LCA Tejas aircraft being produced by private partners.

There will also be a section for defence space, new technologies, and a UAV section which will give an insight into the growth of India in each sector. LCA Tejas is seen as the biggest achievement of HAL and is expected to put Indian defence capabilities on a global map.

With IANS Inputs
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited took the covers of the scale model of Hindustan Lead in Fighter trainer (HLFT-42) at the Aero India 2023. The aircraft created a lot of buzz at the show as it is the 'Next Gern Supersonic Trainer' to be developed in India and will be crucial for modern aircraft combat training. However, besides the aircraft's capabilities, another thing that attracted the visitors' attention was the picture of Lord Hanuman on the vertical fin of the scale model. Which was present at the unveiling time but has now been removed from the aircraft's fin.

The picture of Lord Hanuman on the tail of the HLFT-42 aircraft signified its origin and its relation to its predecessors. It is to be noted that the HLFT-42 is the successor of the HAL Marut, which was the first aircraft developed in India. The name of the aircraft 'Marut' means wind or 'Pawan', which relates to Lord Hanuman's name. Hence, the picture of the Lord is on the tail of the scale model.

Also read: Aero India 2023: Argentina, Malaysia Show Interest in India-Made LCA Tejas Fighter Jet

The plane will fill the gap between the Mig-21 and Hawk-132 Subsonic Trainer, which are currently used to educate pilots in supersonic technology.

The scale models of the Indian Multi-Role Helicopter (IMRH), next-generation HLFT-42, LCA Mk 2 and Hindustan Turbo-shaft Engine-1200, RUAV helicopter, and Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) trainer are this year's Aero India highlights in the HAL indoor pavilion.

The 14th edition of Aero India will provide India with a stage to showcase its equipment, aircraft, and technologies and to forge partnerships with other countries. On the same lines, the HAL stated that it will promote indigenously-built platforms to visiting defence delegations and arrange business meetings with original equipment manufacturers and customers.

More than 80 nations participated in Aero India 2023. Aero India 2023 is expected to draw 65 CEOs of foreign and Indian OEMs as well as ministers from about 30 different nations.

The Aero India 2023 event featured over 800 defence companies, including 700 Indian companies and over 100 foreign ones. At the event, Indian MSMEs and start-ups will showcase the creation of specialised technologies as well as the expansion of their country's aerospace and defence capabilities.
Air India, the Tata-owned airline has placed a massive deal of 470 aircrafts with French planemaker Airbus and US-based aircraft maker Boeing. The order is one of the largest for any airline in the world and is estimated to be worth USD 80 billion (over Rs 6.40 lakh crore). Under the agreement with the plane makers, Air India will buy both narrow-body and wide-body planes. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi described Air India-Airbus transaction as a "landmark deal", US President Joe Biden hailed the agreement as "historic".

Air India will buy 250 aircrafts from European aviation major Airbus, and 220 planes from US aircraft maker Boeing under separate deals. This is also the first time in more than 17 years that Air India, which was acquired from the government by Tata Group in January 2022, has ordered planes. According to Air India, the first of the new aircraft will enter service in late 2023 and the bulk of the planes are to arrive from mid-2025 onwards. A350 will be utilised for ultra-long haul.

Tata-owned @airindiain to acquire 250 Airbus aircraft

- A350 aircraft of choice for Air Indias renaissance in long haul travel

- A320 Family consolidates its leading position in India https://t.co/QMiEYKySHx pic.twitter.com/fmudPWBLuP  Airbus Newsroom (@AirbusPRESS) February 14, 2023

Air India-Airbus Deal

Under the deal with Airbus, Air India will buy 250 aircrafts and the order comprises of 40 Airbus A350 wide body plane, as well as 210 Airbus A320/321 Neos single aisle narrow body planes. The A350 aircraft will be powered by Rolls-Royce engines, while the single-aisle aircraft will be powered by engines from CFM International, Air India said in a statement.

The announcement of the aircraft purchase deal with Airbus was made at an online event that was attended by Modi, French President Emmanuel Macron, Union ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia and Piyush Goyal, Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran, Tata Group patriarch Ratan Tata, Air India CEO Campbell Wilson and Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury.

Macron said Air India's deal with Airbus for the acquisition of 250 aircraft was one of the milestones of the in-depth strategic and friendly partnership between India and France.

.@airindiain is #ReadyForMore! Congratulations on your selection of 190 737 MAXs, including 737-8 and 737-10, 20 787-9 #Dreamliner(s), and 10 777-9s.



With options for 70 more Boeing jets, you are well on your way. pic.twitter.com/UIfYU1tB6m  Boeing Airplanes (@BoeingAirplanes) February 14, 2023

Air India-Boeing Deal

As per the agreement with Boeing, Air India will get 220 planes, with 20 Boeing 787s wide body plane, 10 Boeing 777-9s wide-body aircraft, and 190 Boeing 737 MAX single-aisle aircraft. The Boeing 777/787s will be powered by the engines from GE Aerospace.

In an announcement, the White House said Boeing and Air India have reached an agreement under which the airline will purchase 220 planes from Boeing -- 190 B737 MAX, 20 B787, and 10 B777X -- for USD 34 billion. There will be an option to buy 70 more aircraft that could take the total transaction value to USD 45.9 billion.

Modi and President Biden welcomed the announcement of the landmark agreement between Air India and Boeing as a "shining example of mutually beneficial cooperation that will help create new employment opportunities in both countries", according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).

In a message to Air India staff, CEO Campbell Wilson said "The firm part of the order alone is not just the largest order ever made by an Indian airline, it is one of the largest single aircraft orders by any airline, anywhere, ever, and testifies to India's unique combination of extraordinary scale and growth opportunity."

Tata Sons and Air India Chairman N Chandrasekaran said the orders are an important step in realising Air India's ambition, articulated in its Vihaan.AI transformation programme, to offer a world-class proposition serving global travellers with an Indian heart. "These new aircraft will modernise the airline's fleet and onboard product, and dramatically expand its global network".

Addressing a virtual meeting with President @EmmanuelMacron on agreement between Air India and Airbus. https://t.co/PHT1S7Gh5b  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 14, 2023

Air India-Rolls Royce Deal

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hailed a multi-billion-pound deal by Airbus and Rolls-Royce to supply new aircraft to Air India as a landmark moment for the country's aerospace sector and reiterated his commitment to continue building ties with India.

In a tweet, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said the historic agreement between Air India and Airbus is a testimony to the growing importance of civil aviation.

Air India, earlier under the ownership of the government, had acquired new aircraft more than 17 years ago.

The airline's last order was for 111 planes -- 68 from Boeing and 43 from Airbus -- and that deal was worth USD 10.8 billion. The order was placed in 2005.

With PTI inputs
WASHINGTON: Air India will purchase 220 planes from Boeing for USD 34 billion, with an option to buy 70 more aircraft that could take the total transaction value to USD 45.9 billion, a deal that US President Joe Biden described as a "historic agreement". While announcing the Boeing-Air India deal on Tuesday, Biden also asserted that together with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he was looking forward to deepen the ties between India and the US.

As per an announcement from the White House, Boeing and Air India have reached an agreement under which the airline will purchase 190 B737 MAX, 20 B787, and 10 B777X for a total of 220 firm order valued at USD 34 billion at list price.

The deal will also include customer options for an additional 50 Boeing 737 MAX and 20 Boeing 787, totalling 290 airplanes for a total of USD 45.9 billion at list price.

"I am proud to announce today the purchase of over 200 American-made aircraft through a historic agreement between Air India and Boeing," Biden said.

The Air India order is Boeing's third biggest sale ever in dollar value and second in terms of number of planes.

This purchase will support over one million American jobs across 44 states, and many will not require a four-year college degree, Biden said, adding that this announcement also reflects the strength of the US-India economic partnership.

"Together with Prime Minister Modi, I look forward to deepening our partnership even further as we continue to confront shared global challenges -- creating a more secure and prosperous future for all of our citizens," Biden said.

This announcement follows the inaugural launch of the US-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) last month. The initiative is aimed at expanding the strategic technology partnership and defense industrial cooperation between the governments, businesses, and universities of the two countries.

Biden and Modi announced the iCET in May 2022.

Biden's economic plan is about building an economy from the bottom up and the middle out, and revitalising American manufacturing, the White House said.

Over the course of production and delivery, the agreement will have USD 70 billion in total economic impact across the United States and support an estimated 1.47 million direct and indirect jobs.

The production of the aircraft supports three separate US-based manufacturing lines that include aerospace suppliers across 44 different states, the White House said.
Federal investigators are looking for more details regarding an incident when a United Airlines plane descended after takeoff from Hawaii to within around 800 feet (250 metres) of the ocean's surface. According to United, the pilots are receiving further training. Data from tracking service Flightradar24 shows that the Boeing 777 descended more than 1,400 feet (470 metres) before beginning to rise once more. After that, the flight made its way to San Francisco. There were no reported injuries.

A spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board said Monday that the investigative agency is still seeking information about the Dec.18 incident, which only recently came to public attention after a report in The Air Current, an aviation-industry publication.

Also read: World's Most Advanced F-35 Fighter Jet Makes Debut at Aero India 2023

The Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees airlines, said the United crew reported the incident under a voluntary safety-reporting programme. The FAA said it reviewed the incident and took appropriate action" without providing further details.

United said it worked with the FAA and the pilots' union on an investigation that led to additional training for the two pilots, which is still going on. The airline did not explain why the pilots chose to continue the long, overwater flight to San Francisco instead of returning to Kahului Airport on the island of Maui.

With PTI Inputs
Vistara, a joint venture of Tata group and Singapore Airlines, commenced services to Goas Manohar International Airport (New Goa International Airport) starting February 14, 2023. Vistara will connect the new Goa Airport to Bengaluru with direct daily flights, along with 6x weekly flights to and from Mumbai. Vistara already flies to Dabolim Airport (Goa International Airport) from Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.

Starting today, Flight UK 511 will fly from the Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru daily at 1105 hrs and will reach Manohar International Airport (GOX) at 1230 hrs. From the Mopa airport, Flight UK512 will fly 6 days on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday at 1700 hrs and will reach Kempegowda International Airport (BLR) at 1820 hrs.

On Wednesday, Flight UK 512 will fly from Manohar International Airport (GOX) at 1305 hrs and will reach Kempegowda International Airport (BLR) at 1425 hrs. As for the CSMI Airport (BOM), the Flight UK 513 will fly 6 days on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday at 1510 hrs and reaches Manohar International Airport (GOX) at 1625 hrs.

From the Manohar International Airport (GOX), the Flight UK 514 will fly 6 days on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday at 1305 hrs and will reach CSMI Airport (BOM) at 1425 hrs.

Vinod Kannan, Chief Executive Officer, Vistara, said, At Vistara, we remain committed to offering better connectivity to our customers by densifying our domestic network. The commencement of our operations at the Manohar International Airport will enhance our footprint in Goa and will enable us to better facilitate the growing traffic. We are certain that customers looking for direct connectivity to North Goa will appreciate the option of flying Indias most loved airline.
New Delhi: Apollo Hospitals Enterprise on Tuesday said its consolidated profit after tax declined by 33 percent to Rs 153 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2022. The healthcare provider had posted a Profit After Tax (PAT) of Rs 228 crore in the October-December period of last fiscal.

Revenues rose to Rs 4,264 crore in the period under review from Rs 3,639 crore in the October-December period of 2021-22, growth of 19 percent, Apollo Hospitals said in a statement. (Also Read: "I'm Officially Leaving Twitter Now": Users When Elon Musk Posted Sexist Image on Twitter)

The company's board, which met on Tuesday, announced an interim dividend of Rs 6 per share amounting to a pay-out of Rs 86 crore.

As on December 31, 2022, Apollo Hospitals had 7,855 operating beds across the network.

The new hospitals have a utilisation of over 62 percent and are expected to witness double-digit growth in volumes and improvement in utilisation and profitability going forward, it added.

Shares of the company on Tuesday ended 2.05 per cent lower at Rs 4,265.75 apiece on the BSE.
For all lovebirds out there, the D-day has arrived! It's Valentine's Day today. Every year, on February 14, Valentine's Day is celebrated when people express their love for each other. While it need not be only romantic love, needless to say, romance gets precedence and there's a festive spirit in the air. While it originated as a Christian feast day honouring early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine, it has in popular culture become a significant cultural, religious, and commercial celebration of romance and love. So while you gear up to celebrate the day with your beloved, start the day with a beautiful wish and tell your partner how much you love them. If you have been waiting for the opportunity to express your love the first time, today again can be the perfect day.

Valentine's Day 2023: Romantic Wishes to Share With Your Beloved

Without you I am nothing, with you I am everything. Thank you for being my everything. Happy Valentine's Day, Love!

Darling, you take my breath away, every single day. Happy Valentine's Day!

I love you more than pizza! Happy Valentines Day to the most special person in my life.

I have read many books on love, seen many films on love, but I only understood its meaning when I met you.

You are my best friend, my partner, and my soulmate. I love you.

The more time we spend together, the more I fall in love with you. Happy Valentine's Day!

To the most amazing woman who I am lucky enough to call my wife. Happy Valentine's Day!

I would choose you again and again. Happy Valentine's Day to the man of my dreams.

Every love song is about you. Happy Valentine's Day!

I never liked Valentine's Day, and then I met you and I understood what it was all about.

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone.
New Delhi: The country's wheat production is expected to touch a new record of 112.18 million tonnes in the 2022-23 crop year (July-June), according to the agriculture ministry's latest estimate. Wheat production had declined marginally to 107.74 million tonnes in the previous year due to heat waves in some states. The previous record in wheat production was 109.59 million tonnes in 2020-21 crop year.

Wheat is a major rabi crop. As per the second estimate of foodgrain production released by the agriculture ministry, wheat production is estimated to be 112.18 million tonnes in the 2022-23 crop year, higher by 4.40 million tonnes from the previous year. (Also Read: "I'm Officially Leaving Twitter Now": Users When Elon Musk Posted Sexist Image on Twitter)

The total area planted with wheat crop has risen by only 1.39 lakh hectares to 343.23 lakh hectares (ha) in the rabi season of the 2022-23 crop year (July-June) from the year-ago period, but the crop yields are expected to be better due to good weather conditions. (Also Read: Good News for Loan Borrowers! THIS Public Bank Reduces Lending Rate by 15 bps)

Wheat has already started arriving in Madhya Pradesh, one of the major wheat-growing states in the country. Total foodgrain production is also estimated to touch a record of 323.55 million tonnes in the 2022-23 crop year, higher by 7.93 million tonnes from the previous year.
Switch Mobility Ltd delivered the first batch of Switch EiV 22 vehicles to BEST in Mumbai, the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport. This initial shipment is a part of BEST's purchase of 200 electric double-decker buses. BEST has operated double-decker buses more frequently than any other company in India for more than 70 years.

EiV 22 is Indias first and unique electric double-decker air-conditioned bus designed, developed, and manufactured in India, utilizing the companys global electric bus experience. Switch EiV 22 is equipped with the latest technology, ultra-modern design, the highest safety, and best-in-class comfort features.

Also read: Hyundai Ioniq 5 First Drive Review: Is it the Best Premium Electric Car in India?

Mr. Mahesh Babu, Chief Executive Officer of Switch Mobility Ltd, said, Switch is committed to its vision of democratizing zero-carbon mobility, through innovative, technologically advanced products like the Switch EiV 22, Indias first electric double-decker that was launched in August 2022. Today, we are delighted and proud to deliver the first of the 200 electric double-deckers to BEST. The Switch EiV 22 will carry forward the legacy of double-deckers in Mumbai, in this decade and beyond, and further enhance the sustainable footprint that BEST has embarked upon in recent times. With superior customer comfort and customer delight, we are certain that Switch EiV 22 will transform public transport in Mumbai, and bring back many iconic, fond memories for Mumbaikars.

Mr. Lokesh Chandra, General Manager  of Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport, said Its a historic moment for BEST to induct Indias first AC, electric double-decker bus in its fleet. Fulfilling the vision of green and clean mobility of Honble PM Shri Narendra Modiji, procurement of these buses is done under the National Clean Air Program (NCAP). Under the guidance of Honble CM Shri Eknath Shindeji and Honble DCM Shri Devendra Fadanvisji to make Public Bus Transport in Mumbai at par with global standards, these electric double-decker AC buses will provide a world-class travel experience to Mumbaikars. Fitted with live tracking devices, CCTV cameras, and panic buttons for women's safety, these buses will be 100% digital with a Tap-in Tap-out facility and will run on 100% green (solar energy).

The Switch electric double-decker has a lightweight aluminum body construction with advanced architecture and can ferry nearly twice the number of seated passengers as a comparable single-decker bus with just an 18% increase in kerb weight.

With contemporary styling and feel-good interiors and exteriors, the electric double-decker boasts wide front and rear doors, two staircases, and an emergency door complying with the latest safety standards.

The AC offers effective cooling in Indias hot climatic conditions, while the optimized seating for 65 passengers is the maximum number of seats to be offered in the given footprint. Each seat has a lightweight cushion and the interiors come with car-like comfort for passenger convenience. This state-of-the-art electric double-decker serves as an ideal solution for urban commuting, as they occupy less road, terminal, and depot floor space per seated passenger.

Powering Switch EiV 22 is a 231 kWh capacity, 2-string, liquid-cooled, higher density NMC chemistry battery pack with a dual gun charging system. This enables the electric double-decker to have a range of up to 250 km for intra-city applications.
Aisha Fahmy Palace

1 Aziz Abaza St, Zamalek, Tel 02 2735 8211

The Complex of Arts

An exhibition of drawings and paintings by Ahmed Nawwar tracing his art career since the 1960s until today (20 February- 20 April).



Access Art Space

Downtown

The Legend, a photo exhibition honors the memory of legendary photographer Farouk Ibrahim, organized by Photopia as part of the 3rd edition of the Cairo Photo Week, unveiling exclusive photos to be displayed for the very first time. In addition to the World Press Photo 2022 exhibition, SARD III, curated by Photopia (Egypt & North Africa), Challenging Times (on climate change), curated by Olfa Fiki, Magnificent Raw: Commercial Photography Before the Digital Era, by Khaled Eldash, Surreal City video art, solo exhibitions by Nelly El-Sharkawy and Salma El-Kashef, Divaz of Arabia fashion photography exhibition by Amr Ezzeddin and Group, Grain II exhibition, curated by Photopia, Impressions exhibition by IFE, and Denis Dailleuxs Misr, curated by Tintera Art, When We Eat, curated by Hoda El-Sherif (closing18 February).



American University in Cairo

New Cairo Campus, Abdul Latif Jameel Hall, Plaza Level, Tel 02 2615 3318

The Photographic Gallery

The Photographic Gallery organizes an exhibition of the best in visual journalism for 2022 as part of the 16th edition of Egypts Press Photo annual competition. Egypt Press Photo is a renowned annual competition of national photojournalism organized by the Syndicate of Journalists and run by the Photojournalists Collective. The exhibition showcases 40 of the best-winning projects of contemporary photojournalism produced by 35 local Egyptian photojournalists (16 February-23 March).

Sharjah Art Gallery

Graphic Design Open Studio: Senior Show Exhibition, the open studio is a collective show of diverse graphic design students' work over the past semesters (19 February- 9 March, open daily from 9am-4pm, closed in weekends).



Cairo Opera Complex

Gezira Exhibition Grounds, Zamalek

Salah Taher gallery

Tel 02 2739 0132/0144

Exhibition of oil paintings by Nora Soliman (18-23 February).

Music Library (Ziad Bakir) gallery

Oil paintings by Mustafa El-Dokhaly (18-23 February).



Cordoba

3A, Degla St, off Furat St, Mohandessein, Tel 01111 665868

The Fall of Adam exhibition of paintings by Asmaa Khoury marks the 20th anniversary of Cordoba gallery (8-28 February).



Dai

24 Hassan Assem St, off Brazil, Zamalek, Tel 0100 1115433

Female Beauty, exhibition of paintings by Emad Abdel-Wahab

(closing 22 February).



Ebdaa

23 B Ismail Mohamed St, Zamalek, Tel 02 2736 6239/0100 2155702

A retrospective exhibition by artist Abdel-Ghaffar Shedid

(29 January- 2 March).



Gezira Arts Centre

1 Al-Sheikh Al-Marsafi St, Zamalek, Tel 02 2737 3298

Glow of 80 Years, paintings by Esmat Dawestashy (12-23 February).



Italian/Egyptian Centre for Restoration and Antiquities (CIERA)

31 Al Suyuffeya St, Al Helmeya, Cairo, visitors are welcomed by appointments so contact the manager Mr. Salah Ramadan 0100 8716067

Architectural complex of the Mevlevi Dervish Samaa Khana, Restorations and Restorers permanent exhibition of the activities of the working/formation sites for the restoration and recovery of the monuments. Visitors are welcomed during the opening hours determined by the Ministry of Antiquities.



Karim Francis

1 Al-Sherifein St, 3rd St right off Kasr Al-Nile St, Downtown, Tel 0100 667 4823

Memory Flow exhibition of paintings by Mustafa El-Husseiny

(7 February-9 March).



Mashrabia Gallery of Contemporary Art

10 Mahmoud Bassiouny St, Qasr Al-Nile, Downtown, 6th floor, Tel 02 25750353 /0100 1704554

My Favorite Things 7 is an inclusive annual group exhibition promoting and supporting up and coming women artists in Egypt. Its main aim is to guarantee for women to have a permanent and safe space, for exposure and free expression, maintaining a high artistic quality based on originality and innovative thought. This years selection includes around 20 female artists, most of them participating for the first time. Their contributions give the viewer a refreshing idea about what is contemporary art now in Egypt (closing 20 February).



National Museum of Egyptian Civilization Virtual exhibition Experiencing Heritage  A Digital Bridge between Egypt and Italy, an immersive experience on Italian and Egyptian cultural heritage, combining three different digitization models (360 digitization - 2D digital animation - 3D interactive virtual reality), aiming to enhance and promote the importance of Italys cultural heritage, through an unprecedented virtual journey that allows viewers to visit some of the most prestigious cultural sites in Italy and Egypt (14 - 27 February).



Picasso

30 Hassan Assem off Brazil St, Zamalek, Tel 02 2736 7544

Hall I

Exhibition of press illustrations and other works by Attyat Sayed

(7-27 February).

Hall II

Painting exhibition by El-Dessouki Fahmy (7-27 February).



Wahba

34 Yehia Ibrahim St, Zamalek, Tel 0100 2269547 Stories from the Memory exhibition of paintings by Mohamed Abdel-Monsef (closing 20 February).





Zamalek Art gallery

11 Brazil St, Zamalek, Tel 02 2735 1240

Cosmos Flower is an exhibition of paintings by Carelle Homsy calling for the return to nature and to its celebration, as well as a restoration of its balance and harmony, accommodating all living things equally; whether plant, animal or human (closing 26 February).

ALEXANDRIA

Bibliotheca Alexandrina

Chatby, Alexandria 21526, Tel (03) 4839999

Archeological Museum

A permanent exhibition on the results of the Archaeological Mission of the University of Turin in Nelson Island.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 16 February, 2023 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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Srinagar: Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) for Kashmir Zone Vijay Kumar stated that eight of the 19 terrorists engaged in the Pulwama attack had been killed, seven had been captured, and four others, including three Pakistanis, were still at large on Tuesday. "7-8 local JeM terrorists have been killed, and 5-6 Pakistani terrorists, including Musa Sulemani, who are active in Pulwama, will be eliminated shortly. For the past six months, JeM has expanded its recruitment efforts. They will not be allowed to flourish in J&K presently. Currently, there are 37 active terrorists in Kashmir. No new terrorists recruited in Srinagar," he added.

According to the media reports, "He said they are busting militant modules, especially they are after narco-terrorism and terror funding. "We have been able to recover Rs 41 lakh and recently in Baramulla, Rs 26 lakh have been recovered," he said while replying to a query.

He also said, "the cases registered against OGWs involved in such activities are being disposed of at a rapid pace. "The number of such cases have reduced from 1600 in October last year to 950 at present and 13 convictions have also been made so far," he added.

"We have been able to recover Rs 41 lakh and recently in Baramulla, Rs 26 lakh was recovered," he said.He also said the cases registered against OGWs (over-ground workers) involved in such activities are being disposed of at a rapid pace. "The number of such cases has reduced from 1.600 in October last year to 950 at present and 13 convictions have also been made so far."He further said a total of 37 local militants are presently active and only two of them -- Farooq Nalli and Riyaz Chatri -- are old while the rest have joined recently.

On this day in 2019, at least 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel lost their lives after a suicide bomber rammed a car laden with explosives into the security force convoy.Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed had claimed responsibility for the attack.

Further, he said, "the module is being busted before it carries out any major damage. "We are always taking action in the beginning and neutralizing the module when it takes birth. You have seen several encounters have taken place last year, we are trying to deny that space to militants to execute any major damage," he said, as per reports.

(With ANI inputs)
New Delhi: Veteran Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan and his MLA son Abdullah Azam Khan were on Monday (February 13, 2023) sentenced to two years in jail in a 15-year-old case by a court in Uttar Pradesh. The judge of the MP-MLA court in Moradabad, Smita Goswami, awarded the jail term to SP leaders and also slapped a fine of Rs 3,000 each on them.

An FIR against Azam Khan, Abdullah Azam, who is an MLA from Suar constituency in UP, and seven others was lodged in 2008 at Moradabad's Chhajlait police station.

They were booked after they staged a protest on a state highway on January 29, 2008, as their cavalcade was stopped by police for checking in the wake of an attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp in Rampur in Uttar Pradesh on December 31, 2007.

While Khan and Azam were sentenced to two years in jail under section 353 (criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and other provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the seven other accused were exonerated.

The court, however, has granted bail to both Khan and Azam.

Earlier last month, the Supreme Court had refused to transfer criminal cases against Azam Khan, pending in a Rampur special court, outside Uttar Pradesh on the ground of alleged "persecution".

A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices SA Nazeer and PS Narasimha on January 4 said it needed more cogent reasons for transferring the ongoing criminal cases against Khan.

"I will not get justice in the state. I am being persecuted... It is not a judge... It is the state. Everywhere, the situation will be the same inside the state," senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Khan, remonstrated.

The senior lawyer claimed he will not get a fair trial in the state and, to buttress his charge of bias, he referred to Khan's conviction in a case even when he had challenged an interim order of the lower court and his appeal was pending in the high court.

The case pertained to the alleged fabrication of the birth certificate of Khan's son and the plea in the high court was pending when he was convicted by the trial court.

In November last year, the top court had rejected a plea challenging the 2019 order of the Allahabad High Court that set aside the election of Abdullah to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly in 2017.

The litigation related to the existence of two birth certificates of Abdullah Azam who allegedly gave the wrong date of birth while filing his nomination papers for the 2017 poll.

The high court had ruled that he was not qualified to contest the election as he was below 25 years of age when he filed his nomination papers as the SP candidate from the Suar constituency in 2017.

Khan was recently also convicted in a criminal case related to hate speech and was disqualified as an MLA from the Rampur Sadar Assembly.
Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], February 14 (ANI): DMK spokesperson TKS Elangovan on Tuesday said that similar to a ban on the Popular Front of India, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) should also be banned in India so that no one is able to spread "religious superiority" in the country.

"Ninety per cent of Muslims do not support PFI. They are doing what RSS is doing. RSS should also be banned. Then no one would try to promote religious superiority in the country," Elangovan said.

The DMK leader was responding to an interview of Amit Shah in which the Union Minister claimed that the Popular Front of India (PFI)was spreading radicalism in India and by banning the outfit, the central government has saved India.

"The PFI did not speak about religious superiority. Neither did they ask people to convert to Islam. They are Muslims. And this is their (BJP`s) natural hatred towards Muslims. This was the reason behind banning the PFI. There may be some radicals in the PFI and it`s okay to take action against them. It is quite funny on behalf of Amit Shah to say that by banning the PFI they have saved India," said the DMK leader.Elangovan pointed out that India has regressed in comparison to where it was in the year 2014.

"I think Modi and Amit Shah`s country is Gujarat. Whatever they see happening there, they think that it is happening elsewhere in the country. They should come out of Gujarat and talk to people," Elangovan added.

"The country is going back.The economy is in a poor state. The value of Indian currency has depreciated. There is no development. I don`t know how Amit Shah has claimed that development happened in India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s rule," said the DMK spokesperson.

Reacting to Amit Shah`s statement about no political competition to BJP, the DMK leader said, "Except for Gujarat, they lost elsewhere. They lost the Delhi Municipal Corporation Election, lost in Himachal Pradesh and almost all the by-elections. How can they say that there is no competition?" he added.

In an exclusive interview with ANI earlier, Shah had said, "I feel that in 2024 there is no competition and everyone in the country is moving ahead with PM Modi."In the same interview, Shah also said, "We have banned PFI successfully...PFI promoted radicalism and religious bigotry.

They were in a way trying to prepare raw materials for terrorism. So many documents have been found which show that their activities were not good for the country`s unity and integrity."The government had in September last year banned PFI and its associates for five years under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for "terror links". (ANI)

(The above article is sourced from news agency ANI. Zeenews.com has made no editorial changes to the article. News agency ANI is solely responsible for the contents of the article)


New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday said that British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is the ''most corrupt'' organisation which is unleashing "venomous" reporting against India and further alleged that its propaganda and the Congress' agenda go together. The remarks from the saffron party came shortly after the Income Tax officials surveyed the British broadcaster's offices in Mumbai and Delhi. Addressing a press conference in the national capital, BJP national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia rejected the Congress' criticism of the Income Tax (I-T) action and said the government agency should be allowed to do its job.

Hitting out at the London-headquartered public broadcaster, the BJP leader said that the BBC is the "most corrupt" organisation in the world, adding that the Congress should remember that the then prime minister Indira Gandhi had also banned the broadcaster.

The BJP leader further claimed that BBC has a "tainted and black history of working with malice against India". He cited its past reports, including the one which described a terrorist as a "charismatic young militant" and allegedly called Holi a "filthy" festival. It works in India, but has little regard for its constitution, he said.

At a time when India is marching ahead globally under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, there are many powers that do not like it, Bhatia said, claiming that the Congress, its leader Rahul Gandhi and other opposition parties also feel the "pain" at the country's rise.

Accusing the opposition Congress of supporting "anti-national" forces, he said, "Your hate for Modi is so much that you politicise even a probe agency's work. You always question constitutional authorities like the Supreme Court and the Election Commission."

The Congress on Tuesday took a swipe at the government over the Income Tax survey operation at the BBC offices, saying while they were demanding a JPC on the Adani issue, the Centre is after the BBC. The Income Tax Department on Tuesday conducted a survey operation at BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai as part of a tax evasion investigation, officials said.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh also used a Hindi idiom to attack the government, saying "Vinash Kale, Vipreet Buddhi" (when doom approaches, a person's intellect works against his interest). "Here we are demanding JPC on the Adani issue, but the government is after the BBC. Vinash Kale Viprit Buddhi," Ramesh said.

A recent BBC series on the 2002 Gujarat riots has come in for criticism from the ruling BJP in India, with the government blocking access to it on social media platforms. The Income Tax Department on Tuesday conducted a survey operation at the BBC's offices in Delhi and Mumbai as part of an investigation into alleged tax evasion, officials said. The surprise action comes weeks after the broadcaster aired a two-part documentary, "India: The Modi Question".

The action, it has emerged, was initiated by the director general of the Income Tax Department in Mumbai across three premises. Reacting to it, the BBC said the Indian income tax authorities were at its offices in New Delhi and Mumbai and the British public broadcaster was fully cooperating with them. The Income Tax Department on Tuesday conducted a survey operation at the BBC's offices in Delhi and Mumbai as part of an investigation into alleged tax evasion, officials said in New Delhi.

(With Agency Inputs)
New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Tuesday said that the 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel died because of the 'blatant intelligence failure' in the Pulwama attack. The Rajya Sabha MP attacked the BJP while paying homage to the martyrs of the Pulwama terror attack on its fourth death anniversary. On February 14, 2019, Adil Ahmad Dar, a 22-year-old suicide bomber, drove a Maruti Eeco down one of the alleyways and onto the highway before ramming the IED-laden vehicle into the CRPF convoy.

40 troops had died when the bus exploded, turning it into a twisted pile of metal. This was the biggest terror attack Kashmir valley had witnessed in the last three decades. The bomber was affiliated with the Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM). JeM published a short video claiming the credit for the deadly attack.

Taking to Twitter, Digvijaya wrote, "Today we pay homage to the 40 CRPF Martyrs who died because of the blatant Intelligence Failure in Pulwama. I hope all the Martyred Families have been suitably rehabilitated."

Today we pay homage to the 40 CRPF Martyrs who died because of the blatant Intelligence Failure in Pulwama.

I hope all the Martyred Families have been suitably rehabilitated. February 14, 2023

Also Read: Pulwama Terror Attack Anniversary: Timeline of how Terrorist Attacked CRPF Convoy and India's Response With Balakot Airstrike

'He insults Army, speaks Pak's language': Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Digvijaya Singh

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has strongly reacted to Digvijaya Singh's remarks on Pulwama attack. "I think this (tweet) is a failure of the failing brain of Digvijaya Singh. He insults Army, speaks Pakistan's language & tries to demotivate the Army. It is Digvijaya Singh who should be probed. Who sows seeds to speak against nation & Army in his brain?", news agency ANI quoted Chouhan as saying.

Earlier today, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge paid tributes to the 40 CRPF personnel who died in a terror attack on this day four years ago.

Kharge said, "We bow in reverence to the supreme sacrifice of the Pulwama martyrs. We remember their indomitable valour and courage in the service of the nation. Lest We Forget."

Days after the dastardly terror attack, Indian warplanes struck the biggest terrorist training camp of JeM deep inside Pakistan`s Balakot in retaliation.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is probing the terror case, has named JeM chief Masood Azhar, his brother Abdul Rauf Asghar, slain terrorist Mohammad Umar Farooq, suicide bomber Adil Ahmed Dar and other terrorist commanders operating from Pakistan as accused in the case.
Chennai: With the water level in Siruvani dam falling to 20 ft, Coimbatore city in Tamil Nadu is heading towards an acute water scarcity this summer. The Siruvani dam has a capacity of 50ft and with the water level declining, the state water authority officials are worried about the water shortage in Coimbatore which mainly receives water from the dam.





Notably, Siruvani dam and its catchment area are located in Palakkad, Kerala and due to a weak monsoon, the water level in the dam has come down. The coimbatore city requires 265 MLD of water per day and of which 101.40 MLD is from the Siruvani dam and with the storage coming down the water received from the dam is reduced to 64.28 MLD.The Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board (TWAD) officials told IANS that the water supply will soon be reduced to 8 MLD per day in Coimbatore city.Currently, TWAD is drawing water from the Pillur scheme and supplying water to Siruvani water supply areas. This has helped manage the water supply requirement in these areas. The Pillur III water scheme will be commissioned by May 2023 and is expected to bring in 178 Million Litres Per Day (MLD).With the water level in Siruvani falling the Pillur III project is expected to support the drinking water needs of Coimbatore corporation. Sources in the TWAD told IANS that the Pillur III project will be completed before May and the water from this scheme will support the drinking water needs of Coimbatore corporation.
New Delhi: A woman's body was found in a refrigerator at a 'dhaba' (eatery) on the outskirts of Mitraon village in southwest Delhi, with police arresting a man who was said to be in a relationship with her. Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Dwarka) Vikram Singh said that they received information on Tuesday morning that a woman has been murdered and her body was hidden at the dhaba on the outskirts of the village.

Police reached the location and recovered the body. Accused Sahil Gahlot, a resident of Mitraon village, has been apprehended. Further legal action is being carried out, Singh said.

Preliminary interrogation has revealed that Gahlot was getting married on February 10 and the deceased woman was objecting to it as they were in a relationship for a long time, Singh said. "The woman was a resident of Jhajjar in Haryana. It has been claimed that she was threatening to implicate the man in a case if he married another woman," a source said.

Enraged by this, Gahlot killed her and hid the body inside the freezer of his dhaba, the police suspects.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today spoke to President of the United States Joe Biden. Sharing the news on Twitter, PM Modi said that he had an excellent discussion with the US president and the two leaders discussed ongoing and new initiatives to further deepen India-US comprehensive and global partnership. PM Modi said that the two leaders also discussed the landmark Air India and Boeing deal.

"Glad to speak with @POTUS @JoeBiden. Excellent discussion to review the ongoing and new initiatives to further deepen India-US Comprehensive and Global Partnership. We welcome the landmark @airindiain -@Boeing agreement which will help create new opportunities in both countries," said PM Modi in a Tweet.

PM Narendra Modi's telephonic conversation with US Prez Biden came after Tata Group-owned Air India announced to buy a total of 470 wide-body and narrow-body planes from Airbus and Boeing, and the total deal value is estimated to be USD 80 billion (around Rs 6.40 lakh crore) as the airline expands its operations. The two leaders hailed the landmark agreement between Air India and Boeing as a shining example of mutually beneficial cooperation that will help create new employment opportunities in both countries.

"The order comprises 40 Airbus A350s, 20 Boeing 787s and 10 Boeing 777-9s wide-body aircraft, as well as 210 Airbus A320/321 Neos and 190 Boeing 737 MAX single-aisle aircraft. The A350 aircraft will be powered by Rolls-Royce engines, and the B777/787s by engines from GE Aerospace. All single-aisle aircraft will be powered by engines from CFM International," the airline said in a statement.

Glad to speak with @POTUS @JoeBiden. Excellent discussion to review the ongoing and new initiatives to further deepen India-US Comprehensive and Global Partnership. We welcome the landmark @airindiain-@Boeing agreement which will help create new opportunities in both countries. February 14, 2023

Modi invited Boeing and other US companies to make use of the opportunities arising due to the expanding civil aviation sector in India.

According to Air India, the first of the new aircraft will enter service in late 2023 and the bulk of the planes are to arrive from mid-2025 onwards. "In the interim, Air India has already started taking delivery of 11 leased B777 and 25 A320 aircraft to accelerate its fleet and network expansion," it said. (With PTI Inputs)


Shillong, Feb 14 (IANS) A fresh political war erupted on Tuesday between two former allies- ruling National People`s Party (NPP) and the BJP, in Meghalaya after a piece of paper with the BJP`s letterhead claimed that the saffron camp has warned the people against celebrating Valentine`s Day.



The letterhead bearing the BJP`s name asserted that Valentine`s Day celebrations are incompatible with Indian culture, and the party endorses the Bajrang Dal`s position on this issue.

Additionally, it warned unmarried couples from going out together and stated that western culture will be eradicated in Meghalaya if the BJP is voted to power here.

Speaking to IANS, Ernest Mawrie, BJP state president in Meghalaya, said, "The paper went viral yesterday, and when we thoroughly looked into it, we found a lot of discrepancies."

According to him, the letterhead mentioned the National General Secretary of the BJP, Arun Singh, as a signatory; however, the office address was given as police bazar in Shillong.

"What`s more interesting is that, we don`t have any offices at the police bazaar here. Moreover, the e-mail address mentioned was also fake," Mawrie said.

The BJP leader informed that they have lodged an FIR at a local police station.

The FIR reads, "The name of Arun Singh has been misused and his signature has been forged in an attempt to tarnish the reputed image of the party before the eyes of the public of the State of Meghalaya, and that too at this crucial juncture when the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly Elections are around the corner and the Model Code of Conduct is in play."

Mawrie alleged that the NPP might be behind such an act.

"They are very nervous as the BJP is emerging strongly in the state," he claimed.

(The above article is sourced from news agency IANS. Zeenews.com has made no editorial changes to the article. News agency IANS is solely responsible for the contents of the article)




New Delhi: Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Monday (February 13, 2023) slammed Devendra Fadnavis for claiming that he backed the dramatic exercise of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader teaming up with NCP's Ajit Pawar in an overnight coup to form a short-lived government in Maharashtra in 2019. The veteran leader stoutly denied Fadnavis's claim and said he never thought the BJP leader will base his assertion on "falsehood".

"I felt that Devendra is a cultured person and a gentleman. I never felt that he will take recourse to falsehood and make such a statement," Pawar said.

Earlier, Fadnavis had said that BJP received an offer from the NCP that they needed a stable government and that the two parties should form a government together.

"We had an offer from the NCP that they needed a stable government and we should form such a government together. We decided to go ahead and hold talks. The talks happened with Sharad Pawar. Then things changed. You have seen how things changed," Fadnavis said during an event organised by a news channel, referring to Ajit Pawar quitting the government 80 hours later.

"In all fairness, I want to state that Ajit Pawar took the oath with me with honesty... But later on, their (NCP's) strategy changed," Fadnavis added.

The BJP had won 105 seats in the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections, while the Shiv Sena, which was in an alliance with the saffron party, got 56 seats.

Despite having enough seats to form a government together, the two allies bickered over power-sharing "who will get the chief minister's post being the bone of contention" resulting in the Shiv Sena negotiating with Congress and NCP instead. However, with no outcome in sight then, the Centre imposed President's Rule in Maharashtra on November 12.

The Shiv Sena, Congress, and NCP then continued negotiations to form an alliance "Maha Vikas Aghadi" with Sharad Pawar later announcing that Uddhav Thackeray had been unanimously chosen to head the new government.

However, the early morning oath-taking ceremony of Fadnavis (as the Chief Minister) and NCP leader Ajit Pawar (as Deputy Chief Minister) on November 23 surprised everyone.

The ministry lasted three days, after which Uddhav Thackeray was sworn in as the chief minister.
Whatever help countries around the world have offered to Turkey and Syria is not enough.

The earthquake that hit southern Turkey and northwestern Syria on 6 February has left more than 33,000 dead. The number is expected to rise, with rescue efforts still continuing amid the rubble of cities and villages in both countries.

The following countries, among others, have offered support and aid:

Saudi Arabia: A Saudi campaign called Participate launched following the earthquake to help victims in both countries has managed to collect $81 million so far.

Kuwait: The official campaign Beside You announced on Saturday has collected $42.6 million that will be directed to earthquake victims in Syria and Turkey.

UAE: President of the UAE Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed has ordered $50 million to be sent to earthquake victims in Syria and another $50 million to be sent to Turkey. The UAE has announced humanitarian aid to a value of 50 million dirhams for Syrias hardest-hit areas. It has set up a field hospital in Turkey and dispatched search and rescue teams to Turkey and Syria.

Qatar: Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani has donated 50 million Qatari riyals to earthquake-affected people in Turkey and Syria. Qatar provided initial aid represented by an air bridge equipped with relief and health materials and a rescue team, as well as 10,000 mobile homes and tons of aid that arrived at the Turkish airport of Adana.

Egypt: Egypt has sent five military planes carrying emergency medical aid to Turkey and Syria to contribute to the relief efforts. The Egyptian Red Crescent has launched a donation campaign for Syria.

Jordan: Jordan has sent three planes carrying rescue and medical teams, in addition to relief to Syria and Turkey. A convoy carrying food supplies and medical equipment reached Syria on Friday.

Libya: The Libyan Government of National Unity sent tons of aid containing medicines and foodstuffs to both Syria and Turkey on Saturday. It confirmed the launching of air-bridge flights to help the Syrian and Turkish peoples. The aid includes tents, blankets, heaters and foodstuffs.

Oman: Oman has announced the establishment of an air bridge for relief materials as well as search and rescue personnel to be sent to Syria and Turkey.

Iraq: Iraqi military planes have been sent to Syria carrying humanitarian aid, including 60 tons of foodstuffs and relief and medical supplies, as well as shelters and first aid and other items.

Lebanon: Lebanons government has sent soldiers, Red Cross and civil defence workers and firefighters to support rescue efforts in the two countries. On Sunday, Lebanons powerful Shia movement Hizbullah, a key ally of the Syrian Al-Assad regime, sent a convoy of 23 trucks carrying food and medical aid to the Syrian province of Latakia.

US: The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has pledged the sum of $85 million in life-saving relief for earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria. The funding will go towards shelter, cold-weather supplies, food, water and healthcare. USAID said it is also providing hygiene and sanitation assistance. A Disaster Assistance Response Team was also dispatched to Turkey, according to the White House.

UK: The UK has sent 77 search and rescue specialists with rescue equipment and dogs, as well as an emergency medical team, to Turkey. Britain has also been in contact with the UN about getting support to victims in Syria.

Canada: Canada has pledged to offer $7.4 million in immediate assistance to Turkey and Syria and offered to match an additional $7.4 million in donations.

Australia: Australia has announced the sum of $7 million for the earthquake victims and deployed a search and rescue team to Turkey.

EU: Twenty EU states together with Albania, Montenegro, and Serbia have pledged 31 search and rescue teams and five medical teams. Brussels said it is ready to offer help to Syria through its humanitarian assistance programmes. Next month, the EU will host a donor conference to mobilise international aid for Syria and Turkey.

Sweden: Sweden announced the sum of $650,000 to Turkey and Syria through the Red Cross Committee and the Red Crescent Organisation.

France: Rescue teams comprising 71 rescue workers and 65 firefighters have been sent to Turkey. France has also provided a high-capacity field hospital and 50,000 diphtheria and tetanus vaccines. It has pledged to transfer up to 12 million Euros to different UN agencies and non-governmental groups to buy humanitarian aid.

Germany: The German government has temporarily eased visa restrictions for survivors of the earthquake who have close family ties to Germany if they are facing homelessness or are injured. Regular visas will be issued for them and will be valid for three months, said German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser on Saturday. Following the quake, Germany sent dozens of doctors and rescue experts to Turkey. It also sent emergency generators, tents, and blankets to the afflicted areas.

Italy: A 30-ton shipment of humanitarian aid from the Italian government, including four ambulances and 13 pallets of medical equipment, landed in Beirut on Saturday en route for Damascus.

The Roman Catholic Church: The Italian Roman Catholic Church has allocated 500,000 Euros to relief efforts.

Spain: Spain has sent troops, medical personnel, and dogs, as well as equipment, to help in the search and rescue efforts in Syria and Turkey.

Austria: Austria has pledged the sum of 3 million Euros in aid. It has dispatched 84 soldiers from a military disaster relief unit to Turkey, as well as doctors, firefighters and dogs.

Greece: Greece has sent 160 trucks of humanitarian aid to Turkey and Syria. It has also begun a countrywide drive to collect relief goods for earthquake victims.

New Zealand: New Zealand has pledged $632,000 dollars to the Turkish Red Crescent and $316,000 dollars to the Syrian Arab Red Crescent to deliver items such as food, tents, and blankets as well as medical assistance.

Armenia: A border gate between Turkey and Armenia has been opened for the first time in 35 years to allow in aid for victims. Armenian five truckloads of 100 tons including food and medicine crossed the narrow bridge between Magara, in Armenia, and the neighbouring village of Alican.

Russia: The Russian Emergency Ministry has announced that more than 50 of its personnel have flown to Syria to help in the search and rescue process. It noted that 300 personnel of the Russian military deployed in Syria have helped in clearing debris and searching for survivors.

China: China has announced sending urgent humanitarian aid to a value of 30 million Yuan to Syria, in addition to shipping 220 tons of wheat. A shipment of medical supplies was sent to Damascus on 9 February through the Chinese Red Cross. China also sent a 82-member rescue team to the Turkish city of Adana on 8 February, with 20 tons of supplies and equipment.

South Korea: South Korea deployed a 60-person search and rescue team to Turkey and is providing medical supplies. The government said it is providing an initial $5 million in humanitarian support.

Japan: Japan has sent 73 rescue personnel to Turkey with equipment such as life detectors, drills, portable generators, medical kits and food.

Pakistan: Pakistan said it has sent two C-130 planes with relief supplies and 36 search and rescue personnel and promised daily aid flights to Syria and Turkey. The government has formed a relief fund to help the victims of the earthquake, calling upon people to offer donations. An anonymous Pakistani businessman residing in the US has donated $30 million to the victims in both countries.

India: India has launched Operation Dost to extend humanitarian aid to Turkey. It has sent three search and rescue teams from its National Disaster Response Force as well as specially trained dogs and a field hospital. Medical teams with trained doctors, paramedics, and essential medicines have headed to the region.

Indonesia: Indonesia has sent search and rescue specialists to Turkey to assist in the relief efforts. It has pledged to send 140 tons of food and logistical aid aboard four aircrafts  two for each country, as well as cash aid of about $1 million for Turkey and another $1 million for Syria.

Iran: An Iranian plane delivered aid to Damascus Airport following the earthquake.

Compiled by Mona El-Nahhas

* A version of this article appears in print in the 16 February, 2023 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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London: The UK-based BBC on Tuesday that it is "fully cooperating" with the Income Tax authorities who are at its offices in New Delhi and Mumbai and hoped that the situation will be resolved "as soon as possible". The British Broadcasting Corporation, the UK-headquartered public broadcaster, did not give further details of what has been described as surveys by the I-T department, which reportedly involved local BBC staff being prevented from entering the office premises and their mobile phones being shut down.

"The Income Tax Authorities are currently at the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai and we are fully cooperating, a BBC spokesperson said in a statement. We hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible," the spokesperson said.

The Income Tax (IT) action comes weeks after the broadcaster aired its controversial India: The Modi Question' documentary, which focused on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's time as the chief minister of Gujarat when riots took place in 2022.

The Indian government branded the two-part series a propaganda piece, designed to push a particular discredited narrative. The bias, lack of objectivity and continuing colonial mindset is blatantly visible, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said at the time it was aired in the UK last month.

The documentary also triggered coordinated Indian diaspora protests at BBC offices across different UK cities at the end of last month.

The UK government responded in the House of Commons to the protests by insisting the BBC as a media organisation was independent in its outlet and reiterating its commitment to enhancing ties with India.

We recognise how this portrayal of the Indian government has played out in India. I made it clear that the BBC is independent in its output, that the UK regards India as an incredibly important international partner and that we will be investing heavily in that relationship in the coming decades, UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said earlier this month.

His remarks were later echoed by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's official spokesperson in Downing Street: The BBC is independent in its output and we would stress that we continue to regard India as an incredibly important international partner. We will be investing heavily in our relationship with India over the coming decades and we're confident it will only go from strength to strength.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday expressed confidence that India will soon become the third largest aviation market, adding that many new opportunities are opening up in aerospace manufacturing under India's 'Make in India - Make for the World' vision. The Prime Minister, who attended the launch of the new Air India-Airbus Partnership via video conference along with French President Emmanuel Macron, said, "Whether it is the issue of security and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, or global food security and health security, India and France together are making a positive contribution."

PM Modi said, "Through our Regional Connectivity Scheme (UDAN), remote parts of the country are being connected through air connectivity, which is boosting the economic & social development of people.''

Hailing the new Air India-Airbus Partnership deal, the PM said that it reflects the deepening ties between India and France, as well as the successes and aspirations of India's civil aviation sector.

The Tata Group earlier announced that it will buy 250 aircraft from Airbus in the world's largest aviation deal in history. The deal includes 40 A350 wide-body long-range aircraft and 210 narrow-body ones for Air India, owned by the Tata Group.

"It is a historic moment for Airbus to help script Air India's revival," Airbus Chief Executive Guillaume Faury said in a video conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Ratan Tata, French President Emmanuel Macron, and other leaders.

Ties between India and France have grown closer in the last few years. Recently, in January, India - France strategic dialogue between national security advisor Ajit Doval and Emmanuel Bonne, the diplomatic advisor to the French President concluded in New Delhi.

During the dialogue, all facets of the Indo-French strategic partnership were discussed, including counterterrorism collaboration, cyber security, space policy, significant global and regional challenges including the conflict in Ukraine, and cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.

As the first bilateral visit of the year, the dialogue between India and France aimed to pave the way for an ambitious expansion of the Indo-French strategic partnership as it marks its 25th anniversary this year.PM Modi and President Macron share a warm relationship.

When India assumed the G20 presidency, the French President exuded confidence in India`s leadership. Taking to his official Twitter handle, Macron stressed that he trusts his friend Prime Minister Narendra Modi to unite everyone to establish peace and a sustainable world.Emmanuel Macron tweeted, "One Earth. One Family. One Future. India has taken over the presidency of #G20India! I trust my friend @NarendraModi to bring us together in order to build peace and a more sustainable world.''

The last official meeting between the two leaders took place at the G20 summit in Indonesia. PM Modi held discussions with the French President on the issues of civil nuclear collaboration on the sidelines of the G20 Summit held in Bali, Indonesia. The two leaders reviewed ongoing collaboration in diverse areas like defence, civil nuclear, trade, and investment. They also welcomed the deepening of cooperation in new areas of economic engagement.

Regional and global issues of mutual interest were also discussed, read the Ministry of External Affairs press release. France is one of India`s premier global and Indo-Pacific partners. Both sides reaffirmed that their strategic partnership has a vital role in advancing peace, stability, and security in the Indo-Pacific region.

Even in CoP 27, the French President was seen lauding India`s progress in the field of renewable energy and said that the "ambition levels in India are high."In his address at United Nations` COP27 conference, he said, "Ambition levels in India are high when it comes to renewables."
New Delhi: The Congress on Tuesday termed as "intimidation tactics" the Income Tax 'survey' operation at the BBC offices and alleged that the "action shows that the Narendra Modi government is scared of criticism.'' The Income Tax Department on Tuesday conducted a survey operation at the BBC's offices in Delhi and Mumbai as part of an investigation into alleged tax evasion.

Reacting to the development, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, "Time and again, there has been an assault on freedom of the press under the Modi government. This is done with brazen & unapologetic vengeance to strangulate remotely critical voices. "No Democracy can survive if institutions are used to attack Opposition and Media. People will resist this," he said in a tweet.

The Congress, on its official Twitter handle, used a picture of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) highlighting that India is 150th out of 180 countries on the World Press Freedom Index and said, "A dictator is a coward". It also said, "First came the BBC documentary, it was banned. Now I-T has raided the BBC. Undeclared Emergency."

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said while the party is demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe on the Adani issue, the "government is after the BBC". He also used a Hindi idiom to attack the government, saying "Vinash Kale, Viprit Buddhi" (when doom approaches, a person's intellect works against his interest). "Here we are demanding JPC on the Adani issue, but the government is after the BBC. Vinash Kale Viprit Buddhi," Ramesh said.

Congress general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal said the I-T raid at BBC's offices "reeks of desperation and shows that the Modi government is scared of criticism". "We condemn these intimidation tactics in the harshest terms. This undemocratic and dictatorial attitude cannot go on any longer," he said in a tweet.

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said, "The Government's message to all citizens and organisations is 'behave, or else'. The Government's definition of freedom of the press is 'we are a free country, you are free to express your opinion as long as it agrees with mine'."

"After practically shutting down Amnesty International and OXFAM, the BBC is next in line. Shameful," he said on Twitter. Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala alleged the government is strangling democracy, the Constitution and parliamentary values.

"It is determined to crush every question raised against it. There is a need for investigation into fraud in public savings deposited in banks and LIC, but the Modi government has shamelessly used all its power to suppress the voice of the BBC."

Another Congress leader Manish Tewari tweeted, "This raid/survey is so imbecile, childish & beyond even silly. As hosts of G-20 what are we telling the world that rather than an emerging great power we are an insecure power? Whichever bright spark thought this one up is @PMOIndia?s worst enemy."

The UK-based BBC, meanwhile, said that it is "fully cooperating" with the Income Tax authorities who are at its offices in New Delhi and Mumbai and hoped that the situation will be resolved "as soon as possible".

The British Broadcasting Corporation, the UK-headquartered public broadcaster, did not give further details of what has been described as surveys by the I-T department, which reportedly involved local BBC staff being prevented from entering the office premises and their mobile phones being shut down.

"The Income Tax Authorities are currently at the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai and we are fully cooperating, a BBC spokesperson said in a statement. We hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible," the spokesperson said.
New Delhi: In connection with potential tax evasion and anomalies, the Income Tax Department conducted a survey at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) locations in Delhi and Mumbai on Tuesday, according to officials. The BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai were undergoing surveys, not raids, according to a senior member of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). PM Modi who was the chief minister of Gujarat at the time and his government have been accused of enabling the violence that resulted in the deaths of nearly 1,000 people. Although the documentary was not aired in India, Modis government and its supporters have reacted to it with fury, accusing the BBC of spreading hostile propaganda and anti-India garbage while engaging in a colonial mindset.



Last week, the Supreme Court of India dismissed a plea seeking a complete ban on the documentary. Students at several college campuses across the country have also been targeted by law enforcement for organizing screenings of the documentary. The government has leveraged emergency powers to ban clips of the documentary from being shared online. In 2013, the prime minister was cleared by Indian courts on charges that he had enabled or supported the riots.

BBC Survey Operations: Important Points

1. A Few week's back British broadcaster released a documentary on the 2002 Gujarat riots titled India: The Modi Question.

2. On January 20, the Central government ordered YouTube and Twitter to take down links sharing the documentary, with officials saying it was found to be undermining the sovereignty and integrity of India and had the potential to adversely impact the countrys friendly relations with foreign states and public order within the country.

3. A team of 15 officials from the tax department arrived at the BBC offices near Connaught Place  the British-era main commercial hub in New Delhi at around 11.30am.

4. The office complex was closed and no one was allowed to enter or leave the 18-storey office complex.

5. The phones of employees were confiscated by officials who reportedly were checking documents related to business operations and accounts.

6. Soon after the IT Raid, BJP came down heavily on the British broadcaster, calling it "the most corrupt organisation in the world". The ruling party also attacked Congress, saying it supports 'anti-India' narratives.

7. In a statement, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said, The gloves are off and there is a price one pays for fighting for truth.

8. During surveys, I-T officials look into documents such as books of accounts, bank accounts, cash, stock, and non-valuable documents.
Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Tuesday mocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that he had learned from the latter the "art" of speaking for hours without answering any questions. The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, while responding to a series of questions under the `Ungalil Oruvan` programme, lashed out at the Modi government for not responding to Congress MP Rahul Gandhis questions on the Adani-Hindenburg row and the BBC documentary on PM.

"There are several allegations against the BJP government and the PM, but he hasn`t responded to any of them. He himself is saying that the country`s people are like my shield. But people aren`t saying that. PM says mudslinging will help the Lotus bloom. Lotus grows only in water bodies not in places where there is water and mud. I learnt the art of speaking for hours without answering any questions," Tamil Nadu CM said.

Stalin further said that the PM`s address to the Motion of Thanks was filled with "rhetoric." "PM`s address in the Parliament was full of rhetoric and it didn`t have any explanation on the BBC or the Adani issue.

He went on to say that the Sethusamudram project, NEET, state rights, interference of governors, not giving assent to the ban on online gambling bill, many such questions were asked by DMK MPs but the PM did not answer any of them.

On the question of the government not agreeing to the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into Hindenburg Research`s report against Adani Group, Stalin said, "Allegations against the Adani group are direct against the BJP government in nature. Even the Supreme Court bench is hearing the case seriously therefore there should be a debate in parliament regarding this and the JPC probe needs to be ordered. The questions raised by Rahul Gandhi are valid. It is shocking that PM hasn`t answered these allegations."

On the PM`s claim that the Opposition is united by Enforcement Directorate (ED), Stalin came down heavily on him and said that PM Modi himself has accepted that his government is doing "vendetta politics" against the opposition.

"This is PM`s confession for what ED is being used. For the first time in Parliament, PM has accepted that he does vendetta politics against the opposition. This is not good for the country and democracy, Stalin said.
Kanpur Dehat: In a shocking incident, a 45-year-old woman and her 20-year-old daughter died in a fire during an anti-encroachment drive at a village in Uttar Pradesh`s Kanpur Dehat district. While the police said the two women set themselves on fire, their family claimed it was the cops who set their hut ablaze when the women were inside, which resulted in the deaths. The incident took place in the Madauli village in the Rura area of the district, late on Monday evening, where the police, district administration and revenue officials had gone to remove encroachments from a "gram samaj" or government land, a police official said. The villagers said that the officials arrived with a bulldozer and they were not given any prior notice.

"They started the fire while people were still inside. We were just about able to escape. They broke our temple. Nobody did anything, not even the district magistrate. Everybody ran, nobody could save my mother," said Shivam Dixit.

Also Read: UP Jailed MLA Abbas Ansari's Wife Arrested. Reason: 'Illegal Meeting' With Husband In Prison

The police, however, said that Pramila Dixit and her daughter Neha set themselves on fire.

Rura Station House Officer (SHO) Dinesh Gautam and Pramila`s husband, Gendan Lal, also sustained burn injuries while trying to save the women, a police officer said.

Superintendent of Police (SP) BBGTS Murthy, meanwhile, said, "The woman and her daughter locked themselves inside the hut and set it on fire which has resulted in their death. We will investigate and if there is any wrongdoing, we will not spare the guilty."

He said, "Whenever there is an anti-encroachment drive, a video is shot. We have asked for the video and will investigate it."

Meanwhile, tension prevails in the village and incidents of stone pelting at the police have also been reported.

The villagers are demanding a FIR against the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (Maitha) Gyaneshwar Prasad, Lekhpal Singh and others for the alleged murder.

Additional Director General of Police (Kanpur zone) Alok Singh, along with Divisional Commissioner Raj Shekhar, visited the village to pacify the crowd and have assured action against guilty persons.

The Samajwadi Party has blamed the `insensitive` administration for the `murders`.

The Samajwadi Party tweeted, "Under the Yogi (Adityanath) government, Brahmin families are targeted and such incidents are taking place selectively. Like Dalits and backwards, Brahmins are also a target of atrocities of the Yogi government."
New Delhi: With Opposition surrounding the Narendra Modi-led government over the Hindenburg report on the Adani Group of companies, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said that there is "nothing" for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to "hide or be afraid of". In an interview with news agency ANI, which was aired on Tuesday (February 14, 2023), Shah also said that it will not be appropriate for him to comment on the issue as the Supreme Court has taken cognizance of the matter.

"The Supreme Court has taken cognizance of the matter. As a minister, if the Supreme Court is seized of the matter it is not right for me to comment. But in this, there is nothing for the BJP to hide and nothing to be afraid of," Shah told ANI.

#WATCH | There is nothing to hide or be afraid of: Union Home Minister Amit Shah in an interview to ANI on Congresss allegations that Adani being favoured by BJP#AmitShahtoANI pic.twitter.com/WXyEAd0524  ANI (@ANI) February 14, 2023

A Hindenburg report has alleged financial irregularities and stock manipulation in stocks of Adani group companies with the Opposition demanding a joint parliamentary committee probe into the issue.

The Opposition has also stalled proceedings in both houses of parliament to press their demand for a JPC probe into the Adani-Hindenburg issue.

The Adani group, however, has dismissed the allegations as baseless.

Not first time remarks expunged in Lok Sabha: Amit Shah attacks Congress

As Congress criticised the government over some remarks of its leaders in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha having been removed from the proceedings, Amit Shah said that this is not the first time when someone's comments made in Parliament have been expunged. In an apparent attack on Opposition leaders, he also said the two Houses are a place to hold a discussion under rules "using parliamentary language".

He also slammed the opposition MPs sloganeering during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's reply in Rajya Sabha on the motion of thanks on the President's address and said people see what happens in Parliament.

"This is not the first time when someone's comments made in Parliament were expunged. The history of Parliament proceedings clearly shows this. Parliament is a place to hold discussion under rules, using parliamentary language," the BJP leader said.

"The entire country listens to the Prime Minister. Go to the social media platforms, and read the comments in PM Modi's speech. Some parties take a political stand and do not want to listen to the Prime Minister`s Address. The public is seeing this also," he said.

#WATCH | Union Home Minister Amit Shah speaks on expunging of comments in Parliament#AmitShahToANI pic.twitter.com/UW9HqJXZzb  ANI (@ANI) February 14, 2023

Congress leaders have alleged that some remarks of party leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge have been expunged.

Courts 'humare kabze mein nahi hai': Amit Shah on allegations of 'misuse' of probe agencies

On allegations of Congress and other opposition parties alleging that BJP has "captured all probe agencies in the country", the Union Home Minister said that they should go to court.

"Courts 'humare kabze mein nahi hai' (We haven't captured the court)," he said.

"Why don`t they go to the court? Even at the time when the Pegasus issue was raised, I had asked them to go to court with proof... They only know how to create noise. Those who approached the court, the court took cognizance of Pegasus and also delivered its judgment. The investigation was also done," Shah said.
New Delhi: On the anniversary of the Pulwama terror attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday (February 14, 2023) paid tribute to martyred Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans and said that "we will never forget their supreme sacrifice".

Taking to his official Twitter account, Modi said, "Remembering our valorous heroes who we lost on this day in Pulwama. We will never forget their supreme sacrifice. Their courage motivates us to build a strong and developed India."

Remembering our valorous heroes who we lost on this day in Pulwama. We will never forget their supreme sacrifice. Their courage motivates us to build a strong and developed India. February 14, 2023

Pulwama attack anniversary: 40 CRPF jawans were killed on February 14, 2019

February 14, 2023, marks the fourth anniversary of the gruesome Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF jawans made the supreme sacrifice.

A convoy of CRPF personnel on the Jammu Srinagar National Highway was attacked by a suicide bomber at Lethpora in the Pulwama district, Jammu and Kashmir on February 4, 2019.

The attack was carried out by a man named Adil Ahmad Dar, a local resident of Pulwama affiliated with the Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), who rammed his vehicle into the CRPF convoy.

In a retaliatory attack, the Indian Air Force targeted terror camps in Balakot in Pakistan.
India on 14th February observes the fourth anniversary of the deadly Pulwama terror attack and remembers the sacrifice of the brave men. 14th February, 2019 marks the fourth anniversary of one of the most deadly terror attacks that killed 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama. Adil Ahmad Dar, a 22-year-old suicide bomber, drove a Maruti Eeco down one of the alleyways and onto the highway before ramming the IED-laden vehicle into the CRPF convoy. Up to 40 troops died when the bus exploded, turning it into a twisted pile of metal. This was the biggest terror attack Kashmir valley had witnessed in the last three decades.

Here's the timeline of the Pulwama attack:

February 14, 2019

A 22-year-old suicide bomber targeted the a bus that left the 40 CRPF members martyred. The bus was part of a bigger convoy carrying 2500 paramilitary personnel and 78 vehicles going towards Srinagar from Jammu on NH44.

The suicide bomber was identified as Jaish-e-Mohammad's Adil Ahmed Dar, a local Kashmiri jihadist who hailed from Kakapora in the Pulwama area of South Kashmir.

The bomber was affiliated with the Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed. JeM published a short video claiming the credit for the deadly attack.

February 15, 2019: PM Modi releases statement on Pulwama Attack

Reacting strongly to the Pulwama terror attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi released a statement. PM Modi said that perpetrators of the Pulwama terror attack act will be punished. He also warned the perpetrators and those aiding and abetting terrorists that they have made a big mistake and will have to pay a heavy price. Stating that a free hand has been given to the security forces to act, the PM dared Pakistan not to live in the illusion that it can destabilize India.

February 16, 2019: All parties pledge support to govt

All Political Parties condemned the Pulwama Terror Attack and pledge support to the Government

After the Pulwama attack, India ended all trade relations with Pakistan. It also stripped the status of the most favoured nation Pakistan.

The Government of India had also demanded the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) put Pakistan on the blacklist.

February 17, 2019: Compensation provided to kin of deceased

The following compensation and benefits were provided to the Next of Kin (NoK) and families of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) members slain in the attack in Pulwama. 35 lakhs as the central ex-gratia lump sum compensation, 5 lakhs as the ex-gratia from the duty state, 20 lakhs as the risk fund of the CRPF, 1.5 lakhs as the central welfare fund of the CRPF, and 30 lakhs as the paramilitary salary package (PMSP) cover from State Bank of India. In accordance with the laws of the State in question, they have also received Ex-gratia from their home states.

February 26, 2019: India Air Force destroyes Balakot terror camp

The Indian Air Force entered Pakistan's Balakot and destroyed terrorist camps through air strikes.

February 27, 2019: Pakistan Air Force retaliates

Pakistan responded to Indian airstrikes but the Indian Air Force was prepared. However, during the exercise, an Indian MiG-21 fighter jet got hit and collapsed in Pakistan. Pak captured the MiG-21 pilot Abhinandan Vardhaman.

February 28, 2019: Pak announced to release captured IAF Pilot Abhinandan

Owing to pressure from India, Saudi Arab, America and other countries, Pakistan PM Imran Khan announced that the captured IAF pilot, Wing Commander Abhinandan would be released on March 1.

March 1, 2019: IAF pilot, Wing Commander Abhinandan released.

IAF pilot, Wing Commander Abhinandan was released on March 1.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday (February 13, 2023) said that his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) believes in politics of 'badlao' (change) and not of 'badla' (revenge). Addressing a rally in poll-bound Tripura, he said that there is no family in this northeastern state which has not received the benefits of BJP's policies.

Urging the people of the state to vote for the saffron party if they wanted "guaranteed growth peace and prosperity", Prime Minister said Tripura, which is witnessing rapid development under the current BJP government, will suffer if the Left and the Congress return to power.

"If the BJP stays in power, money sent from Delhi will reach the grassroots level, unlike what was the cause under the previous dispensation," he said.

"Agartala has become the gateway for international trade in the northeast... The state capital will soon become a business hub," Modi added.

Tripura has received a modernised airport and several other infrastructure projects in the last five years, he highlighted.

"Work to build national highway, road, and railway projects is moving at a rapid pace. The Indo-Bangla railway will soon be commissioned, and the Maitri Setu in Sabroom, which is connected with the international port of Chittagong, will give a major fillip to trade and business once made operational," he said.

He also listed the initiatives taken by his government and said that three lakh homes have been sanctioned for Tripura under the 'Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana'.

The BJP government has spent more than Rs 500 crore for the welfare of the farmers in Tripura, he said.

PM Modi also said that people have already made up their minds to vote in favour of the double-engine government.

"My happiness doubled on seeing the support being pledged for the double engine government," he expressed.

Tripura Assembly Election: Left Front, Congress just want to fill their coffers, says PM Modi

Prime Minister Modi slammed the Left Front and the Congress and said that the two parties just want to fill their coffers without caring for people's welfare.

"The Left had taken the state to the brink of destruction with cadre raj visible everywhere, from state departments to police stations. People of Tripura can never forget the chaotic days when Left Front cadres had taken hostage every aspect of life," he said during addressing a rally in Agartala.

"The Left had considered itself as the king and the people of Tripura as slaves. Development took center stage in Tripura only when people showed a 'red card' to the communists," he added.

Tremendous enthusiasm at the rally in Agartala, Tripura. @BJP4Tripura https://t.co/77ApBt49wM  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 13, 2023

The Left and the Congress can do anything to "satiate their hunger for power", Modi said.

"They wrestle in Kerala and forge friendly relations in Tripura. Will those Congress leaders and workers who had suffered 'red terror' pardon the Left-Congress understanding? It is evident that a few leaders of the Left and the Congress don't hesitate to shake hands with enemies," he said.

Under the BJP regime, people got free ration, piped water, healthcare assistance, houses, and universities among other facilities, he added.

Elections to the 60-member Assembly in Tripura will be held on February 16, and votes will be counted on March 2.
The global response to the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria has shown how politics have trumped humanitarianism worldwide.

No wide appeals for donations and humanitarian assistance were launched in western countries to help the victims of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria last week, as had earlier been the case in the aftermath of other natural disasters in Asia or elsewhere.

Even the international aid bodies, including the UN agencies, were not swift to provide the necessary help to the areas affected by the disaster.

Some blamed logistical hurdles, though the work of aid and rescue teams is normally carried out in destroyed areas. Others, including the UN bodies, blamed the sanctions on Syria and rival control of the affected areas as obstacles preventing the swift delivery of aid.

Only a few countries ignored these political issues and were quick to send aid and humanitarian assistance to both countries. Among them were the UAE, Algeria, Egypt, China, and others.

Emirati media commentator Rashid Murooshid reiterated the UAE position on humanitarian assistance as a matter that is beyond politics or any consideration other than basic human principles.

The UAE was a pioneer during the coronavirus pandemic, not only in offering personal protection equipment (PPE) to those countries in need, but also in rapidly developing testing and other measures and providing those to every country that sought help, Murooshid told Al-Ahram Weekly.

Its humanitarian assistance spans all continents, especially in natural disasters, with no consideration for the race, colour, or religion of those in need. Thats why it was among the first to send aid and help to both Turkey and Syria.

Murooshid stressed that aid and humanitarian assistance were delivered, regardless of political complications or political control. What mattered was ordinary people in need of help, regardless of any political slant, he added.

The UN has now admitted that it let the Syrians down in the earthquake disaster, but it was a belated admission with a hollow meaning, according to some. The US State Department defended the sanctions on Syria, claiming it was not hindering aid delivery to the affected areas. The rest of the West is busy providing arms and ammunition to the war in Ukraine.

Yet, it was not only the West that politicised humanitarian assistance to those affected by the natural disaster in Turkey and Syria. Geopolitics played a role even in the national efforts made. The vast majority of the areas affected are in southeast Turkey, where the majority of the population is Kurds.

Despite claims that there is no discrimination, some analysts have noted that Ankaras disenchantment with the Kurds is an underlying issue in its policies in those areas. The Kurds are also the inhabitants of northern Syria, where some areas are under the control of militant groups supported by Turkey.

Many observers agree that Syria has been the least helped in the disaster, and that many lives could have been saved if it had not been for geopolitical rivalries. Finally, ordinary people pay the price for such feuds, analysts say, but they note that they should not have been an excuse for the West to ignore the disaster and not provide humanitarian assistance.

Some even recalled other recent instances showing a decline of human solidarity in the face of disasters that are not man-made. Early in the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, some countries even appropriated supplies donated to others or outbid contracts for PPE and ventilators, depriving countries more affected by the virus of the means to prevent mounting deaths.

Italy and Serbia were cases in point, as other European countries seized the supplies for them provided by China.

Noting the Wests indifference to the Turkish and Syrian victims of the earthquakes, many remembered the recent rhetoric of western reporters covering the Ukraine war last year. Many network correspondents, from CBS to Aljazeera English, told their western viewers that the Ukrainians were relatively civilised when compared to refugees from Iraq, Afghanistan, or Syria.

One US NBC reporter described the Ukrainians as being different from the Syrians because they were Christians and white. The BBC hosted somebody who said that its very emotional for me because I see European people with blue eyes and blonde hair being killed.

No wonder the recent racist cartoon by the French magazine Charlie Hebdo mocking the earthquakes and their human toll did not stir strong reactions, except from a few Arab media figures. Entitled Earthquake in Turkey and showing heaps of rubble and collapsing buildings, the cartoon caption read dont even need to send tanks.

The reference to tanks was to the reluctance among some Europeans to send tanks to Kiev.

The politicisation of the humanitarian response to natural disasters, causing huge number of fatalities, widespread destruction, and lasting human suffering, is on the rise. This is the case not only in the West, but probably also around the world, except in a few countries where people still stick to basic human principles.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 16 February, 2023 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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Mangaluru: Ahead of Valentine's Day, some right-wing organisations in the city here have come out against the celebrations which they say are not in tune with India's culture and traditions. The city's restaurants, gift stores and flower vendors have made arrangements for February 14 hoping to do some brisk business. Many of them have made special offers on the day for couples.

The Bajrang Dal has asked the gift centres not to sell any items that entices the youth to celebrate the day.

In a statement, Bajrang Dal district convenor Naveen Moodushedde said western culture is challenging Indian customs and trying to attract the young generation towards them.

ALSO READ | Valentine's Day: 'Will Stop SEX..' Pramod Muthalik's Shri Ram Sena Issues Threat For 14th Feb

He alleged that unethical activities are taking place in the name of Valentine's Day and urged the city police to take action against those who indulge in "inappropriate behaviour" in public spaces.

The Hindu Jana Jagruthi Samiti has also demanded that Valentine's Day celebrations should not be allowed in the city.

In a memorandum submitted to the city police commissioner, Samiti leader Bhavya Gowda said young women are being harassed under the guise of Valentine's Day.
New Delhi: Gully Boy, India's official entry to the Oscars celebrates 4 years today, and while the film was highly celebrated for its impactful performances, it was dark horse Vijay Varma who stood for the sheer potential he showed and for holding his own despite the strong and established cast.

The actor was praised for his performance as Moeen Arif, and his portrayal instantly caught the attention of audiences and critics alike. From thereon, Vijay continued to impress with web series' like A Suitable Boy, She and Mirzapur 2 and Ok Computer, all of which he won rave reviews for.

But it was finally with Darlings, that Vijay Varma cemented his position as the 'King of Grey' as his character Hamza was yet another example of Vijays incredible prowess as a performer who constantly raises the bar with every project he takes on. Critics spoke about how Vijay 'nailed the character', 'was like a chameleon', 'terrific and absolutely scintillating' making audiences feel the dread that Badru (Alia Bhatt) felt everytime his character Hamza came home.

From being a supporting cast alongside Alia Bhatt in Gully Boy to being a parallel lead opposite her in her production Darlings, the actor has come a long way in the last 4 years and his journey has been nothing short of inspiring.

Its no surprise then that after his phenomenal performance in the film, he is now part of some of the most exciting theatrical and OTT content including Sujoy Ghoshs untitled next alongside Kareena Kapoor Khan, Reema Kagtis Fallen and Sumit Saxenas untitled project that took almost 100 days of immersive, relentless work. Each of these are versatile and challenging but nothing that the actor cant pull off!
Mumbai: It's Valentine's Day and actor Ajay Devgn has penned a love-filled post on social media. If you are thinking that his post is for his wife Kajol then you are wrong.He dropped a V-Day post for "camera." Ajay wrote, "I don't know whether it was (love) at first sight. But somewhere along the way, the camera slowly but surely became my obsession. Dedicating this Valentine`s Day to something that never fails to excite me. Thanks dear camera for enhancing my world view."

Alongside the caption, Ajay shared a video working behind the camera on the sets of Bholaa. Ajay's post elicited hilarious response from netizens. A user wrote, "Ghar pe kajol maam marengi camera ko valentine bol rahe ho.""No post for Kajol mam? She will see you at home," another one commented. Coming back to `Bholaa`, it is an official Hindi remake of the Tamil hit `Kaithi`.

It has been styled as the story of a "one-man army, set in one night, fighting a multitude of enemies in various forms, human and otherwise."

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 also stars Tabu as the female protagonist and is all set to hit the theatres on March 30, 2023.
New Delhi: In the latest #AskSrk session, SRK was asked, "Sir woh abs abhi bhi hai ya butter chicken ne dabaa diye #AskSRK"

To which the superstar hilariously replied with praises for the young action star, Tiger referring to his debut film, Heropanti's famous dialogue. He wrote- As my baby Tiger Shroff famously said " doosron ke aate nahu mere jaate nahin" ha ha

Tiger will soon be seen in 2 of the biggest films of this year with 'Bade Miyan Chhote Miyan' and 'Ganapath' this year. SRK's Pathaan continues to break records and he will further be seen in 'Jawan' and 'Dunki'.

Helmed by Siddharth Anand and produced by Yash Raj Films, `Pathaan` was released on January 25, a day before Republic Day 2023, in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu languages.

`Pathaan` has received a massive response from viewers and SRK`s fandom globally has warmly welcomed the actor to his movie after four years. The film also entered the Rs 100 crore club on its opening day. It has already collected Rs 364 crore in India in 8 days.

The film marks SRK`s return to the silver screen after four years. It`s an action-spy film. Salman Khan appears in an extended cameo as his character from the `Tiger` movies, which are also a part of the new shared universe that YRF has set up.
New Delhi: Controversial celebrity Rakhi Sawant's personal life has been in turmoil lately with her mother's death followed by a broken marriage with beau Adil Khan Durrani. As per latest reports, Adil has been accused of rape, cheating, threatening, and blackmailing an Iranian student who came to Mysuru from Iran to study as per ANI.

A case has been registered at the VV Puram police station of Mysuru, the police said. Adil Durrani was acquainted with a student from Iran who had come to Mysuru to study Doctor of Pharmacy for the past 5 years.

According to police, Adil Durrani allegedly raped her after promising to marry her. Believing that they would get married, the Iranian student developed physical contact with him in one of the apartments in VV Puram, the FIR said. But Adil Durrani refused to marry the student for the last 5 months and that's when the student decided to take the legal route.

Meanwhile, Rakhi Sawant in her new video shared on Instagram alleged that Adil's rumoured girlfriend Tanu Chandel is pregnant with his child. The celeb can be seen cursing the man for ruining her life and makes shocking allegations of cheating.

After Rakhi Sawant, this is the second case that Adil Durrani would have to face. He was arrested after Rakhi Sawant filed an FIR against him, alleging he mishandled her funds. Rakhi also accused him of engaging in domestic violence.

(With ANI inputs)
New Delhi: Microsoft has started rolling out the new ChatGPT-powered Bing on desktops to early testers worldwide, and it will also be available on Android and iOS in the coming weeks, the media reported. The tech giant is working on a "substantial optimised interface" for Bing.com's Chat UI for Android and iOS, which includes all-new OpenAI-powered content, reports Windows Latest, citing sources.





In an email sent out to testers, Microsoft confirmed that the mobile experience is not yet ready, according to the report."We don't have a mobile experience ready yet -- we are actively working on it and will have it ready soon. Until then, please continue to use the new Bing on desktop and download the Bing app from your favourite app store to ensure you are ready for the amazing experience when the mobile version is ready," the company said in the email.Moreover, the report said that the company is still optimising Bing.com's AI UX for mobile form factors. Meanwhile, Microsoft is also reportedly planning to demonstrate its new Prometheus model to its core productivity apps such as Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook.In the coming weeks, Microsoft will detail its productivity plans for integrating OpenAI's language AI technology and its AI Model, reports The Verge, citing sources.
New Delhi: Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a spear phishing campaign where the con artists target employees of an organisation by impersonating the CEO or Boss of that company.

A spear phishing attempt that targeted many organisations was discovered by CloudSEK experts. The campaign involved a certain type of message that appeared to be sent by CEOs or superiors but may actually be a scam.

The threat actor sends WhatsApp messages to employees (mainly top executives) on their personal phone numbers while posing as the firm CEO in these communications.

While investigating phishing cases of various customers, @CloudSEKs' analysts identified a spear phishing campaign targeting multiple corporations. Read about the The CEO Impersonation Fraud Threatening IT Companies : https://t.co/ZqPXumFlj0#Phishing #Impersonation  CloudSEK (@cloudsek) February 9, 2023

Modus Operandi of the WhatsApp spear phishing Scam

Analysts at cybersecurity firm CloudSEK found the following Modus Operandi that the spear phishing Scamsters adopted

The vulnerable employees recieves an SMS-based message from an unknown based number "allegedly impersonating a top-ranking executive from the organization"

The Fraudsters impersonate the top-ranking executive so as to instill urgency and panic

If the he vulnerable employee or the reciever of the SMS acknowledges the scammer with a response, the threat actor/scammer would request to complete a quick task.

CloudSEK says that the "quick tasks commonly include: purchasing gift cards for a client or employee and/or wiring funds to another business."

Scammer may also ask employees to send personal information like PINs and passwords to third parties in some cases, thus often providing a probable reason to carry out the request.

CloudSEK in its report wrote that the "threat actors often use commanding and persuasive language to convince the email victim to respond...Threat actors then use popular sales intelligence or lead generation tools such as Signalhire, Zoominfo, Rocket Reach to gather personal identifiable information (PII) like emails, phone numbers, and more."
The political impact from last weeks earthquake in Turkey and Syria could be enormous, but predicting what types of fallouts is another matter, writes Salah Nasrawi

Three days before the devastating series of earthquakes that ravaged Turkey and northern Syria last week an Amsterdam-based researcher warned that a disaster was about to strike in the region.

Sooner or later there will be a 7.5 Magnitude earthquake in this region (South-Central Turkey, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon), Frank Hoogerbeets wrote on Twitter on 3 February.

In hindsight, the prediction of one of the strongest earthquakes in the region on record appeared prescient. It started to go viral and hit the headlines.

In Turkey, as heartbreaking pictures of the results of the huge tremors began to emerge, anger mounted at the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and its perceived failure to prepare and respond to the catastrophe.

In Syria, the regime of Bashar Al-Assad is also under fire for deliberately slowing down the response to the tragedy, which has largely hit the rebel-controlled north of the country, because it does not recognise the aid groups operating there.

But as anger grows at the two governments response and preparation for the earthquakes, questions have emerged as to whether predictions can now be made about the fallout of the tragedy on the political front.

As the response to many devastating earthquakes, droughts, and pandemics in the past has shown, political consequences can be understood and predicted using the same methods as for natural disasters.

But while the disaster could upend domestic politics in Turkey and Syria, many doubt that a dramatic post-quake transformation could emerge in the Middle East, which is known for its inter-regional conflicts.

Many in Turkey challenged what they said was the slow and inadequate emergency response from the Erdogan government in the immediate hours after the tremors struck in southeast Turkey leaving tens of thousands of people either dead or wounded.

Facing re-election in May or June, Erdogan is aware that his political fortunes depend on a rapid and decisive response to the earthquake that devastated towns in southern Turkey and left hundreds of thousands without shelter, water, fuel or electricity.

But it is not just the public frustration over the speed of the governments response and failure to take the necessary precautions to deal with its terrible effects that is sparking anger. Many have pointed to government corruption in the construction and infrastructure sector preceding the earthquake.

Politics may also be wreaking the response to the earthquake, and political rivals are accusing Erdogan and the ruling Turkish Justice and Development Party (AKP) of planning to use the disaster to steal the upcoming election.

While a domestic political battle over the fallout from the earthquake is expected, all eyes are now on Erdogan and what might be expected in his foreign policy as governments and organisations around the world have responded with offers of support to those affected by the catastrophe.

In the two decades since Erdogan came to power his proactive and sometimes confrontational style has become a defining part of Turkeys foreign policy. The dire situation in Turkey now has exposed the weaknesses of Erdogans foreign policy and brought them to the fore.

Indeed, nothing in Erdogans record suggests that he will not try to exploit the disaster, which he has described as destinys plan, as he seeks to deflect growing criticism over shortcomings in the wake of the disaster.

To maintain his propaganda bubble ahead of the crucial election, Erdogan flew 16 babies pulled from the rubble of buildings destroyed in the earthquake to safety on his presidential plane and offered his 1,150-room White Palace to victims, saying they should treat it as their home and stay as long as they wanted.

No one has any doubt that Erdogan will exploit the global sympathy that Turkey is receiving in the wake of the earthquake to bolster his image and the countrys foreign relations. In recent years, he has signalled a thaw in relations with many countries he had previously antagonised, including Turkeys NATO allies, Israel, and Egypt.

For the Syrians, victims of a 12-year conflict, the public despair after the earthquake has been no less evident. Beset by an economic collapse, food shortages, and a recent cholera outbreak, the earthquake will be a devastating blow to an already struggling population.

Syrias woes can be largely traced back to the Al-Assad regimes policy of refusing to engage constructively with the UN-backed Geneva Process to achieve an end to the conflict in the country under UN Security Council Resolution 2245, which calls for a political resolution.

Instead of immediately starting to contain the disaster, the Syrian regime took upon itself to stage-manage the crisis and sought to go ahead with its policy of cutting off support for the affected rebel-held areas.

Initially, the Syrian government required all humanitarian aid sent to northwest Syria to go through government channels, which could have inevitably slowed down the delivery of aid in areas where the humanitarian needs of the population are great.

Many Syrians fear Al-Assad will politicise the disaster, which has largely hit the already decimated northern area of the country, in a bid to end his isolation and lift the Western sanctions imposed on his regime over humanitarian abuses during Syrias nearly 12-year civil war.

Like Erdogan, Al-Assad made a trip to a quake-hit area of Aleppo to show off his care in a carefully choreographed tour. He also struck back at critics, especially in the Western nations, accusing them of exhibiting a deficit of humanity.

Al-Assad seems to have been emboldened by the support offered by several governments to send humanitarian aid to Syria, with the countrys state-run media hailing this as an act of defiance to the sanctions imposed on his regime.

The embattled Syrian leader hopes he can build on the sympathy and generosity showed by the world to victims of the earthquake as an opportunity to push for an easing of his regimes isolation.

Al-Assad has recently achieved significant diplomatic victories, with several Arab governments normalising relations with the Syrian regime. His hopes for rapprochement were further bolstered by telephone calls with some Arab leaders in the wake of the earthquake.

The fact that Erdogan and Al-Assad are looking for new partners and appear willing to try to mend relations is understandable. They both face multiple political and economic crises and opposition to their rule, and they are looking for ways to calm many disputes.

But if scientists have invented models that can predict where and when earthquakes will likely strike, as was reported after the quake in Turkey and Syria, political predictions about the future of these two governments may be harder to make.

Considering the complex and deep-rooted conflicts in the region, it would be hard to assume that the ground is shifting again in the Middle East as a result of diplomatic niceties or some of the basic aspects of human nature.

In international relations, disaster diplomacy has a limited shelf-life. In most past cases, there is little evidence to suggest that it has a long-term impact.

Seeing foreign aid planes unloading or rescue workers dispatched to disaster areas is meant to serve as an instrument in domestic politics and a catalyst to promote foreign policy aims abroad.

The US, EU, Israel and many Arab countries that have mobilised support for Turkey and Syria in the wake of the earthquake have done so as a humanitarian gesture, but they are unlikely to believe that it will end their long-time disagreements and tensions with Ankara and Damascus.

It ought to come as no surprise, therefore, that both Erdogan and Al-Assad, merely as part of their personal and leadership styles, would regard the disaster as an object for political manipulation.

However, even before the dust of the earthquake settles, it has become abundantly clear that the challenges posed to Erdogan and Al-Assad from its political shockwaves are piling up and could threaten their rule.

Ostensibly, the massive earthquakes on 6 February that have shattered the lives and livelihoods of millions of people across Turkey and Syria could generate sympathy and solidarity, but they are also highly unlikely to create solid bases for long-term relations with Erdogan or Al-Assad.

The dominant Middle East narrative is that Erdogan has survived military coups, political opposition, a Kurdish rebellion, economic troubles and a pandemic. Meanwhile, Al-Assad continues to hold onto power despite a civil war, the loss of control of territory to rebels, international isolation, and total economic collapse.

As is the case with earth tremors or volcanoes, where seismologists can predict eruptions even if not precisely, political analysts may also be able to see through the fallout of last weeks earthquakes, building their own conclusions on the history of peoples behaviour and above all on the overstated abilities and blunders of their leaders.

A closer look at the catastrophic outcome of the deadly earthquake shows that Erdogan will not be spared the political difficulties awaiting him and his party in the next election. For Al-Assad, the devastating impacts of the quake will certainly reignite questions about his ability to stay in power.

In both cases, there will be reverberations throughout the Middle East, although it might not be clear what direction they will take. Considering the regional ramifications, the countries of the region will continue to eye both Turkey and Syria warily.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 16 February, 2023 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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A truce may be near between the belligerents in the conflict in Yemen, despite conflicting statements from the parties involved and few prospects of a peace process, writes Ahmed Eleiba

Despite conflicting statements from the belligerents in the Yemen war, they appear to be close to resuming the truce that broke off in October.

According to Abdel-Aziz Al-Bakir, Minister of State for the Houthi government in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, the recent Omani-brokered talks between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia reached agreements on a number of issues, including the release of salaries for government employees in areas under Houthi control.

Al-Bakir released his statement after Ahmed bin Mubarak, Foreign Minister of the internationally recognised Yemeni government, denied that any agreement had been reached in the talks, which have reportedly failed to make progress on other issues such as the release of POWs.

Sources close to the Yemeni government told Al-Ahram Weekly that it had broken off negotiations and that Riyadh was now steering the process with Muscat. Moreover, the Yemeni government would probably reject any agreement that did not include binding guarantees that would compel the Houthis to cease hostilities inside Yemen, the sources said.

The Houthis have refrained from offensive operations outside Yemen since April when they concluded a truce with Riyadh.

In tandem with the Omani efforts, US Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking travelled to Saudi Arabia, Oman, and the UAE on 3 February to continue concerted US diplomatic efforts with the UN, regional, and international partners to advance a comprehensive and inclusive peace process, a US State Department press release announced.

The statement noted that Washington was working to promote support for humanitarian operations in Yemen. During his trip, the US Special Envoy would encourage donors to give generously in 2023 to fund life-saving aid for Yemenis as part of the 2023 UN Humanitarian Response Plan, it said.

He would also urge the parties to seize this opportunity [the calm resulting from a UN-sponsored truce] to intensify their engagement with the UN to launch a Yemeni-Yemeni political process that can durably end the war.

Some observers believe that the US linkage between alleviating the humanitarian crisis and an inclusive Yemeni-led political process to end the conflict could undermine efforts to promote a settlement.

The Yemeni government still ranks the Ansar Allah (Houthi) Movement as a terrorist organisation and urges other countries to do likewise. It also argues that the Houthis have refused to commit to the main rules and principles for a political process, starting with the recognition of the legitimate government.

They show no sign of backing down from the stances they have adopted since the coup of 2014 and they treat the current efforts to promote a truce not as a possible opening to a settlement but as an opportunity to reap the incentives offered by it.

On the question of government salaries, the Yemeni government charges that the Houthi Interior Ministry has pensioned off thousands of employees in order to bring in loyalists so that they can receive the released payments.

The Houthis are also taking military and demographic measures to prepare the ground to their benefit in advance of a truce. In the northern governorate of Saada, the main Houthi stronghold, Houthi forces have surrounded Burkan in the Razeh district not far from the Saudi border where they have encountered opposition among local tribes after confiscating tribal lands for projects runs by their elites.

A similar situation has arisen in Jawf, also near the border with Saudi Arabia, where the Houthis have issued decrees to confiscate land belonging to the Hamdan tribe in the area.

In the southern governorate of Abyan, there have been intermittent clashes between Houthi and Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces. The Houthis may be trying to avenge themselves against the STC for having blocked Houthi drives to take territory in the Shabwah governorate over the past two years.

One of the main weaknesses of the pro-government forces in Yemen has been their disunity. In late January, Yemeni Leadership Council President Rashad Al-Alimi created the National Shield Force in order to unify the armed groups in government-controlled territories. The Force, consisting of eight brigades, is under the command of Bashir Al-Subaihi, said to be close to Saudi Arabia.

Its precise function is unknown, possibly serving as a kind of presidential guard, a division parallel to the STC forces, or as a new combat force to be deployed against the Houthis.

One political source from South Yemen told the Weekly that the National Shield is meant to offset the STC forces, with Saudi Arabia being a key factor. The latter probably decided it needed a local military force in order to assert its influence in Hadhramawt, Mahra, and other parts of South Yemen because the STC is not seen as loyal to Saudi Arabia, the source said.

It thus appears that new power balances are taking shape in Yemen, not just between adversaries but also between the allies of the moment.

While prospects for a peace process in Yemen remain uncertain, the US is taking another course of action by seizing smuggled weapons destined for the country. Last week, US Central Command announced that it had supported a maritime interdiction earlier this month that resulted in the seizure by partner naval forces of weapons that originated in Iran and were bound for Yemen. Iran has denied responsibility for the shipments.

The seized shipments included what are described as explosive precursor materials such as urea fertiliser and ammonium perchlorate, ammunition rounds, fuses, rocket propellants and drone engines. Although the Houthis have repeatedly claimed to possess their own military manufacturing capacities, the seizure of such large amounts of equipment and material will diminish these.

The US has also announced that it has included Al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen among the priorities of its counter-terrorist operations in the region. According to Yemeni news reports two weeks ago, a US drone strike killed Hassan Al-Hadrami, an Al-Qaeda operative in charge of explosives manufacturing, along with two of his colleagues in Al-Samda in Mareb.

The reports included images taken from social-networking sites of Al-Hadramis car after it was hit by the strike.

It is in US interests to weaken the Houthis militarily as part of the US confrontation with Iran, since as an Iranian proxy they could also pose a threat to Israel. It is also in US interests to target the Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula group because this supports affiliated terrorist organisations in the Horn of Africa and Somalia.

According to some observers, even if a truce in Yemen is renewed, Riyadh will still not feel secure as long as the Houthis remain in control of a large portion of North Yemen adjacent to the Saudi border. But they reason that such a truce will now be financed primarily by revenues from Yemeni oil, instead of from the Saudi treasury which up to now has sustained the lions share of the costs of the war.

The Houthis will target Yemeni oil facilities as a means to pressure the Yemeni government and the Arab Coalition that backs it into agreeing to sharing revenues with them. Sharing power with the Houthis is another question altogether, of course, but it is also one that is very premature, since it is hard to envision a peace process at the moment even if a truce is reached.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 16 February, 2023 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said Tuesday that Egypt supports all development and reform efforts in Tunisia under the lead of President Kais Saied.

Egypt has repeatedly voiced support for Saieds "historic measures in July 2021, stating they are aimed at achieving stability and security and fulfilling the will of the Tunisian people.

The Tunisian president announced a number of drastic decisions at the time, including suspending the parliament, dominated by the Islamist party Ennahdha, and relieving his prime minister in a step that sparked demonstrations for and against the decision.

Cairo is willing to share its successful experience in implementing development projects, as well as its economic and administrative reforms with Tunis, El-Sisi said on Tuesday during a meeting with Tunisian Prime Minister Najla Bouden in Dubai, where they are both attending the World Government Summit (WGS) 2023.

The talks focused on means of boosting bilateral relations in all fields, said Presidential Spokesman Ahmed Fahmy.

The two leaders also discussed regional issues of mutual concern, Fahmy added.

In late 2021, El-Sisi met with Bouden in Paris, during which he affirmed Egypt's readiness to harness all available capabilities to help Tunisia achieve security and development.

Saied made his first official visit to Cairo in April 2021.

A year of economic cooperation

Egypt and Tunisia have been enhancing their bilateral relations over the past year, especially on the economic and political levels.

In May, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly launched the 17th session of the Egyptian-Tunisian Higher Committee during a visit to Tunis, inking 11 agreements between both nations in several fields, including health, education, agriculture and technology.

Both sides also agreed on making 2022-2023 the year of economic cooperation between Egypt and Tunisia.

According to the Egyptian Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS), the value of Egyptian exports to Tunisia in 2021 reached $264 million while the value of imports amounted to $76 million in the same year.

In December 2022, El-Sisi stressed Egypts keenness to boost trade and investments with Tunisia in a meeting with his Tunisian counterpart on the sidelines of the China-Arab Summit that took place in the Saudi capital.

At the time, the Tunisian president also hailed Egypts prominent political weight on the regional and international level, highlighting its positive effect on Arab and African work to reach political settlements for the ongoing crises in the region.

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Veteran Egyptian writer, strategic analyst and military correspondent Morsi Atallah passed away on Tuesday at the age of 80.

Atallah, one of the most notable Egyptian journalists and columnists, was a former chairman of state-owned Al-Ahram daily newspaper and the founding editor-in-chief of Al-Ahram Al-Massai, an evening daily publication by Al-Ahram news foundation.

He also led the board of the then-turbulent Zamalek SC in 2005 and was the founding editor-in-chief of Al-Zamalkwiya magazine.

The notable writer was born in 1943 in Gharbia governorate in the Nile Delta. He graduated from the Faculty of Agriculture at Cairo University in 1963.

Atallah joined the army ahead of the 6th of October 1973 victory of Arab coalition forces led by Egypt and Syria against the Israeli occupation in Sinai and the Golan Heights, and later rose as a prominent political and strategic analyst and writer.

Atallah was also known for his daily column Kol Youm (translated as Everyday) in Al-Ahram, where he would address political and social developments in Egypt and the Arab world.

The board of Zamalek SC issued a statement mourning the death of Atallah.

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At least 32 civilians have been killed by rebel groups in eastern Congo's Ituri province, said a spokesman for the United Nations.

Twenty people were killed by the militia group CODECO and a dozen were killed by the Allied Democratic Forces, which is allied to the Islamic State group, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a press conference on Monday.

Calling the situation ``confusing,'' Dujarric said it is hard for the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo to get more information due to restricted movement in the area.

Fighting between CODECO, a loose association of various ethnic Lendu militia groups, and Zaire, a mainly ethnic Hema self-defense group, has been ongoing since 2017 but has worsened recently.

At least 32 civilians were killed by CODECO last month, say local officials. In December, the United Nations said the insurgent group was expanding its areas of control, attacking civilians and Congo's military, and taxing communities in the areas that it holds.

The killings come amid surging violence across eastern Congo, where conflict has been simmering for decades as more than 120 armed groups are fighting in the region, most for land and control of mines with valuable minerals, while some groups are trying to protect their communities.

In neighboring North Kivu province, the situation is deteriorating as the M23 rebel group, which was dormant for nearly a decade and resurfaced at the end of 2021, continues to seize swaths of territory and kill civilians.

The M23 first rose to prominence 10 years ago when its fighters seized Goma, the largest city in Congo's east, which sits on the border with Rwanda. The group derives its name from a peace agreement signed on March 23, 2009 which called for the rebels to be integrated into the Congo army. The M23 accuse the government of not implementing the accord. The group is believed to have backing from Rwanda, findings supported by the U.N.

A peace agreement last year made during a summit in Angola was supposed to see the M23 withdraw from areas it had captured, however, that is not being implemented, according to local residents.

Last week M23 fighters advanced toward Sake town in the Masisi area, displacing more than 65,000 people, according to an internal report for aid groups seen by The Associated Press. The rebels' advance increases the risk of isolating Goma and cutting off humanitarian access, say aid agencies.

The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo, known as MONUSCO, has also been attacked amid the volatility.

Earlier this month one of the U.N. mission's helicopters came under fire in North Kivu province, killing a South African peacekeeper and injuring another, said the U.N. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The United Nations Security Council said the deliberate targeting of peacekeepers could constitute war crimes.

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Ukraine's Western backers pushed at a meeting on Tuesday to keep the huge amounts of ammunition and arms Kyiv needs flowing to the battlefield, as Russia ramps up its assaults.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has knuckled down on his plea for Western aircraft after securing commitments for tanks, air defence and precision missiles.

But allies insist they are scrambling to ensure his forces have the ammunition and heavy weaponry they need on the ground to push back renewed Russian offensives.

Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov tweeted he was focused on building an "aviation platform", winning more promises of tank supplies and ensuring ammunition stocks.

He flashed a handkerchief with a picture of a jet on it as he entered a meeting with representatives of more than 50 nations supporting Kyiv at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

"This has become a grinding war of attrition and therefore it's also a battle of logistics," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said.

"This is a huge effort by allies to actually be able to get in the ammunition, the fuel, the spare parts, which are needed."

Ukraine's Western supporters -- spearheaded by the United States -- have already supplied billions of dollars of arms to help Kyiv hold Moscow back.

'Hold and advance'

Now, just under a year into the war, Stoltenberg said Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to have started a long-awaited new offensive in east Ukraine.

"We will support Ukraine's fight for freedom over the long haul, and help Ukraine hold and advance during the spring counter-offensive," US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said.

"We must intensify our focus. Ukraine has urgent requirements to help it meet this crucial moment."

A senior US official said the priority was on getting Ukraine air defence, artillery, ammunition and armoured vehicles.

Norway's government became the latest to join a group of nations promising Leopard 2 tanks by offering eight.

The fighting is consuming vast quantities of ammunition, straining stockpiles and industries on both sides of the confrontation.

Stoltenberg warned that Kyiv's current rate of expenditure was "many times higher" than the output in NATO countries.

Allies continue to raid their shelves for the rounds -- especially 155-millimetre shells -- that Ukraine is firing by the thousands each day.

NATO is scrambling to get its factories to pump out more, and allies are eyeing plans for joint weapons purchases, higher defence spending and longer-term contracts.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said Berlin had signed a deal with manufacturer Rheinmetall to restart production of ammunition for Gepard air defence guns sent to Ukraine.

Jets not 'most urgent'

Zelensky issued a powerful call during a trip to London, Paris and Brussels last week for NATO members to send fighter planes and longer-range missiles.

The Ukrainian leader won a commitment from Britain to train pilots but did not get any firm promises that his forces will get Western planes.

But the senior US official said that sending jets was "not something we're talking about around that table, right now, today".

Slovakia has said it is willing to discuss sending Soviet MIG-29 planes to help replace losses to Ukraine's current stocks.

Dutch Defence Minister Kajsa Ollongren said Kyiv had requested US-made F-16 jets from the Netherlands.

"We have to debate this with our partners, also with the United States, and we have to think about feasibility," she said.

Stoltenberg insisted "the issue of aircraft is not the most urgent issue now, but it is an ongoing discussion".

"The urgent need now is to deliver what has already been promised," he said.

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Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian teenager Tuesday during an army raid in a refugee camp in the northern West Bank, Palestinian officials said.

Meanwhile, in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, a video captured by an American journalist showing an Israeli soldier shoving a Palestinian activist to the ground and then kicking him caused an uproar online - prompting the Israeli military to jail the soldier for 10 days.

Early on Tuesday, the Israeli occupation army said it carried out raids across the occupied West Bank overnight.

During an operation in the Faraa refugee camp near the northeastern city of Tubas, the army said it opened fire on a Palestinian who approached troops with an explosive device. The camp is home to a recently formed militant cell affiliated with Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an Islamist group.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said that 17-year-old Mahmoud al-Aydi died from a bullet wound to the head. No militant group immediately claimed him as a member.

Also on Tuesday, a 25-year-old Palestinian succumbed to wounds he suffered two years ago when the Israeli army shot him in Masafer Yatta, in the southern West Bank, leaving him paralyzed from the neck down.

Palestinian health officials identified him as Haroun Abu Aram. Footage from the incident in 2021 showed him struggling to prevent Israeli security forces from confiscating his portable generator before a shot rang out, and he collapsed.

Tensions have mounted for months as Israel has escalated arrest raids in the West Bank, which were prompted by a spate of Palestinian attacks on Israelis last spring. Some 30 people were killed in Israel by Palestinians in 2022, and at least 12 others died in attacks so far in 2023.

In Hebron, prominent Palestinian activist Issa Amro was giving an interview to Lawrence Wright of The New Yorker magazine on Monday when an Israeli soldier grabbed Amro by the neck as if to choke him before throwing him onto a brick sidewalk, footage posted by Wright on Twitter showed.

The soldier kicked Amro as he lay on the ground and began to drag him on the concrete before another soldier intervened, pulling him away from Amro.

Late on Monday, the Israeli army said the soldier would serve 10 days in military prison and be suspended from active combat duty, adding, ``As the video shows, the soldier did not act as expected and did not follow the (military's) code of conduct.``

Palestinian and human rights groups accuse the Israeli military of frequently using excessive force and say soldiers are rarely punished for violent acts. Even in the most shocking cases - and those captured on video - soldiers often get relatively light sentences.

Yet Israel's ultranationalist National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir lambasted the punishment as a ``disgrace.'' He has long called for a relaxation of open-fire regulations and immunity from criminal prosecution for members of the security forces acting in combat situations in the West Bank.

``Soldiers deserve to be backed up, not jailed,'' Ben-Gvir wrote on Twitter.

Nearly 150 Palestinians were killed last year in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, making it the deadliest year in those areas since 2004, according to figures by the Israeli rights group B'Tselem. At least 48 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops since the start of this year.

Israel says that most of those killed have been militants but others - including youths protesting the incursions and other people not involved in confrontations - have also been killed.

Israel says the military raids are meant to dismantle militant networks and thwart future attacks while the Palestinians view them as the further entrenchment of Israel's open-ended, 55-year occupation.

Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war, territories the Palestinians claim for their hoped-for independent state.

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Nearly 200 charities on Tuesday urged the UK's political leaders to "take a clear stand" against attacks on asylum seekers, days after an anti-immigrant protest descended into violent disorder.

Clashes broke out when troublemakers disrupted a pro-refugee gathering outside a hotel housing asylum seekers near Liverpool, police said.

A far-right, anti-immigrant group had protested outside the same hotel earlier this month.

The open letter, co-ordinated by coalition campaign Together With Refugees and signed by 180 charities, condemned the "horrifying" scenes on Friday outside the hotel near Liverpool, in northwest England.

Merseyside Police arrested 15 people after fireworks were thrown at officers and a police van was attacked with hammers and set alight during several hours of mayhem.

One of those arrested, a 19-year-old man, appeared in court on Monday charged with violent disorder and assault for beating an emergency services worker.

"With the high risk of more premeditated extremist attacks around the country, leaders of all parties must now take a clear stand and condemn any further violence against those who come here to find safety," the charities' letter stated.

It also urged political leaders to "set out the action they will take to prevent it".

Hardline interior minister Suella Braverman has faced sustained criticism for her inflammatory rhetoric over immigration, in particular her description of the growing number of migrants crossing the Channel.

Opponents accuse her of demonising asylum seekers and fuelling hostility towards people seeking sanctuary.

In November, she sparked an outcry by saying in parliament that England's south coast was facing an "invasion" of illegal migration.

Tens of thousands of people arrived in southeast England on small boats from the European mainland last year, dramatically increasing a trend that began on a large scale in 2018.

A spokesperson for the interior ministry noted that Braverman had condemned the "appalling scenes outside the hotel and violence toward police officers" seen on Friday.

"The welfare of asylum seekers in our care is of the utmost importance and we will work with the police to ensure their safety," the spokesperson added.

Friday's violence in Merseyside erupted when troublemakers came to a planned demonstration by refugee advocacy groups outside the hotel, police said.

The far-right group Patriotic Alternative had protested outside the hotel earlier this month, although the group denied it was the organiser of the latest rally.

Police linked the protest to social media and rumours that a man had made "inappropriate advances" to a 15-year-old girl in the area, saying this was used as "an excuse to commit violence".

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During a visit to a food plant on 9 February, President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi underlined that Egypt has good relations with all Arab countries.

Since coming to office, President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi said his policy has focused on promoting relations with Arab states, particularly Saudi Arabia.

We must not forget the support our brothers have given us, said Al-Sisi, before making reference to articles and social media reports which have tackled our relationship with Saudi Arabia.

What is being published on social media platforms, and even in our newspapers, about relations with our brothers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is inappropriate, he said.

If people dont have anything good to say, the least they can do is remain silent. They should only write to improve and strengthen relations, not the opposite.

Some platforms seek to drive a wedge between us and our brothers. We will not let ourselves be dragged along by those who want to sow sedition and foment trouble.

Even at times of crisis, we decline to make negative comments. Take Ethiopia as an example a country with which we have differences over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Yet despite these differences, we have not released any negative statements.

Addressing Egyptian journalists and social media platforms, he continued: When we have an official statement about anything, we will let you know. And until there is an official statement saying otherwise, assume relations are good and well.

Al-Sisis comments came against a backdrop of media spats between Saudi Arabian and Egyptian journalists which came to a head when Abdel-Razek Tawfik, editor-in-chief of the state-owned Al-Gomhouriya daily newspaper, heavily criticised Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries, leading to speculation that his words had been approved by the regime.

On 9 February, President Al-Sisi said Tawfiks criticism was baseless and accused websites of attempting to create divisions between Egypt and its Arab Gulf allies. Tawfiks article has since been deleted from Al-Gomhouriyas website and replaced by an editorial describing Egyptian-Saudi relations as historic and eternal.

President Al-Sisis remarks were welcomed in parliamentary and political circles. MP Mustafa Bakri, a member of parliaments Arab Affairs Committee, noted that President Al-Sisi has always been keen to highlight the support Egypt has received from Arab Gulf countries  particularly Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait  since he came to office in 2014.

Arab Gulf countries appreciation of this policy is reflected in their interest in investing in Egypt. President Al-Sisi and Saudi Arabias King Salman, and Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman have close relations on both the official and personal levels.

President Al-Sisi visited Saudi Arabia several times last year, and Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman also came to Egypt. An estimated three million Egyptians live and work in Saudi Arabia and remit billions of dollars to Egypt every year. That Saudi Arabias Embassy in Cairo is its biggest in the world is testimony to the historic and deep relations between the two Arab heavyweights.

Describing the latest media spat as an example of friendly fire, Bakri pointed out that last week was not the first time President Al-Sisi has voiced his appreciation for support coming from the Gulf.

In September 2022, during a visit to Ismailia, President Al-Sisi paid tribute to the support Gulf states had offered Egypt, saying that had Arab Gulf countries not moved quickly to help Egypt in 2013 and 2014, the country would have been unable to move forward.

We can never forget that our brothers in the Arab Gulf provided us with substantial support in the form of cash transfers and crude oil, and we continue to express our appreciation for them.

Ikram Badreddin, professor of political science at Cairo University, told Al-Ahram newspaper on 8 February that Egyptian-Saudi relations have always been strong.

There was a very brief period of tension during the civil war in Yemen between 1962 and 1967, but the two countries quickly recovered their strategic relations and set up an Egyptian-Saudi Coordination Council to coordinate their positions on the Arab, regional, and international levels.

There is also close military coordination. Both countries face the threat of terrorism, and both are committed to ensuring Red Sea navigation remains safe.

Saudi Arabia signed deals worth $7.7 billion with Egypt in June 2022 and Saudi Arabias Sovereign Wealth Fund has said it intends to pump $30 billion worth of investments into the Egyptian economy.

Some groups, like the Muslim Brotherhood, do their best to drive a wedge between the two countries, but we should pay them no heed, said Badreddin.

Saudi commentator Mohamed Al-Ati echoed the sentiment. He told Cairo news channel on 10 February that Egyptian-Saudi relations are too strong to be negatively affected by battles on social media.

Relations are strategic and deep-rooted, and should not become hostage to groups or states that seek to disrupt Arab relations.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 16 February, 2023 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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Last week Cairo hosted a Libyan Joint Military Commission (JMC 5+5) meeting, a Sudanese National Dialogue workshop, an Arab League conference in support of Jerusalem, and meetings between Palestinian factions Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Observers say the gatherings underscore Egypts central role in managing and helping to resolve the multifaceted and interwoven crises afflicting the Middle East. Many have noted that Cairo is well positioned to achieve breakthroughs in the conflicts that are impacting its neighbours, and is determined to do so because they have a direct bearing on Egypts national security and vital interests.

The JMC meeting, jointly sponsored by Cairo and the UN Special Representative for Libya Abdoulaye Bathily, was attended by representatives from Libyas southern neighbours Sudan, Chad, and Niger.

It focused on the situation in southern Libya. According to reports, participants agreed to form a mechanism to facilitate the exchange of information and coordination  particularly on foreign fighters and mercenaries in Libya  between the participant states (Egypt, Libya, Chad, Sudan, and Niger) and the UN Special Mission in Libya (UNSMIL). The aim of the mechanism is to promote stability in southern Libya which has experienced numerous clashes and other problems.

Rebels opposed to the regime in Chad and Sudanese opposition factions have established bases in southern Libya. There are also large numbers of refugees from Darfur, and operatives from the Islamic State are known to be active in the area. Amid these overlapping problems, there is also the issue of illegal migration and human trafficking.

Reports suggest that the Russian Wagner group is increasingly active, allegedly training Chadian rebels while Washington supports the interim government in Chad. Wagner is also thought to be using southern Libya as a base for activities in Mali where the interim government appears to be developing closer relations with Moscow. Western powers fear a shift in sub-Saharan Africa in favour of Russia, especially after the French withdrew from Mali and other francophone countries.

Sources in eastern Libya told Al-Ahram Weekly that the US appears to be warming to the Libyan National Army (LNA). In mid-January, CIA Director William Burns made an unannounced visit to Libya where, after meeting with the head of the Government of National Unity (GNU) Abdul-Hamid Dbeibeh in Tripoli, he travelled to Benghazi to meet LNA Commander Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar.

A delegation from US African Command (AFRICOM) followed suit. According to sources, southern Libya is becoming an area of cooperation between Haftar and Washington, which will extend southward into Chad and Niger and eastward into Darfur.

The JMC meeting in Cairo afforded an opportunity for Egypts Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri to meet with UN Special Representative Bathily. According to sources in Cairo, discussions between the two officials reflected the closeness of their outlooks on the current challenges in Libya. They say there was a margin of consensus on how to resolve the crisis, with both sides agreeing that there must be a unified executive authority in order to hold elections. Cairo has been working with political and social forces in Libya to address the problem of Libyas current institutional bifurcation which, it says, begs questions not only about the procedural matters involved in holding elections, but also about guarantees for stability afterwards.

The Sudanese National Dialogue workshop in Cairo between 2 and 7 February, attended by representatives of Sudanese political parties, political groups, and civil society organisations, attempted to iron out differences over the constitutional track.

The event was the result of a proposal made in January by Egypts Ambassador to Sudan Hani Salah to promote an urgent solution to the crisis that arose after the military withdrew from the dialogue and divisions wracked the dialogues main civilian participant, the Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC).

Attendees succeeded in concluding a political consensus agreement as an important step towards a broader national dialogue aimed at producing a new roadmap to end the transitional period in Sudan. Ahead of the workshop, Director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Service Major General Abbas Kamel visited Sudan in early January to meet with the President of the Sovereignty Council Abdel-Fattah Al-Burhan, and representatives of Sudanese political forces (FFC, the Democratic Bloc, and the National Forces Bloc). According to sources in Cairo, despite the broad divergence in views, Egypt will continue its efforts to help the Sudanese bridge their differences.

While the Arab Leagues conference to support Jerusalem was convened to shed light on the situation in the Holy City, in his address President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi drew attention to broader issues relating to the Palestinian cause. Outlining an unequivocal position on the situation in Jerusalem, he reaffirmed Egypts rejection of any Israeli measures to alter the historical and legal status quo of the city and its holy sites and stressed the need to respect and uphold Jordanian custodianship of all Islamic and Christian holy places in Jerusalem, including Al-Aqsa Mosque.

He warned of the dire consequences of Israel persisting in actions that violate international law, including the expansion of settlements, the demolition of Palestinian homes, forced displacement, confiscation of Palestinian land, the systematic Judaisation of Jerusalem, the illegal storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and other acts that escalate tensions, jeopardise security, obstruct the two-state solution and force the entire Middle East into a position of having to make tough and dangerous choices.

President Al-Sisi made a point of delivering messages to both the Palestinians and Israel. To the Palestinians he reaffirmed their cause as a priority for Egypt and the Arabs. It is an integral and inseparable part of the Arab consciousness and will remain so until the realisation of the Palestinian national project with the establishment of a Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem, he said.

To Israel, he said: The time has come to strengthen the culture of peace and coexistence; indeed, to promote integration among the peoples of the region, in accordance with a just and comprehensive context. Let us turn the page on pain for the sake of future Palestinian and Israeli generations.

Against the backdrop of rising tensions over Jerusalem, Egypt hosted Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad leaders for talks with Egyptian intelligence officials. The aim was to calm the situation in Gaza and prevent it from spinning out of control. While sources in Cairo anticipate intermittent skirmishes between the two sides, they do not expect the situation to spiral into a major confrontation, at least not at present. They stressed that maintaining calm requires not only restraint on the part of the Palestinians, but for Israel to rein in the extremist tendencies of its current government.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 16 February, 2023 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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The destruction and loss of life caused by the earthquake in Turkey have given rise to an outpouring of aid and sympathy from the region, with still unpredictable effects on Turkish diplomacy.

Tensions have spiked between Turkey and a number of other countries in recent months.

The country has come close to a military collision with Greece over encroachments into Greek territorial waters, air space, and maritime economic zones in the Aegean. Ankaras opposition to Sweden and Finlands accession to NATO and its decision to break off talks with Stockholm have also caused European and US tempers to flare.

The latter have accused Turkey of trying to weaken NATO and of pursuing policies inconsistent with NATOs outlook, with some parts of the Western media beginning to refer to Turkey as the disruptive ally.

A new round of mutual recrimination was triggered by the incident of the burning of a copy of the Quran in Sweden earlier this month. The situation reached a point where nine Western capitals closed their consulates in Istanbul and issued travel warnings to citizens citing security threats.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and other Turkish officials lashed out against the Western capitals refusal to share information on the alleged threats and their ulterior motives.

However, Turkeys relations with the Arab region have generally improved. Considerable progress has been made towards rapprochement and resolving longstanding disputes between Ankara and the Arab capitals, even if significant challenges still remain.

It is against this background that the heavy casualties, destruction, and economic toll caused by the massive earthquake that struck southwestern Turkey on 6 February could have significant repercussions on Ankaras diplomatic relations and on its policies towards various conflicts.

More than 45 governments hastened to send condolences and offer their support to Turkey in the aftermath of one of the most powerful quakes in a century. Egypt, the US, Greece and Israel, which have had particularly acrimonious relations with Turkey, were among the first to step forward.

Once the worst of the immediate ramifications of the earthquake are over, the various forms of relief and assistance that are rushing to Turkey from abroad may also turn out to have contributed to alleviating regional tensions. The sympathetic messages that Turkey has received show that catastrophes such as this can generate feelings of human solidarity in times of crisis and that these might generate a momentum of their own.

Turkeys foreign relations will now likely experience a period of calm. As the country struggles to recover from this tragedy, foreign governments are likely to set aside their differences with Ankara out of sympathy for its plight.

Indications of this have been found in British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak personally joining volunteers in London helping to pack items for earthquake victims. US President Joe Biden also tweeted on 6 February that I am deeply saddened by the loss of life and devastation caused by the earthquake in Turkiye and Syria. I have directed my team to continue to closely monitor the situation in coordination with Turkiye and provide any and all needed assistance.

French President Emmanuel Macron, whose relations with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have often been strained, tweeted that we are receiving terrible images from Turkey and Syria following an earthquake of unprecedented force. France is ready to provide emergency relief to the populations on the ground. Our thoughts are with the bereaved families.

In Germany, home to the worlds largest Turkish diaspora community, Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his shock at the number of those killed and injured in the regions of Turkey and Syria affected by the earthquake, according to a German government website.

During catastrophes we must all pull together and support one another, Scholz told the German parliament the Bundestag shortly after the quake, adding that German search and rescue teams and technical experts were already in the earthquake zone in Turkey and more were on their way.

Expressions of sympathy and packages of emergency assistance also came from all parts of the Arab region. It is noteworthy that Cairo, whose relations with Ankara have been strained for many years, sent tons of relief aid to both Turkey and Syria. President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi also telephoned his Turkish counterpart to convey his condolences to the Turkish people.

The EU also immediately responded to Turkeys request for help. After Turkey activated a request under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, 20 EU countries, plus Albania and Montenegro, have offered teams in coordination with the Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) and the Turkish authorities. Twenty nine search and rescue teams are heading to the hardest hit areas in Turkiye to help the first responders on the ground; 17 of these teams have already arrived, the European Commission said.

Despite their differences with Ankara, both Sweden and Greece reached out to help. The earthquake prompted the first direct call between the Greek and Turkish heads of state in months. In a telephone call on 6 February, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis expressed his distress over the devastating earthquake in Turkey and... reiterated Greeces readiness to immediately assist Turkey in every way, his office said. A Greek team had reportedly already left to join other rescue workers in the devastated area.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on his Twitter account that he had conveyed his deepest condolences to President Erdogan and added that as a partner of Turkiye and holder of the EU presidency, we stand ready to offer our support. In addition, Sweden donated about $650,000 to the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent in aid for Turkey and Syria.

As horrific as the tragedy is, perhaps the outpouring of sympathy and assistance for Turkey will inspire it to create greater space for dialogue and improve its relations with others in this region and elsewhere. It is to be hoped that it will take this time to rethink its policies towards the Arab region, which has shown widespread solidarity for the victims of the deadly earthquake. That said, the differences remain deep, and it could take time for Ankara to make the necessary concessions.

A positive shift in the tenor of Turkeys relations with Europe and the US may be more difficult to expect, largely because of the multifaceted and interwoven nature of the problems. Nevertheless, the surge in humanitarian solidarity triggered by the earthquake could generate some momentum towards resolving problems that have long been the source of friction between Ankara and the Western capitals.

At the very least, this climate could contain and counter the escalatory dynamics of these tensions.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 16 February, 2023 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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Ethiopia is unlikely to achieve peace even after the deal with the Tigray.

This week Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki said on national television that the US pushed hard to seal the Pretoria deal to prevent the military defeat of the Tigray. He added that thousands were killed in battle.

In the interview broadcast from Asmara, Afwerki sidestepped questions about losses in his own army, and the number of dead Eritrean soldiers.

The mountainous Tigray region in northern Ethiopia had endured a two-year conflict between the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) and the central government in Addis Ababa, in which Eritrean troops participated on the side of the latter.

International human rights organisations have accused all parties -- Tigray forces as well as Eritrean and Ethiopian armies, and the Amhara militias supporting them -- of committing crimes against humanity.

The Ethiopians and Eritreans received the lions share of these accusations. The government in Addis Ababa imposed a blockade on Tigray, causing famine and cutting off communication between the region and the outside world. The government was also accused of systematic rape and killing on a large scale, as hundreds of thousands of Tigrayans (a population of seven million) died.

Eritrea regards the Tigrayans as their archenemies. Their existence threatens the very existence of Asmara itself, Asmara believes, said Ahmed Al-Sayed, a professor of African studies in Cairo. The peace Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed struck with Afwerki was only meant to forge an alliance against the Tigray.

The TPLF assumed control over the ruling Ethiopian revolutionary front for 28 years, up until Ahmed rose to power in 2018. Ahmed began to turn against the ruling Tigray through a campaign to fight corruption a few months after taking office.

The Tigrayans understood this campaign as an attempt to divest them, said Al-Sayed. Hundreds of thousands of the general public of Tigray left Addis Ababa and went back to their mountainous region after their leaders had lost control of the army, he noted, pointing out that the Tigrayans made up 38 per cent of the officers in the army and an even higher figure in the intelligence and security apparatuses.

Meanwhile, Ahmed met with the TPLF leaders in early February for the first time since the signing of the peace agreement in Pretoria, South Africa. Although the meeting did not come up with an announced roadmap to effect the peace measures, it gave Ahmed momentum, showing him as a hero of war and peace, noted Al-Sayed.

In any case, Ethiopia does not seem to be taking a peaceful path. The second most diverse and populous African country after Nigeria is busy with news of divisions within the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church is the largest and oldest in sub-Saharan Africa. It was almost the only one present before the advent of the European colonialists who spread Christianity among Africans of traditional religions.

Almost 50 million people are loyal to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, despite the spread of Protestantism in the country among the young, including Prime Minister Ahmed. His father, however, is an Oromo Muslim and his mother is an Amhara Orthodox Christian.

The church division began when three Oromo priests announced the establishment of a synod for their region, claiming that the church leadership was practising ethnic discrimination against them, which the Orthodox Church vehemently denied.

This is the second division after the independence of Eritrea and its church from Ethiopia in 1991.

Today, the Tigray control the presidency of the church under Patriarch Matthias, who launched an attack on Ahmeds government during the Ethiopian civil war, accusing it of committing genocide against the Tigray.

The church is now accusing the government once again of being behind this division, especially with Ahmed directing his ministers not to interfere in church affairs.

The mother church believes the government should be on its side, or else the division may escalate to feed a new civil war, according to sources close to the church.

There is already a conflict between Tigray and Amhara, the two nationalities that have dominated the church for centuries, and if the divisions serve their goal of establishing a new church, this will spell the disintegration of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, which was the basis for the cohesion of a large part of the ethnically, nationally, and linguistically diverse population.

This division could also exacerbate the situation in the Oromo region, Ethiopias largest region in terms of area and population, which includes the capital, according to Al-Sayed.

Armed Oromo groups are already fighting a war against the central government.

Al-Sayed believes it is highly unlikely Ahmeds government stands behind the division in the church, simply because this would fuel the Oromo against him even more. It would also encourage the Amhara, who defeated the Tigrayans, to remove Patriarch Matthias, and this would also fuel the flames of war with the Tigrayans, lead to further disintegration of the church, and the rapid fall of Ethiopia as a whole, he added.

However, Tigrayan media outlets broadcasting from outside Ethiopia are saying Protestant Ahmed will benefit from the disintegration of the church that has for long stood powerful.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 16 February, 2023 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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International considerations have become a primary determinant of the domestic political interplay in Sudan since the December 2018 revolution. Perhaps one of the main reasons for this is former Sudanese prime minister Abdallah Hamdoks appeal to the UN to help facilitate the democratic transition process. He was undoubtedly familiar with the UNs military history in Sudan and hoped to give the civilian component in Khartoum some extra weight in the domestic power balance. Civilian forces have tended to come out the losers in the battles for democratisation in Sudans modern history.

There are several reasons for the growing influence of the international factor after Hamdok resigned on 2 January. One is the collapse of the civilian-military partnership that came out of the August 2019 Constitutional Declaration. General Abdel-Fattah Al-Burhan, who had become president of the Sovereignty Council in that arrangement, issued the death certificate when he ousted the entire civil component of the partnership on 25 October 2021.

A second reason is continued inability to move towards civilian government because of the refusal of Sudanese revolutionary forces to recognise the military component. Mass demonstrations calling for the army to return to its barracks have lasted for over a year.

Thirdly, the fluid political situation raises the possibility of strategic threats stemming from Sudans geopolitical position between East Africa and the African Sahel and the consequent risk of security threats related to terrorism in that region. Sudan also overlooks the Red Sea, an area that is the locus of regional and international threats.

A fourth reason for the growing international role in Sudan is economic. Writing off Sudans $60 billion foreign debt involves the Paris Club and the World Bank. These institutions suspended their debt relief decisions after Burhans coup against the civilian component in government in October 2021.

The chief mechanism for the exercise of international influence in Sudan is the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS), which started its work in January 2021 by forging a tripartite initiative together with the African Union (AU) and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in Eastern Africa. This trilateral mechanism receives support from the Sudan Quartet (United States of America, Britain, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates), an initiative that has engaged the Gulf countries as a means to secure the necessary funding to stabilise the Sudanese economy.

The international role in Sudan increased in tandem with the growing acrimony and fragmentation between and within the political and military components of government and the consequent looming threat of the collapse of the state. As a result, the international mechanisms and their constituent parties grew increasingly active in efforts to mend the rifts and keep the military from monopolising politics.

Their support of the civil component has included attempts to develop alternatives to the 2019 partnership formula that gave rise to a draft transitional constitution in the first quarter of 2022. Formulated through an initiative led by the Sudanese Bar Association and in which most major civilian forces took part, the document provides for a power-sharing formula that guarantees the militarys eventual retreat from political life, restricting itself to the customary duties of professional military institutions. Representatives of the military and civilian components signed a framework agreement on 5 December 2022. The agreement identified five issues on which the signatory parties need to reach a consensus preparatory to a final agreement: the question of transitional justice, military and security reform, the dismantling of the 30 June 1989 regime, the governance of eastern Sudan and an evaluation of the Juba Peace Agreement.

Unfortunately, the civilian component that signed the framework agreement was not representative of all political forces and militia factions. Moreover, the military found a support base in some of these after it ousted the civilian government in 2021. It is also unfortunate that the Forces of Freedom and Change Central Council (FFC-CC), which had assumed a leading role in negotiations with the military, behaved in a domineering manner towards fellow civilian partners, stirring considerable resentment. Many quarters of the civilian component also suspect the existence of designs to flood the political arena with anti-democratic political forces. Such concerns and sentiments gave rise to fears that the framework agreement would collapse. Indeed, military officials intimated that divisions in the civilian component meant that it would be impossible to move forward with the implementation of the framework agreement.

Against this precarious backdrop, envoys from the various international parties involved in the democratic transition process in Sudan flew to Khartoum last week to salvage the situation and bring the political process back on track. They included acting US Assistant Secretary of State Peter Lord, EU Envoy to the Horn of Africa Annette Weber, British Special Envoy to Sudan and South Sudan Robert Fairweather, French Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa Frederic Clavier, Norwegian Special Envoy to Sudan and South Sudan Jon Anton Johnson, and Thorsten Hutter, head of the East Africa Division at the German Foreign Office. The delegation met with senior officials and representatives of civil society and the FFC to promote the political process and coordinate international efforts in support of the framework agreement. The visit, the second of its kind in a year, managed to give fresh impetus to the political process. The head of the Sovereign Council managed to bring the quarrelling entities of the civilian component back together in the context of a framework agreement and announced that work was in progress on a political declaration to move towards a final agreement.

The international factor is not only likely to sustain such influence on the political dynamics in the country but also to succeed in unifying efforts to see the framework agreement through to a final agreement. The international parties collectively and individually hold important cards they can play to pressure the various Sudanese political forces into remaining on track. Not least among these is the prospect of Sudanese debt relief. Wielding the carrot of their approval, international powers can exert considerable leverage on the military which can not continue to run the country without economic support, while waving the stick of sanctions. In December 2020, the US Congress passed an act authorising sanctions against any Sudanese official who obstructs the political transition. Sanctions could also impede the operations of Sudanese economic institutions. On the civilian side, sanctions could also be leveraged against the militia factions and their leaders, especially in terms of their ability to move money and finance their activities.

Of course, the international factor could not stand a chance of success if the majority of Sudanese people did not harbour deep aspirations for civilian government, requiring the armys departure from the political scene. Large swathes of the Sudanese people associate the military establishment in Sudan with the Omar Al-Bashir regime, its Muslim Brotherhood base known as the National Islamic Front, and all the economic and social hardship, injustices and cruelties that regime visited on them before 2018.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 16 February, 2023 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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When disasters like last weeks earthquake befall a region, the world should stand with the beleaguered and disregard differences.

The world stood still as a devastating magnitude 7.8 earthquake, the deadliest this century, killed over 28,000 people, left five million in precarious conditions, and flattened entire sections of towns and cities in ravaged northern Syria and Turkey. The number of victims is expected to continue to rise in the coming days as rescue efforts dwindle.

A calamity of this magnitude deserves the worlds undivided attention, but it seems that some, even during such disasters, cannot set aside old differences.

Egypt, however, reacted swiftly and spontaneously. President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi offered to do whatever was possible to support the two beleaguered countries. During a press conference with Croatian President Zoran Milanovich who was visiting Egypt, Al-Sisi expressed his solidarity with both nations, saying I express my sincere condolences to the people of Syria and Turkey and the families of the victims of this devastating earthquake that struck the Eastern Mediterranean region.

President Al-Sisi then called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to offer condolences and humanitarian aid, overlooking the strained relations between the two countries that have been in place since the removal of former President Mohamed Morsi in 2013. Presidential Spokesman Ahmed Fahmi said that President Al-Sisi had stressed Egypts solidarity with the brotherly Turkish people, noting that humanitarian assistance and relief will be delivered to help Turkey overcome the consequences of the disaster.

In a similar call to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, President Al-Sisi reiterated Egypts solidarity and his intention of directing all possible aid to Syria. This was the first telephone call between an Egyptian leader and the Syrian government since the Syrian Civil War erupted and since Al-Sisi himself took office in 2014.

Five military planes carrying emergency medical aid were sent to Turkey and Syria to contribute to relief efforts.

During a crisis of such a size, aid to rescue lives, alleviate suffering, and maintain human dignity must become the sole focus, disregarding earlier conflicts and disagreements. Egypt did just this. However, not all countries behave in a similar humanitarian fashion.

Al-Ahram Weekly editorial of 7 February said that the shock of the deaths of thousands of people while asleep in their homes, entire families vanishing, and massive damage to property is a time for world leaders and governments to set aside their political differences and unite in expressing solidarity. Facing such a heavy death toll reminds us of our shared human destiny and how helpless we all are in the face of natural disasters.

There was an immediate outpouring of international assistance to Turkey, offering search and rescue teams, medical equipment, tents, and food. Just about all the European countries and other countries, too, were there for Turkey.

The newspaper Balkan Insight said that dozens of European and Balkan countries have responded to Turkeys appeal for help. According to UK satellite channel Sky News, the UK sent 76 search and rescue specialists with equipment and dogs, as well as an emergency medical team, to Turkey.

The US dispatched two 79-person search and rescue teams to assist Turkish officials. Hundreds of Los Angeles County firefighters and structural engineers participated in the response efforts. Italy, France, Spain, and many other European countries pledged support.

But in Syria, on the other side of the border, things were different. BBC journalist Quentin Sommerville in an article entitled No tents, no aid, nothing: Why Syrians feel forgotten wrote that I had just crossed the border from four days in the city of Antakya, Turkey, where the aid response is a cacophony  ambulance sirens blare all night long, dozens of earth movers roar and rip apart concrete 24 hours a day. Among the olive groves in the village of Bsania, in Syrias Idlib province, theres mostly silence.

Those who came to Syrias aid were Russia, Iran, and the Arab countries, in addition to China, India, and Venezuela, an obvious pattern of who helps whom.

The bottom line is that the US and the rest of the western world remains adamantly against the Al-Assad regime in Syria, considering any form of normalisation as unacceptable. According to the US AP wire service, the government of Bashar Al-Assad in Damascus is still a pariah in much of the international community, sanctioned by the US and European countries, which are reluctant to route aid directly through the government.

US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said that it would be ironic, if not even counterproductive, for us to reach out to a government that has brutalised its people. And yet the US is doing pretty much the same by not providing support today to those who critically need its care and backing. The sanctions should not impede aid.

The UN Special Envoy to Syria told reporters that the emergency response must not be politicised and that aid was needed to get to areas controlled by Damascus as well as those held by the rebels.

In November 2022, Alena Douhan, a Belarusian law professor and independent human-rights expert at the UN, called for an end to all sanctions on Syria. I urge the immediate lifting of all unilateral sanctions that severely harm human rights and prevent any efforts for early recovery, she said. Douhan had spent some time in Syria and in her end-of-mission statement she suggested that the sanctions on Syria may amount to crimes against humanity.

Similarly, US journalist Matthew Petti in a blog has compared the differences between the current response to the disaster in Syria and other earthquake emergencies in previous decades. There was once a time when earthquake relief transcended, and even helped mend, political divisions. From the late 1980s to the early 2000s, political adversaries extended a hand to each other several times during severe natural disasters.

The writer is former professor of communication based in Vancouver, Canada.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 16 February, 2023 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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This years State of the Union Address saw the re-emergence of an imperial strand in US foreign policy.

Because the soul of this nation is strong, because the people of this nation are strong, the State of the Union is strong.

With these words US President Joe Biden concluded his second State of the Union Address on 7 February. It was probably one of the longest-ever, lasting over 70 minutes.

The presidential tone was optimistic and self assured regarding the road that the US and the American people have taken since he became president two years ago. It was also self-congratulatory, unlike Bidens first State of the Union Address a year ago.

Unlike last year, when Biden and the Democrats had been working hard to pass the legislation that mattered most for the administration, this year Biden could boast not only about the important Congressional acts that he had signed into law, but also about the strength and resilience of the US economy.

Seven days before Biden delivered his State of the Union Address, the US Department of Labour announced that the economy had added more than 500,000 jobs in January. In his speech, taking place as usual before a joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives, Biden lauded the performance of his administration in this regard, stressing that in the last two years the economy had also created 12 million jobs.

He said that more jobs had been created in two years under his watch than had been created by any other president in four years.

Similarly, he emphasised spending over the next few years that is intended to create high paying jobs that will not require college degrees from applicants, this being seen by some US political observers as part of an electoral outreach to the large proportion of swing voters in states like Pennsylvania and Michigan who did not graduate from college. Biden also talked about a blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America.

In discussing the economic progress of the US over the past 24 months, Biden compared the record of his administration to those of previous ones, whether Democrat or Republican. He said that for too many decades the US had imported projects and exported jobs. This had changed over the last two years, he said, when the US had been exporting US products while creating US jobs.

In the same vein, he said that Buy American had been an important policy since 1933, but accused all former administrations, both Democrat and Republican, of fighting to get around it. He promised to end this forthwith.

He brought up the question of abortion in the US after the Supreme Court ruling last year and assured American women that he would veto any act by Congress that would slap a national ban on abortion.

The mother and stepfather of Tyre Nichols, the 29-year-old African-American man who lost his life after five police officers beat him severely in Memphis in January, were invited to attend the State of the Union Address this year. They were sitting in the First Ladys box at the event, and after recognising their presence in the audience and regretting the brutal death of their son, Biden made a convincing call for police accountability, while stressing that the US police were good, decent, honourable people.

Nicholss mother, Row Vaughn, had expressed the hope that something good must come from the death of her son. Biden called for a collective commitment to make the words of Tyres mother come true.

When Biden delivered his first State of the Union Address last year, the Democrats had a majority in the House of Representatives, whose speaker was Nancy Pelosi. But after the midterm elections last November, the Republicans gained a majority and elected Congressman Kevin McCarthy (R- California) as speaker.

Last year, the former Democratic Party speaker was all smiles when Biden gave his State of the Union Address. This year, the new Republican speaker looked sombre. Biden stressed the idea of unity and bipartisanship nonetheless, telling the Republican members of Congress that if we could work together in the last Congress, there is no reason why we cant work together and find consensus on important things in this Congress as well.

Many observers doubt if the Republicans will heed this call, however.

One of the things that characterised the State of the Union Address in 2023 was that foreign policy issues did not take centre stage.

It came a few days after a US F-22 Raptor fighter shot down a Chinese spy balloon over US territory, an incident that led to the postponement of an important visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Beijing. Surprisingly enough, Biden did not mention this incident in his speech, but insisted that the US would defend its sovereignty. In the meantime, he told the joint Congressional session that the US would compete, but did not seek conflict, with China.

He outlined the policy elements of his administration in competing with China, namely investing in US innovation and industries, investing in US alliances, and modernising [the US] military to safeguard stability and deter aggression. He spoke of Putins invasion of Ukraine and called it a test for America and the world. He said that the US had led the world after the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine last February and united NATO as well as building a global coalition.

Having hosted a virtual summit meeting of democracies last year, Biden reiterated that under his administration democracies have become stronger whereas autocracies have been weakened.

One key phrase in his State of the Union Address with implications for US relations with foreign powers was the warning that its never been a good bet to bet against America. Coming from an administration that has reaffirmed and prided itself on many occasions on its commitment to multilateralism, this warning sounded a bit out of place.

The way Biden explained in plain terms the foreign policy of his administration should leave no one in any doubt that the world is dealing with an imperial US. The American Republic and its founding ideals seem to have been relegated to the history books. Our relations with the imperial US in an emerging multipolar world should be adjusted accordingly.

The writer is former assistant foreign minister.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 16 February, 2023 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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Polymath scientist Rushdi Said provided many insights into Egypts present problems and future prospects, writes Tarek Osman in his series of articles on the makers of modern Egyptian culture

Modern Egypt has not had many polymaths, but Rushdi Said was definitely among them.

He studied geology and became Egypts premier expert on the Nile. The ancient Egyptians believed that the flow of the sacred rivers waters carried vitality with it and that receiving the blessings of the Nile ensured brilliance and success.

Said seemed to have been so blessed. But he was far from being a mere student of the Niles formation and history. He understood that no serious development in Egypt could take place without preserving the Nile and optimising its usage.

He saw, much earlier than most geopolitical experts, that the changes that were taking place in East Africa in the 1980s and 1990s, coupled with the problematic usage of the Nile River in Egypt, could pose serious challenges to Egyptian society. Unlike many other observers, he put forward realistic and constructive ideas about potential ways of averting some of these challenges over a quarter of a century ago.

Part of Saids Nile-focused view of development was his conviction that the Egyptian people must transcend the narrow strip of land making up the Nile River Valley and the Delta. For years, he studied a project for developing and even urbanising a section of northwest Egypt.

However, Said was not a dreamer. A graduate of both the prestigious ETH Zurich in Switzerland and Harvard University in the US, and having been apprenticed, albeit briefly, under Egypts most notable scientist in the first half of the 20th century, Mustafa Musharafa, who had himself worked with Albert Einstein, Saids project was anchored on serious research and rigorous studies.

It was also grounded in a wider development project. Said was a member of the team that surrounded Aziz Sidki, the prime minister who led the strongest industrialisation drive in Egypt in the 20th century in the 1960s. Said undertook assessments of major development projects and led the management of various public-sector organisations.

Whereas the record of many scientists and academics in managing public sector organisations in Egypt has been fraught, Said achieved notable successes. His leadership of Egypts Mining and Geological Research Organisation is a case study of the exemplary transformation of a state-owned enterprise.

Integrity comes with true leadership. Said disagreed with public policy in Egypt in the 1970s, especially after then president Anwar Al-Sadat attempted to rapidly move the country towards a free-market economy. For Said, the direction was correct, but many of the policies and the ways they were implemented were not.

He made his views known, though he was not an opponent of the government. Instead, he was a scientist with extensive experience of development in Egypt. When he thought that a public policy was wrong, he put forward a substantiated differing view.

He approached development holistically, and his views were not anchored only on economic assessments and financial projections. Instead, he linked economic advancement to human development, a pioneering insight in the 1970s. He wrote about how lifestyles, working trends, and societal values could change as a result of economic and financial policies that were not given due analyses and reflection.

He was also a strong believer in Egyptianness, something that he, and several of the other men and women covered in this series, saw as the core identity of Egyptian society. This was an identity that had been sculpted over centuries by a stable, peaceful, and cohesive agrarian culture, one that had matured centuries before the monotheistic religions of the Axial Age spread in the country.

He delved into the relationship between Egyptian Muslims and Christians and assessed how developments in the 1970s might affect its dynamics. His work was neither politically correct empty talk nor rumination on an idealised past.

He sensed dangers for the state of development in Egypt in the last quarter of the 20th century and in the key dynamics of Egyptian society coming from changes in the management of the Nile, demographic trends, educational attainments, research and development, economic competitiveness, capital generation, and migration. He voiced his alarm, not in order to stoke fears, but rather to draw attention to dangers he believed merited serious attention.

He was particularly concerned that Egypt was regressing in almost all the areas that had caused its development and rise in the period from the mid-19th to the mid-20th centuries and that at that time had made the country the preeminent educational, cultural, economic, and financial centre in the East.

In Saids view, too many Egyptian citizens were being deprived of chances for genuine personal development. For him, the real peril was failing to recognise the countrys societal descent and insisting instead on a narrative of progress and ascendance. His book Truth and Illusion in the Egyptian Situation is a concise, substantiated, and blunt account of the trends he judged as being behind this regression.

In his writings of the 1980s and 1990s, Said paid special attention to the period we are living in now, the second and third decades of the 21st century. He analysed how the nexus of the environment, energy, and water could well undergo significant changes, including, for example, the major dilution of the importance of oil in the global economy, something he had already written on in the 1980s.

He foresaw that this would transform geo-economics and international relations and would accordingly have major impacts on the political economy of the Middle East and the Arab world. Rarely do we encounter such penetrating foresight in political economy and public policy analyses as is present in the works of this author.

Sadly, Egypt has too often been deprived of the services of some of its best minds. This was the case with Rushdi Said, who left Egypt after he was released from prison after being incarcerated in the wave of arrests ordered by Al-Sadat in September 1981.

He settled in the US and remained there until his death in 2013, until the end a sought-after commentator on various fields. Distance and neglect in Egypt denied us the opportunity of hearing what he had to say in his last years. However, his writings remain a treasure-trove of valuable insights on some of the most important issues affecting the future of the country.

The writer is the author of Islamism: A History of Political Islam (2017) and Egypt on the Brink (2010).

* A version of this article appears in print in the 16 February, 2023 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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No single state has a monopoly over Arab soft power today, with different countries taking the lead in different areas to the benefit of the region as a whole.

We are living in a rapidly changing world in which much seems unfamiliar compared to previous decades. The change is taking place not just at the level of the world order, but also at the level of regional orders, including the Arab regional order. Part of the transformation is to be found in the concepts of leadership and soft power.

Changes in the idea of regional leadership are connected with changes in the leadership of the international order. With the decline in US world leadership and the inability of China or Russia to fill the vacuum, no one state can today be said to be the leader of the international order. This is reflected at the regional level, and in fact the transformation may have begun at this level first.

Although the European Union was established decades ago, no one has ever talked of any one of its members as being the leader of the European regional system, for example. At most there has been talk of Franco-German joint leadership, and more often than not Britain was also included, though this was of course before Brexit. In view of todays growing nationalist currents, the current trend in the EU is towards giving greater space for all member states to have their say.

The Arab regional order has experienced similar developments. After the 1960s, no single country stood at the helm of the Arab world. This was the result of many factors, including the development and consolidation of the nation state and its pursuit of policies based on national interest. This was only natural, as this is the logic that generally governs international relations, including those between fraternal states.

Another factor was the many threats to the national security of individual Arab states. These threats were largely connected to the geographical location of those states, meaning that the perspective of the Gulf states towards their national security priorities was not the same as the national security perspective as seen from the Nile. Again, this is perfectly natural and legitimate. Moreover, it does not deny the existence of many common threats, such as terrorism and extremism, or the existence of hostile intentions from non-Arab neighbours.

A third factor was former Iraqi president Saddam Husseins invasion of Kuwait in 1990, which caused a major rift in the Arab regional order. This led some Arab governments to shift towards a more active and national-oriented foreign policy in order to safeguard their national security, advance their international standing, and forestall and danger of larger fish swallowing smaller ones.

However, these factors did not prevent a number of Arab states from coming together to forge a realm of common interests and reach a consensus on the sources of common threats to their national security. Recent examples of this can be found in the Quartet of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain, and in the trilateral model of Egypt, Iraq, and Jordan.

The concept of leadership in the Arab region has also become broader and more nuanced. In contrast to the idea of there being a leader as the champion of all Arab causes, different countries can be leaders on particular issues or in particular ways.

Egypt, for instance, will remain the fulcrum of the Arab order, with what happens in Egypt having important ramifications on what happens beyond its borders. Egypt will also retain a key role in the Palestinian cause and on regional issues connected with its larger neighbourhood. In this respect, it has also forged for itself a unique and pioneering role in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries exercise leadership roles on issues connected with their geographical and regional spheres. At the same time, Egypt and Saudi Arabia have assumed leadership roles in a bilateral framework and in broader Arab contexts.

In short, the notion of a single leader of the Arab world is no longer appropriate today. The realities of the contemporary world combined with the priority that the different Arab governments are giving to their own national-development projects can no longer sustain such a concept. The future lies in taking the lead on certain issues and developing networks of bilateral and multilateral cooperation.

Soft power, too, is no longer the property of a single state. As the US political scientist Joseph Nye who first formulated the concept of soft power has pointed out, the distribution of soft power in the world works differently from the distribution of economic or military power. It does not follow the rules of mono- or bi-polarism, and it is diffused among different countries regardless of their size.

This also applies within the Arab world, where soft power is not restricted to any one Arab country. Many Arab countries have developed soft power capacities of their own that are not only or are no longer limited to the media. Soft power can be developed in education, tourism, and systems of values, as well as in any number of other areas.

Egypt still possesses vast reserves of soft power, as well as untold latent energies that can be unleashed through their further refining and development. At the same time, the development of the soft power of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and other Arab countries serves the interests of the greater Arab region, enhances Arab culture, and advances the Arab modernisation drive.

The Arab world is undergoing significant changes. We must handle these wisely and rationally. We, as Arabs, must think of ourselves as partners in a single initiative and one that is ultimately positive. If the losses of one country affect all the others, the gains of one country do not necessarily incur losses for the others. On the contrary, we should aim to work such that the gains of one are the gains of all.

*The writer is a professor of political science at Cairo University.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 16 February, 2023 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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Arab countries have reconfirmed their commitment to the Palestinian cause and the special status of Jerusalem, where some of the holiest sites for Muslims and Christians are located. This time too President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordanian King Abdullah took Jerusalem on board, but the meeting was different in one significant respect: its timing, which couldnt have been more urgent.

The meeting was held at a time when occupied East Jerusalem is facing imminent dangers not only undermining the historic existence of Palestinians in the city, but also threatening to provoke a large-scale confrontation that could pose danger to regional, if not world, security in the midst of many other crises, wars, and natural disasters.

Since Israels illegal occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, along with the West Bank, Gaza, and Syrias Golan Heights, the status of the holy city and the rights of both Muslims and Christians who reside there have been one of the thorniest issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Unilateral, illegal acts by Israel, aimed to alter the identity of the city and infringe on the internationally recognised Muslim control of Al-Aqsa Mosque, while claiming that it was only the capital of the Jewish people, have always been the reason behind the worst and bloodiest confrontations in the history of the conflict.

After the election of a new government in Israel, described as the most extremist in Israeli history with several ministers advocating a bluntly racist, even genocidal agenda, measures aiming at further suffocating Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem have intensified to unprecedented levels. Those measures were not ordered by outlawed extremist Jewish settlers as in the past few decades, but by high-level ministers in the current Israeli government. One of those ministers, responsible for national security, had even won elections on the platform of increasing aggression against the Muslim Al-Aqsa Mosque, violating existing arrangements on the control of holy Muslim and Christian sites since Israel occupied the holy city 56 years ago. Incursions into occupied Palestinian cities in the West Bank had also intensified, killing dozens of Palestinians, including women and children.

Thats why the Jerusalem Support conference held this week at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo was so timely. It aimed not only to provide political support, but also to agree on measures that would provide much needed assistance to Palestinian residents of occupied East Jerusalem on the economic, educational and health levels to back up their resilient insistence on staying in their city and in their homes despite extremely difficult conditions due to the occupation.

The fact that the conference was hosted and attended by leaders of the first two Arab countries that signed a peace treaty with Israel was also an important political message to the current Israeli government and all parties involved in the once-upon-a-time Middle East peace process.

Egypt took the initiative more than four decades ago to extend the hand of peace to Israel. Yet it was clear from the start that this peace must be based on justice, international law and the aim of reaching a comprehensive and just settlement that would restore the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, including the right to establish their own independent state along the borders of 4 June 1967. As President Al-Sisi stressed in his speech at the conference, I confirm here that the capital of this state, agreed upon and aspired to by the Palestinian and Arab peoples, will remain East Jerusalem.

He warned that unilateral Israeli measures in occupied East Jerusalem are threatening regional security and any chance for coexistence among the peoples of the region. Acts like building settlements, demolishing homes, forcible evictions of Palestinians, a systematic policy to Judaise Jerusalem and illegal incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque as well as Palestinian cities, increase tension on the ground and threaten to push the security situation out of hand. They also put an end to any chance for a two-state solution and place both sides and the Middle East before dangerous and difficult options.

Noting that the current stalemate and failure to revive peace talks between Palestine and Israel can only make matters worse and complicate any hope to reach a peaceful settlement in the future, Al-Sisi said that Egypt will continue to call for dealing with the root cause of the crisis, which is the Israeli occupation, and will spare no effort to defend the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people who have suffered for long.

Cairo will also continue to support reconstruction efforts in Gaza to reduce the suffering of its people.

Al-Sisi had two messages for the Palestinian and Israeli people. For Palestinians, he said, Yes, your suffering has lasted long and your rights are long overdue as many regional crises escalated. Yet your cause remains a priority for Egypt and the Arabs, and will remain a key component of joint Arab action. To the Israeli people and government, he argued that it is time to stress the culture of peace and coexistence, and even integration among the peoples of the region. For this reason, we extended a hand of peace represented in the Arab Peace Initiative which guaranteed this goal in a comprehensive and just context (land for peace and normalisation). Lets carry it out together and turn a painful page for the sake of future Palestinian and Israeli generations on an equal level.

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The Palestinian Red Crescent said one person was killed in a predawn Israeli army raid in Nablus in the northern West Bank, the scene of near-relentless violence over the past year.

The army did not immediately comment on the Nablus raid.

But in Gaza, the military claimed it had struck "an underground complex containing raw materials used for the manufacturing of rockets belonging to the Hamas terrorist organisation".

The strikes were launched "in response to the Saturday rocket launch from Gaza into Israel", the army added in a statement.

Following the Israeli strikes, air raid sirens sounded in communities near the Gaza border, the military said.

Photos show Palestinians inspecting a destroyed wedding hall, early Monday, following the Israeli strikes on the city.

There were no reported casualties in Gaza following the latest round of missile fire.

But the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is enduring a dramatic increase in violence.

Since the start of the year, the conflict has claimed the lives of 47 Palestinian adults and children, including militants and civilians, following the latest death in Nablus.

Nine Israeli adults and children and one Ukrainian civilian have been killed over the same period, according to an AFP tally based on official sources from both sides.

In a move likely to inflame tensions, Israel's security cabinet announced last week it would legalise nine West Bank Jewish settlements claiming that many of the newly authorised communities had existed for years but had not previously been recognised as legitimate by Israel's government.

The security cabinet also said it intended to announce a new round of settler housing construction in the West Bank, a step likely to draw widespread international condemnation.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned against settlement expansion in a trip to the region last month.

Since 1967, the government has built 58,000 homes for Israeli settlers in the eastern part of the city, and fewer than 600 for Palestinians, said Daniel Seidemann, an Israeli lawyer specializing in the geopolitics of Jerusalem, citing the government's statistics bureau and his own analysis. In that time, the city's Palestinian population has soared by 400 percent.

"The planning regime is dictated by the calculus of national struggle,'' Seidemann said.

Israel's city plans show state parks encircling the Old City, with some 60 percent of Jabal Mukaber zoned as green space, off-limits to Palestinian development. At least 20,000 Palestinian homes in east Jerusalem are now slated for demolition, watchdogs say.

While there are no reliable figures for permit approvals, the Israeli municipality set aside just over 7 percent of its 21,000 housing plans for Palestinian homes in 2019, reported Ir Amim, an anti-settlement advocacy group. Palestinians are nearly 40 percent of the city's roughly 1 million people.

"This is the purpose of this policy,'' said Aviv Tatarsky, a researcher at Ir Amim. "Palestinians are forced to leave Jerusalem."

On Sunday, at the Arab League's (AL) 'Jerusalem Support' conference in Cairo, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi called "on the international community and peace partners not to give in to the current political stalemate and work together to implement the two-state solution and provide appropriate conditions for resuming the peace process between Palestine and Israel.

The conference was attended by the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordans King Abdullah II along with high-level representation from Arab, regional and international bodies.

On Thursday, Egypt received a Palestinian delegation from the Gaza Strip led by prominent members of the Islamic Jihad Movement.
Pharmacist Convicted for $1 Million Prescription Drug Fraud

A federal jury in the Middle District of Florida convicted a Virginia man today for his role in a scheme to defraud Medicare of over $1 million in prescription drug benefits.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Ronald A. Beasley II, 33, of Portsmouth, was the pharmacist in charge at NH Pharma, a pharmacy located in Lake Mary, Florida. Through NH Pharma, Beasley and his co-conspirators billed Medicare for expensive compound drug creams that they never actually purchased or dispensed, and instead provided Medicare patients an inexpensive compound drug cream not covered by Medicare. Inventory records showed that NH Pharma did not buy enough of the expensive prescription drugs to fill all the prescriptions NH Pharma billed to Medicare. In total, Beasley and his co-conspirators received more than $1 million in fraudulent proceeds from Medicare.

Beasley was convicted of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and three counts of health care fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced on April 25 and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on each count. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Departments Criminal Division; Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBIs Criminal Investigative Division; Special Agent in Charge David Walker of the FBI Tampa Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Omar Perez Aybar of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG), Miami Regional Office made the announcement.

The FBI and HHS-OIG investigated the case.

Trial Attorneys Reginald Cuyler Jr. and Darren C. Halverson of the Criminal Divisions Fraud Section are prosecuting the case.

The Fraud Section leads the Criminal Divisions efforts to combat health care fraud through the Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program. Since March 2007, this program, comprised of 15 strike forces operating in 25 federal districts, has charged more than 5,000 defendants who collectively have billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $24 billion. In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services, are taking steps to hold providers accountable for their involvement in health care fraud schemes. More information can be found at https://www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit.

This story has been published on: 2023-02-14. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Old craftsmen are repairing old buildings built in the Ming and Qing dynasties

An old craftsman is planing wood

In recent years, more than a hundred "craftsmen" specializing in Huizhou architecture have gathered in Liqiao Old Street, Xilian Town, Yi'an District, Tongling City. Most of them came from Huangshan, Xuanzhou and other places. They have been using traditional crafts to restore various Huizhou-style buildings built in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

At present, nearly 200 houses, bridges, archways, theaters, ancient pagodas, and other Huizhou-style buildings built in the Ming and Qing dynasties have been restored.

According to historical records, Liqiao Old Street was built under the leadership of Zha Fengxiang, a local Gongsheng (senior licentiate in feudal China) in the Ming Dynasty. Thanks to the convenience of water transportation, ancient Liqiao became a water town with prosperous commerce. All walks of life and chambers of commerce from all over the place gathered in Liqiao Old Street.

After two phases of renovation, the Huizhou-style architectural complex in Liqiao Old Street has reached a certain scale. With blue tiles, white walls and unique cornices, it is just like a scroll painting of an ancient town in the southern Yangtze River with the charm of Huizhou style.





Reported by Guo Shining

Translated by Zheng Chen
Egypt is expected to maintain the "relatively high" volumes of liquefied natural gas it delivered to Europe over the past year, said European Union (EU) Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson in a statement to Reuters on Monday.

The statement was made on the sidelines of Egypts Petroleum Show (EGYPS 2023) taking place from 13-15 February, where Simson referred to the framework agreement signed last June between the EU, Israel, and Egypt to export liquefied gas to Europe after it is imported to Egypt from Israel via pipeline.

"We see that there is spare capacity in liquefaction facilities here in Egypt, but exact volumes were not part of our memorandum of understanding," said the EU energy commissioner, adding that Israel is the decider in terms of the volumes they [Israel] are willing to export.

We [currently] have to solve some bottleneck issues, Simson said.

Egypt has been looking to expand its own gas exports after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian War left much of Europe in an energy crisis.

In 2022, the country boosted its LNG exports by 14 percent to 8 million tons of LNG, 90 percent of which was delivered to the EU markets, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El-Molla said in November, as it sought to plug the hole left by lower Russian imports to the EU.

Earlier in 2021, Egypt exported nearly 7 million tons of LNG, from which 80 percent was shipped to the EU markets, according to El-Mollas remarks at the time.

However, the minister said on Monday during the EGYPS 2023 that the country expects to produce about 7.5 million tonnes of LNG in 2023.

Reuters quoted El-Molla as saying on Monday that Egypts LNG plants were operating at less than full capacity, and could be expanded.

"They [the LNG plants] are ready for when we make the decision to increase their capacity to double or triple," he confirmed.

Since achieving self-sufficiency in natural gas in 2018, Egypt has planned on using its position on Europes doorstep to become a major supplier of LNG to the continent  which is transitioning away from other fossil fuels  based on recent huge gas discoveries and production.

Egypt has made a series of oil and gas discoveries in recent years, most notably the giant Zohr gas field off the Mediterranean coast. The gas field, which holds an estimated reservoir of 30 trillion cubic feet of gas, has drawn the interest of investors to the countrys energy sector. Egypt further experienced a significant gas discovery in its Eastern Mediterranean waters in January.

Egypt also has the infrastructure for transporting and handling natural gas with a network of 7,000 km in pipelines, a distribution network of 31,000 km, and 29 gas-treatment plants as well as two LNG facilities  the Idku and Damietta plants.

Egypt has seen an unprecedented leap in its natural gas export revenues, which have increased 13-fold over the past eight years, according to a report issued in September by the Cabinets Information and Decision Support Centre (IDSC).

The countrys natural gas and LNG export revenues reached $8 billion in the fiscal year 2021/2022, up from $0.6 billion in 2013/2014, according to the report.

To further increase its gas supply, Egypt announced plans in August to save 15 percent of its natural gas supply used in domestic electricity production to be redirected for export with the aim of bringing in more foreign currency amid the spike in the prices of oil and basic goods.

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The number of foreigners studying in Korea has surpassed 100,000 for the first time. The Education Ministry on Tuesday said there are 104,262 foreign students at universities and colleges here, up 14.2 percent from last year.

The overall number of university students has been falling for two years as the young population dwindles, but foreign students keep increasing.

Some have hailed this development as a sign of Korea's growing global role. But critics say universities and colleges are often in it for the overseas tuition fees, which are much higher than for Koreans, and keep the bar deliberately low. Less than half of the foreign students are thought to be fluent enough in Korean to keep up with lectures.
The U.S. said Monday it does not know the origin of the three high-altitude objects it shot down over the last few days as they drifted in the winds over North America.

The government said it does not believe the objects were surveillance aircraft, though it is leaving open the possibility that they may be.

"They didn't have propulsion," National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters at the White House. "They were not being maneuvered. They didn't have surveillance [capability], but we couldn't rule it out."

"We're sort of in uncharted territory here," Kirby said. He said parts of all three objects fell "in remote, difficult places to reach" -- ice off the coast of the far northwestern U.S. state of Alaska, the Yukon territory of northwestern Canada and the depths of Lake Huron on the U.S.-Canada border. U.S. and Canadian military personnel are now trying to retrieve the debris from the airborne objects, which Kirby declined to refer to as balloons.

"We don't know who owns them," he said, in contrast to the Chinese spy balloon the U.S. shot down Feb. 4 over the Atlantic Ocean just off the coast of the southern state of South Carolina after it traversed the U.S. mainland for eight days. China is continuing to claim the balloon was an errant weather-monitoring aircraft that drifted off course. But U.S. officials say the parts they have recovered from the ocean floor show the balloon was on a surveillance mission.

Kirby said President Joe Biden "has made this a very top priority," to determine the ownership and origin of the three objects downed by U.S. fighter pilots, either on his orders, or in the case of the one that landed in the Yukon, in consultation with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The spokesperson said the three objects were shot down because they posed a "very real" threat to civilian aviation, with the objects near Alaska and over the Yukon territory drifting about 12,000 meters (40,000 feet) above the Earth and the one over Lake Huron at half that height. After the Chinese balloon was discovered, Kirby said U.S. radar has been recalibrated to look for more objects. "One of the reasons we're seeing more is we're looking for more," he said.
The German government wants to temporarily ease visa restrictions for survivors of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria who have close family ties to Germany if they are facing homelessness or were injured.

"It's about helping in times of need. We want to make it possible for Turkish or Syrian families in Germany to bring close relatives from the disaster region," German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser tweeted late Saturday.

"They can find shelter with us and receive medical treatment," Faeser said. "With regular visas, which are issued quickly and are valid for three months."

However, not all the requirements of a regular visa procedure are being waived. Applicants must still be able to present a valid passport -- likely to be an obstacle for people who fled collapsing buildings.

Several million people in Germany have Turkish roots because, more than 60 years ago, West Germany recruited "guest workers" from Turkey and elsewhere to help the country advance economically.

More recently, hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees came to Germany looking for safety from the brutal civil war back home.
Private universities in Korea often struggle to integrate students from China and other countries who do not speak the language.

Sogang University has set up two new classes for Chinese students in the new semester in March. Taught by Chinese professors, they are only open to students from China who have trouble following Korean lectures.

Hyun Dae-won, a professor at the university, said, "We hired two Chinese lecturers and opened two new classes for students from China. We hope that they'll serve as mentors for the students."

Some students have welcomed the new classes, relieved that classmates who cannot speak Korean no longer slow things down. But opponents say students who come here should learn Korean and that the money would be better spent on more classes for all students.

Foreign students are a vital source of income for some private universities in Korea. They pay higher fees and can be picked independently of the government quota for Korean students. And now the coronavirus pandemic is over they are coming back.

According to the Korean Educational Development Institute, the number of foreign students at Korean universities rose from 142,205 in 2018 to 166,892 last year. The proportion of Chinese students fell from 48.2 percent to 40.4 percent over the period, but they still account for the biggest share of foreign students. For example, 69.2 percent of Kyunghee University's 4,439 foreign students are Chinese.

But universities that need the money often admit foreign students who are unprepared to study here, causing complaints from Korean classmates and professors. One 23-year-old junior at Inha University said a Chinese classmate "couldn't even speak basic Korean and had to use a translation app for everything."

The Education Ministry has urged universities to admit only foreign students with a certain level of Korean proficiency. But the head of the international department at one private university in Seoul said, "It is difficult to reject foreign students based on their language proficiency when they are the main source of our income."

Instead, some look for other solutions. Dankook University plans to expand tutoring, while Pukyong National University limited foreign students to general studies since last year, letting them pick their specific majors only when they have passed basic classes to help them adjust to university life.

Chung Ick-joong at Ewha Womans University said, "We intend to offer foreign students additional classes to help them understand parts of the lessons taught in Korean that they may have missed."
China is likely to resume short-term entry visas for Koreans now that Seoul has lifted restrictions on Chinese tourists.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters Monday, "By lifting visa restrictions against China, [Korea] has taken a right step towards reducing obstacles hindering cross-border travel between the two countries. China is carefully reviewing the matter."

Korea halted short-term visas for Chinese people on Jan. 2 but decided to lift the ban last week because coronavirus infections there have started to subside and fewer arrivals test positive.

A diplomatic source said the two countries "have held close negotiations over the matter. Only technical issues remain to be ironed out, so there is a strong chance that short-term visas will resume this week."

But Korea will still require PCR test certificates and another test on arrival, while planes from China can land only at Incheon International Airport and no flights will be added for now.
Koreans have donated over W10 billion online for earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria in less than a week since the campaign began (US$1=W1,277).

Naver's online donation platform Happybean had raised W6.9 billion from 330,000 users as of 3 p.m. Monday. Separately, Naver will deliver US$1 million to the Korean Red Cross and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees for the restoration of earthquake-hit areas.

Kakao has also raised about W4 billion from some 1.11 million users in cooperation with UNICEF Korea and the Community Chest of Korea. Kakao founder Kim Beom-su is donating W1 billion worth of stocks to the Community Chest of Korea.
South Korea and the U.S. are to conduct a tabletop drill at a U.S. submarine base later this month to prepare for a pre-emptive nuclear attack from North Korea.

The drill will be held at U.S. Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay in the state of Georgia, a military source here said Monday. "Top South Korean brass and working-level staff will discuss how to respond to a nuclear emergency and visit facilities at the base."

Kings Bay is the home port of ballistic missile submarines.

The last tabletop drill was held at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California in 2016.
KYODO NEWS - Feb 14, 2023 - 19:43 | Japan, All

Shoichiro Toyoda, the honorary chairman of Toyota Motor Corp. who transformed the Japanese automaker into a leading global brand, died of heart failure on Tuesday, the company said. He was 97.

Toyoda, a third-generation scion of the founding family who inherited its stake in the business, is credited with establishing a culture of quality control that helped Toyota evolve into a world-leading automaker. He was also responsible for pushing Toyota, which had started life as a loom manufacturer, to produce vehicles overseas.

A grandson of Sakichi Toyoda, who founded the Toyota group, and son of Kiichiro Toyoda, the founder of Toyota's predecessor Toyota Motor Co., Shoichiro Toyoda joined the company as a board member at just 27 years of age.

After serving as president of Toyota Motor Sales Co. under the Toyota group, he became the first president of what is now Toyota Motor Corp., a new company formed after the merger of its manufacturing and sales companies in 1982. He held the position until 1992 when he became chairman.

Toyoda propelled overseas production on the back of Japan's economic growth, with Toyota, headquartered in Aichi Prefecture, setting up a joint venture with General Motors Co. in the United States in 1984.

Plants in Kentucky and Canada were built in 1986, significantly boosting the company's production capacity. It was also in the 1980s when Toyota actively expanded beyond the North American market.

The auto giant currently has production sites all over the world, including Europe, China and Africa.

Following the family tradition of launching a new business each generation, Toyoda focused his efforts on the housing business. His grandfather Sakichi had started the manufacturing of looms and his father Kiichiro the production of automobiles.

The Toyoda-initiated business, known as Toyota Housing Corp., is now a key unit of Prime Life Technologies Corp., a joint venture between Toyota, Panasonic Holdings Corp, and Mitsui & Co.

It has played a major role as Toyota tries to build next-generation cities that integrate electrified cars with housing.

Toyoda served as the head of the Japan Business Federation, the country's biggest business lobby, for four years through 1998, grappling with reinvigorating a stagnant Japanese economy and carrying out administrative and financial reforms.

Even after leaving the board in 2009, Toyoda continued to have a heavy influence over the company, which is now one of the world's largest automakers. Toyoda had been honorary chairman since 1999.

A native of Nagoya, he contributed to the development of the city's economy, serving as chairman of the organization that hosted the 2005 World Exposition in Aichi Prefecture, central Japan.

He also served as the head of Kaiyo Academy, an all-male boarding school he helped establish in Gamagori, Aichi, which is modeled after a British private school.

Toyoda was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in the United States in 2007.

The company plans to hold a farewell gathering at a later date, although details have not been decided, it said.

His son and current president, Akio Toyoda, 66, announced last month he will promote Koji Sato, the 53-year-old head of the auto group's Lexus brand operation, to succeed him in April, with Toyoda to become chairman.

Related coverage:

FOCUS: Toyota CEO taps younger successor amid paradigm shift in industry

Toyota to promote Sato to CEO, Toyoda to become chairman

Toyota to develop advanced EV in 2026, says next president
KYODO NEWS - Feb 14, 2023 - 23:53 | All, Japan

Japan's government said Tuesday that three unidentified flying objects spotted over the nation's territory in three years from 2019 are "strongly suspected" to have been Chinese spy balloons.

It is the first time Japan has made such an announcement since the United States shot down a similar Chinese spy balloon earlier this month after its incursion into U.S. airspace, according to a Defense Ministry official.

Tokyo demanded that Beijing confirm facts and prevent a recurrence, the ministry said. The government also told China that Japan would never accept any violation of its territorial skies.

The three flying objects were detected in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, in November 2019 and the northeastern prefectures of Miyagi and Aomori in June 2020 and September 2021, respectively, according to the ministry.

Related coverage:

Unidentified balloon spotted off southwestern Japan last year: gov't

Chinese military unit involved in balloon operation: sources

Japan probing links between Chinese balloon, past flying object

"We will put more effort than ever into information gathering and surveillance activities against balloons, including unmanned ones for foreign espionage," it said in a press release.

The ministry did not elaborate on why it presumed that the flying objects were from China.

The announcement came after the ministry reanalyzed past cases of unidentified flying objects after the United States downed a Chinese balloon on Feb. 4.

So far, four flying objects have been shot down by the U.S. military over North American airspace this month.

Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada told a press conference earlier Tuesday that the Self-Defense Forces will be allowed to use weapons, including air-to-air missiles, to deal with airspace incursions.
(ECNS) -- Rescue has no borders. Chinese rescue forces will proceed without hesitation, said Chen Jiahuan, a 28-year-old member of China's Blue Sky Rescue Team who is carrying out rescue operations in Turkiye.

Chen, from Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, arrived in Turkiye on Thursday afternoon together with the third batch of members of the Blue Sky Rescue Team.

Local residents expressed their gratitude to the Chinese rescue team when they landed at the Istanbul airport. A local Turk said China is a great country. Thank you for your support and kind contribution. I hope you are all safe, Chen recalled.

According to Chen, nearly 300 people from the Blue Sky Rescue Team have joined rescue efforts at present. And another 108 members have been dispatched to Turkiye on Friday and Sunday, local time.

"From Thursday to Saturday, theBlue Sky Rescue Team has searched 25 buildings and 133 workplaces, rescuing 28 trapped people, but only two survived the disaster, said Chen, who accepted a short interview during the break, and then returned to her mission.

Local care has motivated the Chinese rescuers in the cold Turkish weather. Residents lit a fire for rescuers by the roadside and shared their bread with us, said Chen.

The strength of one person is weak, but the strength of a group of people is strong, she added.

Official data shows that strong quakes jolted Turkiye last Monday have brought the total fatalities in the country and neighboring Syria to over 33,000.
KYODO NEWS - Feb 14, 2023 - 20:37 | All, Japan

Topographic features within a seafloor formation in the Pacific Ocean named after Godzilla will now also bear the names of the fictional monster's body parts, the Japan Coast Guard said Tuesday.

Following the approval by the Sub-Committee on Undersea Features Names on Monday, the names of 14 individual topographic features within the Godzilla Megamullion Province including Hat Ridge, West Hipbone Rise and Neck Peak, will be officially used in nautical charts and papers.

The ridged submarine topography, said to resemble Godzilla sleeping face down, is located around 600 kilometers southeast of Okinotori Island, the southernmost point of Japanese territory.

According to the coast guard, it was discovered during a 2001 survey of the area by the Japanese government, and is currently the largest known megamullion on Earth at around three times the size of Tokyo.

Such oceanic core complexes are formed when the mantle beneath the Earth's crust is exposed on the seafloor as a result of fault displacement.

In January last year, the SCUFN approved naming the area stretching approximately 125 km long and 55 km wide after the world-famous Japanese film character.

The decision departed from the usual convention of naming submarine geologic features after nearby landforms, ships, or deceased persons or institutions that have contributed to maritime research.

A Japan Coast Guard official said the committee likely took into consideration the fact that the megamullion had already been referred to as Godzilla in research papers and other publications.

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By Maya Kaneko, KYODO NEWS - Feb 14, 2023 - 13:16 | Arts, World, All, Japan

A Japanese bookstore that was frequented by famous Chinese authors such as Lu Xun and Guo Moruo in early 20th-century Shanghai is once more thriving as a center of cultural exchange after being reborn in Tianjin, a port city southeast of Beijing.

The original Uchiyama Shoten bookstore, founded in 1917 by Kanzo Uchiyama (1885-1959), was known as a salon for Chinese intellectuals and a space where they could also interact with visiting Japanese, even when the two countries edged toward war in the 1930s.

Now two bookshops, opened in 2021 and last year by a Chinese company, bear the Uchiyama Shoten name with the blessing of Uchiyama's descendants and are recreating the old salon atmosphere by becoming spaces for both conversation and Sino-Japanese cultural encounters.

Zhao Qi, a 40-year-old former documentary director at Tianjin TV who runs the two bookshops, says they offer "a lot of exciting things -- food, books and activities -- and very happy moments."

With extensive collections of Japan-related books, both also have spacious cafe and bar areas open until late at night and sometimes even host musical performances.

Zhao first learned about the legendary Shanghai bookstore run by Uchiyama while making a documentary featuring China-friendly bookstores overseas, one of which was Uchiyama Books Co. in Tokyo's Jimbocho bookshop district. Run by Uchiyama's descendants, it focuses on marketing books related to China.

When the firm's current president, Shin Uchiyama, 50, came to Shanghai in 2015 to pay respects at the grave of Kanzo, who died in China and is buried in the city, Zhao went with him.

Uchiyama told him that he and other family members had long dreamed of reviving the Shanghai bookstore, which was closed in 1945 following Japan's defeat in World War II.

"I felt very excited and motivated," Zhao said in an interview. "I thought their dream is my dream, their hope is my hope. I decided to help them revive" the Uchiyama bookstore.

Initially, the possibility of reopening the bookstore in Shanghai or Shaoxing in eastern China's Zhejiang Province, the hometown of Lu Xun, was also explored.

But it was Tianjin where the dream took shape. Both stores were opened at major shopping malls in the city. A third store is scheduled to open in the first half of 2023.

Cherishing the history of the original bookstore, the shops each display panels introducing the founder and his friendship with Lu Xun, one of China's most prominent intellectuals before World War II, and other members of the salon gathering at his store.

According to Zhao, the two stores together have some 25,000 books on their shelves, with online shopping also available.

Among the items available are magazines imported from Japan and recipe books for Japanese cuisine. The stores also sell stationery goods such as pens of Japanese brands including Kokuyo, Zebra, Pilot, Mitsubishi and Platinum.

Up to 25 percent of all the items for sale at the Tianjin bookstores are related to Japan, and three staff members are fluent in Japanese and so able to respond to requests from Japanese customers, the manager said.

The native of Tianjin said it was "appropriate" for the port city to host bookstores reviving the old Shanghai shop as the city has a deep relationship with Japan, becoming a sister city of Kobe in 1973 and a production base for such Japanese manufacturers as Seiko Epson Corp., NEC Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp.

Many Chinese customers come to seek Japanese comics, detective novels and books about the country's history, Zhao said. Materials about Japanese artists of past and present such as ukiyo-e master Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) and Yayoi Kusama, who works primarily in sculpture and installation, are also big draws, he added.

As fewer people buy books with the spread of e-books and audiobooks, one of the Tianjin Uchiyama bookstores offers rental services to "help people get more familiar with" paper books, Zhao said.

"If you borrow, maybe you can read 200 to 300 books a year," he said, adding that some rare books that are expensive to buy can also be rented.

A 27-year-old who performs with a handpan drum and goes by the stage name "Lao Mao" meaning "old cat" in Chinese, said the stores are "unique" compared with other bookshops, where people usually remain quiet.

"Many young people and families come and the bookshops are very lively. I'd like to keep performing" at the stores, he said.

Liu Xin, 48, who manages the bookshops' cafe business, used to live in Japan. She said she wants to introduce Japanese food culture to customers and once organized a workshop on Japanese-style confectionery.

Shin Uchiyama said he is "really grateful" that many Chinese people have welcomed the reappearance of the old Japanese bookstore, although he regrets that the founder's family could not be directly involved.

While they have granted the Chinese operator exclusive rights to use the Uchiyama Shoten name, they have no stake in the Chinese operating company.

"I hope (Zhao) can maintain the brand power of the Uchiyama bookstore and keep operating shops that can bring joy to both Chinese and Japanese customers," he said.

Last year, Zhao saw a decline in the number of customers due to outbreaks of COVID-19. But with Beijing now reopening borders, he expressed hope that many Japanese will visit the stores.

He particularly hopes that Shin Uchiyama, who has not been able to visit China since the pandemic started, and Japanese authors will be among them. Uchiyama and his father attended the opening of the first store virtually.

Zhao said he aims to have the Uchiyama bookstore return to Shanghai and open in other parts of the country, too. His ultimate goal is to "continue the history" of the bookstore, he said.

Referring to a forward Lu Xun wrote to a book by Kanzo Uchiyama on China published in 1935 in which the Chinese intellectual expressed his belief that the people of the two countries will eventually come to understand each other, Zhao said he is determined to make the bookstores serve as a bridge between the two Asian neighbors.

"In my opinion, Uchiyama Shoten means peace and communications, so (we will) continue peace and friendship," Zhao said.
KYODO NEWS - Feb 14, 2023 - 22:06 | All, Japan, G7

The mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki requested Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Tuesday create occasions for world leaders visiting Hiroshima for the Group of Seven summit in May to engage with both cities' local communities to understand the reality of nuclear war.

In response to the request by Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui and Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue to realize the leaders' dialogue with atomic-bomb survivors and visits to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, Kishida acknowledged that "trends worldwide are moving against the abolition of nuclear weapons," but added that he hopes to "create an opportunity to reverse them."

Amid heightened tensions since Russia's war against Ukraine began almost a year ago, Japan has chosen Hiroshima, which was devastated by a 1945 U.S. atomic bombing in World War II, as the venue for its turn to host the leaders' summit.

Regarding appeals for leaders to also visit Nagasaki, the second city devastated by atomic bombing, Kishida expressed appreciation for the city's feelings. But regarding the detailed schedule for the May 19-21 summit, he only said it was still being decided.

The two mayors also met with U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel earlier in the day and requested that U.S. President Joe Biden visit Nagasaki.

Their letter of request addressed to Biden and other leaders said that their citizens have "one fervent plea to the leaders of nations: come to the atomic-bombed cities and see for yourself the truth of the consequences of nuclear weapons."

The call by the two atomic-bombed cities comes as the country prepares for the summit to be attended by heads of the G-7 countries of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, plus the European Union.

Kishida, who is from Hiroshima and represents a constituency in the prefecture, plans to use the gathering as an opportunity to pitch his vision of a world without nuclear weapons amid concern that Russia could use one against Ukraine.

A former Hiroshima mayor and other members of a group against atomic and hydrogen bombs also urged the prime minister on Tuesday to use the coming summit in the western Japanese city to take the lead in realizing nuclear disarmament.

The group, a local unit of the Japan Congress against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs, submitted an open letter to the Cabinet Office addressed to the prime minister, stating that as a first step, nations possessing nuclear weapons must declare they will not use or threaten to use the devices.

"The historical significance of the leaders of three nuclear weapons states gathering in Hiroshima to attend the summit should be no other than this declaration," the statement said.

Former Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba, who represents the group, said in a press conference in Tokyo that such a declaration would be "effective in stopping Russian President (Vladimir) Putin from making nuclear threats."

Akiba was the mayor of Hiroshima from 1999 to 2011 and also serves as an advisor to the anti-nuclear organization.

Related coverage:

Japan planning visit by G-7 leaders to Hiroshima atomic bomb museum

FOCUS: G-7 chair Japan should urge more nations to impose Russian sanctions

Japan eyes leaders' visit to Hiroshima shrine during G-7 summit
Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan addresses the opening of the World Digital Education Conference in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 13, 2023. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)

BEIJING, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- The number of massive open online courses (MOOC) available in China has exceeded 64,500, according to a report on China's smart education on Monday.

These courses have received more than 1 billion visits so far, according to the report released at the World Digital Education Conference, which opened in Beijing on Monday.

China ranks first globally in both number of MOOCs and number of open online course attendees, statistics show.

The conference also made public a blue paper on China's smart education in 2022, which summarizes China's experience in smart education development and puts forward five proposals for the world.

Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan attended the conference and delivered a speech. She said that China is willing to deepen international cooperation on digital education and strengthen the alignment of education policies and standards so that the fruits of digital education can benefit more people in all countries.

Based on the theme of digital transformation and the future of education, the event is being attended by representatives from more than 130 countries and regions. 
BEIJING, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Thanks to the internet, students from a middle school in Kangding, Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in southwest China's Sichuan Province, are able to attend classes conducted by teachers from Chengdu No. 7 High School, a prestigious high school elsewhere in the province.

It takes more than three hours to drive from Kangding to Chengdu, but with the help of information technology, students can answer their teachers' questions in less than a minute.

The interaction is just part of China's broader efforts to promote digital education in recent years, in a bid to develop more equitable and higher-quality education, while accelerating modernization in the sector.

The World Digital Education Conference, which opened in Beijing on Monday, is expected to further promote the digitalization of education in China and inject new momentum into the global development of digital education.

UPGRADED FACILITIES

China has released multiple plans to better apply information technology to education, with the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China calling for the digitalization of education and the building of a society and country of learning in which lifelong learning is pursued by all.

In recent years, China has upgraded the facilities for digital teaching in schools. All the elementary and middle schools across China have access to the internet, compared with 25 percent in 2012. Moreover, more than three quarters of Chinese schools have wireless networks, and about 99.5 percent of schools have multimedia classrooms.

In March 2022, a public online service platform named "Smart Education of China" was officially launched, focusing on such areas as learning, teaching, school governance and educational innovation.

So far, the platform has received more than 6.7 billion page views and more than 1 billion visitors from more than 200 countries and regions.

The platform provides access to higher-quality education resources for rural primary and secondary schools in the underdeveloped central and western parts of the country. It also allows universities in the west of China to share quality resources provided by universities in the east.

According to Ma Luting, vice president of the National Institute of Education Sciences, in the digital education era, multiple methods of resource development, presentation and communication have changed the conventional classroom teaching methods.

BOOMING MOOCS

With digital technologies, students from three universities in Jiangsu, Shaanxi and Guizhou provinces have been able to experience a simulated assembly process of China's first homegrown jetliner C919, witnessing the airfoils dock with the fuselage from their classrooms at the same time.

"Employing the digital simulation and virtual reality technologies, we can represent the assembly site at the classroom and have students from different places interact with each other through 5G," said Tian Wei, a professor at the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

The class is a good example of how massive open online courses (MOOCs) are developing in China.

Since 2013, this new form of education, providing instruction free of charge to all, has mushroomed in China. As of November 2022, there were more than 61,900 MOOCs accessible online, with 402 million registered users. China ranks first in the world in both the number of MOOCs and the number of learners online.

China has set up 168 integrated courses available across the globe, initiated mutual credit recognition with 13 world-famous universities, and developed eight open courses in English, attracting more than 7 million learners around the world.

At the World Digital Education Conference, Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan said China is willing to deepen cooperation with other countries in digital education standardization, introduce more quality services and products, and improve digital education governance and public services. 
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang chairs a symposium to solicit opinions on a draft government work report from representatives of China's non-Communist parties, the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, and personages without party affiliation, on Feb. 13, 2023. Vice Premier Han Zheng attended the symposium. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

BEIJING, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Premier Li Keqiang on Monday chaired a symposium to solicit opinions on a draft government work report from representatives of China's non-Communist parties, the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, and personages without party affiliation.

Li heard suggestions from the representatives and praised their important roles in the government's scientific and democratic decision-making.

Vice Premier Han Zheng attended the symposium.

Li said that China's economy achieved reasonable growth and performed within a reasonable range last year, with more than 12 million new urban jobs created and the consumer price index rising only 1.8 percent year on year in December 2022.

Li cautioned that the country still faces a grave external environment and the foundation for domestic demand recovery has not yet solidified.

He said that China's economy stabilized at the end of last year and started to recover at the beginning of 2023. Consumption, which has been a major driver for the country's economy for years, saw accelerated growth in January, Li said.

Efforts should be made to implement the country's policies aimed at stabilizing economic recovery, and to continue extending that recovery, Li added. 

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang chairs a symposium to solicit opinions on a draft government work report from representatives of China's non-Communist parties, the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, and personages without party affiliation, on Feb. 13, 2023. Vice Premier Han Zheng attended the symposium. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)
Though chances of survival are getting slim for those buried under the rubble of collapsed buildings in Syria's Aleppo, their families and friends are still searching, hoping for a miracle.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, meets with Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 13, 2023. (Xinhua/Yue Yuewei)

BEIJING, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, met on Monday with Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai in Beijing.

Noting that China and Thailand are close as one family, Wang, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, said Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a successful visit to Thailand last year and reached important consensus with the Thai side on building a China-Thailand community with a shared future for enhanced stability, prosperity and sustainability.

The Chinese side stands ready to work with Thailand to implement the outcomes of President Xi's visit, safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the two countries and safeguard regional peace and stability, Wang added.

Wang stressed that the cooperation between China and Thailand has not only promoted the development of both countries, but also brought tangible benefits to the two peoples.

Don Pramudwinai said he looks forward to contributing to the development of Thailand-China relations and will promote their close relations with concrete actions. 
TEHRAN, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Iran said on Monday that it welcomes the Iraqi government's efforts to help with the talks on the revival of a 2015 nuclear deal.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani made the remarks at a weekly press conference following Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein's separate consultations with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and U.S. Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley about the nuclear talks, Iran's official news agency IRNA reported.

Some governments had previously made efforts to revive the nuclear talks with goodwill, said Kanaani, noting that some other governments are currently willing to play a role in this regard by using their relations with both Iran and the United States.

Iran will seriously consider Iraq's efforts if the Iraqi government seeks to play a role in helping the nuclear talks bear fruit, Kanaani noted.

He reaffirmed Tehran's commitment to talks to lay the groundwork for all parties' return to the nuclear deal, with its priority being the removal of all sanctions imposed on the Iranian government and people.

It is hoped that the other parties, in particular the U.S. government, would practically honor their obligations in line with their claims of willingness to return to the deal, he added.

Iran has no direct contact or negotiation with the U.S. government, Kanaani said, adding Tehran will, however, use all diplomatic capacities to safeguard the country's interests, particularly the removal of the sanctions.

Iran signed the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), with world powers in July 2015, agreeing to put some curbs on its nuclear program in return for the removal of the sanctions on the country. The United States, however, pulled out of the deal in May 2018 and reimposed its unilateral sanctions on Iran, prompting the latter to reduce some of its nuclear commitments under the deal.

The talks on the JCPOA's revival began in April 2021 in Vienna. No breakthrough has been achieved after the latest round of talks in August 2022. 
BEIJING, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese charter plane carrying humanitarian supplies left for quake-hit Syria early Tuesday morning, according to the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA).

According to the CIDCA, the plane carrying relief supplies have departed Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province, and is expected to arrive in Damascus on Feb. 15 local time.

The supplies included about 30,000 first-aid kits, 10,000 cotton-padded coats, 300 cotton tents, 20,000 blankets and 70,000 adult pull-up diapers, as well as emergency medical equipment such as ventilators, anesthesia machines, oxygen generators and LED surgical lights, according to the CIDCA. 
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (R) and Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen attend a joint press conference in Ankara, Turkiye, on Feb. 14, 2023. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)

ANKARA, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Israel will resume direct flights to Turkiye on Thursday as part of the normalization of bilateral relations, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said on Tuesday.

"Flights from Israel to Turkiye will resume in two days. Three of our main carriers will start flights," Cohen said at a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in the Turkish capital of Ankara.

"We will definitely warm the important relations between your important and beautiful country and Israel," he added.

The two sides discussed steps to take bilateral ties to the next phase, Cohen said, adding "we will restore bilateral relations to its former level."

Israel sent a 450-member rescue team on the first day of Turkiye's devastating earthquakes last week, which was followed by other teams and the establishment of a field hospital in the quake-hit region, the minister said.

Cohen promised to continue humanitarian assistance to Turkiye and conveyed deepest condolences to the victims.

Cavusoglu, for his part, said Israel was one of the first countries that sent support to Turkiye and thanked Israel for the assistance.

Israeli rescue teams were one of the "largest" on the ground and they provided "very serious support" to the emergency response, he said.

The relations between Israel and Turkiye became strained in 2010 when a Turkish-led flotilla attempting to break Israel's blockade on the Gaza Strip clashed with Israeli forces, leaving 10 Turks on board killed.

The two countries have been working to mend their ties since last year, when Israeli President Isaac Herzog made an ice-breaking visit to Ankara, the first of its kind by an Israeli leader since 2008.

They also reappointed ambassadors in 2022, who were expelled by each other after Israeli forces killed 60 Palestinians during the protests on the Gaza border against the opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem in 2018. 

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (R) shakes hands with Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen during a joint press conference in Ankara, Turkiye, on Feb. 14, 2023. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)
This photo taken on Feb. 14, 2023 shows a damaged passenger van at the site of a road accident in Nui Thanh district of Quang Nam Province, Vietnam. Eight people died and several people were injured in Vietnam's central province of Quang Nam after a tractor-trailer and a 16-passenger van crashed into each other early Tuesday morning, Vietnam News Agency reported. (VNA/Handout via Xinhua)

HANOI, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Eight people died and several people were injured in Vietnam's central province of Quang Nam after a tractor-trailer and a 16-passenger van crashed into each other early Tuesday morning, Vietnam News Agency reported.

The tractor-trailer was travelling on National Highway 1A in Tam Hiep Commune, Nui Thanh District, Quang Nam Province at 4 a.m. when the accident happened. The van was coming in the opposite direction, on the way from the province of Quang Ngai to Da Nang city. Quang Nam is located in the middle of central Vietnam, around 100 km north of Quang Ngai and south of Da Nang.

Among the fatalities, six were killed on the spot and two died on the way to the hospital, while several were seriously injured, said Le Van Sinh, chairman of the People's Committee of Nui Thanh District.

The passenger van, badly wrecked, was seen turned upside down as the result of the accident.

Further investigation is underway into the cause of the accident.

More than 11,400 traffic accidents occurred in Vietnam last year, killing 6,384 people and injuring over 7,800, official data showed. 

This photo taken on Feb. 14, 2023 shows a damaged passenger van at the site of a road accident in Nui Thanh district of Quang Nam Province, Vietnam. Eight people died and several people were injured in Vietnam's central province of Quang Nam after a tractor-trailer and a 16-passenger van crashed into each other early Tuesday morning, Vietnam News Agency reported. (VNA/Handout via Xinhua)
Mirko Turrina introduces products at Goglio (Tianjin) Packaging Co., Ltd. in Tianjin, north China, Dec. 29, 2022. (Xinhua)

TIANJIN, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- The recent initiation of production at the newly completed dry composite film workshop in north China's Tianjin Municipality filled Mirko Turrina with excitement.

The workshop is the phase III expansion project, with a total investment of 15 million euros (about 16 million U.S. dollars), of Goglio (Tianjin) Packaging Co., Ltd., an Italian company dedicated to producing aseptic packaging for tomato paste, juice and coffee, as well as filling equipment and services.

The 47-year-old Turrina, who hails from Italy, is the company's general manager.

Since his move to China in 2004, Turrina has called the southern city of Guangzhou his home for the past 14 years. During this time, he successfully guided a foreign joint venture towards full localization in engineering and R&D, and was instrumental in the company's listing on China's National Equities Exchange and Quotations (NEEQ), also known as the "new third board."

With a wealth of experience under his belt, he relocated to Tianjin in 2018, eager to take on new challenges and continue making his mark.

With an eye on the tremendous opportunities and the geographic advantage of Tianjin and the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, he joined Goglio's Tianjin plant.

Turrina believes that the consistently optimized business ecosystem and the favorable policy environment in China have been the primary catalysts for the company's growth and success.

For instance, the company engages in offshore trade, which means both the places of origin and sales of the traded goods are overseas destinations, he explained.

"We had to buy some other goods from our parent company or sister companies in U.S. and Europe since we did not localize some products yet in Tianjin. This created some problems in the past," Turrina said.

Chinese banks could not verify whether the trades were real or not when it came to offshore trading, as no goods entered the country and there was no customs declaration.

Goglio's headquarters or other branches would first ship the goods outside China to the destination countries by sea, and then send the original bills of lading back to Tianjin.

Once the bills of lading were presented to Chinese banks for verification, they would be forwarded to overseas customers, allowing for the receipt of goods and enabling Goglio's Tianjin plant to settle the accounts.

"In this case, the flow of bills would take at least one month. Some of them may take even longer," Turrina said.

Things started to change at the end of 2021 when Chinese authorities issued a notice to support the development of new offshore international trade to boost innovation.

The airport area of China (Tianjin) Pilot Free Trade Zone, where the company is located, soon followed with a new mode of offshore trade in place to facilitate the service.

These policies provided credit endorsement for the company's offshore trade, reducing the delivery time for the bill of lading. "The new policies helped us to improve our customer satisfaction and business overseas," Turrina said.

"We did pretty well compared to the past," he said, adding that in 2022, the Tianjin plant saw a 30-percent increase in orders from Asia.

In the future, Turrina hopes to make the Tianjin plant Goglio's manufacturing hub in the Asia-Pacific region, and provide more products and service solutions for customers in China as well as other parts of Asia.

With nearly two decades of residency in China, Turrina has acquired a permanent Chinese residency card.

"I have fully integrated into life in China. I feel happy and want to stay longer," Turrina said. 

This photo taken in 2021 shows Mirko Turrina attending a coffee tasting activity in Shanghai, east China. (Xinhua)
HONG KONG, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- John Lee, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), said on Tuesday that the HKSAR government will send about 30 million Hong Kong dollars (about 3.82 million U.S. dollars) worth of supplies to quake-hit areas in Turkiye.

Lee told a press briefing before the Executive Council meeting that the HKSAR government had gathered a batch of emergency goods including tents, clothing, blankets, medicine and medical supplies to be sent to the quake-hit areas in Turkiye.

More than 100 tons of supplies donated by Hong Kong citizens were delivered to Turkiye on Monday evening, he said.

The death toll from the earthquakes in Turkiye has climbed to 31,643, the country's disaster agency was quoted by the Anadolu Agency on Monday as saying, bringing the total fatalities with neighboring Syria to more than 35,000 with tens of thousands injured.

The HKSAR government on Wednesday sent a search and rescue team of 59 members, including officials from various departments such as security, fire services, immigration and health, to the quake-hit areas in Turkiye.

Lee said that he appreciated the HKSAR rescue team for assisting search and rescue operations in Turkiye, during which four survivors were rescued. 
KUNMING, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Recovered market confidence and a burgeoning "romance economy" based on the rising incomes of consumers in China have led to robust sales of fresh-cut flowers.

At a flower shop in Beijing, busy shop assistants could recently be seen packing bouquets ahead of Valentine's Day. "No one can refuse a bunch of beautiful flowers," said Chen Lin, a manager at the store. The shop used to sell imported flowers, but now it sells flowers from southwest China's Yunnan Province, the country's main flower producer.

The florist's sales over the past few days were between 50,000 yuan (about 7,300 U.S. dollars) and 100,000 yuan per day, higher than sales before the COVID-19 pandemic, she said.

In recent days, the average daily wholesale volume at the Dounan Flower Market in Kunming, capital of Yunnan Province, climbed to nearly 30 million stems. Dounan Flower Market is Asia's largest fresh-cut flower trading market.

Behind the hot sales of fresh-cut flowers are income growth and the pursuit of romance. "It was unimaginable in the past," veteran flower seller Yang Yuyong said. "In the past, there were few flower shops and the prices of fresh-cut flowers were high. Fresh-cut flowers were regarded as luxury gifts."

Consumers buy flowers for festivals and celebrations, but consumption is changing and more people are now buying flowers on normal days to add romance to their lives.

"In the past, people received flowers or bought flowers as gifts on birthdays. Now many e-commerce platforms sell a great variety of flowers at rather cheap prices," according to a woman in Beijing surnamed Song. "There are fresh flowers in my home all year round. In the past, flowers were gifts, and now flowers are a routine part of life," Song said.

With the development of flower production areas like Yunnan, both the quantity and quality of China's flower supply have been improved, and consumption patterns are also changing, said Li Shenchong, director of the flower research institute at the Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

"Household purchases to spice up routine life have now become the trend of flower consumption," Fei Xuemei, vice president of the China Flower Association retail arm. With the development of the romance economy, consumer demand for high-quality flowers has been growing year by year, Fei said.

China's booming e-commerce and fast-growing express delivery industry are also buoying sales of fresh-cut flowers.

"A quarter of my flowers are sold online," said florist Zhang Kuaping from the Kunming Dounan Flower Market. "I match different flowers according to customer preferences and deliver the flowers by air," said Zhang, who has regular customers in Shanghai, Nanjing and Guangzhou who now order on a monthly basis.

Cai Fukun, a courier working for SF Express in Yunnan, has been working very late recently -- taking orders, packaging the flowers and loading the parcels onto his truck.

Flower transportation has strict requirements for temperature and speed, so courier giant SF Express has invested in full-cargo aircraft and cold-chain vehicles, said Yang Jinglei, an official from the Yunnan branch of SF Express.

"We have created an 'aviation plus high-speed railway plus cold chain' transportation mode. Flowers can be delivered from the fields to customers in as little as 24 hours," Yang said.

Han Tianxing, who has been working in the flower industry in Kunming for nearly 30 years, said that cold chain and aviation logistics guarantee the timely delivery of fresh-cut flowers. "The quality is not affected, and the romance is not discounted," Han said.

"Post-harvest treatment is also very important for the quality of flowers," Fei said. The flower industry in Yunnan has established a standardized treatment process: precooling, packaging and refrigeration. Some enterprises have even developed "freshness agents" to extend the lifecycle of flowers.

The recovering market confidence this year has also contributed to the fresh-cut flowers sales surge, said Li Qian, an auctioneer at the Kunming International Flora Auction Trading Center. From Jan. 24 to Feb. 8, the center's trading volume was 56.42 million stems, up nearly 40 percent year on year. 




YANGZHOU, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Located at the intersection of the Yangtze River and the Grand Canal, Yangzhou in east China's Jiangsu Province is rich in wetland resources, attracting many migratory birds, including some rare species, to settle and breed every year.

The wetland conservation area in Yangzhou exceeds 345,900 acres. Those surrounding the Gaoyou Lake cover some 175,300 acres with a natural wetland protection rate of 82 percent there.

With continuous improvement in the wetland environment and the abundant fish and shrimp resources, about 100 oriental white storks, an endangered bird species, have become resident birds instead of migratory ones every year.

"Oriental white storks have become our old friends. We have taken a series of measures to create a favorable living environment for them, such as promoting bird protection knowledge, picking up plastic garbage, implementing the Migratory Bird Lifeline project and so on," said Wangwei, member of local bird guardian volunteer service team.

Currently, the oriental white storks which have settled in Yangzhou are entering the breeding season. Usually, one adult bird stays in the nest while the other flies to the wetland to forage and feed their chicks.

"Last spring, this pair of oriental white storks bred four chicks here. At the end of Dec. last year, they returned to reinforce their nest. Shortly after the Spring Festival, they laid an egg. Due to the slightly colder weather, they delayed breeding time by over half a month, compared to last year," said Zhu Chunhua from Gaoyou Natural Reserve Management Center.

This year, the local government will continue to carry out wetland restoration and biodiversity conservation work, making the wetlands a new home for more wild species.








Members from the Blue Sky Rescue Team, a Chinese civil relief squad, distribute food to local people in Malatya, Turkiye, Feb. 13, 2023. The death toll from the earthquakes in Turkiye has climbed to 31,643, the country's disaster agency was quoted by the Anadolu Agency on Monday as saying, bringing the total fatalities with neighboring Syria to more than 35,000, with tens of thousands injured. (Xinhua/Wang Tengfei)

ANKARA/DAMASCUS, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- The following are the latest facts about quake-hit Turkiye and Syria.

-- COMBINED CASUALTIES

The death toll from Monday's earthquakes in Turkiye has climbed to 31,643, the country's disaster agency was quoted by the Anadolu Agency on Monday as saying, bringing the total fatalities with neighboring Syria to more than 35,000with tens of thousands injured.

-- RESCUE EFFORTS

The UN relief chief said in quake-hit Syria on Monday that as the UN relief efforts enter a humanitarian phase, the urgency is to cover such needs as shelter, food and schooling and that the plan now is to cover three months of humanitarian needs in Syria.

Afghanistan's Red Crescent Society donated 4.5 million afghanis (50,000 U.S. dollars) in cash to help the quake-affected people in Turkiye, the state-run Bakhtar news agency reported Monday.

The first batches of relief supplies bound for Turkiye and financed by the Chinese government arrived in Istanbul on Feb. 11 and 12. More supplies provided by China, including electrocardiograph machines, ultrasonic diagnostics equipment, medical transport vehicles and manual hospital beds will be shipped this week. Rescue teams from China, including those dispatched by the Chinese government, have rescued over 10 survivors.

A research team from Wuhan University has provided remote sensing data from the earthquake-hit areas of Turkiye to the United Nations Satellite Centre to aid relief efforts.

Botswana's Minister for State President Kabo Morwaeng on Monday visited the Turkish embassy in Botswana and extended condolences to the people of Turkiye.

-- PROBLEMS & RESPONSE

Lack of needed medical and rescue equipment has limited the capabilities of the Syrian Red Crescent in its relief efforts in the earthquake-stricken areas of the country, said Mey al-Sayegh, spokeswoman of the Beirut-based regional office of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

Al-Sayegh said that the Syrian Red Crescent does not have sufficient equipment because of a devastating war in the country since 2011.

The current freezing weather in Syria and Turkiye constitutes another serious obstacle to relief efforts because of the earthquakes, she warned.

Commenting on the current U.S. sanctions on Syria, al-Sayegh said the sanctions impede and delay the delivery of humanitarian aid to earthquake-hit Syria.

The IFRC allocated 1 million Swiss francs (1.09 million U.S. dollars) to the Syrian Red Crescent and 2 million Swiss francs to the Turkish Red Crescent immediately after the earthquakes to enable their urgent assistance in rescuing and providing relief, medical treatment and shelter for survivors, according to the IFRC spokeswoman. 
Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, meets with visiting President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ebrahim Raisi at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 14, 2023. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei)

BEIJING, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- China's top legislator Li Zhanshu met with visiting President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ebrahim Raisi in Beijing on Tuesday.

Noting that China-Iran relations have become healthier and more stable in recent years, Li, chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, said in line with the key consensus between the two heads of state, China is ready to work with Iran to push for more development of the two countries' comprehensive strategic partnership in the new era, which will bring more benefits to the two peoples.

Li said the two countries should continue to support each other on issues concerning respective core interests, jointly uphold basic norms governing international relations, including non-interference in internal affairs, and safeguard the common interests of developing countries.

He called on the legislatures of the two countries to strengthen friendly exchanges, provide legislative guarantees for implementing the consensus between the two heads of state, and share experience in governance.

Noting Iran and China enjoy a long-standing traditional friendship, Raisi said Iran hopes to fully tap the potential of bilateral cooperation in various fields and inject new vitality into Iran-China comprehensive strategic partnership and is ready to work with China to safeguard international fairness and justice. 

Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, meets with visiting President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ebrahim Raisi at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 14, 2023. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei)
Israeli security forces are seen at the scene of a stabbing attack at a checkpoint in the Shuafat refugee camp in East Jerusalem, on Feb. 13, 2023. (JINI via Xinhua)

JERUSALEM, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- An Israeli border police officer on Monday was "critically" wounded in East Jerusalem in a suspected stabbing attack perpetrated by a 13-year-old Palestinian and then by "friendly fire," Israeli authorities said.

According to a police statement, the Palestinian teenager used a kitchen knife to stab the 20-year-old police officer inside a bus outside a checkpoint in the Shuafat refugee camp in East Jerusalem.

An Israeli security guard opened fire at the perpetrator and apparently hit the officer by accident.

Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service said in a statement that the officer was taken to a hospital and was in "a critical condition."

The Palestinian boy was "neutralized," the police said. The Hebrew-language Ha'aretz newspaper later reported that he was arrested.

The incident came hours after a 14-year-old Palestinian boy stabbed and lightly injured a 17-year-old Israeli in East Jerusalem's Old City.

The incidents took place amid a surge of violence in the region and a day after Israeli airstrikes hit the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian coastal enclave. The military said in a statement that the attack targeted an underground complex containing raw materials used for the manufacturing of rockets belonging to Hamas, an armed Palestinian group that runs Gaza. It was carried out as "a response" to earlier rocket attacks from Gaza, the army said. 

Israeli security forces are seen at the scene of a stabbing attack at a checkpoint in the Shuafat refugee camp in East Jerusalem, on Feb. 13, 2023. (JINI via Xinhua)

Israeli security forces are seen at the scene of a stabbing attack at a checkpoint in the Shuafat refugee camp in East Jerusalem, on Feb. 13, 2023. (JINI via Xinhua)

Israeli security forces are seen at the scene of a stabbing attack at a checkpoint in the Shuafat refugee camp in East Jerusalem, on Feb. 13, 2023. (JINI via Xinhua)
RAMALLAH, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- A 17-year-old Palestinian teenager on Tuesday died of critical wounds sustained in clashes with Israeli soldiers that broke out in the Far'a refugee camp in the northern West Bank, Palestinian medics said.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said that Mahmoud Al-Aydi, 17, died of his critical wounds after being shot in the head by Israeli soldiers during clashes in the refugee camp.

Local sources and eyewitnesses said that an Israeli army force stormed the refugee camp to arrest Palestinians involved in attacks against the Israeli army in the West Bank. 
CHICAGO, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Three people were killed and at least five were injured in an on-campus shooting at Michigan State University Monday night, the university police has confirmed.

The first shots were fired inside a hall at 8:18 p.m. (0118 GMT) at the north end of campus, university spokeswoman Emily Guerrant said at a press conference. Gunshots were later heard at a nearby hall.

Police are searching for the suspect, who is believed to be a short male with a mask.

The university has sent a message asking students to "secure in place immediately." "Run, hide, fight," was heard at the scene.

Nearly 30 firetrucks, ambulances and other emergency vehicles swarmed the campus. 
SHIJIAZHUANG, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- North China's Hebei Province saw its foreign trade grow 3.9 percent year on year to 562.9 billion yuan (about 82.61 billion U.S. dollars) in 2022, according to local customs.

Its exports totaled 340.74 billion yuan, up 12.5 percent year on year, and imports hit 222.16 billion yuan, down 7 percent, data from Shijiazhuang Customs showed.

In 2022, Hebei's trade with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) increased 32.2 percent to 76.67 billion yuan, making ASEAN the province's largest trade partner.

Its trade with countries along the Belt and Road increased by 21.9 percent to 196.83 billion yuan.

In 2022, Hebei's exports of mechanical and electrical products grew 19.8 percent to 130 billion yuan, making up 38.2 percent of the total exports.

The province saw a decrease in imports of iron ore and iron concentrate, soybeans, and natural gas. 
*China has drawn the roadmap for advancing rural revitalization across the board.

*The "No. 1 central document" for 2023 outlined nine tasks from ensuring grain supply and bolstering high-quality rural industries, to increasing farmers' incomes and developing a beautiful countryside.

*Ensuring food security is the top priority of the work to build China's strength in agriculture.

BEIJING, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- With a key official document released Monday, China has drawn the roadmap for advancing rural revitalization across the board, and for moving faster in building up its agricultural strength.

The "No. 1 central document" for 2023, the first policy statement released by the central authorities each year, outlined nine tasks from ensuring grain supply and bolstering high-quality rural industries, to increasing farmers' incomes and developing a beautiful countryside.

It is an "operation manual" to guide rural revitalization, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Tang Renjian said.

This aerial photo taken on June 2, 2022 shows harvesters reaping wheat in the fields in Tancheng County of Linyi City, east China's Shandong Province. (Xinhua/Guo Xulei)

FOOD SECURITY, TOP PRIORITY

Ensuring food security is the top priority of the work to build China's strength in agriculture, Tang said at a press conference on Tuesday.

By the end of last year, the country's annual grain production had remained over 650 billion kg for eight consecutive years, but factors including China's large population base and its consumption upgrading drive, as well as increasingly unstable global agriculture trade, have posed challenges.

The document has underlined efforts to boost the construction of agricultural infrastructure and strengthen support for agricultural science, technology and equipment in order to ensure stable production and adequate supply of grain, and also other important agricultural products.

China will make plans for transforming all of its permanent basic farmland to high-quality farmland, invigorate its seed industry and strive to make key technological breakthroughs in agriculture, according to Tang.

To these ends, the document puts forward specific measures including piloting the comprehensive use of saline soil, advancing the construction of major water conservancy projects, and developing high-efficiency water-saving farming.

It also urged completing a national census on germplasm resources, building permanent observation stations and sites for agricultural studies, and developing advanced farm machinery.

This aerial photo taken on Sept. 29, 2022 shows the Datengxia Gorge water conservancy project under construction and the navigation lock already in use in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Cao Yiming)

NO RETURN TO POVERTY

For a revitalized countryside, no large-scale return to poverty is a bottom line that must be guaranteed.

In 2022, the average annual income of people lifted out of poverty grew at a robust rate of 14.3 percent year on year to 14,342 yuan (2,105 U.S. dollars), higher than the 6.3 percent increase in per capita disposable income of other rural residents.

Liu Huanxin, head of the National Rural Revitalization Administration, vowed continued efforts to prevent the re-occurrence of rural poverty.

The focus will be on promoting industries and employment to help areas and people that have just shaken off poverty to build their own growth momentum, Liu said.

The country will strive to ensure that more than 60 percent of central government subsidies for rural revitalization are used to develop local industries, and that there will be stable employment for more than 30 million people, according to the document.

Villager Shi Kang promotes village produce on a livestream in Shibadong Village in Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, central China's Hunan Province, July 2, 2022. (Xinhua/Xue Yuge)

For Sui Yikui, deputy director of the bureau of agriculture and rural affairs of Laiyang City, east China's Shandong Province, the latest central policies will serve as a boost to the city's food processing sector. "Our farmers' harvest, resulting from a whole year of hard work, will sell better."

The deep processing of agricultural products has become a key industry in Laiyang. Many local companies have become top cooking oil, condiment, and juice brands.

BEAUTIFUL COUNTRYSIDE

China's rural revitalization also means a beautiful and harmonious countryside that is desirable to live and work in.

The official document underscored solid work on improving the rural living environment and enhancing rural infrastructure in critical areas such as roads, water supply systems, and power grids, as well as reinforcing the security of rural housing. Digital technologies will be more widely used in the countryside, and intelligent agriculture will also be promoted.

Public facilities and services will be improved, with focus on epidemic prevention, old-age care, education, and healthcare, so that farmers can enjoy a modern lifestyle in rural areas, Tang said.

Medical workers send medicines to an elderly villager in Shuangtang Village of Zhongshan District of Liupanshui, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Jan. 6, 2023. (Xinhua/Tao Liang)

In the meantime, the introduction of a modern lifestyle will be done in a way that will not erode traditional rural features.

While modern elements are integrated into the countryside, the original rural characteristics will be preserved and highlighted, Liu said, envisioning a countryside that owns modern facilities, but without losing its local charm.

(Video reporters: Feng Yuanyuan, Ding Chunyu, Xie Ying, Sun Min; Video editors: Hong Jing, Cao Ying, Liu Ruoshi, Peng Ying) 
Multiple international tourist destinations have welcomed back Chinese tourists with China's resumption of outbound group tours after the optimization of its COVID-19 response.

Starting Feb. 6, travel agencies and online tourism service providers in China have been permitted to provide group tours of 20 countries, and relevant airline ticket and hotel booking services have been resumed as well.

Kenya on Saturday welcomed the first group tour of Chinese tourists after a three-year hiatus.

Many tourism officials have expressed hope for the return of the Chinese tourists, saying it will be a strong boost to the tourism industry.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
Chinese President Xi Jinping holds a welcoming ceremony for visiting President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ebrahim Raisi prior to their talks at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 14, 2023. (Xinhua/Yan Yan)

BEIJING, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with visiting President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ebrahim Raisi in Beijing on Tuesday.

Xi pointed out that China and Iran enjoy traditional friendship and bilateral relations have withstood the tests of various international vicissitudes.

In the face of complex changes in the world, times and history, China and Iran have supported each other, worked together to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, consolidated strategic mutual trust and made steady progress in practical cooperation, which has promoted common interests, safeguarded international fairness and justice, and written a new chapter in China-Iran friendship, he said.

Xi underscored that China is advancing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization, unswervingly promoting high-quality development and opening-up, and unswervingly upholding world peace and promoting common development.

China has always viewed and developed its relations with Iran from a strategic perspective, Xi said, noting that no matter how the international and regional situation changes, China will unswervingly develop friendly cooperation with Iran, push for new development of the China-Iran comprehensive strategic partnership, and play a positive role in world peace and human progress.

For his part, Raisi said the time-tested friendship between Iran and China has become even firmer as time goes by. As two independent major countries, the Iran-China relations are based on the spirit of mutual respect, and they are sincere strategic partners worthy of mutual trust.

Iran's commitment to deepening and upgrading the Iran-China comprehensive strategic partnership is unswerving and will not be affected by any changes in the international and regional situation, Raisi stressed. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds a welcoming ceremony for visiting President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ebrahim Raisi prior to their talks at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 14, 2023. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei)

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds a welcoming ceremony for visiting President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ebrahim Raisi prior to their talks at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 14, 2023. (Xinhua/Yan Yan)

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds talks with visiting President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ebrahim Raisi at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 14, 2023. (Xinhua/Liu Bin)
This aerial photo taken on Feb. 10, 2023 shows a night view of Yuzhong District in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. (Xinhua/Huang Wei)

The Chinese economic structure and policies give strong support for reaching the growth rates targeted by China or projected by the IMF, an Egyptian economist has said.

CAIRO, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- China plays a crucial role in assisting the global economy in overcoming current economic challenges and achieving higher growth rates, an Egyptian economist has said.



"The Chinese economy is always working on finding structural development policies. These policies and measures have provided the Chinese economy with a proactive leadership in facing global crises," Karim Adel, head of the Cairo-based Al Adl Center for Economic and Strategic Studies, told Xinhua in an interview.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has recently projected China's economy to grow by 5.2 percent in 2023, 0.8 percentage point higher than October 2022 forecast.

Adel said that the Chinese economy enjoys "solidity and flexibility."

"China ... has diversified economic sectors such as real estate, energy, electronics, technology and manufacturing industries, all of which are vital and supportive of creating jobs and investment opportunities," said the expert.

He pointed out that the Chinese economic structure and policies give strong support for reaching the growth rates targeted by China or projected by the IMF.

This aerial photo taken on Oct. 23, 2022 shows a view of the Dongfang Lingang Industrial Park in south China's Hainan Province. (Xinhua/Pu Xiaoxu)

China achieved a 7.7-percent rise in annual foreign trade in 2022, topping the world for the sixth year in a row. Its foreign trade value hit a record high again in 2022, as total goods trade reached 42.07 trillion yuan (6.21 trillion U.S. dollars), up 7.7 percent year on year, according to a recent report from China's General Administration of Customs (GAC).

Meanwhile, the country's exports rose by 10.5 percent to 23.97 trillion yuan (3.54 trillion dollars) and imports went up 4.3 percent to 18.1 trillion yuan (2.67 trillion dollars) in 2022, according to the GAC.

"The rising volume of exports is a very big incentive to increase growth rates, particularly given the expectation of a return to global trade movement and the eagerness of most countries and importers to resume trade with China," said Adel.

This aerial photo taken on Nov. 5, 2022 shows a view of the Yangpu international container terminal in the Yangpu Economic Development Zone, south China's Hainan Province. (Xinhua/Pu Xiaoxu)

Chinese policies for economic development and protecting investors' rights are key factors that encourage and increase investment in China, he said.



The potential for development stems from the country's "political and economic stability" and its efforts to achieve high rates of both economic and social development, he added.

Adel emphasized the significance of China's economic prospects for the future of all economies that collaborate with it, particularly China's commitment to establishing new economic partnerships and opening new horizons for cooperation and investment with other countries.

China's commitment to win-win partnerships would benefit the global economy and contribute to increasing both Chinese and global economic growth rates, said the Egyptian economist. 
Tomislav Kovacevic, director of Croatia's Plitvice Lakes National Park, receives an interview with Xinhua in Croatia, Feb. 13, 2023.(Xinhua/Li Xuejun)

PLITVICE LAKES NATIONAL PARK, Croatia, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- "We warmly welcome our visitors from China and are looking forward to their return," Tomislav Kovacevic, director of Croatia's Plitvice Lakes National Park, told Xinhua in an interview on Monday.

Before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Croatia welcomed 300,000 and the park around 50,000 Chinese tourists per year. However, during the pandemic years the number of visitors to the park dropped to around 1,000 per annum. Most of them arrived from Europe.

In the pre-pandemic period, the total number of visitors to the park exceeded one million per year, making it the country's most popular tourist attraction, Kovacevic said.

The decision by China to reopen its borders and lift the restrictions on travel has opened up new vistas for Croatia and for all other tourism-oriented countries in the world, he said.

The Plitvice Lakes National Park has been very popular among Chinese tourists, whom the director described as "very disciplined and pleasant visitors."

The park had signed cooperation agreements with several Chinese provinces before the pandemic and "we hope that bilateral tourism cooperation will resume as the pandemic is coming to an end," Kovacevic said.

In 1979, the Plitvice Lakes National Park was inscribed on the World Heritage List of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), recognizing its series of picturesque waterfalls, lakes and caves. 
Relief aid from China is unloaded at Damascus international airport in Damascus, Syria, on Feb. 13, 2023. A second batch of relief aid from the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) arrived in Syria by plane on Monday to provide emergency supplies for people affected by the earthquakes in the country. (Photo by Ammar Safarjalani/Xinhua)

DAMASCUS, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- A second batch of relief aid from the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) arrived in Syria by plane on Monday to provide emergency supplies for people affected by the earthquakes in the country.

"The humanitarian aid includes winter clothes, equipment, medication, and other stuff the Syrians need," Chinese Ambassador to Syria Shi Hongwei told reporters at the Damascus international airport, adding more aid will be sent in the future.

The Chinese ambassador also called on the United States and the West to lift the sanctions imposed on Syria to facilitate the flow of relief aid to the quake-hit country.

"A major earthquake hit Syria and led to a major humanitarian catastrophe. We call on the international community, particularly the U.S. and the West, to lift unilateral sanctions imposed on Syria to facilitate humanitarian assistance to Syria," he said.

On Thursday, the RCSC sent the first batch of emergency medical supplies to Syria.

On Sunday, the Chinese community in Syria donated relief supplies to the Syrian people via the Syrian Arab Red Crescent.

The earthquakes that rocked Syria on Feb. 6 have so far killed about 5,300 people in the government and rebel-held areas, according to the latest figures released by the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The United Nations said on Friday that the earthquakes had displaced 5.3 million people in Syria. 

People transfer relief aid from China at Damascus international airport in Damascus, Syria, on Feb. 13, 2023. A second batch of relief aid from the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) arrived in Syria by plane on Monday to provide emergency supplies for people affected by the earthquakes in the country. (Photo by Ammar Safarjalani/Xinhua)

Relief aid from China is unloaded at Damascus international airport in Damascus, Syria, on Feb. 13, 2023. A second batch of relief aid from the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) arrived in Syria by plane on Monday to provide emergency supplies for people affected by the earthquakes in the country. (Photo by Ammar Safarjalani/Xinhua)

People transfer relief aid from China at Damascus international airport in Damascus, Syria, on Feb. 13, 2023. A second batch of relief aid from the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) arrived in Syria by plane on Monday to provide emergency supplies for people affected by the earthquakes in the country. (Photo by Ammar Safarjalani/Xinhua)
This aerial photo taken on Feb. 12, 2023 shows a scene after a massive earthquake strikes Antakya in Hatay Province, Turkiye. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)

In the wake of the massive quakes that struck Turkiye, the intensifying diplomacy between Turkiye and its previous foes, including Greece, Israel and Armenia, helps further ease their ties.

ANKARA, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from last week's powerful earthquakes in southern Turkiye rose to 35,418 on Tuesday, while intensifying diplomacy between Turkiye and its previous foes helps further ease their ties.

A total of 105,505 people were injured in the tremors, of whom 13,208 are still receiving treatment in hospitals, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at a press conference after a cabinet meeting.

In another speech made during the day, Erdogan said that the number of people rescued from the rubble was over 8,000.

The Turkish government has provided shelter for a total of 1.6 million earthquake victims, while Qatar has been sending 10,000 containers to Turkiye via ships, which will be turned into shelters.

A rescuer works outside a destroyed building in the quake-hit Elbistan district of Kahramanmaras, Turkiye, on Feb. 7, 2023. (Xinhua/Shadati)

Talking about foreign support and aid, Erdogan said teams from 84 countries participated in the quake rescue efforts in Turkiye.

At least 47,000 buildings were severely damaged in the quake-hit zone, the Turkish president said, pledging to start the construction of 30,000 new housing units in early March.

It is estimated that more than 2 million people evacuated from the quake zone, which is home to nearly 13 million people, he said.

Turkiye was hit by two massive earthquakes measuring 7.7- and 7.6-magnitude on Feb. 6, which affected a 500-km-wide region spanning 10 Turkish provinces.

Chinese and Turkish rescuers transfer an earthquake survivor rescued from the rubble in Antakya in the southern province of Hatay, Turkiye, on Feb. 12, 2023. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)

John Lee, chief executive of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), said on Tuesday that the HKSAR government will send about 30 million Hong Kong dollars (about 3.82 million U.S. dollars) worth of supplies to the quake-hit areas in Turkiye.

More than 100 tons of supplies donated by Hong Kong citizens were delivered to Turkiye on Monday evening, he said.

Several Chinese official and civilian teams have been taking part in the search and rescue efforts for nearly a week in Turkiye in the wake of the two massive earthquakes.

With foreign rescue teams flocking to the country to aid the rescue efforts and world leaders extending condolences to the Turkish victims, the earthquake diplomacy paved the way for pushing forward Turkiye's normalization processes with its foes.

Members of the China Search and Rescue Team carry out rescue operations among the earthquake debris in Antakya in the southern province of Hatay, Turkiye, on Feb. 11, 2023. (Xinhua/Shadati)

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias visited the Turkish quake-hit zones on Sunday, accompanied by his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu. Meanwhile, Erdogan had phone talks with Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

The two neighbors have been at odds over territorial claims in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean.

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen paid a visit to the Turkish capital Ankara to show solidarity with Turkiye on Monday, as the two sides continued the momentum of normalizing strained ties.

Israel sent a 450-member rescue team on the first day of Turkiye's devastating earthquakes last week, followed by the establishment of a field hospital in the quake-hit region, Cohen said.

Employees of the Hellenic Red Cross prepare to load up a truck with humanitarian aid in Athens, Greece, on Feb. 10, 2023. The Greek state and people have been mobilized to provide humanitarian aid to Turkiye and Syria which were hit by devastating earthquakes. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos)

Cavusoglu will hold a press conference with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan in the capital Ankara on Wednesday. The two top diplomats met on the sidelines of an international conference last year to discuss ways of ending their decades-old hostilities.

The relations between Turkiye and Armenia were severed in 1993 during the first war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh when Ankara closed the border with Armenia in support of Azerbaijan. The two neighbors have stepped up the normalization dialogue since last year. 
LUSAKA, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Zambian government on Monday refuted a Western media report that it does not support China's call for the World Bank and other multilateral lenders to join Zambia's debt restructuring process.

Zambian Minister of Finance and National Planning Situmbeko Musokotwane said that contrary to the Financial Times report, which was based on a recent interview with him, the southern African nation is "in no position to reject any proposals between China and the World Bank."

"The headline did not accurately reflect the minister's comments or Zambia's position," he said in a statement, while expressing satisfaction that the Financial Times has corrected its misrepresentation in an updated version of the story.

Zambia's focus was on achieving debt relief as soon as possible, he said, adding that delays in debt talks were affecting ordinary Zambians and their livelihoods.

Calling the interactions with creditors positive and constructive, he said the government was hopeful of the good progress made so far in debt discussions.

Also on Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said, "China attaches high importance to Zambia's debt issue. We have played a constructive role in handling Zambia's debt under the G20 Common Framework and facilitated the success of three meetings of the Creditor Committee for Zambia."

"As to the specific issues regarding debt treatment, the parties concerned are having friendly consultation in accordance with relevant principles," he told reporters. 
SEOUL, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Export by South Korean small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) rose 1.7 percent in 2022 due to strong demand for auto parts and semiconductor equipment, government data showed Tuesday.

Outbound shipment by the SMEs totaled 117.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2022 compared to 115.5 billion dollars in the previous year, according to the Ministry of SMEs and Startups.

The ministry said the export topped 110 billion dollars for the second consecutive year despite the adverse external conditions such as the global economic slowdown, higher raw materials prices and the supply chain disruptions.

Auto parts export by the SMEs expanded 6.9 percent to 4.4 billion dollars last year, and shipment for semiconductor manufacturing equipment advanced 6.2 percent to 3.9 billion dollars.

Automotive export jumped 18.3 percent to 3.1 billion dollars thanks to strong demand from Russia for secondhand vehicles.

Shipment for plastic goods and cosmetics, the first and second-largest export items of the SMEs, shrank 4.9 percent and 7.6 percent each amid the global economic slump.

The number of South Korean exporting SMEs added to 92,578 in 2022 from 92,114 in the prior year.

The number of SMEs with annual exports of over 100 million dollars soared by 12.3 percent from 57 in 2021 to 64 in 2022. 
This photo taken on Feb. 14, 2023 shows the site of an operation against the hideout of Islamic State (IS) militants in Kabul, Afghanistan. Afghan forces raided a hideout of the IS in Police District 8 of Afghanistan capital Kabul, killing several insurgents, chief spokesman of the Taliban-run caretaker administration Zabihullah Mujahid said Tuesday. (Photo by Popal/Xinhua)

KABUL, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Afghan forces raided a hideout of the IS in Police District 8 of Afghanistan capital Kabul, killing several insurgents, chief spokesman of the Taliban-run caretaker administration Zabihullah Mujahid said Tuesday.

"The security forces attacked an important hideout of the IS in Kartai Naw locality of Police District 8 on Monday evening, killing several insurgents," Mujahid said in his twitter account.

Since the operation site is at a residential area, the operation was carried out slowly and carefully to protect the locals, the chief spokesman said.

A number of foreign nationals were among the IS militants but didn't identify their nationalities, Mujahid said, adding that the militants had been involved in recent terrorists attacks in Kabul.

Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran has also confirmed the operation, saying the crackdown on the hideout of IS militants in Police District 8 of Kabul was still going on. 

This photo taken on Feb. 14, 2023 shows the site of an operation against the hideout of Islamic State (IS) militants in Kabul, Afghanistan. Afghan forces raided a hideout of the IS in Police District 8 of Afghanistan capital Kabul, killing several insurgents, chief spokesman of the Taliban-run caretaker administration Zabihullah Mujahid said Tuesday. (Photo by Popal/Xinhua)
BISHKEK, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Kyrgyzstan flew another 80 rescuers to Turkiye to aid earthquake victims, the Kyrgyz Ministry of Emergency Situations reported on Monday.

Humanitarian aid comprised of 78 yurts was on the same flight to Gaziantep with three doctors and workers who will install the yurts, the ministry added.

"Rescuers, doctors and humanitarian aid are being sent to the earthquake's epicenter - the city of Kahramanmaras. The third rescue team will depart to the affected country on an additional plane in the coming days," the ministry said.

On Feb. 7, Kyrgyzstan sent 67 rescuers and two dog handlers to Turkiye. 
COLOMBO, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka will ban several plastic products from June, a spokesman said here on Tuesday.

Cabinet spokesman Bandura Gunawardena told a press conference that proposed by the minister of environment, the production, importation, selling and use of single-use plastic straws, drink stirrers, plates, cups (excluding yoghurt cups), knives, spoons (including yoghurt spoons), forks, plastic flower garlands, and string hopper trays will not be allowed in Sri Lanka from June.

He said banning these items was recommended by a panel of experts appointed in August 2021, in order to study the effects of plastic waste on the environment and wildlife.

Sri Lanka banned non-biodegradable plastic bags in 2017.

Gunawardena said there have been reports of elephant and deer deaths due to the injection of plastic waste. 
ISLAMABAD, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Four terrorists were killed in a terror attack on security forces in North Waziristan district of Pakistan's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of police said on Tuesday.

According to the CTD statement, the terrorists attacked late Monday night a security forces vehicle, which was transporting accused terrorists at Mir Ali bypass area of the district.

During an exchange of fire, four attackers were killed by the security forces while three other accused terrorists in the vehicle were killed by the terrorists' firing, the statement said.

Around five to six attackers managed to flee the site by taking advantage of the darkness, it added.

The killed attackers were identified as terrorists associated with the banned outfit Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the CTD said, adding that three of them were wanted by the CTD in allegedly several terrorist activities.

A heavy contingent of security forces reached the site and carried out a search and clearance operation in the area, according to the statement. 
STOCKHOLM, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- The truth that the U.S. Navy was involved in the Nord Stream pipelines explosions last year, as discovered by American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, was an "economic war" against its submissive allies in Europe, a Swedish expert has said.

"Nord Stream (was) of course blown up by the U.S. and NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) allies," said Jan Oberg, director of the Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research, in a recent interview with Xinhua.

Hersh, a Pulitzer Prize winner, said the U.S. Navy divers, operating under the cover of a widely publicized mid-summer NATO exercise known as BALTOPS 22, planted the remotely triggered explosives last June in cooperation with Norway, which destroyed three of the four Nord Stream pipelines three months later.

"Seymour Hersh's fine analysis tells how the destruction was planned and done, but the conclusion is unsurprising: the U.S., with very important Norwegian assistance, committed the crime against a friendly, allied country, Germany, and other European countries," he said.

"Together with ill-considered, never-ending economic sanctions against Russia, the blowing-up of Nord Stream by the U.S. has already caused enormous, accumulating harm to European citizens' economy," he added.

"The present situation is extremely dangerous: We live in times fundamentally characterized by intellectual and ethical disarmament coupled with immense military armament, with militarism as the only one answer to the problems," Oberg said.

"The West chooses to use weapons, threats, secret operations and media manipulation instead of using talks, mediating, engaging the UN or OSCE (the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe), and it abandons diplomacy and plays tough on others," he said.

"Militarism has become the religion that keeps the declining West together, with NATO (as) its church. That's why also the Western mainstream media won't give Hersh's sensational analysis the attention it deserves," said Oberg.

"One must wonder when the Europeans will wake up and finally understand that they no longer share interests with the U.S.," he said.

"On the bottom of the sea outside Bornholm, the U.S. has now destroyed and buried yet another bit of its decency and global leadership," Oberg said. 
HAVANA, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- One person was injured in an explosion Monday at a hotel in Havana, local media reported.

The Caribbean Hotel, located in historic Old Havana, was evacuated after the explosion caused by a gas leak, though there was no structural damage to the property or surrounding buildings, said the reports.

The blast occurred in a fifth-floor room that was being remodeled. There were no guests at the time, said Carlos Manuel Cabanes, director of the state-run hotel operator Islazul, which manages the Caribbean.

Firefighters, health personnel and police rushed to the scene and closed surrounding streets to traffic while authorities investigated the incident.

In May 2022, an explosion caused by a gas leak claimed 46 lives at the landmark Hotel Saratoga in Old Havana. 
Lisbon: More than 4,800 people may have been victims of child sex abuse in the Portuguese Catholic Church and 512 alleged victims have already come forward with their stories, an expert panel probing historical abuse in the church said Monday.

Senior church officials in Portugal had earlier said that only a small number of cases had been reported. In the auditorium, the senior clergy sat in the front row as panel members read some of the horrific allegations of abuse that were included in their final reports. The details were shocking and vivid.

Just a year earlier, Portuguese bishops established the Independent Committee for the Study of Child Abuse in the Catholic Church, which investigated alleged cases from the 1950s. The Portuguese bishops will discuss the report in an emergency meeting on 3 March.

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For most of the alleged cases, the statute of limitations has passed. According to the panel, only 25 charges were sent to prosecutors.

The report, which some have criticized as being long overdue, was released four years after Pope Francis convened world church leaders at the Vatican to discuss the sexual abuse crisis in the church.

The meeting was held more than 30 years after the scandal first came to light in Ireland and Australia, as well as 20 years after it first came to light in the United States.

Bishops and other Catholic leaders in many areas of Europe at the time insisted on either denying or downplaying the issue of sexual abuse by clergy.

Bishop Jose Ornelas, president of the Portuguese bishops' conference, begged for forgiveness from the victims and expressed regret at the church's failure to recognize the seriousness of the issue.

In a statement he read later Monday, Ornelas called child sex abuse a "heinous crime" and said, "It is an open wound that brings us pain and shame."

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The panel bemoaned the length of time it took for the Vatican to allow access to church records. The panel was given only three months to review the written abuse evidence as permission did not come until October.

The panel's leader in Portugal, Pedro Stretch, a psychiatrist, said the group believed there were at least 4,815 victims in total during the time period under investigation. The extrapolation was based on possible additional victims that the victims mentioned coming forward.

The panel is not disclosing the names of the victims, the names of the alleged abusers or the locations where the alleged abuse took place. But by the end of the month, he must send a list of alleged abusers who are still in the church.

A separate, confidential annexure containing the names of all church members reported to the committee is included in the final report and is also sent to the police and the Portuguese Episcopal Conference.

It has not been made clear whether the Portuguese church plans to compensate any of the victims. The six members of the committee included a psychiatrist, a former Supreme Court judge and a social worker.

According to the report, 77 percent of the abusers were priests and other perpetrators were affiliated with church organizations. It was also noted that only 4% of victims went to the police, and 77% of victims did not report the abuse to church officials. Early adolescence was when victims experienced most of the abuse.

According to the report, 48 percent of those who came forward discussed the abuse for the first time. 47 percent of the alleged victims were women, but men made up the majority, according to the report.

It claimed that there were "real blackspots" for abuse in Portugal, including some madrassas and religious organizations. The report states that information about child sexual abuse found in ecclesiastical records should be considered "the tip of the iceberg".

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Even when discussing abuse, these records often fail to specifically mention it, and many incidents are handled informally, according to the panel. The panel recommended increasing the current 23-year limits for such offenses to at least 30 years.
Burma: According to reports from the military and the media, Myanmar's military government intends to permit devoted civilians, such as government employees and retired military personnel, to possess firearms with a license. However, they must abide by local authorities' instructions to take part in security and law enforcement operations.

The news stoked concerns about increased violence in a nation where some UN experts have described a civil war as being raging.

On pro-military Facebook pages and Telegram channels, a 15-page policy document attributed to the Ministry of Home Affairs was first shared. Additionally, pro-military and independent news sources released it, reporting that it had been approved at a December Cabinet meeting and issued on January 31.

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According to the document, applicants for gun permits must be patriotic, morally upright, and refrain from interfering with national security. Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, a military spokesman, confirmed the policy to the BBC's Burmese-language service on Sunday and explained that it was necessary to issue it because some people were requesting to carry weapons to defend themselves from attacks by anti-military groups.

Police Brig.-Gen Kyaw Lin, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Home Affairs, was quoted by two pro-military online news outlets as saying that the policy revives and modifies one that was implemented in 1977 by the regime of the late dictator Gen. Ne Win. After a massive, ultimately unsuccessful pro-democracy uprising in 1988, the military took away civilians' access to firearms and ordered them to surrender all of their weapons.

Two years ago, the military overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government. This led to widespread, nonviolent protests, which later turned violent as security forces used lethal force to repress any remaining opposition.

It is widely believed that the military government made the decision to license firearms as a means of arming its supporters to help state security forces fight pro-democracy opponents.

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According to reports, crime has increased as a result of the fighting's chaos and the government's emphasis on fighting its political rivals. The People's Defense Force, the loosely organized armed wing of the main opposition party, the National Unity Government, and their allies in ethnic minority militias, engage in combat with the army the majority of the time.

As a covert parallel national government, the NUG was founded by elected lawmakers who were prevented from taking office when the army seized control.

A co-founder of the non-violent pro-democracy University Students' Union Alumni Force, Nan Lin, claimed that the military is acting because of intense political and military pressure.

"The military is still unable to accurately assess the situation. Nan Lin stated on Monday, "I believe they are attempting to further divide society and increase conflict.

People are now able to apply for licenses for five different kinds of firearms.

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Pistols, some kinds of shotguns, and air guns in calibers of 38 and 9 mm. Larger weapons require special permits. The term of a license is one year.
CHICAGO: Several candidates for mayor of Chicago have vowed to restore the role and participation of the Arab American community in city affairs and to restart Arab cultural programs and organizations that had to be shut down under previous mayors. But this was not done. Current mayor, Lori Lightfoot.

Several of the candidates running for election on February 28 spoke to an audience of more than 450 people at a candidates' forum and brunch at Bridgeview on Sunday, hosted by the Arab American Democratic Club, the largest Arab American political organization in the Midwest Was.

He pledged to end Lightfoot's "discriminatory practices" and said that restoring the role of Arab Americans was a requirement of good governance.

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Willie Wilson, an African American, said that "no one should be discriminated against on the basis of their race or their religion."

If I am elected mayor of Chicago, we will not close any business, including Arab businesses. We support diversity. In our opinion, every resident of the City of Chicago should be represented there. Every organization, in our opinion , should represent the people of Chicago. In order to make this city better, we need to include everyone.

One of Lightfoot's campaign promises when she was elected in 2019 was to protect Arab rights that Rahm Emanuel had undermined. His father belonged to the Israeli paramilitary Irgun group, which was designated as a terrorist organization by the British Mandate government in 1947.

Emanuel's actions played a part in the cancellation of the annual Arabesque Festival after he was elected mayor of Chicago. His administration withdrew the city's support for the event after Jewish activists complained that the Palestinian flag was displayed alongside other flags of the Arab world.

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He also discouraged Arab participation in city commissions and events, and disbanded the Arab Advisory Council, which addressed claims of anti-Arab bias.

When Emanuel, who is currently the US ambassador to Japan, stepped down as mayor in 2019, Lightfoot, a former prosecutor who highlighted his minority status as an African American and a lesbian, was elected to replace him. Selected for Lightfoot also pledged to support Arab Americans. But after taking office, she came under fire for allegedly focusing heavily on Arab-owned small businesses in an effort to rein in the city's rising gun violence. Businesses owned by more than 100 billion were closed.

Wilson, a successful Chicago businessman, promised to "include Arab Americans" in his government. It doesn't matter what color you are, we will still support you, he said. This problem affects people of all races, including blacks, browns, whites, Arab Americans, Latinos, and others.

"This is our city, and we must all accept it together ... Without a doubt, I am one of you." Paul Vallas, formerly CEO of the Chicago public school system and director of Chicago's budget, He was one of the candidates to echo this call for Arab activism in Chicago.

When I am elected mayor, I will restore the Arab Advisory Council, Vallas said. "Why discuss it? It will be fixed. The Advisory Council will have the authority to make suggestions. We will provide resources to the Arab Advisory Council so that they can evaluate and suggest programs.

We will collaborate with the neighborhood to identify candidates for leadership roles. I would ask who should be on the advisory council, what kind of resources the advisory council would need, and what role the advisory council would play in making that happen. You would have a strong council.

Vallas emphasized his extensive experience working with the Arab community in Chicago, including his contribution to the creation of a cultural and linguistic curriculum guide for the city's more than 500,000 Arab American students.

In addition, Vallas noted that his father-in-law, Dean Koldenhoven, fought for Muslim rights while serving as mayor of the Chicago suburb of Palos Heights in the summer of 2000, when locals protested the construction of a mosque there. Was. Vallas claimed to have "helped place Arab Americans in leadership positions on the Chicago school board."

After endorsing the mosque, Koldenhoven lost his bid for re-election; However, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library recognized her for her courage in May 2002 by giving her the "Profiles in Courage Award".

Another candidate for mayor, Congressman Jesus Garcia, noted how the Arab American community had collaborated with former mayor Harold Washington to form the Arab Advisory Council in 1983 and described himself as a longtime supporter of Muslim and Arab American rights. was established as

In metro Chicago and across the country, he said, "My commitment to the inclusion, the advancement, and the well-being of the Arab American community remains steadfast.

It is crucial that we keep working to expose, oppose, and speak out against any traces or manifestations of Islamophobia in the US Congress. Because I am aware of what Muslims are, that is where I stand. They are my closest friends and I know who they are.

According to Garcia, several Arab and Muslim Americans work for him. He praised the election of Abdelnasser Rashid and Nabeela Syed to the Illinois state legislature in January and claimed to have stood up for Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who Republicans kicked out of the House Foreign Relations Committee this month over her support for Palestinian rights.

According to Garcia, he is also working to have Arab American business owners recognized as Minority Owned Enterprises on a federal level, in line with legislation that State Representative Cyril Nichols of Illinois introduced late last year in the Illinois Legislature.

According to AADC representatives, Lightfoot turned down a request to speak at the event on Sunday. As an alternative, she dispatched a non-Arab emissary who briefly stated that Lightfoot respects the rights of the Arab community. Regarding the closure of stores owned by Arabs in 2021 and 2022, he chose not to comment.

"She (Lightfoot) has not shown any sign of being responsive to our community. Samir Khalil, president of the American Arab Chamber of Commerce, who collaborated with the AADC on efforts to persuade Lightfoot to permit the closed businesses to reopen, said, "She wouldn't meet with us.

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She can't pretend that it didn't happen, according to store owner Saad Malley, who also worked with the closed Arab businesses to help them reopen. Because they were Arab Americans, many Arab business owners had their establishments shut down.

Among the eight candidates running to unseat Lightfoot in the election on February 23 are Wilson, Vallas, and Garcia. The two front-runners will compete in an election on April 4 if neither of them wins more than 50% of the total votes cast.
Wellington: The North Island of New Zealand, which has been severely damaged by Cyclone Gabrielle, was placed under a state of emergency on Tuesday.

According to Emergency Management Minister Kieran McAnulty, the declaration enables the government to support six regions where local emergencies have already been declared and provide additional resources.

Overnight, heavy rains pounded the nation, forcing evacuations and causing widespread flooding, power outages, and road closures.

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The lives of New Zealanders are in actual danger as a result of this disaster, McAnulty told reporters in Wellington, the country's capital. The largest city in the nation, Auckland, as well as the areas of Northland, Tairawhiti, Bay of Plenty, Waikato, and Hawke's Bay are all included in the state of emergency.

According to MetService meteorologist Lewis Ferris, a weather station in the Hawke's Bay and Napier area had recorded three times as much rain overnight as usual for the entire month of February. Ferris told Australian Broadcasting Corporation that the area would be devastated and drenched in water.

Ferris continued, "We've seen the worst of the storm now. We simply need to get through today.

The emergency response in Auckland, the city that was engulfed by a record-breaking storm that killed four people two weeks ago, provided information to New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins.

According to Hipkins, the military is already present in the most severely affected northern regions of the North Island, assisting with evacuations and maintaining the flow of vital supplies.

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Hipkins told reporters, "I want to acknowledge the situation New Zealanders have been waking up to this morning. "A lot of displaced families. many houses without electricity. extensive harm caused all over the nation.

Hipkins continued, "It's going to take us a little while to figure out exactly what's happened and, in due course, helping with the clean-up when we get to that point.

Many parts of Auckland came to a stop Libraries and the majority of schools were closed on Monday as train service was suspended, and officials urged citizens to make only necessary trips.

All domestic flights into and out of Auckland as well as a large number of international flights were canceled by Air New Zealand through Tuesday morning. Although they might need to divert from Auckland, airline officials said that some international routes would continue to run. Additionally, the airline canceled domestic flights to and from Hamilton, Tauranga, and Taupo.

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More than 500 flights were cancelled overall by Air New Zealand. The airline reported that more than 10,000 international passengers had been impacted, and thousands more needed to be rebooked.
Eight countries to transfer Leopard tanks to Ukraine, says Pentagon chief 14 February, 02:35 PM Austin opened the ninth Ramstein, where aid to Ukraine will be discussed (Photo:Johanna Geron/Reuters)

Eight countries will transfer Leopard battle tanks to Ukraine, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said during the opening of theninth meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group on Feb. 14.

A consortium of countries  including Germany, Poland, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands  are working together to provide Leopard battle tanks to Ukraine, he said.

Read also: Zelenskyy warns Abrams tanks may arrive too late

For more armored power, the United States, the Czech Republic, and the Netherlands are jointly providing more than 90 T-72 tanks, the Pentagon chief added.

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Read also: Austria refuses to train Ukrainian soldiers on Leopard 2 tanks

In addition, according to Austin, the United Kingdom has provided a company of Challenger main battle tanks and has worked with several countries to source more ammunition for Ukraines defenders.

Germany, after much hesitation, approved the transfer of 14 Leopard-2 tanks to Ukraine and their re-export from partner countries on Jan. 25. The same day, the United States announced that it would send 31 Abrams tanks to Ukraine.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that the first tanks could be sent to Ukraine by the end of March.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Jan. 31 that Ukraine would receive 120-140 modern Western tanks in the first wave of deliveries.

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian defenders needed 300-500 tanks to launch an offensive.

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Russia added to EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes 14 February, 04:38 PM Dialogue with Russia on issues of tax legislation "reached a dead end" against the background of military actions in Ukraine (Photo:REUTERS/Yves Herman)

The European Council has decided to add the British Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, the Marshall Islands, and Russia to the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes, the agency said in a press release on Feb. 14.

The Council regrets that these jurisdictions are non-cooperative on tax matters and invites them to improve their legal framework in order to resolve the identified issues, the report says.

According to the EU Council, Russia was added to the list after the code of conduct group screened Russias new legislation adopted in 2022 against the good tax governance criteria of the code and found that Russia had not fulfilled its commitment to address the harmful aspects of a special regime for international holding companies.

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In addition, dialogue with Russia on matters related to taxation came to a standstill following the Russian aggression against Ukraine.

The EU list now consists of 16 jurisdictions, including American Samoa, Anguilla, the Bahamas, the British Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, Fiji, Guam, Marshall Islands, Palau, Panama, Russia, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Vanuatu.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong and Malaysia were granted an extension of the deadline to complete the reform of their foreign source income exemption regimes.

Qatar was also granted an extension because it faced constitutional reform constraints to complete its reform on time.

At the same time, Barbados, Jamaica, North Macedonia, and Uruguay fulfilled their commitments and could therefore be removed from the document, the EU Council said.

The next revision of the list is scheduled for October 2023.

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Russian army being ordered to advance in most sectors, but it lacks combat power, says UK intelligence 14 February, 01:25 PM The occupiers did not gather enough forces for an operational breakthrough (Photo:REUTERS/Vladyslav Musiienko)

The current operational picture suggests that Russian forces are being given orders to advance in most sectors, but they have not massed sufficient offensive combat power on any one axis to achieve a decisive effect, the UKs Ministry of Defense wrote on Twitter on Feb. 14.

According to UK intelligence, in the last three days, Wagner Group mercenaries have almost certainly made further small gains around the northern outskirts of the contested Donbas town of Bakhmut, including into the village of Chervona Hora.

However, according to the MoD, an organized Ukrainian defense continues in the area. The tactical Russian advance to the south of the town has likely made little progress.

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In addition, in the north, in the Kreminna-Svatove sector of Luhansk Oblast, Russian forces are making continuous offensive efforts, though each local attack remains on too small a scale to achieve a significant breakthrough.

Russia likely aims to reverse some of the gains Ukrainian forces made over September-November 2022: there is a realistic possibility that their immediate goal is to advance west to the Zherebets River, the ministry said in its daily summary.

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Prevalence of SDOH Collection

Nearly eight in 10 survey respondents indicated that their organization was collecting SDOH data.

CHICAGO, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- An American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) survey of health information (HI) professionals found that nearly eight in 10 healthcare organizations currently collect social determinants of health (SDOH) data but still face challenges related to the collection, coding, and use of this clinically relevant data.

AHIMA commissioned the study, conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago, to better understand the operational realities of how SDOH data is collected, coded, and used in real-world healthcare scenarios. NORC surveyed 2,600 AHIMA members and nonmembers from a pool of 41,000 potential respondents in the early fall of 2022.

The Biden-Harris Administration and Congress remain focused on addressing health equity and improving the collection, use, and sharing of SDOH data, bringing increased relevance to the findings in this white paper.

The effective collection, coding, and use of SDOH data are vital to improving health and healthcare outcomes, said Wylecia Wiggs Harris, PhD, CAE, AHIMA chief executive officer. Health information professionals play a pivotal role in how SDOH data is collected, shared, and ultimately used to improve health and healthcare outcomes. We look forward to collaborating with policymakers, providers, and key stakeholders to advance comprehensive solutions to address the challenges illuminated by this survey.

Additional key findings from the survey and white paper include:

Lack of standardization and integration of the data into an individuals medical record, even when the data is collected within the organization

Insufficient training and education on how to capture, collect, code, and use SDOH data

Limited use of SDOH data to communicate between healthcare providers and community-based referral organizations

Social determinants of health are conditions in the environment in which people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks.

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According to research by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, social and economic factors determine 40 percent of health outcomes and quality of life and are twice as influential as factors related to clinical care.

Findings from the survey are summarized in the companion white paper that is available for public download and analysis.

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About AHIMA

AHIMA is a global nonprofit association of health information (HI) professionals with more than 71,000 members and more than 100,000 credentials in the field. The AHIMA mission of empowering people to impact health drives our members and credentialed HI professionals to ensure that health information is accurate, complete, and available to patients and providers. Our leaders work at the intersection of healthcare, technology, and business and are found in data integrity and information privacy job functions worldwide.

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CONTACT: Erin Wendel-Ritter American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) (312) 233-1091 erin.wendel-ritter@ahima.org




Offering a fundamentally different approach to cloud that integrates core and distributed computing sites with a massively scaled edge network

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM), the cloud company that powers and protects life online, today launched Akamai Connected Cloud, a massively distributed edge and cloud platform for cloud computing, security, and content delivery that keeps applications and experiences closer and threats farther away.

Akamai Technologies, Inc. logo (PRNewsfoto/Akamai Technologies, Inc.)

Akamai also announced new strategic cloud computing services for developers to build, run, and secure highly performant workloads closer to wherever businesses and users connect online:

Three new enterprise-scale core cloud computing sites across the U.S. and Europe. Like Akamai's existing 11 cloud computing sites, the new sites will plug into the Akamai backbone  connecting them to the most distributed edge network on the planet. The new sites, which are expected to be live by the end of Q2 2023, will contain all of the cloud computing services acquired from Linode, the developer-friendly cloud infrastructure provider Akamai acquired in 2022. These also become the template for 10 additional core sites that Akamai plans to roll out across the globe throughout the year.

More distributed sites. In addition to launching the new core sites, Akamai has identified more than 50 cities in which it plans to begin rolling out distributed sites this year, to bring basic cloud computing capabilities into difficult-to-reach locations currently underserved by traditional cloud providers.

Aggressive new cloud egress pricing. The new pricing structure is able to use the power of Akamai's network to drive down the cost of cloud egress by bringing CDN-like economics to cloud data transfer. The new egress pricing model is designed to result in significantly discounted egress rates relative to the hyperscalers and alternative cloud providers.

New ISO, SOC 2, and HIPAA standards compliance, available immediately. The new standards compliance reflects Akamai's focus on the security of its cloud computing services and customer data within, and allows customers to move workloads among Akamai and other public clouds.

Akamai Qualified Computing Partner Program. This new technology partner program is designed to provide Akamai customers with solution-based services that are interoperable with Akamai Connected Cloud. The services will be provided by Akamai technology partners that complete a thorough qualification process, ensuring they are readily available to deploy and scale across the globally distributed platform.

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"The cloud's next phase requires a shift in how developers and enterprises think about getting applications and data closer to their customers. It redefines how the industry looks at things like performance, scale, cost, and security, as workloads are no longer built for one place but are delivered across a wide spectrum of compute and geography," said Dave McCarthy, Research VP, IDC. "Akamai's innovative rethinking of how this gets done  and how it is architecting Akamai Connected Cloud  puts it in a unique position to usher in an exciting new era for technology and to help enterprises build, deploy, and secure distributed applications."

"We're taking a fundamentally different approach to cloud computing  building on 25 years of experience scaling and securing the internet for the biggest companies in the world," said Tom Leighton, Akamai's Co-Founder and CEO. "Akamai is building the cloud the next decade needs."

In building out Akamai Connected Cloud, Akamai is adding core and distributed sites on top of the same underlying backbone that powers its edge network today  spanning more than 4,100 locations across 134 countries. More specifically, Akamai is placing compute, storage, database, and other services closer to large population, industry, and IT centers. The result is designed to be a continuum of compute, from core to edge, enabling companies to more efficiently build, deploy, and secure performant workloads that require single-digit millisecond latency and global reach. Industries such as media, gaming, SaaS, retail, and government are examples where these requirements are in high demand today.

"Akamai's leadership position at the edge enables us to scale everything we touch: We scale content, putting digital experiences closer to users than anyone. We scale cybersecurity, keeping threats farther away from business and people. Our customers know us and trust us for this scale. Now we plan to scale cloud computing, to provide customers with better performance at a lower cost," said Leighton.

"Akamai Connected Cloud and the new distributed locations to be launched globally align perfectly with what we love most about Akamai: providing the ultimate distributed edge and cloud platform," said Alexander Leschinsky, CEO of G&L, a German systems integrator working with the country's leading broadcasters and streaming services. "G&L is using Akamai to extend our custom multicloud media stack with ease, reliability, and cost efficiency, helping us to provide unbeatable value to our clients."

Akamai Connected Cloud is under the leadership of Adam Karon, Chief Operating Officer and General Manager of Akamai's Cloud Technology Group. In this role, he has led teams focused on enabling today's leading media, gaming, and software companies to deliver the best possible experiences  at scale  to their customers on any device, anywhere, and helping carriers operate high-performing and cost-efficient networks.

"Cloud is a stepping stone to solving larger business challenges," said Karon. "Business leaders are looking to continue the momentum of digital transformation and stretch the boundaries of what's possible for their organizations in an increasingly digital world. Our distributed scale is designed to deliver highly performant cloud computing everywhere our customers' business connects online, empowering them with the speed, flexibility, performance, and connectivity they need to grow without compromise, innovate without friction, and delight customers without fail."

For more information, visit the Akamai cloud computing solutions page.

About Akamai Technologies

Akamai powers and protects life online. Leading companies worldwide choose Akamai to build, deliver, and secure their digital experiences  helping billions of people live, work, and play every day. Akamai Connected Cloud, a massively distributed edge and cloud platform, puts apps and experiences closer to users and keeps threats farther away. Learn more about Akamai's cloud computing, security, and content delivery solutions at akamai.com and akamai.com/blog , or follow Akamai Technologies on Twitter and LinkedIn .

Akamai Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act

This release contains statements that are not statements of historical fact and constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, statements about expectations, plans and prospects of Akamai. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors including, but not limited to, the failure of our investments in innovation to generate solutions that are accepted in the market; effects of competition, including pricing pressure and changing business models; impact of macroeconomic trends, including economic uncertainty; conditions and uncertainties in the geopolitical environment; continuing supply chain and logistics costs, constraints, changes or disruptions; defects or disruptions in our products or IT systems, including cyberattacks, data breaches or malware; failure to realize the expected benefits of any of our acquisitions or reorganizations; changes to economic, political and regulatory conditions in the United States and internationally; delay in developing or failure to develop new service offerings or functionalities, and if developed, lack of market acceptance of such service offerings and functionalities or failure of such solutions to operate as expected, and other factors that are discussed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and other documents periodically filed with the SEC. In addition, the statements in this press release and on our quarterly earnings conference call represent Akamai's expectations and beliefs as of the date of this press release. Akamai anticipates that subsequent events and developments may cause these expectations and beliefs to change. However, while Akamai may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, it specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing Akamai's expectations or beliefs as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.

Contacts:

Chris Nicholson

Akamai Media Relations

+1.508.517.3703

cnichols@akamai.com

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Akamai Investor Relations

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SOURCE Akamai Technologies, Inc.
Analysis-Gazprom's export revenue may fall by 50% in 2023 FILE PHOTO: A view shows Gazprom's gas processing facility at Bovanenkovo gas field

By Oksana Kobzeva

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Lost European sales could halve the export revenues of Russia's Gazprom this year, meaning a steep reduction in tax income for the state, according to analysts, export data and Reuters calculations.

Exports made by Gazprom, one of the country's largest taxpayers, shrank after President Vladimir Putin's "special military operation" in Ukraine triggered Western sanctions and as some supplies of gas to Europe from Russia declined.

According to Reuters calculations, based on export duties and volumes, Gazprom's revenues from overseas sales may have declined in January to $3.4 billion from $6.3 billion in the year-earlier period following a fall in gas supplies to Europe.

If the trend continues, Gazprom's export revenues for the whole year could be halved compared to 2022 when its export volumes also declined by nearly half.

The world's largest producer of natural gas, which no longer publishes its earnings, did not respond to a request for comment. Neither did Russia's finance ministry.

Gazprom is one of Russia's largest contributors to the budget, which saw a deficit of 1.76 trillion roubles ($24 billion) in January, prompted by a slump in energy revenues and soaring expenditure.

Moscow relies on income from oil and gas - last year around 11.6 trillion roubles - and has been forced to start selling international FX reserves to cover a budget deficit increased by the cost of the conflict in Ukraine.

LOWER REVENUES

In 2022, Gazprom's export volumes fell by 46%, according to the company. Reuters calculations found it still could have earned record revenue of $80 billion due to higher prices, helping to bolster tax revenues to the state, which also benefited from gas tax hikes and Gazprom's generous dividends.

Gazprom earned a record-high 2.5 trillion roubles ($34 billion) in net profit in the first half of 2022, boosted by gas prices, which surged on international markets because of concerns of supply disruption. After that the company, in common with many Russian firms, stopped disclosing its financial results.

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Gazprom's Chief Executive Officer Alexei Miller, an ally of Putin, has said the company paid 5 trillion roubles in taxes to federal and regional budgets last year, accounting for almost a fifth of federal budget's proceedings.

But 2023 may be tougher as international gas prices have fallen and the amount of gas supplied to Europe is far below that for the first few months of last year.

Gazprom has not provided forecasts for gas exports for this year. According to projections by some analysts, exports outside ex-Soviet Union may reach some 50-65 billion cubic metres (bcm), excluding supplies to China.

"Supplies to Turkey (some 30-32 bcm), China (15.5 bcm with an increase to 25-30 bcm in 2023) and CIS (ex-Soviet Union) of some 25 bcm will not be able to replace the EU market," Moscow-based Loko-Invest said in a review.

Gazprom's exports outside ex-Soviet Union fell by more than 45% to 100.9 bcm in 2022 from 185.1 bcm in 2021.

The Economy Ministry forecasts Gazprom's export price for 2023 at $700 per 1,000 cubic metres. If the calculations are right, Gazprom's exporting revenues could reach between $35 billion and $46 billion this year.

BCS brokerage analyst Ronald Smith said if the average price is closer to $615, "then European revenues would drop to only $40 billion."

Russia has turned away from the West and will develop new markets for its oil and gas, Putin says. But that will take time.

He mooted the idea of gas hub in Turkey last October, to redirect gas from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea region.

"To realise full potential of the concept, Russia will have to do a lot of work with partners in the region, which is still possible, but requires time," said Sergei Kapitonov from Skoltech Project centre for energy transition and ESG.

($1 = 73.7000 roubles)

(Reporting by Oksana Kobzeva, additional reporting by Darya Korsunskaya; writing by Vladimir Soldatkin; editing by Barbara Lewis)
TipRanks

There are conflicting signals coming from the markets lately. We all know the accumulated headwinds; rising interest rates, the banking failures, and the Fed, in the minutes from its last FOMC meeting, indicated that a mild recession is highly likely in the second half of this year. Yet, the markets have seen sound gains year-to-date, with the S&P 500 up 7.5% and the NASDAQ an even better 15%. Looking at the current market conditions, Jeremy Siegel, a Wharton economic professor and a long-time
Founders' grandson takes helm as prominent firm nears centennial

NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Bendheim, one of the country's foremost architectural glass companies, has named Donald Jayson as its new President.

Bendheim

A co-owner of the firm, Jayson most recently served as Senior Vice President at Bendheim, with responsibility for overseeing the company's production and handling major projects. Jayson's expertise includes a deep knowledge of the domestic and international glass industries, specialty glass manufacturing, and architectural glass applications. Over his tenure at Bendheim, he has succeeded in building strategic industry relationships while establishing technologically and environmentally advanced manufacturing practices. Jayson has presented on architectural glass technology at accredited educational conferences, and has contributed professional articles to Architectural Products, Glass Magazine, US Glass, and other publications.

A graduate of The Johns Hopkins University, Jayson represents the third generation of family leadership for Bendheim. Nearing its centennial mark, the firm was founded in 1927 by Jayson's maternal grandparents, Sem and Margaret Bendheim. From its origins as an importer of specialty and art glass based in New York's Greenwich Village, Bendheim has become a leading architectural supplier and design partner, with extensive offerings in glass and glass systems. "I am extremely proud of Bendheim's heritage and of our contributions to award-winning architecture throughout the world," said Jayson. "We look forward to developing glass solutions for designers and enhancing the beauty of built environments for many years to come."

Donald Jayson's new role comes as Ben Jayson, former President and the family's fourth generation, will seek to further advance glass innovation on an independent basis. Ben will focus on developing business in advanced glass and systems technologies, in a cooperative relationship with the family firm. During Ben's tenure at Bendheim, he was able to improve team and operational efficiency, increasing throughput and shortening lead times. Donald Jayson noted, "Creative energy is part of our DNA at Bendheim. We value Ben's contributions to our business thus far, and we are excited to see him excel in his new venture."

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About Bendheim:

Bendheim is one of the world's foremost resources for specialty architectural glass. Founded in New York City in 1927, the family-owned company offers a virtually unlimited range of customizable glass solutions for interior and exterior building applications. Bendheim develops, fabricates, and distributes its products worldwide. The company maintains production facilities in New Jersey and a design lab in New York City. For additional information, please visit Bendheim.com.

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QUEBEC CITY, Feb. 14, 2023 /CNW/ - Melissa Gilbert, Executive Vice-President and Leader of Finance at Beneva has been named Financial Personality of the Year by the Top des leaders de l'industrie financiere du Quebec. She also won in the Leaders in the Financial Industry category. These awards were decided by an independent jury of prominent figures in finance and media.

Beneva Logo (CNW Group/Beneva)

"I am very pleased to accept this award that I share with the whole team at Beneva. I have the privilege of working with more than 5,000 colleagues who are dedicated to the success of our organization. I would like to thank them for their commitment and congratulate the other finalists!" said Melissa Gilbert.

Melissa Gilbert has played a leading role in integrating La Capitale and SSQ Insurance. She has profound belief in Beneva's potential due to its transformational capacity, profitable growth and distinctive position in the industry and in the community. As a result of its size, it is able to provide customers with even more competitive rates and maintain high quality service.

"On behalf of the whole Beneva team, I want to congratulate Melissa on being recognized by the industry. This award is testimony to her leadership, strategic vision and exceptional career that has contributed to our company's solid financial performance. It caps off her well-earned success!" added Jean-Francois Chalifoux, President and Chief Executive Officer of Beneva.

The Top des leaders de l'industrie financiere du Quebec highlights the success of people in the senior management of organizations based in Quebec. It also provides an opportunity to recognize the excellence of their achievements. The event, which is organized annually by the Finance et Investissement publication, was held on Monday, February 13 in Montreal. The Financial Personality of the Year is selected from among the seven winners in each of the contest categories.

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 clients. It has more than 5,000 dedicated employees: People looking out for people. Its human approach is rooted in the mutualist values supported 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 in Quebec City.

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For more information, visit beneva.ca .

Policyholders of contracts issued by an insurance company of Beneva Group Inc. are members of SSQ Mutual and La Capitale Civil Service Mutual.

SOURCE Beneva

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Microsoft founder and billionaire turned philanthropist Bill Gates recently laid to rest the long-time conspiracy theory that he owns some 80% of all U.S. farmland in his 11th appearance in an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on Reddit.

What Happened: Gates, answering dozens of questions over the course of a few hours during the AMA, including: Why are you buying up so much farmland, do you think this is a problem with billionaire wealth and how much you can disproportionally acquire?

In response, he said, I own less than 1/4000 of the farmland in the US. I have invested in these farms to make them more productive and create more jobs. There isn't some grand scheme involved - in fact all these decisions are made by a professional investment team.

While Gates has spent billions investing in farm properties to make them more productive, new companies have innovated ways for the retail investor to earn passive income in the real estate market. Heres how to invest as little as $100 (or more, depending on your appetite) in a rental property to earn passive income and build long-term wealth.

Last year, conspiracy theorists claimed that the Microsoft founder was buying up farmland in the U.S. in order to starve Americans for an unknown reason, Snopes said, after researchers said in April that the world was facing a potential food shortage as a result of Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Read also: Which Billionaire Owns The Most Land In The U.S.? Hint, It's Not Bill Gates

According to a 2022 report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Agriculture Statistics Service, there are 895,300,000 acres of farmland in the U.S.

Gates owns roughly 242,000 acres, amounting to about 0.03% of the total.

To put it into perspective, if all of Gates land was in one place, it would cover about 25% of Rhode Island.

Check Out More on Real Estate from Benzinga

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Photo: courtesy of Shutterstock.

Original story found here.

Don't miss real-time alerts on your stocks - join Benzinga Pro for free! Try the tool that will help you invest smarter, faster, and better.

This article Bill Gates Asked Why He's Buying So Much US Farmland: Here's His Answer In Free-For-All AMA originally appeared on Benzinga.com

.

 2023 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
PARIS, February 14, 2023--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Home insurance is an essential pillar among the personal protection solutions used by French consumers. To meet the expectations of customers, in particular younger generations, BNP Paribas Cardif is partnering with Lemonade to offer renters insurance.

This B2C offer allows a simple and fluid client experience thanks to a 100% online policy subscription and claims submission process - all within seconds - on any device. Renters can buy an insurance policy online at cardif.fr or lemonade.com/fr and through the Lemonade app.

The insurance policy includes standard coverage such as damage to personal belongings within the insured home (fire, break and enter theft, windstorms, water damage, etc.) and personal liability coverage (damage to the property rented, as well as injury or damage caused to others). The insurance also includes special coverages adapted to the French market and locals needs:

Coverage limits can be adjusted according to policyholders needs, with a single deductible amount chosen by them to ensure maximum transparency and simplicity.

Coverage of personal items that have standalone value under 5,000, and the possibility to select extra coverage for high valuable items.

24/7 emergency assistance included.

Worldwide coverage of property taken outside the home (for travels lasting less than 3 months).

Add-on coverage against theft or glass breakage available for those who want extra protection.

This partnership comes within the framework of BNP Paribas Cardifs strategic plan, which aims to leverage technology in order to enhance the customer experience, aligned with its core mission of making insurance more accessible. BNP Paribas Cardif will also be able to propose this fully-digital renters insurance to its distribution partners, and Lemonade will benefit from the deep experience of an insurer with a widely recognized brand that has been operating in the French market for 50 years.

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"We are delighted to announce this collaboration with Lemonade, which is emblematic of our desire to continually innovate in forward-facing partnerships. We share a real commitment to combining the expertise of the two partners in order to facilitate access to insurance via digital channels while delivering top quality services for policyholders throughout the term of their insurance cover," says Fabrice Bagne, BNP Paribas Cardif Deputy Chief Executive Officer, France and Luxembourg.

"As a well-developed insurance market with millions of digitally-savvy renters, France continues to be an exciting opportunity and focus for us since launching in 2020. A renowned brand like BNP Paribas Cardif combined with Lemonades instant and transparent approach to insurance brings the best of both worlds to French residents looking for a seamless way to protect their things," says Daniel Schreiber, co-CEO and co-founder of Lemonade.

Risks are covered by both BNP Paribas Cardif and Lemonade, who act as co-insurers for this offer.

About BNP Paribas Cardif

The world leader in bancassurance partnerships1 and creditor insurance2, BNP Paribas Cardif plays an essential role in the lives of its customers, providing them with savings and protection solutions that let them realize their goals while protecting themselves from unforeseen events. As a committed insurer, BNP Paribas Cardif works to have a positive impact on society and to make insurance more accessible. In a world that has been deeply transformed by the emergence of new uses and lifestyles, the company, a subsidiary of BNP Paribas, has a unique business model anchored in partnerships. It co-creates solutions with more than 500 partner distributors in a variety of sectors (including banks and financial institutions, automotive sector companies, retailers, telecommunications companies, energy companies among others), as well as financial advisors and brokers who market the products to their customers. With a presence in 33 countries and strong positions in three regions  Europe, Asia and Latin America  BNP Paribas Cardif is a global specialist in personal insurance and a major contributor to financing for the real economy. With nearly 8,000 employees worldwide, BNP Paribas Cardif had gross written premiums of 32.6 billion in 2021.

Follow the latest news about BNP Paribas Cardif on Twitter @bnpp_cardif.

1Source : Finaccord - 2018

2Source : Finaccord  2021

About Lemonade

Lemonade offers renters, homeowners, car, pet, and life insurance. Powered by artificial intelligence and social impact, Lemonades full stack insurance carriers in the US and the EU replace bureaucracy with bots and machine learning, aiming for zero paperwork and instant everything. A Certified B Corp, Lemonade gives unused premiums to nonprofits selected by its community, during its annual Giveback. Lemonade is currently available in the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, France, and the UK, and continues to expand globally.

Follow @lemonade_inc on Twitter for updates.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230214005356/en/

Contacts

BNP Paribas Cardif press

Geraldine Duprey - 06 31 20 11 76 - geraldine.duprey@bnpparibas.com

Amelie Rochette  06 98 83 88 54  amelie.rochette@bnpparibas.com

Charlotte Pietropoli  06 98 49 50 99  charlotte.pietropoli@bnpparibas.com

Lemonade Press

press@lemonade.com
VANCOUVER, BC, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The brain monitoring market size reached USD 5.80 Billion in 2021 and is expected to register a CAGR of 6.5% during the forecast period, according to latest analysis by Emergen Research. One key factor driving market revenue growth is increasing number of clinical trials resulting in more advanced technologies coming into the market. For instance, on 04 November 2022, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given its approval to Neurosteer's single-channel electroencephalogram (EEG) brain monitoring technology. Given the regulatory approval, a variety of therapeutic settings can now utilize the inconspicuous multi-purpose EEG System. Pharmaceutical firms are now validating the brain monitoring system through clinical trials and employing it for patient screening as well as medication efficacy testing.

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Drivers:

Demand for brain monitoring has significantly increased over the years owing to rising prevalence of traumatic brain injuries. The largest numbers as well as rates of hospitalizations and fatalities from Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) occur in individuals 75 years of age and older. Approximately 32% of TBI-related hospitalizations and 28% of TBI-related fatalities occur in this age range. Males are almost twice more probable than females to require hospitalization and are three times as probable to pass away from a TBI. Monitoring a patient with a TBI is generally done to stop further brain damage, especially cerebral ischemia.

Restraints:

There are numerous issues and difficulties facing the brain monitoring industry. High cost of brain monitoring procedures is one such factor. For instance, a form of medical imaging scan called magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) creates precise images of various bodily regions to aid in the diagnosis of illnesses. An MRI can cost anywhere between USD 400 to USD 12,000 on average, based on health insurance, region, supplementary drugs, the practitioner, and body area examined. Authorized MRIs are frequently covered by health insurance. Consumers could still have to pay for things like deductibles, coinsurance, or copays.

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Growth Projections:

The brain monitoring market is expected to register a CAGR of 6.5% over the forecast period and revenue is projected to increase from USD 5.80 Billion in 2021 to USD 10.30 Billion in 2030. Tailored treatment possibilities in various diseases such as epilepsy stand as a growing opportunity for rapid development, driving demand for brain monitoring. For instance, the ongoing recording of brain activity in the clinic or at home by a new generation of long-term brain monitoring devices has the potential to significantly enhance the treatment of epilepsy patients. Researchers will eventually be able to optimize and tailor treatment for each patient using the Wyss Center's Epios system owing to new technology. On 29 September 2021, the Wyss Center announced that their Epios Cloud software has received the Class I medical device CE (Conformite Europeenne) designation. The web-based Epios Cloud program allows for the online processing, archiving, and analysis of neural signals, including the ultra-long-term information collected by a new generation of remote brain monitoring devices.

Emergen Research is Offering Limited Time Discount (Grab a Copy at Discounted Price Now) @ https://www.emergenresearch.com/request-discount/1523

Current Trends and Innovations:

The brain monitoring industry is undergoing gradual change as a result of new technology and innovations. For instance, in order to assess how an individual's mental health conditions change over time, researchers have created portable brain monitoring equipment. The gadget will assist in gathering and analyzing data to be used as an objective assessment of depression by utilizing a component known as electroencephalography (EEG), which analyzes patterns of electrical activity in the brain. Furthermore, on 20 October 2022, to guarantee that severely sick patients receive the best treatment possible, NCH Healthcare System announced the beginning of a new initiative called Ceribell Rapid Electroencephalogram Brain Monitoring. The Rapid EEG is an innovative early warning device that offers a significant marker for brain health. The technique was created to solve the shortcomings of traditional EEG in order to evaluate individuals at risk of seizures considerably faster.

Strategic Initiatives:

Major companies included in the market report are Natus Medical Incorporated, Nihon Kohden Corporation, Koninklijke Philips N.V., General Electric, Siemens Healthcare GmbH, Compumedics Limited, Medtronic, Edwards Lifesciences Corporation, Advanced Brain Monitoring, Inc., Dragerwerk AG & Co. KGaA.

On 03 March 2022, a leading provider of consumer neurotechnology and meditation products, Interaxon Inc., announced the release of their VR Software Development Kit (SDK) and a new EEG headband that is compatible with all popular VR head-mounted displays (HMDs). This new headband is based on Interaxon's Muse S, their second-generation EEG meditation and sleep headband. Using their award-winning biosensing technology in VR and AR applications, Interaxon hopes to offer strategic collaboration prospects for advancements in brain health with this launch.

On 14 November 2022, in order to develop a new method for the simultaneous brain as well as physiological measurement that can be applied outside of the lab setting, EMOTIV, a bioinformatics company that uses electroencephalography (EEG) to advance understanding of the human brain, and X-trodes, a business that provides wireless healthcare monitoring solutions to the home environment, have announced their collaboration.

Browse Full Report Description + Research Methodology + Table of Content + Infographics@ https://www.emergenresearch.com/industry-report/brain-monitoring-market

Scope of Research

Report Details Outcome Market Size in 2021 USD 5.80 Billion CAGR (20222030) 6.5 % Revenue Forecast to 2030 USD 10.30 Billion Base Year for Estimation 2021 Historical Data 20212030 Forecast Period 20222030 Quantitative Units Revenue in USD Million and CAGR in % from 2022 to 2030 Report Coverage Revenue forecast, company ranking, competitive landscape, growth factors, and trends Segments Covered Product, procedure, medical condition, end-use, and region Regional Scope North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa Country Scope U.S., Canada, Mexico, Germany, UK, France, Spain, BENELUX, Rest of Europe, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Rest of APAC, Brazil, Rest of LATAM, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Israel, and Rest of Middle East & Africa Key Companies Profiled Natus Medical Incorporated, NIHON KOHDEN CORPORATION, Koninklijke Philips N.V., General Electric, Siemens Healthcare GmbH, Compumedics Limited, Medtronic, Edwards Lifesciences Corporation, Advanced Brain Monitoring, Inc., Dragerwerk AG & Co. KGaA Customization Scope 10 hours of free customization and expert consultation

Custom Requirements can be requested for this Report [Customization Available] @ https://www.emergenresearch.com/request-for-customization/1557

Emergen Research has segmented brain monitoring market on the basis of product, procedure, medical condition, end-use, and region:

Product Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion; 20192030)

Procedure Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion; 20192030)

Medical Condition Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion; 20192030)

End-Use Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion; 20192030)

Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2019 - 2030)

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SOURCE Emergen Research
The Government of Canada is investing in projects that will address skills shortages, fuel inclusive economic growth and create well-paying jobs

VANCOUVER, BC, Feb. 14, 2023 /CNW/ - What do aerospace and life sciences have in common? They are both hot spots of innovation and growth in British Columbia. With over 200 companies, British Columbia has one of the largest aerospace clusters in Canada. BC's life sciences sector is the fastest growing in Canada. PacifiCan is committed to helping businesses in these sectors innovate and thrive.

British Columbia Institute of Technology receives over $14.5 million in funding to support aerospace and life sciences training (CNW Group/Pacific Economic Development Canada)

Today, the Honourable Harjit S. Sajjan, Minister of International Development and Minister responsible for the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada (PacifiCan), announced $14.5 million in PacifiCan funding for two projects with the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT).

The investment includes over $9.3 million through the Aerospace Regional Recovery Initiative and over $5.2 million through the Regional Innovation Ecosystems Program to help BCIT establish new training programs in the aerospace and life sciences sectors.

The B.C. aerospace industry is facing labour shortages, especially for employees working in maintenance, repair and overhaul. To address the industry's need for skilled workers, BCIT is receiving over $9.3 million in funding to launch a new hands-on training program for gas turbine maintenance, repair and overhaul in the aerospace sector  the first of its kind in North America. This investment is expected to create 160 new jobs and generate an additional $360 million in revenue in British Columbia by 2027.

B.C., and Canada as a whole, are also facing skills shortages in the biomanufacturing sector. However, industry-recognized hands-on training is not offered in Western Canada, which can limit Canada's ability to attract talent and compete globally.

For that reason, BCIT is receiving over $5.2 million in funding to create a National Biomanufacturing Training Centre. The Province of BC is also contributing $2 million. This facility will provide training, professional development and talent for biotech companies in B.C. and across Western Canada. This investment is expected to see more than 700 people trained every year once the centre is operational and produce highly-trained personnel for in-demand jobs.

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Quotes

"The first step in building long-term prosperity is tackling short-term labour shortages. The projects being announced today will deliver the trained, talented employees our biomanufacturing and aerospace sectors need to innovate and grow."

- The Honourable Harjit S. Sajjan, Minister of International Development and Minister responsible for the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada

"B.C. is home to Canada's fastest growing life sciences sector, which will need hundreds and eventually thousands of new, highly skilled employees to continue expanding. Establishing the Training Centre here in B.C. is part of our Stronger BC's Future Ready commitment. It will help us address the current skills shortage, purposefully prepare for the future and boost B.C.'s businesses and competitiveness.

- Brenda Bailey, B.C.'s Minister of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation

"This National Biomanufacturing Training Centre is a natural extension of BCIT's expertise in workforce development to support Canada's Life Sciences sector. With funding support from the Province of British Columbia and the Government of Canada, we are excited to move forward in collaboration with the Canadian Alliance for Skills and Training in Life Sciences to develop a state-of-the-art facility and suite of programs to respond to industry need. British Columbia has long been recognized as a leader in biosciences and today marks another important milestone in creating a home for biomanufacturing workforce development and offering a portfolio of programs to support the growth of this sector."

- Paul McCullough, Interim President, BCIT.

"The Enhanced Aircraft Gas Turbine Technician program is a great example of how BCIT's agile approach to workforce development, combined with input from industry leaders, can provide a springboard to new approaches for post-secondary education and provide Canadians with access to meaningful and rewarding careers. This fully funded program will enable students to access tuition-free education and learn both at the BCIT Aerospace campus and MTU Maintenance Canada facility. Learning directly from leaders in the field, and applying skills using the latest technology, student will be prepared to embark on a rewarding career in the aerospace sector."

- Paul McCullough, Interim President, BCIT.

"CASTL is excited to work with BCIT and others to help build a talent engine to power a growing biomanufacturing sector. The launch of this new facility will provide industry employees and post-secondary students with access to theoretical and hands-on training from a globally recognized curriculum. We appreciate the support of the Government of Canada and the Government of British Columbia as well as our network of industry and academic partners."

- Penny Walsh-McGuire, Executive Director, CASTL

"As a leading provider of MRO services to the aviation industry, MTU Maintenance Canada is proud to partner with BCIT to develop new interest in aerospace careers and aide in the resurgence of qualified technicians in our province."

- Mark Roesler, Director, Quality, MTU Maintenance Canada

Quick Facts

The Aerospace Regional Recovery Initiative is helping the Canadian aerospace sector emerge from the pandemic ready to compete on the global stage. With a total budget of $250 million over three years (until March 31, 2024), this initiative is being delivered by Canada's regional development agencies, including PacifiCan.





The Regional Innovation Ecosystem Program aims to grow and nurture priority sectors across British Columbia, building an inclusive innovation ecosystem that allows those sectors to innovate and compete globally.





PacifiCan is the dedicated federal economic development partner for British Columbians. This means being laser-focused on innovative businesses growing at home while competing abroad, creating quality jobs and supporting inclusive growth in communities across BC.

Associated Links:

Stay connected

Follow PacifiCan on Twitter and LinkedIn



Toll-Free Number: 1-888-338-9378

TTY (telecommunications device for the hearing impaired): 1-877-303-3388

SOURCE Pacific Economic Development Canada

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NOIDA, India, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new report published by UnivDatos Markets Insights, the Clear aligners Market was valued at more than USD 3.8 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 25% from 2022-2028. The analysis has been segmented Age Group (Adult, Teenage); End-Use (Hospitals, Dental and Orthodontal Clinics); Region/Country.

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The Clear aligners 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 Clear aligners market. The Clear aligners 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 Clear aligners market at the global and regional levels.

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Market Overview

The demand for the clear aligners market is growing due to increasing demand for aesthetic dentistry and the appeal for clear aligners as an orthodontic treatment though, rising the adoption of inorganic growth strategies among key industry players around the globe. For instance, In February 2022, OraPharma (Bausch Health Companies Inc.) announced the U.S. launch of the OraFit custom clear aligner system that is intended for correcting malocclusion. This product launch is expected to help the company in expanding its product portfolio and strengthen its industry position in the U.S. Owing to these glaring statistics the demand for clear aligners is anticipated to grow in the forthcoming years as people were more reluctant to go to an orthodontist's office to get traditional teeth braces, which increased the adoption of clear aligners which boosted the growth of clear aligners which leads to a faster production of aligners. Moreover, People are now able to easily spend on aesthetic procedures because the per capita income of the population is rising every year fueling the demand for the clear aligners market. Furthermore, through a strong emphasis on R&D, businesses are concentrating on developing new products, and enhancing the current product offerings is expected to drive the market for clear aligners market in the coming years.

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Some of the major players operating in the market Align Technology, Inc, Envista Holding Corporation, Institut Straumann AG, Dentsply Sirona, 3M Corporation, Argen Corporation, Henry Schein, Inc, TP Orthodontics, Inc, Patterson Companies Inc., SCHEU DENTAL GmbH.

COVID-19 Impact

The recent covid-19 pandemic has disrupted the world and has brought a state of shock to the global economy. The novel coronavirus pandemic has had an impact on the growth trajectory of many industries and businesses. The market for clear aligners is no exception. The global spread of COVID-19 has forced many countries to implement strict lockdowns. Various manufacturing units and production facilities were completely shut down as a result of the lockdown measures. Border restrictions have also caused supply chain and logistics disruptions. All of these factors hampered the growth of the market for Clear aligners.

The global clear aligners market report is studied thoroughly with several aspects that would help stakeholders in making their decisions more curated.

Based on the age group, the clear aligners market is segmented into adult and teenage. The adult segment accounted for a significant market share and it is estimated that it will grow rapidly during the projected timeframe due to increasing concern for dental appearance is seen more among the adolescent population.

Based on the end-use, the market is fragmented into hospitals and dental and orthodontal clinics. The hospitals segment grabbed a considerable market share, and it is expected to grow at a significant CAGR during the forecast period due to the growing hospital admissions and increased product adoption in hospitals. Notable adoption rate of these novel orthodontic devices offering enhanced and effective solution for aligning misaligned or crooked teeth are also driving the segment of the market.

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Clear aligners Market Geographical Segmentation Includes:

North America (United States, Canada, and Rest of North America)

Europe (Germany, United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, France, and the Rest of Europe)

Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, India, Australia, and the Rest of Asia-Pacific)

Rest of the World

North America constitutes a major market for the clear aligners industry owing to the increasing R&D expenditures, the limited global presence, and the efforts of these players to secure new rights People have chosen aligners due to factors such as increased awareness of recent advancements in dental hygiene, numerous convenient options available for treating point misalignment, and a shift in beauty standards.

The major players targeting the market include

Align Technology, Inc

Envista Holding Corporation

Institut Straumann AG

Dentsply Sirona

3M Corporation

Argen Corporation

Henry Schein, Inc

TP Orthodontics, Inc

Patterson Companies Inc.

SCHEU DENTAL GmbH.

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 clear aligners 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 Clear aligners market?

Which factors are influencing the Clear aligners market over the forecast period?

What are the global challenges, threats, and risks in the Clear aligners market?

Which factors are propelling and restraining the Clear aligners market?

What are the demanding global regions of the Clear aligners 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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Clear Aligners Market Report Coverage

Report Attribute Details Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2028 Growth momentum Accelerate at a CAGR of over 25% Market size 2020 USD 3.8 billion Regional analysis North America, Europe, APAC, Rest of World Major contributing region North America to Dominate the Global Clear Aligners Market Key countries covered United States, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, France, China, Japan, India, and Australia Companies profiled Align Technology, Inc, Envista Holding Corporation, Institut Straumann AG, Dentsply Sirona, 3M Corporation, Argen Corporation, Henry Schein, Inc, TP Orthodontics, Inc, Patterson Companies Inc., SCHEU DENTAL GmbH 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 Age Group; By End-Users; By Region/Country

About UnivDatos Market Insights

UnivDatos Market Insights (UMI) is a passionate market research firm and a subsidiary of Universal Data Solutions. We believe in delivering insights through Market Intelligence Reports, Customized Business Research, and Primary Research. Our research studies are spread across topics across the world, we cover markets in over 100 countries using smart research techniques and agile methodologies. We offer in-depth studies, detailed analysis, and customized reports that help shape winning business strategies for our clients.

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SOURCE UnivDatos Market Insights Pvt. Ltd.
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Dublin, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Commercial Unmanned Aerial Systems for the Mining Industry" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This study examines the current state of the global commercial unmanned aerial systems (UAS) market for the mining industry, highlighting the main factors contributing to growth.

Similar to other UAS markets, commercial UAS for the mining industry has grown rapidly in the past decade, witnessing important technological advancements, an evolving competitive landscape, and the entry of new market participants each year. UAS technology enables mining industry participants to meet UN Sustainable Development Goals; this study explains how.

What makes this market unique compared to other UAS applications is the greater innovation required for its operations. Underground mines, for example, are hostile environments that entail special navigation techniques, but highly leverage from UAS operations.

The study segments hardware into 2 main categories (multirotor drones and fixed-wing drones) and lists their competitors, including software developers, hardware manufacturers, and service providers.

Key Topics Covered:





1 Strategic Imperatives

Why is it Increasingly Difficult to Grow?

The Strategic Imperative 8T

The Impact of the Top 3 Strategic Imperatives on the Commercial Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) for the Mining Industry

Growth Opportunities Fuel the Growth Pipeline EngineT

2 Growth Opportunity Analysis

Purpose and Overview

Segmentation

Trends and Challenges

Growth Drivers

Growth Restraints

Mining Industry Outlook

Regulatory Framework for Countries with the Most Mining Activity

Drone Applications in the Mining Industry

Representative UAS Companies

Significant UAS for Mining Investments

Key Competitors for Commercial Unmanned Aerial Systems in the Mining Industry

Meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals

3 Commercial UAS Mining and Energy

Growth Opportunity 1: Fixed-wing Unmanned Aerial Systems for Open Pit Mining

Growth Opportunity 2: Unmanned Aerial Systems for Underground Mines

Growth Opportunity 3: Unmanned Aerial Systems for Environmental Footprint Assessment

Conclusions

List of Exhibits

Legal Disclaimer

Story continues

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/ja1q4b

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

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




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Escalating Deployment of Monorail Cranes and Gantry Cranes to Propel Market Growth: Crane Aftermarket Anticipated to Rise at 6% CAGR. Altec Industries and Columbus Mckinnon Corporation are the top players in the crane aftermarket

NEWARK, Del, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global crane aftermarket is predicted to register a CAGR of 6% over the forecast period, as per FMIs analysis. The industrys market size is anticipated to rise from US$ 7.42 billion in 2023 to US$ 13.29 billion by 2033 end.



The crane aftermarket is projected to be driven by the increasing demand for energy the world over, which is pushing the demand for robust power grids. In recent years, many countries have vowed to offer substantial monetary and non-monetary resources for the modernization and expansion of power grids and for invigorating the distribution infrastructure.

In addition to this, the significant investments to promote the construction of solid energy transmission and distribution (T&D) networks, while upgrading the existing networks, are projected to push the aftermarket for cranes. The market is further projected to witness steady growth on account of surging adoption of cranes in the manufacturing and industrial sectors.

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The escalating deployment of monorail cranes and gantry cranes in factory set-up applications and heavy material handling is expected to push the market expansion. Further, the increasing demand for crawler cranes to steer rough and inaccessible surfaces and lift tremendously heavy loads is projected to enhance market scope over the forecast period.

Key Highlights of the Crane Aftermarket:

North America market is projected to be augmented by the presence of strict safety laws in the region, which ensure routine maintenance and fuel the demand for aftermarket replacements and spare parts like shafts and gearboxes. For instance, the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) has mandated routine inspections of OSGA-permitted cranes.

Europe market is being pulled forward by the increasing demand for crane aftermarket services and products. This has been prompted by the surging construction activities for residential buildings in countries, such as the Netherlands and Germany.

The market is set to observe a growing preference for mobile crane aftermarkets. Mobile cranes offer a plethora of advantages, including a high level of mobility and great strength. These functionalities enable the uplifting of heavy material in small working spaces. These cranes are also anticipated to witness an increase in demand for forestry, shipbuilding, and mining applications.



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A Glimpse of the Current Market Competition Scenario

The key participants in the market are emphasizing collaboration with distributors and suppliers to attain high visibility in the market. Some of the dominant key players in the global market are Columbus Mckinnon Corporation, Altec Industries, Hiab, Bonfiglioli, Kato Works Co. Ltd., Manitex International, Kobelco Construction Machinery, Manitowoc, Konecranes, Terex Corporation, Palfinger AG, Tadano Ltd., Terex Corporation, Sany Group, XCM, and Zoomlion.

Get Full Information on this Report@ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/crane-aftermarket

New Market Updates:

In November 2019, Elliott Equipment Company revealed that it has partnered with Beacon Funding Corporation, which is a construction equipment financing firm. With the help of this partnership, Elliott's customers were able to leverage the advantages of financial services offered by Beacon Funding Corporation.

In April 2018, Scanreco introduced the SCAN500 Mini Transmitter remote control, equipment that satisfies the requirements of OEM and aftermarket systems for heavy-duty cranes. The controller contains an ergonomically crafted touchscreen display for better equipment performance with the least operator fatigue.

Key Market Segmentation

By Type:

Replacement Parts Gears Shafts Motors Brakes Controls Others

Service

By Application:

Mobile Crane

Replacement Parts

Services

Replacement Parts

Services

Replacement Parts

Services

Replacement Parts

Services

Fixed Crane

Replacement Parts

Services

Replacement Parts

Services

Replacement Parts

Services

Replacement Parts

Services

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Table of Content

1. Executive Summary | Crane Aftermarket

1.1. Global Market Outlook

1.2. Demand-side Trends

1.3. Supply-side Trends

1.4. Technology Roadmap Analysis

1.5. Analysis and Recommendations

2. Market Overview

2.1. Market Coverage / Taxonomy

2.2. Market Definition / Scope / Limitations

3. Market Background

3.1. Market Dynamics

3.1.1. Drivers

3.1.2. Restraints

3.1.3. Opportunity

3.1.4. Trends

3.2. Scenario Forecast

3.2.1. Demand in Optimistic Scenario

3.2.2. Demand in Likely Scenario

3.2.3. Demand in Conservative Scenario

3.3. Opportunity Map Analysis

3.4. Product Life Cycle Analysis

3.5. Supply Chain Analysis

Get TOC@ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-16668

Explore FMIs Extensive Coverage in Industrial Automation Domain

Regenerative Blowers Market Research: The regenerative blowers market is estimated to capture a valuation of US$ 941.2 million in 2023 and is estimated to rise to US$ 1,393.21 million by 2033. The market is anticipated at a CAGR of 4.0% during the forecast period.

System on Module Market Trends: The system on module market is predicted to register a valuation of US$ 1.15 billion in 2023, and is estimated to rise to US$ 4.65 billion by 2033. The market is anticipated to record a CAGR of 15% during the forecast period.

Industrial Gearbox Market Analysis: According to FMI, the industrial gearbox market is expected to grow its revenue share from US$ 30.08 billion in 2023 to US$ 47.16 billion by 2033. Throughout the forecast period, the market is anticipated to exhibit a constant CAGR of 4.6%.

Oil Filled Transformer Market Forecast: The oil filled transformer market is predicted to secure a valuation of US$ 39.41 billion in 2023 and is estimated to rise to US$ 73.98 billion by 2033. The market is anticipated to record a CAGR of 6.5% during the forecast period.

Hydraulic Cylinder Market Overview: The global hydraulic cylinder market is expected to hold a valuation of US$ 15.3 billion in 2023. The market is projected to register a CAGR of 4.6% during the forecast period. The market is expected to cross US$ 24 billion by 2033.

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Funding toward Statera is helping to solve the urgent problem of physician compensation

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- DWP Capital , a venture capital firm that invests in early-stage software companies, today announces its recent investment into Statera . Leading the round, and followed by In Revenue Capital, the firm was eager to fund the vertical-specific startup that solves the real and pressing problem of physician compensation and attrition. DWP Capital is focused on investing in vertical Software-as-a-Service companies that fix niche problems and provide massive value, and in founders who have deep industry expertise and a clear vision for the future.

"We were drawn to Statera for numerous reasons, especially the fact that physician compensation and attrition are major problems for which the market has been seeking a solution," says David Paul, managing director at DWP Capital. "So the fact that there's market pull and demonstrable ROI here was greatly compelling. Even more, we were incredibly impressed by founder Amy Jackson. She has a history of working within hospital systems and building products, and we align with her philosophically, particularly in our commitment to being capital-efficient and driven toward growth."

Statera provides timely, actionable compensation and care insights to physicians, executive leaders and hospital systems. It eliminates the emotional and financial cost of physician burnout, while increasing retention. Statera is a unique solution, the most lightweight, easy to use and quickest to value product in the market. It was designed based on what customers want, built to stand alone while being interdependent with other systems as necessary. The roadmap for the software is robust, with forecasting and analytics capabilities on the horizon.

"Physician compensation management is an unnecessarily complex, fragile, and expensive process. We are determined to simplify physician compensation management, and drastically reduce the associated costs to provider organizations," said Amy Jackson, CEO and co-founder at Statera. "Our team's industry and technical expertise is unparalleled. David and DWP Capital bring us resources and networks that will rapidly accelerate our ability to reach the market in 2023."

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In Revenue Capital joined the funding round, bringing rich value to the investment as the first operator-immersive capital firm focused on early-growth investing. In addition to financing, the company will continue to build Statera's sales engine and optimize for exponential growth, while keeping quality at its peak.

To learn more about DWP Capital's portfolio, please visit https://dwpcapital.com/portfolio/ .

About DWP Capital

DWP Capital is a Venture Capital Firm that invests in early stage software companies, located in Scottsdale, Arizona. The firm focuses primarily on B2B companies in the regions of Arizona, Southern California and Colorado. Its major investments are with companies that have proven management teams, domain experience, consumer acceptance and capital efficient business models. For more information, please visit https://dwpcapital.com/ .

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SOURCE DWP Capital
ENT and Allergy Associates, LLP (ENTA) is pleased to announce the addition of allergist/immunologist Maylene Xie, MD to its Hackensack, NJ office beginning September 1, 2023.

Allergist/Immunologist Maylene Xie, MD

ENT and Allergy Associates, LLP (ENTA) is pleased to announce the addition of allergist/immunologist Maylene Xie, MD to its Hackensack, NJ office beginning September 1, 2023.

Allergist/immunologist Maylene Xie, MD

ENT and Allergy Associates, LLP (ENTA) is pleased to announce the addition of allergist/immunologist Maylene Xie, MD to its Hackensack, NJ office beginning September 1, 2023.

Tarrytown, New York, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ENT and Allergy Associates, LLP (ENTA), the nations leading otolaryngology, allergy, and audiology practice, is pleased to announce the addition of allergist/immunologist Maylene Xie, MD to its Hackensack, NJ office beginning September 1, 2023.

Dr. Xie is a board-certified physician in both Allergy & Immunology and Internal medicine. She obtained her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Yale University and her medical degree at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She subsequently completed a residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and a clinical and research fellowship in Allergy & Immunology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Childrens Hospital of Pittsburgh.

Dr. Xie has given numerous Grand Rounds lectures at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center on the topics of food allergy, drug allergy, asthma, allergic rhinitis, angioedema, and immunodeficiency, as well as lectures for medical students at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She has also published numerous peer-reviewed journal articles and abstracts in the fields of food allergy, primary immunodeficiency, transplant immunology, and medical education. She is a member of the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, and the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.

Dr. Xie believes in a thorough and evidence-based approach to managing allergic conditions. She is especially passionate about patient education and creating a treatment plan in partnership with her patients to help minimize fears and improve their quality of life. She loves taking care of both adults and children and has experience treating a wide span of adult and pediatric allergic conditions including asthma, eczema, allergic rhinitis, contact dermatitis, food allergies, urticaria, and angioedema (hives), drug allergies, insect allergies, and immunodeficiencies. She strives to treat every patient as family and deliver compassionate care. In her free time, Dr. Xie enjoys spending time with her husband and young son, cooking, reading, traveling, dancing, and going on neighborhood walks.

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Dr. Xie will serve the needs of adult and pediatric residents in the many neighborhoods and communities of Bergen County, NJ. She will join otolaryngologists Robin M. Brody, MD; Won-Taek Choe, MD; Steven M. Gold, MD; Jonathan A. Lesserson, MD; Jared M. Wasserman, MD, FACS and Jay Agarwal, MD, along with audiologists Olivia Galioto, Au.D.; Elizabeth Nemec, Au.D., CCC-A, F-AAA; Catherine Sacco, Au.D, CCC-A; and Kelsey Tamburri, Au.D.

With Dr. Xie joining ENTA in Hackensack, NJ come September, Dr. Sima Mithani, who has been practicing with ENTA since 2014, will be relocating to the groups West Nyack clinical location. Dr. Mithani will be taking over the practice of Dr. Peter LoGalbo who will be retiring in December 2023.

While we are sad to see Dr. Mithani leave us here in Hackensack, we are excited to welcome Maylene to our clinical team, noted Steven Gold, MD, Vice President, and Chair of the ENTA Recruitment Committee. Maylene brings with her an extensive experience and expertise in the field of allergy and immunology. She has been trained at some of the most reputable institutions in the country and has a proven track record of providing exceptional care to her patients. We look forward to the positive impact she will have on the lives of our patients and the community.

Commented Robert Glazer, CEO of ENTA, "We are thrilled to have Dr. Maylene Xie, a highly skilled allergist/immunologist, join our ranks. Her exceptional care and knowledge will perfectly enhance the already remarkable team of physicians in our Hackensack location. Our persistent search for the right physician to serve the growing needs of the community has resulted in the successful addition of Dr. Xie. We can't wait for her to come on board and deliver top-quality medical care to our patients."

Prashant Ponda, MD, Board Member and Director of Allergy remarked, Maylene is a perfect example of our constant and continual effort to bring the nation's top allergists on board. She will provide a range of services for patients suffering from allergies and immunological challenges, and we are excited to welcome her to the family. Her expertise and dedication to patient care will be a valuable asset to our team.

To learn more about ENTA, find a local office or book an appointment, visit www.entandallergy.com, or call 1-855-ENTA-DOC.

About ENT and Allergy Associates LLP:

ENT and Allergy Associates, LLP (ENTA) is the largest ENT, Allergy, and Audiology practice in the country, with over 300 providers practicing in over 55 clinical locations throughout New York and New Jersey. Each ENTA clinical office is comprised of world-class physicians who are specialists and sub-specialists in their respective fields, providing the highest level of expertise and care. With a wide range of services including Adult and Pediatric ENT and Allergy, Voice and Swallowing, Advanced Sinus and Skull Base Surgery, Facial Plastics and Reconstructive Surgery, Treatment of Disorders of the Inner Ear and Dizziness, Asthma-related services, Diagnostic Audiology, Hearing Aid Dispensing, Sleep, and CT Services, ENTA Is able to meet the needs of patients of all ages. ENTA is also affiliated with some of the most prestigious medical institutions in the world, including The Mount Sinai Hospital, Montefiore Medical Center, Northwell Health, and Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center. Each year ENTA physicians are voted Top Doctor by Castle Connolly, a true testament to the exceptional care and service they provide to their patients.

Attachments

CONTACT: Jason Campbell ENT and Allergy Associates, LLP 9149842531 jcampbell@entandallergy.com




Industry veteran assumes leadership role upon the retirement of former CEO Kevin Stadler.

DALLAS, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Evolon Technology, Inc., a developer of proprietary software technology that takes surveillance video and turns it into real-time actionable information, today announced that the Company's Board of Directors unanimously elected Tom Galvin, formerly the Company's Chief Technology Officer, to succeed Kevin Stadler as President and Chief Executive Officer upon the latter's retirement, effective February 4, 2023. Additionally, Mr. Stadler has resigned his seat on the company's Board, while Mr. Galvin has accepted an appointment to the Board in his stead.

Mr. Galvin commented: "On behalf of everyone at Evolon, I'd like to extend our sincere gratitude to Kevin Stadler for his three years of service to the Company. Kevin's high integrity, leadership, hard work, and career experience with AI have helped to establish Evolon as a trusted brand. Kevin earned the profound respect of our customers, partners, employees, and shareholders."

Galvin joined Evolon as CTO in March of 2022, leading the company's R&D, product development and product management efforts. Under Galvin's leadership, the company has made a significant investment in new product development resulting in new product releases of Evolon Edge and Evolon Enterprise. These upgrades support new technical partnerships with Milestone Systems and Hanwha Techwin and showcase improved user experiences that simplify video analytic installation and usability.

Prior to joining Evolon, Galvin founded and led Razberi Technologies as CEO before its acquisition by ACRE in 2020. Before founding Razberi, Galvin founded and led NetVideo Consulting, a concern that provided strategic product and M&A consulting to security manufacturers and software vendors. NetVideo Consulting was commissioned by the Open Network Video Interface Forum (ONVIF) to successfully build and launch the industry's first interoperability compliance tool for camera manufacturers. NetVideo also built and developed a video management platform that was acquired in an asset sale to GVI Samsung. Before founding NetVideo Consulting, Mr. Galvin was Vice President of Engineering at General Electric Fire and Security, where he drove the company's transition from CCTV products to networked video, prior to the company's sale to UTC. Galvin got his start in the security industry in 2001 when he joined Loronix as VP of Product Development and stayed through the company's successful IPO as Verint Systems, Inc..

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Galvin earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Iowa State University and an MBA from the University of Iowa's Tippie College of Business.

About Evolon Technology, Inc.

Evolon provides advanced, highly accurate perimeter surveillance software technology for critical infrastructure protection and central station monitoring, and its patented software & analytics transform video security cameras and security systems into smart devices by eliminating nuisance alerts. Evolon's award-winning edge-based video analytics and AI/deep learning solutions are fully scalable for commercial and government organizations that require real-time situational intelligence to enhance security effectiveness and to reduce the potential for loss due to criminal activity or business downtime. Evolon was founded by a talented team of former engineers and scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory, with decades of national security experience in the design and deployment of advanced surveillance technologies. For more information, visit www.evolontech.com.

Cision

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SOURCE Evolon Technology, Inc.
SkyQuest Technology Consulting Pvt. Ltd.

SkyQuest's thorough research report on the face mask machines market is a valuable resource for industry participants, as it provides comprehensive information on various market aspects. This report includes details on production costs, major industry players, supply chain analysis of raw materials, product line, and range, and market segmentation based on types, applications, and end-users. The report also includes expert insights and analysis, supported by accurate data and statistics, as well as realistic market projections up until 2028.

Westford, USA, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Asia Pacific remains the largest face mask machines market owing to the continuously rising population and increased government efforts to prevent the spread of airborne diseases in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. The growing demand for high-performance face masks has made consumers more willing to pay premium prices for masks with better protection. In response, industry players collaborate to launch masks with improved features, increasing demand for mask-making machines. These machines support a culture of ethical business practices, productivity, and excellence, contributing to the success of mask manufacturers. The recent outbreak of respiratory diseases like H1N1 and COVID-19 has further heightened the need for masks among healthcare professionals, driving demand for mask-making machines even higher.

According to SkyQuest, the global face shield market is predicted to witness lucrative growth in the coming years, with projections suggesting that its size will surpass a value of USD 4.92 billion by 2028. This growth will significantly impact the overall development of the face mask machines market, as increased demand for face shields will drive demand for the production equipment required to manufacture them.

Browse in-depth TOC on the "Face Mask Machines Market"

Pages - 231

Tables - 62

Figures  69

A mask-making machine is a specialized electromechanical device that is designed to produce masks of various capacities with precision and efficiency. These heavy-duty machines have user-friendly interfaces, programmable controls, and high-precision electrical drives that allow for precise wire control. The integration of these features allows for fast and efficient production of masks, making these machines an ideal choice for businesses looking to increase their mask production capabilities.

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Get a sample copy of this report:

https://skyquestt.com/sample-request/face-mask-machines-market

Prominent Players in Face Mask Machines Market

Hongxiang Mechanics

Changzhou Wanshida Electric

Dongguan Zhenyue Machinery

South Nekon

Hengrui

Hengyao Automation

Intouch Resources Pvt. Ltd.

Dongguan Lihan Machinery

KP Tech

Shandong Deqi Intelligent Technology Co. Ltd

TRM Machinery

HT Tech Machinery

Arora Industries

NCM Nonwoven Converting Machinery

Sri Sastha Engineering

Landytop

N95 Mask Production Segment to Remain the High Revenue Contributor owing to Continuous Demand from Healthcare Professionals Globally

The N95 mask production segment is expected to experience significant growth from 2023 to 2028, with a projected CAGR of over 20%. The segment's continuous growth can be attributed to the growing demand for N95 masks from healthcare professionals, who require more effective masks to protect against bacteria, viruses, and particulates. In addition, the rise in respiratory illnesses such as asthma and COPD have also contributed to the growing demand for N95 face masks. These factors are expected to drive the expansion of the N95 mask production segment in the coming years, making it one of the fastest-growing segments in the market.

According to the World Health Organization, as of July 2021, the world had witnessed a massive surge in coronavirus cases, with the World Health Organization reporting a total of 558 million confirmed cases globally. As a result, the Asia Pacific region has been a major player in the face mask machines market and is expected to continue to dominate in revenue share. It can be attributed to several factors, including the growing demand for medical and surgical masks across various industries, such as manufacturing, food and beverage, and healthcare. In addition, the increasing awareness of personal hygiene and well-being among consumers in the region has also driven the demand for face masks.

Browse summary of the report and Complete Table of Contents (ToC):

https://skyquestt.com/report/face-mask-machines-market

Face Mask Machine Manufacturers Focusing on the Production of Cost-Effective Product Offerings to Attract Consumer Base

The face mask machines market is currently dominated by several established players that operate at a regional and global level. However, the market is expected to see an influx of new entrants in the near future as demand for these machines continues to rise. In response to this growing demand, major corporations are focusing on developing and releasing affordable face mask machines that can be distributed globally. In addition, manufacturers are using various strategies to expand their market presence, including introducing new products, obtaining patents, participating in exhibitions, and forming partnerships with regional and local players.

North America has seen substantial growth in the face mask machines market, thanks partly to the widespread adoption of these products across various industries. The region's high growth rate results from increased consumer awareness about respiratory diseases and the expansion of government programs aimed at improving public health infrastructure. This has driven the demand for face masks, and the face mask machines in North America have experienced significant growth.

SkyQuest has recently released a comprehensive research report on the face mask machines market. The report provides in-depth market analysis and offers valuable insights into the competitive landscape. The research team at SkyQuest has conducted a thorough analysis of the leading players in the market, including their sales units, target markets, cost of production, distribution channels, growth factors, and more.

Key Developments in Face Mask Machines Market

Honeywell, a leading provider of personal protective equipment (PPE), has expanded its offerings for healthcare professionals with two new respiratory products. These products have been certified by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), ensuring their high level of protection and quality. In addition, Honeywell has leveraged its extensive experience in producing respiratory-protection solutions to create these new products, which will help meet healthcare workers' ever-growing needs.

German industrial giant BASF has joined forces with Natural Machines, a personal care company, to revolutionize the skincare industry. Using cutting-edge 3D printing technology, they have developed a line of bio-based, customized face masks and eye patches that offer a tailored fit for each user. With this innovative solution, BASF and Natural Machines aim to provide consumers with a highly personalized skincare experience. Their new product line blends advanced technology with natural ingredients to bring a fresh approach to skincare, and it is sure to be a game-changer in the industry.

Oscar Mayer, the well-known American food company, has recently taken a step into beauty and skincare. In collaboration with St. Louis-based Korean beauty company Seoul Mamas, they have launched a line of bologna-inspired hydrogel sheet face masks. This innovative product combines the expertise of both companies to provide consumers with a unique and fun way to care for their skin. The bologna-scented masks aim to bring a touch of humor to the often severe world of skincare while delivering effective results.

Speak to Analyst for your custom requirements:

https://skyquestt.com/speak-with-analyst/face-mask-machines-market

Key Questions Answered in Face Mask Machines Market Report

What are the latest predictions for the market size during the forecast period, and what factors will drive its growth?

How is the current market scenario affecting the growth of the global market, and what key trends are driving this growth?

Which regions are expected to show significant growth within the global market, and what factors contribute to this growth?

What role have the prominent players in the market played in shaping the industry's overall growth and future outlook?

Related Reports in SkyQuests Library:

Global 3D Bioprinting Market

Global Grinding Machine Market

Global Pressure Pumping Market

Global Micro Motor Market

Global Hydraulic Fracturing Market

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NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / February 14, 2023 / Faraday Copper Corp. ("Faraday" or the "Company") (TSX:FDY) (OTCQX:CPPKF) is pleased to announce that it has completed its previously announced bought deal financing, including the exercise in full of the Underwriters' (as defined below) over-allotment option, for a total of 49,999,700 common shares (the "Common Shares") sold at a price of C$0.80 per Common Share for aggregate gross proceeds to the Company of C$39,999,760 (the "Offering").

The Offering was led by Canaccord Genuity Corp. on its behalf and on behalf of a syndicate of underwriters that includes PI Financial Corp., TD Securities Inc. and Stifel GMP (collectively, the "Underwriters"). In consideration for the services provided by the Underwriters in connection with the Offering, on closing the Company paid to the Underwriters a cash commission equal to 5% of the gross proceeds raised under the Offering (other than in respect of certain purchasers on the president's list, for which a commission of 1% was paid). Fort Capital Partners acted as special advisor to the Company in relation to the bought deal financing and other strategic matters.

The Offering was completed by way of a prospectus supplement dated February 6, 2023 and filed in all provinces and territories of Canada, other than Quebec, under the Company's base shelf prospectus dated October 21, 2022. The Common Shares were also sold in the United States on a private placement basis pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), and other jurisdictions outside of Canada.

The Common Shares have been conditionally approved for listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange ("TSX"). The Offering is subject to certain conditions including, but not limited to, the receipt of all necessary approvals, including the final approval of the TSX.

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The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the Offering to fund the purchase of a 32,000-acre ranch land package adjacent to the Company's Copper Creek Property, for exploration and development of the Copper Creek project, as well as for working capital and general corporate purposes as set out in the prospectus supplement.

The securities offered in the Offering have not been, and will not be, registered under the U.S. Securities Act or any U.S. state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, United States persons absent registration or any applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable U.S. state securities laws. This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities in the United States, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

About Faraday Copper

Faraday Copper is a Canadian exploration company focused on advancing its flagship copper project 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 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. Faraday trades on the TSX under the symbol "FDY".

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 concerning the intended use of proceeds and approvals of the TSX.

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/739217/Faraday-Copper-Announces-Closing-of-Bought-Deal-Financing




Federal Home Loan Bank Of San Francisco

FHLBank San Francisco names four new Affordable Housing Advisory Council Members

Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco has appointed Cesar Covarrubias, Patricia Duarte, Elizabeth Elliott, and Maurilio Leon to its Affordable Housing Advisory Council

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco is pleased to announce the appointment of Cesar Covarrubias, Patricia Duarte, Elizabeth Elliott, and Maurilio Leon to its Affordable Housing Advisory Council (Advisory Council).



The Advisory Council provides the Bank with expert guidance on affordable housing and economic development issues and advice on FHLBank San Franciscos community grant and credit programs.

New members of the Advisory Council are:

Cesar Covarrubias

Executive Director, The Kennedy Commission, Irvine, California

Cesar Covarrubias manages and provides strategic leadership for The Kennedy Commissions advocacy and programs to increase affordable housing opportunities and improve the stability of lower-income families in Orange County, California. Mr. Covarrubias expertise combines over a decade of experience in nonprofit management, affordable housing policy, advocacy, and community building. Previously, Mr. Covarrubias coordinated the Commission's efforts to develop and implement affordable housing public policies and strategies in local governments and at the state level. Mr. Covarrubias has also worked at the Fair Housing Council of Orange County as a case manager for housing discrimination cases and assisted clients with landlord-tenant issues. He serves on a number of nonprofit boards and received a law degree from Thomas Jefferson School of Law and bachelors degrees in political science and Spanish literature from California State University, Fullerton.

Patricia Duarte

Executive Vice President, Chicanos Por La Causa (CPLC), Phoenix, Arizona

Mrs. Patricia Garcia Duarte joined CPLC in March 2022 to lead and manage Homeownership Initiatives and focus on building a homeownership ecosystem to narrow the wealth gap among Hispanic, Black, Asian, Indigenous, and low-income people. She previously served as President and CEO at Trellis, an Arizona nonprofit, for 16 years, where her responsibilities included creating a housing vision and guiding the organizations strategic goals to better serve clients, stakeholders, and neighborhoods/communities. CPLC is a multi-state nonprofit organization headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, dedicated to five areas of impact: Health & Human Services, Housing, Education, Economic Development, and Advocacy. Mrs. Garcia Duarte holds a bachelors degree in finance from the College of Business, Arizona State University.

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Elizabeth Elliott

Executive Director of Northern Circle Indian Housing Authority (NCIHA), Ukiah, California

Under Elizabeth Elliotts direction, NCIHA has moved from a $4 million portfolio to a $38 million portfolio serving consortium Tribal members throughout the U.S. NCIHA was the first Tribally Designated Housing Authority to obtain an AB1010 exception waiver for the Home and Home Key programs through the California Housing and Community Development Department. By doing so, NCIHA has fought to set precedence in California by exercising Federally recognized Tribes rights to sovereignty and self-determination in the successful application and awards for both the Home Investment Partnership and Home Key programs. Ms. Elliott has brought forward a movement in providing Hope, Healing, and Housing. Ms. Elliott believes that in order to foster historical resilience in Tribal communities you must first provide housing security for all.

Maurilio Leon

Chief Executive Officer, Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation (TNDC)

As the CEO at TNDC, Maurilio Leon leads the organization toward its vision of building community well-being through affordable housing, food and wellness opportunities, and community advocacy. Mr. Leon has a combination of public and private sector professional experience, including over a decade working in the nonprofit sector for affordable housing and community and economic development. Most recently he served as chief operating officer of Community Housing Opportunities Corporation (CHOC), an affordable housing and community development organization. Prior to this role at CHOC, Mr. Leon was the executive vice president of the Unity Council, a nationally recognized nonprofit corporation known for its innovative and successful approaches to community development. Mr. Leon also worked extensively in the financial industry and local government with entities like the City and County of San Francisco, Office of The Assessor-Recorder, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Goldman Sachs, Providian Financial Corporation, and JP Morgan Chase (formerly Washington Mutual). Mr. Leon received a masters degree in Public Policy from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, and a bachelors degree in political science and education from the University of California, Berkeley.

The Advisory Council members also elected David Paull, managing director of CORE Advisory Partners, to serve as chair and Holly Benson, president and chief executive officer of Adobe Communities to serve as vice chair of the Advisory Council.

About Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco

The Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco is a member-driven cooperative helping local lenders in Arizona, California, and Nevada build strong communities, create opportunity, and change lives for the better. Our member financial institutionscommercial banks, credit unions, industrial loan companies, savings institutions, insurance companies, and community development financial institutionsrely on us to deliver prompt access to low-cost funding, risk management tools, and resources for affordable housing and community economic development. Together with our members and other partners, we are making the communities we serve more resilient, equitable, and vibrant.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/7d6d01a8-fb0c-4b93-b297-df4d341898b8

CONTACT: Media Contact: Mary Long Senior Director, Marketing Communications longm@fhlbsf.com 415.616.2556




Tampa, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tampa, Florida -

Tampa, FL - Selling for cash to Floridian Cash Buyers is a quick and efficient way to get ethically transparent and fair prices for landed properties and valuables.

People often sell their real estate to cash buyers due to pressing financial needs. However, a thorough background check before committing is both prudent and essential.

Floridian Cash Buyers is a company with a reputation for trustworthiness and reliability offering a fast and efficient service to sellers looking to dispose of their properties and valuables for cash. Floridian Cash Buyers is one such company.

One of the main benefits of using a cash-buying service like Floridian Cash Buyers is the speed and convenience of its transactions. With services including buying landed properties, houses, cars, jewelry, and auto sales, it is a trusted and proven choice for people on the lookout for hassle-free transactions.

Distressed properties, such as those in need of significant repairs, are often a source of stress and financial burden for their owners. Fortunately for such owners, Floridian Cash Buyers provides an alternative to traditional real estate transactions, offering several benefits to sellers in need of a quick and hassle-free solution.

Unlike traditional sales methods, cash-buying services can make an offer on a property or valuable item within 24 hours and can close the sale within a matter of days. This is particularly useful for individuals who need to sell their property or valuables quickly, such as in the case of an emergency, relocation, or other urgent situations.

For more information, visit www.floridiancashbuyers.com.

Floridian Cash Buyers services eliminate tedious and time-consuming processes that delay a transaction. With this company, however, the process is straightforwarda quick inspection of the property immediately, and a cash offer is made to complete the sale quickly and efficiently. Conversely, selling through a real estate agent or other traditional channels will involve numerous processes such as property inspections, appraisals, and negotiations with potential buyers.

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Cash-buying services are also a great option for individuals wanting to avoid the costs and fees associated with traditional sales methods. When selling through a real estate agent, for example, individuals may need to pay commission fees, advertising costs, and closing costs. This is far from the case with Floridian Cash Buyers. Its cash-buying services eliminate such costs and the seller retains a higher portion of the sale proceeds.

In addition to being fast and convenient, the company is a secure and reliable option for individuals looking to sell their properties or valuables. Owners of distressed properties may be hesitant to use a cash-buying service because of concerns about the potential for lowball offers or scams. However, branded names like Floridian Cash Buyers offer a higher degree of mitigation against risks.

The company has a reputation for offering fair prices on properties and items and is committed to making the sale process as simple and hassle-free as possible. It operates transparently and ethically, ensuring that all transactions are conducted fairly and equitably.

Floridian Cash Buyers provides quick and stress-free solutions for selling assets. The company quotes fair and honest offers with no hidden costs and fast, hassle-free transactions. Its goal is to ensure convenient transactions for individuals who need to sell assets quickly.

About the Company:

Floridian Cash Buyers is a Florida-based cash-buying company specializing in purchasing landed properties, houses, and commercial properties. To make the selling process quick and fair, the company offers a reliable solution for individuals needing to sell their house for cash. Valuation of the assets is based on fair market value and Floridian Cash Buyers provides payment in the form of cash or wire transfer. It ensures that all necessary documentation is provided for a legal transfer of ownership.

###

For more information about Floridian Cash Buyers, contact the company here:



Floridian Cash Buyers

Chris Charles

info@floridiancashbuyers.com

503 E Jackson Street, Tampa, FL 33602

CONTACT: Chris Charles




Brings global defense, investment banking, and industry leadership experience to support investment and expansion of Vaya's technologies in both Space and Defense

General Wesley Clark

General Wesley Clark

COCOA, Fla., Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vaya Space, Inc., the green Space and Defense company and emerging leader in performance, cost and sustainability, today announced that General Wesley K. Clark, USA, (Ret.) has joined Vaya Space as a senior advisor to the Board and Company to support investment in and expansion of Vaya Space's new technologies to the highly attractive Space (launch) and Defense (strategic and tactical missile) landscape.

Gen. Clark is a retired United States Army four-star general who last served as the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe of NATO. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point as valedictorian and was subsequently awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford. Gen. Clark has received numerous military and other decorations, including the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Silver star, the Bronze star, several honorary knighthoods, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Former U.S. Presidential candidate Clark has continued his success in the private sector and has his own consulting firm, is chairman and CEO of Enverra, an investment bank that is directly supporting Vaya Space, and has worked with over 100 private and public companies on energy, security, and financial services.

Vaya Space significantly accelerated its pathway to disrupting both the Space and Defense sectors in 2022 with its first breakthrough patents issued, completion of more than 100 successful test fires, and its first successful launch. Vaya's engines utilize more than 20 metric tons of recycled plastics as fuel leading to costs that are more than 50 percent below that of most competitors, with equal or better thrust, stability and overall performance than any competitive technology. Vaya's technologies are also transferrable to the Defense market for strategic, tactical, and hypersonic missiles. Vaya's technologies enable variable trajectory and signature, rapid deployment, and insensitivity for storability and supply chain security. The Company expects to deliver tactical payloads at ranges exceeding 1,000 miles with precision accuracy and do so at a substantially lower cost.

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Gen. Clark commented, "I am so impressed with the integrity with which Vaya approached the Space opportunity taking a capabilities-first approach vs. that of many of the competitors. Now with their proven technologies, they are positioned to leapfrog competitors at less than a tenth of what others have already invested. Vaya's technologies are revolutionary in performance, cost, and sustainability with their ability to remove plastics from the planet. I look forward to facilitating the investment in them to make a difference for our country and for humankind."

Over the past six months, Vaya has been recognized by the White House for its leadership with its apprenticeship program, was recognized for its sustainability leadership by the Green Organisation at the House of Parliament in London, and has earned more than $100 million in commitments from satellite customers.

Sid Gutierrez, Chairman of the Board of Vaya, former Space Shuttle Commander and the first U.S.-born Hispanic Astronaut commented, "First, General Abrams joining Vaya and now General Wesley Clark, says a tremendous amount about the Company, how far we have come, and how efficacious our technologies really are. These American heroes are incredibly focused and selective, and we are humbled that they have chosen to partner with Vaya. While in development, we were intentionally a well-guarded secret. No more."

Additional information can be found at vayaspace.com.

About Vaya Space, Inc.

Vaya Space is a green Space and Defense company based on the Space Coast of Florida. Vaya has developed breakthrough and now patented technologies that transform the performance and cost of rockets for access to Space, and missiles for Defense applications. Vaya gained momentum in 2017 when Sid Gutierrez, former Space Shuttle Commander and NASA's first U.S.-born Hispanic astronaut, became Chairman of the Board. Launch Control's final words to Sid at liftoff were "Vaya con Dios" and following this inspiration, Vaya Space was born.

Vaya is a purpose-driven, sustainability-focused, and environmentally conscious enterprise dedicated to making a difference for our country and for humankind. Vaya Space competes in the small satellite launch and military munitions sectors. Vaya's unique and patented rocket engines overcome the costs and other issues associated with traditional legacy rocket and missile technologies to transform the performance, safety and affordability of the industry, and its engines utilize more than 20 metric tons of recycled thermoplastics per launch.

For financial or other inquiries, please contact:



Kevin Lowdermilk

Chief Financial Officer

+1 703 346-6826

Kevin.Lowdermilk@VayaSpace.com



Mary Baldino

Director of Marketing

+1 321 270-1478

Mary.Baldino@VayaSpace.com

Contact Information:

Mary Baldino

Director of Marketing

mary.baldino@vayaspace.com

321-446-5905



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Image 1: General Wesley Clark





General Wesley Clark









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DUBLIN, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Breast Implant Market, Size, Global Forecast 2023-2027, Industry Trends, Share, Growth, Insight, Impact of Inflation, Company Analysis" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Research and Markets Logo

Globally, Breast Implant market is expected to generate US$ 2,866.7 Million by 2027, growing at CAGR of 6.55% during the forecast period, 2022-2027



The key drivers expanding the breast implant market are the rising importance of physical appearance and the expanding availability of attractive, cohesive silicone breast implants. Moreover, the market is expanding due to the increased incidence of breast cancer and the availability of a wide range of breast implant choices.

Additionally, the introduction of new products and technological developments that enable visualization are also anticipated to accelerate market expansion. For instance, PERLE, a highly revolutionary range of smooth breast implants with proprietary surface technology, was introduced in December 2021 by GC Aesthetics, Inc (GCA), a privately held medical technology business delivering aesthetics solutions for the worldwide healthcare market.



By Material, Silicon holds the Highest Market Share:



Based on material, breast implant market is divided intosilicon and saline. Silicon holds the majority of the market share. These implants are made of silicone gel, closely resembling human fat's texture. The breast tissue has a natural-looking appearance and feel due to which it holds the majority of the market share.

In breast augmentation and cosmetic surgery operations, silicone implants are widely used to improve breast aesthetics overall while retaining a natural appearance and feel. Additionally, silicone tends to wrinkle less which is another factor driving silicon breast implant demand.



Breast Implants are largely used in Cosmetic Surgery:



In 2021, cosmetic surgery accounted for a significant revenue share by application. The expanding cosmetic industry's development drives the growth of breast implant in cosmetic surgery to improve aesthetic appeal. Breast augmentation treatments used in cosmetic surgery enhance the breast's look.



By end user, hospitals dominate the breast implant market:



Due to the accessibility of trained and board-certified surgeons, the increased focus on offering high-quality surgical care, and increased efficiency, hospitals hold the largest market share in the breast implant market. Furthermore, the preference for breast implant treatments in hospitals rises with easy access to novel technologies. Similarly, extensive post-surgical care and ongoing observation provided in hospitals are anticipated to increase patient choice during the forecast period.



Europe holds a significant market share by region:



In the breast implant market Europe holds a significant market share. Over the forecast period, it is anticipated to show a similar trend, mainly as a result of the high preference for silicone implants, rising consumer demand for cosmetic surgeries, and active government measures to inform people about the many types of implants available for breast enlargement are all expected to drive market expansion in Europe. Furthermore, America will also hold a significant market share during the forecast period.



Covid-19 impact on Breast Implant Market:



The COVID-19 pandemic had a short-term effect on the breast implant market, particularly during the initial wave of the pandemic when the entire world was placed under lockdown and other travel restrictions to stop the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 viral infection.

Story continues

Due to the restrictions and lockout, the ongoing and scheduled surgical procedures were delayed or cancelled, which had a detrimental effect on the breast implant market. However, interest and demand rose after the Covid-19 limitations were loosened. As per the publisher, breast implant market was US$ 1,959.1 Million in 2021.



Key Players Analysis:



Johnson & Johnson, Koken Co. Ltd., Establishment Labs Holdings Inc., Abbvie, Sientra Inc., and Hansbiomed Co. Ltd. are the leading competitors in the Breast Implant Market.

Further, these organizations employ various techniques to drive their company portfolio worldwide, including innovative product releases and R&D.



Key Topics Covered:



1. Introduction



2. Research & Methodology



3. Executive Summary



4. Market Dynamics

4.1 Growth Drivers

4.2 Challenge



5. Breast Implant Market



6. Market- Share - Breast Implant Analysis

6.1 By Material

6.2 By Application

6.3 By End User

6.4 By Region



7. Material - Breast Implant Market

7.1 Silicon

7.2 Saline



8. Application - Breast Implant Market

8.1 Cosmetic Surgery

8.2 Reconstruction Surgery



9. End User - Breast Implant Market

9.1 Hospitals

9.2 Cosmetology Clinics

9.3 Ambulatory Surgical Centres



10. Region - Breast Implant Market

10.1 America

10.2 Europe

10.3 Asia Pacific

10.4 Middle East and Africa



11. Key Players Analysis

11.1 Business Overview

11.2 Sales Analysis

11.3 Recent Developments

Johnson & Johnson

Koken Co. Ltd.

Establishment Labs Holdings Inc.

Abbvie

Sientra Inc.

Hansbiomed Co. Ltd.

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/ut92pp-implant?w=5

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SPHERICAL INSIGHTS LLP

According to a research report published by SphericalInsights, the Global SiC based power electronics and inverter Market Size was valued at USD 660 billion in 2021 and expected to reach USD 5800 billion by 2030, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 35% during the forecast period. Major vendors in the ON Semiconductor, Intel Corporation, ON Semiconductor, Panasonic Corporation, Methode Electronics Inc., Fuji Electric Co. Ltd., ELAN Electronics, TE Connectivity Ltd., Samsung Semiconductors, Seiko Epson Corporation, Cree, Texas Instruments Incorporated, Semikron Electronics GmbH and Co. Inc.,

New York, United States, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to a research report published by Spherical Insights & Consulting, The Global SiC Based Power Electronics and Inverter Market Size is to grow from USD 660 million in 2021 to USD 5800 million by 2030, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 35% during the forecast period. The increasing adoption of SiC based devices by different industries such as automotive, consumer electronics, industrial, IT & telecommunication, healthcare, aerospace & defence, and others is the key driving factor.





Key Insights

The SiC Based Power Electronics and Inverter Market size was valued at USD 660 million in 2021

The market is growing at a CAGR of 35% from 2022 to 2030

The Global SiC Based Power Electronics and Inverter Market is expected to reach USD 5800 million by 2030

The market is geographically divided into five regions: Europe, South America, the Asia-Pacific, North America, and the Middle East and Africa.





Get a Free Sample Copy of This Report @ https://www.sphericalinsights.com/request-sample/1488





SiC based power electronics and inverter converters can convert DC electricity from the battery side into AC required from the motor side and are smaller, lighter, and more efficient than their Si IGBTbased devices. SiC based devices are majorly used in high-voltage power converters with stringent requirements regarding size, weight, and efficiency because they offer many attractive characteristics when compared with commonly used silicon-based devices. The on-state resistance and switching losses are significantly lower, and SiC provides about 3 times more thermal conductivity than silicon, allowing faster heat dissipation from components. The demand for SiC based power electronics and inverters is expected to grow exponentially for its semiconductor-based products and applications to flourish in the automotive and industrial sectors.

Story continues





Browse key industry insights spread across 210 pages with 120 market data tables and figures & charts from the report Global SiC Based Power Electronics and Inverter Market Size, Share, and COVID-19 Impact Analysis, By Product Type (Power Electronics, Inverter), By End-User (Automotive, Consumer Electronics, Industrial, Telecom, Healthcare, Aerospace & Defence, Others), By Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Middle East, and Africa), Analysis and Forecast 2021  2030  in detail along with the table of contents. https://www.sphericalinsights.com/reports/sic-based-power-electronics-and-inverter-market





In addition, the increasing adoption of SiC solutions for IT & telecommunication throughout the world is expected to propel the demand for SiC diverse devices. Among the IT & telecommunication applications for SiC, 5G mobile technologies are the most challenging, as it capable of reaching speeds 20 higher than the previous 4G LTE technology. To have higher network connectivity SiC solutions devices are exceptionally capable of handling higher power density, have better thermal efficiency, and are optimized for achieving high efficiency.





The power electronics segment is expected to witness a higher growth rate over the forecast period.

Based on product type, the global SiC based power electronics and inverter market growth is segmented into power electronics, and inverters. Among these, the power electronics segment is anticipated to witness a higher growth rate over the forecast period. As SiC based switches are mostly used in high-voltage devices or systems mostly above< 600V. SiC devices have a smaller die size for a given breakdown voltage than silicon-based devices. SiC components are small and space-efficient, which makes them ideal for use in higher-power circuits.

The automotive segment is anticipated to witness significant CAGR growth over the forecast period.

On the basis of application type, the global SiC based power electronics and inverter market share is segmented into the automotive, consumer electronics, industrial, telecom, healthcare, aerospace & defence, and others. Among these, the automotive segment is expected to witness significant CAGR growth over the forecast period. Owing to the standard silicon-based devices, SiC offers requisite utility in automotive applications such as increased power density, higher system efficiency, range extension, lower system cost, and long-term reliability.





SiC based power electronics and inverter Market Report Scope: -

Report Metric Details Market Size 2030 USD 5800 Billion CAGR 35% (2020-2030) Historical Data 2019-2020 Base Year 2021 Forecast Period 2022-2030 Forecast Units Value (USD Billion) Segments Covered By Product Type, By End-User, By Region Report Coverage Drivers, Revenue Forecast, Competitive Landscape, Growth Factors, and Trends Geographies Covered North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Rest of the World Key Companies Profiled/Vendors ON Semiconductor, Intel Corporation, ON Semiconductor, Panasonic Corporation, Methode Electronics Inc., Fuji Electric Co. Ltd., ELAN Electronics, TE Connectivity Ltd., Samsung Semiconductors, Seiko Epson Corporation, Cree, Texas Instruments Incorporated, Semikron Electronics GmbH and Co. Inc.,

Immediate Delivery Available, Buy Now Full Report @ https://www.sphericalinsights.com/checkout/1488





Asia Pacific is dominating the market with the largest market share of 35%.

Asia Pacific is dominating the market with the largest market share of 35%. The regions growth is majorly attributed to the developing economic growth of countries such as China, India, Japan, and South Korea. Owing to large number of manufacturers in China & Japan are witnessing ever-increasing demand. The Indian government is actively negotiating with businesses about establishing operations in the nation in the areas of silicon semiconductor fabs, display fabs, compound semiconductors, silicon photonics, sensors fabs, semiconductor packaging, and semiconductor design.





Market Segment

This study forecasts global, regional, and country revenue from 2019 to 2030. The market is segmented by

SiC Based Power Electronics and Inverter Market, By Product Type

Power Electronics

Inverter

SiC Based Power Electronics and Inverter Market, By End-User

Automotive

Consumer Electronics

Industrial

Telecom

Healthcare

Aerospace & Defence

Others

Regions Covered

North America

Europe

Asia-Pacific

Latin America

The Middle East and Africa





List of Key Market Players

ON Semiconductor

Intel Corporation

ON Semiconductor

Panasonic Corporation

Methode Electronics Inc.

Fuji Electric Co. Ltd.

ELAN Electronics

TE Connectivity Ltd.

Samsung Semiconductors

Seiko Epson Corporation

Cree

Texas Instruments Incorporated

Semikron Electronics GmbH and Co. Inc.

Zhengzhou Yutong Group Co., Ltd.

Renesas Electronics Corporation

ROHM Co., Ltd.

ABB Group

Infineon Technologies AG

STMicroelectronics

Nuvoton Technology Corporation

Maxim Integrated Products Inc.

StarPower Semiconductor

Other





Get a Discount on Report at https://www.sphericalinsights.com/request-discount/1488





Some Recent Developments News in the Global SiC based power electronics and inverter Market:

USA, April 2021, ROHM Co., Ltd. announced its new establishment at the chikugo plant, to enhance the production capacity of SiC based power devices.

USA, June 2020, STMicroelectronics and ROHM Group Company SiCrystal signed an agreement to expand the use of SiC semiconductors in automotive and other industrial applications. To meet the need for silicon carbide power in electronic devices, a USD 130 million agreement was made to supply 150mm silicon carbide wafers.





Have a Look at the Related Research Report?

Global Consumer Electronics Market Size , Share, and COVID-19 Impact Analysis, By Product (Consumer Electronics Devices, Smart Home Devices, and Wearable Electronics Devices), By Application (Personal, Professional), By Distribution Channel (Offline, Online), by Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Middle East, and Africa), Analysis and Forecast 2021  2030

Global Electronic Manufacturing Services [EMS] Market Size , Share, and COVID-19 Impact Analysis, By Service Type (Electronics Manufacturing, Engineering Services, Test & Development Implementation, Logistics Services, Others), By Application Type (Computer, Consumer Electronics, Aerospace & Defense, Medical & Healthcare, IT & Telecom, Automotive, Semiconductor Manufacturing, Robotics, Others), By Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Middle East, and Africa), Analysis and Forecast 2021  2030

Global Semiconductor IP Market Size , Share, and COVID-19 Impact Analysis, By Core Type IP (Hard Core, Soft Core) By Design IP (Interface IP, Processor IP, Memory IP, Others) By Source IP (Licensing IP, Royalty IP) By Industry (Consumer Electronics, Automotive, Industrial, IT & Telecommunication, Defence, Others) By Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Middle East, and Africa) Analysis and Forecast 2021  2030

Global 3D Metrology Market Size , Share, and COVID-19 Impact Analysis, By Component (hardware, software, services) By Product Type (Coordinate Measuring Machine, Automated Optical Inspection, Optical Digitizer & Scanner, Video Measuring Machine) By Application (quality control & inspection, virtual simulation, reverse engineering) By End User (electronics, architecture & construction, manufacturing, aerospace & defence, automotive, and others) By Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Middle East, and Africa), Analysis and Forecast 2021  2030FAQs are covered





FAQs Of the Market

How big is the SiC based power electronics and inverter market?

Who are the key players in the SiC based power electronics and inverter market?

What are the segments in the SiC based power electronics and inverter market?

What are the major factors driving SiC based power electronics and inverter market?





About the Spherical Insights

Spherical Insights is a market research and consulting firm which provides actionable market research study, quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight especially designed for decision makers and aids ROI.

Which is catering to different industry such as financial sectors, industrial sectors, government organizations, universities, non-profits and corporations. The company's mission is to work with businesses to achieve business objectives and maintain strategic improvements.

Contact Us:

Company Name: Spherical Insights

Email: sales@sphericalinsights.com

Phone: +1 303 800 4326 (US)

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SURREY, BC / ACCESSWIRE / February 14, 2023 / Gungnir Resources Inc. (TSXV:GUG)(OTCPK:ASWRF) ("Gungnir" or the "Company") announces that it has granted incentive stock options to employees, directors and officers of Gungnir to acquire an aggregate of 2,800,000 common shares at $0.08 per share, for a period of 5 years. These incentive stock options have been granted in accordance with Gungnir's Stock Option Plan.

About Gungnir Resources

Gungnir Resources Inc. is a Canadian-based TSX-V listed mineral exploration company (TSXV:GUG)(OTCPK:ASWRF) with gold and base metal projects in northern Sweden. Gungnir's assets include two nickel-copper-cobalt deposits, Lappvattnet and Rormyrberget, both with updated nickel resources, and the Knaften project which hosts a developing intrusion-hosted gold system, and VMS (zinc-copper) and copper-nickel targets, all of which are open for expansion and further discovery. The Company has also recently added the Hemberget property to its Swedish Property Portfolio which covers an 11 km long gabbro-ultramafic intrusion, a greenfield copper-nickel target. Further information about the Company and its properties may be found at www.gungnirresources.com or at www.sedar.com.

On behalf of the Board,

Jari Paakki, CEO and Director

For further information contact:

Head Office/Corporate Communications

Phone: +1-604-683-0484

Email: corporatecommunications@gungnirresources.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.

Certain statements in this news release may constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws (also known as forward-looking statements). Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, and may cause actual results, performance or achievements or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements or industry results expressed or implied by such forward-looking information.

SOURCE: Gungnir Resources Inc.





View source version on accesswire.com:

https://www.accesswire.com/739379/Gungnir-Announces-Grant-of-Stock-Options




ReportLinker

Prevalence of chronic disorders and growth in strategic developments are among the key forces driving the market. However, the availability of alternative drug delivery devices and inadequate reimbursement scenario hinder the market growth.

New York, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Injection Pen Market Forecast to 2028 - Global Analysis by Type, Therapy, and End User" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06419234/?utm_source=GNW





An injection pen is a medical device used for incorporating medicine under the skin with the help of needle.The product was first used in 1980s.



Injection pen is one of the best alternatives over the daily syringes.At present, injection pens are majorly used for insulin administration.



Sometime injection pens are also referred as insulin pen. These injection pens have surpassed the sales of vials for insulin administration to treat diabetes type 2.



The aging population and changes in social behavior contribute to a few common and costly long-term health problems.According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the prevalence of chronic lifestyle diseases is projected to reach 57% by 2026.



Emerging markets will be hit hardest, as population explosion is expected in developing countries.With the accelerating urbanization, people are more inclined toward sedentary lifestyle, which results in obesity and diabetes.



Diabetes is one of the biggest global health problems of the 21st century.According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), the number of people with diabetes in North America was about 46 million in 2019 and is projected to increase to 62 million by 2045.



The increase in disease prevalence is about 35% over the predicted period. Furthermore, other chronic conditions such as osteoporosis, cardiovascular disorders, and multiple sclerosis require frequent drug administration for treatment and disease management. As per the WHO, cardiovascular disorders are the leading cause of deathnearly 17.9 million deaths are reported every year due to cardiovascular disorders. It has become new standard for injectable drug delivery among large patient population on a global level. Moreover, it can be easily used by the large patient population with minimal training with does not require constant assistance from of healthcare professionals, owing to which injection pens are largely adopted in home healthcare settings, thereby driving its market growth.



Furthermore, the injection pen market is characterized by the presence of various market players.To increase their market share, market players take up various strategies such as product launches, regional expansion, and technological advancements.



Injection pens are more involved in continuous innovation and technological advances, leading to increased acceptance among industry players. Leading players invest in R&D to develop advanced technologies and gain more revenue.



A few recent developments related to injection pen are mentioned below:

 In May 2022, FDA approved Lillys Mounjaro injection, the first and only glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist for the treatment of type 2 diabetes in adults. Mounjaro is available in six doses (2.5 mg, 5 mg, 7.5 mg, 10 mg, 12.5 mg, and 15 mg) and comes in Lillys well-established auto-injector pen with a pre-attached, hidden needle.

 In January 2022, SHL Medicals partnered with Innovation Zed for connected pen injector solutions. It launched InsulCheck DOSE, a connected add-on device that transforms traditional pen injectors into smart solutions to support the monitoring of disease management regimen.

 In November 2021, Sanofi and Roche partnered to work together in France to increase the adoption of a connected add-on for disposable insulin pens. The partners will jointly develop a scientific educational program aimed at physicians and pharmacists.

 In September 2021, BIOCORP and Novo Nordisk strengthened their partnership with a new agreement on Mallya Smart Sensor with Novo Nordisk FlexTouch insulin pens. A smart sensor called Mallya attaches directly to Novo Nordisk FlexTouch insulin pens. With Mallya, patients using FlexTouch pens will be able to capture and record daily insulin injection data, which includes insulin units, as well as date and time of the drug administration. Based on the agreement, Novo Nordisk will be commercializing Mallya in Japan from the first half of 2023.

 In May 2021, Lilly collaborated internationally with leading diabetes technology companies to integrate connected insulin pen solutions for people with diabetes. The company signed strategic international agreements with four companiesDexCom, Inc.; Glooko Inc.; myDiabby Healthcare; and Rocheto advance connected solutions and streamline care for people suffering from diabetes.



Therefore, all the above-mentioned recent developments are driving the growth of injection pen market.



Type-Based Insights

Based on type, the global injection pen market is bifurcated into disposable injection pens and reusable injection pens.In 2021, the disposable injection pen segment held a larger market share and is expected to grow at a higher CAGR during 20222028.



The most commercially available injector systems in the global market are injector pens designed for multiple doses, prefilled syringes, and autoinjectors.For example, through innovative prefilled syringes and injector pens, parenteral medication becomes quite easy and patient friendly because it relieves the patient from the burden of carrying syringes and drug vials intended for either regular/chronic use or emergencies.



Additionally, the applicability of injector pens involves safety and convenience, minimization of medicament, handling and reduction of dosage errors and waste, and improved product sterility and stability.Disposable injection pens are used until the drug cartridge is empty, and then the entire unit is disposed.



In diabetic patients, insulin pens assist in taking insulin more conveniently because it combines the medication and syringe in one handy unit. Certain insulin pens are disposable, so patients can trash the pen once the insulin is injected or expired. These factors are responsible for the significant growth of the segment, thereby fueling the overall market growth during the forecast period



Therapy-Based Insights

Based on therapy, the global injection pen market is segmented as diabetes therapy, growth hormone therapy, autoimmune diseases therapy, fertility therapy, cancer therapy, and Other Therapies.The diabetes therapy segment held the largest share of the market in 2021.



The other therapies segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.Other therapies involve migraine therapy.



Migraine is a neurological condition causing moderate to severe headaches.For instance, migraine is common, affecting 39 million individuals in the US and 1 billion people globally, as per the estimates published in Healthline Media UK Ltd press.



Therefore, with a migraine self-injection pen, an individual can self-administer migraine medication by inserting it into the tissue beneath the skin. These pens on administration can either be preventive, containing medication to reduce the frequency and severity of migraine attacks, or acute attacks that help alleviate migraine headaches. Such notable developments will accelerate the overall demand for self-injection pens among individuals, fueling market growth during the forecast period.



End User-Based Insights

Based on end user, the injection pen market is segmented into hospitals & clinics, home care, and others.The hospitals segment held the largest share of the market in 2021.



The homecare segment is anticipated to register the highest CAGR of 7.4% in the market during the forecast period (20222028). Self-injection pens under homecare settings are an effective way to minimize the costs associated with managing and treating the broad spectrum of diseases. Additionally, self-injection pens are the first choice for new and subcutaneous administration of pharmaceutical agents. Self-injection pens possess the potential to greatly improve the quality of care from the patients perspective. For example, self-injection pens have more flexibility regarding the place and time of treatment, thereby substantially reducing therapy costs. Therefore, medical device companies are developing innovative products for treating a broad spectrum of diseases. For example, BDs self-injection pens provide flexible manufacturing, drug compatibility, seamless integration, and low risks among individuals. These factors are responsible for the segmental growth. Thus, hospitals are contributing a significant share to the market and the trend is expected continue during the forecast period.

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06419234/?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




CHICAGO, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Lateral Flow Assays industry is expected to grow significantly in the near future due to the increasing demand for rapid, portable, and easy-to-use diagnostic tests. Lateral flow assays have already proven to be valuable in a variety of applications, including medical diagnostics, food safety testing, environmental monitoring, and drug testing, among others. Advances in technology and the development of new and more sensitive detection methods are likely to further improve the performance and accuracy of lateral flow assays, making them even more versatile and useful in the years to come.

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Lateral Flow Assays Market in terms of revenue was estimated to be worth $20.5 billion in 2022 and is poised to reach $22.6 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 2.0% from 2022 to 2027 according to a new report by MarketsandMarkets. The increasing demand of lateral flow assays due to increase in prevalence of infectious disease, increasing number of geriatric populations in many countries, and rising use of home-based lateral flow assay devices are the major factors driving the growth of this market. On the other hand, reluctance among doctors and patients to change existing diagnostic procedures and the low accuracy of lateral flow assays are the key restraints.

Download an Illustrative overview: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=167205133

Browse in-depth TOC on "Lateral Flow Assays Market"

366 - Tables

58 - Figures

374 - Pages

Lateral Flow Assays Market Scope:

Report Coverage Details Market Revenue in 2022 $20.5 billion Estimated Value by 2027 $22.6 billion Growth Rate Poised to grow at a CAGR of 2.0% Market Size Available for 20202027 Forecast Period 20222027 Forecast Units Value (USD Billion) Report Coverage Revenue Forecast, Competitive Landscape, Growth Factors, and Trends Segments Covered By Product type, Application type, Technique type, Sample type, End User and Region Geographies Covered North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Latin America Report Highlights Updated financial information / product portfolio of players Key Market Opportunities Omicron, new variant of concern, offers growth opportunities for players in lateral flow assays market Key Market Drivers Growing demand for point-of care testing

In this report, the lateral flow assays market is segmented on the basis of product type, application type, technique type, sample type, end user, and region.

Story continues

"Lateral Flow Readers segment is expected to witness the fastest growth during the forecast period"

Based on product type, the lateral flow assays market is segmented into kits & reagents and lateral flow readers. During the forecast period, this segment is expected to witness the fastest growth during the forecast period. The factors responsible for the growth of this segment are increasing demand of quantitative analysis of clinical sample.

"Veterinary Diagnostics segment accounted for the second largest share of lateral flow assays market in 2021"

Based on applications, the lateral flow assays market is segmented into clinical testing, veterinary diagnostics, food safety & environmental testing, and drug development & quality testing. The veterinary diagnostics segment accounted for the second largest share of the lateral flow assays market in 2021. The possibility of infectious disease outbreaks (particularly in large livestock animals) is driving the demand for lateral flow tests due to their simplicity and rapidity compared to conventional detection methods.

"Multiplex Detection Assays technique is expected to witness the fastest growth during the forecast period"

Based on technique, the lateral flow assay kits & reagents market is segmented into competitive assays, sandwich assays, and multiplex detection assays. The multiplex detection assays technique is expected to witness the fastest growth during the forecast period. The widening scope, applications, and research on multiplex detection assays are expected to boost the growth of this segment in the forecast period.

The lateral flow assays market is segmented into five regions namely North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. Asia-Pacific is the second largest region along with fastest growing region of lateral flow assays market owing to major investments in rapid testing in this region.

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Lateral Flow Assays Market Dynamics:

Drivers:

High prevalence of infectious diseases across the globe Rapidly increasing geriatric population Growing usage of home-based lateral flow assay devices Growing demand for point-of-care testing Need for rapid diagnostic testing for COVID-19

Restraints:

Inconsistent results of lateral flow assay tests

Opportunities:

Evolving applications of lateral flow assays Rising demand for lateral flow assays in the food & beverage industry

a. Omicron  The new variant of concern is an opportunity for the lateral flow assays market

b. Government initiatives for omicron

c. Initiatives of Medical diagnostic companies for omicron

Challenges:

Limited reimbursements for lateral flow assay products Difficulties in procuring quality raw materials for the development of lateral flow assay tests

Key Market Players:

The prominent players in the global lateral flow assays market include Abbott Laboratories (US), Quidel Corporation (US), F. Hoffman-La Roche AG (Switzerland), Danaher Corporation (US), Siemens AG (Germany), BD (US), bioMerieux SA (France), Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. (US), PerkinElmer Inc. (US), Hologic Inc. (US), QIAGEN N.V. (Netherlands), and Merck KGaA (Germany).

Recent Developments:

In October 2022, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. (Switzerland) a next-generation portfolio of SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen test 2.01, SARS-CoV-2 Rapid Antigen Test 2.0 Nasal2, and SARS-CoV-2 Rapid Antigen Test 2.0 Nasal3

In June 2021, Abbott Laboratories (US) received the CE approval for PanBio Rapid Antigen Self-test, opening access throughout Europe to fast, reliable COVID-19 testing

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Lateral Flow Assays Market - Report Highlights:

Refinements in the segments of the lateral flow assays market

The current edition of the report consists of an updated market overview. Additional points in the market overview have been added, keeping in mind the impact of COVID-19 on the overall lateral flow assays market and economic recession impact on lateral flow assays market. Also impact of economic recession on regional market size has been considered in this edition.

Coverage of new market players in the lateral flow assays market

The new edition of the report includes profiles for Oranoxis Inc. (US), AESKU. Diagnostics Gmbh (Germany), Bio Group Medical System (Italy), Pharmact Gmbh (Germany), DIESSE Diagnostica Senese S.P.A (Italy), and Xiamen Biotime Biotechnology Co., Ltd (China).

Updated financial information/product portfolio of players

The new edition of the report provides updated financial information until 2021 for each listed company in a graphical representation as a single diagram (instead of multiple tables). This will easily help analyze the present status of profiled companies in terms of their financial strength, profitability, key revenue-generating country/region, business segment focus in terms of the highest revenue-generating segment, and R&D investments.

Updated market developments of profiled players

Recent developments are important to understand market trends and the growth strategies adopted by players. The current edition of this report provides updated developments of profiled players from January 2019 to December 2022, indicating a continuation from the previous version. Product/services launches, approvals, and upgrades, expansions, acquisitions, agreements, partnerships, and collaborations were the principal growth strategies adopted by market players in this period.

Browse Adjacent Market: Medical Devices Market Research Reports & Consulting

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Immunoassay Market - Global Forecasts to 2027

Veterinary Infectious Disease Diagnostics Market - Global Forecasts to 2026

Over The Counter Test Market - Global Forecasts to 2024

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Press Release

February 13, 2023 TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEW - SENATOR FRANCIS 'TOL' N. TOLENTINO

13 February 2023 | ONE NEWS PH

THE CHIEFS with Mr. Ed Lingao, Mr. Roby Alampay, and Ms. Amy Pamintuan ON THE PROPOSED VFA WITH JAPAN AND OTHER EXISTING DEFENSE AGREEMENTS [Interviewer] [Senator Francis N. Tolentino]

Well, the very purpose of a VFA or any security agreement for that matter is to promote peace, not to incite war or aggression. So, the purpose is to have regional security and peace within our region. So I don't think it will amount to an act of titillating the other side that what the Philippines is doing is near aggression, but if you consider the background of this, there is an existing VFA with the United States, there is an existing VFA with Australia. So, it's a done agreement, so to speak. I don't think it should be seen as a "harnessing the drums of war," but I think it should be seen as, in the context of promoting safety and stability in the region, maintaining balance of power, etcetera, etcetera. [Interviewer] [Senator Francis N. Tolentino]

Yes, which we have forgotten dahil nalabas lang iyan SOVFA [Interviewer] [Senator Francis N. Tolentino] Yes, yes. But you cannot say that to defuse the tension is to do nothing, to defuse the tension would mean that either you do not do anything or you do something that would positively defuse the tension. So, whatever perception the other side has, what matters is our national interest. So, this is circuitous but then again, the main purpose of this and the previous agreements and the existing agreements would be to promote safety and stability in the region. [Interviewer] [Senator Francis N. Tolentino]

It matters to us because we lack the capacity, we lack the resources, we lack the inaudible to deal with our current problems relative to the West Philippine Sea, we lack the resources in dealing with - in confronting calamities, disaster, etcetera, etcetera. So, when you talk of resources, when you talk of global actions, I think it will come to that point that what we lack, others can provide and what others provide can either increase tensions or can, as I have said, promote stability in the region. Look at what happened? [Interviewer] [Senator Francis N. Tolentino]

It's - the VFA should not be - our VFA with Australia and the proposed VFA with Japan should not be read with DMT of 1951 as the backdrop. So, mutuality, there is none of our concern. So, what is relevant in the proposed VFA, although we have yet to read--probably it would be similar to the Australia VFA--is the joint training exercises, which can be conducted in the Philippines, which can be conducted in Canberra, as well as the transfer of technology, transfer of equipment, and the utilization of their forces when it comes to disasters. [Interviewer] [Senator Francis N. Tolentino]

I don't think so because as early as 2011, the government of the Philippines, the government of Japan already signed a joint statement concerning the comprehensive promotion of strategic partnership and it led to the delivery of two or three aircrafts coming from the Japanese Self-Defense Forces. So, it's ongoing since 2011, that's been 12 years ago and then there was another joint statement I think that was signed. So, these are - these things are happening for the last 12 years and incrementally it fosters the mutual intention of both countries to secure peace in the region. So, we disregard first the current tension between Japan and China in the Senkaku Island area but for us, I think the collaborative efforts would not just lead to military exercise, but it would even lead to information exchange, capacity building, and maritime security, and a lot of other things. So, I think what we lack, others can provide. As simple as that. Provided by other friends. ON THE LATEST PROVOCATIVE ACTION BY THE CHINA COAST GUARD IN AYUNGIN SHOAL [Interviewer] [Senator Francis N. Tolentino]

Some would consider this as 'razo' coercive activities, some would consider this as bullying, some would consider this as a symbol of our inability to assume an asymmetric stance. So, all of these, taken together, is a diminution of our sovereignty. Hindi ba nakakahiya na paulit ulit nalang iyan? So, again, last year I proposed joint patrols. Again, with France helping us, with our allies providing us equipment, with allies providing us the necessary inaudible, I think there's nothing wrong. Do you think China would do that if there is a joint delivery of food supply going to Ayungin Shoal to replenish the food stocks of our soldiers billeted in the BRP Sierra Madre? Do you think the Chinese Coast Guard would do that? I don't think so. If we're aided by a Japanese vessel, or a US vessel, or Australian vessel. So, it boils down to that. There are some things we lack and we cannot provide because of lack of resources. So, again, it highlights the need for that incident--that February 06 incident in Ayungin Shoal. It highlights the need for more collaborative efforts with our allies. [Interviewer] [Senator Francis N. Tolentino]

That's part of the joint patrol. Do you remember that the coast guard was just there to assist the Navy supplying? So, if another coast guard, part of the joint patrol in an agreement to be formulated, would join us I think it will lessen that and even allow fishermen near Bajo de Masinloc to fish freely and it will likewise show the good faith of the Chinese Coast Guard and militia if they allow that. It now promotes a status quo bordering on, 'friendship,' open lines of communication, etcetera, etcetera. [Interviewer] [Senator Francis N. Tolentino]

The response would be coming from the diplomatic front: the protest, etcetera, etcetera, lines of communication with - I don't think we can reach the commander of the southern theater in command of the Chinese military. So, these are done in diplomatic political circles but the reaction of our troops probably can be termed as correct. It's not a reaction of cowardice, but it's a natural reaction coming from a coast guard delivering - assisting the delivery of food supply. So, it was a humanitarian mission although the act of aggression of the other side can be documented, can be termed as more than hostile, we leave that to, at this point, to the diplomatic arm of our government. So, again, although there is another security arrangement called quad in another area which involves India. So, it just shows the need for cooperation among allies to have regional security. Ano pa ba yung gusto nating hingiin? Ito na nga iyon e, hindi natin kaya mag-isa. [Interviewer] [Senator Francis N. Tolentino]

We leave that to the discretion of our Coast Guard or Naval Commander. They're well-trained for how to react. [Interviewer] [Senator Francis N. Tolentino]

Yes, yes, yes. It's part of the bullying. It's similar to the cutting of the rope, which I exposed months ago. [Interviewer] [Senator Francis N. Tolentino]

Unless you would want to have a reciprocal reaction, which admittedly while we can do perhaps might not be that sustainable. [Interviewer] [Senator Francis N. Tolentino]

We still expect a lot of things, similar to this, that will happen in the future. [Interviewer] [Senator Francis N. Tolentino]

Well it's out there in the open. I was the one, modesty aside, I was the one who proposed joint patrols involving not just the Philippine and US Coast Guards but all Coast Guards with similar intention of securing peace, stability in the region. So, with the VFA of Australia in existence, there's no question with that, US no question with that. The forthcoming VFA with Japan, I think the four leaders can just sit down and sign an agreement or communicate, joint statement that we're doing this to secure peace and stability in the region. But there's - I mean even if there's no statement as long as that agreements are in place, it can be done. ON THE CHARTER CHANGE [Interviewer] [Senator Francis N. Tolentino]

Well, theoretically and constitutionally, Congress can act independently and should act independently. So, we heard a while ago that the Chair of the House on Constitutional Amendments Committee, Congressman Rodriguez, will push the pen, pencil so to speak, in having his committee come up with a committee report. I don't know about the Senate the counterpart, what the thinking of the Senate Committee on Constitutional Amendments. But again, for the Executive, it's a matter of priority, we respect the decision. So, we leave that to the members, to the majority both in the House and the Senate on how they will react and show respect to the Presidential inclination. [Interviewer] [Senator Francis N. Tolentino]

But I doubt if it is still federalism that they are thinking of right now. So, let's see, let's see. I'm not the chairman of the Constitutional Revision Committee so I think they will sit down together and deliberate on this objectively.
The Brainy Insights

The increasing demand for renewable energy sources will propel the growth of the lithium-ion battery market in the upcoming years. The technological advancements and lucrative opportunities offered by the global electric vehicles market have prompted several market players to enter in lithium-ion battery industry.

Newark, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The brainy Insights estimates that the USD 45.67 billion in 2022 lithium-ion battery market will reach USD 200.73 billion by 2030. Government policies have changed to become more sustainable and environment-friendly in response to growing concerns about climate change. However, the need for energy is growing at the same rate as worries about climate change. It is projected that global energy consumption will increase as developing nations industrialize. Smart power networks are being built along with the growing adoption of renewable energy sources for electricity production to combat climate change and satisfy growing energy demands. The growing adoption of renewable energy sources to combat climate change will augment the lithium-ion battery market as it is used as an energy storage system in these energy sources.



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Key Insight of the Lithium-ion battery Market



Asia Pacific to account for the largest market size during the forecast period.



Asia Pacific is expected to have the largest market share in the lithium-ion battery market. China will dominate the Asia Pacific lithium-ion battery market. China is the world's largest manufacturer and consumer of electric vehicles, which explains the area's dominance in the market. China and India are two of the world's biggest polluters, and they bear a heavy burden in halting climate change by lowering their carbon emissions. The government's measures to boost consumer demand and manufacturing of electric vehicles through subsidies and incentives are doing well for the local market. Similarly, the regional lithium-ion battery market will be driven by the increased push toward constructing renewable energy infrastructure. A potential consumer market for electronics and electric cars exists due to the region's large population and expanding economy. Technology advancements in the Chinese and Japanese sectors will drive the regional lithium-ion battery industry.



Story continues

The consumer electronics segment is expected to augment the lithium-ion battery market during the forecast period.



The application segment is divided into consumer electronics, energy storage systems, medical devices, automobile, industrial, telecommunications, aerospace, marine and others. The consumer electronics segment dominated the market with a revenue share of around 39% in 2022.



The lithium cobalt oxide segment market size is 15.07 billion in 2022



The type segment is divided into lithium cobalt oxide, lithium manganese oxide, lithium titanate oxide, lithium iron phosphate, lithium nickel cobalt aluminium oxide, lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide, and others. The lithium cobalt oxide segment dominated the market with a market share of around 33% in 2022.



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Advancement in market



October 2022 - ASPILSAN started lithium-ion battery cell mass production. The Turkish Armed Forces Foundation subsidiary ASPILSAN Energy has declared that mass production of the lithium-ion rechargeable cell had begun in its Kayseri production facilities. ASPLSAN Energy anticipates producing about 22 million batteries annually with a total capacity of 220 megawatt-hours, given its ownership of the first cylindrical lithium-ion battery factory in Europe. The Turkish government provided ASPILSAN with incentives under the "Project-Based Incentive Support System" (PBIS), announced in the Official Gazette dated August 6, 2021. The PBIS Regime, unveiled in 2016 and implemented in 2018, offered incentives to businesses operating in strategic areas totalling more than USD 100 billion. Along with social security premiums, income tax withholding support, and energy support aids, the system provides exemptions from customs duties, VAT, and corporate taxes.



Market Dynamics



Driver: The increasing push towards developing renewable energy sources



Fossil fuels drive industrialization and urbanization in the 19th and 20th centuries. Fossil fuels have become scarce due to irresponsible exploitation, given their finite supply and non-renewable nature. Global warming results from the excessive and widespread use of fossil fuels. The overexploitation of fossil fuels led to global warming. Flash floods, heat waves, and frequent storms are all signs of the effects of global warming. There is a need to mitigate or reduce the temperature rise to avert the climate change crisis by promoting renewable energy sources. National governments worldwide are putting a greater emphasis on green development and providing significant money for producing renewable energy sources. Wind and solar energy both use energy storage systems based on lithium-ion batteries. Equipment powered by solar, wind, and lithium-ion batteries power other renewable energy sources. Therefore, the market for lithium-ion batteries will benefit greatly from a global move toward renewable energy sources.



Restraint: Overheating of batteries can cause fires



The lithium-ion batteries are complexly constructed pieces of machinery. When they are overworked or overheated, they are prone to catching fire. When their production process is not carried out with the utmost care, they are also more likely to catch fire, which could result in serious manufacturing anomalies. Lithium-ion batteries must be stored in dry, shaded areas because they cannot withstand high temperatures. These safety precautions are occasionally disregarded because of carelessness, which results in fires. Lithium-ion battery fires are now often reported on by news outlets. Negative media coverage damages a product's reputation and reduces its adoption rate. Therefore, the market's expansion will be constrained by the rising number of lithium-ion battery fires.



Opportunities: The increasing production and consumption of electric vehicles



Over the past few decades, the population's expanding disposable income has fuelled an increase in the desire for automobiles. Fossil fuels power the majority of conventional cars sold worldwide. However, they pollute the environment because they produce greenhouse gases or harmful fumes. These gases have a considerable impact on global warming, causing a climate change crisis. The closest alternative to traditional automobiles is the electric vehicle. The demand for electric vehicles has surged over the past few years as public awareness of climate change has expanded. Similarly, government programmes that support the creation and use of electric vehicles through subsidies and incentives are growing their market. As a result, the growing demand for electric vehicles will offer lucrative opportunities for the worldwide lithium-ion battery industry.



Challenge: Negative environmental effects associated with the disposal of lithium-ion batteries



Various chemicals or acids are used to produce or assemble lithium-ion batteries. They have unfavourable environmental effects because of their cobalt, nickel, and manganese content. Batteries no longer in use must be properly disposed of to prevent any harm to people or the environment. Batteries that are disposed of carelessly have the risk of catching fire, which can sometimes result in damage to property or fatalities. These batteries' detrimental effects on the environment have raised scrutiny and surveillance, which will limit market expansion.



Some of the major players operating in the lithium-ion battery market are:



 Automotive Energy Supply Corporation

 BAK Power

 BYD Company Ltd.

 Clarios

 Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd.

 Hitachi

 LG Chem

 Panasonic Corporation

 Samsung SDI Co. Ltd.

 Toshiba Corporation



Key Segments cover in the market:



By Application



 Consumer Electronics

 Energy Storage Systems

 Medical Devices

 Automobile

 Industrial

 Telecommunications

 Aerospace

 Marine

 Others



By Type



 Lithium Cobalt Oxide

 Lithium Manganese Oxide

 Lithium Titanate Oxide

 Lithium Iron Phosphate

 Lithium Nickel Cobalt Aluminium Oxide

 Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide

 Others



By Region



 North America (U.S., Canada, Mexico)

 Europe (Germany, France, the U.K., Italy, Spain, Rest of Europe)

 Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, India, Rest of APAC)

 South America (Brazil and the Rest of South America)

 The Middle East and Africa (UAE, South Africa, Rest of MEA)



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About the report:



The market is analyzed based on value (USD Billion). All the segments have been analyzed worldwide, regional, and country basis. The study includes the analysis of more than 30 countries for each part. The report analyzes driving factors, opportunities, restraints, and challenges for gaining critical insight into the market. The study includes porter's five forces model, attractiveness analysis, Product analysis, supply, and demand analysis, competitor position grid analysis, distribution, and marketing channels analysis.



About The Brainy Insights:



The Brainy Insights is a market research company, aimed at providing actionable insights through data analytics to companies to improve their business acumen. We have a robust forecasting and estimation model to meet the clients' objectives of high-quality output within a short span of time. We provide both customized (clients' specific) and syndicate reports. Our repository of syndicate reports is diverse across all the categories and sub-categories across domains. Our customized solutions are tailored to meet the clients' requirement whether they are looking to expand or planning to launch a new product in the global market.



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NEWARK, DE / ACCESSWIRE / February 14, 2023 / The Middle East and Africa (EMEA) retail glass packaging market is predicted to be worth US$ 10.1 billion in 2023, and rise to US$ 14.8 billion by 2032.

Retail glass packaging is expected to be in high demand in EMEA as consumers' preferences for eco-friendly, health & wellness, enticing, and affordable packaging options grow. Recently, companies actively developed unique retail glass packaging solutions while collaborating closely with their customers and industrial suppliers.

By compiling information on consumer trends and preferences, businesses may design packaging that is specially tailored to the requirements of their target customers. In established regions like Europe, the luxury packaging market is primarily driven by the volume of launches in the food, beverage, and alcohol industries.

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Glass dominates the market for luxury packaging among all other material types, with a market share of more than 50%. The retail glass packaging sectors in EMEA are seriously threatened by the plastic and metal packaging industries.

In the food and beverage sector, glass packaging has suffered a reduction in market share, but it still has advantages over alternative materials. Key causes of this loss include the high cost of production, heavyweight, and fragility of glass containers.

Key Takeaways

Demand for retail glass packaging in Europe is expected to increase at a CAGR of 4.1% during the projected period.

Demand for retail glass packaging in MEA is expected to increase at a CAGR of 6.2% during the projected period.

By 2032, the United Kingdom is likely to dominate the Europe retail glass packaging market, with a CAGR of 5.3%.

The adoption of retail glass packaging in Europe increased at a 2% CAGR between 2018 and 2022, citing FMI's study.

The adoption of retail glass packaging in MEA increased at a 2.7% CAGR between 2018 and 2022, citing FMI's study.

Poland's retail glass packaging market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 4.9% by 2032.

Based on packaging format, the bottle segment is likely to lead the Europe market with a CAGR of 5% by 2032.

Based on end use, the personal care & cosmetics segment is expected to dominate the Europe retail glass packaging with a CAGR of 6.2% by 2032.

Europe offers an incremental opportunity worth US$ 4,111.1 million between 2022 and 2032, while MEA has an incremental opportunity worth US$ 1,561.0 million.

Story continues

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Competitors Utilizing Their Potential For Improved Market Share

The EMEA retail glass packaging market is predicted to experience significant start-up growth over the projection period. The primary factors causing the rise are the demand for high-quality and safe packaging, rising disposable incomes, and an expanding retail industry.

Due to the initiatives taken by various governments to promote the use of sustainable packaging materials, the industry expanded further. The growing popularity of e-commerce presents new opportunities for the EMEA retail glass packaging sector.

In order to expedite the plastic modeling process, manufacturers have upgraded their production techniques using 3D printing technology, which is boosting the market. Many companies are utilizing research and development to enhance 3D printing in order to make glass containers appealing.

Recent Developments

PepsiCo's product line includes a wide range of delicious meals and drinks, including a variety of illustrious brands with expected annual retail sales of more than $1 billion apiece.

Beginning in May 2022, the Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) brands Fuze Tea, Tropico, Sprite, Fanta, and Minute Maid are sold in France. They come in a standard 250 ml bottle that may be used in hotels, restaurants, and cafes-returned, cleaned, and replenished.

Future Market Insights, Inc., Tuesday, February 14, 2023, Press release picture

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Key Segments

By Packaging Formats:

Bottles

Jars

Vials

Ampoules

Syringes

Cartridges

Others

By Grade:

Type I

Type II

Type III

Type IV

By Capacity:

Up to 50 ml

51 to 250 ml

251 to 750 ml

Above 750 ml

By End Use:

Food

Beverages

Personal Care & Cosmetics

Table of Content

1. Executive Summary | Europe and the Middle East and Africa Retail Glass Packaging Market

1.1. Market Outlook

1.2. Market Analysis

1.3. Analysis and Recommendations

2. Market Overview

2.1. Market Coverage / Taxonomy

2.2. Market Definition / Scope / Limitations

3. Key Market Trends

3.1. Key Trends Impacting the Market

3.2. Product Innovation / Development Trends

4. Key Success Factors

4.1. Product Adoption / Usage Analysis

4.2. Product USPs / Features

4.3. Strategic Promotional Strategies

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About the Packaging Division at Future Market Insights

The packaging division at Future Market Insights provides an in-depth historical analysis and projections for the next ten years and covers the competitive landscape through a unique dashboard view. Ranging from packaging materials, and packaging machinery to packaging designs & formats, Future Market Insights has an exhaustive database for these industry verticals, serving clients with unique research offerings and strategic recommendations. With a repository of 1,000+ reports, the team has analysed the packaging industry comprehensively in 50+ countries. The team evaluates every node of the value chain and provides end-to-end research and consulting services; reach out to explore how we can help.

Explore Research-Related Reports of Packaging:

Retail Glass Packaging Market Size: Retail Glass Packaging Market by End-Use Industries, Type, Type of Glass & Region - Forecast 2022 - 2032

Retail E-Commerce Packaging Market Share: Retail E-Commerce Packaging Market by Product Type (Boxes, Mailers, Labels), Merchandise (Recreation Goods, Multimedia & Software, Food & Beverages), Market (Brick & Mortar Retailers, Specialty Retailers) and Region for 2022-2027

Glass Container Market Trends: Glass Containers Market By Product Type, By Color, By End-use Industry & Regional | Forecast 2023 to 2033

Glass Pasteur Pipettes Market Analysis: Global Industry Analysis 2015 - 2019 and Opportunity Assessment 2020 - 2030

Cross-Belt Sorters Market Outlook: Cross-Belt Sorters Market by Capacity Per Hour, End Use Industry, Orientation & Region | Forecast 2023 to 2033

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Future Market Insights, Inc. is an ESOMAR-certified business consulting & market research firm, a member of the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce and is headquartered in Delaware, USA. A recipient of Clutch Leaders Award 2022 on account of high client score (4.9/5), we have been collaborating with global enterprises in their business transformation journey and helping them deliver on their business ambitions. 80% of the largest Forbes 1000 enterprises are our clients. We serve global clients across all leading & niche market segments across all major industries.

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TORONTO, Feb. 14, 2023 /CNW/ - IDP Education is announcing a new partnership that will help international students in Canada gain access to trusted and licensed immigration advice.

IDP Education (Canada) Ltd. (CNW Group/IDP Education Canada)

The service, delivered by leading immigration consultants and lawyers VisaPlace and WooW Canada Immigration, will help students understand requirements and prepare applications for permanent residency and other visa categories.

Robert Raposo, Area Director, Canada and Latin America at IDP, said the new service is launching in response to international student feedback and the need for trusted, qualified advisors.

"International students have told us they aspire to call Canada their home but were looking for qualified people they could trust to navigate the migration process," Mr. Raposo said.

"Many students were worried about how to correctly navigate the process, which added to their anxiety as they undertook this life-changing journey.

"The consultants and lawyers we partnered with in this new service, VisaPlace and WooW Canada Migration, are highly trusted expert organisations.

"VisaPlace and WooW will also present free webinars and briefings so our customers can fully understand the immigration process and take their next steps with confidence and clarity," Mr. Raposo added.

The new service comes as Canada's attractiveness as a study destination continues to grow.

According to Emerging Futures 2, research released by IDP Connect in October 2022, Canada is the most popular destination for international students.

"All around the world, IDP students choose to study in Canada for its quality of education, favourable employment outcomes and welcoming policies," Mr. Raposo said.

"Our role at IDP is to help students thrive in their education journey, so they are well connected to their new community and can become global ambassadors for both their home country and Canada," he said.

The immigration service is now available through offices in Toronto, Vaughan and Vancouver, and Canada-wide through online consultations. This new service complements IDP Canada's current local education counselling and extends the support IDP offers to students once they arrive in Canada.

Story continues

For more information visit: www.idp.com/canada

About IDP Education:

IDP is a leader in global education services. As an Australian-listed company, we have operations in 65 countries and our websites attract 100 million visits a year.

We specialise in combining human expertise with our leading digital platform to help people get accepted into their ideal course, take an English language test or learn English in our schools.

Our teams are side by side with our customers every day, at every step, from course search through to starting their dream course or career.

Our data insights are relied upon by organisations around the world to help ensure decisions are informed by the diverse needs, challenges and motivations of students.

Most of all, we are proud of our people. It is our trusted people and processes which help our customers turn their study or English goals into a launchpad for their careers.

About VisaPlace:

VisaPlace has been helping students and their families from all over the world with their immigration needs for the past 25 years. Winner of numerous awards and featured on many news outlets, they are proud of their history in helping international students in their journey towards obtaining visas and immigration to Canada and the USA. Using the latest technology, all of their cases are expertly handled by trained and experienced immigration professionals who work to provide the best and most efficient immigration services available. Their "one stop shop" makes it easy to provide accurate and easily understandable information and guidance for every type of immigration service.

About WooW:

Since 2012, WooW Canada Immigration has been on a mission to help their clients succeed in Canada through long-lasting relationships, helping each client at every step of their immigration journey, from visa applications to applying for permanent residency. WooW's clients have found success thanks to its unique approach that combines credentials assessment with personalised immigration solutions road mapping to deliver a customised strategy to meet each individual customer's goals. Further benefiting its clients is Woow's dedication to professional development, ensuring its agents are fully knowledgeable of the latest in their field, boosting the likelihood of a positive application outcome for their clients. All this, coupled with their relentless drive to fight for their clients has made WooW a Top Choice immigration consulting firm award winner.

SOURCE IDP Education Canada

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WILMINGTON, DE / ACCESSWIRE / February 14, 2023 / Transparency Market Research Inc. - The global mono cartons market size stood at US$ 723.1 Mn in 2022 and projected to expand at a CAGR of 4.4% between 2023 and 2031 to reach US$ 1.0 Bn by 2031. The global mono cartons market is anticipated to be driven by rise in demand in end-use industries such as food & beverage, cosmetics & personal care, pharmaceuticals, consumer goods, and electronics.

Transparency Market Research inc., Tuesday, February 14, 2023, Press release picture

Advent of several highly advanced printing technologies and increase in demand for eco-friendly packaging options are anticipated to fuel industry growth in the next few years. Mono cartons are elegant, lightweight, and aesthetically pleasing packaging solutions. These cartons provide the right degree of customization, protection, and cost-efficiency. Growth of the mono cartons industry is driven by the expanding FMCG and retail sectors.

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Mono cartons are utilized to pack things in a small space.These have a range of applications in end-use sectors, such as cosmetics & personal care, electronics, food & beverage, and consumer products, and are extremely flexible. Increase in demand for customizable, practical, and environmentally-friendly packaging solutions is expected to create business opportunities in the global industry.

According to TMR's market report, advent of nanotechnology has led to thin barrier coatings on mono cartons, which is projected to drive market expansion. Mono cartons with barrier coatings are extensively utilized in the food industry to avoid contamination of food items such as frozen and chilled food products. Technological advancements in the production of sustainable goods with recyclable features are likely to propel market development between 2023 and 2021.

Key Findings of Market Report

Food & beverage is one of the rapidly growing industries globally. As the intake of ready-to-make and ready-to-eat food increases, so does the need for food products. Mono cartons are likely to observe significant growth prospects due to increase in demand for packaged food products. Demand for mono cartons has increased due to rise in consumption of preserved food products.

Demand for packaging that is aesthetically pleasing has increased in the past five years. Several brands are focusing on innovative and creative packaging to draw more consumers. Several firms are focusing on strengthening brand identities using artistic and innovative packaging due to high market competition. Increase in popularity of litho-laminated mono cartons across various end-use industries is anticipated to drive business growth in the near future. The industry is anticipated to expand as customizable, embossing, and flexography printing on mono cartons become more popular.

Pharmaceutical companies frequently employ Braille packages. Braille characters are engraved on these cartons. For persons who are visually impaired, Braille cartons are developed particularly to make sure that they receive the relevant product information. Development of the healthcare system for the visually impaired persons is a priority for several governments in developing countries. Therefore, increase in demand for Braille cartons in medical packaging is likely to increase market size.

Story continues

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Global Mono Cartons Market: Growth Drivers

The consumer-packed goods (CPG) or fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry has shown steady expansion in the past ten years. Rise in demand for consumer goods has led to surge in sales of mono cartons in the FMCG industry. Mono cartons are a common packaging choice for cosmetics, household goods, electronics, personal care items, toiletries, and various packaged food items. FMCG sales are driven by growing consumer preference for retail shopping as a sociable and leisurely activity. Demand for consumer products is projected to rise due to population expansion, shift in living standards among consumers in developing countries, and rise in disposable income. These factors are likely to drive business growth.

Increase in restrictions on the use of plastic is expected to boost demand for paper packaging alternatives. Consumers are choosing environmentally-friendly paper packaging options. Manufacturers have created and implemented paper packaging solutions due to evolving market conditions and consumer demand. Paperboard or paper is used to make mono cartons. Globally, people are gradually becoming more impressed with these recyclable containers.

Global Mono Cartons Market: Regional Landscape

Asia Pacific is anticipated to lead the global market during the forecast period. The market in the region is expected to grow at a CAGR of 35% between 2023 and 2021. Expansion of retail outlets and supermarkets is likely to bolster the market in Asia Pacific.

Global Mono Cartons Market: Key Players

Some of the key market players are

Dunapack Spremberg GmbH & Co. K G

The Walsall Box Co.

Golden West Packaging Group

Industrial Packaging Co.

Georgia-Pacific LL.

Great Little Box Company Ltd.

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Global Mono Cartons Market: Segmentation

Coating

Coated

Uncoated

End-use

Food & Beverages

Electronics & Electricals

Pharmaceuticals

Personal Care & Cosmetics

Consumer Goods

Automotive

Regions

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Middle East & Africa

Latin America

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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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OTTAWA, ON, Feb. 14, 2023 /CNW/ - With Rare Disease Day fast approaching, the federal government has an opportunity to make a significant difference in the lives of the one in 12 Canadians who suffer from a rare disease by delivering on its long-awaited national strategy for rare diseases.

Innovative Medicines Canada Logo (CNW Group/Innovative Medicines Canada)

Despite the federal government's 2019 commitment to support Canada's first-ever national strategy for rare diseases, patients are still waiting for that strategy to materialize. Action is urgently needed to make a tangible difference in the lives of patients and their loved ones.

Currently, only 60 per cent of rare disease treatments available make it into Canada, and most get approved up to six years later than in the U.S. or Europe, according to the Canadian Organization for Rare Disorders (CORD). Canada is the only G7 country without an existing national approach to rare diseases.

A comprehensive Canadian rare disease strategy should include an accelerated drug review, approval and access pathway, a standard definition for what constitutes a 'rare disease' in line with our international peers, the use of real-world data, and rare disease centres of excellence. These elements within a national strategy would help address the persistent gaps and challenges across the country in diagnosing, monitoring, and treating rare disease patients in an efficient and effective way.

Innovative Medicines Canada is committed to working with governments and other health stakeholders to ensure a national rare disease strategy makes a real difference in patients' lives.

About Innovative Medicines Canada

Innovative Medicines Canada is the national association representing the voice of Canada's innovative pharmaceutical industry. The association advocates for policies that enable the discovery, development, and delivery of innovative medicines and vaccines to improve the lives of all Canadians and supports the members' commitment to being a valued partner in the Canadian healthcare system. The association represents 50 companies who invest nearly $1.4 billion in R&D annually, fueling Canada's knowledge-based economy, while contributing $8 billion to Canada's economy. Guided by the Code of Ethical Practices, all members work with governments, private payers, healthcare professionals, and stakeholders in a highly ethical manner.

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SOURCE Innovative Medicines Canada

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VANCOUVER, BC, Feb. 14, 2023 /CNW/ - Nevada Sunrise Metals Corp. ("Nevada Sunrise", or the "Company") (TSXV: NEV) (OTC: NVSGF) is pleased to announce the acquisition by staking of the Badlands Lithium Project ("Badlands" or the "Project") located in the Lida Valley, Esmeralda County, Nevada. Badlands consists of 54 unpatented claims on Bureau of Land Management land totaling approximately 1,080 acres (437 hectares) and lies roughly halfway between the Company's Gemini and Jackson Wash Lithium projects.

Badlands was staked by Nevada Sunrise in 2022 following the new lithium discovery made by the Company at Gemini and was not announced at the time of its acquisition due to the onset of competitive staking in the Lida Valley. The general topography of the Project is reminiscent of the TLC lithium property in Nye County, which led to a surface investigation by Nevada Sunrise in March 2022. Samples were collected in a reconnaissance prospecting program, from which six outcrop samples were randomly selected for analysis and subsequently returned anomalous values of lithium ranging from 70.0 parts per million ("ppm") to 165.8 ppm lithium.

Lida Valley Area Properties (CNW Group/Nevada Sunrise Metals Corporation)

Surface Sampling at Badlands March 2022 (CNW Group/Nevada Sunrise Metals Corporation)

The Badlands property is underlain by flat-lying tan-colored beds of weakly lithified bedded clay, silt and gravel. The sediments are primarily composed of air-fall tuffs interbedded with thin-bedded clastic alluvial deposits. Weathering and erosion have sculpted the area into a "badlands"-style topography, featuring eroded ravines, gullies and hoodoos. The maximum exposed thickness of the volcanic ash beds and alluvium is approximately 20 feet (6.1 metres). Drilling will be required to determine the total thickness of the deposits. Judging by the flat dips and weak induration it has been inferred by previous investigations that these deposits of volcanic ash beds and alluvium are Pleistocene-aged or younger. They appear to be dissected playa deposits like those found in the Clayton Valley and other playas in Esmeralda County and Nye County.

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Badlands Lithium Project, looking northwest to the Montezuma Range (CNW Group/Nevada Sunrise Metals Corporation)

Exploration Plans for 2023

Nevada Sunrise intends to carry out a more comprehensive sampling program at Badlands in 2023, which may include the use of a "backpack" prospecting drill to collect small-core samples to a depth of several metres from surface. The goal of further work at the Project is to determine if lithium values increase with depth and if so, positive results from the proposed prospecting program could provide the foundation for a systematic conventional drilling program.

Sampling and Analytical QA/QC and Statement of Qualified Person

Surface Sample Collection and Analysis

Outcrop samples described in this new release averaged approximately 0.24 kilograms each. The samples were submitted to American Assay in Reno, NV, and were analyzed utilizing a multi-element ICP-AES method. Specifically, the analytical method involves aqua regia digestion of the sample followed by the inductively coupled plasma (ICP) technique to ionize the sample, and atomic emission spectrometry (AES) to determine elemental concentrations. Duplicates, field blanks, and certified reference standards were inserted at regular intervals in the sample stream to ensure accuracy of the analytical method.

The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Robert M. Allender, Jr., CPG, RG, SME and a Qualified Person for Nevada Sunrise as defined in National Instrument 43-101  Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

Status of Warrants Exercised

Nevada Sunrise is pleased to announce that a total of 1,154,700 common share purchase warrants with an expiry date of February 12, 2023 and an exercise price of CAD$0.16 were exercised in 2022-2023 by the warrant holders, with total proceeds to the Company of $184,752.

About Nevada Sunrise

Nevada Sunrise is a junior mineral exploration company with a strong technical team based in Vancouver, BC, Canada, that holds interests in lithium, gold, copper, and cobalt exploration projects located in the State of Nevada, USA.

Nevada Sunrise owns 100% interests in the Gemini, Jackson Wash and Badlands lithium projects, all of which are located in the Lida Valley in Esmeralda County, NV. The Company owns Nevada water right Permit 86863, also located in the Lida Valley basin, near Lida, NV.

The Company's key gold asset is a 20.01% interest in a joint venture at the Kinsley Mountain Gold Project near Wendover, NV with Copaur Minerals Inc. Kinsley Mountain is a Carlin-style gold project hosting a National Instrument 43-101 compliant gold resource consisting of 418,000 indicated ounces of gold grading 2.63 g/t Au (4.95 million tonnes), and 117,000 inferred ounces of gold averaging 1.51 g/t Au (2.44 million tonnes), at cut-off grades ranging from 0.2 to 2.0 g/t Au 1.



1 Technical Report on the Kinsley Project, Elko County, Nevada, U.S.A., dated June 21, 2021 with an effective date of May 5, 2021 and prepared by Michael M. Gustin, Ph.D., and Gary L. Simmons, MMSA and filed under New Placer Dome Gold Corp.'s Issuer Profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com).

Nevada Sunrise has the right to earn a 100% interest in the Coronado VMS Project, located approximately 48 kilometers (30 miles) southeast of Winnemucca, NV. The Company owns a 15% interest in the historic Lovelock Cobalt Mine and the Treasure Box copper properties, each located approximately 150 kilometers (100 miles) east of Reno, NV, with Global Energy Metals Corp. holding an 85% participating interest.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This release may contain forwardlooking statements. Forward looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur and include disclosure of anticipated exploration activities. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forwardlooking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in forward looking statements. Forwardlooking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date such statements were made. The Company expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forwardlooking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Such factors include, among others, risks related to the results and outcomes of the Company's 2022-2023 exploration at the Badlands Lithium Project; reliance on technical information provided by third parties on any of our exploration properties; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; current economic conditions; future prices of commodities; possible variations in grade or recovery rates; failure of equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; the failure of contracted parties to perform; labor disputes and other risks of the mining industry; delays due to pandemic; delays in obtaining governmental approvals, financing or in the completion of exploration, as well as those factors discussed in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in the Company's Management Discussion and Analysis for the Year Ended September 30, 2022, which is available under Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com .

Although Nevada Sunrise has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Nevada Sunrise disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Nevada Sunrise Metals Corporation logo (CNW Group/Nevada Sunrise Metals Corporation)

SOURCE Nevada Sunrise Metals Corporation

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VANCOUVER, BC, Feb. 14, 2023 /CNW/ - Outcrop Silver & Gold Corporation (TSXV: OCG) (OTCQX: OCGSF) (DE: MRG1) ("Outcrop") is pleased to announce the encouraging assays from eleven drill holes with significant results from its delineation drill program at Los Naranjos vein on its 100% owned Santa Ana high-grade silver project in Colombia. Thirty-one holes have been drilled in Los Naranjos to date. Eighteen returned high-grade assays and one hole has pending assays.

The results of eighteen core holes show that Los Naranjos is one of the larger high-grade shoots on Santa Ana, with an average estimated true width of 0.75 metres and a weighted average grade of 926 grams equivalent silver per tonne. Los Naranjos is open to the north and south and at depth. Exploration will continue to both define limits to Los Naranjos shoot and to discover potential new shoots north within the extensions of the Los Naranjos Vein System.

Delineation and exploration drilling is ongoing at Santa Ana with three drill rigs.

Highlights

Naranjos from eighteen holes has an average estimated true width of 0.75 metres with a weighted average grade of 926 grams equivalent silver per tonne.





Recent drilling extended high-grade mineralization in Los Naranjos to 250 metres along strike and 300 metres in depth (Figure 1).





Hole DH312 returned 1.53 metres (true width) of 516 grams of equivalent silver per tonne.





Hole DH279 returned 1.89 metres of (true width) 468 grams of equivalent silver per tonne.





Hole DH296 returned 0.65 metres of 3,312 grams of equivalent silver per tonne, for a grams x metre of 2,153 equivalent silver.





Los Naranjos shoot remains open along strike and at depth (Figure 1).

"The recent good results at Naranjos confirm high-grade mineralization open at depth on both ends of, and central to, the current exploration focus on 18 kilometre long vein zones," commented Guillermo Hernandez, Vice President of Exploration. "DH312 suggests that Los Naranjos may widen with depth. Outcrop Silver is encouraged to continue drilling Los Naranjos to increase its resource potential at depth."

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"The production level maps for the Frias Mine, and now Outcrop Silver drill results from Las Maras and Los Naranjos all show plus 300 metre depths to mineralization, we will likely significantly expand the vertical extent of mineralization at Santa Ana," comments Joseph Hebert, Chief Executive Officer.

Los Naranjos vein is located 300 metres east of El Dorado, and like the Santa Ana vein system strikes north-northeast and dips steeply to the west. Holes DH312 and DH279 intercepted quartz veins with an estimated true width of 1.53 metres and 1.89 metres respectively, showing strong mineralization of silver and associated sulphides (Figure 2). DH312's intercept is more than 250 metres from surface at the absolute elevation of 630 metres, which is regionally considered below the top-of-ore and most favourable zone.

Target Hole ID From

(m) To

(m) Interval

Length

(m) Estimated

True

Width

(m) Au

g/t Ag g/t Pb % Zn

% AgEq

g/t Los Naranjos SANR22DH277 111.00 111.30 0.30 0.17 17.92 43 0.28 0.28 1,490 SANR22DH278 200.92 201.80 0.88 0.76 1.73 668 0.26 0.31 759 SANR22DH279 183.03 185.40 2.37 1.89 0.82 427 0.23 0.29 468 Including 183.85 184.70 0.85 0.68 1.42 850 0.46 0.57 914 SANR22DH281 217.00 217.47 0.47 0.35 0.85 331 0.09 0.12 373 SANR22DH283 217.55 217.97 0.42 0.28 0.69 415 0.10 0.10 435 SANR22DH284 79.55 79.95 0.40 0.35 1.26 374 0.09 0.05 441 SANR22DH285 NSR SANR22DH289 NSR SANR22DH291 NSR SANR22DH293 248.62 248.96 0.34 0.23 0.94 424 0.13 0.44 479 SANR22DH293 251.51 251.81 0.30 0.20 6.74 6 0.01 0.01 545 SANR22DH295 NSR SANR22DH296 211.40 212.29 0.89 0.65 7.95 2,919 0.94 0.62 3,312 Including 211.70 212.29 0.59 0.43 11.88 4,376 1.40 0.85 4,958 SANR22DH305 NSR SANR22DH307 NSR SANR22DH312 44.19 44.66 0.47 0.34 0.57 281 0.03 0.03 300 SANR22DH312 311.02 313.15 2.13 1.53 1.31 444 0.13 0.20 516 Including 311.02 311.37 0.35 0.25 1.98 981 0.17 0.30 1,059 And 312.60 313.15 0.55 0.39 3.49 1,074 0.39 0.54 1,277

Table 1. Significant drill assays reported from the Los Naranjos vein in this release.

NSR: No significant result.

Figure 1. Long section of Los Naranjos showing open mineralization at approximately 300 metres. (CNW Group/Outcrop Silver & Gold Corporation)

There is a 60% drilling success rate for Los Naranjosis due to recognizing the geometry and dip of the shoot. The drilling program at Los Naranjos continues with additional delineation holes targeting to expand the high-grade shoot at depth towards the north (Figure 1).

Map1. Los Naranjos Vein area with drill hole traces. (CNW Group/Outcrop Silver & Gold Corporation)

Figure 2. Core photo from hole DH279 at 183.85 m depth in Los Naranjos shoot with silver sulfosalts and sulfides. (CNW Group/Outcrop Silver & Gold Corporation)

Figure3 . Map of Los Naranjos, in relation to other resource veins and advanced targets. (CNW Group/Outcrop Silver & Gold Corporation)

Hole ID Easting Northing Elevation

(m) Depth (m) Azimuth Dip SANR22DH277 506250.844 567878.122 880.856 130.14 49 -63 SANR22DH278 506113.750 567752.841 896.815 220.37 111 -59 SANR22DH279 506142.347 567932.724 896.769 211.22 116 -46 SANR22DH281 506113.853 567752.814 896.822 248.62 111 -66 SANR22DH283 506142.782 567939.582 896.308 236.22 116 -56 SANR22DH284 506166.702 567695.650 861.960 97.01 119 -45 SANR22DH285 506166.998 567695.450 861.956 120.54 119 -67 SANR22DH287 506040.386 567742.967 892.284 138.68 112 -45 SANR22DH289 506040.688 567742.770 892.282 256.73 112 -45 SANR22DH291 506040.766 567742.738 892.338 281.33 112 -54 SANR22DH293 506142.347 567932.724 896.769 266.33 116 -63 SANR22DH295 506149.948 567958.472 892.759 219.21 110 -46 SANR22DH296 506149.745 567958.562 892.676 228.96 109 -56 SANR22DH305 506141.205 567956.214 894.347 271.88 109 -61 SANR22DH307 506140.814 567956.347 894.208 295.65 116 -67 SANR22DH312 506063.582 567865.038 897.528 356.92 105 -62

Table 2. Collar and survey table for drill holes reported in this release.



Equivalent Silver Calculations

Metal prices used for equivalent calculations were US$1,827/oz for gold, US$21.24/oz for silver, US$0.90/lb for lead and US$1.56/lb for zinc. Metallurgical recoveries assumed are 93% for gold, 90% for silver, 90% for lead and 92% for zinc.

QA/QC

Core and rock samples are sent to either Actlabs or SGS in Medellin, Colombia, for preparation and AA assaying on Au and Ag; Pb and Zn for Actlabs as well and then sent to SGS Lima, Peru, for multi-element analysis. Samples sent to Actlabs are then shipped to Actlabs Mexico for multi-element analysis. In line with QA/QC best practice, approximately three control samples are inserted per twenty samples (one blank, one standard and one field duplicate). The samples are analyzed for gold using a standard fire assay on a 30-gram sample with a gravimetric finish when surpassing over limits. Multi-element geochemistry is determined by ICP-MS using aqua regia digestion. Comparison to control samples and their standard deviations indicate acceptable accuracy of the assays and no detectible contamination.

About Santa Ana

The 100% owned Santa Ana project comprises 36,000 hectares located in the northern Tolima Department, Colombia, 190 kilometres from Bogota. The project consists of five or more regional scale parallel vein systems across a trend 12 kilometres wide and 30 kilometres long. The Santa Ana project covers a majority of the Mariquita District, where mining records date to at least 1585. The Mariquita District is the highest-grade primary silver district in Colombia, with historic silver grades reported to be among the highest in Latin America from dozens of mines. Historic mining depths support a geologic and exploration model for composite mesothermal and epithermal vein systems having mineralization that likely extends to great depth. At Santa Ana, it is unlikely that there is sharp elevation restriction common to high-grade zones in many epithermal systems with no mesozonal component. The extremely high silver and gold values on Santa Ana reflect at least three recognized overprinting mineralization events.

At the core Royal Santa Ana project, located at the northern extent of just one of the regional vein systems controlled by Outcrop Silver, thirteen high-grade shoots have been discovered to date  La Ivana hanging-wall and footwall (La Porfia vein system); San Antonio, Roberto Tovar, San Juan (Royal Santa Ana vein systems); Las Maras (Las Penas vein system); El Dorado, La Abeja (El Dorado vein systems); Megapozo, Paraiso (El Paraiso vein system); Espiritu Santo (Aguilar vein system); La Isabela and Los Naranjos. Each zone commonly contains multiple parallel veins. The veins can show both high-grade silver and high-grade gold mineralization, and low-angle veins appear to connect to more common high-angle veins.

Outcrop drilling indicates that mineralization extends from surface or near surface to depths of at least 370 metres. Cumulatively, over 60 kilometres of mapped and inferred vein zones occur on the Santa Ana project. The Frias Mine on the south-central part of the project, 16 kilometres south of the Royal Santa Ana Mines, produced 7.8 million ounces of silver post-production in the Spanish colonial era at a recovered grade of 1.3 kg Ag/t. The Frias Mine is considered an analogue to each of the thirteen shoots discovered to date by Outcrop Silver. Numerous priority drill targets have been discovered along this 16 kilometres trend with outcropping veins up to 4.7 metres wide and surface values up to 9,740 grams silver per tonne.

About Outcrop Silver & Gold

Outcrop Silver & Gold is rapidly advancing the Santa Ana high-grade silver discovery with ongoing expansion drilling and an initial resource to be released in the coming months. Outcrop Silver is also progressing exploration on four gold projects with world-class discovery potential in Colombia. These assets are being advanced by a highly disciplined and seasoned professional team with decades of experience in Colombia.

Qualified Person

The technical information in this news release has been approved by Joseph P Hebert, a qualified person as defined in NI43-101 and President and Chief Executive Officer of Outcrop.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Joseph P Hebert

Chief Executive Officer

+1 775 340 0450

joseph.hebert@outcropsilverandgold.com

www.outcropsilverandgold.com

Kathy Li

Director of Investor Relations

+1 778 783 2818

li@outcropsilverandgold.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as such term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Certain information contained herein constitutes "forward-looking information" under Canadian securities legislation. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "potential", "we believe", 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, level of activity, performance or achievements of Outcrop to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, including: the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, capital expenditures and other costs, financing and additional capital requirements, completion of due diligence, general economic, market and business conditions, new legislation, uncertainties resulting from potential delays or changes in plans, political uncertainties, and the state of the securities markets generally. Although management of Outcrop 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. Outcrop will not update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information that are incorporated by reference herein except as required by applicable securities laws.

Outcrop Silver & Gold Corporation Logo (CNW Group/Outcrop Silver & Gold Corporation)

SOURCE Outcrop Silver & Gold Corporation

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TORONTO, Feb. 14, 2023 /CNW/ - Porter Airlines is launching its first flights between Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) and Edmonton International Airport (YEG). Edmonton is the first destination in Alberta to be added to the airline's network.

Porter Airlines is launching its first flights between Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) and Edmonton International Airport (YEG). Edmonton is the first destination in Alberta to be added to the airlines network. (CNW Group/Porter Airlines Inc.)

Flights are operated with Porter's new Embraer E195-E2 jets. A 132-seat, two-by-two configuration gives every passenger more space thanks to no middle seat.

Porter's generous passenger experience, which includes complimentary beer and wine served in real glassware, free premium snacks, and free WiFi, will be available to all travellers. Flights between Toronto and Edmonton also have fresh, healthy meals, and cocktails available, either as part of the all-inclusive PorterReserve fare, or for purchase a la carte with PorterClassic.

"The Toronto-Edmonton route is an opportunity for us to introduce Porter's elevated economy travel experience to the Edmonton community," said Kevin Jackson, executive vice president and chief commercial officer, Porter Airlines. "What Porter offers sets us apart from other airlines in North America by treating economy passengers with a level of respect and service that they won't find anywhere else. "

"We are proud to welcome our newest airline partner, Porter Airlines, to the Edmonton region! Their growing network of destinations and their approach to innovating the in-flight experience for passengers is a reflection of their ongoing commitment to the travel industry. Porter's unique and tailored service offerings will provide travellers with a comfortable and modern journey, and we're proud to be part of their launch into the region and look forward to a strong partnership," says Myron Keehn, President & CEO, Edmonton International Airport (YEG).

Service on the Toronto Pearson-Edmonton route begins with one daily, non-stop return flight, increasing to three daily flights by May 1.

Edmonton is the latest addition to Porter's E195-E2 network, with Ottawa, Montreal and Vancouver having started earlier this month. Service to Calgary and Halifax also begin later this month. More information, including flight schedules, can be found at www.flyporter.com

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About Porter

Since 2006, Porter Airlines has been elevating the experience of economy air travel for every passenger, providing genuine hospitality with style, care and charm. Porter's fleet of Embraer E195-E2 and De Havilland Dash 8-400 aircraft serves a North American network from Eastern Canada. Headquartered in Toronto, Porter is an Official 4 Star Airline in the World Airline Star Rating. Visit www.flyporter.com or follow @porterairlines on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

SOURCE Porter Airlines Inc.

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(Bloomberg) -- On a recent morning, Vinnie Lauria found himself weaving through the clogged, narrow streets of Ho Chi Minh City on a motorbike with his three-year-old son as they navigated the morning rush to school. Had he still been living in Silicon Valley the commute would have been less adventurous, but this was where the action was.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Lauria, an American expat and co-founder of Golden Gate Ventures, relocated to Ho Chi Minh City in 2022 after previous stints in Singapore and San Francisco, joining a growing number of foreigners lured there by a belief that the dense metropolis is a new mecca for startups.

Southeast Asia is going to be a global growth engine in the next 10 years and Vietnam will be at the center of it, said Lauria, sporting a pony tail and dressed tech casual in a printed shirt and white shorts.

For many Westerners, the enduring image of Vietnam is of a war-torn, impoverished nation where Nike makes its shoes. These days, coders are moving to the nations commercial hub of Ho Chi Minh City to launch startups focused on everything from insomnia to microloans. But becoming Asia's next startup hub will require overhauling existing regulations and navigating some hefty economic headwinds.

The number of startups in the country nearly doubled from the beginning of the pandemic through mid-2022, according a July report by KPMG International Ltd. and HSBC Holdings Plc. Some of the worlds biggest investors, including Sequoia Capital, Warburg Pincus LLC and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., are backing those offering promising solutions.In 2021, Vietnam drew a record $2.6 billion through 233 private deals, up from the $700 million via 140 deals a year prior, according to a Google, Temasek Holdings Pte. and Bain & Co. report. Local firms are also competing with its Southeast Asian peers, accounting for 13% of the total venture funding flows into the region after Indonesia and Singapore in 2021, according to Do Ventures.

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Officials want more. By 2030, they aim to turn Ho Chi Minh City into a magnet for tech funding and target a digital economy that represents 40% of the citys gross domestic product. Last month, the government ordered city officials to prioritize attracting foreign investment to high tech projects while also offering other incentives to lure global talent and international firms to establish innovation research centers.

Its already garnered some results. Gaming developer VNG Corp., the nations first unicorn, is expected to pursue a US listing in coming months. Money is pouring in, with a salary payment firm and another agricultural platform becoming the latest startups in recent weeks to receive millions in funding rounds.

Industry insiders say Ho Chi Minh City has the makings of the next Silicon Valley-lite: a heavy math and science educational system, a decades-old software outsourcing industry thats created an abundance of inexpensive and talented engineers and the benefits of Vietnams economic expansion, which last year was one of the fastest across Asia.

A decade ago, funders could spend six months mulling an investment, said Vy Le, co-founder of Do Ventures. Now, she said, If we dont make a decision within one or two months, other funds will definitely take the deal. Every month, she meets on average ten overseas funds.

The road ahead will be bumpy. A global venture-capital slowdown, combined with a local economy weighed down by a property crisis and slumping factory orders, is adding to the challenges of the budding industry.

Theres also the question about the uncertain ecosystem given that the country's startup sector has only been in existence for a decade or two, the Asian Development Bank said in a 2022 study. Analysis shows that some policy reforms are needed to create an enabling environment for the creation of innovative enterprises, promote the growth of tech startups, and improve the availability of financing, it said. ADB added that beneficial government policies like strong intellectual property protections will also be crucial.

Vietnams nascent startup sector has been years in the making. In 2013, the launch of Flappy Bird was hailed as a gaming phenomenon that would boost the countrys startup heft. While that game was later pulled, it showed the way to a new generation of firms like mobile payment provider VNPay, which according to ADB became the countrys second unicorn in 2020.

Founders say that there havent been more success stories because the government has yet to establish a proper framework for stock options. Cumbersome regulations are also hindering the ability of these firms to go public.

Requirements for tech companies to store user data in the country, whose internet is tightly controlled by the government, have raised concerns from US business groups. Regulatory backlogs have also slowed down visa applications for foreigners and establishing ownership for overseas entities is unwieldy. Vietnam restricts foreign ownership of companies to more than 49% in some sectors.

Still, that hasnt deterred foreigners like Lauria, whose fund had started backing local startups in 2014 and opened offices both in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi last year. He decided to take the plunge after watching the countrys extraordinary growth per capita triple over the past decade. He thinks online spending could multiply five fold over the next six years.

Startups are also tapping an acceleration of Vietnamese citizens returning home, according to Nguyen Nguyen, who runs a Sequoia-backed artificial intelligence firm that helps people without credit histories obtain loans.

This is a big homecoming, or reverse brain drain, said Nguyen, who returned to Vietnam after earning his PhD in economics from Rice University in Texas. About two-thirds of his employees at fintech startup Trusting Social have at least a masters degree from overseas.

The sector has undergone a night-and-day transformation, said VNGs co-founder Le Hong Minh, whose glass-walled headquarters overlook the Saigon River, an area once known for making textiles. High smartphone and internet adoption, a large young population and fast-growing middle class are now redefining the country.

The new Vietnam is well beyond what people outside of Vietnam understand, said Binh Tran, co-founder of Ascend Vietnam Ventures, who returned from the Bay Area with his family in 2020. This is a very accessible market and language is not a big barrier...you will find a lot of young hungry talent eager to join your startup.

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Extrapolate

The Smart Kitchen and Kitchen Hood markets are projected to grow at a healthy CAGR. Gain valuable insights into key revenue opportunities, market trends, and competitive landscape at both global and regional levels. This comprehensive report provides a deep dive into the global and regional markets, offering key learnings into revenue opportunities and market dynamics.

Dubai, UAE, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Smart Kitchen Market Report 2023-2028:

As per the recent research report published by Extrapolate, the global Smart Kitchen Market size is projected to reach USD 10.96 billion by 2028 from USD 1.81 billion in 2021, recording a significant CAGR of 29.26% between 2022 and 2028. On account of the global demand for sophisticated and intelligent kitchen equipment, the market is anticipated to flourish in the current economic scenario.

According to Extrapolate, the global smart kitchen market is dominated by a large number of well-known and internationally renowned manufacturers, tier-2 firms, and start-ups that provide various types of smart kitchen equipment. For instance, in January 2023, an American company, GE Appliances, introduced a new line of induction cooktops with cross-brand connectivity. This new line-up of induction cooktops will further expand on the advantages that consumers would anticipate from induction technology and make induction cooking easier and more precise.

Get Sample Copy of Report @ https://www.extrapolate.com/sample/retail/smart-kitchen-market-report/43619

The industry has been gaining popularity on account of the proliferation of gadgets with smart sensors and Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled technology. Over the forecast period, IoT gadgets are anticipated to fuel market expansion. The global smart kitchen market report is segmented by type and application. Smart kitchen appliances are used in various aspects, such as refrigerators, ovens, microwaves, dishwashers, and others.

Competitive Landscape

The competitive landscape for the market is concentrated but highly competitive. The prominent companies in the smart kitchen industry are Whirlpool, Electrolux, Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Haier Group, etc., and they collectively hold a share of around 55% globally. To reach a wider audience, businesses have begun introducing new and cutting-edge smart kitchen gadgets into their product portfolios.

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Whirlpool Corporation

Electrolux

Samsung Electronics

LG Electronics

Haier Group

BSH

Miele and Cie KG

Panasonic

Robam

Midea

Have an Enquiry? Get in Touch with Us @ https://www.extrapolate.com/enquire/retail/smart-kitchen-market-report/43619

Market Segmentation by Type:

Smart Refrigerator

Smart Cookers

Smart Kitchen Hoods

Other

Smart Refrigerators Hold Dominance in Smart Kitchen Market with over 33.98% Revenue Share

Based on type, the smart refrigerators segment held a significant share of the global smart kitchen market at approximately 33.98% in 2021. The market is further anticipated to remain on the frontlines, holding its dominance throughout the projection period. With the adoption of smart infrastructure and cities, smart refrigerators are becoming increasingly widespread. The IoT market has notably expanded over time, with smart homes becoming more sophisticated due to gadgets like Google Nest, Ring, Alexa, and smart refrigerators.

Additionally, the smart cookware and cooktops segment of the smart kitchen market was anticipated to account for 32.56% of the market share in 2021. The market is anticipated to grow significantly, reaching a whopping CAGR of 19.5% in the projection period of 2022 to 2030. Consumers are opting for energy-efficient kitchen appliances that help them to reduce their electricity expenditures.

Buy This Premium Research Report @ https://www.extrapolate.com/complete-checkout-buyal/43619

Market Segmentation by Application:

Commercial Use

Home Use

Commercial Segment is Likely to Account for Approximately 17.7% of Market Share

Based on the application, the commercial segment is expected to hold the majority of the global smart kitchen market, recording a CAGR of 17.7% during the projection period. The growth is attributed to the rising occurrence of Quick-Service Restaurants chains (QSR) due to the increasing dependency on the younger generations preference for fast food centers. This is anticipated to accelerate the demand for smart kitchen appliances such as ovens, fryers, grillers, and cooktops. All these aforementioned factors are leading to increased investment in smart kitchen applications all over the world.

The home use segment is projected to strengthen its dominance in the coming years. Manufacturers of kitchen appliances are spending time and money on the creation of infrastructures for their devices to communicate since they recognize the potential of IoT. Consumers that actively use IoT devices greatly value this aspect, and due to this factor, the segment is anticipated to grow significantly over the coming years.

North America is Dominating the Global Market with a 50% Market Valuation

North America holds the majority of the market share of the smart kitchen market, with an estimated 50% CAGR. There has been a significant rise in the population of high-net-worth individuals, which has raised the prospect of driving growth in the market. Additionally, the tendency to replace older appliances with more modern ones is accelerating the use of smart appliances. Technological acceptance and the high purchasing power of customers are the major driving factors in the region.

Additionally, favorable government initiatives are fueling market growth through the adoption of appliances that are energy-efficient. A surge in smart assistant speakers is also predicted, despite the fact that built-in connectivity is still a limited feature in the largest culinary appliances in the United States. For instance, Whirlpool recently added technological advancements to a range of kitchen appliances and branded them the Smart Home Line.

Browse Complete Report @ https://www.extrapolate.com/retail/smart-kitchen-market-report/43619

Some Major Points from Table of Content:

1 Research Methodology and Statistical Scope

2 Smart Kitchen Market Overview

3 Smart Kitchen Market Competitive Landscape

4 Smart Kitchen Industry Chain Analysis

5 The Development and Dynamics of Smart Kitchen Market

6 Smart Kitchen Market Segmentation by Type

7 Smart Kitchen Market Segmentation by Application

...TOC Continued









Section II: Kitchen Hoods Market Report 2023-2028:

The global Kitchen Hoods Market was valued at USD 8.9 billion in 2021 and is projected to reach USD 10.58 billion by 2028, recording a healthy CAGR of 2.50% from 2022 to 2028 driven by the increasing consumer per capita income, persistent technological improvements, and the growing adoption of convenience kitchen equipment.

According to Extrapolate, the worldwide smart kitchen hoods market has enormous growth potential due to ongoing technological developments and market participants' investments in R&D activities to identify novel solutions and equipment that can maximize customer satisfaction. The sales of smart kitchen hoods are anticipated to increase as a result of the introduction of models with various sizes, designs, and smart features like UV protection and self-cleaning.

Get Sample Copy of Report @ https://www.extrapolate.com/sample/retail/kitchen-hoods-market-report/30193

The growth of the global smart kitchen hoods market is anticipated to be lucrative over the forecast period due to rising customer awareness and the increasing disposable incomes of consumers to spend on high-quality kitchen items in emerging nations.

Competitive Landscape of Kitchen Hoods Market:

The competitive landscape for the global kitchen hoods market is fragmented with prominent players striving to introduce innovative products with novel features to strengthen their foothold in the market. Moreover, they are utilizing enticing marketing tactics and online distribution channels to expand their customer reach and improve brand awareness among consumers. For instance, in November 2022, Faber launched seven innovative ranges of kitchen hoods integrated with cutting-edge technology and immense features to provide a smooth cooking experience to its customers.

Following are the prominent players in the kitchen hoods market:

Whirlpool

Vanward

VATTI

Samsung

SAKURA

SACON

ROBAM

Nortek

Miele

Midea

Macro

Haier

FOTILE

FABER

Electrolux

ELICA

DE&E

BSH

For More Enquiry @ https://www.extrapolate.com/enquire/retail/kitchen-hoods-market-report/30193

Segmentation :

Market Segmentation by Type:

Detached Type

Embedded Type

Embedded Kitchen Hoods to Continue Dominating Global Kitchen Hoods Market

In the last few years, the demand for embedded kitchen hoods has increased significantly due to rising disposable income, technological advancements, and the growing appetite for convenient kitchen appliances. Today, consumers are increasingly opting for embedded kitchen hoods due to their energy efficiency, performance, and seamless integration with kitchen designs. This trend is expected to continue in the future, as more people choose these hoods for their convenience and aesthetic value. The trend towards minimalist kitchen designs is also contributing to the growing demand for embedded kitchen hoods, which offer a modern and sleek appearance.

Major embedded kitchen hoods manufacturers are implementing various marketing tactics, such as product launches, partnerships, and collaborations, to maintain a strong market presence. Wherein the growth of e-commerce platforms has allowed these manufacturers to expand their reach and maximize their sales. Additionally, the development of advanced features, such as automatic shut-off, touch-sensitive controls, and built-in lighting, is expected to further boost the growth of the embedded kitchen hoods market.

Browse Complete Report @ https://www.extrapolate.com/retail/kitchen-hoods-market-report/30193

Market Segmentation by Application:

Commercial



Residential

Strong Demand for Kitchen Hoods in Commercial Applications

Extrapolates findings indicate that the kitchen hoods market for commercial establishments is experiencing substantial growth. This growth can be attributed to the convergence of technological advancements and heightened awareness of the significance of proper kitchen ventilation. With the advent of energy-efficient models and innovative designs that cater to modern kitchen safety and efficiency standards, there is a growing demand for Demand-Controlled Kitchen Ventilation (DCKV) systems. These systems offer several benefits over traditional ventilation systems, including improved energy efficiency, reduced fire risk, improved air quality, and reduced noise levels, making them an attractive option for commercial food service facilities looking to both save money and provide a safe work environment for their employees.

North America to Hold Dominance of the Kitchen Hoods Market with a CAGR of 21.6%

North America holds a significant market share and is expected to acquire approximately 21.6% of the market by the end of 2023. On account of the early adoption of cutting-edge technologies and shifting customer preferences towards luxury brands, the United States is predicted to experience an increase in the sales of smart kitchen hoods.

The rapid adoption of technological advancements and the subsequent need for smart and connected devices are the major market drivers in this region. The continuous growth of the residential sector, spurred by the expanding number of families and large home renovation projects undertaken by individuals in the United States, is also driving the need for kitchen hoods systems. Homeowners are investing more in projects that enhance their quality of life than in the ordinary maintenance of kitchen hoods.

Some Major Points Form Table of Content:

1 Research Methodology and Statistical Scope

2 Kitchen Hoods Market Overview

3 Kitchen Hoods Market Competitive Landscape

4 Kitchen Hoods Industry Chain Analysis

5 The Development and Dynamics of Kitchen Hoods Market

6 Kitchen Hoods Market Segmentation by Type

7 Kitchen Hoods Market Segmentation by Application

8 Kitchen Hoods Market Segmentation by Region

...TOC Continued

About Us:

Extrapolate is a Global Market Research, Advisory, and Consulting firm that works closely with Industry experts from various industries to bring the latest and most accurate research reports.

In an era of breakneck change and a low tolerance for missed or misread opportunities, businesses need astute guidance to shape markets - not merely respond to them. Extrapolate helps clients develop market perspectives that drive success.

CONTACT: Extrapolate Phone: (+1) 888 328 2189 E-mail: talk@extrapolate.com Website: https://www.extrapolate.com Blog: https://www.extrapolate.com/blog




Zubiri Condemns China's Aggressive Tactics in West PH Sea

On Tuesday, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri denounced the actions of Chinese forces in the West Philippine Sea, after the Philippine Coast Guard revealed that the Chinese Navy aimed a military-grade laser on a PCG vessel near the Ayungin Shoal.

"We stand completely behind our Coast Guard and we protest vigorously against the continued provocations of the Chinese Navy in the West Philippine Sea," said Zubiri.

"This is not the first time our troops have been harassed by Chinese forces on our waters, so we strongly appeal to the Embassy of China and to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to cease all their aggressive intimidation tactics."

Last December, Zubiri also called China out for one of their vessels aggressively pursuing a small contingent of the Philippine Navy in the West Philippine Sea. The Chinese vessel proceeded to forcibly seize from the Philippine Navy a scrap of unidentified debris, suspected to be from a Chinese rocket launch. The Senate adopted a resolution condemning this incident.

"We completely condemn not only this latest incident with the military-grade laser, but the repeated incidents of harassment on our waters," Zubiri emphasized.

"We will not tolerate this, and we will continue to support our Navy and Coast Guard as they defend our waters."
KATY, Texas, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: SLCA) announced today that it will release its fourth quarter 2022 financial results before the New York Stock Exchange opens on Friday, February 24, 2023.

U.S. Silica (PRNewsFoto/U.S. Silica)

Conference Call

This release will be followed by a conference call for investors on Friday, February 24, 2023, at 7:30 a.m. Central Time to discuss the results. Hosting the call will be Bryan Shinn, Chief Executive Officer, and Don Merril, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Investors are invited to listen to a live webcast of the conference call by visiting the "Investors- Events & Presentations" section of the Company's website at www.ussilica.com . The webcast will be archived for one year. The call can also be accessed live over the telephone by dialing (877) 869-3847 or for international callers, (201) 689-8261. A replay will be available shortly after the call and can be accessed by dialing (877) 660-6853 or for international callers, (201) 612-7415. The conference ID for the replay is 13736345. The replay will be available through March 24, 2023.

About U.S. Silica

U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc. is a global performance materials company and is a member of the Russell 2000. The Company is a leading producer of commercial silica used in the oil and gas industry and in a wide range of industrial applications. Over its 123-year history, U.S. Silica has developed core competencies in mining, processing, logistics and materials science that enable it to produce and cost-effectively deliver over 600 diversified products to customers across our end markets. U.S. Silica's wholly-owned subsidiaries include EP Minerals and SandBox Logistics. EP Minerals is an industry leader in the production of products derived from diatomaceous earth, perlite, engineered clays, and non-activated clays. SandBox Logistics is a state-of-the-art leader in proppant storage, handling and well-site delivery, dedicated to making proppant logistics cleaner, safer and more efficient. The Company has 28 operating mines and processing facilities and is headquartered in Katy, Texas.

Story continues

U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc.

Investor Contact:

Patricia Gil

Vice President, Investor Relations

(281) 505-6011

gil@ussilica.com

Cision

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/us-silica-announces-timing-of-earnings-release-and-investor-call-301746690.html

SOURCE U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc.
Shipping employees to another office.

Walmart is shutting three tech hubs in the US, forcing a rejig in the workforce.



The big-box retailer is closing down tech offices in Austin, Texas; Carlsbad, California; and Portland, Oregon, Bloomberg reported on Monday (Feb. 13), citing a memo sent to staff last week by Walmarts global technology head, Suresh Kumar. The retailer will also begin to require all its technology workers to come into the office at least two days a week, according to the Wall Street Journal, which also reviewed the staff memo.

Read more

Workers will need to relocate to keep their jobs. The operations will move to San Bruno, California or the companys headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, Robert Munroe, Walmarts director of global communications told Reuters, drawing from Kumars memo. Everything is variable; there is no set date that (this transfer) must be completed, Munroe added.

The company hopes to resettle most of the workers at the two locations, and some exceptions will be made to allow full-time remote work as well, a spokeswoman told WSJ. Those who choose to leave on account of the closures will be given severance pay, she said.

Walmart tech workforce, by the digits

11: Tech hubs Walmart has in the US

6: Tech hubs Walmart has abroad

Hundreds: Combined staff count at the Austin, Carlsbad, and Portland offices that are being shut down

20,000: Tech workers in Kumars team at Walmart globally as of last year. Walmarts total workforce is upwards of 1.7 million, largely warehouse and retail staff

2: Minimum number of days Walmart expects all tech workers to come into office

5: Number of days many workers in Walmarts Bentonville corporate headquarters have been required to work in-person each week since last year

5,000: Tech associates Walmart planned to hire globally in the fiscal year, according to Kumars outline of the tech team expansion plans in March 2022. At the time, he had also said the company would add hubs in Toronto and Atlanta

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Throwback: Walmarts tech chief on remote work during the pandemic

We believe the way of working in the future, particularly in tech, will be fundamentally different than it was before. We believe it will be one in which working virtually will be the new normal, at least for most of the work we lead. With this in mind, weve decided that even as restrictions are lifted and other groups in Walmart eventually return to their offices, we will take our time, and think about how we can invent the workspace of the future. We will have physical office space and it will be used primarily for collaboration, to sync up and strengthen camaraderie. Well be together, at times, and for a purpose. Walmarts Global CTO Suresh Kumar in an internal memo in May 2020

More companies want remote workers to come to office

Walmart is the latest corporate giant to mandate work-from-the-office days, and thats increasingly becoming the norm. Workers have been reluctant about giving up their newfound work-life balance and savings on gasoline for commutes. However, managers like to have their teams assemble in person for better training and team bonding.

Last year, Google, Salesforce, Twitter, and others started calling people into the workplace for a few days in the week at least. Starting September, Apple asked employees to work from an office three days a week. Since November, Uber has designated Tuesdays and Thursdays as anchor days when employees must come to the office.

This January, Starbucks told corporate workers to come to the office three times a week by the end of the month. And most recently, Walt Disney said workers would have to come to the office four days a week starting in March.

Related stories

 Does Walmart have a future as a tech company?

 Covid crushed company culturebut something better will take its place

 Five telltale signs you need a chief remote officer

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Japan's first H3 rocket stands on the pad after a test on Dec. 27, 2022.

Update, 9:51 a.m. EDT: JAXA has postponed the launch to Thursday, Feb. 16 due to weather, as they wrote on Twitter: "#JAXA will postpone the first H3 Launch Vehicle (#H3/TF1:Test Flight No.1) with Advanced Land Observing Satellite-3 DAICHI-3 (ALOS-3) onboard ... due to the weather conditions predicted on the originally scheduled launch day." Media reports suggest it will occur at the same time of day: 8:37 p.m. EST (0137 GMT Friday, Feb. 17).

Japan's next-generation H3 rocket will fly for the first ever on Tuesday evening (Feb. 14), and you can watch the action live.

The H3 is scheduled to launch on its debut mission from Tanegashima Space Center Tuesday at 8:37 p.m. EST (0137 GMT and 10:37 a.m. Japan Standard Time on Feb. 15).

Watch the liftoff live here at Space.com, courtesy of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or directly via JAXA. Coverage is expected to begin around 8 p.m. EST (0100 GMT on Feb. 15).

Related: The history of rockets

Japan's first H3 rocket stands on the pad after a test on Dec. 27, 2022.

Tuesday's liftoff will be a big moment for JAXA, which has been working with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for a decade to develop the new launcher and has high expectations for it.

"The H3 rocket is Japan's new flagship rocket," JAXA wrote in a description of the vehicle.

"It is being developed as a successor to the H-IIA rocket currently in operation so that Japan can continue to have a means of transportation to space," the agency added in another H3 explainer. "Looking ahead to the next 20 years, we are aiming for a world of operation that maintains the industrial base by stably launching about six satellites every year. To that end, orders for private commercial satellites from the launch services market, as well as government satellites, are essential."

Related stories:

 JAXA: Japan's Aerospace Exploration Agency

 9 small satellites launch to orbit atop Japanese rocket

 Facts about Japan's H-IIA and H-IIB rockets

The H3 stands either 187 feet or 207 feet tall (57 or 63 meters), depending on whether it's flying with a "short" or "long" payload fairing. The rocket is capable of delivering "4 tons or more" to a 310-mile-high (500 kilometers) sun-synchronous orbit and "6.5 tons or more" to geostationary transfer orbit, according to its JAXA specifications page.

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Though Tuesday's mission is a test flight for the H3, the new rocket will be carrying an operational payload  the Advanced Land Observing Satellite-3 (ALOS-3), also known as DAICHI-3.

If all goes according to plan on Tuesday, the H3 will deliver ALOS-3 to a sun-synchronous orbit. The 3-ton satellite is capable of resolving features as small as 2.6 feet (0.8 m) wide on Earth's surface from its final, 416-mile-high (669 km) perch, according to JAXA officials.

The satellite's data will aid disaster monitoring and response, as well as a number of other fields.

"The observed data from ALOS-3 is expected to lead to progress in the various fields due to its unique imaging capabilities; it will make a significant contribution to upgrading global geospatial information and research and application for monitoring of the coastal/vegetation environment," JAXA wrote in a description of the satellite.

Tuesday's mission will be the second of the year for a Japanese rocket. An H-IIA successfully lofted Japan's IGS Radar 7 surveillance satellite on Jan. 25.
TORONTO, Feb. 14, 2023 /CNW/ - Orford Mining Corporation ("Orford") (TSXV: ORM) is pleased to report that it has, as operator, completed exploration expenditures on the West Raglan Project totaling $6,125,057 funded by Wyloo Metals Pty. Ltd.("Wyloo"). This allows Wyloo to satisfy the first earn-in milestone and acquire 51% ownership interest in the West Raglan Project according to the Option and Joint Venture Agreement dated January 18, 2021. The agreement required that Wyloo fund C$6,000,000 in exploration expenditures on the property by January 18, 2025. Wyloo has accelerated this funding schedule by completing required expenditures by January 18, 2023 and has elected to acquire 51% ownership interest in the West Raglan high-grade nickel project immediately.

Wyloo Metals Accelerates Spending to Earn 51% interest and Elects to Pursue Second Earn-in Option to 70% in Orfords West Raglan Nickel-Copper-PGE Project (CNW Group/Orford Mining Corporation)

Wyloo has also notified Orford that it is exercising the Second Earn-In Option provided for in the Agreement. The Second Earn-In Option requires Wyloo to fund an additional C$5 million in expenditures on the West Raglan property by January 18, 2026 to earn an additional 19% interest in the property (taking Wyloo's gross interest in the project to 70%).

David Christie, President and CEO of Orford commented, "Orford is very excited to reach this milestone with our partner at West Raglan and looks forward to continuing to move the project forward with Wyloo. The West Raglan High-Grade nickel-copper-PGM project has yielded significant high-grade intersections including 28.3 m grading 3.2% nickel, 1.32% copper, 2.4 g/t palladium, and 0.7 g/t platinum at the Seahawk Lens and tremendous unexplored potential remains across the 707 square kilometre property."

Note that all drilling intervals are down-hole lengths. True thicknesses cannot be estimated with available information.

Wyloo Option Agreement

The recently conducted West Raglan exploration program was funded by Wyloo Metals Pty Ltd (Wyloo) as part of the Option and Joint Venture Agreement announced by Orford on January 19th, 2021, whereby Wyloo can earn up to up to 80% of the West Raglan Project for total expenditures of $25.0 million over 7 years.

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About the West Raglan Property

The West Raglan property is a large 707 km2 property situated in the Cape Smith Belt in the Nunavik Region of Northern Quebec. West Raglan Ni, Cu, PGE, Co mineralization is hosted in the ultramafic units of the Lac Esker Suite (1.89-1.87 Ga). These ultramafic units host all known nickel sulphide mineralization in the Cape Smith Belt, including Glencore's Raglan mine (North Trend) and the Canadian Royalties, Nunavik Nickel mine hosted on the South Trend. The West Raglan property covers a 50-km strike of both the "North" trend, that hosts Raglan- style deposits, and the "South" Trend, that hosts Canadian Royalties-style deposits. Raglan is a first quartile cash cost nickel producer with one of the highest-grade reserves amongst significant global nickel deposits (Proven and Probable Reserves as of December 2021 of 9.32 million tonnes at 2.66% Ni, 0.74% Cu, 0.79 g/t Pt, 1.91 g/t Pd and 0.06% Co2. Information from neighbouring properties is not necessarily indicative of the mineralization on Orford Mining's properties.

Historically, six significant discoveries have been made on the West Raglan property with the best results being from the Frontier Zone. The Frontier Zone contains five high grade Nickel-Copper-Platinum Group Metal (Ni-Cu-PGM) mineralized lens clusters over a 2,500 meter strike with grades in the range of 2-3% Nickel, 1% copper and 2+gpt PGM including a drill intersection of 28.3 m grading 3.2% Nickel, 1.32% Copper, 2.4 g/t Palladium, and 0.7 g/t Platinum at the Seahawk Lens. The Beverly and Boomerang areas of the West Raglan property have had very limited historical drill testing, but have surface showing reporting up to 1.34% Ni, 0.35% Cu and 2.3g/t (Pd+Pt).Note that all drilling intervals are down-hole lengths. True thicknesses cannot be estimated with available information. Note that grab samples are selective by nature and values reported may not be representative of mineralized zones.

About Orford Mining Corporation

Orford Mining is a gold explorer focused on highly prospective and underexplored areas of Northern Quebec. Orford's principal assets are the Qiqavik, West Raglan and lithium exploration projects comprising a land package totaling over 154,400 hectares in the Cape Smith Belt of Northern Quebec. The Qiqavik Project hosts several new high-grade gold discoveries along a mineralized trend in excess of 40 km. The West Raglan Project hosts a number of high-grade Raglan-style nickel/copper/platinum group metal discoveries along a 55 km mineralized trend. The lithium claim blocks acquired in the Nunavik Region in 2023 have been carefully selected as having promising lithium potential after an exhaustive compilation of available data. Orford also has four property positions in the Joutel region of the Abitibi District of Northern Quebec, which hosts historical deposits such as the Eagle/Telbel, Joutel Copper, Poirier Copper, and Vezza deposits. Orford continually seeks new gold exploration opportunities in North America. Orford's common shares trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol ORM. This information from neighbouring properties is not necessarily indicative of the mineralization on Orford Mining's properties.

To view further details about Orford's exploration projects please visit Orford's website, www.orfordmining.com .

Qualified Person

The disclosure of scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been approved by Alger St-Jean, P.Geo., Chief Geoscientist of Orford, a Qualified Person under NI 43-101. The historical information disclosed herein in respect of the West Raglan Property is based on the independent report of Clement Dombrowski, P.Geo. titled "NI 43-101 Technical Report on West Raglan Project, Northern Quebec, Canada" effective February 20, 2017 and on Orford's news releases available on SEDAR.

Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release contains "forward-looking information" including without limitation statements relating to the liquidity and capital resources of Orford and potential of one or more of the Qiqavik, and West Raglan, properties.

Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Orford 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; accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry; political instability, terrorism, insurrection or war; or delays in obtaining governmental approvals, 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 Orford's filings with Canadian securities regulators available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Although Orford 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 Orford 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.

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TUESDAY, Feb. 14, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Doctors have dubbed kids' progression from eczema to asthma the "atopic march," and they know more about how it affects white children than their Black counterparts.

Research scheduled for presentation at an upcoming meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) sheds new light on racial disparities.

The atopic march typically begins early in life with atopic dermatitis (eczema) and can eventually progress to asthma, as well as environmental and food allergies.

In the new study, the researchers found that while Black children are more likely to develop asthma, theyre less likely than white children to be evaluated for eczema by an allergist.

We already know that Black children have higher rates of asthma, said study author Dr. Ellen Stephen, an allergy/immunology fellow at Rush University Medical Center, in Chicago. But the atopic march has just not been studied in Black children as widely as it has in white children.

Her team reviewed medical charts of nearly 1,000 children, aged 18 and under, who were diagnosed with eczema at a single medical center.

In all, 728 Black children and 246 white children had an eczema diagnosis. Of those, 31% of Black children were likely to have an asthma diagnosis, compared to 10% of white children.

In all, nearly 47% of Black children and 69% of white children were evaluated by an allergist. Black children were also significantly less likely to have been tested for environmental allergens, the investigators found.

Asthma is a common, potentially life-threatening condition affecting the children in our country, and allergist evaluation and environmental allergy testing can be essential to optimizing control of this disease," Stephen said in an academy news release.

"To minimize existing health care disparities, more research must be done to help us understand what factors underlie the observed differences in the diagnosis and management of atopic diseases, so that we can overcome existing barriers to providing equitable asthma care, she added.

The findings are scheduled for presentation at an AAAAI meeting on Feb. 25 in San Antonio. Research presented at medical meetings should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has more about eczema.

SOURCE: American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, news release, Feb. 3, 2023
LA PLANT, S.D.  Past a gravel road lined with old white wooden buildings is a new, 8-acre village dotted with colorful houses, tepees, and a sweat lodge.

The Simply Smiles Childrens Village, in this small town on the Cheyenne River Reservation, is home to a program aimed at improving outcomes and reducing trauma for Indigenous foster children.

All foster programs seek to safely reunite children with their families. The Childrens Village goes further.

We want to make Lakota citizens of the world, said Colt Combellick, who oversees mental health programs at the village. If we can help them relearn their culture and their heritage and connect them to the resources that they need to thrive moving forward, were going to try to make that happen.

The program is an example of the growing nationwide effort to improve services for Indigenous children, after generations were routinely traumatized by being separated from their families and cultures. While the Indian boarding school era is over, and improvements have been made to child welfare systems, Indigenous families remain overrepresented in the foster care system.

Simply Smiles, a nonprofit organization, aims to improve Indigenous foster care by keeping children in their tribal community instead of placing them in foster families away from the reservation. It has hired trained professionals whose full-time job is to care for children in a village setting that provides cultural programming and mental health services.

We actually have research that shows that kids who have stronger cultural identity have better child well-being outcomes such as succeeding in school and avoiding drugs, said Angelique Day, an associate professor at the University of Washington and an expert on Indigenous child welfare.

Day, who is not affiliated with Simply Smiles, said shes excited by any innovative program aimed at improving child welfare in tribal communities if it provides adequate training so foster parents can support the children and avoid turnover. She said its also important for organizations to arrange for independent evaluation of kids progress after leaving foster programs.

Its too early to say whether Simply Smiles will succeed in its goals, but the Childrens Village has the support of the leaders of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and has attracted interest and visits from officials representing Indigenous nations across the country.

It was a Cheyenne River Sioux tribal member who suggested the nonprofit set up a foster village on the reservation after learning about a similar program the nonprofit runs in Mexico. The tribal council voted to support the idea, and Simply Smiles has advisers including child welfare experts, elders, and other leaders of the Cheyenne River Sioux and other tribes.

Simply Smiles model combines living in a house in a family setting with the resources of more institutional settings, said Bryan Nurnberger, president and founder of the Connecticut-based nonprofit.

The Childrens Village in La Plant has one foster parent caring for three teenagers. Its hiring other parents to fill its three homes, which, together, can house up to six parents and 18 children.

The family has access to a counseling and family visiting center, as well as a large blue barn that stores a bus, maintenance equipment, and new clothing for the children to shop through.

MarShondria Adams, 39, grew up with stepsiblings who were placed in multiple foster homes. Last year, she moved 300 miles from Sioux Falls, South Dakotas largest city, to La Plant, population 167, to become a foster parent at the Childrens Village.

On a recent cold and foggy morning, Adams three foster teens made smoothies for breakfast inside their navy-blue house with a bubble-gum-pink front door at the Childrens Village. Adams drove them to school and then returned home, where she did laundry and filled out paperwork for the states child welfare department. Her after-school plan was to cook dinner as the kids tackled a YouTube exercise class.

Being a traditional foster parent in Sioux Falls would be a day-and-night difference, Adams said. She wouldnt have on-site resources and staff members to assist her and the children with tasks ranging from repairing flat tires to finding a specialist who conducts learning disability assessments.

I have all these people that are around me to support me and help me, Adams said. Traditional foster parents probably spend more time than she does playing phone tag with case managers and searching for other resources, she said.

The programs foster parents receive 70 more hours of training than required by the state, including education about Lakota culture. It also offers telehealth therapy, evaluations, and medication management to the foster parents, children, and birth parents. Combellick said the mental health services use trauma-informed and culturally relevant evidence-based methods.

The nonprofit funds these services through donations, grants, and the state, which also refers potential foster children to Simply Smiles.

Combellick, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, is another Simply Smiles staffer with a personal story about family separations.

His father was 6 years old when his mother went missing and was found dead on the reservation. Combellicks dad and his siblings were sent 80 miles away to an Indian boarding school, where they stayed about a year before being reunited with their family.

Combellick said his father developed post-traumatic stress disorder from boarding school, where he faced corporal punishment and was not allowed to speak the Lakota language.

Thats what spurred my passion. I just wanted to learn about my family history and how to break those cycles of oppression, he said.

Combellick became a social worker and hoped someday to find a way to directly support his tribe.

I came by Simply Smiles, and  boom!  its like 300 yards from where my ancestors grew up, he said.

Studies in the 1970s found that states with large Native American populations were removing up to 35% of Native American children from their families. This was often due to judgments about poverty and traditional child-raising practices, not abuse. Of those who went to foster care, 85% were placed with non-Native families.

Congress passed the Indian Child Welfare Act in 1978 after hearing testimony about the psychological and cultural effects of family separation. The law aims to keep Native American families together or, when thats not possible, to place children with relatives or other tribal members.

Experts say the law has reduced disparities since the 1970s, but by 2003 child protection agencies were still more likely to investigate and substantiate allegations against Native American families than other groups, and more likely to remove their children than those of any other group, according to data analyzed by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

And as recently as 2020, Native American children were nearly three times as likely to be in foster care as other children, according to a Casey Foundation analysis. More than half of these foster children were placed with non-relatives or non-Indigenous caregivers.

This rate and shortage are highest for Indigenous South Dakotans. More than half the states foster children are Native American, even though Native children make up only 12% of the population.

South Dakota lawmakers recently rejected legislation that would have codified parts of the Indian Child Welfare Act into state law. But they may create a task force to study how the state can improve Indigenous child welfare.

Eleven percent of the states licensed foster homes are Native American, according to state data. Child welfare expert Day, a descendant of the Ho-Chunk Nation, said some Native Americans arent able or approved to accept foster children because they have low incomes or live in crowded or subpar housing.

Its not like tribal families dont want to step up and do this work. Its that we have barriers, systemic barriers, that are embedded within the system that discriminate against families who want to do this work, she said.

Even with the pay and on-site support, Simply Smiles has found it challenging to recruit and retain caregivers. The first foster family arrived in fall 2020, but the parent burned out amid covid pandemic closures on the reservation. Another parent, from a large city outside South Dakota, left after finding life in such a remote area too difficult.

Marcella Gilbert, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, coordinates cultural programming such as trips to powwows and outings to hunt elk and bison. She also cares for the children when their foster parent needs a break.

Were asking people to do the hardest job in the world, which is being a parent to children coming into our homes with loss and trauma, she said.

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

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After several rounds of treatment for a rare eye cancer  weekly drug infusions that could cost nearly $50,000 each  Paul Davis learned Medicare had abruptly stopped paying the bills.

That left Davis, a retired physician in Findlay, Ohio, contemplating a horrific choice: risk saddling his family with huge medical debt, if he had to pay those bills from the hospital out-of-pocket, or halt treatments that help keep him alive.

Is it worth bankrupting my family for me to hang around for a couple of years? Davis pondered. I dont want to make that choice.

How much Davis will end up owing for his care remains unclear. One of the hospitals that has administered the costly drug is appealing Medicares initial payment denials. And the family might not even know their total balance until Medicare rejects all the appeals.

But the uncertainty has compounded the stress of living with an aggressive cancer.

Davis, 71, was diagnosed in November 2019 with uveal melanoma, which afflicts eye tissue and is one of the rarest tumors on the planet, he said.

The cancer spread from his eye to his liver, which typically proves fatal within a year. He was told a new rare-disease drug called Kimmtrak offered the only hope for prolonging his life.

Approved by the FDA in January 2022 as the first and only treatment for metastatic uveal melanoma, Kimmtrak has kept his tumors stable, according to Davis. His oncologist told him he should stay on the drug until it stops working. Its manufacturer markets the drugs power to deliver 6-month improvement in median overall survival.

Davis said he started taking the medicine last summer at the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital in Columbus.

The hospital billed a total of $49,367.70 for his intravenous chemotherapy administered on Sept. 13, 2022. The charge for the drug came to $47,838; the rest covered fees for lab work and administering the drug. Medicare paid the provider $11,668.86 for those services, according to Medicare records explaining his benefits.

His subsequent treatments at the Columbus hospital were covered, too, according to Medicare billing statements Davis reviewed.

But things changed after he transferred his care to a hospital in Findlay in October to spare his wife, Jane, from driving him 100 miles each way to weekly appointments in Columbus.

Medicare has denied Kimmtrak coverage on claims submitted by Blanchard Valley Health System in Findlay, Davis said, pitching him into an agonizing dispute with hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills at stake.

After a KHN reporter contacted Blanchard Valley, the hospital connected Davis with a patient relations liaison, who is working to resolve the billing problem. Davis said last week that Medicare apparently rejected the claims because the Findlay hospital mistakenly billed for using Kimmtrak to treat a different cancer, for which its use is not approved. Davis was told it might take at least 45 days to straighten out, but the hospital would not dun him, even if it lost the appeal.

Meanwhile, the charges for Kimmtrak are in limbo, Davis said.

Amy Leach, the hospitals director of public relations, said she could not comment on Davis case, but in an email wrote: Blanchard Valley Health System is committed to ensuring that accurate billing occurs and we work with our patients to promptly resolve any concerns.

Stacie Dusetzina, a health policy and drug pricing expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said Davis is right to worry.

She said hospitals often hugely inflate the price of drugs so that if someone doesnt pay, they can write it off.

I hope the hospital will fix this for him and that they are communicating with him about it, she said.

Sebastien Desprez, a spokesperson for Oxfordshire, England-based Immunocore, which manufactures Kimmtrak, said its list price was $19,229 per weekly dose. He said the drugs approval by the FDA shows there is value for patients.

Cancer drug prices are outrageous, said Dr. Hagop Kantarjian, who chairs the Department of Leukemia at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas.

And thats not even the full cost. Dusetzina said hospitals often hugely inflate the price of drugs in the bills they issue so that if someone doesnt pay, [the hospital] can write it off.

Merith Basey, executive director of Patients for Affordable Drugs, an advocacy group, said no ordinary person can handle the price of these drugs.

Its simple: Drugs dont work if people cant afford them  no one should be poor because they are sick or be sick because they are poor, she said.

This is not Davis first time staring down a supersized medical bill.

Davis and his daughter, Elizabeth Moreno, were the subject of the 2018 debut article in the KHN-NPR Bill of the Month series over her $17,850 bill for a urine test.

Davis wound up paying a Texas lab $5,000 to settle that bill, which private insurers said should have cost a hundred dollars or less. Davis spoke at a May 2019 White House event to support legislation to crack down on surprise medical bills.

But at least he knew where he stood with the urine testing bill. Now hes facing escalating costs of his cancer care without knowing how it will affect his familys finances.

How do you make an informed choice if you have no information? Davis asked.

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

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This story can be republished for free (details).
OMAHA -- The park-like setting was what sold the Bucklins on the home near 126th and Pacific streets.

Mature pin oaks, maples, cottonwoods and conifers surrounded the home on nearly an acre of land, said Jon Bucklin. Sure there was a high-voltage power line bisecting the property, but it was high above and hadnt impeded the health of the trees in the decades prior to when they purchased the property eight years ago, he said.

So Bucklin said he was stunned this week when workers from the Omaha Public Power District told him that 20 of his trees would be cut down within the next two weeks. With those trees will be hawks, squirrels and birds who nest there, along with the treehouse he just built for his sons.

Were just devastated, he said. No one told us when we bought this house that it was a possibility. Had I known this, I would have not bought this property.

Jodi Baker, a spokeswoman for OPPD, said the utility is upgrading the transmission line to improve electric reliability and to meet growing demand in the metro area. She likened the 161-kilovolt line to a highway that provides a crucial connection between power plants and the substations that send power to individual customers.

The transmission line dates to the 1950s, and about three miles, from 108th and Blondo Streets to 123rd and Pacific Streets, are being replaced at a cost of $8 million to $10 million. All trees over 10 feet tall will be removed, if the trunk is within the 100-foot-wide easement, she said.

When this transmission line was originally built, it was in open spaces on the western edge of Omaha, she said. As the city grew, neighborhoods and other developments formed around the line.

Bucklin expects the loss of trees to cost him more than $100,000 in property value, but thats not the worst of it, he said. Adding insult to injury is that his homes valuation increased $200,000 over the last year, to $612,700. This means hell have to persuade Douglas County tax officials to lower its value.

Bucklin said there should be greater disclosures by real estate agents, title companies and OPPD about what easements across a property mean. And he said his family should have gotten better advance notice from OPPD. He said the family didnt know about the tree removal until this week, when OPPD started taking down trees in their neighborhood.

As they were talking to me, I could hear the chain saws down the street, and they said, Thats us. 

Baker said the utility made multiple attempts to reach property owners along the line, calling, knocking on doors and leaving flyers. She said the utility was able to reach everyone by mid-January.

Bucklin said the only contact the family received was about two weeks ago when someone from OPPD called to say theyd be marking the property. That didnt raise a red flag, he said, because the family is used to markings being made along the easement.

The loss of the trees will change his property so much that he said hed like the utility to buy his home.

If theyre going to claim this ground that I have been maintaining and paying taxes on, they should buy my house for fair market value, he said. Its going to devastate my property value.

Baker said OPPD compensates property owners for collateral damage, such as replacing sod or fixing a damaged fence. It also will plant ornamental shrubs and trees to replace those that are cut down. But it has legal authority over the land beneath the lines and on either side of it.

We greatly empathize with property owners and realize that trees bring aesthetic, environmental and emotional value to them, she said. We must remove trees within the transmission easement for the safety of our customers and employees, as well as for reliability of the electric system. ... We would not provide compensation for perceived property value losses. However, OPPD will make any repairs that may be necessary after work is completed.

Trees and power lines simply dont mix, she said.

We want to really stress the importance of planting the right tree in the right location, she said Trees and power lines dont mix. When they collide, it not only causes power outages, it can also be downright dangerous.

The final insult, Bucklin and his familys electric bill will go up this summer.

Theyre servicing their own wallet, he said. These shade trees are significant. The sun is going to pound the front side of my house.

Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of February 2023 020922-owh-new-bigelk-pic-cm02.jpg 020523-owh-spo-cubkw-pic-cm07.jpg 020423-owh-new-zooupdate-pic01.jpg 020223-owh-new-target-pic-cm02.jpg 020523-owh-spo-cubkw-pic-cm09.jpg 020922-owh-new-bigelk-pic-cm01.jpg 020922-owh-new-bigelk-pic-cm04.jpg Mitchell, McDermott hug Legacy Crossing move Flower shop 021723-owh-new-palacio01.jpg 021923-owh-spo-statewrestlingsat-pic-cm09.jpg 021123-owh-new-feature-pic-cm01.jpg 021723-owh-new-snow-pic-cm02.jpg 021523-owh-spo-rain-pic-cm02.jpg 021123-owh-spo-unoice-pic-cm01.jpg 021923-owh-spo-statewrestlingsat-pic-cm06.jpg
Colorados two Senators can barely contain themselves in championing national pot legalization. They want it yesterday, no matter what it means for the countrys 74 million children, the growing homeless crisis or the soaring traffic fatalities involving drugs.

While introducing a federal legalization bill in December, Democratic Sen. John Hickenlooper said it would replicate our success nationally  referring to Colorados 10-year legalization fiasco. Hickenloopers bill comes after Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet led a 2019 federal legalization effort called The Marijuana Justice Act.

Bennet said his bill would help communities of color.

The Marijuana Justice Act is the most far-reaching marijuana legislation ever to be introduced in Congress, Bennet boasted in a written statement.

Marijuana does no more good for communities of color than for those lacking color, but legalizing it clearly bodes well for staying in office. Politicians benefit by pandering to Big Marijuana the way their predecessors leveraged Big Tobacco in the mid-20th century. Back then, they insisted tobacco was good for us.

While continuing their crusade for federal legalization, Bennet and Hickenlooper should talk to parents with small children who have been hospitalized for exposure to the drug.

The Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Safety office reports an increase in THC ingestion by children 5 and younger of 170% from 2017 to 2021. The increase comes after the legislature enacted regulatory measures, in apparent futility, to keep edibles out of the mouths of babes.

Gummies, cookies, drinks, and other treats infused with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) caused most of the incidents of accidental poisonings of children, the agency reports. This, despite regulatory reforms that mandate child-proof packaging and forbid marketing techniques that might appeal to children.

Dr. Marit Tweet, a medical toxicologist at the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine who studies marijuana trends, told Kaiser Health News the packaging regulations fail because children dont read packages. Furthermore, she said, parents dont know how to store marijuana safely and leave it around unpackaged.

Its more readily available and more of an opportunity for the children to get into, Tweet said, linking the increase in childhood exposure to legalization.

Despite the troubling increases in early childhood exposure to THC, no one has introduced state legislation this session to address the concern.

Meanwhile, the congressional push for more marijuana continues. If we replicate our success nationally, we can expect more ingestion of THC by young children.

By replicating Colorado, we can also expect a massive increase in traffic fatalities involving impaired drivers  something like the 44% increase Colorado has suffered over the past four years. Research shows 45% of impaired drivers test positive for dual substances, most commonly alcohol and pot.

As a candidate for Denver mayor in 2003, Hickenlooper pledged to end homelessness. He failed, but there may be a silver lining. If the country replicates our marijuana success, maybe some other jurisdiction will knock Colorado off the top-10 list of states with the highest homeless rates  all of which followed Colorados lead and legalized pot.

In states with RCL (recreational cannabis legalization) adoption such as California, Oregon, and Washington, total combined unsheltered homelessness increased by 18% from 2015 to 2017, explains a recent study out of Clemson University.

Similarly, Colorado adopted RCL in 2012 and saw a 13% increase of homelessness between 2015 and 2016 Whether by population rebalancing effects, rising drug consumption and crime, or changes in cultural attitudes, the results of the model strongly suggest that RCL adoption may cause an increase in aggregate rates of homelessness.

To get more children on THC, more traffic fatalities and more homeless camps from sea to sea, the formula is simple. Take the advice of Colorados senators and replicate our success nationally.
Podiatrist Pleads Guilty to Foot Bath Fraud Scheme

WASHINGTON  A Mississippi man pleaded guilty today for his role in a scheme to defraud Medicare and TRICARE by prescribing and dispensing medically unnecessary foot bath medications and ordering medically unnecessary testing of toenails in exchange for kickbacks and bribes.

According to court documents, Marion Shaun Lund, D.P.M., 53, of Taylor, owned and operated a podiatry clinic, as well as an in-house pharmacy. Lund routinely wrote prescriptions for, and his pharmacy dispensed, antibiotic and antifungal drugs to be mixed into a tub of warm water for patients to soak their feet. Rather than prescribe drugs based on the individualized needs of patients, Lund prescribed foot bath medications in order to maximize reimbursements from Medicare, TRICARE, and other health care benefit programs, regardless of medical necessity. In addition, Lund took toenail clippings and wound cultures from patients and sent them to a lab for diagnostic testing, even though such testing was not medically necessary. From April 2020 through March 2022, Lund caused the submission of over $1.4 million in claims to Medicare and TRICARE for unnecessary prescriptions of foot bath medications and diagnostic testing of toenails, resulting in over $700,000 in reimbursements. In exchange for his prescriptions and orders, Lund was paid cash kickbacks by a purported marketer.

Lund pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 15, 2023, and faces a maximum penalty of ten years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Lund is the fourth defendant, including three medical professionals, to plead guilty for his role in the scheme. In October 2021, Logan Hunter Power pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to pay and receive kickbacks, and in October 2022, Power was sentenced to 25 months in prison. In August 2022, Jared Lee Spicer, D.P.M., pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and is awaiting sentencing. In September 2022, Carey Craig Williams, D.P.M., pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and is awaiting sentencing.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Departments Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Clay Joyner for the Northern District of Mississippi; Special Agent in Charge Derrick L. Jackson of the Department of Health and Human Services-Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG); and Acting Assistant Director Jay Greenberg of the FBI Criminal Investigative Division made the announcement.

The HHS-OIG and FBI are investigating the case.

Trial Attorney Sara E. Porter and Assistant Chief Justin M. Woodard of the Criminal Divisions Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Clayton A. Dabbs of the Northern District of Mississippi are prosecuting the case.

The Fraud Section leads the Criminal Divisions efforts to combat health care fraud through the Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program. Since March 2007, this program, comprised of 15 strike forces operating in 25 federal districts, has charged more than 5,000 defendants who collectively have billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $24 billion. In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services, are taking steps to hold providers accountable for their involvement in health care fraud schemes. More information can be found at https://www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit.

This story has been published on: 2023-02-14. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Former Public Defender of Georgia Nino Lomjaria was awarded the National Order of Honor by French President Emmanuel Macron. The information was released by the French Embassy in Georgia.According to the embassy, this award was given to the former ombudsman for the role she played in the field of democracy."Today, the French Ambassador to Georgia, Ms. Sheraz Ghasri, met with the former Public Defender of Georgia, Ms. Nino Lomjaria, to inform her that the French President, Mr. Macron, awarded her with the National Order of Honor.This award will be given to Ms. Lomjaria for the important role she played at the head of one of the pillars of Georgian democracy. We sincerely congratulate her," the statement of the French Embassy reads.Shalva Khachapuridze, the lawyer of the former president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, said they are not thinking about Strasbourg yet, but plan to appeal to the Tbilisi Court of Appeals."We are not thinking of Strasbourg. The decision should be handed over to Mr. Giorgi Arevadze, we will appeal it to the Tbilisi Court of Appeals and at the same time we will think about what further actions and measures should be taken.You know that during the trial the penitentiary service denied the episodes of Saakashvili's fainting, etc. However, in the footage that was broadcast from the penitentiary, the public saw that Saakashvili had a number of fainting episodes.The rest of the footage is yet to be delivered, we will receive it, hopefully, this week and after that, we will think about exhausting the internal state resources from start to finish. He is in a worse situation than that today, and we will have this footage very soon, in two or three days, and we will show this to the public," said Khachapuridze.
On Feb. 12, 1973, as a condition of the peace treaty that ended the Vietnam War, the first of more than 600 prisoners of war were brought back to the U.S. from Vietnamese prison camps. Several of those returning POWs, including retired Navy Capt. John Michael Mike McGrath, were from Colorado.

In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the POWs return to the U.S.  dubbed Operation Homecoming  the Air Force Academy on Monday hosted McGrath, who lived through nearly six years at the brutal Hanoi prison camp, and local author George Hayward, who wrote a book chronicling an attempted escape from the camp.

Dozens of Academy cadets and staff members were rapt with attention as McGrath, a fighter pilot who was shot down and captured in 1967, described the physical and psychological abuse inflicted on him and his fellow POWs.

Perhaps the most brutal form of torture was known simply as the ropes, McGrath said.

What they do is tie your hands behind your back, cinch up your elbows until your ribs are starting to pull apart, then they rotate your arms over your head until your shoulders dislocate, he said.

You cannot hang on to name, rank and serial number under those conditions.

The Code of Conduct, an ethical guide for Americans in combat, dictates that captured troops give only the bare minimum of information  name, rank and serial number  when questioned. But refusing to talk was tantamount to signing ones own death warrant; 28 of McGraths fellow prisoners were killed at the Hanoi camp. So McGrath was forced to choose between adherence to the Code and survival.

They broke me, he admitted. I gave them information. It wasnt good information, but I had to tell them something.

As a compromise, McGrath told little lies, sprinkled with just enough truth to make it sound authentic.

I lied to them, but yet, I told them half-truths, he said. Thats how I got through.

McGrath, who taught himself to draw in captivity, included a sketch depicting the rope torture in his book, Prisoner of War: 6 Years in Hanoi. Hayward also featured the sketch in his book, titled The Party Dolls. McGrath was interviewed at length for Haywards book, which won a Best Indie Book Award in 2021.

Academy professor Paul Bezerra encouraged his International Security students to read The Party Dolls and listen to McGraths harrowing firsthand account in order to gain a true understanding of the potential dangers inherent in their future careers.

One of the only ways that (future military pilots) can really prepare for what its like on the ground is by interfacing with the folks who were there, who went through, frankly, the hell of war, Bezerra said.

Cadets were enthralled by McGraths stories.

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(McGraths account) was incredibly interesting, said Cadet 2nd Class Kate Helbush. Becoming a POW is a real possibility that we need to think about.

It was very powerful, said Cadet 2nd Class Reed Pennington. Its one of the things you kinda think of before joining the military  but its not until you hear firsthand accounts that you really understand what that truly can mean.

While some of McGraths stories were graphic and daunting, they didnt deter cadets Helbush or Pennington from their chosen paths.

(Listening to McGrath) has made me think about my future career, Helbush said. However, it hasnt changed. I still want to pursue flying, but its important to know that (becoming a POW) is a possibility.

If anything, I want to serve more than I did before, Pennington said. I want to fly even more, now that I have a clearer understanding of the legacy Im joining.

Like about 80% of the military POWs who survived the war, McGrath continued his military career after he was set free. After being treated at a U.S. hospital, he went back to work, serving a total of 24 years before retiring from the Navy in 1987.

When you get your (expletive) kicked, you pick yourself up and keep going, he said.

Hayward, who conducted multiple interviews with nine surviving POWs for his book, said the veterans tend to approach life the way McGrath does.

They dont sweat the little things in life, he said. The little petty annoyances, the petty rivalries  theyre above all that.

On May 24, McGrath will join other surviving POWs for a dinner at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda, California. The gala event will be a replica of the White House celebration dinner Nixon held for more than 600 returning POWs and their loved ones in May 1973.

Were going to celebrate 50 years of freedom, McGrath said.

McGrath, who graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1962, told cadets that his service academy experience helped him survive the 5 years, 8 months he spent at Hanoi.

When I was hurting the worst, when they were twisting my arms, I thought, I got through Plebe Year at the academy. I can get through this, said McGrath, who lives in Monument. For the rest of your lives, when youre get in a tough position, you can get through it, because youve been in tough positions before.

Im just very proud of all of you, and I know that youre gonna go out and serve your country in all capacities, McGrath concluded. I want to be young, and (fly planes) with you.
A student was shot in a vehicle at East High School on Monday in yet another incident that prompted a police official to decry the number of juveniles involved in crimes.

"Juvenile crime is very high and it's very disturbing," said Joe Montoya, the division chief of investigations at Denver Police District.

Montoya said the latest incident demonstrates a clear need by the "community and everybody to come together" to find ways to curb violent crimes involving young people.

Police have arrested two individuals they suspected are involved in the shooting. Police do not know the motive of the shooting.

Police responded to a report of shots fired just after 2:30 p.m. and found the victim suffering from a gunshot wound.

The young man's name is known to the police but authorities withheld it as he is a minor.

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Police said he was transported to an area hospital with a "very poor prognosis."

Police added they located the suspects' vehicle shortly after the shooting. Based on the direction of travel, police located the vehicle in Northeast Denver roughly two hours after the initial event.

"We had officers scouring the Northeast section of town," Montoya said. "Based on the direction of travel, we thought it might still be up in the area."

Police found two people in the car who "took off" after officers approached. A brief chase ensued, but Montoya said both suspects were arrested without use of force. Police believe the vehicle was stolen and impounded it.

Though occurring within 20 minutes of the shooting at East High School, another shooting near Emily Griffith Technical College appears to be unrelated, according to Montoya.

Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867. A reward of up to $2,000 if being offered and tipsters can remain anonymous by calling the tip line.

Editor's note: This story is developing.
A veteran Jefferson County Sheriff's K-9 named Graffit received a heros funeral Monday, hours after he was allegedly shot and killed by a fleeing suspect.

The 9-year-old German shepherd had tracked a fugitive from town into the woods near Golden just after midnight Monday when his handler unleashed him to apprehend the suspect, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office.

It all happened very fast, Sheriff's Office spokesperson Jenny Fulton said. He died doing exactly what he supposed to do.

Golden police suggested 13 charges for the suspect, Eduardo Armando Romero, 30, including aggravated animal cruelty, felony menacing, motor vehicle theft and DUI.

At about 12:15 a.m. Monday, Golden police officers responded to assist the Colorado School of Mines' Police Department near 19th Street and Elm Street in Golden, according to police.

After waking a sleeping driver slumped over his steering wheel twice, the suspect began ramming officers' patrol cars while trying to get away, according to police.

Officers broke the driver's window and put the vehicle in park, police said. While removing the suspect from the car, he was able to get away from police, ran eastbound on 19th Street and pointed a handgun at officers.

Romero allegedly fired shots from a handgun, striking and killing Graffit, according to Golden police. The School of Mines campus was on lockdown for a time and morning classes canceled, but the suspect was arrested and operations returned to normal by noon.

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In law enforcement, the death of a K-9 is often approached with the same weight as the death of a human partner. Graffit was "considered to have been shot in the line of duty," said Jeffco spokesperson Karlyn Tilley.

Officers stood in salute to the working dog as he was carried from the crime scene on a stretcher to a waiting Sheriff's Office vehicle.

Graffit was then taken by a 30-vehicle police procession to Colorado State University, where a forensic necropsy will be performed.

In the meantime, a Critical Incident Response Team from the Jefferson County District Attorneys Office is gathering evidence.

The suspect surrendered just before dawn Monday after a five-hour ordeal.

According to School of Mines spokesperson Emilie Rusch, Romero drove away from police slowly and then started ramming their vehicles. As officers were removing him from his car, Romero fled on foot into a wooded area with Graffit and his handler in close pursuit. Graffit was killed just before 1 a.m., Fulton said.

Graffit (pronounced gra-FEET) was one of six K-9s in service for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, and one of the only service dogs who has died in the line of duty for the department.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Jefferson County Sheriffs who were kind enough to bring their K-9 to help us, said Golden Police Department Sgt. Ben Salentine, who said that Graffit mostly likely saved an officers life.

A post on the Sheriff's Office Facebook page announcing Graffit's death with a large photo of him garnered 1,500 comments and was shared more than 3,000 times at the time of this writing.
Amid a flurry of questions about a Chinese spy balloon and three other floating objects shot down over North America in recent days  former Army Ranger and U.S. Rep. Jason Crow urged calm with some good humor Monday.

Were not being invaded by aliens so everyone can calm down and come out of your bunkers, tweeted Crow, D-Aurora.

Speculation about aliens online was fueled in part by comments by Gen. Glen VanHerck head of Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, who didnt rule out extraterrestrials Sunday as an explanation of the objects shot down three days in a row. NORAD is based in Colorado Springs.

Ill let the intel community and the counterintelligence community figure that out. I havent ruled out anything, Reuters quoted VanHerck as saying.

The Air Force shot down the floating objects  which didnt have propulsion and didnt appear to be sending communication signals  because they could have posed a threat to commercial aircraft at their altitude, said John Kirby, National Security Council spokesman on Monday. He also noted many balloons are sent up to collect information at similar altitudes for purposes that are not nefarious, such as research.

In the same briefing, Kirby noted the president has asked the intelligence community to take a broad look at the phenomenon of unidentified aerial objects.

President Joe Biden is committed to understanding them in partnership with academic institutions and the private sector, Kirby said.

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Unidentified aerial phenomena have been reported for many years, without explanation or deep examination by the government, Kirby said. President Biden has changed all that. We are finally trying to understand them better.

In the meantime, Crow urged patience, reiterating some of the same themes Kirbys touched on, notably that recovering the wreckage and analyzing it will take time.

It could be difficult to find the objects in remote areas of Alaska and Canada, Kirby said. One of the objects went down over Lake Huron and could be in deep water.

Crow said on Twitter he expects Congress would receive information when it is available.

Briefing prematurely is ALWAYS a bad idea, he said.

Contact the writer at mary.shinn@gazette.com or (719) 429-9264.
The three people involved in a car chase that led to the death of Fountain police officer Julian Becerra have an extensive history of auto theft, robbery and other crimes, with two of the suspects having active warrants out for their arrest when the incident involving Becerra occurred, court records show.

On Feb. 2, Becerra attempted to arrest the three suspects, who led law enforcement on a car chase across Fountain in a stolen vehicle, authorities have said.

An affidavit for Danisha Pacheco, one of the three arrested after the incident, details the events leading up to Becerra's death.

At about 4 p.m. Feb. 2, the Fountain Police Department began looking for a stolen vehicle out of Pueblo County being driven by Devon Bobian, according to the affidavit. A few hours later, Fountain police found the stolen car and tried to get Bobian to pull over. But he fled, allegedly driving 60 to 80 mph in a 25 mph zone.

After a brief pursuit Bobian, 31, and the two other people in the car  Pacheco, 28, and Anthony Vallejos, 32  tried to steal a different car at a Love's gas station in Fountain.

According to the affidavit, the trio approached a woman pumping gas and one of the men told the woman that he had a gun and demanded that she hand over her car keys. The woman refused to give them her car keys and when they saw police approaching the gas station they returned to their original vehicle and left the gas station.

Less than five minutes after leaving the gas station, the affidavit states, Bobian lost control of the car and crashed, and all three of the people in the car attempted to flee on foot. The affidavit states that while attempting to apprehended the trio, Becerra fell off the bridge and fell about 40 feet.

Becerra was in critical condition until Saturday, when he was pronounced dead because of the injuries he suffered from the fall.

Court records show that Pacheco's preliminary charges include first-degree assault, aggravated robbery and felony menacing. Bobian and Vallejos have yet to be charged.

"This is still a very active investigation. ... There's just so many moving parts," said Howard Black, a spokesman for the 4th Judicial District Attorney. "The entire case once completed will be presented to the District Attorney's office for formal charges."

Black declined to comment on when formal charges will be presented. Pacheco, who made her first appearance in Colorado's 4th Judicial District Court on Monday, will return to court on Friday morning for the filing of formal charges.

Jason Garrett, a spokesman for the El Paso County Sheriff's Office, said he could not comment on if charges would be filed against Vallejos or Bobian, who are being held in Pueblo County jail.

Bobian had two warrants out for his arrest at the time of the incident  the first for a misdemeanor charge of unauthorized absence and the second for motor vehicle theft and felony criminal mischief.

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According to an affidavit acquired by The Gazette, Bobian was staying in a community corrections facility in Pueblo after being released from the Department of Corrections six months into an 18-month sentence. He pleaded guilty to one count of weapon possession by a previous offender in March.

The affidavit outlines that Bobian on Dec. 10, 2022, told staff at the residential program that he was going to the hospital, but Bobian never checked into the hospital and never returned to the residential program.

Bobian had been on the run since, but while unaccounted for he picked up an additional case on Jan. 24. The affidavit for the incident outlines how Bobian and others broke into a Pueblo business using a stolen car and stole over 100 gallons of gasoline.

Bobian was identified as the suspect driving the stolen car by detectives, but they were unable to find him before his arrest in Fountain.

According to court records, Bobian was sentenced to three years in the Department of Corrections in 2017 after pleading guilty to controlled substance possession with the intent to distribute in Pueblo County. Court records also show that in 2012 Bobian pleaded guilty to robbery in Pueblo County and was given a six-year prison sentence in the Department of Corrections.

Court records show that Vallejos has three open cases in Pueblo County  two misdemeanor cases for violating probation and one case where he faces 12 charges including stalking, menacing and harassment.

The probation violations stem from a 2021 case where Vallejos pleaded guilty to felony menacing with a weapon and was given a sentence of two years supervised probation. Court records show that Vallejos posted a $2,500 bond following his first probation violation, but was never arrested for the second violation and for the additional criminal case.

Vallejos also has a well-documented criminal history in Pueblo County over the last decade. Court records show in 2019 Vallejos pleaded guilty to controlled substance possession and was sentenced to one year in jail, and in 2015 Vallejos pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated robbery with a weapon and was given a sentence of two years in the Department of Corrections.

In 2012 Vallejos pleaded guilty to aggravated motor vehicle theft and was given a sentence of 40 months in the Department of Corrections, and later the same year pleaded guilty to one count of attempted escape from felony conviction and was given a sentence of two years in the Department of Corrections.

In 2011 Vallejos pleaded guilty to burglary and was given a sentence of three years of supervised probation.

Pacheco did not have a warrant out for her arrest at the time of the incident, but she also has a criminal history in Pueblo and El Paso counties.

In 2020 Pacheco pleaded guilty to misdemeanor theft and was given a 30-day jail sentence. In 2015 Pacheco pleaded guilty to misdemeanor motor vehicle theft and was given a one-year probation sentence.

Pacheco is being held in El Paso County jail on a $100,000 bond on charges relating to the death of Becerra. Vallejos is being held in Pueblo County on a $35,000 bond split between three active cases and Bobian on a $12,500 bond split between two cases, also in Pueblo County.
Time to make a big change

Excellent article in Sundays Gazette from The Associated Press! Yes, 2024 will be about the education of our children in this country.

I want my children to be taught how to read not only the simplest books but also the classics and beyond.

I want them to understand and use mathematics and science not only for the most basic projects but also to putting another human on the moon.

I want them to delve into the history of the world with all its greatness and disasters and learn from historical facts.

What I wont stand for is assuming you have the right to teach my children what is good or bad, moral or immoral. When education in schools is replaced by indoctrination its time to make a big change.

If sexual positions/gender fluidity and racism at birth based on skin color are the subjects now taught in public schools, it might be past time to allow our tax dollars for education be used at the parents discretion.

Jackie Berry

Colorado Springs

Going a step too far

Once is an occurrence, twice is a coincidence, three times arrives at the border of deserving attention and/or criticism. And four times ... is a pattern.

As someone who has been following the wildland-urban interface wildfire evacuation issue very closely for four years, I know how many times a public-facing fire department official has suggested that the responsibility for the deaths of two people in the Waldo Canyon Fire lies with the elderly couple who died. This pronouncement has recently happened again  for the fourth time of which Im aware.

We are told time and again that we the public are responsible for the lions share of responsibility for mitigating our properties and for being fully informed about how to conduct ourselves in the event of a wildfire evacuation.

Fair enough ... when that message is reasonably balanced and justly applied. But it is not just to apply it to a single circumstance without knowing all the facts (in this case we dont). Nor is it just to fail to take into account the different capabilities which exist from one household to another. To repeatedly go so far as to publicly reproach two senior citizens who are tragically no longer alive to defend themselves, is clearly a step too far. For the sake of common decency, please stop it.

Donna Strom

Colorado Springs

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Denial of transplants

UCHealth Transplant Center:

I initially agreed with your requirement for a COVID-19 immunization for transplant patients in 2021 and early 2022.

I do not agree with your denial of transplants on this basis now in 2023, especially in patients who have had proven COVID-19 disease, meaning they have been naturally immunized to a decent degree.

Also, the COVID-19 morbidity and mortality stakes have not been nearly as high since Spring 2022 when the Omicron subvariants made their appearance, especially for people who previously had COVID-19. Is this your sword to fall on? I dont know about you, but I will advocate for my patients until the end. Sadly, the end may come sooner than later for these transplant candidates who have been denied. Please push this up to the highest level.

Do you ignore the fact that natural immunization means something? You can tell any donor that such patients do have natural immunization and that will reduce their risk of severe disease, hospitalization, and death from COVID-19. It will not reduce their risk to zero, but by a significant enough amount to deserve a life-extending transplant. No ones risk of hospitalization or death, from this disease, or from driving their car to their medical appointments, can be reduced to zero. Its Valentines Day. Have a heart.

Jamie Glover, MD

Monument

This exciting opportunity

Starting this upcoming school year, families will have access to free, voluntary, high-quality preschool for their children, creating a long-lasting impact in Colorado.

UPK Colorado will give kids a foundation for success while parents will have more opportunities to secure the future of their families. Preschools will also be able to connect with new families and expand their business for a wider audience.

Preschool providers in our community are excited to be a part of the movement to provide a strong foundation for all of Colorados children, and many have been signing up. Families are enrolling now, seeking a preschool that is most convenient for them and their child.

Thanks to UPK Colorado, our state can help kids get an early start at securing a strong educational start. Kids who go to preschool are more likely to be kindergarten ready and less likely to repeat a grade, leading to a promising future. Families can sign up for UPK Colorado at UPK.Colorado.gov.

Joint Initiatives for Youth + Families, the Local Coordinating Organization for UPK, is thrilled to be part of this exciting opportunity for children and families in our state. Visit Jointinitiatives.org. for more information.

Angela McKibben

Colorado Springs
The Democrat who came within a fraction of a percentage point of unseating U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert in the closest congressional election in the country last year announced Tuesday that he's launching another run for the seat.

Novembers election results show us that Boebert is weak and will be defeated, which is why I have decided to launch my 2024 congressional campaign," Frisch said in a statement. "Despite her near loss in a district that favored Republicans by 9 points, Boebert has only doubled down on her divisive antics, attention-seeking, and 'angertainment' that does nothing to benefit the people of southern and western Colorado."

Frisch, a former member of Aspen City Council, said Boebert's close call in a race that didn't draw national attention until the votes were being counted suggests the Silt Republican is vulnerable.

Election forecasters dismissed Frisch's chances last year, calling the sprawling district safely Republican. But after Frisch took the lead in early returns, a mandatory recount found the incumbent won by 546 votes out of more than 325,000 cast  or just over 1/10th of a percentage point.

"Lauren Boebert is everything that's wrong with Congress," Frisch said in a campaign video posted to social media. "She's an election denier that encouraged the attack on the Capitol and wants to make all abortion illegal, even for rape and incest. She's part of the 'angertainment' circus that's tearing the (country) apart."

I. AM. RUNNING.You heard it here first! I am officially launching my campaign to unseat Lauren Boebert and restore dignity to #CO03 representation.We lost by a mere 546 votes in '22  the closest race in the country  and know we can make that up in '24. pic.twitter.com/LqxO43l9f8  Adam Frisch for CD-3 (@AdamForColorado) February 14, 2023

A Boebert campaign spokesman dismissed the Democrat's criticism.

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"The entire country watched as Congresswoman Lauren Boebert helped fearlessly lead the way in making historic improvements to how Congress operates," Ben Stout told Colorado Politics in an email.

"In just a matter of weeks since then, Congresswoman Boebert has co-sponsored and helped pass six bills and authored four amendments, each one passing on the House floor with bipartisan support. She looks forward to continuing to serve Colorado's 3rd Congressional District, regardless of whoever runs against her."

Boebert was a leading voice among the House Republicans who blocked Kevin McCarthy from winning the speaker's race for nearly a week in early January until the California Republican agreed to change some of the chamber's rules, among other concessions.

Frisch filed paperwork to run again in 2024 shortly after conceding to Boebert in November but said at the time that he was keeping his options open and hadn't decided whether to mount another run.

"I have continued to be focused on the district and making sure it gets proper representation," Frisch told Colorado Politics, adding that he met last week with representatives of rural advocacy groups in the district, which covers most of the Western Slope, southern Colorado and Pueblo County.

"There remains a lot of frustration that the current representative doesn't seem to have learned many lessons after having one of the worst performing campaigns in the country last year," Frisch said, adding that he doesn't think Boebert has been focused on issues such as water, rural health care and education.
By Azernews

Laman Ismayilova

Azerbaijans cultural capital Shusha will host international conferences and scientific seminars this year, Azernews reports.

The relevant decision was included in the Action Plan of the Cabinet of Ministers with regard to the declaration of Shusha as the Cultural Capital of the Turkic world for 2023.

The list of international conferences includes "Turkic World: Common historical and cultural values, modern realities and look into the future", "Ahmad bay Aghaoglu and Turkic World", "Shusha in the history of Turkic World", etc.

Shusha will also host the presentation of the "Legend of Kharibulbul" documentary. And the documentary contains interviews with a number of outstanding scientists and cultural figures about Karabakh and Shusha, as well as video shots of historical figures.

The film focuses on the opinion of Western scientists about the Eastern culture, the Azerbaijani literature, music, mugham, and nature.

During the filming process, Swedish photographer and filmmaker Mikael Silkeberg visited Shusha, Fuzuli, and Aghdam districts.

Azerbaijani Prime Minister Ali Asadov signed an order approving the Action Plan for declaring the city of Shusha as the Cultural Capital of the Turkic World 2023.

The Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Culture Ministry, the Special Representative Office of the Azerbaijani president in Shusha as well as the Shusha State Reserve are entrusted with the implementation of the activities related to the events.

The Culture Ministry is designated as the coordinating body for the implementation of the activities envisaged by the Action Plan.

The Action Plan implies the financing from the funds allocated to the relevant executive bodies in the state budget for 2023 and other sources not prohibited by law.

Many events of cultural significance, including the Kharibulbul International Folklore Festival, the Korkut Ata Turkic World Film Festival, the Cultural Days of the Turkic People, the Vagif Poetry Days, the International Festival of Children's Creativity, Wonderland Shusha 2023 International Scout Camp, and other events will be held in Azerbaijan's cultural center in accordance with the Action Plan.
Eight months ago, 17-year-old Riley Whitelaw was murdered in the break room of the Colorado Springs Walgreens, where she worked. The horrific details of the crime, allegedly committed by an adult co-worker who Riley had previously complained against, quickly consumed state and national news.

In a matter of days, many of Rileys relatives, friends and classmates heard about her death from the news  before Rileys family had the chance to reach out themselves.

My family and I had no time to grieve in private, said Courtenay Whitelaw, Rileys mother. The children didnt deserve to find out such horrors from news or social media. ... Riley preferred to stay out of the limelight. Yet, here we are after her death. Overexposed in headline news, not for the human she is, but for the crime against her.

Colorado lawmakers are trying to prevent this situation from happening again through Senate Bill 75.

If passed into law, the bill would remove identifying information of victims and witnesses who are minors from criminal justice records released to the public, replacing names with child victim or child witness. This would make it so that children and teenagers who are victims of  or witnesses  to crimes cannot be identified by public records.

During a committee hearing on the bill Monday, Rileys friends and classmates from Air Academy High School said they cannot escape the gruesome details of her death even months later, still coming across articles and true crime TikToks rehashing descriptions of what happened.

The friends also spoke of their high school classmate, who was identified as a witness to Rileys murder in public records, saying she is frequently shamed by their peers for not doing something to save Riley.

Im trying to protect the safety, welfare and emotional and mental health of minors, said bill sponsor Sen. Tony Exum, D-Colorado Springs. Putting childrens privacy at risk is unacceptable. ... Tell your story, but redact the names.

Under current law, the names of victims who are minors are only redacted in public records in the cases of certain sexual crimes. However, when minors commit crimes, their identities are not released in public records unless they are charged as adults.

Perpetrators are protected more than victims, Exum said. Thats not right. Thats not fair.

In addition to protecting mental health, proponents of the bill argued it would protect minors physical health, as well, saying releasing the names of minors who witnessed crimes can put them in danger of retaliation.

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In November 2021, a mass shooting occurred at Hinkley High School in Aurora. Mayor Mike Coffman said the names and addresses of teenage witnesses to the shooting were inadvertently released in an arrest affidavit published in the local newspaper. Coffman said this led to the witnesses being bullied at school and one being placed in protective custody after his house was shot up.

The bills other sponsor Sen. Rhonda Fields, D-Aurora, has been personally affected by this kind of witness retaliation. In 2005, Fields son, Javad Marshall-Fields, and his fiancee, Vivian Wolfe, were murdered in Aurora the day after Marshall-Fields was threatened for being a witness in an upcoming murder trial.

Im seeking justice on behalf of kids that are involved in being a witness, Fields said. It puts them at risk. ... We are responsible for protecting kids.

The cities of Colorado Springs and Aurora support the bill, in addition to Aurora Public Schools, the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police, the Colorado Association of School Executives and the Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance.

The only groups that spoke in opposition to the bill were the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition and the Colorado Press Association. The groups argued that the bill could prevent media reporting that helps bring justice to crime victims who are minors, saying there should be exceptions for when a minors identity could be revealed.

Jeff Roberts, executive director of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition, pointed to the death of 17-year-old Jessica Hernandez in 2015, who was shot and killed by Denver police who claimed she tried to run them over.

As a result of media coverage and protests, the city of Denver paid Hernandezs family $1 million in a settlement and the Denver Police Department changed its policy on shooting at moving vehicles.

Sometimes, disclosure is in the public interest and there needs to be a way for agencies to consider that on a case-by-case basis, Roberts said. I worry this bill will have unintended consequences. Will journalists be able to corroborate the accounts of families and witnesses when they are barred from requesting official records about a specific person?

The groups also cited mass school shootings and teacher abuse cases as examples of crimes against minors where institutions may be suppressing information in public records that could be brought to light by the media.

In response, lawmakers amended the bill to include a good cause exception, meaning someone could petition the court to release the identity of minor victims or witnesses if there is public interest in accessing their identity. The petitioner would have to prove that the good to the public from releasing the identity would outweigh potential harm to the privacy of the minor and their family.

The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced the bill on Monday, unanimously voting to send the bill to the Senate Appropriations Committee for further consideration.

If passed by the full legislature, the bill would take effect in 2024. The bill would only redact minors names and identifying information from records going forward, not retroactively applying to past criminal justice records.
Can attorneys representing defendants who are challenging their criminal convictions discard certain claims without their clients informed consent?

The Colorado Supreme Court announced on Monday it will review the question after the states Court of Appeals last year decided a Larimer County judge was wrong to assume a defendants lawyer had abandoned some of her client's arguments, with no evidence the defendant intended for that to happen.

At least three of the Supreme Courts seven members must consent to hear a case on appeal.

A jury convicted Anthony Robert Smith of multiple child sex assault offenses in 2013. Five years later, Smith filed his own motion asking for postconviction relief, alleging new evidence, prosecutorial misconduct and constitutionally ineffective levels of assistance from his trial lawyer. The court appointed an attorney for Smith, who then filed a supplemental motion focusing specifically on three ineffective assistance claims.

District Court Judge Gregory M. Lammons denied Smiths request for postconviction relief, only addressing the three claims in the supplemental motion. Because Smiths lawyer did not have a duty to pursue meritless claims and she had not referenced many of Smith's initial contentions, Lammons believed Smith had waived his opportunity for a judges review of the remaining allegations.

On appeal, a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals decided that Smiths attorney was not obligated to re-raise her clients original issues when he was self-represented, or pro se. As long as Smith had not intended to relinquish his claims, Lammons should have considered them.

Nothing, wrote Judge Rebecca R. Freyre, shows that counsel considered Smiths pro se claims to be meritless or that she sought (or received) Smiths informed consent to waive any claims.

Both parties appealed to the Supreme Court. Smiths lawyer argued the Court of Appeals neglected to address an allegedly-problematic episode in which Smiths original trial judge personally delivered lunch to deliberating jurors without the parties knowledge. The government, meanwhile, alleged the notion of informed consent reversed the traditional roles of lawyer and client during post-conviction proceedings.

By requiring informed consent from Defendant to waive claims, Defendant, not counsel, is now captain of the ship, wrote Matthew S. Holman of the Colorado Attorney Generals Office.

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The Supreme Court elected to review the governments issues and rejected Smiths petition. The case is People v. Smith.

The justices also narrowly turned down a second appeal implicating the child welfare system.

A Mesa County father, identified as D.W., challenged a finding of child neglect as well as a judges directive that he complete the same type of evaluation and treatment given to those convicted of sex offenses. Although D.W.s neglect case involved allegations of sexual assault, the proceedings were not criminal.

A Court of Appeals panel decided last summer that the trial judge was not wrong to require D.W. to participate in behavioral treatment, but she was wrong to order the specific treatment given to defendants with criminal convictions.

The trial judge then reissued D.W.s treatment plan with modifications. D.W. appealed a second time.

But the Court of Appeals now wondered whether it had the ability to hear D.W.s new appeal. His treatment plan was known as a dispositional order. Colorado law deems dispositional orders to be non-final judgments that are appealable when paired with an adjudicatory order  meaning the decision that a child is neglected.

This time, D.W. did not have an adjudicatory order to pair with his appeal of the treatment plan. He argued that his second trip to the appellate court should be viewed as a continuation of the appeal, but the court dismissed the case anyway.

On appeal to the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Brian D. Boatright and Justice Richard L. Gabriel indicated they would have heard D.W.s case to decide whether dismissal is the right outcome when an appellate court orders a judge to change only her treatment plan and a party appeals the plan by itself.

The case is D.W. v. People.
Whether to use a gas stove or an electric one took center stage in the state House on Monday morning, as lawmakers debated a bill on home warranties.

House Bill 1134 would require home warranty service contracts to offer homeowners the option of replacing gas-powered appliances with electric-powered ones, a move the bill's supporters claim would reduce greenhouse gases but which critics say would financially burden Coloradans.

Under the proposal, the contract must also describe minimum efficiency in performance and, if the retail cost for the electric appliance is more expensive than the gas, the homeowner would be required to pay the difference.

The bill has made for some interesting alliances. Supporting the measure includes an array of environmental groups, as well as Xcel Energy, Colorado's biggest energy provider.

Sponsored by Reps. Junie Joseph, D-Boulder and Cathy Kipp, D-Fort Collins, the measure cleared the House Energy & Environment Committee on Jan. 30 on a party-line 6-3 vote.

Joseph argued the measure will help improve indoor air quality.

While utility companies are already on board, Kipp said home warranty companies have been slow to adopt it.

The controversy around gas stoves flared in January when Richard Trumka, Jr., head of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, told Bloomberg News his agency was considering a ban on gas stoves.

"Any option is on the table. Products that cant be made safe can be banned, Trumka said.

Republicans, including in Congress, seized on Trumka's comments.

God. Guns. Gas stoves.  Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) January 12, 2023

But Patty Davis, spokesperson for the commission, told The Denver Gazette the agency has not proposed any regulatory action on gas stoves.

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And Commission Chair Chair Alexander Hoehn-Saric walked back Trumka's comments two days later, saying that, while the agency is looking at emissions, it has no intention of banning gas stoves nor any proceeding to do so.

A 2022 study from the American Chemical Society said natural gas stoves release methane and that "annual methane emissions from all gas stoves in U.S. homes have a climate impact comparable to the annual carbon dioxide emissions of 500 000 cars." The International Journal of Environmental and Public Health, in a December, 2022 study, said 12.7% of current childhood asthma in the United States "is attributable to gas stove use."

During the Feb. 8 committee hearing, Rep. Kenneth DeGraaf, R-Colorado Springs, pointed out there could be unexpected costs tied to replacing gas stoves.

Joseph acknowledged that swapping out a 110V outlet for a 220V outlet could result in higher costs  more than $2,000 but that federal tax credits exist that could cover about 30% of that cost.

Christine Brinker with the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project said homeowners would like a cleaner, healthier, more efficient option than what was originally supplied in their homes. Heating and water heating are the largest users of energy in the home, while gas stoves are the largest source of indoor nitrogen oxide pollution in the home, she said.

She called concerns around switching outlets to 220V a "red herring," since it's the homeowner's choice to make those changes.

No one testified against the bill in committee, but House Republicans were ready when HB 1134 came up for debate Monday.

Rep. Gabe Evans, R-Fort Lupton, said the bill picks winners and losers and restricts the ability of homeowners and home warranty owners to choose the appliances best for them and their financial situation.

People should be able to go from gas to electric or vice versa, he said.

Rural Coloradans face a different issue, said Rep. Ty Winter, R-Trinidad, who added that electricity isn't as reliable in some rural parts of the state and that could leave people without heat.

Rep. Richard Holtorf, R-Akron, pointed out that electric bills have skyrocketed, and that consumers should have other options, mentioning liquid propane.

The bill won preliminary approval and will be ready for a final House vote on Tuesday.
A package of bills intended to bolster Colorado's abortion-rights laws are expected within the next two weeks, including a proposal that targets "crisis pregnancy centers."

Sen. Julie Gonzales, D-Denver, who spoke about the package on Tuesday, said the first measure deals with what she calls deceptive trade practices by anti-abortion clinics that she described as "fake."

In particular, Gonzales is targeting crisis pregnancy centers, which counsel pregnant women against having an abortion and to instead choose to carry the pregnancy to term, with parenting or adoption as an alternative.

The American Medical Society Journal of Ethics said the centers' trade practices have little to no oversight and accused the facilities of giving the "impression that they are clinical centers, offering legitimate medical services and advice, yet they are exempt from regulatory, licensure, and credentialing oversight that apply to health care facilities."

The journal also claimed that many centers are affiliated with religious ideology, which "takes priority over the health and well-being of the women seeking care at these centers," and that, as a result, women do not receive "comprehensive, accurate, evidence-based clinical information about all available options."

These centers are legal, but not ethical, the journal said, adding "their propagation of misinformation should be regarded as an ethical violation that undermines womens health." A 2012 study in North Carolina, published by the National Library of Medicine, claimed that 86% of the centers provide misinformation on abortion.

Supporters of crisis pregnancy centers argue that to call them "fake" clinics is a smear campaign perpetuated by abortion providers, and the centers legitimately provide services, including health education, ultrasound and counseling.

"To accuse pregnancy centers of not offering legitimate care to women is false and self-serving, and worst of all, it misinforms women," Carolyn Reeves of the Alliance Defending Freedom, which litigates religious questions before the U.S. Supreme Court wrote last year. "It intentionally tells women that only one choice  abortion  is viable. Women deserve more than that."

Heartbeat International, a network of pregnancy centers, cited a study saying the country's nearly 3,000 centers nationwide served almost 2 million people in 2019, offering hundreds of pregnancy tests, free ultrasound and sexually transmitted disease tests, as well as parenting and prenatal education programs and after-abortion support.

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Nationwide, there are about 2,600 of these centers, with 51 in Colorado. Eighteen states, according to CNN, provide the centers with taxpayer dollars.

The second bill, Gonzales said, would protect both patients and those who provide abortion and "gender-affirming" care.

While details of this bill are not yet known, several states have enacted legislation to protect abortion providers. In June, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a package of six bills, including a measure to keep confidential addresses of abortion providers and patients, another that would establish a cause of action for unlawful interference, legal protections for abortion service providers and preventing medical malpractice insurance carriers from taking action against an abortion provider who provides legal care.

The third bill in the Senate package would require health insurance carriers to provide abortion care.

If enacted, Colorado would follow the lead of eight other states that now mandate abortion coverage by private insurers, at least one coming in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's Dobbs decision in June. Another eight states limit coverage to abortions that would save the life of the mother.

In California, for example, abortion is considered basic health care and insurers are required to cover the cost for most abortions. However, self-funded plans or "grandfathered" plans are exempt. A law that went into effect on Jan. 1, eliminates a prior authorization requirement.

The legal effort to require insurers to provide abortion care could put Gov. Jared Polis in a bit of a legal conundrum.

A staunch defender of abortion rights, Polis' key agenda is to help Coloradans save money on health care, and he has twice warned lawmakers not to send him any more insurance mandates for fear of driving up health insurance premiums. At the same time, he has signed into law new mandates on areas such as an annual mental health exam and covering the cost of infertility treatments.

In 2022, Polis also signed a law that requires an actuarial analysis of of proposed legislation on health insurance mandates, although that law is limited to six reviews per session and required to be submitted to the Division of Insurance by Sept. 1 of the year preceding the legislation.
In an unusual move taken days after hearing oral arguments, the Colorado Supreme Court announced it will not render a decision after all on the constitutionality of a state law governing mental health commitments for criminal defendants.

Last May, the justices agreed to consider the appeal of John Salvadore Cruz, who was acquitted of murder in 1992 by reason of insanity and committed to the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo for treatment. The same year as Cruz's trial, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision in Foucha v. Louisiana, clarifying that states can only keep people like Cruz committed so long as they are both mentally ill and a danger to themselves or others.

However, Colorado law contains an apparent exception to those criteria: A defendant who is allowed to live in the community with supervision must be re-institutionalized if he refuses to participate in a mental health evaluation.

After one of the state's appellate judges raised her belief that such a requirement violated Foucha, the Colorado Supreme Court agreed to weigh in.

Following oral arguments on Tuesday, though, the justices had a change of heart. The court issued a Feb. 9 order dismissing Cruz's appeal without elaboration.

Meredith O'Harris, a former public defender who continued representing Cruz when she left for private practice, declined to speculate about why the justices abandoned the appeal.

"Allowing individuals to be indefinitely imprisoned in a state psychiatric hospital without a valid basis is inhumane and unconstitutional," she said. "In addition, it is a manifest injustice to Mr. Cruz to have his case proceed through the appellate courts for many years, at considerable expense to Coloradans, without any resolution" of the constitutional question.

During oral arguments, there were signals of concern from the justices about a lack of similar cases elsewhere in the country in the 30 years since Foucha was decided.

Foucha "doesn't actually deal with the problem that were confronted with now," said Justice William W. Hood III.

"The seven of us up here obviously dont seem to necessarily agree with each other about how to think about the Supreme Court case or the statute," added Justice Melissa Hart.

Following Cruz's insanity-based acquittal for the murder of Lucille Archuleta, he remained at CMHIP for treatment. In 2006, Cruz received permission to live in the community under state supervision, known as conditional release. Under Colorado law, conditional release is appropriate when there is "no abnormal mental condition which would be likely to cause the defendant to be dangerous."

In 2017, CMHIP became skeptical of Cruz's compliance with his release conditions. Specifically, Cruz was allegedly abusing pain medication and developed financial troubles after receiving a large settlement from a traffic accident. Cruz's girlfriend was also allegedly threatening Cruz over the money. A CMHIP employee testified about these "destabilizers in his personal life" as a motivation for seeking Cruz's re-commitment to the facility.

Cruz voluntarily checked in to treatment and while there, psychiatrist Lennart Abel attempted to evaluate Cruz. Quickly, Cruz recognized Abel and refused to participate further in the evaluation, believing the outcome was "predetermined." Based on Cruz's lack of participation, a Pueblo County judge revoked his release under state law.

Cruz appealed, arguing multiple illegalities occurred in the state's attempt to re-commit him to the mental hospital. The court order did not specify the time period for an evaluation, Abel's evaluation occurred beyond the legal deadline and he failed to record it, Cruz said.

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A three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals conceded Cruz was correct, but found the errors did not affect him. A majority of the panel further refused to evaluate his claim that the law requiring re-commitment for a failure to participate in a psychiatric evaluation violated U.S. Supreme Court precedent.

One judge, JoAnn L. Vogt, disagreed. She cited the 1992 Foucha decision, in which Louisiana continued to institutionalize a defendant because he remained a danger to himself, but had no mental illness. A majority of the Supreme Court concluded a state must prove by "clear and convincing evidence" that a person is both mentally ill and dangerous to justify continued detention.

"Revoking Cruzs conditional release simply for noncooperation with a psychiatric examination violated his due process right to liberty," wrote Vogt in August 2021, adding that she believes Colorado's law is unconstitutional.

During oral arguments before the state's highest court, the justices grappled with the implications of allowing a defendant to live in the community under conditions, but telling the state it could not re-institutionalize the person for a violation of the conditions.

"Its just, I win every time because I refused?" asked Hart.

"Why aren't the conditions of conditional release completely unconstitutional?" added Justice Maria E. Berkenkotter.

"I think they might be," O'Harris said.

On the other hand, the court was skeptical of the government's position that Cruz could still remain mentally ill and dangerous despite his years of conditional release without incident.

"Surely, thats not why we put people back into the community," Hood pointed out.

Although there were no similar cases to Cruz's outside of Colorado, O'Harris attempted to illustrate why the penalty of automatic revocation for noncooperation is constitutionally problematic.

"If a defendant doesnt cooperate with his jury trial, we dont bypass the jury trial and we dont say the state doesnt have to prove you're guilty beyond a reasonable doubt anymore," she said.

Even so, responded Hood, "I just struggle with the absence of any precedent that seems to go where you want us to go here. And (Foucha has) been on the books for over 30 years."

O'Harris did not say whether she plans to appeal Cruz's case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The case is Cruz v. People.
Get ready to learn about, taste and discuss the wines of Northern Italy  March 2-4  at the 31st annual Wine Festival of Colorado Springs, while supporting the Colorado Springs Conservatory, the only performing arts conservatory of its kind in the Pikes Peak region.

I am so proud to have seen the festival grow from a one-night affair into a multi-day event with winemakers from all over the world attending, said Chairperson Elizabeth Youngquist. Many of the same members of the first all-volunteer committee continue to work with us and, more than 30 years into its history, many of our guests are familiar faces year after year. I must say, Bravo! to our community members who have provided their support and participation for more than three decades, letting us be a part of an experience where they are able to enjoy wine and good food, have fun and, most importantly, raise money for a good cause!

Students of the conservatory are inspired, motivated, and challenged to aspire to their highest potential through arts immersion studies and community arts advocacy in a nurturing environment. Programs, including after-school, daytime, private lessons, performance and community opportunities, masterclasses, and summer workshops, are available to babies up to those 19 years. To date, 100% of students who have participated in the Core After-School Program have gone on to study at institutes of higher learning. . .often on scholarship.

Italy is the worlds largest producer of wine, with every region, manufacturing the elegant beverage! The Wines of Northern Italy that will be featured at this highly anticipated annual event come from the Piemonte, and Friuli regions. Some of the most well-known reds  Amarone, Barbera, Barolo (The King of Wines) Dolcetto, Gabbiano and Nebbiolo are from Piedmont. The wine of the Friuli region, bordering Austria, Slovenia, and the Adriatic Sea, have decidedly Slavic and German influences. The regions signature grape is Friulano, and Ribolla Gralla is another indigenous grape. Dessert and sparking wines  like Prosecco  are a major player in this area.

Winemakers and special guests

As in years past, wine is not the only thing being imported for the Wine Festival of Colorado Springs; we will welcome renowned industry experts from Italy to share insights and information, including:

From Piemonte: Andrea Zarattini and Monica Genesio, Export Directors  Poderi Colla; Joanne Bonfiglio, Kermit Lynch  Elviro Tintero & Guido Porro.

From Friuli: Lorena Tosetto, Co-owner  Petrussa; Pierpaolo Rapuzzi, Owner, Farmer, Winemaker  Ronchi Di Cialla; Simone Secchi, Owner, Farmer, Winemaker  Ronco Delle Betulle.

Each year we try to bring in spectacular winemakers and representatives from different parts of the world, said Jim Little, owner of Coaltrain Fine Wine | Craft Beer | Spirits. This year we will be featuring the wines of northern Italy from the regions of Piemonte and Friuli. People will not be disappointed by these incredible wines from Barolo and Barbaresco and a fabulous array of dry, crisp white wines from the northern reaches of Italy.

Events to Uncork!

Wednesday. March 1

Pre-Wine Fest Spirits Celebration at Westside Cantina - 6 p.m. $40 per person

Join professional mixologists from The Pouring Parlor to craft a variety of classic cocktails and enjoy charcuterie, cheese and other snacks.

Thursday, March 2

How to Love Wine! Seminar at The Warehouse Restaurant - 5:30 p.m. - $50 per person

Learn to detect the nuances of wine  aromas and flavors  from several samples and discuss what you smell and taste.

Friday, March 3

Vino e Cibo (Wine & Food) wine-paired lunch with winemakers and guest chefs at the Warehouse Restaurant & Gallery - Noon - $100 per person - ONLY 10 TICKETS LEFT!

Local culinary sensations Jay Guest (Ascent Restaurant Group), James Africano (The Warehouse Restaurant), Pete Moreno (Prime 25) and Ketil Laren (Picnic Basket Catering Collective) create original dishes that will be paired with wines from Northern Italian guest vintners.

The Wonderful Wines of Northern Italy Tasting and Seminar at The Broadmoor's Broadmoor Hall - 5:30 p.m. - $50 per person - OVER HALF SOLD!

Winemakers and special guests from Piedmont and Friuli will guide a tasting experience in real time, bringing the regions they come from to life in dynamic discussion.

"Barolo: The King of Wines" Tasting & Seminar at The Broadmoor's Broadmoor Hall - 5:30 p.m. - $100 per person - SOLD OUT - Email SMarble@CSConservatory.org to be added to the waitlist.

Fine, aged Barolos and recent vintages will be available for a comparative tasting, nuances of the Nebbiolo grape and the complexities of Barolo wines will be discussed.

"The Grand Tasting" Wine Soiree with food and music at The Broadmoor's Broadmoor Hall - 7 p.m. - $125 per person

Sip, savor and explore more than 300 wines, complemented by culinary delights of celebrated Italian regions!

Saturday, March 4

Formaggio e Vino (Cheese & Wine) pairing seminar at The Broadmoor's Broadmoor Hall - 11 a.m. - $100 per person - OVER HALF SOLD!

Italy is home to some of the finest cheeses in the world! Samples of several of them and several wines will be offered in the quest to uncover a match. Guest winemakers will be on-hand to share their thoughts on wine-and-cheese combinations.

The Gala Dinner and Live Auction at The Broadmoors Lake Terrace Room - 6 p.m. - $275 per person

Enjoy a five-course, wine-paired gourmet dinner and live auction of rare/one-of-a-kind collectible wines and wine-related travel and lifestyle packages. It will be a fine, fun-filled evening to remember!

A Stay/Play Package from The Broadmoor

Wine Festival of Colorado Springs ticket holders may take advantage of an exclusive offer from The Broadmoor: $209 per night per room on select rooms with code WINEF23. The offer is valid March 2-4. Call-in reservations  phone 855-634-7711  are required (online reservations are not valid for this special rate).

Salute to our Sponsors!

Founding Sponsors include Picnic Basket Catering Collective and Coaltrain Fine Wine | Craft Beer | Spirits. Vintner Sponsors are Bryan Construction, Luczak Real Estate, Red Noland Auto Group, and Wynne Realty, Ltd., along with Celeste and Tom Linhard, CJ Moore and Donna Nelson. Our Grand Tasting Sponsors are Winslow BMW of Colorado Springs (Presenting Sponsor) and Phil Long (Bronze Sponsor). Gala Dinner Sponsors include Raymond James (Gold Sponsor), Southwest (Bronze Sponsor), UC Health, Tiemens Private Wealth Management Group of Wells Fargo Advisors, and The Picnic Basket Catering Collective (Table Sponsors). Seminar Sponsors are Engel & Volkers, Pearl Skin & Body Rejuvenation.

Mark your calendars for the 31st Annual Wine Festival of Colorado Springs. We cannot think of a better way to celebrate wine, history, and philanthropy!
A storm approaching from the west is expected to bring measurable snowfall to southern Colorado.

The National Weather Service in Pueblo is calling for 4-6 inches for the Pikes Peak region, with higher totals expected north and west of the city. Teller County could see 5-10 inches and Monument may get up to 8.

Several schools called off classes ahead of the forecast storm. Click or tap here for the updated list of delays and closures.

The highest snow totals are expected in the mountains southwest of Pueblo, with 1-2 feet on the forecast, according to the Weather Service. An avalanche watch is in effect for parts of that area, as meteorologist Eric Peterson calls the impending snowstorm on top of older snowpack a "recipe" for avalanches.

Light snowfall is expected to begin mid- to late-afternoon Tuesday, before some heavier snowfall overnight. Peterson said the heaviest snowfall is expected after midnight, when temperatures may dip to a low of 14 degrees with a wind chill between zero and 10 on the forecast.

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Mid week storm with heavy snow and blowing snow still on track to impact much of southern Colorado today through Wednesday night. A Winter Storm Warning is now in effect for most of southern Colorado. #cowx pic.twitter.com/T213UhR4Dg  NWS Pueblo (@NWSPueblo) February 14, 2023

Snowfall is expected into a bitter, blustery Wednesday morning with wind gusts possibly exceeding 30 mph and a high of 19 degrees for the day. Snow may stop late afternoon, with the high end of the total expected range at 6 inches for Colorado Springs.

Impacts reported through the Weather Service storm watch say travel could be "very difficult" as blowing snow may reduce visibility. Below-freezing wind chill could also result in hypothermia if precautions are not taken.

The cold spell is forecast into Thursday, with a high near freezing, before a warmup Friday and highs in the 50s over the weekend.

The monthly total normal is 4.6 inches of snow in February, according to the Weather Service. Since Feb. 1, Colorado Springs has gotten around 1 inch of snow from a snow event on Feb. 8 and 9. In January, Colorado Springs got 5.3 inches of snow total, which is slightly above normal.
Road crews around Colorado Springs and statewide will be out in full force to handle the winter snowstorm that was forecast to hit late Tuesday night and last well into Wednesday.

A winter storm warning for most of southern Colorado went into effect at 5 p.m. Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service in Pueblo, and was expected to last until 5 p.m. Wednesday.

By Tuesday afternoon, several school districts including Lewis-Palmer District 38 and District 49 in the Pikes Peak region had already canceled Wednesday classes. Click or tap here for an updated list of closings and delays for schools, colleges and other organizations.

Heavy snow and high winds are expected to make for treacherous driving conditions on Interstate 25 and U.S. 50, among other roads, the weather service says.

Total snow accumulations of 4 to 10 inches are forecast in parts of El Paso and Teller counties with winds gusting as high as 50 mph.

As of right now, we are already prepared ahead of the storm, Clint Brown, operations manager for the city of Colorado Springs, said Tuesday morning. We start our snow shifts at 12 noon (Tuesday) so employees will be ready to respond when the storm rolls in.

Mid week storm with heavy snow and blowing snow still on track to impact much of southern Colorado today through Wednesday night. A Winter Storm Warning is now in effect for most of southern Colorado. #cowx pic.twitter.com/T213UhR4Dg  NWS Pueblo (@NWSPueblo) February 14, 2023

According to Weather Service meteorologist Eric Peterson, snowfall was expected to be heaviest in the early morning hours Wednesday, when temperatures were expected to dip to a low of 14 degrees with a wind chill between zero and 10.

According to Brown, 40 trucks and snow plows are ready to be used, and more will be added if necessary, in Colorado Springs.

It will likely make (Wednesday) mornings commute difficult, Brown said of the storm's timing.

Low visibility and icy roads are expected along with the fresh snow.

Colorado Springs officials along with the Colorado Department of Transportation said main roadways such as Academy Boulevard and Union Boulevard in the city and Interstate 25, U.S. 50 and U.S. 160 will be prioritized by snow and ice removal crews, according to Gazette news partner KKTV.

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Brown hopes early preparation will mean crews will have roads in best possible condition come Wednesday morning. He still asks the public to be mindful of the conditions.

Please leave early and give yourself plenty of time to drive safely, Brown said.

According to Bob Wilson, CDOTs director of statewide programs, crews will be focusing on snow removal and de-icing along with applying sand as needed.

Were predicting a light, fluffy snow; typical of February, Wilson said. Theres a possibility of flash freezing (Tuesday) night as temperatures drop.

Wilson said since the pavement will be warm due to mild temperatures during the day, snow will melt first and then freeze as temperatures decrease.

If you dont need to leave our house, stay home; roads glaze over quickly in these conditions, Wilson said.

Wilson said CDOT crews went on 12-hour snow shifts starting Tuesday at 8 a.m., with non-stop coverage.

A high temperature of 18 degrees is expected in Colorado Springs on Wednesday. Snow may stop late afternoon, with the high end of the total expected range at 6 inches for Colorado Springs.

Below-freezing wind chill could also result in hypothermia if precautions are not taken, the Weather Service said.

The highest snow totals are expected in the mountains southwest of Pueblo, with 1-2 feet on the forecast, according to the Weather Service. An avalanche watch is in effect for parts of that area, as Peterson calls the impending snowstorm on top of older snowpack a "recipe" for avalanches.

The highest snow totals in the Pikes Peak region will likely be found north and west of Colorado Springs. Teller County could see 5 to 10 inches and Monument may get up to 8.

The cold spell is expected to last into Thursday, with a high near freezing, before a warmup Friday and highs in the upper 40s and lower 50s over the weekend.

The monthly total normal is 4.6 inches of snow in February, according to the Weather Service. Since Feb. 1, Colorado Springs has received around 1 inch of snow from a weather system on Feb. 8 and 9. In January, Colorado Springs got 5.3 inches of snow total, which is slightly above normal.

To check road conditions prior to travel, click or tap here.
The hits just keep coming for Sandy Quiller.

The first "punch" landed Dec. 30, 2021, when the Marshall fire fueled by 100 mph wind gusts tore through dry open space grasses adjacent to her Superior townhome and destroyed it. Quiller's was one of three unlucky buildings, out of 72 in her housing complex, which were totally gutted by Colorado's most destructive wildfire.

Round two hit in the form of a steady $362 monthly drain on her bank account, syphoned as monthly dues by her Ridge at Superior homeowners association. Its a battle she lost early on even though her lot is a hole in the ground which has no lawn to mow nor trash to haul.

Quiller is now preparing for a third punch, this one financial too, as the clock ticks on her Safeco homeowners insurance benefits.

In May, her 12 months of Additional Living Expenses (ALE) will stop. Even though many other insurance companies are extending ALE benefits for Marshall Fire victims who signed up only for 12-months of benefits policies, Safeco is digging in its heels.

No amount of phone calls or emails to claims adjustors convinced them to help her. They were very "cut and dry," she said.

After a final "unhelpful" call to a supervisor, Quiller received an email from her adjustor, Tara Goldman, stating that "we have not agreed to go beyond time limits but that shed let Quiller know if anything changes. And have a good day.

Quiller was stunned.

I didnt just leave a burner on my stove. This was a natural disaster! Quiller said. The humane thing would be to give me more time.

Neal Shah, Superior Mayor Pro-Tem, agrees. He was surprised and disappointed that Quillers insurance company refused to budge.

Weve all been working really hard to help people rebuild, he told The Gazette in a text. But one year of ALE is just not enough time in this economy.

ALE refers to coverage under a homeowners policy that pays the additional costs of living should a policyholder be temporarily displaced from their residence.

Bryce Babcock, owner of Farmers Insurance in Louisville, said that ALE is the most important coverage for his 100 Marshall Fire clients in regards to moving forward.

"It's like "salt in the wound," having to pay rent out-of-pocket for a temporary home after the first one has been destroyed, Babcock said.

He understands when other companies stick by a policy the way it is written, but "this situation came out of left field and it's really not something we've seen before in regards to a wildfire burning through a suburban neighborhood. When making decisions on coverage extensions and such we should all really look specifically at the people affected and not make blanket statements," Babcock said.

Farmers Insurance is discussing going a bit further. Babcock explained that because Boulder County is slower than other counties when it comes to coding and permitting, his company may extend the 24-month term to even longer depending on the circumstances.

But Quiller is not insured by Farmers or any of the other nine insurance companies who agreed to extend their policies when Colorado Insurance Commissioner Michael Conway foresaw the problem two months ago.

In December, Conway wrote a letter to insurance companies begging them to help Marshall Fire survivors rest easier. He asked companies to grant an extra 12-month extension to victims who had signed up for only a year.

For policyholders in the Marshall Fire area with a total loss of an owner-occupied home and only 12 months of ALE, the Division is asking all insurers to grant an extension of ALE benefits for rebuilding, up to 24 months, he wrote.

Soon after that, Conway published a list of companies that complied.

Colorado Division of Insurance media contact Vincent Plymell said that because natural disasters like the Marshall Fire are happening more frequently, legislation was passed in the 2022 session to accommodate homeowners in the case of a catastrophic disaster.

Its the new world going forward. What Commissioner Conway said to companies was to do the right thing and make Marshall Fire victims lives easier, Plymell said. These people are completely overwhelmed. The consumer services team is going to dig into Sandys issue in particular.

They may dig, but theres no enforcement capability to compel companies to lift the rules.

The Gazette contacted Tara Goldman, who would not budge on Quillers limited ALE policy.

Her policy states 12 months, said Goldman. Every policy is based off of the policy provision. Every claim is different and every policy is different.

Plymell said that the Colorado Insurance Commission provides consumers a resource in a very confusing world. Without this navigation, people might give up simply because they feel helpless.

When somethings stuck and theres a broken record aspect to it, things can start to move when our folks make some calls, Plymell said.

Because of slow permitting issues related to other victims who live in The Ridge at Superior, not a shovel-full of dirt has been tossed at the hole in the lot which used to be Sandy Quiller's condominium.

Unless Safeco has a change of heart, time is ticking until May 15 when the company will stop paying for her $2,100-per-month two-bedroom apartment. The 71 year-old figures that she will move to a place with less expensive rent and eat the cost, or live with a friend or move in with her sons on the East Coast or even sleep on her couch in a field until her townhome is finally rebuilt.

What else can I do? Quiller asked. I want to stay in Colorado.
By Azernews

Sabina Mammadli

Azerbaijan's third biggest city of Sumgayit dispatched around 16 tons of humanitarian aid, including four container houses, with a total value of 230,000 manats ($135,290) to the victims of the earthquake in Turkiye, Azernews reports.

Additionally, Sumgayit will send 22 container houses intended for temporary residence of people in the quake-hit regions.

Special collection points for humanitarian aid have been set up in different parts of the city, where residents have been massively bringing bed linen, warm clothes, diapers, cleaning products, canned and dry food, medical and other necessary supplies.

In the coming days, it is planned to send humanitarian aid with a total weight of 75 tons and an amount of nearly 500,000 manats ($294,120) on more than 11 heavy trucks from the city.

Currently, activities to collect humanitarian aid in Sumgayit are continuing.

The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre reports that on January 6, a 7.4-magnitude earthquake hit central Turkiye. The epicenter of the earthquake was 26 kilometers off Gaziantep with a population of about 1.06 million. The earthquake's epicenter was located 7 km below the surface. According to Turkiye's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority, three more earthquakes with magnitudes of 6.4 to 6.6 shook the province of Gaziantep in southeastern Turkiye.

Azerbaijan was the first country to provide assistance to Turkiye immediately after the earthquake.

The Ministry of Emergency Situations is continuing to send humanitarian aid and rescuers to Turkiye.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has received the credentials of the newly-appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of San Marino John Mazza.

Ambassador John Mazza presented his credentials to President Ilham Aliyev.

President Ilham Aliyev had a conversation with the ambassador.

The head of state noted that there are opportunities for expanding relations between the two countries in the fields of politics, economy and tourism, adding that the contacts have been fostered in this direction.

President Ilham Aliyev recalled the visit of the leaders of San Marino to Azerbaijan in 2015, and expressed hoped that reciprocal visits at different levels will contribute to the development of bilateral ties.

Ambassador John Mazza underlined that there are great opportunities for developing relations between the two countries, saying that San Marino is interested in deepening relations with Azerbaijan and expanding cooperation in political, cultural and tourism areas. The ambassador said that he will visit Azerbaijan on a regular basis, hold meetings with the relevant government authorities and spare no effort to develop the bilateral relations.

Emphasizing that San Marino has a very close relationship with Italy, the diplomat noted the existence of opportunities for cooperation in this framework between the two countries, especially in the fields of education and tourism.

The head of state pointed out that Azerbaijan has very good relations with both Italy and the Vatican. The President underscored that Italy-Azerbaijan relations are developing at the level of strategic partnership. President Ilham Aliyev also recalled his visits to the Vatican and the popes` visits to Azerbaijan. The President of Azerbaijan noted that there are good opportunities for cooperation between the two countries. The head of state stressed the importance of establishing direct contacts between the business communities of Azerbaijan and San Marino, presenting tourism opportunities of San Marino in Azerbaijan, as well as expanding opportunities for cooperation in the field of education.




WASHINGTON  The White House on Monday defended the shootdowns of three unidentified objects in as many days even as it acknowledged that officials had no indication the objects were intended for surveillance in the same manner as the high-altitude Chinese balloon that traversed American airspace this month.

The three objects, including one shot down Sunday over Lake Huron, were traveling at such a low altitude as to pose a risk to civilian air traffic, said White House national security spokesman John Kirby.

While the Biden administration does not yet have evidence that they were equipped for spying purposes  or even belonged to China  officials have not ruled that out, he said.

"These were decisions based purely and simply on what was in the best interests of the American people," Kirby said.

The weeks-long succession of objects, starting with a giant white orb first detected over U.S. skies in late January, has puzzled American officials and stirred curiosity around the world.

Though the three most recent objects differed in size, maneuverability and other characteristics from the surveillance balloon shot down Feb. 4 off the Carolina coast, officials moved to eliminate each one from the sky  actions that Pentagon officials believe have no peacetime precedent.

"Because we have not been able to definitively assess what these most recent objects are, we acted out of an abundance of caution," Kirby said.

One possibility that the U.S. has been able to rule out is any connection to extraterrestrial activity, the White House said Monday, tamping down lighthearted public speculation about aliens and outer space.

"There is no  again, no  indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at the outset of a press briefing.

Other Western nations are also trying to assess the spate of incidents. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Monday that the government would do "whatever it takes" to protect the country, as the U.K. announced a security review. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said "there is some sort of pattern" to the balloon and three other objects, though the U.S. has not echoed that claim.

Kirby spoke from the White House podium hours after China alleged that more than 10 U.S. high-altitude balloons flew in its airspace during the past year without its permission. American officials denied the claim, with Kirby saying Monday, "We are not flying surveillance balloons over China."

The Chinese allegation came after the U.S. shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon that crossed from above Alaska to South Carolina over a period of days, sparking a new crisis in bilateral relations that have sunk to their lowest level in decades and prompted Secretary of State Antony Blinken to cancel a planned visit to China.

At the time, Blinken said he hoped to reschedule the trip at an appropriate time, but there are several upcoming opportunities for high-level talks with the Chinese, including as early as this weekend. Blinken and Wang Yi, the Chinese Communist Party foreign policy chief, will both be in Munich, Germany, for the annual Munich Security Conference that begins Friday.

The State Department said no meeting between the men is scheduled but spokesman Ned Price added that the U.S. is "always assessing options for diplomacy."

"We are open and we are committed to keeping lines of communication open," he said.

The latest of the three objects was shot down Sunday over Lake Huron after being detected a day earlier over Montana.

On Friday, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, the combined U.S.-Canada organization known as NORAD that provides shared defense of airspace over the two nations, detected and shot down an object near sparsely populated Deadhorse, Alaska.

Later that evening, NORAD detected a second object flying at a high altitude over Alaska, U.S. officials said. It crossed into Canadian airspace Saturday and was over the Yukon, a remote territory, when Trudeau ordered it shot down.

In both of those incidents, the objects were flying at roughly 40,000 feet. The object on Sunday was flying at about 20,000 feet.

None of the three most recent objects has been recovered, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters in Brussels, where he was scheduled to attend a NATO defense ministers meeting this week.

Austin said weather impeded recovery efforts in Alaska, while in Canada the object was shot down in a very remote area that was also impeding efforts. In Alaska, where the object landed on sea ice, wind chill and safety concerns "are dictating recovery timelines," he said.
By Azernews

Sabina Mammadli

Azerbaijani rescuers have saved 51 people and pulled out the bodies of 655 people from the rubble in quake-hit areas of Turkiye, Azernews reports, citing the Emergency Situations Ministry.

Moreover, a total of 100 volunteers from among the Azerbaijani youth are also providing assistance to the victims of the natural disaster. The volunteers are actively involved in setting up a tent camp for the victims, providing them with food and medical supplies, as well as accepting and sorting humanitarian aid at the headquarters of the Turkish Youth Foundation and the Azerbaijan Youth Foundation in Turkiyes Kahramanmaras. The Azerbaijani volunteers with medical education are also involved in providing primary medical care to the local population and psychological support for children.

Search and rescue operations involving special equipment, as well as specially trained dogs, are underway.

In a similar vein, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Azerbaijan has mobilized cargo planes for aid dispatch. He elaborated that Azerbaijani cargo planes are mainly carrying tents and containers.

"Azerbaijan has mobilized its cargo planes. We thank the fraternal country for this. Currently, 23,878 tents have been imported into the country. Another 9,000 tents will be brought during the day," Cavusoglu added.

The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre reports that on January 6, a 7.4-magnitude earthquake hit central Turkiye. The epicenter of the earthquake was 26 kilometers off Gaziantep with a population of about 1.06 million. The earthquake's epicenter was located 7 km below the surface. According to Turkiye's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority, three more earthquakes with magnitudes of 6.4 to 6.6 shook the province of Gaziantep in southeastern Turkiye.

At the time of writing, the death toll in Turkiye was 31,643.

Azerbaijan was the first country to provide assistance to Turkiye immediately after the earthquake.

The Ministry of Emergency Situations is continuing to send humanitarian aid and rescuers to Turkiye.
George Washington High School remained closed again Tuesday while authorities are investigating an emailed threat.

A school employee alerted school officials of the threat before students arrived Monday, police reported.

Danville Police Department is working with Danville Public Schools and Virginia State Police to investigate the situation.

While the source of the threat remains under investigation, at this time there appears to be no credible evidence of a threat against GW students, officials wrote in the news release.

It does not appear to be a legitimate threat, Matt Bell, a spokesperson for the Danville Police Department, told the Register & Bee on Monday.

The school system asked GW students to remain at home Monday, out of an abundance of caution, opting instead for a virtual learning day, police wrote in the release.

GW students also had a virtual day Tuesday while police continue to investigate.

Lanie Davis, a spokesperson for Danville Public Schools, did not respond to an email requesting additional details.
The Pittsylvania County Fire and Rescue Commission wants to start a new procedure March 1 when it comes to being asked to wait until an emergency room bed is available at area hospitals.

At its meeting last week, the commission approved sending a recommendation to the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors to let emergency departments in the Dan River Region know of the intended change.

Were not sitting in the streets, were going to give them the patients, Dean Fowler, a member of the fire and rescue association, said at a meeting Thursday. Were going to clear up.

A hospital goes on whats called diversion when its not staffed properly to admit new patients.

Recently at Sovah Health-Danville, the emergency department will ask incoming ambulances to stage outside until a free bed is available.

The emergency department is full, and an active response team is not available, Dr. Sheranda Gunn-Nolan, market chief medical officer for Sovah Health, told the Register & Bee in December when asked to explain what happens when ambulances are asked to stage. Emergency crews continue acute management and stabilization as patients get triaged based on severity/acuity.

Corey Santoriello, a spokesperson for Sovah Health-Danville, explained the emergency room capacity fluctuates regularly based on available staffing and the needs of patients.

We dont want to deter any one from coming to the hospital when needed, Gunn-Nolan stressed when asked if the problem is an influx of patients or not enough health care workers.

This leads to problems for emergency volunteers. For example, a routine call that may normally last about 45 minutes could take the volunteer hours if a hospital is on diversion or they are asked to stage outside.

The problem isnt unique to Danville.

In the eyes of the law, theres no such thing as diversion, theyre going to get the patients, Fowler explained at the recent meeting, citing legal guidance from the Virginia Office of Emergency Medical Services.

Ill have to say, over the last couple of weeks, Danville has been a lot better, Fowler said.

Chris Key, Pittsylvania Countys public safety director, said his team and members of the Danville Life Saving Crew met with Sovah Health recently and talked about the issues.

It has been a better operation since that point, Key said.

Winter is typically a busy time for hospitals in general with respiratory illnesses spreading.

Sovah Health continues to work diligently to minimize any delays in patients being served in the emergency department, Santoriello told the Register & Bee via email last week. We are committed to working collaboratively with our community partners to take the best possible care of patients, including our desire to never be on diversion.

Santoriello said the hospital will never turn away someone seeking medical help.

Temporary capacity issues are typically resolved by monitoring and responding to patient admissions and discharges, he explained.

Santoriello did not respond to a question to provide a ratio of doctors or medical staff needed per patient.

We continue to treat patients with a wide variety of health care needs, making this a particularly busy time for our hospitals, he said. Hospital capacity is incredibly fluid and changes rapidly, as does staff to patient ratios based on a patients acuity, but we are committed to caring for all who need us in an environment that is safe for patients and our staff.
An attempt to make Montana more recession-proof while giving the governor more spending power in an emergency got its first hearing from a budget committee Monday night.

House Bill 424, sponsored by Rep. Llew Jones, R-Conrad, would enact a handful of changes to the states existing system for hedging against an economic downturn.

Jones, who has served in the Legislature since 2005, was a key architect of the series of funds meant to keep the state from experiencing significant revenue shortfalls that force it to cut services.

To ensure the governor cant go on a spending spree once the Legislature leaves town, state law sets up certain economic conditions that trigger access to the budget stabilization reserve account. In lean times, the governor can use that money to cover the bills, but must also make budget cuts relative to the amount thats drawn down. But only up to a certain point; then the Legislature has to be called back into a special session to appropriate more money.

In those days, we felt it important to ensure the Legislature was at the table, by having rules of access, Jones said, while also noting lawmakers wanted the governor to have some level of quick access to funds in an emergency.

That stabilization fund starts filling up after general fund revenues reach a certain level. Its currently capped at 4.5% of the general fund. Jones bill would raise that to 12%.

A presentation given to lawmakers by the governor's budget director earlier this session pegged the fund's most recent balance at $118 million.

Once the stabilization fund is full, then revenues would flow into the states fire fund, which also gets a substantial boost under HB 424. Currently capped at 4% of the general fund, the fire fund's cap would be tripled, to 12%. The bill would also allow the governor to spend more of it on wildfire mitigation, as opposed to suppression, to the tune of $25 million, a five-fold increase from current law.

That focus on suppression, which includes logging and other fuels reduction activities, brought a stream of logging interests to testify in support of the bill, including the Montana Wood Products Association. Several top officials in Gov. Greg Gianfortes administration also backed the legislation.

When you leave town at sine die, you have a pretty good assurance that you dont have to come back, Ryan Evans, the governors assistant budget director, said. We have those reserves to keep the state going, to pay the bills, to weather a downturn.

The proposal comes against a backdrop of indications in recent months that another recession could lay ahead for the United States.

Jones told the committee that the bill, along with several others working through the Capitol, is designed to give the state enough of a cushion to weather a once-in-20-years economic downturn.

The committee didnt immediately vote on the bill.
DECATUR  As talks with Archer Daniels Midland Co. show some signs of movement, striking workers launched an information campaign Monday to give the public their side of whats going on.

The 40-strong members of Teamsters Local 916 have been out for almost two weeks seeking better pay. Union leaders said their negotiators are scheduled to sit down with ADM on Tuesday for a new round of face-to-face negotiations.

Local 916 members, who run the companys vast power plant in Decatur, have asked for 12% raises over three years. Kyle Bollinger, a business agent for the union, said the closest ADM has got to that so far is 10% over three years.

That was their last, best and final take-it-or-leave-it contract offer, he said while manning a picket nearby the power plant on Monday afternoon.

But in hundreds of leaflets handed out to passers-by entitled Another Dollar Made off you!" the union said ADM has deep enough pockets to do much better.

In a series of bullet points, the Teamsters point to the fact ADM made $100 billion in revenue last year and profits jumped 26% over the previous year.

The union said ADMs revenue comes in at the rate of $190,258.75 a minute. It says the 4% wage raise its workers want over the course of three years would cost the company 0.004 cents a minute for those three years.

ADM is making money hand over fist, said Bollinger. And the information we are handing out today breaks that down for the public so that they can see how little were asking for in comparison to how good the company is doing.

A request for comment to ADM was made late Monday but not immediately returned. In a previous media statement, spokesman Dane Lisser told the Herald & Review that ADM had offered an extremely competitive proposal and continued to negotiate in good faith.

Local 916 Vice President Jerrime Hiser said the union membership would stand firm and united until they won the fair deal they deserved. Our guys are doing great, better than we could ask for, he said.

Contract talks are also continuing between the United Auto Workers and Caterpillar Inc., as the current contract is set to expire March 1 and the union is gearing up for potential strike action.

The UAW Local 751 membership based in Decatur recently voted by 98.6% to authorize strike action if necessary. Its latest move was calling in its more than 2,000-strong membership to sign up for picket duty just in case.

Pictures posted on the Locals Facebook page show vehicles jammed into the union's East Geddes Avenue headquarters for the recent picket sign-up effort. The Facebook page also featured pictures of Local 916 manning their picket lines and expressed solidarity with their union brothers and sisters.

Gallery: The life of Dwayne O. Andreas, former ADM executive Dwayne Andreas Andreas, Reagan, Percy Reagan, Andreas 1992 Andreas
TAYLORVILLE  The Illinois State Police have been asked to investigate the Monday morning shooting death of a Taylorville man witnesses say was attempting to steal a truck.

According to an Illinois State Police news release, James C. Lindsey, 46, was attempting to flee in a stolen truck when he was fatally shot by the owner of the vehicle.

A woman and her juvenile daughter were leaving their home shortly after 5 a.m. when the woman noticed the male homeowner's 1993 International commercial work truck was running, the news release said.

"She called the male resident and advised him the work truck was running and she believed someone was attempting to steal it," the release stated. "The male resident came outside carrying a firearm. As the female resident and her juvenile daughter attempted to leave the residence, Lindsey rammed the driver's side door of her vehicle with the commercial work truck, pushing it through the driveway."

The male resident fired his gun, striking and killing Lindsey inside the work truck. The man and woman both called 911 and waited for Christian County deputies and medical crews to arrive. Lindsey was pronounced deceased at the scene.

The Christian County Sheriff's Office requested the State Police assist with the ongoing investigation. No charges have been filed.

Updated mugshots from the Herald & Review Joseph A. Williams William A. Hosea Randolph Hayes Byron D. Theus Jetrevius O. Jarrett Phillip Gehrken Emmanuel White Aaron L. Hand
DECATUR  Jerry A. Walker, the Decatur man accused of stubbing cigarettes out all over his girlfriends body and breaking her nose and a finger after beating her black and blue with a closet rod, has been sent to prison for seven years.

But not for those offenses.

Instead, he got the extended term sentence for the violation of an 18-month term of probation imposed for an earlier conviction of aggravated battery to a pregnant victim.

Commenting on the case afterwards, Macon County States Attorney Scott Rueter said the seven-year sentence was substantial. And he said any sentence imposed after a conviction in the aggravated domestic battery could not run consecutively under legal rules.

So he said for now, at least, that charge was dropped. But we are still looking at it, we are still reviewing it, even though it was dismissed, he added.

It gives us a little more time to consider options to see if we might think there is any benefit to proceeding at some time on the newer case.

Decatur police sworn affidavits about the alleged attack on the girlfriend accuse Walker of resorting to violence during an argument.

The girlfriend told police he grabbed a wooden closet rod as a makeshift weapon and beaten her on her legs, arms, neck, back and side. He also burned her with cigarettes on her legs, arms and neck.

Walker had claimed he was only defending himself after the victim had come at him brandishing the same closet rod. Police said he did suffer a fractured thumb and also had lacerations to a hand which he said were caused by trying to disarm his girlfriend who was wielding a knife.

Walker was back in court Feb. 10 pleading for Judge Rodney Forbes to reconsider the prison sentence, which the judge denied. Walker said he then planned to appeal.

Updated mugshots from the Herald & Review Joseph A. Williams William A. Hosea Randolph Hayes Byron D. Theus Jetrevius O. Jarrett Phillip Gehrken Emmanuel White Aaron L. Hand
DECATUR  Early legal battle lines are being drawn up in the prosecution of Brent Fischer, the fired state official now accused of fraud in cutting philanthropist and former Macon County Sheriff Howard Buffett an improper break on law enforcement training standards.

Fischer has already filed a motion to dismiss seeking to have the whole case thrown out because Macon County is not the proper venue for such a prosecution. In the motion, defense attorney Richard D. Frazier argues that Macon County has no connection to the charges. He said the alleged forgery and official misconduct are said to have happened in Springfield in Fischers office at the State Capitol Building and dont concern Macon County.

Macon County States Attorney Scott Rueter, prosecuting the case, told the Herald & Review he doesn't believe the venue argument is valid. He said he took up the case after State Police investigators decided to bring the information and evidence they had gathered to him.

Frazier, however, insists there should be some Macon County basis for prosecuting the case here, and he maintains there isnt any: One of the grounds to justify a dismissal of a criminal indictment is that the court in which the charge has been filed does not have jurisdiction, and the county is an improper place of trial, Frazier argues in the motion.

Macon County is an improper place of trial since the action as alleged in the four-count indictment did not occur in Macon County.

Fischer was fired as director of the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board  ILETSB  on Sept. 8, 2021, for having granted a waiver to Buffett. The waiver allowed him to serve as a sworn officer even though he was short of the 560 hours of training now required for the job.

Buffett was appointed Macon County sheriff in 2017 and served for 14 months. He had planned to run for the elected post in 2022 but later pulled out when he realized training standards had changed and he was no longer qualified to stand as a candidate.

Fischer was fired after an investigation by the executive inspector generals office, a watchdog agency on the actions of state government. The investigation raised concerns that Fischer had bent the rules to help Buffett because the philanthropist had been a generous benefactor of various law enforcement training projects.

The State Police then launched a criminal probe and a grand jury later indicted Fischer on four Class 3 felonies. They allege forgery and official misconduct in creating and transmitting the waiver document and also affixing the electronic signature on it of ILETSB Chairman Tim Gleason, who also happens to be a former Decatur city manager, without Gleasons approval.

Fischers defense of his actions is that the waiver document was honorary and never meant to be official and so it could never defraud anyone. Buffett, however, was quoted as telling the inspector generals office that he was not aware of the waivers honorary nature. Buffett himself has never been accused of any wrong-doing in connection with the case.

But, whatever the nature of the document, Fischer and his attorney claim the acts around its creation and issuance had nothing to do with Macon County.

In an attached affidavit in support of his motion to dismiss, Fischer, a former Adams County sheriff, states: I was served with the four-count indictment which is the subject of this litigation on the evening of December 7, 2022, at my residence in Adams County.

The document at issue which is the alleged basis for the charges in the indictment was created at my office in Springfield, Illinois, and not in Macon County.

Rueter disputes those wrong jurisdiction claims and said there was nothing to preclude the case being held in Macon County. He said the State Police had decided to bring the results of their investigation to his office and he had thought it best to let a grand jury assess what had been discovered.

In this instance I wanted citizens to review it, to see if they agreed that there was a criminal charge here, he added.

The case is scheduled for a pretrial hearing before Judge Jeffrey Geisler on Feb. 23 and Rueter said he was ready to argue against the motion to dismiss when it comes up. We have to have a hearing on it and see where it goes from there, he added. Thats about all I can say.

Whatever the outcome of the case, there is no doubt the ILETSB had a close relationship with Buffetts namesake Howard G. Buffett Foundation, which is based in Decatur, where its founder has a home.

The foundation was a generous backer of ILETSB projects and earmarked $15 million to build the Decatur-based Macon County Law Enforcement Training Center, which opened in 2017.

The executive inspector generals office reported that Buffett had been asked for a $10,000 check to fund canine training gear and Fischers office had issued the cop training waiver within hours of acknowledging receipt of the check in January of 2019. The request for a waiver had been made by someone else on Buffetts behalf.

Buffett is quoted as telling inspector general investigators he had never provided any support or funds in the expectation of receiving something to benefit himself.

The inspector general, in its report, said certification of all law enforcement officers must be seen to be free of any suggestion of outside influence.

...Nor should it be provided based on someones ability to financially contribute to the law enforcement community, it added.
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has received credentials of the newly appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Ghana Oheneba Lesley Akyaa Opoku-Ware.

The ambassador presented her credentials to President Ilham Aliyev.

Then, the head of state had a conversation with the ambassador.

President Ilham Aliyev kindly recalled the visit of President of Ghana Nana Akufo-Addo to Azerbaijan to attend the 18th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) held in 2019 in Baku.

The Azerbaijani leader hailed Ghanas supporting Azerbaijans chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement. He highlighted Azerbaijans activities as the NAM chair against the vaccine nationalism, adding this had brought good results.

President Ilham Aliyev said Azerbaijan would host the NAM Contact Group Summit on life after COVID-19. The President of Azerbaijan underlined there was a significant room for development of political ties between the two countries as well as cooperation in economy, trade and investments.

The ambassador, for her part, recalled with pleasure the Ghanaian Presidents visit to Azerbaijan in 2019, and highlighted effective cooperation between the two countries within international organizations. The diplomat wished every success to the Azerbaijans NAM chairmanship.

The ambassador praised Azerbaijans progress towards infrastructure development and improvement of the living standards in the country, and labelled Azerbaijans experience in sustainable development as interesting. She also stressed there are opportunities between two countries in such fields as education, agriculture and mining.

The head of state noted that about 10 students from Ghana are studying in various educational institutions of Azerbaijan thanks to education scholarships Azerbaijan allocated for the NAM member countries.

The ambassador underlined the importance of education cooperation, and highlighted the role of Azerbaijans oil and gas higher educational institutions.

The diplomat expressed hope that she would regularly visit Azerbaijan, build effective cooperation with respective state bodies and define new areas of cooperation between the two countries.
New Braunfels, TX (78130)

Today

Cloudy early, becoming mostly sunny in the afternoon. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 93F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A mostly clear sky. Low 58F. Winds NNE at 10 to 20 mph.
UPDATE:

Police report Hannah Joyner was found safe on Tuesday morning.

BRISTOL, Va.  The Bristol Virginia Police Department is searching for 15-year-old Hannah Joyner.

She was last seen by her family at their Bristol Virginia home Tuesday at about 7 p.m. She was last seen wearing black sweatpants and a red and black Spiderman hooded sweatshirt.

Ms. Joyner is five-feet, seven-inches tall, 130 pounds with brown eyes and brown hair. She is autistic and has other medical needs.

If anyone has information on Ms. Joyners whereabouts please call the Bristol Virginia Police Department at 276-645-7400
Editor's Note This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, please dial 988 to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

A civil rights advocate and former president of the North Carolina branch of the NAACP died by suicide in his Greensboro home last summer, according to an autopsy report released Tuesday.

The Rev. T. Anthony Spearman, 71, who also served as president of the N.C. Council of Churches, was found on a basement couch on July 19, 2022, according to a report by the North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

The report stated that family had discovered Spearman while conducting a welfare check.

Spearman was last seen alive the night before on a Zoom meeting and reported to be in good spirits during the meeting, the report stated.

Spearmans death had drawn widespread attention, with his work as an activist being praised by the likes of Bishop William J. Barber, who preceded Spearman as the states NAACP president.

But few details about Spearmans death had been released until Tuesday, nearly seven months after his passing. The autopsy states that Spearman died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

A 911 call that was placed about a week before Spearmans death indicated an armed robbery took place at his house.

Spearman alleged that a man asked for $2,000, which Spearman said he didnt have, according to audio from a 911 call on July 13 and a magistrates order.

The man is alleged to have taken Spearmans cellphone and tried to use an app to transfer money to his account.

Spearman said the man pulled a gun and when Spearman grabbed it, a shot was fired. Spearman said he wasnt hurt.

Records also show that the man hit Spearman with the gun before he fled with his cellphone, according to a magistrates order.

The man was arrested and charged the same day with robbery with a dangerous weapon and assault with intent to kill. He was later released on a $15,000 bond.

That incident was acknowledged in the investigative report released Tuesday with Spearmans autopsy.

Spearman was elected North Carolina NAACP president in 2017 and served one four-year term.

He also lived in Hickory between 2005 and 2014. During his time in the city, Spearman was known for his community involvement as president of the Hickory NAACP, pastor of Clinton Tabernacle AME Zion Church and member of the Hickory Public Schools Board of Education.

Spearmans family issued a statement following his death last year, calling him a man of strong conviction who loved his family with every ounce of his being.

Barber, who is now president of the national, not-for-profit organization Repairers of the Breach, said last year that he had lost a true brother in the struggle.

We have lost a scholar, a preacher, a voting rights defender, an advocate for prison reform and for the wrongfully accused and a stalwart soldier in the cause of love and justice for all humankind, Barber said. This great mans efforts and commitment should be cherished.
By summer, there will be a new brewery in Hickory.

The brewery will be joined next door by a barbecue restaurant before the year is out.

That is the plan of Cranford Hospitality, the company that owns two Hickory dining staples, Charolais Steakhouse and Standard Oyster Company, along with other restaurants. Cranford Hospitality is Kent Cranford and sons Zackary and Tucker Cranford.

By summer, the family plans to open City Walk Brewing and Distilling at 205 Main Ave. NE, along a portion of the City Walk, said Zackary Cranford. In late fall, he said the Cranford Brothers BBQ restaurant will open next door.

The brewery will feature its own brand of beer that will be brewed and distilled on-site, Zackary Cranford said. He added that City Walk beers will be made with local ingredients when possible. The brewery will also feature beers brewed nearby, in North Carolina cities such as Asheville.

The distillery tanks will be immediately visible to patrons entering from the Seventh Street entrance, Zackary Cranford said. There will also be a classic Corvette his father, Kent Cranford, restored on display at the Seventh Street entrance.

There will be a patio space outdoors capable of seating up to 200 people, along with an outside stage, Zackary Cranford said. Kent Cranford added that, in the future, the brewery aims to host family-friendly movie nights and other events with a projector set up on the patio.

Zackary Cranford said there will be 20 to 22 taps, two of which will be dedicated to non-alcoholic options.

The inside of the brewery will seat 80 to 90 patrons, Zackary Cranford said. In one corner of the brewery, there is a separate room that will be a small, sophisticated cocktail lounge, the Cranfords said.

City Walk Brewing and Distilling will have a limited menu of snacks, but Cranford Brothers BBQ is planned to be takeout friendly, Zackary Cranford said. So youll be able to get some barbecue, and come on down, sit on the patio (and) enjoy a City Walk beer, he said.

The Cranfords said they aim to make it a family-friendly establishment.

Kent Cranford said his family has always been tight-knit and enjoys having meals together. Zackary Cranford said he wants to give the public a space where families and friends can share special moments over food and drinks in a family-friendly environment.

I think were really investing into the heart of downtown, in the heart of the City Walk, Zackary Cranford said, adding that he has seen a cultural shift in Hickory since he returned from college 10 years ago. He said there is less manufacturing now and more hospitality and restaurants. Zackary Cranford said there is a younger population moving in, and, I think its an exciting time to be part of Hickory as its changing.

Zackary and Tucker Cranford grew up in Burke County, they said, and have been in the hospitality business for as long as they can remember with their fathers restaurants. The brothers left for college for a few years, and when they returned, began considering how to make a lasting impact on Hickory and Catawba County.

Instead of expanding beyond Hickory, we made a commitment several years ago that we wanted to invest in our community, because we believe in whats going on here, Zackary Cranford said. I think this is our biggest investment yet. Were very excited about the opportunity, not just for us, but for everybody to be able to enjoy this (and) be able to provide for community, essentially.
NEWTON  Nonprofit serious illness provider Carolina Caring and Health Recovery Solutions (HRS) are partnering to expand patient access to telemedicine services.

Through an online platform provided by HRS called Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM), Carolina Caring can track patients symptoms and continuously monitor vital signs in an effort to decrease hospital admissions and unnecessary emergency room visits, which leads to a better quality of life overall.

HRS provides telehealth and remote patient monitoring solutions for the health care industry. Its products help providers deliver virtual care, increasing efficiency while improving levels of wellness at home.

The patient experience is at the heart of everything we do, says Carolina Caring President and CEO Dana Killian. That's why Carolina Caring strives for excellence in all areas, including technology that enhances patient care and advances how people are able to receive it."

With the rise of remote patient monitoring, health care providers are finding new ways to provide care. The World Health Organization has revealed that about 90% of countries have experienced some form of disruption in essential health care services. This has prompted an increase in virtual models like RPM, where patients are monitored from anywhere with internet access.

"At Carolina Caring, our focus is to improve our patients quality of life by closely managing their care and tailoring treatment to each patient's unique needs, whether it be caring for patients with advanced heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and other conditions," said Virginia Duany, D.O., Chief Medical Officer at Carolina Caring.

The RPM program will provide patients with a 4G Samsung tablet and Bluetooth biometric monitoring device to track their vital signs, symptoms and medications. They will also be offered the option for virtual follow-up care at home through an online platform that is tailored specifically toward their treatment goals.

With a constant stream of data, the Carolina Caring team will be able to monitor patients' vital signs in real time on an ongoing basis. Providers will also remain in close contact with patients through various communication channels, such as text messaging and phone calls via the tablets. The team can respond quickly to changes in symptoms or vitals to enhance their care.

Carolina Caring, founded in 1979, is an independent, community-based, nonprofit health care provider. It specializes in programs that offer relief from chronic conditions, serious illnesses, and the challenges they bring, including palliative medicine and hospice care for all ages, primary care and grief counseling. Currently, Carolina Caring serves 12 counties across western North Carolina and the Charlotte region. For more information about Carolina Caring, call 828-466-0466 or visit www.CarolinaCaring.org.
A Burke County festival's annual competition received an award from a state organization.

The Historic Morganton Festival's MADE Competition (Morganton Arts, Design and Engineering) was named the "Best Event Associated with an Event" at the North Carolina Association of Festivals and Events' ShowFest last month.

The award from the association was intended to showcase events within main festivals that give those in attendance an even more unique experience, and spotlight how the event within the event can be an additional support and increase engagement for the main festival.

The MADE Competition, which was first held in 2018, has become an anticipated yearly tradition for students who have a passion for arts, design and engineering.

Abby Nelson, assistant director of the Historic Morganton Festival, developed the idea for the MADE Competition with hopes of incorporating engineering into an event that would engage a new crowd while also highlighting the areas students.

Around the time of the competitions inception, there were several announcements about industries expanding in Burke County as well as new companies moving to the area. Also, the North Carolina School of Science and Math had just announced that Morganton would be the new location for their western campus.

In combination with these announcements and the already established engineering curriculum within Burke County Public Schools, charter and private schools, Nelson thought this would be a great idea to execute in the Morganton community during the annual Historic Morganton Festival. The festival typically brings 20,000-30,000 visitors to downtown Morganton over the two-day event.

To see how this competition has grown in only a few years is very humbling and exciting," Nelson said. "The support it has received from so many schools, businesses and individuals is the reason it has thrived. I am excited to see even more growth in the coming years and how this will positively affect the students and our community as a whole.

The MADE Competition engages Burke County middle and high school students in critical thinking, design, engineering and innovation in a way that works toward meeting the needs of local industry while also highlighting the technological skill of Burke County students. In its few years of existence, MADE has already awarded more than $20,000 directly to STEM education classrooms in Burke County.

The competition changes each year to reflect new skills and abilities of students. The competitions that have taken place include 2018 Eco Chair Challenge, 2019 Junkyard Challenge-Wind Turbines, spring 2021 Lamp Design, fall 2021 Rescue Robot Challenge and 2022 Assembly Line Challenge.

This year's MADE Competition will be held as a stand-alone event at CoMMA on Oct. 20.

Visit www.morgantonfest.org/made-competition to learn more about MADE and how to get involved.
Valentines Day hopefully marks the nearing end of the winter doldrums and hopefully provides opportunities for us to magically rekindle a flame within our loving relationships.

Some people simply do their best to remember and make the emergency stop on the way home from work for a card and candy or flowers. For those who use this approach, it can often be amusing to see the deer in the headlights look of men frantically perusing the last valentines cards in the rack or the remaining flowers that might best present their loving feelings toward their spouse or special someone. Truthfully, the rather consumer-driven holiday is best understood if we look at its history and the celebration in other countries.

Portions of the following history of Valentines Day comes from sources such as forever.com, history.com, stvalentisesday.org, the BBC, Readers Digest and other sources. The story of the days patron saint is steeped in legend and mystery. February, the month for romance, has Valentines Day as its central focus.

There were three separate saints named Valentinus, all of whom were martyred. One was put to death by Emperor Claudius in the third century for performing marriages. A second imprisoned Valentine supposedly sent the first valentine to his jailors daughter before his death. Although the history is murky, the stories all emphasize a heroic and romantic figure.

Others believe that Valentines Day was put in the middle of February in an effort to Christianize the pagan celebration of Lupercalia which was a fertility festival.

How about Cupid? Cupid was the ancient Roman god of love in all its varieties. According to myth, Cupid was the son of Mercury, the winged messenger of the gods, and Venus, the goddess of love. He often appeared as a winged infant carrying a bow and a quiver of arrows whose wounds inspired love or passion in his every victim.

Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ages. In the 18th century, English courting lovers began expressing their love for one another through presenting flowers, offering confections, and sending greeting cards known as valentines. These hand-written valentines of yesteryear have given way to mass-produced greeting cards.

Americans began exchanging hand-made valentines in the early 1700s. Ester A. Howland, known as the Mother of the Valentine, began selling the first mass-produced cards. Many of the creations were made of real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures known as scrap.

Today, according to Hallmark, a whopping 145 million Valentine's Day cards are exchanged every Feb. 14 (and that's not even including all those kids' valentines exchanged in classrooms)! Hallmark has about 1,400 designs each year.

According to balancingeverything.com, the average amount spent on Valentine's Day in 2021 was $164.76 per person. More than half of the spending or $11.7 billion went to gifts for spouses and partners.

The average amount men spend on Valentine's is $231. Women spend an average of $101 on Valentine's Day. Pets received $1.7 billion in gifts on Valentines Day. The average cost of a dozen of the most popular red roses has surpassed $100. More than 224 million roses were grown and sold for the holiday. Worldwide expenditures are difficult to determine because Valentines Day is celebrated on different days around the world.

Valentines celebrations in other countries present some interesting scenarios. Since Great Britain was the primary source of the United States celebration methods, festivities are very similar to our holiday.

In Denmark, valentine cards are known as lovers cards. People also send pressed white flowers called snowdrops to their friends. Surveys reveal that men in Australia are more romantic and open about expressing their love as compared to Australian women. Men in Australia buy more cards than women do.

In Japan and Korea, it has become almost an obligation for women to give chocolates, known as giri-choco, to all of their coworkers. On March 14, White Day is celebrated when men are supposed to thank those who remembered them on Valentine's Day with white chocolate or marshmallows.

In Korea there is an additional Black Day, held the following month on the 14th of April, for less fortunate men who did not receive gifts on Valentine's Day to gather to eat jajangmyun, Chinese style black noodles topped with a black sauce.

Chinese Valentine's Day falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month in the Chinese calendar. Hence the day is also called as Festival of the Double Sevens or Qi Xi  The Night of Sevens. The other popular name for the Chinese Valentine's Day is Seven Sister's Festival and Daughter's Festival. Lovers visit the Temple of Matchmaker on the Chinese Valentine's Day and pray for their love and happiness and their possible marriage.

In France, people exchange Valentine's Day greetings through cards, fresh flowers and gifts of love. The exchanged elegant cards containing tender messages are called cartes d'amities. In Scotland, an enthusiastically followed tradition is the search of Valentine dates. According to this Scottish custom, the first young man or woman encountered on the street or elsewhere on Valentine's Day becomes his or her Valentine and the day is celebrated with them.

In South Africa, Valentine's Day is celebrated with great passion and enthusiasm. Large numbers of people throng the beaches and other romantic places and go out on romantic dates with their valentine. Also, young girls celebrate the occasion by following an old-age Roman festival of Lupercalia by pinning their loves name on their sleeves.

Taiwanese celebrate Valentines Day on both Feb. 14 and July 7 of the lunar calendar. Many men purchase expensive bouquets of roses and other flowers for their sweethearts on these days. According to Taiwan tradition, the color and number of the roses holds much significance. For example, one red rose means "an only love," 11 roses means "a favorite," 99 roses means "forever," and 108 roses means "marry me."

Brazilians don't love it up on Feb. 14, as in the U.S. Their day is June 12, when they celebrate Dia dos Namorados (the day of lovers) in honor of Saint Anthony, patron saint of matchmaking and marriage.

Catalonian lovers dont actually celebrate Valentines Day as such. Instead, on March 23, La Diada de Sant Jordi (Saint Georges Day), this area of Spain becomes something of an oversize recommended reading event, with boyfriends and girlfriends exchanging books or maybe e-reader files. El Dia del Amor y la Amistad (The day of love and friendship) is how much of Latin America celebrates the day of amour. The good thing for the lover-less at this festival is that friendship is considered just as important as love.

As we reflect on the meaning of love emphasized during the month of February, Gods word has often been used to guide the love for that special someone.

First Corinthians 13:7 probably says it best: Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.

Many psychologists emphasize that February festivities provide great opportunities to improve communication with that special someone in creative ways such as texts, emails, notes in lunches, notes in cars, and even on the bathroom mirror to let them know he or she is loved. This probably better serves the ideals of the holiday than hastily purchased cards, flowers, or candy. And if you want to celebrate in a unique manner, just take a look at the celebrations in other parts of the world.
If you feel confident that you can discern real answers than those given by ChatGPT, then you may need to think again, as Anna* discovered.

Over the course of her long career in IT, Anna has interviewed and recruited many employees.

Late last year, Anna recruited Sue*, a Chinese national, for the role of cloud engineer.

As per the usual process, the initial interview was conducted over the phone. Anna was happy with the responses Sue provided. The interview progressed to the next stage, leading to Sue being employed by the company.

Later, Sue would divulge to Anna, that she used ChatGPT to answer the questions that Anna put to her during their phone interviews.

First off, Anna was not sure how to respond as she was shocked, but later realised that this new cloud engineer was being honest.

Sues reference checks and skills set all checked out. Even though she used ChatGPT, she did have the credentials to do the job.

Regardless, Anna did have concerns that this new hire may not actually be able to carry out her responsibilities, and this weighed heavily on her because ultimately the success of this role lay with Anna, not Sue.

Anna has spoken with her and told her she will need to prove herself to demonstrate that she can work without ChatGPT.

Although this new employee is showing sincerity and dedication, it is clear to Anna that Sue will need closer monitoring to ensure success.

Use of AI contextual

Professor Cath Ellis from the School of the Arts and Media at the University of New South Wales is currently undertaking research in the area of academic integrity with a particular interest in contract cheating and ChatGPT, said AI in itself isn't a problem.

If you've got face recognition on your phone, if you use predictive text on your email, or using a GPS navigator to figure out the best route to get from where you want; these things are using AI tools. Theyre ubiquitous and we are using AI everyday unconsciously  only weve stopped calling it AI.

At the same time, there are people putting them to use in ways that might be considered unacceptable in some context.

Prof Ellis adds, when questioning the ethics in any situation, it is mostly determined by what is considered acceptable and unacceptable assistance in that context.

ChatGPT isnt going away, with the updated GPT-3 about to be launched. Students today are using it and the question many are asking is, will they be able to do work without the assistance of chatting or any other AI?

One contributing factor to its uptake is that it is free.

ChatGPT has risen sharply, largely because its free, making it accessible to students in schools and universities, she adds.

States ban ChatGPT

The ongoing debate around the use of ChatGPT has fuelled much press and commentary across the nation.

Three states  Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia  do not permit the use of ChatGPT in their schools and universities. To date, South Australia has given ChatGPT the green-light for students to use in schools.

The obvious concern is that ChatGPT could potentially be used by university and school students to cheat on written assignments without being detected.

It's been described as students outsourcing their homework to robots.

But now, the creators of ChatGPT have announced new software to detect the use of the popular generated text.

Due to ongoing concern within the academic and teaching circles that its tools enable cheating, OpenAI has released an imperfect software tool to identify text generated by artificial intelligence.

The developer warned that system was not foolproof, stating the method for detecting AI-written text is imperfect and would sometimes be wrong.

AI Law

Lyria Bennett Moses, Associate Dean of Research, Faculty of Law and Justice the the University of New South Wales, said presently, there are no technology-specific laws around the use of Chat-GPT.

However, there are laws that may be applicable. For example, a person who generates content through Chat-GPT but claims that it is their own work (for which they are paid) may be guilty of the offence of fraud (obtaining a benefit by deception).

Or they may be in breach of a contract. A person promoting the use of Chat-GPT for student cheating at university may be guilty of an offence under the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Act 2011. In some cases, there may be breaches of copyright law.

School and university policies can result in disciplinary action being taken against students. In some cases, this will have long term consequences, where a law student is no longer able to be admitted as a legal practitioner, she said.

As to how these would hold up in a specific fact scenario  it depends on the context. And none of this has been tested specifically in the courts, adds Prof Bennett Moses.

In the context of a fraudulent interview, she said this could constitute fraud (obtaining a benefit by deception) depending on the circumstances, for example whether they did in fact benefit.

It also depends of course on whether they have been caught out. Most importantly, if the employer finds out and the person is sacked, I doubt there would be much of a case for unfair dismissal.

Currently, Prof Bennett Moses is a member of a Standards Australia committee working on AI standards.

The standards are being developed at an international level through ISO (International Standards Organisation) and IEC (The International Electrotechnical Commission) joint technical committee, including on issues related to management and governance as well as trustworthiness.

Standards will deal with issues across the whole lifecycle for development and use of AI systems, and Australia is actively engaged in the drafting process.

*names changed to protect the privacy of individuals
MONROE  The N.C. Department of Transportation has awarded a $1.9 million contract to NJR Group Inc. to build a roundabout at the intersection of N.C. 200 and N.C. 218 in Union County

The project can get underway in late February. The contract calls for the roundabout to open to drivers no later than June 3. Landscaping and vegetation establishment can continue through the end of November.

During construction, drivers will be detoured along Lawyers Road, Stevens Mill Road, Idlewild Road, Indian Trail-Fairview Road and N.C. 218, returning to Mill Grove Road.

Roundabouts improve safety for drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists. They also help reduce the congestion and backups more typical at traditional intersections with stop signs and traffic signals.

NC Quick Pass is changing

NC Quick Pass is excited to launch a new website and system. Beginning Feb. 17 at 5 p.m. through Feb. 24, ncquickpass.com and myncquickpass.com will be unavailable, as we transition to the new system. It is our goal to provide the best customer experience and we appreciate your patience as we undergo this system update. With the new system, customers will only need to visit one website, ncquickpass.com, for all account management or Bill by Mail payments.

From Feb. 17-24, customers will not be able to make payments, sign up for a NC Quick Pass account, manage their account, or perform any other actions on the existing website, phone system or at our customer service centers. Customers will still be able to use the NC Quick Pass HOV app and HOV website for the I-77 Express Lanes.

Payments

Customers should pay any outstanding invoices or add money to their NC Quick Pass account before Feb. 17. Customers who receive invoices dated Jan. 12 through Feb. 16 will have 45 days to pay the invoice instead of the traditional 30-day period. This 15-day extension will be included in the due date of the invoice and no fees or penalties will be assessed during this time. No invoices will be due between Feb. 11-25.

Travel

During this system update, customers will be able to travel as usual on North Carolina toll facilities. Customers who travel during this period will receive a Bill by Mail invoice or see the transactions on their account after the transition period.

After the system update

Once the system update is complete, customers will be able to manage and login to their account with their username and password or pay their Bill by Mail invoice at ncquickpass.com. As with any system update of this scale, there may be necessary system maintenance during the transition or in the first few weeks of the new system.
By Azernews

Fatima Hasanova

Activists of the Azerbaijani diaspora in Australia have joined the efforts to collect aid for Turkiye's quake-hit provinces, Azernews reports via State Committee on Work with Diaspora.

Some 5,300 Australian dollars (AUD) (AZN6,265 or $3,689) were collected by Azerbaijanis living in Australia; specifically, 3,535 AUD (AZN4,180 or $2,459) were collected in Sydney, 780 AUD (AZN921.4 or $542.6) - in Brisbane, and 1,000 AUD (AZN1,182 or $695.7) - in Perth, Melbourne, and Ballarat. The money was handed over to the Oxfam GB charity and the Turkish embassy in the country.

Ceremonies honoring the victims of the earthquake in Turkiye were held in the Australian cities of Brisbane and the Gold Coast. The head of the state government, the opposition leader, mayors, members of the local community, and members of the Turkish and Azerbaijani communities attended the commemoration ceremony in Queensland, according to the National Association of Azerbaijan.

The ceremonies, which began with the Turkish national anthem, were held to pay tribute to the victims of the earthquake. Event coordinator and Turkish Honorary Consulate General in Queensland Turgut Menli made a speech during which he emphasized the severity of the catastrophe and the significant losses it triggered. He expressed his appreciation to the countries supporting Turkiye during these trying times as well as to the communities participating from Azerbaijan and Northern Cyprus.

He mentioned that the Turkish and Azerbaijani communities in Gold Coast raised $8,500 for the earthquake victims through the Berra Sezgin organization.

"I'd like to thank Berra Sezgin and my Azerbaijani brothers who supported us in this campaign," Menli said.

The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre reports that on January 6, a 7.4-magnitude earthquake hit central Turkiye. The epicenter of the earthquake was 26 kilometers off Gaziantep with a population of about 1.06 million. The earthquake's epicenter was located 7 km below the surface. According to Turkiye's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority, three more earthquakes with magnitudes of 6.4 to 6.6 shook the province of Gaziantep in southeastern Turkiye.

At the time of writing, the death toll in Turkiye was 31,974.

Azerbaijan was the first country to provide assistance to Turkiye immediately after the earthquake.

The Ministry of Emergency Situations is continuing to send humanitarian aid and rescuers to Turkiye.
include_once "/home/jwreview/public_html/$theme/includes/sidebar.php"; ?> The White House was slammed by Republicans and Democratic hawks Friday for permitting the first Chinese spy balloon to make it to South Carolina before shooing it down. However by Sunday President Biden shot his fourth balloon. One more and Biden gets any stuffed animal from the top shelf.

 U.S. Navy Seals retrieved most of the Chinese spy balloon from the ocean Friday. It traveled across America along the Jet Stream but it was maneuverable to allow it to alter its course and take photos over secret locales. The balloon didnt fly over Washington, D.C., because theres no intelligence to gather there.

 White House spokesman John Kirby offhandedly revealed that a second approaching object was quickly shot down out of the sky over Alaska Friday. And it was shot down for good reason. The Pentagon said it was shaped like a Corvette and we all know how Corvettes attract classified documents.

 China insisted Thursday that the U.S. return its spy balloon that President Biden shot down along with all its espionage equipment. Theyre just getting to know us. If the Chinese are as smart as their test scores, next time theyll send over a black balloon that the U.S. would deem too controversial to shoot.

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 The Super Bowl between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs drew huge TV ratings for Fox on Sunday. The pregame patriotic show contained its own death-defying drama. Everyone I know tuned in early to see if President Biden would get confused and shoot down the Goodyear Blimp.

 ABC News poll said the two likely 2024 candidates are Biden and Trump, but also that most of their own party wants to dump them. Their fervent base support is negated by their over-exposed faults. Can we just admit that we took this anyone-can-grow-up-to-be-president thing just a bit too far?

 The PGA Tour Phoenix Waste Management Open made news Friday as a streaker stole the show at the amphitheater Par-3 16th hole before fifteen thousand jeering fans. He was arrested after he streaked across the green and leaped naked into the water hazard. Ill bet he wouldnt do that in Florida.

(COMMENT, BELOW)
CHARLESTON  The "Art from Here" exhibit has arrived at the Tarble Arts Center, continuing the Tarble's annual tradition of showcasing the creativity and expression of young artists in east-central Illinois.

This year's exhibition celebrates 40 years of collaboration with regional art teachers, presenting 134 artworks by 128 students across six counties Douglas, Coles, Effingham, Edgar, Moultrie and Cumberland. The exhibiting artists come from Arcola, Ashmore, Charleston, Effingham, Mattoon, Oakland, Paris, Sullivan, Teutopolis and Toledo. This exhibition will be on view through March 11.

Also on view through March 11 is Artist-in-Residence: Studio Land Arts. Chris Carl of Studio Land Arts has transformed the Studio Gallery into a working space as he develops a large-scale land art project for the Tarble that will officially break ground later in the year. Working closely with graduate students in EIU's art department, the Tarble's undergraduate staff, and other on- and off-campus partners, Carl applies principles of architecture, design, and craft toward a work that invites reflections about the relationship between the built environment and the natural landscapes.

Continuing in the Tarble's Commonspace through May 6, is the evolving site-specific installation "Falling into Milk" by Marie Bannerot McInerney. The artist will visit in February to further transform the work using additional materials and forms.

Related free and public programming:

Family Day, 1-3 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 18;

Noontime Recital: Francis Morales in Conversation with "Falling into Milk", noon-1 p.m., Friday, Feb. 24

For more information call 217-581-2787 or email tarble@eiu.edu.
LOS ANGELES (AP)  Over the past seven years, Los Angeles jail officials have seen a nearly 50 percent increase in the number of mentally ill inmates, a rise the sheriff attributes to methamphetamine use.

Studies show chronic meth use can cause paranoia, visual and auditory hallucinations and delusions. But doctors say it's often difficult to determine whether patients had underlying conditions and then started abusing drugs, or if their chronic drug use led to psychiatric disorders.

Los Angeles sheriff's officials, who house close to 4,000 mentally ill inmates in one facility alone, are working to adapt policies and train deputies to de-escalate tense situations and work with clinicians and other mental health professionals to treat people who have both psychiatric disorders and substance abuse problems.

Here's a look at the correlation between chronic meth use and diagnosed mental illness.
MATTOON  No injuries were reported regarding a fire Monday evening that damaged the D-Co Laundry location along DeWitt Avenue in Mattoon.

The Mattoon Fire Department reported in a press release that crews were dispatched at 7:33 p.m. to this laundromat at 1200 Dewitt Ave. for a possible structure fire. The firefighters arrived on scene at 7:35 p.m. to find the building filled with smoke and they could see flames within the structure.

Crews deployed a hose line through the front entrance and extinguished the fire. A second crew did a search of the facility for any occupants. The fire was brought under control within minutes. The search found that there were no occupants inside the facility.

"Fire department investigators then began a cause and origin investigation. Their investigation concluded that the fire began beneath one of the dryers, where lint was collected. The fire then spread to a partition wall," said Chief Jeff Hilligoss in the press release.

There were no injuries to civilians, or firefighters at this incident. All units cleared the scene at 8:54 p.m.

The Mattoon Fire Department was assisted at this scene by Coles-Moultrie 911 emergency communications, Mattoon Police Department, Charleston Fire Department, and Ameren Illinois.

Close Charleston firefighters Jordan Philpott and Phillip Mazar conduct a vehicle extrication demonstration during the Charleston Fire Department's annual open house on Saturday. Charleston police officer Brandon Spindler portrays a suspect being detained by police K-9 Vito during a demonstration Saturday that was part of the Charleston Fire Department's annual open house. Charleston police K-9 officer Chris Darimont and K-9 Vito conduct a vehicle search demonstration during the Charleston Fire Department's open house Saturday. Five-year-old McKenna Lovejoy of Charleston crawls through a tunnel that was part of a kids' obstacle course at the Charleston Fire Department's open house Saturday. Rylan McSparran, 5, of Charleston gets help from Charleston firefighter Jordan Philpott trying out a fire house during the Charleston Fire Department's open house Saturday. Charleston firefighter Tom Chaney helps his daughter Myka, 8, get into kid's sized fire gear during the Charleston Fire Department's open house Satruday. Charleston Fire Department open house A variety of activities took place Saturday during the Charleston Fire Department's annual open house. The open house was in conjunction with Fire Prevention Week and took place at the department's station No. 2 at 1510 A St. Charleston firefighters Jordan Philpott and Phillip Mazar conduct a vehicle extrication demonstration during the Charleston Fire Department's annual open house on Saturday. Charleston police officer Brandon Spindler portrays a suspect being detained by police K-9 Vito during a demonstration Saturday that was part of the Charleston Fire Department's annual open house. Charleston police K-9 officer Chris Darimont and K-9 Vito conduct a vehicle search demonstration during the Charleston Fire Department's open house Saturday. Five-year-old McKenna Lovejoy of Charleston crawls through a tunnel that was part of a kids' obstacle course at the Charleston Fire Department's open house Saturday. Rylan McSparran, 5, of Charleston gets help from Charleston firefighter Jordan Philpott trying out a fire house during the Charleston Fire Department's open house Saturday. Charleston firefighter Tom Chaney helps his daughter Myka, 8, get into kid's sized fire gear during the Charleston Fire Department's open house Satruday.
100 years ago,

Feb. 14, 1923

MATTOON  The three story residence of Frank Kern, 3208 Western Ave., was badly damaged as a result of a roof fire this morning. The total loss, including the damage resulting from both fire and water, will approximate $5,000. The residence was valued at $20,000. The fire was discovered shortly after 9 o'clock by J.A Lynch, residing across from the Kern Home at 3120 Western Ave. While the department made the run of more than twenty blocks in a short time, the roof was blazing on its arrival...CHARLESTON  The relatives of Edward Post and the county officials are facing a rather peculiar situation following the sudden return of Post from the state hospital where he had been seeking treatment. Post, who had entered the institution as a volunteer patient, refused to remain any longer, so the state hospital management caused him to be sent to Charleston. Post, who is nearing his eighty-first year, refuses to stay at home, consequently the situation has become one of much concern of the part of his family, and caused the aged man to be presented to the sheriff.

50 years ago, 1973

CHARLESTON  A proposal calling for the eventual creation of a county police force was rejected Tuesday by the Coles County Board by a vote of 7-5. Board member James Pelton, D-Charleston, called on the board to authorize a study of the proposal. Under Pelton's proposal, the county police force would replace existing police forces in Charleston, Mattoon and other communities in the county. It would also supersede the jurisdiction of the sheriff's office. Board member Herbert Brooks, R-Charleston, immediately challenged Pelton. "I believe it is impractical. I believe if we got started on this study it will result in many costly meetings," he said...MATTOON  The Mattoon High School band will comprise a portion of an All-Star Band, which will present a free public concert Saturday in the Grand Ballroom of the University Union Building at Western Illinois University, Macomb. The All-Star Band will consist of 118 musicians from 50 high schools. Area bands which will also participate in the band clinic and concert and their school directors include Charleston High School, Frank Grzych; Arcola High School, Harold Scott; and Shelbyville High School, Marvin Conlmeyer.

25 years ago, 1998

CHARLESTON  Prosecutors plan to file two counts of first-degree murder charges against an EIU student for the strangling death of his ex-girlfriend. Justin "Jay" Boulay, 20, of St. Charles could face 20-60 years in prison if he is found guilty of killing Eastern Illinois University student Amanda Wills, 18, of Batavia. Coles County State's Attorney Steve Ferguson said Thursday afternoon that the first-degree murder charges have been drafted and will be filed today. CHARLESTON  As far as Richard Keiter is concerned, until scientists do their own investigations, they are merely spectators. That is why the nearly 30-year teaching veteran in EIU's chemistry department has become such a vocal and active advocate of student research at both the undergraduate and graduate student levels at EIU. Recently, a project proposal he submitted to the National Science Foundation was approved to the tune of $144,000, one of the largest NSF grants ever awarded to Eastern. This money allowed Keiter, in part, to hire four students, three undergraduates, one graduate, during the summer of 1997 and will allow him to do so again in 1998 and 1999. ...MATTOON  Fire gutted a garage along the Lerna Road and destroyed a truck owned by John Baker late Wednesday night. Lincoln Fire Protection District volunteers contained the blaze to the garage and saved the Baker home about 30 feet away. The garage was fully involved as firefighters arrived, Denny Wilson, chief of Lincoln's Mattoon said, estimating damage to the structure at $7,500 and contents at $12,000. A couple of shutters melted on the home and some paint was scorched, but otherwise the residence is OK, he said.

Today in History  Feb. 14 Today is Tuesday, Feb. 14, the 45th day of 2023. There are 326 days left in the year. This i
Renfro Brands said Friday it is expanding its Mount Airy production operations through a $2 million capital investment in equipment and other infrastructure. The sock manufacturer is adding production to its Riverside Drive facility.

The company did not disclose a workforce component in the news release from the Surry County Economic Development Commission.

However, it said in economic incentive requests for Mount Airy and Surry Board of Commissioners that it would create up to 35 jobs and retain 60 jobs at the facility.

The company has been made eligible for performance-based incentives in the amount of $36,244 from Surry County and $36,341 from Mount Airy.

Our company was founded in Mount Airy in 1921 and we are glad to be able to continue to invest in the community, said Dave Dinkins, Renfros chief financial officer. This investment in our Mount Airy operations will add new and expanded capabilities that will keep us on the leading edge of our industry.

Renfro manufacturers socks and legwear under the K. Bell, Hotsox and Copper Sole, as well as makes product for global brands that include Polo, Ralph Lauren, Dr. Scholls, Chaps, New Balance, Merrell, Sperry and Jeep.

Renfro also owns premium fashion and performance brands, including K. Bell, HOTSOX and Copper Sole.

Renfro has a long history as a strong corporate citizen and provides quality jobs for our citizens, Mount Airy Mayor Jon Cawley said. This investment further solidifies Renfros commitment to our community.

In June 2021, Renfro was sold to New York private-investment group The Renco Group Inc. for an undisclosed price.

Renfro chief executive Stan Jewell said the decision to sell the company was based primarily on enhancing the companys ability to attract employees and expand the reach of its technology and supply chain expertise.

Renfro has moved portions of its corporate headquarters to the 10th and 11th floors of the 500 West Fifth tower in downtown Winston-Salem. The floors are a combined 31,000 square feet.

Renco has not provided a current total for how many Renfro employees are in the space. Jewell had projected Renfro having up to 75 employees per floor in the tower.

As of Friday, Renfro said in the news release it had more than 2,000 employees globally.

As of December 2020, Jewell said Renfro has about 300 employees at its Mount Airy headquarters, 150 in production and distribution operations in Mount Airy, and 75 in its New York office.

Renfro was made eligible in October 2019 for nearly $300,000 in performance-based economic incentives from the city of Winston-Salem and another $146,000 from Forsyth County Board of Commissioners.

Assistant City Manager Evan Raleigh said in November 2020 that the citys economic development agreement with Renfro remains unexecuted at this point.
A Greensboro man is facing a murder charge in the death of a Winston-Salem man last month, authorities said.

Tyshaun Martrez Stevenson, 21, of Dayton Street, was arrested Monday in Thomasville by police and U.S. Marshals, Winston-Salem police said.

Stevenson is charged with killing Demetrius Alexander Williams, 35, of Bedford Park Court, on Jan. 30, police said.

Officers responded at 10:12 p.m. Jan. 30 to the 1000 block of Geneva Road near the main campus of Forsyth Technical Community College off Silas Creek Parkway to investigate a report of a man who had been shot, police said.

Police then received a second call reporting that a gunshot victim had arrived at a local hospital.

Williams died at a local hospital, police said. Investigators determined that Williams had been shot in a parking lot of an apartment complex in the 1800 block of Geneva Road during a fight.

Stevenson was being held Tuesday in the Forsyth County Jail with no bond allowed, police said.

He was scheduled to appear Tuesday in Forsyth District Court.

Williams death is among 11 homicides that have happened in the city so far this year, compared to eight homicides during same period in 2022, police said.

Anyone with any information regarding this investigation is asked to call the Winston-Salem Police Department at 336-773-7700, Crime Stoppers at 336-727-2800, or En Espanol 336-728-3904.
A bill to expand Medicaid in North Carolina on Tuesday cleared two pivotal N.C. House committees Tuesday.

The Health and Finance committees unanimously recommended House Bill 76.

Next step is the Rules and Operations committee at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Rep. Donny Lambeth, R-Forsyth, and HB76s primary sponsor, said his goal is to have HB76 ready for a floor vote by Wednesday.

Legislative analysts consider Medicaid expansion as a potentially session-defining debate.

HB76 is considered a clean bill, meaning it does not include several healthcare reform items that Senate Republican leaders featured prominently in their expansion bill during the 2022 session.

HB76 is tied directly to funding required in the 2023-24 state budget.

If the state budget is not signed into law by Dec. 31 the legislation within HB76 would expire on Dec. 31.

Meanwhile, the Senate has yet to refile its Medicaid expansion bill for the 2023 session.

Multiple independent studies have determined that between 450,000 and 650,000 North Carolinians could qualify for expanded Medicaid coverage.

Lambeth told the Finance committee that without passage of HB76 that up to 300,000 current Medicaid beneficiaries could lose COVID-19 pandemic-related coverage as soon as July 1.

Those North Carolinians qualified for temporary Medicaid coverage as part of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act that Congress passed in response to the start of the pandemic in mid-March 2020.

North Carolina is one of 12 states, mostly in the Southeast with Republican-controlled legislatures, that have not passed a form of Medicaid expansion.

Lambeth has pursued some form of Medicaid expansion since 2014.

Early Medicaid expansion bills didnt dare to cite expansion as the end goal because of then-rigid opposition from the majority of top Republican legislators, foremost Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham.

However, in 2022, Berger threw his support behind Medicaid expansion that is tied to several healthcare reform elements, foremost certificate-of-need laws that determine how hospital infrastructure and equipment requests are approved and added in the state.

Lambeth told the Health committee that HB76 should gather widespread support even though he understands that for some House Republicans Medicaid expansion is a hard issue for them.

We have taken a lot of criticism and a lot of hits over the last several years, Lambeth said. We have made a lot of progress that we should be proud of.

We have transformed N.C. Medicaid to a risk-based model of care which has saved tens of millions of dollars for taxpayers of our state and have fixed a broken system.

But, we have not done the most important thing that we can do to make sure that North Carolina citizens who dont have healthcare have a better quality of life.

Lambeth said part of HB76s appeal is the focus on preventive and well care, encouraging participants to take care of their selves.

It will also direct the Department of Commerce to work with other state agencies, such as labor and the community college system, to address some of our states workforce deficits.

Lambeth said hes seen reports that up to 80% of those 450,000 to 650,000 potential Medicaid expansion beneficiaries are working.

They just cant afford health insurance, Lambeth said. This is one thing we can do that can truly make a difference.

Bill details

HB76 is tied directly to expected funding appropriations within the 2023-24 state budget to the point that if the state budget hasnt become law by Dec. 31, the legislation within HB76 shall expire even if the bill had been signed into law.

The bills main focus is on the financial aspect of filling the coverage gap that represents a combination of intergovernmental transfers, hospital assessments, gross premiums tax revenue and federal funds.

Hospital assessments have been a negotiating sticking point over the past nine years, even though the states major health-care systems have agreed to the assessments with the expectation that the additional federal Medicaid administrative funding will more than offset the annual expense.

Lambeth said HB76 is a good option for North Carolina and incorporates several of the best practices we researched and heard about from other states.

The expansion benefits many of our citizens, including veterans, farmers and many others who work, but cannot afford private insurance. This is a win-win.

On Monday, conservative advocacy group Civitas Action issued a strongly worded letter of opposition to HB76 while supporting the Senates reform focus.

The proposal for Medicaid expansion in HB76 is made worse by the absence of any supply-side reforms, Civitas said. If North Carolina expands Medicaid, the plan must be paired with reforms that will improve our states supply of healthcare services.
Forsyth Countys House Republican representatives reintroduced Monday legislation that would allow Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools to open the 2023-24 school year as early as Aug. 11.

The filing of bipartisan House Bill 106, which includes Stokes County Schools, comes even though the Forsyth Board of Education approved an Aug. 28 start date at its Jan. 25 meeting.

HB106, as well as five other local school-calendar bills, are set for their first hearing at 1 p.m. Tuesday in the House K-12 Education committee.

House Bill 51 covers Randolph, Surry and Wilkes among the five counties in the legislation.

WS/FCS spokesman Brent Campbell said that neither the board nor system administration had a role as a district in advocating for or against this.

The superintendent (Tricia McManus) did say in those meetings she would for sure have staff look at an earlier start date if that ever became an option for future years, Campbell said.

HB106 primary bill sponsors are Reps. Donny Lambeth, Kyle Hall and Jeff Zenger. The local bill was sent to the K-12 Education committee.

The 2023-24 calendar for WS/FCS sticks closely to the current calendar. The final day of class for students is June 7, 2024.

It keeps a two-week winter break, aligns spring break with Easter and gives teachers days to work in their classrooms, without assigned professional development or students. The new calendar also has a three-day break for Thanksgiving.

McManus has said having more flexibility to come up with its own calendar is an issue that the states superintendents talk about regularly in their monthly meetings.

We definitely want to start earlier and get exams in before the break. But its very clear what the law says, McManus said. Superintendents are asking legislators to please seek policy changes.

The school district posted the calendar on its website to garner public feedback. Nearly 400 people responded, chief operations officer Lauren Richards told the school board. About 60 respondents wanted an early start date.

Other bills

So far, there have been 10 school-calendar bills filed for the 2023 session. Most of those bills also have been sent to K-12 Education.

House Bill 51 covers Randolph, Surry and Wilkes among the five counties in the legislation.

Theres also two school-calendar public bills with statewide implications: bipartisan House Bill 86 that would allow the 2023-24 school year to begin on Aug. 10; and Democrat-sponsored House Bill 62 that would allow local school boards to decide when their school year would begin and end.

Public bills are subject to a governors veto, while local bills are not.

Lambeth said he is not optimistic about the chances of any school calendar-flexibility bill because of expected opposition in the Senate.

The reality check is that in the 19 years since the law was passed, there have been at least 280 local and public-school calendar bills introduced.

None has cleared the legislature.

Background

State law passed in 2004 requires most school districts to start their school year on the Monday closest to Aug. 26.

There have been a few district exceptions permitted in the western part of the state because they tend to have more snow days.

During the 2021 session, the House approved school-calendar bills that would have allowed school districts in six Triad counties to begin their school year one to two weeks earlier than allowed by state law.

That includes House Bill 111, which would have allowed WS/FCS to have opened as early as Aug. 11 for the 2021-22 school year.

However, HB111 was shelved immediately in the Senate, effective for the rest of the 2021-22 sessions.

All school calendar flexibility bills are opposed by several tourism advocacy groups, which argue that they lose money when school starts earlier in August.

Meanwhile, the law is unpopular among many educators because it pushes first-semester testing to January, a few weeks past the two-week winter break.

Earlier this year, the school board for Union County Public Schools voted to start the school year there on Aug. 9, prompting a civil lawsuit from two parents and the owner of a summer camp who says the earlier date will disrupt her business.

I know we have an overwhelming number of folks who really pushed us to start earlier, and I want to state for the record that although other districts are doing that, the risk is much higher than the reward, WS/FCS board member Sabrina Coone said, referring to the potential for litigation.
Fatima Hasanova

On February 13, Chairman of the Azerbaijani Milli Majlis (Parliament) Sahiba Gafarova met with her Russian counterpart Vyacheslav Volodin in the State Duma of Russia, Azernews reports.

During the meeting, the officials signed the cooperation agreement between the Milli Majlis and the State Duma. This is the first such agreement between the two institutions.

First, the parties met one-on-one to discuss bilateral relations and their respective legislatures.

Sahiba Gafarova noted that not a single Russian school was closed in Azerbaijan. Now there are 340 educational institutions. And some universities also teach in Russian.

The speakers also discussed the increase in trade between the countries, and the growth of Russian investments in Azerbaijan's economy and paid special attention to cooperation in the cultural and humanitarian spheres.

The meeting then continued with delegations in attendance.

Azerbaijan and Russia cooperate in different sectors, such as the economy, agriculture, customs, communications, high technology, and others. Over 230 intergovernmental and intercompany documents have been signed between the two countries and six "road maps" are being implemented.
A 19-year-old man is accused of intruding at a Lincoln middle school for the third time in three weeks after he walked into Culler Middle School alongside students at the start of the school day Friday morning, police alleged in court filings.

In late January, the man snuck inside Irving Middle School twice as students arrived for breakfast before he exited the building and crashed his vehicle near the school, authorities and school officials said then.

This time, the 19-year-old walked into Culler alongside a 12-year-old girl and fled the building on foot after school staff confronted him near the door, Lincoln Police Officer Matthew Schiefelbein said in the affidavit for the man's arrest.

The man was waiting for the girl in the school's parking lot when she was dropped off at Culler, near 52th and Vine streets, and followed the girl into the building, Schiefelbein said in the affidavit.

In a message to families on Friday, Culler Principal Michaela Hahn said staff "immediately intercepted" the man and ushered him outside the school.

The 19-year-old ran after administrators began to question him, said Hahn, who noted that staff chased the man to 54th and O streets before ending their pursuit.

"Families, we understand this is concerning," Hahn said. "I want to share with you that our protocols and our staff did exactly what they were supposed to do  they recognized someone who was not supposed to enter and got them immediately out of the building and called police."

Police later arrested the teen at his parents' house in west Lincoln and took him to the Lancaster County jail. Prosecutors charged him Friday afternoon with first-degree criminal trespass, a misdemeanor.

Lincoln Police Capt. Todd Kocian described the girl and the 19-year-old as acquaintances who met on social media.

In court records, Schiefelbein said the girl told police she was scared "something might happen" because the man had previously threatened "to shoot up the school," apparently referring to Irving, where the girl used to go to school and where the man was previously accused of trespassing.

Neither police nor school officials mentioned such a threat in communications with the media or Irving parents following the Jan. 23 incident at that middle school, near 22nd and Van Dorn streets.

In that incident, the man entered the school through the cafeteria before administrators spotted him and escorted him from the building, police said.

But the man gained entry to Irving again, entered through another door and made it to the second floor before leaving, according to a letter Irving Principal Rachael Kluck-Spann sent families.

The man then got into his vehicle, struck a parked car in the school parking lot and crossed Van Dorn Street before crashing into a nearby fence, police said then.

In a message to families Jan. 23, school district Security Director Joe Wright said LPS was working with Irving staff and Lincoln Police to review security protocols.

"This is unacceptable on any of our school campuses and we are working to provide additional training for school staff to ensure this does not happen again," Wright said then. "School safety is one our top priorities and we take this incident very seriously."
The walrus is in full flight in Megan Simsic's classroom.

A Huntington Elementary fifth grader catches the little tusked toy, recites a line from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and tosses it to one of their classmates, who does the same.

"It sounds very different than the language and English we use today," Simsic says, who is having her students do an activity Monday called "tossing the lines," where they trade off practicing how to speak the flowery language of Shakespeare.

In her English language arts class, students are doing more than just reading and writing: They're reciting, spelling, learning vocabulary  even drawing connections to other subjects, like history and science.

It's part of Amplify CKLA, a new K-6 reading curriculum Lincoln Public Schools plans to implement next school year. LPS is piloting the curriculum at four elementary schools this year: Huntington, Lakeview, Robinson and Wysong.

Amplify CKLA will replace McGraw Hill's Reading Wonders, which has been in place for about 10 years. It takes an equity-minded, cross-curricular approach to reading, drawing connections to other subjects while exposing students to advanced subject matter.

"When we think as adults about when we did Shakespeare, you're probably talking high school. We're exposing 11-year-olds to Shakespeare," said Simsic, who has taught at Huntington for 20 years and piloted Reading Wonders, too.

The learning materials  a mix of print and digital  will cost the district $7.7 million if approved by the Lincoln Board of Education, which is set to give its first reading to Amplify CKLA on Tuesday.

LPS would pay $3.5 million in the first year of full implementation and then $700,000 annually for six years, with an option to renew the curriculum for an additional year.

The new curriculum falls in line with English language arts standards the Nebraska Department of Education adopted in 2021, said Director of Curriculum and Instruction Takako Olson. Those standards and Amplify CKLA draw extensively from the emerging science of reading  the body of scientifically based research that studies how students learn to read.

School districts have until the fall to ensure compliance with the reading standards, although LPS has been working for years to find a new curriculum.

Lisa Oltman, the district's K-6 language arts curriculum specialist, participated in an 18-month fellowship with other curriculum specialists in the state to look at different options. A committee of teachers, administrators and community members eventually landed on Amplify CKLA, a nationally renowned curriculum used in districts like Grand Island, Fairbury and Waverly.

The pilot tested the curriculum at four schools at different socio-economic and student achievement levels. Officials then compared assessment scores with similar schools using Reading Wonders and saw positive results, including with English language learners.

"It's exciting," Oltman said. "I've gone out and I've met with every grade level team  and that is around 80 classroom teachers  and every time I meet them, I ask would you prefer to stick with our core program or would you prefer CKLA and 98% of teachers have said they prefer moving to CKLA."

Unlike Reading Wonders, Amplify CKLA combines all English language arts subjects under one umbrella: reading, writing, grammar, vocabulary, etc.

"All of the skills are connected so it doesn't feel siloed like now we do reading and now we do writing, and now we're going to do grammar," Oltman said. "(Amplify CKLA) really tried to connect all of those pieces in a meaningful way."

The curriculum is split into two strands from kindergarten to second grade: foundational skills (such as listening for sounds and learning positional words) and a knowledge component, in which those skills are used to build knowledge and vocabulary around a certain topic.

There are kindergarten units, for example, on the five senses, plants and American history. The cross-curricular topics threaded into each grade's coursework are meant to supplement learning in other classes. Studies have also shown that knowledge of a topic can improve comprehension.

"It enriches their vocabulary because they see it in science and they see it in social studies," Simsic said.

A lot of the materials are print-based, including textbooks and worksheets that incorporate photos and pictures. The curriculum also comes with decodable readers for younger readers that draw on specific phonics skills students have learned.

Huntington fifth grader Max Long has studied a range of topics this school year  from the Aztecs and Mayans to the Renaissance, Michelangelo, Shakespeare and "Don Quixote."

"It's very fun," Long said. "It really helps me to understand more."

At the end of the day, that's what counts.

"I love this curriculum," Simsic said. "It is incredibly engaging. It is informative and it sparks kind of that natural curiosity in them."
Opponents of a development across the street from Wilderness Park and a Native sweat lodge in southwest Lincoln were back at the City Council Monday to illustrate how they say they've been treated.

Several people took their turn at the microphone during the public comment period, standing in silence for the five-minute window for each speaker. Others sat in the audience with duct tape over their mouths, and about 50 people gathered outside, holding signs, singing and playing Native drums.

You effectively silenced the voices of your community with lawsuits and police and so Im going to take that time to reflect that silence, said Wyatt Nelson, one of 10 people who expressed their opposition by standing in silence at the podium.

Numerous others spoke, many of them talking about the history of colonization and Natives being stripped of their lands.

Fran Kaye said although the developer may hold title to the land, she asked the council to consider the history of taking land from Natives for profit.

We ask that you consider what that means, she said.

Rose Godinez, senior legal policy counsel for the ACLU of Nebraska, which represented opponents in a lawsuit involving the development, suggested the city could reverse its actions, though its unclear if thats possible, since the ordinances have been signed by the mayor and are in effect.

She also suggested council members, the mayor and the city attorney meet with advocates, listen to their concerns and humble themselves to the original landowners ... and confront and dismantle the legacies of colonization.

The ACLU supports and defends the rights of all Native American peoples to retain their culture and religious tradition and practices, and this religious freedom is tied to the protection of the land, she said.

The land in question is about 75 acres south of Pioneers Boulevard between First Street and U.S. 77, where Wilderness Crossing LLC plans to build 162 single-family homes, 134 town homes and 205 apartments. Sam Manzitto Jr. bought the land from the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln.

The land is across the street from Wilderness Park and a Native sweat lodge on private land known as the Fish Farm. Opponents say a housing development will cause flooding issues, negatively impact wildlife and native habitat and threaten the sanctity of the sweat lodge.

Godinez said trees on Snell Hill  where the development is planned  play a part in Native ceremonies and trees bulldozed last week had Native prayer ties protesters saw in a pile on the ground after the trees came down.

The land has been designated in the City-County Comprehensive Plan for future urban residential development since 2002, and before the council approved the zoning and annexation changes, the developer made several modifications to plans in attempt to address concerns.

Among those: building a 6-foot fence along the east side of the development nearest Wilderness Park, creating a 10-foot outlot and including a stretch of First Street in the development to reduce traffic, promising to plant native vegetation in the outlot and housing covenant restrictions.

The council passed the zoning and annexation ordinances in April and the owner of the Fish Farm filed a lawsuit appealing the council's actions and opponents filed an appeal with the city Board of Zoning Appeals.

Judges dismissed both the landowners appeal and a request by city officials to decide whether the zoning board had jurisdiction. The judge in the zoning appeals case said that was up to the zoning appeals board, and city officials told opponents the board didnt have jurisdiction.

That led to last weeks protests at the development site, as bulldozers began tree removal.

The council took a break after people whod been outside lined the back of the council chambers holding signs. Council Chairwoman Tammy Ward asked opponents to remove the signs because a city ordinance prohibits signs in the council chambers.

After the break, the signs were gone but many of the protesters remained, and several more spoke, appealing to the council to recognize Native concerns.

Top Journal Star photos for February 2023
A district judge in Chase County Friday sentenced Kevin S. German to spend the rest of his life in prison for kidnapping and murdering Annika Swanson, found in an irrigation drainage pipe near Imperial in November 2019.

District Judge Patrick Heng sentenced Kevin S. German, 27, of Colorado Springs to concurrent terms of 60 to 80 years in prison for second-degree murder of Swanson and life for her kidnapping. He received 30 to 36 more months for first-degree false imprisonment of Eve Ambrosek. All are felonies.

German will receive 1,176 days credit on the second-degree murder charge for the time he spent in jail since his arrest, Heng ruled.

He initially pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder of Swanson and two counts of first-degree kidnapping of the two women. A Chase County jury Aug. 3 found German guilty of the amended charges.

Co-defendant Keonna N. Carter, who testified against German, was sentenced on Nov. 18, to 40 to 50 years in prison for felony first-degree assault. Carter, 25, of Taylorsville, Utah, also received a consecutive term of 30 to 36 months for Ambroseks abduction.

Ambrosek had testified during trial proceedings that on Nov. 12, 2019, German and Carter beat and later held her against her will for three days. Carter, Germans girlfriend, was upset over a relationship that Ambrosek had with German when the two were attending Chase County High School. German is a 2014 graduate of the school.

Ambrosek had also testified that German removed Swanson from the trailer where Ambrosek was being held, dragged Swanson to his car and drove away.

Swansons body was found Nov. 24, 2019, at the bottom of an 8-foot drainage pipe beside an earthen dam.
In a team effort, Rep. Mike Flood sounded an alarm bell Tuesday, warning that the location of Chinese-made equipment in cell towers in Nebraska may be compromising U.S. security, while state Sen. Eliot Bostar of Lincoln promoted his bill to prohibit state subsidy support for telecommunications companies using such equipment in the state.

"China is watching everything we're doing," Flood warned during a news conference with Bostar in Lincoln.

"This is bigger than balloons," the 1st District congressman said in reference to the balloons that the Chinese government has been flying over U.S. territory in an apparent effort to collect intelligence information.

Chinese equipment made by Huawei that is now in use in the state has been installed in cell towers located near Offutt Air Force Base, headquarters of the U.S. Strategic Command, and near missile sites in western Nebraska, Flood said.

There are 82 launch facilities for Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles in western Nebraska.

Bostar said that Chinese technology is located "in proximity to our nuclear arsenal."

Later, he presented a bill (LB63) to the Legislature's Transportation and Telecommunications Committee to eliminate state subsidy support for any telecommunication company that uses the Chinese equipment.

That Chinese-made equipment "could pose a substantial national security threat," he said.

Sen. Suzanne Geist of Lincoln, chairwoman of the committee, joined Flood and Bostar at the news conference, noting that enactment of such a bill "could make Nebraska the first state in the country to protect national security interests in telecommunications."

At the committee hearing, Deb Schorr of Lincoln, congressional district director for Flood, said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo has agreed to provide a confidential briefing for the congressman to address his concerns.

Schorr said Flood had written Raimondo to express his unease about the cell towers that are in range of military facilities in Nebraska.

"Chinese companies are buying real estate in North Dakota near sensitive military installations," Flood said Tuesday.

"And I have a feeling that this equipment is in greater use than we are aware of in rural Nebraska," he said.

Huawei has close ties to the Chinese Communist Party, Bostar noted.

Members of the legislative committee peppered Bostar with questions during the hearing, which attracted no opposition testimony.

"Shouldn't this be a priority for the federal government?" Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha asked.

The bill would not become effective until Jan. 1, 2025, giving time for remedial action.

Top Journal Star photos for February 2023
The Legislature on Tuesday confirmed the nomination of Jim Macy to continue as director of the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy on a 38-0 vote, ending a brief filibuster by opponents who said he failed to act decisively in the wake of the environmental catastrophe at the AltEn ethanol plant near Mead.

Sen. Carol Blood of Bellevue led opposition to the confirmation vote, delaying the decision for a day and generally dividing the nonpartisan Legislature into support from senators who are registered Republicans and opposition from senators who are registered as Democrats.

Republican Gov. Jim Pillen nominated Macy to continue to serve as environmental director.

After a motion to reconsider Monday's unsuccessful vote to return the decision to the Legislature's Natural Resources Committee for consideration failed 33-10, opponents chose to record themselves as "not voting" on Tuesday's 38-0 vote that ultimately confirmed the reappointment.

Sen. Bruce Bostleman of Brainard, chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, noted that Macy's nomination had been recommended by a 7-0 committee vote following a hearing that resulted in no opposition testimony.

Blood had argued that Macy should have taken prompt action to shut the plant down before its use of pesticide-coated seed further polluted the environment and more Nebraskans became "collateral damage."

Photos: The business of governing in Nebraska in 2023
A citizens group is looking for a silver lining in the cloud of pollution still coming from the North Omaha coal plant.

After meeting with the Omaha Public Power District, the group says it has set the following benchmarks in its effort to address the ongoing use of coal at the power plant:

* Assistance by OPPD in establishing air monitors in North Omaha.

* Efforts by OPPD to secure federal funding for projects that could help reduce reliance on coal power. This includes rebates for energy efficient appliances and local solar installations.

* Periodic updates on progress toward getting the coal plant shut down.

The group formed after being blindsided by OPPDs decision last year to delay, until possibly 2026, this years scheduled elimination of coal use at the North Omaha station. The plant, located along the Missouri River south of the Interstate 680 bridge, is adjacent to densely populated neighborhoods.

Preston Love, a member of the citizens group, said the group is focused on practical solutions.

We have opened up a dialogue, Love said. Weve still got a lot of work to do.

Jodi Baker, spokeswoman for OPPD, said the utility is appreciative of the communitys input.

Through listening, we learned much more about their concerns and desires, and were considering their feedback and our next steps very closely, she said.

Coal pollution has been linked to respiratory and cardiac health problems, as well as cancer. Citing data from the Douglas County Health Department, North Omaha residents have long been concerned about the areas higher than average rate of asthma deaths. Among their questions is whether the power plant could be an underlying reason.

OPPD extended the life of the coal plant after encountering delays in getting approval to bring two new natural gas plants on-line. Once those gas plants are powered up, the utility says it will stop burning coal in North Omaha.

Maintaining generation at (the North Omaha Station) is crucial to ensure reliable and resilient power to our growing communities, Baker said.

Love said he recognizes that OPPD sees a need to keep the coal plant open, so from his perspective this is about managing the process together ... not waiting to see what happens in three years.

David Corbin, another member of the committee, said OPPD, with the support of the city and state, is well-positioned to make some of these changes thanks to newly available federal dollars.

There has never been more federal funding to address these problems than now, he said. This is a chance to make the best of a bad situation.
Bills in the Nebraska Legislature seek to make elections a holiday and require more in-person voting in response to requirements that voters show ID.

An election holiday will give a person reluctant to miss work an opportunity to vote, but requirements for in-person voting would reduce the number of people who do not have access to free transportation going to the polls, often low-income people and the elderly.

Voter ID may not have a significant impact on voter turnout, but it is definitely more likely to have a greater impact on certain groups of voters.

Midterm elections in 2022 in Nebraska had voter turnout around 60%. County turnout ranged from 31% to a high of 73%, according to the Secretary of State's website.

The county with 31% turnout is bordered by a county that has vote-by-mail only, and that county had 64% voter turnout.

This bill appears to be an attempt to keep certain voters from the polls. As our rural population dwindles, staffing polling places will become more difficult, thus under this bill more travel will be required to vote.

When 40% of voters are not participating, politicians should be concerned with why people are dissatisfied and have lost faith in government. Not addressing their concerns could eventually be the seed of a revolt. Jan. 6, 2021, is a good indication of what can happen when a large group of disgruntled people get somewhat organized.

Emphasis should be on increasing voter turnout, not hindering it.

Ken Snyder, Lincoln
It's hard to imagine a greater example of surrender of our sovereignty than when our global competitor floated a visible, slow-moving, intelligence-collection platform above our entire continental land mass.

Yet, more stunning in many respects, was the attitude expressed by our Department of Defense spokesman. Asked a reasonable question regarding release of updates on the progress of the Chinese spy platform, Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder dismissed the notion that the American people deserve them, stating they could simply "look up."

Ryders retort to this legitimate question was succinct, arrogant, snarky, brazen and dismissive. It was also accepted not only by the reporter Ryder shamed but by Ryders superiors, who didnt amend the comments or apologize for Ryders crass behavior. Ryders attitude reflects the attitude of a federal leviathan deaf to those of whom they are in service.

Citizens though are not left to suffer as they must. The grassroots Convention of States movement is predicated on the principle that government, all aspects of it, is accountable to the citizenry which elects and funds it. The Convention of States movement has proven to be a collective voice our political officials have heard and some fear. Check them out.

Jerris Cummings, Lincoln
By Azernews

By Yusif Abbaszada

As an adage goes, 'rats fleeing a sinking ship' are destined to drown in the next voyage. The Kremlin man, Karabakh separatist leader Ruben Vardanyan, fled to Moscow for fresh instructions and rumors are rife that he was returned to the breakaway region as he was taken away from there. Of course, he did not leave the area as he was expected but was bussed inside a big box covered with soldiers' old clothes.

In a similar manner, several weeks ago, the so-called "Karabakh president," Arayik Harutyunyan, left for Russia to clear the air around Russia's position towards Karabakh and then shortly returned back. Following him, Vardanyan also flew to Moscow, where he was allegedly invited to discuss the internal political problems in Karabakh and find a way out of the current situation. With the closure of the Karabakh road, complete demoralization and dysfunction of the separatist ruling elite reigned in the political circles of Karabakh.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan is demanding Vardanyan, who vehemently pursues his goals hiding behind his people, to quit the separatist region as soon as possible to ease the tension. Vardanyan does not care about the Karabakh Armenians, he is simply guided by his own interests, forgetting about the people who, through his fault, experience inconvenience.

Vardanyan has nothing to lose

Arayik Harutyunyan had meetings in Moscow though the people he met were not made public, and he was told to dismiss Vardanyan if he interferes as he is not Moscow's appointee. Harutyunyan's supporters say he returned from Moscow in rather high spirits. Now, it is Vardanyan's turn to find out what Moscow has in store for him. It is possible that upon his return he will voluntarily resign in order to defuse the situation.

It is likely that the reason for the current outcome was a hopeless situation and a lack of prospects. Attempts to spite Azerbaijan and stir excitement around poor helpless people, talking about poverty and inconvenience in everyday life, have not been conducive to the resolution of the problems.

Appearances on different TV programs to sell lies are not a way out of the situation, but simple illiteracy and helplessness of which the separatist is guided to this day. The bargaining chip in this story is only people. Vardanyan can leave Karabakh at any moment and live on his millions without denying himself anything while leaving the people to fend for themselves.

The real trouble for Karabakh Armenians

Ruben Vardanyan still has a chance to change the vector of Karabakh's policy and meet Azerbaijan's needs, ceasing to look for imaginary salvation and taking advantage of a real chance. Azerbaijan offered all the conditions to the Karabakh Armenians for a comfortable life.

The Karabakh Armenians still have a chance to save themselves, and there is no sense in giving power to the people who are not able to find a way out.

It must be clearly understood that after the 44-day war, everything has changed and the policy and perception of the realities by Armenians must inevitably be revised.

Azerbaijan, on the other hand, is guided by the tactics of waiting and loyalty, thereby giving the ordinary population of Karabakh a chance to change the regime of criminal power.

Azerbaijan's mega projects serve to whole region's interests

Azerbaijan has always been a multicultural country and has always treated ethnicities on its land equally. The Azerbaijani president has always been a man of his word and has guaranteed safe and secure life for the Armenians of Karabakh. However, separatists such as Ruben Vardanyan, used as an instrument in other's hands, still manage to mislead their own people for their own interests and cannot make a proper choice.

The people should not be a toy or a puppet in the criminal hands of Ruben Vardanyan, since the outcome of this separatism has been obvious since 2020 and any other similar separatist moves would inevitably produce the similar results. Time is running and Azerbaijan has been making tremendous efforts to regulate the remaining problems peacefully by implementing brand-new projects able to serve the interests of not Azerbaijan but the whole of the region.
BURLINGTON  Members of a city task force on race relations want to hear about incidents of racism or tensions that have occurred in the community.

The task force appointed by Mayor Jeannie Hefty is conducting a survey to gauge whether people of different races and ethnicities feel welcome in Burlington.

The survey also asks if people have experienced or witnessed incidents of racial inequity, and what changes need to occur in Burlington to improve the environment for tolerance and diversity.

In presenting the survey for public consideration, task force leader David Thompson said in a written statement that input from respondents will help his group to assess local race relations.

The task force seeks to gather data about the experiences and beliefs of the Burlington community against which to measure progress moving forward, he wrote. Your input is crucial to an accurate assessment of the nature and scope of the challenges facing the community.

Thompson could not be reached for comment, and other task force members also could not be reached.

Hefty created the group in 2021 in response to incidents of racism and racial tensions in recent years.

A school teacher came under heavy criticism for teaching students about the Black Lives Matter movement.

State education officials then issued a scathing report that the Burlington Area School District had allowed a racially hostile environment to exist in schools.

The task force released its own report calling for strong action to confront racism, including public education outreaches.

The group recently presented the first of several planned educational events billed as an Evening of Understanding.

The new survey, which is anonymous, is available through an electronic link being circulated by the task force. The survey is presented on Google Forms in both English and Spanish.

It is available to any member of the general public until March 31.

Thompson said results will be reported by the end of April.

The survey asks a respondents gender, age, race and city of residence, then follows with questions about community events and how often the respondent attends such events.

The survey then asks how often a respondent has felt unwelcome in Burlington; whether the respondent has experienced or witnessed other incidents of people feeling unwelcome; and what changes are needed to improve the community.

The survey asks eight questions in total.

City officials have not yet posted a link to the survey on the citys website at burlington-wi.gov.

In photos: Farmers market season kicks off in Burlington with outdoor food and music Sweet start at farmers market Georgia Rae's Sunshine Strings perform at Burlington Farmers Market opening day Hot sauce maker John Mesch displays his products at Burlingon Farmers Market Knife sharpener Alena Joling joins the vendors at Burlington Farmers Market Gretchen Hoffman and her daughters take a break at Burlington Farmers Market Vendors line the sidewalks at Wehmhoff Square for opening day of Burlington Farmers Market Rosie the chihuahua-dachshund mix rides in a wagon at Burlington Farmers Market Kombucha marketers Shawn and Lydia Davis join the lineup at Burlington Farmers Market Brazilian food vendor Wendell Rocha serves up hot food at Burlington Farmers Market Breeyn Cranley with her two children in stroller enjoy music at Burlington Farmers Market
RACINE  Cristina Soria still remembers her first date with her fiance 14 years ago, back when they still attended Case High School. He got her roses and she still has some of the petals.

Flowers are important, Soria said. Theyre part of special moments. I dont think anyone ever forgets when they get flowers.

Now Soria pulls together her own roses, carnations, hydrangeas, babys breath, daisies, snapdragons and other flowers to create custom bouquets for English and Spanish speakers in the area through her small business, Paula Maria Flower Shop LLC.

Her aim is to craft unique bouquets of exactly what the customer is looking for, but she does plan to eventually offer a menu of products available.

She also offers seasonal items, such as Valentines Day or other holiday bouquets.

More information To get more information or place an order, find Paula Maria Flower Shop, LLC on Facebook, Instagram or call or text message 262-995-5665.

Honoring mom

Soria has always been creative and has invested time into various artistic hobbies, such as painting, jewelry making and other crafts.

Soria began making floral arrangements for friends and family, but it was an expensive hobby, so she decided to make a business out of it. She registered her small business and created social media pages for it Jan. 3.

Soria, 29, works full-time as a sixth- and seventh-grade teacher of the Academies at Jerstad-Agerholm School.

She mainly operates Paula Maria Flower Shop out of her home on the 1700 block of Orchard Street in Racine.

Ive never done anything like this, Ive never done my own thing. But one day I just kind of decided, I was like, Im just gonna go for it, Soria said. I figured I would just go for it and then see what happened.

The name Paula Maria for her flower shop business comes from her future mother-in-laws and mothers first names, respectively.

Soria and her fiance Jesus Mora always have said that if they have a daughter, they would name her Paula Maria.

I always liked how it flowed, Soria said. It was really no question when I decided on a name, just because both of us are very grateful for our moms.

She often adds mementos to her bouquets such as chocolates, small teddy bears, mini plastic crowns, hot cocoa mix, sweet bread and decorative butterflies.

Soria offers delivery and pickup. All orders come with a vase or box.

She said her efforts have been successful so far, as shes received support from friends, family and locals. Her goal was to receive 12 orders for Valentines Day, and she ended up logging 22 orders for the holiday.

Usually when someone gets flowers, its a special moment, Soria said. I thought it was nice to be a part of those special moments.

She plans to eventually transition into a commercial space  her future father-in-law owns a building on Racine Street where shes been storing some supplies and using it as a workspace. She also is potentially considering a joint business with a cafe or breakfast restaurant.

Reaching the Latino community

When she posts on her business Facebook and Instagram accounts, everything is dually in English and Spanish. That came second nature to her, she said.

Soria is Mexican and grew up speaking Spanish and visiting Mexico in the summers.

Ive always been able to service people in Spanish at all my jobs, she said. Thats kind of what Im excited about, being able to service the Spanish speaking community.

Soria received a degree in Spanish and education from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside.

Shes been a translator resource to Spanish speaking families shes encountered through working at Jerstad and has a lot of Spanish speaking customers through Paula Maria Flower Shop.

Its so much easier when things are in your language, Soria said. Its so much easier to communicate your ideas.

In photos: Paula Maria Flower Shop in Racine Bouquet Bouquet Bouquets Putting together a bouquet For my queen/king Mementos Orders ready to go Quinceanera flowers Bad Bunny White daisies Pink and red bouquet Sympathy bouquet Red bouquet Bear bouquet Balloon bouquet Mixed bouquet
GREEN BAY  A woman accused in a grisly killing and dismemberment case in Wisconsin attacked her attorney Tuesday during a court hearing, moments after a judge agreed to delay her trial.

Taylor Schabusiness, 25, was seated in a Brown County circuit court when her attorney, Quinn Jolly, asked the judge for an additional two weeks for a defense expert to review his client's competency to stand trial.

Moments after Judge Thomas Walsh reluctantly agreed to postpone her March 6 trial, Schabusiness attacked Jolly and was wrestled to the courtroom floor by a deputy, WLUK-TV reported. The courtroom was then cleared before the hearing resumed.

Schabusiness is charged with first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse and third-degree sexual assault in the killing of Shad Thyrion, 25, in February 2022. Authorities say she strangled Thyrion at a home in Green Bay, sexually abused him and dismembered his body, leaving parts of him throughout the house and in a vehicle.

Schabusiness has pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. She is being held on a $2 million cash bond.

Following her courtroom outburst, the judge moved her competency hearing from Tuesday to March 6. The judge also proposed a May 15 trial date.

At the end of the hearing, Jolly told the court he would file a motion to withdraw from the case as Schabusiness' attorney but the judge did not immediately rule on that matter.

6 serial killers who left deep scars on Wisconsin Serial killer Ed Gein Serial killer Ed Gein Serial killer Ed Gein Serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin Serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin Serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer Serial killer David Spanbauer Serial killer David Spanbauer Serial killer Walter Ellis Serial killer Walter Ellis Serial killer Edward Edwards Serial killer Edward Edwards
1. Yes. Having a community member interview panel is an excellent opportunity for input.

2. Yes. Its good that the city will allow residents to meet the finalist at a reception.

3. No. The city should have conducted a public survey early in the process, as KISD is doing.

4. No. Residents should be able to meet candidates before a lone finalist is chosen.

5. Unsure. Its hard to know how to gauge the proper level of public involvement.

Vote

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At the economic and commercial level, trade flows between Turkmenistan and Belgium fluctuate within 15 million euros per year, almost all of which account for Belgian exports.

It was noted that this year Belgium and Turkmenistan celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations and both countries maintain contacts on a regular basis, especially at the level of foreign ministries.

"Belgian exports to Turkmenistan for 2021 are estimated at 15.1 million euros, of which 72 percent are machinery and equipment, 19.8 percent are chemical products and 2.2 percent are plastics," said the source.

"Belgian imports from Turkmenistan for 2021 are estimated at 0.9 million euros, of which over 97.5 percent are textiles, 1.3 percent are minerals and 1.1 percent are plastics," said the source.

Furthermore, it was stressed that relations between Belgium and Turkmenistan are developing within the framework of the EU Strategy for Central Asia, approved in 2019 and focusing on sustainable development, reforms, transparency, regional cooperation and connectivity.
KEARNEY  Doug and Brenda Kremer hope to find common ground wherever they go with their new business venture.

For the Kremers, thats sharing their Christian faith but also providing their customers with a high-quality drink from their new mobile coffee shop, Common Ground Coffee.

Doug and Brenda have been married for nearly 38 years, and they have eight children ranging in age from 13 to 36. Doug worked as a facilities manager for 25 years, and Brenda has stayed home to homeschool their kids. The couple was ready for the next step in their careers, and they hoped they would be able to take on a venture where they could work together.

The couples son knew of a mobile coffee shop for sale, and their immediate reaction was to turn it down. They pondered their decision for almost two months before they decided to take the plunge.

Were both believers, so we just prayed about it, and we just really felt like this is what we were supposed to do. It was definitely a step of faith, Brenda said.

They purchased the mobile coffee shop in September and dubbed it Common Ground Coffee. One of their daughters and their daughter-in-law were former baristas and gave them tips about making coffee. Doug also used YouTube to learn about crafting drinks.

We just had a lot of input from our children. They are very supportive of the whole thing, Brenda said.

Common Ground Coffee Mobile coffee shop located in Central Nebraska. For the menu and schedule, find Common Ground Coffee on Facebook and Instagram. For more information or to make a mobile order, call or text 308-440-0220.

Common Ground Coffees opening day was Nov. 12, and the Kremers travel around central Nebraska to serve their hand-crafted drinks. Along with coffee, Common Ground serves hot chocolate, hot tea, chai tea and fruit smoothies. While both Kremers prefer an Americano, Doug enjoys splurging on the Iced Oatmeal Cookie Latte, and Brenda raves about their fruit smoothies.

The Kremers begin their day at 5 a.m. and are ready to serve at 7 a.m. They enjoy traveling to small towns in the area that may not have coffee shops.

They are so appreciative of us. ... Its a service we are providing for them, Doug said.

As a mobile coffee shop, Common Ground can serve at community and private events. Customers can now order drinks via mobile orders, and they can keep up with Common Grounds schedule on Instagram and Facebook.

The Kremers say they have learned something new every day about running their own business, and they have both found their own niche. Doug has a passion for making high-quality drinks, while Brenda loves interacting with their customers.

The Kremers acknowledge the amount of work it takes to run their own business, but it has also brought them joy to work together and provide for their customers.

I tell my children you have to be married 37 plus years to do this together, Brenda said with a laugh. Its been good. I love the interaction with the people, and he loves to make the coffee. We have a pretty good time.
Tying the knot could keep high blood sugar at bay

Getting hitched could help middle-aged and older folks get a better handle on their blood sugar, a new study reports.

People living with a spouse appeared to be better able to maintain lower blood sugar levels than single folks, according to the findings.

This benefit held regardless of the state of their relationship, the researchers added. Whether bickering or snuggling, married folks tended to have better blood sugar control.

For the study, the investigators evaluated data from more than 3,300 people aged 50 to 89 living in England between 2004 and 2013.

Read more here:

One in eight older adults addicted to highly processed food

Nearly half of older adults report at least one symptom of addiction to highly processed food, according to the results of the University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging released on Jan. 30.

Ashley Gearhardt, Ph.D., of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and colleagues analyzed survey results from 2,163 adults (aged 50 to 80 years).

Overall, 13 percent of older adults met criteria for an addiction to highly processed food. Compared with men, women were more than twice as likely to meet criteria for addiction to highly processed food (18 versus 8 percent). Younger adults (aged 50 to 64 years) were also more likely to meet addiction criteria than older adults (17 versus 8 percent). These symptoms were also more common among men (17 percent) and women (34 percent) reporting being overweight versus about the right weight (1 and 4 percent, respectively).

Read more here:

Over 400 snacks recalled over listeria concerns

A variety of sandwiches, salads, wraps, snacks and yogurt made by the company Fresh Ideation Food Group have been recalled because of potential Listeria monocytogenes contamination.

All of the products have a Fresh Creative Cuisine label or an identifier on the bottom of the label with the Fresh Creative Cuisine name, the Baltimore company said in its recall notice.

The items also have a fresh through or sell through date ranging from Jan. 31 through Feb. 6.

Products could have been purchased at retailers, in vending machines and on transportation services from Jan. 24 through Jan. 30 in Connecticut, District of Columbia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Virginia, the company said.

Read more here:

How are toxins getting into baby foods?

Parents in the United States may assume baby food is free of impurities, but a recent research review highlights the much different reality: Most foods made for babies and toddlers have some amount of toxic heavy metals.

The contaminants include metals, such as lead and arsenic, that can harm brain development, and contribute to learning and behavior problems in children. And they are found in everything from rice cereals to formula to pureed vegetables.

It's an issue that's been known for decades, yet most parents are probably unaware of it, experts said.

Read more here:

Massachusetts bill would let prisoners donate organs for shorter sentences

Massachusetts legislators have proposed a bill that would allow prison inmates to donate their organs or bone marrow as a way to trim the length of their sentence.

While some experts wonder about the ethics of such a law and whether it would even be allowed under federal law, a Democratic sponsor of the bill, state Rep. Judith Garcia, told the Associated Press it could reduce health inequities from the vicious cycle of unjust incarceration and over-policing of Black and Brown communities.

While Black and Hispanic people tend to have a higher need for organ donation because of certain health conditions, discriminatory incarceration rates limit matches and lead to long waitlists for Black people, Garcia explained.

Read more here:

Could a vibrating pill ease chronic constipation?

A new treatment for chronic constipation may bring relief without having to use drugs.

Its a vibrating pill called Vibrant that stimulates the colon as it passes through the body.

Although the pill was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last August, doctors can start prescribing Vibrant this week.

We are working right now with insurance companies to obtain coverage in commercial plans, Cathy Collis, chief commercial officer for Vibrant Gastro Inc., told CNN. But until we get that coverage, our goal and commitment is to make sure that this is accessible and affordable to patients.

Read more here:

***

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COLUMBUS  In the 1940s, the world was quite different. TVs were uncommon, vehicles were far less advanced, there was no internet, and Gordon and Edna Hoessel had just met.

There was a whole line of girls sitting on the side of a Model A car, and I picked the prettiest one out and asked for a date and she accepted, said Gordon, whos been married to Edna for 76 years.

Their church, St. Pauls Evangelical Lutheran Church in rural Leigh, has played a prominent role in their lives, Edna said. They and their parents attended the church, they were married there and still attend. Theyve lived in quite a few places in the Platte County area over that time, finally landing in the Clarkson/Leigh area where they live now.

They courted for four years before they married Feb. 9, 1947. When they were dating and first married, Edna said, they would go to dances and parties together. There were more dance halls and places like that back then.

We went to shows and dances, stuff like that. At that time, everybody went to shows and dances, there wasnt much television or anything like that, Edna said. There was a dance hall in the country by where we first lived and a dance hall in Howells.

The pair has always farmed, Gordon said, though he did work for a lighting company for a while. They raised cattle, hogs, corn, oats and soybeans. Both were born and raised on farms. Gordon retired at 55, and since then, the couple has spent their time together. Farming, Gordon noted, is very different now than when he started and even when he retired.

I farmed all my life until I retired, Gordon said. From the threshing machines to little combines then it went from little combines to really big ones. Went from plowing the ground to tilling it.

Just a couple of years after they were married, they had their first child, Dorothy Halvorsen. Before long, they had three more: Gene Hoessel, Darlene Adamy and Joyce Bruha. They have since welcomed 10 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

One thing they like to do together, Gordon said, is watch cars out the window. He picked up whittling from Gene years ago, but unfortunately arthritis has made that difficult. Hes made several instruments and decorative items over the years, such as ukuleles, mandolins, harps and wooden figures. He also used to weld occasionally and paint.

Edna crochets and does some sewing and embroidering.

I crochet and give doilies and stuff to my kids all the time. I make towels and things like that, she said.

Their creative pursuits, Gene said, have provided many personal handmade Christmas gifts for their kids and grandkids. One example, he said, is a rather ornate wooden dove Gordon carved several years ago. Bud Adamy, their son-in-law, said they always gave heirloom-type gifts, not the kind of thing one can find in a store.

When they were younger, Gordon and Edna said, they liked to travel, sometimes in a camper. Gene said his parents have gone all over the western United States, to Montana, California and other places.

I liked going around the mountains, hunting for fossils, Gordon said.

The secret, they said, to being married 76 years is simply not arguing. Their children confirmed that they couldnt think of any time they ever saw the pair go to bed mad. Edna even gave a piece of advice for those who want to stay together that long.

Love each other all the time, Edna said. We just dont argue.

Gene said his dad had some advice years ago that was a little more amusing, in the event they did disagree on something.

He told me to always get the last word in, even if that word is yes, dear, Gene said.
HOLDREGE  It was on Feb. 11, 1873, that the Nebraska Legislature established the defining borders of Phelps County.

On nearly the exact day 150 years later, Phelps County Commissioner Chairman Theresa Puls declared 2023 the official 150th year of the south-central Nebraska county.

We come together in fellowship to appreciate all we have accomplished in the last 150 years of dedication and hard work, Puls said during the Phelps County 150th Proclamation event Friday at the Phelps County Courthouse in Holdrege.

The county will celebrate its anniversary throughout the year, beginning with the proclamation and a mobile history display curated by the Nebraska Prairie Museum.

(The display) is going to encompass 50 years for each panel. Its going to encompass photos and pictures and documents. Its going to tell the 150-year history of Phelps County, said Micah Huyser, executive director of the Nebraska Prairie Museum.

The exhibit will be on display in the next few weeks at the Phelps County Courthouse, and it will move throughout the county for residents to enjoy.

The Holdrege Area Chamber of Commerce will commemorate the sesquicentennial during Swedish Days in June, and county officials are planning to dedicate a 100-year time capsule during the community celebration.

I was talking earlier about reflecting and how you think about 150 years in the future. What will things look like? We just cant fathom it, Huyser said.

The Nebraska Prairie Museum will also celebrate the countys anniversary with Prairie Programs to be held throughout the year as well as a fall festival.

During the proclamation, Puls noted the foundation  including agriculture, churches and businesses  that contributed to the countys success. But for Puls, its the people that are the true heart of the community.

My memories of Phelps County are the love and the good, good people that are in Phelps County that come together and take care of their neighbors, she said.
SMEs and Startups Minister Lee Young, left, and Saudi Arabia's Investment Minister Khalid Al-Falih, center, tour a company booth during the COMEUP 2022 startup event in Seoul, Nov. 10, 2022. Courtesy of Ministry of SMEs and Startups



By Baek Byung-yeul



The Ministry of SMEs and Startups will participate in the BIBAN 2023 startup and tech event, which will be held next month in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with 10 domestic startups as part of the ministry's efforts to seek more business opportunities in the Middle East, according to the ministry, Tuesday.



The startups ministry held a meeting in Seoul with experts from the private sector to share the outcome of the ministry's visit to the United Arab Emirates last month from Jan. 14 to 17 and discuss follow-up measures.



The meeting was titled as a task force for discussing ways to support Korean companies to enter the Middle East market.



"During the visit, President Yoon Suk Yeol said he would make every effort to help domestic companies show their capabilities in the global market. To support his plan, we have launched a task force comprised of experts from the public and private sectors for the Middle East market," SMEs and Startups Minister Lee Young said.



During the meeting, participants discussed the direction of follow-up measures regarding the memorandum of understanding (MOU) on cooperation with startups between the startups ministry and the UAE's Ministry of Economy.



Specifically, Korean company's foray into the UAE was discussed as the Middle Eastern country seeks to diversify its business portfolio that is currently too focused on oil-related businesses. The startups ministry elaborated its policy directions comprised of supporting startups, exports and technologies and listened to various opinions from experts from the private sector.



Discussions were also held on the business agreement with the UAE's state-run media companies. They also reviewed ways to establish partnerships for small and medium-sized content and consumer goods companies to enter the UAE market.



Not only business expansion into the UAE, but also expanding into the Saudi Arabian market was discussed during the meeting.



"The startups ministry has recruited 10 companies that will take part in next month's BIBAN 2023. We could see the high interest of domestic startups in the Saudi Arabian market because a total of 151 companies applied for the recruitment," the ministry said.



The minister added, "The ministry will focus its policy capability on helping small and medium-sized companies seize opportunities for global growth in the Middle East, which is preparing for future growth on abundant financial power by closely implementing follow-up measures of the UAE tour."


By Arthur I. Cyr



The large balloon launched by China, which drifted at a leisurely pace over North America until shot down by a U.S. F-22 fighter, is definitely an odd addition to international relations. Given today's advanced satellite surveillance, along with other electronics plus human intelligence agents, the purpose of this floating device remains puzzling  and intriguing.



By tangible contrast, there is no denying China has become aggressive in Asia, claiming territories and waters well beyond established jurisdictions. Conflicts are myriad and are occurring in the context of China's massive, sustained military buildup.



At the start of February, the Philippines and the United States reached a major agreement to expand U.S. military presence to four additional military bases, beyond the five covered in the current Enhanced Cooperation Defense Agreement. This is a dramatic turnaround from the U.S. military departure from the Philippines three decades ago.



Beyond military defense, steady growth of Asia regional trade agreements provides practical though indirect deterrence of China military ambitions. In November 2020, East and Southeast Asian nations signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement at a virtual summit hosted by Vietnam.



The list of members alone is impressive: Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam. These nations account for just under one-third of the total population of the globe, and nearly one-third of the total gross product of the world's economies.



Two aspects of the agreement are particularly noteworthy. First, rules of origin are greatly simplified and standardized. These are the regulations that determine the country of origin of a product.



Previously, they varied widely among individual countries, imposing barriers to trade and hampering shipping and sales of products on a regional basis. In the future, there will be less obstruction of supply and distribution chains.



Second, this is the first comprehensive free trade agreement involving China, Japan and South Korea. All three nations historically have been at odds, and occasionally at war.



This comprehensive agreement builds on earlier, much more limited accords of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The larger concept was developed at the ASEAN summit held in Bali, Indonesia in 2011 and the first negotiations to realize the agreement were held in the 2012 ASEAN summit hosted in Cambodia.



The founding document of ASEAN was signed on Aug. 8, 1967, by the foreign ministers of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. This was during the Vietnam War, and two years after the United States began comprehensive direct military involvement on the ground in South Vietnam, while significantly escalating air operations against North Vietnam as well as generally within the region.



An important later successful U.S.-led effort is Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), conceived by then Australia Prime Minister Bob Hawke. President George H.W. Bush embraced the effort, and APEC began in 1989. The U.S. remains an active partner.



The 2006 APEC summit in Vietnam is noteworthy. Vietnam's leaders honored U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, a dramatic demonstration that economic self-interest, and the tangible benefits of trade and investment, can overcome even great political and ideological divides.



Looking to the future, RCEP could eventually restrain China's sustained, sizable military buildup. The United States should work toward that goal.



Philippines-U.S. ties became close during World War II. The BBC notes the new defense accord "has stitched the gap in the arc of U.S. alliances" from Japan and South Korea in the north to Australia in the south.





Arthur I. Cyr (acyr@carthage.edu) is author of "After the Cold War" (NYU and Macmillan/Palgrave).


Westby Area High Schools Darik Moilien has been able to overcome numerous challenges, including the loss of his mother when he was very young.

His mother, Crystal, died when he was 3 years old. Moilien said he had no grasp what it was like at such a young age. I knew it was tough on my dad.

Moilien also has an older brother who has special needs. Dad and I have more responsibilities (like) cleaning up.

Jennie Marx, family and consumer sciences instructor and FCCLA (Family, Career and Community Leaders of America) adviser, nominated Moilien for the La Crosse Tribune Extra Effort Award because of his perseverance.

Darik is one of the kindest souls you will ever meet, Marx said in an email. He is always extremely polite and genuine, patient, and open-minded. If you would not know Darik personally, you would never know what this young man endures every day. His family life is far from normal. He lost his mother at a young age, his father (is) partially handicapped and his older brother has special needs. Darik tries hard to balance all of the struggles at home along with school and friends. Between the amazing support he receives from his father and his friend group, Darik has learned how to survive. He is a hard worker and always has his work done on time. This is what has always impressed me the most about Darik. He will never allow all of extra stuff in his life pull him down but will use it as strength to rise above and conquer the challenge.

Marx said Moilien has grown during his high school years. He is extremely shy but has learned how to push himself by joining organizations such as FCCLA, FFA, drama, forensics and band to name a few. He is at school early for music practices and stays late for meetings and pep-bands. He has taken on leadership roles within some of his organizations and is a leader in and out of the classroom.

His extra-curricular activities have included playing alto saxophone in the band, singing in the choir, being on the robotics team for the past two years, being involved in FFA and FCCLA and performing in the musical this school year. In the summer of 2022, Moilien was a member of the State FFA Honors Band and played at the State FFA Convention; the band also performed at the Wisconsin State Fair.

In the community, Moilien has helped the Coon Valley Conservation Club set up its 3-D bow shoot and has helped at his church in Coon Valley. Since COVID theyve livestreamed services and I help with that. Some people cant make it to the service.

The senior said he feels he has grown during his time at WAHS. I think Ive become more mature, especially since middle school. Im more able to take on more responsibilities and not give up. Moilien said that has involved being kind to others, listening to others, not being disrespectful and doing chores around the house.

Moilien enjoys doing things with his hands, and is planning to have a design-related career. After graduation he plans on attending the University of Wisconsin-Stout.

I really like art and drawing and coming up with designs of things, Moilien said. I recently took up woodworking. I started at school and found out we had woodworking machines at home.

His interest in woodworking began sophomore year when he took a class and he continued doing it at home.

Moilien said the art and woodworking classes helped him make the decision to purse his career goal. You start (art) your freshman year and they help you along and after six semesters you can do your own thing.

Marx said all of the Westby nominations for the Extra Effort Award were so deserving this year.

Darik is just the tip of the iceberg of wonderful students we have, she said. Darik gives me hope as a teacher for the future. Knowing that he will be out in the world doing extraordinary things gives me encouragement that our students will make a lasting impact on the world. Knowing that I once had him as a student, an FCCLA member, and soon to be a Westby High alumni give us all at Westby a huge sense of pride. He is an exceptional young man and I am honored to have spent time with him.

Extra Effort partners with the La Crosse Community Foundation. Your non-taxable donations will help boost the scholarships the students receive.

To give online visit at www.laxcommfoundation.com. Checks can be written to Extra Effort Fund and mailed to the Foundation at 401 Main St., Ste. 205, La Crosse, WI 54601.

In Photos and Video: 2022 Extra Effort Awards
Two applicants for neighborhood revitalization grants were approved Monday night by the countys committee tasked with reviewing applications.

The Neighborhood Revitalization Grant Review Committee approved grants of $100,000 each to go to Small Town Investments LLC and MSP Real Estate Inc. The decisions by the committee do not need full county board approval.

Since August, the grants from the committee have been funded by $2 million in county American Rescue Plan Act funds. Three additional neighborhood projects were awarded grants from ARPA funds in 2022.

The grants given by the committee are specifically for the acquisition or demolition of a property.

When the committee was first created, the attention was primarily on developing blighted neighborhoods within the city, designated as promise neighborhoods by the La Crosse Promise program.

As the funding increased and diversified in source, the committee has been distributing more grants to other parts of the county.

Single-family homes in Rockland

Small Town Investments LLC is planning to demolish existing dilapidated structures in the village of Rockland to build two single-family homes.

County board supervisor Dan Hesse, District 27, spoke during public comment and said the property was in pretty rough condition. The estimated value of the new homes is $265,000 each.

County staff recommended the committee approve a grant of $86,000, based on the score the project received for tax base increase, neighborhood, private investment, applicant capabilities and performance.

The committee opted to award the proposal the full $100,000 because the property was ineligible to receive points for being in a La Crosse Promise Neighborhood, targeting neighborhoods in the city of La Crosse for revitalization.

The committee members felt that it wasnt fair to award the project less if it wasnt even eligible for those points due to its location.

The total budget for the Rockland project is $883,600, the majority of which will be funded through private investments. Supervisor Ralph Geary said he appreciated seeing a significant amount of private investment in this project.

Affordable housing in La Crosse

The second grant recipient was MSP Real Estate Inc. a real estate development company based in Minnesota. The company has contracts with the city of La Crosse for the River Point District development.

The county grant is for a portion of a 120-unit affordable housing development in the River Point District. MSP requested $100,000 for one part of the project that features 48 units for residents at or below 80% of the county median income.

County staff recommended a grant of $85,000 based on scoring, but the committee voted to award the full $100,000 for the same reasons as the Rockland project.

The MSP affordable housing development will have additional income restricted units: 48 units for residents at or below 50% and 24 units for residents at 30% of the county median income.

The projects budget is $11.7 million, much of which is a hodge-podge of public investment. Private funding accounts for 32% of the projects projected budget.

The project was awarded $720,000 in tax incremental financing from the city of La Crosse and Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority Low Income Housing Tax Credits. Public funding sources also include a Community Development Block Grant, deferred developer fee and federal tax credit equity.

IN PHOTOS & VIDEOS: A look back on January in the Coulee Region
UAEs Masdar has signed an agreement with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to explore green hydrogen development, renewable energy in Africa, distributed photovoltaics and creating innovative technologies.

The two entities inked the collaboration framework on side-lines of World Government Summit 2023, taking place in Dubai, to support climate action in emerging markets.

It was signed by Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, Chief Executive Officer, Masdar and Mohamed Gouled, Vice President of Industries at IFC. Dr Sultan Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, COP28 President-Designate, and Masdar Chairman, witnessed the signing, along with Makhtar Diop, Managing Director of IFC.

Equitable access

Dr Al Jaber said: As the UAE prepares to host COP28, we have placed a special emphasis on ensuring better, more efficient and more equitable access to climate finance. The UAE is a trusted partner of many nations and actively supports the development of emerging nations. IFC has been a key partner for Masdar in a number of emerging markets, and this agreement carries forward the UAEs commitment to equitable climate finance and inclusive sustainable development.

Diop said: We are excited to advance our partnership with Masdar today and leverage IFCs climate expertise across emerging markets to support Masdar in achieving breakthroughs in sectors such as renewable energy, green hydrogen, and green finance.

Al Ramahi said: Masdar has a long history with the IFC, where we have worked together to fund clean energy projects from Jordan to Uzbekistan and other countries. We are confident this agreement will serve as the foundation for further impactful collaborations that advance sustainable development in the countries and communities that need it most.

Creating opportunities

The IFC, which is a member of the World Bank Group, uses its capital, expertise and influence to create markets and opportunities in developing countries.

Masdar is active in a number of emerging markets, developing utility-scale and DPV projects to bring clean energy to communities across Asia and Africa. Masdar has already completed many projects in African countries, including Egypt, Mauritania, Seychelles, and Morocco.

At the recently concluded Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2023 Masdar announced the signing of deals for projects with a combined generation capacity of 5 GW across Angola, Uganda, and Zambia as part of Etihad 7, a UAE-led initiative that aims to raise public- and private-sector funds to invest in the development of Africas renewable energy sector.
Here are the Walworth Countys weekly criminal complaints from Feb. 6  Feb. 13 The cases still need to make their way through the Walworth County Court System. All information is from criminal complaints filed in Walworth County Circuit Court. To follow the cases, go to wcca.wicourts.gov.

Lake Geneva man steals from elderly family member, uses over $22,000 of his moneyMartin M DePriest, 35, of 1000 block Bonnie Brae La., Lake Geneva, has been charged with theft-movable property and identity theft-financial gain. On March 30, 2022, there was a report of a theft complaint relating to DePriest, the defendant, who was stealing from a family member. It was advised that the defendant conned the elderly family member into putting his name on his bank account and giving him access. Later, the defendant was taken off the account after he was found to be stealing, but despite that, was able to continue to access the account. In total, the defendant stole $34,000 and used the money on gifts for his girlfriend and other items. DePriest also made bank transfers totaling $2,285.00 in 2020 and $2,198.00 in 2021 from the mans bank account without his knowledge. DePriest had $2,306.00 in overdraft fees from 2020 through 2021 and used a total of $22,809.74 of his grandfathers money. DePriest was previously convicted for misdemeanor theft for using a company credit card for unauthorized purchases.

Delavan man charged with drug and weapon offenses in the Town of RichmondJarred M Gepford, 34, of W7600 block Wisconsin PKWY, Delavan, has been charged with possession of narcotic drugs, second and subsequent offense; possession of THC (Tetrahydrocannabinols), second and subsequent offense, carrying a concealed knife and carrying a concealed weapon. A traffic stop was conducted of Jarred Gepford, the defendant, for speeding in the Town of Richmond on Jan. 24. The defendant admitted that he was supposed to have an ignition interlock device installed in his vehicle, which he didnt have. Later, a search was done of the vehicle where they found a large machete, a knife in the door, and a unlabeled prescription bottle containing marijuana. Gepford was also in possession of Suboxone in his right as well as Choreboy.

Jefferson man operates a motor vehicle while intoxicated in La Grange, causes injuryChristopher Jack Havill, 50, of 600 Fairway Cir, Jefferson, has been charged with operating while intoxicated causing injury-second and subsequent offense, and operating with prohibited alcohol concentration causing injury-second and subsequent offense. Back on Dec. 1, 2022, a deputy from the Walworth County Sherriffs Office responded to a rollover crash in the Town of La Grange. When the deputy arrived, there was a white Ford Taurus in a southbound lane at US HWY 12 and Bay Pt. Dr. facing east, while a blue jeep rolled over on its drivers side. Two elderly people in the Ford Taurus complained of chest/rib pain and dizziness. The deputy then approached the driver of the blue jeep, Havill, the defendant, had a strong odor of intoxicants and had bloodshot eyes and slurred speech. When asked if he had anything to drink, Havill admitted to having a whiskey and a water earlier. It later showed that the defendant had 0.092 g/100mL of ethanol in his blood. Havill was previously convicted of the same offense in 2003.
Two Reports Imply NATO Deployment of Terrorism in Russia

Feb. 13, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)The American Embassy in Moscow has issued an alert dated today telling American tourists and residents to leave Russia as soon as possible. As Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov immediately responded, the State Department has issued instructions for all Americans to leave Russia several times during the past year. But this alertwhich is full of descriptions of actions the Russian government allegedly threatens Americans with, from false arrest to conscription into the armed forcesalso contains the following warning of terrorism against Russia:

Terrorist groups, both transnational and local terrorist organizations, and individuals inspired by extremist ideology continue plotting possible attacks in Russia. Terrorists may attack with little or no warning, targeting tourist locations, transportation hubs and systems, markets/shopping malls, local government facilities, hotels, clubs, restaurants, places of worship, parks, major sporting and cultural events, educational institutions, airports, and other public areas. Travel to the North Caucasus (including Chechnya and Mt. Elbrus) is prohibited for U.S. government employees and strongly discouraged for U.S. citizens.

In another report today, TASS quoted Peskov as saying: Russian President Vladimir Putins public schedule will not be revised in the wake of reports the United States is planning to send militants in Russia. The security of the head of state is ensured, Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday. The TASS wire cited an intelligence report from the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) that the recruitment was being carried out among the members of groups affiliated with the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda.... In January this year, 60 terrorists with experience of participating in hostilities in the Middle East were reportedly selected.

According to the SVR, they are currently undergoing crash courses at the U.S. base at Al-Tanf in Syria, where they are instructed in making and using improvised explosive devices, as well as methods of sabotage and other subversive activities. A special emphasis is on planning attacks against well-protected facilities, including foreign diplomatic missions, the SVR said. The foreign intelligence service emphasized that the United States was going to send militants to Russia in small groups.

We should note that these planned terror actions would be a continuation and escalation of sabotage missions already run into Russia through the Ukrainian Armed Forces with special forces supported, evidently, by Great Britain.
Former German General Describes Grave Danger of NATO Policy for Nuclear War

Feb. 13, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)Berliner Zeitung published an op-ed on Feb. 7 by Brig. Gen. Helmut Ganser (ret.), with his sharp assessment of where the Ukraine war is heading. Headlined Brigadier General Ganser: This Is About a Sober and Rational Analysis,  (in German) he writes in part:

Regardless of international law, the NATO states are moving toward a gray zone with the continued increase in their weapons system transfers, in which the boundaries beyond which NATO ultimately becomes a party to the war are becoming blurred. All the more so, with German tank deliveries now on the rise, Germanys share of responsibility for the further course of the war and its consequences for European security is growing.

Regarding the perspective for ending this destructive war, go back again to Clausewitz. As soon as the expenditure of effort is so great that the value of the political objective can no longer balance it, this objective must be abandoned and peace followed. Looking ahead to the coming months, this point does not appear to have been reached in either Moscow or Kiev. Russia will launch a major offensive in the near term, before Western tanks are incorporated into Ukrainian land forces.

Tens of thousands more soldiers and civilians are likely to perish before an end to the bloodshed is in sight. Whether the course of the front will even change significantly in the fighting is anything but certain. Moreover, Clausewitz could not have foreseen in the 19th century that his equation would be challenged over 100 years later by the existence of weapons of mass destruction. These are the nuclear weapons in numbers and destructive potential of the two nuclear superpowers that could make Earth uninhabitable in a dystopian escalation scenario.

The Wests military-political confrontation with Russia is more dangerous today than during the height of the Cold War. To dismiss the risk of escalation by referring to irrational fears is grossly negligent, even irresponsible. What is needed here is a sober and rational analysis. The heads of government of the NATO states have a responsibility to prevent damage to their countries and populations. It remains a reason of state to avoid nuclear escalation at all costs.

The Berliner Zeitung is a leading newspaper in Germanys capital. Its publisher, Holder Friedrich, has signed the Wagenknecht-Schwarzer manifesto (in German) for peace.
EIR LEAD EDITORIAL FOR TUESDAY FEBRUARY 14, 2023

Too Much Is Too Much. We Must Assert Our Right To Live!

Feb. 13, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)Every day seems to bring the world closer to extinction. Todays ratcheting up of tensions begins with a news item from the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, which issued a new travel advisory, warning American tourists and residents to leave Russia. Included among the reasons, is the Embassys assessment that terrorist groups, both transnational and local are planning to strike with little or no warning ... tourist locations, transportation hubs and systems, markets/shopping malls, local government facilities, hotels, clubs, restaurants, places of worship, parks, major sporting and cultural events, educational institutions, airports, and other public areas in Russia.

Second news item: Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov reported today that Russian intelligence services have advised that the United States is planning to send [terrorist] militants into Russia. TASS news service reports that Russias Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has provided quite specific reports that 60 ISIS and Al-Qaeda affiliated terrorists have been recruited from the Middle East theater for a crash course in making and using improvised explosive devices, sabotage, etc. at the illegally established U.S. Al-Tanf military base in Syria. They are then to be infiltrated into Russia in small groups.

Shades of Zbigniew Brzezinski! The Russian government, from President Putin on down, are well aware that the intent behind such operations is to revive the 1990s Anglo-American mercenary/jihadist strategy which spread war and terrorism across Russiain an attempt to break Russia into a bunch of Western-run ethnic colonies. EIRs Dec. 19, 2014 Fact Sheet Who Is Behind the Drive To Dismember Russia? is a good starting point to refresh your knowledge of the history of that operation and the networks involved.

In his famous 1999 Storm Over Asia video, American statesman Lyndon LaRouche warned even then that these strategies of war, if continued, can lead to general nuclear war.

How much more so today, when the dismemberment strategy is piled onto the conventional war being run against Russia, through Ukraine, by NATO itself, at the same time that the U.S. Air Force is shooting down objects from the sky, willy-nilly, in the name of protecting the world from our Chinese enemy.

The U.S.-U.K. NATO conglomerate tells the world that Russia and China are our enemies because they do not believe in our values.

Values such as refusing to lift the barbaric sanctions against Syria even in the face of a monstrous earthquake? Values such as blowing up the Nord Stream gas pipelines jointly owned by Russia and Germanyan act of war which is crushing the industry and freezing the people of ostensible NATO ally Germany? Values like deliberately driving for a thermonuclear showdown, if thats what it takes, for Anglo-American finance to regain its role as sole king of the world?

This is too much. It is time to act. The Schiller Institutes Helga Zepp-LaRouche warned today that all our lives are in extreme danger over the short-term ahead; the outbreak of nuclear war is the sword of Damocles hanging over us. And it is fast coming to a point of decision. Yes, she said, more voices are warning of this danger. But that is not enough. We need a worldwide mobilization by the people of all continents to insist on their right to live. That is what the Schiller Institute is working on, night and day.

Pope Francis has offered the Vatican as a venue for peace talks, and the Schiller Institute is building international support for that initiativeas a first step towards building an entirely new paradigm. Our aim is to get the world population aroused to the immediate danger of their extinction, she emphasized. Every venue offered by others builds that process: the proposal of Brazilian President Lula da Silva, the efforts of Turkish President Erdogan. The more people of the Global South say that they do not want to be drawn into this attack on Russia and China, but want to be non-aligned, the better. A call by a group of 20, 30, 40 developing countries for a conference on a new international security and development architecture, would help enormously. All of these things help to defuse the situation! The task in this dynamic process is to focus all these different efforts, in the way a laser focuses light, into bringing about the peace we require.

In short, the Schiller Institutes leader insisted: Right now, the key question is to get popular support from the majority of the world population to express that they are concerned about World War III; that they absolutely dont go along,

Wherever you are, help turn the worlds attention to the Feb. 18 anti-war rally in Munich protesting the opening of the Munich Security Conference, and the Feb. 19 national Rage Against the War Machine rally in Washington, D.C., companion rallies in Los Angeles (Feb. 18), Mexico City (Feb. 19), Austin (Feb. 23), and Berlin, Rome, and cities in France on the weekend of Feb. 25-26. The more anti-war rallies the better.
More than 750 exhibitors from 40 countries across the globe will be in Riyadh to showcase the latest in building innovations and technologies at Big 5 Saudi, the largest construction event in the kingdom, which kicks off on February 18 and runs for the next three days.

As the second largest non-oil sector in Saudi Arabia, the construction industry plays a pivotal role in driving the kingdoms economy forward, and The Big 5 Saudi serves as a platform to promote and support this growth, said the event organisers dmg events.

This year's event features eight product sectors, including building envelope and special construction, building interiors and finishes, construction technologies and innovations, building materials and tools, solar and MEP services, plant machinery and vehicles, off-site and modular construction, and building security and access control.

The 11th edition of The Big 5 Saudi will bring together 28,000+ attendees to the Riyadh Front Exhibition and Conference Center, said the organisers.

Doubling in number of exhibitors since its 2022 edition, this year's event will gather over 15,000 products and solutions and welcome a host of new-to-show brands, such as Saleh Ibrahim Aldohan, Gulf Factory for Insulation Panels, CPC Holding, Llbna Fnoon, Rkiza Building Materials, Saudi Services Company, Rheem Manufacturing, Lattice Software Solutions, Al Jazirah Falcon, and Masdar.

In January 2023, there were $298 billion in real estate projects under construction. By the end of 2023, intelligence firm ABiQ expects the Saudi real estate construction market to grow by 9% to a total of $324 billion.

This total includes completing $18 billion of real estate projects this year. With an ambitious array of giga and mega projects regularly announced across the kingdom, the construction industry globally is tasked to dramatically scale the production and distribution of products across all project stages to meet this tremendous demand.

"The Big 5 Saudi is a premier event that brings together industry professionals from around the world to showcase the latest advancements and innovations in the construction sector in Saudi Arabia," said Muhammed Kazi, VP - Construction, dmg events.

"With a focus on the projects shaping the future of Saudi Arabia, and a commitment to showcasing the latest technologies and advancements, The Big 5 Saudi is a vital event for anyone looking to be at the forefront of the construction industry in the kingdom," he added.

Accordng to him, The Big 5 Saudi continues to serve as a true testament to the KSA's growing attractiveness in the global construction arena, bringing together industry players in support of its ambitious Vision 2030 objectives.

Twelve country pavilions will shine the spotlight on construction solutions. These are Italy, Germany, Spain, India, Greece, Poland, Egypt, China, Kuwait, Turkiye, Qatar and Austria, he added.

The trade exhibition is once again accompanied by specialist events HVAC R Expo Saudi, Surface and Stone Saudi Arabia, and FM Expo Saudi, said dmg events.

In co-location with these established brands, the inaugural editions of two additional events servicing the construction industry will take place.

"We are thrilled to announce that the Windows, Doors & Facades and Saudi Glass events will be launching next to The Big 5 Saudi this year. This decision was made easy by the immense interest we received from leading building envelope brands, coupled with our previous success running these events in other markets," remarked Kazi.

"We believe offering these world-renowned brands a robust platform to meet the booming local demand for their products is a great opportunity as we strive to help the Saudi government and industry stakeholders to achieve their ambitious development targets," he added.

In its largest and most international edition ever, The Big 5 Saudi will be bustling with industry networking opportunities, as well as visitor experiences and 40 free-to-attend CPD-certified Industry Talks.

According to Kazi, the anticipated educational programme will gather onstage over 50 innovators, architects, project and facilities management practitioners and technologists, including Engineer Waleed Akhtar M Sultan, General Supervisor for Classification Development, Project Management and Performance Follow-up, Ministry of Municipal, Rural Affairs and Housing (Momrah); Jason Morris, Managing Director- Project and Construction Management Division, KEO International Consultants; Mohammed El Khamissy, Group Chief Finance Officer and Advisor to the Board, RC Al Mana; Engineer Grace Najjar, Managing Director, PMI Mena; Andrew Jones, CDR Partner, Dentons and Rick Hopper, the MD of Mott MacDonald Saudi business and Chair of Saudi Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) Hub.

These and other experts will present on impactful topics such as disruptive project management trends, the best use of technology in managing projects, and public-private sector collaboration on design, he added.

The 2023 edition is sponsored by industry leaders including Afaq Wood Industries Factory, Bluu, Carrier, Saudi Services Company Limited, Zamil Industrial, SABB, Al Bawani, Midea and Sraco.

Key event media and supporting partners feature PMI, CIOB, Mefma, ACI, AIA Middle East, Gulf Construction, CNBC Arabia, Arab News, Eye of Riyadh, Al Riyadh, Al Watan, Saudi Projects and Amlak Real Estate Newspaper.-TradeArabia News Service
Tuesday, February 14, 2023

Romance Scams have become increasingly popular in recent years as scammers profit from the loneliness that many felt during COVID-19 lockdowns and beyond. Romance scams claimed $139 million from adults aged 60 and older in 2020 alone. This figure was up $84 million from 2019.

Scammers often reach out via social networking sites, claiming to be a professional working abroad. They establish a bond, build an imaginary future with their victim, and then plan an in-person meeting if the victim is willing to give them money.

Ive seen elders mortgage their houses, borrow large sums of money from their neighbors, empty their retirement accounts, said Michael Delaney, a Chicago-based lawyer who specializes in elder law.

While young people are susceptible to online scams, older people are more likely to be the target of a romance scam simply because they are likely to have more money. The median loss from a romance scam is $9,000.

The F.T.C. sued Match Group in 2019, alleging that the company allowed fraudsters to disguise themselves on platforms like Match.com, Tinder, and Hinge. A federal court in Texas dismissed the claim, and Match Group responded by running a public awareness campaign to help users identify red flags.

For more information see Emily Schmall Retirees Are Losing Their Life Savings to Romance Scams. Heres What to Know, The New York Times, Februrary 3, 2023.

Special thanks to Lewis Saret (Attorney, Washington, D.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/trusts_estates_prof/2023/02/retirees-are-losing-their-life-savings-to-romance-scams-heres-what-to-know.html
Ice baths are a popular subject on American social media pages. Kim Kardashian, Harry Styles, Kristen Bell, Lizzo, and other stars have posted about their cold water experiences.

Health claims surrounding ice baths include improved mood, increased energy, weight loss and reduced inflammation. But the science linked to some of those claims is not very strong.

Here is what medical evidence, experts and fans say about cold water baths, an activity that dates back hundreds of years.

The mind

Since June 2020, Dan OConor has jumped into Lake Michigan almost daily. The 55-year-old man lives in the city of Chicago.

OConor used the term endorphins - feel good hormones released in reaction to pain, stress, exercise and other activities  to talk about his experience.

The endorphin rush  is an incredible way to wake up and just kind of shock the body and get the engine going, he said on a recent morning when the air temperature was minus-5 Celsius.

With the lake temperature at 1 degree Celsius, OConor did a running jump into the icy gray water.

His first jump came early in the pandemic. OConor had too much alcohol and his wife was angry at him. She told him to go jump in the lake. The common saying is not usually received as a real command.

But, OConor acted on it.

He says the water felt good that June day, so he kept jumping in every day following. As the water grew colder with seasonal change, the good effect was even greater, he said.

My mental health is a lot stronger, a lot brighter. I found some zen down here coming down and jumping into the lake and shocking that body, OConor said.

Dr. Will Cronenwett of Northwestern Universitys Feinberg medical school tried cold-water immersion once while visiting Scandinavian friends. After a sauna, he jumped into the ice-cold water for a few minutes. He said it was a powerful experience.

But Cronenwett says studying cold water immersion with a kind of scientific study known as a randomized controlled trial is difficult. This is because it is hard to develop a placebo for cold water baths.

A placebo is something that has no effect. Placebos are important because scientific tests need to compare the possible effect of something with something else that does not have any physical effect.

Possible effects on the mind

There are a few ideas about how cold water immersion affects the mind.

Cronenwett says it makes the part of the nervous system that controls the resting state more active. Such an effect may increase feelings of well-being.

Cold water immersion also affects the part of the nervous system that controls the fight-or-flight stress reaction. Cold water treatment on a usual basis may reduce that reaction. So, Cronenwett said, it might help people feel better able to deal with other stresses in their lives, although that is not proven.

Czech researchers found that cold water immersion can increase blood levels of dopamine  another hormone  by 250 percent. High amounts have been linked with paranoia and aggression, noted James Mercer of the Arctic University of Norway. Mercer co-wrote a recent scientific paper that examined studies on the treatment.

The heart

Cold water immersion raises blood pressure and increases stress on the heart. Studies have shown this is safe for healthy people and the effects are only temporary.

But sometimes these effects can cause the heart to beat unevenly and can cause death, Cronenwett said. People with heart conditions or a family history of early heart disease should talk with a doctor before doing cold water immersion, he said.

Metabolism

Repeated cold-water immersions during colder seasons have been shown to improve how the body reacts to insulin, a hormone that controls blood sugar levels, Mercer noted.

This might help reduce the risk of getting diabetes. It also might help people with the disease control it. More study is required to know for sure.

Cold water immersion also activates brown fat. This tissue helps keep the body warm and helps it control blood sugar and insulin levels. It also helps the body burn calories.

Im John Russell.

Lindsey Tanner reported on this story for the Associated Press. John Russell adapted it for VOA Learning English.

Quiz - Ice Baths Popular, But Health Claims Not Supported by Evidence Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz

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Words in This Story

hormone  n. a natural substance that is produced in the body and that influences the way the body grows or develops

zen  n. a state of peace and calm

immersion  n. the act of putting someone or something completely in a liquid or the state of being completely in a liquid

sauna  n. a special heated room in which people sit or lie down in order to get hot and sweat

stress  n. a physical, chemical, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension and may be involved in causing some diseases

paranoia  n. an unreasonable feeling that people are trying to harm you, do not like you, etc.

calorie  n. an amount of food having an energy-producing value of one large calorie
Tens of thousands of Israelis protested outside parliament Monday to show their opposition to government plans to reshape the countrys judiciary.

Some demonstrators carried flags and blew horns. Others shouted democracy and no to dictatorship.

The large protest took place outside the Knesset, Israels parliament building in Jerusalem. Other large demonstrations were held in other cities.

The administration of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has proposed changes to the countrys Supreme Court. Protests over the plans have been going on for weeks. The demonstrations have been supported by some influential business leaders and former military officials.

The government plans would give the prime minister greater control over judicial appointments. Experts say the process would weaken the Supreme Courts ability to rule against government leaders.

The Knessets Constitutional Committee voted Monday to move the first official version of the plan forward. Several lawmakers were thrown out of the building after trying to delay the legislative process, Reuters news agency reported.

They hear our cry. They hear the strong voice of truth, opposition leader Yair Lapid said to the crowd outside of parliament. They hear it and theyre afraid.

Netanyahu and his supporters say the proposed changes are needed to limit a judiciary that has become too powerful. But his critics say the changes would ruin Israeli democracy. Critics have also suggested that Netanyahu has a conflict of interest. He currently is on trial for a series of corruption charges.

Organizers claimed at least 100,000 people protested at the Knesset. Members of opposition parties gave speeches to the crowd which included Arabs, women and LGBTQ activists.

Thousands of people arrived in Jerusalem by train. Hundreds of others gathered for a protest at Jerusalems Western Wall  Judaisms holiest place  before marching toward the Knesset.

Although Netanyahu and his allies have a majority alliance, it is not clear when the full parliament will begin debating the legislation.

Netanyahu issued a video accusing his political opponents of starting unrest and purposefully pushing the country into anarchy.

But Netanyahu noted there is still a way to reach a compromise. Most citizens of Israel don't want anarchy. They want a substantive dialogue and in the end they want unity."

At a joint press conference at the Knesset, former defense minister Benny Gantz said opposition party leaders remained united against the targeted assassination of democracy.

Netanyahu and his allies took office in December after the country's fifth election in four years. That election centered on Netanyahu's fitness for office at a time when he was facing serious criminal charges.

Netanyahu has criticized the country's police, prosecutors and judges and said he is the victim of efforts to push him out of office. His critics say the proposed legal changes will destroy Israel's democratic system of checks and balances.

Im Bryan Lynn.

The Associated Press and Reuters reported on this story. Bryan Lynn adapted the reports for VOA Learning English.

_______________________________________________________

Words in This Story

horn n. a noise-making device

anarchy n. a state in which people are not controlled by laws or rules

substantive  adj. important or serious

dialogue  n. a formal discussion between countries or groups of people

assassination  n. the killing of someone important or famous

prosecutor  n. a lawyer who prosecutes people

checks and balances  n. rules meant to prevent one person or group from having too much power within an organization

___________________________________________________________

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U.S. military fighter jets shot down three more flying objects over North America since taking down a Chinese spy balloon on February 4.

General Glen VanHerck is head of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). The command is responsible for protecting the airspace over the United States and Canada. VanHerck told reporters that the military has not been able to identify what the three most recent objects are, how they stay in the air, or where they are coming from.

"We're calling them objects, not balloons, for a reason," VanHerck said.

He added that part of the reason for the repeated military actions is a state of heightened alert. The state of increased readiness follows the incident of the spy balloon from China that entered U.S. and Canadian airspace.

Since then, fighter jets have shot down three unidentified objects over three days. U.S. military officials say they presented no security threats, but so little was known about them that they were ruling nothing out.

Last Friday, a U.S. fighter jet shot down an object about the size of a small car off the coast of northeastern Alaska. The unidentified object was flying at 12,000 meters posing a risk to civilian air traffic. "We don't know who owns this object," said White House spokesman John Kirby. He added that it was unclear where the object came from.

One day later, American and Canadian officials ordered a U.S. fighter plane to shoot down an unidentified cylindrical object over Canadas Yukon territory. Canadian officials did not call it a balloon. They said it was smaller than the Chinese balloon shot down off South Carolina's coast a week ago although it was similar in appearance.

On Sunday, another U.S. jet shot down an octagonal object over Lake Huron on the U.S.-Canada border. Although it did not present a military threat, the object could interfere with civilian air traffic as it was traveling at 6,100 meters. Brigadier General Patrick Ryder, the U.S. military spokesman, added that the object might have had surveillance abilities.

The U.S. defense official said that the object was believed to be the same as one recently observed over Montana near sensitive military areas. The Montana incident led to the closure of U.S. airspace.

All three objects were much smaller in size, different in appearance and flew at lower altitudes than the suspected Chinese spy balloon shot down over the Atlantic Ocean.

Melissa Dalton is the U.S. assistant defense secretary for homeland defense. She said, We have been more closely scrutinizing our airspace at these altitudes, includingradar, which may at least partly explain the increase.

China denied balloons being used for spying

China has denied its balloons were being used for spying. Chinese officials said the airship recently shot down was a weather balloon used for research.

But the U.S. said the balloon contained high-technology equipment designed to gather information. Officials added that it was part of a military-linked surveillance program that targeted over 40 countries around the world.

Japan recently said flying objects like the one shot down by the U.S. have been seen at least two times over northern Japan since 2020.

In Taiwan, local media have reported that mysterious white balloons have been seen over the island at least three times in the past two years.

And China described another balloon recently spotted over Latin America as a civilian airship used for research.

Im Caty Weaver.

Hai Do adapted this report for VOA Learning English from Associated Press and Reuters sources.

______________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

alert n. a state of being ready to act if there is a threat or concerns about possible threats

cylindrical adj. a shape that is circular in length, but is flat at its ends, something shaped like a normal can

octagonal adj. shaped like an octagon: a shape with eight sides

surveillance n. the activity of observing something or someone often to see if they are doing something wrong

altitude n. the height something (such as an airplane or balloon) is above the sea level

scrutinize v. to look at very closely

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Emergency services are evacuating residents after a train carrying hazardous material derailed and caught fire amid fears an explosion could send sharpnel flying over a mile and create a toxic cloud. Residents of East Palestine, Ohio, USA, have been ordered to evacuate after the train, made 
States are spending more money and creating new incentives to ease the severe child care crisis, with most federal pandemic aid set to dry up 
Saudi utility services company Keir International has anounced that it has been awarded a SR69 million ($18.3 million) contract for the Qiddiya Water Theme Park project coming up near Riyadh.

As per the deal, Keir will provide engineering, design, electrical and communications as well as civil and electromechanical works for the key leisure development, said the company in its filing to the Saudi bourse Tadawul.

In another development, Keir has secured a project to connect the water purification plant of Heet and a station in Al Kharj region of the kingdom.

As per the contract which is worth SR24.4 million, Keir will responsible for the electrical and communication linkage works between the Hit station and the other one in Al Kharj region.

The project scope also includes infrastructure works for the electrical network for medium voltage 33KV, it added.
Im worried hell find out I talked to a former friend

Happy Anna Howard Shaw Day. Those of you who get the newsletter  it'll be in your inbox soon with some event opportunities. If you don't get the Love Letters newsletter yet, sign up here. More importantly: Feeling weird about a relationship issue (or lack thereof) today? What's your relationship/marriage/dating/cheating/snooping question? Today's the day to send a letter. We're at [email protected] or fill out this form.

Dear Meredith, I'll just cut to the chase. I love my boyfriend loads. He has definitely brought some positive change into my life and I'm grateful. The only thing is that he doesn't want me to have male friends. He says males and females can never be friends and that males just want to get in my pants and they're always waiting for an opportunity to do such. He also says he should be my only male friend because I might get close to the other males. Because I love him and accepted that the condition came with him, I ghosted all my male friends (none of that felt good). But I couldn't help but feel guilty and ashamed of what I did to one male friend whom I know was a genuine friend. I'd wake up feeling sad and I missed our friendship (I was genuinely torn over that friendship breakup), so I texted him yesterday to apologize. He accepted my apology because he believes two wrongs don't make a right." I am grateful I was able to apologize to an old friend and make things kind of right before it was too late. The problem is my boyfriend is not aware I did that, and I'm scared he'll leave me for reconciling with a male friend when I tell him. What should I do? Your advice would really be appreciated. - Stuck in the middle
Dean Mosiman's memorable stories from 2021

As the community emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic, it's been amazing to witness the creativity, dedication to causes and resilience that give hope and promise. I chose stories that reflect that dynamic, some involving long-held dreams, including pieces about a vision for the next Downtown in the wake of the pandemic and protests against racism, and the Bayview Foundation's plans for redevelopment of low-income housing into what will be one of the coolest neighborhoods in Madison. A proposal for an 18-story housing tower that would have razed the historic Wonder Bar with its gangster lore on the South Side revived a movement to save the building with the final chapters of the saga yet to be written. After fits and starts, the Wisconsin Historical Society chose a site for a long-sought, $120 million museum at the top of State Street. And I was able to document the move of a homeless man from the once sprawling homeless encampment at Reindahl Park near East Towne to the city's first tiny shelter encampment in an industrial area on the Southeast Side.

There's been so much more -- the plight of event venues amid the pandemic, the Urban League of Greater Madison's proposed Black Business Hub and the unveiling of plans for the Center for Black Excellence and Culture, both on the South Side, new investments and initiatives to address gun violence, the coming of bus rapid transit and a transit network redesign.

It will be something to watch so many of these ventures come to fruition in coming years.
BRUSSELS  The first U.S. missile fired at an unidentified aerial object over Lake Huron missed the target and "landed harmlessly" in the water before a second one successfully hit, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Tuesday.

The acknowledgment of the errant missile by Gen. Mark Milley came amid questions about whether the government was creating unnecessary risk by shooting down aerial objects that military officials say didn't pose a security threat.

Civilian aviation photographers in Madison were among the first to raise questions about the number of missiles fired Sunday after observing that both of the F-16 fighter jets that took off from Truax Field each returned with one missile missing from its underwing docking station.

The jets were piloted by airmen with the 148th Fighter Wing based in Duluth, Minnesota.

In Washington, Pentagon officials met with senators for a classified briefing on the shootdowns. Lawmakers conveyed concerns from their constituents about a need to keep them informed and came away assured the objects were not extraterrestrial in nature. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said the recent spate of interceptions was likely to have a "calming influence" and make future shootdowns less likely.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told reporters after exiting the briefing that he didn't think the objects posed a threat.

"They're trying to figure out  you know there's a bunch of junk up there. So you got to figure out what's the threat, what's not. You see something, you shouldn't always have to shoot it down," Graham said.

Milley said the military went to "great lengths" to make sure the strikes did not put civilians at risk, including identifying what the debris field size was likely to be and the maximum effective range of the missiles used. He also said in each case the Pentagon works to make sure that the air space is clear, and to evaluate the potential debris field, before embarking on such a strike.

"We're very, very careful to make sure that those shots are in fact safe," Milley said. "And that's the guidance from the president. Shoot it down, but make sure we minimize collateral damage and we preserve the safety of the American people."

The object taken down Sunday was the third in as many days to be shot from the skies. The White House has said the objects differed in size and maneuverability from a Chinese surveillance balloon that U.S. fighter jets shot down earlier this month, but that their altitude was low enough to pose a risk to civilian air traffic.

Weather challenges and the remote locations of where the three objects were shot down over Alaska, Canada and Lake Huron have impeded recovery efforts so far, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters Monday.

Milley was in Brussels with Austin to meet with members of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group on additional weapons and defense needs for Kyiv in advance of Russia's anticipated spring offensive.

Fox News was the first to report the missed missile strike.

AP reporters Lisa Mascaro and Stephen Groves and the Wisconsin State Journal contributed reporting.

Most expensive US military weapons and programs #23. Frigate (FFG(X)) (tie) #5. COLUMBIA Class Ballistic Missile Submarine #1. Increasing cybersecurity and operationalizing Zero Trust Architecture #10. Addressing the Climate Crisis #7. DDG-51 Arleigh Burke Destroyers #15. NGAD (Air Force) #13. Ground-Based Midcourse (GMD) and Improved Homeland Defense/Next Generation Interceptors (NGI) #8. CVN-78 FORD Class Aircraft Carrier (tie) #14. Global Positioning System (GPS) Enterprise #4. Virginia Class Submarine #5. Columbia Class Ballistic Missile Submarine #11. Space Based Overhead Persistent Infrared Systems #14. F-15EX (tie) #3. Virginia Class Submarines #23. AEGIS Ballistic Missile Defense System (tie) #6. DDG-51 Arleigh Burke Class Destroyers #16. Launch Vehicles - National Security Space Launch (NSSL) and Rocket System Launch Program (RSLP) #27. Standard Missile-6 #13. Global Positioning System III and Projects Most expensive US military weapons and programs #28. Cloud #7. B-21 Raider #9. LGM-35A Sentinel Weapon System #17. Frigate (FFG-62) #8. KC-46 Tanker Replacements (tie) #4. Funds to procure highly survivable, precision-strike, and long-range firesfrom hypersonic to subsonicacross the joint force #8. Space-based Overhead Persistent Infrared (OPIR) Systems #1. F-35 Joint Strike Fighters #20. AH-64E Attack Helicopters (tie) #25. THAAD Ballistic Missile Defense #3. Cybersecurity #14. National Security Space Launch (aka EELV) (tie) #16. M-1 Abrams Tank Modifications/Upgrades (tie) #18. Joint Light Tactical Vehicles #20. Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) (tie) #6. Cyberspace  Operations #19. Joint Light Tactical Vehicles #23. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) Ballistic Missile Defense #20. Landing Platform Dock Ship (LPD) (tie) #12. F-15EX #16. Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) (tie) #12. F/A-18 E/F Super Hornets #26. Artificial Intelligence #19. PATRIOT Advanced Capability - 3 (PAC-3) Missile Segment Enhancement #16. CH-53K King Stallion (tie) #2. F-35 Joint Strike Fighter #22. Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicles #21. Building Pandemic Preparedness #29. Patriot Advanced Capability Missile Segment Enhancement #10. B-21 Long Range Strike Bomber #30. VH-92 Presidential Helicopters #11. KC-46 Pegasus Most expensive military weapons and programs #2. Nuclear Command, Control and Communications #20. Amphibious Combat Vehicles
A Sun Prairie man who was shot in the hand during an apparent shootout in November 2021 outside a town of Bristol strip club was charged Tuesday with attempted first-degree intentional homicide for the February 2020 shooting of another of the alleged Bristol shootout participants.

The charges against Kevin Moore Jr., 40, for the Feb. 13, 2020, shooting outside an apartment building on Anton Drive in Fitchburg are the latest in what is described in the criminal complaint as a long-standing feud between members of rival gangs who had shot at one another on at least two occasions.

Moore was shot in the hand on Nov. 14, 2021, outside Club Bristol. He was charged with possession of a firearm by a felon along with two members of a rival gang, one of whom was the victim of the Fitchburg shooting in 2020, JonPaul P. Dotson, 34. Dotson also was charged with first-degree reckless endangerment for the Bristol incident.

For the Fitchburg incident, Moore also was charged with endangering safety by reckless use of a firearm and possession of a firearm by a felon.

Moore, who has seven other open criminal cases, was ordered held on $100,000 bail after appearing in court Tuesday. He also is wanted in Minnesota for a felony probation violation.

According to the complaint filed Tuesday for the Fitchburg incident:

Dotson told police he was in his vehicle after driving to the apartment building when he heard gunshots, some of which struck him in the leg. He tried but initially failed to drive off and heard more gunshots, but was ultimately able to get his car moving.

A witness told police a person later identified as Moore walked up to a dark sedan that Dotson was driving and fired six to seven shots into the car.

Doctors said Dotson had been struck four times, including twice in the left leg and once in the right shoulder blade and the lower left flank. Damage from the left leg injuries required surgery.

A man who was with Moore at the time told investigators he and another person were driving around with Moore in the back seat and went to the New Fountain Apartments to deliver marijuana to someone there.

He said he recognized the person with the marijuana buyer as Dotson. After Moore learned it was Dotson, the man said, Moore asked, Should I rob him or should I pop him? He got out and walked toward Dotson, the man said, then fired several shots at him.

See the Wisconsin State Journal photo staff's favorites of 2022
A Brooklyn man admitted Tuesday that he struck a pedestrian last summer with the van he was driving, killing him, and pleaded no contest to homicide by negligent driving.

Timothy W. Pritchett, 38, also admitted to Dane County Circuit Judge Josann Reynolds that he was using a cellphone that distracted him at the time of the June 7 crash in the town of Oregon that killed Logan Gueths, 30, who was jogging near the intersection of highways MM and A when he was struck.

The plea agreement with prosecutors cancels a jury trial that had been set to start April 17. Under the agreement, a second and more serious charge, hit-and-run causing death, was dismissed. The deal does not limit the sentence prosecutors and Pritchetts attorneys can seek, which for the conviction of homicide by negligent driving is a maximum of five years in prison followed by five years of extended supervision.

The maximum sentence for hit-and-run causing death is 25 years of combined prison and extended supervision.

Reynolds scheduled sentencing for Pritchett for May 25.

Answering a series of questions from Reynolds, Pritchett admitted he was driving and struck Gueths with his vehicle and that he was distracted by his cellphone at the time. By using his cellphone while driving, he acknowledged, he was negligent.

Typically, judges in Dane County require guilty pleas when a defendant is accepting responsibility for a crime, but in certain instances will accept pleas of no contest, such as when a guilty plea could have implications in a related civil matter.

A criminal complaint filed in July charged that Pritchett had told police he was maybe using FaceTime on his iPhone to speak with someone around the time of the crash. Investigators found that within days of the crash, the complaint states, Pritchett had gotten the windshield on his van replaced at a shop in Rockford, Illinois.

Vehicle parts left behind at the scene helped investigators identify the type of vehicle that had struck Gueths, and a tip from a citizen pointed them toward Pritchett, according to the complaint.

When he spoke to a Dane County sheriffs detective, Pritchett said he thought he had hit a deer on Highway MM the night of June 7 after he left work in Rockford. He told police he looked around and didnt see anything, picked up a mirror that had come off his van and left, the complaint states.

Data from Pritchetts cellphone, detailed in the complaint, indicated that its camera had been on and connected to FaceTime between 9:32 and 9:37 p.m. on June 7, which investigators believed is the time period in which the crash occurred.

Pritchett initially said he didnt remember whether he was using FaceTime when the crash occurred, the complaint states.

Gueths body was found in a ditch along the road by a passerby shortly after 5 p.m. on June 8. A roommate of Gueths told investigators that Gueths had left for a run about 9 p.m. the night before and did not return, the complaint states.

An autopsy found Gueths died from blunt force trauma to the head, torso and extremities, according to the complaint.
Atkins, a leading global design, engineering and project management consultancy, is boosting its presence in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with the opening of a new office in AlUla.

Located in the Alruzayqiyah area, the workplace boasts several top-class facilities and will be able to house more than 100 employees.

The office space enables the companys agile working model, collaborating with regional and global expertise to deliver RCUs projects in sustainable and efficient ways, said the statement from RCU.

The new office will play a key role in supporting the existing and new projects of the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU), thus boosting the countrys socio-economic development agenda and creating job opportunities for Saudi talent, in particular AlUla residents, it stated.

RCU oversees the comprehensive regeneration of AlUla County, a region of outstanding natural and cultural significance in north-west Saudi Arabia.

The new office was inaugurated in the presence of Mohammed Altheeb, Chief Development and Construction Officer of RCU, Philip Hoare, the President of Atkins, Campbell Gray, the CEO of Atkins (Middle East & Africa), Paul Doherty, the Country Director of Atkins, Saudi Arabia, and the regional Atkins and Faithful+Gould leadership team and employees.

In addition to the new office, more than ten buildings, complemented with day-to-day lifestyle services, have been secured for Atkins employees in AlUla to support talent attraction and local community development and growth, it added.

Royal Commission for AlUla CEO Amr AlMadani said the opening of Atkins office here builds on the collaborative partnership between the duo which will continue to prosper thanks to this permanent presence on the ground.

"This office will further shape the growing business ecosystem within AlUla, strengthening the countys positioning as a key business hub for north-west Saudi Arabia. We welcome Atkins expanded team and look forward to the benefits of their presence for our projects and our community," he stated.

The most well-known site in AlUla is Hegra, Saudi Arabias first Unesco World Heritage Site. A 52-hectare ancient city, Hegra was the principal southern city of the Nabataean Kingdom and features around 100 well-preserved tombs with elaborate facades cut into sandstone outcrops.

On the new office, Hoare said: "AlUla is a place of extraordinary natural and human heritage, and we are extremely proud to be opening this new office in partnership with RCU. The new office will help us to attract and develop top local talent who can help us engineer a better future for our planet and its people."

"Over the past decade, we have significantly expanded our presence in Saudi Arabia to play an active role in supporting Vision 2030 to accelerate the Kingdoms economic growth and transformation." he added.

Gray said the new office in AlUla was a testament to its continued commitment to supporting RCU and its sustainable development plan.

"We look forward to working in a long-term partnership with RCU on future projects and programmes by providing our technical excellence, underpinned by digital solutions and net zero best practices, he added.

Over the past three years, Atkins and its sister company Faithful+Gould have established a strong relationship with RCU, supporting its existing and new projects in AlUla.

Atkins AlUla office is a key addition to its existing presence in Saudi Arabia, with offices in Riyadh, Jeddah and AlKhobar, as well as significant site offices.

With more than 1,000 employees in the kingdom, the company is committed to building local capabilities and talent of the future through its Graduate Development Programme, it added.
Two Madison high schools are among those that will pilot an Advanced Placement course on African American history and culture that drew conservative outrage, then went through a curriculum makeover that prompted its own round of criticism.

The course was first piloted at 60 schools across the country this year, including one in Milwaukee, using a draft framework. Now with a revised curriculum, that pilot is expanding to hundreds of other schools next year, despite a conservative backlash led by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who banned the course in the Sunshine State.

By 2024-25, the course will be available to all schools.

The course will be offered at Memorial and East high schools in Madison in the fall. At least two other Wisconsin schools also will offer it.

The Waunakee, Verona and Sun Prairie school districts will not be part of the pilot come fall.

Verona spokesperson Marcie Pfeifer-Soderbloom said the district was unable to participate because the pilot program was full, but the social studies department is eagerly planning to be able to offer the course in future years.

Other area school districts did not respond to inquiries about whether they will offer the course next year.

As race and education continue to be hyper-polarizing topics in America today, the AP course has brought on conservative pushback, most notably from DeSantis.

Amid those criticisms, the College Board refined the courses curriculum earlier this month, omitting many of the topics that angered conservatives. That prompted cries that the College Board was pandering to its critics, a charge the College Board disputes.

We are proud of this course. But we have made mistakes in the rollout that are being exploited, the College Board said in a letter last week after it was revealed the group had been in repeated contact with DeSantis over the last year about the course.

The Madison School District was interested in the course because it aligned with district priorities, spokesperson Tim LeMonds said. The district then gauged interest from its high schools about implementing the course, and Memorial and East both showed interest.

Since it is still in pilot phase we wanted to intentionally only offer it to a small number of schools so that we had time to review the curriculum more thoroughly, learn and make adjustments and supplements to the course before going to scale, LeMonds said.

Course scope

The course is intended to explore the diversity of Black communities in the United States using the broader context of Africa through a variety of lenses, from literature and politics, to geography and science. According to the course description, the class covers the history of early African kingdoms to the challenges African Americans experience today.

The course will take students beyond the popular aspects of African American history to highlight the resistance movements and cultural traditions that influence modern history, the course description for Madison East High School states. Topics will include the reign of Queen Nzinga Mbande in northern Angola, the Harlem Renaissance and the Black Panthers. It will also include lesser-known activists like Valerie L. Thomas, the African American scientist who invented the Illusion transmitter at NASA.

But in the finalized framework issued by the College Board, the course no longer covers topics such as Black queer studies, the Black Lives Matter movement, and writers and scholars associated with critical race theory.

Golda Meir High School in Milwaukee was among those first schools to pilot the program this year, and teacher Alex Janke said students have been engaged so far and that hes received only positive feedback from the community.

Janke is in his second semester teaching the course, with 22 students in the class this spring.

Its been going really, really well so far. Ive had a lot of kids who have been really interested in the class. Its been very interesting from my perspective having to learn a lot of the content as well, Janke said. But overall, Ive had pretty solid student engagement and a lot of really interesting topics that are brought up in here that make for a lot of really good debates in class. So, its been a lot of fun.

In the classroom

The course is split into four units with a list of topics with required sources for each one, Janke said.

His students are working on research papers where they can explore any topic that fits within the class. One student is exploring the impact satire in the media has had on Black Americans, and another is looking at the impacts of discriminatory policies, Janke said.

The class is a studies class, Janke said, meaning its not a traditional history class, and they explore art, literature, poetry and more. He said the students really gravitate toward analyzing artwork.

The College Boards revised curriculum wont change a lot about how Janke teaches the course next year, he said.

Its helped to kind of clarify certain topics as to what exactly theyre looking for. And I know some of the sources have changed, so Ive got to go back through and kind of reexamine those and what they all look like, he said.

But in terms for how Ill actually teach the class or anything, there wasnt anything too drastically thats going to change that, he said.

Janke said other schools have reached out to him to hear about his experience.

The course also will be expanded at Beloit Memorial High School in the fall, the only school in Rock County to offer it so far.

Its unclear whether any other Wisconsin schools will be part of the expanded pilot program next year. The Wisconsin State Journal asked the College Board for a comprehensive list of Wisconsin schools that will be part of the pilot program but did not receive a response.

In photos: Juneteenth march honors history of the Underground Railroad while looking to a better future in Racine Wisconsin Juneteenth Day Wisconsin Juneteenth Day Wisconsin Juneteenth Day Wisconsin Juneteenth Day Wisconsin Juneteenth Day Wisconsin Juneteenth Day Wisconsin Juneteenth Day Wisconsin Juneteenth Day Wisconsin Juneteenth Day Wisconsin Juneteenth Day Wisconsin Juneteenth Day
Responses to the Wisconsin State Journals candidate questionnaire. The primary is Feb. 21.

Nino Amato

Age: 71

Family: Two adult daughters, four granddaughters

Job: Adjunct professor, College of Engineering UW-Platteville

Prior elected office: Elected to the City Council in April 1975

Other public service: Member, State Elections Commission Voter Accessibility Advisory Committee (2016-present); Chair, Business Advisory Board, College of Engineering UW-Platteville, Sustainability and Renewable Energy Systems (2022 to present); Honorary Board Chair, Coalition of Wisconsin Aging and Health Groups (former president and CEO 2010 to 2021 and Board 2021 to present); co-chair, Public Policy Committee, United Against Hate (2016 to present); chair, Strengthening Neighborhood Ties for Improved Public Safety (2021 to present); advisory board chair, UW-Madison School of Education, Hope Lab (2013 to 2016); chair, Aging and Disability Legislative Roundtable (2010 to 2015); Goodman Community Pool Site Selections Committee (2005-06); former member, UW-Board of Regents and UW Hospital and Authority Board (2003-04); former president and vice president, Wisconsin Technical College System Board of Directors (2001 to 2004); co-chair, with Mark Pocan, the Madison-Dane County Public Health Departments (including unification and merger, 1999 to 2003). Chaired Mayor Sue Baumans Task Force on Race Relations and Racial Profiling (1999 to 2001); chaired Dane County Executive Kathleen Falks Economic Development Summit Roundtable and Career Ladders (1999-2005)

Education: Masters degree in evidence-based policymaking and criminal justice administration, UW-Madison Robert M. LaFollette School of Public Affairs; bachelors degree in secondary education and Wisconsin teachers certification, with a major in political science and minor in U.S. History, UW-Madison

Campaign email or website: AmatoForMadison.com

Nikki Conklin (I)

Age: 37

Family: Three children: Andre, 17; Zaria, 16; and Xyla, 2

Job: Alder, city of Madison

Prior elected office: Current Alder District 9, 2021-present

Other public service: Past Lussier Community Education Center Board of Directors

Education: Bachelors degree in human services with Social Work Training Certificate from Upper Iowa University, 2020; associate degree in human services from Madison College, 2016

Campaign email or website: nikki4madison@gmail.com, www.nikki.vote

Paul Skidmore

Age: 70

Family: Wife, Patricia

Job: Owner, Paul Skidmore, Landscape Architect, LLC

Prior elected office: 9th District alderperson, 2001-2021

Other public service: Executive director, Mount Olive Lutheran Church, 2021 to present; president, Madison Area Jail Ministry, 2018 to 2020; citizen member, Madison Board of Park Commissioners, 1993-2001; president, Madison Board of Park Commissioners, 1996-1999; president, Wisconsin Chapter American Society of Landscape Architects, 1994-95; president, Wisconsin Chapter American Society of Landscape Architects, 1999-2000; big brother, Big Brothers and Sisters of Dane County, 1990-95

Education: Bachelors degree in landscape architecture from UW-Madison:

Campaign email or website: FriendsofSkidmore.com

Q&A

What is the biggest challenge facing the city and how would you address it?

Amato: Reducing the epidemic of gun violence, gang shootings, burglaries, sexual assaults and auto thefts, which are impacting the public safety of all our neighborhoods. Thats why I am running for the the council, with a priority to create safer neighborhoods and a more sustainable economic and environmental future for all of Madison children and residents.

Conklin: I believe in fair and equal access to housing. I have supported investing in homelessness prevention programs and housing. I believe in supporting more programs and funding to get folks into homeownership. I support OWN IT: Building Black Wealth, which is a private sector network of Madison professionals working to empower and guide communities of color toward homeownership, wealth and financial freedom.

Skidmore: We need to make our city safer. Crime is down, but we still have problems: Weapons offenses, car thefts, burglaries and assaults. We can make our city safer by maintaining reasonable police staffing levels, increasing engagement between police and neighborhoods, supporting violence interruption programs, and working with Dane County to reduce recidivism of crimes of opportunity.

What is the biggest challenge in your district and how would you address it?

Amato: I am running for the Madison Common Council to create safer neighborhoods and a more sustainable economic and environmental future for all of Madisons children and residents. Ald. Nikki Conklins extreme ideologically and narrow political views of voting against needed neighborhood policing, during the 2022 and 2023 city budget, defies common sense and the sense of urgency to keep Madison safe.

Conklin: I work to support tenants through my service on the Landlord and Tenant Rights Committee. Through my work on the Sustainable Madison Committee, Ive taken action to stop PFAS from contaminating our water and have supported the 100% Renewable Madison plan. On the Community Development Block Grant Committee, I advocate for fair and equal housing. When people have their basic needs met everyone is safer.

Skidmore: Everyone deserves a safe neighborhood. We can make our neighborhoods, and the 9th district safer by 1) Providing education on community and personal safety and violence prevention in our homes, schools, workplaces; 2) promote cooperation with police through neighborhood meetings, neighborhood watch programs; and 3) coordination with police community liaisons and beat officers.

What steps will be needed to resolve the citys major budget gaps beyond 2024?

Amato: Mayor Satyas irresponsible use of tens of millions of one-time surpluses, rainy-day funds and President Joe Bidens Rescue federal funds to balance the city budget has created a financial crisis. We will need to restructure and re-prioritize every budget item in 2023 for cost savings and immediately go to work after the election, to examine and maintain cost-effective services and eliminate waste and duplications.

Conklin: The mayor and council should work together so that service reductions minimally impact agencies providing resources for disadvantaged residents and those who maintain and grow our revenue streams. For years, city staff has worked hard to continue to find efficiencies. As a community we need to have a serious look at the level of services provided by the city and decide where additional cuts can be made.
Fave 5: Reporter David Wahlberg picks his top stories of 2022

COVID-19 continued to be an important story in 2022 (along with flu and RSV this fall). But I had more time this year to write about other topics, from abortion services and nurse labor relations to home care worker shortages and orthopedic surgeons starting an independent practice.

I also focused again on the opioid overdose epidemic, which resulted in a record 1,427 deaths in Wisconsin in 2021. Stories about a young woman who got a liver transplant as an infant from a little boy and passersby who rescued a father and son from a fiery interstate crash were both heartwarming and heartbreaking.

An article about mistakes recently found in the orangutan genome published years ago offered a glimpse into the scientific process and zoo management. As the nation debates whether gender treatments should be given to adolescents who identify as transgender, I told the stories of how two local families navigated the issue.
Heres what happened locally on Feb. 14 over the past century, as reported in this newspaper, which went from being called the Henry Bulletin to the Daily Bulletin to the Martinsville Bulletin:

1923: Under the direction of President State Highway Engineer Beverly Parrish the recent snow was promptly cleared with scrapers from the highway from Fieldale to Rocky Mount. Mr. Parris, with headquarters in Martinsville, is supervising construction and maintenance of state highways in several counties in this district. The district headquarters are in Roanoke.

1948: Following a record snowfall here Saturday, all schools in Henry and Patrick counties were ordered closed today as some of the secondary roads were reported impassable, although State Highway Department snowplows have been in use continuously since 1 a.m. Saturday.  Greyhound buses resumed schedules Sunday morning after cancelling all trips Saturday because of ice and snow  measured between eight and nine inches Sunday morning.

1973: Miss Charlotte Hudson of Martinsville, whose photo appeared in Wednesdays Bulletin, is not the only local person wearing a POW bracelet bearing the name of a prisoner to be released in Indochina. Another is Mrs. Connie Dixon, who lives in the vicinity of Woodland Heights. Her bracelet bears the name of Capt. John Borling of Chicago. She spotted his name on an early list of those to be released, and watched on television as he debarked from his airplane in the Philippines.

1998: The Martinsville-Henry County Youth Advisory Council is launching the national True Love Waits campaign in this area to encourage teenagers to abstain from sex until marriage. At a press conference Friday, Crystal Page, chairman of the councils teen pregnancy prevention committee and a senior at Stanleytown Baptist Academy, said out-of-wedlock births and teen-age pregnancy are a problem for this area.
EDITORS NOTE: The Martinsville Bulletin reports arrest reports in Martinsville, Henry and Patrick counties, except some juvenile cases and traffic citations other than DUI. Claims in civil suits may be reported, except in custody cases. The newspaper does not omit any names that qualify to be included. This information is compiled from documents provided by the law enforcement agencies of each jurisdiction.

Henry County Circuit Court

Bobby Ronell Helms, Fieldale, on Feb. 7: Found not guilty by a jury on two counts of rape and two counts of forcible sodomy.

Misty Dawn Rigler, Collinsville, on Feb. 8: Sentenced to five years with four years and 11 months suspended and $988 in costs for two counts of failure to appear and petit larceny. A charge of breaking and entering with intent to commit larceny was dismissed.

Frederick Leon Davis, Martinsville, on Feb. 9: Sentenced to 12 months in jail with nine months suspended and $1,074.50 in fines, restitution and costs for shoplifting.

Grogorio Corona Valderama, on Feb. 9: Sentenced to 20 years with 15 years suspended and $4,738 in fines, restitution and costs for distribution of methamphetamine.

Sirius Davis, on Feb. 9: Sentenced to 10 years suspended and $898 in costs for an amended charges of threat of robbery and robbery by threat or intimidation. A charge of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony was dismissed.

Henry County Sheriffs Office

Michael Tyler Stokes, 25, on Feb. 7: Drunk in public.

Christopher Neil Dotson, 33, on Feb. 7: Resisting arrest, failure to appear.

Lucas John Donley, 36, on Feb. 7: Disregard police command, indecent liberties with child, forcible sodomy, aggravated sexual battery.

Justin Michael Cumpston, 33, on Feb. 7: Probation violation.

Anthony Dion Pryor, 33, on Feb. 7: Probation violation.

Ashlie Cordais Ostrander, 34, on Feb. 7: Failure to comply with support.

Michael Lee Ratcliff, 30, on Feb. 7: Probation violation.

Gregory Sanders Penn, 48, on Feb. 8: Contempt of court.

Erik Stanley Palmer, 35, on Feb. 8: Probation violation.

Bobby Wayne Utt Jr., 50, on Feb. 10: Simple assault.

Rade Abdel Madi, 40, on Feb. 10: Indecent liberties with a child, abuse of a child.

Phillip Martinez Finney, 56, on Feb. 10: Simple assault.

Mallory Christine Ballance, 27, on Feb. 10: Grand larceny, possession of drugs, possession or distribution of needles and capsules.

Tyler James Leon Smith, 19, on Feb. 10: Drunk in public.

Billy Joe Plaster, 44, on Feb. 10: Contempt of court.

Timothy Lee Craig, 32, on Feb. 10: Failure to appear.

Stephen Abram Durham, 33, on Feb. 10: Probation violation.

Martinsville Circuit Court

Jonathan Paul Cumbee, Martinsville, on Feb. 6: Sentenced to five years and six months suspended and $931.50 in costs for possession of fentanyl and tramadol. Charges of possession of heroin and methamphetamine were dismissed.

Alison Gray Howell, Ridgeway, on Feb. 10: Charges of possession of a gun while possessing schedule I/II drugs, possession of a gun by a convicted felon, possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, distribution of tramadol, distribution of alprazolam were dismissed. Charges of possession of fentanyl with intent to distribute, possession of acetyl fentanyl with intent to distribute, possession of oxycodone with intent to distribute were taken under advisement.

Martinsville Sheriffs Office

Chontae Lavaya Finney, on Jan. 30: DWI1st offense.

Kevin Lee Harms, on Jan. 30: DWI1st offense.

Kathryn Elizabeth Braxton, on Jan. 31: Four counts of possession of schedule I/II drugs.

Misty Lee Rogers, on Feb. 1: Assault and battery of a family member.

Amanda Sue Denny, on Feb. 1: Two counts of possession of schedule I/II drugs.

Dicey Annette Wolfe, on Feb. 1: Failure to appear, false identify self to law enforcement, two counts of probation violation.

David Kirkpatrick Major, on Feb. 2: Two counts of failure to appear.

Brittany Odberg, on Feb. 2: Two counts of possession of schedule I/II drugs.

Kathy Lee Tucker, on Feb. 2: Failure to appear, shoplifting, fleeing from law enforcement.

Angel Nicole Thompson, on Feb. 3: Probation violation.

Emily Ann Church, on Feb. 3: Six counts of probation violation, resisting arrest.

Kristina Rena Branham, on Feb. 4: Shoplifting.

Patrick County Circuit Court

Tyler Benjamin DeHart, Meadows of Dan, on Jan. 23: Sentenced to five years suspended on a charge of grand larceny (accessory before the fact). A charge of failure to appear was dismissed.

Dylan Tyler Moshier, Waverly, New York, on Jan. 25: Sentenced to 15 years suspended on three counts of distribution of schedule I/II drugs. Two counts of possession with intent to distribute schedule I/II drugs and a charge of possession with intent to distribute marijuana was dismissed.

Ashley Nicole Wyatt, Collinsville, on Jan. 25: Sentenced to six months with five months suspended on a count of shoplifting less than $1,000.

Joshua David Sawyer, Mount Airy, North Carolina, on Jan. 25: Sentenced to 35 years with 25 suspended on charges of possession or transportation of a weapon by a violent felon, distributions of a schedule I/II drug, display a firearm while selling schedule I/II drugs, child endangerment. A charge of transporting schedule I/II drugs to Virginia was dismissed.

Patrick County Sheriffs Office

Danny Lee Hanson, 52, Stuart, on Feb. 3: Failure to appear.

Emily Ann Church, 27, Ridgeway, on Feb. 3: Probation violation.

Jordan Anthony Capps, 21, Spencer, on Feb. 5: Public intoxication.

Christopher Neil Dotson, 33, Stuart, on Feb. 6: Two counts of failure to appear, contempt of court, probation violation.

Dorian Evander Jones II, 51, New River Valley Regional Jail, on Feb. 6: Distribution of methamphetamine.

Richard Brown Dunford, 76, Ararat, on Feb. 6: Aggravated sexual battery of a victim less than 13 years old.

Sabrina Walker Brooks, 35, on Feb. 6: Probation violation.

Jay Steven Harris, 52, Mt. Airy, North Carolina, on Feb. 6: Probation violation.

Tiffany Marie Spencer, 28, Cana, on Feb. 8: Failure to appear.

Ellis David Horton, 52, Mt. Airy, North Carolina, on Feb. 10: Two counts of probation violation.
Last week, students and staff at Nebo Elementary School were able to welcome home a teacher who has spent a year serving our country in uniform.

Larry Darnell Tucker is a first-grade teacher at Nebo Elementary and he is beloved by the students and staff alike.

There are people who come into education who are change agents for kids and Mr. Tucker is one of those people, said Principal Jennifer Croymans to The McDowell News.

In addition to his education work, Tucker is a sergeant first class in the U.S. Army Reserves.

A year ago in February 2022, Tucker was deployed along with other Army Reserves personnel to duty in Syria. Before he left, the school held a farewell parade for him and wished him well upon his deployment to the Middle Eastern country.

For the past year, the school placed a flag at the front entrance doors just as families of military members often do at their homes. Croymans said the school held what they called Tucker Tuesdays. On those days, the students and staff would wear special T-shirts that were made to honor him and his service.

We used the money raised from the sale of the shirts to pay for postage for care packages to him, she added.

The school purchased special gifts for his wife Shamieka and family. His children are Jaedyn, Leah, Laila, Loriana, Aniya and Vasia.

Every time we would have the kids together we would say something about Mr. Tucker, said Croymans.

On Monday, Feb. 6, the school held a celebration in the auditorium for members of the McDowell County Board of Education who have represented Nebo. They recognized Bob Brackett for his 12 years of service on the board and welcomed Chuck Abernathy as the newly elected representative for the Nebo District.

In addition, school staff found out Tucker was back home from his deployment and he was there at Nebo Elementary.

So as a surprise to the students as letter was read to them from Tucker, he was able to appear on the stage where he received a warm welcome home. Students waved flags as he walked around in his Army uniform.

We have missed him and are overjoyed that he is back home, reads the schools Facebook page.

We are so glad hes back, said Croymans. His smile is contagious.
A McDowell County grand jury indicted two Hickory men on charges of attempted first-degree murder.

Indictments filed in January named Maynor Javier Yanes Basquez, 34, of Hickory, for two counts of attempted first-degree murder and six counts of discharging a weapon into an occupied dwelling. Also indicted was Chad Michael Sampson, 27, of Rogers Road, Hickory, on two counts of attempted first-degree murder and six counts of discharging a weapon into an occupied dwelling.

The two now face the possibility of a jury trial.

In December 2022, detectives with the McDowell County Sheriffs Office charged Basquez and Sampson following an investigation into an October shooting in Nebo. According to a news release, in the early morning hours of Oct. 10, two women from the Nebo community reported someone had fired multiple rounds into their residence while they slept. Detectives from the sheriffs office recovered several high-powered rifle casings and projectiles from the scene.

On Oct. 11, the investigation led McDowell detectives to Basquezs residence in Long View where they seized a rifle and ammunition suspected to have been used in the shooting. Basquez was taken into custody by Catawba County authorities. Sampson was taken into custody by Burke County authorities on Oct. 19. A check of the N.C. Department of Public Safety offender database showed Basquez  also known as Vasquez  has previous attempted drug trafficking and stolen goods convictions. Sampson has previous convictions for attempted drug trafficking.

The following indictments were handed down by a McDowell County grand jury:

 Jeremy Dewayne Bailey, 46, of Mount Hebron Road, Old Fort, one count each of assault by pointing a gun, impersonating law enforcement and second-degree kidnapping.

 Jessica Annette Barnes, 33, of Gooseberry Drive, Marion, one count each of statutory sexual offense with a child under 15 and indecent liberties with a child.

 Christopher Calvin Basham, 48, of Comfy Cove Road, Old Fort, two counts of trafficking methamphetamine and possession with intent to sell and deliver methamphetamine.

 Andres Bautista, 20, of Wayne Street, Marion, one count each of sexual battery, second-degree forcible sexual offense and second-degree forcible rape.

 Peggy Lee Edwards Cantrell, 37, of Grassy Hallow Drive, Marion, one count of possession of methamphetamine, trafficking methamphetamine and possession with intent to sell and deliver methamphetamine.

 Javier Cervantes Jr., 26, of Arden, one count each of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, first-degree burglary, felony larceny.

 Elizabeth Michelle Cheek, 34, of Morganton, one count each of financial card fraud, identity theft.

 Benjamin Robert Cleveland, 36, of Black Mountain, one count of possession with intent to sell and deliver methamphetamine.

 Cadence Marie Combs, 17, of Rolands Chapel Road, Nebo, one count of robbery with a dangerous weapon and second-degree kidnapping.

 Sandy Pendley Conner, 52, of Seagle Street, Marion, one count of possession with intent to sell or deliver a Schedule II controlled substance and maintaining a vehicle for keeping a controlled substance.

 Justin Wayne Ewart, 34, of East Court Street, Marion, one count each of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, habitual felon, and resisting public officer, two counts each maintaining a dwelling for a controlled substance, possession with intent to sell and deliver methamphetamine, possession of methamphetamine, and four counts of trafficking methamphetamine.

 Alexander Lodi Fisher, 34, homeless, of Swannanoa, one count of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury.

 Kai Daniel Heidecke, 36, of Boulder Drive, Nebo, one count each of indecent liberties with a child and first-degree sexual exploitation with a minor.

 Christopher Bryant Campos Hicks, 18, of Fairview Road, Marion, one count each of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, robbery with a dangerous weapon, first-degree burglary, felony larceny.

 James Adam Hollowell, 53, of Mt. Hebron Road, Old Fort, one count each of habitual felon, possession of a firearm by a felon.

 Halie Kristen Johnson, 26, of Hoyle Street, Marion, one count possession of methamphetamine.

 Kevin Eugene Johnson, 38, of Proctor Knob Road, Marion, one count each of domestic violence protective order violation, attempted second-degree arson, domestic violence protective order violation.

 Teillia Smith Lerch, 37, of West Oak Street, Marion, one count of felony larceny.

 Andrew George Long, 44, of Estes Drive, Marion, one count each of possession of methamphetamine, possession of a controlled substance on a prison or jail premises and possession of tobacco by an inmate.

 Graylin Martin, 60, of Moffitt Branch Road, Old Fort, three counts of domestic violence protective order violation, and one count each of domestic criminal trespassing, injury to real property, injury to personal property, felony larceny and possession of stolen goods.

 Dakota McCool, 31, of McEntire Road, Old Fort, one count of habitual felon.

 Roger Dale McGuire, 77, of Clay Rock Drive, Nebo, one count each statutory sex offense with child, sexual activity by substitute parent and indecent liberties with a child.

 Harold Joseph Mullen, 31, of Beck Street, Marion, one count of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury.

 Seth Brennon Myers, 35, of Black Mountain, one count of felony serious injury by vehicle.

 Shannon Russell Obar, 43, of California Avenue, Marion, one count of possession of methamphetamine.

 Justin Owens, 34, of Davidson Drive, Asheville, one count of injury to real property and injury to personal property, two counts of assault on a government official, one count of resisting a public officer, one count of breaking and entering to terrorize or injure.

 Sasha Nicole Peters, 29, of Ray Roland Drive, Marion, one count of possession of methamphetamine.

 Thomas James Pickett, 68, of Denver Ridge Road, Marion, one count of possession of methamphetamine.

 Harold Eugene Reed Jr., 53, of Morganton, one count of indecent liberties with a child.

 Gustavo Pavon Rojas Jr., 26, of State Street, Marion, one count of common law robbery.

 Justin David Self, 26, of Buck Creek Road, Marion, one count of habitual felon, felony larceny and breaking or entering a motor vehicle.

 Jermarcus Tywain Smith, 19, of Hendersonville, one count of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill causing serious injury, robbery with a dangerous weapon, first-degree burglary and felony larceny.

 Qudia Nichele Sturdivant, 22, of Charlotte, one count of possession of a controlled substance at a jail and possession with intent to deliver a Schedule III controlled substance.

 Elishua David Teitelbaum, 17, of Hoyle Street, Marion, one count of robbery with a dangerous weapon and second-degree kidnapping.

 Jason Michael Thompson, 41, of Seagle Street, Marion, one count of habitual felon and two counts of indecent liberties with a child.

 Christopher Robert Louis Terry, 23, of Morganton, one count of possession of methamphetamine.

 Cody Alexander Waycaster, 32, of Westmoreland Drive, Marion, one count of assault by strangulation, misdemeanor child abuse.

 Bobby Workman, 48, of Valdese, one count of habitual felon, possession of a firearm by a felon.

 Hunter Jackson Welch, 23, of Harmony Grove Road, Nebo, one count of breaking and entering, larceny after breaking and entering, felony larceny, possession of stolen goods, possession of methamphetamine.
On Monday, McDowell County officials and Danny Hampton with Freedom Life Ministries gave more information to the public about the planned housing project that will be built between Marion and Nebo.

The McDowell County Board of Commissioners held its regular February meeting. One of the first items on the agenda was a public hearing about a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) of $5 million that was recently awarded to the county for the long-term transitional housing project that is being done in partnership with Freedom Life.

In December of last year, the North Carolina Department of Commerce awarded 30 Community Development Block Grant-Neighborhood Revitalization (CDBG-NR) fund requests to 27 local governments totaling $42.3 million. The requests will provide housing and public improvements for low- and moderate-income North Carolinians. McDowell got two grants from the state Commerce Department and they totaled almost $6 million.

The CDBG program is a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) program administered in part by N.C. Commerce Rural Economic Development Division. CDBG funds are awarded to enhance the vitality of communities by providing adequate housing, suitable living environments, infrastructure development and expanding economic opportunities.

The first grant consisted of $950,000 and it is to be used for the rehabilitation of homes for low-income individuals. McDowell County will work with the Gateway Wellness Foundation on this initiative. Approximately 40 homes, located all around McDowell County, will be provided emergency repair or rehabilitation under this program, said County Manager Ashley Wooten in December.

But the second grant announced in December came to $5 million and it will be dedicated to the transitional housing project being spearheaded by Freedom Life Ministries. The project will pay for utilities, site development, and residential units for the program housing Freedom Life has planned for several years for hard-to-house individuals.

The public hearing held Monday focused on the $5 million CDBG. Wooten said it is unusual to hold a public hearing after the grant money has been received.

During the hearing, Danny Hampton, executive director of Freedom Life Ministries, spoke about this effort to provide transitional housing for people who have recently been released from prison and are seeking to start a new life. Through this effort, they will continue to be involved with Freedom Life as they develop life skills and find employment. The goal is, after a year in this transitional housing, the clients will move into permanent housing.

We will be using this apartment housing to help us plug a big gap in housing capacity so hopefully our clients will be far more sustainable when they get to the permanent housing, said Hampton during the public hearing. Our ultimate goal is to help them purchase a home, not just rent, but purchase a home in permanent housing.

Hampton added this is a pilot program in North Carolina and theres not another one like this in the state.

Were being an example to the rest of the state of the potential of what can be done, he said.

Dogwood Health Trust is another partner on this effort by providing a $250,000 loan for the purchase of the land for this apartment complex. The city of Marion is involved with the extension of utility lines.

Theres a lot of partnerships involved in this project, said Hampton.

Commission Vice Chairman David Walker asked how many apartment units will be built at the location. Hampton said the goal is 44. Walker asked if any Freedom Life staff will live there to help the men and women make the transition from incarcerated life to life outside of prison. Hampton said there will be staff living there to assist them.

A member of the public asked during the hearing where this apartment complex will be located. Hampton said it will be at 3224 U.S. 70 East, halfway between Marion and Nebo. The site is near Pyatt Auto Parts and is off the road along a ridgeline.

After the public hearing, the commissioners voted to approve the grant agreements.
The head of Angolan diplomacy and the United Nations under-secretary-general for African Affairs analyzed Monday, in Luanda, the peace and security situation in the central and southern region of the continent.

A note from the Angolan Foreign Ministry said that Tete Antonio and Martha Pobee gave particular attention to issues in the Great Lakes region, examining the various mechanisms in place in the sub-region of Africa, as part of a strategic vision and the engagement of the United Nations in peace and security issues in the region.

The Angolan Foreign Minister stressed the need for the existing conflicts to end that all parties involved are imbued with the same spirit and that they walk hand in hand, looking for solutions for a lasting peace on the continent, thinking of the trilogy peace, development and human rights, so that African populations can benefit from it in its fullness

For her part, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for African Affairs considered the meeting very fruitful, stressing a better partnership between the Government of Angola and the United Nations on peace and security issues in the region, which can bring tangible results on the ground to support existing regional initiatives.

Martha Pobee, who arrived Sunday for her first visit to this country, was also received by the Angolan President, Joao Lourenco, with whom she particularly discussed the political situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the border conflict between Chad and the Central African Republic.
A Somali court on Monday sentenced a freelance journalist to two months in prison on charges of threatening national security, according to a media association, a case criticized by human rights activists and media advocacy groups.

A Somali court on Monday sentenced a freelance journalist to two months in prison on charges of threatening national security, according to a press association, a case criticized by human rights activists and media advocacy groups.

The conviction of Abdalle Ahmed Mumin is an obvious travesty of justice, the president of the Somali Journalists Union (SJS) denounced on Twitter, promising to appeal the decision against the journalist who is also the secretary general of his organization.

Prior to the sentencing, human rights groups, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Press Institute, had called for the prosecution to be dropped, saying that Mumin was facing continued threats and persecution from Somali authorities for defending the right to freedom of expression.

The prosecutions contribute significantly to the closure of civic space in the country, they said in a joint letter to Somalias attorney general in December.

Abdalle Ahmed Mumin was arrested in October, shortly after a government decision to step up a crackdown on media outlets that authorities say are involved in propaganda for the radical Islamist Shebab.
Saudi sovereign wealth fund PIF (Public Investment Fund) has announced investments worth $1.3 billion in four leading local construction companies by way of subscribing to new shares as part of the capital increases representing significant minority stakes.

These are Nesma & Partners Contracting Company, ElSeif Engineering Contracting Company, AlBawani Holding Company, and Almabani General Contractors Company.

The investment will contribute to enabling the construction services sector and improving local supply chains for current and future projects in Saudi Arabia as part of further developing the countrys construction ecosystem.

The four companies in which PIF has invested have built a successful track record in executing and managing complex large-scale projects across multiple sectors in various regions of Saudi Arabia, said the company in a statement.

The companies partnerships with PIF will support the regional and international expansion of their operations and businesses.

The investments will help increase private sector local content, contribute to growing Saudi Arabias gross domestic product (GDP), enhance supply chains and increase the construction services sectors competitiveness, it stated.

Additionally, PIFs investment aims to unlock the sectors capabilities by scaling up capacity, expanding capabilities as well as creating investment opportunities for the local private sector in current and future projects.

Leveraging its global reach, PIF said it will enable the four companies to develop regional and international partnerships, which will help increase the adoption of the latest technologies and the transfer of knowledge from global EPC (engineering, procurement, and construction) companies.

On the strategic move, Yazeed A. Al-Humied, Deputy Governor and Head of Mena Investments at PIF, said: "These partnerships demonstrate PIFs commitment to unlock the capabilities of key strategic sectors in Saudi Arabia, including the Construction & Building Components and Services sector, which has been identified as one of 13 strategic sectors locally."

"PIFs investment in four national champions will support local capacity expansion across the sector and stimulate private sector participation and investment to meet current and future demand, in line with Vision 2030," he noted.

Nesma & Partners Chairman Abdulaziz Al Turki said: "As a leading sustainable Saudi company operating for over 40 years in harmony with our local society and environment, we are seeking to maintain the highest global standards to positively contribute to the Saudi economy."

"We welcome the partnership with PIF and are proud to be working together to help deliver the development and diversification goals of the local economy. We believe that this partnership will strengthen our position as one of the leading construction companies in Saudi Arabia, and will empower us to contribute towards achieving the Vision 2030 objectives," he added.

Group Chairman Khaled El Seif said: "The building and construction services sector has a proud history of delivering complex, ambitious projects and we are delighted to welcome PIF as a partner to expand our work in the coming years."

"The investment will support the growth and development of the sector and will contribute to scaling up capacity and private sector local content, enabling us to deliver world-leading projects in the country as we strive to become the leading player in the sectors in which we operate," stated El Seif.

AlBawani Holding Chairman Fakher AlShawaf said: "The partnership with PIF presents us with an exceptional opportunity for growth. We look forward to drawing on the Funds expertise to transform AlBawani into a leading diversified group in the region by creating the best value for our clients, investors, employees and the society at large."

"The construction services sector is of significant importance to the Saudi economy, and we believe that PIFs contribution and investment into this sector will help support the realization of Vision 2030s ambitious projects," he noted.

Almabani General Contractors Chairman Youssef Nehme Tohme said: "Our vision is to build projects that contribute to the welfare of society, and we look forward to working with PIF to help play our part in delivering key projects vital to the realization of Vision 2030."

"The kingdom aims to increase the role of the private sector within the economy, and this investment will enhance the ability of private sector firms to provide key services," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

Credit: Ljupco Smokovski/Shutterstock

Physical balance may not seem like it would be associated with cognitive function. But now, researchers from Japan have developed a new way to predict cognitive problems according to physical balance.

In a study recently published in BMC Geriatrics, researchers from the University of Tsukuba have revealed a new measure of physical balance that could help to identify individuals who are at risk of developing Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a medical condition characterized by minor changes in cognitive ability. As individuals with this condition have an enhanced risk of progression to AD, the early identification of MCI can guide medical interventions that could prevent this outcome. Problems with physical balance have long been understood to occur in individuals with AD, who have a high frequency of falls, and those with MCI have similar changes in vestibular function.

Therefore, it may be possible to screen individuals for MCI before they show symptoms according to whether they have problems with physical balance. However, at present, few options are available for efficient balance screening in the general population, which the researchers at University of Tsukuba aimed to address.

"Early interventions are critical for the prevention of AD," says lead author of the study Professor Naoya Yahagi. "Because changes in vestibular function have been associated with both MCI and AD, we wanted to develop a new way to efficiently assess such changes in the general population."

To do this, the researchers constructed a new method for evaluating balance capability and vestibular function using a Nintendo Wii balance board with foam rubber. The scale was called the visual dependency index of postural stability (VPS). Healthy volunteers aged 5675 with no apparent cognitive impairment completed the VPS, as well as measures of cognitive function.

"The results were surprising," explains Professor Yahagi. "We found that scores on the VPS were highly associated with cognitive impairment assessed using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, which is a commonly used tool for screening cognitive ability."

Furthermore, the scale had relatively high sensitivity and specificity, indicating that it was successful in picking up important clues to indicate whether an individual was at risk of developing AD.

"Our findings indicate that features of MCI were easily picked up by the VPS. As such, this new scale may be useful way to screen for MCI in the general population," says Professor Yahagi.

Given that problems with physical balance are known to occur in individuals with MCI and AD, the VPS could be an inexpensive and accessible way to screen for cognitive impairment in the general population. The early and accurate detection of MCI could lead to new options for treatment, which could dramatically improve outcomes for individuals with neurodegenerative conditions.

More information: Yasuhiro Suzuki et al, New balance capability index as a screening tool for mild cognitive impairment, BMC Geriatrics (2023). DOI: 10.1186/s12877-023-03777-6
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A team from the University of Tours and INRAE is working on the development of an innovative nasal vaccine against COVID, in spray form. Credit: LoValTech, Fourni par l'auteur

Contrary to the widely shared popular belief, the primary purpose of current vaccines against COVID-19 is solely to protect against serious forms of the disease in order to prevent the risk of hospitalizations and death and not to block transmission between individuals. To do this, it would be necessary to aim for a so-called sterilizing vaccination: only then could the circle of contamination be interrupted, allowing to stop the pandemic.

How to reach this level of efficacy? In general, vaccination allows the induction of an immune response based on two types of cells: T lymphocytes, capable of destroying infected cells, and B lymphocytes which produce antibodies capable of neutralizing the virus (SARS-CoV-2 in the case of COVID) to prevent it from multiplying and infecting new healthy cells.

Current vaccines (including mRNA) are administered intramuscularly and are so called "systemic": they allow the activation at the level of the whole body of a pool of immune cells, circulating by the blood, which can further reach the infected organs.

Effective as it is, this systemic immunity does not allow the mobilization of a high level of B and T lymphocytes in the nasal cavity and the lungsto promote a rapid and effective protection against the virusblocking it as soon as it arrives.

Conversely, an intranasal vaccination induces not only a systemic but also a local immune responsedirectly, therefore, at the gate of the entry of SARS-CoV-2. The local activation of the immune cells of the nasal mucosa would thus make it possible to overcome the race against time between the virus (which multiplies in our respiratory system) and our systemic immune system (which need to be mobilized to the infected site). Concretely this mucosal vaccination would quickly stop the virus and block its possibilities of dissemination and replication in our organism and thus avoid transmission and contamination.

The specifics of nasal vaccination

First observation, as we said, only the nasal vaccination can act directly at the level of entry of the virus. But we should also mention that the immune cells it activates there (resident T and B lymphocytes in the nose, mouth and upper respiratory tract) differ from those activated by the conventional (i.e., systemic) intramuscular vaccination. Moreover: nasal vaccination induces B lymphocytes that produce particular antibodies, IgA (Type A immunoglobulins), which are only very weakly induced by the intramuscular routewhich mainly induces B cells producing IgG (Type G immunoglobulins).

Worth noting: IgAs have a greater capacity than IgGs to "capture" viruses in order to neutralize them. Another advantage of IgAs: they are more "versatile" than IgGs and thus can retain a significant level of effectiveness despite possible variations in the virus. For all these reasons, "mucosal" vaccination would prevent even moderate forms of the disease and block inter-individual transmission, to achieve sterilizing immunity.

The FluMist vaccine is the only example of intranasal vaccine available in human health that has received marketing authorization (AMM). This flu vaccine is based on an attenuated form of the causative virus (influenza), approved in the United States and Europe, and has an efficacy that surpasses that of the intramuscular vaccine in young children. However, its effectiveness is lower in adults owing to their already acquired mucosal immunity, due to previously contracted infections. Indeed, consisting of an attenuated version of the virus, the vaccine is quickly blocked by the local immunity in place reacting against the original virus: which leaves it less likely to act efficiently.

New nasal vaccine approach

Our research team (BioMAP laboratory, Joint University-INRAE ISP 1282 research unit), led by Professor Isabelle Dimier-Poisson, has recognized experience in immunology and mucosal vaccination. Based on our expertise, we have worked on an innovative anti-COVID mucosal vaccine strategy in order to deal with its multiple specificities. Our vaccine candidate is based on three innovations:

The antigen: target of the virus, it represents the heart of the vaccine. It is an original fusion protein, designed in our laboratory, composed of the now-famous Spike (S) protein associated with another protein of the virus, the nucleoprotein (N). This fusion strategy allows our vaccine to maintain its efficacy against different variants since it targets some conserved parts of the virus, whatever the variations of the S protein.

To optimize the activation of the mucosal immune response, our antigen is wrapped in "nano-carriers". These nano-carriers are solely composed of sugar polymeric molecules, able to confer original properties of adhesion to the mucous membrane allowing an optimal administration of our protein. In this manner there is no need for an adjuvant (likely to create inflammation), thus reducing the risk of side effects.

Finally, the last key element, a dedicated delivery system, or spray, capable of effectively depositing our vaccine in the nasal cavity, precisely at the level of the areas containing the mucosal immune cells.

Nasal anti-COVID vaccination: where are we?

Other teams are following this type of approach to develop anti-COVID vaccine delivered by the mucosal route. However, there are still very few vaccine candidates available in humans. We can mention two recent examples (September 2022), in China and Indiabearing in mind that they do not use the intranasal route in the strict sense. A first vaccine, currently being tested in China, is administered by inhalation. CanSino Biologics' vaccine has been approved by Chinese health authorities as a booster dose to protect against symptoms of COVID-19. It is based, like its intradermal counterpart, on a recombinant adenovirus expressing the S protein of SARS-CoV-2 and is delivered using a nebuliser through the mouth. It therefore requires a specific medical device and, due to its viral nature, even attenuated, presents a risk of side effects such as pulmonary inflammation. The second has been approved by the Indian health authorities: iNCOVACC, developed by Bharat Biotech, for primary vaccination in two doses administered through the nose.

This nasal vaccine similarly uses a modified and attenuated adenovirus to deliver the Spike protein of SARS-CoV-2. This vaccine, created by Michael S. Diamond, David T. Curiel (University of Washington), was the subject of a recent publication presenting preclinical trials in chimpanzees, and showing promising results. However, this result is not representative of a "true" nasal vaccination since it uses a dual route of vaccination: intranasal and intrabronchial. In this manner the vaccine is administered to the lungs, with a potential risk of inflammation. This preclinical result should therefore be considered with caution. It's also worth noting that neither China nor India has yet released the results of human clinical studies supporting their decision to approve these vaccines. Regardless of the considered candidate, the ability to administer the vaccine formulation effectively via the nasal route is a challenge.

AstraZeneca has just announced in October the disappointing results of its first clinical trials of a nasal vaccine. This nasally administered version of its injectable vaccine (developed with researchers at the University of Oxford) showed only weak antibody responses in the nasal mucosa. The explanation would be that a large part of the vaccine, which uses a deactivated virus, would not have reached its target and would have ended up largely in the digestive tract before it could activate the immune system of the mucous membranes. A key point, which is underlined by the team of this latest vaccine candidate, is the importance of the spray system. Vaccination by nasal administration clearly requires consideration to optimize the in situ product delivery.

Final steps for our vaccine candidate

Our vaccine candidate has given excellent results against multiple variants of SARS-CoV-2, with protection against the disease and significant limitation of its transmission, in gold standard preclinical models (mice and hamsters). Our objective is now to validate its efficacy during clinical trials in humans, scheduled for 2023. The challenge, to go from preclinical to human, is to obtain an effective immune response despite a different delivery of the vaccine: indeed, in the mouse and hamster models, the volume of vaccine used and its delivery using micropipette deposition in the nose induce immunization not restricted to the nasal cavity but also reaching the upper part of the lungs.

However, in humans, we want to stay at the level of the nasal cavity in order to limit the risks of an uncontrolled immune reaction that can lead to an excessively strong inflammatory reaction in the lung ("cytokine storms"): the objective is to optimize the stimulation of the nasal mucosal system only. To do this, we want our vaccine to be completely deposited in the critical areas of the nose: where the virus nests to infect and multiply, and where the immune cells that must respond to the vaccine are located (at the level of the NALT, or Nasal Associated Lymphoid Tissues, where IgA-producing B lymphocytes and T lymphocytes are concentrated).

Developing a spray system suitable for nasal vaccination

Small nuance: a vaccine spray is different from a classical therapeutic spray used for multiple and repeated use. It must deliver a single, very precise dose targeting the mucosal immune system. From the start of our project, we began to work on those absolute prerequisite and set up research and development collaborations with two companies specialized in intranasal delivery systems: Aptar pharma and Medspray. The potential effectiveness of the spray systems is assessed by two methods:

In vitro, using an artificial model (nasal cast) which reproduces the human nasal cavity and makes it possible to assess, after adding a fluorescent dye, how our vaccine formulation is deposited in the different compartments. This model allows us to correct the spray to optimally target key immune system areas of the nasal mucosa.

In vivo, we carry out comparative efficacy tests of the various spray systems in rabbits (among the gold standard animal model) to assess their ability to induce an optimal vaccine response in the nasal mucosa (in the context of regulatory toxicology tests).

Our goal is to select the optimal intranasal delivery system for future clinical trials, in terms of biological efficacy (maximal vaccination efficacy despite a delivery restricted to the nasal cavity). In addition, with the idea of designing a spray accessible to low-income countries, we are considering economic constraints to ensure that it can be mass-produced at reduced cost.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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When testing determines that a patient who was thought to be allergic to penicillin actually is not, the warning is expected to be removed from their charts and pharmacy records.

But that "de-labeling" is not always happening.

"Penicillin allergy labels are associated with increased health care cost burdens as well as adverse events for patients," said lead author Dr. Althea Marie Diaz, an allergist at NYU Langone Long Island Hospital in Mineola, N.Y. "Many patients carrying a penicillin allergy label can safely take penicillin, but even after allergy testing we're finding those allergy labels aren't always being removed."

To study this, the researchers identified 78 charts of patients who were de-labeled for penicillin allergy from May 2019 to May 2022.

Any patient who had their penicillin allergy removed from their electronic medical record (EMR) was also provided with a wallet card, according to the study.

Letters were sent to patients' primary care physicians and their pharmacy of choice. The researchers then conducted phone interviews with patients and pharmacies to determine if penicillin had been successfully de-labeled.

The investigators found that 99% of the charts were de-labeled in the EMR system. But 31% of charts still had an active penicillin allergy listed with the pharmacy.

The research team did follow-up interviews with 68 patients. About 97% recalled they had received a negative penicillin allergy result. About 44% said they had taken penicillin since then, while 52% had not. About 4% were still avoiding penicillin despite their negative allergy result.

"We've come a long way when it comes to de-labeling penicillin allergies, but we have a long way to go," Diaz said in a news release from the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. "We need to continue to examine what barriers are preventing us from completely de-labeling patients who can safely take penicillin and develop strategies to address those barriers."

The findings are scheduled for presentation in San Antonio at a meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, Feb. 24 to 27. The findings were also published in a February online supplement to The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

Copyright  2023 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
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Falling in love is known to feel like a whirlwind of emotionsbut if someone asked you how to describe it, you'd probably say you "just knew." Why is that?

To learn more about love and its impact on our brains, we spoke with Cynthia Kubu, a professor of neurology at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of CWRU and a neuropsychologist at Cleveland Clinic. In addition to her clinical work and research, Kubu serves as the vice dean for faculty at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

While she wouldn't describe herself as an expert in the "neuroscience of love," Kubu has a longstanding interest in the functional neuroanatomical correlates of human social behavior, and she's studying the impact of deep brain stimulation on personality with a grant from the National Institutes of Health.

This Valentine's Day, read on to learn Kubu's thoughts on what happens in your brain when you fall in love.

1. A concoction of hormones begins brewing and activates your reward systemor your brain's reward system lights up.

We often describe the early stages of a romance as intoxicating, characterized by feelings of euphoria and desire. This is because the early stages of romantic love activate our reward system, much like cocaine can. In the early stages of a romance, critical hormones like oxytocin and vasopressin interact with the brain's reward system, especially dopamine, so that we are "addicted" to our new lover.

2. Your serotonin levels decrease.

Early romantic love is associated with reduced serotonin levels, like levels seen in obsessive compulsive disorder. That may be why we tend to obsess about our new lover and may experience stress and anxiety.

3. You feel like you're losing your mind.

The early stages of romantic love result in reduced activity in brain regions associated with fear as well as cortical regions related to critical judgment. These changes open us up to the possibility of being vulnerable to someone new and can result in a suspension of critical judgment in which our new lover's flaws or potential challenges to the relationship are not critically assessed (i.e., the phenomenon of "rose-colored glasses").

4. You feel like you've merged with that person.

Romantic love is associated with reduced activity in brain regions related to Theory of Mindour ability to mentally take into account another person's perspective, including their emotions and thoughtswhile simultaneously maintaining our own feelings and thoughts and recognizing the distinction between ourselves and the other person. This might correspond to the literary references in which two souls in love become one and there is a merging of two independent selves.

5. You may experience tangible health benefits.

After the heady first six months or so of intoxicating, stressful, all-encompassing romantic love, our serotonin levels normalize and we are able to clearly see our lover's strengths and weaknesses. We settle into a long-term relationship which is associated with reduced stress, increased bonding, and feelings of security largely mediated by the effects of oxytocin. This may be related to the known health benefits of long-term relationships.
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Electron micrograph of a negatively stained human papilloma virus (HPV) which occurs in human warts. Credit: public domain

A major international trial published in The Lancet Oncology has looked at studies from 13 head and neck cancer centers from nine countries around the world. Using the data of 7,895 patients, a research team has found that there is a significant number of people who have "discordant" results in which two different tests for HPV show different results.

The study found that for one in ten of patients who have discordant HPV results, they saw significantly worsening outcomes compared to those who tested negative in both tests.

In those cases, 5-year overall survival rates were:

81% for patients among double positive tests

53% for patients with p16-/HPV+ test

54% for patients with p16+/HPV- tests

Testing for whether a cancer is HPV-related involves two types of tests. The first, which is called HPV testing, looks for the actual virus within the tumor. The second type of test looks for a protein called P16, which has been established as a commonly used biomarker for HPV. P16 is easier to use, and so most people use it as the standard.

The study brought together collaborators from across Europe, coordinated by Professor Hisham Mehanna at the University of Birmingham.

Prof. Mehanna, Professor of Head and Neck Surgery, and lead author of the paper, said, "Through an international collaboration we have been able to answer a question that has perplexed the head and neck cancer community for over two decades. In that time there has been an emergence of a new type of head and neck cancer: this cancer called Human papillomavirus (HPV)-related head and neck cancer, caused by the same virus that is often responsible for cervical cancer.

"What is remarkable is that patients with HPV head and neck cancer respond much better to current therapies than patients who are not HPV-related. As a result, we are trying to look for less toxic treatments for these patients to reduce the burden of toxicity. For patients who are HPV negative, we are doing clinical trials to increase the intensity of treatmentto try to improve outcomes.

"Therefore, testing for HPV in head and neck cancer patients has become a real priority and this new research has solved the conundrum puzzling the international community about why some patients respond much better to treatment than others."

Patients with discordant tests who smoked were at much higher risk of worse outcomes, as the study found that their cancer behaved like HPV-negative cancers. On the other hand, patients with discordant tests who did not smoke had tumors that yielded good outcomes, like HPV-positive cancers.

Professor Mehanna said, "This has significant implications on how we test head and neck cancer patients moving forward, especially in regions where smoking is still prevalent and HPV disease is not prevalent; for example, southern Europe and countries in the east. It also has significant implications for how we choose which studies to enroll these patients in, and in [the] future what treatment they get."

More information: Prognostic implications of p16 and HPV discordance in oropharyngeal cancer (HNCIG-EPIC-OPC): a multicentre, multinational, individual patient data analysis, The Lancet Oncology (2023). DOI: 10.1016/S1470-2045(23)00013-X Journal information: Lancet Oncology
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Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

The behavioral disorders observed in autism are associated with a multitude of genetic alterations. Scientists from the Hector Institute for Translational Brain Research (HITBR) have now found another molecular cause for this condition.

The transcription factor MYT1L normally protects the molecular identity of nerve cells. If it is genetically switched off in human nerve cells or in mice, the functional changes and symptoms typical of autism occur. A drug that blocks sodium channels in the cell membrane can reverse the consequences of MYT1L failure and alleviate the functional and behavioral abnormalities in mice.

Disorders from the autism spectrum (ASD, autism spectrum disorders) are not only manifested by impairments in social interaction, communication, interest formation and by stereotypical behavior patterns, but are often accompanied by other abnormalities such as epilepsy or hyperactivity.

Scientists are intently searching for the molecular abnormalities that contribute to this complex developmental disorder. A multitude of genetic factors that influence the molecular programs of the nerve cells have already been linked to the development of autism.

Moritz Mall from the Hector Institute for Translational Brain Research (HITBR) has long been researching the role of the protein MYT1L in various neuronal diseases. The protein is a so-called transcription factor that decides which genes are active in the cell and which are not. Almost all nerve cells in the body produce MYT1L throughout their entire life span.

Mall had already shown a few years ago that MYT1L protects the identity of nerve cells by suppressing other developmental pathways that program a cell towards muscle or connective tissue, for example. Mutations in MYT1L have been found in several neurological diseases, such as schizophrenia and epilepsy, but also in brain malformations. In their current work, Mall and his team examined the exact role of the "guardian of neuronal identity" in the development of an ASD. To do this, they genetically switched off MYT1Lboth in mice and in human nerve cells that had been derived from reprogrammed stem cells in the laboratory.

The loss of MYT1L led to electrophysiological hyperactivation in mouse and human neurons and thus impaired nerve function. Mice lacking MYT1L suffered from brain abnormalities, such as a thinner cerebral cortex. The animals also showed several ASS-typical behavioral changes such as social deficits or hyperactivity.

What was particularly striking about the MYT1L-deficient neurons: They produced an excess of a sodium channels that are normally mainly restricted to the heart muscle cells. These pore-shaped proteins allow sodium ions to pass through the cell membrane and are thus crucial for electrical conductivity and thus also for the functioning of the cells. If a nerve cell produces too many of these channel proteins, electrophysiological hyperactivation can be the result.

In clinical medicine, drugs that block sodium channels have been used for a long time. These include the agent lamotrigine, which is supposed to prevent epileptic seizures. When MYT1L-deficient nerve cells were treated with lamotrigine, their electrophysiological activity returned to normal. In mice, the drug was even able to curb ASD-associated behaviors such as hyperactivity.

"Apparently, drug treatment in adulthood can alleviate brain cell dysfunction and thus counteract the behavioral abnormalities typical of autismeven after the absence of MYT1L has already impaired brain development during the developmental phase of the organism," explains Moritz Mall. However, the results are still limited to studies in mice; clinical studies in patients with disorders from the ASD spectrum have not yet been conducted. The first clinical studies are in the early planning phase.

The study is published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.

More information: Bettina Weigel et al. MYT1L haploinsufficiency in human neurons and mice causes autism-associated phenotypes that can be reversed by genetic and pharmacologic intervention, Molecular Psychiatry (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41380-023-01959-7 Journal information: Molecular Psychiatry
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Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are an estimated 4,000 drownings every year in the United States, an average of 11 deaths per day. With drowning being the leading cause of deaths in children ages 14, a researcher from the University of Alabama at Birmingham has published a module on how caregivers can prevent drownings.

Traditionally, successful drowning prevention is thought to have three dimensions: attention, proximity and continuity. In his newest research, published in Pediatrics, lead author David Schwebel, Ph.D., associate vice president for Research Facilities and Infrastructure at UAB, says that in most cases, there is a decreased risk of drowning when all three are utilized. However, he and his co-authors propose that a fourth measurement be addedcompetency.

"Competency means knowing how to save a child's life," Schwebel said. "Driving provides a simple example: If a parent is competent to drive, they do not crash their car and a child sitting in a car seat will stay safe. Near water, competency is more complicated."

When young children are around bodies of water, competency includes details like caregivers who know how to swim, how to rescue a drowning child and, when needed, how to administer CPR. In emergency circumstances, competency can add valuable, lifesaving seconds in the event of a drowning.

Schwebel, director of the UAB Youth Safety Lab in the College of Arts and Sciences and author of "Raising Kids Who Choose Safety," says that competency also includes a caregiver's knowledge of the Drowning Chain of Survivalespecially in environments where a lifeguard is not present. Steps of the chain are:

recognize distress

safely rescue distressed swimmers by providing means of flotation either from waterside or, if necessary, by swimming to the child

remove the child from water

provide initial care, which includes CPR if the child is not breathing

call for emergency medical services

If an in-water rescue is required, the new fourth dimension is vital to prevent a multi-victim drowning, as young children have the ability to pull adults underwater during rescue attempts.

"In the injury prevention field, we have always focused on supervision of children by thinking about three dimensions: attentionhow attentively are you watching the child; proximityhow close are you to the child; and continuityare you watching the child constantly, intermittently or not at all," Schwebel said. "These dimensions are still important, and they work well for locations like the playground; but near water, we also need to think about the fourth dimension of competency."

Going forward

Schwebel and his co-authors suggest a five-step implementation plan for the new four-dimension supervision model. The plan includes:

aquatic swim programs' incorporating training for adult supervisors

health care providers' supplying a more robust water safety guide to families

caregivers' expanding their knowledge by attending first aid and CPR trainings

traditional and social media campaigns' disseminating important drowning prevention strategies

insurance providers' providing incentives and resources for attending drowning prevention programs

"We hope parents recognize the importance of gaining basic knowledge to keep their children safe from drowning," Schwebel said. "If those who are supervising children do not know how to swim or how to provide CPR, then they can seek basic training to be more prepared. Parent training for child safety can save lives."

More information: David C. Schwebel et al, Expanding the Concept of Caregiver Supervision to Prevent Child Drowning, Pediatrics (2023). DOI: 10.1542/peds.2022-060240 Journal information: Pediatrics
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Frequent GP visits improve health outcomes for children with asthma, however they are often irregular and inconsistent leading to an increase in hospital readmissions, new research has found. Credit: NIAID

Frequent GP visits improve health outcomes for children with asthma; however, they are often irregular and inconsistent leading to an increase in hospital readmissions, new research has found.

Two studies, led by Murdoch Children's Research Institute, have highlighted the gaps and opportunities across the primary care network in childhood asthma care to ensure services remain accessible in the wake of GP shortages and a decline in bulk billing services.

Published in the Journal of Asthma and Archives of Diseases in Childhood, the research involved 277 GPs and 767 caregivers of children aged 3-18 years who were admitted to one of three hospitals in Victoria with asthma.

It found only one in five participants visited their regular GP on more than 60 percent of visits and 36 percent saw a GP within seven days of being discharged from hospital for their asthma. Early follow-up and frequent GP visits were associated with reduced ED presentations, hospital readmissions and improved asthma outcomes.

Murdoch Children's researcher Renee Jones said the study showed children with asthma were receiving fragmented treatment in the primary care network.

"Families often reported being unable to access primary care before presenting to a hospital for their child's asthma, highlighting a potential missed opportunity for avoiding an admission and for continuity of treatment," she said. "On top of this, families noted there were unclear pathways to follow-up care, with a lack of coordination between hospitals and their local doctor."

Jones said the low rate of GP follow-up was worrisome given pediatric asthma care guidelines recommended a review after a hospital admission or ED presentation as well as ongoing regular checks-ins.

The research stated only 39.2 percent of GPs knew their patient had been readmitted to hospital for asthma, highlighting the need for hospitals to improve their communication. Additionally, only 12 percent of GPs were confident managing children with poorly controlled asthma, indicating a need to provide easy access to specialist advice for more severe cases.

Hospital readmission rates in Victoria have increased from one in three children within 12 months compared with one in four a decade ago. Asthma is a leading cause of chronic illness and unplanned hospital admissions for children. The prevalence of childhood asthma is increasing globally, causing strain on health systems and negatively affecting quality of life.

Rachel Cornwell said her son Ollie, 3, had been admitted to the emergency department 48 times to treat his severe asthma.

She said the 45-minute trip into the hospital could be avoided if Ollie had a regular GP who was well equipped to handle complex asthma cases.

Ollie currently has injections and takes steroid medication, on top of his inhaler, to help decrease the number of asthma flare-ups.

"Ollie doesn't see a GP for his asthma because it's an uphill battle to get an appointment and consistent care," she said. "He goes from 100 to zero in a flash. Day two of an asthma flare-up he would need to have IV treatment or oxygen in hospital. It is incredibly stressful to see your child struggling to breathe."

"There was a point where we were going into the hospital fortnightly and Ollie wasn't receiving follow up care. GPs just aren't confident to treat Ollie because of his history."

"You can't predict when your child is going to have an asthma attack, so you don't have the luxury of booking an appointment in advance. It's just easier and quicker to go to hospital."

But Rachel said things had improved with Ollie since coming under the care of the Complex Asthma Service at The Royal Children's Hospital.

She said the recent research by Murdoch Children's provided her family with hope.

"The research could lead to much better care for children with severe asthma," she said. "If we could see a regular GP who had the expertise to treat Ollie it would be a huge weight off our shoulders."

Murdoch Children's Dr. Katherine Chen said there were opportunities to improve asthma care across the whole system including strengthening education around the importance of regular, proactive primary care visits, increasing access to GPs, addressing gaps in guideline practices for pediatric asthma management and improving communication between hospitals and GPs.

"The findings highlight the importance of improving accessibility, consistency in care and streamlining communications," she said. "Each hospital admission should prompt a holistic evaluation of the child's asthma management to prevent future readmissions. Making these improvements will require ongoing infrastructure and workforce planning, funding and better education."

Dr. Chen acknowledged Australia was facing a shortage of GPs and an increase in the likelihood of clinical practices charging for pediatric appointments to cover rising costs.

"This raises concerns about equity of access to primary care as some families may not be able to receive regular care or obtain an appointment during an asthma attack due to cost or GP shortages in some regions," she said. "New models of care and funding potentially involving nurses and pharmacists to complement primary care could be considered to help improve the system."

More information: Katherine YH Chen et al, Primary health care utilization and hospital readmission in children with asthma: a multi-site linked data cohort study, Journal of Asthma (2023). DOI: 10.1080/02770903.2022.2164200 Renee Jones et al, Exploring gaps and opportunities in primary care following an asthma hospital admission: a multisite mixed-methods study of three data sources, Archives of Disease in Childhood (2023). DOI: 10.1136/archdischild-2022-324114 Journal information: Archives of Disease in Childhood
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks during a press briefing at the White House, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2022, in Washington. House Republicans kicked off an investigation Monday, Feb. 13, 2023, into the origins of COVID-19 by issuing a series of letters to current and former Biden administration officials for documents and testimony, including Fauci who until December served as Bidens chief medical adviser. Credit: AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File

House Republicans are kicking off an investigation into the origins of COVID-19 by requesting documents and testimony for current and former Biden administration officials.

The Republican chairmen of the House Oversight Committee and the Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic are seeking information, including from Dr. Anthony Fauci, concerning the idea that the coronavirus leaked accidentally from a Chinese lab.

"This investigation must begin with where and how this virus came about so that we can attempt to predict, prepare or prevent it from happening again," Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, chair of the virus subcommittee, said in a statement on Monday.

Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chairman of the oversight committee, said Republicans will "follow the facts" and "hold U.S. government officials that took part in any sort of cover-up accountable."

The letters to Fauci, National Intelligence Director Avril Haines, Health Secretary Xavier Beccera and others are the latest effort by the new Republican majority to make good on promises made during the 2022 midterms campaign.

Wenstrup, who is also a longtime member of the House Intelligence Committee, has accused U.S. intelligence of withholding key facts about its investigation into the coronavirus. Republicans on the committee last year issued a staff report arguing that there are "indications" that the virus may have been developed as a bioweapon inside the China's Wuhan Institute of Virology.

That would contradict a U.S. intelligence community assessment released in unclassified form in August 2021 that said analysts do not believe the virus was a bioweapon, though it may have leaked in a lab accident.

The letters sent Monday do not require the cooperation of recipients. But in announcing the Republican staff report in December, Wenstrup said that lawmakers would issue subpoenas if potential witnesses didn't cooperate.

It is extremely difficult for scientists to establish definitively how diseases emerge, but studies by experts around the world have determined that COVID-19 most likely emerged from a live animal market in Wuhan, China.

Initially dismissed by most public health experts and government officials, the hypothesis that COVID-19 originated from an accidental lab leak began to receive scrutiny after President Joe Biden ordered an investigation into the matter in May 2021.

The 90-day review was meant to push American intelligence agencies to collect more information and review what they already had. Former State Department officials under President Donald Trump had publicly pushed for further investigation into virus origins, as had scientists and the World Health Organization. But the review proved to be inconclusive, with intelligence agencies saying that barring an unforeseen breakthrough, they wouldn't be able to conclude the origin either way.

Many scientists, including Fauci, who until December served as Biden's chief medical adviser, say they still believe the virus most likely emerged in nature and jumped from animals to humans, a well-documented phenomenon known as a spillover event. Virus researchers have not publicly identified any key new scientific evidence that might make the lab-leak hypothesis more likely.

But Republicans have accused Fauci of lying to Congress when he denied in May that the National Institutes of Health funded "gain of function" researchthe practice of enhancing a virus in a lab to study its potential impact in the real worldat a virology lab in Wuhan. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, even urged Attorney General Merrick Garland to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Fauci's statements.

Fauci, who served as the country's top infectious disease expert under both Republican and Democratic presidents, has called the GOP criticism nonsense.

Cruz and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., have previously said that an October 2021 letter from NIH to Congress contradicts Fauci. But no clear evidence or scientific consensus exists that "gain of function" research was funded by NIH, and there is no link between U.S.-funded research to the emergence of COVID-19. NIH has repeatedly maintained that its funding did not go to such research involving boosting the infectivity and lethality of a pathogen.

Nonetheless, Fauci indicated in November that he would "cooperate fully and testify" if Republicans followed through with their plans to investigate COVID's origin.

"I have no trouble testifyingwe can defend and explain everything that we've said," he told reporters during a White House briefing last year.

 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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Credit: European Heart Journal (2023). DOI: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehad056

In the Netherlands, ambulances transport about 200,000 people with chest pain to Emergency Departments (ED) every year. However, up to 90% of these people don't have an acute coronary syndrome.

Cardiologists at Radboud University Medical Center studied the possibility of initially examining these patients at home, and only transporting them to the hospital in case of a high risk of acute coronary syndrome (elevated troponin). The results show that hospital visits are often unnecessary and costly.

The findings are published in the European Heart Journal.

Low risk of acute coronary syndrome

Nearly 900 people with chest pain participated in the study. Ambulance professionals assessed the risk of an acute coronary syndrome based on the HEAR-score, including history, electrocardiogram [ECG], age and risk factors. Patients with a high risk for an acute coronary syndrome were directly transported to the hospital. In patients with a low risk HEAR score, ambulance paramedics performed a pre-hospital troponin measurement. The protein troponin is released when the heart is damaged, and is an indication of a heart attack.

Were troponin levels high? Then the patient went straight to the hospital. But if the troponin level was low, then the patient remained at home, provided with further instructions such as contact with the general practitioner. All patients were followed up to 30 days after the event. The researchers investigated whether a major adverse cardiac event (MACE) occurred during that period.

The chance of MACE was very small. In the patient group that stayed at home with a low troponin level, a major heart problem occurred in 0.5% of cases, in the group that went to the hospital with a low troponin level this was 1.0%. Physician-researcher Joris Aarts says, "Patients with a low risk of myocardial infarction can generally stay at home safely. This is good news, because an emergency ambulance ride and hospitalization are major events with high costs. Now we know that it is often unnecessary."

Reducing health care costs

In addition, this new analysis at the patient's home reduces health care costs. The researchers calculated that it reduces more than 600 euros per patient if they stay out of the hospital. Cardiologist and lead researcher Cyril Camaro says, "If we introduce this throughout the Netherlands, it will save up to 48 million euros on an annual basis. The Dutch Integral Healthcare Agreement insists on more efficient care. We all have a role in this."

He also emphasizes better deployment of ambulances. "We are deploying ambulance staff more intelligently. Moreover, despite the pre-hospital troponin measurement, they are more quickly available for a new patient because they don't have to transport every patient to the ED."

Finally, this approach can also be a solution in the growing problem of overcrowding Emergency Departments. Camaro states, "In this study, we collaborated with many colleagues. We had to, because a possible change in policy affects everyone: the patient, the ambulance staff, general practitioners, emergency physicians and cardiologists. That's why we have to do it together."

For the next years Camaro is focused on putting this topic on the national agenda. Recently, a national consortium meeting was initiated to discuss this important theme. Hopefully more collaboration and (randomized) studies on pre-hospital rule out strategies will follow and in the end to implement the best pre-hospital strategy for all our chest pain patients.

More information: Cyril Camaro et al, Rule-out of non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome by a single, pre-hospital troponin measurement: a randomized trial, European Heart Journal (2023). DOI: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehad056 Journal information: European Heart Journal
Clarity AI, a leading global sustainability tech platform, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Saudi Tadawul Group to educate companies in Saudi Arabia on sustainability topics.

"Our mission is to bring societal impact to markets, and we are thrilled to be in an understanding to do that with the Saudi Tadawul Group, which sits at the centre of company communication for trillions of dollars of market capitalisation trading in Mena," said Rebeca Minguela, Founder and CEO of Clarity AI.

"This position represents a strong opportunity for us to help bring additional tech-powered sustainability capabilities to these global corporations."

ESG reporting

Eng Khalid Al Hussan, CEO of the Saudi Tadawul Group said: With investors around the world using ESG metrics to inform their decisions, Saudi Tadawul Group has an important role to play in driving adoption of transparent and purposeful ESG reporting. This MoU will help us to embed innovation within our ESG infrastructure and introduce dynamic new platforms providing investors and issuers more granular access to data and benchmarking in ESG practices. In turn, this will support our ambitions for the Saudi capital market to become a global destination in line with the Financial Sector Development programme and Saudi Vision 2030.

Clarity AI will provide its tools and services to help companies and investors better understand, track and make sense of their sustainability performance across international and national frameworks, and benchmark their data across peers.

Clarity AIs platform will serve both larger companies and support those earlier in their sustainability journey, including small and medium enterprises.

This collaboration between Clarity AI and the Saudi Tadawul Group, home to more than 300 listed securities with a market capitalisation of more than $2.7 trillion, will enable international investors to screen and report based on current and upcoming national requirements. Clarity AI's tools and services will help companies enhance their disclosure and understanding of ESG and sustainability, supporting a transition to a more sustainable future for the region and the world.-- TradeArabia News Service
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Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

The image-based social media app Instagram has come under repeated and sustained attacks over the negative mental-health effects it has on its users, in particular young women and girls, over the past few years. The extent of Instagram's potential for harm is still being widely debated, but a Concordia researcher argues in a new paper that regular use of the app is not necessarily a bad thing. And it can in some instances be beneficial to women with mental-health issues, including eating disorders and anxiety.

In a paper published in the journal Feminist Media Studies, Concordia Ph.D. candidate and 2021 Public Scholar Fanny Gravel-Patry conducts an in-depth study of women's use of Instagram in their daily lives. The study follows the social media habits of three Quebec women living with mental illness who have incorporated Instagram use into their daily habits and found that it has positive effects on their mental health.

She notes that they use the app in a variety of ways depending on their personalities, whether creating and finding mental-health resources, sharing their healing journeys or capturing screen shots of inspirational posts. Gravel-Patry says Instagram has a soothing effect on these women that helps them cope with limited access to mental-health resources.

"I was interested in why they are turning to the platform, what kind of content they consume and create and what they find there they can't find elsewhere," Gravel-Patry notes.

Healing digital habits

She says there are good reasons to focus on women's digital habits.

First, adopting regular habits is often the first step people living with mental illness can do to improve their mental health, whether it is taking up exercise, going to therapy, crafting, writing in a journal or spending constructive time online.

Second, she was interested in seeing how the women she interviewed were able to break away from the pattern of repetitive images portraying women as hysterical or prone to insanity to create new, more positive discourses. And third, she wanted to see if social media habits can produce a healing transformation in the long run.

"I was trying to put all of this together to see how social media fits here as something that assists in recovery and not as something that hinders it," she says. "I also wanted to consider it not as the best tool necessarily, but because it is a tool that is available to them."

All three women Gravel-Patry focuses on for her study are Quebec graduate students. One suffers from an eating disorder, another is dealing with generalized anxiety and an eating disorder and the third lives with anxiety, body image issues and traumas related to her childhood experiences of racism.

All of them use Instagram regularly as a way of coping with their mental illness but in different ways. One decided to share her recovery process through her account, while the other two preferred a more anonymous approach, such as taking screenshots of positive memes or following accounts with content that allays feelings of anxiety.

Mental health meets platform capitalism

She notes that Instagram is not inherently beneficial. As a company operating in the platform-capitalism paradigm, it bears its share of responsibility for contributing to an economic system that profits off women and girls who can be negatively impacted by it. This takes on added relevance at a time when mental healthcare funding is targeted to self-care initiatives such as developing digital mental-health tools.

"Because there are limited resources, people do not have the choice but to take care of their own mental health and go on apps like Instagram," she says. "But these are apps that ultimately encourage the structure of individualized commodification."

More information: Fanny Gravel-Patry, "A series of little high fives": mental health and digital habituation in women's Instagram practices, Feminist Media Studies (2022). DOI: 10.1080/14680777.2022.2149603
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Handout picture made available Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023 shows one of the quintuplets, born on Sunday in the University Hospital in Krakow, Poland. Credit: Karolina Fok/Archive, The University Hospital, Krakow/www.su.krakow.pl via AP

A Polish mother of seven has successfully given birth to premature quintuplets, hospital officials in southern Poland said Tuesday.

The two boys and three girls were born through cesarean section Sunday, in the pregnancy's 28th week, at the University Hospital in Krakow.

Weighing between 710-1,400 grams (25-49 ounces,) they were all put in incubators and given breathing support, but doctors said they are all doing fine, given their premature birth.

The quintuplets' mother, Dominika Clarke, 37, told a news conference in Krakow Tuesday that she was feeling "much better than I had expected."

"If you have a system, a calm approach and a positive attitude, then it is possible to have a really cool life with such a large bunch of children," Clarke said.

Clarke and her British husband's other children are aged between 10 months and 12 years, and include two pairs of twins.

 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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Educational psychology professor Kaylin Ratner found in a study of more than 200 adolescents that feeling a sense of purpose had a significant impact on their emotional well-being. Those who scored high on purposefulness were more satisfied with their lives and experienced more positive emotions in general. Credit: Fred Zwicky

Adolescents who feel a greater sense of purpose may be happier and more satisfied with life than peers who feel less purposeful, suggests a recent study of more than 200 teens.

Studies with adults have suggested that a sense of purpose in life is an integral component of well-being that fuels hope and optimism and has a variety of positive effects on individuals' physical and mental health.

However, less is known about the effects of purposefulness in adolescents, who, while characteristically hopeful, are in the throes of developing their identities, making choices that reflect who they are and aspire to be, according to the study.

Educational psychology professor Kaylin Ratner of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign led the current study, which examined how youths' feelings of purposefulness related to their daily levels of life satisfaction and subjective well-being.

"Teens who scored high on purpose were more satisfied with their lives and experienced more positive emotions and fewer negative emotions," said Ratner, who collected the data while working as a postdoctoral associate at Cornell University. "Importantly, we found that on the days when these adolescents felt more purposeful than usual, they also tended to experience greater well-being."

Her co-authors included Anthony L. Burrow, the Ferris Family Professor of Life Course Studies and the director of the Bonfenbrenner Center for Translational Research; and Qingyi Li and Gaoxia Zhu, both then-postdoctoral research associates, all of Cornell University.

Published in the Journal of Happiness Studies, the project also examined how subclinical autistic traits that fell below the diagnostic threshold for autismbehavioral and cognitive patterns such as poor social skills and difficulty shifting one's attentionrelated to these teens' sense of purpose in life and their overall happiness.

Each day for 70 days, the participantsteens ages 14-19were asked to rate how purposeful they felt, how satisfied they were with their life and the levels of positive and negative emotions they were feeling.

All of those in the study were participants in GripTape, a nationwide nonprofit in the U.S. that strives to instill a sense of agency in youths by providing them with the resources to pursue a 10-week Learning Challenge project of their choosing.

Applicants whose Learning Challenge proposals are accepted receive up to a $500 grant and an adult mentor who supports them in pursuing a project they are passionate about, such as starting a small business or researching higher education resources for undocumented teens, according to the study.

Melody Estevez, the research manager at GripTape, also was a co-author of the study.

At the beginning of the Learning Challenge, the study participants completed a 28-item survey that assessed their levels of subclinical autistic traits. A higher aggregate score suggested the teen had greater numbers of these traits, Ratner said.

Each day, the participants completed assessments, rating on a five-point scale how purposeful they currently felt. Ratner's team calculated the average of these daily purpose scores to determine each person's dispositional sense of purposetheir characteristic level of this traitacross the 70 days studied.

The researchers also tracked day-to-day variations in purposefulness by subtracting the teens' daily purpose score from their dispositional level of purpose.

On the daily assessments, those in the study rated how much they were feeling four positive emotionscontent, relaxed, enthusiastic or joyfuland four negative emotionsangry, anxious, sluggish or sad.

Participants' composite positive and negative emotional affect scores, along with their life satisfaction scores, were used to assess their psychological well-being.

Feeling more purposeful than usual on any single day was a unique predictor of participants' emotional well-being on those days, regardless of their dispositional level of purposefulness, the team found.

"Our findings show that no matter where you are in comparison with your peers, when you feel more purposeful than usual, you have better outcomes," Ratner said. "Purpose is accessible to everyone. What we need to do is help individuals feel more purposeful from day to day."

Ratner and her team found that the participants with greater levels of subclinical autistic traits tended to report higher levels of negative feelings, and lower levels of life satisfaction and positive feelings from day to day. However, the strength of the association between well-being and daily purpose was not moderated by these traits.

In other words, those who had more of these traits seemed to be able to reap well-being benefits at levels equal to their peers who had fewer of these traits, Ratner said. She cautioned, however, that the findings could differ for youths with known clinical diagnoses of autism.

"Our 70-day study is one of the most consistent examinations of youths' purposefulness to date and helps cement the beneficial influence it has on their well-being," Ratner said. "With the groundwork laid by this study, interventions that promote purposefulness may be viable routes to enhancing the well-being of many young people, including neurodiverse youths."

The population in the study was 70% female. Nearly 31% were Asian, 22% were African American or Black, 18% were white and 14% were Hispanic. The researchers said because the sample was not representative of the gender and racial and ethnic diversity among teens in the general U.S. population, the findings may not be generalizable.

More information: Kaylin Ratner et al, Daily Adolescent Purposefulness, Daily Subjective Well-Being, and Individual Differences in Autistic Traits, Journal of Happiness Studies (2023). DOI: 10.1007/s10902-023-00625-7 Journal information: Journal of Happiness Studies
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Representative images from two patients demonstrate the use of a radiomic signature (RS) to discriminate vulnerable plaques defined with intravascular US. (AC) Images depict a vulnerable plaque with a high RS. (A) Image from coronary CT angiography (CCTA) shows a partially calcified plaque (arrow) with RS value of 0.56 in the proximal left anterior descending artery (LAD). (B) Corresponding axial CCTA image shows the plaque with low-attenuation area (circle, 25 HU). (C) Corresponding intravascular US scan confirms the plaque as an attenuated plaque (*). (DF) Images show a nonvulnerable plaque with low RS. (D, E) CCTA images show a partially calcified plaque (arrow in D) with RS value of 0.50 in the proximal left anterior descending artery. (F) Corresponding intravascular US scan confirms the plaque as a partially calcified plaque without echo attenuation and echolucent zone. High versus low RS lesion was defined using an optimal cut-off value of 0.53 (range, 0.460.58). Credit: Radiology (2023), 10.1148/radiol.221693

Researchers are using an approach called radiomics to predict future cardiac events like heart attacks, according to a study published in Radiology. Radiomics allows researchers to extract quantitative, or measurable, data from CT images that can reveal disease characteristics not visible in the images alone.

Coronary artery disease is linked with fatty deposits of plaque that build up inside the artery walls. Large, lipid-rich plaques are vulnerable to rupture. The rupture of these plaques causes most heart attacks. However, predicting which plaques will rupture is challenging.

Researchers in China developed a radiomics model that uses information from coronary CT angiography images to assess plaque vulnerability. They developed the model in 299 patients. They then studied the approach in 708 patients with suspected coronary artery disease.

The model enabled the detection of vulnerable plaques associated with an increased risk for major adverse cardiac events like heart attacks. A high radiomic signature was independently associated with these events over a median three-year follow-up.

"The results of this study are encouraging and exciting," said study co-lead author Long Jiang Zhang, M.D., Ph.D., from the Department of Radiology at Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University in Nanjing, China. "Radiomics provided a more accurate approach to detect vulnerable plaques compared to conventional coronary CT angiography anatomical parameters."

The radiomic signature would be easy to add into clinical practice, Dr. Zhang said. In the clinic, it could assess potentially vulnerable plaques and help stratify high-risk patients.

"If the radiomics analysis is embedded into the routine CT angiography workstation, it can automatically identify vulnerable plaques for clinician review," Dr. Zhang said. "Thus, radiomics may significantly improve the accuracy and precision of high-risk plaque detection in routine clinical practice."

The researchers intend to build a radiomics model from different scanner types and vendors. They also are planning a larger, multicenter study of 10,000 patients.

"With the support of large observational studies and randomized controlled trials, the radiomics approach may help guide clinical decision-making and improve patient care in the future," Dr. Zhang said.

More information: Long Jiang Zhang et al, A Coronary CT Angiography Radiomics Model to Identify Vulnerable Plaque and Predict Cardiovascular Events, Radiology (2023). DOI: 10.1148/radiol.221693 Carlo N. De Cecco et al, Can Radiomics Help in the Identification of Vulnerable Coronary Plaque?, Radiology (2023). DOI: 10.1148/radiol.223342. pubs.rsna.org/doi/10.1148/radiol.223342 Journal information: Radiology
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Concurrent actigrams and hypnograms recorded during an in-lab video-polysomnography in participants with and without isolated RBD. The data displayed are from (A) 1 iRBD patients and (B) 1 control. The magenta line marks the probable REM sleep window (70200 minutes after estimated sleep onset). The density of twitch activity is visualized by applying a moving average filter of 61 seconds to events of isolated activity counts <0.5 in amplitude. Credit: Movement Disorders (2022). DOI: 10.1002/mds.29249

Isolated rapid-eye-movement sleep behavior disorder causes abnormal twitches during sleep and episodes of dream enactment including body movement, emotional expression, or audible verbalizations. Isolated rapid-eye-movement sleep behavior disorder is often an early symptom of neurodegenerative disorders that could affect middle-aged and older adults more than a decade later; however, accurate screening methods are currently not available to track this condition.

Researchers have now developed one of the first screening methods during sleep to detect early manifestations of Parkinson's diseaseusing a non-invasive, low-cost, remote, and scalable technology already embedded in most wearable sleep and fitness trackers known as accelerometers. Accelerometers can monitor movement and rest, and thus inform us about sleep and activity patterns with high accuracy.

The new method is described in a paper published in the journal Movement Disorders.

More than 80 study participants wore the wearable device on their wrist for at least 14 nights, and completed both a questionnaire and a sleep diary reporting any abnormal behaviors during sleep. The researchers analyzed home actigraphy data to determine the participants' movement during sleep and reviewed the nine-item questionnaire from the cohort, which included more than 40 patients with isolated rapid-eye-movement sleep behavior disorder, more than 20 patients with other sleep disorders, and more than 20 patients with no sleep disorders as controls.

The questionnaire asked participants to report experiencing any abnormal movements during sleep, or common early symptoms associated with Parkinson's disease such as loss of smell and dizziness. Using actigraphy data from the wearables, the researchers developed a framework for classification of movements and tested the approach in a machine learning model. Likewise, they also developed an approach from the questionnaire data to test on a machine learning model. Once both actigraphy and questionnaire models were developed, the researchers created a two-dimensional prediction model for isolated rapid-eye-movement sleep behavior disorder.

The actigraphy classifier analyzing movements during sleep could detect isolated rapid-eye-movement sleep behavior disorder with 92.9 percent accuracy. By comparison, all questionnaires combined achieved 91.7 percent accuracy, exceeding the performance of the Innsbruck RBD Inventory questionnaire alone (86.9 percent accuracy). Concordant predictions between actigraphy and questionnaires reached a specificity and precision of 100 percent with 88.1 percent sensitivity, and outperformed any combination of actigraphy and a single question on the questionnaire about early Parkinson's disease symptoms.

More than 1 million adults in the United States display characteristics of sleep disturbances related to Parkinson's disease that are now detectable using simple wearable wrist devices such as an Apple Watch or FitBit. This new screening method could diagnose a very common subtype of Parkinson's disease years before the conventional methods of diagnosis, which require a clinical examination by an experienced neurologist. At-risk populations could receive care and counseling sooner, and receive neuroprotective therapies before the neurodegenerative process has caused irreversible brain damage.

Mount Sinai's Dr. Emmanuel During said of the research, "We need reliable and scalable screening methods for detecting Parkinson's in order to develop effective therapies and select candidates to receive effective therapies. There is now an opportunity for the academic, pharma, and technology sectors to collaboratively partner to develop and apply this prevention screening method in the elderly population at risk for Parkinson's disease."

Researchers from Denmark Technical University and Stanford University contributed to this study. The study was conducted at Stanford Sleep Center from April to December 2021.

More information: Andreas BrinkKjaer et al, Ambulatory Detection of Isolated RapidEyeMovement Sleep Behavior Disorder Combining Actigraphy and Questionnaire, Movement Disorders (2022). DOI: 10.1002/mds.29249
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Child receives telemedicine care. Credit: UC Davis Health

Many rural and community emergency departments lack access to pediatric specialty care physicians. So, when an acutely ill child is seen in one of these facilities, they are typically transferred to regional pediatric centers for more comprehensive care.

These interfacility (or hospital-to-hospital) transfers are sometimes unnecessary. They can place a large burden on patients and their families who may be transported hours away to receive better specialized care.

New UC Davis Health research confirms that pediatric critical care telemedicine consults with clinicians in rural and community emergency departments result in significantly fewer interfacility transfers. The study was published today in the JAMA Network Open.

"This is the first randomized clinical trial assessing the impact of telemedicine consults on transfer rates compared to what is the current standard of care: telephone consultations," said lead author James Marcin, vice chair for pediatric clinical research, director of the UC Davis Center for Health and Technology and UC Davis critical care physician. Marcin's previous research has shown the association between the use of telemedicine on parent and provider satisfaction, measures of quality of care and transfer decisions in the emergency department.

More than one-half of emergency departments in the United States use telemedicine so pediatric specialists can visually assess patients and make precise recommendations in pediatric cases.

Two years, 15 emergency departments, 696 kids

In the two-year trial, 15 emergency departments in rural and community hospitals in Northern California were randomized to use telemedicine or the telephone for consults with pediatric critical care physicians.

Each site was outfitted with pole-mounted, high-resolution videoconferencing telemedicine units with pan-tilt-zoom capabilities that use the Internet for high-definition video.

The study evaluated whether a patient was transferred to UC Davis Children's Hospital following a pediatric critical care consultation. UC Davis Children's Hospital is the only pediatric referral center in the area for children with the highest acuity conditions in the region.

The study included all children ages 14 or younger who were seen at a participating emergency department with an acute medical condition that resulted in a consult with a UC Davis pediatric critical care physician. Children with acute physical trauma were not included in the study.

Telemedicine consultations involved the referring physician, bedside nurse, respiratory therapist, patient, and the patient's parents or guardians, when available. They involved the visual assessment and physician exam of the patient.

Fewer transfers with telemedicine

A total of 696 children participated in the study. The study found that 84% of patients assigned to telemedicine and 90.6% of those assigned to telephone consults were transferred to UC Davis Children's Hospital.

"We found that by using a relatively low-cost telemedicine intervention, children can be successfully evaluated, treated and either discharged or admitted locally from their rural and community hospitals," Marcin said. "Our findings are important because they demonstrate that telemedicine can support emergency department clinicians' ability to care for pediatric patients locally."

Nathan Kuppermann, Bo Tomas Brofeldt endowed chair of the UC Davis Department of Emergency Medicine and senior author of the study, said these findings are of vital importance to the health of children in the United States.

"There are not nearly sufficient numbers of pediatric emergency medicine physicians to staff even a fraction of the emergency departments in this country," Kuppermann said. "Telemedicine can help provide that expertise in real time to not only assist with clinical management, but also with disposition decisions. This includes avoiding unnecessary transfers, which allow many children to stay in their home communities."

Other study authors were Hadley Sauers-Ford, Jamie Mouzoon, Sarah Haynes, Ilana Sigal, Daniel Tancredi and Monica Lieng of UC Davis Health, and Parul Dayal of Genentech.

More information: James P. Marcin et al, Impact of Tele-Emergency Consultations on Pediatric Interfacility Transfers, JAMA Network Open (2023). DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.55770 Journal information: JAMA Network Open
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Example of Lyofoam Max T polyurethane foam dressing (Molnlycke) sutured in place. Credit: AACN Advanced Critical Care (2022). DOI: 10.4037/aacnacc2022874

A New York hospital was able to reduce the incidence of medical device-related pressure injuries (MDRPIs) following a tracheostomy to zero for four years, according to a study published in AACN Advanced Critical Care.

"Reducing Tracheostomy Medical Device-Related Pressure Injury: A Quality Improvement Project" details how NewYork-Presbyterian Westchester, Bronxville, achieved the results in its 18-bed adult intensive care unit (ICU), in part by integrating MDRPI prevention into the bedside procedure for tracheostomies that used the percutaneous dilation technique (PDT).

The intervention used evidence-based resources from the Preventing Pressure Injuries Toolkit supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

A key part of the new clinical process was a revised PDT tracheostomy procedural kit and documentation, with a polyurethane foam dressing placed under the tracheostomy flange during insertion and both secured with sutures and a flexible holder. The foam dressing remained in place for seven days, with primary care nurses assessing the site at least every 12 hours. The dressing was then changed to a standard nonwoven gauze drain sponge after seven to 10 days as clinically indicated.

The results showed that suturing a foam dressing as part of PDT tracheostomy insertion can reduce the incidence of associated MDRPIs.

The authors are Hazel Holder, DNP, MSN, RN, ACCNS-AG, CCRN, and Brittany "Ray" Gannon, Ph.D., MSN, AGPCNP-BC. Holder is a critical care clinical nurse specialist, NewYork-Presbyterian Westchester, and Gannon is a nurse scientist at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, New York City.

"When COVID-19 increased demand for health care equipment, we were able to refine our processes, transition to a revised PDT tracheostomy kit and maintain the integrity of the initiative," Holder said. "We took a multidisciplinary approach that engaged all related specialties, with surgical site assessment and any clinician concerns discussed during daily rounds."

Prior to the initiative, in 2018, the incidence of healthcare-associated pressure injuries (HAPIs) was 1.39% for all ICU patients, with tracheostomy MDRPIs accounting for 0.19% of the incidents (15 HAPIs, including two MDRPIs in 1,077 patients). However, of the two PDT tracheostomies performed, both patients experienced MDRPIs.

In 2019, the overall HAPI incidence decreased to 1.30%, with nine tracheostomies and no MDRPIs. The tracheostomy MDRPI incidence remained at zero for the next three years.

During the four years of this project, a total of 22 PDT tracheostomies were performed in the ICU, with the foam dressing placed at the point of insertion in all procedures.

The project was conducted in tandem with another unit-based program to address the overall rate of unit-acquired HAPIs, which may have contributed to increased vigilance.

More information: Hazel Holder et al, Reducing Tracheostomy Medical Device-Related Pressure Injury: A Quality Improvement Project, AACN Advanced Critical Care (2022). DOI: 10.4037/aacnacc2022874

Provided by American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN)
Missoula law enforcement is investigating a recently reported sexual assault that took place in a fraternity house this weekend, according to an alert sent to the campus community on Tuesday.

The alleged sexual assault happened in the early morning hours on Saturday at a fraternity house. The University of Montana Police Department received a report of the assault on Monday morning. Now, university police are investigating the report in conjunction with the Missoula Police Department.

The suspect is known to the survivor, according to the Clery Act alert. The suspect has not been arrested and the university hasn't taken action against them, according to Dave Kuntz, UM's director of strategic communications.

The Clery Act is a federal law requiring universities to report on-campus crime and send timely warnings if there is an ongoing threat to public safety. Those with information related to the incident can call UMPD at 406-243-6131 or the campus Title IX Office at 406-243-5710.

The UM Student Advocacy Resource Center (SARC) offers free and confidential counseling, advocacy and a 24-hour support line at 406-243-6559. Contacting SARC does not mean you are reporting a crime to Title IX or any other agency.

Additionally, the YWCA Missoula can provide resources for those experiencing domestic or sexual violence at its 24-hour crisis line at 406-542-1944 or 800-483-7858. The communitys First Step, part of the JUST Response team, is a local initiative that brings multiple agencies together to provide support for those experiencing abuse or assault. They can be reached at 406-543-7271 or by visiting 500 W. Broadway St.
A bill that would replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day failed on Tuesday.

Similar bills also failed in the 2017, 2019 and 2021 legislative sessions.

What happened?

When Sen. Shane Morigeau, D-Missoula, introduced the bill last week in the Senate Education and Cultural Resources Committee, more than 35 people  including many who traveled from tribal communities across the state  testified in support of the bill, saying it promoted unity, healing and respect. No one spoke in opposition to the bill.

Despite expressed support, the committee on Monday tabled the bill, meaning it did not pass. In the committee hearing, Sen. Daniel Emrich, R-Great Falls, said he would not support the bill, adding he doesnt like erasing history.

On Tuesday, Sen. Susan Webber, D-Browning, initiated a blast motion, which allowed the bill to reach the Senate floor for a complete vote on whether it would advance out of committee and get a second reading.

Webber said she felt the bill didnt get a full debate and spoke of the many people who traveled to testify in support of it.

They deserve to understand why the bill was tabled, she said, adding that she urged people to vote yes on the motion.

Sen. Shannon OBrien, D-Missoula, supported Webbers motion. She said there were some committee members who could not attend the hearing, and she emphasized that the bill would support everyone.

As the law sits now, it excludes people, she said.

Sen. Dan Salomon, R-Ronan, and the chair of the Senate Education and Cultural Resources Committee, spoke in opposition to the motion and blamed Morigeau for the bills failure.

(Morigeau) starts off with accusing Columbus of rape, beheading, amputations  I have never in my experience been so mad, he said, alluding to Morigeau's introduction of the bill. This was a classic, and I do mean classic, case of a bill sponsor killing his own bill. I voted to table it, and Im not voting to bring it back.

Sen. John Fuller, R-Kalispell, who also sits on the committee, also accused Morigeau of killing his own bill.

In the context of history, Christopher Columbus is one of the most important individuals in western civilization, he said.

Morigeau said he was not planning to speak on the floor, but was motivated to stand up after two senators called him out.

The committee killed the bill  not me, Morigeau said, adding that he didnt know how to have a discussion about Columbus without talking about the atrocities he committed. I was trying to merely talk about facts.

The blast motion failed to pass, with 17 senators voting yes and 33 voting no.

Our opinions arent valued

Morigeau said he was disheartened by the vote.

I just dont know how talking about history can make people upset, he said. This is factual information. If that makes people so uneasy, then why are we celebrating this holiday, if they cant even stomach conversations about (Columbus)?

Morigeau in his introduction emphasized that Indigenous Peoples Day is inclusive of everyone, as it celebrates people indigenous to any place.

People on the other side of the aisle see eliminating him ... as eliminating a white persons holiday, Morigeau said Tuesday. But we just want to be inclusive. We want this to represent everybody. I dont know how much more clear we can be that this holiday is for everyone.

Several young people  including students from the De La Salle Blackfeet School in Browning  spoke in support of the bill last week. Morigeau said the move to kill the bill sends a chilling message to Native youth.

It says our lives dont matter, he said. Our lives arent equal. Our opinions arent valued.
Two UM law students helped a Billings man get released from custody in a wrongful conviction case spearheaded by the Montana Innocence Project (MTIP).

Bernard Pease was found guilty in a Billings 1983 murder case. He was granted parole last fall. Annabelle Smith and Brandy Keesee, current students at the University of Montana Alexander Blewett III School of Law, played a critical role in getting Pease released on parole as part of their course work.

Smith and Keesee spent the fall preparing for Peases parole hearing, where attorneys worked to prove to the parole board that Pease is wanted in the community and doesnt pose a public safety risk. They spoke with family, contacted jail staff and researched letters written in the 1980s and 1990s.

We were tracking down corrections officers who wrote letters of recommendation back in 1987, and people like that, which is hard, Smith said. She was amazed at how well jail staff still remembered Pease.

Bernard still stood out and they were like, Oh my gosh, I do remember him, he was fabulous to work with and he was always kind and considerate, she recalled.

They also talked with Peases family, which Keesee said was the most eye-opening part of the case for her. Hearing from Peases loved ones about how much they missed him was beneficial in the parole meeting, she added.

Incarcerated people are the most isolated, Keesee said. And I think that really came to light in Bernards case because the connections are just so lost over time.

Wrongful conviction cases are complicated and involve a heavy amount of legwork. Keesee and Smith faced barriers in their preparations for Peases parole hearing, including phone numbers no longer in service, emails that went undelivered and mailed letters returned undeliverable.

Pease was released in January and is awaiting full exoneration. DNA testing, which wasnt available when Pease was found guilty in 1984, played a key role in getting his conviction overturned.

We have been reviewing Mr. Peases case since 2008 and in 2019 we determined Mr. Pease had a viable claim of innocence under law, MTIP Legal Director Caiti Carpenter said in a press release. After tracking down and assessing thousands of files and considering evidence for retesting we filed a petition to test for DNA.

Keesee and Smith welcomed the news of Peases release, and it galvanized them to keep working on his case.

Now we're like, really strapping our boots on and buckling down for the actual exoneration, Smith said.

Both women said they see themselves doing wrongful conviction work in some capacity after graduating.

Keesee said work similar to what she did in Peases case is exactly what she wants to be doing, and that she came into law school wanting to work with the Innocence Project organization. Smith just accepted a postgraduate job offer.

One thing that I've always wanted to make sure I do with my legal education is make sure that justice is accessible, Smith said. Whatever that means to people, whether it be in a criminal realm or the civil realm, just making sure that people can access this fundamental part of our society.
Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani) said it has joined forces with shipping giant Bahri for the launch of a new freight service connecting Europe and Asia via Jeddah Islamic Port.

Besides increasing Bahris shipping network coverage and bolstering international supply chains, the new route is set to expand and empower the kingdoms maritime connectivity while consolidating its leadership as a global logistics hub, as directed in the vision set out by the National Transport and Logistics Strategy (NTLS).

Vessels on the new service will set sail from the ports of Bremerhaven, Antwerp, and Montoir, in Europe, before calling at Jeddah enroute to the Indian port of Ennore and the Chinese ports of Taicang and Shanghai. said the statement from Mawani.

The kingdoms busiest port Jeddah is set to welcome the routes first ship in early February.

Mawani and Bahri had last year sealed an agreement to build a 95,436 sq m world-class logistics park as part of the national maritime regulators drive to partner with major names in the industry to increase the footprint of purpose-built logistics facilities across the kingdom to 30.-TradeArabia News Service
More than a day after fire destroyed the historic Graves Hotel, the scent of smoldering sandstone, furniture and equipment still filled the air of Harlowton.

Onlookers approached the site, taped-off by the Wheatland County Sheriffs Department, to take pictures, share stories and lament the towns terrible loss.

Its just devastating, Graves Hotel waitress Marilyn Fake said. I cried all day and night yesterday.

The fire was discovered at around 4:30 a.m. Sunday. The county volunteer fire department, with assistance from the Two Dot, Judith Gap and Big Timber fire departments, contained damage to only the hotel and extinguished the fire by 9 a.m.

There were no guests in the hotel at the time. Four employees and two dogs were able to escape the hotel without sustaining any injuries.

Owners Jeff Samuelson and Cole Uhden have not made themselves available to news media since the fire. Fake, acting as a temporary spokesperson for the business, said theyve filed a claim with their insurance agent and are waiting until the investigation concludes before commenting publicly.

While no one was injured, Fake said Samuelson and Uhden were living in an apartment on the hotels third floor and lost nearly all of their possessions. A charitable bank account was opened Monday and is currently accepting donations.

They came out in their socks and sandals, she said. They lost everything.

An investigation is currently underway into the cause of the fire and is being conducted by the Wheatland Sheriffs Department and the state fire marshals office. Frank added that a federal investigation will also be conducted in the upcoming weeks because the property was registered as a national historic landmark.

The fire is believed to have started from inside the building, but deputy state fire marshal Ron Martin declined to comment further on the investigation so early in the process.

Its hard to speculate at this time, he said.

Sunday morning, local residents came out to view the scene for themselves and prepare for potential evacuations elsewhere due to high winds and fire embers being reported earlier by the sheriffs department.

Charlotte Hall has lived in town for 38 years and said the structure of the burning hotel began to fall by the time most people first saw it.

By 5:30, it was just engulfed, she said.

The Graves Hotel was built in 1909 as Harlowtons first sandstone building. Ironically, it was among the first to open following a massive fire that destroyed a large part of the towns business district in 1907. Throughout its 114-year history, the building has been restored and renovated and became a popular attraction for visitors who have included regulars like actor Kevin Costner. In 1980, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

It is also the latest structure along Central Avenue South in the town to be damaged or lost to a fire in recent years. In 2012, the State Theater burned.

The loss comes at a time when the hotel was beginning to book reservations for visitors for the spring and summer seasons. When it wasnt accommodating guests, the building also often served as a hub for local events like public holiday celebrations and as the backdrop for the annual Harlo Music Project festival. During the cold winter months, the hotel also provided temporary shelter to those without homes or adequate heating.

This was a mainstay of the community, Hall said.
The beleaguered St. Marys-Milk River Irrigation Project would get a $53 million injection from Montanas $2.5 billion budget surplus, under a proposal that won bipartisan support in a budget committee Tuesday.

The recommended change to House Bill 6 secured a 5-1 vote from the appropriations subcommittee focused on infrastructure. It is nonbinding and will need a vote from the full House Appropriations Committee to actually get added to the legislation.

The irrigation system needs $200 million in repairs. A critical piece of the projects infrastructure failed in 2020. U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Montana, helped secure $100 million in federal funding to replace a diversion dam crucial to the project.

Sen. Mike Lang, R-Malta, brought the amendment to use $53 million from the general fund to replace siphons that carry water across a pair of coulees on the Hi-Line. He argued the work is needed to prevent another catastrophe, should a similar infrastructure failure should occur when the reservoirs are full.

If it breaks when theres water in there, youre gonna have erosion like you wouldnt believe, Lang said in an interview.

Despite the bipartisan support, the lone dissenting vote was one of the top two Republicans in the Legislature, House Speaker Matt Regier.

My thought process was its a lot of money, and we are spending the surplus over and over again, Regier, of Kalispell, said after the committee meeting, referring to billions of dollars in competing spending proposals moving through the Legislature.

State tax revenues over the past two years have far exceeded projections, due in large part to heavy federal spending in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Republicans, who control both the Legislature and the governors office, have advanced a spending package that, if passed in its current form, would erase $1 billion of that surplus.

And other proposals that have the backing of the governors office and at least some of the legislative leadership would carve out hundreds of millions more for other programs and funds.

The joint infrastructure committee also voted to recommend several other amendments on bills that appropriate money for everything from dams and bridges to cultural and historic preservation projects.

On a 5-1 vote, the committee recommended a $1 million increase to House Bill 12, which funds the Historic Preservation Grant Program. Half of that money would go toward completion of the Blackfeet Heritage Center.

By a unanimous vote, the committee concurred with a request by Rep. John Fitzpatrick, R-Anaconda, to amend to House Bill 11, which lays out funding for the Montana Coal Endowment Program. The amendment would add another $3 million for regional water systems, to reflect higher-than-expected revenues for regional water systems.

The committee also green-lighted Fitzpatricks request to add $100,000 to House Bill 6, which appropriates money for the $115 million renewable resource grant program. It would fund water and wastewater infrastructure for a workforce housing collaboration between the state and the city of Anaconda.

Fitzpatrick said hes been working with the governors office to bring more affordable housing to the city as part of an effort to solve workforce shortages in the nearby prison and state hospital.
A bill to eliminate a state law that put strict rules on what could be labeled a Montana huckleberry product and required producers to file the location of their patches with the state Department of Agriculture looks poised to pass the Legislature.

House Bill 94, from Rep. Paul Green, R-Hardin, passed a second reading in the Senate on a 33-15 vote with all Republicans voting for it and one Republican joining all Democrats against it. It faces a final vote before heading to the governor's desk.

Sen. Dan Salomon, R-Ronan, carried the bill in the Senate and said Monday it came at request of of the Department of Agriculture.

The bill is part of the Gianforte administration's red tape reduction package of more than 160 bills moving through the session. Salomon said since the law was established in 2007 it has never been used.

"Quite frankly there's probably not one person in this state who's going to report where their huckleberry patch is," Salomon said on the Senate floor.

But Sen. Shane Morigeau, D-Missoula, said he was concerned because the bill removes any requirement of reporting patches, which would make it impossible for the state to keep track of if harvesters are damaging patches when picking berries. Wild huckleberries only grow in very specific areas and are not transplantable.

"I think folks saw people coming into the state, picking our huckleberries as fast as they possibly can, selling them and disappearing, and we're the ones who are going to be left with no huckleberries in the long run," Morigeau said.

Sen. Andrea Olsen, D-Missoula, raised concerns that the bill would mean people could label anything as a Montana huckleberry product without having to prove the berries came from the Big Sky State.

In response to Olsen, Sen. Mike Lang, R-Malta and chair of the Senate Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation Committee, pointed out the bill has never been used.
Theres been a lot of talk across Montana since the 2020 election about fraud in our electoral process, but despite searching hard for evidence of corrupt practices or behaviors, lawmakers havent been able to find much evidence of malfeasance.

Instead of looking in county courthouses and precinct ballot boxes, they should look within the halls of the legislature and governors office for the most brazen attempt to steal an election since Montanas Copper Collar era. Its the attempt to thwart the will of Montana voters and redirect revenue from the 2020 ballot initiative that legalized sale of recreational cannabis.

The latest electoral theft could happen in broad daylight this Thursday, at 3 p.m., as the House Appropriations Committee considers House Bill 462. The bill, sponsored by Clancy Republican Marta Bertoglio, would overturn voters decision to earmark a portion of marijuana tax revenue for habitat and outdoor recreation. The bill mirrors Gov. Gianfortes budget, in which he proposes to eliminate voter-approved funding for Habitat Montana, the states most successful conservation program.

I have two beefs with this attempt to undermine the voters will. The first is philosophical. Ballot Initiative 190 passed with 57% approval in an election that saw Montana vote overwhelmingly for President Trump and Republican state legislators. The passage of I-190 was interpreted as a referendum on individual rights but it was also pitched to voters as a creative way to acquire wildlife habitat in the state.

According to terms of the initiative, 20% of marijuana-tax revenue would be earmarked for conservation, adding pot-tax receipts to the Habitat Montana fund. The attempt by Gianforte and the Republican legislative supermajority to redirect that revenue without returning the question to voters strikes me as the epitome of we-know-best big government. It can also be defined as election fraud.

But my bigger concern is the misguided desire to starve the most successful engine for conservation funding in the history of Montana. Habitat Montana was created by the state Legislature in 1987 as a mechanism to either purchase or place conservation easements on critical wildlife habitat. Fueled mainly by non-resident hunting licenses, Habitat Montana generates around $6 million a year and has been used to conserve vital winter range for big-game herds, to guarantee recreational access in fast-growing Western valleys, and to provide perpetual habitat and access on working ranches across the state through conservation easements. In my part of Northeastern Montana, conservation easements funded by Habitat Montana have been a valuable tool to keep hard-working ranchers on their land while also guaranteeing recreational access forever.

Most recently, Habitat Montana funded last years purchase of the 5,700-acre Big Snowy Mountains Wildlife Management Area north of Billings. The purchase conserves critical wildlife habitat, but more significantly, opens hunting access to more than 100,000 acres of elk-rich country in the Big Snowy Mountains. Gianforte himself touted the purchase in remarks to the shooting and hunting industry last month in Las Vegas.

In Montana, recreation in many cases is about access, he told fellow Western governors. We have been using conservation easements and partnerships to open access to thousands of acres of federal land. Gianforte later cited his administrations work on the Lower Yellowstone River as an example of using land acquisitions to boost local economies by improving recreational access.

Hes exactly right. Just as Montanas voters were right to broaden the funding base of Habitat Montana with marijuana taxes. Given the unprecedented growth of the human population in Montana, skyrocketing real estate prices, and increasing pressure on our limited and fragile wildlife habitats, we need more conservation funding, not less. I-190 was  and is  a genius way to future-proof our most critical landscapes.

Any Montanan who cares about open spaces, resilient wildlife habitats, and recreational access  along with election integrity  should oppose any attempt to misdirect the will of the voters. The House Appropriations Committee will hear HB 462 at 3 p.m. on Thursday.
The claim: Australian court banned Moderna and Pfizer vaccines for children

A Dec. 28 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) claims the Australian High Court recently made a significant ruling related to COVID-19 vaccines.

"We won the high court case against ATAGI and TGA Today and Moderna and Pfizer will no longer be available to children 0-6 and up!" reads the post. "The government have (sic) started to remove  RECALL  all covid vaccines from the Australian market as they are not safe or effective in the prevention of Covid-19."

The post garnered 90 shares in three weeks. Similar versions of the claim have been shared on Facebook.

Follow us on Facebook! Like our page to get updates throughout the day on our latest debunks

Our rating: False

The COVID-19 vaccines are still available for children in Australia, the Department of Health confirms. The High Court is still reviewing the case in question and has not made a ruling. The Federal Court of Australia previously dismissed a case filed by the same group seeking to repeal approval of the Pfizer vaccine for children 5 to 11 years old.

The High Court has not made a ruling yet

Ben Wickham, a spokesperson for the High Court, told USA TODAY in an email that the online claims were likely referring to the case, "Parry v Secretary, Department of Health.

This case was submitted by an anti-vaccine group called the Australian Vaccination-risks Network against Brendan Murphy, secretary of Australia's Department of Health, according to a press release published by the group.

The group is challenging Murphy's approval of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for children between the ages of 6 months and 6 years, according to the press release.

Fact check: Catastrophic Contagion tested pandemic preparedness in 2022, wasn't a prediction

Wickham told USA TODAY the case is still in its early stages of review, and the High Court has not yet made a decision. The court may hear the case or dismiss it without a hearing.

Story continues

Jason Donohoe, a Department of Health spokesperson, also told USA TODAY in an email that the High Court has not yet decided on the case.

In March of last year, the same group submitted a similar case to the Federal Court of Australia in which they sought to repeal the approval of the Pfizer vaccine for children 5 to 11 years old. That case was dismissed.

COVID-19 vaccines are still available for children in Australia

Donohoe told USA TODAY the Australian government still recommends getting the Moderna vaccine, though it is now being replaced by the new bivalent COVID-19 vaccine.

"Children aged 6 months to under 5 years who have an increased risk of getting very sick from COVID-19 will still be able to access the Moderna Spikevax pediatric COVID-19 vaccine as part of a primary schedule until May 2023," Donohoe said. "The Pfizer vaccines remain available for people under 18 years of age  for primary courses and boosters."

Fact check: Post falsely claims doctor tweeted she does not regret vaccine, even if it kills her

The Australian Department of Health website confirms the availability of COVID-19 vaccines for children under the age of 6 in specific cases.

"COVID-19 vaccination is recommended for children aged 6 months to under 5 years with severe immunocompromise, disability and those who have complex and/or multiple health conditions that increase the risk of severe COVID-19," the website says.

There is no mention of any recall for any of the COVID-19 vaccines on the website.

USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the post for comment.

AFP has debunked this claim as well.

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: No, Australia hasn't banned COVID-19 vaccines for children
A local young professionals organization held its first event of 2023 on Thursday to give local professionals under 40 an opportunity to socialize, network and learn about a new opportunity for community engagement.

Held upstairs at the Grind Cafe, the February social was sponsored by Burke County Emerging Leaders, a collaborative effort between Burke County United Way and the Burke County Chamber of Commerce. The goal of Emerging Leaders is to create opportunities for enriching professional development, networking and community engagement for young leaders in the county, according to the organizations website. To accomplish this, the organization facilitates regular networking events, volunteering opportunities and leadership training.

Thursdays event was a combination of all three with food and beverages provided by FATZ Cafe, Fonta Flora Brewery and The Olive of Morganton and a brief presentation by Alan Wood, president and CEO of Burke Development Inc. Wood spoke on The Community Mentor Program, part of the Opt-In Internships launched last year to provide graduating high school students with no plans for school or work a summer internship with a Burke County employer and the opportunity for full-time work after the summer is over.

Opt-in was launched last year as a collaborative effort between BDI, Work in Burke, The Industrial Commons, Burke County Public Schools, Western Piedmont Community College and nine Burke County businesses.

Theres really not anything like it that were aware of in North Carolina, Wood said. There are other programs, but  to get this level of cooperation between business, industry, school system, community college and community leaders is pretty heady stuff.

As part of the program, Opt-in participants are given a community mentor to help them transition from life as a high school student to life as an employed adult.

They answer questions for them about having your first job or having a job  just questions about work or even life in general, Wood said. I have stayed in touch with mine going on almost a year now. I find it to be very refreshing.

Wood said he hopes to draw members of the group into the program because the goal is to accommodate 50 students with mentors this summer.

We dont know right now exactly how many were going to need, he said. Our goal is for at least 50 students to be included so if we hit that goal, well need 50 mentors.

For more information about Burke County Emerging Leaders and upcoming events, visit www.burkeemergingleaders.com.

Burke County Emerging Leaders is open to all young professionals aged 21-40. There are no membership fees.
A column by North Carolina writer D.G. Martin appeared in various newspapers a few weeks ago talking about books and movies. His main question regarded why there are not more movies made in North Carolina about books set in the state. It was a nice read. One thing he wrote really struck home, The relationship with the book is personal and special  the relationship we have with a movie is more distanced from that.

Maybe he is right. Either way, I thought it was a beautiful statement. It reminded me of some great books, the movies made from them, and a few movies I would like to see filmed from the reading I enjoy.

It is about time to have a serious movie made from the various autobiographies of Frederick Douglass. As an escaped slave, abolitionist, speaker, activist, and civil servant, he changed a lot of perceptions about the way all of us should live. I would like to see the moment captured on film when he is speaking to President Lincoln about allowing African Americans to fight in the Civil War, or when he honored Lincoln with a speech at the Illinois State House. There are many other moments to see, too. David Blight has written an amazing biography of the man, but my first reading about him came from Margaret Davidson. Her Frederick Douglass Fights for Freedom is one of the first books I ever read. Published in 1968, I must have received a copy when I was 8 or 9. Like John Adams, I write in my books. So, I wrote a little note to myself as a boy on the inside front cover, This story is a great, inspiring and somewhat sad story of a boy of slavery. When you read this book, you might want to do further research on the character. I found the book a few years ago, and it rests in my classroom today.

A few years back, I was reading Stephen Ambroses history of the D-Day invasion. I happened to be reading it when the movie Saving Private Ryan appeared in theaters. When the movie began, I started to cry. Ambrose became an adviser on the film after interviewing thousands of men who served in the Second World War. Reading the book gave me a more intense view of the conflict than the film  a reminder we never fully know what soldiers go through. Both the book and the movie reveal so much about why June 6, 1944, is truly a day of days.

Willie Morris is a great writer. His many books are wholesome and complicated. A movie based on his book set during the Korean War would be great. Taps is a wonderful book about a boy who renders honor to the men in his hometown who have sacrificed in the war. It is a novel of growing up amid local and national things, but also a memoir of love and loss. Morriss writing taps into almost all the themes we experience in our lives. The writer of My Dog Skip really hammers home some life lessons through the book.

Years after reading We Were Soldiers Once and Young, I am still drawn to the book. Mel Gibsons portrayal of Col. Hal Moores leadership during the first official ground action in Vietnam is vivid and honest. As true of most books turned into movies, the book is so much more revealing. Joe Galloways writing, along with Moores, is a vivid retelling of the first battles in the Ia Drang Valley. After watching the movie in the theater, the place was silent as the names of the men who died there were flashed on the screen. Ill never forget the moment.

A lot of the books we pick to read end up driving our own stories. We remember where we were when we began a book or finished it. Some of us write down famous phrases to use later, identifying with the characters in the sweeping arcs of their own stories. We are similar in the way our own lives rise and fall. We read to be inspired, to learn, and to recover the great imagination in our own lives, but also to be comforted.

My father says my life might look like the movie Mr. Hollands Opus. Realistically, I am not as good of a teacher as Richard Dreyfuss plays in the film, but it is an inspiring one. My favorite movie is The Emperors Club about another teacher. Like books, movies can provide a lot of strength.

Yes, there should be more movies made in North Carolina from and about books set in our area. The state is a great place to live.

There is nothing like sitting on a porch at any time of the day with a mug of something and a great read to entertain oneself.

Reading is a help in so many ways.
DILLON  At around 7 a.m. Monday morning, the Beaverhead County Dispatch Center was advised to be on the lookout for a woman who had fled Utah with her four non-custodial children.

Officials were told that the woman was armed with firearms and had threatened harm if confronted. Police from Cedar City, Utah, were tracking her cell phone, which showed her last location to be south of the Clark Canyon Dam.

Beaverhead deputies, along with Montana Highway Patrol troopers, rushed to the scene but were unable to locate her due to the information being hours delayed.

Updated details were relayed around 4 p.m., with included a suspected location, type of vehicle, information on a U-Haul rented by one of the suspects, along with a license plate.

A team of personnel from the Beaverhead County Sheriffs Office, Dillon Police Department, and Montana Highway Patrol began to look for the vehicle. Officers located a 26-foot U-Haul traveling north on I-15 and it was safely stopped just south of Dillon. One male suspect was taken into custody without incident, and one of the four missing children was safely recovered.

After further interviews and investigation, it was discovered that the non-custodial mother and the three remaining children were at a Missoula hotel, along with a 16-year-old male who was allegedly assisting her.

Deputies worked with the Missoula County Police, which led to locating the woman and children. After nearly four hours, Missoula police were able to safely make entry into the hotel room and arrest the female suspect and safely recover the remaining missing children.

All the children were safely returned to their parents and the suspects are awaiting transport back to Utah.
Butte police reports

Eluding police

A call came in Thursday afternoon that a man was sleeping in a car parked at SheBrews, 1759 S. Montana St.

When an officer arrived to investigate, Andrew Michael Baudour, 35, of Salinas, California, was asleep in the drivers seat with a pipe in his hand. When the officer knocked on the window, Baudour reportedly woke up, put the car in gear and drove south on Montana Street.

The driver pulled into Jeffery Contracting at 1901 S. Franklin St., and allegedly struck a vehicle. Employees then closed the gate and Baudour took off on foot, ran across I-15 and continued running. An officer caught up to him and he was arrested for the felony offenses of possession of dangerous drugs (suspected methamphetamine and fentanyl) and criminal endangerment, and the miscellaneous offenses of eluding police and possessing drug paraphernalia.

Stuck in snowbank

A Deer Lodge woman driving a Hyundai Sonata late Thursday afternoon got stuck in a snowbank near McGruff Park.

An officer stopped to help and soon realized Sharla Rae Holmes, 55, seemed to be intoxicated. She was arrested and taken to jail for the misdemeanor offenses of driving under the influence and having an open container in the vehicle.

Stolen car

Last Thursday morning, there was a two-vehicle accident near the intersection of Front and Main streets.

Turns out one of the cars in the accident had been reported stolen and its driver, Carl Alvin Beebe Jr., 37, of Butte, was arrested for felony buying or possessing stolen property.

MHP arrest

A Montana Highway Patrol trooper arrested Kylla Louise Bowser, 34, of Butte, last Wednesday night near the intersection of Texas Avenue and Walnut Street for felony driving under the influence (child endangerment), and the miscellaneous offenses of driving under the influence, no vehicle insurance, and driving with a suspended or revoked drivers license.

Wanted persons

Summer Lee Hughes, 45, homeless, was arrested late Saturday afternoon in the 2000 block of Dewey Boulevard. Hughes had a felony parole violation warrant out for his arrest.

Late Thursday afternoon, officers were out on Wolf Trail on an unrelated issue and came upon Brad James DeShazo, 43, of Butte, who had warrants out for his arrest for felony aggravated burglary and felony partner or family member assault (strangulation) and the misdemeanor offense of partner or family member assault. He was taken to jail.

Late Thursday night, officers saw Michael Thomas Pray-Davis, 36, of Butte, at the Town Pump in Rocker. They knew he had misdemeanor warrants out for his arrest for stalking and criminal trespass to property. He was taken to jail.

Two Butte residents, Tyson William Clay, 35, and Sara Marie Miller, 35, were booked into the jail early Thursday afternoon. Both had felony and misdemeanor warrants out for their arrest out of Lewis and Clark County.

Woman assaulted

Officers arrived in the 1500 block of Longfellow Street Thursday afternoon to investigate a disturbance. A woman told officers that Richard Douglas Montgomery, 29, of Butte, had put his hands around her throat and restricted her air flow.

Montgomery was arrested Thursday afternoon for felony partner or family member assault (strangulation).

Recent reports

A window was broken at the Piccadilly Museum, 20 W. Broadway St.

Two kids were wrestling at East Middle School, 2600 Grand Ave., and knocked over a computer monitor. They were cited for criminal mischief.

A bag of suspected methamphetamine was found by security at SCL Health, 400 S. Clark St. The bag was turned over to the police.

A license plate was stolen from a motor vehicle parked in the 1900 block of Howard Street.

A cell phone was stolen from a truck parked in the 1500 block of South Warren Avenue.

Someone cut an extension cord from a car parked in the 3700 block of Harrison Avenue.

A man living in the 800 block of Lewisohn Street was using a hot glue gun while working on some cabinets in his camp trailer. He went into his house for a couple of minutes and when he returned, smoke was coming from the trailer, which was quickly engulfed in flames. No one was hurt.

A laptop was stolen from a car parked at The Depot, 818 S. Arizona St.

License plates were stolen from a car parked in the 600 block of South Washington Street.

Two 9mm pistols were reported stolen from a residence on Corto Road.

While standing atop the Park Street parking garage, some teens were reportedly throwing snowballs at the cars and people below. When officers arrived, the teens had already headed away.

A trucks window was broken while parked in the 400 block of South Main Street

A man reported that the grille of his truck was damaged while parked outside Unos, 3235 Harrison Ave.

A window at the Butte Plaza Mall, 3100 Harrison Ave., was damaged with a pellet gun.
Fertiglobe, the strategic partnership between Adnoc and OCI, the worlds largest seaborne exporter of urea and ammonia combined, today reported that its full year 2022 revenue increased to $5 billion or by 52% compared to 2021, while adjusted EBITDA was up 59% to $2.5 billion, and adjusted net profit increased 75% to $1.3 billion.

The largest nitrogen fertilizer producer in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region reported that its Q4 2022 revenues declined 11% year-on-year to $1.1 billion, while adjusted EBITDA was 27% lower at $472 million, driven by lower urea prices and plant turnarounds in the UAE and Egypt during the quarter.

Fertiglobe said its competitive position on the global cost curve enables it to remain committed to its dividend policy of distributing excess free cash flow after providing for growth opportunities and maintaining investment grade credit parameters. The company announced H2 2022 dividends of $700 million, payable in April 2023, bringing total dividends for the full year period to $1.45 billion.

Ahmed El-Hoshy, Chief Executive Officer of Fertiglobe, commented: We are delighted to have delivered very strong results in our first full year as a listed company, with 52% revenue growth and a 59% increase in adjusted EBITDA. We continue to bear the fruits of our centralized commercial strategy and focus on operational excellence, as well as our sustainability-focused projects and initiatives. We have successfully and safely completed several turnarounds across our plants in 2022, including in Q4 in the UAE and Egypt, and do not have further turnarounds planned at these facilities in 2023. We have a good order book going into the first quarter of 2023, and our disciplined commercial strategy and distribution capabilities allow us to manage inventories close to main demand centres, placing us well to serve key import markets.

While the last few months have seen weaker nitrogen pricing globally, market fundamentals continue to remain healthy in the medium to longer term, underpinned by tight supply, healthy farm economics and decades-low grain stocks globally, with another boost to affordability from the lower nitrogen prices. This gives strong incentives to apply nitrogen fertilizers. Moreover, there is no new greenfield urea supply starting up in 2023, and after that we see very few new additions until at least 2026. We expect demand upside for our industrial business, supportive of ammonia primarily, driven by a recovery in China, lower energy prices supporting global industrial demand, and an improving outlook for global growth.

As part of our commercial and sustainability efforts, we have sent trial shipments of Diesel Exhaust Fuel from Egypt to Europe in Q4 2022 and early 2023, demonstrating our versatility and capacity to diversify our product offering, and we expect to make more trial shipments over the course of 2023. We have continued to deliver on our hydrogen strategy while targeting investments significantly below replacement cost. We started the commissioning of the first phase of Egypt Green Hydrogen in Ain Sokhna, during COP27 in November 2022. Once at full scale, the project will deliver up to 15,000 tons of green hydrogen as feedstock for production of up to 90,000 tons of green ammonia. We are currently evaluating the engineering and technology choices for the full-scale 100 MW electrolyzer plant, which will leverage our existing ammonia production and global distribution infrastructure.

Fertiglobe made progress with the TAZIZ 1 million ton low-carbon ammonia project in the UAE, in partnership with GS Energy Corporation and Mitsui & Co., Ltd., announcing the signing of the Shareholders' Agreement in January 2023, and signing the EPC contract with Tecnimont S.p.A on behalf of the project. The project will be financed by a mix of debt and equity. As we progress tangible initiatives ahead of COP28 in the UAE, these projects allow us to demonstrate our commitment to taking concrete actions to meet the increasing demand for large-scale low-carbon hydrogen and ammonia and reduce the carbon footprint of both our operations and of hard-to-abate sectors in our value chain.

I would like to extend my thanks to the entire Fertiglobe team for delivering strong results in 2022, with a consistent focus on safety, performance and excellence.

Healthy medium term market fundaments despite short term volatility

The company further said that despite lower nitrogen pricing recently, the medium-term fundamentals remain supportive. Nitrogen demand is expected to recover to support rebuilding of global grain stocks with global grain stock-to-use ratios at their lowest levels in 20 years. Forward grain prices are supportive of farm incomes and incentivising increased planted acreage and nitrogen demand to help rebuild these grain stocks. As a result, global demand is expected to be above trend levels at least until 2025, driven by multiple factors ranging from higher demand in major import countries to favorable farm economics.

Outlook for the fundamentals of Fertiglobes nitrogen end markets is also supported by tight nitrogen supply, which is expected to be structurally tighter until 2027. Separately, feedstock pricing is expected to remain volatile in the short-term given weather and regulatory intervention but is expected to remain well above historical averages with 2024 and 2025 forward gas prices remaining stable despite recent spot price volatility.

Dividends and capital structure

Fertiglobes dividend policy is to substantially pay out all excess free cash flows after providing for growth opportunities, while maintaining investment grade credit ratings (S&P: BBB-, Moodys: Baa3, Fitch: BBB-; all with stable outlooks). Management announces H2 2022 dividends in line with previous guidance, at $700 million or the equivalent of AED 0.31 per share, payable in April 2023. During calendar year 2022, Fertiglobe paid cash dividends of $1.1 billion.

Strong earnings and cash generation during the year resulted in a net cash position of $287 million as of 31 December 2022 (0.1x net cash / adjusted EBITDA), compared to net debt of $487 million as at 31 December 2021 (0.3x net debt / adjusted EBITDA), supporting future growth opportunities and an attractive dividend pay-out.

On 22 December 2022, Fertiglobe refinanced its existing bridge loan facility with a new three-year facility amounting to $300 million with margin of 1.5% and a new five-year facility amounting to $600 million with a margin of 1.75%. In addition, the company increased the capacity of its existing Revolving Credit Facility (RCF) by $300 million to reach $600 million and extended the maturity to December 2027 (from August 2026), providing ample liquidity.--TradeArabia News Service
DEER LODGE  Powell County commissioners recently passed a resolution to sell the former hospital in Deer Lodge in an auction at 11 a.m. Wednesday, March 8, in the courthouse at 409 Missouri Ave.

The old hospital, a separate ambulance barn and a helipad on 2.755 acres at the corner of Texas Avenue and Carter Street were recently reappraised at $108,000. A buyer will have 60 days to close on the purchase.

Commissioner Dan Sager said there will be no restriction on what the new owner can do with the buildings  refurbish or demolish  with the exception of complying with city zoning.

The hospital was built in 1964, with additions in 1976, 1986 and 2000. In 2000, a $2.9 million investment included building a new clinic attached to the hospital, replacement of windows and a new roof. The single-story, 27,000-square-foot structure included a 19-bed acute care facility, a 16-bed long term care center, a medical clinic and an emergency room.

Because the building construction was financed with federal rural development bonds, covenant restrictions required that the building be sold or leased to a nonprofit organization, government agency or a consortium under the umbrella of one management entity. That restriction expired in 2017. An appraisal of the site at commissioners request came in at $330,000. An auction was held five years ago, but there were no bidders.

The building has not been used to a large extent since the hospital moved to the new Deer Lodge Medical Center in September 2011. The Council on Aging has used a small portion of it for storage of food, boxes, tables, etc., which are being moved to another location. Occasionally, the old hospital was used for other activities such as the recent first responder training, etc.

Since the hospital was vacated, commissioners have kept the building maintained, heated and with running water. Custodian Dave Moore said he has repaired any leaks that occurred, the toilets flush, and he replaced the fresh water valve last year.

Everything works, Sager said, but it is expensive to continue to keep it heated and functional. But when we were going to tear it down, we got a lot of interest from people who did not want it demolished. So we had it reappraised and are going to put it up for sale again.

County Planner Amanda Cooley said Brownfield funds are available to do a review of asbestos on the property. The analysis is currently in phase one, but there's no contractor yet, she said.

Ken Beck asked if the waste could be taken to the landfill after demolition. Sager replied that would be a decision the landfill board would make; they meet on the first Tuesday of each month. He said if they approve, the materials will need to be separated  wood, steel, concrete, roofing, etc.

For more information, contact the county commissioners at 406-846-9788, County Attorney Kathryn McEnery at 406-746-9790 or County Planner Amanda Cooley at 406-846-9795.
A woman told jurors Monday that a Butte man raped her after a small party at his house in Butte in September 2018. They were both 19 at the time.

The woman says she had been drinking some but suddenly felt really messed up and tired after having half a beer that Tracer Lee Croy gave her. She says she had lain down in his bed and he had sex without her consent.

I repeatedly told myself to move but I couldnt move, she said.

Croy, now 23, is being tried for sexual intercourse without consent, a felony that carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence in this case. A jury of seven women and five men is hearing the case, with District Judge Kurt Krueger presiding.

The Montana Standard is not naming the woman to protect potential victims of sexual assault. The trial could last into Thursday.

During opening arguments Monday, defense attorney Ashley Whipple said the woman gave different versions of events that night during separate police interviews and her client was innocent.

Once this case is submitted to you, once these facts have been brought out on cross-examination, youre only going to see one victim in this courtroom, and that is that young man seated right there, Tracer Croy, Whipple said.

Prosecutors say the rape occurred in the early morning hours of Sept. 13, 2018  more than four years ago. The investigation and getting DNA results took a long time so charges werent filed until September 2020, they say, and it has taken more than two years since then for the case to go to trial.

The alleged victim told jurors that she and a friend were in Deer Lodge and decided to go to party at Croys house that night. Croy and three others were there and she drank about five White Claws, an alcohol seltzer drink with about as much alcohol content as a regular beer.

She said she also drank one beer outside and two cups of a mixed-drink but was still alert until she drank half a beer that Croy kept pushing on her. She suddenly didnt feel well, she said, and went to lie down on Croys bed.

He was lying on the other side so she says she took a spot as far toward the opposite edge as possible.

I was trying not to give him any signals that I wanted sex because I didnt, she said.

But she says he took her pants off and started having sex with her and she froze, meaning she could feel but couldnt move her limbs, including one arm that was above her head.

She said she was finally able to speak, telling Croy to go get her friend. He left the bedroom and returned, said he could not wake up the friend, and resumed having sex with her, she said.

She said she eventually managed to yell for her friend, who came into the room. The alleged victim said she punched Croy on the way out and she and her friend left, getting back to Deer Lodge around 3 a.m.

Croy sent her a text via social media the next day saying he had blacked out and wanted to know if anything happened. The text was shown to jurors, as was the womans response.

Sleep with one eye open f*****. No one hurts me and gets away with it, her text said.

She said she initially decided not to report the rape because she didnt want it to get around town.

Once it gets out it spreads like wildfire and everyone has an opinion on it, she said. But she told her mother after another day and they went to the hospital and police were called.

She said she declined a rape kit and cervical exam at the hospital because she had bathed twice since the assault and didnt think any sperm would still be present.

She did give police the pair of underwear she wore that night, and test results ultimately showed it had DNA matching Croy, according to prosecutors. That didnt mean Croy had intercourse with the woman, Whipple said.

Whipple said transcripts of police interviews showed the woman gave conflicting accounts of how she ended up in in the bedroom in the first place.

She also said the woman was at times uncooperative with the investigation and said an expert witness would testify later that accessible date rape drugs set in slowly, take hours to wear off and eliminate memory entirely.

There is physically no way (the alleged victim) was drugged in the way she described, Whipple said. Its not possible.

The jury was initially six men and six women but one male juror had to leave for personal reasons. A female alternate took his place.
VIRGINIA CITY  The county attorney said Monday he felt the evidence could have proven at trial that the four men originally charged with felony assault had knowingly disturbed the peace by quarreling with bar patrons.

One of those patrons, Cody Monaghan, suffered serious injuries, including facial fractures, during what others have described as a bloody brawl outside the Pioneer Bar in Virginia City on July 10, 2021. He said later that he planned to research the definition of quarrel but felt sure the term did not apply to what he experienced that night.

Monaghan and his wife, Maggie Monaghan, both submitted victim impact statements during a Monday morning hearing in Madison County District Court. Maggie Monaghan wept during much of her presentation about the night she alleges she and her husband were badly beaten outside the Pioneer Bar.

Her statement said any reduction in charges will be an injustice to me and for my family.

She added, Please tell me where my husband can go to negotiate a deal to reduce the number of future surgeries he must endure to repair his face.

The Monaghans had hoped to somehow block a plea agreement reached between County Attorney David Buchler and the four defendants and their lawyers.

That didnt happen.

Ultimately, defendants Christopher Michael Kase, William Robert Haley, Dalton Fish and Karson Edward Yuan pleaded no contest to misdemeanor disorderly conduct, were fined $100 each and ordered to pay a surcharge of $75.

Another man, Ethan Jacob Choate, was charged initially with misdemeanor assault. He pleaded no contest in June to misdemeanor disorderly conduct.

At the time of the fight, four of the defendants were participating in programming offered by the Heroes and Horses nonprofit for combat veterans. Choate was said to be an employee there.

The four men who entered pleas Monday reside in other states and participated in the hearing by Zoom. Each had an attorney in the courtroom.

The fight began with a scuffle inside the Pioneer Bar but ended in a blur of fists and blood-flecked boots on the Virginia City boardwalk outside. The Monaghans and other witnesses reported that the scuffle began when Kase approached the Monaghans table and removed the sunglasses of Chase Monaghan, Cody Monaghans brother. Pushing and shoving followed and the bartender cleared the bar, records show.

A brawl ensued on the boardwalk.

Officers from the sheriffs department responded around 10:45 p.m. to the fight scene and observed a large amount of blood on the street near where Cody Monaghan had fallen and been kicked, records show. Later, officers responded to the Heroes and Horses property in Nevada City and observed what appeared to be blood on the shoes or clothes worn by four of the five men later charged with assault.

Justin Ekwall was deputy county attorney in Madison County when felony assault charges were filed against the four defendants. Buchler said Monday he reviewed all the case files before concluding that the best fit for the set of circumstances and evidence was to accept no contest pleas for disorderly conduct.

Heroes and Horses says it offers veterans who have been emotionally scarred by military service non-traditional approaches to healing  such as backcountry horse packing.

According to all reports, Cody Monaghan suffered the most serious injuries that night. He required transport by ambulance to a hospital after being kicked in the face and head, reportedly leaving him with fractured facial bones, a broken nose and other injuries. Maggie Monaghan, his wife, and Chase Monaghan, his brother, also received injuries that night, court records show.

Cody Monaghans victim impact statement referenced the night of the fight:

What happened that night was vicious, unprovoked and it was life-changing.

Judge Luke Berger offered each defendant an opportunity to make a statement during sentencing. All declined, perhaps because all four remain defendants in a lawsuit tied to the fight.

In June, Cody and Maggie Monaghan, along with Chase Monaghan, filed a civil lawsuit in Madison County District Court in Virginia City that seeks compensation for medical bills, pain and suffering, emotional distress and other fallout they allege resulted from the fight outside the Pioneer Bar.

Defendants named in the lawsuit include Heroes and Horses, men from the non-profits ranch who were alleged participants in the fight and the Pioneer Bar, which the plaintiffs allege served alcohol to men who were already intoxicated. The bar has denied the allegations.
Farmland values continued strong growth in 2022 in the Seventh Federal Reserve District that includes Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin, according to the Agricultural Newsletter authored by economist David Oppedahl of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

Values for good farmland rose an average of 12% in the district during the 12-month period from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2022. That is lower than the increase of 2021 which was 22% for the year.

Oppedahl said the increase of 12% in the district might seem like a letdown after the even larger increase in 2021, but 2022s annual gain was the second largest in the past 10 years.

For 2022, Oppedahl said Illinois farmland values increased by 14%, while Iowa and Wisconsin both saw an increase of 11%. Indiana farmland values increased the most over the year, 23%. Michigans values were not calculated because of an insufficient response to Oppedahls survey.

Oppedahl said district farmland values got a boost from a record year of crop revenues, even though the output of corn and soybeans in the district was down from 2021. Revenues for those crops were up because of higher crop prices.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics, the price of corn per bushel started at an average of $5.58 in January of 2022, climbed to high of $7.38 per bushel in June and ended the year in December at $6.58 per bushel.

Those prices were stronger than in 2021 when corn was selling at an average $4.24 per bushel in January, rose to a high of $6.32 per bushel in August and then ended in December at $5.47 per bushel.

According to the Agriculture Department, in 2022 soybean prices started in January at an average of $12.90 per bushel, rose to a high of $16.40 per bushel in June before ending the year in December selling for an average of $14.40 per bushel.

In 2021, soybeans started in January at an average of $10.90 per bushel, rose to a high of $14.80 in May and ended the year at an average of $12.50 per bushel in December.

Oppedahl said the district's corn yield was up six-tenths of a percent from 2021 to a record 199 bushels per acre in 2022. The district's soybean yield, however, dropped 5% from 2021 to 59 bushels per acre in 2022.

For the final quarter of 2022, from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, Illinois farmland values gained 2% while Indiana's values gained 1%. Iowa's farmland values in the final quarter fell 2% while Wisconsin's fell 1%.

The US states with the most organic farms U.S. States With the Most Organic Farms Organic food sales have more than tripled since 2008 Milk and chicken are the top two organic commodities California accounts for nearly 20% of US organic farms and acreage 15. Ohio 14. Maryland 13. Utah 12. Oregon 11. Michigan 10. Pennsylvania 9. Idaho 8. Nevada 7. Massachusetts 6. Wisconsin 5. New Hampshire 4. California 3. Maine 2. New York 1. Vermont
September 1974. Crisis averted?

At a meeting of stakeholders, members of the womens group studying historic homes of Muscatine assured city officials they would not block demolition of a house built by historic resident Alexander Clark. Their expressions of concern had raised fears of an impending nomination to the National Register of Historic Places.

Muscatine Journal, Sept. 26: Such a nomination would, in effect, dash the citys hopes for the 100-unit federally funded complex for low-income elderly, according to Charles Coates, city administrator.

But study group member Bette Veerhusen said others might take up the cause.

Mrs. Veerhusen said that if any steps would be taken to save the house, they would have to come from members of what she termed the Black community.

The African American woman who, in 1958, had initiated the citys first Alexander Clark Day seconded Veerhusens warning.

I dont want to frighten you about this, Aldeen Davis said. But I think you should know that this could happen.

Journal headline, Nov. 21: Area womens group considers moving Clark house to other site.

Mrs. Reid Motley  chairwoman of Links Inc., a national bi-racial philanthropic organization  told the Journal that the group had just become aware of the importance of the home and a study investigating the feasibility of moving the house began this morning.

Cedar Rapids Gazette editorial, Dec. 1: The loss would be irretrievable. The causes of education and civil rights in Iowa have known few, if any, abler champions than Alexander Clark, a [black person] whose 1868 court suit enabled all children, regardless of race, to receive public education in Iowa.  Mrs. Reid Motley of Cedar Rapids noted that the deadline for moving the brick building is less than two months away. ... If preservation of the Clark home is deemed feasible, the effort will rate every man-hour and dollar Links, Inc., can enlist.

On Dec. 9, the Gazette and the Journal quoted Motley announcing the fundraising campaign and declaring the relocation project both possible and worthwhile. Other papers around the state carried the report.

Des Moines Register, Dec. 18: Mrs. Motley said the cost of moving the 2-story brick house  built by the most prominent Iowa Black man of the post-Civil War period  has been estimated at between $35,000 and $40,000.  City officials have set a Jan. 25 deadline by which the building must be moved before it is destroyed.

* * *

Moline Dispatch, Sept. 27, 1977: The Muscatine home of a 19th century Black leader in Iowa has been saved from demolition, thanks to the efforts of a Cedar Rapids woman and her colleagues.  [Links, Inc.] persuaded the city of Muscatine to postpone demolition and began soliciting donations. The effort was successful. In May, 1975, the home was relocated  and the housing project was built last year as scheduled on the original site of the Clark home.

* * *

From the 2011 obituary of Burtine Josephine (Washington) Motley: She was the first African American teacher admitted to the lowa City School systems and served as president of the lowa City Classroom Teachers Association. A tireless advocate of the disenfranchised, she was appointed to, served on, and chaired a myriad regional, state, and city commissions and boards  . In 1974, she founded and became the first president of the Alexander Clark Historical Society Inc. By 1978 despite enormous odds she succeeded in moving and thus preserving Clarks home in Muscatine, lowa. Burtine was a committed member of many noted social and civic organizations. Her unrelenting drive, intrepid courage, and willingness to give of herself are hallmarks by which she will always be remembered.

In January 2012, following release of the documentary film Lost in History: Alexander Clark, I exchanged messages with Burtines daughter Kathy, a physician in Michigan.

We lived, ate, breathed, and slept Alexander Clark for several years, she wrote. I would like to see credit given where credit is due.

Of course she was right. The film had ended up being mostly about Kent Sissel who bought and restored the house after it had been moved, after it had been spared a hasty demolition and found a new address.

Heres the exact passage where Burtine Motley did not get her due: In the mid-1970s, Clarks house is supposed to be demolished to make way for this high-rise. But those who know Clarks story protest, and Muscatine officials agree to move the houseto its current location. A short time later, the local historical preservation society runs into financial trouble, and Sissel is contacted.

Contacted by state historians to take over the work, Kent has done his part faithfully in saving the house and preserving the Clark legacy ever since  after Kathys mother had done much of the heavy lifting.

She sent me 1970s articles which I posted to Facebook.

I am not big on attention, Kathy wrote. I am only interested in my mothers role in this not being forgotten.

Next time: Alexander Clark project in jeopardy

Daniel G. Clark is a student of Iowa history and former Muscatine Journal reporter.
According to documents filed in the Iowa District Court for Crawford County, Timothy Craig Mitchell, of Dow City, was arrested on Feb. 1 and charged with five counts of sexual abuse in the third degree for incidents that took place at Cheers Bar and Grill in Dow City.

Sexual abuse in the third degree is a Class C felony.

Mitchell is the owner of Cheers.

According to three criminal complaints filed on Jan. 31, on Jan. 8 at about midnight, Mitchell told the victim, who was his employee, to close the bar for the night and forced her to have sexual intercourse with him. The victim told him no. The complaints list three incidents.

Three of the five counts of sexual abuse in the third degree are related to incidents that night.

According to two other criminal complaints, also filed on Jan. 31, Mitchell forced the same victim into the back room at the bar and forced her to have sexual intercourse with him in November 2022 in two incidents. The victim told him no.

Two of the five counts of sexual abuse in the third degree are related to those incidents.

A search warrant related to the case was executed on Feb. 1.

In the record of initial appearance filed on Feb. 2, Brad Bonner, Iowa Third Judicial District magistrate, wrote, The court finds from the complaint and other documents found in the court file that there is probable cause to believe that an offense has been committed and that the defendant has committed it.

A temporary no-contact order was issued on Feb. 2 requiring Mitchell to stay away from the victim.

Mitchell was released on a $50,000 bond on Feb. 3. On Feb. 7, he entered a plea of not guilty and waived the preliminary hearing.

Arraignment for Mitchell is scheduled for Feb. 27.

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WAUCOMA  A Waucoma-based livestock buyer has been sentenced to probation, restitution and a fine in connection with allegations employees cheated hog producers, ignoring earlier agreements with the government.

On Friday, Judge C.J. Williams formalized a plea agreement between Lynch Family Companies, formerly known as Lynch Livestock Inc., and prosecutors that included $3 million in restitution to its customers and a $196,000 fine on one count of failure to comply with an order of the U.S. secretary of agriculture.

The judge also imposed five years probation, which was more than the three-year stint asked for in the plea agreement, according to court records.

The company was given credit for more than $1 million in restitution that was already paid, court records states.

Several employees have pleaded and been sentenced in recent weeks in connection with what defense attorneys admitted was a scheme that robbed pork producers across the Midwest of their hard-earned money.

In a sentencing memo leading up to Fridays hearing, Lynch Livestock attorneys took aim at a former regional buying manager for the company. Steven Shooter Charles Demaray died in a single-vehicle crash near New Hampton in November 2021, days after he was charged in the investigation.

Demaray began working for Lynch in 1999, and defense attorneys said there were no fraud allegations against the company before his arrival.

He began shorting sellers by downgrading hogs brought in for sale in the early 2000s, according to court documents.

Demaray  who was paid, in part, based on the companys profits reduced the weight and classification of hogs so that the company made more money by paying customers less than what they were owed, company attorneys wrote. They said he usually targeted large, corporate producers and even targeted two farm companies operated by Lynchs owner, Gary Lynch, but not smaller farmers.

Demaray used his force of personality and power within the company to silence subordinates, who believed Demaray would fire them if they reported the fraudulent acts Demaray demanded, company attorneys allege.

John Lynch, Garys brother, reported the scheme in 2017, and the Department of Agriculture became involved, finding two producers had been scammed. The company entered into a civil agreement with regulators, fired Demaray and paid $794,378 in restitution at the time, records state.

A second investigation followed in 2021 when an employee reported that manager Tyler Thoms, who had worked with Demaray in the past, was shorting producers at a buying station near Waucoma, allegedly using a crowbar to tip the scales when a hog was near a price break, court records allege.

Company attorneys allege the crowbar use wasnt driven by greed.

In grand jury testimony, exhibits, and proffer interviews, numerous employees explained to the government that Thomss actions were the result of laziness, because Thoms was unwilling to take the time to properly sort and re-sort hogs, and so he used the crowbar as a shortcut, company attorney alleged in court records.

The second investigation led to a second consent agreement with the government. It also led to more restitution based on calculations that concluded the most weight the crowbar could change a scale was 150 pounds.

The company then calculated the difference between the price the company paid the producer and the higher price after adding 150 pounds. Adding these totals, the company and the USDA agreed to a payment of $395,626.18 in restitution to over 100 producers, court records state.

Company officials assisted the government during the criminal investigation and entered into a compliance program, becoming the first in the industry to install video cameras at buying stations.

Thoms was sentenced to one year of probation in January, according to court records. Leland Pete Blue was sentenced to five years probation and a $1,000 fine. Billie Joe Wickham was sentenced to six months in jail and Charlie Lynch was sentenced to five years of probation.

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The year 2023 looks to be a year of exciting new offerings on Main Street downtown St. Helena, with renovations and new businesses expanding the boutique retail environment in addition to new wine and culinary options.

Tweed & Vine

Formerly located at the Vasconi Pharmacy building at Adams and Main Street, this upscale resort wear retailer is relocating to the currently vacant space at 1239 Main St. on Feb. 15. Store owner Kenny Blenis could not be more excited about his future in St. Helena.

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Tweed & Vine is unique because its a lifestyle store that curates beautiful high-quality classic clothing for men and women, Blenis said. We source mostly from smaller manufacturers in Italy, France, Spain and the UK and merchandise the clothing along with home goods, artwork and collectibles. We love giving personalized service to our customers, many of whom we have known from over 40 years in business at Button Down in San Francisco. We are so happy to make St. Helena our home and be part of a great community.

NO|MA House Cafe & Collective

In the former restaurant space of Archetype, which closed during the pandemic, is a fresh new eatery and wine bar slated to open this spring at 1429 Main St. NO|MA House Cafe & Collective (short for North Main) is a cafe and retail collective that is deeply rooted in community. Energizing the north end of Main Street, NO|MA House Cafe & Collective brings people together to eat, talk, work, learn, and find inspiration in a beautifully designed and welcoming space. The space will activate Main Street with an enchanting outdoor patio, near the downtown gateway.

Owned, designed and operated by an all-female team, NO|MA House Cafe & Collective celebrates wholesome ingredients throughout the menu that are meant to nourish and satiate. The retail collective offers an alternative to fast-paced home, lifestyle and fashion cycles. Guests can peruse intentionally sourced treasures, objects and furniture that are meant to support thoughtful consumerism, local artisans and makers. For more information on the retail shop, cafe or upcoming events, visit nomahousecafeandcollective.com.

Orin Swift tasting room

Located in central downtown St. Helena at 1321-1325 Main St., the new contemporary facade planned for this building is bold but respectful of the historic Main Street. Orin Swift cellars received city design review and use permit approvals to expand to a 62-seat wine tasting room. The renovations will also include a trendy shaded outdoor patio on the back side of the building. Construction will start in the first quarter of 2023.

Elyse Walker

The popular womens clothing and accessories boutique will relocate from its Adams Street location to the historic Vasconis building (the prior location of Tweed & Vine) on the corner of Main and Adams streets. The builder, David Walker, recently received unanimous Planning Commission approval to update the 1960s-era facade with a fresh new first-floor facade that evokes the historic storefront character from the turn of the 20th century. The renovation is anticipated to be complete in March. The interior space will be completely renovated to provide a fresh space for the Elyse Walker retail store, anticipated to open in May.

Houtskool Dumplings

Houtskool Dumplings is an artisan dumpling house, with a focus on sustainability. Set to open in the spring-summer at 1136 Main St., they will be offering handcrafted dumplings, steamed to order for dine-in and takeout, along with frozen packaged dumplings for home preparation. Their farm-fresh menu is created with thoughtfully sourced ingredients and will be served in a minimalist environment.

We chose St. Helena as the location for our first brick-and-mortar (outlet) so that we could continue to share our craft with the community, in heartfelt gratitude for the enthusiasm we felt during our pop-up days at Carter and Co., according to co-founders Syd Kato and Lucas Moderacki. For more information, visit houtskooldumplings.com.

JCB Tasting Lounge

The world-renowned JCB winery has announced plans to expand to downtown St. Helena and renovate the space at 1320 Main St., next to the Chamber of Commerce. The design team is formulating the unique offerings and space design planned for St. Helena, and permitting and approval process is expected to begin this year, with renovations in 2024.

Ray Rays Tacos

Opening in 2023, Ray Rays at 1304 Main St. will serve classic Austin-style breakfast tacos alongside Rachel Williams own chef-inspired signature tacos, salads, salsas and sides. The menu will feature a selection of wines crafted by local winemakers as well as regional beers on tap, each carefully chosen to pair with Ray Rays favorite seasonal bites.

By serving up her beloved Tex-Mex and Southern-inspired recipes with the freshest Northern California ingredients, Williams seeks to create one-of-a-kind food memories for both her friends and visitors to Californias wine country. Dine in and take-out options will both be available.

Pizza Station

Food-wine entrepreneur Joel Gott, owner of The Station, has acquired the space at 1149 Main St. and a renovation is underway to accommodate his newest eatery, The Pizza Station. We are in the final phases of getting the system and menu together. We hope to open by the end of February, Gott said.

Chamber relocates

The St. Helena Chamber maintains its presence on Main Street with renovations underway to relocate to the space at 1136 Main St., which will make their current space available for the future home of the JCB Tasting Lounge.

Charlies Place

Elliot Bell, a 10-year veteran of Thomas Kellers world-renowned French Laundry, is set to open a restaurant of his own at 1327 Railroad Ave. (formerly Cindys Backstreet Kitchen), named Charlies after his 2-year-old son. Opening this summer, Charlies will offer a full bar with cocktails, champagne and local wines that complement a casual new American menu.

Inspired by my son, I wanted to create a restaurant that shares his same tireless energy, and constant desire to learn and grow, Bell said. As a family-run business, Charlies looks forward to building long-term, sustainable careers for our team and similarly enduring relationships with our vendors, purveyors and community.

As a member of the St. Helena Fire Department, few things are as important to Bell as community. As such, Charlies already has strong ties with local farmers, ranchers, winemakers and craftspeople in the area, including Wolfe Ranch Quail, Wine Forest Mushrooms, Napa Wild, Regiis Ova Caviar, K and J Orchards, St. Helena Peach Farm, Mad Fritz Brewery, Napa Valley Land and Livestock, NBC Pottery, and Hog Island Oysters. For more information, visit charliesnv.com.
The Saint Helena Forum for Innovation & Creativity will present a free virtual discussion about Recent Milestones, Current Status and Future Prospects for Nuclear Fusion as a Viable Energy Source" at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 28.

Mordecai Mordy Rosen, a plasma physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, will talk with the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist David Freed. Forum guests will be introduced by board chair Doug Barr.

Rosen has worked at Lawrence Livermore since 1976. He studies fusion reactions created at the National Ignition Facility, the worlds largest laser. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society, winner of the Teller Medal of the American Nuclear Society for his role in creating the new field of high energy density physics, and winner of the Excellence in Plasma Physics Award for designing the worlds first laboratory X-ray laser.

Freed is a screenwriter, author and former investigative journalist for the Los Angeles Times. He was an individual finalist for the Pulitzer Prizes Gold Medal for Public Service and shared a Pulitzer Prize for the newspapers coverage of the Rodney King riots in 1992. He is a frequent contributor to national magazines like Air and Space, Smithsonian and The Atlantic, and currently teaches creative writing at the Harvard extension school.

Founded in 2019, the Saint Helena Forum is an entirely volunteer, educational nonprofit, funded by donations and grants. Its mission is to inform, inspire and entertain by providing access to a broad range of humanities-based lectures, panel discussions, performances and interviews.

For more information, or to register for this free event, go to shforum.org.
Gulf Pharmaceutical Industries (Julphar), one of the largest pharmaceutical manufacturers in the Middle East and Africa, has announced the appointment of Basel Ziyadeh as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), as the company drives its transformational growth strategy across the Middle East region and beyond.

Basel Ziyadeh will succeed Dr Essam Mohamed as CEO, who has stepped down from the role, having joined in 2020, with over 25 years working in the healthcare sector.

According to a company statement, Julphar has undergone significant changes in recent years, streamlining its activities by divesting from its non-core activities and focusing on its Strategy 2030. The strategy aims to deliver sustainable growth around six core pillars: maximizing revenue from its current product portfolio, new product launches, geographical expansion, strategic business initiatives, advanced specialty products initiatives, and inorganic growth initiatives.

With a clear strategic direction in place and over 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, the new CEO, Basel is poised to continue this transformational journey and lead the company towards its vision of providing health solutions regionally and globally, while ensuring world-class care remains at the very heart of Julphar, the statement said.

Sheikh Saqer Humaid Al Qasimi, Chairman of the Board at Julphar, said: With his wealth of experience in the industry working with top global and regional companies across the Mena region, Mr. Basel is a seasoned leader with rich exposure to the field of pharmaceutical marketing and multi-site manufacturing and strategy development in the field of vaccines and biological medicines and business development and distribution. His proven track record to drive business transformation and expansion with a hands-on approach will ensure Julphars mission to delivering greater impact across all the markets we serve globally, and I wish him every success.

He added: We would also like to extend our gratitude to Dr. Essam Mohamed for his contribution to the development of Julphar over the years. Dr. Essam will be departing Julphar for new professional endeavours, leaving behind a solid management team that will continue driving Julphars growth ambitions under the new leadership.

Prior to his appointment at Julphar, Ziyadeh was CEO for Tabuk Pharmaceuticals, where he was instrumental in transforming the business, leading the companys substantial profitability expansion in addition to establishing key partnerships. Ziyadeh also held several leadership positions at Hikma Pharmaceuticals, serving across various functions and geographies over a 15-year period. During his tenure, he led the companys branded strategy formulation and execution in the Mena region after leading Hikmas full operations in the GCC and the Levant. In addition, he also served as an advisor and Board Member for several pharmaceutical entities in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Sudan, Iraq and Lebanon.

Ziyadeh said: I am privileged to join Julphar during this exciting period as the company accelerates its transformational growth journey to increase its scale, capabilities and further solidify its regional and global expertise. I look forward to collaborating with a team of talented professionals as we reaffirm our commitment to providing a better quality of life for all, delivering high-quality healthcare solutions and cementing innovation at the heart of what we do.

Ziyadeh holds a Bachelors degree in Biological Sciences from University of Jordan and an MBA from American University of Beirut.--TradeArabia News Service
Wednesday, Feb. 8

1816  A Howell Mountain Road resident complained of cyclists and pedestrians trespassing.

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1816  Someone smelled smoke near Stockton Street.

1926  Report of a dog barking on Colombard Court.

2212  Police cited a driver for speeding at over 55 mph on Main Street.

Thursday, Feb. 9

0835  Police cited a driver near Main/Grayson.

0913  The railroad crossing arms at Charter Oak Avenue were activating by themselves.

0917  Police cited a driver by Main/Mitchell.

0926  Report of a reckless, unlicensed driver leaving a Stockton Street home.

1128  A white box truck reportedly hit a power pole near Howell Mountain Road, causing a vegetation fire on Howell Mountain Road near Ink Grade.

1250  Report of a Jeep taking up two parking spaces near Railroad/Adams.

1453  The railroad crossing arms at Charter Oak Avenue were coming down again, causing a traffic problem.

1728  Report of construction noise (hammering) on Hillview Place.

1931  A caller asked about a fire, possibly a controlled burn, on Spring Mountain Road above the old dam.

2128  Report of loud amplified music coming from the back area of a Main Street hotel.

2242  Police contacted the occupants of a vehicle at Crane Park and told them the park was closed for the night.

Friday, Feb. 10

0439  Police cited a driver on Main Street.

0502  Police cited someone for driving with a suspended license on Main Street. The vehicle was impounded.

0758  Medical aid on Pine Street.

1059  Police cited a driver on Silverado Trail near Howell Mountain Road.

1120  Police were told to be on the lookout for a car weaving and traveling at 40 mph on Silverado Trail.

1141  A trailer was parked in the wrong direction on Charter Oak Avenue. Police marked it to be towed in 72 hours.

1234  Police contacted the owner of a bike found on Spring Street.

1248  Police cited a car that was illegally parked in a disabled space.

1309  Report of a landscaping company using a gas-powered leaf blower on Chiles Avenue. Police noted the information and will begin to enforce the ordinance on April 1.

1315  Police cited a driver near Main/Charter Oak.

1328  Police cited a driver for not yielding to pedestrians in a crosswalk on Grayson Avenue.

1400  A white globe from an electrolier near Main/Saint Andrews was lying on the ground. Police retrieved it and notified Public Works.

1417  A person asked to talk to an officer about mail theft.

1432  A man went to an Oak Avenue business and told the staff that if they see someone with a box, its a bomb and there are a bunch of terrorists around. He was last seen driving a Kia box-style vehicle.

2202  A man said a restaurant server verbally harassed him and offended him in front of his family because he didnt leave a tip.

Saturday, Feb. 11

0415  Police helped a driver who was lost on Silverado Trail and was trying to get to Vallejo.

1415  Someone dropped off a gun and ammunition for disposal.

1818  Report of a gas leak behind a Main Street building. Cal Fire was notified.

2301  Report of a possible drunk driver on northbound Highway 29 approaching St. Helena.

2303  Following a traffic stop at Vidovich/Main, police arrested a 36-year-old Austin man on suspicion of DUI.

2330  Report of a possible drunk driver near Highway 29 and Zinfandel Lane.

Sunday, Feb. 12

0030  Police cited a driver for speeding near Madrona/Main.

0839  An officer cleared branches from the southbound lane of Highway 29 near Zinfandel Lane.

0846  Police marked an abandoned vehicle to be towed from Vintage Avenue in 72 hours.

0859  An officer found garbage scattered on the street near La Fata/Dowdell. It appeared that a nearby dumpster hadnt been closed, and birds had made a mess of things.

0916  There was a dead skunk near Spring/Hudson.

1126  A crow hit electrical lines near Money Way.

1611  Police gave two juveniles bike helmets and advice on how to protect their bikes.

1659  Report of a hit-and-run involving a parked car on Fulton Lane. The responsible car was described as a silver sedan.

1915  Police cited a driver for speeding near Pratt/Main.

1936  Medical aid for a person with high blood pressure on Hunt Avenue.

2202  Police cited a driver near Highway 29 and Ehlers Lane.

Monday, Feb. 13

0146  Following a traffic stop near Main/Dowdell, police arrested a 55-year-old San Francisco resident on suspicion of DUI.

0841  Police cited a driver near Pratt/Park.

1217  Report of a disturbance involving a man and a woman near Lyman Park. Police checked the area.

1219  Police were asked to check on an elderly woman who'd been seen walking between vehicles stopped at a red light at Main/Pope. Police checked the area.

1327  Report of yelling and screaming coming from an RV parked on Spring Street. It sounded like the same RV that had been involved in the earlier disturbance near Lyman Park. This time officers found the people involved and took a report.

1910  A car on Grayson Avenue had some blue paint on its rear bumper as a result of a hit-and-run that occurred sometime between 1 and 6 p.m.

1913  Report of vehicles not yielding to pedestrians in the crosswalk at Main/Spring.

2250  Following a traffic stop on Main Street, police arrested a 34-year-old Santa Rosa man on suspicion of DUI.

PHOTOS: Training for an active shooter situation in St.Helena
Note to future generations: That oak forest outside St. Helena where you and your children frolic exists thanks to a team of volunteers who spent their Saturday planting acorns.

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Twenty-six volunteers planted 83 trees on city property between the wastewater treatment plant and Zinfandel Lane, and just east of the redwood grove planted in 2012 by Paul and Marilyn Asmuth.

The planting was part of an effort to mitigate the loss of trees due to construction of the Napa Valley Vine Trail, a bicycle and pedestrian pathway that will eventually extend 47 miles from Calistoga to Vallejo. Similar plantings took place at Napas Alston Park in December and Skyline Wilderness Park in January.

The new forest is in a riparian buffer between the Napa River and the redwood grove.

This is really prime habitat and the perfect place to restore the oak woodland ecosystem along the Napa River, said Danielle Ashton, program coordinator for the Napa County Resource Conservation District.

The redwood grove and the new oak forest get plenty of water in the form of treated effluent from St. Helenas adjacent wastewater treatment plant. The area isnt accessible to the public yet, but it eventually will be.

The project is a collaboration among the Vine Trail, the city of St. Helena, Napa RCD and the Napa Valley Transportation Authority. Its also part of the Million Trees Napa project organized by Napa RCD, Tom Gamble of Gamble Family Vineyards, St. Helena City Councilmember Anna Chouteau and the vintner Jon-Mark Chappellet.

Chouteau said the county and its cities need to be planting more trees to sequester carbon and make up for the loss of trees due to natural mortality, storms, wildfires, and vineyard and residential development.

Its important to build now for our future so well have trees throughout all of our cities  knowing that were living through climate change, drought and fires, Chouteau said. We need to build the resilient community we want.

Most of the volunteers wielded shovels and hoes as they cleared 3-foot squares, dug holes about the size of a shovel blade, inserted the metal screens, and placed three acorns in each hole.

A smaller team built screens of non-galvanized metal to shield the acorns from foraging critters. The screens will rust and dissolve over time.

St. Helena High School sophomore Hartleigh Demchuk heard about the event from fellow members of the schools Interact Club.

It sounded like fun, and I want to do more things to help the environment, she said.

Working alongside Demchuk was Aubrey Moura, a member of St. Helena High's Environmental Club, which teamed with the Interact Club to help with Saturdays planting.

Moura has also been helping glean surplus fruit from trees around town, as part of a project launched in 2021 by Susan Davis and Pam and Mark Smithers.

Its a great way to start your morning, Moura said.

The forest isnt done yet. Napa RCD will return in a few weeks to add mulch to the freshly planted area. A few hundred feet to the west, roughly 1,000 redwoods are scheduled to be planted in the redwood grove on April 29.
MARTINEZ  A 22-year-old American Canyon man was sentenced to four years in state prison as part of a deal with Contra Costa prosecutors, court records show.

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Ramon Reyes-Medina pleaded no contest last January to pimping a 17-year-old girl, and in exchange for his plea human trafficking and pandering charges were dismissed, records show. He was given roughly six months worth of credit for time served, and is scheduled to be released from prison in 2024.

Reyes-Medina was arrested in April 2022 during a traffic stop, days after prosecutors filed charges against him. He allegedly eluded police before surrendering. In his car was a 17-year-old runaway teen from Nevada, police said at the time.

Reyes-Medina was transferred to North Kern State Prison in Delano on Feb. 1, where he remains. After his prison sentence, he will serve a three-year probation term, court records show.

PHOTOS: This Week in Napa Valley, Feb. 10
A traffic stop Sunday morning in American Canyon resulted in the arrests of two men, police reported.

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Shortly before 11:52 a.m., an officer stopped a 2007 Honda Civic at Kimberly Drive and Brophy Street when the driver ran through a stop sign, American Canyon Police said in a news release. The driver, identified as 20-year-old Jordan Delgadillo of Vallejo, was found with a loaded, unregistered 9mm handgun in his waistband, according to the department, which said the gun had a 33-round magazine and no serial number.

Officers detained both Delgadillo and his passenger, 21-year-old Uriel Jobani Vasquez of Napa, who were both booked into the Napa County jail.

Delgadillo was held on suspicion of carrying a loaded, concealed and non-serialized firearm, according to police. Vasquez was held on four felony warrants in Napa and Solano counties, including one for violating his probation in a gang participation case, the department said.

Delgadillo was released shortly before 5:15 p.m. Sunday, according to jail booking records. Vasquez remained in custody Monday afternoon.

American Canyon Police said the gun found during Sundays arrest was the fourth illegal firearm recovered by the force in two days.

Photos: U-Haul hits, injures several pedestrians on NYC sidewalk
Christopher Oudegeest admitted that when he first discovered the dusty, battered dark green trunk tucked away in his garage attic in early February, he almost threw it away.

He had no idea he was holding an archive of love letters from the beginning of a romance that would last 66 years and counting.

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Christopher and his wife Joanne Oudegeest had recently moved into the 1970s-era Browns Valley home and were getting ready to start renovations.

I was curious as to what was inside, but he didnt really have a lot of time to dig around in an old trunk, he said. The family is downsizing after their recent move from a different part of Napa.

In fact, the trunk might have gone into the trash pile if his wife Joanne Oudegeest hadnt been home.

Wait a minute, she said, pulling open the rusted latch.

To her surprise, inside she found a literal treasure chest of memorabilia and mementos going back to the early 1950s.

The trunk contained hundreds upon hundreds of letters, all addressed to the same man in the same cursive handwriting. And not just any kind of letters. These are love letters  from "Max" to Bill.

Wow, thought Joanne Oudegeest. This is not junk. This is important to someone. This is someones keepsake.

But whose?

Joanne Oudegeest (with help from her twin sister in Florida) began with the name on the letters: William Provan.

The trunk also contained Williams 1952 yearbook, school notebooks and reports and college notices. William was enrolled at Bowling Green University in Bowling Green, Ohio. As seen on the postmarks, during 1955 and 1956 Maxine wrote Bill letter after letter from her home in Napoleon, Ohio.

The two were married on Sept. 16, 1956.

To try and locate William Provan, Joanne Oudegeest posted a picture of the letters in the trunk on Napas NextDoor community.

It didnt take long to get some answers.

William and Maxines son Kevin Provan soon contacted Joanne Oudegeest. He let her know this parents have been married for more than 60 years and now live in a retirement home in Stockton.

I was amazed, that trunk with letters and his fathers keepsakes was found, Kevin Provan said.

I think its wonderful, he said. Its a glimpse of their history, before the couples four children were born, adding he'd like to read them himself.

Kevin Provan thinks his parents met as students at Bowling Green State University. Provan said that after his parents got married, the family eventually found its way to California where William Provan worked in the concrete pipe industry. He later has his own business called Central States Concrete Products.

William and Maxine Provan were the first owners of the west Browns Valley home that the Oudegeests recently purchased. The family lived there from about 1978 to 1997. The Oudegeests are the third owners of the home.

Kevin Provan has since connected Joanne Oudegeest with his father  who is in his late 80s.

Apparently William and Maxine Provan knew that the trunk had gone missing but had no idea it had been left behind in the attic of their Napa garage. The attic wasnt regularly accessed, Kevin Provan explained.

William and Maxine Provan were not immediately available for an interview this week, but in a phone interview, Kevin Provan said his father was also really surprised to hear that his letters and memorabilia had been found.

Joanne Oudegeest said she plans to personally deliver the trunk to Bill and Maxine Provan as soon as possible.

Its been 29 years; I guess theres no big rush, William Provan told his son.

Photos: Napans find treasure trove of 1950s love letters, and more, in attic
Norma Johnson cracks a faint smile as she adjusts her stylish cat-eye glasses.

Shes at St. Marys Centers cafeteria in West Oakland, where older adults in interim housing or living on the streets can drop by for a free meal. But Johnsons mind is elsewhere. Her treasured red leather rocking chair, along with most of her belongings, sits in a storage unit. Shes afraid if she doesnt pay her $500 balance soon, the storage unit operator will auction everything.

I gotta pull a rabbit out of my hat, Johnson, 65, said during a rainy January day. I dont want to lose the things I do have. I dont have a house, and now I wont have, she hangs her head before finishing that sentence.

Unexpectedly, Johnson finds herself in the middle of a budding crisis: aging without a home.

California accounts for about a third of the nations homeless people, and among this population, seniors are estimated to be the fastest-growing group. One key indicator is the states tally of people accessing homelessness services. From 2017 to 2021, Californias overall senior population grew by 7% but the number of people 55 and over who sought homelessness services increased 84%  more than any other age group  according to the states Homeless Data Integration System.

For comparison, the number of people accessing homelessness services across all ages increased 43% during this time period.

Norma Jones cooks in the communal kitchen at the Close to Home St. Mary's Center transitional housing in West Oakland on Jan. 12, 2023. Photo by Martin do Nascimento, CalMatters

Norma Johnson cooks in the communal kitchen at the Closer to Home St. Marys Center transitional housing in West Oakland on Jan. 12, 2023. Photo by Martin do Nascimento, CalMatters

Elderly people who are homeless include those who have been unhoused for a long time and are getting older. But they also include those who are part of a growing trend, research shows: people experiencing homelessness for the first time after age 50.

Those at increased risk of losing shelter tend to be older adults who live alone and on fixed incomes, with little to no savings. A main contributor, experts say, is that as California rents soar, seniors income streams, including Social Security benefits and Supplemental Security Income, have not kept up.

Black Californians have long been overrepresented in the unhoused population  representing about 6% of the states population but close to 30% of those accessing homelessness services, state data show.

For many of us, theres a picture in our mind connected to substance abuse or mental health issues. And for maybe a quarter of people who are currently unhoused, that is a cause. But most people becoming homeless today do so for economic reasons, said Sharon Cornu, executive director at St. Marys Center, a nonprofit group that operates several services for older adults, including transitional housing.

As someone in this age group, I can tell you, its remarkable to think about; youve kept yourself employed and housed and above water this whole time period, and in what ought to be golden years, here you are out on the street, she said.

Respite at St. Marys Center

Just last summer, Johnson was living in a three-bedroom house she shared with a housemate and working at a COVID-19 testing site. But her situation changed suddenly. She had to stop working to undergo surgery for an old back injury. Then her housemate of almost three years moved out, leaving Johnson on the hook for the full $2,500 rent that she could not afford on her own.

After she lost her place, Johnson was referred to St. Marys Center, where she currently shares a trailer with five other people. Everyone who stays at St. Marys transitional housing units is 55 or older and many have bounced from the streets to shelters to living in cars or staying with relatives. Here, they have access to a case manager. The goal is to link them to any health and social services they may need and help them find permanent affordable housing.

Stories like Johnsons are common among people who have been through St. Marys Center  barely making ends meet, an injury or stint of bad health having forced them to leave jobs sooner than they had hoped. In some cases, the death of a loved one, family conflicts or abusive relationships left people without a place to stay.

The Close to Home St. Mary's Center transitional housing in West Oakland on Jan. 12, 2023. Photo by Martin do Nascimento, CalMatters

The Closer to Home St. Mary's Center transitional housing in West Oakland on Jan. 12, 2023. Photo by Martin do Nascimento, CalMatters

Others, like Elbert Lee Jones Jr., spent decades on the streets. Born in Germany to a military family, he and his family moved to Oakland when he was 5 years old. As a young adult, he worked in fast-food restaurants, laundromats and convenience stores.

I had jobs, had a life, until cocaine came knocking on the door. It came knocking on the door and really messed up a whole lot, Jones said.

Strong and mostly healthy, he managed on the streets for a long time. Then about three years ago, he woke up in his tent to foot pain so unbearable he could barely stand. An ambulance took him to the closest emergency room, where doctors told him he had gangrene on his toes; they would have to amputate all of them.

They said If you hadnt come in when you did, youda been dead, Jones said. That was the darkest part of my life right there.

After some time healing at a nursing home, he was back on the streets. In a wheelchair and about to turn 60, his situation was getting more complicated. So when the clinical director at St. Marys Center approached Jones under a freeway overpass last year and offered him a place to stay, he accepted. He was reluctant at first, he said. It had been a long time since hed trusted anyone.

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On the streets, 50 is the new 70

Research has shown that living on the streets  eating and sleeping poorly, being exposed to the elements, not getting proper medical care and losing medication during encampment sweeps  will prematurely age, sicken and kill people. That is why when speaking about the homeless population, advocates and experts often refer to seniors as anyone 50 and above.

By the time homeless people are in their 50s and early 60s, they look much more like other people in their 70s and 80s, said Dr. Margot Kushel, director of UC San Franciscos Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative.

Everything is shifted back about 20 years, Kushel said. The health problems that we normally associate with aging  vision problems, hearing problems, cognitive impairments, difficulty bathing, difficulty walking  all of those things start much younger.

Their situation could also trigger anxiety, depression and substance use.

Recently, the state launched incentives for Medi-Cal providers, who serve low-income patients, to start and grow street medicine programs. Historically, most of these programs have been funded by philanthropic groups and foundations. And perhaps now more than ever, these programs play a crucial role, but in limited numbers they can only do so much for this medically needy population. Routine care and timely diagnosis are more difficult when people are moving from one encampment or shelter to another.

And simply put, There is no medicine as powerful as housing, Kushel said.

Researchers for one UCSF study published last summer followed homeless people 50 and older over eight years in Oakland and found they were 3.5 times more likely to die early compared to other seniors in the city. In the study, the median age of death was 64.6 years old, compared to 76.1 years for all Americans. The main causes of death for the unhoused were heart disease, cancer and drug overdose.

At this point, I feel like our shelters are slowly becoming de facto nursing facilities.

SARA MIRHADI, CHIEF PROGRAM OFFICER AT POVERELLO HOUSE

The health needs of seniors can be complex. And most shelters are not equipped to serve a geriatric population. Programs that serve seniors specifically, like the one at St. Marys Center, are few and far between.

Across the state, shelters are being overwhelmed by unhoused people who need more than these facilities can provide. For example, ideally, shelters would have a nurse on site, but that could cost about $90,000 a year per nurse, which most facilities wouldnt be able to afford, said Sara Mirhadi, chief program officer at Poverello House, which provides food, shelter and social services to homeless people in downtown Fresno.

In the past several years, her shelters population has gotten older and their disabilities have increased. A number of those who come in regularly are in wheelchairs and need help using the bathroom. When you add conditions such as dementia and mental health issues, caring for this population becomes even more challenging, Mirhadi said.

At this point, I feel like our shelters are slowly becoming de facto nursing facilities, she said. I've had to ask staff to do a lot of things that they normally wouldn't do.

The Fresno-Madera region has seen one of the biggest jumps in homelessness among the 55- and-older population, increasing 216% from 2017 to 2021, state data shows. Coincidentally or not, rents and home prices in the Fresno area have skyrocketed in recent years. Other areas that saw more than a two-fold increase in homelessness among this age group include the Yuba-Sutter area, and Yolo, San Francisco, Merced and Alameda counties. (Homeless data is tracked by regional agencies whose territories can include a single city or several counties.)

I think we need to really take a hard look at what we're doing for our elderly population, because they should not be in a shelter, Mirhadi added.

Making a dent in homelessness

In January 2021, Gov. Gavin Newsom released Californias Master Plan for Aging, a 10-year blueprint on how to better prepare the state for a graying population  a quarter of the states residents will be 60 or older by 2030. The rollout of this plan also comes at a time when an estimated 2 million seniors are considered economically insecure, struggling to afford rising rents and health care costs.

The No. 1 priority in that master plan is increasing affordable housing options for seniors, allowing them to age in place. The plan lays out goals and initiatives that legislators and the administration can pursue over time.

Once homeless, older individuals face really unique barriers that make it extremely difficult for them to get housed again, so putting the emphasis on homeless prevention and making that a front and center strategy of dealing with older adult homelessness is something that we are seeing more attention paid to, said Patti Prunhuber, director of housing advocacy at Justice in Aging, a legal advocacy group focused on senior poverty.

One proposal Prunhuber and other advocates are pushing for this year is Senate Bill 37, carried by Sen. Anna Caballero, a Merced Democrat, that would create a state-run housing subsidy program for elderly people and those with disabilities at highest risk of becoming homeless. A similar bill died in the legislature last year after it failed to receive funding in the state budget.

A state subsidy program would supplement federal assistance programs  such as Section 8 vouchers  that help about 10.2 million Americans with extremely low incomes afford rent. With demand outpacing supply, only about 4 out of every 10 people eligible for a federal rental subsidy receive it, said Sharon Rapport, California policy director for the Corporation for Supportive Housing, a nonprofit organization that advocates for homelessness prevention and a sponsor of the bill.

Norma Jones at the Close to Home St. Mary's Center transitional housing in West Oakland on Jan. 12, 2023. Photo by Martin do Nascimento, CalMatters

Norma Johnson at the Closer to Home St. Mary's Center transitional housing in West Oakland on Jan. 12, 2023. Photo by Martin do Nascimento, CalMatters

The goal of a state program would be to help people obtain federal rental vouchers, but in the meantime provide state-funded help. This way, more older adults will be able to stay in their current homes, she said.

The state should be in this business too because the feds alone can't solve homelessness and the state alone can't solve homelessness, Rapport said. But they can make a big dent in it and eventually solve it if they're both putting in resources toward programs that work.

With the help of housing navigators at St. Marys Center, Jones has spent the last eight months filling out applications for subsidized housing. If everything goes as planned, he expects to have his own studio apartment in Oakland by the end of this month.

Itll be a far cry from his 20-plus years on the streets, he said.

He has a vision for his place: I want it to be homey, warm. A place you could be comfortable in, he said. Im going to have pictures up on the walls. Ive got a green thumb. Im going to have plants. It's gonna be nice.

Johnson said she, too, dreams of having a place to call her own again.

I don't want to have to worry about people leaving me behind with the whole amount of the rent, she said. I don't want to do that anymore.
U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinsteins decision Tuesday not to seek another term ends the historic career of Californias longest-serving senator and the Senates longest-serving woman.

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I am announcing today I will not run for reelection in 2024 but intend to accomplish as much for California as I can through the end of next year when my term ends, the San Francisco Democrat said in a news release.

The decision not to run next year for a sixth full term is likely the final chapter of a political saga that began in 1969 when she was first elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

She was the first woman to be mayor of San Francisco, the first woman from California to serve in the Senate, the first woman to chair the Senate Intelligence Committee and the Senate Rules Committee, and the first to be the Senate Judiciary Committees top Democrat.

She vaulted into the national spotlight in 1978 as acting mayor of San Francisco after incumbent George Moscone and Councilman Harvey Milk were assassinated. She would go on to win two terms as mayor.

Her steely stewardship of the stunned city put her into the national political conversation at a time when prominent women were becoming important political players, and she became a serious contender for the 1984 Democratic vice presidential nomination.

Eight years later, Californians elected her to the U.S. Senate, where she has served since 1992, topping the record of Sen. Hiram Johnson, a Progressive Republican who served from 1917 to 1945.

Feinsteins decision not to run has been long expected. The 89-year-old senator had stepped away from top leadership positions in recent years and exhibited some memory problems. She was in line to chair the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2021, but didnt after many of her colleagues urged her not to do so.

Last year, she was in line to become Senate president pro tempore, which would have put her third in line for the presidency. Feinstein expressed no interest and the job went to Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.

Also applying pressure: Prominent California members of Congress have all said they want the job  Reps. Adam Schiff, D-Los Angeles, and Katie Porter, D-Irvine, are in the race and Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, is expected to announce shortly.

The legacy

After being elected to the Senate in 1992, Feinstein quickly became well-known for her gun control advocacy. With a Democrat in the White House and controlling both chambers of Congress, Clinton in 1993 and 1994 was eager to win approval of strong gun control legislation.

The nation had been rocked by several incidents, including the massacre at Stocktons Cleveland Elementary School in 1989 where a gunman killed five people and wounded 34.

Feinstein would author the assault weapons ban, which stayed in effect for 10 years. Efforts to revive it have been unsuccessful.

Feinstein led the highly secret Senate intelligence panel from 2009 to 2015, when serious questions were being raised about American activity during the Iraq War and against terrorist threats.

The committees report on the CIAs enhanced interrogation techniques was a 6,700-page explanation  with 38,000 footnotes  of why the tactics were not useful.

Among its findings were that the CIA provided extensive inaccurate information about the operation of the program and its effectiveness to policymakers and the public. It called the programs management inadequate and deeply flawed.

It found the program was far more brutal than the CIA had told the public and lawmakers.

The report led the Senate to vote overwhelmingly to ban enhanced interrogation techniques.

Politics

Feinstein has been criticized by many liberals for being too centrist and too cautious.

When Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., mobilized party liberals and challenged President Jimmy Carter in 1980, Feinstein backed Carter.

She was an early Biden supporter when he ran for president in 2020.

At the time, California Senate colleague Kamala Harris was considering a bid, but Feinstein explained, Im a big fan of Sen. Harris, and I work with her. But shes brand-new here, so it takes a little bit of time to get to know somebody.

Harris became a senator in January 2017, briefly ran for president and was picked by Biden as his vice president.

Feinstein was seen as more moderate in the first years she was seeking her Senate seat, a time when the state was electing Republican Pete Wilson as governor and, later, Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Feinstein lost the governors race to Wilson in 1990, and as a senator won re-election in 1994 with 46.7% in a multi-candidate field and got 55% in 2000.

She has long been considered a consistently loyal Democrat, though, and in 2021, Americans for Democratic Action, which rates fealty to liberal causes, gave her a 100% rating.

Still, critics in recent years have wanted more aggressive action on some of their favorite initiatives, such as single-payer health insurance. Feinstein has not been enthusiastic about the plan.

In 2018, the state Democratic Party denied Feinstein its endorsement, giving a majority of its votes to then-state Sen. Randy de Leon, known in the state Legislature for his aggressive championing of climate change, helping undocumented immigrants, and more.

California Democrats are hungry for new leadership that will fight for California values from the front lines, not equivocate on the sidelines, de Leon said at the time.

Feinstein defeated de Leon in the general election with 54%.

In recent years, Feinsteins ability to do her job has been questioned.

After the judiciary committees highly contentious, partisan hearing on Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett in 2020, a hearing that Democrats routinely derided as a Republican effort to ram the nomination through the Senate before the election, Feinstein called the sessions one of the best set of hearings that Ive participated in. She thanked Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and gave him a hug.

Many Democrats were outraged and questioned whether she was qualified to continue as the committees top Democrat. Feinstein would have chaired the committee the following year, but stepped aside.

She continued to vote, attend committee meetings and ask questions.

Photos: Scenes from the State of the Union
Past daily of the Republic of Armenia (RA) writes: The RF [(Russian Federation)] Minister of Foreign Affairs special representative on matters of assisting in the normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Russian Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, Igor Khovaev, had arrived in Yerevan a few days ago. He met with [PM] Nikol Pashinyan, RA Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, and SC [(Security Council)] Secretary Armen Grigoryan.

According to the information of the Past newspaper, Khovaev conveyed a warning to the Armenian authorities that Moscow is seriously angry especially with Pashinyan's statement that "it turns out that the RF military presence in the RA not only does not guarantee, but on the contrary, creates threats to the security of Armenia."

This was assessed in Russia as "crossing all red lines" by Pashinyan. According to our sources, this situation has worried the current authorities of Armenia quite a lot, and after that meeting, in particular, the RA Foreign Minister and Defense Minister "quickly" called their Russian counterparts

By the way, according to the information we have, Moscow is also angry with Pashinyan's statement that the EU monitors are coming to Armenia to make sure Armenia, together with Russia, is not going to "carry out joint aggressive actions against Azerbaijan." This is perceived in Russia as Western "control" over their presence in Armenia.
Tigran Abrahamyan: Citizens of Artsakh remain alone in their worries

Suspect of Wakayama incident arrested

Macron signs pension reform bill

Aram Nikolyan: My only desire is to ensure that Azerbaijan's flag doesn't fly in Yerevan

IMF and World Bank unable to reach agreement on communique

Biden demands stricter protection of secret information

Moodys reaffirms "Export Insurance Agency of Armenia"s rating

The newly appointed Human Rights Defender conducted fact-finding activities in Tegh village

Armenia ambassador to Canada, newly elected mayor of Ottawa discuss cooperation

Investigative Committee: Criminal proceeding launched into wounded soldiers case

Woman who threw umbrella at Armenia premier is charged

Zakharova responds to Armenia parliament majority faction secretary: They probably mistranslated it to him

shamshyan.com: Man found dead, car found on train tracks in Yerevan

Matviyenko: Russia hopes Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty will be signed soon as possible

Armenia, Russia FMs discuss matter of Yerevan-Baku relations normalization

Smart solution from AraratBank: electric car loans at an interest rate starting at 9%

Armenian legislature speaker: We call on international community to clearly condemn Azerbaijan aggressive actions

Ameriabank CEO Artak Hanesyan sums up Triple Best campaign: We believe in potential of our team, Armenia

Armenia MOD: Soldier wounded by own weapon

Karabakh NSS deputy director, head of presidential Central Information Department are dismissed

Armenia official: I wouldn't call this a vector change, I would call it a search for certain security guarantees

Armenia parliament speaker expresses concern to Ashimbayev regarding Kazakhstan collaboration with Azerbaijan

Armenia, Russia FMs meet in Uzbekistan

GeoProMining Gold develops social cooperation with Ararat region

Armenia Security Council chief briefs OSCE Minsk Group US co-chair on Azerbaijan provocation near Tegh village

CIS FMs next meeting slated for October in Kyrgyzstan

Armenia Security Council secretary: International presence needed to resolve many security issues in Karabakh

Armenia ruling force lawmaker: PMs orders are mandatory for execution

Armenia police hand over Azerbaijani found in Kapan city area to National Security Service

Security Council head on CSTO: Not possible that Armenia be offered arms, ammunition help and it refuses

Armenia ruling force MP to Zakharova: If we hadn't fought, given casualties, Russia MFA could call as much as it wants

USD depreciating against several other major currencies

Armenia Security Council chief on Azerbaijan border stability: We expect Brussels to take appropriate steps

Armenia Security Council head: There were arrangements with Azerbaijan but most of them were broken

CIS FMs to hold meeting in Uzbekistan

Armenia Security Council chief: Azerbaijan is preparing for military escalation

Newspaper: Army General Staff chief admits that Tegh village incident was Armenian sides omission as well

Armenia MOD: Sanitary vehicle staff not hospitalized

shamshyan.com: Armenia MOD driver, 2 medical assistants hospitalized after truck, MOD sanitary vehicle collide

Brazil's president in China called for abandoning the dollar

Artsakh's Ombudsman expresses dissatisfaction to OSCE chairman for attitude of international community

Ararat Mirzoyan will go on a working visit to Uzbekistan

Police and demonstrators clash on the 12th day of demonstrations in France

Anahit Manasyan had a phone conversation with the Human Rights Ombudsman of Artsakh

The 12th protest against pension reform takes place in France

Russia MOD: No ceasefire violations recorded in Karabakh during last 24 hours

Lemkin Institute issues statement on Azerbaijan noncompliance with ICJ order to unblock Lachin corridor

MFA: Shushi is Artsakhs integral part in territorial, cultural, economic, historical aspects

An earthquake of magnitude 4.3 occurred in southeastern Turkey

Charles Michel explains his activeness in Armenia-Azerbaijan relations normalization process

Armenia PM to Bujar Osmani: This visit is good opportunity to get familiarized with complicated situation

South Korea bans its citizens from traveling to Armenia-Azerbaijan border region

Karabakh President convenes working consultation, security challenges discussed

OSCE Chairman-in-Office: I am here to find out if there is possibility to build bridges between Yerevan and Baku

Armenia PM chief of staff: Azerbaijanis are already in Yerevan, we have ensured their safety

Chairman-in-Office: OSCE toolkit provides mechanisms to assist peace process between Armenians and Azerbaijanis

Osmani: We are ready for any efforts to achieve positive dynamics between Azerbaijan and Armenia

Armenia FM: Replacing army with guards on Azerbaijan border should be part of final settlement

Armenia MFA: Rumors about OSCE Minsk Group activities termination are greatly exaggerated

168.am: Who is the Azerbaijani already rendered ineffective in Armenia? What does he say in video?

Armenia village youth tell how they caught Azerbaijani

Armenia Investigative Committee issues statement on murder of security guard, 56, in Syunik Province

Azerbaijani who crossed border into Armenia is caught by locals, found in Achanan village territory

2nd Azerbaijan soldier found, detained in Armenia

Armenian health minister: Wounded soldier in critical condition due to Azerbaijan provocation has stabilized

Which Armenia company is put on US sanctions list?

Premier: Armenia ready for reopening of transport links, delimitation of borders

Pashinyan: We are ready to withdraw troops to safe distance along Armenia-Azerbaijan 1991 border

Armenia to have trade attache in Germany

Azerbaijan MFA accuses France foreign ministry of smear campaign and unfair position

Armenia PM: It failed to deploy border guards without escalation of tension

Newly elected Armenia ombudsperson announces her priority objective in this capacity

Armenia deputy PM, US Deputy Secretary of Treasury acknowledge high level of cooperation between both countries

Newspaper: Karabakh soldiers who showed necessary resistance to Azerbaijan military are rewarded

Armenia FM, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office tete-a-tete kicks off (PHOTOS)

Armenia deputy PM, USAID official discuss opportunities for deepening cooperation

Mher Grigoryan, Todd Robinson exchange views on ongoing democratic reforms in Armenia

Armenia FM to Derek Hogan: Provocation near Tegh village was another manifestation of Azerbaijan aggressive policy

shamshyan.com: Murder in Armenias Syunik Province, 6 gunshot wounds found on body of security guard, 57

US State Department on Armenias Tegh village incident: Use of force to resolve disputes is unacceptable
With the pandemic rapidly becoming a thing of the past, the travel industry is adapting to new trends driven by a demand for adventure, said luxury cruise experts at Panache Cruises, uncovering the travel trends for 2023 and beyond.



The growth of the expedition holiday market indicates a desire for adventure post-lockdown with tourists keen to explore lesser-trodden routes. The industry is responding to consumer demand for more environmentally friendly forms of travel with sustainability at the centre of many travel businesses' plans for 2023.



This is most evident in the cruise sector as cruise lines introduce cleaner fuels, eliminate plastics and reduce waste whilst producing fresh water on board. With more regional UK ports open to cruise vessels than ever before, holidaymakers need to travel less by road or air before they start their holiday proper. This not only saves time but also has environmental benefits too.



James Cole, Founder and Managing Director at luxury cruise-focused Panache Cruises said: Following the pandemic, we have seen a shift in the priorities of travellers across the wider travel sector as people move away from mass-market style holidays. After being cooped up inside for two years, people are looking for adventure further afield.



Advancements in cruise ship technology such as hydrodynamic hull design and more efficient propulsions systems mean that vessels can cruise comfortably at over 20 knots whilst using much less fuel. This is allowing tourists to travel further from home even on shorter itineraries.



With lockdown hopefully now firmly behind us, we are seeing a trend of travellers wanting to make the most of the free time they have. This is driving more people to visit those once in a lifetime destinations. Put simply, tourists want to tick off their bucket list holidays now they have the chance.



Destination trends in Europe have been impacted significantly by the war in Ukraine as ships are no longer stopping at various ports in both the Baltic and the Black seas. This has led to travel itineraries moving the focus away from Russia to other less explored Eastern European destinations like Tallinn in Estonia - which has seen cruise tourists almost double in the past 12 months.



And with sustainability an increasing concern for consumers, a growing number are voting with their wallets by choosing travel brands that provide sustainable options. We are seeing a big shift towards environmentally friendly travel generally across all modes of transport and the cruise sector is driving this change.



Cruise operators are building ships that run on greener fuels as well as developing wastewater management systems to eliminate water pollution. Marine engineers are coming up with more streamlined hulls which reduce drag and are therefore much more efficient. This is allowing passengers to travel further afield in a much more efficient manner.



Panache Cruises five travel trends for 2023:



Bucket list holidays

The demand for big-ticket bucket list trips has increased in popularity after the confines of lockdown. Travellers are looking to spread their wings with a renewed sense of perspective and a desire for adventure. Cruise lines are seeing an increase in bookings to destinations such as the US, Canada and Australia as well as previously inaccessible destinations. The pandemic halted everyones ability to travel and now holidaymakers are realising they can, and should, visit somewhere they have always wanted to go whilst they now have the opportunity.



Expedition holidays

A surge in interest in expedition cruises reflects a desire within Brits to travel further afield and create new experiences. The pandemic and subsequent lockdowns have fuelled a desire to explore off the beaten track. Adventurists want to see some of the most remote parts of the world and walk along yet-to-be-trodden paths. Antarctica cruises are a popular choice amongst those wanting to see landscapes that have only been seen by a few. The rapidly growing expedition cruising sector has seen many new ice rated expedition vessels - equipped with submarines, helicopters and Zodiac inflatable boats to explore remote areas up close.



More of a focus on our environment

Environmental issues are to the fore in the travel sector in 2023 with a bigger focus on sustainability and protecting the natural environment. The cruise industry is taking a lead with new greener fuels and more efficient vessels. More regional UK ports are opening up for large vessels too meaning that holidaymakers have significantly less distance to travel between home and their nearest cruise ship dock. Many holidaymakers wont need to board a plane and generate further emissions as a result.



Baltic travel changed inexorably by the Ukrainian war

The cruising industry in particular has seen a switch in tourism to other eastern European seaports because of the war in Ukraine. Rather than visiting Russian ports such as St. Petersburg, cruise ships are stopping off in ports such as Tallinn in Estonia and Riga in Latvia. As a result, tourism numbers to these eastern European countries are soaring - bringing in more money to these countries. Tallinn alone has seen tourist numbers from docking cruise ships almost double in the past year.



Being able to cruise further on shorter trips

Recent advances in cruise ship technology have seen the creation of vessels which can cover greater distances per day due to improved hydrodynamic hulls and more efficient engines. In 2023 travellers heading away on a weeks cruise on the most modern ships will be able to explore further afield due to this new technology. With sailing speeds in excess of 20 knots, travellers are now able to spend more time at each port and experience destinations within Scandinavia and the Mediterranean more easily than ever before.



Panache Cruises is a leading UK provider of luxury and ultra-luxury cruises and partners only with the World's most luxurious cruise lines. With full ATOL financial protection, Panache Cruises customers also benefit from the companys Customer Trust Fund which provides total peace of mind.  TradeArabia News Service
The Swiss government has blocked Russian assets worth 7.5 billion francs ($8.1 billion), TASS reported, citing the official representative of the State Secretariat of Economy (SECO) of the country Marxus Sporndli.

At the same time Sporndli noted that the Ministry of Economy of the country refrains from comments concerning the blocking by Credit Suisse Bank of Russian assets for 17.6 billion Swiss francs (more than $19 billion).

He said the data reported by Credit Suisse includes not only funds blocked because of Swiss sanctions, but also funds belonging to individuals and organizations subject to sanctions in other countries. "Therefore, the Ministry of Economy cannot comment on this data," he added.

The publications Le Temps and Sonntags Zeitung previously reported that 7.5 billion francs were officially frozen in Switzerland after the start of a special military operation in Ukraine. Of the frozen Credit Suisse funds, about 4 billion francs, as noted, belongs to the citizens caught under the Swiss sanctions, and the remaining 13.6 billion francs are owned, including people against whom other states have imposed restrictions. This amount also includes blocked funds of the Russian Central Bank.

Switzerland has joined all EU sanctions, which were imposed after the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022.




Following France, Canada urged its citizens not to visit Belarus, and those who are already there, to leave the country immediately, Global Affairs Canada said in a warning.

"Canadians should avoid traveling to Belarus due to the risk of selective application of local laws and armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine," the respective statement reads, in particular.

The Global Affairs Canada emphasized that the possibilities of the Canadian embassy to provide consular services in Belarus are extremely limited, and called on the Canadian nationals in Belarus to leave by commercial means.

Among the reasons for this appeal, the Global Affairs Canada noted the conflict in Ukraine, the unstable political situation in Belarus after the 2020 protests, the increase in fraud and looting, as well as the threat of terrorism.

Global Affairs Canada advised those Canadian citizens who decide to stay in Belarus to follow reliable news, review personal security plans every day, have a stock of medicines and cash, and be ready to hide in a safe place.
The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives has launched an investigation into the genesis of COVID-19, seeking information from senior U.S. administration officials and former chief epidemiologist Anthony Fauci.

The House Oversight Committee's special subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic is probing, among other things, the theory that the virus originated artificially and was leaked from a Chinese laboratory that received grants from the United States, among other things.

"The American people deserve real answers after years of suffering caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the government's response. The investigation must begin with finding out where and how this virus came to be," subcommittee co-chair Brad Wenstrup is quoted in the press release as saying.

His colleague James Comer said there was "growing evidence of a virus leak from an unsafe laboratory in (the Chinese city of) Wuhan" that was funded by American taxpayers through the EcoHealth Alliance, among other things. He suggested that U.S. authorities may have known this and deliberately concealed it.




The Federation of Armenian Organisations in the Netherlands (FAON) thanks MPs Don Ceder and Agnes Mulder for their questions to Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra on Azerbaijani illegal blockade of Lachin corridor and informs that in response to the questions, the Dutch Foreign Minister agrees that the blockage of Lachin corridor will lead to a humanitarian crisis in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).

In his letter to the Dutch parliament on February 10, FM Hoekstra said that the Netherlands supplies humanitarian aid to Nagorno-Karabakh through the EU and with the assistance of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), as only the latter has access via the Lachin corridor to Nagorno-Karabakh, FAON informed.

The FM wrote that The Netherlands has called on the Azerbaijani authorities in various talks and statements to comply with the provisions of the trilateral agreement.

On January 19, 2023, I spoke on the phone with the Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers. During the telephone conversation with my Azerbaijani counterpart, I conveyed my concerns about the humanitarian situation and asked the Azerbaijani side to ensure free movement. On the same day, the Prime Minister delivered the same message to Azerbaijani President Aliyev in the margins of the World Economic Forum, said the Minister.

The added that in accordance with the motion by Ceder and Mulder, the Dutch cabinet is also looking at what further options there are at a European level to persuade the Azerbaijani authorities to end the blockade.
As part of his visit to the United Arab Emirates, Narek Mkrtchyan, the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs of Armenia, met with Gilbert Houngbo, the Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO).

The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of Armenia informs Armenian News-NEWS.am that during the meeting, a number of issues related to the implemented and planned reforms in labor and employment in Armenia were discussed.

Minister Mkrtchyan thanked the head of the ILO for close and effective cooperation, as well as for assisting in sectoral reforms in Armenia.

Agreeing with the priorities set by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of Armenia, Gilbert Houngbo reaffirmed his readiness to invest the necessary resources and efforts aimed at sectoral cooperation.

In addition, he presented to the Armenian minister his initiative to create a global coalition of social justice, and proposed that Armenia be a part of it.

Also during the talk, Narek Mkrtchyan briefed Gilbert Houngbo on the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh as a result of the blocking of the Lachin corridor by Azerbaijan; the minister had informed his ILO colleague about this earlier in an official letter.
Valentina Matviyenko, Chairperson of the Russian Federation Council, met with Sahiba Gafarova, speaker of the parliament of Azerbaijan, who is on an official visit to Russia.

According to Matviyenko, Russian-Azerbaijani relations are on the rise.

"The opening of the Consulate General of Russia in Azerbaijan would serve as a vivid example of allied relations [between Russia and Azerbaijan]," she added, in particular.

The head of the Azerbaijani legislature, for her part, emphasized that the relations between the two countries are stable and dynamic

During the talk, the matters related to the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue and the work being done with respect to the Lachin corridor were also touched upon.


Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle Bombay called the incident an institutional issue, saying students from oppressed castes (SC/ST) and low-income families face immense harassment and discrimination on the campus from students, faculties and employees.

Sana Ejaz | TwoCircles.net

MUMBAI (MAHARASHTRA)  A day after the alleged suicide of 18-year-old Dalit student Darshan Solanki of IIT-Bombay, the Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC-IITB) on Monday pointed fingers at the institution for various lapses vis-a-vis pupils hailing from non-urban areas and belonging to SC/ST categories.

Solanki, in the B.Tech. First Year Chemical Engineering course, jumped to death from the 7th floor of the hostel building in the IIT-Bombays Powai Campus on Sunday afternoon, after completing his first semester exams a day earlier.

In a detailed statement on social media on campus suicides, the APPSC-IIT Bombay termed it as an institutional issue, as students from non-urban, non-English speaking backgrounds, oppressed castes (SC/ST) and low-income families face immense harassment and discrimination on the campus from students, faculties and employees.

These institutional and casual ways of casteism cause mental and psychological stress on students, but IITs lack any mechanism to help them. We have been raising the issue of the lack of mental health support for our students with the IIT administration as well as other forums like National Commission for SC/STs, said the group.

It had raised questions on how the counselors at IIT-B are not sensitised to understand the social realities of caste that affect students from SC/ST/OBC communities, and lack of SC/ST counsellors in the Student Wellness Centre (SWC).

In the wake of Solankis suicide, the APPSC-IITB has demanded a review of the working of the SWC, called upon the IIT-B to address the issue of inclusivity in it, and make the centre more accessible to students coming from all backgrounds.

Recalling the September 2014 death of SC student Aniket Ambhore, 22, the APPSC-IITB said he faced derogatory comments about his academic abilities and how such an atmosphere of discrimination affects the mental state and motivation of the reserved category students  who are generally equated with lack of merit  at IIT-B.

The students group said that after sustained efforts, the SC/ST cell at IIT-B was set up in 2017, but started its student outreach only from 2022, but still lacks in many aspects like a clear mandate which hinders its appropriate status in the institute, and demanded immediate action in this regard.

The APPSC-IITB said it has been highlighting the severe lack of representation of SC/ST faculty at IIT-B whereby the students from marginalised communities continue to feel alienated in such institutions, while such unfortunate tragedies shatter the dreams of their families and communities to uplift themselves.

How many more Darshans and Anikets need to die? the APPSC-IITB asked, urging the IIT-B to shed apathy, probe Solankis death and resolve all the issues pertaining to students from SC/ST/OBCs it had raised. (With IANS inputs)

Sana Ejaz is an independent journalist from Bihar. She tweets @SanaEjaz
Arman Tatoyan, the founder of the Center for Law and Justice "Tatoyan" Foundation and the former ombudsman of Armenia, has posted a new video on Facebook.

According to him, this video is another of the many proofs that shows the true intentions of the Azerbaijani governments "eco-activist" agents, who have closed the only road connecting Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) to Armenia and the rest of the world for more than two months now.

"They [i.e., these Azerbaijani eco-activists] are insulting the indigenous people of Artsakhan indivisible part of the Armenian people, they are happy about closing the road; this is their real attitude. This is a video of December 14, 2022the 2nd day of the road closure. This video has also been included and analyzed in the report to be published in the near future, where many [Azerbaijani] eco-activists have been exposed with evidence," the former ombudsman of Armenia noted.
Unfortunately, the situation in the area of responsibility of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is complicated and tense. Anatoly Sidorov, Head of the CSTO Joint Staff, told this to a press conference Tuesday.

According to him, the main source of military security challenges and threats is the destructive activity of a part of the Western elites, aimed at aggravating the situation around the CSTO and in its member countries.

"The attempts of individual states to strengthen their positions in the Caucasus, to gain access to the Caspian resources and a direct exit to Central Asia, taking into account the high combat potential on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, contribute to the heating up of the crisis in the Caucasus region of the Collective Security," noted Sidorov.

He stated that the combat potential in the Caucasus region of the Collective Security continues to deepen due, first of all, to the unsettled territorial issues between individual states.

"Russia plays a stabilizing role in the region. At the same time, Washington and Brussels, not even taking into account the fact that Armenia is a member of the CSTO, having their own vision of post-conflict settlement, are trying to impose their format of the security model and neutralize the Organization's efforts in that regard," Sidorov added.
Information often appears in the media that the CSTO does not provide aid [to Armenia]. But the military and political situation is different; it is not always possible to carry out an operation to "cure some disease" there with military forces. Anatoly Sidorov, Head of the CSTO Joint Staff, told this to a press conference Tuesday.

"The principle of do no harm should apply here as well. We [i.e., the CSTO] are trying to follow as much as possible the situation that is being created there. It is no secret that in September last year, not good events took place on the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Moreover, there were casualties among both servicemen and civilians. And, in general, loss of territory, loss of weapons and equipment," he noted.

Sidorov recalled that a meeting of the CSTO Collective Security Council was convened with respect to the aforesaid and a decision was made to send a mission to Armenia immediately.

"We tried to make a more objective analysis of the created situation, and presented a report to the heads of states on the results of the mission's work. Then the heads of states will make decisions. Our people are very wise, very experienced, and I believe that they will do everything so that as a result peace reigns in the territory of the Caucasus region, a mutually acceptable solution is found for Armenia and Azerbaijan and, ultimately, all conflicts stop there," added the head of the CSTO Joint Staff.
Tigran Abrahamyan: Citizens of Artsakh remain alone in their worries

Suspect of Wakayama incident arrested

Macron signs pension reform bill

Aram Nikolyan: My only desire is to ensure that Azerbaijan's flag doesn't fly in Yerevan

IMF and World Bank unable to reach agreement on communique

Biden demands stricter protection of secret information

Moodys reaffirms "Export Insurance Agency of Armenia"s rating

The newly appointed Human Rights Defender conducted fact-finding activities in Tegh village

Armenia ambassador to Canada, newly elected mayor of Ottawa discuss cooperation

Investigative Committee: Criminal proceeding launched into wounded soldiers case

Woman who threw umbrella at Armenia premier is charged

Zakharova responds to Armenia parliament majority faction secretary: They probably mistranslated it to him

shamshyan.com: Man found dead, car found on train tracks in Yerevan

Matviyenko: Russia hopes Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty will be signed soon as possible

Armenia, Russia FMs discuss matter of Yerevan-Baku relations normalization

Smart solution from AraratBank: electric car loans at an interest rate starting at 9%

Armenian legislature speaker: We call on international community to clearly condemn Azerbaijan aggressive actions

Ameriabank CEO Artak Hanesyan sums up Triple Best campaign: We believe in potential of our team, Armenia

Armenia MOD: Soldier wounded by own weapon

Karabakh NSS deputy director, head of presidential Central Information Department are dismissed

Armenia official: I wouldn't call this a vector change, I would call it a search for certain security guarantees

Armenia parliament speaker expresses concern to Ashimbayev regarding Kazakhstan collaboration with Azerbaijan

Armenia, Russia FMs meet in Uzbekistan

GeoProMining Gold develops social cooperation with Ararat region

Armenia Security Council chief briefs OSCE Minsk Group US co-chair on Azerbaijan provocation near Tegh village

CIS FMs next meeting slated for October in Kyrgyzstan

Armenia Security Council secretary: International presence needed to resolve many security issues in Karabakh

Armenia ruling force lawmaker: PMs orders are mandatory for execution

Armenia police hand over Azerbaijani found in Kapan city area to National Security Service

Security Council head on CSTO: Not possible that Armenia be offered arms, ammunition help and it refuses

Armenia ruling force MP to Zakharova: If we hadn't fought, given casualties, Russia MFA could call as much as it wants

USD depreciating against several other major currencies

Armenia Security Council chief on Azerbaijan border stability: We expect Brussels to take appropriate steps

Armenia Security Council head: There were arrangements with Azerbaijan but most of them were broken

CIS FMs to hold meeting in Uzbekistan

Armenia Security Council chief: Azerbaijan is preparing for military escalation

Newspaper: Army General Staff chief admits that Tegh village incident was Armenian sides omission as well

Armenia MOD: Sanitary vehicle staff not hospitalized

shamshyan.com: Armenia MOD driver, 2 medical assistants hospitalized after truck, MOD sanitary vehicle collide

Brazil's president in China called for abandoning the dollar

Artsakh's Ombudsman expresses dissatisfaction to OSCE chairman for attitude of international community

Ararat Mirzoyan will go on a working visit to Uzbekistan

Police and demonstrators clash on the 12th day of demonstrations in France

Anahit Manasyan had a phone conversation with the Human Rights Ombudsman of Artsakh

The 12th protest against pension reform takes place in France

Russia MOD: No ceasefire violations recorded in Karabakh during last 24 hours

Lemkin Institute issues statement on Azerbaijan noncompliance with ICJ order to unblock Lachin corridor

MFA: Shushi is Artsakhs integral part in territorial, cultural, economic, historical aspects

An earthquake of magnitude 4.3 occurred in southeastern Turkey

Charles Michel explains his activeness in Armenia-Azerbaijan relations normalization process

Armenia PM to Bujar Osmani: This visit is good opportunity to get familiarized with complicated situation

South Korea bans its citizens from traveling to Armenia-Azerbaijan border region

Karabakh President convenes working consultation, security challenges discussed

OSCE Chairman-in-Office: I am here to find out if there is possibility to build bridges between Yerevan and Baku

Armenia PM chief of staff: Azerbaijanis are already in Yerevan, we have ensured their safety

Chairman-in-Office: OSCE toolkit provides mechanisms to assist peace process between Armenians and Azerbaijanis

Osmani: We are ready for any efforts to achieve positive dynamics between Azerbaijan and Armenia

Armenia FM: Replacing army with guards on Azerbaijan border should be part of final settlement

Armenia MFA: Rumors about OSCE Minsk Group activities termination are greatly exaggerated

168.am: Who is the Azerbaijani already rendered ineffective in Armenia? What does he say in video?

Armenia village youth tell how they caught Azerbaijani

Armenia Investigative Committee issues statement on murder of security guard, 56, in Syunik Province

Azerbaijani who crossed border into Armenia is caught by locals, found in Achanan village territory

2nd Azerbaijan soldier found, detained in Armenia

Armenian health minister: Wounded soldier in critical condition due to Azerbaijan provocation has stabilized

Which Armenia company is put on US sanctions list?

Premier: Armenia ready for reopening of transport links, delimitation of borders

Pashinyan: We are ready to withdraw troops to safe distance along Armenia-Azerbaijan 1991 border

Armenia to have trade attache in Germany

Azerbaijan MFA accuses France foreign ministry of smear campaign and unfair position

Armenia PM: It failed to deploy border guards without escalation of tension

Newly elected Armenia ombudsperson announces her priority objective in this capacity

Armenia deputy PM, US Deputy Secretary of Treasury acknowledge high level of cooperation between both countries

Newspaper: Karabakh soldiers who showed necessary resistance to Azerbaijan military are rewarded

Armenia FM, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office tete-a-tete kicks off (PHOTOS)

Armenia deputy PM, USAID official discuss opportunities for deepening cooperation

Mher Grigoryan, Todd Robinson exchange views on ongoing democratic reforms in Armenia

Armenia FM to Derek Hogan: Provocation near Tegh village was another manifestation of Azerbaijan aggressive policy

shamshyan.com: Murder in Armenias Syunik Province, 6 gunshot wounds found on body of security guard, 57

US State Department on Armenias Tegh village incident: Use of force to resolve disputes is unacceptable

MFA: France deeply concerned about violence that took place near Tegh village of Armenia

Legal entity from Armenia on list of those subject to US export restrictions

Russia MOD: 4 ceasefire violations recorded in Karabakh

EU monitoring mission in Armenia not present in the area when Azerbaijan attacked

Armenia National Security Service Border Guard Troops commander dismissed

Armenia MOD: Tegh village incident that led to undesirable consequences was due to deployment adjustment

Mayor of Frances Lyon expresses unconditional support to people of Karabakh

Pashinyan: Armenian side had recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan

Criminal proceedings launched into Armenia soldiers being killed, wounded by Azerbaijan near Tegh village

Chairman-in-Office: OSCE supports continuation of Armenia-Azerbaijan direct contacts

MFA: Russia asked Armenia to explain information about participating in joint military exercises with NATO

Zakharova does not disclose details of Russian, Turkish FMs talks on Armenia-Turkey relations

Russia MFA spox: CSTO mission deployment details can be talked about when Armenia is ready

Zakharova: Russia favors complete unblocking of Lachin corridor

Russia MFA: Other players engagement will lead to Armenia-Azerbaijan relations destabilization

EU calls on Armenia and Azerbaijan to intensify border delimitation talks, until then to respect 1991 line

Russia MFA spox: Yerevan, Baku accepted proposal to hold another bilateral talks

Pallone: This is another senseless provocation from Azerbaijani forces against Armenia

Zakharova: Russia Border Guard Service, army took measures to de-escalate situation near Armenias Tegh village

Armenia deputy defense minister on possible Azerbaijan provocations again: Nothing can be ruled out
A number of urgent matters were discussed at the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Operational Headquarters meeting held Tuesday under the chairmanship of Ruben Vardanyan, Minister of State and Head of the Operational Headquarters.

The staff of Artsakh State Minister informs Armenian News-NEWS.am that the latest situation in food products, medicine, fuel, as well as infrastructure of Artsakh was presented.

Andranik Khachatryan, the director of Artsakhenergo company, noted that the energy system of Artsakh cannot withstand the current overload due to the lack of natural gas supply and the cold weather, related accidents have increased, and the power grid is in an extreme condition. The Minister of State instructed to submit proposals related to the situation to discuss with all relevant agencies and to find the most effective solutions under the existing conditions.

Minister of Social Development and Migration Armen Mangasaryan presented the course of social assistance measures aimed at mitigating the consequences of the current Azerbaijani blockade of Artsakh, informing that the process of submitting respective applications for beneficiaries has started. The Minister of State instructed to ensure proper public awareness of these assistance measures so that all beneficiaries can receive the planned compensations on time.

Mangasaryan added that the distribution of some charitable cargoes that reached Artsakh is underway. Food products received in a charitable way are provided exclusively free of charge to socially disadvantaged groups. Minister of State Ruben Vardanyan emphasized the maximum transparent implementation of this process.

The issue of price monitoring was also discussed at the meeting. The Minister of State instructed the relevant agencies to continue the monitoring and pricing studies, as well as to analyze the causes of possible price increases in Artsakh.
Seven more medical patients have been transferred from Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) to Armenia through the mediation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), informed the Ministry of Health of Artsakh.

Due to the blocking by Azerbaijan of the only road connecting Artsakh with Armenia, seven patients from the Republican Medical Center of Artsakhand with serious diseases of the oncology and cardiovascular system as well as pathologies requiring emergency surgical interventionshave been transported Tuesday to specialized medical institutions of Armenia, with the mediation and escorting of the ICRC.

Also, three patients, who had been transferred to Armenia for medical treatment, have returned to Artsakh, together with accompanying persons.

Scheduled surgeries continue to be suspended in the medical centers of Artsakh.

Four children remain in the neonatal and intensive care units of Arevik medical center.

Twelve patients remain in the intensive care unit of the Republican Medical Center, and four of them are in critical condition.

A total of 97 medical patients have been transported so far from Artsakh to Armenia with the mediation and assistance of the Red Cross.
Armenia is in favor of having discussions between Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and Azerbaijan in an internationally visible framework, and Armenia continues to work with its international partners on the establishment of this mechanism. Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia, Armen Grigoryan, told reporters about this on Tuesday.

"The peace treaty [with Azerbaijan] is about that everything should be clear. The Armenian side is working on that clarity, we are in favor of creating a guarantor institute; this is the position of the Armenian side. This mechanism may be referred to in another international treaty which is being negotiated. This is a matter of discussion that needs to be further discussed for clarification.

This document is not final, negotiations are underway. It is understandable that the public expects clear answers, but it is a negotiation process. We have worked on and have transferred the [peace treaty] text which was transferred to us by Azerbaijan, and then Azerbaijan worked on and transferred [it]. Now the Armenian side is working [on it], and I believe that the text will be ready as soon as possible, and we will transfer [it back to Azerbaijan]; it is not yet known in what form," said Grigoryan.

He noted that there is a reference to Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) in the draft peace treaty, but it should be taken into account that the document is not yet final, as respective negotiations are still in progress.

Asked whether it is a matter of principle for Armenia that the Nagorno-Karabakh issue should be addressed in the peace treaty, Grigoryan responded: "For the Armenian side, it is more important to create an internationally visible mechanism within the framework of which Stepanakert and Baku will discuss the issues of security and rights. In what format it will be done, it is not primary. The primary thing is to create a mechanism."

And asked what exactly the Armenian side includes in this peace treaty with Azerbaijan, Grigoryan stated that the question is not to include something specific, but the approach: an internationally visible mechanism should be created for discussions on security and rights to take place between Artsakh and Azerbaijan.

"We will understand about creating that mechanism what are the mechanisms that guarantee security and rights," added the secretary of the Security Council of Armenia.
The West did not impose the presence of an EU monitoring mission on Armenia; it was the decision of the Armenian side, related to the countrys experience. Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia, Armen Grigoryan, told reporters about this on Tuesday.

"In May and November 2021, there was an attack [by Azerbaijan] on the sovereign territory of Armenia; the same in September last year. And taking into account that experience that the existing military guarantees do not work, Armenia has invited the EU civilian [monitoring] mission to create certain guarantees. Security guarantees should not be considered only military; they are economic, too," said Grigoryan.

Reflecting on Russias comments on this EU civilian monitoring mission, the secretary of the Security Council of Armenia noted that he cannot speak for Moscow about latters concerns.

"We regularly talk with our colleagues in Moscow, discuss issues, present our approaches. For example, we say that there have been attacks on the sovereign territory of Armenia in recent years, that danger continues, and to neutralize it, it is necessary to create international guarantees," he said.

Grigoryan emphasized that Armenia has taken many steps toward unblocking Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), except for possible actions in the Lachin corridor itself.

"By the document of November 9, [2020] these obligations are placed on Russia and Azerbaijan; and we hope that they will fulfill it," added the head of the Security Council of Armenia.

Also, Grigoryan emphasized that Armenia is ready for the reopening of the border and the normalization of relations with Turkey at any time.
Chairman of the Azerbaijani Parliament Sahiba Gafarova has been meeting with her colleagues in Moscow for the second day. Today she met with Speaker of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Valentina Matviyenko, about which the press service of the Federation Council had already informed. The Russian side reported in detail on bilateral inter-parliamentary cooperation, and briefly talked about regional issues: they discussed the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement and the Lachin corridor.



The Azerbaijani side listed in great detail all the claims voiced by Gafarova. "According to her, despite Baku's initiatives, "Armenia continues to occupy a destructive position in the negotiations and, in open violation of the requirements of the trilateral statement, has not yet fully vacated Azerbaijani territories, but rather prevents the opening of all economic and transport links in the region," the Azerbaijani speaker said.



"Gafarova thoroughly informed the Russian side about the recent situation with the Lachin road. She stressed that Azerbaijan strictly follows the trilateral statement and has completely fulfilled all its obligations under it. Paragraph 6 of the document says that Azerbaijan ensures the safety of two-way traffic of citizens and goods, and the movement of vehicles in both directions along the Lachin road," Azerbaijani media quotes, "At that it was noted that Armenia has been misusing the Lachin road for over 2 years to transport mines, ammunition and military personnel, as well as to export Azerbaijani natural resources looted here from Azerbaijan. The protest action against illegal economic activities in the places of temporary deployment of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan as well as against the exploitation of natural resources and misuse of the Lachin road is the realization of the legal right of Azerbaijani citizens. It is necessary to fulfill the just demands of the protesters. () She stressed that the statements of the Armenian side about the alleged blockade of the Lachin road by the Azerbaijani side, the blockade of the Armenian population and the humanitarian crisis are completely groundless. Every day, various vehicles, including vehicles of peacekeeping forces, the International Committee of the Red Cross and Armenian ambulances pass along the Lachin road to refute the groundless allegations of the Armenian side. So, all this proves that Armenia is resorting to manipulation in an attempt to mislead the international public," Gafarova said.



Azerbaijani speaker may try to convince ignorant people - but it's unlikely the Speaker of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation is among them.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Tuesday brushed aside U.S. criticism of new West Bank settlement construction and promised to legalize dozens of outposts in the occupied territory, The Associated Press reported.



Smotrich spoke less than a day after Washington said the U.S. strongly opposes Israel's plans for large-scale settlement construction in the West Bank and the intention to retroactively legalize nine outposts.



Smotrich, a religious ultra-nationalist settler, declared that he and his allies were committed to the complete removal of restrictions on building in Judea and Samaria, naming the West Bank by biblical names.



Smotrich was promised authority in the defense establishment responsible for the West Bank settlements as part of his coalition agreement with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu



According to the Israeli finance minister, once he receives this authority, he will act to normalize life for the more than 500,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank.



Smotrich also said that he would transfer authority over Israeli civilians to the ministries.



U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said he was "deeply concerned" about Israel's decision, but gave no indication that the U.S. would take action against Israel.



Smotrich responded to Blinken's rebuke by saying that the government had made their position clear to the Americans and that differences are resolved even among friends.



Israel seized the West Bank along with East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Middle East War. The Palestinians seek a future independent state in these territories.



Most of the international community considers the Israeli settlements illegal and an obstacle to peace. About 700,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.



On Sunday, Netanyahu's cabinet unanimously authorized the legalization of nine settlement outposts and said it would soon approve additional construction in existing settlements. Smotrich said that about 10,000 new houses should be approved.
As the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine approaches, U.S. officials are telling the Ukrainian leadership that they are facing a turning point to change the trajectory of the war, The Washington Post reports.



As the paper notes, they are increasing pressure on Kyiv to make significant gains on the battlefield, while arms and aid shipments from the United States and its allies are increasing.



Despite promises to support Ukraine "as long as it takes," Biden officials say recent aid packages from Congress and America's allies represent Kyiv's best chance to decisively change the course of the war.



Several officials noted the strong bipartisan support that accompanied each aid package to Ukraine, adding that Congress gave the White House more than it asked for. They acknowledged, however, that it was done under the leadership of the Democrat-led House and Senate.



"We will continue to try to impress upon them that we can't do anything and everything forever," said a senior source in the Biden administration, referring to the Ukrainian leaders. The anonymous source added that the administration is very firmly of the view that it will be difficult to continue getting the same level of security and economic assistance from Congress.



"'As long as it takes pertains to the amount of conflict," he added, "It doesnt pertain to the amount of assistance."



A senior source also said that the Biden administration will continue to request as much funding as it believes Ukraine needs, as it has done throughout the war. He stressed, however, that there is no guarantee that Congress will approve these requests. Republicans took control of the House of Representatives in January, and while many key lawmakers have expressed support for continued funding, the party also has to contend with an extreme right-wing flank that has expressed skepticism or opposition to additional funding for the war.



The war has become a slow routine in eastern Ukraine in recent months, with neither side gaining the upper hand. Biden officials believe the turning point will come this spring, when Russia is expected to launch an offensive and Ukraine will go on a counteroffensive in an attempt to regain lost territory.



The critical nature of the next few months has already been brought to Kiev's attention in sharp terms by senior Biden representatives, including Deputy National Security Adviser John Feiner, Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman and Deputy Defense Secretary Colin Kahl, all of whom visited Ukraine in January, the paper wrote.
The Mellon Foundation has awarded Emory University and the College of the Muscogee Nation (CMN) in Oklahoma a $2.4 million grant that will help develop collaborative and independent programs advancing Native and Indigenous Studies and the preservation of the Mvskoke language in a unique partnership between the two schools.

The joint initiative in Native and Indigenous Studies is the only one of its kind in the nation between a tribal college and a private research university. The work of the initiative, and the nature of the partnership between Emory and CMN, is intended as a new approach for scholarship, teaching and collaboration that centers Indigenous knowledge and values in ways that advance all societies.

universitys acknowledgement in September 2021 that it was founded in 1836 on land that the Muscogee Nation had ceded to the U.S. government just 15 years earlier.

The grant will provide important support for CMNs transition from a two-year to a four-year institution in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, with an emphasis on increasing the number of Mvskoke speakers and revitalizing its Mvskoke language curriculum.

With support from the Mellon grant and Emory, CMN will establish a Mvskoke language master-apprentice learning environment that will resonate a successful model for all tribal nations engaged in language revitalization, says Randall.

The Mellon Foundation award is a huge acknowledgement of the healing work that has been taking place between Emory University, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, and the College of the Muscogee Nation, says Randall. As we work together to create collaborative spaces on our combined campuses using Mvskoke language and culture, we are effectively determining a pathway for Native people to heal from the trauma of dispossession and assimilation.

The project also lays the groundwork for Emorys Indigeneity Hub, which will include new faculty and programs in language, literature, history and the arts, and the construction of a physical and literal language path on Emory campuses in Atlanta and Oxford.

Mellon is supporting a partnership that allows members of the Emory community to learn from and listen to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and the College of the Muscogee Nation, says Lowery. Following their lead is crucial if we are to create education for healing and for the 21st century challenges our students and communities face. I am excited about continuing to get to know one another, to walk together and to facilitate the relationship between Muscogee people and their homelands.
The Emory community will come together on Wednesday, Feb. 15, to unite in grief and support in the wake of the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria.

Ive heard from members of the Emory community with deep ties to Turkey and Syria. They are in unimaginable pain, mourning loss on a scale that is unfathomable, says Emory President Gregory L. Fenves. My heart breaks for all who are suffering in the aftermath of the earthquake.

Emorys International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS) has reached out to support students who are from Turkey or Syria, or who are known to have relatives there.

The gathering, set for 12 p.m. in Cannon Chapel, will be an opportunity to share remarks, prayers and resources for support and action. It is sponsored by the Office of Spiritual and Religious Life with Campus Life, Counseling and Psychological Services, the Faculty Staff Assistance Program, the Graduate Muslim Student Council, ISSS, the Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies, and the Muslim Students Association. Refreshments will follow.

Support resources

Emory provides a variety of resources to help students, faculty and staff during difficult times.

Student resources:

Faculty and staff resources:
Emory medical student Keziah Daniels grew up in Guyana and immigrated to the United States at 18 with her family. When she first heard about the anti-vaccine movement, she couldnt understand why people would be against such a life-saving resource.

A lot of the struggle in undeveloped countries, much like my own, was death by communicable diseases. Often, they dont have the resources to vaccinate, which hurts their populations health-wise and economically, says Daniels. But then I thought I should try to understand their point of view. You dont know someone elses story. I also learned that persons of color have been medically mistreated here in the past, which helped make more sense of the mistrust.

As the first physician in her family, Daniels has been challenged to explain the advantages and safety of vaccinations even to people close to her. A lot of it is fear of the unknown, a lack of understanding, she says.

When the opportunity came to be part of the newly-founded nonprofit Frontline Immunity (formerly Students for Herd Immunity), Daniels thought it was the perfect opportunity to be part of a solution.

To be able to bridge that gap is one of the reasons I got involved with this cool initiative: to educate people with objective data, who will themselves become ambassadors in their communities, says Daniels, youth advisory board facilitator for the group. You can teach something on a macro scale, but it needs to be implemented on a micro level.

Frontline Immunitys founding director, Cha Cha Yang, an MS/MBA student at Harvard Business School, says the group uses virtual workshops, led by facilitators like Daniels, to educate and mentor younger students, enabling them to become health advocates. The student volunteers are armed with clear, current and factual information about immunity and vaccine safety.

We realized if we were going to try to tackle this issue, we needed to do it early on to prevent misinformation from crystalizing and compounding over many years, says Yang.

The students are taught the basics, from how a bodys immune system works to the process of developing vaccines and testing them for effectiveness and safety. The facilitators also teach students about the social factors underlying vaccine hesitancy in marginalized communities. We work closely with grassroots organizations in these communities to make sure we bring up these issues in a compassionate, sensitive and culturally competent way, says Yang.

In addition to gaining partners and expanding the program across Canada and the U.S., Yang and Rosado are working on a childrens book about Tim the T Cell, a young cell that grows up and fights off infection through public health. Hes a helper cell, explains Rosado. We are trying to take this complicated process in the body that happens when you get sick and make the subject more approachable and understandable.

Yang chimes in: Tim the T Cell is the hero we all need right now.

For more information about the group, visit the Frontline Immunity website.
Xi hails Iran 'solidarity' as Raisi begins visit

President Xi Jinping (right) meets Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi in Beijing. Photo:AFP

President Xi Jinping hailed China's "solidarity" with Iran on Tuesday as he hosted the Islamic republic's President Ebrahim Raisi at the start of a three-day trip.



In the first state visit by an Iranian president to China in more than 20 years, Raisi has brought a large trade and finance delegation to Beijing and was earlier greeted by Xi on a red carpet.



"In the face of the current complex changes in the world, times, and history, China and Iran have supported each other (and) worked together in solidarity and cooperation," Xi said, according to state broadcaster CCTV.



As reported by the broadcaster, he added that China "supports Iran in safeguarding national sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and national dignity... and in resisting unilateralism and hegemonism."



Beijing also "opposes external forces interfering in Iran's internal affairs and undermining Iran's security and stability", and will continue to "promote the early and proper resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue", the state leader said.



"No matter how the international and regional situation changes, China will unswervingly develop friendly cooperation with Iran", Xi added.



According to CCTV, the two sides signed a number of bilateral cooperation documents in the fields of agriculture, trade, tourism, environmental protection, health, disaster relief, culture and sport.



Raisi and Xi met for the first time last September at a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Uzbekistan, where the Iranian president called for expanded ties.



According to the Iranian state news agency IRNA, Raisi will take part in meetings with Chinese businessmen and Iranians living in the country.



China is Iran's largest trading partner, IRNA said, citing 10-month statistics compiled by Iranian customs authorities. Tehran's exports to Beijing stood at US$12.6 billion, while it imported US$12.7 billion worth of goods from China.



Raisi is being accompanied by the country's foreign minister and the ministers for the economy, roads and transportation, and oil. Also attending is the minister for industry, mining and trade, as well as the minister for agriculture, according to Iranian state television.



His delegation also includes Ali Bagheri, Iran's deputy foreign minister for political affairs and its chief nuclear negotiator.



Foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Raisi would meet with Premier Li Keqiang and top Chinese legislator Li Zhanshu. (Agencies)
A gazette notification on the Awami League candidate becoming the head of state has been issued on Monday, the CEC told IANS.

Shahabuddin will succeed Md Abdul Hamid, the head of state since April 2013.

Born in Pabna in 1949, he was in politics from the period of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and participated in the Liberation War. He helming the Awami League's student Chhatra League unit in Pabna's Edward College, and then its district unit and its central body. Facing many problems during the political turmoil after assassination of Bangabandhu in 1975, Shahabuddin joined the civil service in 1982, and retired as district and session judge in 2006. He also served on the Anti-Corruption Commission later.

Ruling Awami League's nomination body headed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday recommended the name of the dedicated politician from Pabna for the highest post of the country.

The CEC said two nomination papers were submitted for the 22nd presidential election and as one of these was perfectly valid, there was no need for further scrutiny. The Awami League's General Secretary Obaidul Quader and Office Secretary Biplab Barua were present during the selection process.

Quader had proposed Shahabuddin for the position of head of state and his nomination was seconded by Awami League Joint General Secretary Hasan Mahmud, according to Barua.

--IANS sumi/vd

( 258 Words)

2023-02-13-22:44:03 (IANS)
New Delhi [India], February 14 (ANI/NewsReach): Agra District Administration in Uttar Pradesh has created a world record by conducting an Essay Writing Contest at 3075 different locations on the same day and same time in which 300673 students from Grade VI to Post Graduate Students of College competed for each other on the title "India's Presidency in G20 Summit - Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam". This event was held on 03.02.2023 between 11.00 am to 12.00 noon at same time in all the institutions within the geographical limitation of the Agra District. The Agra District Administration walked into record books for the title "Most Participants in an Essay Writing Contest at Multiple Locations", and this feat was certified by Elite World Records, Asian Records Academy, and India Records Academy. Arvind Kumar Sharma, UP Minister for Urban Development, stated during the Citation ceremony that Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam is the recently unveiled theme for India's G20 presidency, each and every citizen of our country should be proud of India's role in G20 and the message "India as a Global Leader" should reach every citizen. This Visionary Project by Agra District Administration is executed in order to full the mission and vision of the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, to educate and impart the citizens of our Country on India's Presidency globally in all aspects. I appreciate the efforts of the Agra District Administration Team for this achievement, he further added. Amit Gupta, Commissioner-Agra Division, detailed that, "The first G20 Summit of Agra focusing on Women and Child Empowerment will be held on February 11, 2023, and in order to create awareness on the importance of this summit held in Agra, our district administration took this initiative on organising this massive essay writing competition, we are sure that this project has given a lot of insights about the leadership of our country globally to the young minds, he further stated. Navneet Singh Chahal, District Magistrate(Agra), detailed that, the Group of Twenty (G20) is the premier intergovernmental forum for international economic cooperation. The forum plays an important role in shaping and strengthening global architecture and governance on all major international economic issues. It is evident that all the young minds of our country should know and admire the importance of India's Presidency in the G20 Summit this year, each and everyone should be proud of this and the outcome of the project has justified the same, he further added. Nikhil Tikaram Funde, Municipal Commissioner(Agra), pointed out that, Students were trained, educated and imparted knowledge by the District Administration on the Pride Moment of India Hosting the G20 Summit this year which is the first of its kind in Indian History and then the students appeared for the contest and expressed their hidden potentials, he further stated. A.Manikandan, Chief Development Officer(Agra), detailed that we conducted a massive Micro Level of Planning at Block Level and Village Level for Identifying the apt locations for conducting the contest, and strategically selected all the locations which envisaged the participants to perform in the contest. The students researched and prepared for the contest researching India's Presidency at G20 Summit and then wrote an essay for about 250 words in English or Hindi in 60 Minutes at their respective institution on 03.02.2023 between 11.00 am to 12.00 noon. All the answer scripts were evaluated by the Teachers on the same day and winners were declared institution-wise, he further added. Dr SatyaSreeGupta, Senior Adjudicator-Elite World Records, detailed that, Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam: One Earth, One Family, One Future, a great notion proposed and demonstrated by our Indian culture of Sanatana dharma to the world adopted as the theme for G20 Summit-2023 hosted by our country. I wholeheartedly appreciate everyone for creating such an amazing and meaningful record that the world needs to know, she further stated. Dr A.K.SenthilKkumar, Ambassador-Asian Records Academy, It's truly praiseworthy to take the idea of India's Presidency in G20 to the world by creating a world record with more than 3lakh participants writing an essay at multiple locations simultaneously is a pivotal achievement, I appreciate he further stated. P.Jeganathan, Senior Records Manager-India Records Academy, Pointed out that, India hosting the G20 summit is a proud moment for each and every citizen of our country and creating a world record on this occasion is a commendable effort, he further stated. Dr SatyaSreeGupta.K and Bhavana Rajesh from Elite World Records, Dr A.K.Senthil Kkumar from Asian Records Academy and P.Jeganathan from India Records Academy adjudicated and conferred the world record titles to the Agra District administration. This story has been provided by NewsReach. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsReach)
New Delhi [India], February 14 (ANI/PRNewswire): France is fully mobilized to achieve its ecological transition and build a competitive, sustainable, and inclusive economy of the future. The country ranks 2nd in Europe and 6th in the world among others filing the most patents in the field of low-carbon energies over the last 20 years. France was among the first countries in the world to adopt an energy transition framework with a National Low-Carbon Strategy and a 10-year investment plan for the energy sector - France 2030. The latter is a massive investment plan of 54 Bn EUR (approx. Rs 4.8 lakh crores) that aims to transform key sectors of the French economy in a sustainable way through research, innovation, and industrial investment. It also aims to position France as a leader in the economy of the future, while investing in projects that have no negative impact on the environment, such as the decarbonization of its modes of production (energy, industry, transport). With this energy transition mindset, today France produces approximately 19 per cent of its energy requirements from renewable energy and about 70 per cent from nuclear energy. As re-iterated by the French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs during an official visit in 2022, France is India's steadfast partner to achieve the ecological, urban and energy transitions through both public support and private sector initiatives. In France's continuous endeavour to support India's energy transition amongst other sectors, Business France - a French public agency for international business development, is organizing French Clean Energy Days India 2023 along with the Indo-French Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IFCCI). This trade mission will take place from February 18th to 23rd, 2023 encompassing a French pavilion at the Elecrama trade show in Noida (Hall 10, H10F3). This event will also witness a large delegation of 23 companies from France representing the clean energy value chain covering sectors like renewable energies, nuclear energy, and smart grids, amongst others. Renowned companies have joined hands to become partners of the French Pavilion at Elecrama: TotalEnergies, a global multi-energy company that produces and markets energies: oil and biofuels, natural gas and green gases, renewables and electricity, Technip Energies, which is a leading Engineering & Technology company for the energy transition and Schneider Electric, the global leader in energy management and automation. The Knowledge Partner Udyen & Jain Associates - International advisory and Business Consulting Firm will be highlighting concrete content for French companies willing to set up in India. The highlights of the event: The French Clean Energy Days India 2023 will include several eminent events fostering synergies between both French and Indian energy ecosystems for enabling India's clean energy transition. Elecrama Exhibition, February 18th to 22nd, Noida: India and France being strategic partners in the Power sector, a French pavilion will be organized at Elecrama (Hall 10) to promote French expertise. The pavilion will host French companies like TotalEnergies, Technip Energies and Schneider Electric along with the showcase of solutions from 23 other clean energy companies. This will also serve as a platform for potential business partners to engage with the companies. Clean Energy Working Group, February 21st, New Delhi: Experts from the Indian and French energy sector will unite over a dedicated working group session to discuss topics like green financing, new perspectives for renewable energies in India, strategies for sustainable and decarbonized Indian industry, building resilient power systems and so on. French Clean Energy Night, February 21st, New Delhi: His Excellency Emmanuel Lenain, the Ambassador of France to India, will host a networking soiree at the French Residence inviting 120+ energy sector experts. The event will kick-start with keynote addresses by platinum partners of the event namely TotalEnergies and Udyen & Jain Associates. EDF's Suppliers' Day, February 23rd, Mumbai: This will be a unique platform where French utility giant, EDF will throw light on achievements for Jaitapur Nuclear Power Plant Project to the Indo-French nuclear supply chain, followed by networking and B2B meetings. This event will witness the participation of around 150 participants from across the country. Clean Energy Roadshow 20th to 23rd February, New Delhi & Mumbai: Meetings with major Indian authorities, key private players and potential partners will take place during this sequence, encouraging and strengthening business partnerships. The Indo-French Clean Energy Cooperation As Prime Minister Narendra Modi set an ambitious target at COP26 in Glasgow (- 45 per cent of the emissions intensity of its GDP by 2030 compared to 2005 levels), The Ambassador of France in India, Emmanuel Lenain, pledged his support to India, "We all share the objectives to increase the share of renewables in the energy matrix. France will fully support India to achieve the ambitious target set by PM Modi at COP26 in Glasgow." The Indo-French relations have undergone notable milestones in the last few years like the successful launch of the International Solar Alliance in 2015 in the presence of Prime Minister Modi and President Macron, an agreement (MoU) between relevant Ministries on renewable energy (biomass, solar, wind and hydrogen) in 2021 or the submission in 2021 of an offer to build 6 EPRs at the Jaitapur site. Recently in October 2022, India and France endorsed a bilateral roadmap on green hydrogen to work together on building a regulatory framework for developing a decarbonised hydrogen value chain, the carbon-content certification, fostering R&D and supporting the partnerships between French and Indian energy industries. Moreover, French SMEs, in the energy sector have strong expertise and wish to use their knowledge to develop new strategic partnerships in India. List of Companies participating at the French Clean Energy Days India 2023 trade mission: Platinum partners: EDF | TotalEnergies | UJA Gold partners: Schneider Electric | Technip Energies AHD - Acieries Hachette et Driout | Assystem | Bertin Instruments | Capgemini | Celeros Flow Technology | DEF Energie & Environnement | E. BEAUDREY ET COMPAGNIE | EGIS | EKIUM | Electric Power Generation Leroy-Somer | Energy Pool Development | ERMES Electronics | Fluidyn | GERARD PERRIER INDUSTRIE | IDOM | Kury Ingenierie | Mirion Technologies | Nuvia | OAKRIDGE SAS | Schneider Electric | Think Smart Grids | TRACTEBEL ENGINEERING S.A. Business France is the national agency supporting the international development of the French economy. Responsible for fostering export growth by French businesses, as well as promoting and facilitating international investment in France. It promotes France's companies, business image and nationwide attractiveness as an investment location, and runs the VIE international internship program. Business France has 1,500 personnel, both in France and in 55 countries throughout the world, who work with a network of partners. For further information, please visit: www.businessfrance.fr Press contacts for more details:Nivedita AgarwalCommunications Officer at Business France Indianivedita.agarwal@businessfrance.fr This story is provided by PRNewswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PRNewswire)
Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], February 14 (ANI/NewsVoir): To strengthen their message of spreading awareness towards children combating Cancer, Narayana Health's Department of Paediatric Oncology today organised a Walkathon under the theme 'Super Power'. Flagged off by Dr Sunil Bhat, Vice-Chairman Oncology, Director & Clinical Lead - Paediatric Haematology, Oncology and Blood & Bone Marrow Transplantation, the walkathon was attended by 200 participants including doctors, nursing, paramedics & support staff from the hospital along with Paediatric Cancer survivors from different age groups. The participants showed their enthusiasm in completing the 2.5 km walk, which started from Cafe Coffee Day - The Square (Vittal Mallya Road) at around 4 pm. The event was organized on occasion of The International Childhood Cancer Day (ICCD), which is observed on 15th Feb 2023. Childhood cancer is devastating reality that affects families all around the world, with almost 300000 children expected to be diagnosed in 2023, out of which approximately 40000 are expected to be diagnosed in India. ICCD is a day to raise awareness, show support to children and families affected and to celebrate the progress that has been made in the treatment and renew our commitment to find a cure. The theme for this year is "better survival is achievable through #throughtheirhands". Dr Sunil Bhat, Vice-Chairman Oncology, Director & Clinical Lead - Paediatric Haematology, Oncology and Blood & Bone Marrow Transplantation at Narayana Health, highlighted that childhood cancer is highly curable with cure rates approaching 80-85 per cent in Western world, however the cure rates in India are still in range of 40-60 per cent. Dr Bhat also threw light on challenges in India are lack of awareness, delayed diagnosis, lack of dedicated paediatric oncology centres, expenses incurred in the treatment etc. The walkathon witnessed overwhelming participation with participants spreading the word on fighting the disease menace through effective slogans and placards. The messages were bold and clear emphasizing on children dealing with the disease to not treat it as a stigma and getting treatment on time as it is curable in the early ages. The walkathon was attended by cancer survivors, their families, doctors, nurses, medical & non-medical team. To strengthen its presence in cancer care solutions in the Karnataka region, Narayana Health had recently inaugurated a new Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) Unit at Mazumdar Shaw Medical Centre, Narayana Health City. With all the super-speciality tertiary care facilities that the medical world offers, Narayana Health is a one-stop healthcare destination for all. Founded by Dr Devi Shetty and headquartered in Bengaluru, Narayana Health group is the second-largest health care provider in the country in terms of operational bed count. The first facility was established with approximately 225 operational beds in year 2000 at NH Health City in Bengaluru. The Company today operates a chain of multispecialty tertiary and primary healthcare facilities across a network of 21 hospitals and 4 heart centres in India and single hospital overseas at Cayman Islands with nearly 6145 operational beds across all its centres and potential to reach a capacity of over 6,490 beds (For details, visit www.narayanahealth.org). This story has been provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)
New Delhi [India], February 14 (ANI/SRV): The social media agency GrowthX has launched 3 premium products to help businesses of all sizes with their Instagram growth. The service is said to use "advanced growth techniques" to help users get more followers on the social platform. These products make it easier to get on board with Instagram growth, resulting in a sales boost and increased brand recognition. The platform has long been a leader in social media, and their new Instagram Followers Service is yet another example of their dedication to helping brands grow. The service promises to help brands grow their following on Instagram in just 30 minutes, and with its reputation, there's no doubt that they'll be able to deliver. For brands looking to take their social media presence to the next level, GrowthX's Instagram Followers Service is the perfect solution. GrowthX's Instagram Standard Followers Service is the perfect solution for someone who wants to grow their Instagram followers but is on a low budget. With GX's state-of-the-art algorithms, it can help you get real, active followers. The Standard Followers Service is designed to provide followers who are most likely to engage with your content. GrowthX uses an advanced targeting system to find standard-quality followers with average posts and stories on your profile. This means that you will have an engaged following that can help your content reach a wider audience and increase your brand's visibility. This can be the easiest way to start your Instagram success journey, as an account with a healthy number of followers attracts more followers. best suited for influencers, small business owners, and new content creators who want to boost their Instagram at a reasonable price. Your Instagram follower count says a lot. With over 1 billion monthly active users and increasing advertising costs, it is difficult to grow followers organically, and it takes a long time. Instagram success is heavily influenced by the number of followers you have. So, if you are struggling to grow on Instagram and have a very low reach, our High-Quality follower service is designed for you. GrowthX, with its P2P technology, provides premium profiles with similar interests as yours. The profiles are pushed to targeted audiences that are more interested in increasing credibility and engaging with the content. Just make sure you keep posting interesting and trendy content regularly to keep your audience hooked. Perfect for influencers and brands struggling to get leads and sales. The service is a great way to reach a wider audience and is guaranteed for life. It helps to quickly gain authentic followers from all over the world, leading to more likes and shares. Lastly, one of the most effective methods to build an engaged Indian audience on Instagram is to boost your social authority. You can do this by buying Indian Instagram followers at a reasonable price. This is one of the most successful ways to attract new followers, increase reach, and increase visibility. To build a solid network around your platform, you need to attract Indian followers. best for businesses trying to target the Indian market. This will quickly raise your profile and provide a foundation for you to engage with a larger, more targeted audience. The best way to buy followers is to receive a combination of mixed-profile followers. Buying a mix of real, mixed-profile followers will send a message to your existing followers that you are trusted and seen by a large number of people. But in order to be successful on Instagram, having followers is not enough; you also need to have an engagement strategy. Considering this concern of users, Growthx also offers Instagram "likes" for posts and "views" for videos to get the engagement you need to reach your business goals. GrowthX enables affiliates and influencers to populate services through various social media channels, such as Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. GrowthX guarantees a 100% refund if there are no results and 24/7 customer support. High privacy and safety assurance means no passwords or logins are required. Follow these simple steps: Visit our website, www.growthx.social, and select the services you want from Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook, then checkout. When the order is confirmed, you will start receiving the results within 30 minutes, depending on the quantity and service you choose. For more information, please visit: www.growthx.social, This story has been provided by SRV. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/SRV)
Faridabad (Haryana) [India], February 14 (ANI/NewsVoir): India's most loved Literature Fest for kids was organized in Faridabad for the first time by Kukdukoo in the premises of Manav Rachna International School, Sector 14 on February 11-12, 2023. Supported by the District Administration of Faridabad (Govt. of Haryana), the Kukdukoo Lit Fest engaged and immersed the children of Faridabad with a grand on-ground celebration of childhood through books, stories, reading, performances, comic book superheroes, and art. A plethora of sessions and shows were organized for children of ages 3-12 who enjoyed activities like Author Sessions, Storytelling Sessions, Theatre Performances, Clown and Mime Show, Ventriloquism Show, Sand Art Performance, DIY Art, Culinary Workshops, Cosplay - Meet & Greet Comic Book Heroes, Grand Book Fair, Food Fest, Pottery, Face Painting and much more. Innovative storytellers like Alma Dhingra, Vasudha Ahuja & Kunal Shandilya, Rumika Khurana, Ramya Srinidhi, Lopamudra Mohanty, Khusshbo Chokhaani, Usha Chhabra, Ramya Srinidhi and authors like Mamta Nainy, Seema Chari, Himanjali Sarkar, Sonia Mehta along with artists like Monika Santos, Roy Roberts and Group, Pranay Sharma, Vighnesh Pande and many others were a part of the sessions held across 2 days. Celebrity Ventriloquist Vighnesh Pande's show was a full house as children enjoyed his amusing acts. Japanese Storyteller Ramya Srinidhi's session on Kyokan - the magic of Kamishibai was loved by children of all ages and parents were also seen enjoying it with kids in the audience. Dr Amit Bhalla, Vice President, MREI attended the fest and shared, "This is indeed the best way to bring out children from the digital world and help them experience the beauty of Literature, Storytelling, DIY Crafts. These activities help inculcate the love for art and literature amongst the children from a very young age." Fun workshops were held in the Sculpture room, Makershala and Media Shala by School experts for children. Culinary sessions by celebrity Chefs William Lee and Sunil Kumar Arora in collaboration with the Centre of Excellence for Culinary Arts, Faculty of Hotel Management, MRIIRS were loved by children and parents attending the festival. The festival is conducted to make children take notice of the beauty and benefits of falling in love with reading, engaging, and experiencing visual and performing art forms and also serves as a great getaway for spending time creatively. Expressing their excitement about the event, Avishek Roy and Jugmendra Baliyan, Co-founders, Kukdukoo, said, "Books, reading, stories, and art can transform children's lives. In this age of digital overload and continuous screen time, it is the need of the hour to move our young children away from gadgets and other distractions to develop a love for books, stories, art, and creativity. This is a conscious and directed effort to bring to our young children, much-needed exposure to literature, creativity, art, and our cultural heritage." After the grand success in major cities like Jaipur, Noida, Mohali and Gurugram, Kukdukoo LIT Fest was organized for the first time in Faridabad and turned out to be a grand success. Director Principal, MRIS Sector 14 - Mamta Wadhwa expressed her delight at seeing children have so much fun and said, "The school is bustling with children's laughter and colors all around. We are truly elated with our choice of bringing the Kukdukoo LIT Fest to Faridabad, which has helped everyone connect with the childhood memories." The school premises were buzzing with laughter and happiness with more than 4000 Families who attended the LIT Fest held on February 11&12. This story has been provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)
Income Tax officials are conducting 'survey' operations on the Indian offices of the British public broadcaster BBC in both Delhi and Mumbai, sources said on Tuesday. According to sources, the IT officials were verifying certain account documents in the finance department of BBC. Income tax officials arrived at BBC offices located at the national capital's KG Marg for the survey. The British broadcaster's office at Kalina Santacruz in Mumbai was also surveyed, sources said adding that the survey was limited to business premises of BBC only. According to reports, a team of IT officials arrived at the BBC Studios office in Kalina Santacruz around 11.30 am today and survey is going on since then. There is no IT activity at the BBC News office at Linking road Bandra West. It is learnt that the tax officials are conducting verification of certain account documents in the finance department of the BBC offices. During the investigation, the mobile phones of all the employees present in the BBC office have been taken away by the Income Tax team. The data of the computer kept in the accounts and finance department was also scanned. According to sources, officials said the devices will be returned to their owners after taking a backup. The searches come weeks after the BBC released a documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi - 'India: The Modi Question," which caused a controversy. On January 21, the Centre had issued directions for blocking multiple YouTube videos and Twitter posts sharing links to the controversial BBC documentary on PM Modi. The Supreme Court had on February 3 directed the central government to produce original records relating to its decision to block the BBC documentary. Student unions at several varsities including JNU, Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi University, Panjab University and those in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and other parts of the country had organised screenings of the documentary. Meanwhile, earlier today Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said the government is after the BBC instead of accepting an Opposition demand on a Joint Parliamentary Committee on Adani-Hindenburg matter. TMC's Mahua Moitra also took to Twitter and wrote, "Reports of Income Tax raid at BBC's Delhi office. Wow, really? How unexpected." "Central Govt has embarrassed itself and the Country by raiding offices of BBC," Aam Aadmi Party spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said in a tweet. (ANI)
Speaking on Adani Group firms' stock rout, All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday said if there was nothing to hide, why the government was running away from the demand for a joint parliament committee. Addressing a press conference on Tuesday here, the Congress leader alleged, "The government is not only running away from JPC demand, they are not allowing to take it up in the Parliament -- at Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha." "When Rahulji (Rahul Gandhi) took it up in Lok Sabha and Khargeji (Mallikarjun Kharge) in Rajya Sabha and many of our members in both the Houses took up the issue, they were expunged from the Houses." He said, "If there is nothing to hide, why not allow the demand for JPC? Give enough time to JPC and let them investigate and that the probe should be on Adani Group," the Congress leader said. Jairam Ramesh also questioned as to why was a PIL filed with the Supreme Court on this matter? So that an investigation would be started on Hindenburg. "These people are saying we would probe into Hindenburg Research, but the investigation should be on Adani Group," he said. He also questioned during the conference, "What is this relationship between the government and Adani Group? What benefits have been given to Adani in the last 10 years?" "And, this investigation can only be unearthed by a JPC probe," he added. AICC general secretary also said that the Congress has always been of the opinion that private investment should be done. "We are always of the view that private investment is the driver for growth in the country. We want that in the 10-20 years, we want the government to concentrate on private investments," he said. "We (in Congress) have always said entrepreneurship should be the course. We need to concentrate more on entrepreneurship," he added. The Supreme Court on Friday sought a response from the Ministry of Finance and the statutory market regulator, SEBI on how to ensure that Indian investors are protected in future against sudden volatility, after taking note of a recent market crash in the wake of a report by US short-seller firm Hindenburg Research on the Adani Group. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud sought a response from the Centre and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on the existing regulatory framework and the need for putting into place a robust mechanism to protect investors. (ANI)
Reliance Jio on Tuesday launched 5G services in five cities of Himachal Pradesh. State Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu was present during the event in Shimla on Tuesday. In addition to Shimla, the Jio True 5G services were simultaneously launched in Hamirpur, Nadaun and Bilaspur in the state of Himachal Pradesh. The transformational benefits of Jio True 5G and the application of this immersive technology in the fields of healthcare, education, and other key sectors of importance for India was demonstrated at the launch event, according to a statement from Jio. A glimpse of the generational advancement that will be seen in these areas was showcased through the Jio Community Clinic medical kit, and the revolutionary AR-VR device -- Jio Glass. At the launch event, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh said, "I congratulate Jio and the people of Himachal Pradesh, on the launch of Jio's True 5G services in the state. This launch is an important milestone for the people of the state, who will benefit immensely from Jio's 5G services... This will also bring fundamental changes in sectors like tourism, e-governance, healthcare, horticulture, agriculture, automation, education, artificial intelligence, disaster management, IT and manufacturing, etc." He added, "We all have witnessed the benefits of digital connectivity during the pandemic. Expansion of 5G services will further strengthen the digital infrastructure of the state." Jio 5G services were also launched in 17 additional cities across the country. These cities are Ankleshwar and Savarkundla in Gujarat; Chhindwara, Ratlam, Rewa and Sagar in Madhya Pradesh; Akola and Parbhani in Maharashtra; Bathinda, Khanna and Mandi Gobindgarh in Punjab; Bhilwara, SriGanganagar and Sikar in Rajasthan; Haldwani-Kathgodam, Rishikesh and Rudrapur in Uttarakhand. A Jio spokesperson said, "We are excited to commence Jio True 5G services in Himachal Pradesh from Shimla, Hamirpur, Nadaun and Bilaspur. Jio True 5G will digitally empower the people of the state with infinite growth opportunities in various areas." According to the spokesperson, Jio is the operator of choice for users in Himachal and the most loved technology brand, and this launch is a testament to Jio's continued commitment to the people of Himachal, especially the youth. "We would soon expand our 5G services to the whole of the state," the spokesperson added. (ANI)
Adani Enterprises (AEL) on Tuesday posted Rs 820 crore profit after tax for the quarter ended December 2022. The firm had incurred a Rs 12 crore loss in the year-ago period. The company said its total income rose 42 per cent year-on-year to Rs 26,951 crore in the reviewed quarter. Its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) jumped 101 per cent y-o-y to Rs 1,968 crore, according to a statement from the company. The company in the statement said the Nacelle facility in Mundra will be operational and commercial assemblies shall start from the first quarter of FY24. It also said an agreement was signed for new engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) project of irrigation of Rs 3,246 crore in Madhya Pradesh. In terms of arterial roads, provisional commercial operation date (COD) was received for third Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) project at Mancherial. The company also said a letter of authorisation (LoA) was signed with Pelma Mine with capacity of 15 MMT in the state of Chhattisgarh. It also added AMG Media Networks also completed the acquisition of NDTV. "Over the past three decades, as well as quarter after quarter and year after year, Adani Enterprises has not only validated its standing as India's most successful infrastructure incubator but has also demonstrated a track record of building a core infrastructure business," said Gautam Adani, Chairman of the Adani Group. The Chairman said, "Our fundamental strength lies in mega-scale infrastructure project execution capabilities, organisational development and exceptional O&M (operations and maintenance) management skills comparable to the best in the world. AEL's exceptional resilience and capacity to build highly profitable core sector business indicate how our strategy of harnessing the diverse strengths of the Adani portfolio of companies is creating consistent long-term value for all our stakeholders." Gautam Adani said, "Our success is due to our strong governance, strict regulatory compliance, sustained performance, and solid cashflow generation. The current market volatility is temporary; and as a classical incubator with a vision of long-term value creation, AEL will continue to work with the twin objectives of moderate leverage and looking at strategic opportunities to expand and grow." (ANI)
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin released the 'Tamil Nadu Electric Vehicles Policy 2023' and the government aims to attract Rs 50,000 crore worth of investment in EV manufacturing during the policy period.

The policy shall be valid for five years from the date of the policy notification, or until a new one is announced, according to a government release.

Among many features, the policy document shows the state wants to provide reimbursement on SGST, turnover-based subsidies, capital subsidy, and special Advanced Chemistry Cell capital subsidy.

The released electric vehicle policy document also mentioned the developing EV cities in Tamil Nadu. Cities like Chennai, Coimbatore Tiruchirappalli Madurai, Salem and Tirunelveli are to be pilot cities for implementing e-mobility solutions.

Tamil Nadu's growth as an automotive manufacturing hub reflects in the presence of large automobile manufacturers like Hyundai, Nissan, TVS, Mahindra, and Daimler, the release said.

The strong manufacturing ecosystem in the state has encouraged new entrants like Ather Electric, Ola Electric, Ampere and others to establish their electric vehicle manufacturing units.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the state signed MoUs with an investment interest of nearly Rs 24,000 crore in the EV value chain, the new policy document said.

It had established Tamil Nadu Green Climate Company, a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), to collaborate and strengthen community engagement to build a long-term commitment toward a Net-Zero Carbon future.

The new EV policy also talked about accelerating adoption in Tamil Nadu through special demand incentives and developing charging infrastructure with favourable power tariffs through public/private measures.

At the COP26 summit in Glasgow in 2021, India committed to an ambitious five-part "Panchamrit" pledge, including reaching 500 GW of non-fossil electricity capacity, to generate half of all energy requirements from renewables, to reduce emissions by 1 billion tons by 2030.

India also aims to reduce the emissions intensity of GDP by 45 per cent. Finally, India commits to net-zero emissions by 2070. Notably, India banned several single-use plastics from July 2022. (ANI)
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], February 14 (ANI/NewsVoir): HomeTown, among the country's most loved home improvement brands, today announced the appointment of iconic designer Pinakin Patel as a Creative Director. Pinakin will build, lead and mentor a team of interior designers, furniture designers and architects who will be involved in creating exclusive lines of furniture and interior decor for HomeTown customers. The team will also offer customized interior design services for HomeTown customers through the chain's HomeTown Design & Build platform which offers, end-to-end solutions for everything related to your home - interior design, room planning, project execution, furniture, modular solutions, and home decor. A pioneer in design, Pinakin Patel launched 'Etcetera' - India's first lifestyle and home decor store in 1984. Over the past four decades Pinakin has created iconic villas, vacation homes, residential interiors, and bespoke furniture for India's leading industrialists, celebrities, and aesthetes. Considered a legend in his field, Pinakin's most noted projects includes the Dashrath Patel Museum in Alibag, that houses his guru Padma Bhushan Dashrath Patel's Art and Design legacies and the neighboring iconic villa, Pinakin Prive. Speaking of this partnership, Pinakin Patel said, "Through HomeTown, I am excited to democratise my rich experiences to a wider audience base. This visionary move was much needed by a multi-billion dollar industry and an equally large consumer base. India cannot remain a supplier of cheap merchandise for the world. The time has come to showcase the versatility of the Indian aesthetic, our artisanal sustainable manufacturing practises and our shrewd market sense. A national as well as global audience has been long awaiting this moment." Through this partnership, Pinakin and HomeTown will develop four distinct lines of furniture. The Modern Chic Collection, the Perennial Classic collection will feature everyday bestsellers. The Rooted Cosmopolitan will incorporate India Modern aesthetics, while the Art Deco collection will feature geometric detailing and shapes, exotic woods, jewel-tone colors, lacquer, and mirrored finishes. Mahesh Shah, MD, Praxis Home Retail Ltd. added, "We are privileged to onboard Pinakin Patel as the Creative Director of HomeTown to lead the transformation into a design-led, complete interior solutions provider offering customers the entire bouquet of products and services - from loose furniture and furnishings, customized wardrobes and kitchens to interior decor and project execution. With this partnership our customers will have access to designs and aesthetics that was so far limited only to a very few in the country." HomeTown, launched in 2007, is among the most trusted brands in the home improvement space, operating 34 stores across 24 cities in India and a popular ecommerce site and mobile app. HomeTown products are also available across leading online marketplaces. The retail chain is owned and operated by Praxis Home Retail Ltd. This story has been provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)
Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh)/ New Delhi [India], February 14 (ANI/NewsVoir): The first-of-its-kind Digital Experience Centre, hosted by National eGovernance Division (NeGD) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is a major point of attraction for Lucknow citizens. The Digital Exhibition & Centre designed, conceptualized, and created by TAGBIN, a technology-innovation company, is showcasing India's advancements in the field of Artificial Intelligence. The unique Digital Experience Centre has been inaugurated by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The Digital Experience Centre has been set up at the Centrum Hotel in Lucknow, which is the same venue for the G20 DEWG (Digital Economy Working Group) meetings being held from February 13th to 15th. This AI exhibition showcases the footprints & incredible milestones achieved by the 'Digital India' mission through AR and VR experiences. As we walk inside the exhibition, various interactive zones and installations tell the story of how Artificial Intelligence has evolved in India. The exhibit also talks about India's Digital infrastructure and explains how the country took major revolutionary steps for the upliftment of Indians. An AI face projected on a huge screen installed at the entrance welcomes the visitors. Visitors can enjoy the great experience offered here by interacting with the AI and asking their questions. Another interactive installation is a long touchscreen wall, which tells the visitors about how various digital initiatives by the government in different sectors have transformed the lives of citizens. The multiple touch points in the wall act as great interactive points for the visitors. One of the best zones is the 360-degree 'Lucknow VR Tour', through which the visitor can travel virtually through the prominent and prestigious monuments and through the best eateries in Lucknow. While experiencing this incredible feature through the VR headsets, visitors get transported to a particular location and get the feeling of being present there virtually. Another major attraction in the exhibition is 'Ask Gita', another AI-based installation that allows visitors to ask queries about any of their concerns in their personal and professional lives. The visitors receive answers from the digital Gita in the form of 'shlokas' from the Bhagwat Gita. Furthermore, interactions like 'Chess with AI' and 'Art with AI' also offer a very engaging feature for visitors. People of all age groups, especially kids enjoy these unforgettable experiences at this 'Digital Exhibition & Experience Centre. Overall, the use of AI and digitalization of the exhibition enhances real-life experiences while also connecting people to their rich culture. Apart from the Digital Experience Centre, there is a Digital India Mobile van and VR experience Centre, which is showcasing the journey of 'Digital India' from its launch year 2015 till now. Designed and created by TAGBIN, it is also enlightening citizens about the G20 DEWG Lucknow event through an immersive experience (AR & VR). In addition, an Interactive Quiz is there on two of the screens on the outer wall of the van related to digital India and G20. The users can scan the code displayed on 55" TV Screens and play the quiz on their phones. Since its launch date, the Van and the VR experience centre has covered 30 to 40 different public places in Lucknow giving citizens an unprecedented opportunity to experience these world-class technologies for free. Users can experience virtual travel to one of the villages of Lucknow via a car simulator and explore various applications of AI during the virtual trip to experience how digital India has eased an individual's life. This story has been provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)
British actor Idris Elba recently sparked a social media uproar when he admitted to having stopped referring to himself as a "Black actor" since doing so places restrictions on his career. According to Variety, an American media company, he made the statement to Esquire UK and while some accused Elba of renouncing his Blackness, others came to the 'Luther' actor's defence and agreed regarding Hollywood's penchant to put labels on and stereotype Black actors. John Boyega of 'Star Wars' fame recently took to Twitter to tell his followers that Elba's detractors were having the wrong takeaway from his comment. "I think we should fixate on who is typecasting and putting actors in boxes because of this. Not on making weird adjustments for them. We continuously focus on what we have to do so they don't do this or that. Very worrying. We BLACK and that's that," Boyega wrote, reported Variety. Elba himself slammed his critics on Twitter, writing, "There isn't a soul on this earth that can question whether I consider myself a BLACK MAN or not. Being an 'actor' is a profession, like being an 'architect,' they are not defined by race. However, If YOU define your work by your race, that is your Prerogative. Ah lie?" For Boyega, the big takeaway from Elba's comment is that more people should be questioning the Hollywood typecasting that exists and puts Black actors into boxes. In his original interview, Elba noted that "as humans, we are obsessed with race and that obsession can really hinder people's aspirations, hinder people's growth. Racism should be a topic for discussion, sure. Racism is very real. But from my perspective, it's only as powerful as you allow it to be." "I stopped describing myself as a Black actor when I realized it put me in a box. We've got to grow. We've got to. Our skin is no more than that: it's just skin. Rant over," the actor said, as per Variety. (ANI)
The nominees for the 95th Oscar were celebrated at a luncheon held on Monday. The annual tradition has become the unofficial kickoff to the second phase of Oscar campaigning. The event featured more than a few stars hoping to earn a trophy at the annual awards show. India's M. M. Keeravani, Guneet Monga and Shaunak Sen also marked their presence at the star-studded luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. There were multiple-time winners like Steven Spielberg, Roger Deakins and Justin Hurwitz. There were also multiple-time nominees such as Tom Cruise, Michelle Williams, Sarah Polley, Rian Johnson, Mary Zophres and Diane Warren. The first-time nominees Brandon Fraser, Hong Chau, Austin Butler, Ke Huy Quan and Paul Mescal were also present. They all got together for the much-anticipated class photo. Have a look. The menu for the star-studded event included a two-course meal with dessert, featuring a harvest salad and king oyster mushroom scallops, wild mushroom risotto, roasted Brussels sprouts, baby carrots and pea tendrils. For dessert, guests were served an opera cake, ganache and fresh berries, People reported. During the event, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president Janet Yang addressed Will Smith's infamous slap of Chris Rock during last year's Oscars, telling the room of nominees that the Academy's initial response to the incident was "inadequate." (Smith, who has apologized, resigned from the Academy, which banned him from attending its events for 10 years.) The 95th Oscars will be held on March 12, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. This time around, not just one, but three Indian significant movies are competing for the coveted Oscars Awards 2023 nominations RRR is on the shortlist for Best Original Song for the dance song Naatu Naatu, which won the Golden Globe Award in the same category earlier this year. Shaunak Sen's 'All That Breathes' has been nominated for Best Documentary Feature Film and Guneet Monga's The Elephant Whisperers for Best Documentary Short. India's official Oscar entry, 'Chhello Show' or Last Picture Show, was left out of the final slate in the Best International Feature Film category. (ANI)
Rajkummar Rao's Valentine's Day post for his wife Patralekhaa will melt your heart. Taking to Instagram, Rajkummar thanked Patralekhaa for being his "strength." "From 2010 to 2023 and to infinity and beyond. From being your boyfriend to being your husband. It's your love only which keeps me going. Thank you my love @patralekhaa for being my strength, my most honest critic and for always pushing me to strive for excellence. Har baar bas tum hi milna," he wrote. https://www.instagram.com/p/CooccDrp1EP/?hl=en He also posted a collage featuring his image from his dating days and a picture from his wedding day. Rajkummar's love-filled post for Patralekhaa garnered several comments and likes. "You guys...god bless," Gauahar Khan commented. Shruti Haasan dropped a red heart emoji in the comment section. Be it at a promotional event or on social media, the two have been shelling out couple goals ever since they tied the knot on November 15, 2021, in an intimate ceremony in Chandigarh. They worked together for the first time in Patralekhaa's debut Bollywood film 'Citylights' in 2014. Meanwhile, on the work front, Rajkummar will be seen sharing screen space with Janhvi Kapoor in 'Mr. And Mrs. Mahi'. He also has 'Bheed' with Bhumi Pednekar in his kitty. The film is scheduled to hit the cinemas on March 24 March 2023. (ANI)
Veteran actor Anupam Kher took to Instagram and wrote, "My heartfelt tribute and salute to all the brave warriors who became immortal in Pulwama attack! Jai Hind Army!"

https://www.instagram.com/p/CooM0Y2o9HZ/

RajKummar Rao also paid tribute to the jawans and wrote, "The sacrifice of our Bravehearts will never be forgotten. #PulwamaAttack. May their sacrifice never be in vain. The Nation will forever be indebted by their supreme sacrifice. Jai Hind!"

Tiger Shroff took to Insta story and shared a collage of jawans.

He wrote, "forever in our hearts rest in power to our heroes."

Akshay Kumar wrote, "Salute and gratitude to the #PulwamaAttack bravehearts. We will always be indebted to the armed forces."

https://twitter.com/akshaykumar/status/1625356768271544321

Forty personnel of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were killed when their convoy was attacked by a vehicle-borne suicide bomber at Lethapora in the Pulwama district on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway on February 14, 2019.

The attack was carried out by Pakistani terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed which is led by Masood Azhar based in Bahawalpur. (ANI)
Shafi Bellare is presently lodged in prison after being arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA)in connection with the brutal murder of Nettare, which made national headlines in July 2022.

As things stand now, Bellare will fight the elections from jail.

The announcement, which was made at a public rally of SDPI on Monday, has stirred a controversy and brought back the horrific memories of revenge killings in Karnataka.

Reacting to the development, state Revenue Minister R. Ashok said that the Popular Front of India (PFI) has already been banned in the country, and the SDPI should also be banned on similar lines.

"I will discuss the matter with Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai. SDPI is giving tickets to terrorists. Later, they will press for their release and approach the courts. The person who killed Praveen Nettare will contest elections. The SDPI is an anti-national outfit," he said.

The NIA, which is probing the Nettare murder case, has submitted a chargesheet against 20 accused persons to the NIA special court in Bengaluru.

The agency has arrested 14 accused persons and are looking for six others who are absconding.

--IANS mka/arm

( 244 Words)

2023-02-13-21:38:03 (IANS)
In the midst of a fierce war of words, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Leader of the Opposition in Assembly Suvendu Adhikari are all slated to have a face-to-face meeting on Wednesday. State Assembly sources said that on Wednesday there will be a meeting for selection of the new Information Commissioner of West Bengal and that meeting will be conducted at the Chief Minister's room in the Assembly premises. As per convention and protocol, three persons are supposed to attend the meeting for the selection of the information commissioner. Besides the Chief Minister and the Leader of Opposition, the state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay is also supposed to be present at the meeting. All focus will be on the outcome of the meeting, especially on the conversations between Banerjee and Adhikari during the course of the meeting. "If the Leader of the Opposition does not attend the meeting, it will be a clear breach of protocol. In that case we will have to update Governor C.V. Ananda Bose about this breach of protocol. So I feel that good sense will prevail and the Leader of the Opposition will attend the meeting," said a member of the state cabinet who refused to be named. Till the last information available, there were a total of 15 applications for the post of new Information Commissioners, out of which two are already out of consideration because of their age, leaving a total of 13 individuals in the fray. Last year, there was a similar meeting at the Chief Minister's room, which the Leader of the Opposition skipped citing personal reasons. Now it is to be seen whether he attends Wednesday's meeting or not. --IANS src/vd A ( 296 Words) 2023-02-13-21:40:03 (IANS)
Fear has gripped Karnataka's Kodagu district on Monday following a man-eating tiger attacking and killing a 10-year-old boy and his 75-year-old grandfather in the last 24 hours. Forest authorities have launched a hunt for the tiger. The incident had taken place in Kutta village in K. Badaga panchayat limits in the farm of Choorikadu Nellira Poonacha, where the boy's family, hailing from Panchavalli village in Hunsur town in Mysuru district, had come for work. The deceased boy was identified as Chetan. When the boy was playing near the farm house, the tiger had attacked him and mauled on Sunday evening. The tiger has also attacked his grandfather Raju, who came out to see his grandson's body on Monday morning, and dragged him into the forest after biting his head. The issue was raised in the Assembly session. Local BJP MLA K.G. Bopaiah said that the tiger had eaten a boy and his grandfather on Sunday evening and Monday morning, respectively, in a village coming under the Nagarahole Reserve Forest and alleged negligence of the Forest Department. "Local Deputy Conservator of Forests must be suspended. The authorities have not taken action though information on the tiger attack was given to them on Sunday. The forest authorities are directly responsible for the incident," he said. "If you can control tigers, do it. Otherwise leave it to us, we will deal with the problem," Bopaiah told the government. Another BJP MLA from the region Apachu Ranjan also alleged that negligence of the forest authorities is responsible for the incident and there should be action against local forest officials. Congress MLA H.P. Manjunath stated that the boy and grandfather who died in the tiger attack are from Hunsur taluk and had gone there as labourers. The grandfather had gone to see his grandson's body and died. After coming to know about the news, the eldest lady in the house has also died, he said. "The situation of MLAs who represent regions located on fringes of forests is pathetic. We are victimised for everything. The government should act and initiate action on officers," he said. Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister J.C. Madhu Swamy said the government would initiate action against forest officers if dereliction of duty is found on their part. "The matter will be discussed with the CM and the decision would be informed to the session. The government would also take a decision on the compensation," he said. --IANS mka/vd ( 423 Words) 2023-02-13-22:00:06 (IANS)
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday urged Indian and global industry leaders to support the governments push for design, development and manufacture of cutting-edge products using critical technologies in the country to attain complete Aatmanirbharta in the field of defence. "The overall objective is to achieve shared global peace and prosperity," he said while addressing a gathering of over 70 CEOs from local and global original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) during a Round Table organised as part of the Aero India 2023 here on Monday. Singh said, "India does not want to remain just an assembly workshop and is looking to engage with friendly countries in defence and security based on sharing expertise and capabilities under the Make in India, Make for the World' vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi." He assured the industry leaders that the government is open to new ideas and is committed to fully harness the energy, entrepreneurial spirit and capability of private sector partners in the area of defence production. He extended the government's full support towards removing obstacles and facilitating businesses. Singh reiterated the Centre's resolve of nurturing a vibrant and world-class defence manufacturing industry, terming it as the key driver of Indian economy. He enumerated a number of far-reaching reforms undertaken by Ministry of Defence to create a business-friendly climate in the country. These include setting up of defence corridors in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu; simplification of industrial licensing process; hike in cap on FDI in defence; opening of government trial and testing facilities for the private sector; increase in capital outlay for defence in Budget 2023-24 and launch of a Technology Development Fund and Innovations for Defence Excellence. He said these reforms will enable Indian defence products to compete with established global defence and aerospace companies. The Defence Minister stressed that indigenisation is the mantra for India today, unlike in the past when import was the default option. He also appreciated the growing enthusiasm and greater participation of private players in defence production and expressed confidence that the CEOs' Round Table will sow the seeds of successful new ventures and partnerships, boost investment, expand indigenous manufacturing and bolster the aerospace and defence ecosystem in India. The Round Table organised on the sidelines of Aero India 2023 was structured around the theme Sky is not the limit: Opportunities beyond boundaries'. The participating companies included Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Israel Aerospace Industries, General Atomics, Liebherr Group, Raytheon Technologies, Safran, General Authority of Military Industries, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Bharat Electronics Limited, Bharat Dynamics Limited, BEML Limited, Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited, Larsen & Toubro, Bharat Forge, Dynamatic Technologies and BrahMos Aerospace. The platform aims to forge partnerships between domestic and global industries in the aerospace and defence sectors to address the present and future global needs and discuss the importance of supply chain strategy and operations as the world deals with the aftermath of the pandemic and global disruptions. More than 75 companies, including 28 foreign OEMs from 15 countries, and DPSUs participated in the discussion. Chief of Defence Staff, General Anil Chauhan, Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal V.R. Chaudhari, Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral R. Hari Kumar, Chief of Army Staff, General Manoj Pande, and Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane also attended the Round Table. --IANS pvn/arm ( 557 Words) 2023-02-13-22:18:02 (IANS)
Trinamool Congress national General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee said on Monday that if voted to power in Tripura, just like in West Bengal, his party will introduce 'Duare Sarkar' (governance at the doorsteps) to prevent BJPs 'Duare Gunda' (goons at doorsteps). Addressing an election rally at Boxanagar in Sepahijala district, Banerjee said that the people of West Bengal are getting the benefits of 'Duare Sarkar' and 'Lakshmir Bhandar' (monthly financial assistance scheme for unemployed women) along with the other schemes. The people of Tripura also deserve such schemes, he said. "BJP has done more damage to Tripura in the past five years than CPI-M did in the past 25 years. The saffron party talks about double-engine government, so why is Tripura lagging behind in economy, infrastructure, health, education, and every other aspect," Banerjee asked. He said that the CPI-M and Congress call themselves BJP's opposition yet they don't have the nerve to oppose BJP's faults. "Last year, it was Trinamool which protested against former Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb's maladministration, and subsequently the BJP was forced to change the Chief Minister in May," Banerjee said. The Trinamool Lok Sabha MP said that in 2022, they changed the Chief Minister, but in 2023, it is time to change the government. "I'm requesting you to defeat the BJP. Do not cast your vote for CPI-M and Congress. Only Mamata Banerjee can fight against BJP's corruption. We will fight for the people of Tripura till our last drop of blood," Banerjee said. He also said that the BJP is trying to control the people in terms of what they want to eat or wear. "The saffron party wants to control whom we meet or even what colour we wear. People have to fight for their rights and their freedom," Banerjee said. The Trinamool Congress has put up 28 candidates in the February 16 elections to the 60-member Tripura Assembly. --IANS sc/arm ( 332 Words) 2023-02-13-22:48:02 (IANS)
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) told the Supreme Court on Monday that the shares of Adani Group have seen significant decline in prices on account of selling pressure, and the wider Indian market has shown full resilience and the combined weight of the group companies in Sensex is zero and in Nifty it is below 1 per cent. In a note submitted in the apex court, Sebi said: "The events that are the subject of the PIL are related to one set of entities in the market and have not had any significant impact at the systemic level. While the shares of the Adani Group have seen significant decline in prices on account of selling pressure, the wider Indian market has shown full resilience. The combined weight of the group companies in Sensex is zero and in Nifty it is below 1 per cent." It added that Indian markets have seen far higher turbulent times in the past, especially during the Covid pandemic, when Nifty fell by around 26 per cent during March 2, 2020 till March 19, 2020 (13 trading days). "Even during such turbulent times, SEBI did not resort to banning short selling, even though there were demands for banning it; and the markets continued to function in a robust manner, recovering far faster than other global markets' investor wealth (market capitalisation of all listed companies) which was around Rs 145 lakh crore in February 2020 but has almost doubled to about Rs 270 lakh crore now," it said. The note said the subject of the PIL relates to events that are localised to a single group of companies and that there is no significant impact at a market wide level or at a system wide level that might warrant a system level review of the regulatory frameworks in operation. "The entity level issues that have arisen have had a significant impact on the entity level and warrant detailed examination by the regulator. The same has already been actioned," it said. The note added, "In the context of the PIL, the guardrails put in place by SEBI were automatically triggered when ASM (additional surveillance measures) became repeatedly applicable to shares in the Group, both when the prices were going up and recently when prices started falling." It added that in case there are any learnings from the case that warrant policy review, SEBI would, as a specialised regulator, undertake the same in the normal course, following its established process of expert as well as public consultation. "SEBI remains committed to its mandate of investor protection, market development and market regulation. In an ever-evolving and dynamic market, it would continue to welcome inputs in respect of the same," it added. The SEBI's came on a plea filed by advocate Vishal Tiwari, seeking a direction to set up a committee monitored by a retired apex court judge to investigate the Hindenburg Research report, which resulted in crashing of Adani Group company share prices and caused massive loss to investors. A separate plea has been filed by advocate M.L. Sharma in connection with the Hindenburg controversy. --IANS ss/arm ( 538 Words) 2023-02-13-22:56:03 (IANS)
JD-U's Bihar MLC Radha Charan Shah on Monday accused the BJP, through Income Tax raids, putting pressure on him to join the party. Shah is a prominent businessman of Arrah city and Income Tax Department conducted raids on 23 sites of his and seized Rs 1.42 crore cash. Sleuths have also found the financial transaction of Rs 200 crore of his company. "If I am not paying income tax on my earnings, then the income tax action can be justified but I am paying tax regularly. There is not a single fake or illegal transaction I have done in my business. Everything is on record and it is in the domain of income tax. So, I have no tension of income tax raids in my houses and offices," he said. "The BJP leaders are misusing the Income Tax Department to deliberately apply pressure on me to join their party. They are conspiring against me through IT raids. Why would the IT Department not conduct raids on BJP leaders. I have cooperated with the IT officials for the last 4 days," Shah said. --IANS ajk/vd ( 197 Words) 2023-02-13-22:58:02 (IANS)
Ahead of the Assembly elections in Tripura, a seizure worth Rs 44 crore has been made which includes cash, drugs and freebies, state Chief Electoral Officer, Gitte Kirankumar Dinkarrao said on Monday. Speaking to ANI, the CEO said that an adequate number of force has been deployed across the state to ensure a fair election and to avert any untoward incident during the polling which is slated to take place on February 16. "More than 250 nakas have been set up across the state. From today we've sealed the borders with Assam and Mizoram. So far we have made seizures worth over Rs 44 crore. This includes cash, drugs, gold & freebies," Dinkarrao said. "Our aim is to conduct elections in a fair and transparent manner and for this adequate force has been deployed. Tomorrow is the last day for campaigning," he added. Meanwhile, the BJP is putting in efforts to retain power in the state, for which the party's top leadership including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, party president JP Nadda are campaigning in the state. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing a public rally in Agartala on Monday, hit out at the Congress-Left alliance, saying that they have pushed the state to the brink of destruction. "The first condition for development is the rule of law and order. The Communist rule had pushed Tripura to the brink of destruction. The people of Tripura can never forget the chaotic situation wherein cadres had taken hostage every aspect of life. The Left had treated the people of Tripura as slaves and themselves as kings," PM Modi said, adding that only the Bharatiya Janata Party brought peace and established rule of law in Tripura. The PM further said that the opposition alliance in the state will never develop Tripura. "I want to remind the people of Tripura about one thing, the Left and the Congress can never develop Tripura and want the people of Tripura to remain poor. They have only one agenda i.e. filling their coffers," PM Modi said. This was the PM's second visit within a week to the state which is set to go to polls on February 16. The votes will be counted on March 2. (ANI)
The BJP's Delhi unit on Monday said the party has all respect for the judiciary and it will accept and abide by the judgement of the Supreme Court in the matter of Delhi's mayoral election. "BJP believes that when a matter is sub judice, we should not react on any observation made in the courtroom, ot outside it and especially avoid media trial," state General Secretary Harsh Malhotra said. BJP's mayoral candidate Rekha Gupta has moved a intervention application in the matter and we will now present our contention before the court itself, he added. Delhi's mayoral election, which was scheduled for Thursday, has now been postponed once again as the Supreme Court will hear the matter on Friday. The top court adjourned for Friday the hearing on AAP mayoral candidate Shelly Oberoi's plea, challenging the Lt Governor's decision to permit the nominated members to vote in the elections for Mayor and Deputy Mayor in the MCD. --IANS dr/vd ( 175 Words) 2023-02-13-23:18:03 (IANS)
Cornered by a bundle of questions (from the opposition) over his nearly two-decade rule in Madhya Pradesh along with a fear of anti-incumbency ahead of this year's Assembly elections, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan seems to have stumped the opposition with three political masterstrokes - question war, Vikas Yatra and ladli behen (sister) yojna. A verbal tug-of-war had broken out between Chouhan and former CM and state Congress chief Kamal Nath began in the last week of January, and since then, both the senior politicians have been training their guns on each other regularly. Chouhan has started posing a series of questions to Kamal Nath over the 'failed' promises of the 15-month Congress government, while the latter is trying to 'expose' the ruling party in a similar fashion. On February 5, Chouhan launched the vikas yatra' for the entire MP BJP unit involving both Central and state ministers. All cabinet ministers and in-charge of districts have been carrying out yatras in their respective areas. Since then, there has been a series of foundation stone laying ceremonies as well as inauguration of ready projects across the state. "The development journey is continuing in Madhya Pradesh. Many innovations are taking place in different districts. Camps are being held to extend the benefits of government schemes to the beneficiaries. This yatra is great for public service," Chouhan said while briefing the press on Monday. In the meantime, the Shivraj government announced a big scheme for women in the state ahead of International Women's Day (March 8), saying every woman of the state will be given Rs 1,000 per month under the Ladli Behen Yojana'. The beneficiaries will continue to get the benefits of other schemes, Chouhan said. "I want to empower all sisters economically and socially. The respect for women will increase in the society. If sisters are strong, the family will be strong, so will the society and the state," the Chief Minister had said during the announcement a few days back. The Madhya Pradesh Congress led by Kamal Nath has also been countering BJP's ongoing Vikas Yatra', accusing it of misusing public money for political benefits. There has been a murmur in the political circles, especially among the senior Congress leaders, that the opposition has to find a similar offering or a freebie scheme to counter the BJP in the race for convincing people to get their support during the elections. A senior Congress leader and former minister accepted that the CM's announcements have created a sense of fear that the BJP may get an edge through these schemes. However, he claimed that the Congress leadership is also in a process to include a similar kind women-centric schemes in its poll manifesto. "See, they (BJP) are the ruling party and they have all the government resources in their hands. They will definitely use them at this point of time. As the main political opponent, we should think over it and work on it. We are preparing the party's manifesto on similar lines," the Congress leader told IANS. --IANS pd/arm ( 523 Words) 2023-02-13-23:20:04 (IANS)
The Delhi High Court on Monday issued notice on an application by former Aam Aadmi Party councillor Tahir Hussain for early hearing of a plea seeking stay on one of the two FIRs registered against him in the same case relating to the 2020 Delhi riots. A single-judge bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma said that the court will not pass any order in the matter before hearing the Public Prosecutor. The application, filed through advocate Tara Narula, stated that the matter will become "infructuous" if it's not heard. Justice Sharma listed the matter to continue on March 3. The court had earlier deferred hearing on Hussain's bail pleas filed in five FIRs registered against him in connection with the 2020 riots. Counsel for Hussain had informed the court that his client's matter has been pending for last three years and everyone except him is on bail. On December 21, Hussain's counsel, senior advocate Salman Khurshid had argued in court that all the co-accused including the man who had been alleged of firing are on bail except him in the same case. Moreover, he contended that nobody saw Hussain using any firearms. Khurshid had said: "The charge sheet itself states that Hussain was constantly trying to contact police when rioting was going on and I'll demonstrate that as well." On December 13, Khurshid had argued that the FIR follow the same copy-paste pattern as of all five FIRs registered against him in Dayalpur Police Station for the Delhi riots case. Be it witnesses or evidence, statements are the same, he said. Khurshid had also objected to the issue of larger conspiracy in Delhi riots being raised against Hussain. He had argued: "What is a larger conspiracy or baby conspiracy? I will be held responsible only for what I have done." He had contended that just because Hussain is the resident of that area, he was alleged of instigating people. --IANS spr/vd ( 337 Words) 2023-02-13-23:24:04 (IANS)
According to the CCTV footage, the incident took place on Sunday.

The visuals showed the police constable being dragged by a car with him over the bonnet.

The driver was identified to be a teenager without a driving license. He was arrested.

"Traffic police constable was dragged yesterday for over 1 km on the bonnet of a car when he tried to stop it from crossing a signal in the Vasai area of Palghar. The driver was 19 years old and did not have a valid license. The driver has been arrested," Manikpur Police said.

Further investigation into the matter is underway. (ANI)
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Monday stated that there is no alternative to food grains and the state government is providing financial support to farmers by adding an extra amount in the central scheme Kisan Samman Nidhi. The Chief Minister's remarks came while inaugurating the 1st Agriculture Working Group Meeting in Indore. "There can be an alternative to everything in the world, but there is no alternative to food grains, fruits and vegetables. We're providing loans to farmers at zero per cent interest. A fixed amount is being made available to the farmers every year through Kisan Samman Nidhi," Chouhan said. "In this, Madhya Pradesh has also added its own amount. Its objective is to support the farmer in the cost of farming," he added. In a social media post, the Chief Minister said that there is a need to make proper use of the agricultural land and make concerted efforts to increase its productivity to meet the needs of food. "To meet the requirements of food in India, farming has been considered the best work. That's why a large population in India is engaged in agriculture," he said in the post. "Food security is a very important issue due to the ever-increasing population. Only 12 per cent of the world's land is fit for agriculture. By the year 2030, our food grain demand will be 345 million tonnes. If we have to meet the world's food requirements, we have to increase production as well as welcome new ideas and use technology," the Chief Minister added. He said that with the excessive use of chemicals and fertilizer, the health of the soil is deteriorating. "To increase the production, we are using chemicals and fertilizers, due to which not only the health of the earth is deteriorating but also the health of human beings is deteriorating. That's why the Prime Minister has launched a campaign of natural farming. Madhya Pradesh is number 1 in organic farming," he said. "I am sure that this G-20 conference will prove to be very helpful in taking the agriculture sector forward," Chouhan added. (ANI)
According to GSM Arena, a tech news-related website, it was earlier reported that the update is coming next week but some units (including our own here at HQ) are being updated now.

A snippet from the earlier report suggested that One UI 5.1 brings new widgets, Expert RAW mode, improvements to the gallery, connectivity, DeX mode and more.

Based on speculations, One UI 5.1 will arrive on all phones that received the One UI 5.0 update.

Meanwhile, Samsung has opened the floodgates and is also seeding the OneUI 5.1 update to the Galaxy S21 and Galaxy S20 series already. As usual, it's a gradual rollout so don't despair if the firmware hasn't reached your specific phone just yet, reported GSM Arena.

Also, Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S23 smartphone series at its Galaxy Unpacked event recently. The series consists of Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23 Plus and Galaxy S23 Ultra.

The biggest upgrade for this generation is that all S23 phones will come with a Qualcomm chipset, officially known as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy, as per GSM Arena. (ANI)
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Monday took a swipe at the Centre over its reply in the Supreme Court regarding appointing a committee in connection with the Hindenburg's report on Adani Group, and questioned the government on why it was not agreeing to a joint parliamentary committee (JPC). He further said that the government's objective is to paint anyone that questions "Adani's wrongdoings as anti-India". The Congress leader alleged that the government agreeing to constitute a committee to protect investor interests has more to do with the "Hindenburg's expose". "It's clear why Modi Govt has agreed to a committee in the Supreme Court. It has less to do with Adani but more to do with Hindenburg's expose. The objective is to paint anything/anyone that questions Adani's wrongdoings as anti-India. That is why no JPC," Jairam tweeted. Earlier on Monday, the central government informed the Supreme Court that SEBI is competent to handle the situation and it has agreed to constitute a committee to protect investor interests, following Hindenburg's report on Adani Group. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed a bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud that SEBI is completely equipped to deal with the situation that took place due to a recent report by Hindenburg. He also said that the government has no objection to appointing a committee to suggest ensuring investors are protected in the future. However, he said that the remit of the committee is important since it has an effect internationally. He also said that the government will provide names in a sealed cover. The court adjourned the hearing on two petitions related to the Hindenburg report on Friday. The court asked the Centre to apprise it about the remit of the committee by the next hearing. Last week, the Supreme Court sought a response from the Ministry of Finance and SEBI on how to ensure that Indian investors are protected in future against sudden volatility observing the recent crash due to the Hindenburg Research report. The bench has also suggested the need to form a committee of experts from various areas like the securities area, international financial law experts, and someone from the regulatory body led by the wise guidance of a former judge. The court has also suggested that the regulatory body could think of ways to modify statutory regulatory provisions in such a way that in the future the Indian investors could be protected. The court has clarified that this is an open dialogue to ensure Indian investors are protected and are not on a witch-hunt. The Adani Group had termed Hindenburg as "an unethical short seller" and stated that the report by the New York-based entity was "nothing but a lie". The continued sell-offs in the group's stocks led its flagship firm, Adani Enterprises Limited, to cancel a fully subscribed Rs 20,000 crore follow-on public offer. Adani Group on January 29, in a long 413-page report, said the recent report by Hindenburg Research was not an attack on any specific company but a "calculated attack" on India, its growth story, and ambitions. (ANI)
DCP North, Sagar Singh Kalsi informed that the three were residents of Jahangirpuri and were headed to Jama Masjid.

The deceased, who was driving the scooter, was 14 years of age while the injured pillion riders are 8 and 17 years of age, the police informed, adding they are undergoing treatment.

The Delhi Police received a PCR call at Wazirabad Police Station at 2.41 am on Sunday late night regarding an accident near the Burari flyover.

The police reached the spot and started an investigation into the incident.

The police said they also collected three Medico-Legal Certificates (MLC) of the victims.

A case was registered under IPC sections 279, 337 and 304(A) and further investigation was underway. (ANI)
Highlighting the Centre's development push for the Northeast, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the region 51 times during the last eight years and has put an end to the feeling of alienation that had grown in the Northeast. Shah was on a visit to Tripura to hold election rallies ahead of the assembly polls in the state. In an exclusive interview with ANI, the Union Home Minister said, "After PM Modi came to power, we have done a lot of things to change the entire Northeast. The first thing is that there is peace in the Northeast today. There were numerous militant organisations. We have finalised agreements with many such organisations." The Home Minister said nearly 40,000 families of the Bru and Reang communities had been living in Tripura for over 25 years in inhuman conditions and had been allowed to settle only after the BJP government came into power. "Agreements were signed with the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) here also. Nearly over 8,000 armed cadres have surrendered their arms and opted to join the mainstream. The northeast was earlier known for blockades, bandhs, bomb explosions and insurgency. Today roads are being built there, a railway network is about to reach all the states and airports have been built in all the states of the region," he said. Shah said the BJP government is now building a second airport in Tripura, a state that till now had only one airport. He lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for undertaking various developmental projects for the development of the Northeast. Shah said, "Prime Minister himself has visited the Northeast 51 times during the last eight years. Since Independence, no prime minister has come here so frequently. It has been made compulsory for at least one union minister to visit the region every 15 days. Besides this, the distribution of free rice has been done since the COVID times. If any region has benefitted the most in terms of percentage of the population, it is the Northeast. PM Modi has provided houses to the poor of the Northeast." Asked about BJP's poll prospects in the northeastern states where identity politics is prevalent, Shah said a false narrative against BJP was being spread that the region will lose its identity and cultural heritage if the party came to power. "They have known us in these nine years. The media used to spread rumours that if the BJP comes to power, the identity and languages of the northeast would be finished. However, it has been seen that since PM Modi came to power local languages have been strengthened," Shah said. The union minister pointed out that primary education had started in local languages as well as education in local dialects, including those of Tripura and others is also being promoted. "In Bodoland also, preliminary education is done in their language," he said. Shah said the BJP government has strengthened the regional identity of the Northeast. Stressing on the Centre's efforts to promote the cultural heritage of the Northeast, Shah said there is not a single national festival in which the artists of the Northeast have not performed in Delhi. "Their acceptance has increased across the country. The biggest thing that the Prime Minister has done is 'Mann ki doori ko samapt kar diya' (put an end to the feeling of alienation between the people of the Northeast and the rest of India). People of the Northeast today truly feel that they are respected in the rest of India and the people of India should be respected," emphasized the Union Home Minister. With reference to neighbouring Nagaland, which is also slated to go to polls this month, Shah said, "... Some people had incited and announced a boycott of elections in Eastern Nagaland. Now the NPO (Naga Public Organisation) has been withdrawn. They have said that they trust PM Modi. This shows that such intimidation will not work." On the Naga Peace Accord which is yet to be resolved, the Home Minister said, "What is an accord for? Accord is for putting an end to violence and violence has ended. There is a ceasefire. A discussion on it is in the process." Shah further highlighted the BJP government's commitment towards the welfare of the tribal community. "The tribal community was facing numerous problems. They wanted true acceptance. For the first time, a person from the tribal community has become President of the country. Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas is celebrated on the birth anniversary of Bhagwan Birsa Munda. So many years after Independence, 10 big museums were constructed at the expense of Rs 200 crore to showcase the contribution of tribal freedom fighters and their struggle even prior to 1857. Eklavya Schools will be increased by about 300 per cent. This is a big achievement. The people feel that the government is considering them," he added. Shah stressed that the benefits of government welfare schemes now reach the tribal community without any discrimination. "I can say clearly that this did not happen during the Congress rule. Generations got destroyed. Today development has been possible because of peace. Today, children of the tribals receive an education. Since the most number of the poor were from the tribal communities, they benefit the most from it. Water is reaching houses. They have also got gas cylinders. They are getting health insurance cards up to Rs 5 lakh. They are getting free rice. Tribals have also now started to experience development," the Home Minister said. He added that a double-decker bridge which will be considered an engineering magnum opus in the entire country is being built in the Northeast. All the capitals of the northeastern states will be connected to rail and air facilities before 2024, Shah said. Elections for the 60-seat in Tripura Assembly will be held on February 16 while voting in assembly elections for Meghalaya and Nagaland is set to be held on February 27. The counting of votes will be held on March 2. (ANI)
Noting that there is marked positive change in the lives of people at the grassroots due to initiatives of the Centre, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said that there is "no competition" for the BJP in 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the people of the country are wholeheartedly moving with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In an exclusive interview with ANI, Shah also said that the people of the country will decide about the principal opposition party to BJP in the 2024 polls and they have not given this label to any party. Taking a swipe at Congress and its leader Rahul Gandhi, Shah said he might not have campaigned in poll-bound states but results in elections in Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya will show strength of the opposition party in states it once dominated. He expressed confidence in the BJP performing well in states going to the polls this year including Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. Shah said India has made progress across all sectors and referred to the country being the fastest-growing major economy apart from the steps taken by the government to boost internal security and reduce import-dependence in defence. He said progress of the country, making the country secure and making the economy the fastest growing economy in the world have been among the priorities of the government. Shah said there is recognition of India's achievements in the world. "During the small period of eight years, we have tried to raise the standard of living of 60 crore poor people in the country and we were also successful. There have been so many achievements. There are major changes in Railways, there is new policy in the space sector and we are preparing to be a leader in the sector, with new policy we are moving ahead in the drone sector," said Amit Shah in a wide-ranging interview to ANI. He said successful attempts have been made to make India a manufacturing hub. Shah said efforts towards self-reliance in the defence sector and reducing India's reliance on other countries by 30 per cent in eight years is a big achievement. "The Left-wing extremism is towards its end. There is control and domination of our agencies on terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. In the Northeast, we have found solutions (to problems) and over 8,000 members of militant organisations have joined the mainstream." Shah said the central government' schemes have effectively reached the grassroots. "In Tripura, I went for a meal to a house that belonged to a poor family. They showed me the toilet, gas cylinder, electricity and tap water and Ayushman Bharat card...all this reached the poor family household." He said the woman of the house referred to a sack of rice and said they will be able to sell it as they are getting ration through the central government. "The house was plastered and there was a sense of pride," he said. "So there is this change. I feel that in 2024 there is no competition and everyone in the country is moving ahead with PM Modi," Shah said. Asked about the principal opposition in 2024 and if it was Congress led by Rahul Gandhi, he said it is to be "decided by the people of the country". "Till now people have not given the label of principal opposition to any one party in Lok Sabha." Asked about the likelihood of Rahul Gandhi emerging as the PM candidate after his Bharat Jodo Yatra against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Shah said there is election in three states and it is to be seen what is the impact. Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya will go for the assembly polls later this month. Asked about Rahul Gandhi not campaigning so far in Tripura, which will go to the polls on February 16, Shah said coming to a state might be a question of time for the Congress MP but there should be a result for the party. "Let's see what the result comes". He said the three states where elections are being held were in the past strong Congress states. "We will see on the day of counting, before 12 PM, a full majority for the BJP," said Shah. (ANI)
Congress leader Ajay Rai said that the airport authorities did not grant permission as they were under pressure, and that they used President Droupadi Murmu's visit as an 'excuse'.

He said Rahul Gandhi's flight was scheduled to land at Varanasi airport on Monday night, but was "deliberately" not given permission.

"Rahul Gandhi was scheduled to arrive here and then go to Prayagraj, but the airport authority did not allow his plane to land due to pressure from the government. They said there is a heavy aircraft movement and traffic congestion and did not give permission," Rai alleged.

The Congress leader also said that the BJP government is 'scared' of Rahul Gandhi and hence they did not allow the plane to land at the airport in Varanasi.

"Prime minister of the country has been anxious since Rahul Gandhi led the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Now, they are troubling Rahul," he added.

The Congress MP was scheduled to arrive in Varanasi on Monday night and to offer prayers in Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple today.

Notably, President Murmu visited Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple on Monday evening after offering prayers at the Kotwal Baba Kaal Bhairav temple in Varanasi.

During her visit to Kashi for the first time, the President also attended the grand Ganga Aarti at the Dashashwamedh Ghat in the evening, a statement from the Chief Minister's Office said. (ANI)
"Remembering our valorous heroes who we lost on this day in Pulwama. We will never forget their supreme sacrifice. Their courage motivates us to build a strong and developed India," PM Modi said in a tweet.

On this day in 2019, 40 CRPF personnel lost their lives in the Pulwama terror attack three years ago.

The jawans lost their lives after a suicide bomber drove a car laden with explosives into the security force convoy.

The attack was carried out by the Pakistani terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed, which is led by Masood Azhar based in Bahawalpur. (ANI)
The official mouthpiece of Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackrey Faction), Saamana, has come out in support of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi after a notice was served on him for making alleged unparliamentary remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha on February 7. The Congress MP made the alleged remarks during his address on the Motion of Thanks to the President's joint address to the Parliament. The Marathi publication, which has Uddhav Thackrey as the editor and Shivsena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut as associate editor, released an editorial on Tuesday, labelling the notice served on the Congress leader as 'cowardice' and 'dictatorship'. The Lok Sabha Secretariat had issued a notice of breach of privilege to Rahul after the BJP accused him of making false, derogatory, unparliamentary and misleading statements against Prime Minister Modi on the floor of Parliament. BJP MP Nishikant Dubey and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi accused the Congress's former national president of mouthing falsehoods against PM Modi. On their allegations, the Lok Sabha Secretariat sent a notice to Rahul asking him to reply to the same by February 15. "The faces of BJP members turned pale in Parliament after Rahul's speech in the Lok Sabha on February 7," claimed the Saamana editorial. The column stated further that Prime Minister Modi veered to different topics and evaded direct questions posed by the Congress MP on his alleged relationship with billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani. The name of 'Rahul' is enough to fill the BJP with fear, the column claimed. It alleged further that Adani's businesses peaked only after the BJP came to power in 2014. Coming out in support of Rahul, the column went, "Instead of sending notices to him, the Prime Minister should have replied to his questions. This is nothing but dictatorship and cowardice." Also lauding Rahul's 'Bharat Jodo Yatra', the mouthpiece of Uddhav Sena said it is visible that tremendous energy has been generated through the foot march. "At present, the relationship between PM Modi and Adani is being discussed all over the world. The shares of Adani's companies fell, and public money is at risk. How can Rahul Gandhi be a criminal for raising pertinent questions?" read the editorial. It said that every question related to the country and the public interest should be raised in the Parliament and the government should answer and not dodge them. (ANI)
Gill, while addressing a press conference on Monday, said that a state wide campaign was launched on July 5, 2022 by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann against drug menace and that these arrests were made in connection with drug smuggling across the state.

"Of the 10,576 arrested people, 1540 are big smugglers," the IGP said.

Apart from the arresting drug smugglers, Punjab Police also claimed to have busted 25 terror modules and 160 terrorists have been arrested.

A total of 7,999 FIRs have been registered by police in connection with drug smuggling, of which 915 pertain to commercial quantities. 667.03 Kg of heroin was also recovered in the last seven months, IGP Gill said.

The most number of FIRs were registered in the Firozpur district followed by Amritsar.

While 626 FIRs were filed in Firozpur, 596 cases were registered in Amritsar. 482 FIRs were also registered in Patiala.

Apart from heroin, 423 Kgs of opium were recovered 25,548 Kg of Poppy Husk was recovered by Police. 51,49,882 kgs of medical drugs including injections and tablets have been recovered.

1987 vehicles were also seized for being involved in smuggling, Gill added. (ANI)
According to the fire services department, the blaze may have been caused by a twin-cylinder blast.

The incident occurred around 9 am on Tuesday.

Five fire tenders were rushed to the spot and the fire was brought under control.

No casualties were reported in the incident.

Further details are awaited. (ANI)
Taking to Twitter Khattar said, "Millions of salutes and heartfelt tribute to the immortal sacrifice of the brave sons of Mother India who were martyred in the cowardly terrorist attack of Pulwama. The martyrdom of those brave soldiers will always inspire all of us countrymen to protect the motherland."

Congress senior leader Digvijay Singh also paid tribute to the martyrs of the Pulwama attack.

He said, " Today we pay homage to the 40 CRPF martyrs who died because of the blatant Intelligence Failure in Pulwama. I hope all the martyred Families have been suitably rehabilitated."

On this day in 2019, at least 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel lost their lives after a suicide bomber drove a car laden with explosives into the security force convoy.

The attack was carried out by the Pakistani terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed, which is led by Masood Azhar based in Bahawalpur.

Striking back, on February 26, 2019, Indian Air Force fighter jets targetted an advanced terror training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Pakistan's Balakot.

The day after, Islamabad attempted to target Indian military installations but was thwarted by the IAF. (ANI)
A wreath-laying ceremony was held at the Martyrs Memorial at the CRPF Lethpora base camp in Pulwama district to pay tributes to the jawans who lost their lives in the 2019 terror attack. Earlier today Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tributes to Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel who lost their lives in the 2019 Pulwama terror attack. "Remembering our valorous heroes who we lost on this day in Pulwama. We will never forget their supreme sacrifice. Their courage motivates us to build a strong and developed India," PM Modi said in a tweet. Forty personnel of the CRPF were killed when their convoy was attacked by a vehicle-borne suicide bomber at Lethapora in south Kashmir''s Pulwama district on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway on February 14, 2019. The attack was carried out by the Pakistani terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed, which is led by Masood Azhar based in Bahawalpur. Seven days later, Indian Air Force carried out air strikes in Balakot in Pakistan, destroying a Jaish-e-Mohammed training camp and killing a large number of terrorists. During his recently concluded Bharat Jodo Yatra, Rahul Gandhi stopped to pay homage to the bravehearts of the Pulwama terror attack. Some leaders of the Congress party have questioned the Pulwama attack and the Balakot airstrikes. "Today we pay homage to the 40 CRPF Martyrs who died because of the blatant Intelligence Failure in Pulwama. I hope all the Martyred Families have been suitably rehabilitated," said senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh in a tweet on Tuesday. "Pulwama incident took place on this day. The country wants to know who was behind this. Where did so much RDX come from, and why they were not taken by air?," Udit Raj, a Congress party leader, tweeted. (ANI)
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday reached Karnal in Haryana to attend a Program to present the president's colour award to the Haryana police. Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah presented President's Colour to Haryana Police at Haryana Police Academy in Karnal today on behalf of President Droupadi Murmu in recognition of the Haryana Police's exceptional service. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar was also present. "It is a big day for the Haryana Police as the President's Colour award will be presented to it at the Haryana Police Academy in Karnal," Shah said in a tweet on Monday. In a day-long visit to Haryana on Tuesday, Union Home and Cooperative Minister Amit Shah is scheduled to inaugurate various projects of the state cooperative department. In the afternoon, Shah will inaugurate various projects of the Haryana Cooperative Department at an event organised at Haryana Cooperative Export House (HAFED) in Karnal around 2:30 pm. The President's Colour is a special flag given to a military, paramilitary or police unit as a mark of recognition for its services which replica of the flag presented to the unit can be worn as an insignia by all officers and ranks of the force on their uniform. At first, Uttar Pradesh Police received the award in 1952 from then-Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Later in 1954, the Delhi Police received the award from former president Rajendra Prasad. Maharashtra Police received the award in 1961 while Jammu and Kashmir Police received it in 2003. Tamil Nadu Police received it in 2009, Tripura Police in 2012 and Gujarat Police in 2019. Himachal Pradesh Police received the award in 2021 while Assam Police in 2022. Haryana will see Assembly polls next year, months after the Lok Sabha elections in April-May 2024. The BJP will face the polls after two terms in power. In 2014, the party came to power with an absolute majority (47 of 90 seats). However, five years later, it could secure barely 40 seats and had to enter into a post-poll alliance with Dushyant Chautala-led Jannayak Janta Party (JJP). Currently, the BJP has all 10 Lok Sabha seats and one Rajya Sabha seat in the state, while the Congress has one Rajya Sabha seat. BJP-backed Independent Kartikeya Sharma is the third one who made it to Rajya Sabha in June 2022. (ANI)
Going door to door on the last day of campaigning for Thursday's Assembly elections, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha on Tuesday said that the Congress lacks leadership and his party would go into the electoral battle aiming for a 'Virodhi Mukt Tripura'. During his door-to-door campaign in the Town Bordowali constituency of Agartala's Ramnagar, CM Saha said reaching out to the people has always been his aim and objective. "It has always been my aim and objective to reach out to every person at their homes, but due to a time crunch, it could not happen. However, I have tried to reach out to households as much as possible. The people of my constituency are excited for February 16 and are waiting in anticipation to cast their votes. They admire PM Modi a lot and I am convinced that the BJP will come to the power once again," Saha told ANI while campaigning on Tuesday. The CM added, "The Congress does not have a leader. They are not visible even if one looks through a microscope." He said the people will vote for a 'Virdohi Mukt TRipura'. "Though we have raised the slogan of 'Nasha Mukt Tripura', the votes will be cast in favour of a 'Virodhi Mukt Tripura'. While I concede that it is not good for democracy but the people here want this as the Opposition only resorts to lies," he added. The party has deployed its heavyweights in a bid to secure a return mandate in the Northeast state, with the likes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national president JP Nadda visiting the state to campaign for the ruling party candidates. Prime Minister Modi, at a public rally in Agartala on Monday, hit out at the Congress-Left alliance claiming that they have pushed the state to the brink of destruction while in power in the state. He also called the alliance between the Congress and the Left, saying they were foes in Kerala and friends here. "The first condition for development is the establishment of the rule of law. The Communist rule had pushed Tripura to the brink of destruction. The people of Tripura can never forget the chaotic situation where cadres had taken every aspect of life hostage. The Left treated the people of Tripura like slaves and thought themselves to be kings," PM Modi said, adding that it was the BJP that brought peace and established rule of law in Tripura. He added that the Opposition alliance will never strive to develop Tripura. This was the PM's second visit to the state within a week. Tripura is set to go to polls on February 16 and the votes will be counted on March 2. (ANI)
Nadda arrived in Nagaland for launching the party's manifesto for the February 27 Assembly polls in Nagaland and Meghalaya.

Senior BJP leaders and workers were also present at the Dimapur airport to welcome Nadda.

On February 8, a senior party official told ANI, "Our party president will launch the Sankalp Patra for Nagaland polls on February 14 and for Meghalaya on February 15."

Since coming to power in 2014, the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre has laid a special focus on the Northeast, through its 'Act East' policy. While the PM Modi himself made over 50 visits to the region, the party has invested its efforts towards a secure Northeast.

"The Union government is committed to a safe and secure Northeast and resolving the border issues in all states. It will continue to be our key focus and the message that we'll take to the people of poll-bound states in the region," a party official had said earlier.

In Nagaland, the BJP is in the ruling alliance with Neiphiu Rio's Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) will contest in 20 out of 60 seats.

Polling for the Meghalaya and Nagaland Assembly polls will be held on February 27.

The counting of votes in the two states along with that of Tripura will take place on March 2. (ANI)
Amid a push for promoting indigenisation, Indian Navy on Tuesday stated that it is still pursuing the deal to buy American Predator drones, but wanted it to have 60 per cent indigenous content on it. "We are still pursuing that project (acquire Predator drones). We're seeing how it can be indigenised and whatever facilities can be built in India. It is a capability we require." Navy Vice Chief Vice Admiral SN Ghormade told ANI in an interview at the ongoing Aero India 2023 show here. The American predator drone deal was among the deals put on hold in view of giving a push for the 'Make in India' programme and a committee headed by a Lieutenant General was asked to review the entire deal which was coming out to be very expensive at around USD 6 billion for 30 drones. Ghormade further said, "We are working with our own indigenous firms and DRDO and capabilities that we can take from indigenous sources. Sixty per cent is the desired Make in India content that we look forward to." As per the initial plans, India was planning to acquire 30 American Predator high-altitude long-endurance drones equipped with strike capability, including missiles, which were to be equally distributed among the three services. India is operating two predator drones which were hired on lease from an American firm and they have been helping the Navy to keep track of activities in the Indian Ocean Region. India has acquired 12 American P-8I anti-submarine warfare and surveillance planes for keeping an eye on the Indian Ocean Region and was working on getting six more of these planes. However, after the government's instructions on import programmes, the government would soon decide on the project too shortly. (ANI)
DMK spokesperson TKS Elangovan on Tuesday said that similar to a ban on the Popular Front of India, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) should also be banned in India so that no one is able to spread "religious superiority" in the country. "Ninety per cent of Muslims do not support PFI. They are doing what RSS is doing. RSS should also be banned. Then no one would try to promote religious superiority in the country," Elangovan said. The DMK leader was responding to an interview of Amit Shah in which the Union Minister claimed that the Popular Front of India (PFI)was spreading radicalism in India and by banning the outfit, the central government has saved India. "The PFI did not speak about religious superiority. Neither did they ask people to convert to Islam. They are Muslims. And this is their (BJP's) natural hatred towards Muslims. This was the reason behind banning the PFI. There may be some radicals in the PFI and it's okay to take action against them. It is quite funny on behalf of Amit Shah to say that by banning the PFI they have saved India," said the DMK leader. Elangovan pointed out that India has regressed in comparison to where it was in the year 2014. "I think Modi and Amit Shah's country is Gujarat. Whatever they see happening there, they think that it is happening elsewhere in the country. They should come out of Gujarat and talk to people," Elangovan added. "The country is going back. The economy is in a poor state. The value of Indian currency has depreciated. There is no development. I don't know how Amit Shah has claimed that development happened in India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rule," said the DMK spokesperson. Reacting to Amit Shah's statement about no political competition to BJP, the DMK leader said, "Except for Gujarat, they lost elsewhere. They lost the Delhi Municipal Corporation Election, lost in Himachal Pradesh and almost all the by-elections. How can they say that there is no competition?" he added. In an exclusive interview with ANI earlier, Shah had said, "I feel that in 2024 there is no competition and everyone in the country is moving ahead with PM Modi." In the same interview, Shah also said, "We have banned PFI successfully...PFI promoted radicalism and religious bigotry. They were in a way trying to prepare raw materials for terrorism. So many documents have been found which show that their activities were not good for the country's unity and integrity." The government had in September last year banned PFI and its associates for five years under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for "terror links". (ANI)
Rahul Gandhi, who was scheduled to visit Varanasi on Tuesday, had to return to Delhi as his flight was unable to land at the Varanasi airport.

The Congress has alleged that the airport authorities denied Rahul Gandhi's plane permission to land at the Varanasi airport.

Congress leader Ajay Rai has alleged that the airport authorities did not grant permission as they were under pressure, and that they used President Droupadi Murmu's visit as an 'excuse'.

"Rahul Gandhi was scheduled to arrive here and then go to Prayagraj, but the airport authority did not allow his plane to land due to pressure from the government. They said there is a heavy aircraft movement and traffic congestion and did not give permission," Rai alleged.

The Congress MP was scheduled to arrive in Varanasi on Monday night and offer prayers at Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple today.

The Lok Sabha Secretariat has sought a reply from Rahul Gandhi on the breach of privilege notice given against him by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi and BJP MP Nishikant Dubey over "misleading, derogatory, unparliamentary and incriminatory statements" during a discussion of the motion of thanks on the President's address.

Rahul Gandhi has been asked to furnish his reply by February 15 for consideration by the Lok Sabha Speaker.

Gandhi, in his speech in the Lok Sabha on February 7, made several allegations against the government over the Hindenburg-Adani row. (ANI)
Attacking the BJP for "friendly capitalisation," Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday asked, if "nothing to hide", then why is the saffron party running away from a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Adani-Hindenburg row? Addressing a press conference, Ramesh said, "If there is nothing to hide, then why is BJP running away from a JPC probe? In JPC, the ruling party will have the majority, so what are they scared of? The matter is serious, and only a JPC can do an independent probe into the matter" "The centre has gone to the Supreme Court to carry out an investigation against Hindenburg when it is Adani, who should be investigated," he said. The Congress leader also accused the BJP of showing "favouritism" towards one enterprise. "Our fight is 'friendly capitalisation'. This government has shown favouritism towards one company, and one enterprise has benefitted from privatisation. That's what we are against," Ramesh said. He further said that the Congress party believes in boosting investment, but is against capitalism. "Congress party believes in increasing private investment, for boosting economic growth. Secondly, we want to promote capital formation to give a boost to employment opportunities. Thirdly, we are against 'Blind Privatisation'. We want to increase investment but not sell every government institution. Fourthly, we want the institutions to be having the freedom to act independently," he said. The Opposition has been repeatedly demanding a JPC probe into the Adani-Hindenburg row. The Budget session of the Parliament faced repeated disruptions owing to the continuous logjam over the Adani issue. The concerned report from US-based short-seller firm Hindenburg Research surfaced on January 24 claiming that the Adani Group had weak business fundamentals, and was involved in stock manipulation and accounting fraud, among others. According to a statement by the Adani Group, the Adani portfolio and the Adani verticals are focused on bringing India into the global economy and nation-building. In the summary of the long response by Adani Group, it said the report was "nothing but a lie". The report, however, triggered a sell-off of shares of all Adani Group companies. (ANI)